Śrī Upadeśāmṛta, Ślokas 8-9. New Braja, 29 May 1997
Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī is saying, “I want to serve the dust of the lotus feet of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī. I cannot serve Rūpa Gosvāmī personally. I am not so qualified. So I want to serve the lotus foot-dust only—and only one particle—birth after birth, janmani, janmani, for so many births. And if I become liberated, then in Vraja also I want to serve the lotus dust of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī’s lotus feet.
Why?
These dusts are so loving, so sweet. So, in this world and after liberation, or after going to Vraja, I want to serve his lotus foot-dust.”
We have explained the sum and substance of the teachings of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī as presented in The Nectar of Instruction.
What is the meaning of sukīrtanānu?
Sukīrtanānu means?
Devotee: The kīrtana of the holy names which is done especially under the guidance of rasika-bhakta Vrajavāsīs, so that that holy name can take proper effect under their appropriate guidance.
ŚRĪLA BHAKTIVEDĀNTA NĀRĀYAṆA MAHĀRĀJA: Here, anu comes first. Anu means under the guidance of, hearing from gurudeva—śikṣā-guru and gurudeva. If one has not heard from his gurudeva or śikṣā-gurudeva, then he cannot do sukīrtanānu. Anu implies nirantar, always, spontaneously, not breaking, and that person is uttama-adhikārī.
So, by first hearing from gurudeva or śikṣā-gurudeva in the line of Rūpa Gosvāmī and Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, then it is sukīrtanānu. Here, one expression is also used—tad-anurāgi janānugāmī.
What does he mean by tad-anurāgi?
Devotee: Someone who has anurāga, attachment for Kṛṣṇa.
ŚRĪLA BHAKTIVEDĀNTA NĀRĀYAṆA MAHĀRĀJA: Can you give any example?
Devotee: Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, Rūpa Gosvāmī.
ŚRĪLA BHAKTIVEDĀNTA NĀRĀYAṆA MAHĀRĀJA: Yes.
Is he telling correctly?
Who are tad-anurāgi?
Devotee: Basically, Rūpa Gosvāmī, Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī.
ŚRĪLA BHAKTIVEDĀNTA NĀRĀYAṆA MAHĀRĀJA: You should ponder what I am asking and then answer. I am asking about tad-anurāgi. Those who have natural rāga, affection, in their ātmā.
Who are they?
Śrīdāmā, Subala, Madhumaṅgala.
And more than them?
Nanda Bābā.
And more than Nanda Bābā?
Yaśodā Maiyā.
And more than them?
Lalitā, Viśākhā and all the gopīs. So they are anurāgi jana. We cannot be like this. In this world, Rūpa Gosvāmī, Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī are tad-anurāgi janānugāmī.
Anurāgi jana?
Here it means the gopīs.
And janānugāmī?
They are Rūpa, Raghunātha, all our Gosvāmīs and those who are associates of Mahāprabhu. They are playing the role of a ragānuga bhakta here. Rāgi are Vrajabāsī jana. With their spontaneous love they are always serving Kṛṣṇa, their prāṇa. Prāṇa means life and soul. We have heard anurāgi-jana.
And anugāmī?
We cannot have the association of tad-anurāgi. We want to follow them. So we must associate with tad-anurāgi-janānugāmī, such as Rūpa Gosvāmī, Sanātana Gosvāmī and Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, especially Rūpa-Raghunātha:
śrī-rūpa-raghunātha-pade yāra āśa
caitanya-caritāmṛta kahe kṛṣṇadāsa
rūpa-raghunātha-pade haibe ākuti
kabe hāma bujhaba se yugala-pīriti
When will I know all these things?
When we will have real love and affection for Rūpa and Raghunātha, then we will be able to understand something.
So, devotees should live in Vṛndāvana under the guidance of tad-anurāgi janānugāmī jana, like Rūpa Gosvāmī and others in his line, always chanting and remembering, hearing from their gurudeva or śikṣā-guru. They should be chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, and sometimes:
śrī kṛṣṇa gopāla hare mukunda,
govinda he nanda kiśora kṛṣṇa
hā śrī yaśodā tanaya-prasīda,
śrī ballavī-jīvana rādhikeśa
(Bṛhad Bhāg. 2.4)
rādhā ramaṇa hari govinda jaya jaya
rādhā ramaṇa hari govinda jaya jaya
he rādhe vraja-devīke ca lalite he nanda-sūno kutaḥ
śrī-govardhana-kalpa-pādapa-tale kālindī-vanye kutaḥ
ghoṣantāv iti sarvato vraja-pure khedair mahā-vihvalau
vande rūpa-sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī jīva-gopālakau
Like this, always doing kīrtana, but with minds where?
Manasī niyojya (mind always engaged) in Vraja, playing with tad-anurāgi jana. Sometimes Kṛṣṇa is controlled by His mother, sometimes He is joyfully playing with the cowherd boys. Sometimes He is dancing with peacocks very sweetly, and sometimes playing with the gopīs. I have told of some of Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes.
Where will the mind go?
The mind will also be absorbed in those līlās. So practice like this for twenty-four hours daily, quite absorbed, with tears coming. This is the sum and substance of The Nectar of Instruction of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī.
Next, he is coming to a topic even more important than this. What is the symptom of an intelligent man?
Those who have accepted Rādhā-kuṇḍa as non-different from Śrīmatī Rādhikā Herself can be considered intelligent. We should understand what is the mood of Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāja in his explanation of this śloka. He wants everyone to advance and know what Rādhā-kuṇḍa is. The symptom of an intelligent devotee is to serve Rādhā-kuṇḍa as if it is Śrīmatī Rādhikā Herself. Here he has not given any explanation for Kṛṣṇa-kuṇḍa.
Why not?
Because he is somewhat inclined towards Śrīmatī Rādhikā. And kṛṣṇa-prema and Kṛṣṇa’s service are included in Rādhā-kuṇḍa, the embodiment of Rādhā. Everything is in Śrīmatī Rādhikā—Kṛṣṇa as well. There may be some occasion when Kṛṣṇa is not with Rādhikā. In Mathurā, He was not with Rādhikā. In the battle of Kurukṣetra, Rādhā was not with Kṛṣṇa. In Dvārakā, He is Rukminī-Ramaṇa, Satyabhāmā’s friend, not Śrīmatī Rādhikā’s, for all external appearances. Inwardly it may be that She is there in His heart. But Śrīmatī Rādhikā cannot be alone—She is always with Kṛṣṇa. Even if Kṛṣṇa has gone to Dvārakā or Mathurā, still He remains with Śrīmatī Rādhikā. So Rūpa Gosvāmī is telling who Śrīmatī Rādhikā is, how we should behave with Her‚ and who is the most intelligent devotee.
vaikuṇṭhāj janito varā madhu-purī tatrāpi rāsotsavād
vṛndāraṇyam udāra-pāṇi-ramaṇāt tatrāpi govardhanaḥ
rādhā-kuṇḍam ihāpi gokula-pateḥ premāmṛtāplāvanāt
kuryād asya virājato giri-taṭe sevāṁ vivekī na kaḥ
We should read how Swāmījī is translating this śloka. If there is anything you do not understand, you can ask.
Devotee reads: Nectar of Instruction, Text 9:
The holy place known as Mathurā is spiritually superior to Vaikuṇṭha, the transcendental world, because the Lord appeared there. Superior to Mathurā-Purī is the transcendental forest of Vṛndāvana because of Kṛṣṇa’s rāsa-līlā pastimes. And superior to the forest of Vṛndāvana is Govardhana Hill, for it was raised by the divine hand of Śrī Kṛṣṇa and was the site of His various loving pastimes. And, above all, the super-excellent Śrī Rādhā-kuṇḍa stands supreme, for it is over-flooded with the ambrosial nectarean prema of the Lord of Gokula, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Where, then, is that intelligent person who is unwilling to serve this divine Rādhā-kuṇḍa, which is situated at the foot of Govardhana Hill?
ŚRĪLA BHAKTIVEDĀNTA NĀRĀYAṆA MAHĀRĀJA: Then who are the persons who are not willing to serve this Rādhā-kuṇḍa and how would you describe them?
Those who are wishing to serve Rādhā-kuṇḍa are intelligent. And those who don’t want to serve Her, what will they be called?
Devotees: Fools.
ŚRĪLA BHAKTIVEDĀNTA NĀRĀYAṆA MAHĀRĀJA: Swāmījī is not saying this word directly, but he is certainly implying that those who are not willing to serve Rādhā-kuṇḍa are ... Oh, I will not say the word ‘fools’, but you can say it. But actually this is the point. So those of us who are doing vaidhī-bhakti, regulative bhakti, are not so wise, not so intelligent. But those who are accepting the process given in the last śloka are intelligent. And among them, those who are most intelligent want to serve Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa conjugal on the bank of Rādhā-kuṇḍa. They want to be there, and if not by body, at least by mind, by heart. They are most intelligent.
Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, Rūpa Gosvāmī, Jīva Gosvāmī, Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, Raghunātha Bhaṭṭa, Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī are always there. All our Gosvāmīs have permanent seats Rādhā-kuṇḍa.
Have you gone there?
If you have gone there with any high-class devotee, you may have seen their places—everything is there. The Pāñca (five) Pāṇḍavas and Draupadī are also there, doing arādhanā of the gopīs. So they are all intelligent. And those who are actually superior, having their transcendental bodies, are always there in the guidance of Rūpa and Rati Mañjarī and all the others, serving Śrīmatī Rādhikā. And sometimes they are serving Yugala Kiśora. They are most, most intelligent, supremely intelligent. We want to follow them. Rūpa Gosvāmī also wants to follow them, as well as Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, all, and Swāmījī also.
I have heard from so many of Swāmījī’s devotees that in his last days, two or three days before he departed, he requested them, “Take me to Rādhā-kuṇḍa. Just now today, I want to go to Rādhā-kuṇḍa in a bullock cart. I do not want to go by car. Bring a bullock cart, and in that I will go, like Nanda, Yaśodā, like all Vrajavāsī gopīs.” This was his desire, and I know this fact. But he was controlled. His disciples would not arrange for him to go. But actually no one can control him, and I know he went with his soul, in his transcendental body. He is always there among Rūpa, Sanātana, Raghunātha, as tad-anurāgi-janānugāmī. Like janānugāmī (follower of the residents of Vraja) he is there. So this was his last wish.
This is actually the glory of Swāmījī. If anyone does not understand Swāmījī’s real glory, he is also a fool, because he is not actually touching Swāmījī’s greatness. And they cannot properly glorify him. They do not understand that Swāmījī was endowed with such high-class qualities, especially having the highest love and affection for Śrīmatī Rādhikā. But instead they will see an uttama-bhakta and say, “Oh, he’s a sahajiyā. He’s a nonsense.” They want to bring all high-class devotees, uttama-bhāgavatas, down to the kaniṣṭha-adhikārī level, because they have no real idea.
I know that Swāmījī wanted to serve there forever, because he had realised this poem of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī. Now he is giving his mood in the purport. We can hear.
Devotee reads: The spiritual world is three-fourths of the total creation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
ŚRĪLA BHAKTIVEDĀNTA NĀRĀYAṆA MAHĀRĀJA: In Gītā it has been told.
What has been told?
Do you remember this śloka?
That this world is only one-fourth of the spiritual world.
Where is the śloka in Gītā?
Ekāṁśena sthito jagat (Gītā 10.42).
This world is not so big. This is only one world. There are lākhas and lākhas of worlds coming from the Karaṇovārī of Mahā-Viṣṇu, Kāraṇodakśāyī Viṣṇu, lākhas and lākhas of universes are floating on the Karaṇovārī. All the universes taken as a whole are only one-fourth. It has been told one-fourth, but I think that lākhas and lākhas are a little reflection of the whole creation. So, “it is the most ...”
Devotee reads: And it is the most exalted region. The spiritual world is naturally superior to the material world; however, Mathurā ...
ŚRĪLA BHAKTIVEDĀNTA NĀRĀYAṆA MAHĀRĀJA: We fear that if we are liberated, doing bhajana, then we will be lost. Actually, Indra, by thinking like this, once committed some offense at the lotus feet of his Gurudeva, Bṛhaspati. Immediately he was removed to this world as a hog. In this form he was tasting worldly desires and playing with so many she-hog wives. And he had so many children, sons and daughters! Gradually they were growing up, so many, many, many of them, and Indra was quite happy. There was no problem for taking food, or acquiring a very good palatial building to live in, or getting any luxurious possessions. He was so happy living as a pig.
One day Brahmā came on his way to Puṣkara. He saw that pig and recognised him. “Oh, this hog is not a hog. Actually it is Indra in this hog body because he insulted his Gurudeva.” Brahmā became very merciful to him and told him, “You are not a hog. These are not your wives and children. You should come with me to your original place, heaven.”
He was filled with wonder. “I cannot go there.”
“Why?”
“Oh, leaving my most beautiful family, sons, daughters and my wives?
I have so many, not only one but more than sixty thousand, so many!
How can I leave them?
I cannot go there. I am so happy here. You should go. I will not go.”
Brahmā was astonished.
“You are not going?
But there everything is so wonderful. Here is only some nonsense. Immersed in nonsense, you are here with the pigs, taking stool from here and there and sleeping in the stinking, rotting drains. So you should come with me.”
Indra asked:
“May I go with my children and my wives?
And will we have some new, new fresh stools to eat there?”
“No, no. You will have nectar there, nectar!”
“I do not want nectar, I want these things.”
“Acchā. I will give you.” And thus saying, he sprinkled some water from his kamaṇḍalu and spoke, “Maṅgalam bhavatū, maṅgalam bhavatū.”
As Brahmā began to take him, Indra began to jump and attack Brahmā.
“I will never go.”
But mercifully Brahmā sprinkled some water on him. Indra could then see the truth.
“Oh really, how bad this place is. In heaven there are so many apsarās. My wife is waiting for me and all are worried for me. There are very beautiful apsarās like Menakā, Urvasī and all others. Nectar is there. I can play there in the beautiful Nandana-kānana which is filled with parijata puṣpa, and so many other wonderful things. Oh, I must go there.”
Then he prayed to Brahmā, who again sprinkled some water. He became pure Indra, giving up his inauspicious body, and at once he went to heaven.
So our condition is like that. We are thinking that we are most happy with “my very dear wife. If she is not so beautiful, then I can manage some new arrangement. I can divorce and take a new wife. Then after some time when she becomes old, then again I can change.” And the wives are also thinking, “I will change my husband one, two, three times if I like!”
But there are so many problems in human life, more than for pigs and hogs. They can sleep but we cannot. We are so much involved in problems. The biggest one is that now we are moving into old age. Old age is coming on, and now white hairs are appearing here and there. If there are one or two, I will pluck them out.
But if they are scattered here and there, everywhere, then what to do?
If one tooth falls out, no harm, I will replace it with a golden tooth.
But all?
And at last we will die, giving up everything here. So we should be very sober.
We think that we are quite okay, that we will have a beautiful husband or wife, but there exists something much greater than this happiness. Especially in Goloka Vṛndāvana, only Kṛṣṇa is beloved. We must pray that we can serve Him. We cannot imagine what nectar is there. If a man realises this, then he will become very detached. He will take the renounced order and he won’t even see all these things, whether she is beautiful, he is beautiful, that is beautiful, or anything in this world is beautiful. Like Śukadeva Gosvāmī, like Caitanya Mahāprabhu, like Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī. One day we will have to be like Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī. One day we will have to be like the prostitute who became a very high-class devotee. Giving all her possessions to others, she became niṣkiñcana, akiñcana, only serving Tulasī and keeping no desires at all. We will have to be like her. Otherwise we cannot serve Rādhā-kuṇḍa.
(Reading from NoI): “So Mathurā and the adjoining area, however, although appearing in the material world, are considered superior to this spiritual world because the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself appeared at Mathurā,” not any other place. In Dvārakā, there was no birth of Kṛṣṇa. Father and mother are there, but no human birth. He took birth in Mathurā.
Specifically where in Mathurā?
In Gokula, in Vṛndāvana, the site of his real birth. His birth in jail in Mathurā was a manifestation of Vāsudeva and has been told only for those who love Dvārakā or Mathurā. It has been told for Parīkṣit. But after associating with Śukadeva Gosvāmī and becoming more advanced, then Parīkṣit said that Kṛṣṇa is the son of Nanda, Vrajendra-nandana Śyāmasundara.
In Dvārakā there are so many good pastimes of Kṛṣṇa. Once Kṛṣṇa was in the rāja palace of Rukmiṇī. At that time Rukmiṇī was the most wonderful, beautiful woman in the whole world. She was like a kiśorī and possessed all transcendental qualities. One day Kṛṣṇa was sitting on the bed of Rukmiṇī-devī. She took a cāmara from the hands of her maidservants and in a very loving mood, very sweetly and gently, was fanning Kṛṣṇa.
That day, Kṛṣṇa was so grave, very gambhīra. He told Rukmiṇī, “O Rukmiṇī-devī,” (but not addressing her like His beloved), “I know that you are the most beautiful queen in the whole world. All the handsome young kings and their sons want to marry you. You have so many qualities and are so beautiful. But I am black and ugly, not beautiful like you. You are the daughter of a very big king, Bhīṣmaka. I am not a king’s son. I am not a rāja-kumara, a prince. I am only a common person. My father is not so distinguished. Kaṁsa put My father and mother in jail. So I am a very general, ordinary person. I have no beauty nor any qualities like you. Only those persons who are so poor and have fallen in misery and suffering call on Me. I am the prince and friend of unfortunate persons who are always in distress and are especially poor, akiñcana, niṣkiñcana. Only those persons like Me. I know that so many rich kings, even Śiśupāla, wanted to marry you. You say that they only want to marry you in order to defeat and insult Me, not because they really want to marry you. But I know better, so I am telling you that you should come with Me, sit on My chariot, and I will take you to that very king whom you really wish to marry.”
Hearing this, Rukmiṇī at once fell down flat on the earth. One could not tell whether her life and soul was there or not. Kṛṣṇa became worried. He took some cotton and put it under her nose and saw that she was barely alive. He began to tell Rukmiṇī-devī, “My beloved Rukmiṇī, I did not really mean all those things I was telling you. I was only joking. Family life is the only happiness in this world. But sometimes the husband wants to make his wife angry to test her love. So he will purposely provoke her to taste her anger.
When the husband finally comes home in the evening, tired after working the whole day, he forgets his day’s labour and his fatigue if the wife speaks sweetly. I was enjoying all these things. But I also wanted to enjoy your anger.” (If a husband cannot do this, then his family life is not so happy.) “I wanted to see how beautiful you are when you are angry. Like this, I wanted to taste your mood. You are My beloved, without you I cannot live.
“I am accustomed from boyhood to act like this. I wanted to tell you that in Vraja sometimes I used these words with the gopīs. But they were more expert than Me. In angry voices they used to tell Me, ‘Get out from our kuñjas. O Rūpa Mañjarī, tell this black one not to enter My kuñja.’ And She told two gopīs, Rūpa and Rati Mañjarīs, to stand at the gate of that kuñja, ‘He should never come in any way. He knows so many tricks. He may come disguised as a woman making very beautiful flower mālās, like Mohinī, and sometimes in other disguises. Kṛṣṇa’s friend Subala can make Him look like a woman, a kiśorī, so always be careful that this rogue should not come anytime. “
“I come with folded hands, telling the gopīs, ‘I want to see Śrīmatī Rādhikā,’ and they reply, ‘You cannot come. Go away. Go back to where You came from. Don’t come here.’ I was accustomed to this type of behaviour and that is why I joked with you in that way, expecting to enjoy your response. But I think that you cannot joke like this. You are very soft hearted.”
Hearing this, gradually her life came back again and she began to play so many pastimes with Kṛṣṇa. In Dvārakā there are so many intimate līlās, but yet Kṛṣṇa has no birth there. And especially in Mathurā, there is Vṛndāvana, Gokula.
Raghunātha dāsa also glorifies Rādhā-kuṇḍa:
vaikuṇṭhād api sodarātmaja-vṛtā dvārāvatī sā priyā
yatra śrī-śata-nindi-paṭṭa-mahiṣī-vṛndaiḥ prabhuḥ khelati
prema-kṣetram asau tato ‘pi mathurā preṣṭhā harer janmato
yatra śrī-vraja eva rājatitarāṁ eva nityaṁ bhaje
(Vraja-vilāsa-stava 5, Raghunātha dāsa)
Mathurā is superior because in it is Vṛndāvana. In Mathurā-maṇḍala, Vraja-maṇḍala is situated. Mathurā is so superior, just as in this universe this planet, Pṛthivī-devī, is superior because of the presence of Bhārata-bhumī. So, in Mathurā there is Vṛndāvana, and Vṛndāvana is more exalted because of the presence of Govardhana. And Govardhana is blessed because of the presence of Rādhā-kuṇḍa and Śyāma-kuṇḍa. The progression takes place gradually—first the body, then the mind, man, buddhi, ahankāra, citta (mind, intelligence, false ego, heart), and after that, the soul. Kṛṣṇa is there in the soul, and in Kṛṣṇa Śrīmatī Rādhikā is there. That is why this human body is so supreme, because we can go to the highest destination. Rādhā-kuṇḍa is the life and soul of all these things. And this is what Swāmījī is telling us.
Devotee reads: The interior forests of Vṛndāvana are considered superior to Mathurā because of the presence of the twelve forests (dvādaśa-vana).
ŚRĪLA BHAKTIVEDĀNTA NĀRĀYAṆA MAHĀRĀJA: Yes, quite superior. Because the twelve forests are in Mathurā-maṇḍala, and among the twelve forests is Vṛndāvana. In an area of sixteen square miles, krośas of space, Govardhana, Nandagāoṇ, Varsānā, all are included there.
Devotee reads: The twelve forests (dvādaśa-vana), such as Tālavana, Madhuvana and Bahulāvana, which are famous for the various pastimes of the Lord. Thus the interior Vṛndāvana forest is considered superior to Mathurā, but superior to these forests is the divine Govardhana Hill because Kṛṣṇa lifted Govardhana Hill like an umbrella ...
ŚRĪLA BHAKTIVEDĀNTA NĀRĀYAṆA MAHĀRĀJA: Swāmījī is telling something hidden here. He is not speaking openly, because we are not qualified. Not only is he telling the reason that Kṛṣṇa lifted Govardhana on His hand, but he is also describing the lushness of Govardhana. There are so many groves, so many ponds, so many fountains and caves where the gopas play with Kṛṣṇa, and places where they go for cow herding. Govardhana is serving by all his senses, all his means, giving grasses, giving sweet fruits, very sweet water, providing a throne for Yugala Kiśora, and making groves where Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa can play. And among all these places are Rādhā-kuṇḍa and Śyāma-kuṇḍa, which are like Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa Themselves. So Govardhana is so superior to Vṛndāvana.
Vṛndāvana is only renowned for what thing?
Rāsa-līlā took place in the shade of Vaṁśī-vaṭa. But that rāsa-līlā was not prominent because it was pañcayatī-rāsa. Pañcayatī-rāsa means all kinds of gopīs were there, even the gopīs who were at first sādhana-siddha. This includes the sixteen-thousand sages from Daṇḍa-karaṇya, from Janaka-purī, from Ayodhya, and so many other kinds of gopīs were there. Even those who were not associates of Rādhikā, who were not Her bodily manifestations, were there, as were svapakṣā, vipakṣā, suhṛta, and taṭasthā gopīs. So many kinds of gopīs. Also among those gopīs were some who were qualified but had been checked by their husbands. They gave up their bodies, taking Kṛṣṇa by their eyes and keeping Him in their hearts. They embraced Him in such a way that all inauspiciousness was dispelled. These gopīs were also there. They have all participated in that rāsa.
But at Govardhana or Rādhā-kuṇḍa, special gopīs, only the party of Śrīmatī Rādhikā, were there, not anyone else. So this rāsa is superior to the one in Vṛndāvana. Swāmījī is telling about Kṛṣṇa lifting Govardhana like an umbrella here, but it is ...
Devotee reads: It is also at Govardhana Hill that Kṛṣṇa tends the cows with His cowherd friends, and there also He had His rendezvous with His most beloved Śrī Rādhā and engaged in loving pastimes with Her. Rādhā-kuṇḍa, at the foot of Govardhana, is superior to all because it is there that love of Kṛṣṇa overflows. Advanced devotees prefer to reside at Rādhā-kuṇḍa ...
ŚRĪLA BHAKTIVEDĀNTA NĀRĀYAṆA MAHĀRĀJA: Advanced devotees.
What does he mean by advanced devotees?
Those who are serving their gurudeva by hearing, who have come into the madhyama-adhikāra stage and are always remembering, chanting and doing all these activities. We must become advanced devotees. We should not be practicing for a long, long time, fifteen, twenty-five, fifty years, one hundred years, lākhas of years, and still be kaniṣṭha-adhikārīs. Swāmījī does not want us to stagnate like this. He has previously told that we have not come here to remain kaniṣṭha-adhikārīs. We must try to advance. So, the “advanced devotee prefers to reside at Rādhā-kuṇḍa because this place is the site of many memories of eternal loving affairs between Kṛṣṇa and Rādhārāṇī (rati-vilāsa).”
We can continue tomorrow, because one hour has gone. It seems that we have spoken for only five minutes. I think that it will take so much time to explain all these good things that Swāmījī is telling us. I want to read his explanations, and also I want you to taste all these things. By knowing all these things you can try to advance. Not that you should be only kaniṣṭha-adhikārī. Our way to Kṛṣṇa should not be blocked by surrendering to the idea that you are not, and you will not at any time be qualified to read this. “Don’t read Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Tenth Canto.”
Then why has Vyāsa written all these things?
Why?
In the council of Parīkṣit Mahārāja, when he was hearing Bhāgavatam, all kinds of karmīs, jñānīs, yogīs and tapasvīs were there, and by the words of Śukadeva Gosvāmī all were purified.
Then why will we not be purified if we have come in the line of Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Swāmījī?
Why not?
We are also qualified to have this thing. We will be qualified. So we should try to understand the deep meanings of Swāmījī, the deep meanings of Rūpa Gosvāmī, Sanātana Gosvāmī and Caitanya Mahāprabhu. I pray to Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Rūpa Gosvāmī, and all our disciplic ācāryas to be merciful to you all and also to me. They should sprinkle their mercy on all of us.
Gaura premānande!
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