19860917 Caitanya-caritāmṛta Antya-līlā 7.1.24

The following is a lecture given by HH Jayapataka Swami on September 17th 1986, at New Panihati Dham, Atlanta, Georgia. The class begins with reading from Caitanya Caritamrita Antya Lila Chapter 7  verse 1-24

Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto the devotees of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Simply by the causeless mercy of the devotees engaged in licking honey from His lotus feet even a fallen soul becomes eternally liberated. CC Antya 7.1

jaya jaya śrī kṛṣṇa caitanya nityānanda;

jayādvaita-candra jaya gaura bhakta vrṇda

(with repetition)

All Glories to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, All Glories to Nityananda Prabhu, All Glories to Advaita Chandra, All Glories to the devotees of Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu!

CC Antya 7.3

varṣāntare yata gauḍera bhakta-gaṇa āilā

pūrvavat mahāprabhu sabāre mililā

The next year, all the devotees of Bengal went to visit Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and as previously, the Lord met each and every one of them.

CC Antya 7.4

ei-mata vilāsa prabhura bhakta-gaṇa lañā

hena-kāle vallabha-bhaṭṭa milila āsiyā

Thus Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu performed His pastimes with His devotees. Then a learned scholar named Vallabha Bhaṭṭa went to Jagannātha Purī to meet the Lord. For a description of Vallabha Bhaṭṭa, one may refer to Madhya-līlā, chapter nineteen, text 61.

CC Antya 7.5

āsiyā vandila bhaṭṭa prabhura caraṇe

prabhu ‘bhāgavata-buddhye’ kailā āliṅgane

When Vallabha Bhaṭṭa arrived, he offered his obeisances at the lotus feet of the Lord. Accepting him as a great devotee, the Lord embraced him.

CC Antya 7.6

mānya kari’ prabhu tāre nikaṭe vasāilā

vinaya kariyā bhaṭṭa kahite lāgilā

With great respect, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu seated Vallabha Bhaṭṭa near Him. Then Vallabha Bhaṭṭa very humbly began to speak.

CC Antya 7.7

“bahu-dina manoratha tomā’ dekhibāre

jagannātha pūrṇa kailā, dekhiluṅ tomāre

“For a long time,” he said, “I have desired to see You, my Lord. Now Lord Jagannātha has fulfilled this desire; therefore I am seeing You.

CC Antya 7.8

tomāra darśana ye pāya sei bhāgyavān

tomāke dekhiye, — yena sākṣāt bhagavān

Translation

“One who receives Your audience is fortunate indeed, for You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself.

CC Antya 7.9

tomāre ye smaraṇa kare, se haya pavitra

darśane pavitra habe, — ithe ki vicitra?

“Since one who remembers You is purified, why should it be astonishing that one becomes purified by seeing You?

You can remember the Lord and become purified, then you can see the Lord then how much you can be purified.

CC Antya 7.10

yeṣāṁ saṁsmaraṇāt puṁsāṁ

sadyaḥ śudhyanti vai gṛhāḥ

kiṁ punar darśana-sparśa-

pāda-śaucāsanādibhiḥ

“ ‘One can immediately purify his entire house simply by remembering exalted personalities, to say nothing of directly seeing them, touching their lotus feet, washing their feet or offering them places to sit.’

This is a quotation from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.19.33).

 CC Antya 7.11

kali-kālera dharma — kṛṣṇa-nāma-saṅkīrtana

kṛṣṇa-śakti vinā nahe tāra pravartana

 

“The fundamental religious system in the Age of Kali is the chanting of the holy name of Kṛṣṇa. Unless empowered by Kṛṣṇa, one cannot propagate the saṅkīrtana movement.

 

CC Antya 7.12

tāhā pravartāilā tumi, — ei ta ‘pramāṇa’

kṛṣṇa-śakti dhara tumi, — ithe nāhi āna

 

“You have spread the saṅkīrtana movement of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Therefore it is evident that You have been empowered by Lord Kṛṣṇa. There is no question about it.

 Purport

Śrī Madhvācārya has brought our attention to this quotation from the Nārāyaṇa-saṁhitā:

 

dvāparīyair janair viṣṇuḥ pañcarātrais tu kevalaiḥ

kalau tu nāma-mātreṇa pūjyate bhagavān hariḥ

 

“In the Dvāpara-yuga one could satisfy Kṛṣṇa or Viṣṇu only by worshiping opulently according to the pāñcarātrikī system, but in the Age of Kali one can satisfy and worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead Hari simply by chanting His holy name.” Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura explains that unless one is directly empowered by the causeless mercy of Kṛṣṇa, one cannot become the spiritual master of the entire world (jagad-guru). One cannot become an ācārya simply by mental speculation. The true ācārya presents Kṛṣṇa to everyone by preaching the holy name of the Lord throughout the world. Thus the conditioned souls, purified by chanting the holy name, are liberated from the blazing fire of material existence. In this way, spiritual benefit grows increasingly full, like the waxing moon in the sky. The true ācārya, the spiritual master of the entire world, must be considered an incarnation of Kṛṣṇa’s mercy. Indeed, he is personally embracing Kṛṣṇa. He is therefore the spiritual master of all the varṇas (brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya and śūdra) and all the āśramas (brahmacarya, gṛhastha, vānaprastha and sannyāsa). Since he is understood to be the most advanced devotee, he is called paramahaṁsa-ṭhākura. Ṭhākura is a title of honor offered to the paramahaṁsa. Therefore one who acts as an ācārya, directly presenting Lord Kṛṣṇa by spreading His name and fame, is also to be called paramahaṁsa-ṭhākura.End of Purport. So these are very important verses.

kali-kālera dharma — kṛṣṇa-nāma-saṅkīrtana

kṛṣṇa-śakti vinā nahe tāra pravartana

and

tāhā pravartāilā tumi, — ei ta ‘pramāṇa’

kṛṣṇa-śakti dhara tumi, — ithe nāhi āna

And … Krishna Shakti karo tumiiti nahi… That the fundamental religious principle in this age of Kali is chanting of the holy name of Krishna,........empowered by Krishna. Srila Prabhupad was able to propagate the sankirtan movement all over the world in a pure form. Therefore he was supremely empowered by Lord Krishna, we find that Prabhupad was unique in this regard. Everyone admits that he was empowered by Lord Krishna. So since he was able to get the blessings of Krishna and Caitanya in spreading the sankirtan movement all over the world,.... taking shelter of His Divine Grace Srila Abhay Charan Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad is the process. By doing so we will definitely be successful. Sometimes one even sees that Prabhupad’s training and process is so perfect even out of false ego if somebody wants to leave the Krishna consciousness movement but if they follow the priniciples of Srila Prabhupad to some extent they are also able to achieve the result because Prabhupad’s message due to his empowered tradition and eternal devotee of the Lord. The guru is considered the incarnation of Krishna’s mercy. The true spiritual master simply represents the previous spiritual master's vision. Doesn’t change a thing but tries to serve the previous spiritual masters which is a wonderful feature of the disciplic succession where there are no two major opinions, there is only one opinion handed down. So because Prabhupad was empowered by Krishna’s mercy therefore he is understood to be the most advanced devotee, he is called Paramahamsa Thakur. And he is the spiritual master of all the varnas and all the ashramas. 11:50 Somebody thinks that I am born a brahmana therefore I can accept someone as my spiritual master who wasn’t a born brahmana. It is not confirmed here. Somebody is actually empowered by Krishna like Srila Prabhupad that everyone regardless of their caste, color, creed, can take shelter. A true Acharya is the Acharya for the entire world. Somebody is actually empowered by Krishna then anywhere in the world someone may get fame instilled in the heart by Krishna’s mercy. Here it explains what are the qualifications of an Acharya. Prabhupad became the Jagatguru or the spiritual master of the entire world can happen simply due to the causeless mercy of Lord Krishna. Now Srila Prabhupad presented Krishna to everyone by preaching the holy name of the Lord to everyone throughout the whole world. In this way as the Krishna consciousness movement is being spread more and more it is like the moon getting fuller and fuller. Today is the full moon day, Purnima. In this day onwards, the milk fast is over and the yogurt fast sorry, the milk fast begins and the yogurt fast is over,so in the catur masya. Just like the full moon similarly, even though devotee is pure they are always trying to bring the moon to a full state for practicing Krishna consciousness. Says here that the spiritual master is personally the incarnation of Krishna’s mercy, the through Acharya. And that he is always embracing Krishna. That is what we say, Prabhupader potho bahire kali kaler maya bahire, that if we walk on the path authorized by Srila Prabhupad which he enunciated that path representing the pure path of Caitanya Mahaprabhu someone just strictly goes off on that path, kali kala maya bahire, that it means that in the illusion of the age of kali, in this regard Haridas Thakur went and visited the house of Advaita Acharya and Advaita Acharya was very happy to have Him there. And on the occasion of the shraadha or death anniversary of His parents Advaita Goswami had a special function called shraadha where they offer some sacrifice and rituals where they offer a big feast to Lord Krishna. It is customary that the first offering of the mahaprasad should be offered to the most senior devotee or brahmana present at that time. After the offering was made to Krishna then Advaita had to consider who he was going to offer the first remnant like right after the Rajasuya sacrifice they, the Pandavas, had to consider who they should offer the offering, so that time Sahadev said it should be given to Krishna, Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Then Sishupal stood up and said no, actually not, Krishna is this and Krishna is that, how can you give, don’t give it to Krishna, He is just a cowherd boy, what does He know? And he kept on saying so many ridiculous things that finally Krishna’s Sudarshan chakra flew from His hand and chopped his head off. Now Advaita Goswami considered that I should give the first offering to Haridas Thakur. Haridas Thakur was born in a Mohammedan family and he was a pure devotee of Krishna. So Advaita saw that he was the best brahmana, he is the best representative of the Lord. He is the spiritual master of all the varnas and all the ashramas. But then some brahmana objected, how can you give Haridas Thakur the first offering? He is not a brahmana, meaning he was not a born brahmana. So then Advaita said, well, let us give a test, who is the real brahmana here. According to the Vedas, the real brahmanas when they breathe on the wood they can create fire. By mantra they can make wood light up. When they make the fire sacrifice with wood they set up you know, instead of rubbing with the matches or lighter, they simply say the mantras and so they all accepted the challenge. The firewood was held in front of each of the brahmanas, when they came to them and they blew on the firewood (GM making sound of blowing) but there was no flame, no flame came up at all! Then the next one, he set the firewood and said the agni mantra and tried to blow but nothing came. Like this it went around in the whole assembly and everyone was huffing and puffing but there was no fire. Then they brought the firewood in front of Haridas Thakur and he chanted the name of the Lord and breathed into the firewood and poof! Came up the fire! Everyone was astonished. Advaita Goswami then said, here is the brahmana and so then he offered the first plate of prasadam to Haridas Thakur. So the real spiritual master is the spiritual master of all varnas and ashramas. The person is a bona fide empowered spiritual master even if he is a grihastha, he may be the spiritual master of a sanyasi or vice versa. It is not based upon some external, material qualification but it is a spiritual blessing handed down from the previous acharyas. So because Srila Prabhupad took up very humbly and very sincerely the instructions of Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur, therefore he was empowered to spread the movement all over the world. Actually all the different religious leaders they should accept Srila Prabhupad as spiritual master of the entire world, of every varna, of every ashrama, every caste, every creed, he is the guru for everyone. Jagatguru. Paramahamsa Thakur. He should be accepted by all. The other important point here is that this verse from Madhvacharya’s Narayana Samhita which confirms in the Dvapara yuga by opulently worshipping the Lord in the temple we could, according to the Pancharatriki system, we could achieve Krishna. But in this age we attain the same thing by worshipping Krishna through chanting His holy names. It is the very special benediction of this age. Just like we try to do deity worship, then if you don’t have your own farm, you buy milk they put cod liver oil in the milk and things, everything is a little contaminated, you don’t get pure things. You want to offer things very opulently to the Lord but things are not done so perfectly. By chanting the holy name of the Lord then everything becomes organised, then everything becomes perfected in this age, even the deity worship is a little bit up to standard, not that we should relax and we should not maintain the Pancharatriki principles but in case there are some mistakes that is corrected by the mercy of the Lord.

 

CC Antya 7.13

jagate karilā tumi kṛṣṇa-nāma prakāśe

yei tomā dekhe, sei kṛṣṇa-preme bhāse

 

“You have manifested the holy name of Kṛṣṇa throughout the entire world. Anyone who sees You is immediately absorbed in ecstatic love of Kṛṣṇa.

 

CC Antya 7.14

prema-parakāśa nahe kṛṣṇa-śakti vine

‘kṛṣṇa’ — eka prema-dātā, śāstra-pramāṇe

 

“Without being especially empowered by Kṛṣṇa, one cannot manifest ecstatic love of Kṛṣṇa, for Kṛṣṇa is the only one who gives ecstatic love. That is the verdict of all revealed scriptures.

 

CC Antya 7.15

santv avatārā bahavaḥ puṣkara-nābhasya sarvato-bhadrāḥ

kṛṣṇād anyaḥ ko vā latāsv api prema-do bhavati”

 

“ ‘There may be many all-auspicious incarnations of the Personality of Godhead, but who other than Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa can bestow love of God upon the surrendered souls?’ ”

 

This is a verse written by Bilvamaṅgala Ṭhākura. It is quoted by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī in his Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta (1.5.37).

 

So love of Godhead is a special adhikaar or special reserved blessing of Lord Krishna Himself. No one else can give that mercy to the surrendered souls. Different incarnations come, they can give moksha, only Vishnu can give liberation. Siva, Brahma, Durga, Indra, Varuna, they are not able to give complete liberation, only Vishnu can give. Only Krishna can give love for Krishna. Love of Godhead, prema is only given by Krishna, not others. So if someone understands this they can take shelter of Krishna. It is not difficult at the same time by Krishna’s mercy one can very easily progress without Krishna’s mercy even if one tries, they will not be able to expand or manifest even pure love for Krishna. So in this way Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu is being glorified. But Lord Caitanya, He did not like being glorified, so He replied.

 

CC Antya 7.16

mahāprabhu kahe — “śuna, bhaṭṭa mahā-mati

māyāvādī sannyāsī āmi, nā jāni kṛṣṇa-bhakti

 

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu replied, “My dear Vallabha Bhaṭṭa, you are a learned scholar. Kindly listen to Me. I am a sannyāsī of the Māyāvāda school. Therefore I have no chance of knowing what kṛṣṇa-bhakti is.

 

CC Antya 7.17

advaitācārya-gosāñi — ‘sākṣāt īśvara’

tāṅra saṅge āmāra mana ha-ila nirmala

 

“Nevertheless, My mind has become purified because I have associated with Advaita Ācārya, who is directly the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

 

CC Antya 7.18

sarva-śāstre kṛṣṇa-bhaktye nāhi yāṅra sama

ataeva ‘advaita-ācārya’ tāṅra nāma

 

“He is unparalleled in His understanding of all the revealed scriptures and the devotional service of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Therefore He is called Advaita Ācārya.

 

CC Antya 7.19

yāṅhāra kṛpāte mlecchera haya kṛṣṇa-bhakti

ke kahite pāre tāṅra vaiṣṇavatā-śakti?

 

“He is such a great personality that by His mercy He can convert even the meat-eaters [mlecchas] to the devotional service of Kṛṣṇa. Who, therefore, can estimate the power of His Vaiṣṇavism?

Advaita Goisa ki, Jay, Nitai naam ki Jay

Purport:

It is extremely difficult to convert a mleccha, or meat-eater, into a devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Therefore anyone who can do so is situated on the highest level of Vaiṣṇavism.

 

27:20 pascyat desa sunyavadi duracari........ western countries, the voidists, the impersonalists, person inflicted with illicit activities against the vedic principles of human life, ..... how was it possible to deliver such fallen souls simply by your causeless mercy. Even such souls can be delivered. .......

 

The meat eaters are dull headed; it is hard for them to understand spiritual points. But it is possible if they get good association with devotees and hear the glories of Krishna then they can gradually become freed from their materialistic attachment. Advaita Goswami was so powerful that he was able to purify even the meat eaters. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu replied, My dear Vallabh Bhatta you are a great scholar kindly listen to Me.

 

 

CC Antya 7.20

nityānanda-avadhūta — ‘sākṣāt īśvara’

bhāvonmāde matta kṛṣṇa-premera sāgara

 

“Lord Nityānanda Prabhu, the avadhūta, is also directly the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is always intoxicated with the madness of ecstatic love. Indeed, He is an ocean of love of Kṛṣṇa.

 

CC Antya 7.21

ṣaḍ-darśana-vettā bhaṭṭācārya-sārvabhauma

ṣaḍ-darśane jagad-guru bhāgavatottama

 

“Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya perfectly knows the six philosophical theses. He is therefore the spiritual master of the entire world in teaching the six paths of philosophy. He is the best of devotees.

 

CC Antya 7.22

teṅha dekhāilā more bhakti-yoga-pāra

tāṅra prasāde jāniluṅ ‘kṛṣṇa-bhakti-yoga’ sāra

 

“Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya has shown Me the limit of devotional service. Only by his mercy have I understood that devotional service to Kṛṣṇa is the essence of all mystic yoga.

 

CC Antya 7.23

rāmānanda-rāya kṛṣṇa-rasera ‘nidhāna’

teṅha jānāilā — kṛṣṇa — svayaṁ bhagavān

 

“Śrīla Rāmānanda Rāya is the ultimate knower of the transcendental mellows of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s devotional service. He has instructed Me that Lord Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

 

CC Antya 7.24

tāte prema-bhakti — ‘puruṣārtha-śiromaṇi’

rāga-mārge prema-bhakti ‘sarvādhika’ jāni

 

“Through the mercy of Rāmānanda Rāya, I have understood that ecstatic love of Kṛṣṇa is the highest goal of life and that spontaneous love of Kṛṣṇa is the highest perfection.

 

Puport: Puruṣārtha (“the goal of life”) generally refers to religion, economic development, satisfaction of the senses and, finally, liberation. However, above these four kinds of puruṣārthas, love of Godhead stands supreme. It is called parama-puruṣārtha (the supreme goal of life) or puruṣārtha-śiromaṇi (the most exalted of all puruṣārthas). Lord Kṛṣṇa is worshiped by regulative devotional service, but the highest perfection of devotional service is spontaneous love of Godhead.

 

This is a special mercy of Lord Caitanya, He has come down, He has sent His devotees to come down in order to get us not only four perfections of life, liberation, economic development, satisfaction of the senses and religion, but actually gives us the Supreme benediction i.e. the Purushaartha, chanting the holy name of Krishna. This is given by Krishna’s mercy. This is the special mercy that Lord Caitanya has given what even nobody else has given so far before freely. That is why we pray to Him, namo maha vadaanyaya, Krishna prema pradayate, Krishnaya Krishna Caitanya naamne Gaura tvishe namo namaha. He is the greatest benefactor, the greatest giver. But we can see how Lord Caitanya, He is relishing, He is glorifying His own devotees. It is the characteristics of Krishna, His pure devotees, that They enjoy hearing and glorifying about other devotees. They don’t like to hear bad news about other devotees, they like to hear what someone is doing properly in Krishna consciousness. That is the special mercy of the Lord. By doing that a person is elevated beyond these four varnashrama functions and able to engage in pure devotional service. Now we read earlier the pastime of Ramananda Raya how he was answering questions for Lord Caitanya. He was saying that You are speaking through me. I don’t even know what I am saying. Whatever You are making me say that is what I am speaking. So sometimes a spiritual master may say something, even he may not fully understand all the purports himself but by repeating perfectly then somehow or another be adjusted and one is able to get the benefit of rendering pure devotional service. Pure devotional service, love for Krishna is something very special. That is why when somebody is advancing in the path of pure devotional service, we want them to continue, we want them to take full advantage and achieve pure love for Krishna in this lifetime. Once that is achieved then of course our whole mission will be successful. So this was the mood. We respect the vaishnavas, and try to get them to give us their blessings and by serving Krishna try to purify ourselves and come up to the path for pure spontaneous love for Godhead. Are there any questions? So many ways, unlimited, to the deities, to the devotees, through festivals, remembering, even by remembering the Lord one can get liberation. First to be more open to get the mercy of the Lord we should learn to be more humble. You see in the material world people tend to be proud, tend to be self-righteous, they think that whatever they are doing is right. That is actually the absolute cliché that we should be responsible for our activities and surrender to the will of the Lord. Without being humble if we start to think that somehow Krishna deserves to gives us mercy then we will not be very successful. Even when Radharani became a little proud She was left by Krishna in the forest alone and He is supremely renounced and .... 35:30 nobody is able to understand Lord Krishna’s actions whatsoever. Lord Krishna’s activities are completely transcendental. If someone is very humble and dedicated they can attract Krishna’s attention, His mercy. ....That is for Lord Krishna and Lord Caitanya to reveal. We hope in the future that everyone can become Acharya, maybe Jagatguru and deliver the whole universe depends upon. Prabhupad considered that his disciples and followers were pure devotees, that is what he considered, didn’t consider them to be neophyte devotees. So, definitions are given in the shaastras, what is a Jagatguru. If somebody qualifies according to those definitions that has to be judged on a one by one basis. But idea is everyone should be Jagatguru. A real guru, Prabhupad said, is a guru for the whole world, real Acharya. So the thing is to become from a guru to an Acharya, to actually be an Acharya, to deliver people all over the world, that is the objective of a preacher. In India Prabhupad, he didn’t like the word Jagatguru so much although it has been used many times in his books but they are positive because all the mayawadi gurus, they always call themselves as Jagatguru. So you have big signs, if you go to the Kumbha Mela you see, 108 Jagatguru Sri Sripad Shankar Aranya, a huge like this that going on. Then we have the next saying 1008 , then 10,008, Prabhupad once said what is this 108, 1008, 10,008? 420! 420 means that in India the Indian Penal Code there is one of the, 420 means that is the code for cheating. In the penal code for cheating someone else by falsification of documents, by misrepresentation, this type of thing, you know there is a code and that is called 420 in Indian Penal Code. Just like homicide in America may be 286 or whatever. Normally nobody knows what the penal code is but this has become very well used because if somebody gets caught doing some black marketing all the papers they say he has been caught for 420. So if you say chaar sow bees that means a cheat. Prabhupad said – they had 108, 1008, 10008, then he said 420 and everybody cracked up. 420, ha! They just keep putting numbers you know and if someone puts 108, someone puts 1008 he must be bigger, someone puts 10,008 but they are all putting Jagatguru 1million and 8, 10 million and 8. But if who they have made even one Krishna bhakta? Whether 1 million and 8 or 420 Jagatguru. So that way they are using just putting the title Jagatguru, Jagatguru, someone should actually be manifest that preaching practically show that mercy of Krishna is there, Prabhupad wanted his followers to be all empowered preachers of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, to all be Jagatguru and deliver the whole universe. Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur he was preaching to his followers and one day they were on a morning walk or evening walk, and he looked up at the moon and said that next I want to go there ad preach in the moon planet, there are so many materialistic people there although in the moon planet they turned away from Krishna and were simply interested in sense gratification. So we have to go there and give them pure Krishna bhakti. Everybody was speechless. So the devotee of the Lord he is thinking simply how to spread the sankirtan movement in one place or the other all over the universe. So, someone may be like Vasudeva Datta Thakur who simply by his desire he delivers the whole universe or someone may be like Srila Prabhupad who physically travels everywhere and delivers everyone. Any other question?

 

Well, if you go there and they blaspheme the movement or Krishna then it is better not to discuss about the movement and Krishna at all. Simply go there and say give them a little prasadam, say hello and if they are going to blaspheme then say I cannot come here, it is too painful for me you know. Just go there and give him some Prasad and engage him in some service knowingly or unknowingly and if a person is a hard core atheist or an impersonalist, Prabhupad said that no use in preaching to them, especially sometimes these people who are impersonalist, no matter what you preach they just listen and they get all scrambled up in their brain and when it comes out it is all one. No matter what you say they will nod but then after a while because somehow this mayawadi philosophy is such that it short circuits the intelligence, somebody has been too much absorbed in impersonal philosophy their brain is totally short circuited. And you try to say something to them and it is very difficult in many cases you find they just don’t have due to their offenses or something, they do not have the ability to understand. Rarely you can change such people. So after spending some time if you see that in spite of all the time, they listen, they understand and then nod their head when you ask them to explain what you told them, its all one! They say I am God, you are God. Then you say you are a wonderful person, why don’t you come to the temple, you can help sweep the floor......43:34  Just engage them in some service whatever it is. Although they may think they are God sweeping the floor, whatever, just engage them in service so they get some sukriti, maybe in this life or in the next life. We had one person, he was a friend of Krishna life member. Every day he would meditate naked in his puja room aham brahmaasmi om and he would just do this kind of impersonal thing and would be at it for two hours. He would get up at two in the morning and do the whole thing you know and he wrote a book you know about how light the path of the light or something.But he couldn’t no matter what you said, I told him that in the Bhagavad Gita it says I am the basis of the impersonal Brahman. In the whole context of that chapter his all spiritual life, Brahman everything, he phoned up, he was so confused, he looked up at me, and there was like a major upset in his life, so he phoned up a one friend of his who was a mayawadi also, professor or guru in some mayawadi ashram. He said, no, no, Brahman means the four headed Brahma. Krishna is saying He is the basis of the four headed Brahma. There is no where that you can squeeze that meaning out. But after that he wouldn’t hear anything, no, no, four headed Brahma, that’s it. They just don't learn, they are not open. But that person in spite of all these mayawadi tendencies he was a hardcore impersonalist, he did tremendous service. So we didn’t waste our energy. You know few days we tried and ... then we saw it was hopeless. So then we started engaging him in service. By doing service he started to chant Hare Krishna! And although he kept up his mystic yoga meditation he started to chant little Hare Krishna and gradually you could see that his heart was softening although it took a couple of years a lot of service. So sometimes these life members, these people who are mayawadis there is no use in disturbing them, rather we try to engage them in some service. As long as they are not offensive. If we start discussing then they get offensive, they start to give their speculations and all. And then suddenly just as he was trying to be a little bit devotionally inclined, slight, he passed away. I think for all of his service Krishna will bless him that he can be a devotee. Because his brain was too contaminated to fully get into devotional service but he was inclined so I am hopeful that by Krishna’s mercy he will be able to be a devotee in his next life. It says, bahunaam janmanaam ante, gyaanavaan maam prapadyante, vaasudevam sarvam iti, sa mahatma su durlabham. After many, many births one is able to accept devotional service and understand Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, become a devotee. So these gyanis even though they are wise men it takes them many, many births to become truly what to speak of these ordinary atheists who don’t even understand anything about the Absolute Truth or God. But for them also they can simply be engaged in Krishna’s service, bring them a sweet or something, get them some Prasad, see them for a few minutes and then go. In this way as much as you can engage, some people you can engage, some wives who are Krishna conscious complain their husbands are totally in maya, not interested at all, so then Shubag Maharaj was recommending that you offer little Krishna Prasad, don’t tell him it is Prasad, you just give it in his food and by doing that many wives have changed the hearts of their husbands. So powerful is this medicine. In fact in one of the namahats, one of my disciples came and told me that now we have a very big revolution in the village. All the women are chanting Hare Krishna and the husbands are totally against it. For one year they have been doing it on the sly. Sometimes they get caught, sometimes they have to count on their fingers, sometimes they cannot find their bead bags, it’s a big thing. Somehow or another they face these thing. By the time they get to one year chanting they become fixed up, then they can face their husbands. Then after that the husband he cannot do anything. In the end the wife is able to bring the husband around to make him a devotee. So this way we already have four or five families working on board. So whether the husband becomes Krishna conscious first or the wife whatever, sometimes it happens that you are preaching in congregational preaching and one person is more interested than the other. But by association, by taking Prasad, by doing some service gradually they can be purified and they get enough sukriti that they are able to render devotional service. Last question.

 

Krishna says people that go to Him for material reasons are pious. If somebody is worshipping God to get material benefit they are also considered pious people. Like the sakaam devotees. They may not be pure devotees and they have been training to simply serve the Lord in love. Lord Jesus said that the highest perfection is to love the Lord with pure love, you know with all heart, soul, mind, everything. It was His first commandment. Love means to give something without expecting anything in return. When you give and expect in return it is a business deal, it is not love. Love means it is unconditional. So this is already there in Christian teaching, so a real Christian should be a real lover of God from that definition, one would take it. But in practical terms you find in all religions that people are serving the Lord but for some material purpose. They want something out of it. It is not pure love. So they are considered to be pious people but not pure devotees. So we are trying to, actually fulfill the real purpose of Lord Jesus. Therefore, in one sense you can take it that the Krishna conscious devotees are the real Christians. Because we are following His first commandment to systematically develop love for God.

What is it? Somebody says I am an American, I am a patriot, I am a pure American but they are waging war against the country or cheating on income tax. They can say anything. Wear a bumper sticker on their thing saying anything but don’t pay their income tax, what kind of citizen are they? Someone else he may not put all the fanfare up but he when the need is there he gives his life for the country, then he is the real patriot. So like that if someone may be going around telling everybody how they are great Christian or great this or great that but we have to see their practical activities also. What is their understanding, What is their activities? So the meaning of Acharya is they should know and they should act and they should teach others. Just to advertise one’s own self then you put yourself under surveillance and see. We don’t advertise like Christians or anything but if you follow the teachings of Christ you must be a Christian. So Christ says that you should develop love for Godhead, that is My first commandment. So if you want to go through Him that means you have to follow His teachings, so we are following that teaching. So how are we different? We have to take it that we are as much Christian as anyone else. At least on that pure level. We may not do the all other rituals but at least we are doing the number one commandment which is to develop love for Godhead. I don’t think that Jesus would at all be dissatisfied with our attempt. Rather He would be grateful that we are trying to develop love for Godhead. After all Godhead is the Father that He said everyone should love. Hare Krishna!