20101027 Question and Answer Session at Juhu Beach Temple.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim

yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam

paramānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya īśvaram

Hari OM Tat Sat.

12^th chapter.

Devotee : 12^th chapter yeah

Guru Maharaja:  12^th chapter 2^nd verse

Devotee :

śrī-bhagavān uvāca
mayy āveśya mano ye māṁ
nitya-yuktā upāsat
śraddhayā parayopetās
te me yukta-tamā matāḥ

Translation: 

The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: Those who fix their minds on My personal form and are always engaged in worshiping Me with great and transcendental faith are considered by Me to be most perfect.

Guru Mahārāja: So, Arjuna asked which of the personal or the impersonal worship. So Krishna immediately said worship against the person is better.

 I was asked by some devotee, how can we balance the material world with the spiritual world. But here we see that everything we do we can do with a spiritual process. We can do the marketing of the fruits vegetables and grains are cooked prasad, bhoga for Krishna and can be taken as prasad. So all the marketing can be done as devotional service. In the same way everything we do we can do it a service to Krishna. So in this way we can 24 hours a day be engaged in Krishna’s devotional service. This is a very easy process. You have to adjust your mind. You see like there is a surgeon, he uses the knife to operate on or take out some faulty, tissue and this thief he has a silver knife but he wants to steal from you. So what’s the difference? Both are using the knife. But the consciousness is the difference. One is using to steal another using to save a life. So simply we are adjusting our consciousness we can do everything for Krishna. We can work for Krishna. Everything we do we can do it for Krishna. So in this way we can make our life centered around Krishna. This is the process of Bhakti Yoga. It’s a training for our    (3.45)           process.

So we are very happy to see all of you tonight in this holy month of Damodara. In this month, especially you are recommended to do all your activities as a devotional service. Some things we can do are direct like offering a lamp to Krishna so this a direct service. Attending the class, aarti. This is all direct service. But by some adjustment of the mind everything we do can also be devotional service. So we are very happy if you are trying to engage yourselves in devotional service and at the end of my speech, short speech, I will do the question answers. So those who have questions written will do first otherwise you can speak also. We use the cordless mike. So this process some people question that why you are so religious? You can  go to temple and you can  engage just 5 minutes,  pay your pranaam you can just give your shopping list, I need this,  I need that.  But you see we don’t know that in Kaliyuga you can actually go back in this short life to Krishna. If you chant Hare Krishna and if you engage in devotional service

kaler doṣa-nidhe rājann

asti hy eko mahān guṇaḥ

kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya

mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet

This Kaliyuga is an ocean of defects but has one good quality that is chanting the holy names of Krishna.

 Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa  Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare

By this mukta-sangah paraṁ vrajet you can be freed from the contamination of the three modes and you can go back to Godhead. You can achieve the param gatim, the Supreme destination. So this is the fastest process in Kaliyuga. So, yes, we are not only very religious but we do everything as a service to Kṛṣṇa. Few things that you would not think are Kṛṣṇa conscious but we do those also. Like slow working (6.53 ), breathing are used  as education in order to extend my service to Kṛṣṇa.

I do my work, pay my rent, my house I use it for Kṛṣṇa’s service. I also invite you over and we will chant Hare Kṛṣṇa together.

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa  Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare

(kirtan) Guru Mahārāja sings and all devotees repeat after hiṃ

Like this you can do things for Kṛṣṇa. Of course if you visit Māyapur or Vṛindāvana then every step can be a devotional service, every breath. In fact it is said that one step in Māyapur is more than a austere vrata        (8.15) .  Every breath is like chanting great mantras. Lying down is like offering pranams to the deities.

So, once Prabhupāda ( 8.30) he was in Mayapur and  after darshan and he gave lot of –(8.36) and there he said he drank some water and “Ah!! Māyapur” he said, “living or dying in Māyapur are all the same.” So we were wondering, how is living and dying the same. So he said if you live in Māyapur you are living in a holy dhāma you are in Kingdom of Godhead and if you die in Māyapur you go back to Godhead. So in this way Māyapur or Vṛindāvana or Vraj mandala and Gaura Mandala, there it is 84 krosas that is 168 miles more or less, .not exactly.  It’s the dhāma. So, that means the Gaura mandala is basically from Remuna to the     (9.51)  hills that is beyond the         ( 9.53)  Kanai Natshala  western side. On the eastern side we have the Sylhet with the Pundarika Vidyanidhi birth place. That is the boundary of the Gaura mandala.

And Navadvīpa mandala is 9 islands that is around 32 miles in circumference. So that’s 10 miles in diameter. Navadvīpa dhāma is made by Rādhārāni and is especially made for the pleasure of Kṛṣṇa. So Vṛindāvana is made by Krsna for the pleasure of Rādhārāni and Navadvīpa is made by Rādhārāni for the pleasure of Kṛṣṇa.

So we would like to take this opportunity to invite you to Māyapur and to benefit from the transcendental vibrations. There devotional service is very easy to perform. And there is not much offence. We should avoid offence, but by Lord Caitanya’s mercy, he doesn’t accept offence easily. So this is called “Audarya dhāma”, merciful dhāma. Vṛindāvan is called the “Madhurya dhāma”,a sweet dhāma. And Jagannath Puri is called “Aishwarya dhāma”, the ultimate dhāma.

 So these are the 3 dhāmas, that Lord Caitanya He spent time in   (12.09)   He visited South India, He visited North India. He visited Bihar, Bangladesh. But these three places are the holy dhāmas. So all these dhams make this planet very special in this whole universe. So Krishna comes here in His original form which human beings are made in the image of that    we are like Kṛṣṇa .it’s not like Kṛṣṇa is like human. Rather we are like Kṛṣṇa. So this is the mercy of Kṛṣṇa that we are somehow we are here on this planet. Now we can take advantage of Kṛṣṇa appearance 5000 years ago and Lord Caitanya’s appearance merely 524 years before. Hare Kṛṣṇa!!

So, those who have questions, any questions? You have any. Otherwise what is (13.24

Speak loud.

Devotee:  Is preaching more important or personal sadhana in terms of studying , worshipping more important? Which should be given priority?

Guru Mahārāja: Good Question. I went to Śrīla Prabhupāda and I said, “I was building here buildings. I was working from 6 in the morning till 12 in the night or so. I had no time for reading or anything. Just japa that’s all or so I thought that maybe I should spend some time for reading, personal sadhana.”  Then he said, “don’t think that building like buildings is material. That’s also Kṛṣṇa conscious.” So he said that you build my building or you read my books, same.

So I will answer the other question. I was also one time in Kolkata.  I was the temple president. I was chanting 32 rounds so Prabhupāda saw me on the veranda there of the  Kolkata temple.  So he asked me, “What are you doing?” I thought, he will be very pleased. So I said, “I am chanting 32 rounds”.[ All devotees cheer by saying HARIBOL!!] So he said, “Chant 16, go out preaching.[All devotees laugh] If you stay back who is going to preach. so  you have to chant and  if you are chanting extra go out preaching. So that was the end of my 32 rounds. So personal sadhana is also nice. But I wish you have basic sadhana, after that we need to also do some preaching. It’s not like we should stop preaching and do our sadhana. We have to chant our 16 rounds. We have to read a little bit but we should also spend some time on preaching. Otherwise what’s the use? Now if you don’t chant at all and you just preach then you will start to see that the activities are mundane. All of you have to do the basic sadhana, but your shouldn’t give up preaching to do more sadhana.  Not now, may be when you are too old. Hare Kṛṣṇa

 Devotee : Hare Kṛṣṇa

Guru Mahārāja : Hare Kṛṣṇa (laughter)

Devotee : Guru Mahārāja, Vṛindāvana is Madhurya Aishwarya Dhāma. Once we visit the Vṛindāvana, sometimes we make the dham aparadh. What type of dham aparadh that happens by us should be avoided?

Guru Mahārāja : I heard that you are asking about dhāma,but could you be more clear.

Devotee: After visiting Vṛindāvana we are doing some dhāma aparadh

Guru Mahārāja : Oh!! You should not do that.

Devotee: but what type of dham aparadh is there that we can avoid it.  

Guru Mahārāja : In the Māyāpur brochure for the parikrama we give the ten offences to the holy dhāma. Similar to the 10 offences to the holy name, except the dhāma is there. Like those who are offending the vaishnavas who preach in the holy dhāma, very similar as the offences to the holy name. So this way order of the Guru, who lives the holy dhāma, to blaspheme the shastras which are glorifying the dhāma  to be exaggeration. Like this 10 offences to the holy name, only the dhāma. So we should avoid these offences. As such Sri Vṛndāvana gives a thousand times benefit by mere service, but also you get a thousand times effect for any sin, any offence. So, its that sometimes devotees are recommended to just spend a few days in Vṛndāvana or be very careful when you are there. You should be aware of the holy dhāma so you shouldn’t engage in the offence.

I once met one sanyasi and he was told, he should go bare foot on a parikrama, so then he said, “Bare foot! Come on there is all kinds of insects and worms and it’s a dirty place. He started offending Vṛndāvana. Always in a …..(19.39)   I think I committed a dhāma aparadh.

So in Vṛndāvana you don’t want to commit any dhāma aparadhs. If you want to go, you should go with a mindset, very careful. Don’t look at any dirt, any pigs, anything. They are not consequential. The dhāma is 5000 years old and …[20.18]…    but the dhāma is holy. We should always worship the dhāma.

 Now, don’t worry. Navadvīpa is less,  they don’t take offences there. So of course [20.38] you can make some offences but it’s much harder and we get forgiven easier. So that’s why, Navadvīpa dhāma we go there first and then we go to Vṛndavāna, that’s the recommended way. Just like first we chant the Panchatattva mantra then we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.

 Ladies turn

Devotee: sometimes we feel special attraction to one whole place. Usually in my case it is Māyāpur. So any special meaning of that?

Guru Mahārāja: Like the siddha Jagannath Das Babaji, he was in Vṛndāvana. He found it too intense, so he went to Navadvīpa. There he achieved his realisation. So he is called as the Siddha Jagannath Das Babaji. Like that we should see Vṛndāvana and Māyāpur as both holy places. At the same time someone may like one dhāma or another, that is Lord Caitanya’s devotees simultaneously achieve Caitanya līla and Krishna līla. So to be a  Caitanya devotee you need to participate in  (22.23).. pastime so then that’s you are Lord Caitanya devotee.

But some of you may like one dhāma or other but we shouldn’t see any dhāma as material or we shouldn’t criticize, in any case. Navadvīpa dhāma, this is more like where gṛhasthas and the other devotees they can live. They don’t get any offence. But if you are in Vṛndāvana , you should be like very strict, like those renounced order persons because there you do get offence. So they say that some of the pigs, dogs and monkeys are actually some Vrajavāsis, because they didn’t follow very strictly, they took birth in Vṛndāvana as animals. So you have to be careful when you are in Vṛndāvana.

Devotee:  once I was going from Vṛndāvana to Mathura suddenly we passed through the statue of Kaṃsa. I was looking to the Kaṃsa and at the right moment [23.55] the devotee who was driving on the cycle moved in right into the wall.[24.00 -24.30]

Guru Mahārāja: I can’t say whether that’s a offence. But we should be very careful in Vṛndāvana. I know that. Well we are very fortunate, Prabhupāda said Vṛndāvana is his place of residence and Bombay was his office and Mayapur is his place of worship. So that’s how Prabhupāda saw the things

.[24.58]

How many are there on the net tonight? 30.

Any last question?

Mriga , any question?

Audarya- merciful.[25.20]

You see the Gaura Vṛndāvana there is 4 dhāmas that is the Vṛndāvana, Mathura, Dvārāka and also Sveta Dvīpa which is Lord Caitanya’s dhāma, so all these four are in Gaura Vṛndāvana. If you went to some universe where Kṛṣṇa’s or Lord Caitanya’s pastimes are going on, then  we get to participate in those pastimes and we get trained  up and then we go back to Godhead to Goloka Vṛndavana. So that’s the route.

Any question from the internet.

I give you all blessings to all those on internet watching. Hari Bol!! Hari Bol!! Hari Bo!! .

Today I had to attend a meeting, first with Mayapur GBC. And then second with the MVT. And so I am a little bit tired. It’s hard for me to speak properly today. So, it’s also late. So we will give prasad. We would like to welcome here,  Radha Govinda devi dasi. And she is also a astrologer . she is the ardhāngini of  Kaunteya Das.  Also we have devotees from Argentina. You are from Argentina or where?

 Paraguay.

 Your name?

Devotee :[27.30] uchreya and Pranjali.

Guru Mahārāja: So let’s all give them a big Hari Bol !! Hari Bol!!. Hari Bol!!.

Tomorrow is close [28.00]to the organisational…… meeting.    

So you come up and I will give them prasad.