20150205 Śrīla Prabhupāda Kathā

Gurumahārāja: 

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ

paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim

yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande

Śrī gurum dina tarinam

paramānanda-mādhavam

Śrī Caitanya Iswaram

Jaya Nitāi Gaura ki………………….. [Jaya]

Jaya Pārtha Sārathi, Lalitā, Viśākhā ki………….. [Jaya]

Jaya Sītā Ram Laxman Hanumān ki……………. [Jaya]

Śrīla Prabhupāda ki………………………………..[Jaya]

Lord Caitanya is the special incarnation of Kṛṣṇa combined with Rādhārāṇī. So, in Kaliyuga the Lord comes disguised. There are so many people that claim to be incarnations. So, one of the Lord’s name is Triyugā. He only comes proclaimed in three yugās. He comes in Kaliyugā, but as a channā avatar or a hidden incarnation. In the last Kaliyugā the Lord came as Bālajī, and Srinivas Govinda, he appeared on Tirumala hills, and Mahalaxmi was in Kalore. So, his pastimes are well known.

Lord Caitanya is the supreme personality of Godhead, and He gave out something which was never given out before. Never. For days of Brahmā. So, and his movement will be present in the world in a very positive way; and for ten thousand years. So, this time is the beginning of that ten thousand years, and one can easily get the devotion for the Lord and for His holy names. That’s why particularly it is recommended to chant the holy names of Kṛṣṇa. So, we chant:

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare

Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare………………… [repeated by devotees]

Since the Lord and His name are non-different, the Lord and His Dham are non-different, and the Lord and His form or pastimes or qualities are non-different. But it’s very easy to chant the names of the Lord, and thus one awakens the dormant love in the heart. Kṛṣṇa never gave out this love of himself so easily, but Lord Caitanya gives it out very freely. So, we should take the mercy while it’s available here in this Kali Yuga. In fact, some of the rishis and celestial beings, they say, this Kali Yuga is the best of all Yuga’s because one can get love of Kṛṣṇa very easily. One cannot go to the spiritual world, especially Goloka Vṛndāvana unless they have love. The spiritual world is all based on love. Everyone loves the Lord, everyone wants to serve the Lord out of pure love. In this material world people want to enjoy the senses, but they are not aware that the senses not only give enjoyment, they also give suffering. So, any enjoyment of the senses is not very great. So, we don’t have to abstain from so many things. Somethings are restricted, but those are things which are basically bad for us, like taking intoxication. You don’t need. By chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa you get spiritual bliss, and that doesn’t have any side effects. All the material intoxication has some side-effects. Like this, there are somethings we are told to avoid, but this are things that any sane person would avoid, like gambling. Why risk your hard-earned money just on a flick of the dice or flick of the cards or spin of the wheel? And out of lust and greed someone hopes that they will get rich quick, but as they say, “The only one that wins ultimately is the house.” So, all the things are set in such a way that house gets the major percentage. And they like if you win. Certain number of people should win, and then they will get eager and greedier, and they will lose all that they win, and the house gets more. So, like this one can be a householder, one can do the ordinary things in life. But they should chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, and they should avoid very sinful things. They should help others to be Kṛṣṇa conscious. 

So, we are going to answer questions tonight. 

First, is there anything on Prabhupāda that you want to say. You can write your questions on a piece of paper.

Mahāvarāha Prabhu: Letter written by Śrīla Prabhupāda. 

Date: 28th July, 1971. 

Camp: 439, Henry Street, Brooklyn, New York.

My dear Jayapatākā Mahārāja, 

Please accept my blessings. I am due receipt of your letter dated 18th July, 1971 and I have noted the contents. I am very glad to learn that you are again President of our Calcutta center. In the beginning also, I did not want the change. Anyway, let there be no change anymore. So far account keeping is concerned, are you taking assistance of a professional accountant? At the end of one year you will have to make a balance sheet and trial balance sheet and trial balance. That takes good experience. Tamal is going to audit the account by somebody else, but how can there be auditors in the absence of trial balance? So, if you have actually made a trial balance and balance sheet, please send me a copy before it is audited. On the whole our account should be kept very nicely because we are dealing with public’s money. In Calcutta there is no international society book fund account. So, all book fund money may be directly transferred by mail to Gwalior Tank Road branch of Central Bank of India, Account number -14876. Central bank will dispatch free of charges. Gwalior branch has already issued a letter in this connection that all mail-transfer will be free of charge. Regarding exporting of mrindangas, I am very glad that you are in charge of this department. It is so nice that you are taking care of temple affairs and exporting of instruments, beads etc. I am very glad to know that Yaśodā Nandan has arrived there from Barkley. I shall be glad to know how he is engaged in Calcutta activities. Hoping this will meet you in good health. Your even well-wisher, A.C. Bhaktivedānta Swami Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Gurumahārāja: what about gopīs?15.09

Mahāvarāha Prabhu: No, there is no gopī.

Yaśodā Nandan has arrived there from Barkley, U.S.A. 

(continues reading….

I shall be glad to know how he engaged in Calcutta activities)

So, one is about… the first one is about keeping proper account, and whether you have taken assistance from a professional accountant, trial balance sheet. 

Gurumahārāja: So, Prabhupāda, he wanted all the branches of Bombay ISKCON to prepare proper accounts, have them audited and send in to Bombay. It’s said he was happy to hear I was again President. I was President of Calcutta about eleven times. Every time our G.B.C came… he would remove me for one reason or another. I remember he made one person the TP, and then he went out for three days to Māyāpur. When he came back the temple president was waiting for him at the top of the stairs. When he came up, he grabbed him by the neck and slammed him against the wall. “You made me the President of this place. All this people are crazy.” and he started to beat up… beat… beat…shh…shh… smashed him. So, I had to save our G.B.C. And then the person threw down the keys, “I quit.” And he left. So, that’s how I got made President again. We had Yaśodā Nanda, Revatī Nanda, Yamunā. And all the people are high personal, strong personalities. Pancha Draviḍa. And in the future, they came, many of them became guru’s and leaders; and there was no controlling them. It is just you had to like sway them. So, it was very tough to be the President. So, then G.B.C, he didn’t know what to do. So, he made me the President again. So, like this I got made again. Prabhupāda said, “I never wanted to change. I am happy you are the President again.” So, as far as I remember we had a professional accountant who kept the accounts, and every expenditure had to have a paper trail, that means no vouchers. And those vouchers would be written up. Now probably it is done by computers, but in those days, it was written up. And then we had the auditor, and he would audit the accounts, but first he did a trial balance, and Prabhupāda wanted to see the trial-balance. So, probably the accounts in India were the first accounts that were so meticulously under Śrīla Prabhupāda’s direct supervision and implementation. So, I was exporting mridaṇgas, kartāls, harmoniums and beads, whatever the devotees needed to push on Krishna consciousness. Now there are many devotee companies who do this work, but at that time I was the one. So, Prabhupāda encouraged me in my service as the President and as the exporter of ISKCON. Later he had someone else take over this export business. He said that this should be done by a grihastha. Yaśodā Nanda was also our young brahmachāri in Montreal. So, he was a very active person, and it was very useful to have him in on board. Of course, one of the devotees took him and showed him some of the sweet shops in India. In Calcutta it is famous for milk sweets- Sandesh, gulab- jamun, rasagullā, chamcham, misthi doi, and so many others. So, in the West you didn’t have these sweets, they weren’t vegetarians. So, here the sweet shops were all vegetarian, and they could be offered to the Deities at that time. Later we… I mean… we made our own sweets and offered. But they took up the service to quality check the sweets, to see if they were suitable for offering. It was a great sacrifice that they did. And one of the… I don’t think Yaśodā Nandana got this, but one of the devotees got a carbuncle. A carbuncle is a mahaboil. It is like a mother of all boils. It has multiple heads and it hurts like anything. So, we had some medicine to apply on this carbuncle; and this carbuncle was very deep, big, painful. So, the carbuncles were the sign that maybe they shouldn’t do all the quality testing in all the sweet shops. Anyway, these were the early days in Calcutta ISKCON. Now our devotees are very careful, they don’t eat outside. Sometimes on feast days they buy misthi doi or rasagullā, but generally the learn to make most sweets themselves. In Bengal each city has a special milk sweet; like in Bardwan its Sītā Bhoga, in Chandan Nagar it is hard Sandesh. Someone gave me a hard Sandesh from Chandan Nagar, and they were all sitting and watching. I wondered why is everyone watching. I bit into it; its hard on the outside, inside there is a liquid sweet. If you bite into it, the liquid sweet goes down your chin, and they all laughed ha, ha, ha. That’s the specialty of the Chandan Nagar sweet – hard Sandesh with sugar inside. So, now some of these sweets are prepared and offered to the Deities in different parts of the world. In London, in the Bhaktivendānta Manor, they have a special Sandesh and also burfi, big ones. They charge a pound and a half or one, but devotees, they wait in line to get the mahaprasādam. In London all the sweets are made locally. So, like that the… now around the world you have different devotees who make different sweets. 

That’s finished all letters?

Ok. Now, tonight is special. Any Kṛṣṇa conscious question I will try to answer.

What time is it?

Ok. We have till 10.

Shyāma Madhusudhan Prabhu: This question is from Śiromaṇi Mātājī. She asks, sometimes disciples don’t ask questions to the spiritual master because they think that they are bothering the guru. What is the proper understanding and mood a disciple should have?

Gurumahārāja: The Guru is there to answer questions. And we shouldn’t think it’s a botheration. That’s why the guru is there; to answer questions. Since he has to take their reactions for everything you do, it is in his interest to see that you are doing the right thing. If one is not able to reach their guru for any reason, they may take a siksha guru. That should also not be done whimsically. It should be… if the guru is present, you should get his blessings, and otherwise, if he is not present, it should be a very established devotee who is known to give proper answers according to sādhu, śāstra and guru. Here I hear that some people consider everybody as a siksha guru. That in one sense is ok. But in siksha guru there are two levels: one is just anyone who gives you relevant instructions, and the second is someone who is almost at the same level as your diksha guru. Still, the diksha guru has the final word because he is ultimately responsible. 

Question: Hare Kṛṣṇa Gurumahārāja. It is said that to get the love of God we must surrender to Guru and Kṛṣṇa. How can we develop our mood of surrender?

Gurumahārāja: Of course, as I said in the beginning, that love of Godhead is given out freely by Lord Caitanya and Nitāi Chand. So, it’s given out much easier than before. If one wants to develop surrender to the Guru, they should associate with some devotees who are very surrendered to the guru, and similarly, if you want to surrender to Lord Caitanya or Kṛṣṇa, you should associate with similar devotees who are very surrendered to Kṛṣṇa. By serving the pure devotee, by serving the guru, one also develops the mood of surrender, and therefore we try to serve the Guru. In this way we can get surrender to Guru and Kṛṣṇa more easily.

Shyāma Madhusudhana Prabhu: This question is from Kālindī Sundarī Mātājī from Ohio, Columbus. She says, “Is accidental offensive which comes and goes, which I don’t want, does it have any effect on me?”

Gurumahārāja: In the Kali yuga one doesn’t get sinful reactions merely by thinking. In other yuga’s merely by thinking you get sinful reactions. But to get puṇya you have to do the things. To get puṇya in Kali Yuga, you have to merely think about it. Now offences are another level. That means directly in relationship with the Guru or Krishna. So, one should be very careful to avoid the offences – the offences to the holy name, the offences to the holy dham, the sevā offences. 

My feet to be covered. Don’t want to offend… offence.

So, whether how much a mental offence is, its not so clear in the Vedas, since the offence and pap… pap is material, and offence is spiritual. So, that’s why we perform the Guru pūjā and we pray to the Deities to please forgive us for any known or unknowing offence, and like this we get freed from the reactions to mental offences. Offences are very special; so, we have to be very careful to avoid offences. If we ask someone to forgive us for any offences, that’s one way of getting forgiven. When Prabhupāda was doing his final līlā and he was approached by many godbrothers of his, he asked them all, “Please forgive me if I made any offence. For preaching I might have done many things. So, any of those things are seen as offence, please forgive me.”

Question: Hare Kṛṣṇa Gurumahārāja. If we are serving Guru and we have done any mistake unintentionally, then what should we feel then or what should we do then?

Gurumahārāja: When we do Gurupuja we should ask to be forgiven for any known or unknown offence. 

Any other question?

Śyāma Madhusudhana Prabhu: This is from Śiromaṇi Mātājī. She says, “I get asked this question. When I offer flowers or ārati to the picture of Gurumahārāja does he know?” what is the appropriate answer?

Gurumahārāja: There is a special connection by the supersoul express, and it may not be always so clear. But Prabhupāda would say, “Whenever you think about me, I think about you.” So, sometimes I am thinking about different devotees. So, the question would be, “Is this because they are offering flowers or they are thinking about me?” but somehow, I think about devotees, and in any case these things don’t go in vain. As the guru is the representative of Kṛṣṇa, so anything we do in relation to guru is also accepted by Kṛṣṇa. And many things Kṛṣṇa communicates with the guru. So, you could say, “Well, by supersoul the guru gets the message.” 

Three minutes. 

Any question. Internet.

Three minutes. Last question.  Hurry up.

10, 9, 8…

Question: Should we have an extra japa bead to chant outside home as there are chances to lose the japa bead which we have during initiation. Gurumahārāja, can you please about having japa beads, explain about.

Gurumahārāja: If you are sure that you won’t lose your beads, then you can take your beads out with you. Usually in the temple or in one’s home, one chants on beads. Sometimes the working people use the counting machine. My rationalization is that Lord Caitanya would chant on His fingers, and the reason why he took a secretary was to free his hands so that He could chant on His fingers. So, if chanting on fingers is alright, why not chanting on a counting machine? But if one can chant on beads, then the beads gradually build up more and more spiritual strength. So, if we use other beads, then those beads would get spiritually strong. And so, if you lose those beads, it is still a loss. Of course, Prabhupāda would say that, ultimately if you take initiation, all your beads are considered chanted. I once bought a copper coil to be the … what you call… lightning arrestor in a building in Māyāpur, and it was in a jeep; and some thief grabbed it and ran. So, I also ran after him, and then he dropped the copper coil and I got it back, but somehow in the pursuit I lost my beads. So, I looked everywhere, I couldn’t find, and I went to Prabhupāda and he was kind to give me another set. But then he became harassed with so many people losing beads, or having beads broken… So, he said, “Even if one bead is there you can add the other 108, and those beads you can take as chanted by me.” And later he said, “If you receive chanted beads all beads are chanted. So, I also get harassed by people who want beads, who lost their beads. So, then, I have somebody who is trained up to take their order, give them the sauce, “Why did you lose your beads. Why didn’t you keep them?” And then take some dakshina, offer the beads to the Deities and then give me to chant on. So, this come under miscellaneous income. 

All right, 10 O’ clock. Sweets.