20180802 Evening Darśana Question and Answer Session

Nama Om…

Mukham…

Question: How do we make back to Godhead our goal in this fast moving passionate lifestyle?

Guru maharaj: If your fast moving lifestyle is to reclaim fallen souls, then that is not an obstacle. As ghosti anandis it is part of our life to reclaim fallen souls. And if you don’t take any risk you are not going to deliver many souls. Prabhupad had a very peaceful existence, staying in Vrndavan, translating Srimad Bhagavatam in the Radha Damodar temple and he left that to go to the fast, passionate life of the West in order to carry out the order of his spiritual master which was to spread Krishna consciousness all over the world. So if we are leading a fast, passionate life to please Krishna, to please the spiritual master, then what is the problem? 

Question: How important is it for us to listen to Prabhupad’s lectures and reading his books? As we are failing to do it regularly? Please advise us.

Guru maharaj: It is good to listen to Prabhupad’s lectures. He spent time to discuss things with his devotees. So it is good if you can listen sometimes. Hard to quantify but we should make it a regular practice and Prabhupad lives in his instructions. So listen to him, it also inspires us. Srila Prabhupad ki jai!

Question: How to keep my mind stable as it always keeps on diverting? How should I think only about guru and Gauranga? Shilpa Mali

Guru maharaj: Practice makes perfect. Again and again, bring the mind back and in whatever you are doing see also how you can dovetail it with Krishna’s seva. So then anything you do will also be devotional service.

Question: Kindly list the seva aparadh as newcomers for Krishna consciousness devotes tend to do lot of seva but many do not think what could be the offensive state of mind would affect one’s bhakti. Kindly let us know the seva aparadh while cooking bhoga for the deities. Yadhurani Kalindi dd

Guru maharaj: Someone told me that they regularly before bhoga offering they taste the offering. That is not allowed. You have to become so expert that you cook without tasting. If you want after offering, then you can quality control because it is already prasadam. 

Today is Gopal Bhatta Goswami’s disappearance day and someone brought me Sri Ranganatha prasadam. Gopal Bhatta Goswami was the youngest son of the head pujari of Lord Ranganatha. I think his name was Vyenkata Bhatta. Lord Caitanya stayed across the street from them. He would regularly go and take prasadam at their house. Vyenkata Bhatta gave his youngest son Gopal Bhatta to do service to Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Lord Caitanya decided to stay there for the four months of the rainy season. So Gopal Bhatta thought how wonderful it would be to see Lord Caitanya with all His associates. As a sanyasi He is alone with just one assistant and then he dozed off. And He saw Lord Caitanya with so many associates. Lord Caitanya called him, Gopal, Gopal, Gopal, and he ran to where Lord Caitanya was. But Lord Caitanya had changed His form. He was Krishna with so many cowherd boys. Gopal Bhatta offered his prostrate obeisances and he looked up. Lord Caitanya was no longer there. He was Krishna and he saw Him as Lord Caitanya with so many associates. Hare Krishna! Haribol! And he asked Lord Caitanya, and the Lord revealed Himself as Krishna’s avatar. And He instructed Gopal Bhatta to be with Rupa Goswami in Vrndavan and he became one of the six Goswamis. The deity of Radharaman manifested for him. All the samskaras in the Samskara Dipika are by Gopala Bhatta. So our purifying rituals and ceremonies are very much like those of the Sri sampradaya. So we can remember the six Goswamis by 

Vande Rupa Sanantana Raghu jugua Sri Jiva Gopal kau.

So today was a special day when Gopala Bhatta Goswami left the world. It is said by remembering the six Goswamis you can cross over all types of obstacles. So Gopala Bhatta Goswami was from Tamil Nadu. He was one of the six Goswamis. That is why Prabhupad and his guru Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur glorified South India. In the Srimad Bhagavatam it says that those who are born by the holy rivers like Kaveri, and gives a list of the rivers, all over South India, that they are associates of the Lord and that they will appear in kali yuga just to spread the sankirtan movement. 

So I am zonal secretary for southern and eastern India amongst other places. So I was thinking there were so many holy places in South India, Tirupati, Tirumala, shaastra says Tirumala is Vaikuntha on earth and there are so many ancient temples. In North India you have Vrndavan and Mathura and then Mayapur, Dwaraka and Ayodhya. But there seem to be more holy places in South India and India is special. Lord Caitanya said that those who are born in India they should spread Krishna consciousness all over the world. Bharata bhumi te manushya janma hoilo jaar, janma shaarthaka kori koro paropakaar. Now in the western countries there are so many Indians who are doing different jobs. Many of the Indians are from South India - Andhra, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. In the west sometimes they think that oh, please make some local devotees. A lot of the South Indian devotees are into IT or are engineers. So they can spread Krishna consciousness very widely. This was Lord Caitanya’s order. Haribol!