20181224 Śrī Krishna Caitanya Book

Nama Om…

Hari Haraya Naama Krishna Yadavaya Namaha Gopal Govinda Ram Sri Madhusudhan

Mukham karoti vaachalam…

Happy Christmas eve!! Once someone mentioned to Srila Prabhupad about Jesus Christ that He was the son of God and Prabhupad answered yes, we are all sons of God but He was a good son! So today we did some voice therapy. Anuttama Prabhu, member of GBC, my dear god brother and his better half Rukmini devi came to see me in the early afternoon. Actually Rukmini devi dasi was a devotee in Montreal when I was there. And she remembers how I was the temple president. So we had today some special cooks, Raseshwari devi dasi and her sister from Mayapur and also Srinaam Radha devi dasi from Chile. So then I went cycling on my tricycle this afternoon and then we got ready for the class, after answering a few emails. So the class is a little late today. Dinner was a little late and everything is late. We are also very happy to see some devotees here from different parts of south India, from Chennai, and a devotee from Russia also, Ekarani devi dasi. How many on internet? 132 on internet. Of course many people will download the class later. So now the description of Lord Caitanya’s ecstasy and some significance of Lord Caitanya’s and Krishna’s pastimes.

So Krishna’s devotees, He accepts losing or leaving His natural position. The proof of that is the annihilation of Duryodhana’s family. 

So the devotees’ nature is to serve Lord Krishna and whatever Krishna does, is for the sake of His devotees. So the devotee doesn’t do anything which is not meant to satisfy Krishna. And Krishna’s activities and pastimes are also manifested only for the satisfaction and pleasure of His devotees. 

The devotees being absorbed in the mellow of devotional service can even sell Krishna! The proof of that is Satyabhama who resided in Dwaraka. That means that the devotees through their devotional service are able to control Krishna so much that if they want to, they can sell Him!! In the Hari Vamsa, it states as follows: Thereafter, Satyabhama devi was desirous of Krishna, placed a garland on Krishna’s neck, and tied Him to a Parijata tree, after taking Krishna’s permission, she then sold Him to Narada!! Ha!

The same Lord Sri Krishna is Lord Gaurangasundar, Vishwambhar who was residing in Navadvip in a covered form. 

They could not realize the Lord, even those for whom the Lord had appeared, as an avatar from the spiritual world. 

Whoever has a desire to worship Lord Krishna, he should worship Krishna’s auspicious, dear devotees. The translation is:

“If out of good fortune and heaps of pious activities from many lifetimes, someone develops a desire for the service of Krishna, then he should constantly serve those who are very dear to Krishna. As a result of this, he will certainly attain pure service to Krishna. The dear devotees of Krishna alone are the eternal benefactors of the entire world.”

Lord Gaurachandra, the Supreme Lord, taught everyone how they should serve the vaishnavas. He did this by His personal example. Exhibiting the ideal example of service to the vaishnavas or the devotees of the Lord, Sri Gaurahari, the Jagatguru and instructor of all, taught the entire world about the special importance of serving the Lord’s devotees. So the Lord’s pastime of serving the devotees is actually meant to instruct us how we should also serve the devotees. So the devotee care initiative is following this principle of Lord Caitanya to serve all the vaishnavas, the dear devotees of the Lord. 

Carrying the flower baskets or carrying the clothes, the Lord did not feel any shyness. But the devotees however, respectfully caught hold   of His hand to dissuade Him. 

So this is the end of this chapter, the practical example of serving the devotees by Lord Vishwambhar. Are there any questions? Names of the devotees attending the class were read out by the repeater.

Question: Benjamin: How to recognize a Vaishnava?

Guru maharaj: He is always serving Krishna or he or she is always chanting Hare Krishna and so he is following the orders of the guru parampara. If he loses something, he doesn’t lament and if he gains something, he doesn’t rejoice. He uses everything in the service of Krishna. 

Question: Narayana Radha devi dasi: Do we serve like that, all Iskcon devotees?

GM: Why not? Anyone who is sincerely engaged in Krishna’s service, we should help them in their service to Krishna. We shouldn’t help them to forget Krishna. Hare Krishna!