Jay my dear devotees and matajis, my greetings to everyone in the service of our gurus. It seems that Gurudeva Paramadvaiti is very occupied and so I take the chance to greet you. What a great mercy that Krsna keeps us united in these Sunday chats. It is possible due to the great heart of Gurudeva Paramadvaiti, who always thinks about the greatest benefit for his disciples. Like he himself said many times: One would like to have more communication with each one of you. One feels a great deficiency in that aspect, but due to the service it is not possible.
But at the same time, the relation is something mystical. We know that we can live with somebody without communicating with that person, but as soon as we feel appreciation for somebody we feel his presence, wherever he may be. It is mystical. It is sambandha, which in reality is based on love. This electric network exists, which keeps us united, connected, but the network of affection is much more subtle. It is more subtle and perfect, and it is because of that subtle network that we are now united in the other one. And it is incredible how, by appreciating the mission of the guru, one is connected with the whole mission for serving it in only one point.
A transmission of energy
For example, a small caress from the father is enough for the child to feel beloved. In the same way with a small service that we do from the heart for the mission, the whole mission feels the connection, because there is a transmission of energy. And it is this that keeps us united, this appreciation which can exist due to the absence of envy. Sometimes, when two persons like each other, they do not need to say anything to know how to meet and how they feel. There is a natural language between them, a product of this love. It is a language that can unite us without many words; it is the language of the shared ideal, of the union in sacrifice of service to our gurus.
When dedication takes birth, the idle talk of the sceptic intellectuals will reduce, and one dedicates to service. That is why one cannot always talk with the devotees, as much as one would like to. But in reality we are always communicating with each other, because we are always remembering; there is always a consciousness present, even though one does not feel it very much. For example, if you do not feel pain in your hand you may think that you are not conscious about it. But if there is consciousness, then as soon something happens we will feel it. We may think that no one observes us, but sometimes we do something incorrect and then karma will come, and then we see that, yes, we are always observed.
United in ideal and love
Therefore Krsna makes things in a perfect way. I thought about it various times, why can’t we not be all together? Why do we have to suffer this separation from the devotees? But later I realize that actually we are united because of this love for the mission of the guru. This love is what forms a spiritual family; it is united in the ideal, not in the mundane blood. It is very mystical – the union is there, but at the same time, we have to fulfil out duty, our service, our japa, etc. We have to intensify our union with Krsna, and there we will find us all united.
In the Krsna book it is said that in the gurukula Krsna learned the art to see a book and to know its content without having to read it. In this way that type of superior connection exists which goes beyond the details of words or letters, there is a transmission of sentiments. When mundane persons come together they have many topics to talk about, but for the devotees those words are like cries of the crows. They want to start a bhajan or a kirtan very soon. They find that there is not much to talk about in this world, unless it is about organizing service. But for the rest is about adoring and glorifying Krsna. It is all said, that if you are here serving Krsna, just with that you are already telling be so much. With that you tell me that you have exhausted your experience of this world and that you want to be absorbed in this other reality. You have come to ask for help for this, and I have to give it to you. We have to help each other in this sankirtan, in this glorification.
Connection in separation
Mahaprabhu also suffered a lot when he had to leave the devotees. He embraced them and the devotees stayed crying and some of them fainted. So much love they had for Mahaprabhu and He also suffered a lot at leaving them. But since Mahaprabhu was thinking about all souls, He left His beloved devotees and went to search for us. But, without doubt, the connection continued when Mahaprabhu was far away, this vipralambha is necessary. There is a vipralambha between the devotees, and therefore Narottam das Thakur prayed to have the association of Ramacandra, his devotee friend. Without his company he could not tolerate this world.
When we recorded a CD with songs and with some poems of Sridhar Mararaj, we did it to keep contact, to talk often with you, to repeat many times the same things, like in the classes, but one may hear the same and taste it in a different way every time. In this way also Srila Prabhupada left us his books to always stay with us. This was his great love for us, because he never wanted to leave us. Srila Harijan Maharaja also said that what hurt him the most was to leave the devotees. Not even the possibility to go to the spiritual world was a sufficient temptation for him, so much he loved the devotees that helped him in the service for his guru, so great was his love for his guru.
Krsna is very powerful to do the things. This world of feelings in the kingdom of bhakti is very big. One wants to increase the yoga, the union, and this is happening. I remember that before knowing the devotees, I always felt somewhat alone even though being with friends; with these friends one could never discover the real inquiries of the heart. So I was not satisfied, because the purpose of sound is to discover the truth, not prajalpa.
Search for ecstatic life
Srila Prabhupada said that one cannot know a person until he opens his mouth. In this way, sound is everything, it is the representation of our consciousness, it is what you want to give from your interior world to others. But in this mundane society nothing is given from the internal world, one is only given the caprices of the mind and the feelings. Therefore there is always a sensation of emptiness, and nobody dares to ask others if they really feel happy. But the devotees you can certainly ask and for two reasons: One, because they really want you to be is happy, and second, because if you are not happy, they have the formula how to become.
It is like the treating some sickness. Sadness and dissatisfaction are like sickness and have to be treated with an injection of sattva guna of superior consciousness, of the spirit of sacrifice and struggle. But in mundane life people do not search for happiness, they only search for survival, to be ... it is not like the devotee who searches for ecstatic life and therefore advances to the ecstasy, which is Krsna.
So, if you ask a devotee if he is happy, you search in the most profound of his heart. If he tells you 'yes', it is very good and already with that a very profound interchange has taken place, meaning that service and bhajan can continue without bigger inconveniences, at least some more time. If he tells you that he does not feel happy, then you can talk with him immediately and relieve his heart, because the Bhagavad Gita and the Srimad Bhagavatam are literatures destined to give happiness to our heart. There the greatest of the wise men united to hear attentively the formula of supreme happiness. They already had tasted a lot of the spirit; all of them were brahma bhuta prasana atmas, but they felt that something more was missing. They declared it to Suta Goswami, they said that they had practiced a lot of dedication to the spirit but that yet this was not satisfying. Like the spirit of Vyasa, which also not was satisfied until he surrendered to Krsna.
Beyond the mind
This is the formula – give to and receive from Krsna. Therefore we can say that those books are destined to give us the maximum intelligence, the maximum pureness and happiness. Krsna says that this way is full of happiness, therefore one can practice it with a lot of happiness. If there is suffering, it is because the mind is disturbing. But Krnsa consciousness has to be above the mind, because the mind is the world of suspiciousness and calculation. It is the world of non-trusting, and therefore the mind must be controlled by the faith and the rendition. It has to be captured by the taste of the maha-mantra and the slokas of the scriptures, because that allows us to taste at the level of intelligence and allows us to knock on the doors of superior consciousness which is kept in the pure heart.
Bhakti is to go beyond the mind and with illuminated intelligence always advance in the direction of Krsna. We must not forget that a good intelligence is something fundamental for us now as the taste or ruci still has not awaken. With a good intelligence we become established in nistha. Like the cakora bird, ready to die if Krsna does not come, we would die if he does not come, but we do not go and look for happiness in this world.
Sadhana for illumination
Therefore sadhana is the way, because it illuminates our superior intelligence. The consciousness will awake our capacities. First we live for the pleasure of the senses, then we want to satisfy the mundane intelligence, and then we feel in our heart that it is asking for eternal truths. When this hunger awakens inside of us, our human life has begun, said Srila Prabhupada. It is like the sunrise that will dissolve the shadows gradually and at the end illuminate everything. In this way now the place of our heart starts being illuminated, so to speak, we are starting to discover the existence of the soul and we want to know about that element called atma.
Therefore we are very fortunate, and we have to continue in this way to illuminate our interior and to keep our communication through the network of affection, created by the service to Sri Guru. This is something mystic, it is our yoga, our union with Krsna in the center. It is the union that we would like to maintain for ever, because one never likes to leave the family of his guru. Only bad company can drag you out of this family. Cinema, TV, pornographic things, prajalpa, envy, the desire of competence and not to be a servant… We have to take care a lot about those things, very very much.
War against maya
We always have to be alert. It is our duty now to be in war against maya. Now it is the time of war. It is not the time of enjoying the treasure of the pure rendition; that will come after having gained victory by following Gurudeva. Everything will come when it is time, but now there is time for being heroic; it is time for the great fight, which means our renunciation and dedication. If we stay like that, we stay united even though we do not see our faces, not to forget that those faces are the most far from our selves. Krsna has united us in our love for Gurudeva Paramadvaiti, Harijan Maharaja, Srila Prabhupada, Puri Maharaja, Guru Maharaja, etc. Krsna sent a lot of vaisnavas to steal our hearts in order to not become victims of maya.
Well, thank you a lot for letting me share these words with you. May you be happy and dedicated, inspired by the devotional dynamo of our Guru Maharaja. Krsna gave me once again his benediction with the opportunity of this chat. All glories to our guru varga.
Gurudeva Paravadvaiti ki jay!
Goura premanandi!
Translation: Govardhan Das
govardhandas@hotmail.com