[divider]
It Needs Explanation
Therefore Prabhupāda has said ‘bhakti, bhakta, bhagavān do not belong to material world’. Understand? One line Prabhupāda said. It needs explanation, it needs explanation. Prabhupāda quoted only one short sentence. One short sentence he wrote and quoting Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, ‘bhakti, bhagavān, bhakta, do not belong to this material world.’ No, no.
Therefore the premi bhakta, sādhu descends from the spiritual world. Yes! Those who are bhāgyavān jīva, brahmāṇḍa brahmite kono bhāgyavān jīva, fortunate jīvas, those who have sukṛti, ajñāta-sukṛti, they get a chance to meet such a sādhu, premi bhaktas. Then they may develop bhakti, otherwise bhakti is not available here. That is ahaitukī kṛpā, the causeless mercy of bhakta sādhu. Otherwise no one can get bhakti here in this material world, because it is not available here, it is not here. Therefore Mahāprabhu has said:
sādhu-śāstra-kṛpāya yadi kṛṣṇonmukha haya
sei jīva nistare, māyā tāhāre chāḍaya
“If the conditioned soul becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious by the mercy of saintly persons who voluntarily preach scriptural injunctions and help him to become Kṛṣṇa conscious, the conditioned soul is liberated from the clutches of māyā, who gives him up.” (Cc. Madhya 20.120)
mahat-kṛpā vinā kona karme ‘bhakti’ naya
kṛṣṇa-bhakti dūre rahu, saṁsāra nahe kṣaya
“Unless one is favoured by a pure devotee, one cannot attain the platform of devotional service. To say nothing of kṛṣṇa-bhakti, one cannot even be relieved from the bondage of material existence.” (Cc. Madhya 22.51)
Therefore in Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya-līlā this is said, ‘sādhu-śāstra-kṛpāya yadi kṛṣṇonmukha haya, sei jīva nistare, māyā tāhāre chāḍaya’. If some bhāgyavān jīva, brahmāṇḍa brahmite kono bhāgyavān jīva, fortunate soul, guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja, if he is bhāgyavān, he has bhāgya, good fortune, he gets the mercy of sādhu. Mahat-kṛpā vinā kona karme ‘bhakti’ naya, without the kṛpā, mercy of mahat, sādhu, sat-sādhu, who has descended from the spiritual world, such sādhu, without his mercy nobody can develop bhakti, kona karme ‘bhakti’ naya.
Kṛṣṇa-bhakti dūre rahu, saṁsāra nahe kṣaya, what to speak of kṛṣṇa-bhakti, he cannot even be delivered from the material world. No, he cannot be delivered.
Excerpt from a lecture on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.3.31 delivered by His Divine Grace Śrīla Gour Govinda Swami on the 19th June 1994 in Atlanta.
Yeah!
Let’s go for it.
When, where and how.
YS
NPdasa.
How about Srila Gurudeva’s Appearance or Disappearance Days in Bhubaneshwar???, Orissan Padayatra and Hare Krsna Utsav Festival times are also very ecstatic.
All are welcomed to participate in these annual programs for Srila Gurudeva’s pleasure and it would be a great time to endlessly glorify Srila Gurudeva at the same time! Just a humble suggestion and warm invitation to one and all! 🙂
Srila Gurudeva said after the 1995 Padayatra that, “If we do not go into these villages and towns throughout Orissa and chant the Holy names and speak Hari katha then how will these people get the mercy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu?”…..
Anyway Prabhus,
Gurudeva did preach, and what amazing preaching it was. It was not of this world.
And in our own way all of us tried to listen and what we have heard we should try and put into practice (well one would hope). And those who heard the best great and those who heard the least what to do. And those who did not hear at all that is their misfortune.
What can I say.
I pay my humble obeisances to one and all who went to Bhubaneswar and heard from our Grand Great Gurudeva Srila Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja.
Maybe we should all get together and have a grand festival in honour of our Gurudeva; and just glorify our Gurudeva.
What does everyone think?
YS
NPdasa.
Great idea my brother. This is the only true nectar in this God forsaken world.
Jai Srila Gurudeva The Big Question Who Has Heard , Not A Cheap Thing , Srila Gurudeva Whould Quote Lord Jesus Christ ” Empty Thy Pot ,I Will Fill Thee “., ” All Nasty Things Are There In Your Heart, Krsna Will Never Sit There ” Gurudeva Told Lacks Are Chanting ,But Only One Or Two Are Chanting , Lacks Are Preaching But Only One Or Two Are Preaching Lacks Are Listening But Only One Or Two Are Listening .
S.B 1.1.2 This Bhāgavata Purāṇa Propounds The Highest Truth, Which Is Understandable By Those Devotees Who Are Fully Pure In Heart
Gurudeva Would Say Those Free Of Envey Only They Can Understand Bagavatam.
When I Fist Came To Bhubanewsar Gurudeva Told This Very Sweet Point ,. In Fact All He Told Was And Is So Sweet. “That First One Should Find Out What The Guru Wants Him To Do Then By Following That Order As It Is, Without Adding Or Twisting , One Will Get Immense Spiritual Strength By Which He Can Overcome Maya And Realise Who He Is
Brother Jagadish Pandit Das
Srila Gurudeva gave us faith that if we try our best to follow the instructions that we received (personal and collective) from our dear Gurudeva, Srila Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja, that we would then get the mercy of Sri Guru and Gauranga. And with that mercy, “the impossible would become possible and that without Gurudeva’s mercy, the possible would become impossible”.
By following those instructions and serving sincerely and faithfully in the mission of the Spiritual Master, one deserves to get such mercy. And with that very powerful mercy, all things are possible!
Also, by trying sincerely to hear from Srila Gurudeva and Krsna our hearts will become more and more purified. It’s a process, the process of purification of the heart. This sincere hearing from the right source of the bona fide spiritual master will very quickly purify our hearts.
SB 1.2.17
srnvatam sva-kathah krsnah
punya-sravana-kirtanah
hrdy antah stho hy abhadrani
vidhunoti suhrt satam
TRANSLATION
Sri Krsna, the Personality of Godhead, who is the Paramatma [Supersoul] in everyone’s heart and the benefactor of the truthful devotee, cleanses desire for material enjoyment from the heart of the devotee who has developed the urge to hear His messages, which are in themselves virtuous when properly heard and chanted.
PURPORT
….The Lord is reciprocally respondent to His devotees. When He sees that a devotee is completely sincere in getting admittance to the transcendental service of the Lord and has thus become eager to hear about Him, the Lord acts from within the devotee in such a way that the devotee may easily go back to Him. The Lord is more anxious to take us back into His kingdom than we can desire. Most of us do not desire at all to go back to Godhead. Only a very few men want to go back to Godhead. But anyone who desires to go back to Godhead, Sri Krsna helps in all respects.
One cannot enter into the kingdom of God unless one is perfectly cleared of all sins. The material sins are products of our desires to lord it over material nature. It is very difficult to get rid of such desires. Women and wealth are very difficult problems for the devotee making progress on the path back to Godhead. Many stalwarts in the devotional line fell victim to these allurements and thus retreated from the path of liberation. But when one is helped by the Lord Himself, the whole process becomes as easy as anything by the divine grace of the Lord.
… if one is engaged in hearing the glories of the Lord, gradually he realizes his real position. By the grace of God such a devotee gets sufficient strength to defend himself from the state of disturbances, and gradually all disturbing elements are eliminated from his mind.
Hare Krsna!
Hare Krsna!
HARI BOL MURALI KRSNA SWAMI VEY NICE REPPLY THE IMPOSSIBLE BECOMES POSSIBLE WE HEARD THAT MANY TIMES AND GURUDEVA WOLUD SAY ” HAVE UNFLINCHING FAITH ” IT IS SO SAD WE CAN NOT GO TO BHUBANESWAR AND SIT THERE IN FRONT OF SRILA GURUDEVA AND HEAR AGAIN . THOSE WERE THE BEST DAYS OF MY LIFE
BROTHER JAGADISH PANDIT DAS
Thank you Brother Jagadisha. Of course we all feel the great loss of that wonderful experience of just sitting in front of Srila Gurudeva and hearing his most nectarean Krsna katha, especially in Bhubaneshwar. “Those were the days”, like they say…..
But my realization is (now living in Bhubaneshwar since 2004) that if we practice and speak what Srila Gurudeva has so mercifully given us, then the pain of the loss of that physical association is greatly relieved.
I feel that if we try our best to follow and preach what was given to us and push the mission, as best as we can, then Srila Gurudeva is very pleased and very manifested. We are just trying to keep it all alive.(and stay alive ourselves in the process). All the best! Gaura Haribol!
Srila Gurudeva taught us that the real mercy and gift of the bona fide spiritual master is that he gives us the, “right of perfect hearing” (understanding).
Of course the topic of hearing is very subtle and vast and therefore Srila Gurudeva daily, stressed on hearing properly and sufficiently from the right source of the bona fide pure devotee of the Lord. And, that THIS process, which is an eternal process, will give us everything.
SB 3.6.17 Purport
“The ear is the most important instrument in the body of the living entity. Sound is the most important medium for carrying the message of distant and unknown things. The perfection of all sound or knowledge enters through the ear and makes one’s life perfect.
The entire Vedic system of knowledge is received by aural reception only, and thus sound is the most important source of knowledge.”
CC Adi 16.52 Purport:
“The statement kariyächi sravana (“I have heard it”) is very important in the sense that hearing is more important than directly studying or perceiving.
If one is expert in hearing and hears from the right source, his knowledge is immediately perfect. This process is called srauta-pantha, or the acquisition of knowledge by hearing from authorities.
All Vedic knowledge is based on the principle that one must approach a bona fide spiritual master and hear from him the authoritative statements of the Vedas.
It is not necessary for one to be a highly polished literary man to receive knowledge; to receive perfect knowledge from a perfect person, one must be expert in hearing.”
“Here Here”
Ys
NPdasa
Hear from a physically present Sri Guru
Srila Gurudeva is still here giving his amazing explanations for his sat sisyas to hear:
Questions and Answers
Devotee 1: Sabda-brahma is Krishna in sound vibration?
Srila Gour Govinda Swami: Yes. One has to hear. It is not that, “All right, tapes are there, I’ll hear the recorded tapes.” Sabda-brahma will never descend.
Devotee 2: It doesn’t descend through transmission of tape?
Gour Govinda Swami: No, no.
Devotee 2: Only when you are personally sitting there with a pure vaisnava?
Gour Govinda Swami: Yes. Now in this material scientific age so many techniques are there. People, say, “No more teacher are required. We’ll teach through television.” Nonsense. Sabda-brahma will never descend.
Devotee 3: What if one is a disciple of a bonafide guru, then later on that guru stops his lila. What should one do?
Gour Govinda Swami: Lila is always there:
adyapiha sei lila kare gaura-raya,
kona kona bhagyavan dekhibare paya
(Cb. quoted in Bhaktivinode Thakur’s Navadvipa Mahatmya Pramana-khanda)
Gauranga’s pastimes are still going on. People say, “Oh Gauranga Mahaprabhu has disappeared.” One who is very fortunate and has vision he can see how gaura-lila is going on.
Devotee 3: That means that guru is always there?
Gour Govinda Swami: Yes. He is always there. His lila is going on.
Devotee 3: I may think, “I have already taken the dust of the lotus feet of my guru. Now he is not here. So I don’t need that dust anymore.”
Gour Govinda Swami: Darsana is there. The guru is always there if you have the eye to see. If you are a sat-sisya you can always see how the guru is present.
Devotee 4: How can we see guru?
Gour Govinda Swami: Blind man! If you are endowed with that vision you can see.I never lost sight of my guru. I see my guru is always there. Therefore I cannot say,”nitya-lila-pravistha”. It is so painful to me. No! He is here.
Devotee 4: Do you have to be a pure dovotee to see a pure devotee?
Gour Govinda Swami: Yes! That vision is required. If you have no vision then you are a blind man.How can a blind man see? The object is there. What is required to see the object? The first thing is the eye. Next is light. You may be endowed with vision, but if there is no light, how can you see? Can you see in the darkness? Therefore two things are required, first vision and then light. Even if you are endowed with eyes, if there is no light then you can’t see. What is that light? The enlightenment by the mercy potency. If you are devoid of that, how can you see?
Devotee 5: Anarthas are like clouds in front of the eye?
Gour Govinda Swami: Yes, Yes. Anarthas are like clouds covering the sun. The eye is covered.
Devotee 2: Can one see guru appearing in different forms, or is he coming in dreams?
Gour Govinda Swami: He may come in a dream. He has different forms also, just as Krishna has different forms. Krishna has so many manifestations. Therefor we have described in our book Sri Guru-vandana about samasti-guru and vyasti-guru.
Devotee 6: What are those kind of gurus?
Gour Govinda Swami: Guru Krsna-rupa hana sastrera pramane (Cc. adi-lila1.45} — scripture describes that it is Krishna who appears as guru.
Krishna is one. Guru tattva is also one. Guru is one, but he appears in different, different, forms. That is samasti-guru. The particular forms such as Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami, Srila Bhakitisiddhanta, this person and that, this is vyasti-guru.
Devotee 3: When Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati left, guru was still there?
Gour Govinda Swami: Yes.
Devotee 3: Guru is always present?
Gour Govinda Swami: Yes, always present.
Devotee 3: Because guru is non-different from Krishna we understand that to be a guru is not an easy thing. So why is it said that someone maybe on the level of kanistha or madhyama and be guru?
Gour Govinda Swami: All are gurus. There is kanistha-guru, madhyama-guru, uttama-gurus. Divisions are there. What you deserve you get. Krishna knows what you deserve so He makes an appropriate arrangement for you.
Devotee 7: Some devotees are not accepting guru now. They are saying, “I’ll just accept sastra.”
Gour Govinda Swami: How can you understand sastra?
Devotee 7: But we have seen, as in Russia, that some devotees have only gotten books and they are now chanting, worshiping the deity, and preaching.
Gour Govinda Swami: You cannot understand. In sastra, mantra is there. Nama is there. But unless it comes out from the lips of sad-guru, Sri Guru, your chanting will never be effective. The potency will never be there.
Devotee 7: But they say that smrti-sastra is coming from the lips of vaisnavas, so we are hearing smrti.
Gour Govinda Swami: Yes. This is how sastra manifests. When is comes out from the lips of sad-guru, Sri Guru, then it manifests. Though sastra is there, by itself it will never manifest to you. It’s a question of manifestation.
Devotee 7: Other persons say that we can hear from the commentaries of the vaisnava-acaryas.
Gour Govinda Swami: For that reason it is said,
bhaktya bhagavatam grahyam
na buddhya na ca tikaya
Srimad Bhagavatam can only be understood by bhakti, not be dint of one’s intelligence or by reading commentaries. (Cc.24.313)
You cannot understand Bhagavata by taking help of the tikas, commentaries. So many commentaries are there. One may think, “Yes, I am a scholar. It is all written in Sanskrit. I know the language so I can read and understand it.” No! You can only understand Srimad Bhagavatam by bhakti. You cannot understand Bhagavata by dint of your material scholarship, learning, intelligence, or by taking the help of the commentaries. No, no. Hear from acarya and then you can develop bhakti. Unless you hear, how can you understand just by reading? You cannot understand. Grantha-avatara will never manifest to you. You will only see paper, and black and white. Nothing else.
Devotee 7: Then what is the meaning of the brhad-mrdanga-sankirtana? Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati has said that our kirtana is brhad-mrdanga-sankirtana, the printing press.
Gour Govinda Swami: Yes. That will inspire you. Just one book distributed spreads so far. First you read the book and then one friend says, “Oh, let me read it.” Then he lets someone else read it. In this way it sprads so much. The sound of the mrdanga only goes rom here to there. But the brhad-mrdanga spreads so far. That will inspire you. You will think, “Who is the source? Let me go and see and hear from him.”
Devotee 7: So first you hear and then if you read the same thing in the sastra…
Gour Govinda Swami: Yes. It is only in Kali-yuga that books are required.. In other yugas there are no books. Just by hearing once they would never forget. But in this yuga, if I ask you to repeat what you have heard after the class, how much can you repeat? You will have already forgotton ninety to ninety-five percent. Only five percent you may be able to repeat. Books are required. Therefore Vyasadev came and wrote books. In other yugas there are no books. They will help you remember, “Oh yes. I have heard. Now it is here.”
Devotee 7: In your book Sri Guru-vandana, you have described this flow of nectar as padma-madhu.You said that it comes to a devotee who is a sincere hearer. So someone who is very sincere to hear from guru and serves guru, he may get that nectar even though he may not have physical contact?
Gour Govinda Swami: You should be greedy. Physical contact is required. You must hear directly, not just by listening to tapes. Sabda-brahma will never descend through a tape. One must hear from a physically present Sri Guru.
Haribol Goloka Vrndavan prabhu. That was just unbelievable. Srila Gurudeva himself has once again maid it very simple, clear and absolute. Wow! That was great. Thank you.
Great darshanGood post.
And where did we get the explanation from?
From our beloved Gurudeva!
YS
NPdasa
None of us would have known anything without our Gurudeva,
We would all be floating in the ocean of apara-vichara.
Ys
NPdasa.
… that’s why we’re happy to have tattva-vicara … ys, Rpd 😉
Srila Gurudeva Ki Jaya!
That is correct!!!