How to enter Vrindavana. Class 2

Shri Radha, Krishna Padha, Sahagana Lalita, Shri Visakhavita Mshya, He Krishna Karuna Sindho, Dhinabandho Jagatpate, Gophesha Gopika Kanta, Pradha-kanta namastute Taptakanchanagurangi Radevrindavanaeswari Vrishabhanu sute devi Pranamami haripriye Vanchakalpa tarubyashya Kripā sindhubya evacā patitanām pavanibhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namah. Shri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhu Nityananda Shri Advaita Gadadhara Shri Vasadhi Gaurabhakta Vrinda Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare. Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Hare Hare. Aradhyabhagavan Vrajayshatana yastadhamo vrindavanam Ramyaka chidupasana Vrajavadu vargenaya kalpitam Shri Matbhagavatam pramana mamalam prema pumartamahant Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhormatam idam tatradharo naparaham Yantah praviśyam amavacim imam prasuktam Sanjīvāyātākīlā-shaktī-dārāh-svadhamnā Āññāṃścāhāstā-cārāna-śravāna-tūāgādīm Pranānāṁāmā bhagavatei purushvāyatūbhyam Svāśyāstu vishvāśyakālāh prasīdhatam Dāyāntu bhūtāni śīvām mitodīyā Manāścābhadram bhajātattadokṣadžē Aveshya tamno matīr apyāhaitukīm Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna. So, I'm very happy to see all of you again. And it's not a coincidence that we started basically this retreat, center from the retreat, which is dedicated to meditation on Vrindavan. The purpose of this place, as I already said several times, is to facilitate going deeper. Oftentimes we passionate people of Kali Yuga forget that the ultimate purpose of our practice is to be completely absorbed in spiritual reality. And we can only do this if we are dedicated to the service of the lotus feet of our spiritual masters, starting with Rupa Goswami. So this place with the huts of six Goswamis of Rindavan is about this. It's about trying to serve the lotus feet of Sri Rupa Goswami and six Goswamis of Vrindavan to be able to enter real spiritual realm of Vrindavan. And the only means of entering this spiritual realm is meditation. But we also know, unfortunately, that nowadays there is so much mockery going on under the name of meditation. Five minutes meditation after a cup of coffee. You wake up, you're a little drowsy, so you take a cup of coffee and start meditating. So much nonsense is going on under this name. And our acaryas very painstakingly are teaching us what is the real meditation and how it progresses, through which stages it goes, according to the level of purity of our mind and heart. Srila Jiva Goswami is very emphatic. He says that meditation is not possible when your heart is not pure. The preliminary purification is necessary, but some sort of meditation we can practice on any stage of our spiritual development, but... and we have to practice. We have to involve our mind, but we should not expect the amazing results of meditation described in our scriptures from the very beginning. There is a gradual process which leads us to this stage of spiritual development. And yesterday I gave a few hints about this, how important for meditation it is to come or bring our mind into the harmony with the rhythm. of nature. And how people, especially in the cities, they create artificial rhythms. Their dinachar, their schedule of the time is totally distorted, they get up late, they go to bed late, They create all these artificial tamasic and rajasic rhythms, so much so that people are completely out of sync with reality, out of sync with this nature. So, it's very important to be in the place where we can feel all these rhythms, and in this way to understand rita. the essential truth of reality, which is rhythmic. And meditation, as I said, is rhythmic by nature. There is a rhythm in the meditation, pulsation in our meditation. And therefore we sing, therefore we chant verses, so on and so forth. But the most important point which I was trying to make, I don't know if I made it very clear yesterday on our first lecture, was about the difference between the style of meditation or the nature of meditation, the impersonal meditation or Mayavad meditation and Vaishnava meditation. So I will reiterate it from slightly different angle to make it very clear. Because before we proceed and try to understand the meditation of Akrura, which is the topic of this retreat, and I don't know if we will... ... ... ... reach this topic, because we are slowly meditating on this and approaching it with a certain level of dignity and... But before we understand this, we have to be very clear the difference of this so-called mindfulness, which is being practiced, or even very severe kinds of meditation, which they practice... What's it called? Vipassana. Vipassana, yes. For ten days you just do nothing. So it is essential to understand this difference. The initial premise of Mayavad is that brahmasatya jagatmitya, jiva brahma i manaparaha. The jiva, infinitesimal spark of consciousness, is not different from Brahman. So I'm God. Just today or yesterday, YouTube very politely offered me to watch the video, If we are God, why should we worship somebody? Very clear answer given in Advaita Vedanta. I didn't want to hear this answer because it's ridiculous to start with. But Jiva Brahma Imanaparat, Jiva is Brahman, Jiva is God. So their understanding, the premise is that everything depends on my meditation. I can create anything because I anyway created this reality. I created this reality, now I realize that something is wrong with the reality which I created. Let me create it better. So that's basically the point of the meditation. Let's create reality with Mercedes car because it was missing in my previous creation. So, their understanding is that reality is the product of my mind. And because it's the product of my mind, then if I change my mind, I change the reality and I can change it very whimsically. And therefore, I can establish my own rules because I'm God. I can establish my own morality. I can say this is good, this is bad, because everything is according to my mind. So Vaishnava meditation is completely different in this regard. Srila Prabhupada again and again was fighting with this idea, Brahmasatiam Jagat Mitya, that Jagat is Mitya. Jagat is real. The world is real. It's Jagat. It's moving. It's temporary. It's not stable. but nevertheless because it has the connection with the Absolute Truth. It's real, but Jagat is not independent on my mind, on my observation, on my attention to it. The naïve materialists, they say that matter is independent on my mind, on my observation, but Vaishnavas understand how to synthesize these two extreme points of view. Yes, Jagat is real, matter is real, reality is there outside of my mind, but my mind, my observation influences it in the process of interaction with this reality. And meditation is the proper way of interacting with this reality in such a way that we understand the deepest levels of reality, the reality as it is. And therefore, Vaishnavas also take a great burden of responsibility in the way they interact with this world. So, we have to understand that our attitude alters the world. And we know how it happened. I'm in a good mood and everything is good and everyone is really kind. And then all of a sudden after, you know, 20 years, everyone is so nasty and obnoxious. Not because everyone is obnoxious, but because everyone is dealing with me according to my mind. And I see this reality. So, and definitely we should take the responsibility to make our mind conducive to understand the deepest levels of reality and the utmost deepest level of reality is the spiritual reality, which we aspire to achieve by our sadhana. So, the Vaishnava method of meditation is that we become observers. This sakshetva, the position of witness, of an observer of reality, is actually synonymous to humility. When we are actively changing this world according to the materialistic conception, when I have my false ego, I am the doer and I can do anything I like, that's one thing but when we become absorber and try to absorb from the neutral position what is going on in our mind and investigate this then ultimately we can enter the deeper levels of reality so I brought to you some first to understand how it works in practice and hopefully we will also practice a little bit today Did you bring with you your shaking beads? Okay. Those who didn't bring, it's their problem. So, this is eight steps of how to use meditation for manifestation. So, if you want to manifest your own reality, we'll teach you, no problem. We are broad-minded Vaishnavas, we are not petty-minded. Bhakti Nirvishesh is there. So anyway, just to understand the methodology. First, of course, close your eyes and pay attention to your breath, that we can agree with. Breathe in and out until you are relaxed. That's an important point and it's correct point. When our mind is stressed and agitated, there is no question of meditation. So first, we have to calm the mind. Even Sanatana Goswami in his Hari Bhakti Vilas recommends special type of pranayama. Satyananda Maharaj was teaching me this pranayama and he referred to Hari Parashat Prabhu. And I'm here to ask him of the exact reference to this point. But not only Sanatana Goswami in Hari Bhakti Vilas, Gopal Bhatta Goswami in his Satkriya Saradipika, and oftentimes we see this reference on pranayama. And pranayama actually brings our mind into a certain rhythm, as I said. Instead of this chaotic, agitated, running all over the place mind, we bring the mind into a different space, into this rhythmic space where sattva gun, which is lucid, translucent state of reality, can help us. So this is okay. This is the first step. The second step, once you are relaxed, focus your attention on what you would like to attract into your life. So here the problem starts. Instead of you being attracted to Krishna, you want to attract something else. You become the attractor. You become Krishna. You are trying to attract. And that's basically the game of life. People are trying to attract attention of other people, so on and so forth. But people are trying to become the center. What is the attractor? Attractor is the center. He is the center of attraction and he attracts everything. So they're trying to attract whatever they like. So focus your attention on what you'd like to attract. And as you breathe, focus on your desires. see a vivid picture of you doing or having whatever it is that you most desire. Make the picture as real and as clear as you can, so that it is impressed upon the subconscious mind with the belief that you have what you desire now. So just try hard. And if it doesn't work, it's your fault because you couldn't do it as vivid as possible, as it is required. You couldn't really get into this reality. Anyway, then you have to feel love, happiness and satisfaction that will bring you as you had whatever it is you desire. Now, if any fears in your mind about creating your desire, visualize God. That's very interesting. Step number five. If any fears come into your mind about creating what you desire, visualize God or your angels or whatever feels good for you. So, visualize whatever feels good for you. And that will take your fear away. and then return to visualizing. And that's very interesting. Sit as long as you need until you feel that your desire has been impressed upon the subconscious mind successfully. I usually feel a swelling in my heart which causes me to breathe really deeply. I know that I am complete. So sit till you start, till your heart still starts swelling. And then, yeah, here you are. Look in your garage, it's there. With the plate. Anyway, so that's their style. Our style is different. first and foremost about the mood. And actually, that's one of the most important teachings of Akrura. I don't know, today or maybe tomorrow, we will speak about several lessons which are very important from Akrura's life, even previous to his journey to Vrindavan. His journey to Vrindavan is actually the final straight of his overall journey. For 12 years he was meditating on Krishna before this journey started. So it's the final run before the fruit of his meditation will come to him in the form of a little cowherd boy with a stick and rope and balaram together. But let's wait till we come to this point. So, there are very important lessons about this. And let's try to examine a few of the points, preliminary points which are necessary for meditation to become effective. It's a difficult process and I said it requires a lot of purity in the heart. But besides purity in the heart, one very important preliminary quality which can make our meditation successful is, of course, desire, greed. You can never go deep unless you have very strong desire within your heart. if your desire is lukewarm if you're not really ardently desiring to achieve the fruit of your meditation, if you don't understand clearly the goal it's not going to work in this point we agree with the people who teach in personal meditation for manifestation so what is very important is that we have to involve our emotions into the meditative process. If we are not emotionally involved, if this energy of emotions are not there in our meditation, if the desire is not strong, then there is no chance for meditation to become deep. We know how emotions easily help us to concentrate our mind, especially negative emotions. If somebody offended you, you enter into the state of Samadhi by thinking about this offender. You cannot think about anything else or anybody else. You just again and again and again. And even if you want to think about anything else, you still come back to the same object of your meditation. Your meditation, because of this negative emotion, because it's connected with the emotion, combined with the emotions, coupled with the emotion, it becomes very, very deep. Or if you watch a horror movie. Can you eat popcorn while watching a horror movie? No. If it's a good movie, of course. If it's a bad movie, popcorn helps to meditate. But the good movie completely, because they invoked certain emotions. And emotions stopped your mind. Your mind glued into this. So the initial emotion which we need, as I said, this desire, is actually coming from Shraddha. What is very much required in our meditative process, even in the beginning, from the very beginning, is to have very strong Shraddha, Shastriya Shraddha, of course, not Logika Shraddha, not the conventional phase, which according to Shila Rupa Goswami in Bhakti Rasaamlita Sindhu brings about Ruchi. Shila Rupa Goswami in Bhakti Rasaamlita Sindhu says, Valkapi Ruchi Rava Syat Bhakti Tattva Vabodika If you don't have even little taste in the process of Bhakti, Bhakti, you will never be able to understand Bhakti Tattva. The taste is required, little Ruchi, the taste, and Sīla Jīva Goswami, commending to this verse, he says, that could be the taste of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that could be the taste for any anger of Bhakti, but some taste has to be there, because without that Bhakti will not happen. So sometimes we think that taste, ruchi, is the stage which is far away from us, but ruchi has to be there in the very beginning. Little ruchi has to be there, and this ruchi makes our process... This ruchi actually eliminates everything else. If we have ruchi to bhakti, the taste for bhakti, You understand that everything else doesn't have this taste. It's not that important. And bhakti definitely contains this taste. And as Jiva Goswami says, that ruchi produces faith in the supreme position of bhakti. When you enter into this space, when you understand how pleasurable bhakti is, When you experience this, you understand it's higher than anything else. I'm doing yoga, I'm doing hatha yoga or whatever, I'm doing actually... Arjuna yoga. Himalayans see the yoga style of Arjuna. Anyway... So... And it's okay, it helps me. but he doesn't have taste. Only because of his powerful influence I'm still doing it. So, taste is extremely important from the very beginning, because taste helps us to understand the real position of bhakti. This relish which is there from the beginning, I remember very clearly when I heard for the first time Hare Krishna mantra, how I felt something special in this sound. It was very unusual circumstances. I will not describe it in detail. And this relish sometimes when we chant the holy name. When we chant it with calm mind, we can feel this very pleasant taste, which is being exuded from the sound of Hare Krishna's mantra. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama, Hare Hare, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama, Hare Hare. As I said, what is very important for Vaishnava is to have the proper kind of attention. And the attention I'm talking about from the beginning now, for us to enter into this meditative state, is to pay attention to the taste which is there already. Because sometimes being very busy and very agitated in mind and trying to achieve so many purposes, at once and achieve so many goals and bragging to be multitasking superheroes of this Kali Yuga. Like they say that Elon Musk can do 10 things at once and so everyone is trying to become Elon Musk. So, by giving up this, this is wrong type of attention. The attention which is required, just try to be attentive to the taste of the Holy Name. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Ram, Hare Ram, Ram Ram, Hare Hare. When my friend somehow rather cheated me and told me that I should chant the Holy Name, Hare Krishna mantra because after chanting Hare Krishna mantra, I will be able to see the aura of people. That was the main point of his preaching to me. I still don't see the aura, but I'm still probably hoping to see it because I'm still chanting the Holy Man. So, at that point, I gave a solemn vow that I will give up this stupid process the moment I will be tired of it. I'm still 44 years later, I'm still doing it. So there is something in this sound. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Ram, Hare Ram, Hare Ram, Hare Hare. So this attention gives us the access to the taste. Gives us, if we are attentive, if we are not attentive, there is no question of taste. even if the most delicious food is in front of you, you will not feel the taste of the food because you are inattentive. The attention is the first requirement, preliminary requirement to get little taste and when you are hooked on this taste, when this taste is there, then you will be able to relish and ultimately entered the very deep state of meditation. And of course, Srila Jiva Goswami explains that this relish usually comes, the taste about which Srila Rupa Goswami speaks in Bhakti Rasa Amrita Sindhu at the very end of the first wave of the eastern part of the ocean of Bhakti Ras. he says that Jiva Goswami says it usually comes from the previous samskaras the taste is the nature of the taste is samskaras which we have and Jiva Goswami says usually it comes from our previous lives previous samskaras which are there but not necessarily if it was only the source of our taste it would be very hopeless for us people who hardly have any good samskaras from the previous life. So another very important point to enter, preliminary point, to enter into meditation is of course the association of devotees because while associating with devotees we can feel their taste. their taste is being reflected in our heart when the heart is sufficiently clean when it's little clean, not entirely clean but if it's little clean and we enter into the aura I'm still dreaming about seeing the aura when we enter into this space which surrounds them into the field which is surrounding them. And when we feel their bliss which they are exuding and which they experience, some fraction of this bliss is reflected in our heart. That's how it works. That's why it is very important. It's the most essential. Actually, that's the pillar of Vedic culture, Sadhu Sangha, Satsangha. It's the foundation of Vedic culture. No matter what you do, everything else is there in the Vedic culture, ultimately to bring you into the association of devotees. And the great Acharyas Vaishnavas, they explain that What happens in the association of devotees? They are very gross. We cannot really feel very subtle emotions which they experience. No way. It's not possible for us gross people. But they, because of their sadhana, because of their austerities, because of their purity of the heart. Even their gross body is completely purified. That's the secret why the saints, even in Christian tradition, they become completely, or in Buddhism there are such people, when they die, their body is not being, it's completely spiritualized. and that's why samadhis are there. Because it's spiritualized, even the gross body made of Pancha Mahatbhuta becomes very pure, and when we come in contact with them, we feel this purity. Even on the gross level, we feel the purity of their water. We feel... in this material world, we encounter these Pancha Mahatbhutas by our senses, But because it's all contaminated with tamasic and rajasic energies, it doesn't bring us this experience. But when we come in contact with very pure human beings, very sattvic human beings, we experience the bliss which they experience partially, and we experience the purification which is coming from them. we sometimes could feel the sweetness of the sound which they emanating from their lips. It's a special sound. They may say the same words which you have heard, but the effect of this sound is different because the sound, no matter what they're talking about, they may be talking about very simple and very mundane subject matters. It's still very purified. Like disciples of Sīvāpāpā, they explained how they would relish the way he would drink water or do whatever he was doing. Because of this fact that their body is different, and we experience this and this purified elements, they bring some experience which we will not be able to experience otherwise. So the taste is coming, like another example is of course, Gorgavinda Swami Maharaj. He was just, you know, he was just a bubble of ananda. He was exuding this, emanating ananda. and no matter whatever he was doing, it's just relishable to watch the saintly people, how they, or Vinod Bihari Baba, who is resident of Varsana, can go to him and just experience something special being in his presence. And he comes up to Kirtan and tells you, please take some prasadam, and it's already one o'clock in the morning, and you're not used to take dinner that early in the morning. And you try to politely refuse, and he says, why? And he says this with such a sweetness and innocence that you start taking this prasadam at one o'clock in the morning. You cannot refuse. There is something special. So this satsanga, association with devotees, is a very essential element of meditation. Without this, you will not be able to experience the taste. And without even preliminary emotions, it's not possible to enter into meditation. But what is most important, which I wanted to tell, is that when we have faced with some emotions, and at the same time we associate with Vaishnavas, very strange things take place in our heart. The taste for bhakti, sraddha, sraddha into the goal of bhakti, into the process of bhakti, gives you hope. Especially when we hear Srila Prabhupada, he is instilling this space, he is saying this process is so simple and so sublime, Please do it. Just chant Hare Krishna and be happy. So it gives us hope. And hope is a very emotionally surcharge state. But then we meet with real Vaishnavas and our hopes are shattered. Because we see them and we think, where is he and where is him? How can I ever reach this stage? we become very humbled. So this combination of hope which is given to us by the face and at the same time experience of being with the great Vaishnavas and understanding our real position combined together gives us from one side it strengthens our hope from another side it makes us very humble. So this mixture, poisonous mixture of complete humility and at the same time totally baseless hope, hope without any foundation, as Śrīla Sanatana Goswami says, gives the pain to our heart. but this pain is the most important feeling which we can have so that's a very important secret of Vaishnava's style of meditation in personal style of meditation I can do anything just remember that you can do anything you just forgot about this just come to your senses just come to this condition, you can do anything, you can move the sun. And ultimately you're moving the sun. Why do you think? Like one disciple of Srila Prabhupada, she was saying that she was doing this impersonal kind of meditation while watching the sunrise. She was thinking, I'm making the sunrise. Wow! It works! It's a very successful meditation! It rises, really! So, their meditation and the taste for meditation is based on the pride. The pride gives you some taste, definitely, you also hope. But Vaishnava style of meditation is opposite to this because our concentration on the meditation is based on humility. Humility is coming from our experience and at the same time, Shrada gives us this hope and Srila Sanatana Goswami wrote this beautiful verse which Srila Rupa Goswami quotes in Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu. It's a beautiful verse in Sardulovik, Ridditam, Mitter, very beautiful verse. And he says, I do not have any bhakti starting with sravana. I do not have, I do not experience any prema by doing bhakti. I do bhakti, starting with sravana, but I don't experience prema. Can you relate to this statement? We hear, but there is no Prem, there is no response, there is no emotional connection with this. Na prema sravanadi bhaktir. Api va yoga atava vaišnavo. Okay, maybe you don't have this stage of prema bhakti, fine, but maybe you can meditate. He says, no, no, I don't have any vaišnava yoga. I cannot really concentrate my mind on Vishnu. He specifically says there are different kinds of meditations. So, Vaishnava Yoga means meditation on Vishnu, on the Supreme Lord. He says, no, even meditate on the Supreme Lord, I cannot. Jnanamva, I do not have fixity in my knowledge. I'm not fixed in the understanding of spiritual reality. Subha-karma-va, I'm not really doing any good works. Subha-karma-va ki-yat, even little bit subha-karma I don't do. I don't have anything. Aho-sajjati-rapyas-tiva. And of course my birth is very unfortunate. My birth is not very high, it's not very pure, so I don't have anything of this. Do you agree with Sanatana Goswami? We don't have anything like this. No prema shravanadi bhakti, no vajnava yoga, no jnanam, no shubha karma, no sajati. And then he says, By addressing the Lord, he calls the Lord, Oh, my Lord, who is very, very kind to those people who don't have too much sadhana, who are not really proficient, who are not really successful in their sadhana. to those people who are Hina without Adhika Sadhana, Sadaka, those Sadakas who are not really, who are a little lazy. Can you relate to this? Who are not really into it. So he says, oh my Lord, you are very kind to these lazy people. And nevertheless, acedya mula sati, I have this very deep-rooted, the root cannot be cut, acedya mula sati, I have this very strong desire. He says, it creates pain, very great pain within my heart. I know I don't deserve. I do not deserve. Still I have hope. I have this strong hope and this hope pains me because I understand this hope is totally baseless. There is no reason for me to be hopeful and still I am hopeful. Still I am hopeful, still I have the faith, still I want to achieve this. Somehow or other this faith is there, I know that I should achieve this. At the same time I understand that there is nothing in myself which would help me to achieve this. The only thing which, or the only one who can help me to achieve this is you, because you are very kind. So, it's very interesting that Jiva Goswami and Vishwanath Chakravartakur commenting in Bhakti Rāsāmreti Sindhu describe or explain this verse completely differently. But both explanations are very beautiful. Shila Jiva Goswami says that it's very interesting and very important for us. He says that why do we feel such a pain while practicing bhakti? We should feel pain by practicing bhakti. Of course, Srila Prabhupada gave us a lot of advance. He just said, just do it, do it, no problem, everything will be okay, don't worry about anything. But other Vaiśnavācāryas, they teach us that we should experience pain while practicing bhakti. It's a very sweet pain. But it's important, the pain is that the goal of bhakti is so high and I'm so low. The path which separates me from this is so long. So, and the pain, Śrīla Jīva Goswami explains, the pain is there. Yes, I want to achieve this goal, but why do I want to achieve this goal? Because again, I want to enjoy. Do you want prema? Who wants prema? Shilajiva Goswami explaining this verse says, Yes, I want prema. Why do I want prema? Because it feels good. Because I heard that it's a great experience. Because I heard, and Srila Prabhupada said, stay high forever, and it's better than, Srila Prabhupada explained, somebody asked him, how is it chanting, what is the experience? He said, it's as if you have the room full of LSD. So, yeah, we want prema. Why do we want prema? Because it's fun. Sīla Jīva Gosvāmī says, yes, I want prema, but why do I want prema? Again, I'm still selfish. Svartā, this selfishness is still there, it's motivating me, and therefore I feel pain, but still I want it. And I hope that Krishna will take away this selfishness which contaminates my practice of bhakti, and still I do it. So that's a very important point. And Vishwanachek, Robert Thitakur says, no, no, this is not how we should explain this verse. He says that, actually, I want to experience prema because I want to attain your personal service. And he says, literally, my unflinching desire for you who make yourself readily available to the least qualified, give me great disturbance. It should be understood that the desire expressed in this world is a desire only for attaining service and the level of prema arising from pure bhakti, devoid of jnana, karma and yoga. He basically says that the pain is coming to our heart because we feel that the goal is still very far away from us, no matter how much we try. so this is the mixture of hope and at the same time humility that's the mood which helps us to enter into the meditation and I wanted that we would chant for a few minutes maybe one round or for five minutes six minutes whatever it is with this mood of this verse let's repeat this verse again together I will chant and then you please repeat. He tva'i tathat, tva'i tathat, acedya molasati, he gopi janavala bhav yathayate, ha ha madashayivamam. He gives this exclamation at the end, ha ha, hi, hi, madashayivamam. still I have this hope which is there, even though I am so undeserving to achieve this hope. So let's try, let's try this this mood expressed so beautifully by Sanatana Goswami in this verse. Shri Krishna Chaitanya Pramunita Ananda Shri Advaita Gdataara Sivasadigora Bhakta Vrinda Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Hare Hare Hare, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Hare Hare Hare, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Hare Hare Hare, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Hare Hare Hare Hare, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Rama, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Hare Hare. Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama, Hare Hare. Sīla Sanādhnika svāmi in Brikhat Bhogavatamrita explains that humility and prema mutually dependent. When the humility becomes deeper, the prema deepens. And when the prema deepens, humility becomes even more deep. And in this way they are expanding unlimitedly. And along with this, our meditation becomes deeper and deeper and deeper. So, the main point which I wanted to explain today is the five stages of smaranam according to Bhaktisandarva. I am sure that you have heard about this, but let's try to understand more deeply what is supposed to happen during meditation. In this way we will avoid these traps of artificial kind of meditations and understand what real meditation is. So let's try to closely study what Srila Jiva Goswami has to say about meditation. He says, he gives the definition of smaranam. The definition of smaranam is that taca manasa anusandhanam. The word anusandhanam, manasa anusandhanam, the word anusandhanam is very important. Anusandhanam means close inspection, research, investigation, inquiry. So, Manas Anusandhanam means that you bring something close to your mind and you try to investigate it within your mind. And as I said, why it is so important to have pure heart for the meditation? Because Smaranam, it will become very clear actually, when we describe the stages of meditation. But Shilajiva Goswami Padhi says that first you have to purify your heart by Sharanagati, by surrendering at the lotus feet of the spiritual master, by serving him. Sharanapat tayadi bhik. It starts with Sharanapati, with your complete surrender. And surrender means pranipata. Surrender means you surrender to a particular person, and you do what he likes, what is conducive, what is good for him, not what is good for you. And by surrendering, you hear from him, and you serve him, continue serving for him, And gradually, gradually, it makes your heart suddha antahkaranam. Ultimately, your antahkarana, your internal sense organ, your mind, will become suddha, will become clear. And then you start doing smaranam together with namakirtana. You don't give up kirtana at any stage of your life. You always do kirtana, even if you are on the stage of smaranam. So let's try to understand what smaranam really is. Yad kin chita nusandhanam smaranam. Shila Jiva Goswami says that the first stage out of five stages of smaranam is simple smaranam. or ordinary smaranam, and he says, kinchit anusandanam. Of course, the object of our anusandanam, of our investigation, is the Lord. His nama, his rupa, his guna, or his lila, so he is yat kinchit, but little Anusandana, little investigation of his Namo, of his Forma, of his Guna. And basically what it means, it means that when we start meditating on the Lord, let's say we're meditating on the name of the Lord. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Ram, Hare Ram, Ram, Ram, Hare. and we don't pronounce it. We only do it mentally. What we are doing, we are invoking the samskara which is there within our mind. What is remembrance? Remembrance is the invoking samskaras, the prints, imprints, which are there in our consciousness. If we want to remember something, let's say we want to remember the face of our mother. Then immediately our Bodhi, through our Prana, there is a very efficient search mechanism there. Search, how it's? Search engine, right? Search engine is there in our mind. You make the request, yeah. Search request and then it goes through all your samskaras which are there through the memory and then the samskara which you require is there on the screen of your mental computer. So it's a very good Google protocol within our mind. Of course, when we become little senile, and becomes a little difficult for us to remember something. But remembrance means invoking or reviving the samskara which is already there. So when we chant the holy name, when we want to invoke the name of the Lord or pastime of the Lord or His form, yes, our mind will say, you want it? Of course, here you are. But the problem is that you have too many other samskaras in your mind. If you only had these samskaras, that would be okay, but you had so much garbage inside. And yeah, for a little while you have requested samskara, which is there in your mind, but immediately it's being replaced by something else. Maybe you want to do something else. So, it's also very much prominent in our computer life. This is our intimate life, which we are spending a lot of time by intimately interacting with computers, sometimes illicitly, sometimes illicitly. So, what happens, yes, requested samskara appears, but then very quickly it's being overshadowed by some other samskara, and by some other samskara, and by some other samskara. Because there are so many samskaras and they are quite powerful too. It's like on your YouTube or whatever, they give you a menu according to what you are usually requesting them. They know what you like. And your mind acts exactly the same way. He says, oh maybe, yeah, Hare Krishna is okay, but maybe you want to think about this? And you say, oh, it's a good idea. Let's think about this. And then something else appears in your mind, and something else appears in your mind. So, does it sound familiar to you? Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Ram, Hare Ram, Hare Hare. Therefore, Śrīla Jīva Goswami says, Kincit Hanu Sandanam. Little investigation, you invoke the image of the Lord, or the name of the Lord, or His gunas, and very quickly it's being overthrown by some other samskaras, by some other current which is there because of the passionate energy which is there in the mind. And therefore, it's very important for... Therefore, Shilajiva Goswami says, it's not possible really to remember anything about the Lord for any substantial amount of time when your mind is not clear. But Smarana means that you caught yourself, that you are thinking about something else and you bring your mind again back to the Holy Name. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Ram, Hare Ram, Ram, Ram. Something replaced, but you try to make the samskaras connected with Krishna very deep. And there is the whole Vaisnava lifestyle which helps in this. So basically this whole thing is just to make this samskara deep and very powerful and to disempower other samskaras which are there in our mind, in our subconscious thing. And what is very important, practically till the last stage of smaranam, which is samadhi, you remain egocentric. Ego, your ego is still in the center and your ego is actually the organizing force of the samskaras. The samskaras which we have, they are organized around our ego. Our ego has a certain form, and this form you can see in the mirror. In the gross manifestation of this form. This is your understanding of who you are. So the samskaras, they understand, they are structured according to our ego. And because we remain egocentric practically up to the point of samadhi. According to the description of Shilajiva Goswami, it's very clear, only at the level of samadhi you are transported into another realm. So, you always come back to something which is related to your ego. You try to go outside of your ego, try to meditate upon the Lord, but your memory inevitably comes back to your little, tiny, proud self. So, the second stage is very important. And second stage is still available to us. The first stage is definitely available to us. We should just practice it again and again and again. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare. Hare Ram, Hare Ram, Ram, Ram. Then he says, he gave the definition of this simple, ordinary Samanya Smaranam. It says, Smaranam requires two things. Smaranam is double, how you say this, double side process. One is, you try to tear away your mind from everything else. You try to take away your mind from everything else which is there, which your mind is trying to make you think about. So, Akrishnya, you are taking it away, you are pulling it away from everything else. And, Ma'i, Adveshya Teyatha, and you try to enter into Me. to me. So this is this double side or how you say this? Double? Whatever, double H, whatever. You understand, it's double. So it's the process which is going on. You're trying to pull away from everything else and at the same time to place your stubborn mind back into Krishna. But then he says what happens next? The next stage, sarvatas cittam akrishya. You're already done with this. You're already able, capable of pulling away your mind, your citta, from everything else. Sarvatas cittam akrishya. Akrishya is the past participle. So you're done with this. You already know how to do this. Samanya Akarena Manodharanam Dharana. Second stage is Dharana. And he says, you already know how to pull your mind away from everything else. You can keep your mind on Krishna, but you're keeping your mind on Krishna in a very generalized form. You don't see the details. You only see very general understanding, very general... Well, your meditation is not deep, but still you can comfortably keep your mind on one object for 12 seconds. It is explained in Kurma Purana that dharana means your ability to keep your mind in one thing for 12 seconds. It's not as easy as you think it is. So it's already an achievement. Dharana means that you're capable of not thinking about anything else for 12 seconds. Let's try for 12 seconds. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Ram, Hare Ram, Ram, Hare Hare. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare. Hare Ram, Hare Ram, Ram, Hare Hare. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Rama, Rama, Hare Hare... Something was trying to intrude into your dharana? Did you successfully drive it away? So, dharana is achievable. Dharana is not so difficult. But again, depending on the purity of your heart. And Srila Jivaga Swami will say also, very importantly, that the experience, the pleasure which you experience from Smaranam greatly depends on the purity of your heart. When the heart is pure, the Smaranam of the Holy Name of the Lord or of His guna or His karma or His rupa will bring you a lot of pleasure. So it's basically, Dharana means you're there, you're staying, you are on hold and you don't think about anything else for 12 seconds. And then he says the next stage is called Dhyana, Vishesheta Rupadi Chintanam. And he says that Dhyana means, or meditation proper, Dhyanam, is when you think about Rupa, starting with Rupa, it's interesting, he doesn't say Nama. Usually we start meditation from Nama because it's the easiest and this is the proper place where the meditation should start, to start with Nama. But here he says Rupa, which is the second stage. And he says, why he says Rupa? Because he says, Visheshetaha Rupadi Chintanam. You think about Rupa of the Lord, Vishesha Taha in a very concrete way, in a very detailed way. It's very difficult to do Dhyana on the name because name doesn't have so much variety in it. To do Dhyana you have to go deeper beyond the name on Anami, on the object of the name, with all the beautiful and very tasteful details of His form and so on and His qualities. Basically, what is the difference between Dharana and Dhyana is that you see very clear picture in your mind. With so minute details. You see Krishna, not just general form of Krishna. In Dharana you see something like what I see when I take off my glasses. I see you but without much details. Some really not very clear forms are in front of me. So, Dhyana, you zoomed in. you see Krishna very, very clearly because your mind has become also very pure. And for dhyana you have to hold in one place for 12 seconds multiplied by 12, which is 144 seconds. 144 seconds is two long minutes, two and a half long minutes. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Ram, Ram, Ram, Ram, Ram, Ram. And you see the form of the Lord with all the decorations, with all the ornaments, everything else. That's dhyana. You can see all the beautiful details. And there is a story here. There was a great Sadhu Mahatma. He was living in Manasi Ganga, Siddha Krishna Das, Babaji Maharaj. And he was teaching his disciples this little Smaranam. And once, his disciples, they would come in the evening and they would tell him their experiences. And one of his disciples, he came and he was crying. He was crying and crying and crying. and Siddha Krishna just asked what happened. He said, I couldn't meditate on lila, I couldn't do it. He said, why, what happened? He said, I started putting ornaments on the hand of Shri Mati Radharani and it was so attractive. It took me three hours and I couldn't do anything else, so I didn't do little smaranam today. He said, now you achieved success. Because for three hours you were meditating on the beautiful hand of Shri Mati Ratharani while embellishing it. So that's dhyanam. Dhyanam, you see the beautiful, sweetest details, which is, again, only possible when the heart is very pure. And what is very important here is that on the stage of dhyana, when your meditation becomes very deep, when you are able to concentrate on the name, on the form, on the qualities of the Lord, guna and karma, his different aspects of his personality, then you can get Spurti. Sometimes people misunderstand what Spurti is. They think that Spurti is the reality of the spiritual world. No, Spurti is the experience which you have on the stage of Dhyana. Your seeing the Lord, your samskara becomes so deep and so vivid and so detailed that ultimately you see it outside. That's purti. For a short moment of time you are able to see the deep samskara which is inside you, outside of yourself. Of course, it's the mercy of Krishna. Krishna shows himself. But that's still on the stage of dhyana. On the stage of samadhi, it's not sporty, it's a completely different experience. So, while I'm telling this, the reason is that we have to understand the great responsibility of how not easy it is. We have to really work hard to clean our mind to reach this stage. So, and then he says, Srila Jiva Goswami, he says, that when he says, Amrita dravat avichinnam tat druva anu smriti. The next stage, the fourth stage of smaranam is druva anu smriti. When you enter into meditation, dhyana, you already feel a lot of taste. You already feel closely connected with the Lord, with His form, and your mind doesn't want to leave this form. So, amrita dharavat, amrita dharavat avi cinnam. When you're keeping or how you say this, you're holding Amrita Dharavat, when the flow of this Amrita, of this nectar, of immortality, this spiritual reality becomes avicinnam, becomes uninterrupted. This is called Dhruvanusmriti. This is called uninterrupted smaranam. When your flickering mind becomes very thick, and of course this Dhruvanusmrithi is coming from the commentary of Ramanujacari on the first sutra of Vedanta Sutra, where he explains this stage of spiritual development, Dhruvanusmrithi, when your mind becomes very thick. Now our mind is not very thick. It's very sick. There is a problem here. And because it's very sick, it goes here and there. It's very turbulent, as Arjuna says, it's balavan, it's very strong, it's very stubborn. So, when the mind becomes very calm, there is a concentration process in the mind when the mind is very pure, it becomes thick and it becomes like the flow of honey or flow of oil. When you pour out the water, the water is going here and there, but when you pour out honey, honey doesn't go here and there, it's just streams uninterrupted, all like Ganga. Sometimes these two metaphors are used to explain what it means. your mind is very slow and it is capable of entering the spiritual reality and you see the flow of spiritual reality in front of your eyes. Therefore it's called Amrita Dharavata Vichinnam Druvanu Smriti. This is Druvanu Smriti, Uninterrupted Remembrance of the Lord, which is compared with the flow of the oil. And it's very interesting. Please listen carefully. Again, because I'm trying to explain the science of proper meditation to help to avoid the cheap imitations of meditation. That's a science. That's a great science. It's a gradual process. It's achievable, it's doable, but it has its own rules, how to enter it. So this Dhruvanu Smriti is coming from Chandogya Upanishad verse, very famous verse, Ahara-suddha, Sattva-suddhi. Srila Prabhupada quotes this verse in the first canto of Srimad Bhagavatam. Ahara-suddha, Sattva-suddhi, Sattva-suddha, Dhruva-smriti. Smriti labhe, lambe, sarva grantinam vipramoksha. So this verse says basically stages. First, your ahara should be completely shudha. Your food should be shudha. But food, any other word could be used, bojanam or annam for food. Here it's called ahara. Ahara basically means not specifically food, but anything which you take inside. Ahara, which you're taking inside. So basically it means that the sounds which you listen should be pure. Try to avoid these impure sounds of rock music or politicians' speeches. There is a joke. How do you know that politicians are making lies, telling lies? just by the movement of his lips. So try to avoid these impure sounds as much as possible. Try to avoid impure scenes by your vision, impure touches, impure smells. Of course, sometimes it's inevitable because so much sewage is going on here. but as much as possible try to make every food of your intake of your senses very pure and then sattva shuddhi, then only your mind will become shuddhi. Then only your mind becomes shuddhi and then sattva shuddhi, then your smriti becomes Druva becomes very strong. And then Smriti Labdhe, when you remember, when you are able to be in this space, remembering that I am the servant of God, that this is my eternal constitutional position, Sarva Grantinam Vipramoksha, all the knots within our heart, the knot of our false ega, we become completely liberated. We go beyond this. So it starts with food. There is a very beautiful story here in Vrindavan how one Vaishnava was doing katha and he was engaged in a beautiful katha and all of a sudden, and so many people were listening to his katha and all of a sudden he stood up from his asana and ran away. And of course everyone was bewildered and some people ran behind him. and ultimately he's running, running, running, and I'm behind him and he's jumping into Yamuna. And very frantically washes up himself and coming out and looking at him and saying, what happened with you? And he says, I was telling this beautiful Katha, But when I was doing this, one very inappropriate thought, just one thought entered my mind and I became so horrified. So I ran away into Yamuna to purify myself. So the moral of this story is very important. When your mind is pure, impure thoughts will not enter into your mind. Never. you will only have very pure mind substance it will always be this Dhruva Smriti and then you will be always beyond this world you will always be with Krishna so that's the thing and actually our Acharyas especially Jiva Goswami his masterpiece is of course Gopal Champu they're explaining on the basis of Srimad Bhagavatam they're explaining how we should meditate on the lilies of Krishna so that the lilies of Krishna will become like uninterrupted flow of honey how they are coming one after another what is the sequence of this and anyway there is a beautiful verse from Gopal Champa but I will not do this because I still want to finish this lecture before you have to go to bed. So, we only need to go into one last stage, which is very important. Still, till this stage, your mind becomes purer and purer. The mind changes its quality. It becomes more and more capable of holding the form of the Lord, the name of the Lord, the qualities of the Lord. but still, it's still the material mind. It's very pure, it's very sattvic, but it's material mind up to the stage of Dhruva Anusmriti. It's pure sattvic mind which is very conducive for our meditation, meditation, but it's not yet transcendental experience. Maybe some shadows of transcendental experience you may have, like these little sparks of them, little spurtis of them. But the real transcendental experience comes only on the stage of samadhi. It's very clear when you see the definition of samadhi given by Sri Lajiva Goswami. Deya matra spuranam samadhi riti It basically means that the final stage of samadhi riti is that when you're completely not dependent in your smaranam on your mind, you go beyond the mind, you go totally beyond the mind, and the transcendental reality opens itself to you because your mind became so translucent and you either see it through the mind or you see the reality as it is, it doesn't really matter because it's practically the same experience. It's trans-cognitive awareness, it's awareness beyond the mind. You directly see the reality and this reality is totally non-material and the proof of this is the illustration which which Srila Jiva Goswami gives. Srila Jiva Goswami gives to all the stages, the illustrations from Srimad Bhagavatam. And in the last stage of Smaranam, which is real Smaranam, which is the perfection of Smaranam, he gives a very interesting verse about Markandei Rishi. The story goes like this. Markandaya Rishi once meditating on the Supreme Lord, and he went deep into the meditation, and at that moment, Shiva and Parvati appeared in front of him. Shiva and Parvati themselves came to him in their persons. What did he do? He didn't notice. he didn't notice that Shiva and Parvati are there he was in Samadhi he was in different realms he was not really there so it's basically sometimes the impersonalist people or yogis they say that this is Sampragyata Samadhi you're meditating on somebody you have a form no it's not Sampragyata Samadhi it's very clear from Srimad Bhagavatam Srimad Bhagavatam says that the higher stage of samadhi, of Vaishnava samadhi, is asampragyata samadhi, because you are not dependent on your mind. It's the reality with its form revealing itself to you. So there is no material form which you are dependent on in your samadhi. You're completely concentrated and you are in the stage when you see the reality as it is without any interaction or without any intermediary functions of the mind. Even the pure Buddha, the pure mind, is not necessary for this. That's the real spiritual experience, and that's coming only on the fifth stage of Smaranam, which requires a lot of work, which requires a lot of purification, a lot of discipline. But the bhaktas in our temples, they achieve it on the second week of their bhaktas program. I hear it again and again and again. Yeah, did you see the big toe of the feet of Krishna? In my meditation he came to me and he showed me his big toe. I heard the sound of Krishna's flute. It's hallucination. It's not the sound of Krishna's flute. In yoga darsana, it's called brantidarsana. It's called some... In Christian tradition, it's called prelist. I don't know how it is in English. It's just little visions which you have. The real meditation is available. It's there. We have to achieve it. It's possible, no problem. But start very carefully with trying to feel the sweet taste of the Holy Name. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Ram, Hare Ram, Ram, Ram, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare Hare Ram, Hare Ram, Ram, Ram, Hare Hare Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare Hare Ram, Hare Ram, Ram, Ram, Hare Hare So, it's basically, there is a lot of other things which could have been said but I will finish now just by saying that Srila Jiva Goswami again explaining this process, he said that we should start with meditating on the Name and be very patient. I will tell about this tomorrow when we get into the story of Akrura. And one, the first, most important lesson of Akrura is the lesson of patience because Akrura, before his final journey to Vrindavan, He was waiting for 12 years. For 12 years uninterruptedly, in the very unfavorable environment of Madhura, being minister of Kamsa, he was meditating on Krishna. And all these details are very important because unfavorable circumstances in the beginning are very favorable for our meditation. We will explain about this tomorrow. So, the first lesson is to be patient. Yes, we will achieve the spiritual reality. Because Srila Prabhupada promised us this. It's very important. His promise is very important. If we go according to His promise and do what He told us to do, we will achieve this stage, no doubt about it. But we should understand the science and not turn it into mockery. And . Srila Jiva Goswami says that what is necessary in the beginning, Prathamam, first of all, what is necessary, namnach shravanam listening of the name and that's exactly what Srila Prabhupada said first you should listen to the name for what reason antahkarana sudhyartam to purify our antahkarana to purify our heart this is a picture, this is the beginning you can start any place anywhere, but the normal process is this start with this with this process of purifying and then ultimately we will achieve this. In 12 years or in 120 years, it doesn't matter. We will achieve it. If we are serious and if we have faith, we will be able to see Krishna and then you can talk with the Bhakta and compare his experience with your... Don't hurry because it's not very conducive for our meditation to be in a hurry. Give up your hurry and blissfully chant the Holy Name. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Hare Hare. So I wanted to say something more but I will... Vacha Vedum, Anasakrodha Vedum, I will control my speech, my desire to speak. And now we will enter into deep meditation on Dhammadarashtakam and Holy Name after that. and tomorrow we'll continue our talks on this topic. Thank you very much. Hare Krishna.