Anartha Nivritti. Lecture 2

prema-pumarta-mahan Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhormatamidam tatra-dharana-parahan So we are studying Madhuri Kadamini, a beautiful book written by Vishwanath Chakravartita Kuru to explain to us the intricacies of the path of bhakti and the dynamic of this path. It's a very practical book because it teaches us practical hints of how to apply the methodology of bhakti in our life. So we'll first chant pranam mantra to Vishwanath Chakravartyita Kuru. This pranam mantra was written by Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswatita Kuru Prabhupada himself. Vishvasyanatharupasoh Bhaktivartma pradarshanath Bhakti-chakravartitatvat Chakravartyakyayabhave So in this pranam mantra, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswati is explaining the title of Vishwanāta Chakravartita Kuru. His initiated name was different, Hari, what is it? Harivalava. But he is widely known as Vishwanatha Chakravarti. Chakravarti means emperor. and he is Vishwanatha Chakravarti, the emperor of the whole world. He is the Vishwanatha, the lord of Vishwa, this universe. So, Śila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur explains the meaning of this title and he says, because Vishvasyanatha Rupa So, shall I click here? Yes. Vishvasyanatha Rupa So, because he is... Because he is the protector of Bhakti Vartma. Because he is showing Bhakti Vartma, the path of Bhakti. Bhakti Vartma Pradhartha Nath. Therefore, he is Vishvassya Nathar. He is the lord of the whole world because the whole world is created for the sole purpose of showing or of finding the space of bhakti. And Bhakti Chakri Vartita Atvat and because he is sitting among Bhaktas in the association of the Bhaktas, Bhakti Chakri. So he is known as Chakra Varti. He is Vishwanatha because he is showing the path of Bhakti And because he is always surrounded by bhaktas, he is called Chakravarti. That's his Mangalacharana. And then let's chant this very important verse, Mangalacharana, to the whole book. Hridvā preṇava bhaktiśāśyavitate Sanjīvani svāgamā Pramve kāmatā pārtu dāhadamani Viśvāpagolasini Duranne Marushakhinopisarasi Vahaya Bhujaprabhu Sri Chaitanya Kripani Rankusamaha Madurya Kadambini Shri Chaitanya Kripani Ram Kusamaha Madhurya Kadamini So this is a very beautiful and very important poetical and at the same time philosophical verse which has a lot of meaning. The metaphor which is given here, Sri Chaitanya, Kripa Nirankusha Mahamadhurya Kadambini. So this unrestricted Nirankusha, totally unrestricted, totally self-willed mercy Kripa Nirankusha of Shri Chaitanya is compared here with Madhurya Kadambini, with the cloud bank of mercy. Cloud bank of Madhurya. So the meaning here, Maha Madhurya Kadambini. So the mercy of Lord Chaitanya is totally unrestricted. restricted, nobody can restrict as much as nobody can restrict monsoon clouds from pouring down the rain, nobody can restrict the mercy of Lord Chaitanya. Nobody can say you can give mercy to all the Bharatiya's but not to the foreigners. Nobody can say that you can give mercy to Brahmanas and not to It's Nirankusha. It doesn't know any restrictions or any limitations. And it's in the form of Madhurya Kadambini, the clouds of Madhurya, because Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is the only one. The only one who described Supreme Truths, Param Brahma, Paramtattva. Brahman as a concentrated form of Madhurya. There were many Bhaisnavas before Sri Chaitanya Mahprabhu who were describing the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His personal aspect, in different features, in different beautiful qualities which Krishna has, But nobody made such an important stress that ultimately Lord is sweetness personified. Madhurya Bhagavatassar. That's the words of Sri Chaitanya Mahprabhu from Chaitanya Charitamrita. The essence of God is Madhurya. Not his Aishwarya, not his ruling power, not his ability to restrict sinful people and reward the saintly people. Nothing else, only Madhuriya. In essence, in the very essence of his personality, he is sweet. He is amazingly sweet. and this rain of mercy of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who is revealing this essence of God hidden before. It's there in the Vedas. In Rig Veda, I believe, there is a beautiful hymn which explains the Madhuri. It is said, Madhu, Madhu, Madhu, Madhu. We worship this Madhu. Everything is Madhu. The cows are Madhu and the rivers are overflowing with Madhu. Everything is honey, honey, honey. So it's there. In every scripture there is this understanding that ultimately the essence of the Lord is sweet. But the whole world was waiting for Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to come and to say that everything else is non-essential. the only essential point is that he is sweet because in any other tradition spiritual tradition the sweetness is there but it's hidden it's basically overshadowed by all other descriptions of God of his majesty of his power of his whatever it is so this unrestricted mercy of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is pouring down as the rain and this rain has basically three effects. Three very important effects according to the intensity of the rain. Sometimes we know, you know, the rain starts very slowly then it becomes really intense then it again becomes little slow monsoon rain. so the monsoon rain it's monsoon rain but it can be of different intensity and in the beginning when this rain of mercy of Lord Chaitanya is like you know little shower it's just showering somewhat it is said Hridvaprenava bhakti shashya vitate Sanjivani Svagama Arambhi From the very beginning Svagama Arambhi it gives life, Sanjivani to the crops which are growing in the field of our heart. It's a very important metaphor when the heart is compared with field. Because what is our heart? Heart is the place where we collect all kinds of impressions of this world. and this impression samskaras which we collect constantly by looking here and there by hearing something we always want to get the seeds of new samskaras of new impressions within our heart and then sooner or later some of these seeds they don't give any crop but some of these seeds which we are very eager to sow in the soil of our heart, they will give a lot of crop. We see some, like, for example, Jamila's life. He saw this, he had this very powerful, emotionally disturbing image of Shudra embracing a prostitute. And this one seed completely changed the course of his life. It gave so much crop, so much result that the whole life was completely changed. But he says, When this rain of Lord Chaitanya's mercy is coming and it touches the soil of our heart, Then it gives Nava Bhakti Shashya Vita Tete, new crop of Nava Bhakti. Nava Bhakti means ninefold Bhakti. The new impressions or the new emotions which are caused by Nava Vita Bhakti starts growing on the soil of our heart. And Nava means two meanings. Nava means new and Nava means nine. So Nava Bhakti Shasya means ninefold bhakti and Nava Bhakti Shasya means the good seeds. How do you call this? Anyway, like rice or, yeah, rice or gehu. So, now Bhakti Shashya, it's extremely interesting and deep analogy. Because usually you can practice Bhakti when you already have some Bhakti Samskaras. In a normal case scenario, you can only practice bhakti in an intense way if you previously were engaged in some sort of bhakti or it may be agyata sukriti bhakti, whatever. So it's very difficult to start bhakti from the scratch. But Lord Chaitanya, he doesn't care whether it's difficult or not. He's not only pouring the rain, he's also pouring the seeds of bhakti. So it's basically, that's the meaning of nava as new. You're completely new to bhakti. Like approximately half of this audience are people who are completely new to bhakti. They are from this western hemisphere and they don't know anything about bhakti, Navavida Bhakti. But Lord Chaitanya Mercy is so unrestricted, he is not only pouring the rain, but also the seeds at the same time. So the seeds are falling down on the field of our heart, and they give a lot of crop ultimately. And basically it means, this is something which we can relate. From the very beginning, he is not without a reason, stresses this point. Sva-agama-arambi, Sva-agama-arambi. From the very beginning, you already get very fresh and enjoyable samskaras of bhakti. No matter who you are, you feel very much refreshed because you get the new impressions. Everything is new. Maybe for those people who were born in Bharat, many of the things are not new, but still, Lord Chaitanya movement has this amazing ability to impress people. People hear Kirtan, and they're immediately impressed. Even Gopinath Acharya was totally impressed impressed when he saw Sankirtan of Lord Chaitanya and he said, what is this? What the heck it is? No, it was not. Sorry, it was Prataparudra Maraj. Prataparudra Maraj is looking at this procession of people who are just, you know, swaying and singing. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare And he is asking Sarvabauma Bhattacharya What is going on? I've never seen this I've never seen this beautiful scene So beautifully People are worshipping God He has seen so many different Forms of Upasana of Lord Jagannath's worship, but he has never seen this. And therefore he says, Hridvaprenavabakti shashya vittateksanjiivani svagamaranvi. From the very beginning, we get new impressions which change the course of our life. So many people told me in Russia, one lady, she was especially graphic about this. She said, I was sitting in my apartment on the 10th floor of an apartment building. And somewhere down there, there was Harinam party. And I heard the sound of Harinam. And all of a sudden, without any understanding what am I doing, I ran down the stairs. In the meantime, the St. Kirtan party was already far away. and I started running behind these and I was totally mesmerized by this sound and ultimately, you know, I came with them to the temple, I ate prasadam and I started chanting 16 rounds every day. This is how it happens. This is exactly what Viswanachakravita Kuru is explaining here. Hridva prenava bhakti sasya vita teksanjivani svagam arambe. So that's what happened in the beginning. You get a completely new experience. And this new experience which you get of this practicing of bhakti, of kirtan, or of shravanam, or whatever it is, changes the course of your life and ultimately gives a very good crop. the good result from the field of your heart and then he says when the rain becomes more intense in the beginning it only gives some new positive impressions but when the rain and we know sometimes the monsoon rain starts slowly but then it becomes really intense So he says, kamatapartu daha, dhamani. It starts controlling dhamani. And ultimately, completely extinguishing kamatapartu daha. The fire, daha, which is burning within our heart of different desires. and it's tough, it's very hot. The desires which we have, the passions which we have present in our heart, they're very hot. Therefore, hell is a very hot place. Hell is the place where we naturally get because of so many desires and that's the heat of the desires. In every tradition it is explained that this is the hot place, the hell. And in Vedic tradition it is said that the hell is somewhere in the south direction. So it's somewhere towards this hot place. But basically that's the heat of the desires. So the next result, and sometimes we can see that this is a big forest fire or whatever, some heat. But the next result, if the rain is very strong, then this fire, which is also very strong, subsides. Gradually, gradually subsides until it completely extinguishes. So that's the next result, which we can also relate to. The first result, we see something, we get new impressions, we get very new kind of experience by coming in contact with Lord Chaitanya. And understanding that God, whom I am supposed to fear, should not be feared of. He should be, instead of being feared, he should be tasted. It's a completely different relationship. with God. He is the object of taste. But the next result is that I can feel that the fire which is burning quite strongly within my heart becomes less and less and less. It may not be completely extinguished because because the rain of Lord Chaitanya's mercy is not really pouring down. Or sometimes we may put some little covering over the nice fire of our desires so that the rain of Lord Chaitanya's mercy would not extinguish it completely. Sometimes we are very protective of it. Let it burn there, no problem. But we also can feel that it goes down. It definitely goes down. And this is exactly, and therefore he says, this Madhuriya Kadambini, the reign of Lord Chaitanya, sweet conceptions, controls to a certain extent this fire which is burning within our heart. And then he says, This is the third extent of Lord Chaitanya's mercy. We know when the rain is pouring, then it can extinguish all the fire which is there in the jungles. but it can also do when the rain is really heavy, then all the rivers become overflowing. Sometimes there is a flood, like a few years back there was this huge flood in Himalayas and Ganga completely raised up nine meters high. Huge, huge. So that's what he says, Vishwa, all the rivers of this world, Apaga, the fastly running rivers of this world, Ullasini, they become overflowed with Nek. And it basically means, that's the third stage of spiritual development, when we are completely washed away, our little tiny soul washed away by the mercy of Lord Chaitanya. And the rivers are flowing towards what? Towards the ocean. and irresistibly if the current of the river is so strong because of this over flood then we will be washed away to the ocean of the spiritual world we don't have to do anything the mercy is so strong it will just take us and even if we resist the mercy will say no problem just shut up I'm taking you to the place where you need. Like there is this beautiful story about Srila Prabhupada. There was one hippie girl who came to, she was seeking for a guru to find God. And ultimately somebody told her, you just go, it was in San Francisco, You go to this temple, the Swamiji is there. Maybe he's the one who is, whom you're looking for. And she came and Prabhupada was busy. And Prabhupada said, please wait, I have to do something. And Prabhupada was sitting with Gargamuni. And Gargamuni, his nickname in this con was Gargamani. Because he was the first treasurer. and he's really good with money. And he even calls his memories of Srila Prabhupada Gargamani. And they're sitting and Srila Prabhupada is checking his books, you know, two cents for this and one dollar for this and what is this, why is such a big expense? And she's sitting there, she's a seeker, she's a hippie and here is the guru, and he is, you know, just counting pences and dollars and speaking about this and asking why so much expense, what are you doing? And ultimately she's becoming angrier and angrier and angrier and more angry inside. And ultimately she just got up, raised her hands and started shouting, I came here to find love. Prabhupada looks at her very calmly and says, sit down, you came to a proper place. Don't worry. Just sit here quietly. So, basically, just sit down, don't worry. You will be taken to the proper place by Lord Chaitanya's mercy. whatever is there but the Lord Chaitanya's mercy is so powerful and that's the point that when it really starts pouring it takes you more or less automatically to the final destination of the spiritual world and then he says Durranme Marushak Kino Pisarasi Bhabhaya Prabhu Chaitanya Kripani Rankusha so So, but he said, what I am? I am a lonely, dry tree, which is growing in the desert. And I am very far away from this downpour of mercy of Lord Chaitanya. I am this dry tree which is growing in the desert and very far away from this. Still, give me just a few drops of your mercy. so that I would become again alive so that the life would come back to me. So, he expresses the natural humility which we all should have to achieve the mercy of Lord Chaitanya. The mercy of Lord Chaitanya is there. It's totally near Ankhusha. but we need to be humble to achieve this mercy. And in this very verse he explains the stages of bhakti. The three major stages of bhakti. And then the second verse, second Mangala Chiran of this. Bhakti purva shri ta tam tu rasam paśyet yadattatih tam nomi sata tam rupa nama priyajanam hare. So it's also very interesting. After explaining the title of this book Madhurya Kadambi and explaining the effects of Lord Chaitanya's mercy, he says, he prays to Shilurupagaswami who actually revealed this conception of Lord Chaitanya. He says, There were many people before who were taking shelter of the devotional service. Many, many people who were practicing devotional service. we should not be fanatics we shouldn't say that nobody is practicing devotional service only I am trying to do this everyone else is useless it says bhakti purva ish rita tamtu even though tamtu there were many people who were practicing bhakti rasampasye diatata di tam no misata tamrupa nam apriya janam he says even though there were many people who were practicing this, the one who gave us the intelligence to see bhakti as rasa was Śrīla Rūpa Goswami. Yadatta Dhi. He gave this intelligence which helps us to to see bhakti not as a ritual. Like in Sri Sampradaya, they have this difference between bhakti, upasana and saranagati, and what we call bhakti, they call saranagati. But still, the understanding of bhakti, The prevalent understanding of bhakti before that. Or if you take even Madhva Sampradaya, how they approach to bhakti. What is bhakti? Bhakti is a ritual. It's a ritual of worship. It's a certain relationship, it's a certain procedure by which we enter into relationship with God. Certain methodology, certain tantra by which we can enter into relationship with God. But what Srila Rupa Goswami did, he just explained, he gave us the intelligence which helps us to see bhakti as rasa. Bhakti is not ritual, bhakti is rasa, bhakti is taste from the very beginning. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Ram, Hare Ram, Ram, Ram, Hare Hare. In other words, bhakti from the very beginning has the emotional component. It's not just ritualistic procedure, more or less mechanical procedure, but it's from beginning to end. It's rasa in a very high stage, but even in the very beginning we feel a little shadow of rasa. And therefore, tam nomi satatam rupa nama priya janam hare he. I'm always paying obeisances again and again and again to Shila Rupa Goswani, who is very dear to the Lord. Rupa nama hare priya. He is hare priya. he is very the person who is very dear to Lord Hari or to Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu so that's the very important thing in other words what he wants to say by this Mangala Charana by indicating and indicating the subject matter of this book I will explain to you how how bhakti develops within the heart by the mercy of Lord Chaitanya if somebody is following the path of Lord Chaitanya how the gradual development of bhakti takes place in our heart and how ultimately it brings us to the final destination of rasa experience how from the very beginning this downpour of sweetness of the Lord gives us new experience. And that's another very important point to understand about Lord Chaitanya's path. It's all based on our experience. we should not be satisfied with just some kind of theoretical knowledge it's the path of practical realization of all these truths which we are entitled to understand in our own experience so So, yeah, I was supposed to very briefly explain what I explained in goal, but I was carried away by the river of North of Lord Chet. After one hour, we're still trying to understand Mangala Chirana. But in any case, let's go a little further. whatever our madness will allow us to proceed to. And so this whole book is the explanation of two verses from Bhakti Rasaambhita Sindhu. Let's chant them together. So in these verses, Śrīla Rūpa Goswami is very clear what he's explaining. He says, sadakanam ayam preemnach pradur bhavet kramaha. How gradually, kramaha, the prema is manifesting within the heart of sadakas. So from the seminal verses, there is already paradox which is pointed out by Rupa Goswami. because sadhana usually is a systematic practice to produce something sadhya literally means something which is being produced by sadhana like for example you know if we are cooking something if we are cooking samosas there is certain sadhana and then samosas will be will become sadhya the result of this sadhana We don't say that, you know, we're doing some also sadhana and then some also manifest themselves. No, the logical result of a particular procedure. But in case of bhakti, it's not like this. In case of bhakti, bhakti pradurbhava. Pradurbhava means it will just manifest. Prema will just manifest at one point. But still, for prema to manifest, we should do sadhana, but we should not mistaken this sadhana as the cause of prema. So that's very important and paradoxical in one sense, but we will explain it a little later. So that's, and he says, this is the gradual stages of manifestation of prema. another very important point here is that even Shraddha is a manifestation of Prema it's a very tiny atomic fraction of Prema but still it's Prema like in the seed in a very compressed form there is all the genes which are necessary to manifest the whole tree in the same way if Shraddha is proper then Prema is already there It's a little tiny fraction. You may not feel so much taste when you have Shraddha, even though even seed is quite tasty. But it's very small. But that's another very important point here. And I will tell a little bit about this point, how prema manifest, why we should not call it sadhya. This is the definition of Rupa Goswami sadhana from Baktira Sammita Sidhu. Let's chant it together. So again, he more explicitly, Shilurupa Goswami, more explicitly explains this in this verse where he says that yes, we do some sadhana and the definition of sadhana is that we are doing it by our senses, Krithi Sadhya Bhavet, Sadhya Bhava. And if we have this Sadhya Bhava, if we understand that ultimately it should bring us to the level of Bhava, and we are performing this sadhana with very clear intention of achieving the stage of Bhava, then it is called sadhana. And only then. If the goal of our endeavors is not established, then ultimately it will become a mechanical ritual. So, Krittisadhyaya, because we are doing it with the senses, with the hands, with the ears, with the tongue, you know, if it does not enliven by the connection with the ultimate goal, it will become mechanical. I've been, I don't know about you, about you, but I've been in many lectures where you just want to come to the lecturer and try to wake him up because he's just mechanically repeating something because it is our ritual to say something. And to quote some verses, you know, you just come on, what are you doing? This is not a ritual, this is bhakti. This is something which we are supposed to do to achieve bhava. From the very beginning, it has to be somewhat saturated with bhava, or at least with eagerness to achieve this goal. Therefore he says, kritti sadhya bhavet sadhya bhava sadhana bida. This is the definition of bhava. Sadhana bida, sorry, not bhava, but sadhana. the dictionary definition, sadhana-adhida. But immediately after that he said, nitya siddasya bhava, siya prakatyam hlidi sadhya. So this nitya siddasya, the eternally existing bhava, not because of this sadhana, but in connection with this sadhana, it prakatyam, it manifest in the heart. And it's a very important point to understand from the beginning because everything which is created, if something is the product of creation, is created by some process, by some sadhana, what will happen with something which is created? It will be destroyed. It will be inevitably destroyed. It is destined to be destroyed. You know, whatever appears at one point, it will be disappearing in another point after some time. So if prema is like this, what is the use of achieving prema? Okay, I'll work hard, I achieve prema, and then, you know, at one point it will be destroyed. So what's the point? You know, I can, in the same way, strive to achieve some material happiness, and again it will be destroyed. So no, preyama is not like this, it's nitya siddha. It's eternally existing. And therefore it cannot be created. It cannot be the result of sadhana. So what's the, then what are we doing? If it's not the result of sadhana, so what are we doing here? So if it's supposed to be given, then we should just wait when it will begin and in the meantime we just have fun by going to cinema and you know, anyway. It doesn't have any restricting power. So, what is this? But no, it's very important and of course, Translating this verse into simple Bengali, he says, Nityasiddha Krishna Prema. Nityasiddha Krishna Prema. Krishna Prema is Nityasiddha. Eternally existing. Saddha Kabunai. It's never saddha. It's never something created or concocted. Sravana Deshudhichita Karayevudoi. So, even though these two words, sadhana and saddha, they're coming from the verbal root, sad, sad samsidho. Basically samsidho means to finish, to accomplish, to perfect, to achieve the goal. And therefore sadhana is the means to achieve sadhya, the goal. But here is a very special Krishna Prema is not sadhya but bhakti is sadhana. So So it basically means, and the example can be given here. Yeah, the example is given here. If a child is drowning and he is crying, help me, help me. Can we say that his cries is the cause of his, and somebody saves him. Can we say that his helpless cries is the cause of his salvation? Yeah, if he only cries and nobody is there, he may cry whatever he likes. It's not really the cause, but still it's connected with the cause. Still it's very important to cry. It's because our southern is crying southern. And it's very important to cry loudly too. But ultimately the cause is different. The cause is the mercy of the Lord. That's the real cause. Only if somebody hears this cries and believes that this is a sincere cry, then he can come to rescue us. So that's the point here is that there is sadhana, but this sadhana is a special kind of sadhana, which does not necessarily give us the guaranteed result of sadhya, but still increases our chances to get the mercy of the Lord and in this way to receive real bhakti. So that's what it is. And therefore, Srila Jiva Goswami commenting on these two verses of Bhakti Rasa Amritasindhu, he says that this is a particular gradual stage which generally happens. He says there are different ways for prema to appear in the heart. Because prema is totally, completely self-willing, it can appear in anyone's heart. It appeared in the heart of Putana. She was also crying quite loudly. Krishna was playing with her. But she didn't go from Sraddha to Sadhusangha. She didn't undergo this cumbersome process. So the idea here is that, yeah, there are many different ways of prema to manifest with our heart. Because ultimately it's a manifestation. So you cannot really say you can manifest in this way but should not manifest in that way. But Śrīla Jīva Goswami explains that this is the stages which are described here by Śrīla Rūpa Goswami, the general way of manifestation, gradual manifestation of prema. So that's a very important point which we have to understand from the very beginning. and at the end of this book I'm just afraid that if every year we will have this retreat on Madhuri Kadambini and then by the eighth year when we were supposed to discuss the eighth shower of mercy nobody will be here because everyone will be already in work. So therefore I'm including some material from the last chapter into this presentation. This is how it works. In the last chapter of this book, Viswanachya Kravartyitakur, he explains what is happening during this gradual process. He explains this, that ultimately, the process which is taking place in our heart during bhakti sadhana is the process of gradual spiritualization of our ego. Now we have material ego, material concept of iron mind. very firmly established concept. This is I, this is me, and this is mine. This belongs to me. We all have this rigid kind of understanding, and it's very sensitive. If somebody tries to question our understanding of us, which we want to project, it's usually very painful, and the reaction is very extreme. If you think that you are very intelligent and somebody comes to you and says you are a fool, naturally you will have to say a few kind words to this person that he is wrong. But he's somewhat mistaken. So the idea here is that we do have our material ego and material ego is pretty firm. It's established very firmly within our heart. And we are on guard. Our material ego is very vigilant. It's always guarding what is mine and what is me, what is I, against the onslaughts, against the attacks from outside. But the process of bhakti is gradually, gradually changing this material ego into spiritual ego. He says that there are three kinds of ego. There is material ego, which basically means the conception of what I am in terms of matter. I have this qualification and that qualification. I have this diploma and that diploma and this achievement, that achievement. This is the material ego in terms of our material qualifications, material possessions and everything else. and that's the cause of bondage. So, when we try to dissolve our ego completely, I am not this, neti, neti, neti, or aham brahmasmi, I am just undefinable spirit. I have nothing to do with this matter which is full of designations. I am the spirit without any designations, just a vague spirit. Then this is pure spiritual ego which is achieved by the process of jnana. And which Srila Prabhupada says is a spiritual suicide. And Baladev Vidyabushan, he gives a very interesting argument explaining the futility of Gyan. He says, usually we do something to achieve result and the result which we want to achieve is eradication of suffering or the increase of our enjoyment. That's the two reasons why we're doing something. You agree with me? It's basically the two motivating factors which impels us to act. And he says, you do some Gyan, practice of Gyan to get rid of sufferings and to increase your enjoyment. But at the end, your ego is dissolved. and because your ego is dissolved there is nobody to taste the result of your endeavors who is not suffering? nobody who is achieving the spiritual happiness? nobody is there so he says it's a completely useless practice it's the practice which has no sense whatsoever So therefore, Baladevi Devoshna was the one of our Acharyas who was always insisting that this ego remains, but it's a different kind of ego. And it's our individuality remains. It's undestroyable because it's our eternal nature. But when it is spiritualized, mutualized then in the process of bhakti. Then the idea here, then you develop the idea as Vishwana Chakravarthi Takur explains here. I belong to the Lord as his servant and he, the personality of Godhead, the vast ocean of beauty, excellence and sweetness is the master I must serve along with his associates. Then there is pure love. So that's the stages which are listed before, the gradual stages of manifestation of this ego, when it becomes very firmly established within the heart. In the beginning it's just very, very shadowy conception. Yes, Jivira Svarupa Hoi Krishna Nitya Das. Yes, yes, yes, I am Krishna Nitya Das. No problem. I already passed Bhaktisarvabao exam. But it's not yet ego. It's just the initial stage of developing of spiritual ego. Because ego is the directing force. Ego is actually all-pervading in a sense. It pervades all our actions, all our words and all our thoughts. When this spiritual conception is very firmly established, then we cannot act differently. Like, you know, people who have very strong material ego, they only can act in a certain way. They cannot act differently. because their ego is so strong. You know, look at Mr. Trump. Can he act differently? No way. And you know, somebody says he's very unpredictable, and others say no, he's totally predictable because he has a very strong conception of who I am, and you can really predict how he's supposed to act. It's just a very vivid example, but actually it's true for everyone else. He's not an exception. He's just very vivid example of this. So when we have very strong conception, we act in a certain way, we think in a certain way, we speak in a certain way. And sometimes we pretend, but ultimately it's a pretension. And in the same way, when we have very strongly, fully formed spiritual ego, then we will always act in a spiritual way. We will always serve. We will always speak in a certain way, not differently. And we will always think in a certain way. So that's the idea here, is that our way to establish us and to achieve goal is to firmly establish our spiritual ego. yeah and therefore in the first shower in the first chapter of Madhuri Kadambini Vishwanath Chakravarthita this whole the idea of the whole the essence of the whole first chapter of Madhuri Kadambini is to impress upon us that even though there is a process of sadhana but But ultimately, the desired result has to come by the mercy of the Lord. So, the whole point of his first chapter, he says, the blissful Lord descends to human perception of the ear, eye, mind, and intellect, not by any material cause, but simply by his own independent will. Just as by his own will he appeared in the material world as Krishna in the Yadu dynasty or Rama in the Ragu dynasty. Similarly, the non-different energy of devotional service bhakti, in keeping with its self-manifesting nature is not dependent on any material cause. So that's the first point which has to be very firmly established in our heart. Bhakti is there, but bhakti is the own energy of the Lord and it descends or manifests within our heart and our endeavors instrumental for this but not really not the real cause of it they just prepare our heart to receive this bhakti so Bhaktivinoda Takur very beautifully explains this very important so it basically means that in the beginning we are not really practicing bhakti. It's a bad news. Of course, we call our bhaktas bhaktas program and bhaktas is somebody in just low grade duoden. First of all, they are not bhaktas. Second of all, they are not low grade because we are low grade. But the point here, Bhaktivinoda Thakur explains. It's important. It's important for the proper development of our spiritual ego not to be inflated in the very beginning. And he explains that this program always edits something. Instead of bhava it's brava. Instead of bhakti, kakti. This is actually an illustration of being over intelligent. Sometimes a disciple is over intelligent. He is trying to correct. So this is the same stuff. Anyway, only from the stage of brava becomes spontaneous. So the idea here is that till the stage of bhava we have to apply conscious endeavors. And therefore, whatever experience we have, it's not exactly experience of bhakti, but it's a shadow of bhakti. Bhakti Abhas, as Bhakti Vinod Thakur explains. so bhakti is the spontaneous energy of the lord which acts within our heart and manifests in a certain way and we become the servant of this energy really manifest this energy through our actions through our words and through our thoughts but before that we have this difficult period when bhava is not yet there and sadhana basically means that we are trying to act as if bhava is there. That's what bhakti sadhana is. We are chanting the holy name, we are listening about Krishna, trying to understand what it is and trying to get some pleasurable experience of this and not without success, but basically it's not real bhakti because bhakti is that when this energy fully manifests within the heart. So therefore Bhaktivinoda Thakur says in that condition when the bhakti is just bhakti abhas bhakti is hard to attain. It's a bad news again. I'm sorry for being the bearer of bad news today because Srila Prabhupada always said Bhakti is so easy, Bhakti is so easy, Bhakti Vinodta Kruse. In that condition, when we are not really practicing Bhakti, but Bhakti Abbas, by imitating sadhana, Bhakti is hard to attain. But when pure Bhakti arises during sadhana, the action of Bhakti takes on beauty. It becomes very beautiful, it becomes very spontaneous, it becomes very easy and enjoyable. So there is this period where we have to consciously apply our endeavors to realize this ideal of beautiful, spontaneous bhakti. So it will become easier when you achieve a sakthi. It's already not bad. so just tolerate till Asakti it's close by no problem so the conclusion of this and basically that's the essence of the first chapter which I will not go into details that's the conclusion of the first chapter of Madhuriya Kadambini where Vishwana Chakra Vartita summarizes the nature of bhakti. What is bhakti? Bhakti is called Maha Shakti because it has all the characteristics of the Lord himself. That's what he showed in the first shower that bhakti is as independent as the Lord himself, as beautiful as the Lord himself and as self-willing as the Lord himself. No difference. It's Mahashakti, it's his great energy because it's 7% similar with the Lord. And basically what is this characteristics? What is bhakti? Bhakti is that specific energy or specific power of the Lord by which he reveals himself in his full splendor to others. so what is bhakti? bhakti is the potency of the Lord which reveals himself which is revealing him completely and therefore it is said you can only see the beautiful Lord which is the color of monsoon cloud, with all his acintya guna, with all his inconceivable potencies and qualities by bhakti. It gives you the vision to see, because that's the function of bhakti. The function of bhakti is to reveal the Lord in his full splendor, in his beauty. And here he mentions six qualities of bhakti, of this Mahasakti. First is sarva-vyapakatva, all-pervading, or basically all-pervading means universally accessible. Bhakti is universal. it's accessible to anyone there is no discrimination no gender discrimination not even human being the species discrimination even dogs like Silla Prabhupada says even dogs can achieve even dogs can do something there are some videos on internet how the dog is trying to chant Hare Krishna and how kids are practicing bhakti. So no problem, just to show us example, they are showing that how bhakti is all-pervading. Sarvavya-pakatvam. It's achievable, it's accessible to everyone. And the next one, sarvavasikkaritvam. basically means Sarvava-sikaritvam means that everyone obeys to bhakti everyone when we encounter bhakti when we come in touch with bhakti we really very happily obey to its order and therefore the translation of it It's all attractive. Basically everyone is just attracted to it and ready to accept its prominence or its dominance over us. Or something like this. Sarva Vasikharitvam. Even Krishna becomes completely obedient to Bhakti. When Bhakti comes, Krishna bows down his head and says, I am your obedient servant. Dehi padapallava udaram. He says, please place your lotus feet on my head. Like the other day we were in Mansarovar, the beautiful lake on the other side of Yamuna. and there is a Prachina Mandir there. And this Prachina Mandir, they're worshiping the picture, the Chitra, where Śrīmatyā Rādhārāṇī is sitting under the tree in her man. And Krishna is in front of her, bowing down to her and saying, put your lotus feet on my head. So that's the power of bhakti. Sarva-vāśikārītvam. all attractive it attracts everyone and everyone becomes obedient servant of it Sarvat Sanjiva Katvam it basically means that bhakti gives life it's it's giving life to any other processes if you do something with bhakti it has life If you do something without bhakti, it has no life. Even kirtan, if you do kirtan without bhakti, there is no life. What to speak about? Karma, dhyana, yoga. Yoga only becomes enlivening if there is bhakti. Some element of bhakti has to be there, some element, some tiny fraction of bhakti. And therefore, we can see that, like for example, Buddhist tradition, Buddhist tradition is what? It's Gyan, right? It's kind of version of Gyan. But what did they do? You go to any Buddhist monastery or temple. We went the other day to Bodh Gaya. And so what they're doing, they're just chanting, not Hare Krishna something else they are still changing they are still sitting there and hardly anyone is doing just Gyan nobody is there either they are going to Lord Buddha with folded hands and worship him so basically Sarva Sanjiva Katvam the process becomes alive when there is Bhakti Sarva Utkarsha it's supersedes everything it's super excellent Sarva Uttakarsha nothing is when the real bhakti is coming to our heart it's the most powerful experience and then it's Paramah Svatantriyam it's very independent, supremely independent it can come to anyone everyone Sarva Prakashatvam it's self manifest it manifests on her own desires so that's the essence of the first chapter of this book and what I will do I will not go to the second chapter now we'll do it in the evening but now we can have a couple of questions to finish this class So just to say, I explained Mangalacharana for this book, and the preliminary understanding why bhakti is sadhana but brema is not sadhya. so and then I also explained a little bit in just the essence of the first chapter which we have to understand to understand this point bhakti is causeless as the lord himself and our sadhana is to attract the causeless mercy it's not the cause but it's some sort of relationship like this. So that's it and I will try to explain the second chapter this evening. Yes, Ramam Patrik. Can I answer in the same manner? Just ask everybody. Yeah, just. Stand up and ask. Yes. That in the beginning the bhakti is not exactly bhakti but bhakti abbas. I want to have a little more clear understanding on that. Because in the Bhakti Rathamra's Hindu, Ruf Goswami speaks about the anikaris to practice bhakti, kaniṣṭha, madhyama and hutam. Now, the head of Subhakti Rathakur in that chapter he mentions that one who is tamadikari, who is in the stage of asakti, and somebody who is on the majyamdhitarita from the stage of mishta. So these are a little confusing because we also know that one who comes to the level of Sharnagati, from there onwards these states, you know, Satu Sangha, Kriya, Narayan, Nishra and Ruchi are available, but these are Adhikapis who are entering into the realm of your devotion. So how do we correlate with these two? First of all, Sharanagati is definitely an entrance ticket to the realm of bhakti. But it's not that Sharanagati is complete and then other stages are there. Sharanagati is always there and it increases its intensity of Sharanagati. on every stage. To enter basically every stage you need to have certain sharanavati, so to speak. And then, yes, there are different adhikaris and there is a confusion about this. When Srila Rupagaswami says about this kaniṣitam adhima and ultam adhikaris, he specifically says that this is the adhikar for practicing Vaidhi sadhana bhakti. So Adhikar for practicing Vaidhi sadhana bhakti is according to the level of your knowledge, shastric knowledge, according to the level of your faith, the intensity of your faith, which are interconnected because your faith very much depends on the knowledge of the shastras. So, and also the gradation of Adhikar is different and therefore Bhaktivinoda Kuruhi explains that up to the stage of that as far as Bhadi Sadhana Bhakti is concerned then on the stage of Nishta you become Uttama Adhikari, you become the best equipped to practice Bhakti. The adhikara for Raganuga sadhana is this lolium, the desire to, the greed to achieve this. and therefore the real adhikara for practicing bhakti you only get the beginning adhikara is on the stage of ruchi you can practice kind of Raganuga sadhana before but it's not really Raganuga sadhana on the stage of ruchi you can start practicing it on the stage of Asakti you become equipped to do it and on the stage of Baba you are Uttama Adhikari to do this and then the Prem is there so it's a different gradation and different Adhikar for different paths, for two different paths and it's sometimes being confused In the present context, I would like to know, like there are the 64 limbs of practicing Vaidhi Sadhana Bhakti, which was always mentioned. Now, if somebody is practicing Shudha Bhakti, that means he has to only perform these 64 of the constitution functions of the shodhi. That is only to perform vati. But we are practicing part of our time sadhana and sometimes we are doing other work. And still the... No, therefore, Shila Rupa Goswami says, jnana karma adhyana vritam, that jnana and karma and yoga and adhi We are doing something else, but the performance of other things do not cover our bhakti. It means do not overshadow our bhakti. When practicing bhakti, we're doing something else, but the other things which we are doing in our consciousness, in our heart do not become something which overshadows bhakti. We know we have to do it. Definitely we have to go to job, this and that. But deeply in heart, we are trying to practice bhakti even while being in the office or whatever is there. So, we cannot live without jnana and karma. Therefore, he doesn't say jnana karmadi sunya. He says, anabrita, should not be covered by this. And it's not a hindrance for pure bhakti if we are very fixed that bhakti is the goal, is the essence of my life. Everything else I'm doing because I have to do it. Otherwise I can just refuse, you know. I'm a pure bhakti, so I'm not doing anything now. Only chant. Good luck. maybe you have another two weeks to leave in this world thank you very much Maharaj for your live sessions my live question like when we mention about Bhakti Devi so in the spiritual world so Bhakti Devi is personified by some personality other than Vinda Devi and Radhani Every energy of the Lord has the personification but it doesn't mean that there is no other manifestations of this energy. It's there in the heart of every parikar of the Lord. Energy of bhakti is the main energy. but it's fully manifest, personified in Radha Rana. Yes, Brahmad Prabhupada. Whereas you are telling Vishnachagartha, Guru is trying to explain bhakti as a science, cause and effect, but we also say bhakti is causeless, so how to understand it? that pleasure is a science but it is something beyond logic. Yeah. So, yeah. How you want to understand something which is beyond logic? It is beyond logic. Basically what he explains, he explains that even though something is causeless, still there could be a science, but it's a special science. Bhakti is a science. And science usually is the investigation of the cause and effects. So, and from the very beginning we say, a haitukiya pratihata yatma supra-siddhati, bhakti is a haituki, there's no hetu for this, so it's causeless, but still it can be described in terms of apparent causes and effects. But only if I understand that the ultimate descent of bhakti is totally causeless, we can understand the mechanism of its appearance fully. To understand that it's causeless is also a certain understanding, but how we are... He's explaining to us what we're supposed to do to facilitate the appearance of bhakti. So the helpless cry out, he is helplessly crying, so we are attracting the mercy, this is the way you can attract the mercy. Now you are mentioning in the first Phangal Arsene that the three levels we are reading about, so Lord Chaitanya is not only showering the rain but also seeds. Now if it is coming so easily but when it comes to practice, there is so much struggle struggle for us. What is the mercy I am receiving when it is so much struggle for us in our practice? Śrīva Prabhupāda had this famous phrase, What is the difficulty? Come on. What is the difficulty? No, it's all in the mind. It's all pleasant, you know. You chant in the morning. it's only difficult because there is some force which is pulling us back yes, and sometimes we feel this you know powerful pulling but at the same time from the very beginning we get so much experience so much interesting thing you know, Achinti Krishna here he told me a story very interesting story that. Shall I tell the story about... About... So, he said in the beginning he was just started practicing bhakti and they there was a group, some kind of namahata group and they wanted to to do some retreats, some weekend retreats and they rented some house and when they entered this house which they entered in the forest in a secluded place naturally all these kind of places, they are places of sinful activities people come there to do all kinds of nonsensical activities so they were they realized that the whole retreat will be completely spoiled because it's such a heavy atmosphere there. So they started changing, they started burning instances, doing some and ultimately they said that everything loosened and everything was fine and it was very successful retreat, everything purified. And then the next week when this house was again rented something, the person who rented this house to the representative of this group, she called her and she said, did you notice something strange in this house when you were using it for your retreat? She said, no, no, everything was fine. She said, very strange because I rented it to some other people who wanted to do normal things there and they said, we cannot do it here. It's just very strange. We cannot drink, we cannot do all kinds of things there. So, what's the difficulty? Yes. So, very... Yes. Yes, yes. Where is Rasa? Well, first of all... No, in the Paripasha Sutra, I mean the specific verse where I want to see. No, no, I understand. But while explaining the topic of this book, it says Akhil Rasambit Murthy. This is the first line of the book, and the first verse of the book. In Uttama Bhakti it's indicated, rasa is indicated by the words Anukuldiyena Krishna Anusilinam because it will be shown in the definition of bhava later then when the desire to do something favorable for Krishna becomes very strong like on the stage of power, then automatically we feel pleasure. so here he says in the beginning you're doing it intellectually you're pushing yourself to do something for the pleasure of the Lord at the moment when this becomes your desire desire within your heart I want to please the Lord then this very desire becomes the cause of your for enjoyment and that strasa. So, basically that's where it is indicated. I guess we finish now. For now, thank you very much, Hare Krishna. And in the evening we'll continue along the same lines.