PLEASE NOTE, *THIS DOCUMENT IS AT DRAFT (NOT PERFECT) STAGE. IT IS RECOMMENDED TO READ WITH GM’S VIDEO IN BACKGROUND. *

Mukham karoti vacalam pangum langayate girim
Yat kripa tam aham vande sri gurum dina tarinam
Paramananda Madhavam Sri Caitanya Isvaram

So how did the devotees like the (SMIS) Sri Mayapur International School Panihati Festival? The write ups were exceedingly nice. Each offering had a particular name and write up. In Atlanta I get a little sample from each pot so that I can check But here everybody kept their pots, nobody shared it! I asked Vinay how he liked it? He said he liked his pot. He said the artwork is beautiful and the ingredients were tasty! I got a pot which said ‘YT’ which was supposed to be a traditional mix. But tt had blue berries, that is not traditional! So I don’t know. But I heard that in Atlanta, New Panihati, we have merged pots. They are mixed in buckets each mix, and a little extra, they put back in the merged pots. One pot for all the sweets, one pot for the salties, and one pot for the condensed milk. And in addition to the the eighteen flavors, they have merged flavors and they are also tasty. Anyway, I don’t know how much they raised in the auction, but it seems they raised a significant amount for the school, Madhav Kirti and other devotees helped in the kitchen to make the mixes.

Today we will continue with what we get by listening to Lord Nityananda seeing Lord Caitanya’s six armed form by hearing about it.

Although Kamala Laksmi is worshipped by Lord Brahma and Lord Siva, her natural tendency is to serve the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord. Although Baladeva manifests His form as Sankarsana and various Visnu avatars, He accepts worship from others. Yet his attitude to offer service to Krsna remains undisturbed. So in order to support this statement, He gives the example of Laksmi devi, the Goddess of Fortune. Service to Krsna is also the natural tendency of Laksmi, who is worshipped by Brahma and Siva. Although Laksmi is respected by the four headed Brahma, and the annihilator Lord Siva, She remains engaged in the service of the Lord. In the Srimad Bhagavatam 3.15.21, it says:

Sri rupini kvanayati, caranaravindam, lilambujena hari-sadmani mukta-dosa
Samlaksyate sphatika-kudya, upeta-hemni, sammarjativa yad-anugrahena anya-yatnah.

Translation: The ladies in the Vaikuntha planets are as beautiful as the goddess of fortune herself. Such transcendentally beautiful ladies, their hands playing with lotuses and their leg bangles tinkling, are sometimes seen sweeping the marble walls, which are bedecked at intervals with golden borders, in order to receive the grace of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

So in the Srimad Bhagavatam, 1.16.32 it is stated:

Brahmadayo bahu-titham yad-apanga-moksa-kamas tapah samacaran
Bhagavat-prapannah sa srih sva-vasam Aravinda-vanam vihaya
Yat pada-saubhagam alam bhajate anurakta

Translation: Laksmiji, the goddess of fortune, whose glance of grace was sought by demigods like Brahma and for who they surrendered many a day unto the Personality of Godhead, gave up her own abode in the forest of lotus flowers and engaged herself in the service of the lotus feet of the Lord.

Although Sesa Bhagavan is endowed with all energies, so His natural tendency, characteristic is to serve the Supreme Lord. In the Caitanya Caritamrita Adi 5.120 it is stated:

Sei ta ananta sesa – bhakta avatara
Isvarera seva via nahi jane ara

Translation: That Ananta Sesa is the devotee incarnation of Godhead. He knows nothing but service to Lord Krsna.

Therefore, the Lord is pleased to glorify the service attitude and characteristics of Anantadeva, Lord Balarama. The Lord, He gets the greatest satisfaction by glorifying His devotees.

The nature of the Lord, natural characteristic, is to be always controlled by His devotees. The Lord takes special pleasure in glorifying His devotees! In the Srimad Bhagavatam 9.4.63 and 66, the Lord states:

Aham bhakta-paradhino, hy asvantantra iva dvija
Sadhubhir grasta-hrdayo, bhaktair bhakta-jana-priyah.

Mayi nirbaddha-hrdayah, sadhavah sama-darsanah
Vase kurvanti mam bhaktya, sat –striyah sat-patim yatha
Translation: 63: The Supreme Personality of Godhead said to the brahmana: I am completely under the control of My devotees. Indeed, I am not at all independent. Because My devotees are completely devoid of material desires, I sit only within the cores of their hearts. What to speak of My devotee, even those who are devotees of My devotee are very dear to Me.

66: As chaste women bring their gentle husbands under control by service, the pure devotees, who are equal to everyone and completely attached to Me in the core of the heart, bring Me under their full control.

In the Mathra Sruti it is stated:

Bhaktir evainam nayai, bhaktir evainam darsyati
Bhakti vasaha puruso, bhaktir evay bhuyasi

Bhakti leads the jiva to the Supreme Lord, and enables the soul to see the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Lord is controlled by bhakti, therefore, bhakti is most glorious! Haribol! Who wants bhakti?

So both Lord Visnu and His devotees, the vaisnavas, Their nature is to glorify each other with great affection and love. So therefore the Vedas speak about their wonderful, spontaneous pastimes. So the Lord He likes to glorify His devotees and there is some special significance in hearing the Lord glorify His devotees. Both Lord Visnu and the vaisnavas take pleasure in describing each other’s characteristics. That is the why the Vedic literatures glorify the spontaneous pastimes of Lord Visnu and the vaisnavas. Today is Vrndavandas Thakura’s appearance. These verses are from the Caitanya Bhagavat which was written by Vrndavandas Thakura. So we can understand how exalted he is and he is glorifying the Lord’s qualities and the vaisnavas’ qualities, so he is in a very special position. He glorifies both! Ha!

So Vrndavandas Thakura says, he writes the glories of Visnu and the vaisnavas, according to the evidence given in the Puranas.

The thoughts and words of Lord Nityananda Swarup are Lord Caitanya is the Supreme Lord and I am one of His eternal servants. Mui tare jan. Although Lord Nityananda is the incarnation of Balarama, He accepted Lord Caitanya as His Master accepted Himself as the servant of the Lord. Although He is so great, He is the source of the avatars, source of the Visnu tattvas, but He is always in this service of serving the Lord. Somehow we are in the material world, we are diseased and we think ourselves as very important. But actually we are insignificant and we should think how the Lord is so great that He accepts our service, He reciprocates with us in a way that no one can. Still, we are not inclined to serve the Lord. We are therefore suffering and enjoying our karmas as Locanadas Thakura said, that I am lost in the ocean of birth and death, I am fallen and I have no hope, no desire for the lotus feet of Nitai and Gauracandra. I am suffering and enjoying the results of karma is according to what I deserve. This is stated by Locanadas Thakur. In the Caitanya Caritamrita Adi 5.137 it is stated:

Apanake bhrtya kari krsne prabhu jane
Krsnera kalara kala apanake mane

Translation: He consider Himself a servant and knows Krsna to be His master. Thus He regards Himself as a fragment of His plenary portion.

Day and night, no other sound, no other words come from His mouth other than, I am His servant, He is My Lord in all respects.

So the nature of Lord Nityananda is always to present Himself as the servant of Lord Caitanya and He is saying that I belong to the Supreme Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He is not saying anything else. There is no contradiction. Haribol! So we should take the example of Lord Nityananda and follow it.

So whoever glorifies Me along with Lord Caitanya, he is actually My servant and will certainly achieve Me! Nitai Gaura Haribol! Nitai! Nitai! Niai! Gaura! Gaura! Gaura! Nitai Gaura!

So Lord Nityananda is saying that Lord Caitanya is the Supreme Lord and I am His servant. Anyone who glorifies Me in this way, is actually My servitor and He will certainly achieve Me as His worshipable Lord!

Vrndavandas Thakur says that Lord Nityananda saw the six armed form of Lord Caitanya. Therefore, I am describing the pastimes for the pleasure of Lord Nityananda.

On the spiritual platform, Lord Nityananda always sees the Lord’s pastimes in His heart. And the two certainly see each other.

Therefore Lord Nityananda, He serves the Lord by acting in the pastimes of the Lord by acting in the pastimes of the Lord, according to the pastimes of Their incarnation, who can understand Their pastimes? Ke bhujibe ?

The Supreme Lord thus accepts service from Himself that is sung about and described in the Vedas, the Mahabharata and the Puranas. So Lord Nityananda is also the Supreme Lord. But He being the first expansion of the Lord, He sees Lord Gaurasundar in His heart and Lord Gaurasundar exhibits all His pastimes to Lord Nityananda, but understanding of ordinary people is that Lord Nityananda externally displays the pastimes in accordance with the particular incarnations. In spite of being the Supreme Lord Himself, Nityananda Prabhu serves the original Lord. These pastimes of Lord Nityananda are incomprehensible to ordinary people. The topics of Lord Nityananda’s pastimes are described in the Vedas, Mahabharata and the Puranas.

The pastimes and activities performed by the Lord are known as Vedas. The four Vedas sing of those activities, avoiding all contradictions. So the intention of the Vedas is to give the activities of the Lord. So these activities are the subject matter of the Vedas. So that is the special feature of the Vedic culture that they describe the qualities of the Supreme Lord. He has unlimited qualities, but at least some are described by the Vedas. Therefore, one can naturally develop more affection and love for the Lord. If one doesn’t know anything of the Lord, then it is very difficult to develop love. So if someone says, you should love my friend, then we ask what is your friend like? It is a mystery. I don’t know, but you should love him. What is he like? I don’t know! You will think the guy is crazy! So you see the Vedas and the Puranas, the Mahabharata, they glorify the Lord’s natural characteristics. Therefore, this spiritual path is special and naturally one can develop love for Krsna. Because we learn something about Krsna and He comes as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to show the characteristics of a devotee. Haribol!

Without engaging in pure devotional service, no one can understand this truth. By the mercy of Lord Gauracandra, few people have understood this. So the materialistic persons and mental speculators, they cannot understand the characteristics of devotional service. So only those who are blessed, favored by Sriman Caitanya Mahaprabhu, can realize the pastimes of Gaura through devotional service! Gauuuuuranga! Gauuuuranga! So who wants Gauranga bhakti? Haribol! Let the people in world see! Make them world famous! (The camera turned to the devotees sitting outside.) The vaisnavas are eternally pure and full of knowledge. Their quarrelling is simply part of their pastimes. Sometimes we see differences amongst exalted vaisnavas. Actually there is no differences of opinion amongst vaisnavas. Differences of opinion are only present among mental speculators. The differences of opinion found among the vaisnavas, expands the variety of their constitutional devotional activities. In the vaisnavas, there is no question of material enjoyment, renunciation or pseudo devotional service.

So someone who has lost his intelligence and doesn’t understand the truth of the vaisnavas, he takes the side of one and the other he criticizes, then he will be ruined! So if one thinks one vaisnava is eternally pure and the other vaisnava does not have understanding due to his perverted intelligence. So one may accept a non vaisnava as a vaisnava without knowing the difference between a vaisnava and a non vaisnava. Then such a misconception will spread among the vaisnavas and create bewilderment. So we should be very careful not consider a vaisnava as a non vaisnava, and vice versa.

Caitanya Bhagavat:

Just as a foolish person that worships the feet of a brahmana and beats him in the head goes to hell, one who worships the deity form of Lord Visnu and then disrespects the same Lord present in the hearts of all living entities also goes to hell.

Keep envious words against a vaisnava far away. Even if a living entity commits an offence against a lowly person, even if they worship Visnu, the worship of Visnu becomes fruitless, and he suffers for his activities. So if one is envious against a vaisnava, knowingly or unknowingly, his degradation is inevitable. Of this, there is no doubt. Apart from this, even persons claiming to be devotees of Visnu, are envious against ordinary living entitites, give various troubles to them, they are actually far away from devotional service to Visnu and ARE NOT FIT TO BE CALLED EVEN AS HUMAN BEINGS! Their worship of Lord Visnu becomes a source of misery because the absence of the quality of jiva doya or compassion for other living entities and yet proudly consider themselves servants of Visnu, as a result they achieve three fold miseries, rather than the devotional service of the Supreme Lord.

What is the phala sruti? One who hears this narration of Nityananda seeing the six armed form of the Lord IS FREED FROM MATERIAL BONDAGE! Haribol! Haribol! Haribol!

One who hears these descriptions of Sri Narahari’s deeds while playing a human role attains all benefits of ritualistic fire yagnas. His mind is undeviatingly delighted in Mukunda’s lotus feet and upon his tongue the names of Hari will forever dance.

Haribol! Haribol! Haribol!

Since I won’t be here tomorrow night, I cheated! I went ahead to see what was the phala sruti! But there are still many more verses to read! So any questions? Oh, they are prepared!

Question: Hari Hara! Hari Hara! Hare Krsna dear guru maharaj, PAMRO. AGTSP. I heard that we should not distribute guru maharaj’s maha prasadam to those devotees who are not your disciples so that guru does not get their karma. But I also saw you and other maharajas distributing maha prasadam after their classes, after having tried one piece from the plate. What is the difference between these two situations and don’t you get people’s karma in this way? Your servant, Narayani Radha devi dasi.

Guru maharaj: Russia. You don’t want to distribute maha prasadam to people who are fallen, materialistic, but to devotees – it is not restricted.

Question: Dearest gurudeva. PAMRO. Few days ago in the class you mentioned that those devotees who are in madhurya rasa are inclined more to Lord Caitanya and those in sakhya rasa are more inclined to Lord Nityananda. My question is what kind of relationship they would have with Lord Caitanya? Please clarify. Your spiritual daughter, Ratnavali devi dasi

Guru maharaj: Lord Caitanya is also known as Mahaprabhu. He is the great spiritual master. So as He took the mood of Radharani, He is showing how to serve Krsna by His personal example. So we accept the example and teachings of Lord Caitanya. But our relationship with Him is as disciple and spiritual master. And our madhurya rasa activities are centred around Lord Krsna, eventually. The prakrata sahajiyas, the Gaura naagaris, they think that Lord Caitanya is an enjoyer like Krsna but they are considered as apa sampradaya because Lord Caitanya is in the mood of a devotee.

Question: Dear Guru maharaj: PAMRO, AGTSP. Yesterday you said while answering a question that a disciple should preferably act according to the mood and desire of his guru and acaryas. My question is that if a disciple has been instructed by the guru to do a particular long term task seva and after partly completing that task he is not able to complete the work on it due to health reasons, does he get the benefit of partially fulfilling guru’s instructions or what result does he get? Your servant, Prema Gaurasundara das.

Guru maharaj: As long as the disciple is trying to fulfill the instructions of the guru sincerely, then if due to some physical challenge or some health problem, he is not able to complete the work, then guru would still be blessing him. That is my understanding.

Question: In Bengali. Hare Krsna guru maharaj: PAMRO. Many a time, the children of devotees who live in the dhama are not having taste for Harinam, and do not want to chant. Even if they are advised in a loving way, they do not want to listen. In this situation, what should the parents of such children do?

Guru maharaj: The parents should see how they can give special mercy to their sons or daughters. If they are not having much taste for devotional service, may be they need some special mercy. So you can have them see various advanced devotees and hope that this may help them. Also, be patient, be loving parents and gradually children may develop a taste for chanting. Sometimes if you pressure them too much, they may reject. So we rather encourage them, appreciate them when they do something good. We heard how some children, they enjoy doing dramas. So see what they like to do in devotional service and engage them accordingly.

Question: Dearest guru maharaj: We miss so much, thank you for these classes. I understand that we should never think ill of vaisnavas and I always try to be friendly with all the devotees. But sometimes we feel harassed by some devotees. It could be due to our own misunderstanding or our own karma. What should we do if we receive unnecessary, snide comments and remarks directed towards us for no apparent reason by a fellow devotee. Your daughter, Mathura Lileswari devi dasi

Guru maharaj: Trnad api suni cena, taror api sahisnu na, amaanina mana dena kirtaniya sada Hari. Be more humble than a blade of grass, be more tolerant than a tree, offer respect unto all others, and do not expect any respect for yourself. Since you are expecting that devotees should respect you, and when they don’t, what should I do? WHAT SHOULD I DO, THEY ARE NOT RESPECTING ME?! They are criticizing me, making snide comments. What do you do?! If you want to be accepted by Krsna and you can say to the devotee, what should I do to improve myself? If you want to say anything! We shouldn’t take it very seriously.

Question: Hare Krsna dearest guru maharaj. PAMRO. What is the antidote for envy? And how do we deal with envious people? Your aspiring servant, Nandapriya Nivedita devi dasi.

Guru maharaj: We are not the Yamadutas! We don’t deal with envious people. We are respectful to everyone because Krsna is in the hearts of all living entitites. The antidote for envy is to be non-envious! Ha! If you respond to envy with envy, then there is no end. So when you meet an envioius person, be merciful, be respectful, be kind. Don’t take what they are saying seriously. But if you think that there may be some fault with you, maybe you can say, my dear vaisnava, what am I doing wrong that you are finding disturbing? I was going door to door making life members. I went into one office and saw a business man. He started to yell at me – YOU ARE ALL BOGUS PEOPLE, YOU ARE THIEVES! Blah, blah, blah! He just went on enviously saying ridiculous things. After that he went out of wind! And he ended speaking, I said, “no sir, we are not like that.” I showed pictures with big people we do service! He said, I thought I would blow you away! But you are not affected! So how much do I have to pay? Ha! So being upset with someone who is envious is of no use. Actually, that would be what people want. Haridas Thakur, when children would criticize him, he would display like he was hurt very bad. So they would start to chant louder and louder Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare and he would look more and more disturbed! Inside he is very happy, that somehow they are chanting the holy name! Haribol! Haribol! Last question.

Question: Caru Rupa Madhava das: We are taught that offences to vaisnavas must be avoided at all cost. (Guru maharaj said: Yes!). However, on a mental level some offences tend to creep in. Like in small cases when our deity darshan becomes obstructed in the temple or on a larger scale when some vaisnava seva allotted to us is taken by someone else. How do you refrain from committing mental offences in our bitter state of mind?

Guru maharaj: Reminds me of a pastime when a lady went to see Lord Jagannath and Lord Caitanya was standing in the way, so she ended up crawling on the shoulder of Lord Caitanya. And all the servants were like disturbed, oh no! what is she doing? But Lord Caitanya said “No, no, it is alright! She is very eager to see the Lord” Ha! So if we are so eager to see Krsna that you somehow or another (Here is a picture of a lady climbing over Lord Caitanya guru maharaj said and asked it be shown to the devotees online, please don’t hurt your head! Show the picture to the devotees sitting outside.). Anyway, I am very happy that you are so attached to your service of vaisnava seva. And if someone else has taken from you. One time Srila Prabhupada gave a gulab jamun to Tamal Krsna Goswami. He put it on his plate and he was looking at it, looking at it. The devotee sitting next to him, took the gulab jamun, popped it into his mouth! Tamal Krsna maharaj said “Prabhupada, he took my gulab jamun!” Srila Prabhupada said: Well, there are no hard and fast rules about maha prasadam. In fact, you can even come and take it off my plate. But please don’t do that.!” Ha! Haribol! Haribol! Haribol! So that was the last question. It is nice that you have so much desire to serve the vaisnavas. Haribol!

Alright! Group photo?

Transcribed by Jayaraseshwari devi dasi
31 May 2019