The Glories of Lord Ramachandra

BSG: So, sometimes people wonder why the devotees of Kṛṣṇa are so much celebrating the pastimes of Rāmacandra [house geckos arrive] (aside) and our friends, they have come. They also want to know. What is it called? It has a name. Toké, Tik… something like that. So we have to understand… and Rāmacandra’s mentioned in the daśavatāra-stotram. Where does the daśavatāra-stotram appear? In the gītā-govinda, interestingly.

So, we’re told, ordinarily we’re not reading gītā-govinda or going into the details of the subject matter there. Well, why would a list of avatāras appear in a book that’s exclusively madhura-rasa and of the highest type of expression? Also in the haṁsaduta of Rūpa Gosvāmī, the gopis make mention of the different avatāras. But there are different levels of reading. As Guru Mahāraja says when he invokes his hypnotism example, Kṛṣṇa can show many things to many different people at the same time. Offer many different perspectives and they don’t necessarily cancel one another; they may all be tenable from a particular point of view.

So, for those who subscribe to Rāma… Rāmacandra as the Supreme, we’ll understand, there’s a perspective whereby that can be seen. Viṣṇu. Rūpa Gosvāmī gives his analysis. Jīvas’ fifty qualities officer class and higher, 55, Viṣṇu, 60, Kṛṣṇa 64, but sometimes Guru Mahāraja will say “Rāmacandra and Balarāma: 62.” So, some special position is occupied there. So it will be most helpful for us to think of these really as Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes, but Kṛṣṇa showing Himself in a particular way.
Rāmacandra is unique.
rāmādi-mūrtiṣu kalā-niyamena tiṣṭhan
nānāvatāram akarod bhuvaneṣu kintu
kṛṣṇaḥ svayaṁ paramaḥ pumān yo
[Brahma-saṁhita 5.39]

Brahma-saṁhita is saying all of these different murtis, ways of showing Himself, His expansions, His avatāras, we should not divorce them from Kṛṣṇa or try to create some sort of opposition, right? That said, we find that in the pages of the Bhāgavatam, even the Mahā-Viṣṇu avatāra really wants to see the beauty of Govinda: anādir ādir govindaḥ sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam. Even the cause of... Kāraṇarnavaśāyī Viṣṇu wants to have a glimpse of Kṛṣṇa, the beauty of Kṛṣṇa.

But, here, Kṛṣṇa is somewhat restrained. What do we call it? Rāja-nīti, the conduct of kings. And the ever-unrestrainable, Bāladeva, Ananta, He is constrained by in this pastime, oddly enough being the younger brother. One of Kṛṣṇa’s names is Rāmānuja. Right? Rāma anuja. The little brother of Rāma. So we could say, Bāladeva, He likes when He’s Rāma. When He’s big Rāma, Bālarāma, the big brother and Kṛṣṇa is younger brother. Then He can serve to His heart’s content. This is something that’s noteworthy. Even as it plays out among the servitors.

That service… the conception of service and the desire to serve that appears in the heart of the aspiring servitor can put them in peculiar positions from time to time. Once Guru Mahāraja pointed out that around the time of Sarasvati Ṭhākura, leaving the world, some devotees were suspicious about the heart, mood, interior of a particular servitor, and Guru Mahārāja said, he felt, that when Prabhupada Sarasvati Ṭhākura was in his disappearance pastimes, that he couldn’t serve to his full capacity, so… in his eagerness to render full service to him, he longed for the time when that would be possible. So Guru Mahārāja’s always broadening our conception of things in the way they might be again, by saying, “How Kṛṣṇa’s revealing Himself to one, He may not to another, and what is His divine will? Which way the divine will will move, and what is it’s necessity? If He... We say reality is for itself and by itself, and He, by nature is full of ānandam, then we can understand that is the basis of the movement of these pastimes. And all the dramatic tension, whether it’s in Rāmāyana, or Mahābhārata, is exactly that. It’s dramatic tension, to intensify emotions and thereby allow the heart to yield a superior type of substance, a superior type of devotion.

So, if we’re not informed by these sort of things, and we observe these pastimes in an ordinary sense, we’ll be misled, or we’ll think “How can He do that?” or “How can he not do this?” I remember when I had just completed reading the three-volume set of Rāmāyana, I would read it every night before going to bed in Russia while we were traveling around, and so many astonishing things are there. Some humor, also. I remember in one scene where Rāvaṇa’s going everywhere throughout the universe, demonstrating his power, prowess. Perhaps he went to Bāli, the southern, Antarctica... of the southern tip of the southern hemisphere of the universe, and to check his pride and to humble him there was this giant golden ring, huge. And, Bāli said, “Can you lift that?” And he couldn’t even budge it, and it turns out it was Hiraṇyakṣa’s earring of the... Hiraṇyakṣa, you know who lifted… was...Varāhadeva saved the Earth. So, we can imagine his size. So, no matter how big you are, no matter how powerful you are, there’s always someone bigger or more powerful. Or if it’s Kṛṣṇa-līlā, someone smaller and more powerful, like Vāmanadeva. He doesn’t have to be big.

They always say, “Can God make a rock so big He can’t lift it?”
“Sure. In fact, it doesn’t have to be so big or so heavy; it can be very tiny, and then He can also lift it.” [background sound] (aside) Thank you. They all think that’s humorous. Hare Kṛṣṇa. I have many fans in the insect… lizard kingdom.
Comment: (indistinct)

BSG: Uh huh. They just finished their ārati. This is the end where they blow the conch. What was I saying? That, oh. That’s what is unexpected. Just like back on the point of drama. They always say in writing, in a drama, whatever it is, what is unexpected, you have to surprise the readers, the audience. Anyway, I remember when I was reading that book, and I came… some of the things that stick out in my mind was the time where… well just how Sītā was captured by Rāvaṇa. We know that when they were on the eve of His coronation to be the King of Ayodhyā, Kaikeyī the Queen, exacted a favor from Janaka Mahārāja that… or Daśaratha that Rāmacandra be banished and her son be installed, and what is of particular interest is that when this is told to Rāmacandra, there’s no scene as you would expect where He’s going, “What? How is that possible? Well I...” There’s nothing like that. He’s told this, and He immediately prepares to go.

There’s no protest on His part. “If this is My duty, if this is what is expected of Me...” This is a hint of how these pastimes are going to move. There’s no ego. No defense of Himself. He doesn’t start reasoning, giving a rationale why this is not a good idea. No politics. Nothing like that. He’s given the order, He’s ready to go.

When I mentioned Janaka Mahārāja, Guru Mahārāja said he was equipoised whether his hand was on fire or on the soft breast of a woman, it wasn’t any different to him. He instructed Śukadeva Gosvāmī. When Śukadeva Gosvāmī left Vyāsa’s āśrama, and when by the divya-devīs who were bathing, as Guru Mahārāja said, they’re actually divine women but they can assume any form they want, but they can appear like females in this world, but when Vyāsa cries out, we’re told that only the trees echoed. Its the beginning in the Bhāgavatam also where a hint about separation. It’s very sad. Śukadeva is so beautiful. Beautifully described. And Vyāsa cries out, and it says only the trees answered when he said, “Oh, my son! My son!” But we hear that that Śukadeva, on his travels, he got instruction from Janaka Mahārāja.

So, these what they call Rājarṣis, Rāja ṛṣīs. Kings, but as if ṛṣis were kings. They’re very spiritually developed, evolved, realized, but Rāmacandra, you know, previously how He won the hand of Sītā, when they had the svayamvāra, I mean the marriage, cer… what is it? Competition. And there was a bow given by Śiva, giant bow. We can imagine how much it weighed, and the tournament, the competition is you have to like be able to pick this bow up, string it, break it, basically. All these big kings come in. Everyone is eager to get the hand of Sītā, and they can’t even lift the bow. What to speak of… we know… Who’s the lady who’s an archer? Somebody’s mother. I thought… What’s her name? Lalītā-kānta. Anyway it doesn’t matter. Paramānanda knows archery. You have to bend the bow, string the bow, there’s a whole… it requires some heroic capacity. Right? So they can’t even lift it. Right?

When Rāmacandra shows up with Lakṣmana’s… Some people think like, “Hey look. People bigger than You couldn’t… what to speak of You?” And we’re told at that time, Lakṣmana, remember He’s Bālarāma chained, Bālarāma constrained. He said, “I Myself… I could break this bow into a thousand pieces, no problem. But My elder brother is here.” So it’s later revealed that these are not His favorite pastimes because He’s the younger brother. He has to defer to the elder brother. So, and then of course, Rāmacandra comes in. Taking permission of His guru, the guru-varga. He lifts the bow, bends the bow, strings the bow and then breaks the bow. And He gets Sītā. But, so such prowess He has, but He’s so restrained that that’s what is striking about these pastimes.

If we go back to the 62 of the 64 qualities of Kṛṣṇa to see Kṛṣṇa exhibiting Himself in a pastime where He’s so constrained, and by what? Rāja-nīti? Appropriate kingly behavior and morality, moral concerns. Right? That Kṛṣṇa can appear this way also. And that is important. It’s not that these things are random. Like, “Oh, those pastimes happened a couple million years ago…” Right? It says:
vikrīḍitaṁ vraja-vadhūbhir idaṁ ca viṣṇoḥ
śraddhānvito 'nuśṛṇuyād atha varṇayed yaḥ
[Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.33.39]
It’s interesting in this śloka it occurs in the rāsa-līlā section of pañcadhyāya. Vikrīḍitaṁ vraja-vadhūbhir idaṁ. It’s saying the vraja-vadhū pastimes with the vraja-gopis mentions Viṣṇu, and it’s so obvious this is not Viṣṇu. Why are they saying Viṣṇu when these are the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa? Because less we think that Kṛṣṇa is an ordinary person engaged in immoral activities. Viṣṇu here is a reminder of His divinity, right?

Just as when Mahāprabhu reveals Himself to Sārvabhauma, He revealed the Ṣad-bhuja murti thing, who was Rāmacandra, who was Kṛṣṇa, again He has appeared as Mahāprabhu, right? What He reveals to Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācarya establishes His divinity, but that’s only the beginning, right? As Guru Mahārāja points out. To Rāmānanda, He revealed who He actually is, His ecstatic interior. To Sārvabhauma, He revealed His divinity. right? To Rāmānanda, what did He reveal? ‘Rasa-rāja’, ‘mahābhāva’—dui eka rūpa.
[Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 8.282]

So, how they like to play in various ways and how they’re reciprocating the love and affection their devotees and their pastimes is... streams out and is expressed in the varieties of pastimes including the Rāma-līlā which, as I mentioned earlier today is creating a bridge of separation toward Kṛṣṇa-līlā and Kṛṣṇa-virāhā which is what Guru Mahārāja said, “This is Mahāprabhu’s gift to the world, that through the culture of separation, we can achieve everything.” Not through cultivating milāna, or meeting.
So, see how that is restricted in Rāma-līlā. Eka patniḥ. One wife. And we’re given different examples. When the daṇḍakārāṇya ṛṣis see the beauty of Rāmacandra, they didn’t express anything, but deep in the hearts core, in their internal identity, some erotic sentiments were awakened. Rāmacandra acknowledging that internally as well, but intimating to them that those desires in the deep hearts core, they’ll be fulfilled in Kṛṣṇa-līlā at another time, in another pastime, in another way. Right?

We’re informed about the yajña-sītās that... on this part I have to say something that. So, having read that part of the book, I came to the part, what, as... being raised on Hollywood, and Bollywood, I’m expecting the big happy ending. Hanumān’s gone to Laṅkā, and Rāmacandra built the bridge to Laṅkā, His eyes glanced over the ocean. The fishes were… The whole wonderful thing, and now they’ve gone back to Ayodhyā. They’re going to live happily ever after. I think, you know, your heart is rejoicing. You just read thousands and thousands and thousands of pages, and ślokas and this. Now we’re ready for the big happy ending, and some low-class man in the kingdom, you know, says... you know, I will now not do a low-class British accent, although I’m tempted to… But he says you know that… No. I won’t. I won’t. I won’t do it. Rāmacandra’s showing restraint. I shall show some restraint.
He says, “That Rāmacandra, you know. He may...” He’s talking to his wife. “After his wife lives with another man for a year, maybe He’ll take her back, but that’s not the way things go in this house.” There’s always some jerk like that. Even in the pastimes of God. So who do we think we are? Right?

So, the… Guru Mahārāja said the kings ears are his spies. His ears and eyes are his spies. So, there are people who go in disguise in the kingdom and sort of hang out at cafés and places and listen, see what’s going on. Someone overheard like, “That Rāmacandra, henpecked by Sītā.” And that comes back to the ear of Rāmacandra that, “The ordinary citizens from the...” and people were saying, “Why pay… This is just some low-class man!” But Guru Mahārāja made a point; he said, “In a family, even a bad child has to be loved.” So, what to speak in the family of Mank ind, the family of jīvas, Kṛṣṇa’s… like… we think like sometimes like, “Gee. I have to deal with all these people...” Think about the Paramātmā: What He’s got to deal with.
Like, all the people. But we’re told:
upadraṣṭānumantā ca
bhartā bhoktā maheśvaraḥ
paramātmeti cāpy ukto
dehe 'smin puruṣaḥ paraḥ
[Bhagavad-gītā 13.23]

He’s not interfering. Otherwise, He would go crazy, like: “Don’t! No!”
“Geez!”
“I told… How many times?”
No. He’s not interfering. We’re told like two bird on a tree. Observing. The one bird is eating the fruits of the tree of karma. The other bird as an observer. So, anyway. This comes in the ear of Rāmacandra, and here, unlike Kṛṣṇa, who’s alwayss pushing the envelope, crossing the boundary, Rāmacandra’s operating within that framework, and this leads to the… well first of all... actually before this, they did have a test of Sītā, of her purity that... or around this time; the sequence is not so important. She’d been taken by Rāvaṇa, right? We… as we told before, is that in Bengal we lived there in Calcutta. Like when you want to keep roaches out of your kitchen, they have this stuff called Lakshman Rekha, which is this chalk. This shows you how much sukṛti they have, actually. It’s this chalk you make a line and they say no roaches, no insects will cross that. [house gecko clicks] (aside) Thank you. (laughter) And they believe that. Does it work?
Reply: Yeah.

BSG: Okay. So, but… but what I like is that’s the brand name. It’s not like Roach Hotel, Roach Killer, or something like that. It’s called Lakshman Rekha. So, they’re saying, “This is that stick like Lakṣmaṇa had, to protect Sītā.” Because when Rāma went off, and He told Lakṣmaṇa, “You watch Sītā.” He left Sītā in the care of Lakṣmaṇa, and He said, “For no reason should You leave her. For no reason, whatsoever should You leave her.”
Like. “Got it.”

And He goes of and it’s either… was it Mahīrāvaṇa? The magician, black magician. He can imitate anyone. Guru Mahārāja gave him an example of sahajiyāism. Like “Beware of imitation.” And he’s perfectly imitating the voice of Rāmacandra, going, “Lakṣmaṇa! Help! Help Me!” It didn’t sound like that, but you get the idea.
And Lakṣmaṇa’s like, “That’s the voice of Rāma! No! No. Don’t go. Don’t go. Don’t…”
“Lakṣmaṇa! Lakṣmaṇa!” You know. He’s like… Sītā: “Help Him! What are you doing?”

And He’s like torn; what to do? So He’s like, “Lakṣmaṇa rekha...” He draws the magic circle and tells Sītā, “Do not step outside of this circle, as I go to help Rāmacandra.” Now Lakṣmaṇa’s gone and Sītā’s there. So, how are they going to get her to leave? Disney. Bambi. A little deer comes who’s so cute and charming and jumping and playing. And this relieves all the ten… Now Sītā’s like, “Oh! Such a cute little animal. And coming in the… going out… Coming in. Going outside. And at last, she doesn’t know who is it? Marīci, whatever. Another demon who’s a magician. Assuming a form gets her to go outside of the Lakṣmaṇa rekha protective circle, and then she’s whisked away by Rāvaṇa.

So, these things are particularly meaningful to those who have spiritually evolved feelings. So, when Mahāprabhu was travelling in South India, right? After taking sannyāsa, after consulting with Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācarya, and meeting with Rāmānanda, He’s in South India, meeting different types of devotees. To each school demonstrating the superiority of Kṛṣṇa conception. He meets one Rāma-bhakta who’s just heartbroken by the thought of the fleshy hand of Rāvaṇa, the evil fleshy hand of Rāvaṇa, grasping Sītā and kidnapping her, whisking her away. It just… He cannot digest this. It’s very disturbing to him internally. He can’t digest it. And Mahāprabhu, Who’s so merciful
Just like Śrīla Guru Mahārāja, I’ll just say as a footnote that... in the line of Kavīrāja Gosvāmī, saying, “Sometimes there are things we hear that are in the scriptures, it could be Bhagavad-gītā; it doesn’t have to be some pastime like this, but our heart doesn’t appear to be resonating with those.” And we know, as Guru Mahārāja there, “Oh, it’s a statement of the śāstra. I’ll need to adjust myself. It’s an indication that we need some internal adjustment.” Right? If we’re either perplexed, bewildered or unable to digest particular pastimes of the Lord.

So, any rate, Mahāprabhu finds from the, what was it? Kūrma Purāṇa, later traveling, a section where it talks about māyā-sītā, aprākṛta-deha. [Śri Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 1.117] Just as Mahāprabhu told Pradyumna, he was frought with regard to Rāmānanda, when he thought he saw something objectionable in the behavior of Rāmānanda, who we know by the grace of Kavīkārṇapura, Viśākha-sakhi. So, how can we think Viśākha-sakhi is in mundane consciousness? Whatever the cover. Whatever the form, appearance. And in this case not really a cover. Mahāprabhu tells Pradyumna Miśra, “Oh, don’t you know there’s only eka rāmānanda? He has an aprākṛta deha. There’s… He has no mundane body. The form of Rāmānanda has not been generated… is not karmically generated based upon desire. He has aprākṛta-deha, so you go and hear from him.” Saying, “I heard Kṛṣṇa-kathā from him. You shall hear from him.” And Mahāprabhu taking Himself in an inferior position, says, “If I see the… a statue, a representation of a woman, hear the name of a woman, it can cause My body to undergo some transformation.” (laughing) He says that. “But not Rāmānanda.” What type of a recommendation is that?

And also, as a footnote, says, “There is eka rāmānanda. That’s who you should hear from.” [Śri Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 9.357] Mahāprabhu Himself says, “kṛṣṇa-kathā āmi jāni nā. I don’t know.” He’s Kṛṣṇa, and He’s saying He doesn’t know about the… how to talk about Kṛṣṇa? How is that possible? Where He’s Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa combined, they can’t tell us. No, they are telling us. They’re telling us. This is the way you are told from the sakhis. Rāmānanda, and eka rāmānanda. There aren’t two. Interestingly, because Guru Mahārāja’s specialty, Rāmānanda saṁvāda, Sarasvati Ṭhākura told his name in the beginning, Ramendrachandra Bhattacharya at birth, at hari-nama, at mantra-dikṣa time, Rāmendra sundara, and then later Rāmānanda, so you look in Prema-dhāma-deva-stotram toward the end, saying, “Thus sings Rāmānanda.” [Golden Gift of the Golden Lord, 70] So much was his specialty Rāmānanda-saṁvāda. And Bon Mahārāja, Śrīla Bhakti Hṛdaya Bon Mahārāja, who, his… was it is disappearance recently? He told about Guru Mahārāja, that a lecture that he heard him give in Godavari, where Rāmānanda saṁvāda was spoken, that “It was the greatest lecture of all time, ever.” And he had heard everyone. He recommended Guru Mahārāja for sannyāsa to Śrīla Sarasvati Ṭhākura.

Any rate. So, that Mahāprabhu brings this news to that man, He’s saying, “Rāvaṇa, how can his fleshy hand… He can’t even see Sītā! What to speak of touch her? She has an aprākṛta-deha, a spiritual form. And here look, śāstra’s come to relieve, saying ‘A māyā-sītā was generated by her.’ That’s all he can touch, play with. It’s all hypnotism. It’s all illusion, delusion. What to speak of touch the divine form of Sītā, he can’t even see her.” So, it brought some relief to the heart of that devotee to know those things. And as I’ve mentioned before that when as she’s being carried away, we’re told she’s… she is a kṣatrīya princess; she’s very smart and she’s removing jewelry and dropping it intermittently, thereby creating a trail to where she’s being taken, so that later when Rāmacandra and Lakṣmaṇa, They team up with the monkeys and the bears and everybody, Rāmacandra becomes ecstatic when they show Him Sītā’s jewelry, and in this jewel… overflowing…. Jewelry. He shows to Lakṣmaṇa, “Look, Lakṣmaṇa! Sītā’s jewelry!”

And Lakṣmaṇa looks, he says, “I only recognize the nupura.” Her anklet. Why? Because its told. He had never looked above her ankle. Although if she is arguably the most beautiful woman in the universe and beyond, He’d never looked above her ankle, so that he recognized, but what was being worn here, here or here, he could not verify. What are we? Who are we?
And I remember once, Śrīla Gurudeva in mango season, when we had the privilege of taking prasādam with him, and he said, “When you’re eating mango, and good mango...” he said, “… you will forget everything.” And he was ju… and then he’s like eating and smiling. And then he told this story of how Hanumān, we know, when he runs, leaping from mountaintop to mountaintop, and leaps from the southern tip of India, to Sri Lanka, what is that? 100 yojanas, 800 miles, 15… 1,500 kilometers, quite a leap. When he gets there, and then what does he do? He becomes very small to do spying, going around like a little tiny… like a mouse or an… you know, listening in on conversations. He’d become large, small. He finds this grove with these extraordinary fruits that he’s never had before, and he’s very hungry, and it’s a mango grove. And so he starts eating the mangos and he ju… he’s never had them before. This is also the past… and what is he doing? Then he’s like intoxicated eating these. He’s eating mango and spitting the seeds, but his prowess is such that in the power of his spitting, he spits the seeds back to India. We know boys like to do things like this. He’s showing what power he has. (imitates sound of spitting) He can spit a seed like 2,000 kilometers. They’re landing in different parts of India. (makes sound of flying through the air) Mango trees, mango groves, but Gurudeva said, when he was doing that, he went like, “Oh, I forgot! I came here to rescue Sītā!” So Gurudeva concluded, “When you have good mango, you will forget everything.” (laughter)

But anyway, then they test Sītā to see if during that year away, her chastity or purity was compromised, and we know she walks through the fire, comes out in shining colors, everything is fine, but that low-class man made that remark, and it led… [bird begins making “Uh oh!” sound] (aside) You’re right. Uh oh! Yes, the worst part. She’s pregnant with twins, and Rāmacandra banishes her, and I would say it was around this time of the book where I just could… I could not digest these pastimes. Had to like go for a walk in -20 weather to cool down. I could not understand this, what to speak of digest it. It did not make me happy.

And I thought, “I thought Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes were full of all the heartbreaking things, and now this!” And anyway, reading… and of course there is a happy ending but in the interim, she… when she’s left in the forest uncared for in the words of Guru Mahārāja, but fortunate... where’s the forest? It’s near the āśrama of Vālmīki. So she has Lava and Kuśa, these children in the āśrama of Vālmīki. In the end there is a happy ending where Sītā and Rāma and all the inhabitants, they fly in a Vaikuṇṭha chariot, airplane back, you know… take Ayodhyā back to its origin. But still, the heartbreak is there.

Someone, a European philosopher said that women are judged by their capacity to endure suffering. It’s an extraordinary statement. Actually, its maybe more profound than he intended because the heart experiencing the pain of separation yields a superior substance. This we have to grasp. It’s one of the reasons Kṛṣṇa’s hiding from us. The devotees, they’re practicing for so many years, they’re faithful followers, they’re this... Like Gurudeva said to Guru Mahārāja about the holy name and all these wonderful things; he said, “Anyone got that?” (Laughter) He’s always pressing Guru Mahārāja, and Guru Mahārāja would have to go “ahem” and give some substantial answer.
But Gurudeva himself would say in his final days, when he was being flooded, his heart was being flooded with ecstasy, and intense love and revelation, he said, “Why is this coming to me now?” And it was a rhetorical question, but I thought, “Yes. After you’ve sacrificed yourself, you put your heart and soul in the altar of self-sacrifice, and Kṛṣṇa… and you’ve deferred, delayed all of that in service to your Guru Mahārāja, in service to the sampradāya, now when you feel yourself incapacitated, Kṛṣṇa’s giving so much to you, overflow.” Ecstatic means that, actually. Ecstasy. Ex stasis.

So, always Guru Mahārāja comes to save me and bring relief. Still, for some time, I couldn’t comprehend these, and even one of my old friends, when I was saying, “Oh, Rāmacandra, how He sacrificed His own happiness, for even, as Guru Mahārāja said, the bad son, the worst citizen, how exalted that is, I mean, He’s willing to totally sacrifice Himself for the happiness of others.” And my friend, he said, like with big doe eyes, you know, deer… he said, “But not for Sītā...”
And I was like, “Oh no. Back to this.”

But my answer to him, not at the time, but later was, “That is why she is so exalted; as He’s sacrificing Himself...” What is here? tyaktvā su-dustyaja-surepsita-rājya-lakṣmīṁ. [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.5.34] Sītā, Rādhārāṇī, how They’re… much They’re… why are They so exalted? How much They’re sacrificing Themself for the sake of others, to give Kṛṣṇa to others. Really, Kṛṣṇa is Rādhārāṇī’s gift.
Everybody’s crazy about Kṛṣṇa, and they should be, but where did this Kṛṣṇa come from? How has He been gifted? Like giver and the gift. When Guru Mahārāja said about gaura-līlā, kṛṣṇa-līlā
yadi gaura nā hoito, tabe ki hoito,
kemone dharitām de
rādhāra mahimā, prema-rasa-sīmā,
jagate jānāto ke
[yadi gaura nā hoito, by Vāsudeva Ghoṣa]

Kṛṣṇa comes as Mahāprabhu to reveal the glories of Rādhārāṇī to the world. It’s by the grace of Rādhārāṇī and Her girlfriends and assistants that we have any idea or connection with Kṛṣṇa. So, Guru Mahārāja told of when Sītā’s getting news in the āśrama, Vālmīki’s āśrama, about Rāmacandra, and she hears, it’s time He has to do, I forget which sacrifice, but some kingly yajña, and she knows you can only do that with a queen by your side. So, she’s thinking, “Oh, He’ll take another wife. It’s required.” And we know from Vedic literature, kings generally have so many queens, right? But eka-patni, He has one. This is very sweet and meaningful in mysterious ways.

Because we know so much more and hear so much more about Kṛṣṇa, but that that Kṛṣṇa in these particular pastimes could have so many queens, but not. Anyways, she’s in the āśrama, getting the news, this yajña will come and she’s saying, “Oh, wonder who… Who He will select. Has to have another queen, hmm. Who will it be?” What was Rāmacandra’s response? To create a yajña-sītā, a golden murti of Sītā. Right?
He is exclusively focused upon her. So when she gets news that Rāmacandra’s refused to take another queen, then how He’ll do the yajña? He made one murti from gold of you, of your divine form. And then she thought, “Alright, then...” She’s very happy. “I haven’t been banished from His heart.” Maybe for political purpose, for what do they call it, a sense of propriety, but what’s the other word? Anyway. He’s done this. He was compelled to do this, rāja-nīti, Vedic principles, societal, socio-political, but I haven’t been banished from His heart. Rāja Lakṣmī, she’s still enthroned on the heart of Rāmacandra. Then she’s very happy.

But what is the beauty of Rāmacandra that we’re told? And more than one yajña-sītā was created because more yajñas were done. He’s so beautiful the yajña-sītās wanted, how do you say, madhura, erotic sentiments were awakened in them, and He denied their request. That He’s so focused upon exclusively upon Sītā, but told “Later in Kṛṣṇa… Kṛṣṇa’s akhila-rasāmṛta-murti.” He quoted Rupa Gosvāmī, no. (laughing) “He can reciprocate every atom of every hearts’ hankering simultaneously; that is Kṛṣṇa.” So, really all of this can be read again to underscore the beauty, the extraordinary beauty of kṛṣṇa-līlā, the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa. And to prepare the heart for kṛṣṇa-viraha which culminates in union in separation. As preached and practiced by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
Hare Kṛṣṇa.

(aside) Oh, Gira’s wearing green (laughter). He’s saying, “I’m Rāmacandra too.” Girirāja can take any form. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Are those parrots Śuka and Śāri. Are those lotus flowers? Wow, such is the opulence of Chiang Mai. Really? Oh. Some fortunate… give her. That’s what Guru Mahārāja was saying. Look it’s already sattva-guṇa, but if someone will take that, they’re think they’re doing something nice: sukṛti. But nitya-sukṛti means that gesture when connected to the lotus feet, you see, Sītā-Rāma, Rādhā-Govinda, Śrī Śrī Guru-Gaurāṅga, Rādhā-Govinda, then it gets a touch of the nirguṇa plane. Devotees are always wondering or even, “How does the whole ajñata/jñata-sukṛti thing work?” That’s how it works. It was a nice gesture. But how nice? Kitna sundar? How nice, they will discover in time that gesture. That gesture toward Kṛ… even that:
māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya
ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ
striyo vaiśyās tathā śūdrās
te 'pi yānti parāṁ gatim
[Bhagavad-gītā, 9.32]

Even the slightest gesture, Kṛṣṇa only needs some remote excuse to be merciful to anyone. And His hand is infinite, His way is infinite, He only knows infinite reciprocation. When Mahāprabhu distributed prasādam, we’re told it was enough for four men. He gives like that. So, Guru Mahārāja would say, “What is our faith? Very little.” Said, “But if you take that faith, whatever little faith you have, and cast it toward the infinite...” He said, “...then prepare yourself for what will come in response.”
Hare Kṛṣṇa.