Beauty Rules The World

What is the operating principle in spiritual practice?

Question: Could you explain more in details the idea of Beauty Over Power.

Goswāmī Mahārāj: [laughs] I hope so, I hope I can. I actually never know. Because the operating principle in spiritual life, we hear from the beginning, is pleasing Guru, we heard that from day one, it’s true on day two, and every day in between and up to the present and into the future. Like we sing in this song,

yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādo
yasyāprasādāt na gatiḥ kuto ’pi
dhyayaṁ stuvaṁs tasya yaśas tri-sandhyaṁ
vande guroḥ śrī-charaṇaravindam
(Śrī Śrī Gurvvāṣṭaka: 8)

That part’s saying, yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādo yasyāprasādāt na gatiḥ kuto ’pi: without pleasing Guru you won’t get any real result, any substantial result. And only by pleasing Guru does a disciple has any position, really spiritually, it’s not our own achievement, it’s not something we came with, it’s none of those things.

So, as I’ve told many times, it never ceases to amuse and amaze me, when I would visit with Maṅgal Mahārāj in Kolkata and say, “Mahārāj, how are you today?” He’d say, “I don’t know, you know that.” And I know what he means, he is paraphrasing the Bengali saying, and this is where we need Gopal, but, alas, no Gopal, Gopal kothāy? Anyway, it translates as, “As you keep me.” When Vaiṣṇava says, “How are you?” Everybody in the world says, “How are you?” There’s some answer you give. Yes, “Your mercy.” In China they say, “Ni hao.” You see them on signs everywhere, “Ni hao.” But they are saying, “Āpnār kṛpā: your mercy.” What they mean to say is, “As you keep me. My position is based upon your estimation of me.”

This is very different, it’s the opposite of secular humanism, which puts forward the notion, “Believe in yourself! You’re number one!” I’ve mentioned, the modern advertising is saturated with humanistic sloganeering. And what do I mean by that? Like Nike, “Just do it.” What does that mean ‘Just do it’? It implies, there is some conscience you have, some self-restrained, the internal process you go through, before you decide to do something, they say, “Don’t listen to it, don’t think about it, just do it!” Why? I have a series of ads that answer that question. So, Nike makes that proposal, who gives the answer? L’Oreal, “Because I’m worth it.” Why should I just do it? Because I’m worth it. That’s why.

Why whould I restrain myself?

But of all the ads I ever saw, the most blatant, just naked assertion of humanistic sloganeering was from a company, whose slogan was, “Total indulgence zero guilt.” It was about Weight watchers, it doesn’t matter what it was about, but they had the audacity to make that slogan, “Total indulgence zero guilt.” No conscience, just indulge without conscience. Who does things without conscience? Generally, they are called animals. The animals they are not crying when they are eating the babies of others, they are not stopping to think, “Oh, these babies are so cute, why should we do this?” Never.

There was a youtube video recently, where they say, “After this lioness killed a deer, then it took the calf, and all the people went, “Oh, look she’s taking the little deer calf back to her place.” And someone else pointed out, “Yes, and after playing with it for a while, as cats do, she’ll eat it. They’ll kill it and offer to her children.”

So, a lack of conscience of considering why we do things, self-restrained, what Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn called in his famous Wolrd split apart address, “What is needed is serene voluntary self-restrained.” Serene voluntary self-restrained—that’s interesting, you could say, that’s the definition of tapasya. As Śrīla Prabhupad used to say and has in his Bhāgavatam purport, “What is tapasya? Voluntarily inconveniencing oneself for the sake of spiritual realisation.” You will be inconvenienced by living in this world, you will have to suffer by living in this world, it’s inevitable, it’s unavoidable, but a spiritually progressive person will voluntarily inconvenience themselves, will voluntarily undergo certain types of ‘suffering’ for the sake of spiritual advancement, not for the sake of material gain. That’s called śraddhā, faith in a mode of passion.

Three types of faith

In the seventeenth chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā Kṛṣṇa talks about three different types of faith, mundane faith, faith within the realm of the modes of nature, tamo-guṇ religion, rajo-guṇ religion, sattva-guṇ religion. Or then He talks about charity, many different things, like giving in charity. He’s saying, “Giving to the wrong person at the wrong time, in the wrong place for the wrong reason, that’s charity in the mode of ignorance. Giving in anticipation of reward, “I’ll do this, [because] I’ve heard if someone does this, so much good will come to them, occur to them.” It’s charity in the mode of passion, passion always has this type of mundane calculation involved of self-gain, self-reward. And what is it in the mode of goodness? That something should be done, because it’s the right thing, it should just be done without any consideration of how I’ll benefit from that.

As Guru Mahārāj told a story [of] three thiefs and one thief’s predominated by ignorance, one thief predominated by passion, and one thief is predominated by goodness. And they take this man out in the middle of the woods and they rob him. And the thief in the mode of ignorance is [saying], “Let’s kill him, now when we’ve got what we want.” The one in the mode of passion says, “We don’t need to do that, let’s just leave him here and go.” And the one in the mode of goodness, so-called thief, says, “Yes, but if we’ll leave him here he doesn’t know his way back, he can get hurt, why don’t we just take him back to where we found him, in the safe area, and then go.”

So, but what are we interested in? Nirguṇa plane. The nirguṇa plane will not be an object of our experience to serve our lower purpose. We are offering ourselves in service to the higher plane. So, when a Vaiṣṇava’s inquiring, “How are you?” You say, “As you see me.” Taking it that the other Vaiṣṇava is in a superior position, a devotee never thinks that they are devotee, but they are thinking others are devotees. So, vaiṣṇavī pratiṣṭhā, tāte koro niṣṭhā (Duṣṭa-Mana: 4), as the Vaiṣṇavas think of me, that’s what my position is: yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādo, etc. So, by pleasing Guru then there is the possibility of being useful, otherwise, Guru Mahārāj said, we are like lifeless clay, without being infused with serving, we’re trying to, praṇipātena, to offer ourselves, the highest aspect of ourselves in service to the least aspect of the higher plane, paripraśnena, and to inquire out of what? Sevā, service necessity.

So, before we will answer anything, say anything, we’ll remember the lotus feet of Śrī Guru, and pray, and offer ourselves in service as a medium. As Guru Mahārāj says, “Why do we offer flower to the book, before having a class or speaking?” We’re offering ourselves in service as agents to the book. The book although passively posing as a book, or any other type of media, is really spiritually conscious substance looking for an agent to pass through and distribution. So, the Vaiṣṇavas are offering themselves in service to the book, not taking what is in the book to serve some lower purpose. So, what was the question?

Audience: About Beauty Over Power.

Beauty is the ultimate controlling principle. Creation is less important

Goswāmī Mahārāj: Oh, Beauty Over Power. Where does that come from? It comes from Guru Mahārāj. If you read in the beginning of the Search for Śrī Kṛṣṇa, very beautiful, I got to place it there. Why did it appear there? Did I put it there? Or was I used by some higher power to place it there? I would subscribe to the latter. I don’t know anything about Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But Guru Mahārāj, offering ourselves in service to Him and [by] his conception something appeared there. So, if you look in the very beginning, where it says, “Beauty is the ultimate controlling principle. It’s greater than power,” thematically Guru Mahārāj has certain themes, seed concept themes, that he revisits continuously. One is Form vs. Substance, or Substance over Form, Beauty Over Power, Mercy over Justice, Heart over Intellect. He has a consistent system.

So, talking about Beauty Over Power means, which is a greater force? Beauty or what we generally conceive of as power? There are so many examples in history of the most powerful man coming under the sway of the beautiful girl. There are historic examples of this all over the world: North, South, East and West. The most powerful man comes under the control of the beauty of a young girl. That’s an example of Beauty Over Power. When people conceive of God, they think the highest conception generally is the Creator, who created the world and the Universes; always Creator-Creator. And we had this discussion in China, how in Kṛṣṇa conception, creation is a secondary function. Kṛṣṇa is not directly involved in Creation. What is doing? Play.

Deva Moyi, you know what deva means, the general word for deva is God. Deva, Devi, God, Goddess. But not when applied to Kṛṣṇa. What deva mean is playful, and not only playful, but divine love pastimes, that type of play. Divine Love play, that’s one who is called, deva. Deva Moyi means Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī, who is supplying all the divine love play to Kṛṣṇa, it is about madhura-rasa, creation is a secondary function performed by a part of a part of a part of His extension with His eyes half-closed.

Like we say in this world, when people think they are good at something, they say, “I can do it with my eyes closed.” “Yes, you can do it with your eyes closed.” Like the two Russian pilots, who made a bet. One Russian pilot said, “I can land this plane with my eyes closed.” Well, things didn’t go [as] he’s planned. So, they either crashed or overshot the runway. But it’s generally an expression, “I can do it with my eyes closed.” You can do those king of things or maybe not. Mahāviṣṇu generated the innumerable Universes out of His pores with His eyes half-closed, half-asleep, He is lying in yoga-nidrā with His eyes half-closed, half-asleep and His glance is personified as Śambhu Śiva, full of sum total of jīvas and he impregnated in the material nature.

All He is doing is [exhales]: viṣṇur mahān sa iha yasya kalā-viśeṣo (Bs: 5.48), but when His outward going breath hundred and fifty trillion years, innumerable Universes appear, He can do it with His eyes closed, while Kṛṣṇa’s playing with the gopas and gopīs in Vṛndāvan. That’s Beauty Over Power. There are many examples of Beauty Over Power. Kṛṣṇa over Rāmachandra, Kṛṣṇa over Viṣṇu. The ultimate conception of the ultimate reality is beauty. And as Guru Mahārāj says, “Beauty is the ultimate controlling principle.”

So, Mahāviṣṇu steals that brāhmaṇ’s boy, why? We find out in the Bhāgavatam, He wants to see the Beauty of Kṛṣṇa. How to get Kṛṣṇa to come? He stole the boy and He is keeping him there, we think such a cruel thing to do, and Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna are going through all the layers of the Universe and then He says, “I just wanted to see Your beauty, my Lord.” Should we think that Viṣṇu is not beautiful? Inconceivably beautiful. But was the śloka of the day?

sarvādbhuta-chamatkāra-
līlā-kallola-vāridhiḥ
atulya-madhura-prema-
maṇḍita-priya-maṇḍalaḥ

trijagan-mānasākarṣi-
muralī-kala-kūjitaḥ
asamānordhva-rūpa-śrī-
vismāpita-charācharaḥ
(Chaitanya-charitāmṛta: Madhya, 23.82-83)

Kūjitaḥ: it sounds very beautiful, muralī—Kṛṣṇa’s flute, muralī-kala-kūjitaḥ asamānordhva-rūpa-śrī: no one equals His beauty, not Viṣṇu, not Rāma, not Dvārakā-Kṛṣṇa. Dvārakā-Kṛṣṇa sees the picture and says, “I was so beautiful when I was younger in Vṛndāvan.” Like in this world. [I have a] cousin, who is my age, now I won’t say her age, because somehow over the years there are like ten years separating us, even we were born in the same year. Anyway, and my mom is ninety-three, if she doesn’t mind me saying that. My cousin said to her, “Aunt Rose, let’s look at some pictures when we used to look good, when we used to be beautiful.” So, Kṛṣṇa also has a version of that. He’s saying, “Oh, I was so beautiful in Vṛndāvan, now these days, maybe [I] put on a little weight in Dvārakā. It’s hard to say.” [laughs] Or He sees His own Beauty in a jewelled column and says, “Who is so beautiful, that now I am starting to feel the same feelings as Rādhikā.” So, even Kṛṣṇa is enamoured by His own beauty, asamānordhva-rūpa-śrī, rūpa means form and rūpa means beauty. Rūpa śrī, śrī rūpa.

Live stream of Divine Reality

Ślokas are reality. Kṛṣṇa is siddhānta. They are not two separate things. Kṛṣṇa is siddhānta. Siddhānta is Kṛṣṇa. These ślokas are encapsulated reality. They are real, they are alive, they’re livening, they are streaming real time Kṛṣṇa conception. Śrīla Gurudev likes so much one verse in Gītā-govinda it appears somewhat in Charitāmṛtam, he likes to sing it sometimes, like he told, “Good for hearing, but not for telling.” Like not explaining. But it’s very beautiful and it’s mentioned [that] when Mahāprabhu would hear this He would faint.

lalita-lavañga-lata-pariśīlana-komala-malaya-samīre
madhukara-nikara-karambita-kokila-kūjita-kuñja-kutīre
(Gītā-govinda: 1.4)

It’s the beauty, as given by Jayadev Goswāmī, in the la-la-la, ka-ka-ka, lalita-lavañga-lata-pariśīlana-komala-malaya-samīre madhukara-nikara-karambita-kokila-kūjita-kuñja-kutīre, this is divine sound and divine poetry, describing the beauty of Kṛṣṇa and the Pastimes of Kṛṣṇa. But in Vṛndāvan, as Guru Mahārāj said once, form and substance are one. Normally we’re saying: form and substance, if there is a clash between the two, if they are not congruous, we take substance over form, we sacrifice form to substance. As we were talking, what is the substantial aspect of Guru? What you can see with your eyes or inner awakening, inner eye.

That awakened eye, can see guru, vaiṣṇava, sādhu, śāstra, revealed truth. So, form vs. substance, beauty over power. Even if we’ll say, well, if they’re all assemble in one Kṛṣṇa, Svayam Bhagavān, like the song avatāra sāra gorā avatāra, about Mahāprabhu, same thing for Kṛṣṇa. But that Kṛṣṇa, who is trijagan-mānasākarṣi, attracting everyone, hearts and minds, souls of everyone in the Universe with the beautiful sound of His flute.

How does Kṛṣṇa conception break the mundane erotic enslavement?

Śuk and Śari, divine parrots. Mahāprabhu is entering Vṛndāvan forest, when He is looking at Jagannāth in Purī, His ecstasy is inconceivable, He sees Śyāmasundar Kṛṣṇa. Because in the mood of Rādhārāṇī even seeing Dvārakā Kṛṣṇa, He is seeing Vṛndāvan Kṛṣṇa. But when He starts going toward Vṛndāvan, His ecstasy increased in hundred times. When He got there in the forest of Vṛndāvan, it was increased hundred and thousands and millions of times. And in that forest in His divine madness, on His fingers appeared two parrots: Śuk and Śari—the male and female parrots. And the male parrot starts talking about the beauty of Kṛṣṇa, He is Madan Mohan, Cupid, everyone is bewildered by Cupid, but Cupid is bewildered by seeing the seductive charm, sweetness, and beauty of Kṛṣṇa. Madan is a Sanskrit word for Cupid, Madan Mohan.

And that’s why Śrīla Guru Mahārāj says, sambandha-jñāna āchārya—Sanātan Goswāmī’s Deity is Madan Mohan, because that means that Kṛṣṇa conception has the power to break the thing that’s keeping us all bound in this world. Madan Mohan Kṛṣṇa can break that. And what? From Madan Mohan to Govindadev, to Gopīnāth. To break the mundane erotic enslavement and offer entrance into the erotic potential in the Supreme Reality. That’s what’s hinted at or indicated there. The male parrot’s making poetry praising Kṛṣṇa, Jagan Mohan, who is bewildering the whole Universe. And the female parrot says, “Yes, but Rādhārāṇī is Jagan Mohan Mohinī, She has the power to capture Kṛṣṇa.

Rādhārāṇī steals Kṛṣṇa's mind

Like Guru Mahārāj said, one meaning of Hari is who can steal, thief, take away. So, Kṛṣṇa is known as Makhan Chor, Chitta Hārī, different types of thievery, or mind-stealing. Rādhārāṇī is the greatest thief, She can steal Kṛṣṇa. She can steal the mind of Kṛṣṇa. Sometimes Kṛṣṇa drops His flute in bewilderment at the beauty of Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī.

So, the female parrot is praising Rādhārāṇī and then the male parrot [says], “But Cupid is bewildered by beauty of Kṛṣṇa.” And she says, “Yes, that’s true, but only when Rādhārāṇī is next to Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise Kṛṣṇa Himself is under the influence of Cupid, meaning for Her. Beauty Over Power.” Sat-chit-ānandam, satyam-śivam-sundaram. Always the highest things, ānandam, sundaram. And the other things, jñāna-bala-kriyā-cha. Bala, power is in a lower position.

And also regarding the other question, Goloka, Gokula. These kinds of questions are exercise the divine meditation of great devotees, and according to their capacity they express different type of appreciation, realisation or observations. What is the difference between Goloka and Gokula? Conventional understanding is that Goloka Vṛndāvan is the original, and that within this world it’s called prapañcha-līlā, means while there is material manifestation of Universes, planets, etc., that there is like a satellite, an extension of Goloka into this planet called Gokula, from Goloka to Gokula. And the Gokula Vṛndāvan Pastimes of Kṛṣṇa within this world are here for a hudred and twenty five years, they moved to the next Universe.

Why Kṛṣṇa took His original Divine World with Him into this plane?

And what is the difference between the Pastimes here and the Pastimes there? Only the great spiritual experts make some observations in different ways. But Śrīla Guru Marahaj in discussing these things mentioned that perhaps Jīva Goswāmī in Brahmā-saṁhitā commentaries [has] another way of seeing. And we find corroborative evidence in Garga-saṁhitā, when Kṛṣṇa announces His intentions to descend into the world (remember, once in a day of Brahmā Kṛṣṇa descend), Rādhārāṇī says, “I’m only going if You take everything we have here with us.” Means Vṛndāvan, Yāmunā, Gaṅgā, everything. And She repeats it, She says twice, “Not replicas or duplicates, we have to take all of this with us, not like we’ll get new paraphernalia that looks like it. All of what we have here, we’ll descend with that, otherwise I’m not going.”

So, this is a corroborative supportive evidence. Actually, mysteriously, mystically, the original is brought into this plane, and a satellite is Goloka and extension is there. And in this plane the experience is somehow enhanced, because the Infinite is mixing with finite, the liberated is moving amongst the non-liberated. We take it that in the spiritual world everyone is liberated soul, vaikuṇṭhera pṛthivy-ādi sakala chinmaya (Cc: Ādi, 5.53), there is nothing conditional about everything in spiritual world. So, there things that are, for the sake of just expressing this, what is real here, is by inference there. For example: demons. In Gokula Pastimes demons appear. Pūtanā, Tṛṇāvarata, Kālya, in Goloka Vṛndāvan, there maybe posters, like sometimes they warn people with posters, rumors, so many things there are by inference or allusion.

Whereas, bringing His original here, there are only liberated souls are participating, here it’s a mixture of non-liberated finite with Infinite. So, it adds some extra quality of excitement and intensity. When it comes to separation, Śrīla Viśvanāth Chakravartī Ṭhākur says in the tenth canto of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam commentaries, that union and separation are running in parallel. And this is inconceivable, but this [is] what he says. There is one description, when Kṛṣṇa leaves Vṛndāvan apparently, they’re all ignore themselves, their houses are full of cobwebs, people from another village come and feed them. They become totally dysfunctional. And neglect themselves to the extreme. And it looks horrible.

But when Uddhava comes, they shift into the other mode, so when he appears, he sees the gopīs, they’re making butter and the union manifestation running in parallel with separation manifestation shifts to give him another experience. How does this work? It’s inconceivable. So, if we talk about here, we say one hundred years of separation, a hundred and twenty five years of Pastimes, and Kṛṣṇa does the one and a half times growth, according to Padma-purāṇa, so ,when He is six, He is actually nine, when He’s twelve, He’s eighteen, etc.

Expansion and contraction of time and space: how was it possible for gopis to tolerate one hundred years of separation from Kṛṣṇa?

There are many things to factor in, but here we tell a hundred years of separation. What are years? What is that time? [There is] the expansion and construction of time and space employed in Kṛṣṇa-līlā. [The] rasa-līlā, that night, that evening Kṛṣṇa summoned many evenings. We’re told that night was a Brahmā-rātri, a night of Brahmā,

sahasra-yuga-paryantam
ahar yad brahmāṇo viduḥ
rātriṁ yuga-sahasrāntāṁ
te ’ho-rātra-vido janāḥ
(Bhagavad-gītā: 8.17)

So, just to assign a numerical value to it, eight billion six hundred million years, it’s a duration of rasa-līlā from one perspective. And what is it for Vraja-gopīs? “It was a blink of an eye, we’re so sad, it was over before it started.” What does Rādhārāṇī say? In Jagannāth-vallabha-nāṭaka of Rāmānanda, factoring in these things, She’s saying, “What I’m going to do the next time, I’m going to worship Time.” And it’s described there very beautifully, Guru Mahārāj used to sing this many times. What is the Vedic system to perpetuate someone? You offer them an āsan, then they sit on the āsan, then you get out the paraphernalia, you put the water, dry the feet, offer the flowers, offer the incense, offer the pañch-pradip, do all these things, like ārati. Rādhārāṇī said, “I’m going to do ārati to Time, take Time, put Time on the beautiful throne, āsan, and do my ārati, and then when Time is very happy and perpetuated, then I’m going to turn my attention to Kṛṣṇa, because the last time it went like that, it was so fast, so, what we have to do is control Time.”

Are we going to approach this with our rational minds? If we do, we won’t understand anything, what She is talking about. But if we will leave our minds at the door... there are some places where you enter, and they make [you] to take off your coat and hat, give them to someone and then you go inside. You have to take off the coverings of the soul, intellect, mind, all these things, leave them at the door.

jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva
jīvanti san-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām
sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhir
ye prāyaśo ’jita jito ’py asi tais tri-lokyām
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.14.3)

It’s Brahmā’s advice, “Leave your mind at the door, leave your intellect at the door, don’t try to measure Him.” So, the Brahmā-rātri was the blink of an eye. And separation points expansion and contraction of time and space. When Kṛṣṇa goes to Vṛndāvan forest, devotees, who’s seeing Kṛṣṇa, if a tree comes between their vision of Kṛṣṇa, that’s intolerable for them, they have heat failure. They say, “That’s just so brief.” The gopīs are cursing Brahmā for making eyes that blink, because during the blinking they are not seeing Kṛṣṇa. In one place Rādhārāṇī said, “Oh, why don’t I have eyes like a fish, that are always opened, they don’t have eyelids.” So, and what is that blink of the eye compare to? A day of Brahmā, how long is the day of Brahmā, eight billion six hundred million years. This is all possible through separation. The huge time is like the blink of an eye, the blink of an eye is like infinite time.

So, we have to understand something about these principles, before talking about Goloka, Gokula, this and that. So, even in both places union and separation are running in eternal parallel,

rādhā kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtir hlādinī śaktir asmād
ekātmānāv api bhuvi purā deha-bhedaṁ gatau tau
chaitanyākhyaṁ prakaṭam adhunā tad-dvayaṁ chaikyam āptaṁ
rādhā-bhāva-dyuti-suvalitaṁ naumi kṛṣṇa-svarūpam
(Chaitanya-charitāmṛta: Ādi, 1.5)

Sometimes, they are together as one, Mahāprabhu, then apart, Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, Gaura-līlā and Kṛṣṇa-līlā are running in parallel eternally. Which is the first? Guru Mahārāj says, “The gift or the giver?” Mahāprabhu is the giver. Which comes first the gift or the giver? He is gifting Kṛṣṇa-līlā,

yathā yathā gaura-padāravinde
vindeta bhaktiṁ kṛta-puṇya-rāśiḥ
tathā tathotsarpati hṛdy akasmāt
rādhā-padāmbhoja-sudhāṁśu-rāśiḥ
(Śrī Chaitanya-chandramrta: 88)

Guru Mahārāj will say, “Vṛndāvan is for the highest section of liberated souls, that’s why, Chaitanya Sāraswat Maṭh was established in Nabadwīp Dhām, in Gupta Govardhan. Vṛndāvan is for the highest section of liberated souls,

kṛṣṇa-līlāmṛta-sāra, tāra śata śata dhāra,
daśa-dike vahe yāhā haite
(Chaitanya-charitāmṛta: Madhya, 25.271)

Gaura-līlā gives an entrance to Kṛṣṇa-līlā

What is the difference between Kṛṣṇa-līlā and Gaura-līlā? Kṛṣṇa-līlā... if it’s only meant for the highest section of liberated souls, that means how many are excluded? What is Gaura-līlā? The magnanimous distribution of Kṛṣṇa-līlā. Kṛṣṇa-līlā—madhurya, Gaura-līlā—audārya, distributing that daśa-dike, means ten directions, North, South, East, West, etc. So, what is generally reserved for the highest section of liberated souls is being extended to the non-liberated section. That’s another way of putting it.

So, what does Prabodhānanda say? Aṣṭa-sakhī Tuṅga-vidyā should know. He says, “Give your full attention to Gaura-pād, the lotus feet of Mahāprabhu.” Nityānanda says, “Bhājā-gaurāṅga,” they are trying to tell us how to get entrance to that plane. Give your full attention to the lotus feet of Mahāprabhu, vindeta bhaktiṁ kṛta-puṇya-rāśiḥ, means those who are sukṛtivān, su-medhasā, refined theistic intellect, they’ll see the entrance to Vṛndāvan is in Nabadwīp, the entrance into Kṛṣṇa-līlā is Gaura-līlā. And what will happen? It says: If you do that, because who is Mahāprabhu? Mahāprabhu Śrī Chaitanya Rādhā Kṛṣṇa nahi anya (Guru-paramparā: 6), Rādhā-bhāva-dyuti-suvalitam (Cc: Ādi 1.5), Kṛṣṇa enveloped in the heart and halo of Rādhārāṇī, then tathā tathotsarpati hṛdy akasmāt, automatically, subconsciously, deep within the core of your heart, what will appear? Rādhā-rasa-sudhā-nidhi, the nectarean ocean of service to the lotus feet of Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī, that flow will come to your heart and you’ll find yourself awakening in the soil of Vṛndāvan.

And Guru Mahārāj gave one comparison, “If you get on the flight in New York, and you get off in India.” That’s one example he gave. Another example he said, [is] like a machine, you put the coin in here, and the ticket comes out on the other side. You put your coin, your serving capital in a lotus feet of Mahāprabhu, and collect your ticket for Vṛndāvan.

When Guru Mahārāj asked Saraswatī Ṭhākur some intricate question, “Sanātan Goswāmī concludes Kṛṣṇa-līlā in this way, Rūpa Goswāmī in another way, how are we to understand this?” Saraswatī Ṭhākur’s answer was, “Adhokṣaja,” means, it’s beyond that can be grasped by the mind, the intellect, adha akṣaja, means you have to suppress sense experience.

But interestingly, when Uddhava was sent to comfort he Vraja-gopīs and give them some hope, the other word adhokṣaja means eyes, he told them, “Close your eyes, and Kṛṣṇa will appear.” And they are so sweet, all the Vraja-gopīs closed their eyes and Kṛṣṇa appeared. But some of them, in their madness (you know, we all have pupils, which are like irises on a camera), thought to close them otherwise Kṛṣṇa could get out through the holes of their eyes. He could escape. [laughs]. But they all are very sweet, “Oh, Uddhava, you’re so wonderful”. Uddhava, means he makes everyone happy, gives happiness to everyone.

Why separation is better than union?

So, the Pastimes of separation are mysterious, who is going to invite separation? We can only understand it theoretically. Like we say, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder,” when Kṛṣṇa separates Himself. Sometimes we see this. If you want a little parallel, I mean a crude example. Sometimes people do this, in playing with children, lovers might do it, but let’s stick with children. They put them temporary into some anxiety. Like a naughty uncle hide, and the kid is crying, and then they go, “See, I’m here”. They want to see them in that intense state of desperation, it’s a very crude example. But Kṛṣṇa, He tells them, “’Why am I doing this?” They are saying, “Why are you so cruel? You’re supposed to be the person, who descended in the world to relieve everybody’s suffering and unhappiness and all we’ve got from day one meeting with you is unlimited suffering and unhappiness, is this fare? We’re supposed to be your highest devotees and we’re on the greatest anxiety suffering unhappiness. And then everyone’s praising You, You are patita-pāvana, the saviour of the fallen. And what about us? Are we the only people not on the list? How can you do this to us? We live for You, and You treat us this way.” And Kṛṣṇa ’s saying, “It’s not like that.” He has to reveal His internal thinking, but He cannot resist the flow of love in their hearts and by apparently separating Himself from them, a greater depth of love and flow is released, and He can’t resist that.

And He says, “When someone’s before you, you see them, they are not so much in your heart and mind. You’re looking at their form, but in their absence they are fully present in your heart and mind. Only our physical forms are separated, but actually you’re all deep in my heart and soul as I am in yours.” Anyway, why did Rādhārāṇī after hearing Kṛṣṇa’s confession summoned all the Vraja-gopīs to return to Vṛndāvan? Cause He said,

mayi bhaktir hi bhūtānām
amṛtatvāya kalpate
diṣṭyā yad āsīn mat-sneho
bhavatīnāṁ mad-āpanaḥ
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.82.44)

How is that possible that Kṛṣṇa never leaves Vṛndāvan

”Everyone consider themselves supremely fortunate if they get connection with Me, and rightfully so. He’s Kṛṣṇa, of course, it makes sense, karmīs, jñānīs, yogīs, different types of bhaktas, but I consider Myself fortunate that I am the object of that irresistibly sweet flow of love that’s in your hearts. That’s My good fortune. Everyone else’s good fortune is to get a connection with Me, it’s My good fortune, that I’ve a connection with You.” “It’s clear, He always and only belongs to us, everything else is a show.” It says: Vṛndāvanaṁ parityajya (Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta: 1.5.461), I can’t say it one way because Gurudev doesn’t like it that way, but it says, Kṛṣṇa never steps out of Vṛndāvan, one foot out of Vṛndāvan, so, what is it all about? Hundred years of separation. It’s mysterious. Sometimes, because Kṛṣṇa says, “I’m only going to Mathurā for two to four days.” Viśvanāth will say, “That’s true.” It’s inconceivable and mysterious. He never leaves Vṛndāvan, so how is there a hundred years of separation. Dvārakā Kṛṣṇa is not Vṛndāvan Kṛṣṇa. Vṛndāvan Kṛṣṇa doesn’t go and live in Dvārakā. And He tells them that in that meeting too, “Actually by the mercy of Nārāyaṇ, we are with each other every day.”

But some will think, “Oh, Kṛṣṇa sends an expansion of Himself from Dvārakā to be with them.” But another way of seeing it, is that Dvārakā Kṛṣṇa is the expansion.” Svayam Bhagavān is only at the right hand of Rādhārāṇī. Kṛṣṇa is only fully Kṛṣṇa with Rādhārāṇī, beside any other gopī, or any other queens, Vraja-gopīs, mahiṣī—Dvārakā Queens, Vaikuṇṭha Lakṣmīs. Svayam Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa is only fully Himself at the side of Rādhārāṇī. So, these are divine Pastimes meant to go to the deep heart’s core and generate superior substance by apparently being separated from one another. But in this show, bringing this divine play into this world, it has some increased intensity, goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūto, govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi (Bs: 5.37).

I’ll just say one other thing. Is that hearing so many things so many questions will come to us. And we’ll be very careful how to express them, when and when not and how far. Once I was asking Guru Mahārāj, factoring in many things I’ve heard, “So, where are the most superior devotees of Mahāprabhu? If these deep Pastimes are taking place in Purī, is Purī superior to Nabadwīp, or how shall we think?” And Guru Mahārāj said, “Stalwart followers of Mahāprabhu, Nabadwīp is superior.” Even though those Pastimes are taking place there, and that’s behind closed doors, Rāmānanda, Svarūp Dāmodar, in the Gambhīr, but he presented it this way, by quoting the song of Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur, “It’s a parallel, as we’re telling Gupta Govardhan is Gupta Vṛndāvan, Purī is Dvārakā. So, He is there in rāj-veś in Kurukṣetra, the dress of the King, in Puri—mahārāj-veśa, the dress of the sannyāsī. So, Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur in that famous event when Mahāprabhu returns after five years to His home town to take sannyās, and then the Ganges is flooded with human heads and no-one can drown, the twigs on trees are supporting human bodies. Devās are descending into the world,

sadopāsyaḥ śrīmān dhṛta-manuja-kāyaiḥ praṇayitāṁ
vahadbhir girbāṇair giriśa-parameṣṭhi-prabhṛtibhiḥ
sva-bhaktebhyaḥ śuddhasṁ nija-bhajana-mudrām upadiśan
sa chaitanyaḥ kiṁ me punar api dṛśor yāsyati padam
(Stava-mālā: Prathama Śrī Chaitanyāṣṭaka, 1)

Who is more beautiful than Kṛṣṇa?

The Gods are descending in human forms to have a glimpse of the beauty of Mahāprabhu. Kṛṣṇa is already inconceivably beautiful, He is Kṛṣṇa, reality the beautiful, can you improve on that? Can He become more beautiful? He said,

Sarvādbhuta-chamatkāra (Cc: Madhya, 23.82), sixty four qualities. What if you add twenty five qualities to the sixty four? Rādhā-bhāva-dyuti. What if you envelop Kṛṣṇa in the heart and halo of Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī? How inconceivably beautiful Mahāprabhu is, this divine combination of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa combined as one. Only that could be relatively speaking more beautiful than Kṛṣṇa. Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa separate, how inconceivably beautiful they are, but what if they combine? We can’t even conceive that. That’s Mahāprabhu,

rasoddāmā kāmārbuda-madhura-dhāmojjvala-tanur
yatīnām uttaṁsas taraṇikara-vidyoti-vasanaḥ
hiraṇyāṇāṁ lakṣmī-bharam abhibhavann āṅgika-ruchā
sa chaitanyaḥ kiṁ me punar api dṛśor yāsyati padam
(Stava-mālā: Prathama Śrī Chaitanyāṣṭaka, 4)

What does Rūpa Goswāmī say? Ten million Cupids in full blown Cupidity, that’s what rasoddāmā kāmārbuda, rasa-uddāmā: Cupids in their full blown Cupidity, ten million of them together, this is taking us in direction of the beauty of Mahāprabhu. Hiraṇyāṇāṁ lakṣmī-bharam: and His inconceivably golden color, that shames gold, gold will feel ashamed to see the beauty of this type of gold. And what does Guru Mahārāj say?

Parallel between Nabadwīp and Vṛndāvan

Koṭi-kāma-mūrcchitāṅghri-rūpa-rāsa-raṅgaraṁ (Śrī Premadhāma-deva-stotram: 2): ten million Cupids will faint to see the beauty of Mahāprabhu, so that Mahāprabhu is there in Vidyānagar and Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur is in those Pastimes. His song indicated that, he is in those Pastimes. And he sees Mahāprabhu on the veranda, on the balcony, and from his heart he is saying, “When Nimāi Paṇḍit will give up the robes of renunciation? And join us again in Nabadwīp?” Like Rādhārāṇī says, “When will Kṛṣṇa will give up this royal dress of the King and come back on the banks of Yamunā and play with us again as He did before?” That’s the mood of Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur and the stalwart devotees of Nabadwīp. So, Śrīla Guru Mahārāj said, “They are in the highest position.” They are paralleled to that of the Vraja-gopīs and Rādhārāṇī, how they see Kṛṣṇa. But of course, the height of separation reaches its zenith in Kurukṣetra after a hundred years of separation, if they can’t tolerate a blink of an eye, how could they tolerate one hundred years?

Kurukṣetra: zenith of separation. Service according to the intensity of its necessity draws remuneration

So, it reaches its zenith there, and one of the Guru Mahārāja’s sutras is, “Service according to the intensity of its necessity draws remuneration.” That’s the important point, service according to the intensity of its necessity draws remuneration. Where is the greatest necessity of service from Her serving group? In Kurukṣetra after the hundred years of separation.

So, Mahāprabhu has two Pastimes that He is riveted to: the Kurukṣetra and its parallel—Ratha Yātrā, the Ratha Yātrā celebration in Purī is extension of that moment. Anyera hṛdaya - mana, mora mana - Vṛndāvana (Cc: Madhya, 13.137): Rādhārāṇī says, “For most people their heart and mind are the same, My heart and Vṛndāvan are the same,” then you can take Vṛndāvan is a construct of the heart of Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī. So Ratha Yātrā in Purī is that Kurukṣetra, hundred years separation point. It’s the zenith. And what is the other? Uddhava-darśan. When they are suffering in separation from Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa sends Uddhava, and Rādhārāṇī’s divine madness to the bhramarā, (bumblebee). Taking it to be Kṛṣṇa and disguise attempting to see what sort of divine bhāv, emotions, She will express. So, Kṛṣṇa who knows everything about enjoyment descends as Mahāprabhu, does His public service of Nām-sankīrtan to people, then privately behind close doors, not publicly, behind close doors, what is expressed at he Ratha Yātrā is all enigmatic, mysterious, what He is singing, not everyone can see, Svarūp Dāmodar can see.

We’re told: at one point Nityānanda Prabhu is dancing in divine madness and turns and sees Mahāprabhu dancing before Jagannāth, and Mahāprabhu has become Rādhārāṇī. He doesn’t see Mahāprabhu, he sees Rādhārāṇī dancing before Jagannāth, and he turns away not to disturb. If Mahāprabhu will see Nityānanda Prabhu it’ll bring back another self, so, he allows him. That’s why he descended: Rādhāra mahimā prema-rasa-sīmā jagate jānāta ke? (Jadi Gaura nā ho’to: 1). He wants to reveal to the world—Kṛṣṇa consciousness is Rādhārāṇī’s consciousness. That’s what Kṛṣṇa consciousness is. That’s why He had descended in the world. To give extension of Her consciousness to others. And it’s called Kṛṣṇa consciousness. She is Kṛṣṇa consciousness personified. And to an extreme degree, we can not conceive. So, Nityānanda Prabhu seeing that Mahāprabhu is turning into Rādhārāṇī, looking away to allow. The golden radiance of Gaurāṅga Mahāprabhu, it says, yatīnām uttaṁsas taraṇikara-vidyoti-vasanaḥ: His sannyās-veś is glowing gold, so, it’s like pink gold, because of all he radiance being enveloped in the heart of Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī. The halo, radiance is turning His sannyās-veś like a golden saffron colour. Radiating outward, but behind closed doors with Svarūp Dāmodar and Rāmānanda.

Hare Kṛṣṇa