Food for the Heart

What does Saraswatī Ṭhākur say, “One whose divine eyes are awakened, can see traces of Guru everywhere, and in everything.” Not in a foolish way or imaginary, but substantially according to their hearts inner necessity. That’s why the gopīs are inquiring from all these different sources. It’s their hearts inner necessity. It’s not curiosity, or new-age quackery, but hearts genuine necessity leads them to what? The search for Śrī Kṛṣṇa, they are searching for Kṛṣṇa; it’s a genuine search—the heart’s search. What does Saraswatī put at the end of her emails? A quote from Guru Mahārāj about existence endowed with consciousness then can search for its necessity, ecstasy. That is the search for Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the old Descartian Cogito ergo sum: I think therefore I am; when you are aware of yourself, your existence; cognitive awareness. But Guru Mahārāj is saying, then that leads you to search for your necessity, the food of consciousness, is not knowledge, the food for the heart—heart food not brain food. Consciousness wants to feel. Knowing is insufficient, feeling such satyam, śivam, sundaram—sat chid ānandam; ānandam: ecstasy is the target of an awakened, seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting, touching and smelling individual. The search for Śrī Kṛṣṇa is not for beginners. Otherwise, why is Mahāprabhu searching for Kṛṣṇa? We think we’re searching, but others have found? No. He says,

kāhāṅ mora prāṇa-nātha muralī-vadana
kāhāṅ karoṅ kāhāṅ pāṅ vrajendra-nandana
(Śrī Chaitanya-charitāmṛta: Madhya, 2.15)

After taking sannyās he begins madly searching for Kṛṣṇa and Śrīla Guru Mahārāj said his condition is child-like, because he has three states. He has external consciousness, half internal and half external, and totally internal. So when he is half external/ half internal [it is] a child like condition, so that he couldn’t recognize Nityānanda Prabhu in this half mad intoxicated state. Nityānanda could tell to the cowherd boys, “If he asks: ‘Which way to the Yamunā, Vṛndāvan?’ you point this way.” He has seen the cowherd boys, and [is] saying, “I am in Vṛndāvan, Haribol! Haribol!” And they’re all going “Haribol! Haribol!” He is so happy.
“Which way is Yamunā?”
“That way!”

And then he goes to Yamunā and find Advaita Āchārya waiting on a boat with fresh clothes.
“Advaita? How did you know I was in Vṛndāvan?”
“Oh, are you kidding? Wherever you are is Vṛndāvan!”
And then he is coming out of his internal consciousness and realizes, “Oh I have been tricked! It’s the trick of Nityānanda and Advaita.” But what is he doing? Madly searching for Śrī Kṛṣṇa.  

Self-oblivion doesn’t mean self extinction. It means self-forgetfulness. Self forgetfulness does not mean self extinction. Guru Mahārāj remembers all of his lessons from school (the substantial ones) and that the Christian teachers told [him]: higher than self-sacrifice is self forgetfulness; and that stuck with Guru Mahārāj for many years. He was saying, there is some awareness of self [in the] self-sacrifice: “Alright I am sacrificing myself for this higher cause, this higher principle. Certainly it’s a good thing.” But Guru Mahārāj said, “I remember that they told [us] self forgetfulness is higher and that we find in Rādhārāṇī, Mahāprabhu, and the Vraja-gopīs. In the highest stage of devotion no calculation based upon self, self-consideration.

anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ
jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam
ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānu-
śīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.1.11)

It’s what Rūpa Goswāmī calls pure devotion. anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ: like in 3 words, anya: other aspirations, zero: śūnyaṁ. Nil, null and void. No other aspiration. Jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛta: the coverings of jñāna and karma (intellect, mind, body) they will dissolve, and as they dissolve, Śrīla Guru Mahārāj said, we find the developing taste of a devotee, ruchi-parīkṣā. Saraswatī Ṭhākur would examine to see the developing taste in a devotee. Like something very sweet I observed in China was that. Once Nalina Nayana was taking care of me and taking care of the center there. She joined in February, [but] we are thinking she has been here for years. Sulakṣaṇa (who I believe is coming back tonight) when she was with us for one month, we (myself and Paramānanda) thought she had been with us for 6 [months] or longer. So, we were [with] Nalina Nayana in the Lotus Hill Park in Shenzhen, something like that, some ladies were singing old Chinese beautiful songs, just walking and singing, but very sweetly and nicely. She said, “Oh, I’ve read in the Kṛṣṇa Book,” because Prabhupāda’s 10th canto summary is translated into Chinese. She was very charmed how Balarām is protective of Kṛṣṇa. She found that very charming, and heart capturing. So hearing it’s a natural heart response to different aspects of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Something is a particular charm to the devotees.

Śrīla Gurudev had so much love and affection for Balarām and Nityānanda Prabhu. He liked to quote this śloka from the Garga-saṁhitā about how beautiful the sound [is]: kiṅkiṇī-kaṅkaṇārhaṁ, meghāmbarāḍhyaṁ (Gs: 8.13.4b) —the color of Balarām and the sound of the ankle bells on his feet. Gurudev would say, “Why does Balarām wear ankle bells? Why does Nityānanda wear ankle bells?” He was just fascinated by that. “If Mahāprabhu asked someone to dance, why does he do that?” [Laughter] Right, if someone comes in you should tell them to start dancing. But it’s a divine instruction, and that devotee begins to [dance], and they are not just making a show it’s some heartfelt dance of divine love. Ruchi-parīkṣā: examining the taste of the disciples. As the layers of jñāna and karma start to dissolve, the svarūp starts to appear and express itself. When Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur concludes the Kalyaṇa-kalpa-taru expressing the aspiration to be a sweeper in the Nām-haṭṭa of Nityānanda Prabhu and Saraswatī Ṭhākur says, “If Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur’s aspiration is to be a sweeper in the Nām-haṭṭa of Nityānanda Prabhu, then I consider my aspiration to be one of the straws in his broom.” Guru Mahārāj makes this observation, “If we consider this expression to be sincere, it’s not just clever repartee, it’s a sincere expression of Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākur’s heartfelt feelings,” and I add this and it seems to be a personification of tṛṇād api sunīchena (Śikṣāṣṭakam: 3), Śrīla Guru Mahārāj continues, “then what can you understand from this? This is the unit of construction of the svarūp (the spiritual form of the soul and its highest aspiration and expression), this is the unit of construction this type of humility; expression of humility. So as the devotees, one by one, give vent to spiritual expressions and its service mood—this are the units that are constructing the svarūp and as it is being constructed, the layers of karma and jñāna that are covering the soul, the layers of acquired tendency and acquired prejudice start to unravel, dissolve and vanish leaving only the svarūp to express itself.  

There is a famous from the Bhāgavatam:

nārāyaṇam ayaṁ dhīrāḥ
paśyanti paramārthinaḥ
jagad dhananmayaṁ lubdhāḥ
kāmukāḥ kāminīmayam
(Viśvanāth Chakravartī Ṭhākur’s commentary)

Guru Maharaj said, according to their position, three [types of] people are given a position as to how they see the world. It’s says a business man sees everything as a business opportunity, and that’s how they view the world: everything is potentially business opportunity. Every situation, everything they see, they are seeing through a particular lens, eye; way of seeing things. Then it says, a lusty man is interpreting, measuring everything in terms of its sensual fulfillment potential, always seeking that opportunity. Similarly a devotee sees everything as an opportunity for either imbibing Kṛṣṇa consciousness or distributing Kṛṣṇa consciousness. In Bhagavad-gītā Kṛṣṇa says,

janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-
duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam
(Bhagavad-gītā: 13.9)

What is the darśan? The perspective of the material world, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi, note these four things. Duḥkha: means suffering, the suffering aspects of birth, death, old age and disease. That’s what this world is—remember that it is the world of misconception. It’s composed out of misconception. It’s based upon forgetfulness of Kṛṣṇa. It doesn’t matter whether this planet is spinning and the principles of gravity are operating, and there is DNA and this or that. It’s the world of misconception and by any other name would still be the same. So there is different suffering accompanying that: janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi: birth death old age disease.

[In] another place, Prabodhānanda Saraswatī Ṭhākur is saying, what is the world? “Viśvaṁ pūrṇa-sukhāyate,” (Ccd: 5) it’s a world full of ecstatic joy. Well, which is it? Is it what Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā? A place of perpetual or temporary but prolonged suffering or is it this world of ecstatic joy? So, Guru Mahārāj would say [that] all movement in the mundane world is based upon aggression, all movement in the spiritual world is based on dedication. We could say of the movement of the spiritual world: all movement is dance, all singing is song. It means that the devotional dance, the devotional song, the movement of sevā are non-aggressive. But it’s not only non-aggressive or non-assertive in a neutral sense, in a positive sense, its dedicating, going toward the centre in carrying the divine current toward the centre of the infinite. The world of proper-conception. So we are saying, when you can interpret this world, see through the misconception and properly conceive it, you’ll see it’s a world full of ecstatic joy. Unfortunately, we are not seeing it like that, but the potential is there. We have faith in the vision of Prabodhānanda Saraswatī Ṭhākur and the Guru-varga.

Not in our own. There is an old joke that ends with the punch line, ‘are you going to believe me or your own eyes?’ So, to highjack that and use it for own purpose that is what spiritual life is, are you going to believe me or your own eyes? As Śrīla Guru Mahārāj said to Śrīla Gurudev, “Are you going to listen to me or your own mind?” It’s the same thing: are you going to believe me or your own eyes? It’s not easy to not believe your own eyes and to put your faith in the vision of another person. We always hear the rope is the snake, the snake is the rope test, right?

But: Śrīnivās Āchārya went to visit Abhirām Ṭhākur, the famous disciple of Nityānanda Prabhu, because Mahāprabhu and others had left the world, but Śrīnivās Āchārya, Narottam and Śyāmānanda went searching for the remaining associates of Mahāprabhu. Īśāna, the personal attendant of Śachī Mātā and Viṣṇu Priyā, could tell so many stories you could imagine having witnessed the separation of Mother Śachī and Viṣṇu Priyā. Devotees would go to him to hear stories. He was the family servitor. Abhirām Ṭhākur was still alive, Śrīnivās Āchārya sought him out. He is one of the dvādaśa-gopalas, twelve principle cowherd boy associates of Nityānanda Prabhu. We know Nityānanda has the band of eccentric devotees as his most intimate followers.

As we are told, once someone asked Vaṁśīdās Bābājī about his deities. Gaura-Nitāi were his deities. “Who are they?” they asked. He said, “One is a sannyāsī from Vṛndāvan and the other is leader of a gang of thieves.” [Laughter] Like, this is who I worship, any other questions? [Laugher] So, Abhirām Ṭhākur, what did he use to do? Was he carried a tree trunk that it would take 64 men to lift and he played with it like a flute, he would play with it like that of a flute and he had a whip—a spiritually conscious whip, named Jaya Maṅgal and if he whipped somebody with Jaya Maṅgal that person experienced Kṛṣṇa-prema. And once he was whipping some boy and his wife came and said, “Prabhu! Stop! He can’t take so much Kṛṣṇa-prema!” [Laughter]

So, Śrīnivās Āchārya and that same Abhirām Ṭhākur, [disciple of] Nityānanda Prabhu, [are], like Guru Mahārāj says, like children play Hide and Seek. It is a favorite game of children, I think, all around the world: Hide and Seek. So when Kṛṣṇa descends with his devotees in Gaura-līlā they don’t necessarily know what everybody looks like, what form, or how they will exactly appear. So they are playing Hide and Seek and the way they discover one other is by recognizing devotional tendencies. Just as in Śrī Guru and His Grace, Śrīla Guru Mahārāj is saying, “You can see the Guru according to the inner awakenment of the disciple.” The Guru is not a picture. And Guru Mahārāj made the obvious point, “What if you have pictures of the Guru from when he was 20, 25, 30, 35, 40 etc. and the form is changing dramatically, then which one? What is Guru? Is Guru that from you saw at 20, 25, 55?”

As we saw the picture of Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur with the big beard, and Gurudev once said on his veranda on Kolkata, “And to think he is a thirteen years old girl in the spiritual world,...” but he is sitting there with the beard...” So he is talking about his svarūp in its highest expression in the spiritual domain. So it’s according to the inner awakenment of the disciple that they have some depth of seeing Guru. That’s why Saraswatī Ṭhākur says, at the end of the Charitāmṛtam in his commentaries, on a very deep view of Gaura Kiśor Dās Bābājī Mahārāj and Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur, “If I look very deeply—I am seeing Gadādhar Paṇḍit in Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur and Svarūp Dāmodar in Gaura Kiśor Dās Bābājī Mahārāj. And if I go deeper I see ultimately, Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur is Rādhārāṇī herself, there is aṣṭa-nāyikā and the personification of all rolled into one: Rādhārāṇī. So they recognize one another by devotional tendencies—that’s how.

That’s why Mahāprabhu can turn to someone like Vāsudev Datta and say, “What you are expressing is the same mood as Prahlād Mahārāj,” because he is Prahlād Mahārāj. Or if Śachī Mātā says to Mālinī Devī, “Oh! Your Śrīvās looks just like Nāradā!” That’s because he is Nāradā. So, Abhirām Ṭhākur, seeing this extraordinary figure of Nityānanda Prabhu, is uncertain, “Is this my Balarām? Appearing like this?” He is Śrīdhām, one of the principle cowherd boys of Vṛndāvan. “Among the cowherd boys in Vṛndāvan, I am the fastest and the only person who can catch me is Balarām. Balarām can catch me in two and a half steps. This Nityānanda, I’ll test him, if he is really Balarām.” So, he starts running and in two and a half steps Nityānanda grabs him and embraces him, and Śrīdhām says, “My Lord! Balarām!”[Laughter] How will you explain this to someone: ‘we can understand who he is if he can catch me in two and a half steps’? But that’s their method. Yaśodā’s [rope is] two fingers too short: dvi-aṅgula, cannot capture Kṛṣṇa. But then, by the ropes of her love and affection he agrees to be bound. So when Śrīnivās Āchārya comes to visit for the darśan of Abhirām Ṭhākur, Abhirām Ṭhākur wants to know: what is his quality of faith; before he’ll give instruction.

Gurudev told me once the story of Agastya and Viśvāmitra Muni. We know Viśvāmitra Muni gets angry from time to time. What Gurudev called ‘Angry Man’, sometimes like Durvāsā. He approaches Agastya for some spiritual instruction on some particular subject and Agastya says, “Anantadev is the expert in this regard.” So, by mystic power he goes to visit Anantadev, and Anantadev was there with all of his serpentine heads supporting all of the universes and planets. They were resting on his heads like mustard seeds, it is described. And Anantadev says,
“How may I help you?”
“Well, Agastya Ṛṣi said you are the expert and I have come for some instruction.”
“All these planets are giving me a headache. Can you help me? Could you just take a couple of them on your head? It would really help. We’re not selling them.”

Anyway, then [Durvāsā] is struggling, he can’t hold one planet and Anantadev says, “Just use all your mystic power.” He can’t even hold one planet. Anantadev asks,
“What else you got? Any sādhu-saṅga?” He said,
“Well I was with Agastya Ṛṣi, but just for a moment.”
“Ok, so try that. Remember:

sādhu-saṅga’, ‘sādhu-saṅga’—sarva-śāstre kaya
lava-mātra sādhu-saṅge sarva-siddhi haya
(Śrī Chaitanya-charitāmṛta: Madhya, 22.54)

A moment’s association can give sarva-siddhi haya. Now he is able to hold so many planets above, even he is amazed because of association with a substantial devotee. Then, Anantadev said, in answer to your question, actually Agastya is the expert in this regard.” He says, “What?!” and now he is angry. By his mystic power he goes back and says to Agastya,
“You’ve sent me to Anantadev and he is telling me you are actually the expert. What is this?”
“Yes, the reason I didn’t instruct you before is you had no faith, now that you’ve heard from Anantadev that I am the expert now you believe, but before you didn’t believe. So I don’t tell you anything. That also part of spiritual education.”

So, then Abhirām Ṭhākur wants to test Śrīnivās Āchārya. We always hear this as an example: ‘rope is a snake, snake is a rope’, so he is telling him that. But consider this: it might be easier to think of a rope as a snake, but to think that a snake is a rope might be harder to do. But he passes the test in flying colors and Abhirām Ṭhākur agrees to give his association, spiritual instruction, divine revelation.

So there is always some test. Guru, Vaiṣṇava—they are infinitely merciful.

All of that. But it has to be sincere, honest inquiry, praṇipātena paripraśnena (Bg: 4.34), inquiring out of a service necessity. So whether we are asking or the Vraja-gopīs are asking the mālatī flowers, “Where is Kṛṣṇa?” Sevā—he heart’s genuine service necessity. Mahāprabhu is not searching for Kṛṣṇa out of curiosity. It’s his hearts inner necessity.

Prabhupād liked to quote, “He Rādhe Vraja-devike cha Lalite he Nanda-sūno kutaḥ.” (Ṣaḍ-gosvāmy-aṣṭakam: 8) Not that they’ve found. And [Prabhupād] was angry he said, “Not like the Taxi driver in Vṛndāvan, the guy who is driving the taxi is telling them that he saw Kṛṣṇa last night. Not like him.” [Laughing] Śrīnivās Āchārya wrote this song, “He Rādhe Vraja-devike cha Lalite.” He is crying out to Rādhārāṇī and Lalitā. He nanda-sūno kutaḥ: where is the son of Nanda Mahārāj? And Rādhārāṇī and Lalitā, Viśākā, where are they? Are they in Govardhan? In the caves of Govardhan? Are they at the Rādhā-kuṇḍa? Where are they? The search. The search for Śrī Kṛṣṇa yields divine substance. The lamentation for not being Kṛṣṇa conscious yields divine substance, works in the inversion. To ostentatiously proclaim oneself to be relishing Kṛṣṇa consciousness is total cancelation, nothing less than zero. Counterfeit currency is not only valueless, it’s illegal. The attempt to market counterfeit Kṛṣṇa consciousness is not only insubstantial, it’s criminal. It’s spiritually illegal.

Gurudev [was] telling about one bogus Rādhārāṇī. It’s a Bengali story talking about mixed approach. She is seen making a garland of what is called bakphul. And someone says, “Oh Rādhārāṇī what are you doing?” Bakphul is a flower, but it’s also a vegetable. So, she said, I am making a garland for Kṛṣṇa and if Kṛṣṇa comes I’ll give him a garland, if he doesn’t come, I’ll cook a sabji. [Laughter]. Not like that. We are laughing because it’s a reflection of us. Sometimes when you see yourself, like it happens in a fun house, a distorted mirror. Have you ever seen something like that? You look, and laugh. So, when we hear these things we are seeing a funny aspect of ourselves if we are honest. You make spiritual advancement by being honest with yourself, by being candid, by recognizing you are overall weirdness and disqualification of various types.

The prima ballerina in Moscow is actually from a small town in the Ukraine near Zaporozhye. I can’t even say the name, but I know this. There were 2 and they were both from the Ukraine, but this one, she went through so much hardship to become the prima ballerina of the Bolshoi. I know don’t even say that word properly, but close enough. [Laughter] Doesn’t it mean something like ‘Big’? It sounds better in Russian, in English: ‘Big’ you know like, “I am the prima ballerina of Big”. Of the Bolshoi sounds better. What is the other one? Mariinsky in Petersburg. So they had a video of her dancing and what is the old ones name? The one from like 50 years ago? Anna Pavlova. She said she knew every board, every piece of wood in the stage. Like each one, she knew what she could expect form them, because they weren’t perfect. There is an English saying about when you are blaming others that a dancer blames the stage for poor quality of dance. So she said she knew every board in the stage, every piece of wood. Anyway, this modern one, they are showing a video of her with the experts and they are sitting there praising her performance, how wonderful, extraordinary and near perfect it was and they said the whole time she is just cringing, watching this, because all she could see were the faults. That’s why she is the prima ballerina. They are seeing all the glory, and she is seeing only the faults—not the good part, just the faults and thinking on how she can improve. That’s why she is the prima ballerina.

Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī is the ultimate prima ballerina of Kṛṣṇa-līlā. She is only thinking about how she can improve, she doesn’t think that she is a worthy servitor of Kṛṣṇa, but we think we are. But she doesn’t think like that she thinks, “Na prema-gandho ’sti darāpi me harau, krandāmi saubhāgya-bharaṁ prakāśitum: I don’t have a scent of the fragrance of love of Kṛṣṇa what to speak of a drop. I am famous in the world for giving myself to Kṛṣṇa, but the sad truth is I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t fully give myself to Kṛṣṇa. That I go on living in separation from him is proof that I have no love for Kṛṣṇa. I should have died a long time ago yet I go on day after day showing my face to the world.” (Cc: Madhya, 2.45) That she can express, the highest devotee, the greatest devotee, the devotee who can cancel all others. Such expressions, heartfelt, come from her. So it’s always measured through inversion the negativity principle, the uncertainty principle,
The higher devotees are never certain of their position, they know at anytime it could be withdrawn. At anytime Kṛṣṇa could remove himself. It is a gracious extension through the agency of sādhu, śāstra, guru, vaiṣṇava. It can be withdrawn at any time. They are never boastful of their position unless it’s in praise of Guru.

Dās Goswāmī says, “Prāpto yasya prathita-kṛpayā śrī-guruṁ taṁ nato ’smi: all these gifts have come to me by the grace of Guru,”

nāma-śreṣṭhaṁ manum api śachī-putram atra svarūpaṁ
rūpaṁ tasyāgrajam uru-purīṁ māthurīṁ goṣṭhavāṭīm
rādha-kuṇḍaṁ giri-varam aho rādhikā-mādhavāśāṁ
prāpto yasya prathita-kṛpayā śrī-guruṁ taṁ nato ’smi
(Mukta-charita: 4, by Śrīla Raghunāth Dās Goswāmī)

By the grace of Guru, all of this spiritual wealth is has come to us. So there he is only mentioning it because of gratitude for the gracious extension of Śrī Guru.

When I said to Śrīla Guru Mahārāj that I was going to make a book, I was compiling all these different things he said about Guru because it was astonishing the amount and the quality of what was being expressed and it was even those who thought they were in connection with Kṛṣṇa consciousness for so many years these were original substantial concepts that needed to be heard, accepted, embraced. So I realized the urgency of publishing this book at the time. But this one thing Śrīla Guru Mahārāj said had caught my imagination and I thought it would be a great title for a book. If I saw it in a bookstore I’d have to stop and take it off the shelf. And so I wanted to call it: Guru: Heavier than the Himalayas. I thought if I was walking by and saw that I would say, ‘“What is that?” And look at it. But when I suggested that to him he said that is a partial conception. That doesn’t mean it’s not significant, its representation is in the 11th canto of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, it is one of the most famous Guru ślokas of all time:

tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta
jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam
śābde pare cha niṣṇātaṁ
brahmaṇy upaśamāśrayam
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.3.21)

He is referencing that śloka. There are some ‘very exclusive club’ of ślokas, primary Guru ślokas. Gurudev thinks in very unique, original, and non-stereotypical ways. He once said, “If all the major mantra assembled in a room, where would the sannyās mantra sit? Where would her seat be?” He just posing that question, one would have to think about it for a long time, first you’d have to consider where all the other mantras [would sit], but he is thinking if you had to seat them all, where would you seat the sannyās mantram? [Laughter] So, these Guru ślokas, their order of importance, significance, etc., [has to be given] deep consideration. That is the reference. But Guru Mahārāj said, “Heavier than the Himalayas—that is a partial conception. I wrote an article many years ago that appeared in The Harmonist magazine of the Gauḍīya Maṭh called Śrī Guru and His Grace. If you will read that, that will be a good title, and you should read that.” And I said, “Oh, I’ll include it as the preface to the book.”

The Grace of Śrī Guru—our immediate Guru and who we see upon deep examination as Rādhārāṇī’s delegation. The ujjavala rasāchārya—Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī Ṭhākurāṇī. She is the ultimate Guru transacting all service to Kṛṣṇa. Ādi-rāsa, mādhurya-rāsa, all other rāsas are satellites, customers of mādhurya rāsa. It’s the original from which everything has sprung. From which vātsalya-rāsa has come, sakya-rāsa, dāsa, śānta, everything. And Rādhārāṇī is [a] Majordomo. Saraswatī Ṭhākur liked that [phrase]. It’s actually a Spanish expression for the lady who is in charge of all of the domestic activities of a household. So we are saying that all service to Kṛṣṇa is being transacted by her, through her.

rādhā-mukunda-pada-sambhava-gharma-bindu-
nirmañchanopakaraṇī-kṛta-deha-lakṣām
uttuṅga-sauhṛda-viśeṣa-bharāt pragalbhāṁ
devīṁ guṇaiḥ su-lalitāṁ lalitāṁ namāmi
(Stava-mala: Śrī Lalitāṣṭakam, 1)

And her principle assistant is Lalitā Sakhī who won’t allow the least disturbance to go toward their direction, what to speak of enter their plane. So, she manifests the greatest magnitude of eagerness for the least sevā to the divine couple, Rādhā-Mukunda—Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī and Kṛṣṇa: Rādhā-Mukunda-pada-sambhava-gharma-bindu. What is Rādhārāṇī’s thinking? Both of these ślokas are written by Rūpa Goswāmī.

hari-pada-nakha-koṭī-pṛṣṭa-paryanta-sīma-
taṭam api kalayantīṁ prāna-koṭer abhīṣṭām
pramudita-madirākṣī-vṛnda-vaidagdhya-dīkṣā-
gurum ati-guru-kīrtiṁ rādhikām archayāmi
(Stava-mala: Śrī Rādhāṣṭaka, 7)

Why is she so worshipable? Hari-pada-nakha, means the least aspect are the feet and even in the case of Kṛṣṇa, the lotus feet. What is the least aspect of the foot, to take it to the extremes? The nail. Hari-pada-nakha-koṭī-pṛṣṭa-paryanta-sīma: she considers the least aspect of Kṛṣṇa to be higher, greater more exalted than the highest aspect of herself multiplied millions of times. That’s her way o f seeing things. That’s the Kṛṣṇa conscious way of seeing things. She’s Kṛṣṇa conscious personified to the extreme. So the head is offered, bowed, praṇipāt: bowing our highest aspect of self to the least aspect of that plane. Paripraśna: to inquire sevā, how to serve.

Any questions? Yes, the lady in the front row.
Question: Before you were talking about svarūp and how it appears. Recently one of the devotees was telling me that Gaura-līlā still goes on, it’s endless, eternal. So, does it mean everyone who has svarūp or potentially everyone in this world or the spiritual plane, has his or her place in this līlā?
Goswāmī Mahārāj: Potentially?
Audience: Yes

Goswāmī Mahārāj: Yes, well, think about how far we are from realizing that potential. By the grace of our Guru-varga we may be in a better position, but still... So, that’s not something that’s easily realizable. It is and it isn’t. We’re fortunate enough, you are fortunate enough to be able to ask that question, but still it’s appears to be out of reach. Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur gives the example of offering a flower into the Gaṅgā, its enters the current the Gaṅgā starts moving away from you until it’s out of sight, vanishes. Guru Mahārāj says: the evolution means expression. This is a very interesting point. Evolution means expression. The sun is fixed in particular position, right? And we see it rise and we see it set. There is no sunrise or sunset in one sense, going on in the sun, is there? The sun is not rising, it appears from our position to be rising and setting. So Kṛṣṇa’s Pastimes, Mahāprabhu’s Pastimes they are eternal. But they appear for some time in this plane and then it looks like they’re disappearing. The way the sun appears to rise and set, but the sun has its own fixed position. Constantly but according to relative perspective it appears at a certain time and vanishes at another time. So if someone is spiritually advanced enough, deep enough, realized enough and its according to their hearts inner necessity, they can transcend the confines and limitations of relative time and space and have real-time live streaming of Kṛṣṇa-līlā or Gaura-līlā and have full participation.

Like Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur. He is saying: if you run along the current at the speed of the current, the flower doesn’t disappear. So those whose minds, hearts, souls are moving at the speed of the infinite in terms of Kṛṣṇa-līlā or Gaura-līlā its not vanishing to them, but [to] those who are overwhelmed by relative perspective. So then we will say, 500 years ago, 50 centuries before...

Saraswatī Ṭhākur [is] quoting Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur: netihāso ni kalpanā (Śrī Kṛṣṇa-saṁhitā: 4.16), the Pastimes of Kṛṣṇa are not a historical occurrence neither are they imagination. What does it mean? Like the sun, it appeared to be rising, appears to be setting from our vision. But actually its constant, its permanent, its eternal, but moving in a circular way. So, the good fortune of those souls, once in a day of Brahma,

sahasra-yuga-paryantam
ahar yad brahmaṇo viduḥ
(Bhagavad-gītā: 8.17)

12 hours is 4 300 000 000 years, 24 hours is 8 600 000 000 million, 28 days in a month, 12 months in a year, 100 years—once in a day of Brahma, Kṛṣṇa comes. Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB: 1.3.28), who is at the right hand of Rādhārāṇī? That Kṛṣṇa, the original Svayam Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa with the innumerable avatārs—incarnations, once in a day of Brahma appears, means once in 8 600 000 000 years.

That happened 5 000 so-called years ago. And, following that appearance of Kṛṣṇa, once in day of Brahma, Mahāprabhu appears. And that was approximately 500 years ago. So how extraordinary is this opportunity? You can try to begin to conceive ‘once in a day of Brahma’. And then by our Guru-varga we have some level of awareness of this, but still we remain riveted to the mundane. Acknowledging that that potential is there; realizing it—is another thing.

How do we become these fortunate people? Kṛṣṇa appears once in a day of Brahma followed by Mahāprabhu. That’s one time in 8 600 000 000 years, but apparently statistical analysis is not enough to generate appreciation. That comes through association with those who do have such appreciation. We hear that Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭāchārya is Bṛhaspati, the priest of the demigods descended and he was upgraded to Gaura-līlā in Mahāprabhu’s Pastimes. So, whether we analysis it this way or that way—by any analysis we can understand it is an extraordinary opportunity, and it would be in our interest to not let it pass.