Tastes of the Heart

Śrila Guru Mahārāj, one of his names is Rāmānanda das. Because, of his affinity for the Rāmānanda-samvad, the magnificent talk between Rāmānanda Rāya and Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu, and, his special capacity to represent the substance that is there. Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākur noted that sometimes personally observing thing, sometimes hearing the recommendation of other devotees. Really, that is how Kṛṣṇa Consciousness works, is the recommendation of other devotees.

That, we could say is the mysterious parsing of bhaktyā sañjātayā bhaktyā (Cc: Madhya-līlā, 25.140.3), really, someone who has that connection can extend that connection to others. Who's tasted something can extend the taste to others. So, Śrīla Guru Mahārāj, by his own admission, says that, “Everything for him, springs out of the Rāmānanda-samvad, of this talk between Mahaprābhu and Rāmānanda.” And, sometimes, I ask Śrīla Gurudev, “If Śrīla Guru Mahārāj ever read any books, as he was older?”

Because... also, observing that he was... what do they call it?.. legally blind. Means he can see some general shape and form, but not very clearly or specifically. And, with his glasses, his spectacles, he use to joke sometimes, like... take them off, put them on, and say, “There's no difference, whether I have them on.” There like, for show. So, I asked Gurudev, “Does Guru Mahārāj ever read?” And, I mean, the spiritual books. And he said, “Oh no, no.” And, then he thought for awhile, and he said, “Sometimes, Guru Mahārāj ask me to read him a part of a book.” He said, “But, only one book, and only one part, the Rāmānanda-samvad. Sometimes he'd want to go over it again.”

He already has beyond committed it to memory. And... so, all of his, what I call, ontological method springs out of the Rāmānanda-samvad. And, what is that? It is taṭastha vicār, or what means, an impartial judgement, impartial assessment of things. That's very difficult to do. The key word being, impartiality. That's what taṭastha means, in this sense. Is, we know, taṭa... taṭata , marginal positions situated between two. So, one of his specialties was... what do you call it?.. disinterested nature. And, the word disinterested, should not be misunderstood to mean, lacking interest. Disinterested means impartial.

And, that is key to understanding things, not being influenced by, what he calls, “Acquired prejudiced, acquired tendency.” Not allowing that to influence one's judgement. And, interestingly, one of the master works of English literature, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, on the first page, the narrator says that's there some advice he got from his father that his been turning over in his mind, ever since he heard that. And, what it was, was that, he said, “Reserving judgement is a matter of infinite hope.”

Whatever you might observe superficially, at first glance, he's saying, “Reserve judgement, wait before you come to any particular conclusion.” So, interestingly, in the pages of Charitāmṛtam, that Rāmānanda-samvad, Mahāprabhu is asking Rāmānanda, “What's the ultimate goal of life, or what's most important?”

varṇāśramācāra-vatā
puruṣeṇa paraḥ pumān
viṣṇur ārādhyate panthā
nānyat tat-toṣa-kāraṇam
(Śrī Chaitanya-charitāmṛta: Madhya-līlā, 8.58)

Viṣṇu-ārādhana, the worship of Viṣṇu, this is what society should be directed in such a way, toward the lotus feet of Viṣṇu, like the ṛg-mantram. The oldest religious scripture is the Ṛg Veda. And, that Ṛg Veda, one of it's primary mantras is,

oṁ tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padaṁ sadā
paśyanti sūrayaḥ divīva cakṣur ātatam
viṣṇor yat paramaṁ padam
(Ṛg Veda: 1.22.20)

Śrīla Guru Mahārāj says that, “In the Āryan civilization, Brahminic cultures of brāhmaṇs, before they do anything, they first invoke this mantram, oṁ tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padaṁ sadā, paśyanti sūrayaḥ... (Ṛv: 1.22.20), they're saying, Your lotus feet are illuminating everything. Like the sun illuminates everything, Your lotus feet they have seeing capacity. They're seeing everything and illuminating everything, like the sun, divīva cakṣur ātatam.” Someone wrote a book called (Under) The Sheltering Sky. So, there sheltering sky is the lotus feet of Viṣṇu. They're thinking, in the lines of the Brahma-saṁhitā,

aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛtti-manti
paśyanti pānti kalayanti ciraṁ jaganti
ānanda-cinmaya-sad-ujjvala-vigrahasya
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
(Brahma-saṁhitā: 5.32)

All of Kṛṣṇa's senses are interchangeable. Like, we cannot hear with our eyes. But, Kṛṣṇa can hear with His eyes, see with His feet. They're saying, “You my Lord, Your lotus feet are like sun illuminating everything, observing everything we do. So, allow the illumination, that's extending from Your plane, allow that to enter this plane and illumine the path for us, how we should proceed, what we should do, everything. Let it be in the light of Your holy lotus feet.”

Anyway, it begins with this varṇāśram idea, which Guru Mahārāj sometimes says, “Means how human civilization can be organized, as a whole, to march from nescience to science. From the... to march out of the mundane into the Vaikuṇṭha world, that's what it's purpose is.” But, inasmuch, as that is a recommendation how to structure the mundane, reconfigure the mundane so that it will be optimal for... engage... promoting spiritual culture. Mahāprabhu saying, eho bāhya, āge kaha āra, that's external. Can you say something more? I mean, it goes on from there. And here, Nietzsche says, “There are no facts, there's just interpretations.”

Even, Bagavad-gītā suggestions are rejected as external, from this perspective, brahma-bhūtaḥ... sarva-dharmān parityajya, brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā (Cc: Madhya-līlā, 8.65.1), Guru Mahārāj said, “Situated at the threshold of the door, but not in yet.” eho bāhya, āge kaha āra, Mahāprabhu keeps telling everything Rāmānanda said, “That's external, can you say something more?” Each time, until Mahāprabhu quotes Brahmā-stuti saying, jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva (Cc: Madhya-līlā, 8.67.1). Actually, had to stop speculating about Him, trying to understand, trying to verify Him with the intellect, mind, senses, body, mind and words, manaso vapuṣo vāco, vaibhavaṁ tava go-caraḥ (SB: 10.14.38.3-4). He's beyond the gaze, the senses.

And, what shall we do to educate ourselves about the Infinite, the Absolute, the Personality of Godhead, jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva, jīvanti san-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām (Cc: Madhya-līlā, 8.67.1-2). Sat-mukharitā, hear... bhavadīya-vārtām... sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhir Cc: Madhya-līlā, 8.67.3), hear from the agents, authorized agents of the Absolute, those who have faith. The actual ṛṣis, those who are seeing and observing, experiencing higher truth and what's passing through them, from that plane to here, to give your full attention to that.

And here, this is the first thing that Mahāprabhu says, “Eho haya, that I accept, that... now your talking. Everything else, that's external, say something more.” This he said, “Eho haya, I accept that, but can you say something more?” So, if we see Śrīla Guru Mahārāj's way of looking at things, there's consistently a theme of understanding gradation. So, whether it's in the Rāmānanda-samvad, going from one step higher, higher, higher or the Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛtam, outlining all the different planes of faith, or the Upadeśāmṛtam of Rūpa Goswāmī. Many places consistently He's observing, weighing, assessing, measuring in this way and in the ślokas that He's created also.

So, as He goes further in this talk, it reaches the subject of prem, or Divine love. But, there it's mentioned, quoting Rūpa Goswāmī that, (kintu) yāṅra yei rasa, sei sarvottama (Cc: Madhya-līlā, 8.83.1), whatever, one is tasting the extraordinary quality of such, as they think, “This is the best, what could be better than this?” And, they have a right to think that way and it's a legitimate way to think and feel. But, then it says, taṭastha vicār, but, by an impartial analysis. In other words, not that those in dāsya-rasa will favor that, those in sakhya-rasa will favor that... no, by an impartial analysis says, “We will conclude that mādhurya–rasa is the sweetest.” And, some explanations are given there.

And, it's also mentioned that, and Rūpa Goswāmī includes this in his Padyāvalī, his śloka collection, that, as long as there hunger you can appreciate what's being tasted. But, no hunger, no taste. So, the implication being that separation forms the basis for the appreciation of union. That's the hunger being referred to and that is good to news for all the devotees.

kṛṣṇa-bhakti-rasa-bhāvitā matiḥ
krīyatāṁ yadi kuto ’pi labhyate
tatra laulyam api mūlyam ekalaṁ
janma-koṭi-sukṛtair na labhyate
(Padyāvalī: 14)

Hunger, hankering is the purchase price of Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. So, we're in a good position for that sort of cultivation. As, Guru Mahārāj like to quote this one Bengali poet, who says, “If we cultivate the human heart, what sort of gold will it produce.” Just as the word 'cultivate,' in it's normal sense, we put seeds in the soil, and water... we're doing so many things... Then something comes out according to the quality of that seed, whether it be a mango tree, a līlāvatī tree, or an eggplant. He's saying, “If we... this type of seed, bhakti-latā-bīj that's placed into the soil of the human heart, under proper guidance and cultivation, what sort of fruit will be produced.”

Kṛṣṇa-prem ultimately, (ādau) śraddhā (tataḥ) sādhu-saṅgo (’tha) bhajana-kriyā, (tato) ’nartha-nivṛttiḥ (syāt), tato niṣṭhā rucis tataḥ, athāsaktis tato bhāvas, tataḥ premābhyudañcati (Brs: 1.4.15–16.1-6). But, that prem, that love, loving reciprocation varies according to what's in the heart of the premik-bhakta. Like, Gurudev gave Siddhāntī Mahārāj's name Bhakti Premik Siddhāntī Mahārāj. So, the premik-bhakta, what's in their heart and we see it in our own experience. We saw Śrīla Gurudev, he's interacting with different devotees little differently, according to the type of love and affection they have for him. So, that can give us a hint of this.

Kṛṣṇa's akhila-rasāmṛta-mūrti, He's reciprocating all, a wide variety of types of love and affection. That's why we should be cautious not to deprecate the other Avatārs, whether it's Rāma, Nṛsiṁha, different ones... the devotee we're celebrating that, rather. As, and always remembering Kṛṣṇa, ete cāṁśa-kalāḥ puṁsaḥ, kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB: 1.3.28.1-2), it's Kṛṣṇa appearing in a particular way. It's actually a very wonderful thing, naṭo nāṭyadharo yathā (SB: 1.8.19.4). Kuntī...

māyā-javanikācchannam
ajñādhokṣajam avyayam
na lakṣyase mūḍha-dṛśā
naṭo nāṭyadharo yathā
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 1.8.19

It's like an actor, and like, we know... people have their favorite actor or actress. And, they might take on different roles. And sometimes they're so... buried so deep in a role, people, they don't know it's them. They're surprise, “Oh, such a good actor, I didn't even know it was them.” Others, when you watch them, people can't forget that it's them. That's also, that everything is there in the original. We're told, Narahari Sarakāra Ṭhākur and those of his ilk... Guru Mahārāj liked his śloka very much, gopīnāḿ kuca-kuńkumena nicitaḿ vāsaḥ kim asyāruṇaḿ (Sacinandanastakam: 1.1). Where he says, about Mahāprabhu,

“I don't... Kṛṣṇa... I don't recognize Your sannyās. And is this some kind of joke? That Kṛṣṇa, rāsarāj-kṛṣṇa...” the... you know... what does he say?.. gopa-vadhūṭī-viṭaṁ brahma (Cc: Madhya-līlā, 19.98.4)... “That Kṛṣṇa, hunting the vraja-gopīs, He's become a sannyāsī. That's an absurd proposal, proposition, so I don't recognize Your sannyās.” And, there're other devotees like that, genuine devotees. And, they kept saying, “You're Kṛṣṇa, we know You're Kṛṣṇa. Why You're doing this, we don't know exactly, but we know You're Kṛṣṇa.” So... and he would say... “No, He's wearing the saffron.” “Oh, I know how Your cloth became saffron, from the kumkum, embrace of the gopīs, Your cloth is saturated, [laughing] and become colored.”

So, he say's that, but then Rūpa Goswāmī who's the expert, written a book on devotion, The Science of Devotion: Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu. He warns of rasābhās and those who would... in Guru Mahārāj's words, “Mahāprabhu is descended for acharya-līlā.” There's no rāsa-līlā in the acharya-līlā. And, those who want to try and impose this upon the acharya-līlā are committing an offense. They're known as gaurāṅga-nāgarīs. They want to force the ādi-puruṣa position of Govinda − Kṛṣṇa enjoyer −upon Mahāprabhu and He's in acharya-līlā.

So, these various tastes, to make a point, Śrīla Guru Mahārāj described it in this way... and it's a very... − he's noted for his use of example. So, he's saying, “The same thing cooked by the friend, the mother, the lover...” The same... let's say, the exact same thing, to make it. And, they all know the same recipe and everything, let's make it to the extreme. They're making the exact same thing. He's saying, “But, according to who/what their position is, the taste will be different.” That's his point. Not that they're making different things. They're making the same thing, but when friend to friend, that has one particular taste, and is very tasteful. Made the husband... the mother and a child, and the husband and wife, or the paramour. That is his point. There's a different taste there.

And, Kṛṣṇa, bhāva-grāhī janārdana Kṛṣṇa, He is addicted to the sweet taste that is infused in the loving exchange with Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī and vraja-gopīs. Fortunately, for Him, we're told that, Durvāsā Muni gave Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī a boon that whatever she would cook, would taste as sweet as nectar. So, this allows for Yaśodā to enlist Rādhārāṇī in cooking Kṛṣṇa's lunch. Because, everyone has heard that... Durvāsā gave her this thing. [laughing]

And, we find in the Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛtam, on Gopa Kumār's first day in the spiritual world, when he's invited to lunch, at the house of Nanda Mahārāj −Nanda-bhavan. And, we know, the churita-goraja, after a day of cow herding, Kṛṣṇa's covered in go-rajaḥ, the cow dust, but He looks very beautiful. What Guru Mahārāj once called, “Agreeable negligence.” His hair, like little messed up, and cow dust everywhere, so, they have to bathe Kṛṣṇa and Balarām upon their return.

And, get everyone ready for... to eat with Nanda Mahārāj. And, Gopa Kumār is there, Rādhārāṇī and her girlfriends, Candrāvalī, all mixed group of gopīs, and they're presenting everything. Because, Rādhārāṇī once told the gopīs, that... called a meeting; istagosti, to discuss their problems. And she said, “I have understood that the cause of all of our problems is the flute.” [laughing] “So, we need to separate the flute from Kṛṣṇa.” And, they all agree, they can understand that her assessment is the proper one.

Knowing that they may try to steal the flute, Kṛṣṇa deposited it with Gopa Kumār. So, he's holding the flute under the table. And, when Yaśodā conducting this meal, at one point we're told, a tray of manoharā-lāḍus is brought in. It's a type of lāḍu that's a specialty of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. Kṛṣṇa takes one and, then He goes, “Oooof...It's so... ick.” And He's thinking that, “Maybe you and your family, cowherd family, likes these kind of things.” [laughing] And, He tosses it to Gopa Kumār, because, he has family connection with Rādhārāṇī's family. “Maybe you appreciate these things.”

And, Gopa Kumār... and, we're told, when that happens, and Yaśodā's like, “hfff!” looking at Rādhārāṇī, like, “What have you done, I trust you.” [laughing] And, at that time, Candrāvalī, Śaibyā, Padmā, her girlfriends, they're like, “Yes!” [laughing] And, Rādhārāṇī's group, they're all with a pained look. That's why Bhaktivinod Ṭhākur says, “I can't stand Śaibyā, the way she talks and says all these things. And, then they try to take Kṛṣṇa away and then Rādhārāṇī suffers. I don't like to see their faces, hear their names or have anything to do with them.” But, in an open assembly like this, what can be done. But, then Gopa Kumār, he takes that lāḍu and taste it, and realizes it's the most wonderful taste of all time and all space.

He's never tasted anything like this. He's been through all... you know... the prasād from the brahmins in Prayāg to South India to Puri to Indraloka to Brahmaloka, and all the Mahar, Jana, Tapo, Satya, all the lokas. He's been to Śivaloka, he's been in Vaikuṇṭha, he's been to Dwārakā, he's never tasted anything like this. Made by Rādhārāṇī herself. I remember, I had the good fortune... there's one devotee, we know many years ago. His name was Viṣṇujana Swāmī and one of the early members of Kṛṣṇa Consciousness movement in the western world.

And, always doing kīrtan and traveling sannyāsī, with one book, a Bhāgavatam, a book bag with a Bhāgavatam in it. And, he... Śrīla Prabupād's in Los Angeles, this is like 1971. And, he came out of Prabupād's room, and he called me over, he said, “Come with me.” And, we went underneath this, like, Weeping Willow tree. And, he said to me... show me... he said... showed this prasādam that he had... he said, “Not only was it from Prabupād's plate, but Prabupād also had cooked it.” So, he said, in a very dramatic voice, and he said, “Just imagine how pleased Kṛṣṇa was.” Because, not only it's Prabupād's, but like, Prabupād himself cooked it. And, saying there's some extraordinary devotional quality to this, and we sat there basking in our own good fortune to taste that substance.

So, here Gopa Kumār can understand, then Kṛṣṇa smiles and was saying, “It was joke.” Kṛṣṇa's only joking, these are the best sweets ever. The Rādhārāṇī's group is dancing and Candrāvalī's there sad. [laughing] So, we like when she's in the highest position. So, that taste, inconceivable, the taste of prasādam is inconceivable. When Jagadānanda Paṇḍit, servitor of Mahaprābhu, he finds Mahaprābhu's renunciation heartbreaking. He wants to make a nice bed that's rejected by Mahaprābhu. Svarūp Dāmodar knows what he will accept.

He once came from Navadwip... big... he's thinking, “Because, all this Divine madness, His... Mahaprābu's head is so hot, body's so hot.” If, he'll give the sandalwood oil to cool the brain. Prabhupād always... he... after his bath, always put sandalwood pulp all over his forehead, you could see it. And, the other parts of his body. So, Jagadānanda Paṇḍit thinking this will be helpful for Mahāprabhu. And, Mahāprabhu rejects that, He's saying, “Sannyāsi wearing perfume, not good, people will talk, it's not a good thing.” It's like in a clay pot, Jagadānanda Paṇḍit... [Psssth!] throws the pot off... it smashes, the oil goes everywhere. And, he goes to his room. And, he's in his room fasting for three days, won't talk, won't eat.

And, that news comes to Mahāprabhu what to do. Told Jagadānanda Paṇḍit − expansion of Satyabhāmā from Dwārakā, bhāmā, that contrary nature. So, Mahāprabhu's found... He says to one of the devotees, “Tell Jagadānanda that I would like him to cook lunch.” [laughing] So, the devotees come, [knocking sound] “Mahāprabhu wants you to cook lunch today.” −...(open) door or window... cooking... many things happening, presenting to Mahāprabhu, Mahāprabhu's taking. And, we're told, Mahāprabhu's afraid of Jagadānanda Paṇḍit. [laughing]

It's like once, someone... a few times, they're bringing prasād from different places to Śrīla Gurudev. They don't understand, the disciple should not try to purify the Guru. At any rate, so once, it happened more then one time, but on this particular time, so they're bringing something from Nṛisingha Palli. And, not at the scheduled time where Chaitanya Saraswat Maṭh... they cook some paramānnam sweet rice, take it to... offer... bring back, not like that. This is another time. And, Gurudev look at me like... you know, he's taking something, and he said, “We're taking because we are afraid of Nṛisinghadev.” [laughing]

And, he said, “But, Guru Mahārāj would not take.” Some devotee off the street comes in and... you know... He said, “Nṛisinghadev is afraid of Guru Mahārāj.” [laughing] And, this is the proof, if someone said, “Oh, how can he say that.” He can say that because, in the loving exchange between the Lord and... sometimes the Lord, gopy ādade tvayi kṛtāgasi dāma tāvad, yā te daśāśru-kalilāñjana-sambhramākṣam (SB 1.8.31.1-2), Yaśodā... Kuntī's saying, “This vision will not leave my mind, of who's 'fear personified,' is afraid of Him.” He's running from His mother, in fear of her. She's chasing after Him, and the kajjal, the eye shadow with His tears is running down His face. And, she said, “That is such a beautiful vision.”

The tears smearing the mascara on the beautiful lotus face of Kṛṣṇa that's filled with fear of His mother. So, Mahāprabhu is afraid of Jagadānanda Paṇḍit, his devotion, and devotional intensity. So, He's taking that and taking more and more and more. And Guru Mahāraj said, at last he said, “Perhaps what was prepared in, you know, in anger mood has even more intense taste.” So, in many different ways, we can understand this.

And, so we're left with Rāmānanda's assessment taṭastha vicāra. Each taste in it's own can be considered supreme. As Saraswatī Ṭhākur saying when they asked him, “Oh, Prabupād which preparation did you liked best?” He said, “Each one taste better than the other one.” But, he says here, “By an impartial analysis, we will conclude that mādhura-rasa is the sweetest. And within mādhura-rasa, parakīyā-bhāve.” And, it's mentioned, in the analytical section, that just as fragrance has all the elements, like earth has... you know... ether, water, sky, they're all contained within it. So, that mādhura-rasa has the taste of all the other rasas is present within it, as well.

Any other question?

Devotee: Mahārāj, hearing this, I just had a question. So, is prasādam some substance inside... like, what is prasādam? Is it the substance inside, is it feeling or the form, and why do we cook specific prasādam in our... what we have... like specific kind of expressions for?..

Goswami Mahārāj: Well, we find in the pages of Charitāmṛtam what is favorite to Mahāprabhu. What's being made by Śacī Mātā and Rāghava Paṇḍit and his sister, Damayantī, and others. So, what we will say is that, following this theme, that those devotees they're infusing this taste into these substances. Consistently, Guru Mahāraj will say, “The mundane cannot generate the spiritual, but the spiritual can infuse the mundane.” That's different.

So, when Mahāprabhu, after taking sannyās, was touring South India he met, maybe in Raṅga-kṣetra, Raṅga Purī. And heard about the departure of his brother Viśvarūp, who had become Śaṅkarāraṇya. Anyway, at that time they're engaged in pleasantries, “Oh, where you from?..” And, at one point, Raṅga Purī says, “When I accompanied Mādhavendra Purī, we were in Navadwip. And, we were invited to take prasādam at the house of one Jagannāth Miśra. And, his wife Śacī Miśra, she made this mocāra ghaṇṭa that was unbelievable. Like, I'm still thinking about it.”

And, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Chaitanya Mahāprabhu, he said, “That's my mother, I'm their son.” So, Bhaktivinod Ṭhākur has written many songs describing this, these pastimes. So, Kṛṣṇa Consciousness has everything to do with taste. We're saying sat-cit-ānandam. Consciousness allows feeling, it allows taste. Our goal is what is tasteful. Kṛṣṇa is what is 'tasteful personified.' So, if any of these substances can be brought into connection with Kṛṣṇa conception, they can have some extraordinary Divine taste.

So, the devotees, aspiring servitors included, they are under the guidance of other devotees preparing different preparations for the Lord and His devotees. In a way, they're hoping is pleasing to them. Like, everyday we sing this song, Bhaja bhakata. Like, śuktā-śākādi bhāji nālitā kuṣmāṇḍa (Śrī Bhoga-ārati Gīti: 3.1). Saying śuktā, which can either mean specifically the preparation śuktā or something bitter. Śāk; spinach, ādi, etc... other type of leafy vegetables, fried things, all these different things are mentioned in the song of Bhaktivinod Ṭhākur. This is what Rādhārāṇī and her group, they're cooking for Kṛṣṇa.

It's not some particular... what do you say?.. type of cuisine from a particular part of India or particular part of the world. This is what she and her associates are cooking and offering to Kṛṣṇa. And, Kṛṣṇa enjoying those things. We're told, dhaniṣṭhān, they're taking that and then bringing the prasād to Rādhārāṇī and her group, and they're taking that and it's coming down in the guru-paramparā. So, it's an integral part of Kṛṣṇa Consciousness, so much so, Prabhupād called this, “Kitchen Religion.” As we say, “Religion of the Heart,” that's one idea. Another is 'Kitchen Religion.' It's inseparable from the culture of Kṛṣṇa Consciousness, these things.

And, we have the insight of Bhaktivinod Ṭhākur and what's given in the pages of Chaitanya-charitāmṛtam. And, my own anecdotal experience, after going to the temple in Haight-Ashbury every day for a couple of months. Then I was 3,000 miles away, the other coast, and feeling some hankering for prasādam and unable to really, fully, properly address that. So, somehow the suggestion came to me to go to an Indian restaurant in New York, it's on the Lower East Side. So, I went there and I went into... and I was really naive and, I think, I asked them for prasādam.

And, they're, “No, no, no, we have like a menu and you order things”... you know. [laughing] And, I don't know what to order and I decided I want some, like, dahl and rice and chapatis. And they say, “Oh, oh, OK, we can do that.” And, I'm really excited and I thought, “Oh, this is great.” I can't imagine that you could get this in a restaurant. And, then I'm eating it and it doesn't taste like prasādam. And, so I was a little bewildered. I was thinking, “These... this is rice, dahl, chapatis, but how come... I don't feel like I'm eating prasādam.” It took me many years to figure that out. Prabhupād, another one of his famous sayings about prasādam, he said, “Even an atheist can taste the difference.”
That's why one person in this neighborhood won't allow his daughter to eat anything in the temple, because, he's afraid. [laughing]

So, it's consistent, why do we chant the Holy Name? Well, we can say, “Well, really the Holy Name is this Divine sound that cannot be made, nāmākṣara bahiraya baṭe tabu nāma kabu naya (PV: 7.1.2), with the lips and the tongue and the voice box and heard by the ear and all those things. And the mind is a mundane element as the intellect, what are we doing? You'll say, yes, but, what... jīvanti san-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām (Cc: Madhya-līlā, 8.67.2), what was heard from the agent... that the seed... that Divine sound, that's entered through the ear into the heart and beginning to express itself outward. That's what we're doing.

So,we take the flowers, they're objective... they're in the objective world. Then we offer them to the deity, to Guru-Gaurāṅga-Rādhā-Govinda. Then we're taking them as prasādam on our head, and now that fragrance is a Divine fragrance having been offered to the lotus feet of Guru-Gaurāṅga-Rādhā-Govinda.

anāsaktasya viṣayān yathārham upayuñjataḥ
nirbandhaḥ kṛṣṇa-sambandhe yuktaṁ vairāgyam ucyate
prāpañcikatayā buddhyā hari-sambandhi-vastunaḥ
mumukṣubhiḥ parityāgo vairāgyaṁ phalgu kathyate
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.2.255-256)

Viṣayā, again like, matala sadhu-jana visaya-range, pujala raga-patha gaurava-bhange (Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākur). Extreme... what is apparently meant for sense enjoyment, that is being taking and offered in service to the higher plane, raga-path, raga-marg. And... what does it say?.. prasāda-sevā korite hoya, sakala prapañca jaya (Śa: 31.5), Bhaktivinod Ṭhākur is saying, “And, by taking those remnants, that prasādam. Prapañca jaya, means prapañca, in this sense means the mundane, jaya, you'll be victorious over the mundane. And, we say, “Only Bhaktivinod Ṭhākur is saying that?” Anywhere else it's said, 11th canto, Kṛṣṇa to Uddhav, saying, “By taking My... wearing the cloth, the flower, srag, remnants, you become liberated.” So, we're very fortunate, these things are not insignificant, becomes meaningful, the dust from the lotus feet of Guru-Gaurāṅga-Rādhā-Govinda. Gopī-nām... [laughing]

Years ago, before the internet and all that, we'd be in India and you send a letter from India to America, might take 3 months, or never get there. But, there was something called an aerogram, it was around, like 7 to 10 days. Just this one piece of paper, and you'd put as much as much you could on there, fold it three and like, send that. They didn't allow any enclosures. But, what devotees would do sometimes, is they would take a little dust from the dhām and put that in. So, when you opened up the aerogram, [laughing] sometimes there was a little Vṛndāvan dust or Navadwip dust, everyone's taking in. [laughing] And, all the devotees were in Govardhan once, coughing [coughing sound], really seriously coughing. And, Gurudev going... saying, “But, they prayed for the dust.” [laughing] “I heard them, they were praying for that dust.”

Once it becomes the Lords paraphernalia, that is the point − prasād, paraphernalia, eternal paraphernalia. Even in this world, if you love someone and then you're separated from that person, if you have some of their paraphernalia people will... mothers, lovers, others... they'll keep that. Because, it reminds them of that person. So, it's infused in that sense. If that can be in this world, then what to speak of, in connection with Kṛṣṇa. So, Kṛṣṇa telling Uddhav, “Yes, my paraphernalia as prasād will liberate.” And, Bhaktivinod Ṭhākur is saying the same thing.

Then we think, “Well, then, we can make so many things.” And that's true. See, the best can be conceived in different ways. There was this one girl named Konshens Bala, years and years and years ago, that when she first met Prabupād, she heard, “You should give like, the nicest thing you have,” vicikīrṣito me... martyo yadā tyakta-samasta-karmā, niveditātmā vicikīrṣito me (SB: 11.29.34.1-2), perhaps in the first canto or eleventh, I forget. But, you should offer something nice or the best. So, she thought, she gave Prabhupād her favorite rock. [laughing] Because, that was very meaningful to her. So, she thought, “This is the nicest thing I have.”

She was like, a little bit of a hippie. … “Swamiji, I want you to have this.” And, Prabhupād, he's very kind, loving, gentle, he said, “Oh, thank you.” He's accepting that. Sometimes, little children do that. They give you something, you're like[??...], but, it's like they think it's really special. And then they go, “You can be in my club.” [laughing] So, that's one idea of the best. What we, on the basis of our limited experience of the limited, we think, “This is the best, I'm offering that.” Then, we come in connection, association of devotees, and we find out, oh, in the scriptures, it's saying “These are the things that are offerable to Viṣṇu, to Kṛṣṇa, these things are not offerable. These types of flowers, this type of foodstuffs. These types of spices, not these.”

Some guidance is given. This... why... uh-wuh... it considered to be in tama-guṇ. Difference of considerations come, so, then we move in that line. But, we're told the ultimate consideration of the best, we get from the devotees, the superior devotees, and in this case, Kavirāj Goswāmī, Bhaktivinod Ṭhākur, that they've written. In Charitāmṛtam, the whole section with so many preparations is endless, just reading it is extraordinary. All these different things and what they are, many of them untranslatable. So, that's Kṛṣṇa Kavirāj Goswāmī telling, giving the insight. This is what was made by Śacī Mātā, and Sītā Ṭhākurāṇī, and Advaita Ācārya. Or this was made by Rāghava Paṇḍit and his sister back in Purī.

And, Bhativinod Ṭhākur telling in his song, these are the things Rādhārāṇī' is making. Then, we can understand that's the best; the real best, the ultimate best. Garga-saṁhitā speaking of glories of Tulsī Devi, says, “One tulsī leaf has all of the aroma of all the beautiful fragrant flowers in the world.” And it also says, “But, only Kṛṣṇa can smell it fully.” But one tulsī leaf has all the beautiful flowers that are offerable, and their extraordinary fragrances, are contained within one tulsī leaf, tulasī-dala-mātreṇa, jalasya culukena vā (Cc: Ādi-līlā, 3.104.1-2).

Advaita Ācārya with tulsī leaf and gaṅgā-jal petitioning Kṛṣṇa to descend into this world as Gaurāṅga-Mahāprabhu. How much power is there? We're told that story where, someone told Rukmiṇī that it's good, some trick they're playing on her, it's good to offer your husband in charity to the brahmiṇs, it's auspicious. [laughing] And they see things as just some sort of like a religious function. But, then they see, they're like taking Kṛṣṇa away. “And, no, I don't understand, no.” “Well, now you gave Him to us, we're taking Him.” “No!..” All of a sudden, it's turned into a nightmare, how to get Kṛṣṇa back. And, so they set up a scale and she... they put Kṛṣṇa on one side of the scale and she's getting all of her ornaments and they're putting jewels from Dwārakā... And it's still like, it's not moving.

And they say, “What have I done, I'm so foolish.” Maybe Nārada told her, Nārada likes to do these things. [laughing] And then, what did they do? They take all of that off... and take one tulsī leaf, put that on the scale, [pfff] and they get Kṛṣṇa back. [laughing]

tasyāravinda-nayanasya padāravinda-
kiñjalka-miśra-tulasī-makaranda-vāyuḥ
antar-gataḥ sva-vivareṇa cakāra teṣāṁ
saṅkṣobham akṣara-juṣām api citta-tanvoḥ
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 3.15.43)

The four Kumāras is mentioned, when they inhaled the aroma of the tulsī mixed with the aroma of the lotus feet of the Lord, that beyond lotus flower beautiful fragrance. They underwent total transformation. Captured their consciousness, heart and soul, they underwent complete transformation. Just by inhaling this Divine fragrance of tulsī mixed with lotus-like aroma of the lotus feet of the Lord, kiñjalka-miśra-tulasī-makaranda-vāyuḥ (SB: 3.15.43.2) , and the saffron there. Fragrance holds a very high position in the spiritual reality. Hare Kṛṣṇa
Brs: Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu
Cc: Śrī Chaitanya-charitāmṛta
PV: Prema-vivartta
Rv: Ṛg-veda
Śa: Śaraṇāgati
SB: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam