What is so special about Krishna Consciousness?

Any questions from anyone?

Devotee: Yes, Maharaj. I have actually three questions, but I will start with one, which Subhada asked long time ago. So, I’ll try to express what she wanted to know.

Goswami Maharaj: Our Siberian leader. In Tomsk.Where all of these brainy Russians are. People in Tomsk they have more brain than in other places.

So, they had a discussion between themselves about the point. We heard that Krsna, maybe somewhere it is said, that all of His expansions are auspicious, full of His potency and everything, and bhakti, the loving devotional service is the essence of every religion, main central point. So, can we say then that whichever religion we’re following it’s anyway good and ultimately leads to Krsna? And can we consider saints of other religion branches to be vaisnavas?

Well, Bhaktivinod Thakur deals with this subject in one of his books, he mentions for example primitive people, who may worship nature in particular ways. They worship different life forms. Once we are watching TV with Srila Gurudev, and they showed in an Arctic Circle like Eskimo  type of people hunting reindeer and they show some reverence for the spirit for the reindeer, the soul that is there, they worshiping different aspects of nature.

And we can think even in a modern context the poet Dylan Thomas, in a famous line, where he days, “Does not the same force that drives the green fuse in the flower drives my green youth.” And what he means is like when you see a flower sitting and it has a green stem, he is comparing it to the fuse like a fuse on something. And saying so there is force that is going through that stem it’s opening the flower, that life force, and he is making an observation, “Isn’t it the same force it’s driving me?”

So, it’s sort of the Brahmin conception. Spirit. Recognizing wherever spirit is present in everywhere and everything. Sometimes Srila Guru Maharaj reminds us, that what is the material word but a part of the perfect appears to be imperfect. Well, actually not, but it appears to be that way.But we could also point out, that superficially there appears to be similarity between this all-pervasive spiritual recognition of primitive people and that of very advanced people. And it would be a superficial comparison to think that they are the same. And misleading to think that.

As Guru Maharaj reminds us, “There is gradation everywhere and in everything.” So, Vedic rsis they address the Sun in a personal way, the Moon in a personal way, and it is not that they are primitive in a way of seeing things, but actually they have a very deep and penetrating vision. That Guru Maharaj express in a modern terminology of the Subjective Evolution of Consciousness. So, it’s his opinion that everything is ultimately personal.

Sometimes, his god-brothers, Jajavar Maharaj in particularly, he would find it difficult to accept this concept, “So, you mean that this table is a person?” And Guru Maharaj would say, “Yes.” And he’d go like, “Oh, how can I believe that?” But Guru Maharaj will say, that the whole objective world is like an iceberg, floating in an ocean of consciousness. So, is it more tenable to conceive, as the objective evolutionary theory has it, that stone produce in a particular level of configuration,  generates consciousness, or, as Guru Maharaj said, a part of the perfect appears to be imperfect, that consciousness can hold within the conception of stone? That is has weight, it’s hard, it has color, it has length, breadth, dimension. Each one of this is a subjective, is a concept, a subjective, has color, form, height, depth, weight. So, Guru Maharaj will say, a cluster of subjective concepts makes an object, so, the whole subjective world what to speak of everything within it is like an iceberg, floating in an ocean of consciousness.

So, let’s first understand what the world is. So, then those within the world, Mahaprabhu in His teachings to RupaGoswami says,

brahmanda brahmitekonabhagyavanjiv, guru krsnaprasadepai bhakti latabijjalajannavalekanestarvalokaminksati

He talks about the soul, deluded souls, as I’ve told,“Biological expression of the soul’s delusion is a life form.”Manu says,

tamasa bahurupenavestita karma hetuna

When you’re observing the tree, the flower, the bird, the insect, the human, the primitive, the postmodernist, they are all dressed in their karma. It’s karmic dress, biological expression of the soul’s delusion. Illusion.Karmic dress.

So, Mahaprabhutells  RupaGoswami, when he gives the sequence, it’s really subjective evolution, that appears to be objective evolution, going from aquatics, non-moving living beings, to insects, to birds, to bees, to human beings. They are saying there is a four hundred thousand, chaturlakhanimanusah, four hundred thousand, who will be qualified as a human. So, the soul evolves to the human position. Then of those, how many are civilized, and what will be the criterion to consider whether or not they are civilized.

So, when we come in connection with idea, the notion that those who are regulating their lives, with regard to revealed truth, that’s the true hallmark of civilization. So, although generally devotees look disparagingly upon karmis, a real karmi is someone who is regulating their life and their work, their activities with reference to revealed truth.

Amnaya, prahattatvamharimehaparanamsarvvasaktirsabdim

Descending knowledge. Not what’s been accumulated here by man, and here’s where we will understand the difference between actual religion and what may not be the revealed truth. Actual amnay, revealed Truth, it’s descending in this plane, or we understand as Veda. It reminds me of something Prabhupad said as a criteria for understanding. He said, “Just like the Christians, they say, those who do not accept the Bible, they’re called heathens, similarly those who do not accept Veda, we call atheist.”

Jiva Goswami’s “Sat-sandarbhas” etc., begin, the starting point is the acceptance of SrimadBhagavatam as the ultimate truth, so, when Mahaprabhu meets with patans, modern day (?), in India he meets with them, when he starts discussing  the so called yavana-shastras, the long and short of it, [he is saying], “They are full of mistakes and errors, and are largely the product of imagination of man, so from a strict vedic point of view they don’t qualify as revealed truth, that’s the long and short of it. But devotees they will generously, they will tell, “Well, even the tribal primitive who is worshiping the tree, he is worshiping on some level some spiritual aspect, they are giving some encouragement there, for him to move in that direction, he is recognizing the spiritual nature of other life forms, so that’s a step in a right direction, however primitive.

So, we will find in different so called theistic, religious systems, some general God concept, but devotees, or neophyte devotees, who become a little bit familiar with Krsna conscious terminology, they’ll start retrofitting Christianity with Krsna consciousness, like, “Jesus loves Krsna,” or “Hitler was really into the Vedas, and he said, like Jesus said, ‘There are many things I’ve come to say, you are not ready to hear,’ Hitler also, you know, there were some things he was going to give to everybody, it was going in a, you know a swastika, it’s really going in a good direction.” If you believe these kind of things, the word 'dullable' comes to mind.   So, retrofitting any religious system, you may do that for the propaganda purpose. If they were asking Prabhupad about Christianity in a Christian country like America, “Jesus Christ, he is our guru, we are real Christians.” This is propaganda. Do not become a victim of your own propaganda.

You have to find a means to measure theistic spiritual substance, and Divinity. Just to become acquainted some of the Krsna Consciousness and start retrofitting it on anything and everything is not advisable, in one sense it’s karma-kanda, means we’re trying to force a lower conception upon the higher, that’s what we’re doing, we’re taking a lower theistic idea, if you wanna be generous and trying to impose that on Krsna Conception.

I found it interesting, the last Pope, they just had a change of Popes, when he was asked about Krsna, he said, and coming from a Pope it was a surprise, he said, Benedict XVI, he said, “Krsna can be considered as a Christ figure.” So coming from a catholic Pope that was more than usually expect. So, a Christ figure like some sort of Divine representation of being a Savior. He was willing to go that far. But as an example. Someone asked Guru Maharaj about Nrsimhadev, Guru Maharaj said, “Nrsimhadev has nothing to do with Krsna.” Meaning GolokaKrsna. He’s saying Nrsimadev that’s Vaikuntha worship. So, where do you think these other things will place if Nrsimhadev is an actual avatar, if you look at dasa-avatars, or you look at the Bhagavtam, twenty four avatars. If you want to be very generous and say, “What about shakty-avesh, if someone is really empowered to do something, then you can broaden your palette of whom you might attribute some sort of divinity to, or divine movement.

But suffice to say, we are directing our attention towards what is given in the Bhagavatam and Chaitanya Charitamrta particularly. And Western religious systems do not fare well there, they don’t. Look, if RupaGoswami says in the Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, that real devotion begins in dasya-rasa, beyond shanta-rasa, where do you think these other ideas or theistic concepts will fall on a chart, on a scale.

So, what I’ve tried to do, in many different ways, to give some sort of notion of how to make a comparative analysis is to use the example of currencies, because it’s applicable. Like here we are in Thailand, Thai baht, there is euro, dollars, rubles, rupees, yen, so many different currencies, you look at the chart and you’ll be surprised  how many they are. But we see you have to use an absolute standard to measure their relative value, and to make a point, to underscore it even further there was a time, when certain, East block currencies, you could say, otherwise, rubles, it didn’t matter, how many you had, you couldn’t get a dollar. Now it gradually worked its way up to you know thirty, thirty rubles to a dollar, as we speak, something like that. There was a time, you could have three thousand and you wouldn’t get a dollar. Because it wasn’t’ hard currency, in a particular aspect of the objective world it was considered to have no value, so, this is about determining value.

So, how do we determine? How do we analyze a theistic system, in a world of currencies we sometimes use a gold standard. But we’ll just say here, you can translate it as gold standard or absolute standard. So, once you have established what the absolute standard is then you can measure this system against that and establish its relative value. So, when it comes to theistic systems, there is also plurality, but people they think in a mood of generosity and liberality that they like to say, “Well actually all religions are the same and we don’t want to have a conflict with anyone.” I mean they are all telling about, “You should love God, and love your neighbor as yourself,” and things like that, “Islam is a religion of peace.” “The Truth is one, there are many paths to the top of the mountain.” There are many stereotypical examples like that.

On doctor, I call it Dr. Bronner’s, on his soap, in would say, “The aim of all faces is one.” So, that’s true up to a point. But what is that? Why is it that Bhagavatam begins saying,

dharma projita kaitavo trapara monirmatsaranamsatam

Three slokas they provide the foundation, second śloka, the first mention of religion says, dharma projita koitava, cheating religion is tossed out, kicked out, discarded. There is such a thing as cheating religion? What are they talking about?  This book says, if you gonna understand the subject matter was in here, then cheating religion you have to dispense with. What does that mean? Is that an insult? So, what happens in the fifth chapter of the first canto of Srimad Bhagavatam to give some back story, cause those three slokas were written by Vyasadev as Guru Maharaj said when he finished the whole thing, then he pends(?)  these three slokas and send ti to the market. So, what do we find in the first chapter of the fifth canto? Narada comes on the scene. Vyas is depressed, Vedavyasa he is in the state of depression.  And he has written Mahabharata, which has the Bhagavad-gita, and all these things, compiled so many Pranas, so what’s the problem? He is feeling despondent, it’s the word that Prabhupad used. After all of his great contributions, in a name of religion.  And Narada comes and says, “I know what’s the cause of your malaise, why you feel this way.” “What?” he said, “Cause you’re cheating people, by giving them this so called religion, the kaitava dharma, that in the name of dharma, religion, they will remain bound to material existence. You’ve told them basically how to live in a diseased condition of life extensively. And it wasn’t your intention of purpose, you’ve also told them how to become cured from the disease, but because you haven’t clearly indicated what a healthy life is, free from disease, what that type of life is, then they are all recidivistic, they will revert to what is before, because people by nature are active and seeking love and affection, and you haven’t made it clear that there is another world beyond this world, there it’s a realistic possibility and this is what basically wrong with religion.” This is what Narada is telling him. So what he says, jugupsitam dharma krte, you’re traitor to the cause, why? And just to make this point in an extreme way, saying what is the treachery what you’ve done, you’ve introduced religion in the world, just to make a point, you’ve introduced religion in the world and through this so-called religion, again inadvertently, it wasn’t your intention, but that’s what people use to remain bound.

That’s why Maharaprabhu tells Rupa Goswami on Gita, there is veda-vada-rata, people just mouthing, “Well, in Vedas it says this, like Guru Maharajas family in Hapaniya, when they wanted to eat meat, someone wrote a sloka in Sanskrit, “See, it says right here, eating meat is okay. Fire up the Barbie.” So, it says also in a Bhagavam, “The mature of illusion is such that whatever learned brahmins say, quote, sounds like a truth.” So, when religious people start quoting the Bible, this book, that book, it has, on a certain level it has a ring of truth to it, but certain things could not possibly be true, or they are half true, or in a Guru Maharaja’s words, “Half truth is worse (?) than falsity.” So, veda-vata-rata, and what does Mahaprabhu tells Rupa Goswami, “Yes, they become human beings and then as a good karmis want to do, they start regulating their lives, but mainly it’s a bunch of leap service, their heart isn’t in it.” So, although we worship the people of India for their God-intoxicated state, that you don’t even know what religion is until you go to India, whatever you thought religion is, once you go to India, you’ll see it in a new level.

But the same people, we’ll see, what are they doing? Why do a million people are going to a holy event, to tell you the other side of the story, why do a million people risk death and injury to bathe in a holy  river on a certain day? It reminds me a comedian, W.C. Fields, he was an alcoholic and known atheist, but people were surprised to see in his final days, he is like very scrutinizingly reading the Bible, and everyone knew he was an atheist, he was like madly looking, and he is getting older and older, they go, “Bill, what are you doing?”, and he said, “Looking for a loopholes.” He’s looking for something in there, a loophole. You know what loophole is? Means in a legal contract something that allows you to get out the consequences. So, he says, “I am looking in this book to see if there is something in here,” because he thought, “I am getting ready to die, now all of my impending karmic reactions are going to bear fruit, is there something in here that can save me from that?” So, the people in our neighborhood, they would say, “Yes, Jesus is the way and light of the Truth.” “No man shell come to father except through Him.” Okay, but whether it’s true or not that’s another thing.

So, devotee might say generously, playing Benedict’s game, “Well, taking Christ as a Guru figure, than we can say, “Yes, you don’t go directly to the Father, but through the agent,” we can give all sorts of interpretations. But when Mahaprabhu is talking to Rupa Goswami, he starts talking about the gradation, so, people are giving lip service, they’re taking the name of God, speaking something in a name of religion, but how much substance is actually there? So, what does he say?

koti karmi nishta madye ek jnane sresta

Out of ten million karmis, that means people you know are going to work, they are good people, they are nice, they don’t cut in line, they don’t steal, they pay their bills on time, they cute little kids, and out of ten million of this type of karmis, ek jnane srestha, one jnani is better that a whole bunch. That’s what maha-vadanyaya avatar says, one jnani is better than ten million karmis. Remember, karmis are religious folks, you know, they are going to church on Sunday, good karmis are going to Church on Sunday, confession on Saturday, or the (?), what is the (?), Friday, Sabath on Saturday. That’s what real karmis are. They are regulating their lives, they are giving lip service to religion.  

But jnanis, they are the ones who’ve realized all these impending karmic reactions it’s better to get out of this samsara circle, they are smarter, they’ve realized, this whole idea, action, reaction, we need to like put in into that, so, they want to get released from the impact of negative reactions, impending negative reactions, that manifest in a form of a karmic destiny. That’s why most of the people pray to God, it’s always, “Save me from something,” they did something wrong, now you have to pray to God.

As we’ve told in the Flannery O’Connor story “Few good man”, I mean, “A good man is hard to find”. That in the end when one old lady, when (?) has got a gun to her head, she goes, “You’re just like my son”, and then she gets all religious, and then he blows her brains out. And the narrator says, “If she had a gun to her head at every step of her life, she would have been very religious”. So, what kind religion is that? Whatever kind it is, it’s thrown out of the pages of the Bhagavatam. That’s what Narada’s telling Vyas He’s saying, “Now you’re going to do your masterwork, the Maha Purana, the Super Purana, Srimad Bhagavatam, it can’t have all any of these low class ideas about what religion is there. That has to be dispensed with. So, here you can only have pure ideas. And pure concepts, what was told to be jugupsitam, condemnable will have to be the most worshipable, highest thing.

So, then Mahaprabhu goes further and he says, “And (?) all those jnanis, you may millions and millions of those you may find a liberated soul and then out of ten million liberated soul he says, “Koti mukta durlab madye ek krsna bhakta”. Of ten million karmis a jnani, ten million jnanis, ten million liberated souls a bhakta, that’s how rare it is. We shouldn’t think, “Oh, that what has to be told so rare, that’s present in all these cheating religious systems,” how is that possible? Religions that are karmicly based upon trying to get something from God. What was illuminated from the pages of Bhagavatam, you think there you’re going to find some spiritual substance equal to what you find on the pages of the Bhagavatam? That’s not correct.

muktanam api siddhanam namayana parayana  And when Guru Maharaj hears that sloka, where it says, out of ten million liberated souls one may be a devotee, he will say, “Even that is too many.”

So, you say Subhadfa, kleshagni subhada moksha laguta krt, sandrananda visheshatma sri krshna karshinichasa, it says sudurlabha, it’s very rare to transcend a fruitive egocentric life particularly when it has religious color to it. So, what does Mahaprabhu say, what is the hope for someone, brahmanda brahmite kona bhagyavan jiv, so, the fortunate souls they come in connection with an agent of Krsna. Jnanam priyasaya udapasya namanta eva, they stop trying to analyze to calculate, from a mundane perspective how religion might benefit them.  stanestita sruti katha tanu vam manobyam, start hearing from the agents of the Lord and that awakens some serving tendency in them, not karma-kanda or jnana-kanda, not karma-misra-bhakti, jnana-misra-bhakti, but we’re told jnana-sunya-bhakti, suddha-bhakti.

When Prahlad was offered a boon by Nrsimhadev, Prahlad is hurt, his feelings are hurt, it’s saying, how was it? Nasa-brtuy sabai banik, I’m not serving you, it’s not a business, “I’m serving you to get something from you. Oh, God, give us our daily bread.” Not telling Krsna, where are chapattis? Give us our daily chapatti. That’s not devotee. We were told Gurudev a story about bogus Radharani. And the bakful, it’s a flower and a vegetable. And they said, she is stringing a garland and go, “What are you doing?” “Oh, I’m making a mala, a garland for Krsna, and He comes I’ll give it to him, and if He doesn’t come, I’ll make a sabj.”

So, I’ve mentioned on Siva-ratri, the people in Vrndavan at that one Siva temple, it could be Gopeshwar, there were some man brought in a glass jar a Jamuna-jal, water from Jamuna. And as he hand it to pujari to offer, it slip from his hands and then broke, and sharts (?) of glass were everywhere. But then the legend is that man became a millionaire. So, now every Shiva-ratri, thousands of people go to the Jamuna with glass jars and when they bring to the pujari, pujari just brake in front of the Deity. And take some rupees. Is that religion? Is that a type of religion? Is that a type of religion, that Vyas said is kicked out of the pages of Bhagavatam? Is Krsna so foolish? This is in Charitamrta. You know this sloka?

Mukti tadati smanu bhakti yogam. Where Krsna says, it’s perhaps the fifth canto of the Bhagavatam, cause in Gita he says, ye yatam mam prapadyante tam statam vijataham, as you surrender to me, I reciprocate. Yasya ham anugranami parise tadanamsanai. When Pariksit says, “Why is it that Laksmi is at the feet of Visnu? The Goddess of fortune, his devotees are poppers (?), Mahadev Siva is naked underneath the banyan tree, covered in ash, and his devotees are affluent. And the answer given is yasya ham anugranami harishe tad anamsai. If Krsna favors you he akes everything away from you. What did a protestant Cristians say? If God favors you, he blesses you with so many material things. Is that type of religion that is kicked out from the pages of Srimad Bhagavatam. I think so.

If he favors you he’ll bless you with so many mundane things. The Bhagavatam says, “If he favors you, he’ll take everything away from you.” So in that section of Charitamrtam, “Yes in the Gita I’m talking about this reciprocal factor, as they surrender to me, I reward according to that. But there are some further things to consider. That’s the general rule, then there are some exceptions to the rule. What are the exceptions to the rule? There are those who in the name of devotion, they calling me in the name of devotion, but really they want something else. I know what the heart is. So, I give them what they really want. Then there are devotees, really they want me, but sometimes they become out directed toward the objective world and they’re asking for something else, but really they want me, so I give them me and not that thing.

 Visvanath says in one place, why is it taking the holy name of Krsna, so many devotees and Krsna is not revealing Himself? He said, because He knows they heart is capable of more. So, He wants their heart to go deeper, deeper into Krsna-nam. So He is withholding Himslef. As he withheld himself from the Vraja-gopis to bring about more intense level of earning, longing and love and affection.” So many things are to be considered.

So, what will be that standard by which we measure any theistic system? The gold standard for measuring theism, God concepts is rasa. That’s the standard. The gold standard, the absolute standard by which you can measure the relative value of any theistic system. Shanta, dasya, sakhiya, vatsalya, madhura. So, what are we told? Master-servant relationship, which is most prominent and in-common in most religious systems around the world on the rasa scale, where is that located? Shanta, dasya. And again saying being generous, taking that it is real and substantial, where does it rate? At its highest expression, that’s where it would be. Friendship is inconceivable, equal, equality, or Prabhupad sometimes would say, “The devotee becomes greater than God.” I mean like (?) some sort of bazaar mayavadi? No. He is talking about vatsalya-rasa, where Lord is dependent on his devotee. A total inversion from  what most religious conceptions are around the world, “Lord give us our daily bread,” the devotee is supplying the Lord his daily necessities. Vatsalya-rasa, protecting him. The devotee is protecting the Lord, the devotee is supplying the Lord’s necessities to him.

So, if you use the rasa-standard given by Rupa Goswami in the book Bhaktirasamrta-sindhu, which Guru Maharaj and Prabhupad sometimes like to call “the science of devotion,” then you can see what is real, what is imagined, what is substantial, what is apasiddhantic, rasa-bhas or incompatible (?). So we have to familiarize ourselves with these things. Sometimes Gurudev would say in a very simple way, or he can get into deep philosophical discussions about this, or just simple examples, he’d say: “You cannot football with Allah.” But you can play football with Krsna.

Guru Maharaj would the story when Bon Maharaj came back from Germany and he saw a play there and God the Father was shown to be this old man with a big beard (?) up in heaven, looking down on the people. So this is you might call it anthropomorphism, ranamag. You think, if God is an Adi Purusha, the oldest person, then some artist, even their best artist, who Michael Angelo (?) and Leonardo, this old man ideas about God, old man with a big long beard, because some man didn’t come along the razor yet. And this is silly, but because this sort of imagery is deeply ingrained in us through our childhood, we’re afraid to say, “The Emperor has no clothes”, but  a child would not. And what does he express about Krsna conception? Advaitam achyutim anadim ananta rupam adyam puranam purusham navayovanam cha, although he is Adi Purusha, the original male he is Nava Yovana, he is eternally youthful, that’s God, that’s Krsna Conception, not that because he is old, he should look like an old man with a big long beard. You won’t see any pictures with Krsna with a beard. Hopefully. He is always. Guru Maharaj said, “One meaning of Syama Sundar is evergreen.” And we go, “Oh, I thought Syama Sundar means black.” Evergreen. Not green, evergreen. Always fresh and the trowth (?) of youthful becoming. Sometimes he looks a little green because of the yellow dhoti and his deep blue color. Like so he is sometimes compared to look of emeralds. So that Krsna he has unlimited forms, Ananta Rupam. But we see what are the principal ones? Just look and see Dashavatar. Then twenty-four incarnations listed in the Bhagavatam. And others are noticeably absent from the list. “Your name isn’t in the list.” Like at the exclusive club, “I am sorry, your name isn’t in the list.” So, it depends on the level of intensity of devotee also.

Prabodananda Saraswati Thakur in his exstatic rapture in Chaitanya-chandramrta said, and he was talking about Dasa-avatar, “What did they do? What have they done compare to Mahaprabhu?” What did they give? He’s talking about legitimate avatars and incarnations of God, saying that in comparison to Mahaprabhu what they’ve done is nothing. It’s a particular level of expressed devotional intensity. That’s why guru Maharaj, he will say when he thinks of Radharani and Krsna, say everything else becomes trash. He has no interest in anything else. Valabha Bhatta said, “I can give all kinds of interesting explanations on ulimited names of Krsna, namnam akari bahudha niva sarva sakti Mahaprabhu, what does he say, “I only know two names.” Yasoda Nandan and Syama Sundar, what does that mean? Means a particular quality.

So, who, if the Vraja-gopis, who are our leaders, they are the leaders of this group, Radharani and Vraja-gopis. When they saw Narayan, Krsna took the form of Narayan, their hearts were crushed with disappointment. It’s actually Krsna but appearing like Narayan, which He can do. Seeing that they were not interested. What is that all about? Is Narayan not inconceivably beautiful? He has sixty qualities, according to Rupa Goswami by analysis. Jiva has fifty, Shiva fifty five, officer class jiva, Narayan sixty, Baladev sixty two, Krsna sixty four. Seeing that Narayan Vraja-gopis they are not interested. How interested you think they might be in other theistic systems? That do not allow the worship of the form of God.

As Guru Maharaj said, “They can accommodate the sound, the name of God, but not the form of God?” They’re opposed of form of God, being worshipped. What kind of religion is that?” So, a devotee, you think they will find some interest in a theistic system, that does not allow for prasadam, the form of God, the qualities of God, the pastimes of God, the Name, but the Name of Krsna will not be allowed. So, no Krna, no Krsna nam, no form of Krsna, no qualities of Krsna, no pastimes of Krsna. A devotee will find some thing there. Really? Who couldn’t find what they want in Narayan of Vaikuntha. Narayan of Vaikuntha will not satisfy what they heart is hankering for. But these manmade imagined theistic system, that will satisfy them? How is that possible? It’s not.

So, we have to first understand what Krsna consciousness is before we go comparing it to other things. We could say, “Well, you know, there are diamonds and then there is cubic zirconia. And cubic zirconia really looks like diamonds. Yeah, to people who don’t know what diamond is. They think it looks like diamonds, it’s acceptable to them. But to those who know what a diamond is, they’ll see it as a cheap jewelry, no substance.

So, rasa, taste, what is to be tasted? What does Guru Maharaj mean when he says, compared to Mahaprabhu and Radharani, all other things are tasteless. A taste of Mahabhav from Radharani’s group renders all rasas tasteless, what to speak of other tastes. So, only form a neophyte, superficial position, someone has a superficial connection with Krsna Consciousness could say, here they say that brides made, and there is some madhura rasa conception there. Again for propaganda purposes, or generous mood, someone might say something like that, but it’s not real, it’s not substantial. And it’s rasa bhas, and it’s apasiddhantic. So, our necessity is to become acquainted with Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur and the bhakti siddhanta acharya, who is Sanatan Goswami Prabhu. And there you’ll find in his Brhad Bhagavatamrtam all these gradations of theistic expression, beginning with what? Where does his story began? With some brahmans, worshipping salagram, in where? Prayag? I think so, that’s where he stars, that’s where we can start our analysis.

But Srila Guru Maharaj, he can take, we were told, whether he reads the Vedas or the newspapers, it’s the same to him, so he can extract from other places something in principal and apply that to Krsna Consciousness, because he is sastra-nipun, he is a spiritual expert. And we’ll say, “Oh, I do that too, I can do that too.” Really? Like Guru Maharaj? I don’t think so. So, Guru Maharaj could say, “And Hitler when he saw the Japanese kamikazes, flying their planes in to the carrier, or jumping with bombs under their armpit down the chimney, he said,  “We have something to learn from the Japanese.” We’ll think, “What does that have to do with Krsna Consciousness?” Guru Maharaj will say, “So, they are kamrupa bhaktas, the suicide squad, they’re ready to do anything and everything in their exclusive devotion and service to the lotus feet of Radha-Govinda, kamrup bhaktas. That reminds him the kamrup bhakta. Hegel he is a very good man, “Reality is by Itself and for Itself.” But we know if look carefully, Hegel is a brahma-vadi. He is not a devotee, I mean, by Guru Maharaja’s grace, I think he may become one. Or if he says, Martin O, the philosopher, he said, “Reality the Beautiful.” Then he takes that and applies to Krsna Conception. Shelly says, “Our sweetest tales are those that tell a saddest …” he applies it to the Ramayan, to viraha-bhav. This is the expertise of Srila Guru Maharaj, if we indiscriminately without such certification and qualification we are going to examine different religious systems and where we see some overlap we’ll start fantasizing about Krsna connection. What is the famous sloka of Rupa Goswami?

Sruti, smrtti, purana adi, pancharatra viddhim bhina, aikon tiki harer bhakti utpata eva kalpa te, if the bhakti, devotion, Krsna bhakti is not in reference to sruti, smriti, purana it I unnecessary disturbance on the path of devotion.

ye na tena prakarena mano krsne nivesie, Narada is saying, the acharya will devise a ways and means to bring people in connection with Krsna. So, very often what we’re really dealing with was the tenth offense against the Holy Name is to remain attached to something, and it’s like you’re dragging this old baggage along and it’s preventing you from making any progress.

So the lingering attachment to Christianity of something else. As when we published The Search for Sri Krsna, there is a chapter called Beyond Christianity, and some devotees in Latin America wanted to remove that chapter from the book. They said, “People there they are not ready to hear that.” And there is others, they said, “Oh, Srila Sridhar Maharaj was misinformed about Jesus and Christianity, otherwise, how could he say all of these things?” Than when they came and told him that, they said, “Oh, maybe you are talking about someone’s misrepresentation of Christianity.” And Guru Maharaj said, “No, I am talking about Jesus Himself. Is he barred from making any progress. He is in a static position or a progressive position? Jesus, not his followers, Jesus, can he make progress. That was his answer.

Saraswati Thakur did not use the word “God”, but Godhead. Because God, conjuded (?) by Judaea Cristian impersonal, going from impersonal to old man God idea. So, he preferred to use the word Godhead. Srila Prabhupad so many times saying, Supreme Personality of Godhead, implying, it's an evolved system. As Guru Maharaj will say Saraswati Thakur, “King implies Queen.” How can any conception of God, that denies his feminine counterpart be taken to be a full representation of Divinity? So, even within Krsna Conception devotees will think, “We are trying to connect with the paramatma, listen to the Bhagavatam. Brahmeti, paramatmeti, Bhagavan. Bhagavan means Shakti and Shaktiman, minimally, Laksmi-Naranyan, Sita-Ram, Radha-Krsna, not Krsna alone, not Paramatma, who is Paramatma’s consort? That’s not given. Our target is not Paramatma. But Bhagavan realization. Sarvasad guna visista. Being irresistibly drawn to offer themselves in service  is the indication of genuine appreciation. Not saying, “Well, God is in control of everything, so I can appeal to him to help me, “I am in a difficult situation.” And since He is controlling everything, I’ll make my heartfelt appeal to manipulate the objective world in my favour.

Whereas in the last verse of Siksastakam the opposite conception is being expressed by Radharani, “If what makes Krsna happy breaks my heart I’m all for it. Then it’s my happiness.” She can express that, we can repeat that She expressed that. But at least, as Guru Maharaj says, “We need to be moving in the right direction.” The direction away from God is an order supplier and in the direction of service aspiration, gopi vartur pada kamala ayodha dasa dasa anu dasa. An aspiration to serve, the servants of the servants of the servants, that’s how devotional prayer is expressed.

Devotee is in the primary position. When I first went to Saint Basil’s cathedral, in Red Square. When I went there at the time, now I’m trying to be nice, because we’re done, there’s a few minutes left. When I went there, this is how things degenerate. So, at first, when I first went to Saint-Petersburg, at the time it was Leningrad, Vijay Raman was cooking in the hotel near Nevsky prospect, just think, I’m walking by, Vijay is in a hotel, and Avadhut Maharaj is somewhere in Vijay. So, when we got there Ananta Santi wants to show us interesting things, ryazhenka was interesting to me for breakfast, we’d put dates in it and Ananta Santi was ecstatic, he said, “Soviet government just cut a deal with Iraq, we’re going to have this next year.” Great, I’ll come back.

Showing us the sights, there is one place, called “The museum of religion and atheism,” it’s off (?) Nevsky prospect, “The museum of religion and atheism,” and it was a former church. So, in here they have dioramas, depicting all of the abuses and character misbehavior of priests and church officials and people like that. They showed them as a lecherous group and also they showed their clothes how they dress like kings and a whole thing. And they would also show one diorama shows a blasphemer, he’s strapped in the chair and he has a metal mask on with the funnel, going into his mouth and they show the monks, they’re ecstatic, they pouring molten hot lead into his mouth for blasphemy. Many things they are showing there. Museum of religion and atheism, fun for the whole family. You know, on weekend, “Honey, let’s take the kids down to the museum of religion and atheism,” “That’s a good idea.” They’ll learn something.

But making it to Moscow and going to Saint Basil’s Cathedral there, what I liked about it. Oh, it also at that time said “museum,” it didn’t say church, it was a museum. So, it means indirectly they know what is the power of religion, but a lot of people were going into museum, it costed like fifty kopeks, to get inside. And once we were inside, I mean I’d never been inside Russian orthodox presentation, and there were many, chapels, little rooms, and saints, those icon, the triptychs, icons, the way they do those paintings that have a lot of gold on them and halos, but what I saw, that was at least to me interesting is, “Oh, they emphasizing the position of the devotee.” That’s what I thought. Again, being somewhat under the influence of Krsna Consciousness, and I’m looking at, “Oh, there’re showing the position of the devotee, so, that’s a good thing.”

Guru Maharaj can look at Christianity and say, when Jesus is caring the Cross up to the mount, Calvary, and Judas is off on the side, mean Guru Maharaj can give a very deep interpretation of this. He’ll say, because we know Jesus stops, Veronica comes and wipes his face, and he looks off, and Judas and Jesus make eye contact, as Nietzsche says, “There are no fact, just interpretations.” So, this is Srila Guru Maharaj interpretation. There is a look that transpires between Christ and Judas, and Guru Maharaj says, “What was in that look?” And we generally think, “Oh, Judas feels so guilty for having betrayed Jesus,” but Guru Maharaj takes it in this direction, he says, that Christ looks at Judas with great shame  and says, “Forgive me for using you this way. I’m the one who is at fault. Forgive me, out of the necessity of my pastimes I had to use you in this way, your name will be black for all time to come, so, forgive me for using you.” Seeing such compassion he went on and hung himself. That’s seeing through the lens of the eyes of Srila Guru Maharaj. So, if you’re seeing through his eyes Christianity or Islam, or Hitler.

And the reason I say Hitler is not just whimsical, Guru Maharaj could quote Hitler about “active foolish”, “lazy intelligent,” and what was the one, “stupid and industrious”. That’s Krsna, he is intelligent and he doesn’t have to do anything, and gets everything done. And then he says, “Those who are stupid and industrious, keep far away from them.” But so, he can quote Hitler. He can quote Hegel, so many poets, and through his eyes he can Krishnize the whole thing, but we shouldn’t mistakenly think that we have such capacity, that’s what I mean to say. We’ll rather say, we want to see things through the eyes of our Guru-varga, that will be a safe position for us.

Why is it, even in Mahaprabhu’s time, if someone wrote something, like some devotees thought, “They wrote something, they know Sanskrit, and other devotees heard and say, “How wonderful!” But what are we told? Before Mahaprabhu will hear it, it has to be heard by Swarup Damodar, svarpu vibranam jagata-tulyam (?). The incomparable Swarup Damodar. Who knows that if apasiddhanta, however well intended, that reaches the ear of Mahaprabhu, who is patita-pavana, the maha-vadanyaya avatar, but if apasiddhanta reaches his ear he’ll become angry and it will upset his mood. So, Swarup Damodar must hear these things first or he told, one brahman wrote something, other devotees were appreciating and it was supposed to be in praise of Mahaprabhu and Jagannath. And Swarup Damodar hearing this said, “My God, what have you done? You’ve insulted both of them? So, in the name of praise, you’re actually insulting, you’re going to hell in a hand cart or on the rot. So, it has to do with what is real. If we do not become acquainted with what is real and what is substantial, then will be pray (?) to forgery.

Remember we were with Srila Prabhupad in Chandigar in the Panjab, staying in this one rich man’s house, and I forget why, but Prabhupad started telling the story about this man in a market place, it’s how they count someone out of their money. And so one man first enters and he is searching, searching, and says, “I’ve lost this valuable jam, it’s worth a lakh of rupees,” and then he run off. Then another man shows up like, who has a jam, the man just heard it’s worth a lakh of rupees, saying, “I’m selling this for ten thousand.” They are working together. But when Prabhupad told this story, and everyone started laugh, he said, “I know something, I have some experience of this world.”

So, when it comes, we would think the most sacred of sacred things of spiritual substance, yet there is so much counterfeit spiritual substance in the world. So, someone like Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, he shed hundreds of liters of blood to show what it is not. They’d think, “Why so much emphasis for what it’s not?” So, it will be abundantly clear what it is when you come in connection with that think, that’s why. Hare Krsna.