What is the ultimate benefit of Kumbha Mela festival?

Goswami Maharaj: We have our special interviewer guest this evening - Bhakti Bimal Avadhut Maharaj ki jay! Yes, Maharaj!
Avadhut Maharaj: Thank you, Maharaj, I'm very happy to see you.
Goswami Maharaj: I am very happy that you are very happy!
Ahadhut Maharaj:  I've just come back from India. And, you know, I stayed forty days in Prayag, at Kumbh Mela, making...
Goswami Maharaj: And forty nights!
Avadnut Maharaj: Yes, forty nights, in Prayag. Maybe more, forty-one. And in Prayag at Kumbh Mela, the largest religious gathering on the Earth since time immemorial...And, like everybody heard, “Oh, Kumbha Mela, Kumbha Mela,” you know, just go and take a holly bus. But when we came there, we've seen different groups of people, somebody's distributing food, somebody's doing yoga, somebody's doing tapasya. People do all kinds of things there. My question to you is very simple, what it's all about, what is for?

Goswami Maharaj: So, we see everything through the lens of Srimad Bhagavatam. Once Guru Maharaj, you know, he took, he quoted different expressions that he found very useful. Hegelian expressions like 'Reality is for Itself, by Itself',  'self-determination', 'die to live', 'Reality is beautiful', from so Hegel, marginal? Another one, you know. Everywhere is center, nowhere is circumference for the infinite, Blaise Pascal. But another one he got from a mathematician, I think was. 'As quality increases, quantity decreases'. Sometimes he'd say 'quality gives us relief from mathematics'. So it's very interesting expression. What he means, quality gives us relief from mathematics, means mundane calculation, mundane assessment of things. What is a mundane assessment? Whenever you judge anything under basis of misperceive self-interest.

So the Bhagavatam says in the beginning, “We're gonna deal with, what there's, shreyas and preyas.” Preyas means what appears to be immediately beneficial or what's immediately in your self-interest, but shreya as in 'Shreya, Kairaba, Chandrika'. Shreya, another places, means 'what's ultimately beneficial for you'. So when we look at everything through the lens of egocentricity, like a baby, you know, they have words that define children. Like whenever I see these little toddlers, there is one stage where they just go 'Mine!' Like if you'll interact with them and you pick something, they go 'Mine!'. And they can't say any words, they can say 'Mine'. I'd saw they are just naked, they can't hide themselves, they can't disguise their egocentrism yet, right? So it makes them interesting, just as a footnote. Mothers know what word that...It's not, there's the first word your child said, but then there's also a word that defines your child.

So my mother once told me because she said about my, I have two brothers. About me she said,  “He was the last one to start talking, but once he started he never stopped.” And then she said what was the word that defined me, she said, “Now!” So someone has 'Mine', so my word was 'now!'. And my word is still 'now'. But that means projecting what we think we've misconceived who we are, right? When we hear from Manu: 'tamasa bahurupena bestitar karma hetunar' when he was telling the sages. Normally human beings, but he said, “You see these trees, these animals, these insects, they are also dressed in their karma. You are dressed in your karma as a human being; they are dressed in their karma as animals. It's all karmic dress.” So Guru Maharaj makes this point about 'samskara' and equating it to 'acquired tendencies'. After all these reincarnations, life after life, lifetime after lifetime, it's not without its impressions. Like in art, do you know the palimpsest is? So painting and then they put (?) another painting on top of another painting on top of another painting. So it's saying, the acquired tendencies that have been acquired by so many mental impressions that you have gathered life after life. It's not like you just lived one life and then you start another 'one tabula rasa', clear. No, you have many impressions from previous life that form acquired tendencies and acquired prejudices, which means you have a natural tendency to view things in a certain way. Whether it's on the basis of national identity, social identity, social economics, gender. All of these things factor in how we view the world. And not only how we view the world but how we view ourselves.

So the reason I am giving this background information is we are interacting with the world the religious world on the basis of misperceived, misconceived notion of self and subsequently self-interest. So sometimes Guru Maharaj would make the point and say: 'Yes, actually you should move on the basis of your self-interest but you have misconceived yourself.' That's the problem. So, in that's what I mentioned about social networking- people are very happy to express themselves, but that self you are expressing is that your pure unadulterated self, free from all acquired prejudices and acquired tendencies? Is that the expression of that self or that this acquired self in karmic dress that's actually acting in some sort of filter or covering? And so, what your natural loving propensities and tendencies are being expressed basically as a consumer.

So, even when it comes to religion, back to Guru Maharaj's point. As connotation increases, denotation decreases. Quality and quantity. So, in the beginning of the Srimad Bhagavatam there are three slokas that set the stage. Sometimes Guru Maharaj would say, “Vyasadev.” Remember it goes from Brahma, I mean Krishna to Brahma 'tene brahma hrda ya adi-kavaye', Narada to Vyas, Vyas to Sukadev, Sukadev to Parikshit, Suta Goswami to the sages. But he's saying anyway, “Vyasadev, he said, “Pin these three introductory slokas, janmadyasya yataha, dharma prochita kaitavotra and nigama kalpa taror galitam phalam, and then send it to the market.” Like he put this slokas on, compound the whole thing, here is the introduction, here are the things to understand and then he published it or in Guru Maharaj's words 'sent to the market'. So those three slokas are very important.

And we hear from Bhakti Vinod Thakur that Swarup Damodar appeared to him in a vision and gave a unique interpretation of these slokas and said, “I want you to do a collection, the Bhagavata Puranas, like an eighteen thousand-rayed Sun, giving illumination to people who have lost their spiritual vision in the Kali Yuga. They no longer understand what is real religion, what is not religion, what is 'kaitava dharma', cheating religion. So many things. So the Bhagavata Purana, these eighteen, it's like an eighteen thousands-rayed Sun, that’s risen because after Krishna leaves the world, it has plunged in the darkness. But Swarup Damodar telling Bhakativinoda Thakur, “You take a thousand of the eighteen, give some guidelines and on these three introductory slokas also give some novel interpretation.” And what we understand is he was told they should be expressed in terms of 'Sambandha, Abhideya and Prayojana'. So the first sloka means 'sambandha jnana', but the second sloka is 'abhideya', how to proceed and there it says 'dharma projito kaitavatra paramo nirmat saranam satam'. This is going to be the approach. What is it? No 'kaitava dharma', no cheating, not using religion, the divinity to serve your lower purpose, that is 'karma kanda'. There is a section in the Vedas that's like that. Cause you can say, “Oh, it's also a gradual way of evolving spiritually from the mundane position.” Bhagavat Purana's saying, “No, this is 'amala purana', it is spotless. None of that kind of thing will be in this book. It's going to be a pure, direct approach.” Dharma projito kaitavatra paramo nirmat saranam satam nirmat sa jivam. There can be no envy, expressed towards devotees of the Lord. Some guidelines are being given there.

So, as an example, you have mentioned the Kumbh Mela, right? We know people in India, they understand the power of religion and religious performance. But most often, it's mentioned in Mahaprabhu's teaching Swarupa Goswami. He 's saying they are 'veda-vada-rata'. They are mouthing Vedic expressions but it's lip-deep. They have some ulterior motive which Rupa Goswami says, “Cancels that from being actual real devotion.” So the ulterior motive is material gain, to benefit materially. Mentioned that the time of Shivaratri and Vrindavan which, was just now or within a few days? Anyway. So people would go get Yamuna water and bring it and give it to the archaks, the pudjaris, the priests. And then the priests will offer that in their name to the Deity of Shiva. But one man, he went and got his Yamuna-jal that water in a glass jar. Then he brought it to them and as they were offering to the Deity of Shiva, they dropped the jar and it broke and there was glass everywhere, a thousand pieces. But the legend, the rumor is that that man, he became a lakh-pati or a millionaire.

So now, what has this yearly event descended into? People bring glass jars of Jamuna-jal to the pujaris and they break them in front of the Deity. It doesn't slip out of the hands. They handle the glass jar and they break it. So if you go by that temple on this day, you will see a mountain of broken glass everywhere. So what was initially meant to be some sort of honoring or showing reverence to Mahadev Shiva, has deteriorated, descended into some kind of gross ritual, meant to satisfy your lower purpose. Gopal, who was with you at the Kumbha Mela, he knows about the Govardhan Parikrama. We think, “Oh, how wonderful, so many pilgrims!” We are not saying everyone is like this. But he knows, from he said, “Oh, Maharaj, they are getting very specific in their, while doing the parikrama, they want cable, television, a nice TV, you know, things.”

Avadhut Maharaj: Internet.
Goswami Maharaj: Internet, you know, so they're doing the circumambulation thinking, “And if you can bless me in this way.” That's why in the Bhagavatam. And we’d think, “Oh, is it just some modern aberration.” It's even in the Bhagavatam, Pariksit Maharaj says to Sukadev Goswami, “We see that Mahadev Shivji, He's naked, He's only covered in ashes and sitting under the banyan-tree as Gurudev says, ahi bhushanam, wearing snakes' garland. The classical picture of Shiva. He said, “So, He has nothing but His followers, they have so much material opulence.” The worshipers of Shiva. He said, “Whereas we see Narayan, Vishnu. The Goddess of fortune is at His feet, massaging His feet.” One of Lakshmi's names is Chancha, Chanchala means, Well, it means different things. Unsteady. It means wealth is in unsteady position in this world. She's always but She's never unsteady or deviant at her position at the lotus feet of VIshnu. But we see that His devotees. He has got the Goddess of fortune at His feet, His devotees are poor and impoverished.

Why? We would think, “No, Visnhu devotees, they should have all the money and the Shivaits, they should be impoverished.” And that where this famous sloka appears, he says,

yasyaham anu granami hari she tadanam shanai

If Hari, and that's why the word Hari is used here, means 'stealer, one who takes away'. 'Anugraha'. If He actually gives His mercy to you, He'll take everything away from you. And that will leave you in the utterly dependent position upon His mercy. So in these religious, so-called 'religious' performances, it's the opposite for many, maybe for most, of what is actually being promoted in a book like the Bhagavat Purana. Which is 'to be blessed with mundane opulence is not blessing at all, but rather a distraction from spiritual culture. Jiva Goswami makes the point. He says, “The gods’ position is not good, the animal's position is not good. Animal's suffering, the cumulative affects of bad karma, you can say in a sentence. So there are now, moving according the instinct. It is said but the gods, they are suffering the, I mean enjoying, the fruits of karma, no interest in spiritual life for them in their heavenly position in atmosphere. So it is said, the best position is in the human section where you have generally equal amounts of sufferings and happiness.”

So in the Narada's section of the Bhagavatam, the ten seed slokas he is giving to Vyas. One of them is tasieva hetu prayate takovidho nalabhyate yat brahmate uparyada. He said, “Just as you get, you don't have to try for suffering and suffering's forced upon you. Actually, you have got a certain amount of enjoyment you will experience too, you don't need to try for them either. These two things will come automatically on the basis of your past performance. Think so what you should do with your energy is to dedicate yourself to the thing, brahmate yparyada. You don't get wondering the length and breath of the world of misconception. What is that? Brahmanda brahmite kona bhagyavan jiv, guru krsna prasade pai bhakti lata bij. The seed of love and affection of Krishna-bhakti, of devotion, that you don't get, only the Bhagavan-jiv, the fortunate souls, they get this connection with the Lord and His devotees. And then what does the Bhagavatam say is a sadhu? Saraswati Thakur said, “Sadhu means one who cuts sharply with sometimes unpleasant language. If a sadhu becomes a flatter, that's an enemy. But if he with sometimes sharp or unpleasant language does this operation, that will be to my benefit.”

So Śukadev’s telling Pariksit Maharaj, “Understand the difference between praya and shreya”. What's immediately beneficial may not be good for you in a long run. You should be interested in what's ultimately beneficial for you. And that's the subject matter of the Bhagavatam. So we find in the Bhagavatam, in the eighth canto 'The devas and the asuras'. They are both seeking the same thing apparently. And this is interesting. As Guru Maharaj said, “Happiness, everyone wants happiness”. An atheist, agnostic or theist. We’re not gonna argue theistic issues everyone we should agree upon, everyone wants happiness, joy, happiness, love, affection. Also there is searching for immortality, whether through religion or science, through technology. People want to extend the range of their life spent. So here, ostensively, in this pastime of the churning of the milk ocean by the devas and the asuras, with the Mandara Hill on the back of the Kurma-avatar. As depicted in the Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok when you clear customs, what can be more perfect than that and then Angcor Wat also.

But what’s interesting here is there is a superficial level of interpretation of what's going there and then the deep level of interpretation. So superficially they are trying to achieve 'amrita', nectar. Why is this word used? There are other words that mean nectar like 'sudha'. Why 'amrita'? 'Mrityu'. Janma mrtyu jara vyadhi dukha darshan anudarsanam, we are living in the world of mortality where everyone and everything has to die. Everything if we did time-laps on all of us, we would see, as they tried to do, they should picture of someone for ten years, twenty years. You would see we are disintegrating. Our eyes just can't process it due to frame rate. We are actually disintegrating as we view each other. What is Guru Maharaj say, “We are in a cage, and we’re encaged in of danger.” We are living in the world of mortality, in a cage of danger, the human body. 'Mrityu' means 'death', 'amrita' means 'that what makes you deathless or immortal'. So the gods and the demons, they both, they think, “Will churn this milk ocean and achieve the nectar of the God that is 'amrita', immortality.” So we hear, while they are churning, Lakshmi Devi comes out, the Moon. And interestingly, there are some who say the moon may have come from an ocean and there are so many things, uchhai srava, the divine horse and who else? Iravata, Indra's elephant.

Ahadhut Maharaj: Parijata flower.
Goswami Maharaj: Parijata flower. Many things. And what are we told? Kurmadev, the Kurma Avatar, he has an itch on his back that he cannot reach. People like to make up conundrums about omnipotence of God. “Can God make a rock so big He can't lift it?” Things like that. Yes, and then He can lift it as a child with His little pinkie on His left hand if He chooses to. But here, it's non-stereotypical and more interesting. It's the opposite of the way they usually pose these questions. Here, He has an itch on His back and who is omnipotent, who can do anything. He cannot itch His back. So what does that allow for? It allows for the devotees to get some seva.

So then they put the Mandara mountain on His back, they are churning with Vasuki and it's in the right spot and it's relieving Him of the itch. And just like when we are relieving ourselves of an itch, we go like 'Aahhh'. So also Kurmadev, He is going, “Aaah, aaah.” It is regulating His breathing and His breathing in a very beautiful rhythmic fashion is going in and out, and what are we told, “The waves of the ocean are echoing that breathing in sympathy.” And that if we are by the ocean, the devotee meditating on the divine pastimes in forms of the Lord, can think that here. We know the ocean makes his mystical sound. We can think, “Oh, that's the breathing of the Kurma Avatar!” It is still moving to the rhythms of the Lord's breathing.

And then we know from this that two elements are there, the nectar, but also the... Well, they are churning that crème-de-la-crème like substance the impurities are being cast off. What would you call that process? Is that the centrifuge or the opposite one? Where things spin and then are separated in two. Anyway. So, the nectar has been generated but that poison is coming, the impure aspects. And would stay unless Mahadev, Shiva, He drinks the ocean, takes the ocean in His palm. Which is interesting, as we here,

samasritaye pada palabha plavan mahat padam punya yaso murari bhavam budhir vatsa param padadya vipadam vyatesam

That the insurmountable ocean of ignorance can be reduced to a drop. There is some mystical connection here. So from Mahadev Shiva. He drinks all this poison what is called the kalatuta, is it? Kalakuta. And in result is His neck becomes blue. And he becomes known as Nilkantha, means 'blue throat'. And that allows for the nectarine substance to be generated. Mohini-murti comes and steals the nectar. And Mohini is actually Krishna assuming a feminine form, expressing His beauty through a feminine form and they are all bewildered. And He steals up on the nectar, a few drops come and as the legend goes those drops landed in different parts of India. And so 'kumb', 'kumbha' means 'a pot'. It is where one of the drops of nectar fell and therefore they go for this pastime.

But so ostensively the demigods and the asuras were searching for nectar for immortality, so, or you can say liberation, 'mukti'. And till these days people are going for these religious performances hoping to achieve 'mukti', liberation to become free from death, living in a world of mortality etc. But is that what has been promoted by the Bhagavatam? Is the Bhagavatam promoting generic mukti, deathlessness? Devotees have no interest in immortality if it lacks service opportunities or seva. Just like expressed kaivalyam narakayate. What is be any type of so called 'mukti' or liberation without service possibility narak, narakayate, it is hellish. No opportunity to serve. Guru Maharaj says in explaining the śloka, das kori betan mori deho prema dan, betan means 'salary' when the devotees say, “Let me serve and as my salary let it be prem.” It is said but this is compound interest. Just like when a capitalist invests money, when the interest comes, they don't take the interest and go and enjoy it. You will see a pure capitalist takes the interest and increases the expands what was in the investing capital. Then more interest comes, it keeps growing. So it is the same for real servitor, they invest all their serving capacity, serving the lotus feet of Guru and Gauranga. Then when the interest comes from that, they use it for increase serving capacity. That's their idea.

Why would the Srimad Bhagavatam, if it's told in the beginning slokas, the foundation slokas,

nigama kalpa taror galitam phalam…

Why would Śukadev be interested in that? He's already liberated. That's why is the paramahamsa-sangita. You understand? If amrita is announced in the beginning of the Bhagavatam is not generic mukti which it cannot be because Sukadev's already liberated that's why he's the speaker of the Bhagavatam. Parinistitopi nairgunye uttama śloka lilaya grhita cheta rajarse akhyanam vyavaditavam. He's saying, “I was already situated at nirguna-plane.” That's beyond mortality. So why would he be interested in seeking immortality? And it's general conventional sense. So that nectarine substance announced in the beginning, artoyam brahma sutranam baratarta vinir naya gayatri vasi rupasyo… Anyway.

So we are told the Vedas are like a tree. That the Vedanta is the puspa of flower of that tree and the Bhagavatam is the fruit. The fully ripened fruit of the tree of Vedic literature. So what is the conception of 'amrita' or nectar that's been presented by the Srimad Bhagavatam? It cannot be generic mukti, immortal, becoming freed from death. But it is rather  muktir hidvanyata rupam svarupena vidvastiti. The svarup of the mukta is a chid-vilas form, the from of the servitor. 

What is that nectarine substance? Guru Maharaj told that it is why this pastime is included in the eighth canto of Srimad Bhagavatam and why it is again alluded to in the twelfth canto. It is saying it has to be, the Bhagavatam has to be consisted thematically throughout. It's now that one section is recommending one thing and another section is recommending something else. There's only one theme going throughout the whole book. If you don't understand that each pastime or each section is pointing you in this direction that means to misunderstand. So as he told  artoyam brahma surtayam, it's the real meaning. And on the basis on this, Guru Maharaj gives his interpretation of Gayatri. So what does Bhagavatam culminate in?

yadamiyam mahima sri bhagavatyam kathayam pratipatam anubhutam apya labhideya tad akhila rasa murti syama lila avalambham madhura rasa di sri radha pada padmam prapadye.

Saying although ostensively Her name is not mentioned, anaya radhita anunam bhagavan harir isvara yano bihaya govinda. Her name is not ostensively mentioned. Everything is meant at every step of the way. 'Pati-padam' means ‘at every step.' It’s meant to take us in the direction of the holly lotus feet of Srimati Radharani and that service.  Srimati Radharan is the ujjvala-rasa-acharya. It means 'madhura-rasa', janmadyasya-yataha, adi-rasa, mukhya-rasa. The Shrimad-Bharagatam is about rasa and as Guru Maharaj told, “We’re being told in this pastime is the ultimate concept of amrita or nectar is madhura-rasa.” That's what it is about. Not simply to get free from negative engagement, get free from the impending karmic reactions of negative engagement, but to get a positive service connection, to get a service connection in the positive domain. And now only that... But of the highest type. So the ultimate nectarine substance they should be searching for is madhura-rasa. Not that how by performing some religious activity, I can become further entangled in the mundane world. That's not a blessing.

So Srila Prabhupada in his meeting with Guru Maharaj in Mayapur in 1973, he gave himself as an example. He said he had many ideas in his household life and really he was trying to do some business successfully, so that some day he could promote Krshna consciousness. But everything Prabhupad left, he said yasya ham anu granami hari se tadanam janai. Everything fell apart, Krshna took everything away of him. Till he was in Vrindavan and he joked, he said the people, they give all their money to the relatives and then come to Vrindavan with their mala. He said, “But Krishna is very intelligent. You have come to Me with your bids. But what did you do with your money?” He said,  “But now I am in Vrindavan. I have no money. No one cares about me anymore. All the family connections were only maintained as long as I was financially viable. Now that I have nothing, the only thing that remains of my family life is a long list of names.” And he said, “Actually, I wrote a postcard to Srila Guru Maharaj saying, “I am totally disgusted with human civilization.” He said “Rather I think the animals are more friendly to me.” So, yasyanam anu granami hari se tadanam sanai. He saw it as a Lord's mercy, Krsna took everything away from him. He signed his poem 'Your insignificant beggar – Bhakti Vedanta Swami, A.C. Bhakti Vedanta Swami.”  But he said in that nachyao nachyao. My Lord, upon arrive in America, “If You’ve brought me here to dance, make me dance, make me dance, O, Lord, make me dance.” He offered himself as an instrument of divine will. For what purpose? To bring people in connection with the ultimate nectarine substance. Krishna consciousness, which is the property of Srimati Radharani and Her friends. They extend Krishna consciousness to other.

Prabodhananda Saraswati Thakur wrote one book called the Radha-rasa-sudhanidhi. 'Sudhanidhi' means 'nectar ocean'. The nectarine ocean of Radha-rasa, of service. Radha-dasam of service to the holly lotus feet of Srimati Radharani.Wherein by jiva-souls and all of these realize their ultimate good fortune. 'Sreya'. 'Shreya, Kairaba, Chandrika, Vidyabadhu, Jibanam.' Mystically encrypted there, the madhura-rasa, identity of Her serving group. So it's only by the grace of our Guru-varga that we can really understand ultimately what's behind all of these events, pastimes, celebrations, festivals. What's there originally meant to celebrate. If anything... And this is the point I want to make. If anything has any real substance to it, means  'Advaya-jnana'. There's this one thing, it's Krishna conception. If it seems to be promoting something else, then either it 's inauthentic or becomes so adulterating it's turned into something else, or we don't understand its actual purpose. So we always begin, beginning middling in is Krishna conception and that's what the Bhagavam is announcing in the beginning. This 'kaitava dharma', religion with ulterior motive is not within the pages of the Srimad Bhagavatam and Krishna conception proper. But it is about offering oneself in service to Krishna. Not that, you know, God gives us our daily bread. The Krishna should come down and serve our lower, base purpose, even in the guise of religious performance.

Still what do we find on the pages of Bhagavatam?

Akamah sarva kama va moksa kama udaradhih, tivrena bhakti-yogena, yajeta purusam param.

The second canto is saying, “If you are 'akamah', desireless, 'sarva-camah', full of desire, 'moksha-kamah', you want 'moksha', liberation, whatever it is go to Krishna for that. Just go to Krishna for that!” Because they are so convinced than when you come in the relativity of Krishna conception, you'll be so enamored, so charmed by the beauty, charm and sweetness of Krishna. Kandarpa koti kamaniya visesa sobham, that you'll automatically 'bhajaniya sarva-sad-guna-visista', you want to offer yourself in service to Krishna, and those ulterior desires and motives will fall away. Paramdrstva-nivartate nirahara sidehina rasobarjam rasobyasya, that they’re just (?), “If you get this higher taste, you'll forget about the taste for lower things.” That's what jnana-prayas-udapasya-namanta-eva is about, stanestita-sruti-katham tano mam manobhir. “

Srila Prabhupada in one purport said something very interesting in the fourth canto of Srimad Bhagavatam. He said, “When pure devotees speak about Krishna, their voice, the vibration of their voices, saturated with saffron mercy particles from the lotus feet of Krishna.” It's a very unusual expression there. He said, “The voice has within it saffron mercy particles from the holly lotus feet of Krishna, so when that vibration enters your heart, it's putting some of the saffron mercy particles from the lotus feet sprinkling them upon your heart.”

So that Radharani says in Bramar-gita, 'yad-anucarita-lila-karna-piyusa-viprut'. 'Piyusa' here means 'nectar'. 'Viprut'. Sad-krd viduta dana dharma vinasta, She’s saying, “If you get a drop of this type of nectar, dharma vinasta, you'll lose your attraction for everything.” She is saying it in Her madness as if it's something undesirable. She is saying, “It will ruin your life. You'll lose all attraction for everything.” And now we get to the point, if you really come in touch with the nectarine substance, you lose all attraction for the mundane. So the idea that coming in connection with that, you will become enriched in the mundane is 'kaitava-dharma'. Really if you come in that with drop of that substance, She's saying, “On your heart destroys all mundane interest.”

So, pravista karna randrena svanam bhavam saroruham dunoti syamalam krsna saliyasya yata srayat. Krishna conception enters the heart trough the channel of the ear. Guru Maharaj said the ear through sound has a direct channel to the heart. He said that's why you have to be careful kind of sound you put near your ear. He said mundane sound has a tendency to awaken mundane desires. The spiritual sound vibration has an opposite effect. And lastly Prabhupada liked to quote this one sloka from the tenth canto. It makes me think about this.

yasya atma buddhi kunape trdatuke svadye kalatra drsabome ijadi yat tirtha burti salalena karhitchit jane su abhigesu sa eva go kara.

So many slokas Prabhupada quoted to have the word 'ass' in them. Like 'heavy'. You don't give up to world by being, you know, like... What did he say? 'Namby-pamby', look warm about things.

But anyway in this verse it is said, yasyatma buddhi kunape trdattuke, if with your buddhi, you're thinking you're trdatu, like kapabitabayu, like to Ayurved. Saying if you think you're that, those elements, trdatuke, what is next line? Bhumi ijati, where he said, talking about all the things that disqualify one. If you think, the land you were born in is worshipable because you were born there. And now I know there's a hundred Russian jokes we could tell but we won't. About the motherland. Some of my friends, my Russian friends, used to tell me that jokes, I will not mention them at this time. And that's not, what to speak of everybody, thinks that. “The land they were born.” “Why?” “Because you were born there.” But anyway, janesu abigesu sa eva gokara. Why is that here? It says, “No better that a cow or an ass.” Usually we are worshiping the cows but in this sense, cow's being mentioned to say that cow will show affection to the dead calf will lick the dead calf, it’s saying, showing affection for this trdatu body, is like that. So he is saying, yat tirtha buddhi salalena karhitchit, those who go to holly places for some reason other than to get the association of genuine saints who are actually nullifying all of the senses being brought by these millions of people visiting the holly places, if you don't see, count, and find the actual substantial devotees, you're no better that a cow or an ass. That's the statement of the Bhagavatam. Prabhupada loved that sloka. So.

And the ego of the Nagas, reminded of Gurudev going to Himalays. And they have different caves. In one cave there's like three-hundred year old yogi. In other cave is seven-hundred years old. So, he goes to the three-hundred year old yogi, talking to him back and forth. Then he gives him donation. Then he visited the seven-hundred year yogi and when the seven-hundred year old yogi hears that he visited the three-hundred year old yogi, he says, “He’s just a kid! He's just moved in!” So, if you think so that’s ego. Guy's bogus.

And Guru Maharaj and Gurudev used to laugh and tell this story of Krisna's Das Babaji Maharaj. Once Bhakti Hridaya Bon Maharaj, the leader of the Mela and this is years ago, it's called the Maha Mandaleshwar. And he gets the ride in on an elephant. So, one year Bon Maharaj wanted to get that position for propaganda purposes. So they said, “We can make you Maha Mandaleshwar, but only if you can get us a huge quantity, like a hundred kilos of government stamped ganja.” Like the good stuff. So, he had a connection with the Mayasur government, so he got the government stamped ganja for all the sadhus to Naga Babas. So, that allowed him to become the Maha Mandaleshwar and sit on the elephant about what used to make Gurudev and Guru Maharaj laugh was that he invited Krisna Das Babaji Maharaji to do kirtan, so Babaji Maharaj, you know, “Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna.” He's doing the kirtan behind the elephant. I don't know if you've ever been to the circus or not. When elephants move and if you stand behind them, they leave some of them remnants which are like these big balls of elephant remnant. So why Gurudev and Guru Maharaj would laugh as Babaji Maharaj would be doing the kirtan, Bon Maharaj's riding on the elephant. And he's like dodging elephant's stool balls trying to do kirtan. So the whole thing's descended into a spectacle. The long and short of it.

Avadhut Maharaj: But, Maharaj, what...?
Goswami Maharaj: Wait, but you missed the answer.
Avadhut Maharaj: Ok.
Goswami Maharaj: But you can ask a question too. In other words, just because you weren't here for his part. The Bhagavatam presents this pastime. But other Puranas, they present some of the same pastimes. Why do they tell them differently? Because one Purana is a Rajasic Purana, another Purana is a Tamasic Purana. Something another one is a Sattva description. And what is the Bhagavatam? The Amala Purana. So when the Bhagavatam is presenting something, as I told, it's consistent. What it's stated in the beginning is amrita. It's stated at the end and the amrita, the nectarine substance is 'madhura-rasa'. And that's why those pastimes are mentioned. Not about becoming immortal, the nectar of the gods and this that and the other thing. Those are all superficial representations of this. And I pointed out: when you come in connection with this nectarine substance, you'll give up all affinity for the world. You'll never, you don't come in connection with that to... How do you say... Further entangle yourself in the mundane. Or any type of mundane, higher or lower. Even the mundane, you know, of heaven. Traivedya mam putapa pa, in the Gita.
Avadhut Maharaj: But we are trying to represent the actual meaning of this event, the benefit, the real benefit of this event.
Goswami Maharaj: Is to come in connection with the ultimate nectarine substance which is  ‘madhura-rasa'. Which is presented only by authorized representatives of the Krishna consciousness movement.

So as connotation increases, denotation decreases. As quality increases, the quantity apparently decreases. Except with one note, that plane that it most exclusive is all-inclusive. So that if even an atom of Goloka Vrindavan, which appears where we're told 'aprakrita', thirty two square miles, sixteen kroshas. Within in the atom are the whole Vaikuntha worlds and which is a clouded portion is the mundane.

Goswami Maharaj: Well, but we hear, God's descent in these slokas that Rupa Goswami, suresanam durgam gati, oh. What is that? No. Sadopasya sriman jatu manuja kaye pranaitam vahabhir givane girisa paramesti pravrtibhi, Brahma and Shiva, they are descending gods and goddesses are descending in human forms. So we cannot, this is not based upon the quantity of people who showed up at the house, you know.
Ahadhut Maharaj: What I'm trying to say, at that point, that transmission had been given. How is very high substance, which truly meant for self-realized people can be distributed and understood by common mass people?
Goswami Maharaj: Well. It's told when Raghupati-upadhyayi, in the famous kamprati kathayi tam ise śloka, he's saying, “Who would believe and who can I tell it to?”
Guru Maharaj printed his article in one of Gaudiya Math publication, said, “An implication of this inference is that now that you've come, people will come in connection, they'll be told and they'll believe it.” So we see, by the mercy of Mahaprabhu and His devotees. Look, we are sitting here in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Russians, Americans, Hungarians, Ukrainians, all different types of people. People all over the world are watching and hearing this as we speak, that's one way that it's being distributed. They're coming in connection with that divine substance. On what level do they, you, me or any of us appreciate that? That's another thing.

Avadhut Maharaj: That's what I'm really interested in. If there're any new people who're watching our show today, I'd like them to give the feedback what they think about it.
Goswami Maharaj: Yes. that would be good.
Ahadhut Maharaj: Yes, so.
Goswami Maharaj: And you can visit our site on Theistic Media Studio's on Facebook and tell us all about it. And when a kilo of Chavanprash, it's on the (?) at Dabur.
Ahadhut Maharaj: The point is. No, really we're speaking about very high things, which we think are the greatest things. And people be connecting with us simultaneously or by some, you know, accident or by friend. We like to get some feedback from them, what they think about that.
Goswami Maharaj: Yes. That'd be good. And also we can understand from the way an epidemic spreads. How things can spread, by certain things you get one little particle, the virus, a little particle of this substance in you, and gradually it will fully express itself until you’re in a full-blown position. And that's what we are talking about. This substance, see, you missed certain part. A drop of this substance, a particle of this substance that enters the heart through hearing from pure devotees, authentic source, once it's in the heart, the experts just as research scientists, doctors, they know, “Oh, when you get even a particle of this virus, gradually it will fully express itself in a particular condition.” “O, no, but right now I feel...” “No, we know.” Once you've got that, it will gradually, fully, and it's similar to that but in a good way. Once a drop of this substance enters the heart and in a matter of time, before it fully expresses itself and envelops and engulfs the heart, and then inundates it with this nectarine substance. Hare Krishna.
Ahadhut Maharaj: I'm looking forward our viewers feedback.
Goswami Maharaj: Yes. Hare Krishna. Thank you, Swami Ahadhut for your encouraging words.