Gurumaharaja's speech :

Whenever I see him, my heart melts. So then later, when Lord Caitanya was in the Maha Prakash, when he was in the mood as, before that, for 21 hours they did the arati, so that time he was in his mood as Krishna at the time, he was showing that He was Ramachandra, showing that He was Narasimha dev ; he was showing all these different forms. He showed to Murari Gupta. Murari Gupta was hanuman, Murari Gupta, when he realized that he was hanuman and saw that Lord Caitanya was Ramachandra and that other associates they are also companions, then he immediately fainted, he was just overwhelmed. When he came back then he again saw Lord Caitanya. So, there's many wonderful pastimes that happened during that period. So one of them was when Lord Caitanya would call the banana salesman. (GM pronounces the words, 'banana salesman' in a quaint way and everyone laughs). So then the devotees went and told him that the lord is calling you, then he just fainted ; he couldn't believe it. Why he is calling him to his house, to the house of Srivaas. They brought him there; then Lord Caitanya they carried him. They had to do their duties(everyone laughs). When they brought him there, then Lord Caitanya offered that "You take Mystic powers. I want to give you the great mystic powers." Now I am giving you boon mystic power. You take one huge kingdom ; you will be the Raja, you will be the king. You will have thousands of armies, thousands of servants they will serve you." Kolabecha said that "No need."

"All right. Today, I am giving you liberation from birth and death, today you take it, I am offering you liberation.

Kolabecha said, "My lord, I have only one desire : somehow by Your mercy, I am able to understand that You are the supreme personality of godhead ; You're coming down in different incarnations. My only desire is that whenever you come If I may be allowed to have a service of providing you with all your needs of bananas, subjis leaf plates, and do that humble service for you and I see your mischievous laughing smile ; your beautiful face lotus face. This is all I only desire. And If I am not allowed to have that benediction then at least I have associated with your devotees who are always chanting your glories, there’s no other desire."

Then Caitanya Maha Prabhu, he said that "Today I am giving you the supreme lesson, that which even Brahma, Siva, they are hankering for but they don't get ; Rarely… Today, I am giving you pure Krishna Prema, pure devotional service. When He said that and gave His blessing to Kolabecha Sridhar, the banana street peddler, to get pure love of God, then all the devotees, they just exploded in ecstatic kirtan.

Nitai Gaura premanande Hari Hari bol! Haribol! (devotees : Haribol).

Kolabecha had got the most rare thing, the most wonderful ; because just see, Prahalad said "The lord is everywhere." Prahalada, just by his word, he is saying here in this sloka, Lord Narasimha Dev came, to defend and make sure the word of his devotee. So intimate is the relationship of a pure devotee. One who has got love for Krishna that the lord in so many ways feels obligated to reciprocate with his devotees. He doesn't feel that… Have to give liberation, finished. Take mystic power, finished. Take your material happiness. finished. But when he is giving pure devotional service, then the link is there. Just like adopting a son. When Krishna feels some responsibility, there's some special… to such an extent that one time, Lord Caitanya told Haridas Thakura that, "I, Haridas Thakura, by your chanting of the holy name, you have purchased me. You can do with me whatever you like."

By chanting the holy name of Krishna, one can actually purchase Krishna. Krishna had such faith in Haridas Thakura, that he was willing to put Himself in Haridas Thakur's hand; He also had such faith in Advaita Gosay. So similarly, of course the spiritual master he puts such faith in the disciple, that he puts the form of the lord, the deity, under the care of the disciple to worship. The disciple should be very careful not to let down that faith of the spiritual master; not to fulfill that faith of spiritual master. It is the great opportunity for the devotees to worship the lord. One should be very careful not to commit any offenses to the deity. So Krishna himself in his original forms, he must be willing to put himself in the care of a devotee, but the devotee has to completely surrender to Krishna, completely depends of Krishna and Krishna, he is also willing to put himself in the care of such a devotee. So this is possible by chanting the holy name of Krishna. Prahalad Maharaj chanted the name of Hare Krishna, Haridas Thakur chanted the holy name.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, (everyone chants the mahamantra)

Srila Prabhupada was always chanting the holy name,

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare (everyone chants the mahamantra).

And everyone else who chants the holy name of Hare Krishna, they can also, by the sublime process, they can win over the heart of Krishna. He is "Ajita," He is unconquerable, but he can be conquered by the humble sincere service attitude, especially by Lord Caitanya's mercy, even one may be the most insignificant person materially, He gives the most, sublime causeless mercy, simply if that person surrenders to the chanting of the holy name. If we keep our face to Krishna, then there is no Maya : Krishna surja sama maya hoy andhakar/ jaha krishna taha mayar nahi adhikar. But we should not think that by turning our face away from Krishna, that somehow or another, we are still be going to be in Krishna conscious. We have to keep our face to Krishna krisna bhuli sei jiva anadi bahirmukh, ata eve maya tare sangsar dukh. Someone who forgets Krishna is considered to become bahirmukh, that means, he becomes materially situated. That means that Maya gives him again a repeated birth and death. So we should be very careful not to forget Krishna. We should be very careful to remember Krishna, following in the footsteps of Prahalad Maharaja. Prahalada Maharaja is the example of a devotee who always remembered the lord. So we can pray to Prahalad Maharaj today, how, for his blessing that we may always remember the lord and His devotional service. We can also pray to Lord Narasimha Dev that by his mercy, the demon of material desire, may be rooted out from our heart, so that we can follow in the footsteps of the great devotees like Prahalad Maharaja, Kolabecha Sridhar, Srila Prabhupada.

jaya sri-krishna-chaitanya prabhu nityananda sri-adwaita gadadhara shrivasadi-gaura-bhakta-vrinda

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare

Devotee: Srila Acharyapad, are you saying that by chanting Hare Krishna, that takes it off the idealistic platform, ideally following Prahlad Maharaja, Kolabecha Sridhar, ideally we want to follow Srila Prabhupada…But you know, practically speaking, while chanting of Hare Krishna takes off that idealistic platform, why do we follow …people got you know … you're just feeling kind of a…

Guru Maharaj: There are 9 practices of devotional service. The first two are chanting and hearing. In the Kali Yuga, there has to be chanting and hearing, but you can do additional practices. Then those also will be helpful. Prahalad was remembering always Krishna. Other devotees, they pray to Lord Krishna; we pray to Prahalad Nrisingha Dev on auspicious day like today, requesting their special mercy, for the ability to perform the devotional service ; all these things have to take it off the idealistic platform, if you have the idea whom you work for , on the absolute platform, you will achieve it. It is not that because today I have material thoughts, I am chanting Hare Krishna and struggling to overcome those thoughts, and just because I have material thoughts, therefore I should become hopeless or something. But we guarantee that if we follow by chanting, if we stick to our faith in the process and we don't give up this struggle, even sometime people in different times, they may have more of a struggle than others. That may because another person has already been struggling for four births, for ten births, so many births in devotional service or two births so this person he may be already a 8-year devotee, another devotee may be 4-year. What if that 4 year devotee was an associate or been practicing devotional service for 10 births? And the other person who's initiated 8 years ago, but he is only been practicing for 4 births? So you may see one person seems to have more struggle. The point is that Srila Prabhupada guaranteed that if we don't give up the struggle, even we have difficult, somehow another if we stick to it, chanting, maintaining our wows, even we stumble, we forget , if we again come, and we reinstate ourselves, and practice very sincerely trying, even there's little stumble, if we try, and don't give up, we don't sin on the strength of chanting, we try to the best of our ability, even if sometimes we may not come up to with the actual mark, but if we keep on trying, trying, then by Krishna's mercy, we'll pull back. But if we stop the struggle what’s the use? Then it's just cowardly. We may have so many excuses.

Prabhupada, he would sometimes cry to think of devotees, struggling against their senses, struggling against the material contamination. He considered it glorious, that struggle is that idealistic, when we get second initiation, it doesn't mean that we are immediately qualified brahmana, now we have opportunity to become a Brahmana.

Sometimes we think, "Now I'm living in a temple. Immediately, I must be already a pure devotee."

No. Now we have the opportunity to associate with devotees, to practice devotional service, to learn how to become a pure devotee ; to become a pure devotee, but we immediately identify ourselves as being very advanced, when we stop the struggle to become relaxed, our senses become more powerful and we're put in difficulties. Therefore Lord Caitanya told us to be always more humble than the straw in the street more tolerate than the tree, devoid of all false prestige. Don't think you are already a devotee, when you are just becoming a devotee. When you are becoming a devotee, may mean 50 years becoming a devotee. Prahalad Maharaja, he was greatest devotee, he didn't say, "Yes, I am a pure devotee; now you can give me anything. I won't fall on Maya. NO. He said, "I don't want anything. I simply want your devotional service. But Krishna said, "No, but I want you to rule in the place of your father and I will protect your consciousness from falling into illusion. That's an another thing. Now Krishna told now you have to be a king, but for his own part, he wasn't desiring, I should have this, I should have that, I will be a millionaire for Krishna, what if Krishna doesn't want to be a millionaire for Krishna, what if he wants to be a Sankirtan devotee for Krishna, and what if he wants to be something else. We may have the idea," Let be a millionaire for Krishna; this is the greatest service I could…" That's Karma Yoga. We are doing what we want to do and offering it to Krishna. We are keeping our independent desire and then saying "Let me do this and it to Krishna. Therefore Prahalada, he had the perfect desire. That’s all right, that’s better than someone who does no relationship with Krishna. But that doesn’t mean that necessarily will be successful at being a millionaire for Krishna, unless that’s Krishna ‘s desire. But the pure devotee, he'd surrender to whatever Krishna wants. So Prahalada happened to be a prince. So Krishna wanted that he should also be a king. Every materialist would like to be a millionaire. Some people are millionaires. And they could be millionaires for Krishna just by a little adjustment of their consciousness, but that doesn’t mean that every beggar in the street becomes a devotee and still has the desire to be a millionaire and thinks that now I will be millionaire for Krishna, because there are so many millionaires for Krishna in the Vedas. That doesn’t mean that desire is not tinged with a little bit of material contamination and you may end up trying to be a millionaire and forgetting about Krishna. So one should rather remain on the path of trying to be a devotee and being open to do whatever service is within one's capability. Some people may be millionaires for Krishna, some may be doctors for Krishna, some may be chaplains for Krishna, some may be preachers for Krishna, some may be housewives for Krishna. One should be careful not to wander off, beyond the shelter of Krishna. Beyond the shelter of what's authorized by the spiritual master because, in some way , we can dovetail certain propensities, but if we allow the propensities to take charge and the pure devotion to reduce, will be finished. So this struggle is to always keep dovetailed. And when it's not dovetailable, when it's too dangerous, we don’t do it. We don’t come down to the conditional level, even there is struggle, it is not idealistic, that is realistic. We have material desires, we have material thoughts and now we are trying to think of Krishna, we are trying to engage our intelligence in Krishna, and take our mind off all these material desires and for that we are chanting, we are hearing, we are associating, we are praying, we are serving, we are surrendering. In this way, we are becoming purified.

Question by a Devotee: (inaudible)

Guru Maharaj: Well, if there's some offense to the deity, major offense, and the way that Prabhupada has said, there is system: you have to bathe the deity. Srila Prabhupada mentioned that even the cook, if the cook is not spiritually strong, it can affect the devotee's consciousness by eating the food cooked by cook , if he is breaking principles and not following properly. So of course cooks, pujaris, although sometimes a person who is having spiritual difficulty was given a service to do puja, because it is a purifying service to help him control his senses, but of course one has to be very careful when doing this services, not to break the principles, that the temple has to be careful that these important service are not… the people who are performing are very strict in their behavior, although it is purifying for them, because it is easier for one in such a proximity to the Lord to try to be very careful. If in spite of that, one continues breaking principles, of course then, it is dangerous, not only for themselves, but for others also, unfortunately.

Gurumaharja to H.H. Jayadvaita Swami : What do you think, Jayadvaita Maharaja?

Sannyasi : I think that we have to give credits to(inaudible)

Devotees : (Laughter)

Gurumaharaj: You want give answer to this, Maharaja?

Well , I answer this question all the time ; better from you… In fact daily. (Gurumaharaja laughs).

Gurumaharaja: The point is that there's no… Apart from getting some special mercy from the previous acharyas, which requires one can always pray for, which is special secret. But apart from that the process of devotional service is a gradual process. And there is no other shortcut, apart from some special mercy. One has to just, very methodically, very systematically work at becoming more serious, engaging the mind, words and the activities in Krishna’s service. There is no use having class on how do you become more serious… May be walk out, then immediately sit down, have a half-hour gossip session. And then three times while you are gossiping Krishna told you in your heart, "You are wasting your time. You should be heading for sankirtan, you should be doing this for that, but then you know, you just don't bother to try. So then the first time, after you're told the second time in your heart that "You're wasting your time," all right… then the next time after the first five minutes you start feeling guilty. After that, it is only one minute you are feeling guilty, after that it is half a minute. And pretty soon you can’t tolerate even 10 seconds of useless talk. This happens by desire, even after making a mistake, when you repent, "I could have used my time better. I could have done this," And then you pray to Krishna, You pray to your mind that "Mind, you rascal, you allowed me to fall into his Maya. Please Krishna give me the strength, Prabhupada and our spiritual master, please give me the strength." Then you'll be more determined. Next time, when you come, then when you're reminded, Krishna gives you that memory ; He gives you His memory, forgetfulness and knowledge; because we have the desire, the memory comes up. Then we try a little harder to avoid it. Like this, it's a continuous practice. It's not going to work without the desire of the devotee also. It’s a struggle of the devotee. We always want, you know, some, you know, magic touch. We are told about the story of how brave one Indian sadhu, so-called brave. Anyway, went to his spiritual master and asked for the special blessing, and then his spiritual master blessed him and then suddenly the disciple screamed “aaaaaaaaaa” fell down on the ground unconscious. (someone laughs) and when he became awake the guru was crying, “I lost all my power! It's all gone! I have given it all to you.” And he was crying. Now I am powerless! Now I have transferred everything like by an electric shock chisssssssssssssssss! (Gurumaharaja laughs). Then the disciple, he had all the power, and the guru was there, without any power. He had been completely stripped of all his sakthi. So this Prabhupad says, is completely bogus. It is not how divine power is transferred that the guru gives his blessings to the disciple and then the guru is (phooo!) finished(Gurumaharaja laughs). Now the disciple left him. So these are all good for the fictitious story-tellers, and for the concocted spiritual master so on and so forth. But the actual process is we stick to is Sadhana bhakthi. And we are hankering for this special mercy. That special mercy, if you want to know the easy way, we are hanker for this special mercy and we keep asking to the previous acharyas, ask the deities, I am most fallen, I need your special mercy, but then, at the same time, you show your sincerity, you go on with a gradual process of sadhana bhakthi, trying sincerely, praying trying at every time to whittle down the gap between protection and where you are. And the closer you get, one still thinks that "I could be a little better. And the proof that, this attitude remains there continuously is the top most liberated internal potency. Alathini sakthi, that Radha Rani, you know the fifth volume of the Antya lila of Caitanya Caritramrta. She is also always desiring when is her devotional service is going to really become good. When she will be able to actually satisfy Krishna more. She is the already the only one able to completely satisfy Krishna, but she is thinking that, "What I am able do is not good enough. When I will be able to actually perform devotional service? So in this way, of course , as one gets closer and closer to devotional service, finally one gets so close, that although he may think that" Well, I can improve in so many ways, it's actually, at that percentage, when a person gets Krishna prema, is completely liberated from the material world and that is just completely on the spiritual platform. Then there is not any more struggle and then the devotional service is spontaneous, then within that spontaneity, there is still always a desire to increase the service. So we should already… even right now we may be struggling with the material desires at that time it's just, it's not a struggle anymore, but it is always a desire to increase our service more pleasing to Krishna, the transcendental competition. It will have another expression in the spiritual world. It's no longer a struggle. Here it may a struggle, because we are attached to other things; so then we don't want to give up those attachments. If we already given the mood of giving up the material attachments, trying to please Krishna, trying come closer to devotional service as I explained, and this mood will carry us right through, it's called “Seva Bhava,” service attitude. Let us take a slide through even in to the liberated state. Hare Krishna.

Everyone : Hare Krishna!

Transcribed by Kavitha Thiyagarajan on December 4th 2013