Srimad Bhagvatam 1.4.14 – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapataka Swami Maharaj on June 22, 1981 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Part II.

sūta uvāca dvāpare samanuprāpte tṛtīye yuga-paryaye  jātaḥ parāśarād yogī vāsavyāṁ kalayā hareḥ

Sūta Gosvāmī said: When the second millennium overlapped the third, the great sage [Vyāsadeva] was born to Parāśara in the womb of Satyavatī, the daughter of Vasu.

Gurumaharaja's Speech continued:

Narottam Das Thakur was serving Lokanatha Goswami for a long time. Lokanatha had taken an oath he wouldn't initiate anyone. By his service, Narottam das Thakur was finally able to get initiated by Lokanatha. Lokanatha said, " I won’t initiate anyone." About three years or so ( long period) he was serving , cleaning up the place where Lokanatha would go and evacuate in the morning. One time Lokanatha wondered, "Who is cleaning up my place ?” Hidden, he saw Narottam was the one who had been doing this for so many years. He called Narottam and said, "You have won. I am defeated. I must give you initiation and take the responsibility to deliver you to Krishna because of your sincere service." Even though he had taken an oath , he saw how sincerely he was serving and he had to give Narottam his desired initiation. This was Krishna’s desire that Lokanatha do that ; that way, Narottam, Shrinivas, Shamanand would all be contemporaries.

Actually, when Shamananda arrived at Radhakund and he came to Raghunath Das Goswami’s bhajan kutir, again and again he offered his obeisances. Raghunath Das told him, "You should go to Vrindavan. There is Jiva Goswami who you're looking for ; he'll teach you," and sent him with someone to Jiva Goswami. And there( before he was Dukhi Krishna Das), Jiva Goswami saw, in a very short time, he became expert in the Sastras. He saw deep affection and love for Radha Shamsundar had gone into Narottam's heart and so Lokanatha gave him the name Shamananda : one who gets pleasure from Shyamsundar. So in this way, these three devotees( of course they were to be acharyas) were like in their brahmachari life.

They were all together, circumbulating Govardhan, going to Radhakunda, studying under Jiva Goswami, going and bowing down to Bhugarva Goswami, Bija Hari Das all the different great associates of Lord Caitanya, Krishnadas Kaviraja who were in Vrindavan and Radhakunda, Govardhan. In this way, although they were disciples of different spiritual masters, they were like the life and soul of each other. There was complete co-operation. And during that time, all the different branches of Lord Caitanya's tree worked simply as one family ; there was no distinction. Although they were not his disciples by initiation, he very liberally instructed everyone, just dear like his own younger brothers, or even like his sons, like that.

Similarly Gopal Bhatta and other senior vaishnavas, Lokanatha Goswami , they treated each of them with great affection. And this way, the whole movement of Lord Caitanya was one very big family. And if anyone wanted to do something, they would always discuss with senior Vaishnavas. No one had the slightest wish to be independent although each was doing his particular service to Lord Caitanya. But in taking any type of decision which was far reaching and would affect others, they would always discuss – there was a type of communication– with mutual respect and devotion. So they'd have ishta-goshtis all the time. Ishta goshti means dovotees' discussion of topics about the Lord in association So about this time, you see the deities in Vrindavana, you know that there is Madana Mohana, Govinda and Gopinatha. These are the three deities very dear to the Gaudiya Vaishnavas. They give their mercy to the followers of Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

Madana Mohana is the sambandha deity and Govindji is the abhidheya deity and Gopinath is the prayojan vigraha. You know sambandha, abhidheya and prayojana but this is very high topic. But basically, sambandha means to establish a relationship, abidheya means to actually practice devotional service in pure way, and prayojana means the complete perfection of life. So by worshipping Madana mohana, the materialistic person is realizes the relationship between him and Krishna that was lost, and by worshipping Radha Govinda, then, apart from realizing a relationship, then there's acting within the relationship. I may know I am your friend but then if I act as your friend, that is next stage. I may know that you are my relation but then when I act in that relationship, then there is the next stage. And the highest stage is pure love. When that relationship is further increased into pure love, that is Radha Gopinath. At that time, Madan Mohan and Govindji didn’t have any Radharani with them. With Gopinath Radharani had already become manifested. So Govindji and Madan mohana wanted Radharani to come. And so the son of Prataparudra, the king of Orissa who was a great devotee (this time Caitanya Mahapabhu had already disappeared, Nityananda, Advaita, they all had disappeared, as I mentioned). And this time only 3 or 4 of the 6 goswamis were still present. Like that, so many devotees were already gone and there were only some remaining.

Pratapa rudra, I believe , by that time, he had either already disappeared or in any case was out of commission, was simply feeling separation; he had already given up kingship and all that. And probably he had already disappeared in separation of Lord Caitanya. Jagannathjana or Purshottamjana was Prataparudra's son and he had a dream ; he actually heard about that Govindji and Madana Mohana needed a deity of Radha . So he sent two deities that were there, beautiful deities of Radharani for Govindji and Madana mohana.

When the deities were brought to Vrindavan, of course there was a big festival, everyone was rejoicing that there was going to be an installation ceremony. But that time, the deity of Madan Mohan revealed to the devotees in a dream, "Actually, only one of the deities sent by Purushottam Jana is Radha and the other one is Lalita. The smaller one is Radha ; she could be put on my left side and Lalita on my right side." So, in this way, then they installed according to Madana Mohana's instructions that Radha and Lalita were both Madan Mohana'a.

Govindji still didn’t have any Radha Rani. So, when Purshottamjan heard (of course, he was very happy that he sent deities and in this way there was some pastime already; that was very encouraging to him) he was wondering where he could get Radharani for Govindji. That time Srimati Radharani appeared to him in a dream and told him that she was in a particular village, in a Belgaun, or something like that. In that village, they know me as Laxmi Maharani the great queen Laxmi, but actually I am Radharani. Nnobody knows I been here for long time. Please transfer me to Vrindavan to Govindji. He woke up then he woke up startled. He immediately went to that village in his kingdom and there he saw, there was a deity.

There, everyone was worshiping her as laxmi. Purushottam Jana was wondering what the history of this and how Radharani came here to Orissa. So then there was one south Indian pandit, a Brahmana who was there for long time, told the story that actually long time ago there was one devotee( that devotee’s name is out of my mind) one devotee was there and he had the mood of Radharani’s father and so he was worshipping Radharani as a daughter and feeding her, clothing her and he worshipping, but he had a parental relationship with Radharani. Therefore, he was worshiping Radharani for a long time. Then finally he disappeared and one king from Orissa, saw the beautiful deity . The Deity was in Radhanagar then and from Radhanagar deity was moved to this person’s village where people called her Mahalaxmi which is true in one sense, because Radharani is the full Laxmi. Laxmi is the expansion of Radharani. So she is the full Laxmi. Therefore, since that time, Radharani has been worshiped there. Then, after knowing all these things, Jagannathjana (Purshottamjana), had Radharani taken by this Brahmana to Vrindavan and there was a big festival of installing the Radharni with Govindaji. She was already installed, but to establish her with Govindaji …[there was re-installation of Radharani]. In this way there were so many pastimes going on.

Sometimes, Shrinivas Acharya was meditating on Lord Caitanya’s pastimes. And at that time he would worship Lord Caitanya in his mind, so he was daily making garlands and offering to Lord Caitanya. And in this way, one day he was making garlands in his mind doing the meditation worship and, all of a sudden, he sees and garlands Lord Caitanya with the garland. Then in his meditation, Lord Caitanya actually appears : Lord Caitanya is dancing with His associates and he accepts the garland from Shrinivas and he takes off one garland and gives it to an associate and says, " give this to Shrinivas." And that garland.. when Lord Caitanya wears a garland, it is filled with bumble bees flying and trying to get the nectar . So much nectar on his garland! They are flying everywhere, so one may put that garland around Shrinivas. He is being surrounded by all these bees and trying to get the nectar, from the garland. As soon as the garland touched him, he broke out of his meditation and he was amazed! And when he broke out of his meditation , he looked and the garland was still there! And the bees are flying around, he look around and he was in Vrindavan and he became very afraid, thinking, "What am I going to say, what if someone asks where I got this garland from(Gurumaharaja laughs and devotees laugh along with him)? How am I going to explain? " He didn't want anyone to give him any type of false prestige or something and he would get proud or something. He became very afraid that someone was going to come up see this garland. Anyone could see that this garland wasn't an ordinary garland; nowhere in the three worlds, could one find any garland like that with the bumble bees and just by smelling it he was crying and going unconscious. And then immediately the garland disappeared on its own accord. So like that, they were having different [pastimes], Narottama was having… different types of things like that… they were finding deities and having darshan. In this way they were just immersed in the nectar of Vrindavan.

Finally, they were ordered by Govindaji to take all the books to Bengal. They were crying [because of having] to leave Vrindavan. Really crying! But they know that… And also Rupa and Sanatan wanted Shrinivas with Narottam and Shyamananda to take the books. That's a whole another pastime– how they took those transcendental literatures. Bhaktivinoda Thakura prays how Lord Nityananda – who of course, blessed Jiva Goswami– Nityananda had established the Nama Hatta, the market place of holy name, the great meeting place, where everyone can come and the take holy name. see so many devotees like that they are like huge markets, they are giving unlimited living entities the nectar of Lord Caitanya’s mercy.

Although they were together then , serving with their god-brothers and other devotees, some with their masters and some not. When they come back to Bengal, Narottama went to Eastern Bengal, Shrinivas became the Rajguru in Vishnupur of Raja Vidambida Maharaja known as Sri Krishna Caitanya Das, after initiation. Shyamananda went to Orissa and was preaching there around Remuna and other places in Orissa. Still today you find many disciples in the Shyamananda sampradaya. It's a branch that came. And sometimes they'd come together on Gaura Purnima and different occasions and have big festivals jointly; at other times they would go preaching independently. They were always sending letters to each other. When Shyamananda was in Vrindavan, he wrote letters to Hridoy Caitanya about how studies went on, how service was ; in this way, the whole movement of Lord Caitanya that time was very much one, very big family. Whenever there were festivals somewhere everyone would know about it. Whenever there was any type of success in preaching in one area and everyone in other places became very happy. When there was any misfortune in one place, everyone became very upset. When they lost the books(at one point they lost books)devotees in Vrindavan were almost dead, feeling that all these literatures had been lost. And the devotees who lost them were also almost dead, thinking that they have lost the books ; but Shrinivas Acharya was able to regain them, by Lord Krishna’s mercy, by Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s mercy.

Similarly, Bhaktivinoda Thakura meditated upon all these devotees, upon Lord Nityananda, Janva Devi, the holy dham of Navadvipa ; this way he reestablished a type of preaching that tried to unite all the vaishnavas with his Nama Hatta organization. In every town and village, He had different people meeting together in someone’s house which he called Ashrama, faithful aashram, prapanna ashrama, bhakti kuthi( a little hut of faith) and they would, out of devotion, come together and chant in kirtan, go out in the morning in street kirtan, and study Bhagavatam and lead a devotional life. In this way, he had so many hundreds of( may be over 500) different nama hatta centers. Even one or two we find in some remote villages are still going on. Although now it's over 150 years, 130 years, it's a bit(pause). Now we have restarted this program in more or less similar way that Bhaktivinoda Thakura did it in India. In each village there should be one nama hatta centre or more. And they should meet together in the morning and chant Hara Krishna, and in evenings, if not everyday, at least once a week , the members should read from Srila Prabhupada’s books. So, this way, Bhaktivinod Thakura in his nama hatta, describes that he had so many nama hatta ashrams or groups. And groups over a certain number was considered a circle. Over one circle of groups, there was a senapati or commander, and over so many circles there was a district commander and over so many districts, there was a state commander, and over the whole thing(all the groups) there was the commander -in-chief or senapati : the chakra senepati, jilla senapati, pradesh senapati, and mukkha senapati . Different types of commanders or generals were there; this way he[ Bhaktivinoda Thakura ]was supervising this whole organization. He took the position of a sweeper, his duty was simply to sweep and keep everything clean from all the mayas that accumulate; all the dirty things(asampradayas) that come he has to sweep to keep it clean. Over that whole nama hatta, he had a 10-man committee, different senapatis and devotees, commanders, and they would meeting together occasionally and that was called the Panchayat – governing body. They'd meet together and he[Bhaktivinod Thakur] described in his founding chapter that whatever they decide, should be considered as not different from Nityananda’s will, as the order of Nityananda. This way Bhaktivinod Thakura had established his organization but he predicted that in the future a great soul would come and organize worldwide the movement of Lord Caitanya (the audience says, “jay”). He predicted that there would be worldwide organization which would be spreading the vani of Caitanya Mahaprabhu and established by one particular devotee.

So Bhaktivinod Thakura’s son, and grand-disciple Bhakti-siddhanta Sarasvati Thakura also preached. Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur instructed his disciples to co-operate together, tried to re-establish the original mood that was present in Lord Caitanya’s movement . He said, "Work together cooperatively, make a governing board. " But they didn’t follow his instructions. Instead they fought and then they artificially appointed one person to be the overall Acharya, even though Bhakti-siddhanta never wanted that; he wanted that there should be a cooperative spirit, not that just one who'd independently work. This way the whole mission we know today is still fighting in the court after 40 years! They even had one guru appointed by court order. Prabhupada said, "How can a court appoint a guru? Guru is appointed by a guru by a previous Acharya, by Krishna; not by court. You can't… order of Supreme Court and you are a guru. How is that? Supreme court is materialistic and [guru] can only be appointed by previous Acharya and by the mercy of Krishna, not by some materialistic function.

These things are all there in our Caitanya Charitamrita. Prabhupada described how so many difficulties came up,and how he tried humbly to carry out the order of Caitanya Mahaprabhu through his spiritual master, Bhakti-siddhanta Sarasvati Thakura. Srila Prabhupada, established the movement all over the world, and we can see that he is the fulfillment of Bhaktivinod Thakura’s prediction(audience says, "Jay.") And of course, Srila Prabhupada tried to establish worldwide. He did establish the worldwide movement of Krishna consciousness. He always wanted that everyone should cooperate with each other. There should be the mood of love and trust throughout the society. But sometimes, he complained that at least in the presence of Bhaktisiddhanta, there was no disagreement, but sometimes, my disciples disagree even in my presence. This is very bad. So, he formed Governing Body, said to try to cooperate together ; each of you have different responsibilities and areas but you should come together, once a year to review how you are progressing, how everything is going, and the purity of Kishna consciousness is maintained worldwide. In this way, try to cooperate together; the proof of how much you love me [will be shown] by how much you cooperate in my absence, how much you work together in my absence. At one point he said that if anyone leaves Krishna conscious movement or thinks independently, [and thinks that] he can go on without of any other god-brothers or any of the others, then he is hallucinating. Some people of course did leave. Many of Prabhupada’s disciples left. He predicted, "When I leave, so many who are not sincere , who are not actually devoted to me, will go. They are simply sentimentally attached to me, but they don’t have the pure, deep devotion.

In this way, we can see that our Krishna conscious movement is representing the branch of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Although today there are different spiritual masters and different disciples, it is cooperatively [as] one world-movement, is working together. Sometimes, if there's any… Amongst god- brothers, of course there's a different relationship. I remember that this type of relationship was there when Prabhupada was establishing Krishna consciousness worldwide and sometimes his god-brothers were not following Bhakti-siddhhanta['s] that[sic] exact same standard, but He would sometimes protect us by saying , "You should know not to do these things." But if we were to say, "Well, yes, your god-brothers are not very good," or something like that, Prabhupada would smash us and say, "You never criticize my god-brothers. They are my god brothers!"

For instance, Subal , Haridas Pandit had a relationship with Lord Caitanya’s friend, but that was a unique thing. God-brothers, even spiritual masters and his god brothers are friends. They have that brotherly relationship, but a disciple always sees the spiritual master as Krishna’s representative, as a spiritual father. So between the father and his brothers, there may be so many relationships, but the spiritual master may advice one how to act for one’s own benefit, but the son never criticizes the brothers of the father. That is very dangerous.

So Prabhupada would smash us if we would just (because that mood would be there); he'd be saying this and that : beware, watch out. They were fighting in the courts, doing this, doing that, how this is not correct. An d if we said, "Oh they are not good or something like that, then he would say,"Never. They are my god-brothers , not your god-brothers. You cannot say anything against them. I am saying this simply for your education. You just listen. You don’t say anything."

They[Prabhupada's god-brothers] are also trying to serve the spiritual master. They just made a few mistakes, but they are also sincere. [Prabhupada's mood was], " They are trying to serve ; you cannot criticize. And this I am telling you for your [education], so you don’t make the same mistakes among yourselves, you don’t fight amongst yourselves and commit these mistakes. You cooperate together. That’s why I am telling you. "

So it would be most pleasing to Lord Caitanya, if we can maintain the mood we have today– the friendly and cooperative spirit which was there amongst Narottama das Thakura, Srinivas Acharya and Shamanand Pandit. Now as we travel all over the world, we see how preaching in Malaysia is going, how it's going in the Philippines, in America, in Mexico, in Latin America, in Europe and Africa, Australia–everywhere throughout the world, Preaching is expanding, devotees are being made, books are being distributed. The Krishna consciousness movement is growing day-by-day , because everyone is a part of this one world-movement which is fulfilling the desire of Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Bhakti-siddhanta, Lord Caitanya. We have to fulfill the desires of our previous acharyas. That is the secret to success ; we have to please our own spiritual master and the previous spiritual masters and vaishnavas. The more we please Krishna and his devotees and satisfy the desires of previous the acharyas, the more successful our ambition will be.

This is our great opportunity to be in the Krishna conscious movement ; this Krishna conscious, worldwide, preaching movement is one of the pastimes of Caitanya Mahaprabhu; we should be very proud that our spiritual masters and previous acharyas of many great qualities, by their causeless mercy, have lifted us up (although we are very insignificant and fallen) and given us this opportunity to associate with vaishnavas to serve in this Krishna conscious movement, to be part of this Krishna conscious family.

Different devotees may develop faith in different ways. Just like Narottama developed[enough ] faith in Lokanatha Goswami to want to have him as Guru, but also he also had faith in Jiva Goswami and Gopal Bhatta Goswami. It is not that they were his initiating spiritual masters, but Narottama das Thakura did have faith them too and would also offer all types of respect and wanted to hear from them about Krishna consciousness. Like this, there was this type of mood. So even if one person developed a faith in someone to accept initiation from him, there was still the general, overall faith and enthusiasm seen in one big family. There wasn't any type of distinction. Everyone was very kind and affectionate to all.

Finally, when Shrinivas Acharya and Narottama das Thakura were going out for the first time with the books, all the residents of Vrindavan, including the great goswamis( even the old Krishnadas Kaviraj and Raghunatha), left places like Radha Kund and Gorvardhan and accompanied the books distributors; it was such a momentous occasion. They all accompanied them upto the border of Vrindavan but wouldn’t go any further , except Jiva Goswami and one or two others who went with him to Mathura, gave their blessings, saying , "Go out and distribute these books, go on and preach the message of Gauranga Mahaprabhu." And they went off to the east with these treasures of bhakti to preach to preach the message of Gauranga Mahaprabhu.

Similarly , you all are taking the responsibility of delivering these books of Krishna consciousness to the fallen souls, to give every person Krishna consciousness. May all the blessings of the previous acharyas and vaishnavas be upon you, so that you can go on preaching this movement with greater enthusiasm and greater inspiration and realization. Always remaining pure and stay away from maya’s attraction by being fearful of maya’s contamination, while always very carefully chanting and following the principles and preaching, and hankering for the mercy of the previous acharyas. And thus may all your lives be blessed.

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Krsna Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare/ Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. Thank you .

Any questions ?

Question : ( inaudible)

Answer : You see, that comes by appreciating the good qualities of other vaishnavas. Different vaishnavas may have different ideas about serving. Just like one devotee might like to offer Krishna a rose garland, and one might like to offer gardenia. One might say, "Rose is better than gardenia and the other might say, "No gardenia is better than rose." But one should see that the motive in both cases is service to Krishna. So, in such a case, there is some mutual respect ; there is no need to argue over something like that. The purpose is, of course, they offer two garlands so that each can do service. When both the motive and the service are authorized, then there is mutual respect ; so this type of love or trust or respect for the other person’s motive… when the overall motive is good, then naturally they have mutual respect.

When Lord Caitanya was asked, "Who is Vaishnava?" by the grihasthas in Bengal. He said, "Anyone who chants Hare Krishna is a Vaishnava." You should respect anyone who chants Hare Krishna. Then, of course, they say, "Well, some people chant but they are not pure." And Lord Caitanya says, "Yes, there are three types of chanters. One type of are those who chant but don’t follow strictly( they break principles). This way people may come and chant but they may still be eating meat and still doing some nonsense. But still they are coming and chanting. So Lord Caitanya said that if they chant, we still should respect them as devotees; we offer them respect in the heart and preach to them if we can, but then we don’t intimately associate with them on an equal level ; we keep a distance for our protection, unless we are preaching to them. Somehow, they are chanting. That means they are fortunate people.

And we must offer obeisances to those who are initiated by a bona fide spiritual master and are following purely, addressing everyon e of them as prabhu( master). And those who are pure devotees, who have got special mercy or have extraordinary qualities of devotion are considered mahabhagvata or spontaneously situated devotees. When we meet them, we immediately offer full dandavats (obeisances) to them and we accept their words as the words of supreme personality of Godhead. And if we are uninitiated, then we also hanker to be initiated by such a devotee, who is on level of a spiritual master. In this way, Lord Caitanya described three different levels more or less like Kanishtha, Madhyama and Uttama. That type of level or basic devotee who is not initiated and not so pure, a devotee who is initiated and is following and a devotee who is even more advanced, someone on level of the spiritual master who is taking some much responsibility for delivering other souls. So in this way, if one can see that everyone is connected with Lord Caitanya, then there's a type of cooperative spirit.

Our goal is not like some type of materialistic football team's goal where we want to get a big score. Each person has got his service who is trying to do his best, and that is also a type of competition in which one's only question is "Who can serve Kṛṣṇa the most?" But the overall intention is Krishna’s pleasure ; so if someone else is successful in preaching, that is our joy ; If someone else is unsuccessful or has difficulties that is our sadness ; because we know that success in the preaching would make Krishna, Caitanya Mahaprabhu, previous acharyas, and Srila Prabhupada happy or the opposite would make them feel some discomfort, as we are all serving the same ultimate master, the same previous acharyas. In this way, automatically, a type of cooperative spirit grows. Even if some misunderstanding comes up, by discussion, by association of Vaishnavas, by ishta-goshti , that can also be destroyed. That is just some type of temporary, superficial issue, due to lack of clear communication and understanding.

This Krishna conscious movement has got so many wonderful devotees. As I travel around the world, I see that not only GBC members , private secretaries, associates of Prabhupada, but also the temple presidents, book distributors, pujaris, and so many devotees around the movement, are all very wonderful, sincere devotees who are very attached to serving Krishna and the previous acharyas ; I see that this movement is actually an ocean of very great souls who are dedicated to doing welfare work for the whole human society, for the whole universe. Therefore they are very dear to Caitanya Mahaprabhu. So when one can gradually see that there are sincere good devotees not only in our temples, but also in every temple, we can see that they are actually very dear to Caitanya Mahaprabhu. And if we can encourage them and their service to Lord Caitanya in the service to their spiritual master, then it would be pleasing to Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda. Then naturally a cooperative spirit of how we can encourage everyone in their devotional service develops.

When somehow someone is discouraged, that is of course very sad. Then we try to make a program that can encourage him again. It is basically communication known as ishta-goshti and consideration and appreciation of the good qualities of other vaishnavas. This creates a cooperate spirit. If we lose sight of the fact that one's spiritual master is the servant of Prabhupada, and Prabhupada is the servant of Srila Bhakti-siddhanta Sarasvati Thakura ; in other words, if one can see that there is a whole, family chain of spiritual masters, then we fail to see that two different aspects are of equal value or equal to each other. As long as everyone is trying to serve Lord Caitanya sincerely, they are all equal because they are equal in Caitanya’s mission. In this way then, the cooperate spirit is there. Of course, each person pushes his own service on; but then he appreciates others' service also. In this way, there's a total upward push to give everything back to Caitanya Mahaprabhu is created.

Just like when the 10,000 precheta brothers were all worshipping the Lord under water for so many thousands of years, Vishnu appeared and said, "Because you have cooperated together [in worship], this has given me special satisfaction ; therefore I am personally appearing before you."

Lord Caitanya likes it very much when many devotees cooperate together. There was a big festival about fifty years after Lord Caitanya left ; all the devotees came and had big sankirtan and had an abhishek of a deity on Gaura Purnima. This was in a village called Kheturi. Janava devi, the wife of Nityananda, was present. Achyutananda, the son of Advaita –there was so many– Narottama, Srinivasa, Shyamananda– they were all present. In the middle of Kirtan lead by Narottam, Lord Caitanya appeared, with Nityananda with all the associates, although they had all disappeared, may be 50 years or so ago. They all had reappeared and were present. Everyone was seeing Lord Chaitanya! Advaita grabbed Achyutananda's son, they were dancing, and there was a big reunion. Disciples of disciples who hadn't even been born when Lord Caitanya was there were able to personally see Caitanya Mahaprabhu dancing. Because He was so pleased that they had all come together and were worshipping Him cooperatively, He personally appeared amongst them. Then again He disappeared, throwing them in separation. So even we can hope that sometimes we may able to see Caitanya Mahaprabhu, see Prabhupada, even if we didn’t have that opportunity up to now, although he's gone. He is not material, he may also appear before us. And of course, he is present in our temples, in our worship and in our service. The Lord is there. We may even see Him with divine eyes by His mercy. That also not impossible. Nothing is impossible. We will see him, of course, if not sooner, at least when we leave this body, we will see Him, if we have been serving Him our whole life. That is guaranteed. So when we understand all these things we'll have a broader vision. It is only when our vision becomes narrow due to so many considerations which are really temporary that we start see things in a different way.

Prabhupada once told me, "You have to broaden your vision. Broaden! Why…" He said it in such a way that I thought that I was just looking through a tunnel. Prabhupada thinks so broad, no matter how much broader I try to make my vision , mine is only a tunnel-vision compared to Prabhupada 's broad vision of seeing every man, woman, child in every town and village in the whole world as would-be devotees of Caitanya Mahaprabhu by being engaged in different ways like taking prasadam, doing kirtan and book distribution, thus connecting with Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Even if they don’t go back in this life when they are reborn, the next time round, they will get closer and close to Caitanya’s movement. So we pray that our vision may gradually become broader and we become mahatmas to realize our insignificant part in Lord Caitanya’s movement. This movement of Lord Caitanya is very significant in its own right. It's very important for us and for others who we are preaching to. We are so insignificant that can we only be an instrument in the hands of Mahaprabhu. Cooperative spirit comes as we become more mature in our outlook.

Question : (inaudible)

Answer : It is like finding a rotten apple in basket and letting it sit there, allowing it to affect the good ones. What we should do is , we should keep the rotten apple aside and keep the good ones. When we have some bad thoughts, or some doubts, if we keep them inside and do not bring them out, then they start polluting our consciousness. That's why, to be straightforward, devotees should follow the in footsteps of the previous acharyas, which is one of the six things conducive to devotional service. One should open up, at least to the spiritual master, and advanced devotees whom one can rely on to give scriptural solutions. In this way, these difficulties can be brought out. If one for keeps it inside then that will remain a type of festering wound. I know that Srila Hangsadhuta Swami is always straightforward ; whatever's on his mind, he says it. He is very sincere in that way.

In this way, we should follow in the footsteps of great devotees. If we have something in our mind, and if we can say that, then that can be purified. Because of lack of such communication then one doubts and mistrusts others and creates a different mood, which is not conducive to devotional service. That’s why some people who are simple and straightforward advance faster and those who are more complex take longer. Like some people come here and always say something, they always say, " But I think it should be like this. No, it should be like that!" They are always full of so many ideas, right? You know then that they are not making much advancement , because they are not listening. What we say doesn’t enter their brains, because they are already of thinking so many things. They hear something and speculate on it, give opinions, make some other proposals, etc. Although they come to us, they very are slow in their progress, and people who sincerely hear and actually open up, not hiding anything in their hearts, humbly ask questions and get their doubts cleared. In this way, they gradually become more and more mature and thus make advancement.

This the actual way of understanding, not a challenging mood. When I want to understand something, if there's something I can't accept or something I can't fully understand why something should be the way it is , I must again ask questions.Those who (we see) who are not so simple, although come[to Kṛṣṇa consciousness] , are very slow , right? There are some people that. So that's there amongst Indian people ; they tend to sometimes have that, probably because they, by nature, are very simple but sometimes when you open up to others, they exploit you .. . One has to have that faith ; but of course, after class and during ishta-goshti, they should not be worried about that.

Question : (inaudible)

Answer : Yes, that’s dangerous. Ishta-goshti has to be kept amongst Krishna consciously more advanced people.

Additional related question : (voice not clear.)

Answer continued : Shouldn’t be. That’s all materialistic type of attachment.

Additional Related question : (voice not clear.) Gurumaharaja : Pardon?

Answer continued : Ah… He might… It's not that that person is an authority ; might do so for different reasons; might do so just to find out what he is thinking. Might also do so, if it's a practical kind of thing. Say a person is trying to ask how to fix a vehicle, he may be a mechanic, he might ask his opinion or it might be about preaching in a particular place. Someone may know about that place.

Transcribed by : Subhadra Shubhangi Devi dasi Date : 31 Jan 2014