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HH Kesava Bharati Swami Maharaja:

Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya
Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya
Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya

This morning we are reading from Srimad Bhagavatam. Canto 9, chapter 4, text 68. Ambarisa Maharaja Offended by Durvasa Muni.

sadhavo hrdayam mahyam
sadhunam hrdayam tv aham
mad-anyat te na jananti
naham tebhyo manag api

(Word to word meaning is read)

TRANSLATION:

The pure devotee is always within the core of My heart, and I am always in the heart of the pure devotee. My devotees do not know anything else but Me and I do not know anyone else but them.

PURPORT:

Since Durvasa Muni wanted to chastise Maharaja Ambarisa, it is to be understood that he wanted to give pain to the heart of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, for the Lord says, sadhavo hrdayam mahyam: "The pure devotee is always within the core of My heart." The Lord's feelings are like those of a father, who feels pain when his child is in pain. Therefore, offenses at the lotus feet of a devotee are serious. Caitanya Mahaprabhu has very strongly recommended that one not commit any offense at the lotus feet of a devotee. Such offenses are compared to a mad elephant because when a mad elephant enters a garden it causes devastation. Therefore one should be extremely careful not to commit offenses at the lotus feet of a pure devotee. Actually Maharaja Ambarisa was not at all at fault; Durvasa Muni unnecessarily wanted to chastise him on flimsy grounds. Maharaja Ambarisa wanted to complete the Ekadasi-parana as a part of devotional service to please the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and therefore he drank a little water. But although Durvasa Muni was a great mystic brahmana, he did not know what is what. That is the difference between a pure devotee and a so-called learned scholar of Vedic knowledge. The devotees, being always situated in the core of the Lord's heart, surely get all instructions directly from the Lord, as confirmed by the Lord Himself in Bhagavad-gita (10.11):

tesam evanukampartham
aham ajnana-jam tamah
nasayamy atma-bhavastho
jnana-dipena bhasvata

"Out of compassion for them, I, dwelling in their hearts, destroy with the shining lamp of knowledge the darkness born of ignorance." The devotee does not do anything not sanctioned by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As it is said, vaisnavera kriya mudra vijneha na bujhaya. Even the most learned or experienced person cannot understand the movements of a Vaisnava, a pure devotee. No one, therefore, should criticize a pure Vaisnava. A Vaisnava knows his own business, whatever he does is precisely right because he is always guided by the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

HH Keshava Bharati Swami Maharaja:

Srila Prabhupada ki jay.

sadhavo hrdayam mahyam
sadhunam hrdayam tv aham
mad-anyat te na jananti
naham tebhyo manag api

om ajnana-timirandhasya
jnananjana-salakaya
caksur unmilitam yena
tasmai sri-gurave namah

sri-caitanya-mano-'bhistam
sthapitam yena bhu-tale
svayam rupah kada mahyam
dadati sva-padantikam

nama om visnu-padaya krsna-presthaya bhu-tale
srimate bhaktivedanta-svamin iti namine
namas te sarasvate deve gaura-vani-pracarine
nirvisesa -sunyavadi-pascatya-desa-tarine

vancha-kalpatarubhyash cha
kripa-sindhubhya eva cha
patitanam pavanebhyo
vaishnavebhyo namo namaha

mat-samo nasti papatma
naparadhi cha kashcana
parihare 'pi lajja me
kim bruve purushottama

yuvatinam yatha yuni
yunam cha yuvatuu yatha
mano 'bhiramate tadvan
mano me ramatam tvayi

bhumau skhalita-padanam
bhumir evavalambanam
tvayi jataparadhanam
tvam eva sharanam prabho

govinda-vallabhe radhe
prarthaye tvam aham sada
tvadiyam iti janatu
govindo mam tvaya saha

radhe vrindavanadhishe
karunamrita-vahini
kripaya tava-padabja-
dasyam mahyam pradiyatam

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

Hare Krsna Hare Krsna
Krsna Krsna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare

Hare Krsna! The last time I sat on this seat in this room was in 2002. Hare Krsna! There is an intimate relationship between the tongue of the speaker and ear of the hearers. So I know for a fact that you are all very exalted Vaishnavas and I beg you, pull something out from this tongue which will be meaningful, which will be unifying and at the same time which will be accommodating to the diversity, which means each and every one of us. Thank you.

This verse is one of a series of verses, as you all know probably, spoken by Vishnu Himself, Krishna to Durvasa Muni after Durvasa Muni had offended a pure devotee of Krishna, Maharaja Ambarish. Durvasa Muni is not just an ordinary yogi or a great sage. Do you remember who gave Srimati Radharani the blessings that whatever she cooked would taste not only like nectar but give complete health and nourishment to whoever ate it? That was Durvasa Muni. Do you remember who crossed over the river in order to render service to Durvasa Muni to receive that benediction? It was Srimati Radharani.

How careful should we be? So we are thinking, Oh that's for a pure devotee, ever liberated, Vaishnava Acharya. Visvanatha Chakravarthy Thakur however says that this applies to all Vaishnavas, whoever is fixed in the heart, serving devotional service to Krishna. And in the Madhurya Kadambini he gives a very strong statement. He says even reprobates who are fixed in service are not to be criticized for their past, however terrible it may have been. In this verse and in the verses that surround this verse, Vishnu is expressing how He feels about His devotees. And in the Brhad Bhagavatamrta when Gopa-kumar, after travelling throughout the material world, the coverings of the universe, the abode of liberation, after meeting the Vaikuntha dhutas and getting instructions from them in devotional service, in pure devotional service which culminated in nama sankirtan, they escort him, Gopa-kumar, into the presence of Vishnu in Vaikuntha. And while escorting him, mind you Gopa-kumar is a 8-10 year old boy, cowherd boy from Govardhan. And he wasn't educated before he started his quest to find the abode of his lord Madan-Gopal. Having been given the mantra, the Gopal mantra from his Spiritual Master who happened to be an incarnation of Krishna, special situation. So he is getting instruction along the way. By the mercy of his spiritual master, he is given the benediction that even his boyish proclivity to go everywhere and find out about everything. You know how boys are? They want to put their nose in everything. They want to run here and run there and find out about everything. So, this 8-10 year old cowherd boy has been given the benediction at the strength of this mantra, given to him by his Guru, that he could go to all these different places and receive instructions from all these different devotees about the different levels of devotional service. So finally he is approaching Vaikuntha and the lotus feet of Vishnu, personally face to face. And the Vaikuntha dhuthas on the way they are instructing him what to say, what not say, where to stand, where not to stand. This is Vaikuntha, awe and reverence. And Gopa-kumar, young impressionable boy is saying yes, yes, yes. He is agreeing with everything and then they finally ... anyway I won't go into the story it'll take way too long, if I go into the story. Then after passing, waiting at the gate, seeing unlimited opulence that are beyond anyone's conception in this world and finally getting the permission to enter being instructed by the Vaikuntha dhutas, he is approaching Vishnu and he sees the beautiful, effulgent, opulent form of Vishnu surrounded by all of His energies and all of His eternal servants.

I am going to read to you just a few verses, don't mind, from the Brhad Bhagavatamrta, I'm attached, don't mind.

(Maharaja starts reading from Brhad Bhagavatamrta)

“The fullness of this ecstasy brought on by this sign made me forget what the attendance of the Lord had instructed me. I cried out again and again, Oh Gopal! my life and soul and I ran forward to embrace the Lord. Some discerning attendants who were standing at the Lord's side held me back and I was heart-broken. I cried out in helpless distress again and again, overcome by my own excessive love and fell unconscious in front of the Lord. With some effort those attendants lifted me up and after sometime I regained my consciousness. I wiped away with my hands the flood of tears that blocked my sight and with difficulty I finally opened my eyes.”

Now we are going to hear how the Lord of the universe feels about His devotee. We are hearing it in this verse but this is explicit, the most explicit way or time that I have ever read in any sastra, in which Krishna is expressing His heart towards His devotee.

“Then I heard the Lord. That best of merciful persons, tell me in a deep gentle voice: 'Please come back to your senses dear boy. Come here quickly'. I then felt the highest limit of joy. I danced all around as if seized by madness and stumbled about. But with great endeavor the Lord's servants calmed me down and at last I awakened from that trance.”

Now we are going to hear how the Lord actually feels about us. Each and every one of us.

The Supreme Lord said: “Welcome, welcome my dear boy. I am fortunate, most fortunate to meet you here. For so long I have been eager to see you. My dear friend you have passed many lifetimes without paying any attention to me at all. For so long, hope had me dancing like a fool thinking perhaps in this life time, or in this or this or this he will finally turn his face towards me. But I could find no pretext on which to bring you to my aboard dear brother and still follow the timeless laws that I myself have created. You showed me no mercy and as I considered this, I grew impatient full of anxiety to receive your favor. So I transgressed my eternal code of conduct and arranged for you to take your current birth”. That birth was in Govardhan. “Dear boy in that divine district of Govardhan my most beloved abode, I myself became your Guru known by the name Jayantha. Today, you have at last fulfilled the desire I have harbored for so long. Please nourish your happiness and mine by staying here forever.”

(Maharaja finishes reading from Brihad Bhagavatamritha)

Now Srila Prabhupada used to say to us, many times. So now you have come to Vaikuntha, now you have come to Goloka, now you have come to Svetadvip, Mayapur, just don't leave. Don't ever leave. We have been hearing a lot in these past days about how to lead, how to be spiritual leaders properly, how to unite, behind the fulfilling of Srila Prabhupada's desire, to build this temple which is meant to unite the world. Prabhupada told us to come every year to Mayapur, specifically the GBC, the leaders, but all of us. He wanted us to come here as often as possible at least once a year and discuss unity in diversity. And due to the urgency of the moment, the need, the urgent need to bring together all of the devotees of this movement to strengthen it, to prepare it, to organize it in a way to go forward as we get larger and larger and more and more devotees come. Just how dear are the devotees of the Lord to the Lord?

One of the reason I picked this verse and this topic was because this past year I had an experience. I made an experiment. I was asking everywhere I went, I was asking the devotees, who knows the verse

tad viddhi pranipatena
pariprasnena sevaya

Famous verse! How many devotees know that verse?

See.

But I was surprised that when I asked who knew the next verse not very many devotees did. Only a few. But this next verse. You know tad viddhi pranipatena, it tells us how to find the truth, how to find, how to get knowledge, how to get real transcendental knowledge by approaching self-realized souls, Spiritual Master. By serving, by inquiring, by being submissive. The next verse,

yaj jnatva na punar moham
evam yasyasi pandava
yena bhutany asesani
draksyasy atmany atho mayi

tells us what that knowledge is. The essence of it. And that's my point. I want to go to the essence of the diversity by which we can unite consciously without losing the importance of the diversity. Without losing the importance of who we are dealing with as leaders. What does Krsna say in that verse? He says when you've received this knowledge, transcendental knowledge you will never again fall into illusion. This is the test of whether or not you have actually received this knowledge that you will never again fall into illusion. You want to know how not to fall down. Here it is in a nutshell, in the Gita.

Caitanya Caritamrita, Prabhupada told us was the post-graduate study. Srimad Bhagavatam is the graduate study, the Bhagavad Gita is the undergraduate study. The axiomatic truths. And I have seen it with my own eyes, devotees think that to go to the graduate and post graduate they kind of can leave the Gita behind. NO! We can no longer leave the axiomatic truths of the Gita behind in our behavior towards one another than we can leave behind the relationships to the integers going on to higher studies of mathematics. The axiomatic truths of mathematics must be learned so thoroughly that they becomes a part of us. How much is 6 times 6? Everybody can tell. You don't have to think. No one, no one who is educated has to think. 9 times 9. You don't have to think, it's there. This axiomatic Truth that Krishna gives to Arjuna, the first verse after tad viddhi pranipatena pariprasnena sevaya tells us what that transcendental knowledge is. And what is it? You won't fall down because you'll see that all living beings are but a part of Me. In other words that they are Mine.

This is how not to fall down. This is how not to commit offences. This is how not to make the mistake that Durvasa Muni made, despite being such a great soul. Everyone one of us belongs to Krsna! Our mothers, our fathers, our children, our husbands, our wifes, our Gurus, our god brothers, our god sisters, our aunties, our uncles, everyone belongs to the family of Krsna. And us, especially us, under the shelter of our Founder Acharya- Srila Prabhupada, we belong to this family. Srila Prabhupada said, if you try to become Krishna conscious once having come to this family, once having heard this nectar directly from Srila Prabhupada if you go out, you are living in hallucination if you think you can become Krishna conscious. Caitanya Caritamrita is composed of perfect verses. Sprinkled in those verses, not in the purport, not in the commentary but in the verses themselves, sprinkled throughout, are verses of the Bhagavad Gita.

Even in the atmarama verse's explanation by Caitanya Mahaprabhu there are verses of the Gita. Let us re-double our commitment to the basics of Krsna Consciousness, to this basic principle of Krsna consciousness that all of us, what to speak of all living beings are but part and parcel of Krsna. We belong to Krsna. We are Krishna's and therefore we should take great care and if treat each other like that, if we actually treat each other like that, even when we have difference of opinion. There is a famous letter. We call the letter the utopia letter. You remember that letter? You know that letter? It was written by Srila Prabhupada to Atreya Rishi in 1972. I don't have time. I have already run out of time. Sorry. I have a lot more to say. But I have run out of time. Hare Krishna.

But I want to tell you, please read this letter: Feb. 4th 1972 to Atreya Rishi and there Srila Prabhupada tells him who was complaining about faults and lacking in the GBC. That was the response to a letter that Prabhupada received on that subject. Prabhupada said, it is not that because there may be some fault, or lacking or some lack of some cooperation, that this means there is impersonalism in the air. No. Why? Because it is in the nature of the living condition that there is always something lacking. He said even in the spiritual world, of course for different reasons. Sometimes, he said, Krishna becomes so bewildered by looking at Srimati Radharani that he tries to milk the bull instead of the cow. You know, if you were a CNN reporter, you know, watching, you know, what kind of a God is this? Doesn't know the difference between a cow and a bull? Sometimes the Gopis compete for Krsna's favour. Sometimes the cowherd boys, they compete for Krsna's favor. They have a kind of envy but it's not envy because everything they do is for Krishna. So let us open our eyes with this knowledge given by Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita, meant for every one of us, no matter what our positions are in this movement or in this world. Practice seeing. This is called the 'assimilation of knowledge.' What did Krishna mean when He said you'll see everyone belongs to Me and that everyone is Mine. You won't be able to see that physically immediately but it means you'll see it through knowledge.

In the verse later, in the 4th chapter where Krishna glorifies transcendental knowledge:

na hi jnanena sadrsam
pavitram iha vidyate

as the most pure transcendental thing, the sweetest thing. In the first line of the purport, Srila Prabhupada said, when we speak of transcendental knowledge we do so in terms of transcendental understanding. This is what knowledge is and this is how to assimilate the knowledge. Understand that we all belong to Krishna and see one another in that light and if you do you will automatically take more care, no matter who the person is. And so when we naturally bicker in the heat of the moment whether we are leaders of the movement or leaders of our family or whatever we are doing, this is Kali Yuga, it is impossible to avoid that bickering. It is an ocean of faults. So, that's my humble request. Please take this axiomatic truth, this simple axiomatic truth. Practice seeing one another no matter what the situation, no matter what the circumstance. You know my mother used to tell me count to ten, if you are feeling a little upset and you are going to say something nasty, count to 10 before you speak. And if you don't have something nice to say, don't say it.

17th chapter 15th verse, austerity of speech. Practice, practice. And when another person sees you practicing that and looking at them at the soul and giving them the love that every soul deserves they'll respond, according to time, according to circumstance, they'll respond and our movement will become so strong. It already is but it will become stronger and stronger and there is no limit to how strong it can become if we take this principle into our heart and practice assimilating this knowledge.

Hare Krsna! Srila Prabhupada ki jay.

OK. I am out of time. I am not going to take any questions. Hare Krsna! Thank you so much. Each and every one of you. For your hearts and your ears, pulled something out. Thank you. Hare Krsna.

- Kindly transcribed by Mataji Swetha Ganeshan

Lecture on Advaita Saptami Katha by HH Bhakti Vikasa Swami on 07 Feb 2014 at Rajapur, West Bengal

(His Holiness Bhakti Vikasa Swami appeared in this world in 1957 in England. He joined the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in London in 1975 and was initiated in that year with the name Ilapati dasa by ISKCON's founder-acarya, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.)

To Listen and Download - click here

Lecture on Anand kahan milta hai by Sarvabhauma Prabhu

(Sarvabhauma Prabhu was born on 6th Feb 1952, in a Puskarana Vaishnava Brahmin family, having a Radha Krishna temple for eight generations in Mithi, which is part of Rajasthan in Sindh province of Pakistan.)

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Lecture on Krishna is Pleased by Simple Offerings Of Love And Devotion by Radhanath Swami on 25 Jan 2014

(Radhanath Swami has a special interest in the holy places in India and leads thousands of devotees on pilgrimage each year. Radhanath Swami is a trustee of Bhaktivedanta College, Belgium, by providing his spiritual support and encouragement.)

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Lecture on Mathura Lila by Radha Govinda Swami

(H.H. Radha Govinda Swami, a direct disciple of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, founder of ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness), lives in Vrindavan, India.)

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susrusoh sraddadhanasya
vasudeva-katha-rucih
syan mahat-sevaya viprah
punya-tirtha-nisevanat

(Collective chanting and word to word meaning is read)

TRANSLATION : O twice-born sages, by serving those devotees who are completely freed from all vice, great service is done. By such service, one gains affinity for hearing the messages of Vasudeva.

PURPORT : The conditioned life of a living being is caused by his revolting against the Lord. There are men called deva, or godly living beings, and there are men called asuras, or demons, who are against the authority of the Supreme Lord. In the Bhagavad-gita (Sixteenth Chapter) a vivid description of the asuras is given in which it is said that the asuras are put into lower and lower states of ignorance life after life and so sink to the lower animal forms and have no information of the Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead. These asuras are gradually rectified to God consciousness by the mercy of the Lord's liberated servitors in different countries according to the supreme will. Such devotees of God are very confidential associates of the Lord, and when they come to save human society from the dangers of godlessness, they are known as the powerful incarnations of the Lord, as sons of the Lord, as servants of the Lord or as associates of the Lord. But none of them falsely claim to be God themselves. This is a blasphemy declared by the asuras, and the demoniac followers of such asuras also accept pretenders as God or His incarnation. In the revealed scriptures there is definite information of the incarnation of God. No one should be accepted as God or an incarnation of God unless he is confirmed by the revealed scriptures.

The servants of God are to be respected as God by the devotees who actually want to go back to Godhead. Such servants of God are called mahatmas, or tirthas, and they preach according to particular time and place. The servants of God urge people to become devotees of the Lord. They never tolerate being called God. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was God Himself according to the indication of the revealed scriptures, but He played the part of a devotee. People who knew Him to be God addressed Him as God, but He used to block His ears with His hands and chant the name of Lord Visnu. He strongly protested against being called God, although undoubtedly He was God Himself. The Lord behaves so to warn us against unscrupulous men who take pleasure in being addressed as God.

The servants of God come to propagate God consciousness, and intelligent people should cooperate with them in every respect. By serving the servant of God, one can please God more than by directly serving the Lord. The Lord is more pleased when He sees that His servants are properly respected because such servants risk everything for the service of the Lord and so are very dear to the Lord. The Lord declares in the Bhagavad-gita (18.69) that no one is dearer to Him than one who risks everything to preach His glory. By serving the servants of the Lord, one gradually gets the quality of such servants, and thus one becomes qualified to hear the glories of God. The eagerness to hear about God is the first qualification of a devotee eligible for entering the kingdom of God.

HH Bhakti Vinod Swami: Om Tat Sat.

om ajnana-timirandhasya
jnananjana-salakaya
caksur unmilitam yena
tasmai sri-gurave namah

nama om visnu-padaya krsna-presthaya bhu-tale
srimate bhaktivedanta-svamin iti namine
namas te sarasvate deve gaura-vani-pracarine
nirvisesa -sunyavadi-pascatya-desa-tarine

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

hare krsna hare krsna
krsna krsna hare hare
hare rama hare rama
rama rama hare hare

nama om visnu-padaya krsna-presthaya bhu-tale
srimate Jayapathaka-svamin iti namine

I am here sitting on this asana sitting with great nervousness and fear on the insistence of the organisers, especially Laxmimoni mataji, insisted several times that I should speak and I am seeking the blessings of many exalted stalwart Vaishnavas, senior Vaishnavas, who are my Spiritual Masters who are also here that I may be blessed to say, speak a few words in keeping with the wonderful spirit of the purports of Srila Prabhupada.

So this sloka is specifically selected to reflect something about leadership. Prabhupada is explaining so brilliantly in the purport, what is the meaning of respecting a servant of the lord. What is the meaning of taking advantage of the association of a pure servant of the lord.

In the modern world, people have started speaking in leadership about servant leadership. Sometime back I gave a little session to some students in management. It was about servant leadership and I got to refer to some things from big companies who offer this as courses. I was amazed to see an abstract that the first thing in the abstract said that servant leadership is built on self-awareness and selflessness. Then servant leaders know how to bring about unity in a diverse group. You name it, everything that Prabhupada has spoken about, asking us to focus, was there. I was wondering how there would be those type of servants, those type of servant leaders, because the central point is missing and the central point is, being Krishna conscious. Being centered on Krishna, being centered on Krishna's pure servant. These things were obviously missing and I doubt that they would make any great progress using servant leadership. Maybe they would get some other type of material benefit, but our whole philosophy and leadership, that Prabhupada gave us so closely intertwined with the Srimad Bhagavatam, you can see all these things revealed in the Srimad Bhagavatam so wonderfully. Prabhupada brings those things out in his purports so clearly, practically, that we could endeavor to do those things. He also exhibited that quality openly and this is the way to do it.

It is very challenging to be a servant, to have the mood of the servant and also adopt the mood of a leader. Sometimes we think, they are both anathema, they don't go together. In the world, people are all wanting to be leaders. They want to enjoy lordship. They want to enjoy mastership. They want to lord over people and many of them they do that for the sake of getting a subtle happy thrill of being able to control others and whatever servant leadership or whatever they may advocate, ultimately it is meant for them to enjoy leadership. But actually servant leadership as Prabhupada has mentioned here is sacrifice, is about giving yourself to others. First be a servant and leadership follows as a byproduct of it.

I am reminded of a small instance in Mukunda Maharaja's book, that Second Avenue book, in which there is a description of Prabhupada making his first break through. In America, when Mukunda Maharaja is Michael Grant, is arranging that beautiful musical show and all sorts of musicians are getting together and Prabhupada is very majestically walking on the stage. He asks Allen Ginsberg to lead the kirtan, Hare Krsna maha mantra, because he is their Guru, and then exactly when everybody is following he takes it over from him and leads the kirtan and has everybody listen to him. Then he gives a short talk on the holy name and sankirtan and then he goes off the stage and another music concert resume. Srila Prabhupada is happy, he has made his break-through.

The next day Srila Prabhupada is walking up the stairs in his little room and a person comes running, holding the balance rail, running up the staircase: Are you not Allen Ginsberg's Guru? Are you not Allen Ginsberg's Guru? And Prabhupada turns around very slowly in his very prestigious, majestic, dignified way and looks at him in the eye and he says I am nobody's Guru, I am everybody's servant and then he hangs his head lower, it is so difficult to be a servant. This is Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada before he started the movement. The Founder-Acharya saying I am no body's Guru, I am everybody's servant. And who is he saying this to? He is saying this to somebody insignificant, may be a reporter. I don't remember. And Mukunda Maharaja by that time has come close by and he is looking at Prabhupada saying this, hanging his head lower and saying, it's not easy to be a servant and he is amazed. This is Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. This is his understanding of being a leader. This is how he preached. This is the internal attitude he had before he started this movement. See.

So being a leader means first internally accepting that I am a servant and it means anything and everything you may have to do, whatever the situation demands.

I heard from another devotee here, very senior Prabhupada's disciple, that he said in the 22nd avenue, in the initial days there was only one bathroom and toilet. I don't know, because I am just recollecting what he told me. And he said that some of those residents were the early followers of Prabhupada and they also came to use the toilet and bathroom in the morning and Prabhupada stood in queue with his gamcha and his suchi kit waiting to use the toilet. After one or 2 days they realized that may be Swamiji should be going first and they said 'Swamiji, you can go ahead' and Prabhupada went. He is ready to do anything to train people. Being an amazing servant, sacrificing. This is the essence of servant leadership. And I don't think people in the outside world are going to do all these things. Servant leadership is apt, it actually befits what the Bhagavatam is saying, what Prabhupada has told us to do. And that's what our business is. Our business is first to become servants. And that is a difficult job. Because we are so conditioned to control, to lord over and internally there is a great war. It is easy to profess servant hood but to actually internally practice it and externally manifest it is a real challenge. That's why we are in this great movement which affords us that wonderful opportunity by associating with great souls, we'll be able to develop, it says here, punya sravana kirtana, where is it, susrusoh sraddadhanasya. Susrusoh means actually one is engaged in hearing and susrusoh also means serving, very carefully serving and accepting that servant hood.

So being a leader is an essential ingredient of everybody in the movement. We are all invested with that mandate. We have to be leaders. See, this is Lord Chaitanya's instructions:

amara ajnaya guru hoi tara ei desa

And when you preach, when you give the message of godhead you get respect, you get honored automatically. In India at least anybody who speaks Bhagavad Gita, wears a little saffron cloth, he gets a lot of respect. Very easily you get respect, people bow down to you and then you have to adjust that very nicely, internally. Now, that people offer you respect it means that you are in a very responsible position. You have to offer leadership. Inherently when people offer respect, we have to offer them Krsna consciousness, offer them instruction, offer them direction, be a leader.

Every time somebody offers you respect we are reminded about our responsibility. This is the meaning of servant leadership. That's why, Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswathi Thakur, when his disciples paid obeisances to him, he said, Dasosmi. I am your servant. Really feeling like that. We heard how Prabhupada broke down when he spoke and he said actually all of you have been sent by my Spiritual Master to assist me. You are my Spiritual Masters. A genuine feeling. So that is why Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada, his instructions should be very carefully followed and he can pave the way for us going back to godhead. In fact, he can personally deliver all of us, if we simply follow his instructions.

There is an instance in Ramanuja Acharya's life. Want to share that with you, that he was speaking on the Ramayana and all his disciples, some of his key disciples sitting very close to him and he was speaking on the Ramayana he was speaking about how Vibhishana came for shelter from Lord Ramachandra. And Lord Ramachandra was with all his chief Vanara kings, Vanara leaders and he was finding out how he should actually cross the ocean and go ahead. At that time Vibhishana came and he had by his mystic powers suspended the sky with four others, who had departed from Ravana and they had come to surrender themselves to Lord Ramachandra, a great risk he had taken. Left, his treasury, left his house, left his relatives, left his brother, left his kingdom, left everything and came to surrender to Lord Ramachandra. But Lord Ramachandra kept him standing there and he discussed with others what should we do with this proposal. And as he was describing this, Ramanuja Acharya, one of his chief disciples, he is called (?), I think, he is otherwise called Kuresha, he got up hearing that and he started mumbling, there is no chance, he dusted his backside and he wanted to move out from the lecture. He was just mumbling and said no hope, no chance and he was just moving out, then Ramanuja stopped him and said 'Where are you going?' He said: I don't think I have any hope. Here is Vibhishana, he has taken a great risk, he belongs to the enemy camp, he is a demon and he is coming forward and saying I surrender to you and Ramachandra is considering it. He is not accepting him immediately. Then what is the hope for me? And then Ramanuja said, Lord Ramachandra is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He is Bhagavan, and He is in a position where He has to consult others. I don't have to. I can liberate you if you follow my instructions. This is the meaning of Founder Acharya, that, he can, carry out the order of the Lord, in him is invested the potency to actually deliver.

So wonderfully Ramanuja carried out his duty of liberating people, bringing them to understand who is Krishna, what are the teachings Krishna has given, and why you should surrender to Him that the Lord Himself became so amazed. In South India, you have a place called Thirukkurungudi, deep south. It is a place where a pastime happened wherein the Lord himself came in front of Ramanuja and said I am so happy and amazed. How is it that you are able to bring so many people to my lotus feet and make them surrender? I want to know and Ramanuja immediately got into the same mood; as though the Lord doesn't know, He knows very well, it's all happening by His mercy. So he also got into the same mood and said well if you want to know that then you have to follow the proper discipline. I'll tell you. He also got into the mood and immediately it is mentioned that the Lord accepted discipleship and in that temple, you will see there is a higher altar for Ramanuja and a lower altar for the deity. And the Lord heard from Ramanuja, the glories of Himself, and the relationship between His servant and Him, and how the Lord is so merciful. All this the Lord Himself heard from Ramanuja. So, this is the meaning of empowered Founder Acharyas.

So Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada also knew. He said, when his disciple asked him Lord Caitanya is the Supreme personality of Godhead, why He couldn't have liberated everybody all around the world and Prabhupada turned round, dug his cane into the ground and said because he wanted me to do it. I am that person. So Prabhupada, not only was an amazing spiritual leader, Founder Acharya, very unique, but he was an amazing servant, very deeply committed to the words and to the instructions of His Guru. So we have to carry out the mandate in that we should also be leaders. We don't have to be a Founder Acharya. We just don't have to be at all. We just have to be leaders in order to perpetrate these wonderful instructions given by Srila Prabhupada. So beautifully made practical by His own life and within the beautiful institution that he has crafted to perpetrate this into posterity, into the future. So, each one of us is a very important element that we have to accept internally leadership. We have to accept deeply, internally servitorship, understand it and execute Krishna Consciousness, preaching, collectively together with everybody. That's what I think is the most important thing. Our movement is sankirtan movement:

Bahubir militwa, kirtayante sankirtana ucyate
Bahubir militwa kirtayante

Many people get together and glorify. Kirti means fame. Kirtan means singing the fame and the glory of the lord. Sankirtan means, San means everybody together singing.

Bahubir militwa kirtayante

Many people get together and glorify. That's the essence. If we do some kirtan somewhere, don't do some kirtan, we have to do sankirtan. There is a difference between some kirtan, this phenomenon also we can see, that we know Prabhupadas books, we know His instructions, we use His institution, we use His resources, and get away, move on and do our own kirtan. Some kirtan, it won't work. It has to be sankirtan. In all these seminar and all these wonderful programs, that we heard, we heard repeatedly that it has to be done together. It has to be done together.

Bhakti Vijnana Maharaja was giving a very wonderful seminar on anartha nivritthi and how leaders have to at least be in the stage of anartha nivritthi, clear in the heart and that he was saying that we must practice Sadhana in the association of devotee. If we practice sadhana on your own, we can get swept off your feet. We have to do that together.

Similarly I remember Ravindrasvarup prabhu, here once speaking, very long back, I had an amazing realization. He said our movement is sankirtan and ours is not an individual enterprise. We are all going back to godhead together, not alone. We are facilitating each other's process of going back to godhead. So ours is sankirtan governance. Our leadership is together. We are not having one person whom we have to listen to like a monarchy. Ours is not even a democracy. It's not that our GBC men are democratic, actually ours is sankirtan, its not democracy. It's a sankirtan governance.

We are all pronouncing, sitting together and deciding, then pronouncing, that particular type of a resolution and then practicing it ourselves and jointly and having everybody else practice it, and let it flow down the rank and file. So everything we do is sankirtan. In our ILS we discuss about team work. Teamwork does not mean just ordinary teamwork. Sankirtan is something that gives you an affect that is greater than synergy, greater than symbiosis. It is sankirtan effect. Prabhupada wanted us to conquer the whole world, being together, performing sankirtan and conveying the message of Krishna to everybody. So we have to do things together, we have to lead together, we have to glorify Krishna together, we have to fight problems together. We have to take prasadam together, we have to read Prabhupadas books together it is all sankirtan. That's leadership. It's a new leadership with a new age, sankirtan governance. So, this is Prabhupadas great contribution and that is genuinely servant leadership and that is what is spoken about in this verse.

Krishna is saying my servants are very dear to me. They are worshipable. Prabhupada is saying here, it is through the servants that you can go back to godhead. If you are serious about going back to Godhead, you should serve these pure servants. That's our great fortune that we are all able to take part in service to Srila Prabhupada in his mission. That's the greatest fortune. That simply by serving Prabhupada, serving Prabhupadas mission, carrying out things that Prabhupada asked us to do, how ever much of a struggle it may be, that's our success. Staying together and carrying out the instructions of Prabhupada. In it lies success.

So although we are all together here and we like that so much, then we go back to our individual places, then sometimes we feel lonely, sometimes we have difficulties and problems, and sometimes we seek shelter, we seek association, we seek the help of others and it's difficult. It is difficult. Because the world is full of people who all want to be masters.

Like Niranjana Maharaja was saying in his seminars, that he recollected how in the purport Prabhupada said, the world is almost full of envious people and he said that if you are envious you can't take care of devotees, you can't take care of others. In this way, it is difficult. But then if we persevere and try our best Srila Prabhupada is very kind and his mercy is very expansive and if we struggle to execute some of the things that Prabhupada has told us, simply our desire to endeavor itself, is a successful beginning.

In this way we can show the world what really leadership means. I think all ISKCON followers, Prabhupadas followers have the great opportunity to become genuine leaders and Srila Prabhupadas movement should show the rest of the world what leadership really means and how leadership can never be executed without Krishna in the center and how we can all live together by serving each other, and jointly become leaders. It's participating management and that's what is sankirtan.

Om Tat Sat.

Srila Prabhupada ki jay!

Hare Krsna. I will take one or 2 questions and please be kind to me. Don't give me one of those stump the Swami questions. Please. No 1. Suresvar prabhu and No. 2 Prithu Prabhu and then. Is there a mic?

Question from Suresvar Prabhu:

Maharaja, about how we should all become leaders, when I repeat that message in our Founder Acharya seminar, I find very often devotees are intimidated by that. They are intimated when Prabhupada says, “You must all become Guru, everyone of you,” he said this many times. So why do you think we are intimidated by that, and what to do about it?

HH Bhakti Vinoda Swami:

I think we are intimidated by that because of ourROh, I am sorry, Suresvar prabhu said that in his seminars that he does on Founder Acharya-Srila Prabhupada, often he tells people that Prabhupada mentioned that you should all become Gurus, you should become leaders in the future and expand the movement and often he finds that people become intimidated by that. So I am saying that yes, a position of responsibility is always intimidating, number one. In the material world the position of responsibility is something that people don't want. And many leaders, you'll see that don't have the second line of people enthusiastic about taking responsibility. True. And I think that it is partly because of the fact that we equate that type of responsibility with the type of responsibilities that we take up in the material world. To say flat, un-Krishna conscious leadership is intimidating. If we have full faith and if we are endeavoring to be as Krishna conscious as possible, this is Krishna's instruction to Arjuna:

cetasa sarva-karmani
mayi sannyasya mat-parah
buddhi-yogam upasritya
mac-cittah satatam bhava

Before that he said;

mac-cittah sarva-durgani
mat-prasadat tarishyasi
atha cet tvam ahankaran
a sroshyasi vinankshyasi

All obstacles that come in front of you, you will be able to tide over them by always being conscious of Me;

cetasa sarva-karmani
mayi sannyasya mat-parah

mac-cittah satatam bhava

Always remain in consciousness of Me, that is the factor. I think if we practice that and try to be Krishna conscious, then we can accept this responsibility. Another angle is we should accept the responsibility so we will think of Krishna. You know, if you don't it is difficult to actually take up the challenge of being Krishna conscious. We have to take up these responsibilities, be leaders, reciprocate, make mistakes, learn and then increase our Krishna conscious. Internally there is progress and externally there is benefit for the movement. Prabhu.

Question from HG Prithu Prabhu:

There is a beautiful story in terms of Srila Prabhupada feeling himself , considering himself as a servant. In Sweden, in Uppsala, in a university, Srila Prabhupada gave a lecture to students and it was about the 4 classes of men. First class men, second class, Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Sudra. So when Srila Prabhupada asked for questions, one student stood up and he said, 'Of course you think you are first class, sitting on a high seat, being garlanded, surrounded by followers. You think you are first class. I was so angry, I would have liked to jump up and beat this man up. I was so angry. So, Prabhupada, he was shocked, I could see, he was shocked when he heard that somebody was thinking him to be in this mindset. Srila Prabhupada said, 'No, (like this: action), no, I am not first class, I am actually fifth class. There was dead silence in the room. And then Prabhupada said, his voice was faltering, he said because 'I am the servant of everyone' and then two big tears came down from his spectacles. It was awesome. There was dead silence in the room, the man was ashamed. He sat down. Everybody looked back to him as if he were demon. Srila Prabhupada put him to shame with his humility. (Applause)

HH Bhakti Vinoda Swami: Thank you very much Prithu prabhu.

Question from audience:

Thank you very much Bhakti Vinoda Swami Maharaja. Wonderful class you have given. First of all I glorify Jayapataka Swami Maharaja who is the servant of servant of BhaktiVinod Thakur. I just wanted to understand what you said about Prabhupada said that Bhakti Siddhantha Saraswathi Thakur sent all of you, you are my spiritual masters. That I would like to get elaboration of the explanation.

HH Bhakti Vinoda Swami:

I think some of the senior devotees over here will be able to give that much better. I am just a grand disciple but they may have a firsthand experience in this. We will hear from HH Kesava Bharati Maharaja.

HH Kesava Bharati Maharaja:

Hare Krsna. In Oct 23rd 1972, Vrindavan, Srila Prabhupada was lecturing in the famous nectar of devotion series. And in that lecture, you can look it up in folio if you'd like, He said this: Spiritual Master is to be honored as much as Krishna then He gave the slokas because he is representing Krsna and then he said but Spiritual Master does not think of himself as Krsna. Spiritual Master thinks of himself as the servant of Krishna and all others. Then he said, he thinks, he considers his disciples as his spiritual masters. Reason being, he thinks that Krishna has sent these Spiritual Masters to be trained. My duty is to train them, therefore I am their servant. And then he said, in this way the advanced devotee knows how to treat other devotees, that's the reason because he is considering himself their servant because he has to train them according to Krishna's will.

HH Bhakti Vinoda Swami: Thank you very much.

Hare Krsna.
Srila Prabhupada ki jai.
Grantharaj Srimad Bhagavatam ki jay.
Nitai Gaur Premanande. Hari Hari Bol.

(SB 01.13.16)

prasajjati kvapi lata-bhujasrayas
tad-asrayavyakta-pada-dvija-sprhah
kvacit kadacid dhari-cakratas trasan
sakhyam vidhatte baka-kanka-grdhraih

Translation: Sometimes the living entity in the forest of material existence takes shelter of creepers and desires to hear the chirping of the birds in those creepers. Being afraid of roaring lions in the forest, he makes friends with cranes, herons and vultures.

Purport: In the forest of the material world there are many animals and birds, trees and creepers. Sometimes the living entity wants to take shelter of the creepers; in other words, he wants to be happy by being embraced by the creeper-like arms of his wife. Within the creepers there are many chirping birds; this indicates that he wants to satisfy himself by hearing the sweet voice of his wife. In old age, however, he sometimes becomes afraid of imminent death, which is compared to a roaring lion. To save himself from the lion's attack, he takes shelter of some bogus swamis, yogis, incarnations, pretenders and cheaters. Being misled by the illusory energy in this way, he spoils his life. It is said, harim vina mrtim na taranti: no one can be saved from the imminent danger of death without taking shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

The word hari indicates the lion as well as the Supreme Lord. To be saved from the hands of hari, the lion of death, one must take shelter of the supreme Hari, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. People with a poor fund of knowledge take shelter of nondevotee cheaters and pretenders in order to be saved from the clutches of death. In the forest of the material world, the living entity first of all wants to be very happy by taking shelter of the creeperlike arms of his wife and hearing her sweet voice. Later, he sometimes takes shelter of so-called gurus and sadhus who are like cranes, herons and vultures. Thus he is cheated both ways by not taking shelter of the Supreme Lord.”

HH Devamrta Swami: You are in the midst of Jada Bharata's instruction to Rahugana Maharaj. You know that in the Bhagavad Gita Krishna says, evam parampara praptam imam rajarsayo viduh (BG 4.2), this knowledge of Bhagavad Gita is meant for the rulers of society and it is passed down from one saintly ruler to another.

And in the purport Srila Prabhupada explains that the Bhagavad Gita knowledge is meant for the government heads because otherwise how can they give people protection. Protection from what? Especially protection from lust, anger, greed, madness, envy and illusion. That is the number one responsibility of the government.

Rahugana Maharaj has been humbled. A few chapters ago he thought that this personality Jada Bharat was an imbecile, suitable for carrying his palanquin. A few chastising ironic words from Jada Bharat and Rahugana Maharaj immediately understood - I am in the presence of an extraordinary person and he begged for shelter and that begging for shelter means begging for instruction.

In the course of Jada Bharat's instructing Rahugana Maharaj he is going to give him an extended allegory, a forest of material enjoyment. And the allegory takes several chapters because Rahugana Maharaj wants clarification upon clarification. He wants to really get it. So in the preceding chapter Jada Bharat has introduced this wonderful allegory describing material existence as a forest of illusion. And Rahugana Maharaj is pressing him for more clarification. He wants to make sure that the case is nailed shut. He's got it in his head and in his heart.

He sees, the king sees yes there is a forest of illusion but now I'd like to understand clearly the path through that forest and also I want not only vision but I want the dynamics, the motivation the to make it through that forest. So based on Rahugana Maharajas head felt and heart felt investment, Jada Bharat is responding.

So Visvanath Cakravarti Thakur explains in that way, the outlay of the forest has already been given. Now Jada Bharat is going to be even more merciful, after doing the environmental scan, check out where you are residing, check out what's happening around you, now how are you going to make your way through. I'll tell you the path. I'll give you the vision and I'll impart to you the enthusiasm to progress on that path. So this is the glory of Srimad Bhagavatam.

Yet we may think that this chapter, if you read it with submission, the preceding chapter and the one that's coming, you may think this is very relentless, there is no, nothing in material existence is left untouched. All the material shelters are just tossed out, everything. You feel like you are just left with nothing. [chuckles] You feel like everywhere you turn in the material world Jada Bharat has criticized it, blown it up, [chuckles] incinerated it, so what are we going to do? [chuckles]

Material society is ripped apart, material family life is ripped apart, material desires are ripped apart. It is natural that the conditioned soul in this world wants shelter. Jada Bharat is not some kind of negativist. He is exposing that in your helpless condition there is only one real shelter. That is surrender at the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

He is not simply saying that in a dogmatic, fanatical way, he is proving it. But the proofs that he is giving they can be a little terrifying to us because we feel like perhaps the very ground under us is being removed, you've got no material standing.

But actually that's a luxurious feeling. You can remember from the beginning of Sri Caitanya Caritamrita where Kaviraja Goswami says that Lord Caitanya is the property of those who are materially exhausted. Definitely by reading these chapters the instructions of Jada Bharat to Rahugana Maharaj you will feel material exhausted, where do I turn? And that is a great achievement. We should relish that opportunity.

One of the inconceivable characteristics of the conditioned soul in Maya is that its not only we cannot perceive the full extent of the forest of illusion. We also cannot perceive how helpless we are. We can't fully appreciate how tiny and helpless we are. Because we have surrounded ourselves with so much bad shelter. It's natural for us to want to take shelter.

The Bhagavatam is not attacking that. What the Bhagavatam is attacking and we may sometimes resent a bit subconsciously, is, it's attacking the false shelters offered by material existence. This may be difficult for us to see because contemporary life means offering so many artificial and hallucinogenic shelters. That is called progress. You want a succinct definition of human progress from the mundane point of view, it's the proliferation of artificial shelters to make you artificially feel secure and to make you artificially feel hope in material existence and the advancement of human material prowess. Stripped of all that the human being becomes a different creature.

I'd like to explain that there are five basic myths that predominate the consciousness of human beings today and they call this progress and advancement. What are those five myths? Number one, money brings happiness. Now even the cutting edge of material social science knows that's not true. Nevertheless this world is so economically driven that even economics which is considered in the academic world as the 'dismal science' is now elevated to the platform of being the life and soul of human existence.

Top economists are treated like rock stars, the acaryas, the mahajans who can give you the complete necessities of life, not only physically but also psychologically. Economic growth has become the number one focus. That is the first myth that money brings happiness.

Myth number two, technology brings well-being. The more technology, the more prosperous and wholesome your society is, because after all that's what technology is all about, right?

Myth number three, weapons bring security. The more your country spends on weaponry the more secure the people are.

Then myth number fourth, the earth provides unlimited resources for you to exploit. You can depend on that.

And myth number five, after you exploit the unlimited resources that is provided by the earth, the earth provides unlimited room for waste disposal. [laughter]

So armed with these five myths you enthusiastically jump into the forest of material enjoyment and you are ready for action.

We look at the world today we see that, something bewildering has happened amidst all the usual bewilderment. The standard social theory for quite a long time was that any social upheavals are caused by the dispossessed, the poverty stricken people, who because they don't have the basic necessities of life, they rise up and overturn governments.

Something else has happened in the past twenty years and social scientists are very shocked by this phenomenon. The uprisings, social disturbances in the world are caused by the middle class. They are the ones who are shaking everything up. For two reasons, as they become more prosperous and increase their consumer goods, they make more demands. Look at the transportation system around us, look at the educational system, what is government doing for us. This is the nature of material desire, the more you get the more you want.

The old theory was that to have a peaceful prosperous society you need a good middle class and they will make democracy. They want the good things in life and by being middle class they'll be peaceful, stable and they wont bother anybody. It's the low class you've got to watch out for. They have nothing and therefore they can turn everything upside down.

Anyone who reads Srimad Bhagavatam especially these chapters by Jada Bharat can see the holes in the middle class theory. There is no way that by increasing your material desires you are going to be satiated. Impossible. There's no way -ok now I have got this. My material desires are stable, I don't want anything more. No. The nature of illusion is that the more we get, the more we want. It's the endless quest for material security and stability.

So there is no such thing as a stable middle class and many countries of the world are showing that. The uprisings are not the low class or dispossessed or poverty stricken people. The uprisings are caused by the middle class who want more.

Second part of this phenomenon is that when economic hard times come and middle class loses what they have gotten through such hard labor they become very angry. In the Tenth Canto of Bhagavatam Krishna uses this phenomenon in His explanation to His dear most devotees the Gopis, of why He disappeared from them. He points out a social phenomenon. He gives a material example. Someone's poor and may become well off, well established and then they lose all their wealth. They never stop thinking about it. This is the case with the middle class and their uprising.

When they see that we are falling back, our hard gains are being erased they become angry. What does Krishna explain the Bhagavad Gita, contemplating the object of senses, attachment develops, then lust and from lust must come anger. This basic point is very mysterious for contemporary world. Lust should lead to lust and more lust. And then you feel fulfilled, you feel your life is worthwhile, you have a sense that life is good, my life is progressing nicely. This is the material conception that the expression of lust is beneficial.

Krishna explains in the Bhagavad Gita, as soon as there is lust there must be frustration, anger, there is no way around it because you are not the body, you are not the mind, your dedication to material desires must cause problems. So we can see that in the case of the phenomenon we are describing of the middle class being the ones who are shaking everything up, not the proletariats as Marx predicted, not the poverty stricken persons that we thought to be the constant source of trouble.

Srimad Bhagavatam gives a completely different picture of the human civilization, and it's a completely different picture that we should make sure we appreciate. Let us look at progress, rather than considering how money is supposed to bring happiness, or technology brings prosperity or weapons bring security, so on and so forth. The Bhagavatam is teaching is us that real human progress begins when you feel tired of changing bodies. That is real human progress. I am tired of the samsara bija, that seed of material desire that causes me to change one body after another.

You start out with that samsara bija, that seed of material existence and then due to your association with material nature the seed becomes watered, as Krishna explains in Bhagavad Gita, karanam guna-sango 'sya, sad-asad-yoni-janmasu (BG 13.22), its not an innocent thing to make your way through life, through material existence. Its not normal, it is not without repercussion, it is not faultless, just by making your way through material existence things happen to you, you are making things happen.

The seed, the samsara bija is being watered just by your making your way through life and trying to have a meaningful life, a life in which you can feel content about. Just by that apparent innocent activity, the seed of material existence becomes watered and then fruit appears, the fruit of happiness and distress and by tasting those fruits you become further bound to material existence and subject to more reactions.

Jada Bharat is going to describe to Rahugana Maharaj that there is nothing wanted about material happiness, its simply captivates you. If you read Bhagavad-Gita what do you see? Krishna is always talking about - rise above happiness and distress, tolerate happiness and distress, be equipoised amidst happiness and distress because the material happiness agitates the mind, produces false expectations and therefore it's a disturbance as much as material distresses.

So we are through the eyes of Bhagavatam looking at material existence in a completely different way. Just think, the definition of human progress. I got it from Srila Prabhupada, you give credit where credit is due, of course. [chuckles] When a human being feels tired of changing bodies that is real progress. So think about that. It totally redefines your vision of individual and society.

Our two great criticisms of human society today are, number one there is no concept of liberation, no concept of freedom from material existence, generally speaking, what to speak of a methodology of becoming completely free from material existence. Our second complaint is that there is no knowledge of what your next body is going to be. It is not considered a relevant subject matter. So based on these two criticisms, we present Srimad Bhagavatam.

Someone might say how is it that just by developing your consciousness, purifying your consciousness the whole world can become a better place. We look to the supreme example of the topmost devotee, Krishna Himself who came as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to show the full potential of bhakti. We cannot imitate but we are following in the footsteps.

When Lord Caitanya wanted to go to Vrindavan again. His first attempt resulted in His turning back. He took the advice of Sanatana Goswami -“You shouldn't go to Vrindavan with thousands of people. You should go alone or with very few other persons.” So as you know Lord Caitanya returned to Jagannath Puri. It was very important for Him to go to Vrindavan.

So therefore one day He took aside in confidence Svarupa Damodar and Ramananda Raya and explained to them -

“I would really like to go to Vrindavan and if you are happy about My going, then I can travel there in happiness. I don't want anyone going with Me and if you see someone trying to follow Me, please stop them.”

This is Mahaprabhu's request to His confidential associates. So as you know Svarupa Damodar said -

“Well indeed if You say that our happiness is Your happiness (please listen to this), we are not going to stop You. You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead. You are independent. At the same time You have said this that, 'your happiness is our happiness', let us request that You take two persons with You. In this way Your trip will be properly executed.”

So Lord Caitanya agreed and the night before He departed He took the blessings of Lord Jagannath and the next morning He got up early before everyone woke up and slipped out. The devotees when they arose naturally they were looking for Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. They were searching for Him. But Svarupa Damodar as the confidential associate of the Lord dissuaded them - don't look, it's not necessary to look for Mahaprabhu. And the devotees understood He is gone.

Lord Caitanya enters the forest of Jharikhanda and there He shows the full potential of the bhakti sakti. He shows the full impact that an extraordinary devotee of the Lord can have. You know how the tigers, the rhinoceros, the boars, the elephants, all these fierce creatures gave way for Mahaprabhu.

His foot touched the tiger lying in the path and then He commanded the tiger “Chant Hare Krishna” the tiger jumps up dancing and chanting Hare Krishna. Mahaprabhu is bathing in the river, saying His Gayatri, a herd of wild elephants come and Lord Caitanya sprinkles the elephant herd with water and asks the elephants to “Chant Hare Krishna”. The elephants chant and dance in ecstasy, roaring, rolling on the ground.

Balabhadra Bhattacarya, Lord Caitanya's assistant, he is watching all this. At first he was afraid, and then he was amazed. The deer gather around Lord Caitanya as He proceeds to the forest causing Lord Caitanya to remember the deer in Vrindavan approaching the son of Maharaj Nanda. The peacocks, the birds, follow Him here and there.

Just by the consciousness of the top most bhakta the whole world changes. The trees, the plants become jubilant even though they are non-moving living entities. This is the effect of maximum Krishna consciousness. So Lord Caitanya is showing us that -

“All right, your chanting may not be as powerful to cause such a transformation in the animal kingdom. But at least you can deal with the unfortunate human beings of today.”

And by inoffensive chanting and lack of material personal motivation your affect can transform all society. It is not some kind of legend or dream or religious rah-rah talk. Caitanya Mahaprabhu is showing by His practical example the full potential of the bhakta and the effect of bhakti on the world.

So humbly following in those footsteps to our measure, certainly we can carry out the desire of the parampara and seek to transform all of human society and save them from such a pointless, meaningless life.

So many shelters are offered in the forest of material enjoyment. So we spoke in the beginning about how it is natural that the human being wants to take shelter. But what happens? Jada Bharat describes -

You are feeling overwhelmed by heat. What do you do? You jump in a river that's shallow and you break all your bones. You are thirsty for water, what do you do? You race out into the desert chasing a mirage. You are hungry and you want shade. What do you do? You approach an impious tree that has neither fruits nor flowers.

The acaryas point out that by taking improper shelter as evidenced by someone approaching a fruitless, flowerless tree for food and shelter, by taking an improper shelter, it's not an innocent thing. You get sinful reactions. So again this concept of - I am just innocently making my way through life having experience. It doesn't hold up.

Another example Jada Bharat gives. I want happy material home life. So I make a nice little home but what actually does it turn out to be? What does my material home life turn out to be? A forest fire! So verse after verse Jada Bharat goes on like this.

So again we may wonder what does he leave us to stand on. Jada Bharat is being true to the purpose of Srimad Bhagavatam. He intends to leave you only with shelter at Krishna's lotus feet.

In this way he rejects every other possible shelter, whether it is political leaders, whether it is material home life, whether it is material friends, material society. Jada Bharat exposes that all these shelters are the greatest harm.

Sometimes we may think that it's an exaggeration to consider the pitfalls of human society as Bhagavatam presents it, as Srila Prabhupada so dynamically presented. But if you indeed make an analysis from the perspective of what is the real point of human life, it becomes obvious why our acaryas spoke in this way.

Yadubar prabhu once told me that he was in Calcutta with Srila Prabhupada and Prabhupada called him and some other devotees into the room and just speaking in a confidential yet open way said, “if you only knew how bad your leaders are in society. If you only knew.”

So generally we think well we've got some bad leaders in the history of the world. Stalin. Stalin himself said, “ Its very easy to govern people. I don't understand what the problem is. I don't understand why government leaders have such difficulty. Here is what you do. All you do is keep the people to the level of starving and then they will do whatever you want. What's the problem in being an executive head.” So everyone recognizes that is the horrible extreme.

But then consider if you have taken responsibility for leadership and you don't know how the universe works, you don't know who you are, you don't know what is the goal of life, how can you actually benefit people?

So therefore Jada Bharat he'll rip you - you have no value. You are like the shallow river inviting people to jump in for shelter and they break every bone in their body.

Now you may say, well its not that bad! Leaders some of the time want to do good. But you see the viewpoint of Bhagavatam is that if you want to do good, you must know what is good. If you want to love, if you want to care, then take the trouble to be qualified. Otherwise you are held accountable by the laws of nature.

So generally we consider that well someone wants to love, someone wants to care, good enough. What the world needs now is more love. But without knowledge, without proper understanding, proper technique, how can you effectively love, how can you effectively care, how can you give shelter.

So to dramatize that point sometimes our acaryas they can upset us. Who are you to think you can help someone? I have a desire to care, to love. I want to be selfless. Who appointed you? [laughs] I am a nice person, I want to be nice to others. Who told you that you are the great helper?

Actually when you think about it it's quite liberating. Who appointed me? What do I know? That's the point that Jada Bharat wants you to accept. What do you know? Who appointed you? Its actually an act of false ego that you want to appoint yourself as the big helper, yet you have no knowledge, you don't understand what is the point of life, you don't understand what is your relationship with Krishna, yet you have presented yourself as the big helper.

So this can be a little unsettling. Further more Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur would point out that by your offering material shelter you are distracting people from what is the real goal of life. So you think you are doing good by offering material remedies but you are actually creating a disturbance because you're clouding the situation and you are distracting people, offering again a shallow river.

These explanations are given to shake us, to wake us, so that we actually have a perspective to judge what is real human well-being and real human progress. And in this way we can actually use this world for the all round benefit of the human being. But without that overview, without that comprehensive holistic vision how can you really care for someone, how can you really help someone?

This is Jada Bharat's point and at the end of his instruction Rahugana Maharaj is completely grateful. He feels relieved. I offended you, I called you an imbecile and recruited you to carry my palanquin, but I can see you have forgiven me, you have bathed me with this transcendental knowledge.

Parkisit Maharaj was listening to Sukadeva Goswami say this and in his humility Parkisit Maharaj was thinking, Rahugana Maharaj got relief from his offence to Jada Bharat. What about me, I draped a sadhu with a dead snake and I was cursed, where is my relief, Rahugana Maharaj got relief, I don't have any relief.

But the acaryas point out that Sukadeva Goswami consoled him - “Don't you see what happening right now? Through me Srimad Bhagavatam is coming to you in the presence of all these sadhus. That means the curse has been nullified. You are humbly thinking that there is no relief for you as Rahugana Maharaja obtained but just look what is happening right now. The sound vibration of Srimad Bhagavatam has nullified every aspect of any material difficulty, any material complexity that you have.”

So let us not be afraid to take the full impact of the Srimad Bhagavatam and tactfully explain it because without that full impact human beings have no perspective on what is actually good, what is actually beneficial. We can appreciate temporary material endeavors for help and betterment. But we should never think that such endeavors have actually made a significant contribution to human progress. That is the point.

So please remember Srila Prabhupada's definition of human progress. When you start feeling tired of changing bodies, you have made human progress. When you understand what is liberation, when you understand what your next body will be then you have made human progress and you are capable of giving welfare upliftment for the world.

So we thank Jada Bharat for his totally destroying any kind of material shelter. He is not an annihilist. He is doing that to prepare you for what is the real shelter and rather than Rahugana Maharaj becoming upset and angry, Rahugana Maharaj is going to thank him - “you have saved my life, you have given me the best.”

We were ordered to stop class by 8.45, so we'll stop here.

Thank you very much. Hare Krishna.

Suresvara das: Maharaj about 20 years ago, there was a survey done of so called new religious organisations relatively, religious organisations that appeared on the American scene and many things were asked on the survey and two categories which one has the best philosophy and then another one was which one has the worst attitude. And we came out number one in both categories - best philosophy and worst attitude.

You are preaching in the trenches of urban modern society and I just visited you and I was happy to see what you are doing there. How can we start to turn around this attitude? Very often we are perceived as being very good at exposing the bad shelter of material life but still very often sometimes even by our own members we are perceived at not being very good at providing superior shelter. So can you, it's a big question but maybe you could just give a little direction.

HH Devamrta Swami: My motto is that devotee care begins at the front door. Start caring for those who are approaching bhakti, those who are inquisitive, those who have some desire even in the slightest to understand spiritual life and then continue that care of course to our own devotees.

So my motto is that devotee care begins at the front door and I try to operate by a certain mission statement for presenting bhakti to others. We make it easy, we make it easy to approach bhakti, we make it easy to organically grow in bhakti, and we make it easy to distribute bhakti to others. So in my humble tiny way I seek to let that mission statement define the methodology, define the attitudes, define the facilities.

Suresvara das: Thank you Maharaj.

HH Prahaladanandana Swami: Just to confirm what you just said, in Brhad Bhagavatamrta when Gopa Kumar is on Brahmaloka, he eventually becomes Brahma. But he says that the Goddess of fortune specially took care of him because he was a new person there. And that the Goddess of fortune especially takes very personal care of the new devotees in order to cultivate their bhakti, to keep them fixed in it.

HH Devamrita Swami: Thank you Maharaj. We will end here. Thank you once again. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

- Kindly transcribed by Sheela mataji

Read more about Siva Ratri on www.harekrishnacalendar.com

Srimad Bhagavatam Class by Sarvabhauma Prabhu on 23 Feb 2014 at ISKCON Vrindavan

(Sarvabhauma Prabhu was born on 6th Feb 1952, in a Puskarana Vaishnava Brahmin family, having a Radha Krishna temple for eight generations in Mithi, which is part of Rajasthan in Sindh province of Pakistan.)

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Lecture on How to Approach Seniors showing Lack of Adherence on Sastra by HH Bhakti Vikasa Swami on 28 July 2013 at Russia

(His Holiness Bhakti Vikasa Swami appeared in this world in 1957 in England. He joined the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in London in 1975 and was initiated in that year with the name Ilapati dasa by ISKCON's founder-acarya, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.)

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Lecture on From Distress to taking deep shelter to Gratitude by HH Romapada Swami on 25 Jan 2014 at Vienna

(Romapada Swami‘s first encounter with Krishna consciousness came in Buffalo, in the shape of a lecture at the State University of New York in 1969. The lecturer was His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.)

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Lecture on Hungarian Leadership Retreat - How do you personally deal with conflict between devotees by HH Niranjana Swami on 30 Jan 2014

(The management and spiritual leadership experience Niranjana Swami gained during his tenure as president of ISKCON Boston from 1979 to 1983, and his service as regional secretary of New England in 1984, readied him for his GBC appointment in 1987.)

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Lecture on Sankirtan by HG Chaitanya Charan Prabhu

(His Grace Caitanya Charan Prabhu is a monk and spiritual teacher in the time honored tradition of bhakti yoga. He is a editor of Back to Godhead, which is the official international magazine of the Hare Krishna movement.)

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Lecture on Check Your Sraddha Level before expecting ecstacies by Lokanath Swami on 11 July 2011 at ISKCON Vrindavan

(Born in Aravade, a small village Maharashtra, Indian, he went to Mumbai for studying. In the year 1971, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada was touring India with his foreign disciples and had organized a pandal program in Mumbai.)

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Lecture on Unholiness in the Dhama by HH Bhakti Vikasa Swami on 02 Feb 2014 at Rajapur

(His Holiness Bhakti Vikasa Swami appeared in this world in 1957 in England. He joined the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in London in 1975 and was initiated in that year with the name Ilapati dasa by ISKCON's founder-acarya, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.)

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ISKCON Bhaktivedanta Manor February 2014 - Download PDF (1.4 MB)

Source : http://www.bhaktivedantamanor.co.uk/home/?p=9115 

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Video Invitation by H H Loknath Swami Maharaj

Video Invitation by ISKCON Sannyasis and Leaders

Five aspects of Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura’s outreach

(He is a editor of Back to Godhead and  member of ISKCON's Shastric Adivsory Council (SAC). His writings have been published in newspapers like Times of India, Indian Express, Economic Times, Hindustan Times, and Sakaal Times.)
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Lecture on The taste of Complete Freedom by Devamrita Swami at Otaki, New Zealand

(His Holiness Devamrita Swami entered this life on October 16, 1950 in New York City, as the firstborn in a family dominated by a very devout and education-motivated Christian mother.)

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