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In the month of Purusottama, the nectarine Srimad Bhagvad katha was deliberated at ISKCON Vrindavan. HH Radha Govinda Goswami Maharaj elated the crowd with the divine katha from 8th to 14th May 2010. At the end, the "Brahma Vimohana Lila" was also staged by the Vrindavan Gurukul students and thrilled the crowd. The atmosphere was surcharged with the spell of spiritual reverberations. The festive period was enjoyed with divine glamour and glory, and the sumptuous daily feasts added their fervour. Devotees thronged up in large numbers to witness the occasion and generously donated laksmi to conduct the events magnificently and some of them sponsored the daily prasadam and other festivities. Devotees enjoyed the Bhagavad katha because of Maharaj's eagerness to distribute the nectar of Lord Krishna's pastimes, although His Holiness wasn't in good health then.

Brahma's Prayers to Lord Krishna : (Srimad Bhagvatam 10th canto ch. 14 : summary by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada)

This chapter describes the prayers Brahma offered to Lord Krishna, who is also known as Nanda-nandana.

For His satisfaction, Brahma first praised the beauty of the Lord's transcendental limbs and then declared that His original identity of sweetness is even more difficult to comprehend than His opulence. Only by the devotional process of hearing and chanting transcendental sounds received from Vedic authorities can one realize the Personality of Godhead. It is fruitless to try to realize God through processes outside the scope of Vedic authority.

The mystery of the Personality of Godhead, who is the reservoir of unlimited spiritual qualities, is inconceivable; it is even more difficult to understand than the impersonal Supreme. Thus only by the mercy of God can one understand His glories. Finally realizing this, Brahma repeatedly condemned his own actions and recognized that Lord Sri Krishna, the ultimate shelter of the universe, is Brahma's own father, the original Narayana. In this way Brahma begged the Lord's forgiveness.

Brahma then glorified the inconceivable opulence of the Personality of Godhead and described the ways in which Brahma and Siva differ from Lord Vishnu, the reason for the Supreme Lord's appearance in various species of demigods, animals and so on, the eternal nature of the pastimes of the Personality of Godhead, and the temporality of the material world. By knowing the Supreme Personality in truth, the individual spirit soul can achieve liberation from bondage. In actuality, however, both liberation and bondage are unreal, for it is only from the living entity's conditioned outlook that his bondage and liberation are produced. Thinking the personal form of Lord Krishna illusory, fools reject His lotus feet and look elsewhere to find the Supreme Self. But the futility of their search is the obvious proof of their foolishness. There is simply no way to understand the truth of the Personality of Godhead without His mercy.

Having established this conclusion, Lord Brahma analyzed the great good fortune of the residents of Vraja and then personally prayed to be born there even as a blade of grass, a bush or a creeper. Indeed, the homes of the residents of Vrindavana are not prisons of material existence but rather abodes envied even by the jnanis and yogis. On the other hand, any home without a connection to Lord Krishna is in fact a prison cell of material existence. Finally, Brahma offered his whole self at the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord and, praising Him again and again, circumambulated Him and took his leave.

Lord Krishna then gathered the animals Brahma stole and led them to the place on the Yamuna's bank where the cowherd boys had been taking lunch. The same friends who had been present before were sitting there now. By the power of Krishna's illusory energy, they were not at all aware of what had happened. Thus when Krishna arrived with the calves, the boys told Him, "You've returned so quickly! Very good. As long as You were gone we couldn't take even a morsel of food, so come and eat."

Laughing at the words of the cowherd boys, Lord Krishna began taking His meal in their company. While eating, Krishna pointed out to His young friends the skin of the python, and the boys thought, "Krishna has just now killed this terrible snake." Indeed, later they related to the residents of Vrindavana the incident of Krishna's killing the Agha demon. In this way, the cowherd boys described pastimes that Lord Krishna had performed in His balya age (one to five), even though His pauganda age (six to ten) had begun.

Sukadeva Gosvami concludes this chapter by explaining how the gopis loved Lord Krishna even more than they loved their own sons.

A few highlights of HH Radha Govinda Maharaj's awakening messages were:

1.Srimad Bhagavatam is the juicy fruit of spiritual delicacy. The more you drink, the more you love it. Pure devotees can enjoy its sweetness with their keen ears. The devotees always chant the glories of God and remember His enchanting pastimes with their senses and mind affixed in Krshna, and they enjoy nothing than that. They always surrender to Krishna and hanker for an opportunity to perform as many loving services as possible to the Lord and they spend their precious time in reading the Srimad Bhagavatam and other pious Scriptures that agitate their spiritual fervour. Anyone ever engages in Krishna consciousness will eventually receive the supreme blessings of Sri Krishna.

2.Elsewhere, we search for Krshna, but He is ever present in Vrndavan, for it is non-different from Goloka. Maharaj invited all to have darshan of the Lord in His various forms such as Madan Mohan, Gopinath, Govind, Radha-Raman, Damodar, Shyamsunder, Gokulanand, and so on in Vrndavan.

3.The body of the Lord is full of compassion and mercy. Therefore, if anyone is drenched in miseries, he can be uplifted by the mercy of Krshna at Vrndavan. A scintillating example is that of the she demon Putana, who breast fed infant Krshna to destroy Him, but the merciful Lord sucked her life away and blessed her the eternal position of His mother. If Putana could receive such a great blessing, why a devotee who worships the Lord in Vrndavan can't achieve it?

4.When Maharaj was seriously hospitalised in Mumbai, he was subjected to MRI tests encaging him inside the scanning machine. Maharaj felt, "I am swallowed by Aghasura, but Krshna saved me as He saved the cowherds from the demon."

5.In kali-yuga, hearing the wonderful Bhagavad Katha is the easiest way back to Godhead. Maharaj said, "Both the organisers and listeners of Bhagavad Katha will not miss the track back to Krshna."

6.All devotees belong to Krshna, and at the end we all will attain that Vridavana-vasi. Therefore, our only duty is to worship Krshna always keeping Him in heart.

7.Bilvamangal Thakur said, "O Lord, You may slip away from my hand, buy You will be ever entrapped in my heart." Those who eagerly listen to the Bhagavad Katha will verily enliven the Lord in their blissful hearts forever.

Maharaj mercifully expressed his earnest desire to again thrill us with the opportunity to hear him in the forthcoming Janmastami festival of Lord Krshna. We request all devotees to pray for Maharaj's good health to enable him to again merge us in the divine ocean of Bhagavad Katha.

In the year 2009, HH Radha Govinda Goswami Maharaj was partially affected with paralysis in his endeavor to enchant the devotees of Punjab. Since then, he is physically unfit to move, although he enlivened us with Bhagavad Katha for the benefit of the devotees of Vrindavan. Let us be blessed with his presence forever on such auspicious occasions.