Verse: Srimad Bhagvatam 1.9.40
Date: November 18th, 2005
Place: ISKCON Ujjain, India
Transcription: Kartik Agarwal Prabhu
Edited: Ramananda Raya Dasa
lalita-gati-vilāsa-valguhāsa-
praṇaya-nirīkṣaṇa-kalpitorumānāḥ
kṛtam anukṛtavatya unmadāndhāḥ
prakṛtim agan kila yasya gopa-vadhvaḥ
WORD-FOR-WORD TRANSLATION
lalita — attractive; gati — movements; vilāsa — fascinating acts; valgu-hāsa — sweet smiling; praṇaya — loving; nirīkṣaṇa — looking upon; kalpita — mentality; urumānāḥ — highly glorified; kṛtam anukṛtavatyaḥ — in the act of copying the movements; unmada-andhāḥ — gone mad in ecstasy; prakṛtim — characteristics; agan — underwent; kila — certainly; yasya — whose; gopa-vadhvaḥ — the cowherd damsels.
TRANSLATION
Let my mind be fixed upon Lord Śrī Krishna, whose motions and smiles of love attracted the damsels of Vrajadhāma [the gopīs]. The damsels imitated the characteristic movements of the Lord [after His disappearance from the rāsa dance].
PURPORT
By intense ecstasy in loving service, the damsels of Vrajabhūmi attained qualitative oneness with the Lord by dancing with Him on an equal level, embracing Him in nuptial love, smiling at Him in joke, and looking at Him with a loving attitude. The relation of the Lord with Arjuna is undoubtedly praiseworthy for devotees like Bhīṣmadeva, but the relation of the gopīs with the Lord is still more praiseworthy because of their still more purified loving service. By the grace of the Lord, Arjuna was fortunate enough to have the fraternal service of the Lord as chariot driver, but the Lord did not award Arjuna with equal strength. The gopīs, however, practically became one with the Lord by attainment of equal footing with the Lord. Bhīṣma’s aspiration to remember the gopīs is a prayer to have their mercy also at the last stage of his life. The Lord is satisfied more when His pure devotees are glorified, and therefore Bhīṣmadeva has not only glorified the acts of Arjuna, his immediate object of attraction, but has also remembered the gopīs, who were endowed with unrivalled opportunities for rendering loving service to the Lord.
The gopīs’ equality with the Lord should never be misunderstood to be like the sāyujya liberation of the impersonalist. The equality is one of perfect ecstasy where the differential conception is completely eradicated, for the interests of the lover and the beloved become identical. [Purport ends]So Bhīṣmadeva is offering his prayers to the Supreme Personality of Godhead and in this verse, he is describing how Krishna awards the opportunity to the damsels of Vrindavan to become equal with Him and have the most intimate loving exchange. If loving relationship with the Lord is the consideration, then what is the most intimate loving relationship? The most intimate loving relationship is not that of master and servant, the most intimate relationship is not that of friendship.
Jaya Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Madan Mohan Ki Jaya, Śrī Śrī Gaura-Nitai Ki Jaya!
The most intimate relationship is not the relationship between the servant and master, the most intimate relationship is not the relationship in friendship. The most intimate relationship is not the relationship between parents and children. Even the most intimate relationship is not the relationship between husband and wife. What is the most intimate relationship? The most intimate relationship is the relationship between the lover and the beloved. Just as is seen among young boys and girls. And this relationship is out of wedlock, it is not the relationship between husband and wife. This relationship, according to the calculation of our acharyas and also in a common sense it can be verified that how is that most intimate relationship.
Here of course we have to understand that all the material relationships are perverted reflections of the spiritual relationships between Krishna and His devotees. It is perverted. All these relationships in the material nature are the perverted reflections. And the perverted reflection becomes upside down. It becomes opposite; it becomes reversed. So how is that? How did our acharyas determine? How one relationship is greater than the other? And ultimately how did they ascertain what is the highest form of relationship? It has been established in this way that there is a relationship between the master and the servant. The servant naturally serves the master. And he has some love for the master. But the relationship that master has with his friends is even greater than the relationship that he has with his servant. Isn’t it? Which relationship is stronger – the servant’s relationship with the master or the friend’s relationship? Friendship is superior to servitorship.
And then the relationship that one has with his father and mother, when you compare that relationship with the relationship with his friends, which relationship is stronger? The relationship with the friends or the relationship with the parents? Relationship with the parents is even stronger than the friendship. Then he gets married and develops a relationship with his wife. Which relationship is stronger – relationship with his parents or relationship with his wife? With his wife. That’s why sometimes the parents, especially mothers, become upset. In India there is very special, I mean there is very clear understanding that the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law will never get along. And what is the psychological background of it? The mother thinks that the son is her property. And then somebody comes flying in and takes him away. So, the mother gets upset. If there is a joint family, the wife often has to get the sauce from the mother-in-law. Shashuri.
Shashuri bove kondon - the natural quarrel between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. So anyway, but we know which relationship is stronger? Ultimately which one is stronger? The relationship between the husband and the wife. Now when you look at the spiritual platform. In the spiritual sky actually the relationship between the husband and wife is the wife’s attitude towards husband is like maid-servant. So, husband-wife relationship, although very strong, it is some kind of servitorship. But the real loving relationship is when the consideration of marriage is not there. What happens? In marriage, they take each other for granted. Husband and wife take each other for granted. And then they start to fight. There is a saying, dampatya kalobhih - the quarrel between husband and wife. You see a lot of fireworks. There are few things that start up with a big effort, big fireworks, but ends in a very minute note.
Rishi shraddhe aja yuddhe prabhate megha garjane
Dampatye kalobhaih treivo, bovarambhe laghu kriya
Bovarambhe laghu kriya, bahu means great. Arambha means beginning. In the beginning there is big arambhar. Means very big show, very big… What are those things? It starts of a big way but ends laghu kriya. Ends in a very minute note. What are those things? Rishi sraddhe – in the sraddha of the rishis. Like how this rishi sraddha… Many many people chant many big mantras. The beginning is very big. But then at the end, when it comes to prasādam serving, there is hardly anything. So, people may think that this sraddha will be such a big effort, such a big ceremony. But when they sit down to eat, they probably may get some chickpeas. Rishi shraddhe aja yuddhe. The fight of the goats, rams. The he-goat is called a ram. What do they do? Have you seen how they fight? They make a big effort. As if ... But when they come charging, there is no impact. Rishi shraddhe aja yuddhe prabhate megha garjane. Sometimes, in the early morning there is big thunderclap. But when there is a thunderclap early in the morning it won’t end into a rain.
Prabhate megha garjane and dampatye kalobhaih treivo. Dampati means husband and wife. And when there is fight between husband and wife, ends like an aja-yuddha. Big preparation, big manifestation but the end is very minute. No ... Like they come charging towards each other. When they come close, they stop. So, these are ... So anyway, the point is dampatye kalobhaih. The husband and the wife fight but when young boys and girls are in love, do they think that someday they will fight? They think that everything will be so rosy and beautiful. But once they get married, then they start to fight and nowadays of course it’s not bovarambhe laghu kriya, now it’s bovarambhe bohu kriya. Like nowadays husband and wife fight, the fight goes on to the court and then they get separated. And then their dreams fall apart. Especially in the West we are seeing so many marriages falling apart. And then they built a house together.
When they get married, they will live happily ever after. They spend a lot of money to build a house. And then after the court case, the property is divided. Now the money you spent to build the house, when you sell it, you don’t get that kind of money. Often these properties are auctioned. The things that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, they sold for just a few thousand dollars. That’s how their dreams get shattered. Material nature, the illusory influence of māyā. So, the point is, the relationship outside of marriage, between a young boy and a young girl, is the loving emotions, or the feelings are much stronger than the husband and wife. So that is how our acharyas have determined that all these mellows are actually coming from the spiritual sky. Whatever is there in the material nature is the refection of the spiritual reality. So, what is in the spiritual world, it is reflected in the material nature and appears to be perverted. Up-side-down in a reflection. Like you see a reflection of a tree in water, in a pool of water. In that reflection what will be on the bottom? What is at the bottom? The top of the tree is reflected at the bottom. So, whatever is the highest in the spiritual sky when it is reflected, how did it look? It is perverted – up-side-down.
In the spiritual sky the relationships are servitorship, friendship, parental and conjugal. So, in the spiritual sky the topmost is actually the conjugal relationship. And in material nature, the man-woman relationship, especially out of wedlock is most undesirable, abominable; specially the relationship between a man and a married woman. If the woman is married to somebody else and if there is a relationship between a man and that woman, that is considered to be very sinful, very degraded, very abominable, very despicable and very hateful. Isn’t it? But in the spiritual sky that is the highest relationship. That’s what we have to understand. Like the understanding is - what is the difference between material and spiritual? In material nature we are the center. In spiritual nature Krishna is the center. Right? Krishna is the center. So, any relationship with Krishna, with Krishna in the center, is most glorious, most praiseworthy. Isn’t it?
But if Krishna’s activities are imitated in the material nature, then that is most degraded. Like sahajiyās. Some bunch of sahajiyās, they imitate Krishna’s activities. Like baulas, auls. They have developed a philosophy, that in order to understand parikiya rasa one must have relationship with somebody else’s wife. That is a very clear understanding – a human being should never imitate Krishna’s activities. Because Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, what He can do we cannot do. Like somebody … These sahajiyās, they want to imitate Krishna’s activities. But if they want to imitate Krishna’s activities, then they should imitate all of Krishna’s activities. Right? Like it has been pointed out that the great personality’s activities cannot be imitated. For example, Lord Śiva, he drank an ocean of poison. Can anybody drink an ocean of poison? Similarly, Krishna lifted Giri-govardhan.
Can anybody lift a mountain and hold it on the top of his finger? So, everyone likes to become the Gopijanavallabha, likes to imitate the Gopijanavallabha aspect but Girivardhari they don’t want. Krishna, why he is Gopijanavallabha, he also Girivardhari. So why not imitate Girivardhari? See what happens. So, in this why we have to understand that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His activities we should never imitate. With our common sense also we can see that if somebody’s wife becomes attracted to Krishna, develops relationship with Krishna, does the husband mind? Does anybody mind about it? Except some individuals like Rana of Chittor. Mirabai’s husband, Rana of Chittor. He minded it, why his wife is attracted to Krishna? Excepting such character, excepting such individuals, generally no one minds if one develops relationship with Krishna. Rather one feels it is glorious. If one becomes a devotee of Krishna, it is glorious.
So why there should be something unusual about Krishna’s dancing with the gopis? Krishna is God under all circumstances. If in this platform no one minds that his wife is attracted to Krishna then why in the spiritual sky it should be taken otherwise? So, this is the point we have to understand. Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. If somebody’s wife is attracted to somebody else then yes, it is bad. But if someone’s wife is having a relationship with Krishna, there is nothing wrong. Why nothing is wrong in it? Because Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And the highest relationship is the relationship between Krishna and the cowherd girls of Vrindavan. And many of these cowherd girls were actually married. Now were they really married? No, they were not married. It just appeared that they are married. Just appeared like that. They were not actually married. Because this arrangement was made by Yoga-māyā because there was a feeling; it has been explained in this way, in love affairs when there are some obstacles then the love becomes more intensified. In a love affair when there is an obstacle then the love becomes more intense. Therefore Yoga-māyā made this arrangement. The gopis felt as if they were married to somebody else. And in this way, they were obstructed.
Jaya Śrī Śrī Radha Madan Mohan Ki Jaya. Jaya Śrī Śrī Gaura Nitai Ki Jaya.
But this arrangement was mainly to increase love for Krishna. When there is an obstacle, love becomes more intensified. So, this loving exchange between Krishna and the gopis is the highest because the gopis felt that they could not go to Krishna. Whereas the queens in Dvaraka, they knew, Krishna is there, they are there so there is nothing to obstruct their relationship. But because here there were obstacles the love became obstructed. That feeling that, “Krishna, we are married to somebody else. We belong to someone else. But we have offered our love to Krishna. We have offered ourselves to Krishna. Besides Krishna we don’t know anyone.” So that feeling is what makes the loving relationship between the gopis and Krishna in Vrindavan so special.
So Bhīṣmadeva is praising that. And he is pointing out that this relationship is actually even more special than Krishna’s relationship with Arjuna. Actually, this is what we are trying to establish in Brihad Bhagavatamrita, do you all remember? In Brihat Bhagavatamrta, who said that the Pāṇḍavas are the greatest devotees? Hanuman. And when Nārada Muni went to the Pāṇḍavas, what did the Pāṇḍavas tell? That the Yadus were the greatest devotees. Why? Because their relationship with Krishna is so intense, so intimate. But when they went to the Yadus, what did the Yadus say? That among all the Yadus, Uddhava is the greatest devotee. When Nārada Muni went to Uddhava, what did Uddhava say? That they are the residents of Vrindavan, specially the gopis of Vrindavan are the greatest devotees. Right?
So, in this way we can see that the greatest devotees are the residents of Vrindavan. Among the residents of Vrindavan, the gopis. Among the gopis, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. So, this is the ultimate siddhanta. We often challenge – that if anyone has anything better than this what we have then come and give it to us. We will take it. But can there be anything greater? Can there be anything higher than this? Even there are other Vaishnava sampradayas, we make the challenge to them. “Please tell us if what we have or what you have is greater than what we have.” And the challenge is like that. Not challenge, our sincere offering is, if you have something higher than please come and give it to us. We will accept it. Then we will give it up and take whatever you have. But there is nothing higher. And especially when Chaitanya Mahāprabhu came. When Krishna comes in the mood of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, that is the highest.
And what is the highest? Highest is not in an experience the loving relationship with Krishna but what is the highest? But highest is the distribution of this love to others. So that distribution of Krishna prema is the highest. And we the followers of Chaitanya Mahāprabhu, we are taught by Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu. What did Chaitanya Mahāprabhu do? First of all, let us consider, who is Chaitanya Mahāprabhu? Who is Chaitanya Mahāprabhu? What does it mean Rādhā and Krishna combined? It means that Krishna came with the mood of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. When Krishna comes in the mood of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, that is Chaitanya Mahāprabhu. Krishna in the mood of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. And in this mood what is Krishna doing? He is giving out Krishna prema.
And we as His followers, what should we do? Should we just be satisfied by just taking this Krishna prema from Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu and relishing it ourselves? No. Distribute it. Therefore, distributing of Krishna prema is the highest spiritual fact. At least so far, I have not found anything higher than that. If there is any pandit, he can prove that there is anything higher, then come and give it to us. We will take. But if you don’t have anything higher than that then you must take it, that should be our condition. So, accept Krishna Consciousness because this is the ultimate perfection of your existence. Krishna prema pradayate – distribution. Pradayate, pradayate means. Dan means to give and pradayate means to give very nicely. So, what is our business? How many of you understood what is our business, raise your hands. What is our business? Raise your hands. Why are you hesitating, Rajan? Or you are hesitating to lift your hand? First time he didn't lift it. Kevin, you lifted it and you dropped it, what’s the matter? Did I? Okay.
What’s our business? Distributing Love for Krishna. How do you distribute it? How do you distribute it? Okay. Very good. The best way to give is by giving them Śrīla Prabhupāda. Because if we give what we have then it is limited. Because our Krishna Consciousness is limited. So, if we give ourselves then they will get very little Krishna Consciousness. Right? But if we give them Prabhupāda, then what they get? They get the huge amount of Krishna Consciousness. Right? So that is why best is to give Śrīla Prabhupāda. And giving Prabhupāda means giving out Prabhupāda’s books. Because when you give out the book, it’s simple as they just….. If you speak to somebody, he will understand. First of all, you will be able to give only as much as you have. Right? And then he will also with the Kaliyuga brain, what will happen? Already he got very little, and whatever little he got that also he will not be able to retain.
There is a saying that one hears from one ear and it goes out from the other ear. That is the Kaliyuga brain. Doesn’t it happen often times? We can’t retain here. Between two ears is the brain. Right? And we should actually hear from both ears and should keep it here in the brain. But Kaliyuga, since Kaliyuga brain, there is no existence of brain in the Kaliyuga, Kaliyuga skull. What happens? There is straight passage between one ear and the other ear. So, it goes through one ear and comes out from the other ear. So that is the Kaliyuga situation. But if we give a book, then what happens? One reads. And when one reads, he is more focused. Right? Kaliyuga brain is like that because there are so many distractions. Mind is always running here and there. So, mind cannot be fixed. Doesn’t it happen when you are listening? Often times the mind actually goes away. Then we realize, ‘Oh! I didn’t really hear. Prabhu can you please repeat what you said?’ Doesn’t it happen often-a-times? We say things and it is not retained. That is what is the situation in the age of Kali.
So, what is important is that we fix our mind. So, when you are reading, our mind is more fixed. So, first of all through Prabhupāda’s books we are getting so much more and then when we read then we get so much more also. We are focused. We can absorb so much better. And then what will happen when we read and understand what is there in these books? What will happen? What happens? They will become devotees. They will become devotees. So that is why Śrīla Prabhupāda’s book distribution is so important. So please distribute Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books and also not just distribute but leave such a deep impression in their minds that they will be inspired to read those books. And if possible, keep the address of the person who took the books and cultivate them. When you find in course of distributing the books that some people are actually very nice, very favorable, ask him, “Can you please give your address?” And keep the address and have him communicate with you. Hare Krishna, All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda. Does anybody have any question?
Question: Guru Maharaja, question like distributing Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books very.. Thousands of, lakhs of people have been receiving Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books whereas a very small percentage of them actually start chanting Hare Krishna or coming to the path of devotional service. So how do we understand the effect of every book that is distributed?
BCS: Well, the way you know we see it. Like Prabhupāda’s books are actually extensions of the spiritual sky. Maybe the person will not read but someday somebody will read and his life will be changed. So that’s why you are planting the books every day. Planting the books everyday so that [unclear] we use an expression that these are the time bombs. Time bombs. Time bombs don’t explode immediately. It has specific time. It is ticking – tick tick tick… and then when it comes to the right time, then the explosion takes place. So that’s what will happen. Let’s plant the books. Let these books be there. Someday somebody will open the book and read it and his life will change.
In that respect I often think of an example. This is an old man in France, now he is about seventy. Maybe even a lot more, let me see, he is about seventy-five years old. Anyway, he retired at the age of sixty-five. He retired from his work. So, when people retire what happens? They just drink, especially in France. They drink wine and go out and do some recreation. So he used to.. He was one such person. He used to go out fishing. He didn’t have, he had so much time that he did not know how to use his time. So, he used to go out fishing. And he used to love to drink. And then he at one time he became sick with some back problem. He was bedridden for two months. So, when you are bedridden what do you do? You can only read at the most. So, he was reading. Then he came across one book which he got long time ago. In somewhere… which was in his shelf. He was sitting and you know like he got that book and he started to read. He didn’t think of reading it for so many years. But he kept the book there. But then he started to read, he realized that this is the most fantastic thing. It is the most fantastic thing. I mean, he became so impressed that he felt that ‘when I get well, I must meet this people. At the end of the book there was the address of our temple in France, in New Māyāpur.
So, he did that. When he got well, he drove for about three hundred to four hundred miles from Brittany to New Māyāpur. More than that actually, five hundred kilometers. And he came on the day of Gaura-pūrṇimā. He came to New Māyāpur and he became even more fascinated ‘these people are so into it.’ So just by reading…. He never thought of reading that book but the situation came and he just read the book and his whole life changed. And today he is a sannyāsī in Iskcon. Archana knows him. Archana knows whom I am talking about. Who is he Archana? What is his sannyāsa name? Parivrajakachrya.. He must be about eighty now actually. Because he retired in sixty-five so in sixty-six, he joined Iskcon, that means fifteen years back actually. Fifteen to seventien years back. 1989. So, he is about eighty-two years old now. I was thinking that he is sixty-five. And he was strong and very active. He used to travel with me at one time. So, this is how the books work. I can very vividly remember how my life changed just by one book – ‘Nectar of Devotion.’ I saw the devotees, went to the temple… I never thought of joining ISKCON. But just when I got the Nectar of Devotion everything became crystal clear. Okay. Any other question?
Thank you very much. Distribute a lot of books today and become a perfect example of the books. What Prabhupāda said in the books, you practice in such a way that people just by seeing you they will see Prabhupāda’s books. And then they will become devotees.
Hare Krishna.
All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda!
Śrī Śrī Gaura-Nitai Ki Jaya!
Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Madan Mohan Ki Jaya!