CONTENTS:
- KRISHNA, THE SUPREME PERSONALITY OF GODHEAD
- SRILA PRABHUPADA'S APPRECIATION
- GURU MAHARAJA’S INSTRUCTIONS
1. KRISHNA, THE SUPREME PERSONALITY OF GODHEAD
Hare Krishna. We will sing a song by Vasu Gosh. Yadi Gaura na hoito tabe ki hoite kemone dharitam de. If Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did not come, how would I maintain my body and soul together. Radhar mahima prema rasa sima jagate janato ke the glory of Srimati Radharani which is the ultimate pinnacle of love of Godhead who would have revealed it to this world. Madhura vrnda vipina madhuri pravesa caturi sar who would have the power to render ecstatic devotional service that follows in the footsteps of the damsels of Vrindavan. Who would have been able to enter into Krishna’s pastimes in the forest and who would have reveale
d this extraordinary sweetness? Baraja yuvati bhaver bhakati sakati hoite kar.
The intense loving devotion of the cowherd damsels of Vrindavan who would have had the power to reveal it. Gao punah gauranger guna sarala koriya mana e bhava sagare emone doyal ne dekhiye eka jana. Sing and sing repeatedly the wonderful qualities of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu making your heart very simple. In this entire universe I do not see anyone as merciful as He. (ami) Gauranga boliya na genu galiya kemone dhorinu de vasur hiya pasana diya kemone gadiyache. My heart did melt by chanting the holy name of Gauranga how did I maintain my body. How did Lord Brahma make the heart of Vasu Gosh as stone melt by chanting the name of the Gauranga.
Namo om Vishnu padaya Krishna prestaya butele srimate Bhaktivedanta swami iti namine Namaste Saraswati deve gaura vani pracarine nirvisesa sunyavadi pascatya dese tarine Sri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhu Nityananda Sri Advaita Gadadhara Srivasadi Gaura bhakta Vrinda. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. It is through Prabhupada’s teachings is it becoming clear who is the Supreme Personality of Godhead? Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Krishna the Supreme Personality of Godhead means the Supreme Personality of Godhead is all attractive. What is the meaning of the word Krishna? All attractive. On the other hand, we can say the Supreme Personality of Godhead is Krishna because He is all attractive. In English we use the expression God is almighty. Now might means powerful. God is all powerful. Are you all powerful? You may think that way. God is omnipotent meaning all powerful. God is omnipresent, is He present everywhere? Yes. These are indications of His qualities. His qualities are synonymous to His name. It is not that because you have got a name so the name is indicating you. Like the name is you for example parents give a name like in English there are so many names like Tom, Dick, Harry so the names are given and that becomes their name but that is not the case with Krishna. Krishna’s names are not given by somebody.
Krishna’s names are indicative of two things one is his qualities and the other is His pastimes. How many qualities does Krishna have? Innumerable therefore Krishna has innumerable names and according to his pastimes and how many pastimes does Krishna have? Innumerable therefore Krishna has innumerable names. For example, Rama what is the meaning of the name Rama? Giver of Supreme pleasure, He is the Supreme enjoyer and is the giver of ultimate pleasure. Another name is Narayana because He is lying in Nara the water therefore, He is Narayana. He maintaining the creation and therefore He is Vishnu. He appeared as the son of Nanda Maharaja therefore He is Nandanandan.
He is very dear to the Gopis therefore He is Gopinath. In this way He has innumerable names but He is one without a second. He is one. He may be identified by so many different names but He is one without a second and that one without a second is the Supreme Creator. There are secondary creators like somebody may build this table we may say he is the creator of this table; someone may build this building and he is the creator of this building in this way we can go on and on. Somebody created this earth; somebody created this universe and, in this way, we can go to the ultimate somebody created the entire material nature consisting of innumerable universes.
So ultimately who is the Supreme 
Creator? Krishna the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Understanding of the Supreme Personality of Godhead becomes possible because He reveals Himself. What is the best source of understanding the Supreme Personality of Godhead? Bhagavad Gita. Why? Because He is speaking about Himself and also His devotees. The Lord imparts the knowledge to His devotees and devotees pass it to others.
Ultimate knowledge consists of three aspects:
1. Jiva, we all are jivas;
2. Prakrti this material nature we all are here; and
3. Isvara the Supreme Creator and the Supreme Proprietor and the Supreme Maintainer.
Vedic philosophy basically deals with these three aspects Jiva, Prakrti and Isvara. Now doesn’t these three covers everything? There are two other things also described but they are the manifestation of these three Kala and Karma. Kala means time, you can’t deny the time factor everything is existing on time, everything is floating on time. If the time is considered to be like a river, we all are floating in that river from one point to another in that stream of flow. Floating in that river we appeared in time we are born and then we are moving on time and then finally we will die and disappear. What is the constant factor in our existence? Time. Then as we are acting our actions are creating reactions and that is called Karma, nothing is happening by chance.
Sometimes we are enjoying, did that enjoyment come by chance? No. It is something we must have done in the past that generated the result that is giving us the enjoyment or happiness. Sometimes you are suffering. For our happiness we may make some arrangements ourselves, we may think well I made this arrangement, I built this beautiful house and I am living in this beautiful house therefore I am happy. You can think that way but I am able to build this house by some good karma I have. Now we want to build a house and enjoy in that house but does anyone want the house to collapse in an earthquake? We don’t want that but it happens sometimes. Is it also just a chance happening? Just as happiness is a result of good karma the suffering is the result of our bad karma therefore Vedas are very clearly making that point, don’t act in a wrong way. Don’t cheat, don’t steal, don’t tell lies, don’t hurt others.
All the don’ts’ are there. Why? To protect you from suffering because if you do those things then you will suffer. Somebody may steal and think they gained a lot without paying we got something isn’t that the meaning of stealing? We got something without paying the price, I may think that way but there are some higher authorities who are taking note, you didn’t pay 1000 Rands, okay the fine is 25 000 Rands. If you know something only costs 1000 Rands, will you pay 25 000 Rands for that, will you ever do that? Don’t do that. All these Do’s and Do Not’s are there simply to protect us from suffering and in this way the Vedas are taking is to the ultimate point of surrendering to Krishna. What is the benefit of surrendering to Krishna? Ok I will give you an example recently we had a seminar in Cape Town and in Durban the title of the Cape Town seminar was “Money is the means not the goal” and the title of the Durban seminar was “Money is the means what is the goal?”
Unfortunately, in today’s world money has become the goal because everyone is running after money thinking I need money I need money. Actually, why do we need money? Did you think about it? If you have money, you can get what you want so money is the medium of exchange. Let’s go into the root of it, how did money come about? You remember initially there was barter system exchange I need cabbage and you have cabbage, I have rice, I give you some rice and you give me some cabbage that was the way of dealing. They thought a common need of exchange. You may not need rice but I have these coins and with this coins you can buy anything then. In this way coins made of copper, silver and gold became the medium of exchange and then it became subtler, the paper currency. Then it became credit card, see with time how it became more and more subtle and now you don’t even need a credit card you have your credit with the bank and with that credit you can get whatever you want. Now all these arrangements are for this gross bodily platform but beyond this gross bodily platform we have a subtle body.
2. SRILA PRABHUPADA’S APPRECIATION
It is through Prabhupada’s teachings is it becoming clear who is the Supreme Personality of Godhead? Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Krishna the Supreme Personality of Godhead means the Supreme Personality of Godhead is all attractive.
3. GURU MAHARAJA’S INSTRUCTIONS
All these Do’s and Do Not’s are there simply to protect us from suffering and in this way the Vedas are taking is to the ultimate point of surrendering to Krishna.
(The content of this E-Magazine was based on a Lecture given by HH Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja on given at Drakensburg Retreat, South Africa on 22 January 2017.)
(Compiled and Edited by Hemavati Radhika Devi Dasi)