Swimming in the Pool of Nectar

Goswami Maharaj: Are there any questions from anyone?
Syama Mohini: In one lecture you mentioned that when we do some seva we learning how to be attentive and concentrated. For example when we’re cooking we are doing many things at the same time, we are learning how to be concentrated. But I don’t understand what is the difference between usual activities in material world and seva. What kind of concentration do we learn when we do some service?

Goswami Maharaj: “Karmaṇy evādhikāras te, mā phaleṣu kadāchana…” (Bhagavad-gītā, 2.47) Srila Guru Maharaj often quotes this sloka from Bhagavad-gita, which he renders as, “You have your duty to perform and don’t be attached to the result, don’t expect to enjoy the fruits of that work”. ‘mā phala’, ‘mā phaleṣu kadāchana’, the fruits are not meant for you. And then he cautions. He said this precludes, if you’re calculating about this, and you think, “Why should I work if I’m not going to enjoy the fruit of that work. So, I’ll ‘go on strike’. So, Srila Guru Maharaj reminds us, “No you are to do your duty, and the result is for Krishna.” And we have to learn this type of working attitude. And in another place in the Gita it’s called “yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam” (Bhagavad-gītā 2.50), which you can render as – ‘The art of work’. What is the Art of working?

We hear that the maxim, ‘a labor of love’, means that, there is maybe some labor involved, some inconvenience, some demands of your time and energy. But if it is for someone for whom have affection, for whom you have love and affection, then gladly, happily you will accept that. So, Bhakti Vinod Thakur has written in one of this songs that, whatever inconvenience or trouble comes to me that is related to seva – that’s a source of joy.

I told the other day the example about the mother and labor. So, this intense pain comes, especially in those final hours. It’s getting more and more intense until at last the baby is born and then there’s a source of joy. So, we have to have this in the background of how and why we move, what it is we do. Rupa Goswami says the criteria for something to be devotion or pure devotion.

anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ
jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam
ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānu-
śīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.1.11)

Not covered by karma and jnana. No ulterior motive. Then, ‘kṛṣṇānuśīlanaṁ’ – what’s desirable to Krishna
what Krishna wants.

Sometimes in a neophyte position we think kṛṣṇānuśīlana, anuśīlana what is favorable means, ‘what I like to do’. What I like to do for Krishna. Like this Bhakti Vilas Tirtha Maharaj of Gaudiya Math who was previously known as Kunja Bihari Vidyabhushan, he had a son, when he was a grihastha, and this little boy thought [about] the spiritual world, and he said, “I will be swimming in a pool of rasagulas.” [laughing] That was his idea, because they talked about the nectar world etc. And he though, “What could be better, this pool it’s just full of rasagula and I’m swimming there, and sometimes eating one and then swimming a little more, sometimes diving and eating a rasagula, surfacing eating another rasagula…” So we think, “Yes, that’s kṛṣṇānuśīlana! That is favorable, very favorable to Krishna consciousness!”

When I’d joined, I remember that was in May of 1971, and the Sunday feast came, my first ‘Sunday feast’, which was a big deal in ISKCON in those days. I remember this one devotee, his name was Baladev, and it was the custom of the brahmacharis, of everyone really, but especially the brahmacharis to not only shave your head on Sunday, but what we called ‘back-shave’. Like you can shave your head, but back-shave – means if you’re going the other direction, then it’s very shiny. [laughing]

So we liked to do that, back-shave our heads, tilak, this was you know, the feast and opportunity to preach to people. A really joyous celebration. And Guru Maharaj quotes Vasu Ghosh, the famous,

jadi gaura nā ho’to, tobe ki hoito
kemone dhoritām de
rādhāra mahimā, prema-rasa-sīmā
jagate jānāta ke?
(Jadi Gaura nā ho’to: 1)

His song where he reveals why Mahaprabhu came, the joyous celebration of the glories of Radharani and her Krishna-prema. But in another sloka, I don’t know if it’s in that song. But in another one of his songs he said, “What kind of sadhana is this? Where singing and dancing and feasting, is the path. That is our path, singing and dancing and feasting. So, we heard Srila Prabhupad said it so many times, and I always thought that it originated with him and perhaps it did. But even Vasu Ghosh in time of Mahaprabhu, he’s also saying how wonderful this process is.

So, anyway, at that sunday Sunday feast I remember that devotee Baladev he was preaching to a guest. As we hear, Brahma, Paramatma, Bhagavan… The jnani’s target is impersonal Brahman, the yogi’s target is the Paramatma, the supersoul within the heart of every living being and, “aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-chayāntara-stham…” (Brahma-saṁhitā 5.35), in the heart of every atom. And then on that point he said, “And the yogis, sometimes we hear they’re blazing a fire in a summer time, a circle of fire and sitting in that as an austerity, like this type of heat. Now, you can imagine, when it’s hot like this, to blaze a fire circle and then sit in the centre and mediate. Or in the winter we know when Badrinath becomes ice-cold, the water is freezing you have to poke through the ice to get some water to bathe. At that time they’re mediating.” So, his point was this yogis, jnanis, they are performing so many austerities on their path, and then he picked up a gulab jamun – the sweet ball and with the sugar juice dripping down on his wrist, he said, “But the bhakti-yogi, he feasts!” And he threw the gulab jamun in his mouth, and juice was dripping down his chin, and he was laughing. And I thought, “I like it here! I’m staying.”

I thought if somebody can say something like that, that’s enough for me. So, anyway, this idea kṛṣṇānuśīlana – that’s sometimes we’re eating gulab jamuns, and other times… Guru Maharaj used cliches, but he used them in inapt, inappropriate way, and this one is, “And other times it’s a bitter pill to swallow.” So, the idea is that everything’s for Krishna. As one man said, “If everything is for Krishna, “ahaṁ hi sarva-yajñānāṁ bhoktā cha prabhur eva cha,” (Bhagavad-gītā 9.24) He said to Saraswati Thakur, “What about us? What is our position?” Saraswati Thakur said, “You have no position.” [laughing]

Whereas Guru Maharaj said, “Jiva is an impoverished shakti. Only when jiva comes in connection with the asraya vigraha, chit shakti servitors, thus she gains her wealth. Sometimes Saraswati Thakur gave the example of when a girl from the lower section of society, if she marries prince, then she becomes a princess and maybe even a queen. Like that girl Kate Middleton, she wasn’t from the lower section of society, but still, she married the prince of England and she could someday become the queen of England by dent of that connection. So that’s how jiva becomes enriched, moves from an impoverish shakti to be enriched with an irresistibly divine substance known as Krishna-bhakti, “Kṛṣṇa-bhakti-rasa-bhāvitā matiḥ…” (Padyāvalī 14)

kleśa-ghnī śubhadā mokṣa-laghutā-kṛt sudurlabhā
sāndrānanda-viśeṣātmā śrī-kṛṣṇākarṣiṇī cha sā
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, 1.1.17)

Rupa Goswami in the beginning of book of devotion, Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu, describing it’s characteristics. He said, “A drop of this divine substance is capable of attracting Krishna.” Krishna, who is akarshan. He has magnetic attraction. Krishna’s devotees sometimes are called ‘karshni’. So Krishna is Madan-Mohan, cupid, he is bewildering everyone with his seductive charm. Krishna is Modan-Mohan, He puts cupids into a state of bewilderment. But Radharani the ultimate personification, devotion personified to it’s extreme limits, ‘prema-rasa-sīmā’, she’s Madan-Mohan-Mohini, she can attract Krishna.

Hare Krishna – sometimes Krishna is called as ‘Hari’, one meaning is ‘who steals away’. But Hare, Hare Krishna. Guru Maharaj said, Radharani can steal the mind of Krishna. So Gurudev likes to quote this one sloka where a devotee is noticing that Krishna’s mind has been stolen. He is absent His mind. Like we’re saying Radharani can steal the mind of Krishna with her manohar laddus, or divine serving mood. So he noticed that Krishna has lost His mind. And in this sloka [the devotee] is offering His mind to Him. “I see, You’ve lost your mind? So I’m offering mine to you.”

And one devotee asked Srila Guru Maharaj, “And what did Krishna say?” [laughing] It’s one of these divine sloka concepts. There’s not necessarily an answer. But there is always one devotee “And then what did Krishna say?” … to the devotee offering their mind. Guru Maharaj said, “Krishna said, ‘Oh, what little mind I have left, you want to take that?”

So we say, “Nāch re āmār man…” Like in the song, “‘Nitāi-Chaitanya’ bo’le nāch re āmār man”. Praying that they will dance within our minds, hearts, as we told yesterday more or less synonymous. The core. What is the spanish word for “heart”? Corazón? I like that, corazóon, other word’s cordial, coronary, core, corona.

That’s what it means, the heart of consciousness. That’s what we mean, and that’s why this thing about when you told sometimes in Japan, telling heart and mind. Really were talking about the core of our consciousness.

The poet Yeats [William Butler Yeats] wrote, in one of his poems, he used this expression, ‘deep within the heart’s core’, or ‘within the heart’s deep core’. Something like that. That expression. Because we understand there are superficial levels of consciousness and then we’re talking about something deep when we speak about the heart. Beyond superficial mind, really plunging the depths of heart, what is there.

So, when we speak of being concentrated, what does that really mean? Those yajnic brahmins were very concentrated on their sacrifice, their yajna. So concentrated that when the cowherd boys approached them on behalf of Krishna and Balaram for a little prasad, they’re saying, “Oh that time has not arrived. It will be sometime before there is prasad distribution, children.” And sent them away. Whereas the wives of the brahmins, when they heard this, some of them fainted at the opportunity. So, here, we can say, “Oh, concentration means to loose all consciousness.” What about that? What if we say that is concentration, to loose all consciousness, of this world.

When we hear of great devotees fainting we shouldn’t think that means fainting like here, where you are just unconscious. No, they’ve become so conscious of the upper world, that they become fainted here. Like those brahmin’s wives. And what are we told? How did they become so qualified as that? It’s mentioned: they had not undergone the sacred thread, brahminical initiation, or lived in a gurukula of the Guru, and all the different things that you would expect whether you want to call it... Sometimes puruscharya (prerequisites). None of those things had they undergone.

But in just their ordinary dealings: fruit sellers would come, flower sellers in Vrindavan. And while they’re buying fruit, vegetables, flowers, sometimes the sellers would say,
“Did you hear what happen the other day in Gokula?”
“No, what?”
“Krishna.”
“Krishna?”
“Yes, Krishna. This Kaliya, horrible evil serpent came, Krishna danced on him, punished him, liberated him.”

They know all the Pastimes of Krishna. So, what are they doing?—Krishna-katha, Hari-katha. They’re just doing their normal activities, buying fruits, vegetables, flowers, this and that. But [when] they [hear about a new Pastime of Krishna they are surprised. Then they’re singing some song about Krishna, “Kaliya-damana...” They sing songs [and asking each other], “Oh, teach me that song, Didi, teach me that song about Krishna and Kaliya. I like that song very much. I’ll sing it to my friends.”

So, they are hearing songs, singing songs, and that’s making some impression on their hearts. They are going about their activities.

Factoring in lila, Rukmini’s not met Krishna. When on the eve of her svayam-vara ceremony (a type of arranged marriage, but the conventional arranged marriage that we associate with India; svayam-vara was like a competition for very aristocratic girls, princesses; many valiant men would come, and vie for her hand; there would be some extraordinary feat, that you had to achieve that would demonstrate prowess, virility, intelligence—all that), knowing that she’s likely to be betrothed to someone who is the antithesis of Krisna consciousness and anticipating spending a life with someone who’s utterly devoid of Krishna consciousness, who’s opposed to Krishna consciousness, she writes Krishna a letter, sends through a brahmin-messenger, inviting Him to kidnap her. That’s a good idea. [laughing]

Surrounded by karmic circumstance that you can’t escape, we have to invite Krishna to kidnap us.

[It’s] told in Chaitanya-bhagavata that Mahaprabhu told his devotees one day that he was suddenly in the Devi-bhava [mood of Devi] and He wanted to dress and dance like his potencies, his shaktis. So, it was arranged.

And without going into all the details, when he took the form of Rukmini, all the devotees were astonished and they saw him dressed as Rukmini and taking the divine form of Rukmini. Tears pouring down the lotus face of Nimai Pandit on this garb and they were like the ink. The sand, the earth below was the paper and his finger was the writing instrument and He began to write this sloka,

śrutvā guṇān bhuvana-sundara śṛṇvatāṁ te
nirviśya karṇa-vivarair harato ’ṅga-tāpam
rūpaṁ dṛśāṁ dṛśimatām akhilārtha-lābhaṁ
tvayy achyutāviśati chittam apatrapaṁ me
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.52.37)

Where Rukmini says: hearing about you—“śrutvā guṇān bhuvana-sundara”, I can understand: You’re the most beautiful thing in the world, that impression has come to my heart just by hearing; “śṛṇvatāṁ te” and now I understand why there’s such a thing as hearing. This is very beautiful. She said, “Now I understand why we have ears and we can hear. It’s not just to talk to other people and communicate base necessities. Really, the reason we have hearing is so that we can hear about You. How beautiful You are, how wonderful Your activities are, how sweet is Your Holy Name, how sweet is the sound of Your flute. That’s why we have hearing.” This [came] from a princess, not any ordinary princess.

We might think it’s an extreme position and, perhaps, it is. But it’s real. This is reality. This is why we have the oral sense capacity. Really, truly. It’s not just something devotees say.

The 87th chapter of Srimad Bhagavatam [10.87], Veda-stuti (The Prayers of the Personified Vedas) begins with this question: if the tongue is made out of mundane elements and we have a voice box—mundane elements and all this put together, how can you vibrate that which is spiritual? How can you make spiritual sound?

This is kind of the ‘Hari-nam’ question. They’re addressing that there. How can that which is ostensibly mundane generate, produce something which is spiritual? It’s the longest chapter in the 10th Canto. So, I’m not going to [tell it all] now, I couldn’t even possibly. I know a few slokas from there, but it’s very extensive. But the gist of the answer is: yes—going from down to up, the mundane cannot generate what is spiritual. [With] the tongue, with the voice and ether and the element of sound [we] cannot create spiritual sound. But spiritual sound can descend and manipulate the tongue, the ether, the sound. From up to down it can move in that way.

So, here Rukmini is saying, “Now I know why we have hearing, now I know why we have the eyes. Seeing through sound, nama-rupa-guna-lila. Through sound now Your divine form has appeared to me. Seeing now, long at last, I understand why we have eyes. Their position is: without seeing the form of Krisna, of what value are eyes?” Only a devotee can understand this. Of what value are eyes, if they do not see the divine form of Krisna?

And interestingly, this is mentioned in the second Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, in the early instructions of Shukadev Goswami to Parikhit Maharaj; these famous slokas about those eyes are like on the peacock plume, if they don’t behold the divine form of Krisna. That tongue is [making sound] like the croaking of frogs, and the ears like snake holes. It’s very intense. It’s very, damning, condemning. Very strong language. You think, “Oh, it’s Sukadev, the brahmachari, one of those ‘heavy-brahmacharis’. One of the heaviest brahmacharis of all times—Sukadev Goswami, he’s speaking like that.”

But in the Madhya-lila, second chapter of Chaitanya-charitamrita, which is taken to be the summary of the sesa-lila (Antya-lila)—the final Pastimes, Kaviraj Goswami, anticipating that he may not live to finish the book, summarizes everything essential there, in that chapter. Srila Gururdev used to sing it sometimes at will, every sloka. However many are there, he would just sing them all.

And in the purport where Radharani is cursing anyone who has eyes that do not behold Krishna, ears that do not hear the sound of Krishna’s name or flute—each one of them, a nose which does not smell the divine aroma of Krishn, all of these things. And in the purport Saraswati Thakur quotes all the slokas from the Second Canto given by Shukadev Goswami to show: it’s the same. That what we got from Shukadev here in a seed form, in a general form [has] been expressed with greater intensity and focus, coming from the mouth, the lips, the heart of Srimati Radharani.

So, Rukmini [said],

Harato ’ṅga-tāpam means all tapa (misery) finished. What did Rupa Goswami say, “Kleśa-ghnī...” klesha means the same thing, “śubha-dā mokṣa-laghutā-kṛt...” (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.1.17)—Krishna is so beautiful. Mukunda, He makes mukti look ugly.

”Seeing You, now I understand why we have eyes. And now I’ve got You: by hearing about You, nama-rupa-guna-lila, You’ve entered my heart, mind, soul. “Akhilārtha-lābhaṁ”—I think nothing could possibly be greater then this. There’s nothing more that is necessary for me.”

It’s echoing what was given in the Bhagavad-gita, in the so-called ‘Samadhi-Chapter’, samadhi-sloka of the th Chapter.

yaṁ labdhvā chāparaṁ lābhaṁ
manyate nādhikaṁ tataḥ
(Bhagavad-gītā: 6.22)

Talking about concentration. They’re saying: when you have samadhi which is the ultimate concentration on Krishna, you will think, “Nothing more, I have everything that’s possible to have. Which connects with the sraddha definition. Labdhva, aquire that one thing, upon getting [which] everything is got. It’s also in the Upanishads.

So, she’s saying, “Now I no longer care about anything in this world, having come in connection with You. So, shamelessly, I’m inviting You to kidnap me.” That’s Rukmini, the principal Dvaraka Queen. But in this world we have to live. There’re so many things that we have to do. But underlying purpose is for the pleasure of the service of the lotus feet of Guru and Gauranga.

We may find ourselves in many situations, circumstances, awkward situations. Still, there can be an undercurrent, deep in the hearts’ core, divine remembrance.

We hear that Mukunda, the physician, was the royal physician to the Muslim governor. And one day he was giving some medical advice on a balcony and it was very hot. And one of the governor’s attendants took a peacock fan (they’re using divine paraphernalia for themselves) and shaded the governor. And Mukunda is giving medical advice. So we could think he’s concentrated on the governor [who] is suffering from something, he’s using his mind ability to [say], “Alright, this is what I prescribe to you.” But when the attendant shaded him with the peacock fan, Mukunda looked and seeing the peacock feathers, it brought about deep remembrance of Krishna, because he is such a great devotee and has such a magnitude of devotion within his heart.

barhāpīḍaṁ naṭa-vara-vapuḥ karṇayoḥ karṇikāraṁ
bibhrad vāsaḥ kanaka-kapiśaṁ vaijayantīṁ cha mālām
randhrān veṇor adhara-sudhayāpūrayan gopa-vṛndair
vṛndāraṇyaṁ sva-pada-ramaṇaṁ prāviśad gīta-kīrtiḥ
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.21.5)

He started thinking of how beautiful Krishna looks. When in the morning the Vraja-gopis are on their verandas, looking. There’s Krishna, Balaram and the cowherd boys getting ready to go into the forest and they’re playing their flutes and singing, and dancing. And Krishna looks so beautiful with the peacock feather in His hat, He’s wearing the Vaijayanti rainbow coloured garland made of forest flowers, and He’s playing His flute. And it appears as a stream of nectar is coming from the lips of Krishna, entering the flute and then showering the atmosphere with a nectar-shower of song.

It’s told, sometimes when Krishna plays His flute and He has ability to play all notes at once, but in a beautiful way. Not like where someone just plays seven notes. We go, “Oh, I can do that!”—Not like that. Can play them all and it’s mind blowing, mind boggling.

rundhann ambu-bhṛtaś chamatkṛti-paraṁ kurvan muhus tumburuṁ
dhyānād antarayan sanandana-mukhān vismāpayan vedhasam
autsukyāvalibhir baliṁ chaṭulayan bhogīndram āghūrṇayan
bhindann aṇḍa-kaṭāha-bhittim abhito babhrāma vaṁśī-dhvaniḥ
(Chaitanya-charitāmṛta: Antya, 1.164)

Rupa Goswami writes, what happens when Krishna plays his flute, the sound comes and it cracks a hole through the 8 layers of the Universe. So, first—clouds, thunder and lightning. What is animate becomes inanimate and what is inanimate becomes animate. Rivers stop flowing, but things like rocks and stones start to melt. And Tumburu who is the leader of the Gandharvas, the best musicians in the Universe, is astonished to hear this sound. The four Kumaras who are the extreme, the ultimate meditators, nothing disturbs their meditation ever. [When they hear] the sounds of Krishna’s flute—suddenly they can’t concentrate. So, here is where not being able to concentrate is very good. They are the best meditators in the world—suddenly, they can’t concentrate. Is that a good thing? Yes, it’s a very good thing to hear the sounds of Krisna’s flute and be unable to concentrate.

Bramha, who’s made everything doesn’t recall creating this. It’s going from the top of the universe, down: heavenly planets, middle things, then to the bottom. Autsukya, and Bali Maharaj is astonished to hear this sound. And we’re told [that] at the very bottom is Anantadev with all of his hoods, all the planets on the hoods, and when he hears this sound he starts to sway. And it looks like the planets are going to slide off.[laughing] Rupa Goswami says, these are the effects of Krisna’s flute.

So, as they’re swooning, swaying, swooning Mukunda faints onto the floor, thinking of the beauty of Krishna, with the peacock. Just the peacock feather is all he saw. But it went from the peacock feather to the divine face of Krishna, to His garland, to the flowers on His ears, as observed by Radharani and the Vraja-gopis, how they see Krishna. And the sound of the flute and the singing, and dancing—Mukunda fainted onto the floor. And the governor and his associate were trying to wake him up. And he starts coming to consciousness, and they say, “Where does it hurt?” And he says, “It doesn’t hurt anywhere.”

And then he realizes [that] he’ll be discovered, they will discover that he’s an advanced devotee, a mahabhagavata. So, he says, “Oh, actually, I have this one disease, it’s similar to epilepsy. So, occasionally, I lose consciousness, but I’m ok now.” [laughing] Hare Krishna.

Any other question? Or does that answer your question, somewhat?
Question: Could you please tell a little bit more about this tradition of diminishing yourself in front of higher devotees, and also maybe about in Bhagavad-gita, how Arjuna is led into tamas, to ask questions for everybody.

Goswami Maharaj: Yes, right. But what is the first part about, diminishing? Thinking of yourself as being low; humility, or self denigration?

We want to make a distinction. Humility should not be equated with low self-esteem.

So, modern psychology, which is descended from humanism, is trying to encourage people to believe in themselves. So much so, that in the modern world people are aggressive, beyond assertive. So they’ve gone beyond submissiveness, humility, being virtuous, admirable, desirable qualities in the Darwinian world where only the strong survive, and ‘survival of the fittest’. We’ve been told: you’ve got to be assertive, aggressive, go for it, because you’re [the] number one, you’re worth it! This kind of thing, which is the antithesis of spiritual culture. Because, for the finite, any finite, to think that they are the Infinite, or by another name, ‘God’, is the ultimate folly or foolishness. To think that you’re the Supreme Entity, that the Universe revolves around you.

So, humility is the outcome of the perceived presence or proximity of greatness. It’s not a posing, a posture, an actor can act humble. The director can tell the actor, “In the scene you’re very humble.” He can tell a super arrogant person, who may be super arrogant in their normal life, “In this scene you’re very humble.” They may be totally insensitive— “You’re crying, you’re feeling sad.” So we’re not talking about an act, a pose, being a poser, posing as being humble. But humility should come, as the natural outcome of being in proximity to greatness. Just as, if we’re standing on the shore of the ocean, automatically we’re looking towards the horizon, we see how vast the ocean is—automatically feelings of humility may descended within us.

Sometimes we’re looking at the sky when it’s very clear and you can see so many stars through the Hubble telescope, or some space exploration. And then you think: oh, the Earth is one insignificant planet amongst a trillion-trillion stars and then here, on this Earth, I’m one such person—[it’s descending] automatically. On account of perceived proximity to greatness, humility descends or floods the heart. That’s the principal spiritually speaking, what to speak if we perceive the presence or proximity to infinite greatness, to divinity, then how shall one feel?

Naturally one will feel insignificant. But the other half that we haven’t expressed yet when we told earlier, how through a drop of devotion, the devotee can attract Krishna. So we are told: yes, Krishna is the Supreme Lord, everything is made for His pleasure, satisfaction etc. We’re all His eternal servants, and to underscore more—we’re His slaves. No rights. But then what are we told? If you can approach, make your approach that way and it’s genuine and real from the heart, on account of being irresistibly drawn in attraction, what is the end result? Is where the infinite becomes the slave of the finite, Krishna becomes the slave of the devotee. If you approach Him in that spirit, that’s the response. The only difference is—we’re finite. What are we giving? You give your tiny little finite self and you get the infinite. The Infinite comes under the control of the finite.

But what is preventing this? It’s this ego: ‘I’m nobody’s servant. I don’t bow down to anyone.’ And it’s not even true. It’s just a posturing. We bow down all the time to all sorts of people and to all sorts of circumstances. We’re humbled, we are humiliated. Not just humbled, but humiliated.

Prabhupad says in one of his purports in the Bhagavad-gita, “When one realizes that material existence is a constant source of perplexity at every step, it behooves such a person to approach the spiritual master. We have this Ego that won’t allow us to admit, “I’m lost! What to speak of others, I can’t even take care of myself. I need help.”

As Guru Maharaj tells in the beginning of Sri Guru and His Grace, “To err is human. To err is inevitable for all of us being imperfect. But there is an element within us that seeks perfection.” That’s an interesting situation: admittedly, we’re acknowledging we are imperfect and we are prone to commit mistakes. But there’s something in us that’s always searching for perfection, that’s searching for the ideal, the ideal counterpart to our heart. [That is] what your heart is searching for. Despite statistical evidence to the contrary that you will ever find that in any real and lasting substantial way, we are hardwired spiritually to seek beauty, love, charm, sweetness personified.

That’s what we’re searching for. The imperfect is searching for the perfect. We’re searching for the ideal, we’re searching for the Absolute. That is what life is, that is what existence is, actually. It’s not religion, a religious thing, a religious idea. It’s reality. As once Guru Maharaj said, “Krishna consciousness is reality and it’s in your interest to become acquainted with this reality. It’s not an Hinduism or in an Indian religion, or something a particular group of people believe. It’s reality, and we have to start thinking of it that way.” Therefore, he used that expression: ‘Reality The Beautiful’, ‘Search for Sri Krishna, Reality The Beautiful’. The ultimate reality is beautiful. So, whenever we are in the presence of someone who is extraordinarily qualified, we feel [that] it’s natural to feel humble… In any field, whoever it is.

If someone is a musician and then they are in the presence of a great musician, they will feel humble and say things like, “I don’t even want to touch my instrument in their presence.” Those kind of feelings come to them, that’s what it means. And that’s just someone who’s relatively qualified. What are relative qualifications?

janmaiśvarya-śruta-śrībhir
edhamāna-madaḥ pumān
naivārhaty abhidhātuṁ vai
tvām akiñchana-gocharam
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 1.8.26)

Janma (birth)—qualified by high birth, aisvarya (wealth), education [sruta], beauty [sri]—these kind of things. But Bhagavan Sri Krishna says,

aiśvaryasya samagrasya
vīryasya yaśasaḥ śriyaḥ
jñāna-vairāgyayoś chaiva
ṣaṇṇāṁ bhaga itīṅganā
(Viṣṇu Purāṇa 6.5.74)

Who is Bhagavan? Who possesses all these qualities: wealth, opulence, beauty, knowledge, renunciation, strength, fame, all of that to an infinite degree? If you could find someone who had all of these qualities to an infinite degree, such a person would be irresistibly charming, attractive and qualified to be known as Krishna. That is meaning of Krishna.

’Krish’ means like magnetic attraction to the centre of all beauty, charm, love and sweetness. And as I mentioned to you previously, it compares with the magnitude of the Sun’s heat and light. What kind of magnitude of light and heat is going on there? If we think in parallel: the beauty of Krishna, the charm, sweetness, seductive charm, ability, knowledge etc., how are you going to feel in the presence of such a personality and what should be your relationship? So, necessarily we will say: subordinate.

But this is the magic of devotion. That supreme infinite being, the supreme entity comes under the control of a tiny finite soul through the power of love, affection, dedication. Do you know what a superconductor is? Have you ever heard of them? ‘Superconductors’ means: there’s certain ceramics, that when they freeze them, they take them towards the absolute zero—means very cold, to the extreme. Like when we were in Tomsk once, someone was talking about how cold it was in Tomsk, and these two devotees were having a little bit of a discussion. One was telling me, “It was minus 40!” And the other devotee said, “Ah, what is this nonsense?! It wasn’t more then minus 30.” So, they are used to it being very cold. Oh, you know about Tomsk also.

The absolute zero is something like minus 300. So we’re told: normally we know that wires have some resistance to electrical current, that’s why they get hot, [but] when certain ceramics approach absolute zero, it looses all resistance and achieves superconductivity. Full power can go through it with zero resistance. So, the negativity or the humility of the devotee should not be misunderstood. It’s the power of negativity to attract the positive. Krishna is the positive.

This is not like new age humanism: “You gotta be positive. Don’t beat yourself up! Don’t get negative, just always stay positive! Positive attracts positive.” Where does positive attract positive? That’s not my experience. When I was a child, someone gave me two magnets and when I’ve put the positive they repelled each other. But positive and negative went [claps] like that!

So, Krishna is the supreme positive. When the devotee through the genuine culture of humility descends towards absolute zero, Krishna is irresistibly drawn to that devotee, and they achieve superconductivity. Superconductors, there is zero resistance to divine current. Like in the case of Srila Prabhupad, Guru Maharaj told: ‘saktyavesa avatar’—divinely empowered, like God—in power and magnitude to do something extraordinary. So, we have to abandon conventional stereotypical ways of thinking.

We have this ego and arrogance of modern people who think that we’ve just about figured everything out, couple things left. Like Stephen Hawking or others who say [that] within five years we will know everything, except how whirlpools work. We have to have the courage to think anew, to allow ourselves to come under the influence of Sadhu, Shastra, Guru and Vaishnava, so that will be with enlightened with infinite perspective. That should be a seductive proposition. To go from finite perspective, which at best can only be, and always will be limited experience of the limited. We can trade that for infinite perspective afforded to us by Sadhu, Shastra, Guru and Vaishnava.

You said two things, was that one or was that both?
Audience: Another one was about Bhagavad-gita and being in tamas.
Goswami Maharaj: Oh, Bhagavad-gita. We’ll always be under the influence of maya. But which maya? There is mahamaya, and yogamaya. So, Arjuna’s ignorance is yogamaya. It’s not tamaguna, or ignorance in the conventional sense. We talk of jnana-sunya-bhakti, knowledge free devotion. Guru Maharaj jokes, saying, “Krishna likes to surround Himself with ignorant people.”, meaning—they’re not aware of His divinity, they just love Him as He is, as a person. That’s more charming to Him then someone who thinks, “You know He’s God...” “Yes, I [know].” “Very good!”

Jnana-sunya-bhaktas, knowledge-free devotion. So, under the influence of yogamaya, Arjuna is bewildered, he doesn’t know what to do, he’s in ignorance, and Krishna enlightens him. But interestingly, Arjuna’s friendship (sakhya) has some element of aisvarya-jnana (knowledge of Krishna’s divinity), so when Krishna shows the universal form (virata-rupa), afterwards, Arjuna is saying, “Forgive me now that I see that You are God Himself. There were times when I was a little too friendly... Will you forgive me for that?” But that’s what Krishna wants, that’s what He likes: when Arjuna is very friendly and they’re sitting together on the bed, discussing something, being Arjuna’s charioteer.

Krishna’s telling us in the Chaitanya-charitamrita, “If your love and affection is hampered or constrained by knowledge of My divinity—I’m disappointed.” That’s the beginning of the book. Krishna is saying, “I like those who can push this whole divine aspect into the background, and deal with me like a friend or subordinate.” We can understand—that’s very [high]. How can Yashoda whip Krishna? Who can be entrusted to run after Krishna and whip Him? Why?—She is so great.

gopy ādade tvayi kṛtāgasi dāma tāvad
yā te daśāśru-kalilāñjana-sambhramākṣam
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 1.8.31)

Kunti Devi is saying, “This bewilders me, this vision: Krishna’s running,Yasoda’s chasing after him to beat him, and all the kajal, mascara is running down His lotus eyes—in fear He’s crying, running from His mother. That’s so beautiful, beautifully bewildering. I can’t get it out of my mind.

By hearing these things we’ll all become properly adjusted.

Hare Krishna