Vaisnava Etiquette

Actually Vaiṣṇava etiquette comes from reality. It has to do with reality. We are interested in things that are real and substantial. It’s not superficial. The ultimate reality is beautiful, and the Vaiṣṇava etiquette is beautiful. It is about honoring devotion, and the devotees understanding that their position is dependent upon those who have devotion; the Vaiṣṇavas. Kṛṣṇa and Kaṛṣṇa. We have some idea [about] Kṛṣṇa and Kaṛṣṇa means those who are Kṛṣṇa’s devotees. Those who are wholly given over to Kṛṣṇa. When Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākur began The Harmonist magazine, he made reference to the previous magazine of Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur the Sajjana-toṣaṇī. So in the inaugural issue of The Harmonist he took the opportunity to reference the Sajjana-toṣaṇī and give some explanation. Sajjana-toṣaṇī: sat-jan toṣaṇī. All of these words have a general meaning, and a more specific meaning and then a very refined meaning in its highest expression. There is a dictionary called the Nirupti. Which I always find interesting that the name of the dictionary is What is Not Spoken that is the title of the dictionary, What Wasn’t Said. In other words what is spoken and commonly understood by everyone. That is not the subject matter of this dictionary. This dictionary will deal with implied meaning or deeper level meanings. [Meanings] that are more than what is commonly understood. So ‘sat’ can have various meanings but almost as an acronym it means the Supreme Absolute Truth. Conveniently, it is an acronym. Supreme Absolute Truth. Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākur reminds us that the Supreme Absolute Truth is not Kṛṣṇa alone. Normally we would think Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Absolute Truth. It says so in the beginning of the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (1.1.2),

“Vedyaṁ vāstavam atra vastu.” Advaya-jñāna (Cc: Madhya, 20.152), the ultimate substance. Ekala Īśvara Kṛṣṇa, āra saba bhṛtya (Cc: Ādi 5.142), Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ Kṛṣṇaḥ sach-chid-ānandaḥ vigrahaḥ (Bs: 5.1). But he means to make another point here by saying, “Who is Kṛṣṇa? That Kṛṣṇa who is the Supreme Absolute Truth: Brahmeti Paramātmeti Bhagavān iti śabdyate (SB: 1.2.11).” As a king implies queen, kingdom, associates, many things, When we hear ‘king’ many things are to be understood from that one word. So, he said Kṛṣṇa alone, meaning not Kṛṣṇa in isolation or Kṛṣṇa in the absence of his śakti or potency. Predominating Moiety (half) and predominated half. Supreme positive, supreme negative. Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa are the Supreme Absolute Truth.

If this is what is mean by ‘sat’ then when you put ‘sat’ and ‘jan’ together it becomes ‘sajjan’. The ‘sajjan’ are those who are wholly given over to the eternal service of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. As the expressed in the prayers of Raghunath Dās Goswāmī: Rādhikā-Mādhavāśāṁ (Mukta-charita), Rādhika and Mādhava; ‘āśāṁ’—the aspiration to serve their holy lotus feet. ‘Sajjan’: who know nothing other than Kṛṣṇa.

[Once] Vallabhāchārya told Mahāprabhu he can explain and give unique explanations for so many names of Kṛṣṇa. Mahāprabhu, himself in one place says, “Nāmnām akāri bahudhā nija-sarva-śaktis,” (Śikṣāṣṭakam: 2), [Kṛṣṇa has] so many names, but here he chose to tell him, “I am incapable of knowing so many names of Kṛṣṇa. I just know two names of Kṛṣṇa Yaśodā Nandan and Śyāmasundar. I don’t know so many names of Kṛṣṇa.” What does he mean by a particular quality? Like if someone fains ignorance about certain things and then about knowing so many other things, and then things they claim to know are of the highest quality, the most expensive, that’s another way of making a point. Like saying, “I don’t know these things; I only know a particular quality.” So, those devotees who are (we use the word ‘exclusive’) servitors.

sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ
tat-paratvena nirmalam
hṛṣikena hṛṣīkeśa-
sevanaṁ bhaktir uchyate
(Nārada Pañcharātra; Chaitanya-charitāmṛta: Madhya, 19.170)

From the Nārada Pañcharātra and Rūpa Goswāmī’s,

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

[Devotees] have no ulterior motive in service [or] no calculation. Śrīla Guru Mahārāj will point out that this sort of thing continues in the spiritual world. It’s not just a question of being here and making distinctions of understanding gradation or as he would say, “Progress means elimination and a new acceptance.” So he will sometimes say, “But even in the spiritual world, in Vaikuṇṭha, the southern hemisphere of the spiritual world, there is some calculation. Whereas in the upper hemisphere Goloka Vṛndāvan, Kṛṣṇa is predominated by jñāna-śūnya-bhaktas.” Knowledge-free devotion, which Guru Mahārāj sometimes calls ‘noble ignorance’. There is a Greek word that means to appear ignorant. Ironic means to appear to be ignorant of something. So, Guru Mahārāj says, “Jñāna-śūnya-bhakti, is it not an oxymoron, ‘knowledge-free devotion’? Who does Kṛṣṇa like to associate with? He likes to surround himself with ignorant people.” On the one hand we are saying, Vṛndāvan is for the highest section of liberated souls. The most highly enlightened. We could make the case that they know more than anyone. What does he mean [by] ‘He likes to surround himself with ignorant people’? Jñāna-śūnya-bhaktas. This is not some ordinary type of ignorance.

In Śrīla Guru Mahārāja’s explanation in The Hidden Treasure of the Sweet Absolute: jñāna-dīpena bhāsvatā, aham ajñāna-jaṁ tamaḥ (Bg: 10.11). In one of the four nutshell ślokas [it says]: jñāna-dīpena bhāsvatā, sounds like, “He illuminates them with the light of knowledge.” So, Śrīla Guru Mahārāj makes the point, “What? Kṛṣṇa is going to give jñāna to pure devotees?” The word jñāna is used here, meaning knowledge. So, is he going to give them knowledge? That which is a lower thing than what they already have? So, it cannot mean that it must be a reference to something else. Not to go into the details of that now, but he does say, in other words, when the devotees are feeling so much separation from Kṛṣṇa [that] they can’t tolerate another moment [and] He reveals himself to them.

As when the Vraja-gopīs are feeling so much anguish and separation from Kṛṣṇa inquiring from the trees, “Where is Kṛṣṇa?” Inquiring from the deer. Imitating the Pastimes. One gopī will play the part of a demon another one Kṛṣṇa, “Be gone, Kāliya! I will chase you from the Yamunā!” They are playing Pastimes; some are pretending to play the flute. They are all in divine madness. Pressing many different things, but then Kṛṣṇa appears in their midst again and they are happy.

tava kathāmṛtaṁ tapta-jīvanaṁ
kavibhir īḍitaṁ kalmaṣāpaham
śravaṇa-maṅgalaṁ śrīmad-ātataṁ
bhuvi gṛṇanti ye bhūridā janāḥ
(SB: 10.31.9)

They say, “The topics of you: Tava kathā, are āmṛtaṁ—our life-giving nectar.” That’s what they think.

When we were preaching in this place in Russia where they have a big lake, what is it called? Petrazavodsk? There is a big lake there. We were staying at one house there. One devotee’s sister who is not entirely appreciating Kṛṣṇa consciousness sees [that] every night we are having these meetings, we are talking about Kṛṣṇa, we are very happy, everyone is smiling, we are taking prasādam, and we are having kīrtan, and she said, “Why don’t you do something useful? Why don’t you help the people? There are people outside who are cold, starving, they need a place, some food, do something to help people, but here you are just talking about Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa. Everything Kṛṣṇa.” What she doesn’t understand is what the Vraja-gopīs are saying: tava kathāmṛtaṁ tapta-jīvanaṁ, topics of Kṛṣṇa are life-saving nectar. This will bring people back from the dead. We are the living dead. The living and walking dead. Zombies! [Laughter] Aren’t the zombies the living, walking dead? In the absence of Kṛṣṇa all the cause of our suffering is forgetfulness of Kṛṣṇa. For the Vraja-gopīs, [this is] the cause of their suffering also. But what the remedy is for them is [also] the remedy for us. We think, “Oh, no, they are great devotees. So, for them hearing about Kṛṣṇa will relieve their suffering but we have got REAL problems. What are we going to do? I mean we really have some problems on our hands. We’ll get to that Kṛṣṇa stuff later.” As one person in Soquel suggests, “Just stick to the Kṛṣṇa stuff, dude.” [Laughter]

I’ve started talking about something else once. I took it as a message from Kṛṣṇa. I said, “I am going to follow your advice, and just talk about Kṛṣṇa. Same solution for them is the same solution for us. Hearing about him, śrotavyaḥ kīrtitavyaś cha smartavyaś chechchhatābhayam (SB: 2.1.5), that’s how to become free from anxiety, suffering, anguish. Kavibhir īḍitaṁ kalmaṣāpaham śravaṇa-maṅgalaṁ śrīmad-ātataṁ, hearing about him is the beginning of maṅgalaṁ (all auspiciousness). Śrīmad-ātataṁ, then you get some real wealth. Not Wall Street wealth of this world, the up and down values of imaginary wealth. Bhuvi gṛṇanti ye bhūridā janāḥ.

Once Pratāparudra Mahārāj sung these ślokas from the Gopī-gītā to Mahāprabhu. Mahāprabhu said, “Bhūridā! Bhūridā!” Means you’re really giving me something valuable. “This is the valuable thing to be had in this world and you’ve given that to me. I cannot possibly repay you, I can only embrace you”; and Pratāparudra Mahārāj got the embrace of Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu.

svarūpaṁ bibhrāṇo jagad-atulam advaita-dayitaḥ
prapanna-śrīvāso janita-paramānanda-garimā
harir dīnoddhārī gajapati-kṛpotseka-taralaḥ
sa chaitanyaḥ kiṁ me punar api dṛśor yāsyati padam
(Stava-mālā, Prathama Chaitanyāṣṭaka: 3)

Gajapati-taralaḥ: means he was delivered. Gajapati means two: Pratāparudra Mahārāj or Gajendra the elephant [who] is a south Indian king in his previous life and he offended a devotee. We are speaking of the sajjan. Those are the devotees, really, those who have given their lives over to the lotus feet of Guru and Gaurāṅga, Rādhā-Govinda.

We are told [that] in some elephant-like way he ignored a devotee, oblivious I take it, something. He was a king [and] in next life he took birth as an elephant and he was enjoying with some she-elephants in a kuṇḍa (in a pond) and a crocodile, huge crocodile, like the one in Australia [came]. They have this giant one the size of this room. To start the crocodile is stronger in the water and the elephant pulling him under with his trunk and he had some remembrance of his past life, divine awareness. So, with his trunk he grabs some lotus flowers, started offering them to the lord, and he remembered some ślokas from when he was the king. Let this be a lesson to all you children out there; [laughter] to learn ślokas, to everybody, learn ślokas. They say you can’t take it with you? You get to keep the ślokas. You get to carry them to you next life. So—learn ślokas. If someone says, how do I know this? [Laughing] From this story. Prabhupād says in a purport that he recalled these ślokas from a past-life and he says something like, “Therefore all the members of the International Society for Kṛṣṇa consciousness should learn the Brahma-saṁhitā or some such ślokas.”

So, he is chanting them. Their fight went on for a thousand celestial years as fights are apt to do in Purāṇic legend. Then Viṣṇu came on Garuḍa, he could hear him, ‘swwhhooooosh’. He descended on Garuḍa and saved him. So, Gajapati means Pratāparudra Maharaj in Rūpa Goswāmī’s śloka and Gajendra. Each one has some double meaning. Svarūpaṁ bibhrāṇo jagad-atulam means no-one knows what is known to Svarūp Dāmodar. As Guru Mahārāj says, “Śrī-Gaurānumataṁ svarūpa-viditaṁ.” (Śrīmad Bhakti Vinoda-viraha Daśakam: 9) He knows fully Mahāprabhu’s ecstatic emotional interior and the real inner purpose of his descent. It also means, svarūpaṁ bibhrāṇo jagad-atulam, that the beauty of Mahāprabhu is incomparable. His svarūpa; jagad-atulam: jagad means universe; atulam means nothing compares to it.

So, Rūpa Goswāmī in one śloka has very beautifully written at least two totally parallel meanings. It has two. The Gopī-gītā: bhūridā. You are giving me something substantial. For those, whom these things are meaningful.

Śrīla Guru Mahārāj and Śrīla Gurudev would play this śloka game when they were on the train, long journey or somewhere. Whatever one śloka ends with you it has to be the first syllable of another one. Like,

sarva-dharmān parityajya
mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja
ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo
mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śuchaḥ
(Bhagavad-gītā: 18.66)

’Ha’ should be the first syllable of the śloka you give.

yad rāma-kṛṣṇa-charaṇa-sparaśa-pramodaḥ
mānaṁ tanoti saha-go-gaṇayos tayor yat
pānīya-sūyavasa-kandara-kandamūlaiḥ
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.21.18)

Oh! that’s a tough one. Mūlaiḥ, I wonder what that would be...

lalita-lavaṅga-latā-pariśīlana-komala-malayasamīre
(Gītā-govinda: 1.4)

Anyway, that’s how it goes. This was their play. One little girl in England, friend of Dhaniṣṭhā, when she was like 12 or something she came to me once and wanted to ask a question. She asked, “Do you and Gurudev play games?” [Laughter] And I said, “Yes! Of course we do!” [Laughter] She wanted to know if we play games together. It’s very sweet. It’s the śloka game.

The jñāna-śūnya-bhaktas, knowledge free devotion, noble ignorance means (and think of it in this way) how much heart do you have to have to look past Kṛṣṇa’s divinity, where that’s not a factor in your relationship? We need to talk about our relationship. [Laughter] You can look past Kṛṣṇa’s divinity; it’s not a factor in your relationship. You just love Kṛṣṇa the way he is. Reality is for itself and by itself. We think, in this world, who can do that? The mother; the son could become the president, prime minister, it still her boy, her son. She is not seeing president, prime minister—she remembers so many things about him. She can actually suppress all of that. It can’t stand in the presence of her heart flow. If that can be true here, then think what is the position of Yaśodā? We’re told to preach Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. “Ha! Don’t say that!” Those are vicious rumors where she lives. In this world, we are trying to make propaganda in favor of Kṛṣṇa conception. In that world we aspire to serve, [but] she is saying rumors of Kṛṣṇa’s divinity are that, they are rumors. They are vicious rumors started by envious people.

Parīkṣit Mahārāj asked Śukadev, as they go deep into the 10th canto and he hears the childhood Pastimes of Kṛṣṇa,

nandaḥ kim akarod brahman
śreya evaṁ mahodayam
yaśodā cha mahā-bhāgā
papau yasyāḥ stanaṁ hariḥ
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.8.46)

He is thinking, what did Nanda Mahārāj do to get Kṛṣṇa crawling as a baby in his courtyard? Is there something he did? Is there something you can do to achieve that? Nandaḥ kim akarod brahman, śreya evaṁ mahodayam: śreya means what is ultimately beneficial. Then he said more: yaśodā cha mahā-bhāgā, Yaśodā is even more fortunate more exalted than Nanda Mahārāj. Why? Papau yasyāḥ stanaṁ hariḥ: Kṛṣṇa is sitting on her lap, sucking her breast. Is this possible? The ultimate reality can sit as a baby on his mother’s lap and suck her breast the way a baby sucks his mother’s breast? Is this a possibility? He was astonished to hear these things.

More astonishing [is] Raghupati Upādhyāya’s [śloka], Gurudev quoted [it at] the opening in Māyāpur,

kaṁ prati kathayitum īśe
samprati ko vā pratītim āyātu
go-pati-tanayā-kuñje
gopa-vadhūṭī-viṭaṁ brahma
(Śrī Chaitanya-charitāmṛta: Madhya, 19.98)

Mahāprabhu had asked him, “What do you think is the ultimate truth? What you’ve gathered from the scriptures—tell me, what do you think is the best, the ultimate thing?” And He had his own ślokas. He is saying, “Kaṁ prati kathayitum īśe: who can I tell and who would believe me?” First he says,

śrutim apare smṛtim itare bhāratam anye bhajantu bhava-bhītāḥ
aham iha nandaṁ vande yasyālinde paraṁ brahma
(Śrī Chaitanya-charitāmṛta: Madhya, 19.96)

Same thing. He is saying, “Well, you know, the śrutis, the Vedas, talk about this, and they tell you that. The smṛtis tell you this, the Mahābhārata has so many advice, how to get free from this worldly existence. But Śukadev said, “Aham iha Nandaṁ vande yasyālinde paraṁ brahma, but I want to know: what did Nanda Mahārāj do? He’s got Kṛṣṇa crawling in his court yard. I think we can bypass all the other things and just concentrate on that.” Mahāprabhu liked hearing that very much. In one fell swoop one śloka past the Vedas, past the śrutis, the Mahābhārata, everything. What this means: rāga-bhakti, raga-mārga. Noble ignorance. Nanda Mahārāj. There is nothing Kṛṣṇa can do and there is nothing anyone can say that can convince Nanda Mahārāj or Yaśodā that Kṛṣṇa otherwise. That Kṛṣṇa is anything other than their son. Vāsudev and Devakī sometimes think He is God. As when Devakī told him, “Put those four arms away right now, young man!” As a baby, he was showing four arms and she thought, “We are gonna get in trouble! Can’t you just appear like a regular baby?” Not so for Yaśodā and Nanda Mahārāj: Kṛṣṇa is carrying Nanda Mahārāja’s shoes on his head. Is that possible? The Supreme Absolute Truth, the supreme reality can carry the shoes of his devotees on his head? When the sādhus come Yaśodā takes the dust from their feet and puts it on Kṛṣṇa’s head for protection. Is that an offence? Is that offensive? [Laughter]

After Raghupati Upādhyāya [said that], Mahāprabhu [asked], “Can you say anything more than that?” That’s when he says, “Kaṁ prati kathayitum īśe: I could, but no one would believe me, everyone will think I am crazy and they won’t believe what i say.” As Mahāprabhu told Rāmānanda Raya, “Āmi—eka bātula, tumi—dvitīya (Śrī Chaitanya-charitāmṛta: Madhya, 8.291): I am the first crazy, and you are the second. I am crazy number one, you are crazy number two. Because you and I have these discussions and we believe all this stuff. That is madness in the so-called normal world.”

yā niśā sarva-bhūtānāṁ
tasyāṁ jāgarti saṁyamī
yasyāṁ jāgrati bhūtāni
sā niśā paśyato muneḥ
(Bhagavad-gītā: 2.69)

What is night for one is day for another and the inverse. Is Einstein mad, or do the common people just not understand the kind of thoughts he is capable of? Kaṁ prati kathayitum: who could I tell? And if there was someone I could tell—would they believe me? And what is that? The supreme Brahman, the Supreme Absolute Truth? Go-pati-tanayā-kuñje, gopa-vadhūṭī-viṭaṁ brahma: he is hunting the Vraja-gopī girls in the kuñja in Vṛndāvan, Kuñja Vihārī? I could tell some one this and they will believe me? And Śrīla Guru Mahārāj says here, and this is original from Śrīla Guru Mahārāj: here Raghupati Upādhyāya is saying indirectly, “Before you, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, came there was no-one qualified to tell and no-one would believe it, but now that you’ve come and begun your audārya, magnanimous distribution of Kṛṣṇa-premā, Kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te, Kṛṣṇa-līlā, now everyone will hear and they will believe. This is your mercy.”

And then he asked, “What is the highest? What is the highest abode, the highest place—tell me what is the highest?”

Śyāmam eva paraṁ rūpaṁ (Cc: Madhya, 19.101), the highest form [is] Syamasundar Kṛṣṇa. Gopa-veṣa, the cowherd boy. Purī madhu-purī varā (Cc: Madhya, 19.101), here is means Mathurā, but by extension is means Mathurā-Vṛndāvan, Govardhan, Rādhā-kuṇḍa. Kaiśoraṁ, Kiśor—Kṛṣṇa’s age is the best when he is nava-yauvana. Ādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣaṁ nava-yauvanaṁ cha (Bs: 5.33), that teenage, ever-youthful position and ādya-rasa, mādhurya-rasa is the highest rasa.

So, Sajjana-toṣaṇī. Toṣaṇī means ‘to please’. Saraswatī Ṭhākur is saying in his poem, “Vaiṣṇavī pratiṣṭhā, tāte koro niṣṭhā (Vaiṣṇava Ke? 3): our whole existence, the substance of our lives and our aspiration is to please the Vaiṣṇavas, those who are wholly given over to Kṛṣṇa.” So, to respect them, to honor them and those on connection with them that’s Vaiṣṇava etiquette. It’s more than etiquette, it’s indicative of substance. We are recognizing that someone has a substantial connection with divinity more than anything does. Guru Mahārāj taught once: a flower is offered, then its prasād. When the flower is prasādam, then you take it on your head. Before that it is a flower; after that its prasādam—it becomes worshipable. When someone has become offered to Kṛṣṇa: dīkṣā-kāle bhakta kare ātma-samarpaṇa (Cc: Antya 4.192), initiated substantially, a substantial connection with reality, then they are to be revered, they are seen as worshipable. All the things in connection with Kṛṣṇa are seen as worshipable. “Tasmai deyaṁ tato grāhyaṁ sa cha pūjyo yathā hy aham: actually my devotees they are on equal status as I am, there are to be treated the way you treat me.” (Cc: Madhya, 19.50) Those are Kṛṣṇa’s direct words.

I remember once at a Vyās Pūjā of Śrīla Prabhupād, in maybe 1973 (two or three), different senior devotees, sannyāsīs, were giving their offerings one after another and then Prabhupād indicated his senior gṛhasta disciple, Madhusūdan Prabhu, that he should speak next. And it was before some others who may have had upādhi, rank. And some devotees were puzzled, and Prabhupād could see they were puzzled [as if thinking], “Why is he speaking?” And Prabhupād said, “[He is speaking] because he is my old disciple and known to me since the beginning.” He may not have rank. What we call a nirupādhikā Vaiṣṇava, a Vaiṣṇava who has no title or rank, but on account of their devotional position they are highly revered and respected. Seniority, we say Rūpa, Sanātan, Bhaṭṭa Raghunāth etc, because Rūpa Goswāmī came first, although Sanātan is senior in age and many things. We offer everything to guru first. It’s the agent, divine agency to approach Kṛṣṇa through his devotee.

When some tried to approach Mahāprabhu directly, He said, “No, you must first approach Nītyānanda. Take the name of Nītyānanda, bow to Nītyānanda, and then you can approach me.

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Rādhā Kṛṣṇa. So, it is not a formality. it may appear that way at times, but really its substance can be traced to the upper world to reality.

We were talking of Gadādhar Paṇḍit the other day. After Mahāprabhu plunges the heart and halo of Rādhārāṇī the remainder is Gadādhar.

Vṛṣabhānu Mahārāj is Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī’s father. Vṛṣabhānu Mahārāj. If Gadādhar becomes Rādhārāṇī in Gaura-līlā, then Vṛṣabhānu Mahārāj become Puṇḍarīk Vidyānidhi. So, when Gadādhar is searching for a guru to be initiated, he became initiated by Puṇḍarīk Vidyānidhi, who is her father in Kṛṣṇa-līlā.

And at one point out of the necessity of līlā (divine Pastimes) Gadādhar forgets the mantram, the dīkṣā-mantra, and asks Mahāprabhu, “I forgot my mantra, you can tell me.” “No Puṇḍarīk is your Guru.” He [Mahāprabhu] used to call him Premanidhi because, He said, he is Kṛṣṇa-premā personified. “You go and hear from him again he is your Guru.” Sometimes [it’s] mysterious. Pradyumna Miśra asked Mahāprabhu, “Please speak some Kṛṣṇa-kathā to me,” and Mahāprabhu says, “Āmi Kṛṣṇa-kathā jāni nā [nāhi jāni Kṛṣṇa-kathā], I don’t know any Kṛṣṇa-kathā. I heard from Rāmānanda, you go and hear from him.” (Cc: Madhya, 8.126) That’s not a formality, that’s substance. There are formal aspects, but at the heart of the matter is spiritual substance.

Śrīla Gurudev is so steeped in Vaiṣṇava-kathā. He doesn’t want to ask for anything for himself. Maybe he wants something, but he’s shy to ask. I had to learn that. So, if he would sometimes say to me, “Mahārāj, would you like some...” and then he would name something. Before I realized this I would say, “No, I am fine.” But what he wanted to do was for me to say yes and then he’d say, bring that to Mahārāj and I’ll take his prasād. But if I’d say, “No, I’m ok. I don’t need that.” He’d say, “Are you sure?” [Laughter] What I thought was very sweet, but that was his Vaiṣṇava ways. He doesn’t like to ask for something directly. He’d rather say, “Well I’m taking the remnants of a devotee.”

Mahāprabhu had some great disciple Kālidās, not to be imitated. It’s in the Charitāmṛtam. He would hide outside houses [of] some devotees. If there was a little prasādam left and they were putting it in the soil for the other living entities and when they would go back inside Kālidās would come... [Laughter] Don’t try this at home. He is Kālidās for a reason. He is very special. He is the one who would chant Kṛṣṇa-nām when he played dice. Hare Kṛṣṇa! [Laughter]

Those are the raga-mārga-bhaktas that Kṛṣṇa likes to surround Himself with. They just love Kṛṣṇa. They love Kṛṣṇa and they love Mahāprabhu and not because Kṛṣṇa is God or he has some position, he has unconceivable power, potency and all of those things, which he does. They just like him the way he is and isn’t that how people like to be liked in this world? The way they are? Of course there is some room for improvement. We are trying to make progress. You can see it’s a perverted reflection of that. But devotees like someone for whom they realize they aspire to be. They are looking to the svarūpa, looking beyond any perceivable defects. This is very different. Someone might be a little arrogant, greedy, this that and the other thing but they are looking beyond that seeing there is some devotional substance there.

Śrīla Guru Mahārāj mentioned, there were two devotees in Gauḍīya Maṭh they didn’t like each other. Saraswatī Ṭhākur was aware of this, so in a public meeting he asked each one you glorify that person, and that person glorify the other person made praise each other in an open assembly. So, the one person was looking, and said, “Uuuummmm, well...” [Laughter] and Śrīla Guru Mahārāj said he had to look to the svarūp to say something good, [Laughter] but that’s a good thing. So, we are looking to the inner qualities, the subjective self not the objective self. We are willing to ‘Photoshop’ the objective self; just look toward the subject self and make adjustments there.

Any other question? Seniority hierarchy. There is a hierarchy in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We are told Rādhā Kṛṣṇa, supreme absolute. Those who are pleasing them (Lalitā, Viśākā, Rūpa, Rati, Nanda Yaśodā, Śrīdhām, Subāl). There is a hierarchy of servitors and to ignore them will be done at ones peril. Guru Mahārāj calls it ‘fictitious devotion’ if we do not give recognition to the superior servitors our devotion is fictitious, imaginary. It’s not real. It’s insubstantial. And Guru Mahārāj further says, nirmatsarāṇāṁ satāṁ (SB: 1.1.2), is declared in the beginning of the Bhāgavatam not to be envious of the devotees, so with Kṛṣṇa it’s easy, if we have some proper conception of who Kṛṣṇa is then we can understand. Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord, the Supreme Reality etc, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So where we will be judged is how we appreciate his devotees. That’s where the heart of the matter of Kṛṣṇa conception is—with the devotees, not with Kṛṣṇa. That’s the easy part. To give recognition, of course the super servitors again, that is easy, come down to our own position, our own godbrothers and godsisters, to recognize their good qualities (such as their devotional tendencies, to recognize that, and maybe to suppress other things). We would prefer to be like that. Śrīla Gurudev sometimes would say, “That I believe everyone—that is my fault.” But once maybe not 100% understanding him, I said, “No, Mahārāj that is your good quality.” But he meant, “I believe in everyone it sometimes leads to an abuse, but I’d rather be a believer a than a disbeliever. I don’t want to be skeptical about everyone, doubting everyone and their position.”

We’ve heard the story: Droṇa Ācārya sent Yudhiṣṭhira and Duryodhana round the world. Yudhiṣṭhir to find someone who is 100% bad, evil and the inverse; for Duryodhana to find someone who is cent percent good. They both come back, Yudhiṣṭhir said I found some really bad people, but they all, every last one had some redeeming quality, so I didn’t find anyone who was 100% bad. And Duryodhana said I met many good people, but there was something wrong with everybody. Then he said, “Meet each other—He is that man, you’re that man.” So, we want to believe, we are believers, promote faith. Benefit of the doubt, if we need to doubt, doubt yourself. We can doubt ourselves, be skeptical of ourselves.

yogyatā-vichāre, kichu nāhi pāi,
tomāra karuṇā sāra
(Gurudev: 4)

We know that if we are examined objectively, impartially, nothing of value to find. Āpnār kṛpā, Tomāra karuṇā sāra, but in connection with Guru, Vaiṣṇav I have some hope. And Guru Mahārāj says it’s a hallmark of the intermediate position of progressive devotion, madhyam-adhikār, if they hear [that] someone’s going down that gives some pain to their heart and if someone’s making progress in Kṛṣṇa consciousness that is a source of great joy for them. Not the famous Schadenfreude of literature—to relish the suffering of others. The inverse. If someone is going down that brings some pain to their heart; and if they are making progress in Kṛṣṇa consciousness it brings great joy to them, that is a sign of progressive devotion.

Mahāprabhu asked Mukunda, “Who is the father in your house?” He had a devoted son Raghunandan. Mahāprabhu said, “Who is the father in your house?” and knowing the heart of Mahāprabhu he said: Raghunandan. He named the boy, his son [that] he is the father. What Mahāprabhu was alluding to is who has the most superior devotional position. That is what he meant and that won’t be based on superficial observations, but the recognition of actual substance. Kṛṣṇa, himself, is from a cowherd community, cowherd section. There are brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas, vaiśyas and śūdras. They are just above śūdras. Hidden in the middle position. The Golden Mean. Kṛṣṇa conception is the Golden Mean. The central conception of the infinite disguised, not appearing in the highest thing. So, when the cowherds say, “Well if Kṛṣṇa is God... but God never appears in the low caste like ours. He would appear in the brāhmaṇ and kṣatriya caste, not cowherds.”

Gurudev liked to play to play with words [and] said about one devotee once, “He is not a cowherd, he is a coward. [Laughter] he is not a cowherd.”

Sometimes the queens they tell each other, “You fell for a cowherd! You are a kṣatriya princess.” Disguised in the middle position. So, never on the basis of superficial observations. Guru Mahārāj said [about] the Vraja-gopīs: half civilised, stupid jungle girls are the greatest devotees ever. They wear chintāmaṇi on their ankles.

chintāmaṇiś charaṇa-bhūṣaṇam aṅganānāṁ
śṛṅgāra-puṣpa-taravas taravaḥ surāṇām
vṛndāvane vraja-dhanaṁ nanu kāma-dhenu-
vṛndāni cheti sukha-sindhur aho vibhūtiḥ
(Śrī Chaitanya-charitāmṛta: Madhya, 14.228)

There’s more opulence of the ankle of one Vraja-gopī then the whole Vaikuṇṭha world. The opulence that decorates their lotus feet is greater than the entire Vaikuṇṭha world, but they are disguised as cowherd girls.

Kṛṣṇa plays a bamboo flute and has a stick in his belt. Naumīḍya te ‘bhra-vapuṣe taḍid-ambarāya guñjāvataṁsa: wears guñjā-māla, paripichchha-lasan-mukhāya: and a peacock feather, vanya-sraje kavala-vetra-viṣāṇa-veṇu: a flute and a garland of forest flowers (SB: 10.14.1). Lāvaṇya-sāram asamordhvam ananya-siddham (SB: 10.44.14); paśupāṅgajāya: and he is herding cows.

kṛṣṇera yateka khelā, sarvottama nara-līlā,
nara-vapu tāhāra svarūpa
gopa-veśa, veṇu-kara, nava-kiśora, naṭa-vara,
nara-līlāra haya anurūpa
(Śrī Chaitanya-charitāmṛta: Madhya 21.101)

The central conception of the infinite disguised in human Pastimes. There is nothing higher than the human. This was told by one poet, humanists interpreted wrong. They thought it was atheistic, but actually it’s an allusion to Kṛṣṇa conception, the aprākṛta-līlā of Kṛṣṇa upon which human society is based.

Hare Kṛṣṇa