What is initiation?

Goswāmī Mahārāj: Any questions from anyone?

Audience:  Mahārāj, she wants you to tell us something about the initiations that will be [happening] in the future, to explain that substance.

How to approach the Guru?

Goswāmī Mahārāj: Well, the last time I spoke, I made this point about Guru Mahārāj saying that you should put yourself under the guidance of a superior vaiṣṇava. So, what he is saying is, that the overall consideration is, like in Bhagavad-gītā, where Arjuna tells Kṛṣṇa: śiṣyas te ‘haṁ śādhi māṁ tvāṁ prapannam (Bhagavad-gītā: 2.7), that he has his own estimation of the world, what is his place in it and what he should do, and then he decides to transfer to Kṛṣṇa, to go from relative perception to absolute perception. So he says, śiṣyas, now I am becoming your śiṣyas, now I am going to take direction from you how I am going to proceed in these circumstances.

It's also mentioned, Guru Mahārāj liked to quote Jīva Goswāmī saying, divyaṁ jñānaṁ yato dadyāt, kuryāt pāpasya saṅkṣayam (Bhakti-sandarbha: 283). What happens in this process, divyaṁ jñānaṁ, divine knowledge is transferred from the heart of the Guru to disciple, and that they become free of sinfulness. What does that mean more specifically?

Guru Mahārāj is saying that the mind is the seed of sinful activity. People will say, "So many things have been done in the past, all the sinful reactions are going to be transferred to the guru and then he will suffer?"And Guru Mahārāj said, "It's not exactly like that, but instead it's like when a doctor takes on a patient and he sees that the patient is suffering in different ways, out of sympathy or empathy, the doctor is also suffering in a sense, but not literally. He's sympathetic or empathetic to his situation."

In the beginning of the Bhāgavatam. That famous śloka, janmādy asya yato ‘nvayād itarataś (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 1.1.1), that's where we can say it comes from tene brahma hṛdā ya ādi-kavaye muhyanti yat sūrāyaḥ. It says tene brahma hṛdā ya ādi-kavaye muhyanti yat sūrāyaḥ. So, brahma hṛdā, that means that brahma is not Brahmā, the ādi-kavaye means Brahmā; it's saying, so was transferred, like in the Brahmā-saṁhitā, where we find that from Saraswātī to Brahmā the Gāyatri-mantra. Again, we come back to conceptualisation.

brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva
guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja
(Śrī Chaitanya-charitāmṛta: Madhya, 19.151)

Brahmāṇḍa bhramite. It says, "Wondering the length and breadth of the universe," but what is the Universe? There's what it appears to be objectively, and what is the Universe subjectively."

Conceptually, the Universe is different layers or planes of misconception; that is what the Universe is. In a phrase, "It's the world of misconception," "It's the world of exploitation," and within that, it goes from gross levels of misconception and exploitation, to more subtle and refined levels of misconception and exploitation. So, in this explanation, Mahāprabhu is telling Rūpa Goswāmī that a fortunate soul who's wandering the length and breadth of this universe, from gross levels of misconception and exploitation, to subtle and finer ones in the higher planetary systems, comes in connection with the agent of divinity. This is also echoed in the Rāmānanda-samvad, when Mahāprabhu is asking the questions and Rāmānanda Rāy is giving the answers, and every time Mahāprabhu poses a question, and Rāmānanda answers it, Mahāprabhu goes, "Eho bāhya āge." "That is external, say something more," and they go through a sequence, until Mahāprabhu says, "Eho hoy," or "This I accept, as the first access point or contact point with reality, substantially, but now tell me more."

Even Gods are bewildered trying to comprehend Kṛṣṇa

What this is in response to, is the famous śloka from the Brahmā-stuti prayers,

jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva
jīvanti san-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām
sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhir
ye prāyaśo ‘jita jito ‘py asi tais tri-lokyām
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.14.3)

Back in that first verse of the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam it says muhyanti yat sūrayaḥ. Even the gods and goddesses are bewildered to properly comprehend the Kṛṣṇa conception," and then in tenth canto Brahmā becomes an example of this bewilderment in the Brahmā-vimohan-līla. Vimohan means bewilderment. So these past times are known as the bewilderment of Brahmā, because he misestimated Kṛṣṇa. So now Brahmā is offering his prayers, beginning with him saying, jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva, "Don't try understand Kṛṣṇa with the senses, mind and intellect, but instead hear from him, from his devotee, from a realised soul." Sthāne sthitāḥ means, "Whatever your relative situation is, is irrelevant. It doesn't matter, if you come in connection with the agent." So Mahāprabhu is saying, "The fortunate souls in this world of misconception, by the mercy of Kṛṣṇa they get Guru, and by the mercy of Guru, they get Kṛṣṇa." So they get this connection, and what do they get from Guru? Bhakti-latā-bīja, the seed, bīja means seed, the seed of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the seed of devotion. Like in Śrīla Gurudeva's pranām it says kṛṣṇa-prema bīja-pradam. The seed of Kṛṣṇa-prema is being given.

What do I need to get initiation?

Then Mahāprabhu tells further to Rūpa Goswāmī  that this seed will sprout. Bhakti-latā means a creeper. So, Bhakti-latā-bīja. The seed is planted in the heart of the aspiring devotee and under the guidance of Guru and vaiṣṇava, "sadhu, sastra, guru, vaiṣṇava," it needs to be watered, like we have to water some plant we may have. So what is that water? Śravaṇ, kīrtan hearing about Kṛṣṇa, glorifying Kṛṣṇa, smaraṇam, remembering Kṛṣṇa: these things are considered to nurture or water the seed of devotion. Then he says, like anything that grows here, it's being nourished and watered, but there are some weeds that may be growing, and we have to be conscious of that and eliminate them, because we may be watering accidentally some of the undesirable things, or the weeds that threaten to choke the growth of the creeper in the process.

Anyway, a different type of advice is given there. We were discussing this earlier. That in terms of qualification, Guru Mahārāj and Gurudeva liked to quote one śloka of Rūpa Goswāmī. Just like devotees sometimes like to have śloka collections, Rūpa Goswāmī also has a śloka collection. This verse says,

no dīkṣāṁ na cha sat-kriyāṁ na cha puraścharyāṁ manāg īkṣate
mantro 'yaṁ rasanā-spṛg eva phalati śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmātmakaḥ
(Śrī Chaitanya-charitāmṛta: Madhya, 15.110)

Very interesting; in this verse it says, no dīkṣāṁ na cha sat-kriyāṁ, there are no prerequisites for Kṛṣṇa-nāma, just Kṛṣṇa's will in the background to distribute Himself, and regardless of the quality of the soil that the seed of Kṛṣṇa conception enters, if it's Kṛṣṇa's divine will, he springs out of that soil. So it's a very encouraging sort of śloka, and Guru Mahārāj recounts when he and Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāj Prabhupād. One of their most substantial meeting was on the Vraja Mandala Parikramā in the Govardhana area. Earlier in the day the sannyāsīs had told the devotees that they were going to visit Śeṣayi Viṣṇu who has some mystical connection to the separation of the Vraja-gopīs. They said, "But that Śrīla Sarswatī Ṭhākur would give a class. Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāj and Śrīla Guru Mahārāj were reminiscing about this story, and Swāmī Mahārāj said that his thought was, "That if I go see that Deity, what will I see? What is my capacity? So I'm going to stay and hear from Prabhupāda Saraswatī Ṭhākur." When Swāmī Mahārāj was telling this story and said, "What will I see?" Guru Mahārāj joked, "Eye exercise!" in reference to another remark of Saraswatī Ṭhākur. When we go before the Deity, what is our capacity to see? Rather we will be thinking, "Kṛṣṇa is there, I can't fully understand how or know or see him, but we understand the presence of the Deity, so I'll present myself before the Deity to be seen by him and that will be good for me."

So, anyway, they both stayed to hear Saraswatī Ṭhākur, but in an extraordinary way, not only did Guru Mahārāj remember staying behind, but he remembered the lecture that Saraswatī Ṭhākur gave, the gist of what was being said. He said he gave a very revolutionary conception of Govardhan, in which he explained, that in the same way that the go-wallahs, the cowherd boys don't consider whether there is a brāhmiṇ cow, a vaiśya cow, a kṣatriya cow or śūdra cow, they just have a bull, a potent source and they make more cows. We have seen that in our own time. There was one cow in Calcutta, Davali, a white cow who wandered in off the streets and was taken in by the Maṭh, by Gurudev's grace, and then later shipped to Nabadwīp where she gave birth to so many other cows. She became part of the gośala. She'd come from the streets, and some of these other cows were very high class cows from Switzerland, in Cow society, High Cow society.

So what he's saying here is that Kṛṣṇa is a cow herder, so when he distributes Himself, He uses the methods of the cow herders. They don't have this consideration of who's qualified and unqualified in terms of varṇāśrama and things like that. In the Hari-bhakti-vilās, which was compiled by Sanātan Goswāmī and Jīva Goswāmī, where these things are described about initiation, and many things are written there, about which time of year, which time of month, which day of the week and which time of the day and so many things are written there, how long the guru should examine the disciple, how long the disciple should examine the guru, and there are many things there, enough to make your head spin, but at the very end of all these prescriptions it says, "But if the disciple takes the qualified guru, and he is willing to give the initiation, then that's the right time, the right place, the right circumstance, and on the basis of that, the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is expanding, but as I told initially, Guru Mahārāj's conception of this is putting yourself under the guidance of the superior vaiṣṇava and taking direction. As we were discussing earlier, again quoting Guru Mahārāj, in terms of the conception of Guru, that will be according to the inner awakenment of the disciple, how they will see Guru. Just as in the Gurvvāṣṭaka of Viśvanāth Chakravartī Ṭhākur,

What kind of potency is acting through the Guru?

sākṣād-dharitvena samasta-śāstrair
uktas tathā bhāvyata eva sadbhiḥ
kintu prabhor yaḥ priya eva tasya
vande guroḥ śrī-charaṇāravindam
(Śrī Śrī Gurvvāṣṭaka: 7)

So, it's saying in the beginning, sākṣād-dharitvena samasta-śāstrair.  All the śāstras are saying, "Understand that Guru is directly Kṛṣṇa." Like in the Bhāgavatam, āchāryaṁ māṁ vijānīyān,  Kṛṣṇa is saying, "Don't see the human-ness of the agent, don't make the emphasis on objective observation." He's saying, "Understand my presence," but in this śloka, it's saying sākṣād-dhari, then it says kintu prabhor yaḥ priya eva tasya, but it says, "On a finer examination, a shift will take place from seeing guru as Kṛṣṇa's agent to Kṛṣṇa's potency." That means prabhu-priya, the one who is most dear to Kṛṣṇa, therefore that shift, in the highest sense of its interpretation, it shifts to Rādhārāṇī. So those in this line, will see Guru as Rādhārāṇī's delegated representation. As Guru Mahārāj has said, "All Service to Kṛṣṇa is being transacted through her." So necessarily, the Guru concept reaches its zenith in being understood, as Rādhārāṇī's delegation, like a hierarchy of servitors.

So, the ultimate aspiration of those in this line is said to be Rādhā-dāsyam. The service of Kṛṣṇa, when you refine it and make it something more specific, it takes the shape and colour of Rādhā-dāsyam. Once, Śrīla Guru Mahārāj heard Saraswatī Ṭhākur giving a talk in Purī, and in Guru Mahārāj's estimation, he was talking about something very high, and whilst that was being done, someone came and asked Saraswatī Ṭhākur for maybe some money, to buy things for the Maṭh and for the service of the Deities, and they came and asked him for that, and he was happy to break his talk and become engaged in that. Guru Mahārāj became a little disturbed, he was saying, "I don't understand. Guru Mahārāj [Saraswatī Ṭhākur] was talking about something so high, and they interrupted him for something relatively trivial, in comparison." Then, it was explained to him that Rādhārāṇī is the Majordomo. You know Majordomo? I think it's a Spanish word, but it means the head lady of the household, of Kṛṣṇa-līlā and Kṛṣṇa's service, Rādhārāṇī is the Majordomo. She's doing everything, and Saraswatī Ṭhākur, as Her delegated representative, no matter how trivial that service was, he was very happy to engage in that seva, and rather, he didn't want it to escape him. So, even though the talk was supposed to be very high, he was very happy to do that seva.

On the concept of sevā, Śrīla Guru Mahārāj has also given this comparison. He said that it appears that sometimes the position of guru is one of mastership, but rather he's the servant of the disciples, just as a pūjārī takes some fruit and cleanses it, peels it and makes it fit to be offered to the Deity. So, the Guru's sevā is to cleanse the disciple through instruction, and make him fit for service. So those are some things to consider.

From a disciple perspective, the famous śloka in the Gītā is there,

tad viddhi praṇipātena
paripraśnena sevayā
upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ
jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ
(Bhagavad-gītā: 4.34)

About making our approach. Sometimes people will say, "Why in India or the Eastern world, or in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is there so much bowing down?" The Western mentality is often expressed, "We don't bow down to anyone, we don't bow down to any man, or woman or anyone like that." This type of haughty, arrogance. But, Guru Mahārāj explained it in this way, "We are taking what is generally considered the highest aspect of ourselves, the head, and bowing it to the feet, the lowest aspect of the upper world." That's the meaning of praṇipātena. "I have some experience of this world and how to navigate it, and who I am and what is my place in it, and I'm through with that and I'm placing that highest aspect, which is generally considered to be the highest aspect of myself, to the least position of the upper world. I'm surrendering it to that; I'm through with the experience of this world and now asking for exclusively spiritual direction."

Sometimes, they call it cutting a one-way ticket. But again, Kṛṣṇa conception being allowed to enter the heart, that's what it is about mainly, embracing that prospect. Our faith is weak and undeveloped, so we are advised, sadhu-sanga sato vare, seek out superior association and allow the the conception to grow and develop. So that means, it has to come through proper conceptualisation through a proper source.

Goswāmī Mahārāj: Any other questions?

Audience: In connection with the first question, I don't understand why guru is considered to be a representative of Rādhārāṇī? Can you explain it?

Goswāmī Mahārāj:  I'll give another example from Guru Mahārāj, this way, it will help you to understand. The highest peak of the Himalayas is Everest, and you can see that from the greatest distance. But focusing on Everest, say you begin to make your approach, the proof or evidence that you are coming in closer connection with Everest will be when you encounter the many peaks surrounding Everest. So there's the Kṛṣṇa conception, and from a remote position, we conceive of  Kṛṣṇa alone, but as we start making our approach, we realise Kṛṣṇa is not alone, rather there's Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, Lalitā and Viśākhā, Rūpa and Rati, Nanda and Yaśodā, Sudāmā and Subal, that the Kṛṣṇa conception is a system. In terms of serving Kṛṣṇa and interacting with Kṛṣṇa, what is our capacity? We're finite jīva-souls, Kṛṣṇa is an ocean of rasā, akhila-rasāmṛta-mūrtiḥ, so what is the capacity of a tiny finite soul to interact with him, so we're advised to take shelter, of what's called āśrāya-vigraha, that's another way of describing guru, it means the shelter giving personality. So, even in the spiritual world there are Gurus of different rasā's and positions, so everyone is taking shelter and direction from them.

So, that's why we're told, in the beginning we're mainly seeing Kṛṣṇa, but upon closer examination, you come nearer you'll see the shift goes to the potency of Kṛṣṇa. So, Rādhārāṇī, she's transacting all service to Kṛṣṇa. We're aspiring servitors of Kṛṣṇa, we need to come under her direction to realise that. Some examples are given in the scripture comparing Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa to the sun and sunlight. Sun has heat and light. Then in the song by Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur [he says], "We can not conceive or see the sun without sunlight, so similarly, we can't conceive of Kṛṣṇa without Rādhārāṇī, she's the one illuminating Kṛṣṇa conception, she's revealing the Kṛṣṇa conception." In another place Guru Mahārāj said, "Faith is the halo of Rādhārāṇī," and I was mentioning before this verse of Brahmā. The actual first verse of that chapter says, naumīḍya te 'bhra-vapuṣe taḍid-ambarāya (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.14.1). So the first thing Brahmā says is, "You're Śyāmasundar," we can say this means, this inconceivable black beauty, "But very difficult to see." But taḍid-ambarāya, taḍid means lightning, and ambar means dress,  "But you're wearing this lightning coloured dhoti, so even though you're blackish and difficult to see, by wearing the lightning yellow dress, that provides contrast and then we can see you." Guru Mahārāj says, that dress is a metaphorical representation of his potency, and it's the colour of Rādhārāṇī, which is golden. So what he's saying is really being said here is that, "Yes, Kṛṣṇa is difficult to conceive, but when dressed in his potency, which means Rādhārāṇī and her extensions, then Kṛṣṇa can be seen." So this is the open secret or mystery of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

As I have pointed out before, Kṛṣṇa is not Kṛṣṇa conscious, We want to cultivate Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he's ādi-puruṣaṁ, Govinda. He's the supreme male, the supreme enjoyer. Who is Rādhārāṇī? She is Kṛṣṇa-moyi, she is full of Kṛṣṇa, she is full of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Guru Mahārāj in the beginning of the Prapanna-jīvanāmṛtam, he has one śloka in praise of Mahāprabhu, that says, guru-rūpa-hariṁ gauraṁ, rādhā-ruchi-ruchāvṛtam, the guru-rūpa of Kṛṣṇa is Gaurāṅga. He means to say, when Kṛṣṇa becomes guru and wants to teach Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he becomes Gaurāṅga, and who is Gaurāṅga? Kṛṣṇa having taken the position of Rādhārāṇī. If you really want to know what Kṛṣṇa consciousness is, look in Sri Guru and His Grace, you'll see this śloka of Gopal Bhaṭṭa Goswāmī. It says, govinda-vallabhe rādhe prārthaye tvām ahaṁ sadā.. The way Guru Mahārāj said it, you want to connect with Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa is saying, "That's not my department, see her, Govinda-vallabha, "I'm Govinda, she's Govinda-vallabha." We know in this world too, that you want to see an important person, the president or prime minister, or some big man, he says see my secretary, I don't know, I can't even make an appointment with for you with me. That's a crude example, but there's some truth in that.

Why can't I approach Krsna directly? Who is Srimati Rādhārāṇī?

Again, think of it in terms of extracting. Saraswatī Ṭhākur is saying Kṛṣṇa is not God alone. See, we're a little bit haunted by Judaea Christian ideas about Divinity, we have the male God and there's no female in sight. That's not Kṛṣṇa conception, so Saraswatī Thankur is saying, Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa together are the supreme Absolute Truth. He's the predominating half, and she's the predominated half, like positive and negative, and they're mutually complimentary. So, Kṛṣṇa, is rasarāj and Rādhārāṇī is sometimes called Mahābhāva. We're saying Kṛṣṇa is this ocean of rasā, of joy, beauty, ecstasy, charm, sweetness etc, but who can extract that? We can say, "I want to go directly to Kṛṣṇa without anyone intervening."

That can be done, but then you can come away with this much [indicates small amount], and that a drop of the infinite, is infinite, but Rādhārāṇī can extract the highest sort of rasā from Kṛṣṇa, so she is called Mahābhāva-Svarūpinī-Rādhā-Ṭhākurāṇī. So the Gauḍīya vaiṣṇavas think, so what is beyond the constitutional capacity of a jīva-soul to experience, to taste, to feel, to relish, to realise, she can give that. So they are rather thinking, we are promoting Rādhārāṇī, she is the one who can satisfy Kṛṣṇa the most, as she is his equal in every way. I like this expression they have in England, where sometimes the wife is called the "better half" in a relationship. All the women go, "Yes, of course, you thought we didn't know that, we've always known that."  So, the woman she is called the better half, so as inconceivable as it may sound, Rādhārāṇī is Kṛṣṇa's better half. She's the sweetness of Kṛṣṇa personified as his female counterpart. So she possesses the ability to totally attract, bewilder Kṛṣṇa. Sometimes with reference to Hare Kṛṣṇa mahāmantra, Hare, which we know means, indicates Rādhārāṇī, but another meaning of it is 'stealer'. So we know Kṛṣṇa is famous as a thief, butter thief, chitta-hārī, consciousness thief, always stealing something when there's opportunity, but he's saying Rādhārāṇī has the capacity to steal Kṛṣṇa, to steal his mind.

That's why when Mahāprabhu enters the Vṛndāvan forest, having left Purī, his ecstasy increases. In Purī he's in inconceivable ecstasy,  but just going in the direction of Vṛndāvan, anticipating it, that exctasy increased a hundred times. When he was actually in the forest of Vṛndāvana, it increased hundreds of thousands of times. So we can't properly conceive that, but in his divine madness, he would be there, and the animals coming up, cows licking him out of affection, trees bending over offering fruits, crying tears, and Mahāprabhu would sit there and two parrots fly onto his hand. One parrot flies here [indicates one hand] and other flies there [other hand], named Śuk and Śārī. A female parrot and male parrot. They're not ordinary parrots, and the parrot starts glorifying Kṛṣṇa, saying how Kṛṣṇa is reality the beautiful, he's so beautiful, charming, he's Madana-mohan, he bewilders Cupid. And then the female parrot says, "But only when Rādhārāṇī is at His side, when she's not there, otherwise he's bewildered by Cupid for her." They're going back and forth having this dialogue on his finger, and Mahāprabhu is relishing that, but the female parrot, she wins the argument, saying Rādhārāṇī is Madana-mohan Mohini.

He's Madana, means Cupid, Mohan means bewilderment of Cupid, but she's saying, "No! Rādhārāṇī, is Madhan-mohan Mohini," that one that bewilders Cupid with all that beauty, she's bewildering him with her beauty, her sweetness, her loving devotional heart. She is the ultimate personification of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and Mahāprabhu was rādhā-bhāva-dyuti-suvalitam, Kṛṣṇa enriched with the heart and halo of Rādhārāṇī. Even Kṛṣṇa admits it in Chaitanya-charitāmṛta, what She is experiencing, what is inside Her, is greater than what I experience. How much? By ten million times, that's Kṛṣṇa's estimation. So we can't even begin to properly conceive of who is Rādhārāṇī. She is the ujjvala-rasa āchārya. That's in the song of Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur, she's the āchārya. So Kṛṣṇa, when we say,

vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti
sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ
bahūnāṁ janmanām ante
jñānavān māṁ prapadyate
(Bhagavad-gītā: 7.19)

That's just overcoming the influence of the mundane, the first glance of the spiritual world, the first personal aspect of the personality of Godhead that comes forward, is Vāsudeva, it means Kṛṣṇa without his potency. So that we understand now from spiritual experts, is a distant view. It's Kṛṣṇa, but from a  distance, but up close and personal, means Rādhā, Lalitā, Viśākhā etc. So those aspiring servitors in the Rūpanuga line, they recognise this, that Kṛṣṇa Moi. Rādhārāṇī, She is full of Kṛṣṇa. So much so that Guru Mahārāj says that wherever She glances, Kṛṣṇa appears. Sometimes when we first hear,

devī kṛṣṇa-mayī proktā
rādhikā para-devatā
(Śrī Chaitanya-charitāmṛta: Ādi, 4.83)

It will be rendered as, wherever she looks, she sees Kṛṣṇa, but that's not how Guru Mahārāj explains it.  He says, that wherever she glances, Kṛṣṇa manifests. That's Rādhārāṇī. So, one time, Kṛṣṇa tried to deceive the Vraja-gopīs for some fun, he would wide from them, so their hearts would become more excited, filled with anxiety, deeper spiritual emotions and separation, and then they saw him hiding in the Kuñja, and so they start approaching Him, He pushed out two more arms, became four-armed Nārāyaṇa, and when the gopīs get closer, they go, "Oh,  Namo Nārāyaṇa." They're respectful, but their hearts, it says rāgodayaḥ kuñchati (Cc: Ādi, 17.281) it means, their hearts were disappointed, and they said, "Have you seen Kṛṣṇa? Do you know where he is?"

Then we are told, Kṛṣṇa tried to do the same trick to Rādhārāṇī, push out two more arms, then when Rādhārāṇī would look at him, the two arms would go away, and he could only be Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is  very unpredictable, and crooked by nature, you can see it in His posture. And once  I remember in Soquel, Śrīla Gurudev was talking about chanting on the Tulasī-mala, and he said, "If we chant, take the Name of Kṛṣṇa on Tulasī-mala, then we have some hope,  because, maybe I did something wrong and Kṛṣṇa doesn't like me," he said that, he didn't say directly chanting on the Tulasī-mala, but meaning that, he said, "If I hold the lotus feet of Tulasī Devī, and take the Name of Kṛṣṇa, then I may be successful, otherwise, maybe Kṛṣṇa is upset with me. I did something wrong, he doesn't like me." [laughs]

So Narottam Ṭhākur says,
āśrāya laiyā bhaje tāre kṛṣṇa nāhi tyaje
āra saba mare akāraṇa
(Vaiṣṇava-mahimā)

What he's saying is that a devotee takes shelter of a devotee of Kṛṣṇa, that's the guarantee to connecting with Kṛṣṇa, and again, who's made this determination? Kṛṣṇa, ādi-purāṇa to Arjuna, "Those that say they're my devotees, they're not my real devotees, they're not my substantial devotees. Who are My real devotees? Who are the devotees of My devotees." So, in many different places this is indicated, and Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, which is arguably the Book of Kṛṣṇa, having been described as the body of Kṛṣṇa, the tenth canto being the sweet smiling face of Kṛṣṇa, and Guru Mahārāj in his famous śloka,

What is the purpose of Kṛṣṇa consciousness?

yadamiya-mahimā-śrī bhāgavatyām kathāyāṁ
pratipadam anubhatam apyālabdhā-abhidheya
tadakhila-rasa-mūrteḥ syāma-līlā valamvaṁ
madhura-rasābdhi-rādhā-pādapadmam prapadye
(Guru Mahārāj's śloka book: 566)

He's saying, what is the purpose of this book? To take you to the service of the lotus feet of Rādhārāṇī, that's the purpose of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, of Kṛṣṇa conception.

And there, as indicated by Prabodhānanada Saraswatī Ṭhākur, specifically describing the glories of Mahāprabhu, he says,

yathā yathā gaura-padāravinde
vindeta bhaktiṁ kṛta-puṇya-rāśi
tathā tathot sarpati hṛdy akasmād
rādhā-padāmbhoja-sudhāmbhu-rāśi

If you'll concentrate on the service of Guru and Mahāprabhu, then automatically, subconsciously, deep within the core of your heart, tathā tathot sarpati hṛdy akasmād rādhā-padāmbhoja the service of the lotus feet of Rādhārāṇī, rādhā-rasa-sudhā-nidhi, that will rise in the heart, and through this method, you'll get entrance into Vṛndāvana. So Guru Mahārāj compared it to a machine where you put your money in one side and the ticket comes out the other side. So, you put your coin, the serving capital in the service of the lotus feet of Guru and Gaurāṅga,and then you get your ticket for Vṛndāvana. And why did Mahāprabhu come?

rādhāra mahimā, prema-rasa-sīmā
jagate jānāta ke?
(Jadi Gaura nā ho'to: 1)

To reveal the glories of Rādhārāṇī to the world.

It doesn't say, he came down to tell us what a great enjoyer Kṛṣṇa is. That we already knew, from the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, but Kṛṣṇa decides to descend to the world, and tell everyone how great Rādhārāṇī is, and how nothing compares to Her love, and through that love it can be extended to everyone. He said, "I'm Kṛṣṇa, and I know everything, and I'm telling you there's nothing more valuable than the substance that's within Her heart, and I'm going to distribute it to everyone." That's his idea.

So, therefore he says maha-vadanaya-avatar. There's nothing that compares to this. Sweetness came before in Kṛṣṇa-līlā,  but audarya, the magnanimous distribution of that sweetness, that came from Mahāprabhu, in the mood of Rādhārāṇī. Once was in Vṛndāvana, and the mayor of Vṛndāvana once came to our Maṭh and we respectfully received him, and his descendants remembered that. So we were talking to his son, and they're the highly respected Rādhā-Ramana Goswāmīs, and I'd just been with Śrīla Guru Mahārāj, and but somehow in this conversation this point came out, about Vṛndāvan being mādhurya, the land of sweetness and Nabadwip being audārya, where it's  superior, especially for the conditioned souls, with Vṛndāvana being for the highest section of liberated souls, and Guru Mahārāj having said the non-liberated section will find their wealth in Nabadwīp. I was just excited and sharing with him what Guru Mahārāj had said to me, that every atom in Nabadwīp is capable of giving Vṛndāvan in full, and he said to me, "Are you a disciple of Sridhar Mahārāj?" [laughs]. I replied, "Yes," and then he said, "Then I can understand."

So, Guru Mahārāj would go so far as to say, that he was attracted to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, at first on the basis of the sacrifice of Rāmachandra, that kind of detached sacrifice. And even Nanda Mahārāj and Yaśodā say that, according to Viśvanātha, "We're not fit parents.  Rāmachandra, he is fit. Why? Because when he heard of being separated from Rāmachandra, he died immediately."

Manasa Kṛṣṇa Prabhu: Who?

Goswāmī Mahārāj: His father. They're saying, "That's a parent! He was going to be separated, and he died, couldn't go on living and look at us." And really they're reflecting the sentiments of Rādhārāṇī, expressed by Mahāprabhu,

na prema-gandho 'sti darāpi me harau
krandāmi saubhāgya-bharaṁ prakāśitum
(Chaitanya-charitāmṛta, Madhya: 2.45)

I don't have the fragrance of Kṛṣṇa-prema, what to speak of a drop, and what's the proof? That I go on living. That I didn't die in separation from you. These sentiments echo those of Rādhārāṇī, who when Kṛṣṇa is trying to beg her forgiveness and touch her feet, she is saying, "What are you doing? I am the offender.I didn't die in separation from you."

So why did I say that? Oh yes, because Guru Mahārāj would say often that his attraction is to Rādhārāṇī and Mahāprabhu. He would say, "Not so much to Kṛṣṇa, because Kṛṣṇa is an enjoyer,  and so many other things," and then he was around ninety-two at the time, he said, "But recently [laughs], I'm feeling some attraction to Kṛṣṇa, because I know, that if you want to be in Rādhārāṇī's group, obviously you have to like Kṛṣṇa. And have some appreciation." [laughs]

So, the devotee will rightfully say, "Without Guru what do we know of Kṛṣṇa?" And who is Guru? Her delegated representatives. On Gurudeva's Vyāsa-pūjā one year, in his presence,quoting Guru Mahārāj, I said, "How Guru-centric are we? How dependent are we upon Guru and vaiṣṇava for guidance? If Kṛṣṇa himself comes before us [pretends that someone is knocking on the door]. There is someone at the door  looks like Kṛṣṇa, says he's Kṛṣṇa and really looks  like Kṛṣṇa, but we will look to Guru for verification, as we don't know otherwise." So, when I said that we are so dependent on Guru, that if Kṛṣṇa himself comes, we will ask Guru, "Is this Kṛṣṇa?" Gurudeva clapped [claps], as if to say, "Yes! That's the way we are."

So Svayam Bhāgavan Kṛṣṇa, the Kṛṣṇa of Kṛṣṇas, the avatar-sara, and  Guru Mahārāj wrote, "He's at the right hand of Rādhārāṇī. When he's at the right hand of another gopī, you're dealing with svayam-prakash, or the various others that Rūpa Goswāmī has described in great deal. Look in this world  we all experience this in various levels, and we hear people voice this sentiment at different times, talking about when they can really be themselves. In whose association can you really be yourself? So, Rāmachandra in that Pastime, there's some nīti,  moral, social considerations. That's why there's the heartbreak of Sītā's being banished and other things, but it has its particular place in that līlā, but there's constraints, there's constraints in Vaikuṇṭha, and there's good sides to that, but then there's something that is, for a certain group, disappointing about it, like Gopa Kumar.

Which Kṛṣṇa is the ultimate?

Kṛṣṇa, we can say this, He's only fully Himself in the presence of Rādhārāṇī. Not only that, but we can go as far as saying that, He's only fully Himself, as He is, to the extreme, when He's alone with Rādhārāṇī, and that's where something inconceivable, an inconceivable prospect transpires, because, we are told in the Rūpanuga line, those friends of Rādhārāṇī, those sakhīs, who being of a similar age, add a different dynamic to the Pastimes of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, so they can't fully be themselves in their presence, but when they're alone they can be, and the Rūpa junior group, due to their being junior in age, can enter at that time and not disturb their sentiments. We can't speak anymore of this, it's very high, it's beyond what we can  imagine, but it's what someone becomes connected with, knowingly or unknowingly, when they connect with this line and our Guru-varga and more specifically the line of Śrīla Guru Mahārāj and our Śrīla Gurudeva. That's what we're being connected to.

So the kīrtan of Mahāprabhu, is the rasa-līla in distribution mode. So, we have not realised these things, but we've heard from Śrīla Guru Mahārāj. He has a proper estimation of what this is, and as his agents we're connecting people to this plane, and as he said, "Your future prospect is inconceivable," but these are some of the indications, of what it is.

So, he concludes that Bhakti Vinod śloka saying,
śrī-rādhā-pada-sevanāmṛtam aho tad dātum īśo bhavān
(Bhaktivinod-viraha-daśakam: 9)

Aho is like him saying, "Oh! Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur, this is your gift to the world!" Obviously this is something very high, and we don't want to commit offences talking about it too much, but when he identified that this is what is Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur's gift to world, in form of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, Saraswatī Ṭhākur said, "What I came to give, someone got it. At least one man got what I want to give, the wealth of Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākura. Here, it's clearly indicated, someone has received it, and expressed it perfectly, so I'm happy. I'll leave the world soon, but now I know, someone got what I wanted to give and that's Śrīdhar Mahārāj." And that's the line of Śrī Chaitanya Saraswāt Maṭh, and why it has unique wealth that is incomparable, and so we're all happy and fortunate to have some connection with that, and whether we understand this much or that much, or by the grace of the guru-varga have a glimpse from time to time,  that's our good fortune. But it's Guru Mahārāj himself and Śrīla Gurudeva who can identify this divine substance and give proper expression to that, and sanction connections to that service plane.

Mānasa Kṛṣṇa Prabhu: And I remember one day in Nabadwīp, Mahārāj, he said after hearing, he was trying to find the verse of Chakravartī Ṭhākur or something, and he couldn't remember it, and then he came up with the rest of the verse and Gurudev went, "Wow, at least one man has got my Guru Mahārāj's conception perfectly." That was very sweet.

Goswāmī Mahārāj: I said to Guru Mahārāj one time, paraphrasing something in the Chaitanya-charitāmṛta where Mahāprabhu says, "I'm a young sannyāsī, I don't know right from wrong, and I don't even know what to ask you, who am I to even ask you questions, they're not even proper questions." But then Guru Mahārāj, always saving the situation, told about how Mahāprabhu upgraded Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, He's considered sādhana-siddha, Bṛhaspatī descends, becomes Sārvabhauma and is upgraded to Gaura-līla. Anyway, Sārvabhauma tells Mahāprabhu [to] visit Rāmānanda on your tour of South India, and when Mahāprabhu comes back, with the exception of Rāmānanda, he says to Sārvabhauma, "I just toured the whole of South India, and it's supposed to be the most religious part of the country with leading thinkers of different lines of thought, and I didn't find a devotee of your calibre, I didn't find anyone like you." And Guru Mahārāj said, Mahāprabhu is indirectly glorifying himself, because what is Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭāchārya? He's Mahaprabu's creation. So thats's how we shell feel, that if there's something good in us, that's the creation of our Gurudeva, and like Gurudeva says in his Bhagavad-gītā, "If there's any flaws, I take responsibility for that part, but the other part, if you perceive something good, they're responsible for that."

How to properly estimate the wealth vaiṣṇava's teachings?

Gurudeva called it Guru Maharāja's throwing potency, that if Guru Mahārāj throws something to you, it goes in you and you have this epiphany, then it seems like something that was always understood or known, but before that moment, not. So I'll just say this, like how sometimes we would go with our Gurus to a house program to some gṛhastas and you may accompany them, play the drum or sing some songs. So,  Saraswatī Ṭhākur went to some gṛhastas house and Guru Mahārāj was the attendant, it wasn't with a big group of devotees. And so that night Saraswatī Ṭhākur gave this extraordinary talk about, I just call it the satyam-śloka, from the tenth canto, it uses the word satya around ten times, I've never committed it to memory. But anyway, it was an extraordinary talk and Guru Mahārāj  started to think, he didn't have a pen or how to record that. So, then he thought, "I'll go get a pen, but if I do that, then I'm going to miss something." So he was torn thinking should I go get the pen and paper or should I stay and hear, and he chose to stay and hear and afterwards Saraswatī Ṭhākur said, "Did you get that?" And Guru Mahārāj said, "No," and Saraswatī Ṭhākur said, "Then you are a Govar Ganesh!." Govar means "cow dung" and Ganesh he's the writer, so he's saying that you're Ganesh made out of cow dung, useless, he's chastising him, but Guru Mahārāj was saying, "But it was so extraordinary what you were saying, that I couldn't leave," and Saraswatī Ṭhākur said, "Yes, it was extraordinary and I would like to hear it again myself, it was that extraordinary." [laughs]

So, then Guru Mahārāj said two things appeared to him. One was that he felt bad that he hadn't done the sevā of recording the talk, but that he actually felt really good inside, as when Saraswatī Ṭhākur had been giving something really high and wonderful and extraordinary, he could recognise that. So, about that, he felt good; that he could recognise how wonderful the thing that Saraswatī Ṭhākur was giving was.

So, Hare Kṛṣṇa. That's what we will think. If we have the good fortune to appreciate some of the wealth of our Guru Varga, then we'll think, "Well, that I can appreciate that, means that there must be something good in me somewhere." It's a merciful extension of the grace of Śrī Guru, that's what it is, and that goes back to the original question. That's what Kṛṣṇa consciousness is, that's what initiation is, it's the merciful extension of grace from Śrī Guru.