What is sin?

Audience: I have one question.
Goswami Maharaj: Yes.
Audience: I’m always thinking, I need to ask one question, need to ask one question… No questions coming… But recently many many questions started coming and they are all in the same style. I heard something… I heard somewhere, like devotees saying they heard somewhere, etc… But we’ve never heard it all from Srila Sridhar Maharaj or Srila Gurudev… So, wanted to ask you about these things. For example, what is sin?
Goswami Maharaj: Sin?
Audience: Yes, what is like… Because Avadhut Maharaj very often he says in his lectures very beautiful conceptions of sin, like very… I mean not beautiful conception of sin… [laugh] It’s very nice idea, he says that sin is something that separates you from Divinity. So, is it Srila Sridhar Maharaj’s idea? Or… Avadhut Maharaj’s idea?

Goswami Maharaj: Well… Um… On that specific point, I think that can be supported. Because Srila Guru Maharaj, one of the things he will say is, “What makes something sin, is ‘intent’.” He says, “The seat of karma,…” I’m going to deal with karma because it’s connected with so-called sin. Sin is just a peculiar word. ‘Pap’ in Sanskrit. But this is the point he has made at different times, that the seat of karma is in the mind.

And I’ll give you an example I use, when they are establishing criminality – when someone’s committed a crime. They are trying to determine weather it’s actually a crime or not. Because there’s literally what happened, but that’s not enough, just ‘literally’ that something happened. They need to get at the heart of the matter, which is; what was the intent of the person. What was in their heart and consciousness when some particular act was performed. So they use the word ‘intent’. What they sometimes call ‘criminal intent’. And that’s a fine thing.

Like we’re told by Rupa Goswami in defining devotion,
anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ
jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam
ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānu-
śīlanam bhaktir uttamā
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.1.11)

“Anyābhilāṣ śunyaṁ…”, in a phrase ‘no ulterior motive’. We were just having a discussion about kanak, kamini, pratistha. We are told these are the three things that are enemies of the devotee. Wealth, women; in this sense ‘sexuality’, and name and fame. And we are told that of the three, the one that is most damaging, is most difficult to verify, and that is pratistha. Kanak would be obvious, kamini is obvious. But pratistha. And in this sense what do we mean by pratistha – self establishment. What is my motive, for why I am doing something? Were told that is the most damaging, and at the same time Guru Maharaj says it’s the most difficult to detect. Why someone is doing what they do? Is it self promotion, self establishment, or they are trying to establish the glory of Guru.

Because we are told, kanak, which means wealth, gold, money – Laksmi is for Narayan. kamini, Guru Maharaj sometimes called ‘lady love’, is for Krishna. LL – Krishna. And pratistha for Gurudev. Kanak for Narayan, kamini for Krishna, and pratistha for Guru. In his famous song Vaisnava Ke, Saraswati Thakur uses some very strong language to condemn pratistha.

“Kanaka-kāminī, pratiṣṭhā-bāghinī…” (Vaiṣṇava Ke? 11) what does bāghinī mean?
Gopal: Tiger.
Goswami Maharaj: Oh, Tiger, like a devouring tiger. And then he says some other things…
Gopal: “Chāḍiyāche jāre, sei to’ vaiṣṇava.”

Goswami Maharaj: Yes, but, “vaiṣṇavī pratiṣṭhā, tāte koro niṣṭhā…” (Vaiṣṇava Ke? 4) Now, this matter is not so easy. We could say certain things may be very clear, but the nuances, the subtleties of this are then again another thing.

So we hear from Srila Guru Maharaj, he said that Bhaktivinod Thakur went for a walk in the sky. He was taking Krishna-nam and he went for a walk in the sky, in the subtle world while he’s taking Krishna-nam. And he came upon a gathering where Mahajans were discussing the, “api chet su-durāchāro”  sloka of Bhagavad Gita. And on this point of ananya-bhāk, what is an unalloyed devotee? Because it says,

api chet su-durāchāro
bhajate mām ananya-bhāk
sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ
samyag vyavasito hi saḥ
(Bhagavad-gītā .30)

So, su-durāchāraḥ, mean’s ‘SU-durāchāraḥ’ – very bad. What is that? Abominable. Something objectionable to the extreme. And here in this sloka, it’s saying that the Ananya-bhāk is not marred by this.

But the point I meant to make thus far, is that this is an assembly, a Bhagavad-Gita class of the Mahajans. Like Syam Bhur (Brahma), Narada, Shambu, Kapila, Manu, etc. So these Mahajans are also discussing the fine points, the nuances of what this means; what is sin, what is not sin.

So Guru Maharaj says, “The key is in the next sloka that follows in Bhaktivinod Thakur’s commentary… oh… well, they invite, they think… it’s saying the requirement is ananya-bhakti, exclusive devotion. But what is ananya-bhāk? And the Mahajans said, “Well, here’s an ananya-bhāk-bhakta, it’s Bhaktivinod Thakur. Let’s ask him to explain.”

And Guru Maharaj points to the following sloka where Bhaktivinod Thakur says,
kṣipraṁ bhavati dharmātmā
śaśvach-chāntiṁ nigacchati
kaunteya pratijānīhi
na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati
(Bhagavad-gītā 9.31)

Where he says, and this is classic Guru Maharaj style interpretation, his ontological method. “Kṣipraṁ bhavati dharmātmā…” – if “sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ,” even if you see a devotee do something wrong, if you can maintain your faith and see him as sadhu, sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ, emphatically thinking that whatever you saw does not cancel his position. Then ”kṣipraṁ bhavati dharmātmā,” you will advance in the dharmic plane.

Because Guru Maharaj points this out on the basis of Bhaktivinod Thakur’s explanation. Here’s the two points; an ananya-bhāk bhakta, what qualifies you to be that? And what is ‘dharmātmā’? So if ananya bhakti means “sarva-dharmān parityajya, mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja…” (Bhagavad-gītā 18.66); he has already given up all conceptions of dharma and taken exclusive shelter of the lotus feet of Krishna, ‘sarva-dharmān’. How can you say that person will again become ‘dharmic’.

By the nature of his ananya bhakti, exclusive devotion, he is already sarva-dharmān parityajya. So he says it cannot be a reference to him, but rather it’s to that observer, who is making an observation. He is told, “If you, in spite of what you see objectively, if you can see the subjective aspect; their devotion, then you’ll be dharmātma, it will be good for you. Your position will improve.”

Interestingly, in some of his final words Srila Gurudev said, “Everyone has some fault, something.” Like that. Which is classic Gurudev’s. And he’s saying this after he had expressed so many things. But then he’s looking very affectionately at all of his disciples, followers and friends, with all of his vast experience, and he said, “Everyone has some fault, something. Great or small, big or small, that is not the question. But what is the question, is devotional mood. And if someone has devotional spirit, then they must be respected as being a devotee. Regardless of this fault, big or small.”

So Guru Maharaj liked to take this to the extreme, by quoting Bhagavad Gita, where he said, “na hanti… hatvāpi…” (Bhagavad-gītā 18.17)… it’s the only place where the chandrabindu is on that ‘L’. “Hatvāpi sa imāl̐ lokān, na hanti na nibadhyate.” The only place i’ve seen it. You can check.

He would say, “Even in killing, one is not killing.” Talk about sin. “Ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo, mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śuchaḥ.” (Bhagavad-gītā 18.66) In the time of Gaudiya Math when some quarrelling was going on, and it reached some feverish pitch some man was killed, maybe more than one. And some man came to Guru Maharaj saying, “Oh Maharaj, how can this be? Vaisnava’s fighting in this way.” He was very upset, “How is this possible? How is this ‘sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ’?

And Guru Maharaj said, “You worship Siva?”
“Yes.”
“(He’s a) killer. He killed so many. You worship Ramachandra?”
”Yes.”
“Killer! Killed so many… You worship Krishna?”
“Yes.”
“(He also) killed so many…”
So Guru Maharaj said, “So understand what is killing, and what is not killing.”

“Na hanti na nibadhyate.”  I told the other night, on Nityananda Prabhu’s appearance day where Rupa Goswami says in Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu, Baladev has been drinking varuni, and he’s in this jovial mad state of intoxication, and He says, “Right now, I could destroy all the universes and Krishna wouldn’t be angry.” And not only that, you could have a celebration. Because everyone would be liberated, more than liberated. If “tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti…” (Bhagavad-gītā 4.9) at the hands of Baladev you give up the bodily conception.

So, “Kiṁ karma kiṁ vikarmeti…” What’s right and wrong. So, it’s the kovida, even the experts don’t always get it right. When Krishna and Arjuna are discussing karma, one of the first things Krishna tells Arjuna is ‘it’s complicated’. It’s a complicated subject. But what will get at the heart of the matter, is motive, intent. Not literally what was done, but what was behind it. I think I mentioned this the other day, when again at the time of the Gaudiya Math quarreling, and when they caught Tirtha Maharaj lying. And they said, “Did you lie, as the leader, manager, head of the Gaudiya Math. And he said, “Yes.”

And Gurudev said that Ananta Vasudev’s assistant turned to him and said, “We got him. He just admitted that he lied.” And Ananta Vasudev said, “No, he said that he lied, in service of Prabhupad. So we worship that. Im not going to take him down over that. That’s the very thing we worship.” So they are a higher quality of person.

On this point, I said to Guru Maharaj, “You told me once that some of your Godbrothers objected to your disseminating this ‘api chet su-durāchāro’ explanation. That’s when he said,”WHO ARE THESE GODBROTHERS??!” And I said, “I don’t know, I don’t know!”

And he laughed, and said, “Jajavar Maharaj.” He said, he thought it will be abused. And even they quoted some other bengali man who said, I don’t know wether mockingly or half seriously, but he said,  “Well then the criterion of the highest Vaisnava would be the greatest deviation or level… you know. Parasuram and his mother Renuka. Don’t want to go there.

“Gurur na sa syāt sva-jano na sa syāt…” sloka. “Mochayed yaḥ samupeta-mṛtyum.” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 5.5.18) So, if Arjuna is to abandon his duty, on the battlefield of Kuruksetra… he present’s it initially as some very noble consideration. Actually if he is to leave that position, he’ll be culpable (a culprit, in the wrong). So there are many things to consider.

So what did you say in the beginning…  That which takes us away from Krishna?
Audience: ‘From Divinity’.
Goswami Maharaj: Oh. Well, that is Krishna. So in that way, it’s a good metric (measuring statement). But not that we can give ourselves some certificate of exemption, as neophyte devotees will want to do. Especially in the beginnings of the Krishna Consciousness movement around the world, everything was being justified because ‘we’re doing it for Krishna’ ! ‘I’m doing it for Guru, I’m doing it for Krishna’. But is that really true, or not. Were back at, what the ‘intent’ is.

And it depends on your sincerity. There is also the sloka in the Bhagad-Gita about ‘misbehaviour’. Around the “yad yad ācharati śreṣṭhas…” (Bhagavad-gītā 3.21) sloka. About misbehaviour, setting a bad example for those in a lower position. To mislead them, will be some culpability there. So we are dealing with this in an analytical way. Still we understand with common sense, it’s mentioned in the Bhagavatam, “dyūtaṁ pānaṁ striyaḥ sūnā…” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.17.38), these are the 4 famous regulative principles, violating which fuels the Kali-yuga.

Illicit sex, intoxication, meat eating, gambling, etc. Some things are obvious. But, even on that point Guru Maharaj gave an example. He said, when people were asking him about intoxication; and again this is not something to abuse, but just to make a point.
He said, “Suppose there is a man, who follows all these regulative principles, but he has no connection with Guru-Gauranga, Radha -Govinda. But there is another man who has a bad habit of intoxication, but he has connection with the lotus feet of Guru-Gauranga, Radha-Govinda. Who is in a better position?

And if we deal with some of our mind bending Indian friends… they used to say, “There is one man, he is at the Bhagavad-Gita class, but he is thinking of the prostitute. And another man, he is with the prostitute …but he is thinking of Gita.” You can guess who wins. ‘Swami ji, this is my situation…” [laugh] But that there could be a third man who goes to the Gita class and pays attention, that escaped everybody’s imagination. [laugh]

So that’s why we hear words like ‘abuse’. Guru Maharaj is always boiling it down to “na hi kalyāṇa-kṛt-kaśchid, durgatiṁ tāta gacchati.” (Bhagavad-gītā 6.40) Sincerity is invincible. If you are insincere, no one can save you, no one can help you. Unless you get your teeth kicked in by Vrindavan das Thakur.

Really. If we are insincere, and on the inverse… if you are sincere, then even as Gurudev said, “Everyone has some fault, something. Big or small that is not the question.” If you want to call it fault, sin. Any synonym you like.

There’s a place in Krishna’s parting instructions to Uddhava. He’s leaving the world, it’s in the 11th canto of Uddhava-gita. I’m using that, I’m qualifying this expression, parting instructions. There’s a famous sloka where he says,

jāta-śraddho mat-kathāsu
nirviṇṇaḥ sarva-karmasu
veda duḥkhātmakān kāmān
parityāge ‘py anīśvaraḥ
(Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.20.27)

Paraphrasing, he says, “My devotee, he likes to hear about me, he likes Krishna Consciousness. But, he has some fault, something. Big or small, that is not the question. But he has devotional spirit.”

And he used the word ‘garhayan’, it means he is a little disgusted with himself. Thinking, “I’m in connection with Krishna Consciousness. Why do these undesirable things keep revisiting me. Why am I repeatedly seduced by things which take me away from Divinity,” to use Avadhut Maharaj’s expression. He’s disgusted about that. In other words, he has a repentant heart. He’s not looking for loopholes.

That was the expression of WC Fields, this old-time comedian. He was a vowed atheist (if you can make a vow to be an atheist?) But in his final days they noticed he was reading the Bible, and all his friends were really surprised, and they said, “Bill, why are you reading the Bible?”  And he said, “Looking for loopholes.” So he was looking for some hole to go through. That kind of thing. That won’t be helpful.

Bhaktivinod Thakur is seeing the brahmins in his village Ula, where they worship Chandi. That’s where he lived originally, one of the places he lived. And they would know that there was going to be some ‘śakta-prasād’. Gopal you understand? Of course you do…[laugh] Once Gurudev said, they gave Guru Maharaj some prasadam. And Gurudev wanted to put this very delicately, about what it tasted like. So he said to Guru Maharaj, “A little like ‘śakta-prasād’, which is a eufamism for meat. But Gurudev was not going to say to Guru Maharaj when he is honoring prasadam, “Tastes like meat doesn’t it?” So Gurudev said, “Little like ‘śakta-prasād’.” He said Guru Maharaj was like, “Oh…” So, that’s what ‘śakta-prasād’ means in that context. [laugh]

So Bhaktivinod Thakur mentions, about the brahmins. Remember, brahmins know all the loopholes. They know all the good stuff, and they know how to get around things too. Like Sukracharya, “You can lie…” When he tells Bali Maharaj, with Vamanadev before him, and Sukracharya recognises that he is Visnu. So instead of having a little kirttan, and some celebration, he’s realising ‘were in trouble’. He is Visnu… in 3 steps… I’ve read the Vedas, it says, “He of mighty stride,” where it says His name is ‘Trivikram’, who in 3 steps is capable of taking everything. So as a brahmin he know’s that in certain situations, where lying is not forbidden. It’s not a sin, you are not culpable.

What’s an example? Like telling jokes. Many jokes, they are based upon lies. The premise of most jokes are lies. (I’m not going to start telling jokes right now, but I think you get the point…) Or, if your life is in danger, lying to save your life or your family, there is no sin, not culpable. Also, lying to women to bring them under control, is not a sin. [laugh] That’ll be great on the internet. It’s in the Veda’s. And I could give examples about that, but somehow it would be inappropriate. I wish I could think of one that was appropriate.

So there are different instances where lying is not a sin, or culpable. So (Sukracharya) he’s saying (to Bali Maharaj), “He’s about to take all of your wealth. So for the protection of your wealth you can lie.” So anyway, that’s Sukracharya. So Bhaktivinod Thakur said in His village, the brahmans new this particular time of the month where goats would be offered to Chandi, and there would be the ‘śakta-prasād’.

So in other words what he means to say, if you talk to them, they are not eating meat. Rather, “We are taking prasad.” Like the man sitting next to me on the airplane, he said, “Oh, you are taking veg. I am also taking veg.” And I said, “Excellent!” And he said, “And I am also taking non-veg.”

So the bramins know that at this time, if they are strategically positioned in this particular place, they can take the ‘prasad’, ‘śakta-prasād’.

So, intent, motive, ulterior motive. What is the reason behind these things. Krishnanushilanam (Everything for Krishna’s satisfaction). Sometimes we think Krishnanushilana means, doing things that I like to do, for Krishna. That’s Krishnanushilanam. But the Vraja-gopi’s personify doing things for the pleasure of Krishna. Even in the beginning of Charitamritam, which we should be somewhat focused upon now, as approaching Gaura Purnima, soon Saraswati Thakur’s appearance day coming. We had Advaita Acharya’s , Nityananda prabhu, Saraswati Thakur, then, Madhavendra Puri, Narottam Thakur a few days back. So it’s all going towards Gaura Purnima.

So Krishna says, “Everything the gopi’s do, they do for me.” That’s why he is saying,

ātmendriya-prīti-vāñchā—tāre bali ‘kāma’
kṛṣṇendriya-prīti-icchā dhare ‘prema’ nāma
(Chaitanya-charitāmṛta, Adi 4.165)

Difference between ‘kāma’ and ‘prema’. He’s saying, “They decorate themselves for me. Everything they do, they do to make me happy.” He’s taking this in a particular direction.

So in the Gita, it’s inconceivable to us, but Guru Maharaj mentioned that Sanatan Goswami says, that Balaram is performing Rasa-lila and from his heart it’s an offering to Krishna. And he has the power… the Bhagavatam commentary is pointing... to bring Krishna, to the gopi’s. He’s Baladev. Just as Nityananda can bring Mahaprabhu, Balaram can manifest Krishna, and they are so high in the depths of their separation, they are dancing with Balaram, and Krishna appears.

And ultimately in Siksastakam, we go to the last sloka – “āśliṣya vā pāda-ratāṁ pinaṣṭu mām, adarśanām marma-hatām karotu vā…” (Śikṣāṣṭakam 8). No darshan. Everyone is so eager to see Krishna. From Srimati Radharani’s point of view, what’s Krishna’s position about that. If for some reason,  ‘adarshan’, if that’s what his preference, then I’m happy with that. Even what apparently makes me unhappy, if somehow it contributes to His happiness, that’s my happiness.

I can hear Gurudev saying, “That’s Her property.” We don’t pretend, to have this quality, but we can point to that. Bhaktivinod Thakur, says about the struggle and difficulties in performing seva. Whatever that is, the burden of that responsibilities, the difficulties, he says, “That is joy to me.”

Like they have that famous maxim ‘A labour of Love’. What would qualify as the ultimate conception of the labour of love, except ‘seva’. Service to Krishna. And in that sloka, it’s also paraphrased, that if making me broken hearted is for Krishna’s pleasure and happiness, then let it be.

So that’s from the ultimate leader of the Krishna Consciousness movement. Krishna Consciousness personified “mahābhāva-svarūpiṇī rādhā-ṭhākurāṇī” (Chaitanya-charitāmṛta, Ādi 4.69). Who’s devotion is so extraordinary and inconceivable that Krishna cannot estimate the limits. Which lead Him to personally want to see what she sees, perceive what she perceives, taste what she tastes.

“Śrī-rādhāyāḥ praṇaya-mahimā kīdṛśo vānayaivā…” (Chaitanya-charitāmṛta, Ādi 1.6) – what type of love for Him, that she alone possesses. “Svādyo yenādbhuta-madhurimā kīdṛśo vā madīyaḥ…”; what she alone is tasting, mahabhava. “Saukhyaṁ chāsyā mad-anubhavataḥ kīdṛśaṁ veti…, tad-bhāvāḍhyaḥ śachī-garbha-sindhau harīnduḥ.” So that the ultimate enjoyer, the adi-purusa, Krishna, Govinda, can be converted into a devotee. Such is the power of the devotion in the heart of Srimati Radharani.

apāraṁ kasyāpi praṇayi-jana-vṛndasya kutukī
rasa-stomaṁ hṛtvā madhuram upabhoktuṁ kam api yaḥ
rucaṁ svām āvavre dyutim iha tadīyāṁ prakaṭayan
sa devaś chaitanyākṛtir atitarāṁ naḥ kṛpayatu
(Dvitīya Chaitanyāṣṭaka 3)

Rupa Goswami in the Chaitanyastakam, Krishnadas Kaviraj says, this sloka… what I am giving in the beginning of this book these sloka’s, maybe it’s verse 5 and 6. This verse of Rupa Goswami, incase you can’t accept what I’m saying there, then accept it from Rupa Goswami. Those two are in one here from him, this verse combine what’s been said in those two, about the descent of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

Audience: In the chatur-sloka of the Gita, Srila Guru Maharaj gives a revolutionary concept of Sin. I don’t remember the exact verse.
Goswami Maharaj: Which one?
Audience: Trying to remember… Where he says that any other conceptions of… Actually I think it’s, “ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo…” (Bhagavad-gītā 10.8) Where he says to conceive of anything as belonging to anyone other than Krishna, is to be considered sin. And he takes it in reference to madhura-rasa.

I think the external concept of sin, we don’t need to dwell a lot on that. It’s fairly obvious in many ways. But here what your alluding to, are finer conceptions. Things that are obstructions, because were told in taking the Holy Name. Only once taking the name of Krishna, can free you from more sin that is possible to commit. But that doesn’t mean that you’ll have devotion. That you’ll enter the service world. Just being free from sin is not the qualification.

kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ
sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam
yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair
yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ
(Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.5.32)

But an another one… “Mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet…” What’s the beginning?

nāma-saṅkīrtanaṁ yasya
sarva-pāpa praṇāśanam
praṇāmo duḥkha-śamanas
taṁ namāmi hariṁ param
(Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 12.13.23)
Krishnadas Babaji Maharaj loved that sloka a lot. What was that…

kaler doṣa-nidhe rājan
asti hy eko mahān guṇaḥ
kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya
mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet
(Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 12.3.51)

You get free from the negative side, which is not the full thing, and given entrance, paraṁ vrajet, vrajet… vraja, entrance into the positive plane.

Remember when Krishna wanted to spotlight the devotion of Srimati Radharani, and so Krishna is feigning sickness, and mother Yasoda is very upset and worried. Then Krishna expands and appears as a mystic physician who happens to be in the neighborhood and comes and Yasoda calls him in, and he examines the boy.

(He says,) “He’s very ill, but I know the cure’’. ‘What, What?” “Get a porous pot,” means a pot with holes in it, “ and one chaste girl will take that porous pot to the Jamuna, and bring back Jamuna water. That will cure Him.

So Yasoda is searching, “We need a chaste girl to take the pot with holes in it to the Jamuna and bring back the water…” and everyone is thinking, “But if the water comes out then everyone will think that I’m not a chaste girl.” So she’s approaching different girls, and everyone is denying, thinking, “How is this possible? Go to the Jamuna with a pot with holes in it, and we pick up the water and if the girl is chaste no water will come out. Then bring that back and that will cure Krishna?” No one agrees. And as Srila Guru Maharaj says, Mother Yasoda says, “Is there not a chaste girl in the whole of Vrindavan?”

Then the suggestion comes, perhaps from Krishna. ‘Radharani’. And then, as Guru Mahraraj told, she is famous in another way, ‘parakiya rasa’. Sometimes Guru Maharaj says, that Radharani says, “I am famous for giving myself heart and soul wholesale to you. But the truth of the matter is that I haven’t fully given myself to you. That’s the shame.” If there are those foolish enough to think there is some infamy for giving yourself to Krishna, she says, “The real sin is that I haven’t given myself to you fully.”

But so Krishna suggest’s Radharani. And Radharani without hesitation takes the porous pot full of holes to the Jamuna and she looks down, not a drop of water comes out. And then she brings that. So what is Chastity, what is not. Krishna wanted to put the spotlight on her supreme devotional position.

“Hatvāpi sa imāl̐ lokān, na hanti na nibadhyate, “ (Bhagavad-gītā 18.17) remember Yudhisthir Maharaj, who you could say, is honest to a fault. To dishearten the enemy, Krishna tells him to tell a lie, to say, that Asvattama is dead. And everyone knows that Yudhisthira Maharaj doesn’t lie. So if he will say it, then everyone will believe it, they will be disheartened. And we’re told Yudhisthira Maharaj up to that point his chariot wheels never touched the ground. They’re always a little off the ground. So, he hesitated to follow Krishna’s order, and his chariot sunk. But there was an elephant ‘Asvattama’ near by who had died. So they found a way out. You can say ‘Asvattama is dead’.

Audience: I’ve never heard that when… he hesitated to follow Krishna’s order, I’ve always heard that he was… told the lie, so that’s an interesting point…
Goswami Maharaj: Yeah, it’s another interpretation – by his hesitation.

“Ārya-pathaṁ cha hitvā…” – the gopi’s, why are they being praised, “Āsām aho charaṇa-reṇu-juṣām ahaṁ syāṁ, vṛndāvane kim api gulma-latauṣadhīnām, yā dustyajaṁ sva-janam ārya-pathaṁ cha hitvā,” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.47.61) ārya-pathaṁ, means the path of the Arayan’s, the Vedic way, the ultimate morality – it’s saying ‘they crossed over that, ‘hitva’, they gave that up to come to Krishna. Whatever the consequences might be.

But it has to be real. And Visvanath Chakravarti Thakur telling in the 10th canto, when Krishna play’s his flute song in the dead of… Vrndavan forest at night, the Vraja-gopis come, and what is the first thing that Krishna does? He send’s them home. He says, “This is not appropriate. Young girls to be out in the dead of night in the forest like this? What would be the justification?”  

And he’s showing in many different ways, trying to convince them to go home. And you can factor in many things in consideration of that. But to achieve that position, and to be what they feel is being ‘rejected’ by Krishna. And there is a famous sloka being rejected they bow their head’s down and tears start pouring from their eyes, and what are they thinking? Visvanath Chakravarti Thakur says that they know, that Krishna’s controlled by prema. And since they’re being rejected, their understanding is that they don’t have prema. They don’t have… “Na prema-gandho ‘sti darāpi me harau…” (Chaitanya-charitāmṛta, Madhya 2.45) they don’t have a drop of Love for Krishna. Because a drop of Krishna-prema can control Krishna.

So they don’t have a drop of Love for Krishna, then they’re thinking,”Why did we give up all these things? The morality, the strictures of the Vedas, going against the will of our parent’s, husbands, our family, etc. If we don’t really have love for Krishna, that means there were ulterior motives. It was mundane.” They are the highest devotees, and they’re thinking that way. The highest devotees question their motives. They subject themselves to that kind of scrutiny. They’re not thinking, “Everything we do is for Krishna. Everything we do is for Guru.” No, they’re the highest devotees, and they’re doubting their sincerity, doubting their motives.

That’s why they’re, “kāma – andha-tamaḥ, prema–nirmala bhāskara,” (Chaitanya-charitāmṛta, Ādi 4.171), the Krishna-prema in their hearts is as bright as the sun. Krishna is testing them, pushing them. He want’s them to go into a deeper region of the heart, where a superior quality of Krishna-prema resides. To taste that substance. That’s why He’s behaving with them in an apparently cruel way. And even in the life of the aspiring servitors there is some parallel there. What we may misinterpret is actually something… some circumstances, events, something we hear. It could be so many things. It’s not meant to destroy us. But rather to push the heart of a deeper level of consideration. To achieve a greater depth of Love and Affection.

Guru Maharaj said, “If you think you have Krishna Consciousness, something… – you’re finished.” He didn’t say, “Oh that’s unhealthy, you shouldn’t be thinking…” No, he said ‘you’re finished’. He said, but if you think, “I have nothing. I have none of that Divine substance. So what I can properly estimate, from what I’ve heard from sadhu, sastra, guru and vaisnava, I have nothing, I’m going in the wrong direction.” He said, but simultaneously you can’t give it up, this hopeless pursuit. Then, you might just be a devotee. Have no other shelter, no other place to go, no other concept.

So if they are thinking like that, in the presence of Krishna, they’re thinking they’re devoid of devotion for Krishna. That they don’t have a drop of divine affection for Him. And they’re crying. But what do they think, “We have nowhere else to go. We’ve already gave up everything for you.”

‘Goptṛtve varaṇaṁ’ (Hari-bhakti-vilāsa 11.417). Guru Maharaj said Jiva Goswami singles this out, of the 6 (limbs of surrender) this is the most important aspect of surrender. Turning one’s self over to Krishna, then these other things become meaningful.

So when Uddhava comes to them with Krishna’s message to relieve the pain in their hearts of separation, Visvanath Chakravarti Thakur used the word ‘adhokṣaja’, and he gives a new meaning of it. Because ‘akṣaja’ also means the eyes. So ‘adha akṣaja’, Uddhava says ‘close your eyes’, and all the Vraja-gopis close their eyes, and then Krishna appears. And they have rasa-dance, and they are ecstatic, as we can imagine. So he says, adhoksaja here means they close their eyes, and this is not ordinary meditation. It’s some extraordinary gift of Krishna to his devotees in separation.

“Dadāmi buddhi-yogaṁ taṁ, yena mām upayānti te” (Bhagavad-gītā 10.10), “jñāna-dīpena bhāsvatā,” (Bhagavad-gītā 10.11) Again, how could it be jnana? What, he’s going to give prema-bhaktas jnana? No, he said at the peak of their separation, He gives Himself to them. “Tuṣyanti cha ramanti cha,” (Bhagavad-gītā 10.9) it’s said, “What debotees are experiencing by talking about Krishna…, if they are consuming a feast.” Like, the type of enjoyment we associate with eating different nectarine substances. That’s what it’s like for them to speak about Krishna. To relish Hari-katha, tuṣyanti cha. And the ‘ramanti cha’ takes it even further. The bliss of that experience, they’re getting that from “mach-chittā mad-gata-prāṇā, bodhayantaḥ parasparam, kathayantaś cha māṁ nityaṁ,” by talking about Krishna. These things are extraordinary. No wonder they have no interest in anything else. Nothing is capable of delivering that kind of substance.

And Krishna Himself he’s seeing in this exchange, whatever I’m experiencing; and it says something like ’bhava-darpaṇa’, the mirror of Himself, in Radharani, the depth of ecstatic emotional sentiments. He says, “My estimation is what Radharani and the Vraja-gopis are experiencing is 10 million times greater than what I experience as rasaraj Krishna. This is the Chaitanya-charitamritam. It’s not saying something that is commonly known, or has been understood. Not at all. It’s astonishing revolutionary revelation. So Guru Maharaj would say, “The greatest book to have ever seen the light of day, in all time, all space, and all creations.” This type of candid revelation of Krishna, that what they are experiencing is 10 million times greater than what I’m experiencing. And I want to taste that.”

And this idea is presented, that Krishna comes before them. They’re already perfect, they are so happy and ecstatic to see Krishna, that they become more beautiful. And then Krishna, seeing the increased beauty of Radharani and the Vraja-gopis, it makes him more beautiful. Then they observe that Krishna has become more beautiful, that makes them more happy, and more beautiful, and in this way there is an infinite competition of ever increasing depths of beauty, love, charm, sweetness and ecstasy. This is what we are told is there.

Hare Krishna