Lecture in Tivoli

Lecture in Tivoli

Bhakti Vaibhava Puri Gosvami

But we are moving in this world:

punar api jananaṁ punar api maraṇam
punar api jananī jaṭhare śayanam…

Where can we really enjoy? We are running after enjoyment. It is only deluding potency which is deluding us. We want happiness, we want enjoyment through our senses. We want to see and be happy. We want to hear and be happy. We want to taste and be happy. We also want to enjoy happiness and realize that happiness for which we are traveling for so many decades, so many centuries, so many innumerable millions of births.

But why do we take birth and die? Only for enjoyment. We were not able to have satisfaction and enjoyment. So, dissatisfied we lose this body, enter into another body and there we enjoy, but find no satisfaction. Like this, we have had hundreds, thousands, millions of births. But actually, nowhere have we really enjoyed happiness or peace.

Are we without wants? No. Everybody has some want. We are after wants. Those wants have no end. If one goes, another comes. We are not satisfied with what we have. In order to improve our position, we work hard. We struggle hard. We travel by train, by airplane, by ever faster vehicles for pleasures. For what purpose? Only to satisfy ourselves. That is our want.

There are many wants, and no want we actually possess can give us real happiness. That we do not know. We are only running after temporary happiness. It is illusory. It is not really happiness. It is illusory happiness, and for that we are spending our valuable lives. And when the occasion comes, we become fortunate when we get the association of a realized vaiṣṇava or a sādhu.

mamottamaśloka-janeṣu sakhyaṁ
saṁsāra-cakre bhramataḥ sva-karmabhiḥ
tvan-māyayātmātmaja-dāra-geheṣv
āsakta-cittasya na nātha bhūyāt

Citraketu, a great devotee of the Lord Vishnu, praised the Lord: “Oh Lord, I don’t want anything in this world.”

na nāka-pṛṣṭhaṁ na ca pārameṣṭhyaṁ
na sārva-bhaumaṁ na rasādhipatyam
na yoga-siddhīr apunar-bhavaṁ vā
samañjasa tvā virahayya kāṅkṣe

“Oh Lord, I don’t want the throne of Indra or the throne of Brahmā. I don’t want to be the master or the ruler of the whole world. Though it is offered to me, I won’t accept. And all mystic siddhis also I don’t want.” “What do you want?” “I don’t want even freedom from birth and death.” “Then what do you want?” “I want you. You are my wealth. If you bless me, I will be happy. My unhappiness comes to an end when I see you, when I talk to you, when I do your service.

Then you will be pleased, and if you are pleased, I will really enjoy the happiness for which I was traveling from one life to another life. My heart is burning. Now, when I see you, Lord, and when I approach you, through your grace and your pleasing glance upon this soul, my heart will become cool. Just as on a hard day, when you see the moonlight in the night, your heart becomes cool.”

Likewise, here in this world we are suffering. Always suffering, suffering, suffering. Nobody can say that, “I am not suffering.” Suffering 1%, 200%, and 1000%. There is no limit to suffering. We only forget that suffering for a second when a reaction comes and we feel happy. But again we have to be dissatisfied. So, real satisfaction comes to us, real happiness comes to us through the association of a sadhu. Real sādhus don’t want anything of this world.

They want no luxuries. They never travel throughout the world to enjoy happiness. No. What do they want? They want the link with the Supreme Power, the Supreme Lord. Those desires of the sincere devotees can be fulfilled through the association of a sādhu. Sādhus are like gems. If you touch a piece of iron with that gem, the iron becomes gold.

There is a story about a great scholar. He approached Mahādeva at Benares and begged him. He was fasting, begging Mahādeva to bless him. Mahādeva asked, “What do you want?” “Sir, I am suffering. Please remove my suffering.” “Yes. You can have it. Go to Vṛndāvana. There is a mahātmā, a great soul. He has a touchstone. Tell him that I ordered him to deliver that gem to you.

All your troubles, all your sufferings will be cleared.” Then he thought, “Definitely that touchstone will give me multimillions of rupees. I will be able to obtain it and get happiness.” So, he went there and requested that saint, Sanātana Gosvāmī: “Sir, you have that gem. I was informed by Mahādeva and I have come to beg you. Please, can you accept my prayers?”

Then he said: “Yes, yes. The gem is there, but I don’t remember where it is.” And he thought, “I am unfortunate. Though my Lord Śiva gave me the gem, I am not fortunate enough to have it in my hand.” He sat for several hours. No reply. Then he said: “I am unfortunate. I will take my leave and go.” When he was going away, Sanātana Gosvāmī came out. “Yes, you go there, and near the tenth kilometer marker, there is a tree.

If you dig six inches on the east side of the tree, you will get that gem.” He went there and at that particular spot, he opened the earth and saw the gem, dazzling like the sun. Now he tested it. He touched a piece of iron with the gem, and immediately it became gold. “Oh, it’s correct! Mahādeva’s boon is correct. Now, I have lost my sufferings!”

Carefully, he kept it in his cloth and started walking to his village. On the way, he was thinking: “Such a valuable article, this gem. How is this saint? He has no cottage, no cloth. He is almost naked with one kaupīna. He has no glass for water, nothing. Why should he suffer like this in the cold wind, with no carpet, no kambal? Is he ignorant?

When such a valuable gem is there, why should he suffer?” Then he reconciled it: “No. There must be something more valuable than this gem with him. With that gem, he forgot this gem which can give us happiness. He is more happy with that other gem. Why should he take care of this material gem?”

Then he returned back to him. “Sir, I beg you. Having in your possession such a valuable gem, you are almost naked. You have no shelter. You are sitting under a tree, when you possess a gem which can help you to construct a skyscraper. You can enjoy sufficient luxuries. Why was this luck thrown away? I think that you have a much more valuable stone with you. That stone, please give me.” Then he said: “Do you want that stone? Then throw this one in the Yamunā.” So, immediately he threw that gem in the Yamunā. Then, he gave him the mantra:

cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-
lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam
lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

He gave him his Lord, Krishna. When he served Krishna, when Krishna came totally into his hands, then all his desires for the material gem, all his desires for material enjoyment and happiness, all evaporated. “I am free from the world’s bondage. By your grace, I am free, because my life and thought could reach my Lord Krishna.”

There is nothing superior to Lord Krishna and nothing superior to the blessing of Lord Krishna. No one can have that blessing except one who unconditionally surrenders to the Lord. To approach the blessing of the Lord is to unconditionally surrender to him. If one surrenders, the Lord will destroy all his sufferings. Every second, every moment he will enjoy.

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, when he took initiation from Īśvara Purī at Gayā and returned, he was a great scholar, a teacher of several thousand students. There were so many schools, but everybody was anxious to study with Caitanya Prabhu. He was called Nimāi Paṇḍita. Giving up all the other paṇḍitas, they used to come to Nimāi. What they learned from others in ten years, Mahāprabhu used to teach them in two years.

When Mahāprabhu returned from Gayā, he told all the students: “I am not going to teach you the same subject again. I will teach you about the Supreme Lord. That subject you have to hear.” Vidyā bhāgavatāvadhi. “You must try to know the transcendental science.” Many who were after worldly learning went to different paṇḍitas, but very few were eager to be with Mahāprabhu only.

So Mahāprabhu was preaching about devotion. Unconditional devotion and pure devotion. He wanted to give that devotional gem. Kṛṣṇa-premā-pradāya te. He distributed that devotional love to all without distinction of caste, creed, wealth, or knowledge. Whoever came in his view, he delivered that prema, that spiritual wealth, to all.

After some time, he looked at the world and thought: “The world is free from the influence of kāma. Now it is flooded with prema. They are floating on Krishna-prema.” Now, these people who were suffering birth after birth due to their ambitions and greed for happiness, wealth, and enjoyment, by the grace of Lord Caitanya, they are free. All these people of Navadvīpa were very happy because they had received transcendental love.

That love is what we want. We are loving material objects here. We love golden ornaments. We love buildings. We love dogs and cats. We love our friends. But, we do not know where love has come from in this world. The origin of this love is Krishna. Between Krishna and his servant. 

There are four stages of love: dāsya-rasa, sakhya-rasa, vātsalya-rasa, and śṛṅgāra-rasa. One jīva considers that he is the eternal servant of the Lord. As a servant, he serves him, like Hanumān who served Rāma. A little more advanced prema is sakhya-prema, friendship. When Krishna went to the forest, the boys also followed him.

One day Krishna spoiled the pot where Yaśodā used to churn and prepare butter. Daily she would get up at four o’clock in the morning and churn the curd. Yaśodā had hundreds of maidservants, but for the milk of certain cows that Krishna would drink, she herself prepared the butter. One day Krishna destroyed that pot. Then she grew angry: “Why have you destroyed that pot?

How can I prepare butter for you tomorrow?” Angry, she wanted to tie him. To tie his body, a one-meter rope would be sufficient. But the body did not enlarge, it was the same, yet she could not tie him with that one rope. It was two inches short. Then she added another meter of rope, but that also became two inches short. Like this, the rope became ten meters, twenty meters long, but the body remained the same.

It is just like in the Vāmana-avatāra, when the Lord came as a dwarf to Bali Cakravartī. When he asked, “What do you want?” “I want only three feet of land.” “What will you do with three feet of land? I am the Lord of three worlds. Take more.” “No, I will be happy with that.” But Bali’s spiritual master told him, “Don’t believe him. He is Vishnu. He will take away all your belongings.” But Bali said, “I have promised already.”

When the promise was given, he became Trivikrama. With one foot he covered the whole world, with the second, all the ether, and the third foot he placed on Bali’s head. Then Vāmana told Garuḍa to tie him. This is surrender.

There in Vṛndāvana, Yaśodā was trying to tie Krishna. Though his body was not expanding, the rope became very long, yet it was two inches short. What is the meaning of those two inches? It means that when the devotee offers everything to the Lord, he still has to serve the Lord. If he won’t serve, he cannot conquer the Lord. One thing is submission, the second is to receive the blessings of the Lord.

The blessing is one inch, and the service offered by the devotee is one inch. Two inches. As long as Yaśodā possessed the idea, “He is my boy, I have the capacity to control him,” Krishna thought: “Mother, you want to tie me, but I have no beginning and no end. How can you tie me?” But when he saw his mother suffering to tie him, he obliged and accepted the bondage: “Yes, now you can tie me.”

Then the mother tied him to a grinding mortar and went away. Krishna saw two trees, the Yamala-arjuna trees, standing there. Who were these two trees? Nalakūvara and Maṇigrīva, the sons of Kuvera. Nārada had cursed them to become trees because they were arrogant. He told them, “You will be released when Krishna touches you.”

And now Krishna went between them, dragging that mortar. When he applied force, those very big trees fell with a great sound. All the residents came running. The boy was happy, but the bondage was still there. Krishna can remove all our bondage, but the bondage given to him by his devotees, he cannot untie.

If we offer ourselves unconditionally to the Lord, the Lord will unconditionally surrender to you. Don’t think the Lord is an imperial power like Rāvaṇa or Hiraṇyakaśipu. No! Lord is not like that. When we offer our worship to the Lord, in return, the Lord will worship you. This is the conception of prema. Kāma is greediness, self-enjoyment. Prema is always wanting to please the Lord. Kāma is darkness. As long as we possess our desires, our heart will be impure. If we give up the desires and offer everything to the Lord, then we will be happy. A loving devotee can order Krishna. A scholar once said:

śrutim apare smṛtim itare bhāratam anye bhajantu bhava-bhītāḥ
aham iha nandaṁ vande yasyālinde paraṁ brahma

“Let other people, who are fearful of worldly existence, worship according to the Vedas, Smṛtis, or Mahābhārata. But I worship Nanda Mahārāja, in whose courtyard the Supreme Brahman is playing.” The father commands, and the devoted son obeys.

Lord is so kind. He teaches us in various ways. These instructions are only to awaken us from our slumber. We are sleeping in ignorance. The Lord himself came as a devotee, as Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He went from home to home, teaching. He would take a man’s hand and dance. Throughout the night, they danced in saṅkīrtana.

Through saṅkīrtana you can understand this love. If you repeat the nāma without offense, you can clear your heart. Now it is enveloped by ignorance and dirt. We must surrender to the Lord and repeat his nāma. Through his blessings, he will destroy your ignorance. Then your heart will be pure, and in that pure mirror, you can see who you are: “I am the eternal servant of my Lord Krishna.”

ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇaṁ
śreyaḥ-kairava-candrikā-vitaraṇaṁ vidyā-vadhū-jīvanam
ānandāmbudhi-vardhanaṁ prati-padaṁ pūrṇāmṛtāsvādanaṁ
sarvātma-snapanaṁ paraṁ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam

We will be drowned in the ocean of saṅkīrtana. We’ll forget ourselves, the world, our kith and kin, and the enjoyment for which we are struggling day and night. We are purified through hari-kīrtana. Give up all your offenses and perform saṅkīrtana. Today we are happy to be with you. You are all Vaiṣṇavas. The Vaiṣṇava doesn’t want anything of this world, no luxuries or opulence. They want only Lord Krishna. They always want to sing the glories of the Lord.

They want the Absolute Truth. Worldly attachment is not the Absolute Truth. All that glitters is not gold. You are all fortunate. All the Vaiṣṇavas have come here. You have heard saṅkīrtana. Now you perform saṅkīrtana. After saṅkīrtana, you will be given prasādam. We have also brought very fine books, written by our scholars.