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WORLD  About the AuthorOther Stories by this Author Giver Of Madhurya-Bhakti BY SRILA BHAKTIVEDANTA NARAYAN GOSVAMI MAHARAJA  SINGAPORE, Mar 12 (VNN) — 2001 Feb 13 - Singapore - Appearance Day of Srila Sarasvati Bhaktisiddanta ThakuraA lecture given on the evening of February 13, 2001 by Tridandisvami Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja This is the appearance day of Jagad-guru Srila Bhaktisiddanta Sarasvati Thakura, and therefore we should discuss his glories. Namah om visnupadaya krsna-presthaya bhutale, srimate bhaktisiddhanta-sarasvatiti-namine. In this pranama mantra it is stated: bhaktisiddhanta sarasvati. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura has given birth to the murtiman-vigraha of bhakti-siddhanta, the personification of the doctrines of bhakti. Srila Bhaktisiddanta Sarasvati Thakura is the embodiment of all the knowledge that Krsna gave to Brahma, Brahma gave to Narada, Narada gave to Vyasa, and thus, by disciplic succession, came through the Rupanuga Vaisnavas down to Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura and Srila Gaurakisora dasa Babaji Maharaja. All the siddhantas, philosophical truths, of the Vedas, Upanisads, and every other scripture, were embodied in Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Thakura. If any person came to argue philosophy with him, that person was at once defeated, and he was bound to accept all his teachings. Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati; there are two Sarasvatis. The power of Bramha is Sarasvati, but that Sarasvati is not the real Sarasvati, the Sarasvati of Goloka Vrndavana (Srimati Radhika). This Siddhanta Sarasvati Thakura is the real embodiment of para-vidya, transcendental knowledge (also personified by Srimati Radhika), and because of this transcendental knowledge, his name was Srila Bhakisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada. Why was he called Prabhupada? He was Prabhupada in the real sense, because he preached throughout the world the glorification of his Prabhu. Who is his Prabhu? Radha-Krsna Conjugal, or Gauracandra, Gaura-Gadadhara, and Gaura-Nityananda. He preached Their glories everywhere, and therefore he is really Srila Prabhupada. Namah om visnupadaya krsna-presthaya bhutale. He was very near and dear to Krsna in that male form, but who is he really? In the second sloka of his pranama mantra it is stated: sri varsabhanavi-devi-dayitaya. He is actually the eternal maidservant of Srimati Radhika. He is so very dear to Radhika, in his form as Nayana-manjari. As Mahaprabhu's associate he is Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami, and as the associate of Radha-Krsna Conjugal he is Nayana-manjari. What is the meaning of the name Nayana-manjari? As one's eyes are very priya, dear, to one, Nayana-manjari, who is the personification of the eyes of Srimati Radhika, is so exceedingly near and dear to Her. Thus, Srila Sarasvati Thakura has two forms. One form is as Caitanya Mahaprabhu's associate, not only in this world but also in Goloka Vrndavana, in Svetadhipa. And, in Vrndavana also, as Nayana-manjari, she serves Srimati Radhika. You have seen in Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami's Vilapa-kusumanjali how the manjaris serve Radha-Krsna Conjugal. Nayana-manjari serves Them in those same ways. Srila Sarasvati Thakura is krpabdhaye, an endless ocean of mercy. He was the first acarya in the four sampradayas to create a situation in which all the people in the world, all those who have forgotten Krsna, should realize all the truths of bhakti, and they should be helped to become pure devotees. If Srila Prabhupada Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Thakura had not sent his disciples here and there, none of you, in any country, would have met pure devotees. Now, by the mercy of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami, through Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja and my Gurudeva, krsna-kirtana is everywhere in the world. People everywhere know Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Radha and Krsna only by their mercy. Srila Prabhupada had the wish, and then he sent his arms here and there. Who are his arms? His disciples; his devotees. We are very fortunate to come in their line, but we should try to be very strong. Sometimes, if you are not in good association, you become weak. It may be that when I return to India, you will become weak. Don't be weak. Always realize that our whole guru-parampara, Radha-Krsna, Mahaprabhu, Nityananda Prabhu, and Guru are always with you, and they will help you. Don't give up chanting and remembering Krsna. Srila Sarasvati Thakura is not called an ocean of mercy only because he gave us harinama. He gave so much more. He brought Goloka Vrndavana. He brought the love and affection of the gopis to this world. If he has not brought all these things, we would never have heard of them. He is therefore an ocean of mercy. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura taught that there are five kinds of knowledge: pratyaksa, paroksa, aparoksa, adhoksaja, and aprakrta. The knowledge of everything we see and realize by our direct experience is called pratyaksa, and this is false. Then, paroksa. We don't see Svarga, but there is a history of Svarga and we believe in it. We will have to accept Svarga, although we don't see it. We hear that if a man is a thief, a dacoit, a debauch, and so on, he will have to go to naraka, hell. On the other hand, if he is pious, he will go to Svarga and there he will be very happy. This knowledge is called paroksa. Then, aparoksa. This is the knowledge taught by Sankarcarya. One day we will have to die, and we will have to give up everything in this world. Our beauty will go, our body will go, whatever we are collecting will go, and everything else will go. We cannot take anything, neither our pennies nor our pens, from this world. So why are we collecting all these bogus things? An intelligent person thinks about this and becomes detached, but a bogus, foolish person remains attached to sense gratification. He desires only to make his body very beautiful and strong. Nowadays there is a competition for Miss India, Miss America, Miss World, and also Miss Universe. After one year, will Miss India again be selected as Miss India or Miss World? Rather, all will neglect her. Although engaged in chanting and remembering, many devotees are also engaged in sense gratification, and they cannot give up lust. This is Maya. Therefore, Prabhupada Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura sent his qualified devotees everywhere, to make those weak devotees strong. He wanted his devotees to encourage them and say, "You should remember Krsna." It is for this reason that he has sent his arms. I am also coming. He has ordered me to do so. His disciple, Srila Bhakti Prajnana Kesava Gosvami Maharaja, has ordered me. My Srila Swami Maharaja has ordered me. Then, adhoksaja. What is adhoksaja? Adhoksaja is Vaikuntha, that place where there is no kala, time. There is only the eternal present. There is no birth and death, and no suffering and sorrow. Nothing bad is there. In that abode there is so much opulence, and everyone there prays to Narayana. There is something higher than this, however, and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura has taught that this most superior truth is called aprakrta. Aprakrta is that realm where Vraja-lila is performed. Krsna is sometimes like a baby there. There He is controlled by His father and mother, He is controlled by his beloved gopis, and He is controlled by his friends. No one can ever imagine such very, very sweet pastimes, but we should try to know this aprakrta. We should try to serve this apraka Krsna who is with so many gopis, with His father and mother, with His sakhas, and with all His cows and very sweet cow-herd pastimes. This aprakrta-jnana, service to this Krsna, is the aim and object of our life. Krsna sambandha-vijnana dayine prabhave namah. In this world we have a relationship with our father and mother and our immediate family. We think, "She is my mother, he is my father, and he is my brother." But we are not satisfied with that. We want to be a husband or wife, girlfriend or boyfriend, but even when this is achieved, still we are not satisfied. >From where have these relationships come? They have come from Goloka Vrndavana. There is actually only one relationship, and that is with Krsna. He is not a father there. He is like a friend, like a baby, or like a beloved. There is a relationship with Krsna in the constitutional form of our soul. We have now forgotten this due to Maya, but we do have a relationship. All the relationships of these bodies are false and temporary. They remain only for some days, but the relationship in our constitutional form is eternal. We want love. We first loved our mother, then our father, then our brothers, then other relatives, and then our neighbors; but we were never satisfied. We then collected wives or husbands, and when we were not satisfied, we got divorced and changed the old ones for new ones. But still we were not satisfied. No one can ever be satisfied in this way. When you meet with Krsna and serve Him, then you will be satisfied. This is a transcendental relationship, given by Guru. Prabhupada gave this, and this relationship will be forever. It was for this end that he gave the mantra "Klim krsnaya govindaya." Madhuryojjvala premadya sri rupanuga bhaktida. He explained all these truths. He actually came only to give this madhuryojjvala-prema, gopi-prema, which Srila Rupa Goswami has written about in his books and which Caitanya Mahaprabhu came to this world only to give. He came to give this relationship: "Krsna is our beloved" He came to only to give this and nothing else. Srila Prabhupada has written in his articles: "I came only to give this, but my whole time was spent in cutting jungles." Srila Swami Maharaja also did this in the Western countries. He came to this world to give love and affection for Krsna, but to whom could he give it? He was preaching to unqualified people, and therefore he wanted to make a platform for this love, by cutting the jungles of atheist and mayavada misconceptions. He thus fertilized the field by plowing and cutting jungles, and most of his time went in this. He could not preach as he wanted, but he stored so many deep truths about gopi-prema in his books. Prabhupada Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura also did this. In Radha Kunda, in his last days, he said that if anyone is only cutting jungles, cutting the arguments of mayavadis and so on, and not accepting the mood of the gopis as taught by Rupa Gosvami, not doing aradhana, worship, of Radha-Krsna Conjugal, not following the line of Rupa Gosvami, then even their chanting will not be sufficient to help them. After some time, they will become weak and give up all devotional practices. They will become nirvisesavadis and mayavadis, as so many are now becoming. Sri rupanuga bhaktida. Srila Prabhupada descended to this world, and all our disciplic acaryas also came, only for preaching this rupanuga Vaisnavism. They did not have much time to do so, however, and therefore I was very alert to avoid cutting jungles - because our guru-varga had already cut them down. I considered that I must do something affirmative. I accepted this raganuga-marg and I preached it from the beginning. Later, however, on coming to the Western countries I began to think, "To whom shall I tell about the higher truths of bhakti?" Now I also have to cut down some jungles. When I am in Vrndavana or Navadvipa, however, I mainly speak about the high class of sweet pastimes of Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Radha and Krsna. In this way, Srila Prabhupada was like an ocean of madhuryojjvala-prema. He wanted to distribute it, and he distributed it. If he had not done so, from where would we have collected the truths regarding the teachings of Caitanya Mahaprabhu? Namaskara to Srila Prabhupada. All glories to Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada. All glories to all his associates. All glories to Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja. All glories to all of you devotees. Gaura premanande, hari hari bol. Transcriber and typist: Srimati Kanaka-manjari devi dasi Editor: Srimati Syamarani dasi Please visit our Gadiya.net Portal - A One Pointed Entry To Gaudiya Vaisnavism Online: http://www.gaudiya.net About the Author Other Stories by this AuthorContact VNN about this storySend this story to a friend
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