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WORLD March 11, 1999 VNN3297 Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja Visits Perth Australia (5) BY SRIDAM SAKHA DASA  AUSTRALIA, Mar 11 (VNN) — Thursday, December 24th, 1998 In his class that evening, perhaps in keeping with the Christmas spirit, Srila Maharaja contrasted the five rasas with Krsna, santa, dasya, sakhya, vatsalya and madhurya with the Christian concept of considering God as a father. In Vraja he said, Nanda and Yasoda serve Krsna with so much love and affection. We see that a father is always serving the son with sweet words, running here and there to please his boy. So if we think of God as our father, then it means that God now has to serve us, and bring us bread, butter and water. Srila Maharaja then described the different rasas, culminating with madhurya: "Srimati Radharani's love for Krsna is eka nistha, one pointed. The gopis have no children, no husbands or attachments of any kind. So we should try to become their maidservants 'gopi-bhartuh pada-kamalayor dasa-dasanudasah (Padyavali 74). We should have a greed for this. Even if we are not qualified, but we have our final objective, then it can be achieved in future lives. If one has no greed then: jivera 'svarupa' haya krsnera 'nitya-dasa' (It is the living entity's constitutional position to be an eternal servant of Krsna) "In a general sense he can serve Jagannath, Baladeva and Subhadra, Gaura Nitai, or Gadadhara seeing them all on the same level. But one who is following in the footsteps of the gopis will think: 'I cannot serve Rukmini or Baladeva, who is the elder brother of Krsna." tan-nama-rupa-caritadi-sukirtananu- smrtyoh kramena rasana-manasi niyojya tisthan vraje tad-anuragi jananugami kalam nayed akhilam ity upadesa-saram ("The essence of all advice is that one should utilize one's full time--twenty-four hours a day--in nicely chanting and remembering the Lord's divine name, transcendental form, qualities and eternal pastimes, thereby gradually engaging one's tongue and mind. In this way one should reside in Vraja [Goloka Vrndavana dhama] and serve Krsna under the guidance of devotees. One should follow in the footsteps of the Lord's beloved devotees, who are deeply attached to His devotional service." Upadesamrta verse 8) "This is the essence of the teachings of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Srila Svarupa Damodara and Srila Ramananda Raya. We should always be in Vrndavana, if not by body, by mind. Chanting the holy name of Krsna, so sweet he krsna karuna-sindho dina-bandho jagat-pate gopesa gopika-kanta radha-kanta namo 'stu te "and Radha's beautiful names. 'O Radhe without you my heart is breaking. If you're not merciful to me, then I will give up this useless life.' No need for an independent relationship with Krsna. Rather, we should remain in the guidance of a very rasika, high class of vaisnava like Srila Rupa gosvami, Srila Raghunatha das gosvami, Srila Narottama das Thakura, Srila Prabhupada, Srila Krsna das kaviraja, always remembering, weeping, feeling a separation mood. We should be in such a mood that we are ready to give up our life for this, anything." After class was finished one of the local devotees, Madhava prabhu, did a puppet performance for the pleasure of Srila Maharaja and the devotees. The puppet he had was a two foot high model of "the cat with the fiddle" of nursery rhyme fame. With much concentration, he energetically made it cavort backwards and forwards with one hand, while he used the other to make it play its fiddle. Meanwhile a tape recorder in the background issued forth traditional irish balad violin music at a great pace. We were all reminded of our godbrother Jnana das prabhu, who was sadly absent.The puppet was quite a spectacle, wearing a bright red silk shirt, blue breeches and purple boots. During the performance, Madhava prabhu would sometimes make the puppet tilt back at an extreme angle giving it a swaggering appearance, which was very amusing. When the performance was over, Srila Maharaja thanked him, and gave Madhava prabhu his " heartly blessings." He then asked Madhava prabhu: "Have you done it in Murwillumbah?" "I've done it all over Australia" Madhava prabhu replied. "Do they like it?" Srila Maharaja asked. "They give me money." was Madhava prabhu's tongue-in-cheek reply. While we were staying in Perth, one of Srila Maharaja's disciples Vrajabanesvari didi introduced her fiance to him, Dayita prabhu. Srila Maharaja gave his blessings for their marriage, and on Christmas day a fire sacrifice was performed in the garden for them by Pundarika prabhu. Our kind hosts Banwari prabhu and Karuna Mayi didi also attended the sacrifice, since they had never had a Vedic marriage. Another unlikely participant at the sacrifice was a young boy called Gauranga, who had had his ears pierced that day, as one of the Vedic samskaras. While Gauranga was having this done with a stud gun by a lady especially hired for the purpose, Srila Maharaja reminisced about the time that he had also had his ears pierced as a child. "At that time there were no machines for this, instead we used a needle and thread." When Gauranga's studs had been put in, Srila Maharaja told his parents that they should make some gift to the lady who had done the piercing. He indicated a lavish bouquet on his vyasasana that they had given him earlier, which they gave to the surprised and pleased lady. Saturday, December 26, 1998 This morning most of the devotees went out to do a short programme in a local Hindu temple. While they were away, Srila Maharaja came out and sat in front of the house in the shade, and talked to the few devotees who were still there. In answer to a request for confirmation by Vrajabanesvari didi, Srila Maharaja explained how an aspiring vaisnava in our line may in a future life take birth at the same place and in the same time of a "previous" acarya and have his association. "Yes, if you're advanced, if you have thick greed, then in your next birth you may go to that planet where Srila Bhaktisiddhanta sarasvati Prabhupada is, or to where Srila Bhaktivedanta Svami Maharaja has gone. Then, if you have become more qualified, after that you may go to the planet where Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura has taken birth. After this you can go to the planet where you can receive the sanga of Srila Visvanath Cakravarti Thakura. As you become more and more advanced, you will become closer and closer to the time of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and then you can eventually appear in His lila, and meet Him. And after that life, you can take birth in the womb of a gopi where Krsna has appeared." That afternoon before the class started, Srila Maharaja spoke to a number of guests who had arrived a little early on. Sitting outside the building, he answered the question of one of them: "Are you the guru of these people who are travelling with you?" "In some ways I'm like a student, when I want to love God, but when I'm helping beginners then I'm like a teacher. But I want to remain only as a student with no false ego, not thinking 'I'm monarch of all.'" Guest: "To become transcendental, how long do you have to practice?" Srila Maharaja: "In the Bible we read 'hallowed be thy name.' So if you'll chant from the core of your heart with honour then you'll be purified." Guest: "By raising your vibrations.." Srila Maharaja: "yes, yes." Srila Maharaja asked her if she had come before, to which she replied that she had only seen the newspaper ad the day before. When Srila Maharaja told her that he was leaving the following day she said: "I should have come at the beginning.." "Yes" Srila Maharaja replied "then I could have helped you so much." He then gave her some essential instructions on how to elevate herself in Krsna consciousness: "If you pray to God saying to Him 'I'm so wretched, so fallen please shower your mercy onto me' then very easily you'll get the power to know how to reach Him. Krsna has promised dadami buddhi-yogam tam yena mam upayanti te 'those who pray to Me I give the intelligence by which they can quickly reach Me.' So we should chant this mantra Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. But there are some regulations to follow also. Do not eat meat, or take intoxication. If you eat fish, goats and other animals, then your intelligence and heart will become like theirs. What is meat, do you know? me - eat. What I am eating today, they will eat me in the future. If you are so brutal, nistha, cruel, then you'll have to taste the fruit of all your bad activities, so don't do these things. If you're taking fruit vegetables and milk, oh it is better than flesh and eggs, but it is still not so good. But if you will offer them to God then it will be like nectar." In his class that evening Srila Maharaja talked about the contaminating effect of mundane sound vibration. "In this world there is so much pollution, on the land, in the air and in the sea. If one eats polluted fish, it will make one very sick. Scientists are so worried for this now. But the world is also polluted by material sound. And Harinama purifies the ether. If you will throw a stone in a pond, then eventually the ripples will reach the bank. So mundane words pollute, whereas God's names purify very soon, going everywhere, vibrating throughout all of the ether. If it had not been done, then the world would already have been destroyed. Sometimes scientists and astrologers predict that a very terrible war will destroy the world. But how are we saved? By vibrating harinama. We should have a strong faith in it. Daily you should chant." On Sunday 27th December Srila Maharaja and the travelling party left for Murwillumbah, a devotee community about three hours drive from Brisbane. --end-- All of the tours completed to date are archived at the following site: http://www.igvp.com/tours Comment on this Story This story URL: http://vaishnava-news-network.org/world/WD9903/WD11-3297.html
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