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WORLD December 30, 1999 VNN5179 Related VNN Stories Bhaktivedanta Narayan Maharaja - Dec 1999 Tour Report BY MADHURIKA DASI PHILIPPINES, Dec 30 (VNN) — 11th December 1999 At the time of writing, Srila Gurudeva has just flown from Manila, the capital of the Philippines for another Philippine island, Cebu, where he will rest and write for the next three weeks. Srila Gurudeva's 1999 - 2000 tour of the eastern hemisphere began on the 3rd December when he flew out of Delhi to stay with disciples in Bombay for a four day visit. On Sunday 5th December Srila Gurudeva gave a talk at a programme in a place called "Tarabai hall". Thanks to the efforts of its promoters, Dr. Madhu Khandelwal and Dr. Devidas Jadhav, which included adverts in the local newspaper, at least six hundred guests attended. The main theme of Srila Gurudeva's talk was basic Radha-tattva. He explained that whereas the Puranas mostly praise Krsna, the Srimad Bhagavatam predominantly glorifies Srimati Radharani. Her name is mentioned not only directly there but also indirectly in every other sloka, although one must have the vision to be able to see this. After Srila Gurudeva had finished speaking, he ordered Krsna dasa prabhu to lead kirtan. So inspiring had Srila Gurudeva's class been, and so captivating was the kirtan of Krsna das, that within minutes the entire audience was dancing. While in Bombay, one doctor who is a disciple of Srila Gurudeva came to ask him some questions about the Vilap Kusamanjali of Srila Raghunath Dasa Gosvami. No sooner had he mentioned the name of this book, Srila Gurudeva asked him: "Have you read Upadesamrta?" "Yes" the doctor replied. "No" Srila Gurudeva answered, "You have not read it." "Yes I have" insisted the doctor. "I purchased your edition and read it." "Then tell me what the first sloka is", Srila Gurudeva asked. "Well," said the doctor "I have read the book, but I can't remember the verse." "You say you have read it" Srila Gurudeva replied "but what is the use if you cannot remember the verses? How many rounds do you chant?" "I chant a minimum of sixteen rounds" the doctor answered. "But if you want Krsna prema" Srila Gurudeva told him "then you must chant not less than one lakh of harinama. But to chant two is better, or even three, like Haridasa Thakura." Srila Gurudeva then asked another question to the doctor: "If a very beautiful, naked woman came into this room then what would happen to your mind?" The doctor was speechless. "So try to follow the Upadesamrta" Srila Gurudeva continued. "Control vaco vegam, control manasa vegam (the urges to speak, and of the mind) and follow all the instructions of Srila Rupa Gosvami given in these eleven verses. Before you even think of reading Vilapa Kusumanjali you should have committed all of these instructions to memory, as well as those of Srila Raghunath Dasa Gosvami's Sri Manah siksa. Besides this you should also be chanting at least one lakh of harinama." While leaving Bombay airport to fly to Singapore, a moving exchange occurred between Srila Gurudeva and a head immigration official who was on duty at the time we went through. By seeing this one could understand how the pure devotee is able to powerfully affect the hearts of people whom he meets, even though that contact may be of very short duration. As he checked through Srila Gurudeva's passport, this cultured and educated-looking gentleman of about sixty years old asked Srila Gurudeva what his philosophy was. Srila Gurudeva explained that we are not this body but rather are the eternal soul within, a part and parcel of God and that the means to awaken that eternal nature is by the performance of bhajan. Srila Gurudeva also spoke about Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and how He has only come in this one, very rare yuga. While talking to this man, Srila Gurudeva was leaning slightly forward and speaking very earnestly as though the conversation was most important to him. It was not a casual exchange. It just so happened that in Srila Gurudeva's passport there was a photo of himself stapled onto the back cover, maybe by some previous official in order to prevent its owner from losing it. Seeing this, the face of the immigration officer lit up, and he asked Srila Gurudeva if he could take this photo in memory of him, saying that it was not supposed to be there anyway. At this, Nabin Krsna prabhu pointed out that if it was not meant to be there, then how was it that in three years of travel, no official had ever removed it. To this, the immigration official replied that he thought that this was because the photo had been meant for him all along. At Srila Gurudeva's assent he then separated the photo from the passport and reverently touched it to his forehead, his eyes closed. When their passports had been processed, Srila Gurudeva and Nabin Krsna prabhu went and sat nearby, waiting for the rest of us to file through. The immigration official went over to them, asking Srila Gurudeva to please sign the back of the photo. Laughing, and looking at him in a compassionate way, Srila Gurudeva took a pen from Nabin Krsna prabhu and did as he was asked. Nabin Krsna prabhu then spoke to Srila Gurudeva in Bengali, and, hearing his reply, the official asked Srila Gurudeva how many languages he knew. "Oh" Nabin Krsna prabhu interjected enthusiastically "He knows so many: Hindi, Bengali, Oriyan, Assamese, Sanskrit and English!" According to doctor's orders, Srila Gurudeva is not permitted to fly more than once in a day, therefore he stayed the night in Singapore before taking his next flight the following day. While there we were all kindly accomodated by Gauraraja prabhu and his wife Padma manjari didi who are Srila Gurudeva's disciples. Although Srila Gurudeva was only going to be there for one day, many devotees had come to see him not only from Singapore but also neighbouring Malaysia. Since one of Srila Gurudeva's disciples present at that time had lost enthusiasm for his devotional life, Srila Gurudeva gave an inspiring class on this topic. He started by asking the question: "How is it that a devotee who is very enthusiastic in his spiritual life, even having taken sannyasa, who has distributed so many books and established temples and so many other projects loses his taste in this process and falls away from the path?" Srila Gurudeva then instructed Prema prayojana das brahmacari to explain. Prema prayojana prabhu answered by saying that the main reason for this is that due to a lack of association of self-realized vaisnavas many devotees fail to develop a clear conception of suddha-sadhana-bhakti. Because of this they do not make any advancement towards the goal of bhava-bhakti due to being stuck on the platform of bhakti-abhasa. Pleased with his explanation, Srila Gurudeva then spoke himself, by telling a short story from the Mahabharata. One time Dronacarya instructed his students, the five Pandavas, Duryodhana and his hundred brothers that it was their duty to speak only truth, and that this would be the topic of the next day's class. However, Duryodhana immediately put up his hand saying: "Oh I have already memorized this subject. I can explain it now." Nevertheless, hearing this, Dronacarya told him that this subject was only to be spoken on the next day. When all of the students had assembled the following day Dronacarya asked them if they had prepared for the class. Everyone put up their hand confidently, except for Bhima who did so only half-way, in a hesitating manner. Meanwhile, Arjuna simply hung his head, and Yudhisthira remained motionless. Seeing this, Dronacarya asked Yudhisthira: "Everyone else has learned this lesson. Why are you also not raising your hand?" In reply, Yudhisthira answered: "Because I have not realized the truth, how will I be able to speak it?" Hearing this Dronacarya became very pleased, saying: "Yes, very good. Of all my students you have truly understood the meaning of this lesson." The lesson to learn from this, Srila Gurudeva explained, is that even if we are in very good association, but we don't put to practice the instructions we have been given, then inevitably we will lose our taste and fall down. On 9th December, Srila Gurudeva and party arrived in Manila, Philippines after having spent one day at a devotee's home in Hong Kong. Since reaching here he has spent most of his time resting and writing and giving the odd darsana, but he has not yet given any classes. We are staying in a large building which some of the local devotees have acquired since returning from India after attending kartika month, which they have had to work around the clock to prepare in time for Srila Gurudeva 's arrival. Since it has not been inhabited for some years a great deal of work was needed in preparation, and there were only ten days in which to do it. However, upon our arrival everything has been completed, and looks in very good condition. The building has been most attractively decorated, with 12 foot high (4 metres) banana trees flanking the walls of the rooms at regular intervals up to the ceilings, especially in the temple room. All of the rooms are very spacious with high ceilings, and the windows are large. The staircase and most of the floors are composed of hard wood, although there are some marble and stone floors too. The devotees have taken out a contract on the place for one year and Srila Gurudeva is very pleased with it, saying he likes it "lakhs and lakhs times more than any hotel." On the afternoon of Saturday 11th, Srila Gurudeva came out of his room and spoke for some time to a small group of devotees. After asking a couple of devotees to define the meaning of bhakti he told us we must have a very clear conception of its definition, otherwise we will be confused and misled, thinking that aropa or sanga-siddha-bhakti are the same as svarupa-siddha-bhakti. To have this clear understanding he said, it is necessary to hear regularly from very qualified vaisnavas. Vrnda didi then asked if aropa-siddha-bhakti corresponded with kanistha adhikara, sanga-siddha-bhakti with madhyama adhikara and svarupa-siddha-bhakti with uttama adhikara. Srila Gurudeva replied that it did not, and that even a kanistha devotee can perform svarupa siddha bhakti, or the nine processes of devotional service. He may be doing so with offence, he may have so many aparadhas yet it will still be svarupa-siddha-bhakti. In svarupa-siddha-bhakti there are so many levels. Srila Gurudeva also said that if a person is only performing aropa or sanga-siddha-bhakti, then he is not even on the level of kanistha. Vrnda didi then asked whether it would be true to say that all religions are performing aropa-siddha-bhakti. In reply, Srila Gurudeva said: "If a muslim is saying: 'You must accept Islam or I will cut off your head' or he is trying to force people to accept his religion by any means, is that aropa-siddha-bhakti? This has never been written in any sastra." He went on to say that according to many so-called religions, "God is love, and love is God" and, in the name of this, they honour so many different kinds of love. But what is love? A woman may love a man, but it is for a selfish reason. She wants to take his money, or his energy. So this kind of love is not for God. There is no true love in this world. Only a very few, rare persons have attained this platform, of bhava-bhakti. At 2:00 am on Sunday morning Manila was shaken by a strong earthquake, which woke most of us up. It started slowly, building into a crescendo, until the house was rocking like a boat. All of the street dogs outside howled for about five minutes after it had subsided, and everywhere we could hear sirens going off. Many of the devotees congregated in the corridor outside of their rooms, while Srila Gurudeva remained in his room and "performed kirtan" as he told us afterwards. He went on to tell us about a large earthquake which occurred in Bihar in 1934. At that time he was only thirteen years old, and was playing football with his friends. However, when the earthquake began, playing football started to become rather difficult - because everyone was falling over. Not knowing what was happening the boys ran back back to their village, only to find that all the houses had fallen down. Later on Srila Gurudeva asked if anyone had been killed in Manila, and Krsna candra prabhu answered that no-one had been. When I heard this it occurred to me that Srila Gurudeva's presence here in Manila must have surely saved the city from a far worse fate. The address and phone number of the Manila temple is: 15 Bituan Street North Araneta Subdivision Bgy Do–a Imelda Quezon City Manila Philippines (011) 63-2-4120940 Related VNN Stories  Comment on this storyContact VNN about this storySend this story to a friend
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