The Loving Search for the Lost Servant by Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Deva Goswami Maharaja Pt 2

naumidya te 'bhravapuse tadidambaraya
gunjavatamsa-paripicchala-sanmukhaya
vanyasraje kavalavetravisana-venulaksmasriye
mrdupade pasupangajaya

Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.14.1
"I offer my prayers unto You, O praiseworthy Lord who are the child
of the cowherd Nanda. Your complexion is the dark blue color of a
thundercloud and You are clad in silk garments that shine like
lightning. Your charming face is adorned with gunja-mala ornaments
and Your hair is decorated with a peacock feather. You look beautiful
wearing a garland of forest flowers, and that beauty is enhanced by the
morsel of food in Your left hand. You carry a buffalo horn and a stick
for herding cows tucked beneath Your left arm. You hold a flute and
other emblems, and Your feet are as soft as a lotus." That is the
general meaning of this verse. The internal meaning of this verse
however, is this: "O venerable one, we submit our prayers to You.
Who are You? You are un-seeable, un-feelable, unknown, and
unknowable. Your complexion is the color of a black cloud, and
therefore You are very difficult to see, but You can be seen because of
Your yellow garb." Yellow is Radharani's color. So only by the help
of Krsna's potency can it be ascertained who He is. Tadit means
lightning. By the help of lightning we can see a black cloud at night.
So although Krsna is unknown and unknowable, His potency can
reveal Him to us. Brahma says, "You are the venerable entity I have
come to know. Now I bow down to You. Your body is like that of a
black cloud, and that is some mystic representation. Black generally
cannot be detected. But Your dress of yellow color helps us to know
what You are. It is carrying some similarity to the yellow dress of
Narayana. Your black body and yellow dress hints towards the
personification of Narayana. You are unknown and unknowable
Yourself. But Your yellow dress - Your potency - makes You known
to us.

And You come down to our level as if You were one in our position. 
You are dressed as a cowherd boy, playing in the jungle with a lump 
of foodstuffs in Your hand. That deceives us in ascertaining who You 
are. And You adore ordinary things. Even the garland that You wear is 
collected from ordinary jungle flowers. Your taste appears to be for 
lower things. 
"And all these signs are misleading us. You take a morsel of food in 
Your hand and run after cows. That is a sign of being low-class. The 
higher-caste people like brahmanas and ksatriyas cannot move like 
this or behave in such a way with their food. The instrument you carry 
- a bamboo flute - is also unsophisticated. And Your stride is short. 
All this is misleading us to have a lower conception of You. You are 
hiding Yourself, so how can we understand You? What fault is there 
on our part, then, for not recognizing Your supremacy? It is difficult 
to accept that You, Krsna, are the master of everything. 
"You have so many plain ornaments. We don't find anything that is 
gorgeous or filled with splendor here in Vrndavana. We are 
accustomed to find those things in Vaikuntha. But this is new. You 
have come here to show Your playful pastimes. Here in Vrndavana we 
have come across a new conception. And it is wonderful, plain, and 
charming. Plain, yet most attractive. 
"With simple ordinary things You have decorated Yourself, but You 
are so extraordinarily charming. It is impossible to understand and to 
describe. Generally in this world, the position of cowherd boys is of 
no real significance. They represent the lower section of society. But 
here in Vrndavana, such a position is so wonderful and charming that 
we find You all-attractive - hypnotizing us. 
"And Your movement is very slow but sure. Your movement is such 
that You don't care for anything else in this world. Though You are in 
a lower position, Your posture is such that apparently You don't care 
for anything in this world. In You we find the highest conception 
garbed in a very plain way - but a very wonderful way. In connection 
with You, things of ordinary value become charming. Although I am 
the Creator and have created everything, I fail to understand this sort 
of creation. I am proud that I have created so many things in the 
world, but I am overwhelmed to see the beauty of the environment 
here in Vrndavana. Here Your movement is slow, but sure and 
beautiful. You may be the son of that human being who keeps the 
cows; this is not a very high status in society or in the scriptures, but it 
is the nature of Your personality that whatever You do, You make it 
hold the highest position. What is this! Whoever You may be, my 
vanity is defeated. I take refuge at Your holy feet - I surrender. Please 
help me to understand what You really are." In this way, Brahma 
surrendered. And so, Krsna is beyond the understanding even of the 
creator of the universe. He is infinite. And He is infinite not only in 
the consideration of space, but also in the consideration of time - He is 
infinite in every sort of consideration. Infinite. His infinite potency is 
represented in consciousness, in existence, and then in dealings of 
love. 
Absolute Sweetness 
The scriptures give us three conceptions of the infinite: Brahman, 
Paramatma, and Bhagavan. The Brahman conception is the allcomprehensive 
infinite. Whatever we can conceive is within it. 
Paramatma is the smallest of the small: anor aniyan. Whatever you 
can conceive of that is small, it is smaller than that. And the 
Bhagavan, or personal conception of Godhead, is of two types: one is 
as the master of infinite majesty and power, and the other is of 
absolute sweetness. 
Jiva Goswami has given the essential meaning of Bhagavan in his 
Bhakti-Sandarbha. He says, bhagavan bhajaniya-sarva-sad-guna 
visistha. By Bhagavan, he describes this aspect of infinite: bhajaniya, 
worshipable. When we come in touch with Him, then we want to 
surrender ourselves for His satisfaction - that type of infinite. There
are various types of infinite. The highest conception of the infinite is
bhajaniya guna visistha: He is so beautiful and attractive that He is
attracting all to surrender to Him. No other conception of the infinite
neither infinite space, nor time, nor anything else can approach this
highest conception of the infinite: the all-attractive infinite. All the
other aspects of the infinite - infinite time, infinite space, infinite
power - are external. But infinite love which attracts love and selfsurrender
is the highest type of infinite. And that is Krsna.

Attraction is the most fundamental element everywhere. All else can
be eliminated and forgotten if we come in touch with attraction and
love. Everything can be ignored if we are in connection with love. The
fulfillment of our existence, of all existence, of everything, is in love
Love is the principle in the center which is the only fulfillment of all
existence. The very gist of existence is there; it can't be ignored or
challenged by any other forms or aspects of our substantial existence.
It is unchallengeable and absolute.

Whatever we may experience, the most central need for fulfillment 
remains: love. The absolute king of everything is love. Nothing can 
stand in comparison with it. Coming in clash with the principle of 
love, all will have to accept defeat. Mahaprabhu pointed out that this 
is the most substantial thing in this world. 
Madhvacarya, in his conception of how one should see the acarya, the 
spiritual master, could not harmonize Brahma's bewilderment. After 
all, he is the sampradaya guru, the foremost guru of the tradition, the 
Brahma-Madhva-sampradaya. So Madhvacarya omitted these two 
chapters on the illusion of Brahma from Srimad-Bhagavatam. But 
Mahaprabhu did not. He accepted Sridhara Swami's edition, which is 
in accordance with the suddhadvaita philosophy of Visnuswami. The 
Visnuswami sampradaya are followers of ragamarga, spontaneous 
devotion. Sridhara Swami included those two chapters with his 
commentary, and Mahaprabhu accepted that, and it is corroborated in 
Caitanya-caritamrta. Madhvacarya could not accommodate the idea 
that guru may be seduced. He could not tolerate that guru may not 
know everything, may not be omniscient, but Mahaprabhu could. 
Sixth Chapter 
Sonhood of God 
Sri Govinda 
"Love's power is unthinkable. Although it is impossible, the infinite is 
defeated by the finite. What is that unthinkable position? It can. only 
be attained through love. And how adorable and precious and valuable 
love is! To acquire a drop of that divine love, no sacrifice is sufficient. 
So we are encouraged to die to live." 
Bala Krishna 
"We are worshipers not of the fatherhood of Godhead, but of the 
sonhood of Godhead. We don't worship Him as the creator or as the 
controller, out on the circumference, but in the conception of sonhood, 
He is in the center. He is not on the circumference, but in the center. 
That is the conception of Srimad-Bhagavatam: sonhood, and then 
consorthood, a more heavenly expression, is found there. He is there 
in the center, and His extensions emanate from Him. So in our 
conception of the absolute, His father is controlling Him, His mother 
is abusing Him and punishing Him, and He is also seen to fall at the 
feet of His beloved." 
This can be understood by considering that we are worshipers not of 
the fatherhood of Godhead, but of the sonhood of Godhead. We don't 
worship Him as the creator or as the controller, out on the 
circumference, but in the conception of sonhood, He is in the center. 
He is not on the circumference, but in the center. It is not that from 
one side He is furnishing everything, creating everything in the 
background. No; He is in the center. That is the conception of Srimad- 
Bhagavatam: sonhood, and then consorthood, a more heavenly 
expression, is found there. He is there in the center, and His 
extensions emanate from Him. So in our conception of the absolute, 
His father is controlling Him, His mother is abusing Him and 
punishing Him, and He is also seen to fall at the feet of His beloved. 
What to speak of guru, even Godhead Himself may appear to become 
bewildered about His absolute position. 
And why? Love divine. Prema. So how highly precious a thing divine 
love must be. After liberation, beyond calculative devotion, in the 
highest plane of the whole creation, eternal love reigns supreme. And 
that divine love emanates from Him just as rays of light emanate from 
the sun. 
So He is at the center and His extension is on all sides. Baladeva on 
one hand supplies the energy of existence, maintaining everything in 
the background, and the ecstatic side is controlled by His potency 
Srimati Radharani, who can make the Absolute Independent a ball in 
the play of Her hand. 
It is inconceivable, it is incalculable, but this is the very nature of 
divinity. The Lord says, aham bhakta-paradhino... "Yes, I have freely 
accepted subjugation to My devotees. I have no independence of My 
own. The way My devotees treat Me is so wonderful that it makes Me 
subservient to them." Divine love is so charming that it is considered 
to be the ultimate goal of life, and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu 
personally came along with Nityananda Prabhu to broadcast that news 
to the world. 
Ocean Of Love 
We may have a taste of that divine life only in that plane of nectar. 
That we may live in the waves of that ocean of love is the highest 
objective of our lives. 
In that divine realm our individual personalities can be maintained. It 
is not necessary that if we dive deep into the plane of consciousness, 
we must lose our own personality, our own individuality. It is not 
necessary at all. And yet the nature of divine love, is that you are still 
living, but you are living on His behalf, wholesale converted into His 
service. It is a wonderful thing: you can keep your personality for the 
interest of Krsna. But you must have no selfish motive, no conception 
of separate interest. Merging there is not physical, mortal merging, not 
merging of the losing variety, but the kind of merging spoken of in 
Srimad-Bhagavatam (11.29.34): 
martyo yada tyakta-samasta-karma 
niveditatma vicikirsito me 
tadamrtatvam pratipadyamano 
mayatma-bhuyaya ca kalpate vai 
"One who is subjected to birth and death attains immortality when he 
gives up all material activities, dedicates his life to the execution of 
My order, and acts according to My directions. In this way, he 
becomes fit to enjoy the spiritual bliss derived from exchanging loving 
mellows with Me." 
And in Bhagavad-gita (18.55) Krsna says: 
bhaktya mam abhijanati 
yavan yas casmi tattvatah 
tato mam tatvato jnatva 
visate tad-anantaram 
"Only through love and devotion can I be understood as I am. 
Thereafter, fully understanding Me, you can merge into My 
entourage." 
This "merging" is explained by Krsna: "They enter into Me to become 
a person in My family. Among the circles of My friends, he enters: 
visate tad anantaram. He becomes as if My own. That means that 
without losing your personality you can be fully My own." To enter 
into the Lord's family is a living merging, not a physical or dead 
merging into Brahman, spirit. That is the result of prema, divine love. 
That ideal is above the general conception of merging into the oneness 
of Brahman, where one loses oneself in the ocean of consciousness as 
if in a sound sleep. We are not interested in that. Rather, through 
Krsna consciousness, we become lost swimming in the ocean of 
sweetness. This has been accepted by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. 
Victory of Devotion 
Once, Radharani left the rasa-lila when She saw that all the gopis were 
being dealt with almost equally by Krsna. Equal treatment towards 
one and all did not satisfy Her. So She decided to display a 
composition of singing and dancing to please Krsna in a most 
wonderful transcendental way. Radharani showed Her skill in various 
ways, and then at the last moment, She suddenly disappeared. And as 
Krsna was engaged in that combined singing and dancing, He 
suddenly found that Radharani was absent. So He left everyone to 
search for Radharani. He met Her on the way, and after walking for 
some time, Radharani told Him, "I can't move, I can't walk anymore. 
If You would like to go on, You will have to carry Me. I cannot go 
further." And suddenly, Krsna disappeared. 
A disciple of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura once asked him 
why Krsna had disappeared in such a way. But our guru maharaja was 
very disturbed to hear such a question. In this lila, Krsna is apparently 
showing some disregard for Radharani. So our guru maharaja, by his 
very nature, could not even tolerate such a question. He had so much 
partiality towards Radharani that he was not disposed to hear anything 
against Her. And so, in a rather excited mood he answered, "Do you 
find any devotion here? What bhakti do you find here that you have 
asked me this question?" The question was rejected. He could not 
tolerate even an inquiry regarding that pastime. 
When this news came to me, I tried to find what Bhaktivinoda 
Thakura had written in his own words about this verse of Srimad- 
Bhagavatam in his own translation, Bhagavatarka-Marici-Mala. 
Bhaktivinoda Thakura has harmonized the difficulties in the verse. He 
explains that Krsna was thinking, "I would like to see what will be the 
mentality of separation in Her." Only to appreciate the depth of the 
separation She felt from Him did Krsna disappear. Then of course 
Krsna returned after some time. 
But our guru maharaja could not even tolerate the idea. "Where is 
devotion to be found here?" But Bhaktivinoda Thakura interpreted this 
pastime to mean that Krsna was driven to see what kind of happiness 
in separation Srimati Radharani would experience. He took this as an 
example of how the absolute becomes subservient to His devotee. And 
so we find that the negative, Srimati Radharani, is so powerful that the 
positive, Krsna, becomes powerless near Her. It is as if the positive 
loses its separate existence. This is the victory of devotion. 
Devotion is represented in the negative side, drawing from the 
positive. There is the juice in a fruit and the one who extracts the juice 
from the fruit. The highest devotion is found where the extraction is in 
its most intensified condition - there is the victory of the devotees: 
where the absolute accepts defeat before His servitors. This reveals 
the real presence of devotion, dedication, surrender. 
Lord of Love 
Surrender is so powerful that it can even capture the absolute. We are 
aspiring for that kind of potency. And whoever possesses that - they 
are all in all; they are our masters. For our highest interest, we must 
look towards the direction in which that power is intensified. We shall 
try to look wherever we find surrender in a thick, condensed stage. 
Our aim should be directed towards that. We are beggars of that. We 
are not beggars for anything which can be found in this mundane 
world: na dhanam na janam na sundarim... not wealth, followers or the 
enjoyment of women, but eliminating everything else, our aim should 
be directed towards one thing - that most intensified condition of 
divine service to the Lord of Love. 
We should try to convert everything in such a way that it can go to 
that unknown quarter beyond the jurisdiction of our sense experience 
or mental acquisition, like a rocket sent towards deep space. Srimad- 
Bhagavatam, which draws the essence from all of the revealed 
scriptures, says that divine love is the most desirable and original 
thing. We must not allow ourselves to run here and there searching for 
base fulfillment. We must forcibly concentrate our attention on divine 
love. Divine love is the highest thing for us; it is the highest in 
creation, the highest in eternity. 
And to take our stand in the negative position is the strategy of 
remaining in the relativity of the highest quarter of service to Krsna. 
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura once composed a verse 
expressing the proper attitude. Pujula ragapatha gaurava bange mattala 
sadhujana visaya range. "The path of divine love is worshipable to us 
and should be held overhead as our highest aspiration." 
He ordered that a cottage be built for him in Govardhana and said, "I 
shall live there. I am not fit to live in Radha-kunda. So I shall live in a 
lower position, but my gurus - Gaurakisora dasa Babaji, Bhaktivinoda 
Thakura, and others - are fit to serve there. So I shall go and serve 
them there in Radha-kunda, and then return to a little lower position, 
in Govardhana. There I shall stay." That is the proper tactic to 
maintain a subjective position in the subjective world. 
Otherwise, if we think that we are in the highest quarter, that higher 
reality will vanish from us. Only from a little lower position shall we 
view that higher plane with respect. But whenever we think that we 
have attained that higher position, that we are there - we are nowhere. 
That is the nature of the higher world. So we must maintain a 
respectable distance. If we try to look directly, we lose, but if we try to 
look at that plane through a screen or from a hidden place, then we 
may see. It is most peculiar. If we want to come in direct contact with 
things of a higher order, then they vanish from our experience. If you 
can't come in direct connection with some thing, you may find out 
about it by espionage - it is something like espionage. If you try to 
know it directly, it is impossible. Only from behind a screen can we 
have a glimpse. 
In that way we can experience the highest ontological truth. As if by 
chance ontological truth comes to us, He accepts us suddenly, and we 
can find Him. He is absolute, He is an autocrat, He is independent; 
whenever He comes by His own whim to give His connection to us, 
we can have it. It is never within my clutches. He is not an object to 
come directly within my control. He is always above. 
By this system we can come to the highest realization. In the highest 
order of lila of Radha-Govinda, Krsna asks Radharani to do 
something, and She refuses, saying "No, I won't do that." And yet this 
has been accepted as the highest mood of the negative side. To deny 
Krsna whatever He may want is called bhama-bhava. And Radharani 
is full of that nature. But that enhances the eagerness, the earnestness 
of Krsna. The whole system is a crooked one. And yet this is the way 
recommended for the poorest to come in contact with the highest. It is 
a wonderful device. The direct transaction, the clear face-to-face 
transaction, is absent there. Everything is like stealing. Everything 
there is a stealthy performance. In the highest area, in the area of 
autocracy, it is wholly blackmarketeering. And for that reason it is 
known as aprakrta - just similar to the lowest conception of things. In 
our present living condition, we can't tolerate autocracy. It is 
considered the lowest thing. But autocracy is there in the highest 
world. So it is known as aprakrta: the highest quarter of the 
transcendental world which can harmonize everything. 
The beauty of that plane is that even what is considered to be of the 
lowest type here is all harmonized there. The harmonious strength is 
so great there that what is undesirable, nasty, and bad here is 
harmonized in such a way that it gets the highest position there. 
Krsna's peculiar position is such that the lowest has been proven to be 
the highest by His magical touch. Because He is there, no blot is a 
blot; it is pure. Krsna consciousnessis the touch of Krsna, the beauty 
of the highest order. Just as the touchstone will not only convert silver 
into gold, but it will also transform even iron, lead, or any lower thing 
into gold, the touchstone of Krsna is so powerful that the lowest type 
of everything within our conception receives the highest position by 
His magical touch. 
Raghunatha Dasa Goswami says that if you are unable to accept this 
as truth, then you will be thrown down into Vaikuntha: "Go live there, 
where general law rules, where there are fair dealings. Go down to the 
land of fair dealings, simple dealings, where you can calculate and go 
on living very nicely." 
A Cowherd Boy 
But the higher world of Vrndavana is a most diplomatic position. 
Even Mahadeva and Brahma are both bewildered in understanding it. 
Baffled by Krsna, Brahma surrendered to Him and confessed, "How 
could I know that the highest truth was a cowherd boy with a rod 
under His armpit and a morsel of food in His hand, searching for His 
friends?" Brahma said: "I have some intimacy with my father 
Narayana; whenever any difficulty appears, I approach Him to get 
some instruction and then act accordingly. But I have never come in 
connection with any supreme power like this. A cowherd boy taking 
His food in one hand and a rod in the other, going off in search of His 
friends - He is the highest? It is inconceivable. But now I see that You 
are far above my father Narayana. Vaikuntha is a fair and lawful field 
we know. But we have never experienced such pastimes of tactful and 
obscure diplomacy. That this sort of thing is going on in the highest 
quarter, we should not be blamed for being unaware of that. It is 
wonderful and hidden, obscure. And yet there is a plane where so 
much wealth and sweetness are unknown to us." Thomas Gray once 
wrote: 
"Full many a gem of purest ray serene 
The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear; 
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, 
And waste its sweetness on the desert air." 
- Elegy in a Country Churchyard 
How peculiar it is to find that the master of everything is a thief. 
Everything is in His possession, and yet He comes as a thief. 
Everyone belongs to Him, but He plays the part of a debauchee. 
Krsna's pastimes are all wonderful. Everything belongs to Him, yet He 
behaves like a thief, like one of us. That is a peculiar plane and a 
peculiar type of pastime. 
There, all are equal, and some may even be superior. The father and 
mother of the absolute may be chastising Him, and the Lord may be 
weeping. Here is bhakti. Where is bhakti? What is the symptom of 
pure devotion? Where the highest authority is submissive to the 
servant - that is devotion. Bhakta-paradhinah: The highest has been 
forcibly taken down to serve the devotee. Devotion has such a peculiar 
position and power. Ksetra-hari prema bhajana: The last acquisition of 
devotion is that which can control the Supreme Lord and forcibly take 
Him to the devotee as a friendly servant. The master surrenders to the 
servant. 
The infinite is at the disposal of the finite. Can we conceive of this? 
Not only that, but it is done stealthily in various diplomatic ways. So 
in Krsna consciousness, the finite achieves the suprememost 
unthinkable position, when the infinite comes to serve him. Such a 
glorious and unthinkable position appears impossible. Yet this 
impossibility can be effected by devotion, raga, love. Love's power is 
unthinkable. Although it is impossible, the infinite is defeated by the 
finite. What is that unthinkable position? It can only be attained 
through love. 
And how adorable and precious and valuable love is! To acquire a 
drop of that divine love, no sacrifice is sufficient. So we are 
encouraged to "die to live." And in that sense, wholesale death is 
adorable. To achieve such divine love is the impossible of the 
impossible, but Mahaprabhu came to give us that. How magnanimous 
He is! He Himself took the position of a canvasser begging from door 
to door, "Enlist your name. I have come to recruit everyone for that 
highest quarter where the infinite will be a slave to the finite. Take a 
drop of that valuable thing." It is the impossible of the impossible, the 
inconceivable of the inconceivable. 
So give up your wild-goose-chasing habit and collect and concentrate 
all your might to progress in this line, to try to go to the temple of love 
divine. 
In Srimad-Bhagavatam (10.47.61), Uddhava says: 
asam aho carana-renu jusam aham syam 
vrndavane kim api gulma-latausadhinam 
ya dustyajam svajanam arya-patham ca hitva 
bhejur mukunda-padavim srutibhir vimrgyam 
"The gopis of Vrndavana gave up their husbands, children, and 
families who are very difficult to renounce, and sacrificed even their 
religious principles to take shelter of the lotus feet of Krsna, which are 
sought after even by the Vedas themselves. O! Grant me the fortune to 
take birth as a blade of grass in Vrndavana, so that I may take the dust 
of the lotus feet of those great souls upon my head." 
Risk enhances the mood of love. It is a necessary part of the highest 
form of love: to risk so-called worldly achievement. The quest of 
divine love must be undertaken even at the risk of so much so-called 
purity of this world. That commands the highest position. Still, it 
should be very carefully taken. It should follow the line of humility 
shown by Newton, who was considered by scientists of his day to 
know everything. He said, "I know nothing." That is the way of proper 
realization: As much as one is in the midst of genuine purity, so much 
he thinks that "I am impure." That is the nature of infinite 
measurement. Because the charm is so infinite, it cannot but be 
estimated in that way. 
The more they achieve, the more they thirst, the more earnestness is 
found within them. This is the characteristic of realization of the 
infinite. As much as one progresses, so much he thinks himself 
helpless in going further for measurement. No part of the infinite 
comes into the plane of measurement. 
mukam karoti vacalam 
panghum langhayate girim 
yat krpa tam aham vande 
sri gurun dina-taranam 
We cannot understand the infinite; we don't find ourselves qualified 
to give any expression about that, so we become dumb, thinking, 
"What shall I say?" But He makes us speak, He makes us open our 
mouths. Otherwise the reader, the knower, becomes dumb. A bona 
fide searching person is struck dumb with Krsna's ways. He cannot 
give any expression to that. But the power from on high comes down 
to make him give some statement. In that way, the truth from that part 
comes here. He begins to speak, to give vent to his feelings, being 
pressed by the higher plane, that higher entity. He has no power of his 
own to walk, but the Lord's wonderful power can help him cross 
mountains. This is the nature of the grace of the almighty, of the 
absolute: by His power, everything can move and live. Yato va imani 
bhutani jayante, yena jatani jivanti, yat prayanty abhisamvisanti: "He 
is the cause of production, sustenance, and again withdrawal. 
Evolution, dissolution, and sustenance in the middle. He is the prime, 
universal cause." 
We are quarreling in a foreign land for fictitious gain. But Krsna is 
engaged in a loving search for His long lost servants. He wants to save 
them and take them all home. Only by the grace of that absolute is it 
possible. A wave is coming from there to take us home, to where 
everything finally enters. Everything which is created disappears into 
the subtle existence at the wholesale dissolution of this world. But 
again with a new evolution they come out. And some enter into the 
permanent lila and do not come back into this world of exploitation 
and renunciation. 
Search for Krishna 
We must inquire after Krsna. But first we should inquire, "Who am I? 
Where am I? In which way shall I move to approach the higher 
domain?" We are always inquiring, but for what type of thing? Now 
we should open our hearts wide and inquire about Him. This is our 
dire necessity. We can't avoid it. And what that inquiry contains, we 
can't predict the level of thought. Brahman, Paramatma, Bhagavan. 
Bhagavan inquiry is the highest: the search for Sri Krsna, Reality the 
Beautiful. 
It is a natural necessity within us, for our own interest; we can't avoid 
it. A sane man who does not want to deceive himself can't avoid the 
search for Sri Krsna. The most general thing in our nature is to inquire 
after happiness. This is the general question of all animated beings. 
The search for Sri Krsna means searching for rasa, the highest form of 
ecstasy. 
If we examine ourselves, we will read and cry: "What have I done? 
What is my necessity? And how am I passing my days? I must repent, 
cry. I have passed my days uselessly, I am a traitor to my own self, I 
am committing suicide. My real complaint is against myself and my 
so-called friends. We have nothing to do here." So, read and cry; do or 
die! Progress in the right way, or you are inviting your death. The 
general tenor of life, of all existence, in the most scientific way, will 
be this: Search for Sri Krsna, Reality the Beautiful. That is the highest 
goal not only of humanity, but for all creation. And all problems are 
harmonized and solved by that. 
No complaints against this attempt can be normal. Deviation from this 
general instruction, the general call, is all false, unnecessary, and 
injurious. This is the truth, the necessity of everyone, wherever there 
is life. The most grand, extensive, and friendly call to all, to the whole 
of the world - the only friendly call - is this: "March towards Krsna!" 
It is the only call. All others should be silenced. All other topics 
should be silenced, should be stopped, and only if this call remains, 
the real welfare of the world remains. So the Upanisads say: Yasmin 
vijnate sarvam idam vijnatam bhavati yasmin prapte sarvam idam 
praptam bhavati. "Inquire into that upon knowing which, nothing 
further remains to be known. Try to achieve that upon gaining which, 
nothing further remains to be gained." 
A comprehensive call is going out, and this is really nonsectarianism. 
Apparently it is thought to be sectarian by the abnormal thinkers. But 
to every normal-thinking person, it is the most general universal thing 
that can be dealt with. 
At present, we are quarreling in a foreign land for fictitious gain. But a 
sweet wave is coming from above to save us and take us all home. 
Only by the grace of the Lord's loving search for His lost servants is it 
at all possible. And all that is expected from us is to join the search for 
Sri Krsna and march towards the divine domain. Let us join the 
universal march towards the divine domain, save ourselves, and go 
back home, back to Godhead. 
Seventh Chapter 
Knowledge-Free Devotion 
Beauty and Love 
"The innermost hankering of every living soul is for beauty, love, 
affection, and harmony; not for power, knowledge, or anything else. 
This is the diagnosis of the whole creation in time and space: their 
common cause is one. But it is rare for a soul to reach such a clear 
stage of hankering for reality as to understand this point. Few souls 
are to be found in this world who are really conscious of their 
innermost necessity, who realize, "We want Krishna! We want 
Vrndavana!" 
bhidyate hrdaya-granthis 
chidyante sarva-samsayah 
ksiyante casya karmani 
mayi drste 'khilatmani 
"Our inner aspiration for rasa, ecstasy, is buried within our hearts 
which are tied down and sealed. But hearing and chanting the glories 
of Krsna breaks the seal on the heart and allows it to awaken and open 
to receive Krsna, the reservoir of pleasure, ecstasy Himself." 
Here, Srimad-Bhagavatam is saying: "There is a knot within our 
hearts, but that knot will be torn asunder by Krsna consciousness. At 
that time, the flow of our innate tendency for divine love (svarupa 
sakti) will inundate the whole heart. When the knot of the heart is torn 
apart, then, as the sleeping soul awakens, the Goloka conception 
within will emerge and inundate his entire being." 
But this is apparently a difficult problem. How is it possible that all 
our doubts may be cleared? Is it possible for the finite to know 
everything? This statement seems rather inconsistent. It seems absurd. 
The Upanisads, however, say: "Who knows Him knows everything; 
who gets Him gets everything." How will the finite know that he has 
everything, that he has known everything? It appears absurd, but it is 
confirmed in the scriptures. And if this problem is solved, then all 
problems are solved automatically. The finite will realize wholesale 
satisfaction; all his inquisitive tendencies will be satisfied. This is 
confirmed not only in the Upanisads, but also in the Srimad- 
Bhagavatam. 
When I first came to the Gaudiya Math, I mixed very carefully with 
the devotees. I thought, "They say that what they teach is the only 
truth and that all else is false - this is a bitter pill to swallow. They say, 
'Everyone is suffering from ignorance. And what we say is the right 
thing."' I thought, "What is this! A sane man cannot easily swallow 
such a pill. " I also could not digest it so easily at first. But what they 
were saying was confirmed by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Srimad- 
Bhagavatam, Bhagavad-gita, and the Upanisads. All these authorities 
say, "Yes, it is so. If you know Him, everything is known. If you get 
Him, everything is gotten." 
Srimad-Bhagavatam (4.31.14), in a verse similar to the above line 
from the Upanisads, also says that all doubts are cleared by Krsna 
consciousness, and as a result, we come into real knowledge. There it 
is written: 
yatha taror mula-nisecanena 
trpyanti tat-skandha-bhujopasakhah 
pranopaharac ca yathendriyanam 
tathaiva sarvarhanam acyutejya 
"By watering the root of a tree, all the leaves and branches are 
automatically nourished. Similarly, by supplying food to the stomach, 
all the limbs of the body are nourished. In the same way, if we satisfy 
the central conception of the Supreme Absolute, all our obligations are 
automatically fulfilled." 
If we put food into the stomach, the whole body is fed. If we pour 
water on the root of the tree, the whole tree is fed. In the same way, if 
we do our duty towards the center, then everything is done. This is the 
greatness, the mysterious position of the absolute center: He has 
control over the complete whole. This is the peculiar position of the 
center in the system of the organic whole. 
If a particular position of the brain is captured, then the whole body is 
controlled: one needle in that particular section of the brain, and all 
the functions of the body will be paralyzed. The peculiar position of 
the absolute center is something like that. So the impossible becomes 
possible. 
Suppose I am a poor girl who has nothing. Ordinarily it would not be 
possible to acquire anything. But if I marry a rich man who is the 
owner of a big property, I can have command over many things by my 
relationship with him. Although we may be poor, our relationship with 
a powerful master makes us the master of many things. In the same 
way, the Absolute Center controls everything, and our affectionate 
relationship with Him may endow us with the command of many 
things. This is how it is possible for the finite soul to have possession 
of everything - through the subtle link of affection. 
Through Krsna everything is possible. And the nearer we come to 
Him, the more we shall catch. His influence inspires His devotees, and 
all His qualities fill their hearts (sarva maha-guna-gana vaisnavasarire, 
krsna-bhakte krsnera guna sakali sancare - Caitanya-caritamrta, 
Madhya-lila 22.75). In that way, although a devotee is not himself a 
master, through the link of love he can be master of anything. This is 
the line of thought explained by Srimad-Bhagavatam and the 
Upanisads. 
Without having a real connection with the absolute center, your 
attempts to know everything will be useless. If you try to know even a 
particle of sand, lifetimes will come and go, millions of lives will 
pass, and you will continue to analyze the sand, finding no end to 
understanding even one particle. 
The Absolute Center 
We are told, "If you want to inquire - inquire about the center. That is 
the call of the Upanisads: "Don't waste your time trying to analyze the 
smallest part of this creation, trying to be its master; it is not possible. 
Your inquiry should be properly guided." Krsna says, "I am the center, 
and I say, 'Come to know Me, and through Me you will be able to 
know everything because I know everything and I control everything. 
Your connection with Me can give you that capacity. Approach 
everything through Me. Then you will be able to know the proper 
position of all things. Otherwise you will become acquainted with 
only a partial aspect of reality, and that will be external and 
incomplete. And you will pass millions of lives trying to know and 
understand reality to no end."' Bhagavatam says: 
athapi te deva padambhuja-dvaya 
prasada-lesanugrhita eva hi 
janati tattvam bhagavan mahimno 
na canya eko 'pi ciram vicinvan 
"Only one who is blessed with the mercy of the Lord can know His 
true nature. On the other hand, those who try empirically to 
understand His inconceivable glories can study and speculate forever 
without arriving at the proper conclusion." 
Here, through Bhagavatam, Krsna tells us, "You may devote yourself 
for eternity in an erroneous direction, with no possibility of coming to 
the end of understanding. But if you try to approach the absolute 
center, then in no time you will be able to know what is what." That is 
the direction given by the Upanisads and Srimad-Bhagavatam, that is 
the direction we must take, and that is devotion. 
It is so satisfying that once you have attained it, you won't care to 
know any other thing. We need only concentrate on Krsna's service. 
Srimad-Bhagavatam (10.14.3) declares: 
jnane prayasam udapasya namanta eva 
jivanti san-mukharitam bhavadiya vartam 
sthane sthitah sruti-gatam tanu-van-manobhir 
ye prayaso 'jita jito 'py asi tais tri-lokyam 
"Hatefully giving up all intellectual attempts to understand the 
Supreme Truth, those who want to realize You should completely 
surrender unto You. They should hear from self-realized devotees 
about Your holy name and transcendental pastimes. Whatever 
situation they may find themselves in, they should progress by fully 
dedicating their mind, body, and words to You. In this way the 
infinite, who is never conquered by anyone, becomes conquered 
through love." 
We can approach the Supreme Lord only through submission, and 
when we achieve Him, we won't care for knowing anything else. We 
will have no regard for what is happening or not happening in the 
outside world. We will deeply engage in His service for His 
satisfaction. There, in His service, we will find the object of our lives 
fulfilled. And this external knowledge of "things outside" will seem to 
us as rubbish. We will realize, "What is the necessity of wasting time 
with all kinds of calculation - the nectar is here! It is far deeper than 
what is found in the external plane." And at that time, we shall give all 
our attention to His service. 
The question is often asked why varnasrama-dharma, the Vedic 
system of social stratification, was ignored by Sri Caitanya 
Mahaprabhu, and why it is that anyone from any social position is 
accepted by our devotional school. We have to cross over the 
constraints of the caste system (varnasrama-dharma), offering the 
results of our work to Krsna (krsna karmarpanam), devotion mixed 
with the desire to enjoy the fruits of work (karma-misra-bhakti), and 
devotion mixed with the desire for liberation (jnana-misra-bhakti). 
They have all been rejected by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. His slogan 
was eho bahya age kaha ara: "These things are external; go deeper, go 
deeper." When Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu asked what is further and 
higher than all these different conceptions of theism, Ramananda Raya 
suggested jnana-sunya bhakti, unalloyed devotion. When this was 
suggested by Ramananda Raya, Mahaprabhu said, "Yes, here real 
theism begins." 
Karma and Jnana 
That means karma, fruitive work, and jnana, the cultivation of 
knowledge, are unnecessary. One can begin a life of bhakti 
independently of karma and jnana - from any position. Bhakti need 
only be developed through sukrti, accumulated devotional piety, and 
through ruci, our eagerness and earnestness for Krsna. That is what is 
necessary, and not our aspiration to know anything and everything 
(jnana) or to have so much energy under our control (karma). These 
two paths lead us to exploitation and renunciation. But wherever one 
may be, if he wants to get in touch with the Lord, he need only have 
some inclination to hear about Him from a proper source, a real saint. 
This is the proper beginning of bhakti. And so, one may begin in the 
bhakti school independent of any position in the social system of 
varnasrama. 
To become Krsna conscious, one need not be a wise man, nor a very 
energetic man, he may not be a master of opulence and power - the 
only requirement that is demanded from him is that he must have an 
earnest hunger for the Lord. He must find some sweetness, some taste 
in His words and His affairs when he hears from a proper source - a 
genuine saint. That taste will take him gradually further and further 
into the highest domain. 
If they want to be successful in their search for the infinite, the seekers 
of knowledge and power, the jnanis and karmis, will ultimately have 
to cast out their attachments, break out of their circle, and come to this 
position. They will have to depend on taste. Taste is everything. A 
taste for His affairs is the all-important qualification for a devotee. It 
is all in all. Wherever one may be does not matter. Through his taste 
for Krsna, one will progress from ruci to the ultimate end of life. 
So we are told, "Giving up everything, and even rejecting all 
conceptions of society and religion as external, exclusively surrender 
to Krsna." Without hesitation, one should take exclusive shelter of the 
Lord with full confidence, giving up bad association, and even 
neglecting the regulative principles governing society and religion. 
That is to say, one should abandon all material attachment. Saranagati: 
Take shelter under His protection absolutely. 
Creeper of Devotion 
A devotee thinks, "Krsna is very, very sweet. I can't avoid Him, I can't 
live without tasting His sweetness." That feeling is the real seed which 
can produce the bhakti creeper, the creeper of devotion. And that will 
gradually grow until it touches the feet of Krsna. 
The creeper will grow and yet it won't try to find support anywhere in 
the planes of consciousness within this world, but it will grow higher 
and higher. Finally, when it reaches the personal conception of the 
Absolute, it will experiences some sort of satisfaction. Still, it won't 
stop there. It will go up to Goloka. It will not stop with the calculative 
devotion of Vaikuntha. Crossing that plane, it will rise up to the stage 
of spontaneous, automatic devotion. 
Back to Godhead 
There we will find the Lord of Love. Love is the worshiping and 
adoring factor everywhere in that plane. The essential feature of that 
realm is the relationship of divine love to the central object. And we 
will find our fulfillment by getting service in a particular position in 
relation to Him. That is what is needed by everyone: to enter into the 
land of love and achieve some engagement in the loving service of the 
central representation of absolute sweetness, beauty, and love. And 
that highest absolute center came down as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu 
to invite His long lost servants to return to His home, saying: "I have 
come to invite you and to take all of you to My home - come with 
Me!" What a fortunate opportunity we have! By accepting His 
proposal and gaining admittance in that line, how happily we can go 
back to home, back to God. 
This is the very gist of all religions. Knowingly or unknowingly, every 
soul is searching for divine love. Still, different varieties of obstacles 
are coming to dissuade us from our campaign. But the heart won't be 
satisfied unless and until it reaches there. Once begun, our journey 
towards Krsna can never be stopped anywhere. It is merely a question 
of delay: a long long time, ages and ages may pass by, but our 
ultimate success cannot be checked. 
Krsna alone can really attract us. We cannot relish anything else from 
the depth of our heart and accept it as our final destination. We want 
only beauty and love, not power or knowledge. 
Beggars of Love 
It may seem that we want power. We sometimes think that we must 
have everything; we want that controlling capacity. We want that 
everything will come under our control, that whatever we want shall 
be done. But that is not what we truly want. It may seem that we want 
power, but ultimately power cannot satisfy us. And sometimes we 
may think that we want to know everything. We may not want to have 
the power of control over all, but we want to know everything; we 
don't like to be ignorant. But that is also not the ultimate end which 
can fulfill our inner necessity. That is not what we really want. We 
must become educated about our actual necessity - the inner search of 
our hearts. If we do that properly, we shall find that we are all beggars 
of love and affection. Adoration is the innermost necessity 
everywhere. And that can be completely satisfied only in Krsna's 
pastimes in Vrndavana. 
This conclusion was broadcast by Vedavyasa, the compiler of the 
Vedic scriptures. Even contemporary scholars admit that Vedavyasa 
has disseminated all possible lines of philosophical thought in the 
Vedas, Puranas, Mahabharata and Vedanta-sutra. And in his last days, 
in his philosophical maturity, he gave Srimad-Bhagavatam, which 
culminates in the conception of divine love, krsna-prema. 
''We Want Krishna'' 
The innermost hankering of every living soul is for beauty, love, 
affection, and harmony; not for power, knowledge, or anything else. 
This is the diagnosis of the whole creation in time and space: their 
common cause is one. But it is rare for a soul to reach such a clear 
stage of hankering for reality as to understand this point. Few souls 
are to be found in this world who are really conscious of their 
innermost necessity, who realize, "We want Krsna! We want 
Vrndavana!" Such sincere souls are not easily found. This is 
mentioned in many places in scripture. (manusyanam 
sahasresu...narayana parayana... brahmananam sahasrebyo....) 
There is only one end - many are not necessary - only one, the one, 
that very one we want, is a relationship of divine love. 
An intellectual understanding of Krsna consciousness is impossible. 
Just as a bee cannot taste honey by licking the outside of a glass jar, 
one cannot enter the domain of higher spirit through the intellect. As 
subjects we are subordinate to the Supreme Subject. So there must be 
seva, service. Seva is the all- important factor. In the Bhagavad-gita it 
is mentioned that pranipata, respectfully approaching, pariprasna, 
sincerely inquiring, and seva, an attitude of service are necessary to 
enter into the domain of divine love. Only by service will Krsna be 
satisfied and come down, only then will we be able to understand the 
nature of higher plane. This is Vedic knowledge. 
We are tatastha-sakti, marginal potency, and if we want to know any 
truth about higher reality, we must realize that it is more subtle than 
our existence, it is super-subjective: It can touch us, but we cannot 
climb up to that domain out of our own sweet will. Only if we are 
given the grace which can take us up can we go. 
One who has this understanding will be able to combat all the existing 
intellectualists. The intellect has no capacity to enter into the higher 
subjective area. That supreme truth is atindriya-manasa-gocarah: 
beyond the plane of the senses, mind, and intellect. This expression 
manaso vapuso vaco vaibhavam tava gocarah by Brahma, admitting to 
Krsna that He was beyond the reach of his body, mind, and words, 
was not only a lip-deep statement of the mouth. If we want to know 
the absolute truth, the only condition for realizing Him is a submissive 
attitude. In that way, He may be satisfied with our attempt and reveal 
Himself to us. Divine revelation is not a matter of research within this 
world - we should have a sincere heart to serve. 
The scientists are discovering so many wonderful things. But are these 
things there already? Or are the scientists the creators? Those 
wonderful truths are already there. It is only that some of them are 
being discovered. It is not the creation of the scientists, so they are not 
superior to those truths. And in any case, they can know only a part of 
it, and even that with some endeavor. But the conscious nature of 
reality, the superior reason of divinity, is unknown to them, although 
they may go on researching, researching, researching. Whatever they 
find is only the outer cover, not the real spirit, the substance. Na te 
viduh svarthagatim hi visnum. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam (7.5.30) it is 
written: 
matir na krsne paratah svato va 
mitho 'bhipadyeta grha-vratanam 
adanta-gobir visatam tamisram 
punah punas carvita-carvananam 
Srimad-Bhagavatam tells us that we can try to enter the world of 
higher reality through intellectualism, but we will again come back, 
baffled in our attempts. If we try to press with our intelligence to enter 
into that domain, we will come back dissatisfied in despair and will 
wander here within this mortal world again and again. The world of 
sense experience will come and go through its different phases, but it 
cannot enter that spiritual plane. To enter that world, the only 
requirement is submission to a real agent of divinity. He may impart 
the process, and if we can accept that, we will be able to enter that 
world; otherwise we will have to wander in this world of sense 
experience. 
Some scholars think that knowledge is of the first importance. 
According to them, if one wants to enter that realm, he should first 
acquire knowledge through scholarship and then try for love. They 
think that by knowledge alone we can understand what divine love is, 
and then we can have admission into that domain. They don't approve 
of the idea of jnana-sunya bhakti, or "knowledge-free devotion." 
Once, the founder of the Bharat Seva Ashram Sangha wanted me to 
join his mission. I told him, "My head is already sold to the teachings 
of Sri Caitanyadeva." He said, "Yes, I also revere Him, but I say that 
first you must learn indifference to this worldly pleasure, as Buddha 
preached. Then you may come to study the Vedanta of Sankara, 
understand what is knowledge proper, and realize that all this world is 
nothing, and Brahman, spirit, is everything. Then you may approach 
the prema-dharma, the love of Sri Caitanyadeva, which I also think to 
be the highest object of attainment." I answered, "You say so, but Sri 
Caitanyadeva did not say that we should go to the Buddhist school to 
learn abnegation and then to the Sankara school to acquire Vedantic 
knowledge before coming to Him. He said that wherever one is, one 
should get the association of a real Vaisnava saint and go on with 
sravana-kirtana, hearing and chanting the glories of the Lord." That 
man was struck dumb. He could not speak; he was silenced. 
Another time, the president of the Arya Samaj came to see me in 
Karachi and told me that, "If the finite can know the Infinite, He is not 
infinite." I replied, "If the Infinite cannot make Himself known to the 
finite, He is not infinite." He could not answer my argument. 
All Rights Reserved 
So it is not from any qualification on our side that the absolute can be 
caught. Whomever He chooses to make Himself known to will know 
Him. This is explained in the Upanisads: He cannot be known by 
lectures or discussions, by sharp memory or vast intelligence, or by 
genius or supernatural intellect. One may have extensively studied all 
the revealed scriptures, but that is no qualification. Krsna reserves all 
independence on His side. There is only one way by which He can be 
known: whomever He chooses to make Himself known to can know 
Him. Otherwise all rights are reserved there by His sweet will. 
How can we draw His sweet will? That is the question. How we can 
tackle His sweet will. That can only be done through saranagati, 
surrender, by increasing our negative side. We must think, "I am so 
poor; without Your grace, I can't live." We must think like this to try 
to arouse pity within His heart. We must appeal to His understanding 
that we are in extreme need of Him and that without His grace we 
can't live. Only such a sincere feeling of necessity can draw His 
attention to us. Otherwise we have no possibility for capturing Him. 
So the negative approach has been recommended for capturing Him. 
Our exclusive prayer is that we are the most needy and sincere. That 
alone can draw His attention towards us. And that is not an opinion or 
speculation, it is a fact. It is reality. 
I once met a scholarly sannyasi in Badarikasrama who posed as an 
atheist in the course of our discussion. He argued, "What is the 
evidence that God or the soul exists?" Then I quoted a verse from 
Srimad-Bhagavatam (11.22.34): 
atma parijnana-mayo vivado 
hy astiti nastiti bhidartha-nisthah 
vyartho 'pi naivoparameta pumsam 
mattah paravrtta-dhiyam sva-lokat 
I explained to him that although atma, spirit, is self-effulgent, there is 
a constant quarrel between two opposing parties. One party says, 
"God exists!" The other says, "God does not exist!" Srimad- 
Bhagavatam says that the atma is self-effulgent, but still we find that 
one class of men say, "He exists, we see Him, He can be seen," and 
another says, "He has never existed." This quarrel has no end because 
one of the parties hasn't got the eye to see what is self-evident. This 
quarrel is a useless waste of time, but still it will never stop; it will 
continue forever. Why? Because there are those who have the eyes to 
see God and those who have no eyes to see Him or their own self. One 
of these classes of men have deviated from God consciousness. There 
is a barrier between them and God consciousness, between them and 
self-consciousness. So the disagreement will only continue on account 
of their ignorance. 
Those who have eyes to see will say, "The sun exists; There is the 
sun." And those who have no eyes will say, "No, no, there is no sun." 
This argument will continue forever, but that does not mean that the 
sun is not existing. It can show itself. 
An analogy has been given in this connection. A boy is born in a 
dungeon, a dark prisonhouse. And he grows up there without any 
experience of sunlight. One of his friends from outside the prison 
would come and visit him. One day, the boy's friend said, "Let us go 
see the sun. Come with me, I shall show you." The boy replied, "Yes, 
I shall go," but he began to take a lantern with him. His friend 
remarked, "It is not necessary to take the lantern." The boy said, 
"What do you say! Do you think that I am a fool? Can anything be 
seen without the help of a lantern? I am not a fool!" Then his friend 
forcibly took him by the hand and showed him the sun. The boy said, 
"Oh, this is the sun! By its light everything can be seen." 
The soul is like that. God is like that. He is seen by His own light, and 
it is only by His light that we can see anything. He is self-effulgent. 
By His own light He can show Himself to others. He is the source of 
all knowledge. This is the proper conception of Godhead. He is 
automatically existing. He cannot be seen by our knowledge, just as 
the sun cannot be seen by the help of any other light. It is not 
necessary that we try to acquire God consciousness through intellect 
or knowledge. Knowledge of God is independent. It can come and go 
of its own accord. And if He comes to me, every thing comes to me. 
But nothing can force Him to come within our vision. The sun cannot 
be taken into your dungeon, but you have to go to the sun and see 
things by its grace; in the same way, the Lord is self-effulgent. He can 
be seen only by His own light. 
Intellectualism is a disqualification. We are interested in jnana-sunya 
bhakti, knowledge-free devotion. Affection, attraction, sympathy - 
these things are all the outcome of having a heart. The scientists feel 
that animals have no real brain, no intelligence. Yet we see that even 
without much of a brain, an animal can live, but without a heart, none 
can live. As the brain is a representation of a computer, the animals 
have no real computer to calculate. Animals may follow intuitive 
knowledge, and so they can work unconsciously. And we can see that 
intuition can go above brain calculation. So many birds and beasts can 
understand that an earthquake is coming, but so far, no human 
calculation can understand precisely when an earthquake will come. 
There are many things that our brain cannot feel, cannot catch, 
whereas even the animals can get some clue about them beforehand. 
And after a long and deep research, men cannot find what is beyond 
their reason. The position of reason and intellect is explained in 
Srimad-Bhagavatam (10.14.3): 
jnane prayasam udapasya namanta eva 
jivanti san-mukharitam bhavadiya-vartam 
sthane sthitah sruti-gatam tanu-van-manobhir 
ye prayaso 'jita jito 'py asi tais tri-lokyam 
"Hatefully rejecting any attempt in the intellectual line, we must 
nurture a submissive spirit within ourselves and try to live our lives in 
association with topics about the Lord. Of course, this does not mean 
any topics about the Lord; they must come from a genuine source. 
And it does not matter what position we hold at present. Whoever 
wholeheartedly attends to the teachings of His divine agents by 
thought, word, and deed, can conquer Him who is otherwise 
invincible." 
This is the path of realization recommended by the Srimad- 
Bhagavatam, which condemns the path of intellectual attainment: 
sreyah srtim bhaktim udasya te vibho 
klisyanti ye kevala-bodha-labdhaye 
tesam asau klesala eva sisyate 
nanyad yatha sthula-tusavaghatinam 
"O Lord, those who want to have a clear conception of You through 
their intellect find their attempts useless. Their endeavors end only in 
frustration, like those who try to beat rice from an empty husk." (S.B. 
10.14.4) So jnana, knowledge, is like an empty husk. Energy and 
knowledge are only outer aspects. The real substance, the rice, is 
devotion - love. That is the tasteful thing within. Other things are 
covers (jnana-karmady-anavrtam). But what is within the cover is 
tasteful, eternal, auspicious, and beautiful: satyam, sivam, sundaram. 
Beauty is reality, ecstasy is reality; everything else is only an outer 
cover. If we concern ourselves too much with the cover, we cannot get 
the substance within. Then our life becomes a disappointment: 
naiskarmyam apy acyuta-bhava-varjitam 
na sobhate jnanam alam niranjanam 
kutah punah sasvad abhadram isvare 
na carpitam karma yad apy akaranam 
"Mere retirement is not considered to be fulfillment in anyone's life. 
Although in the stage of liberation no contamination of death, birth, 
disease, and infirmity are to be found, still that cannot be considered 
perfection. Then what to speak of karma, a laborious life of work 
which is not done for the satisfaction of Krsna?" (S.B. 1.5.12) 
The only thing that can give fulfillment in both labor and rest is 
Krsna: He is the harmonizing principle of both. If work is done as a 
service for Krsna, then our labor is converted into gold: it is no longer 
iron. And only if renunciation is related to divine service does it have 
any value. 
Adam and Eve 
Those who are suffering from hard labor naturally want rest. They are 
dependent on labor to live, yet it is thought to be useless and 
undesirable: if we are to live, we must labor; still, it is considered a 
dishonorable life. Generally our aspiration is how to live without 
labor; we are in search of a peaceful life of rest where we are not the 
servants of labor. This is the general tendency in our life of struggle 
and labor. In the Bible, we find that when Adam and Eve were 
surrendered to God in heaven, their sustenance was automatic; when 
they fell down, they had to earn their bread by the sweat of their brow. 
They were forced to labor in order to live. And it is a low and 
dishonorable form of life. But if we want to live, we must labor. We 
wonder, "Is there a life where one can live without labor?" We find 
such a tendency in our life from the beginning of existence. So we 
aspire for freedom from karma. 
Buddha and Shankar 
Both the Buddhist school and the Sankara school want to discover a 
place where one can live without labor. Buddha says that life itself is 
unnecessary; that there is in actuality no labor, no life, no existence. 
According to the Buddhist school, we can do away with our existence. 
It is a mania to keep up our existence in the struggling world, so we 
should do away with this mania. Why should we live at all? So the 
Buddhists advocate nirvana, the cessation of existence. 
And Sankaracarya says, "Of course there is life, but this life is not 
desirable. We are always suffering from injury, and there is a force 
which is always diminishing us, and ultimately we die. We are 
challenged by slow death, slow poison." It is true that life in the world 
of mortality is undesirable. Then what is the solution? Sankara says 
that the endeavor to maintain one's individual self is undesirable. 
There is no possibility of maintaining individuality and at the same 
time enjoying real peace, eternal peace. So we shall have to give up 
the charm of individual life. 
According to Sankara, there is one Universal Spirit, and that is a 
blissful conception. We are merely reflections of that. That Spirit has 
been reflected everywhere. Somehow it has created this mysterious 
individual ego or consciousness. We must not be very eager to 
maintain this false ego; we must dissolve it. And when that is done, 
we shall find that only Spirit remains. 
In our present condition there can be no cure to the disease of
mortality. At every moment we are losing ourselves in some way or
other. This cannot be solved. But Buddha and Sankara have given
only a partial understanding. But Srimad-Bhagavatam says, "The
proper solution is to practice abnegation, detachment from the
environment, by seeing it in relation to the service of Krsna. That
knowledge by which you can attain perfection while maintaining your
own individuality, interest, and prospect is possible only with bhakti,
devotion, dedication. By exploitation you have to die. And by
abnegation you merge into a sort of zero (Viraja, Brahmaloka) in
some unknown quarter, never to rise from there again. But I
recommend the kind of renunciation and knowledge which is
embraced by devotion, dedication to Krsna. If you accept that, then
your inner self, your true self, can live forever in a happy life."
Naiskarmyam means no pain of labor. A labor of love is the innate
function of the soul. In our ordinary conception, labor carries a
reaction. As we labor, things diminish and vanish, attacked by death.
But these difficulties have all been eliminated by the
recommendations given in Srimad-Bhagavatam. Srimad-Bhagavatam
advocates vairagya and jnana embraced with bhakti, a life of
dedication. Bhagavatam says, "Shake off exploitation and
renunciation. You will not have to depend on them. They can be
absorbed by dedication. Renunciation and knowledge are complete in
devotion, and at the same time you can maintain your individuality. "
Srimad-Bhagavatam has harmonized knowledge and renunciation by
supplying their very life in devotion. Through devotion, we can
maintain our individuality, our activity, our prospect, and at the same
time find immense peace and ecstasy in life. Srimad-Bhagavatam
offers us a happy, eternal life simply by adding dedication to jnana
and karma.

You will work, or energize; but it will not come under the jurisdiction
of karma, which has a reaction. Your energy will be used for the
center. Bhagavad-gita tells us, "Work only for the center, otherwise
you will be tied down with a reaction." So it has been made clear that
a very laudable life is possible for us if we dedicate ourselves to the
highest center. That is neither dishonorable nor tiresome. Neither is it
ignorance. So we should take this course which Srimad-Bhagavatam
recommends for us. 
If we are attentive to that and try to follow the advice coming from the
real source, from real saintly persons, we will become properly
adjusted; we will develop a proper understanding. And everything will
be harmonized. One who has this realization will be victorious over all
possible suggestions or conceptions of knowledge. Only by devotion,
by dedication to Krsna, can we very easily become free from
ignorance in the world of suffering.

To be a devotee means to serve; service is everything. Our proper life
is to be found in dedicating ourselves and in self-distribution, not selfaggrandizement.<
We can live in service. All difficulties will be
removed if we take to the line of dedication. There we will find
everything: our individuality, the most favorable environment, our 
highest prospect. Only our angle of vision should be changed. And 
that angle of vision should be acquired through the center. We must 
try to understand how everything will be seen in relation to the center. 
Whatever we see, we must try to study its position in accordance with 
the center. We must locate or calculate what its position is in relation 
to the center. And with that angle of vision, we may establish our 
relationship to anything. If we can develop this vision, we will get 
relief from all undesirability. This is the teaching of Srimad- 
Bhagavatam. 
This is the specialty of Bhagavata philosophy. It always tries to
establish the conception of divine love, divine sentiment, and divine
feeling above intellectualism and the mastery over energy. The
masters of power and the masters of knowledge have no value if
devoid of the master of love. On the other hand, if it is possible for
one devoid of knowledge and power to enter into the area of love, his
life is successful. His movement is no longer considered as
reactionary labor (karma), and his knowledge is real knowledge about
Krsna (sambandha-jnana). Real knowledge about Krsna, His
paraphernalia, and who is who in the spiritual world, is not within the
jurisdiction of the knowledge that we can obtain by conducting
scientific research. It is not like that; it is fulfilled in itself
And Devarsi Narada came to Vedavyasa to recommend to him, "You
must introduce this very clearly in your present book. In the Vedas
and Upanisads and in the Mahabharata you have dealt previously with
different aspects of knowledge and work. But it is not so clear. And
now very clearly and definitely you should describe the success of life
in its fullest form, independent of knowledge and energy." It is
possible to reinstate ourselves with our lost wealth independent of
energy and intellectual research

The Seal of Ego
We have only to break the seal of the ego, and the natural flow of
divine love will come and automatically help its own cause. Such an
arrangement is there for us by which we may return home. We won't
feel that it is a tedious, laborious journey. We will be carried by our
natural attraction, independent of external guidance. The tendency
within us for divine love can understand its own soil; it has that
natural gift of attraction. An automatic attraction will be there for our
home; no scientific search is necessary.

Rather, we will have to put a stop to our intellectualism, ambition, and
aspiration. It is unnecessary. It is a wild goose chase. It will never help
us to reach our goal. The heart will reject that. There will be no room
for any suspicion at all. It is an infallible, natural, complete selection
So we should try to find that natural thing which cannot be acquired as
the result of any long program of research. It is quite natural. It is only
the artificialism within us that must be removed and bid adieu forever. 
And the reactions that we have acquired after so long in our false 
journey will evaporate out of their own accord. They will present no 
problem. This is certain. There will be no reaction, and no necessity of 
finding any new discovery or invention. Once achieving that 
realization, we will see that our "progressive-knowledge-civilization" 
is all redundant. 
No intellectualism is required. Just as a child knows his mother, we 
can recognize our real home. In the midst of so many cows, a calf will 
run to its own mother. They have some instinctive scent or a natural 
guidance that directs them. In the same way, no trouble, no 
investigation, no experiment or suspicion is necessary. Devotion to 
Krsna is automatic, natural, happy, and spontaneous. It is a 
spontaneous life, an automatic flow, a natural movement. 
Our real interest is love. Love is independent of everything. It is the 
innermost substance in our existence. "Try to dive deep into reality," 
we are told. "Dive deep into reality, and you will find your home there 
in that divine realm. You are a child of that soil." That is the message 
of Srimad-Bhagavatam and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. And that is not 
a very meager conception, an abstract or hazy dream, but that is the 
most intense and concrete reality. 
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu demonstrated this by His character, by how 
intensely He searched for Sri Krsna, and by how intensely and deeply 
He engaged Himself in the lila of Krsna, ignoring so many facts which 
seem concrete in the outside world. Forgetting everything, despising 
everything which is so important to us, He neglected all other 
functions and considerations of duty. He engaged Himself in krsna-lila 
so deeply and intensely - diving deep into it - that it captured His 
whole heart so much that He was externally found to be helpless. 
Eighth Chapter 
The Holy Name 
Srila Rupa Goswami 
"Rupa Goswami Prabhupada says that Krsna's name, form, qualities, 
and eternal associates everything about Him - is not mundane, but 
purely spiritual. It cannot be perceived by our gross senses. Simply by 
vibrating the sound krsna, our tongues cannot produce Krsna, our 
noses cannot catch the transcendental fragrance of His body, our eyes 
cannot have a vision of His beautiful figure which is supramental. 
This is true not only for our physical senses, but for the mind also. Our 
minds cannot conceive of Krsna. He is transcendental and 
supramental. His existence transcends all the knowledge in our 
possession." 
Sri Nityananda and Sriman Mahaprabhu 
If it is to be effective, the sound of the holy name of Krsna must have 
a divine quality. The holy name of Krsna which is infinite can do 
away with everything undesirable within us; but the name must be 
invested with a real spiritual conception. It must not be a mere 
physical imitation produced only by the help of the lip and tongue. 
That sound is not the holy name. If it is to be genuine, the holy name 
of Krsna, Hari, Visnu, or Narayana must be vaikuntha-nama: it should 
have spiritual existence, divine backing. That principle is all in all in 
vibrating the holy name. 
We are concerned with sound vibration that has spiritual depth. The 
physical imitation of the holy name is not the name proper; it is not 
sabda brahma, divine sound. Only imitation sound may come from the 
plane of mundane conception. The holy name of Krsna means divine 
sound; it must have some spiritual background. Something spiritual 
must be distributed through the physical sound. 
In the case of a capsule of medicine, the capsule is not the medicine; 
the medicine is within. Externally, one capsule may look like another, 
but within one capsule there may be medicine and within another 
there may be cyanide. The capsule itself is not the medicine. So it is 
not the sound of Krsna's name that is Krsna: Krsna is within the 
sound. The holy name must be surcharged with the proper spirit, not 
any mundane sentiment. 
Even the followers of the impersonal Sankara school have faith that 
the name is not confined within the jurisdiction of physical sound. 
They consider it to be within the mental plane, within the plane of 
sattva guna. Unfortunately they think that the holy name is the product 
of maya, or misconception, and so they conclude that the names of 
Hari, Krsna, Kali, and Siva are all one and the same. The Ramakrishna 
Mission and the Sankara school both preach in that way. But that 
conception also has its origin in the plane of misunderstanding. 
Divine Sound 
The divine sound of the pure name (suddha-nama) must have its 
origin beyond the area of misconception or maya. The extent of maya 
is up to the highest planet in the material world, Satyaloka. Beyond 
Satyaloka is the Viraja river and the world of consciousness, 
Brahmaloka, and then the spiritual sky, Paravyoma. The pure name of 
Krsna must have its origin in Paravyoma, the spiritual sky. And if we
are to examine it further, the holy name of Krsna really comes from
the most original plane of all existence: Vraja, Goloka. According to
this understanding, the sound must have its origin in the highest plane
of the spiritual world in Vrndavana if it is to be considered the
genuine Krsna name.

The mere physical sound is not the holy name of Krsna. A true
conception of the holy name is necessary, not only to free us from this
world of misconception, but also for the attainment of service to Krsna
in Vrndavana. Only that true name of Krsna which has its origin in the
plane of Vrndavana can lift us up and take us there.
Otherwise, although the spirit is within the name, if the sound we
vibrate is based on any other conception, it may only take us to that
layer of conception. This is quite scientific; it is not unreasonable. The
mere word krsna is not the holy name. What is important is the
meaning of that sound and the depth of meaning, the deep conception
of the meaning of the name. That is everything - it is all-important in
serving our purpose. 
There's a nice story that illustrates this point. When our spiritual
master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura, was a young boy,
both he and his father, Bhaktivinoda Thakura, went to visit the holy
place of Kulinagrama, which is located in the Hooghly district near
Calcutta. Kulinagrama was a village where the great devotee Haridasa
Thakura, as well as other famous Vaisnavas, used to live, and was the
home of four generations of devotees.

The name "Hare" may also mean different things according to one's 
conception. That the meaning of the word Hare in the mantra is taken 
to mean Radharani is also determined according to the spiritual 
development or qualification (adhikara) of the chanter. When one is 
firmly established in conceiving of Radha-Krsna in the background of 
everything - when one finds svayam-rupa, the original form of 
Godhead, underlying all sorts of conceptions of all things good - then 
only will he find that sort of meaning and nothing else. 
For beginners, the word "Hare" in the Hare Krsna mantra can be 
conceived to mean Hari. That is one meaning. It may also mean 
Nrsimhadeva. And just as "Rama" can mean Dasarathi Rama, "Krsna" 
may refer to different types of Krsna. There is also a Krsna in 
Vaikuntha, where the vaibhavas, or extensions of the Lord, number 
twenty-four. In Vaikuntha, first there is Narayana, and then four 
extensions: Vasudeva, Sankarsana, Pradyumna, and Aniruddha. Each 
of these four has five agents, making twenty-four in all. One of these 
is the Krsna of Vaikuntha. Then there is the Krsna of Dvaraka and the 
Krsna of Mathura. 
In this way there are various conceptions of Krsna. But the highest 
conception of Krsna is Krsna in Vrndavana: Radha-Govinda. When 
one cannot remove himself from that plane, he will conceive of 
divinity only as Hari-Hara. He will see nothing else but Radha-Krsna. 
Those who are completely and perfectly installed in madhura-rasa - 
who have the highest kind of divine vision - cannot come down from 
that plane. If they do, it is only for the interest of Radha-Govinda. In 
that case, the devotee may go anywhere, but his real interest is under 
lock and key in Vrndavana. Only on behalf of the service of Radha- 
Govinda will a devotee leave Vrndavana. 
For those who are followers of the Vrndavana line, "Hare" in the Hare 
Krsna mantra can only mean Hara: Srimati Radharani. Hara means 
"Radha, who can even snatch the attention of Krsna, Hari." The word 
harana means "to steal. " One who can steal the mind of He who is 
most expert in stealing - who can steal even the mind of Krsna - She is 
Hara. Stealing in its highest capacity is shown by Radharani. And 
"Krsna" means "He who is most attractive in the absolute sense." 
They are both represented in the mantra. 
Rupanuga Nama 
The followers of the rupanuga sampradaya can never deviate from that 
consciousness in their chanting of the maha-mantra. And with this 
conception, they go on with the service of Hari-Hara, Radha-Krsna. 
They absorb themselves in radha dasyam. They cannot think of 
anything else but that. And once having fully attained that plane, they 
can never come down from that level, from the interest of Radha- 
Krsna. They cannot allow themselves to be out of that circle. 
That is the position of our highest aspiration, and according to a 
devotee's adhikara, or spiritual qualification, that sort of meaning will 
awaken in one's mind. It will be awakened, discovered by sadhana. At 
that time the covering of the heart will be removed and divine love 
will spontaneously spring up from the fountain of the heart as the 
inner function of the soul. 
Ninth Chapter 
The Service Of Sri Radha 
Sri Sri Gauranga Gandharva Govinda-sundara 
Deities of the Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math 
"The Gaudiya Vaisnavas know only Radharani They are concerned 
only with Her and Her duties, Her necessities. They are ready to serve 
Her in all respects, and cannot contemplate any service without Her. 
That is the highest achievement of the Gaudiya Vaisnavas, that is the 
special feature of Mahaprabhu's party, and that was announced by 
Raghunatha Dasa Goswami." 
"There is a hope which is sustaining me and nurturing my existence. 
With that hope I am somehow passing my days. But my patience has 
reached its end. I can't endure it any longer. At this moment if You do 
not show Your grace to me, Sri Radha, I shall lose my prospect 
forever. I shall have no desire to continue my life. And Vrndavana, 
which is even dearer to me than my life itself - I am disgusted with it. 
And what to speak of anything else, I am even disgusted with Krsna. 
It is shameful to utter such words, but I can have no love even for 
Krsna unless and until You take me within Your confidential camp of 
service." 
Raghunatha Dasa 
Once, the Diwan of Bharatpur had come on a pilgrimage with his 
family to the holiest of places, Sri Radha-kunda, the holy lake of 
Srimati Radharani. He and his family were circumambulating Radhakunda. 
They would fall flat on the ground, offering obeisances lying 
down with their arms outstretched. Every time they bowed down in 
this way, they would mark the spot where their fingertips touched the 
earth. Then they would slowly rise, step forward to where that spot 
had been marked, and again fall flat, offering their obeisances with 
great respect and adoration. In this way they were circumambulating 
the entire Radha-kunda. Upon seeing such intense worship, 
Paramananda Prabhu, an intimate disciple of our guru maharaja Srila 
Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura, intimated to Prabhupada that the 
Diwan and his family must have great respect for Radharani to 
circumambulate the Radha-kunda in such a fashion. 
At that time Prabhupada said, "Their angle of vision towards Radhakunda 
and Radharani is different from ours. They recognize and 
revere Krsna. And because Radharani is Krsna's favorite, they also 
have some reverence for Radha-kunda. But our vision is just the 
opposite. Our concern is with Radharani. And only because She wants 
Krsna do we have any connection with Him." 
And so, the Gaudiya Vaisnavas know only Radharani. They are 
concerned only with Her, and Her duties, Her necessities. They are 
ready to serve Her in all respects, and cannot contemplate any service 
without Her. That is the highest achievement of the Gaudiya 
Vaisnavas, that is the special feature of Mahaprabhu's party, and that 
was announced by Raghunatha Dasa Goswami in his Vilapakusumanjali 
(102): 
asabharair-amrta-sindhu-mayaih kathancit 
kalo mayatigamitah kila sampratam hi 
tvam cet krpam mayi vidhasyasi naiva kim me 
pranair vraje na ca varoru bakarinapi 
This verse is a direct prayer to Radharani. It expresses a particular 
type of hope which is so sweet and reassuring that it is compared with 
an unlimited ocean of nectar. He says, "There is a hope which is 
sustaining me and nurturing my existence. With that hope I am 
somehow passing my days, dragging my life through these tedious 
times. That nectarine ocean of hope is attracting me and keeping me 
alive. But my patience has reached its end. I can't endure it any longer. 
I can't wait any more. "At this moment if You do not show Your grace 
to me, I am finished. I shall lose my prospect forever. I shall have no 
desire to continue my life. It will all be useless. Without Your grace, I 
can't stand to live another moment. And Vrndavana, which is even 
dearer to me than my life itself - I am disgusted with it. It is painful; it 
is always pinching me. And what to speak of anything else, I am even 
disgusted with Krsna. It is shameful to utter such words, but I can 
have no love even for Krsna unless and until You take me within Your 
confidential camp of service." This is the prayer of Raghunatha Dasa. 
When Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Prabhupada would begin to 
explain this verse, his figure would become transformed. He would 
become full of emotion; his face would become like that of a 
phantom. 
In this verse, Raghunatha Dasa Goswami, taking an extreme risk, 
says, "O Radha, if I do not get Your favor, I don't want anything. I 
want You and You alone. To have an independent relationship with 
anyone else, eliminating You, is impossible in my life. You must be 
first, and then others. Without You, we can never even think of a 
separate relationship with Krsna." Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja has 
written that without Radharani's company, Krsna is not beautiful. 
Everything is relative - dependent. A teacher depends on the student, 
and the student depends on his teacher. Although Krsna is the enjoyer, 
He is completely dependent on the enjoyed, Srimati Radharani. The 
two are correlative; one cannot be separated from the other. As the 
enjoyed, Radharani is also absolutely dependent on Krsna, the 
enjoyer. 
Radharani says, "My fate is lost forever because I have given Myself, 
I have sold Myself to many places. When I heard the flute, I dedicated 
Myself to the song of the flute. When I heard the name of Krsna, I 
dedicated Myself to that sound. And when I saw a beautiful picture of 
Krsna, I wholly dedicated Myself to that picture. So in three places I 
have sold Myself completely, with no possibility of any happiness or 
peace in My life. If I had dedicated Myself to only one thing, there 
might have been a possibility of peace, but because I have dedicated 
Myself in three different places, I am hopeless. 
"Seeing the picture of Krsna, I couldn't contain Myself. I couldn't but 
give Myself to that beautiful figure, and so I dedicated Myself fully. 
The name of Krsna also purchased Me fully. And the sweet sound 
from the flute - that has also drawn Me to the extreme of dedication. 
So how can I hope for peace in My life? It is impossible, My friends." 
Radharani did not know it at that time, but the source of Krsna's flute, 
His name, and His beauty are one. If She could have seen how all 
three of these meet together, then it would have been possible for Her 
to have peace of mind. But it is difficult to understand this principle. 
How is it that the sound of Krsna's flute, the sound of His name, and a 
picture of His form are nondifferent from Krsna Himself? Idealism. In 
Hegel's words, ideal realism. The absolute idea is not to be dismissed 
as an abstract thing; rather, it is the basis of all existence. Reality is 
there, but it is ideal realism. And the foundation of the reality of 
Vrndavana is given by Nityananda, Baladeva: nitaiyer koruna habe, 
braje radha-krsna pabe, dharo nitai-carana du'khani. 
After Bhaktivinoda Thakura describes the position of Radharani in his 
Saranagati, he says, "I want to serve those who have the service of 
Radharani in their heart. I want to serve the feet-dust of those whose 
only wealth is the service of Sri Radha. I want to fall before them and 
take the dust of their holy feet. If you cannot fix your mind in the 
service of Radharani, then all your attempts to serve Krsna are useless. 
If you cannot achieve earnestness in the service of Srimati Radharani, 
then all your labor for Krsna has gone to hell." We cannot conceive of 
a sun without heat, nor can we conceive of Godhead without His 
potency. So also, no conception of Krsna is possible without Srimati 
Radharani. We can't know any Madhava without Radha. 
She is Krsna's other half - in Srila Bhaktisiddhanta's language, the 
predominated moiety. Devotional service as a whole is represented by 
Her, because both the intensity and the comprehensiveness of Her 
service to Krsna are unparalleled. There are so many examples of 
chaste and pious ladies in the ancient history of the Puranas: Saci, the 
faithful wife of Indra; Sati, the wife of Lord Siva; Laksmidevi, the 
goddess of fortune; Satyabhama, Krsna's wife in Dvaraka; Rukmini, 
the principle queen of Krsna in Dvaraka; and even the antagonists of 
Radharani, headed by Candravali. All of them represent different 
aspects of Radharani. They all spring from the main potency which is 
known as Radha. 
The name Radha comes from the word aradhana: One who can serve, 
who can worship, who can give respect, who really loves Krsna, who 
can render loving service. All of these other ladies who are famous for 
their chastity and piety are but partial representations of Radharani. If 
we note the scriptures and scrutinize the position of those virtuous 
ladies, we'll find that the source of all their chastity and devotion is 
Srimati Radharani. She is the fountainhead of devotion. And so 
Bhaktivinoda says, "I bow down and take the dust of the holy feet of 
those who have as their only wealth the service of Radharani. I hanker 
after nothing else. " Whoever knows this and always travels on that 
path with a sincere heart is most fortunate. 
It is the ideal that makes one great, not any material possession. One 
who has the highest ideal is really wealthy. The highest ideal is the 
most valuable thing we may possess. And less valuable things must be 
eliminated if we are to concentrate our efforts and save ourselves from 
useless endeavor. Caitanya Mahaprabhu came to show us that highest 
ideal - the path of divine love. And we find divine love of Godhead in 
its highest intensity in His life and teachings of Srimad-Bhagavatam. 
The whole Srimad-Bhagavatam is meant to illustrate the ideal of 
divine love which reaches its highest expression in Srimati Radharani. 
The Srimad-Bhagavatam sings very gloriously about the paramour 
relationship of Radha and Krsna. The Vedas and other Puranas are not 
so expressive about such confidential pastimes, yet we find a hint of 
the glories of Radha and Krsna in Srimad-Bhagavatam. And the 
Goswamis have more fully expressed Radharani's devotion in their 
writings. In Rupa Goswami's Padyavali, we find Her saying, "My 
Lord, people say that I have a bad reputation because of My 
connection with You. I do not feel any trouble in My heart because of 
this. My concern is that I could not give Myself to You completely. 
The people in general say that I am illicitly connected with You, but 
what disturbs Me is that I could not really give Myself to You. I feel 
that I am not fit for Your service. This is only the trouble within My 
heart." 
And the ecstasy of divine love increases in separation. One day, when 
Krsna was playing with His cowherd boyfriends in the pasturing 
grounds of Vrndavana, Krsna suddenly felt extreme separation from 
Radharani. He sent His best friend Subala to Radharani, saying, "Go 
to My Radha and fetch Her. Without Her, I can't live. Suddenly I have 
so much desire for Her company that I can't stand it anymore. 
Somehow manage to bring Her." Subala said, "How is it possible to 
bring Her here in the jungle in broad daylight?" Krsna told him, 
"Somehow manage it!" 
Subala thought, "What should I do?" Subala was very intimately 
connected with the family of Radharani's husband. He went to the 
house of Radharani and told Her girlfriends, "Krsna can't tolerate 
separation from Radharani any longer. He is so eager to meet Her that 
He is going mad. Somehow you have to arrange for Them to meet." 
"How is it possible?" the gopis asked. Subala explained to them that 
Krsna was nearby in the jungle. They discussed between themselves 
what to do. Subala was a beautiful boy who resembled Radharani. So 
Subala took the dress of Radharani, and Radharani wore Subala's 
cowherd dress. 
When Radharani was discovered wearing the dress of Subala, She was 
challenged by Her family members: "Subala! What are you doing 
here?" In the dress of Subala, Radharani said, "A calf is missing and 
its mother is mooing. So I have come here looking for that calf." So a 
calf was given to Radharani, and She carried that small calf on her 
breast into the forest. In this way, Radharani was disguised as Subala, 
while Subala, who had taken the dress of Radharani, remained behind 
in Her room. 
Radharani had been given a hint of where Krsna was hiding near the 
forest's edge. She went to seek Him out. At last, when Radharani saw 
Krsna, She approached Him in the garb of Subala. Krsna was mad. He 
could not detect that Radharani had come, but mistook Her for Subala. 
He said, "Oh, Subala, you have come back without Radharani! 
Couldn't you bring Her?" 
Radharani began cutting jokes: "No," She said, "It was impossible for 
me to bring Her in the daytime." Krsna said, "Then what am I to do? I 
can't tolerate My life any longer." Radharani said, "If You say so, I 
can go to Candravali and bring her." "No, no," Krsna said, "Curd 
cannot satisfy the thirst for milk. It is not possible!" Krsna was faint 
with disappointment. Then Radharani embraced Him, saying, "My 
Lord, can't You recognize Your maidservant? You failed to recognize 
Me!" Then Krsna was again full of joy. 
Although the pastimes of Radha and Govinda are mentioned in the 
scriptures, these are all very high things. They are not ordinarily to be 
expressed in words, but still sometimes we are forced to speak about 
them because the high ideal of divine love given by Srimad- 
Bhagavatam is the supreme goal of life. Of course, the scholarship of 
Sukadeva Goswami and Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu have helped, to a 
certain extent, to establish the dignity of the proposal that love is 
above knowledge. It was admitted by everyone that Sukadeva held the 
highest attainment of the learned men of knowledge; he was 
unanimously admitted by the scholars to hold the highest position. 
Because of this, when Sukadeva Goswami came to inaugurate the 
principle that divine love is above everything else, the scholars had to 
take notice. Caitanya Mahaprabhu demonstrated to the scholars that 
His intelligence and scholarship excelled everyone else's. So when He 
came with the tidings of divine love, then it was easier for the ordinary 
men to accept it as the highest ideal and try for it. 
So Vasudeva Ghosh says, yadi gaura na ha'te tabe ki haita kemane 
dharitam de. If Mahaprabhu had not appeared in this Kali-yuga, then 
how could we tolerate living? How could we sustain our lives? What 
He has given - the very gist of life, the very taste, the charm of life - 
without that, we think it is impossible for anyone to live in this world. 
Such a thing has been invented, discovered by Gauranga. If He had 
not come, then how could we live? It is impossible to live devoid of 
such a holy and gracious thing as divine love. Without Caitanya 
Mahaprabhu, how could we know that Radharani stands supreme in 
the world of divine love? We have received all these things from Him, 
and now we think that life is worth living. Otherwise to live would be 
suicidal. 
And serving those who can serve Radharani is the way to approach 
Her vicinity. By serving the servants of the servants, we are assured of 
success in getting the grace of Krsna. If somehow one can be counted 
in the group of Srimati Radharani's servitors, one's future is assured. 
Within the group of Radharani's servitors, we aspire to be rupanugas, 
followers of Sri Rupa. And the followers of Sri Rupa will have great 
earnestness to look after the order of Sri Rupa, as he does towards 
Lalita. In this way, through Rupa Goswami, our devotional service is 
going to the highest plane. And our highest gain is only there. Not 
even our connection with Radharani or Lalitadevi is the highest goal 
of life, but our highest aspiration is to serve in the Rupanugasampradaya; 
that means that our highest attainment is in Sri Rupa's 
connection. 
Radha-dasyam has been said to be the highest attainment. Why? The 
quality and quantity of rasa that Radharani can draw from Krsna can 
never be found anywhere else. So if you are situated just behind 
Radharani, you'll be allowed to taste not only the quantity, but the 
highest quality of rasa. 
No other person can draw such high rasa from Krsna. The fullest, 
highest type of quality is drawn from Krsna: He gives Himself fully 
and wholly and deeply. So if you are in Sri Rupa's group, then you can 
have a taste of that sort of rasa. 
In Radharani's camp, when Krsna and Radha are enjoying very 
solitary pastimes in a secluded place, the grown-up sakhis can't 
venture to enter the room and assist Them. The young girls, the 
manjaris, are sent there. The leader of that young group can enter 
where both Radha and Govinda are very closely connected, when 
even the sakhis do not venture to go for fear of causing some 
interruption. But Rupa and the manjaris can enter there at that time 
due to their young age. That sort of rasa that cannot be had even 
through the sakhis can be had only through the manjaris. 
Bhaktivinoda Thakura prays to gain admission there. He has such a 
high quality of aspiration. He says rupanuga hoite sei doy. He runs to 
be enlisted in the group of Rupa, who can grant us that sort of 
prospect. And Prabhodananda Saraswati has described the prerequisite 
for understanding all these things: 
yatha yatha gaura padaravinde 
vindeta bhaktim krta punya-rasih 
tatha tathotsarpati hrdy akasmat 
radha padambhoja sudhambhurasih 
"As much as you surrender to the lotus feet of Sri Gauranga, you'll 
find yourself safely situated in the service of Radha-Govinda. Don't 
try to approach Radha-Govinda directly; if you do, there may be some 
difficulty. But the lotus feet of Sri Gauranga will take you there 
safely." In my Sanskrit poem dedicated to Bhaktivinoda Thakura, I 
have explained all these points
sri-gauranumatam svarupa-viditam rupagrajenadrtam
rupadyaih parivesitam raghu-ganair-asvaditam sevitam
jivadyair abhiraksitam suka-siva-brahmadi sammanitam
sri-radha-pada-sevanamrtam aho tad datum iso bhavan
"What was sanctioned by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu by His descent
was intimately known only to Sri Svarupa Damodara Goswami. It was
adored by Sanatana Goswami and served by Rupa Goswami and his
followers. Raghunatha Dasa Goswami tasted that wonderful thing<
fully and enhanced it with his own realization. And Jiva Goswami
supported and protected it by quoting the scriptures from different
places. The taste of that divine truth is aspired for by Brahma, Siva,
and Uddhava, who respect it as the supreme goal of life. What is this
wonderful truth? Sri radha-pada-sevana: that the highest nectar of our
life is the service of Srimati Radharani. This is most wonderful. O
Bhaktivinoda Thakura, you are our master. It is within your power to
allow them to bestow their grace upon us. You are in a position to
bestow the highest gift ever known to the world upon us all. It is at
your disposal. O Bhaktivinoda Thakura, please be kind to us and grant
us your mercy."

So Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, our most benevolent Lord, has come to
search for His long lost servants and to give to them this highest ideal
of divine love.

Sri Chaitanya Saraswath Math
Kolerganj, P.O.Nabadwip,DT. Nadia,
W.Bengal, PIN 741302, India

Comments

Tamohara dasa ADMIN. January 22, 2014 6:50

A Haunted Temple 
They went to visit that ancient holy place, and just on the outskirts of 
Kulinagrama, as they were entering the village, they passed by an old 
temple. Suddenly a man came out of the temple and humbly asked 
them, "Please stay the night here. In the morning you may enter the 
village and take darsana of all the places there." Bhaktivinoda Thakura 
and our guru maharaja, who at that time was a young boy, stayed the 
night in that temple house. 
Just after nightfall, as they were resting, Bhaktivinoda Thakura 
experienced something unusual. He found that brickbats were being 
thrown about from different directions. He thought, "How is this 
happening and why? Who would throw big brickbats like this?" Then 
he had some apprehension that there might be ghosts living there, 
creating disturbances. He began loudly chanting the Hare Krsna mahamantra. 
After some time, the disturbance disappeared, and 
Bhaktivinoda Thakura and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta passed the rest of the 
night there peacefully. 
In the morning, they entered the village and began visiting different 
holy places. After some time, one of the local gentlemen noticed them 
and said, "You entered our village early this morning. Where do you 
come from? And where did you spend the night?" Bhaktivinoda 
Thakura explained, "We stayed in that temple just outside the village 
there." One of them said, "Oh! How could you stay there? So many 
ghosts live there and throw stones and bricks at anyone who passes by 
that place at night. How could you stay there?" Then Bhaktivinoda 
Thakura said, "Yes, you are right. But when I found such a 
disturbance there, I began to loudly chant the Hare Krsna mahamantra, 
and subsequently the problem disappeared." The men of the 
village then asked Bhaktivinoda, "Who are you, and where are you 
coming from?" 
Then they came to know that he was Bhaktivinoda Thakura. They had 
already heard of him, and some of them had read his books. They 
welcomed the two of them, and showed them all the holy places they 
had not yet seen. At one point, they said to Bhaktivinoda Thakura, 
"The gentleman who was formerly the priest of that temple was 
transformed into a ghost after his departure. Since that time, we have 
regularly seen the disturbances caused by that ghost. Why did he 
become a ghost? As the priest of that temple, he used to regularly 
chant the holy name of Krsna. We are witness to that fact; we have all 
heard him. Why was he turned into a ghost? We cannot understand 
this. Please explain." 
Lip-Deep Sound 
Bhaktivinoda Thakura told them that the priest must have only 
repeated the syllables of the name, the nama-aksara. What he was 
producing was only a mayik sound, a physical, lip-deep sound. It did 
not have the spiritual essence; the life of the name was absent when he 
was chanting. It was nama-aparadha, offensive chanting. Bhaktivinoda 
asked them, "What was his character?" They said, "He was not a good 
man. He committed many sinful acts. That we know. But we can't 
deny the fact that he used to chant the name of the Lord almost 
always. 
How could he become a ghost?" 
Bhaktivinoda Thakura explained that the physical sound of the name 
is not the name proper. The priest had been committing offenses to the 
holy name (nama-aparadha), and as a result became a ghost. They 
asked, "Then how can he be released from that wretched condition?" 
Bhaktivinoda said, "If he meets a bona fide sadhu who has a genuine 
connection with Krsna, and he hears the real name, or the proper 
explanation of Bhagavad-gita or Srimad-Bhagavatam from his lips, 
then he may be released from his ghostly condition. It is mentioned in 
the scriptures that this is the only way to become free from the 
entanglement of material nature." After this discussion, Bhaktivinoda 
Thakura and Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati left Kulinagrama. 
From that day on, all the troubles caused by the ghost at the temple in 
Kulinagrama ceased. The villagers were astonished. One of them said: 
"That priest who had become a ghost must have been released from 
his ghostly condition after hearing the holy name chanted by 
Bhaktivinoda Thakura. When the trouble began, Bhaktivinoda loudly 
chanted the name, and gradually, by hearing the holy name of Krsna 
from his holy lips, that suppressed soul has been liberated from his 
condition as a ghost." 
After that, many people journeyed to see Bhaktivinoda Thakura. They 
would tell him, "We are confident that you are a great Vaisnava - after 
hearing the holy name of Krsna from your lips, a ghost has been 
released." This story was published in the newspapers, and Srila 
Bhaktisiddhanta Prabhupada used to recount this story of his own 
experience with Bhaktivinoda Thakura. 
The point is that simply the external sound of the name is not the real 
name. The most important thing is the spiritual realization backing the 
name - that is the real name. Otherwise, a tape recorder can pronounce 
that holy name of Krsna. Even a parrot can pronounce the name - but 
the physical sound is not the thing itself. In the background there must 
be spiritual truth, which is conscious. That super-knowledge is beyond 
the knowledge of this mundane plane. 
Supramental Nama 
This understanding is confirmed by Rupa Goswami Prabhu in his 
verse: 
atah sri-krsna-namadi 
na bhaved grahyam indriyaih 
sevonmukhe hi jihvadau 
svayam eva sphuraty adah 
He says that Krsna's name, form, qualities, and eternal associates 
everything about Him - is not mundane, but purely spiritual. It cannot 
be perceived by our gross senses. Simply by vibrating the sound 
krsna, our tongues cannot produce Krsna, our noses cannot catch the 
transcendental fragrance of His body, our eyes cannot have a vision of 
His beautiful figure which is supramental. This is true not only for our 
physical senses, but for the mind also. Our minds cannot conceive of 
Krsna. He is transcendental and supramental. His existence transcends 
all the knowledge in our possession. 
We cannot be the subject and make Krsna our object. He is the 
subject. He exists beyond both the atma and paramatma. We should 
never forget that. We should always be mindful of the plane in which 
He exists. As finite souls we are tatastha jivas - the marginal potency 
of the Lord. The tiny soul can think and know only those things which 
are more gross than himself. But in trying to know that which is more 
subtle than himself, he is helpless. A connection with that higher 
spiritual realm is only possible when the higher area wants to bring the 
lower up into that plane. Therefore, to understand Him is possible 
only through surrender (sevonmukhe hi jihvadau). 
Divine Slavery 
If we can accept the current of surrender - if we can die as we are and 
surrender our innermost self at His disposal - His will can easily carry 
us up to the spiritual platform. Our soul will become as a blade of 
grass in that current, and so be carried up into the center of the 
infinite. It is not that we can enter there and walk proudly as we do 
here in this gross material world. Here we walk on our feet, but there 
we shall walk with our heads. Only by the Lord's grace upon our 
heads can we attract that plane to take us up. 
Everything there is qualitatively higher than our own existence. The 
substance of that divine realm, the atmosphere, the air, the ether - 
everything there - is higher than any value we might have. Only those 
with a sincere spirit of service may be allowed to enter there. And 
there they will be taken to the highest position of divine love by the 
residents of that plane, who are venerable, generous, affectionate, and 
filled with good wishes. 
We have as our prospect the chance to go there, but always as a matter 
of grace - and never as a matter of right. We must accept this creed 
from the beginning. Still, the atmosphere there is so happy and loving 
that no one there feels any distinction between slave and master. A 
slave there has no sense of being a slave. Everyone is family. Having 
attained the state of divine slavery, one should consider: "I am a slave 
- the generosity of Krsna and His eternal associates is my wealth. " 
But by the power of Yogamaya, those who are taken up into that plane 
forget that they are slaves. That is the greatness and magnanimity of 
that atmosphere where love is intensely flowing. It is really by their 
love and not by our own fortune that we may somehow gain entrance 
into that high and noble land. 
But to realize this we must realize the spiritual position of Krsna's 
name, form, and eternal associates. Krsna's name is not material. We 
cannot capture the name of Krsna simply by vibrating the syllables of 
the name with our tongue. Ravana wanted to capture Sitadevi and 
thought that he had done so. But the fact was that he could not even 
touch the holy body of Sitadevi. 
What Ravana captured was only a mundane representation of Sitadevi, 
a material double, an imitation which was like a statue of Sitadevi. 
Sitadevi herself is another thing; she is not made of flesh and blood. 
For a person here in this world, Sitadevi and her divine plane is not at 
all approachable. A mundane person cannot see, feel, or enter that 
plane - what to speak of the possibility of snatching Sitadevi and 
taking her away. The scriptures have explained that Sita's capture was 
all show. Ravana was cheated. Of course, the apparent kidnapping of 
Sita by Ravana was done to serve some purpose, to teach something to 
the people of this mundane world. But in the real sense, no Ravana 
can come in connection with any of the eternal associates of the Lord 
who are living in Vaikuntha. In the same way, no mundane person can 
touch the Vaikuntha Name simply by imitating its sound. 
Recently I was asked about a young boy who had been killed in an 
accident. I was told that he shouted the name of Krsna at the time of 
death. I was asked "What was his destination?" I explained that 
whether one is young or old in the plane of flesh and blood is no 
qualification for spiritual attainment. One's mentality must be 
examined. According to the particular time and place and the 
conception of the person involved, that sound may be the genuine 
name, or it may be namabhasa, the shadow of the real name. 
National Nama 
When Gandhi was shot, he cried, "Rama! Rama!" He was shot in the 
chest, and his spectacles were thrown into the street. Within half an 
hour he passed away, but he pronounced the words "Rama! Rama!" 
He was on his way to deliver a religious lecture, but his mentality was 
full of thoughts of national progress, so in his case, the vibration of the 
name may have worked in the plane of nation-building. To understand 
a person's destination at the time of death, we must ask, "What was his 
mentality?" 
Sometimes chanting the name may result in namabhasa - the shadow 
of the name. Whether or not it is suddha nama, the genuine name, 
depends on the mental system of the person chanting the name. It 
depends on his relation towards Krsna, his intention. 
''Gopi, Gopi, Gopi!'' 
A few days before Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu took sannyasa, He was 
chanting "gopi, gopi, gopi!" Hearing this, a tantric brahmana came to 
give some advice to the Lord. "Pandit," he said, "You are a scholar; 
You know the scriptures. Still, You are chanting the name gopi, gopi? 
What benefit will You get from that? The scriptures say that if You 
chant the name of Krsna, You may get some benefit. You will find 
this in many places in the scriptures, especially in the Puranas. Why 
then do You chant gopi, gopi?" 
Angered at the brahmana's ignorance, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, in 
the mood of a follower of the gopis, picked up a stick and began to 
rebuke him. "You have come from the enemy camp to convert us into 
followers of Krsna?" He ran after the brahmana to beat him with His 
stick. In this example, we find that Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was 
chanting "gopi, gopi" and neglecting the name of Krsna. Apparently 
He was advised to take the name of Krsna and became enraged - but 
what is the underlying thought there? 
If we are to understand the effect of someone's chanting of the holy 
name, we must examine his underlying purpose. Sometimes his 
chanting may have some effect, but not always. Still, Jiva Goswami 
mentions the following example as evidence that the holy name may 
have some effect even if one is unaware of its full meaning. Once, a 
wild boar attacked a Mohammedan, and the Mohammedan cried, 
"Harama! Harama!" Harama means "that abominable hog!" On the 
other hand, Ha Rama means "the Lord," who has allowed a hog to 
attack me. Somehow, Lord Rama was invoked, and the holy name had 
a divine influence on the Mohammedan, who attained liberation. 
Another example given in the scriptures is that of Valmiki. Before 
becoming a saint, the sage Valmiki was a dacoit. But the great saint 
Narada had a plan to benefit him. Narada thought, "This person is the 
most notorious and heinous dacoit I have ever seen. Let me 
experiment with him to see the potency of the holy name. I shall ask 
him to chant the holy name of Rama." He tried, but Valmiki could not 
pronounce the holy name of Rama. Then Narada told him to chant 
mara - the word for "murder" - instead. The dacoit said, "Yes, I can do 
this. This is just the opposite of the name of Rama." He began to chant 
"mara-mara-mara-mara-rama-rama-rama-rama." In this way, after 
some time, mara became rama. Valmiki began to chant the name of 
Rama, and gradually his mental attitude changed. So it is possible for 
the name to have an effect on someone even if he has no proper 
conception of its meaning. This is called namabhasa: the shadow of 
the name. It can effect liberation. But a real devotee is not interested 
in liberation. He wants to enter the domain of divine service. 
The sound and its effect depends upon the attitude we accept, and the 
quality we can conceive, because the actual vaikuntha nama is infinite. 
In that plane, the divine name is equal to the substance named. When 
the sound aspect is one and the same with the original aspect of the 
thing, that is vaikuntha nama. Here in this world, a blind man's name 
may be Padmalocan - lotus-eyed - but really he may be blind. The 
name and the figure may be entirely different. But in Vaikuntha, in the 
infinite world, the name and the named are one and the same. 
Yet to experience the vaikuntha nama, one must avoid both nama 
aparadha, offenses to the holy name, and namabhasa, the shadow of 
the holy name. By namabhasa, we get some relief from this worldly 
bondage, and by nama aparadha, we become entangled in this mayik 
world. But the ordinary physical sound cannot represent the real name, 
which is supernatural. 
It is said that one name of Krsna can remove more ignorance and sin 
than a man has the power to commit. But what is the quality of that 
one name? We may chant the physical name of Krsna so many times 
without getting the result of even one real name. There is a great 
difference between the ordinary sound of the name, the superficial 
mayik name, and the pure name. The pure name is one and the same 
with Krsna, but that descends down to our level only by His grace. We 
cannot vibrate it simply by dint of our moving our tongue and our lips. 
The pure name of Krsna is not lip deep, but heart deep. And it 
ultimately goes beyond the heart and reaches the land of Krsna. When 
Krsna comes down, the name Krsna comes through the heart and 
moves the lips and tongue. That vibration is the holy name of Krsna, 
krsna nama. 
Negative Power 
When Krsna in the form of sound descends from the transcendental 
world into the heart, and from the heart, controlling every aspect of 
the nervous system, comes to the lips and begins dancing there, that is 
krsna nama. The initiative is in the transcendental world. That sound 
is not produced from the physical plane. The spiritual sound has to 
come down into this plane; He can come down, but we cannot so 
easily go up there. He is the Supersubject; we are an object to Him. 
We cannot interfere with His independence. Only by the negative 
power of surrender can we attract the Supreme Positive to come down 
to our level. 
And so the holy name is not a production of our senses. It can be 
realized only when we approach Him with a very intense serving 
attitude. At that time, Krsna Himself may come down by His grace, 
being attracted by our serving nature. Then He can influence this 
element and produce transcendental sound and dance within the 
mundane plane. That is the holy name, the vaikuntha nama, the real 
name of Krsna. We cannot produce it with our lips. The sound we 
create with our physical or mental production is not Krsna. He is 
independent from whatever sound we may produce, and yet, because 
He controls everything, He can appear anywhere, in any form, in any 
plane, in any sound. 
And this is confirmed in Bhagavad-gita (4.6). Krsna says, "When I 
come here by the power of My internal potency, I remove the external 
potency's influence and appear anywhere and everywhere." The 
mundane wave is forced back, just as a plane rides in the sky and 
pushes back the influence of air and wind as it forcibly passes. By 
removing the influence of the material waves, He appears within this 
world by the strength of His own force. 
The Lord says, "I have My own potency, and by the power of that 
potency, I remove this gross material energy. And so I live and move 
here in this world." The laws of material nature cannot apply to Him. 
He has special power. And with the help of that special power, He 
subdues the laws of material nature and comes here. He does whatever 
He wants with His own potency. Wherever He goes, the laws of 
material nature withdraw from that place and give Him His way. In 
this way, He can appear within the realm of sound as the holy name. 
The real importance of the name is not to be found merely in the 
arrangement of its syllables, but in the deep meaning within that 
divine sound. Some scholars argue that in the Kali-santarana 
Upanisad, Lord Brahma says that the Hare Krsna maha-mantra is 
properly pronounced only when the name of Rama precedes the name 
of Krsna: "Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare/ 
Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare." 
Krishna Nama 
In the Kali-santarana Upanisad, the Hare Krsna maha-mantra is given 
in that way. But to say that the name of Rama must precede the name 
of Krsna in the mantra is a superficial understanding. It is said that 
because it comes from the Upanisads, the Hare Krsna mantra is a 
Vedic mantra, and therefore, because the ordinary people may not 
have any entrance into Vedic mantras, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu 
readjusted this mantra by reversing the order of the words. In that 
way, it is said, the concern that it is a Vedic mantra is thereby 
canceled, and so Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu gave it to all without 
breaching the injunctions of the Vedas. Some devotees in Uttar 
Pradesh who have great affection for Sri Caitanyadeva like to give this 
opinion. 
But our faith is that the mentioning of "Hare Rama" first is only 
superficial. It concerns the idea that since the Rama avatara appeared 
first and the Krsna avatara afterwards, the name of Rama, "Hare 
Rama," should come first in the maha-mantra. A deeper reading will 
consider that when two similar things are connected together, the 
priority will be ordered not on the basis of historical precedent, but in 
consideration of the most highly developed conception. The holy 
name of Krsna is higher than the holy name of Rama. This is 
mentioned in the Puranas: three names of Rama equal one name of 
Krsna. The name of Krsna is superior to the name of Rama. Where the 
two are connected together, the first position should be given to the 
one that is superior. Therefore, the name of Krsna must come first in 
the maha-mantra. 
This is one point. Another point is that within the eternal plane, 
everything is moving in a cyclic order. In an eternal cycle, which is 
first and which is next cannot be ascertained, and so, in the eternal 
plane of lila, it cannot be determined whether Krsna is before Rama or 
Rama is before Krsna. So from that consideration also, since the 
names of Krsna and Rama are eternal and unrelated to any historical 
event, we may begin the mantra from any place. 
Rama Means Krishna 
But above these considerations, our sampradaya has given another, 
higher consideration. A deeper understanding will reveal that the Hare 
Krsna mantra is not at all concerned with rama lila. In the name of 
Rama within the Hare Krsna mantra, the Gaudiya Vaisnavas will find 
Radha-ramana Rama. That means "Krsna, who gives pleasure (raman) 
to Srimati Radharani." In our conception, the Hare Krsna mantra is 
wholesale Krsna consciousness, not Rama consciousness. Sri 
Caitanya's highest conception of things is always svayam bhagavan, 
krsna lila, radha-govinda lila. That is the real purpose of Sri Caitanya 
Mahaprabhu's advent and teachings. In that consideration, the Hare 
Krsna mantra does not mention the rama lila of Ayodhya at all. There 
is no connection with that in the highest conception of the Hare Krsna 
mantra. 
And the inner conception of the mantra is responsible for our spiritual 
attainment. When one pronounces the name Rama, if he means 
Dasarathi Rama, his attraction will take him there, to Ayodhya; if he 
means Parasurama, he will be attracted to another place. And if Rama 
means Radha-ramana Rama, he will go to Goloka. The inner 
conception of the devotee will guide him to his destination. 
My original name was Ramendra Candra. When I was given initiation, 
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura gave me the name Ramendra 
Sundara. I asked him, "What is the meaning of Ramendra?" He told 
me, "In our consideration, Rama does not mean Dasarathi Rama or 
Lord Ramacandra, the son of King Dasaratha. It means Radha-ramana 
Rama - Krsna, the lover of Radharani."
Tamohara dasa ADMIN. January 22, 2014 6:50

The name "Hare" may also mean different things according to one's 
conception. That the meaning of the word Hare in the mantra is taken 
to mean Radharani is also determined according to the spiritual 
development or qualification (adhikara) of the chanter. When one is 
firmly established in conceiving of Radha-Krsna in the background of 
everything - when one finds svayam-rupa, the original form of 
Godhead, underlying all sorts of conceptions of all things good - then 
only will he find that sort of meaning and nothing else. 
For beginners, the word "Hare" in the Hare Krsna mantra can be 
conceived to mean Hari. That is one meaning. It may also mean 
Nrsimhadeva. And just as "Rama" can mean Dasarathi Rama, "Krsna" 
may refer to different types of Krsna. There is also a Krsna in 
Vaikuntha, where the vaibhavas, or extensions of the Lord, number 
twenty-four. In Vaikuntha, first there is Narayana, and then four 
extensions: Vasudeva, Sankarsana, Pradyumna, and Aniruddha. Each 
of these four has five agents, making twenty-four in all. One of these 
is the Krsna of Vaikuntha. Then there is the Krsna of Dvaraka and the 
Krsna of Mathura. 
In this way there are various conceptions of Krsna. But the highest 
conception of Krsna is Krsna in Vrndavana: Radha-Govinda. When 
one cannot remove himself from that plane, he will conceive of 
divinity only as Hari-Hara. He will see nothing else but Radha-Krsna. 
Those who are completely and perfectly installed in madhura-rasa - 
who have the highest kind of divine vision - cannot come down from 
that plane. If they do, it is only for the interest of Radha-Govinda. In 
that case, the devotee may go anywhere, but his real interest is under 
lock and key in Vrndavana. Only on behalf of the service of Radha- 
Govinda will a devotee leave Vrndavana. 
For those who are followers of the Vrndavana line, "Hare" in the Hare 
Krsna mantra can only mean Hara: Srimati Radharani. Hara means 
"Radha, who can even snatch the attention of Krsna, Hari." The word 
harana means "to steal. " One who can steal the mind of He who is 
most expert in stealing - who can steal even the mind of Krsna - She is 
Hara. Stealing in its highest capacity is shown by Radharani. And 
"Krsna" means "He who is most attractive in the absolute sense." 
They are both represented in the mantra. 
Rupanuga Nama 
The followers of the rupanuga sampradaya can never deviate from that 
consciousness in their chanting of the maha-mantra. And with this 
conception, they go on with the service of Hari-Hara, Radha-Krsna. 
They absorb themselves in radha dasyam. They cannot think of 
anything else but that. And once having fully attained that plane, they 
can never come down from that level, from the interest of Radha- 
Krsna. They cannot allow themselves to be out of that circle. 
That is the position of our highest aspiration, and according to a 
devotee's adhikara, or spiritual qualification, that sort of meaning will 
awaken in one's mind. It will be awakened, discovered by sadhana. At 
that time the covering of the heart will be removed and divine love 
will spontaneously spring up from the fountain of the heart as the 
inner function of the soul. 
Ninth Chapter 
The Service Of Sri Radha 
Sri Sri Gauranga Gandharva Govinda-sundara 
Deities of the Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math 
"The Gaudiya Vaisnavas know only Radharani They are concerned 
only with Her and Her duties, Her necessities. They are ready to serve 
Her in all respects, and cannot contemplate any service without Her. 
That is the highest achievement of the Gaudiya Vaisnavas, that is the 
special feature of Mahaprabhu's party, and that was announced by 
Raghunatha Dasa Goswami." 
"There is a hope which is sustaining me and nurturing my existence. 
With that hope I am somehow passing my days. But my patience has 
reached its end. I can't endure it any longer. At this moment if You do 
not show Your grace to me, Sri Radha, I shall lose my prospect 
forever. I shall have no desire to continue my life. And Vrndavana, 
which is even dearer to me than my life itself - I am disgusted with it. 
And what to speak of anything else, I am even disgusted with Krsna. 
It is shameful to utter such words, but I can have no love even for 
Krsna unless and until You take me within Your confidential camp of 
service." 
Raghunatha Dasa 
Once, the Diwan of Bharatpur had come on a pilgrimage with his 
family to the holiest of places, Sri Radha-kunda, the holy lake of 
Srimati Radharani. He and his family were circumambulating Radhakunda. 
They would fall flat on the ground, offering obeisances lying 
down with their arms outstretched. Every time they bowed down in 
this way, they would mark the spot where their fingertips touched the 
earth. Then they would slowly rise, step forward to where that spot 
had been marked, and again fall flat, offering their obeisances with 
great respect and adoration. In this way they were circumambulating 
the entire Radha-kunda. Upon seeing such intense worship, 
Paramananda Prabhu, an intimate disciple of our guru maharaja Srila 
Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura, intimated to Prabhupada that the 
Diwan and his family must have great respect for Radharani to 
circumambulate the Radha-kunda in such a fashion. 
At that time Prabhupada said, "Their angle of vision towards Radhakunda 
and Radharani is different from ours. They recognize and 
revere Krsna. And because Radharani is Krsna's favorite, they also 
have some reverence for Radha-kunda. But our vision is just the 
opposite. Our concern is with Radharani. And only because She wants 
Krsna do we have any connection with Him." 
And so, the Gaudiya Vaisnavas know only Radharani. They are 
concerned only with Her, and Her duties, Her necessities. They are 
ready to serve Her in all respects, and cannot contemplate any service 
without Her. That is the highest achievement of the Gaudiya 
Vaisnavas, that is the special feature of Mahaprabhu's party, and that 
was announced by Raghunatha Dasa Goswami in his Vilapakusumanjali 
(102): 
asabharair-amrta-sindhu-mayaih kathancit 
kalo mayatigamitah kila sampratam hi 
tvam cet krpam mayi vidhasyasi naiva kim me 
pranair vraje na ca varoru bakarinapi 
This verse is a direct prayer to Radharani. It expresses a particular 
type of hope which is so sweet and reassuring that it is compared with 
an unlimited ocean of nectar. He says, "There is a hope which is 
sustaining me and nurturing my existence. With that hope I am 
somehow passing my days, dragging my life through these tedious 
times. That nectarine ocean of hope is attracting me and keeping me 
alive. But my patience has reached its end. I can't endure it any longer. 
I can't wait any more. "At this moment if You do not show Your grace 
to me, I am finished. I shall lose my prospect forever. I shall have no 
desire to continue my life. It will all be useless. Without Your grace, I 
can't stand to live another moment. And Vrndavana, which is even 
dearer to me than my life itself - I am disgusted with it. It is painful; it 
is always pinching me. And what to speak of anything else, I am even 
disgusted with Krsna. It is shameful to utter such words, but I can 
have no love even for Krsna unless and until You take me within Your 
confidential camp of service." This is the prayer of Raghunatha Dasa. 
When Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Prabhupada would begin to 
explain this verse, his figure would become transformed. He would 
become full of emotion; his face would become like that of a 
phantom. 
In this verse, Raghunatha Dasa Goswami, taking an extreme risk, 
says, "O Radha, if I do not get Your favor, I don't want anything. I 
want You and You alone. To have an independent relationship with 
anyone else, eliminating You, is impossible in my life. You must be 
first, and then others. Without You, we can never even think of a 
separate relationship with Krsna." Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja has 
written that without Radharani's company, Krsna is not beautiful. 
Everything is relative - dependent. A teacher depends on the student, 
and the student depends on his teacher. Although Krsna is the enjoyer, 
He is completely dependent on the enjoyed, Srimati Radharani. The 
two are correlative; one cannot be separated from the other. As the 
enjoyed, Radharani is also absolutely dependent on Krsna, the 
enjoyer. 
Radharani says, "My fate is lost forever because I have given Myself, 
I have sold Myself to many places. When I heard the flute, I dedicated 
Myself to the song of the flute. When I heard the name of Krsna, I 
dedicated Myself to that sound. And when I saw a beautiful picture of 
Krsna, I wholly dedicated Myself to that picture. So in three places I 
have sold Myself completely, with no possibility of any happiness or 
peace in My life. If I had dedicated Myself to only one thing, there 
might have been a possibility of peace, but because I have dedicated 
Myself in three different places, I am hopeless. 
"Seeing the picture of Krsna, I couldn't contain Myself. I couldn't but 
give Myself to that beautiful figure, and so I dedicated Myself fully. 
The name of Krsna also purchased Me fully. And the sweet sound 
from the flute - that has also drawn Me to the extreme of dedication. 
So how can I hope for peace in My life? It is impossible, My friends." 
Radharani did not know it at that time, but the source of Krsna's flute, 
His name, and His beauty are one. If She could have seen how all 
three of these meet together, then it would have been possible for Her 
to have peace of mind. But it is difficult to understand this principle. 
How is it that the sound of Krsna's flute, the sound of His name, and a 
picture of His form are nondifferent from Krsna Himself? Idealism. In 
Hegel's words, ideal realism. The absolute idea is not to be dismissed 
as an abstract thing; rather, it is the basis of all existence. Reality is 
there, but it is ideal realism. And the foundation of the reality of 
Vrndavana is given by Nityananda, Baladeva: nitaiyer koruna habe, 
braje radha-krsna pabe, dharo nitai-carana du'khani. 
After Bhaktivinoda Thakura describes the position of Radharani in his 
Saranagati, he says, "I want to serve those who have the service of 
Radharani in their heart. I want to serve the feet-dust of those whose 
only wealth is the service of Sri Radha. I want to fall before them and 
take the dust of their holy feet. If you cannot fix your mind in the 
service of Radharani, then all your attempts to serve Krsna are useless. 
If you cannot achieve earnestness in the service of Srimati Radharani, 
then all your labor for Krsna has gone to hell." We cannot conceive of 
a sun without heat, nor can we conceive of Godhead without His 
potency. So also, no conception of Krsna is possible without Srimati 
Radharani. We can't know any Madhava without Radha. 
She is Krsna's other half - in Srila Bhaktisiddhanta's language, the 
predominated moiety. Devotional service as a whole is represented by 
Her, because both the intensity and the comprehensiveness of Her 
service to Krsna are unparalleled. There are so many examples of 
chaste and pious ladies in the ancient history of the Puranas: Saci, the 
faithful wife of Indra; Sati, the wife of Lord Siva; Laksmidevi, the 
goddess of fortune; Satyabhama, Krsna's wife in Dvaraka; Rukmini, 
the principle queen of Krsna in Dvaraka; and even the antagonists of 
Radharani, headed by Candravali. All of them represent different 
aspects of Radharani. They all spring from the main potency which is 
known as Radha. 
The name Radha comes from the word aradhana: One who can serve, 
who can worship, who can give respect, who really loves Krsna, who 
can render loving service. All of these other ladies who are famous for 
their chastity and piety are but partial representations of Radharani. If 
we note the scriptures and scrutinize the position of those virtuous 
ladies, we'll find that the source of all their chastity and devotion is 
Srimati Radharani. She is the fountainhead of devotion. And so 
Bhaktivinoda says, "I bow down and take the dust of the holy feet of 
those who have as their only wealth the service of Radharani. I hanker 
after nothing else. " Whoever knows this and always travels on that 
path with a sincere heart is most fortunate. 
It is the ideal that makes one great, not any material possession. One 
who has the highest ideal is really wealthy. The highest ideal is the 
most valuable thing we may possess. And less valuable things must be 
eliminated if we are to concentrate our efforts and save ourselves from 
useless endeavor. Caitanya Mahaprabhu came to show us that highest 
ideal - the path of divine love. And we find divine love of Godhead in 
its highest intensity in His life and teachings of Srimad-Bhagavatam. 
The whole Srimad-Bhagavatam is meant to illustrate the ideal of 
divine love which reaches its highest expression in Srimati Radharani. 
The Srimad-Bhagavatam sings very gloriously about the paramour 
relationship of Radha and Krsna. The Vedas and other Puranas are not 
so expressive about such confidential pastimes, yet we find a hint of 
the glories of Radha and Krsna in Srimad-Bhagavatam. And the 
Goswamis have more fully expressed Radharani's devotion in their 
writings. In Rupa Goswami's Padyavali, we find Her saying, "My 
Lord, people say that I have a bad reputation because of My 
connection with You. I do not feel any trouble in My heart because of 
this. My concern is that I could not give Myself to You completely. 
The people in general say that I am illicitly connected with You, but 
what disturbs Me is that I could not really give Myself to You. I feel 
that I am not fit for Your service. This is only the trouble within My 
heart." 
And the ecstasy of divine love increases in separation. One day, when 
Krsna was playing with His cowherd boyfriends in the pasturing 
grounds of Vrndavana, Krsna suddenly felt extreme separation from 
Radharani. He sent His best friend Subala to Radharani, saying, "Go 
to My Radha and fetch Her. Without Her, I can't live. Suddenly I have 
so much desire for Her company that I can't stand it anymore. 
Somehow manage to bring Her." Subala said, "How is it possible to 
bring Her here in the jungle in broad daylight?" Krsna told him, 
"Somehow manage it!" 
Subala thought, "What should I do?" Subala was very intimately 
connected with the family of Radharani's husband. He went to the 
house of Radharani and told Her girlfriends, "Krsna can't tolerate 
separation from Radharani any longer. He is so eager to meet Her that 
He is going mad. Somehow you have to arrange for Them to meet." 
"How is it possible?" the gopis asked. Subala explained to them that 
Krsna was nearby in the jungle. They discussed between themselves 
what to do. Subala was a beautiful boy who resembled Radharani. So 
Subala took the dress of Radharani, and Radharani wore Subala's 
cowherd dress. 
When Radharani was discovered wearing the dress of Subala, She was 
challenged by Her family members: "Subala! What are you doing 
here?" In the dress of Subala, Radharani said, "A calf is missing and 
its mother is mooing. So I have come here looking for that calf." So a 
calf was given to Radharani, and She carried that small calf on her 
breast into the forest. In this way, Radharani was disguised as Subala, 
while Subala, who had taken the dress of Radharani, remained behind 
in Her room. 
Radharani had been given a hint of where Krsna was hiding near the 
forest's edge. She went to seek Him out. At last, when Radharani saw 
Krsna, She approached Him in the garb of Subala. Krsna was mad. He 
could not detect that Radharani had come, but mistook Her for Subala. 
He said, "Oh, Subala, you have come back without Radharani! 
Couldn't you bring Her?" 
Radharani began cutting jokes: "No," She said, "It was impossible for 
me to bring Her in the daytime." Krsna said, "Then what am I to do? I 
can't tolerate My life any longer." Radharani said, "If You say so, I 
can go to Candravali and bring her." "No, no," Krsna said, "Curd 
cannot satisfy the thirst for milk. It is not possible!" Krsna was faint 
with disappointment. Then Radharani embraced Him, saying, "My 
Lord, can't You recognize Your maidservant? You failed to recognize 
Me!" Then Krsna was again full of joy. 
Although the pastimes of Radha and Govinda are mentioned in the 
scriptures, these are all very high things. They are not ordinarily to be 
expressed in words, but still sometimes we are forced to speak about 
them because the high ideal of divine love given by Srimad- 
Bhagavatam is the supreme goal of life. Of course, the scholarship of 
Sukadeva Goswami and Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu have helped, to a 
certain extent, to establish the dignity of the proposal that love is 
above knowledge. It was admitted by everyone that Sukadeva held the 
highest attainment of the learned men of knowledge; he was 
unanimously admitted by the scholars to hold the highest position. 
Because of this, when Sukadeva Goswami came to inaugurate the 
principle that divine love is above everything else, the scholars had to 
take notice. Caitanya Mahaprabhu demonstrated to the scholars that 
His intelligence and scholarship excelled everyone else's. So when He 
came with the tidings of divine love, then it was easier for the ordinary 
men to accept it as the highest ideal and try for it. 
So Vasudeva Ghosh says, yadi gaura na ha'te tabe ki haita kemane 
dharitam de. If Mahaprabhu had not appeared in this Kali-yuga, then 
how could we tolerate living? How could we sustain our lives? What 
He has given - the very gist of life, the very taste, the charm of life - 
without that, we think it is impossible for anyone to live in this world. 
Such a thing has been invented, discovered by Gauranga. If He had 
not come, then how could we live? It is impossible to live devoid of 
such a holy and gracious thing as divine love. Without Caitanya 
Mahaprabhu, how could we know that Radharani stands supreme in 
the world of divine love? We have received all these things from Him, 
and now we think that life is worth living. Otherwise to live would be 
suicidal. 
And serving those who can serve Radharani is the way to approach 
Her vicinity. By serving the servants of the servants, we are assured of 
success in getting the grace of Krsna. If somehow one can be counted 
in the group of Srimati Radharani's servitors, one's future is assured. 
Within the group of Radharani's servitors, we aspire to be rupanugas, 
followers of Sri Rupa. And the followers of Sri Rupa will have great 
earnestness to look after the order of Sri Rupa, as he does towards 
Lalita. In this way, through Rupa Goswami, our devotional service is 
going to the highest plane. And our highest gain is only there. Not 
even our connection with Radharani or Lalitadevi is the highest goal 
of life, but our highest aspiration is to serve in the Rupanugasampradaya; 
that means that our highest attainment is in Sri Rupa's 
connection. 
Radha-dasyam has been said to be the highest attainment. Why? The 
quality and quantity of rasa that Radharani can draw from Krsna can 
never be found anywhere else. So if you are situated just behind 
Radharani, you'll be allowed to taste not only the quantity, but the 
highest quality of rasa. 
No other person can draw such high rasa from Krsna. The fullest, 
highest type of quality is drawn from Krsna: He gives Himself fully 
and wholly and deeply. So if you are in Sri Rupa's group, then you can 
have a taste of that sort of rasa. 
In Radharani's camp, when Krsna and Radha are enjoying very 
solitary pastimes in a secluded place, the grown-up sakhis can't 
venture to enter the room and assist Them. The young girls, the 
manjaris, are sent there. The leader of that young group can enter 
where both Radha and Govinda are very closely connected, when 
even the sakhis do not venture to go for fear of causing some 
interruption. But Rupa and the manjaris can enter there at that time 
due to their young age. That sort of rasa that cannot be had even 
through the sakhis can be had only through the manjaris. 
Bhaktivinoda Thakura prays to gain admission there. He has such a 
high quality of aspiration. He says rupanuga hoite sei doy. He runs to 
be enlisted in the group of Rupa, who can grant us that sort of 
prospect. And Prabhodananda Saraswati has described the prerequisite 
for understanding all these things: 
yatha yatha gaura padaravinde 
vindeta bhaktim krta punya-rasih 
tatha tathotsarpati hrdy akasmat 
radha padambhoja sudhambhurasih 
"As much as you surrender to the lotus feet of Sri Gauranga, you'll 
find yourself safely situated in the service of Radha-Govinda. Don't 
try to approach Radha-Govinda directly; if you do, there may be some 
difficulty. But the lotus feet of Sri Gauranga will take you there 
safely." In my Sanskrit poem dedicated to Bhaktivinoda Thakura, I 
have explained all these points
sri-gauranumatam svarupa-viditam rupagrajenadrtam
rupadyaih parivesitam raghu-ganair-asvaditam sevitam
jivadyair abhiraksitam suka-siva-brahmadi sammanitam
sri-radha-pada-sevanamrtam aho tad datum iso bhavan
"What was sanctioned by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu by His descent
was intimately known only to Sri Svarupa Damodara Goswami. It was
adored by Sanatana Goswami and served by Rupa Goswami and his
followers. Raghunatha Dasa Goswami tasted that wonderful thing<
fully and enhanced it with his own realization. And Jiva Goswami
supported and protected it by quoting the scriptures from different
places. The taste of that divine truth is aspired for by Brahma, Siva,
and Uddhava, who respect it as the supreme goal of life. What is this
wonderful truth? Sri radha-pada-sevana: that the highest nectar of our
life is the service of Srimati Radharani. This is most wonderful. O
Bhaktivinoda Thakura, you are our master. It is within your power to
allow them to bestow their grace upon us. You are in a position to
bestow the highest gift ever known to the world upon us all. It is at
your disposal. O Bhaktivinoda Thakura, please be kind to us and grant
us your mercy."

So Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, our most benevolent Lord, has come to
search for His long lost servants and to give to them this highest ideal
of divine love.

Sri Chaitanya Saraswath Math
Kolerganj, P.O.Nabadwip,DT. Nadia,
W.Bengal, PIN 741302, India

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