Sri Krishna Kathamrita
Bindu
Test of Initiation
His Divine Grace A. C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
To actually be engaged in service, to be officially
initiated and having taken up the service of the Lord,
is the stage called bhajana-kriyä. And bhajana-kriyä
results in anartha-nivåtti. At anartha-nivåtti stage,
all anarthas, all rascal habits — illicit sex, intoxication,
meat-eating, and gambling — will be no more.
That is the test whether you are actually initiated.
If you do not detest all these nonsense habits
then you must know that you are not making any
progress. Because anartha-nivåtti is the result of
bhajana-kriyä. Anartha-nivåttiù syät — if you are
actually making advancement in bhajana-kriyä
then these attachments will be finished. Paraà
dåñövä nivartate [Bg. 9.59]. But it is not by force.
By appreciating the better condition of life, one
rejects all this nonsense. That is advancement.
Then niñöhä, firm faith, develops. Then comes
ruci, taste. You cannot do without it. Just like the
drunkard, he cannot remain without drinking.
Similarly, a devotee is also a drunkard. He cannot
remain without Krishna consciousness. That
is called ruci, taste. Tato ruciù tathäsaktiù. Then
comes attachment to Krishna. That is required. ·
— From a lecture on Çrémad Bhägavataà 3.25.15 in Bombay,
15 November 1974.
The Great Stumbling Block
Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja
Guru and Gauranga never teach crookedness.
Mahaprabhu teaches saralatä ei vaiñëavatä —
“Simplicity is vaiñëavism.” With this mood, develop
simplicity in your heart and you will be able to serve
guru and Gauranga. If you have developed some
crookedness, käpaöya, in your heart, you cannot
serve guru and Gauranga. Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati
Öhakur has said, “We are followers of guru and
Gauranga. Gauranga Mahaprabhu has ordered —
ämara äjïäya guru haïä tära’ ei deça. Whoever
you meet, you speak what Krishna has said. Do not
manufacture or concoct anything. Simply say what
Krishna has said. Just repeat it as it is. So I order you
Issue No. 235 Çré Pärçva Ekädaçé 19 September 2010 Circulation 3,350
to become guru, ämara äjïäya guru haïä tära’
ei deça, and you deliver the whole world.” So this
order has come to my guru-päda.
The order has come to my guru and my guru delivered
the same order to me. Therefore I am doing the
work of guru. We should not cultivate any duplicity in
it. We should follow this order with great simplicity.
We should not learn this duplicity at all, because guru
and Gauranga do not teach duplicity. They teach us
only simplicity. To carry out the order of guru and
Gauranga we can kick out anything. Day and night,
twenty-four hours, we should be engaged in the loving
service of guru and Gauranga, cultivating simplicity
in our heart. We should not cultivate any sort of
duplicity. A crooked person may pretend that he is
the number one servant of guru and Gauranga, but
guru and Gauranga know the heart of such a person.
One who is really sleeping can easily be awakened.
But one who is pretending to asleep cannot be
awakened. If he is really sleeping he can be awakened
by sound vibration —“Hey, you get up!” But
you cannot wake up one who is pretending to be
asleep, because he is a crooked person, a pretender.
If it is required to go to hell by following and executing
guru and Gauranga’s order as it is, we are prepared
to go to hell, but we will not practice any sort of duplicity.
Even if a crooked person goes to brahmaloka, to
the planet where Brahma stays, he cannot be delivered.
He will fall down from that position very soon.
By cultivating simplicity, if by chance someone goes
to hell, guru and Gauranga will go to hell to deliver
him, because he is a simple-hearted person.
It is said, sädhu-guru-mahäjana patita-pävana,
kapaöé-pävana näi, guru and Gauranga are deliverers
of the patitas, the most degraded. But they are
not the deliverers of the crooked. Those persons
who are crooked by nature are speculators. They
speculate on various matters and they never follow
instructions as they are. They add their own deliberation
and twist things. They never accept the essence.
They carry a big burden, like an ass, a beast of
burden. They accept the unwanted things and not the
essence. Such duplicitous, crooked persons, cannot
accept the essence, the sära. Such persons accept
asat, the temporary, as sat, eternal. They cannot understand
what is good and what is bad because they
are speculators. They never follow the instructions of
sädhu-guru-mahäjana in a simple way. They make
that which is very simple into something very
difficult. They adopt a zigzag way and avoid the
simp1e way, because they are not simple-hearted.
They are crooked by nature. So they cannot get
perfection. This crookedness is a great hindrance
and stumbling block on the path of perfection. ·
— From a lecture in Bhubaneswar, 27 November 1991.
Premi-Bhaktas of the Lord
Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura
When sädhana-bhakti matures or when a little
bhäva awakens by the association of devotees, it
should be understood that the jurisdiction of vaidhibhakti
has been crossed. The symptoms of the nine
processes of devotional service are found equally
in both sädhana-bhakti and bhäva-bhakti, but in
bhäva-bhakti they are deeper. In bhäva-bhakti, the
internal mood of a servant, friend, or surrendered
soul becomes more prominent. In sädhana-bhakti,
gross bodily activities are more prominent, but in
bhäva-bhakti the activities of the spiritually reflected
subtle body, being very close to the subtle existence
of the soul, are more prominent than gross bodily
activities. In this situation, one’s bodily requirements
diminish and one’s desire and endeavor to attain
prayojana become very strong. At that time one
develops from among the limbs of sädhana-bhakti
a special taste for chanting the holy names.
When bhäva matures, prema-bhakti awakens. Persons
who have attained the stage of prema-bhakti achieve all
desirable things. Their pure powerful existence weakens
their gross and spiritually reflected, subtle, existences.
There is no superior state in life than this.
Many apparent contradictions may be found in
the characteristics of persons in prema-bhakti. Their
characteristics, however, are actually most pure and
independent. Regulations or reason cannot control
them. They are not under the control of any scriptural
or sectarian injunctions. Their activities emanate
from compassion, and their knowledge is naturally
pure. They are beyond the dualities of piety and
impiety, religion and irreligion. They always remain
situated in the self, and they always see vaikuëöha,
even though they may reside in a material body.
They do not receive much respect among the general
mass of people, because those with weak faith or
insufficient qualification are unable to understand their
spiritual advancement and thus are seen to criticize them.
The premé-bhaktas perfectly understand the purport
of the scriptures, and according to the situation they
may sometimes act contrary to specific scriptural injunctions.
Seeing this, ass-like people may call them
misbehaved. Sectarian people who see that they are
not decorated with the signs of a sect conclude that
they are irreligious. Logicians who see their loving
dealings may consider those dealings unreasonable.
Dry renunciates who see their physical and family
endeavors may mistakenly consider them as attached
to their house or body. Persons attached to material
enjoyment who see their detachment from work may
suspect that they are inefficient. Jïänés who see their
indifference towards impersonalism may consider
them unreasonable. Materialists may consider them
mad. But actually they are fully independent and
spiritually situated. For all such people, the premébhaktas
are aimless and incomprehensible.
Although the exalted premé-bhaktas’ devotional service
sometimes resembles fruitive activities, it is never
actually tinged with karma, because whatever activities
they perform are only meant for their liberation from
fruitive activities, not entanglement. Although their
devotional service sometimes resembles speculative
knowledge, it is never actually tinged with jïäna,
because their pure knowledge is not polluted with
the dirt of impersonalism or voidism. Although
knowledge and renunciation is their wealth, they
do not consider these to be a part of their devotional
service, because it has been concluded that bhakti is
different from knowledge and renunciation.
The swanlike premé-bhaktas are worshipable
examples for all devotees, even though they act like
a farmer amongst farmers, a businessman amongst
businessmen, a servant amongst servants, a general
amongst soldiers, a husband with his wife, a parent
with his child, a wife with her husband, a child with its
parents, a brother with his brothers, a chastiser with
the criminals, a king with his subjects, a subject with
his king, a thoughtful person amongst the learned, a
doctor with his patient, or a patient with his doctor.
By the mercy of the pure devotees, we constantly
desire, with undeviating attention, the shelter of the lotus
feet of the divine couple, who is their only wealth.
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Quotations from the books, letters, and lectures of His Divine Grace A.
C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada ©Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
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O premé-bhakta mahäjanas! Please shower the rain
of your mercy in the form of your association, and
moisten our hard heart, which is attached to argument
and crushed by material enjoyment. Let the wonderful
transcendental truth of the divine couple, who are
the Absolute Truth without a second, be reflected in
our purified and melted hearts. ·
— Concluding words of Çré Kåñëa-Saàhitä. Translated by
Bhumipati Das. Edited by Sri Pundarik Vidyanidhi Das. Vrajaraj
Press. 1998. Vrindavan.
The Glories of Thakur Haridas
By an unknown Vaishnava
jaya jaya prabhu mora thäkura haridäsa
ye karilä hari-nämera mahimä prakäsa
All glories, all glories to my master Thakur Haridas,
who broadcast the glories of the holy name everywhere.
gaura-bhakta gaëa madhye sarva agragaëya
yäìra guëa gäiyä kände äpane caitanya
Among all the devotees of Gaura, Haridas is
the best. Singing the glories of Haridas’ character,
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu himself cried.
advaita äcärya prabhura priya prema-sémä
teìho se jänena haridäsera mahimä
Adwaita Acharya Prabhu is the last limit of love
for Mahaprabhu. He could grasp the depth of the
glories of Haridas Thakur.
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nityänanda-cända yäìre präëa hena jäne
caraëa paraçe mahé deha dhanya mäne
Even Lord Nityananda considers him to be his life.
By the touch of the lotus feet of Thakur Haridas,
the earth considers herself to be fortunate.
hare kåñëa hare räma ke çunäbe ära
haridäsa cheòe gela präëa väïcä bhära
From whom shall we hear the Hare Krishna
mahä-mantra? Since Haridas has left us, life has
become a great burden.
haridäsa ächila påthivéra ‘çiromaëi’
teìho vinä ratna-çünya haila mediné
Haridas was the crest-jewel of this world; without
him, this world is now bereft of a valuable gem.
‘jaya haridäsa’ bali’ kara hari-dhvani
eta bali’ mahäprabhu näcaye äpani
Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu therefore told everyone,
“Say ‘All glories to Haridas Thakur!’ and chant the holy
name of Hari.” Saying this, he personally began to dance.
sabe gäya,— jaya jaya jaya haridäsa
nämera mahimä yeìho karilä prakäça
Everyone began to chant, “All glories to Haridas
Thakur, who revealed the importance of chanting
the holy name of the Lord!” ·
— Translated from Dina Narottam Das (chota)’s Çré Manohara
Bhajana Dépikä. Published by Sri Sudhasindhu Das. Govardhan.
Gaurabda 519. Bengali. pp. 785-786.
Mahaprabhu carries the body of Haridas Thakur
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