Govardhan Yatra || Day -2 || HH Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaj || 2024

Hari Krishna.

Hari Krishna. Thank you. Thank you for inviting me here and We'll try to sing a few Vaiṣṇava bhajans that, uh, we've all learned by the grace of Śrīla Prabhupāda. Hopefully he will display them on the screen. No, he'll display on the screen.

Apne gadi ke baas surandh boche, aap ke lek sone ka haar wait kar rahi hai. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna, please display the songs. Yeah, have harmonium, harmonium, harmonium, mic.

Can I hear it? Good night, Dave.

Amen. Namaste, Saraswati Devi. Gauravani Pracharini. Nereveshe Shashung Yavadi. Pashchatiya Deeshwara. Namaste. Hi, Madhava here. Madhava. Oh, what a time in Nati.

Yeah.

Mother Mary, port-a-me in a teacup. Mother Mary, Mother Mary. Nya chada bimo. Mother the Hare. Mother the Hare. Do you— Macharabeh, Morya. Matera hotua paratange. Matira hotua pada sangue. Matera hotua paratange. Mata vahim! Mata vahim! Mata vahim! Mata vahim! Mata bahi— mata bahaheem... Madhava he, bahuta minati karito ya. Madhava he, bahuta minati karito ya. Madhava he, bahuta minati karito ya.

Vidyāpatī sings, "My dear Lord Mādhava." Someone has to prompt me for time. Ah, okay. We need translation? Anybody understands Maitreya? He says, "Bohutamina dikaritoy." I am praying to You very ardently. We are so lucky to be here in Govardhan today because even someone very ardently prays to Kṛṣṇa, but Kṛṣṇa sometimes doesn't fulfill their desire. But Rūpa Gosvāmī says in Pādyaṇāvalī that if you just exist in Vrindāvana, or in Vraja-dhāma. All you have to do is be here. Then without any question of whether you've done any bhajan or not, Bhaktidevi will automatically give you prema. So he says, "Bahutam ināri, mīnāti karitoy." I'm very humbly praying before You, entreating You, supplicating You. Dehitula sitala dehasamarpanam. And I'm offering You myself, my body, just as we offer tulsi leaves. We were watching a few moments ago Gopalakrishna Maharaj doing his puja, and I didn't really want to stop. It was time for me to come on stage and do this bhajan, but I wanted to keep watching him because Such devotion. So he's offering little tulsi leaf unto the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. And Vidyāpāti is saying that, "I'm offering You my whole life like this, my body." "Deyā jāni na caṇabhi mōy." And, "I know Your mercy. I know You won't give me up. You won't reject me." Madhava bahuta minati karitoi. So I'm ardently praying to you like this. Gana ite dosa guna lesana pauby. If someone examines me for any qualities and flaws, they will certainly be able to count the qualities, but they'll not find even a trace I mean, they can certainly, they can find so many flaws, but they will not be able to find a trace of any good quality. That's why we sing in the deity worship, "Aparādhasa haśrāni kriyante aharu-niścemya." Day and nighttime, I'm committing so many thousands of offenses. This is us. But at the same time, pumāuṣkhalitapādaṇām pumire vāvalambanam. For somebody who has tripped and fallen, what shelter does he have other than the ground? There's no, no opportunity for any other shelter. He's going to hit the ground. In the same way, we have no other shelter but Mādhava. Madhavo madhavo vācī, madhavo madhavo hṛdī, smarantī sādhavah asarave sarvakār yeṣu madhavam. All the saintly persons remember Madhava in everything they do. Madhavaka mātlabhityāhe. Mādhava. Mādhava means Śrī Pāṭī, Lakṣmī Pāṭī. Mā kamatlabhite, Lakṣmī Devī. Artha-vakam alabhayapati, husband, bharta, patti. So Madhava means the husband of the goddess of fortune. Jayadeva, whole East India actually, mainly they're praying to Madhava. Jayadeva Gosvāmī, Vidyāpāti Thakura, Chandidas also, even Śrīla Prabhupāda, he named our Mayapur Deities Madhava. And anybody here from Jagannāthpuri or Orissa in general, you know famous name of Lord Jagannāth? Mādhava. This is the mood. Mādhvarya-dasa. We like to see everything in terms of this Mādhvarya connection. So, mādhava-bhūtā mīnaditikāritoy. If you count my flaws, you'll not be able to find even a trace of any good qualification. Jabba tohun khurobi bichar. And you consider like this, tohun Jagannath. Everybody calls you throughout the whole universe, you're called Jagannath. Jagate kahao si. Jagabahir nahimoi char. Don't leave me out. I'm also part of your universe. And I have no other shelter but you. So he's praying like this, very humbly. Finally he says, "Kie manusha, pashupakhi jay janamiye." You can make me into a— I can take birth as a human being again, or I can take birth as some kind of animal again. Or you can make me some bird. Atava, hīte padange. You can make me into some kind of flying insect. Or some other kind of bugs. Whatever. Karmadhipāke, gata-gati punah punah. Again and again impelled by the reactions of my own misdeeds. I'm wasting, squandering my karma again and again. Just like now we have taken a human form of life. It's such a rare thing. Janma siddurlabhāmidam bahusampavante. After many, many births, you get to take birth as a human being. Because how many species are there?

8,400,000.

And humans are only one, real humans, because we have biologically correct human beings and we also have karmically correct human beings. They're two different things. You can, you can procreate with another person who has two arms and two legs. That's biologically correct human being. But real human being means you understand what is dharma and you follow it. That's not so easy thing to do. Have you noticed? It's Kali Yuga. So, kiye manushya. Manushya, actually the meaning of the word manushya means somebody who's following Manu. Manava, we say, Manava Dharma Shastra. It's for the human beings only. Human being is defined as somebody who follows Manu. So maybe I'm going to take birth as a human being, or if I'm not so careful, Pashu, Pashu ho jaun. It's possible. There are 8,400,000 options in this material world for your next life. You can design them now. That's what human life is for, in fact. And even in Vraja-dhāma, if you're living in Vrindavan, there are also 8,400,000 devotional options. You can render devotional service in Vrindavan as an insect, as some kind of flying creature, or a bird, or an animal. But the ideal is to become a gopī, not just a human being, not just a dharmagnya human being, but also a highly advanced devotee. We want to become gopīs. This is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's teaching. So —Atabāki te patange karmavipāke gatāgati punah punah. He's lamenting again and again, I keep wasting my opportunity because I'm overwhelmed by the reactions of my past misdeeds. If we perform sinful activities or we have already performed sinful activities in the past, Where do you think your sinful desires come from? They come from those activities. Therefore we say, 'Karma bij'— it's like planting a seed. Every many different kind, 8,400,000 different seeds you can plant, and each species has a particular mode of sense gratification that it's specifically designed for. So if you're concentrating on that desire for sense gratification, you will get the body that corresponds to that desire, because it's what you want. Here in Vrindavan, especially here at Govardhana Hill, because Girirāja-dhārī, Kṛṣṇa is holding up Govardhana Hill. So this Girirāja-govardhana, He fulfills all desires. All your desires are fulfilled by Govardhan. So be careful what you desire. If you're desiring something that you can get even as a paṣu or as a paḥi or as some sort of gītā, you can also do that here. It's possible. Don't waste it. Otherwise we end up lamenting like Vidyābhati. He's not actually a conditioned soul, but in order to teach us, he's lamenting as if he's wasted his life, life after life. Pūnaha pūnaha gataḥ gati— I've not reached my goal. Lifetime after lifetime, I keep blowing it. So, matīraḥutvāparasaṅge— just let me get absorbed in katha about You. Twa para sanghe. That means open up Śrīla Prabhupāda's books and read them carefully, and then you have something to work with. Otherwise, you know, what goes in must come out. Whatever goes into your ears, that's going to come out somehow or other. It's going to come out through One or more of your senses, and the tongue is the most, uh, important sense in the beginning. What we speak about and what we eat, what we're hearing is going to determine those two things. So it's very important. Matihrā hutvā prasāṅge. Let me become absorbed in topics about You. I was reading in Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Chapter 1, Texts 99 and 100. There, Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī tells us that out of His causeless mercy, the Lord appears in two forms in Kali-yuga as two Bhāgavatas. There's Grandha Bhāgavata And there's sevāk-bhāgavatā, two kinds of bhāgavatās. These two bhāgavatās, they give us their mercy. The grantabhāgavatā gives us direction, gives us inspiration, purifies our heart, so that when we come into the contact with a devotee bhāgavatam, then we can actually surrender to what he says by following his instructions. Devotional service is awakened in terms— bhaktiya śruta-krihita-yā— in terms of what we have heard. If we are not hearing, then we are not going anywhere except as we have been hearing. Kiye mānusha paśupāki jai janamiye atava ki te patange kārṇame vipāke gata-gati. Puna, puna. That's where we're going if we don't hear seriously while we can. Jabalagataname tapana vyape tabalagakadi hari seva. Ekh madhyayugin kavi ne kahaisa. You know, you have a good working sound mind and body, you have to use it while it lasts. You'll not always be able to see the Deity. You'll not always be able to hear. Your brain will not work at a certain point when you get to be too old. You will not be able to chant. At a certain point in the future, every one of us is going to lose this opportunity. Every one of us. You will lose it. So they have the saying in English, Use it or lose it. Do it now. Do it now, today. So, mati rahut wa parasange, bhanaye vidyapati. In the end, they always sign their names. So, bhanaye vidyapati. Vidyapati is describing atishaya kathara, atishaya kathara. It's so pathetic he feels this way. Extremely embarrassed, ashamed, remorseful. Yes, sir. Please take me out. Of this world. He's praying like this. It's a very powerful song, this prayer of Vidyāpatī. That's why I chose to sing it. We don't hear it very often, but it's a very, very powerful prayer. And then finally, what does he say?

Tilā e gade hadīnā bandho.

Mata vahī, Mata vahī, bahūtā mīnāti gadeetoy. I'm taking shelter of your soft reddish lotus feet. Like the reddish petals of a kamala flower, lotus flower. And he says, he concludes, "Tilā ekadeha dīnā bandhu." My dear Lord, friend of the fallen, dīnā bandhu. This body, what is the significance of this body? One little, like a tulsi leaf, very insignificant thing. But if you offer that to Kṛṣṇa, —then it becomes very significant thing, most significant thing. Tulasīḍala-mātreṇa jālasya tulo-kena vā bhikvini te svāmatmāṇam bhakti-pyobhaktavatsalāham. Because Kṛṣṇa is so weak. We don't usually speak of God as having weaknesses. But he has one weakness. What is God's weakness? Love. If you have love that is pure, he cannot resist that. Anything he will do for that. Now you know his weakness. Now you have an advantage. You can bring him into your vāś. So, "tilā ekadeha dīnabhantu"—although this body is just like an insignificant tulsi leaf. It's like we give the analogy: someone has a bag full of mustard seeds, rāyi. So if he loses one mustard seed out of a huge bag, say 10—100-pound bag of mustard seeds, if he loses one mustard seed, it's no big deal. So what is the loss if I take this body out of the material world, put it into the spiritual world here at Giriraj Govardhana? Śrī-govardhana-kiṛṣṇa-hye tad-eṭiṣṭhi, Śrī-govardhana-kiṛṣṇa-hye. Beautiful. Another song by the Brāj poet. Since we're talking about Vaishnava bhajans. You know, many, many, many poems, they have their collection of songs, right? At least in Brajpasha. Anybody knows the name Surdas? Netraheen Surdas, famous. So his book, what do we call his book? Sursagar. And there's another Ashtacharya poet His name was Paramānanda Dāsa. So he has Paramānanda Sagar. Every single poet, just one poet, but he's written so many, 25,000 songs, Surdas wrote. And that's just one poet in one language, Brajpasha. Then you have, how many languages are there in India? And then you have the Sanskrit language also, 'Girbhana.' Girbhana. Why do they call it Girbhana? 'Bana kamat lakya hai.' Like an arrow. 'Mere paas nikas gaya satguru mar jaatir.' 'Mira Bai ne kaha aisa.' The words, the spiritual words are very powerful. When they shoot you through the heart, you feel it, it changes you. So, gīr-bhāna, that your speech should be like an arrow in that sense. Negatively speaking, your speech is also like an arrow in that once you let some harsh words fly, you cannot call them back. They're going to pierce that person's heart, and what will that do to your future? Think about it. Prabhupada said, think 3 times before you speak. Think 3 times before you speak. For that reason, Gīrī-bhāṇa. So every, every language has its own multiple oceans of poems. What to speak of Bengali language? Wastav may— our chargers are not really writing in Bengali language as much as they're writing in which language? Anybody know? Brajbhuli. Brajbhuli is different than Braj Bhasha. Brajbhuli is a language invented by Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava ācāryas for the sole purpose of writing their songs. As far as worldly linguistic analysis goes, that the language does not exist in a spoken form. It's a purely literary language, and it is the sole province of the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Acaryas. So hundreds of thousands of— you can't even count them all. But Śrīla Prabhupāda has taken some of those songs and he has sung them on occasion. That's what makes up our ISKCON Songs of the Vaiṣṇava Acaryas. Songbook. Those are Śrīla Prabhupāda's favorite songs. Just like in the moment we're going to sing, Manuṣya— what is that? Jānama payā rādhā-kṛṣṇa-nābhā-dīya. This was actually Śrīla Prabhupāda's favorite song. But it's really hard to say, you know, one song is better than another. But Śrīla Prabhupāda was very, very fond of this song. He used to sing it quite a bit. So I've chosen this song of Vidyāpatī to begin because it's a very powerful prayer, very enlightening, very purifying for us to hear these things. And if we can develop this attitude when we're chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Hare Hare. It is almost guaranteed that you will be free from the 10 offenses. This is the attitude that we have to adopt. We were talking about Vidyapati. Well, Vidyapati was talking about his so-called hopeless situation, atishaya-kathara. We should all feel hopeless. Helpless. Śrīla Prabhupāda also wrote a very nice song in Boston Harbor when he first arrived in the United States in 1965. You can study his mood in that song. Helpless, hopeless. It's called Asha Bandha, Asha Bandha, by Rūpa Gosvāmī in Bhaktirasāmara-sindhu. To hope against hope. You have no hope. There's no chance, but we hope anyway. And when Kṛṣṇa sees that humility and surrender and dependence— nowadays you will not find any advertisement for a school system that does not promise to make your child into a leader. Leader, right? And they're all looking very confident. And this is the mentality of the modern society. But the Vaiṣṇava mentality is the exact opposite of that. You'll never get anywhere in this world if you advertise, "Send your child to our school, we'll teach him how to become a pakka servant." Nobody Wants to hear that. Everybody in this world wants to be independent. Independent. But the attitude that attracts Krishna's causeless mercy is dependence. Humility, surrender, dependence, faith, submission. These are the ideals that are taught in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and that are taught by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So, Vidyāpatī ṭhākura, he is praying in this one song that, "Madhava, bahutam minā di-karitoy." I am just ardently praying to You and I am offering myself to You like a tulasi leaf. And I know Your mercy is so much, You will not kick me away. What is the technical term for this? It's an aspect of śarana-gati. Who knows? Avaśyarākīve kṛṣṇa. We know that Kṛṣṇa will definitely protect us, always. He will take care of His servants if we surrender, if we embrace this most Forbidden of all things in this material world, an attitude of humility, faith, surrender, dependence, submission. This is the idea. Okay, um, now I'm going to need the words for the other two songs. I didn't bring them with me. Uh, yeah, Hari Hari, and the other one is later. Lucky. No, yeah, here, but I cannot see it. I have to see it. No, so, yeah, if you have on your phone, maybe that'll work. Meanwhile, I'm taking a coconut break. Hari Hari Bipa. This one is from Narottam Das Thakur. We know about Narottam Das Thakur, one of the greatest of all poets.

Durai tena ko eno pa. Durai tena kaino o pa. Durai tena ko eno pa. Adi, adi. Hare Krishna! Hare Krishna! Prasada Krishnaya— hodeh-hode? Hare Rama! Hare Rama! Ramo-Ramo... Hare-Hare?! Hare Krishna! Hare Krishna! Hare Rama! Hare Gaura Mahārāja! Hare! Hare! Hare Kṛṣṇa! Hare Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa! Hare! Hare!

Here I've taken birth for nothing, wasted my life. You see, same mood as Vidyāpatī, same thing as Vidyāpatī explained. Radha Krishna na bhajiya.

You understand? So, muni shijavan to mene prasad kya, likin mene Radha Krishna ka bhajan nahin kya.

And in this way I have drunk poison willingly.

Mene jaan bhuj kar, viska paan kya.

Jaan bhuj se. Better plant good seeds.

Everything has a reaction, everything. You have to think so carefully.

People come to Vrindavan and they're thinking, "Let me find the latest nectar book in Loy Bazar about Rādhā Kṛṣṇa's intimate affairs." But if we want to actually make advancement, we really need to think about these things. Where am I going? Who am I? Where do I come from? What is my Kṛṣṇa consciousness? So we need to consider it. Sense gratification is poison. Perpetuation of animalistic sense gratification. What's the alternative? Goloka prema-tana, Hare Naama sankirtana.

The great wealth of Goloka Vrindavan, which is Hare Naama sankirtana.

What is the wealth? Prema, actually, love of Godhead. And then he laments, "Why is it that I never got a taste for this?" We should not be caught at the time of death lamenting like this. Instead, we should prepare now. That when we die, we should be very confident, "My Lord will not forget me. He will come and pick me up." Otherwise, if we're lazy rascals, "Jan bhuj se vishakat nahin." So at the time of death, who knows what will happen? You'll not be sure whether Vishnu is in a good mood or not. Have a mixture?

No. We have to purify that.

The way to do that is very simple. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna. "Rama, Rama, Hare Hare." And Narottam Das Thakur says, "This is Hare Naam, some kirtan." He is famous for his own kirtan which he wrote.

Please repeat after me.

Muito obrigado! Hare Krishna, Nithyananda.

I'm not going to ask for a show of hands how many people's hearts The only thing is His Harinam Sankirtanam. Who does He come with? He comes with Nitai, these two brothers. Paramakaruna po hundui jana. Hi, Jagai Madhai. into the bar are even harder to reach because they're only focused on one thing: ekādgrhacit. But of course it's perverted.

It's inverse.

Rama, Rama, Hari, Hari. Then Radha and Krishna dance.

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna. Thank you, Prasad Raaval ji. So, joap, uh, the 8 humans?

I mean, how are they distributed? Uh, maybe if you take the microphone.

So the real solution is just Thank you so much for your devotional and melodious rendering of these bhajans. I have two questions, if you permit me. First question is like, in these two bhajans we see that author has very helpless mood. So we— I mean, how to maintain this helplessness which is very favorable for Krishna consciousness?

I, I did get all of it. Kuch kuch samajhne aaye.

How to maintain this state of helplessness?

These two. Aha, yes. How do we attain? So, you know, or sadhu sangha, sadhu sangha sarvasiddhi. So, it's very different. 'Pavanti kṛṭkāṇa rasaṇa katha'— that becomes medicinal. Not only is it medicine, but it's good medicine. Like nowadays if you buy anything Ayurvedic, They stuff it with sugar because otherwise you cannot sell it.

So naa serye rasayein athaai dawaaye hai, balki badi swadish dawaaye hai. Yeh saaskal Ayurved kaandhavi tori hi cheenee milake dete hai, tak ke dawaaye khaane mein asani ho.

So in amongst pure devotees, even the Bhagavatam says some very unsavory things, but that becomes palatable in good association because we can see clearly.

From the eternal perspective.

And, uh, And then it's definitely, it is 'zurur'— you will become a red mango also, ripe mango. Okay, thank you. I think our time is up.

He has a second question.

Thank you. Okay, you said for pure devotees the Vishnu Doots will come and for a sinful man Yam Doot will come. What will happen for a mixed person?

Who will come? So, Prasad RAVAL, for devotees will come Vishnu Duta. And for simple man will come Yama Dutas. But what if we are in the middle? We are mixed.

Can't hear you either. Yes. Okay. Yes. Have you got a plan? Most of us actually fall into this category, so your question is relevant. I said, therefore I said, 'Asha banta'— we have to hope against hope.

Where is that?

If you take it seriously, right? Even one time. Tavāsmiti cha yācchate. Krishna will protect you. Only if we offend someone in Krishna's dear circle, then we have to be worried about this. But as long as we are sincerely Working under the guidance of one of Kṛṣṇa's pure devotees, we are guaranteed as long as we please him or her. And you know, all the encouragement is there. Aho bhagīyam sthānā-kāla-kūtam. Putana came to kill Krishna and still Krishna delivered her. That's causeless mercy. Only ones that Krishna sends to hell are the ones that really want to go there. They demonstrate repeatedly their determination to not surrender. So, Krishna says, if you've done even a little bit, it's okay. I will begin you from that point in the next life. But we have to be careful still. Because if we are cultivating desire for sense gratification, we may end up in Svarga Loka instead. Or if we are cultivating Gyan, we may end up in the Brahmajyoti instead. Or some quasi-liberated state where we have to fall down again. These two options are there for the conditional devotees. So what's the real conclusion? The real conclusion is that a devotee has to be progressing. You have to be taking steps forward every day. That's why I said we have to start surrendering today, right now. It's not enough that I intend to surrender someday. You have to do it now. It's not enough that I surrendered 30 years ago. You have to keep doing it. 'You stay in the sunshine of good association and you will not freeze.' Otherwise there's a very strong risk that you step outside of satsanga, your heart may freeze again. And even if that happens, even if it does so happen, fear not, you will come back at some point, but we don't know when. So again, the answer is that we don't really have to go into so much detail about what could be our future.

We have to guarantee what is our future.

Forget the past that sleeps and never dream of the future, but act in times that are with you, and you will go back to Godhead. This is the essence.

Ji ki jai, Jagadguru Srila Prabhupada ki jai. We are so very grateful to Prabhupada for letting us sing these wonderful Vashnav songs by Vidya Pati and Uttamdas Thakurji in such a deep way, in a very classical way, in such a sweet way. At the same time, he explained the deep import of each and every word. Of these songs. So Prabhuji, we are so very grateful to you that you came here, give us your sadhu sangha, which is so very important throughout our life in our devotional journey. So let's pay our gratitude to His Grace Mukunda Prabhuji by chanting Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Krishna. Okay, devotees. Oh my God.

Are you all?

Hare Krishna!

Hare Krishna!

Sambre, sambre, kath.