Sākṣi-gopāla: The Unfailing Witness CC Madhyā Līlā | Rus-Split | 7.5.92 | Gopāl Kṛṣṇa Goswāmī

Yesterday, what did you hear? Do you remember? Any of you remember? Story of Madhvandapuri. And day before yesterday, at this time, in this class, what did you hear? Who remembers what you heard day before yesterday at this class? Boy, I can't believe your memory. So we explained the meaning of Narottama Das Thakura's famous song. So we are reading from the Madhurya Leela section of the of the Bhāgavata Madhya-līlā section of the Caitanya-caritāmṛta. And today we'll give you the story of Sākṣī Gopāl. So this story is very famous. Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityānanda were very fond of this story. This story shows that God has a form, and God in that form is a person, and how Kṛṣṇa also protects His devotees. Of course, I'm not going to give the whole story in complete detail because I want to finish the class in half an hour, but just enough for you to transcendently absorb yourself. So there were two brahmanas who were out on the— who had gone out on pilgrimage. One was an elderly brahmana and the other was a young brahmana. All of you know the meaning of a brahmana. So brahmana is very dear to Krishna. Why is he dear to Krishna? Because he surrendered to Krishna. So Krishna becomes indebted to his devotees. Krishna protects the brahmanas and the cows. So the elderly Brahmana was a very rich man, Manogadhengyu, and the young Brahmana was poor. So the young Brahmana helped the elderly Brahmana in visiting all the places of pilgrimage, and the elderly Brahmana felt very indebted to the young Brahmana. He said, "You have done so much for me. If it wasn't for your help, I could never have completed this pilgrimage. I must do something in exchange for you." The young brahmana said, "No, I just did this as a service to Krishna. I don't want anything in exchange from you." The real brahmana does not sell his devotion. He serves without expecting anything in return. But these days you have brahmanas who sell their so-called skills. So the elderly brahmana insisted, "No, no, no, I must do something in exchange for you." He said, "Okay, I'll give my daughter in marriage to you," the young brahmana said. 'You must be joking. You are from such a rich family, aristocratic family. I'm a poor man. How ke ho? Nobody will agree to your daughter being married to me.' So the young man was saying, 'You must be joking. Nobody will accept it. Your wife, children, nobody will agree.' But the elderly Brahman said, 'No, no, no. My daughter is my property. I'll give her in marriage to you. Nobody can object to it.' In the Vedic system, the marriage of the daughter especially was always arranged by the father. So the father insisted, "No, I'll marry my daughter to you." But so when the father insisted that he was going to marry his daughter, then the young Brahmana said, "Okay, if you're so insisting on marriage, then I want you to make this promise in front of the Deity of Gopal." The young Brahmana knew that God is a person. Actually, the elderly Brahmana also knew that God is a person. The young Brahmana was very confident that the wife and the son of this elderly Brahmana will not let their daughter get married to a poor Brahmin like him. Young Brahmin was very smart. He gave the example of Rukmini. He said, "Rukmini's father wanted to marry her to Kṛṣṇa, but Rukmini's brother refused. So you similarly, you may want to marry your daughter to me, but your son will refuse." So finally, in front of the Deity of Gopāla, the old man promised the young man, "I will marry my daughter to you." So when the old Brahmana came home, he told his, he called all his relatives. He told them, "When I was out on pilgrimage, I was helped by a young Brahmana in all my activities. And I'm very indebted to this Brahmana. Therefore, I have pledged that I will marry my daughter in marriage to him." So then the family members all were very angry. They said, "This is not possible." "We are in such a aristocratic family and this young Brahman is from a very poor family. We cannot let this marriage take place." And the wife of the old man said, "If you marry my daughter to this poor man, I'm going to commit suicide." Just like sometimes when devotees join Kṛṣṇa consciousness, their parents say, "If you don't give up Kṛṣṇa consciousness, I'm going to commit suicide." So the old man was in big anxiety, what to do now. He knew that this young man has taken the promise in front of the Deity of Gopāla. So he knew that a promise made in front of the deity has to be honored. So he told his family members, "I have made this promise in front of the deities. I have to honor this promise." He told his family members, "What will you do when the deity will come and testify that I promised this, my daughter in marriage? Then what are you people going to do?" So the son of the old Brahmin was an atheist. He did not believe that God can speak. He did not believe that God can see or walk or talk. So he told the young Brahmana, he told the old man, his father, "This is impossible. How can the DTA would testify that you promised your daughter in marriage? This is bogus." So he said, "Don't worry, I'll take care of everything." So after some time, the young Brahmana came to the old Brahmana's house. He said, "You have forgotten your promise. You promised your daughter in marriage to me." So the old Brahmana did not want to say a lie, but he was under pressure from his wife and children. But within his heart, he wanted to give his daughter in marriage. So when the young Brahmana came to the old Brahman's house saying, "What happened? You have forgotten your promise," the old Brahman said, "I don't remember what I told you." And the son of the older Brahman was there, so he made such a big story that, "My father never promised you anything in marriage. You are a low-class man. You are after my family's money," and so on. Then the young Brahman, he went to the community of Brahmins. And he told them all, "This elderly Brahman had promised me his daughter in marriage. Now he has backed out of it. So he promised in front of the Deity of Gopal. So all of you please come with me and tell him that he should honor his promise." The young Brahmana was acting in this way not because he wanted something, but because he wanted to save the old Brahmana from getting sinful reaction. So all the Brahmanas came to the house of the rich Brahmana. The young Brahman with the whole community of Brahmanas came to the rich Brahman's house. All the Brahman told the rich Brahman's family that, "Your father has promised his daughter in marriage to this Brahman. Why aren't you honoring it?" So the old Brahman's son said, "No, my father never promised. Actually, my father is an old man. He had gone on pilgrimage and this young Brahman played a trick upon him." He said, "This young Brahman is very cunning. He met my father on pilgrimage." He gave him some drug to take and then my father got intoxicated and then he robbed him of all his money and ran away. Now he says that he promised his daughter in marriage. So the young Brahmin's position became very embarrassing. All the other Brahmins started losing faith in him. They thought that he was telling a lie just to get this rich man's money. So the young Brahmin said, "No! This man is lying because he doesn't want his sister to marry me. He is telling all these lies and giving these false accusations against me." Then the young Brahman said, "And the old man made this promise in front of the Deity of Gopal." So the son of the old man, as I told you, was an atheist. He did not believe that God has a form. He didn't believe that God can— God exists. So he was so confident that the Deity of— that the Deity is just a statue or made of wood or something or stone, that he gave a challenge to the young Brahman. He told the young Brahman, You say that my father made the promise in front of the deity. Can the deity testify that this promise was made by my father in front of, uh, to you? Okay, if my— if the deity will testify that my father promised his daughter in marriage, then I'll give you the— I'll let my sister marry you. The young Brahmana was very smart. He said, okay, give me a promise in writing. He said, you're a liar, you may change it later on. Give me in writing that if the deity of Gopal testifies that your father promised your daughter in marriage, Then he will let the marriage take place. So the young Brahman gave the old Brahman, the son of the old Brahman gave in writing that if the Deity of Gopāl can testify that my father promised his daughter in marriage, then we will give our sister in marriage to the young Brahman. So the young Brahman went to the Deity of Gopāl. He came all the way to Vrindavan. He said, "My dear Lord, You are the protector of the Brahmins. I do not want anything from this rich man." I don't want his money. I don't even want his daughter. Because this man has promised me his daughter in marriage in front of you, I want him to honor his promise. I'm being accused of having cheated this man. Please save my honor. So the deity of Gopal told the young Brahmin, you go and have your meeting there and I will come over there. Don't worry. And I will testify. But the young Brahmin said no. He said, you must come with me. 'You must come with me to testify.' So the Lord said, 'But I cannot walk. How do you want me to come?' But the Brahmin said, 'My dear Lord, if you can talk, you can also walk.' So then the Lord made an agreement with the young Brahmin, and the agreement was that the Lord will follow the young Brahmin, but the Brahmana was not supposed to look back on the Lord. The Lord was wearing ankles, So by that noise, the Brahmin knew that the Lord was behind. So the Lord started following the Brahmin, and they walked for days and days. The Brahmin felt impatient, so he just looked back, and then the Deity of Gopal stopped walking. So then the young Brahmin went running to the rich man's house, and he told them, "Yes, the Lord has come to testify that your father promised your daughter and your sister in marriage." So when the friends and the family of the old rich man heard this, they were surprised. But the son of the rich man, he was so confident of his atheistic views, he said, "Doesn't matter. God cannot— that statue will not testify that my father promised his daughter." And some of them were just laughing and joking and thinking that this young Brahmana has become crazy that the deity will testify. So then the old man and every, all his family members and friends came to the deity of Gopal. And the deity of Gopal said, "Yes! Your father, this old Brahmin promised his daughter in marriage to this poor Brahmin in front of me." And all the atheists in that assembly were shocked that God could speak like that, the deity could speak like this. And the old Brahmin was very happy because his honor was saved. So Lord Caitanya was very fond of this story. Lord Caitanya personally went to this temple of Gopal. This is known as the story of Sakshi Gopal. Sakshi means witness. So Lord Nityananda also was very fond of this story. So Gopal is a witness to everything. So we must understand that these Gauranithai deities that you see in the temple, these are not some brass statues. Here is God manifesting himself in the form of a deity. And this Gauranatha can speak to all of you at the same time. Sometimes people say, "Oh, I can only speak to one or two people." So God also maybe can speak to only one or two people at a time. But these Deities can speak to millions of people at the same time because He's God. So these Deities are non-different from Kṛṣṇa. We must understand that God is inconceivable. Goloḥkā eva ni vasādmiya kalādhnabhūta. The Lord resides in Goloḥkā-Bṛndāvana, but He's all-pervasive. Just like the sun is in the sun planet, but its rays are all pervasive. And with anyone, any one part of the body, he can execute the function of any other part. He can eat through his eyes. He can, he can create through his desire. So our philosophy is God is a person and God has senses. Not that God is some old man. So we have to anoint our eyes with love of God. Then you will understand the greatness of God. Otherwise you can't understand the greatness of God. So through the process of Bhakti Yoga you gain an understanding about the greatness of God. Those who understand that God is a person, God will reciprocate. And those who think, "Oh, here is some statue, some statue from India, made of brass," to them God will always remain a statue. So Kṛṣṇa is in the heart. He understands, He is witness to all our desires. And He manifests Himself externally in the form of Deities. This is known as archa-vigraha. Just like whether you post your letter in the big post office or the post box on the street corner, the letter will reach its destination as long as the post box is authorized. Similarly, when you worship Kṛṣṇa, understanding that God is a person, He will reciprocate. So please meditate all day today on the story of Sakshi Gopal. I hope yesterday you meditated on the story of Advaita Puri, and then you will be blissful all day. Hare Krishna. Tomorrow I'll tell you another story from Caitanya-caritāmṛta. But on Saturday and Sunday, I'll not give the morning class. I'll only give evening class. I'm only giving one class a day so I find some time to study or rush. Yeah, bodhu udu ruskio. Okay, I'll take on questions for 2 minutes. Devotees asked if they could preach in the slaughterhouses, something like some sausages factories and so on. Well, if you're so bold, you can preach. At least I don't like going there to preach, but if you want to go, then preach. I can't even stand the sight of meat, so Okay, that's okay. No, no, as I said, we have many devotees who preach in slaughterhouses even in Canada and America. You said that religion means receiving all the God's words. What does it mean to scientifically learn about God? To scientifically learn about God means to learn about God through scriptures. The scriptures are most scientific. The scriptures are not compiled by some, some scientist who is smoking and drinking all the time. Yes, Indra. What should be his mentality? Your mentality should be, here I am in front of God. Therefore, let me fall at the feet of the Lord and beg forgiveness from the Lord for all my mistakes and beg the blessings of the Lord for spiritual advancement. Well, God gives you what you want. Those who want real religion, God will bring them to ISKCON. Those who want show bottle religion, religion where you can do your nonsense and think that God has appeared as a son just to save you, then God will send you there. So the other religions will flourish in Kali-yuga because people don't want real religion. The Kṛṣṇa says: Manuṣya-nāma saḥ reṣu kaśṭhidhi tāti siddhaḥ. Out of millions, one will try to understand me. Therefore Prabhupāda said Kṛṣṇa consciousness was for the most intelligent. So all of you sitting in this room are the real cream of Moscow intelligence. Okay. It's a saccāsmanoga vaprāsa. This, why not? True humility means from the core of your heart You understand, "I am fool number one, and therefore I must, like a, like a, like a child, accept what I'm being told by the guru and śāstra and be respectful to other Vaiṣṇavas." False humility means, "Yes, yes, Prabhu, I am fool." But then you do whatever you want to do. You say, "To hell with them, they don't know as much as I know." Did he say, "To hell with them"? He didn't say the real thing. False humility means You just think, "They are all idiots. They know nothing. I know everything." "Jugya is nāyat." Yeah, okay. Malama le are.