Sharanagati

(Year First)

The Chair of Napoleon Haribol, dear devotees! Please, accept our humble and respectful obeisances. With the blessings of our beloved Gurudeva Bhakti Kamala Tirtha Maharaja, we are starting a new mailing-list called Sharanagati and we pray for the grace of Divine Couple and all of you merciful devotees to be able to carry on this service. The idea behind is our community always to be connected, staying together united around our Master, whose precious words and teaching help us to always remember and never forget the Divine Couple. Once Gurudev related us a story about the chair of Napoleon: When Napoleon was attacking Russia, he miscalculated something. It was too far and it was too cold. So his soldiers were in a very difficult condition. They were a small group and it was so cold, that however they were trying to protect themselves, they would be frozen. Then he invented his chair. So the soldiers were sitting in a row behind each-other like this: another vaishnava is sitting in front of you, and another, and another in a circle. In this way they were keeping together, holding eachother and sharing the warmth. Thus they survived this very cold night. Alone they would die. But sitting in a circular row and embracing each-other, they survived. Similarly all of us would freeze to death if left forsaken, alone without the warmth and sharing of our beneficial sadhu-sangha. Therefore we would like to start weekly sharing of a small part (1-2 pages) of our Gurudevs teachings as a firm support in times of hardship and an inspiration in times of joy. The issues will go in English, Hungarian and Bulgarian so that everybody could have full advantage of this hari-katha. If by some reason you do not want to be part of this, simply unsubscribe from the mailing-list. With the hope that you will accept our attempt and mercifully forgive us the mistakes we may slip despite all efforts, Remaining yours in the service: Chitra Devi dasi Palana Shakti Devi dasi Manohari dasi Vancha-kalpa tarubyash cha Kripa sindhubya eva cha Patitanam pavanebhyo Vaisnavebhyo namo namaha

1. Krishna, guru and service are never lost There are some very basic elements of any religious process. Like control yourself, purify your heart, do some active service, try to identify yourself more on the spiritual platform than on the material. These are general advices. And what is this special advice of Krishna Bhakti? Chant Hare Krishna. Nobody else is talking about this. What does it mean glorify God by calling out His name. Chant Hare Krishna this is not a sectarian approach to influence you into some bad direction. The meaning is: glorify God. If somebody calls out your name what do you do? You turn away your face I dont want to hear? No, naturally you turn: O, you are searching for me? I am here, I am your friend. A feature of a vaishnava is that he is a friend, good friend. Friend in need is a friend indeed. The bad friend is just like your shadow following you when the sun is shining on you. Whenever the sun shine is off, bad friends are gone. This is very useful, because in this way we can understand who is a real friend. He is a friend only until you pay the bill? Or when you are in need also And if you put your faith and trust only on the human platform, in other living entities its very easy to be frustrated again, and again, and again. But the qualities of Krishna are manifest in a pure devotee and the friendship, the ability to be a friend in the case of a vaishnava is a reflection of the original friendship of God. So Krishna never leaves you. His shadow is dark. Krishna is also dark. But He will not leave you. He is not following you only when the sun is shining. And when everybody leaves you He will stay. Krishna is never lost. Guru is never lost. Service is never lost. Dont forget these three little things. Krishna says that Those who are intimately connected with Me embrace Me in their hearts. I am there in their hearts. They are also in My heart. So Krishna is never lost. If you dont lose Him, He is never lost. Krishna is also called adi-guru, the first spiritual master. Guru is a function of God - to teach us, to guide us, to help us to come back to Him. So by different personalities, by different helpers He extends the help to us. Through Balaram, through Nityananda, through Ananga Manjari, through Radhika He is extending the help. Guru is divine. Divine manifestation, manifestation of the divine help on the practical level. So that is never lost! Guru-tattva is never lost. The guru principle is never lost. Immediately when you want to see that you will see! If you dont want to see, even the best guru is sitting next to you you will never recognize. When the disciple is ready the guru will come. And it does not mean that I will meet my spiritual master when I am ready. May be I know him from 200 years, but when I will be ready, I will recognize. So guru is never lost. Why? Because at initiation the disciple makes a vow: I will follow you. I will never leave you. But guru means heavy. Like heavy weight. Guru is heavy weight champion. Disciple is light weight champion. So the disciple may say: Yes, I was thinking that way in the beginning, but now I think in a different way. Now I leave you. I have changed my decision. But guru never changes. At the initiation guru also makes a vow: I will follow you. Wherever you go I will go after you. I will take you back. This is very deep connection. So guru is never lost. Guru-tattva is never lost. What about the service? Service also depends on our vision. If you want to serve you will find unlimited chances for that. If you dont want to serve, nobody can force you. Sometimes we might think that: O, for service I need this, I need that so many instruments. Only one instrument its called willingness. If you want guru can give you so many service that you will run away! Some of the senior disciples of Shrila Prabhupad, sannyasis, were crying in front of Prabhupad: Its too much, I cannot do this! Please! Take some little burden off my back! And what is your condition? Have you ever cried in front of

your spiritual master: O please, give me a moment of free breath! What is the level of your surrender? Light weight champion or heavy weight champion? We should never think that we have accomplished surrender. Krishna is not interested how much you give. He is interested how much you preserve for yourself. Service means to be connected. I repeat: faith without activity is dead. So we should express our faith. And what was the definition given by the acharyas about love? Love is service, taking care. This is love. Very practical! This is not something mystical and hazy, but very practical. In our love we should be very practical. How can you express your love? By doing something! So simple. This should not be a philosophy, this should be everyday bread. It is just like equation. Love = service. But you can put it in the other way round: service = love. Dont forget! Your service should be a loving offering to the satisfaction of God. Not some heavy job that I cannot tolerate anymore. Not some regulative formulas. But loving offering. This is service. Is it ever lost?! This chance to give with full heart and full emotions something to the Supreme? I think that chance is never lost. Sometimes we are so busy doing our service that we forget to give this quality of service to Krishna. Service should be quality service. Sometimes the formalities block the vision and we forget why did we started. We started the process for Beauty and Love. Not for suffering and intrigue. So that chance is never lost. May be Krishna takes away all the difficulties. Sometimes we might think that He takes away the instruments of service, of His service. But He is not satisfied with the instruments! He wants YOU! He wants you personally! Just like the gopies they did not wanted some theoretical meditation over the Supreme. You remember the story when they were meeting at Kurukshetra... there is a beautiful verse saying: This is the same fullmoon evening, the same company you and me same soft breeze is coming from the Malaya Hills Everything is the same. But I cannot embrace you. And this is full suffering. Something is still different. So when they meet again, almost everything is the same. But because they are blocked from this free kind of meeting, the intensity is higher. So the chance is never lost for great service. Then Krishna said: All right, you cannot meet Me all the time, because I am busy with My kingdom, but I have an advice for you. You can for example meditate over Me. And usually if God says to you that you can meditate over Me you would be satisfied, I suppose. But what was the answer of the gopies? NO. We are not satisfied with some theoretical meditation over You! We want YOU personally! We are not satisfied with one picture, with some thought! We want You personally. And maybe Krishna wipes away everything that is blocking our vision: Look at Me. I am here. So chances for service are never lost. Krishna is never lost, guru is never lost, service is never lost.

2. Dancing with White Angel People have different understandings about guru. In many cases we want to enjoy his protection. And in many cases we forget to pay the price, to give something. But this is quite normal: until we are children in spiritual life we only learn how to take, take, take. But guru with his example teaches us how to give, give, give. And real guru does not demand service for himself. Real guru never says: Worship me, serve me. He always says: Worship the Lord and serve the devotees. And in our spiritual tradition our position is das or dasi, servant. That means, everybody is higher than us. So we should be very respectful and humble with everybody. Can we explain how guru appears in our life? I dont think that we can explain. He is just like a lightening coming and bringing the light. What was so difficult and so dark before, now is very obvious and very easy. Why? Guru makes a miracle over you? He is a magician, saying some magic mantras over you? Yes, there are some mantras But the magic is on a different level. Guru has the potential to bring the magic out of you. He is just like catalyzing you. Because the main thing is in the disciple, in the reception of the disciple. Guru has something to give. But the disciple has to be ready to accept. And if you are ready to accept, then the miracles start to happen. Sometimes the recognition of guru is very fast, other times it takes some time but whenever it comes, fortune in our life starts. What do you say when you surrender: Im your eternal servant. Not momentary servant. Today yes, tomorrow may be No, Im your eternal servant. Eternal means from today on. Im always following you. This is also one sense of eternity. And as we were discussing, the disciple can always say no. But the guru can never say no. Because he is representing divine mercy. How can mercy say no to you?! Mercy cannot say no! Mercy can only say yes. So you also should be merciful with your spiritual masters. You should also say yes. The special power of the devotee is surrender. And we are so fortunate if there is a person, to whom we can surrender. What is the feeling of a devotee when he surrenders? He will feel: O! Now I have my home. I have my protection. I have my master. This is a fantastic feeling! I was searching for friends and I had met my brothers and sisters. I was searching for God and I had met love! I was living in darkness, but somebody with gentle fire brought me illumination. If you surrender you will be able to fly! Try it! You will not walk you will run! You will not swim you will fly! You will not live you will achieve existence. You will not simply be happy but you will enjoy. Therefore the guru connection is very special. By his mercy you will get your wings. Guru does not want to push you down into the mud. He wants to make you fly. He wants to give your soul the wings to fly. It is a different life if you meet your master. Dimensions start to change. Time is not passing by, but you can perceive eternity. And space will be reshaped, space will lose its original form. So you can feel, you can perceive very special feelings in the company of Sri Guru. There is divine atmosphere around the spiritual master. Because he is representing the spiritual sky. When I was trying to join the devotees somehow my brothers were so generous, that they arranged a meeting with my future spiritual master. And all of a sudden a white angel walked into my room. It was so obvious what to do after. And he asked: How translation is going on? And I said: Slowly. He said: Thats not good, it should be fast. And from this very moment things start to happen. So beware! If you dont want to dance dont meet spiritual masters. Because they want to dance. And they are searching for partners for this dance. So if you are not ready to dance

But of course we are all ready to dance. Because the heart and soul are always smiling, singing and dancing. And the presence of Sri Guru, the presence of Gurudev is very sweet and at the same time its very substantial. But the real meaning of his you can appreciate in the absence, unfortunately. Therefore I can suggest to everyone: do it until you can do. Dont lose a moment! Whatever service you can do tomorrow do it today. Dont miss the opportunity. Devotional life is not provided. Its not sure that tomorrow you can do the same. So we should do it today. And to miss or to be separated from the spiritual master this is the greatest disaster for a disciple. Still I feel very fortunate myself. Because after the departure of the spiritual master he returns to the disciple. He returns in a very special form. He returns in the form of disciple. He multiplies himself and returns in a number of disciples. So my one eye is crying and the other eye is smiling. Because my master had passed away, but you had come to me. And I try to serve him through you. So you are my spiritual masters. Therefore when somebody asks me: How many disciples you have? I always say: None. I have no disciples. I have only masters to serve. I dont know if you agree or not, but please, think! What is better to lead or to serve? Try to choose it for yourself. 3. The white, iron, evil Krishna Recently I was checking in the dictionary the meanings of the word krishna. It is very interesting! One meaning is black we know that. There are some other meaning like naughty. We know His nature, so that we also can understand. And then some others meanings; and finally there is one meaning in the dictionary that krishna means arjuna. And arjuna means white! So black means white! And Krishna means Arjuna! We know that Krishna is the speaker of Bhagavad Gita and Arjuna is the listener. And they are very good friends. Then I started to think: how is it possible that black is white!? And then it just came to me that this is a glorification of the sakhya-rasa. Because there are so much emotions in their friendship, that the black Krishna becomes white Arjuna! So they are so much united in their friendship, that the black becomes white. And white becomes black! So this is their deep emotional contact. Krishna means Arjuna, dont forget this! But this was not the end of the dictionary. There were some other meanings. The last meaning of krishna is iron. Although we know that Krishna has this all-attractive power, still according to the dictionary He is only iron! Then who is the magnet? The magnet has the attractive power! The special energy is in the magnet! And the iron Krishna is only responding to that energy. So who is that energy?! By that energy surplus Krishna will have that attractive power. And this is not friendship anymore! This is a different rasa. But sometimes its useful to check the dictionaries. Isnt it a beautiful process - when black is white and white is black? Where the iron will have the magnetic power, when you can be attracted to that magnetic power I think this is a beautiful process. Other meaning of krishna is evil. When is Krishna evil? With the gopies! All the time!!! He is killing them! Always saying come, come! and then frustrating them! Isnt that cruel?! But this again is a question of delicate taste, refined taste. Because Hs being cruel is not ordinary cruelty. So Krishna is cruel sometimes, He doesnt keep His word And so many other things He does. But for these reasons He is glorified. Because His divine nature is manifested more in this way. He is not an ordinary God who is always good. That is very boring. Krishna is always interesting! Every day He has something new to say to you. Especially when you think

that finally you have understood something that moment He will crush your ideas! So, He keeps you on the move. Because devotional life is movement. Waves must be there! When He is cruel that is sweet. So much so that nobody can leave Him. 4. Trustworthy atmosphere (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaja, 04.2005, Sofia) Intention is natural for the soul. Bad intention means disharmony in the natural functions. In final sense we can trace back everything to the false identification. Shrila Shridhara Maharaj says: When I start to work on a separate interest, not respecting the central or the ultimate interest of Krishna, then we can call this bad intention. If I try to use something for my own sake, irrespective of the divine structure. And practically it manifests with the misuse of freedom of the little freedom that we have. Because you can use your energy in harmony with the divine will; and you are free not to use it in this harmony. It means that you are not working for the spiritual benefit of others, but you feel that your immediate interest is more important than other peoples spiritual growth. This we can call distorted vision or distorted structure of values. Again this is a complicated question, because every person needs some space, some growth; everybody has some specific interests his or her own. We need a little space for ourselves, a little freedom for ourselves. And naturally it will have some interference with others. By living you interfere with the life of others. Because I breathe the air from you! I take some energy from the world, from the universe which you cannot take because I have taken. So there is interference if there is no harmony. But if I am pure in my intention, then I can breathe in such a way that you can also breath. The principle in this respect should be: live and let others live. And dont forget about the definition of a saintly person of course there are many definitions, but one is that a saintly person is living for the sake of others. My saint is not breathing against me, he is breathing for me. So bad intention in the practical sense can be traced back to illusion. We forget about the universal principles and push too much on our personal interests. How many times we had repeated Trinad api sunichena?! Be more humble than a blade of grass, be more tolerant than a tree, offer respects to anybody without expect anything for yourself. I think this is a common ideal for all vaishnavas. Everybody agrees: O, this is very nice! And where is the practical performance of that? We are very far away from that! So bad intention means you forget to work for the spiritual benefit of the others. That we can call himsa, violence. And physical violence is not so sinful, because you hurt only the body. But the spiritual violence that is really sinful. Because in this way you try to influence the soul, give trouble to the soul. Bad intention is just like a whirlpool. You start a bad though and it will just overpower your mental capacities and bring you down, down, down to the bottom. I dont think that a real vaishnava can have such a bad thought: I will give troubles to others! This is beyond my imagination. But may be I am too nave. And I dont know what the Kali yuga will bring in that respect And how to avoid practically this bad intention everybody should have the same ideal: Trinad api sunichena. And we should cultivate our desires, we should cultivate our feelings. It is said that you should cherish beautiful, warm feelings with the devotees in the heart. So we should come to a very high level of understanding each-other correctly. We must have very open and very trustworthy atmosphere and have very open communication. But of course without trustworthy atmosphere you cannot have open communication. So I think this is the first.

We read in the scriptures that the vaishnavas are pearls, pearl beauties of the world. And then we dont believe that the vaishnava seating next to me is also that type?! We should get rid of the bad conditionings that we have. We are very much inclined to see the mistakes or the fears. We are ready to imagine demons even in the open sunshine. You should protect yourself dont enter into such conversations where two devotees come together and they start to speak about the third one but not in a nice way. Immediately they start to criticize the third one, and the fourth one, and the fifth one This is NOT sadhusangha. This is gossip. Dont enter that because that will spoil, that will poison the atmosphere. Because if you speak bad about the third one, you can imagine what is happening with you when you are not present. The same is going on. So we should CUT this tendency. We should create the atmosphere of trust. Then the next step, the know-how to create that atmosphere is to stop criticism. And the second one is open discussion. If I have a problem with you I should go TO YOU, not to him. We should be open, pure enough and brave enough to talk to each-other. If somebody does not ask help from you then you must be very humble and very powerful, very compassionate person to help. Otherwise people will consider this as violence, spiritual violence. So if somebody does not ask you: Please, tell me what are my mistakes, then we should NOT give the mistake list, we should give the pro-list. Vaishnavas are also human beings. Usually. May be there are some divine angels also, but usually they are human beings, simple human beings. If you come with: O, Gurudev has told you to wake up earlier and to do more service! he will do, she will do but not with a light heart. But if you say: O, Gurudev always appreciates your efforts. Krishna accepts your service so nice. And this is not a flattering! Definitely we should avoid that, because it is another type of cheating. But to really appreciate the good qualities of the others and to focus on them try that, you will see miracles. Not only in the others, but in your mind, in your mentality also. They will fly and you will have very good feelings. We should see the tendency and we should educate ourselves to see the good. In this way devotees should become just like Krishna. And I have told you many times: Krishna is not interested in your mistakes and bad character. But He can see the little spark in you and He will give fresh air to that little spark, so that it grows and flames up. He is not concerned with your mistakes. He is only interested in your small little good efforts and He tries to strengthen that. We should have the same mentality to see the good intentions, the good abilities, the good tendencies in others and neglect or forgive the shortcomings. What is more important a small mistake or a big devotion? If this is your service to call the attention of the others on their mistakes, its a very difficult service. This is only for the high class devotees. Because this service is called guru. He has to focus sometimes on your mistakes also. The guru is not contaminated if he focuses on your mistakes. But if we concentrate on the mistakes of others, then we will be contaminated. And then the mistake will not be outside, in the other person, but inside my mind. Therefore we should try to avoid that by all means. So become like Krishna! Always see the good in others. We should cultivate ourselves, we should educate ourselves. The humble souls never lose. Never. 5. The Queen of Vrindavana (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaja, 28.05.2005 pm, Sofia) One of my favorite stories is its not really a story, but its rather a temperament, a feeling, a mood when Shrimati Radharani is depressed. Usually we want to hear stories

where there is jubilation. And jubilation comes from yoga or sambhoga when they meet, when the lovers are together. So love story was not invented in Hollywood. This is the original story. But as the really touching movies always speak about separation because fulfilled love is not really interesting unfulfilled love, that is really interesting! There is sadness. There is pain. Still that pain is so deeply emotional that we like the story. Such a love story becomes hit on the movies. Millions of people go and watch the story. So something about these emotions When Radha and Krishna meet there is jubilation, and its very intensive and very high feeling. But when They are separate then the feelings are even more deep. Just imagine, now we sitting here and exchanging these views its ecstatic! Its very good, very satisfying. But when you will go home and when you will miss the company of Shrila Sadhu Maharaj then you will be able to really appreciate the value. To be in yoga, to have the company its very nice. But when we dont have that connection its even more penetrating feeling. So the meeting of Radha and Krishna is intensive and high, no doubt. But Their separation! When there is NEED then its much more interesting. And sometimes these feelings are so intensive that Radhika is close to death. Her temperature rises and then drops almost to ice-cold. Whole body is dried up no water element inside Life energy is almost gone No breathing or almost no breathing. Everybody is completely sad in Vrindavan Because Vrindavana has no king, this is not a kingdom this is a queendom. There is only one Queen in Vrindavan. Without the Queen the whole village is just dying! And other times, when Krishna turns Her down too much, then Shes just crushing on the ground unable to speak so deeply touched by emotions, so much frustrated, that She is able only to draw some figures in the sand. This is my favorite And when I see the devotees in the same depressed mood that just melts my heart completely. So I try to do my best in order that they could come closer to these feelings, the divine depth of separation. The only problem with separation is thinking that this is the only path. 6. Qualities of a vaishnava (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaja, 28.05.2005 pm, Sofia) The vaishnavas have two qualities: one is like kalpa-taru and the other is like karunasindhu. Kalpa-taru means special tree, wish-fulfilling tree. In the spiritual world it doesnt matter what kind of need you have, you just go to any tree, say your desire and its immediately fulfilled. But dont mix that with the material sphere. You can go to any tree here, you can tell your prayers, you can tell your desires results are not coming. These trees can produce only one type of fruit if any. But on the spiritual platform the trees can produce any fruit you like. Therefore these are magical trees, magic trees. So one quality of a vaishnava, pure servant of the Supreme Lord and the Divine Couple, is to become like wish-fulfilling tree. But if you go to such a highly elevated spiritual person with some material motivation, no results are coming. Because a spiritual-desire tree cannot produce material results. So great saint cannot bless you with material benefit. Because he wants your spiritual benefit. But whenever you meet a pure devotee of the Lord and you ask anything spiritual, you will get it. So dont miss the opportunity. Whenever you meet a pure devotee just ask for his blessings. Because a real vaishnava has the other quality also karuna-sindhu, ocean of mercy. So if you ask blessings, you will get unlimited blessings. Because he is just like a vast ocean. Unlimited mercy capacity he has. But this prayer is told to the devotees. Again and again I offer my respectful obeisances at the lotus feet of the vaishnavas, who are just like the spiritual wish-fulfilling

trees and the oceans of mercy, and they are very much ready to serve the spiritual benefit of all living entities. Many times devotees put this in a short form: Vancha kalpa, prabhu! Put this prayer full! Or other short form PAMHO. Dont cut, dont make it short! Always put it in full. Please, accept my humble obeisances! Vancha kalpatarubhyash cha/ kripa sindhubya eva cha/ patitanam pavanebhyo/ vaishnavebhyi namo namaha. This is not an easy thing: Hey, vancha kalpa! Dont take it easy. What kind of prayer is this?! You should penetrate the meaning of this prayer. We should have the feeling towards a pure devotee that O, I worship you like a wish-fulfilling tree. You are an ocean of mercy for me! This is part of the spiritual exchange. When we express our gratitude towards a devotee, in this way we serve the devotee. And this is our ideal to become the last servant of the servants, which is a very high quality. On the material platform servant is not respected too much. Everybody wants to be a master. They say: Better be a master in hell than servant in heaven. This is the material consciousness, mentality. Because they say There is good company in hell. But company in heaven is much better. So if we serve a devotee with such a nice prayer and we have the mentality of respect and surrender to that person, what will be the result? He will also repeat: O, vancha kalpatarubhyash cha He will tell this prayer to YOU! And what is this this is an invitation to qualify yourselves. To become like wishfulfilling trees and to become like oceans of mercy. So we should not become an ordinary living being by practicing Bhakti. We should become unique. We should acquire these special qualities: always trying to serve the spiritual benefit of others and always trying to provide the flow of eternal mercy towards the other people. When we are able to do this? When we are connected. When we are in Yoga. If you are connected to the ultimate source, then through you everything can manifest to others. So therefore we are searching for this connection. That is Yoga to be connected to the Supreme. But any kind of Yoga is satisfying? No, we need a qualified Yoga. Our Yoga is called Bhakti. Bhakti means emotional approach to the Absolute Truth. So this is the way of the devotees a qualified Yoga, qualified connection. Not an ordinary connection. You should not become ordinary trees. You should become wish-fulfilling special trees. And not only little drops of water after the rain but oceans of mercy you should become. 7. The waves (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj and B.V.Sadhu Maharaj, 05.2005, Sofia) Tirtha Maharaj: We are very happy to arrive to Sofia and to enjoy the divine company of Shrila Sadhu Maharaj and all of you. Because all those who try to dedicate their lives to the divine service of Shri Shri Radha-Krishna are very special personalities. It is said that vaishnavas are just like precious stones. So we should appreciate the vaishnavas like this. The more vaishnavas we have around, the more wealthy we are - and everybody wants to become a wealthy person. But we should be wealthy in our company, we should be wealthy in our divine qualities and we should be wealthy in our service. Bhakti as a process works in a very interesting way. This process is very powerful and it works in an unnoticed way. You dont really know how it works, still it brings the effect. And you cannot resist, its irresistible. So these are the features of Bhakti: very powerful, its impossible to know how it works, still its irresistible. If we come in contact with Hari, guru, vaishnavas - then this irresistible power starts to manifest in our life. Sometimes it is hidden, other times it is very obvious. And until we dont have enough taste to feel that, we need proofs. But when we live, when we swim in the ocean of higher consciousness and divine love, then it is so obvious that we dont need any proofs. We can live inside this divine element.

So by following the footsteps of the pure devotees, praying for their blessings, doing our best what we can and always waiting for the blessings, always waiting for the divine mercy we can jump into that ocean. But beware! The ocean is deep and has high waves! We call this process Bhakti Yoga. What is Yoga? Yoga is control. Sometimes even a bhakta controls himself or herself just like a real meditative yogi, very peaceful, no obvious signs. So Yoga is controlled. But Bhakti is not controlled! Bhakti has high waves of emotional ecstasies. So outside you can be controlled, you can be in Yoga but inside you should be in Bhakti, beyond control. But the way to achieve this uncontrolled state is to possess all controls. Without control, without Yoga how can we come to Bhakti? Of course Bhakti has one more feature, the fourth feature Bhakti has her own nature, she will come from a higher plane; so she is not manufactured, but reveals. A kind of self-power to manifest herself. When she comes, she just knocks you off your feet, knocks you out! Bhakti is very powerful! When she comes you just have no power to resist. Therefore we are waiting for that special moment. Because it is said that cistern just fills up step by step, but a spring overflows. This is the difference between Yoga and Bhakti. Yoga you can achieve step by step. But Bhakti is just exploding! Sadhu Maharaj: Before Im talking: Bhakti means prem, love with action. But today I learned more higher thing: emotion! In love you need emotion also, in action. That is Bhakti you need in love emotion also. Dry love will not work! Emotion will work! If there is no emotion no waves in the ocean. Then you will relish to see ocean? You will not relish to see ocean. So waves are very important in ocean. That is emotion. In love you need emotions. Radhe Radhe Govinda 8. The uncooked rice (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 29 of May 2005, Sofia) We have to pay the price for everything. We want to achieve, get, enjoy but we have to pay the price. And usually it is said that in material world you have to pay the price after. First you can enjoy, but later you have to pay! Just like entering a big BILLA. You enter and you think: O, o, o! This, this, this! I can put everything into my bag! But at the exit you have to pay! In difference with the spiritual things, because there you have to pay first and then you can enjoy. So therefore many people dont like this version, because Hey, I have to pay first, ahead, before getting anything!? They are accustomed to the other version: try to have, try to enjoy then may be you can skip paying at the end Theres no end to Maya; so you cannot taste everything. And we can imagine: if the servant of God is unlimited in her potential, how much more capacities God has! You remember the story of Narada Muni, when he said: Illusion? What is that illusion? Then Krishna immediately was listening: Illusion? You just go to the lake and take your bath. And you know, water is a divine blessing. Its there at the creation of the universe. Its coming from divine source. And the real water can transform you: wash all the dirt, change you, baptize you so many powers water has. But that water was very special, because this was miracle water. Narada Muni has gone to take a bath in the water and transformation started to happen. He left his Narada body and from the water a beautiful lady came out! Narada entered young lady came out. And immediately where there is young, nice, beautiful lady a young beautiful boy is coming. Without that the story is not complete. So a young prince was appearing on the stage. He understood: O, she is so beautiful! I have to take her as a wife. And immediately the whole story started to happen: they established their family, then children were born, then happiness was coming and troubles were coming so many

complications. And many sufferings also; so much so that children were dying and kingdom was lost and so on So if we think that we can try everything, taste everything even on the limited platform of material existence its impossible. And the old lady, after so much troubles loosing husband, loosing children again went back to the same water. And taking again bath Narada came out. For Narada it was just one moment; although a whole life was happening meanwhile. So in that respect we should not be gradual. We should not be reformists: o, Ill make a little progress in this lifetime, may be next lifetime I can make more. No, in that respect we should be revolutionaries. Jump! But jump not into the darkness. Grab the dhoti of a pure devotee. There we can hold on. So this is our revolution: we jump after the devotees. In this way you can bridge the gap. And actually it is not you who bridge the gap because somebody will extend a helping hand to you and take you. Dont try everything; its the same old stuff all over. The same old wine in a new bottle. You should remember the one grain of rice example. When there is a pot of rice, you take one grain and its uncooked then you can understand the whole pot is uncooked. And we have taken so much experience in the material sphere. We had taken not only one grain of rice hundreds, thousands You go to the next pot, its the same. Rice. Uncooked. Therefore we should change our diet. Change your diet to prasadam. That is the Mercy Sampradaya. You dont have to try everything. Because if we dedicate our life to trying everything that means not only the happy side. Everybody wants to take the happiness, but you also have to take the suffering. Everybody likes to take the cream on top of the coffee. But nobody likes to take the dregs on the bottom. Still one doesnt go without the other. So if you try materially happiness - and suffering will come together. Why should we waste time trying tomorrow! Today I failed and yesterday I failed but may be tomorrow That is not intelligent. From one sign we should understand. The desire to live is called trishna. We should change this to Krishna. Trishna is desire, thirst. But Krishna can satisfy your thirst. Therefore we change the diet. 9. Inside the heart (From lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 2 of July 2005, Sofia) Secrets Where do you hide your secrets? The greatest secrets of life and existence are written in the heart of a pure vaishnava. Because somebody is living in the heart of a pure devotee and that is Radha-Krishna. And in the heart of Krishna there is also living somebody. That is the pure vaishnava. So in this way they share their hearts with each-other. Therefore if we want to make a loving search for the Supreme Lord, if we want to follow that example, then we should search in the hearts of the pure souls. They are a little bit closer on the practical level. But if you really want to find them, where you should search? You should search in the heart of Krishna. In this way they share the most profound and most secret place. The space inside the heart is also called guha. What does it mean guha? Hidden or secret place. And that little space inside the heart is so great, so expansive, that even God can fit into that space. And such a place is very expensive and valuable! Because what is valuable for you that you keep secret. You can buy a big safe, you can put inside the wall and all the bonds and assets and money you can hide there. But its nothing! You cannot preserve that for a long time. Because its under the influence, under the care of Lakshmi Devi, and like ladies she is also chanchalam type coming and going, not really fixed in one place. So our material assets we cannot put into a safe. But according to the capacities of the people, they collect their assets on different levels. What is the asset of a bramin? Austerity, wisdom, knowledge... And for a kshatriya?

Strength, power And for a vaishya? This is money, very practical! And for a shudra? Its not service! Its only time. He only collects time, gets older and older. Because service is the asset of the vaishnava. But that is the top, its not the bottom. Even higher than wisdom. Even higher than knowledge. Because through our service mood we express our love; therefore this is our greatest asset. So you can identify yourself on what level you collect your assets. Well, I had been grown old in the company of the devotees. But nothing else. If you collect only the months and years, but no result that is not a great collection. But according to our capacity we should act. And the greatest value in devotional life is devotion itself. Because if we have devotion, even mistakes or shortcomings become like ornaments. Shall I tell you a story about this? How this miraculous transformation takes place? Once there was a devotee. And this devotee was very simple-minded. But he was very talented and very devoted to preaching, so to say - to help people. And once his Gurudev told him to find some notes on the desk of the guru. So they agreed that: Yes, you can take these notes, my son, and you can learn, study from them. And after some time the guru just realized that the disciple has taken much more than agreed. Some so to say secret notes from the spiritual master and something under preparation he collected more. And when guru realized that Hey, my son has usurped my assets definitely he wanted to chastise him, to teach him that this is not correct. So he called the disciple: Come here, my dear son and tell me what was happening? Did you take what we agreed? Yes, I took. Anything else? Mmm, yes Why did you take, we did not agree that you can take that, this is not nice. And you know, I dont like when people interfere my notes!!! said the guru in a high tone. But then immediately some tears appeared in the eyes of the disciple. He was sitting in front of the spiritual master and was just unable to see correctly. And guru asked: And what did you do with these?! I just distributed How could you do this, nonsense fellow!!! And then with tearful eyes he said: Only for the benefit of the fallen souls Then what could the spiritual master say? All right, my son, you just do what you like! o steal the notes of the spiritual master this is not a very polite act. And naturally there is some remark, coming from the spiritual master. But if the disciple has THIS ideal that he steals from the master for the sake of the fallen souls then what can the master say? Stealing from the spiritual master is NOT nice. Its not according to the principles. But if you do this on the principle of devotion and for the benefit, for deliverance, to safe the fallen people then this shortcoming or this sinful act becomes glorious devotional service. Still, I suggest, you dont start to steal from this day on in the name of a high type devotional service. Because if we follow the instructions and try to enter deep in the instructions mood also the same intensity of service can be achieved. So secrets we keep hidden. Usually devotees make big propaganda on their faith on Krishna, on guru, on whatever they had understood so far. But this is just like when you have small amount of butter. When you want to offer your guest or your son or daughter bread and butter, if you have enough butter theres no problem. But when there is little the less you have, the more you spread. Same with spiritual understanding: the less you have, the more you distribute. This is the neophyte propaganda. Small assets big propaganda! If you check out really great souls, usually they hide go to some cave or in the jungle. Or they act just like any other simple human being. And YOU must have the eye to understand them. So even for having a secret you have to be qualified. We have to recognize the secrets. We have to understand the values. A very intense devotional atmosphere can be perceived here. That shows, that proves to me that you have some secrets. But I dont want to be indiscreet, to search out your secrets. Keep it for yourselves. Cultivate it in your hearts.

10. Full devotion full satisfaction guaranteed (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 3 of July 2005, Sofia) Devotional life is very simple. Devotional life, Bhakti Yoga means we try to establish living contact with God Supreme in an emotional way. And if we can devote some time in the morning and in the evening to our spiritual practices I mean the spiritual practice proper, direct: meditation, puja, studies, mantra, then in the mornings and in the evenings you can start and end your days by inviting Krishnas presence into your life. That is very simple. And meanwhile we have to harmonize all our activities with the divine desire and will of Krishna. Once I met an old sannyasi. And there were some new, young sannyasis also following him. And the young sannyasis were giving very bright lectures: quotations from here, explanations from there very enlivening! Everybody was charmed. When the old sannyasi came, what was the message of his lecture? You just enter the temple, fall down, offer your obeisances to Krishna and everything will be nice. So until we are young we need bright and exciting experience. When you are old, elder, when you are more mature, then you will see the essence. What is essential? To offer yourself in the service of God. Otherwise everything will be harmonized. Everything else is secondary compared to this. But imagine, if we repeat the same message for hundreds of lectures, after some time nobody would attend. Once I met a man, who visited a public lecture after some six years before he was visiting, six years stopped and then coming again. And he was almost frustrated. He said: These guys are talking about the same thing! Still the same message! Is that wrong or good? In the world where we are conditioned to always try to find something NEW, according to that standard you can think that this is an old message. Actually Krishnas message is an eternal message. Sometimes in order to make some propaganda, to make it more easily digestible for people, we include some this and that But basically the message is the same: devote your life. Our highest ideal is voluntary self-surrender; and how is this possible without affection? This is the definition of Bhakti Yoga. Selfless surrender and full satisfaction guaranteed. By this your atman, your existential being will be super-satisfied. But dont believe me! Dont believe such propaganda that in the future you will be happy, you can achieve something. If you dont achieve it right now, if you cannot taste it right now, what is the use?! We have to examine ourselves here and now. What is the quality of our life with Krishna and the devotees; and we can also put the theoretical question what kind of life we would have without Krishna and without the devotees? We miss only the nectar if we stay outside. So what can we do, we are on the hook. Krishna has captured you. Something must be done. Then at least we should be happy about it! And this transition from our separate interest to come in harmony with the divine interest is a big transition. But we should perform this experiment. Whatever we have, we should somehow use or engage in devotional service. One very, very nice example of this is coming from Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakurs time. He had one lady disciple, she had a house in Calcutta. And she invited Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati; but at that time he was already very busy and always many people followed him it was big troupe. So to invite him meant to invite many. And she was on the waiting list. But finally the news came to her: Gurumaharaj will come. So she prepared everything perfectly. Housing and prasadam and everything was in perfect condition. Bhaktisiddhanta came with many disciples and they had nice lecture, program there. They were sleeping there one night and next day they were leaving. And after some time he got the message that in order to prepare, to finance everything their meeting and visit - she had to sell the flat. That was not inauguration ceremony, that was farewell ceremony for the house. She was ready to sell the

house in order finally to invite her guru. So in the morning Gurudev was leaving, and at midday she was also leaving. When Bhaktisiddhanta got the news, immediately he said: Provide a special place for her in the main temple. Which is very unusual to invite a lady into a brahmachari ashram. But if you are above the limitations, then you can understand the essential message. And that is: full devotion full satisfaction guaranteed. I think from this mood we can understand what is the message of the Bhagavatam: The best religion for humanity is that, by which they can establish a loving contact with God; and this approach should be unconditional and permanent. In this way the atman, the self would be fully satisfied. 11. The spiritual mind (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, July 2005, Sofia) The wicked mind, materialistic mind is coming from the body. But then we should ask whether the spirit soul also has a mind of not? There must be. Should there be added any adjective to that mind? Spiritual mind! There must be spiritual mind also. Why? What is the function of the mind? Thinking, willing and feeling. Thinking, thinking capacity is the first. When you are able to move not only in the physical plane, but you have some brain, you can make a plan. But the main mistake for materialists and the neophyte devotees is that they act first and think later. Better we do not make a post calculation; think first and act second. Thinking capacity can be very useful; and can be very dangerous also. Because if you become over-complicated in your mind, then its just a maze, you cannot find your way out. Therefore we should be very simple-minded. Simple-minded doesnt mean that you are stupid, but means you are simple and honest person. Just like it said in the Bible that for the simple-minded there is the Heaven. This is what I mean: simplicity is almost equal to spirituality. This is some very elemental necessity. And then second is willing. When you think, then you come to some conclusions. And to realize your conclusions you must have will power. Schopenhauer says that The world is just will power and vision. Or may be better I quote the Goswamis and not the Schopenhauer? Anyway, he is the authority on skeptic philosophy and pessimism also. And his conclusion about the world was: O, this life is a marsh so I decided to think, to ponder over it! Our conclusion is not like this, our conclusion is that life - with all the troubles and all the ups and downs - is a necessary part of our training. And we DO posses some will power. But we have to find the direct and the perfect targeting of our will power. Because if the power of a human being or a soul is misdirected, then only bad results will come. If we want to serve our own separate interests, we shall loose. If you live for yourself, you live for nobody; but if you live for God, then you live for everybody. You agree with this equation? Spiritual mathematics Spiritual metaphysics We must understand how to use our will power. Its not that we should become so much empty and impotent, that we are not able to do anything. Many times I had told you that the requirement from the disciple is that he should feel like a fool number 1 in front of the spiritual master; but he should not ACT as a fool number 1!!! Dont mix. That means, you should find the best targeting of your will power. Set the goal and examine how to reach that. So if my goal is the lotus feet of Shri Krishna, what is the way to achieve that goal? The way to the lotus feet of Krishna is paved by the holly name. So the simplest message is to set the goal, find the way and do it. And then comes the third function of the mind the feeling capacity. Because how can we achieve our goal without deep feelings? Then this is only VERY superficial. We can call

this artificial also. Because the soul is full of feelings by nature. If we dont utilize our feelings, then we move only on the surface of the soul platform. So if we want to summarize the devotional ideas, then we can say that the highest ideal and the highest goal is voluntary self-surrender. How is that possible without feelings, without affection? This is the definition of Bhakti Yoga: dedicate yourself with feelings. And this is not some sectarian idea; this is a very practical idea in everyday life also. How many of you have a job here? If you have to approach your boss, what is the way? Try to submit yourself with affection. This will be an unusual approach in the job. If you are not driven by more money or more fame or more whatever, but you want to serve, simply you want to serve, with affection. This will be very unusual, try it! But sometimes you are bosses, not employees but leaders. The same applies try to submit yourself to your subordinates. This will be extra unusual! They will be amazed what has happen to the boss. So far he was such a fool, so unbearable, but now he had changed a lot! So this works. It gives some impulse on people. How many of you have a family, or friends, or we can add any kind of human relationship All of us are integrated in human relationships, right? This way or that way, doesnt matter we have company. So the same applies try to submit yourself with affection. This is Bhakti Yoga submit yourself with love. Therefore I say that this is not something theoretical that we apply only to Krishna and in very scientific and metaphysical way we try to surrender to God and forget about everybody else! How can you be God conscious in an inhuman way!? How could we love Him without appreciating His company. Bhakti must be a general approach. Bhakti is the emotional approach to the Supreme Truth we can give that definition. But it HAS some practical consequences. So if we use our wicked mind, then material consequences will come. The wicked mind will bring us to this material sphere. Wicked mind means you are very complicated. You have so many ideas, that you miss the truth. And you are so much devoted to truth, that you miss love. One is worse than the other. But then, where is the spiritual mind? They say the mind is residing in the heart. And I feel that the brain is only just like projection tissue of the heart, of the mind. Just a gland of the heart quite big indeed, but still subordinate to the heart. The heart is small and the brain is big, too big sometimes, head is too big but still this is subordinate. And actually spiritual progress, spiritual path or devotional path means a journey. A journey from the head to the heart. Only 30 centimeters. But it takes so much time to travel that path! So the spiritual mind we can identify as such a function, where the souls thinking, willing and feeling capacities are manifested. We cannot say that the soul does not have these functions. Because then how can you love Krishna if you have no feelings? How can you say yes to him if you have no will power? How can you perform your service if you dont have any thinking capacity how to organize your service, at least? Or how to protect my yoghurt from Krishna today you must have some brain! We have to think, we have to think a lot in Vrindavan also! If we are willing to surrender, using our free choice, using our free desire and we give our affection also than this is complete. So, voluntary approach is obligatory. 12. Harmony (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, July 2005, Sofia) We are all searching for harmony. But as many people there are as many conceptions about harmony. Some people think that harmony is a very cozy lukewarm lake. But I doubt. For me harmony is not simply passive good feeling. For me harmony has some

tension! It has some progressive aspect. For me harmony is dynamic. And you think for yourself whether harmony is only a passive state or an active principle in our life. Usually we work very hard to achieve harmony with more or usually less success. Therefore the know-how to achieve harmony we must also learn. To improve and enhance our practice we should study and burn into our hearts the message of the pure devotees. I would like to quote a very highly elevated vaishnava saint, Shrila Shridhara Maharaj. Some people were coming together in his temple and inquiring about spiritual topics. No big formalities, but very essential and deep teaching. So he says: Harmony How the things of the opposite sides can be harmonized - by higher principles. To harmonize things of a particular plane - energy of a higher plane is necessary. Thesis, antithesis, synthesis To any thing there must be something anti, cannot but be! Some opposition, some opposite conception will come. Any statement has some opposition; and to harmonize that, this is the duty. Hegel says that this is the process of progress. Progress is this: whatever there would be, some conception of opposition possibly will come. And to finish opposition, greater harmony is necessary. Highest type of harmony is so, that diversity ultimately helps it. There are some very important words here. To harmonize things of a particular plane - energy of a higher plane is necessary. So it is very good if we have opposition on the same level. Because in that time we have the chance to invite the harmonizing power of a higher plane. And what is impossible for us, that is very simple for superiors. Im sure that all of us have met opposition in our lives. May be simple or difficult case, may be more often or more rare but opposition is there. What is the reason of opposition? This is not to give you trouble, but to test your reaction. So if opposition is there, its not the problem of opposition, this is our problem how we react. The whole question is revolving around our response. The impulse is coming from outside, but what is the resonance that it will create in you, this is the question. And the more pure you are, the more harmonious reaction you will be able to create. A neophyte person will have very basic reactions. Somebody on the intermediate platform will have better type of reactions. But somebody on top platform will have only perfect harmonious reactions. When we approach the devotees, usually we think that they are minimum like demigods, almost divine and respected very high. They are super-human, angelic! We come one step closer and then the wings of these angels are falling down. You understand that they are also human beings! With almost the same problems as myself! So then you start to think: Well, may be its not necessary to give so much respect to them. At that time opposition will come in the company of the devotees - or kind of fighting. And when devotes of the same level come together, they are very good in fighting. Usually they can represent their ideas very strongly and very passionately. Forgetting about Yoga being controlled they come very much into Bhakti full emotions are manifest. Of course, never fighting over their ideals or interests only on tattva, only on principles! So if you enter such a temple, you will have a very bad feeling! What is the atmosphere here? Its nothing special, just like outside there! Outside there is disharmony, inside this is also disharmony. What are you talking about?! So, if people on the same level, same platform come together, very easily they can manifest these symptoms. But what happens if the spiritual authority comes? O, immediately everybody starts to behave like a good vaishnava. Isnt it? O, I know the etiquette, I know the rules, I follow all the regulations. So everybody tries to show a good face. Immediately when the authority comes, all the best is manifested from people. This is the special power of somebody authorized. He can bring out the best part of you. But even in the presence of spiritual master sometimes the devotees are ready to go on fighting.

That was happening in Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvatis time also. So when two devotees were fighting to each-other, sometimes the case was brought in front of the spiritual master and what was he doing? He was inviting both parties ready to fight with each-other and ready to say anything wrong about the other. And they got a very special spiritual practice they had to glorify each-other. At that time the anger and the bad feelings had to be curbed, had to be stopped and you had to think what are the good qualities of the other person. So this is a very vivid example of how the harmonizing power of higher authority manifests. And please, try to remember this example! If next time in your life when you come to such a situation that you are angry at somebody and you try to criticize somebody, try to invite your spiritual authority may be in your mind, may be in your meditation - and follow this principle: start to glorify the other person. Immediately your bad feelings will be removed. Of course, in most of the cases we are not able to do that. Because we have a different conditioning. And very few people are able to examine themselves from the outside point of view. Less is the number of those people, who can actively change their habits or character. And even less are those, who can influence others to change their characters. Anyway, we have to start somewhere. 13. Consciousness is not enough (From lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, July 2005, Sofia) It doesnt matter how many hundreds of lectures we had heard, but it DOES matter how much we had realized from that. That is true that Bhakti Yoga begins with shravanam. From this we can understand that even the Bible is based on the principles of Bhakti Yoga. Because in the Apostils it is said that Faith is born from hearing. We agree, because if we hear from faithful people, our faith will be strong also. So everybody knows that hearing is very important. But its not enough, the Upanishads say its not enough. Lot of learning, lot of studies, lot of hearing its not enough to realize God. Because He will be revealed only to those, whom He chooses. Still we have some duties in order to invite the attention of the Supreme Lord. It is suggested that you should not live in a way that you see Krishna but you should live in such a manner that HE recognizes you. You have heard this, right? Did you realize that? So you see, that is the difference between hearing and doing. Of course Krishna observes with a gentle vision your movements. Still if we try to live according to His desire, His mood then we can invite more attention. To invite the attention, or to catch the attention of someone you can achieve in different ways in a loving way and in an offensive way also. So either you become a great devotee, or you become a great demon; you can achieve the attention of Krishna both ways. Because what was the position of Kamsa, for example? What were his activities, what he was doing? He was thinking of Krishna all the time! He was very much conscious of Krishna he was Krishna conscious! Is that enough?! Its NOT enough! You must have Krishna BHAKTI, not only Krishna Consciousness. Because you can be conscious of Krishna in an offensive way also. But in a gentle, in a loving mood we shall come to be. Therefore dont be satisfied with Krishna Consciousness. Thats nothing! We need Krishna Bhakti! Krishna Consciousness is available for demons. And you can achieve liberation by that process, no problem. But prem is reserved only for those, who have Krishna Bhakti. Try to understand what I mean; I dont say that you should not become conscious of Krishna. But we should improve. This is not a theoretical agreement: Yes, Krishna is there, but more, more, you should give more.

Raising money is not equal to Krishna Consciousness. What was the rule in the Gaudia Math in the beginning of the Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakurs time? The devotees were sent out, so to say to collect. But the collection at that time was not limited I mean it was limited, but the limit was not a minimal standard they had a maximum standard. They could accept a few paisas, even one rupee they could not accept at one place. Only few paisas. So at that time collection was NOT for the purpose of making money! But to fulfill this desire go from door to door and give some spiritual message on the pretest that you ask for some contribution. Kali-yuga is moving fast. So less then hundred years passed and the system changed in many places. Sometimes the amount of donations is limited, but on a minimum standard, minimum like this. Once I heard that somebody wanted to give to the devotees his exchange. And the devotee said: No, we dont accept coins. This is the change of times. Times are changing. So we should not mix, we should not make a mistake: Krishna Consciousness is NOT equal to making money. And whatever is given you should accept small or big, it doesnt matter. You have to be independent. Good or bad, small or big whatever is coming you should accept with an easy heart. But we can try to explain it like this or like that something we should give to God. And its not a question of percentage, or amount, or big, or small no. Krishna doesnt need it. But WE need that we could give. And it is said that if you dont have anything, give some ashes. Because we have to practice giving, sharing, supporting. To renounce the fruits of our work is quite difficult. We are attached. And its not only the money that we have to renounce; everything we have to renounce. On the coffin there is no pocket. So you cannot take anything with you. And what you dont give, you will be deprived of. Better give now, then to loose later. So dont forget, this is not the money, this is the connection. Even now in India people are ready to give, ready to share what they have. Once I observed a very old and very poor couple. They were living in a very small room and their foodstuff for one day was a little cup of sabji and two chapatis. And one day I say that they distributed half of the sabji and one chapati to the dog coming to them. So it was so heartmelting, that they were so ready to share what they have. They dont have anything, still they are ready to share. And THIS we should learn to share what we have. So its obviously not question of money. Because its the most easy way to satisfy somebody with money, but dont take any more care. How much more difficult is to accept somebody into your life? To open your door to somebody yes, you can live with me. That is real renunciation, that is real dedication its not just paying some bills. So we should learn how to give, how to share what we have. It helps us to train ourselves: Yes, I have to give, give, give and finally I give everything to God, even myself. 14. The butterfly (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, July 2005, Sofia) In spiritual life and also in practical dealings there are three levels of communication. The first is understanding, the second is compassion and the third is love. What does it mean understanding? Understanding means that I understand your problems, I pay some attention to you, I give an ear to your problems. Which is rare these days. Very few people are ready to listen. When somebody says: O, we had a very nice conversation! usually that means that he was speaking. So to listen to the other person is

unusual these days. Understanding is based on listening. But not so much other things are happening. Im listening to your troubles, but thats it. The next step is compassion. Compassion means that I pay my attention to you, I listen to you and Im ready to share your troubles. Because if somebody is ready to share our troubles, the burden is decreased. Its even more rare than attention or understanding. So this means an active participation. Im ready to share with you. But the top level is affection or love. When Im not only ready to listen to you, when Im not only ready to share your troubles, but when Im ready to take all the troubles that you have and digest it for myself. So here sacrifice is also included. Self-sacrifice, voluntary selfsurrender. And how is that possible without affection? These are the three levels of spiritual association. And we should come at least to the level of understanding. If you are more elevated you can come to the level of compassion. But when you are really elevated, then you can take away the troubles of people. Who is on this level? The gurus are on that level. Because their level of surrender is such, that they are ready to become bridges to cross over the troubled waters. They are ready to take all the poison and return you only nectar. This is the exchange. What you offer to your spiritual master? All the poison that you have collected in your life, all the dirt and all the bad things, mistakes and shortcomings that you have collected. He takes it, digests it and gives you some blessings. There are many gurus who take the assets or the money of the disciples. But there are very few gurus who take the troubles of the devotees. Or who take the sins of the disciples. So in order to be delivered, we should find a proper person. This is our choice. And such compassionate soul will help us in our spiritual progress. But what is happening? In any tradition if you start the purification process what is happening? You loose everything that is false, you destruct everything that is false and you construct the real one. Better to say you bring to the surface, you reveal the real one. Because when this process of purification starts often we think: O, I loose myself! But usually I loose only the false conceptions that I have. Just like a butterfly is born. From the small worm, unable to move slowly, slowly the beautiful butterfly is manifested. So it looses the present condition of limited, almost unmovable state. It looses the conditioning of the present situation and comes to a different platform, where she is able to fly. The same happens with a person, who tries to purify himself looses all the false conceptions and limitations and comes to the butterfly state, when his soul is so much purified, that he is able to fly. In Bhakti Yoga we can loose only one thing our bad conditioning. There is no loss. 15. The nectar of progressive immortality (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 4 of September 2005, Ahtopol) When Shuka started to tell Bhagavatam to Parikshit, all the demigods arrived with the pot of nectar. The demigods paid respect to Shuka and said: Accepting this nectar, please give us in exchange the nectar of your discourse. We give you the nectar of immortality and you give us the nectar of Krishna talks, Krishna-katha. But Shuka started to think: The nectar of the gods cannot be compared to the nectar of the Bhagavatam! This is just like a piece of glass compared to a precious gem! So he was laughing at gods offer. He did not give the exposition of the holly scripture to the demigods, because this is reserved only for the devotees. We should pay attention not only in the talks of the Bhagavatam, or not only on the lectures, but all the time we should pay attention to the divine topics. Because finally the goal

is that our whole consciousness and existence is just surcharged with divinity. If we start the process with a listening capacity, then miracles start to happen. If you distinguish between the topics that you want to listen to and you choose only the best things, only the nectar, then you will be fulfilled, filled up with nectar. If there are some topics which are not so nice to taste, we should discriminate whether to listen to or not, whether to pay attention or not. Just like the sages; the offer was quite a good offer, because you could get the amrit, the nectar of immortality. But they consider it to be very insignificant compared to the Shrimad Bhagavatam. Why? Because they could understand that there is something beyond immortality. What is there beyond immortality? There is a life! Real life begins, progressive life begins after immortality. Therefore we can say that devotional topics are just like nectar for that reason, for that purpose - progressive immortality! Because immortality can be a kind of zero point. But from devotional point of view this should be progressive, ever-increasing. We should pay attention to the best topics; and as Shrimad Bhagavatam is dealing, talking only about the divine connection with God, this is the best topic of the human beings. In this way we can not only get out of the trap of material existence, but we can come to the progressive immortality stage. But we should not think that if we had read or heart all the verses of the Bhagavatam then we had understood also. If a vaishnava asks you: Why dont you read? and you answer: I had already read the Shrimad Bhagavatam, its not a good answer. Because revealed scriptures are living! So whenever if we are really in need, if we pay attention to the scriptures, they will give special message. And also in the Bhagavatam itself its mentioned that its not enough only sometimes to listen to Bhagavatam! It is said: Nityam bhagavata sevaya! All the time you should serve the Bhagavat! The person bhagavat and the written Bhagavat. Bhagavat means that, which is connected to God, to Bhagavan. And it is two types one is the written form and the other is personal form. The written form is Shrimad Bhagavatam, its the book. And the person bhagavat is the vaishnava. So how to serve permanently! Not only for seven days, not only from time to time permanently we should listen and live according to the principles of the Shrimad Bhagavatam. We should live according to the Bhagavatam. Service to the written form is to pay attention, to listen; and service to the personal form is to serve, to give some service. Therefore we have to purify the mind in order to choose the best. Just imagine, what was the offer here? Nectar of immortality! Who is such a fool to disrespect this offer? Only the sweet devotees of Krishna. Because they dont care for liberation! They dont want to pick such an insignificant attainment like moksha. Immortality is nothing for the vaishnava. Of course, now we are using very high words. Because naturally we want to come to the spiritual platform, which is sat-chit-ananda. Sat permanent existence. Still if somebody comes and offers you: hey, you can become immortal, take this pill! Then we should be strong enough to reject that and say: no, I stick to the nectar of the Bhagavata! But that choice you cannot make on the fanatic platform. Only on the realized platform when you FEEL what kind of nectar is there in Krishnas topics. So likes and dislikes are always there in this life. And the advice is given to LEAVE the mental platform. Because most of the people are on the sensual platform, much fewer are on the mental platform; but in order to spiritually progress, we have to go beyond the mental platform also. Now I am not talking about the process of Bhakti! We were talking about choice, about likes and dislikes, about the different platforms of human existence. The ultimate level of human existence is total surrender, which is both objective and subjective in the same time. And dont forget, Shrila Shridhara Maharaj always says that there is super-subjective reality. Because Krishna is the Subject and we are the objects. So its not that we see Krishna, but He

is watching us. That is the super-subjective reality. But that doesnt depend on your choice. That is His choice. 16. Kali and Bhakti (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 4 of September 2005, Ahtopol) Narada said: Presently Kali-yuga is conquering the whole world and this helps unrighteousness. There is no truthfulness, no ascetism, no purity of body and mind, no compassion and no liberality to the poor. The people are wretched and engaged only in filling their bellies. They make false statements. They are very slow, extremely dull, of poor luck and afflicted - always effected by the things happening to them. Those who pose as saints are constantly engaged in preaching false doctrines. Those who had apparently renounce the world, are rich in worldly possessions and have become family men. Women rule the house. Brothers of ones wife are the only counselors. Out of greed people sell their own daughters. There are frequent quarrels between husband and wife. Hermitages, places of pilgrimage and rives are controlled by foreigners and temples here has been destroyed in large numbers by those wicked people. There is no yogi, nor one who has attain perfection, no enlighten soul and no man performs righteous deeds. All spiritual disciplines stand consumed by the wild fire of Kali-yuga. In this age of Kali people take to selling food-grains. Brahmanas sell their knowledge of the Vedas and women make their living by prostitution. Whatever is given here is a symptom of Kali-yuga. That there is no purity, there is no asceticism; that also means there is not so much devotion. All the values are lost, or almost, half lost. This time and this place is quite difficult for spiritual enlightenment. People dont live according to the demands of their relative position, they cannot really fulfill the duties that are expected from them and there are many quarrels, many misunderstanding these are the natural symptoms of Kali-yuga. Dont let the Kali-yuga enter your life! Protect yourself from these descriptions. And something very strange here that people take to the business, take to the profession of selling food-grains; so its not distributed free, its sold! Foodstuffs should be provided for people! Not to be sold! But humans have invented such a strange instrument like money. And they think that by this they can solve the problems and buy everything they need. Narada adds: This present age is the terrible age of Kali. Righteous conduct, the path of yoga union with God and austerities had disappeared under its influence. Practicing bad habits and evil deeds, people are turning to be replicas of the demons of Agha. In this age the good men are frustrated and the unrighteous are overjoyed. Year after year this earth is gradually becoming a burden for Lord Shesha. No sign of good luck is to be seen anywhere. Cruel people had come to live in holly places of pilgrimage. Therefore the value of the sacred places is gone. Even those, whose mind is agitated with passion, anger, excessive greed and thirst for pleasure, outwardly they have taken an ascetic life. Therefore the value of ascesis is gone. There is no control of mind, there is greed and hypocrisy, and therefore people take heretic doctrines. They dont study the sacred books and do not practice meditation. The learned pundits are indulged in sexual commerce like buffaloes. They are expert in making children, but not at all clever in achieving liberation. Devotion to Lord Vishnu is nowhere to be seen. In this way the substance of all things has disappeared everywhere. Such is, however, the spirit of the times. That is why the lotus-eyes Lord Vishnu tolerates all this, although he is so close to us in our very hearts. All glories to Vrindavan, where Bhakti dances with joy! Here in Vrindavan nobody wants Gyana and Vairagya. In Vrindavana nobody is searching for gyana and nobody is searching for vairagya, renunciation.

Therefore we have to come to Vrindavan, where our Bhakti-capacity is nourished. Because the most important part of the human being is the emotional part. The ultimate language of the human beings is emotions. That is a reflection of Bhakti. So whatever is done here, it is revealed because its up there. . But this is only in space up and down. We should expand this not only in space, but in time also. What is behind us is in front of us also. What is the future of our past? This is the present situation. And what is the past of our future? Its also the present time. Therefore the present time is very important how we live. If we leave surcharged by Bhakti, then we shall have very deep life. May be not an easy life I want to warn you but it will be very deep. Because somehow Bhakti concerns the ultimate levels of human existence. And not only the human existence, but spiritual existence, because this is the language of the heart, the soul. So if we come to Vrindavan, then our Bhakti will be improved. Its very much possible that you will loose your knowledge. No problem. Its very much possible that you will loose your renunciation. Even that is not a big loss if you gain devotion. But without devotion nothing is complete. If you want to make somebody fly, simply show some interest on him or her. By giving your energy, you can help the other person. By serving a person, you can enhance or complete his or her life. And how can we serve a higher authority like knowledge, or renunciation, or Bhakti ultimately? By following the advice. So if we follow the advice of Bhakti Yoga, then we will help Bhakti to grow. This is the process: inquire about how to improve, how to perfect your lives. And in this way knowledge and renunciation, as natural consequences of Bhakti like sons they will be also nourished. In our vision, in our conclusion Bhakti is first. If there is devotion, knowledge and renunciation will come. But simply by knowledge, simply by renunciation, you cannot really achieve perfection. Therefore inquire about the nature of devotion. Cultivate your devotional capacities. We should express our devotion to the Divine Couple. Simply this is Bhakti Yoga the emotional connection between humans and the Supreme. It is the DESIRE that captured Krishna. This is lobha, transcendental lobha the desire, the deep desire, without which you cannot achieve anything! If you perform all the rituals and all the rules and regulations without this BURNING desire what will be the result? Only some formal results. The young gopies are trying themselves in the ritual, but thinking always of Krishna. The main problem is that we think of ourselves and try Krishna. Therefore we should change the mentality: think of Him and try yourself. 17. Shishya-abhiman and guru-abhiman (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 5 of September 2005, Ahtopol) What is the end of the sufferings of a human being? Its taking birth. You agree? Yes and no. If we take material birth its not a happy story. But if we take a spiritual birth, then its very, very beautiful moment. How to start a new spiritual life? How to end the sufferings of human existence? This is only a very basic starting point in our spiritual practices. But actually the main goal of Bhakti is to be connected all the time to the Supreme. We had learned that the ideal of Bhakti Yoga is not to get liberation, but to be connected all the time. In this way this is a higher goal than average religious goals and ideals. Our tradition also teaches how to reach, how to achieve that goal, that perfection. Perfection means that you become a master. Master of life, master of your senses, master of your feelings. That you gain control over yourself and then you loose control over yourself. Like when Krishna just lost Himself in the ocean of Bhagavatam. We should also loose ourselves in devotional practices. So first control; then you can loose everything!

And to become master like this, first you should become a disciple. Without becoming a servant you cannot be a lord. We have served ourselves for such a long time. Lets start to serve somebody else. Lets start the divine service. And this is what we learn from the devotees. This is what we try to follow in the good examples. Therefore we take the shishyaabhiman. Shishya-abhiman is the disposition of a disciple, of a servant. Shishya means such a person, who lets himself or herself to be instructed. This is the shishya-abhiman give me guidance, give me help. There is the guru-abhiman also. Guru-abhiman is a very special type of pride, so to say: Yes, I will give service to you! So what we try to learn from guru? His service mood. Dont imitate this, but try to follow the intensity in your life. In this way you can improve your life very much. Many people think that to be a sannyasi or guru this is the most glorious position in life. Once there was a family man and he had a good friend sannyasi. They were travelling together, visiting one ashram. And this family man thought: O, to be a sannyasi its very good position. Everybody pays respect, everybody gives him the flower-garland. To be a sannyas this is a good goal! Then they arrived to the temple and everything happened according to the scenario: sannyasi got the flower-garland, he was seated on an elevated place, everybody was just praying very humbly and taking the nectar that was emanating from the lips of the master. After the lecture everybody was running with great plates and bringing tones of prasadam to him. But then started the bitter part. People started to come with their problems. And our friend the family man was sitting in the same room. The hours were passing by, people were coming with the problems, so they were offering the bitter garlands also, they were offering tones of problems also. At ten oclock our friend started to feel tired. He began to roll out his sleeping bag; but even that did not helped, people did not go away. So at two oclock in the morning the last visitor went home and then our swami could take some little rest. When they were returning back from this temple, they were talking on the way. And our friend told: So far I wanted to become a sannyasi. But now I dont want to become that. I thought that it was a good position, but now I better remain with my family. So, to become a master, first we should become servants. And we should think in a traditional way, but sometimes we should act in unusual way. Just like Shrila Shridhara Maharaj says: Im not a form-maker, Im a form-breaker! Because there are different types of vision about the spiritual master. For example there is the orthodox way; one is the despotic guru - always sitting on a big throne and always very heavy, unshakable you can tremble in front of your spiritual master. This is the classical. There is reform gurus also, who come closer to the disciples. Sometimes they get off the highly elevated vyasasan and act as simple human beings. Then there are the manager type, who gives business advice to the disciples and engages them in different activities. And then there are the helper types, the inspirators. If the disciple comes with an idea of service, guru just gives wings to him yes, you go like this, do like this! So as there are different types of gurus, there are different types of disciples also. Usually the despotic guru invites despotic disciples. And the main concern of a despotic disciple will be: How BIG vyasasan to carry into de temple? But sometimes missing the point So we should not become despotic disciples and we should not become despotic gurus. And then there is the stupid disciple, who worships the spiritual master very nicely, but keeps the picture of the guru on the shelf upside-down. Most probably this is coming from his ecstasies So dont be fanatic, dont be despotic or dont be stupid. Be simple, gentle human beings. Be a reform disciples. Reform in such a sense that try to catch the essence, dont remain on the surface, on the formalities.

18. The stealthy thief (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 5 of September 2005, Ahtopol) Suta says: Perceiving the extraordinary devotion in the minds of His devotees, the Lord, who likes His devotees so much, entered the sinless hearts of them. Because Krishna is present in the stories of the Bhagavatam Though He disappeared when back to His own realm, but remained here as Bhagavatam incarnate. But this is not the only place where we should search for Shri Krishna, Reality the Beautiful. Because He is residing in the pure hearts of the pure devotees. So wherever Krishna perceives extraordinary devotion, He comes there, enters there but only the sinless hearts of the devotees. Therefore the heart must be purified. Even if we have a little devotion, the hearts should be purified because in this way devotion could grow and Krishna can enter more easily. There is only one invitation for Krishna and that is the pure heart, the pure intention. Sometimes the heart is captured by different tendencies like bhoga, gyana, vairagya desire for selfish enjoyment, or sense of knowledge, or the false renunciation. But all these elements make the heart very hard. And Krishna cannot enter a hard heart. It is said that He is just like a stealthy thief. When you leave your door just a little open, He enters. Puts the foot first and you cannot close the door. You try, you try, but you cannot. And sometimes like father like son the devotees also apply the same method. I heard of one Sankirtan-devotee, he was selling magazines, and whenever somebody opens the door, first he put inside the leg! So that nobody could close the door at him Im sure he had taken the example of Krishna. But He resides in the pure heart, so we should try to purify our hearts as much as possible. And we all know that the best way of purifying the heart is chanting the mahamantra, the Holly Name. But not as an artificial or superficial routine but as some real prayer. When you are drown in the ocean, then you cry out for help. Immediately you start to pray from your heart. Then this is not artificial. When you feel so secure on the shore, so safe a, ksh ksh But when you are really in trouble you can say: Krish na! Or you can cry out loud! It is said that the denizens of Vaikuntha, as well as devotees like Uddhava, were present at the assembly with the object of listening to the story of Bhagavatam. They forgot all about their body, dwelling and even their own self. This is the method of listening to a divine discourse. For the attention that we should pay to the divine topics one story is quoted. I think I had told you already this story, but its always good to remember. Once Rupa Gosvami was giving a lecture and the people were paying much attention to his words. And you know, at that time they were giving so much attention and they were living with the story so much, that almost they could feel whats going on in the lecture. Rupa Gosvami was quoting the Ramayana, he was talking about the devotion of Hanuman. And you know, Hanuman is very famous for different services to Ram; Rupa Gosvami was mentioning the story when he was jumping over the ocean to Lanka. And when he said: And then Hanuman was JUMPING through the ocean then one person from the audience was living in the story so much, that he was jumping immediately! Dont jump, stay at your places! So he took the mood of Hanuman, he took the mood of the lecturer. And actually this is the way to ENTER into the mood - when we come together so much, so intensively, that even the words will generate movements, feelings from you. So those, present at the assembly forgot about everything, even themselves.

19. Angels without feathers (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 5 of September 2005, Ahtopol) Sometimes activities hurt very much. But words hurt more. And if we dont have positive thoughts, than we can destroy everything around us. So first we should control the thoughts, then the words and finally activities also. If we pay our attention too much on human beings, then some kind of frustration surely will come. But if we concentrate our mind on God Himself, it is said by the wise, there is no frustration. Even Thomas Kempish said: O my Lord Jesus, I had forgotten you again! Therefore I am frustrated. I was only paying my attention to the humans, I forgot about You, and therefore suffering came to me. But if we focus our attention on the Supreme, in that light we can have a more complete vision on the humans also. The same method should be applied in devotional company. Of course it will be painful! But in due course of time we should understand what kind of vision we should have towards the living entities around us. Because when we meet the devotees we think: O, I had met the angels. But these angels are so humble, that they hide their wings. Then you realize: They have no wings! And then you think: They are not angels! This is a very dangerous moment. That realization is quite painful. But if you can accept your brothers and sisters without their feathers then this is a more ripe association. When you can tolerate the others with their shortcomings and with their glories then this is a ripe and strong community. Just like in a family if you have ten children, nine is perfect and excellent, and one is a little.. Then you dont love him? Of course you love him the same way. And all the brothers and sisters will love the small one. This is the harmonious way. Realizing our shortcomings or shortcomings of our vision is quite painful. But better to have a painful truth than to die in ignorance. 20. The story of Lila Shuka (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 5 of September 2005, Ahtopol) Lila Shuka was living for eight or nine hundred years, how can I tell his story? But to put it short he was a great lover. Therefore he must have had some Hungarian connection, or may be Bulgarian, because both Hungarians and Bulgarians are known as great lovers. But his love was again a little unusual. He was in love with a prostitute. He was a very elevated young man, of good family, very bright, everything was perfect around him, but this attachment to a prostitute was quite unusual. And you know, secret love is usually practiced in the dead of night. So one night he wanted to meet his love. But he was living on the one bank of the river and the lady was living on the other. At midnight there is no boat, so he had to swim. But especially in that night there was a big storm. So he went in the rain and the wind and the lightning to the river, urged by his love jumped into the water and tried to swim. But the waves were very high and although he was a good swimmer, he had to catch to a piece of wood in order to cross the water. At least he thought that this was a piece of wood But it was a dead body swimming on the waves; he was just catching on the dead body in order to cross the river. Who would like to embrace a dead body during the night in a stormy river? Its quite unusual, a? But he didnt even recognized; by the help of this dead body he arrived on the other side. The house of the lady was fenced with high walls. So he had to cross the walls and in the dead of night he thought: Hey, here is a bush climbing on the wall, I can take use of it and in this way I can cross the walls. So he grabbed the trunk of this bush and

began crossing the wall. At least he thought that this was a bush although this was a great poisonous snake. But he did not recognized, because he was infatuated by the lady. Finally he came to the lady, entering the room: O, my secret love will be fulfilled tonight! The lady was very happy: O, my lover has come! But she was very gentle and elevated lady although very simple practice, very simple living she had. She was spiritually elevated and started to instruct the man, first inquiring about the story; What was happening to you, how is that in such a stormy night you come to me? How did you cross the river? How did you cross the wall? He told whole the story and he was very delighted: O, my queen is inquiring about the troubles I have taken for her. Im her hero! But when he finished the story, the lady said: O my dear, you had taken so much trouble to achieve me, although Im simply a prostitute. If you had taken the same troubles to achieve God And she was so powerful, that she converted the mind of the young man. And he started to become a mendicant he renounced the world and started to become a devotee. So, he became a wandering mendicant. But as he was a young men, desire did not finished in his heart. So next time he saw - only saw - a beautiful young lady. And again the desire arose in his heart. Then he said: O, my eyes will pull me to hell! Better I pull them out. So he blinded himself on both eyes - and forcefully made himself to surrender more to Krishna. And he was always chanting the glories of the Lord. And he had one suffering, one pain in his heart because he was living far away from Vrindavan and as a mendicant he started to go to Vrindavan but now as he made himself blind How shall I find the way? And then he was crying and weeping and chanting and singing and finally somebody came up to him. A small boy. He could not see, but he could hear. And he heard some melodious sound; the boy was playing a flute. And the boy asked: Hey, why are you crying? And he said: You know, Im blind, but I want to go to Vrindavan. Im so far away! And nobody can help me. Then the boy said: I will lead you to Vrindavan. Just come with me, follow me. And took him by the hand and led him to Vrindavan And he was living his long life on the bank of the Radha Kund. This is the story of Lila Shuka. We should be ready to sacrifice ourselves. Usually people are so ready to jump after their lovers, but at least we should give the same intensity of feelings to Krishna. Lila Shuka ki jay! 21. From chaotic mind to harmonious heart (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 6 of September 2005, Ahtopol) I would like to mention something about another proof of the power of mantras and sound. Sound is very important. There is a Japanese scientist and he started to analyze water by examining its crystal structure in a frozen state of ice. When they take pure water, coming form a spring or waterfall - some living water - and they freeze it, the structure is beautiful. But when they take some water from a big tank, like a reservoir, which is keeping the water from its natural flow, obstructing the flow and keeping it in unnatural state, then the frozen structure is distorted and unharmonious. But, you know, in Japan Shinto is very strong traditional religious approach. They appreciate nature as some divine potency. So this scientist invited a Shinto priest to say some prayers and mantras over the water of that big tank. And then they took another sample of the water, close to the priest, freezing it and the structure became beautiful again. Then they checked again they took the water very far away from the priest on the same tank the structure again was beautiful. So sound HAS effect on the structure of frozen water. I mean not only on frozen water on water but you can see the difference in a frozen state.

Our body contains three quarters of water. So if you chant your mantras in the morning, the structure of your bodily water will be beautiful. What to speak of the brain structure! Of course we dont want to freeze the brains of the devotees But it DOES has effect on the whole existence of the devotees. Of course, we dont have to prove the power of chanting by analyzing the structure of the water. Still this is another proof that sound has incredible effect. And the result of this experiment is parallel with the creation. From the chaotic primordial water BY SOUND a harmonious universe was created. From chaos cosmos. This is the power of the sound. So from the chaotic mind you can create harmonious heart. In this way we can create a cosmic structure in our little individual existence. If we want to make an order in our life, first we should stick to the divine sound. Because if this first meditation is pure, all the other levels of our existence will be purified. Everything is evolving from up to down. Its a descending process. Of course sometimes the forces from down try to put some shade over the higher forces, but nevertheless light will gain victory. So even science is glorifying the power of mantras! Therefore in this respect we can glorify science: Yes, you tell the same what we had realized! And if you have pure meditation, if you have pure sound, pure words then you will have pure actions also. One goes with the other. Nothing is independent in our life from eachother, its a complete whole, whatever we have its a complete whole. But if divine energy is INFUSED in our life, then more power, a higher level of existence will be manifested. That is purification when a higher force is coming to help on the lower level. What is the definition of sin? To use the higher energy for lower purposes. But if a higher energy comes for help on the lower level what its called? That is called mercy! So we should not be so stupid not to grab this opportunity. Dont loose mercy sliping out of your hands! 22. Real wisdom (From lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 6 of September 2005, Ahtopol) What is the definition of wisdom? Wisdom is the practical ability of love, loving capacity. Of course Im talking about divine love. This is wisdom the practical ability of love. Because its very wise to escape the troubles. No suffering should come to me. But THIS definition is giving more sacrifice. Im ready to work, Im ready to suffer for the benefit of others. And of course if somebody is ready to do this sacrifice, he dont have to suffer. He will be protected by the divine arrangement. It exists. Wisdom might come from Brahman. But loving capacity must come from Krishna. Because Krishna is a loving God. Brahman is wise. The level of Brahman is wise, knowing everything, everything is there on Akasha chronicles. BUT this is only information. Krishna is just like a chintamani stone. He can bring the transformation. This is the mistake of the present age we live in an information age. We are full of information. Even your kid knows how to push the buttons of the computer, all the information is there. But where is the transformation, please?! This is what we need - the loving potency of God, Krishna. And that is real wisdom. May be a loving devotee is stupid number one, he doesnt understand anything about the difficulties and intricacies of life, of this world. But Im sure that he is VERY wise. Because what is the ultimate answer to all the questions? This is divine love, Bhakti. So if somebody is practicing that, he or she can be considered a wise person. DIVINE wisdom is there, beyond the limits of material wisdom. Bhakti does not depend on the degrees you collect on your wall. Our diplomas are handed in different mood. Like before I think you also had this Hero of the socialist work. Did you

have such degrees? A big star. We all have these signs and symbols and whatever But for example if a devotee dies on eating too much prasadam, then he is a victim, self-sacrificed on devotional service. So we have different grades. But I think you understand what Im talking about. We should search on a different level for perfection, for satisfaction. And we should intensify the quality of our devotion. This is very important to intensify the quality of our devotion. So try to think what does it mean to intensify your devotional service. And if you ask, Krishna will give you the guidance: How am I to do this? 23. The purpose of the body (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 6 of September 2005, Ahtopol) In Bhagavata Mahatmya it is said: The body will perish. It is afflicted with old age, sorrow and metamorphosis. It is home of disease, difficult to satisfy, hard to maintain, corrupted, faulty and momentary. Finally either worms, or animals, or the fire will devour the body. Why shouldnt we use the body for such a purpose, that is beyond mortality? This is a positive definition for the use of the body. If the body starts it will be finished. What is the meaning to create more troubles? Or to use it for the best purpose that its given to us? The body is an instrument to achieve perfection in human life, in human form. This is the positive approach to the body. If you have a house, then usually you have to pay the taxes of the house. If we dont really want to pay the taxes, is it reasonable that we break the house? No, we should not only try to enjoy the facility, but we should pay the price also. So for one month you can enjoy the facilities, but at the end you have to pay the bill. If you dont pay the bill its possible, its not necessary to pay the bill but then you push the button and nothing happens, no electricity; you turn the tab no water is coming. In the same way, if we use all the facilities of the world, if we use all the facilities of the body, but we dont pay the price then somehow the supply will be curbed. And what is the price that we have to pay? This is prayer, this is sacrifice some kind of sacrifice must be done. Because to pay the bills its a sacrifice, right you have to give your money. Something must be given in order to enjoy the facilities. So in the same way we have to give something, some portion of our life, contribute to the harmony, to the equilibrium of the universe and in this way we can enjoy the facilities. We are given a body. And the purpose of this body is to use it as an instrument for perfection, self-realization. In one sense it is limited, but in the other it is very well equipped. We have understanding, we have abilities, we have capacities; so we can express ourselves in gratitude towards the Supreme. We have got so much from Him; we should use, we should sacrifice, offer something of ourselves back to Him. Although body is limited, with these bodily activities we can achieve something beyond limitations. With the material tongue you can chant the transcendental Names. Actually its not like this but the transcendental Name can use your material tongue to vibrate itself. So why shouldnt we use the perishable body to achieve immortal results? From unreal lead me to real. From darkness lead me to light. From death lead me to eternity. Asato maa sat gamaya. Tamaso maa jiotir gamaya. Mrityor maa amritam gamaya. This is the best purpose of the body. Actually there are three types of living entities or three types of directions of the living entities. One is ascending, going upwards; other is going down, descending; and the third type is coming and going all the time. Those who elevate, who purify themselves are on the ascending path; those who degrade are on the descending path going down to lower planes of existence; and the third type are like the mosquitoes and the similar small living entities

where life is very short theyre just coming and going. This is the opinion of the Vedanta Sutra. What is a real transformation, a real metamorphosis? Change in the form? No, change of mentality. Usually we make the opposite we change the form, but we dont change the mentality. Better we keep the form and change the mentality. Its not enough when we sell the same old wine in a new bottle. We put on dhotis and saris, but we remain on the same level of consciousness. Better we stay in our trousers, but change our consciousness. First if the mentality is changed, then the body and everything else that is secondary or third will also come with the change of mind. So if you become purified in the heart, in your spiritual existence, then all the other levels of the existence will follow. Everything is decided on the top levels. 24. Sins (From lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 7 of September 2005, Ahtopol) I would like to start an unpleasant topic. A little discussion about the sins. Although we try not to be sin conscious, rather we want to be minimum God conscious, still it is good to be aware what is considered beneficial and what is considered objectionable. We have learned the general definition of sin: to use the higher energy for a lower purpose. Usually people start to give definitions on A,B,C this, and this, and this Sinful activity, for example, is to do something wrong or hurt somebody. But this list is so long, that you cannot really understand what is sinful, its very difficult to come to a general definition and understanding of what is sinful. Therefore if we get a general definition, its much easier to understand what is right and what is wrong. Another definition of sin is to turn against God or to go against the divine will. Usually religions give this kind of definition. To turn your back towards God. And we have this definition in our religion also, Bhaktivinod Thakur gives this, but he expands it in such a sense that he adds willingly or unwillingly. And although the mistake is a mistake, still committed with bad intention, with purpose, it is heavier than by chance, without proper knowledge, without proper understanding its little less. So this general religious definition of sin to go against the divine will we should analyze precisely and we should add: to go against the divine will on intention; and by chance. Yet another definition about sin is a mistake which is practiced, preserved for a long time. Repeated mistake or permanently cultivated mistake. That is also sin especially when we understood that this is a mistake! When you dont know then this is only a stupid mistake again and again and again What is prayashchita? Atonement, we can say atonement. You go to the priest and he tells you: Chant this and that prayer and then finished! You agree? No. Although this is one kind of atonement. But if we try to apply this method in our process, then it is called nama-aparadh. When you commit some sinful activity and you chant it off! And even worse if you have the intention, while doing wrong: I will rectify this, I will balance it with some little chanting. That is nama-aparadh proper. Still to do something, some extra services, some extra practices in order to purify ourselves this is natural! For example in a washing machine there are different grades of intensity of washing, right? Like economic half. Half-purification is enough, ha? Or if something is very heavily dirty, then you have to apply on boiling it in the water, and adding extra detergent, and how do you call this whitening substance? You add many, many substances and you work very hard to purify the clothes, to get it white again.

So naturally there are different grades of problems to solve. If somebody has accumulated in the past lives small amount if difficulties, then for him or her the purification is very quick and easy. But if somebody has a big load of burden on the shoulder, it takes a long time to get it off, to put it off. Because there are two directions, from where you can come to the human platform. You can ascend to the human platform and you can descend to the human platform. If we ascend to the human platform, it means we had done a long trip already in material existence. We can say that the soul is an old aged soul. Although the soul of course is eternal, but its a long past, long material past. And you remember the three gates for human existence from the animal kingdom. Cow, monkey and lion. Cow is the satvic gate. Lion is the rajasic gate. And monkey is the tamasic gate. So Charles Darwin was right in one sense humans come from the monkeys. Especially those, who are in tama guna. But when we have come to the human platform, then we are responsible for the activities. Then the question comes pious or sinful. 25. One for all and everybody for one (From lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 7 of September 2005, Ahtopol) Usually we think that the greatest sin is killing a human being. This is the most heinous, criminal act that you can commit. But there is something else which is most heinous, greatest sin. One very important point is that soul can never be killed. So on the basis of the eternity of the soul to kill somebody or to stop his or hers present life this is not the greatest problem. Because he is an eternal soul, he will continue somehow. In this way you stop only one person, but all the others will go on. But if you kill the culture, then you kill all the people who are part of that culture. If you establish illicit connection with forbidden people, that means to put it very simply for example you betray your country. This is a very great sin because it effects the whole country. If you betray your master, the whole mission is effected. If you betray your family, everybody will suffer. So therefore if you betray, if you are not loyal to the culture, if you kill the culture, this is the greatest sin you can make, because in this way you effect EVERYBODY, you break the whole system that was given by God. You agree? This is greater than stopping only one person. This is a mass criminal activity. So dont kill the culture! To be disloyal that is very, very dangerous activity. We can apply that on every level of our life existence. To be a secret agent or a betrayer of your country might be very exciting, they can make famous movies on this, but this is not very high moral. So try to protect the culture. Of course first of all we have to understand WHAT is this culture. Therefore the vaishnava culture or our spiritual culture should be examined by all who take part. What are the three commandments of materialism? Its only three, you dont have to make a list of ten. We can say the cola, chips and gsm-coverage. But I think this is rather a new age commandments. The three basic principals of materialism are that man is an animal; the soul does not exists; and God is only an invention. Three commandments of materialism. And this I call the greatest sin! Because it kills the culture! It kills your faith, it kills your selfesteem. Therefore we should examine the greatest principles of vaishnava culture. Alexander Dumas gave the basic principles of vaishnavism. Everybody for one and one for everybody! Everybody is working for one, Krishna! And one is working for everyone the spiritual master is working for everybody. So if we follow only this ONE principle, then we give a very simple version no ten commandments, no three commandments one, only one! One for all and everybody for

one. Then we can create the vaishnava culture. So in this French writer you can see the forerunner of the vaishnava practical philosophy. But there is another famous writer and thinker Goethe who also gave a conclusion. He said that the highest principle, the highest ideal in life is voluntary surrender. And how is that possible without love? Shrila Shridhara Maharaj says: Die to live. Self-sacrifice. So the highest principle is SELFLESS and VOLUNTARY dedication. And how is that possible without divine love? So in Goethe we can also see the forerunner of the vaishnava practical philosophy. And then finally after Dumas, after Goethe you can read Bhakti shastras, where you can find it explicitly. 26. Narottam (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 9 of September 2005, Ahtopol) Narottam das Thakur is a very special person, as you all know. And the name is very instructive, because nara means man, human being and uttam means highest. So Narrottam is superhuman. BUT then also comes das high type of person in a low position, in a service position. I think this is the appropriate vaishnava ideal what kind of mentality we should have. We should become superhuman in one sense; and on the other hand we should become humble servants of God and people. How to become superhuman? Not by force, not by power. It is also possible to gain more and more power. But if we collect our power against the divine arrangement and harmony of the world or if we hurt others feelings, then later on we have to pay the price. So how a devotee is collecting power? By distributing. By distributing the Holly Name, by chanting aloud, ALOUD the Holly Name devotional power is generated. So if we hurt the interest, or the sphere, or the emotional life of others, then we can say that this is harm, this is kind of sinful activity, intrusion. And there is a level in human existence, where sinful activities cannot stand without being measured and balanced. That is the level of justice. But justice will not make us happy. But mercy can be extended where justice stops. Therefore if we can combine these two aspects to become superhuman, I mean beyond the normal, the average human capacities to become a real human being AND in a humble way! This is Narottam das. High type of person in a low position; therefore WE add Thakur. What is Thakur? Lord. Actually this was used, as far as I know, also as a title of God, Lord, Supreme. So: the high type of person in a low position he is our Lord. We have to treat Chaitanya nice. We have to find a way how to do this. But following the footsteps of the previous acharyas we can learn something about this. Because what is the desire of Narottam das Thakur? When I will be trembling when calling out Gauranga? When tears will decorate my eyes while chanting the names of Lord Hari? And this is not a false demonstration of pseudo-feelings, but something real and the real things you usually hide. If we have this desire, then this is the way to become superhuman, to become Narottam nara uttama. Wherever You are, that is Vrindavan. If we have this vision, if we treat Chaitanya nice wherever You are, that is Vrindavan its very easy to come to Vrindavan. 27. Willingness of the heart (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 9 of September 2005, Ahtopol) Those, who had achieved the causeless mercy of Lord Nityananda he is the archetype of guru, the teacher, the help who had achieved the mercy of a master, for them the material desires become insignificant. Why? Because I have got something much better.

Ive got a higher taste. And if we feel the higher taste its VERY easy to give up the lower taste. When you only fight with the lower taste, its almost no end of the story. Therefore we need a higher cultivation. A lower taste means anartha no artha, no value. So if we cultivate no values, what kind of results we expect? Therefore we have to cultivate good values that is, you remember artha pravritti. Anartha nivritti non cultivation of any values and atrha pravritti cultivation of values. But how to do this? Simply if we practice with pure intention the devotional tradition and if we check everything on the balance of acceptance that I can fully accept with my heart and soul then I can perform on the appropriate level, in the necessary mood. If I cannot give my heart fully, if I cannot agree fully with the advice or with the steps, it will be very difficult to reach the goal. We can do, we can perform, but the result will be missing, it will be postponed. Therefore it is suggested by Shrila Shridhara Maharaj that we should measure the things on the scale of guru, shastras, sadhu. The basic principle is the shastras, the scriptures; then the advice of the spiritual master and the practice of the saints. And there is a very important fourth element also and this is the heart and soul. Sometimes we are ready to neglect this element; although I feel that this is very important. And if we have the willingness to take, to perform, to follow even the most difficult and the most unusual expectation, then we are off the hook, its not necessary to perform that. Once a young man was calling me and he told me: O, Im going to marry. Very nice, my boy! And he said: And the lady is also a devotee and she is very nice! The only problem is that she is living in a different country. And whenever we talk on the phone, very nice conversations we have. But when I suggest to her that she should come to me or I should go to her, she rejects! Because this devotee is of very fiery nature, so if he wants something, he wants it very fast, very quick. So I told him: My dear boy, you have to be ready to wait for seven years and then you can be sure the lady will come. And he was shocked: I have to wait for SEVEN years!!! And I tried my best to make him understand that he doesnt have to wait seven years only he has to have the WILLINGNESS to wait for seven years. In the same way, if we have this WILLINGNESS then we can perform. If difficult or demanding advice is coming to us and we have the willingness, then either it will be very easy to perform, or we dont really have to perform, to take the trouble. By achieving mercy, by getting mercy we can go very smoothly. And divine mercy never leaves us. One great mistake is when you feel that Im not connected. Show me one place where Krishna is not there! Show me one moment when you are not connected! This is a permanent, an overall contact! This is the way to establish a permanent state of consciousness. Therefore I fully agree as I have learned from Ashoka that love is not a feeling, this is a vision, this is an approach. This should be a permanent state of our consciousness, not transitory feelings. Because that is sthai, that is permanent. Sthai is the next step; when you have this anartha nivritti and artha pravritti, when you cultivate your values, then you can come to an established level. So our vision to the world should be this generous, this friendly; we must have a friendly view. 28. Progress and sharing (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 9 of September 2005, Ahtopol) Whatever comes to us can be transformed. People do not suffer from the things that are coming to them, but from the way how they evaluate them. We must cultivate our values and evaluation in such a way that we could take everything nice whatever comes to us, we can take everything nice. I think this is an

appropriate definition of progress if we can accept the teachings coming to us more and more in a proper manner. And progress should not be selfish. We should not collect our impressions only for ourselves. Or knowledge is not for our own sake, but it is there, we should collect these values for the sake of others. I was watching what people are doing on the sea-shore. Have you checked? People are just walking and collecting pebbles. Everybody is doing that! Somehow it is natural that you bow down and pick up something, try to find something. And when you SHARE this, when you give it to others, then the beauty starts to happen, then the exchange is coming. So in the same way we collect the pebbles and the shells in our life. But we should not be selfish to keep everything for ourselves. Give to others. Whatever we achieve in our spiritual life, in our spiritual progress, we should use it for the service of others. Small or great it doesnt matter use it for the sake and benefit of others. If you have been washed away by a dark wave, start a shining wave! But of course what is a dark wave? Dark wave is coming from a dark Lord. And the bright wave is coming from a bright Goddess. So waves either dark or bright it doesnt matter! They serve our benefit. 29. Studies (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 9 of September 2005, Ahtopol) You know the sequence of the books that we read. The elementary study is the Bhagavad Gita, right? What is the middle stage? Shrimad Bhagavatam. Then you can get your degree. And what is the post-gradual stage? That is the Chaitanya Charitamrita. Anything more? Yes, this is the Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu. Anything higher? O, further is the Ujvala Nilamani. The higher topics are forbidden. Until you do not complete your studies. And we had learned from Bhagavata Mahatmya that if somebody understands the complete story of Shrimad Bhagavatam, or hears only one word, or even one sound, one syllable then he can achieve perfection. So we can go on with our studies without jumping too fast into Ujvala Nilamani. From the Gita we can learn the ABC. The soul exists, dharma is there, surrender to God is the highest principle basics. Karma, reincarnation, gunas basics. So from the Gita we can understand that there IS God. From the Bhagavatam we can understand who is that God. Krishnastu Bhagavan svayam its KRISHNA Himself the Supreme Lord! And in the five rasa-chapters we can understand the introduction to the divine love. Then from Chaitanya Charitamrita you can understand what is the life of a devotee, how devotees LIVE. And from the Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu we can understand what is the nature of rasa. So more and more concrete, precise topics are there. Of course, if you have this rasic vision, even in the elementary scriptures and the simple message you will find your rasa. For example in the Gita there is one verse and the translation goes like the purification of the existence is necessary as a step in spiritual progress. But what is the Sanskrit? It is Bhaava samshudhi. We can understand it as existence also, but bhaava ultimately is the mood that you have as a feeling. So rasa IS there. Bhaava samshudhi to purify the feelings towards God, not simply the existence. What is this existence?! Its nonsense in rasa-theory! Then in Ujvala Nilamani there is no mention of reincarnation, of karma, of this Only about the nature of divine connection. Some different dozens of heroes and heroines are

mentioned there. No ABC. In this way progressive study is recommended in order to understand everything properly. Studies, reading books help us entering the recommended mood. And by understanding these scriptures, we can understand something about divine affection. What was the quality of their feelings, what was the quality of their devotion - of Rupa and Ragunath. Through Rupa Goswami the happiness distributed by Govinda is coming to you. And through Raghunat this esoteric entering into the divine loving lila can be revealed. It doesnt matter if we had studied before. Its good to repeat. Because if we repeat that is the mother of knowledge. But it is said that those, who take to the ultimate teaching of glorifying the Lord and chanting the Names, they had studied all the scriptures, they had visited all the holly places, they had done all the yagyas, est. But this is such a nice topic, that we are ready to practice and learn the same through many, many lifetimes. It doesnt mean that O, I had read already once, so lets get the second book. If we go deep and deep, many levels of truth and rasa will be revealed to us. May be one life we see only the history, next lifetime we see Krishna, third time we see Radha-Krishna, forth time Radha 30. Compassion (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 9 of September 2005, Ahtopol) What is the best way that we can help other people? What would you like to get a constructive critic or some understanding? You should achieve some mercy. One drop of mercy can change you immediately. Whatever cannot be achieved by hundreds of lifetimes, a little mercy can change in a moment. But dont forget about the three steps of spiritual communication. The first step is understanding. Because understanding means you are ready to give an ear to the problems of others. May be you do not actively contribute, but at least you give the chance to others to express themselves. In most of the cases this is a good start people NEED a chance to express themselves, to speck out the difficulties. The second is compassion. Compassion means that you not only listen to the problems, but you are ready to share them. And you know, problems work in a very strange way if shared, they diminish. And if you share your happiness it will grow. So compassion helps to diminish the problems and to raise the happiness. You know these categories: para-dukha-dukhi, para-sukha-dukhi, para sukha-sukhi, paka-dukha-sukhi, ha? The most general one is para-sukha-dukhi: the happiness of others is a great misery for me. Para-sukha-dukhi if somebody is happy around me, Im sad! How is it that the other is happy!? That is not very nice, we dont really like that kind of person. The second category is even worse: para-dukha-sukhi. That is if someone is happy by the sufferings of others. He is a determined wrong-doer. That is the worst! Then there is paradukna-dukhhi the suffering of others is a suffering for me. This is compassion when Im ready to share his troubles, when I feel his pain. And para-sukha-sukhi is happy when others are happy. This is a very positive approach, a higher type of compassion. So the second step was compassion when you share the feelings. And the third one is affection. When you not only listen, when you not only share, but when you are ready to take all the trouble, to take away the sufferings of others. And it is not possible without sacrifice. It is said that many are the gurus who take away the money of the disciples. But very few are the gurus, who take away the troubles and the sufferings of the disciples. So this is one real qualification, real symptom of a real master that he is ready to sacrifice himself for the benefit of others. So if we can get one drop of mercy from such a person, then our whole character is changed. We work on ourselves very hard for a long time no result. But when

we come to a sacred and holly company, immediately their values become my values. This is the group dynamics of sadhu-sangha. Exchange of values. To help we have to be firmly connected to the higher source. Because to be stuck in the problems of others this is called the burn-out syndrome. When you have given, given, given to others and you have run out. When there is no supply to you. This is a great trouble and all the helpers on any level. Because if somebody is NOT connected to God, not connected to the unlimited source, then his resources will be finished sooner or later. And also there is a mistake, that we often commit when we think that WE are doing. Then the burden of responsibility is just pushing you down like anything! And when you achieve your first successes, then you get the taste: Yes, Im doing good! Im great! Im proved! It works! We should NEVER forget that we are instruments. And we should not make people depending on US, but depend on God. Because in this way we can educate and create zombies around us if we make them depend on ourselves. But if we help them to understand that they BELONG to the divine family of God, they have some eternal, permanent connection, that they are shining sparks from the great fire then they will not search for candles. So independence is very important. Sharing but preserving the independence; because Im going my path and they are going their path. The only thing that overruns that little distance, little lack of feelings, little coldness this is Bhakti. But when we approach WITH Bhakti to people, then we shall be protected. If you are ready to jump, then you dont have to jump. Or even if you jump, Krishna will protect. Devotional burn-out syndrome, ha? 31. Tolerance (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 9 of September 2005, Ahtopol) We are practicing Bhakti Yoga. That means: we try to live according to spiritual, divine principles. The first principle on the general platform is that you give what you have got. Have you been to the army? Neophytes come, get all the trouble and when they become old, they give the same trouble to the neophytes that come after them. This is not an army. Even if you have got something wrong or difficult, as we are spiritual persons, we have to take it as a lesson for ourselves and give only nectar to the others. So dont say that well, I had a very difficult past in my spiritual life, therefore Im torturing the devotees around myself. No, we cannot do that. We have to personally digest the difficulties that are coming to us and give only nectar. Therefore if somebody has such a problem, he can worship the cow. Because a cow is taking simple grass, which is not a very good think in one sense. But from a very simple experience, she is able to provide milk. So from grass she can produce milk. Taking some kind of experience and giving MUCH better kind of experience. Or we can worship the orange. However you squeeze the orange, ONLY orange juice will come. So, if we simply become like oranges, whatever kind of pressure, squeezing, tearing and doing is coming to you and only you give orange juice, thats quite good. Even an orange we can take as an example, as an ideal. And if you have nectar inside, how can you give poison out? Its impossible! Because we are practicing the Yoga of LOVE!!! How can we give hatred?! How can we give mistrust, how can we give mistreatment or abuse?! That is not Bhakti Yoga! That experience must have been something different. Good, now lets start Bhakti Yoga! So be an orange! Trinad api sunichena, be more humble than a blade of grass, more tolerant than a tree. Mahaprabhu doesnt mention, but in this secret esoteric teaching is also added: but dont be stupid. So if something wrong, if some attack is coming to us, we should accept it. In the shastras it is said: even if somebody is trying to kill YOU, I mean to kill a

vaishnava, the vaishnava will accept. What to speak about some little attack, some little bad words you know these minor things, little criticism, its nothing! You can take that. Thats not a big thing. But if somebody is attacking our brothers, or our God, or our master then we can show our opposition. Still I would say that if the company or the situation is not beneficial for my spiritual practices, I should go and find such circumstances that are beneficial. And we should try to tolerate, we should try to adjust ourselves, but if finally it doesnt really happen, better to move out from the difficult situation, not to give the same trouble again and again. Once I asked Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Maharaj about the differences of opinions in the vaishnava world. And he said that Mahaprabhu is cooking the soup. To put it short. But beware: world is a reflection of your mind. Whatever you project, that will be reflected back to you. Because the world is just like an echo. If you say: SUFFERING! suffering will come back to you. If you say EMPTINESS! nothing will come back, because emptiness cannot come back, ha? But if you say RADHE! Vrindavaneshvari!!! Then reflection will be: Krishna! 32. The stonecutter (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 9 of September 2005, Ahtopol) Just remember the story of the stone-cutter. He had a very difficult life cutting the stones all the day. And then he thought: O! Im so poor and so misused, I want to be stronger. Then he started to pray for being a king; he became a king and then he understood that the sun is scorching too much therefore he wanted to become a sun. But then he understood that the cloud is more powerful that the sun, because the cloud can cover the sun. And then from the cloud there came the rain. And the rain by the drops is cutting the mountains. So finally he understood that its useless to become king, or sun, or cloud and he came back to water. And water was in the same position like he was cutting the stones. One drop of water is very soft compared to the stone, but its ABLE to penetrate. By long practice The layers depend on conditioning of a person. The closer we are to our spiritual identity sat-chit-ananda-vigraha the better we communicate, the better we understand. So if we progress, that helps a situation. If we purify ourselves, then its easier; self-realization helps. Krishna helps. Puts you in such situations when you HAVE TO understand, when you break, yes! These conditioned living beings are just like the walnut hard stone outside, sweet kernel inside. Gita says: by permanent efforts and renunciation results will come. But this is for the beginners. And for the higher practitioners Naam. It is said: That heart is made of iron and stone and ice, which is NOT melting by the Holly Name of God. So if we go on chanting the Holly Names, finally all these layers will be melting. And then the natural state of the heart will manifest. And you can think that this is a general message, I mean, a standard preaching. But its not. Finally, finally, this is the entrance for the higher realities. 33. The Connection (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 24 of May 2006, Sofia) They say, its difficult to make a connection, but its more difficult to maintain it.

This is true only in spiritual aspect. Because for example with illusion its very easy to make a connection and its very difficult to get free of that. Others say that its very easy to make a connection with Krishna, but little difficult to maintain that. Still others say that yes, its easy to make a connection with Krishna, but it is IMPOSSIBLE to give it up. Actually everything depends on our vision. If we have the EYE, then wherever we look we shall see Krishna. May be not in person, thats possible, but we can always see His work, we can always see His creation everything is talking about Him. As it is said in the shastras that everything is wearing the robe, the garment of God. Therefore if we have this vision, we cannot talk of being separated. If we dont see Krishna in person, then we can see His actions, we can see all the different things that are connected with Him like His devotees, His form, His temple, His world, creation And if we have this higher type of vision, spiritualized vision, then we shall see the connection everywhere. Once Gurudev visited an ashram and it was a rented place And there was some old picture of the owner that was hanging on the wall. This picture was about young lady and young man meeting at night under the full moon. Of course this was a village scene and there was a horse because this young man was a horseman or something like this. So Gurudev said: Yes, Radha-Krishna is here, thats nice But how this horse is coming!?! So originally everything is connected to Krishna. Still under the spell of illusion we might think that may be something is disconnected. But the Chaturshloki the four main verses of Shrimad Bhagavatam says that You should know that illusion is what SEEMS to be not connected to Krishna. That is illusion. So this is an exact definition from the Bhagavatam what is illusion it SEEMS to be not connected. If we are under the spell of illusion we see many things that are not connected to Krishna. But if we can come under divine protection, then we shall see the connection everywhere. Therefore we only have to revive our connection, that is naturally, originally there. The goal of Bhakti is to revive this consciousness: I belong to Him, Im with Him, Im for Him. 34. Relative and Absolute Beauty (From lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 24 of May 2006, Sofia) What is beauty? You shouldnt ask what is beauty. WHO is beauty! The search for beauty is a long search. And the beauty of the world is based on convention, agreement. We agree that this is nice, we are told that this is nice. Just think! Usually we think that the human form is nice. But if you are a centipede, for example, you might think that these human guys have only two legs! Very ugly! Also humans between themselves: Eskimos think that the white people are ugly and the white think that Eskimos are ugly. But if both of them see a flower, both say: this is beautiful. Still, what is the beauty of a flower? Is this the special wave-length of the color, like red?! This is also a convention that it is agreeable to our eyes. Or we can also expand the question: what is taste? We think that the apple is of good taste? This is limited by our biology. For a dog this is not a good taste. So, beauty on the relative platform is a kind of convention. According to our bodies, according to our conditionings, of having these material facilities, this we take as something nice, or something of good taste. This is a kind of conditioning. If we would have different body, we would consider different things to be nice. That means that on the relative platform beauty is also relative. You put your music loud thats good for you; but the neighbor will say: Stop that noise!!! On material platform theres always a clash between tastes, ideas, est.

We are searching for beauty, no doubt, but when we have enough of material, relative beauty, then we should be intelligent enough to search for the absolute beauty. Plato was thinking in three categories: the good, the true and the beautiful. Goodness, truth and beauty. These were the basic principles of his philosophy; actually these are nondifferent from sat-chit-ananda. Because ananda is beauty; the existential principle sat this is the good; and the moral principle is the truth. So existence is good, this is its basic, starting point existence is good or good exists, you can put it in both ways. The moral quality of that existential goodness is the truth! This is an intellectual decision on existence. And the whole picture must be beautiful. So we should search for the ultimate beauty, not the relative one. And ultimate beauty should be found on divine platform. Because we DO believe that absolute existence is good AND beautiful. Therefore our shastras give a BEAUTIFUL description of the spiritual sky. Not only some theoretical, not only some empty, not only some gorgeous, but something that is beautiful. And therefore Krishna is described as a cowherd boy, because this is more charming, more beautiful then some glorious aspect of God. The greatness and the dignity of God are inviting some kind of respectful approach from us. But Krishna invites a loving mood from the devotees. But what happens in our life? Where is our beauty and where is our love? If this is still on the relative platform dont waste it! 35. Beauty and Love (From lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 24 of May 2006, Sofia) Once we were discussing what is the best pronunciation of the holly name of Krishna. And we came to the conclusion that the best pronunciation of the name Krishna is Govinda Who gives happiness, who gives pleasure. We are not satisfied with Krishna simply! Because Krishna has many aspects like Vasudev Krishna and Dvarakadesh Krishna this Krishna and that Krishna. But Govinda has no other name Govinda is Govinda, He is our beloved cowherd boy. Govinda is for the pleasure of the devotees. So if you worship THAT aspect of Krishna, who provides happiness to everybody - not only to the cows, not only to the bramins, not only to the earth, but also to your cows, to your go, to your senses, to your heart; who is the protector of the cows then full happiness will come to us. Yoga controls with the big stick. If you want to control yourself with Yoga that is a danda, stick of punishment. But Krishna has His flute for control. What is the most famous opera of Mozart - The Magic Flute. Where did he get the idea?! So everything is coming from divine source. And the magic flute of Krishna is tending the cows. The cows are similar to our senses. The senses are very difficult to control with the stick! But as the cows are ready to run after Krishnas flute, in the same way the senses can be controlled easily by the sweetness of Krishna. Krishna is running in front, playing the flute, and all the cows are just marching behind Him. In the same way devotees are also running after Krishna. And this is beauty; Krishna controls with His beauty. Not with His power, not with His magnificent aspect, but with His beauty and charm. Absolute beauty we can find in this divine platform. And this absolute beauty is manifest in the community affairs. Not only an empty creation, magnificent creation but empty. But it manifests in contact. So therefore our beautiful vision about the spiritual sky is not only full of God, but full of partners of God, the devotees. So we can find beauty in love, ultimately. Beauty and love are inseparable. Ultimate Beauty is Krishna, ultimate Love is Radha. Somehow they are very, very close to each-other

beauty and love. And the beauty of Krishna is not a convention, its not a question of agreement. This is ABSOLUTELY beautiful. Is there any higher beauty than Krishnas? Radhas. Is there any higher beauty than Radhas? Prema. Who is Prema? Connection. Who is the connection? Give a name? When the beauty of Krishna and the beauty of Radha are combined that is Chaitanya, the Golden Avatar. That is EXTRAORDINARY beauty. Therefore we are SO fortunate! We can have the combined beauty of Radha and Krishna. Beauty Himself and Love Herself combined in one form! This is extra-blessings! Radha and Krishna are so close to each-other, that they are united; They are searching each-other so intensively that They come very, very close. And in order to increase that intensity sometimes They are separated, manifested in two persons. So then there is ek pran do deh sometimes they are one life in two forms. And when they come very close, this is do pran ek deh, two souls in one body. What is that? That is Chaitanya, the Golden Lord. Two prana, two atman are united in one person, in one body. This is love! Deep love, deep spiritual love means we are so much united that although we are two, we become one. And the even higher platform is that although we are one, we separate. 36. The Rasa Dance (From lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 24 of May 2006, Sofia) Krishna is for everybody, but personally in the same time. This is rasa, this is maha-rasa we can say. This is the rasa dance. Krishna is there personally in the centre of the circle, but then the gopies are not satisfied. They want Krishna PERSONALLY, Come with me! and there are unlimited number of gopies in the rasa dance. There are eight main gopies and there are some other expansions of the main gopies like 108. But there are pictures where you see an ocean of gopies around Krishna! What does it mean? This means that the essence of creation, the essence of everything that exists just circulates around Krishna everybody comes around Krishna. As it is said that all the ladies of the three worlds are running after Him He is so much attractive. Therefore unlimited number of gopies are there. And Krishna is able to manifest a personal replica of Himself to come with each and every gopi. So if we see a picture of the rasa dance, we should understand the meaning one Krishna, one gopi, one Krishna, one gopi So He is ready to come personally to the devotee. Usually here in Sofia you dont dance the rasa dance under the moon, right? You have some other activities also. Still if we consider the life of the devotees, they dance with Krishna all the time. But one is dancing like this, managing customers to make them happy, the other is designing some beautiful ornaments, the third is studying so this dance is manifesting in different ways. But Krishna inspires His devotees in their respective dances. So.. this is our search for beauty, Absolute Beauty Join the dance! 37. Knowledge, wisdom and higher (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 24 of May 2006, Sofia) Real wisdom is divine wisdom. Knowledge of the world, any high kind of knowledge, any limit of material knowledge is compared to zero with divine knowledge. Why can we say this? Because everything that is there in the world will be diminished, will be destroyed. So an intelligent person would not glorify something transient. And limited and impermanent knowledge is not knowledge. As Shrila Prabhupad used to say, the knowledge of the science

is may be according to our present view but this knowledge is not knowledge. May be is not knowledge. Knowledge means YOU KNOW. But in order to know, we have to come in contact with the ultimate source of knowledge. Most of us know, that God knows everything. And if you know only this one thing, that is almost enough for having perfect knowledge. Why? Because there are few basic qualities of the Supreme Lord that should be noticed. For example, God is GOOD. Once I was talking to a lawyer and somehow I told God is good. And he said: Wow! If somebody could prove that for me! And I said: Well, that will be VERY difficult. To prove that God is good its almost impossible. If this is not obvious for you, nobody can prove that. So, God IS good. And He is the ultimate source of everything whatever we have and whatever we dont have. Most of the times we lack knowledge. And more often we lack wisdom. So we should not be entangled with material knowledge, rather we should cultivate divine wisdom. Material knowledge will give us all the information about nothing. And divine knowledge will provide you full knowledge about everything. So you will understand what is what in the right value. That we can call REAL knowledge. Knowledge can be distinguished on two principles. One is the source of knowledge and the other is the topic of knowledge. What is the source of your knowledge? In most of the cases this is our sense perception. And usually people say: I believe if I see, because we are depending on the senses, on the perception and we have no higher source of knowledge. But this is the version of the materialists. What is the version of the idealists? I will see if I believe. This works on opposite principle. Material knowledge is an ascending process, building from down to up. You collect information and try to put it together. But life is such a puzzle, that most of the pieces are missing. So if you try to build up your knowledge, your life it will be a very shaky, very hazy picture. Divine knowledge is descending. Its coming form a divine source like a blessing down to humans. That knowledge comes from a perfect source, therefore it contains all the necessary information plus it is able to transform you. So: information plus transformation that is wisdom. And this divine knowledge can be obtained by what? By surrender you obtain knowledge. This is a mystic process. This is not collecting information, but dedicating your heart and soul. Therefore we should always remember that beautiful story from the Mahabharata, The name of the disciple was Aruni. The master sent Aruni: Could you please check the small gates of the rice-field? Because rice grows only in water and for that reason they make a flat piece of land and surround it with small dams. And to preserve water there is necessary for the rice to grow. So Aruni was checking out the little dams and he saw that in one place the dam was broken and the water was just running out like anything! He started to collect mud, and earth, and soil, but he was unable to stop it. Finally he didnt find any alternative then blocking the way of the water with his own body. And if you are part of the dam you cannon really move, right? So of course, he was missing in the evening from the ashram. After the arati, after the lecture the guru asked: Where is Aruni? Nobody knew. They went out with torch-lamps searching: Aruni, Aruni, where are you? Finally some little voice they heard from the rice-field. And when the guru understood that he was so much self-sacrificed, that he put his body to block the water, he told: O my dear boy, may all the knowledge of the Vedas come to you! Because you are so much dedicated, all knowledge, all blessings should come to you. So instead of talking too much and thinking too much about knowledge, we should do something. From this story we can understand : if we sacrifice ourselves then the blessings will come. And due to the blessing knowledge will also come.

But Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came NOT for distributing divine knowledge, but divine love. A higher principle, which we can call the real knowledge or the essential wisdom. Divine love thats much higher principle then knowledge! Therefore if we talk about knowledge and wisdom, in the shastras it is suggested that first you should become knowledgeable. But AFTER that you have to become like a kid, simple like a kid. And next step is final purification. So dont think that knowledge can help you. Knowledge is only an intermediate state. After you had gained all the knowledge that is necessary, you should give it up. And you should be simple, compassionate, and loving like a kid. And finally you also have to give this up. And then you depend on Krishnas grace alone.

38. Big enough heart (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 24 of May 2006, Sofia) Sanatan Goswami was coming to Lord Chaitanya, who was staying in Jagannath Puri. Sanatan was coming from far distant place, from Vrindavan. And at that time there were no other travel possibilities just like walking. He was traveling through different places and forests and meanwhile he didnt have too much facilities. In Jarikanda forest he took some water that was available and it was contaminated. So he got infected, all his body was covered with sores and moisture was oozing from these sores very disgusting. He considered: O. my fate is very bad, this body is very useless and Im not fit for the service of God! And he had an idea that May be I should finish with this He was ready even to die, to give up this contaminated body, which was not fit for the service of Lord Jagannath. Still he went to this holly place and he decided that when there is a big festival for Lord Jagannath, he can leave his body under the cart of Jagannath. Sanatan Goswami said: During the Ratha Yatra festival, when Lord Jagannath is coming out of the temple, I shall give up this body under the wheels of His cart. This will be the highest benediction of my life. Having made this resolution, Sanatan Goswami went to Nilachala, where he inquired directions from the people to approach the residence of Haridas Thakur. He offered his respects to the lotus feet of Haridas Thakur, who knew him and thus embraced him. Sanatan Goswami was very eager to see the lotus feet of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Therefore Haridas Thakur said: The Lord is coming here very soon. Just imagine the situation. After a long time, a long journey, finally you arrive in a holly place and you meet a good old friend, who is also a great saint, and you want to meet God. And this friend of yours says: He is coming soon! Then your heart starts to fly! At that very moment Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came. Seeing Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, they both immediately fell flat like rods to offer obeisances. Then the Lord lifted Haridas Thakur and embraced him. So again, imagine yourself in the situation. You have been traveling a lot, waiting with an elevated heart and soul to meet God, and then two of you offer obeisances and He lifts the devotee next to you! His heart must have been broken: O, my God doesnt consider me! If he would be a materialist, naturally some envy would appear: Why HIM!? I came from such a big distance, why him?! But Haridas Thakur in the embrace of God - said: Here is Sanatan Goswami, offering respects to you. So, if the Lord would embrace YOU, would you be so kind not to forget about your brothers and sisters there? The first thing that came to his mind was: Here is your servant, dont forget about him! This is vaishnava behavior. Immediately when you enjoy the grace of God, you should be ready to share it with others, to distribute it to others.

Seeing Sanatan Goswami, the Lord was greatly surprised. When Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came forward to embrace him, Sanatan backed away and spoke as follows: My Lord, please do not touch me. I fall at the lotus feet of Yours, Im the lowest of men, being born in a low caste. Besides that I have infections on my body. So what happens when you admit all your shortcomings? Chaitanya Mahaprabhu however embraced Sanatan Goswami BY FORCE! You think that mercy comes to you in a very gentle way. No! Sometimes grace comes BY FORCE - catching you, dont letting you escape. No way out from the divine grace. Thus the moisture, oozing from the sores of Sanatan Goswami, touched the transcendental body of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. So, according to that story you can judge the level of your tolerance. If you would see a fellow human being full of disgusting sores on his body, some liquid oozing from these sores, what would you say: Wait a minute! Or you would have big enough heart to embrace that person? Once we were discussing this question in a group of devotees. And there was a little girl also in the audience, and after the lecture she came and brought a little picture she was drawing. It was folded and when I unwrapped, there was as usually some blue water and lotus flower and some rainbow, and the sun, and everything was there, nice clouds And the title of the picture was: I have big enough heart. So even a small kid understands that compassion we need. 39. I had sold my heart (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 24 of may 2006, Sofia) Sanatan Goswami said: From the very beginning of his childhood, my younger brother Anupama was a great devotee of Ramachandra and he worshiped Him with great determination. He always chanted the holly name of Ragunath (Ram) and meditated upon Him. He continuously heard about the activities of Lord Ram from Ramayana and chanted about them. Rupa and myself are his elder brothers and he stayed with us continuously. Anupama heard Shrimad Bhagavatam and talks about Krishna with us and both of us examined him: Dear Anupama we said please, listen to us. Lord Krishna is supremely attractive. His beauty, sweetness and pastimes of love are without a limit. Engage yourself in devotional service to Krishna with both of us! We, three brothers, will stay together and enjoy discussing the pastimes of Lord Krishna. In this way we both spoke to him again and again. And because of this persuasion and his respect for us, his mind turned somewhat towards our instructions. Vallabha, Anupama said: My dear brothers, how can I disobey your orders? Initiate me into the Krishna mantra, so that I may perform devotional service to Lord Krishna! After saying this, at night he began to think: How should I give up the lotus feet of Lord Ramachandra?! He stayed up whole night and cried. In the morning he came and submitted the following: I have sold my heart at the lotus feet of Lord Ramachandra and I cannot take it back. That would be too painful for me. Both of you, please, be merciful to me, and order me in such a way, that life after life I may serve the lotus feet of Lord Ramachandra! It is impossible for me to give up the lotus feet of Lord Ragunath! When I even think of giving up, my heart breaks The elder brothers had affinity for Krishna; the younger brother had affinity for Ram. They wanted to invite him to join Krishna bhajan, worship of Lord Krishna instead of Lord Rama. And as he was an obedient brother, he wanted to follow the instruction. He saw that: O, my brothers are very happy by worshiping Krishna. So he said: All right, I got these news, I got this information, they instruct me like this let me follow their example But

then during the night he started to think: But I had given my heart to Lord Ram. Its impossible for me to change that. Im his servant. How can I change, how can I leave my master?! So it was a very painful night for him. And the sincerity and the simplicity of him was shown that he was crying whole the night. He could not decide and finally in the morning he came to the brothers: Please, help me. I had sold my heart at the lotus feet of Ragunath. I cannot take it back. Instruct me in such a way that I could serve Him life after life. Upon hearing this, both of us embraced him and encouraged him by saying: You are a great saintly devotee for your determination in devotional service is fixed. In this way we both praised him. So for them there was no problem. They could glorify each-other, although they were following, so to say, little different paths. And then Mahaprabhu said: Glorious is the devotee, who does not give up the shelter of his Lord! And glorious is that Lord, who does not abandon his servant. This is the quality of a disciple, of a real practitioner. With his fateful approach, with his obedience he can express his gratitude towards his master. So this is a chance for us to be obedient and loyal. The servant becomes glorious if he is very loyal to his master. And the master is also glorious, who is fateful to his servants. So in this way both of them become glorious. From the two of them, which position is easier? Who has more freedom? Like a mother: the child can leave the mother, but the mother never leaves the child. I think it is very similar in the case of master and disciple. All the time the disciple has the chance to say No. I go my way. I will leave you. But a guru has not that freedom. If ONCE you had said to a person: Yes. I will take you back home, back to Godhead, this is a standing order. This is a permanent duty. So in this connection the master loses his freedom. Is that wrong or difficult? I think that is sweet. Because we had understood that the greatest freedom is to become a slave of God. Slavery is the greatest freedom. And if the disciple is also a master of discipleship, then he is also ready to give up his freedom: No, Im your eternal servant. Im not your independent servant. Im your eternal servant. So in that loving connection both master and disciple lose their freedom. Is that good? I think its very good! Because in this way they both join the campaign of Lord Krishna. 40. Ready to die, ready to live (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 25 of May 2006, Sofia) You must have a lot of experience, much impressions you have collected. Therefore I say: now it is time for practice. Of course practice means always revive your knowledge, enter deep into the topics, think and not only think, but WORSHIP the ideas that we want to approach. But to enter deep into Bhakti, the best way is to follow some good example. So lets continue our readings from Chaitanya Charitamrita. Dont forget what was the idea of Sanatan Goswami: O, my body is infected, its useless in the service better I throw this body under the wheels of Jagannaths cart and in this way I finish with it! This is a kind of suicide, right? But what is the main reason for people to give their life up? Usually some failure or some love affair, right? People get mad after these little things and they want to throw away the body, because they think that it creates only troubles, so lets finish with the troubles. Which is a stupid idea, because if you commit violence, you have to be punished. Violence against others or violence against your construction its the same. And instead of decreasing the problems, you will increase it. In most of the cases in the material sphere people have some simple material reasons to come to that conclusion. But what was the idea of Sanatan Goswami? O, my body is not fit for the service of GOD, lets get rid of this! Can we consider that bodily consciousness?! I

think not. So that was his idea; and although he was behaving like not having this intention, still it was hiding there in his heart. And then Chaitanya Mahaprabhu all of a sudden started: My dear Sanatan He said if I could attain Krishna by committing suicide, I would certainly give up millions of bodies without a moment hesitation. Like reading the heart of another person while taking prasadam just mentioning: Well.. you know, Sanatan, you cant make it by suicide Reading the heart. You should know that one cannot attain Krishna simply by giving up the body. Its a very important teaching. So its not enough to die. You have to LIVE for Krishna! Simply by giving up the body you get nowhere. Krishna is attainable by devotional service. There is no other means to attain Him. Acts such as suicide is influenced by the mode of ignorance. And in ignorance and passion one cannot understand who Krishna is. Unless one discharges devotional service, one cannot awaken ones dormant love for Krishna. And there is no means to attain Him other than awakening that dormant love. 41. The dormant love (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 25 of May 2006, Sofia) Is finally the process of Bhakti a transformation? There is something and you should have a different thing? Because that means transformation Or it is rather a kind of disclosure. Or may be we can add that this is revival. Something is there, but you bring it to the surface again. Because the spiritual quality, the spiritual jiva, atma, is always the same. Little covered by illusion, but its always the same. Therefore by the process of yoga we have to pile these layers off the soul, to revive your original position. According to the Shrimad Bhagavatam, moksha is to attain your original position, to act according to your original position. In Chaitanya Charitamrita it is said: to awaken the dormant love in your heart, divine love. Originally everybody is a vaishnava. Because everybody is coming from, through, by Vishnu. Therefore from a philosophical point of view, we all come from his family. There are two types of people: one who know and cultivates this; the others who doesnt know yet. So you belong to which group? Those who have some idea or agree on any point? Or you have very firm conviction YES, I belong to my Lord! I have my God, I have my master, I have my brothers and sisters lets do it! Faith without activity is dead. Somehow we have to express our faith. And if we awaken this dormant divine love, it also needs a kind of expression. But you know, when you want to awaken somebody, sometimes it takes a long time. For example, to wake up the brahmacharis, this is a very heavy job. The swamiji is awaken early in the morning and trying to do his best by meditation, by alarm clock, by this and that to bring the brahmacharis out of their sleeping bags. And if you try to awaken somebody, sometimes it is enough to call: Haribol! and he is jumping. Other times theres no response. You shout as much as you can no response, fast asleep. Then you have to shake the person may be in this way he will come to his senses. In the same way, if you want to awaken YOUR atman, sometimes it is enough to call out the name of Krishna. Other times guru has to shake you up to come to your senses. And sometimes it takes a long time to come to our senses.

42. The wider scope (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 25 of May 2006, Sofia) Awakened divine love brings great transformations in our ideals. Because first of all, in the beginning we are very ego-centered. There is only one reason that we are ready to do anything and this is for our own benefit and sake. If you are a brutal materialist, you work only for your satisfaction. And if you are a brutal spiritualist, you work only for your own liberation. This is the first impetus you work for your own benefit. This is what drives you, what makes you move MY benefit. This is a neophyte stage. Second stage is when you learn how to come together with others, how to tolerate others and how to work with others. And not only with, but FOR others. Thats the next little step come together, work together and work for each-other. This is the practitioner level. And what is the third level? Third level is work for the mission. I mean - the larger family, the wider scope. Work for the benefit of MORE than your own limited small group. Become more renounced, more generous to others. And then the fourth is the master level work for God which also includes all the other levels. So dont stop on the first plan! Dont work only for yourself. Be ready to share with others and cooperate with others. Help the mission grow. And dont forget everything we do should be done for the satisfaction of Krishna. Unless one performs service, he cannot attain Krishna. Krishna says in the Shrimad Bhagavatam: My dear Uddhava, neither through ashtanga yoga the mystic system to control the senses nor through impersonal monism, nor analytical study of the Absolute Truth, nor through the study of the Vedas, nor through austerities, charity or acceptance of sannyas order can one satisfy Me as much as by developing unalloyed devotional service unto Me. This is the glorious position of a devotee. 43. The ten dimensions (from lectures of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 25.05.2006 and 10.09.2007, Sofia) The zero dimension is the point, because there is no expansion. The first dimension is the line, the second is the plain, the third is the object, fourth is the time. The time has two faces: limitation on this side and eternity on that side. And on that other side are the next dimensions: the fifth is sat (existence), the sixth is chit (consciousness) and the seventh is anandam (happiness). Then comes the eighth dimension this is the intensified happiness. And then the ninth is the perfection, the Absolute. So anandam and intensified anandam I think this is something that we can grasp. Beyond that we cannot understand. May be it sounds a little theoretical, but think! The space, how its arranged - practically we dont understand, but we are accustomed to that. Time is even more complicated, we understand it much less, but we are also accustomed to time. Eternity we cannot imagine! Existence is just a theoretical word. Consciousness is lacking. Anandam is a dream, happiness is a dream. What to speak of the intensity as a dimension? But anyway, I fully agree that we should live for intensity. Devotional service is awakening the dormant divine love in our hearts, which will bring the tenth dimension into our life. What is the tenth dimension? The tenth is ecstasy. But please, control your ecstasies. You have to go to your jobs, so please, dont tell to your boss: Im in the tenth dimension. Sorry, Im in ecstasy now. Anyway, until you can say: Im in

ecstasy, you are not really in ecstasy. So control your feelings, cultivate them from the inside and be ready for service from the outside. Be practical and mystical at the same time. Once a devotee asked a mater: How it happens that my job is successful? How it happens that I sell my goods? And the master said: O, there are two explanations: one is practical and the other is mystical. Immediately everybody was sharpening the ear: O, now we shall have the mystical explanation of the success! And he said: Well, the practical is that you pray. The mystical is that you sell. So dont miss these points. The practical side should be the real mysticism. And the mystical side is that STILL the material world is going on, it still functions. 44. According to the face of God (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 25 of May 2006, Sofia) There IS a goal for human life. And that is not suffering, that is not losing our way in the labyrinth of material existence; that is not wasting our time with useless activities, but to liberate our consciousness from contamination and to open up the feelings of our hearts towards the loving God. Human being means according to the face of God. We had read in the Bible that God created man according to His face. The same is mentioned in the Shrimad Bhagavatam, one of the holly scriptures of India: that from among all the different spices of living entities, humans are the residential place for God. That means: God lives in the human beings also; in His place and in the human beings. That also means that your bodies are just like temples, because a temple is house for God, especially built for him. But our bodies are naturally built for Him. So that is the spiritual use of our body if we use it for the worship. Used for the worship of God and used for the benefit of yourself. Of course, if a house is dedicated to someone, it has some consequences. Because then we should be more and more conscious about that that my body, my activities, my thoughts, my words also belong to Him. And if Im conscious about that, if Im aware of this situation I cannot be bad, I cannot be a bad person. Because if God is there and He is with me, then I have to behave in a very nice manner. Just like when you think that you are alone this time you think that well, I can do these little things, no problem, nobody sees. But when you have company, then you behave in a better way. In the same way if we are aware that you are EVER connected to God, Krishna, then first of all we should intentionally behave in a proper manner. First intentionally; then naturally. The change between these two is the purification process. Use all your resources for a higher purpose. If you have money use it for a good purpose. If you have body use it for a divine purpose self-realization. If you have some senses use it for being purified. If you have any talents use it for the glorification of God. Whatever you have got, offer it back to Him. Because we have got finally our body, our talents, our everything from Him. So this is the best way to spiritualize if we establish the contact between us and Him. 45. Engaging the senses (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 25 f May 2006, Sofia) We should control the bad habits with some good habits. This is an easy control you engage your senses in something better.

So if we want to control the bodily functions, it doesnt mean we have to stop the bodily functions. Simply by stopping the functions, it will not be purified. But if we provide contact between the senses, the bodily functions and divinity, then purification will come all of a sudden. For example we have an eye. To control the eye we do not pluck it out because sometimes it is wandering here and there and watching different objects. No, we control the eye by fixing the vision on Krishna, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu seeing the beauty of Krishna. This is the best engagement for the eye. You also have an ear. So its not necessary to block your ear. But we should use this instrument for the best purpose. I suggest, dont listen for the news on the radio for example, because this is not a good use of your ear. They try to put all the nonsense and all the garbage into your ear. But sometimes I also check out the news. Every second year I just turn on the radio. Then I understand still the same old news: bombed, robed, broken, died, est. And the weather is also bad. Why should we use our ears for this nonsense? Better we use our ear, our hearing capacity for listening to the good advice of the wise teachers or the message of God. This is the best use of your ear. We have some other holes on our head. The nose for example. Nose we usually poke into different things. Better we use our nose not to interfere in different subjects, but rater we also have to spiritualize the olfactory system by smelling the incense that is offered to Krishna, or the flowers. Dont forget that the great saints, the Kumaras, the four great children-saints, they were induced to worship personally Vishnu, Krishna, because they could smell the aroma of tulasi flowers that were offered to Vishnus lotus feet. The smelling capacity is very strong. Smell and olfactory system is almost directly connected to the brain. Therefore this Bhakti process is very good in engaging the senses. When you enter the temple, immediately you feel the divine aroma of the incense. That creates a very purified atmosphere in our consciousness. And also the final hole in our head is the mouth. And with the mouth you can do two things speak and eat. Mostly people eat and speak nonsense. But we should control the tongue by eating and talking nice. If you have a car running on petrol, you wouldnt put on the petrol station diesel nor gas, but petrol that is appropriate to the engine. What is more complicated a car or the human body? Human body is a LITTLE bit more complicated than a car; still we dont know which is the best fuel for our body. Sometimes we put very bad fuel. And then we are astonished that it doesnt work proper. Better we should find such energy input into the body that will very beneficially propel the body into a good direction. Therefore for yogis vegetarian diet is recommended, because this is the proper fuel for the body. So for controlling the bodily functions we dont give up our vision, we dont give up our listening, we dont give up our talking capacity or eating capacity, but we try to spiritualize them. Hear about Krishna, look at Him, talk about Him, glorify Him, eat His prasadam. By engaging the senses in this divine process we can spiritualize the senses. 46. The composition of a human (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 25 of May 2006) Biological construction of the human body, biological ego we can say, is the material construction different elements, different maters are there finally to give a form, construction of the body. And this biological platform has a lot of impulses like instincts or sensual perceptions. This is just like very similar with everything else in the nature. Animals for example work under this principle biological instincts and the arrangement of the nature.

Animals are ready to kill when they are hungry, for example certain type of animals. Humans are worse than animals. Because humans are ready to kill also when they are not hungry. So humans DO have the chance to transgress these natural limits. So beyond the biological ego, the biological composition of a human being there is we can say a cultural ego of a person. The cultural ego is composed of different impressions, your knowledge or education, your habits that you inherited from the fathers and family, like this. And this is very much varied, for many people this is different and different. And we have two levels of this cultural ego. One is the cultural ego proper, which is more like defused, penetrating the whole body like consciousness. It is there all over your existential body. And the other is we can say the intellectual ego, which is concentrated mostly in the brain. And you can see the difference between this cultural ego on the consciousness platform and on the intellectual platform. The difference is that if you cut the head this intellectual ego is finished. But if you cut the hand the cultural ego can go on. Because intellectual ego is concentrated, but cultural ego is penetrated. But of course we have our impressions, we have our feelings and memories and so many different things, which are also combined with this cultural ego. Then the next level of our ego comes and that is we can say the spiritual ego, which is the real one, which doesnt change. All the other levels of our existence change from time to time. But this spiritual identification does not change. So this real ego, this real identification if we really understand, if we really revive that original consciousness, then we can come very close to our goal of life. This topic, this construction of human system is very important, because we have to identify ourselves on a proper scale. We should not identify ourselves ONLY on the biological platform, because all the animals do that. If we do the same, then we are also animals, but on two legs. Humans must do something more, must achieve something more. Human life is for higher achievements. And this higher achievement means that you spiritualize your body, spiritualize your consciousness. You come to the ultimate and final identification of the self, of your own personality. So to summarize this whole topic in one sentence: false ego is bad, real ego is good. To put it very simply. And from this false reflection we have to come to the original. That is the goal of self-realization: from the body come to the spiritual platform, from mater come to the soul, from yourself come to God. This transition period might be short, might be long. But if we are really intelligent, we should make this path as short and as quick as possible. Why? Because meanwhile there is a little problem its called suffering. So if you are intelligent, you dont want to suffer. Try to identify yourself on the ultimate, most high spiritual platform and then you will see that the things are decided on the top platform. If you are strong and healthy in your soul, in your spirit, then all the lower stages of your existence like the cultural ego, intellectual ego or biological ego will be also very nicely harmonized. So we have one general and perfect cure for all the diseases. Hare Krishna. 47. The discrimination (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 25 of May 2006, Sofia) Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said: Give up your all nonsense desires, because they dont help getting the shelter of the lotus feet of Krishna. Engage yourself in chanting and hearing. Then you will soon achieve the shelter of Krishna without a doubt. A person, born in a low family, is NOT unfit for discharging devotional service for Krishna. Nor is one fit for devotional service simply because he is born in an aristocratic family of Brahmanas. Anyone

who takes to devotional service is exalted, whereas a non-devotee is always abominable. Therefore in the discharge of devotional service to the Lord there is no consideration of the status of ones family. God is not discriminating between humans. You agree? Everybody agrees that God doesnt discriminate? No. No. He likes better those, who love Him. With this we agree more. Of course on a certain platform that is true He doesnt make any difference. Because everybody is coming from His family, so to say. But think: can YOU appreciate all the human beings, all your fellow brothers and sisters in the same way? May be on a theoretical platform we are able to do that. But if you really examine yourself you will feel that you have more attraction to those, who are favorable to you. Isnt it like this? Yes. So Krishna is also inviting everybody. But who is ready to join with that person he is more happy. And of course it doesnt mean that His discrimination is AGAINST somebody, but the discrimination is FOR those, who are ready to dance. He is not against, He is for. We should learn this quality from Him. Never work, or think, or do against something or somebody, but work FOR the benefit of others. So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came as an incarnation of mercy and He doesnt discriminate between human beings. He invites us all to join his pastimes. First the service and then the pastimes. Because by serving we can qualify ourselves to join the pastimes. And it doesnt matter whether we are qualified or unqualified. By the invitation of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu we can all join the Sankirtan movement. That is the glorification of the Supreme Lord. 48. Shri Guru (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 25 of May 2006, Sofia) Shri Guru is our best friend, always working and praying for our benefit. Guru has only one desire that his disciples achieve perfection, pure love of Godhead. So guru is the way, Krishna is the goal. Many people think that by accepting a spiritual master they have accomplished the process. But that is only the beginning. And usually we consider our spiritual master as our ishta-deva, so to say, as our worshipable object. Because we want to be same good devotee as he is. We want to have such a nice life what he has. But this is a very illusory part of the disciples life. Because usually people has very wrong vision about sannyas life or guru life. I dont recommend to you the same life-career May be this is not your competence. May be what is tolerable for an advanced person would kill you on the moment, on the spot. But naturally we want to be like our masters. O Gurudev! Your heart-beat is the rhythm of the rasa-dance. We want to find every beauty and every interesting spiritual thing in our master. He is like our idol. But dont imitate. Try to serve, try to follow. Because that is his life and this is your life. What we can do we can try to have the same INTENSITY what he had in his personal life. So live your life with the same intensity, as Gurudev is living his life. Then you will come to the ultimate platform of YOUR life. May be this is different, but you can perform best in this way. Still the spiritual master is very important. Because usually people feel that God is far away, but guru is very close. Therefore guru means a connection. He connects us to the Supreme. If God stays in His place and I stay in my place, how can you establish a contact? But if somebody is standing between you and Him, catching both hands then he can create this connection. So guru does not separate us, but he unites us. Guru separates us only from our false ego.

Guru is only for those, who want to finish with the material wandering life. Only for those, who want to return back home, back to Godhead. Not for those, who want to spend more and more lifetimes here. So from this we can understand that although guru is a universal principle, still this is not for everyone. If we are not ready to follow the instruction, this means guru is not for us. I agree, a living guru is a risky job. Because he might tell me something that I should do! If my guru is only a picture, hanging on my wall or standing on my shelf sometimes turned upside-down, I had seen that then he will not interfere in our life. We can live as we want claiming that we have our spiritual master. Anyway, I dont want to criticize even that attitude. But the other extreme is when someone is in the so to say guruism. This is another type of personality cult in a spiritual garb. So we should understand this principle correctly. But it is simple guru is given by Krishna to help us. Guru is a function of God, its a divine function. Ultimately the spiritual master is just like a guide. If you want to go to an unknown place, you have some different methods to apply. There are three methods to find the place which you dont know. Check out on a map, ask someone who knows, or you should know. So guru is the guide who knows, who can guide you. If you enter the spiritual sky, enter Goloka Vrindavan you feel lost there: Its a new place for me! Where am I to go!? But then you see: O! But here is Gurudev! Im safe! He will guide me further. Of course we can go on describing and glorifying the role of the spiritual master for a long time. But whole our life should be such a glorification. 49. The doctor (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 25 of May 2006, Sofia) Guru is like a doctor applying the proper method for your cure. In Ayurveda there are different types of patients. And the doctor has to use different methods according to the nature of the patient. You know these different types of patients? One is the intellectual type. Very smart, very clever! He knows everything about health and everything about disease. This is a very difficult type. Because this type you have to CONVINCE with reasons. So the doctor must be well-prepared. But this is not the most difficult case. The second one is a fighter type, who is trying to do EVERYTHING against the instructions of the doctor. The doctor says: Dont drink. And he says: NO! I will drink! Doctor says: Give up smoking. How can I give up, Ive been smoking from 20 years, this is my daily habit! Est., est., so many things. This type you should overcome in a battle. You should DISROY him in a battle. Poor doctor! The third type is finally a better one this is a lover type. With this type its enough to say with very gentle nice words: Please, do like this and he will take it! These are the three types of patients. But I can tell you, disciples has unlimited categories. But these main types are there: one you have to intellectually overcome. There are devotees who are always full of questions. Gurudev, I have a question. Theres no end of the questions! Once somebody was visiting a group of devotees and there was one very sharp lady there. She came with a notebook full of questions! Minimum hundred questions. Too much! Dont forget, if we try to analyze and explain everything its very easy to kill the subject. Right? So if we intellectually cut it into pieces, finally there will be nothing remain. Vivisection. The other type is that should be smashed, this is the next disciple - that should be smashed. Doctor False Ego. That should be smashed! And the third type is the general type of disciples the obedient one. Enough to say Haribol! and he will say: Hare Krishna! So

this is the role of the guru applies the method, the proper cure according to the nature of the sick disciples. He is our doctor. And we must have full trust in our doctor. Because sometimes he gives us very difficult rules to follow. But if we have this trust in our spiritual master, then even the heaviest cure will be very easy and fast. 50. Disciplic mandala (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 25 of May 2006, Sofia) Lets start a little different topic a little discussion about the mandalas. I think you all know the mandalas mandalas are mystic diagrams for concentrating mind, attention and energy. And usually the mandala is a painting, depicting certain elements. If you examine the classical mandala, usually the outside is oblong, like a square. And on each side this square has some entrances. Because that square figure represents the material sphere. Mater is always rectangular, its never round. Because this is mater, this is material something very rough, very basic. And through these entrances you can start focusing your attention. Immediately when you enter the mandala, next is a circle and circle is the petals of s lotus flower. The closer you come to the central point, the more delicate these lotus petals become. And finally in the centre there is one point. This point is the ecstatic point. So you start from mater and through a beautiful process, stepping closer and closer to the essence, you come to the essential point. From mater to spiritual brake through. Therefore the most important part of the mandala is this central circle. Mandala is a very powerful instrument for concentration of the attention, and mind, and powers. The central point keeps the mandala together. Buddhist monks sometimes spend few weeks for creating a nice mandala from different color powders very intricate forms. And then when they are ready they just come and wipe everything off. Why? In order to understand that everything is transient in this life. But in our line we also have a mandala. This is the disciplic mandala mandala of the disciples. And this mandala of the disciples is surrounding the spiritual master. So this is the spiritual master who keeps this mandala, this structure of people, human beings together. And therefore this structure of disciples is also very STRONG instrument to concentrate our energies. A mandala can function ONLY when we apply it in proper manner. Therefore also this spiritual mandala of the disciples should function properly. Everyone should keep and preserve the service, the place, the duty that he has got or she has got from the spiritual master. Otherwise there will be disharmony and the concentration of the power and the spiritual break through will NOT be available. To keep together the group of the devotees is also a duty of the spiritual master. Think about it. If you analyze and penetrate, go deep into this topic, you will understand a lot. 51. Three steps in chanting (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 26 of May 2006) From the nine main processes of Bhakti, chanting of the Name should be practices most. The first reason is that you should be selfish. Selfish in that sense that you should have the DESIRE to taste nectar. That kind of selfishness is acceptable. Because some very special divine sweetness is hidden in the Holly Names. Then: you should be intelligent in chanting the Holly Name. It sounds better, ha, than selfish? Intelligent in that sense that by Holly Name you can achieve all perfection.

Once there was e debate in a devotional circle and Haridas Thakur was also present. And the question was: what is the benefit of chanting the Holly Name? Some people came with such ideas that by chanting you can stop your karma. Which is not a bad result, right you become karma-free! But some people were not satisfied. So other opinion came: No, no, no, that stopping the karma is nothing! It provides liberation. That sounds even better! O! To achieve eternal perfection! Out of the labyrinth of material existence! To get out of this forest of birth and death! So many were agreeing: Yes, yes, this is good result. But then someone said: But here is Haridas Thakur, lets ask his opinion. And he is the authority on the Holly Name. So, the devotees have some special quality they are authorities on some special field on devotional service. Authority not in doctor False Ego sense, but as a servant. Because by this service mood we can become great authorities in the specific field that is given to us, provided to us as an expression of our devotion. So, Haridas Thakur is an authority in chanting the Holly Names. And they asked: Are you satisfied with these answers of stopping the karma and achieving liberation? He said: O, thats nothing. To achieve liberation any kind of religion can provide that to you. By chanting the Holly Name you can come to the lotus feet of Krishna. And it sounds very simple sentence. But think about the meaning of this sentence: that you can go beyond liberation. So that was the conclusive answer of Haridas Thakur. That you can achieve Bhakti to the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord, selfless devotion. And all other - like stopping the karma and giving all the blessings and providing liberation - is all secondary effects of perfect chanting of the Holly Names. So if we consider the level of our chanting, we should examine that also. How much we can dedicate ourselves, how much this is a real deep cry for Krishna or just some formal ritual that we do because it should be done? Until you dont cry Krishna doesnt come. Chanting must be very intimate talk with Krishna. So this means that you must be intelligent in your chanting because in this way you can understand: O, I can go beyond liberation. Is that enough to be intelligent in Bhakti Yoga? Its not enough! We have to lose our brain finally. First try to use your brain. Then you can lose your brain. How is that? This is a very systematic process, it is told that Bhakti is a scientific method to approach and understand God, and you should lose your brain? What is that?! How come! In that sense that Bhakti finally is not a question of analysis. As Shrila Prabhupad used to say: SIMPLY try to love Krishna! Because he was also supporting that vision that trough love you can understand. Through Bhakti you can not really understand Krishna, but through love you can invite Krishna to show Himself. Because our position is eternal subordinates. We dont have the capacity to understand the complete whole. But the Absolute is able to manifest Himself, to show Himself to the limited. This is the final stage of chanting where you can lose your brain. Not before! So the three levels: one is selfish in a good sense, you should have the desire to taste the nectar; second is to be intelligent in the chanting, to understand what is the ultimate result of the chanting; and finally just swim, float on the waves of the Mahamantra. On that platform whatever you do will become chanting, pure chanting. Of course this is ONLY reserved for the highly elevated pure souls. For example, it was told in the old times, when Shrila Shridhara Maharaj was talking about building a temple and the price of the cement that was pure Krishna-katha to the ear. Because whatever he was telling it was FULLY connected to Krishna. If you talk about money its not so sweet. If you talk about your whatever its not so sweet.

So we should qualify ourselves, enter deep. And you remember, what is the best way to improve your chanting? Pure chanting means serve those, who chant purely. This is very practical aspect of Bhakti. 52. Independence and free will (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 26 of May 2006) The six qualities of the Supreme Lord are fame, beauty, knowledge, opulence, strength and renunciation. And the most difficult to understand is the renunciation. But actually this translation is not perfectly correct. Better we should understand it as independence. So although creation is coming from Him, but He is independent of His creation. What are the consequences if God is independent of His creation? Some theories about religion said that God has started this creation, set the whole thing into motion, but He doesnt take care, doesnt interfere. Such an independent and careless God. well, its a nice conception, at least there is God, but I like better such a conception where God is an active principle, taking care, careful. So Krishna is not such an independent and careless God. Because by your devotion you can invite His attention. This should be your knowhow of living. Live in such a way that it is not you who see God, but He will take notice of you. In this way you can invite Krishna and He will take care. Although He is independent of the creation, He has a very warm heart. And to invite His attention there is only one chance to show our GREED for spiritual contact. If you want, you will get it. But beware whatever you want, you will get it. So specify and purify your desires. Do we have free will? To accept Krishna or to reject Him. When you have accepted Him, the entrance fee is on a little piece of paper my free will. And the cashier had torn it. What free will?! If somebody has enrolled in the group of divine love, what kind of free will we can expect? But dont be afraid. This is a sweet game. I DOUBT that in divine love there is any kind of free will after some time. May be on the elementary platform we might see, we might think that we are free to do like this or like that, but actually jiva is always under influence. Either under the influence of material energy, maya, that may give some trouble or under the divine energy, yoga-maya, which gives different kind of happiness. But our position is always subordinate. Therefore mahatmanas tu mam partha daivim prakritim ashutaha - the great souls always search and put themselves under the divine energy. This is our free will: to say yes to Krishna. But when you had said yes how can you say no? You dont have the freedom to say no anymore. Ultimately speaking. Of course from time to time we again and again say no to Krishna. But ultimately if we agreed, then we have to do! And this is not a stupid yes, but contributing, constructive yes. But in higher cases, in special cases He DOES enter the life of a devotee and He DOES influence him or her. We cannot limit Krishna not to interfere in our life, even if we dont want. How can we limit Him? He is FREE to do against, even against your free will! In very, very special cases, of course. If He is choosing someone because this is very special, if HE wants to come to you even if you still want to sleep on the lap of maya-witch, He wants to wake you up. Can you resist? Not so much It is said that if Krishna wants to give you something, even if you have ten hands, you cannot reject. But if He wants to take something away from you, even if you have hundreds of hands, you cannot protect that. So He DOES interfere. Sometimes not personally, but by some agents, secret agents, who are seemingly part of the illusory game. But if you meet a sadhu, Krishna has interfered in your life. He has broken your sweet dream of illusion. Because He is working for our benefit. Jiv jago, jiv jago o sleeping soul, please, be awake! What to speak of the highest platform of divinity,

when He is ready to become your servant?! Like with Arjuna He started to be a driver. Driver is not a high position. But God Himself is ready to take such a low position on the chariot of His devotee. So this is the idea that sometimes the roles are exchanged. You think that you had lost your free will. But actually its the opposite if you show your full and pure devotion, Krishna will lose His free will. What a conception! God as servant! God as not independent! How is that possible?! Its possible ONLY by the tie of love. And Shrila Shridhara Maharaj describes it SO beautifully! He says: the small boy is catching the hand of the father; and the father is much more strong than the small boy still by the finger the boy will lead the father. And the father will do whatever the boy wants. This is the special quality when the smaller can control the greater. This is possible only by one specific instrument and that is called divine love. I think that is the end of the story. This is the BEAUTY of Bhakti that the small insignificant jiva, by this loving capacity, catch the hand of Krishna or catch the lotus feet of Krishna and in this way not let Him go. Its a beautiful conception! Long ago we had lost our freedom, free will. Lets make a good bargain out of the bad business. 53.Gopi-bhaav (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 27 of May 2006, Sofia) Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says (to Sanatan Goswami): By the order of my mother, Im sitting here in Jagannath Puri; therefore I cannot go to Mathura Vrindavan to teach people how to live there according to religious principles. I have to do all this work through your body, but you want to give it up. How can I tolerate this?! This is an example when an authority so to say cannot do something by himself, he invites some helpers to join the campaign. In this case God says that What I cannot do, I will do through you. And Sanatan Goswami was ready to become an instrument in the hands of the Lord. Whatever He cannot perform personally - by the helpers, by the servants, by the instruments He can do it. From this we can understand that even God needs sometimes helpers. Of course, try to understand correct its not true but for the sake of lila, for the sake of engaging others, for achieving certain goal in THIS manner He could do it in another manner, but for His sake he wanted like THIS. He could do it in many other ways, but He was choosing this solution. Why? In order to make His devotees more glorious. Krishna, or Chaitanya Mahaprabhu are ready to share even the glory of fulfilling some great achievement. You feel the desire to SHARE? To give the glory to OTHERS, not collecting for Himself? I think in this respect again gopi-bhaav is manifested. Some people think that gopibhaav is something very far away, very high, very secret. Which is true in the same time. But still it is also very practical. Because gopi-bhaav - the feelings of the gopies, that they want to help OTHERS to meet Krishna, not themselves this is manifested here also. Even God doesnt want to take the glory for Himself, but He is ready to give it to others: Do the job! In this way you will be more glorious. In the first step we might think that the gopies are very selfless, because they dont want for themselves, but they help others. But these gopies are not some stupid village girls. They are very clever. And they are very selfish. Because if they meet Krishna personally thats good; but if they help others to meet Krishna it is said they feel millions times more happiness. So this is their selfishness. They want to be MORE happy. Not simply meeting Krishna, but help others to meet Him. Just like Mahaprabhu he doesnt want to fulfill the task Himself. He is ready to help others to join the campaign.

And the same is reflected in the company of the devotees. Whatever the guru cannot accomplish himself, by the disciples he can do it. At least those, who are surrendered. And this is the distribution of the GLORY of the devotional service. If we offer ourselves, offer our existence in the service, then this is not only satvic, but this is devotional, its divine. Actually this is the way to purify the material existence by offering everything that we have in the service. It is said that we can serve Krishna by our wealth, by our words and mind, and finally with your life, life energy, when we dedicate our full life in service.