sri sri guru gauranga jayatah!
Year 4, Issue 6, Amāvasyā Special Edition
Posted: 28 June 2021
Dedicated to and Inspired by
nitya-lila pravista om visnupada
Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Māhārāja
Remain in the Line of Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura
From a class given in Hindi and English in Mathurā on 19th April, 2000
by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja
Appearing in English for the first time
Śrīla Gurudeva [Hindi]: It is a very difficult subject matter. By means of the mind, one thinks of a woman; by means of the mind, we make enmity with someone; by means of the mind, sometimes we speak truth and sometimes a lie. In our current state, all the activities we do, we do by means of the mind, so when we listen to Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes, we think that we are hearing by means of the mind [meaning, we think we can hear and understand those pastimes merely by focusing our mind on Them]. When we read about those pastimes, we think we are reading by means of the mind [meaning, we think we can truly grasp those pastimes merely by reading them attentively]. If out of anger we can fight with people and do other [mundane] things [by means of the mind], then we also conceive, think, with our mind, that Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa are transcendental (aprākṛta) and their prema is transcendental. We understand that, also, through the mind’s faculty (vṛtti). But that [true transcendental perception] is not the tendency of the [mundane] mind. For this reason, those whose minds are clean [pure] and have completely given up sense-enjoyment (viṣaya), who have done sādhana-bhajana, and who are properly situated in the line (dhārā) of the guru-paramparā – hear from them! Only then, gradually, all this – aprākṛta-śraddhā, aprākṛta-niṣṭhā, [aprākṛta-] ruci – will come; otherwise, it will not come in hundreds of thousands of births.
There is a type of person called khaḍa-jaṭhiyā beṭā*. Do you understand what a khaḍa-jaṭhiyā is? A khaḍa-jaṭhiyā is one who goes to everyone. This is the mind’s tendency. If we see someone who speaks of females and males and says to all [his own followers] that he has given them gopī-veśa, but he opposes the praṇālī (methodology) of Śrīla Prabhupāda [Sarasvatī Ṭhākura] and Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, should we listen from such persons or not? Should we go to them or not? [English:] Ask my question to them.
* Khaḍa-jaṭhiyā beṭā. Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata (Madhya-khaṇḍa, Chapter 10) states, “Mukunda was unqualified to receive Mahāprabhu’s darśana because at times he associated with impersonalistic sampradāyas and shared their sentiments. His mind and devotional service were unsteady. The Lord called him khaḍa-jāṭhiyā beṭā because sometimes he held a straw (khaḍa) in his teeth and sometimes he beat Him with a stick (jāṭhi). To deny the supremacy of devotional service is like beating the Lord’s body with a stick.” Later, upon seeing Mukunda’s love for Him, Śrīman Mahāprabhu forgave him. [In other words, khaḍa-jāṭhiyā refers to those whose devotional conceptions and principles are unstable. They thus are not one-pointed and try to mix with all.]
Puṇḍarīka prabhu [English:] The question is, if anybody is imparting the mood of the gopīs and immediately giving the seed of the form in that way, but he is not following in the line of the teachings of Śrīla Prabhupāda Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura and Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura.
Śrīla Gurudeva [English:] Especially Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura.
Puṇḍarīka prabhu [English:] Then is it proper if one goes and hears from that person and takes instructions from that person?
Śrīla Gurudeva [Hindi]: Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura is a liberated mahāpuruṣa. After the six Gosvamīs, he is the seventh Gosvāmī. His Jaiva-dharma, his other books, all his books that are there, his commentary on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that is no longer available, his commentary on Vedānta and his commentaries on all Gosvāmīs’ literatures, beginning from Vilāpa-kusmañjali to Manaḥ-śikṣā and so on, Mahaprabhu’s Śikṣāṣṭaka, Upadeśāmṛta – he has written a commentary on all of them after deeply entering [realizing the essence of] those books. If anyone opposes one such as Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, should we go to such a person? Never! Don’t go! Not to speak of gopī-prema, even if he gives everything [related to that], then also, don’t go. Understand this: what he is giving is not gopī-prema. Do not be khaḍa-jaṭhiyā.
[English:] Don’t go! Be one-pointed. Try to follow Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and this line. If you are going, then you are foolish; you are not understanding all these things. You are making muri and miśrī – everything – the same [bringing down the most excellent spiritual conceptions to the level of lower mundane conceptions]. You are making prākṛta-prema (mundane lust) and that aprākṛta-prema (transcendental love) the same thing.
[Hindi:] Therefore, try to stay far away from it.
Śrīpāda Mādhava Mahārāja [English:] If someone is going there to hear hari-kathā….
Śrīla Gurudeva [English:] Never! Don’t go.
Śrīpāda Mādhava Mahārāja [English:] Should we keep contact with him [the speaker] or not?
Śrīla Gurudeva [English:] Never! Never! Be very strict among.…, otherwise, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s mercy, Śrīla Prabhupāda’s mercy, Gurudeva’s mercy will not come. [Hindi:] Why are they [such persons] transgressing [the teachings of our] guru-paramparā? They don’t accept it. They don’t believe in the conceptions of even Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. If you want bhakti that is pure, then stay properly situated in this matter. Otherwise, aprākṛta-bhāvas (transcendental moods) will not come.
kṛpā kari’ prīti-tattva more dehô bujhāiyā.
Where does pirīti stay? As I have said, the pinnacle of prīti stays in Rādhārāṇī. There is prīti in the devotees. Which devotees? Those who are [fixed] in the conceptions of Mahāprabhu. Prīti can only manifest in them; otherwise, prīti won’t manifest. Serve such persons [who are situated in the conceptions of Mahāprabhu]. Don’t make their conceptions and saṁsaric (mundane) conceptions the same. If, on one side, there is the wealth of the entire world, and on the other side, there is the instructions of such devotees. … Simply, if, on one side, there is śraddhā, or śravaṇa, kīrtana, and Bhagavān’s name, and on the other side, the wealth of the whole world, devotees’ hearts will not go there [towards the wealth of the entire world]. He whom aprākṛta-bhāva has touched, just a little, will be uplifted far above all these things. He will feel disgust for all these things.
kṛpā kari prīti-tattva more dehô bujhāiyā
kṛtārtha hoibo mui saṁśaya tyajiyā
Haridāsa Ṭhākura is sitting. A most beautiful woman, sixteen years old, nicely decorated, half-naked, at midnight, arrived at the bank of the Gaṅgā and began to speak to him. Had it been anyone else… [he would not have been able to maintain his composure]. This didn’t happen [to him] just once; it happened twice. One time, Māyā-devī herself came to him, but he was immersed in harināma and was seeing harināma as Kṛṣṇa. That person who is seeing Kṛṣṇa, who is receiving darśana of Rādhājī, will that person see Māyā? This is a natural thing [for such a person to not see māyā.] And if there no such experience, those who do not have such realization will fall down. If even just a little particle of prīti enters someone, then none of the greed, beauty, attraction, or mood of this material world can enchant him. Understand this point. It is not possible. He may remain like a wretched person, but none of these things can touch him. Then, kṛtārtha hoibo mui saṁśaya tyajiyā – all doubts will be dispelled (saṁśaya tyajiyā) [and my life will be successful and blessed (kṛtārtha hoibo mui)].
