05 November 1996
We are now in the most sacred place of Sri Vraja-mandala — Sri Radha-kunda. Radha-kunda and Syama-kunda are within the area of Giriraja Govardhana. We are now in Sri Kunjabihari Gaudiya Matha, which was established by nitya-lila pravista om visnupada Sri Srimad Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Thakura Prabhupada. He established temples all over India. Srila Prabhupada came with all his associates to Radha-kunda and did the entire Vraja-mandala parikrama on foot.
He said, “I came to this world to fulfill the innermost heart’s desire of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
anarpita-carim cirat karunayavatirnah kalau
samarpayitum unnatojjvala-rasam sva-bhakti-sriyam
harih purata-sundara-dyuti-kadamba-sandipitah
sada hrdaya-kandare sphuratu vah saci-nandanah
["May that Lord who is known as the son of Srimati Sacidevi be transcendentally situated in the innermost chambers of your heart. Resplendent with the radiance of molten gold, He has appeared in the Age of Kali by His causeless mercy to bestow what no incarnation ever offered before: the most sublime and radiant spiritual knowledge of the mellow taste of His service." (Caitanya-caritamrta Adi-lila 1.4)]
But I had to cut the jungles of mayavada, sakhi-bekhi, jati-gosai, and smarta-vada. As long as mayavada is present in the world, pure bhakti cannot be preached in this world. Mayavada is a great obstacle. Sahija-vada is even more dangerous. It is very hard to plant the seeds of bhakti in such forests. ‘I am Lalita; I am Visakha’ thinking as such is more dangerous than mayavada.”
Such sahajiya-vada is especially strong these days. Those who don’t know anything about pure bhakti or the different anarthas that hamper us from achieving pure bhakti, are given ‘gopi-bhava.’ This is a very dangerous sickness that we will have to save ourselves from. Mayavada is rejected outright. But sahajiya-vada imitates the practices of bhakti—therefore, it is easy to be cheated. We will have to gradually ascend to the stages of anartha-nivrtti, nista, ruci, asakti, and bhava. Pure bhakti is had by listening to harikatha from a bonafide guru. Greed is then had—only such greed may lead us to raganuga-bhakti. Such greed is rarely attained. Artificial greed will not do—else, it will lead to sahajiya-vada. Sahajiya-vada has been warned upon on in all our books—especially in the Srimad Bhagavatam.
We must not think that no one is qualified to imbibe the moods of Srila Raghunatha Das Gosvami. We can achieve such moods if we are continuously in sadhu-sanga. How will we advance if we are always surrounded by anarthas? Greed can definitely be had by being in the association of Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s associates and by listening to Caitanya-caritamrta and Srimad Bhagavatam from them. If Mahaprabhu gave prema to birds and animals, then why will He not give prema to us? Don’t be hopeless. But we should not think that we have artificially matured. So, we have come to this place of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Thakura. We should pay our respects here and then we will go to Radha-kunda.
Sahajiyas ask us, “What is your siddha-nama? What is your siddha-svarupa? Which family are you from? Your guru-parampara is not perfect—our’s is.”
We are in the family of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu; we are in the family of Srila Rupa Gosvami, Srila Raghunatha Das Gosvami, Srila Krsnadas Kaviraja Gosvami, Srila Narottama Thakura, Srinivasa Acarya, Syamananda Prabhu, Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana Prabhu, Srila Jagannatha Das Babaji Maharaja, and Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura. The sahajiyas cannot follow Mahaprabhu’s trnad-api-sunicena verse. The siddha-pranali is the trnad-api-sunicena verse:
trnad api su-nicena
taror iva sahisnuna
amanina mana-dena
kirtaniyah sada harih
["One who thinks himself lower than the grass, who is more tolerant than a tree, and who does not expect personal honor yet is always prepared to give all respect to others can very easily always chant the holy name of the Lord." (Adi-lila 17.31)]
We had challenged the Radha-kunda Babajis. They say sannyasis cannot do Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s bhajana.
kiba vipra, kiba nyasi, sudra kene noy
sei krsna-tattva vetta, sei guru hoy
["Whether one is a brahmana, a sannyasi, a sudra or whatever, if he is fully conversant with the science of Krsna, he is eligible to become a guru." [Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya 8.128)]
Everyone has the adhikara to do bhajana. Therefore, we should do bhajana while following the footsteps of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura. Is there any mention of siddha-pranali in Sri Caitanya-caritamrta? Which scripture mentions siddha-pranali? Therefore, we shouldn’t follow their words and we should try to do pure bhajana. We should now do Radha-kunda parikrama.
When Caitanya Mahaprabhu entered aprakata-lila, Svarupa Damodara Gosvami, Gadadhara Pandita, and the other associates also followed Mahaprabhu. Srila Raghunatha Das Gosvami also wanted to follow them because their separation was intolerable for him. He wanted to come to Vrndavana and jump into the Yamuna and give up his life. He also desired to jump from Govardhana and give up his life. When he met Rupa and Sanatana Gosvami in Vrndavana, Sanatana Gosvami told him, “No one can attain krsna-prema by giving up one’s life. Krsna-prema or gopi-prema can only be had by sadhana-bhajana. You are our younger brother. We will arrange a place for you on the banks of Radha-kunda to do bhajana.”
How would Srila Das Gosvami do bhajana?
sankhya-purvaka- nama-gana- natibhih kalavasini-krtau
nidrahara-viharakadi-vijitau catyanta-dinau ca yau
radha-krsna-guna-smrter madhurimanandena sammohitau
vande rupa sanatana raghu-yugau sri jiva gopalakau
["I worship the Six Gosvamis, who passed all their time in chanting the holy names, singing songs, and offering dandavat pranama, thereby humbly fulfilling their vow to complete a fixed number daily. In this way they utilized their valuable lives and conquered over eating and sleeping. Always meek and humble and absorbed in the highest bliss, they were enchanted by remembering Sri Sri Radha-Krsna's sweet qualities." (Sri Sad-Gosvami-astakam.)]
He was chanting not less than two lakh harinama while offering his obeisances to all the different pastime places of Vraja. Caitanya Mahaprabhu established Radha-kunda and Syama-kunda. Previously, there was an empty field here that had two ponds called Kali-kheta and Gauri-kheta (black and golden pond). Once, a landlord had a dream in Badrinatha where the Lord told him to help Srila Das Gosvami excavate the two ponds and help build ghats (bathing-places) around the two ponds.
The Lord ordered him, “Go at once to Radha-kunda and use your money to manifest Radha-kunda and Syama-kunda. A niskiscana, akincana parama-vaisnava called Srila Raghunatha Das Gosvami will manifest the two ponds. Give all your money to him.”
Denying the landlord’s request, Srila Das Gosvami said, “Radha-kunda and Syama-kunda are transcendental—how can I manifest them? They are sat-cit-ananda. Radha-kunda is the topmost place in Goloka Vrndavana. There is no need to manifest them.”
Badri-narayana Himself spoke to Srila Das Gosvami in a dream and told him, “It is not necessary for you to manifest Radha-kunda but it is extremely important to manifest Radha-kunda and Syama-kunda to ordinary people.”
Srimati Radhika is very simple—therefore, Her pond was easily made in a rectangular form. But Krsna is very crooked from top to bottom—His nature will not go away easily. His eyes, mouth, vamsi, Vrndavana, and everything about Him is crooked. Therefore, His kunda is also crooked. When the kunda was being bordered, the five Pandavas and Draupadi requested Srila Das Gosvami to not cut the trees as they themselves were the trees. In those forms they were performing austerities to please Srimati Radhika and Krsna.
They said, “Our austerities haven’t matured yet. Don’t cut us down. Let Syama-kunda be crooked because Krsna is crooked.”
Although Srila Das Gosvami was residing at Radha-kunda, the five Pandavas and Draupadi requested him to not cut them down. Although they were residing in Hastinapura, they didn’t have vraja-bhava. Therefore, they came to this topmost place to please Srimati Radhika especially. They desire a particle of Her foot-dust. Srila Raghunatha Das Gosvami then told the workers, “Don’t touch any of the trees.” As a result, Syama-kunda became crooked.
Before, when there were trees here, Akbar’s army was proceeding from Delhi to Agra. On the way, his army became very thirsty. The army reached Srila Das Gosvami’s bhajana-kutira and begged for water. He told them to drink water from Kali-kheta and Gauri-kheta. Everyone thought that the water will not be enough. But as the entire army drank water, the level remained the same in both the ponds. Akbar then bowed his head to Srila Das Gosvami. Ordinary people cannot have darsana of the dhama. They will be able to do so only when Maya’s covering goes away.
Srila Das Gosvami felt so much separation when Srila Rupa and Sanatana Gosvami entered the unmanifest-realm.
sunyayate maha-gostham girindro 'jagarayate
vyaghra-tundayate kundam jivatu-rahitasya me
["Now that I no longer have the sustainer of my life, the land of Vraja has become empty and desolate, Govardhana Hill has become like a great python, and Radha Kunda has become like the gaping mouth of a ferocious tigress."]
After Mahaprabhu left, Srila Das Gosvami was pacified by Rupa Gosvami. Now in his absence, Radha-kunda and Giriraja Govardhana look like a tiger and python respectively. He would only take butter milk to maintain himself. So many pastimes of Srila Raghunatha Das Gosvami took place here. Srila Rupa Gosvami, Sanatana Gosvami, Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami, Gopala Bhatta Gosvami, Jiva Gosvami and all the other associates of Caitanya Mahaprabhu used to come here. Srila Krsnadas Kaviraja Gosvami wrote Sri Caitanya-caritamrta here. Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura came to this place and wrote many books here and also in Vrndavana. We should deeply meditate on these pastime-places—this is our sadhana-bhajana. We pray at the lotus feet of Srila Raghunatha Das Gosvami that his mercy be upon us.
tavaivasmi tavaivasmi / na jivami tvaya vina
iti vijnaya devi tvam / naya mama caranantikam
[I am Yours! I am Yours! I cannot live without You! O Devi Radhe, please understand this and bring me to Your lotus feet.]
asa-bharair amrta-sindhu-mayaih kathancit / kalo mayati-gamitah kila sampratam hi
tvam cet krpam mayi vidhasyasi naiva kim me / pranair vrajena ca varoru bakarinapi
[For me, the present moment is somehow flooded by a nectar ocean of many hopes. If You do not give Your mercy, then of what use to me are this life, the land of Vraja, and Sri Krsna, the enemy of Baka? (Vilapa-kusumanjali, verse 102)]
ha natha gokula-sudhakara su-prasanna- / vaktraravinda madhura-smita he krpardra
yatra tvaya vihatate pranayaih priyarat / tatraiva mam api naya priya-sevanaya
[O Lord, O nectar moon of Gokula, O Lord whose cheerful face is a lotus flower, O sweetly smiling one, O Lord melting with compassion, so I may serve You both with love, please lead me to the place where Your beloved enjoys confidential pastimes with You." (Vilapa-kusumanjali, text 100)]"
He has prayed, “O Radhike! I don’t want Krsna or His mercy if You are not merciful unto me. I will give up my life.”
padabjayos tava vina vara-dasyam eva / nanyat kadapi samaye kila devi yace
sakhyaya te mama namo 'stu namo 'stu nityam / dasyaya te mama raso 'stu raso 'stu satyam
[O Goddess! I shall never pray to You for anything but the excellent service of Your lotus feet. I offer my constant obeisances unto the idea of becoming Your friend, but I truly relish the idea of becoming Your maidservant. (Vilapa-kusumanjali text 16)]
Srila Raghunatha Das Gosvami has written many books. Manah-siksa is the essence of Srila Das Gosvami’s teachings. He has also written Dana-keli-cintamani, Vilapa-kusumanjali, Stavavali, Mukta-carita and other books. We will be very fortunate if a sprinkle of the mercy of Rupa and Raghunatha will fall upon us. Praying to Sri Rupa and Raghunatha, we will go to Radha-kunda and take bath there. We will pray to Radha-Krsna Conjugal there.
Srila Raghunatha Das Gosvami ki jaya!
Srila Das Gosvami’s samadhi ki jaya!
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu ki jaya!
Sri Gaura Nityananda Prabhu ki jaya!
Gaura Premanande!
*Submitted by Govardhana dasa.
