Murwillumbah, Australia, January 19, 2000, am
I have told so many things about our goal, so now we are going to discuss the process, or method, by which we can attain that goal. First of all, we should know what is the goal of our lives; and then, according to that, we should fix our process - how we can attain it. If there is no goal [sadhya], then no process [sadhana]. We have discussed so many things, so much about our goal - that krsna-prema is our goal. And what kind of krsna-prema? We have already discussed all [this].
First of all we should come to Srila Rupa Gosvami. He expertly knows and he has the capacity to help us. He has taken everything from Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, from all who were there in Puri, and Vrindavana, and everywhere. Thus, he is so much expert. First, we should see that the backbone of bhajana is guru. If our guru is not fixed [i.e. if we have not accepted a guru] then how will we do worship of Gurudeva, when we begin arcana or anything else? If anyone will tell you that, "Oh, Caitanya Mahaprabhu is my guru, Srila Prabhupada is my guru", then it will be offence.
If you know nothing and you are chanting mantra and thinking, "Oh, Krishna is my guru, Mahaprabhu is my guru", it is all right, because you are sincere; and Krishna will come, or He will send anyone. He will arrange to send any high class of devotee. But one may knowingly think that, "All mantras have so much power, and by their power, everything will be attained without the help of any guru, because all the mantras I know from Hari Bhakti Vilasa, and from here and there I have collected. And it has been written that no guru is needed, no diksa, purascarya, nothing. It has been written, so I don't want to take a guru. Krishna is my guru, Mahaprabhu is guru, like a wholesale guru; oh, Nityananda Prabhu is also my guru, so I will worship Them, and the mantras are so powerful that they will manifest in me". This is offence. Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura and all others - and Srila Jiva Gosvami especially - have told that this is an offence, a very high-class offence. What offence?
You are not accepting guru, knowingly. If you are not knowing anything and you are doing like this, and you are sincere, then Mahaprabhu will send any suddha guru, and thus you will come in line and advance. But, if knowingly one is thinking that mantra will do everything, and you should not need any guru, then offence, and he will be destroyed. To whom you will do pranama first? If Krishna is guru, then who is His aradhya [object of worship], who is aradhya? If Mahaprabhu is guru then who is aradhya, there are so many [things]. And this is not good.
I know that there are so many things which have been written in Hari Bhakti Vilasa. All are okay and authentic, but Srila Rupa Gosvami has told, Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti and all others have told, that out of all classes of process, there are especially sixty-four limbs of bhakti. When a disciple takes initiation and he makes some progress, he knows so many things, [but] he cannot chase after all the processes, limbs. He will select, and he will divide sixty-four into five: bhavamayi, bhava sambandhi, bhava anukula, bhava pratikula, bhava aviruddha. They should know which are bhava sambandhi, and which are bhavamayi - bhavamayi are of 5 kinds - santa, dasya, sakhya, vatsalya, & madhura. These are bhava[s]. So when we will be according to our bhava, what I want as a sthayi bhava - that bhava will not change. Krishna is my beloved, Krishna is my son, Krishna is my friend, Krishna is my master, these are five moods.
Suppose that one is in that highest rasa, madhurya rasa - he should hear what? About Sri Rupa Manjari or gopis with Krishna - thus he will try to do kirtana like this and to hear all these things. He will not like to hear all the other things. He will, but especially when he will be alone remembering, doing kirtana and meditating, he will especially think about that [madhurya rasa]. And those who are in vatsalya rasa will think what? About how Yasoda is maintaining Krishna, how she is giving milk, how she is doing [everything] so nicely, always busy for Krishna - so in bhava like this [in her line]. They will like vatsalya rasa. And those who like sakhya rasa, [will think of] the friends always playing friendly games. So if anyone is of madhurya rasa, he will always hear only these things. When he will do kirtana, he will meditate, "O, where is Krishna, with gopis, playing His flute?". And then bhava sambandhi will be turned into bhava. So sravanam kirtanam visnu smaranam - all will be helpful to bhava; and after some time, they will be turned into bhava. Bhava anukula, anukula means: serving Tulasi, Ekadasi, observing Janmastami; they are favourable, but when he will be advanced, then this will also be changed into bhava sambandhi. Those [moods] which are favourable we will take, others we will not take; that is, we should reject [those] which are not favourable to our bhava, and those which are really favourable we will accept.
Like for other devotees, maybe they will meditate on Rukmini, Satyabhama, and Dvaraka, but those who are fixed in that mood - madhurya, vatsalya - they will never accept this. So we will reject this. Understand this or not? Bhava sambandhi means (sings): "radha-krsna prana mora yugala kisora/ jivane marane gati aro nahi mora". This is bhava sambandhi. How? I want madhura rasa so I will hear this kirtana; I will chant this kirtana - I may hear anything else, [songs of] dasya rasa, but I will have no taste in this. I am meditating, what you are meditating? That Krishna and Baladeva with all the cowherd boys are going to graze the cows, or not? What we will meditate? Oh, the gopis are lamenting for Krishna. Asanvitam phalam…(Venu Gita 8). The eyes are successful which are seeing Radha and Krishna; but the eyes are useless, if they are not seeing Radha and Krishna conjugal. Thus, lamenting for that, they will remember and meditate only on that.
When they will meet with any high class devotees who have the same mood, sva-jatiya snigdhasraya, they will lament, "I have no prema for Radha and Krishna. O Rupa Manjari, you should be merciful to me". They will not tell that: "O Narada Rsi, you should be merciful". He will not tell others, "Jagai, Madhai Prabhu, you should be merciful to me" - because now they have been liberated; not to Sanaka, Sanandana. They will not pray: 'O Sanaka, Sanandana, now you know the pastimes of Krishna because you have instructed it to Narada, asta kaliya lila'. So all these are bhava sambandhi, but those which are helpful for bhava sambandhi - tilaka, Ekadasi, Janmastami, and all others, reading Srimad Bhagavatam; these are also bhava sambandhi and anukula also. So, Ekadasi and all these things are anukula - we should adopt [them], and after some time they will become bhava sambandhi, and bhava sambandhi will be turned into bhava. And those which are neither favourable, nor unfavourable - what should we do? We'll have to select among them: those which are favourable we should take.
So if you are of this mood, madhurya mood, then Dvaraka meditation - Satyabhama, Rukmini, meditating [on] them, reject this. No harm; for beginners it may be that it will be very useful, but those who are advanced, [they will] forget. They can gallop some, no harm. They cannot gallop Ekadasi, Janmastami, and all others, but they can gallop all these [neutral and unfavourable to their mood]. No harm. So in sixty four we can gallop, give up some things, which are not favourable, and that which is favourable we can take, and those which are not favourable, or neutral [pratikula and aviruddha] - we can give some things up. [Under certain rare circumstances one can give up some] favourable things [bhava anukula but not sambandhi]. It has been told, tulasi, asvattha and amlaki - amlaki means? (Devotee) - "Amla tree". We should regard [respect] cows; they should be regarded, related to bhakti. But we take only Tulasi, because she is priya of Krishna, we do pranama to amla, but not worship; we don't do, we have nothing to do..
[Devotee:] They are connected with Lord Narayana, pastimes of Narayana.
[Srila Narayana Maharaja:] Yes.
