Discourses on Srila Sarasvati Thakura

1. E. The Glory of Srila Prabhupada Sarasvati Thakura 

In this regard we present three classes given by Srila Narayana Maharaja. The first is a discourse given in Vrndavana, India, in 1991:

HIS LAST DAYS

Srila Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada knew that he would soon be going to his Master, and therefore he gave some final instructions to his disciples. Our Guru Maharaja, Srila Bhakti Prajnana Kesava Gosvami Maharaja, was there, as were Gosvami Maharaja, Bhakti Vilasa Tirtha Maharaja and others. 

"He told those in attendance, 'I am unhappy. I have come for a mission - to give the things that Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu came to give. He has ordered me to give the teachings of vipralambha (the mood of separation) and gopi-prema. He ordered me to teach the reasons that He came to this world, and to share His gifts. 

"'However, most of my time was spent in cutting the "jungles" of mayavada, sahajiya-vada, sakhi-bekhi and all other non-devotional ideas. If there is a mayavada jungle, the seeds of bhakti will not sprout. I therefore had to cut so many jungles, and still there are so many jungles left throughout the world. Most of my time was spent in clarifying philosophical points.' 

"Saying this, his mood changed and his face became reddish. Then he spoke the following verse:

yasyah kadapi vasanancala-khelanottha-

dhanyati-dhanya-pavanena krtartha-mani

yogindra-durgama-gatir madhusudano 'pi

tasya namo 'stu vrsabhanu-bhuvo dise 'pi'

["Obeisances to the direction that faces Sri Vrsabhanu's daughter. When the breeze coming from that direction playfully moves the edge of His garment, Lord Krsna, who cannot be attained by even the kings of yogis, thinks that His life has now become a great success." (Sri Radha-rasa-suddha-nidhi, text 2)]

 "Srila Prabhupada Sarasvati Thakura then explained how Krsna is obedient to Srimati Radhika. He said, 'There is a nice verse by Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami:

"'smara-vilasita-talpe jalpa-lilam analpam

krama-krti-parihinam bibhrati tena sardham

mitha iva parirambharambha-vrttaika-varsma

ksanam api mama radhe netram anandaya tvam'

["O Radha, who, without going anywhere else stays on the couch of amorous pastimes, talking for a long time with Lord Krsna and embracing Him so strongly that Your two forms appear to become one, please, for even a moment, delight my eyes." (Sri Stavavali, Sri Prema-purabhidha-stotra, text 4)]

 "'Sri Krsna is very obedient to Srimati Radhika. She is always full of pride, because Krsna is Hers. She has madiya-mayi-bhava, which means that She always thinks, "Krsna is Mine." Candravali has the mood of tadiya-bhava: "I am Krsna's." Krsna is controlled by Radhika only, because of Her madiya-bhava. 

"'Srimati Radhika is svadina-bhartrika. This means Sri Krsna is controlled by Her. Svadina bhartrika is of two kinds: maitri and sakhya. Madiya and tadiya are two parts of madhurya-rasa or paramour love, and they are each divided into two parts: maitri-mood and sakhya-mood. When love is slackened by sincerely requesting something, as in a prayer, that is called maitri. When priti (love) becomes prominent and prayer becomes secondary, that type of svadina-bhartrika is called sakhya. Candravali becomes svadina-bhartrika with maitri as the prominent mood (bhava), whereas Radhika becomes svadina-bhartrika with sakhya-bhava. At that time, Srimati Radhika can order anything She likes from Krsna, and He will carry out those orders - He will do so even if He gets a hint of an order. He will always be ready to carry out an order, even if there is only a hint of it. Regarding Candravali's order however, He will only carry out Her prominent orders; she must tell Him what she wants. In this way, Radhika is most prominent among all the gopis.' 

"Srila Prabhupada Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura was ordered by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to help all devotees understand that Srimati Radhika is the most powerful among all the gopis, and that in order to become Her dasi (maidservant), we will have to become rupanuga. Without being rupanuga - without the guidance of Sri Rupa-manjari - we cannot serve Radhika. 

 "Sri Krsna's priya-narma sakhas (His most intimate of cowherd friends) like Subala and Sridama are inclined towards Srimati Radhika. They are pleased when Radhika and Krsna meet. There are also some priya-narma-sakhas who facilitate Candravali's relationship with Krsna, but Prabhupada Sarasvati Thakura was greatly inclined to Srimati Radhika, in favor of rupanuga. He was rupanuga. He wanted to distribute this idea of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu: we want to be the servants of Sri Rupa-manjari, so that we can serve Sri Sri Radha and Krsna - not Candravali and others like her. 

 "Srila Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada's idea was to preach rupanuga-bhakti. Actually it was not to preach it, for rupanuga is not preached. His idea was to inspire devotees for this service to Srimati Radhika. At the end of his manifest stay in this world, however, he told his followers, 'I could not do this, so I am unhappy. You should all gather and come under the shelter of asraya-tattva (the principle of the pure devotee - the reservoir of love for Krsna). Who is asraya-tattva? Guru is asraya-tattva. Living in such shelter, you should serve the Divine Couple Sri Sri Radha and Krsna under the guidance of Sri Rupa-manjari.' This was the root motive for all his activities - to give this to the world." 

GAURA-VANI PRACARINE

 The following is excerpted from another class by Srila Narayana Maharaja, given on Prabhupada Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura's appearance day, February 21, 2003, in Olpe, Germany:

 "His (Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada's) pranama-mantra addresses him as gaura-vani sri-murtaye, the embodiment or personification of gaura-vani, just as Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja is gaura-vani pracarine. We must contemplate deeply to uncover the inner meaning of this. Gaura-vani refers to that which Lord Gaura (Sacinandana Gaurahari) preached, and what He inspired in the heart of Srila Rupa Gosvami - the glorification of the mood of the gopis and Srimati Radhika.

 "Sri Gauracandra told His associates, 'Oh Nityananda, Oh Haridasa Prabhu, go from door to door and preach: bolo krsna, bhaja krsna, karo krsna: chant the names of Krsna, worship Krsna and serve Krsna.' This is gaura-vani. 

 "Gaura-vani is also what Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu discussed with Sri Raya Ramananda and Sri Svarupa Damodara in the Gambhira, especially His hidden revelation of the meaning of the first and last two verses of Sri Siksastakam.

"Gaura-vani is also the love and affection explained by Srila Rupa Gosvami in Sri Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, Sri Ujjvala-nilamani, Sri Vidagdha-madhava and Sri Lalita-Madhava. 

 "Our entire disciplic succession descended to this world from Goloka Vrndavana, and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura is one of the most prominent acaryas. If he had not come, Caitanya Mahaprabhu's mission would have turned into sahajiyaism, wherein all philosophy is asat-sampradaya (outside any bona fide disciplic succession). If one is not serving his Gurudeva, if he does not have strong belief in him and is not following his line of thought, such a person is a sahajiya. This is taking place nowadays. Because the actual message of our parampara is being preached, such persons are somewhat stopped. But I do not know what will happen after I leave this world. A very dangerous stage is coming.

 "Many devotees left their Guru, Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja, and went to Radha-kunda. They wanted to remember asta-kaliya-lila, the pastimes which Lord Krsna performs with His associates in the eight periods of the day and night - not as gopis, but 'goopis' - and for this offense they have gone to hell. They became 'babajis', keeping two, three, or four widows, and they began to relish their so-called 'parakiya-bhajana.' They wanted to jump over the authorized process; they did not want to practice bhakti-yoga, the path of spiritual realization through devotional service to Lord Krsna. They wanted to be gopis by paying two pennies to any bogus person who would 'give' them siddha-deha (one's perfected spiritual identity) and tell them, 'You are such and such gopi.' Such cheaters give a name and other information about that so-called gopi, and after some time their disciples imagine themselves absorbed in Sri Sri Radha-Krsna's most confidential pastimes in the kunjas (secluded forest groves). Do not go in that direction. 

 "Some persons of ill character who were rejected from the Gaudiya Matha also go to Radha-kunda to become babajis in that asat-sampradaya. Such loose-character and unqualified persons imagine themselves absorbed in meditating on the asta-kaliya-lila of Radha and Krsna in Their midnight and end-of-the-night pastimes. At those times Radha and Krsna meet alone in a kunja, half naked and kissing each other. What will that 'meditator' think? Material ideas will come to him. He is bound to see such pastimes as material, and this is wrong. 

The pastimes of Sri Sri Radha-Krsna are transcendental. Only saintly persons like Sri Sukadeva Gosvami who was a brahmacari (a celibate, unmarried student) from his birth, Narada Muni who is a liberated soul, or Lord Sankara who is an ideal personality can properly think of asta-kaliya-lila. 

 "Offer obeisances to such pastimes and try to practice bhakti-yoga as our predecessor acaryas have taught us. Begin from the root of the tree, become qualified to climb, and then gradually reach the top. At that time you can relish the fruits of the tree. Otherwise, you will have nothing but false ideas. Try to follow SrilaBhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, our Gurudeva Srila Bhakti Prajnana Kesava Gosvami Maharaja and Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja."

THE GIVER OF MADHURYA-BHAKTI

Based on an explanation of Srila Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada's pranama mantra, Srila Narayana Maharaja gave a discourse on his appearance day. This discourse was given in Singapore, on the evening of February 13, 2001:

 "This is the appearance day of Jagad-Guru Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, and therefore we should discuss his glories.

 "Namah om visnupadaya krsna-presthaya bhutale, srimate bhaktisiddhanta-sarasvatiti-namine. In this pranama mantra it is stated: bhaktisiddhanta sarasvati. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura has given birth to the murtiman-vigraha of bhakti-siddhanta, the personification of the doctrines of bhakti. In Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura there is all the knowledge that Krsna gave to Brahma, Brahma gave to Narada, Narada gave to Vyasa, and thus, by disciplic succession, came through the rupanuga Vaisnavas down to Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura and Srila Gaurakisora dasa Babaji Maharaja. All the philosophical truths, of the Vedas, Upanisads, and all other scriptures, were embodied in Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Thakura. If any person came to argue philosophy with him, that person was at once defeated and was bound to accept all his teachings. 

 "Namah om visnupadaya krsna-presthaya bhutale. He was very near and dear to Krsna - very near and dear - in that male form. But who is he really? In the second sloka of his pranama mantra it is stated: sri varsabhanavi-devi-dayitaya. He is really the eternal maidservant of Srimati Radhika. He is so very dear to Radhika in his form as Nayana-manjari. As Mahaprabhu's associate he is Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami, and as the associate of Radha-Krsna Conjugal he is Nayana-manjari. What is the meaning of the name Nayana-manjari? As one's eyes are very dear to one, Nayana-manjari, who is the personification of the eyes of Srimati Radhika, is so near and dear to Her. She is always serving Srimati Radhika.

 "Thus, Srila Siddhanta Sarasvati Thakura has two forms. One form is as Caitanya Mahaprabhu's associate, not only in this world but also in Goloka Vrndavana, in Svetadvipa. And, in Vrndavana also, as Nayana-manjari she serves Srimati Radhika. You have seen in Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami's Vilapa-kusumanjalihow the manjaris serve Radha-Krsna Conjugal. Nayana-manjari serves Them in those same ways. 

 "Krpabhdaye. He is not called an ocean of mercy only because he gave us harinama. He gave so much more. He brought Goloka Vrndavana. He brought the love and affection of the gopis to this world. If he had not brought all these things, we would never have heard of them. He is therefore an ocean of mercy. 

 "Krsna sambandha-vijnana dayine prabhave namah. In this world we have a relationship with our father and mother and our immediate family. We think, 'She is my mother, he is my father, and he is my brother.' But we are not satisfied with that. We want to be a husband or wife, girlfriend or boyfriend. But still we are not satisfied. 

 "From where have these relationships come? They come from Goloka Vrndavana. There is actually only one relationship - with Krsna. He is not a father there. He is like a friend, like a baby, or like a beloved. In the constitutional form of our soul, there is a relationship with Krsna. We have now forgotten this due to Maya, but we have a relationship. All the relationships of these bodies are false and temporary. They remain only for some days, but the relationship in our constitutional form is eternal. 

 "We want love. We want something. We first loved our mother, then our father, then our brothers, then other relatives, and then our neighbors. But we were never satisfied. Then we collected wives or husbands, and when we were not satisfied, we got divorced and changed the old ones for new ones. But still we were not satisfied. You cannot be satisfied.  No one can ever be satisfied. When you meet with Krsna and serve Him, then you will be satisfied. This is a transcendental relationship, and this relationship is given by Guru.  Prabhupada gave this, and this relationship will be forever. It was for this end that he gave the mantra 'klim krsnaya govindaya.'

 "Madhuryojjvala premadya sri rupanuga bhaktida. He explained all these truths. He actually came only to give this madhuryojjvala-prema, this gopi-prema, which Srila Rupa Gosvami has written about in his books and which Caitanya Mahaprabhu came to this world only to give. 'Krsna is our beloved' - he came to give this and nothing else. 

 "Srila Siddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada has written in his articles: 'I came only to give this, but my whole time was spent in cutting jungles.' Pujyapada Srila Swami Maharaja also did this in Western countries. He came to this world to give love and affection for Krsna, but to whom could he give it?  He was preaching to unqualified people, and therefore he wanted to make a platform for this love, by cutting the jungles of atheist and mayavada misconceptions. He thus fertilized the field by plowing and cutting jungles, and most of his time went in this. He could not preach as he wanted, but he stored so many deep truths about gopi-prema in his books. 

 "Prabhupada Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura also did this. In Radha kunda, in his last days, he said that if anyone is only cutting jungles, cutting the arguments of mayavadis and so on, and not accepting the mood of the gopis as taught by Rupa Gosvami, not worshiping Radha-Krsna Conjugal, not following the line of Rupa Gosvami, then even their chanting will not be sufficient to help them. After some time they will become weak and give up all devotional practices. Then they will become nirvisesavadis and mayavadis, as so many are now becoming. 

 "Sri rupanuga bhaktida. Srila Prabhupada descended to this world, and all our disciplic acaryas also came, only for preaching this rupanuga Vaisnavism. But they had so little time. 

"From the beginning, therefore, I was very alert to avoid cutting jungles - because our guru-varga had already cut them down. I considered that I must do something affirmative. I therefore accepted this and I preached it from the beginning. Now, however, coming to the Western countries I began to think, 'To whom shall I tell this?' Now I also have to cut down some jungles. When I am in Vrndavana or Navadvipa, however, I mainly speak about the high class of sweet pastimes of Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Radha and Krsna. 

 "So Srila Prabhupada was like an ocean of madhuryojjvala-prema. He wanted to distribute it, and he distributed it. If he did not, then from where have we collected these things? All glories to Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada. All glories to all his associates. All glories to Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja. All glories to all the assembled devotees."

 

IN REPLY TO THE VIDEO/DOCUMENTARY STATEMENTS

In Paderborn, Germany, April 2006, Srila Narayana Maharaja was presented with the video/documentary statements 1 and 2, and commented:

"You should know that when they were doing Vraja Mandala parikrama at Radha-kunda, Srila Prabhupada gave a talk which is quoted in The Gaudiya. He said, 'Up until now I have spent much of my time cutting the jungles of mayavada and all other philosophical misconceptions. But you should not think that my hari-katha is only up to there. I want to tell you that what our Gosvamis have described, what Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu enacted in the Gambhira, what Mahaprabhu discussed with Raya Ramananda and SvarupaDamodara, Rasa-lila and other related topics are the main objective of our life. Don't think that defeating mayavada philosophy is my main preaching. Try to come to this line.'"