англ. название записи: Q&A: Nāmābhāsa, Bhakti Stages, Vaiṣṇavāparādhāḥ and Helping Others - 2026-05-04 - Sri Prem Prayojan
0:21Yes. So, you read namabhasa, or singing namabhasa, removes all of our serial desires or sins? Uh-huh. It destroys all karma. But the shape of that karma may be there. One may continue to behave according to one's past habit. That's called purva-abhyaas. But previously to chanting the namabhasa, if you do some sinful activity, it's binding and you have to get the results.
0:50But after namabhasa, the activity which is done by purvabhyasa, not by the force of karma, just the samskara is there, it's not binding. And so the person at the end of their life, even if they've been sinful for many years, after chanting namabhasa, they actually have no karma, and that's what happened to Ajamila: the Yamadutas came, and they were determined, "We have to take him away; we've seen his record and everything, we've seen the records of Chitragupta, and so we take him away." When the Vishnudutas came and said, "Oh, great injustice is taking place, because an innocent man is about to be punished," because they could not understand the profound glories of Naam Tattva. In fact, who can understand the glories of Naam Tattva? You know, there's the famous verse about the 12 Mahajans, right? So this verse is coming from Yamaraj. He says, only these 12 Mahajans, only they know the truth of Naam Tattva.
1:53Even other great rishis like Yagya Valka Rishi and other rishis who are mentioned in the Vedas, they don't know the glories of the holy name, but Brahma, Shiva, Narada, and Prahlad Maharaj, Janak Maharaj, the four Kumaras, Bali Maharaj, Shukadeva Goswami, Yamaraj himself, they know the mahajan. So namatatwa is extremely deep, so it's important to hear it with great faith from the lips of namatatwa-vit Vaishnava, and then if we can understand how powerful and great is the holy name, then we will give up offenses to the holy name, and then namabhasa—first namabhasa—it destroys all karma and then after that namabhasa reveals Krishna's nam, rupa, gun, lila...
2:46Shrakarabha, chanta, kapitalanam, vitivadhu, jivanam, that means anata-mrita, niṣṭa, ruci, anasakti, all these progress is made by sradhanamabhas, and then when suddhanam actually descends onto the tongue, along with the suddhanam, appears, suddha, sattva, visei, satma, prema, suryaṃsū, sangya, bhag, that is bhav, like this, so there's not one type of namabhas, there are many different types of namabhas, so the namabhas that was chanted by Ajamal was ashradhanamabhas.
3:18It also has the power to give revelation, but it destroyed his karma, and he continued to behave according to his past activities, but nothing was binding, and he discovered that at the last moment, yes, yes, over here. If we have a little bit of nishta, can we experience a little bit of dhuti, what kind of satsang?
3:45Well, you know, it is said that Some persons, they practice one anger of bhakti and some persons practice several angers of bhakti.
4:14And what that means is that if a person has steadiness, that means their practice is such that they have the ekagrata citta, their citta which was turbulent, and the turbulence of the citta causes all types of anarthas, but if the citta becomes steady, then in that steady citta, there will start to be a revelation caused by the holy name.
4:36So in the stage of nishta, the form of Krishna will begin to appear, and as one goes to practice with more nishta, then ruchi will come, and in ruchi Krishna's sweet qualities, ruchi, bhapa, bhija, nashaat, madhurya, anubhavah, the word ruchi means that which gives an experience of the sweetness of Krishna due to the destruction of bhapa bhija, so if a person is sinful outwardly, they may stop.
5:08But a person who has stopped performing outward sins may still have some samskars of sins in the heart, and they're called papabhij. But if one chants the holy name with nishta, with steadiness, those papabhij are eradicated, and then the heart becomes sufficiently pure enough and illuminated enough to realize the sweet qualities of Krishna.
5:31So after the form, then the sweet qualities and also the associates of Krishna in the stage of ruchi. And so definitely some feelings, some loving feelings come. When it says prema rises up after nishta, it doesn't mean the stage of prema, but some abhas of those loving feelings begins to manifest. Because of ruchi, the word ruchi, also, the definition that I just gave of ruchi is from the country of Mukunda Goswami and Bhaktasamita Sindhu.
6:00but, uh, Jiva Goswami, Vishwanathri Tako, they give another definition of ruchi, they say, ruchi abhilas, aha, ruchi means abhilas, ruchi abhilas, aha, it means abhilas, so once Nishta turns into ruchi, then the heart begins to feel the Bhagavat Prabhupada abhilas, I want to attain Krishna, anukul abhilas, I want to render some service, which is just the right service at the right moment, anukul, for Krishna, and so hard abhilas. May I have such an intimate friendship with Krishna and exchange affection with him. So these three types of abhilas come in the stage of ruchi and they intensify through asakti and when these three types of ruchi become so intense that the citta melts, it begins to melt, then that is called bhav. So if you look at the definition of bhav,
7:28That is called bhav. And so, of course, bhav itself is bhav, but before that, there is some abhas, some rati abhas, and some feelings of love in a rudimentary stage, just coming, just after nishta, when taste appears. This is the fine analysis according to our acharians. Yeah, it's the last day, so we can just, do you mind, can we just, yeah. Pankaj, Peru, yes.
7:53So, I mean, like, you know, if you look at, like, old times, people used to say, you know, like, smart Brahmans, you know, they call them smart Brahmans. Yeah, smart Brahmans comes from the word Smriti. There are different types of Shastra. Sruti is the Vedas and Smriti is Smriti Shastra. So, the word smart Brahmans means a Brahmans who adheres to the rules and regulations of the Smriti Shastra.
8:17So, you know, so we see, like, you know, the Bollywood, especially as, like, branded Brahmans as, like, oh, you know, they were very inimical to people like if they were like you know untouchable will touch them yes but i see now that in the Bhajnarism something similar is propping right like oh you're my guru-aparadha, you know you've done my guru-aparadha, i want to take a mission to like eradicate you okay or you're like for example there is like you're defending a guru and then some Bhajnarists say so you're they start feeling what you're Bhajnar-aparadha because you're defending a guru's point and then everybody, the new recruits, they start saying, oh, this guy's my Guru Pradi or this guy's Vaishnava Pradi, let's outcast them, let's do this, let's like, you know, because they don't know what to do.
9:08Kali Yuga, Kali Yuga. Yeah, yeah, so, so then this person, this Vaishnava also does not clarify, they clarify in person that you're not a Pradi, you're great, you're all is good, but when other people say, oh, Pankaj is Vaishnava Pradi or this person a Draper of Pradi, There's no like, really no. So the question is, when does this Vaishnava Paraj really go? I mean, you're constantly, repeatedly saying, you know, like, it's become like a castle.
9:40It is, you know, that Srila Chaitanya Mahaprabhu instructed Rupa Goswami about the Bhakti Lata beach and it's growing and the Bhakti Lata beach, there has to be a fence around it to protect it from hatimata, kirmata, from the mad elephant. That means Vaishnava aparadha is like a mad elephant that comes and it wreaks havoc in the garden of devotion in the heart. So it's essential, it's absolutely imperative that there should be a strong fence around your bhakti-lata. And what is the fence around bhakti-lata? Association of pure Vaishnavas. Because when we associate with pure Vaishnavas, they give such a sanskar that Just like Prahlad Maharaj said, O Lord Nishingadeva, I am not afraid of your sharp teeth and your mane and your fiery eyes and you're covered in blood and your loud roaring, but I am afraid of offending a devotee.
10:40So Vaishnavas, they make such a samskara on us that the heart becomes very generous, it becomes very charitable. So if there's a person, any person, and they're trying to become a devotee, any person, even someone is not even initiated, they're just chanting Krishnanam, then what should you do?
11:08So if a person is somehow or other out of millions of lifetimes and millions of people in this world, they've come to the path of bhakti, then if they say something which is a little different from what we've heard, anything like that, this is not a big thing. It may be they didn't understand something, it may be that I didn't understand something, so we should be very kind, very generous and very charitable.
11:47They have honor for the deity, and they have honor for their guru, but they don't know how to properly honor other devotees and other people, the general public as well, because we shouldn't just spit on the ground and say, evil karmis, like that. Mahapu said, give respect to everyone respect everyone because Krishna is in the heart of everyone so what to speak of someone with a tilaka, and they're initiated and they're trying to practice bhakti should be very liberal, very generous and not try to find fault be dosha, don't be the dosha-darśī,
12:39dosha-darśī means the one who is looking for a fault, maṇi-maya-mandire pippalikā-paścāt-kramam, like an ant is always looking to go into a crack, so if you put an ant in a palace made of a jewel which has no cracks, he could still do that, so it happens that if someone is very junior and they have an attitude, they see a Vaishnava and that Vaishnava is faultless, nirdoṣa-ānanda-maya, faultless and full of spiritual bliss, But anyway, by their nature, they're like ants, and they're trying to look for something, to stir up some trouble, like this, so this is very wicked, but if we associate with pure Vaishnavas, and we surrender to a pure Vaishnava, and really, what does it mean? It means, when we surrender to a pure Vaishnava, we open our heart, we give up everything, all of our own idea of who we are, and how to live, and what to think, we give up all vidyā-buddhi, Gurudeva used to say, when we remember our mantras, then we give up vidyā-buddhi,
13:41the idea, I know something, no, I don't know anything, mantra will not reveal, pracodayāt, it will not reveal anything, as long as you think you know something, then there's no chance of the, the, the Prabhā, the, the illumination and mantra-siddhi, as long as you think you know something, so at that time, vidyā-buddhi, give it, I don't know anything, so we have to approach the Vaishnava in the same mood, I don't know anything, and allow that Vaishnava's mood to overflow and fill us, fill our heart, and then when we do that,
14:49people, even someone who's against you, even someone who criticizes you. The honor and disrespect has no connection with the Ātmā. So if someone says something and you feel a burning, oh, he disrespected me, that means you're in Māyā. Because honor and dishonor have no sambandha with Ātmā at all. This is why Śiśupāla, he was criticizing Kṛṣṇa. He had a benediction that Kṛṣṇa would not kill him until he did 100 consecutive aparādhas. And he was criticizing Kṛṣṇa.
15:28And then, 98, 99, cakra, then Kṛṣṇa shaved him. He had to do it with the cakra. Because if there had been a fight there and blood would be spilled, then the Rājasūya-yajña of Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja would be ruined. So the brilliance of the cakras is like a laser surgery, you can remove your head without a drop of blood touching the ground. So Kṛṣṇa did this. But then everyone saw the soul of Śiśupāla float through the air and enter into Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet. And Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja asked Nārada, well, how did that happen?
16:01He was just criticizing Kṛṣṇa like anything. And Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja said, Kṛṣṇa's not in Māyā. He's not in Māyā. Because honor and dishonor don't belong to the soul. What to speak of the Paramātmā, what to speak of Bhagavān, honor and dishonor, the dualities of this world that come from Rajas and Tamas, have no sambandha with the soul. So if we ourselves feel slighted in any way or dishonored in any way, what does it mean? It means we're in Māyā.
16:32So there's no need to be involved in that. And if you perceive that someone is being cruel in any way, they're being a prickly character who's making a difficult situation, then if your heart is soft, then you'll think, oh, you'll feel some pity that this person, they have some pain in their heart, they have a problem in their life, that's why they're behaving like this.
17:00And you pray to Kṛṣṇa that there should be some auspiciousness. De-escalate the situation as far as possible. De-escalate as far as possible. Because you know that when, after Kṛṣṇa had danced on the head of Kāliyā, he came back onto the bank of Yamunā and he was wearing the Kaustubha-maṇi for the first time.
17:21Because Kṛṣṇa is, Kaustubha-maṇi is part of Kṛṣṇa's group because his pastimes are human-like pastimes. He can't appear like He did to Vasudeva and Devakī with the Kaustubha-maṇi and four arms and a golden crown. He's just born naked with His hair like this. And so Yogamāyā hid the Kaustubha-maṇi in the treasury of Kāliyā.
17:41And when the wives of Kāliyā were thinking, let's offer some things, they were rummaging through their treasury. What's that? I didn't know we had this. And it was actually Kṛṣṇa's Kaustubha-maṇi that Yogamāyā had hidden there and offered it to Him. So when Kṛṣṇa came out from the water at that time, that was the first time Kṛṣṇa had His complete svarūpa.
17:59He wasn't kiśora yet, it was just before the kiśora-līlā, so his svarūpa has to be complete manifest before he goes, because the kiśora-līlā, that's his nitya-svarūpa. So when Kṛṣṇa came onto the bank of the Yamunā there and walked past, all the gopīs saw him and he was so beautiful, they just all fainted, like so many plantain trees falling down in a hurricane.
18:22And the Vrajavāsīs, they were so overjoyed, they're so relieved to have Kṛṣṇa back because they thought he was being killed by the Kāliyā serpent, that they just couldn't, they couldn't just say, okay, let's all go home now, they're so attached to him, they couldn't leave him, so Nanda Bābā decided, let's camp here tonight, so then all the Vrajavāsīs, they made their camp there on the bank of Yamunā at Kāliyā-hrada, but in the middle of the night, Kaṁsāmātya sent his wicked servants to set fire to the forest, forest fire, So Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura said, this forest fire, by hearing this pastime of Kṛṣṇa, telling the Vrajavāsīs, close your eyes, and then Kṛṣṇa, like a nectar drink, he swallowed the whole forest fire, everyone was safe.
19:08By hearing the pastime of Kṛṣṇa, delivering the Vrajavāsīs from the forest fire, you become delivered from the anartha of dissent among the Vaiṣṇava community.
19:50because it's like a forest fire, because as soon as that spark comes, the fire comes and spreads everywhere and everyone's spiritual life gets annihilated, so a pure Vaiṣṇava will train the others around him in such a way that it's just absolutely unacceptable to open your mouth and something negative will come out, just like no one will come here and we're sitting here and here, no one will come, right, it's just socially completely unacceptable, right, so criticize vilifying others, speaking negatively about other people. This is millions and millions of times more socially unacceptable. It's unacceptable in the Vaiṣṇava society. It's totally unacceptable to Kṛṣṇa. It's just you can't do that. You can't do it. So if we have association with mature Vaiṣṇavas, they will teach us in such a way that it's just their presence. It becomes like that. If the pure Vaiṣṇava is there and other devotees come, even if there's a tendency to say something about
21:01this or that, then fear comes, nothing will come out of the mouth, that's the power of Vaiṣṇava association, but when we go out from that powerful association, then the lock comes off the tongue, it can become loose, so Rūpa Gosvāmī's first teaching, this is the first teaching, be very, very careful, and really the cure comes when we fix our mind on the sādhya, remember Gurudeva always used to say this, in this life, if you can just Just fix your mind on this sādhya, on the goal of life, then that life is successful.
21:42Now, what is the benefit of fixing your mind on the goal of life? Everyone acts according to their objectives in life. So, the sign that your mind has been fixed on the goal of life, that is the attainment of Krishna Prem,
22:04If you fixed your mind on that, then what will happen? That all your activities, you only expend your physical, mental, and verbal energy on trying to get that goal. So everything else gets filtered out. This person did this, this person did that, this person said that. You're not going to think about it, you're not going to talk about it, you're not going to give it a moment's thought. Why? How will any of those things help me attain Radharadasya?
22:35If this devotee said a siddhanta that you didn't agree with, or that devotee has done some scandal or something, if you give any of your mental, verbal, or physical energy into that, how is that helping you get your goal, right? So if you do divert some energy into that, that means you haven't fixed your goal. You haven't fixed your goal and you're really not interested even in attaining it. Where is the greed for that?
23:00So if we associate with advanced devotees and a little greed will come, then all that type of behavior, it's gone, it's finished, it's not there anymore at all.
23:12You know that when persons came to the Gaudiya Math at the time of Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, then the first thing Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur would do, it was the niyam in those days, read Chaitanya Bhagavata, and that's for a number of reasons. First of all, it's the preliminary introduction to Gauranga Mahaprabhu, because Chaitanya Charitamrita deals with more, a lot of internal esoteric things, whereas there's also internal esoteric things in Chaitanya Bhagavata, but there's a lot of pastimes of Gaur Narayan, the Goloka aspect of Gauranga Mahaprabhu, because first we have to know that Mahaprabhu is the Supreme Lord, to understand these things, and you become introduced to his associates, and among the Vaishnava Sampradaya, there are many interactions, and so you find
24:01many, many stories there which bring to life the nuances of Vaishnava etiquette and those are essential. Let's say you don't have a deep grasp of nam-tattva or Vaishnava-tattva or Rasa-tattva or something, it's not going to kill you. But if you don't get a deep grasp of Vaishnava etiquette, that will kill you, that will be fateful. That will be fateful. And so that's why the Chaitanya Bhagavata is so important. And there's so many pastimes, there are persons who made offence deliberately, desperately, accidentally, slightly, severely, there are so many. And the parting shot of Vrindavan Das Thakur, the very last section of Chaitanya Bhagavata, there is the story of Bhrigumuni. So everyone knows the story of Bhrigumuni, it's in the Bhagavatam. All the sages were discussing who is the Supreme Lord, is it Brahma, Vishnu, or Mahesh? So they appointed Bhrigumuni to find out, and Bhrigumuni went, and he went to visit his father, first Brahma, but he didn't give
25:04pranam to him, and Brahma became angry, oh what is this, and chastised him and he ran away, so then he went to Mahadev, and he did not only, he didn't disrespect him by physically not bowing down, he disrespected him by criticizing, by verbally, and Lord Shiva became furious and was ready to kill him with his trident, but he ran away, so then Bhrigu Muni went to Lord Narayan, Lord Vishnu, and Lord Narayan was reclining, and Bhrigu Muni, he did not, just not, not disrespect him by not bowing down or speaking verbally. He physically went and kicked him in the chest. And when he kicked him in the chest, then Lord Vishnu got up, he gave pranams to Bhrigumuni and said,
25:49O great Brahmin, please forgive me. I pray that your soft lotus feet was not injured by my hard chest. So then Bhrigumuni, he decided, oh, this must be the supreme personality of Godhead. Now, we all know this story. So that's not what Vrindavan Das Thakur wants to say. What he wants to say is this, if you look at this, Then, there are so many protagonists, different characters in this story, and they're all full of faults. First of all, look at this Bhrigu going around, disrespecting everyone, he's bogus. And what about Brahma? He became angry. What kind of person is that? Becomes furious if someone doesn't bow down to them. So Brahma's terrible as well. And Shiva became ferocious as well. He couldn't even tolerate a little insult. He wanted to give a death penalty. So Shiva's bad, and Bhrigu's bad, and Brahma's bad, and you start criticizing everyone. These are the founders. Brahma's the founders.
26:41Shiva's the founder of his Sampradaya, he's a great Vaishnava, Bhrigu is also a great Vaishnava, actually. So, Vrindavan Das Thakur, on the basis of this story, he raises a point, and the point that he raises is this, that in your life, you will come into situations where there is conflict, and even some conflict between senior and elevated Vaishnavas. At that time, what should you do? Vrindavan Das Thakur gives a warning that if you take sides, it will be a disaster, it will be a disaster, it will be a disaster, it will be a disaster, a calamity, it will lead to ruination, and there'll be no escape, so then what should you do? So then Vrindavan Das Thakur gives this essential advice, he said, when there's some conflict between Vaishnavas,
27:30you should, with a joyful heart, glorify one side, and then you should glorify the other side also, glorify both sides. Now, we know that practically in spiritual life, maybe one side is something wrong or something, If you follow them, you could come into a difficult situation. But Vrindavan Das Thakur said, you should not criticize anyone.
27:58That means that one should not speak ill of another person and you should chant Hare Krishna continuously. And if you do this, even though Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is Ajayi, he cannot be defeated by anyone, he will be defeated by you and he will give himself to you. You can purchase Mahaprabhu. He will become your property if you can only do these two things. Chant Harinam and don't criticize anyone. It's over. No, no. Let me come to that. So, Vrindavan Das Thakur makes this point. He says, a person who is critical of others, he cannot attain any, he cannot achieve anything, because Bhagavat Dharma, the Dharma of the Bhagavatam, is Sakala Saman, to give respect to everyone. So, Vrindavan Das Thakur gives this conclusion, in a difficult situation, how can you navigate through that difficult situation, here's the formula, glorify both sides, and then, if you do that,
29:02Krishna himself will be so pleased, he'll give you Divya-mati. Divya-mati means divine wisdom, divine intelligence. So if there really is some danger that you could be misled, but don't think that, we should not think that we have the intelligence and we have the brain to navigate through these difficult situations. The formula is, glorify everyone, criticize no one, and if you do this, Krishna will be so pleased that he'll reveal in your heart the divyamati, divine intelligence, by which you can navigate that, and you become successful in spiritual life, because that situation itself wasn't by chance, it was a pariksha, was a pariksha, because we can make a show of being very pure, but Krishna knows if we have envy in the heart, and Krishna can arrange a situation to provoke it,
29:56and bring it out. So these situations are a test and if a person can follow the formula of Prashila Vrindavan, they will pass that test, Krishna will be so pleased and he will quickly bring that person to his lotus feet. So try to follow this. When it comes to questions of Siddhanta, be patient, just listen and hear both sides, read around it and it's necessary to always be in Anugatya. So if there's a Vaishnava in whom we have faith and we have trust, we should go and discuss that siddhanta with them and they will clarify everything. The Kunishta Adhikari cannot clarify, even the Madhyam Adhikari cannot clarify.
30:51He has firm faith, but Shastra Yukti Nahijani, He cannot reconcile all of the points of Shastra, the reason, the Yukti, the argumentation of the Shastra, the presentation of the Shastra, He still does not have the power to do that, who can do that? Shastra Yukti Suni Poon, that is the Uttam Adhikari, the Uttam Adhikari can do that, so we should always have association of Uttam Adhikari, inquire from them, they can reconcile everything, everything, and harmonize everything in a beautiful way, which is surprising. And that becomes another, we see that it looked like a crisis, but actually it was a great benediction in our life, when the Siddhanta that seemed to be totally irreconcilable, and then in the association of Uttam Bhagavat, Uttam Adhikari, then the, actually, Uttam Bhagavat is from praying, but Uttam Adhikari, you see, the Bhagavat, Madhyam Bhagavat, Uttam Bhagavat, and the Konishnamadhyam Uttam Adhikari,
31:55These are two different systems, two different metrics. One is in the bhāgavata school and the adhikari is in the pañcarātrika school of vaidhi-bhakti. So in the pañcarātrika school, the Kaniṣṭha Adhikari is before niṣṭhā, the Madhyama Adhikari is niṣṭhā, and the Uttama Adhikari, from the pañcarātrika perspective, is from ruci. So Rupa Goswami
32:50It comes in ruci and after ruci, so such a person can reconcile everything, and that's really amazing when we face a Gordian knot, you know, such a problem that we just can't solve it, and the madhyama guy just takes the sword of siddhanta, like that, ah, amazing, so try to be in good association, and follow this formula of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, and then, if you will chance, the Śrīla Bhakti-vinoda Ṭhākura says, then When I can, oh Gurudeva, give me that mercy to properly respect all the Vaishnavas according to their position and if I do that, then I become free from aparādha and I'll chant the holy name with great happiness
33:49aparādha, aparādha, aparādha, so it's simple, as Prabhupāda just says, simple for the simple, saralatā-eva-vaiṣṇavatā, bhakti-sānataka said, Vaishnavism is simplicity, so it's very, it's very simple, don't be cranky, don't be envious, don't be critical, even if you feel like that, but just don't say, at least don't say anything, because in Kali Yuga, you don't get reactions for your thoughts, it's a good job it's not Satya Yuga, because then we get all the reactions for the thoughts, but in Kali Yuga, you're not going to get any reaction, so it's at least if you can shut up, you'll be completely sad, you'll be completely sad, and then if we can be in good association, can solve the problem. Now, if disaster of all disasters, it's too late and someone has said something, then you have to have a big feast of humble pie, and whomever we have offended, we should just go to them and fall at their feet, say, please forgive me, in a moment of madness, I was overpowered by passion and ignorance,
34:53and I have spoken out of turn and I know you have to declare that my whole life is dependent on your forgiveness, without your forgiveness I am ruined and then even that's not enough because a Vaishnava can forgive you but Krishna hasn't forgiven you and so Viṣṇu-ṭhākura he says that it's not enough to beg for forgiveness and receive the forgiveness of a Vaishnava but then one should serve that devotee in such a way that that devotee's heart melts and he feels oh you are my kṛpā-pātra. You will be the recipient of grace. And only then, seeker say, okay, we'll delete that account, forget about that. Let bygones be bygones, and that's gone. So this is the process to, if one has unfortunately made a mistake, it's not the end. And so you can hear, you know, our Paramagurudeva, if you made Devananda Gaudiya Math in Koladvipa, in the place which is called Aparādha-bhañjana-pāṭa,
35:56So every year we go there, and there are many, many pastimes of different persons who all got forgiven of their offenses there, Devananda himself, Gopal Chapala, Gopal Chakravarti, and all the persons who were running away from Mahaprabhu during his Navadvipa līlā, after going to Puri and touring south, then on his way to Vrindavan, when he came to Navadvipa, then Mayavadi, Karma-niṣṭha, kutarkika, kikkagan, pāṣaṇḍī, nindaka, pāṣaṇḍī, aparādha, adham, said in Chaitanya Caritamrita, six types of persons ran away from the mercy, the Mayavadis, the smarta-brahmins, Karma-niṣṭha, those who had fixity in karma-kāṇḍa, kutarkikagaṇa, the bad material logicians, material logic is always insubstantial and inconclusive, so the logicians and the pāṣaṇḍī, the atheists, and those who are critical of others,
36:56and paḍuyā-adhama, liberal arts students. That means paḍuyā-adhama means that the arrogant, the lowest students, the arrogant students, so all of those, they ran away from the mercy of Mahaprabhu when he came back and he came to that place, the Aparādha-bhañjana-pāṭa, they came and they begged for forgiveness and they were relieved of their offenses and received Krishna-prema.
37:23So, even if one has made some offence, one should immediately, immediately try to rectify it. Because what is the result of offence? You turn into a demon, you become a demon, just like Dvivida Gorilla. Dvivida Gorilla was, when Balarama was playing in Mount Raivata with his consorts, then Dvivida Gorilla came there, he was burying his posterior at them, he was throwing stool, he was completely demonic.
37:53But that Dvivida, Mainda and Dvivida are eternal associates of Lord Ramachandra. And when someone does the pañcarātrika puja to Lord Ramachandra, along with his associates, they're there. But during the pastimes of Lord Rama, Dvivida, he was serving Lord Rama, but he didn't properly respect Lakshmana. And now, the result of that offense of disrespecting Lakshmana is that he fell into bad association of Kali Yavana.
38:22And by that bad association, he became a demon. And in the end, of course, Balarama killed him. So this is such a situation. It shows the slippery slope. First, we criticize someone. And the first result of that is we fall into bad association. Then that bad association entangles us in more offenses, and then we become demonic. So it's important to try to remedy that situation at once, immediately, before disaster strikes, before it's too late.
38:53While there's still a chance. Yes. Yes, Prabhu. Gadādhara Prabhu.
38:57In regards to the same topic, when we're talking about Vaishnava-aparādha, it might be my misconception, but is that referring to high-level Vaishnavas, or is that referring to also any jīva, because we see it in the song of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, he's saying, according to one's position, we give that due respect, so in the same sense, do we also give due apologies if we just insult someone on the road, or, you know, that might have I've never even heard of Krishna's name. I'm asking that because even amongst this community, what to speak of the world, there's so many problems where always, like you're saying, you've actually answered a question.
39:34There are not any problems, they're in your mind. Yeah, so it's my own, it's my own, that's an inward, it's a mirror. You see, if you have bad associations, you say there are so many problems in the world, and that, but yeah, you're right, there are so many problems in the world. It's all self-reinforcing. Vaishnava will never tolerate Maya. There are not problems in the world.
39:53There have never been any problems in the world. Everything is perfect.
40:01Krishna is perfect and everything makes is perfect. Problem is only our wicked mind. Our mind is enemy.
40:15Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says, since I surrendered to you, I've become fully joyful and I see happiness in all four directions.
40:25Caitā-yate... when we receive the merciful side-long glance of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he sees the universe is full of happiness. So the problems are with us. We have the kartṛtva-abhimāna, I am the doer. We have the sense of the being of draṣṭā, I am the seer. We have to give it up. We are not the seer, we are the seen. The eye of the Lord is on us at every moment. And we should try to behave in such a way that Supreme Lord Śrī Krishna approves with every step, every movement, every breath that we do at all times. So pure Vaishnavas, they never allow any type of a material conception to remain. And this is why it's difficult to come close to pure Vaishnavas because it's like a fire and only a person who is sincere and really wants to give up attachment. The main attachment is in the mind. You can renounce everything even, but you still have two wives, your mind and intelligence living all the time.
41:25But so this covering of the mind, it has to be overcome, mantra, chanting every day, and be situated in the soul, and so what comes out the mouth should only reflect the ātma-vicāra, the deliberation on the truth of the soul, and the truth of the Supreme Soul, and any other type of discussion is not necessary.
41:44So now coming to the specific gist of your question is, well, there are different levels of Vaishnavas, so what does it mean? Actually, the Kaniṣṭha Adhikari is not the Vaishnava yet, because he hasn't had Krishna's darśana, until a person chants the holy name and has the darśana, not sākṣāt darśana, but the ābhāsa of Krishna's darśana in the purified citta, then no one is a Vaishnava. Only when a person has had the darśana of the lotus feet of Krishna, now he becomes a Vaishnava. So Madhyama Adhikari is from then on he is Vaishnava. So if you make an offense to a Kaniṣṭha Adhikari, it's not Vaishnava-aparādha, it's pāpa, it's a sin.
42:22sin. So also we shouldn't do sins and sins have reactions also, right? So we should not disrespect or make offense to anyone. But from the point of view of siddhānta, the offense to the kaniṣṭha is a pāpa, it's a sin. But there's a problem here. If we ourselves are in that level of kaniṣṭha, we may not know who's a kaniṣṭha or madhyama. We don't have the discrimination. And even if you become slack and you commit the sin of making offense to some kaniṣṭhas, then the day may come when you associate with a madhyama and a uttama and you have a habit of being disrespectful. And so even though it may not be aparādha now, but by habit you're lining yourself up for a problem in the future. So we should just, when it's said you should respect according to their level, that means if there's a kaniṣṭha adhikari or madhyama adhikari, that means when you see them on the street you don't have to pull out a big vyāsāsana and sit them there and you know offer flowers and do guru puja and everything.
43:27you know, so there are degrees of respect, so we should respect everyone from the heart, or the kaniṣṭha from the heart, he's chanting Harināma, and you should respect physically and give daṇḍavat-praṇāma to Vaishnavas, that's why every day after Tulasi-puja, we give praṇāma and beg forgiveness to all Vaishnavas, we should do that every day, that's our prophylactic, that's the inoculation, and of course, the Uttama Adhikārī should be served, If you meet the Uttama Adhikārī, who has, they have one characteristic, you know, Rupa Goswami is saying here, how can you recognize the Uttama?
44:25character, such quality. And the way they're respected is susrusaya sravanair vapi, bhajana-vijnana, they have realization of bhajana, so we should respect them by listening very carefully and then implementing what we're hearing in our life and serve them also, serve them according to their instructions. So that's the level, the highest level of respect. So yes, we should, the kanistha adhikari cannot discriminate very well, but he feels associated with Madhyamas and Uttamas. Gradually he'll go towards the Madhyama platform and then by their mercy he'll be able to tell the difference between a kanistha and Madhyama at least. Whether he can identify who's Uttama, that only depends on Kripa. Only the Uttama can reveal that he's Uttama to someone because they give some mystical experience, maybe in a dream or something or some revelation comes when you're hearing the Harikatha so you know that that is actually Shabda Brahma
45:27Krishna, appearing in the form of transcendental sound, the absolute truth manifesting on the lips of the pure devotee. So by the mercy of a high level of Vaishnava, we can come to understand, but we cannot identify them empirically.
45:43Is it clear?
45:46Yes, Sri Vrinda. Sometimes in amongst friends and family, due to their previous life, their citta, all the things they're doing, there's two things that we see, I see. There's mental illness, and there's substance abuse. So, me not being the doer, what can I really do to help?
46:30That means outside of just the shining of the heart which just has nothing but the wish of kalyana, good fortune and success for Krishna. So that should always be shining in the heart and no other desire should be there. But jnana-karma-anavritam means that you don't have to be completely free from doing some karmas in the world.
46:52But if you have, everyone has to do something to maintain their life or their interaction with the society. Society, but it should be done in such a way that it doesn't cover your bhakti. So it's jnana-karma-anavritam, done in a way that doesn't cover your bhakti. So karma is basically that every person, according to their position in society, they have some duty and some responsibility. So if you're a mother or the aunt or the sister of someone, then in that situation, you have some responsibility and you can just do that in a responsible way. Don't become emotionally involved.
48:00Just be a normal person, it's not mystical, but you see, let's say that there's some situation in your family that you have to take care of, if you think, if I don't take care of this, it will be detrimental for my bhakti, now your bhakti is covered, and if you think that if I do take care of it, it will be detrimental, if you have any positive or negative relation towards that, you think it will uplift your bhakti, it will spoil your bhakti, then your bhakti is covered by karma, you see?
48:58So, obviously, if a person has some addiction, or they have some mental illness or something, so they should be the recipient of the pity and compassion, and some arrangements should be made, usually take help of some professional who's trained in that, don't think, oh, I can solve that this person has, like, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and everything, and I'll cure him with Caranamrta, you know, just be a normal person, just be a normal person.
49:27If someone has a problem like this, there are professionals who are trained in this, arrange for them to get some help, like that, okay, I don't know if that was helpful.
49:41So yeah, we just try to be responsible adults, you know, be responsible adults, be like normal person, but do it without attachment to the result, it may go well, it may go bad, but that's not relevant to our divine transcendental plane, and so every day we have to spend some time deeply chanting, hearing and remembering, serving our deities, and then we have to come out and face the music sometimes in the world, just do it without attachment, and what we find is that the difficulties in life, like we were saying, are there any problems? No, there aren't problems. Our great Paramavaishnava, Srila Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar Maharaj, used to say, the environment is friendly, so if we have the right attitude, then we'll see what looks like a problem is something which is coming to enrich us, yeah?
50:30Let's say in your practical life, something happens that someone insults you or some problem comes and it's very difficult to tolerate. Well, guess what? Learning to tolerate is great. It's so favorable. When we sit down to chant Harinama, the main problem is that we cannot surrender to the holy name. We cannot because different thoughts are coming and nagging us here and there.
50:58And what happens is when a thought, a nagging thought comes, we latch on to it, and then before we know it, we've done a brahmanda-bhramana, we've gone on a tour of the whole universe, and we're not chanting attentively, so much time has been wasted. And so, it's so important, one has to chant the holy name in here, and tolerate whatever is coming up in the mind.
51:20And if you can keep focusing on the holy name and tolerating the nagging which is coming in the mind, granted that nagging will become silent. In fact, it will go away completely, and you will find yourself in a completely serene atmosphere, a serene atmosphere, a sublime atmosphere, it's you and Nama-prabhu, and it's beautiful, but unless you go through those stages of tolerance, you cannot get there, but that's where we want to be, so when in your practical life, you're faced with situations to tolerate, that's Krishna helping you practice, so at the time when you chant Harinama, you can enter into that sublime experience, ekagrata, state of one-pointedness. So in this way, everything becomes favorable.
52:12happening in my life, one, I made this situation for myself. This is one of the wonderful features of criticism, that we criticize a person or a situation. But by doing that, we've sunk into the ignorant fact that whatever I am faced with, the fault lies with me. I am at fault in every situation. I am the one who is at fault in every situation. Because I'm in this situation because of me. It's the evat-makritam vipakam. I have made this situation for myself. So if you point to another person, this is ignorance. No one else is at fault. Only I am at fault. So in our Chaitanya Academy, we have a motto, take the blame.
52:59Chant the name, taste the prema, don't complain, you can add that, but if you take the blame, then it's kind of don't complain is included in it, so take in every situation, take the blame, take the blame in every situation, it's wonderful, and then you'll see that everything is perfect, if we put the blame on ourselves instead of on others, and then we can chant the name and taste the prema, okay, okay, it's getting late, gopray mon and I want to, so my dear beloved spiritual brothers and sisters,
53:47I want to extend the invitation, please come and join us for the month of Kartik in Anandam, Gurudev's Ashram, Anandam Gurudev Ashram, please come and join us there for a month of intense Harikatha, beautiful sadhu-sangha, many high-class sadhus are coming from Vraja-mandala and joining us also every day in Anandam, and beautiful parikramas, if a month is not enough for you, then stay for two months, three months, six months, as you like, so I'm inviting everyone, please come to also in the spring. Our parikrama is very quiet and peaceful. We do it a little earlier, where there are no big crowds. You're not contesting with big trucks on the road and walking all the time. We get very quiet electric rickshaws and go from place to place quickly. And so we can go to many, many places that you've never been to before, perhaps.
54:41Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Thakura in Navadvipa-bhava-taranga has described many places in Navadvipa-dhama like Arkatila where Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Thakura met with the sun god. Have you been there? Describe the house of Jagai, have you been to Jagai-Madai's house? There are so many places. Have you been to the house of Mahaprabhu's grandfather Nilambara Cakravarti? So we go to many, many places that are not accessible due to the logistics with very big parikramas.
55:10And so you're most welcome to join us for this and if you have the opportunity now we have a tour here in America and leaving tomorrow next week we have a festival in Alachua which is very ecstatic and then the festival in North Carolina then another festival in New York so you're all welcome if you want to come on the tour and then we have the tour of Europe we have a big festival in Venice, in Rome, in Sevilla, in Spain, in Switzerland, in Riga, Latvia, Latvia, and also Glastonbury in England and London, other places. So if you have the chance, please join us on tour, or at least please come and join us in India for the parikramas. Also in January, we have a big festival in Goa, so this is very nice because Goa is kind of like a bit of an enjoying place, you know? It's a big beach, but many young people from all over the world, they go there and they're looking for some spiritual life, so it's a wonderful place for preaching. So if you want to join,
56:14the team there, there's lots of service in manifesting that festival. You can see online on a Chaitanya Academy website or Facebook pages or anything—all the dates and information on the programs and the programmers, and all the lectures and videos of the previous programs are there as well. On the YouTube channel, there are about more than 14, how many? 10,000, 10,000 lectures are on there as well.
56:42So if you want to study, there are many courses. We have our online courses in Rupa-shiksha, Sanatana-shiksha, Manah-shiksha, and the Shikshashtaka, and the poetry of Rupa Goswami, various ashtakams and things like this. So those online courses are there if people would like to want some inspiration for serious studies. We are also extending our invitation for you to come back home to Navadvipa again.
57:15I'm relieved, because I thought I probably offended so many people, you didn't want me to come back, so I'm very happy to come back. This is a beautiful community, and I really feel Srila Gurudev's presence here so much, and I know that Gurudev will be overjoyed if any preachers come here and try to do whatever they can to help this community be successful and grow. If it grows, fantastic, but at least if us as individuals we're growing, that's the most, you know, if the community grows, we cannot say, but at least all of us as individuals, we should really... from year to year, we should not be the same person. Gurudev used to say, bhakti is like a river, it's flowing, it never stays in the same place, it's going to the destination, and the moment it stops, when water stops flowing, then it becomes stagnant, and mosquitoes come there and everything. So it's really important that we're always in that stage of spiritual evolving, evolving on our spiritual path, so I know Gurudev,
58:14I'm always pleased when any preachers come here and inspire the community. And I also am very inspired by all of you. So if I've committed any offenses, please forgive me and bless me that I can serve Gurudev and preach and spread his mission everywhere. And hopefully I can come back and be with you all again. Hare Krishna.
