0:01I would like to ask this question: for which reason is that Balaram will not be the Ishtadeva of anyone, because I heard that only Vishnu Tattva can be one Ishtadeva, and Vishnu he has many avatara like Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, and they are the Ishtadeva of many devotees, and we can see that Balaram he has the mood of a servant, but also he has some pastime in which it seems that he is the Vishaya.
0:51For example, when he does the Rasa-lila. And this, my question, I want to understand in Tattva. And also one devotee, Constantine, he asked me long time ago if I can pose this question to you from his side, and his question is: can we get Raganuga Bhakti or Vraja Bhakti when we love Nityananda and he is our main deity? In that case, when we serve Nityananda, who will be our Ragatmika?
1:19This is his words. Who will be our? Ragatmika. What does that mean? Maybe he means who will be the one that we are following in his mood. He said he's Ragatmika. Okay. So first of all, your first question, why can't Balarama be the Ishtadeva of anyone? This question is wrong. Balarama can be the Ishtadeva, but not in our Sampradaya.
1:49But it doesn't mean there are not devotees who are the Ishtadeva's Balarama. Balarama also has his own rasa-lila. But you should understand there's a huge difference between Krishna's rasa-lila and Balarama's rasa-lila. Krishna's Rasa-lila is the Naravata-lila, human-like pastime of Parakiya-bhava and full of the Madhurya sweetness. Balarama's Rasa-lila is an Aishwarya-lila. During his lila, he takes his plow weapon, so this is already Aishwarya, because we don't see Balarama using the plow weapon in Krishna's Madhurya-lila, sweet pastimes.
2:48It's part of his svarupa, it's like Krishna's chakra. He doesn't use his chakra actually in Vrindavan. Balarama's rasalila doesn't take place even when Krishna and Balarama are in Vrindavan. It takes place afterwards, after they've gone to Dvarka and he comes from Dvarka and he uses plow and he drags Yamuna river and the goddess Yamuna comes and begs forgiveness.
3:10Varuna Devi comes from the trees. One incarnation of Lakshmi Devi also appears and offers him a garland of lotus flowers. Cloth and other ornaments. So this whole lila is actually a Goloka-tattva. It is not even a Vraja-tattva.
3:30So you have some impression that Balarama cannot be the Ishtadeva of anyone. But Balarama also in the form of Sankarshana.
3:43There are forms of Lord Shiva for whom Sankarshana is his Ishtadeva. Citraketu Maharaj also. So, is Ishtadeva Sankarshana? So, you can see that the question itself was completely wrong. But you have this impression that Balarama cannot be the Ishtadeva of anyone because you are in the Gaudiya Sampradaya.
4:13So, the Acharyas and Vaishnavas and Gurus in our Gaudiya Sampradaya are imparting a particular description of the prakasha, of the lila of Krishna, which is our aim and objective. And in that prakasha, Balarama is not the Ishtadeva of anyone. Balarama does not have rasa, lila, and all of these things. So you have that impression, not because it's true, but because it's true within the prakasha, which is the objective of your sampradaya. Understand?
4:54So we answer the question in regard to Balarama being the Ishtadeva, we answer the question in regard to Balarama's rasa, lila, and reconciling that. You see, when Sri Krishna comes to this world, the prakata-lila that he manifests here is a mixture of some Vraja-lila and some Goloka-lila.
5:21But if you read Srimad Bhagavatam, it is not described like that. And then, all of a sudden, this was no longer the Vraja-lila, now it's the Goloka-lila. And now that Goloka-lila has ended, we're coming back to the Vraja-lila. It's not described, that is something which is understood by the Rasikacharyas when they're reading Srimad Bhagavatam or meditating or realizing the prakata-lila, they can understand which aspects of the prakata-lila are Goloka-tattva and which are Vraja-tattva.
5:54So then the next thing is someone is asking some question about what if we do this and what if we do that. Look, is that person under Anugatya of anyone? How will he find his way into this mood or that mood or this mood? He will have the mood that his guru gives him. Just like one devotee wrote a book, and it was all about Raganuga Bhakti, and then in the end he was saying that, and the special revelation of my book is, don't become a manjari, become a priya-sakhi, because the priya-sakhis are higher than the manjaris.
6:32Yes. All right. So it's all well and good. But where did you get that mood from? The mood you have is the mood of the sadhus you associate with. So if there's no sampradaya present in this world now, which is imparting that mood, which is distributing that mood, then where did you get it from? And the answer is you didn't get it. It's your mental speculation. Hmm. Understand? Okay. Gaura premanande. Hari haribol.
