0:24We know that when we are in sadhu-sanga, we are very enthusiastic and the desire to stay engaged in our senses is very prominent, but my question is: how to stay engaged when we are absent of sadhu-sanga, so physical sadhu-sanga?
1:11Our engagement can either be svarasiki, that means spontaneous and natural, or it is of the category of vaidhi, because of some vidhi, some rule.
1:40So a sadhu, their seva is not because of some rule, it's just spontaneous, because priti is a vishesha-jnana, love is a state of consciousness, and they're just in that state, and so everything that they do is their anubhava; their hearing, chanting, remembering, and serving is just a reaction to the love that they feel.
2:08So, if someone is not on the platform of the spontaneous love, then they'll have to be guided by vidhi.
2:24So, as long as one is guided by vidhi, then there's some dependence on the shastra and buddhi. The intelligence is dependent to think, why should I do this? I should do it because shastra says this, oh, guru has said that, and so, bhakti is dependent on sharanagati, that is the prana of bhakti; if obviously someone who is spontaneously engaged in bhakti is naturally surrendered, but if someone is not spontaneously engaged in bhakti, then they have to decide to be surrendered.
3:36So, then, if a person is not being carried along there and then by the presence of a sadhu, then from your heart, from the core of your heart, you have to make anukulyasya-saṅkalpa. Sankalpa means a vow, a promise, a decision: what is favourable for bhakti, I must do it. Then you have to check all the vidhi: is this favourable, this favourable, this favourable, and do it, pratikulyasya-vivarjanam.
4:16And the rejection of what is unfavourable is also of the nature of a sankalpa also. I promise that I will reject all the things which are unfavourable for bhakti. So if the devotion is not spontaneous, then in real time, at every moment, you have to be checking: am I doing the favorable things and am I avoiding the unfavorable things? And for that, you need buddhi and some shastra-jnya. And this is why it is said that vaidhi-bhakti is based on the order of scripture, and when one is, when greed comes, the characteristic of greed is, The symptom of greed is that the intelligence is no longer dependent on logic and scriptural guidance.
5:14The symptom of greed is that the intelligence is no longer dependent on what scripture is saying and logic. or the logic and reason of the scripture. That doesn't mean that the person doesn't follow the scripture. He does follow the scripture, but his motivation is not dependent on that. So how can we progress at that time when we're not in sadhu-sanga? Then we'll have to be sharanagat, consciously surrendered at every moment. And so all the angas of bhakti, if first one surrenders and then engages in bhakti, and by the potency of those angas of bhakti, Gradually some realization will come, some improvements will be there, some purification will take place.
6:35First of all, every day, one should worship Guru, then Gauranga and then Radha-Krishna. This is the vidhi. That's why when we remember gayatri-mantras, there's Guru-mantra and then Gaura and then Radha-Krishna. If you do archan to the deities, first you have to do archan to Guru, and then to Gauranga, and then Radha-Krishna, like this.
7:00So if we do that, then if a person is surrendered, they can feel the vastu-shakti, the inherent potency of bhakti itself.
7:15It is only if we're in sadhu-sanga, even if a person is not very surrendered, just the power of the sadhu-sanga gives inspiration. But, when we separate it from sadhu-sanga, that's the test of our sharanagati, because bhakti will only be effective if we're outside of sadhu-sanga, if we're sharanagat first. But if we're not in sadhu-sanga, and we don't have sharanagati, then even whatever practice that we do, it will be feeble.
7:50It will not, because it has no prana, it has no life. Just like Kulad Maharaj, he said, He gives the nine angas of bhakti, but then he says, a person who has offered himself fully to Guru and Krishna, he is sharanagat, and then engages in the aforementioned practices of bhakti. I consider that person to be the most learned person. They've understood the essence of all shastras. So this is the thing: sharanagati.
9:04Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came to this world to give such a love that is extremely atyanta-durlabha, extremely rare, and to teach sharanagati, how to surrender. And that sharanagati is bhaktasya prāṇaḥ. It is the life and soul of the devotee. Without sharanagati, he cannot live. So if someone is only a little bit surrendered, but they're in the sadhu-sanga, then the prana of that sadhu will give inspiration to them. But if you come out of sadhu-sanga and you're not surrendered, then you'll choke, you'll be asphyxiating, you cannot breathe, because the prana, the breath of the bhakti is sharanagati.
9:55So, this is the thing. We have to consider at every moment that how am I surrendering according to the six angas of sharanagati. So, depending on the firmness of the faith, or the absence of the firmness of the faith, Depending on the degree of anartha-nivritti, how much the anarthas have gone, then if a person is not in sadhu-sanga, then there will be a sliding scale, there will be degrees of how much they can survive.
10:43So if someone has lots of anarthas, then they'll tend to not be surrendered and become entangled when they're outside of sadhu-sanga. But if someone's anarthas have mainly, they're being checked, they're under control, then that devotee can be surrendered and engaged very enthusiastically, and they can make some progress. But again, they'll have to come back and have more association so their faith can be updated. And then again, so it's not that one has to be in the same room with the sadhu 24 hours a day.
11:27This is not the thing. But we have to associate regularly. Nitya-karo-sanga. In a regular way one should associate. And when we're not directly in sadhu-sanga, then we have to do the application. What we have learned in sadhu-sanga, we have to go away and apply it. And that is really the test. Did we understand what we've learned? Did we really understand it? So we have to go away and apply it in the stage of application.
11:58Then the realization comes. And then we come back and learn something more, receive something more, and again apply it. So to be in anugatya means to be in association and then to also go and apply it. And then again come in association and then again go and apply it like this. So when we're in sadhu-sanga, we're in anugatya, and when we're not directly in sadhu-sanga, when we apply it, then we're in anugatya.
12:35If you leave the sadhu-sanga, but you don't apply it, now you become svatantra, independent. So the bhakti is anugatya, Mahi, the anugatya is so important. So, in Bhagavad-gita, Sri Krishna said,
13:12Hey Arjuna, one who tries to become engaged in that which is kalyan, auspicious, then that person, he never gets a duragati, a bad result, he never goes to a lower or negative destination, so nahi, not, hi, certainly, kalyanakrit, one who does auspicious activities, kashchit, any such person, duragatim, means a lower or bad destination, gacchati, he does not go there.
14:04tāta, he is an address of affection to Arjuna. So, Parama-pujyapada, Srila Bhakti Raksaka Sridhara Goswami Maharaja, he translated this, he is bhava-anuvad, that means not the literal translation that we've just given, but the translation of the mood behind this statement of Krishna is this: sincerity is invincible. If you are sincere, then you'll be successful.
14:37So, the living entity has his free will. He is free to desire. He is not free to execute. That will depend on other things. But this desire, our abhilasa, is with us. Our abhilasa, what we desire, that is down to us. Just like Krishna spoke the whole Bhagavad Gita, to Arjuna. And in the end he said, yathā-icchasi tathā kuru, means now you do whatever you want, yathā icchasi, icchasi means you want, iccha is with you, I have told you what to do, but the iccha, the desire, whether you do it or not, that's with you, so yathā icchasi, tathā kuru, kuru means do, you do what?
15:45You do what you want. So your desire is with you. That's the only thing that we have. And so the entire essence of all spiritual life just boils down to this one thing, that our desire is independent or our desire is attuned with the desire of God. That's all. If you look at the definition of pure bhakti, what is it?
16:11anyabhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ, don't have abhilasa, desire, which is separate from the anukula, from what is favourable to Krishna. That's all it is. So this is the essence of spiritual life. The ground zero, the absolute basis is our desire and the direction it's going. Either we are vimukha, our desire is vimukha, is averse to Krishna, indifferent to Krishna, turned away from Krishna, or unmukha.
16:47So vimukha means to go in maya and unmukha, that is bhakti. There are different types of bhakti, hearing, chanting, remembering and so on, but they all are the embodiments of one undivided principle, unmukhatā. Hearing about Krishna means centering our consciousness and attention and desires on Krishna. Chanting is another way of centering our consciousness on Krishna. Remembering means centering our consciousness on Krishna.
17:22So every anga of bhakti is united by this one principle, the conscious, intentional, the volitional turning of our awareness to Krishna, with the abhilasa, spṛhā, spṛhā means desire, abhilasa means desire, that's why when we're discussing prīti, what is it? It is viṣaya, viṣaya is Krishna, viṣaya-anukūla-ātmaka-tat-tat-anukūlya-anugata-tat-spṛhā, there is the feeling of the favourableness to Krishna, which gives rise to the desire, which gives rise to the anubhava, which gives rise to the ullāsa, the joy, prītatā, Jiva Goswami's precise definition is so profound,
18:26So our consciousness, our basic awareness as directionality, so if the basic state of our consciousness is favorable to Krishna, its direction will be to desire to be with Krishna and serve Krishna.
18:49So how can we flourish or at least survive when we're not in sadhu-sanga? That is our one responsibility. It's the only thing, our abhilasa, our desire, our spṛhā. It's the only thing that we're responsible for, that we must desire to serve and please Krishna. And then we act but whatever we is the result of our action whether it's a success or a failure from the material point of view that's not our responsibility that's Krishna's responsibility bhakti is successful whether it fails or whether it doesn't fail bhakti is always successful because there's spṛhā as long as the consciousness is turned to Krishna and desiring it's already successful the example is given in the Bhagavatam that when
19:56Lord Vamandeva bound up Bali Maharaja and he could not move in the snakes. Then Bali Maharaja, he wanted to give pranama to the Supreme Lord, but he could not because he couldn't move. But the benefit of giving pranama to the Supreme Lord, he received the benefit of that, even though he couldn't do it just because he desired to do it.
20:20So Prītatā, the love, is of the nature of the favorability and the desire, and that is the success.
20:35So, just being sincere, all perfection will come. Yes, raise a hand if someone else has a question. Yes, Brenda does. Thank you, Srila Gurudeva. My question is regarding Gopi Chandana. As far as I'm aware, there are different colors, like whitish, cream color, like yellowish and blackish color, and they appear in different shapes, in like round or longish in different shops.
21:10And I'm wondering, I mean, I'm aware this is the foot dust of the gopis, but someone has to collect them at certain tirthas. So, how is this being collected and then putting into a shape? This is the first part and the second part, I have noticed that Bhaktisiddhanta Maharaja wears another type of Vaishnava tilaka, if you could also say a few words about that.
21:36Okay, so first of all, our Gopichandana tilaka, we wear Gopichandana tilaka. Why? Because some people, they wear black Radhakunda tilaka, because Mahaprabhu went, he discovered Radhakunda and he took some mud from there and he put it on. So, but we should know, that is okay, that is, if someone wants to wear the Radhakunda tilaka, it's okay, but we should know why we wear Gopichandana.
22:10That is that, Gauranga Mahaprabhu in the nitya-lila, as a grihastha in Navadvipa Dham, he never leaves Navadvipa, he doesn't go to Radhakunda, so he doesn't wear black Radhakunda tilaka.
22:26This is the first. Sometimes some devotees are coming to hear the class in the morning, with tilaka, but they are not here right now. So, in the nitya-līlā, Mahaprabhu wears gopī-candana. Why? The gopī-candana is worn by the Madhvas.
22:49It was Madhvacharya who discovered the Dadi-mathana Gopala at the coast, just close to Udupi. Where did he discover him? In a big block of Gopī-candana.
23:05This deity of Krishna was actually a deity of Krishna, once Rukmini was in Dvaraka and said to Krishna, Oh, can you tell me about your childhood in Vrindavan? And as soon as Krishna remembered Vrindavan, he was stunned and could not speak.
23:23So he told Vishvakarma to take a big Shalagrama-shila and to carve his deity of Gopala in Vrindavan from a Shalagrama-shila. So the Madhva Sampradaya is the only Sampradaya where they worship carved Shilas.
23:43I have also the carved shila of Vyasadeva. So then Krishna, he was in so much ecstasy, he could not speak. So then he gave that deity to Rukmini and said, "Just worship this deity. If you want to know what my Vrindavan-lila was like, you worship this deity and you can realize something." So when Dvaraka went under the ocean, then that deity was lost. Then many years later, when one ship was coming to Udupi and it was about to be wrecked, shipwrecked, because of a very strong wind, then Madhvacharya came on the shore and with his cloth, he guided the ship to safety. And anyway, he's the incarnation of Vayu, the wind god, so he could save them.
24:40And then the captain said, "Oh, I am so indebted to you, what can I give you?" And Madhvacharya said, "I'm a sannyasi, I don't need anything, but I need some tilaka, do you have any tilaka?" So the captain of the ship said, "Actually, I have a big block of tilaka, I used it for ballast, because the ship needs some weight." So he had just been to Dvaraka and took a big block of clay from Dvaraka and kept it in the boat.
25:11So Madhvacharya came, and he touched that block of tilaka, and it broke open, and inside there was that Udupi Krishna from Dvaraka. So Krishna, for more than 4,000 years, had been completely immersed in the foot dust of Vraja-gopis.
25:39Krishna was feeling separation from Vraja-gopis there in Dvaraka, and so he completely covered himself for 4,000 years in the foot dust of Vraja-gopis to survive. What bhava! So Madhvacharya wears Gopī-candana tilaka from Dvaraka. And so, strictly speaking, the balls of tilaka, which we get here in Vrindavan, someone goes to Dvaraka and they dig up there and then they get the soil and then they crush it, the mud, they crush it and they filter it.
26:17So, sometimes, if you just buy the, not the things which are in a box, like that, if you just buy the balls, sometimes it's not filtered very well, so now and then you have a little stone or something, you know, sometimes they don't do it so meticulously, the quality control standards are not enforced very well.
26:43So, there are varying degrees of quality in the marketplace when you buy those balls. So, there's some person, and that's his business. They dig up the clay there in Dvaraka, and then they mash it, and they make it, and they sell it, and they send it here and sell it. Okay, so someone's doing that.
27:05And so, it's not uniform. Some may be a little bit more yellow, a little bit more whitish. Mainly, if you get, if you go to Udupi itself, the gopi-candana there is quite more white, but it may be that what's sold in the marketplace is a personal look. It's expensive to go all the way to Dvaraka and dig up the clay there, let me just dig up some earth in Ghaziabad, it's only like a few miles away, it's not the right color, let's throw in some yellow dye and there's some camphor or something, some chemicals to make it smell good, put it in a nice box.
27:48We can sell it, we'll make more profit, because we only have to bring it from Ghaziabad to Vrindavan, that's much more cheap than bring it all the way from Dvaraka. So you cannot guarantee that something that you buy in a box or even in a bowl, unless you know the source, then you cannot guarantee where it's from.
28:10Anyone can say "gopi-candana", it's like, especially here in India, you can buy tomatoes and brinjals, but the tomato is red, but this actual tomato is green and they spray it red, the brinjal that was painted purple, literally, yeah, it's going on, so it's Kali-yuga, so actually we haven't been for a couple of years, but previously we would go to Udupi every couple of years and buy our tilaka from there directly, because they have no motivation to cheat,
28:51because it's right there. It would be very expensive for them to bring it from Ghaziabad to Udupi. It's the cheapest to get the real thing. The Dwarka is there on the west coast of India. So, now, the thing is that tilaka is sometimes called sectarian markings. But this sectarian is not a negative sectarian. It means sampradayika, sampradayika, coming in a particular sampradayika.
29:25So even within the Gaudiyas, there are some specialities of the lines, like Shyamananda, the line of Shyamananda Pandita have a particular shape because of the tilaka mark was made by the nupura of Shrimati Radharani. The line of Gopala Guru has a particular shape.
29:51So because of the pastime of Gopala Guru Gosvami, and that is the touch of the lotus feet of the Gauranga Mahaprabhu. Because Abhirama Thakura was going to give pranam to Gopala Guru when he was a boy and he said, "Ah, if someone is not bona fide, if Abhirama Thakura will give pranam, that person will die," and he was afraid and he jumped, he came to Mahaprabhu, "Please save me," and Mahaprabhu touched him with his lotus foot and made a tilaka.
30:25So different lines have some story and in some lines when they make the tilaka, they have a ritual where they add some strands of saffron.
30:46They get the candana, and they grind it. Or even they may get candana itself, wood, candana wood, and grind, and then throw in a drop of saffron, and mix it like that, and so it will produce, maybe the tilaka was white with a little yellow tinge, but then it will become more yellow, or even a little orange as well.
31:08And you can see in the Radha-ramana temple they have dhupa-shesha. Those in the line of Radha-ramana, they have a black line in the middle. So this also shows we're in the line of Madhvacharya. Those who say we're not in the line of Madhvacharya don't know any history or anything. Because the dhupa-shesha is the tradition from the Madhvacharya's temple of Udupi Krishna in Udupi. Because when the pujari offers the dipa, it's like a stick with a cotton.
31:45It's not like a small, like a, and when it's burnt, then it's black, and then on the side of the deity, there's one area, and when devotees do a parikrama around, then the pujari from the dhupa-shesha, that means what's left over, the dhupa-shesha, from the offering, then it is the, he touches it on the head of the devotee, and it makes a black mark, because it's the burnt ash of the offering.
32:26So, in this way, there are some specialities in the lines. The tilaka that we have, the particular shape, like some persons, they don't have the tulasi shape, they just have like this. But our particular style of the tilaka is coming from Shrimad Narottama Dasa Thakura. So we can say like Narottama-paripati, but because we are the Bhagavata-guru-parampara, we don't recognize there has to be exclusive paripati, that means exclusive pancaratriki-diksha line, that's not necessary, it's not something that Mahaprabhu taught, it's not something that our Gosvamis observed, so we accept Gaura-paripati, we're all in the one family of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, but the differences in tilaka, they identify.
33:26Historically, the paripati or the diksha-parampara in those who have just the unbroken pancaratriki-diksha-parampara and they are not necessarily historically have the trace of parampara which is by the connection of Bhagavata-guru-parampara. Because in Bhagavata-guru-parampara, like in our parampara, if we look, different persons are from different paripatis, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Thakura is in the Jahnavi-paripati, Vishvanatha Thakura is Narottama-paripati, Baladeva Vidyabhushana is the actually Shyamananda-paripati, like this, so this is some aspects of the meaning of tilaka, there are many beautiful meanings, especially we like that we make the tilaka, and then you have to clean out the middle part, that means
34:31That means anyabhilashita-shunyam, take out all the anyabhilasha, shunyam, anyabhilashita-shunyam, that means remove everything that gets in the way of what? One side is Radha and one side is Krishna, and the tulasi leaf means Brindadevi, so parallel lines don't meet, but these parallel lines meet where? In the forest of Vrindavan, and therefore the tilaka represents the abhilasha, the desire that Radha and Krishna should meet together in Vrindavan, that is Mañjarī-bhava.
35:06And all anyabhilashita-shunyam, removed. Gaura Premānande!
