0:01You can raise your hand if you have a question.
0:26Yes, Dr. Priyadasi. Yesterday we were talking about Sharanagati and how we need to lessen ourselves, feel we're not qualified and that every good quality is from God and is lending. But also I see in many devotees that sometimes they feel very guilty and they punish themselves when they're not good enough or they don't do enough with back your circumstances.
0:55I think this is a little bit violent with ourselves, so how can we manage and balance? Yes, don't panic, I will explain that already planned, that will be the class this morning, this subject, how a devotee should deal with their own failures, we'll discuss it in detail, and Krishna's teachings about this. But at the same time, the reason why someone may become aggressive with themselves, harsh on themselves because of their shortcomings is actually because they are proud, because they have a deep-seated, deeply-rooted concept, I am great.
1:46And then when they find out that they are not great, it makes them become angry because they really, really want to be great. And then out of frustration then they stop being engaged in devotional service like this so still the pride is still the problem. You see, if one will consider himself very insignificant, then if there is some failure, then this is just the proof, oh it's correct. Then you don't become angry and have a negative reaction, you see, and then go against devotional service and act in a way which is detrimental to one's own.
2:25Benefit as well. So we have to watch out for this. Pride is very, very tricky. It comes from the unsteadiness, the unsteadiness of the citta. When the citta is very steady and in sattva-guṇa, a person automatically feels very humble and does not consider himself superior to others. Also, you know that if a fisherman throws a net into the ocean, then they can catch the fish, but only the bigger fish.
3:07The small ones swim through the holes. So in the same way, maya is like a net. And this network of maya, which the strands of this net are actually the senses.
3:39So the soul is transcendental, spiritual and very fine.
3:46But when we are in avidyā, then we get caught by the network of sensory impressions which are coming to us. So if someone is proud, then they always get trapped by these sensory impressions. But if someone is humble, he's like the small fish, he does not get caught in the mess.
4:13Good question. And the way I am giving the classes, deliberately, I give one class to provoke a particular reaction, but then the answer will come in the next class. So good, it's working. The process is working. Yes. Raise your hand if you have another question. Mohanpuram. I'm just making some gender balance here, something from the ladies, something from the men. We'll come back to the ladies afterwards. Yeah.
4:45Srimad Bhagavatam, we see that the separation of the gopis, Srimad Bhagavatam, especially, is described so much, but of Krishna, when he left, he was not described so much, I think, I didn't reach the end of the dance chapter, but I didn't know it, but I was wondering why this is like this, and then also, when Krishna is in Mathura, in Dvaraka, I talked to my god about it, and they said actually at night he says the names of his cows, but I talked to some other person and he said actually it's a different Krishna there, so, and then also I was wondering because Krishna is Rasika-shekhara, the relisher of rasa, so how is it that he can be there and in the same times we feel the separation
5:46Vrindavan, but also have these exchanges with the queens. Because the gopis' separation is so strong. How can Krishna have the same separation and at the same time relate with all the people and through all these activities? Okay, that's a very good three questions. Now you have exhausted your quota for today, tomorrow and the next day also.
6:23So the first question is, the separation of Vraja-gopis is described in Srimad Bhagavatam, but not Krishna's separation. Actually, Krishna's separation is also described in Srimad Bhagavatam, but in a more covered way.
6:52Krishna describes his love for Vraja-gopis as he's describing their glories to Uddhava. When Krishna sends Uddhava to Mathura, at that time he glorifies the love of Vraja-gopis, but the implication of his words is that he is feeling separation from them. This is why he is sending Uddhava there, because in Vrindavan, the gopis, they can speak to each other and share their feelings with each other.
7:29So it's said that a problem shared is a problem halved. At least they can talk to each other and share the burden of their separation, but Krishna has no one to talk to at all, because the only persons who are in Vraja and understand about the love of Vraja, who are there in Mathura, there is Balaram, who is in sakhya-rasa, and Krishna cannot speak openly to his brother about this, elder brother, and Rohini, who is in vātsalya-rasa, so he cannot speak to her either.
8:07So Krishna is isolated. He has no one to share the burden of his separation. And this is why he sends Uddhava to Vrindavan, to become like a student in the university of prema, of the gopis, so that when he comes back, then Krishna will have someone to speak to. Because if he will directly openly speak to Uddhava now, if he has no experience, he will not understand anything. So the implication of Krishna's separation is there in the dhvani, in the suggestion.
8:40Then later, just before Śrī Kṛṣṇa leaves this world, just when he's about to leave this world, when the Yadu dynasty have been destroyed at Prabhasa, then Krishna sits beneath an Ashvattha tree and he gives instructions to Uddhava, so there are more verses where Śrī Kṛṣṇa glorifies the separation of the Vraja-gopis and also implies his own separation as well.
9:49at Vraja-gopis who are in their windows, on their balconies, on their roofs, at their doorsteps, like this.
9:58And so, if you go deeply into this verse, dina-parikṣaye, in Gopi-gita, then you'll see in the commentaries it's described that the gopis themselves are describing Krishna's pūrva-rāga, the separation that he feels before he had the chance to meet with them. Just like in Veṇu-gita, the pūrva-rāga, the shy love of Vraja-gopis, before they had the chance to meet Krishna, is described in Veṇu-gita, so in that verse of Gopi-gita, gopis describe, see Krishna's pūrva-rāga, also, very good.
10:37So, for the general persons, we can say, yes, Krishna's separation is not described, but for the Rasika Vaishnava, it's described, but in a more covered way, also, in the meeting of Krishna with gopis at Kurukshetra, as well. So this is the first thing. Then the second question, how can Krishna be in Mathura or Dvarka and feeling separation from Vraja-gopis and at the same time be reciprocating with the queens? So you should know that in the spiritual world, Vṛndāvana, Mathura and Dvarka, these three dhāmas all exist simultaneously and Krishna is Vrajendra-nandana, Mathureśa and
11:35and Dvārakādhīśa in each one. And the original form of Krishna is in Vrindavan. His vaibhava-prakāśa is in Mathura and his vaibhava-prakāśa is also in the Vasudeva Krishna in Dvarka. Each Krishna is completely happy in each place, relishing the love of the associates in each place. This is true. But when Śrī Kṛṣṇa comes to this world, he does not stay in each dhāma simultaneously in a a visible form, but rather first he appears in Vraja, after almost eleven years, then he goes to Mathura, after some years, about eighteen years there, then he moves to Dvārakā, so when he's in Dvārakā, he's not in Mathura and Vraja, in a prakaṭa form, in a manifest form, and vice versa, and then after returning to Mathura to kill Viduratha and Dantavakra, then Krishna crosses the Jamuna in his chariot
12:46and comes to Lohavan and is reunited with the Vrajabāsīs again. So it's said in Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta of Rūpa Goswāmī part that in this world there is gamana-āgamana. That means Krishna goes from Vrindavan and He returns to Vrindavan. Now, as we know, Krishna in Mathura and Dvāraka, that's not the Krishna of Vrindavan, that's His prakāśa, His expansion, vaibhava-prakāśa expansion. Then why did Rūpa Goswāmī say there's gamana-āgamana coming and going?
13:21Because if that's his expansion, then this Krishna is not going anywhere and coming back. Understand? So the secret is, no, the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas know that actual Krishna of Vrindavan, he goes to Mathura and he goes to Dvāraka, but his moods as a Vrajendra-nandana, Krishna of Vraja, they are only meditated upon and remembered and glorified by those who are in the world.
13:55in the mood of Vraja. Understand? And those who are eternal Dvāraka-vāsīs, they never see that. They never see those moods. They only see the moods of His expansion. You see, the expansions of Krishna are not exactly separate from Him. They are Krishna in another bhāva. So because He reciprocates with everyone, they only experience Mathureśa-Krishna, Dvārakādhīśa-Krishna like this. But Vrindavan-Krishna is there.
14:28and he's feeling separation. So then your third question about, well, how can he be so much crying at night, remembering his cows, remembering the gopis and so on and also reciprocates lovingly with the residents of Dvāraka and that is because Krishna is not one dimensional, he is not two dimensional or three dimensional or four dimensional, Krishna is infinite dimensional.
15:00in fact, Krishna can have one dimension for every single devotee, right? Just like when Krishna sits and he's taking the bhajan, eating with the cowherd boys, there are thousands of cowherd boys sitting in circles around him, but every boy thinks I'm in front of Krishna and eating and he's talking with me. So there's a particular aspect of Krishna and not only Krishna but all the other associates and the whole dharma, in fact the entire reality, just for each devotee.
15:37understand? We have some material ideas about subjective world and objective world here in the material, and that we individual subjects all share the same one objective world. But the Krishna and the spiritual, they're not like that. Krishna can be experienced in a subjective way by each individual in a completely different way, but they don't only experience Krishna, but all of his associates and the entire līlā also in a different way.
16:19So, this is quite amazing, because the eternal associates in Dvāraka, they feel, oh, Krishna is very happy with us. But the manifestation of those associates in Dvāraka, seen from the eyes of the residents of Vrindavan, then they can say, oh, Rukmini is saying that, oh, Krishna, he cannot sleep at night, or even when he sleeps, he calls his cows.
16:48Rukmini can say this. But from whom? Not from the vision of the residents of Dvāraka. That's how the residents of Vrindavan see the residents of Dvāraka. Understand? Then Satyabhama will say, why are you saying this, Rukmini? Tell the truth, tell the truth. He does not only say the names of his cows, but he says the names of the gopīs also. Tell the truth that he looks at us and as if we're not even there, as if we're just like shadows.
17:21because he's only thinking of his sweethearts, the gopīs of Vrindavan. So Rukmini spoke about Krishna in a mild way, but Satyabhama's more feisty.
17:33And she said, no, you should say this truth, like this. So Srila Sanatana Goswami has described these scenes, which took place in Dvāraka, in his Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta. But you have to understand, that's the vision of Dvāraka from the point of view of Sanatana Goswami, who's Lavanga-manjarī.
17:53But the residents of Dvāraka, who are eternal associates of Dvāraka, they'll never see like this. Because everything is wonderful here. Because each person feels perfect and complete in his own mood. So those are your three questions. Jaya Premānande, Haribol!
