[Devotee:] The dust of the pure devotees’ feet is auspicious, as is the dust of Lord Krsna’s lotus feet. But we see that the devotees take the dust from your feet. We heard that you said that because the ladies could not do that with our Srila Prabhupada, we should also not do that with you. Is that true? I'm asking because some of our ladies are also taking the dust from your feet. What is proper?

[Srila Narayana Maharaja:] Every sastra has said so, and Srimad Bhagavatam has also said so But this should be applied only to a qualified guru and Vaisnava, not to those who are unqualified. I am not qualified, but your Gurudeva, Srila Prabhupada, was qualified, and our Gurudeva, Srila Bhakti Prajnana Kesava Gosvami Maharaja, was qualified. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada was also qualified.

[Devotee:] You are also qualified.

[Srila Narayana Maharaja:] No, no. I am not qualified. If anyone takes my foot dust he will go to hell. If you utter my name you will go to hell.

[Devotee:] We sing Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura's Vibhavari Sesa every morning during mangala arati.

[Srila Narayana Maharaja:] Your Srila Prabhupada was very fond of this song and he often wanted to hear me sing it. When he met with me he always requested me to sing something. He used to play mrdanga and I would play karatalas.

[Devotee:] Would you mind singing that now, for a few minutes, so we…

[Srila Narayana Maharaja:] My Gurudeva and Srila Swami Maharaja have gone to Goloka Vrndavana, and they have taken my voice with them. My voice is not so sweet now. But some ISKCON members have made cassette tapes of my singing. They have the tapes of me singing as Srila Swami Maharaja was going to Goloka Vrndavana. He called me from Mathura at that time. He would call me daily and I would go to him. Bhavananda, Tamal Krsna Maharaja, Jayapataka Svami and Bhakti-caru Maharaja used to come with cars and take me to him.

[Devotee:] Some days ago you were discussing the final chapters of Sri Jaiva Dharma – the technical terms like anubhava and sattvika. So if one is trying to achieve the mood required in the prayers you spoke about, what is the purpose of knowing all of these technical terms?

[Srila Narayana Maharaja:] understanding these terms helps you to enter very deeply into hari-katha.

[Devotee:] How? By praying to?

[Srila Narayana Maharaja:] By bhajana. We can only please Lord Krsna and Srimati Radhika by this. Only by doing this can we approach Their lotus feet. To enter raganuga-bhajana one must select a qualified gopi and not leave her lotus feet. Such gopis will arrange to send us to the feet of Sri Krsna. “Suniyace sadhu-mukhe..”. In this song Srila Narottama dasa Thakura has written, "I have heard that by taking shelter at the lotus feet of Srila Rupa Gosvami, Sri Radha and Krsna will easily be attained. So I pray to my Gurudeva (Srila Lokanatha dasa Gosvami), that he will take me to Srila Rupa Gosvami, offer me to his lotus feet and pray for me that he will take me to Sri Yugala-kisora Sri Sri Radha and Krsna. Then, Srila Rupa Gosvami in his form as Sri Rupa-manjari will take me to Srimati Lalita devi and Srimati Visakha devi, and she will pray to them to give special mercy to ‘this new one.’ They will then take me to Sri Sri Radha and Krsna. Radha will ask, ‘Who is she?' and Rupa-manjari will say, ‘She is a new gopi.' Radha will say, ‘She seems very qualified, very sweet, and very beautiful.' Then Srimati will smile and laugh somewhat, Lalita will place my hand into Her hands, and She will in turn place me in the hands of Rupa-manjari and say, ‘Keep this new sakhi and make her very expert in dancing, singing, playing instruments and all other arts.'"

If such a qualified and very merciful sakhi is found (in the role of a sadhaka of this world), everything is ok.

[Devotee:] You said that we should pray to our guru to bring us to Sri Rupa-manjari. How can we think of our Prabhupada in his vastu-siddhi, spiritual form in the lila of Radha-Krsna, without succumbing to imagination?

[Srila Narayana Maharaja:] Pray to him.

[Devotee:] But should we meditate on him in the form that he previously revealed?

[Srila Narayana Maharaja:] Somehow or other you should meditate on him.

[Devotee:] When I utter the prayers of our previous acaryas which concern begging for Srimati Radharani's direct service, I add my own words: "Please give me Your direct service so that when I preach I will have more effect." Is this proper, or should I just forget about the preaching part of the prayer and only say, "Please give me Your direct service." By praying for Her direct service everything else will come automatically without additional praying?

[Srila Narayana Maharaja:] Go on praying as you do. When Srimati Radhika will bestow Her mercy upon you, you will become maddened in prema. At that time what will your preaching do?

[Devotee:] It will be effective. But should I bother praying like that or not?

[Srila Narayana Maharaja:] At that time preaching will be most beautiful. If anyone sees you weeping and rolling on the ground, you will be hundreds of thousands times more successful than you are right now. When Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was in the Gambira He did so much more than when He was preaching to the masses here and there. In the Gambira He was weeping, "O Krsna, where are You." If you have some taste in what I am explaining now, you will forget your body and everything in relation to it. You will not even realize if you are wearing a sari or not. You will have no care if it falls to the ground, and you will always chant Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna. At that time so many will know that you have attained krsna-prema, and at that time real preaching will be done. Now you are preaching without any realization, but if preaching is done with realization it will produce so much fruit – hundreds and thousands times more than now.

prthivite ache yata nagaradi grama
sarvatra pracara haibe mora nama
["In every town and village, the chanting of My name will be heard." (Caitanya-bhagavata, Antya 4.126)]

At first you should realize something about Sri Krsna; then you can tell something about Him. Now you are “distributing letters and telegrams”, without knowing what is contained in them. When you realize something, your preaching will be different, and if anyone hears you at that time he will certainly become a realized soul. We should weep and pray only that, "I want to be a realized soul.” You have been telling all others to chant for so many years, but you have no realization. No tears come. You should desire that along with chanting Lord Krsna's name, tears will come and your heart will melt. That is real sadhana-bhajana.

Editorial advisors: Pujyapada Madhava Maharaja and Sripad Brajanath dasa
Editor: Syamarani dasi
Transcriber: Sulata dasi
Typist: Vasanti dasi