Special On-line Edition for the Appearance Day of
Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Trivikrama Gosvāmī Mahārāja
śrī śrī guru gaurāṅga jayataḥ!
Year-2, Special On-line Edition
Posted: 11 January, 2009
Dedicated to
nitya-līlā praviṣṭa oṁ viṣṇupāda
Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja
Inspired by and under the guidance of
Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja
Appearing in English for the first time
Only Divine Blessings
Can Bring Us to the Highest Plane
by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Trivikrama Gosvāmī Mahārāja
First of all, I beg all the devotees to pardon me, for I am not expert in speaking English. Therefore, excuse my faults.
I offer my innumerable dandavats to the lotus feet of my divine master oṁ viṣṇupāda aṣṭotara satta Srī Śrīmad Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja, then to all the devotees by whose grace we can proceed to the transcendental world.
Figures are perceivable when they are of equal merit. Aprākṛta vastu nahe prākṛta-gocara. That which is transcendental cannot be attained by mundane, or material, effort, however strong that effort may be. It will be fruitless in the transcendental realm. We are observing, trying to observe, something that is purely transcendental and of the highest rank. This Vṛndāvana-dhāma is appreciated by the devotees of the supreme rank; not by someone in the lowest position. The same is true for everything relating to Vṛndāvana, everything relating to Lord Kṛṣṇa and Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. So, the entrance key into that world depends upon the divine master, śrī gurudeva, by whose grace we can proceed toward that world:
yasya deve parā bhaktir
yathā deve tathā gurau
tasyaite kathitā hy arthā
prakāśante mahātmanaḥ
Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (6.38)
The true import of the scriptures is revealed in the hearts of those great souls who have the same unflinching bhakti for their guru as they have for the Supreme Lord.
This is the stance of the scriptures in relation to this topic. Whatever endeavour we can make, it will be fruitless if we cannot get the blessings of our divine master. So we should try to devote everything that belongs to us to the lotus feet of our śrī gurudeva by whose grace our attempts can be fulfilled. According to him or our leading spiritual masters, we should try according to our ability. If we try to jump into the superior position, we may fall down and our legs may be broken. So, most importantly, we must consider one thing: we must first of all judge where we are.
We should try according to our ability. Some things may be of the highest sphere, but it is of no good to me when I am not able to understand the value of it. That prema-bhakti which Lord Śrī Caitanyadeva has taught, is the supreme. It is the highest thing. Even Lord Kṛṣṇa could not understand it. But He was attracted to that prema and was bound to undertake certain practices to attain the qualification of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. So, that qualification can neither be attained, nor understood by fallen souls, who are still bound. As long as we are bound we cannot understand it. And not only that, however free from bondage we may be, we still cannot understand it unless and until She and Her followers, the sakhīs, bless us. The topic of Her prema is not related to the souls who are bound by material phenomena and attracted and charmed by material things. First of all we should try to rid ourselves of mahā-māyā’s power over us and we should try to practise those things which are necessary for that end.
* * *
Let us be freed from the joys granted by mahā-māyā !
In that case, this is the greatest advice from our divine masters: nāma-saṅkīrtanam !
The name of Lord Kṛṣṇa, the name “Hare Kṛṣṇa”, has each and every power we need. It has whatever is present in Kṛṣṇa. There is no difference between the name and the person of Kṛṣṇa. They are one and the same. We cannot understand this. The more one understands it, the more one will understand the spiritual world and the world of prema. We chant the name of Lord Kṛṣṇa, harināma, but we are not feeling anything of its spirituality. How is it possible to move in the spiritual world and in the prema world, and in the prema of the gopīs and Rādhārāṇī? It is the best medicine for us to chant the name. It has every power to make me free and to take me to the spiritual beauties. And for this reason, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has related this in His Śikṣāṣṭakam:
ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇaṁ
śreyaḥ-kairava-candrikā-vitaraṇaṁ vidyā-vadhū-jīvanam
ānandāmbudhi-vardhanaṁ prati-padaṁ pūrṇāmṛtāsvādanaṁ
sarvātma-snapanaṁ paraṁ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam
Śrī Śikṣāṣṭakam, Verse One
Let there be supreme victory for the chanting of the holy name of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, which cleanses the mirror of the heart and completely extinguishes the blazing forest fire of material existence. Śrīkṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam diffuses the soothing moon rays of bhāva, which cause the white lotus of good fortune for the jīvas to bloom. The holy name is the life and soul of transcendental knowledge, since Vidyā (Divya Sarasvatī-devī, who awards divine knowledge) is Śrī Nāma Prabhu’s consort. It continuously increases the ocean of transcendental bliss enabling one to taste complete nectar at every step. The holy name thoroughly bathes and cools the body, mind and soul.
This medicine is the best medicine prescribed by physicians who are expert in that spiritual phenomenon. So let us proceed according to our ability. May God and our spiritual masters bless us to proceed, through nāma-saṅkīrtanam. This much I am delivering to you first of all. Thank you very much.
vāñcā-kalpa-tarubyaś ca kṛpā sindhubhya eva ca,
patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ
His morning class, 18 October, Kartika 1997
Spoken in Śrī Rūpa Sanātana Gauḍīya Maṭh, Vṛndāvana
Transcribed and edited by the Rays of The Harmonist team
