CONTENTS:
- The Holy Name, Part 3;
- Srila Prabhupada's Appreciation;
- Guru Maharaja’s Instructions;
1. THE HOLY NAME PART 3
That becomes quite apparent and obvious in the first part of the Brhad Bhagavatamrta. In this way wherever Narada Muni goes and glorifies a person, that person says, “No, no,no, sorry I am not that person, I could not even become a devotee.” The King started to speak about his own defects and this is how we see his statement that he couldn’t become a devotee is honest, earnest and genuine. So, Narada Muni went to the Brahmana and said, “Oh you are the greatest devotee.” The Brahmana said, “No, no, no I am not the greatest devotee, what’s so great about me? I am a Brahmana and by occupation I am supposed to worship the Lord so that’s what I am doing but look at the Kshatriya he is a King. He has so many responsibilities, he has to maintain his kingdom and so many other responsibilities but still he is so dedicated to the Lord.”
So Narada Muni goes to the King and when he starts to glorify the king as a great devotee the King said, “I am not a great devotee, Indra is a great devotee. Who am I? Just an ordinary mortal worshipping the Lord for His pleasure but Indra is such a great devotee that the Lord has become his younger brother and he directly receives his own offerings with his own hands.” Narada Muni goes to Indra and glorifies Indra and Indra says, “No, no, no I am not a great devotee, Brahma is a great devotee.”
Narada Muni goes to Brahma and starts to glorify him as a great devotee and Brahma got really upset with him, “So many times I have to tell you that you don’t speak like that, you don’t listen to me. What’s the matter with you?” After all, Narada Muni is his son so he can chastise him like that. Lord Brahma indicates that Lord Shiva is the greatest devotee.
Narada Muni goes to Lord Shiva and Lord Shiva said, “No, no, no I am not the greatest devotee. The residents of Vaikunta are the great devotees.” Then Parvati Devi says, “Amongst all the residents of Vaikunta, Laksmidevi is the greatest devotee.”
Narada Muni was about to go to Vaikunta and then Lord Shiva said, “Look, even greater than the residents of Vaikunta is Prahlada.” Narada Muni goes to Prahlada and Prahlada says, “No, no no I am not a great devotee. What did I do? As a child I displayed some attachment to the Lord, it was just a childish attachment but devotion means service to the Lord and look what service Hanuman has rendered so Hanuman is the greatest devotee.”
Narada Muni goes to Hanuman and when Narada Muni glorifies him as the greatest devotee then Hanuman starts to cry. He said, “Why are you inflaming my already burnt out heart due to the separation of my Lord with these kinds of statements.” Hanuman pointed out that the Pandavas are the greatest devotees. The Pandavas pointed out that the Yadus were the great devotees and in this way it goes on and on.
And finally, who is he found to be the greatest devotee? Srimati Radharani!
So, this is how Sanatana Goswami is taking us step by step, systematically with proper reasoning with proper understanding the gradual development of devotion leading all the way up to Srimati Radharani.
The second part is about a cowherd boy’s journey back to the spiritual sky. What is the topmost region of the spiritual sky? Goloka Vrindavan. It’s a very wonderful description actually. Like this particular cowherd boy was born in Govardhan in a cowherd family. Like any other cowherd boys, he tends the cows in the forest in Govardhan. He plays with his friends and he happily spend his time as a cowherd boy. He sees that there is a person who is like a madman whose activities and behaviour is like that of a madman but towards the cowherd boys he was very very affectionate. This person sometimes he would sing, sometime he would dance, he would laugh, cry, roll on the ground, faint. The cowherd boys were very fond of him and he was very affectionate towards them. The name of this cowherd boy is Gopkumar, so one day Gopkumar was alone and this person told him that I will give you a very very precious object today, I will give you something extremely valuable. So, you go and take your bath in Yamuna and come to me. So according to that instruction Gopkumar went and took a bath in Yamuna and he came to him and he gave him a ten syllable Gopal mantra. Those of you who have second initiation, Brahman initiation this is the sixth mantra is this Gopal mantra.
So, he gave him the mantra and told him that this is the most precious thing in the world, so very carefully you protect this and chant it in a mood of meditation, meditate upon this mantra. In this way he started to instruct upon meditating this mantra and while instructing him on the mantra this person fainted out of ecstasy and when he came back to his senses he just got up and walked away. So Gopkumar because he received this mantra and instruction from his guru that this is the most precious thing so following his instruction he started to chant the mantra and meditate upon the mantra.
2. SRILA PRABHUPADA'S APPRECIATION
So, always remember that cooperation amongst devotees is the most important thing. How you cooperate with each other that will be the real sign of our love for Srila Prabhupada.
3. GURU MAHARAJA’S INSTRUCTIONS
Srila Prabhupada gave us everything in the most perfect way.
(The content of this E-magazine is based on a lecture given by His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami on 19th June 2017)
(Compiled and Edited by Hemavati Radhika Dasi)