CONTENTS:
- The Holy Name, Part 5;
- Srila Prabhupada's Appreciation;
- Guru Maharaja’s Instructions;
1. THE HOLY NAME PART 5
Gopa Kumara then went to Janaloka an even higher planetary system. spending his time with even more exalted personalities. Then Gopa Kumara was elevated to Tapaloka the region where the four Kumaras are predominating and there they are just absorbed in meditation. In that meditation they would come so close to the Supersoul that they would even see the Supersoul. Gopa Kumara was then elevated to Satyaloka, the abode of Lord Brahma. Brahma playfully touched the water of the garba ocean and out of that came out a demon, Brahma became so afraid that he ran away. Brahma’s position became vacant so Gopa Kumara was asked to become Brahma and he accepted. In between he saw his spiritual master a couple of times, he met him in Jaganath Puri and got all the information. He saw his spiritual master again in Satyaloka and his spiritual master told him to go back to the earthly planet again and worship the Lord in Vrindavan. From Satyaloka he came back to the earth planet, can you imagine how many kaplas went by? One day of Brahma is 1000 catur yugas so he must have been there for so many years. When he came to the earth, the planet completely changed but Vrindavan was still the same, the way he saw Vrindavan in his childhood, it was exactly the same. In Vrindavan, he was chanting and meditating upon the mantra and then as a result of that he found himself moving at a tremendous speed in a very powerful vehicle. He saw that gradually the earth planet disappeared, he went past heavenly planet, Maharloka, Janaloka, Tapaloka, Satyaloka where he spent so much time. He came to the covering of the universe. The first covering is that of earth personified, Mother Earth who is worshipping Varahadeva. So, he spent some time there then he went to the next covering, the layer of water, there is found water personified is worshipping Kurmadeva. Then he came to the region of fire. These are all the subtle layers of the elements. It has been described that whatever is happening in the gross platform has already happened in the subtle platform, nothing is happening by chance, everything already happened there. He went past one layer after another layer, earth layer, water layer, fire layer, air layer, ether layer and then the layer of mind, the layer of false ego, this is how he went past the seven layers of the universe. Then he came to the final region, the region of Maya, there he saw Mayadevi is worshipping the Mohini murti of the Lord and Mayadevi asked him, “Where are you going, stay here and enjoy with me.” Gopa Kumara offered his humble obeisances, “please allow me to go to your brother.” Mayadevi blessed him to be successful in his mission. Gopa Kumara came out of the universe and all he could see is a brilliant light and this light was so dazzling that he was about to lose his senses and he was afraid that if he loses his senses he would not see the Lord. This was the first time that he could not see the Lord, everywhere he went he could see the Lord. Only sometimes in a flash he was seeing the Supersoul. Gopa Kumara started to pray to Lord Jaganatha and then all of a sudden he heard the sound of kirtan and he saw one person whose bodily complexion is as white as camphor is coming down riding on a bull surrounded by his associates who were all chanting his glories. He wondered who is this person?
One of the associates told him, “You don’t know, this is Lord Shiva and he is actually non-different from Hari, same personality.” In this way they started to sing the glory of Lord Shiva and invited him to join their party. Gopa Kumara gracefully declined then he came to the gate of Vaikuntha and when he came there he saw the Lord and immediately offered obeisances and offer prayer, “O Supreme Personality of Godhead please accept my humble obeisances. Please allow me to become your personal servant” and hearing that this person just covered his ears and said, “I am not the Lord, I am not the Lord.” Saying that he ran inside so Gopa Kumara saw somebody came flying in a spaceship, transcendental aeroplane and he thought he was the Lord and offered his obeisances to him and prayers, this person also became embarrassed and said he is not the Lord and ran inside.
Then somebody took pity upon Gopa Kumara and took him to the Supreme Personality of Godhead and told him how to recognise him. There everyone looks like the Lord, they have four arms and they carrying lotus, disc, conch and mace. The way to recognise the Lord is there is Srivatsa mark on His chest and Kaustaba jewel only He wears. The Lord was very kind to Gopa Kumara and greeted him with great affection and treated him with great love and compassion and Gopa Kumara started staying in Vaikuntha. Someone told him to assume his Vaikuntha form why is he still a cowherd boy but Gopa Kumara was not interested and didn’t want to change his form. In this way Gopa Kumara was seeing the wonderful activities of the Lord and Laxmi-devi was so compassionate towards him treating him just like her son. Gopa Kumara got elevated to Ayodhya, there he saw Lord Ramachandra, the great hero and he received so much mercy from the Lord who treated him so nicely.
Gopa Kumara was finally elevated to Dwarika, in Dwarika Gopa Kumara met the Lord and the Lord seeing him came down and He saw the flute in Gopa Kumara’s hand and He took the flute and looking at the flute the Lord started to shed tears in memory of Vrindavan. There also Gopa Kumara spent time watching the Lord and he was staying in the house of Uddhava and the Lord was so kind to him and he saw the residents of Dwarika are so dear to the Lord. Their personalities are so filled with devotion to the Lord and they were so dedicated to serving the Lord and the Lord is so merciful to them. The queens were so compassionate, caring and loving towards Gopa Kumara. One day, Narada Muni came there, he met Narada Muni before and was very happy to see him. Gopa Kumara asked Narada Muni, “It seems that you are everywhere.” Narada Muni said, “Yes, just as the Lord expands Himself we also go along with Him and maintain our same identity.” He gave Gopa Kumara a clear understanding and then Narada Muni told Uddhava, “this person is so fortunate, we know that his attachment is to Vrindavan, a region where you and I cannot go. This person has developed his attachment to Vrindavan we don’t have the means to go to Vrindavan but he has.” In this way Narada Muni started to describe Vrindavan and the wonderful pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in Vrindavan. Narada Muni suggested that Gopa Kumara goes back to earthly Vrindavan because from Dwarika there is no access to Vrindavan. One cannot go to Vrindavan from Vaikuntha, Ayodhya or Dwarika. What is the way to Vrindavan? Come back to the earthly Vrindavan and in earthly Vrindavan what does one do? One chants the Holy Name of the Lord in sankirtana singing the glory of the Lord and His activities, the qualities of the Lord, the beauty and magnanimity of the Lord and chivalry of the Lord and remembering His pastimes. Gopa Kumara was always singing the glory of the Lord and visiting the places of the Lord’s pastimes. Then, one day Gopa Kumara saw Krishna and seeing Him he just ran to see him and almost caught the end of His cloth and it slipped out of his hand and the Lord disappeared behind the bush. Gopa Kumara was so heartbroken that he came so close to the Lord but he could not get Him. Due to that acute agony, Gopa Kumara fainted and his body rolled down to Yamuna and when Gopa Kumara regained his consciousness he felt he was travelling with tremendous speed as if someone was carrying him in a wonderful vehicle and then Gopa Kumara arrived in Goloka Vrindavan. Gopa Kumara arrived in the afternoon so that is another thing about Vrindavan, heavenly planet, Vaikuntha is in eternal light, in order to light up that region there is no need for light or fire, that region is always lit with Brahmajyoti. Material world is in eternal darkness and that world is in eternal light but this Vrindavan is just like earth planet. There is sunrise, afternoon, sunset, just like earth planet but the only difference is: on earth everything happens by the movement of sun but there, things happen according to Krishna’s leela. It happens sometimes Krishna is tending the cows at midday then Krishna desires to have Rasa dance, then immediately everything becomes night, all of a sudden day becomes night and its full moon and Krishna starts to play His flute and the Gopis come. Vrindavan is a place where time does not move. Vrindavan looks like the earth planet even the residents look like human beings. Our Acharyas have identified Vrindavan as aprakriti opposite to material. It looks the same but diametrically opposite. Gopa Kumara arrived in afternoon and saw some young girls picking flowers and singing about Krishna. Gopa Kumara asked, “Please tell me where to find Krishna?” They kept quiet continued picking flowers. He thought these girls are deaf or so absorbed in thinking of Krishna that they cannot say anything. He saw some elderly people talking about Krishna amongst themselves and asked, “Please tell me where to find Krishna?” They said nothing the finally an old lady told him there is the house of Nanda Maharaja, Krishna is gone to tend the cows on the pasturing grounds and Gopa Kumara went there and he could hear the mooing of the cows and could see the dust rising and then he saw Krishna and Balarama in front of the cowherd boys coming back from the pasturing grounds.
When Gopa Kumara saw Krishna he just ran and seeing Gopa Kumara Krishna came running, they both embraced each other. Krishna while saying how happy He was to see Gopa Kumara, Krishna fainted and when Krishna fainted everyone became very worried especially the Gopis they thought is this boy a demon sent by Kamsa. Balarama came running and seeing Krishna’s condition and told Gopa Kumara to chant the Holy Name in Krishna’s ear and then Gopa Kumara did that and Krishna came back. Krishna took Gopa Kumara by the hand and took him to His house. This is how Gopa Kumara entered into Vrindavan. Now you can see how one enters into Vrindavan.
2. SRILA PRABHUPADA'S APPRECIATION
“If Srila Prabhupada did not come to preach and if he had not made ISKCON then where would we all be?"
3. GURU MAHARAJA’S INSTRUCTIONS
"We are not going to settle for anything less than Vrindavan, Srila Prabhupada has given us the highest."
(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)