All glories to Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga

St. Petersburg, Russia
19th World Tour of
Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj

Morning Darshan Notebook

of Sripad Yudhamanyu Prabhu Seva Vikram
hearing the words of our Divine Master

August 1st, 2002 | August 2nd | August 3rd | August 4th | August 5th | August 16th from Moscow

Morning Darshan Notebook excerpts

August 1st, 2002. St. Petersburg, Russia.

Srila Govinda Maharaj spoke about Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur and how Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur became angry at any suggestion that Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur was of the nature of an ordinary human being. The conception Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur gave could not come from the human section, and his "chamber of bhajan" is extremely difficult to open. Srila Guru Maharaj, Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, composed a poem about Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur's conception and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur read it with a very critical eye. By the time he reached the fifth verse in particular, he became especially satisfied to understand that Srila Guru Maharaj had captured Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur's conception.

Srila Guru Maharaj would always try to solve or understand the most difficult problems or conceptions and not concentrate so much on more general matters.

Morning Darshan Notebook excerpts

August 2nd, 2002. St. Petersburg, Russia.

Much discussion about Bali Maharaj and Prahlad Maharaj and their position in our line. In the womb of his mother Prahlad Maharaj learned from Narada Muni about bhakti, then at age five was preaching to his childhood friends about the necessity of utilising our limited span of life for devotion to Krishna.

Sanatan Goswami gave us the devotional gradation and the particular devotees representing those stages.

A lot of discussion about swarup-shakti. Srila Govinda Maharaj said that Guru Maharaj didn't deal with such questions much because we are living with limited perceptions, with or without mundane ideas. We can see for only maybe two miles into the sky, so from here to discuss swarup-siddhi and vastu-siddhi is too high for us, although it is a subject matter the sahajiya section likes to talk about.

With a mood of complete dedication to the Lord a devotee of the Lord can do anything -- physically, mentally or verbally -- because he is only thinking of the satisfaction of the Lord.

Srivas Pandit's son died but he wasn't disturbed. Even the Lord Himself was disturbed but Srivas Pandit was not.

Our full program is in Srila Guru Maharaj's line -- Guru, Sadhu, Shastra. Initiation means the jiva, the soul, has a guarantee of success if he lives without offence to Guru-Vaishnava. If he lives in this way anything he tries to practise will give him a good result.

Indra got a hog body, but Brahma knew it was due to a curse and it was only external and not permanent.

We must always give "jaya" to Haridas Thakur as he is our only hope.

What Srila Guru Maharaj gave to the Western section, we in India did not get before. We didn't have so many questions or so much curiosity. We had Suddha Bhakti from the beginning and when the Westerners came with so many questions, Srila Guru Maharaj naturally answered them.

Morning Darshan Notebook excerpts

August 3rd, 2002. St. Petersburg, Russia.

Our puppy brain cannot comprehend all the advice given from so many Scriptures, so we are so fortunate to get knowledge from the proper source, the proper representative. Srimad Bhagavad-gita was given before Srimad-Bhagavatam and the Gita gives different practitioners different advice -- and different cause for confusion. Knowledge was given by Krishna Himself on the battlefield. Arjjuna couldn't leave his traditional lifestyle; and if Arjjuna is confused, we must be confused. But Srimad-Bhagavatam gives us hope.

If we are guided by an expert we will never be misguided. That knowledge given by Mahaprabhu is the heart and soul of the liberated soul.

One gets real love and dedication in his heart from Hari Nama, and this is described completely by Rupa Goswami, but still our bad karma and misfortune do not give us entrance into devotional life. Krishna manifested Himself as Mahaprabhu and came in this age to give the Name of Krishna. His associates also appeared to give the Name of Sri Pancha Tattva. And in the very recent days Srila Guru Maharaj, Srila Prabhupad -- all are revolving around Mahaprabhu -- and we are part of that ray.

Although we are chanting, the result is not coming quickly. We are disturbed: "Will the result come or not?" But Srila Guru Maharaj declared that surely you will get it. We must be conscious about the correct process and then without offence to the Name we can chant the Holy Name. The conclusion of all the Vedas is that we are to engage in Nama Sankirttan, and if we are careful to follow the correct process we will not become frustrated or hopeless.

Morning Darshan Notebook excerpts

August 4th, 2002. St. Petersburg, Russia.

The purpose of human existence is the satisfaction of God. It is one kind of Lila of Bhagavan. He wants everything revealed through and by His will: "I am alone and I want many." He has three potencies: chit-shakti, jiva-shakti and maya-shakti. Chit-shakti is the eternality of His pastimes; jiva-shakti is the manifestation of all the souls coming out from Him; and maya-shakti is the negative potency as opposition to His divine desire. He not only created but He also gave freedom. I can choose sweet or sour -- everything is chosen by us with freedom.

When spiritual life is carefully protected, then within the jiva is revealed pure love, beauty, attachment to the Lord and ecstasy. He will feel: "The Lord is my husband, father, son... everything. He is my life and soul. Without Him I cannot live and with Him I will get full ecstasy and joy." Through Sankirttan this feeling is coming to the heart of the jiva soul as Madhura-rasa, like the newly married feelings eternally being felt in the heart. Everything in front of him becomes joyful, ecstatic, beautiful, lovely... more and more. He gains more and ever more satisfaction of the heart, like someone drinking nectar.

Mahaprabhu says that supremely the souls will get victory and will have His divine merciful shade. In particular the religion of Kali-yuga is to chant the Holy Names of the Lord. Mahaprabhu came to organise this and give it to everyone's heart.

We must be serious when singing and we must feel unqualified -- that is bhajan -- showing the serious side. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur's mood was like that.

Morning Darshan Notebook excerpts

August 5th, 2002. St. Petersburg, Russia.

I want to say something to you -- not something aquired from reading but as something I feel existing within my vision. This grace has come from Srila Guru Maharaj -- not revealed one step at a time like that, but by the blessing of Guru Maharaj. If you have strong faith in him then it can come to you. It came to me, so why not to you?

There are twenty-six slokas given in the book Sri Brahma Samhita simply praising Krishna. Everything is there. Many know Sri Brahma Samhita and can recite it, but I can see that mostly their faith is not strong and the substance is not strong in their heart. They are only reading, that is the difference. The difference is there within the launching-pad of faith. This launching-pad is not so strong with them. Many times I have told the devotees it is not necessary to know the Ganges-full of Scriptures. Those research scholars who composed the Scriptures also gave the conclusion, so it is not necessary to go to the laboratory to research further.

The breathing process is more important than the nose. Life is with breathing, and the breath of real life is devotion. Where there is devotion, there is everything. In Srimad-Bhagavatam is a sloka saying that one who has devotion has everything -- he has all beautiful qualities and qualification within him -- but one who doesn't have devotion has as his destination only Brahmaloka, and he cannot reach beyond that stage. Someone who has attraction for devotion gets sukriti. Faith comes from the association with Guru, and that person who has transcendental connection with the Lord is manifested as Guru. Everyone has a position to be a guru, even a little boy can teach me. Not everyone, however, can be a Sampradaya Guru. A Sampradaya Guru is descending.

Sukriti, nitya sukriti, is achieved when there is a real connection with the Lord when the Lord is manifested as Guru in front of you. Different kinds of sadhu-sanga are possible. Real sadhu-sanga is giving nitya sukriti.

We are here in Russia but the Russians do not know the Vedas -- maybe only one percent have read them -- so in which way is sukriti coming to the devotees here? Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur wanted to give Krishna Consciousness all over the world, he even wanted to supply meat, etc. to draw the Westerners in, such was his attitude to spread Krishna Consciousness. Srila Swami Maharaj was told by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, "You are an educated man in English and so you can spread Krishna Consciousness throughout the English speaking world." Even though Swami Maharaj had health problems, he kept that instruction in his broad heart and carried it out, so now the fragrance of Krishna Consciousness is floating in the air and that sweet aroma is spreading to everyone. Srila Guru Maharaj was a friend and Siksa Guru to Srila Swami Maharaj. Srila Guru Maharaj left his brahminism to spread Krishna Consciousness to everyone of the Western world. It is because of all this that the air has been enriched with nitya sukriti.

This feeling of mine came from the example of an ayurvedic sloka that says that when lawyers are talking in their duty to protect their clients from their offences, the lawyers' lying pollutes the air and through that pollution come so many diseases. If this is possible, then why can't the air become cleaned and clarified by the pure words and expressions of the saints and thus give sukriti to sincere people? And if not for this, how is it possible that Krishna Consciousness -- this topmost, hidden thought -- has spread throughout the world! Some grant is given in this Kali-yuga to give dispensation, so there is a process for nitya sukriti to come, otherwise we cannot get it.

Punya or piety is not everything and it is not eternal, but nitya sukriti from sadhu and Guru is giving light. It is living knowledge descending from above through the Guru Parampara. If knowledge does not come in that way, then it is not enriched but is instead only like a business activity.

The first feeling is necessary for everyone and that is: "I am jiva, soul, and my religion is jaiva-dharma." That will be the soul's real identity. The first impression is, "I am bound by illusion here, but I am the servant of the servant of the servant of Krishna. I am not a sannyasi, a grihasta, brahmachari, etc., but I am the servant of the servant of the Lord. The Lord is a great magnet and I am a speck of iron, and I must go to the abode of the big magnet who is Reality and who is Beautiful."

So I have got this grace from Srila Guru Maharaj and if I say otherwise, I would be a liar.

A man once asked Vivekananda about Radha-Krishna lila and he became angry: "You cannot catch a garter snake and you want a cobra!" Srila Guru Maharaj liked this snake example to illustrate that Radha-Krishna lila is so high. Although he did not accept everything about Vivekananda, he honoured and accepted this example.

There are two kinds of sat sanga: the association of one who is a devotee is best, but if there is no devotee present, then through his books we can read and we will get some help in that way.

Morning Darshan Notebook excerpts

August 16th, 2002. Moscow, Russia.

All glories to Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga

Everywhere we need devotion to the Lord. In the illusionary environment the prayer is, "Oh my Lord, fulfil my desire." However, the devotees know this world is a place of suffering and we know the transcendental door will be open for us and there we will not be suffering the things found here in the material world. To give us that opportunity the Lord gave us consciousness about His Divine Self and gave us shelter at His Divine Feet. We have thinking, feeling, and willing and wherever we may go and whatever we may do must be with the consciousness that whatever is my job and wherever I go, my only prayer is that it will be service to my Lord.

Actually, we are born in different cultures and countries due to our karma, but they are neither our countries nor are they secure places. In this world, there is no security and everything will be demolished by bombs, by storms, etc. Furthermore, this world is not the only place. There are so many universes in the material creation and at present the scientists are discovering so many more solar systems outside our own planetary system. Our planets are revolving around the sun, but there are millions of sun-centric universes, and we see in all those places the same process of birth, death, old age and disease that we experience in our own universe. The Krsna Conception is to make everything God-centric.

Today or tomorrow we will leave our body, but our conscious body will continue to exist in another situation. We don't know everything and we don't want to know everything, but in the human body it is natural to try to think about uplifting ourselves from the mundane to the spiritual. Why shouldn't we take advantage of our situation and make our existence God-centric?

Our Lord is merciful to us and He has descended here from time to time in different forms to give us information and guide us. He is telling us that we are misusing our freedom and that we all should come back to God, come back home. This is His clarion call. There are so many religions -- Muslims, Hindus, Christians, etc. -- and their target, according to their capacity, is to uplift people so that they may go from a lower material consciousness to a higher level of spiritual awareness. But our Krsna Consciousness process is completely different from all others in that the fortunate jiva souls here in Russia and around the world are getting the direct connection of the Lord through the chanting of the Holy Name. Everywhere, they are chanting the Lord's Name because without that, there is no other connection possible with the heart and the Lord.

There are so many saints and sadhus travelling and spreading the glories of the Name. I have had the chance to go from country to country by the mercy of Srila Guru Maharaj and I can perceive how the devotees are proceeding from the material plane to the spiritual. Here in Russia, our family is increasing very fast. I came here because of my attachment and attraction for good association and that gives me life.

Who is a sadhu? He is a Krsna bhakta who does not want any material benefit from the Lord. Other religions are asking for something, even up to liberation or mukti may be their target. A devotee, however, isn't asking for anything, but he is giving devotion because when living in the plane of devotion the devotee is extremely dedicated to the Lord.

With obeisances to all the devotees,
Yudhamanyu Das Seva Vikram

19th World Tour information including dispatches and pictures from London, St. Petersburg and Moscow