This lecture emphasizes that the subtle spiritual path of self-realization is easily lost over time due to the degrading influence of material nature and the false ego. To preserve this path and counteract pride, practitioners must cultivate genuine humility, embrace an authentic student-like mindset, and actively engage in devotional service. True spiritual progress relies on sincere practice, particularly attentive chanting, which cleanses the heart and connects the individual to the disciplic succession.
oṃ ajñāna-timirāndhasya jñānāñjana-śalākayā
cakṣur unmīlitaṃ yena tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ
śrī-caitanya-mano-'bhīṣṭaṃ sthāpitaṃ yena bhū-tale
svayaṃ rūpaḥ kadā mahyaṃ dadāti sva-padāntikam
he kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho dīna-bandho jagat-pate
gopeśa gopikā-kānta rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te
tapta-kāñcana-gaurāṅgi rādhe vṛndāvaneśvari
vṛṣabhānu-sute devi praṇamāmi hari-priye
vāñchā-kalpatarubhyaś ca kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca
patitānāṃ pāvanebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ
jaya śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda
śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda
hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare
hare rāma hare rāma rāma rāma hare hare
nama oṃ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale
śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine
namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe
nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe
This path of self-realization, which is difficult to understand, has now been lost in the course of time. Please know that I have assumed this body of Kapila to introduce and explain this philosophy to human society again.
Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Hare Kṛṣṇa.
There are 12 cantos of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and we know that each canto usually concludes many books, so all in together there are 30 books or so, it depends on which format they are. And all together there are 18,000 verses. And when I was preparing this lecture, prabhu said I should read this 37th verse. I thought two days ago that okay, I will today prepare something and read something already. And I thought but I have not heard a lecture from my Guru Maharaja long time ago already. I was traveling, etc., so many days already. So, I would really like to hear his voice and something, something from him. And there was we have one chat where there are some lectures which are not public in YouTube yet, and I opened this and first lecture what was there was in Rishikesh. And you know, there was the same verse. Same lecture. So, I took it as a sign, so maybe something useful and important in his lecture what I need to discuss today or give a head. So, I'm just I made some notes and I'm trying to do my best to give a head something from his lecture.
So, if you hear something, please do take it personally, it is not that I talked to you and then later I give lecture.
Here in this verse, it is said that this path, this spiritual path is avyakta, unmanifested. It means that this spiritual path is very subtle. It is invisible, non-visible, it is not obvious as many paths in this world. For example, if we take care of the body, then the results are visible, we can touch them, they are tangible. But if you take care of the ātmā, the soul, it is not touchable. You can't be sure, you can't see with your eyes or whatever, the result. So, and also is gone, it is like more of an idea. It is in subtle platform. And the another word here is said naṣṭa, this spiritual path is lost in course in course in the course of time. So, this path in course of time will be destroyed. Because the function of the time is to destroy. Although, spiritual matters should not be under the influence of material nature, but this is how this material nature works, here rules time. And ISKCON is also not an exception. Because in this material world, it is very natural to be under the influence of māyā. A materialist is to be very natural. To be a devotee is totally unnatural. We don't need to make special efforts to be a materialist. To be in tama-guṇa, it is very easy, it's very natural. But to be a devotee, we need to make some efforts.
And I was contemplating is being here in Almviks where everywhere is sattva-guṇa and people are in contact with themselves, at least it seems to me, are we here protected from the material world? And the answer probably is no, because the material world lives in our hearts. As Śrīla Radhanath Swami, I heard today he was telling via YouTube, that this emptiness and our false identity and this, this lives in our heart, and if we are not finding real relationships and being in contact with themselves and God among people, then we also can't be in a cave. And if we are in cave in contact with the happiness inside of our heart, then we can't be the same, we can't feel it among people also. So, the source of it is in a heart, we need to clean our heart. Environment can only support it.
So, but to talk about this, the spiritual path which has been lost in course of time, then we can choose which path we take. Because whether to be an ambassador who helps to destroy the spiritual path, or we can be the ambassadors who helps to maintain it. This is our choice, and this is our responsibility.
Because yeah, our lower nature wants to bring the knowledge and everything down to our level of consciousness. It is natural to say, "Ah, yeah, I know what Kṛṣṇa consciousness is. I know what it means." And Maharaja says that it is very dangerous. I'm sorry, I'm giving ahead the thoughts of Śrīla Bhakti Vijnana Goswami Maharaja. But he says that, "But I don't know what Kṛṣṇa consciousness means. I should be on that platform on that consciousness." Because what I see, what I understand, this is based on our previous experiences, our saṃskāras. And we think that, "Ah, yeah, yeah, I know, this is that." But actually, is it? And this paramparā way is that I don't rely on my own experience, but I totally rely on the higher consciousness experience. I seek for older devotees, etc., to have their consciousness, to lift myself up to them, not to to bring them on the platform where I am, where is my consciousness, my understanding. Yeah, I'm trying to bring my understanding to their level of understanding.
Otherwise, this current of time will, moment by moment, deteriorate the whole idea. And like Śrīla Prabhupāda says, everything will be the subject of decay. It is interesting that the time is the force which is destroying it. And for me, it was very interesting to understand that behind this powerful force is Śiva, Mahādeva, Mahākāleśvara, which is actually true, yeah.
[Śrī Śrī pañca-tattva kī jaya!]
And but interesting is that he is the one who is behind the representative, the ruler of ahaṅkāra-tattva, as well, as we know. So, ahaṅkāra-tattva means my opinion is first. I know the best. And if we choose this mind, this mood, if we choose this mood, we choose this side which are we on. So, this is the key.
So, in order to be on spiritual path, in order not to let destroy this kāla, this time, our spiritual path, we need to destroy ahaṅkāra, false ego. This is the key, as simple as it is. And what destroys ahaṅkāra? Devotional service. Yes. So, actually, it is terrifying because we have used to take shelter of our false pride and and to be strong, and to know everything, to be number one. But if if we want to destroy our ahaṅkāra, we just need to take shelter of devotional service, because it is more powerful. And bhakti means service. Service means I don't put myself first. I have used to put myself first, and the others are second or third. And but the medicine is I don't practice it anymore. I don't practice it anymore, because what is what I am practicing, this becomes my habit, and later it becomes my nature. So, I can practice vice versa, that everyone else is number one, and I am number two.
And yeah, but what is the obstacle? Obstacle is our pride. Because if we have pride, we are not interested to surrender. This topic is not interesting to us. We know in India, there are temples where the door, how to say, if you want to enter the temple, you need to kneel down, in order to enter, and it is not coincidence, because it makes one feel smaller. You need to be more humble in order to go into this temple, that also already gives you the correct mood.
So, yeah, and usually or very often, we think that, "Yeah, yeah, this is all true, but it doesn't it's not about me. I'm protected." But no, there are no exceptions. ISKCON is not an exception, I am not an exception. And even if Kṛṣṇa comes here, He also takes guru, somebody who He's taking instructions. Why? Because He emphasizes how important it is. And our spiritual realization depends very much on how strong is the connection between between me and guru, and the paramparā.
Yeah, but and if we have good batteries, then we can sometime be manage our on our ourselves, and feel that the this current of paramparā energy is carrying us, but not too long. Without this being connected to the paramparā system, we don't last long, this is the real path. And Maharaja says that he knows that he has seen so many excellent devotees, which suddenly go from the path because of this the same very topic.
About, yes, and in another lecture, Maharaja said about this paramparā system in Bhagavad-gītā also, Kṛṣṇa says that this succession was, paramparā was broken, and I came to reestablish it, and then Maharaja comments that this keeps paramparā alive. I was wondering how, if a paramparā breaks, how does it keep it alive? Why it's good? He explains that this outside paramparā may be broken, maybe lost, if it gets like ritualistic activities, but paramparā means actually, one, the guru gives ahead this mood of service, how to serve, and his realizations from heart to heart, and if there is a real disciple who wants to know it, who yearns it, who is eager to know the truth, then this paramparā, this current of paramparā is flowing.
I heard this lecture, Keśava Maharaja was here and giving lecture about, yeah, it was it's not important, and I heard in his lecture, one lady asked about how to take criticism. Okay, we go to big guru, then I can I know how to surrender, he's bigger and smarter and etc. But in everyday life, usually, when I go to senior devotee or associate, similar devotees, then it's not easy to take criticism, but this is also this Ādi-guru who is talking via them. And how to take this harsh words or words which I don't want to hear, which are destroying my ahaṅkāra? And it is very painful feeling, because our world, our everything is being destroyed. And Maharaja said that if we want to be perfect, it is not possible. If we want to be perfect and become perfect, and it is also very unrealistic, goal. We will never be perfect. But we can be always as a student. We can always be in a position of "I want to develop." And this "I want to develop" makes everything so interesting, because if somebody tells me something, then, "Thank you! I know now which direction I can go. Thank you! I know what I need to improve. Oh, yes, here I can discover so many new levels." So, it makes the feeling easier, and this current of paramparā is, the knowledge, the way to it is open to me, because I'm in the correct mood.
So, it is not a fault that this paramparā is being destroyed by time, it is corrected in order to see, yeah, and if there is a real disciple, then there are plenty of teachers. Śrīla Prabhupāda was also asked, "Śrīla Prabhupāda, we don't have here enough," no, "this older devotees who would be my teacher." I'm not sure this was the exact question, but the meaning was it, and Śrīla Prabhupāda said, "There are enough of who can teach, but there is lack of students, lack of," yeah, "who wants to know." This is the point.
And I see there is some times, I want to touch only a little this, that we can make devotional service in case we are really authentic, if we are as we are. If we are very pride and puffed up like a bubble, then we can't get touch in the flow of devotional service. We come from our childhood, and from previous lives, and we have wounds, and expectations, and our pictures in mind how the it or that should be, and then we come to the temple in this Kṛṣṇa consciousness, wonderful movement, and we think that, "Ah, I know how it is," as I said earlier, "I know what bhakti means, I know what devotional service is." And then we start to, "Ah, you need to make some service. Ah, I know, I need to do very much, and for everything, then I'm a good devotee." And but it doesn't work so, because if I'm on autopilot, then the result is also not real. I have used to earn some attention and love, but actually, we need to be in contact with ourselves. Maharaja has one seminar where he is "Starting the meeting with Kṛṣṇa starts with a meeting, you need to first meet yourself." And this in this first lecture, he says that we need to first meet ourselves, it means that the same thing we were talking today, that we need to let go all of those wounds and just to be more in authentic relationships, and to be open to the this change, the painful feeling of change. Then we can, from that point, we can start serving, because then we are real, we are there. And then there is Kṛṣṇa, and we have āśraya and viṣaya, it means that the one who has love in the heart, who has thankfulness in the heart, and wants to give it, and there is Kṛṣṇa, who is the viṣaya, the object of love, towards whom we offer this devotion and our love, what we have, as little as we have, but it is real.
So, that's about something I tried to give ahead. Does somebody have additional thoughts to add, to complete? Maharaja?
Or anybody?
Yeah.
I have a question. You briefly touched on this. You said that the breaking of the paramparā is good. I didn't really catch what you meant.
It happens.
It happens.
And why it happens, because we are in material world. The kāla is destroying this spiritual path, because spiritual path is very subtle. Everything here wants to push you in a flow of tama-guṇa and materialistic way of thinking, and materialistic way of life, and if we want to get touch in a spiritual flow, or raise to the this subtle level, subtle platform, then it is unnatural. And if we don't take care of this, if we don't make efforts, then this path will be destroyed by time, and it happens time to time. It is, yeah. We just start to make things on autopilot, and then it all comes empty. Unless we again wake up, somebody wakes up. It is, we can see this in little universe as ourselves, or in big picture in a whole like ISKCON or something, or or even bigger. So, so it is good, in that way, that it wakes you up, it helps to see that oh, something is really bad, and I need to get in touch the real essence, what is the real meaning, what is the real love, to ask questions, etc. And actually, I wanted to share that if we don't practice, we hear many, many smart words and thoughts, and, "Oh, it's so genius, and it's wonderful." But if we don't practice, it becomes only theoretical. It is like we have then picture Kṛṣṇa on picture, and very nice he is on picture, and then I have my life, and there is like two worlds, like the spiritual world, and and my and my life. And sometimes, I go to temple or champa, and then I have my life, I don't know what, whatever it can be. Yeah. But this Śrīla Prabhupāda also says that this bhakti-yoga is a linking process, we link everything with Kṛṣṇa. I can go to swim, but I need to link it with Kṛṣṇa somehow. And I can, I don't know, watch YouTube, but I'm linking it with Kṛṣṇa.
So, we need to practice it. And if we practice it, then we start to have questions. And if we start to have questions, then we go to spiritual master, we go to senior devotees. We ask someone or or even younger devotees, we or we can ask even learn from the tree or the dog, but we start thinking and urging for answers.
So, we need to practice. Then we start asking questioning, and then we are really in the real path.
Yeah, I had a, I don't know, like a thought or question. You said it is very important to come out from the anartha to to to actually take instructions, and authenticity is important in this path. But I have sometimes found myself in situation where the present group of devotees will want me to go in a direction that does not resonate with my, you know, the knowledge I already have, and my authenticity. Like, I once had a devotee said, "Yeah, yeah, this is just something we say to the karmis. I never believed in that." You know? Or even if Santa Claus, maybe we present the philosophy in a more simple way so it's accessible, but it's not different. So, so like how to be, to have that authenticity and integrity but to make sure it's not false ego, but it's to to adhere to the teachings that I have received? You know what I mean? Like sometimes, you actually know something because we have learned, we have been taught, and then you come across somebody, like we have somebody here in the class, and she was speaking something of the position of women, I don't know, something like that, and then she was saying, "So, when you hear this, it may be a little uncomfortable to hear, and then if it's uncomfortable, you know it's false ego, so you have to do what I say." And I'm saying, that is such a sect argument, you know? "You have to do what I tell you, because if you don't, you are in māyā," that's not, I don't know, talking too long. But but that position we sometimes find ourselves in, that somebody is trying to teach us, but we actually do have some knowledge and some teachings from before, so so how do do we uphold that authenticity without falling into the false ego?
Yeah, I have noticed that there are some stages, so maybe older devotees can correct me, please do, if it's needed, but I have also contemplated on that topic. And I saw in many cases, that it's often like Kṛṣṇa wants my ego, to work with my ego also. For example, if I'm an older devotee, and go to the younger devotee, or we have some discussion, and I know that I'm right, and he's she's not. But I see she's not taking it, or whatever situation is. Then I I see that if I step back, and just pray, then later something happens, and it goes anyway the right way. But this, my stepping back, was needed in order to put me to protect my my ātmā also, so that I would not be puffed up, that I made all correct. I see that I made my duty, I said, I acted as I should, and then I stepped back and I see that Kṛṣṇa arranges everything what is needed to correct or not correct. And that's in this way, the situation was like corrected, and my and my false ego also was like corrected, I didn't feel so much, um, smarter. I don't know, is it answering the topic?
That is a good, very good aspect. And also, sometimes, it has to do with the relationship. I know in in New York, at some time, in Prabhupāda's time, there was a very strange situation, they wanted to There was a lady who was coming, and she was giving the impression that she was the she would inherit the Toyota. It wasn't true, she was lying. Then, one sannyāsi actually married her, and she came into the temple, and she started to offer things on the altar that are not supposed to be offered. And then, the whole thing came out, what had happened. And then, Prabhupāda came back, and then, he said, he thanked the devotees for staying and serving Kṛṣṇa anyway, in this strange situation, he thanked them. But he said that all the devotees should have known, you should have done something. So, it a little bit depends on the the position. We don't give up our devotional service, but if we are in a position where we we actually have some knowledge, maybe we have to sometimes step in.
Yeah, but we can't destroy younger devotees also. That that is the also the subtle way. You need to you need to find the way. Yeah, to take care, yeah.
How did he say that in this instance, you should have done something? And what you said, that when somebody is trying to, wants you to go in a certain way that you know is wrong, you proposed that you, you step back and then you see that something is happening anyway, and it's putting, it's corrected the situation for everyone, is that correct? Or did I hear wrong?
It depends on the mood, on the motive. I see it that this way. If if I'm acting with, how to say, I'm suppressing others, and using my willpower, or force, or my pride, then this is not the correct mood, and also the motive is important. And if I'm correcting my mood, then everything starts to vibrate also in this way. So, this is very important what is going inside. I may say harsh words, but like Śrīla Prabhupāda said, harsh words, but people didn't feel as a person would say with a heart, hard heart. So, this is very also makes a big difference, what is in my mood inside and what is my motive.
Because this example where Śrīla Haridāsa Ṭhākura is saying that, when this lady came to New York, and she was offering some some meat on the altar, really? Oh, it was horrible. And, and then, your motive, it is not that you are proud, but just you have knowledge. Yes, yes. Yes, yes, we need to act, we need to fight, Kṛṣṇa said, you need to fight.
Armed with knowledge.
Yes, prabhu.
Half half the task of getting a good answer is to produce a good question. And what you caught up with what you were saying about the motive, I think it according to Prabhupāda is quite simple, because we are here to reestablish our lost relationship with Supreme Personality of Godhead. So, the motivation of any Vaishnava should be that of mercy, that we try to facilitate for this person's relationship with Kṛṣṇa to increase in quality and quantity. And even if you are forced to make a harsh correction, you do that out of love or affection and care, compassion for this individual. So, if you just simply have that vision, that you try to help as a matchmaker between the aspiring Vaishnava and the Lord, then you can never go wrong in motivation. As soon as you let the false ego enter and start thinking about seniority and inferiority, this and that, respect and then things start to go in the wrong direction, then you are on the upādhi platform, with the designations on yourself, with the designation in person we try to correct.
Yes, thank you. This is a world of mirrors, we we get what we give out. And and actually, I have noticed also that when sometimes, I have children, so this I can I had some children they are now big, but this service can be done every everywhere. And I see that if you correct the person, then it is not so easy every time to go on platform of heart first, because it means that I, yeah, in mental platform, you can say that, "Ah, yeah, I'm wishing all the best, because I know what is the best." But this is only mental platform. But in order to really feel in the heart that, "Ah, you're so dear to me," and then say the words, it is not easy, it is it needs efforts and it's uncomfortable. And then I see that actually, I don't feel so warm feelings at the moment, so it means I need to work before inside of me some some more steps. And it is not, yeah, maybe we don't talk about those subtle things in lectures so often, but this is what Śrīla Prabhupāda was. He was in in his heart, loving. When he got angry, he was not angry at the person. He he used his anger, and later he was totally himself again. He just used the emotions, didn't occupy him, something like that.
I have a wonderful quote from Yamuna, but I wrote it down because I keep forgetting it, it's so nice. "Śrīla Prabhupāda had such a way of showing love and affection through distributing Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that immediately we felt how much he cared about us."
Śrīla Prabhupāda had such a way of showing love and affection through distributing Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that immediately we felt how much he cared about us.
Because that's that's actually one aspect also in giving instructions, it's in the relationship. You know, we may we may be senior in a technical sense and we may have some knowledge, but if we haven't established a relationship with the person, and some relationships are official, you know, if you're the mother, or you're the temple president, or you're the guru, or you're the temple commander or something, that that is the you have to tell devotees what to do. And sometimes, it's like developed, that you you have already developed a relationship where that person knows that you care about them. And then, if you offer to add something, some correction.
But actually, this is the point I was just saying that, if we go to the person, and we don't have relationship, but if we do the work inside our heart, "I wish you well, I really feel that you are dear to me, because you are dear to Kṛṣṇa." Then, at this moment, we are creating relationship. So, we can create this relationship with the strangers also, stranger devotees, or new devotees. You wanted to add something, yeah?
I was just um, this lesson was so sweet and deeply uh insightful. Thank you so much, Keli. You hesitated to give it, but it was such a gift.
Thank you.
But what I wanted to uh like, did I understand right? Did you say that when we when we when we first meet ourselves, and I'm not exactly sure how that could happen, if we have all our lives been some ideal picture of ourselves, how like how much work there is to really go within and meet our inadequate, weak, all kind of all kind of ways authentic, but not the ideal us. And then offer that to Kṛṣṇa. Was that something that?
Yes.
And then, but what I wanted to Did you Did you kind of encourage us to be, not the ideal devotee even, but authentic?
Yes, because it is also mask. "I'm a good devotee, I I wear nice tilaka and whatever. I'm so right all the time, and so, I'm so sattvik and so, I'm so spiritual." It is also mask, these also mask.
And Kṛṣṇa loves us as we are.
Yes, and the process is we just remove what is not us. I don't remember who said it, so I won't lie, but the process is we just remove what is not me, and we chant. Those two things. And the time is up, but there was I would in few sentences say that this process of chanting is very important in this way also. Because there are four levels of sound. There is vaikhari-vāk, then is madhyamā-vāk, paśyantī-vāk, and parā-vāk. And this vaikhari-vāk, it is like the sound which we hear on this gross level, the sound I hear. Then the sec- if we hear chanting, if we chant and we hear the mantra, and we do it with respect, "I want to try it attentively and respectfully." Then, and I'm just hearing, I don't feel anything, I don't do it with whatever emotions. And I let it in, then it goes to this madhyamā-vāk. And in madhyamā-vāk, it is already this is the, it is the level of internal speech. If we talk to ourselves, this is the madhyamā-vāk. And if in this level, for example, if we have heard some nice kīrtana and we wake up next day and we hear the same kīrtana in our head. It means that this kīrtana has gone to this level, second level, inside of us. It is on madhyamā-vāk, and it is already working inside of me. And if it is working, if the japa or this kīrtana is working, the holy name is working in this madhyamā-vāk level, then it starts to dissolve our strong attachments, and our wounds from childhood, Maharaja says. And so this is a way how we clean our past also. So our job is just very attentively and respectfully chant and let let it in. And and if the mantra is chanting or dancing there, then next level is already paśyantī-vāk which is the more subtle level where the mental speech is not there anymore, and then parā-vāk which is the the source of speech, which is which is the soul and etc. So, we need to, yeah, I wanted to say only few sentences.
Can you explain it again, let, did you say let?
Sound.
Sound.
Sound, yeah.
Uh, sound. Ah, okay.
Different four levels of sound.
Ah, sound. Okay.
Yes.
I can give, then you can read from internet or something.
I have a proposal of how to keep it alive, if you can see what I'm saying. That if time paramparā is like decaying, and which is which is expected to decay, also. So, all that Prabhupāda's books, they are supposed to be textbooks for 10,000 years. How how can that be? That if we are active with Prabhupāda's books, we should read again and again his books. And in this way, you are and you have this, you want to know more, and in this way, if we are just reading Prabhupāda's books, and if we are also introducing others to Prabhupāda's books, then Prabhupāda's books can be kept.
Yes, but we need to practice also. Otherwise, we'll just read and this is theory. Yeah, read and practice.
We read and also apply.
Yeah, apply it, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly, thank you.
Last last?
Yeah, last.
I was thinking about the bangla tīkās, I I had a question about listening to devotees taking criticism, the desires of the devotee. Maybe the devotee wants you to be in a certain way, and can be difficult. And we I heard a seminar by Gouranga Prabhu in England when I was there, which was just about this topic, about the power of the Vaishnava's desires, and how Lord Caitanya exemplified that. And I mean of course there is nuance to it, but he was speaking very strongly how Lord Caitanya set the example, by when he went to South India, he wanted to go on the tour there for six years, then he said that, "I want to go alone. I don't want anyone to follow me." But the devotees was not happy with that. So they were insisting and insisting and insisting with Nityānanda Prabhu, Rāmānanda Rāya, Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya. And finally, he, you know, agreed to accept one servant, Kāla Kṛṣṇadāsa, who accompanied him. So Lord Caitanya followed the devotees' instructions there. And then, during the tour, we know that Kāla Kṛṣṇadāsa, he went astray. He went to some Bhaṭṭathāris, and he fell down basically. And Lord Caitanya had to come and save him. So when he came back to Jagannātha Purī, he rejected Kāla Kṛṣṇadāsa. So, of course, Lord Caitanya could have been like, you know, angry with the devotees that, "I even didn't want anyone, you forced one on me and I had to save him" and so on. And later on, Lord Caitanya, he wanted to go to Vṛndāvana, he said, "This time I'm definitely going alone." But then the devotees again were insisting, "No, you have to bring, you know, a servant." So Lord Caitanya, even though he had a bad experience from last time, he agreed, "Okay, I'll take." And then they sent Balabhadra Bhaṭṭācārya. And this time, he came to Vṛndāvana and he was in such ecstasy, and then this Balabhadra Bhaṭṭācārya said, "No, I want to leave Vṛndāvana. Lord Caitanya, come, we have to go, I don't want to be here anymore." And Lord Caitanya, even though he didn't want the servant, and he had a bad experience, still he listened to Balabhadra Bhaṭṭācārya's words and he went away from Vṛndāvana, because he was his servant. So there he made the strong point that how powerful sometimes, even in that like extreme situation, he was listening to the desires of the devotees, and how that can I thought that was just a very amazing story and a thoughtful analysis of the But of course, as I said, there is nuance to it, I wasn't trying to make the point that you should 100% follow what any Vaishnava says.
Like Radhanath Swami in his book "A Journey to Home". I was wondering all the time, he had some experience, and again, he did again, he trusted again, he trusted again, he trusted again, that this is Kṛṣṇa talking to me or or whatever. As you said, Caitanya also, second time, he took the servant anyway, and heard the desires of disciples. Thank you very much, a very nice story. Thank you. Thank you all, thank you. And that is very nice to be in Almviks, I'm not just saying it, I'm feeling like I'm becoming more simple, and more connected with myself, and and it is really special place, as I told the story that Guru Maharaja just said the same lecture. So it means that this is like a tīrtha or something. Some magic is happening here. Yes, Kṛṣṇa's magic all the time.
Did I understand right that you are kīrtana leader?
I don't know, leader or not, but guru said me I should sing and I have tried it, yes.
I just heard how wonderful you are, this little, are you madhuram, at the beginning of the class, and I was just thinking, have we, have we asked her to lead more kīrtanas for or is it already arranged?
We haven't, we haven't decided anyway.
So don't be obliged to, so.
It's not obliged, it's.
Thank you.
Thank you for feedback, but.
You are safe, I mean, I don't want to interfere, it was just.
Thank you for feedback, thank you, encourage me, thank you. Thank you for encouragement, thank you all, thank you, I'm very, I survived it.
Śrīla Prabhupāda kī jaya! Ananta koṭi vaiṣṇava vṛnda kī jaya! Guru Maharaja kī jaya!
Thank you.