In2-MeC

ISKCON Radha-Rasabihari Mandira, Juhu Beach, Mumbai
12 April 2003

There is a website--

www.shoutcast.com

--where you can hear over the Internet the daily Srimad-Bhagavatam class here in ISKCON Juhu. You have to enter this site and search for "krishna". Other temple broadcasts are also online at shoutcast. com; in fact I am told you can see a daily video of the Los Angeles temple Bhagavatam lecture. But you'll only be able to hear/see the classes live, at the time they are being spoken. Recordings are not stored at the website for you to download. At least not the ones here in Juhu. The classes I've been giving since I have arrived here have been been broadcast each morning in that way. (For even more transcendental Internet entertainment, there is a www.radiokrishna.com website. )

HH Sridhara Maharaja told me this morning that he received an e-mail from one of the leaders of ISKCON in Australia, who had heard our (Maharaja's and mine) joint class on Lord Ramachandra's appearance day. This devotee commented that it was "the most far out class I've ever heard"! I asked Maharaja what "far out" means in this context. He thought it meant the devotee enjoyed the class very much.

I owe a great debt to HH Sridhara Maharaja, by the way. On Rama-navami morning I felt very morose. It had something to do with my being here at Juhu temple which Srila Prabhupada sacrificed so much for, and feeling myself totally out of place here. Like a person who does not belong because he does not share the history of the place. I was thinking at mangala-arati, "What did I do for Srila Prabhupada in this city of Bombay where so many of his early disciples risked their lives to save the ISKCON property from being stolen by that rascal Mr. Nair? What is the meaning of my even entering this grand monument to my spiritual master's unswerving devotion to Sri Krsna, what to speak of giving lectures here?"

But HH Sridhara Maharaja, in his portion of that Rama-navami morning's Bhagavatam class, uplifted my spirits tremendously. He spoke so nicely of the power of devotional service, and the mercy of the Lord and Srila Prabhupada.

He spoke of the tests all devotees must face in their spiritual lives. Actually, that is a great lesson to be gleaned from Rama-lila. Lord Ramachandra, though He is the complete (purna-bhagavan) Supreme Personality of Godhead, underwent so many wordly difficulties. He showed us that life in this material existence is not easy. It is not meant to be easy. It is meant for tapasya.

I got inspired by these words of Sridhara Maharaja and when my turn came I spoke on Bhagavad-gita 5. 22. The Gita As It Is just happened to be sitting on the table in front of me, so I opened to that verse where Sri Krishna concludes, na tesu ramate budhah, "the wise man does not delight (ramate) in sense pleasures. " In the purport, Srila Prabhupada cites a verse from Padma Purana that explains the meaning of the name Rama. And in the same purport a verse from Canto 5 of Bhagavatam is cited in which Lord Rshabhdeva instructs his sons to perform tapo-divyam (transcendental austerities) to achieve brahma-saukhyam or transcendental bliss. Brahma-saukhyam, Srila Prabhupada explained in a lecture, means Rama.

"Krishna tested Srila Prabhupada by taking everything away from him during his householder years," said Sridhara Maharaja. "And then Krishna tested Prabhupada again, after he took sannyasa, by giving him much, much more than all he had had before. "

So whether a devotee seems in prosperity or in poverty, in grace or disgrace, he is always under the protection of the Lord. And all that the Lord metes out to us is for our spiritual advancement so that we may attain the blissful state of pure devotion to Him. Pasu-paksi ho'ye thaki swarge va niroye, prays Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, "Be my life in heaven or hell, be it as a bird or a beast," tava bhakti rahu bhaktivinoda-hrdoya, "may devotion to You always remain within my heart. "

I just finished writing my Vyasa Puja offering for Srila Prabhupada. That brought back the morose feelings. But you know, even sadness can be dovetailed in Krishna consciousness.

Pakhi na jani kon aparadhe mukhe hare krsna nam bolo na, wrote Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura in another song:

"The bird of my heart does not know what past sinful activities it has committed to cause this inability to chant Hare Krishna properly. "

Such beautiful poetry. Sadly beautiful. Sad beauty dovetailed in longing glorification of the Lord. I say openly to you, dear my reader, there seems little else in my life I can do than to try to serve my spiritual master by whatever preaching opportunities are offered me by his ISKCON society, and while I try to do this, I also simply long for his mercy. The bird of my heart droops its head, feeling the weight of its disqualifications. But a bird must sing, chatter, make some kind of sound, whether it makes spiritual sense or not. So that I go on doing, hoping that Sri Sri Guru Gouranga will accept it as devotional service.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

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