She wasn’t created or born 5,000 years ago. She has existed forever. In fact, in the Rig Veda (the oldest of the four Vedas), which people—although there are four Vedas (sacred scriptures) and they’re all equally important—but for some reason, modern-day scholars give the most importance to the Rig Veda.

So people sometimes want to ask, “Okay, but did people just come up with this idea of Radha after some time?” So if you’re giving the most importance to the Rig Veda, why don’t you go and check in the Rig Veda?

According to Sanskrit (the classical sacred language of India) grammar, a noun can be declined in seven different ways according to the grammatical context. And Radha’s name is present in all seven forms at many places in the Rig Veda—Rādhah, Rādhasaḥ, Rādhasā, Rādhasam, Rādhase, Rādhasi, Rādhāṁsi.

This is all from the Rig Veda. So Radha’s name is in the Rig Veda. Radha’s name is in the Atharva Veda (one of the four Vedas).

… न यां पुराणानि विदन्ति सम्यक् तां राधिकां देवधात्रीं नमामः ||
… Nna yāṃ purāṇāi vidanti samyak tāṃ rādhikāṃ devadhātrīṃ namāmaḥ ||

- Shree Radhika Tapani Upanishad

“We, the Vedas bow down to Radhika (another name of Radha), who cannot be fully described in the Vedas or Puranas (ancient sacred texts), and who is the source of all godly powers for all the forms of God.”

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You think, “If I were as beautiful as that movie star, then I would be more happy!”

Your satisfaction level and the most beautiful movie star’s - nowadays, I don’t know who it is - some most beautiful movie star. you think,

“If I look like that, then I’d have more satisfaction!”

No. Her satisfaction level and your satisfaction level are exactly the same. And if you don’t believe me for this life, then take all your uncountable past lives where we have been everything.

So you have been that most beautiful movie star in some past life. You’ve been the richest person in the world in some past life. And still you weren’t satisfied. You lived your life like that. You died. You’re reborn. Here you are again, looking for more happiness. You know what the world has to offer. And that’s why we have some level of vairagya (detachment), some level of detachment from this world, which makes us somewhat open to listening to the saints.

The Saints are telling me that there is a state of perfect happiness where you get real satisfaction, and that happiness lasts forever.

“That sounds interesting. I’m willing to listen to more.”

And the Saints tell us that happiness is God. And to get that happiness, you need God’s grace, and to get God’s grace, you have to surrender.

And we say, “Okay, why doesn’t God just grace me right now then? Why do I have to surrender?”

Now we’re right back where we started with this quarrel between the souls and God.

God is saying, “Look, this is My rule. You have to surrender, then you’ll receive My grace.”

And souls say, “Well, I’m Your child. I’m Your stubborn, spoiled child and I don’t accept Your rules! Grace me right now! Give me Divine happiness right now!”

So then Saints tell us one more important aspect to understand - that Divine happiness for which we’re demanding,

“God, give me that happiness! Give me Your grace”

That’s a Divine power and since the happiness it gives is unlimited, the potency of that power is also unlimited.

So God says, “Where should I grace you?”

You say, “Well, can You give it to me in my hands?”

God says, “No. Grace is received in the heart. That’s where happiness is received, and that’s where Divine grace is received.”

So we say, “Okay, give it to me in my heart right now.”

And God says, “Your heart, your mind, is mayic (under the influence of maya, illusion), and it’s impure, and the thing I have to give you is Divine, not just pure in a material way. It’s Divinely pure and it has unlimited potency.”

So would you try to contain a nuclear reaction in a paper bag? No.

That Divine power God has is infinite times greater than any nuclear reaction. And we’re saying,

“Go ahead, grace me! I’m ready!”

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सोई सुख लवलेस, जिन्ह बारेक सपनेहुँ लहेउ।
ते नहिं गनहिं खगेस, ब्रह्म सुखहि सज्जन सुमति॥

Soi sukh lavles, jinh bārek sapnehuṁ laheu.
Te nahiṁ ganahiṇ khages, brahm sukhahi sajjan sumati.

- Ramayan

There are three words that are very important in this line: Soi ‘sukh lavles’ (सोई सुख लवलेस), lavlesh (an infinitesimal trace), and ‘bārek sapnehuṁ’ (बारेक सपनेहुँ). If we get even the smallest part of happiness, it is called lavalesh.

Lavalesh - what is the meaning of lavalesh? If you have a needle and put it in that way and put lots of water in it, you can pour the entire ocean also on this needle; eventually, the part of the water which stays on the tip of that needle, that is called lavalesh. You can imagine how much that is.

So if somebody attains that lavalesh of happiness, and not many times. ‘Bārek’ (बारेक)means just once and sapnehuṁ (सपनेहुँ) - (even in a dream) - not only in your wakefulness, but even if you attain that happiness even in a dream (sapnehuṁ), then what will happen? We will reject completely even Brahmanand (the bliss of impersonal Brahman).

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“I feel unsettled, I want You to just go back as You were before! I like having You as my friend!”

By him saying that, he’s indicating something else which is beyond the Gita (Divine scripture) which is that you can have a personal relationship with God which is closer than just accepting Him as Almighty God.

You can think of God as formless. That’s fine, but then you can’t really relate yourself to a formless God. How can you have a relationship with something that doesn’t have a form? So, luckily for us, God does have a form.

Normally, when people start thinking of God with a form, they think of Almighty God like a supreme judge who hands out the consequences of our actions, who is responsible for creating, maintaining, and destroying the universe. That supreme Almighty God, all-powerful, all-knowing, is normally how people think of God - in that way. And that’s the form in which Arjun saw Shree Krishna (the supreme Divine Personality). He saw His total Almighty power, and it actually unsettled him.

Why? Well, don’t you feel nervous when you meet even a great person, someone that you respect and look up to? When you meet them, you’re amazed, and you’re in awe, and you feel nervous; you’re a little unsettled. So imagine if you met the supreme Almighty God. That’s how Arjun reacted even having received Divine eyes. So it was okay for a while, but he was trembling and shaking, and it was too much.

So Shree Krishna gives us the option. He says,

“Yes, I am the supreme Almighty God, but you can also relate yourself to Me in a much sweeter, closer way. You don’t have to think of Me as Almighty God.”

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Saints never say enough is enough. They never say,

“I don’t need this.”

So Jagadguru Shree Kripalu Ji Maharaj is saying, you know, that this situation is not favorable towards the Saints, so they should be sensible and just stay in the Divine abode and keep enjoying their Divine bliss over there, but they have one fault, one doṣh (flaw), that is their nature.

पर उपकार बचन मन काया, संत सहज सुभाय खगराया I
Par upakār bachan man kāyā, saṇt sahaj subhāy khagarāyā.

- Ramayan

The Saints are under the effect of their own gracious nature. They can’t help it. You would have heard of the story of the frog and the scorpion.

The frog said, “Let me give you a ride across the river!.”

The river was in flood. The scorpion wanted to get to the other side.

The frog said, “I can swim. Why not hop on my back?”

And the scorpion said, “It’s my nature to sting.”

And the frog said, “Okay, whatever, let’s try to get across and, you know, that if you sting mewe’re both going to sink, right?”

“Yes, yes, I know.”

“Okay, hop on my back.”

The scorpion gets on his back, and he can’t help himself. Halfway across, he stings the frog, and the frog dies and sinks to the bottom. So the scorpion is like us; we worldly people can’t help our nature. We’re always finding fault and criticizing.

And the Saint is like there’s another story of a Saint on the bank of a river who saw a scorpion drowning and said,

“Okay, let me help that scorpion.”

And he reached his hand in, and just as he was going to pick it up, the scorpion stung him. So he recoiled his hand, but then he tried to pick the scorpion up again, and the scorpion stung him again. The scorpion is drowning, and the Saint is trying to pull him out of the water, but keeps getting stung again and again. And somebody said,

“Oh, Guruji, what are you doing? The scorpion’s just going to keep stinging you! It’s his nature.”

And Guruji (spiritual teacher) said, “But it’s my nature to help. He can’t help his nature. I can’t help my nature.”

So Saints will keep coming in this world because of one fault they have, (which is) their causeless graciousness. They just can’t help it. Shree Krishna (the supreme Divine Personality) can’t help it, and His Saints can’t help it. They have to try to help us. It’s their nature. They just have to try to help other people all the time. They can’t change their nature. And that’s lucky for us.

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So Shreedama (elder brother of Radha in this leela) also liked to tease young Lali (affectionate name for Radha). Like, in fact, in the very next pad kirtan, (devotional song) in this section, Radha comes back and tells mother Kirti (Radha’s mother) after an incident,

“I don’t want Shreedama to be My brother anymore! I’m not making him My brother anymore!”

Like She’s decided, and it’s final,

“He’s not my brother!”

Why? What happened? So She’s telling Maiya (mother),

“You know, I always go and play in those kunj (flower groves) with My friends!”

Young Radha, five- or six-year-old Radha, She would go and play with the other gopis (cowherd girls) of the same age. So on this particular day, Shreedama went ahead. He was alone. He went ahead, and he had a black blanket with him, and he hid in the bushes on the edge of the kunj where they couldn’t see him, and he covered himself completely in that black blanket.

And when Radha and Her friends got there and They started playing, after some time he started making some noises, some scary noises, like there was some monster nearby. So Radha and Her friends started getting worried, and then all of a sudden he started standing up, and he was covered in the black blanket. So while he was making all those scary noises, he started standing up, and then Radha and Her friends just started running as fast as they could, and he was yelling,

“I’m going to eat all of you!”

And he’s running after them. So Lali told her mother,

“Mother, we ran and ran as fast as we could! We were afraid for our lives, and when we couldn’t run anymore, we were about to fall down out of exhaustion, then he threw off the blanket and said,

“It’s only me, your brother!”

“So you see, Mother, this kind of thing happens all the time, and he teases us so much! So I don’t want him to be my brother anymore!”

So in that particular case, Kirti said to her daughter,

“It’s okay, I’ll take care of him. He’ll have to come around sooner or later. He’ll get hungry, he’ll want some roti (flatbread) and butter or something. So when he comes around, then I’ll take care of him.”

So in that case, Lali was pacified. She said,

“Okay, good! Brother’s going to get some punishment!”

But here in this case, the brother is complaining about Lali that she never plays with me,

“She’s always playing with that dark-complexioned son of Yashoda (Krishna’s foster mother), Maiya!”

And then Lali comes back with her own argument,

“So Mother, you see, he’s always teasing me, mocking me, pinching me, showing his teeth to Me, trying to scare Me!”

So this type of back and forth is going on between Lali and her older brother Shreedama. So in the end, Shree Kripaluji Maharaj comes and he explaines to Lali and Shreedama that brother and sister shouldn’t fight. They should get along.

And that’s how this leela ends.

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So Bhishma is there on his chariot, and he notices,

“Oh Krishna, my beloved Krishna, the one I worship, the beloved of my soul, He’s looking at me, and His eyes are angry! His brow is furrowed! He’s holding this wheel above His head, and now He’s running towards me! And look how His pitambar (yellow garment) is fluttering as He’s running towards me! And oh, look! It looks like He’s going to throw that and kill me!”

And as He’s looking, He’s just so blissful, looking at His beloved Krishna, having this jhanki (Divine vision) of Krishna coming to kill him! So seeing the look on Bhishma’s face, Shree Krishna also stopped in His tracks, and He remembered,

“Oh yeah! I had made a vow that I wasn’t going to raise a weapon in this war!”

So He put down His weapon. Now Bhishma had also made a vow on that day that today ‘I’m going to show that bhakti (devotion) is more powerful than God, because God has vowed not to pick up a weapon, and I’m vowing I’m going to make Him pick up a weapon today, and the devotee won’.

It shows that the devotion of the devotee is more powerful than God Himself. So Bhishma made Krishna pick up that weapon, and he also got to have the jhanki (Divine vision) of Krishna with that angry face running towards him.

A few days later, once Arjun (the warrior disciple of Krishna) had shot Bhishma Pitamah with the arrows and he was lying on that bed of arrows. In fact, for months he remained in that state; he was doing roopdhyan (meditation on the Divine form) the whole time, thinking of Krishna.

So was he thinking of ‘tribhangi’ Lal (Krishna in the three-fold bending posture) Krishna holding the flute and smiling at him? No. He was thinking of ‘paiya dhari’ Shree Krishna (Krishna holding a wheel as a weapon), Krishna holding that wheel of the chariot with that angry look, bloodshot eyes, clenched teeth, furrowed brow, red face, running towards him to kill him.

He just did roopdhyan of that and thought of Krishna all the time.

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“Oh, this is so good! Kanha (affectionate name for Krishna), have some!”

Giving your jūṭhā (half-eaten food) to Bhagwan! You may do it to each other, right? In a very intimate setting, just the family. So we do that kind of thing. But Bhagwan? No, no! There are big rules in Vedas (eternal Divine scriptures)!

You have to do proper yagya (ritual sacrifice) and proper puja (worship) and offer with mantra, and you can’t have tasted it. It has to be according to all these rules and regulations. And Brahma (the creator deity) is witnessing that gwalbals are feeding Krishna their own jūṭhā (leftover food).

And Krishna, even if they’re not giving it, He’s grabbing it out of their mouths!

“That one looks good! Give me that rasgulla (Indian sweet)!”

And He eats a half-eaten rasgulla out of His friend’s mouth. Brahma thought,

“What is happening here? Maybe He’s not Bhagwan!”

See, this is our mind. Our mind is very dangerous. The second it feels even an iota of doubt, our mind says,

“No, no, no, there’s no such thing as God!”

It is so ready to make big mistakes like that. This is why we can’t allow our mind to intellectualize Shree Krishna’s leelas. We have to take them with love and faith.

So look at Brahma’s situation. He just started doubting, “Oh, is Krishna really God?”

Why? Just because He was eating informally with the sakhas (cowherd friends)? Yes! Brahma didn’t know that because of the love of the sakhas, Shree Krishna forgets He is God. And that’s a higher status than being God. He is still God, but now He is in a higher status where He is drowned in the sakhya ras (the devotional mood of friendship) of His Divine friends, the gwalbals.

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जिह्वैकतोऽमुमपकर्षति कर्हि तर्षा शिश्न‍ोऽन्यतस्त्वगुदरं श्रवणं कुतश्चित् ।
घ्राणोऽन्यतश्चपलद‍ृक् क्व‍ च कर्मशक्तिर्बह्व्य: सपत्न्‍य इव गेहपतिं लुनन्ति ॥

Jihvaikato ’mum apakarṣati karhi tarṣhā
śhiśhno ’nyatas tvag udaraṁ śhravaṇaṁ kutahśhchit.
Ghrāṇo ’nyataśh chapala-dṛik kva cha karma-śhaktir
bahvyaḥ sapatnya iva geha-patiṁ lunanti.

- Bhagwat Mahapuran 11.9.27

In Udhao Gītā (Krishna’s teachings to Uddhav), Bhagwān Krishna (the Supreme Divine Personality) says to Udhao, (in which) He compares the five senses to the five wives of a man. Let’s suppose a man has five wives. Just as each wife tries her level best to attract and possess the husband to herself, in the same way, each sense, each desire, tries to capture the heart to itself, thereby leading to that person’s complete ruin and degradation. This is why all the scriptures and all the Saints have pronounced desire to be the most dangerous disease of the mind.

Little Prahlād (devotee of Lord Vishnu), he says to Naṛsiṇh Bhagwān,

विमुञ्चति यदा कामान्मानवो मनसि स्थितान् ।
तर्ह्येव पुण्डरीकाक्ष भगवत्त्वाय कल्पते ॥

Vimuṇhchati yadā kāmān mānavo manasi sthitān.
Tarhyeva puṇḍarīkākṣh bhagavattvāya kalpate.

- Bhagwat Mahapuran 7.10.9

He says, “Hey Bhagwān (God), forget about becoming a Saint. If a person can give up all desires, he becomes Bhagwān.”

But why has desire been described to be the most dangerous disease of the mind, the root cause of all our pain and sufferings? What about greed and anger?

…कामात्क्रोधोऽभिजायते ।

…kāmāt krodho ’bhijāyate.

- Chapter 2, Verse 62, Gita.

“The mother, the root cause, the origin of both greed as well as anger, is desire.”

A desire can either be fulfilled or remain unfulfilled. You desire something - to eat ice cream, pizza, to meet a girl, meet a boy. (There’s) some desire. Either you fulfill it or it remains unfulfilled. When the desire is fulfilled, it leads to greed, lobh (insatiable craving), which is ever-increasing and insatiable.

न जातु काम: कामानामुपभोगेन शाम्यति ।
हविषा कृष्णवर्त्मेव भूय एवाभिवर्धते ॥

Na jātu kāmaḥ kāmānām upabhogena śhāmyati.
Havihṣhā kṛiṣhṇa-vartmev bhūya evābhivardhate.

- Bhagwat Mahapuran 9.19.14

(Pouring ghee into fire does not diminish the fire, increasing it instead, the endeavor to stop desires can never be successful.)

The Bhāgwat (eternal Divine scripture) says,

“Trying to satisfy a desire…”

You know, sometimes you want something very badly, or you like something,

“I like to eat pizza, it’s not good for me, but I’ll eat a lot, 12 pizzas at one time. Then I won’t want pizza anymore!”

No! Trying to satisfy a desire is like pouring ghee (clarified butter) into fire!

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This Yogmaya is referred to Radharani (the Divine consort of Krishna). Whom else would Krishna worship and devote Himself to? The Supreme Brahma worships Radha.

आराधित इति राधा…
Anayaradhitah iti radha…

Even Vedas (eternal Divine scriptures) declare. So for sure, here Yogmaya, upasana of Yog Maya here, in 10th to 29th chapter, first verse, is referred to Radharani.

So in this manner, in various ways, Radharani’s glorification is done by Shukdev Paramhansa (Saint absorbed in the). But not openly could he ever say “Radhe” like we all chant. He had so much love.

We sing “Radhe Govind, Radhe Govind” as if some bitter poison is being forced into your mouths. Yeah, (it seems like) some bitter, kaḍuva, poison. What is sweet?

“You know, my daughter, my son, my mother, my parents, my job, or my body.”

These are very sweet when we talk about them. We are one with them.

“Radhe Radhe, Radhe Govind!”

We say ‘Radhe Govind’ from here (from the tongue), not even from here (the stomach), not even from here (the heart), and not even from here (the throat) - (we) only (say) from here (the tongue). And the mind? It is in the mother, and the father, and the brother, and the sister, the wife and the husband - all spouses, siblings, friends, society. This is what is going on in the mind.

Very rare ‌few seated here may be chanting “Radhe Radhe,” trying very hard to bring the form of Radha (into their mind). That too is so difficult for us devotees who have been spending our entire life in the chanting of Radhe nām (the Divine name of Radha), for us even to do roopdhyan (meditation on the Divine form) without even saying, “Radha”. Check yourselves; if I’m wrong, (then) excuse me.

But if I am telling correctly and saying the right thing honestly, it is so difficult to bring the Divine form to our minds, even when we are chanting. Forget about when we are not chanting. When we are not chanting, then other thoughts are there,

“He said this, she did that, this is to be done, that is to be done!”

Where is the thought of Radha all the time?

But Shukdev Paramhans is one who is drowned and immersed in the love of Kishori Ji (young Radha), of Radha Rani’s love, Radha Rani’s adoration, Radha Rani’s prem (Divine love), Radha Rani’s kripa (Divine) grace unto him (so much so) that he can’t even take the name because he is so filled with emotion that he would fall into ecstasy.

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So in that case, meditation is going against the flow of the mind. When we try to stop the mind—“Let me think of nothing, let me just have a clear mind, a peaceful mind”—that’s against the flow of the mind, because the natural flow of the mind is, wherever we’re attached, the mind wants to keep thinking of those things. That’s one reason why meditation is so difficult.

But the meditation of the Gita (sacred scripture) is not to think of nothing, and the meditation taught by Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj is not to think of nothing, or to simply calm the mind, or to think of a light, or any number of things that have become popular nowadays.

No, the meditation of Gita is मय्यर्पितमनोबुद्धि mayy arpita-mano-buddhir (from Gita 8.7)—Shree Krishna says, “Arjun (the warrior disciple of Krishna), put your mind in Me”. Not just in any random thing you’re trying to meditate on. Meditate on Me.

So this is the first thing. This is the first deficiency in our meditation—is that we try to meditate on other things other than God.

Meditating on God is the easiest. Why? Because the mind wants happiness.

It’s our nature, it’s everybody’s nature, and it is in fact the reason we get attached to people and things of this world. We’re looking for happiness.

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इदं ते नातपस्काय नाभक्ताय कदाचन |
न चाशुश्रूषवे वाच्यं न च मां योऽभ्यसूयति ||

Idaṁ te nātapaskāya nābhaktāya kadāchan,
Na chāśhuśhrūṣhave vāchyaṁ na cha māṁ yo ‘bhyasūyati.

- Gita 18.67

“You need to live a life of sacrifice to enjoy My ras (Divine nectar of love).”

So in this manner, Putana (the demoness who tried to poison Krishna), now comes back to her original form.

“Here, this is who I am! Nobody is here to protect and save me. And You, little one, I know You are not that little one. You are the same (God). Now, now please, please, now give me Your love, give me Your bliss!”

She is so thrilled and immersed in the love while Shree Krishna is drinking the milk that Krishna says,

“Okay, I better liberate her now and free her from this form and this life!”

So Shree Krishna, He takes the life of Putana and places Putana in Golok, in His Divine abode, where the place was reserved for Maiya Yashoda (Krishna’s foster mother). Maiya Yashoda gave all the nectarine milk, all the love, and here place is given to the lady, a demon, who gave poisonous milk.

Yes, this is how merciful Krishna is! Shukhdev Paramahans (a realized Saint absorbed in Divine bliss), immediately wakes up from his samadhi (deep absorption); his samadhi breaks.

“Huh! Oh, then there is a chance! Oh, (there’s) a chance for me also! No matter how fallen, ugly, whatever I am, the Lord will accept me!”

He is ocean of mercy! When He could grace Putana and give the position of Maiya Yashoda in Golok, rather than sentencing her to narak,to hell. Putana who came to feed Him with poisonous milk!

“Then He will accept me! I am not making Him drink poison or something.”

“Where did you hear this?” He cried out to those disciples. “Where did you hear all this? Come on, take me there.”

The disciple says, “Yes, come, follow, follow, follow.” They took Shukhdev Paramahans to Maharishi Ved Vyas’s (the sage who compiled the Vedas) ashram (hermitage), and that’s where Shukhdev Paramahans gets immersed while drinking the Bhagawat Mahapuran (scripture narrating Krishna’s Divine pastimes).

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And if you’re loving leelas, these instances will reveal to you the height of proximity, the height of nearness, closeness, and the authority which a devotee has over child Krishna in this Vātsalya bhāv. There’s a beautiful little narration depicted by a Saint by the name of Bilvamangal of Rajasthan in the following conversation between young Krishna and mother Yashoda.

Mother Yashoda says to child Krishna, “My son, you are now six years old! You must go to school and study!”

Little Krishna asks, “What should I study?”

“The shastras (sacred scriptures).”

“Why should I study them?”

“To attain true knowledge.”

“Whose knowledge?”

“The knowledge of God.”

“Who is that God?”

“He is the Lord of the three universes.”

“But why should I know that God?”

“You will attain true knowledge, and from that knowledge you will attain devotion, and from devotion you will attain detachment.”

“Then what?” asks little Krishna.

“You will attain liberation.”

And Shree Krishna says, “But Mother, I do not want any liberation! You can keep this liberation to yourself! All I want is some milk and curds!”

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And all these Gopīs (cowherd maidens of Vrindavan) are saying,

“Brahmā, we do not consider you to be wise! You are absolutely a fool! Didn’t you know when you were making this Gopī’s body, you were not supposed to make any eyelids? Everybody, every human being has eyelids, and they protect (the eyes), but we Gopīs did not need any eyelids. Why did you make eyelids for us? Because finally when Krishna comes, and when we have the glimpse of His pītāmbar (yellow silken garment), phairat re (flowing as He walks),

हम देखे श्यामलगात रे ।
मधुर मधुर धुनि बेनु बजावत, गैयान पाछे जात रे ।
हम देखे श्यामलगात रे ।

Ham dekhe Shyāmal gāt re.
Madhur madhur dhuni murlī bajāvat, gaiyan pāchhe jāt re.
Ham dekhe Shyāmal gāt re.

- Prem Ras Madhira: Shree Krishna Madhuri 40

“When we see Him coming, oh God, we want to just continue to see Him without the blink of our eyes! But these eyelids keep blinking and disturb us! They create an obstacle in the darśhan (Divine vision) of our Beloved!”

Look at the love of the Gopīs. Can you even imagine this now? Our minds cannot imagine this kind of love. They don’t give (any importance) to Brahmā or to any paramahans (the Saint who is fully absorbed in the Divine bliss). (They only give importance to) Krishna, only Krishna (Supreme Lord)! No obstacles - exclusive. This is how we are to love God.

This is what the Bhāgwat Mahāpurāṇ (eternal Divine scripture revealing selfless devotion to Shree Krishna) is telling us. This is what Krishna is saying,

“This Bhāgwat Mahāpurāṇ is Me.”

So we have to cry and plead, “O God, when will that day come? O Krishna, O Radharani (Divine soul Beloved of Krishna), when will my heart start to fall in love with You?”

(We can’t be) like the Gopīs, but at least (we have) some love!

“Right now I am loving my body, my children, my family; these are more important for me. But when will that day come when all these things become secondary, and only You remain?”

Just like these Gopīs (who) had family, children, everything, and yet (they) only loved Krishna.

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How to Advance Spiritually

“You know very well. Why? Basahu sadā urapura sabahī ke (You reside forever in the hearts of all).”

We don’t have to go anywhere to find Bhagwan (God).

ईश्वर: सर्वभूतानां हृद्देशेऽर्जुन तिष्ठति | …

īśhvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛid-deśhe ‘rjuna tiṣhṭhati

- Gita 18.61

God, Shree Krishna (the Supreme Divine Personality), Radharani (the Divine consort of Krishna), Sita (consort of Lord Rama), Ram (Lord Rama), Durga (Divine Mother)—is sitting in our heart, in the heart of every living being.

You don’t have to say, “I want something.” They know everything.

“Ma, You know, You know my desire.”

In other words, I leave everything in Your hands.

“O Ma, it’s up to You. I leave everything in Your hand.”

And what happened?

बिनय प्रेम बस भई भवानी। खसी माल मूरति मुसुकानी॥

Binaya Prema Basa Bhai Bhavani, Khasi Mala Murati Musukani

- Ramayan

What is Durga Ma pleased with? Love, Prem. Binaya prem basa (God becomes controlled by humble love). You can offer all the malpura (sweet offering), you can do all the vrat (fasting), but if there’s no Prem, Durga Ma sunegi nahin She’s (Divine Mother) not going to listen.

Binaya prem basa bhai Bhavani. Parvati, Durga Ma, she became under that control—God is controlled by love, Prem.

She was so happy. She was wearing a garland—the flower garland that was offered by Sita ji herself. From that garland, a flower fell. The garland moved, and the murti (sacred deity form) started smiling.

The flower fell. Sita Ji took the flower and placed it on her head. That means Parvati is pleased. Then the murti spoke, “I am pleased with you. Do not worry. You will get Ram (Lord Rama) as your husband.”

“Whatever Narad Ji (sage Narada) has said cannot be false. Don’t worry about it.”

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“Go be born in maya (Divine illusion), become bound by maya, and see if you can get back to Me!”

That would be a cruel God indeed. If for no reason whatsoever God just decided to kick us out of His Divine abode and have us be born here in this mayic realm and see,

“Okay, it’s been a million lifetimes, you still haven’t attained Me? Okay, have a million more - millions, billions, trillions, unlimited lifetimes!”

And we still haven’t reached Him. No, God is not cruel. God has not put us in maya. We have been in this mayic world since eternity.

Sure, we get a little break during pralay (cosmic dissolution), when God withdraws His power from maya, and maya dissolves, the universe dissolves, and maya just enters a dormant state. At that time, we’re free from mayic sufferings because we’re also in a dormant state within God. Hey, our body is mayic, so when maya dissolves, our body’s gone. Our mind is mayic, so when maya dissolves into its dormant state, our mind becomes dormant as well, so just the soul remains during this state of pralay. We’re also dormant.

The soul, although it’s still chaitan (conscious), without the faculty of the mind and senses and body, it has no way to realize its awareness, realize its existence. So during pralay, we’re also doing nothing, thinking nothing, knowing nothing; it’s like being in a coma. These are the two states we’ve existed in since forever.

Srishti (cosmic creation), the universe is produced. We become active, we get up, our mind becomes active, we are born into a body. So that’s what we’re experiencing right now, this phase of srishti or we exist in the phase of pralay when we’re dormant. But either way, we’re under maya. We’ve never been beyond maya. We’ve never existed in the Divine abode. We’ve never been blissful or knowledgeable. What we are today is what we’ve been forever. The only thing that changes is we get a break during pralay, and then it starts again during srishti.

So you might wonder, why doesn’t God just leave it in a state of pralay? Let us have a break forever! (It’s) because when He does srishti, at least there’s an opportunity for souls to attain Him. How that’s possible we find out in these subsequent dohas (couplets).

But at least during srishti, right now, we can find out about God through this spiritual knowledge, and we can follow the path of devotion to attain Him. That’s why He does srishti.

Shandilya Maharshi (ancient sage) says, the reason that God does everything is His compassion on the souls. Out of compassion, during pralay, He says,

“Oh, look at all these uncountable souls in this state of dormancy. Let Me again manifest the universe, and they can become active, and at least some of them will become God-realized! Then I’ll give them another break.”

This cycle has been going on since eternity. This means that we have been under the bondage of maya forever.

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“Oh yeah, all I have to do is put a tilak (sacred mark on the forehead) on, because if you wear this tilak, Yamarāj (the god of death) can’t come near you.” So when you die, he sees,

“Oh, this tilak means he’s a devotee of Shree Krishna (the Supreme Divine Personality), I won’t go near him,” and you get to go to the Divine abode just by wearing a tilak.

Again, there’s no attaining anything after death that you haven’t attained in life. So it doesn’t matter if I’m wearing a tilak or not. If I haven’t followed the proper path, which purifies my heart, and then I become surrendered to God, receive His grace, get a Divine mind, Divine senses, and become God-realized, if that hasn’t happened before I die, then I’ll be reborn in this world.

Some people believe if you are in a certain place when you die, you’ll go to the Divine world, you’ll get liberation.

People think if you die in Kāśhī (Varanasi, a sacred city), you’ll get liberation. Kabir Das (a great Saint-poet) said,

“I’m going out of Kāśhī on purpose.”

He lived in Kāśhī, and he said, to show people this kind of foolishness, and what kind of things people believe in,

“I’m going out of Kāśhī when it’s my time to die, and I’ll still go to the Divine world.”

It doesn’t matter where you die; it matters what’s in your mind at the time of death. And if we haven’t attained God in life, then what’s in our mind are worldly attachments, and we’re reborn accordingly.

Some people think if you just say God’s name before you die, you’ll go to the Divine world. Again, our last word happens when we lose consciousness. At that time, we’re still not dead, but we can’t speak anymore. You lose consciousness, then your breathing stops, your heart stops, the doctor may pronounce you dead, and sometime after that, you actually leave your body, meaning the soul leaves the body. So at that time, when the soul leaves the body what is our mind thinking? Well, it’s only active on a very subtle level, and it’s going to be actively remembering whatever it’s attached to again.

So it doesn’t matter if, with your last word, you said, “Ram” (Divine name of Lord Ram) or “Shyam” (Divine name of Krishna),” because if you haven’t attained Them, you won’t be able to remember Them when your soul leaves your body, which is the actual moment of truth, so to speak.

So there are no shortcuts or loopholes. Shree Krishna has told us in so many places in the Gita (Bhagavad Gita), things like,

… मामेव ये प्रपद्यन्ते मायामेतां तरन्ति ते ||

… Mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te.

- Gita 7.14

“Only by surrendering to Me can someone cross this maya (Divine illusion), and if you cross maya, you’re free from rebirth and you reach God.” How do you become surrendered to Him? He says,

“There’s only one way - bhakti (devotion).”

भक्त्या त्वनन्यया शक्य अहमेवंविधोऽर्जुन | …

bhaktyā tv ananyayā śhakya aham evaṁ-vidho ’rjuna …

- Gita 11.54

He says, “I’m only attainable through bhakti.”

नाहं वेदैर्न तपसा न दानेन न चेज्यया । …

Nāhaṁ vedair na tapasā na dānena na cejyayā …

- Gita 11.53

He says, “I’m not attainable through good actions. I’m not attainable through even charity or ritual observances. I’m not attainable by study of the scriptures, because that’s an intellectual pursuit. I’m attainable through bhakti, which means the process of attaching your mind to God.”

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You see, swarg is the outcome or the product of the sattva gun. This world has a predominance of rajo gun (mode of passion). And then narak, In English we call it hell, that is the product of tamo gun (mode of ignorance).

So one’s mind who is more established in the rajas quality, he’ll be reborn in this world. And the one who is established in tamo gun (ignorance), Krishna says,

“Adho gakchantapi,” he goes down.

So it means either into the lower species on this earth planet, where there’s more suffering, or into narak, which is also a temporary jail sentence, you can say, as a punishment for tamas actions.

So this is the outcome of developing these qualities in our mind. It not only affects us immediately, because it affects our mind and our thinking, but it has a karmic consequence in the future, because it determines how we’re going to be reborn, into what situation we’ll be reborn, in our next life.

After explaining all of this, Krishna says,

… गुणेभ्यश्च परं वेत्ति मद्भावं सोऽधिगच्छति ||
… guṇebhyaśh cha paraṁ vetti mad-bhāvaṁ so ’dhigachchhati.

- Gita 14.19

“However,” He says, “there is something beyond these three gunas (material qualities), because the three gunas are binding.”

The soul is bound by these three gunas. Satva gun (mode of purity) sounds good, right? But still, it’s not enough to get free from maya. Even satva gun is a quality of maya.

So even if you’re established in satva gun, the best you can do is go to swarg and eventually you come back here. So whether you’re in satva gun, or rajo gun, or tamo gun, you’re still bound by maya.

But Krishna says He is beyond maya. So the one who reaches Him has to go beyond Maya.

…गुणेभ्यश्च परं वेत्ति…’

…guṇebhyaśh cha paraṁ vetti

“The one who knows that which is beyond the three gunas,

…मद्भावं सोऽधिगच्छति ||

…mad-bhāvaṁ so’dhigachchhati.

he comes to Me and stays with Me.”

So Krishna is indicating that these three gunas where we exist now, there’s not perfect happiness within this field. We have to go beyond that field and reach Him.

He also says,

ब्रह्मणो हि प्रतिष्ठाहममृतस्याव्ययस्य च |
शाश्वतस्य च धर्मस्य सुखस्यैकान्तिकस्य च ||

Brahmaṇo hi pratiṣhṭhāham amṛitasyāvyayasya cha.
Shāśhvatasya cha dharmasya sukhasyaikāntikasya cha.

- Gita 14.27

He’s talking about Himself, that nirakar brahm (formless Absolute reality) is actually established in Him. He is the pratishta (foundation) of formless God. It is His own emanation. It does not exist separately from Him.

As well, He says

शाश्वतस्य च धर्मस्य…

Shāśhvatasya cha dharmasya...

The ‘shashvat dharm’ (eternal duty), we normally use the word ‘sanatan dharm’ (eternal religion), is also established within Him.

Ved Vyas Ji writes in the Bhagwatam,

वासुदेवपरः धर्मो…

Vāsudev-par dharmah…

“Krishna is the source of dharm (righteous duty) and the ultimate goal of dharm.”

In Kathopanishad (an Upanishadic scripture) it is said,

सर्वे वेदा यत्पदमामनन्ति …

Sarve vedā yatpadamāmananti …

- Kathopanishad 1-2-15

“Every mantra of the Vedas is only taking you towards Krishna.”

That’s all, to take you to Krishna. So He is the root, the mool (source) of all dharm and He is the goal of all dharm. It means, He’s the source of all dharm and by following dharm what do you get? You’re supposed to reach Him.

So He says, “The dharm is also established in Me and ‘sukhasyaikāntikasya cha’, the Divine happiness is also a part of Him.”

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Regarding prem, we know that true prem, true love, is ‘dena dena’ (to give, to give). True love is to desire to see the happiness of the Beloved. And the type of love that we practice in the world is ‘lena lena’ (to take, to take). We desire to take; we desire to gratify ourselves through our association with the Beloved. We want to get our happiness by being with our Beloved. Sometimes, or a lot of times, we also have to give, but we give in order to take. We give because we know they also want to take. And if they’re not getting anything from us, then how are they going to give anything to us?

This is the love in the world, and we all know it. This is part of the tatva gyan (knowledge of spiritual truth) of being a devotee. You have to understand these things, because just knowing that there is true love in Radha Krishna is not enough because our mind is already attached to the world. So the mind also has to divert itself or get diverted from the world towards Radha Krishna by understanding the true nature of worldly love as well as the ultimate nature of Divine love.

So in the world, we know this type of romantic love. Well, it’s not even correct to call it ‘love’. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Ji says, the two are diametrically opposed.

अतएव कामे प्रेमे बहुत अंतर​, काम अंधतम प्रेम निर्मल भास्कर ॥
Ataev kāme preme bahut aṁtar​, kām aṁdhatam prem nirmal bhāskar.

Worldly love: Shree Chaitanya is not even putting the word ‘love’ on it. He calls it kām (selfish desire), his personal desire. That’s it. And ‘prem’ means ‘love between the devotee and Krishna’. So he says

“Worldly love, which is none other than personal desire, is like darkness, and the true love of Krishna, that is like pure sunlight.” ‘Nirmal bhāskar’ निर्मल भास्कर (pure, radiant illumination). So true love is only found in the Divine world.

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No. Constantly, continuously, the remembrance of the Lord.

Constant, continuous, no breaks. People take holidays from spirituality. That is really something that shocks me.

They will do a retreat, a spiritual retreat or sadhana (spiritual practice), and then they’ll say, “Let’s go for a holiday.”

Break from God? And what about from the world?

“Oh no, embrace them as much as you can.”

Attachment is so deep in the world.

So let us try to straighten our thinking. We do the very opposite.

We try to decrease the attachment from God. There is no attachment to begin with, and if there is a little bit which is built by practicing sadhana (spiritual practice), we also want to take a holiday and break from Him.

When it comes to the world, oh no, detachment.

“Well, after all, they are mine.”

They are yours? Your body is not even yours. What are you talking about?

So we’ve got to realize the truth that apart from the supreme almighty Lord Krishna, there is no one.

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How to Advance Spiritually