Why does calamity come in a devotee's life too? / Brahmaji's delusion broken and the praise of Bal Gopal 13/10/2026

Satsang of Pujya Shri Hit Premanand Govind Sharan Ji Maharaj. To hear the full discourse, watch the video above.

Full Discourse

Vrindavaneswari tav padarvindm prema makrand raso purnam hrid pitam madhupte smarta mugam nirvapyt param shital mashyam param shital mashray param sacchidanand ghan Premand swaroop navni nikunj mahmmahim param pavan shri Vrindavan dham shri Vrindavan dham ke ladlele pranaaradhy pranapriy yugal sarkar shri shyama Shyam ji jo samasth sahachari vrind khag mrig pashu panchhi tarulta yamuna ras rani raj rani samasth brajvasi parikar ke charnon mein kotish naman kotish pranam namaskaar shri Priya pritam ji ki apaar kripa hai pratiphal aisa apne upar anubhav karte hue chahe jahan se bhi pratikultaa mile wah hamare mangal ke liye hai.

O Vrindavaneshwari, Your lotus feet, full of the nectar of love, filled with the essence of love, the Beloved of the heart, O Lord of Madhu, remembering Whom the mind is cooled and made supremely tranquil, the supreme, embodiment of true consciousness and bliss, the form of love, the great and sacred Vrindavan Dham of the nikunjas…

To the beloved, life-breath, and dearest treasure of Vrindavan Dham, the divine couple Shri Shyama Shyam ji, to the entire group of sahacharis, the deer, animals, birds, creepers and trees, to Yamuna, Ras Rani, Raj Rani, and the whole retinue of Braj residents, I offer countless salutations and countless pranams. By the infinite grace of Shri Priya Pritam ji, experiencing this every moment, whatever adversity comes from wherever, it is for our welfare.

Holding this firm faith, one who bears the burning of both mind and body, and both their sufferings, considering them the fruit of their own prarabdha, and who remembers Bhagwan every moment, attains Shri Bhagwan just as a son naturally has a right to his father's property. In the same way, we are a part of Bhagwan, and our Lord, the source of us, is Bhagwan. Whatever these forms of maya are, Shri Bhagwan alone is pervaded in them; Bhagwan alone has become them. Our vision is not pure, so we cannot see this. Only an eye with true insight can recognize it.

A glimpse of God in every particle. The Bhagwan we are searching for is in our heart; He is in the temple of everyone's heart. Until the knowledge of this truth comes, until this experience comes, attachment, aversion, hatred, slander, praise, pride, insult, contempt and respect all keep going on. The worshipper has to remove these dualities and attain the state beyond duality. There is no need to go anywhere. What is in your heart is everywhere; what is everywhere is in your heart.

yomam pashyati sarvatra sarvam cham pashyati tasyam na pranasyami sach mein na prannasati

"He who sees Me everywhere and sees everything in Me, I am never lost to him, nor is he ever lost to Me." (Gita 6.30)

Shri Bhagwan truly says: whoever sees Me everywhere and sees everyone in Me, that one cannot remain separate from Me even for a single moment.

We cannot remain separate from Him. Tasyam na pranashyami, sach mein na pranashati. What could be a more beautiful state than to experience the nearness of Shri Bhagwan at every moment? See Shri Bhagwan in everyone, because Shri Bhagwan alone is. By listening to the narration of the childhood pastimes of the supremely pure, great and auspicious Bhagwan Shri Krishna Chandra ji, we have a very wonderful opportunity to immerse ourselves in prem-lakshana bhakti. Very wonderful is the opportunity the Lord has given, not to the worldly being: to take the name of Bhagwan, to hear discourse on Bhagwan, to come to Bhagwan's Dham, to attain Bhagwan. All these things seem very far away to them. They just earn, eat, and support the family: how to get money, how to get this work done. "Haay haay," and the whole life passes. Blessed are those who got to hear talk of Bhagwan, and who developed interest in chanting the name of Bhagwan.

Those who began to feel intimacy with Bhagwan, and for whom it became a goal that in some birth they will attain Bhagwan, they will be blessed. Supreme auspicious happiness will surround them, the happiness of the ocean of bliss that is Bhagwan, which those who take shelter in Him receive. I have just one prayer: when you meet adversity, have firm faith. Adversity is being given for your refinement, whether it comes from Hari, from Guru, or from the entire world, from any person, thing, or place where adversity is met. For the devotee, that is exactly where spiritual progress happens. If you turn it into aversion, you will fall. If you accept it as grace, you will progress. Settle this in your mind, because adversity is the one thing that takes us from a lowly plane to a higher plane. Contempt, slander and insult are the nectar that brings the bliss of God. Comfort, respect and prestige are things that merely seem pleasant. So whenever a worshipper of this path meets adversity, from any thing, person, place, Guru or Hari, if you believe in this, you will very quickly rise to your spiritual level and move forward.

We speak this from our life experience. Adversity feels very hard: why was it given? But when you contemplate deeply, great grace appears in it, and you see that it was necessary. If this adversity had not come, our spiritual progress would have stopped. Adversity is nectar. Insult from the lowly is nectar too. The adversity given through Gurujans or through Hari is being given after very careful consideration. How much pride there is, how much lack of surrender. However distressed one becomes, they see it. So adversity received from Hari and Guru is nectar indeed, but even adversity given by lowly people, neechapamanam sudha, will transform our spiritual plane. Settle this in your heart.

Now let us come to the very auspicious episode. Among the cowherd friends (sakhas), the sapphire-hued, dark-complexioned, charming Lord is seated in the middle, His beauty subduing millions of Cupids. Countless calves are grazing around Him, and the sakhas sit in a circle. After a while, during the auspicious pastime of joking, laughing, and snatching food from one another, He snatches from them and they feed themselves. Some sakha gets up and pours buttermilk (chhachh) into Shri Krishna's mouth from his own mouth. Very sweet Kanhaiya! Look here: Brahma ji, mounted on his swan, is watching.

What a supreme Parabrahma Paramatma He is! These cowherd boys are feeding Him their leftovers, and He is eating with great joy. One should see His opulent pastimes. If He is Bhagwan, one should see the pastimes of majesty. He took away all the calves and put them to sleep in yoga-nidra in Brahmaloka. The sakhas said, "Kanhaiya, the calves are not visible." Then He said, "You all take everything. I am still here, with curd-rice in my hand, pickled lemon and amla in my fingers, a horn (singhi) and flute (bansi) tucked in my waistband, wearing a yellow garment (pitambar) and a yellow dhoti below, with a peacock-feather crown. What a very beautiful form."

The Lord went to look for the calves, but not a single calf could be seen. He returned with a doubt that some divine obstacle was at work, because where could the calves have gone? When he returned, he saw that all the vessels and the food were kept just as they were. All the cowherd friends had vanished. Where could the friends have gone? The Lord looked with his divine vision: "Ah, Brahma, you want to show Us your maya."

prabhu yavat vsa vsa kalpak va pur ya karangdikam yavat yashta vishanwe dal yavat vibhram yavat shil gudha krivat viharadikam sarvam vishnumyam giroja sarvas swaroop

As many friends, calves, horns, flutes, sticks, clothes, adornments and playful pastimes there were, all of them pervaded by Vishnu, the Lord himself became their very form.

At that very moment, the Lord became as many boys as there were, each of the same age and wearing the same clothes; the clothes became the Lord too. The Lord became the sticks and the slings, whatever there was, and everything became as it was at that moment. Whoever had which hands and feet, whoever had which eyes, whoever had which way of speaking, the sticks, horns, flutes, leaves and slings, all of them became Bhagavan. Their character, nature, qualities, names, forms and ages, and whatever each one ate or drank or liked, exactly that form of Shri Krishna appeared.

It was as if the Vedic word had become embodied. The Veda says:

sarvam khalmidam brahm

All this is indeed Brahman.

Everything is Brahman. The Lord, the Soul of all, became countless calves, each according to its age and nature, and all the cowherd boys too. Now the Lord, playing in the form of the cowherd boys with his own form as the calves, went into Braj to graze them. Now, whenever a cow saw a calf, she loved it just as much as she loved Shri Krishna. At the sound of the flute she ran. Although all the gopis of Braj used to run to drink in the sweetness of Shri Krishna's form, today it is wonderful: they all love their own children in the same way, because Bhagavan Shri Krishna himself has become the cowherd boys today.

Everyone takes them to their heart. Milk begins to drip from love and affection. Parikshit, in this way, every evening Bhagavan Shri Krishna comes to Braj with the cowherd boys in the form of his calves, and in the morning goes out again to graze the cows. The mothers now receive a joy that great yogis do not get. The Sachchidananda Bhagavan Shri Krishna, who had become their friend, is anointed with ubtan, bathed, and given sandalwood paste. They dress him in fine clothes, and to protect him from the evil eye they put a black kohl dot between his eyebrows.

She feeds him delicious food and showers him with great love. The joy that Yashoda Maiya feels, every gopi feels as well. Like the gopis, the cows too, the cows that the great cowherds used to take out to graze. The calves, who are the Lord, would go out to graze with their friends of the same age. When the calves came back, the cows would run forward, lowing, and lick the calves, because Shri Krishna had become the calves. Out of excess affection, their milk would begin to drip, and the calves would start drinking. Every cow feels the same joy that Yashoda Maiya feels. The Lord is drinking cow's milk with his own mouth.

Having become the calves. Nobody knows that the love the cows had for Shri Krishna is now for the calf. The love the gopis had for Shri Krishna is now for their sons. Why? Because the Lord himself has taken that form. The love of the Braj residents for their own children kept growing day by day. [sound of clearing throat] One year passed. The love the Brajvasis had for Shri Krishna is now for the calves and cowherd boys, because the Soul of all, the Lord himself, has become the calves.

Having become the cowherd boys themselves. When five or six nights were left before the year was complete, Balram Ji saw: "What is this?" The love of all the Brajvasis that had been for Shri Krishna was now equally for the calves and the friends. The cows were grazing on the peak of Govardhan. As soon as they looked nearby, they saw the calves coming down. Lowing, full of affection, the cows ran. The cowherds, even the great elder cowherds, tried to block their path, but they could not stop them. Lowing, letting milk flow, necks arched and tails raised, they came running to the calves, licked them and began to feed them milk. The cowherds tried to hold them back, but none of their efforts worked. They were astonished, because this had never happened. The cows used to stop at our call, and today they did not stop even when we tried. Now the cows had become attached to the calves. And when the elderly Brajvasi cowherds saw the boys, their attachment was just the same. They embraced them as if they had not met in a long time. One lifts his child into his lap,

one sniffs his child's head, another holds him to his heart. All were overwhelmed with bliss. Balram Ji was astonished to see this: "What is the mystery? The Braj cowherds, the cows and the cowherd women have so much affection for their children, even for these boys who have already given up drinking milk. It is a strange thing. The love the Brajvasis have for the Soul of all, Shri Krishna, they now have for the calves and the friends as well. What is this? Is it someone's maya? Is it some god's maya?" "No, no. In front of my Shri Krishna, the maya of no god, demon or asura can work at all." Balram Ji then used his eye of knowledge.

He saw that Shri Krishna, the Supreme Brahman, the Paramatma himself, had become the calves and had become the friends. It is all Shri Krishna, only Shri Krishna. The clothes, the baskets, the sticks, the flute, the horn, the friends and the calves are all Shri Krishna, the one Paramatma appearing in different forms. What is the matter? The boys are Shri Krishna, their clothes are Shri Krishna too, the horns and ropes, everything. Balram Ji wondered why the Lord had done this. Looking carefully, he understood: "Ah, Brahma Ji has taken away the calves and the cows." Meanwhile Brahma Ji returned from Brahmaloka to see what state Shri Krishna was in without the calves and friends. By the time-reckoning of Brahmaloka, a single truti had passed, but here one whole year had gone by. Truti is what it is called.

Take a lotus and pierce it like this. The time that takes is called a truti. In that one truti, the time spent in Brahmaloka amounted to a full year in the mortal world. When Brahma Ji came back and looked, the same meal leela was happening again. There was playful joking with the sakhas, and the calves were walking just as before. Brahma Ji thought: I put the calves and the sakhas to sleep in yoga nidra in Brahmaloka, so who is this? Perhaps the Lord has brought those calves and sakhas here. So he went back to Brahmaloka and saw that the calves and sakhas were still sleeping in the Lord's yoga nidra. Then he came back to Vrindavan and saw them playing just the same.

He did this many times and began to lose consciousness. Brahma Ji's intellect stopped working. "The cowherd boys and calves, bewildered by my maya, are in Brahmaloka. Then who is this? For a whole year the Lord has been playing with whom?" He looked at both places, at both sets of boys, and wanted to see with his eye of knowledge. But the power to see is given by Shri Krishna. He could not decide which boys were genuine and which were created by maya. He became bewildered, enchanted by the maya of Shri Krishna. But no maya can touch Shri Krishna.

Brahma Ji is the son who appeared from the lotus of the Lord's navel. He had set out to bewilder his father, Shri Krishna, with his own maya. But far from bewildering him, today he himself has become bewildered. He cannot decide whether the boys and sakhas of Braj or those of Brahmaloka are the real ones. Just as in the dense darkness of night the darkness of fog has no effect, and just as in the light of day the glow of a firefly has no effect, so the maya of a lowly being cannot affect a great being.

Then, the Lord is the one who brings forth the mahapurushas, yet he had lost his influence. While Brahma Ji was still pondering, he cast his gaze into the sky again and saw that all the calves had become like fresh, dark rain clouds, lustrous and dark-hued, graceful in the tribhangi pose, each one a Murlidhar, countless Murlidhars. Shri Krishna himself had become the sakhas. All those calves and sakhas gave up their forms and became Shri Krishna: dark-complexioned, wearing yellow silk, armed with divine weapons, with lovely vanamalas around the neck, the golden Srivatsa mark on the chest, armlets on the arms, conch-shaped gem-set bangles on the wrists, anklets at the feet, a kardhani at the waist, divine rings on the fingers, and a tulsi garland from the nakh to the shikh, adorned with the kalas. Countless forms, yet this is the true form, and in every form it is the Lord alone.

The Lord simply smiled, and the jiva (Brahma Ji) began to lose consciousness. Brahma Ji was fainting. He saw that crores of Brahmas like himself, in embodied form, were worshipping each form with folded hands. The siddhis, such as Anima, Mahima and Garima, along with maya, vidya, the vibhutis, the Mahat-tattva and the twenty-four tattvas, were all embodied and worshipping the Lord. Time, which stirs agitation in prakriti, and its results, its causes, its nature, the impressions that awaken latent desires, the wishes, the actions, the objects and their fruits, were all embodied and worshipping the Lord.

Before the power and greatness of the Lord, everyone had lost their own power, greatness and standing. Brahma Ji also saw that the truth that remains unbroken across past, present and future is sachchidananda. All of it is form, self-luminous, only infinite, of the nature of bliss, without the slightest touch of inertness, all pure consciousness, all of one rasa. Even the vision of the Upanishad-seeing tattvagyanis cannot reach the limit of his infinite glory. Brahma Ji saw at once that all of them were none other than Shri Krishna, the Parabrahma Paramatma. Then he saw that the moving and unmoving world had become Shri Krishna.

Seeing this extraordinarily wondrous sight, Brahma Ji was astonished. The five organs of action, the five organs of knowledge and the one mind were agitated and began to faint. Brahma Ji lost his lustre, fell silent and stood motionless, stunned. It was as though the presiding deity of Braj had set up a statue in the sky. Four-faced Brahma stood there stunned and unconscious. The form of the Lord is beyond measure and beyond the reach of logic. The glory of the Lord is extraordinary. The Lord is self-luminous, of the nature of bliss, and beyond maya. Even the Vedanta cannot describe him directly.

Therefore, by negating everything that is other than that, the Brahman whose nature is bliss is indicated. Although Brahma Ji is the lord of all knowledge, he could not bear even a little of the Lord's divine form. He became unable even to see the forms of the Lord's glory. He closed his eyes. When the Lord saw that Brahma Ji, unable to bear it, was about to faint and fall, he withdrew the maya. Brahma Ji regained consciousness, as though he had died and come back to life. He opened his eyes with great difficulty and saw his own Brahma body.

When he looked around, there was the same divine Vrindavan as before, a very lovely Vrindavan, uniform and of one rasa. Wherever you looked, there were flowering trees giving supreme bliss to living beings, swaying green leaves and beautiful, juicy fruits. He stresses this very strongly: this is the leela-bhumi of Shri Krishna, so the faults of kama, krodha, lobha, moha, mada and trishna do not have much influence here if you remain properly steady. It does not have the same effect here as it does in the world. Even the animals and birds here are full of love.

Brahma Ji beheld Vrindavan and saw the Supreme Brahman, the Supreme Soul, performing the play of a cowherd boy. Though he is one, he plays with his sakhas. Though he is infinite, he wanders here and there. Though his knowledge is boundless and unfathomable, he searches for the calves and the sakhas. Brahma saw the Lord just as he had seen him a year earlier, with a morsel of curd rice in his hand. Brahma Ji came down from his swan to the ground and leapt onto the earth, and his radiant four heads fell at the lotus feet of Lord Shri Krishna. He touched the Lord's lotus feet.

He offered obeisance, and tears of joy began to flow. Remembering again and again the glory of Lord Shri Krishna that he had seen, he rose and fell at the feet again and again. He lay at the Lord's feet for a long time. Then he slowly got up, wiped the tears from his eyes, and, trembling before Lord Shri Krishna, the giver of liberation, he folded his hands and began to praise the Lord with great humility, one-pointed attention and a voice choked with emotion.

navmeete bhrav tadamray gunjavat paripal sanukhay vanyaje kavalwenu lakshma shri mridupde pashupay asyap dev pusho madnagrahas shwechchha mayas natu bhut mayas kopi ne mahwat manasa sakshat tav kimtatma sukhanubhute
I bow to you, O Lord, whose body is dark like a rain cloud, whose yellow garment flashes like lightning, whose face is brightened by a garland of gunja berries, who wears a forest garland, and whose soft feet are marked with the lotus, the cane staff, the horn and the flute.

Brahma Ji returned to the feet, folded his hands and trembled, speaking in a voice choked with emotion. With folded hands, Brahma trembled, overcome with emotion. He said: O Lord, you alone are worthy of praise. Again and again I bow at your dark feet. Your divine form, dark like a monsoon cloud, shines with a yellow garment that flickers like steady lightning. Around your neck is a garland of gunja berries from Braj. The Lord is pleased with the flowers of Vrindavan. If you offer something he likes, it is very good. The Lord is not pleased by flowers from outside as much as he is by the flowers of Vrindavan. We are saying this here: if you have a flat, put two or three pots on your balcony. Harsingar and raibel are small plants. A few flowers from them are enough for your Priyalal. If you have 200 gaz of land, or even 50 gaz, plant creepers, and offer him one fresh leaf and two or three flowers. That is enough. The Lord wears a garland of gunja berries from Braj, and makeup-shaped earrings in his ears, and a crown of peacock feathers on his head. The beauty of all these together spreads an unusual radiance across his face.

A vanamala hangs on his chest. A morsel of curd rice is in his tiny palm. A cane stick and a horn are at his side, and the flute, which identifies him, is tucked into his waistband. [sound made through the nose] Your lotus-soft, extremely tender feet and this sweet appearance of the cowherd boy.. Brahma Ji says: Lord, I know nothing else. I am simply devoted to these feet. Self-luminous Supreme Being, this divine form of yours fulfils the longings and desires of devotees. This embodiment of your conscious will is your direct grace upon me.

You have performed this leela to bless me. Who says this is a creation of the five elements? I create the five elements. I know that this form of yours is non-material, pure, true, made of existence, consciousness and bliss. Neither I nor even the greatest yogi, by sitting in samadhi, can know the glory of this sachchidananda form of yours. How then can anyone know the glory of you, who are direct self-bliss and the form of experience, even with a focused mind? Lord, you are also making a request that deserves great attention. In it lies the knowledge that is to be received.

je gyane prayas mud paas namantev jeevant sanukhita bhav vtaa sthane sthita shrutigta tanwa manobh ye prayso Ajit jito ta trilokyam
Those who, without straining after knowledge, remain established in their own place and go on hearing your message, the satsang from the mouths of your own people, the saints, live by it. Even though you cannot be conquered by anyone in the three worlds, they conquer you.

Those who do not struggle to attain knowledge, but remain in their place and keep listening to satsang about you from the mouths of your dear ones, the saints. Because those who are lovers of God, the great souls, have a passion for speaking of the Lord, anyone who stays near them hears it even if they do not want to. Those who listen with body, speech and mind, humbly, to the talk of the Lord from the mouths of your saints, go so far as to make satsang their life. They cannot live without satsang. Lord, though no one in the three worlds can ever conquer you, they conquer you. You come under the power of their love. Those who keep hearing the glory of you from the mouths of your devoted great souls. How? With body, speech and mind, in humility and lowliness.

shrey shruti bhakti mudaste vibho klashta [sound of singing] keval bodh labdh tesha masau kleshte nad yatha sthul tasavghat naam
O Lord, those who give up devotion, the source of all auspicious things, and suffer hardship to gain knowledge alone, receive nothing but hardship, like someone who pounds empty husks and gets no grain.

Lord, devotion that gives all happiness is the root source of welfare and the origin of bliss. Those who give up your devotion and undertake hardship to gain knowledge, and suffer for it, get nothing but more and more trouble. Nothing else. Like someone who pounds empty husks, who gets only labour and no rice. Lord, I have seen in this verse: many yogis lived before, and when they did not attain supreme bliss through yoga and other practices, they surrendered all their worldly and Vedic actions at your feet. Through those surrendered actions, by hearing the story of your leela, and by chanting your naam, devotion awakened in their hearts. As soon as that devotion awakened, knowledge of your form arose.

Supreme bliss has been attained. The supreme state has been reached. The Lord, both saguna (with form) and nirguna (without form), is indeed your own nature. The glory of the nirguna form can be known by withdrawing the senses and through a pure inner instrument (antahkaran). By giving up the particular form, the self-form of the antahkaran can be directly realised. This self-form is not like the form of a pot or a cloth. It is only the removal of a veil. This is realisation. This is Brahman. Not "I know Brahman" in this way, but "I am Brahman itself." Nirgun, formless.

But Bhagwan, those capable people who, through many lifetimes of effort, could count every single atom of the earth, every single drop of dew that falls from the sky, and the shining stars and constellations, perhaps someone could do that. But no one can reach the end of the glory of your saguna form. Prabhu, you have descended only for the supreme welfare of the world. So Bhagwan, understanding your glory is very difficult. The shloka that follows is this very life. This is life itself.

A saint, whose name I cannot recall, was suffering terribly from cancer at the Ramakrishna Mission. When he went for darshan, the Name was in his heart but would not come to his tongue. He asked him, "Maharaj Ji, you are in such great suffering. Your legs had swollen, and your stomach had become like this."

The cancer was in his stomach. The pain was immense, and his body had turned completely yellow. He was going to leave within a short time. His body ended at Bhagwat Niwas. In that condition he recited this shloka:

tenukampan susmeekshamano bhunjan evatmakritam vipakam.
hridwagwapurbhirwiddhannamaste jeevet yo muktipde sa daybhak ॥

Seeing Your mercy, and bearing the fruit of his own actions with a calm mind, one who offers salutations to You with heart, speech and body, while still living, becomes an heir to the state of liberation.

In such pain he explained this shloka. He said that a person who at every moment experiences, "The Lord has great mercy on me. Shri Ji has great mercy on me," truly feels that he has been shown much grace.

Whatever sorrow or happiness comes according to one's prarabdha, one should experience it without the disturbances (vikar) entering the heart. When sorrow comes, one becomes distressed. That is a disturbance. When happiness comes, one becomes elated and pride arises. That is also a disturbance. Happiness and sorrow, honour and dishonour, disease, and all kinds of pain should be borne quietly, seeing them as the great mercy of the Lord. We tell you truly: when we reflect in solitude, we see 100% grace. We see 100% grace, because if it had not been so, surrender would not have been firm, and there would have been ego in sadhana. This needs to be listened to with great attention. It is a very auspicious shloka.

tatenukampam sukshamanu, the one who sees the grace of his Lord in every matter. Great grace, the great grace of Priyaji. You are in suffering, and yet you say, "tanukam, I felt great happiness." This is the glory of devotion. This is the fruit of bhajan of the Lord, that this is the final state. The suffering is terrible. One cannot even move, and yet with a smile one says:

tanukam sukshaman.. Dhire dhire

Tanukam.. Slowly, slowly.. (the shloka above)

He also says this: from the heart, again and again, "Prabhu, may you be victorious, may you be victorious. Priyaji, may you be victorious." Even in suffering, "Victory to Radhavallabh Lal, victory to Priyaji," from the heart, through speech, and with a body thrilled with devotion, again and again: "Prabhu, I am yours. Prabhu, I am yours." One who bears with equanimity the sorrow and happiness that come, this is a very useful shloka, a very useful shloka.

A sadhak will not be disturbed if he understands this shloka. Every moment: "tenukampam, sukshmanu," the Lord's great grace is upon me. Bhunjaa kritam vipakam, to bear the suffering that comes, without asking the Lord to remove it. Great grace of the Lord, and from the heart, through speech and through the body, again and again with a thrilled body: "Victory, victory, namaskar, Prabhu, pranam, victory to you. Your decree is auspicious." Then what is obtained? He says, "jeeve mukti pade sada bhag": while living, one attains the state of liberation. The one who receives the state of liberation, that alone is the subject to understand.

Chant the Name at all times, and at all times experience the great grace of the Lord upon me. Someone may be struck, someone may fall. We saw a saint who fell down several steps of a staircase. People ran and lifted him up. It was on the bank of the Ganga. He said it was great grace. "Great grace, I was crushed." We asked, "Maharaj, were you crushed?" He said, "It was prarabdha, it has happened. It is great grace." To experience grace at every moment, this is the matter of tat-pam-smekshan, experiencing the Lord's grace at all times. And bhunjaa kritam vipakam: bear every suffering and every happiness with seriousness. Let no pride come, and let no anguish come.

With heart, with speech, and with the body, thrilled, one should keep surrendering oneself again and again at the feet of the Lord: "Prabhu, I am yours, Prabhu, I am yours." Then, he says, in this very life one becomes an heir to the supreme state. In this very life one becomes an heir to the supreme state. Just as a son becomes the heir to his father's property the moment he is born, this is exactly that.

You see great saints who cannot remove the suffering of their own bodies. So you say, "Chant Radha, Radha, and all suffering will go away." But you chant Radha, Radha. Why has your suffering not gone?

This is the instruction: tanukam sumano bhajaa kritam vipakam. Whatever sorrow and happiness has come in our prarabdha, we experience it. Constantly remembering the Lord, great is the grace of our Lord. "O Nath, whatever I say to you.." He says that one becomes such an heir to the supreme state, just as a son has the right to his father's property.

prabhu pashya narayan maya paratmani tap mayni mayatma vaibhwam aham kriyava lago

Prabhu, behold. O Narayan, I was turning my illusion (maya) upon you, the Supreme Self, the power of illusion, the glory of my own self.

Prabhu, look at my audacity. Look at my audacity. You, the Supreme Soul, the Purusha, the most majestic Purushottam: it is only by your grace that I received this capacity. I was throwing my own maya upon you.

Behold my audacity and crookedness, Prabhu. This is what happens when I display the power of my own maya. When the grace of the Ishta and the Guru comes, and some virtues and glory arrive, one considers oneself superior. One does not know that the one by whose grace these things came, over Him, what can we display? Brahma Ji is saying: behold my crookedness and audacity. I received everything from you, and I set out to show my influence over you. Prabhu, what am I before you? I am a spark, and you are the blazing flame of fire. Prabhu, I was born of rajoguna. I do not know your true form, so I sat there thinking I was separate from you, the lord of the world. I, the unborn creator of the world, was becoming blind in the dense darkness of the delusion created by maya.

You have shown grace in that the one who belongs to me is under my control. There should be no ego about this, and so you showed us grace. Forgive my offence. Lord, prakriti, mahattattva, ahankar, space, air, fire, water and earth: this is the eightfold prakriti. The universe, enclosed by these eight coverings, is my body. And in the pore of each one of your hairs, countless such universes keep floating, just as you can see the motes of dust (trisharen) that appear in the rays of the sun through a lattice window. Tiny atoms floating about. Prabhu, where am I, so extremely insignificant, and where are you, Bhagavan, of infinite glory? You did not speak a single word. You did not even once look towards Brahma Ji, because you separated him from his cowherd friends, you disrupted the play, and you kept the lovers away for a year. O Paramatman, who cannot be grasped by the vrittis, forgive my offences. When a child kicks and flails its hands and feet in the mother's womb, the mother does not consider it an offence.

The mother is pleased on seeing the movement. Prabhu, what is there that is not in your womb? And I too am in your womb. My doing all this is because I have such faith that you will not count it as an offence. The Shrutis say that at the time when the three worlds dissolve into the cosmic deluge at pralaya, all things dwell in the belly of Shri Hari himself, and that my birth comes from your own navel lotus. What the Shrutis say cannot be false. Then tell me, Prabhu, was I not your son? Prabhu, you are the soul of all beings, and therefore you are Narayan.

Nar means living beings and ayana means refuge. You are the sovereign of all the living beings of the world, and therefore you are Narayan. You are the witness of all the worlds, and therefore Narayan. The Narayan who is called so because he dwells in the waters born of Nara is a part of you. Bhagavan, if that vast form of yours truly was in the water, then I wandered for a hundred divine years holding the lotus stem and descending. Why did I not find it? And when I performed tapasya, it manifested within my heart itself, and then it disappeared again within. It did not come into view again. Prabhu, destroyer of maya, who can speak of what is far away?

Even in this very incarnation, you showed the world that is visible outside within yourself. When mother was nursing you, you showed it. When she was scolding you for eating mud, you opened your mouth and showed it. Prabhu, this entire universe abides in your belly. Set aside that day; take today. Did you not, today, before me, show the play of your maya, the entire world apart from yourself? You alone then became all the cowherd boys, the calves, the staffs, the baskets of curd, the flute, the horn, everything. After that I saw that you had become the form of all aishvarya.

And after that, I saw that I, Brahma, Mahadev and all the other principles were serving them. You took on the form of as many separate universes. But now you remain only as the boundless, non-dual Brahman. Those who do not know your form because of ignorance see you only as the jiva situated in prakriti. Casting the veil of your maya over them, at the time of creation you take the form of Brahma, at the time of sustenance the form of Vishnu, and at the time of dissolution the form of Bhagavan Mahadev. Prabhu, you are the lord and the creator of the whole world.

Though unborn, you take birth in the forms of gods, sages, humans, animals, birds, aquatic creatures and other species. This is so that through these forms you may break the pride of wicked men and show grace to the saints. You are the infinite Paramatma and the lord of yoga. At the time when you extend your yoga-maya, who among the knowers in the three worlds can know when, where, and for what purpose you wish to do what? Therefore, Nath, this entire world that appears is not as it seems. It is untrue. You alone are the truth. You are of the nature of supreme bliss and supreme knowledge, and you are infinite.

These forms of maya are not true. The Paramatma abiding within them is true. Prabhu, you alone are the truth, because you are the soul of all. Being the ancient Purusha (purana purusha), you are free from all defects beginning with birth. You are self-luminous. Space, time and objects are all illumined by you. You are self-luminous, and you are the illuminator of these. You are the imperishable, eternal cause. Your bliss is undivided. In you there is neither any kind of impurity nor any lack. You are complete and one. Being free of all upadhis, you are of the nature of immortality (amrita svarupa).

And this very form is the own form of all beings. The form of Bhagavan is the same as the form of all living beings. How is this form attained? By worshipping the Guru, who is like the sun, and obtaining the divine eye of tattva-jnana. Then one no longer sees these forms; one sees the tattva, and crosses over this false ocean of worldly existence. O Prabhu, those persons who do not know the Paramatma as the Atma, entangled in many forms and the snares of the world because of ignorance, meet with misfortune (durgati). That the form of Bhagavan is the form of the jiva: this is the absolute supreme truth.

Absolutely, there is no doubt about this. After studying many scriptures and walking this path, Brahma Ji is saying that the illusion persists, just like the illusion of a rope. What is the illusion of a rope? A snake. It lasts as long as no light falls on it. In the same way, the illusion of the form of matter and consciousness persists as long as the light of knowledge has not come. Where knowledge arises, as the Gita says:

bahunan janmanamante gyanwanman prapaddyate. Vasudev sarwamiti sa mahatma sudurlabh ॥

After many births, the one who has knowledge surrenders to me. That great soul, who sees that Vasudeva is all, is very rare.

When knowledge comes, the rope is seen and the snake is gone. The fear of the world, the fear it causes, lasts only as long as God is not seen in everyone. Prabhu, bondage and liberation are both ignorance. It is absolutely true: bondage never happened, so what is liberation for? You only need to gain this understanding. Read the Jad-Chaitanya text. Even though it is difficult to give up, it says:

agyaan sang bhav bandh moksh do namit bhavat.

Bondage and liberation, these two named states, arise from ignorance.

How will anyone accept this? If you have not studied the scriptures, you will not understand. Unless a knot was tied, its untying is also false. Unless you were bound, liberation is also false. If you have not heard Vedanta, not reflected on it, and not walked it, you will not grasp this. Those who know that bondage and liberation both arise from ignorance wake up, as one wakes from a dream. Lust, anger, greed, attachment, pride and envy are not in you. They never were, and they never will be. They belong to the inner instrument of the mind. You are the witness of these, and you were divine, pure consciousness. You are pure, and you will remain pure.

This knowledge is all that is needed. There is no bondage and no liberation. Giving up ignorance is difficult. The words "bondage" and "liberation" are both ignorance, a very nectar-like phrase. Ajashtit kevle pare vichar: this is very beautiful, very beautiful. This is the crossing-over boat. The bondage and liberation of the world are both imagined through ignorance alone. The one who is living in bondage and the one who is living in liberation, look, this itself is the proof. In truth, both of these are ignorance. When Baba said this, it was a great surprise, because people think liberation while living comes after the removal of ignorance.

When someone is liberated while living, what do they say? They say, "Were we ever bound?" They say, "No." Then what liberation is this? If you were never bound, from what would you be freed, and by what? Just as your bondage was false, your liberation is also false. You were always the formless, eternal bliss-form. In truth, both bondage and liberation are names of ignorance. In the self, which is the form of truth and knowledge, there is no bondage and no liberation. You were never bound. If you gain even a little knowledge of your own nature, bliss comes. Bliss comes as soon as you enter the state of witness. But you have taken this body of the mind to be your own nature.

All the disturbances are in this. That is why there is so much commotion. Is there day and night in the sun? Where the sun is, there is no difference between day and night. It is only light. When it goes, it becomes night; when it comes, it becomes day. And the sun never sets. There is the Lokaloka mountain. It is so large that the sun moves around it, and wherever it reaches, the division of day and night follows. Some Maharajas said in private that the day lasts 13 hours, and somewhere else they said 20 hours of night and only four hours of day. Those who came from Norway said that when they asked about Mangala, they were told that there is four hours of day and 20 hours of night. So the sun does not really set. The Lokaloka mountain moves, and according to where the sun reaches, day and night are divided. There is no day and night in the sun. Likewise, there is no bondage or liberation in the Atman. In the element of the Self, there is no bondage and no liberation.

It is only an undivided form. On the bank of the Ganga, at Naimisharanya, with Sarveshwaranand Swami and Naradanand Saraswati Ji, there were eight or ten brahma-jnanis living together. I tell you truthfully, such discussions of Yoga Vasishtha and Vedanta were held there. The discussion would end at sunrise. Emergency lights were kept charged at night. Among all those paramahamsas and great ones staying in the ashram, when their gaze fell on that discussion, even if they threw off their clothes, there was no cold, no heat, no hunger, no thirst. Only "I am the Atman, I am the witness. I am the witness of hunger and thirst. I am the witness of cold and heat. There is no cold or heat in me." Such is the great influence of the company of great souls.

I have seen it. The influence is great. The undivided, conscious, pure Self alone exists. One goes and sits on the edge of a cremation ground. Dogs are eating and tearing the body apart, and this understanding arises: "Look, your body, a body like yours, will come to this state." Be quiet and be established in your own nature. Be established in bhajan. Without the company of great souls, neither the realisation of Brahman nor loving devotion can arise. This is a certain fact. Look, for love it is said: Re man rasikan sang bin rnch na upje prem. Without the company of those who delight in love, love does not arise. Great, great happiness comes.

When the true saints of the true path meet you, great happiness comes. Great happiness comes. Some unripe people also got in among them. When the group was travelling, whenever they reached an ashram on the bank of the Ganga, they first asked how many kilometres away the next ashram was. They would stay overnight at the ashram. These were very great souls, of the rank of acharyas, very well-composed, very learned, and supremely detached. But those unripe ones who came there began to win over devotees. Somewhere in the cold on the bank of the Ganga, they started offering almonds, cashews and such. When Swamiji heard about it, he called Sarveshwaranand and said, "Swamiji, you have begged?" He said, "Forgive me, it was a mistake." He said, "Not in front of us. Take out ₹500," (there was a doctor-sahib who kept money). "Take out ₹500. Swamiji, you go by whatever conveyance you like. We are not worthy of you."

With such cleverness, we are not worthy of you. Please, go away. With great gentleness, tell everyone outside: "Completely solid, paramahamsa. This is the undivided form. You are only the pure Self, pure atma-tattva. In you there is no bondage, no liberation, and no defect." When we read such nectar-like words, fresh and new as the morning, it sets us on fire. "How am I established in my own form?" Arre, what is there to be established in my own form? I am it. Understand, understand. Again and again, understanding cuts through the contemplation of objects and the attachment to the world. Again and again, this contemplation of objects cuts through attachment to the world. This itself is the battle.

Bhagwan, it is amazing that you are our atma, and yet we consider you a stranger. I consider these bodies to be my atma. Exactly so, exactly so. [sound made through the nose] These strange bodies, made of prakriti, I consider mine, and you, who are our atma, I consider a stranger. What a change of intellect. You are our atma, yet we consider these strange bodies to be ours and to be the self. Then we start searching for you, asking, "Where will I find you? Are you here?" O Infinite One, you reside in the inner heart of all.

Yesterday a question came up in Ekantik: those who do not go to the temple, do they have no bhakti? Is going to the temple compulsory? Look, the temple is the centre of our faith. The Lord who is in the temple is the same Lord who is in everyone's heart. If one disrespects the Lord seated in everyone's heart by thinking of the Lord only in the temple, then attainment of Bhagavat-prapti can never happen. And even someone who has never gone to a temple, if he contemplates the Lord seated in everyone's heart, Bhagavat-prapti will surely happen. The temple is the centre of our faith. From there we begin, and then we contemplate the temple everywhere, in the inert and in the conscious.

jad chetan jag jeev jat sakal Ram main jani bando sabke pad kamal sada jor jug pani
Knowing all beings of the world, inert and conscious, to be Ram, I always fold my two hands and bow at the lotus feet of all.

Someone goes to the temple, sits there, finds faults, and then comes back here. Attachment and aversion achieve nothing. See for yourself, see it. This is the word of Lord Kapil Dev ji: whoever worships the Lord in the temple, in the Deity, with the finest offerings, but outside insults and betrays the One who is seated in everyone's heart as the Self, his worship is like an offering poured into ash. Brahma ji is saying the same. What an amazing thing it is that we consider our own atma a stranger.

The bodies and so on are strangers, yet we consider them to be the self. Then we start searching for you in the world. Surely, the ignorant souls have never found the Paramatma by searching outside. O Infinite One, you reside in everyone's inner heart. Therefore saints do not search for you outside anywhere. They search within their own hearts. Although there is no snake in the rope, as long as light does not fall on the rope and the rope is not seen, the fear of the snake remains. In the same way, although the Paramatma is everywhere, until knowledge comes, attachment, aversion, fear, sleep, and delusion all continue, along with agitation, anxiety, birth, death, and all the turmoil.

The form and glory of your knowledge is such that you, the Lord who manifests in the hearts of your devotees, destroy the world that ignorance has imagined. We do feel strongly that there should at least be some knowledge. A devotee should have at least this much knowledge: non-faith in attachment to the body and to bodily relations, and in the enjoyments of the body and the senses. If there is not this much knowledge, then the talk will be of bhakti and the actions will all be the same, but the worldly colour will not come. There must be knowledge. Without knowledge, bhakti is restless. Even in Vrindavan, bhakti is sorrowful without knowledge and detachment. That is why Devarishi Narad ji affirmed knowledge and detachment. The person who obtains even a tiny grace-prasad of your twin lotus feet, only he can know the truth of your sachchidanandamay glory, the one who worships you.

Anyone else, however long he keeps searching with knowledge, detachment, and other means, cannot attain true knowledge of your glory. Now, as said before, knowledge and detachment are needed, and only then does bhakti bear colour. Now he says: if there is no bhakti, then with knowledge and detachment you will only keep researching the Tattva, and there will be no experience. Look, listen very carefully. The person who worships your twin lotus feet and obtains your grace-prasad, receives your favour. Only he can know the truth of your sachchidanandamay glory. And if there is no worship of your feet, then even searching for a long time with knowledge, detachment, and other means, true knowledge cannot be attained. Therefore, Bhagwan, grant me the fortune, in this life or another life, or in the birth of some bird or animal, that I become the servant of your servants. Let me become the servant of your servants.

tadasta nath sabh bhago bhavet yena hamko bhavna naam bhut seve tav pad pallavam
O Lord, may that great fortune be mine, that I, one among your devotees, may serve your lotus feet.

aho dhanya braj ramanya pit mati muda yam vibhavsana y tapt chalra aho bhagyam bhagyam nand gop brajo kasham y mitram parmanandam purnam brahm sanatnam
Oh, blessed are the women of Braj whose minds are full of joy. Oh, what fortune, what fortune, belongs to the cowherds of Nanda and the people of Braj, whose friend is the supreme bliss, the complete and eternal Brahman.

Prabhu, give me this fortune in this very life, or in some other life, even as an animal or a bird, that I become the servant of your loving devotees.

Brahma ji is asking this, because by accepting the servitude of your loving devotees, one attains love for the Lord, and the feeling of service to your lotus feet awakens. Swami, I see that the greatest yajnas in the world, from the beginning of creation until today, have never been able to satisfy you. But the cows and the cowherd women of Braj, and when you drink their milk with such joy, truly blessed are these people of Braj. Blessed are they whose sorrow you drank. Aho dhanya braj go ramanya. Blessed are the cows and the young women of Braj, by whose offered food you are satisfied.

Ah, how fortunate! Ah, how fortunate are Nanda and the other cowherds of Braj. They drank the nectar of his milk, and with joy he smiled and let them nurse. Prabhu, truly their life is blessed.

aho bhagyam aho bhagyam nandagopavrajauksam. Yanmitram parmanandam purnam brahm sanatnam ॥

How fortunate, how fortunate are the cowherds of Nanda's Braj, whose friend is the supreme bliss, the complete and eternal Brahman.

Oh, the cowherds of Nanda and the other Braj residents are blessed. Truly their fortune is great, because you, the eternal, complete Brahman whose form is supreme bliss, are their own friend. Achyuta, how can I describe the greatness of the good fortune of these Braj residents? We, Mahadev and the others who dwell as the presiding deities of the eleven senses, including the mind, are also very fortunate.

Why? Because we sit in the minds and senses of these Braj residents and taste your sweetness. We keep drinking the nectar of your lotus feet, which is sweeter than amrit and more intoxicating than wine. We who drink it through each single sense are already blessed, blessed. Then what need is there to speak of the Braj residents who savour it through all their senses?

Prabhu, do one kindness. Let me be born on this land of Braj.

tadbhuribhagyamih janm kimapyatavyan yadgokulepi katranghrirjobhishekam. Yajjeevitam tu nikhilam bhagwanmukundastwadyapi yatpadraj shrutimrigyamev ॥

What a great fortune it would be to be born even as some small creature in the forest of Gokul, where I could be bathed in the dust of the feet of those whose whole life is Bhagavan Mukunda.

Tell me, whatever it is, to be a blade of grass, a creeper, any insect or worm in this land of Braj. Please, Prabhu, make me something here.

Brahma ji is asking. Do we not feel in our hearts how much grace Priya Ji has shown us, bringing us to the Braj mandal in human form? Brahma ji is asking, "Prabhu, give me birth in any form in this Braj land, in Gokul." In any form, my fortune would open up. Why? Because whether I become grass, a blade of straw, an insect, a worm, an animal or a bird, the dust of the feet of the Braj residents will fly and fall upon me. When the dust of the feet of these lovers falls upon me, Prabhu, I will be blessed, blessed.

How much fortune has Shri Ji given us without our even asking, that we were given a place in Vrindavan, the crown of all tirths and puris, the crown jewel of Braj Dham, and given a human birth to live there? That is why Dhruvdas ji says:

bar-bar to bantant nahi ya sanjog anup. Manush tan vrinda vipin rasak skand sang virup ॥

Such a rare union does not come about again and again: a human body, the Vrindavan forest, and the company of rasik saints.

A human body, Vrindavan Dham, the worship of Priya-Pritam, and the grace of the rasik Gurudev. Such a coincidence does not happen again and again.

Prabhu, the whole life of these Braj residents is your life. You alone are the sole everything of their life. So to receive the dust of their feet is to receive the dust of your feet. And the Shrutis have been searching for the dust of your feet since time immemorial, until now.

O Shri Krishna, worshipped even by the gods, what reward will you give these Braj residents in return for their service? You are the fruit of all fruits. There is no fruit greater than you, and they always cherish you and serve you. So when I think about what you will give to these Braj residents, my mind becomes bewildered.

You are indebted to the Braj residents. Even by giving them your own form, you cannot repay them. Because your form was attained even by Putana, who came with poison to kill you. Aghasura and Bakasura also attained your form. Putana was only disguised as a woman, a sadhvi, but her heart was cruel, a demoness, and yet, Prabhu, you gave her a great status.

So what will you give to these Braj residents, or to those devotees who left their homes, left their wealth, left their families, their beloved ones, their bodies, relationships, kin, life and mind, and offered everything at your feet?

What will you give them? You gave the supreme state even to those who came to feed you poison, who came to kill you. Understand this: those who have left their household, family and all comforts, dwell in the name, form, leela and dham of Bhagavan, and become indebted to him.

Satchidananda Shyamsundar, attachment and aversion, the thieves, steal everything. As long as a soul has not become your devotee, as long as it has not become yours, those thieves keep it bound like a prisoner. Household and relatives keep it bound in chains, and attachment holds it like shackles on the feet.

tavadragadyastenastavatkaragriham griham. Tavanmoh padam bhaktiryavatkrishna na te janAh ॥

As long as people have not become Krishna's own, so long do attachment and the other passions act as thieves, and so long is home a prison, and so long does delusion hold its place.

As long as a soul does not become yours, Prabhu, these attachments and aversions keep stealing its good deeds. As long as the soul does not become your devotee, home and family keep it imprisoned, and attachment keeps it shackled like chains on the feet.

prapancham nishprapanchopi vidambayti bhutle. Prapanna janta soham prathitun tav prabho ॥

Though you are free from the entanglements of the world, you take on the appearance of the world upon the earth, Prabhu, so that the devoted people of the world may be known as yours. Yet you remain untouched by the world's disputes.

Even so, to give infinite joy to the devotees who take refuge in you, you descend to earth and spread out your leela and play, just like the world. My Lord, there is no need to say much. Even those who know your glory, my mind, speech and body are completely incapable of knowing your glory. This is what Brahma ji said.

O Satchidananda Shri Krishna, you are the witness of all, so you know everything. You are the lord of the entire universe, and this whole world rests in you. What more can I say to you? Just one thing I will say.

Accept me, and give me permission to go to your abode. Shyamsundar, you attract the minds and lives of everyone with the sweetness of your form. You are the sun that makes the lotus of the Yadu dynasty bloom. Prabhu, you are also the moon that increases the ocean of the earth, the gods, the Brahmins and the animals. You are like both the sun and the moon in destroying the dense darkness of night, which is the religion of hypocrites. You, who destroy the demons who live on the earth, are the supreme object of worship even for the moon, the sun and all the gods.

"O Bhagavan, may I spend my whole life, for the span of a great kalpa, doing nothing but bowing to you." Parikshit, Brahma ji, the creator of the world, praised Lord Shri Krishna in this way. After that he circumambulated him three times, which is wrong. Shri Krishna is circumambulated four times.

it bhumanam tr parikram padyo natwabhashtam jagat dhata swadham pratya
Having circumambulated him three times and bowed at his feet, Brahma, creator of the worlds, returned to his own abode.

Bhagavan neither spoke nor looked at him, so Brahma ji became so alarmed that he circumambulated three times. Bhagavan did not say a single word to Brahmaloka, because he had caused the cowherd friends and the calves to be separated from him for a year. Brahma ji had already sent the calves and cowherd boys back to their original place. Shri Krishna saw that Brahma ji had offered his praise and taken his leave.

Just so, with the same herd of cows and calves, he came to the sacred sandbank of the Yamuna and began playing with the cowherd friends. Though a full year had passed in Shri Krishna's separation, the life and breath of all beings, they did not feel it, because of Yogamaya. All the living beings of the world are bewildered by that same maya. Even when the scriptures and elders explain again and again, they constantly forget their Lord. This maya is such that it makes the jiva forget, deprives it of remembrance of Bhagavan, and makes it remember the world. On seeing him, the sakhas said, "Bhaiya Kanhaiya, welcome! Welcome! You took a long time bringing the calves."

"We have not yet eaten a single morsel. A year has gone by, and they are seeing these events as if they were happening in the present. Come, eat with joy." Laughing, Bhagavan said, "Yes," and then they ate. Then he showed them the skeleton of Aghasura. In one year it had dried up completely into a skeleton.

Shri Krishna has a lovely crown of peacock feathers on his head. His curly hair is beautiful and wonderfully fragrant, decorated with flowers, and his dark body is painted by the sakhas with newly made, colorful minerals. He is coming toward Braj, playing the flute loudly.

barhapeed natavravpuh karnayoh karnikar vichitratang prodam venu dal shrangsava vsa gran geet pavitra kirti
Wearing a peacock-feather crown, the best of dancers in form, with a karnikara flower behind his ear, wearing yellow garments and a garland of Vaijayanti flowers, filling the holes of the flute with the nectar of his lips, the one whose sacred glories are sung by the cowherd boys, entered Vrindavan.

He is coming home. Behind him the cowherd boys sing the sacred glories of the Lord. Sometimes he calls the cows by name, and he comes running with a roar. The gopis stand on both sides of the path. With sidelong glances, the Lord gives joy to everyone. In this way the Lord entered the cowpen. In Braj the boys told everyone that Kanhaiya Bhaiya had killed Aghasura, but only after a year. Parikshit, understand why. Because they had remained in Brahma's trance for a year, they only came and told this after a year, because only after a year did they regain their consciousness. All living beings love with love for their own self.

People love their sons, wealth, and family because they believe these bring happiness to their own self. So the dearest thing in the world is the self, and the Self of that self is Shri Krishna. He is our life, our breath, our life-force, and our all. Those who regard the body as the self love the body so much that they love nothing else. If their body is harmed, they can even destroy their son or their family. From this we learn that I am not the body. The body is only a framework for me. The self within it is "I." The jiva should reflect on this. All sinful conduct is done by identifying oneself with the body. Nothing is dearer than one's own self. Look, when it departs, they burn the body, however dear the relative may have been. In the moving and unmoving world, the dearest thing is one's own self. And who is that self? Paramatma Shri Krishna. Understand this Shri Krishna as the Self of all selves. For the welfare of the world, he has taken a human form and is performing his leelas. Those who know the true nature of Lord Shri Krishna know that the whole moving and unmoving world is Shri Krishna.

mat par tart kinchit Dhananjay
There is nothing whatsoever higher than me, O Dhananjaya.

Apart from Shri Krishna, nothing exists. Those who have taken shelter in the boat of the feet of the Lord, whose glories are holy, and who regard the saints as their all, will find it no hard matter to cross this ocean of worldly existence. It is like the water in a calf's hoofprint: when a calf is made to walk, one can cross that water with no trouble. In the same way, those who take shelter at the lotus feet of the Lord and regard the saints as their everything will surely be blessed. This world, the abode of calamities, does not bring calamity to one who has satsang, who meditates on the Lord's naam, and who takes refuge in the Lord.

Parikshit, you asked how the cowherd boys, in the sixth year, described the Lord's leelas of the fifth year. I have told you its whole secret. The forest play of Shri Krishna with the cowherd boys, the killing of Aghasura, sitting on green grass to eat, taking on the unreal form of a calf, taking the form of the sakhas, and Brahma's praise: whoever hears this episode will have all his sins destroyed, and he will attain whatever he seeks, whether dharma, artha, kama, or moksha. In this way Shri Krishna and Balram, in keeping with their childhood, gave happiness to the people of Braj through many leelas: hide-and-seek, building a bridge, and leaping and jumping about like monkeys.

The rest of the discussion: Shri Radhavallabh Lal.

yah path video ke swachalit (auto-generated) upasheershkon se liya gaya hai — ismen shabdon ki trutiyan ho sakti hain. Pramanik vachan ke liye video avashya sunen.

This text is taken from the video's auto-generated subtitles, so it may contain word errors. For authentic words, be sure to listen to the video.

Original video: Shri Hit Radha Kripa (YouTube)