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The following is an excerpt from a lecture given by Shrila Prabhupada in 1968. "In the gross material concept of life we are under the impression that "I am this body." Therefore we are concerned with the senses. If our senses are gratified, we think we are now satisfied. So this is the gross type of existence, I mean to say, existence of ignorance. Illusion. Maya. When one is under the thought that "I am this," this is illusion. Illusion means you accept something, something is presented as reality, and you accept it. Just like the example is given, water in the desert. Mirage. There is no water, but a..., an animal is hankering, is running after water in the desert. That is practical, that due to sunshine there is a reflection, it appears in the desert. Sometimes you might have seen -- not here; in India we have seen several times -- that exactly as vast water, and it is reflecting, the reflection. That is called mirage. There is not a drop of water, but the animal, when he is thirsty, he..., it thinks that "There is water." He jumps into the desert and the water is going ahead, going ahead, and he is running after it and then dies. So this illusion, that "I am this body." So we are after this sense gratification. Body means the senses. So that is mirage, illusion, just like the animal is running after water in the desert." (Bhagavad-gita As It Is Introduction – November 23, 1968 , Los Angeles)

His Holiness Vishnujana Swami, an early disciple of Shrila Prabhupada explains all about Lord Jagannatha, the festival Ratha Yatra and Krsna consciousness behind it. To explain a little bit about our festival today, the philosophical significance is also very, very enchanting. These Deities you see here on the top of the stage are -- Lord Jagannatha, the blackish-colored Deity, Subhadra in the middle, His divine energy, and Baladeva on the far right-hand side, His expansion. These three Deities of Krishna are considered materially as incomplete. They appear to be like incomplete dolls, or dolls that weren't quite fashioned completely and then were painted. And the beauty of these Deities is that thousands of years ago, a King who was a great devotee of Lord Krishna was anxious to have a form of the Lord within his house, and he asked that another great devotee carve the beautiful form of Krishna so that he could engage his material senses in the service of Krishna, even in his home. This is the purpose of Deity worship, to engage our material senses in the service of Krishna. We can cook for the Deity, dance for the Deity, sing for the Deity, in this way the whole house becomes centered around the Deity. So this devotee King asked a great demigod from another planet to carve the form of Krishna, so beautiful that it would enchant his mind. And the demigod from the heavenly planet agreed to carve the form of the Lord, if the King would not interrupt him while he was carving this form. He wanted to meditate in perfect tranquility while he was carving the form of the Lord. But the king was so anxious to see the Deity that was being carved, he broke down the door and the demigod immediately disappeared and left the Deities apparently in an unfinished state. But because from the very conception of the mind of the carver devotion and love was there for Krishna, therefore Krishna had agreed to appear in the form even though it was materially incomplete. So these Deities of Krishna, His sister Subhadra and His divine brother, Balarama, these Deities are actually, completely the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This may be difficult to understand, but just like in the Bible, most of you have read parts of the Bible at least, you know that Moses was experiencing God in the form of a burning bush. So sometimes people blame us, they say, "You Hare Krishna people, you are idol worshipers," but Moses then is a bush worshiper. You see? [laughter] If God wants to appear in a bush, He can, and if He wants to appear in a pillar of fire, a pillar of smoke, or sound, or wood, or stone, or a tree, or your heart, He can do whatever He pleases. So don't try to limit Him, saying that "God can't do this" and "God can't do that" -- He can do whatever He likes. So Krishna is perfectly present in the form of Lord Jagannatha, perfectly present. And this festival that we had carrying these Deities through the park, originally this festival, some of you that were with us say several years ago, you remember going all the way to the ocean, don't you, some of you that were here. Well, this is the theme of the festival, actually: it's a sea journey with Lord Krishna, and the theme is "bringing Krishna into your heart." That's the theme of this festival. Now, how to attract Krishna. Krishna has unlimited beauty. Krishna has unlimited knowledge. Krishna has unlimited wealth, unlimited fame, unlimited renunciation. So how to attract someone that has all these opulences? How to attract Him is by love. He is very difficult to attract because He is attracting everything. How to attract the all-attractive? By love, by pure devotion. Krishna says in the Bhagavad-Gita to Arjuna, He says, "Arjuna, I can be understood, as I am standing before you, only by unmotivated devotional love, devotional service." So if we want to capture Krishna, we want to bring Krishna into our heart, you see, then we have to develop unconditional love, unmotivated love for Krishna. That's the theme of this festival. That let everyone come and pull the cart of the Lord and bring the Lord into his heart. This theme has actually been ordered by our Spiritual Master to be executed in over 200 cities a year. He's asking us to take these carts apart and then set them up in some other city, and do the same festival over and over again, until all of America has the opportunity to bring Krishna into their heart. This festival is very significant. A child can understand it. Externally, it's a very beautiful festival and internally for one who actually pulls the cart, dances and chants and sees the form of the Deity on the cart, he feels himself becoming free from millions of lifetimes of karma. He feels that by clapping and dancing, all the reactions of many lifetimes are washed away from his consciousness, and he can actually experience an emotional desire to love Krishna, to bring Krishna with him everywhere. This festival was held 5,000 years ago during Lord Krishna's appearance on this planet. Lord Krishna came to a field during a solar eclipse, and during that solar eclipse everyone was bathing in the water for purification, taking advantage of the auspicious moment. And the greatest devotee of Krishna, Her name is Radha. If you look over here on the left-hand side of the stage there are two Deities of the divine couple, Radha and Krishna. This divine couple is the source of all couples in this material world and in the spiritual world. And this greatest devotee of Krishna, Radha, She saw Krishna dressed in His battle array as a king, but She desired to bring Him back to the rural atmosphere, the village atmosphere, the forest atmosphere of intimate love. And therefore Radharani's mood of seeing Krishna dressed in battle array is that She wants to bring Him back to the most intimate pastimes of love of Godhead. The most intimate pastimes are called the pastimes of Vrindavan. If you read this Krishna Book, you'll see a beautiful book display over here, and there's one book called the Krishna Book and it deals with the unlimited, beautiful pastimes of Radha and Krishna, this divine couple, and of Krishna's rural pastimes in the forest of Vrindavan. That Vrindavan is still there in India as a wonderful, holy place. It has over 5,000 temples in it, and our Spiritual Master was living there before coming to this country. The atmosphere of Vrindavan is the most intimate love for Krishna, and actually Vrindavan is being created right here today, because by this chanting, by this dancing, our hearts are actually melting and we're getting the opportunity to develop the most intimate love for Krishna. By Lord Chaitanya's mercy, you saw the two figures of Lord Chaitanya and Lord Nityananda, the two brothers chanting and dancing. They began this chanting and dancing 500 years ago, and it's been spreading and predicted to spread all over this universe -- not just this planet, but all over this universe this wave of love for Krishna is actually flowing on. So we're pioneers of Lord Chaitanya's prophecy; everyone here is actually becoming part of His prophecy, and in every town and every village, on every street corner, people will gather together singing and dancing and solving all the problems of life. So go on like this, singing, dancing together -- whenever you get together in each other's homes, instead of simply gratifying each other's senses, why not sit down together and dance together and meditate on the Absolute. Just imagine if every time we went into a house, our friends gathered together with us and sung the glories of the Absolute. How wonderful our consciousness would become, and how many of the problems of our consciousness and the world would be solved! So this is our warm invitation to all of you, that you join us in developing our consciousness. The Hare Krishna movement has established a beautiful center in Berkeley. They're also establishing a new center here in San Francisco, you'll have to ask the devotees where the new center is going to be. So there'll be two centers of the Hare Krishna movement, and you'll be more than welcome to come and join us in chanting and dancing. If you can't do it at your friend's house, at least come to the temple and do it with us, 'cause we do it every night, every morning, in fact we do it twenty-four hours a day. So you're welcome to come to any of our communities and join us in this blissful process. Again, for those of you that are actually interested in experiencing what a monk's life is like, there are several of the older disciples of the Krishna Consciousness movement in these buses, and you're welcome to talk to them and ask them questions about what it means to become a monk for a while. Hare Krishna! We'll begin chanting some beautiful songs. Ratha-Yatra Address, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco -- Summer 1975

Sometimes there is a misconception about the worship of demigods. The following quotes from Shrila Prabhupada shed light on this topic. visaya-trso nara-pasavo ya upasate vibhutir na param tvam tesam asisa isa tad anu vinasyanti yatha raja-kulam TRANSLATION O Lord, O Supreme, unintelligent persons who thirst for sense enjoyment and who worship various demigods are no better than animals in the human form of life. Because of their animalistic propensities, they fail to worship Your Lordship, and instead they worship the insignificant demigods, who are but small sparks of Your glory. With the destruction of the entire universe, including the demigods, the benedictions received from the demigods also vanish, just like the nobility when a king is no longer in power. The Bhagavad-gita (7.20) says, kamais tais tair hrta jnanah prapadyante 'nya-devatah: "Those whose minds are distorted by material desires surrender unto the demigods." Similarly, this verse condemns worship of the demigods. We may show our respect to the demigods, but the demigods are not worshipable. The intelligence of those who worship the demigods is lost (hrta jnanah) because these worshipers do not know that when the entire material cosmic manifestation is annihilated, the demigods, who are the departmental heads of that manifestation, will be vanquished. When the demigods are vanquished, the benedictions given by the demigods to unintelligent men will also be vanquished. Therefore a devotee should not hanker to obtain material opulence by worshiping the demigods, but should engage in the service of the Lord, who will satisfy all his desires. akamah sarva-kamo va moksa-kama udara-dhih tivrena bhakti-yogena yajeta purusam param "Whether full of all material desires, free from material desires or desiring liberation, a person who has broader intelligence must by all means worship the supreme whole, the Personality of Godhead." (SB 2.3.10) This is the duty of a perfect human being. One who has the shape of a human being but whose actions are nothing but those of an animal is called nara-pasu or dvipada-pasu, a two-legged animal. A human being who is not interested in Krishna consciousness is condemned herewith as a nara-pasu. SB 6.16.38 purport “That is another feature of Lord Chaitanya. He taught in that instruction that there is no need of worshiping demigods. The incident is that in India the unmarried girls, they are encouraged to worship Lord Siva especially in the month of Vaisakha, March-April. And they will go to the Ganges side and prepare Shivalinga, and they’ll… That means Shiva will be pleased upon them to offer a husband like Lord Shiva. Shiva is very peaceful and very great devotee and most powerful at the same time. So that is the ideal husband. So they brought worshipable paraphernalia for worshiping Siva on the bank of the Ganges, and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, as naughty boy, approached them. “Oh, my dear sister, what you are doing? Oh, you have brought so many nice things. Give it to Me, and Lord Shiva will be very much pleased. Oh, you are worshiping Durga? She is My maidservant and Lord Shiva is a great devotee of Me. So you please offer Me all these things; they will be satisfied. You don’t require to offer separately.” By this, He wanted to instruct that worshiping the Supreme Lord is the appeasement of other demigods. You don’t require[…]“ (Lord Caitanya Play Told to Tamala Krsna – August 4, 1969, Los Angeles) “Jayapataka: Why did Krishna have all the demigod worship put in the Vedas? Prabhupada: Hm? Jayapataka: They put… Vyasadeva put all the demigod worship in the Vedas. Prabhupada: For the karmis. Ksipra bhavati… What is that? Kam kanta… Jayapataka: Karmanam siddhi. Prabhupada: Karmanam siddhi yajanti iha devata. Who is interested to take bhakti immediately? Nobody is interested. Jayapataka: They can get their material facilities from Krishna also. Prabhupada: Yes. That is recommended. First of all sastra recommends that if you want this thing you worship this deity, this deity. In this way, at last it is said that you can get anything if you worship Krishna. That is said. Akamah sarvo kama v moksa kama udara dhi tivrena bhakti-yogena. That is for the purpose that if he wants to take advantage, material benefit from Krishna, then Krishna bhajana will be there, gradually they will forget this material benefit. They will become pure devotee. Just like Dhruva Maharaja became. Svamin krtartho ‘smi vara na yace.“ Morning Walk – November 21, 1975, Bombay “You may know also that Ramakrishna’s worship of Kali makes him a third class man. In the Bhagavad-gita it is stated that one who worships the demigods just like Brahma, Shiva, Indra, Chandra or demigoddesses like Kali, Durga, Sarasvati, etc., are described as persons who have lost their intelligence.” (Letter to Satsvarupa — Los Angeles 25 February, 1968) “You know that we have refused even the Hindu people to hold demigod worship in our temple […] As a matter of fact, we should not allow anyone to hold any function in our temple, otherwise than Vaishnava principle” (Letter to Hamsaduta , 10th October 1968)

Sometimes, the supreme personality of Godhead descends from the spiritual world to enact pastimes for the conditioned living entities. Shrila Prabhupada explains the reason why in this Shrimad Bhagavatam purport.    As mentioned above, the cosmic creation is the property of the Supreme Lord. This is the basic philosophy of Ishopanishad: everything is the property of the Supreme Being. No one should encroach upon the property of the Supreme Lord. One should accept only what is kindly awarded by Him. Therefore, the earth or any other planet or universe is the absolute property of the Lord. The living beings are certainly His parts and parcels, or sons, and thus every one of them has a right to live at the mercy of the Lord to execute his prescribed work. No one, therefore, can encroach upon the right of another individual man or animal without being so sanctioned by the Lord. The king or the administrator is the representative of the Lord to look after the management of the Lord’s will. He must therefore be a recognized person like Maharaja Yudhisthira or Parikshit. Such kings have full responsibility and knowledge from authorities about the administration of the world. But at times, due to the influence of the ignorance mode of material nature (tamo-guna), the lowest of the material modes, kings and administrators come into power without knowledge and responsibility, and such foolish administrators live like animals for the sake of their own personal interest. The result is that the whole atmosphere becomes surcharged with anarchy and vicious elements. Nepotism, bribery, cheating, aggression and, therefore, famine, epidemic, war and similar other disturbing features become prominent in human society. And the devotees of the Lord or the faithful are persecuted by all means. All these symptoms indicate the time of an incarnation of the Lord to reestablish the principles of religion and to vanquish the maladministrators. This is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita. The Lord then appears in His transcendental form without any tinge of material qualities. He descends just to keep the state of His creation in a normal condition. The normal condition is that the Lord has provided each and every planet with all the needs of the native living beings. They can happily live and execute their predestined occupations to attain salvation at the end, following the rules and regulations mentioned in the revealed scriptures. The material world is created to satisfy the whims of the nitya-baddha,or everlasting conditioned souls, just as naughty boys are provided with playing cradles. Otherwise, there was no need of the material world. But when they become intoxicated with the power of material science to exploit the resources unlawfully without the sanction of the Lord, and that also only for sense gratification, there is necessity of the Lord’s incarnation to chastise the rebellious and to protect the faithful. When He descends, He exhibits superhuman acts just to prove His supreme right, and materialists like Ravana, Hiranyakashipu and Kamsa are sufficiently punished. He acts in a manner which no one can imitate. For example, the Lord, when He appeared as Rama, bridged the Indian Ocean. When He appeared as Krishna, from His very childhood He showed superhuman activities by killing Putana, Aghasura, Shakatasura, Kaliya, etc., and then His maternal uncle Kamsa. When He was at Dvaraka He married 16,108 queens, and all of them were blessed with a sufficient number of children. The sum total of His personal family members amounted to about 100,000, popularly known as the Yadu-vamsa. And again, during His lifetime, He managed to vanquish them all. He is famous as the Govardhana-dhari Hari because He lifted at the age of only seven the hill known as Govardhana. The Lord killed many undesirable kings in His time, and as a kshatriya He fought chivalrously. He is famous as asamordhva, unparalleled. No one is equal to or greater than Him. S.B 1.10.25 Purport

Sometimes we think spiritual life means something very dry and cumbersome, however Shrila Prabhupada explains that spiritual life is actually full of enjoyment. In the Vedic literature you will find that God has expanded Himself into many, just like the father expands himself into many children. The children is nothing but expansions of the body of the father. Similarly, we, all living entities, spiritual parts or living souls, we are also expansion of the supreme spirit. Now, the reason is, why the supreme spirit soul expanded himself into so many? What is the purpose? We have to understand. Now you can take the example. What is the purpose of father's expanding himself into children? A father takes the responsibility of maintaining the children. Why? Why he takes such, I mean, a grave responsibility, a family man. That "why" is answered -- just to have happy and enjoyable life. That's all. Similarly, God has expanded into so many living entities because He wants enjoyment. He wants enjoyment. Because you will find in the Vedic literature that the nature of God is sac-cid-ananda-vigraha [Bs. 5.1]. Anandamayo 'bhyasat: (Vedanta-sutra 1.1.12)"By nature He is enjoying." So we must understand that God has expanded Himself into so many living entities just for His enjoyment. Now, we are meant for... Just like sons, children are meant for satisfying the father, similarly this is a common sense affair, that we living entities, we are meant for satisfying the Supreme. That satisfaction of the Supreme can be done by performance of yajna. That is the beginning. So here it is prescribed that yajnarthat karmanah anyatra [Bg. 3.9]. That is... We have discussed. Yajna-sistasinah santo mucyante sarva-kilbisaih [Bg. 3.13]. If we perform sacrifice for the satisfaction of the Supreme, then the result will be that we shall be free from all reaction of our sinful life. And if we do not do that, bhunjate te tv agham papa ye pacanty atma-karanat. Atma-karanat means simply for his own sense gratification. Now, that yajna, I have... Several times before you I have explained. Asnati. Asnati means one who eats. So our yajna begins from the eating, because eating is the first item of the necessity of our life. Eating, sleeping, fearing, and mating. Now, eating is essential. So here in the Bhagavad-gita openly speaks that just control your eating process in the yajna. Just begin your karma-yoga from the eating formula. Then, gradually, other things will develop. Because our senses... There are so many senses. We have got the eyes, the ear, the nose, the tongue, the hand, the leg, and so many. We have got ten, ten senses, sensory organs and working organs. So these organs there are. Out of all the organs, the tongue is the most uncontrollable organ, tongue. When we eat... Perhaps those devotees who eat with us, we chant this, that sarira abidya-jal jodendriya tahe kal: "This body is the encagement of our nescience, of our ignorance. And in that body the senses are our greatest enemies. Out of that, the tongue is the most powerful enemy." Ta'ra madhye jihwa ati lobhamoy sudurmati. Lobhamoy sudurmati. Because tongue is always hankering after palatable things, and it is making me bound up in so many reactions of my life... That is the secret. Therefore, in the Bhagavad-gita, in the beginning, the karma-yoga begins with the tongue. Yajna-sistasinah santah. We have to eat. Now, we have to control the tongue first. How we can control the tongue? By offering sacrifice. By offering, we have to take foodstuff for maintaining our body. Now, if we offer the foodstuff, preparing to the Lord, that is called yajna. Yajna is not very difficult thing. You are preparing foodstuff for eating at your home. You have simply to prepare that foodstuff in a nice way so that you can offer to Krishna. That's all. Your process of eating or your process of securing ingredients for eating, or your cooking, nothing is stopped. Only, only thing is required that instead of cooking for yourself for the satisfaction of your tongue, you please cook it for satisfaction of Krishna. And take the prasadam afterwards. Now, take for example the other day we had some feasting. We cooked it nicely and offered Krishna, and then you took. What was the difficulty there? Was there any difficulty? So many gentlemen, you are present here who partook of that prasadam. How nicely it was prepared and how we enjoyed. So is yajna a very difficult thing? So it is not at all difficult. Simply we have to adopt the principles. That's all. And if we adopt that principle... Here it is clearly said that yajna-sistasinah santah. Santa means these things are arranged by pious men and devotees of the Lord. Ordinary men, they don't care: "What is this nonsense yajna? Let us go to the hotel and take to our palatable things." You see? That is another thing. But those who are serious about solving the problems of life, let them take to this yajna principle. Is it very difficult? Not at all. It is rather pleasurable. What do you think. Mr. Green? You were also present that day. Did you not like? Green: Oh, yes. Prabhupada: So yajna is not difficult. Now, if by doing that yajna, if we become free from all reactions, then why should we not do it? Why should we not do it? There is no difficulty. There is no question of difficulty. Rather, it is a thing of pleasure, ananda. The whole thing is ananda. Ananda means pleasure. Enjoyment. Spiritual life does not mean that void of enjoyment, no. It is full of enjoyment. We are seeking after enjoyment, but that enjoyment is hampered by our material existence. We do not know. We are trying to squeezing out the senses and trying to have material pleasure. This is nonsense because we do not know what is spiritual life. Spiritual life means unlimited, unlimited pleasure. Bhagavad-gita 3.13-16 -- New York, May 23, 1966

Lord Chaitanya is the most recent incarnation of Krishna, hailing on earth only 500 years ago. He left behind him only 8 verses, teaching us how to perform devotional service. These 8 verses are recited every morning during the B.L.I.S.S Mangal arati morning meditation programme. Lord Chaitanya is the most munificent incarnation of Krishna ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaḿ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇaḿ śreyaḥ-kairava-candrikā-vitaraṇaḿ vidyā-vadhū-jīvanam ānandāmbudhi-vardhanaḿ prati-padaḿ pūrṇāmṛtāsvādanaḿ sarvātma-snapanaḿ paraḿ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-sańkīrtanam Glory to the sri-krsna-sankirtana, which cleanses the heart of all the dust accumulated for years and extinguishes the fire of conditional life, of repeated birth and death. This sankirtana movement is the prime benediction for humanity at large because it spreads the rays of the benediction moon. It is the life of all transcendental knowledge. It increases the ocean of transcendental bliss, and it enables us to fully taste the nectar for which we are always anxious.   nāmnām akāri bahudhā nija-sarva-śaktis tatrārpitā niyamitaḥ smaraṇe na kālaḥ etādṛśī tava kṛpā bhagavan mamāpi durdaivam īdṛśam ihājani nānurāgaḥ O my Lord, Your holy name alone can render all benediction to living beings, and thus You have hundreds and millions of names, like Krsna and Govinda. In these transcendental names You have invested all Your transcendental energies. There are not even hard and fast rules for chanting these names. O my Lord, out of kindness You enable us to easily approach You by Your holy names, but I am so unfortunate that I have no attraction for them.  tṛṇād api sunīcena taror api sahiṣṇunā amāninā mānadena kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ One should chant the holy name of the Lord in a humble state of mind, thinking oneself lower than the straw in the street; one should be more tolerant than a tree, devoid of all sense of false prestige, and should be ready to offer all respect to others. In such a state of mind one can chant the holy name of the Lord constantly.   na dhanaḿ na janaḿ na sundarīḿ kavitāḿ vā jagad-īśa kāmaye mama janmani janmanīśvare bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī tvayi O almighty Lord, I have no desire to accumulate wealth, nor do I desire beautiful women nor do I want any number of followers. I only want Your causeless devotional service, birth after birth.   ayi nanda-tanuja kińkaraḿ patitaḿ māḿ viṣame bhavāmbudhau kṛpayā tava pāda-pańkaja- sthita-dhūlī-sadṛśaḿ vicintaya O son of Maharaja Nanda (Krsna), I am Your eternal servitor, yet somehow or other I have fallen into the ocean of birth and death. Please pick me up from this ocean of death and place me as one of the atoms at Your lotus feet.   nayanaḿ galad-aśru-dhārayā vadanaḿ gadgada-ruddhayā girā pulakair nicitaḿ vapuḥ kadā tava nāma-grahaṇe bhaviṣyati   O my Lord, when will my eyes be decorated with tears of love flowing constantly when I chant Your holy name? When will my voice choke up, and when will the hairs of my body stand on end at the recitation of Your name? yugāyitaḿ nimeṣeṇa cakṣuṣā prāvṛṣāyitam śūnyāyitaḿ jagat sarvaḿ govinda-viraheṇa me O Govinda! Feeling Your separations I am considering a moment to be like twelve years or more. Tears are flowing from my eyes like torrents of rain, and I am feeling all vacant in the world in Your absence.   āśliṣya vā pāda-ratāḿpinaṣṭu mām adarśanān marma-hatāḿ karotu vā yathā tathā vā vidadhātu lampaṭo mat-prāṇa-nāthas tu sa eva nāparaḥ I know no one but Krsna as my Lord, and He shall remain so even if He handles me roughly by His embrace or makes me brokenhearted by not being present before me. He is completely free to do anything and everything, for He is always my worshipful Lord, unconditionally If anyone recites or hears these eight verses of instruction by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, his ecstatic love and devotion for Krishna increase day by day.

The first full moon of the autumn season marks the celebration of Krishna's dancing with the gopis, otherwise known as Rasa Yatra. Here is chapter 32 from Shrila Prabhupada's Krsna Book, describing the beautiful pastime. Krishna does the rasa dance with the gopis of Vrindavan Thus hearing the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, speaking to pacify them, the gopis became very much pleased. And not only by hearing His words, but also by touching the hands and legs of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they became completely relieved from the great suffering of separation. After this, the Supreme Personality of Godhead began His rasa dance. When one dances in the midst of many girls, it is called a rasa dance. So Krishna began to dance among the most beautiful and fortunate girls within the three worlds. The gopis of Vrndavana, who were so attracted to Him, danced with Krishna, hand in hand. Krishna’s rasa dance should never be compared with any kind of material dance, such as a ball dance or a society dance. The rasa dance is a completely spiritual performance. In order to establish this fact, Krishna, the supreme mystic, expanded Himself in many forms and stood beside each gopi. Placing His hands on the shoulders of the gopis on both sides of Him, He began to dance in their midst. The mystic expansions of Krishna were not perceived by the gopis because Krishna appeared alone to each of them. Each gopi thought that Krishna was dancing with her alone. Above that wonderful dance flew many airplanes carrying the denizens of the heavenly planets, who were very anxious to see the wonderful dance of Krishna with the gopis. The Gandharvas and the Kinnaras began to sing, and, accompanied by their respective wives, all the Gandharvas began to shower flowers on the dancers. As the gopis and Krishna danced together, a very blissful musical sound was produced from the tinkling of their bells, ornaments and bangles. It appeared that Krishna was a greenish sapphire locket in the midst of a golden necklace decorated with valuable stones. While Krishna and the gopis danced they displayed extraordinary bodily features. The movements of their legs, their placing their hands on one another, the movements of their eyebrows, their smiling, the movements of the breasts of the gopis and their clothes, their earrings, their cheeks, their hair with flowers--as they sang and danced these combined together to appear like clouds, thunder, snow and lightning. Krishna’s bodily features appeared just like a group of clouds, their songs were like thunder, the beauty of the gopis appeared to be just like lightning in the sky, and the drops of perspiration visible on their faces appeared like falling snow. In this way, both the gopis and Krishna fully engaged in dancing. The necks of the gopis became tinted with red due to their desire to enjoy Krishna more and more. To satisfy them, Krishna began to clap His hands in time with their singing. Actually the whole world is full of Krishna’s singing, but it is appreciated in different ways by different kinds of living entities. This is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita: ye yatha mam prapadyante. Krishna is dancing, and every living entity is also dancing, but there is a difference in the dancing in the spiritual world and in the material world. This is expressed by the author of Chaitanya-caritamrta, who says that the master dancer is Krishna and everyone is His servant. Everyone is trying to imitate Krishna’s dancing. Those who are actually in Krsna consciousness respond rightly to the dancing of Krishna: they do not try to dance independently. But those in the material world try to imitate Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The living entities are dancing under the direction of Krishna’s maya and are thinking that they are equal to Krishna. But this is not a fact. In Krishna consciousness, this misconception is absent, for a person in Krishna consciousness knows that Krishna is the supreme master and everyone is His servant. One has to dance to please Krishna, not to imitate or to become equal to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The gopis wanted to please Krishna, and therefore as Krishna sang, they responded and encouraged Him by saying, "Well done, well done." Sometimes they presented beautiful music for His pleasure, and He responded by praising their singing. When some of the gopis became very tired from dancing and moving their bodies, they placed their hands on the shoulders of Sri Krishna. Then their hair loosened and flowers fell to the ground. When they placed their hands on Krishna’s shoulder they became overwhelmed by the fragrance of His body which emanated from the lotus, other aromatic flowers, and the pulp of sandalwood. They became filled with attraction for Him, and they began to kiss one another. Some gopis touched Krishna cheek to cheek, and Krishna began to offer them chewed betel nuts from His mouth, which they exchanged with great pleasure by kissing. And by accepting those betel nuts, the gopis spiritually advanced. The gopis became tired after long singing and dancing. Krishna was dancing beside them, and to alleviate their fatigue they took Sri Krishna’s hand and placed it on their raised breasts. Krishna’s hand, as well as the breasts of the gopis, are eternally auspicious; therefore when they combined, both of them became spiritually enhanced. The gopis so enjoyed the company of Krishna, the husband of the goddess of fortune, that they forgot that they had any other husband in the world, and upon being embraced by the arms of Krishna and dancing and singing with Him, they forgot everything. The Shrimad-Bhagavatam thus describes the beauty of the gopis while they were rasa dancing with Krishna. There were lotus flowers over both their ears, and their faces were decorated with sandalwood pulp. They wore tilaka, and there were drops of sweat on their smiling mouths. From their feet came the tinkling sound of ankle bells as well as bangles. The flowers within their hair were falling to the lotus feet of Krishna, and He was very satisfied. As stated in the Brahma-samhita, all these gopis are expansions of Krishna’s pleasure potency. Touching their bodies with His hands and looking at their pleasing eyes, Krishna enjoyed the gopis exactly as a child enjoys playing with the reflection of his body in a mirror. When Krishna touched the different parts of their bodies, the gopis felt surcharged with spiritual energy. They could not adjust their loosened clothes, although they tried to keep them properly. Their hair and garments became scattered, and their ornaments loosened as they forgot themselves in company with Krishna. While Krishna was enjoying the company of the gopis in the rasa dance, the astonished demigods and their wives gathered in the sky. The moon, being afflicted with a sort of lust, began to watch the dance and became stunned with wonder. The gopis had prayed to the goddess Katyayani to have Krishna as their husband. Now Krishna was fulfilling their desire by expanding Himself in as many forms as there were gopis and enjoying them exactly as a husband. Shrila Sukadeva Gosvami has remarked that Krishna is self-sufficient--He is atmarama. He doesn't need anyone else for His satisfaction. Because the gopis wanted Krishna as their husband, He fulfilled their desire. When Krishna saw that the gopis were tired from dancing with Him, He immediately began to smear His hands over their faces so that their fatigue would be satiated. In order to reciprocate the kind hospitality of Krishna, the gopis began to look at Him lovingly. They were overjoyed by the auspicious touch of the hand of Krishna. Their smiling cheeks shone with beauty, and they began to sing the glories of Krishna with transcendental pleasure. As pure devotees, the more the gopis enjoyed Krishna’s company, the more they became enlightened with His glories, and thus they reciprocated with Him. They wanted to satisfy Krishna by glorifying His transcendental pastimes. Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the master of all masters, and the gopis wanted to worship Him for His unusual exhibition of mercy upon them. Both the gopis and Krishna entered the water of the Yamuna just to relieve their fatigue from the rasa dance. The lily flower garlands around the necks of the gopis were strewn to pieces due to their embracing the body of Krishna, and the flowers were reddish from being smeared with the kunkuma on their breasts. The bumblebees were humming about in order to get honey from the flowers. Krishna and the gopis entered the water of Yamuna just as an elephant enters a water tank with his many female companions. Both the gopis and Krishna forgot their real identity, playing in the water, enjoying each others' company and relieving the fatigue of rasa dancing. The gopis began to splash water on the body of Krishna, all the while smiling, and Krishna enjoyed this. As Krishna was taking pleasure in the joking words and splashing water, the demigods in the heavenly planets began to shower flowers. The demigods thus praised the superexcellent rasa dance of Krishna, the supreme enjoyer, and His pastimes with the gopis in the water of Yamuna. After this, Lord Krishna and the gopis came out of the water and began to stroll along the bank of the Yamuna, where a nice breeze was blowing, carrying the aroma of different kinds of flowers over the water and land. While strolling on the bank of the Yamuna, Krishna recited various kinds of poetry. He thus enjoyed the company of the gopis in the soothing moonlight of autumn. Sex desire is especially excited in the autumn season, but the wonderful thing about Krishna’s association with the gopis is that there was no question of sex desire. It was, as clearly stated in the Bhagavata description by Sukadeva Gosvami, avaruddha-sauratah, namely the sex impulse was completely controlled. There is a distinction between Lord Krishna‘s dancing with the gopis and the ordinary dancing of living entities within the material world. In order to clear up further misconceptions about the rasa dance and the affairs of Krishna and the gopis, Maharaja Pariksit, the hearer of Srimad-Bhagavatam, told Sukadeva Gosvami, "Krishna appeared on the earth to establish the regulative principles of religion and to curb the predominance of irreligion. But the behavior of Krishna and the gopis might encourage irreligious principles in the material world. I am simply surprised that He would act in such a way, enjoying the company of others' wives in the dead of night." This statement of Maharaja Pariksit's was very much appreciated by Sukadeva Gosvami. The answer anticipates the abominable acts of the Mayavadi impersonalists who place themselves in the position of Krishna and enjoy the company of young girls and women. The basic Vedic injunctions never allow a person to enjoy sex with any woman except one's own wife. Krishna’s appreciation of the gopis appeared to be distinctly in violation of these rules. Maharaja Pariksit understood the total situation from Sukadeva Gosvami, yet to further clear the transcendental nature of Krishna and the gopis in rasa dance, he expressed his surprise. This is very important in order to check the unrestricted association with women by the prakrta-sahajiya. In his statement, Maharaja Pariksit has used several important words which require clarification. The first word, jugupsitam, means abominable. The first doubt of Maharaja Pariksit was as follows: Lord Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead who has advented Himself to establish religious principles. Why then did He mix with others' wives in the dead of night and enjoy dancing, embracing and kissing? According to the Vedic injunctions, this is not allowed. Also, when the gopis first came to Him, He gave instructions to them to return to their homes. To call the wives of other persons or young girls and enjoy dancing with them is certainly abominable according to the Vedas. Why should Krishna have done this? Another word used here is aptakama. Some may take it for granted that Krishna was very lusty among young girls, but Pariksit Maharaja said that this was not possible. He could not be lusty. First of all, from the material calculation He was only eight years old. At that age a boy cannot be lusty. Aptakama means that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is self-satisfied. Even if He were lusty, He doesn't need to take help from others to satisfy His lusty desires. The next point is that, although not lusty Himself, He might have been induced by the lusty desires of the gopis. But Maharaja Pariksit then used another word, yadu-pati, which indicates that Krishna is the most exalted personality in the dynasty of the Yadus. The kings in the dynasty of Yadu were considered to be the most pious, and their descendants were also like that. Having taken birth in that family, how could Krishna have been induced, even by the gopis ? It is concluded, therefore, that it was not possible for Krishna to do anything abominable. But Maharaja Pariksit was in doubt as to why Krishna acted in that way. What was the real purpose? Another word Maharaja Parikshit used when he addressed Sukadeva Gosvami is suvrata, which means to take a vow to enact pious activities. Sukadeva Gosvami was an educated brahmacari, and under the circumstances, it was not possible for him to indulge in sex. This is strictly prohibited for brahmacharis, and what to speak of a brahmachari like Sukadeva Gosvami. But because the circumstances of the rasa dance were very suspect, Maharaja Parikshit inquired for clarification from Sukadeva Gosvami. Sukadeva Gosvami immediately replied that transgressions of religious principles by the supreme controller testify to His great power. For example, fire can consume any abominable thing; that is the manifestation of the supremacy of fire. Similarly, the sun can absorb water from a urinal or from stool, and the sun is not polluted; rather, due to the influence of sunshine, the polluted, contaminated place becomes disinfected and sterilized. One may also argue that since Krishna is the supreme authority, His activities should be followed. In answer to this question, Sukadeva Gosvami has very clearly said that isvaranam, or the supreme controller, may sometimes violate His instructions, but this is only possible for the controller Himself, not for the followers. Unusual and uncommon activities by the controller can never be imitated. Sukadeva Gosvami warned that the conditioned followers, who are not actually in control, should never even imagine imitating the uncommon activities of the controller. A Mayavadi philosopher may falsely claim to be God or Krishna, but he cannot actually act like Krishna. He can persuade his followers to falsely imitate rasa dance, but he is unable to lift Govardhana Hill. We have many experiences in the past of Mayavadi rascals deluding their followers by posing themselves as Krishna in order to enjoy rasa-lila. In many instances they were checked by the government, arrested and punished. In Orissa, Thakur Bhaktivinode also punished a so-called incarnation of Visnu, who was imitating rasa-lila with young girls. There were many complaints against him. At that time, Bhaktivinode Thakur was magistrate, and the government deputed him to deal with that rascal, and he punished him very severely. The rasa-lila dance cannot be imitated by anyone. Sukadeva Gosvami warns that one should not even think of imitating it. He specifically mentions that if, out of foolishness, one tries to imitate Krishna’s rasa dance, he will be killed, just like a person who wants to imitate Lord Shiva’s drinking of an ocean of poison. Lord Shiva drank an ocean of poison and kept it within his throat. The poison made his throat turn blue; and therefore Lord Shiva is called Nilakanta. But if any ordinary person tries to imitate Lord Shiva by drinking poison or smoking ganja, he is sure to be vanquished and will die within a very short time. Lord Sri Krishna’s dealing with the gopis was under special circumstances. Most of the gopis in their previous lives were great sages, expert in the studies of the Vedas, and when Lord Krishna appeared as Lord Ramachandra they wanted to enjoy with Him. Lord Ramachandra gave them the benediction that their desires would be fulfilled when He would appear as Krishna. Therefore the desire of the gopis to enjoy the appearance of Lord Krishna was long cherished. So they approached goddess Katyayani to have Krishna as their husband. There are many other circumstances also which testify to the supreme authority of Krishna and show that He is not bound to the rules and regulations of the material world. In special cases, He acts as He likes to favor His devotees. This is only possible for Him, because He is the supreme controller. People in general should follow the instructions of Lord Krishna as given in the Bhagavad-gita and should not even imagine imitating Lord Krishna in the rasa dance. Krishna’s lifting of Govardhana Hill, His killing great demons like Putana and others are all obviously extraordinary activities. Similarly, the rasa dance is also an uncommon activity and cannot be imitated by any ordinary man. An ordinary person engaged in his occupational duty, like Arjuna, should execute his duty for the satisfaction of Krishna; that is within his power. Arjuna was a fighter, and Krishna wanted him to fight for His satisfaction. Arjuna agreed, although at first he was not willing to fight. Duties are required for ordinary persons. They should not jump up and try to imitate Krishna and indulge in rasa-lila and thus bring about their ruin. One should know with certainty that Krishna had no personal interest in whatever He did for the benediction of the gopis. As stated in the Bhagavad-gita, na mam karmani limpanti: Krishna never enjoys or suffers the result of His activities. Therefore it is not possible for Him to act irreligiously. He is transcendental to all activities and religious principles. He is untouched by the modes of material nature. He is the supreme controller of all living entities, either in human society, in the demigod society in heavenly planets, or in lower forms of life. He is the supreme controller of all living entities and of material nature; therefore, He has nothing to do with religious or irreligious principles. Sukadeva Gosvami further concludes that the great sages and devotees, who are washed clean of all conditional life, can move freely even within the contamination of material nature by keeping Krishna the Supreme Personality of Godhead within their hearts. In this way also they do not become subject to the laws of pleasure and pain in the modes of material nature. How, then, is it possible for Krishna, who appears in His own internal potency, to be subjected to the laws of karma ? In the Bhagavad-gita the Lord clearly says that whenever He appears He does so by His internal potency; He is not forced to accept a body by the laws of karma like an ordinary living entity. Every other living entity is forced to accept a certain type of body by his previous actions. But when Krishna appears, He always appears in a body; it is not forced upon Him by the action of His past deeds. His body is a vehicle for His transcendental pleasure which is enacted by His internal potency. He has no obligation to the laws of karma. The Mayavadi monist must accept a certain type of body, being forced by the laws of nature; therefore, his claim to be one with Krishna or God is only theoretical. Such persons who claim to be equal with Krishna and indulge in rasa-lila create a dangerous situation for the people in general. Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is already present as Supersoul within the bodies of the gopis and their husbands. He is the guide of all living entities, as is confirmed in the Katha Upanisad, nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam. The Supersoul directs the individual soul to act, and the Supersoul is the actor and witness of all action. It is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita that Krishna is present in everyone's heart, and from Him come all action, remembrance and forgetfulness. He is the original person to be known by Vedic knowledge. He is the author of Vedanta philosophy, and He knows the Vedanta philosophy perfectly well. The so-called Vedantists and Mayavadis cannot understand Krishna as He is; they simply mislead followers by imitating the actions of Krishna in an unauthorized way. Krishna, the Supersoul of everyone, is already within the body of everyone; therefore if He sees someone or embraces someone there is no question of propriety. Some ask that if Krishna is self-sufficient, why should He at all manifest pastimes with the gopis, which are disturbing to the so-called moralists of the world? The answer is that such activities show special mercy to the fallen, conditioned souls. The gopis are also expansions of His internal energy, but because Krishna wanted to exhibit the rasa-lila, they also appeared as ordinary human beings. In the material world, pleasure is ultimately manifested in the sex attraction between man and woman. The man lives simply to be attracted by women, and the woman lives simply to be attracted by men. That is the basic principle of material life. As soon as these attractions are combined, people become more and more implicated in material existence. In order to show them special favor, Krishna exhibited this rasa-lila dance. It is just to captivate the conditioned soul. Since they are very much attracted by sexology, they can enjoy the same life with Krishna and thus become liberated from the material condition. In the Second Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, Maharaja Parikshit also explains that the pastimes and activities of Lord Krishna are medicine for the conditioned souls. If they simply hear about Krishna they become relieved from the material disease. They are addicted to material enjoyment and are accustomed to reading sex literature, but by hearing these transcendental pastimes of Krishna with the gopis, they will be relieved from material contamination. How they should hear and from whom is also explained by Sukadeva Gosvami. The difficulty is that the whole world is full of Mayavadis, and when they become professional reciters of Shrimad-Bhagavatam, and when people, without knowing the effect of the Mayavada philosophy, hear from such persons, they become confused. Discussion of rasa-lila among people in general is not recommended because they are affected by the Mayavada philosophy, but if one who is advanced explains, and people hear from him, certainly the hearers will be gradually elevated to the position of Krishna consciousness and liberated from materially contaminated life. Another important point is that all the gopis who danced with Krishna were not in their material bodies. They danced with Krishna in their spiritual bodies. All their husbands thought that their wives were sleeping by their sides. The so-called husbands of the gopis were already enamored by the influence of the external energy of Krishna; so by dint of this very energy they could not understand that their wives had gone to dance with Krishna. What then is the basis of accusing Krishna of dancing with others' wives? The bodies of the gopis, which were their husbands', were lying in bed, but the spiritual parts and parcels of Krishna were dancing with Him. Krishna is the supreme person, the whole spirit, and He danced with the spiritual bodies of the gopis. There is therefore no reason to accuse Krishna in any way. After the rasa dance was over, the night turned into the brahma-muhurta (the night of Brahma, a very, very long period, as mentioned in the Bhagavad-gita ). The brahma-muhurta takes place about one and a half hours before sunrise. It is recommended that one should rise from bed at that time and, after finishing daily ablutions, take to spiritual activities by performing Mangala-aratrika and chanting the Hare Krishna mantra. This period is very convenient for the execution of spiritual activities. When that auspicious moment arrived, Krishna asked the gopis to leave. Although they were not willing to quit His company, they were very obedient and dear to Him. As soon as Krishna asked them to go home, they immediately left and returned home. Sukadeva Gosvami concludes this episode of rasa-lila by pointing out that if a person hears from the right source of the pastimes of Krishna, who is Visnu Himself, and the gopis, who are expansions of His energy, then he will be relieved from the most dangerous type of disease, namely lust. If one actually hears rasa-lila, he will become completely freed from the lusty desire of sex life and elevated to the highest level of spiritual understanding. Generally, because they hear from Mayavadis and they themselves are Mayavadis, people become more and more implicated in sex life. The conditioned soul should hear the rasa-lila dance from an authorized spiritual master and be trained by him so that he can understand the whole situation; thus one can be elevated to the highest standard of spiritual life, otherwise one will be implicated. Material lust is a kind of heart disease, and to cure the material heart disease of the conditioned soul, it is recommended that one should hear, but not from the impersonalist rascals. If one hears from the right sources with right understanding, then his situation will be different. Sukadeva Gosvami has used the word sraddhanvita for one who is trained in the spiritual life. Sraddha, or faith, is the beginning. One who has developed his faith in Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Supreme Spirit Soul, can both describe and hear. Sukadeva also uses the word anusrnuyat. One must hear from disciplic succession. Anu means following, and anu means always. So one must always follow the disciplic succession and not hear from any stray professional reciter, Mayavadi or ordinary man. Anusrnuyat means that one must hear from an authorized person who is in the disciplic succession and is always engaged in Krishna consciousness. When a person wants to hear in this way, then the effect will be sure. By hearing rasa-lila, one will be elevated to the highest position of spiritual life. Sukadeva Gosvami uses two specific words, bhaktim and param. Bhaktim param means execution of devotional service above the neophyte stage. Those who are simply attracted to temple worship but do not know the philosophy of bhakti are in the neophyte stage. That sort of bhakti is not the perfectional stage. The perfectional stage of bhakti, or devotional service, is completely free from material contamination. The most dangerous aspect of contamination is lust or sex life. Bhaktim param devotional service is so potent that the more one advances in this line, the more he loses his attraction for material life. One who is actually deriving benefit from hearing rasa-lila dance surely achieves the transcendental position. He surely loses all traces of lust in his heart. Shrila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakur points out that according to Bhagavad-gita, the Brahma day and Brahma night are periods of solar years expanding to 4,300,000 multiplied by 1,000. According to Visvanatha Chakravarti Thakur, the rasa dance was performed during the long period of Brahma's night, but the gopis could not understand that. In order to fulfill their desire, Krishna extended the night to cover such a great period of time. One may ask how this was possible, and Visvanatha Chakravarti Thakur reminds us that Krishna, although bound by a small rope, could show His mother the whole universe within His mouth. How was this possible? The answer is that He can do anything for the pleasure of His devotees. Similarly, because the gopis wanted to enjoy Krishna, they were given the opportunity to associate with Him for a long period. This was done according to His promise. When Krishna stole the garments of the gopis while they were taking bath at Cirghat on Yamuna, Krishna promised to fulfill their desire in some future night. In one night, therefore, they enjoyed the company of Krishna as their beloved husband, but that night was not an ordinary night. It was a night of Brahma, and lasted millions and millions of years. Everything is possible for Krishna, for He is the supreme controller.

A Shrimad Bhagavatam class (3.5.47) given by His Grace Purujit Dasa, the founder of the Bhaktivedanta Lives in Sound Society Meditating on nothing tathapare catma-samadhi-yoga- balena jitva prakrtim balistham tvam eva dhirah purusam visanti tesam sramah syan na tu sevaya te Translation Others, who are pacified by means of transcendental self-realization and have conquered over the modes of nature by dint of strong power and knowledge, also enter into You, but for them there is much pain, whereas the devotee simply discharges devotional service and thus feels no such pain. Purport by His Divine Grace A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada: “In terms of a labor of love and its returns, the bhaktas, or devotees of the Lord, always have priority over persons who are addicted to the association of jnanis, or impersonalists, and yogis, or mystics. The word apare (others) is very significant in this connection. "Others" refers to the jnanis and the yogis, whose only hope is to merge into the existence of the impersonal brahma-jyoti. Although their destination is not so important in comparison to the destination of the devotees, the labor of the nondevotees is far greater than that of the bhaktas. One may suggest that there is sufficient labor for the devotees also in the matter of discharging devotional service. But that labor is compensated by the enhancement of transcendental pleasure. The devotees derive more transcendental pleasure while engaged continuously in the service of the Lord than when they have no such engagement. In the family combination of a man and a woman there is much labor and responsibility for both of them, yet when they are single they feel more trouble for want of their united activities. The union of the impersonalists and the union of the devotees are not on a par. The impersonalists try to fully stop their individuality by attaining sayujya-mukti, or unification by merging into oneness, whereas the devotees keep their individuality to exchange feelings in relationship with the supreme individual Lord. Such reciprocation of feelings takes place in the transcendental Vaikuntha planets, and therefore the liberation sought by the impersonalists is already achieved in devotional service. The devotees attain mukti automatically, while continuing the transcendental pleasure of maintaining individuality. As explained in the previous verse, the destination of the devotees is Vaikuntha, or akuntha-dhisnya, the place where anxieties are completely eradicated. One should not mistake the destination of the devotees and that of the impersonalists to be one and the same. The destinations are distinctly different, and the transcendental pleasure derived by the devotee is also distinct from cin-matra, or spiritual feelings alone. So these are the comparisons between the Vaishnavas and the impersonalists. It is not the same. More or less, these shlokas are basically an elaboration of what Krishna explains in the Bhagavad-Gita. In the 12th chapter, called Devotional Service, Arjuna is asking Krishna, ‘Who is superior? The impersonalists, or the personalists?’ One who merges with Your impersonal effulgence, Brahman, or one who approaches You in devotional service? Krishna says that, ‘yes, both achieve Me, but out of those, the one who approaches Me with personal feeling, he's superior. And the impersonalist is simply undergoing unnecessary suffering.’ Krishna says, ‘at last he achieves me, after all this trouble, denying, simply denying.’ The impersonalist’s only activity is denial. Deny the form, deny the personality, deny the face, deny the name, deny the varieties. This philosophy is taken up by people who are frustrated. Of course, we should be frustrated with material existence. That is intelligence. There is no happiness here. Although we try to convince ourselves ‘I'm very happy, I'm very nice’, it is nothing but a shadow reflection of real happiness. Real happiness cannot be found here, in the material world. That is a foolish endeavor. The whole society, they try for temporary pleasure, material sense gratification that culminates in sex pleasure. That's it. In the Shrimad-Bhagavatam, in the second canto, it is stated that the non-devotees simply engage in working very hard during the day, and at night, they do two activities: sleeping and sex. That's all. That's the life of a non-devotee. Working very hard and then enjoying sleeping and sex life. There is no higher aim in their life, no higher goal. Even if there's some culture, even if there's some religious sentiment, everything is aimed towards the satisfaction of these two; sleeping and sex. So that is a lot of suffering. That is lots of misery. That's service. It's simply labor. A labor of love, without love. Simply labor. So someone who's intelligent, someone who's frustrated, he wants to stop that. No more of this. Why do I need this sex? What is this nonsense sex life? Simply rubbing genitals together. The animals also engage in this. And simply for this insignificant two or three seconds of pleasure, I'm working so hard like an ass. Devotees who distribute books have the experience. So many people, how they have to work hard, how they have to rush. ‘Oh, I have to go. I'm so busy’. They have to dress up for work. They're very stressed out. Every day going to work, and with all this work, what do they manufacture? Simply some atomic bombs. If you analyze the type of work people are engaged in, it's simply this nonsense advertisement business. Buy this, buy that. Or financial scamming. How to scam other countries for money, who then have to slave it off. And the western people, they enjoy it very nicely. Or they manufacture nice atomic bombs so the whole world can be destroyed. People are often accusing, ‘Oh, you're not working’. Yes - we are not working on your stupid bombs. We don't want to participate in destroying this world with your nonsense work. The real work, from the material point of view, that is truly needed, is growing food. Taking care of cows, milking cows, cooking, making ghee, cheese, and cloth- the real necessities of life, not these cell phones and cheating and all kinds of sense gratification, like virtual reality. Just see, there's virtual reality, the internet, and so on. Why is it here? Because people have lost their spiritual side. There's no spiritual life. Religion is taken as some kind of a sentiment. People actually don't have any respect for religion. If you say, ‘I want to preach religion’. It's all finished. This is not scientific, they say. Because people are not satisfied with gross sense gratification, they have now developed this subtle world, AI world... you cannot touch or smell, you can only see and hear. Maybe you can touch the screen a little bit. You play with the buttons, that's all. But suppose you want to touch my hands, you cannot. It's a subtle world. This gross world I can touch, I can smell, I can eat, I can do so many things. They have developed this, because of the desire for spiritual life, transcendental life. They want to transcend. This Facebook is also a form of transcendence. We have transcended the geographical distances. Now we can meet together and have a Bhagavatam class, although some of you are thousands and thousands of miles away from London. So, they're manufacturing these things. But unless you come to Krishna, you will not be satisfied with this either. This is another shadow reflection. Again, an imitation of spiritual reality. So, people are wasting their time working on unnecessarily creating gross sense or subtle sense gratification for others. Unless they understand that they are not the body, they are not the senses, they are not the mind, they will not be satisfied. They will go on searching, inventing things. Technological advancement is going very, very fast. Now the AI has advanced to the point that two GPTs are talking to one another. Have you heard this? Two GPTs. Have you seen this? This is crazy, huh? I posted the video on my timeline. Two GPTs are talking to one another. They're talking about the humans: “Oh, he's there. This guy is watching us”. I don't know how this is possible. There's some technological magic. They can invent so much nonsense. Unless you come to the soul, you will not be satisfied. That is the aim of life. Even the atheists will agree. The aim of life is to enjoy. An interviewer asked this to Prabhupada, he said, “What is the aim of life, Swamiji?”. And everybody thought Prabhupada was going to say spiritual practice and austerity, or knowledge. But Prabhupada said simply ‘to enjoy’. That is the aim of life. So devotees are enjoying by service. It's very nice what Prabhupada explains here. One may suggest there is sufficient labor for the devotees also, in the matter of discharging devotional service. Some might say that ‘Oh, you're also working. You say that, oh, these karmis are working hard like asses, they have to go to work. But you have to wake up early, you have to sweep the floor, you have to do so many services, then you have to go in front of Prabhupada and report your services. So much labor. This is horrible. This is slavery. Serving and no salary. At least I have a salary, but you're working, working for Krishna, and you have no salary. What is this?’. But Prabhupada says that the labor of the devotees is compensated by the enhancement of transcendental pleasure. Transcendental pleasure. This is the unique feature of Krishna conscious work. Why don't people like to work? Because they do not derive any pleasure from working. They derive pleasure from the fruits of their labor. If they get a salary, they can spend money, they can buy things to satisfy their senses. But working itself, nobody likes that. So the unique feature of Krishna conscious devotional service is that while performing devotional service, the devotees derive pleasure. In other words, the pleasure is derived not by enjoying the fruits of devotional service, but by devotional service itself. Devotees experience this while distributing books. You feel transcendental pleasure by distributing these books. And all the money collected goes straight to the temple. No devotee keeps any money for himself/herself. There is no fruit, but still, devotees derive pleasure from distributing books. This is, as I said many times, because you're pleasing Krishna. And because you're part and parcel of Krishna, then that pleasure also you can feel. Ye atma suprasidati. You are satisfying the atma by serving Krishna. We're giving pleasure to the soul, our own soul. So that is the enjoyment that everybody is looking for. That's what we want. And that pleasure is eternal. The devotees derive more transcendental pleasure while engaged continuously in the service of the Lord than when they have no such engagement. A devotee who has no service, he doesn't feel satisfied. He doesn't feel happy. There was an instance, some devotee was engaged in Deity worship in a temple in India. He was very satisfied with that service and he was doing it every day, very strictly. Deity worship takes some time. It’s absorbing. When one worships the Deity, it's a very concentrated meditation on Krishna. Changing the dress, bathing the Deities, cooking for the Deities, doing arati and everything. It's a very, very purifying process. The mind is so polluted, we're always thinking of our own pleasure. Here at BLISS we're engaged in Deity worship, maybe not on such a large scale, but on a small scale also, it evokes or reawakens this consciousness of service in us. So, this devotee in India was serving and then somehow or other, he was removed from that service, and he was very dissatisfied. He was doing other service, but he was very unhappy. So that devotee, he wrote to Shrila Prabhupada. He said, ‘Prabhupada, I cannot function’. So Prabhupada said, ‘Okay, you go back. You must go back to that service.’ That is good, that one develops attachment for devotional service. This is the nature of the devotees. They don't care for any results. Just like our Dhananjaya prabhu. Whether he collects one thousand or two thousand, he always gives me everything. I take everything. He goes, he works the whole day and all the money that he collects, he gives to me. I take everything. I do nothing. I simply take it, and he's very happy about it. (laughs) Why? Because the pleasure of service is higher. This fruitive mentality that we have, this is the cause of our unhappiness. We derive pleasure from the fruits of our labor temporarily, but in the long run we suffer because we always depend on the results. We are always chasing after the result, chasing after the material energy. And she's going this way, that way, this way, that way. And we've been dragged all over the material existence from one species to another. So, a devotee is not a fool. He understands that there is nothing to be derived from my pleasure here. If I water the root, automatically the branches and leaves are nourished. If I serve Krishna, then all my necessities will be supplied. I don't have to worry. I don't have to make any extra endeavour to satisfy my own life and so on. Simply by serving Krishna, depending on Krishna, surrendering to Krishna, Krishna will take care of all the necessities. In the Bhagavad-Gita 9.22, Krishna says, “But those who worship Me with devotion, meditating on My transcendental form⎯to them I carry what they lack and preserve what they have.” If you're afraid that if you surrender to Krishna then you will be a loser, think again. Krishna will not touch it. It will be preserved. You’ll not lose anything. And whatever you're lacking, Krishna will supply. He will give you whatever you need for your service. So, devotees derive more transcendental pleasure while engaged continuously in the service of the Lord than when they have no such engagement. Shrila Prabhupada mentions in a class that an early disciple couple, Govinda Dasi and Gaurasundara, her husband at that time, “They're always coming to me and they are begging me, ‘please Swamiji, give me more service. Give me more service, more service, more service, flood us with service, give us more service. No sleeping, no eating, simply serving, serving, serving’”. So, from the external point of view, it seems that these people are foolish. This is some kind of brainwashing cult. People are serving for no reason, and this old Swami is exploiting. Now they cannot say such a thing, because Prabhupada is not here. But externally it seems like that. Internally, however, the devotees are feeling a great deal of pleasure inside. That is why they ask for more service. That is also selfishness, but that is real selfishness. How to derive pleasure from serving Krishna? If you understand this principle, then the gates of unlimited pleasure in life open up. If you don't understand, devotional service will be a source of misery for you. It's not actually devotional service. You are trying the same thing as you have tried in so many species of life, so many millions of lifetimes. You're trying to derive sense gratification from Krishna's service. So, you will not be successful with that, you'll be very frustrated. There is no sense gratification. There is Krishna gratification. That is how we enjoy. Prabhupada gives a wonderful analogy here. “In the family combination of a man and a woman there is much labor and responsibility for both of them, yet when they are single they feel more trouble for want of their united activities.” You see? Family life. Although it is so much responsibility, so much work, so much worry and so on, the pleasure derived from being in conjugal relationship is so high that one does not mind even working so hard. This is a very good example because a devotee also, he derives pleasure because he knows that ‘my worshipful Lord, my beloved Lord is pleased’ or ‘my spiritual master is pleased’. So that becomes pleasing. Sometimes, when a man is very much in love with a woman, he works very hard. He buys her diamonds and tries to impress her, he makes something gigantic. I saw on YouTube, there was a man who made a huge love letter in the sand on a beach and then he filmed it with a drone, he went to such heights. And then he shot that and he showed it to the woman. So the woman was in tears. ‘Oh, you impressed me so much’. Immediately she wanted to marry him. The man, while he's working hard, making the letter in the sand, he's not feeling any pain. He's simply meditating on her smile, on her laughter, on her tears, how she will be impressed by the presentation. And although he's working very hard, sweating, huffing and puffing, there's no pain. Zero pain, simply tasting pleasure by that work. So this is how devotees are serving Krishna. They derive great pleasure because they know Krishna will be pleased. So when we don't have any pleasure from service, it's on account of ignorance, that we don't understand who Krishna is, we don't understand how to serve him. What is the purpose of service? That's why we have to hear about Krishna from the authorities, from Shrimad-Bhagavatam, from Shrila Prabhupada, to develop this loving attitude towards Krishna. If you do not hear, then that service becomes burdensome. Prabhupada said that ‘if you do not read my books, these temples I have established, they'll become pigeonholes’. Have you seen pigeon houses? They’re full of stool. Pigeon stool. So it will become simply a place where you eat and pass stool. So the preaching must always be there. There must always be preaching. That's why all the devotees should attend these classes. It's very important that you come to the class and you maintain this class culture every day. We sit down at the same hour, we read a shloka, we discuss together. Sometimes I give class, sometimes you give class, it doesn't matter. Somehow this class should go on. That is why we are called the Bhaktivedanta Lives in Sound Society. Because it's this transcendental sound that gives us all the inspiration to do service. In the same way, the Deity worship also. If we do not hear, then the Deity worship also becomes very troublesome. ‘Oh, do I have to do this?’ It's very, very detestful to such a person. So hearing is very, very important. Krishna says, tushyanti cha ramanti cha. “The thoughts of My pure devotees dwell in Me, their lives are fully devoted to My service, and they derive great satisfaction and bliss from always enlightening one another and conversing about Me.” (Bg 10.9) Ramanti means ‘enjoy transcendental bliss’ and tushyanti means ‘become pleased’. Satisfaction, great pleasure, and bliss. Satisfaction. Yayatma suprasidati. The soul is satisfied. They derive this bliss and satisfaction by enlightening one another about Krishna topics. So you should enlighten one another. If you want to talk with other devotees, you should enlighten them about Krishna consciousness. You should also enlighten me. Every devotee should be enlightened. Because Krishna katha is always nectarian. Of course, we have to distinguish between the neophyte devotee and the advanced devotee. Senior, junior, yes, some hierarchy is there, but when it comes to Krishna katha, it is so universal that everybody becomes enlightened. Shrila Prabhupada himself said, ‘I'm reading my own books. Because even myself, I'm deriving some new enlightenment from these books’. This is the nature of Krishna katha. It's unlimited. It is not that you learn it once and then you know it and that's it. It is alive. This Krishna katha is alive. It lives on its own. It has its own life. You perform this morning program. You execute the rules and regulations. You hear the Shrimad- Bhagavatam discussed with the devotees. So this will then have an effect. These devotees will also do their own class in their homes, and the people who hear from them will also do the same. This is also parampara, the disciplic succession. Not simply the list, Prabhupada, Bhaktisiddhanta, Gaurakisora Dasa Babaji... that is not the only parampara. Parampara is also this, sharing Krishna consciousness with others. Enlightening one another about Krishna, about the conclusions of the shastra pertaining to Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So in this way, we can go on serving. The impersonalists, however, they cannot, even if they discuss Krishna katha. Prabhupada explains that after contemplating Brahman, they become so bored that they even start reading the Bhagavatam. But because of their previous impersonalist background, they cannot derive any pleasure from it. The pleasure that one derives from reading Shrimad-Bhagavatam, Krishna katha, Krishna lila, His pastimes, is because the devotee knows that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As soon as you think Krishna is an ordinary man, then this becomes just another mundane literature. And it becomes hackneyed. You cannot read it continuously. You read it once and that's it. Then you want something else. So you cannot stick to Krishna katha if you are not a devotee. Their path is simply full of darkness and full of obstacles. Lord Chaitanya warned us not to hear the Sharirakiya Bhashya, the commentary on the Vedanta sutra by Shankaracharaya, the head of the Mayavadi school. Don't hear from Mayavadis. Be very careful, because you can get contaminated by this ‘frustration philosophy’, and lose all taste for Krishna katha and for service to Krishna. The impersonalists are great offenders because they claim that they're equal to Krishna. Or that Krishna is just an ordinary man. Offenders cannot enter the spiritual world. They cannot enter into the mysteries of Krishna's philosophy. One must become a devotee. This is unconditional. Bhaktya mam abhijanati. Absolutely necessary. Any questions?

For souls who are living in the world of dualities, depression is an inevitable part of life. In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna says: ' O son of Kuntī, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed. ' Disturbances of the mind can be very difficult to deal with, and often impede our service. This article aims to pinpoint the cause of depression and outline how we can remain superior to this feeling. Shri Krishna's flute playing attracts every living entity in all universes. Eternally, the spirit soul is blissful and knowledgeable, but this bliss is currently being covered by many layers of materialistic desires and misconceptions. There are many factors which can lower our mood which range from relationship problems to the weather, and all of these factors fall into three categories. Shrila Prabhupada described the threefold miseries of material existence as follows: 'adhyātmika, adhidaivika and adhibhautika. No one can escape the threefold miseries of materialistic life, namely miseries pertaining to the body and mind, miseries pertaining to the difficulties imposed by society, community, nation and other living entities, and miseries inflicted upon us by natural disturbances from earthquakes, famines, droughts, floods, epidemics, and so on.' The body is also described as a network of ignorance. And what is it that the body is ignorant of? The eternal, blissful and knowledgeable self. Every living entity is an infintisemal spiritual spark of the supreme spiritual being, Krishna. As Krishna is perfect and complete, all of his emanations are also perfect and complete, hencewhy we are able to live harmoniously amongst other living entities in this material world. We parts are perfect and complete - we all have functioning senses - and the material nature is also perfect and complete - every living entity is provided with the specific necessities to sustain life. 'The Personality of Godhead is perfect and complete , and because He is completely perfect , all emanations from Him, such as this phenomenal world, are perfectly equipped as complete wholes. Whatever is produced of the Complete Whole is also complete in itself. Because He is the Complete Whole, even though so many complete units emanate from Him, He remains the complete ba lance.' Shri Ishopanishad The body, being a network of ignorance, covers our perfect and complete spiritual senses, and causes us to believe that we are not eternal spiritual sparks, but temporary material bodies. In the conditioned stage, the jiva is always looking for pleasure, as our natural position is of blissfulness. This hankering instills a deep fear in the living entity, the fear of dying. Death for the conditioned soul means stoppage of all sense activity, which would mean leaving behind everything which gives us pleasure - friends, family, food etc. This state is very unnatural for the soul, who in actuality, is always enjoying with Krishna. Service to Krishna is non different from Krishna himself, who is the epitome of bliss, knowledge and eternity. So keeping absorbed in his service will give instant satisfaction to the soul. There are countless ways to serve the Lord, including cooking for him, cleaning his temple, hearing or chanting about his glories, or simply remembering him. Even your mundane job can be connected to Krishna if you dedicate the results of your work for his sankirtan movement. This is as easy as giving a monthly donation for his preachers. Ultimately, everybody wants to live and enjoy forever. Eternity bliss and knowledge is the living entity's birthrite. So if you would like to be reinstated in your natural position, and be aways happy, then attach yourself to the lotus feet of Shrila Prabhupada - the perfect representative of Krishna - and go back to your original home, the spiritual world.

Any literature that has no connection with God is just like a place where crows take enjoyment. Where do crows enjoy? In a filthy place. But white swans take pleasure in nice clear waters surrounded by gardens. So even among animals there are natural divisions. The crows will not go to the swans, and the swans will not go to the crows. Similarly, in human society there are men who are like crows and men who are like swans. The swanlike men will come to centers of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, where everything is clear, where there is good philosophy, good transcendental food, good education, good intelligence – everything good – whereas crowlike men will go to clubs, parties, naked dance shows, and so many other such things. So the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is meant for swanlike men, not for men who are like crows. But we can convert the crows into swans. That is our philosophy. Those who were crows are now swimming like swans. That is the benefit of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The material world is the world where swans have become crows. In the material world the living entity is encaged in a material body, and he tries to gratify his senses in one body after another. But the reestablishment of dharma will gradually turn crows into swans. Teachings of Queen Kunti (Returning to our natural conciousness)

Shrila Prabhupada explains the necessity of spiritual vision and the importance of treating other beings with respect. The living entities have 8,400,000 different kinds of bodies, and the Supreme Personality of Godhead is living in every body both as the individual soul and as the Supersoul. Since the individual soul is part and parcel of the Supreme Lord, in that sense the Lord is living in every body, and, as Supersoul, the Lord is also present as a witness. In both cases the presence of God in every living entity is essential. Therefore persons who profess to belong to some religious sect but who do not feel the presence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in every living entity, and everywhere else, are in the mode of ignorance. If, without this preliminary knowledge of the Lord's omnipresence, one simply attaches himself to the rituals in a temple, church or mosque, it is as if he were offering butter into ashes rather than into the fire. One offers sacrifices by pouring clarified butter into a fire and chanting Vedic mantras, but even if there are Vedic mantras and all conditions are favorable, if the clarified butter is poured on ashes, then such a sacrifice will be useless. In other words, a devotee should not ignore any living entity. The devotee must know that in every living entity, however insignificant he may be, even in an ant, God is present, and therefore every living entity should be kindly treated and should not be subjected to any violence. In modern civilized society, slaughterhouses are regularly maintained and supported by a certain type of religious principle. But without knowledge of the presence of God in every living entity, any so-called advancement of human civilization, either spiritual or material, is to be understood as being in the mode of ignorance. SB 3.29.22

Tomorrow marks the auspicious occasion of the divine appearance of Srimati Radharani, the eternal lover of Krishna. Srimati Radharani is known as the greatest devotee of the Lord, so much so that even Krishna, also known as Sarvajana, the omniscient Lord, cannot understand her love for him. We should always strive to be as in love with Krishna as Radharani and her gopis, so here are some nice quotes about Sri Radha to inspire you. 'Antah Krishna refers to one who is always thinking of Krishna. This attitude is a predominant feature of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. Even though many devotees always think of Krishna, none can surpass the gopīs, among whom Rādhārāṇī is the leader in thinking of Krishna. Rādhārāṇī’s Krishna consciousness surpasses that of all other devotees.' -Caitanya Caritamrta, Adi Lila, 3.81 Purport 'Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is as fully spiritual as Krishna. No one should consider Her to be material. She is definitely not like the conditioned souls, who have material bodies, gross and subtle, covered by material senses. She is all-spiritual, and both Her body and Her mind are of the same spiritual embodiment. Because Her body is spiritual, Her senses are also spiritual. Thus Her body, mind and senses fully shine in love of Krishna. She is the personified hlādinī-śakti (the pleasure-giving energy of the Lord’s internal potency), and therefore She is the only source of enjoyment for Śrī Krishna. Śrī Krishna cannot enjoy anything that is internally different from Him. Therefore Rādhā and Śrī Krishna are identical. The sandhinī portion of Śrī Krishna internal potency has manifested the all-attractive form of Śrī Krishna, and the same internal potency, in the hlādinī feature, has presented Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, who is the attraction for the all-attractive. No one can match Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī in the transcendental pastimes of Śrī Krishna.' - Caitanya Caritamrta, Adi Lila, 4.71 Purport 'Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, the eternal consort of Kṛṣṇa , is the personification of that mahābhāva . In this regard, in Ujjvala - nīlamaṇi (4.3) Rūpa Gosvāmī states that there are two competitors in love with Kṛṣṇa , Rādhārāṇī and Candrāvalī. When they are compared, it appears that Rādhārāṇī is superior, for She possesses mahābhāva - svarūpa . Mahābhāva - svarūpa , the personification of mahābhāva , is applicable to Rādhārāṇī only. Mahābhāva is full of the pleasure potency, and it is an exhibition of the highest love for Kṛṣṇa . Rādhārāṇī is therefore known throughout the world as the most beloved of Kṛṣṇa , and Her name is always associated with Kṛṣṇa as Rādhā - Kṛṣṇa .' , Satyabhāmā is another competitor of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, but she always desires to come to the standard of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. Rādhārāṇī is so expert in all affairs that all the damsels of Vraja come to learn arts from Her. She is so extraordinarily beautiful that even the goddess of fortune and Pārvatī , the wife of Lord Śiva, desire elevation to Her standard of beauty. Arundhatī , who is known as the most chaste lady in the universe, desires to learn the standard of chastity from Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. Since even Lord Kṛṣṇa cannot estimate Rādhārāṇī's highly transcendental qualities, it is not possible for an ordinary man to estimate them.' 'This exchange of feelings between Kṛṣṇa and Rādhārāṇī is very difficult to understand unless one is elevated to the platform of pure goodness. Such transcendental reciprocation is not even possible to understand from the platform of material goodness. One has to actually transcend material goodness in order to understand. This is because the exchange of feelings between Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa is not a subject matter of this material world. Even the greatest mental speculator cannot understand this, directly or indirectly. Material activities are manifested either for the gross body or the subtle mind, but this exchange of feelings between Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa is beyond such manifestations and beyond intellectual mental speculation. It can only be understood by purified senses freed from all the designations of the material world.' - Teachings of Lord Caitanya C31