padbhyāḿ bhakta-hṛdi-sthābhyāḿ
vandyābhyāḿ loka-vanditaiḥ
ańgaḿ yasyāḥ samākramya
bhagavān api tat-stanam
yātudhāny api sā svargam
avāpa jananī-gatim
kṛṣṇa-bhukta-stana-kṣīrāḥ
kim u gāvo ‘numātaraḥ
(SB 10.6.37-38)
Translation
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, is always situated within the core of the heart of the pure devotee, and He is always offered prayers by such worshipable personalities as Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva. Because Kṛṣṇa embraced Pūtanā’s body with great pleasure and sucked her breast, although she was a great witch, she attained the position of a mother in the transcendental world and thus achieved the highest perfection. What then is to be said of the cows whose nipples Kṛṣṇa sucked with great pleasure and who offered their milk very jubilantly with affection exactly like that of a mother?
Purport
These verses explain how devotional service rendered to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, whether directly or indirectly, knowingly or unknowingly, becomes successful. Pūtanā was neither a devotee nor a nondevotee; she was actually a demoniac witch instructed by Kaḿsa to kill Kṛṣṇa. Nonetheless, in the beginning she assumed the form of a very beautiful woman and approached Kṛṣṇa exactly like an affectionate mother, so that mother Yaśodā and Rohiṇī did not doubt her sincerity. The Lord took all this into consideration, and thus she was automatically promoted to a position like that of mother Yaśodā. As explained by Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, there are various roles one may play in such a position. Pūtanā was immediately promoted to Vaikuṇṭhaloka, which is also sometimes described as Svarga. The Svarga mentioned in this verse is not the material heavenly planet, but the transcendental world. In Vaikuṇṭhaloka, Pūtanā attained the position of a nurse (dhātry-ucitām), as described by Uddhava. Pūtanā was elevated to the position of a nurse and maidservant in Goloka Vṛndāvana to assist mother Yaśodā
False Guru, Poison to the milk of transcendental knowledge
The story of Putana has a great instructive value. Great acaryas have analyzed how each of the demons who entered into Vrindavan, by the arrangement of Lord Sri Krishna, represent obstacles for spiritual progress, specifically Putana, who represents the false Guru. A false Guru is the one who poses, who appears, through sight and through sound to be our friend, our well wisher, to be a representative of God, granting to us the way, back home back to Godhead. But in truth , rather than giving us the conclusions of the authorized parampara and being honest in this way , they give us their own idea. Now, Putana disguised herself in such a way that she appeared to be the most loving motherly friend of Krishna and all the Brijbasis. She appeared to them in such a way that everyone was caught offguard. She made herself so beautiiul, so charming. The way she spoke,the way she smiled, the way she looked that everyone was thinking that we are so fortunate that such a beautiful celebrated personality as this with such auspicious qualities has come to bless our home and has come to bless our child. Therefore, this time how she appeared they put their complete trust in her to the extent that they were willing to entrust their most dearly possession of their lives, Krishna in her hands. But actually what was it that was the power of Putana? It was her mystic opulence. She was actually a witch, but she was a rakshashi and because of her development through the yogic process, she was able to assume any form she desired and in this way because of these yogic powers, she was able to completely bewilder the Brijbasis and endanger their most precious thing in their life trusting to her..The great acaryas, Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, Visvanath Chakravorty Thakur have explained how she represents a misleading Guru, whether be siksha Guru, diksha Guru.that because of some opulence, whether it be great great scholarship in the knowledge of Sastras or whether it be the mystic powers of performing miracles or having one’s body exhibit various types of transformations, whether it be ecstasies or other types of attractive qualities. Persons sometimes present themselves as a friend and well wishers and representatives of God. But in actuality if they are not properly surrendered to the authorized system that God has given, they are like witches. What is the nature of the witch ? A witch bewitches you. You know what bewitch means? They put you under their spell. They control you and ultimately when they control you, they steal from you. They exploit you. A witch will put you under his spell, bewitch you in order to exploit you for one reason or the other. And by winning our confidence and winning our trust, we entrust them the most sacred, the most beloved, the most important part of our life, our Krishna Consciousness. Because Putana appeared to be such a loving trusting mother, the Brijbasis entrusted the very soul of their life, Krishna to her. So,similarly, when such Putanas come into our life, by their auspicious appearance, they convince us to entrust Krishna within our heart to them and we put our Krishna Consciousness at their feet. But like Putana, after winning the hearts and taking the sou! of the Brijbasis, Krishna, she appeared to nourish him with milk, but that milk was mixed with poison. So, similarly our acaryas explain that, such false Gurus, after winning our trust, winning our faith, they appear to nourish us with the milk of transcendental knowledge, with the milk of God’s mercy, but mixed in that milk is the poison of their own independent ideas. Now the danger is, milk mixed with poison and milk without poison, taste the same. You do not understand the difference until a little later. It tastes the same , but the effects are different. One nourishes and one destroys. Because poison, when it is powerful, you do not need very much. One drop is sufficient. You cannot taste that drop. So when such false Gurus appear to nourish us with the milk of transcendental knowledge,what they speak and how they speak,appears to be just like the acaryas often. This is just like milk. This is the same thing..And even the Brijbasis , who are such exalted souls, they could not discriminate. What to speak of us. So Putana fed Krishna her poison. In the same way, when we drink the milk, when we receive with an open and submissive heart what such false Gurus are giving us, on one hand there is the nourishment of whatever is good in their teaching but on the other hand that poison of speculation, that poison of exploitation, will ultimately kill the soul of our very life which is the propensity for unmotivated, uninterrupted service of the Lord.
Effect of the poison, being careful of false gurus, different deviations in philosophy, trusting the right path
Because the path of Bhakti means, the path not to enjoy Krishna but to be enjoyed by Krishna, the path ahaituky avyavahitā ,unmotivated uninterrupted service. And the bonafide acaryas, the authorized Vaishnavas,they are always nourishing us with the milk of transcendental knowledge as it is being coming down through the authorized parampara system and that milk nourishes our propensity to serve, nourishes our propensity to surrender. But those who are not following this authorized line, they appear sometimes to be far more beautiful, far more spectacular, than our real mother, our real Guru, but mixed with that milk is the poison of exploitation which kills the true propensity for unmotivated, uninterrupted loving service to the Lord. And therefore, Krishna enacted this pastime to very carefully warn us against such witches, who bewitch us through the powers, who gain our trust and then who steal Krishna from our hearts. In fact, one of the very dear and beloved disciples of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur named Professor Sanyal, expounds this very idea of the principle of Putana being false Guru and how we must be very very careful, extremely careful. Therfore, the influence of Mayavaad , the Sahajiyism,the influence of Smartha Brahminism, the influence of Karmakandism are all like poisons that we must be able to understand and avoid at all cost. And that poison cannot affect us unless we willingly and trustingly drink it. Therefore Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said that even if one attains Vaikunthaloka, if he submissively opens his heart with the trusting mind to hear the Mayavaad philosophy, that person will fall down because that poison is so indiscernible, but so powerful. And actually more than Mayavaad philosophy, Srila Prabhupada warned us against Sahajiya philosophy. Because, in Sahajiya philosophy, it appears even more like our mother, like our Guru, where they are simply worshipping Krishna. But they approaching in a cheap way. You can’t get something so great for so little. By weeping tears of ecstasy, they can teach you how to do this immediately and bring you love of God very rapidly. But where Rupa Goswami, who is the authorized instructor on behalf of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, where does he teach like this?
ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-
saṅgo ’tha bhajana-kriyā
tato ’nartha-nivṛttiḥ syāt
tato niṣṭhā rucis tataḥ
(CC Madhya 23.14-15)
This Raganuga Bhakti of just crying for Krishna, developing the spontaneous love for Krishna begins at the stage of ruchi. Rupa Goswami never says that you can go right to ruchi. Adau sraddha- with faith; sadhu sanga- you first have to take shelter of the association of sadhus and bhajan Kriya- rules and regulations, worship the deities in this way. Rupa Goswami explains so many principles of rules and regulations for deity worship. And so many rules and regulations for controlling our senses, controlling our mind, chanting the Holy Name in regulated amount of times, obediently following our Spiritual Master. This is the process of Bhajan Kriya and through this process Rupa Goswami explains anartha-nivrittihsya, after accepting initiation from a bonafide Guru and surrendering to his lotus feet and being disciplined by him gradually all the unwanted things (all our lusts, and all our greed, and all our pride and all our anger , all our illusions) from our heart are removed and then there nistha–firm, unflinching faith realization and born of that is ruchi- Raganuga Bhakti. It is not a cheap thing. But most Vaishnavas especially in the age of Kali Yuga, they are teaching this cheap thing. And many have mystic powers.
Many, like Putana, can appear to be our loving mother and what they speak may taste just like milk that our Guru is giving. But actually to an unfortunate devotee that milk tastes sweeter. Why? Because there is no tapasya or austerity involved. Just all the nectar and no sacrifice. It’s all yours cheaply for free.
tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena sattvaṁ
But the Lord says, you must perform tapasya.
How do we know actually who is a bonafide Guru and who is not?
One who is humbly representing the previous acaryas through his words and his acts and teaching the authorized process of bhakti as Rupa Goswami and as the previous acaryas have taught, he is bonafide guru. But when we accept such a bonafide Spiritual Master, how do we know who is actually teaching the same thing and who is not? Whether they are actually true mothers like Yashoda who have come to nourish us with pure Krishna Consciousness or whether they are Putanas who look even more beautiful than Yashoda to our eyes. The. fact is you cannot understand. Putana disguised herself in such a way that there was no trace of any evidence except the poison. And the effects of that came later. Krishna knew, but none of the Brijbasis knew. When Putana approached Krishna, He closed His eyes. And the great acaryas explained different reasons why He closed His eyes. Some say because He knew that she was a demon, that she was a witch, that she came to steal away from the Brijbasis the most precious thing they had- Krishna. But she came as His mother. She came as a servant to give milk. So Krishna closed His eyes not just because He knew He had to kill this demon, rakshasi but He closed His eyes because it was just not very nice thing for Him to think that the first demon I have to kill in this avataar is a woman. Actually, you are not supposed to kill women. You are not supposed to kill anyone. Even great warriors and Kshatriyas, they never kill a woman. But Krishna had to kill because this Putana, when she came to Krishna she was defeated. But before that she killed thousands of children in the same way. She would disguise herself. She would appear to be the most trusting mother. The parents would entrust their hearts, their soul,, their child to her. The child would think, “Oh, this milk is so nice”. He would drink and drink and drink and drink and sometime later, maybe some hours later, the effects of that milk killed them. So in this way, our acaryas explain that such false Gurus, they mislead so many innocent people and in this way through bewitching them by mystic power and so forth and other opulences, they kill the propensity for pure Krishna Consciousness. And the masses accepted Putana. That’s how she killed so many thousands of children. But when she approached Krishna directly, she was detected. So similarly, when such false Gurus come before a bonafide Spiritual Master they are detected. So this is a very very important principle that is being brought out In this beautiful chapter of Srimad Bhagvatam. Therefore, we must very carefully accept guidance from very mature and authorized and realized devotees. Even in the name of Vaishnavism, what books we read, what tapes we listen to, what sadhus we go to hear, to see, to consult. We do not know who? We cannot know who? If they appear to be just like what our Guru Is saying, potentially they are the most dangerous if that poison is there of the Sahajiyism, the Mayavaadism, Karmakandism. And the general devotee cannot discriminate it. And he is most in danger when he thinks it is the same. And he drinks and drinks and drinks and drinks more and more and more of that milk.
What is interfaith?
So what is interfaith? Interfaith means we offer all respects and we offer our affection to allother religious people and we also appreciate whatever spiritual qualities they have. But at the same time, we must be able to discriminate what is the difference. It doesn’t mean we condemn or we criticize or we are sectarian, but we have to protect our own faith in the pure highest principles of bhakti. And therefore we must have guidance. A sincere devotee of the Lord accepts the Guru very primarily for this first purpose. Because the Guru can guide us who to open our hearts and minds to, who to consult, which books to read, which tapes to listen to, which sadhus to choose, to open our hearts and minds to receive the milk of their knowledge. Interfaith means offering respects and even offering some assistance but not opening our hearts and minds, unless Gurudev and very advanced Vaishnavas in our line authorize that, “Yes to this person you can open your hearts and mind and to this book you can open your heart and mind”. Otherwise, when we are reading, it sounds like Oh, very nice, and we are drinking the milk and the milk and the milk but is that drop of poison there. You do not know. We should not think that we are so advanced that we can know, that we are so advanced that we do not need a Guru. Recently one devotee was explaining that one of the greatest saints, says,” You should not accept a Guru. You should take the best from every movement, from every path, from every saint”. Where in the parampara does it say that? This again is another idea. Such persons, sometimes they recite gloriously the pages of the Bhagwatam with incredible descriptions and describing the lives of so many saints and everything and that’s very wonderful. That’s milk. But this idea, the Sahajiya idea that you don’t need a Guru, that you don’t need to discipline yourself, that is the poison. Other groups expound the necessity of a Guru. But what is the Guru teaching?
Therefore, if any devotee hears other philosophies and says this is exactly like ours, immediately you should know that this person is in a very dangerous position. Because he has accepted the form of Putana. May be it is but you cannot tell. And if it isn’t, you will be poisoned and With Krishna in your heart, the loving service attitude will be killed. So therefore, this line is not so often so popular because it is presenting the truth. You accept guidance, you accept leadership, you accept direction. People don’t like to do this. Why do we come to this world in the first place? Because we wanted to be independent of Krishna’s authority. The Guru is His representative. People do not want to be dependent on an authority. Oh, he is telling me what to read, he is telling me whom to talk to. This is all nonsense. Materially it is. But spiritually it is the only path to pure devotional service. Other paths of self realizations are other paths, but for devotional service this is the way
evaṁ paramparā-prāptam
imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2)
We should not judge a person by his appearance.
Prabhupada said, we should not see with our eyes, but we should see with our ears, by consultation with authorized authorities in the parampara. We have to see through their vision, through their instructions, through their words, through their guidance. This is the true path of the Sastras.
Understanding our level of Krsna consciousness, understanding and sticking to the true patha nd its teachings
“Tad vignarartham sagurun eva abhigacchot”. So many people have their interpretations and their ideas as to what is Veda, so many people can perform many magic tricks in one way or the other, manifest symptoms in one way or the other. But the true path is we must understand acaryobhasanam. Prabhupada quoted it as acharyobhasanam, One who hears from the acaryas understands what is what. Nobody else can know. So we should very much protect that because really in the neophyte condition of Krishna Consciousness, our Krishna Consciousness is like a baby. Krishna is like a little baby in our heart now. He is not very strong. And babies are very susceptible. We should not entrust this little baby of our immature Krishna Consciousness to someone like Putana. We have to very carefully guard this little baby of our Krishna Consciousness because it is very frail. If we entrust this little baby to anyone who is not very really true and loyal and honorable to the disciplic merciful order of Sri Krishna, then this little baby can be very much disturbed, killed. So we are like babies. Our Krishna Consciousness is like babies. We have to allow Guru to protect our faith in Guru and Krishna.
yasya deve parā bhaktir yathā deve tathā gurau. One who has implicit faith in Guru and Krishna, only to those are
the imports of the Vedas revealed. Nowhere does it talk about any other principle. So, who is actually nourishing our faith in our Guru, who is nourishing our faith in Krishna in that line, that person is really our friend on the spiritual path and others however they may appear, the poison enters and faith in our Guru is disturbed. It is the disciplic succession of Putana. This poison is indiscernible poison. And as I say, You don’t understand that the poison is there until sometime later when their little baby of faith is killed.
Questions:
Ananda Vrindavan das: How to discriminate whether a person is a false Guru or a genuine Guru, since we are in a neophyte stage? Even Brijbasis could not discriminate. Then how can we discriminate?
Radhanath Swami: You cannot discriminate. Just go on remembering that you are a neophyte devotee. That is the most important thing. Because as long as you think I am a neophyte devotee you will always be turning to your spiritual guides, who work on behalf of your Guru and you consult with them. You ask them. You offer all respects and obeisances to everyone but you don’t open your hearts and minds to hear or to be influenced by anyone except those people who are being endorsed and confirmed by those people who are your spiritual guides. The problem is when we start thinking, “Oh, I am very advanced. I understand these things. I will not be affected. Even if there is some problem, I will not be affected because I am an advanced devotee. After all I am chanting Hare Krishna for a few years. I read Back To Godhead magazines. So I am a very advanced devotee”. It is not like that. Even the Brijbasis were bewildered. But ultimately at the last minute Krishna saved them all. Because they were always depending on the mercy of the Lord who is Jagad Guru. So we are always depending on the mercy of our Gurudev and those who really are in the line of Krishna Consciousness, the proper line, who are properly presenting Rupa Goswami’s teachings. In other words, those who are authorized godbrothers, those who are authorized goduncles, our Gurudev, we should be humble enough to accept their guidance. If we are not humble enough to accept their guidance then we are putting ourself in a very very unpredictable dangerous condition. So just continue thinking like this that I am a neophyte devotee and I do not know.
Question2: You said that one should not see with his eyes but with his ears. If some one is repeating the same truth as our Guru Maharaj, should we hear from that person or not?
Radhanath Swami: How do you know whether someone is repeating the same truth?
Krishnananda das: Krishna says, “surrender to Me”. Someone says, surrender to Krishna.
Radhanath Swami: But still, in Mayavad philosophy, in Buddhist philosophy, in Karma kandaphilosophy, in Sahajiya philosophy, in Smartha Brahmin philosophy, the idea that you are not this body, you are the spirit soul, is identical. Everyone will quote the same verses from Bhagavad Gita. The idea of the nature of this material world, Maya, in most cases, they are exactly the same. The same verses from the Gita are quoted. The nature of Karma and the actions and reactions are just the same. .The principle that you have to give up all sense gratification is the same in most cases is the same, Identical. Same verses. In all these philosophies, most of the preliminary elements are identical. You cannot tell the difference. But there is a subtle difference way down the line . When you are receiving that, immediately you don’t even know what’s there. The Mayavadis also say that you should surrender to Krishna. They do not reject the Bhagavad Gita. They will say you should surrender to Krishna. Many of them will even say, you should chant the Holy Names. It’s the Yuga dharma. And many of will talk about the Paramatma and the jivatma. But ultimately.they will say, the jivatma becomes the Paramatma. So its the same process you are following now apparently. How do you know the difference? It sounds exactly the same. But the poison is entering from the very beginning. And even more than that is the Sahajiya philosophy. They accept Krishna. They are Vaishnavas. No one can say that the Sahajiya class are net Vaishnavas. They are Vaishnavas. But they are giving something cheap. They are misleading. They are explaining that Radha and Krishna are the supreme most. They are even explaining the pastimes of Radha and Krishna, constantly crying, weeping and propounding the glories of bhajans and Kirtan. Also they say, you are not this body. And everything else. But their approach is different. They are trying to give you something very high. But really they are not giving something high at all. Prabhupada says, such teachings wash away all Vedic conclusions. So how do you know? It sounds the same but how do you know whether there is poison there or not? You can only really know when you are very very mature and realized in the philosophy of Gurudev. And if you have lot of experience and maturity in this regard and if you don’t, if you are like Anand Vrindavan das and say I am a neophyte, I don’t know, then you will always consult someone who is on that platform. Otherwise you cannot tell. Therefore someone who is saying the same and everything like that, we just offer all obeisances. We offer all respects and encourage them. We don’t open our hearts.and minds. Because we do not know. We have to remain faithful and chaste to the line that our Guru has given us.
Govinda das: If somebody is not hearing from authorized Guru but reads from scriptures by himself, then what will be his fate?
Radhanath swami: What is the qualification of a representative *of God? “tad viddhi pranipatena, pariproshnena sevaya”. He is enquiring submissively from his Guru and he is serving the order of his Guru. If someone is not doing that, even if they are initiated in our parampara, even if they are quoting all Sastras, they are not representatives of our parampara because this is the Guru parampara, not a Sastra parampara. The Guru is the manifestation of the conclusion of the Sastras. No matter how learned one is in the Sastras if one is not submissively hearing and serving the order of Guru, he is not really representative of our parampara at all. Prabhupada explains that a serpent has poison but the serpent is most dangerous when he has a jewel in his head”. When a person is very learned, very charismatic, very mystic then that person is most dangerous, because that jewel is attractive. You just want to embrace. The jewel just fascinates our mind. But still it is the serpent. Sanatana Goswami explains, “milk touched by the lips of the serpent becomes poisonous and even his Krishna Conscious philosophy which is milk when it istouched by the lips of the serpent becomes poisonous”, but as I said you cannot taste the poison. The effects will come later. The effect is, you will lose your faith in Gurudev and in the authorized parampara system. But everyone in this age, they like cheap things. Common people will glorify such Putanas like anything. Only a rare few are actually serious. And therefore Krishna gives them intelligence to take shelter of those who really and fully steeped in the true path of devotional service. Therefore, if someone is following some type of sadhana, we simply respect that. And we appreciate that. But we don’t become unchaste. We don’t hear submissively from them. We simply befriend them. And in formal circles, we are like that and In the more informal circles, that is for the more advanced devotees to take that project, not us. Interfaith doesn’t mean you start going to everyone’s lectures and reading their books. It means that when they come to conference and whatever or when you see them on the road, you simply offer your love, you offer your Guru’s love to them. You have affection for them. That’s all. Doesn’t mean you start studying them, hearing from them, reading them, taking shelter of them, taking guidance from them. Everything is here within our own Sastras, within our own parampara. Why do we have to go to other places for these things? Our shelter, our guidance, all information are right here. We don’t have to go anywhere else. Interfaith is just to help increase the religion of the world. And to see that there is common denominator in all religions. Everyone is approaching the one same Supreme God. That we will not deny. But at the same time not everyone is teaching pure and unalloyed unmotivated devotional service. And if we accept any principles submissively, thats less than that will poison our propensity of unmotivated, uninterrupted devotional service. This is how we must approach interfaith in a very sober way.
Krishnananda das: When a person comes to this temple for the first time, what should we do to develop faith in him ?
Radhanath Swami: Such a person should be educated. He should know what is Mayavaad. He should know what is Sahajiyism. He should know what is authorized Guru parampara. He should understand what is Sadhana Bhakti. If he is attracted to a person because of his ecstatic symptoms because of his ability to perform miracles,.or because of his charismatic power to speak, then that has nothing to do with the bonafide Guru. Bonafide Guru is a humble servant. The only thing he cares to reveal is that he is simply humbly presenting what his Gurudev has taught him and he is living by those principles. If you meet such a person, he is a Guru. Follow him.You can surrender to him. You don’t have to hold back anything. But these other most sensationalistic things or those other ideas that are mixed with Karmakanda , Jnanakanda, Mayavaad, you must understand that those things are misleading from the true path. And if we are sincere, Krishna, will guide us to a bonafide Guru. But then after He guides us, then we have to show our gratitude to Krishna by being chaste and faithful to that Guru He has given us. Otherwise Krishna will take him away.
Radhakrishna das: What is the thumb rule in regard to devotees reading spiritual literature other than books written by Srila Prabhupada?
Radhanath Swami: The thumb rule is after you scrutinisingly study all Srila Prabhupada’s books, scrutinisingly hear all of their tapes, in such a way that you actually can cite them, can quote them, you understand them, you have realizations of them. Then at that point just to get further data, for the purpose of preaching, you can read other books. But until you come to that platform, then reading all these books will only bewilder and confuse our faith. What is the need? Our Guru has already given us painstakingly these books for so many years. He has written exactly what we need to hear. Why should we waste our time just hearing from everybody else? We don’t even know who they are, what they are really giving. This is the thumb rule. Prabhupada said, 99% of the advancement you make by reading his books is not by the translations of the scriptures but by his purports because purport is exactly how he wants his disciples to understand. Otherwise, even the translation of scripture, you cannot approach them directly without the purport of the acaryas. Therefore even authorized books like the Chaitanya Bhagwat is completely one of the most authorized important books in our line. But if we want to know Chaitanya Bhagwat, we should hear. It is not really going to do us much good, reading it directly. But if someone who understands Prabhupada’s and Bhaktipada’s purports, if he explains to us the stories of Chaitanya Bhagwat with the purport of Gurudev, then that will have great benefit. But by just reading it directly and hearing the stories, we will not be able to understand. So this is the thumb rule. We should let those advanced senior devotees read these books, give us their understanding through their purports of the parampara. And other than that we should be very humble and just accept that we do not know so much. We should just try to understand what Guru is telling me. And then you will never have problems or dangers in spiritual life.
Radhakrishna das: Sometimes devotees are attracted by the charismatic personality and the eloquence of speech of devotees in our own sampradaya, what should be the qualities one should look for in the devotee whom one wants to associate with? Sril£ Bhaktipada often says, ‘ Your actions speak so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.
Radhanath Swami: All you have to do is approach Guru or approach someone that you know the Guru has trust in, and ask, how much should I trust this person? And all your problems are solved. To try to figure out yourself is not an easy thing. But the actual basis of our philosophy is surrender. Even if a person is very dull in his personality and not very illucid in philosophy ,if the person is a surrendered sou! ,we should be falling at that person’s feet. And even if a person is very illucidly explaining and expounding all high philosophical principles and has tremendous charisma and tremendous potency in his personality, if that person is not a humble servant and a surrendered soul, we should just offer our obeisances from a distance. Because the shakti of the parampara cannot come through people who are not surrendered.
Sanat Kumar das: Many people say that they are loyal to their Guru ,but when it comes to taking instructions from a representative of Guru, they are not willing to surrender.
Radhanath Swami: That means they have no loyalty to Guru. Loyalty means to follow. If the Guru tells you not to take instiuctions from his representative, then you don’t take instructions. But if the Guru tells you to take instructions and guidance from his representatives then there is no other way to be loyal except to surrender to his representatives. This is another type of Sahajiyism that I have such an intimate high advanced relationship with Guru that I don’t have to listen to anyone else. This is like taking it all cheaply because Guru is not here to tell you do anything, but his representative is. So this philosophy that I can do whatever I want in the name of Gurudev, no problem; but your Gurudev wants you to surrender. He wants you to be the servant of the servant. Loyal to Guru means to follow this principle. A person who is not humbling himself to be the servant of the servant is not close to the Guru at all. It is all a show. It is all something cheap. And if we do not believe it, then we should ask Guru. But the point is such people never ask Guru because they know that Guru will say that this is correct. They do not want to ask because in their hearts of hearts, they know they are wrong. But due to false pride they think they know they better than their Guru. That is the essence of their problem. They think they know better than their Guru due to false pride. They want to justify their sense gratification. They want to justify their material prestige. And they do not want even Gurudev to interfere with that. That is a great problem. Such a person is cheating himself of the mercy of Krishna. He may get all prestige. He may get all sense gratification. He may get millions of followers. He may get all sorts of ecstatic opportunities to enjoy what he considers Krishna Consciousness. But such a person cannot get the mercy of Radharani. The person who gets the mercy of Radharani is the person who follows in the footsteps of her real servants. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu taught us,” Gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsa. To aspire to be the servant of the servant of the servant.
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Ultimately Putana was given the liberation of being Krishna’s nurse in Goloka Vrindavan who is assisting mother Yashoda. This is Krishna’s kindness. When He directly comes in this world even all of these obstacles, all these demons who represent obstacles for our vision, He kills them. That’s most important for us to understand how He kills them. But He is so kind “Om apavitro pavitrovah, sarvavastham gato’pi van”. Even though they are against Krishna, because He personally kills them, His purity purifies them. When Krishna sucked the milk of Putana, the fact that she was touched by the mouth of Krishna, she was purified. But in the process of purification she had to undergo tremendous amount of pain. She was suffering very much. She was screaming in agony. “Leave me child, leave me” and the purification was quick purification. She suffered millions of births of pain within a minute. And after all that was out, when Krishna sucked , He sucked the poison out of her. What does that mean? All the poison that was within her, all the anarthas, all the exploitation within her, He sucked it out. And as he was sucking it out it was terribly painful. But then when it was gone she was a pure devotee. So from another point of view the story explains like this. That we all have poison within us. When we come to Krishna Consciousness, Krishna sucks that poison out from within us. When we chant his name,”Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare”, we are putting ourselves in Krishna’s association and by the mercy of the Holy Name, Krishna will suck the poison out of us and as it is coming out,” Oh, my God, it is painful. It is terrible but just let Him suck it out. Once it is out, we go back to Goloka Vrindavan. “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare”
Nimai Pandit das: When we see devotees who do not surrender completely to Guru and Krishna, how can we prevent ourselves from forming a mental block towards them?
Radhanath swami: All that you should do is you should not follow the instructions and the inspiration of such a person. If you have the power then you should preach to that person and help that person become a surrendered devotee. After all he is your godbrother. You should try to help him. But if he is not willing to listen to you, then you should respectfully avoid him. You don’t want to contaminate your own spiritual life. You can also pray for him. You can pray to Srimati Radharani “Please help this devotee to understand how to be the humble servant of your servant”.
Thank You Very Much