All glory to Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga
IN SEARCH OF THE ORIGINAL SOURCE
A discourse given in Mexico by
Contents
You are Sons of Nectar
A discourse given to a large devotional gathering in the prestigious Multicentre, Morelia, Mexico.
You are all my spiritual relatives, assembled here today for hearing something from me about Krishna consciousness. I humbly pay my respects to you all because you have given me this opportunity to speak about my Lord Sri Krishna and His associates. I want to do good for you, good for myself, and good for the world. I have some experience. I am an old man, and I stayed many years with my Guru Maharaj, who was vastly learned in Vedic knowledge and ultimately a siddha-mahapurus—a perfect, liberated soul. His affection, mercy, well wishes, and desire have given me something. I feel it, and I cannot deny it. I may be a very low-class person, but how can I deny the gift of my Gurudev? I am a very tiny and insignificant jiva-soul, nothing else; this is my identity. But if I give all of you the gift of my Lord Krishna and my Guru Maharaj—the little ecstasy that I have got—if I give to your holy ear the sound vibration that is coming down from the transcendental world, you must be benefitted, and I shall also be benefitted. Krishna will bless me, and my Guru Maharaj will be satisfied that I shall have done something in this world.
Actually we are all spiritual entities, and because we are part and parcel of our Lord, our home is eternally existing in the transcendental abode of the Lord. You have heard of the Upanisads, Vedas, Vedanta, and the other scriptures which were revealed in India in written form five thousand years ago. Previously, this knowledge existed as sruti-mantram, spoken words, and it was transmitted by rsis and munis to their disciples through sruti-mantram. At that time there were no books. Vedavyas has very mercifully given us the written form of sruti-mantram: the Veda. He divided the Veda (sruti) into four parts: Rg, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva. He also composed the corollary literatures (smrti) like the Mahabharata, which is called the fifth Veda. The gist of the Vedas can also be found in the hundreds of Upanisads he wrote. The great rsis, Vedic research scholars, have also presented the Vedic knowledge in the Puranas. Thus, through the great rsis, this transcendental knowledge is being revealed in this mundane world, and when necessary, from time to time, an incarnation of the Lord manifests by whose divine mercy we get a connection with that transcendental knowledge.
These Vedic literatures mainly try to give us transcendental knowledge, and for our benefit they have proclaimed, “Srnvantu visve amrtasya putra: you are all the sons of nectar, transcendental nectar; you are from the nectarean ocean. Dive deep into that nectar!” We are all parts and parcels of the Lord, therefore we are spiritual relatives.
Here in the mundane world we are seeing many differences. Some of us are born in India, some in Russia, some in Mexico, Latin America, and so on. In this world there are so many countries and so many completely different languages. But the spirit that is living within everybody, without which the body is useless, is coming from the same place. We call this place the spiritual world or the transcendental world.
We want eternity, we want love, we want affection, we want mercy and ecstasy. These are our hankerings, but this mundane world cannot successfully give any of these things to us. But in the transcendental world everything is existing eternally in a very beautiful and sweet way.
Everyone will pass away from this world one day, whether he is poor or rich, rogue or scholar, animal or tree. When we have been born, it is sure we will die. Death will not give any notice to us, “Today is your dying day”, or “Today is your birth day”. Birth and death are actually beyond our control. Maybe we can extend some time or reduce some time, but when we have been born, we must die. This wave of birth and death is surrounding this world. It is surrounding not only our present planet but the whole universe. Beyond the orbit of this universe many universes also exist, and this wave of birth and death is rolling through all of them. This knowledge has been given to us by the Vedic research scholars, and now the scientists in this age are also saying the same thing.
This world is always completely filled with quarrel. The wave of death and birth is always flowing through this world, and there are so many problems. You hear many things on the radio, the television, and in the newspapers, therefore you know how much violence is going on all over. Everywhere this bad situation will come to be, as it is written in the scriptures. It is the Age of Kali. Kali means quarrel. We cannot avoid it. I may be a very good man, but without cause I may be attacked by violence. Many things happen, and many good men have been killed. So death and birth is beyond our control. I may be protected by so many bodyguards, like John Kennedy, like Martin Luther King Jr, like Indira Gandhi, like so many who were protected by many bodyguards but could not avoid death.
We are also not secure or satisfied in this world. What do we want here? We want love, affection, charm, beauty, and ecstasy. Ultimately, we want eternity, but in this world it is not possible in any way to get it. Here, what is the form of love, what is the form of beauty, of affection? All are only a shadow or reflection of the transcendental world. As such, here we are playing only within the shadow. All that we are getting is in the form of shadow, and the substance is missing.
We are eating rice powder mixed with water and thinking we are drinking milk. Actually, when we will get a proper taste of transcendental ecstasy and feel its transcendental form, we will feel that transcendental knowledge is within us, and that our Lord is within us. Then we will understand everything very clearly and easily. That connection is necessary for us.
In which way may we get it? Our sincere searching tendency can give us that connection. We must want to search. If it is possible, why will we not proceed in that line? The research scholars of religion have made many contributions and made that knowledge available. If you come forward sincerely, you will get it. It is so easy to get if you have faith, chastity, and a little good fortune. Without good fortune it is very difficult to get it.
The Process of a Real Search
It is written in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrta (Madhya-lila, 19.151),
ব্রহ্মাণ্ড ভ্রমিতে কোন ভাগ্যবান্ জীব ।
গুরু-কৃষ্ণ-প্রসাদে পায় ভক্তিলতা-বীজ ॥
brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva
guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija
When the jiva-souls have unfortunately come into this material environment, which is not their real home, naturally they will try to return to their permanent home. Sometimes when they do not get the proper direction, still they try to go somewhere. They are always feeling like refugees who have come out of their own country, lived many years in another country, but cannot forget their own country. That is their situation.
The Lord has all power. Without power, creation is not possible, and without the Powerful, creation is also not possible. We can search in many ways, but finally we must go to the Powerful, otherwise success is not possible. And the rsis have searched in that way, to find that power and the Powerful. Through mundane knowledge it is not possible to get it. When they understood this, they tried to get it from the higher level, and they searched for the way in which it would be possible to get it. That transcendental knowledge has been given in Srimad Bhagavad-gita (7.14) by Sri Krishna.
दैबी ह्येषा गुणमयी मम माया दुरत्यया ।
मामेव ये प्रपद्यन्ते मायामेतां तरन्ति ते ॥
daivi hy esa guna-mayi mama maya duratyaya
mam eva ye prapadyante mayam etam taranti te
“O My dear Arjuna, fortunately, if anyone will take shelter of Me, I will relieve him from the illusory environment. Otherwise, to get relief from this illusory environment is not so easy because maya is so powerful.”
We have come out from the marginal potency. Maya is ruling the shadow potency, but our home is existing in the transcendental potency. Unfortunately, we have jumped into maya, but it is not our real home. Our father, our mother, everything is transcendental. We are spirit, and we must live in our spiritual home, but unfortunately we have come into this situation. Which way will we go back to our country, our home? That is necessary to understand.
In this material world we can see so many species of life. The research scholars of transcendental knowledge have said that there are eighty-four lakhs of species (eight million four hundred thousand) in this material world.
जलजानवलक्षाणि स्थावरालक्षविंशतिः ।
कृमयो रुद्रसङ्ख्यकाः पक्षिणां दशलक्षणम् ।
त्रिंशल्लक्षाणि पशवः चतुर्लक्षाणि मानुषाः ॥
jalaja nava laksani sthavara laksa vimsati
krmayo rudra-sankhyakah paksinam dasa laksanam
trimsal laksani pasavah chatur laksani manusah
(Visnu-purana)
“There are nine hundred thousand species of aquatics, two million species of plants and trees, one million one hundred thousand species of insects, one million species of birds, three million animal species, and four hundred thousand human species.” Therefore, it is very rare to get this human body, but it has fortunately come to us and is of utmost importance. With this human form one can understand and find the way to study the spiritual world and seek the essence of transcendental knowledge. Thus the value of this human body is supreme.
The animals have brains; they have willing, feeling, and thinking, but not in an organised way. But in the human form, one who is not a madman has some organisational ability within his brain. Whoever feels, wills, and thinks is the spirit soul living within the body. When this spirit soul leaves the body, the body becomes useless, and within a few days it decomposes. Once that spirit soul has gone out of the body, it cannot enter into it again. That spirit’s sadness or happiness we cannot feel from here, but the research scholars, the rsis, they can feel it through their subtle or mental awareness. They can understand the situation, and through their research they have given us this knowledge. Believe it and search for Sri Krishna, Reality the Beautiful!
We want reality, and it is beautifully existing in our real home. There everything is transcendental, everything is beautiful, harmonious, lovely, and affectionate. Krishna said in Srimad Bhagavad-gita (15.6),
यद्गत्वा न निवर्त्तन्ते तद्धाम परमं मम ।
yad gatva na nivartante tad dhama paramam mama
“Once you go to that abode, it is not necessary to come back. You will not want to come back; you will be extremely satisfied.” Those who are not satisfied in this material world are trying to get liberation through renunciation. We have many things, but we have no happiness. Maybe we have no family life, and even if we have family life there are so many difficulties. In this material world we cannot expect to find satisfaction or fulfilment; it is impossible. Then, we will try to search for the place where there is some possibility of eternity, where love, affection, ecstasy, and beauty are existing. If we try to understand this, we must go to the scriptures or the sadhu, who is the living scripture, whose experience, practising life, and knowledge will give some good nourishment to us.
With the sadhu’s association we will try to search, but when the searching spirit will come to us, we must be on faithful ground. Faith is the main basis. There is no other way. We may be a person of any religious mood, but if we want to make progress in religion we must first be faithful. In Christianity the first condition is that you must be faithful to the teachings.
I read on the dollar bill, “In God We Trust”. This is a very nice expression: to trust in God. You must first come into the faithful plane. You want eternity, you want a beautiful world, you want everything transcendental, but you will not give anything to God? Not anything for God? How will you get everything beautiful from such a hellish position? Where you are living now is a hellish situation, but God is so merciful, He is giving so much love to you. His loving search for the lost servant is our wealth, not the wealth of God. His loving search for His lost servant is our property. But I must keep my faith in my religion, otherwise how shall I get it? It is impossible. In all the religions the basis is faith.
I cannot see the rsis and munis. I have not seen my own birth. My mother told me, “He is your father”, so I believe, “Yes, he is my father”, and I believe the government will give me my father’s inheritance. Why? My mother said he is my father, and a father’s property goes to his son. This is the rule, and we all believe it. Only when it comes to believing in God are we very unfortunate. Come to the faithful level and try from there. Srnvantu visve amrtasya putra: you are all the sons of nectar; you must search for Sri Krishna, Reality the Beautiful, and you will get everything.
If you can enter into that transcendental abode you will find five kinds of relationships with the Lord. There is a procedure, and it is an easy procedure. Many spiritual things are revealed to us. It is only necessary for us to have some searching tendency and chastity. Without chastity and without a searching tendency, how will we get it?
We can spend this life any way we choose. I sometimes tell people that they have some holidays but I have no holidays. I have a holiday when I can discuss Krishna consciousness. That is my holiday.
Krishna said in Srimad Bhagavad-gita (2.14),
मात्रास्पर्शास्तु कौन्तेय शीतोष्णसुखदुःखदाः ।
आगमापायिनोऽनित्यास्तांस्तितिक्षस्व भारत ॥
matra-sparsas tu kaunteya sitosna-sukha-duhkha-dah
agamapayino ’nityas tams titiksasva bharata
You have happiness, sadness, disease, and beauty. You have everything, but it is not eternal; only for the time being it will be with you. The sun is rising and then setting. Night is coming and then passing. Again the sun is rising. This is the nature of the material world. We see everything, but if we will give a little time to understand what is what, easily we can understand it. There are various paths in front of us; many religious personalities and books are existing in front of us. They do not want anything from us. What does Lord Jesus want for us? He wants us to submit to our Lord. That is his only expectation of us. “You are all the sons of God; give your obeisance, give your faith, give your love, give everything to Him.” He has shown us how to deal with each other. It is very near to Vaisnavism. Christianity is very near to what we are practising.
I read Solomon’s Songs, and I was surprised by what I found there. I read the Bible also, but Solomon’s Songs are very attractive. They attracted me because in our Vaisnava religion there are five kinds of relationship with the Lord and a similar idea is presented in Solomon’s Songs. This is not expressed so much in the Bible, but Srimad Bhagavatam, the other Puranas, the Vedanta, the Upanisads—all the Vedic scriptures—declare that the Lord has a sach-chid-ananda vigraha. He has an eternal, spiritual, cognisant form of ecstasy. His form is not like mine. My form is material. I cannot grasp what is material and what is spiritual, therefore real knowledge remains hidden from me. Many religions have manifested in this material world, but having seen our position, having seen how much we can conceive and how much we can digest, the religious teachers have preached accordingly.
From five thousand years ago the research scholars told us that the Lord has form; He has a sach-chid-ananda vigraha. He is the creator of all creation. He has a brain. He has a face. He has everything. His form is like our human form, but it is not human. He is Krishna, He is always attracting our mind. We can join His eternal Pastimes. We can have a relationship with Krishna as our friend rather than as our God. There are five kinds of relationships we can have with the Lord: santa, dasya, sakhya, vatsalya, and madhura. We can play with the Lord through our love. If my Lord will play football with me, what sweet feelings will come to me? Such sweet feelings will come.
The Eternal Play
One kind of Play of Sri Krishna is on the bank of the Yamuna, or the bank of the Ganges, chanting and dancing with his girlfriends and boyfriends. His eternal Play is going on with His father and mother. There everything is beautiful and eternal. Some description of Vrndavan has been given in Sri Brahma-samhita (5.56):
श्रियः कान्ताः कान्तः परमपुरुषः कल्पतरवो
द्रुमा भूमिश्चिन्तामणिगणमयी तोयममृतम् ।
कथा गानं नाट्यं गमनमपि वंशी प्रियसखी
चिदानन्दं ज्योतिः परमपि तदास्वाद्यमपि च ॥
sriyah kantah kantah parama-purusah kalpa-taravo
druma bhumis chintamani-gana-mayi toyam amrtam
katha ganam natyam gamanam api vamsi priya-sakhi
chid anandam jyotih param api tad asvadyam api cha
There all the girls are beautiful like Laksmi Devi; all beauty and wealth is in them in a very concentrated form. Krishna’s form is so beautiful, and He is the enjoyer of those girls—kantah Parama-purusah. All the trees there are kalpa-taravo, wish-fulfilling trees. If you want anything from a tree, he can give it to you. If you ask a banana tree, “Give me an apple”, immediately he will give you an apple. If you ask an apple tree for a papaya, he will give you a papaya. The transcendental world has that type of character. There the feelings are not artificial in any way; all the feelings are natural, a natural flow is there. Krishna is not thinking “I am God”, and the friends of Krishna are not thinking “Krishna is my Lord”, not that way. “He is my bosom friend”, in this way their feelings are coming.
Consorthood, paramour love, so many things are there that here sometimes give us so much pain. There they give only happiness. There is no place for pain there—only when the Play of the Lord necessitates it some deficiency may come, but that is only existing within the Play. That knowledge will be revealed in our hearts if we will try to search, try to proceed. If we sincerely try to get that, we can. This is the gift of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
Before Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu gave it to us, we did not know the process, even though it is written in the scriptures. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu discovered it and gave it to us: “You see this is your process, and it is the easiest process”. By His grace we can understand that. He said:
हरेर्नाम हरेर्नाम हरेर्नामैव केवलम् ।
कलौ नास्त्येव नास्त्येव नास्त्येव गतिरन्यथा ॥
harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam
kalau nasty eva nasty eva nasty eva gatir anyatha
It is not necessary to collect an ocean of knowledge from the scriptures. The only necessity is your chastity and faith in the Divine Name of the Lord. Why? Some reasons have been given that we can easily understand. In this world, so many scientists have invented many things. How are we getting email, telephone, and television? Through sound. In this material world it is possible, so why is it not possible to connect with the transcendental world through sound? It can come down into this material world. We can see that ray, and through that ray we can go there. Here we are getting connection everywhere through ether. If we can go a little further, we can connect with the transcendental divine form of the Lord, which is His Name. If it is transcendental, if it is divine, it must have the full power to give us this knowledge, and that Name can enter anywhere. The telephone calls are coming here without a problem; why can’t that transcendental knowledge come into my heart? Why can’t that transcendental knowledge live there? We must believe it. Try to research and try to understand which way it is possible. Mahaprabhu Chaitanyadev said the transcendental vibration form of our Lord is Hari-nam. It will be revealed in your heart.
चेतोदर्पणमार्ज्जनं भवमहादावाग्निनिर्व्वापणं
श्रेयःकैरवचन्द्रिकावितरणं विद्यावधाजीवनम् ।
आनन्दाम्बुधिवर्द्धनं प्रतिपदं पूर्णामृतास्वादनं
सर्व्वात्मस्नपनं परं विजयते श्रीकृष्णसंकीर्तनम् ॥
cheto-darpana-marjanam bhava-maha-davagni-nirvapanam
sreyah-kairava-chandrika-vitaranam vidya-vadha-jivanam
anandambudhi-vardhanam prati-padam purnamrtasvadanam
sarvatma-snapanam param vijayate sri-krsna-sankirtanam
Mahaprabhu also described the process:
तृणादपि सुनीचेन तरोरिव सहिष्णुना ।
अमानिना मानदेन कीर्त्तनीयः सदा हरिः ॥
trnad api sunichena taror iva sahisnuna
amanina manadena kirtaniyah sada harih
Be humble, be tolerant, give honour to others, make everyone your friend. Try to get a connection with the transcendental abode through Hari-nam, the Lord’s Name. Practise your spiritual life and see the result. It is not dead matter. You will eat and others then will be fulfilled? It is not a fact. When you eat you will feel, “My belly is becoming full, my mind is becoming satisfied, and my hunger is going away.” These feelings naturally will come to you.
How will I go back to the hotel? My driver knows, “This is the way”. He will not miss the way. So, we must search, but with proper guidance. If you want Newcastle coal, you must go to Newcastle. If you want Ganges water, go to the Ganges. If you want Thames water, go to the Thames. If you want something, go to the source. In this way your searching will take you there.
It is not necessary to blindly accept anything. My Guru Maharaj gave many English books: The Search for Sri Krishna—Reality the Beautiful, Loving Search for the Lost Servant, Subjective Evolution of Consciousness, The Golden Volcano of Divine Love, Sri Guru and His Grace, and others. We have published over two hundred books in different languages for the benefit of others.
My lifetime is already finished. I am also an astrologer, but I am not reading anyone’s horoscope. I closed that chapter forty years ago. Still, I know my lifetime is finished, so how am I alive? It is by the grace of my Guru Maharaj. I told my Guru Maharaj, “Maharaj, my lifetime is not very long. You know this, you are a great astrologer. Why are you trying to establish me? Choose another very good man, and I shall serve him.” But Guru Maharaj said, “I am giving you life. I am giving your life an extension; throw your horoscope away.” And now I am seeing that it is possible, for it has come to me. By the grace of my Guru I have received an extended lifetime.
I have no intention to enjoy this life. I am working only for the service of Lord Krishna and for the satisfaction of my Guru Maharaj. I must try to do good for everyone; that is the instruction of my Guru Maharaj. I want to be your friend, not your enemy. Krishna said in Srimad Bhagavad-gita (6.5):
उद्धरेदात्मनात्मानं नात्मानमवसादयेत् ।
आत्मैव ह्यात्मनो बन्धुरात्मैव रिपुरात्मनः ॥
uddhared atmanatmanam natmanam avasadayet
atmaiva hy atmano bandhur atmaiva ripur atmanah
You are your own best friend and your own worst enemy. You cannot conceive how much bad and how much good you can do for yourself. All power is in your hand. Try to play properly and you must get the result. The football is always going to the foot of one who can play properly, and others who are running after the football can’t get it. So try to search properly, sincerely. You will get a good result, and your life will be extremely benefitted.