Chapter Six: Sweet Service, Service, Service

Devotee: I notice that Śrīla Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur and Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Saraswatī Prabhupād were engaged in defeating the brāhmaṇs by showing that Vaiṣṇavas are above brāhmaṇs. In the meetings the stalwart brāhmaṇs accepted defeat, but afterwards they all forgot. Is this because it is a hidden treasure and can only be received from the self-realised soul? If it is not the case, then after being defeated, they would surely remember that Vaiṣṇavas are above mere ‘brāhmaṇism’ and they would follow that.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāj: Yes. Also it is true that so many saw the viśvarūp of Kṛṣṇa. Karṇa, Duryodhan, Duḥśāsan, they all saw the viśvarūp of Kṛṣṇa and they were stunned. They were surprised at what they saw, but they thought it to be magic: the magic of Kṛṣṇa. Dhṛtarāṣṭra also very eagerly wanted to see that. In Mahābharata he said, “O Kṛṣṇa, everyone is seeing Your viśvarūp, but I cannot see because I have no eyes. Please give me eyes for five or ten seconds because I want to see that.”

Kṛṣṇa replied, “It is not necessary for Me to give you eyes. If I say, you shall see.” Then Dhṛtarāṣṭra saw the wonderful universal form of Kṛṣṇa. He then bowed down to Kṛṣṇa. But afterwards he forgot everything.

A devotee recently wrote to me with an important question. He asked, “What is the position of Gurudev?”

We see in the scripture: sākṣād-dharitvena samasta-śāstrair — Gurudev is non-different from Kṛṣṇa. But elsewhere the scriptures give: Āchāryaṁ Māṁ vijānīyān nāvamanyeta karhichit. Kṛṣṇa says, “I am Guru. I reveal Myself in the form of Guru.”

And in another place we see that the position of Gurudev is given as sākṣād-Baladev — non-different from Baladev. Gurudev is non-different from Nityānanda Prabhu, and Nityānanda Prabhu is non-different from Baladev. The devotee worships his Gurudev as Baladev, as Nityānanda Prabhu.

In yet another place the scriptures say that Gurudev is Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. We can note too, that Baladev has a form as a mañjarī: Anaṅga Mañjarī.

So what is truth, and how to harmonise it? This was the question posed by that devotee.

It is necessary to harmonise everything, then we can understand what is what. First it is necessary to see what is the position of Kṛṣṇa. He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is the first position.

When we try to realise the position of Gurudev, at first we shall see the main glow — that everything emanates from him. And He from whom everything emanates is Kṛṣṇa. But Kṛṣṇa is not alone. He is Saśakti-śaktimān — Kṛṣṇa is with His Power. When Kṛṣṇa and His Power come to play, His form is Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. It is not that this is happening just for some time, but it is eternal. It is not that yesterday this happened but the previous day Kṛṣṇa was alone. No. Everything is eternal and transcendental, so everything is living within consciousness, and that consciousness is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is the first thing we are to consider.

Also in another place we see:

yadyapi asṛjya nitya chich-chhakti-vilāsa

Nobody can create His Pastimes, and Kṛṣṇa also does not create them. His Pastimes are eternal; therefore, nobody created them. The Supreme Personality with His Power is eternal, and that Power is sometimes attached with Kṛṣṇa and sometimes detached. When detached, still there is full power with Kṛṣṇa.

Devotee: That last sentence is very difficult to understand.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāj: There is power and there is the powerful. If you detach power from the powerful, is there still power with the powerful?

Devotee: Yes.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāj: With the powerful there is full power even though power may be detached from the powerful, and that is called achintya, incomprehensible.

Devotee: Do aṁśa expansions such as vaibhava-vilās also follow this principle in that He expands into other forms but without Himself becoming diminished?

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāj: Yes. An example is given by Śrīla Kṛṣṇadās Kavirāj Goswāmī: if from one candle another candle is lit, that second candle is full with its power but without any loss from the original candle.

rādhā-kṛṣṇa eka ātmā, dui deha dhari’
anyonye vilase rasa āsvādana kari’
sei dui eka ebe chaitanya gosāñi
rasa āsvādite doṅhe hailā eka ṭhāṅi

Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, the Power and the Powerful, are inseparable, but when They want to play, They can exert themselves separately. He is full with power and She, His Power, is also full with power! This is the point.

When Kṛṣṇa wants to have Pastimes, the first manifestation of His energy is Baladev, Mūl Saṅkarṣaṇ. He comes out from Kṛṣṇa — prābhava-vilās. From Rādhārāṇī automatically comes Yogamāyā. Yogamāyā and Mūl Saṅkarṣaṇ come out at the same time.

Yogamāyā takes charge of the playing ground, like the referee. She makes the rules and regulations, etc. in a way which will please Kṛṣṇa, and by her will everything immediately manifests accordingly.

When Kṛṣṇa wishes to play, immediately everything is manifest and managed by Yogamāyā. Baladev takes the charge of all administration and He delegates charge to Yogamāyā. From the Powerful comes Saṅkarṣaṇ , and from Rādhārāṇī comes Yogamāyā.

Devotee: Saṅkarṣaṇ is one of the names of Balarām?

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāj: Yes: Mūl Saṅkarṣaṇ — the original Saṅkarṣaṇ.

Devotee: And afterwards so many other Saṅkarṣaṇs are manifested?

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāj: Yes, the Chatur-vyūha. There are many expansions of Kṛṣṇa and many expansions of Rādhārāṇī — prābhava-vilās, vaibhava-vilās, etc., but in the higher plane are playing Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, Saṅkarṣaṇ, and Yogamāyā. These four participate there.

Devotee: The Chatur-vyūha are not in Goloka Vṛndāvan?

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāj: No, they are in Vaikuṇṭha. When Goloka Vṛndāvan comes down to this mundane world and shows its flame, those Pastimes can be revealed in Vaikuṇṭha or anywhere. They have such power, and everything is full, pūrṇa. In the Vedas it is written:

oṁ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idaṁ pūrṇāt pūrṇam udachyate
pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate

Kṛṣṇa is full, and Rādhārāṇī is full. When the Power comes out from the Powerful, that Power is also full. The play of that plane progresses with the continual cycle of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis.

Devotee: Even there? Śrīla Guru Mahārāj said that all problems start from above.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāj: But nothing there is bad or wrong. All, whether they are possessors of power or power itself, they worship for the satisfaction of the Supreme Power and Powerful, Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa.

We are trying to satisfy the Powerful, and in the extreme position we can see that Rādhārāṇī holds the highest position of power in trying to satisfy Kṛṣṇa.

Devotee: Is this why even Nityānanda Prabhu wants to expand Himself as a mañjarī, Anaṅga Mañjarī: He comes from the Power, but He wants to give service to the Powerful?

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāj: Yes. Nityānanda Prabhu Himself enjoys madhura-rasa as Mūl Saṅkarṣaṇ, Balarām. But He enjoys for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa.

Devotee: Is Balarām’s Rāsa dance of a different mood than Kṛṣṇa’s Rāsa dance?

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāj: Yes. Kṛṣṇa is living in Balarām’s heart. When Balarām engages in Rāsa-līlā, Kṛṣṇa’s Rāsa-līlā is playing within.

Another example is that a person may become aged by body but the mind may remain young in mood. An aged man may not have the physical capacity to act like a young man, but his mentality remains as a young man’s — sometimes he may hold even more of a youthful mentality than a young man!

That power of willing has a position in the play of Kṛṣṇa, and that is in the form of a gopī. When Saṅkarṣaṇ wants to satisfy Kṛṣṇa in madhura-rasa, he cannot do that in the form of a male body. He must therefore transform and go under the guidance of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī.

We will also find there the form of Gurudev. What is Gurudev doing? He is giving service to Kṛṣṇa. For the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa he gives us a rope to rescue us, and he takes us as a flower-offering to the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa.

Baladev is the first Guru. If we can see Baladev, we shall see that He is the first Guru and he wants to take us and offer us to the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. We shall see that Baladev is Gurudev.

When we see the Power of Kṛṣṇa, we will see that She is the highest and She gives the highest satisfaction to the mind of Kṛṣṇa. She satisfies Him to the extreme. Seeing that, the devotees very much hanker to receive such a chance of service. Immediately, they search out the possibility and they follow the sakhīs and mañjarīs, and in this way their service goes to Rādhārāṇī.

Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī gives the highest satisfaction to Kṛṣṇa. She is the master of the ocean of madhura-rasa. She is the proprietor of that property; therefore, everyone, even Baladev, if they want to satisfy Kṛṣṇa supremely, they must go under Her guidance. But Rādhārāṇī does not give anything directly to anyone because She does not have the time. She is always busy for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa and She always wants ingredients for the service of Kṛṣṇa. Her suppliers are the aṣṭa-sakhīs. The sakhīs not only supply various items for service, but they make many things also. They make many very nice preparations. From potatoes they make thousands and thousands of varieties of preparations for offering. In this way they make many things for the satisfaction of Rādhārāṇī, and Rādhārāṇī worships Kṛṣṇa with these.

Sometimes Kṛṣṇa is very naughty and Kṛṣṇa wants to meet with the sakhīs, but they do not want direct union with Kṛṣṇa. The sakhīs do not have that type of mentality; their only concern is with the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa. They know that Kṛṣṇa is fully satisfied with Rādhārāṇī, and they supply everything. But Rādhārāṇī, Herself, for the happy, varied play, offers the sakhīs to Kṛṣṇa. She pushes them to have His direct association. And the sakhīs participate with Kṛṣṇa for the satisfaction of Rādhārāṇī, not for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa. The Vṛndāvan-līlā of Kṛṣṇa goes on in this way.

One who wants the full satisfaction of his transcendental service-life must take the position of a female. Actually, all jīva-souls are female by intrinsic nature because they are śakti — jīva-śakti. Obtaining a female form, they aspire to join the līlā of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. They always pray for the mercy of the sakhīs and mañjarīs. Kṛṣṇa is not their master, but He is a player, a participant. The sakhīs take the position of master. They know in which way Kṛṣṇa will be satisfied, and they make arrangements accordingly. The sakhīs take the guidance of Rādhārāṇī and try to satisfy Kṛṣṇa accordingly. They are exclusive servants of Rādhārāṇī; they are happy, and Kṛṣṇa is also happy with them in that way.

Devotee: Is there competition?

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāj: No competition for themselves, but service competition is there. Sometimes there may be antithesis within the auspicious emotions, the bhāva. When Kṛṣṇa left Vṛndāvan, Rādhārāṇī fainted.

Within the mood of fulfilment of the ecstatic play as a whole, sometimes antithesis appears, and that gives even more satisfaction to Kṛṣṇa and Rādhārāṇī. When Rādhārāṇī sees Kṛṣṇa before Her, She sees one Kṛṣṇa, and She tries to satisfy one Kṛṣṇa. But when Kṛṣṇa hides from Her, She sees Kṛṣṇa everywhere and tries to satisfy Him everywhere. That mood is called viraha.

We can see the Guru’s position in many ways, but it is all within the play of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa means the Conjugal Power, and the Powerful, and that is full Kṛṣṇa. It is from that plane that Kṛṣṇa comes down and says, Āchāryaṁ Māṁ vijānīyān: “I am Guru.”

When Kṛṣṇa says, “I am your Guru”, that is not the full conception of Kṛṣṇa. He has many incarnations: He comes as Yuga-avatārs. He also shows Himself as a teacher, such as when He became the teacher of the Kauravas and Pāṇḍavas. Kṛṣṇa has many moods and varieties, and one variety of Kṛṣṇa is that He is the Guru; therefore, He says, Āchāryam Māṁ vijānīyān nāvamanyeta karhichit.

Which means, “When you take shelter unto the lotus feet of your Guru, you will think that it is I, Myself, who has appeared in front of you in the form of your Guru in order to rescue you from the illusory environment and to take you to the transcendental world.” Such is the form of Kṛṣṇa that we see manifest there: the Āchārya form.

All aspects of Kṛṣṇa are truth. One truth is that Kṛṣṇa appears as the Āchārya in order to rescue the conditioned souls. When He appears in this way, He is very merciful to the conditioned souls. Kṛṣṇa cannot tolerate their painful position so He appears as the Āchārya in order to rescue them from their unfortunate position: Āchāryam Māṁ vijānīyān.

But when the liberated souls in the transcendental service world try to serve, they also have a master of their own, and in the line of the Powerful they shall see him as Balarām, Nityānanda. If they will follow that line, they will go to Kṛṣṇa within that conception. Nityānanda Prabhu and Baladev will be there as their Guru. The conception comes from that supremely extreme plane where Kṛṣṇa is present with His Power. One step down from this is the form of Mūl Saṅkarṣaṇ, and this is manifest for the Play of the Lord. In that realm there are many forms of Guru. His play is enacted with His chich-chhakti as well as with His jīva-śakti, and, in a negative way, with Māyā-śakti.

At one level is Yogamāyā. By the will of Mūl Saṅkarṣaṇ, all the transcendental world is acquired by Yogamāyā. She has full consciousness about Kṛṣṇa; therefore, for the play of Kṛṣṇa she makes everything needed for His satisfaction. The trees, the peacocks, the deer, flowers, and everything; all are expansions of Yogamāyā’s power.

Devotee: Does Yogamāyā have a form there as a gopī?

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāj: Yes. Vṛndā Devī is an expansion and representative of Yogamāyā. This is said in the first verse of the song of aṣṭa-kālīya-līlā composed by Śrīla Viśvanāth Chakravartī.

When the jīva-soul obtains the form of a gopī, under the guidance of the mañjarīs she tries to satisfy her masters, and they see that Rādhārāṇī is the supreme satisfier of Kṛṣṇa. Under the guidance of Rādhārāṇī, they try to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. For the service of Kṛṣṇa, Rādhārāṇī is the supreme Guru.

We are of the Rūpānuga sampradāya: we are followers of Rūpa Goswāmī. Actually, we do not consider ourselves to be following properly, but we are trying to be followers. The only destination we can see is in the direction of the lotus feet of Rādhārāṇī. Rādhārāṇī is so merciful and She can manifest Herself in many ways, so She can also come in front of me — in the form of Gurudev. What She wants to see is our mood of service.

There is a history I heard from Śrīla Guru Mahārāj at Kusum Sarovar in 1947. When I saw that place, Śrīla Guru Mahārāj told me that one day Rādhārāṇī came there to collect flowers along with Her sakhīs and mañjarīs. They came in a big group and collected flowers. Suddenly, Rādhārāṇī noticed a girl of eleven years of age or so and mentioned, “Oh, she is such a beautiful girl. When did she join?”

Lalitā Devī replied, “Rūpa Mañjarī brought her from her village, and I gave her to the group of Rūpa Mañjarī. She is serving Your Highness through Rūpa Mañjarī.”

Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī said, “She is such a beautiful girl and she can do much sevā.” And Rādhārāṇī continued with her service activities.

I heard this story from Śrīla Guru Mahārāj and I cannot forget this example. Immediately, such kind of fortune may come to anyone, and Rūpa Goswāmī can take us in that way. Lalitā Devī is also very merciful and she can immediately bestow her mercy upon us.

Rādhārāṇī has many sakhīs, but eight are principle. There are thousands of sakhīs, and they have groups. There are thousands of groups of mañjarīs. First, we must remember that this matter is to do with the transcendental universe. Within a second it can expand by one thousand yojanas* and more.

*A Vedic measurement, 1 yojanas = approx 8 miles

I previously had a query within my mind and I asked Śrīla Guru Mahārāj, “Here is Rādhā Kuṇḍa, but Varṣānā is many kilometres away, so how did Rādhārāṇī come here every day, and how did she go from Varṣāṇā to Kusum Sarovar to collect flowers?”

Śrīla Guru Mahārāj explained, “This is the transcendental world where, for the Pastimes of Kṛṣṇa, for His satisfaction there is always expansion and contraction. This happens by the will of Rādhārāṇī, and Yogamāyā arranges everything. When the necessity comes, distance becomes very short. And when there is necessity, distance becomes very long such as when the banks of the Yamunā expand. For the service of Kṛṣṇa, everything immediately takes the suitable form to satisfy Him.”

In one way, the supreme Guru is in the form of Baladev. In a general way Kṛṣṇa shows His own path of service and He becomes Guru. In the form of Guru He reveals Himself within the mundane world. His position as Guru is also in the heart of the devotees. Supremely, where there is a variety of extreme services to Kṛṣṇa, that is madhura-rasa. In that plane the highest supreme satisfier of Kṛṣṇa is Rādhārāṇī. And that is our line and life’s goal.

We only expect that some day it may come by the mercy of Gurudev. Whether or not we will gain admission there is by the will of my group leader, my Gurudev.