Chapter 1: Kṛṣṇa’s Sweet Pastimes
sarvādbhuta-chamatkāra-līlā-kallola-vāridhiḥ
“Kṛṣṇa is like an ocean filled with waves of Pastimes that evoke wonder within everyone in the three worlds.”
Question: Śrīla Rūpa Goswāmī says Kṛṣṇa has four super-excellent qualities that no other form of the Lord or incarnation has. Could you please explain what these are?
Śrīla Govinda Mahārāj: Yes. The first quality, sarvādbhuta-chamatkāra-līlā-kallola-vāridhiḥ, is that Kṛṣṇa’s Pastimes are extremely sweet and relishable all the time. They are far superior to the Pastimes of any other form of the Lord, including Nārāyaṇ. No other form of the Lord has such wonderful Pastimes as Kṛṣṇa.
Kṛṣṇa’s Pastimes take place in Vṛndāvan Dhām with the Vraja-gopīs, the Vraja-bālakas, and all the Vraja-vāsīs. They take place in effulgent, ecstatic, and sweetest of sweet ways. Nārāyaṇ doesn’t have these qualities in His Pastimes. These qualities don’t exist in the Pastimes of Nārāyaṇ, Nārāyaṇ-līlā.
Kṛṣṇa’s Pastimes begin from His birth. Nārāyaṇ doesn’t have a birth. He is called the unborn. Whoever doesn’t have a birth will not have pastimes associated with birth. He won’t have a father or mother, or any relatives, so he won’t have the pastimes associated with birth and childhood, etc.
Kṛṣṇa has a father, a mother, a brother, and a sister, and He also has many friends, lovers, and paramours. He is always playing with the cows and calves and enjoying with the opulent fruits and sweet smelling trees in the forests of Vṛndāvan. He gives pleasure to the Yamunā by bathing in her with the Vraja-gopīs, and He has many Pastimes in the different kuñjas (forest groves) of Vṛndāvan. His life is a life full of sweet and wonderful Pastimes. Nārāyaṇ, the supreme creator Viṣṇu, doesn’t have such extraordinary Pastimes.
When Kṛṣṇa was present on earth, all other forms of the Lord as well as the demigods and all the great sages were astonished to hear about His wonderful Pastimes. In fact, all the transcendental and material worlds were astonished to see the Pastimes of Kṛṣṇa who appeared as the son of Nanda Mahārāj.
Nanda Mahārāj, the foster father of Kṛṣṇa, was the king of a society of cowherd men, but he didn’t own a castle; he didn’t have an opulent house or even any fixed residence. He moved from pasturing ground to pasturing ground making a thatched house or living in whatever place was available, but in his courtyard, the Supreme Personality of Godhead played.
Brahmā’s illusion
Once, Lord Brahmā came to join that play. When he came to join that play, he became confused. He couldn’t understand who Kṛṣṇa was. He thought, “Who is this boy playing here? I didn’t create Him! What is going on here?”
Brahmā meditated and through meditation understood Kṛṣṇa was the Supreme Personality of Godhead — but he couldn’t believe it. He thought, “How could the Supreme Personality of Godhead be playing in the courtyard of Nanda Mahārāj just like an ordinary child? This is impossible!”
To see if Kṛṣṇa really was the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Brahmā stole all cows, calves, and cowherd boys, put them in a cave, and left.
The next day he returned and saw to his amazement everything was the same. Kṛṣṇa was outside playing with everyone!
Brahmā became puzzled and thought, “I put everyone in a cave yesterday and left, and now they are here exactly like they were yesterday. Maybe there was a hole in the cave, and they escaped?”
Brahmā went to the cave and saw Kṛṣṇa playing inside with everyone. He left the cave and again saw Kṛṣṇa playing outside and enjoying with all of His paraphernalia!
Then Brahmā understood. With folded hands, he approached Kṛṣṇa and said, “O my Lord, I have done wrong. You are always giving consciousness and remembrance to me, and I am always forgetting You. I have forgotten You, and again You have checked me. Please forgive me for my offences. I confess that anyone who says they know You, Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, or Your unlimited Pastimes, can say so, but I say I cannot understand anything about You with my mind, words, or deeds.”
jānanta eva jānantu kiṁ bahūktyā na me prabho
manaso vapuṣo vācho vaibhavaṁ tava gocharaḥ
“I can’t say anything more. I can only say whoever says they know You or understands Your Pastimes can say so, but I say I cannot understand even a small amount of Your unlimited Pastimes.”
This is one example of the first quality Śrīla Rūpa Goswāmī mentions as belonging to Kṛṣṇa and not to any other incarnation or Avatār: Kṛṣṇa’s super-excellent Pastimes in Vṛndāvan Dhām.
Brahmā at the gate
Another incident which shows the superiority of Kṛṣṇa’s Pastimes was when Brahmā went to Dvārakā to visit Kṛṣṇa. When he arrived, he saw many gatekeepers. Brahmā has a lot of power, but he saw his power was useless there; otherwise, he could have suddenly appeared before Kṛṣṇa.
Brahmā waited at the gate and asked the gatekeeper to inform Kṛṣṇa he had come. When the gatekeeper informed Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa replied, “Which Brahmā?”
Brahmā heard this through his mystic power and thought, “What sort of nonsense question is that? I am Brahmā! Kṛṣṇa knows I am Brahmā.”
Then Brahmā — who is a gentleman — asked the gatekeeper to inform Kṛṣṇa he was the chatur-mukhī Brahmā, the Brahmā with four heads. When the gatekeeper informed Kṛṣṇa of this, Kṛṣṇa said, “Oh, that Brahmā! Bring him, bring him in.”
After Brahmā entered, Kṛṣṇa showed him a lot of respect. He said, “You have been waiting at the gate a long time. Please don’t mind. Come and take your seat. Why have you come?”
Brahmā said, “I will answer that question later, but first tell me why did You ask, ‘Which Brahmā?’ Is there another Brahmā besides me?”
Kṛṣṇa gave a little smile and remembered all the Brahmās. There are many Brahmās. Each universe has its own Brahmā, and there are many, many universes. One by one, all the Brahmās came. One with four heads, one with eight heads, one with ten heads, one with a hundred heads, and one with a thousand heads — many thousands of Brahmās came to see Kṛṣṇa, and one by one they all bowed to Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet. Miraculously, accommodation for all of them took place, and the four-headed Brahmā appeared like an insect in front of them. Then suddenly, they all stood and asked, “Why are we so fortunate, O Lord, that You have remembered us? What is your wish?”
Kṛṣṇa said, “It isn’t anything important. I just wanted to see you. I haven’t seen you in a long time. Now you can all go back to your own abodes.” After all the Brahmās left, the four-headed Lord Brahmā said, “I have my question answered. I am very fortunate Your Pastimes are going on in my brahmāṇḍa (universe). I feel very fortunate indeed.” Brahmā offered many prayers to Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa gave him His mercy, and Brahmā returned happily to his abode.
These are the types of Pastimes that take place in Kṛṣṇa-līlā. Especially in Vṛndāvan Dhām, they are all full of ecstasy and miraculous for everyone — sarvādbhuta-chamatkāra-līlā-kallola-vāridhiḥ. In Nārāyaṇ-līlā, there aren’t such Pastimes — with the cows, the Vraja-bālakas, the Vraja-gopīs, and all the Vraja-vāsīs — which take place in Vṛndāvan Dhām twenty-four hours a day and which are so wonderful for everyone.
Inconceivable Pastimes
Mahāprabhu said that all of Kṛṣṇa’s Pastimes are inconceivable — achintya-bhedābheda-tattva. It is not possible to understand them from here. We live within the materially conscious world so it is not possible to understand transcendental consciousness and Kṛṣṇa’s Pastimes from here.
Every evening in Purī, Mahāprabhu would talk with Svarūp Dāmodar and Rāmānanda Rāy in the Gambhīrā. One evening, they were discussing the poetry of Chaṇḍī Dās. Chaṇḍī Dās said in one poem, “Whoever can conceive a garland can be made from the peaks of mountains with a tiny thread, or an elephant can be bound with a spider’s web, can understand Kṛṣṇa’s Pastimes.” You must believe you can bind an elephant with a spider’s web before you can understand Kṛṣṇa’s Pastimes.
When I first joined Śrīla Guru Mahārāj’s Mission, he asked me if I could do two things. He said, “Can you not follow your mind, and can you follow my instructions?” I said, “Yes”, and Guru Mahārāj was happy. Then, he said, “Can you forget the songs you know?” I was born in a Vaiṣṇava family, and my father was a famous professional singer. Because of that I had some singing capacity and had memorised all of the Vaiṣṇava songs. Śrīla Guru Mahārāj tested me as to my singing style, meter, etc. by having me sing in front of Kṛṣṇadās Bābājī Mahārāj. I sang in front of Bābājī Mahārāj, and he told Guru Mahārāj that I knew many songs and was a good singer.
A few days later, Guru Mahārāj told me to forget those songs. He said they were sahajiyā songs, and that condition would increase if I sang them. I said I would not sing those songs. He gave me a book named Śaraṇāgati and marked thirty-two songs. He asked me to memorise them within a week and said the songs of madhura-rasa would come later. He said, “They will reveal in your heart after ruchi. When you will get the position of ruchi, or taste, you can learn them.”
Rūpa Goswāmī showed this in a step-by-step sequence:
ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgo ’tha bhajana-kriyā
tato ’nartha-nivṛttiḥ syāt tato niṣṭhā ruchis tataḥ
When it is necessary for the devotee to know what Vṛndāvan is, what Govardhan is, what the Yamunā is, and what the forests of Vṛndāvan are, and what the Pastimes of Kṛṣṇa-līlā are, everything will reveal itself in the heart of a surrendered soul. This is the meaning of Śrīla Guru Mahārāj’s book Śrī Śrī Prapanna-jīvanāmṛtam, Life Nectar of the Surrendered Souls.
Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī’s solace
When Kṛṣṇa met Rādhārāṇī and the Vraja-gopīs at Kurukṣetra, He said:
mayi bhaktir hi bhūtānām amṛtatvāya kalpate
diṣṭyā yad āsīn mat-sneho bhavatīnāṁ mad-āpanaḥ
“Devotional service unto Me is the only way to attain Me, My dear gopīs. The only reason for My returning to you is the love and affection you have attained for Me by good fortune.”
In India, it is customary to go to Kurukṣetra during a solar eclipse and bathe in a lake there. People from all over India do this. Kṛṣṇa went to Kurukṣetra from Dvārakā with His queens, and Rādhārāṇī and the gopīs went from Vṛndāvan to meet Him.
When the gopīs met Kṛṣṇa’s queens, the queens said to them,“We have not actually had Kṛṣṇa’s presence. We think He is absentminded because we can’t tell what He is thinking. When He is asleep and dreaming sometimes He calls, ‘O Lalitā, O Viśākhā, O Yaśodā, O Mother Rohiṇī!’ He says many things when He is dreaming. We have heard all the Vraja-gopīs’ and Vraja-bālakas’ names many times, and now you are here. Whether Kṛṣṇa lives in Mathurā or Dvārakā, He always remembers you.” Kṛṣṇa’s queens glorified the Vraja-gopīs in this way.
When Kṛṣṇa first met the Vraja-gopīs in Kurukṣetra, they asked Him, “How long will we wait for You?”
He said, “In a short time, in a few years, I shall go back to Vṛndāvan. Don’t think I won’t go. I am bound to go. Don’t think that I live here. Actually, I live with all of you in Vṛndāvan. Every day you are getting My association in Vṛndāvan. What you are doing with Me is positive. You think it is negative, but it is positive. What I am doing here is negative. Every day in Vṛndāvan, My Pastimes are going on, and every day you are getting My association. You are giving Me nourishment every day, and that is positive. Whatever you are doing there is positive.”
When Kṛṣṇa said this to the gopīs, Mayi bhaktir hi bhūtānām [implying: “I shall come back to Vṛndāvan to see you.” — Ed.], they believed it. That is why Kṛṣṇadās Kavirāj Goswāmī gave this śloka before the above one in the Śrī Chaitanya-charitāmṛta:
eta tā̐re kahi’ kṛṣṇa vraje yāite satṛṣṇa
eka śloka paḍi’ śunāila
sei śloka śuni’ rādhā khaṇḍila sakala bādhā
kṛṣṇa-prāptye pratīti ha-ila
“While speaking to Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, Kṛṣṇa became very anxious to return to Vṛndāvan. He made Her listen to a verse which banished all Her difficulties and which assured Her that She would again attain Him.”
If you say something to someone in an exclusive way, they will understand it. If you say to someone, “Yesterday we were taking prasādam together, and you were giving me fried subji, and we were talking and laughing”; if you say that in an exclusive way, that person must believe it. He will think, “Yes, yes, that happened.”
So, after hearing the following śloka, Rādhārāṇī got good nourishment:
mayi bhaktir hi bhūtānām amṛtatvāya kalpate
diṣṭyā yad āsīn mat-sneho bhavatīnāṁ mad-āpanaḥ
“If You, Rādhārāṇī, hear what I am saying, You will see this is the truth. Every day I am living with You. Every day there are My Pastimes in Vṛndāvan, and every day You are getting My association. Every day You are giving Me nourishment, and that is positive.”
Mother Śachī’s joy
Mahāprabhu sent Dāmodar to Nabadwīp and instructed him to tell Mother Śachī, “Every day I come to take the prasādam you prepare for Me.” Mahāprabhu said, “Mother Śachī thinks she is dreaming. It is not a dream. I eat from her hand every day. You tell her that and remind her that yesterday I came and took prasādam from her. She cooks many nice preparations for the Deities such as śāk, etc., and afterwards she gives them to Me, and when I eat them, she becomes very happy. But she thinks she is dreaming. When she sees the plate has nothing on it, she thinks she forgot to put food from the pots on the plate. She goes to the kitchen and sees there is no food in the pots, and she thinks she is dreaming. The positive truth is that I ate everything. Remind My mother of that, and she will believe it.” This is an example of telling someone something in an exclusive way.
Kṛṣṇa always lives in Vṛndāvan
When Kṛṣṇa said to Rādhārāṇī and the gopīs that He goes to Vṛndāvan every day and plays with them, they believed it.
Actually, Kṛṣṇa never leaves Vṛndāvan. He always lives in Vṛndāvan.
kṛṣṇo ’nyo yadu-sambhūto yaḥ pūrṇaḥ so ’sty ataḥ paraḥ
vṛndāvanaṁ parityajya sa kvachin naiva gachchhati
Vṛndāvanaṁ parityajya sa kvachin naiva gachchhati: Śrīla Rūpa Goswāmī said Kṛṣṇa does not leave Vṛndāvan, not even for one moment. He lives there with the Vraja-bālakas, the sakhīs, and the gopīs, etc. Kṛṣṇa’s Pastimes are always going on in Vṛndāvan.
Ecstatic revelationEvery night with His two confidential associates, Svarūp Dāmodar and Rāmānanda Rāy, Mahāprabhu heard and tasted the ecstasy of Jayadev’s Gītā-govinda, Jagannātha-vallabha-nāṭaka, Śrī Kṛṣṇa-karṇāmṛta, and the songs of Chaṇḍī Dās and Vidyāpati:
chaṇḍīdāsa, vidyāpati rāyera nāṭaka-gīti
karṇāmṛta, śrī-gīta-govinda
svarūpa-rāmānanda-sane mahāprabhu rātri-dine
gāya, śune — parama ānanda
They were able to get and to take the real and direct association of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. After Jayadev, Vidyāpati, and Chaṇḍī Dās, only Rūpa Goswāmī could sing those types of songs. Once you start expressing Kṛṣṇa-līlā, you cannot stop. There is so much ecstasy you cannot stop.
madhuraṁ madhuraṁ vapur asya vibhor
madhuraṁ madhuraṁ vadanaṁ madhuram
madhu-gandhi mṛdu-smitam etad aho
madhuraṁ madhuraṁ madhuraṁ madhuram
When Śrīla Guru Mahārāj would express Kṛṣṇa-līlā, he would forget who was in front of him. As he was speaking, he would forget who was there, who was hearing.
Guru Mahārāj gives the meaning of the gāyatrī-mantram
One day I said to Guru Mahārāj, “You are giving the meaning of the gāyatrī-mantram, the Ṛg-veda mantra, etc., and the Vedas say one isn’t supposed to give their meaning. It is a private matter, so why are you giving it?”
Śrīla Guru Mahārāj said, “O Govinda Mahārāj, what are you thinking? What expressions and ideas come from the gāyatrī-mantram? We are giving the gāyatrī-mantram to others, and they will meditate on it and feel it after reaching perfection. No one is giving anything before perfection. If I don’t give it, I think no one will give it in the future. No one has given it before, so I feel I should give it. It is necessary for the conditioned souls. Many devotees want to know the meaning, so I am giving it.”
The meaning was published from the San Jose Maṭh in the Guardian of Devotion. Everyone in our sampradāya was amazed to see it. What Śrīla Guru Mahārāj gave is extremely worshippable: the inner meaning of the gāyatrī-mantram, etc. He knew everything, and he was the only one who knew everything.
Once, he told he went to feed the cows in the field, and when he sat underneath a tree and was meditating on the gāyatrī-mantram, he suddenly saw the whole viśvarūp form of the Lord. The whole effulgence of the gāyatrī-mantram became manifest before him. That was his first experience with the gāyatrī-mantram.
After that, Guru Mahārāj had many experiences, but if he would tell them, it would be difficult for others to understand. That is, if you don’t have a good instrument for receiving, how will you receive it? The wall cannot receive radio waves. Our insides are not adjusted to receive transcendental knowledge. It may exist within us, but we are not adjusted to receive it. If we can fine-tune or adjust ourselves, everything will be revealed in our heart.
hṛdaya ha-ite bale jihvāra agrete chale
śabda-rūpe nāche anukṣaṇa
kaṇṭhe mora bhaṅge svara aṅga kā̐pe thara thara
sthira ha-ite nā pāre charaṇa
When we are internally adjusted to receive transcendental knowledge, the mantra will forcefully come and dance on our tongue. This is the real dance of Mahāprabhu or the real dance of the Holy Name.
tuṇḍe tāṇḍavinī ratiṁ vitanute tuṇḍāvalī-labdhaye
karṇa-kroḍa-kaḍambinī ghaṭayate karṇārbudebhyaḥ spṛhām
chetaḥ-prāṅgaṇa-saṅginī vijayate sarvendriyāṇāṁ kṛtiṁ
no jāne janitā kiyadbhir amṛtaiḥ kṛṣṇeti varṇa-dvayī
When Śrīla Rūpa Goswāmī expressed these glories of the Holy Name, Śrīla Haridās Ṭhākur said, “I have never heard this type of śloka describing the Holy Name before. I have heard many glories of the Holy Name, but I never heard this type of śloka.” Haridās Ṭhākur said this, and he was a siddha-mahātmā (perfected soul).
“When we are chanting, the mantra is revealing itself on our tongue. At that time an eagerness for millions of tongues will come to us. If we will get those, we will be satisfied. We are hankering for millions of ears when we hear of the real form of Kṛṣṇa. Chetaḥ-prāṅgaṇa-saṅginī vijayate sarvendriyāṇāṁ kṛtiṁ: when the mahāmantra dances in our mind, the mind is dancing.”
Śrīla Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur said that when the Holy Name is revealing on the mental plane, devastation comes to the mind through the presence of Kṛṣṇa-nām. That is real Kṛṣṇa-nām.