Based on Lecture given by Śrīla Prabhupāda in Māyāpur (April 8, 1975)
jayatāṁ suratau paṅgor mama manda-mater gatī
mat-sarvasva-padāmbhojau rādhā-madana-mohanau
Translation: Glory to the all-merciful Rādhā and Madana-mohana! I am lame and ill advised, yet They are my directors, and Their lotus feet are everything to me. [Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 1.15]
In our conditioned state we have forgotten our relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is our conditional life. Like the son of a rich man loitering in a street without knowing who his father is, we are rotting in this material world, identifying ourselves with the body and being subjected to the stringent laws of material nature. Kṛṣṇa is full in all opulences: richness, strength, influence, beauty, knowledge and renunciation. He asked us to abandon everything and surrender to Him. But influenced by māyā we do not accept.
So the author says manda-mati. manda means slow. We are very slow in spiritual progress. We think spiritual cultivation is meant for old age. But what is the guarantee that we will live the next moment. Everyone is nearing death at every moment. Why should we wait for old age? At any moment death may come. So one should be tūrṇaṁ yateta anu-mṛtyu pateta yāvad. One should endeavor so dexterously to complete one’s Krishna consciousness before death comes.
Prahlāda Mahārāja advises, kaumāram ācaret prājño dharmān bhāgavatān iha durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma tad apy adhruvam arthadam. He advises to start from childhood. In our temples, even children take part in chanting and dancing. They attend the classes. They may not understand anything. But it is not a waste of time. Though one may not understand anything, just hearing the words uttered by a Vaiṣṇava will be effective. The vibration is surcharged with Kṛṣṇa consciousness. śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ [SB 1.2.17]. Simply hearing will do. Simply by hearing one will become pious. From the very beginning of our life, we should try to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. This is not optional. It is compulsory.
This Bhāratavarṣa is meant for cultivation of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Unfortunately, the present leaders are misleading people. In the Bhāratavarṣa, Bengal is the most important place, and in Bengal, the district Nadia is most important place, because Caitanya Mahāprabhu appeared there. This is the statement of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. We should take full advantage of this opportunity.
We should understand that we are lame. We cannot go fast. But by the mercy of guru, even a lame man can go fast and he can even cross over a mountain. mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim yat kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam. One has to follow the instructions of the spiritual master. The material conditions cannot check the progress of a person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. ahaituky apratihatā. Simply follow the instructions of the spiritual master. If we follow the rules and regulations, then there will be no impediment.
Always chant and hear. Do not waste time. Even a moment of our life cannot be returned even if we pay millions of dollars. This is the instruction of Cāṇakya Paṇḍita, the great moral instructor. āyuṣaḥ kṣaṇa eko 'pi na labhya svarṇa-koṭibhiḥ. But people waste their time unnecessarily. They do not know that the real business is spiritual advancement of life. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī says avyartha-kālatvaṁ nāma-gāne sadā ruciḥ, vivikta deva deśa sevitam. He recommended that one should always be anxious to see that not a moment is spoiled. That is advancement of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. A devotee should always think, 'Whether my time is passed uselessly?' " Then he will make advancement.
Based on Lecture given by Śrīla Prabhupāda in Māyāpur (April 9, 1975)
dīvyad-vṛndāraṇya-kalpa-drumādhah-
śrīmad-ratnāgāra-siṁhāsana-sthau
śrīmad-rādhā-śrīla-govinda-devau
preṣṭālībhiḥ sevyamānau smarāmi
Translation: In a temple of jewels in Vṛndāvana, underneath a desire tree, Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Govinda, served by Their most confidential associates, sit upon an effulgent throne. I offer my humble obeisances unto Them. [Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 1.16]
vṛndā is the name of tulasī. āraṇya means forest. There are many trees, all of them are desire trees. kalpa-drumā - the desire trees. This is explained in Brahma-saṁhitā: cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam [Bs. 5.29] These trees and plants are also living beings and they have decided to serve Kṛṣṇa by supplying fruits and flowers. They have become trees by their voluntary desire. In the spiritual world everything is spiritual. The cows, calves, trees, plants - everything is spiritual. They are expansion of Kṛṣṇa's pleasure potency. The vṛndāraṇya or vṛndāvana is not an ordinary forest. Only if we become freed from our material disease, we can realize the divine nature of this forest. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura sings: viṣaya chāḍiyā kabe śuddha ha 'be mana kabe hāma herabo, śrī-vṛndāvana; when my mind will be cleansed of all material desire then I will be able to see what Vṛndāvana is. The first qualification in bhakti is to become free from all material desires. As quoted in Nectar of Devotion:
sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam hṛṣīkena hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate
anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānu-śīlanaṁ bhaktir uttama
When we do not have any desire for sense gratification, then we are situated in the spiritual platform. Then we will be able to see Vṛndāvana. It is different from material world. There everything is sat-cid-ānanda form—eternal, full of bliss, full of knowledge. The forms are not material. aprākṛta. In material world, the forms are temporary; everything will be finished in due course of time. It undergoes six types of changes. Takes birth, grows, exists, produces by product, dwindles and dies. But for spiritual form such changes are not there. It is sat. Kṛṣṇa is the origin of everything; he is the oldest of all. In Brahma-saṁhitā it is mentioned: ādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣam nava-yauvanaṁ ca: but His body is like that of a fresh young man. His form is not material. It is eternal. But our material body is not eternal. It is temporary. But we are trying to exist in that body for ever. There is struggle for existence and we are always full of anxieties. So our main business is to get out of the entanglement in this material body. Kṛṣṇa mentions in Bhagavad-gītā: janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam: our real problem is how to get out of this material body which is subject to birth, death, old age and disease; and become fit to go back to Godhead and become one of the associates of Kṛṣṇa in whatever capacity as a servant, friend, or lover.
The Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas follow the footsteps of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and aspire to become one of the assistants of the gopīs. gopī-bhāva-rasāmṛtābdhi-laharī-kallola-magnau muhur - the six gosvāmī's of Vṛndāvana, were all from aristocratic or wealthy families and they were also learned scholors, but they left everything. tyaktvā tūrṇam aśeṣa-maṇḍala-pati-śreṇīṁ sadā tucchavat. Rūpa Gosvāmī and Sanātana Gosvāmī were ministers in the government of Hussain Shah; Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī was the only son of a rich zamindar (landholder) having twelve lakhs of rupees' income. Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī and Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī were great scholars. All of them left their material occupational duties and joined Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's saṅkīrtana movement and were absored in gopī-bhāva-rasa: how to assist the gopīs in serving Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī.
Our goal is to become part of the family of Kṛṣṇa. That is not possible if you are sinful. Kṛṣṇa is pure without any material contamination. So we can become part of Kṛṣṇa's family only when we are free from the material contamination by giving up all designations and remaining in the state of gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor' dāsa-dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ - I am the servant of the servant of the servant of Kṛṣṇa. By executing devotional service one can practice how to become free from these material designations and become fit to enter the family of Kṛṣṇa. This is the process.
