EXTRACTS FROM LECTURES BY HH RADHANATH SWAMI MAHARAJ

Tolerance is service without interference

Tolerant means whatever comes your way doesn't interfere the discharge of your service. The best example is of Srila Prabhupada. E.g. he traveled to the west on a cargo ship at the age of 70. During that long trip he suffered 3 heart attacks & also sea-sickness. Now for those who don't know what is sea-sickness, it is very difficult to even imagine sitting here. In old New Vrindavan days we saw one film showing the preaching activities in Hawaii & the devotee with a beautiful cruise sailing in the ocean. We all thought this is the best (attractive & luxurious) way to serve Srila Prabhupada. Finally once came the opportunity to be there on the cruise & I was so excited. But as the cruise left the shore & after few hours it was terrible due to sea-sickness, so much so that could not even stay on the boat anymore. That was so terrible experience that we preferred to jump in the ocean (midst of the sharks there) but were saved by a rope from the cruise.

That was just in the age of thirties.

Srila Prabhupada travelled at the age of 70 on that cargo ship (Jaladoota). He still wrote the beautiful poem on board requesting Lord Krishna to manifest His plans for him & make him a puppet in His hands. He tolerated all the bad manners & threats by those hippies in the Ghetos where he stayed. He tolerated all offences for delivering us.

e.g. once in a lecture one hippie under the influence of LSD shouted 'I am GOD', & Srila Prabhupada patiently replied, "please accept my obeisances". That is tolerance, nothing distracted His mission to please His Spiritual Master.

Forgiveness is the principle

If we want to be Vaishnavas, then we have to be tolerant & forgiving. It is stated in Srimad Bhagavatham 9th canto that of all the qualities of a brahmin, forgiveness is the principle. Even Jesus Christ exemplified this & He always forgave all the offenses. Tolerate all the difficulties & forgive others, else Krishna won't forgive us.

Enthusiasm for service is so rare

In fact this enthusiasm for the service of the Lord is so rare and so precious that even the Lord Himself worships such a devotee who has such enthusiasm. It is described in the Caitanya Caritamrita that at the temple in Jagannath Puri, Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu was once standing at the foot of the holy Garuda stambha having darshan of Lord Jagannath. At that time a very old woman, small in size, was very anxious to see Lord Jagannath. But she wasn't able to see Him because she could not see over everyone's heads. So she was a woman and Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu was of course a sannyasi and those days 500 years ago, sannyasis were very strict in the principles of sannyas and orthodox in their ways. But this woman personally began to climb on the body of the Lord and was standing on His shoulders looking at Lord Jagannath.

So Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu's servant became very angry at this woman.

He said, 'you un-civilized woman, what are you doing crawling on the body of a sannyasi. Get down'. When LC heard his servant say like this . He said 'No. No. Don't disturb her. How eager she is to see Lord Jagannath? She did not even consider what she was doing and not doing. How could we interfere with her darshan with her beloved Lord.' The Lord Himself said, I am only praying to Lord Jagannath that someday I could have such eagerness and enthusiasm to see Him as this woman has.

In this way the Lord praised her for her enthusiasm to serve the Lord by coming before Him.

The only process to understand Krishna

Because human beings have an intelligence, and our intelligence must direct our mind. Unless our intelligence is completely convinced on all levels of the truth and how to attain the truth, we will not put it into practice . But the conclusion of the truth, is we have to ultimately surrender. Which is the surrender of our consciousness, which is to love.

Philosophy is like a map, which is necessary to give us directions. But it can never take you there, never could take you there, never will take you there. Philosophy has never taken anyone to the goal of life. It can only show you the way. It is by accepting the position of the most humble, menial servant, which is what the philosophy ultimately teaches us, and by surrendering to Krishna in that mood, is the only process by which we can understand God.So therefore, it is very necessary to scrutinizingly study the philosophy, but don't think that in and of itself will help you. We must understand the essence - Bhakti and you must put that into your life. And if you do, your heart will
gradually melt. And in that state out of love, you will gradually begin to long more and more and more for the presence of God in your life. Prabhuapada would often tell us, the price of Krishna, is the tears that you flow from your eyes, in longing of separation from Him. We must learn to long for Krishna. We must learn to long for the compassion to help every living being who is a part and parcel of Krishna. And all of these glorious
attributes are born from one who attentively chants the holy name – Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.

Chanting the holy name by attentively offering our consciousness to the process of hearing to each and every syllable. This is the goal of life and the means to attain it.

Blessing of a sadhu

So to actually receive the blessing of a sadhu, the sadhu has nothing to give you of himself; his blessing is when he delivers the mercy of Krishna to you. Because after all Krishna is the source of everything. A real sadhu is simply surrendered to Krishna and is simply Krishna's agent of delivering His mercy. And when we please him and when he is favourably disposed towards us then automatically Krishna is pleased and Krishna's supreme most blessing and mercy comes through that person into our lives. And sometimes that blessing will fulfill all of our desires and sometimes that blessing will frustrate all of our desires. Because a real sadhu, he does not appear in the world to fulfill our material desires by which we become further entangled in attachment and bondage. Srila Prabhupada said, sadhu means to cut. It doesn't mean that he just cuts jokes or that he just chops everybody up with harsh words. It means whatever he says, through his encouraging sweet words or through his chastising words, whatever it is only meant to cut us free from material bondage, by keeping us closer to Krishna.

Culmination of preaching

Srila Prabhupada has told us that the culmination of all of our preaching in Krsna Consciousness is to induce people to wholeheartedly chant the holy names of Krsna. The chanting of the Holy names must continue. Srila Prabhupada said we can do without temples, we can do without everything. We don't need money. If we can get it, we will use it. We don't need property. If we get it we will use it. We don't need vehicles. If we get it we will use it. We don't need good PR, Public relations. If we get it we will use it. But one thing at all times, we always need for our spiritual survival and that is the association of the devotees and the regular chanting of the holy names. If we lose either of these two principles which are actually one in essence, then we lose our connection to Krsna.

Show your love for me

Due to egoism, everyone thinks "I can judge others. I am right. You are wrong. If you stand between me and my aspirations of profit, adoration and distinction then you become my enemy." Where there is disunity amongst devotees there cannot be proper sankirtan. We cannot chant together in the proper spirit to please Krsna, we cannot serve together.

When Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur saw his own devotees fighting amongst themselves, he was willing to sacrifice everything and anything he had, to bring about unity. Because he knew that unity alone would empower his movement to please Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu and thus fulfill His mission. For Srila Prabhupada also, that was the great worry. "Show your love for me by how you cooperate." This cooperation is not an ordinary material formula. You cannot cooperate unless you are really trying to follow the essence of Srila Prabhupada and Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu's teachings. Without wearing this shloka around our necks, strung by the holy name: trinad api sunicena, taror api sahishnuna, amanina manadena, kirtaniya sada Hari, there can be no real cooperation, unless we are striving to be really humble devotees, putting aside this egoism. Trample it down!

Attracting the mercy of the Lord

Krishna explains that the fire of material desire, however much ghee you put in the fire, however expensive and opulent that ghee may be, it only makes the fire bigger. Material desires can never be quenched by any amount of sensory satisfaction; the soul is searching for that loving relationship with God that is dormant with the heart of every living being. We must give our children the understanding as well as the higher taste of what Sanatana dharma and Hindu culture is really about - how to attract mercy of the Lord

Floating in maya

Lethargy means laziness. We don't want to chant, we don't want to read and even if we chant, we chant lazily. We let our minds just slope along its own natural patterns for thoughts. Recently we were in the ocean near Udupi and it is easy to just float on the water of the ocean and the waves just take you wherever you go. It is very relaxing, so relaxing! There is nothing more relaxing than floating in the ocean.

Except in Jagannath Puri, you cannot float. If you try to float you get crushed. But in Udipi, you can float. And similarly it is very relaxing to chant our japa and let our minds just coast along upon the waves of maya and illusion, thinking of this, thinking of that and everything else. And meanwhile our mouths are moving and everyone in the temple is thinking, "Oh, a very strict devotee!" But we cannot deceive Krishna, we cannot be lazy. We have to keep bringing our minds back to Harinam.

 Attachment to the Lord and His devotees

A Vaishnava's purpose only in life is to serve Krishna. Death is better than no service. A devotee cannot tolerate living without service. Service to Krishna is his life, his soul, his everything. Materialist people make so many arrangements to somehow or the other prolong the life of this decaying body just for the purpose of some enjoyment and even if they are miserable*they do not know therefore somehow or the other people go on living but a devotee does not want to go on living. A devotee has only one attachment i.e., service to the Lord and service to the Lord's devotees, and without that there is no life. The whole world is just a dreary void without service to Krishna.

What is spiritual advancement?

In our International Society for Krishna Consciousness, when new devotees would come, they were very enthusiastic, waking up for mangala arati, dancing like mad men and women, eating very little food, being very strict. We used to call that the pure devotee syndrome. Instantly they thought they were pure souls. However what is spiritual advancement? Trnad api sunicena api sunicena tarorapi sahisnuna amanina mana dena mana dena kirtaniya sada harih sada hari. To be more humble than a blade of grass, more tolerant than a tree, to offer all respect to others and expect no respect in return. Only in this state of consciousness can we please really Krishna and be empowered to constantly chant the Holy names. This is the quality that we are trying to acquire through our bhajan, our sadhana and our service. It is this quality that will satisfy Krishna. So vanity is one of the most powerful demons within our heart. There are sanyaasis, who live in strict celibacy, learn extensive scriptures, become very powerful in controlling the mind and senses, but are simply the victims of their false ego. 'I am God!' 'I am most dear to the spiritual master!' That is a great obstacle on the path of pure devotional service.