Relationship Between Guru and Disciple by HH Radhanath Swami at Prabhupad Desh ISKCON Vicenza by Radhanath Swami

Sri Sri Radha Gopinath's Brahmotsavam Festival 2021 Lecture By HH Radhanath Swami by Radhanath Swami

Deepening Our Relationship With Deities by HH Radhanath Swami at ISKCON Boston by Radhanath Swami

Sukadeva Goswami told maharaja pariksit that don't be attached to living a long life the trees the thousands of years. But what is the quality of their life? They are simply standing in ignorance. Sukadeva Goswami told maharaja Parikshit, “better to have one moment of consciousness of God that to live thousands and thousands of years without remembering Krishna. The duty of every human being and every human being is about to die sooner or later, the duty of every human being is to always remember Krishna, to always remember the supreme lord of one's life. so, Maharaja Parikshit sat for seven days and heard the narration of how great Souls throughout history in the most prosperous conditions and in the most trying and testing circumstances how they never forgot the lord of their life. And then he described the personal glories of lord shri Krishna's pastimes in the tenth canto, which are so beautiful so full of attraction for the souls the very fulfillment of all our hearts desires can be attained simply by hearing submissively the beautiful leela of the supreme lord. And these pastimes when they are heard from self-realized Souls like sukadeva goswami or those who are his representatives they are fills full of philosophical truths which we can apply to our life and never be bewildered and never take one step off the path of pure devotion.

The guru is the transparent via medium. Our devotion never stops at guru. He is simply taking our worship and giving it all to the lotus feet of Shyama Sundar and Sri Radharani through disciplic succession. So, Gopal Bhatt Goswami brought Srinivas Acharya and said, “Radha Raman, he is yours. Unconditionally he is yours. And I will take care of him. I will train him”. So, they set an auspicious date and the initiation took place and then Gopal Bhatt Goswami told Srinivas Acharya that “Under my order, you should study all of the literatures of Rupa and Sanatan from Jiva Goswami.” Such is the love amongst vaishnavas. No competitive spirit of this is mine and that is yours, but everything was Krishna’s, everything was Mahaprabhu’s. And we are all working together for the satisfaction of Mahaprabhu.

Day and night he remained with the Lord. And his father Venakta Bhatta was so very happy to see that his son had become attached to this great sanyasi. It was the joy of his heart. This should be the greatest pleasure of all spiritually cultured parents. When they see their child becoming attached to the great devotees of the Lord, it should give them more happiness and however nice grades they get or however nice marriage arrangements are made, because these things are all temporary and material. They have their value in life, no doubt. But the perfection of life comes about when we become attached to great personalities. So, Venkat Bhatta was very happy and he simply encouraged his son to serve the Lord. And Gopal Bhatta served the Lord in the most wonderful and menial ways day and night.

So, why do we take medicines? We are depending on Krishna, but he gives us body that is subjected to disease; ultimately Krishna can work through the medicines or not work through the medicines. And when Srila Prabhupada was sick, he called doctor Kaviraj and even if it int work, He would say ‘a blind uncle I better than no uncle at all.’ It is just a ritual of this world that when you are sick, you have to take medicine. But he was depending on Krishna but still, you have to try. When Kamsa was about to kill Devaki, ultimately it was in Krishna's hands whether Devaki lives or dies but still Vasudev did everything within his power to protect her. That was his duty. He made so many philosophical arguments, so many social arguments, so many promises. He was a pure devotee. So, a devotee must be ideal in example and devotee must live exemplary within society.

We have to cultivate this humblest position as well. It is question of our consciousness. Are we doing it for our own recognition or are we doing at his service? In the neophyte state we r doing it for both purposes. We have to chant and we have to pray and we have to desire to give up this ego. If we desire to give this ego, gradually through this process u will give up ego. But if u desire to serve your ego, then ultimately Krishna will smash u, he will smash u very hard. Just to show u that u are not the one, he is the one. But in any case, we must perform his order, we must strive internally to do it, with this understanding that we r completely depending on his mercy. We cannot give up our service that is false humility.

So, for those who are in the mood of the Gopis or in the mood of Queen Kunti praying in this verse that we are completely dependent on u; please do not leave us, we have nothing but you, Krishna never leave such a devotee. And this is our aspiration, this is our goal, this is our only purpose for living is to develop these sentiments of complete attachment to Krishna, complete dependence in Krishna, complete willingness to serve Krishna, to surrender to Krishna with no ego, no aspiration for anything.

You may think how is this possible? It is because Krishna is “Svarat,” He can do anything. And when we read about Dwaraka, we don’t read about Traffic jams. How they are bumping into each other, bumper to bumper traffic, trying to get to the sudhama - meeting house. We read how it is so spacious, it has beautiful lawns, gardens and lakes with auspicious trees and everybody is dressed in beautiful jewellery and silks, plenty room for everyone. Krishna can do anything because He is independent, anytime. He is “Svarat”. If Krishna wants to manifest his Mahavisnu form, within a second He becomes Mahavisnu and all the planets emanates from his body from His exhalation and when He decides I want to destroy all the cosmic manifestation; just inhales and everything is destroyed. Krishna can place the whole universe within His mouth and show it to mother Yashoda and He can close his mouth and appear just like a helpless child.