Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 1.16

Santoṣa: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [Prabhupāda and devotees repeat] [leads chanting of verse, etc.]

dīvyad-vṛndāraṅya-kalpa-drumādhah- śrīmad-ratnāgāra-siṁhāsana-sthau śrīmad-rādhā-śrīla-govinda-devau preṣṭālībhiḥ sevyamānau smarāmi [Cc Ādi 1.16]

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"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."

Prabhupāda:

dīvyad-vṛndāraṅya-kalpa-drumādhah- śrīmad-ratnāgāra-siṁhāsana-sthau śrīmad-rādhā-śrīla-govinda-devau preṣṭālībhiḥ sevyamānau smarāmi [Cc Ādi 1.16]

So, description of Vṛndāvana, Vṛndāvana, and Rādhā and Kṛṣṅa situated there. The Vṛndāvana... Vana means forest, and vṛnda means tulasī. Mostly there are tulasī plants and other trees also, but all the trees are living desire trees, spiritual. They can serve Kṛṣṅa in any way, desire. They have become trees by their voluntary desire. They're all spiritual beings—there is no force—but everyone has got a particular tendency to serve Kṛṣṅa in a different way. So these trees and plants, they are also living beings. They are not ordinary living beings, but they have decided to serve Kṛṣṅa by supplying fruits and flowers. They want that service. Everyone has got his particular propensity. So someone is serving as the land there; someone is serving as the throne; someone is serving as the supplying agent of fruits and flowers; someone is engaged in His service as the gopīs, confidential servitors. The cows, calves, everything—they are all different living entities. They are not made of these material things, material body. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis tābhir ya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ [Bs 5.37].

[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, residing in His own realm, Goloka, with Rādhā, resembling His own spiritual figure, the embodiment of the ecstatic potency possessed of the sixty-four artistic activities, in the company of Her confidantes [sakhīs], embodiments of the extensions of Her bodily form, permeated and vitalized by His ever-blissful spiritual rasa.]

They are all also expansion of Kṛṣṅa's pleasure potency. In one sense they are also Kṛṣṅa; they are not different from Kṛṣṅa. Śakti-śaktimatayor abheda: "The power and the powerful, they are not different—identical." Just like the sun and the sunshine. So in the sun globe there is heat and light, and the sunshine there is heat and light. So, so far heat and light is concerned, they are one. Similarly, Kṛṣṅa and Kṛṣṅa's pleasure potency, ānanda-cinmaya, ahlādinī... It is already described, rādhā kṛṣṅa-praṅaya-vikṛtir hlādinī-śaktir asmāt [Cc Ādi 1.5].

So whatever description is there of Vṛndāvana, that is expansion of Kṛṣṅa's pleasure potency. They are not different. Therefore in the beginning it is said dīvyad, "shining," or "divine," "transcendental." So we should not consider Vṛndāvana as ordinary forest. Here we have got Vṛndāvana on this planet. That is also not ordinary forest. The exactly the same Vṛndāvana as it is Goloka Vṛndāvana... There is no difference. Therefore Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says that,

viṣaya chāriyā kabe śuddha ha 'be mana kabe hāma herabo, śrī-vṛndāvana

Viṣaya chāriyā. Our present position is that we are materially diseased, so we have to become free from the material disease. Material disease means sense gratification, and the most formidable disease is sex. This is called material disease. So viṣaya chāriyā. We have to be..., become free from the contamination of viṣaya, material enjoyment. This is the statement of Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura.

viṣaya chāriyā kabe śuddha ha 'be mana kabe hāma herabo śrī-vṛndāvana

"When my mind will be cleansed of all material desires, then I shall be able to see what is Vṛndāvana." It is very difficult to see Vṛndāvana with material desires. Bhakti means the first qualification is to become free from all material desires. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam.

sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam hṛṣīkena hṛṣīkeśa- sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate [Cc Madhya 19.170]

[Bhakti, or devotional service, means engaging all our senses in the service of the Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the master of all the senses. When the spirit soul renders service unto the Supreme, there are two side effects. One is freed from all material designations, and one’s senses are purified simply by being employed in the service of the Lord.]

anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam ānukūlyena kṛṣṅānu- śīlanaṁ bhaktir uttama [Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.1.11]

[One should render transcendental loving service to the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṅa favorably and without desire for material profit or gain through fruitive activities or philosophical speculation. That is called pure devotional service.]

You know all these definition of bhakti given in our Nectar of Devotion. So spiritual life means free from material desires. And material desires mean just to hanker after sense gratification. This is material desire. When we have no more desire for sense gratification, then we should think that we are on the spiritual platform.

So this description of Vṛndāvana is spiritually described; therefore in the beginning the word is used, dīvyad. Dīvyad means divine. Kṛṣṅa says, janma karma ca me divyam [Bg 4.9].

[One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.]

This is not ordinary material thing. So desire tree also described in the Brahma-saṁhitā: cintāmaṅi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa [Bs 5.29]—the same kalpa-vṛkṣa—lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam, lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānam. This lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sevyamānam is described here as preṣṭhālībhiḥ sevyamānau. Preṣṭha-alībhiḥ. Preṣṭha means very dear, and alī means gopīs, associates of Rādhārāṅī, friends. So they are all Lakṣmīs, goddess of fortune.

Lakṣmī... You have heard the name Lakṣmī, Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṅa, associates of Nārāyaṅa. Kṛṣṅa is Nārāyaṅa. So all these gopīs, they are expansion of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṅī, the original Lakṣmī. This is spiritual world. It is not impersonal, neither nirākāra, formless. Everything form, but that form is different from this form. That form is sat-cid-ānanda form—eternal, full of bliss, full of knowledge. This is not this material form. When we speak of formless, that means without any material form. Formless does not mean Kṛṣṅa and His expansion, they are formless. They are not of material form. Aprakṛta, not material. Here everything is prakṛta. It is not..., neither eternal nor blissful nor full of knowledge. It is temporary, full of ignorance and always miserable, this form. We can understand it.

So that is just opposite. This form is temporary. Everyone knows this form will be finished. Antavanta ime dehā [Bg 2.18], Kṛṣṅa says. This body is antavat. Antavat means it will be finished. It grew at a certain date, and it will increase, it will stay, then it will dwindle, then it will produce some by-products and then vanish. This is called ṣaḍ-vikāra, six kinds of changes of the material body. Of the spiritual body there is no such change. That is the difference between spiritual body and material body. Therefore it is called sat. Sat means eternal; there is no change. Just like Kṛṣṅa. His body is sac-cid-ānanda; therefore He never grows old. You'll never find a picture of Kṛṣṅa that He has grown old. No. There is no change. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam ādyaṁ purāṅa-puruṣam [Bs 5.33]. Purāṅa-puruṣam means the oldest person. Because Kṛṣṅa is the origin of everything... Sometimes they consider, "Because God is very old, therefore He must have big, big beard and..." That is imagination. Here you find the real description of God: advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam ādyam [Bs 5.33],

[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is inaccessible to the Vedas, but obtainable by pure unalloyed devotion of the soul, who is without a second, who is not subject to decay, is without a beginning, whose form is endless, who is the beginning, and the eternal puruṣa; yet He is a person possessing the beauty of blooming youth.]

"Original," purāṅa-puruṣam, "the oldest of all," nava-yauvanaṁ ca, "but His bodily feature is just like a fresh young man." That is Kṛṣṅa. You'll never find Kṛṣṅa... Kṛṣṅa, when He was in the battlefield of Kurukṣetra, He was a great-grandfather, but you'll find a young boy. That is Kṛṣṅa. So that is eternal.

Now our body is not sat. Kṛṣṅa's body is sat, cid, ānanda. Our this material body—asat. And because we have got... Asat means temporary, that will not exist. And because we have accepted this material body, therefore we are full of anxiety. Ultimately, what is our anxiety? We are always trying to... This is called struggle for existence, survival of the fittest. So we are trying to become the fittest, to exist. But that is not possible in this body. That is not possible, because it is asat; it is not sat. And because the struggle is that we want to exist in this body, therefore there is anxiety. Asad-grahāt. Sadā samudvigna-dhiyām asad-grahāt [SB 7.5.5].

[Prahlāda Mahārāja replied: O best of the asuras, King of the demons, as far as I have learned from my spiritual master, any person who has accepted a temporary body and temporary household life is certainly embarrassed by anxiety because of having fallen in a dark well where there is no water but only suffering. One should give up this position and go to the forest [vana]. More clearly, one should go to Vṛndāvana, where only Kṛṣṅa consciousness is prevalent, and should thus take shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.]

The śāstra says that we are always full of anxieties. Why? Now, asad-grahāt: "We have accepted this body, which will not exist." Asad-grahāt. These are facts. Study śāstra in that way. Why we are full of anxiety? Because we have accepted this body.

So our main business is how to get out of this entanglement of this temporary body. The people are not very seriously thinking, neither they have got sufficient knowledge how the temporary body is obtained, how it is changed, another temporary body, and there are 8,400,000 different forms of body, and we are changing one after another. Why this disease? "If I am, my position is, as I understand from Bhagavad-gītā, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre [Bg 2.20]—I am not destroyed after the destruction of this body—why I am in this position that I have to change my body?" Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ [Bg 2.13].

[As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.]

This is intelligence. When you come to this intelligence, then athāto brahma jijñāsā; then the inquiry about spiritual life begins. But unfortunately, we are in such a civilization that we have no time to think of this great dangerous position of changing body one after another, and we have accepted it that "There is no remedy; we have to change or die for good." These theories, this ignorance, is going on, and Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement is the only movement which is trying to educate man to this standard of knowledge, that he may at least think that "I am not this body, as I understand from the śāstras. I am within the body. So how I can become free of this material body?" That is our real problem. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam [Bg 13.9].

[Humility, pridelessness, nonviolence, tolerance, simplicity, approaching a bona fide spiritual master, cleanliness, steadiness and self-control; renunciation of the objects of sense gratification, absence of false ego, the perception of the evil of birth, death, old age and disease; nonattachment to children, wife, home and the rest, and evenmindedness amid pleasant and unpleasant events; constant and unalloyed devotion to Me, resorting to solitary places, detachment from the general mass of people; accepting the importance of self-realization, and philosophical search for the Absolute Truth—all these I thus declare to be knowledge, and what is contrary to these is ignorance.]

So if we take it very seriously, then we become gradually advanced and eligible, or fit candidate, to go into the spiritual world—dīvyad-vṛndāraṅya-kalpa-drumādhaḥ. We can go there. That is wanted. Be serious. Don't be misled by the allurement of māyā. Remain strong. And then, in this life, you'll be able to become fit candidate to go back to home, back to Godhead. Dīvyad-vṛndāranya-kalpa-drumādhaḥ. You'll also be one of the associates of Kṛṣṅa, as you desire. Kṛṣṅa will give you the opportunity to serve Him as you desire. If you want to serve Him as a gopī, you'll get that position. If you want to serve Him as cowherds boyfriend, you'll get that opportunity. If you want to serve Kṛṣṅa following the footsteps of Mother Yaśodā, accepting Kṛṣṅa as your son, you'll get it. Accepting Kṛṣṅa as your son, Nanda Mahārāja following... We have to follow their principle, not that "I shall become Nanda Mahārāja" or "I shall become Yaśodā," "I shall..." No, that is Māyāvāda. You have to follow how they are loving Kṛṣṅa. You have to learn that. Then you'll get the chance of Kṛṣṅa's association.

Dīvyad-vṛndāraṅya-kalpa-drumādhaḥ, preṣṭālībhiḥ sevyamānau smarāmi. The Gauḍīya Vaiṣṅava, generally, following the footsteps of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, they aspire to become one of the assistants of the gopīs. There are others also who like to be the assistants of the cowherd boys. So our Gosvāmīs, Rūpa Gosvāmī, śrī rūpa sanātana bhaṭṭa raghunātha, they were all the assistants of the gopīs. Gopī-bhāva-rasāmṛtābdhi-laharī-kallola-magnau muhur vande rūpa-sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva-gopālakau. These six Gosvāmīs, rūpa sanātana bhaṭṭa raghunātha śrī jīva gopāla bhaṭṭa dāsa raghunātha, they were all very, very big men, not ordinary men—ministers, zamindars, learned scholars. They were not ordinary men. And they gave up everything. Tyaktvā tūrṅam aśeṣa-maṅḍala-pati-śreṅīṁ sadā tucchavat [Śrī Śrī Ṣaḍ Gosvāmy Aṣṭaka 4].

[I offer my respectful obeisances unto the six Gosvāmīs, namely Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī, Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmī, Śrī Raghunātha Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, Śrī Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī, and Śrī Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, who kicked off all association of aristocracy as insignificant. In order to deliver the poor conditioned souls, they accepted loincloths, treating themselves as mendicants, but they are always merged in the ecstatic ocean of the gopīs' love for Kṛṣṅa and bathe always and repeatedly in the waves of that ocean.]

Just like Rūpa Gosvāmī, Sanātana Gosvāmī, he was..., they were ministers in the government of Hussain Shah. Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī was the only son of his father and uncle, very, very big zamindar, landholder. Twelve lakhs of rupees' income. Five hundred years, twelve lakhs—twelve crores now. He was so rich man. Similarly, Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, they were very, very learned. Jīva Gosvāmī was the nephew of Rūpa Gosvāmī, very learned scholar. So either scholar, rich men, big politician—all of them gave up their occupational..., material occupational duty and joined Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu in His saṅkīrtana movement. So they were always absorbed in the gopīs' activities, always thinking. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was always thinking of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṅī's activities, and the Gosvāmīs, they were also thinking of the gopīs' activities. Gopīs' activities means to assist Śrīmad-Rādhārāṅī how to serve Kṛṣṅa. Preṣṭālībhiḥ sevyamānau. They are always ready.

So in this way there is the description of the spiritual world. You just have a glimpse of the spiritual world, how they are perpetually enjoying blissful life with full knowledge. That is described here. Dīvyad-vṛndāraṅya-kalpa-drumādhah-śrīmad ratnāgāra-siṁhāsana-sthau. There the siṁhāsana, the throne, that is also spiritual. That is not material. Everything spiritual. Simply in different capacity they are serving. There the water is also spiritual. So this spiritual realization, if we get the opportunity fortunate enough, then naturally we shall aspire to enter into the spiritual world. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura said, kṛṣṅera saṁsāra kara chāḍi' anācāra: "If you want to enter into this association of spiritual kingdom, then practice here the family of Kṛṣṅa." Just like here we are trying to be family members of Kṛṣṅa. Here Kṛṣṅa is sitting, Rādhā-Mādhava is sitting on the throne. He is the enjoyer, and we are trying to serve Him so that He may very nicely enjoy. This is called Kṛṣṅa family—center, Kṛṣṅa. Just like in ordinary family the head man is there, and he is the chief man, and all other—his wife, children, servants, and other friends, associates, even animals, cats, dogs, cows—everyone is serving the center point, master. Similarly, our Kṛṣṅa family means Kṛṣṅa is the master, and He is the supreme enjoyer. Bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram [Bg 5.29].

[The sages, knowing Me as the ultimate purpose of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attain peace from the pangs of material miseries.]

And if we understand this point, that Kṛṣṅa is the center, He is the enjoyer, and we are meant for serving Him for His enjoyment, that is Kṛṣṅa family.

So we have to, according to the śāstric injunction, according to the spiritual master instruction, everywhere we have to organize this Kṛṣṅa family. So Kṛṣṅa family does not mean starvation. Kṛṣṅa family means to enjoy simply. Simply minus this material contamination. Chāri anācāra. Anācāra. Anācāra means not proper behavior. Proper behavior means to remain always pious, and improper behavior means to become impious, sinful. If you become sinful, then you cannot enter into the family of Kṛṣṅa; that is not possible. Kṛṣṅa is described in the Bhagavad-gītā by Arjuna, paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān [Bg 10.12].

[Arjuna said: You are the Supreme Brahman, the ultimate, the supreme abode and purifier, the Absolute Truth and the eternal divine person. You are the primal God, transcendental and original, and You are the unborn and all-pervading beauty. All the great sages such as Nārada, Asita, Devala, and Vyāsa proclaim this of You, and now You Yourself are declaring it to me.]

Pavitra. Pavitra means pure, completely pure, without any material contamination. So if you want to enter into Kṛṣṅa's family, then you have to become also completely pure. Otherwise, there is no chance. Completely pure of all material contamination.

That can be done when we give up our designation. That can be done. If I think, "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am brāhmaṅa," "I am kṣatriya," "I am vaiśya," "I am white," "I am black," these are upādhi, designation. And if we think like Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, that "I am not this, I am not a brāhmaṅa, I am not a kṣatriya, I am not a vaiśya, I am not a śūdra, I am not a brahmacārī, I am not a..., not, not this, not this..." Then what you are? Gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor' dāsa-dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ [Cc Madhya 13.80]:

[I am not a brāhmaṅa, I am not a kṣatriya, I am not a vaiśya or a śūdra. Nor am I a brahmacārī, a householder, a vānaprastha or a sannyāsī. I identify Myself only as the servant of the servant of the servant of the lotus feet of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṅa, the maintainer of the gopīs. He is like an ocean of nectar, and He is the cause of universal transcendental bliss. He is always existing with brilliance.’]

"I am simply servant of the servant of Kṛṣṅa." That is sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam [Cc Madhya 19.170].

[Bhakti, or devotional service, means engaging all our senses in the service of the Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the master of all the senses. When the spirit soul renders service unto the Supreme, there are two side effects. One is freed from all material designations, and one’s senses are purified simply by being employed in the service of the Lord.]

Then you'll remain pure. And as soon as you will think in the bodily concept of life, then you will remain impure. This is the process how to give up this bodily concept of life. That is called sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam.

So in this way, in one life we may practice how to become free from this material contamination and execute devotional service as it is prescribed in the śāstra and by the instruction of spiritual master. If we keep ourself pure without material contamination, then we become fit to enter into the family of Kṛṣṅa. This is the process.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Prabhupāda. [end]