All glories to Sree Sree Guru and Gauraṅga.
“amedhya pūrṇe krimikit saṅkule svabhāva- durgadhi vinindit antare
kalebare mutre purushe bhavire ramanti mudha viromanti paṇḍitha”
(Alvandar Stotra) By Yamunā Acarya)
This useless material body is full of blood, flesh, stool, urine, etc. Still material people think it to be a place of enjoyment. The more we start to hate this body the more we are advancing. That is the verdict of the Paṇḍitas.
Gauḍīya Goṣṭhī Pati Śrī Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda used to say, “Only for two days we are here in this material world. While staying here we should always think about where we will be taken after that. Death and birth go on in a cyclic order. We should think about our eternity.”
Spirit is never going to die. When a man has already received a death sentence, what enjoyment can he expect? Actually, when we face great danger in our lives or when we face death itself, then our profit and loss account will automatically start inside our mind. Our thoughts will threaten us heavily for our previous wrong (sinful) activities.
Love is quite natural with the jīvātmā because sat-cit-ānanda mayi Hari is the original source of all jīvātmās.
mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke
jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ
manaḥ-ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi
prakṛti-sthāni karṣati
“The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind.” (Bg. 15.7)
“Eternity is already there with the jīvātmā. Only through sat saṅga will we be able to feel that truth.”
kaate kaantaa dhana gatachintaa
vaatula kim tava naasti niyantaa
trijagati sajjanasam gatiraikaa
bhāvati bhavaarnavatarane naukaa
(From Moha-mudgaraḥ Stotram by Śrīpād Śaṅkarācārya)
O, Foolish one, why this constant grasping for wealth? Is there none to guide thee and show the way? In these three worlds, only one thing can save thee, from Samsara’s greed. Climb onto the boat of sat-saṅga (good company), with deliberate speed.
“saṅgayat samshriter hato asat subehito dhia sva eva sadhasukrito moksha daram apavritam”
“All kind of worldly association will become a bondage for us. At the contrary the association with a sādhu will be the way out to cross the material ocean and receive bhakti.”
This śloka proves that any kind of our material association can become the cause of our bondage, but that any kind of association with a real sādhu (sādhu–guru-Vaiṣṇava) can make us free from material bondage. Association of Tadia-vastu like Tulsi, Gaṅga, Yamunā, Go-Mata, etc., is also very beneficial.
This useless material body is full of blood, flesh, stool, urine, etc. But still people cannot avoid mutual attachments and material love affairs. Now due to the Corona Virus we are all full of panic. Now, where has the love gone? Even after death due to the Corona Virus a husband is going to avoid touching his wife or the wife will avoid touching her husband. Similarly, fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters are all avoiding touching each other since the Corona Virus outbreak.
A very important film actor in Italy started crying when he couldn’t even find a single friend or relative to take the dead body of his sister to the crematorium ground. They were all afraid of getting infected. This is typical of this material world.
I can kiss Go-Mata or a calf according to the teachings of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, but I should not pursue romantic association. Vṛndāvana-brahman līlā or jāl–keli līlā or rasa–līlā are among the secret līlā–vilāsa of Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa with his svarūpa-śakti gopikā. These are not in the least dirty material love affairs. Be careful before making any such insinuation.
The other day, I was speaking about sanātana dharma, which is eternally present dharma. “Sada” and “Tanoti” mean eternally propagating or always expanding. “Eti sanātana” means eternally propagating automatically. One may wonder exactly how long this propagation will continue. This question is useless and obsolete. Sanātana dharma is directly related to Ananta Deva. Ananta means infinity or endless. Sanātana dharma continues expanding and propagating towards eternity, which has no limitation.
Ananta Rupi Hari can only stay in the lap of Ananta-Deva. We know that Bhagavān is omnipresent. Directly or indirectly, everything is done by the Supreme Lord. This Corona game is also happening indirectly by His will. We just don’t know why. Maybe it makes sense according to time and circumstances, but we are unqualified to understand why.
You might recall Duryodhana’s last statement at the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra. He stated, – “janami dharmam na cha me pravritti, janami adharmam na cha me nivrittihi.” He wanted to say that he understood what dharma was, but he didn’t like to follow it. And also, that he knew what adharma was, but still could not stop himself from doing adharma.
A vital question was posed by Droṇācārya Parvat to Hanumān Ji Mahārāj about sanātana dharma. He asked, “Mahārāj, what is sanātana dharma?”
Hanumān Ji Mahārāja replied very clearly with “kripea pratikṛtiṁ eso dharmah sanātana.” This means that this sanātana dharma is the extreme expression of gratitude. Sanātana dharma will teach us extreme dignity and gratefulness unto the Lotus Feet of the Supreme Lord and his devotees. Accordingly, we all must always be ready to take prompt action to serve the Supreme Lord and His devotees, because we are forever grateful to them.
Knowingly or unknowingly each and every jīvātmā is a Vaiṣṇava. If we can see the whole world in relation to the Supreme Lord it is quite natural for us to discover our duty to each other. If this happened right now then the whole world would automatically become free of any Corona effect.
In some places people may continue to contaminate each other by indiscriminate affection such as touching, kissing, and embracing. This can be very dangerous and is strictly prohibited in Vedic culture.
Twenty-four-hour hari-nāma-saṅkīrtane. and hari-kathā is our bhājana. Yet many devotees cannot follow this procedure strictly. Therefore, it is currently better for them to keep their health in check by doing prāṇāyāma with Īśvara bhāva.
Corona is giving us the appropriate treatment to rectify our dirty hearts. The whole world has now come to a standstill. Business, sports, politics, preaching and other normal activities have come to a stop. This gives everyone enough time to sing the glories of The Supreme Lord. But who is interested in doing that? This should be a focal question. Usually, everyone is busy attending to their business concerns. But now it isn’t possible to do any business or attend any appointments or fly anywhere.
Everyone could be single-pointed and join us in hari-bhājana and hari-kīrtana. Why do anything else? Now would be a perfect time to understand the real identity of spiritual personalities, especially from our own sampradaya. The real identity of a genuine Gauḍīya sādhu is found in the following siddhānta vichar. Who is a genuine Gauḍīya sādhu? He is an aprākṛta (transcendental) sound box. He is the source of constant hari-kathā.
A Corona positive kapat sādhu cannot stay for very long inside the aprākṛta ‘śravaṇa-kīrtana’ sādhana of Śrī Gauḍīya Math. If he tries to stay there for a long time to prove his authenticity, in a very short while his kapat svarūpa will be exposed in front of the rāgānugā guru-varga.
When the Corona crisis is over people will likely think twice before going to a foreign country without good cause. Corona has benefited us by causing us to think.
No one can live forever in this material world. It is not possible. Remember that Sanak Adi heard all of Ṛṣi Muni’s speech to Śrī Suta Gosvāmī pada? The Ṛṣis Munis explained how they had already started a big 1,000-year yajña, but were already troubled because their bodies were turning black due to the continuous smoke coming out of the fire.
We are actually very, very lucky today to get your (Suta Gosvami) darshan. Today we can get the rare chance of hearing hari-kathā from your Lotus Mouth. We like to take bath in the steam of amṛta mayi hari-kathā. So please go on speaking in front of us and don’t try to deprive us.
For a long time, I gave answers to all different kinds of complicated questions related to the Corona Virus. I had a very humorous mood to cut all your tension and anxiety. But frankly, I am also shedding secret tears for those thousands of people dying by the influence of this wicked Corona demon. We can all pray for them. Maybe shortly, by the mercy of the Supreme Lord, normal situations will again prevail everywhere. We should all pray for that. Hari-nāma-saṅkīrtane and hari-kathā is the ultimate solution. HARI BOL.
Thanks a lot.
Truly yours in the service of Guru-Gauraṅga and GO-MATA.
Vaiṣṇava Das anudas
Śrī Shyam Das Baba.