(This lecture was given in Palace Press, San Rafael, USA Jan. 26th 1999)
Swami Narasiṅgha reads from ‘Śrī Bhakti Rakṣaka Bhajana Mādhurī’ and discusses Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja’s connection to Nityānanda Prabhu, and how the installation of Gaura-Nitāi is not a ‘lower thing’ as some devotees believe. Mahārāja points out that real preaching begins with extreme humility and great compassion, and how in western countries humility is mistaken as weakness, but actually humility is a great strength.
He also says that one of the key aspects of bhajana life is hankering and we have to get a taste for Kṛṣṇa. He gives the example of Gaura Kiśora Dāsa Bābājī who would not stop chanting until he attained nāma-darśana. Mahārāja explains that our understanding of who we really are as ātma and servant of Kṛṣṇa is mostly theoretical, but we have to become self-realised. One may have read many books, memorised many verses or had sādhu-saṅga, but if hankering for Kṛṣṇa has not arisen in the heart, it is all useless. There must be a change of heart.
Narasiṅgha Mahārāja also explains how Gauḍīyas are all in the camp of Rādhārāṇī and that modern registered institutions don’t exist in the spiritual world. We can’t just trace things from the mundane lower level - they have to be traced on the higher level where all apparent contradictions are harmonised. We pick our friends and close associates by that process, not simply by mundane considerations.
Mahārāja says that this material world is all about assertion, not surrender, and entering the spiritual world is wholly based on śaraṇāgati. However, the assertiveness of the residents of Goloka charms Kṛṣṇa. Narasiṅgha Mahārāja also discusses how the jīva is ‘part and parcel’ of Kṛṣṇa and how Kṛṣṇa reveals Himself in the heart and not in the head, or brain. He also states that ‘innattention’ does not just apply to not listening to the mantra when chanting, but also being inattentive to the proper conception. Mahārāja explains how one can actually become a true rasika and also about loyalty to the camp of Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī.
