1) Our Qualification to enter Dham
A devotee once asked His Divine Grace A.C.Bhaktivedanta swami SrilaPrabhupada, “What is our qualification to receive the highest knowledge of the super most, top most realm of spiritual world. SrilaPrabhupada with all humility and honesty replied, “You had no qualifications, I made your qualifications” And this is so true. If our hearts are truly grateful and if we express that gratitude through our humble appreciation for SrilaPrabhupada’s mercy, for all the vaishnavaacaryas, for all the assembled vaishnavas and the Supreme Lord Sri RadhaShyamasundar and we express our gratitude through our service attitude.
2) Important items of devotional service
This human life is very rare, every moment is so precious. And the rarest of all things is the association of the Lord’s devotees. CaitanyaMahaprabhu taught through RupaGoswami, five very important principles, most important to make spiritual progress. To associate with devotees, chant the holy names, to hear SrimadBhagvatam, worship the deities and be in the holy dham. All of these 5 is really all we have here. There is nothing else to do. We hear harikatha, we chant the holy names, and to perform such activities in the holy dham, even that is increased many folds. For the next weeks as this yatra is taking place. We have such a rare opportunity to make such spiritual progress.
3) Spiritual Progress
Ye yatha mam prapadyante, tams tataivabhajamiaham
We make progress according to our sincerity. According to how we put our heart and soul into practicing Krsna Consciousness. It is our rule during yatras that we should not speak anything except the holy names, harikatha, glorifying Krsna, glorifying the Krsna, glorifying the vaishnavas and speaking words in the spirit of service.
4) What is true Bhakti?
Rupa Goswami explains bhakti anyabhilasita-sunyam jnana-karmady-anavrtam anukulyena krsnanu-silanam bhaktir uttama
True bhakti is without a tinge of desire for one’s own personal selfish gratification, without tinge of desire for mystic powers of even liberation. It is executed exclusively for the pleasure of Krishna in the mood of servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the Lord. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu explained bhakti in so many ways. In the Siksastakam it is explained
na dhanam na janam na sundarim kavitam va jagad-isa kamaye mama janma ni janma nisvare bhavatad bhaktir ahaitukitvayi
My Lord I am surrendering my body, words, mind, life, everything to you. I don’t want wealth in return. I don’t want the pleasures of the world or of the opposite sex. I don’t want fame or prestige, I don’t want even liberation. I only want to serve you my Lord, for your pleasure. I want to serve you birth after birth after birth after birth after birth. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu came to personify in his life the Srimad Bhagavatam.
5) Challenges in devotional service
sa vai pumsam paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhoksaje ahaituky apratihata yayatma suprasidati
The supreme occupation for all humanity is loving devotional service for Sri Krishna. Such devotion must be without any motive to fulfill any type of selfish desire and uninterrupted by any situation that may come upon us, because to practice devotional service in this world we are inevitably going to face incredible impediments, because this world is made of dualities. Pleasure-pain, honor-dishonor, fame-infamy, happiness-distress,victory-defeat, success-failure, health-disease, birth-death. Every one of these things comes upon every one. Sometimes due to our conditional nature we want to select the challenges that we like. But Krishna is so merciful He will send us the challenges that we do not like. Because if we like they are not challenges.
In Brhat Bhagavatamrita, when Gopakumar goes through all the difficulties of life and returns to the spiritual world, the Lord expresses to him, “My dear devotee, you have gone through so many hardships for My sake. Now I welcome you home” Krishna embraced him. All good qualities have their origin in Krishna to an unlimited degree. Without a grateful heart the seed of bhakti can’t grow its roots deep or have the strength to grow its fruits of love of God or prema. Krishna is infinitely grateful for a devotee who strives to remain faithful to serve under any situation. If we actually are seeing, Krishna, as the object of our service when difficulties come although they may be hard on our heart, our mind, our body, deep down there is an enthusiasm that Krishna is allowing me to not only become purified but to express my sincerity of desire to service, which is the meaning of love.
6) Developing love
In the beginning stages of bhakti we may not have love but we may all have the intent to love, and that’s what Krishna sees and feels our intent to love Him. SrilaPrabhupada writes, Krishna doesnot accept everything that is offered to him, but Krishna accepts the intent or the purpose with which that it is offered.
7) Entering Dham
SrilaPrabhupada explained that one cannot really enter dham simply by plane or by any other type of motor-vehicle, or even by foot. One can enter dham in a state of consciousness of deep humility and appreciation. Srila Prabhupada taught that Akrura gave an example, when he just came into the precincts of Sri Vrndavana… actually even on his way… his heart was trembling with eagerness for the darSana of Krishna and Balarama. His mind was immersed intensely in that remembrance remembering the Lord’s names, remembering the Lord’s pastimes and especially hoping for the Lord’s mercy. In this way by the time he actually came to the precinct of Vrndavana, he was so very much fertile in his heart to receive mercy. When he saw the cows and heard the milking of the cows, and saw the trees and the flowers, the creepers of the forest, he was in ecstasy and when he saw the lotus footprints of Lord Sri Krishna in the soft sands, he literally fell from his magnificent chariot and rolled in the dust, weeping tears of grateful joy. That is not artificial.
If you want to really enter into the realm of dham, Lord Caitanya taught us this consciousness
gopi-bhartuhpada-kamalayordasa-dasanudasah
We should not try to become the master or the proprietor or the controller. The more we are in the sweet mood of serving the other vaishnavas, the more Krsna will reveal Himself. If you want to know Krishna you have to put the vaishnavas in front of yourself. We should not be self-centered. It is our service attitude that attracts Krishna to empower us to taste the sweetness of the holy name, to be able to actually experience and see the beauty of the holy dham.
8) The vision to see Dham
Caitanyamahaprabhu wanted to show through SwarupDamodarGoswami that, we should not see Vrindavan with material vision. SrilaPrabhupada explained to us that, there is a fine layer covering dham; it is yoga maya. In order to perceive the Dham as it is, is not possible with our mortal eyes made of flesh & blood. The spiritual world cannot be seen through such a mechanism, the spiritual world can only be seen by our faith in the words of the great acharyas & by our humility & our devotion. Do not commit offences by thinking anything in dham to be ordinary. Those great personalities, who have completely purified hearts, they see the divine past times of Sri Krishna continuously taking place in dham. But some time we see sewage running in the street & hogs bathing in that sewage & walking around, sometime we see poverty, some time we see condition that may be not very sanitary. This is our vision. Actually behind all of this, the Lord is performing his unlimited past times. Gour Kishore Das Babajimaharaj when he was living in Vrindavan, one time the devotees offered their obeisances in the dust & they got up & started cleaning the dust of their body & their hair. Gour Kishore Das Babaji chastised them, he said, do you not know the every particle of this dust is valuable than all the jewels of heavenly planets or Vaikuntha; & you are taking it so ordinary, you have been blessed by this dust & you are simply pushing it off as it is something ordinary. Srila Prabhupada taught us that, we have to see by our ears, we have to see through the faith that we have in our hearts; in the word of great souls. It is the great personalities that reveal to us, the holy Dham.
9)Rule of Yatra
Srila Prabhupada invited devotees from all over the world to come to Mayapur and Sri Vrindavandham to associate with one another and to absorb the infinitely merciful environment of bhakti that permeated this holy place and to utilize our every moment to hear and to chant and to serve. This is the rule of the yatra. This is not necessarily a rule that we enforce, but it is a rule that we must discipline ourselves with by our free will. Every moment of life is precious.
10)Tapasya in yatra
Tapasya in bhakti means to be grateful for whatever may come upon us. Whatever inconvenience it takes to be in dham with so many devotees, in front of many deities, chanting the holy names and hearing Krsnakatha, any inconvenience is an insignificant price for this blessing. We should see things in this perspective.
11)Sincerity
Krishna does not see our material qualifications or dis qualifications, Krishna does not see if we are big, small, whether we are famous or we are nothing at all, whether people like us or hate us. Krishna just sees the sincerity of our hearts and our will to serve and to chant the holy names.
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare. Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare
So let us really pray earnestly that we can gain an appreciation and gratitude because when we are truly grateful when we receive mercy, then Krishna reciprocates and showers more and more and more and more mercy. But if we take it to be ordinary, if we become neglectful, or even complain because the mercy is not what we expect or what pleases our senses or mind, then Krishna reciprocates with that, and withholds our ability to even understand the fortune we’re given. But Srila Prabhupada explains to us that an essential qualification to be Krishna conscious is our sincerity. Sincerity can be understood as something very real, the cultivation of the desire to the proper desire without superficiality, without desire of material gain or benefits either in the form of wealth or position, prestige. But an actual desire or an actual wanting for the true essence of life pure devotional service, and an honest, determined will to follow the principles of devotional service carefully under the guidance of the great souls. That is the way of expressing our sincerity.
12)Truly Valuable
In the age of Kali, one of the great misfortunes that people suffer is that they do not understand what is truly of value. In fact in Kali-yuga, what is utterly unimportant, we consider of great value and what is of supreme importance, we take as ordinary. And that is really the difference between a devotee and a person bereft of good fortune. Actually the only real fortune is to understand the mercy of the Lord and to reciprocate. To the degree we make spiritual progress, our hearts become pure: we can recognize and with a grateful heart appreciate mercy, when it comes upon us. We come to Sri Vrndavanadhama in association of devotees, with the blessings of Srila Prabhupada and all the great acaryas, the six gosvamis. It’s a fortune that is so high that human intelligence cannot even begin to grapple its significance.
13)Our Prayer during Yatra
We are here in dham because of blessing, because of grace and we want to express that through our sincere diligent prayers to serve with love. And Srila Pradhupada taught us Krishna Consciousness in such a practical way, it’s not a theoretical conceptual prayer we offer. Every moment of everyday of our lives of our life we have an opportunity to live by that prayer by sincerely chanting the holy names, by serving vaishnavas, by spreading this glorious mission that Srila Prabupada risked everything for to the world, by reading Srila Prabupada’s books Srimad Bhagavatam, Bhagavad Gita, by discussing the subjects with each other, by doing puja, worshipping the deities, sweeping the floor, or cooking or chanting the holy names sitting in train or in a Mumbai traffic jam. Every moment is an opportunity to practically express our gratitude. That is how we make spiritual progress.
In each place where ever we may go, we are praying for pure devotional service, praying for a humble heart devoid of ego, praying to overcome lust and envy and anger and pride and greed and illusion. Praying for pure devotional service! This is the great fortune we are given. It is our prayer that all of the assembled devotees put their hearts and souls, their lives focused on serving the vaishnavas and the holy dham and the holy names. And becoming so spiritually surcharged with the eternal benefits of the yatra, that it will invigorate and empower us throughout our whole lives in the path of bhakti.