Talks on “Baal Gopal Leela”

On the first day of the much awaited talks on ‘Baal Gopal Leela’, Swami Abhedanandaji entered into one of the most enchanting leelas of Lord Krishna – “Ukhal Bandhan”. For the audience, it was, as if, the beginning of a wonderful journey of transcending oneself to the world of Gokul where baby Krishna, who was only two & a half years old, was living with mother Yashoda & Nand baba.

As the talk continued, there were many wonderful points expounded by Swamiji for all of us to revel in & preserve…

‘Krishna’ means ‘One who pulls’. He is the one to whom you need not go yourself, He Himself comes to you & makes His presence felt in your life! To dwell into the leelas of Lord Krishna, you need to mentally detach yourself from the whole world & get associated to Him in some manner; either you become mother Yashoda, or Nand baba, or one of His friends, or one of the Gopis, or simply an on-looker…but just be with the Lord alone!

In our ignorance, we give our heart & mind to the world; although world through its bitter experiences, repeatedly says to us – “don’t come too close to me, don’t get too attached to me, maintain distance, or else I will snatch your peace and give shocks that are hard to recover from,”…

yet we fail to listen!

If we introspect our lives, we would see that Lord has loved us unconditionally in various ways, through various situations; He has opened His heart to us…but did we ever open our heart for him?

Did we ever think for Him as much as we should be? Did we ever ask Him what we can do for His happiness?

Loving perfectly demands dying completely!

Mother Yoshoda is the embodiment of ‘thirst to love & to serve the Lord’! The thirst of loving Krishna reflected in each part of her body; her eyes, her hands, her hair, all were ‘Krishnamaya’, all wanted to give joy to the Lord alone! Yashodaji is the acme of Karmayog. She constantly served the Lord with her body, mind & speech.

We all have lot of love in our heart. If love was not there, we would not have lived with people, celebrated their joys or cried in their sorrows, but what we lack is to understand the real meaning of ‘Love’. Whom to Love? How to Love? Where to surrender? We are uneducated & illiterate when it comes to ‘Loving’. Since childhood we have been taught various things but has anyone ever taught us how to love?

Like a precious gem, mind is supposed to be handled with utmost care. It should be not made available for flimsy issues like ego, self-importance, hatred, jealousy, greed and anger, which take away all its ‘ras’. The ocean of love inside us is all dried-up. Listening to the leelas of the Lord is the only way to water our dried heart.

If we develop the intense desire to feed the Lord, our desire would become Lord’s thirst & hunger.

For mother Yashoda, the Lord of the whole universe became hungry for a dollop of butter… only due to her Love!

When in the morning, mother Yashoda used to churn the pot to make butter for her beloved Krishna, Lord would get up from his sleep and come from behind, and hold her and when she would still continue to churn, He would hold on to the churner with His small hands, as if telling the devotee that you have done enough sadhana and now that I have come, you need not do any more sadhana!

Talks on “Baal Gopal Leela”

On the second day of yagna, Swami Abhedanandaji took the listeners further deep into the captivating Krishna leela and a little more closer to the Lord!

Here are a few enlightening pointers from the talk…

To pull our running minds, the Infinite became finite – the Blue Boy of Vrindavan!

Churning of butter by mother Yashoda depicts that ‘Churning’ is the essence of sadhana, whether it is Bhakti marg, or Gyan marg or Karma marg. Churning in love for the Lord is to separate attachment of the world from attachment of the Lord, to separate all forms and perceive only ‘One Form’, to separate all names and take only ‘one Name’, to separate all love and embrace only ‘One Love’!

Mother Yashoda is the manifestation of ‘desire to see Krishna happy’. She is the ultimate ‘Murtimaan Sukh-daatri’, personification of joy-giving thought; her only goal was to give immeasurable joy to her Krishna!

Lord’s craving for mother Yashoda’s milk was only to fulfill her desire of feeding Him; the desire that she had held in her heart through numerous births. When the desire for Lord becomes so intense that other than His happiness nothing else matters, then the Lord also desires for the devotee!

This path of Loving the Lord is not for those who are afraid of going through pain for the Lord. If we want to become Yashoda or Devaki, we should be ready to go through tremendous pain. The joy of pleasing the Lord should be far greater than the joy of the entire universe.

Seeing the devotee in pain, Lord’s heart develops pain for the devotee. Sadhana should be such that we never feel satisfied that we did enough for the Lord. The power of sadhana is that Lord should

want more sadhana from us!

Talks on ‘Baal Gopal Leela’

The third day of talk on ‘Baal Gopal leela’, once again, ushered the audience to Gokul, and as Swamiji wonderfully opens up the beautiful character of mother Yashoda, one gets to experience the depth of her heart & mind.

Here are a few golden snippets from the talk…

In a devotee’s life, there comes a point when he experiences that he is getting a lot from the Lord, and when this feeling becomes intense, it expresses as extreme desire to love & serve the Lord. A true devotee loves the Lord for the Lord alone and not for the fulfillment of any desires.

Mother Yashoda never ever desired anything for herself. All her prayers were for her Krishna alone.

An ordinary person could never tolerate the pain of separation that she went through when Krishna left Gokul. Her renunciation is beyond our comprehension!

Glory of Ishwar is that, He becomes small from big, and glory of jeeva is that, he becomes big by leaving his smallness. Glory of Ishwar is that, He becomes bound from being free, and glory of jeeva is that, he gets free from all bondage.

Power of true love is that it binds the beloved. In Ukhal-bandhan leela, we witness that binding of the infinite Lord by a simple jeeva called Yashoda. Lord is swatantra, He is nitya-shuddha-buddha-mukt swaroop; but He becomes small & helpless & weak in front of mother Yashoda.

When Yashodaji was running behind Kanha with a stick in her hand and was calling Him, every time He looked behind at her. He said, “If my devotee calls me, I have to look at him, I cannot turn around my face & run.” When Yashodaji asked Kanha to come to her, He asked her to leave the stick first.

Saints say that as long as we hold on to the inert, the world, Lord doesn’t come close!

Let us, for a moment, try to sit somewhere close to Yashodaji, let us become a friend of Yashodaji, let us become some calf peeping at the Lord…let the shape of our heart change, let something blue appear in front of us, let the twinkle of His eyes steal away our glance from everywhere else, let our attention be caught by Him. Let us say, “Oh Lord, Loot me! You are so fond of stealing, why don’t you steal my heart?” We want a thief who can steal our heart because it is otherwise stolen by the world, we need that Big Thief!

Talks on ‘Baal Gopal Leela’

Yesterday’s talk was yet another captivating discourse by Swamiji as he proceeded with ‘Ukhal bandhan’ leela & touched the deepest corner of the hearts of the listeners. Here are a few enticing & appealing points from the talk…

Love is incomplete if it cannot fulfill the desires of the beloved. One jeeva can never love another jeeva, because he cannot fulfill the desires of another jeeva. But Lord can fulfill all the desires and therefore he is the biggest lover. If a devotee approaches Him with a particular intention, He has the power to become that, leaving his infinite nature. More He exhibits that nature more the devotee becomes devoted to Him.

In love if you don’t feel like getting bound then love is incomplete. For a dollop of butter, Gopis made the Lord dance, lift cow dung cakes from one place to another, and Kanha did everything rejoicingly, just for the love & tapasya of births that those Gopis did as Rishis.

Shukdevji says that Lord has no inside or outside, He is before the world and also after the world. Something can be bound only when it is finite and has a form, how can one bind the infinite Lord? But mother Yashoda after running behind Kanha, caught Him and was ready to bind Him. She didn’t know who He was.

Mother Yashoda took a big rope, one that is used to tie the cows, and started tying the Lord, but the rope fell short, so she ran inside the house & brought another rope but even that was short. She ran to each house of Gokul to get ropes, but still it was not enough. As long as Yashodaji thought that she could tie the Lord, the gap of two fingers remained. Lord wants us to put our efforts to a stage till we are totally exhausted, and then showers His grace. Similarly when the last rope of Gokul was exhausted and still Kanha was not bound, Yashodaji said to Kanha that she doesn’t think she can bind Him and that is when Lord Himself graced Her and got tied.

While being tied, there was only one thing in Kanha’s mind, “Maiyya wants me tied, and so I also want to be tied.” Giving right to your beloved is the essence of loving!

It is said that the day when Lord Krishna was leaving Vrindavan, mother Yashoda ran towards the chariot where He was sitting and asked Him to forget the incidence of Ukhal bandhan. But Lord said that He can forget everything else but not that because that is the only proof that devotees have the power to bind Him, to make Him cry, to make Him sob.

Throughout His life, no matter where He went, moment He saw butter or rock sugar, He started crying. We think that jeeva loves Ishwar, but we don’t know how much Ishwar loves the jeeva. We have heard devotees crying for the Lord, but Lord also cries for His devotees. Lord serves His devotees much more than the devotees serve Him.

That Lord who cries for the devotees, He is Krishna; that Lord who wants to fulfill devotees desires, He is Krishna; that Lord who wants the devotees to hold Him & embrace Him, He is Krishna. When we know our God loves us so much, how can we keep away from Him? Can’t we pray for the day when we will love Him alone, want Him alone and embrace Him alone!

Talks on ‘Baal Gopal Leela’

On the concluding day of yagna, Swami Abhedanandaji once again drenched the hearts of the audience with love and devotion for Baal Krishna through His various leelas. In order to inspire the tiny seeker that is hidden in each one of us, Swamiji, throughout the Yagna, described the state of great devotees who had tremendous thirst and yearning for the Lord.

Here are a few gems for us to collect & get inspired,

The only way to save oneself from suffering is to lose oneself on the path of love for the Higher! If love is for our own ego, attachment, or sense organs, then it is fruitless, painful & sorrow giving. But if it is for some higher goal for which we want to dissolve & forget ourselves, then that love becomes our strong point and a constant source of joy & peace.

True love demands response & acknowledgement from the beloved. If we don’t get responses from the beloved, we won’t be able to love him back. Similarly, in order to nurture & strengthen our love for the Lord, the mind should be trained to see His responses in our life. More we see His loving responses, more we would want to be for Him, in Him!

In one of the leelas, Lord was pretending to be selling something, so one Gopi asked Him what was He selling. He said,”I am selling myself and if you purchase me, I will do whatever you say; milk the cows, wash the clothes, mop the floor, cook food etc. But the cost is that each part of your body & mind should chant ‘Krishna, Krishna, Krishna’ at all times.”

The privilege that Yashodaji & Gopis had, of loving the God, of playing with him, of tying him; even Brahmaji, Shivji, Lakshmiji didn’t have. Such is the greatness of love of a jeeva that it can melt the heart of the Lord. It was the power of love of a simple cowherd maid, that Lord became a hungry, crying, fearful, running, and loving child.

Great devotees ask for pain from Lord so that their remembrance becomes so strong & deep that Lord is forced to be with them forever. We should pray, “Oh Lord! Without Your happiness we want to die. Oh dear God, even if we get a fraction of the Love that Gopis and Yashodaji had, this birth would become worthwhile.”

This Janmashtami, let our hearts become completely blue taking the shape of Baal Gopal alone, let us make the Lord an enjoyer of our life, let us make Him greedy for us, let us totally drown ourselves in His Love and His Leelas alone!

Talks on “Glories of Shri Hanuman”

The monthly series of Yagna started with a grand devotional journey as Swamiji introduced everyone with the various aspects of Shri Hanumanji’s beautiful character as depicted in Shri Ramcharitmanas.

A few golden nuggets from the talk are:

• The most distinguished quality of Hanumanji is his nature of serving Lord Ram with extreme quietness & alertness, without having any sankalp of his own. From him, one should learn to look for opportunities to serve, irrespective of the form of seva – big or small.
• True Love does not require any introduction. Such was the first meeting of Hanumanji & Lord Ram where their eternal love was portrayed through their rolling tears that completely soaked each other.
• Hanumanji is Guru ‘roop’. Like a Guru takes devotees closer to the Lord; instilling compassion in Lord’s heart for the devotee and surrender in devotee’s heart for the Lord; similarly, Hanumanji paved the path for Sugreeva’s surrender to Lord Ram.
• Like air helps ignite and sustain fire in a log of wood; similarly, a Guru ushers the Lord to the jeeva and nourishes this divine relationship. This Guru role was played by Hanumanji in Sugreeva’s life to get him closer to Lord Ram.

Such is the immeasurable glory of Hanumanji that there are more temples of him than Lord Ram; and there is no temple of Lord Ram without Hanumanji.

Talks on “Glories of Shri Hanuman”

The flow of sweet nectar of Satsang continued on the second day of monthly yagna by Swami Abhedananda. A few beautiful points from the talk are:

• Hanumanji is the manifestation of Lord Shiva who is ‘vishwas roop’. Sugreeva had unconditional faith in Hanumanji; which got him closer to the Lord. It is not important what we have externally; what is important is to have deep faith internally. Even more important is to sustain that faith in spite of failures.
• Lord cannot be known by the intellect. He can only be known by faith. To those who are pure hearted, God reveals Himself to them. The more the devotion, the more is the clarity and eloquence in the inner voice.
• As the breeze carries the fragrance of flowers with it, similarly the devotees of the Lord carry the fragrance of Lord’s glories wherever they go. In the same way, Hanumanji didn’t have any doership and carried Ramji’s sankalp with him wherever he went.
• All worldly relations are weak and fragile. A person is effectively an orphan who doesn’t feel related to God. Once, we have established a relationship with God, our joys and sorrows become His joys and sorrows.
• One of the most wonderful qualities of Shri Hanuman is that he is the best messenger of the Lord. He knows what to convey at what time to whom in what manner in order to guide the devotee on the right path.

Hanumanji exemplifies various other qualities like devout humility, egolessness, capacity to lead, capacity to follow and eternal surrender at the feet of the Lord. May as devotees we ever aspire to be like him with our limited abilities.

Talks on “Glories of Shri Hanuman”

Swamiji started Day 3 of the discourse with a lucid illustration of an incident of Shri Ramcharitmanas when all the monkeys were wandering in the forest in search of mother Sita…

• Here monkeys represent the various ‘vrittis’ of human mind and Sitaji is ‘bhakti’. During their search, all the monkeys got very thirsty & tired except for Hanumanji. Here, the state of a seeker is depicted as – those who walk under the scorching sun, carrying their own doer and ego, they are bound to get tired, thirsty and lost; while those who walk under the shadow of Lord’s grace, they surrender their ‘doership’ and never feel tired because it is the Lord who works through them. More we allow God’s ‘doer’ to become our ‘doer’, more our life would be easier.
• Through Hanumanji’s character we see that he performed very wide spectrum of ‘seva’ as per the need of the moment. He became big & mighty in front of demons; he jumped across the ocean to find mother Sita; he became a small child in front of mother Sita; he became an excellent messenger while passing Ramji’s message to Sitaji; he carried the big mountain to save Laxmanji’s life; he even got himself bound in front of Ravan in order to tell him about Ramji’s glories. We need to learn from Hanumanji that one should be always ready & eager to give his seva, no matter what his role demands.
• In life, when faced with problems, one should lift himself above the problem and see it from a higher realm. Such was the manner in which Hanumanji helped all the monkeys when they had lost all the hopes. He climbed the mountain top and using his wisdom, he was able to discover the path ahead.
• Every situation in life, brings with itself, hidden grace of the Lord, which may be bitter or sweet. Grace is something that takes one closer to the Lord by dropping one’s attachment with the world. When we shun the external world and turn within, then alone we can find the true solace and happiness.
• Hanumanji is such a saint who did not just find Sitaji (bhakti), but he also took all the other monkeys to her and depicted how to attain bhakti. Saints are the bridge between the Lord and the devotee; they have the closeness to the Lord to say, “Please accept this devotee”. Listening to their prayers, Lord’s heart melts very easily for the devotee.

Thus, we all should propitiate Hanumanji again and again so that he can invoke the special grace and compassion of Lord Ram for us.

Talks on “Glories of Shri Hanuman”

In yesterday’s uplifting satsang, Swami Abhedanandaji further highlighted Hanumanji’s beaming character. Here are a few enlightening pointers from the talk…

• Everybody in life is searching for Sitaji. Mother Sita represents ‘Bhakti’ for the ‘man of devotion’ & ‘Shanti’ for the ‘man of knowledge’. Bhakti does not come to the seeker unless he drops his abhiman (ego) and takes Lord’s shelter.
• Like a monkey, our mind keeps hopping from one thought to other, from one desire to other, from one object to other. If we had put all our efforts single pointedly only in one direction, then we would have easily attained Bhakti, like Hanumanji was able to find Sitaji.
• We spend years together looking for joy in the material world, only to realize again & again that it can provide only a fleeting sense of joy verses permanent happiness. The true everlasting joy can be experienced only with the Lord of our heart.
• All the flaws & vasanas are supported by the ego of an individual. Only a seeker who is egoless (nirabhimani) can come out of his weaknesses & change for better. Hanumanji exhibited this egolessness in & through all his actions, so much so that he always introduced himself through his association with Lord Ram and never through his individual identity.
• Beauty of Hanumaji’s character is that “Nothing tempts him”. In Lanka, despite being in the midst of all worldly temptations, Hanumaji had a lot of dispassion to be able to remain focused in the search of Sitaji.
• Like an arrow which does not have its own sankalp, Hanumaji got all his strength, direction, intensity & speed from the Lord alone. Lord has a plan for all of us in life; but we have to let Him be the planner and let Him use us as His instrument.

Talks on “Glories of Shri Hanuman”

On the penultimate day of the wonderful series of discourses on Shri Hanumanji’s character, Swamiji continued to captivate the audience…

As we stepped into ‘Sundarkand’, the most popular part of Shri Ramcharitmanas, Swamiji started the talk with an enchanting explanation of the meaning of the word ‘Sundar’.

• An object is said to be ‘Sundar’ when it gives joy, fulfillment, and completeness. This chapter of Ramcharitmanas is called ‘Sundarkand’ because here Ramji is sundar, Sitaji is sundar, Hanumanji is sundar, Katha is sundar & Hanumanji’s search for Sitaji (Bhakti), filled with complete surrender is exceptionally sundar.
• Something that is truly beautiful should be complete at all times, at all places & from all aspects, hence what can be more beautiful other than Bhakti of Bhagwan. However, away from it, we try to find beauty in this world, which is limited in its nature because,
  -An object appearing beautiful to one may not appeal to another
  – Every beautiful thing is bound by time and is associated with some imperfection.
• Our biggest requirement in life is God’s love, although we wrongly try to find that love in the world. Everyone wants to love someone who is powerful, pure, immaculate & a constant source of joy. Lord alone can be the giver of such a love.
• Like the demoness Singhika, who used to capture all the flying objects by their shadow, our jealousy pulls us down and hinders our spiritual progress. As Hanumaji was able to conquer Singhika, we should also strive to overcome this baser tendency and avoid getting trapped in the game of our mind.
• Hanumanji’s vairagya was such that he could effortlessly maneuver through the glittery, tempting golden lanka & stay focused in his search for Sitaji. In everyone’s life, there is a lanka which is – his desire for name & fame, his insistence, his likes & dislikes, etc. Like Hanumanji, we should try to develop dispassion towards this inner lanka, and stay focused towards our ultimate goal of attaining devotion for the Lord.

Talks on “Glories of Shri Hanuman”

On the concluding day of the yagna, Swami Abhedananda soaked the heart of the audience with the wonderful depiction of Hanumanji’s meeting with Mother Sita in Ashok vatika. Listening to these 6 days of lovely discourses on Sundarkand, there was an experience of overflowing love, devotion, surrender and joy, which every seeker strives for.

Here are a few gems for us to collect & preserve:

• Saints say that such is the power of chanting Sundarkand that if you chant it for 108 times, it can fulfill any material or spiritual desire that a devotee may have!
• On the path of devotion, challenges will always be met but they will be short-lived if the resolve of the seeker is strong. Once we start walking, the path ahead unfolds by Lord’s immense grace!
• Vibhishanji’s character represents character of a ‘dharmic jiva’ (religious being) who has contradictions in his mind. On one hand he used to pray & wish to have Lord Ram’s darshan, but on the other hand, he lacked the right intellect & courage to stand up to Ravan for rightfully giving Sitaji back to Ramji.
• Relationship between Vibhishan & Ravan is that of a Jiva & delusion. Vibhishan’s attachment with Ravan eclipsed his devotion for the Lord, similarly our desires for world veils our true need for the Lord.
• Any sorrow in human life is the result of his misplaced expectations & wrong dependence on the worldly relations. To shun all sorrows, one should have a constant awareness that each relationship is through the Lord alone, and it does not hold any independent identity.
• Being good is not a qualification required to go to the Lord & be accepted by Him. Lord’s compassion is that of a mother who cares little that the child is dirty or clean before taking him in her lap & embracing him.