Gour Govinda Swami: "Dai tava pāche pāche, o vaiṣṇava ṭhākura. Kṛṣṇa se tomāra." Kṛṣṇa belongs to you because you have bound Kṛṣṇa in your heart. Kṛṣṇa is bound up there. Only you can give me Kṛṣṇa. Nobody else.
I am kaṅgāl and devoid of Kṛṣṇa. Even a person who is devoid of one penny is kaṅgāl. He is a pauper, so he begs. "Bābū eka paisā," just follows him. He goes... "bābū eka paisā."
Similarly, "āmi kaṅgāl Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa boli dai tava pāche pāche." I'm kaṅgāl, devoid of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore I am running behind you. O Vaiṣṇava Ṭhākura, please give me Kṛṣṇa. "Bābū eka paisā."
I'm kaṅgāl. That is guru—he is a dear devotee. He can deliver you Kṛṣṇa. He has gotten Kṛṣṇa. He has bound Kṛṣṇa with love. Otherwise, how can one deliver Kṛṣṇa who has not gotten Him?
If you are really serious, if you are really kaṅgāl for Kṛṣṇa and really running behind such a person to get Kṛṣṇa, then... But if you are not kaṅgāl, not thinking yourself kaṅgāl, not running, how can you get? Such sādhus, Vaiṣṇavas, they are very, very merciful—they are more merciful than Kṛṣṇa.
More merciful than Kṛṣṇa. Para-duḥkhe duḥkhī. Who is a real sādhu-guru is para-duḥkhe duḥkhī. His heart bleeds seeing the suffering of these souls. So merciful.
He is a mediator. He is a mediator between the Lord and the conditioned soul. He knows the Lord and also the conditioned soul. In the seventieth chapter of the Tenth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, there it is mentioned that Nārada Muni has gone to Dvārakā.
Kṛṣṇa is Rājā Rājeśvara. Kṛṣṇa is the emperor of all emperors, king of all kings. As the king or emperor has his court, Kṛṣṇa also has His court there in Dvārakā. And the court advocates are there. Only they have got license to enter into that court. Nobody else can enter.
When you have any court business, you must go to an advocate. Otherwise you cannot do anything. Because they have license. So these sādhus, mahājanas—they are advocates in King Kṛṣṇa's court. They have license. They have free access. They are very confidential.
So he pleads in the court of Kṛṣṇa on behalf of these conditioned souls. That is guru. That is sādhu. So it is mentioned there in that chapter: Nārada says to Kṛṣṇa, "O Kṛṣṇa, I have come to you. In the material world, the living entities have been suffering and suffering and suffering. They are very much distressed, in very, very painful condition."
"They have forgotten You. Therefore they have been suffering from time immemorial. I have come on their behalf to tell You this thing, to plead for them. Please give Yourself to them. Let them be happy."
"You are doing līlā here in Vṛndāvana and Mathurā, enjoying Yourself, dancing with the gopīs, always merged in that ocean of transcendental bliss. Please think of this thing. I have come to remind You of this thing."
This is what guru does. I am not telling you something new. It is daily, as usual. These forgetful souls, the living entities, they are tightly bound up by material bondage. But they are so callous.
They are so callous. They cannot understand that they have been bound up. Such is the case. You are enjoying with Your eternal associates, nitya-pārṣadas. Don't You think of them, O Kṛṣṇa? Such suffering souls. For time immemorial, life after life, drowning in the cycle of birth and death and suffering and suffering and suffering.
Don't You think of them? So I have come to You from their side, on their behalf, to tell You this thing. That dear devotee of Kṛṣṇa has such a right to tell this thing to Kṛṣṇa. Nobody else can tell this thing.
The material world is illusory. "Yāhāṅ kṛṣṇa tāhāṅ nāi māyār adhikāra" (Caitanya-caritāmṛta). Kṛṣṇa is the spiritual sun, effulgent sun. Māyā is darkness. Those who are in this material world, they are in darkness—this darkness of ignorance, ajñāna-andhakāra.
Therefore they have been suffering. Nārada Muni says, "You please go there and enkindle that effulgent lamp there. Dispel this darkness." That means, give Yourself to them. Otherwise, how will this darkness be dispelled unless You give Yourself to them? That means You manifest Yourself there.
You are karuṇāmaya. You are the ocean of mercy. Without Your mercy, how can these conditioned souls be delivered? They have established temporary relationships there. They have forgotten the eternal relationship they have with You. They are thinking the material father and mother as their father and mother, and material friends as their friends. These are material bondage. They are in bondage of "aho gṛha kṣetra suta āpta vittaiḥ janasya moho 'yam ahaṁ mameti" (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 5.5.8).
This is delusion. "This is my wife. This is my family. This is my son. This is my daughter. This is my property. This is my land." Everything—ahaṁ mameti—deluded. Therefore they have been suffering. But this is temporary only. The eternal relationship—they have the eternal relationship with You, not with anything else. But they have forgotten. Therefore they have been suffering. They are thinking this body is the soul; they have ātma-buddhi in the body, thinking the body is the self, and those who are related to the body are mine—ahaṁ mameti.
This is the reason for their suffering. They don't know who they are—their real identity. They have forgotten completely. They identify themselves with the body; they have developed so much affection for this body and those who are related to the body. Therefore they have been suffering.
Unless You go there, unless You manifest Yourself there, unless You dispel this ignorance, ajñāna-andhakāra—darkness of ignorance, illusory darkness—how can they understand this thing?
Therefore I have come to You first, and I am now pleading on their behalf. I am completely surrendered to You—prapaṇa. O Śyāma-sundara! O Śyāma-sundara! I am completely surrendered to You.
And Kṛṣṇa listens to the words of His most intimate and dear devotee. He never listens to anybody else. Therefore I said, one whose heart bleeds seeing the suffering of the souls—he is guru. He is sādhu. Nārada is guru in the disciplic succession. He is Guru.
Guru means one whose heart bleeds seeing the suffering of the conditioned souls, who is very much sympathetic for these suffering souls. He is guru—one who does away with this suffering forever and takes them to the eternal blissful realm. He is guru—one who is a mediator between the conditioned soul and the Supreme Lord.
Mahāprabhu has said, and Bhāgavatam also says, "bhaktecha upata rupayo paramatmane namo namo" (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.14.21). Only a bhakta, a dear devotee, can make the Lord appear. Nobody else can make the Lord appear. That question was raised in deity installation. Only such a devotee, a pure devotee, can make the Lord appear. "Please appear here. Manifest here. Here in this deity You are—please manifest Your all-beautiful Śyāma-sundara form. We are greedy to have Your darśana."
"Kṛṣṇecha upata rupaya" —by the will of a bhakta-eca. Upata rupaya, by the will of the dear devotee, Kṛṣṇa manifests. Kṛṣṇa descends. He can make the Lord appear. He can make the Lord descend. And Advaita Ācārya made Mahāprabhu appear.
"Anugrahāya bhajanti bhūtāni janārdanasya"—that is in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Out of affection, out of compassion, these sādhus and mahājanas wander here in this material world. They are dear to Lord Janārdana. These conditioned souls don't understand. They cannot understand. They are so callous they cannot understand that they are in bondage, what to speak of anything else. They have been suffering, still they're callous to their suffering.
They're thinking that they are in fool's paradise. They don't know how they can get out of the clutches of māyā, get out of this suffering. But a mahājana knows, a sādhu knows how they can get out of this.
So such a sādhu approaches the Supreme Lord. He advocates for these conditioned souls. And whom does Kṛṣṇa listen to? He listens to His most intimate and dear devotee. He listens to Gurudeva. Gurudeva is the most intimate and dear devotee. Only he listens to such a devotee.
"Nikuñja-yūno rati-keli-siddhyai"—only he listens to such a dear devotee. Then what the advocate says, the judge sanctions. Yes, now I will go. "Bhakta-vatsal hari." He is bhakta-premādhīna—under bhakta-prema. "Bhakta āmi bāndhi āchi hṛdaya bhitare"—He has bound Me up with the rope of love. His subordinate. He is always ready to serve His devotee, His dear devotee, to give him pleasure.
The devotee is always rendering loving service—how to give pleasure to the Lord. "Let my Lord be pleased." And in return, this is reciprocal. And Kṛṣṇa is always thinking, "How can I give pleasure to my dear devotee? How can I serve him? Now he wants this thing from me, so I must go. I cannot avoid—how can I avoid the request of my dear devotee? He's so dear. I cannot." Kṛṣṇa cannot avoid it because he's so dear.
So Kṛṣṇa listens to the prayer of His dear devotee. For example, how He came out from the stone pillar because of the prayer of His dear devotee Prahlāda Mahārāja. Only a dear devotee who has established a loving relationship with Him—only he can make the Lord appear. Nobody else.
By the prayer of such a devotee, Kṛṣṇa comes, Kṛṣṇa descends. And one question is there: Kṛṣṇa has innumerable incarnations, and there are very specific times for those incarnations. When that time comes, He incarnates. How is it that when there is no time for His incarnation, how will He incarnate?
There is a specific time for His incarnation. Kalki Avatāra will come at the end of Kali-yuga. Buddha Avatāra came at a specific time in the past. "Yadā yadā hi dharmasya" (Bhagavad-gītā 4.7). So if it is not the time now, it is not the time of incarnation of Kṛṣṇa—Kṛṣṇa never appeared—how is it that such a devotee can make Kṛṣṇa appear here?
When such a devotee is piteously crying and invoking, "Please appear, please appear," what to do? He makes Kṛṣṇa appear in the heart of that devotee. "Please appear there in the heart of Jayantakrt." He advocates for Jayantakrt. "Please appear there." And Kṛṣṇa is there in his heart, so he transfers Kṛṣṇa. "Please go there." That guru can do. It is not the time of public appearance. The time has not come. Only guru can do that thing—make Him appear in the heart.
Therefore we say, "Kṛṣṇa de tomāra, Kṛṣṇa dite pāra, tomāra śakti āche. Āmi ye kaṅgāla Kṛṣṇa-Kṛṣṇa-boli." You can deliver. Kṛṣṇa belongs to you. So that is guru-tattva. One who can do this, he is guru. He can make Kṛṣṇa appear anywhere, if he wills.
Your heart is filled with so much filth. Is your heart pure? No. The conditioned soul's heart is filled with so much filth—contaminated heart. How will Kṛṣṇa appear there? Kṛṣṇa appears there because that dear devotee makes Him appear there. "Please appear. Please appear." He is guru. That is the work of sādhus, mahājanas, Vaiṣṇavas, gurus. Nobody else's work.
You have no qualification to get Kṛṣṇa. Do you have qualification to get Krishna? No! You cannot imagine that you'll get Kṛṣṇa. Can you think of conditioned soul? No. You can't imagine. Such a degraded soul, patita-jīva. No qualification at all. You have no right at all.
But, ahaṁ bhakta-parādhīna—Kṛṣṇa is under His bhakta, subordinate to His bhakta. When His bhakta says, “Please come,” He says, “All right. What he said, I will do.” The bhakta requests, “Please appear in the heart of this person,” and Kṛṣṇa fulfills the desire of His dear devotee.
He thinks, “If the desire of My devotee is not fulfilled, then why should he be My bhakta? Why would he be My devotee if I don’t fulfill his desire?” This is a question of love.
The one who can make a non-devotee into a devotee is guru. The one who can transfer Kṛṣṇa from his own heart to the heart of another person—he is guru. Otherwise, how can one become a guru? Tell me! Bolo!
He has no power. Bolo! Bolo! He has no authority. No. Cannot. Cannot. That is the duty of a guru. By mere willing, he can do it. By hearing attentively to his words—yes, by attentive hearing to the words of the sādhu and guru—he can do it.
Who can do it? Kṛṣṇa? No, that guru. That mahājana, that sādhu. If you hear his words attentively—with concentrated attention, śravaṇa-dhārā—then he can transfer the Kṛṣṇa in his heart to the heart of such an attentive listener. One who hears he is sisya, sisya sravan kare.
And who is eligible to hear? His śiṣya. Only his śiṣya. Otherwise, no one has the right. Not everyone can truly hear.
This question always comes: “Oh, Gurudeva, I am far away from you. What shall I do? How can I come closer?” But guru is so merciful. By mere willing—sad-icchā, goodwill—he can do it. That is by his mere will. That is his affectionate, loving desire.
If you can establish such a loving relationship with guru, there is no question of distance. Distance is a material consideration. There is no materiality in that realm.
You are hearing so many topics: rāja-nīti, artha-nīti, politics, economic development, samāja-nīti. Come and hear! Listen to us! Just hear.
Only by hearing—
yaśyāṁ vai śrūyamāṇāyāṁ kṛṣṇe parama-pūruṣe
bhaktir utpadyate puṁsaḥ śoka-moha-bhayāpahā
Only by hearing, you can develop such Kṛṣṇa-bhakti. That is the mercy of the mahājana.
The ointment of love will automatically be applied to your eyes—premāñjana-cchurita. And this is also śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ. If you hear, then you can see, iksita First hear, then you’ll see the Lord.
Then your eye is opened. Then you see. Haven’t you seen that illustration in Back to Godhead magazine? So many of Prabhupāda’s illustrations are there. He has tried to teach you in so many beautiful, illustrated ways. You can understand very easily.
Still, you are so foolish, so callous, you can’t understand even that. Thank you. It’s 9:20.
Do you understand Jayantakrt?
Jayantakrt: Only by your mercy Gurudeva.
Gour Govinda Swami: Give up this callousness. Haribol! All right.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Prabhupāda Mahārāja ki-jaya!
Ananta-koṭi Vaiṣṇava vṛnda ki-jaya!
Gaura-premānande haribol!
Gour Govinda Swami Srila Gurudeva Ki Jay!
Samaveta-bhakta-vṛnda ki-jaya!
Gour Premanande Hari Hari bol!
[Indistinct]
Āmi patita. I'm the lowest of the low. Don't utter my name.
Āmāra nāma yei loy, tāra hoya puṇya kṣaya.
If you utter my name, you will lose all your pious credits.