Video - Sunday Feast Discourse with Goswami Maharaja

[Murali_Mohan_das 0]

Here's the web-cam video from last night's program at the Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Seva Ashram in Soquel. I was not able to pay full attention to the lecture, so I'm looking forward to seeing it as well (I heard it was a very good discourse).

 

There are a few drop-outs and the sounds gets screwy a few times, but overall, I hope the quality is acceptable. Higher quality audio should be forthcoming.

 

Embedded:

<embed style="width: 400px; height: 326px;" id="VideoPlayback" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-6193910877265264306&hl=en" flashvars="">

 

Link:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6193910877265264306

 

Audio-Only:

http://www.esnips.com/doc/e1f17483-3844-4c4b-8d10-4421328bbdc2/Sunday-Feast---November-18---Sripad-Bhakti-Sudhir-Goswami-Maharaja-%5Bfixed-tags%5D

 

Audio-Only (High Quality):

http://www.esnips.com/doc/37551670-4307-4a57-93b7-fcf1eb06ac02/Sunday-Feast---November-18---Sripad-Bhakti-Sudhir-Goswami-Maharaja---High-Quality-%5Bfixed-tags%5D

[Murali_Mohan_das 0]

Just added links above to mp3 audio which is of much higher quality than the audio accompanying the video.

 

I'm told the embedded player on eSnips doesn't work on the Mac. For Mac users who want to hear, if you register on eSnips, you get the option to download the mp3's.

 

Eventually, I hope to get these all up on http://scsmath.com, but I'm being an eager beaver here wanting to get the nectar out when it's fresh (even though it is ever-fresh)!

[Guruvani 0]

I enjoyed the video.

Classic Goswami Maharaja katha.

I would love to have available more regular such video sanga with Goswami Maharaja.

I was disappointed when his website went off the web.

I always read all his article published on the website by Hasyapriya prabhu.

[Murali_Mohan_das 0]

Glad you liked it, Prabhu. I can't wait to hear/see it myself!

 

I'll certainly try to record every time Goswami Maharaja is in this neck of the woods.

 

 

I enjoyed the video.

Classic Goswami Maharaja katha.

I would love to have available more regular such video sanga with Goswami Maharaja.

I was disappointed when his website went off the web.

I always read all his article published on the website by Hasyapriya prabhu.

[Murali_Mohan_das 0]

0:00:38 - "Vrindavan is a construct--conceptually, we can say--of the heart of Srimati Radharani."

[Murali_Mohan_das 0]

0:01:25 - "Normally, a person's mind and their heart are synonymous, more or less. But, in my case, my heart and Vrindavan are indistinguishable."

[Murali_Mohan_das 0]

0:02:13 - "Guru Maharaja said, 'Krishna alone [i.e. without Sri Radha] is half-Mayavad'"

[Murali_Mohan_das 0]

0:02:50 - "Srila Guru Maharaja has mentioned that, generally...we are devaluing the environment, but not here [Vrindavan], not in this case..."

[Murali_Mohan_das 0]

0:03:54 - "In Gaura Lila, the queen of Vrindavan is not allowed to go to Vrindavan"

[Murali_Mohan_das 0]

0:04:50 - "Krishna has plundered the heart of Srimati Radharani"

[Murali_Mohan_das 0]

0:06:33 - Many chaste ladies are mentioned in the scriptures, but when Radharani entered through the door of the Brahma Vaivarta Purana, by Her shining example, all these other ladies became pale by comparison.

[Murali_Mohan_das 0]

0:07:38 - Maharaja recounts Raghunath Das Goswami walking in three days from Bengal to Orissa to see Mahaprabhu, and being put under the care of Swarup Damodar. After some time Raghunath Das asks Sri Chaitanya for some personal instructions. Mahprabhu does so, but adds that he put Raghunath under the care of Swarup Damodar because Swarup Damodar knows things more fully than even Mahaprabhu.

 

How is that possible? Is it just a manner of speaking?

 

If we consider the statement of Chaitanya Charitamrita that even Krishna cannot measure the depth of Krishna Prem in the heart of Srimati Radharani, then we gain some insight into this statement of Mahaprabhu's.

[suchandra 1]

http://www.feeds4all.com/Item.aspx?ItemID=16541907

 

"O Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, unlimited Lord, source of all mystic power, Lord of the universe! O Vāsudeva, shelter of all beings and best of the Yadus ! O master, You are the Supreme Soul of all created beings, sitting unseen within the cave of the heart like the fire dormant within kindling wood. You are the witness within everyone, the Supreme Personality and the ultimate controlling Deity."

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.37.10-11

[Murali_Mohan_das 0]

0:12:58 - Svayam Bhagavan Krishna [the Original Krishna] is seated at the right hand of Srimati Radharani, and, as indicated here [gestures to a verse painted on the altar which is covered by some flag decorations] "Vrindavana hoite shreshta Govardhana saila, Gandharvika Giridhari yata krida kaila". The pastimes of Govardhana are even superior to those of Vrindavan. Without going into the details of that, we can understand that there are superior levels of Krishna conception.

 

Saraswati Thakur goes so far in one purport as to say that Devaki is another name for Yasoda.

[Murali_Mohan_das 0]

0:16:16 - A question is asked regarding Lord Buddha. Lord Buddha had so much of an impact around the world, and He is mentioned as an Avatar, but we find there is not so much emphasis on Lord Buddha. Why is this?

[Murali_Mohan_das 0]

0:16:50 - Goswami Maharaja recounts a pastime of Srila Sridhar Maharaja who, when discussing this topic with a teacher of his, says that the natural progression is from Shankara to Buddha to Madhva to Ramanujya and on up to Sri Chaitanya-dev. To go step-by-step through those philosophies would be a *logical* way to progress, but that was not the advice of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu himself [laughter].

[Murali_Mohan_das 0]

0:19:30 - If one grasps the significance of Chaitanya Avatar, then they will, if they are sumedhasa (possessing a "refined theistic intellect"), they will see in the Lotus Feet of Mahaprabhu the entrance to Vrindavan.

[Murali_Mohan_das 0]

0:24:40 - Maharaja recounts hearing Srila Prabhupada speaking in praise of the Six Goswamis at the 1971 San Francisco Ratha Yatra.

"They gave up everything to save us."

[Murali_Mohan_das 0]

0:26:30 - "Forget about Buddha. Buddha would like to be *there*."

[Murali_Mohan_das 0]

0:29:20 - If you have a drop of Krishna Prem and you have to be separated from Krishna, you will die.

[Murali_Mohan_das 0]

0:32:30 - Srinivas Acharya returns to Gadhadara Pandit only to find that he has left this world which was heart-breaking. So, he heads to Vrindavan to take shelter at the feet of Srila Rupa Goswami only to find that Rupa Goswami has also left the world. Srinivas Acharya faints. "This is more than my soul can bear. What is Krishna's plan for me?" He awakes in the arms of Jiva Goswami, who instructs him in Srimad Bhagavatam.

 

"All of this tells you that the heart has to be squeezed for the real substance to come out. If you're thinking Krishna Consciousness is going to be, how shall we say?...Guru Maharaja said: what have we learned from Prahlad? Get ready for a life of trouble."

[Murali_Mohan_das 0]

0:37:50 - Maharaja, after describing the travails of the Goswamis (having their books stolen by a king), recounts Srila Gurudev saying (humorously), "Krishna, I don't know--I have Guru Maharaja".

[Murali_Mohan_das 0]

0:38:21 - "Don't try to purify the Guru"

 

One day, someone brought some Nrsimha Prasad to Gurudev, to which Gurudev replied, "We are afraid of Nrsimhadev" and accepted the Prasad. "But Guru Maharaja wouldn't take", added Gurudev, "Nrsimhadev is afraid of Guru Maharaja". [laughter]

 

Goswami Maharaja says there is some mysterious instruction there which we can think about from time to time. Maharaja is certain that Sri Krishna appreciated the humor there.

[Murali_Mohan_das 0]

0:43:20 - A guest asks, how can a 500 year-old book, Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita, have surpassed all the other Vedas, some of which are thousands of years old.

[Murali_Mohan_das 0]

0:44:07 - Goswami Maharaja replies that Guru Maharaja used to say that, as connotation increases, denotation decreases.

 

For example, Bhagavad Gita is appreciated by so many groups: Vaishnavas, Shaktas, Mayavadis, Annie Besant, Emerson, Thoreau--some people would like to say Hitler. If we increase the connotation of Bhagavad Gita, saying that it ought to be understood in the light of Srimad Bhagavatam, then the groups who appreciate it in that light decrease in number. Taking that further, if we understand Bhagavad Gita in the light of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's teachings, that leaves only Gaudiya Vaishnavas.

 

Maharaja's explanation continues...