Gaur Pournima : Lecture by RadheShyam Prabhu!

Hare Krishna!

His Grace RadheShyam Prabhu is the Temple President of Sri Sri Radha Kunjabihari (ISKCON) Temple, Pune. On the occasion of Gaur Pournima, he gave a very wonderful lecture after the Abhishek Ceremony of Their Lordships Sri Sri Gaur Nitai!. Here is a humble attempt to reproduce a few things he said. He spoke in Hindi, but I'll write in English.

Before starting, let me offer my most humble obeisances to His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada Ki Jai!!

Radheshyam Prabhu started by saying that when people see the Hare Krishnas dancing and singing on the streets, they feel that these people are having a nice party. Well, while that is true, RadheSham Prabhu emphasized that its very important to understand the "siddhanta" or the philosophy behind this Hari Naam Sankirtan. He also said that we can understand our great good fortune that we have been given this opportunity to associate with Srila Prabhupada's ISKCON by understanding more about Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

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From here on, I'll paraphrase what RadheShyam Prabhu said.

Lord Krishna's eternal abode is Goloka Vrindavan. Apart from Goloka Vrindavan, there are innumerable other Vaikuntha planets where the Lord presides in His Vishnu form. We will never find in the Shastras that Lord Vishnu's mother is running after Him with a stick in hand :) Thats because in Vaikunthas, the Lord is in His majestic form. However, what the Lord enjoys most is being bound by the love of His loving devotees. This is easy to understand because even in mundane relationships, one does not like to accept subordination to anyone except to one who loves you.

Thus, in Goloka Vrindavan, the Supreme Lord enjoys Himself by accepting subordination to His loving devotees in the Saakhya (friendship), Vaatsalya (parent-child) and the Maadhurya (conjugal love) relationships. Such relationships are fully exhibited _only_ by Krishna! and not by any of the Vishnu forms.

However, Krishna saw that even in Goloka Vrindavan, His devotees were getting immense pleasure just by serving Him. He saw that, the pleasure enjoyed by the devotees, and especially by Srimati RadhaRani, in serving Him was way more than the pleasure enjoyed by Him in being served. So, Krishna decided to try and understand the mod of His supreme devotee -- Srimati RadhaRani. Therefore, to experience that pleasure, Lord Krishna decided to incarnate as Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu!

There were three reasons why Lord Chaitanya came to this earth. They are explained below.

1. To understand RadhaRani's Love for Krishna!

When Krishna told RadhaRani about His plans to come to earth, She wanted to protect Him! She told Krishna that if you take on my mood, you will cry, laugh, jump, shout, and so on like a madman without caring for what others are saying. In order to protect Krishna, RadhaRani offered Her golden complexion to Krishna, and so Lord ShyaamSunder became Lord Gauranga! There is no difference between Lord Gauranga and Lord Krishna.. only the colour :)

2. To taste His own beauty!

Tukaram Maharaj writes -- "Hey Vitthala! What do you know about your own beauty!" :) Just like a lotus flower contains some nectar, and that nectar is enjoyed by the honeybee. The beauty of the lotus and the sweetness of the nectar is only known to the honeybee, not to the lotus. Similarly, Krishna wanted to know His own beauty. That what is it about Me that attracts My devotees to Me? :)

3. To understand how just by thinking about Him, His devotees experience ecstacy!

When RadhaRani used to hear the sound made by the bamboos, she used to fall unconscious thinking that this sound is the sound of Kishna's flute. When the Gopis would see the Tamaal tree, they would think this is Krishna! (The colour of the Tamaal Tree resembles that of Krishna). If the Gopis would see a bull, they would just take shelter of a Tamaal tree and just by thinking of Krishna, they would feel protected! Krishna wanted to undrstand this phenomenon.

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After this, RadheShyam Prabhu told the basic teachings of Lord Chaitanya. He also explained that how it is very difficult to understand the pastimes of Lord Krishna. When someone sees a boy and girl together, immediately bad thoughts come to ones mind. But the same gopis of Krishna Lila came as male associates of Lord Chaitanya! In this way, understanding the relationship between pure devotees and Krishna has become easier. Such is the causeless mercy of Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu!

RadheShyam Prabhu ended by suggesting that people can buy Chaitanya Charitamrita and read Lord Chaitanya's Pastimes :)

Hare Krishna! Gaur Pournima Maha Mahotsava Ki Jai!!

Your servant, Abhijit.