Should We Hide Krishna?
Sometimes a word for word translation of a verse which neglects the inner meaning of the verse can give one a distorted understanding of the verse. This is why we need to understand verses not fanatically, but based on the teachings of the great Vaisnava acharyas. For example in the Bhagavad-gita 7.11 Krishna says, "kāmo 'smi", which literally menas, "I am sex." So one could think, that tonight I want to experience Krishna so I will go have sex with a prostitute. But from the Vaisnava acharyas we know that Krishna is not talking about sex in general, but is instead referring to only to that sex which is in accordance with religious principles. This means only having sex with one's wife for the purpose of procreation.
Another example of this is Hari-bhakti-vilasa 2.147:
gopayed devatāṁ istāṁ gopayed gurumātmanaḥ
gopayec ca nijaṁ mantraṁ gopayen nija-malikām
If we simply take a literal translation we get:
"One should hide one's ista-deva, one should hide one's guru, one should hide one's mantra, and one should hide one's japa-mala."
But this does not make any sense because Krishna is our ista-deva, our worshipful Lord, and Lord Caitanya has ordered us to tell everyone we meet about Krishna. So how can we simultaneously hide Krishna and tell everyone about Krishna? We cannot do this. So there must be a more proper understanding of this verse. Here is a translation of this verse which is in accord with the conclusions of the great Vaisnava acharyas:
"One should not indiscriminately reveal his worshipable Lord, his guru, his mantra, and japa beads to anyone and everyone."
I have had practical experience of this. Once when my wife and I were checking in for a midnight flight from Fiji to Los Angeles an envious atheist noticing my Vaisnava dress approached me and asked me, "What is your philosophy?" It was clear by his tone of voice and facial expression that he was an envious atheist who simply wanted to philosophically smash me. I immediately understood that to such an envious person I cannot reveal such things as my beloved Krishna, my beloved Srila Prabhupada, and my beloved mahamantra because all that he will do when he hears about them is make blasphemy against them. Therefore my answer to his question was simply this: "Know you who are be who you are." The man walked away frustrated and disappointed that he was not able to defeat me. But in this way he was saved from the grievous sin of blasphemy against Krishna and Srila Prabhupada.
The real point then of this verse is not to reveal Krishna, guru, mantra, and japa to those who are envious. The glorification of these should be reserved for the devotees and for the innocent, non-envious people. We want to broadcast to the entire world the glories of Krishna, our spiritual master, our Hare Krishna mantra, and the wonderful process of chanting 16 rounds of japa daily. But we must do it intelligently so our preaching will bear fruit. This should be clearly understood.
There is an nice analogy in this connection. We do not teach mathematics to small children in the form of calculus. We instead teach them simple mathematics, that one plus one equals two. In this way, gradually step by step we can bring them to higher level mathematics. Srila Prabhupada told us, "First convince them that they are not their bodies." So we have to gradually educate people regarding Krishna, guru, the mahamantra, and japa in an intelligent way that will facilitate them in their comprehension and assimilation of Vaisnava philosophy. This is the proper understanding of this verse from the Hari-bhakti-vilasa.
The conclusion is that we need a bona fide spiritual master to teach us how to properly understand the scriptures. Otherwise we can easily get the wrong idea and deviate from the path of Krishna consciousness even while we naively think that we are following the scriptures. This is why in addition to scriptures we need the guidance of the saintly teachers and our spiritual master.
Prabhupada Taught Us to Not Keep Krishna Hidden
Contributions gratefully accepted at:
http://www.ultimateselfrealization.com/donate
I humbly fall at the lotus feet of Your Grace and Srimati Gurumataji and thank both Your Graces again and again a million times for allowing us to celebrate Your Grace's Vyasa puja here in Sri Vrindavana in your personal presence. I consider myself to be the most fortunate of all living entities to have witnessed and participated in the most auspicious occasion of a disciple's life. The blissful celebration with my most wonderful Godbrothers and Godsisters from around the world will forever remain etched in my heart.
Srila Gurudeva and Srimati Gurumataji, I am falling short of words to express my joy and the bliss I experienced this time serving both Your Graces in Delhi and in Sri Vrindavan along with my beloved spiritual family. Never in my life have I experienced such nectar, such bliss, that I want to preserve and keep these wonderful, wonderful memories deep in my heart and I intensely desire to remember these moments at the time of my death.
Also, Your Divine Grace's Vyasa puja gave us an unique opportunity to know more about my spiritual family and I can't thank Your Grace and Srimati Gurumataji enough for this mercy. Had I not met these family members I could have never known that each one of my Godbrothers and Godsisters is so unique and special. After serving along with them, my appreciation for my loving family has increased many fold. And I also realized that my position in front of these wonderful devotees is so small as they are far, far, far better disciples and devotees than myself. So much love they have for both Your Graces that I too desire that may I be able to increase my love for Your Grace and my Gurumataji like them.
Each member that I met in our family has inspired me in so many ways. Just like my wonderful mothers Guruvandana (whose is like a powerhouse when it comes to serving my spiritual master and mother so dedicatedly), mother Madhumati (who is a truly inspiring book distributor) and mother Hladini (who simply amazed me by washing the dishes for hours after the prasadam distribution in the temple). And I have no words to describe the selfless, loving service Vraja Kishore Das Brahmacari Prabhu has been rendering to my spiritual master and mother, day in and day out. I heartily and intensely desire to serve my spiritual parents like these wonderful devotees and more to show all the love in my heart for my spiritual master and mother.
It's amazing to see that there are experts in the family in stitching deity dresses like Mother Radhika and Padmamalini, singers like Mothers Gandharvika and Ieva, blissful dancers like Mother Ekayani, and the amazing questions posed by Mother Ashta Sakhi, great cooks like Mother Archana siddhi, photographers like Mother Gintare, jewelry designers like Mother Kundalata, garland making experts like Yasodapriya Mataji and dedicated couples like Mother Bhakti priya and Anandavardhana Prabhu in serving. Mother Gaurangi and Jagadananda Prabhu (who take care of cows) and Mother Gauralila and Vyasadeva Prabhu (who are a wonderful kirtan team). and all other wonderful Godbrothers and Godsisters of mine, whose names I could not mention but deep in my heart I appreciate their wonderful services to my spiritual master and mother and the Hare Krishna movement.
But most of all, the devotees from Lithuania have deeply touched my heart. Never before have I met such devotees in my life, who have overwhelmed me with their love for my spiritual master and mother. And fortunately I also became one of the recipients of their love. For the first time in my life have I felt as if I found my lost family. By associating with them, my love and service mood for my spiritual master and spiritual mother increased 1000 fold. The language barrier or poor communication through words did not deter in sharing our hearts and love as a spiritual family. At one point I started to understand what Ekayani Mataji was trying to communicate even without the translation. It amazed me and others as well. Never before in my life have I ever experienced such overflowing love, which had left deep impressions in my heart. Before departing for Lithuania, all the devotee mothers with so much love insisted that I some how make it to Lithuania next year for the Vyasa puja. And they even gave me a token amount of Rs.1500 to start saving for my ticket next year. As I could not say no to their love, I said, I can use this amount only if I fall short of my flight ticket, otherwise, I will donate this amount to Austin, Texas.
After Your Graces departure to Austin, I was worried how to spend the next four days in Vrindavana. But by the causeless mercy of Sri Guru and Sri Krishna we (myself with Mothers Gaurangi, Ekayani, Gauralila and Gandharvika) engaged ourselves in various services in the temple. We served prasadam in the Krishna Hall and also for the next three days in a row we arranged ghee wick lamps to be given to devotees during Damodarastakam in the main temple hall. In the end, the temple gave each of us cake prasadam and small picture (desk frame) of Sri Sri Radha Syamasundar as a token of appreciation for our service. I also participated in washing dishes in the prasadam hall along with Mother Hladini, who is a great inspiration for us and also assisted in flower garlands for Sri Sri Gaura Nitai. Never before have I experienced such joy in serving together with my Godsisters.
I can never thank enough, my dear Srila Gurudeva and my dear Srimati Gurumataji for giving shelter to a rascal like me in this wonderful and most amazing family. I humbly fall at both Your Graces lotus feet and deeply desire to always remain eternally engaged in your loving service and humbly beg to forever reside under the shelter of your lotus feet as a particle of dust.
Though I do not deserve, by Your Grace's and Srimati Gurumataji's causeless mercy I received so much of love from these devotees and I will forever remain indebted to both Your Graces,
Your insignificant servant,
Syamapriya devi dasi
Sankarshan Das Adhikari
Another example of this is Hari-bhakti-vilasa 2.147:
gopayed devatāṁ istāṁ gopayed gurumātmanaḥ
gopayec ca nijaṁ mantraṁ gopayen nija-malikām
If we simply take a literal translation we get:
"One should hide one's ista-deva, one should hide one's guru, one should hide one's mantra, and one should hide one's japa-mala."
But this does not make any sense because Krishna is our ista-deva, our worshipful Lord, and Lord Caitanya has ordered us to tell everyone we meet about Krishna. So how can we simultaneously hide Krishna and tell everyone about Krishna? We cannot do this. So there must be a more proper understanding of this verse. Here is a translation of this verse which is in accord with the conclusions of the great Vaisnava acharyas:
"One should not indiscriminately reveal his worshipable Lord, his guru, his mantra, and japa beads to anyone and everyone."
I have had practical experience of this. Once when my wife and I were checking in for a midnight flight from Fiji to Los Angeles an envious atheist noticing my Vaisnava dress approached me and asked me, "What is your philosophy?" It was clear by his tone of voice and facial expression that he was an envious atheist who simply wanted to philosophically smash me. I immediately understood that to such an envious person I cannot reveal such things as my beloved Krishna, my beloved Srila Prabhupada, and my beloved mahamantra because all that he will do when he hears about them is make blasphemy against them. Therefore my answer to his question was simply this: "Know you who are be who you are." The man walked away frustrated and disappointed that he was not able to defeat me. But in this way he was saved from the grievous sin of blasphemy against Krishna and Srila Prabhupada.
The real point then of this verse is not to reveal Krishna, guru, mantra, and japa to those who are envious. The glorification of these should be reserved for the devotees and for the innocent, non-envious people. We want to broadcast to the entire world the glories of Krishna, our spiritual master, our Hare Krishna mantra, and the wonderful process of chanting 16 rounds of japa daily. But we must do it intelligently so our preaching will bear fruit. This should be clearly understood.
There is an nice analogy in this connection. We do not teach mathematics to small children in the form of calculus. We instead teach them simple mathematics, that one plus one equals two. In this way, gradually step by step we can bring them to higher level mathematics. Srila Prabhupada told us, "First convince them that they are not their bodies." So we have to gradually educate people regarding Krishna, guru, the mahamantra, and japa in an intelligent way that will facilitate them in their comprehension and assimilation of Vaisnava philosophy. This is the proper understanding of this verse from the Hari-bhakti-vilasa.
The conclusion is that we need a bona fide spiritual master to teach us how to properly understand the scriptures. Otherwise we can easily get the wrong idea and deviate from the path of Krishna consciousness even while we naively think that we are following the scriptures. This is why in addition to scriptures we need the guidance of the saintly teachers and our spiritual master.
Prabhupada Taught Us to Not Keep Krishna Hidden
Ratha Yatra Festival Reveals Krishna to Everyone
Artist's Concept of Our Completed Project in Austin, Texas USA
$42,535.17 collected with $2,457,464.83 still to go.Contributions gratefully accepted at:
http://www.ultimateselfrealization.com/donate
Answers by Citing the Vedic Version:
Appreciation: My Wonderful Experience in Vrindavan
My Dearmost Srila Gurudeva and Srimati Gurumataji,I humbly fall at the lotus feet of Your Grace and Srimati Gurumataji and thank both Your Graces again and again a million times for allowing us to celebrate Your Grace's Vyasa puja here in Sri Vrindavana in your personal presence. I consider myself to be the most fortunate of all living entities to have witnessed and participated in the most auspicious occasion of a disciple's life. The blissful celebration with my most wonderful Godbrothers and Godsisters from around the world will forever remain etched in my heart.
Srila Gurudeva and Srimati Gurumataji, I am falling short of words to express my joy and the bliss I experienced this time serving both Your Graces in Delhi and in Sri Vrindavan along with my beloved spiritual family. Never in my life have I experienced such nectar, such bliss, that I want to preserve and keep these wonderful, wonderful memories deep in my heart and I intensely desire to remember these moments at the time of my death.
Also, Your Divine Grace's Vyasa puja gave us an unique opportunity to know more about my spiritual family and I can't thank Your Grace and Srimati Gurumataji enough for this mercy. Had I not met these family members I could have never known that each one of my Godbrothers and Godsisters is so unique and special. After serving along with them, my appreciation for my loving family has increased many fold. And I also realized that my position in front of these wonderful devotees is so small as they are far, far, far better disciples and devotees than myself. So much love they have for both Your Graces that I too desire that may I be able to increase my love for Your Grace and my Gurumataji like them.
Each member that I met in our family has inspired me in so many ways. Just like my wonderful mothers Guruvandana (whose is like a powerhouse when it comes to serving my spiritual master and mother so dedicatedly), mother Madhumati (who is a truly inspiring book distributor) and mother Hladini (who simply amazed me by washing the dishes for hours after the prasadam distribution in the temple). And I have no words to describe the selfless, loving service Vraja Kishore Das Brahmacari Prabhu has been rendering to my spiritual master and mother, day in and day out. I heartily and intensely desire to serve my spiritual parents like these wonderful devotees and more to show all the love in my heart for my spiritual master and mother.
It's amazing to see that there are experts in the family in stitching deity dresses like Mother Radhika and Padmamalini, singers like Mothers Gandharvika and Ieva, blissful dancers like Mother Ekayani, and the amazing questions posed by Mother Ashta Sakhi, great cooks like Mother Archana siddhi, photographers like Mother Gintare, jewelry designers like Mother Kundalata, garland making experts like Yasodapriya Mataji and dedicated couples like Mother Bhakti priya and Anandavardhana Prabhu in serving. Mother Gaurangi and Jagadananda Prabhu (who take care of cows) and Mother Gauralila and Vyasadeva Prabhu (who are a wonderful kirtan team). and all other wonderful Godbrothers and Godsisters of mine, whose names I could not mention but deep in my heart I appreciate their wonderful services to my spiritual master and mother and the Hare Krishna movement.
But most of all, the devotees from Lithuania have deeply touched my heart. Never before have I met such devotees in my life, who have overwhelmed me with their love for my spiritual master and mother. And fortunately I also became one of the recipients of their love. For the first time in my life have I felt as if I found my lost family. By associating with them, my love and service mood for my spiritual master and spiritual mother increased 1000 fold. The language barrier or poor communication through words did not deter in sharing our hearts and love as a spiritual family. At one point I started to understand what Ekayani Mataji was trying to communicate even without the translation. It amazed me and others as well. Never before in my life have I ever experienced such overflowing love, which had left deep impressions in my heart. Before departing for Lithuania, all the devotee mothers with so much love insisted that I some how make it to Lithuania next year for the Vyasa puja. And they even gave me a token amount of Rs.1500 to start saving for my ticket next year. As I could not say no to their love, I said, I can use this amount only if I fall short of my flight ticket, otherwise, I will donate this amount to Austin, Texas.
After Your Graces departure to Austin, I was worried how to spend the next four days in Vrindavana. But by the causeless mercy of Sri Guru and Sri Krishna we (myself with Mothers Gaurangi, Ekayani, Gauralila and Gandharvika) engaged ourselves in various services in the temple. We served prasadam in the Krishna Hall and also for the next three days in a row we arranged ghee wick lamps to be given to devotees during Damodarastakam in the main temple hall. In the end, the temple gave each of us cake prasadam and small picture (desk frame) of Sri Sri Radha Syamasundar as a token of appreciation for our service. I also participated in washing dishes in the prasadam hall along with Mother Hladini, who is a great inspiration for us and also assisted in flower garlands for Sri Sri Gaura Nitai. Never before have I experienced such joy in serving together with my Godsisters.
I can never thank enough, my dear Srila Gurudeva and my dear Srimati Gurumataji for giving shelter to a rascal like me in this wonderful and most amazing family. I humbly fall at both Your Graces lotus feet and deeply desire to always remain eternally engaged in your loving service and humbly beg to forever reside under the shelter of your lotus feet as a particle of dust.
Though I do not deserve, by Your Grace's and Srimati Gurumataji's causeless mercy I received so much of love from these devotees and I will forever remain indebted to both Your Graces,
Your insignificant servant,
Syamapriya devi dasi
Answer: Krishna Has Blessed You
Because you are a sincere devotee Krishna has blessed you the most wonderful realizations regarding your recent experience in Vrindavana. May such realizations always remain fresh and ever-increasing in your heart.Sankarshan Das Adhikari
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