We are present with many followers of Śrīla Gurudeva in Vṛndāvana-dhāma. How can we cross māyā? How can we understand Gurudeva, Vaiṣṇavas, and bhakti? Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī told Mahārāja Pariksit the account of this Kātyāyanī-vrata in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Mahāprabhu told that this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is Amala-Purāṇa. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, it is directly and indirectly shown how we should take shelter of the Vraja-devīs. If you go to a king, and ask him for shelter, the king will not directly help you. He will send you for help to the different official departments in the towns, villages, and districts. Everyone follows the king.
Where is the conditioned soul present? In the jail of Māyā-devī. Since many lives the jīvas have engaged in sinful activities. The sādhakas are also inside the jail of māyā. They should pray directly to nanda-gopa-sutaṁ-devī; to that Devī who is the beloved of Nanda-nandana. What does She do? First, She instructs Yogamāyā, Bhagavatī Vṛndā, adhīśvari, “Go and help the sādhakas.” Paurṇamāsī-devī then sees that the sādhakas are still present in the jail of māyā. Paurṇamāsī-devī tells māyā, “Help these souls go beyond your realm of illusion and enter Vraja.”
This process works from above to below. Paurṇamāsī and Mahāmāyā will not act without the instruction of svarūpa-śakti Rādhārānī. The sādhakas are present in this world. How can they gradually progress and enter Vraja-dhāma? The process is given how they can gradually progress. They cannot directly jump in to the spiritual world. There is a sequential process. Līlā-śakti arranges this process.
Externally, there is a very big boundary of māyā. There are the seven upper planetary systems, and the seven lower planetary systems. Where does the jīva perform sādhana? We do not go to Vaikuṇṭha-loka for sādhana. We must perform sādhana in the karma-bhūmi, Earth, also known as Martya-loka or Mṛtyu-loka, the abode of death. We cannot do sādhana in Svarga-loka or heaven. We cannot do it in Tapa-loka, Jana-loka, or Brahmā-loka. Martya-loka, Earth, is the place to perform sādhana. Bhauma Vṛndāvana is present on the Earth in this universe. As there is an American embassy in India, there is also Bhauma Vṛndāvana in this universe. When a person enters the embassy, they may receive permission to go to the country that the embassy represents. Without a visa from the embassy, one cannot enter the country the embassy represents. Now, how can we enter Vraja, become related to the Vraja-devīs, and mostly, to Nanda-gopa-sutaṁ-devī, Śrīmatī Rādhikā?
Vṛndā-devī or Paurṇamāsī Devī gave this mantra to the sādhana-siddha gopīs, as they were lamenting on the bank of the Yamunā. In Mahāprabhu’s line, we are told that Vaiṣṇavas are prohibited from worshiping any devīs or demigods. In Satkriyāsāra-dīpikā, Hari-bhakti-vilāsa, and other Vaiṣṇava scriptures, we are instructed not to worship Durgā, Kālī, the demigods, our ancestors, and not to take their prasāda. However, Mahāprabhu would go to the demigod temples in South India, and while doing kīrtana, He would give the demigods prema-bhakti. However, the followers of Mahāprabhu instruct us not to worship the demigods. Does Śukadeva Gosvāmī not understand this? Why did he give the account of Kātyāyanī-vrata in the Bhāgavatam, which is described as the spotless Purāṇa? The reason is that Kātyāyanī-vrata is not actually worship of Durgā, it is worshiping svarūpa-śakti and Kṛṣṇa. The worship of Kātyāyanī Durgā is only a guise, for ordinary people. She is like the warden in a jail, and when she receives an order from her superior, she will give bail to a prisoner. When someone comes to Bhauma Vṛndāvana, and takes shelter of nanda-gopa-sutam-devī, Śrīmatī Rādhikā, then She will arrange that one can cross Mahāmāyā’s Durgā or prison. She sends Vṛndā-devī to help, and Vṛnda gives this siddha mantra.
Those who have doubt in this vrata should not blame me. This is not my instruction. I have not created this vrata. Those jīvas who desire siddhi, perfection, to enter Vraja, and become Śrīmatī Rādhārānī’s pālya-dāsī, maidservant, should follow the example of this vrata as given in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. After writing the first to ninth canto of the Bhāgavatam, Śukadeva Gosvāmī said, ‘vāco vibhūti na to paramārtha—What I have said is good. I am not cheating anyone, but it is not all in all. In the tenth canto, I have given the summon bonum. In the Bhāgavatam there are pañca-prāṇa, five life airs, and the Gopi-gīta, Veṇu-gīta, Bhramara-gītā, Yugala-gītā, and Rāsa-gītā. There is also a description of how the gopīs performed arādhana, worship—ramyā kācid-upāsanā vraja-vadhū vargeṇa yā kalpitā. What process of worship do they follow? What do they chant?
They are externally worshiping Kātyāyanī, so that ordinary people do not disturb them and try to stop them. They could not openly worship Kṛṣṇa. What would they say to their parents? Māyā-devī tricks all their relatives. When sincere sādhakas perform bhajana, Māyā-devī protects them so that no one will come disturb them. Without Māyā-devī’s protection, everyone will come to attack us.
Yesterday I spoke very harshly. Without any prior warning, an operation comes for us. We desire vraja-bhakti. But, our past nature, our senses, our mind, everything disturbs us. Who will protect us? This is all māyā. Māyā-devī will protect our bhajana, when we have a deep desire for vraja-bhakti. She will help us cross beyond her prison house. She will make a very good platform, so that we can follow vraja-bhakti without any tensions. Without her help, we cannot properly follow. We cannot cross over this material body which she has given. We cannot separate ourselves from this.
dīkṣā-kāle bhakta kare ātma-samarpaṇa
sei-kāle kṛṣṇa tāre kare ātma-sama
sei deha kare tāra cid-ānanda-maya
aprākṛta-dehe tāṅra caraṇa bhajaya
We must become cid-ānanda-māyā, completely spiritualized. Without becoming spiritualized, we cannot perform kṛṣṇa-bhajana. We try to chant harināma, but our mind become restless, and we remember so many other things. When we go to cinemas, then our mind is fixed on the cinema pictures. But when we chant harināma, Oh, the mind runs to so many places. Where does it run, there is no guarantee. Why are we not distracted when we watch movies? We have so much eagerness to see one scene after the next. We look at one dancer after the other, and clap and dance. Then our mind is not restless. Why? These are the gifts of māyā. Without the protection of māyā, without her help, we cannot escape her jail. We cannot jump across māyā like Hanumāna jumped over the ocean.
Sādhu savdhāna!
If we want to follow bhajana, and achieve perfection, we must seriously pray, "O Devī, please help me. I have no helper other than you. I am an orphan."
Vṛndā-devī told Mahāmāyā to help the gopīs. Mahāmāyā then protected the gopīs, and made them free of all her things in this world. Once this happens, then we can practice bhajana. When we understand this, we will never become restless, and will never suffer, or be misguided. When this clearance comes, then energy and taste will also come. Now, we do not accept what our spiritual master gives us. Gurudeva tries to give us so much, but we do not want to take. When hari-kathā starts, then we fall asleep, or we speak in class uselessly. Our minds become restless and run here and there. If our friend comes, we will think, “Oh, how can I meet with my friend? When will hari-kathā end?"
If our 100 rupee shoes are outside, we will not think about hari-kathā; rather, we will worry, “What if someone steals my shoes?”
[laughter]
The shoes are more costly for us then hari-kathā. We do not understand the value of hari-kathā. Unless we cross māyā, we will not have taste for bhakti. If we have bhakti, then we will think, “What is the harm of me losing everything in this world?” For us, then hari-kathā and hari-sevā will be important. Then realization can come to us. Therefore, Vṛndā-devī instructs us to first give up attachment to this body, to cross this boundary of māyā. Then she, Vṛndā, will help us. And when she helps us, then we can directly serve Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. First we must pray to that Devī, Śrīmatī Rādhikā, and when She is pleased, She will instruct Vṛndā-devī, and Vṛndā-devī will instruct Kātyāyanī, and Kātyāyanī will help us. The mercy comes from above, and then from below we go up.
vīṇā hari kṛpā na mile śānta
Without the mercy of God, we not come in association of real sādhus. And then with the mercy of guru, we can achieve God's service. They are both helping in tandem.
We are very lucky to be in Vṛndāvana. We cannot follow this very difficult vrata and tapa. We do not have any taste or desire. Everything is available in śāstra, but how many follow the given injunctions? Why don't we follow? Gurudeva says so many things, but why don’t we follow? Why don’t we desire to follow? Why don’t we have the strength and energy to follow? We have no respect for Gurudeva. How will respect come? How will faith come? We are inside Māyā-devī’s prison, her jail. And Māyā-devī’s offerings are very tasteful for us. People will go so many times asking for help from one abusive person, but if we go to guru and Vaiṣṇavas, and they speak once harshly to us, we will run away and never come back. But if we are beaten in the place we work for pay, or if we are chased by dogs, then we will still beg for forgiveness, and will say, “I am at fault, please don't fire me."
The process of this vrata is very simple and sweet. The gopīs followed this process to achieve the service of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. If we don't desire this, why should we follow? There is no other way. They are many processes, but without taste, without desire, without faith, without enthusiasm, then what can we do? Gurudeva, śāstra, and Bhagavān give us so many instructions. If we can become inspired and try to follow, we will receive their mercy and blessings, and we will be strong and able to follow bhakti and bhajana. Nothing else will help us.
We are always proud and think, "I am great. I am a scholar. I am a founder. Why should I pray to Māyā-devī? Why will I go to Durgā-devī, Māyā-devī?" Who will help you? What is your position? You say you are very great, but your position is very low. You destroy yourself by your pride. Why aren’t you humble? Why don't you desire to practice bhajana? You have so much false pride, and such a superior mood. Who will destroy this? Kātyāyanī-devī will destroy this. Then we will be able to follow bhajana. Otherwise we are all blinded by māyā. We cannot understand our soul. Paramātmā is very far away. We cannot even see our own ātmā, our own soul. We are the soul, inside the body, but we cannot see or realize this. This is the play of Māyā-devī. We hear hari-kathā now, and as soon as we leave, we forget everything. Now we are sitting here, but we are not hearing, we are thinking of how to enjoy in māyā. Without her help, how can we enter hari-kathā? How can we have desire to follow bhajana, to chant harināma and follow bhakti? We have no desire.
Do not think that this is a bogus or ordinary program. When we are in bogus association, we think everything is bogus. When we are in eternal association, we will understand the meaning of eternal and spiritual things. For those who abuse everyone, and say this is bad and should not be followed, please tell what is good? Tell us that. Pick us up and tell us what is good. Take us out of māyā and tell us what to follow. Help us. We follow the process given in śāstra, given by sādhus, and given by guru. Is there anything better to do?
Jaga-mohana dāsa: Some say, “Where Kṛṣṇa is present, māyā cannot remain. I will just chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and take shelter of Kṛṣṇa. I will chant Kṛṣṇa and hear kṛṣṇa-kathā. I don't need to take any help from māyā, because I chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.”
Śrīpāda Premānanda Prabhu: Are you with Hare Kṛṣṇa? Where are you? Hare Kṛṣṇa is spiritual. Where are you? Where are you present? When you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, are you near Hare Kṛṣṇa? You are in māyā. When chanting harināma, do you pray to serve Kṛṣṇa, or do you ask Kṛṣṇa to serve you? You ask for māyā from Kṛṣṇa.
When there is a bunch of grapes high up in the vine, and a jackal jumps and tries to get the grapes the whole night, but cannot reach them, in the morning he says, “Oh, the grapes are very sour.”
We chant, ‘Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa,’ day and night, but where is Hare Kṛṣṇa?
Jaga-mohana dāsa: You said that the Vraja-devīs only externally worship Kātāyāyani, so they were not disturbed.
Śrīpāda Premānanda Prabhu: This was done to cheat ordinary people. The gopīs were siddha, perfect, but where are we? We pray to nanda-gopa-sutaṁ-devī. Our guru is Vṛndā-devī, and we pray to Rādhārānī. Then Vṛndā-devī tells us, “How can you come to me? You are now in māyā. You have a material body. How can you cross beyond that? Therefore, you must chant this mantra, and pray, “O Kātyāyanī, O Mahāmāyā, please take me out of your māyā. For millions of lives I have carried these physical bodies. Now I do not want it anymore. Please take me out of this bodily attachment. Take everything away.”
You don't ordinarily want to die. But when you are very disturbed, and suffering so much, you will pray for euthanasia, mercy-death. When you have cancer, and feel so much pain, and you cannot even speak, then you'll write on a note or give a hint, ‘give me mercy death.’ Why do you pray for this? We need to pray to māyā for mercy-death. We have to say, “We don't like your māyā anymore.” You should pray, “Oh, please, Kātyāyanī, Mahāmāyā, take everything away. I want to go to Vṛndāvana, to the Vraja-devīs, to serve Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. Do not give me a husband or wife, do not give me children, do not give me wealth, cut my relation with my father and mother, and all the world. I don't want anything. I want to renounce all of this.”
Māyā will not release you against your free will. You must truly want to leave the material world and enter the spiritual world.
yā dustyajaṁ sva-janam ārya-pathaṁ ca hitvā
bhejur mukunda-padavīṁ śrutibhir vimṛgy
Therefore the gopīs received mukunda-pada. They give up svajana and ārya-patham.
Mahāmāyā is there to remove all the garbage. When we see a place very dirty, with stool and urine, and so much foul smell, then we call a sweeper to clean. And if the sweeper cannot do it, then we call a labor team to dig up everything and throw it out and make a new platform. This is our position now. We are very dirty. We are full of stool and urine. Who will clean us? Therefore, we pray, “Kātyāyanī Mahāmāyā, please take this away.” We pray to Kātyāyanī Mahāmāyā, and she will take away all our anarthas and garbage, and then adhisvari will come, and will send us to nanda-gopa-sutam-devī, Śrīmatī Rādhikā. Then we will no longer look back at māyā. Otherwise, we come here to the temple, but look back. We wear saffron, shave our heads, and reach a higher post, but we look back down at the toilet.
Bahiraṅga-śakti is Mahāmāyā. We do not pray to Mahāmāyā. We pray to nanda-gopa-sutam-devī, Śrīmatī Rādhikā. She is our subject. She sends Vṛndā-devī, and Vṛndā-devī sends us to Kātyāyanī. First, we need help from Kātyāyanī Mahāmāyā, so she is addressed. Then, we pray to maha yoginī adhisvari, and then to nanda-gopa-sutam-devī. Where are we present? We are in Mahāmāyā. We must cross one level after the next.
If we do not give an application for bail to Durgā-devī, how can we get out of her jail? When a higher order comes to the jailer, then the jailer tells us, “Tomorrow you are getting bail and will walk free from everything.” In the same way, Vṛndā-devī tells us to request Mahāmāyā for release, and then she will give us clearance, being advised by her higher powers, and then we will not have any distraction from our families, and even our physical body will be given up, and we will attain our spiritual form and service. If there was not this process, then so many would enter Vraja and only cause disturbance there, being covered by so many desires for mundane enjoyment.
Many Vaiṣṇava ācāryas wrote very strong and elaborate purports on Kātyāyanī-vrata in the Bhāgavatam. This is a very sweet and easy process to enter the realm of bhakti. But, due to greed for māyā, very few people want to follow. We are only trying to pray to Gurudeva, to the Vaiṣṇavas, to the Bhāgavatam, that in one life, we will be greedy to follow the Vraja-devīs’ footsteps, and to attain their moods.
Kavirāja Gosvāmī wrote:
gopī-bhāva-vinā nā pāye kṛṣṇacandra
Who desires this gopī-bhāva? It is very rare to find someone. Then how can we follow vraja-bhakti? When Mahāprabhu said, ‘gopī gopī,’ the students came to beat Him. When Śrīla Gurudeva would chant, ‘Rādhe Rādhe,’ many godbrothers would be angry with him, and would say, “Why are you chanting, ‘Rādhe Rādhe?’ Chant, ‘Hari bol, Hari bol.’
We are present in the temple now. How many people have love for God, and how many people have love for God's property? Kṛṣṇa was in Dvārakā Purī before the Mahābhārata war. Duryodhana came and took all Kṛṣṇa's wealth, soldiers, and everything. But he did not take Kṛṣṇa. Arjuna only took Kṛṣṇa; nothing else. This is our position now. We all came near God, and near guru, but we look, “Where has Gurudeva hidden the money? In which bank? Is it in the Swiss Bank?” We don't ask where Gurudeva is, we ask, “Where is his money?” We don’t ask which brahmāṇḍa Śrīla Gurudeva is serving in, we ask, “Where is his money?”
This is Māyā-devī’s world. She is on one side. We are taṭasthā, in the middle of the material and spiritual worlds. The jīva may look towards māyā, or towards Kṛṣṇa. We can choose. On one side a sannyāsī pulls us towards the spiritual world, saying, “Come with me,” and on the other side, Māyā-devī is attracting us with an alluring form. Which side will we go to?
[CC-by-NDNC Bhakta Bandhav]