Sri Krishna Kathamrita

तवकथामृतं तप्तजीवनम्
tava kathāmṛtaṁ tapta-jīvanam
Bindu
Fortnightly email mini-magazine from Gopal Jiu Publications

Issue No. 519 Śrī Āmalakī-vrata Ekādaśī 14 March 2022

• Association, Reading, and Hearing 3

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Highlights

• Entering Radha’s Heart

Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja

• Hearing From the Lips part 4

• Without the Son of Sachi
The medieval Gaudiya Poet Premananda Das

To answer this argument, it is described here that one

has to associate with liberated persons not directly,
physically, but by understanding, through philosophy
and logic, the problems of life. (Purport to Bhāg. 3.31.48.)
Paramahamsa Das: “My question is, a pure
devotee, when he comments on Bhagavad-gītā,
someone who never sees him physically, but
he just comes in contact with the commentary,
explanation, is this the same thing?”
Srila Prabhupada: “Yes. You can associate
with Krishna by reading Bhagavad-gītā. And these
saintly persons, they have given their explanations,
comments. So where is the difficulty?” (Morning
Walk in Paris. 11 June 1974.)
Hearing
A businessman is always very eager to go to a place
where business is transacted. Similarly, a devotee is very
eager to hear from the lips of liberated devotees. As soon
as one hears the glories of the Lord from the liberated
devotees, he immediately becomes impregnated with
Krishna consciousness. (Purport to Bhāg. 4.29.39-40.)
Association, Reading, and Hearing 3 We have to hear not from a telephone but from
Comments from His Divine Grace an authorized person, for it is he who has real
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada knowledge. (Purport to Cc. ādi 7.107.)
The separated energy can be understood from a
Reading practical example. I compose books by speaking into
It is sometimes misunderstood that if one has to a dictaphone, and when the dictaphone is replayed,
associate with persons engaged in devotional service, it appears that I am speaking personally, but actually
he will not be able to solve the economic problem. I am not. (Purport to Cc. ādi 7.119.)

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According to the Vedic injunction, yasya deve parā Similar statements are also made in the Devi-
bhaktir yathā deve tathā gurau [Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad rahasya (1.22-24), where it speaks of accepting teachings
6.23], all Vedic literatures maintain that Śrīmad from a book in the absence of a qualified guru:
Bhāgavatam has to be learned from the person
adīkṣita upādhyāya-vihīnaḥ śakti-bhaktimān
bhāgavata, and to understand it one has to engage in
guror abhāve deveśi pustakaṁ gurum ācaret (22)
pure devotional service. Śrīmad Bhāgavatam cannot
be understood by so-called erudite scholars or [Lord Shiva said:] “O Parvati! A non-initiated person in
grammarians. One who has developed pure Krishna the absence of a real guru should accept the book as guru.”

consciousness and has served the pure devotee, the Lord Shiva clarifies that statement in the next verses:

spiritual master, can understand Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. yadi kaścid bhaved devī gurus tantra-vicakṣaṇaḥ
Others cannot. (Purport to Cc. madhya 24.313.) dīkṣitaḥ śiva-mantreṇa vaiṣṇavaḥ śubha-lakṣaṇaḥ

Entering Radha's Heart taṁ parityajya yo devī parā-bhakto ‘pi bhaktimān
Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja pustakaṁ tu guruṁ kuryāt sa bhavec chiva-ghātakaḥ 

In gaura-līlā you will find immeasurable mercifulness. “O Devi! However, if there exists
The most astounding, special characteristic of gaura- a bona-fide vaiṣṇava guru expert in
līlā is Mahaprabhu’s wonderful loving attitude, the tantras, endowed with all auspicious
mahābhāva, toward his followers. qualities and initiated through an auspi-
If you accumulate all material and spiritual opulences cious mantra, and if one renounces such
in one place, still it cannot be equal to one particle a supremely devoted vaiṣṇava guru and
of that mahābhāva. That dhana, asset, mahābhāva, is accepts a book as guru, then he becomes
solely possessed by Radharani. It is not available with an offender to Lord Shiva.”
anyone else. Even Krishna has no such asset. Krishna is
devoid of it. So Krishna thought of what he should do. Both Hearing and Reading
Krishna is the supreme thief, very expert in stealing. For his followers, the books of His Divine Grace A.
He thought, “I will steal it.” So entering into the heart
C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada are their life
of Radharani, Krishna stole it and kept it in his heart.
and soul. Srila Prabhupada comments in his purport
Thereby he also stole the complexion of Radharani
to Caitanya-caritāmṛta (madhya 25.278):
and became golden. Krishna is śṛṅgāra-rasarāja, king of
the conjugal mellow, but that remains inside. Outside All the devotees connected with the
he is Gaura, with the complexion of Radharani. Thereby he Krishna consciousness movement must
fulfilled his three types of desires. He relished the mellow read all the books that have been translated
of his own beauty and distributed it indiscriminately, (the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam,
mahā-vadānyāya. Bhagavad-gītā and others); otherwise, after
— From Embankment of Separation, p. 42-43 of pocket edition.
some time, they will simply eat, sleep and
Hearing from the Lips part 4 fall down from their position. Thus they will
miss the opportunity to attain an eternal,
Approach Sastra through Guru
blissful life of transcendental pleasure.
The Chāndogya Upaniṣad (6.14.2) describes the
process of approaching śāstra: ācāryavān puruṣo veda Srila Prabhupada is always present in his books.
— “Only one who has a guru can know the Vedas.” Srila Prabhupada’s disciple, Caru Das, recounts a
This point is further elucidated in the Padma Purāṇa personal memory:
(bhūmi-khaṇḍa 67.43), which states: “A reporter asked, ‘What will happen
guru pūjām akṛtvaiva yaḥ śāstraṁ śrotum icchati to your movement when you die?’ Before
na karoti ca śuśrūṣām ājñā-bhaṅgañca bhāvataḥ the words were out of his mouth, it was so
Without worshiping the spiritual lightning quick, Prabhupada was saying, ‘I
master, those who try to listen to the will never die’, right back at the guy. And
scriptures are not following scriptural then Prabhupada explained himself, ‘I will
injunctions. Rather, they are consciously live forever in my books.’” (Srila Prabhu-
breaking them. pada Remembrances. Volume 3 chapter 43.)
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Unknown artist

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Issue Five Hundred Nineteen, Page — 4 श्रीकृष्णकथामृत बिन् दु
Devotees should always associate with Srila Without the son of Sachi, whose ears would have
Prabhupada through the form of his books, and also heard the most wonderful holy name, which is
through the form of his devotees and followers. Bona fide renowned as prema?
books say that we should hear from a bona fide person, [Note: Premananda Das is describing that there
while bona fide persons instruct their followers to read is no difference between prema and the holy names
bona fide books. — MD (This concludes the article.) given by Chaitanya.]
śri-kṛṣṇa-nāmera sa-guṇa-mahimā
Without the Son of Sachi keba jānāita āra
vṛṇda-vipinera mahā-madhurimā
The Poet Premananda Das
praveṣa ha-ita kāra
The scholar Sukumar Sen in A History of Brajabuli
Who would have informed us of the glories of the
Literature writes that Premananda Das, also known as
names of Lord Krishna? Who would be able to enter
Prema Das, lived in the early 1700s and was a disciple of Hari the greatest sweetness of the Vrindavan forest?
Goswami, a devotee in the line of Lord Nityananda Prabhu’s
kebā jānāita rādhāra mādhurya
wife, Jahnava Devi. He was born in the village Kuliya, near
rasa yaśa camatkāra
Nabadwip. When he was 16 years old he left home and went tāra anubhava sāttvika vikāra
to Vraja where he became a cook for Govindaji, the deity of gocara chila va kāra
Srila Rupa Goswami. Amongst other writings, Prema Das was Who would have informed us of the splendid nectar,
the author of Vaṁśī-śikṣā, a poem dealing with the life and fame, and sweetness of Sri Radha? Who would have
teachings of Mahaprabhu’s associate Vamsi Vadananda. understood her sāttvika vikāra, transcendental ecstasies?
He also wrote Caitanya-candrodaya-kaumudī, a Bengali
vraje ye vilāsa rāsa mahā-rāsa
metrical version of the Caitanya-candrodaya-nāṭakam of prema parakiyā tattva
Srila Kavi Karnapur. See Bindus 122, 169, and 173 for other gopīra mahimā vyabhicārī sīmā
songs written by Premananda Das. kāra gati chila eta
e mana! śacira nandana vine Who would have understood the pastimes in
prema bali nāma ati adbhūta Vraja, the rāsa and mahā-rāsa, the nature of prema
śruta haita kāra kāṇe
and parakīyā-rasa (paramour love), the glories of the
 gopīs and the topmost limit of the vyabhicārī-bhāvas?
dhanya kali dhanya nitāi caitanya
Sri Krishna Kathamrita Bindu parama karunā kari
vidhi-agocara ye prema-vikāra
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their loving embrace to one and all. Premananda says,
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