We Are Suddha Saktas

Once we counted Raghunatha Dasa Goswami’s gurus, and we found that he had nine gurus. So then the question is, “Which one of his gurus is most important?” He had nine gurus: Yadunandana Acarya was the mantra guru who gave him initiation, diksa. Then on the way to meet Mahaprabhu, he received the blessing of Nityananda Prabhu, by putting on that yogurt and rice festival; you may have heard about this. Who is Nityananda? He is Baladeva, he is the original guru tattva, so is it possible that he served Nityananda Prabhu and abided by his orders, but he did not find any guru there? Did he only see a Vaisnava there, only a devotee?
No, there is guru tattva; Nityananda is also his guru. Then Nityananda Prabhu sent him to Puri, and Mahaprabhu turned him over to Svarupa Damodara, and said, "You will give him training." Svarupa Damodara became his teacher. Living in Puri at that time was Namacarya Haridasa Thakura. He is the acarya of chanting of the Holy Name; could he just pass him by, saying, "Oh, no he is not my guru?" No, he had to accept him, “He is also my guru, Namacarya Haridasa Thakura.”
Sri Rupa and Sanatana were also living there, the sambhanda acarya and the abhideya acarya -- the foremost of the six Goswamis. First, Raghunatha Dasa Goswami lived in Puri under the care of Mahaprabhu and Svarupa Damodara, and he later lived under the care of Rupa and Sanatana for a long time. Also living there at that time was Gadadhara Pandit. Gadadhara Pandit is guru tattva for the madhurya rasa bhaktas in Caitanya Lila, and Mahaprabhu is the principal Deity. The madhurya devotees are under Gadadhara Pandit, and the vatsalya and other devotees are under Nityananda Prabhu. So he is also accepting Gadadhara Pandit as guru. Gadadhara Pandit is Radha bhava; he is an incarnation of Srimati Radharani. So can he not accept that as guru? So he also accepted Gadadhara Pandit as guru.
After the disappearance of Mahaprabhu, all these great personalities began to vanish from the earth very quickly, and Raghunatha Dasa was in great despair. He decided to commit suicide; the world became so bleak in the absence of Mahaprabhu and all the devotees leaving one after another that he decided to take the path of suicide. Narottama Dasa expresses this same sentiment when he prays, "What will we do now? They are all gone!" and beats his head on a stone. It is not a happy day when the Lord’s devotees vanish from this world, from our sight. So he was very distressed and he decided to give up his life, and he thought that the best way is if he can jump from the top of Govardhana Hill, and in this way he will finish his life. Actually, this is love despair.
If you have seen Govardhana Hill, you may understand that one would have to jump about one hundred times. You would do better jumping off a garage roof; it is not very high – better to climb a temple, or a tree even. Govardhana Hill is very gentle; there is no place from which to jump. Because that was his heart’s sentiment, he went to Govardhana with this in mind, but there he found Rupa and Sanatana. They were living there on the order of Mahaprabhu, and he found that Mahaprabhu was living with Rupa and Sanatana. This is what he found there: that his Supreme Lord is living within their hearts. For him, Rupa and Sanatana are like expansions of Mahaprabhu, non-different from Mahaprabhu. They are Rupa and Sanatana, and yet he finds them to be non-different. So then he gave up this idea of jumping from Govardhana Hill and he remained under their shelter for many years.
Raghunatha Dasa Goswami has shown us by the example of his life that we may have many, many gurus who first may bring us in some connection with Krsna Consciousness. Maybe it is our parents; maybe it is a friend at school, or some general connection draws us towards the first Sunday feast. What ever it is -- it may be something at home, such as Back to Godhead magazine. What first put us in connection to Krsna is called vartmana-pradarsaka guru, and we may have many of this type, but it is said that you should only have one mantra guru. You should have only one initiating guru, but siksa gurus you may have many.
Raghunatha Dasa Goswami had many gurus who gave him much instruction and guided him through his life. He himself is known as the prayojana acarya: he shows us the highest perfection of devotion in the line of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Raghunatha Dasa Goswami announces to the world what is the highest aspiration and achievement for a Gaudiya Vaisnava, a follower of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu; he shows what is that highest achievement. He announces this in his prayers and in his poems, in his poetic expressions. At the very end of his life he announces this; therefore he is known as the prayojana acarya.
What is the perfection? What is that highest perfection of any Gaudiya Vaisnava? It is the thing that Srila Prabhupada saw in his father when he was a boy, but did not recognize in him until he had become a disciple of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta. There was something in Srila Prabhupada’s father that later — as a disciple of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta, as a Gaudiya Vaisnava — Srila Prabhupada could understand, “My father was pure devotee of Krsna.” When he was growing up he had no such understanding. His father was just his father; he used to get him to buy not just one toy gun, but two toy guns. But as an adult, as a disciple of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta, then he came to note one very special thing in his father, so much so that he boldly wrote in the Krsna book dedication, “To my father, Gour Mohan De, a pure devotee of Krsna.”
But if you study Gour Mohan De’s life, you will see that there are three million such pure devotees of Krsna. They worship Krsna at home, they go to the shop and they come back, they visit temples and they give some gifts to sadhus, and other such things. So what is it that distinguishes his father from so many Hindu gentlemen raising their families in pious India, close to one hundred years ago? It is that very thing which is announced by Raghunatha Dasa Goswami. He announced that our highest aspiration is to be accepted into the line of service to Srimati Radharani. That is called Radha-dasyam: service of Srimati Radharani. Radha-dasyam supersedes even service to Krsna. Srila Prabhupada’s father was doing this all along, when Prabhupada was a boy.
You will read in Satsvarupa Maharaja’s book that Prabhupada is telling, "My father used to gather many sadhus and he would take care of them, and even he would give them a hookah.” A hookah is a pipe. That social custom was the order of the day; now it is low-fat yogurt. But in those days there were so many sadhus of different types, and there were the sadhus who had the hookahs, and so they were offered the hookah. If Murari Caitanya were to offer me a hookah, any devotees attending the lecture would get up and walk out, saying, “He is bogus.” But Srila Prabhupada’s father had a hookah and offered it to the sadhus. That was the basic idea; what ever the sadhus want, they get it, and they will be happy. Then of course he would give them laddus, puris, subjis, and very nice refreshments, and then he would ask some benediction. And what would he ask, what would Prabhupada’s father ask those sadhus?
Prabhupada’s father would ask, "Please bless my son that he will become a devotee of Srimati Radharani and spread her glories all over the world.” So as a youth this made some sense to him, but not as much sense as it would make later. When Srila Prabhupada met his eternal master, Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur, then everything came into clear focus. He then knew what was to be his purpose in this world, what he was to do.
This is all going on in the plane of lila of the eternally liberated souls. Some people think that when they are born, the eternally liberated souls are thinking, "I’m just waiting to start my movement,” while rocking in their mothers’ arms. No, they are acting as children at that point.
Srila Prabhupada used to laugh and talk about his "maya;" he used to call it his “maya:” He was a follower of Gandhi, and when he said that we would say, "Oh Prabhupada! No maya for you!” But he would laugh. Even when a liberated soul comes into this world he does not manifest, in most cases, why he has come here until he makes the connection with the line of Mahaprabhu, the descending line of the Supreme Lord. Then, making that connection, things come down to him and are revealed, such as what is his purpose here, what is his mission here. So that is the announcement of Raghunatha Dasa Goswami; he has announced that in his writings, in his prayers: his deep heartfelt aspiration for the service of Srimati Radharani.
You all know Radha-kunda, and you know many people come to Radha-kunda, and they do there what is called dandavat parikrama. They offer full dandavats — they put one stone, walk to the place of the stone, again go down, offering prayers, and in this way they go all the way around Radha-kunda. It takes a couple of hours. Many years ago, the Diwan of Bhaghpur came, and with his royal family was doing dandavat parikrama of Radha-kunda. One personal servant of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta who happened to be there at that time came running and said, "Oh Guru Maharaja, the Diwan of Bhaghpur has come with his whole family and they are doing parikrama of Radha-kunda! It is wonderful that they have such devotion for Srimati Radharani." Then Srila Bhakti Siddhanta shocked everyone there. He said, "Actually, their devotion is just the opposite of ours. They have heard that Radharani is dear to Krsna, and so they have some regard for Her. Ours is just the opposite: the only reason we have any interest in Krsna is because He is dear to Srimati Radharani — we are on this side, not on that side.”
When you have gone through the whole thing you realize that we are suddha saktas; we are worshippers of the Energy of Godhead, the Devotional Energy of Godhead. If you do not believe it, then just start reading Srila Prabhupada’s books carefully and you will understand the importance of this conclusion. The whole of the Srimad Bhagavatam is to present one thing, and only one thing -- that Srimati Radharani is the foremost servant of Krsna.
Radharani alone is the one who can please Krsna: She is the mother of devotional energy. And as a jiva soul, the highest attainment is to be accepted as a servant in the descending line of Her grace.

Brahma Gayatri Bhasya - Sri Gayatri Nigudhartha

The meaning of the brahma gayatri must bring us to the conclusion of Srimad-Bhagavatam. The gayatri mantra and the Srimad-Bhagavatam are one and the same. It is the very gist of the Vedanta-sutra. Srimad-Bhagavatam is the elaborate commentary of gayatri:
The meaning of the gayatri mantra must be in the line of Srimad-Bhagavatam. If we analyze how this is possible, we shall uncover the steps leading the gayatri mantra, to the Srimad-Bhagavatam.
What is the meaning of gayatri ? The word gayatri is a combination of two Sanskrit words: ganat (what is sung) and trayate (gives deliverance). This means, "A kind of song by which we can get our salvation, relief, emancipation. Gayatri is known as veda-mata, the mother of the Veda. If we examine the Vedic conclusion from it's most condensed aphorism to its most extensive expression, we shall find that it begins with omkara : the Vedic symbol OM. That truth is expressed as the gayatri mantra, then it appears in the form of the Vedas, and then as the Vedanta-sutra. Finally, the Vedic conclusion is given its fullest expression in the Srimad-Bhagavatam. Since the meaning, the purpose of Vedic knowledge progresses in this line, the gayatri mantra must contain within it the meaning of Srimad-Bhagavatam ---that is, that the Krsna conception of Godhead is the highest. This must be the meaning of the gayatri mantra, but the problem is how to extract Srimad-Bhagavatam-----the Krsna conception------ from within the womb of gayatri. I heard that Jiva Goswami has given such an interpretation, but I could not find where it is written. I heard that he has given the meaning of gayatri leading to Krsna consciousness. Anyhow, the tendency awakened in me to draw the meaning to the Krsna conception.
The general meaning of gayatri is "that song which grants liberation." Liberation must have some positive meaning. Liberation means not freedom from the negative side, but positive attainment. This is the definition given in Srimad-Bhagavatam : muktir hitvanyatha rupam svarupena--- unless and until we attain the highest possible positive position, real mukti, real salvation, has not been effected. Mere withdrawal from the negative plane cannot be called liberation. Hegal has said that the object of our life is self-determination. We must determine our normal function in the organic whole---not mere emancipation in a positive function in the domain of service. This is considered to be the highest attainment of life. This is the real meaning of gayatri.
The word gayatri comes from two Sanskrit roots: ganat and trayate. Trayate means positive attainment to the final stage (sva-rupena vyavashitih ). And ganat means not mere sound, but musical sound. That musical sound which grants us the highest positive deliverance indicates the sankirtana of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and the flute song of Sri Krsna.
The purport of the brahma-gayatri is as follows: The first word is OM. Om is the seed mantra which contains everything within it. The next word is bhur. Bhur is where we are--Bhu-loka-- the world of our experience. The next word is buvah. Buvarloka is the world of mental acquisition. It is the support, the background of our experience. Our present position of experience is the effect of our mental acquisition. That we are here in the world of experience is not an accident; we have acquired this position by our previous karma. The physical sphere, this present world of experience, is only the product, the outcome of our previous mental impulses. And the subtle world of previous karma, the mental sphere, is known as Bhuvarloka.
The next word in the mantra is svah. Above Bhuvaloka is Sva-loka. The mental world (Bhuvarloka) means acceptance and rejection: what to do and what not to do--"I like this, I don't like that." Sva-loka, however, is the plane of decision, the world of intelligence (Buddiloka). Our intelligence tells us, "You may like this, but you don't do that, for then you will be the loser." That plane, the plane of reason, is known as Sva-loka. In this way, this material world is composed of three general layers, bhur, the physical world, bhuvah, the mental world, and svah, the intellectual world.
Of course, a more detailed analysis will reveal seven layers: Bhur, Bhuvah Svah, Maha, Jana, Tapa, and Satyaloka. This has been dealt with in detail by Sanatana Goswami in his Brhad-Bhagavatamrtam. Here, these seven strata have been summarized in three planes of existence: physical, mental, and intellectual. And these three planes of experience have been summarized in a word, tat.
The next word in the brahma-gayatri is savitur. Savitur generally means surya, the sun. And the sun means, figuratively, that which shows or illuminates; that by which we can see. The three gross and subtle strata within this world are shown to us by a particular thing, savitur. What it that? The soul. Actually, the world is not shown to us by the sun, but by the soul. What really gives us perception and allows us to see gross things? It is not actually the sun that helps us to see; we see with the help of the soul. This is found in Bhagavad-gita (yatha prakasayaty ekah krtsnam lokam imam ravih). The soul reveals this world to us just as the sun does. The sun can show color to our eyes, the ear can reveal the sound world, and the hand can reveal the touch world. But really in the center is the soul. It is the soul who gives light to this world, who gives us an understanding of the environment, the world of perception. All perception is possible only because of the soul. Here, the word savitur, which generally means sun, can only mean soul, like the sun, shows us everything.
All seven strata of our existence-represented by bhur, the physical plane, bhuvah, the mental plane, and svah, the intellectual plane-have here been reduced to one entity: tat-"that." "That" is shown by the sun which in this context indicates the soul. Here soul means individual soul. The individual soul is the cause of his world. Not that the mind is in the world, but the world is in the mind. Berkeley has said that the world is in the mind. Here it is being expressed that everything is seen with the help of the sun. If there is no sun, everything is dark- nothing can be seen. So without light, nothing can be seen. And in a higher sense, light means the soul. The soul is the subject and the soul's object is the seven planes of experience within this world.
The next word in the gayatri mantra is varenyam. Varenyam means puja: worshipable, venerable. This indicates that although within this plane--the objective world--the is the subject, there is another domain which is to be venerated and worshipped by the soul. That is the Supersoul area.
That worshipable plane of existence is known as bhargo. Bhargo means the super subjective area, the area of the Supersoul. This is mentioned in the first verse of Srimad-Bhagavatam: dhamna svena sada nirasta-kuhakam satyam param dhimahi. Srila Vysadeva says that here he is going to deal with another world whose pristine glory is so great that by its own ray, all misconceptions are brushed aside. The subject is the soul, and its object is all these worlds of experience. And the super subject, is the venerable area which is superior to the subject, the soul-- that is the super subjective area.
The word bhargo means"more subtle than the soul," and "holding a more important position than the soul." So this means the Supersoul, the Paramatma. In general, of course, the word bhargo ordinarily means light. Just as an X-ray can show us what the ordinary eye cannot see, bhargo is svarupa-sakti: higher, more powerful light that can reveal the soul. And that energy--bhargo--belongs to whom? It belongs to deva. What is the meaning of the word deva? Deva means "who is beautiful an playful," that is, Sri Krsna: Reality the beautiful. He is not a nondifferentiated substance, but is full of lila, pastimes. Deva means pastimes and beauty combined and this is Krsna.
His domain is bhargo, brilliant, and it is varenyam, to venerated by the jiva soul. What is the nature of the svarupa-sakti? It is the vaibava, the extend body of Srimati Radharani. She holds the full service responsibility and the energy to serve Krsna. bhargo is no less than the vaibava, the extended body of Srimati Radharani, which contains everything for the service of Krsna. Bhargo represents Mahabava, the predominated moiety, and deva, Krsna, is Rasaraja, the predominating moiety.
In the gayatri mantra, we are requested, bhargo devasya dhimahi: "come meditate". What sort of meditation is possible in that plane of dedication? Not abstract meditation, but service cultivation, krsnanusilanam. Dhimahi means " to participate in the spontaneous flow, the current of devotion in Vrndavana." And what will be the result (dhiyo yo nah pracodayat)? The capacity of our cultivation will be increased. As we serve, a greater capacity and willingness to serve will be given to us in remuneration-- just as interest is added to capital in the bank(dasa kari' vetana more deha prema-dhana). In this way, our dedicating principle will be increased again and again. Dhimahi means aradhana, worship. It cannot but be explained in terms of aradhana, puja, seva-- worship, adoration, loving service. The word buddhi means that which we cultivate with the help of our intelligence. But here, dhi is a reference to that venerable intelligence which descends into this plane to help us cultivate service. So dhimahi does not mean abstract meditation, but devotional service. This is the underlying meaning of the gayatri mantra.
Gayatri, the song of deliverance, also means sankirtana. Kirtana is also sung, and it also improves us towards the highest goal. The sankirtana of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu also reinstates us in out highest serving position. So brahma-gayatri in connection with Mahaprabhu comes to mean krsna-kirtana. Then it reaches Vrndavana and the flute-kirtana. And when we enter Vrndavana, we shall find that the sweet sound of Krsna's flute helps to engage all the Lords servants in their respective duties. When the flute is sounded, the gopis and others are adjusted in their respective duties. At night, the gopis, hearing the sound of the flute will run to the Yamuna, thinking, "Oh, Krsna's is there." And when Yasoda hears the song of Krsna's flute, she thinks, "My son is there. He is coming home soon." In this way, the sound of the flute engages all the servants of the Lord in their respective positions and inspires them to be mindful of their service.
In my Sanskrit commentary on the gayatri mantra, I have written dhiraradhanam eva nanyaditi tad radha-padam dhimahi : All other services are represented fully in Radhika. Like branches they are all part of her. Madhura rasa is the chief or mukhya-rasa, the combination of all rasas. Srimati Radharani is Mahabhava--she represents the entire serving attitude.
The flute-song of Sri Krsna, expressed as the gayatri mantra, is reminding us and engaging us in our service. And what is our service? Our service must be to surrender ourselves in the service of Srimati Radharani-to accept the suggestion of Radharani. The gayatri mantra will excite us to be mindful about Srimati Radharani's lotus feet, to obey her orders. She is mainly representing the whole service area. So to try to engage ourselves in her service, under her order- to accept her direction and to obey her- that is the service of Sri Radha. In this way, the meaning of the gayatri mantra has been drawn to radha-dasyam, self-determination (svarupena vyavasthitih ).
In the meantime, the partial representations in vatsalya and sakhya rasa are also part and parcel of the original mellow of conjugal love, madhura rasa. The vatsalya rasa devotees will serve Nanda and Yasoda, the sakhya rasa devotee will serve Sridama and Sudama, but ultimately, the whole system in one conception is included in Radharani.
Radha-dasyam, the service of Srimati Radharani, is the ultimate meaning to be extracted from the gayatri mantra. That is the supreme end of our life. It cannot but be so. Srimad-Bhagavatam is the ultimate or full-fledged theism to be extracted from the Vedas, Upanisads, and so many scriptures. All the revealed truth rises to its acme, to its highest position, in the conception given by Srimad-Bhagavatam. And Srimad-Bhagavatam teaches us that the highest realization, self-determination, is the service of Srimati Radharani-that under her guidance we may serve Sri Krsna. We aspire for a direct connection with her service.
What, then, is the inner meaning or purport of the word bhargo? Bhargo means the sum, or "who shows us by light." Radharani is the daughter of Vrsabhanu. I have selected the word bhanu. To represent her personal extended self, I have given the word vaibhava. Vaibhava means, "what comes out," or "extended self." Prabhava is the central representation and vaibhava is the outer extension. The very gist of svarupa-sakti is Srimati Radharani, and the whole svarupa-sakti is her extended self. The town of her beautiful service is the whole svarupa-sakti.
Just as rays of light extend from the sun, the whole internal potency is an extension of Mahabhava, Sri Radhika. She has developed herself into such a beautiful area of brilliance, of internal energy, and thereby she serves her Lord. All these necessary things have sprung from her. To help her in serving her Lord, they all come out. When the entire internal energy is condensed in a concise form, it is Mahabhava, Radharani. And when Radharani wants to serve, she extends herself in limitless different ways. And with some contribution from Baladeva and Yogamaya, the whole spiritual world, including Vrndavana, Mathura, and Vaikuntha, evolves to assist Srimati Radharani in the service of Sri Krsna.
In this way, I have drawn out radha-dasyam, the service of Srimati Radharani as the meaning of the gayatri mantra and have tried to represent it in the above Sanskrit verse.