How many times do you really love God for the sake of loving Him and not asking anything? ...

I always talk about love, love, love, always, you know. It is true that the world doesn’t yet know about it. And yet, you are working for that, all of you who are spiritual, all of you who are searching for the truth. It is not outside, it is here inside of you, but you have to want to change. You have to really say “Yes, I want to change.” Like He said: Even if you want to change, the world will be against you. It’s perfectly true! Ask yourself in your life, in your own life itself, when you took the spiritual path, how many people became against you–firstly in your own family? So, it is normal. The more you advance towards the light, the others will be jealous, because inside everybody wants that. Everybody wants to be with the Father. Everybody wants to be close to the Divine, but, yet, they don’t want to make any effort. They don’t want to make any change to their life. They want to get everything happily and for free. So, if you want this really and sincerely, then be sincere towards yourself and ask the Father. Ask God and you will have it. It’s simple. If you are sincere towards yourself, you are more free and you will enjoy whenever you pray. Whenever you sit for meditation, ...."How many times do you really love God for the sake of loving Him and not asking anything?"

What will lead to the Higher Love??.....

As it is mentioned in the Gita: Only when one develops Love, as Radha has for Her Beloved, will one attain the Beloved. Which means, like I have said: Only when one develops the Ultimate Love for God, will one reach the Divine. And how is one to develop this Love? In general, we know very well, that love is from the heart and we know it is there. You all know about it, no? Yes! We know that inside our hearts are full of Love, but yet, often we find it difficult to express it; we find it difficult to let it out. It’s because, in our mind, we are so limited by our barriers. We are so limited by our limitations. But if we know that Love is seated in our heart, why don´t we keep calling it? Let it out! It´s like this, let´s say, you go to my place and you know I am inside the house and you need me badly. What would you do? You would knock on the door; you would keep knocking. If there were a bell, you would keep ringing the bell. You would go around the house and try to find a way to get my attention. Am I right? You would do that. If this urge is really there, you will do anything for it. It’s the same thing with this Love that is present inside of you. But very often people say, “Ok, I want to feel it, but if I don´t feel it in a month’s time, I’m finished!” But it´s not like that. Love, whether it is for God or for somebody, love is love. We start by loving what is nearer to us, you know: what we can see, what we can hold, what will lead to the Higher Love. That´s why when two persons are in love, at the beginning, of course, there is this great love. But the love can grow more and more, if one let’s it grow. It is the same thing with the love for God that you have inside of you, if you let it out. Like I have said many times, you have to keep trying. It is seated inside, the Divine is seated inside of your heart. The real temple is not out there. It’s here where the real Lord is seated. The real church, the real mosque, is here and all of you know about it, whether you have felt Him or not. In the mind you know that God is seated in the heart and the mind, the power of the mind is so strong. You know it. When you worry a little, you can make the worry feel huge. It’s the same thing with love. If you know even in a small way that the Lord is seated in your heart, you can make yourself know in a big way. As you know very well, the power of Love is the only thing that
conquers everything. If you want to conquer God, conquer Him with Love. If you want to achieve Him, you will achieve Him only with Love. But the Love has to be pure and pure. It’s not saying, “Ok, I have been to the centre here, I have been to the ashram, I know. I have been to Shivaratri, so my Love is pure.” No, you have to make that Love pure inside of you. You have to train your mind to become positive. When your mind is positive and you know that the Lord is seated inside and you keep calling Him, there is no chance that He will not reveal Himself inside of you. Everybody, in the end, will reach the Divine, because the essence of your Self is only Him. And only through this Love, when this Love really gets awakened and becomes like Radharani´s Love, then there is no chance of not attaining Him. So, let Love rejoice inside of you, like I said, not only today, but always. And may you, by the grace of Radharani, become like Her. Like many other Saints, not only Radharani, but also among all the Deities who love the Lord, you will see that there is an expression of this Divine Love. If they could do it, we all can do it, also. If saints have achieved the Oneness with the Divine, be strong and say ‘yes’: you can and keep nagging the Lord inside of your heart until He opens the door and says, “Here I am, what do you want?” And be ready when He asks you what you want, to know, really, what you will ask Him.

Why “Bhaja Nitai Gauranga Radhe Shyam Japa Hare Krishna Hare Ram” ?

 End of May, Gurudev asked all residents, people living in Springen and guests to chant a certain mantra for 12 hours continuously each day, taking turns of 15 minutes each person. After the evening prayers last Tuesday Guruji came and joined us and we started all to sing the mantra. It was a real nice and joyous atmosphere and we sang until our little BalaKrishna had to go to bed (because he really gets put to bed in a pyjama). Guruji said the following about the mantra chanting:

Why “Bhaja Nitai Gauranga Radhe Shyam Japa Hare Krishna Hare Ram”? You see “Bhaja Nitai Gaur” – “Bhaja” here stands for seva. It stands for the service one is rendering. It´s not a physical service, but it’s a service to the world through vibration. The aim of human life is to attain pure love, so that you can truly say that you have loved God. Like I explained in the satsang: there are stages to reach sacred love - prem. In this yuga they say always “chanting the Divine Name one achieves that level”.  So why Gauranga? Gauranga is a combination of Radha/Krishna, so that’s why we are singing “Bhaja Nitai Gaur” – service to Nitai and Gauranga, which is service to RadhaKrishna. At the same time “Japa Hare Krishna Hare Ram” – at the same time you are chanting the mahamantra also. So how you will reach the love is by chanting and through the grace of Prabhu Nityananda - and Mahaprabhu can give Himself. Because if Nityananda Prabhu says something Mahaprabhu can´t refuse. It’s the same if Radha says something to Krishna, Krishna can´t refuse. That’s why it is said that Radharani is more wonderful than Krishna Himself.There is three kind of Love. When we talk about love, you say “I love you”, always – have you ever written a sms to Krishna, to God, to say “God, I love you and I miss you so much”? No, you never! People: Yes! (lots of laughter) But to all the people you say “I love you, I love you, I love you”, you know. Imagine how much love that He has – for you, and yet, you forget about it. You are mostly concerned about human love, relationship all this, which will last only for some time and finish and then you jump again on another thing. Misery, misery, misery, misery, misery, misery – always misery! When your soul aim is to attain – just love, through service to Him.By chanting “Bhaja Nitai Gauranga Radha Shyam Japa hare Krishna hare Ram”, these 15 minutes that you give of your time is a great contribution. Because everything is vibration, you know, everything vibrates. This time, when you concentrate and when you are chanting – He is here. And that´s what the mantra awakes. The knowing, that He is the Lord that governs everything. He is the Lord that governs your heart and He is the Lord of your heart and nobody else. In the Gita, it says “All the names that you chant are mine, all the forms are just inside of me, not out of me. Nothing can exist out of me. Whatever you see…”.You can say “yes, God is there, outside”, but the whole universe is inside of Him. How can you be out of Him? Without Him you would not be here. You can´t exist without Him! So that is what you have to realize: Even if in His cosmic form, He is deep inside everybody, He is in everything, but yet we are all part of His cosmic body. What you see outside is the yog-maya, which catches everybody, which veils everybody through ignorance. But it is also His maya. His maya also catches Him. And His maya is Radharani – He can´t escape Her. He can´t escape because Radharani is completely fully in love. “Bhaja Nitai Gaur”, oh Lord Nitai! How you surrender to Gauranga, how you surrender to love incarnate? Through the service I am giving. Make also this love awake inside of us, make us also part of this drama, make us part of this contribution that we can give to this world. That´s what “Bhaja Nitai Gaur” stands for, you know. In the Narada Puran, Krishna Himself said to Narad Muni “one can give big lectures, one can talk a lot, one can read a lot, but if they don´t have love inside their heart, it´s nothing.” So, it´s that what is important. To learn to love God, you know. Not superficial, but real. So, that’s in short that what the mantra stands for. Jai Gurudev!

Love transcends all the barriers that we put up.....

Do you know the meaning of the song Choti Choti Gaya? It’s like: Little, little cows, little, little boys. Around Krishna there were always little gopas, you know? The cow-boys. He was a cowherd. Choti Choti Gaya means: little, little cows. (Singing) Little, little cows, little, little boys. Little is my sweet Krishna. Little is my sweet Krishna. In front, in front is the cow. At the back is the boy. In the middle is my Krishna. In the middle is my Krishna. Cows are eating grass, boys are eating milk and Krishna is eating makhan, (Swamiji explains) buttermilk. (Singing) Black, black cows, white, white boys. (Swamiji explains) And Krishna, who is in the middle of them, is like dark, blue-sky colour. He’s like a dark-coloured cloud. (Singing) Little, little anklets and little, little garlands. And Krishna is playing the flute. Little, little girls and little, little boys are playing in the Madhuvan (Guruji explains) the forest of Vrindavan. (Singing) And Krishna is dancing the Ras. (Sri Swami Vishwananda starts to sing with his devotees another bhajan: “Sabse oonchi, Prema sagai”) I will say Sabse oonchi and you will say Prema sagai. Sabse oonchi means: What is the most greatest form of worship? And then you say: Love is the greatest form of worship. Prem means: Love. Sagai means: worship. You know, this bhajan is one of my favorite bhajans. It’s all about Love. It describes the Love that Krishna had, that God has for humans. That’s why He said “What is the greatest form of worship?” And then you say: “Prema sagai.” Love is the greatest form of worship. Love transcends all the barriers that we put up. Even the mind can’t comprehend Love, so it transcends all. And then you say: Duryodhana ko mevā tyāgo. In that form, Tyago means: Duryodhana invited Krishna. Duryodhana was alive in Krishna’s time. There were the good ones, who were Arjun and the Pandavas and there were the bad ones always fighting with them, who were the Kauravas. Duryodhana was their chief. Duryodhana invited Krishna to eat. Duryodhana was a king, so of course he would give the most delicious food, but Krishna refused it. Instead He went to Vidura. Vidura was Krishna’s uncle, but he was very poor. And there, in his house, Krishna ate the most simple food: just rice and such simple food. And He was very happy about it. Why was He? It was because of the Love of Vidura. Duryodhana had everything, had all the luxury, but he didn’t have Love. It was just for pride to show off. Whereas Vidura, in his simplicity, his humbleness, he was full of love. And Krishna went there, because of that Love, not because of the food, you know. Swami starts to sing: Jūṭhe phala sabarī ke khāye. Sabari was a great devotee of Rama. In the time of Rama, Sabari everyday would collect fruits from the jungle and she would wait for Rama, since her youth. Rama is one aspect of the Divine. She would wait till Rama came to eat the fruit. So every day, she would bring fresh flowers and she would bring fresh fruit and wait for Rama. And she would chant all day: Ram, Ram, Ram, Ram, Ram, Ram. Eventually she grew old; she became a very old lady. All her teeth fell out, you know. She became so old that Rama finally came. When Rama and Lakshman were on the way to Lanka, they came and they passed by the cottage of Sabari and there this old lady without teeth, just two teeth in her mouth, was waiting for Rama. When Rama came, she was really joyfully welcoming Him. She put Rama on the seat there, because every day she would write with fresh flowers the name of Rama. So when Rama was there, she opened up her heart so much. Her heart was so full with Love. Of course Rama was with Lakshman, who is His brother, His small brother. Jūṭhe phala sabarī–jūṭhe is jujube, a fruit. I don’t know whether you have it here. So, she would first taste the fruit, whether it’s sour or sweet. She gave Rama only the sweet ones to eat and then Lakshman said “Oh, my goodness, how can you eat this?” And Ram said to Lakshman “You would not understand that. This is between the bhakta and the Beloved, the Lover and the Beloved one.” It’s the Love, you know, that the soul has, the soul connection and this is the Love that Sabari had for Rama. So Rama would eat it, because of that Love. That’s why we say: Jūṭhe phala sabarī ke khāye | bahu vidhi prema lagāī. That means: But he would feel great joy by eating that fruit. Rājasuya yajna yudhiṣṭhira kīno | tāmai jūṭha uṭhāī There was a great fire ceremony, where all the kings and everybody, all the sages were sitting, but there was nobody to serve them, nobody to really serve. Krishna, what did He do? He went when they finished eating and He helped to clean, to pick up the rubbish. Why was this? It was because of the Love for Yudhistira – the leader of Pandavas. Then, during the war of Mahabharata, Arjuna didn’t have anything to offer to Krishna, apart from his Love. But out of this Love that Arjun had for Krishna, He accepted to be the charioteer and ride the chariot for Arjuna and that’s the greatest Love that binds the soul to the Divine. In Vrindavan, He showed by doing the Ras, doing the dance. When He was dancing with all the girls from Vrindavan, He was the only one. That shows that in the Love for God we are all passive. He is the only One active. We all crave for that Love, whether you are man or woman. It’s beyond that concept, the Love that you are. You crave for the Universal Love, which is the Love that is seated inside your heart. Sūra krūra is lāyaka nāhī Sura Das is writing here, saying “Lord, I am unworthy of that Love.” He’s saying: “I am unworthy. I don’t deserve that, but yet you have shown Your mercy on me.” Sūra krūra is lāyaka nāhī | kaha lag karau baḍā. So He is the merciful one. Surdas was a great poet, actually. He was blind and he would sing the Name of Krishna and he would sing the Name of God, dancing around everywhere. Actually his story is like that: he was small and, because he was blind, nobody wanted to play with him. One day he heard some people singing the name of Krishna, so he started following them and started singing. And then he would sing, but of course, the group of people didn’t want him. So they cast him aside and then he would sing by himself. So Krishna, God, revealed Himself not in the outside, but inside of him, in his heart. Then he would see Krishna inside of him, constantly. One day he went to a temple and there, every day, although he was blind, he would describe how the Deity was dressed. In the Hindu tradition it is like that: every day, when they bathe their statue, they dress their statue nicely with new clothes. Now, everybody and even the priest were thinking “Oh, my goodness, probably he is just pretending to be blind.” So one day they didn’t dress the statue at all. They left the statue naked and then he sang “Oh my Lord in your nakedness, You are even more beautiful than with clothes.” And such was his Love for Krishna that Surdas was one with Him. One day Krishna appeared to him and gave him his sight back. He could see Krishna. Then Krishna said “Now you can go; you can see.” Then he said “No, my Lord, I don’t want anything. No, what I would like you to do is take back the sight. I have seen You, I don’t want anything. I don’t want to see this world. I have seen You. I don’t want to see anything else.” Well, this is what the song is about. It’s about the Love that we have for God. Worship is not about the prayer, you know, it’s not about what we utter as words. It’s what we express with our heart that is the Love and Love is not quantity, it’s quality.