H.H. Mahanidhi Swami: Glorification of siddha-baba Aindra das on July 19th 2010, Krishna-Balarama Mandir, Sri Vrindavana-Dhama
“Srila Prabhupada – ki jaya!
People say that there is two factors that influence an individual’s life. The fact of prabhava, of destiny or karmic destiny and our free will is an interplay between our choice, our free will and destiny.
That’s for the ordinary persons. They are tossed by their destiny and have a few choices of free will. But (for) the great devotees of the Lord, there is a third factor which controls their actions. There is destiny which means our karma: prarabdha karma, aprarabdha, kutam, bijam. And there is free will. But for the suddha-bhakta, suddha-Vaishnava, there is Krishna’s will, Krishna’s iccha which is mentioned by Duryo Madhava Maharaja.
So this very arrangement of the departure of siddha-baba Aindra – he is a baba, a siddha-baba, siddha-mahatma. Siddha-mahatma Aindra Maharaja ki – jaya!
That was Krishna and Radha’s will, or let’s say Radha and Shyam’s will for Their own purpose. This very departure indicates that he is a “siddh” because it doesn’t make any logical sense because it is acintya-shakti at work. Acintya-shakti does not fit under intelligence. When one looks at the lines on Aindra’s hand, one will see that it’s like this eighty years old plus. You know line-rekha, hatt-rekha? Hatt-rekha, asisal nandi. Asisal jiva nandi. Hatt-(…). And then, you look at his janma-kundali. (…) Eighty years. So this is destiny. Karmic destiny. And his free will is to live forever to spread the Holy Name around. That’s his will to spread suddha-nama and raga-marga everywhere. But that’s the logic, that’s the sense, that’s - . But Krishna’s devotees and the Lord, they are not working on the platform of logic or sensibility. They are working on the platform of prema, prema-vicara. In love, there is no rules and rules, there is no love.
So the Lord and his devotees they work under the love-principle. So therefore, he was taken from us. But as everyone is emphasizing: The Holy Name, the Holy Name. That’s a fact. But we have some different understanding of Aindra (crying). His contribution is that he wants everyone to absorb themselves in raga-marga-bhakti, especially pancha-anga, pancha-anga-bhakti. Nama-sankirtana, sadhu-sanga or sadhu-seva, Vaishnava-seva, nama-rucchi. Especially Vaishnava-seva. Vina Vaishnava seva – kohe rucchi nahi. No rucchi. Vaishnava-seva, sadhu-sanga, nama-sankirtana, Thakurji-sri-murti-sraddha-seva. Sraddha means bhakti. Bhakti means saranagati, prema, prema-filled seva to Thakurji. Your, your, your Giriraja, your Gaura-Nitai, your Jagannatha, your Radhe-Shyam, your Ananga Manjari, etc. Prema-filled seva. Sraddha-seva means prema-filled. Sraddha is only - means prema. Then Bhagavata-sravana. Hearing Bhagavatam with, hearing Bhagavatam with the ears of the heart and attachment. Then Mathura-vasa-sthali. Living in the Holy Dhama of Vraja-dhama. Nistha. Nistha in Vraja. Vraja-nishta. Living doesn’t mean coming and going, are jana, are jana, kori kori Vrindavan mei, kori kori bar sei. (…) andar. Bhajana koro.
This is the example! No eating, no drinking till midnight. After three o’clock when he is (…). Until twelve o’clock. First two lakhs of rounds! This is the example. And he set the perfect example of raga-marga-siddha. Vaidhi-sadhana, raganuga-sadhana, bhava, prema. This - whenever we talked, I haven’t been here recently; you haven’t seen me much externally here because I am doing seva at another nearby place. But I used to live, I lived with Radha-Govinda Maharaja in Bhubhaneshwara in the brahmacari-ashrama 1987/88 when I first came, Radha-Govinda Maharaja and Bhubhaneshwara das. And Aindra - we met so many times with Aindra. And all the time we were talking how to promote raganuga-bhakti, how to spread raganuga-bhakti (crying). Our discussions were different. And he was crying that the world is not thinking that, nitai-saci-suta kei (…) bhakti, na sahajiya.
What is the basis of raganuga-bhakti? Gaura-Nita-puja! Prabhupada established raganuga-bhakti, our Bhagavata-path. Our bhajana, our pranali, our bhajana-pranali is Gaura-Nitai worship. It begins (with) Gaura-Nitai. And later you realize (that) Nitai is Ananga Manjari. (…) Radharani choti ben. Ananga Manjari, Radharani’s younger sister. And then you should begin the vaidhi-marga, worshipping Gaura-Nitai and as it comes to, matures to raga-marga, then Gaura-Nitai take a different position. Nita-Saci-suta. Radha-Madhava. Gopivallabha, Radha-Gopivallabha. It becomes specific, your priya-nama, your priya-nama. At the beginning it’s Radha-Krishna, then Radhe-Shyam, then your own priya-nama, Gopivallabha – I think so, Gopivallabha. Your individual way that you address Radha and Krishna and see Them and meditate on Them.
Whenever we discussed, he always said, (…) to me he said: “Is your heart into it? Is your heart into it?” Heart! Do you know what “heart” is (crying)? He said: “Maharaja, is your heart into your chanting, is your heart into your puja, is your heart into your Bhagavata, is your heart into your sadhu-sanga or are you just making a show?” Oh, please let me serve you, Vaishnava, how may I serve you, how can I serve you, how can I kill you? (Laughter) Real genuine Vaishnava-seva, heartly seva a Vaishnava, heartly puja of Thakurji, heartly chanting of nama, heartly living in Vrindavan, serving all the residents of Vrindavan, feeding the birds, feeding the animals, serving the Vaishnavas with minded heart. This is the example he set! We would always discuss these points.
Caitanya Mahaprabhu raga-marga-vicara. He came to preach raga-marga. It’s not something for people who are wearing white. It is something for people that are set situated rightly, heart at the feet of Nitai-Saci-suta, heart at the feet of Gaura-Nitai, Radhe-Shyam – this is Vraja-vasa! Not designations of bodies, white cloth, that cloth, no cloth, naga-baba, pitambara – what do we care? Our hearts should be “prema-amabara”. Our heart, you know, heart - prema-ambara, means covered with prema, do you understand? Really prema-ambara. Correct? Covered - “Vishvambara”. “Amabara” means nourishing, covering. Our heart should be nourished with love, then covered with love.
Everyone is saying, “Oh, Aindra is an agent of the Holy Name!” Forget that! He is an agent of prema! He is an agent of Vraja-prema! He is an ambassador of Vraja-prema! This is what he came to give! The Holy Name – (…) we already have the Holy Name, but we don’t have prema-nama, we don’t have suddha-nama! (Crying) He gave prema-nama and suddha-nama! Who received it?! Who is chanting it?! Aparadha-nama, bhukta-nama, so many laga laga mixed koro, mix nama, asli nama, suddha-nama kaha, suddha-nama kaha, kaha? Every single lecture. You can read there – every movement he made is raga-marga-bhakti. Prema-nama, suddha-nama, Vaishnava-seva.
One more: He is teaching – he is the paradigm of perfection of raga-marga-bhakti. And especially, he wouldn’t leave Vraja. So once we come to Vrindavan, we should stay here, at least when Guru has placed us here. When our prabhu-dhatta-desha is Vrindavan, then we should immerse ourselves in this place. “Desha” means - what does prabhu-dhatta-desha mean? The Guru gives a place for your heart. “Desha” means the position of your heart. Prabhu-dhatta-desha. Prabhu, my Mahaprabhu, my rasa-raja-Mahaprabhu, my Guru-Prabhu, my master, my Lord. Dhatta-desha, he has given a desha, dhatta dedo, yes? “Desha” means place, means position, local, he has given a position for my heart. Everyone’s heart should be immersed in Vraja-dhama. Wherever you live, it doesn’t matter – Vraja-dhama! Everyone’s heart should be immersed in harinama. Everyone’s heart should be immersed in Thakurji-seva. Everyone’s heart should be immersed in Bhagavata-sravana, Bhagavata-hari-kathamritam, Bhagavata-katha, hridi-katha.
It says, “bhagavata-sravana rasika-bhakta-saha-sanga”. Vishnavatha Cakravarti Thakur says, “bhagavata-sravana rasika-bhakta-saha-sanga”. That’s when you hear the Bhagavatam in the association of advanced devotees. What does that mean? First, it means that we mix our rasa into our hearing of the Bhagavatam. (When) we are hearing the Bhagavatam individually or collectively or reading individually or privately, then where is our rasa-saha-sanga? Huh? Where are we mixing our rasa? Bhagavata-sravana rasika-bhakta-saha-sanga. Are we bhakta? Are we rasika? We have something. Rasa means bhakti-rasa, rasa-abhasa, something. This should be mixed in the Bhagavatam.
Aindra taught this example. We read Bhagavatam together, we chanted together, we went to places in Vrindavan together, we do puja of Katyayani in mrigha-sirsa, we did so many things together when I lived (on) this side, now I’m not – (in) some other place. We were like this (showing two fingers close together). You don’t think, friends, you don’t see me in Aindra’s room every day when you were up with many newcomers, but Aindra and I were like this. Whatever I’m saying, I prayed to him, I said: “You speak, I am your mouth-piece. I know, I can tell so many little stories, this, that” - I don’t know. But he said, he was not a sentimentalist, mundane sentimentalist, he is a premi-bhakta, a suddha-Vaishnava, preaching raga-marga-bhakti.
This is Vraja-dhama! Anyone has this sukriti, a sukriti for living in Vraja-dhama, attains seva in Vraja-dhama by guru-kripa, then he better follow raga-marga-bhakti. Now I get a little fiery like Aindra (laughing). “You better follow raga-bhakti or what are you doing in Vrindavan?!? What is the purpose of your life in Vrindavan anyway?!? NAMA KORO! STUPID! Hey, play kartells right, don’t you know? You know about tal, tin-tal, do-tal?” Right?
Ooops, sorry. Chum-chum, chum-chum, chum-chum (imitating the kartall-do-tal-beat). Yes? Precision! Aindra was a precision-bhakta. You know precision, I don’t know Hindi, precision or precise? Hindi kia (…), “precision”? You know, precision is very exact, very precise, Hindi-word. (Different suggestions in the audience which Maharaja doesn’t really accept).
Anyway, I think you understand. Everything he did he did with precision. What does precision mean? That he focused, like a laser beam, he focused, every (…) of his heart, he focused into the nama. (Someone suggests the word “pacca” in the audience.) Pacca – pacca! Pacca-prema-nama. Pacca Thakurji-seva. No-one in this whole universe is dressing Radharani and Krishna like Aindra! Because his full heart was there. There was nothing else in his heart: No wife, husband, GBC, ex-wife – see, nothing else in his heart! Radharani, Radharani, first Radharani went through my heart. Radhe, Radhe, Radhe, Radhe. Ok Radharani, these are Your fingers, Radharani, this are Your eyes, Radharani, this is Your mind, Radharani, these are Your thoughts, Radharani, these are Your desires. Now, I am your puppet. Oh, you want to dress your Shyam like this? Ok, just move me, Radharani. Radharani is dressing Shyam! This is also in nitya-lila. Radharani is dressing Shyam, Shyam is dressing Radha. So precision – pacca. Everything he did – in Bhagavata-sravana. We would discuss Bhagavatam so deeply and rasa-pancadaya and other gitas, venu-gita, brahmara-gita – so deeply going inside. And I said, “Where are you getting all this? You know Sanskrit? You know Hindi? You can read commentaries, Sanskrit-commentaries, Sanskrit-tika, Bhagavata or Hindi?” “No, no, somehow Saci-suta-kripa”, his Thakurjis, Saci-suta, I think so, Nitai-Saci-suta, “Prabhupada-mercy”.
And his bhajana! Bhajana-prabhava. Bhajana is like light, like the sun. The stronger the bhajana, the more brilliant the sun. So many speakers have come from around the world (…), but I want to, or let’s we want to say, (…) we means, Aindra, my brother. Aindra and I want to say that, “We are living here in Vraja-dhama or any dhama or any seva-place to attain Vraja-prema. And to attain Vraja-prema, we must follow the gopis of Vrindavan, we must follow raga-marga, we must chant suddha-nama, we must serve the Vaishnava’s as our life and soul. So this is what I want to (say) – my remembrance of Aindra is so many, many things, but this as far as distributing little something, this is what came out today.
So please try to follow our offering to you and hopefully everyone can attain that platform of suddha-nama, prema-nama and these five aspects. We should put our full heart (…) “Oh, my husband wants me to cook for the Vaishnavas. Oh no, what a (…). Vaishnavas have come to my home. Oh, he wants me to cook.” No, this is not heart! This is like - terrible. So everything - these five aspects - usually someone perfects himself – we can say that he attained perfection in nama-bhajana, it’s a fact. He also attained perfection in Bhagavata-sravana, it’s a fact. And anyone is going to deny he attained perfection in sringara-seva? Sringara-seva-siddhi, you know sringara-seva? Dressing the Thakurjis, alankara-ornamentation, design. He had a sringara-seva-siddhi, perfection in sringara-seva. Nama-siddhi, Bhagavata-sravana-siddhi, Vaishnava-sadhu-sanga- and seva-siddhi, Vraja-vasa-siddhi, nishta-siddhi. He attained perfection in all five limbs of bhakti! Even one can give prema! But he showed the example, “Ok, I want to be the acarya of all five limbs of raga-marga, I want to be the acarya of all five aspects of pancha-anga-bhakti, do you understand pancha-anga bhakti? Any one will give us prema! Just sit down in Vrindavan and don’t make offences. Just sit down in Vrindavan under a kalpa-vriksa-tree and just put (…) madhukari whatever comes along your way (…) and you’ll get prema – IF you can do it. Winter, sommer, spring, everything, whatever it comes, some water comes, you drink, some water doesn’t come, you don’t drink, you just sit there, hugging that tree, “Radhe Radhe Radhe!” A Premi-prapti, this type. All (five) – can you imagine! You know, it’s like one person has got everything. (…), he has a beautiful body, a fantastic intelligence and money like unlimited, like some kind of devata. You meet people like that (in) India, maybe you know so. Beautiful bodies, (…), catur-vedi, vidya-vanas and sastu-vidya-vanas. And then they have krohrs of Rupees and properties and they are famous and they are (politicians), you know, they got everything, you met some of them. They have everything, but maybe not Krishna.
So as far as devotional riches, devotional riches, he is a dhani. He is a dhani in Bhagavatam, a dhani in nama, a dhani in sringara-seva, a dhani in Vaishnava-seva. Dhani, right? Wealthy man, krohr-patti, (…) in (…) and dhama-nistha. Imagine one person had all these five attainments. Because he wanted to make sure - we would discuss this once. He said, “Listen”, I say, “You know, you already have - you can attain prema just by nama. Why are you going so deeply into the Bhagavatam?” “No, no, I want to make sure!” He was like this, he was a very - , “I will make sure. I want to do everything right. Because who knows?” He was always speaking so lowly (of himself). “I haven’t attained prema and I don’t have anything and I can’t just depend on the Holy Name. I have to do all these five things that Prabhupada gave us: Live perfectly in the holy dhama, chant the Holy Name perfectly, serve the Deities perfectly, serve the Vaishnavas perfectly and hear and serve the Srimad Bhagavatam perfectly. This is why nitya-lila-pravistha-om-sri-srimad Aindra Prabhu has become a siddha-baba, a siddha-saint of ISKCON.
Srila Aindra Prabhu ki – jaya!”
