750329 - Lecture on Manipur Dancing - Mayapur

Lectures by Date, 1975

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

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750329LE-MAYAPUR - March 29, 1975 - 15:57 Minutes

Prabhupāda: (chants maṅgalācaraṇa prayers)

. . .-timirāndhasya

jñānāñjana-śalākayā

cakṣur-unmīlitaṁ yena

tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ

śrī-caitanya-mano 'bhīṣṭaṁ

sthāpitaṁ yena bhū-tale

svayaṁ rūpaḥ kadā mahyaṁ

dadāti sva-padāntikam

he kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho

dīna-bandho jagat-pate

gopeśa gopīkā-kānta

rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te

Kṛṣṇa is gopīka-kānta, rādhā-kānta. That is Kṛṣṇa's real identification. He is gopīka-kānta, and He is rādhā-kānta. This relationship with Kṛṣṇa and gopīs, that is the highest perfectional realization of the Absolute Truth.

ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis

tābhir ya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ

goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūto

govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ . . . (break)

(Bs. 5.37)

Kṛṣṇa's real identification means ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhiḥ. He is ānanda, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1), and His expansion of ānanda are these gopīs, ānanda-cinmaya. But that is not this material thing. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa, that mellow, that taste, that humor, that is completely spiritual. We should not misunderstand this līlā, or pastimes of Kṛṣṇa with the gopīs, that material lusty affairs. Then we'll be misled. It is said in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that vikrīḍitaṁ vraja-vadhūbhir idaṁ ca viṣṇoḥ. The activities of the Vraja-vadhu, the damsels of Vṛndāvana, vikrīḍitam, activities, vikrīḍitaṁ vraja-vadhūbhir idaṁ ca viṣṇoḥ śraddhānvito 'nuśṛṇuyād atha varṇayed yaḥ, bhaktiṁ parāṁ pratilabhya hṛd-roga-kāma apahinoti (SB 10.33.39).

Our material existence is due to our lusty desires in the heart. That is hṛd-rogam. That is our heart disease. And we are suffering in this material world for this heart disease life after life. People have lost their intelligence that they cannot understand that there is life after death. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā: tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). They have become so fools and rascals that they do not understand this simple truth as it is said in the beginning of Bhagavad-gītā, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ. We are seeking after this pleasure of Kṛṣṇa with the gopīs or with the cowherds boys. Kṛṣṇa has got many associates, and the topmost associates are the gopīs. So we are seeking after that happiness, but we are being misled by the lusty desires. So I am very glad to see the dance, Manipuri dance, but it should be properly utilized. It should not be utilized as lusty dance. It is ānanda-cinmaya, sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1), His expansion.

So people are hankering after happiness because he's part and parcel of sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha, Kṛṣṇa. So naturally, we are seeking the same spiritual happiness, but we are being misled by māyā. That we should be very much cautious under the guidance of proper spiritual master. This morning we're discussing this verse from Caitanya-caritāmṛta, rādhā kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtir ahladini-śaktir asmat (CC Adi 1.5). This rādhā kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtiḥ, loving affairs between Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, and the gopīs are expansion of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. That is ānanda-cinmaya-rasa. That is not material thing. It is a transformation of the pleasure potency of Kṛṣṇa. Rādhā kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtir ahlādinī-śaktir asmāt. So this Kṛṣṇa conscious movement is meant for taking these misguided living beings to the topmost perfection of life in the rādhā-kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛti. This is the aim of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, and in India still, in Manipur, the idea is being cultivated, and I shall be very glad that you Europeans and Americans who are present here may catch up this idea and introduce in your country. And actually they'll be happy if they follow the principles that vikrīḍitaṁ vraja-vadhūbhir idaṁ ca viṣṇoḥ.

These activities between the gopīs and Viṣṇu . . . Kṛṣṇa is the origin of Viṣṇu. So, anuśṛṇuyāt, if we repeatedly . . . Anu means constantly, and anu means following. The process is to follow or to chant about Kṛṣṇa's activities. Follow means in the paramparā system to understand Kṛṣṇa, what He is. Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam (BG 4.2). Do not understand . . . or misunderstand Kṛṣṇa as ordinary human being like one of us. No. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam (BG 9.11). Kṛṣṇa comes to attract you, that "You are seeking after happiness. Here is the happiness. Come to Me. Dance with Me." But we are misled. There is life like this, that you can dance with Kṛṣṇa, you can play with Kṛṣṇa, you can enjoy with Kṛṣṇa.

So that requires training. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). These things are there. If you become trained up, then exactly after giving up this life, you can go to dance with Kṛṣṇa. That is possible. It is not a myth, mythology, as rascals think. No. You can have this life, dance with Kṛṣṇa, play with Kṛṣṇa. Simply you have to become trained up. Then, as Kṛṣṇa says,

janma karma ca divyam me

yo jānāti tattvataḥ

tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma

naiti mām eti kaunteya

(BG 4.9)

You can go. But don't misunderstand. Kṛṣṇa and His pastimes with the gopīs, you should understand it properly—tattvam. That is called tattvam.

manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu

kaścid yatati siddhaye

yatatām api siddhānāṁ

kaścid vetti māṁ tattvataḥ

(BG 7.3)

You must understand Kṛṣṇa in truth, in fact. So Kṛṣṇa comes Himself to teach you, to show you what does He do in His Goloka Vṛndāvana. And if we are fortunate enough, be attracted with the Kṛṣṇa's pastimes, and if we constantly think of it, satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ yatantaś ca dṛḍha-vratāḥ (BG 9.14), then your life will be perfect. That is the aim and purpose of Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. We want to . . . we want to give to the human society the highest blessings, the most perfectional platform of life.

So my request is that those who are becoming interested in Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they may not be misled. Kṛṣṇa's activities with Rādhārāṇī and the gopīs, they are completely spiritual, ahlādinī-śaktiḥ. And if we understand properly about Kṛṣṇa's activities, then ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhiḥ (Bs. 5.37)—we reach to the platform of ānanda-cinmaya-rasa. Because we are seeking after ānanda, bliss. That is the information from the Vedānta-sūtra. Ānandamaya abhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). We living entities, we are by nature blissful, seeking after happiness. But this happiness is not possible if you become compact in material activities. If you seek the happiness in the material platform, you'll be frustrated. It is to be sought after in the spiritual platform.

So actually it is forbidden, that sannyāsīs should not see any dancing by woman or any singing by woman. But we are not violating these rules. Just to remember that here is an hint how Kṛṣṇa is spiritually enjoying. If we see and hear on that spirit, then it is very good; otherwise it is not good. So if he is actually guided by these verses in the Vedic literature . . .

ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis

tābhir ya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ

goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūto

govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

(Bs. 5.37)

vikrīḍitaṁ vrana-vadhūbhir idaṁ ca viṣṇoḥ

śraddhānvito 'nuśṛṇuyād atha varṇayed yaḥ

bhaktiṁ parāṁ pratilabhya hṛd-roga-

kāmān apahinoty āśu dhīraḥ

(SB 10.33.39)

So we should always remember this rādhā-kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtir ahlādinī-śaktir asmāt. Then it will be very much beneficial. So this kind of dancing is very welcome all over the world if we do not misunderstand Kṛṣṇa. That should be the precaution. Otherwise it is very, very good. And our purpose is to introduce these Kṛṣṇa pastimes all over the world so that they may take lesson that they are seeking after happiness—the happiness is with Kṛṣṇa, not in the material world. Then you'll be successful.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Prabhupāda. (end)