So this yoga system, attachment for Kṛṣṇa, begins from the temple worship and ends into mahā-bhāgavata. Mahā-bhāgavata means who simply sees Kṛṣṇa, nothing... Sarvatra haya nija iṣṭa-deva-sphūrti. Sthāvara-jaṅgama dekhe nā dekhe tāra mūrti (CC Madhya 8.274). Similarly, in the Bhagavad-gītā also:
- vidyā-vinaya-sampanne
- brāhmaṇe gavi hastini
- śuni caiva śva-pāke ca
- paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ
- (BG 5.18)
He does not see anything but Kṛṣṇa. A mahā-bhāgavata, when a tree, when he sees a tree, he does not see the form of the tree, but he sees Kṛṣṇa. That is mahā-bhāgavata. That we should not imitate. That is the highest stage, perfectional stage. But at least, we come to the middle stage. What is that middle stage? To... We must understand what is God, what is Kṛṣṇa. Perfect understanding. And tad-adhīna, and His devotees. Īśvare tad-adhīneṣu bāliśa. Bāliśa means innocent persons. They are un... I mean to... They do not know actually what is God. And dviṣat. Dviṣat means envious. The four classes of men: God, His devotee, innocent person, and envious person, demons. So the person who is promoted to the second stage, he'll deal with these four classes of divisions differently. Īśvara-prema. One should try to learn how to love Kṛṣṇa. Yato bhaktir adhokṣaje (SB 1.2.6). That is first class. And tad, īśvare tad-adhīneṣu bāliśeṣu dviṣatsu ca, prema, prema, love for Kṛṣṇa, and maitrī, and to make friendship with the devotees. Prema-maitrī. And kṛpā: those who are innocent, one should be merciful. The devotee should be merciful, just to awaken their Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And dviṣatsu ca upekṣāḥ: and those who are envious, they should be rejected. These four classes... To try to love Kṛṣṇa, to make friendship with devotees, and to give some service to the innocent public who does not know what is God, and those who are envious, asuras, they should be rejected. The madhyama-adhikārī should not touch the demons. Because maybe, he may turn again, be demon. Therefore one should be very careful to associate with the demons.
But when one becomes uttama-adhikārī, mahā-bhāgavata, he does not see anyone as demon. He sees, "Everyone is worshiping Kṛṣṇa. I am not worshiping." This is mahā-bhāgavata. Just like Rādhārāṇī. Rādhārāṇī always feels that "I do not know how to love Kṛṣṇa. Oh, he, here is a gopī. How she loves Kṛṣṇa." That is Her... This is called mahā-bhāva. So we should not imitate Rādhārāṇī. Caitanya Mahāprabhu... Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He's the symbol of Rādhārāṇī's mahā-bhāva. He says that "I do not love Kṛṣṇa. I do not know how to love Kṛṣṇa." Then if you, somebody, if somebody says, "Then why You are crying?" "Well, that is a show. I am making a show. I am crying." Then what is the symptom? "The symptom is that if I would have loved Kṛṣṇa, then without Him I have died long, long ago. I should have died. I am living still without Kṛṣṇa; that means I do not love Kṛṣṇa." This is mahā-bhāgavata-bhāva, separation.
- āśliṣya vā pāda-ratāṁ pinaṣṭu mām
- adarśanān marma-hatāṁ karotu vā
- yathā tathā vā vidadhātu lampaṭo
- mat-prāṇa-nāthas tu sa eva nāparaḥ
- (CC Antya 20.47)
(Lord Kṛṣṇa, who is the lover of many devotees (women), may embrace this fully surrendered maidservant or may trample me with His feet, or He may render me brokenhearted by not being present before me for a long duration of time, but still He is nothing less than the Absolute Lord of my heart).
This is mahā-bhāgavata. So mahā-bhāgavata, we should not imitate. But we should not remain also as kaniṣṭha-adhikārī. We must come to the madhyama-adhikārī, middle stage. So these stages will be manifest gradually if we simply try to develop our attachment for Kṛṣṇa.
So this is the beginning: arcā, arcanam. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam arcanam (SB 7.5.23). Arcanam. Therefore for every gṛhastha... Because gṛhasthas are busy in so many ways, they have no opportunity to preach. But they must take to arcana. Every house, every householder, they must... What is the difficulty? Just like we have got in this platform, Deity of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, everyone can install Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa Deity at home and under the instruction of spiritual master and shastric regulations. Then, if we engage ourselves in arcana-vidhi, then automatically, all the anomalies of life will stop. Ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgo 'tha bhajana-kriyā (Cc. Madhya 23.14-15). This arcana-vidhi is one of the items of bhajana, bhajana-kriyā. So anartha-nivṛttiḥ syāt. If every house engages in this arcana-vidhi, so many unwanted things will vanish. You'll have no more interest for seeing cinema or going to the restaurant or smoking biḍi and wasting time by unnecessary talks. So many things. And your life will be perfect. So many nonsense things will go automatically. Anartha-nivṛttiḥ syāt. So therefore to become Kṛṣṇa conscious, every house, everywhere, every person, every human being should adopt this arcana-vidhi. Then at least he will save so many unnecessary... Anartha-nivṛttiḥ syāt. Ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgaḥ (Cc. Madhya 23.14-15).
So Kṛṣṇa says that mayy āsakta-manāḥ pārtha: "My dear Arjuna..." Arjuna is addressed here as "Pārtha," very familial. Because Pārtha, Kṛṣṇa, Arjuna's mother's name was Pṛthā, Kuntī's name. And Pṛthā, Kuntī, happened to be the aunt of Kṛṣṇa. So He's very feelingly, in a familial way, He's addressing, "Pārtha, My dear Arjuna, Pārtha, mayy āsakta-manāḥ, simply by increasing attachment for Me," mayy āsakta, mayy āsakta-manāḥ pārtha yogam... This is yoga. This is perfect yoga. Yoginām api sarve... Mad-āśrayaḥ. "This yoga system should be executed directly under My direction, or under the direction of a representative of Mine." The spiritual master is the representative of Kṛṣṇa. How he becomes representative? What is the test? The test is... Just like anyone can understand, representative. Suppose a business firm's representative is going to canvass for business, what is his business? He will take the interest of the firm, not his personal interest. He will try to secure business for the firm he's working, not for his personal... That is perfect representative. And if he goes, in the name of the firm's representative, and he does his own business, then he's a liar. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa's representative means one who speaks about Kṛṣṇa as Kṛṣṇa speaks. And if he adulterates, he's a liar. He's not representative. He's not representative. Kṛṣṇa says, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65), and if the representative says, "Just become a devotee of Kṛṣṇa. Just worship Kṛṣṇa. Just offer your obeisances to Kṛṣṇa," he is representative. Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66), and the representative will say that "You give up all other process. You simply surrender to Kṛṣṇa." He will never say that "I am Kṛṣṇa." He'll never say. He's not representative of Kṛṣṇa. He's a liar. He's not representative.
So to become representative of Kṛṣṇa is not very difficult. Simply one has to become very sincere. That's all. That whatever Kṛṣṇa says, he will say. Just like Arjuna accepted: sarvam etad ṛtaṁ manye yad vadasi keśava (BG 10.14). That is representative. "My dear Keśava, Kṛṣṇa, whatever You are speaking, I accept them all, in toto, without any reformation." That is representative of Kṛṣṇa. Caitanya Mahāprabhu said,
- yāre dekha tāre kaha 'kṛṣṇa'-upadeśa
- āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra' ei deśa
- (CC Madhya 7.128)
Āmāra ājñāya. One has to carry out the order of God. He is representative. Otherwise liar, misnomer. So therefore Kṛṣṇa says, mad-āśrayaḥ. Mad-āśrayaḥ: "Either under My direction, the direction is there, or My representative's." Mat. Mad-āśrayaḥ means "either under My direction or one who has taken..." (break)