mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ āgamāpāyino ‘nityās tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata
SYNONYMS
mātrā—sensuous; sparśāḥ—perception; tu—only; kaunteya—O son of Kuntī; śīta—winter; uṣṇa—summer; sukha—happiness; duḥkha-daḥ—giving pain; āgama—appearing; apāyinaḥ—disappearing; anityāḥ—nonpermanent; tān—all of them; titikṣasva—just try to tolerate; bhārata—O descendant of the Bhārata dynasty.
TRANSLATION
“O son of Kuntī, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed.”
This is a very important Satsang because we talk about the future direction of our community. The present materialistic civilization is called ugra-karma, sinful or unnecessary work. The next phase of our spiritual community will be to develop a sustainable rural agricultural community and varṇāśrama spiritual university based on the mode of goodness and karma-yoga. Śrīla Prabhupāda instructed us to train brāhmaṇas and to protect cows, live simply in harmony with the land and God.
We already have a nice online community and a small urban āśram, but we need to develop further toward fulfilling Śrīla Prabhupāda’s instructions. So the next stage will be fundraising and developing a plan for the rural community. My vision is to host international conferences in sustainable agriculture. This will attract people with valuable expertise in these areas—knowledge that would take us years to acquire. We can give these people a taste of spiritual life, and if they like it, they can stay and help us. We also will hire local people, experienced agriculturalists and share knowledge with them.
This wide-ranging two-hour Darshan starts off with a full kīrtan, then we recite the śloka responsively.
na tv evāhaṁ jātu nāsaṁ na tvaṁ neme janādhipāḥ na caiva na bhaviṣyāmaḥ sarve vayam ataḥ param
“Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be.” [Bhagavad-gītā 2.12]
Of course this is a very important śloka because it gives the real position of the soul. Then we hear Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Purport, and discuss the meaning. The main problem of life is death. The soul is eternal but the body is temporary, therefore if one knows that he is not the material body, then the problem of death is solved.
Continuing our theme of the last few satsangs, this Sunday we discuss the glories of Śrī Pañca-tattva. This is the science of the incarnation of the Lord in five features, known as Śrī Pañca-tattva. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is always accompanied by His plenary expansion Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu, His incarnation Śrī Advaita Prabhu, His internal potency Śrī Gadādhara Prabhu and His marginal potency Śrīvāsa Prabhu. He is in the midst of them as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. We discuss each of their esoteric meanings and their roles in displaying spiritual variety in the perfection of relationships with the Lord. A helpful pre-satsang reading assignment to supplement this is Chapter Seven from Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā .
So far in the last two Sunday Satsangs we briefly discussed the glories of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Prabhu Nityānanda. In this Satsang we talk about Advaita Ācārya and His esoteric significance. I’m sure many of you wonder about the meaning of the Pañca-tattva Mahā-mantra, śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda. The mystery of this mantra is that Lord Kṛṣṇa incarnates in five features or forms simultaneously, and by Their pastimes and relationships, shows us what is love of Godhead. These five forms are Lord Caitanya, Prabhu Nityānanda, Advaita Ācārya, Gadādhara and Śrīvāsa. So gradually we are discussing each one.
Prabhu Nityānanda appeared along with Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Just as Lord Caitanya is Kṛṣṇa Himself, Nityānanda is an incarnation of Lord Balarāma, Kṛṣṇa’s first expansion. Lord Nityānanda’s pastimes are transcendental and full of ecstatic bliss, because He is always serving Lord Caitanya in the mood of friendship. In this Satsang we also go deep into the esoteric meaning of the spiritual master, since Lord Nityānanda is the original spiritual master.