So these false notions, isms, are going on. People are being misled. You see? Andha yathandhair upaniyamanah [SB 7.5.31]. Practical experience: In my country, India, I was also a student of Gandhi. In 1920 I joined the noncooperation movement and gave up my education because Gandhi's program was to boycott the British educational institution. So most of the university students... I was also. I passed my final examination, B.A., but I gave up. I did not appear, and I joined this movement. Fortunately, in 1922 I also met my Guru Maharaja, and he, on my first visit, I do not know why, he told that "You should preach this Caitanya philosophy to the outside world." I replied that "We are dependent nation. Who will hear us? In the world, nobody hears any person who is coming from dependent nation, so we must have first of all independence." A young man I was at that time, and I was also misled in so many ways. But my spiritual master saved me, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Maharaja.

So the spiritual master's duty is to save the living entities who are so much embarrassed by the forest fire. That is the duty of spiritual master. Samsara-davanala-lidha-loka **. The whole world is blazing, and just like in the blazing fire of the forest, the animals are going here and there, and some of them are dying, the whole world is like that. And how that blazing fire can be extinguished? You cannot send there this fire brigade, or you cannot get some pots of water and try to extinguish that wide fire. It is not possible. Then how to extinguish it? The extinguishing is possible when there is cloud overhead and there is incessant pouring of water. Then the forest fire extinguished. No artificial means, no scientific means. Fire brigade or this fire extinguisher, we have invented so many things, but when there is forest fire all these things are nonsense. Nothing can be used. The only use, means, is when there is pouring, incessant pouring of water from the cloud. That is made of God. That is not in your hand. You cannot produce cloud. Some arrangement of God's arrangement, the cloud, is there. Ghanaghanatvam. The example is given, "Charitable just like the cloud." Why this example is given? When cloud pours water, it is so sufficient that there is no comparison. But if you want to pour water, a bucketful of water, how long you will do it?

So spiritual master means he must be just like the cloud. How it is possible? It is possible. It is possible in this way, provided he follows the disciplic succession of spiritual master. Then it is possible. He must inherit the power from the superior source. Then it is possible that by his teaching, by his lessons, the forest fire which is burning within our heart, it can be extinguished, and the person who receives such spiritual instruction bona fidely, he becomes satisfied. This is the process. So,

So this is the process. Simply if we... Therefore Vedic knowledge is called sruti. One has to hear it properly, assimilate it, and then practice it in life and preach the same thing. Then everyone becomes spiritual master. Caitanya Mahaprabhu says, amara ajnaya guru hana tara 'sarva-desa: "O My dear disciples, I tell you that you, all of you, become spiritual master. Simply you carry out My order. That's all." "And what is Your order?" "The order is the same: yare dekha, tare kaha 'krsna'-upadesa [Cc. Madhya 7.128]. Just like Krsna gave instruction in the Bhagavad-gita, and if you simply place the instruction received from Bhagavad-gita as it is..." I am publishing Bhagavad-gita As It Is because in the market there were so many Bhagavad-gita misinterpreted, but that is not the process of presenting Bhagavad-gita. Bhagavad-gita should be presented as it is. In the Bhagavad-gita it is simply said that Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But most books which you have seen in English lang..., they are trying to make minus Krsna. That is their attempt. So what sort of Bhagavad-gita is that? That should not be done. Krsna is the Supreme. You should speak that Krsna is the Supreme. That is the preaching of Bhagavad-gita.

So today is called Vyasa-puja. Vyasa-puja means the Vyasadeva, Veda-vyasa, who wrote the Vedic literature, he is the supreme spiritual master because he has given us the spiritual knowledge. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam it is..., narayanam namaskrtya naram caiva narottamam, devim sarasvatim vyasam [SB 1.2.4]. So Vyasa. So this platform is called "the seat of Vyasa." So spiritual master should be representative of Vyasa. Then the instruction is complete, and the benefit is assured. So I do not wish to take much of your time. We will now distribute prasadam. And one thing, coincidence, the Vyasa-puja means to observe the birthday of the spiritual master. That is called Vyasa-puja. And so today, this Nandotsava day, fortunately, seventy-three years ago I was born on this date. So this date, Nandotsava, is also a very fortunate occasion, because after Krsna's birth, Maharaja Nanda, the father of Krsna, he celebrated a utsava, a ceremony, and this day is called Nandotsava. So a little I shall speak about Nandotsava. Nanda Maharaja, he was a little elderly when Krsna was born, and some of his friends came to congratulate, "My dear friend, you have got a son in your old age," and Nanda Maharaja said amongst the friends that "How can you say I am old? An old man cannot beget a child. I am young man." So these things are stated in the Srimad-Bhagavatam. And all the villagers... Because, you know, Vrndavana is a village, a big village, and Nanda Maharaja is the head of that village, Vrndavana, so all the people came to congratulate the child, and this is called Nandotsava. So one brahmana, he has spoken a nice verse in this connection. He said that srutim apare smrtim itare bharatam anye bhajantu bhava-bhitah. There are different kinds of Vedic literature: sruti, smrti, Mahabharata, Vedanta. So he says, "Let others read sruti, Vedic literatures, Vedanta-sutra and Upanisad, and so many there are in Vedic literatures. Let others read that. But I have come here..." Aham iha nandam vande: "I have come to worship Nanda Maharaja. Nanda Maharaja." "Why you have left everything and you have come to worship Nanda Maharaja?" Yasyalinde param brahma: "Because in his courtyard the Supreme Personality of Godhead is crawling. The people are searching after what is God, and God is crawling in his yard. So therefore I do not find anyone more than Nanda Maharaja, so I offer my respects to Nanda Maharaja."

So this is the feeling of a devotee. Generally, those who are followers of speculative process, or jnana-marga, they finally reach to understand that he is one with the Supreme Absolute Truth. Aham brahmasmi. But the devotional service is so nice that a devotee is not satisfied that "I am one with the Supreme," but by his service he becomes greater than the Supreme. Just like Nanda Maharaja. He is not anxious to become one with God, but he underwent so great penances that he became the father of God. That is possible. A devotee is so great that he can pray the Supreme Lord as his son. Of course, it is a very subtle science for understanding of spiritual knowledge. So today Nanda-mahotsava is celebrated because the father of Krsna... Ajo 'pi sann avyayatma bhutanam isvaro 'pi san, in the Bhagavad-gita it is said. Although God is unborn and He is the Supreme, still, by love, He accepts one of His devotees as His father and appears as his son. So today is very nice day, that Krsna has appeared. The Supreme Lord has appeared as the son of Nanda Maharaja. So there is some arrangement of prasadam on account of Nanda Maharaja. So you can distribute and enjoy.

Thank you very much. (end)

Thank you very much. (end)