Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva.
This is in continuation of the transcription of one of the nectarean discussion by our beloved spiritual master HH Mahavishnu Goswami Maharaj in Auckland on 15th July 2003. In the previous offering we heard from Maharaj that.
1. Prabhupada helps us to realise our true ego that we are servants of Krishna.
2. Unless Krishna sanctions our plans won't work.
3. We thank everyone except Krishna. That is our ignorance.
Maharaj: Please continue and continue to come to these programs and this will really do you good. It is our culture. Please, we should recognize our jewel. Others are glass pieces.
aho duḥkhaḿ mahā-duḥkhaḿ duḥkhād duḥkhataraḿ yataḥ, it is a very nice verse of two lines. aho duḥkhaḿ mahā-duḥkhaḿ - prasad, mahapraad you know, this is mahā-duḥkhaḿ.
aho duḥkhaḿ mahā-duḥkhaḿ
duḥkhād duḥkhataraḿ yataḥ
kācārthaḿ vismṛtam ratna-
harer nāmaiva kevalam - (Kevalāstakam 6)
It is worth remembering. You have to learn this verse, never to forget. aho duḥkhaḿ mahā-duḥkhaḿ. aho duḥkhaḿ mahā-duḥkhaḿ, this is first line. (Maharaj ensures that devotees by-heart the line.) So, you know one line now. Now second line, duḥkhād duḥkhataraḿ yataḥ. See, there are three degrees, what is it? Superlative, before superlative, positive? No. Nominative. Ah? There are three stages. dukha is ordinary dukh, misery. duhkhatam is comparative. Comparative then superlative and positive. Positive, comparative and superlative, these are the three. Positive means dukha, then comparative dukhatama, and superlative is dukhatara. So here dukhatara is used. It is a great misery. duḥkhād, from all the dukhas, this is dukhatara, it is a very important misery, yatah.
Here these things are all misery everywhere. aho duḥkhaḿ, Alas it is miserable, aho duḥkhaḿ mahā-duḥkhaḿ, great misery. And again, of all the miseries, this is the most important misery. duḥkhād duḥkhataraḿ yataḥ. Here it is said, of all the miseries, this is the greatest misery. And what is that misery? It is described in the third line, kācārthaḿ. kāc means glass, for the sake of glass pieces, kācārthaḿ vismṛtam-we are forgetting, ratnam-jewel. For the glass pieces we are forgetting the jewel. kācārthaḿ vismṛtam ratnam, harer nāmaiva kevalam, the Holy name of the Lord Sri Hari, the Holy name of Lord Sri Hari is surely all that be. The Holy name of Lord Sri Hari is surely all that be.
Now repeat.
aho duḥkhaḿ mahā-duḥkhaḿ duḥkhād duḥkhataraḿ yataḥ
kācārthaḿ vismṛtam ratna harer nāmaiva kevalam
It is a nice verse. The Holy name of Lord Sri Hari is surely all that be. That is the ratnam, that is the jewel. And for glass pieces, we are forgetting about this. We are running after the broken pieces of glass and leaving the real jewel. Please, please, this is the biggest misery. And we are all suffering from this misery.
And Prabhupada was the only saint who could correctly give the diagnosis, that the whole world, particularly in this area, they have plenty of riches – enough to eat, enough to stay, but they don’t have Krishna’s names. That’s why they are miserable. We are also in the same situation. To the degree we forget Krishna’s names, to that degree only we are miserable. And if you want to reduce the misery, this is the only effective medicine. No other medicine can work. Please you understand this.
Krishna willing we shall hear more nectar from Maharaj in the subsequent offering.
Thank you very much.
Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva
Dinavatsala Krishna das
Singapore
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