Forfeited Intelligence – Bhagavad Gita

In the śāstra, it tells us to wake in the early morning and to bathe, dress, put on tilaka and do ācamana, and then serve Kṛṣṇa and remember His mantra. But then a long time is spent, and the anurāgis don’t like this. What does Kṛṣna like? Kṛṣṇa is in Mathurā, at the home of a caturvedi. One old widow lady is present. She had a son, who was very young, three and a half. His name was Sadana.
In the early morning he would cry to his mother, “I am very hungry.” Babies’ become very hungry. He cried for something to eat in the early morning, and his mother would cook something. She did not bathe or change into clean clothes, wash the cooking pots, or clean the kitchen. She put a pot on top of a few bricks and began a fire. This would occur daily. She would put water in a pot and cook porridge or khicari. How did she stir the pot? She stirred the pot with a tree branch, which she used as a spoon as well as a toothbrush. As she cooked, she brushed her teeth with one side of the branch, and with the other, she stirred the pot on the fire. When the khicari was cooked, she put it on a plate to cool and said to her boy, Sadana, “Now take your breakfast, I am going to bathe in the Yamunā.”
When she went to bathe, Sadana called Madana from the altar room, “Come, You are hungry. I am hungry. Let’s eat!” Then, without a sitting mat, an offering of flowers, puṣpāñjali, or Vedic mantras, Madana came and sat down to eat with Sadana from the same plate. The khicari was very hot, so they blew on it to cool it down. Sadana took a handful of khicari and said to Madana, “It’s so hot, how shall we eat it?” Then Sadana blew on the khicari in his hand till it was cooled and gave his hand in the mouth of Madana. Then Madana took some in His hand and blew on it, then gave it to Sadana. In this way, they ate together happily and then ran off to play without cleaning their hands, leaving the plate lying on the ground.
Sanātana Gosvāmī went on daily parikramā from Vṛndāvana to Mathurā, to Govardhana, and then back to Vṛndāvana. He took darśana of the bhaktas and accepted mādhukarī from the Vrajavāsīs in search of the anurāgī devotees. One day, as he passed through Mathurā, he saw these two boys eating. One ate a little faster than the other, and then they fought over who had gotten a bigger share. Afterwards, they did not wash their hands or mouth, and the remnant plate was left behind. They wore small clothes and began playing guli-daṇḍā. One took a big stick and struck a smaller stick on the ground, making it fly up into the air, and then they chased after it together trying to hit it.
Sanātana Gosvāmī said, “Prabhu, I am very lucky to see You in this attractive form! How are you? With no rules, no Vedic mantra, no ācamana, no bath—this Vrajavāsī cooked for You, and You greedily ate everything up. She was even brushing her teeth with the same stick with which she stirred the pot, and she did not even wash the plate before she gave the offering to You!”
Sanātana Gosvāmī watched this pastime and wept. He began to come every day to see the pastimes of Madana Mohana. One day he called the mother over, and said, “I know your son is very hungry, but you should first bathe and clean the area up before cooking.”
She said, “Yes, Bābā, I will try to follow your request.”The next day she went to bathe in the Yamunā and washed her cloth, then cleaned all the pots and room, but was late to cook—Madana and Sadana were very hungry and were crying. They came to the Bābā, “What did you tell my mother? She is not cooking for us. We are hungry and can’t tolerate it. You are an old man. Your digestive fire has stopped working, therefore you aren’t hungry. But what stupid advice did you give our mother? Now our stomachs are burning, and we are suffering so much!”
Each boy caught one side of the Bābā and began pulling on his cloth.
Sanātana Gosvāmī had written many rules and regulations in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa—this month these flowers, this month this bhoga, this month this seat, and so forth—he wrote so many rules and regulations. But that Sanātana Gosvāmī was very restless now, and was crying before those baby boys. Before, he had no fire of digestion, but now he was also hungry like Lord Hari. Why? Tasmin tusṭe jagat tuṣṭe. If the Lord is satisfied, the universe is satisfied. If you feed God, and He is satisfied, then the entire world is satisfied. If God is hungry, everyone is hungry. Sanātana Gosvāmī thought what to do. When the mother returned, he said, “These boys are very restless and hungry. How many sons do you have?”
“One, Sadana.”
“And this other boy?”
“Who, Madana?”
“Yes, where did He come from?”
“He is the neighbor’s boy.”
She did not know that the Madana-mohana she worshipped came and ate with her boy. Other pujārīs came and rang bells, offered candana, and gave a small plate with food to offer. This was their rule. They gave four or five chapatis and a small bowl of subji, and one small cup of milk—it was limited. Then how would His hunger be satisfied? He wanted to eat a lot. But pujārīs feed Him, using a measurement and scale, “This much is for God, the rest for us.”
Kṛṣṇa said, “This is not possible for Me. These are rules and regulations of śāstra.” Kṛṣṇa continued, “I am not a prisoner, that you give Me four chapattis and I eat like a cow in a pen. I don’t like this. I eat with My sakhā, friend. I eat in front of everyone, with everyone. I will eat from any plate or hand.”
Like the pastime of Dahi-ciḍā-mahotsava in Pānihāṭi—during the feast, Nityānanda Prabhu went to all the thousands of devotees and took handfuls from everyone’s plate, giving it to Mahāprabhu. Mahāprabhu ate from everyone’s pot. Who saw this? Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, Rāghava Paṇḍita, Śivānanda Sena, and other advanced Vaiṣṇavas. They saw Nityānanda Prabhu taking a handful and giving it somewhere, and Mahāprabhu was accepting everything.
The bhaktas are not controlled by any rules and regulations. Their anurāga is very strong. They have too much anurāga and burn from its heat. This is not a small thing. God drinks and eats this love. Now Sanātana Gosvāmī was feeling bad and said, “Mother, continue cooking as you did before. Never stop cooking and offering like this.”
The next day Sanātana Gosvāmī came and the boys were not crying. Their mother had given a plate. They were sitting down eating and said, “Bābā, thank you. Now don’t come here anymore. Seeing our eating habits, you become disturbed. Therefore don’t come here anymore.” I offer something to God, but am also greedy for this. If the manager gives four rasagullas, and three come back from the offering, he will ask the pūjārī, “What happened to the rasagullā?” If the pūjārī doesn’t give any answer, then the manager will bind and beat him with a whip, saying, “Where did the rasagullā go?”
It is not the rule of anurāga to offer to yourself and not God—this is not bhajana and bhakti.
Raghunandana was the son of Mukunda Datta. Mukunda Datta worshipped a Deity of Gopīnātha. Raghunandana said, “Prabhu, you eat lots of laddus in Vraja-maṇḍala. My mother only gives you a little. I want her to cook a lot, and I will bring everything to you.”
Gopīnātha replied, “Yes, I will carry it here and lock the door, and we will both eat.”
“No, first you eat, and then I will eat; otherwise, my mother will beat me.”
“No, don’t worry. We will eat together. When your mother asks what happened, tell her Gopīnātha ate everything.”
In this way, both Raghunandana and Gopīnātha played together. Raghunandana had pure love for Gopīnātha, and therefore Gopīnātha engaged in loving pastimes with him.
There are millions of followers of rules and regulations. The followers of pure love, anurāga, are very rare in this world. It is very rare to find them.
There are therefore two sampradāyas—one is the lampaṭa-sampradāya, meaning, the anurāga-sampradāya, and the other sampradāya is called vaidhī-mārga, maryādā-mārga-sampradāya. They follow all rules and regulations and etiquette. If there is some discrepancy in following the rules and regulations, like if the bhoga is meant to be offered at six o’clock, and is not, then a fight will ensue. Vaidhi-mārga means to follow the rules and regulations strictly. Sometimes people without a sufficient fund of knowledge establish some etiquette, or rule and regulation, and demand that it be followed by everyone.