He heard an old monkey of Radhika call out
By
Srimad Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja

Namo bhaktivinodaya saccidananda namine
gaura-sakti svarupaya rupanuga varaya te.

I offer pranama unto Saccidananda Sri Bhaktivinoda Thakura who is the
foremost of rupanugas and the embodiment (prakasa) of Sri Gauranga
Mahaprabhu's sakti, Sri Gadadhara Pandita.

One should understand the proper relationship between guru and disciple, as
exemplified by Sannyasi Thakura and Premadasa Babaji. One should understand
how Sannyasi Thakura followed and served his Gurudeva. One day, in the early
morning, as the reddish sun rays first appeared, the solor orb yet resting below the earth, Paramahamsa Premadasa Babaji was chanting harinama on his tulasi beads, sitting in the sacred kunja named Madhavi-mandapa.

Madhava is Krsna, and Madhavi is Radhika. For transcendental remembrance, a
high class of Vaisnava like Srila Rupa Gosvami and Srila Santana Gosvami
will replicate Vrndavana, as they did when they lived in Ramakeli. There they excavated two ponds, Radha Kunda and Syama Kunda, and they also made
many kunjas for doing bhajana. In Mayapura, Srila Prabhupada Bhaktisiddhanta
Sarasvati Gosvami Thakura also developed Radha Kunda and Syama Kunda, and
Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura created Svananda Sukhada Kunja in Godruma.
Similarly, in order to help in always remembering Radha and Krsna, Premadasa
Babaji made Madhavi-mandapa. The flowers and creepers there were very three hours in the night, three in the day, three the evening, three in the morning - and they always chant and remember accordingly.Fragrant, mild and sweet madhavi-lata, and bumblebees used to come there to sing and take madhu (honey) from those flowers.

While Premadasa was chanting, he first offered pranama to nisanta-lila (the
end of night pastimes) of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and then he remembered
Radha-Krsna's nisanta-lila and kunja-bhanga-lila [when Radha and Krsna have
to leave the kunja].

These sweet pastimes are the object of our life.

Service in asta-kaliya-lila is the objective of our bhajana, and the first lila is nisanta-lila. All the sakhis, like Lalita, Visakha, Rupa Manjari, Rati Manjari, and so many others were together with Radha and Krsna in a kunja, sweet pastimes were transpiring, and Premadasa Babaji was remembering those pastimes.

A high class of devotee divides the 24-hour day into eight - As Premadasa Babaji remembered that nisanta-lila, he heard an old monkey of Radhika call out, "Jatila! Jatila is coming to reward You! O greatest lampat (debauchee), she is very soon coming to reward you. Wait a little. She is coming just now." Radhika and Krsna became alert and prepared to return to their houses. All the sakhis were very, very, concerned and Sri Radhika became like a mad person. She asked her sakhis, "Who am I? Where am I going What should I do?"

Extremely upset, the sakhis asked, "Why did this old monkey have to come and
disturb us?" At that time Sri Vrnda told the manjaris, or Rupa Manjari may also sometimes tell them, "Make that monkey silent, please. Make him silent.

This disturbance is ruining everything." In the meantime, Yogamaya arranged
that Srimati Radhika could quickly, in minutes, enter Her house in Yavat.

In his internal gopi form, Premadasa Babaji was serving both Radha and Krsna, with a leaning toward Radhika. Radhika was unhappy, thinking, "Where am I? Where am I going?" She had forgotten everything in that deep mood of anticipated separation. Premadasa Babaji was in a faint, weeping, in the line of Rupa Gosvami.

This is our object as well, but as far as we are concerned, we waste so much of our time and energy in maintenance. Though we are devotees, our whole time is entangled and we have no time for remembering and chanting. We think, "If we give our whole time to devotional activities, our business will fail. How, then, will we be able to maintain ourselves?" We have no belief in Krsna, and we have no belief that He will continue our maintenance. He is the main root of our maintenance. We think, "I maintain myself. If I will give my whole energy to krsna-bhajana as this Babaji did, then who will maintain my wife, my children, and my paraphernalia?" This worry is endless.

Babaji was totally engaged in bhajana. He forgot that he was Paramahamsa Babaji, and instead he was thinking, "I am the maidservant of Rupa Manjari." He was able to see those nearby, like Sannyasi Thakura, but at the same time he remained in that transcendental mood and called out, "O Ramana Manjari, you should stop that old monkey." He pointed to the sannyasi and addressed him, "O, Ramana Manjari!"

The Thakura thought: "My Gurudeva has indicated my constitutional form. I
firmly believe his words. I am a servant of Radhika. This is my transcendental position. This is my form. Now I shall remember these things." He still had no tilaka, no mala, and no Vaisnava dress, but internally he was totally surrendered. We are not like that. We wear very big tilaka, and big, big neck beads. Our japa mala is not less than 5 kilos, and we can even spend $1000 to steal the mala of Haridasa Thakura from Puri. Someone once thought, "If I can take that mala, my bhajana will be very high." He somehow gave $1000 to a greedy Orissan pujari in Srila Haridasa Thakura's samadhi, and the pujari later on claimed that someone had stolen them. This was a great offence.

Someone else thought, "The very small beads that my Gurudeva has given will
not do." He therfore told his Gurudeva, "Gurudeva, a monkey has taken my
beads," or "I forget where I kept my beads. Oh, please, I brought very good
mala from Vrndavana. The price was $100." They think that simply having big
mala will suffice, but Caitanya Mahaprabhu Himself used to count His names
on knotted cloth. Pointing to the sannyasi, Premadasa Babaji said, "O sakhi, you should silence that monkey." At that time Sannyasa Thakura became realized. A guru will give his disciple that realization when he is free from all kinds of
unwanted and unfavorable habits, when he has nothing else to do, when he has
forgotten everything, when his heart is totally pure, and when he is serving
his gurudeva completely. In this way, Sannyasi Thakura's Gurudeva revealed
to him his real self.

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura has clearly written in the third part of Jaiva
Dharma that those who take vesa (saffron or white cloth of a renunciate),
danda, and copin in an immature stage, will give it up and fall down after
some time. The mantra of sannyasa and that of babaji-vesa is the same. The
mantra is to help the devotee do bhajana in a gopi mood. One should not
give, and one should not take, these things in an immature state.

When the devotee has complete greed to serve Radha-Krsna, he will be at
least in the stage of asakti or ruci. He will jump at once in this stage of
ruci. There will be no need of his first coming in sraddha, anartha-nivrtti,
and so on. Anartha-nivrtti is already accomplished. That devotee has passed
anartha-nivrtti. He has no anarthas. Sannyasi Thakura had become free from
anarthas at the time of attaining brahma-jnana, and now he was on the
platform of remembering Radha and Krsna's sweet pastimes.

You should know all these truths and try to develop like in this way.

End