Final Questions and Answers

Vraja Lila, Chapter 13

Vraja Lila: Srila Gurudeva, I’m afraid that if I recover, then I’ll have brought you here for nothing.

Indradyumna Swami: YYou have brought me to Sri Vrndavana- dhama. Every devotee needs the mercy of Vrndavana.

Vraja Lila: I want to be sure I’m going back to Godhead.

Indradyumna Swami: You have been training for this moment for many years. All the rounds you have chanted, all the service you have done, all the prasadam you have taken have prepared you to go back to Godhead. With so much practice behind you, it won’t be difficult for you to remember Krsna at death. You simply have to be determined. You said in your message to me that you are certain the spiritual world exists. If you think intensely of Krsna in these last few days, you can go to that spiritual world. The spiritual world is eternal, full of knowledge and bliss. There, all talking is singing, all walking is dancing, and there is a festival every day.

Krsna is engaged in His transcendental pastimes in Goloka Vrndavana with His loving devotees. There is Govardhana Hill, the Yamuna River and many other wonderful places. The Lord is inviting us all back to that spiritual world. Your qualification to go there is your enthusiasm.

Vraja Lila: How can I go to the spiritual world if I am untrained? [referring to being untrained in personal service to the Lord]

Indradyumna Swami: Krsna’s pastimes are presently being performed somewhere in this universe. When a qualified devotee leaves his body here, he goes to that place and receives training how to perform personal service to the Lord. I know you don’t want to come back to the material world, so your only alternative is to go there.

Vraja Lila: I don’t think I’ll make it. I’m not qualified.

Indradyumna Swami: Your qualification is Lord Caitanya’s mercy. We are all born with so many bad qualities in this age, but by the mercy of Lord Caitanya those bad qualities can be finished. Just like Jagai and Madhai, their qualification was that they surrendered to Lord Caitanya. That’s all. They gave up their sinful ways and took up devotional service. You did the same. You gave up sinful activity and became a devotee years ago. So you are also qualified to get the mercy of Lord Caitanya.

By Lord Caitanya’s mercy anything is possible. The devotee never feels qualified. It is the mercy of guru and Krsna that we get to go back to the spiritual world. The Lord fulfills the desire of every living entity. If one wants material life, Krsna will fulfill that desire. But if one sincerely wants devotional service, Krsna will certainly fulfill that desire.

Vraja Lila: I am surrounded by an ocean of mercy. How do I take full advantage of it?

Indradyumna Swami: Just fix your mind on the Lord. Everything else is finished. You have no other responsibilities, no other obligations. You don’t even have to take care of your body; Gandharvika is doing that. You have nothing to do but think of Krsna. And if there is some pain in your body, just scream out in your mind, “Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna!”

As your spiritual master I am asking you to set a nice example for all the devotees. Follow Srila Prabhupada’s example: be Krsna conscious to the moment of death and go back to Krsna.

Vraja Lila: I still have some material desires left.

Indradyumna Swami: What kind of desires, Vraja?

Vraja Lila: [shyly] Sometimes I desire to eat tomatoes.

Indradyumna Swami: [humorously, while looking around to the devotees] Do they have tomatoes in the spiritual world? Anyway, there are kalpa-vrksa trees there, and you can get anything you desire to serve Krsna. So I suppose you can get tomatoes also. And if that is your only material desire left at this point, you are a fortunate young lady indeed.

Vraja Lila: What if I can’t remember Krsna at the moment of death?

Indradyumna Swami: Krsna wants us to go back to the spiritual world more than we do. His desire is stronger than ours. You are His devotee, and He never forgets someone who has done even a little devotional service for Him. He knows your heart’s desire.

Vraja Lila: How is it you care about me so much?

Indradyumna Swami: Love is reciprocal. When the devotees told Srila Prabhupada, “Everyone loves you, Prabhupada,” Prabhupada replied, “That’s because I love everyone.” If someone loves you, then you naturally love them. This is especially true in devotional service. If an ordinary man has so much affection for his daughter, then how much more transcendental affection must the spiritual master have for his spiritual daughter?

Vraja Lila: [calling out] Mercy! Mercy!


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