Part-1

[11-01-2003] The greatness of a sādhaka depends on the greatness of the sādhanā he has done. The greatness of that sādhanā depends on the greatness of the fruit obtained by that sādhaka. One's education can be determined by the status of one’s job and the salary. His greatness is due to the greatness of that education. There are only two sādhakas who have received the best fruit from the Paramātman in this creation. They are Hanuman and Radha. Lord Hanuman attained the status of controller of fourteen worlds as creator, maintainer and destroyer. These 14 worlds belong to creation. Radha attained control of the 15^th world, specially created by the Paramātman above these fourteen worlds. There are no more greater fruits than those attained by Hanuman and Radha. Therefore, there are no achievers beyond both of them. Therefore, there is no sādhanā greater than the sādhanā of those two. But there is a difference between the fruits blessed to both of them. The supreme God made one as the headmaster of a high school and made the other as the principal of the college, which is above the high school. That is, the position of the headmaster of the high school is the position of the ruler of the fourteen worlds. The position of the college principal is the position of ruler of the fifteenth world, Goloka.

Hanuman raised this issue with Paramātman. Paramātman pacified Hanuman and said, “Hanuman! Your kingdom is fourteen worlds. Radha's kingdom is only one world.” But Lord Hanuman, the topmost intellectual, did not accept this. The post of headmaster of a high school with 2000 students is less than the post of principal of a college with 200 students due to the role and the social status. The principal's salary is higher than the headmaster's salary. Even though there is not much difference between these two positions, Paramātman accepted that Radha's position is slightly higher than Hanuman's position. Then, Hanuman said, "Swami! When My tail was burning in Lanka, I did not suffer this much. But now, My stomach is burning because of what You have done.” Then, Swami has to explain the reason inevitably to Hanuman, as there is no other way. He explained it like this:

"Hanuman, topmost among the intellectuals! Even Swami is not capable of deceiving You. So, listen attentively. A river is directly approaching Me, the ocean. Another river is approaching Me in a curved path. But the river that is coming straight is mocking the river with ego that is coming in a curved path. If this criticism is not made, the direct river could have reached Me earlier. There is no doubt about it. But because of the ego, the first river criticised the second river and by the will of the ocean like God, human beings built a dam across the first river. All the waters of the first river were diverted to the fields and not a single drop reached the sea. You have made the same mistake. After the incarnation of Rama, I took the incarnation of Krishna. Even Your faith is weakened and You could not recognize Me because of the mischief I did. That's why You never came to visit Me. You think that this Krishna is not Paramātman. But, God does not punish anyone for insulting Him. Hiranyakashipu scolded Me severely but I did not punish him. But I punished Hiranyakashipu for torturing My devotee Prahlāda. Therefore, insulting the devotees (Bhāgavata apacāra) is greater than insulting the God (Bhagavad apacāra). A devotee should not criticize other devotees. You criticized Radha and the Gopikas to be unrighteous. You felt that the Lord was encouraging the unrighteous and You belittled the Gopikas, My devotees. That is why You did not come to visit Me in My incarnation as Krishna. But, seeing the cosmic vision I showed in the court of Kauravas, You came to Me and helped in My mission of war with the evil."

Part-2

"Ye yathā māṃ prapadyante tāṃ stathaiva bhajāmyaham |
 Mama vartmānuvartante manuṣyāḥ pārtha sarvaśaḥ ||"

Whoever approaches Me with whatever feeling, I approach them the same way with the same feeling. There is nothing great about a mental feeling. But the weight of love in that feeling is important. You worshipped Me with the feeling of being a slave to Me. Radha and the Gopikas worshiped Me with the feeling Me being their lover. The feeling of a slave is not greater than the feeling of a lover. Dolls of a parrot or a donkey are priced same based on the weight of the sugar with which it is made. A prostitute serves a person with the feeling of a lover. But, her focus is on his money only. So, can such a feeling in such a love be a great example? Though You are a slave of Sugriva, if You tell him that You are the slave of Rama, what will he say?”

He says that he is also a slave of Rama and so, there is no objection for him for You becoming the slave of Rama. People who consider God as their Father, Brother and Guru and tell their feeling to their relatives like fathers, their brothers and their teachers, they will also be happy knowing this truth.

But when Mīrābai, the incarnation of Radha, told her husband that Krishna is her real husband, he gave poison to her and tortured her. He did not say that she was right because Lord Krishna is the husband of all the souls and so is his husband also. During Mīrābai's time, Krishna was just in the form of an idol. But during the time of the Gopikas, Krishna was in human form. But the Gopikas told to their husbands that Krishna is their real husband. Listening this, Gopikas were very much tortured by their husbands. So, think about the greatness of those Gopikas and Radha, the leader of those Gopikas. In fact, I also preached them the justice when they came to Brindavanam to play Rāsalilā. "O Gopikas! Have you gone mad? You abandoned your homes, husband, children, parents and relatives and came to Me this midnight. If you escape the punishment from your relatives because they are all sleeping, you will not escape the punishment of Citragupta and Yamadharmaraja! Do you know what punishment you will get as per the Dharma Shastra? The servants of Yama would heat the iron idols of Krishna in fire till they become redhot and then force you to embrace those redhot iron idols. So, I told them to get rid of their Tamas nature and go back home.

They laughed at that and said, "Krishna! We will gladly accept that punishment You have explained. But we will not leave you at any cost." So, notice the weight in the love of those Gopikas, who are ready to undergo any punishment for Me. A donkey doll made of one kilogram of sugar costs more than a parrot doll made of half a kilogram of sugar. So, here, the weight is important to decide the value, but not the form. Therefore, Gopikas did not become great just because they thought of Me as their beloved. The value of that feeling is due to the weight of their devotion in it. If there is value in feeling itself, even a prostitute who serves someone as a lover should get the same fruit as Gopikas. So Gopikas are different and prostitutes are different. "If anyone says that Gopika is a prostitute, that ignorant fellow must know that Lord Datta is always addicted to prostitutes only. The Bhagavatam is not a low-level scripture containing prostitution, but O fool, it shows the climax of spiritual knowledge!" (Gopi veśya anina mūḍhā, Dattuḍepuḍu veśya ratuḍe. Bhāgavatamu raṃku kādu jñānamadiye Ori śuṃṭhā!). When Parikshit asked Sage Shuka about a holy book that gives salvation in seven days, Shuka did not suggest the Ramayana, which contains Your story. But, he suggested the Bhagavatam, containing the story of the Gopikas.

Scholars also gave importance to the Bhagavatam by saying ‘Vidyāvatāṃ bhāgavate parīkṣā’ but did not give importance to the Ramayana. Therefore, whatever path You object to as a curved path, know that it is better than Your path. The Bhagavatam speaks of the weight of the kilogram of sugar in the donkey doll but not about the form of the donkey doll. Therefore, the Bhagavatam does not just teach about the lovely feelings. It teaches about the weight of devotion on the path having pure love on God. You saw the dolls of donkey and the parrot, but, You did not check the weight of sugar in those dolls. Therefore, when the vendor said that a sugar donkey is Rs. 100/- and a sugar parrot is Rs. 50/-, you mocked the donkey doll by saying that ‘Alas! Price of this lowest donkey doll is Rs. 100/-?’ but You did not realize that its value is based on the weight of sugar in it. So, Your criticism is born out of Your ignorance. So, do not criticize any soul. How do You know that such and such a snake exists in such and such an ant hill? The snake-catcher only knows it well. I would not have created the Goloka for the Gopikas just because their path is the greatest. Rather,I would have given them My heart as their abode. My heart is greater than the Lordship of these fourteen worlds. However, I created this Goloka to preach the greatness of the devotion of Gopikas to the people who criticise like You,” saying this the Paramātman concluded His message given to Hanuman.