Nama sankirtana is one thing, but prema sankirtana is another. It is the creation of Sri Gaurasundara—caitanyera sristi ei prema sankirtana. Mahaprabhu wove together a wreath of prema and nama sankirtana and thus created prema sankirtana. He came to give prema–krsna prema pradaya te–through sankirtana. Prema means Vrindavana, the wealth of Goloka, golokera prema dana. And by Gaura’s grace one can become wealthy through hari nama sankirtana. Hari nama speaks to us of he who steals the hearts of his devotees. Of all the forms of the Lord only Krsna is known to be a thief, and with all of his mischief this is what he steals: the hearts of his devotees. The Lord of the heart of the Vrajavasis needs no other throne than the hearts of his devotees. Neither do they offfer him any other throne or royal paraphernalia.

In Vrindavana God appears imperfect. He is a gopa, accessible to the common folk whose love for him turns his faults into ornaments. Through prema that which appears imperfect becomes perfect. There is an old Japanese term–wabi sabi. It implies that perfection is found in imperfection, in leaving things alone rather than needing to fix them and trying to make them perfect. You cannot fix everything, but if you fix one thing everything will be perfect. Doctor cure thyself. The perceived necessity to fix everything, to be in control, is rooted the material illusion that we are in control. Maya means to measure, to calculate and try to bring that which is infinite within our finite grip. And in one sense prema means to find perfection in what others perceive as imperfection, to trace out and identify with the will of God that not a blade of grass moves independently of. Love cannot be controlled. It answers to no law. And ultimately it controls all, for there is nothing more powerful that the force of affection. Krsna–the product of prema–is very wabi sabi. When we are asked “If Krsna is the source of everything, what is the source of Krsna?” we answer, “Prema, prema-mayi Radhe.” Here we transcend the wisdom of the Buddha with Sri Jiva’s acintya bhedabheda tattva. We should chop wood and carry water for Krsna.

Youth lacks wisdom, but with age one looses innocence. How to be wise and innocent at the same time? Such is Krsna consciousness. The Vrajavasis are certainly innocent, but the wise Uddhava was humbled in their presence. Although he was etremely learned, he could not answer the gopis’s simple question: “Our love is selfless, so why does Krsna stay away?” He did not know what to say to them when they cried. How could he ask them to stop crying to stop lamenting, which is the conventional wisdom of Vedanta, when they were crying for Krsna, who is Param Brahma? Even in material existence we find an innocence in rural life that often transcends urban industrial life, wherein one tries to improve upon nature’s way. In rural life the farmer depends upon the rain and knows that he is not in control. His wisdom is practical, like that of the boatman in his conversation with the scholar, who did not know how to swim and thus drowned in the river’s swell more form his ignorance than the water itself. In Vrindavana’s rural life there is innocence as well as wisdom. There heart and head have reconciled with one another.

One may ask how such a simple practice as harinama sankirtana can bring all perfection. We are pressed to think that there must be something more to it. But such thinking only dilutes one’s effort rather than enhancing it, adulterating it with the inordinate influences of desire in relation to jnana and karma. We are attracted to Harinam when those chanting are surrounded by material acquisition, big temples, properties and many people, or when the chanting is surrounded by extreme renunciation and learned, well-spoken devotees. However, pure chanting requires no money and no knowledge, but money and knowledge–owning and knowing–have been our attempts at controlling since beginningless time. Old habits are difficult to overcome.

Mahaprabhu raised his hands high in prema sankirtana, These were his weapons, His angas were his astras. Raising his arms in surrender, he dragged Jagannatha Swami down from his thrown and gave him to the common people. He took him to Vindavana with his heart of prema. This is Ratha-yatra. Radha’s prema is bringing Krsna back to Vrindavana. Dragging him through the streets with ropes made out of prema. And at that time anyone can touch him, anyone if they are bold enough can embrace him. In Ratha-yatra the Lord of the universe has become a gopa. He is only a Swami in the sense that he is Radha’s husband, controlled by her prema. He may control the world but she controls him. Jagannatha is but a wooden log floating in the ocean of Radha prema.

Gaura is both Krsna in separation from Radha and Radha in separation from Krsna. Both sides are found in him. Krsnadasa Kaviraja writes that when he is feeling separation from Radha in the mood of Krsna, Ramananda assits him, just like Subala assisted Krsna in Vrindavana when he felt the pain of separation from Radha. How did he do so? He chanted Radha nama (Hare), in his ear. When Gaura was in the mood of Radha feeling separation from Krsna, Svarupa Damodara assited him, just like Lalita sakhi assisted Radha in Vrindavana. How did he assist him? He chanted Krsna nama (Krsna) in his ear. Hare Krsna! Mahaprabhu has stressed this Hare Krsna nama mantra. He chanted it in the mood of separation, primarily in the mood of Radha in separation from Krsna. Thus his chanting of Hari nama is infused with the prema of love in separation. Those who follow him chant this maha mantra with a view to unify Radha and Krsna and bring an end to their mutual love in separation.

During my recent visit to Finland Krsnagi devi (Kaisa Lekha) spoke with me about an idea she had for a new comic book—a small brochure she wanted to publish for an upcoming event in the world of comics where she is a highly respected artist. She told me that she had always been fascinated with the lila of Matsya Avatara depicted in the Bhagavata. Therein Visnu appears to the rishi and devotee Satyavrata in the form of a fish (matsya) and reveals himself to his devotee by outgrowing every container Satyavrata puts him in. Eventually Matsya in a huge form saves the Vedas and the devoted from rains and rising waters of devastation. It is the Bhagavata’s version of Noah’s Arc or its version of Al Gore’s oracle on global warming written long before either of these stories were told.

However, Matsya saves the world in a more significant sense than the arc of Noah is said to have done or Al Gore’s wake up call hopes to do. Matsya saves the world by saving the Veda. In other words Visnu preserves revelation and the world continues to have the opportunity to arrive at comprehensive knowledge, or the love that tells all—prema being the prayojana and farthest reaching purport of revelation. When Krsangi asked me for suggestions on what points she might bring out in he comic, I stressed the importance of revelation, reminding her that this was essentially the message of the lila.

In order to know perfectly and thus be perfectly happy, we must fold our hands and pray. We must, that is, approach the end of perfect knowledge through a perfect means. If you love someone, they will tell you all of their secrets. In the language of Swami B.R. Sridhara Deva, the finite can never know the infinite unless the infinite reveals itself to the finite. Krsangi’s husband, Kamalaksa, cited Kurt Godel, arguably the past century’s most brilliant mathematician, who proved that human thought is less (weaker) than that which is possible. He proved that there are truths that can be known that connot be mathematically proven, and thus that there are truths that lie beyond the limits of reason. The math is simple enough, but we suffer from divided interest. To the extent that we try to know for our own purpose, we will never know perfectly. It is only when we desire to know how we may be best utilized for the purpose of the Absolute that we can approach perfect knowing and be perfectly happy.