(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 02 January 2015, Simhachalam, Germany, Caitanya Caritamrta Antya 7.16)
Caitanya Mahaprabhu pointed out to various devotees what he had learnt from them, so we should try to follow his example. We should see that devotees are giving us gifts. It is the association of vaisnavas, who have done so much service in the past, from who we are getting gifts. This is how association of devotees actually works.
‘sadhu-sanga’, ‘sadhu-sanga’ — sarva-sastre kaya, lava-matra sadhu-sange sarva-siddhi haya (Caitanya Caritamrita, Madhya 22.54)
It is said that even a moment of association with vaisnavas can bring us all perfection. The scriptures say so, but how does it happen actually? Vaisnavas give us many gifts of their service but, they can only give us gifts that they personally have – they cannot give us gifts that they do not have. So first one has to get wealth in order to give it graciously to others. The wealth of the vaisnavas is the wealth of their service – it does not come from some karma but it comes from serving Krsna and making a special endeavor. This is where we get the mercy of vaisnavas – through their service. That is the gift of the mercy of vaisnavas and that kind of association is what we are looking for.
We used to do really crazy kirtans in Vrindavan – wild ones, all over the place, for two to three hours every day; this was before Aindra came to Vrindavan. We would just go around and around, from one arati to another, and in between we would do the whole guest house and gurukula and awaken all the kids, and then run them around. It was like a transcendental terror, those super wild kirtans!
Then later, I became temple president of the Vrindavan temple, and it is a service where you are locked in meetings, but the Saturday night, I had off! And also that was the one night in the week that the gurukulis had off from gurukula and they were allowed to have kirtan as long as they wanted and could come to the temple. So for the whole week we were locked up – me in meetings and the kids in school. Then on Saturday night, we did it! I tried to drive these kids totally mad with kirtan and then more mad! I guess, I got that specific style of kirtan from there and now I am bringing that same madness here, as my gift to you.