Question – MAHÄRÄJ JÉ,  Ajeet kåñëa dasa a devotee from Iskcon Montreal, he is asking- In Iskcon during Maìgala Ärati, Saàsära dävänala  and Guru Püjä is being done.  He wants to know if Maìgala Ärati consists of Saàsära Dävänala or Guru Püjä? Is it apt to do so? Please enlighten us on this.

MAHÄRÄJ JÉ – This devotee from Iskcon is asking this question that in Iskcon, in Maìgala Ärati, Saàsära dävänala is being sung and is there anything else to it?

Well, I asked this question to My Gurudeva, Çréla Ananta Däsa Bäbäjé Mahäraja that “Bäbäjé, in Iskcon, in Maìgala Ärati, saàsära dävänala lidha loka, is being done and after that, they do their Païca tattva Mantra and some Hare Kåñëa.”

So, Bäbäjé Mahäräja asked: “Don’t they do Maìgala Ärati?”

I said– “Bäbäjé! This is being done in Maìgala Ärati there.”

Bäbäjé said- “saàsära dävänala is not Maìgala Ärati, it is Guru Añöakam!”

As Bäbäjé was Bengali. used to speak Bangla language, so I told Him that “saàsära dävänala, some Païca tattva mantra, Hare Kåñëa mantra and शेष हो गया, means it’s all over after that.”

Bäbäjé said, “No, it is not Maìgala Ärati then.”

Saàsära Dävänala can be sung in the morning. It is in connection to Guru, Spiritual Master. That is good. It can be sung and Hare Kåñëa and Païca Tattva mantra— that can also be sung. Viçvanätha Cakravarté Öhäkura also says- “One who does this Guru Añöakam in the morning, he gets love for the Lord.” That is there but, Viçvanätha Cakravarté Öhäkura doesn’t said that do this in place of Maìgala Ärati.

One can do this alongside Maìgala Ärati; not in place of Maìgala Ärati, not replace Maìgala Ärati with this. This, Viçvanätha Cakravarté Öhäkura not saying, replace Maìgala Ärati with this.

If you see Navadvépa, Rädhä Kuëòa, Våndävana, same Maìgala Ärati is being done by entire Gauòéya Vaiñëava Sampradäya, except Iskcon and Gauòéya Maöha. All over the planet, same Maìgala Ärati is being done; all over the planet! But Iskcon and Gauòéya Maöha people are doing saàsära dävänala and they are not doing Maìgala Ärati.

Without doing the pada-gäna of Rädhä and Kåñëa, Maìgala Ärati of Gauòéya Vaisnava can never be done.

Do you even know what is the meaning of Maìgala Ärati?

Maìgala! Maìgala means auspiciousness! It is not done for your auspiciousness, so that you can wake up early in the morning. Maìgala Ärati is not done for your auspiciousness. Maìgala Ärati is done, so that my präëa-dhana, Rädhä and Kåñëa’s evils and Their misfortune can be burnt to pieces.

Do you know, why Ärati is being done? By the Ärati, every misfortune, every problem which we can foresee – might get caught, something bad may happen, Rädhäräni cried so much, something bad may not happen to Her. all these things and problems coming from sister-in-law, mother-in-law, neighbours etc. No problem should touch Her. So, to remove all the misfortune, evils which can possibly happen to Rädhä and Kåñëa. to remove this, Mangla aarti is done.

Because Rädhä and Kåñëa, are not being taken as God. They are not being taken as god in Våndävana.

Våndävana Mahimämåta tells, ashisha’ they are pätra of…. They get blessings!  Even the Sakhé gives blessings to Rädhä and Kåñëa.

Do you know what are you hearing now? You are hearing the right meaning of Maìgala Ärati for the very first time in your life.

Evils of Rädhä and Kåñëa, misfortune of Rädhä and Kåñëa is being burnt to ashes — this is the meaning of Maìgala.

And, without doing pada-gäna of éñöa deva, no Maìgala is done in any Sampradäya.

You go to any Räma Sampradäya, pada-gäna of Lord Räma will be going on. You go to any Sampradäya of Lord Narasiàha, pada-gäna of Narasiàha deva will be going on, and similarly, except Maìgala Ärati in Iskcon, no one does this kind of Maìgala Ärati on the entire planet.

Iskcon is only institution where Maìgala Ärati is done and nothing is being sung about the Lord. You go to any Sampradäya, any yuga, any city of your choice – Haridvar, Rishikesa, Tamil Nadu or Navadvépa, Våndävana, Rädhäkuëòa, Jagannätha Puré, everywhere pada-gäna of the éñöa deva is being done. This is common sense!

Maìgala Ärati is being done of one’s éñöa deva. And obviously, one will sing pada-gäna of that éñöa deva only. Iskcon is the only institution who doesn’t sing the pada gäna of éñöa deva.

In Maìgala Ärati, we take all the misfortune, any possible… You know why you do this thing, when you get dïpā? This is burning the misfortune which can happen to Them.

As you don’t know anything, you are doing everything as a ritual. You do this because you see everyone doing this. Even in Santana dharma mandira, you do this. You don’t know why you are doing this?

You are taking all the Aläya-baläya, removing all the possible misfortune happen to Radha & Krsna..thinking– “Okay! The misfortune may come to me but it should not touch Them.”

This is the meaning of Maìgala Ärati. How Maìgala is being done.

This is a consciousness in which every Gauòéya Vasianav should attend Maìgala Ärati – ‘O my Sweet Couple.. my Sweet Divine loving Couple! Nothing should happen to Them ever. We totally give ourselves to You, Rädhä and Kåñëa.’

This is the meaning of Maìgala Ärati, Nothing should touch You.. You should always be happy. Maìgala Ärati are not done for our auspiciousness that we should always be happy. It is done for Their auspiciousness. ‘You should always be happy.’

We don’t take Them as God in Våndävana i.e. why you pray – ‘You should always be happy, be happy! Nothing should touch You.’ Like that.

And Iskcon, if they accept Maìgala Ärati, this society will collapse. Why the society will collapse? Because, if you will sing Maìgala Ärati for Rädhä and Kåñëa, you will think: “O Rädhä and Kåñëa, my life and soul, may nothing should happen to Them.” After that you go to Narasiàha deva altar, you do the same stuff there – “O my Lord Narasiàha Deva, nothing should happen to You.”

You can’t do this!  You can’t do it. He is the Lord.! You can’t do the same thing there.

And then again to Rädhä and Kåñëa– “O Lord! May all glories to You, I am all yours.”

Then, in front of Narasiàha Deva altar in the morning, in maìgala, you will do the same thing — “All Glories to You! I am all yours.” Then comes Lord Jagannätha, you will do the same ritual there — “O Lord Jagannätha! All Glories to You, I am all yours.” Then comes Sétäräma, Lakñmaëa, Hanumäna altar, “O Sétäräma! Jai Sétäräma, Lakñmaëa, Hanumäna — All Glories to You! I am all yours.”

After a while, you will think, am I a fool who going to every form of the Lord and telling them the same thing — “O Lord! I am all Yours and I am not meaning any word of my prayers. I don’t mean anything actually.”

You can’t love everyone. You can’t live on giving your life to everyone.

That is, when I am saying, if Iskcon people just do Maìgala Ärati, this society will collapse because the devotee will start thinking.

They have been brain washed to such an extent that they have stopped thinking. They will think why I am doing such thing. I am supposed to be däsa of Rädhä and Kåñëa, then why am I doing daily Maìgala Ärati of Lord Narasiàha?

You see in Sampradäya of Lord Narasiàha deva, no devotee of Lord Narasiàha deva attends Maìgala Ärati of Rädhä Kåñëa and that too, every day.

Have you ever heard about this thing?

You go to puñöi märga, they do Ärati of Kåñëa, they don’t attend Maìgala Ärati of Lord Narasiàha deva anyday. No one does that in any sampradäya.

This is such a hotch-potch thing. Bhakti Siddhanta and followers have created that devotees just don’t have any brains; they are just doing everything mechanically.

Only if they accept that I will do the pada gäna of Rädhä and Kåñëa, Iskcon society will collapse, because devotees will start thinking why am I fooling myself and the Lord? I am saying- “You are all mine” and then to Narasiàha — “You all mine; Narasiàha! You all mine.”

Real prärthanä is of Raghunätha däsa Gosvämé..

tavaiväsmi tavaiväsmi na jévämi tvayä vinä

“O Rädhärané! I am all Yours! I am all Yours! I can’t live without You.”

This should be the prärthanä because Raghunätha Däsa Gosvämé is an eternal liberated maidservant of Rädhä and Kåñëa. He is our Müla äcäryā. He is a äcäryā of entire Gauòéya Vaiñëava Sampradäya. If we follow His väëé then only we will get siddhi, as a servant of Rädhä and Kåñëa in Braja.

This should be our prayer from morning to night — tavaiväsmi tavaiväsmi na jévämi tvayä vinä — “O Rädhärani! I am all Yours! I am all Yours! I can’t live without You.”

And if you do this from your heart, you can’t do Maìgala Ärati of Lord Narasiàha deva every day. You can’t do Maìgala Ärati of Rukmiëé-Dvärkädhiça every day.

Can you imagine– you being a Gauòéya Vaiñëava and you enter Iskcon Dvärkä temple and your Lordship, your Love, your Lord Rädhä and Kåñëa are not there. And you are attending Maìgala Ärati of those Lords, whom you are not going to serve ever.  You are going to serve Rädhä and Kåñëa eternally.

rädhä kåñëa präṇa mora jugala-kiçora

jévane maraëe gati äro nähi mora

After death and during life, I will not do anything other than worship of Rädhä and Kåñëa. And here, you are doing a Maìgala Ärati of Rukmiëé-Dvärkädhiça and not Rädhä-Kåñëa; can you imagine such a unfortunate scenario of devotee? Bereft of even attending Maìgala Ärati of Rädhä-Kåñëa. Such is an ignorance!