The Real Treasure of Akṣaya Tṛtīyā

Sudāmā Vipra & the Wealth That Cannot Perish

Vasanta Dāsa

Akṣaya Tṛtīyā, 20 April 2026

Offering my humble obeisances millions of times at the lotus feet of our beloved Gurudeva, Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja. In the same way, offering praṇāms to all our guru-paramparā, to Śrīpāda Premānanda Prabhujī, and to Śrīpāda Bhaktivedānta Nemi Mahārāja.

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As I was listening to Mahārāja yesterday, we were in the kitchen, listening to the kathā, and I was actually so, so happy to be able to listen. You know, within myself, without the social pressure that we are sitting somewhere and there is a certain degree of etiquette and composure we have to keep. At home, I was just following the words of Mahārāja, unfiltered, and I was thinking: “Wow. This Mahārāja, this jīva, how much austerity he must have performed in a past life to have met Śrīla Prabhupāda.

He was giving us the premise of where he was at when he met Śrīla Prabhupāda. He did not know whether God existed or not. And then, by the causeless mercy of Kṛṣṇa, Śrīla Prabhupāda waltzed into his life, and it was like somebody turned the light on. He was telling the pastime that one lady-disciple told him Śrīla Prabhupāda really liked questions, so Mahārāja would come up with a question every day.

As I was following the thread of Mahārāja’s story, I was just thinking how incredible it is that he had a relationship with Śrīla Prabhupāda, and that we have a relationship with him. There is a connection to Śrīla Prabhupāda through Mahārāja, and that connection is real. It is not make-believe. You can’t see it, you can’t touch it, but that thread is there, connecting us in one step to His Divine Grace Śrīla Prabhupāda.

This is Kṛṣṇa’s mercy. And what I was thinking is that we often don’t notice how important, how central, relationship actually is. Because it is through the quality of relationship that the nectar either comes or doesn’t. If we keep a very beautiful relationship with the Vaiṣṇavas, and the Vaiṣṇavas have a relationship with Kṛṣṇa, then that nectar eventually reaches us.

Whereas if we are more absorbed in the dictates of our illusion… Mahārāja was giving the example that the people in the new land for Auksine Gira, are just one step away from Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja, one step away from Śrīla Prabhupāda. Can you imagine how lucky? One step away. Two steps from Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, three steps from Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. It is true. Of course, materially you cannot touch it, but within, it is already there. And yet they will never see it, because they do not want a relationship. Even if mercy is offered to them, they will not take it. Even if decency and kindness is offered, they will not take it.

So I was thinking: how many times in our life does the possibility of having a beautiful relationship with the Vaiṣṇavas come along?

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Today we hear about the festival of Akṣaya Tṛtīyā, and as you know, I have served as an astrologer for twenty-five years now. I can tell you that Akṣaya Tṛtīyā is one of those days that the Indians do not forget. That is the day when everybody remembers: “Coins and cookies!” Like in the Mario game, when you enter one of those worlds where you just run and pick up coins. It is such a day.

But in the dimension of Vaiṣṇavism, it comes down to relationship. The quality of our relationship with the Vaiṣṇavas. And so I was thinking of the beautiful story Mahārāja told today of Sudāmā Vipra.

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Vaikuṇṭha exists. It is a realm of dharma, of pristine coherence, where everything fits into place, there is opulence, and everything good that can bloom, blooms. Everyone has more than enough. And the proof that those people are opulent is that Kṛṣṇa manifests for them. He is actually there with them, living as their king. For all those jīvas that pray to God the father, God as king, they see Kṛṣṇa in Dvārakā.

You can imagine the quality of Rukmiṇī, of Satyabhāmā. What a quality of personality, to be a queen married to Kṛṣṇa, queens of entire realms. You can imagine the dedication. They live in palaces, in a realm where suffering is minimized, where everybody is decent and civil to each other.

But then along comes a friend from childhood. And then, smṛti.

Within Kṛṣṇa’s heart, even though He is a king, Sudāmā takes Him to a tender place that is not Dvārakā. When Kṛṣṇa was a child, He did not know about Dvārakā. He had no hair, He was shaved, He was a brahmacārī, just a kid under the guidance of His guru, Sāndīpani Muni. They were equal. The quality of the rasa between them was sakhya. In fact, Sudāmā Vipra was even of a higher caste, because he was born a brāhmaṇa and Kṛṣṇa was not. From that perspective, Sudāmā is superior to Kṛṣṇa.

But the memory of childhood is not like that. The memory is very warm.

When they are remembering together, Sudāmā has the capacity to take Kṛṣṇa to a place within Himself that is much better than Dvārakā. That memory of being under the guidance of their guru is a warm memory. There is no tension, no looming war, no friction. There is only the innocence of childhood and being under the guidance of your guru. And Kṛṣṇa is not seeing, “My friend is poor.” He is not seeing what has become of Sudāmā. He is there with him eternally.

And what is eternal? What is eternal is what persists as essence within us, despite the changes.

Sudāmā was a young boy, a brahmacārī friend of Kṛṣṇa. And then years later he is there with Kṛṣṇa again. Kṛṣṇa has changed. Now He is a king, surrounded by jewels, married to so many queens. And Sudāmā’s life has also changed. But that relationship is based on what has not changed. What is essential within them, and that is super-subtle, is their mood towards each other. That has not changed. That is why it is essence. So the external circumstances do not affect that love between them, which, again, you cannot touch. That sambandha remains untouched by circumstances.

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We have been told in the Bhagavad-gītā that what Kṛṣṇa takes is love. The vessel for the love can be a very opulent offering, with sixteen preparations, and the pūjā can be with sixteen objects of worship that are pristine and refined. But what Kṛṣṇa actually takes is not the refinement of the matter, of that which can change. Externally it can be chipped rice, or it can be camphor and sandalwood. Of course, if we have it, yes, we give that. But what He is showing us in this story is that what matters is the quality of the mood and the sambandha in which the offering is made.

So you can think of Sudāmā Vipra and say: he has a relationship with Kṛṣṇa, and the quality of that relationship, the quality of that personality, is so refined that it gives joy to Kṛṣṇa. He is delighted to be in the presence of his friend. Not pretending to be delighted. Actually delighted, because of the quality of the way Sudāmā conducts himself, the sincerity of his mood.

His wife asked him to go and ask for a better situation. But Sudāmā’s heart does not allow him to do this. He is actually shy. He gives the gift, but he is so happy remembering childhood that he forgets to ask for anything. He just forgets. Because within that relationship he is complete. And within that relationship, Kṛṣṇa is also complete. There is ānanda. They are tasting so much happiness together.

On his way back home, he remembers his wife. He has a relationship with her too, and he remembers: “Oh, I did not ask for what she asked me to ask.” So he is thinking, “I am in trouble.” But at the same time he is blissful, because, you know, it is a miracle, but circumstances and time did not change Kṛṣṇa. It is the same Kṛṣṇa.

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A story comes to mind. Prabhujī would tell us stories of Guru Mahārāja early on, when the āśrama had no money. Sometimes Śrīla Guru Mahārāja would send them to beg at the market, and Prabhujī could not afford even a basket of cabbage. He told me that he could not even afford a cabbage to make sabji. So he would look for what had been left to the side. Once, somebody gave a brahmacārī some bhikṣā, a cabbage that a cow had been chewing, half of it chewed and half still there. The brahmacārī was about to throw it away, and Prabhujī said, “No, no, no, no, you give it to me.” He cleaned it, and that is what was used in the sabji.

Prabhujī would tell us that Guru Mahārāja would give him one paisā a day to feed the entire āśrama. And Prabhujī would say, “What am I supposed to do with one paisā? You cannot buy anything in the market with that.” So Prabhujī would go and beg, and somehow, somehow, the sustenance of the maṭha would come.

Now, over the years, when I met Guru Mahārāja, in the few years I was with him, which was about ten years, I saw him inaugurate the Govardhana temple, which, if you have been there, is a proper palace. Every wall is hand-carved. The temple hall is adorned with art. Everything is handmade, decorated, so many rooms, dioramas, all the avatāras, all the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa-līlā. The altar is the size of our temple room in Govardhana.

I saw him inaugurate Gopīnātha Bhavana, which, if you have been there, is a proper palace. What you know as a palace, that is what it is.

We arrived in Navadvīpa at a time when it was just bare land. We came with Prabhujī. They had just bought the land, there was no construction, no temple, no dharmaśālā, nothing. We conducted the first parikramā there, and everything was done under a tent because there were no buildings. Guru Mahārāja was staying in a house nearby and would walk every day to the site.

As Prabhujī was telling us these pastimes, he would say, “You cannot imagine, there was a time when we had nothing. Not even one paisā to buy boga to offer to Ṭhākurjī. And now, you look at Guru Mahārāja, how much opulence!” But he would tell us: “Look at how my Gurudeva never changed his mood. He is always the same. He is always treating everybody with respect. He is always bhakta-bāndhava, the well-wisher of everybody.” Opulence did not change him. If anything, now he is more merciful and softer. Guru Mahārāja did not become proud. The more he had, the more he distributed.

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So it is the same thing with Sudāmā Vipra: he went to see Kṛṣṇa, but Kṛṣṇa’s mood did not change. Now, the Dvārakā-vāsīs were not able to see that, because they were blinded by opulence. They say, “Oh, Kṛṣṇa is our king.” And even though Kṛṣṇa is there, they cannot touch His Vraja mood. They cannot see it, because there is opulence.

But Sudāmā Vipra, because he is a brāhmaṇa, can walk right into the castle, right into the city, which in reality is our inner world. We all have a Dvārakā inside. We all have a place where opulence is possible, where fortune is possible. And Sudāmā walks right past the guards. Nobody can stop him, because he is pure. He is innocent. He walks right to the centre and says, “Kṛṣṇa, do You remember when we were kids? Nobody here knows You the way I know You. I remember when You were just a cowherd boy, and I remember us being together with our Guru Mahārāja, and I remember Your mood.”

And then Kṛṣṇa is like, “Yes, I remember your mood too. What a sweet mood you have, Sudāmā. Here people treat Me well, but they do not understand what is between us.”

And they are saying this between their eyes as Kṛṣṇa is washing his feet. We think it is theatrical, that as a kṣatriya performing his duty towards a brāhmaṇa, the tradition, the ritual, is there. But actually, as He is washing Sudāmā’s feet, Kṛṣṇa is in awe that, even though Sudāmā is not in a very good position, even though he is poor and has not much, his mood has not changed. Despite calamity, despite poverty, Sudāmā has not become bitter or envious towards Him. His heart remains so loving towards Kṛṣṇa, so soft.

So Kṛṣṇa is washing his feet and thinking, “In a world of freedom and possibility, you could have been anyone, or done anything, and instead of that, you chose to be pure and kind.” Of course, Kṛṣṇa sees Dvārakā every day. He sees the quality of the people there who are pristine, good people. But compared to the quality in Sudāmā Vipra, Kṛṣṇa’s heart is melting. He is like, “How are you even possible?” Kṛṣṇa cannot believe that Sudāmā Vipra is present, that he is possible.

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Which is what I was thinking about Mahārāja. He was saying that he would see Śrīla Prabhupāda and walk into the room, and his brahmacārīs and sannyāsīs were big and tall and golden, like towers. And then Śrīla Prabhupāda would be this tiny. Mahārāja would say, “He was so small, he was tiny, but he had so much presence.”

In the same way, when Sudāmā Vipra walked into Dvārakā, he was very tiny compared to the guards, but he had so much presence. The Vaiṣṇavas appear in our life, and Mahārāja was saying that when we look at their photographs, there is never a dull moment. You can never catch them in a moment where they are not present. Every photo of the Vaiṣṇavas is so beautiful. They are always serving, always present.

In the same way, Kṛṣṇa is looking at Sudāmā Vipra. He cannot believe His luck that day. Kṛṣṇa is thinking, “I am not lucky because I am king. I am not lucky because I have wealth and opulence. I am lucky because today I am blessed with the presence of Sudāmā Vipra.”

So on Akṣaya Tṛtīyā, it is the opportunity to grab the coins, but Sudāmā is not thinking, “I am going to grab coins.” He is thinking, “Today the presence of Kṛṣṇa is manifested, and today I get darśana of Him. But where would I bring Him? What do we have that we can give Kṛṣṇa?” There is very little we can give Him. But what He takes is not opulence, not the offering. He takes our mood. That is what He wants.

The story relates that when Sudāmā Vipra went back home, Kṛṣṇa had already arranged everything, all the blessings. So in the same way, when we meet our Gurudeva, don’t think that Kṛṣṇa is not present there. Of course, Kṛṣṇa is present. He is fully present in the heart of the Vaiṣṇava. So it is like meeting Kṛṣṇa Himself. That is why the scriptures say we should consider Guru as Kṛṣṇa Himself, because Kṛṣṇa is present there. We are having an interaction with Kṛṣṇa Himself. He is sitting there in their heart. So much presence. Why? Because Kṛṣṇa is there.

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In the same way that Kṛṣṇa arranged everything for Sudāmā to live a life with less friction, Guru Mahārāja has arranged for all of us. Already, everything is arranged, everything is given. If we are even a little bit sincere, oh, Kṛṣṇa gives so much. Guru is so kind; he will give so much.

But one thing we must always be careful of, and this is what we can remember: the real wealth of Akṣaya Tṛtīyā comes through relationship, through the quality of our mood. The more we go towards Dvārakā, the less we can see Kṛṣṇa. Even if He is there, we will not be able to see Him. Therefore, we do not want to go to Dvārakā, Mādhava. We want Vṛndāvana. That is why the Vaiṣṇavas tell us: not too much opulence, not too much name, not too much fame, not too much possession. Be like Sudāmā Vipra. Why? Because then the mood remains pristine.

And if we are humble, we can always approach Kṛṣṇa to give, not to take. To Guru also: approach to give, not to take. The intention is what matters, not the quality. What can we really give to Śrī Guru? If Śrīla Prabhupāda walked in here, what could we offer him? “Would you like some ice cream, Śrīla Prabhupāda?”

And what can Guru offer us? It is comparable to what Kṛṣṇa gives Sudāmā Vipra. When he came back home, he had a palace, so many servants, and his wife covered in gold. But he had not asked for it. This was Kṛṣṇa’s own heart: “How can I not give to My friend, if I have so much?” How much does Kṛṣṇa have? Kṛṣṇa is unlimited. His love has no limit, His personality has no limit, His opulence has no limit, His knowledge has no limit, His presence has no limit.

But this is not so important. We are misunderstanding. This is what Gurudeva’s message is for us. You must remember that Kṛṣṇa’s sweetness has no limit. His sweetness has no limit. The mādhurya inside Kṛṣṇa’s heart, this is what really has no limit. We are trying to remember: this is the real opulence, the real wealth on the day when we meet our Gurudeva.

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We saw with Śrīpāda Paramānanda Prabhujī that we approached him with a prayer: “There is a good possibility, there is this place.” Prabhujī said, “Yes, this is good. Serve the Vaiṣṇavas.” Everything went so smoothly. He gave his blessing. He prayed to Govardhana. He prayed to Śiva Mahādeva. He prayed to Lord Nṛsiṁha. He prayed to Kṛṣṇa and Rādhārāṇī. He prayed for us. Then everything was given, smoothly. What a gift to Lithuania. We do not understand. Even materially it is a big gift.

But what Guru Mahārāja is actually giving… You think, who remembers Vṛndāvana here? Who remembers Dvārakā here? The consciousness here is so stale, so dry. And here is Gurudeva, Mahāprabhu giving: “Okay, may there be Gaura-līlā. May there be Vṛndāvana. May Vṛndāvana come to Lithuania. May this mood come, and may there be a place where this mood can live and thrive and grow.” Like planting a seed that over many years will become a tree and give such fruit. What can be a greater opulence than the mood of Vṛndāvana?

Śrīla Gurudeva would say: when you pray to Lalitā, when you pray to Girirāja, on days like this, never pray for anything material. Always pray for something spiritual. Like Sudāmā, who did not even mention it; he forgot. But you think God does not know? There is no limit to God’s knowing, because everything comes from Him anyway. He already knows. He knows everything. He knows what is needed. He knows beyond what is needed. If we manage to please the Vaiṣṇavas, even just a little, oh, so much mercy will come.

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So it is a very blessed day. Savitrī, I was asking for your baby. I wrote to Śrīpāda Paramānanda Prabhujī, and at once, like a mother, he jumped, he protected. He said, “Oh, this baby is a Vaiṣṇava, you must protect.” He said, “Organize a yajña on Akṣaya Tṛtīyā. Organize everything. Whether anyone is present or not, Kṛṣṇa is present, Guru Mahārāja is present.” Telling this girl, “Take shelter. Don’t worry about anything. The baby is protected. Gurudeva is taking care of this baby. Give the first grain, do the yajña, on an auspicious day. Do the yajña then, all the ancestors will be pleased, and then all the mercy will come.” Very mercifully giving.

What did we give? Very little. But some sincerity was there. What can Guru give? Guru can give Kṛṣṇa. What is a greater wealth than Kṛṣṇa? Guru can give Kṛṣṇa.

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Yesterday, as I was listening to the class by Śrīpāda Bhaktivedānta Nemi Mahārāja, I was just thinking: it is like an error in the Matrix, in the karmic program. How can we even conceive of Śrīla Prabhupāda? Somebody of that quality, and he just walks into our lives. Like Śrīla Gurudeva, who waltzed into my life. What did I do? I prayed with suffering to Kṛṣṇa. He has compassion. It is as though He said, “You may meet My devotee.” We have no words. We really have no words to glorify Guru Mahārāja.

I did not have the fortune of meeting Śrīla Prabhupāda in person, but I met Śrīla Gurudeva. Yesterday, as I was listening to Mahārāja’s kathā, I could hear just the awe, the amazement. You laugh, because, how is this possible? You cannot believe it. The miracle of having met them and having been blessed by them, this is incomparable.

What Mahārāja was saying, and I would like to bring it back, because he made this conclusion yesterday which is so important for everybody to remember: in his class, he said that Guru actually loves us. That is the real miracle. That Guru really loves us. Sometimes they need to love us in tough love, he was saying, because they need to help us. But the real miracle is that Guru actually loves us. So if anything we have done right in our service to Śrī Guru, Guru will give back infinitely, infinitely, infinitely, and this is what we do not realize.

So the most important thing when the day starts, when you are singing Śrī-guru-vandanā, when you are singing Saṁsāra-dāvānala, try to remember: whatever your mind is telling you, do not listen to it. Don’t go that way. Go the way of trying to realize, even if you do not realize it now, how much Guru is giving. After some years you will realize. After some years your heart will melt. Because Guru is always giving, always giving, always giving.

And what we do not believe is that we can be loved. But how can we not be loved if God is love?

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Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is the most pristine expression of God’s heart. She is the goddess of prema. She is who Kṛṣṇa is looking for. She is the goddess of devotion, of service. At the core of Kṛṣṇa’s heart, His essence is Rādhārāṇī. That is what He wants to be aware of: Rādhārāṇī, only Rādhārāṇī. That is His core essence. So how can we not be loved, if God is love?

It does not really depend on what we do or do not do. However, if we are a little bit mindful, we can try to be sweet back to Kṛṣṇa, because He is very kind and very, very soft. Kṛṣṇa is very, very soft. He is very kind-hearted just as Guru is very kind-hearted.

In this world, it is a little bit difficult to be soft. When Śrīla Prabhupāda would preach or teach, sometimes he had to cut jungles, somehow, by force. Otherwise, the minds of people in this realm… like these people I am telling you about, who are two steps away from Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, and they will not see it. They will fight, and they will be disrespectful. Let us not be like that. If we are a little mindful, always remember to have a sweet mood towards Kṛṣṇa. He is always there. He is always providing. He is always giving everything, to everybody. Always giving.

But can we bring Him a little bag of chipped rice with a beautiful mood? Every day in the morning, show up with your little bag of chipped rice. In the morning, the first thing you do is come to Kṛṣṇa. “Hey Gurudeva, all I have is this little bag of broken rice. Will you accept?” With a beautiful mood. And then the day goes forward. Of course, there are so many impediments, so many anarthas; they come up all the time. But we should not stop at that.

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Today, on the day of Akṣaya Tṛtīyā, we are taking shelter of Sudāmā Vipra, Śrīla Prabhupāda, and Śrīla Gurudeva. And we are asking for that mood: please, give us a sweet mood that we can approach you in a way that pleases you. “Please Kṛṣṇa, the only thing I am begging is that You give me a sweet relationship with You. It is only by Your mercy that I can have a sweet relationship with You, because I do not remember how. Please, may devotees like Sudāmā Vipra, like Śrīla Prabhupāda, please bless me with their association, because they have a sweet mood with You. If I associate with them, then I will also learn how.”

Anyway, if Kṛṣṇa wants, there will be a palace. If Kṛṣṇa wants, there will be whatever needs to be there. You think for Kṛṣṇa this is hard? One palace, two palaces, three palaces? He has 16,108 queens, all with their palaces. Kṛṣṇa would change all of that in a second for one minute in Vṛndāvana. One minute with the Vraja-vāsīs. We do not even have to pray for that. If it comes, it comes. You think Kṛṣṇa is not going to take care of us? He is always taking care of everybody. That is His heart. Kṛṣṇa is very kind.

But what we are really praying for is the real opulence: may Śrīla Prabhupāda, may Śrīla Gurudeva, Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Gosvāmī Mahārāja, may the Vaiṣṇavas manifest in our life. Like the beautiful association Mahārāja usually speaks to me about, Śrīla Bhāratī Mahārāja, how wonderful his presence was, and is. That is the real opulence. That is the real imperishable.

They say Akṣaya Tṛtīyā is the day of the imperishable. Whatever we do today becomes imperishable. So may our prayer for the association of the Vaiṣṇavas become imperishable. May our sambandha with Kṛṣṇa, and sweetness, become imperishable. That is what we are praying for. And this can only happen by the association of the Vaiṣṇavas. If the Vaiṣṇavas are in our life, then this is possible. Otherwise, what do we have? We are at the mercy of what we know, where we have been, and we are limited by that. Whatever is in this world is not of very good quality. But once a Vaiṣṇava walks into our life… that time.

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You see how amazed Kṛṣṇa is. You see how deeply in love He is, how deeply amazed, with how much gratitude He is looking at Sudāmā Vipra. Don’t you wish that you could look at someone in the same way? Because until that happens in your life, you haven’t really lived. Until we can really look at somebody in that way.

And what is life? The moment Guru Mahārāja comes, that is the opportunity. That is the opportunity to look up: “You are wonderful. You are so wonderful, I could not have imagined you. You are so kind. You are here, and somehow you love me. How are you possible?”

So in this way, today we remember Kṛṣṇa. But it is only by the association of the Vaiṣṇavas that somehow our heart is reminded of these possibilities, by their beautiful harikathā. Such a blessing.

One step away from Śrīla Prabhupāda. Śrīla Prabhupāda is a legend, and he will be a legend for 10,000 years, the personality who gave Kṛṣṇa consciousness to the world. One step away. How can we skip that? Therefore, our endeavour: to pray that that sambandha may remain beautiful, that that relationship will remain pristine.

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So today our yajña: we are praying for sambandha with Kṛṣṇa, for sweetness in that sambandha. Whatever it is that we live, we can’t be living in ice cubes anymore. At some point, we have got to trust that God sends us mercy. And then, a little bit, we have to endeavour too. Not all of it has to come from Guru Mahārāja. We should endeavour. We should pray every day: “May my heart become soft and fragrant and kind.”

Patience, and little by little, for sure, it happens. Little by little. And one after another, Kṛṣṇa shows us so many miracles. All the time, all the time. Giving, giving, giving. It is very, very sweet.

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Please excuse me. I got excited. I really like the story of Sudāmā Vipra. I have a very special place in my heart for Sudāmā Vipra. He is a reminder of humility, and of how to approach Kṛṣṇa. If we remember Sudāmā Vipra every time we pray to Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa will be delighted. Never asking for anything. Even when the world is pressuring him, even when those who are near and dear to him are pressuring him to go and ask Kṛṣṇa for something, he forgets. And anyhow, Kṛṣṇa takes care of him.