Wednesday 6 June 2012

LECTURE BY HIS HOLINESS BHAKTI CARU SWAMI ON SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM 04- 25-33 ON 1 OCTOBER 2010.


Jaya Radha-Madhava Kunja-Vihari
Gopi-Jana-Vallabha Giri-Vara-Dhari
Yasoda-Nandana Braja-Jana-Ranjana
Yamuna-Tira-Vana-Cari
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare
Jaya om visnu-pada paramahamsa parivrajakacarya astottara-sata Sri Srimad A.C. Bhaktivedanta
Swami Maharaja Prabhupada ki jaya!
Ananta koti vaisnava-vrnda ki jaya!
Namacarya Srila Haridasa Thakura ki jaya!
Premse kaho Sri Krsna Caitanya, Prabhu Nityananda, Sri Advaita, Gadadhara, Srivasadi Gaurabhakta-vrnda ki jaya!
Sri Sri Radha-Krsna, Gopa-Gopinatha, Syama-kunda, Radha-kunda, Giri-Govardhana ki jaya!
Vrndavana-dhama ki jaya!
Navadvipa-dhama ki jaya!
Yamuna-mayi ki jaya!
Ganga-mayi ki jaya!
Tulasi-devi ki jaya!
Bhakti-devi ki jaya!
Gaura-premanande hari-haribol!
“Chant the names of the Lord in the ecstasy of love for Lord Caitanya.”
Samaveta bhakta-vrnda ki jaya!
“All glories to the assembled devotees.”
Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.25.33:
na vidama vayam samyak
kartaram purusarsabha
atmanas ca parasyapi
gotram nama ca yat-krtam
SYNONYMS
na — do not; vidama — know; vayam — I; samyak — perfectly; kartaram — maker; purusarsabha — O best of human beings; atmanah — of myself; ca — and; parasya — of others; api —
also; gotram — family history; nama — name; ca — and; yat-krtam — which has been made by
whom.
TRANSLATION
The girl said: O best of human beings, I do not know who has begotten me. I cannot speak to you
perfectly about this. Nor do I know the names or the origin of the associates with me.
PURPORT
The living entity is ignorant of his origin. He does not know why this material world was
created, why others are working in this material world and what the ultimate source of this
manifestation is. No one knows the answers to these questions, and this is called ignorance. By
researching into the origin of life, important scientists are finding some chemical compositions or
cellular combinations, but actually no one knows the original source of life within this material
world. The phrase brahma-jijnasa is used to indicate an inquisitiveness to know the original
source of our existence in this material world. No philosopher, scientist or politician actually
knows wherefrom we have come, why we are here struggling so hard for existence and where we
will go. Generally people are of the opinion that we are all here accidentally and that as soon as
these bodies are finished all our dramatic activities will be finished and we will become zero.
Such scientists and philosophers are impersonalists and voidists. In this verse the girl is
expressing the actual position of the living entity. She cannot tell Purañjana her father’s name
because she does not know from where she has come. Nor does she know why she is present in
that place. She frankly says that she does not know anything about all this. This is the position of
the living entity in the material world. There are so many scientists, philosophers and big leaders,
but they do not know wherefrom they have come, nor do they know why they are busy within
this material world to obtain a position of so-called happiness. In this material world we have
many nice facilities for living, but we are so foolish that we do not ask who has made this world
habitable for us and has arranged it so nicely. Everything is functioning in order, but people
foolishly think that they are produced by chance in this material world and that after death they
will become zero. They think that this beautiful place of habitation will automatically remain.
om ajnana-timirandhasya
jnananjana-salakaya
caksur unmilitam yena
tasmai sri-gurave namah
sri-caitanya-mano-’bhistam
sthapitam yena bhu-tale
svayam rupah kada mahyam
dadati sva-padantikam
vande ‘ham sri-guroh sri-yuta-pada-kamalam sri-gurun vaisnavams ca
sri-rupam sagrajatam saha-gana-raghunathanvitam tam sa-jivam
sadvaitam savadhutam parijana-sahitam krsna-caitanya-devam
sri-radha-krsna-padan saha-gana-lalita-sri-visakhanvitams ca
he krsna karuna-sindho
dina-bandho jagat-pate
gopesa gopika-kanta
radha-kanta namo ‘stu te
tapta kancana gaurangi
radhe vrndavanesvari
vrsabhanu-sute devi
pranamami hari-priye
vancha-kalpatarubhyas ca
krpa-sindhubhya eva ca
patitanam pavanebhyo
vaisnavebhyo namo namah
sri-krsna-caitanya
prabhu-nityananda
sri-advaita gadadhara
srivasadi-gaura-bhakta-vrnda
hare krsna hare krsna
krsna krsna hare hare
hare rama hare rama
rama rama hare hare
SB 04-25-33
na vidama vayam samyak
kartaram purusarsabha
atmanas ca parasyapi
gotram nama ca yat-krtam
The girl said: O best of human beings, I do not know who has begotten me. I cannot speak to you
perfectly about this. Nor do I know the names or the origin of the associates with me.
So, this is the story of king Puranjana. King Puranjana is the living entity. The living entity is
travelling in this material nature, transmigrating from one body to another. And in course of his
journey sometimes he is going up and sometimes going down. Sometimes he is going up to the
higher planetary systems where he has wonderful facilities for sense gratification and sometimes
he’s going down to the lower planetary system, where also they have sense gratification but they
are subterranean planets, there that sense gratification is there but of a different kind.
So in the material nature the living entity is transmigrating from one body to another body and is
trying to enjoy. bhramayan sarva-bhutani yantrarudhani mayaya (BG 18.61). Mayaya by the
arrangement of the external energy of the Lord, Maya, bhramayan is travelling, sarva-bhutani, all
the living entities, yantrarudhani, riding in a machine, yantra riding in a vehicle. What is the
vehicle? This body is the vehicle. And sometimes we are getting a body, superior type of body
providing higher facilities of enjoyment and sometimes we are getting a body which is subject to
various kinds of sufferings.
So that is the condition of a living entity in this material nature. Puranjana was travelling and in
course of his travel Puranjana came to a very special place, the land of Bharat-varsha. Northern
part is the Himalayan mountains and in the southern part is the salt water ocean. And in this land
of Bharat-varsha he got a very special body, the body of a human being. And in course of his
travel he came across the queen of the land. This discussion is taking place between that queen.
Who’s the queen? The queen is intelligence.
And here she is admitting, the material intelligence, she’s admitting that she doesn’t know what’s
her origin and nor does she know the origin of her other associates. Who are the other associates
of intelligence? Mind, the ten senses, then the life air, the five kinds of air which are in the form
of a snake, five-hooded snake protecting the land, protecting the kingdom, protecting the body.
All the functions of the body is taking place due to the activities of these five airs. Prana, apana,
samana, vyana and udana. All the functioning of the body starting from respiratory system to
evacuation system, all the functioning nervous system, digestive system, all these are actually
being controlled by diffrenet types of air. Prana, apana, samana, vyana and udana. And this snake
is very expert in protecting the city. But eventually we’ll see that how, when Kalayavana, death
personified (Yamaraja) attacked, then what happened, everything fell apart. The city of nine
gates, this human body was devastated. The five airs who were protecting the body so nicely had
to succumb to the onslaught of Kalayavana, especially when Kala-kanyavana embraced
Puranjana. Kala-kanyavana, the time in the form of a beautiful woman, embraced him. And the
result is he became devoid of all his strength. Although Puranjana was very powerful, specially
surrounded by all his associates, heading with the queen, headed by the queen or intelligence.
When Kala-kanya embraced him, he lost all his strength, he was completely helpless and then
Kala Yavan raja. Yamaraja and his associates.
The spirit soul is now taken away,(i.e.) Puranjana is taken away.. anyway that is I don’t want to
get into that. The point to this purport, Kala-kanya, I’m sorry, the queen is admitting that na te
vidama I do not know, vayam us / our, samyak kartaramà purusarsabha purusarsabha means
addressing him (Puranjana) as the best of the human beings, purusha rishbha the best of the
human beings. atmanas ca myself, parasyapi of others. I’m surrounded by my associates, but I do
not know where you all came from. And Prabhupada is elaborating on that point that in the
material nature everyone is in ignorance of his origin, nobody can nobody knows in this material
nature about his origin (unclear). And that’s why the material nature is known as the place of
ignorance. It has been identified as avidya, it has been identified as tamasah, the dark place of
darkness, place of ignorance, place of… place of illusion, where everyone is bewildered, all the
way up to Brahma. We can see when Brahma was born, when Brahma appeared, although he
directly appeared from the navel of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the first created being
in the universe, came directly from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and he himself didn’t
know where he came from. He began to wonder, Brahma’s situation was like, he woke up and he
found that he is in a strange place and he didn’t have any recollection of where he came from, he
didn’t have any recollection of his past.
As human beings are born in ignorance, they’re, when they’re born, they don’t have any
knowledge whatsoever. Even the material knowledge, they have to acquire the knowledge
gradually, through their sense perception and experiences. They gradually develop their
knowledge, we all have… Like when we are born, we are in total ignorance. But Brahma at least
when he woke, he appeared as if he just woke up in a strange place and he did not have any
understanding, any recollection of who he was. He saw himself sitting on a lotus; he saw that the
lotus was situated on the Garbha Ocean.
And nobody was around, it was just him alone, sitting on a lotus, and he didn’t have any idea
who he was, where he came from, and what he was supposed to do. And because he is Brahma,
he could immediately get into action, he tried to figure out, “Let me find out. If I find out the
stem of this lotus, then probably I’ll know; I’ll get to know where I came from.”
But in spite of a long, long endeavour, climbing down, he could not find out what his origin was.
And Bhagavatam describes he came very close to the navel of the Lord, his origin, but still, he
could not understand. Why? Because with the material senses we cannot perceive the spiritual
reality. Unless and until our senses are spiritualised, we will not be able to perceive the spiritual
reality.
The spiritual reality is not perceivable by our material senses. That is, and that applies even for
Brahma. And then Brahma was instructed from within by the Lord, within and without also.
From without, the indication, the direction came from the splashing of the waves on the Garbha
Ocean, creating a sound, tapah, tapah, and the waves splashed against each other.
And that kind of inspired, prachodayat, inspired Brahma from within, “Let me meditate.” So then
Brahma meditated, that means he withdrew his senses, projected them internally and the Lord
also very mercifully gave him the Gayatri. Tene brahma hrda adi kavaye, muhyanti yat surayah:
The Lord Himself gave the Gayatri Mantra to him, by playing His flute.
So Brahma meditated on the Gayatri, and as a result of that, Brahma achieved his spiritual
perfection. Brahma saw the Supreme Personality of Godhead face to face. Chintamani prakara
sadmasu kalpa vriksha: He saw the spiritual sky, it’s a beautiful place, made of, the land there is
made of chintamani. It’s a forest, but the trees there are kalpa-vriksha, desire trees. And surabhi
abhipalaantam: there are many, many cows; the Lord is tending those cows and all those cows
are surabhi cows.
And there are many, many damsels, who are serving Him. Who are those damsels? They are
Lakshmi, lakshmi-sahasra sata sambramha sevyamanau. And he saw the Lord, venum kvananta
aravavinda dalayataksham, barhavatam samasitam budha sundarangam, kandarpa koti kamaniya
vishesha shobha. That is how Brahma saw. After he achieved his spiritual perfection, with his
spiritualised senses, he saw the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is playing a flute, with
venum kvanantam.
His eyes are aravinda dalayataksham, wide, beautiful as lotus petals. And His form is so
beautiful, that millions of Cupids are enchanted by His beauty. So that is the way to perceive the
spiritual reality. Also, Prabhupada explains that how the spiritual reality is perceived in different
phases. Brahmeti paramatmeti, bhagavan iti shabdyate: this Bhagavan- realization, Bhagavan
perception, is the ultimate. The preliminary perception is brahmajyoti. Through jnana, one sees
the brahmajyoti. Through jnana, the endeavour of knowledge, through the intellectual endeavour,
one can see only the, the bodily effulgence, the blinding bodily effulgence of the Supreme
Personality of Godhead. It blinds one, just like from darkness when one goes to broad daylight
all of a sudden. If a man is in a dark room for many, many days and then all of a sudden he is
made to look at the sun, what will happen? He’ll just get blinded. So that’s what happens to the
jnanis. They just see the light and they become blind, they can’t go any further. But the yogis, by
meditating at the core of their hearts the Supreme Personality of Godhead, see Him as the
Supersoul, Paramatmeti. But through devotion, when one develops a loving relationship with the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, then he sees Him as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who
is goloka eva nivasaty akhilatma bhuta, who resides in Goloka Vrindavan.
So one can see the Supreme Personality of Godhead provided he follows the proper process. And
we are very fortunate that Shrila Prabhupada, that we came across Shrila Prabhupada and his
teachings. We came across ISKCON, through which, the institution through which Shrila
Prabhupada has presented, made the arrangement for the whole world to receive this information
which is otherwise impossible to have.
The most important criteria, the most important factor for receiving knowledge is a qualified
teacher. Just books are not enough. Bhagavad-gita, Shrimad-Bhagavatam, all the scriptures have
been there. Many of us even read them many a times, but what was our understanding? Didn’t
understand anything. And we realised that when we came across Shrila Prabhupada.
When we came across Shrila Prabhupada, everything became crystal clear. Many of us grew up
with Ramayan and Mahabharat stories, but through Ramayan and Mahabharat, what do we find?
What is the destination? We find that the sages are performing austerities for thousands of years
to be elevated to heavenly planets. Mahabharat is not going beyond that, Ramayan is not going
beyond that, just heavenly planets.
Sarbhanga Rishi performed such austerities, Ramachandra came and saw him, met him.
Sarbhanga was waiting for Ramachandra to come and when Ramachandra came, when He was
in exile in the forest, then He saw that there was a chariot and there was somebody in the chariot
and as soon as Ramachandra came, he just disappeared. So Ramachandra asked, pastimes, “Just
who that was?” Sarbhanga said, “That was Indra. He came to take me to the heavenly planet. But
I just wanted to wait for some time because I knew You were coming, so I wanted to have Your
darshan.
So apparently you can see that this is the destination that has been described there is just
heavenly planet. Of course within the lines you can see that in although Mahabharath is not
openly admitting that the spiritual sky but through Bhagavad Gita that becomes clear. ” yad
gatva na nivartante tad dhama paramam mama” but although we may have read Mahabharata,
although we may have read Bhagavad Gita many times but that did not become clear, this
understanding was not clear.
But what is that region “na tad bhasayate suryo na sasanko na pavakah” where is that region.
We didn’t have any understanding, but when we read Prabhupada, Prabhupada pointed out that
beyond this material nature there is another reality. Prabhupada has made that point very very
clear that our destination is not higher planetary systems the brahmanda, this universe is within
the material nature and in this universe there are seven higher planetary systems and seven lower
planetary systems. And in the higher planetary systems we can have superior material comforts,
superior material enjoyment, but “ksine punye martya-lokam visanti”. One goes there by
acquiring piety and when the piety is exhausted “martya-lokam visanti” he falls down again in
this material nature, in this world of birth and death, earth planet, lower region. In the heavenly
planet there is no death as such, there is no death in heavenly planet but there is consideration of
falling down from the heavenly planet as it has been described in Bhagavad Gita “ksine punye
martya-lokam visanti”.
The same point also has been made in Mahabharath. One sage, the a chariot came from the
Swargaloka to take him to the heavenly planet, to Swargaloka. Then, when he was told that the
chariot has come that he has come to take him there then to Swargaloka, his question was, tell
me about Swargaloka, what is so special about going there. So the messenger who came on
behalf of Indra said Swargaloka is, he started to describe that the Swargaloka is so full of
wonderful material facilities for enjoyment. There are beautiful apsaraas and (43:23) at their
beck and call. There is no old age or disease and there we can drink nectar which gives them
unlimited energy, unlimited strength and there are beautiful flowers, gardens, where the flowers
never wither, Parijatha flowers, they don’t wither and in this way he just kept on describing the
beauty of the heavenly planet. Then he said, fine, you told me about the qualities of heavenly
planet, now tell me if there is any disqualification and then he started to describe, yes you see
when the piety, when one enjoys in the heavenly planet in exchange of that enjoyment, his piety
is deducted. One enjoys there and piety gets minus, just like you go to some place with money
in your pocket and as you enjoy you have to pay, in the heavenly planet you pay for your piety,
for your punya. And when your punya becomes exhausted then all of a sudden he falls down to
this earth planet, place of birth and death (Mrtyuloka) the place of death. So after hearing that he
said, I don’t need to go there. If some day I have to come back again, then what is the point in
going there, rather I will go to some place where, from where I will never have to come back
again. So that is, that shows that he was an intelligent person.
Now like we can consider that we have been very fortunate to have that information first-hand
from Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada actually made it very very clear, that the destination,
ultimate destination is not higher planetary system and Prabhupada very graphically described it.
It is like in a prison house, you get promoted into becoming a first class prisoner. What is the big
deal about becoming a first class prisoner, you are already in the prison house. First class
prisoner, second class prisoner, third class prisoner, fifth class prisoner, you are in a prison.
In the first class prison you may have some facilities but is that a desirable destination?. No. So
the thing is the goal of life is to get out of this material nature. Systematically, these points have
been very, very precisely defined like, through Sankhya philosophy this has been defined
Sankhya analyses the material nature to do (46:37)___ consideration goes all the way up to
Mahatattva, five elements of the creation, pancha mahabooth, panchendriya, pancha
karmendriya, then pancha vishaya, five kinds of objects of the senses, twenty, then mind,
intelligence, and false ego, then mahatattva. The whole material nature has been analyzed. The
Sankhya, the goal of Sankhya is not just to analyze the material nature. The goal of Sankhya is
to transcend the material nature. That is what Sankhya is meant.
After twenty four consideration that we may be considering, they are all subjective, I’m sorry.
They are all objective by nature. But the object cannot exist without the subject. So what is the
subject? The subject is I. I am here, that is why the material nature is here. So everything is, all
these is dependent upon my existence here. So I, so who is that I. Where does that I comes
from. Obviously the I did not come from the material nature. I came from, the soul came from
another reality.
So the 25th scientific consideration of Sankhya is jivatma and the 26th consideration is
paramatma or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and Krishna presents the Sankhya
philosophy in a very, very concise form in Bhagavad Gita. The same point Krishna is making
“bhumir apo analo vayuh kham mano buddhir eva ca ahankara itiyam me bhinna prakritir
astadha.
“Sankhya philosophy describes, analyzes the twenty four considerations. Krishna did it only
with eight considerations, earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligene and false ego. “bhinnna
prakritir astadha”. But then Krishna makes the point. “apareyam itas tv anyam” this nature is
inferior. This material nature consisting of eight elements, eight objects, eight considerations is
“apara”, inferior. “prakrtim viddhi me param” know it well that there is another reality beyond
this inferior material nature which is my superior energy, my superior nature and “jiva-bhutam
maha-baho yayedam dharyate jagat”. The jiva-bhutam, the living entities are coming from that
superior nature and they are “yayedam dharyate jagat”. They are sustaining this material nature
and they are exploiting this material nature.
And Prabhupada makes the point even more simply. Prabhupada is making the point that around
us we see two types of objects. One is inert matter and the other is the living being. In this room
we can see, some objects are inert, like this microphone, this table, this seat, the floor, the walls,
the pillars, they are all made of inferior, rather they are inert matter. But we all, are we inert ? We
are living. Although the bodies are made of matter, but these bodies are living bodies. What
causes the bodies to be alive, what causes some bodies to be alive ? And that is the question.
Prabhupada made that point when he went to M.I.T.in Boston. They very proudly, they showed
different departments of the institue, the Massachusets Institute Of Technology. And at the end
of the tour Prabhupada asked : “Where is the department that discriminates between the dead
body and the living body, studies the difference between the dead body and the living body. That
is the subject that Prabhupada came to teach us. And we are very fortunate that we have been
exposed to those teachings. This verse, although it is saying that she did not know where she
came for, what was her origin, but actually we can say. We are very fortunate to know, we are
very fortunate that we know where we came from. That is Prabhupada’s mercy, that is our good
fortune. We know where we came from. We know that the spirit soul came from the spiritual
sky. The spirit soul is a part and parcel of Krishna And therefore as a spirit soul we must
develop our relationship with Krishna. Because the existence of the part is in its.., the perfection
or the utility of the existence of a part lies in its connection with the whole.
Srila Prabhupada again makes that point very simply. This little finger is a part of my body.
And as a part of this body, this little finger is so important. But if the litlle finger is cut off and is
lying on the floor, will this finger have any value? No. The utility or the value of the finger lies
in its connection with the whole body. When it is a part of this body it is so important, but when
it is seperated from the body, it is meaningless, it is useless.
Now the question is, how can a part become connected to the whole ? Here also Prabhupada
gives a very wonderful example. A tree has many, many, innumerable leaves. But each single
leaf is connected to the tree, for what? Because each single leaf is doing something for the sake
of the tree. It is transforming the food into energy for the tree, with the rays of the sun, with the
medium of the chlorophyl. Now when the leaf stops to serve the tree, what happens? It falls out
of the tree. So, what is the link ? What is the criteria that makes a part become connected to the
whole? What makes that link ? Service. So, we are separated from Krishna today, why ?
Because we stopped to serve Him. Now if we want to reestablish our connection with Krishna,
then we simply have to start to serve Him.
If a leaf that has fallen out of the tree somehow or other it can begin to serve the tree again. A
leaf cannot do that but we can. That is our prerogative that we have. A leaf that has fallen out of
the tree cannot become reconnected to the tree. But we, the living entities, as parts and parcels of
Krishna have the prerogative. It is up to our own volition, up to our own desire, up to our own
will. If we want to serve Krishna we can serve Krishna and by serving Krishna we can become
connected to Krishna.
And this is the advantage of coming accross a right teacher. What does a good teacher do ? The
good teacher makes the subject very simple. And that’s what Prabhupada did for us. Allthough
we are all dull headed, products of Kali-yuga. But by Prabhupada’s mercy this very complex
knowledge. “na te viduh sura-ganah prabhavarca maharsayah” Even the suras, the demi-gods do
not understand this topic. Maharsayah, the great sages, they cannot understand this. But this has
been so easily understood, this has been so easily conceived, simply by Srila Prabhupada’s
mercy.
And now it is up to us how we are going to utilize this knowledge. How we are going to
practically apply this knowledge in our own life. Theoretical understanding is important, but
theoretical understanding is not everything. The ultimate culmination of knowledge is in its
proper application. And there comes the sadhana bhakti, we have to practise, that’s why we are
all here, practising. And we know that if we properly practise this process, some day we will
achieve perfection, no doubt about it. When ? It does not matter. But let’s keep on practising.
Because when you practise, the process is so wonderful.
Again Prabhupada made another point here. For us it does not really matter whether we are here
or in the spiritual sky. Because when we will go to the spiritual sky, what will you do ? If we
become elevated to the spiritual sky now, what will we do there ? We will be doing whatever we
are doing now. So what is the difference? Therefore, for a devotee, he is perfectly situated
wherever he is. But what really matters, is the mercy of a pure devotee of the Lord.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada! Gaura Premanande! Hari Haribol!
Does anyone have any question ? Yes, Devakinandana Prabhu.
[Question Unclear] Maharaja, I can understand that…In the translation this girl says… I do not
know who has begotten me.. And in the purport Srila Prabhupada says that the living entity is
ignorant of his origin. Here in this whole thing the living entity is Puranjana and this girl is the
intelligence.. Now Prabhupada says the living entity is ignorant of its origin.
BCS : Well, Prabhupada is actually, although here this particular aspect is the intelligence which
will be clear afterwards. But Prabhupada is taking the condition of the living entity in the
material nature and in the purport he is explaining that. Prabhupada is not really going into that,
the intelligence aspect.. Prabhupada is pointing out that in the material nature nobody… She
actually makes the point. Me and others. That others can include not only her associates… The
‘others’ can also include the living entity..
BCS: Yes, Bhakta Rupa Prabhu
Question : The living entity approaches the intelligence to try to find out what is his origin and
the intelligence comes up with nothing. [Laughter BCS: Yes, that's also..] Is it not that what is
going on here in this story? Anyway, my question. You have very nicely presented this
description of svarga loka. It seems that svarga loka is a big, big, devious conspiracy to attract
those who are able to …
BCS : Those who did not come in contact with a bonafide spiritual master.
Question [continued] These messengers that are coming to take the people to svarga loka, do
they know that they are part of a conspiracy ? Or are they just…
BCS : No, no, they are also bewildered… For example when Indra sees that someone is
performing great austerities or somebody is performing asvamedha yajna, he becomes
concerned, he becomes worried that the person will come and take over my position. And he
makes all kinds of devious arrangements to dissuade the person from doing that. He sends
apsaras or he makes different kinds of… he steals the horses like in the case of Prithu Maharaja.
So he is also in equally ignorance, Indra in the heavenly planets, he also is in equal ignorance.
Question continued : So, it is not that they are intentionally cheating, thhey are actually doing for
their own good, they are just trying to keep their own position…,
BCS : The thought that comes to my mind, as an example, is that there are big, big institutes of
management. They are very sincerely teaching everybody how to be succesful in the material
nature, right ? And at the end of the day they don’t really have the information, they don’t have
the knowledge… They are sincerely trying to make people elevated to that position, thinking that
that is the ultimate goal of life. The residents of the heavenly planets are also in a similar
situation. They are thinking that elevation to the heavenly planets is the ultimate goal of life,
because they don’t have proper informations about the spiritual reality.
Question continued : Even Indra ?
BCS : You see, Indra is a devotee of some sort. But he is a karma misra bhakta, he is not a
suddha bhakta, meaning, he is still concerned about material enjoyment. He thinks by rendering
service to Krishna, by acting as Krishna’s agent or Vishnu’s agent, he is going to have his
desires fullfilled. He doesn’t know the fact of ‘anyabhilasita sunyam jnana karmad anavritam’.
He is very much caught up with the karma-aspect of life. Thank you.
Question : Hare Krishna, Maharaja. You said a good teacher presents the matter in a very simple
way. So, you presented everything in a very simple way. Thank you for that. [BCS : [Laughter]
All glories to Srila Prabhupada]. Maharaja, you said that we are very much fortunate, that at least
we know where we have come from, that at least we know where we come from. The question is
there now. People say we come from the spiritual sky, from the Vaikuntha and there are a group
of devotees who will say that we come from the body of Maha-Vishnu. This understanding is
there that we fell down and again we come back to the body of Maha-Vishnu, and again fall back
and again go to the body of Mahavishnu. That is okay. The original source is the body of MahaVishnu. Still that confusion will be there that where I have come from..
My immediate response to that will be, let’s not waste our time. And it is actually Prabhupada’s
warning… Because Prabhupada told us emphatically, don’t waste time… During Prabhupada’s
time also there was that consideration, not exactly Maha-Vishnu. Whether the living entity
comes from Krishna Loka or whether the living entity comes from the Brahma Jyoti.
Prabhupada said, “Don’t waste your time”. Because you will never be able to undestand where
you came from, because our cause of fall down is not in the material nature. Our cause of our
fall down or our origin is not in the material nature, it is in the spiritual sky. Now again, to go
back to Somebody once who was a big proponent of that theory that the conditioned souls were
never in the spiritual sky and they are originating from the body of Maha-Vishnu.
I just made a simple question to that person. When a living entity goes back to Vrindavana, then
Who is his origin ? You get the point ? You are saying that the origin of the living entity is
Maha-Vishnu. First question. Can somebody go back to Goloka Vrindavana from this situation ?
And he admitted, yes. When he goes back to Goloka Vrindavana, then who is his origin. Then
he himself admitted, Sankarsana, Balarama. So, it will depend like where we are situated. Now
we are in a conditioned state.
Let us deal with this situation, where we are now. Where we came from we won’t be able to find
out from this situation. Let us not consider where we came from. Rather let us consider two
factors, where we are now and where should we go. Let us utilize our time to deal with these
two things. Specially our present…Like Bhaktivinod Thakur’s statement in this respect:
Forget the past that sleeps and ne’er
The future dream at all
Live with the times that are with thee
And progress thee shall call
Forget the past that sleeps. Deal with the time that are with thee, that is with you…Deal with the
present. That is the real progress, that is the real spiritual situation.
Okay, I will stop now, Thank you very much.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada! Gaura Premanande! Hari Haribol!

Tuesday 1 May 2012

Seminar on Lord Krishna's Vrindavana Pastimes-05


So when Krishna was about 7 years old, one day He saw that, all the Gopas, all the cowherd people of Vrindavana headed by His father Nanda Maharaja were organizing some festival. Although Krishna saw that they were organizing festival previous years also, but still out of curiosity He asked his father, ‘Father what is this going on today?’.Nanda Maharaja was so busy that he did not answer. Then Krishna told him; ‘My father, I am your son and you are My father. So it is your responsibility to educate me properly.
So I am asking you’. ‘What is the worship that you are organizing now? Who is the personality that is being worshiped and what is the purpose of this worship?’ Then also Nanda Maharaja did not reply. He thought that Krishna is just a little child and His questions should not be taken so seriously. So he was busy with his other responsibilities. But Krishna was still trying on to His father and he asked; ‘Father why don’t you tell me whether this worship that you are organizing; whether it is prescribed according to the Vedic instructions, according to the Vedic scriptures? Or just a social custom? And if it is a bona-fide worship, if it is Vedic, then please tell me who is the presiding deity of this sacrifice?’ What is the truth of this sacrifice and what is the benefit of this sacrifice?First of all you have to tell me whether it is Vedic or a social customary! Then Nanda Maharaja took Krishna seriously.Then Nanda Maharaja told Krishna that this is actually a social custom. It is a customary sacrifice. Nanda Maharaja actually told Krishna that, ‘we are organizing Indra puja or Indra yajna, a sacrifice to please Indra. Then Krishna asked whether it is Vedic or a social custom. So Nanda Maharaja said; ‘social’. Then Krishna said; ‘social activities should not be taken so seriously’. Unless and until prescribed by the Vedas it should not be taken so seriously! So Nanda Maharaja said, ‘but you see our ancestors have been performing this sacrifice according to their customs, as a hereditary customs, therefore for us it is important to perform it like that’. Then Krishna denied that. He said, ‘tell me why you
want to please Indra? What is the objective of this sacrifice?’ The Nanda Maharaja said that Indra gives us rain and we are cowherd people we depend very much on rain and therefore we have to perform this sacrifice. Krishna reasoned with His father and said, ‘you see Indra is also a demigod and demigods are also bound by karma. And what is the result, whatever reward they offer to others is also according to their karma. Demigods do not have any means or ability to do something on their own!. They are also dependent.
They can’t break the karmic principle and do something. Nanda Maharaja still insisted. ‘You see Krishna, we are cowherd people and rain is very essential for us and if we don’t have rain then we will be in trouble’. Then Krishna told Nanda Maharaja. ‘Father, you don’t actually depend on Indra for the rain because Indra offers the rain just out of nature’s arrangement. It’s not that Indra is arranging. The rains are the natural
phenomena. It is not that you are pleasing Indra, that’s why Indra is offering rain. If that was the case then why does it rain in the middle of the ocean where there is no need and no one there offers actually any worship to Indra. So Nanda Maharaja was surprised that this little child has such an understanding. So intelligent. Nanda Maharaja started to think what the boy is saying whether it really make sense. And he felt that it does make sense. Krishna also continued – my father I would suggest since we are cowherd folk we depend really upon the Govardhana. Because it is the grazing ground for our cows that it provides soft green grass for our cows. It is the fountains and rivers in the Govardhana that actually offers us all the water that we need and the cow’s need. Plus Govardhana is giving us so many necessities. So instead of worshiping Indra, let us worship Govardhana! When Krishna suggested in this way, Nanda Maharaja mainly out of his
affection accepted. Not only Nanda Maharaja, others also like, Sunanda and Upananda and other senior members of the cowherd folks of Vrindavana accepted this point. Here it is described that more than the given reasons they accepted this out of love for Krishna. When one loves somebody whatever that person says one accepts it. It is out of love and that’s why love is superior to reasons. Although Krishna gave the reasons but those reasons did not play the most important part. It was their love for Krishna they have
accepted His reasoning. So Krishna said; ‘let us arrange with the paraphernalia and foodstuff that you have got, let us arrange a worship of Govardhana.’. Krishna suggested to make a mountain of foodstuff. So the cowherds brought cart loads of food and they stacked them up in a mountain. It actually became a huge mountain. The bottom part of the mountain was maltose.

Thursday 5 April 2012

Lord Krishna’s Vrindavana Pastimes (Part 4) (B)



So, one of his friends came and told Kamsa, you should call Bhakasura and Bhakasura was so powerful that even the demigods in the heaven used to tremble in fear just hearing his name and I will describe how powerful Bhakasura actually was. So Kamsa then called Bhakasura and they said that look Bhakasura is so powerful that he would positively kill Krishna. No one is able to do it Krishna won’t be able to do anything to Bhakasura. Now others were not strong enough. But this one is much stronger. So, he would surely kill Krishna. So, Kamsa called Bhakasura and he told Bhakasura. So, Bhakasura I think you should go and do something about this boy and Bhakasura said “No problem, I will go and take care of him. I was just waiting for your command, your order.” But then Kamsa said “Be careful, all this great powerful demons have been killed by this little boy. It seems that he has
some great power. Maybe He is one of the demigods who have been born as a cowherd
boy. Because the power He is displaying is uncommon. It is not possible for a human
being to display this kind of power. Now, Bhakasura said “Kamsa, don’t worry, I will
just take care of him.” Kamsa agreed “Okay! Demon bless you. Let all the demons bless
you for your success [HHBCS laughs]. So, then Bhakasura went there in the morning
when the cowherd boys were tending the cows in the pasturing ground. All of a sudden
Krishna saw that there was a White Mountain peak in Vrindavana. So, Krishna became
very surprised. He said” Where did the mountain come from? But then when they
observed closely then they saw that was actually a huge crane and the white of the crane
was appearing like a mountain peak and so Krishna became very surprised and he said
that this is a special type of creature. So, Krishna’s friends got excited “Krishna let’s go
and see what it is.” So, they all went close to the bird. And when they came close then
Bhakasura came charging towards Krishna and but when he grabbed Krishna in his
mouth and he found that this little boy was very hot. So, he let the boy go. But this time
Krishna just played with the crane for some time. In between the crane’s beak Krishna
used his feet and pushed the lower back onto the ground and with his hands he pulled the
beak. Although the other cowherd boys couldn’t see that. But Krishna expanded his body
to such an extent in that way that the crane’s mouth and his neck and the whole body got
torn into two pieces. First when Bhakasura actually helped Krishna within his mouth then
the demigods became very concerned and felt that now they cannot do something to help
Krishna. So, Indra actually released his thunderbolt. But the thunderbolt struck on
Bhakasura’s body. Even Indra’s thunderbolt couldn’t do anything. Other demigods
started to release their weapons but nothing happened to him actually. So, in this way
Krishna played with the Bhakasura for some time. Then Krishna killed that demon. So,
this way Bhakasura was killed. Again the news was taken to Kamsa and Kamsa got really
upset. And so the next one was. So, what I will do is, I will just I will describe, today I
will describe how Krishna killed the demons. I am not going in chronological order. Like
many things happened actually between. Krishna killed this demon but today I will just
describe the killing demons and this way I will deal with different aspects of Krishna’s
pastimes. Now next one was Aghasura. Aghasura was the brother of Bhakasura. So,
Kamsa called Aghasura. Aghasura was another very, very ferocious demon. So, Kamsa
told Aghasura that Bhakasura had been killed and now what could be done. So Aghasura
said “Don’t worry I will go and take revenge of my brother’s death. So, Kamsa again
blessed him on behalf of all the demons. He was a huge python. The description of that
python has been given as his mouth was wide open and it seems that the upper jaw of the mouth of the snake was touching the sky. The teeth of the snake appeared to be like
mountain. And the mouth of the snake appeared to be like a huge cave in the mountain.
So, the boys became very surprised. They said “Wow! Look there is a new cave. We
didn’t see this cave before. So, they just walked right into it along with the calves and
Krishna was standing there and Krishna could sense some danger. But Krishna felt that
the boys have already entered his mouth and Krishna’s friends were completely fearless.
They knew that Krishna will protect them from all dangers. So, they did not have any fear
of anything. So, they walked straight into Aghasura’s mouth and then Aghasura was also
waiting just for Krishna to enter. Aghasura felt that as soon as Krishna would enter, he
would just close his mouth. So, he just kept his mouth open and Krishna was just
watching and that day Balarama was not there because that day was the birthday of
Balarama… So, Krishna finally, when all the friends entered into Aghasura’s mouth
Krishna felt that he must do something to save them. And so finally Krishna walked into
Aghasura’s mouth and as soon as Krishna entered, Aghasura demon closed his mouth and
then Krishna expanded himself in such a way and His body became so hot that He got
stuck in Aghasura’s throat suffocating him to death. And he could not breathe anymore
because Krishna had struck his throat and finally his life air left from his head. His life air
penetrated through Brahmarandra, the hole on the top of the head and left the body. There
is a very nice discussion about Aghasura and Krishna from Jiva Goswami. After the life
air left, Krishna told Aghasura “Sorry, the space was so small that either I had to leave or
your life air had to leave .I felt [HHBCS laughs]. So your life air had to leave from the
top of your head and all the cowherd boys came out. So, this is how Krishna saved the
cowherd boys and killed Aghasura, So, after that they all went and had a picnic. They
went to the bank of Yamuna and Krishna told the friends “Today we all will share our
food” and Krishna felt and Krishna actually told His friends that My father is the king, so
they give me such nice prasadam but others are not so rich, others parents are not so rich,
so they can’t give them such opulent food so today we will share our food and they all
started to share they all sat down in a circle and some were giving, offering some food to
Krishna’s mouth and Krishna was eating that. So, Brahma who was also watching he was
wondering who this personality actually is? In many ways he felt that he must be
Narayana but when he saw that Krishna was eating the remnants of other cowherd boys,
he felt that this cannot be Narayana because Narayana would never eat anyone’s
remnants. So, Brahma decided to check out Krishna. Brahma felt that let me see who this
person actually is? At that time Brahma stole the calves. So, all of a sudden the cowherd
boys noticed that the calves were missing. They were about to get up and started looking
for the calves. So, Krishna said just wait a minute maybe they have gone to some
distance; you all carry on taking prasadam I will go and look for the calves and I will
bring back the calves. When Krishna went to look for the calves, Brahma stole the
cowherd boys also. First he stole the calves and now he stole the cowherd boys and he
took them in a mountain cave, kept them in a mountain cave, he filled the mountain cave,
the mouth of the mountain with a big stone, big And it took Brahma just one second to
steal the cowherd boys and fill them up in a mountain cave and turn around and look at
Krishna. But Brahma’s one second is actually 1 year according to human calculation. In
the 3th Canto, Srimad Bhagvatam, the description has been given very vividly, how the
time calculation differs in different planes. Like in the human calculation, we have 12
months in a year. First of all 1 month has 2 sections, the Krishna Paksa and the Sukla Paksa, the waxing period of the moon and the waning period of the moon. Now 1 period,
waxing period takes 15 days and waning period takes 15 days. Now this one month is
actually a day and night of the Pitri lokas. In the Pitri loka, the Sukla Paksa is the day, our
15 days is the day of the Pitri loka and the night is also 15 days. In the heavenly planets
our 6 months is the day and our 6 months is the night. Like when the sun is in the
northern hemisphere, then is the day of the demigods and when the sun is in the southern
hemisphere, then it is the night of the demigods. So, in this way the concept of day and
night ranges in different planes. How much is the day of Brahma? What is the duration of
the day of the Brahma?
Devotee: 4.3 Billion Years
HHBCS: 4.2 Billion Years
So, 1000 Chatur yugas- Sat, Treta , Dwapara and Kali, this four yugas multiplied by
thousand is a day of Brahma and that is the duration of Brahma’s night. So, Brahma’s one
second is our year. So Brahma looked back and he found he was thinking …. Krishna is
in great anxiety but when he looked back he found all the cowherd boys and all the calves
there. Actually what happened is when Krishna came back after looking for the cows and
not finding them, he found that his friends are also missing and remember that day
Balarama was not there. So, somehow Brahma….. Because if he tried any funny trick
with Balarama, he would have been in trouble. [All laughs]. So, Brahma was, so that day
Balarama was not there, So, Brahma stole all the other cowherd boys and when Krishna
came back He found that all the cowherd boys were missing. So, he could understand that
this was the brain of Brahma. So, he immediately expanded all the cowherd boys and all
the calves from his body. So, actually this cowherd boys and calves were expansions of
Krishna. That means they were not Jiva Tatva anymore. They were Vishnu Tatva. They
all were non-different from Krishna. So, when Brahma looked back, he found the
cowherd boys and the calves and then he could understand that this kind of performance
can only be done by Narayana, only by the Supreme Personality of Godhead who is his
father. So, Brahma came to Krishna, beg forgiveness. So, this is called Brahma-Vimohan
Lila. How Brahma was bewildered? There is another important thing to remember, that is
that Brahma at that time became very, very repentant that he did something that he
committed a great offense to the Supreme Personality of Godhead and although the Lord
although Krishna forgave him, Brahma was not satisfied. So, he wanted to perform great
penance to neutralize his offence and Brahma actually came here in Navadwip and he
performed great penance thousands of years and as a result of that the Supreme
Personality of Godhead appeared to him in a very wonderful form. The Supreme
Personality of Godhead appeared to him in the golden form and he assured Brahma that
there was no offense. His offense was forgiven. He did not mind it at all. So, then
Brahma asked him “This form of yours I have never seen before. What is the secret
behind this form? So, then the Lord told him that in the age of Kali, He appears in this
form and that form is known as Gauranga, Caitanya Mahaprabhu. So, Brahma requested
golden Supreme Personality of Godhead to give him the chance to appear with him in
that pastime in the age of Kali. So, Lord accepted that prayer of Brahma and then again
Brahma requested that my Lord usually I am very proud, I become so puffed up, I
become so arrogant that I forget your supreme position and becoming proud of my elevated position of Brahma, I commit offense to you. When you appear and you allow
me to come with you in that pastime, please allow me to be born in a very low class
family. Let me have a very low birth so that there won’t be any room for me to become
proud. So, the Lord said “Okay, if you desire that way, then your desire will be fulfilled.”
So, then Brahma got a chance to appear in Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s pastime as
Haridas Thakur. Haridas Thakur was born in a Muslim family. But he is actually the
highest of all the greatest of all the Brahmanas. Brahma himself, but he was the most
intimate associate of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. So, this way Brahma stole the calves
and he was blessed by the Lord in his golden incarnation. Now one day the cowherd boys
were playing in the forests of Vrindavan and then they came to the Talavan for, Tala
means palm fruit. Those who were being in India in summer have seen that. Tala fruit is a
big type of fruit which has a beautiful fragrance. So, there was a Tala forest which was
full of Tala fruits and the boys were playing, they started to get hungry and they smelt the
beautiful fragrance of this Tala fruit. And they asked Krishna and Balarama “Please we
are feeling very hungry. So, please let us have some fruits, Tala fruits.” But some said
that please do not go there because this forest is actually the forest of the demon called
Dhenukasura. So, Dhenukasura was a demon in the form of a donkey. He used to protect
the Tala forest. So Balarama said “Don’t worry, we can take care of any demon”. They
also said yes. When Balarama and Krishna are there, we are not afraid of anything.
Because we know you can kill anyone. So, then Balarama just went and He started to
shake the forest, the trees, this Tala fruit trees are very strong but Balarama is so strong
that he started to shake the trees and the fruits started to drop on the ground making great
noise and so, Dhenukasura when he heard the noise he became very angry and
immediately he came running and he saw that these little boys were plundering his Tala
forest. So, he immediately charged towards Balarama. But Balarama He just grabbed
Dhenukasura by his hind leg and started to swing him and then He threw him and
Dhenukasura just fell on the top of a Tala tree and left his body. Then Dhenuka’s friends
also came and attacked Krishna and Balarama. But Krishna and Balarama one after
another finished all the demons. So, in this way Krishna and Balarama killed the demons.
Anyway I will try to finish the demons story today and I will go through quickly. And
then another demon came his name is Pralambasura. Pralamba was a very powerful
demon but Pralamba actually came in the disguise of a cowherd boy. Pralamba saw that
Krishna and Balarama were playing with Their friends. So, the way they were playing is
Srinath was sitting in one place and surrounded by some of his friends and Srinath was
playing a role of a king and Krishna and Balarama appeared there and told Srinath with
folded hands that My lord, your highness how you address a king your majesty that Your
majesty we are dancers. So, we want to perform some dances for your pleasure. So,
everyone said that’s very nice, our king appreciates it very much and the king said I will
reward you if I am pleased with your dance, I will reward you with many wonderful
things. So, then Krishna and Balarama started dancing. That was the most beautiful
dance. So, they said, the king was very pleased. So, the king said as I told you if I am
pleased I will reward you to your satisfaction. So, I will give you many valuable jewels or
gold. So, Krishna said from your name I know you are Srinath you are the abode of Sri
means you are the abode of Laxmi, so you can give a lot of Laxmi, a lot of wealth but I
am not interested in wealth. Actually I like to fight. So, I want to fight, I want to wrestle
with you. So, if you are really pleased with us so accept our challenge.

Saturday 24 March 2012

Lord Krishna’s Vrindavana Pastimes (Part 4) (A)



Actually when Krishna was going to Vrindavana riding on a cart on His mother’s lap, Krishna asked “What is there in Vrindavana? Why are you going to Vrindavana? Mother Rohini told Krishna that there are many beautiful places to play and then Krishna asked “Why are those places so beautiful?. She then explained to Krishna that because there are beautiful articles. You will find many beautiful articles to play with. So Krishna became very happy and they settled down in Vrindavana and yesterday I described how at night when they all were asleep. Visvakarma, the engineer, the architect, the demigod arrived
there with thousands and thousands of helpers and throughout the night and built many
beautiful palaces for the residents of Vrindavana. And in the morning when they woke up
they found beautiful palaces with the names of different individuals, head of the family
inscribed in golden letters on the gateway. So, Vrindavana, although in our mundane
vision appears to be just an ordinary place, some sort of forests and now even the forests
are drying out. But actually in Vrindavan, in real Vrindavana there are many, many
beautiful places where Krishna and His associates reside .So, every morning Krishna
used to go to the pasturing ground with Balarama and their other friends and they used to
take the calves. Actually when a boy was 6 to 10 years old, he was allowed to take care of the calves and then after that, he used to take care of the cows. So, this is how they
used to get trained up. Little boys take care of the calves and older cowherd people take
care of the cows. So, Krishna and Balarama along with their friends used to take care of
the calves. So, one day when they were taking care of the calves, then all of a sudden
Krishna noticed that there is a strange looking calf. So, actually Kamsa sent one of his
associates to kill Krishna and the name of that associate was Vatsasura who came
disguised as a calf. He thought that actually they used to all plan like as you remember I
mentioned yesterday
When Trnavrta came Trnavrta thought that because Putana came in some form that’s why
Krishna could kill her but if he comes without a form, without a visible form then
Krishna wouldn’t be able to kill him. Therefore he came in the guise of a whirlwind,
because that kind of the thing doesn’t really have a tangible or visible form but still
Krishna killed him. But then Vatsasura thought that he will be, he won’t make the same
mistake as Putana and Trnavrta so he thought that he would come as a calf and Krishna is
very fond of calves. Krishna won’t be able to detect him as an enemy and then in a
moment he would kill Krishna. But Krishna saw that this personality in the disguise of a
calf was looking at him and also looking at other calves in a very angry way. Krishna
could detect anger from his glances. So Krishna told Balarama “Balarama, look at this
strange character. [All laughs] Something is wrong there. I suspect that this is a demon
and look at the way he is looking at us and the way he is looking at the calves. Generally
calves do not look at us like that. Krishna said “Anyway I will take care of him. But then
Balarama said “Krishna, if you kill a calf then people will say bad things about you. They
will say that you have killed a calf because cow killing is considered a very, very heinous
crime according to the Vedic understanding. So, Krishna told Balarama “Don’t worry
when I will kill him. His demon form will become exposed, so then people won’t say that
I killed a calf. They will say I killed a demon. So Balarama said “That’s a good idea. So,
then Krishna just started to call the calf. He used to make the sound with His mouth, from
His mouth and hearing that sound, all the calves used to come close to Him. So Krishna
started making that sound and all the calves started to come towards Him and then this
Vatsasura also thought that now is the opportune moment. Now I will go close to Krishna
and then I will kill Him. So, he came with his head faced upwards like he wanted Krishna
to catch him on his neck. So, Krishna started to scratch him on his neck and then before
Vatsasura could do anything all of a sudden Krishna just grabbed him by his hind legs
and started to swing him above His head and He swung him until he left his body. So,
this way the Vatsasura demon was killed. At a great distance the calf, the dead body of
the demon fell down and then everybody could see that he was in fact a demon so they all
became very surprised how Krishna could recognize that this demon actually came to
cause harm to them. So, in this way everybody went back home, practically every
evening they had some wonderful story to tell to all the people about Krishna. They
would in great detail describe to their parents and all the members of the family how
Krishna killed such and such demon in a very wonderful way. So, after Vatsasura’s
death, actually Kamsa used to send the demons and he also used to send his men, his
spies to see what was happening. So, a spy went back and told Kamsa that Vatsasura had
also been finished. So, Kamsa became very, very upset. One day when Kamsa was in
such a bad mood, in extreme anxiety, of what was going to happen to him and how he
was going to get rid of this Krishna, the son of Nanda Maharaja, who is actually the son of Vasudev and Devaki, who was actually meant to kill him.

Sunday 18 March 2012

Lord Krishna’s Vrindavana Pastimes (Part 3 (B) )


So Kamsa immediately grabbed Devaki by her hair, pulled out his sword and was about to severe her head. But then Vasudeva pleaded to Kamsa. And said “Kamsa you‘re such a great fighter. You are a great hero. And if you kill a woman, that will get disgrace to you (3.51). Not only people will say bad about you, but even after death, you’ll have to suffer in hell. So a person in his right senses, an intelligent man, a wise man will never kill a woman. Because to kill a woman, is a very very heinous crime. And then he also told Kamsa, “Why are you so afraid of death? After all in this material nature, our duration, our existence is temporary. Everyone is born, everyone remains only for a short while and then he has to die. And in this world, no matter for how long one stays, it’s only a short span of existence. So why are you so afraid of death? Because your death is also born – along with your birth. As soon as your body is born, your death also is born. And as you are riding through the vehicle of your life, you are coming closer and closer to death and that’s a fact with everyone. So why should you be afraid of death? And besides that, you are not this body. You are not this body, you are a spirit soul. So in this way, Vasudeva advised Kamsa.
Now, who is Vasudeva? Vasudeva is actually Suddha Tattva. Vasudeva is a personification of transcendental goodness. And Krishna is born out of Vasudeva. Krishna comes out of transcendental goodness. When one transcends the modes of material nature, the mode of ignorance, the mode of passion and even the mode of goodness – material goodness, then one comes to the transcendental platform which is called Visuddha Satva or Vasudeva platform. So a person who is situated in Vasudeva : he is transcendental to the material nature and is situated in absolute knowledge. And when one becomes situated in that transcendental situation, then only Krishna appears from within the heart. So Vasudeva, a person situated in transcendental platform, advised Kamsa in this way.
Still then, Kamsa was not convinced and Vasudeva could understand that. So then, Vasudeva assured Kamsa, “ Kamsa don’t worry. It is not Devaki who is going to kill you. It is Devaki’s son who is going to kill you. So I give you my word of honour that as the sons are born out of Devaki, I will offer the sons to you. And you can do whatever you want to do with them. So Kamsa liked this idea. He didn’t e really pay much heed to philosophy. But he is a practical person. Demons are actually very practical. He liked this practical proposal that the sons after the birth will be given to him. And he knew that
Vasudeva was actually a very truthful person. He knew that when Vasudeva gave his word, he will stick to it. Then Kamsa let Vasudeva and Devaki go.
Then in due course of time, a son was born. When the son was born, it was a beautiful little son, beautiful little baby. But Vasudeva was bound by his word of honour. So he decided to give the son to Kamsa. And Devaki was feeling bad. Naturally the mother is attached to the son that she carried him in the womb for so many months. But Vasudeva never understand that the word ‘truth’ is the most important word. Because, religion, Dharma, is situated on the truth. So, one should never deviate from truth. A person must be truthful. Whatever he says, he must keep to his vow. And that is the sign of a person situated in the transcendental platform. A person situated on the transcendental platform is always very truthful – never will lie. Actually a person situated in the transcendental platform is so truthful that whatever he says becomes true. even though apparently it may not be true. Apparently it may not appear to be true., but whatever he says becomes true

Sunday 11 March 2012

Lord Krishna’s Vrindavana Pastimes (Part 3(A))


Today we’ll discuss some pastimes of Krishna.Yesterday we discussed that Krishna decided to come to this earth – take birth as the eighth son of Devaki and also the son of mother Yasoda. And before Krishna appeared there had to be seven other children of  mother Devaki because Krishna was supposed to be the eighth son. So it was arranged  that the first six sons of Devaki will be killed so that Krishna can appear very quickly. Because the demigods were very much worried about Kamsa – Kamsa created so much disturbance. They wanted Krishna to come quickly and finish him off. So when Vasudeva got married to Devaki – Devaki was the daughter of Deva. There was a king called Surasena and Surasena had 2 sons – Ugrasena and Deva. Ugrasena’s son was Kamsa and Deva’s daughter was Devaki. So Devaki got married to Vasudeva and when
Devaki was going to her husband’s house in a big procession, Kamsa himself was driving
the chariot. Because Devaki was a very dear sister, very dear cousin to Kamsa – so
Kamsa was personally escorting her or driving the chariot with Vasudeva and Devaki in
the chariot.At that time the demigods wanted to play some trick with Kamsa. So demigods actually
announced from the sky. Like they have a kind of sound system that from a great distance
they can make things be heard. They don’t personally have to be there but from a great
distance, per say from the heavenly planets, they can make some announcement and it
would be broadcasted in here. They had some sophisticated radio system. So, they made
an announcement. “ Kamsa that sister of yours that you’re so affectionately carrying to
her husband’s house, do you know that her eighth son is going to kill you.” so Kamsa
became very worried. As soon as they heard that – oh yeah, that announcement actually
also said that Kamsa –you are a fool. You foolish Kamsa, don’t you know that this
Devaki’s son is going to kill you?

Monday 5 March 2012

Lord Krishna’s Vrindavana Pastimes Part - 2

The 1st series dealt mostly on Sri Advaita Acarya because the class on Lord Krisna’s
Vrindavana pastimes was begun on the appearance day of Advaita Acarya.
The 2
nd
series begins with Lord Krishna’s Vrindavana pastimes as transcribed below.
The recording starts with reference to earlier description.
His Holiness Bhakti Caru Maharaja began the class referring to what he has mentioned
earlier.
So as I mentioned earlier, that this class will look into the compilations or collections of
different pastimes from different puranas. Mainly, a lot of Krishna’s pastimes have been
described in Brahma Vaivarta Purana and also in Harivamsa.
These are two of the Puranas which describe quite extensively Krishna’s pastimes.
Brahma Vaivarta Purana has one section called Krishna Khanda which deals extensively
with Krishna’s pastimes.Rupa Goswami and Jiva Gowsami also dealt with Krishna’a pastimes quite extensively.
Jiva Goswami in his Gopal Sampur describes about Krishna’s pastimes. And Rupa
Goswami in his Vidharta Madhav and Lalita Madhav, the two dramas, dealt with
Krishna’s pastimes quite extensively. These two are based on Krishna’s pastimes.
Besides that there are other dramas also such as Danakeli Kaumudi by Rupa Goswami
and Danakeli Cintamani by Raghunath Das Goswami. Sometimes we find that there are
certain contradictions. Like in Brahma Vaivarta Purana the description is that Radharani
actually appeared from the sacrificial fire. But in Lalita Madhava, Rupa Goswami
described that Radharani was born as the daughter of Vindhya Mountain. There is also a
very interesting story.
You all know that Parvati, the daughter of Himalaya Mountain is the wife of Lord Shiva.
There is another Mountain called Vindhya. Vindhya Mountain became upset about that.
He became envious. So he wanted to have a daughter who is better than the Himalayan’s
daughter. Or he wanted to have a son in-law who is greater than Lord Shiva. So he
performed great sacrifices and as a result of that he got the benediction that his daughter
will be married to someone who is even greater than Lord Shiva. That daughter of
Vindhya is Radha. He actually got two daughters. One is Radha and another is Chandra.
Radharani and Chandravali are actually the daughters of Vindhya Mountain. When they
were just babies Putana wanted to kill them. When Putana was flying away with these
two daughters of Vindhya Mountain Brahmanas started chanting mantras that killed the
witchcraft. So Putana’s life was in danger. So then Putana dropped these two children in
order to save her own life. These two children fell in the Januma River. They began
floating down the river and the king Vrsvabanu got one daughter that is Radha and the
king Chandrabhanu got the other daughter, that is Chandravali.
Now there is an apparent contradiction between Rupa Goswami’s descriptions here, and
the descriptions given in other Puranas. When Bhakti Sidhanta Saraswati was asked,
‘why there are such contradictions in the scriptures?’ his answers to that were; ‘Kalpa
jnana’. We have to understand that in different kalpas, the pastimes take place in different
names. So when we see some apparent contradictions in the scriptures we have to
understand that they are actually narrating the pastimes from different kalpas. The details
would differ but the underline principle is the same. And what is the ultimate objective of
the scriptures? The ultimate objectives of the scriptures are to encourage us to become
Krishna consciousness, to inspire us to become Krishna conscious. That is the ultimate
objective and Krishna’s pastimes are like a play. Krishna’s pastimes are known as Lila.
Lila means pastimes. Pastimes means the activities that are just done out of their own
will, out of sweet will. It can be compared to a drama on the stage. Like somebody may
play a role of a king on the stage but he may not actually be a king. Somebody may act as
a villain on the stage but actually he may not be a villain but a saintly person. This way
Krishna’s pastimes are like acts in live, acts on the stage. But what is the objective of that
act or drama? The objective is to bring us closer to Krishna, make us attractive to
Krishna. To make us Krishna conscious.
So today I will give a brief background to who are acting in that stage in Krisna’s
pastimes. First of all we have to remember Vasudeva and Devaki. They are Krishna’s father and mother. Before that we can also take into consideration why Krishna has
decided to appear and play His pastimes here. This is because the earth became very
much burdened with the sinful activities of the demoniac people headed by Kamsa. The
mother earth could not bear the torture of Kamsa. So the mother earth went to Brahma
and pleaded to him to do something. “I could not tolerate the burden anymore’. Brahma
replied that he won’t be able to do anything because Kamsa is a very terrible person. He
said that even the demigods do not have power to do anything to put down Kamsa.
Now who is this Kamsa? Kamsa is a demon called Kalveni who was actually the son of
Hiranyksha. He was the uncle of Ravana. Kamsa performed great austerities in order to
become immortal. Putting his head down and leg upwards he offered oblations, ahuti into
the sacrificial fire to please lord Shiva. He did that many thousands of years. As a result
of this, Lord Shiva came to him and asked, ‘Kamsa, what do you want?’. Kamsa said; ‘I
want to become immortal, please bless me so that I can become immortal’. Shival
replied; ‘I can’t give you that benediction, because, in the material nature no one can
become immortal’. So indirectly Shiva told him thus, ‘okay only one person will be able
to kill you’. ‘The only person is that, the eighth son of someone who is very dear to you.
He will be the only one who can kill you,’ Shiva replied. Kamsa thought; how can a son
of my dearest one kill me?. Thinking like that he accepted the deal. Kamsa became a sort
of immortal like Hiranyakasipu and Hiranyaksha. They became immoral with the
blessings of Brahma but here Kamsa became immortal by the blessings of Lord Shiva. So
there was no one who can kill him. When mother earth along with the demigods went to
Brahma, they were reminded that nothing can be done about Kamsa but to accept the
Supreme Personality of Godhead. Then they went to Ksirodakasayi Vishnu and started to
offer prayers to Him. After hearing the prayers Ksirodakasayi Vishu woke up from His
yoganindra and enquired what has happened to them. Then the demigods headed by
Brahma told Him what had happened. He said, ‘why the demigods give all kinds of
benedictions to the demons and create disturbances on the earth planet? Then you all are
coming running to me for rescue’. So He said who is this Kamsa? I will kill him just
with the Sudarshan Chakra! Then Brahma appealed to the Lord that the Sudarshan
Chakra would not be able to kill him. ‘The only way that Kamsa can be killed is that, if
you take birth in the womb of Devaki and become her eighth son, then you will be able to
kill him’, said Brahma. So Krishna assured Brahma that He will come and also asked the
demigods to take birth on the earth planet in order to assist Him. So being instructed by
the Lord many demigods took birth on the earth before the appearance of Krishna. There
is also another underlying principle behind those instructions of Krishna.
When Krishna came to this earth planet, He gave actually the opportunities to the living
entities to develop loving relation with him and get free from the material bondage and
then go back home. From other planets one cannot get out of the material nature and go
back to the spiritual sky. Only when there will be annihilation, at the end of Brahma’s
day, some living entities may go back to the spiritual sky. Otherwise there is no way to
get out of the material nature. The only way to get out of the material nature and go back
to the spiritual sky is through this earth planet. This earth planet is like a doorway or a
gateway to the spiritual sky. So when Krishna comes to the earth planet He actually invites the qualified people, qualified living entities to take part in His pastimes and
develop loving relationship with Him and go back to Godhead.
We know that initially we perform Vaidhi bhakti. We practice devotional service. By
practicing devotional service we can develop some attachment to Krishna. But this
attachment cannot be fully developed. Unless our attachment to Krishna is fully
developed we cannot go back to the spiritual sky. Therefore when Krishna performs His
pastimes He gives us the chance, the opportunities to the living entities who are quite
qualified and developed their love for Krishna to the extent that their final attachment is
Krishna only, being fully Krishna conscious while on this earth, and then only they are
considered as qualified, to go back to the spiritual sky. So when Krishna comes to the
earth planet he allows different living entities to participate in His pastimes. Also He
brings many of His eternal associates from the spiritual sky to participate in His pastimes.
So in this way Krishna comes with the crew to play on the earth planet and also recruits
some qualified candidates to act in His pastimes, from this material nature. Some of the
demigods are recruited in Krishna’s pastimes. Just to give an example, Indra came as
Arjuna. Yamaraja came as Vidura. Vayu came as Bhima. Another expansion of
Dharmaraja was Yudhisthira. Asvinikumaras came as Nakula and Sahadeva. Laksmidevi
became Pancali or Draupadi. Similarly many demigods came and took part in the
pastimes and got qualified to go back to Godhead. So before Krishna came He
commanded some superiors to appear on the earth planet. Those who are elders- like
father and mother are Vasudeva and Devaki. Vasudeva is actually Kasyapa Muni. And
Devaki is Aditi. Rohini is called Thuri ? Another wife of Kasyapa Muni. So Kasyapa
Muni is the son of the Demigods. So he came to appear as the father of Krishna and Aditi
as the mother.
Now there is another consideration. There was some questions. Like, Parikshit Maharaja
raised. Krishna, right after his birth left Devaki and went to Nanda Maharaja’s house
because Nanda Maharaj took him there. Thus Devaki did not get the chance to take care
of Krishna as her own baby. So Parikshit Maharaja asked why Devaki, inspite of getting
the Supreme Personality of Godhead as her son, could not get the real chance to shower
her paternal affection. So in response to that, Sukadeva Goswami told to Parikshit
Maharaja that in the previous kalpa, in Treta yuga when the Lord appeared as
Ramachandra, His father Dasharatha has three wives- Kausalya, Sumitra and Kaikeyi. Sri
Rama’s mother was Kausalya. When Rama was about to be enthroned, Kaikeyi became
very envious. She was fond of Ramachandra, but she has a maidservant named Manthara
who was ugly both outside and inside and instigated Kaikeyi. She told her that since Ram
will be coronated, His mother, Kausalya will be glorified and her position will be nothing
more than a maidservant. ‘Actually your son Bharata should become the king’ she said!
Kaikeyi at first objected to that idea saying Rama is the eldest son and has the right to the
throne but Manthara continued provoking her. She said, ‘there is one way that her son
can become the crown prince and after the death of Dasaratha he can become the king’.
She reminded Kaikeyi a war in which Dasaratha was injured and was treated carefully by
Kaikeyi and saved him. Owing to that service Dasaratha gave her two boons. At that time
the boon was not taken. Now Manthara advised Kaikeyi to make use of that opportunity and ask Dasaratha. ‘With the first boon you ask Rama to be banished to the forest and as
the second boon ask Dasaratha to install Bharata as the crown prince’, she told. Similarly
Kaikeyi asked the two boons in the same way to Dasaratha.  She demanded Rama to be
banished to the forest for 14 years and wanted Bharata to become the king. Dasartha tried
many ways to make Kaikeyi understand that it is not the right thing to do! When Rama
learnt that, he volunteered to go to the forest in order to keep the vow of the father and let
Bharata become the king. When Sri Rama left for the forest, Dasaratha calling His nameRama, Rama, Rama, left his body.
After returning from the 14 years exile, Sri Rama came back and paid His obeisances to
Kaikeyi and treated her as His own mother in a very, very respectful way. She felt
embarrassed. Actually she was broken-hearted at the banishment of Rama. When Rama
treated her so nicely she expressed her only desire is to get Him as her own son at some
day. Lord Ramachandra said, ‘yes, in my next pastimes you will be my mother, but, I
won’t drink your milk’. So that’s why Kaikeyi in the Lords next pastimes as Krishna,
became Devaki. But Krishna did not drink her milk. So right after His birth, Krishna was
transported to Nandagrama, Gokula, at Nanda Maharaja’s house. Nanda Maharaja and
Yasoda treated Him as their own child there.
There is also another interesting consideration. Apparently it seemed that mother Yasoda
gave birth to a daughter and that daughter was exchanged by Vasudeva with Krishna.
Vasudeva kept Krishna in the lap of mother Yasoda and brought the daughter to the
prison of Kamsa. But Jiva Goswami pointed out in the Harivamsa and also in the
Brahmavaivarta Purana that, mother Yasoda actually gave birth to two children. One son
and one daughter. That son is Krishna and the daughter is Yogamaya. So mother Yasoda
actually gave birth to original Krishna and Vasudeva Krishna, the son of Vasudeva came
to become one with Krishna, the son of mother Yasoda. Jiva Goswami gave many proofs
to that. One proof given in this relation is that Krishna Himself said, ‘Vridavana parityaja
kadapi kuchhana’, or “I never leave Vrindavana. I always stay in Vrindavana’’. So
Krishna always stays in Vrindavana. He never leaves Vrindavana. And it’s also
mentioned that, Krishna, the son of Yasoda. Krishna the son of Nanda. Krishna the moon
of Vrindavana. So this Krishna must be the original Krishna of Vrindavan and so the
original Krishna must be the son of mother Yasoda. So mother Yasoda gave birth to a son
and that son is Krishna, but when Vasudeva brought his son, the son of Devaki, to the
house of Nandamaharaja, that Nanda Maharaja’s son Krishna- the Nandanandana
Krishna and Vasudeva Krishna became one. So the daughter was taken to the prison of
Kamsa who was Yogamaya.
Now who are these two personalities, Yasoda and Nanda- Nanda and Yasoda? A Vasu
named Drona was Nanda maharaja in his previous life. His wife was Hara who became
mother Yasoda. Now how they became the father and mother of Krishna in these
pastimes?  In the previous pastimes as Drona and Dhara they performed great austerities
in the Gangamadan mountain. They wanted to see the Supreme Personality of Godhead
Krishna. They performed many years of austerities. When Krishna did not appear, they
felt so dejected that they wanted to give up their lives. They lit a huge fire and wanted to
enter into the fire and give up their body. At that time there was an announcement from the sky that Drona and Dhara do not give up their body untimely. ‘Just be patient. You
will be able to get the Supreme Personality of Godhead as your son in due course of
time’; the voice announced. ‘When he would appear in Gokula, you will be the father and
mother’ the voice pronounced. Then Drona and Dhara became very happy and came back
to their house. In due course of time they left their body and in the next life they became
Nanda Maharaja and Yasoda. The Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krishna appeared
as their Son.
The next personality we come to know is Sri Balarama. Who is Balarama? Balarama is
Anantadeva. In Ramchandra’s pastimes Balarama was Lakshmana. When the Lord Rama
came back to Ayodhya after killing Ravana and rescuing Sita, the residents of Ayodhya
were very happy. They all glorified the Lord Ramchandra. He did a very wonderful act
that He killed Ravana. At that time the great sage Agastya Muni was there and said that
credit actually goes to Lakshmana. Everyone asked how was that possible! Sri Rama
killed Ravana and did so many wonderful deeds and rescued Sita.
Besides, it is noteworthy that Ravana’s son Meghnatha was undefeatable. No one can
defeat him. He was so powerful that even the demigods could not do anything. He was
invincible. So conquering Ravana was impossible if Meghnatha was alive. But
Meghnatha was killed by Lakshmana. Lakshmana could kill him because he was a
perfect brahmacari. Not only he was a brahmacari, for fourteen years when they were in
the forest, he did not eat anything. So the Lord Ramchandra Who is the Supreme
Personality of Godhead Who knows everything, exclaimed how was that possible? Sita
was there and one Who is a perfect Brahmacari means one who doesn’t even look at the
face of any women. Sita was there in the forest along with them and how could it be
possible he did not have looked into her face and remained as a perfect brahmacari? The
Agastya Muni replied, ‘Lakshmana did not look at the face of Sita. He all the time used
to look at her lotus feet only’. Lakshmana admitted that it was true. He always looked at
the feet of mother Sita and never looked at her face. Lord Rama said, ‘you claim that he
did not eat anything for fourteen years, but I used to share with him the fruits! How can
you say that he did not eat throughout fourteen year?’ Then Agastya Muni replied; ‘why
don’t You ask Lakhsmana himself what he did with the fruits’.
Lakshmana said, ‘when you gave me some fruits I used to keep that in the forest’. Lord
Rama said, ‘is it true? Hanuman, you go and see if the fruits were kept in the forest’.
‘Whether Lakshmana is telling the truth!’. So Hanuman went to the forest and brought all
the fruits back. At this everyone were excited. How wonderful it is that for fourteen years
he did not eat anything! Then Lord Rama said, ‘let me see whether he did not eat a single
day. He counted all the fruits and five were missing. ‘How come that five fruits are
missing? So you did not remain fasting all the fourteen years! Lord Ram told.
Lakshmana replied at this saying, ‘my Lord, you forgot to give me fruits in those five
days’. Those five days were thus the days when you got the news of our father,
Dasaratha’s death. The day Sita was stolen. The day I was struck by the saktisen of
Ravana and I was made unconscious for which state Hanuman had to bring Visalakarani
from the Gandhamadava hill and brought me back to life. The day He went to Patalaloka to kill Mahiravana. The fifth day was the day Sita was tested in the fire. So these are the
five days Lord Rama forgot to give fruits to Lakshmana. Therefore those five fruits are in
short. At this everyone started glorifying Lakshmana. Lord Rama was moved at the
sacrifice of Lakshmana and declared to make him as His elder brother in His next
pastimes. So as a result of that, in Krishna’s pastimes Lakshmana appeared as Balarama.
‘I have earlier mentioned about Radharani’, said Guru Maharaja and explained further.
Radharani is the daughter of the king Vrsabhanu. In his previous life Vrsabhanu was the
sun god Prabhakara. Prabha means radiance. Effulgence. The one who gives out light.
Who gives out the light? The sun. Therefore another name of sun is Prabhakara. Sun
wanted to have Srimati Radharani as his daughter. He performed great austerities and
ultimately the Lord blessed him that when He would come for the next pastimes with
Radharani, Radharani will appear as his daughter. That Prabhakara became the king
Vrsabhanu and his wife is Kirtida or Kalavati. Radha was born as their daughter. Now
Vrsabhanu has four other daughters.
King Krishnanu had five sons. They are: Vrsabhanu, Chandrabhanu, Subhanu,
Maharbhanu and Bhanu. These five brothers had twenty children. Vrsabhanu had two
children, one son and one daughter, Radha and Silabha. Chandrabhanu also has one son
and one daughter, ie. Subahu and Chandravali. He also gave birth to four other children.
They have names as Krishna, another friend of Krishna, Mahavali, Chitra and
Champakala. Subhanu gave birth to Basudhama, Dhaam, Manibala, Lalita and Visakha.
Bhanu gave birth to Madhumati, Kinkini, Rangadevi and Citralekha. And Mahabhanu
gave birth to Stoka Krishna, Kapila, Gandhava and Tungavidhya. These are the eight
principal gopis and twelve principal friends of Krishna. So these asthasakis are actually
Radharani’s servants. The twelve friends of Krsna are also Radharani’s servants.
Sridhama is her own brother and others are her cousins. So in this way we can see that all
the immediate members are Radharani’s family. The 8 Gopis and 12 Gopa’s are the
immediate family members of Srimati Radharani.
Rohini, the mother of Balarama gave birth to five sons. They are Balarama, Sarana,
Sauva, Durgama and Kusinatha. She also gave birth to two daughters. These daughters
are Citra and Subhadra. This Citra is not the Gopi Citra. She is Vasudeva and Rohini’s
daughter and actually the first daughter of Rohini died soon after her birth. But after
death she started to lament; that Krishna is coming to perform His pastimes and I am
going to miss that! So she wanted to come back and she appeared as Subhadra. These are
the brothers and sisters of Balarama.
There are some interesting descriptions about Radharani. Right from birth she was
extremely beautiful. Everybody could acknowledge that she is the most beautiful baby in
the world. King Vrishabhanu was very happy to have such a beautiful daughter. But they
found that the eyes of this beautiful child are not opening. They were sad that the child
was born blind although she is very beautiful. They accepted this as their destiny. In the
Vedic culture one learns to accept everything as Krishna’s arrangement. So they do not
lament much and accept everything as their destiny. They try to adjust their lives with
that, for example if someone is very poor, he accepts that as his destiny. When we read the Puranas or the Vedic literatures we can see that everything is due to some previous
arrangements. Noting happens by chance, so it is useless to try to change the destiny.
Because everything has been arranged by the divine arrangement of the Supreme, also
called the Vidhata. So the intelligent person does not take trouble to change his destiny.
On the other hand he flows with the destiny and tries to reach the ultimate goal of life.
What is the ultimate goal of life? The ultimate goal of life is to develop love for Krishna.
So the Vedic culture teaches one to flow in the stream of time to reach the lotus feet of
the Supreme Personality of Godhead Krishna. Instead of going against the current he
flows with the current and reach the ultimate goal of life. Isn’t this intelligent? In the
material nature what people do? They try to go against the current. As a result of that they
become exhausted and they do not make any progress. Did you ever try to swim against
the current? Go to the Ganga river and try that! So Vrishabhanu accepted the way his
daughter was born and gradually he was happy.
In the mean time a son was borne in the house of mother Yasoda. Mother Yasoda gave
birth to a son. They were related to each other. King Vrsabhanu and Nanda Maharaja
were close friends. There is also a noteworthy aspect. Actually Nanda Maharaja arranged
the marriage of Vrsnahanu with Kirtida. Kirtida was very, very beautiful. So one day
Nanda Maharaja went to that kingdom and saw this daughter surrounded by her friends.
He was struck at her beauty and asked others about her. They told that she is the daughter
of the king. So Nanda Maharaja went to that king.
This is also one of the very wonderful aspects of the Vedic culture. Generally if you
would see a beautiful girl, you will think to marry her, but in Vedic culture, it’s not like
that. When Nanda Maharaja saw such a beautiful girl Kirtida he thought such a beautiful
girl will be the perfect match for my friend Vrsabhanu. So he went to the king and told
him: ‘Your daughter is very beautiful. She is endowed with so many good qualities. All
the good qualities are present in her personality. You must be willing to find a perfect
husband for her. So if you want her to get married to a right person I can help you’. He
put forward the name of Vrsabhanu the son of Krishnanu and assured that he would be
the perfect husband for her daughter. This is how they were married.
Nanda Maharaja and Vrsabhanu were very very close friends. When Krisha was borne,
they got to know that Radha was also borne in the palace of Vrsabhanu. One day mother
Yasoda went along with her associates from Vrindvana to see Kritida and her daughter.
They became very happy to see the beautiful daughter of Kritida. They exchanged their
children to keep in their laps. Mother Yasoda took the daughter of Kirtida in her lap and
Kirtida took Yasoda’s son in her lap. They could see that both of them were showing
great attachment with each other. So they playfully kept both their children on the bed.
When they kept both the children on the bed they saw all of a sudden that Radha’s eyes
got opened. Actually she kept her eyes closed because actually she did not want to see
anyone else accept Krishna. She was waiting for Krishna to appear before her and then
only she opened her eyes. Everybody wondered as if this child knew some mantras.
Although the child of Kritida and Vrsabhanu was already showing wonderful qualities
this time they found their child’s eyes open and began to glorify Krishna.(Here the recordings is interrupted, for about a few minutes of lecture are missing, 45.36).
His Holiness began another chapter here. To come back to the earth planet go to
Vrindavana and do sankirtan. Sankirtan means chanting the holy name of Krishna with
genuine feeling from the heart. When you call out, O Krishna, O Gopal, it should not be
just a tongue service. It should be from the heart. We should desire really from our heart
and say; Krishna! I can’t exist without you. Then only one can develop intense
relationship and feelings for Krishna. Gopakumara was chanting in Vrindavana in that
way. So one day he fainted and fell in the river Jamuna. He became unconscious. And in
that unconscious state he saw himself sitting on a vehicle and moving in tremendous
speed. When he came back to his senses he found out himself in Goloka Vrindavan.
One devotee asked a question. What was the age at that time of Krishna and Radharani?
[Recording not clear].
Guru Maharaja replied. Generally Lord Krishna looks of the age of sixteen and Radharani
of fifteen years of age. This is their eternal age. Now appearance wise Radharani
appeared before Krishna. Let me tell about their appearance from Brahmavaivarta
Purana. In the Brahmavaivarta Purana it is described that Radharani was baby when
Krishna came and then only she opened her eyes. In the same Purana there is another
reference. One day Nanda Maharaja was tending the cows in Khandava-vana. Krishna
was on his back. At that time, by the arrangement of Krishna’s Yogamaya, there
appeared a thick cloud. Nanda Maharaja became worried, what to do! He has a child in
his lap and cows were there dispersed. He was worried whether to take care of the child
Krishna or the cows. At that time Srimati Radharani came there. There in this description,
it is given that Krishna was still a baby in his father’s lap and Radharani is fully grown
up. She was a already extremely beautiful young woman. At that time Nanda Maharaja
told Radharani what Gargamuni has told him earlier that. ‘You are Mahalaxmi Devi and
this child of mine is Narayana himself. I know that both of you are performing your
pastimes, so now please open the sky for me and let me take care of the cows’, Nanda
Maharaja said. Radharani was very pleased at Nanda Maharaja and said, ‘yes ask for any
boon’. Nanda Maharaja said, ‘give me the boon that I can always maintain my
attachment to you and to this child’. Radharani told Nanda Maharaj, ‘let that be’, and
asked him to go back with his cows. When Nanda Maharaja was gone Radharani
exhibited such intense love to this child that her whole mind was lost in this personality.
That time the little child also could not play His role properly. (Laughter among the
listeners). He appeared suddenly to a young boy of about fifteen years old and then from
the body of Radharani all the Gopis appeared, rasamandali was arranged and they enacted
their first rasa dance there. After performing the rasa dance Krishna became baby again.
Radha became very sad. Krishna became baby and gain and ‘now I won’t be able to
exchange with Him the way I wanted’, she thought. Then she heard a voice from the sky:
‘Don’t worry, every night I will come and dance with you’. ‘You will also leave your
shadow behind in your house and come to me’ the voice said.So you have to understand that actually these are Krishna’s pastimes. Krishna is not
bound by time and space like the conditioned souls. Therefore even if there appear some
contradictions and differences in the scriptures, one should take them as the truth.
In response to next questions that appear too low to understand to transcribe, His
Holiness replied : ‘Yes there is Vaikuntha liberation and if you do Navadipa parikramam,
(with the ISKCON devotees), he or she goes to Goloka Navadipa Dhaam’. Devotees of
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu will not be satisfied in Vaikuntha. They will get bored there. The
ultimate consideration of liberation is sambandha jnana. Sambandha means relationship.
Krishna manifests in three ways; Brahma, Paramatma and Bhagavan. If one understands
the absolute truth to be brahma then he will go to Brahma-loka. If someone realizes only
the Supreme Personality as the Pramatma or Supersoul, then he will attain Paramatma
liberation. Those who know the Supreme Personality of Godhead as Bhagavan and
become the devotee of that Supreme Personality they will go to Vaikuntha planet.
Generally the ultimate consideration is, if someone realizes the above they will attain the
supreme position which is beyond the material nature, but that understanding of the
Supr eme position may be impersonal, localized or their understanding may be the
supreme loving object where He allows after having developed loving relationship and
having loving exchange with Him.
Paramatma liberation is the liberation attained by the Yogis. They see the Super soul and
the Supersoul is inactive. It’s just like seeing Him as the Supreme witness Who is the
cause of everything but they don’t develop a loving relationship with Him. Vaikuntha
situation is purely a neutral mellow. There is no servitorship.
In response to another question, His Holiness said; yes some becomes trees, but the trees
in Vridavana are not in neutrality. The trees in Vrindavana are either in friendship or in
parental love. They are not in neutrality. They are not in santa rasa although they appear
like that. Actually in Vrindavana everything is moving, nothing is static. Everything is
dynamic.
The next answer to the question of a Mataji is as follows. In other ages developing love
for the Supreme Personality of Godhead was not very easy. There are two types of
liberations. One is pramamukti and the other is satyamukti- the gradual liberation and
instant liberation. The gradual liberation is like going to the higher and higher region, to
the Goloka Vrindavana. That is the consideration for the gradual liberation. Satyamukti is
when one develops his love for Krishna and then after getting his body he is already
100% purified despite of being in the material nature. Then his body is no more material
although it appears material and also situated in the earth planet. Because of his love for
Krishna, as soon as his body’s term is over he immediately goes back to Krishnaloka.
This is what is happening by Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s mercy. This is why Caitanya
Mahaprabhu’s mercy is so rare. Caitanya Mahaprabhu is allowing us to develop intense
love for Krishna directly instead of going through different stages of elevation.To the questions pertaining to not taking the teachings if Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, His
Holiness denounced saying, ‘that is the bad luck’. You get something precious but do not
make use of it then who can be blamed? Just like the other day I mentioned a story. One
king got drunk and opened his treasury and distributed his most precious jewels to
anyone and everyone who were coming there. But after getting it he did not know what is
that or doubted the value of the jewels for being handed to him for free, what can be
done! So we must understand the value of Mahaprabhu’s mission.
His Holiness appreciated another devotee’s question. It was told that Nanda Maharaja is
one of the Vasus and he became Nanda Maharaja in Krishna’s pastimes. Now isn’t
Nanda Maharaja an eternal associate of Krishna?
Yes there are two considerations. One is Krishna’s eternal associate as I mentioned.
Another consideration is that living entities get the chance to get elevated to take part in
Krishna’s pastimes. In this case the living entity who was in the material platform got the
chance to be elevated to Goloka Vrindavana. This Drona was not the original Nanda
Maharaja of Vrindavana. He got the chance to play the role of Nanda Maharaja in
Krishna’s pastimes in Vrindavan. In the spiritual sky many personalities can be one and
one personality can be many. It is inconceivable. Nanda Maharaja is the eternal father of
Krishna and Drona also got the position of Nanda Maharaja. Original Nanda Maharaja
also came and they became one. Before elaborating much on ‘merging’ I want to mention
that these merging of the different personalities is not like merging into the Supreme
Brahman. One must be pure in mind to understand this. Similarly we can see that the
Gopis are also culminated from different personalities, if we see from the material point
of view. But at the same time the Gopis are the eternal associated of the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, Krishna. How do we reconcile that? We have to understand this
from the scriptures although it’s beyond our conception.
There are personalities with the same names. Name may be the same but the personalities
are different. Like Arjuna, there is Arjuna in Vrindavana as the cowherd friend of
Krishna and not the son of Pandu.
Gopa-kumara was going to higher planets, or higher position. That has been described in
the Bhagavatam. Since his position in relation to Krishna in Dwaraka was not in that kind
or relation, he was not satisfied with that. Krishna was there with him. Although Krishna
showed to himself as the cowherd boy and Laksmidevi as Radharani, or to say, although
Gopakumara saw Krishna in that Vrindavana way, but still he was not satisfied. Until the
time he reached Vrindavana he was not satisfied. So that is the indication of where our
eternal relationship is. A better example of this is about Anupama, Jiva Goswami’s
father, Rupa Goswami’s brother. Rupa Goswami and Sanatana Goswami to Anupama,
who was Rama bhakta, to become the devotee of Krishna. They explained why it is better
to become the devotee of Krishna. Anupama asked for one night to think it over.
Throughout the night he thought about it and next morning he went to Rupa and Sanatana
and said, ‘please forgive me. I can’t give up my devotion to Sri Rama’. Here we have to
understand that his eternal relation will be with Lord Rama only.   In Chaitanya
Caritamrita we can find in that respect, that in whatever mellow one is; that is for him the highest. He considers that to be the highest. If someone’s original relationship is in
neutrality, he considers that to be the highest. If someone’s original relationship is
conjugal or servitorship etc, the respective mellow will be considered the highest.
Referring to another question, His Holiness said over the gradual elevation- Sadamukti
Just like, you can take an airplane to travel overland. When you travel overland, you will
be going across different places and levels. When you go by plane you go direct. So the
sadamukti is just like taking a flight.
On Mahaprabhu’s special mercy. Mahaprabhu’s special mercy is that if you practice, or if
you follow instructions given in the Gaudiya Vaisna Sampradaya, in this body itself, in
this lifetime you can achieve the goal of life. Because, the ultimate consideration is to
develop the love for Krishna. And Caitanya Mahaprabhu has directly given that love. So
whoever develops that genuine love for Krishna will go back to Vrindavana or Goloka
Navadipa Dhaam.
On Krsna’s pastimes. The original Supreme Personality of Godhead Krishna’s pastimes
was enacted in the earth planet of every universe. Every universe has 14 planetary
systems. Every universe has the middle planet, the earth planet. Krishna enacted His
pastimes in every universe’s earth planet. Bhurloka, Bhuvarloka, Swarloka, Maharloka,
Janaloka, Tapaloka are the upper plants. The lower planets are Tala, Atala, Bitala, Sutala,
Rasatala, Mahartaal and Patala. The middle one is the Bhurloka and that Bhurloka is the
earth planet. And in every earth planet there is a place called Bharatvarsa. In that
Bharatvarsa there is a place called Vrindavana. Lord Krishna comes and takes pleasure in
His pastimes there.
So I will stop now. Thank you all very much. Jay Srila Prabhupada