BBT press release

The “annotated scans” for Chapter Nine of Bhagavad-gita As It Is are now online atwww.BBTedit.com/changes.

The scans for this chapter are the latest in a series that shows all the revisions done for the transliterations, word meanings, and purports of the second edition. Nearly every revision also has a note explaining why it was done, along with an image from the BBT’s oldest manuscripts, allowing you to verify the history for yourself.

Jayadvaita Swami did his revisions for the second edition on a physical copy of the first edition. The scans show that copy. (Revisions to the translations aren’t shown, because he edited them separately, not in the book itself.) Each chapter forms one downloadable pdf file.

The scans for this chapter give you much to see.

You’ll see the extensive first paragraph to 9.26 (patram puspam phalam toyam). This paragraph appeared in the 1968 abridged edition, and devotees often relished and quoted it, especially its memorable line “Who is such a fool that he does not want to be Krsna conscious by this simple method?” In the 1972 edition this paragraph was left out. In the 1983 edition it has been restored.

You’ll see twenty-six of Srila Prabhupada’s Sanskrit quotations recovered (seven in the purport to text 2 alone).

You’ll see several places where the 1972 edition includes Srila Prabhupada’s explanation for a Sanskrit word but leaves out the word he is explaining — and the second edition restores the missing word. (For example:avasam in the purport to text 8, udasinavat in text 9, and vyapasritya in text 32.)

You’ll find out about new translations the original editor pasted into the manuscript over Srila Prabhupada’s (and see examples).

You’ll also see the thirteen verses for which the original word-for-word meanings were done by a BBT Sanskrit editor, not by Srila Prabhupada himself.

Apart from images for specific changes, the scans for this chapter include thirteen complete sample pages from the original manuscripts, including four pages showing those BBT-supplied word-for-word meanings.

Whether you’re for “the changes,” against them, or neutral, here’s another opportunity to see what the changes actually are.

For devotees who have been critical of the second edition but are thoughtful and open-minded, the scans for this chapter provide ample food for thought.

See for yourself in the annotated scans for Chapter Nine, now online at www.BBTedit.com/changes.

The changes for the Preface, the Introduction, and the previous chapters are already online, on that same page.

Source:http://www.jswami.info/gita-chapter-nine-annotated-scans/

Bold and Beautiful, TOVP
An emblem of Srila Prabhupada’s boldness.

Srila Prabhupada founded the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) when he was 70 years old and spread it throughout the world in the next 12 years. He obviously had numerous attractive qualities, both as a person and as a leader. One that continues to amaze, inspire, and guide his followers was his sensational boldness. Srila Prabhupada's boldness changed the course of world history.

When Prabhupada started his work in the USA in the 1960s, traditional religious institutions no longer held firm sway on the newer generations of the western world. Materialism and even outright hedonism was beginning to capture the hearts of the masses there.  The western world was fast moving towards a completely godless state of existence; the rest of the world would have followed suit shortly. Prabhupada reintroduced the western world to God - a stunningly beautiful blue teenage jolly cowherd boy who plays a flute and constantly engages in delightful pastimes of selfless love and affection with all the inhabitants, including birds and animals, of His simple rural village named Vrindavan. In an increasingly materialistic, self-centered, urbanized, and anti-god western society, this picture of God was a shocking revelation. But Prabhupada's bold conviction in his message made people start believing in it - to engage in pure devotional service to God, Krishna. 

The TOVP is an emblem of Srila Prahbupada’s boldness.

The Bold Lonely Struggle

One can trace back Prabhupada's boldness to his first meeting in 1922 with His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta startled the then 26 year old Gandhian Indian nationalist Abhay Charan De by his bold proclamation: temporary material situations like the British rule over India should not impede the preaching of Lord Chaitanya’s spiritual message; only this message can benefit the world and not any political situation. In an India engulfed by arousing nationalistic fervor, this was a stunning proposition; but Prabhupada was convinced.

Prabhupada later became an initiated disciple of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta and imbibed from him this trait of boldness. Prabhupada was bold in multiple ways - personally, as a visionary, and as a strategist. In the 1950s, he made the bold decision of leaving his family to dedicate himself fully to the order of his spiritual master – to preach Lord Chaitanya’s message in English all over the world. This period, the 1950s, was Prabhupada’s toughest in terms of food, clothing, and shelter. Brought up with utmost love and care by his parents and always treated affectionately by his spiritual master, now Prabhupada found that he was all alone. Yet he struggled on, shuttling between Vrindavan and Delhi, to raise funds for, write, and print his “Back To Godhead” fortnightly journal and his commentary on the first canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam. It is impossible to fathom how this unknown aged man continued on without any fixed source of money, contacts, institutional backing, or certainty about the future. We can but bow our heads in the dust of his lotus feet and profusely thank him for his struggles for bringing us to the path of Krishna Consciousness.

This period of struggle ended in an unprecedented event in world history – a voyage that could eventually become as famous as Columbus’s voyage that led to the discovery of the New World. Columbus brought the western world into light; Prabhupada’s voyage brought spiritual light to the western world. Prabhupada’s voyage to USA on the cargo ship Jaladuta and his subsequent success are unparalleled in the history of Vaishnavism. The voyage was a bold move on multiple counts. One, traditional Vedic wisdom prohibits one to leave the shores of the holy land of India. And two, Prabhupada was 69 years old then, with no financial or social support whatsoever.

Taking on the World

Prabhupada’s conviction in his mission gradually earned him his first few followers in the USA. He finally had hands to execute his mission. When all he had was a single storefront, he painted the vision of an international society. He called it a society for Krishna Consciousness when no one in the west knew that Krishna is God. He startled the western world by Hari Nama Sankirtans - street processions having devotees chanting and dancing to the beats of hand cymbals and drums with banners of the Holy Name in hand. The biggest and most eye catching street processions were of course the Lord Jagannath Ratha Yatras which he conducted in major cities of the world. Perhaps his boldest and most socially noticeable move was to have devotees publicly and visibly distribute his books in major public places like airports. His vision was clear – to wake up the people of the world to Krishna by aggressive propaganda via books and sankirtan.

In his books he presented Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead along with his Holy Name, form, qualities, and pastimes. But in many of his conversations with eminent philosophers and scientists he used a distinct strategy - he challenged them. Quoting from authoritative Vedic scriptures and applying simple logic, he questioned and reprimanded those who proclaimed God to be impersonal and denied His eternal form and abode. He gave the Vedic perspective on the various western philosophies he came across. And most notably, he exposed the illogicality and futility of the mechanistic explanation of the cosmos and all that’s in it. This was a direct challenge to the growing atheistic scientific worldview. Despite not having a scientific academic background, he boldly ridiculed atheistic reductionist science based on his simple and firm faith in the word of scripture. To ensure that this challenge didn’t fizzle away, he started the Bhaktivedanta Institute as the scientific wing of ISKCON. While the whole world was glorifying the dazzling advancements in the scientific world, Prabhupada belittled them as being incapable of solving the real problems of life – birth, old age, disease, and death.

Prabhupada's expert application of the principle of yukta vairagya was instrumental in his spectacular success.  Because Srila Prabhupada was a pure devotee, Krishna was the most tangible reality for him; in fact he was in full realization of the fact that Krishna is the only independent reality and that all else depends on Him. Consequently he had the flair of engaging everything in Krishna’s service. He was the quintessential yukta vairagi. Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé characterizes Kåñëa consciousness in this way:

anäsaktasya viñayän
yathärham upayuïjataù
nirbandhaù kåñëa-sambandhe
yuktaà vairägyam ucyate

"When one is not attached to anything, but at the same time accepts everything in relation to Kåñëa, one is rightly situated above possessiveness. [This is the principle of yukta vairagya]" (Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu 1.2.255)

Money, technology, world travel, mass media, public programs - he used them all with assured confidence. What’s more, he engaged the most unkempt drug addicts on one hand and attracted sophisticated scientists and professors on the other. It takes extraordinary ability to engage the most spiritually unqualified and ignorant in the Lord’s service. And it takes courage. The result was a Hare Krishna explosion. Hare Krishna became household names, hundreds of youth became his followers, millions of spiritual books were sold, and a hundred temples were built.  Lord Chaitanya’s movement left the shores of India; Prabhupada fulfilled the order of his spiritual master.

Succession of Boldness

Srila Prabhupada expected his followers to have faith in the Holy Name and continue preaching the message of Lord Chaitanya boldly. Being bold is hard; it takes courage to take significant and potentially life threatening risks. However, the tales of Srila Prabhupada’s personal struggles, his life threatening voyage to the west, and untiring hard work despite advanced old age serve as continuous inspiration for his sincere followers. Riding on this inspiration, his followers continue to operate even in remote corners of the globe, in hostile countries like the Islamic and communist nations, in the hearts of modern cities, and in many other parts of the world. Many of his disciples and grand-disciples lead a hectic life full of inconveniences to carry forward his legacy. This succession of boldness and dedication is one of Srila Prabhupada’s hallmarks of success; a true leader is one who creates more leaders.

Prabhupada has also given a life of dignity and confidence to all his followers. Without a thriving and united community of devotees, it would have been difficult for devotees to practice devotional life in today’s increasingly godless modern world. But thanks to ISKCON, devotees in devotional attire are now an increasingly common site in various parts of the world. This is also due to the strong scriptural and logical foundation that Prabhupada has provided for all aspects of a devotee’s life. Now a devotee does not need to be apologetic about his devotional practices. In fact many times a devotee’s acquaintances look up to him or her for guidance regarding various aspects of their life.

As a token of gratitude, to fulfil one of his ardent desires, and as a stunningly courageous undertaking, Srila Prabhupada’s followers are constructing the magnificent TOVP.

Bold and Beautiful

The three giant domes of the TOVP will be structurally complete by the end of 2015. This will include the concreting layer on top of the steel superstructure of the domes. By then, the entire superstructure of the temple building including the external brickwork will also be done. The domes will be layered with vitrified tiles of a unique shade of blue. Tiles of this color are available nowhere in the world. The NITCO company will specially manufacture these tiles for the TOVP. These tiles will start arriving at the site shortly. The MEP (Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing) work for both infrastructure and interior needs will start in 2015. For example, lightening arresters (devices used to protect against the damage caused by lightening) have arrived on the site. There will be one special lightening arrester on each of the three domes and 40 others at various places on the site. The waterproofing is complete. Work on other services like fire-fighting, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning will also start now. The ground floor of the building is now leveled; in one way this milestone signifies that the super structure is now more or less done. On the aesthetic side, the sandstone carving work will now start.

While Prabhupada’s personal boldness is seen in his followers, his visionary and strategic boldness is evident in the TOVP. One of Prabhupada’s preaching strategies was to just encourage people to come to Mayapur so that their spiritual life will start. Additionally, one of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur’s prominent visions was to see people from different parts of the world throng to Mayapur and participate in the congregational chanting of the Holy Name. There are multiple bold elements in the construction of the TOVP which are meant to attract the people of the world to Mayapur.

The most obvious is its scale. The huge central dome will be the biggest dome in the world in terms of diameter and only second in terms of height after the Saint Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. Building it was an architectural challenge which the team of architects has now addressed satisfactorily.  While there are other huge temple complexes in the world like the Meenakshi Temple in Madurai, India (180,000 sq. mt.) and the Angkor Wat in Cambodia, no other temple boasts as large a temple hall as the TOVP. Under the shelter of the structurally sound central dome, the TOVP temple hall will be 45000 sq. ft. in area and will hold 10000 pilgrims. Extending Srila Prabhupada’s application of the yukta viaragya principle, a lot of modern technology will be employed in this project. For example, the central dome will be acoustically designed for facilitating discourses within it for the 10000 pilgrims inside it. The decorative coffered ceiling of the central dome is also another major execution challenge that the team is currently working on. On top of the central dome, even above the kalash, will be housed a beautiful Sudarshan Chakra whose diameter will be 4m. A gong will be installed inside the temple that will be heard as far as the town of Krishnanagar, a straight line distance of 12km from Mayapur.

Impersonalism and atheistic science are two streams of thought that Prabhupada repeatedly attacked in his books and conversations. The TOVP continues that trend. Building of a grand temple of Lord Krishna focused on elaborate deity worship and devotional lifestyle directly challenges the impersonal conceptions of the Absolute Truth; it establishes the Absolute Truth as Sri Krishna – the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the source of everything. Consequently, the TOVP also rejects the mechanistic atheistic explanations of the cosmos and all that’s in it. What’s more, it also presents the Vedic view of the structure of the universe, most notably in the form of the ambitious chandelier that will hang down from the central dome. This chandelier will be a moving model of the Vedic explanation of the structure of the universe. To amalgamate the function of a chandelier (a decorative device of lighting) with the function of a scientific model of the universe (to explain its different aspects) into one single electro-mechanical structure is quite a design challenge.

Being aware of the large amount of money required for building something so grand, just to attempt it is a statement of utmost faith in Srila Prabhupada’s vision. Centuries ago wealthy kings used to fund the construction of large temples, but not today. Today funds are raised by requesting for them from potential donors. It’s a joint effort by the well-wishers of the project. Even when he did not have the required funds, Prabhupada had promised Sri Sri Radha Rasabihari of the Juhu (Bombay) ISKCON Temple that he would build a palace for them; he did. Similarly, the followers of Srila Prabhupada have promised him the building of the TOVP; with the cooperation of his worldwide followers, this promise will soon become a reality.

The superstructure of the TOVP already looks beautiful from Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur’s house across the Ganga. The striking blue color of its domes is an aesthetically bold choice too. The interior and exterior beauty of the TOVP will capture the hearts of its visitors. But the real beauty of the TOVP lies in its special place in the history of Gaudiya Vaishnavism; it will make Gaudiya Vaishnavism prominent on the world’s spiritual map.

An Emblem of Boldness

Srila Prabhupada was the perfect sadhu.

titikñavaù käruëikäù
suhådaù sarva-dehinäm
ajäta-çatravaù çäntäù
sädhavaù sädhu-bhüñaëäù

The symptoms of a sädhu are that he is tolerant, merciful and friendly to all living entities. He has no enemies, he is peaceful, he abides by the scriptures, and all his characteristics are sublime.

—Çrémad-Bhägavatam 3.25.21

All ornaments of a sadhu decorated Srila Prabhupada. He left Vrindavan to give Krishna to the world because he was not satisfied with just his own liberation – that was his compassion. He faced so many impediments and so much opposition along the way but he tolerated it all for the sake of Lord Chaitanya’s mission. This combination of intense compassion and utmost tolerance was the recipe of his stunning boldness.

The TOVP will serve as an emblem of Srila Prabhupada’s boldness for generations to come.

Source:http://thebandwagonofmoltengold.blogspot.in/2015/08/bold-and-beautiful-tovp.html

On this day (13th August), 50 years ago, an unassuming mendicant stepped onto a cargo ship with practically nothing, and set off for America. It was a humble but historic beginning.

Dear Srila Prabhupada,

You were the local sadhu, the unassuming resident of Vrindavana, humbly residing at your simple but tranquil quarters at Radha Damodara Temple. Then you journeyed to the godforsaken Bowery and lived alongside buzzing acidheads, bearded bohemians, ruined alcoholics and disillusioned dropouts. People were shocked at your strategic relocation to the skid row of New York, but in those alien surroundings you were completely at peace. You were always living with Krishna, living with the order of Guru, and therefore everywhere was home for you. Who can understand your consciousness?

You were a streetwise manager, practical and bold, one step ahead, and as sharp as a saw. “In two things never be shy” you often said, “business and eating!” Yet you were simultaneously a complete saint, generous and kind, fanning the spark without calculation and compassionately bringing out the best in others. You extended yourself beyond the call of duty, regardless of mistakes, weakness or deviation. Who can understand your heart?

You unflinchingly called rich industrialists ‘thieves,’ established scientists ‘rascals,’ and influential politicians ‘demoniac.’ Your speech was often harder than a thunderbolt. Yet you embodied deep humility, offered all credit to your guru, and shed tears of gratitude while thanking your disciples for their sincere endeavours to help. You were, without a doubt, softer than a rose. Who can understand your character?

You lived such a public life – thousands of lectures, hours of meetings, streams of interviews and endless conversations. You were followed, recorded and videoed for most hours of the day. In the glaring spotlight, and found to be completely spotless. Yet your internal life was profound beyond comprehension. In the solitude of the morning hours you bathed in the scriptures, availed of the saintly association of our predecessors, and connected so deeply with the holy names of Krishna. You were in constant communion with God. Who can understand your devotion?

You were grave and serious, chaste and uncompromising. You never fell short of conveying the absolute truth, exposing the material phantasmagoria time and time again. Yet at the same time you knew how to laugh, a sense of humour which had an appreciation for Charlie Chaplain sketches and the amusing statements of Birbal. Full of joy, you showed how to practice spiritual life with a smile. Who can understand your shining personality?

The list goes on… forever and ever. The typing stops here, but my mind is still churning the paradoxical facets of your remarkable personality.

Where there is substantial service, sacrifice, seriousness and sincerity… that’s where we meet you. The spiritual master lives forever in his instructions, and the follower lives with him. I’m praying for the day when I’ll wholeheartedly serve you without hesitancy or resistance. No holding back. Then I have the firm conviction you will call me, and I will see you… face to face – the perfection of life. When oh when.

Source:http://sutapamonk.blogspot.in/2015/08/divine-grace.html

Congratulations to Vrinda devi Sheth and her mother Annapurna Johannson, illustrator, on the launch of their first book in the trilogy, Sita’s Fire. The first book, Shadows of the Sun Dynasty, is now available for sale through Amazon.com or with the publisher. The mother-daughter team have pushed their individual crafts to their limits to invite every reader into this magical world.

There will be a launch party here in Gainesville on Saturday, August 27, 2016. For details about the mantra and dance concert, as well as to purchase the book, please visit: https://tickets.brightstarevents.com/event/sitasfire-fl

Here is praise of the book from a renowned scholar & author, Krishna Dharma, author of “The Ramayana: India’s Immortal Tale of Adventure, Love, and Wisdom”: “Vrinda Sheth’s brand new retelling of the Ramayana brings the great epic vividly to life. She weaves an insightful story around the original narrative, plunging us deeply into the drama filled lives of its many fascinating characters. A highly entertaining read that never loses sight of the profound spiritual themes that run through the revered classic. Moving and uplifting. I can hardly wait for the next two volumes.”

Source:http://alachuatemple.com/sitas-fire-book-launch/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss

We all like a good story. It makes our day, inspires our heart, and we experience a gamut of emotions. When it comes to Krishna’s birth story He doesn’t disappoint. In Sanskrit, stories about God are called Lila. This is to remind us that His stories are not of the world, although sometimes taking place in the world.
There are many reasons Krishna comes here, and they converge, layer upon layer, story upon story, to create ”Lila”. For his birth Lila, Janmastami, we’ll pick up the action in the prison house of Kamsa, a paranoid selfish king, who created seriously dangerous conditions for the citizens of the world. Krishna’s parents, Vasudeva and Devaki, were imprisoned there – part of Kamsa’s reign of terror as prophecy told that their child would be the ruin of Kamsa. When it was time for Krishna’s birth, his mother was more beautiful than ever before and Kamsa, who was waiting to kill the child, knew that this was the one. His time of waiting was over, and he had his target under lock and key.
The saying “If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans” is appropriate here. And Krishna says in the Gita, “Of cheaters, I am the greatest cheat.” So while Kamsa was sleeping, Krishna took birth quietly in the darkness of the midnight hour. To protect Him from Kamsa he was concealed in a basket and taken from the prison, carried across a wild and raging river, and brought to a small village called Gokul. There he was exchanged with a baby girl; she was returned to the prison house.
The baby girl, of course, was no ordinary one. This was Yogamaya, the powerful energy of Krishna. The following day, when Kamsa came to claim the newborn, she was ready. Being so fearful that this was the child who was destined to kill him, he took her from her mother and got ready to smash the delicate child on the ground. But Yogamaya slipped from his hands, took on her real form, and told Kamsa the real Krishna was elsewhere. Krishna was safe, Kamsa was devastated, and his parents elated.
More than just coming to remove the pride of the foolishly arrogant and greedy rulers, Krishna comes to delight, rescue, entertain and enliven his devotees. To those who depend on Him he brings Himself into their lives in thrilling scenes of last minute rescues and dramatic endings. This churns emotions and pulls the hearts of all who love Him. And we are also brought into these Lilas just by our very listening to them, our reflection and appreciation of them, and our growing affection for them.
Janmastami comes but once a year, but if we let the Lila sink in we can access the relationship that’s open to us with Krishna long after the bells are quiet and the midnight songs are sung. Being part of Krishna’s story will bring light and sunshine into our own. That’s the power of Lila.

Source:http://www.dandavats.com/?p=30524

For most of the Croatian people (or as they call themselves, Hrvati) when it comes to defining their origins and tracing their ancient roots they turn towards the land of Iran and Persia. According to academia the name Hrvatcomes from Hrovat which comes from the Slavic Horvat which originates from the Indo/Slavic Harvat and which is ultimately traced to Persia and the name Harahvaiti.

Harahvaiti however, is the corrupted name of Sarasvati, the great Vedic Goddess, the Mother of Sanskrit, the great river of the Rig Veda and the Goddess of learning. The Persians had a tendency to replace a Sanskrit ‘S’ with a Persian ‘H’, and so the word Haravaiti is actually Sarasvati.

This tendency can be seen in their word for ‘week’, hapta, which is in the Sanskrit sapta meaning week. Their name for the ‘Sun’,Hvar, is the Sanskrit Svar meaning the same. In the Avestan we find the seven rivers of the Aryan land are described as hapta hendu, an obvious corruption of sapta sindhu, the seven rivers of India. Finally there are the rivers of Iran, Haravaiti and Harayu which are the Vedic rivers of Sarasvati and Sarayu. And so if the name of Croat (Hrvat) comes from Harvat and this in turn comes from Harahvaiti, we must conclude that the source isSarasvati.

Sarasvati is one of many words which are cognate with the Croatian language.

Med is a Croatian word meaning honey and this comes from the Sanskrit Madhu, a name for Krsna. The RussianMedvedev and the Croatian Medvjed both mean ‘honey eater’ a name for the bear and they both come from the Sanskrit Madhava, a name for Krsna which means ‘he who intoxicates like honey’. Below are some of the many similarities which are shared between the Sanskrit and Croatian language.

Source:http://www.sutrajournal.com/sanskrit-in-croatia-from-sarasvati-to-hrvati-by-james-cooper

The Jhulan yatra festival celebrates Radha and Krishna’s pastime of sitting on a swing. Deities are brought out and given a swing to sit on and in temples around the world devotees wait patiently in a queue and take turns  swing Their Lordships.

The Hari-bhakti-vilasa mentions the swing festival saying the devotees should please Radha and Krishna by applying sandalwood on their body, fanning then with chamara, decorating them with jeweled necklaces, offering palatable foodstuffs, and bringing them out to swing Him in the pleasant moonlight.

The swing festival is currently taking place in Brisbane, Murwillumbah, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth temples, as well as ISKCON temples around the world. Hurry down and have your turn to personally please Radha and Krishna by pushing them in the swing.

Source:http://brihadmrdanga.com/2016/08/jhulan-yatra/

THE Hare Krishnas don’t need an excuse to party. Joyful celebration is a sacred feature of their devotional practices, ordained by the Supreme Lord Krishna thousands of years ago in the Bhagavad-Gita.

But it was the society’s 50th birthday recently – and that calls for a special shindig.

The community in Murwillumbah rose to the occasion, with 1800 guests, a hand-pulled chariot, dancing, feasting, chanting and music, the performers projected onto a giant screen befitting a jam-packed rock concert.

The search for something spiritual

Inwardly, he was still looking. It was only when he read Swami Prabhupada’s books that he had his “aha” moment, struck by the authenticity.

“I came across the word ‘unfortunate’ describing the people of the present age and I thought that was kind of a gentle word… another way of saying they were atheistic or godless,” he says.

Meeting Prabhupada signalled the end of his search: “I felt that, philosophically at least, this was the right course.”

But he didn’t adopt the lifestyle immediately.

“It’s not an easy thing to do, not an easy discipline,” he says.

“It took me over a year to become a committed missionary. I accepted the philosophy but I wasn’t going to preach. If I hadn’t gone to London in 1969, I probably wouldn’t have done it at all.”

Meeting the Beatles

In London he met Beatles guitarist George Harrison and recorded the Hare Krishna chant at the band’s Apple Studios.

Meanwhile, the movement was “exploding” all over the world.

Harrison gave money to set up the British temple in Hertfordshire and remained a friend of Mukunda’s, whose current home at Eungella near Murwillumbah is called Harrison House.

Settling down in the Tweed

After decades of travelling and spreading the message as the Hare’s communications officer, he has finally settled down, retired.

Has he found what he was looking for? “I think so. I feel very satisfied that this is a deep philosophy,” he says.

But his devotion and practices continue to deepen and the spiritual challenges continue.

“In Krishna Consciousness we think there’s a devilish mentality inside every individual.

“It’s not like ‘the devil made me do it’, but buried within the self… a very strong pull towards material energy which makes it difficult to have a realisation of the supreme personality,” he says.

“It’s still there (in me). It’s a constant struggle to overcome the impurities in the heart.”

And is it possible to achieve a state of complete purity?

“It is,” Mukunda says, “otherwise it would be a zero sum game.”

The basic tenet of the Hare Krishnas is that we’re not the physical body and that we’re all a part of God.

“The Hare Krishnas encourage people to love God better, whatever you choose to call god, and be more sincere to whatever they adhere to and to show compassion to all, including all animals.

“It’s non-sectarian and it’s not even a religion. Srila Prabhupads called it a cultural movement for the respiritualisation of society.”

His devotion and practice over the years has deepened, and what he’s starting to realise more and more is that it’s non sectarian.

Reflecting on the movement’s birthday, he says: “The 50th year is a turning point in a person’s life and glorified in marriages, anniversaries.

“At the time I signed the first document I had no idea it was going to expand and be anything like it is now.

“I was a founder… but it would have taken off even if I hadn’t been there.”

Source: http://goo.gl/6Ebwm2

Today marks the auspicious appearance of Lord Balaram. We honor it with a half day fast and celebration. Our post today includes a few select excerpts, as well as a slide show on images of Sri Balarama in various pastimes.

…Mahā-Viṣṇu is actually an expansion of Balarāma, who is Kṛṣṇa’s first expansion and, in the Vṛndāvana pastimes, His brother. In the mahā-mantra-Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare-the word Rāma refers to Balarāma. Since Lord Nityānanda is an expansion of Balarāma, Rāma also refers to Lord Nityānanda. Thus Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Rāma addresses not only Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma but Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityānanda as well. (from Introduction to Sri Caitanya-caritamrta 1975 Edition)

…Amongst various names of the relatives, the name of Rāma or Balarāma, eldest brother of Lord Kṛṣṇa, is added with the words “the Personality of Godhead” because Lord Balarāma is the immediate expansion of viṣṇu-tattva as prakāśa-vigraha of Lord Kṛṣṇa. The Supreme Lord, although one without a second, expands Himself as many other living beings. The viṣṇu-tattva living beings are expansions of the Supreme Lord, and all of them are qualitatively and quantitatively equal with the Lord. But expansions of the jīva-śakti, the category of the ordinary living beings, are not at all equal with the Lord. One who considers the jīva-śakti and the viṣṇu-tattva to be on an equal level is considered a condemned soul of the world. Śrī Rāma, or Balarāma, is the protector of the devotees of the Lord. Baladeva acts as the spiritual master of all devotees, and by His causeless mercy the fallen souls are delivered. Śrī Baladeva appeared as Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu during the advent of Lord Caitanya, and the great Lord Nityānanda Prabhu exhibited His causeless mercy by delivering a pair of extremely fallen souls, namely Jagāi and Mādhāi. Therefore it is particularly mentioned herein that Balarāma is the protector of the devotees of the Lord. By His divine grace only one can approach the Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and thus Śrī Balarāma is the mercy incarnation of the Lord, manifested as the spiritual master, the savior of the pure devotees. (from purport to SB 1.14.29)

Source:https://theharekrishnamovement.org/2016/08/17/lord-balarams-appearance-day/

Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead, along with Balarāma, played like a human being, and so masked He performed many superhuman acts. (SB 1.1.20)

Full Text and purport

Srimad Bhagavatam
By His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Canto One, Chapter 1, Text 20

kṛtavān kila karmāṇi
saha rāmeṇa keśavaḥ
atimartyāni bhagavān
gūḍhaḥ kapaṭa-mānuṣaḥ

kṛtavān—done by; kila—what; karmāṇi—acts; saha—along with; rāmeṇa—Balarāma; keśavaḥ—Śrī Kṛṣṇa; atimartyāni—superhuman; bhagavān—the Personality of Godhead; gūḍhaḥ—masked as; kapaṭa—apparently; mānuṣaḥ—human being.

TRANSLATION

Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead, along with Balarāma, played like a human being, and so masked He performed many superhuman acts.

PURPORT

The doctrines of anthropomorphism and zoomorphism are never applicable to Śrī Kṛṣṇa, or the Personality of Godhead. The theory that a man becomes God by dint of penance and austerities is very much rampant nowadays, especially in India. Since Lord Rāma, Lord Kṛṣṇa and Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu were detected by the sages and saints to be the Personality of Godhead as indicated in revealed scriptures, many unscrupulous men have created their own incarnations. This process of concocting an incarnation of God has become an ordinary business, especially in Bengal. Any popular personality with a few traits of mystic powers will display some feat of jugglery and easily become an incarnation of Godhead by popular vote. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa was not that type of incarnation. He was actually the Personality of Godhead from the very beginning of His appearance. He appeared before His so-called mother as four-armed Viṣṇu. Then, at the request of the mother, He became like a human child and at once left her for another devotee at Gokula, where He was accepted as the son of Nanda Mahārāja and Yaśodā Mātā. Similarly, Śrī Baladeva, the counterpart of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, was also considered a human child born of another wife of Śrī Vasudeva. In Bhagavad-gītā, the Lord says that His birth and deeds are transcendental and that anyone who is so fortunate as to know the transcendental nature of His birth and deeds will at once become liberated and eligible to return to the kingdom of God. So knowledge of the transcendental nature of the birth and deeds of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is sufficient for liberation. In the Bhāgavatam, the transcendental nature of the Lord is described in nine cantos, and in the Tenth Canto His specific pastimes are taken up. All this becomes known as one’s reading of this literature progresses. It is important to note here, however, that the Lord exhibited His divinity even from the lap of His mother, that His deeds are all superhuman (He lifted Govardhana Hill at the age of seven), and that all these acts definitely prove Him to be actually the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Yet, due to His mystic covering, He was always accepted as an ordinary human child by His so-called father and mother and other relatives. Whenever some herculean task was performed by Him, the father and mother took it otherwise. And they remained satisfied with unflinching filial love for their son. As such, the sages of Naimiṣāraṇya describe Him as apparently resembling a human being, but actually He is the Supreme Almighty Personality of Godhead.

Source:https://theharekrishnamovement.org/2016/08/17/lord-balarama/

Gargamuni said: This child, the son of Rohini, will give all happiness to His relatives and friends by His transcendental qualities. Therefore He will be known as Rama. And because He will manifest extraordinary bodily strength, He will also be known as Bala. Moreover, because He unites two families—Vasudeva’s family and the family of Nanda Maharaja—He will be known as Sankarnana.

sri-garga uvaca
ayam hi rohini-putro
ramayan suhrdo gunaih
akhyasyate rama iti
baladhikyad balam viduh
yadunam aprthag-bhavat
sankarnanam usanty api

PURPORT

Baladeva was actually the son of Devaki, but He was transferred from Devaki’s womb to that of Rohini. This fact was not disclosed. According to a statement in the Hari-vamsa:

pratyuvaca tato ramah
sarvams tan abhitah sthitan
yadavenv api sarvenu
bhavanto mama vallabhah

Gargamuni did disclose to Nanda Maharaja that Balarama would be known as Sankarnana because of uniting two families—the yadu-vamsa and the vamsa of Nanda Maharaja—one of which was known as knatriya and the other as vaisya. Both families had the same original forefather, the only difference being that Nanda Maharaja was born of a vaisya wife whereas Vasudeva was born of a knatriya wife. Later, Nanda Maharaja married a vaisya wife, and Vasudeva married a knatriya wife. So although the families of Nanda Maharaja and Vasudeva both came from the same father, they were divided as knatriya and vaisya. Now Baladeva united them, and therefore He was known as Sankarnana.

Lecture begins:

Radhanath Swami warns, “Do Not Be Attracted to Maya”

Today is a beautiful night where we have all come together at Sri Radha Gopinath mandir to celebrate the very auspicious event of the descent of Krishna’s original expansion, Baladev into this world. Supreme Personality of Godhead is unborn, the source of everything and the cause of all causes. But He creates this material existence as a facility for those who want to enjoy separate from Himself. And therefore the three modes of material nature have created innumerable ways in which we can intoxicate and infatuate our minds and forget our real relationship with God. And material civilisation in this age of Kaliyuga is said to be advanced to the degree they create all sorts of incredible inventions that are so wonderfully intoxicating, that they utterly bewilder our minds into deeper and deeper forgetfulness of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In a simple village, little children, they play with a mango seed and they can spend the whole day just playing with a mango seed or a little bael fruit. They throw it and catch it and everything. But if you go to the cities of the advanced countries, children are not satisfied with playing with a bael fruit. They have all these incredibly computerised games, thousands and thousands of games. And they learn to work these computers when they are tiny little children. And they become so totally immersed in the fascinating effects that they become intoxicated in endless confusion of what is the real goal of life. And as society progresses, there are more and more ways of forgetting Krishna. Because people are so bored, they are so lonely due to no real spiritual pleasure in their life, they are forced to use the creative intelligence that God has given them to serve Him, to create more and more manipulative methods of exploiting His sacred energy to make verities of ways to try to – what is the word – entertain their minds. And this is called progress. They work so hard, rocket chips, computers, all sorts of technology, simply out of frustration. And here, this great land of India which has the real heritage of philosophy and religion by which people, they can define real content, peace, purpose and love in their life, because we have forgotten it, we are chasing after, madly chasing after these things of the West. And now, the doors are opening wide for more and more and more of these Western ideas and manufactured articles to come in. And the American businessmen, it’s a big thing in the politicians’ minds in America that “We have to exploit India”. They are just wide open, longing for what we have to give them. “We can make so many millions of dollars because they are a simple country and when we infatuate and intoxicate them with all of our glittering technology and sense gratification, they will become ours”. This is not the Western civilisation. This is Maya, this is material energy working through a civilisation based on sense gratification to strip you and to rape you from the real quality of life that you are meant to achieve and that is eternal wisdom in the loving service of the supreme Lord. So the Lord descends into this world to call us back, “Do not be attracted to My illusory energy of Maya. I warn you, I know. I have created this material energy. You will be cheated, you will be frustrated. Your whole life’s pursuits will culminate in death, however great you may advance in material civilisation”. At the time of death, Yamaraj does not consider whether you are rich or poor or educated or uneducated. He doesn’t consider whether your body is beautiful or not at all attractive. These are the things we are working so hard for. At the time of death the only thing that is considered is the quality of your consciousness. Have you subdued lust, anger, pride, illusion, greed, envy? Have you strived to find real happiness and content in service to God? Or have you acted according to material persuasions to reject God? May be not with your words, but with your actions. So Krishna comes out of His infinite and causeless mercy.
Krishna Expands Himself to Enjoy

Krishna has no father, He has no mother. But He appears in this world with a father and with a mother in almost every incarnation as a wonderful pastime to exchange love with His devotees and to attract our hearts to Him. So Krishna, the original personality of Godhead in the spiritual world expands Himself as Balaram, His first expansion. And Balaram is non-different than Krishna Himself. There is absolutely no difference. But as Balaram, Krishna assists Himself in His loving pastimes. So when we speak of expansion, this is inconceivable to the mind. Because in the spiritual world, Balaram is always existing and Krishna is always existing. Neither One exists before the other. They are simultaneously, eternally, past present and future, having wonderful pastimes in the spiritual world. We speak the word ‘expansion’, just so somehow or other with our material minds we can get some idea of how Krishna and Balaram are the same personality expanded in two forms eternally for Their own enjoyment. But in the same way, every jivatma is an expansion of Krishna. The difference is, Balaram is Krishna in full expanded and the jivatmas are infinitesimal parts and parcels always subordinate to the Lord in every respect. And we are also eternally existing as His parts and parcels meant for His pleasure. So ultimately, the supreme Godhead only has one purpose, and that is to enjoy and we are all eternally manifested from Him to be enjoyed by Him and to experience the ultimate ecstasy in being enjoyed by Him. That is our constitutional nature. And because we are part and parcel of Krishna, we all have that same quality that we want to enjoy ecstasy.
Everyone Is Looking for Pleasure

Every living being wants to experience ecstasy. When you see the mosquito, in Bombay there are some mosquitoes I think. When the mosquito comes, he has his little jet propelled way of flying, very well trained in aviation, better than any of our pilots. Our pilots are expert. They go through so many years of school. But then in order to fly, they have to get a job. They can’t fly unless they get a job. Somebody can hire them and somebody can fire them. Then with all their education they’ll never fly. But the mosquito is not dependent on anything. He just flaps his arms and goes up into the sky, his wings. And he can go anywhere, anything. He doesn’t need big runways. Just one little hole in the screen that you have in your window, and he could come right through. And then when he has his landing on the runway of your body, he requires refuelling. And quite simple, when our big jet airplanes need refuelling, if Iran or Iraq has some political difference with us, they stop giving us oil and we don’t know how we are going to refuel our planes. So we are always in anxiety about these things. But the mosquito, in India there is about what, nine hundred million people? No problem. So they can go anywhere. And they refuel because they enjoy. As they are drinking your blood they are enjoying, “Very nice”. Blood is very sweet for the mosquito unless you eat neem leaves. Then they don’t like to drink your blood. This is a secret our Guru Maharaj taught us. Anyways, in this way mosquitoes are looking for pleasure.
Radhanath Swami reveals that Real Enjoyment Is Through Bhakti

And we living entities, we are looking for pleasure, for enjoyment because we are part and parcel of Krishna Whose only business is to enjoy. But unfortunately we do not know the process of real enjoyment. Because Krishna’s eternal nature is, all of His enjoyment is in His loving exchanges with His devotees. And because we are part and parcel with Him, the only real enjoyment that we can ever find for all of eternity is in loving exchange with Krishna and His devotees. But we have forgotten that principle. And therefore we are looking for enjoyment in those places where we will find ultimate misery. And the more we become attached to the enjoyments outside of our loving relationship with Krishna, the more we frustrate ourselves in bondage. And Krishna comes and He tells us this, “Here I am, worship Me”.

man-manä bhava mad-bhakto
mad-yäjé mäà namaskuru
mäm evaiñyasi satyaà te
pratijäne priyo ‘si me
(BG 18.65)

“Always think of Me, become My devotee, worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. In this way you will come to Me without fail”.

brahma-bhütaù prasannätmä
na çocati na käìkñati
samaù sarveñu bhüteñu
mad-bhaktià labhate paräm
(BG 18.54)

By rising above this superficial existence of material energy and entering into the stage of self-realisation, then we can find real prasannatma, real joyfulness, real bliss. And then our nature will be simply bhakti, the loving devotional service of the Lord. So Krishna expands Himself as Balaram so that He could enjoy with Himself. Krishna has expanded Himself as all of us, all living entities simply so that He can enjoy with Himself. Krishna is the supreme enjoyer. This is the first principle of real transcendental knowledge, that we are not these bodies, we are not meant for exploitation of the resources of material nature. We are meant for Krishna’s enjoyment through service, through devotion. It’s only through bhakti that we can please Krishna. Therefore it is only through bhakti that we can find any real happiness in our own lives. Not by jnana alone, not by any karma activities, not even by developing all sorts of mystic siddhis, or even through liberation, mukti, is the real enjoyment to the soul. It’s only through bhakti. Why? Because when you water the root of the tree, every part of the tree is satisfied. When we please Krishna, every living being is given the greatest service and our own heart and soul is thoroughly satisfied.
Radhanath Swami explains how Krishna’s Only Real Business is Enjoyment

So Krishna and Balaram are eternally existing in the spiritual world as transcendental cowherd boys. Srila Prabhupad explains, the only difference between Krishna and Balaram in all Their opulence and all Their powers and all of Their beauties, everything is identical. The only difference is Krishna appears with a complexion which is beautifully dark and bluish like the monsoon rain cloud. And Balaramji appears with a complexion like a spring cloud, very soft, pure, white in complexion. And together They enact wonderful wonderful pleasurable leela in that eternal abode beyond material creation called Goloka Vrindavan, the topmost of all of the Vaikuntha or spiritual planets. Krishna descends once every day of Brahma at the end of the Dwaparyuga in His original form. In every yuga, Krishna appears as yugavatar. But in that avatar, He appears as an incarnation. We were saying that Krishna’s only real business is enjoyment. So therefore Krishna directly has nothing to do with this material world because this material world is not a pleasure, it’s a place of misery. It’s a place of temporary conditions. Krishna has no business creating universes. Krishna has higher things – playing His flute, dancing with gopis, wrestling with cowherd boys. This is His real business. This is the highest understanding of the supreme truth.

aëor Aëéyän aahato aahéyän

But in order to facilitate the independent nature of jivatmas and ultimately to bring them all to the loving position of His servants, He creates material universes. And therefore Balaram expands Himself as the Narayans Who live in Vaikuntha. Surrounding Goloka Vrindavan is Sankarshan, Aniruddha, Pradyumna and Vasudev. They are on each side of Goloka. They expand Themselves. Sankarshan expands Himself as the Narayans in Vaikuntha. That Narayan expands Himself in a secondary Sankarshan, Aniruddha, Vasudev and Pradyumna Who guard the spiritual sky. Sankarshan of that quadruple becomes Mahavishnu, Karanodakashayi Vishnu. This Mahavishnu, He is the immediate cause of all creation. From His pores He creates the causal ocean, He lays in that causal ocean. And as He exhales, innumerable universes come out of His body. How big is this Mahavishnu? Even the greatest of the scientists have not even been able to speculate properly, what is the length and breadth of this one universe. And this universe is tiny. Chaitanya Charitamrita explains what is the nature of this universe in size, that the Brahma of this universe has four heads because there are four directions in this universe. So he went to visit Narayan in Vaikuntha and he was thinking he is very great, because he has four heads and everyone else in this universe has one and he is very big. He is the great grandfather of everyone and everything. Today people are very proud if they have a big family. I have heard people talking, “I have so many children and I have grandchildren. And even now I have great grandchildren. The dynasty is growing”. May be there is twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty.. ha… very big. But Brahma, not only the whole human population, but the population of every specie of life, not only on this planet, but in all the planets of this universe, they are all his great grandchildren. And Brahmaloka is a planet that exists from the beginning to the end of the creation. He never dies until the end of the whole creation. Such a powerful person! So he went to Vishnu, and Vishnu said, “Which Brahma?” So the messenger came and said, “Brahma? Which Brahma are you? “Which Brahma? There is only one Brahma! I am the Brahma with four heads”. So Vishnu said, “Yes, tell him to come”. So he placed his four heads at the feet of Krishna and Brahma asked, “I do not understand why You asked which Brahma? You know who I am, I was born from Your naval, the lotus flower. I created the whole universe”. So Lord Narayan said, “Ah, you want to know why I asked?” And then He made a call, “All Brahmas come”. And Brahmas started coming. He saw there was a Brahma with eight heads. Because there is a head for every direction. And there are directions according to the size of the universe. And there was a Brahma with sixteen heads. There was Brahma with thirty-two heads, sixty-four heads, hundred and twenty-eight heads, two hundred and fifty-six heads. Soon there were Brahmas with thousands of heads, tens of thousands of heads, lakhs of heads. And then he saw Brahmas with millions of heads. Now you may think that this is mythology. How can anyone have millions of heads? I have enough trouble with one head. And the more family members I have, the more problems with more heads. But millions of heads on one body. How does he walk? How does he eat? You may ask these questions, what type of pillows does he have when he wants to go to sleep? You may think this would be a very difficult thing to have millions of heads. But for Krishna anything is possible. In fact, those Brahmas who have millions of heads on one body, it’s so beautiful. It’s not like something from the freak show. It’s something very beautiful, so beautiful, the eyes of our very limited created body cannot appreciate it. Something so wonderful! Krishna can create billions of heads on one body and make it so beautiful and functional. That is Krishna’s inconceivable power. So when Brahma saw thins, he realised that this universe was the smallest tiniest universe in all of the creation and how he was insignificant! He felt like a little insect in a herd of elephants. And he became very humble. All of his pride was smashed to pieces. And then he thanked Lord Narayan for revealing to him his true position as a humble servant of the Lord. So what is our position? We have a little control, we have a little authority, we have a little wealth, we have a little intelligence, and yet we are thinking we are great. But the more we understand the true nature of Krishna, the more we realise like Brahma that “Krishna is great and I am His servant”. And to understand His greatness and to love Him for His greatness is truth and everything else is illusion. But try to understand that this Mahavishnu, from the pores on His body are coming all these universes. Such massive universes even millions of times bigger than the one we live. So what is the size of Mahavishnu? He is very big. Inconceivably gigantic. But this Mahavishnu is a mere expansion of an expansion of an expansion of an expansion of Lord Balaram Who appears outside of the spiritual world to create this material existence. And then Mahavishnu enters into each universes, Garbhodakashayi Vishnu from Whom Brahma is born on lotus flower, atma-bhu. And then that Garbhodakashayi Vishnu enters in the heart of every living being as Kshirodakashayi Vishnu, the paramatma. Smaller than the smallest and greater than the greatest. Aëor aëéyän mahato mahéyän. This is God. As Mahavishnu is bigger than the biggest in this creation and as Kshirodakashayi Vishnu, not only is He in the heart of every living being, but He is seated very comfortably in and between every atom. He is the smallest and He is the greatest. And this whole phenomenon is all simply to conduct the affairs of these material universes. But these material universes are all insignificant and temporary. Beyond it all, Krishna has nothing to do with any of these creations, maintenance and destruction. Krishna is simply enjoying loving pastimes with His devotees forever.
Krishna Simply Enjoys

There was a man from Germany who came to India looking for the highest truth. So he travelled for years and went to so many temples. And when he came to the gaudiya math of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati, he said, “I want to become your disciple because you are teaching devotion to Krishna and I understand that there is no other God in all the world in any religion that is superior to Krishna. He is supreme”. And he explained, “In the Western religions in which I was born, God is punishing the wicked with thunderbolts and going through so much trouble to recover the pious in this world. And here in India, I see in the temples so many gods. Durga has so many swords and clubs and hatchets, riding on lions and tigers. She is doing a lot of work. And Shiva, he is sitting in meditation. That’s also a type of hard work. And Rama is shooting bows and arrows. And Narasinga, He is tearing demons apart with His nails. And Kali, she is chopping peoples’ heads off with her axe. But Krishna, He is just playing His flute. That means He is above all work, He is simply enjoying. And everyone knows that what everyone wants in life is simply to enjoy. Krishna is the only one of the gods Who is simply enjoying! He has no work to do”. This is Vaikuntha, this is Goloka Vrindavan. And it is explained, when Krishna descends to this world, when He is playing His flute and dancing with His devotees, or when He is playing with the cows, with His friends or teasing mother Yashoda, this is His original form as the supreme enjoyer. And when He kills demons, His Vishnu expansion enters into His original form to kill demons. Because Krishna has no business killing demons, He simply enjoys.

And once every day of Brahma, Krishna descends into this world. So our Guru Maharaj who would see things in terms of eternal time, because he realised the eternal nature of the soul, when he would talk about Krishna’s descend, he would say, “Just recently, only five thousand years ago Krishna appeared”. When you consider that a day of Brahma is how long? Four point three billion years is one day of Brahma. And then after that day he goes to sleep, he takes rest. Four point three billion years to his night. So the time sequence between Krishna coming in His original form once and again is eight point six billion years. Haribol!

Devotees: Haribol!

That’s the next time Krishna is going to come in His original form. He comes every Kaliyuga, but as a Vishnu expansion, not in His original form as the supreme enjoyer. So considering the only five thousand years since He appeared, we are very fortunate. Eight point six billion minus five thousand is how much? That’s how long it is till He comes again in His original form to display the Vrindavan leela in this world. And how He appears is something wonderful. He descends with the paraphernalia and the entourage of the spiritual world. So before Him, He sends His eternal elder brother Balaram. And the wonderful story is given in Srimad Bhagavatam.
Preparing For Krishna’s Appearance

Krishna came at a time of great crisis. Kamsa was a great asura, demon, who is the very personification of greed. He wanted to exploit everything and everyone. And he was an enemy of God. In a previous birth as Kalanemi he was killed by the Lord. So he hated anything that had any connection with religion. Although he was a great yogi himself and very learned as well. In fact, he was so learned that he worshiped Lord Shiva. He hated anything that had to do with real religion, unmotivated love. But he actually worshipped Lord Shiva to get his powers. So he was creating so much disturbance that the demigods approached Brahma and Brahma who is the guru of all the demigods and the father, he went to the shore of the ocean of milk and prayed to Kshirodakashayi Vishnu Who lives on the island called Shwetadveep within each universe. And because he prayed with great faith and devotion, the Lord revealed to him from within his heart that He would descend. So Vasudev and Devaki, you all know the story, they were getting married. And Kamsa, after their marriage, he was the cousin brother of Devaki, he was driving her home on his chariot because he wanted to make her happy. Even demons are very much attached to family relationships. But their attachment is so tainted by their own personal interest – “If you give me pleasure, I serve you. If you are a threat to my self-interest, I destroy you”. In today’s society, sometimes family members do kill each other when they stand in each other’s way of interest. The more pious families, they just try to destroy each other in the court rooms by trying to sue each other and take away everybody’s property and everything else. This is actually piety in this age of Kaliyuga. Impiety is you just kill them. That was Kamsa’s business. But of course, this is piety amongst demons. A family that prays together stays together under all circumstances. If we put Krishna in the centre of our family, then there can be real love, true love amongst ourselves. This is the real solution to this problem. So when a voice came from the sky and told Kamsa that “The eighth son of your sister will kill you”, he drew his sword and was about to take her life. But Vasudev said, “Don’t take her life”. All philosophy failed so he gave this promise, “Whatever children I get I’ll give to you. And then you can do anything you like with my children. But Devaki is of no threat”. So he accepted. And ultimately he imprisoned them and every child that was born he lifted and beat them against stones until they were dead. Six children were dead. That is a long story. So then she was pregnant with the seventh child. But that child was special. The supreme Lord Krishna Himself sent His elder brother Balaram into the womb of Devaki. He was not born or He was not conceived like children of this world. He entered into the womb. He entered into Vasudev’s mind, was transferred to Devaki’s mind and then entered her womb. She was pregnant. For months she was pregnant. But her effulgence and the love of her heart for her child was unlimited. And then Lord Krishna called for His Yogamaya potency and told Yogamaya that “Balaramji is in the womb of Devaki. He is My eternal servant. Although He is God Himself, He is God in the mood of a servant. And He has appeared within her womb just to make her womb so nice for My appearance”. You see, the six children that were born before were all demons. They were actually demons, the sons of Hiranyakashipu… to sanctify from all that bad association
Radhanath Swami explains how Spiritual Master is The Representative of Balarama

And Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu taught us, if you want Krishna to come into your heart and reveal Himself with all of His beauty and sweetness, first your heart has to be completely sanctified. And it’s Balaram’s business to sanctify the heart and make a nice place for Krishna to live. And therefore Balaram is the original guru, spiritual master. And the spiritual master is His representative in this world. All of the great genuine acharyas who have descended into this world, when they descend in this world to preach real Krishna consciousness, they are completely empowered by Lord Balaram to do so. They have come to do Balaram’s work. And anyone who approaches them, by their divine grace which comes through their example and their instructions, they clean our hearts. They make our hearts such a wonderful lovely place of purified devotion, that Krishna will be very very pleased and happy to reveal Himself to us within that sanctified heart. This is the business of the spiritual master. If any spiritual master promises you any material enjoyment, even to the point of elevation to the heavenly planets, what to speak of getting a better job or a little better health or having good wife or husband, this is not the business of a spiritual master, to give material benedictions. If any spiritual master teaches you that he can give you great powers to perform miracles, this is not a spiritual master. If any spiritual master tells you that he is God or that he can make you God, that is not a real spiritual master. The real spiritual master is the humble representative of Lord Baladev and his business is to cleanse and purify your heart by Balaram’s divine grace coming through him so that in that sanctified heart purified of all envious selfish motives, Krishna naturally reveals Himself with all of His beauty. And when Krishna reveals Himself, all you can do is fall in love with Him. And that love is like an unlimited ocean. And when you dive into that ocean of devotion or bhakti rasamrita sindhu, all of your desires are eternally fulfilled.
Appearance of Lord Balaram

Krishna told Yogamaya that “Balaram has gone to prepare her womb for My arrival. Now you kindly transfer Him from the womb of Devaki who is in the prison of Kamsa in Mathura to the womb of Rohini who is living under the protection of Sri Nanda Maharaj in Gokul in Vrindavan”. Rohini was also wife of Vasudev. You know, in traditional times kshatriyas often had several wives. So when Vasudev was captured and imprisoned by Kamsa, Vasudev asked Devaki, “You kindly go to my best dearest beloved friend Nanda Maharaj and he will take care of you, he will protect you”. And Nanda Maharaj treated Rohini devi with such love and respect and gave her all facilities in the simple cowherd community of Braja. Now Rohini had already been pregnant for seven months. There are many wonderful stories in this regard. There is an explanation how Rohini was sleeping on the ashtami night, not ashtami night but after seven months of her pregnancy she was sleeping, she had a dream that that child was leaving her. But then she was given the instruction that “Shesha, Sankarshan, the expansion of the Lord is going to enter your womb”. You see, it is explained that the original Balaram was actually in the womb of Rohini. And His expansion of Sankarshan was in the womb of Devaki. And they were both seven months pregnant. And Sankarshan merged into the form of the original Balaram into the womb of Rohini. So when we call Balaram ‘Rohininandan’, we should know that Rohini is actually Balaram’s eternal mother. In the spiritual world of Goloka, Rohini is eternally performing the leela of being the mother of Balaram. And then Krishna explained, “After you transfer Balaram from the womb of Devaki to the womb of Rohini in Vrindavan, then you yourself should enter into the womb of Devaki. And you are My Mahamaya potency. And you will be worshiped in the world by those who desire material benefits”. You see, the various demigoddesses who are so prominently worshipped here in India and also other parts of the world, they are actually deities of material energy of the goddess of material energy. And therefore people pray to them for advancement in material life. And they bestow those benedictions. But Krishna says, less intelligent people, they worship such devatas or demigoddesses not knowing that all of the fruits of their prayers and worship are temporary and will ultimately lead to frustration. One who is intelligent will worship the supreme Godhead for the supreme goal of bhakti, or unalloyed devotion, because that treasure of devotion is the only thing that is eternal in all of existence. So we should not settle for anything less in our life. That is the only treasure that is truly of value – bhaktinidhi, the treasure of bhakti. So on this very day, Rohini gave birth to Lord Balaram. Through her He appeared in this world in such a wonderful wonderful way. And the residents of Vrindavan had a wonderful wonderful celebration, just as we are having a wonderful celebration today to welcome Lord Balaram Who came to this world by His inconceivable mercy to deliver us all.
Childhood Pastimes of Krishna and Balaram

54.18

And soon after, Krishna was born. And when Krishna was born, He and Balaram, because Rohini and Yashoda lived together, so these two little babies were best of friends. And it is explained how not one, but two, God in two forms with His smiling faces was blessing all the residents of Gokul. And they were plunged into ecstasy. And it is described that They would just suckle the milk from Their mothers and smile and cry just to capture everyone’s affection. And later They began to crawl. And as this beautiful bluish and beautiful whitish children were just crawling around the courtyards and the cowherd fields, it was so pleasurable. The heart and soul of all the Brajavasis was simply to see Them, to think about Them and to chant Their glories. And sometimes when They were little babies crawling, They would become mischievous and They would grab on to the tails of the calves and the calves would become very much afraid and start running and They would hold on and They would be dragging and bouncing behind the calves. And all the ladies of Vrindavan, when they would see this, they would stop all their work whatever they were doing, and they would just laugh and cheer and enjoy seeing these two beautiful children performing such beautiful pastimes. And soon They actually learnt how to walk. How wonderful! The Supreme Personality of Godhead,

mükaà karoti väcälaà
paìguà laìghayate girim
yat-kåpä tam ahaà vande
paramänanda mädhavaà

That Krishna Who is paramananda, if you have faith in Him, even if you are lame man you can cross over mountains. But He Himself, He cannot walk. He is crawling like baby. And He tries to stand up and everybody is watching and then He falls down. We have seen with little children, Priyavrat, Vrishabh. I am a sanyasi, I don’t have children. But I see how the parents, how much they enjoy when the child tries to walk and then falls down. (Claps) “Very nice, very nice”. Yes, Shrinathji? Krishnachandra, you enjoyed these pastimes? I’ll tell you a story I’ve never told anyone. It’s not a transcendental story but it’s a story. Because you are transcendental you will make it transcendental. The greatest moment in my grandfather’s life, and my father, every time he sees me, he reminds me of this. Like any baby I was crawling and crawling, trying to stand up and falling. And my grandfather was standing. And one day, he was a very religious man actually. The most religious man in our whole family. One day I just got up and ran to him. It was the first time I ever walked. And he started crying. And everyone was going, “O, very nice, very nice (claps)”. So now I am forty-four years old and they still remember that. When they remember, they remember me for that. This is the way parents are. They don’t remember the lectures I give, or the kirtans that I lead. They don’t, for any of the tapasya I performed in the Himalayas, they don’t remember these things. They only remember, that “When you first walked, you walked into your grandfather’s hands and we all cheered and clapped and cried”. Haribol! So this is the nature of parental affection. Children give pleasure to their parents when they fall down. So Krishna, Balaram, what to speak of Balaram, He sustains all the universes. In His partial expansion as Shesha, all the universes are resting on the hoods of His head. He is supporting everything. But yet, when He tries to walk on His tender beautiful whitish legs, He falls to the ground and Rohini has to pick Him up. Sri Balaramji ki?

Devotees: Jai!

Just to attract our love. Because after all, a massive serpent carrying universes on His heads, makes us go like this – “Om namo Sheshaya”. But when He is crawling and catching cows and falling down trying to walk, it attracts our love. “O, how beautiful, how wonderful, how sweet is Balaram!” So when They first started to walk, They were given charge of the calves. Krishna and Balaram.

1.00.52
Radhanath Swami describes the Opulence of Brajabhoomi

Srila Prabhupad explains, “Nanada Maharaj was a very wealthy man. He had nine hundred thousand cows. And each of them was giving unlimited quantities of milk”. You know, today most people can’t even afford butter, they use margarine or some other sorts of oils. Ghee is very rare. Most people use all oils. But in Vrindavan, when they would have festivals, they would have so much quantities of yogurt and butter and ghee, that they would throw it on each other. And there wasn’t people walking around saying, “Only take ten tablespoons and throw it”. They would take it as much as they wanted, they would just throw, any quantity. All day long, they were just throwing ghee and butter and yogurt on each other. Because there was so much. It explains in Brajabhoomi, when Krishna was there, the cows were giving so much milk that the whole land was muddy due to all the milk just dripping from their udders when they would go to the pasture.
Culture of Vrindavan elucidated upon by Radhanath Swami

So Nanda Maharaj was actually so wealthy. So why he took his two sons Krishna and Balaram and he asked them to take care of calves? He could have asked a servant to do it. Why his own sons? Because this is culture. This is culture. From the material point of view, the worst thing you can do to your child is spoil them. They should understand the value and the worth of everything. In order to do so, they have to be trained in such a way that they have to work for things, they have to earn things. Otherwise they take everything so cheaply, they cannot appreciate anything. And when they grow older, they are simply frustrated because they are always expecting to get whatever they want. But if you train a child properly with great love, with great affection, but with a certain type of loving discipline, where they actually have to work for things, then whatever they get, they appreciate. And even the richest people in cultured society will train their children in this way to develop the quality of humility and the value of seva, not the value of just taking, taking, taking, taking, taking. So Srila Prabhupad explains that even though Nanda Maharaj was so fabulously wealthy, he sent his two children out to take care of the calves. And to this day following in those footsteps, every Brajavasi has to spend one year of his life taking care of cows and calves. Otherwise in Vrindavan you are not a bona fide Brajavasi. Haribol. And this is still a culture, a custom. I know a man, he is fifty years old and he never did it. So he had to spend from fifty to fifty-one just herding cows because he wasn’t being accepted as a bona fide Brajavasi. Because this is what Brajavasi means, you take care of cows. So Krishna and Balaram did it.
More Childhood Pastimes of Krishna and Balarama

And how they would play! The beautiful pastimes of Krishna and Balaram as cowherd boys are so wonderfully explained in Srimad Bhagavatam and by the previous acharyas and the present acharyas. How sometimes They would play beautiful games, They would play with fruits and throw it to each other, They would wrestle with each other, They would imitate the animals in the forest, They’d see a frog and Krishna and Balaram and Their friends, They would start jumping like frogs. And They’d see a monkey and They’d start jumping like monkeys. And They would see birds and They would start trying to fly like birds. And They would see peacocks, and Krishna would move His head like a peacock. And He’d look so nicely like a peacock that all of His friends would clap (claps) and say, “Well done! Well done!” And They would take such nice care, They knew the name of every cow and every calf and every calf loved Them so dearly because every calf felt that They loved Them so dearly. Infinite spiritual love. And when Krishna would become tired after playing throughout the day and Balaram would become tired, sometimes Balaram would lay down and Krishna would be like His pillow. And other times Krishna would fan Balaram with a fan that He would personally make out of leaves just to show how He worships His devotee.

01.07.15
Radhanath Swami Stresses on Respecting Nityananda Prabhu First

In Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s leela, Lord Balaram appeared as Lord Nityananda Prabhu. In Lord Ramachandra’s leela, Balaram appeared as Laxman the brother. And it is described in Chaitanya Bhagavat, that one day, Murari Gupta came before Lord Chaitanya and Lord Nityananda Prabhu. And he bowed down before Lord Chaitanya and then he bowed down before Lord Nityananda. And Lord Chaitanya chastised him. He said, “Why did you do like this? Why did you bow down to Me before Nityananda Prabhu? Do you have no sense of etiquette?” And Murari Gupta was very confused. Because he understands that Lord Chaitanya is the supreme Godhead Krishna. He said, “I am just doing what my heart tells me to do”. And Lord Chaitanya said that “I will make these things known to you”. So that night, Murari Gupta went to his home, met with his chaste and faithful wife and then he went to take rest. And in his rest he had a dream. And there was Lord Nityananda Prabhu. He was so beautiful and He was carrying a plough. And Ananta Shesha was over His head. He was manifesting the beautiful beautiful form of Lord Balaram. And behind Him was Lord Chaitanya Who he understood was Krishna Himself. And He was walking behind Him and He said to Murari Gupta in the dream, He said, “Now do you see? He is My older brother. Even I worship Him”. So when Murari Gupta woke up, he went again to Lord Chaitanya’s place of residence. And there Lord Chaitanya was sitting with Nityananda Prabhu and he offered his prostrated obeisances to Nityananda Prabhu and then he offered his obeisances to Lord Chaitanya. And Lord Chaitanya said, “Murari Gupta, why have you done like this? Why are you offering obeisances to Nityananda Prabhu first?” And then Murari Gupta explained that “You have taught me like this, that He is Balaram, He is Your older brother. He is Your master. This is Your desire. I am Your servant”. So Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu became so pleased, Gadadhar Pandit gave Him some chewing spices and He took the chewing spices out of His mouth and handed them to Murari Gupta as a gift to show how He was so favoured toward him. And Murari Gupta took those chewing spices and put them in his mouth and then with the saliva or whatever that was on his hands, he put it on his head and Lord Chaitanya was shocked. He said, “You are a Brahmin, you have to wash your hands. Why you are putting this on your head?” And Murari Gupta was very happy that he had received such mercy of the Lord, His personal Prasad. He was so pleased that he became intoxicated with love of God. And he went home and his wife gave him lunch, nice rice and he took lot of nice ghee and put it on the rice and he started taking the rice and ghee and offering it to Lord Chaitanya and Lord Nityananda and then throwing it on the floor. And then offering it and throwing it on the floor. Then taking more, offering it, throwing it on the floor. And his wife, she knew that he was a very advanced devotee and whatever he did was out of pure love. But this was a very strange type of worship. And he was picking and throwing, picking and throwing. And there was rice all over the floor. And nobody could understand. But the next day, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came to the house of Murari Gupta in the morning. He said, “Murari, you are a vaidya. You are a doctor. I am very sick. I have terrible indigestion”. And Murari Gupta said, “Tell me the symptoms, why are You so sick?” And He said, “Because you were giving Me all that rice covered with ghee and then throwing it on the floor and I was eating it! I eat whatever comes from the hands of My loving devotees”. So Murari Gupta had a little pot that he personally used for washing himself and drinking from. And Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu took that pot, the pot used for all purposes of Murari Gupta himself, and He drank the water from that pot. And Murari Gupta was saying, “No no, You cannot drink this water. This is contaminated”. And when Lord Chaitanya drank it, He became cured of His indigestion. He wanted to show how He is always eager to taste the remnants from His pure unalloyed devotees. But in this story there is another wonderful lesson. How when he respected Nityananda Prabhu first, Lord Chaitanya was so pleased to take the prasad from his own mouth, the maha maha Prasad and offer it to Murari Gupta and in the same way if we learn to first respect our spiritual masters, and first honour them as the means of approaching the supreme Godhead, Krishna becomes so pleased that He bestows His maha maha prasad in the form of His causeless mercy to us, which will eventually purify our hearts and intoxicate us with ecstatic love of Krishna. Sri Nityananda Prabhu ki?

Devotees: Jai!

Sri Balramji ki?

Devotees: Jai!

Sri Radha Gopinath ki?

Devotees: Jai!

Srila Prabhupad ki?

Devotees: Jai!

Thank you very much.
Radhanath Swami welcomes HH Bhakti Vaibhav Puri Maharaj

Should we have translation or kirtan? A great gift to all of us on this holy occasion of Balaram’s appearance day. One of Srila Prabhupad’s most beloved God brothers. In fact about this person, Srila Prabhupad said at one time that “This God brother of mine, he truly appreciates the work that we have done in spreading Krishna consciousness all over the world”. Srila Prabhupad showed so much loving affection and exchange to this great disciple of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur. In the early seventies, he brought the few devotees that came to India with him to his ashram and this God brother took such care of the devotees for about two weeks feeding them prasad, and then Prabhupad was so pleased. He would just joke with him and laugh with him and exchange Krishna katha with him. And he told all the devotees that we could learn so much from this God brother of mine, how to love and serve vaishnavas. So he has agreed to come tomorrow morning to deliver the Srimad Bhagavatam lecture. He has always been very very kind and merciful to myself and to all our devotees, HH Bhakti Vaibhav Puri Maharaj. He is in his late eighties. He is quite elderly vaishnava and it will be his first visit to Sri Sri Radha Gopinath temple tomorrow. So if it’s at all possible, please come and hear him deliver Srimad Bhagavatam class tomorrow and get his very holy darshan. Thank you very much.
Radhanath Swami narrates the Story of Gaura-Nitai and Krishna-Balaram Deities

Would you like to translate few words? Please do not leave. We will have a nice kirtan and arati. It will be Balaram’s arati. We would like to thank Shrinathji and Maithilipriya Devi and Keshav and Namamrita and Chaitanyachandra and Vrindapriya and Ranachhod because the Krishna and Balaram deities that are being worshiped on the alter has been brought by them to Radha Gopinath temple, so that we could all have the wonderful wonderful darshan of Sri Balaram on this holy day. Thank you very much, Shrinathji prabhu. Yes? Anyways, if you give your blessings to my parents, that will be very nice. When my parents came, they were dancing in Radha Gopinath temple. First time they ever enjoyed kirtan in their lives, they were dancing. My mother was dancing with Shirnathji’s mother. They were twirling each other around. They became tired, but they danced. And they were so happy with these devotees, that after they left here, they said, “These are the most wonderful nice people we have ever met in our whole lives”. And they were weeping and crying and they said, “We are so happy to know that you have such nice friends”. Haribol! And then they came to Vrindavan, I took them to Vrindavan and they said, “We want to buy some gift for Krishnachandra and Shrinathji’s families because they were such loving hosts and they treated us with such feeling that we want to repay them somehow so what could we get for them?” So the Gaur-Nitai deities that we worship in Poona every year, those were given by mother and father to Radhapriya Devi and Krishnachandra and the Krishna and Balaram that are on the alter were given to Shrinathji’s family. They are now being worshiped by Sri Keshav and Srimati Namamrita Devi. And because of their mercy they accepted these gifts and now they are sharing the Supreme Personality of Godhead with all of us. So in a few moments there will be arati for Krishna and Balaram. And also it’s the last day of Jhulan yatra. So Radha Govinda, or the vijay murtis of Radha Gopinath will be swung on the swing. It is very very auspicious to see the beautiful swing ceremony of Radha Gopinath. So this will all take place. Say a few words in Hindi language. As you can see, I am not the Hindi pandit I was supposed to be. But I am still trying.

Source:http://www.dandavats.com/?p=19405

Schooling Krsna’s Children

The doctrine Of evolution is difficult to hide from. It is so pervasive in textbooks of science, geography, history, and literature that the reader, numbed by repetition, hardly notices the constant drone.

Our children need help to remain awake to spiritual life amidst this sleepy cloud of propaganda. We need to teach them the truth. And we need to show them, clearly and specifically, how evolutionists are lying.

Does it really matter? Is it important for our children to know the origin of life and the universe? Perhaps they can be clear about spiritual life without bothering to think about Darwin one way or the other.

But can they? In most standard modern versions, evolution links tightly with the outlook that all order, law, and life come about by chance. But spiritual life means connecting with the Supreme Spirit, Krishna, who is a person directing the cosmos and giving the seed of life.

Also inherent in most of today’s evolutionary views is the notion that life is a complicated organization of matter. But spiritual life begins when one understands that the self, the essential living being, is irreducibly spirit, always distinct from matter.

Therefore, we need to teach the truth. The order and law of this world are everywhere. For young children, we give simple analogies. “See the white line in the middle of the street?” We show them. “That means there is a government. I may not see the mayor or the governor or the president, but this line is proof that they exist. In the same way, the cycle of seasons and the intricate design of a plant are proofs of an intelligent creator.”

Materialistic evolutionists scoff at proving God by design. What of injustice and suffering, they ask? Did God design these?

“Yes,” we tell our children, “just as the government—made up of people—has designed the prison and court system.”

The problems posed by the materialists become an indication of God when resolved by explanations of karma and reincarnation.

In such ways, whether informally as opportunities arise or as part of a planned curriculum of science and social studies, we can teach young children to see Krishna in His creation.

We also need to teach the difference between life and matter.

The love of a cat for her kittens, the urge for survival that sends the ant over what to him is a hundred miles for a grain of sugar—these are constant signs that life is other than matter. The inability of a machine, even a computer, to become aware of its own existence tells the child that consciousness does not arise from a complex combination of matter. Rather, just as I, a conscious being, operate a computer, so I operate this body. My computer will never write this article by itself.

Srila Prabhupada’s books brim with evidence for God and the soul. Daily in-depth study of his books will awaken children’s true vision. They will see that behind the veil of maya is the face of the Supreme Lord.

We need to protect our impressionable and vulnerable children from the evolutionists’ propaganda machine. Films, television programs, textbooks, and science museums often conform to evolutionary doctrine unquestioningly. Exposure to these, especially frequent exposure, may draw the blind of darkness over the window of our children’s knowledge.

But how can we combat the evolutionists’ propaganda? When the child matures in the realm of intellectual and reasoning ability, we must systematically attack the unsound premises of evolution while giving evidence for the existence of Krishna and the soul.

Our first argument is that the bodily machine of even the simplest life form cannot arise from a chance combination of matter, any more than an explosion in a printing shop could bring into existence a dictionary or the works of Shakespeare.

Second, even if somehow the external body of a living being could spring forth from random material processes, the body cannot work without the soul. An airplane is built by intelligent people, not by a tornado in a junk yard. But however an airplane is built, it needs a pilot. Otherwise, it can sit on the runway for thousands of years without flying. Despite a machine’s complex technology, it still needs a living being to push the buttons.

In this way, we can explain that the symptoms exhibited by living beings—from the plant to the ant to human beings—indicate the presence of a “driver,” the soul. And as soon as this driver leaves, the body dies and decays.

Evolutionists say that life came originally from matter and that all species have gradually developed from the first life form. Practically speaking, that’s what evolutionists must say. Why? Because they’d never convince us that advanced life forms arose from matter. We’d never believe that giraffes appeared suddenly from a pond. Evolutionists would be a laughing stock if they asserted that each species developed independently in its present form from chance molecular collisions.

Yet how strong is the evidence for gradual evolution?At the chemical level, we can point out that scientists have failed to show how matter could by chance alone pull together even one protein needed for life. Going further down the supposed evolutionary line, we can show our children that crucial evidence for evolution is lacking in the fossil record, that mutations are generally harmful and do not change one species into another, and that intermediate forms of organs would be nonfunctional and therefore hinder rather than enhance the survival of their owner. We can give specific examples from the evolutionists’ bag of so-called proofs and show how they are irrelevant or distorted.

Finally, it’s helpful to expose children to mysteries scientists can’t explain. We can study well-documented instances of psychic ability and out-of-body experiences that support the conclusion that the mind is more than the brain. While we don’t rely on such empirical evidence or put full faith in what is sometimes sensationalism, a carefully chosen study of the most solid evidence can help a child know that many of the inexplicable occurrences described in the Vedas are still happening today.

For most of us, to refute evolutionist propaganda entirely from our own understanding and knowledge would be difficult. So I suggest some books and videos that can help structure an educational program, whether at home or at school. There are certainly many other useful resources, and I would be glad to hear of other suggestions. As Srila Prabhupada told us, “The more we kick out Darwin, the more we advance in spiritual consciousness.”

The following are books and videos I suggest for students at least thirteen years old. (Younger children may be able to grasp at least the basic ideas.) The materials not produced by ISKCON are quite valuable. They may not present a complete view of the soul and God, but they do a good job of dismantling evolution and establishing theism, at least in a general way. Please keep in mind, of course, that they may put forth some minor points with which we disagree.

ISKCON:

Life Comes from Life, Srila Prabhupada (Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 3764 Watseka Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90034).

Human Evolution, video, Sadaputa Dasa (Bhaktivedanta Institute, P.O. Box 99584, San Diego, CA 92169).

Darwin’s Secret Identity, David Webb (Available from Krishna Culture, P.O. Box 12380, Philadelphia, PA 19119).

NON-ISKCON:

“Mysteries of the Unexplained,” Reader’s Digest, 1982. Often available through bookstores, it probes into such diverse topics as bizarre coincidence, unusual rain (frogs, nuts), inexplicable astronomical occurences, UFOs, psychic ability, spontaneous human combustion, miracles, monsters, and evidence for advanced ancient civilizations (including a reference to the Vedic brahmastra weapon). Each section includes only well-documented cases. The official scientific explanation is offered and then placed into doubt.

The following are available from Master Books, Creation Resource, P.O. Box 1606, El Cajon, CA 92022; (800) 999- 3777:

Understanding Genesis, Unit One: Creation: Facts and Bias, video, Ken Ham. This is excellent for preachers. Showing how our assumptions affect what we see, it throws doubt on the supposed authority of science. Some slight sectarian references.

Origins: Creation or Evolution, Richard Bliss. Simple and clear, this is the best general textbook I know of. It contains some slight references to a young Earth. No sectarian religious content.

Origin of Life: Evolution/Creation, Richard Bliss and Gary Parker. This only covers whether or not life could have first arisen spontaneously from matter. Easy to understand. Slightly nods to the idea that life is simply a complex organization of matter. No sectarian religious content.

Understanding Genesis, Unit Four: What’s Wrong With Evolution, video, Gary Parker. Shows that one species cannot evolve into another. Some slight sectarian references.

Back to Genesis: Is Life Just Chemistry?, video, Michael Girouard. Explains why life cannot originate by chance from matter. Deals with Stanley Miller’s experiment and various aspects of initial creation. Some slight sectarian references.

Urmila’s official website: http://urmiladevidasi.org/

Urmila’s blog: http://urmiladasi.com/

Source:http://www.dandavats.com/?p=30540

From Back to Godhead

The ancient Greek writer Aratos tells the following story about the constellation Virgo, or the virgin. Virgo, he says, may have belonged to the star race, the forefathers of the ancient stars. In primeval times, in the golden age, she lived among mankind as Justice personified and would exhort people to adhere to the truth. At this time people lived peacefully, without hypocrisy or quarrel. Later, in the age of silver, she hid herself in the mountains, but occasionally she came down to berate people for their evil ways. Finally the age of bronze came. People invented the sword, and “they tasted the meat of cows, the first who did it.” At this point Virgo “flew away to the sphere”; that is, she departed for the celestial realm.[1] The Vedic literature of India gives an elaborate description of the universe as a cosmos — a harmonious, ordered system created according to an intelligent plan as a habitation for living beings. The modern view of the universe is so different from the Vedic view that the latter is presently difficult to comprehend. In ancient times, however, cosmogonies similar to the Vedic system were widespread among people all over the world. Educated people of today tend to immediately dismiss these systems of thought as mythology, pointing to their diversity and their strange ideas as proof that they are all simply products of the imagination.

If we do this, however, we may be overlooking important information that could shed light on the vast forgotten period that precedes the brief span of recorded human history. There is certainly much evidence of independent storytelling in the traditions of various cultures, but there are also many common themes. Some of these themes are found in highly developed form in the Vedic literature. Their presence in cultures throughout the world is consistent with the idea that in the distant past, Vedic culture exerted worldwide influence.

In this article we will give some examples of Vedic ideas concerning time and human longevity that appear repeatedly in different traditions. First we will examine some of these ideas, and then we will discuss some questions about what they imply and how they should be interpreted.

In the Vedic literature time is regarded as a manifestation of Krsna, the Supreme Being. As such, time is a controlling force that regulates the lives of living beings in accordance with a cosmic plan. This plan involves repeating cycles of creation and destruction of varying durations. The smallest and most important of these repeating cycles consists of four yugas, or ages, called Satya, Treta, Dvapara, and Kali. In these successive ages mankind gradually descends from a high spiritual platform to a degenerated state. Then, with the beginning of a new Satya-yuga, the original state of purity is restored, and the cycle begins again.

The story of Virgo illustrates that in the ancient Mediterranean world there was widespread belief in a similar succession of four ages, known there as the ages of gold, silver, bronze, and iron. In this system humanity also starts out in the first age in an advanced state of consciousness and gradually becomes degraded. Here also, the progressive developments in human society are not simply evolving by physical processes, but are superintended by a higher controlling intelligence.

It is noteworthy that Aratos’ story specifies the eating of cows as a sinful act that cut mankind off from direct contact with celestial beings. This detail fits in nicely with the ancient Indian traditions of cow protection, but it is unexpected in the context of Greek or European culture.

One explanation for similarities between ideas found in different cultures is that people everywhere have essentially the same psychological makeup, and so they tend to come up independently with similar notions. However, details such as the point about cow-killing suggest that we are dealing here with common traditions rather than independent inventions.

Another example of similarities between cultures can be found among the natives of North America. The Sioux Indians say that their ancestors were visited by a celestial woman who gave them their system of religion. She pointed out to them that there are four ages, and that there is a sacred buffalo that loses one leg during each age. At present we are in the last age, an age of degradation, and the buffalo has one leg.[2] This story is a close parallel to the account in the Srimad Bhagavatam of the encounter between Maharaja Pariksit and the bull of Dharma. There, Dharma is said to lose one leg with each successive yuga, leaving it with one leg in the present Age of Kali. According to the Vedic system, the lengths of the Satya, Treta, Dvapara, and Kali yugas are 4, 3, 2, and 1 times an interval of 432,000 years. Within these immense periods of time the human life span decreases from 100,000 years in the Satya-yuga to 10,000 years in the Treta-yuga, 1,000 years in the Dvapara-yuga, and finally 100 years in the Kali-yuga.

Of course, this idea is strongly at odds with the modern evolutionary view of the past. In the ancient Mediterranean world, however, it was widely believed that human history had extended over extremely long periods of time. For example, according to old historical records, Porphyry (c. 300 A.D.) said that Callisthenes, a companion of Alexander

in the Persian war, dispatched to Aristotle Babylonian records of eclipses and that these records covered 31,000 years. Likewise, Iamblicus (fourth century) said on the authority of the ancient Greek astronomer Hipparchus that the Assyrians had made observations for 270,000 years and had kept records of the return of all seven planets to

the same position.[3] Finally, the Babylonian historian Berosus assigned 432,000 years to the total span of the reigns of the Babylonian kings before the Flood.[4] We do not wish to suggest that these statements are true (or that they are false). The point here is that people in the old Mediterranean civilization evidently had a much different view of the past than the dominant view today. And this view was broadly consistent with Vedic chronology. Although the Bible is well known for advocating a very short time-span for human history, it is interesting to note that it contains information indicating that people at one time lived for about 1,000 years. In the Old Testament the following ages are listed for people living before the Biblical Flood: Adam, 930; Seth, 912; Enos, 905; Kenan, 910; Mahaleel, 895; Jared, 962; Enoch, 365; Methusaleh,969; Lamech, 777; and Noah, 950. If we exclude Enoch (who was said to have been taken up to heaven in his own body), these persons lived an average of 912 years.[5] After the Flood, however, the following ages were recorded: Shem, 600; Arphachshad, 438; Selah, 433; Eber, 464; Peleg, 239; Reu, 239; Serug, 230; Nahor, 148; Terah, 205; Abraham, 175; Issac, 180; Job, 210; Jacob, 147; Levi, 137; Kohath, 133; Amaram, 137; Moses, 120; and Joshua, 110. These ages show a gradual decline to about 100 years, similar to what must have happened after the beginning of Kali-yuga, according to the Vedic system. Here we should mention in passing that the Biblical Flood is traditionally said to have taken place in the second or third millenium B.C., and the traditional date in India for the beginning of Kali-yuga is February 18, 3102 B.C. This very date is cited as the time of the Flood in various Persian, Islamic, and European writings from the sixth to the fourteenth centuries A.D.[6] How did the middle-eastern Flood come to be associated with the start of Kali-yuga? The only comment we can make is that this story shows how little we really know about the past. In support of the Biblical story of very long human life-spans in ancient times, the Roman historian Flavius Josephus cited many historical works that were available in his time: Now when Noah had lived 350 years after the Flood, and all that time happily, he died, having the number of 950 years, but let no one, upon comparing the lives of the ancients with our lives…make the shortness of our lives at present an argument that neither did they attain so long a duration of life…. Now I have for witnesses to what I have said all those that have written Antiquities, both among the Greeks and barbarians, for even Manetho, who wrote the Egyptian history, and Berosus, who collected the Chaldean monuments, and Mochus, and Hestiaeus, and beside these, Hiernonymous the Egyptian, and those who composed the Phoenician history, agree with what I here say: Hesiod also, and Hecataeus, Hellanicaus, and Acuzilaus, and besides Ephorus and Nicolaus relate that the ancients lived a thousand years: but as to these matters, let everyone look upon them as he sees fit.[7] Unfortunately, practically none of the works referred to by Josephus are still existing, and this again shows how little we know of the past. But in existing Norse sagas it is said that people in ancient times lived for many centuries. In addition, the Norse sagas describe a progression of ages, including an age of peace, an age when different social orders were introduced, an age of increasing violence, and a degraded “knife-age and axe-age with cloven shields.”[8] The latter is followed by a period of annihilation, called Ragnarok, after which the world is restored to goodness.

The Norse Ragnarok involves the destruction of the earth and the abodes of the Norse demigods (called Asgard), and thus it corresponds in Vedic chronology to the annihilation of the three worlds that follows 1,000 yuga cycles, or one day of Brahma. It is said that during Ragnarok the world is destroyed with flames by a being called Surt, who lives beneath the lower world (appropriately called Hel) and was involved in the world’s creation. By comparison, the Srimad Bhagavatam (3.11.30) states that at the end of Brahma’s day, “the devastation takes place due to the fire emanating from the mouth of Sankarsana.” Sankarsana is a plenary expansion of Krsna who is “seated at the bottom of the universe” (Srimad Bhagavatam 3.8.3), beneath the lower planetary systems. There are many similarities between the Norse and Vedic cosmologies, but there are also great differences. One key difference is that in the Srimad Bhagavatam, all beings and phenomena within the universe are clearly understood as part of the divine plan of Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In contrast, in the Norse mythology God is conspicuously absent, and the origin and purpose of the major players in the cosmic drama are very obscure. Surt, in particular, is a “fire giant” whose origins and motives are unclear even to experts in the Norse literature.[9] One might ask, If Vedic themes appear in many different societies, how can one conclude that they derive from an ancient Vedic civilization? Perhaps they were created in many places independently, or perhaps they descend from an unknown culture that is also ancestral to what we call Vedic culture. Thus parallels between the accounts of Surt and Sankarsana may be coincidental, or perhaps the Vedic account derives from a story similar to that of Surt.

Our answer to this question is that available empirical evidence will not be sufficient to prove the hypothesis of descent from an ancient Vedic culture, for all empirical evidence is imperfect and subject to various interpretations. But we can decide whether or not the evidence is consistent this hypothesis.

If there was an ancient Vedic world civilization, we would expect to find traces of it in many cultures around the world. We do seem to find such traces, and many agree with Vedic accounts in specific details (such as the location of Surt’s abode or the sacred buffalo’s loss of one leg per world age). Since this civilization began to lose its influence thousands of years ago, at the beginning of Kali-yuga, we would expect many of these traces to be fragmentary and overlain by many later additions, and this we also see. Thus the available evidence seems to be consistent with the hypothesis of a Vedic origin.

REFERENCES

[1] E. C. Sachau, trans., Alberuni’s India

(Delhi: S. Chand & Co., 1964), pp. 383-4.

[2] J. E. Brown, ed., The Sacred Pipe (Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1971), p [3] D. Neugebauer, History of Ancient Mathematical Astronomy (Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 1975), pp. 608-9.

[4] J. D. North, “Chronology & the Age of the World,” in Cosmology, History & Theology, eds. Wolfgang Yourgrau and A. D. Breck (N. Y.: Plenum Press, 1977), p. 315.

[5] D. W. Patten and P. A. Patten, “A Comprehensive Theory on Aging, Gigantism & Longevity,” Catastrophism & Ancient History, Vol. 2, Part 1 (Aug. 1979), p. 24. [6] J. D. North, Ibid., p. 316-7.

[7] D. W. Patten, Ibid., p. 29.

[8] V. Rydberg, Teutonic Mythology, R. B. Anderson, trans.

(London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co., 1889), pp. 88,94. [9] Ibid., pp. 448-9.

Don’t forget to chant: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna

Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama

Rama Rama Hare Hare

Source:http://www.dandavats.com/?p=30543

Between 2012 and 2016, the number of Australian adults whose diet is all or almost all vegetarian has risen from 1.7 million people (or 9.7% of the population) to almost 2.1 million (11.2%), the latest findings from Roy Morgan Research reveal. While it is a nationwide trend, the shift towards vegetarianism has been most striking in New South Wales, where there has been a 30% growth in this kind of diet.

This is a significant surge in the movement away from the standard Australian meat based diet and will have a major and lasting impact on markets and industry. The results of this survey will provide a boost to businesses that supply the vegetarian consumer market and will no doubt give a lift to the vegetarian/vegan revolution.

The findings of the study released today has found there’s been a surge in Australians going off meat altogether with 2.1 million of us (or 11.1 per cent of the population) reportedly vegetarian. In NSW, people not eating meat has surged by 30 per cent.

Roy Morgan Research has shown that many Australians adopt a vegetarian diet for health and/or weight-loss reasons – and this hasn’t changed. Nearly half (48.7%) of Aussies 18+ who eat little or no meat agree that ‘A low-fat diet is a way of life for me’ (well above the population average of 31.9%) and 36.7% agree that ‘I always think of the number of calories in the food I’m eating’ (compared with the 25.2% national average).

The research proves the heavy advertising push by Australia’s meat and livestock industry has failed to gain traction with a broad base of consumers.

Srila Prabhupada Says:

“Vegetables, grains, fruits, milk and water are the proper foods for human beings and are prescribed by Lord Krishna Himself. Whatever else we eat cannot be offered to Him, since He will not accept it. Thus we cannot be acting on the level of loving devotion if we offer such foods.…

“But preparing nice, simple vegetable dishes, offering them before the picture or Deity of Lord Krishna and bowing down and praying for Him to accept such a humble offering enables one to advance steadily in life, to purify the body, and to create fine brain tissues which will lead to clear thinking…

“Above all, the offering should be made with an attitude of love. Krishna has no need of food, since He already possesses everything that be, yet He will accept the offering of one who desires to please Him in that way. The important element, in preparation, in serving and in offering, is to act with love for Krishna.”

Source:http://brihadmrdanga.com/2016/08/is-a-vegetarian-revolution-occurring-in-australia-yes-it-is/

We invite you to join us in the celebration of Balarama Jayanti, the appearance day of Lord Balarama, on the 18th of August. Find the details on the web site of your closest temple.

Who is Lord Balarama?
*****************
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, is the fountainhead of all incarnations. Lord Balarama is His second body. They are both one and the same identity. They differ only in form. Balarama is the first bodily expansion of Krishna, and He assists in Lord Krishna’s transcendental pastimes. He is the source of the entire spiritual world and is the adi-guru, the original spiritual master.

He assumes five other forms to serve Lord Krishna. He Himself helps in the pastimes of Lord Krishna, and He does the work of creation in four other forms called the catur-vyuha (four armed) forms known as Vasudeva, Sankarshana, Pradyumna and Anirudha. He executes the orders of Lord Krishna in the work of creation, and in the form of Lord Sesa He serves Sri Krishna in various ways. In all the forms He tastes the transcendental bliss of serving Krishna. No one can approach Krishna without first getting the mercy of Baladeva.

Descent of Balarama
****************
Whenever Krishna appears in the material world, He is accompanied by His associates and paraphernalia. Five thousand years ago when Krishna descended into the material world, He was first preceded by Baladeva. Only after Baladeva give His mercy did Krishna descend, such is the intimate relationship between Krishna and Baladeva.

When Baladeva appeared as the seventh child in the womb of Devaki, she could understand that this was a divine child and this made her all the more concerned about His safety. Even Kamsa could sense His potency and he became fearful, thinking he may have been tricked by the prophecy that he will be slain only by the eight child of Devaki. At this time Krishna instructed Yogamaya, His internal potency, to transfer the unborn child from the womb of Devaki to that of Rohini, one of the other wives of Vasudeva, who was hiding from Kamsa in the house of Nanda Maharaja in Gokul.

In this way Balarama was born in Gokul under the protection of Nanda Maharaja. Garga Muni the venerable kulguru (family priest) of the Yadu dynasty revealed to Rohini that the child she was carrying was indeed that of her husband Vasudeva. At the time of the name-giving ceremony he named the child Rama, one who gives all pleasures. Referring to the immense strength of the child, Garga Muni predicted that He will also be known as Balarama (bala meaning strength). Since He was forcibly attracted from the womb of Devaki to that of Rohini, He was also be called Sankarshana. As the son of Rohini He was known as Rohini-nandan and as the elder brother of Krishna He was also called Douji.

The form of Lord Balarama
********************
Powerful Lord Balarama is sixteen years old, full of the luster of youth and has a fair complexion the color of crystal. He wears blue garments and a garland of forest flowers. His handsome hair is tied in a graceful topknot. Splendid earrings adorn His ears and His neck is splendidly decorated with garlands of flowers and strings of jewels. Splendid armlets and bracelets ornament Douji’s graceful and very strong arms and His feet are decorated with splendid jeweled anklets.

Lord Balarama’s beauty is enhanced by the earrings touching His cheeks. His face is decorated with tilaka made from musk, and His broad chest is ornamented with a garland of gunja. Balarama’s voice is very grave and His arms are very long, touching His thighs

The splendor of Lord Balarama’s transcendental form eclipses many millions of glistening rising moons, and the slightest scent of His boundless strength is sufficient to destroy many armies of demons. Although He knows the supernatural power of His younger brother, Krishna, still, out of love for Him, He never leaves Krishna alone in the forest even for a moment. Balarama is Sri Krishna’s dearest friend and is a great reservoir of the nectar mellows of many kinds of transcendental pastimes.

Specific Pastimes of Lord Balarama
Balarama slays Dhenukasura
*********************
Dhenukasura was a powerful demon who had assumed the form of an ass. With his demon friends he was occupying Talavana, one of the twelve forests of Vrindavana. Out of fear of these demons no one could approach Talavana and enjoy the numerous flowers and fruits in the forest. Balarama, induced by His cowherd friends, entered the forest desiring to kill the demons. He began shaking the fruit trees, making a big noise. Dhenuka, furious at the intrusion, attacked Balarama with his rear legs, but Balarama easily picked him up by his legs and whirled him around until he died. As the other demon friends of Dhenuka rushed to attack, Krishna and Balarama picked them up and threw them on trees, killing them. Soon the forest was free of all demons, and it appeared that the bent trees were being directed by Balarama to pay obeisances to Krishna.

Balarama kills Pralambasura
********************
Once when Krishna and Balarama were playing with the cowherd boys, a demon named Pralamba entered their midst, disguised as a cowherd boy. Understanding the invincible potency of Krishna, he instead decided to abduct Balarama. At the end of the game, as the losing party he was supposed to carry Balarama on his shoulders. Carrying the Lord on his shoulders he ran swiftly, but Balarama realizing the true identity of demon began to make himself heavier and heavier. Unable to bear the weight, the demon assumed his original form which was like a huge dark effulgent cloud, decorated with golden ornaments. Balarama then bought His fist down the head of the demon splitting it into two and causing him to give up his life.

Balarama glorified by Krishna
**********************
As the elder brother of Krishna, Balarama was the object of His love and respect. Once when walking in the forest of Vrindavana, Krishna observed the trees bending down as if paying obeisances. He glorified the lotus feet of Balarama as being the object of devotion even for the demigods. He said that the trees, which were impersonalists in previous life times, witnessing the personal form of Balarama were now praying for His devotion. At other times when Balarama would get tired by playing, He would lie down the lap of one of the cowherd boys and Krishna would personally massage His feet, fan Him and give Him service. Such was the sweet reciprocation of love between Krishna and Balarama.

Yamuna devi chastised
******************
Once Lord Balarama, Who was at the time living in Dwarka, came back to stay in Vrindavana for two months. At this time He enjoyed pastimes with His gopi friends (who were different from the gopis of Krishna). Enjoying such pastimes on the bank of Yamuna at Rama-ghata, the Lord summoned Yamuna so that He could sport in the waters. When Yamuna devi did not respond. Lord Balarama took up His favorite weapon, His plow, and began to drag Yamuna in a hundred streams. Understanding the position of Balarama, Yamuna devi personally appeared and offered her obeisances to the Lord with many prayers in His glorification. Thus appeased the Lord entered and bathed in the waters of the river.

Kauravas chastised
***************
Samba, the darling son of Jambavati and Krishna, kidnapped Laksmana the daughter of Duryodhana from the assembly were she was supposed to choose her husband. The furious Kauravas after a prolonged fight, finally arrested Samba by sending in six of their greatest warriors. When the Yadavas heard of this they prepared for battle but Lord Balarama pacified them, preferring to find a peaceful solution. However when He requested the Kauravas to return Samba and Laksmana, the Kauravas responded by insulting Him and the Yadava dynasty. Understanding them to be ignorant in their false prestige, Balarama took His plow and began to drag Hastinapura into the Ganges. The terrified Kauravas now surrendered to the lotus feet of Balarama, begging for His mercy. They immediately returned Samba and Laksmana and had them married ceremoniously with many opulent gifts.

Balarama marries Revati
******************
In Satya yuga there was a King named Raivata whose daughter Revati was excellent in all respects. Unable to find a match suitable for her, the king took her to the court of Brahma for his advise. After waiting for some time when the king met with Brahma, he was shocked to learn that in the short time he spent in the Brahmaloka, millions of years had already passed on Earth and at the time Dvapara yuga was concluding. However Lord Brahma informed King Raivata that present at this time was Lord Balarama Who was more than qualified to be the husband of Revati.

King Raivata returned and approached Balarama to accept Revati as His wife. However Revati belonged to an earlier yuga when people were much larger physically. So Lord Balarama placed His plow on her head until she shrunk to an appropriate size and accepted her as His wife.

Balarama and Mahabharata
*********************
In general Balarama was equally affectionate to both the Pandavas and the Kauravas. He accepted both Duryodhana and Bhima as His disciples in the art of mace-war. As a teacher He appreciated the superior technique of Duryodhana as opposed to the raw strength of Bhima. At the time of Mahabharata, He refused to take sides and instead went on an extended pilgrimage to the holy places. In the battle between Bhima and Duryodhana, He became angry at Bhima for killing Duryodhana by trickery, but was appeased by Sri Krishna.

Killing of Romaharshana
******************
Towards the end of Dvapara yuga thousands of sages assembled on the banks of Naimyasharana to perform a thousand year yajna in an effort to reverse the onset of Kali yuga. They appointed as their leader Romaharshana, one of the main disciple of Vyasadeva, who was also present when Sukadeva Goswami narrated Srimad Bhagavatam to King Parikshit.

When Lord Balarama entered the assembly, understanding Him to be the Supreme Personality of Godhead, all present rose to offer Him respect. However Romaharshana, proud at occupying the position of the leader did not get up. Lord Balarama could understand that even though Romaharshana was a an expert Vedantist, he had not yet realized these teachings. Considering him unqualified to lead the ceremony, Balarama touched him with a blade of grass causing him to die. He then instituted Suta, the son of Romaharshana as the leader of the assembly and continued with His pilgrimage.

Mercy of Lord Balarama
******************
Lord Balarama exemplifies the service attitude to Krishna. His only mission is to please Krishna by rendering service to Him, whether it is in the creation of the material worlds, maintaining the spiritual world or as His personal paraphernalia.

Lord Balarama is the eternal companion of Sri Krishna. He came as Lakshmana with Rama and later as Nityananda Prabhu with Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He is the original spiritual master, and any one desiring to make spiritual progress must first get the mercy of Lord Balarama.

All glories to Lord Balarama !!

Source:http://brihadmrdanga.com/2016/08/lord-balaramas-appearance-day/

On 14th August 2016, ISKCON Chandigarh celebrated the 50th anniversary of ISKCON’s first public Harinama procession led by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada from 26 Second Avenue in New York to Washington Square Park. The highlight of the celebration was a palanquin procession with Srila Prabhupada that concluded at Nehru Park, where the Mayor of Chandigarh, Arun Sood, plated a red sandalwood tree to commemorate the occasion.
“Srila Prabhupada lectured for five days at a pandal programme in Nehru Park during his visit to the city of Chandigarh in 1976,” explained Nanda Maharaj Das, Co-President of ISKCON Chandigarh. “Hence, it is very appropriate that we had the commemoration ceremony of his first public Harinama procession in the same park. This year also marks the 40th anniversary of the visit of Srila Prabhupada to our city.”
500 devotees marched in a procession for two kilometres from the temple to Nehru Park, carrying placards and banners. The procession was welcomed by several householders on the way with offerings of fruits and drinks. 
Before the procession, the assembled devotees heard about Srila Prabhupada’s first public Harinama from the Prabhupada Lilamrita, and about his visit to Chandigarh from the book ‘A transcendental diary’.
Guests at the event included local Councilor, Asha Jaswal and Ranchore Das who was present during Srila Prabhupada’s visit to the city in 1976.
While appreciating the achievements of ISKCON and Srila Prabhupada in the last 50 years, Mayor Arun Sood said, “ISKCON is performing the highest welfare activity in the world by distributing the transcendental knowledge of the Bhagavad-gita and through its teachings about pure devotion to Lord Sri Krishna. I have seen many Hare Krishna devotees doing Harinama sankiratna in other cities such as Frankfurt. Harinama sankiratana always gives me inner peace and happiness.”
Nand Maharaj Das spoke about Srila Prabhupada’s struggles and achievements to make ISKCON into a global movement. He explained the basic philosophy of ISKCON, and the benefit of following Krishna consciousness. 
“After the Harinama procession, we had an evening programme where we had a lecture on the glories of the holy name,” concluded Akrura Nandan Das, a brahmachari monk from the Chandigarh temple. “The fitting finale was a sumptuous Ekadashi feast which was served to over 700 guests.”

Source:http://www.dandavats.com/?p=30550

Today is the appearance day of Lord Balarama, the Personality of Godhead who
is the first expansion of Lord Krsna, the original Personality of Godhead.
As Krsna states in the Bhagavad-gita (4.7):

yada yada hi dharmasya
glanir bhavati bharata
abhyutthanam adharmasya
tadatmanam srjamy aham

“Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O
descendant of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion–at that time I
descend Myself.” Lord Krsna says, srjamy aham: “I manifest Myself.” He
doesn’t take birth like an ordinary human being; He manifests Himself in His
original spiritual form.

For what purpose?

paritranaya sadhunam
vinasaya ca duskrtam
dharma-samsthapanarthaya
sambhavami yuge yuge

“To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to
reestablish the principles of religion, I Myself appear, millennium after
millennium.” (Bg 4.8)
He manifests Himself to protect the devotees, annihilate the demons, and
reestablish the principles of religion.

In every sphere of activity in the material world there is deterioration;
everything in the material world declines. A new house, for example, is very
nice, but it gradually deteriorates, and eventually, when it is too old, it
has to be rebuilt. In the same way, our performance of spiritual duties
deteriorates, whether we are individuals, families, communities, or a
society. The Lord comes in order to establish religious principles (dharma)
and practice, but over time religious practice declines, and so He manifests
Himself again and again. We all know how prone we are to allow our practice
to deteriorate. Thus, on auspicious occasions like today, Lord Balarama’s
appearance day, we can pray to the Lord to manifest Himself and help us to
become reestablished in our religious principles and practice.

Srimad-Bhagavatam, relating the appearance of Lord Balarama, elaborates on
these two Gita verses. As it states, when the earth was overburdened by
demonic rulers who had amassed large military forces armed with deadly
weapons to wage war for personal gain, Lord Brahma, the chief of the
demigods in this universe, approached the shore of the ocean of milk. There,
accompanied by Lord Siva and other celestial beings, he worshiped Lord
Visnu, the supreme God of all gods. In response, Lord Visnu gave him
instructions, which Lord Brahma in turn conveyed to the demigods. He told
them that the Lord would soon appear on earth to diminish the burden of the
world and that the demigods, to assist Him, should take birth in the Yadu
dynasty. Lord Brahma further stated that Lord Balarama, who is also known as
Sankarsana, would precede the Lord and serve Him in every respect:

vasudeva-kalanantah
sahasra-vadanah svarat
agrato bhavita devo
hareh priya-cikirsaya

“The foremost manifestation of Krsna is Sankarsana, who is known as Ananta.
He is the origin of all incarnations within this material world. Previous to
the appearance of Lord Krsna, this original Sankarsana will appear as
Baladeva, just to please the Supreme Lord Krsna in His transcendental
pastimes.” (SB 10.1.24)

Lord Brahma told them as well that Yogamaya, the personal potency of the
Lord, would also appear and assist the Lord in His mission.

Many of you may know the history that immediately preceded the appearance of
Krsna and Balarama. Vasudeva, a great devotee in the Yadu dynasty, wedded
Devaki, another pure devotee. After their marriage, Vasudeva mounted his
chariot with his newly wedded wife to return home, and Devaki’s brother
Kamsa, to please his sister, took the reins of the horses to drive the
chariot. Along the way, Kamsa heard a voice from an invisible source telling
him, “You fool, the eighth child of the woman you are carrying will kill
you!” Kamsa, a great demon, became enraged and was ready to kill his own
sister on the day of her marriage. But Vasudeva intervened and appealed to
him to desist. He said, “How could a qualified person like you kill a
woman–your own sister–on the occasion of her marriage? In any case, one
day you will die, and in your next life you will have to suffer the
reactions to your present activities.” Still, Kamsa was so shameless and
cruel that he persisted, and Vasudeva, to save his wife from imminent death,
told him, “You have nothing to fear from Devaki, according to the omen. It
is her son that will kill you. So I promise to deliver all her sons, who are
the cause of your fear, into your hands.” Kamsa, having faith in Vasudeva’s
word, was pacified. Still, he imprisoned Vasudeva and Devaki. And year after
year, as their children were born, Vasudeva very dutifully delivered them to
Kamsa, who mercilessly killed them.

Now we shall read from Srimad-Bhagavatam, Canto Ten, Chapter Two: “Prayers
by the Demigods.”

TEXT 7

gaccha devi vrajam bhadre
gopa-gobhir alankrtam
rohini vasudevasya
bharyaste nanda-gokule
anyas ca kamsa-samvigna
vivaresu vasanti hi

TRANSLATION

The Lord ordered Yogamaya: O My potency, who are worshipable for the entire
world and whose nature is to bestow good fortune upon all living entities,
go to Vraja, where there live many cowherd men and their wives. In that very
beautiful land, where many cows reside, Rohini, the wife of Vasudeva, is
living at the home of Nanda Maharaja. Other wives of Vasudeva are also
living there incognito because of fear of Kamsa. Please go there.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Nanda-gokula, the residence of King Nanda, was itself very beautiful, but
when Yogamaya was ordered to go there and encourage the devotees with
fearlessness, it became even more beautiful and safe. Because Yogamaya had
the ability to create such an atmosphere, the Lord ordered her to go to
Nanda-gokula.

COMMENT by Giriraj Swami

King Kamsa was such a demon that he was performing all sorts of atrocities,
and Vasudeva was afraid for the safety of his wives. In Vedic culture, the
ksatriyas in particular were allowed to marry more than one wife. Now that
idea seems a bit foreign or odd, but it had its purpose in Vedic
civilization. The ksatriyas then were powerful; they could maintain many
wives. But, as predicted in Srimad-Bhagavatam, as the present age of Kali
progresses, or deteriorates, a husband will have to struggle just to
maintain one wife, one family, and if he is somehow able to do so nicely, he
is considered a great success in life.

Previously, people were more qualified. They were more opulent. The
ksatriyas could have more than one wife, though Lord Ramacandra took
eka-patni-vrata, a vow to accept only one wife–Sitadevi. Vasudeva had more
than one wife, but he was responsible. He didn’t want any harm to befall any
of them, and he arranged for their protection. Vasudeva and Devaki had
relatives, who were also family friends, in Gokula–Nanda and Yasoda. And so
Vasudeva placed one of his wives, Rohini, under the care of Nanda and
Yasoda. And after Balarama had entered the womb of Devaki, Lord Krsna
ordered Yogamaya to transfer Him from the womb of Devaki into the womb of
Rohini.

TEXT 8

devakya jathare garbham
sesakhyam dhama mamakam
tat sannikrsya rohinya
udare sannivesaya

TRANSLATION

Within the womb of Devaki is My partial plenary expansion known as
Sankarsana or Sesa. Without difficulty, transfer Him into the womb of
Rohini.

PURPORT

The first plenary expansion of Krsna is Baladeva, also known as Sesa. The
Sesa incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead supports the entire
universe, and the eternal mother of this incarnation is Mother Rohini.
“Because I am going into the womb of Devaki,” the Lord told Yogamaya, “the
Sesa incarnation has already gone there and made suitable arrangements so
that I may live there. Now He should enter the womb of Rohini, His eternal
mother.”

In this connection, one may ask how the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who
is always situated transcendentally, could enter the womb of Devaki, which
had previously been entered by the six asuras, the sad-garbhas. Does this
mean that the sad-garbhasuras were equal to the transcendental body of the
Supreme Personality of Godhead? The following answer is given by Srila
Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura.

COMMENT

As promised, Vasudeva delivered the first six sons of Devaki to Kamsa, who
killed them one after the other. They were actually the six asuras who,
because of events from their past life, had taken birth in Devaki’s womb to
be killed by Kamsa. So the question is, Krsna is going to enter the womb of
Devaki–does that mean He is on the same level as these asuras who took
birth from her womb and were killed by Kamsa? Visvanatha Cakravarti
explains:

PURPORT (continued)

The entire creation, as well as its individual parts, is an expansion of the
energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore, even though the
Lord enters the material world, He does not do so. This is explained by the
Lord Himself in the Bhagavad-gita (9.4-5):

maya tatam idam sarvam
jagad avyakta-murtina
mat-sthani sarva-bhutani
na caham tesv avasthitah

na ca mat-sthani bhutani
pasya me yogam aisvaram
bhuta-bhrn na ca bhuta-stho
mamatma bhuta-bhavanah

COMMENT

The idea is that the Lord is everywhere within His creation but at the same
time is not there. This appears to be contradictory. The contradiction is
resolved, however, when we understand that the Lord in His original form as
Krsna in Goloka Vrndavana is not in the material creation; He remains aloof,
in His divine abode, enjoying sublime pastimes with His loving devotees.
Still, by His expansion as the Supersoul, the Paramatma, He pervades His
creation.

PURPORT (continued)

A pure devotee is always transcendentally situated because of executing nine
different processes of bhakti-yoga. Thus situated in devotional service, a
devotee, although in the material world, is not in the material world. Yet a
devotee always fears, “Because I am associated with the material world, so
many contaminations affect me.” Therefore he is always alert in fear, which
gradually diminishes his material association.

COMMENT

As stated earlier, Yogamaya appeared in Gokula to create
fearlessness–freedom from fear of the attacks of demons. Yet a pure devotee
is always afraid of material contamination. Once, Srila Prabhupada gave a
class at the Bhaktivedanta Manor in which he told the audience, “The
difference between you and me is that you can fall down but I cannot fall
down.” Later, after the class, Srila Prabhupada was praying in front of the
Deities, and one disciple asked him, “What were you praying?” And Srila
Prabhupada replied, “I was praying that I may never fall down.” The disciple
responded, “But in your talk you said that you can never fall down.” And
Srila Prabhupada replied, “Yes, because I am always praying never to fall
down, I can never fall down.” So, we should always be afraid of the material
energy (maya), of being deluded by maya and being diverted from the true
path of Krsna consciousness.

PURPORT (continued)

Symbolically, Mother Devaki’s constant fear of Kamsa was purifying her. A
pure devotee should always fear material association, and in this way all
the asuras of material association will be killed, as the sad-garbhasuras
were killed by Kamsa.

COMMENT

Especially devotees in the grhastha-asrama may have to associate with the
material energy, to earn money to maintain their families. Like it or not,
they may have to associate with materialistic people. And there is always a
danger that by their associating with materialistic people, their
consciousness will be affected. So they should be afraid of material
association. Of course, circumstantially we have to interact with such
people, and we may do so as people normally interact in the workplace. But
internally we should be conscious that if we associate with them too much,
in the wrong way, it can affect us, and we can become weakened in our
determination to progress in Krsna consciousness. We may start to compromise
in different ways, which will weaken us even more.

PURPORT (concluded)

It is said that from the mind, Marici appears. In other words, Marici is an
incarnation of the mind. Marici has six sons: Kama, Krodha, Lobha, Moha,
Mada, and Matsarya (lust, anger, greed, illusion, madness, and envy). The
Supreme Personality of Godhead appears in pure devotional service. This is
confirmed in the Vedas: bhaktir evainam darsayati. Only bhakti can bring one
in contact with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Supreme Personality
of Godhead appeared from the womb of Devaki, and therefore Devaki
symbolically represents bhakti, and Kamsa symbolically represents material
fear. When a pure devotee always fears material association, his real
position of bhakti is manifest, and he naturally becomes uninterested in
material enjoyment. When the six sons of Marici are killed by such fear and
one is freed from material contamination, within the womb of bhakti the
Supreme Personality of Godhead appears. Thus the seventh pregnancy of Devaki
signifies the appearance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. After the
six sons Kama, Krodha, Lobha, Moha, Mada, and Matsarya are killed, the Sesa
incarnation creates a suitable situation for the appearance of the Supreme
Personality of Godhead. In other words, when one awakens his natural Krsna
consciousness, Lord Krsna appears. This is the explanation given by Srila
Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura.

COMMENT

There are different stages of advancement in devotional service, and when
one is completely purified, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is revealed
within the heart. That purified stage is called vasudeva, or suddha-sattva.
It is the same name as that of Krsna’s father, Vasudeva, because Krsna first
appeared in the purified mind of Vasudeva and then from the mind of Vasudeva
He was transferred into the purified mind–and womb–of Devaki.

So it is possible that the Lord will manifest Himself to a devotee who is
sincere in the practice of devotional service. And before He manifests
Himself fully, as He did for Vasudeva and Devaki, and for Nanda and Yasoda,
He manifests Himself as the holy name (as we all experience when we try to
chant without offense); as holy scripture–Srimad-Bhagavatam, Srimad
Bhagavad-gita, or Sri Caitanya-caritamrta; as the holy dhama–Sri Vrndavana,
Mayapur, or Puri; as the Deity; and in the hearts, and words, of His pure
devotees.

TEXT 9

athaham amsa-bhagena
devakyah putratam subhe
prapsyami tvam yasodayam
nanda-patnyam bhavisyasi

TRANSLATION

O all-auspicious Yogamaya, I shall then appear with My full six opulences as
the son of Devaki, and you will appear as the daughter of Mother Yasoda, the
queen of Maharaja Nanda.

COMMENT

This is the history. Balarama, or Sesa, first entered the womb of Devaki as
her seventh son, but by the arrangement of Krsna, through the agency of
Yogamaya, He was transferred to the womb of Rohini in Gokula. And thus it
appeared that Devaki had a miscarriage. But it is Sesa’s service to arrange
for Krsna’s comfort, and so He entered her womb first and created a
favorable situation in which Lord Krsna could reside. We always see pictures
of Lord Visnu with Sesa, who acts as the Lord’s umbrella and throne. Sesa
expands Himself in so many ways to facilitate the pleasure and comfort of
the Lord.

After being transferred to the womb of Rohini, His eternal mother, Balarama
took birth in Gokula. His stay within the womb of Devaki was just a
temporary arrangement to create a favorable situation for Krsna. Then Krsna
Himself entered the womb of Devaki through the mind of Vasudeva and took
birth.

For the duration of Their infancy, childhood, and youth, Krsna and Balarama
enjoyed Their pastimes together in Gokula, in Vraja. Then, when They were
around the age of sixteen, They went to Mathura to participate in a
wrestling match arranged by Kamsa. Ultimately Krsna killed Kamsa, but Krsna
and Balarama did not then return to Vrndavana. They had many pastimes in
Mathura and Dvaraka. Because They had not yet received a proper, formal
education, Vasudeva and Devaki arranged for Them to study under a guru,
Sandipani Muni, from whom They learned sixty-four different arts and
sciences. And then They went on to rule Mathura and, finally, Dvaraka.

It is, one could say, a peculiar situation that Krsna was actually the son
of Vasudeva and Devaki but that He was raised by Nanda and Yasoda and never
really spent time with His original parents until many years later. And then
He was separated from the parents who had raised Him, and He didn’t see them
again for many, many, many years.

After Krsna and Balarama left Vrndavana, the Vraja-vasis were plunged into
an ocean of separation. Their only business was crying for Krsna and
Balarama. Of course, their crying was not like our material crying. Theirs
was transcendental ecstasy. And in that separation, they were experiencing
association. Still, they were separated, and many years later, when Krsna
was living in royal opulence in Dvaraka, He went to Kuruksetra for a solar
eclipse, to perform sacrifices and give in charity, as advised in sastra.

At Kuruksetra there was a great reunion, not only between Krsna and Balarama
and Their friends from Vrndavana, but also between Vasudeva and Devaki and
Nanda and Yasoda, and between Krsna’s various wives and Draupadi. Their
meetings and interactions with each other are very instructive for us–how
devotees relate to each other, how they think, and how they feel.

Srimad-Bhagavatam, Canto Ten, Chapter Eighty-Two: “Krsna Meets the
Inhabitants of Vrndavana.”

TEXTS 31-32

When Nanda Maharaja learned that the Yadus had arrived, led by Krsna, he
immediately went to see them. The cowherds accompanied him, their various
possessions loaded on their wagons.

Seeing Nanda, the Vrsnis were delighted and stood up like dead bodies coming
back to life. Having felt much distress at not seeing him for so long, they
held him in a tight embrace.

COMMENT

The Vrsnis from Dvaraka returned to life when they saw Nanda, and they
embraced him affectionately.

TEXTS 33-38

Vasudeva embraced Nanda Maharaja with great joy. Beside himself with
ecstatic love, Vasudeva remembered the troubles Kamsa had caused him,
forcing him to leave his sons in Gokula for Their safety.

O hero of the Kurus, Krsna and Balarama embraced Their foster parents and
bowed down to them, but Their throats were so choked up with tears of love
that the two Lords could say nothing.

Raising their two sons onto their laps and holding Them in their arms, Nanda
and saintly Mother Yasoda forgot their sorrows.

Then Rohini and Devaki both embraced the Queen of Vraja, remembering the
faithful friendship she had shown them. Their throats choking with tears,
they addressed her as follows.

[Rohini and Devaki said:] What woman could forget the unceasing friendship
you and Nanda have shown us, dear Queen of Vraja? There is no way to repay
you in this world, even with the wealth of Indra.

Before these two boys had ever seen Their real parents, you acted as Their
parents and gave Them all affectionate care, training, nourishment, and
protection. They were never afraid, good lady, because you protected Them
just as eyelids protect the eyes. Indeed, saintly persons like you never
discriminate between outsiders and their own kin.

PURPORT

As Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti explains, Krsna and Balarama had not seen
Their parents for two reasons: because of Their exile in Vraja, and also
because They are never actually born and therefore have no parents.

Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti also describes what Devaki thought before
speaking this verse: “Alas, because for so long these two sons of mine had
you, Yasoda, as Their guardian and mother, and because They were immersed in
such a vast ocean of ecstatic loving dealings with you, now that you are
once more before Them They are too distracted to even notice me. Also, you
are behaving as if insane and blind with love for Them, showing millions of
times more maternal affection than I possess. Thus you simply keep staring
at us, your friends, without recognizing us. So let me bring you back to
reality on the pretext of some affectionate words.”

COMMENT

There are many points here. First is how much Devaki appreciated Mother
Yasoda for taking care of her son Krsna. Before He had even seen His real
parents, Yasoda and Nanda had acted as His and Balarama’s parents and cared
for Them, taught Them, nourished Them, and protected Them. And thus Devaké’s
sons never had any fear. And she praises Yasoda for being a saintly person
who never discriminates between outsiders and her own kin. Of course, on
another level Krsna is the Supersoul; He is the most intimate friend and the
supreme lovable object for everyone. But in terms of the pastimes, Yasoda
did not discriminate that Krsna was not her own son; she and Nanda raised
Him as if He were their own.

Also, Devaki was completely free from envy. She saw that Krsna (with
Balarama) was so overwhelmed with love that He forgot everything. He just
rushed into the arms of Mother Yasoda. And Devaki not only admitted but
actually appreciated that Yasoda had more love for Krsna than even she did.

These are some of the qualities that devotees develop in Krsna
consciousness. They appreciate the service of others, and they are not
envious. They are happy to acknowledge those who have more love for Krsna
than they do, or render better service to Krsna than they do. And they are
full of love. It is described here that when the Vrsnis saw Nanda and
Yasoda–even though they had the association of Krsna in Dvaraka and were
with Him in Kuruksetra–they felt as if their lives had come back to them.
They had so much love and affection for them, and they were most grateful to
them for their service to Krsna.

PURPORT (concluded)

Then, when Devaki failed to get any response from Yasoda even after
addressing her, Rohini said, “My dear Devaki, it’s impossible just now to
rouse her out of this ecstatic trance. We are crying in the wilderness, and
her two sons are no less bound up in the ropes of affection for her than she
is for Them.

COMMENT

Yasoda had lost consciousness of everything other than her sons, Krsna and
Balarama. And again, Yasoda did not discriminate, that “Krsna is my son, but
Balarama is Rohini’s.” Nor did Rohini discriminate that “Balarama is my son,
but Krsna is Yasoda’s.” Both mothers were mothers to both sons, and both
sons saw both as Their mothers.

This type of love develops with Krsna consciousness, but it is also
something that we are meant to cultivate. In Srila Prabhupada’s last days,
in Vrndavana, His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami exclaimed, “Srila
Prabhupada, your disciples love you so much.” And Srila Prabhupada replied,
“Your love for me will be shown by how much you cooperate with each other.”
Many authorities, both spiritual and mundane, have commented that love is
not just a sentiment but is also a process. Srila Prabhupada said that if we
really love him–if we want to show our love for him–we will cooperate with
each other for his pleasure, which ultimately means Krsna’s pleasure (yasya
prasadad bhagavat-prasado).

By the family of Vasudeva and Devaki and the family of Nanda and Yasoda
cooperating for the service of Lord Balarama, the two families were brought
together. And that was one of Lord Balarama’s purposes, as foretold by
Gargamuni:

garga uvaca
ayam hi rohini-putro
ramayan suhrdo gunaih
akhyasyate rama iti
baladhikyad balam viduh
yadunam aprthag-bhavat
sankarsanam usanty api

“Gargamuni said: This child, the son of Rohini, will give all happiness to
His relatives and friends by His transcendental qualities. Therefore He will
be known as Rama. And because He will manifest extraordinary bodily
strength, He will also be known as Bala. Moreover, because He unites two
families–Vasudeva’s family and the family of Nanda Maharaja–He will be
known as Sankarsana.”(SB 10.8.12)

In the purport, Srila Prabhupada explains: “Baladeva was actually the son of
Devaki, but He was transferred from Devaki’s womb to that of Rohini. This
fact was not disclosed. According to a statement in the Hari-vamsa:

pratyuvaca tato ramah
sarvams tan abhitah sthitan
yadavesv api sarvesu
bhavanto mama vallabhah

Gargamuni did disclose to Nanda Maharaja that Balarama would be known as
Sankarsana because of uniting two families–the yadu-vamsa and the vamsa of
Nanda Maharaja–one of which was known as ksatriya and the other as vaisya.
Both families had the same original forefather, the only difference being
that Nanda Maharaja was born of a vaisya wife whereas Vasudeva was born of a
ksatriya wife. Later, Nanda Maharaja married a vaisya wife, and Vasudeva
married a ksatriya wife. So although the families of Nanda Maharaja and
Vasudeva both came from the same father, they were divided as ksatriya and
vaisya. Now Baladeva united them, and therefore He was known as Sankarsana.”

By Krsna consciousness, by cooperating to serve the spiritual master and the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, different individuals, families, castes, and
communities can all be united.

Even Balarama considers Himself to be a servant of Lord Krsna. Balarama is
the first expansion of Krsna and is the original spiritual master, but He,
too, has the sentiment that He is a servant of Krsna. In fact, every
conscious being is imbued with the sentiment of being a servant of Krsna.
Balarama, and all of Krsna’s expansions–Vasudeva, Sankarsana, Pradyumna,
Aniruddha, Karanodakasayi Visnu, Garbhodakasayi Visnu, Ksirodakasayi
Visnu–all have the sentiment of being servants of Krsna.

ekale isvara krsna, ara saba bhrtya
yare yaiche nacaya, se taiche kare nrtya

“Lord Krsna alone is the supreme controller, and all others are His
servants. They dance as He makes them do so.” (Cc Adi 5.142)

apanake bhrtya kari’ krsne prabhu jane
krsnera kalara kala apanake mane

“[Balarama] considers Himself a servant and knows Krsna to be His master.
Thus He regards Himself as a fragment of His plenary portion.” (Cc Adi
5.137)

It was stated in the beginning that Balarama, or Sankarsana, would appear
prior to Krsna in order to serve Krsna and please Him in every respect.

vasudeva-kalanantah
sahasra-vadanah svarat
agrato bhavita devo
hareh priya-cikirsaya

“The foremost manifestation of Krsna is Sankarsana, who is known as Ananta.
He is the origin of all incarnations within this material world. Previous to
the appearance of Lord Krsna, this original Sankarsana will appear as
Baladeva, just to please the Supreme Lord Krsna in His transcendental
pastimes.” (SB 10.1.24)

And that is the duty of the spiritual master–to serve and please the
Supreme Lord. Once, Srila Prabhupada asked some disciples, “What is the duty
of the spiritual master?” And then he gave the answer: “The duty of the
spiritual master is to serve Krsna. And the duty of the disciples is to
assist the spiritual master.” Balarama is the original spiritual master
because, as Krsna’s first expansion, He is the first servant of Krsna, and
He is the first instructor about Krsna. The spiritual master is considered
to be the representative of Lord Balarama, or Nityananda Prabhu.

So, Srila Prabhupada said, “Your love for me will be shown by how you
cooperate.” In other words, love is not just a sentiment but is expressed
through practical activity. Further, it is evoked by practical activity;
loving sentiment is increased by devotional service. The word “cooperate”
consists of “co-,” which means “together,” “jointly”; and “operate,” which
means to “perform a function,” to “exert power or influence.” To cooperate
means that together we perform some function. And we see the perfect example
of cooperation in Vrndavana. Nanda and Yasoda and Rohini cooperated to raise
Krsna and Balarama. In a broader sense, they cooperated with Vasudeva and
Devaki to raise Them. And there was no envy.

Srila Prabhupada gave the example of the different parts of the body, which
cooperate for the sake of the whole, to serve the stomach. If the different
parts try to enjoy independent of the stomach, they won’t be able to. They
will fail–and suffer. Srila Prabhupada gave the example that if there is a
nice rasagulla and the hand thinks, “Why should I give all the food to the
stomach? I will enjoy myself” and then tries to enjoy directly, it won’t be
able to. The food is meant to be given to the stomach, and when it goes to
the stomach, all the different parts of the body benefit.

Srila Prabhupada elaborated on this analogy by saying that once, the
different parts of the body went on strike, thinking, “We do all the work,
and the stomach gets all the food. Why should we work for the sake of the
stomach?” So they decided to go on strike. As a result, all the parts of the
body suffered. They became weak. Then they had another meeting and decided,
“We were better off when we were serving the stomach.” So they went back to
serving the stomach.

Krsna is the focus of all devotional service. That is the meaning of
bhakti–to serve and please Krsna. And the medium for that service is the
spiritual master, who represents Lord Balarama, or Lord Nityananda. So,
Srila Prabhupada said, “Your love for me will be shown by how you
cooperate.” That means we work together, co-operate. We perform the same
function, but together, for the pleasure of guru and Krsna. And in that
service there is no envy. There is only appreciation and gratitude. Each
devotee thinks, “You’ve helped me so much by doing this.” That consciousness
develops naturally from bhakti, but at the same time we have to practice; we
are in the stage of sadhana-bhakti, devotional service in practice. When we
practice cooperation, serving the other devotees and appreciating their
service, bhakti develops, and ultimately Krsna manifests Himself. Krsna and
all of His associates are revealed to us in that state of pure devotion.

Hare Krsna.

Are there any questions or comments?

Bhakta Adam: What does it mean when you say that Krsna and Balarama took
birth from the womb? What is the childbirth process of Krsna? Does He simply
appear and His mother thinks that she has gone through childbirth? Because I
remember that Mother Yasoda–it says in Krsna book–Mother Yasoda was so
tired from the labor of childbirth that she fell asleep and could not
remember whether she had given birth to a male or a female child.

Giriraj Swami: Krsna is always everywhere, so He is already in the womb. He
is in the heart of every living entity, in every atom, in the space between
the atoms. He is everywhere. So He is already in the womb in His Paramatma
feature, which is not different from His original feature as Krsna. The
Paramatma is an expansion of His original feature. And when the time came,
the original Krsna entered the purified mind, or heart, of Vasudeva, and
from there He was transferred to the purified heart of Devaki. He was
transferred to her womb–took up residence in her womb–where Sankarsana had
already made all the arrangements. Then, after a facsimile of labor and
childbirth, Krsna emerged.

But there is a difference between Mathura and Vraja. In Mathura, Krsna
appeared with four hands, holding the symbols of Visnu, fully decorated with
ornaments. And He explained His divine identity to His parents, who praised
and worshiped Him with awe and reverence. And then He transformed Himself
into the form of a natural human child–into His original form as Krsna.

In the loving service of Lord Narayana in Vaikuntha, the devotees are always
aware of His supreme opulence as God. In Mathura, the mood is mixed.
Vasudeva and Devaki had some awareness that Krsna was God–He manifested
Himself in His four-armed form to show them that He was God–but they also
had a mood of parental affection. Devaki’s motherly affection overtook her
awareness of the Lord’s opulence, and she thought, “Oh, if Kamsa finds
Krsna, he will kill Him.” So she requested the Lord to withdraw His
four-handed form, to become invisible to Kamsa. Then Vasudeva carried the
baby Krsna out of Kamsa’s prison, crossed the Yamuna, and came to Gokula,
where Yasoda had given birth. She gave birth not only to a baby girl,
Yogamaya, but also to a son, who was the original Krsna. But as you said,
because she was so exhausted by the labor of childbirth, she was unable to
understand what kind of child had been born to her–a boy or a girl or
twins. Also, because of her pure affection for Krsna, she did not understand
that He was the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Then, when Vasudeva came
with Krsna from Mathura, that Krsna was absorbed into the original Krsna who
had been born to Yasoda. And in place of Krsna, Vasudeva took Yogamaya back
to Mathura.

In Vrndavana, the pastimes are all humanlike, nara-lila. And the Bhagavatam
says that Nanda Maharaja performed the birth (jata-karma) ceremony for
Krsna. Srila Prabhupada explains, “The jata-karma ceremony can take place
when the umbilical cord, connecting the child and the placenta, is cut. . .
. In this regard, Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura desires to prove with
evidence from many sastras that Krsna actually took birth as the son of
Yasoda before the birth of Yogamaya, who is therefore described as the
Lord’s younger sister. Even though there may be doubts about the cutting of
the umbilical cord, and even though it is possible that this was not done,
when the Supreme Personality of Godhead appears, such events are regarded as
factual.” (SB 10.5.1-2 purport) The manifestation of nara-lila is so perfect
and complete that even to that detail Krsna appeared to have taken birth
like an ordinary child. But He never was an ordinary child, and He never had
a material body.

In relation to His birth in Mathura, the Bhagavatam describes that when
Vasudeva transferred the Supreme Lord to the heart of Devaki, she became
beautiful, “just as the east becomes beautiful by carrying the rising moon.”
Later, the Bhagavatam states that “the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
Visnu, who is situated in the core of everyone’s heart, appeared from the
heart of Devaki in the dense darkness of night, like the full moon rising on
the eastern horizon.”

The moon–and the sun–always exists. The sun comes above the horizon at a
certain point, which we call sunrise, but the sun always exists. Like the
moon, it comes into our vision at a certain time. Similarly, Krsna always
exists, but He appeared from the heart, or the womb, of Devaki like the moon
appears on the eastern horizon. But Krsna is always there. He always exists.

Urvasi dasi: Maharaja, a devotee should always be aware and careful of maya
and contact with the material world, but then again it is said that a
devotee is fearless. How do you get to that point where you can count on
Krsna’s mercy and be fearless? It is so dangerous in this material world,
and maya is so strong. So, how can we actually feel that we have Krsna’s
mercy, so we can be fearless?

Giriraj Swami: The only thing a devotee really fears is forgetfulness of
Krsna–maya. If we are always conscious of Krsna and our relationship with
Him, we will not be afraid of anything else, because we know that we are not
this body, that we are part and parcel of Krsna, that our real relationship
is with Him, and that we are under His personal care and protection. If
Krsna wants us to stay longer in this body, we will, and if Krsna wants us
to leave this body, we will. We are not afraid, because we know we are under
Krsna’s shelter.

Once, during the war between India and Pakistan in 1971, a reporter asked
Srila Prabhupada, “Suppose a hundred pure, saintly, Krsna conscious people
are meditating or discussing together, and someone comes and drops a bomb .
. .” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “Those who are Krsna conscious are not
afraid of a bomb. When they see a bomb coming, they think that Krsna desired
the bomb to come. A Krsna conscious person is never afraid of anything.
Bhayam dvitiyabhinivesatah syat. [SB 11.2.37] One who has the conception
that something can exist outside of Krsna is afraid. But one who knows that
everything is coming from Krsna has no reason to be afraid. The bomb is
coming, and the devotee says, ‘Ah, Krsna is coming.’ That is the vision of
the devotee. He thinks, ‘Krsna wants to kill me with a bomb. That’s all
right. I will be killed.’ That is Krsna consciousness.”

Still, another time, in a different situation, someone asked Srila
Prabhupada, “What if some evil person came to attack you, to kill you. Would
you protect yourself?” And Prabhupada replied, “Yes. Why should I let some
rascal harm Krsna’s devotee?” But that is different. That is not out of
fear. That is in the mood of service, to protect Krsna’s devotee. Srila
Prabhupada was not identifying with the body but was seeing himself as
Krsna’s devotee who had service to do for Krsna, so he wanted to protect
Krsna’s devotee from harm–for Krsna’s service. But personally, he was not
afraid. The only thing a devotee fears is forgetting Krsna.

And a devotee is always satisfied; he does not want anything but devotional
service. He is satisfied with devotional service but never complacent–“Now
I have done enough service.” He always wants to do more and better service.
But he is satisfied in the sense that he wants nothing but devotional
service, and he always has service. No one can take devotional service from
him, because it is ahaituky apratihata. It has no cause, and it has no
impediment. It cannot be interrupted.

sa vai pumsam paro dharmo
yato bhaktir adhoksaje
ahaituky apratihata
yayatma suprasidati

“The supreme occupation [dharma] for all humanity is that by which men can
attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord. Such
devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted to completely
satisfy the self.” (SB 1.2.6) So, the devotee is satisfied with devotional
service, and he always has service. No one can take that away from him. But
he is never complacent: “Oh, I have done enough now. Let me eat and sleep.”
He always wants to do more service and better service.

So, a devotee is not afraid of anything material, because he has Krsna–but
he is afraid of losing Krsna due to his own weakness. He always feels
himself to be weak and dependent on the strength that comes from superior
authorities such as Balarama. The Upanisads state, nayam atma bala-hinena
labhyah. One cannot attain the platform of self-realization without
spiritual strength, which comes from Balarama. Bala means
“strength”–spiritual strength, which comes from Lord Balarama, Lord
Nityananda, who is represented by the spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada and
the parampara. So, we feel dependent on superior authorities, but we are not
afraid of anything material, because we know that the only thing that really
matters to us is devotional service and that nothing material can take
devotional service away from us. We have nothing to lose, because we can’t
lose devotional service, and we have nothing to gain, because we don’t want
anything but devotional service. So why should we be afraid? We have nothing
to lose or to gain from anyone.

The Bhagavad-gita (6.20-23) says that upon achieving Krsna consciousness one
thinks that there is no greater gain and even in the midst of the greatest
calamity one is not shaken.

yatroparamate cittam
niruddham yoga-sevaya
yatra caivatmanatmanam
pasyann atmani tusyati

sukham atyantikam yat tad
buddhi-grahyam atindriyam
vetti yatra na caivayam
sthitas calati tattvatah

yam labdhva caparam labham
manyate nadhikam tatah
yasmin sthito na duhkhena
gurunapi vicalyate

tam vidyad duhkha-samyoga-
viyogam yoga-samjnitam

“In the stage of perfection called trance, or samadhi, one’s mind is
completely restrained from material mental activities by practice of yoga.
This perfection is characterized by one’s ability to see the self by the
pure mind and to relish and rejoice in the self. In that joyous state, one
is situated in boundless transcendental happiness, realized through
transcendental senses. Established thus, one never departs from the truth,
and upon gaining this he thinks there is no greater gain. Being situated in
such a position, one is never shaken, even in the midst of greatest
difficulty. This indeed is actual freedom from all miseries arising from
material contact.”

The pure devotee is fixed in consciousness because he has what he
wants–Krsna–and no matter what happens externally, no one can take Krsna
from him. Queen Kunti prayed to Lord Krsna for calamities, because in the
midst of all her difficulties Krsna was with her and her sons. In terms of
lila, Krsna was with them in Hastinapura, but when the calamities were over
and Maharaja Yudhisthira was installed on the throne, Krsna was ready to
leave. So, Kunti prayed, “When we were in difficulty, You were with us, but
now that we are happily situated in our kingdom, You are leaving us.” So she
prayed, “Let the calamities come again and again. I would rather have all
the calamities and have You with us than be situated in material opulence
and comfort and lose You.” She concluded:

vipadah santu tah sasvat
tatra tatra jagad-guro
bhavato darsanam yat syad
apunar bhava-darsanam

“I wish that all those calamities would happen again and again so that we
could see You again and again, for seeing You means that we will no longer
see repeated births and deaths.” (SB 1.8.25)

Sometimes being in material difficulty can serve as an impetus to Krsna
consciousness. And a devotee may fear being in too comfortable a position
lest he or she forget Krsna, lose his or her Krsna consciousness. That is
the only fear.

Urvasi dasi: It is an interesting thing, because in my own life, when I
examine it, I feel like I am in constant fear of being distracted from
Krsna. It is always check and balance, check and balance. I am afraid of my
mind going away and being distracted. And yet when I think about it, I am
really not afraid of anything in the material world, because I know that
everything that comes into my life is Krsna. For some reason it is being
brought into my life. So it is an interesting thing, being full of fear and
having no fear.

Giriraj Swami: Indeed. There is a nice verse by King Rahugana of the Sindh
province. He was puffed up because he was the king, and he had forced a
great devotee, a paramahamsa who had hidden his exalted position, Jada
Bharata, to carry his palanquin. And when he felt that Jada Bharata was not
carrying it properly, he abused and reviled him like anything. But Jada
Bharata was unaffected. Jada Bharata didn’t want to step on any insects on
the way, and because he was always trying to sidestep the ants, the king was
jostled inside the palanquin. So he sarcastically criticized Jada Bharata,
who was actually young and strong, by saying, “You seem to be very old and
weak. You can’t carry the palanquin properly.” Yet, however the king tried
to insult him, Jada Bharata, being completely free from bodily
identification, remained undisturbed.

Eventually Jada Bharata enlightened the king with transcendental knowledge.
He told him, “I am not the body; I am the soul. I am not fat or thin or weak
or strong or any of the things that you said about the body, because I am
the soul and have nothing to do with the body. And so I remain peaceful.”
After receiving sublime spiritual instructions from his carrier, the king
realized that Jada Bharata was a great paramahamsa. He descended from his
palanquin and fell at Jada Bharata’s feet, desiring to be freed from his
offenses against the great saint. And King Rahugana said,

naham visanke sura-raja-vajran
na tryaksa-sulan na yamasya dandat
nagny-arka-somanila-vittapastrac
chanke bhrsam brahma-kulavamanat

“My dear sir, I am not at all afraid of the thunderbolt of King Indra, nor
am I afraid of the serpentine, piercing trident of Lord Siva. I do not care
about the punishment of Yamaraja, the superintendent of death, nor am I
afraid of fire, scorching sun, moon, wind, or the weapons of Kuvera. Yet I
am afraid of offending a brahmana. I am very much afraid of this.” (SB
5.10.17)

So, we are not afraid of any external, material force, but we are afraid of
losing our Krsna consciousness. And the quickest way to lose it is to offend
a devotee. So, it is that same idea. We are not afraid of any material
danger, but we are afraid of maya–afraid of committing offenses, especially
vaisnava-aparadha, that will take us away from Krsna, from loving service to
Krsna and His devotees.

Sri Sri Krsna-Balarama ki jaya!
Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai ki jaya!
Sri Giriraja Govardhana ki jaya!
Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!
Sri guru-parampara ki jaya!

Source:https://bhaktiyoga.wordpress.com/transcribed-lectures/lord-balaramas-appearance-day-a-talk-by-giriraj-swami/

Once upon a time, Vasudeva, the son of Surasena, just after marrying Devaki, was going home on his chariot with his newly wedded wife. At that time, Kamsa, the son of Ugrasena, in order to please his sister, Devaki, had voluntarily taken the reins of the horses of Vasudeva’s chariot and was driving. While the bride and bridegroom were passing along on the chariot, suddenly a miraculous sound vibrated from the sky which announced that the eighth child of Devaki will kill Kamsa. Immediately Kamsa caught hold of Devaki’s hair and was about to kill her with his sword. But Vasudeva intervened and promised that he would present all the children born of Devaki to Kamsa.

When the first child was born, Vasudeva immediately brought the child before Kamsa. Kamsa returned the child to Vasudeva because according to the prophecy, the danger was from the eighth child. But when he learnt from Narada that all the demigods are born in the family of Vrishnis, he became alarmed. He arrested Vasudeva and Devaki and put them behind prison bars. He also decided to kill all the babies who took birth from Devaki and Vasudeva. Thus he killed the first six babies. Lord Balarama appeared as the seventh son in the womb of Devaki.

At this time, Krishna, the Supreme Lord, ordered the appearance of Yogamaya, His internal potency. Yogamaya is the principal potency of the Personality of Godhead. The Supreme Lord ordered her to transfer Lord Balarama from the womb of Devaki to the womb of Rohini. Rohini was one of the wives of Vasudeva and she was residing at the house of Nanda Maharaja and Yashoda in Vrindavana. As ordered by the Supreme Lord, Yogamaya transferred Lord Balarama from the womb of Devaki to the womb of Rohini. On account of being forcibly attracted to the womb of Rohini, He is also known as Sankarshana.

Thus ordered by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Yogamaya circumambulated the Lord and then appeared within this material world according to His order. When Yogamaya, the supreme power of the supremely powerful Personality of Godhead, transferred Lord Sesa from the womb of Devaki to the womb of Rohini, both Devaki and Rohini were under Yogamaya’s spell, which is called yoga-nidra. When this was done, people thought that Devaki’s seventh pregnancy had been a miscarriage. Thus although Balarama appeared as the son of Devaki, He was transferred to the womb of Rohini to appear as her son.

Lord Balarama did not participate in the fratricidal war in Kurukshetra. He went for a pilgrimage and visited many sacred places in India. This pilgrimage is elaborately explained in the 79th chapter of the Krishna Book. A brief account of the same is presented here.

Lord Balarama took permission from the brahmanas assembled at Naimisharanya and, accompanied by other brahmanas, went to the banks of the River Kausiki. After taking His bath in this holy place, He proceeded towards River Sarayu and visited the source of the river. Traveling on the banks of the Sarayu River, He gradually reached Prayaga, where there is a confluence of three rivers — the Ganges, Yamuna and Sarasvati. Here also He took His bath, and then He worshiped in the local temples of the demigods and, as enjoined in the Vedic literature, offered oblations to the forefathers and sages. He gradually reached the ashrama of the sage Pulaha and from there went to the rivers Gandaki and Gomati. After this He took His bath in the river Vipasha and in Sona River. (The Sona River is still flowing as one of the big rivers in Bihar.) He continued His journey and reached the city of Gaya, where there is a celebrated Vishnu temple. According to the advice of His father, Vasudeva, He offered oblations to the forefathers in this Vishnu temple. From here He traveled to the delta of the Ganges, where the sacred river Ganges mixes with the Bay of Bengal. This sacred place is called Gangasagara, and at the end of January every year there is still a great assembly of saintly persons and pious men, just as there is an assembly of saintly persons in Prayaga every year called the Magha-mela fair.

After finishing His bathing and ritualistic ceremonies at Gangasagara, Lord Balarama proceeded towards the mountain, Mahendra Parvata, where He met Parashurama, an incarnation of Lord Krishna, and offered Him respect by bowing down before Him. After this Lord Balarama turned towards southern India and visited the banks of the River Godavari. After taking His bath in the River Godavari and performing the necessary ritualistic ceremonies, He gradually visited the other rivers — the Vena, Pampa and Bhimarathi. Then, Lord Balarama gradually proceeded to Sailapura, a pilgrimage city in the province of Maharashtra.

Lord Balarama then proceeded towards Dravida-desa and visited the temple of Balaji in Venkatachala. Then He proceeded towards Vishnukanchi, and also visited Shivakanchi. Lord Balarama took His bath in the River Kaveri; and then reached Rangakshetra, the temple of Ranganatha. Then, Lord Balarama visited Madurai, commonly known as the Mathura of southern India. After visiting this place, He went towards Setubandha, the place where Lord Ramachandra constructed the stone bridge from India to Sri Lanka (Ceylon). In this particularly holy place, Lord Balarama distributed ten thousand cows to the local brahmana priests. Lord Balarama then proceeded towards the Kritamala and Tamraparni rivers. These two rivers are celebrated as sacred, and Lord Balarama bathed in them both. He then proceeded towards Malaya Hill. This hill is very great, and it is said to be one of seven peaks called the Malaya Hills. The great sage Agastya used to live there, and Lord Balarama visited him and offered His respects by bowing down before him.

After taking the blessings of sage Agastya, Lord Balarama, with the sage’s permission, proceeded towards the Indian Ocean. At the point of the cape (known as Cape Comorin) is a big temple of goddess Durga, who is known there as Kanyakumari. From there, Lord Balarama went on to visit the pilgrimage city known as Phalguna-tirtha, which is on the shore of the Indian Ocean, and Panchapsarasa. From Cape Comorin, Lord Balarama turned towards Kerala. After visiting this place, He came to Gokarna-tirtha, where Lord Shiva is constantly worshiped. Balarama then visited the temple of Aryadevi, which is completely surrounded by water. From that island He went on to a place known as Surparaka. After this He bathed in the rivers known as Tapi, Payosni and Nirvindhya, and then He came to the forest known as Dandakaranya. Lord Balarama next came to the bank of the River Narmada, the biggest river in central India. On the banks of this sacred Narmada is a pilgrimage spot known as Mahismati-puri. After bathing there according to regulative principles, Lord Balarama returned to Prabhasa-tirtha, from where He had begun His journey.

Lord Balarama is the first expansion of Lord Sri Krishna. The Supreme Lord, although one without a second, expands Himself in many forms. The vishnu-tattva forms are expansions of the Supreme Lord, and all of them are qualitatively and quantitatively equal with the Lord. This is described in Brahma Samhita as follows:

diparcir eva hi dasantaram abhyupetya
dipayate vivrta-hetu-samana-dharma
yas tadrg eva hi ca visnutaya vibhati
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami

The light of one candle being communicated to other candles, although it burns separately in them, is the same in its quality. I adore the primeval Lord Govinda who exhibits Himself equally in the same mobile manner in His various manifestations.

Lord Balarama is as good as Krishna Himself, the only difference being that the bodily hue of Krishna is dark and that of Balarama is fair. Although Balarama is non-different from Lord Sri Krishna, He expands Himself in various other forms to render service to the Supreme Lord. In His form as Sesha Naga (Ananta Sesha) He supports unlimited number of universes on His hoods. He constantly glorifies the Supreme Lord with His thousand tongues. Sesha is also called Ananta, or unlimited, because He assists the Personality of Godhead in His unlimited expansions by performing an unlimited variety of services.

Srila Yamunacharya (the spiritual master of Sri Ramanujacharya) describes this: nivasa-sayyasana-padukamsuko-padhana-varsatapa-varanadibhih [Stotra Ratna 37] Although Lord Balarama is the transcendental personal expansion of the Supreme Lord, He has accepted the service of the Supreme Lord in the form of nivasa (residence), shayya (bed), asana (seat), paduka (slippers), amshuka (garments), padhana (pillow) and varshatapa (umbrella). Therefore He is appropriately known by people as Sesha.

Lord Balarama is the mercy incarnation of Lord Sri Krishna. He is described as the protector of the devotees of the Lord. He acts as the spiritual master of all devotees. In the Mundaka Upanishad (3.2.4) it is said: nayam atma bala-hinena labhyo. One cannot attain the goal of life without the mercy of Balarama. In this Kali-yuga, He appeared as Nityananda Prabhu, an associate of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and delivered the conditioned souls.