[Kindly transcribed by Sheela Mataji, Singapore]

From Sri Mayapur Candrodaya Mandir!
Date: March 14th 2013
Verse: SB 11.5.32
Speaker: HH Radha Govinda Swami

(invocatory prayers)

krishna-varnam tvishakrishnam sangopangastra-parshadam
yajnaih sankirtana-prayair yajanti hi su-medhasah
 

TRANSLATION: In the age of Kali, intelligent persons perform congregational chanting to worship the incarnation of Godhead who constantly sings the names of Krishna. Although His complexion is not blackish, He is Krishna Himself. He is accompanied by His associates, servants, weapons and confidential companions.

PURPORT: This same verse is quoted by Krishnadasa Kaviraja in the Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi-lila, Chapter Three, verse 52. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada has given the following commentary on this verse. "This text is from Srimad-Bhagavatam (11.5.32). Srila Jiva Gosvami has explained this verse in his commentary on the Bhagavatam known as the Krama-sandarbha, wherein he says that Lord Krishna also appears with a golden complexion. That golden Lord Krishna is Lord Caitanya, who is worshiped by intelligent men in this age. That is confirmed in Srimad-Bhagavatam by Garga Muni, who said that although the child Krishna was blackish, He also appears in three other colors -- red, white and yellow. He exhibited His white and red complexions in the Satya and Treta ages respectively. He did not exhibit the remaining color, yellow-gold, until He appeared as Lord Caitanya, who is known as Gaurahari.

"Srila Jiva Gosvami explains that krishna-varnam means Sri Krishna Caitanya. Krishna-varnam and Krishna Caitanya are equivalent. The name Krishna appears with both Lord Krishna and Lord Caitanya Krishna. Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but He always engages in describing Krishna and thus enjoying transcendental bliss by chanting and remembering His name and form. Lord Krishna Himself appears as Lord Caitanya to preach the highest gospel. Varnayati means 'utters' or 'describes.' Lord Caitanya always chants the holy name of Krishna and describes it also, and because He is Krishna Himself, whoever meets Him will automatically chant the holy name of Krishna and later describe it to others. He injects one with transcendental Krishna consciousness, which merges the chanter in transcendental bliss. In all respects, therefore, He appears before everyone as Krishna, either by personality or by sound. Simply by seeing Lord Caitanya one at once remembers Lord Krishna. One may therefore accept Him as vishnu-tattva. In other words, Lord Caitanya is Lord Krishna Himself.

"Sangopangastra-parshadam further indicates that Lord Caitanya is Lord Krishna. His body is always decorated with ornaments of sandalwood and with sandalwood paste. By His superexcellent beauty He subdues all the people of the age. In other descents the Lord sometimes used weapons to defeat the demoniac, but in this age the Lord subdues them with His all-attractive figure as Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Srila Jiva Gosvami explains that His beauty is His astra, or weapon, to subdue the demons. Because He is all-attractive, it is to be understood that all the demigods lived with Him as His companions. His acts were uncommon and His associates wonderful. When He propagated the sankirtana movement, He attracted many great scholars and acaryas, especially in Bengal and Orissa. Lord Caitanya is always accompanied by His best associates like Lord Nityananda, Advaita, Gadadhara and Srivasa.

"Srila Jiva Gosvami cites a verse from the Vedic literature that says that there is no necessity of performing sacrificial demonstrations or ceremonial functions. He comments that instead of engaging in such external, pompous exhibitions, all people, regardless of caste, color or creed, can assemble together and chant Hare Krishna to worship Lord Caitanya. Krishna-varnam tvishakrishnam [SB 11.5.32] indicates that prominence should be given to the name Krishna. Lord Caitanya taught Krishna consciousness and chanted the name of Krishna. Therefore, to worship Lord Caitanya, everyone should together chant the maha-mantra -- Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. To propagate worship in churches, temples or mosques is not possible because people have lost interest in that. But anywhere and everywhere, people can chant Hare Krishna. Thus worshiping Lord Caitanya, they can perform the highest activity and fulfill the highest religious purpose of satisfying the Supreme Lord.

"Srila Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya, a famous disciple of Lord Caitanya, said: 'The principle of transcendental devotional service having been lost, Sri Krishna Caitanya has appeared to deliver again the process of devotion. He is so kind that He is distributing love of Krishna. Everyone should be attracted more and more to His lotus feet, as humming bees are attracted to a lotus flower.' "

The incarnation of Caitanya Mahaprabhu is also described in the Sri Vishnu-sahasra-nama, which appears in Chapter 189 of the Dana-dharma-parva of Mahabharata. Srila Jiva Gosvami has quoted this reference as follows: suvarna-varno hemango varangas candanangadi. "In His early pastimes He appears as a householder with a golden complexion. His limbs are beautiful, and His body, smeared with the pulp of sandalwood, seems like molten gold." He has also quoted, sannyasa-kric chamah santo nishtha-santi-parayanah: "In His later pastimes He accepts the sannyasa order, and He is equipoised and peaceful. He is the highest abode of peace and devotion, for He silences the impersonalist nondevotees." (end)

HH Radha Govinda Maharaj : Jaya Gauranga! This sloka speaks about Caitanya Mahaprabhu. This is the occasion of appearing of Lord Gauranga. So I chose this verse to speak. I am not habituated to speak in English but your association will bless me to speak some.

Many millions years ago there was a seminar in Janakpur in India. In that seminar that was held by so many rishis and attended by 9 Yogesvara, sons of Lord Rshabhdeva. Lord Rshabhdeva begot 100 sons and eldest of them was Rajarishi Bharata and nine sons became paramahamsas. They accepted renounced order. Very famous very celebrated personalities, they travelled all over the world, universe without interruption. ? (verse) They can travel throughout universe anywhere in any planet.

So they on their own accord they reached in that seminar in Janakpur. The nine sons of Rshabhdeva were great Vaisnavas, great sages. navabhavan maha-bhaga munayo hy artha-samsinah (SB 11.2.20) They were very fortunate and they become sages, artha samsinah means they always explain the Absolute Truth. sramana vata-rasana atma-vidya-visaradah (SB11.2.20) they were sramana always endeavoring in Krishna consciousness, endeavored hard labor to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead and they are expert in Bhakti yoga, they were master of Bhakti yoga. onsYogesvara - that is why they are called Yogesvara or Yogendras or Nava Yogesvara. Once they approached the ? in Janakpura. ta ekada nimeh satram upajagmur yadricchaya (SB 11.2.24) yadricchaya - by their own ? they approached to satra seminar of Nimi Maharaj. And Nimi Maharaj respected them, all the members of yajna, the rish muni and king Nimi to respect, to welcome the nine Yogesvaras. He respected them and when they took their seat he stood in front of them and asked some questions.

Maharaj Nimi was thinking the welfare of all living entities in every ages. There are four ages - Satya yuga, Treta, Dvapara and Kali. He was thinking how to benefit everyone, spiritual benefit. So he asked some questions before them. This verse is a part of that conversation. Nimi Maharaj first appreciated their arrival and glorified them. manye bhagavatah sakshat parshadan vo madhu-dvisah (SB 11.2.28) I accept you are parshad, you are associates of Lord Madhusudana. And to purify the all the living entities in this material world you travel from one place to another. There is no personal interest. Your only interest is to purify conditioned souls.

durlabho manusho deho dehinam kshana-bhangurah
tatrapi durlabham manye vaikuntha-priya-darsanam (SB 11.2.29)


This human body is very rarely achieved. And when it is achieved (break in audio) most rare is to get association of pure devotees. By the mercy of Supreme Personality of Godhead here I get your association darsana so I want to enquiry you have arrived (audio break) I want to know something from you because you have not time to stay longer.

He is glorifying this human body, durlabho manusho deho, dehinam means the living entity who accepts so many bodies, material bodies. But amongst those bodies this human body is very rare. And kshana-bhangurah means it is prone to be destroyed. Every time every minute it deteriorates. kshana-bhangurah this body is full of so many diseases and surely it will finish any moment, kshana-bhangurah. So please explain to me ata atyantikam kshemam pricchamo bhavato 'naghah (SB 11.2.30)

He Anagha! You are completely devoid of all sins, very pure. So I ask what is the supreme goal in human life? And how to achieve it? Maharaj Nimi first asked that what is Bhagavata dharma, what is devotional service, how to conduct it, how to perform bhakti and this queston was answered by one Yogesvara name Vibhu. No, Kavi, Kavi. And second question was, what is the symptom of devotee? And that question was answered by Yogesvara Havir. There were nine Kavi, Havir, Antariksha, Prabuddha, Pippalayana, Avirhotra, Drumila, Camasa and Karabhajana. In this way King Nimi asked nine question and each question was answered by one Yogesvara in different turn. At last Maharaj Nimi asked very significant question.

kasmin kale sa bhagavan kim varnah kidriso nribhih
namna va kena vidhina pujyate tad ihocyatam (SB 11.5.19)

It is definite it is certain that Lord Kesava is worshipped in every age. There is no doubt. But I ask in what age, in what ages the Lord is worshipped in what forms. In every age, in every yuga Krishna is worshipped in different form, in different name and color. kim varnah kidriso nribhih. There are four yugas - Krita Yuga or Satya Yuga, Treta, Dvapara and Kali. So what is the color of the forms of Krishna in Satya yuga, in Treta yuga, in Dvapara yuga and in Kali yuga.

This question is connected with the yugavatara Lord Gauranga Mahaprabhu. So this question is very beneficial for us. We are born in Kaliyuga so we must understand who is our worshipable deity, who is our God to be worshiped by us. And what is the process.

So this question was answered by Muni Karabhajana. He said kritam treta dvaparam cakalir ity eshu kesavah (SB 11.5.20) There are four yugas - Satya yuga, Treta yuga, Dvapara yuga and Kali yuga and eshu in these ages Kesava is worshipped. Lord Kesava who is controller of Lord Brahma and Lord Siva, He is called Kesava. Ka means Brahma and isa means Lord Siva and Va means one who controls. The Lord Krishna controls Brahma and Siva and they control all the demigods and the demigods control the human society and everyone else.

So in this way Lord Kesava is the supreme controller. He is worshiped in all ages but in every age He is worshipped with different names, different process, different complexion and form. Everything different.

Karabhajana muni said krite suklas catur-bahur (SB 11.5.21)

In Satya yuga the Lord manifests His form four handed. And He teaches yuga dharma - meditation as a brahmacari. He takes incarnation as a brahmacari and teaches how to concentrate on mind on Krishna, on the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And in Treta yuga His color is red, tretayam rakta-varno 'sau (SB 11.5.25) This Supreme Personality of Godhead appears in Treta to propagate yuga dharma in red complexion rakta varna and in Dvapara yuga He is syama varna, dvapare bhagavan syamah.

And after the description of Dvapara, Karabhajana muni said iti dvapara urv-isa stuvanti jagad-isvaram (SB 11.5.31) He Swami of this Bhumandala urvi, He King in Dvapara they worship, human beings worship Krishna in this way, stuvanti jagad isvaram nana tanra vidhanena (SB 11.5.31) according to sastra. They worship Krishna in the temples like Maharaja with so many paraphernalia as a great king accepts, in this way in Dvapara yuga they worship Krishna, very opulent puja. kalav api tatha srinu (SB 11.5.31) you listen please, listen from me in Kaliyuga how they worship Krishna. Karabhajana muni specially said to Maharaj Nimi 'srinu', means listen carefully listen. Now I am going to speak about the yugavatara of Kali. So you listen.

Maharaj Nimi was not in Kali yuga. He was in Treta yuga. Nimi Maharaj he was the father in law of Lord Sri Rama and father of Mother Sita. So he was in Treta but he also wants to benefit Kali yuga people. So Karabhajana muni said Maharaj you hear carefully how in Kaliyuga people worship Krishna srinu. kalav api tatha srinu (SB 11.5.31) Here is a very great stress on this description srinu Maharaj Janaka Nimi Maharaj was hearing already, for hearing Krishna Katha he arranged that seminar but still Karabhajana muni said 'hear carefully'. So this is great instruction for us. You are hearing here but I repeat this same message to you to - Hear! Hear carefully! Attentively!

krishna-varnam tvishakrishnam Karabhajana muni is speaking. Krishna-varnam In Kaliyuga Krishna will appear krishna- varnam always He will describe Krishna, He will chant Krishna's names but in complexion He is not Krishna, krishna-varnam tvisha 'akrishnam'. He is not Krishna, He is Gaura. He is not black, His complexion is not blackish. Everyone knows that Gaura is Krishna, syama but in Kaliyuga Krishna will appear but not in blackish form. Trit (?) means kanti, His kanti in Kaliyuga will be akrishna. Akrishna means Gaura or golden. So this verse directly describes Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

Srila Jiva Goswami has said krishna varnam, varnam means description - one who describes always Krishna is krishna-varnam. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu always chanted Krishna. Anyone who met Caitanya Mahaprabhu automatically he also started chanting wherever He went, everywhere people were chanting Krishna! Krishna! Even animals in Jharikanda, elephants, deers, etc. even plants trees they were chanting and hearing Krishna nama, they were in ecstasy. Lord Caitanya was personified Krishna consciousness. He is called Krishna-varnam. He always described Krishna, Krishna's name, Krishna's glory. krishna-varnam tvishakrishnam He is Krishna but not in His own color, He is akrishna.

And always with His upanga, anga means body. It is said in Caitanya Caritamrta tanhara dvitiya deha sri-balarama (CC Adi 5.4) first expansion of Lord Krishna is Sri Balarama. And Sri Balarama in Gaur lila is Sri Nityananda Prabhu. So sa-anga, anga means Nityananda Prabhu and upanga means Advaita acarya. Anga upanga, upanga means secondary expansion. Nityananda Prabhu anga and Advaita acarya upanga.

And astra He appeared with astra weapon. What is His weapon? Astra - Holy name and Srimad Bhagavatam. These were astra of Lord Gauranga. and parshada - Srivas Pandita, Gadhadhara, etc. They were parshada. He appears in the Kaliyuga with His anga and upanga, astra and parshada. When Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu appeared, He appeared with Harinama. At that time there was eclipse and anyone who went to take bath in Ganga he was chanting Hare Krishna and even Muslims they were chanting Hare Krishna. Actually they were chanting but criticizing Hindus.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare


They were imitating Hindus and they were chanting. So the whole world was chanting. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu appeared with Holy name, Holy name, everywhere Hare Krishna. In this way He appeared and as long as He was on the surface of this globe He always chanted and inspired even by only seeing Him everyone was chanting. He personally instructed everyone chanting.

When Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu reached Jagannath Puri He fainted in the temple in front of Jagannath. At that time Srarvabhauma Bhattacarya came and he saw Lord Caitanya and he thought He is Maha Bhagavata, Maha Bhagavata. But he could not understand that He is svayam Bhagavan. He was a householder and Bhagavan Caitanya Mahaprabhu was a sanyasi. For a matter of etiquette he offered his obeisances to Caitanya Mahaprabhu. So Caitanya Mahaprabhu said "krsner matir astu" - Let your mind be fixed at the lotus feet of Krishna.

So Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya was surprised. He is sanyasi and looks that He is Mayavadi sanyasi, it means that He was a sanyasi in the line of Sankracarya but He is not uttering Narayana or Om or Brahmasmi but He is saying "krsner matir astu". So he asked his relative Gopinath Acarya, who is this? Who is this boy? So he was chanting, he said, only by seeing this boy, sannyasi boy my tongue is vibrating Krishna! Krishna! What is this? I do not understand myself why I am chanting. I am a big scholar in Sankara philosophy Mayavada philosophy but I am chanting. What has happened to me? Mujhko kya hua hai? (in Hindi)

Gopinath Acarya said Krishna has favored you, he has krpa, and this boy is Krishna Himself. He is acting as sanyasi but He is Krishna. But Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya did not accept. To accept anybody as Krishna is not easy thing. He did not accept. He said no I accept He is a Maha Bhagavata, He is a devotee of Krishna but I don't accept He is Krishna Himself. Gopinath acarya said, due to excessive study of monists nirvisesavada your intelligence has been polluted, you are non devotee so you cannot understand that He is Krishna Himself.

There was a big argument between them Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya and Gopinath Acarya. So he was reluctant to accept Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as God but he accepted he was attracted to humble behavior of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He said this boy His name is Krishna Caitanya, He is very humble, very young. So anytime He can be tempted, can be lured by material things. So let me teach Him Vedanta. I will teach Vedanta and then He will be steadfast in sanyasa.

So he wanted to teach Him. He said You are my relative, I know Nilambar Cakravarty so this in way he connected his relation with Caitanya Mahaprabhu and he wanted to teach Vedanta. Lord Caitanya accepted please teach Me. So seven days he taught Him Vedanta and every day Caitanya Mahaprabhu listened but He did not speak a single word. Caitanya Mahaprabu did not speak anything. He was listening only.

After eighth day Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya asked Caitanya Mahaprabhu, "I am speaking from seven days and you do not respond whether you understand or not understand. Of course this is very hard course to understand Vedanta it is very hard I know. But I want to know if you understand or not understand."

Caitanya Mahaprabhu said "Sir, I understand the text you utter, when you speak text I understand but when you begin to explain I don't understand your explanation." (laughter) Your explanation hides the real meaning of Brahmasutra just like clouds hide sunlight.

Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya was surprised He is understanding text not explanation. So he asked please speak what do you understand. Then Caitanya Mahaprabhu started explanation of Brahmasutra and Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya realized that He is super human being. At last he accepted Him, that He was Krishna Himself. And Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu showed him six armed, He showed Himself as Lord Rama, Lord Krishna and Lord Caitanya sadbhuja murti.

In this way Caitanya Mahaprabhu preached Krishna consciousness and big big scholars accepted. It is very hard for common man to understand Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Because He is covered avatara, 'channa' avatara. But by the help of this description we can understand Caitanya Mahaprabhu is Krishna Himself.

Jaya Gauranga! Jaya Srila Prabhupada!

For video of the lecture, please go to mayapurtvarchives.com

http://audio.iskcondesiretree.info/index.php?q=f&f=%2F06_-_More%2F01_-_ISKCO N_Mayapur%2F2013

Mayapur, West Bengal, India- The Governing Body Commission (GBC) of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), during its Annual General Meeting in the society’s headquarters in Mayapur, West Bengal, on March 9, released an official statement regarding the “preeminent position” of ISKCON’s Founder-Acharya, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada.

Since Srila Prabhupada’s passing away in 1977, the GBC has sought to codify ISKCON’s ongoing relationship with its founder. The GBC wants to preserve Srila Prabhupada’s legacy and ensure that future generations do not lose sight of Prabhupada’s historical, religious, philosophical and institutional stature — as well as his importance in the personal spiritual development of every ISKCON member.

Srila Prabhupada himself took on the title of Founder-Acharya (acharya meaning one who “teaches by example”) and mandated that it be placed on all ISKCON Temples and publications, as well as all publications of his Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.

Prabhupada was concerned to ensure that ISKCON remained firmly fixed on teaching and upholding the standards of the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition, as originally presented by the 16th Century saint Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and handed down through a chain of spiritual preceptors to Srila Prabhupada, and from him to the ISKCON society.

“This GBC Statement on Prabhupada’s Preeminent Position is part of an ongoing effort to better educate ISKCON devotees about Srila Prabhupada’s unique stature and contributions,” said Anuttama Dasa, ISKCON’s Minister of Communications.

“Prabhupada taught us that his books would be the law-books for the next ten thousand years," said Anuttama. “During that time many spiritual leaders and gurus will come and go within ISKCON; however, Prabhupada will be the Founder-Acarya and preeminent instructing guru for ISKCON for all times.”

The GBC Statement words it in this way:

“Srila Prabhupada, as the Founder-Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, is the preeminent guru for all members of ISKCON. All members of ISKCON, for all generations, are encouraged to seek shelter of Srila Prabhupada. All members of ISKCON are entitled and encouraged to have a personal relationship with Srila Prabhupada through his books, teachings, service, and his ISKCON society.”

“Its not that Srila Prabhupada is meant to be a guru only for his immediate disciples,” said Anuttama. “He is the preeminent spiritual authority for all ISKCON devotees and that will never change.”

The Statement also clarifies the role of ISKCON leaders in relationship to Srila Prabhupada:

"All members accepting leadership roles within ISKCON, including diksha gurus and siksha gurus, have the duty of serving together under ISKCON’s Governing Body Commission (GBC) to fulfill Srila Prabhupada’s instructions as he has given in his books, lectures, and personal communications. Overall, the primary duty of all diksha gurus, siksha gurus and others in leadership positions is to assist Srila Prabhupada in his service to his Guru Maharaja Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur, and our Brahma Madhva Gaudiya Sampradaya."

The Statement has this to say regarding the spiritual status of gurus coming in the line of teachers after Srila Prabhupada. It stresses the need for such gurus to keep strong in their spiritual practice and to be careful in the execution of their duties:

“Those who accept the service of diksha or siksha guru within ISKCON are mandated to be strict followers of the instructions of Srila Prabhupada, and, as long as they follow, they are acting on the liberated platform. Thus they may serve, as Srila Prabhupada ordered, as bona fide representatives of the Lord and the Guru Parampara and be a via medium of Their mercy. Yet it should be clearly understood that if such diksha or siksha gurus deviate from strictly following, they may fall down from their position."

The new GBC Statement, which is just three pages in length, notes that while it is “conclusive” it is “not exhaustive” and that the GBC may release additional papers regarding Srila Prabhupada’s position, the role of gurus in ISKCON, and the duties of ISKCON members to Prabhupada and the ISKCON mission.

The GBC, which has been developing global strategic plans since 2006 to strengthen the society and its outreach efforts, has recently released other position papers on foundational principles for ISKCON.

A major GBC document released in 2012 entitled, “Lines of Authority,” confirmed that all members of ISKCON, regardless of their spiritual status or seniority, are to serve cooperatively under the ecclesiastic direction of the GBC, which Srila Prabhupada stated in his will is the “Ultimate Managing Authority” of ISKCON.

“Lines of Authority” also affirmed that those serving in the role of gurus, or spiritual teachers, must work under the direction of ISKCON authorities in their respective areas of jurisdiction, and that ISKCON managers must strive to work cooperatively with those serving as gurus within the society.

In 2013, another publication is also anticipated. Ravindra Svarupa, a senior GBC member and religion scholar, is working on a book on Srila Prabhupada to further explain his historic role and analyze the meaning of “Founder-Acharya” within the Gaudiya tradition. A draft of that book was presented to the GBC members this year for their feedback.

The just-released GBC Statement on Prabhupada’s position was felt to be of such importance that the GBC mandated its distribution and implementation:

"All GBC members must distribute this resolution to all ISKCON temples, communities and congregations via all appropriate means of communication for the education of all ISKCON members. This statement shall also be studied in ISKCON courses including introductory courses, the ISKCON Disciple Course, the Spiritual Leadership Seminar, and other relevant venues. Reading this statement, and affirming it has been read prior to initiation, shall be part of the test for all prospective initiates."

To read the complete document, please click here.

Detailed Biography, Video Lectures, etc. of Sri Purusottama Dasa Thakura – www.gaudiyahistory.com

  There are two main defects in this activity, whether they’re done regularly or even occasionally. The first is that this media always includes intoxication, graphic sex life, violence, and gambling. Therefore watching it means to break the regulative principles. What reason do we have that we would go out of our way to observe and watch these activities of Kali-yuga when already it’s difficult enough to stay away from it, when even walking down the street, going into a shop or going out on harinama or sankirtana, these things are bombarding us and challenge the consciousness of a serious practitioner. So why would I want to bring these things into my own home, to give ideas to children? Answer: because people have material desires and they give into them. I’ll come back to that in a moment.

The second defect is that anything you see makes an impression in the heart. So the rampant violence, sex, intoxication, bad language, immoral behavior, irreverence for the real values of life, and fairytale worlds like Spiderman jumping off buildings and flying through the air, these make an impression in the heart, and when they do they become a source of meditation, something to meditate on, because these impressions will come out at a later time. Not only as a reflection of the mind but something that creates seeds of material desires in the heart and which will also water existing seeds of desire in the heart.

So it is a very detrimental practice. But back to the first point, breaking principles. Initiated devotees vow to follow regulative principles. When referring to brahmacaris and sannyasis in this regard, we say that even in the mind if one contemplates these things he is breaking the principles. But while grhasthas might have license, they only have that within their own marriage situation. They don’t have a license to view sexual activities or these other things. So for them to contemplate it, to view it, to enjoy it: it’s all breaking the principles. How then can an initiated devotee do these things with a clear conscience?

And what is the effect of breaking the regulative principles? We commit sin. And by committing sin, we complicate our spiritual lives, entangle ourselves in material existence, and suffer from the results of that sin.

By committing sin there’s an effect in the mind, and that is that sinful thoughts linger in heart. They come up like bubbles from the mud and become the source of other sinful desires, which then become the result of further sinful acts. Ultimately what devotees see on TV and in movies, they’ll end up doing. If they see infidelity, they’ll end up doing it. If they see violence or other activities, they’ll do that. When they become bewildered thinking materialism, egoism, pride in the material body is the ultimate goal, they become more body conscious and egotistical.

All these things strangle the creeper of devotional service and make one’s devotional life more or less null and void. Why do they do this? Well, obviously because they’re not doing what they should be, which is chanting Hare Krishna and hearing Srimad Bhagavatam and Caitanya-caritamrita. They’re not doing those activities without offense and they’re not doing them enough. And so they don’t have enough spiritual strength to resist the social pressure from those who are doing these things, nor do they have the strength to resist the inner desires that are still there in conditioned souls.

His Holiness Subhag Swami Maharaj conducted a wonderful Preaching tour of Bangladesh from 10 December 2012 to 22 January 2013. The tour commenced by seeking blessings as well as shelter of Haridas Thakur Patbari at Benapole, just after crossing the India –Bangladesh border by road, the most sacred spot where Haridas Thakur delivered the prostitute Lakha Heera devi.

After imbibing the spirit of Mahaprabhu’s sankirtan movement for a few days at the lotus feet of Thakur Haridas, the team of devotees with Srimat Subhag Swami moved on to Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. In Maharaja’s own words, one could not begin to imagine that today Krishna Consciousness movement in Bangladesh would become so widespread. ‘Indeed this was already envisioned by Srila Prabhupada four decades ago when, despite formidable odds, he instructed few of his disciples to go and preach in Bangladesh’, said Maharaj. Devotees eagerly flocked-in at ISKCON Swamibag Ashram at Dhaka to listen to HH Subhag Maharaja’s Bhagavatam lecture and asked for more to which Maharaj happily agreed. Seeing the devotees from foreign countries in devotional attire, chanting the maha-mantra, some of them even speaking in Bengali, reminded everyone of Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s prediction “prithivite ache yata nagaradi gram, sarvatra prachar hoibe mora nama”. Expressions by the foreign devotees like, ‘amar Bangladesh bhalo lage’, ‘misti doi khub bhalo’, won the hearts of all who pampered the devotees with varieties of traditional delicacies and sweets. After delivering a seminar in a school at Mirpur, Dhaka, on scientific understanding of Krishna Consciousness, aided by Dr. Subhananda das of National Heart Foundation, Mirpur and Ramanuja das who delivered a seminar on ‘Vegetarianism’, the Sankirtan Party moved ahead with Maharaj to Narayanganj, who were given a surprising welcome by the devotees of Narayanganj, headed by His Grace Hamsa Krishna Prabhu, the temple president of ISKCON Narayanganj, who showered them with heaps of flower petals.

The students at Institute of Marine Engineering and Technology, Narayanganj, hosted two interactive sessions with Maharaj, one marking the Gita Jayanti where the students presented Srila Prabhupada’s books to the distinguished guests accompanying Maharaj and the next, a seminar by Maharaj at the Institute’s auditorium. In both the sessions, students received practical guidance on how to remain strong in Krishna Consciousness as well as fare well in studies. Maharaj delivered a lecture at the newly inaugurated ISKCON temple of Narayanganj, main feature of which was a massive book distribution, all signed by Maharaj himself. Next event, a wonderful preaching program at Netrakona, a beautiful location tucked away in northern periphery of Myemensingh district of North Bangladesh. Under the leadership of his grace Jayram das, ISKCON Netrakona, a small preaching centre of around 25 vibrant devotees, runs by the merciful glance of Lord Jagannath, Baladeva and Subhadra. In Netrakona, devotees went for village preaching at Durgapur, Madan, Trishal as well as Harinam Sankirtan and book distribution in Netrakona town. Devotees had to tolerate bitter cold and dense fog while going to all these places, but ecstasy of sankirtan, book distribution and above all, having a disciple of Srila Prabhupada with them was more than sufficient to bargain with anything. Jayram Prabhu, co-ordinating with National Committee ISKCON, Bangladesh, arranged for a three days pandal program, the 4th, 5th and 6th of January, 2013, to celebrate Srila Prabhupada Glorification Festival, also coinciding with Maharaja’s Vyasa Puja celebration on 6th of January. Main features of the festival were bhajans, lectures, interaction of foreign devotees with local visitors, slide shows, films, Maharaja’s classes and most importantly delicious, all desire fulfilling Sri Jagannath Mahaprasad. Lalita and Damodar of Sri Mayapur International School (SMIS), who came all the way from Mayapur, attracted everybody’s mind with sweet kirtans.

Every evening hundreds of visitors took Prasad, and on the last day a remarkable two thousand plus visitors honoured mahaprasad. At the pandal program in Trishal, the Mayor of Trishal, who was the chief guest, was so impressed that he requested the devotees to conduct such programs on a regular basis. On the 8th of January, a seminar on Science and Spirituality was held at Zila Parishad Hall, Netrakona, where Maharaj delivered a lecture on how a scientist as well as a common man can accept Krishna Consciousness. Ramanuja das presented a seminar on Vedanta and Science as an introductory remark to maharaja’s lecture. The program was attended by many distinguished professors and students of various colleges of Netrakona besides media persons and heads of local societies. The most important event of the tour was the Seminar on Science and Spirituality held on the 18th of January 2013 at the auditorium of Dhaka National Museum, Dhaka, one of the most prestigious venues in all of Bangladesh. The seminar was spearheaded by Dr. Subendu Talukder (Subhananda das), anaesthesist, National Heart Foundation, Mirpur, Dhaka. It started with a colourful Harinam Sankirtan by around 50 to 70 devotees along with students going around the campus of Jagannath University, Dhaka after which an impressive crowd of students attended Maharaja’s lecture at Jagannath Hall in the University. Many took books signed by Maharaj. The main Seminar began by a mangalacaran by Krishna Sudama Das (BTech. Computer graphics) of Armenia who sang the Brahma Samhita prayers invoking auspiciousness for all. Most attractive of all was Sita Devi dasi of France translating a speech by Bhaktin Dominique in French to Bengali. Sita Devi dasi, an expert in Bharat natyam dance also gave wonderful performances on ‘dasavatara stotra’.

Dr. Kadamba Kanan from Singapore delivered a short speech on being a doctor at the same time a devotee. Pitambar das (MA.Sanskrit), Anandavardhan das (MTech. Dairy tech.), Vasudev Krsna das (MTech. Computer Science), Subala das (PhD. Organic Chemistry), Sachiputra das (Bali, Indonesia), Gopal das and Tota Gopinath Das (Spain), Krishna loka das(Italy) gave enlightening speeches from Bhagavad Gita and Bhagavatam. An interactive power point presentation on Science of Happiness was made by Ramanuja Das (MSc. Botany) as an appetiser for rest of the programs. The full packed auditorium of around one thousand strong audience maintained a pin drop silence during the seminar on Science and Spirituality by Professor S. Ghosh (IIT Kharagpur), everyone present highly appreciated his views. HH Subhag Swami gave the concluding lecture where he enthused the audience saying “as individuals born in a land which graced the pastimes of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, it is our duty to take Mahaprabhu’s message to every nook and corner of the globe, be he a scientist or spiritualist, then only our lives will be successful”. Among the attendees at the seminar were Satyaranjan Baroi, Chairman, ISKCON Bangladesh, Prof. Emeritus Nirmal Mitra (BUET, Mirpur), devotees from various parts of Bangladesh, eminent scientists, doctors, lawyers, engineers and students from various institutes and Universities. Bhajans by Visakha dasi (India) and devotees of Mirpur and Netrakona as well as dance by Sita Devi Dasi (France) kept the whole event very lively. Around 500 books were distributed at the seminar most of them signed by Maharaj. An impressive 2500+ plates of Mahaprasadam was distributed after the program. Many of the participants personally came up to Maharaj after his lecture and expressed their appreciation about the seminar and submitted their requests to conduct more of such programs. Srimat Subhag Maharaj and his sankirtan team came back to India on 22nd January while local devotees continued with seminars at Swarupkathi and Barishal under the leadership of Dr. Gokulendu das (Retd. Asst. Director of Health, Bangladesh). Around 1000 books were distributed during the tour.

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His Holiness Subhag Swami Maharaj conducted a wonderful Preaching tour of Bangladesh from 10 December 2012 to 22 January 2013. The tour commenced by seeking blessings as well as shelter of Haridas Thakur Patbari at Benapole, just after crossing the India –Bangladesh border by road, the most sacred spot where Haridas Thakur delivered the prostitute Lakha Heera devi.

After imbibing the spirit of Mahaprabhu’s sankirtan movement for a few days at the lotus feet of Thakur Haridas, the team of devotees with Srimat Subhag Swami moved on to Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. In Maharaja’s own words, one could not begin to imagine that today Krishna Consciousness movement in Bangladesh would become so widespread. ‘Indeed this was already envisioned by Srila Prabhupada four decades ago when, despite formidable odds, he instructed few of his disciples to go and preach in Bangladesh’, said Maharaj. Devotees eagerly flocked-in at ISKCON Swamibag Ashram at Dhaka to listen to HH Subhag Maharaja’s Bhagavatam lecture and asked for more to which Maharaj happily agreed. Seeing the devotees from foreign countries in devotional attire, chanting the maha-mantra, some of them even speaking in Bengali, reminded everyone of Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s prediction “prithivite ache yata nagaradi gram, sarvatra prachar hoibe mora nama”. Expressions by the foreign devotees like, ‘amar Bangladesh bhalo lage’, ‘misti doi khub bhalo’, won the hearts of all who pampered the devotees with varieties of traditional delicacies and sweets. After delivering a seminar in a school at Mirpur, Dhaka, on scientific understanding of Krishna Consciousness, aided by Dr. Subhananda das of National Heart Foundation, Mirpur and Ramanuja das who delivered a seminar on ‘Vegetarianism’, the Sankirtan Party moved ahead with Maharaj to Narayanganj, who were given a surprising welcome by the devotees of Narayanganj, headed by His Grace Hamsa Krishna Prabhu, the temple president of ISKCON Narayanganj, who showered them with heaps of flower petals.

The students at Institute of Marine Engineering and Technology, Narayanganj, hosted two interactive sessions with Maharaj, one marking the Gita Jayanti where the students presented Srila Prabhupada’s books to the distinguished guests accompanying Maharaj and the next, a seminar by Maharaj at the Institute’s auditorium. In both the sessions, students received practical guidance on how to remain strong in Krishna Consciousness as well as fare well in studies. Maharaj delivered a lecture at the newly inaugurated ISKCON temple of Narayanganj, main feature of which was a massive book distribution, all signed by Maharaj himself. Next event, a wonderful preaching program at Netrakona, a beautiful location tucked away in northern periphery of Myemensingh district of North Bangladesh. Under the leadership of his grace Jayram das, ISKCON Netrakona, a small preaching centre of around 25 vibrant devotees, runs by the merciful glance of Lord Jagannath, Baladeva and Subhadra. In Netrakona, devotees went for village preaching at Durgapur, Madan, Trishal as well as Harinam Sankirtan and book distribution in Netrakona town. Devotees had to tolerate bitter cold and dense fog while going to all these places, but ecstasy of sankirtan, book distribution and above all, having a disciple of Srila Prabhupada with them was more than sufficient to bargain with anything. Jayram Prabhu, co-ordinating with National Committee ISKCON, Bangladesh, arranged for a three days pandal program, the 4th, 5th and 6th of January, 2013, to celebrate Srila Prabhupada Glorification Festival, also coinciding with Maharaja’s Vyasa Puja celebration on 6th of January. Main features of the festival were bhajans, lectures, interaction of foreign devotees with local visitors, slide shows, films, Maharaja’s classes and most importantly delicious, all desire fulfilling Sri Jagannath Mahaprasad. Lalita and Damodar of Sri Mayapur International School (SMIS), who came all the way from Mayapur, attracted everybody’s mind with sweet kirtans.

Every evening hundreds of visitors took Prasad, and on the last day a remarkable two thousand plus visitors honoured mahaprasad. At the pandal program in Trishal, the Mayor of Trishal, who was the chief guest, was so impressed that he requested the devotees to conduct such programs on a regular basis. On the 8th of January, a seminar on Science and Spirituality was held at Zila Parishad Hall, Netrakona, where Maharaj delivered a lecture on how a scientist as well as a common man can accept Krishna Consciousness. Ramanuja das presented a seminar on Vedanta and Science as an introductory remark to maharaja’s lecture. The program was attended by many distinguished professors and students of various colleges of Netrakona besides media persons and heads of local societies. The most important event of the tour was the Seminar on Science and Spirituality held on the 18th of January 2013 at the auditorium of Dhaka National Museum, Dhaka, one of the most prestigious venues in all of Bangladesh. The seminar was spearheaded by Dr. Subendu Talukder (Subhananda das), anaesthesist, National Heart Foundation, Mirpur, Dhaka. It started with a colourful Harinam Sankirtan by around 50 to 70 devotees along with students going around the campus of Jagannath University, Dhaka after which an impressive crowd of students attended Maharaja’s lecture at Jagannath Hall in the University. Many took books signed by Maharaj. The main Seminar began by a mangalacaran by Krishna Sudama Das (BTech. Computer graphics) of Armenia who sang the Brahma Samhita prayers invoking auspiciousness for all. Most attractive of all was Sita Devi dasi of France translating a speech by Bhaktin Dominique in French to Bengali. Sita Devi dasi, an expert in Bharat natyam dance also gave wonderful performances on ‘dasavatara stotra’.

Dr. Kadamba Kanan from Singapore delivered a short speech on being a doctor at the same time a devotee. Pitambar das (MA.Sanskrit), Anandavardhan das (MTech. Dairy tech.), Vasudev Krsna das (MTech. Computer Science), Subala das (PhD. Organic Chemistry), Sachiputra das (Bali, Indonesia), Gopal das and Tota Gopinath Das (Spain), Krishna loka das(Italy) gave enlightening speeches from Bhagavad Gita and Bhagavatam. An interactive power point presentation on Science of Happiness was made by Ramanuja Das (MSc. Botany) as an appetiser for rest of the programs. The full packed auditorium of around one thousand strong audience maintained a pin drop silence during the seminar on Science and Spirituality by Professor S. Ghosh (IIT Kharagpur), everyone present highly appreciated his views. HH Subhag Swami gave the concluding lecture where he enthused the audience saying “as individuals born in a land which graced the pastimes of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, it is our duty to take Mahaprabhu’s message to every nook and corner of the globe, be he a scientist or spiritualist, then only our lives will be successful”. Among the attendees at the seminar were Satyaranjan Baroi, Chairman, ISKCON Bangladesh, Prof. Emeritus Nirmal Mitra (BUET, Mirpur), devotees from various parts of Bangladesh, eminent scientists, doctors, lawyers, engineers and students from various institutes and Universities. Bhajans by Visakha dasi (India) and devotees of Mirpur and Netrakona as well as dance by Sita Devi Dasi (France) kept the whole event very lively. Around 500 books were distributed at the seminar most of them signed by Maharaj. An impressive 2500+ plates of Mahaprasadam was distributed after the program. Many of the participants personally came up to Maharaj after his lecture and expressed their appreciation about the seminar and submitted their requests to conduct more of such programs. Srimat Subhag Maharaj and his sankirtan team came back to India on 22nd January while local devotees continued with seminars at Swarupkathi and Barishal under the leadership of Dr. Gokulendu das (Retd. Asst. Director of Health, Bangladesh). Around 1000 books were distributed during the tour.

kandoh pramlocaya labdha kanya kamala-locana
tam capaviddham jagrhur bhuruha nrpa-nandanah

Translation: O sons of King Pracinabarhisat, the heavenly society girl named Pramloca kept the lotus-eyed daughter of Kandu in the care of the forest trees. Then she went back to the heavenly planet. This daughter was born by the coupling of the Apsara named Pramloca with the sage Kandu.

Purport: Whenever a great sage undergoes severe austerities for material power, the King of heaven, Indra, becomes very envious. All the demigods have responsible posts for the management of universal affairs and are very highly qualified with pious activities. Although they are ordinary living entities, they are able to attain responsible posts, like Lord Brahma, Indra, Candra and Varuna. As is the nature of this material world, the King of heaven, Indra, is very anxious if a great sage undergoes severe austerities. The whole material world is filled with such envy that everyone becomes afraid of his neighbors. Every businessman is afraid of his associates because this material world is the field of activities for all kinds of envious people who have come here to compete with the opulence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Thus Indra was very much afraid of the severe austerities performed by the great sage Kandu, and he sent Pramloca to break his vows and austerities. A similar incident took place in the case of Visvamitra. From other incidents in the sastras, it appears that Indra has always been envious. When King Prthu was celebrating various sacrifices, outdoing Indra, Indra became very envious, and he disturbed King Prthu's sacrifice. This has already been discussed in previous chapters. King Indra became successful in breaking the vow of the great sage Kandu, who became attracted by the beauty of the heavenly society girl Pramloca and begot a female child. This child is described herein as lotus-eyed and very beautiful. Being thus successful in her mission, Pramloca returned to the heavenly planets, leaving the newborn child to the care of the trees. Fortunately, the trees accepted the child and agreed to raise her. (End of purport)

HG Badrinarayan Das: So we have a planet, a kingdom of trees, we have someone in the heavenly planets, Lord Indra, we have a heavenly society girl--- only in the pages of the Srimad Bhagavatam. We believe, we Vaishnavas, we believe amazing stories. We should not run away from it. We believe some very amazing, mind-blowing things. When I was a kid, when I was in school, (to a young boy in the front row) Yes, I was young one time. You are what I once was, I am what you will become. It's a scary thought, son.

In school I made a model of the universe, you get little sytrofoam balls, you painted them, you hung them on a string, it's a mobile. I was maybe ten years old. Now do you think that a ten year old child should understand the secrets of the universe? We have to recognize that we arei Suppose Christopher Columbus ant goes out on an expedition, sent out by the queen, carrying the flag, not Espana this time, but carrying the flag of the ant kingdom. Now he's crawling on me. I'm droning on and he's crawling, crawling, crawling. And he reports back to the queen, vast lands, hills, forest, all uninhabited. Now he's crawling on me, but he has no idea that I'm a person.

I grow fragrant flowers for the Deities, it's my therapy. They never say that I want to be a rose, or something, they just do their duty. And we offer them to Radha Giridhari in San Diego. I had been gone for some time and I had been watering this one plant, a mogra, and a colony of ants had invaded and moved into that pot. And they freaked, surely they were screaming, "Women and children first!" And I'm sure in the annals of ant history it will be reported The Flood of 2012. But they don't know that behind the flood there was a hose, behind the hose there was a faucet, behind the faucet is my hand. And there's a person.

Why, someone please explain to me the arrogance of the modern materialist, why everything is subordinate to my perception. If I can't see it, if I can't smell it, if I can't chop it into tiny pieces, if I cannot control and manipulate it, then it doesn't exist. Why? Please tell me why there can't be higher beings.

In India they have sufficient dogs, but if you blow a dog whistle, it's a frequency that we can't hear, but the dogs hear it, so if you blow it, they freak. There's a sound frequency that I can't hear, a spectrum of light, so many colors that I can't see. My band of perception is very, very limited, what to speak of the tendency to cheat, tendency of illusion, all the other faults. And yet we claim, a priori, if it's not subordinate to my perception, it doesn't exist. Only in Kali Yuga do we find this profound arrogance and ignorance. But that's not what I wanted to talk about, we'll move on.

When I was a child, we had a long driveway. I was very fond of my father, he was a good man. You know, materially, he was a good man. I would see my father's car go down the long highway, and he would beep, and I would wave. And if I was home from my sporting activities, my father would come home at 6 o'clock, and I would be at the top of the driveway and wave and he would drive up the driveway and I would wave and he'd come home. I had my little world, I'd walk to school, I had my best friend. My whole world extended eight to ten blocks, that was my reality. One day it was Take Your Child to Work day, and my father took me to his office. We went down the driveway, passed the school, we got on the freeway and suddenly the whole world opened up. We went to Los Angeles, to the top of a skyscraper, blew my mind. I had no idea that that such a whole world existed. So the idea that everything is subordinate to my experience is patently bogus.

This serves as a cautionary tale. The Srimad Bhagavatam is full of many success stories, and dos and do nots. Cautionary tale; Indra is always in anxiety. Prabhupad was in Japan. Srila Prabhupad set up Tamal Krishna Maharaj as the middle man. As pre Srila Prabhupada's plan, Tamal argued with them, offered them a super low price. The Japanese actually had to step out of the room, get some oxygen, come back. Prabhupad set himself up as the middleman, "Oh obviously, that price is too low," which Prabhupad had told Tamal to offer. "And your price is too high, let's settle somewhere in the middle." They settled for something super low, but it was higher than what he had told Tamal to give. So the Japanese were out of the room adjusting their life airs. So there was one minor, junior executive left in the room. He didn't speak English very well, but Prabhupad asked him what his goal in life was. And all the businessmen of Dinnippon executives had put their cards on the table. The junior executive didn't speak much English. So he gathered all the cards of everyone and put them in a stack and out of his pocket he took his own card and put it on top. That was his goal in life.

So the materialists, they're always trying to get more in life. But they can't even conceive of the opulence of Lord Indra who gets such a post, what to speak of Varuna, and yet they're always in anxiety, who's going to take my place, why would we want such a thing? Everyone is chasing after happiness. Do they have this saying in India, like a dog chasing his tail?or So we're chasing like that.

The farmer is working out in the hot sun. He takes his grains to the mill, and he goes in, and the mill-owner's sitting in a nice seat, he has an abacus saying buy sell, buy sell, and the farmer is thinking, if only I could become a mill owner, I'd be so happy, it's so easy sitting there in the AC. Then the tax-collector comes and takes a big chunk of the mill-owner's income. The mill-owner's thinking, Oh, I work so hard, I can't sleep at night, buy sell, buy sell, and this king comes and takes a big bite out of everything I sell. If only I could become the king. The king is sitting in a nice palace, people sitting on this side and that side, people feeding him peeled grapes. But he's there thinking about running the kingdom, who's trying to usurp his throne, the citizens.. He's completely in anxiety, he's looking out his window and he sees the farmer and thinks, "oh what a simple life, just farming in the field, if only I could be a farmer."

So this is our factual situation, the Srimad Bhagavatam gives a nice example, it describes a crane, he's sitting in the stream, looking for something to eat, the rocks are causing pain to his feet, it's cold, and he's waiting, but he's thinking Oh maybe I'll find a fish. We're like that. Prabhupad was in Boston, and it was wintertime, and a bird hadn't gotten the memo, he hadn't migrated. The bird is there in the snow. Prabhupad saw this bird out of the window and he said that this bird is so miserable, he would kill himself, but he finds a little grain, a little bug, the sun comes out for a few moments, so he thinks, "not so bad."

A man falls into a well, and as he's falling, he grabs for some shelter, and he's holding onto something, he hasn't fallen down. And as his eyes adjust to the light and he sees a big king cobra coiled at the bottom of the well. The man says, oh, can't go down. He looks up and he sees a tiger, saying come on up. And he sees that what he's holding on to are two roots coming out of the two sides. And there is black and white rat and they're eating away at the the roots. Then something drops on his head. He looks up and sees a beehive dropping a little bit of honey. So he opens his mouth catching the drops and thinks, "not so bad".

The cobra at the bottom is our life airs, time and tide wait for no one. Above is the tiger, the three modes of nature, adibhautic, adidevic, and adiatmic, ready to devour us at any moment. The black and white rats are daytime and night time, eating way at the roots. With the rising and setting of the sun a day passes and is lost. Then we have a little honey of sense gratification and we think "not so bad". This is the Srimad Bhagavatam's honest analysis of our position.

Do you know Prince Philip of England? Do you know that he has his shoelaces ironed? That he has someone tie his shoes. Did you know that Queen Elizabeth, she has her newspaper ironed every day, Times of London, so that the ink sets in, and then someone puts on a white glove to test so that the queen doesn't have any ink on her hand when reads the paper. So you can imagine the attempt to erase all the miseries in life. She has hundreds of people. And she has 100s of people, and guaranteed she's in anxiety. She has her dimwit son who may go new age on her, so she has to stay on the throne. Whatever arrangement you make, the material natural will outdo us.

The materialists spend their whole time fixing petty problems. We should appreciate the scope, the depth, the value of Vedic wisdom. It goes to the heart of the matter. What is the first thing that's essential for a good doctor? What is the first thing to get cured? Medical, good insurance? No. You have to have a good diagnosis, you have to know the cause of the disease is, and otherwise you might as well be taking colored water for medicine.

Or air conditioning it's too hot, now it's cold, oh, very nice. When they were bombing, in 1971, in the Bangladesh war, there was a blackout in Delhi, and Prabhupad's talking with a newspaper reporter. And she says "Swamiji, Swamiji, can you give us some words of wisdom in this time of distress?" Prabhupad says that, when the bombing stops you're not in distress? You're in distress at every moment. It's too hot, get AC. It's too cold, get a heater. All that you've done is address the symptoms but not the real issues of birth, death, disease, old age.

Sadaputa's joke. A man comes home at night. He sees his neighbor on all fours, searching the ground, under the streetlight, so picture this he's up by the street, on all fours, searching the ground searching for something. The neighbor is naturally curious, so he goes up, and the man is drunk as a skunk. And he says, "What are you doing?" The man says that "I'm looking for my house keys," I was trying to open the door and I dropped my keys. The neighbor says "But the door is over there, why are you over here by the street?" The drunk man says, "Oh, this is where the light is". Here's the purport.

Because they assume that these questions cannot be answered, how to solve permanently birth, death, disease, and old age, let's look at this little world that we can deal with, the AC, but all they're doing is dressing the wound, they're not solving anything of real substance.

Here is the point I wanted to get to. Prabhupad was riding on a train in the evening. And he was in his compartment and there were some Indian businessmen in the neighboring compartment. So they were pious enough to understand, Here's a sadhu, let's get blessings.

Sometimes Prabhupad didn't want to be disturbed, he has important work to do. So these disciples, they were like linebackers blocking the door. But a moment's inattention, and they slipped in. So Swamiji, Swamiji, give us your blessings. Like a swami is an ATM machine. Prabhupad said, "So what are those blessings?" They were caught by surprise. So this man said, "I have this arthritis in my knee, and when it gets cold..." And Prabhupad said, no, wrong thing to ask for. So his friend came back, so he said, let my family be happy. Like a concentric circle, their area of concern was expanding. Again, Prabhkupada sais "No, wrong answer". The third man said, Let there be peace and happiness in the world. Prabhupad again, wrong answer. Prabhupad then pointed at Satsvarupa Maharaj, skinny, austere. He said, "This saffron cloth, this is my blessing, will you take it?" And whoosh-- they were out the door. Thus, Srila Prabhpada dealt with them expertly. They would nowo leave him in peace and quiet. But also he taught them a point, the blessing to become detached from this world.

When we understand, there's a story, Guru Nanak story, why not? So this man, his friend says that there's a very nice sadhu in our village, he's giving katha please come. This rich man said, "Oh, I know these sadhus, he's going to go on and on, gets me unattached, then when I'm unattached he takes everything I've got." He's going to at least ask for some shoes, an umbrella, some land. But the friend prevailed, he's nice, please come. So he came. Sure enough, after the katha, the sadhu says I'd like to speak with you. So the rich man came over. The sadhu says, "I want to ask you for something." Oh there it is, here we go. The sadhu said I have this needle for sewing up my clothing; I'm losing it all the time. He said, can you just take this needle, here's the needle, please give it to me in my next life.

Does anyone know what is the price of a needle? In India you can probably buy a single needle. But in America you can't even by a singe needle, you have to buy a pack. So the rich man could understand, "I can't even keep track of this needle in my next life. I can't take a needle in my next life." So everything I have, what is the use? Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, he could understand what the sadhu was saying. We understand that I'm taking body after body and I should not be disturbed by this. And if I'm not disturbed, I learn to tolerate. Does anyone know what Prabhupad says is the measure of a man's strength? If you go to Ripley's Believe It or Not, you'll find a man pulls a train with his teeth, there are so many things, it's true. So who knows, Prabhupad gives us from the Srimad Bhagavatam, the measure of a person's strength? Devotee: Ability to tolerate provoking situations. Badrinarayan Prabhu: Yes, a man's ability to tolerate.

Dhiras tatra na muhyate
Tams titiksava bharata

I was at the Los Angeles Rathayatra, I serve in the free prasadam booth, thousands of people come. Full, nice opulent Krishna prasadam. We even have Christians who have signs, "turn or burn" this and that. But the point is, I've seen that they go the whole festival, they get to the end, they're hungry, they put down the signs, and they come and take prasadam. P So I was in the free prasadam booth. I like to slip out and hear the question and answer booth. We had one of the best, Jayadwaita Swami, as far as succinct, powerful sutras, he's just the best. Now the thing is, I was behind two very large ladies. They were big, I'm not picking on ladies but these were land whales. So I was trying to see Maharaj behind these large moving objects. He says, "The essence of spiritual understanding, the beginning point of all true spiritual teachings is that that we are not this body." And one of these large ladies turns to her friend and said, "Boy is that a relief.She said it with such feeling, she was just carrying this thing around. So to understand that we are not this body, it's actually an incredible relief, it actually begins there. In Miami, they have some skyscrapers, Prabhupad said about these skyscrapers we were in a walk in Chicago, if you look down Lake Michigan, a beautiful scene, it's designed to be a beautiful scene, beautiful park, lakei There is Chicago in the distance, this huge stack of skyscrapers, bustling with energy, bravado. Prabhupad looked down the lake and said, they are simply stacking stones and maya will come with her boots and kick it all down.

There is American history, and I apologize, I was born in America, and I'm steeped in it. There's Manhattan Island, it was originally obtained by the Dutch in the 1600s, and they traded the local Indians, some shiny beads and some trinkets. Anyone know how big? I don't know how big Manhattan Island is? They liked it, it had the river, harbor; they liked it for the trade and commerce. They gave the dimwit American Indians, we have trinkets and beads, and they gave us an entire island, ha ha ha. And the American Indians were thinking, this is a swamp with mosquitoes, and we've got a whole continent to the west of us, ha, we're getting these things we've never seen before, shiny, nice beautiful things. Let these dimwit Dutch have this swamp.

My point is, same thing, same event, but according to one's value system, they saw differently. Each thought that the other was foolish. And in their experience, they were completely correct. We see this world, simply stacking stones, what is this body.

You think the body is troublesome, what about the mind?

Prabhupad tells this story, about the mind. Green coconut kachoris. Evidently it's a particular Bengali prep, very tasty, hard to make, rarely too many you get indigestion

coconut he thought "what a treat"an was , you get indigestion. But the man what thinking, how often do you get these, so whoof. And the mind says, "How often do you see a green coconut kachori," he took a second, "So then what's two, might as well, take another one, and another, another," Andi so then he stops, goes home, sleeping. Middle of the night he wakes up with a horrible stomachache. Horrible indigestion. The very same mind with whom he tried to serve, the same mind he took instruction from, that very same mind says, you idiot, you fool, why did you eat so many kachoris.

I was on traveling sankirtan. The devotee I was with got up for Mangala Arati, he was beat. And I asked, "What happened? Why so tired?" And he replied, "I couldn't sleep all night." I asked why. He said, "Oh, the window in the van was open all night and it was so cold I couldn't sleep." And I asked, "Why did you get up and shut it," And he said, "I was too tired."

This is our daily experience. This is our moment to moment experience, to see these things. We're not the false ego. In Miami, they have many skyscrapers. This one man, the faster the elevator goes, it costs you more money, so he set it as a low setting. People are like, they're knitting sweaters. Come on man, let's go. The homeowners association, they complained, let's speed up the elevator. But the man was cheap, he didn't speed up the elevators, so he put full length mirrors in all the elevators. Nobody complained. They all thought he had fixed the elevators. They were completely happy looking in the mirrors, time flew by.

Prabhupad was speaking in a darshan. And an Indian Christian came, the man became agitated, "Your Krishna is so lusty, he is immoral," Prabhupad countered, "No sir, you are immoral. Krishna is purusha, everything else is prakriti, what are you doing with one of Krishna's gopis?" The man was married, blew his mind, he had never heard that before. It became quite a shouting match. Brahmananda said, I think you better leave, man. The devotees afterwards were asking Srila Prabhupad, what will happen to his man, he has become before a saintly maha bhagavat, made offenses, He'll be born in Calcutta with no arms and no legs, rolling in the gutter, playing the harmonica, what will happen to this guy? And they all offered, oh, a lifetime of a worm in stool, all the devotees were offering both his future, and his condition, how to remedy it. After they had finished, Prabhupad said, he looked up from his desk. "Well, we could forgive him." No one had thought of that. Try to understand Prabhupad's heart; if we don't take offense, if we forgive him, then the man doesn't have to suffer the reaction.

The materialists see those who are weaker than them, how to exploit them. Any city you go to, there's always some people living in the ghetto, and there are people living on the hill, laughing. They see someone weaker, let me exploit. See someone the same, let me compete, let me push them down. They see someone higher, they become envious. That's their mindset. A Vaishnava, if he sees someone suffering, let me give them some mercy. This is the essence of the Vaishnava. In Los Angeles, we used to go on sankirtan all day long, and then we would break, take some prasadam, we would all get an individual lunch bag, eat in a park. People would always come. We would always end up giving away our lunch prasad. We'll go back to the temple, and then these people will never get prasad. The leader of our party actually asked Prabhupad, what should we do, and Prabhupad said "charity begins at home". Take your prasadam. He had us make some extra bread balls. So we could distribute prasadam still. The essence of the Vaishnava is that he gives mercy. He see someone on the same level he makes friendship. He sees someone superior, he offers service and takes instructions.

A man dies and he goes to heaven, and in this case, when he comes to consciousness, he sees the pearly gates, everything is sweet and blissful, he hears some music, he goes to the palatial building, and he sees all the people, a fantastic spread, vegetarian, but the people are miserable because they're chained and they can't reach their mouth. He thinks, "Oh, I'm in hell." Then he goes to heaven, it's the same layout, beautiful streets, celestial flowers and fragrance. He hears music, goes into a building. Fantastic spread, and everyone there is also chained, but they're completely happy because they're feeding each other. Same exact situation, different mentality.

Prabhupad says, we go to heaven or hell, as long as we have Vaishnava sanga, we're fine. We don't mind. The point I wanted to make is that we should tolerate. Why chase after the things of this world, and in that tolerance, that will come Vaishnava vision, we will begin to develop compassion for fallen conditional souls. We should appreciate the fantastic gift of Krishna consciousness. I was driving out to Las Vegas; we have a sweet little temple there and I'm the GBC. As a note, I was on a walk with Srila Prabhupad, Ann Arbor Michigan; I asked Prabhupad what does it mean to be in charge of one of your temples? I thought he would say, you're one of my generals on the front line. You're empowered by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He stopped, put his cane down, looked me up and down and said, "if anything goes wrong, it's your fault". And I said, Oh managing it's such a headache, the devotees. And Prabhupad said, "Actually, just remember that you're blessed, because you get to regularly serve the Vaishnavas." Again, same situation, different vision. Yeah it's 2am in the morning, the toilet just broke, and no one is there to clean it up, oh, nice chance to serve the Vaishnavas.

So I was driving up to Las Vegas, and I stopped. And if you've ever been way out in the middle of nowhere where there's no light, if you've seen the desert sky, and the mountainsi it's really a mystical experience. I highly recommend it. And it's both - you feel very insignificant, and you feel very intimate. You feel very close to creation. You feel that I am just a spot in the middle of nowhere. It reminded me of the first step in God realization, that that I'm not the controller and that there is a Controller. First comes awe and reverence, then there's gratitude, a sense of dependence. From dependence comes gratitude. A natural response from gratitude comes service. Let me serve. In the same fashion, the freedom from the bodily concept of the false ego, the ravages of the mind, the fear of death, comes relief and gratitude.

Both my mother and father left this world in a fantastic way. We had a devotee, he had been away for some time, he had AIDs, came back, realized he had no shelter but the Vaishnavas. He came back, at the end of his life, he had been in a coma, all of a sudden, he's lying flat, he put his hands up and he put his hands up and said, "Prabhupad, you came," and he left this world. What a gift we've been given.

Even my mother. Last words, she opened her eyes, and she said, "Do you think I'll be born in a devotee family?" She liked the devotees. I said, "Definitely, 100 guaranteed, mom," And she laid back on her pillow and said, "Very good, that would be very good." That was the last thing she said. Half an hour later she left her body. So we're not even afraid of death.

My father worked all of his life, at his retirement dinner, everyone is there in tuxedoes, I'm there in a dhoti. And everyone is congratulating him. So when he gave his speech, he said, "I began work at 8 years old, I had a paper route, I worked my way all my life, and now I'm retiring.

"But my younger son is more intelligent than me. He retired at 17 and a half." They were stunned. "He joined the Hare Krishna movement." They were appreciating.

People asked Prabhupad, "What do you do for recreation?" Prabhupad was genuinely puzzled. He said, "Our whole movement is recreation." It's cyclical, chanting, dancing, feasting, chanting, dancing feasting. I mean, we work hard for Krishna, but Radhanath Swami mentioned that survey how people feel about things, what makes people happy. After people get the basics, they have food and shelter for themselves and their children, what makes people happy is feeling that their life has purpose, that they're part of something greater than themselves. This is what people are hungry for.

I was in Los Angeles, a young bhakta. We were sitting in Prabhupad's room, and it was as cold as it gets in the west coast, about 50 degrees F, bundled up, suffering from the cold. If you go to his quarters, you see his desk, the big window. The clouds parted for a moment, the sun shone through the window. A ray of golden light came down, he was sitting at his desk. And he alone was bathed in this pool of golden light. We were all in darkness figuratively and literally, And Prabhupad, who did not miss a thing, he looked up, could understand the mood, and he said, "yes, one day you will feel this sun, just like your lover's embrace." Krishna says I'm the pure light of the sun and the moon.

Prabhupad also once said, "You think you're sitting on the floor, but I am sitting on the hand of Krishna." That confidence, that shelter, that feeling of a loving embrace of Krishna, that fearlessness, that great gift has been given to us. Madhudvisa prabhu narrates that he was speaking with Srila Prabhupada. it says in the Bhagavad Gita, one who has performed lifetimes of pious activitiesi He can take to spiritual life. But Madhudvisa said, that "I have been performing sinful deeds since the day I met you." So I don't have a stockpile of pious deeds. Srila Prabhupada said I have created your good fortune. All I ask ismthat you go and create good fortune for others.

Vaisheshika Prabhu said the other day, again that survey, feeling part of something valuable, something bigger than ourselves, the joy that we've received, the relief of Krishna consciousness. Bhaktivinode Thakur writes in song, the materialists, they're actually sitting in their houses, looking out the window and down the road, they're thinking, "when will Lord Chaitanya's sankirtan party come down the road and save me?" They're just drinking, whiling away their time, they don't know anything else to do until the sankirtan part comes and saves them.

There was this devotee, very shy, very young devotee. When he moved in to our temple, and I said, "Prabhu, you gotta go on book distribution, it's so nice, so blissful, so enlivening." He was super shy, but after some time he agreed to go out with me. The devotees would go door to door. First door we knocked on, he was standing there with me behind him. You hear all the locks open. The door opens; it's a little old lady. So I said, put the book in her hand. He gave her a copy of the Sri Ishopanishad. She didn't say a word. She looked at the book, looked at him, nice Vaishnava tilak, looked at the book, looked at him, looked at the book, then she fell over dead. We had to call the neighbors, called 911, she was gone. Our new bhakta was understandably shaken.

I told him, Prabhu, look, she left her body looking at a picture of Krishna, looking at a Vaishnava. She was dragging on in that apartment. That was the only reason she was alive. She was simply waiting for you. "He asked me does that happen every day?" I said, "No, no,"

We should know for a fact that they're out there waiting for us. If we don't go out who will pick them up? If we're not strong and pure in Krishna consciousness, who will have the ability to deliver them? Srila Prabhupada said "There are Brahmins on every corner. You just need to go and pick them up."

We should tolerate the miseries of this world, it's all temporary. We should understand our great good fortune. We need to remember that people are waiting for us to knock on their door and deliver them. All glories to Lord Chaitanya's sankirtan party.

Listen Srimad Bhagavatam Audio Lecture of Badrinarayan Dasa
- Transcribed by Bhaktilata Mataji

I often have to encourage devotees, especially those not living in the temples, to rise early in the morning and come to the temple for the morning program, or to have one at home. Devotees should generally rise by 4 am, which means that their lives must be organized in such a way that they get sufficient rest, meaning taking rest early.

Certainly there are many considerations for individual cases; however, we will see from the collection of quotes from Srila Prabhupada below (not referenced) that His Divine Grace made few exceptions to his rule of “early rising”. Rising early is difficult, but that is the meaning of austerityi

“Sometimes it is very troublesome to rise early in the morning, but whatever voluntary trouble one may suffer in this way is called penance.”

Srila Prabhupada envisaged that everyone rise early and participate in the morning programi

“In this Krishna consciousness movement we require everyone to rise early in the morning, by four A.M., and attend mangala-arati, or morning worship, then read Srimad Bhagavatam, perform kirtana, and so forth.”

This is especially so for devotees living in the templesi

“For instance, in the Krishna consciousness temples the devotees rise early in the morning, at 4:00 A.M., and they immediately bathe. Then they go to mangala-arati at 4:30, and after mangala-arati they study the Vedic literatures.”

And even children can be trained to do so

“We say the child must rise early in the morning, worship the Deity in the temple, and chant Hare Krishna. In the beginning, force may be necessary. Otherwise the child will not become habituated. But the idea is to divert his attention to Krishna conscious activities. Then, when he realizes he is not his body, all difficulties will disappear.”

What to speak of preachersi.

“Preachers living in ISKCON temples follow this advice daily. They rise early and gather for mangala-arati before the temple Deities.”

And making this effort is part of learning how to love Krishnai

“So, you must practice how to love Krishna. First you have to rise early in the morning. You don’t like to, but you think, ‘I will rise early to satisfy Krishna.’ This is the beginning.”

If we do not think we need to do it, or think we are advanced, then we will fall downi

“We must rise early in the morning, bathe, attend mangala-arati, worship the Deities, chant the Hare Krishna mantra, study the Vedic literatures and follow all the rules prescribed by the acaryas and the spiritual master. If we deviate from this process, we may fall down, even though we may be very highly advanced.i Even if one is in the renounced order, he should never give up the regulative principles.”

Early rising is one of the nine limbs of devotional servicei

“Pada-sevanam means to rise early in the morning.” This is the culture of India even todayi

“So the Indian public still, even they are not very educated, because the culture is there in, especially, in the villages, they rise early in the morning and take bath.”

For it was also the example set by Krishna Himselfi

“He was lying with His beautiful queens, and as soon as there is cock crow, immediately He would rise, early in the morning, three o’clock.”

And if we cannot rise early, then we should understand what that meansi

“If we cannot rise early in the morning, that means we are under the clutches of maya. This is the test.”

And for those serious about advancing in Krishna consciousness, they know what to do

“ibut at least everyone who is interested in advancing in Krishna consciousness must rise early in the morning, before four.”

These are a few of Srila Prabhupada’s comments on early rising. Thus children, adults, preachers, sannyasis, villagers, men and ladies, everyone should be up by 4 am, if not earlier, ready to attend mangala-arati by 4:30.

Taken from www.sivaramaswami.com

Biography  |  Audio  |  Video  |  Photos

Srila Prabhupada's Hare krishna Tree :

In 1966, Srila Prabhupada began chanting the Hare Krsna mahamantra under a tree in New York's Tompkins Square Park, thereby inaugurating the western advance of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu's glorious Sankirtana movement.

Inscription on Plaque: "One of Tompkins Square Park's most prominent features is its collection of venerable American elm (Ulmus americana) trees. One elm in particular, located next to the semi-circular arrangement of benches in the park's center, is important to adherents of the Hare Krishna religion. After coming to the United States in September, 1965, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896-1977), the Indian spiritual leader, founded the International Society for Krishna Consciousness in New York. He worked from a storefront on nearby Second Avenue that he used as the Society's American headquarters. Prabhupada and his disciples gathered in Tompkins Square Park in the fall of 1966 to introduce the East Village to the group's distinctive 16-word mantra:

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

On October 9, 1966, Prabhupada and his followers sat beneath this tree and held the first outdoor chanting session outside of India. Participants chanted for two hours as they danced and played cymbals, tambourines, and other percussive instruments; the event is recognized as the founding of the Hare Krishna religion in the United States. Prabhupada's diverse group that day included Beat poet Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997). Krishna adherents continue to return to the tree to acknowledge its significance.

American elm trees are known for their towering canopies, which provide abundant shade through spring, summer, and fall. It is rare today to find such a collection of American elms, since many of the mature elms planted across the country have been killed by Dutch Elm Disease. This incurable disease, a fungus carried by bark beetles ( Coleoptera Scolytidae) which colonize on the branches of the elm tree, swept across the United States in the 1930s and remains a threat to the park's collection of elms. Despite having lost at least 34 of the trees, Tompkins Square Park still hosts a large assemblage of elms, which continue to this day to enchant park patrons. The East Village Parks Conservancy, a volunteer group, raises significant private funds for the ongoing care and maintenance of the American elms and other historic trees in Tompkins Square Park.

- By Lakshman Poddar

HH Bhanu Swami: (invocation prayers)

bhavita visrutah putro
‘navamo brahmano gunaih
ya etam atma-viryena
tri-lokim purayisyati

Translation: You will have a nice son, who will be in no way inferior to Lord Brahma. Consequently, he will be very famous all over the universe, and the sons and grandsons generated by him will fill the three worlds.

Srila Prabhupadas Purport: As explained in the next verse, the Pracetas will marry the daughter of the great sage Kandu. It is suggested that the son’s name will be Visruta and that he will glorify both his father and mother because of his good character. In fact, he would be greater than Lord Brahma. The great politician Canakya said that if there is a good tree within a garden or forest, its flowers will fill the forest with their fragrance. Similarly, a good son within a family makes the whole family famous all over the world. Krsna took birth in the family of the Yadus, and consequently the Yadu dynasty is famous all over the world.

HH Bhanu Swami: So this whole section of the fourth canto is concerning the population of the universe. How the fallen living entities get there. Here of course we see that the Pracetas will get a nice son and generations will follow which will be of very good character. So of course this is ok for grhastas, not so nice for brahmacaries and sannyasis. So why we have all these discussions about population and increase in progeny and such things, when we also know that the whole purpose of the Bhagavatam is complete renunciation of the world and complete attraction to Krsna? So what has this got to do with Lord Krsna? Populating the earth with sons and grandsons etc? Genealogy etc? So our acaryas of course have said that though the 10th canto is actually the essence of the Bhagavatam, it’s about Krsna directly, and His pastimes and His qualities and therefore it’s ultimately the most attractive thing, still we cannot reject the subject matter of the other cantos. Canto one, canto two, canto three etc. Now of course some people will do that, they will think, let us just concentrate on the 10th canto and we’ll neglect all these other cantos and some will argue, well look the 1 st canto is not even spoken by Sukadev, so how can we consider this the Bhagavatam? Or the last part of the 12 th canto again is not by Sukadev, so how can this be the Bhagavatam? However, our acaryas have said the whole thing is Bhagavatam. It is all Krsna. Bhagavatam is non different from Krsna, and therefore everything here is actually representing Krsna, whether it’s 4th canto or 3rd canto or 8th canto or 9th canto or 11th canto or 12th canto, whatever, it’s all Krsna, it’s absolute.

So we’ll have many subject matters here and sometimes we may wonder what has this got to do with Krsna and Svayam Bhagavan and attraction to Him? So, we have to examine very carefully what IS Bhagavatam. Of course we go further back then that, then we say what is scripture? That subject matter comes up in the 10 th canto where there is the, very philosophical, one of the most philosophical sections of the Bhagavatam, there is the ‘Prayers of the Personified Vedas’.

The question is asked, how is it possible to describe the Supreme Lord, whether it is Krsna or even Brahman, impersonal Brahman? Because what is spiritual is beyond words, words are material sounds with certain conceptions like we get with context in the material world, like a tree, we understand a material tree or whatever. How is it possible to express God or even impersonal Brahman by words? Which is a good question actually. Even the scripture itself says the Supreme is beyond words and beyond mind, can’t even think of the Supreme or any conception of material mind. So of course if we say well it’s not possible, then Bhagavatam is useless, all scripture is useless, Veda are useless, everything is useless and we can never approach the Supreme Lord, if that’s so, then we can’t speak about the Lord or describe Him in anyway. But the answer given throughout these verses, although it maybe difficult to understand the whole purport of the Prayers of the Personified Vedas, the ultimate answer is that the Supreme Lord is describable, by words even though we may think they are material words. The reason is that the Lord is not impersonal. He has qualities, He has shaktis, He has compassion for the living entities in the material world and therefore by His will power and by His shakti, words that to us may look material actually can describe the Lord because they are spiritual. Because the Lord wants them to be spiritual, they become spiritual. For the Lord there is no distinction between material and spiritual and by His will we have expressions and descriptions of the Supreme Lord which are authorised. So this we call scripture. These are the authorised descriptions of the Supreme Lord and they are capable of conveying who that Supreme Lord is to us. So therefore we accept scripture. So that’s the first step. At least we can describe the Supreme Lord in some way or another.

So of course the next question is, what is scripture? What do we accept? Do we accept the Bible, the Koran, or the Vedas, or the Puranas. What is scripture? Ultimately it is a matter of faith, we accept one scripture and follow it. The other is we use our intelligence and find out what is most complete. What gives us the most consistent description of what is Supreme. That Supreme Lord, That Supreme entity. So some people they prefer other scriptures but we have chosen Vedic scriptures. So of course Vedic scriptures also has a limitation. It’s not that anything in India is a Vedic scripture. There’s some which are called scripture and some are rejected even though they come from India and they maybe ancient also. So the scriptures themselves, starting with the Vedas begin to enumerate what is authorised scripture, that we can read these and we can understand who is the Supreme Lord, communicate properly.

We have the Vedas, of course the Vedas means Sruti, which is a special category, eternal, never created, though it appears from the mouth of Hayagriva or it appears from Brahma’s mouth, actually it has no creation. It’s not even created by the Lord because it’s eternal, but is non different from the Lord. That is one definition of Sruti, that is the Vedas. Unfortunately if you look at the Vedas you’ll get a little confused, because it’s supposed to describe the Absolute Truth, the Highest Entity, Supreme Lord, Bhagavan etc, but we find a whole section is dedicated to doing sacrifices to go to svargaloka which is not the Supreme, it’s in the material world. That’s the Karma Kanda section of the Vedas, Purva Mimamsa.

Then we’ll find another section dedicated to worshipping devatas, Indra etc, Upasana Kanda. The verses praising the different devatas, get a little confused how’s that Supreme? Because the devatas are also material. Then we come to Jnana Kanda. Of course Jnana Kanda is the same(?) because it talks about Brahman. But what is Brahman? No qualities, no form, no activities. Well we are worshipping Krsna, He has a form, He has qualities, activities. Upanishads, the Jnana Kanda is speaking about Brahman with no qualities, that is impersonal aspect of the Lord.

So we got the Vedas which is supposed to be so wonderful, they’re talking about all the wrong things. They’re talking about going to svargaloka, worshipping devatas, worshipping impersonal Brahman at best. But if we look very closely at the Jnana Kanda it is not so that Jnana Kanda, the Upanishads only speak of an impersonal Brahman, they also speak of the Lord with a form, Lord with qualities, Lord with activities. We’ll find it even in the major Upanishads where Shankara Acarya takes to interpret impersonalism, so in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Chandogya Upanishad and Svetasvatara Upanishad you’ll find descriptions of the Supreme Lord with form, qualities and activities. So not true that Jnana Kanda only represents impersonal Brahman, it also represents Bhagavan. So He is there.

However, as I said when we look through all the Vedas we get a little puzzled. Why have we got all these different things there, we got material things there. Even in our daily sadhana we recite what are the offenses to the Vedas, one offense is Sruti ninda, don’t criticise the Vedas despite of the fact they’re talking about going to svargaloka, living for thousands of years and drinking soma rasa etc, so what is all of this? Why we worship the Vedas when they are talking about material things? So there is some confusion there about the Vedas which are absolute, and they’re talking about all these things. That is why we cannot take the Vedas by themselves, we need explanations. Which very nicely have been arranged for us. One of the great explainers or commentators is Veda Vyasa Himself, who compiled the Vedas and divided then up for the people of Kali Yuga so they can understand them to some degree. So it is through Him that we get the 4 different Vedas with all their different sections and sub-sections etc.

But Veda Vyasa Himself knew that all of this is a little confusing for people, especially the Jnana Kanda, so He made a special effort to explain the Upanishads, these are not impersonal, they are actually talking about Bhagavan, Krsna. Therefore He wrote the Brahama Sutras. Which talk about the Supreme Lord, our relationship with Him, which is Bhakti and the ultimate goal which is Prema. Unfortunately it’s in sutra form. Sutra means a very concise expression, so concise that it’s only a few words in most cases, for each sutra. Each sutra is difficult to understand. Also difficult to understand the reference of the sutra. What is it referring to? Which Upanishad? Which statement in which Upanishad is it referring to? What is the relationship between this sutra and the next sutra and the next sutra? So it becomes a big controversy. Therefore we have many different commentators giving many different opinions on what these sutras mean. So although Veda Vyasa’s intension was to clarify the meaning of the Vedas, the people of Kali Yuga get more confused, and come up with all sorts of different conclusions. So Brahma Sutra is not so satisfying.

So, as well as that, Veda Vyasa then wrote Mahabharat for the people of Kali Yuga. Lets not get into all the Vedic language and all these weird contradictions about personal and impersonal etc, let us tell everyone some stories and give them very simple teachings. So if we look at Bhagavad Gita, which is in the Mahabharata, then we will find that actually it’s referring to the Vedas all the time. You find the very famous verses which are there about the eternal nature of the soul etc, they have there origins in the Upanishads actually. We can trace them all back there. So Bhagavad Gita is not some isolated literature spoken by Krsna, no it is referring to the Upanishads, which are the essence of the Sruti, the Vedas. So there in Bhagavad Gita we’ll find a summary of the Vedas, a very convenient summary. Of course even then we’ll find various interpretations of that. We’ll have impersonal interpretation of the

Bhagavad Gita and personal interpretations. Of course, all the Vaisnavas agree that finally the meaning is that we should worship the Supreme Lord Krsna, which is stated in the final section of the Bhagavad Gita. So not so difficult to understand.

Still Veda Vyasa, not satisfied with the Mahabharat, because it’s such a big work and there are stories in there which would look a little bit strange to us, there is worship of devatas, Durga and Lord Siva etc and also glorification of devatas etc. So people can get confused by that also. He wrote the Puranas, in fact 18 Puranas He wrote, for the people of Kali Yuga. Unfortunately His strategy was not very correct. He wrote Puranas for people in Tama guna and therefore he advised them to worship Siva and He glorified Siva as Bhagavan in these Puranas. He wrote Puranas for people in Raja guna, glorification of Lord Brahma and then He wrote Puranas for people in Sattva guna that is worship of Vishnu. So we got three types of glorification, three types of worship for different types of people. Which is permissible. Just as we have Karma Kanda for people worshipping devatas, Jnana Kanda for people who are above that and are going for liberation from the material world. So according to qualification of people we can have different types of scripture.

After He had written all these things, 18 Puranas, Mahabharat, Brahma Sutras, compiled the Vedas, gave the Vedas to His disciples to disseminate and start some Parampara systems, after all this, the 1 st canto of Bhagavatam, its very purpose is to show that all of this was not sufficient, even though Veda Vyasa is the Supreme Lord, He is avatar of the Lord, what He had done was not sufficient yet.

Vyasadev also understood this so therefore near the end of the 1st canto we have the story of how Narada Muni came, and he approached Veda Vyasa, He was feeling dissatisfied in His heart, something is not here, complete. Then Narada chastised Him, he said all of this that you have written is not going to be effective in Kali yuga. People are unintelligent; they can’t read everything and come to the final conclusion using their intelligence. They will read one little section, worship Siva, Siva is Bhagavan, they’ll do that, finished. They are lazy. Or they’ll do one thing and don’t want to learn another thing. So they get stuck in one type of worship, the lower worship, in Tama guna or Raja guna, they’ll not get to Sattva guna even, what to speak of getting out of the material world and come to the conclusion that Krsna is Svayam Bhagavan, they’ll never understand this. Because you’ve written so many different words for so many different paths for different people. Kali Yuga you can not do that, people are unintelligent, short lived, lazy, confused. You write one work, one object of worship, one method only. So who is the object of worship? Krsna. He is the one you should glorify. Tell everybody in Kali Yuga worship only Krsna. Of course we’ll find that it’s not just a fanatical statement because in the Bhagavatam itself, from 1st canto onwards we’ll find a justification for worshipping Krsna because He is different from all the other forms of Godhead. Of course we have to distinguish Supreme Lord from Siva and from devatas. Then we have to distinguish Supreme Lord in all of His different forms, avatar forms etc from Krsna. So that is accomplished in the 1st canto itself where it is said;

krsnas tu bhagavan svayam
(SB 1.3.28)

Krsna is different from every other form of Bhagavan even though there are many forms of Bhagavan like Rama, Nrsimha and Hayagriva, Matsya, Kurma and Varaha, Vamana etc, many forms because the Lord is full of all shaktis, so He can expand His form into many different forms.

Still, best form, most attractive form is Krsna. He is that form which manifests all qualities into the fullest extent. Because of that He is most attractive. That’s why we call Him Krsna, most attractive. That is suitable for the people of Kali Yuga because they are most attracted to Maya, so we’ve got to get them attracted to the Supreme Lord, so we get the most attractive form of the Lord, that is Krsna. So Krsna is the suitable object of worship, no one else, not even the other forms of Bhagavan, the Vishnu forms, the other avatar forms, only Krsna. So this is the advice that Narada Muni gave to Veda Vyasa.

Now the good fortune, of course is that Krsna had just appeared. So His pastimes were in every ones mind at that time. So that is the good fortune of the people of this particular Kali Yuga. They get Veda Vyasa who has recorded the pastimes, the Lila, the qualities, the form of Krsna, in the form of Bhagavatam. So Veda Vyasa took the words of Narada Muni and he revised one of the Puranas and becomes what we know as the Bhagavatam today, which Krsna is the object of worship.

Now of course what I’m talking about here is that, why do we get all these other things in here? Now we got a whole genealogy study here of producing offspring and populating the earth with progeny, what does this got to do with Krsna? So the idea is that the Bhagavatam follows a format of a Purana and this is described in the 2 nd canto and the last part of the Bhagavatam also. There are different topics that a Purana should discuss so we have Sarga and Visarga and (??? Stuti) etc, we have different topic so a Purana should cover these things. At the same time Bhagavatam also has to fulfill the order of Narada Muni to Veda Vyasa, and that is to show Krsna as the only object of worship. So Veda Vyasa very intelligently did this. He’s done both things. So we’ll see in the different cantos of Bhagavatam, he goes through all the Puranic subjects.

So we have Sarga, that is primary creation, that is Maha Vishnu glazes and prakriti becomes active and transforms into mahat tattva, ahankara and all the elements and mind etc they combine into universes, infinite number of universes and then the Lord enters. Maha Vishnu expands into Garbhodaksyi Vishnu enters there and then He sprouts a lotus from His navel and we get Brahma appearing and what does Brahma do? He begins the creation within the universe, that is the next topic, Visarga.

So what is that Visarga? That’s described here in the 4th canto. 3rd canto or 4th canto actually. 3rd canto describes the Sarga with Maha Vishnu glancing. 4th canto describes this Visarga how Brahma began to create the different living entities in all these different forms and then began to populate, of course he created the different lokas, 14 lokas and the Bhur mandala and the lower planetary systems for different living entities in different gunas. Then he began to populate the whole universe, so this whole section is describing how the universe got populated, of course he concentrates on the human forms not the animals and planets, they’re also there, but he concentrates on the human forms. So the 4th canto basically expands from Lord Brahma onwards, starting at the beginning of his day and Svayambhuva-manvantara.

We also of course have the other topics that have to be discussed so we’ll find sthiti, which means basically where the living entities get to live. The living entities with material bodies they got to support those bodies so they got to eat and breathe and whatever and do their activities and try to enjoy material objects, and they got to do it somewhere. So according to qualification the living entities are stuck in different places within the universe, that is sthiti. So that is described in the 5th canto where we have the description of the universe, all the different lokas, upper and lower and middle and all the living entities according to their karmas and desires etc get stuck in different bodies in these places and they try to enjoy. So that’s the geography of the universe. So the Supreme Lord, ultimately all this traces back to the Supreme Lord, and Brahma as the secondary creator of all of this. But the Lord even though He creates all of this for the enjoyment of the living entities because that is their desire to enjoy material objects, therefore He does this, the Lord doesn’t forget the living entities here and He tries to elevate them in different ways.

So of course we know that there are avatars coming into the material world and They help to protect the devotees, maintain the system, kill the demons who obstruct Dharma etc and He has His process which is Bhakti, embedded within the material world in the form of His name etc. So for instance in the 6 th canto we’ll find one of the topics of the story of Ajamil, how he was saved by the accidental chanting of the name of Narayan, which is astonishing because he wasn’t even a devotee but he destroyed all of his karma simply by accidentally chanting the name of Narayan. Of course he was a very sinful person and he should have got the greatest punishment from Yamaraj but because he chanted the name accidentally all karma has disappeared. That’s the mercy of the Supreme Lord, so that’s posana, the protection, how the Lord nourishes and protects the living entities. Not just the devotees, even people like Ajamil who wasn’t a devotee, he was a materialist trying to enjoy. But He tries to nourish everyone and elevate them to the process of Bhakti. That’s Posana.

The 7th canto there is the famous story there is that of Hiranyakasipu and Prahlad. Conflict between the devotees and the demons, there’s a big conflict, that is the two opposing elements within the universe that fight all the time, the demons and the devotee, which has been going on since the beginning of the day of Brahma when he created the demons and the rakshasas and he also created the devas, so there’s this continual conflict going on within the universe, they battle on all sorts of levels, upper planets, middle planets, lower planets, they’re always having these conflicts. So one of these conflicts is graphically described in the 7th canto where we have Hiranyakasipu, big demon and we have Prahlad there and Nrsimhadev coming to intervene and help His devotee. So that’s what we call uti two tendencies in the universe who are good and bad, the Lord verses the demons.

Then we have of course the continuation after Lord Brahma creates the universe and goes on like that and populates the universe, throughout the whole day he has to maintain the system of population and population control, in the sense of Dharma, maintaining the system of Dharma within the universe, he does that through Kings, lines of Kings, so we have the Manvantaras from the begin of the day of Brahma, you’ll find in the 4th canto how Svayambhuva-manu was there and he produced progeny, a whole line of Kings starts. So this is basically what is happening here, description of this line from Svayambhuva-manu coming out and after 71 Yugas cycles that’s finished, another Manu comes. So we get 71 Yuga cycles, 71 Yuga cycles throughout the day of Brahma we have 14 Manus appearing and starting lines of Kings to protect the devotees, to establish Dharma, the rules, conduct for people and even if people are in tama guna or whatever, stick them in the system and gradually elevate them upwards. So this is one of the Lords plans to accommodate all the human species and try to elevate them in the universe. So the Manvantaras, this is one discussion how throughout the day of Brahma the Manus & their decedents try to raise people from tama guna upwards until they come to sattva and then practice Bhakti.

We have of course isanukatha another, that means the stories of the Lord and His devotees within the material world, 9th canto. Then finally we have things to get out of the material world, mukti, is another topic of the Bhagavatam 11 th canto, largely discusses this, of course even impersonal mukti, some chapters are dedicated to merging in Brahmana, that’s 11th canto. Of course we have not only merging in Brahman we also have Bhagavan there also worshiping the Lord of Bhakti.

Then the 9th topic is Nirodha, destruction. The Lord creates the universe, Brahma starts the whole thing and then throughout the day of Brahma has the Manus working and they are establishing Dharma etc the people are supposed to gradually elevate themselves, then gradually take to the process of Jnana and Yoga and then Bhakti and get out of the universe and go to the spiritual world. Through out the day of Brahma and this happens everyday of Brahma for a 100 years and then finally everything disappears. That’s called nirodha, the big nirodha, the big Pralaya. Of course this is temporary the ones at the end of the day of Brahma then other things also, the final one is the big destruction at the end. So that is the 9th topic which is described in the 12th canto, four types of destruction.

Then the 10th topic is Ashraya, shelter. That which gives shelter to everything, that which is the cause of everything. So in general we can say that is the Supreme Lord, Bhagavan etc. In Bhagavatam it is not just the Supreme Lord it is Krsna. Svayam Bhagavan Krsna, He is the Supreme Ashraya. Now the problem comes how do you relate, that Krsna who is described in the 10th canto, with all these other topics here? Here we have the producing progeny etc, populating the universes, whatever which is all kind of material, whatever. We have descriptions of universes and there are planetary systems and all the creation through Maha Vishnu, how does this all relate to Krsna? Krsna is the source of everything. He has all powers, of course we talk about the sweetness of Krsna, that’s His prime quality. We see in the Nectar of Devotion there are 64 qualities of Krsna, Vishnu has 60, Krsna has 64 qualities. The 4 qualities that are special are all sweet qualities. Sweet pastime, sweet devotee, sweet form, Madhurya Rupa, sweet flute, it’s all sweetness. But when we can say that, well how can Krsna be complete because He’s sweet and all that but Vishnu’s got power, Vishnu creates universes, all this. So Vishnu is powerful, Krsna’s sweet so Krsna’s not so complete after all, Vishnu’s got all the powers.

So we may think like that but the purpose of the Bhagavatam is to show that, no, Krsna has the sweetness which nobody has, He also has power that no form of God has, not even the greatest form of Vishnu or anyone else, Krsna has the greater power. Of course it is said in the Bhagavatam itself and in other places also that when Krsna appears, because He is Svayam Bhagavan, all the other forms of the Lord merge into to Him at that time when He appears in the material world, They partake of His pastimes because He is the Supreme. So He brings everybody with Him. They are inside Him when He is performing His pastimes.

So Krsna in other words is very special. He has sweetness definitely which no other form has, sweeter form, sweeter pastimes, sweeter rasas etc but He has more power also. So we should understand that when we have the descriptions of the universe, Sarga and Visarga, and all of this ultimately we are not pointing up to Vishnu etc we are pointing up to Krsna as the ultimately powerful person within the universe, He is the one.

That is displayed very nicely in the 10th canto. For instance we have stories of Krsna in all of His sweetness especially in Vrndavan that’s where it’s most sweet. When He’s in Mathura & Dwarka then maybe He gets to show His powers. Vasudev and Devaki and the Yadavas they understand that this is the Supreme Lord, yes He is very sweet but He is also the Supreme Lord so it’s a little bit diluted there because they see He’s also got powers evidently displayed. But in Vrndavan even though He does display the powers the remarkable thing is that the sweetness covers it all up. But the powers He shows there are also highest powers.

So for instance when He was a child with Mother Yasoda, the boys, cow herd boys and Balaram and Krsna were playing but they liked to get Krsna into trouble, so they complained to Mother Yasoda that Krsna is eating dirt so now you got to chastise him, punish Him. So Mother Yasoda of course understood that yes Krsna is very uncontrolled and undisciplined and does all sorts of strange things, He gets into trouble all the time, she more or less believed the cowherd boys and Balaram, that Yes He probably is eating dirt after all. Krsna of course was in a little bit of quandary at this time, what should I do? She sees dirt in my mouth she’s going to punish me. What to do? Open my mouth, she’s going to see dirt. But because Krsna is who He is He didn’t have to do anything. Mother Yasoda said, ‘open your mouth’ and so Krsna opened His mouth. What did she see? She didn’t see dirt, she saw the whole universe, not just a little bit of dirt. Just the whole universe inside Krsna, which is completely bewildering. She was holding Krsna within her arms, one foot, two foot like this. But then she looked inside His mouth and there she saw the whole universe which is billions of miles across. She became completely bewildered, what she was seeing there. She saw the planetary system, she saw Lord Brahma there sitting on the lotus, she saw Vishnu there, everything there, all the devatas, all the rakshasas, all the planetary systems, she even saw Vrndavan there and she saw herself, looking in Krsnas mouth even. Most bewildering!

She was looking inside His mouth there and inside there she could see the universe again etc. It was completely bewildering to her. So by the inconceivable power of Krsna, without effort, He didn’t have to think, well I have to show Universal form to Mother Yasoda, He just opened His mouth and His isvarya shakti which is His servant automatically began to do things along with the lila shakti to bewilder Mother Yasoda. The idea is that within Vrndavan, within that baby Krsna we have the highest manifestation of all His powers. That He can manifest within Himself the whole universe without any effort, including Vishnu and Brahma, Siva and everybody else. The greater thing then that was that Mother Yasoda saw this, she looked at Krsna and couldn’t quite figure out what’s happening.

We know that Arjuna also saw the Universal form. When he saw the Universal form then he began to apologies to Krsna. ‘Oh please forgive me because I’ve been too friendly with You, I’ve been joking with You, eating with You, sitting on the same seat, but I understand You’re the Supreme Lord.’ Mother Yasoda didn’t do anything like that. She forgot everything, she thought this must be some sort of illusion, maybe the demons are causing some trick or something like that but definitely it’s got nothing to do with Krsna because Krsna’s my son. So the power of her love eclipsed that vision completely, made her forget it, that it had anything to do with Krsnas powers. But Krsna was able to display all of His powers. Simultaneously Mother Yasoda and everyone never believed it. So in this way the sweetness is maintained at the same time Krsna showed His power.

Even more fantastically in the Brahma-vimohana lila, there Krsna expanded Himself as all the cowherd boys because Brahma was thinking, ‘Oh this Krsna’. He understood yes Krsna’s the Supreme Lord because originally the devatas came they prayed, Kamsa was causing problems and stopping sacrifices, so you have to appear in the material world and Lord said yes I’ll appear and Krsna appeared in the prison house of Kamsa etc. So they knew, Krsna is the Supreme Lord and He has come to help the devatas etc and Brahma knew this. But when he came after Krsna had killed Agasura and Agasura got liberation and everyone was praising Him including the devatas, Brahma got a little curious, all of a sudden all this commotion, all the devatas and sages are praising Krsna. So he came down and He found Krsna out in the forest with all the cowherd boys and what were they doing? They were simply sitting down in the grass, eating. Eating lunch. Krsna had food in His right hand, food in His left hand, food in His mouth, food all over His body. He was throwing food here to the cowherd boys etc and Brahma thought how could this be the Supreme Lord? He’s not even clean. He’s just a little boy running around with food all over His body and food all over His hands, how can this be the Supreme Lord? So he wanted to test Krsna and stole all the cowherd boys and calves, apparently stuck them in a cave, he actually didn’t do that but he thought he did.

After one year he came back and then he saw Krsna was still with the cowherd boys, still playing with them and the calves are all there and he thought how can this be? He went to the cave and saw the cowherd boys and calves were all there sleeping in the cave and he looked up and saw they are playing with Krsna and he thought well who are the real ones? He got bewildered. Then Krsna showed him each calf and cowherd boy which numbered in the millions or billions. It is said that when Krsna goes out with the calves, like billions of calves and billions of cowherd boys, how to accommodate them all in Vrndavan is Krsnas power, anyway billions of them were there and Brahma looked at them and suddenly they all became Vishnu forms and each Vishnu form was in charge of a universe and in that universe all the devatas were there, planetary systems were there etc. All the rakshashas and the trees, the planets and the rivers everything, and there were million and millions of these forms of Vishnu who were creators of universe and suddenly they all disappeared and only Krsna was there. Krsna with food in His hand. So in this way Brahma understood this little boy who is so innocent and doesn’t look like He’s the Supreme Lord actually is the source of billions of Vishnu forms who create billions of universes.

So Krsna’s all powerful. He is more powerful then all the Vishnu forms and all the avatar forms etc and at the same time He is simply walking in the fields of Vrndavan, eating His curd rice and joking with the cowherd boys etc. The rasa with the cowherd boys and others go on as if He’s not God and at the same time to Lord Brahma He can display how He is the source of everything Svayam Bhagavan.

So therefore Krsna has all powers, all the powers of all the other forms of the Lord are within Krsna and instantaneously without any effort He can show these forms if He wants to, as He did to Brahma and He can make them disappear immediately.

But of course greater than all this power is that sweetness, so therefore the 4 qualities are the outstanding feature of Krsna so those are mentioned in the Nectar of Devotion. These sweet things are the highest attraction. So therefore in Vrndavan though He can show and does show His great powers, greater than any of the other forms, the people of Vrndavan are not interested in these things at all, they are completely attached to Krsna because Mother Yasoda, Nanda say Krsna is my son, cowherd boys say Krsna’s my friend, and the Gopis of course say Krsna is my lover. So they are completely attached to Krsna in all of its sweetness therefore all of this greatness become eclipsed. But never the less we should never forget that Krsna also has all greatness, all isvarya, all powers within Him at the same time. So He is more complete in manifestation of powers then any other form but more attractive to the people of Vrndavan is His great sweetness and the other forms of the Supreme Lord don’t manifest that sweetness to a high degree at all. So for that reason Krsna is Svayam Bhagavan. That of course is very concisely described in the 10 th canto of Bhagavatam where we have Krsnas qualities, powers, sweetness manifest through the expert descriptions of Veda Vyasa as recited by Sukadev Goswami and the sweetness of his recitation, through his poetry etc, describing His lilas.

Therefore Krsna is the ultimate form of the Supreme Lord and that’s represented in the 10 th canto which is the Ashraya. All these other topics, the other 9 topics of the Bhagavatam, all the other cantos out of the 12 cantos, those other 11 cantos are actually pointing towards Svayam Bhagavan ultimately. So that’s how we should understand all these different stories and things in the Bhagavatam as all ultimately connected directly or indirectly back to glorification of Krsna as the sweetest, the most powerful form of the Lord and the one that the people of Kali Yuga should worship, through the process of Bhakti.

So that is the message that Veda Vyasa was commanded to put into the Bhagavatam by Narada Muni.

The only other point I want to mention here is that, yes we have the Bhagavatam and it points to Krsna, unfortunately, maybe fortunately or unfortunately, scripture is such that everything is not stated directly and even if you read the Bhagavatam you can get bewildered. In fact Visvanath Cakravarti says that Bhagavatam is like Mohini avatar. Mohini of course means bewildering, so She is a special avatar who bewildered the demons. How did She bewilder them? She came and She stole the nectar from them. They were so enamored by Her beauty that they thought we will give Her the nectar and She will give it back to us. Mohini said give me the nectar and they said yes, yes, yes She is so wonderful, She likes us so much, we’ll please Her and give Her the nectar and they got bewildered, Mohini took the nectar and gave it to the devatas to their great disappointment. So Bhagavatam is like Mohini. It hides the nectar from the demons and the materialists and it gives it to the devotees.

So what this means is that the Bhagavatam sometimes will have stories which may look materialistic or whatever, in glorification of Karma Kanda, Dharma or Jnana or Yoga etc.

For instance in the story of when Uddhava comes back with a message to the Gopis, they were feeling such separation Krsna thought I’ll send Uddhava back as he’s non different from Me, so He sent Him back with a message and the Gopis heard the message, if you look closely at the message what is Krsnas message? Mediate on Paramatma like a yogi. So yogis can feel very good, look higher then Bhakti is Yoga.

When later on the Gopis and Krsna met at Kuruksetra, Krsna met them and He gave them personal instruction and what does He say there? ‘We have to separate again because I have to kill some demons so you go to Vrndavan, don’t be worried because actually I’m everywhere as Brahman, just like ether is spread everywhere so I’m spread everywhere throughout the whole universe, so meditate like that and you’ll be satisfied’. The brahmavadis, the mayavadis say, see Jnana is higher than Bhakti, the Gopis are advised by Krsna to do Jnana and merge into Brahmana.

So yes it looks like that, but it’s not true because it contradicts the whole thesis of the Bhagavatam, that you can only understand Krsna by Bhakti, not by Jnana or Yoga. So why is it like this? Why is it said like this? Mohini! Bhagavatam hides itself from the demons and they can think anything they want. It’s for the devotees. The devotee will understand, that this is contradictory, Krsna cannot mean this become a yogi or a brahmavadi to the Gopis. Sure enough our acaryas will explain this is not true, and therefore there is another meaning behind this, so they explain in terms of prakat, aprakat pastimes the visible pastimes and invisible pastimes. Ultimately the Gopis are eternally united with Krsna in the spiritual world in the aprakat pastimes and therefore they shouldn’t worry that they are temporarily separated from Him.

In other words there are places where one can become confused and therefore to help us the acaryas have explained very nicely, this is a contradiction it cannot be so. How they do that? Because they go through the Bhagavatam and they see what is the may purpose of the Bhagavatam. What is the main statement at the beginning of Bhagavatam. What is the ending statement of the Bhagavatam. What is the principle and then there is contradictions solve them somehow or other, so that’s what they do. So therefore we take the Bhagavatam but we also have to take the meaning according to the acaryas. We can’t just take Bhagavatam because we’ll become completely bewildered also even though it’s the highest literature and meant for the people of Kali yuga. Still we go through our Parampara. We take the commentaries, the explanations of our acaryas so we don’t become bewildered like the other people. So therefore we have that mercy of the acaryas to explain to us the proper meaning of Bhagavatam so there is no contradiction, contradiction is not contradiction. That is one point.

The other point is that, even with that we also understand that it is said that if we take Hari katha which is amrita from the mouth of an avaisnava it’s no longer amrita, it’s poison. So even Bhagavatam become poison when it comes out of the wrong mouth. Has to come from the devotees. So we have the Bhagavatam, we have the commentaries, let it come from the mouth of devotees, those who really understand the purport of the Bhagavatam, what Vyasa, Suka and the acaryas are saying. Those people who have conviction that Krsna is Svayam Bhagavan and the process is Bhakti and the goal is Prema. Those persons should recite the Bhagavatam, then it become nectar. When a person without that faith does it, it becomes poison, same scripture.

So therefore we have the Parampara, we have the scripture and then we have the devotees to communicate the message intact, so this is how the Parampara goes on, it is not an abstract system it’s made of people, devotees, one after the other who pass it on throughout history, up to the present and into the future. So it is the responsibility of the devotees to get the proper understanding according to our commentaries of the acaryas and also communicate that to the people with great devotion, that’s the responsibility. Then we have the successful communication of the message of scripture.

So in this way the Supreme Lord is capable of being described by words but ultimately not the Vedas, not the Puranas other works but Bhagavatam becomes the main source of Tattva for us, for the Gaudiya. Because it indicates Krsna as that Supreme Entity of worship, it indicates the process of Bhakti, it indicates the goal for us that’s Krsna Prema.

That’s why we study Bhagavatam everyday, not Vedas, or Upanishads or any other work. So everyday we have to study Bhagavatam to get that understanding of who is Krsna. So though these stories may look a little indirect ultimately that’s kind of the point to relate everything in the material world to Krsna. In the 10 th chapter of Bhagavad Gita we have the vibhutis of the Lord, a description of how you can see the Lord in the material world, the Himalayas or the Ganga or the makara or the lion are all representing Krsna in this material world. So for people who are less advanced they start with the material world and gradually work there way up to understand who is Krsna. Therefore we have for people a whole creation and all the descriptions of all these different things but through that we are trying to understand the will of Krsna and how Krsna is that Supreme, sweet, most attractive form of the Supreme Lord.

It’s over time.
Hare Krsna.
[END]

Helpful reference:

(1) Sarga: the first creation by Visnu, the bringing forth of the five gross material elements, the five objects of sense perception, the ten senses, the mind, the intelligence, the false ego and the total material energy, or universal form.

(2) Visarga: the secondary creation, or the work of Brahma in producing the moving and unmoving bodies in the universe (brahmanda).

(3) Sthana: the maintenance of the universe by the Personality of Godhead, Visnu. Visnu's function is more important and His glory greater than Brahma's and Lord Siva's, for although Brahma is the creator and Lord Siva the destroyer, Visnu is the maintainer.

(4) Posana: special care and protection for devotees by the Lord. As a king maintains his kingdom and subjects but nevertheless gives special attention to the members of his family, so the Personality of Godhead gives special care to His devotees who are souls completely surrendered to Him.

(5) Uti: the urge for creation, or initiative power, that is the cause of all inventions, according to the necessities of time, space and objects.

(6) Manv-antara: The periods controlled by the Manus, who teach regulative principles for living beings who desire to achieve perfection in human life. The rules of Manu, as described in the Manu-samhita, guide the way to such perfection.

(7) Isanukatha: scriptural information regarding the Personality of Godhead, His incarnations on earth and the activities of His devotees. Scriptures dealing with these subjects are essential for progressive human life.

(8) Nirodha: the winding up of all energies employed in creation. Such potencies are emanations from the Personality of Godhead who eternally lies in the Karana Ocean. The cosmic creations, manifested with His breath, are again dissolved in due course.

(9) Mukti: liberation of the conditioned souls encaged by the gross and subtle coverings of body and mind. When freed from all material affection, the soul, giving up the gross and subtle material bodies, can attain the spiritual sky in his original spiritual body and engage in transcendental loving service to the Lord in Vaikunthaloka or Krsnaloka. When the soul is situated in his original constitutional position of existence, he is said to be liberated. It is possible to engage in transcendental loving service to the Lord and become jivan-mukta, a liberated soul, even while in the material body.

(10) Asraya: The Transcendence, the summum bonum, from whom everything emanates, upon whom everything rests, and in whom everything merges after annihilation. He is the source and support of all. The asraya is also called the Supreme Brahman, as in the Vedanta-sutra (athato brahma jijnasa, janmady asya yatah [SB 1.1.1]). Srimad-Bhagavatam especially describes this Supreme Brahman as the asraya. Sri Krsna is this asraya, and therefore the greatest necessity of life is to study the science of Krsna.

>>> Ref. VedaBase => Adi 2.91–92
Listen Srimad Bhagavatam Audio Lecture of Bhanu Swami
- Transcribed by Varsana Mataji, UK

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Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis,
Please accept my humble obeisances! All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev!

The following is a transcription of the glorification and remembrance of HH Mahavishnu Goswami Maharaj, by HG Devakinandan prabhuji on the occasion of disappearance day on 25th January, 2013 (English calendar date) in ISKCON Sri Radha-Gopinath Mandir, Chowpatty.

"The disappearance day of a Vaishnava is considered to be more glorious than his appearance. We may not know how great a Vaishnava is when he is born, because very often we do not understand who he is until he manifests his greatness later. But by the time a great Vaishnava winds up his pastimes, everyone can come to understand his glories. That is why for Vaishnavas, whether it is tithi or calendar day, disappearance day is considered to be very important. The other thing which is also very important for us to remember is that, for the Vaishnavas, frankly speaking, Vaishnavas have no beginning and no end because Vaishnavas are non-different from the sound incarnation that they manifest on the platform of Srimad Bhagavatam. Because a Vaishnava is always connected to Srimad Bhagavatam, he continues to eternally live with Srimad Bhagavatam. Srimad Bhagavatam verse 2.3.12 affirms

aayur harati vai pumsaam
udyann astam ca yann asau
tasyarte yat-kshano nita
uttama-shloka-vaartayaa

"Both by rising and by setting, the sun decreases the duration of life of everyone, except one who utilizes the time by discussing topics of the all-good Personality of Godhead."

The sun may set on the body of a Vaishnava, but it never sets on his teachings and instructions. So in that way, Maharaj taught to us as disciples, that as long as we are in the platform of Srimad Bhagavatam, we will never lose the connection to the acharyas and spiritual masters.

Maharaj spent a large part of his final days in Nasik. Nasik was very dear to Maharaj because most of his childhood was spent in Nasik. There was a peaceful house and there he was spending time daily studying Srimad Bhagavatam. Towards the end, it became very difficult for him to speak and he would not speak. For long hours he would lie down on the bed, but he gave us instructions to keep chanting the verse of Srimad Bhagavatam. Sometimes, late in the night, I would think that Maharaj was taking rest and I would start a verse and finish it and would look at Maharaj. Maharaj looked like he was sleeping. I remember coming to the verse SB 2.3.17 and when I chanted that verse and when I was going to finish, I started coughing and just at the point when I started coughing, when I stopped the verse, Maharaj opened his eyes out of nowhere and he completed the verse for me and at that point, I realized that all this time when I was chanting, Maharaj had actually been hearing and all this time I was under the false impression that I was chanting and my spiritual master was taking solace in my wonderful chanting. He finished the verse for me and he said, "Devaki, you should look at the last few lines of this purport" and then he became silent again. For a while I thought, did I dream all this? Because it was very late in the night and Maharaj had spoken when he had not spoken for days. All of a sudden he was bright and alive and he was sharp on the point with Srimad Bhagavatam and I realized that he had not missed a single word that we were chanting and that is when I read the last line of the purport, "A devotee of the Lord is guaranteed eternal life. A devotee's old age or disease in the present life is but an impetus to such guaranteed eternal life."

The word "impetus", Maharaj taught us has another synonym to it. Maharaj instructed us that in order to get impetus from Krishna, we must become inspired by Krishna. Maharaj taught us there is only one verse in the entire Srimad Bhagavatam that speaks about the inspiration Krishna gives us. Maharaj lived that verse. In Srimad Bhagavatam verse 3.29.39, Kapila deva says to Devahuti mata,

na caasya kascid dayito
na dveshyo na ca baandhavah
aavishaty apramatto 'sau
pramattam janam anta-krt

"No one is dear to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, nor is anyone His enemy or friend. But He gives inspiration to those who have not forgotten Him and destroys those who have."

When Maharaj was speaking to us in the Bhakti Vedanta hospital, many times he quoted this verse and said that as long as we are trying to remember Krishna, we will always have the inspiration to remember Krishna. Maharaj said, "Do not search for inspiration in the sky, when it is very much on the ground. Inspiration is not something when your hair stands on end and for a moment you feel like jumping high in kirtan. Inspiration is actually coming on the platform of serious study of Srimad Bhagavatam. If you bury your head in Bhagavatam, then naturally Krishna gives you the impetus to become inspired on the basis of Bhagavatam. By remembrance of Krishna we are inspired. By forgetfulness of Krishna we will have to die." The Vaishnavas never die because they continue living on the basis of instructions and Srimad Bhagavatam.

When Maharaj had a stroke in 2000, doctors told us that the chances of his pulling through is very slim and at that point I asked Maharaj, "Maharaj, what happens if you leave? How will I be able to contact and speak to you?" Maharaj made a very interesting point. He said, "Devaki, just remember one thing. This material body has no value. It only has value as long as it is dragged to the pages of Srimad Bhagavatam. In fact, once the material body is cast away, the spiritual master's connection to the disciple is even stronger than before. Where previously we had to pick up the phone and dial Rajkot/Dwaraka, now you do not even have to pick up the phone. You just have to study Srimad Bhagavatam and be sincere in your sadhana and then our connection would become instant because now there is no more body between us." This gave me a glimpse and understanding that disappearance is actually an impetus for us to continue to be inspired by the instructions of spiritual master."

Thank you very much
Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev
Vaijayanti Mala Devi Dasi,
Abu dhabi

In Chapultepec Park Srila Prabhupada liked to walk on the narrow Road of the Philosophers. The early mornings were cold, and he wore his long saffron coat with hood. The simple canvas shoes he wore would become wet from the dew on the grass. His rapid pace made his younger disciples hustle to keep up. Often Prabhupada's words would go untranslated, and the Mexican boys could catch only a phrase or two. But they were happy to be with their spiritual master. He was interested in the many varieties of trees and sometimes asked about them. Once, stopping before a large dead tree, he examined it carefully.

"What is the difference between this dead tree and the others?" he asked. One disciple replied, "This tree is dead because its time is over."

"No," Prabhupada said and tapped his cane on the ground.

Another devotee ventured, "This tree has a certain karma different from the others."

"No," Prabhupada again tapped his cane on the ground. "The difference is that there is not a soul in this tree."

While walking among the trees in Chapultepec Park, Prabhupada spotted a certain eucalyptus twig above his head. He stopped. From as early as 1967 in San Francisco, he had used the twigs of eucalyptus trees as toothbrushes, a Western substitute for the antiseptic neem twigs of India.

Ksiti-mohana: Prabhupada pointed to the tree and told Hrdayananda Maharaja, "I want that stick." It was a very small one. Hrdayananda Maharaja heard Prabhupada. He said, "Prabhupada wants that. Come on, bring it down, bring it down." He wanted to give it to Prabhupada. So we made a pyramid of men, with three men on the bottom then two men on top of them, and one skinny devotee climbed on top. When the devotee stood and reached up, he was still about fifty centimeters short. But when he made an effort to reach it, the whole pyramid fell to the ground. Prabhupada was watching them, smiling and laughing. Again they made the pyramid bigger, and the devotee tried to reach it again, but again they fell down. Then more devotees tried. They became wet because of the grass, and Hrdayananda Maharaja was very excited, saying, "Come on, Prabhupada wants that. Prabhupada wants that. Keep moving." Prabhupada was smiling at the fun, sometimes watching the twig and sometimes watching the devotees. A third time they tried the pyramid, and it fell down. But the fourth time it worked, and the devotee stood up and broke the twig from the tree, He gave it to Hrdayananda Maharaja, who gave it to Prabhupada, Prabhupada held it in his hand, inspected it for a minute, and then threw it away.

- From "Prabhupada-lila" by HH Satsvarupa dasa Goswami

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yad yuyam pitur adesam
agrahishta mudanvitah
atho va usati kirtir
lokan anu bhavishyati

Because you have with pleasure accepted within your hearts the orders of your father and have executed those orders very faithfully, your attractive qualities will be celebrated all over the world.

Purport: Since every living entity is part and parcel of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he has small independence. Sometimes unintelligent men ask why one is put into a miserable condition, even though everyone is under the control of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Because of his minute independence, the living entity can obey or disobey the orders of the Supreme Lord. If he obeys the Supreme Lord's orders, he becomes happy. If he does not, he becomes unhappy. Therefore the living entity creates his own happiness or unhappiness. The Supreme Lord does not enforce these on anyone. The Supreme Lord praised the Pracetas because they all faithfully obeyed the orders of their father. The Lord therefore blessed the sons of King Pracinabarhisat because they obeyed their father's orders. (end)

HH Prahladananda Swami: I am very happy to be here and have the opportunity to say something as an aspiring servant of Srila Prabhupada so that perhaps I myself and others may more deeply appreciate Srila Prabhupada, Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu's mission, and the goal of life to become fully Krishna conscious.

We hear such things such as orders of the father. Lord Rshabhdeva has also talked about orders of the father and many other orders. He has said,

gurur na sa syat sva-jano na sa syat
pita na sa syaj janani na sa syat
daivam na tat syan na patis ca sa syan
na mocayed yah samupeta-mrityum
(SB 5.5.18)

That one should not become a father, one should not become a mother, one should not become a guru, one should not become a husband, one should not become a worshipable demigod and one should not become a father and mother unless one is prepared to deliver one's disciples or followers from the path of repeated birth and death.

The whole goal of everything we are doing or the whole goal of whatever responsibilities we have is to help our dependents understand that they are dasa dasa anudasa, that all of us should be the servants of the servants of the servants of the servant of Krishna. That mood has been fully manifested in this world in this dark age of Kali by His Divine Grace A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada. And for that reason he has tried to inspire by his example by his instructions that same desire within all of us to simply convince people that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Those who have not followed that path although they may be mother, for instance Bharat Maharaj his mother tried to dissuade him or tried to encourage him to take over the position of Lord Ramachandra. But he rejected his mother because of that. Sukracarya he was acting as the spiritual master but he was not encouraging Bali Maharaj to surrender to Krishna to Lord Vamanadeva and therefore Lord Vamanadeva did not obey him. Similarly we have those who have been fathers, mothers, demigods, worshipable spiritual masters, husbands, but unless they try to instruct their followers, their disciples, their dependents, on how to surrender to Krishna then it is not very fruitful to follow their instructions. And what are those instructions ultimately meant for?

tesam satata-yuktanam bhajatam priti-purvakam
dadami buddhi-yogam tam yena mam upayanti te
(BG 10.10)

As it says here this very verse priti purvakam not only to follow the instructions but to follow them with great pleasure and enthusiasm. What is the definition of enthusiasm? Endeavors executed with intelligence in Krishna consciousness is called enthusiasm. And what is that endeavor? That actually everything in this material world is meant for the service of Krishna, everything is meant for Krishna's pleasure. That is actually the sankirtana movement. And what is that pleasure? Krishna says

aham sarvasya prabhavo mattah sarvam pravartate
iti matva bhajante mam budha bhava-samanvitah
(BG 10.8)

How can you possibly conceive of who is actually Krishna? How can you imagine someone with unlimited beauty, unlimited strength, unlimited fame, unlimited wealth, unlimited renunciation? But we can hear about Him. We can hear about the pastimes of Caitanya Mahaprabhu and understand something about the Supreme Lord's unlimited renunciation. You can hear Krishna's pastimes in Vrindavana how the lakes, the trees, the cows the deer the Gopis everyone and everything was attracted to Krishna. We can hear Bhagavad-gita and learn about Krishna's unlimited knowledge.

mac-citta mad-gata-prana bodhayantah parasparam
kathayantas ca mam nityam tushyanti ca ramanti ca
(BG 10.9)

So from the very beginning to the very perfectional level it is the same process. What is that process? Simply try understand about Krishna. Try to accept that He actually is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the goal of life is to hear from Krishna and from His representatives.

Srila Prabhupada has given us a big, big mission, that's called the sankirtana movement. Krishna is not present here but He came five hundred years ago as Caitanya Mahaprabhu. So five hundred years ago Caitanya Mahaprabhu showed us how to manifest the rasa dance in this world, how to manifest, practically speaking, Krishna's pastimes in this world of Kaliyuga.

There is absolutely no difference between the rasa dance and the sankirtana movement. When the devotees who are chanting and dancing in ecstasy they are actually engaged in the rasa dance with Krishna. When they are distributing books to the conditioned souls they are actually acting in the same mood as the Gopis trying to bring other Krishna's servants to please Krishna. When the devotees are taking prasadam it is equally good as if we were in Vrindavana, as if our consciousness it there with Caitanya Mahaprabhu in Vrindavana.

It is equally as good depending upon our consciousness so therefore in the beginning although we may be engaged in these activities still there is tusyanti there is satisfaction, we are doing the right thing. We are actually engaged in Krishna's pastimes we are actually with Krishna and His devotees and then as we actually gradually accept this process, as we gradually accept that we are not only Krishna's servant but we are actually the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of Krishna.

yare dekha, tare kaha 'krishna-upadesa
amara ajnaya guru hana tara'ei desa
(CC Madhya 7.128)

That Krishna He wants every one of us to go back to the spiritual world to be with Him. And He wants each one of us to become an instrument in that service in that mission. We may have a book distributor who goes out not very much sure exactly what they are doing, people are telling them to get a job, go home. Like Narada Muni told Dhruva Maharaj 'Go home.' Dhruva Maharaj did not listen. If the book distributor goes out stays there with determination, suffers

tat te 'nukampam su-samiksamano
bhunjana evatma-krtam vipakam
(BG 10.14.8)

Why do we suffer? We are only suffering because we don't know understand that everyone is Krishna's eternal servant. Not a blade of grass is moving in this world without Krishna's desire. So here is a question. We are there on book distribution, we are there preaching, we are there doing service; why do we find ourselves in so much difficulties at times? What is the ultimate difficulty?

Prahlada Maharaja says that there is no actually enemy in this world except for the uncontrolled mind. "For those who can see Me everywhere and can see everything in Me I am never lost to him nor is he ever lost to Me." So why don't we see Krishna everywhere? Why do we not see everything in Krishna? Why are we forgetful? So Krishna says is it My fault? Many people blame Krishna.

One devotee approached Prabhupada and said "Prabhupada, everyone is criticizing me." Prabhupada said, "Well they criticized Caitanya Mahaprabhu also." The devotee said, "You don't understand they are criticizing me." Prabhupada said, "No they also criticized Caitanya Mahaprabu." He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and still they are criticizing Him. God comes and many people all they do is criticize Him calling Him a thief, calling Him a debauchee, calling Him a killer, murderer.

As I said last year He was born in a jail, His parents were criminals, He fled, He grew up and because of that criminal tendency His nurse (Putana) came and He killed her. (laughter) A long list of the problems He caused to the other living entities. He became a thief at an early age and collected a mafia in Vrindavana. (laughter) Finally the king called Him trying to bring justice to the kingdom but He continued His line of killing. An elephant was sent to greet Him, killing wrestlers and then killing the king himself and then whole list of things. One can criticize Krsna book if you have that attitude. But Krishna says

nadatte kasyacit papam na caiva sukrtam vibhuh
(BG 5.15)

I am actually not responsible. I am simply fulfilling whatever desires the conditioned soul has. I am sitting there, yes, I am watching it but I am sitting there in the heart watching everything that's going on but I am sitting as a neutral.

Now what is actually our problem. Due to the fact that since time immemorial we have tried to imitate Krishna therefore so many desires have been accumulated and they are passing through our minds and along with those desires as they cover our consciousness, they cover our intelligence also. Therefore we don't see things properly, we don't understand things properly, we don't feel things properly and therefore we don't do things properly.

And on top of that we think we are perfect, powerful, happy. "I have so many assets, I have so many things going for me and anyone who criticizes me that's because they are envious. And I never reveal my glories to the envious. (laughter) They are covered by my enviousness (?) or Krishna covers them because it is a partnership between me and Him."

No, in the beginning we have to understand what are the desires. What are the desires in Krishna consciousness and what are the other desires, spiritual desires, the desires coming from Krishna, the desires coming from Krishna through His line of disciplic succession. If we can understand those desires and if we can understand the other desires then we can actually orient ourselves properly.

And what is the symptoms of proper orientation? That automatically causes knowledge, and detachment will develop. And what is that knowledge? In the beginning it is the realization "why do I have to force my will on this world? Yes I see things in a certain way, yes I have a certain conviction, yes I have certain feelings but am I really the Absolute who actually knows everything perfectly? Should I actually take the Supersoul's place because He is asleep? I see exactly what should go on, I know within my heart I am good person and I really have the best interest of everyone but the problem is they don't listen to me. They don't recognize me, if they'd only follow my instructions everything would be perfect."

Are we really on that platform that our will should become supreme, that we should impose our will on other people or even other devotees? Or are we also subjected to the modes of material nature and although we may understand something about Krishna consciousness, although we may have some realizations that we want to share with others, although we may have some desire to help the the conditioned souls can come back to the spiritual world, but can we do that independently? Can we do that with full conviction, that I am better than everyone else? Or do we have to work cooperatively in the sankirtana movement?

So therefore Krishna came, He displayed His pastimes in this world, He wants His pastimes to be all over the world not only in Vrindavana. He wants Vrindavana everywhere. And therefore Caitanya Mahaprabhu came five hundred years ago to show how to bring Vrindavana everywhere. Although He did not travel outside of India but Sri Advaita Acarya said, "My dear Caitanya Mahaprabhu wherever You are that's Vrindavana." So our business is to bring Caitanya Mahaprabhu everywhere.

But who actually brought Caitanya Mahabrabhu everwhere? That's Srila Prabhupada! Our Srila Prabhupada! He went all over the world and he brought Caitanya Mahaprabhu everywhere. So if we want to follow Krishna's orders and if we want to follow Caitanya Mahaprabhu's orders, then we have to follow Prabhupada's example through Prabhupada's orders how to spread Krishna consciousness everywhere.

And what is that method he gave us and what is he trying to achieve? He is trying to simply convince people that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, that Krishna is the owner of everything. Krishna, whether you say Krishna or God or Jehovah or Allah, Krishna is the owner of everything in this world and everything is meant for His pleasure. And He is actually the well-wisher and friend of everyone.

So what are the weapons that Prabhupada gave us? First of all Prabhupada formed a society- The International Society of Krishna Consciousness. And he promised that he will be in the society for at least as long as there are as followers. Prabhupada said 'I will live in my books and my followers will live with me.'

He will live in his instructions and those who follow his instructions will live with Prabhupada. But Prabhupada is not alone just like a king is not alone. He is with all his confidential servants and associates. So Prabhupada is not living alone, he is also living with his confidential servants ands associates. If we want to serve Srila Prabhupada then we will also have to please them. Even we may think they are not elevated, as elevated as Srila Prabhupada, but Prabhupada used to say "you love me you love my dog". Not that his servants arei anyhow we'd love to become Prabhupada's dog. Even Krishna has a dog in Goloka Vrindavana.

So we have to become servant and what is the mission? How to convince people that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. What did Prabhupada stress above everything else? Not only chanting Hare Krishna as part of our sadhana. That he wanted us to do as a basic principle and then become qualified to participate in the mission of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. And what is that mission? Prabhupada said it is a cultural revolution. It's a cultural revolution, a crusade. What kind of crusade? Of dioramas, drama or music or concerts, everything and everyone utilizing their talents in the service of Krishna. See every opportunity to utilize all his energy to dovetail it in the sankirtana movement, in the chanting the Holy names.

So when we are chanting Hare Krishna it is not an ordinary chanting of Hare Krishna. We are not only eventually going to remember Krishna and Srimati Radharani when we are chanting Hare Krishna, but we are also going to remember Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His pastimes. And not only are we going to remember Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His pastimes but eventually we are also going to remember Srila Prabhupada and his pastimes.

We are calling out to Lord Krishna to engage us in His loving service, we are calling out to Srimati Radharani to engage us in Her loving service, but that loving service is the sankirtana movement as brought to us by Srila Prabhupada. That is the ISKCON movement, that we are calling out to Krishna and Srimati Radharani to not only engage in the society but engage in a loving way, in a loving reciprocation with our Godbrothers, Godsisters, Godnephews, with everyone in this movement, to engage in our loving service to Srila Prabhupada and engage in a loving way with all the devotees who are in different levels of spiritual attainment.

To learn that knowledge as to how to follow Srila Prabhupada's instructions so that we learn how to cooperate in a unified way, appreciate the qualities of the devotees. Develop love for them and appreciation, cooperation so we get the strength, the determination, the conviction, and the vision how to convince the others who are innocent that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Utilize everyone's talent whoever they may be to join people together within the society first with love and devotion and then the innocent.

In that way not only unite our society with love and affection all the members, to learn the art of loving exchanges within our society but then to extend it to all the Gaudiyas to unite them together all with this focus that Krishna is God. We can put aside our differences but we must conquer the world for Krishna. That's the vision that Srila Prabhuapda had. Forget about all these other things but conquer the world for Krishna then you can fight afterwards if you want to.

Now why just unite the Gaudiyas, unite all the Hindus together, unite anyone who believes in Krishna. Let them join the revolution, the cultural conquest. And why just the Hindus, anyone who isi let them be convinced that there is a God and we should utilize our energies to please Him to glorify Him. So we can unite together in that principle then it is much easier to put aside our differences. Then Srila Prabhupada will be pleased. He will reveal to us all our great acaryas and their mission. Our great acaryas will introduce us to the six Goswamis. The six Goswamis will introduce us to the Panca tattva. The Panca tattva will introduce us specifically to Caitanya Mahaprabhu who is feeling separation from Radha and Krishna in Vrindavana.

And if we fully engage our energies with as it says here with great pleasure and with great faith, with great determination, with great steadiness, the more we do that then the more we can enter Vrindavana with the ecstatic feelings of separation as given to us by Caitanya Mahaprabhu His exalted followers such as Srila Prabhupada and His faithful followers too.

Thank you very much! Srila Prabhupada ki jai! Are there any questions?

Devotee: Good qualities of the Practeas how exalted they were, gentle and they followed the order of their father. But coming out of the water the first thing they did was they destroyed all the trees growing out there. They seemed to be very angry, their frustration, their mystic power of some kind. So much so that.. stop. So I am always confused about the praising of their good qualities and this destruction of the trees. Is that a manifestation of some kind of good quality, I don't understand why the anger and burning of trees.

HH Prahladananda Swami: As far as I can remember the trees were interfering with the ability of the residents to get proper nourishment. So it became a question of priority - to protect the citizens or to protect the trees. The Pracetas as far as I remember they decided to protect the citizens. So sometimes someone has to make priority. It's not that the Pracetas came out of the water and thought well now we have got we wanted after so many years. .. it was there duty. And they performed it. We don't know, it is not explained their consciousness but we understand they are pure devotees and therefore their consciousness was not out of envy or . . . but was their duty if not out of service.

Devotee: You mentioned the example of Dhruva Maharaja who rejected the order of the spiritual master to go home? Yet even he did and even though his motivation was wrong to be bigger than Brahma he attained ultimate spiritual perfection. Can you comment please?

HH Prahladananda Swami: I didn't mention Dhruva Maharaj. I mentioned only Bharat Maharaj and Bali Maharaj. Dhruva Maharaj is a little different. Narada Muni appeared there and Dhruva Maharaj said you know I want a kingdom greater than my great grandfather.

And Narada Muni to test him said why don't you go home? You are too young. When you get older you can come back and then you can actually take up self realization, but Dhruva Maharaj said no I am going to stay here, if anyone wants to go home you go home, I'll stay here. But that was just testing his disciple.

Devotee: Hare Krishna Maharaj: if you can reconcile. I just came from Kenya from interfaith conferences and lead marches for chanting Hare Krishnaiwe were telling people they should get along and we asked them to forgive each other. Why do we sometimes have a hard time forgiving factions of devoteesinothing even close to that.

HH Prahladananda Swami: Devotional service is a gradual process. I remember when I first joined we had two brothers in the movement they used to fight quite a bit. And I used to go, at that time they were living in 61 Second Avenue. I was wondering about that till Prabhupada said one day that they are just like two pups in the same litter fighting with each other. So our fighting is a little different. Even in fourth canto, I think Bhaktivaibhava Maharaj read that verse in his class, it says that our fighting is not ordinary fighting sometimes if the basis is to please Krishna. There may be disagreements at times. We may disagree how to please Krishna but because Krishna is the basis, the center, therefore it is not ordinary fighting, it is actually spiritual. If we are fighting out of envy then Krishna will help us or maya will help us. But these are not ordinary, devotees activities.

Devotee: Hare Krishna Maharaj: what should be our attitude when we are the object of criticism?

HH Prahladananda Swami: Who are 'we'? Well if you know who you are and the person is so elevated that he can actually criticize you, who you really are, then it will be quite blissful. Now if you take off your shirt and everyone who walks by says Bad shirt! Bad shirt! Will you fell offended?

So when people criticize us who are they actually criticizing? Do they actually know who we are? Do we know who we are? So then if they actually, they are criticizing our shirt or our dress whatever we have on why should we take it seriously? And if we take it seriously that's what is serious, that's the problem. Otherwise there is no problem, so then we should understand we have a problem. ?? And they are very kind to us because they are pointing out so if we can tolerate that, we can understand that properly, then they are helping us overcome birth and death. Because at the time of death when maya comes and drags this body, drag us out of the body, we are going to have to have a lot of tolerance to remember Krishna at that time.

So these people are being merciful to me they are showing me what I have to work on and if I work on that sincerely they become my guru. They have taught me how to overcome birth and death. Who is going to say oh! Such a good body I have, look at my blood and skin and whatever else I have, how can I possibly not love it? If I peel the skin that one inch then you will appreciate it.

What we are disturbed about is not that they are attacking our body not that they are attacking our appearance, not that they are attacking our feelings, but they are attacking our false ego, they are attacking my idea that I am something special that everyone should love me.

Once we feel that then it becomes intolerable. We want to be loved and appreciated Maybe we should learn from them, maybe because after all we dasa dasa anudasa. Especially if it is a devotee maybe it is something we can correct so that they will actually develop some love and appreciation from us. And we will be able to serve them better.

So it's an opportunity to hear from them to learn from them how we can act in a way that we can serve them better. And if we can serve them better and they love and appreciate us more then we'll actually be doing our duty to them. Not us, Nimitta matra bhava sabhysachin, that we can act as instruments, surrender more that they will love and appreciate Krishna more. Because if we become an instrument of Krishna what they will actually see, what they will actually love, what they will actually appreciate, is not ourselves, its actually Krishna.

Thank you very much! Grantharaj Srimad Bhagavatam ki jai! Srila Prabhupada ki jai! Gaura Premanande Hari Hari Bol!

Listen Srimad Bhagavatam Audio Lecture of Prahladananda Swami
- Transcribed by Sheela Ravishankar Mataji, Singapore.

Ambika Kalna is an historic town for Gaudiya Vaisnavas. Situated 70 kilometers from Sri Mayapura Dhama it is the place where Lord Nityananda married Jahnava mata and her sister Vasudha.

Just down the street is the home of Gauri das Pandit where Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda once visited to take prasadam. Gauri das Pandit's famous Gaura Nitai deities are still being worshipped there. Local tradition says that in the temple is a copy Bhagavad Gita written by the hand of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. The first photo in this album shows that hamdwriting.

For more Photos click here

- By Indradyumna Swami 
www.facebook.com/indradyumna

Talking to The Hindu on Wednesday at Hare Krishna Land, a seven-acre stretch acquired by ISKCON in Poigai Mottur village in Vellore taluk, 10 km from Vellore city and about five km off the Chennai-Bangalore National Highway, Mr. Das said that ISKCON has planned to build a traditional stone temple for Lord Krishna that would last for more than 1,000 years. “We want to do some serious research on the type of materials to be used to build the temple before starting the work. It would take another 10 years for the temple to be ready”, he said.

At present, the Hare Krishna Land has a couple of buildings which houses a temporary temple, kitchen, Prasadam hall and a Brahmacharis’ (celibates) rest house. A new four-storeyed guest house would be built at the spot to accommodate the devotees who visit the temple. The proposed guest house would have about 60 rooms, said Mr. Das.

A group of 10 ISKCON devotees from the U.S. visited the ISKCON centre here on Wednesday, as part of their pilgrimage to India. The devotees had already visited Tirupathi, Ahobilam, Srirangam and Udipi. From here, they left for Salem, after which they would be visiting other pilgrim centres in the country.

The Bhagawad Gita philosophy, he said, was not sectarian knowledge belonging to any particular caste, creed or entity, but meant for all living entities.

ISKCON founder A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada who went to the U.S. in 1965 and founded ISKCON in 1966 preached the message in the U.S. In 12 years, he travelled all over the world 14 times. He gave an institutional structure to preach the message of Bhagawad Gita in an organised way. He built 108 temples and wrote more than 80 volumes of books. “We have more than 500 ISKCON temples in more than 160 countries”, he said.