Answers from

A Maha Bhagavata

Be Remembered by Lord Krishna

(Compiled from notes on lectures of H. H. Mahavishnu Goswami)

Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva.

In continuation to the series “Perfect Answers”, this is a humble attempt at reproducing from a question and answer session during a lecture delivered by HDG Srila Mahavishnu Goswami Maharaj in September 2008 in Singapore.

Devotee: Dear Maharaj, Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita that from Him comes remembrance and forgetfulness. Does this mean the amount of time we remember the Lord is purely dependent on the will of the Lord or is it influenced by our desires?

Maharaj: Jai, very nice question. You know, the children sing the lyrics (Maharaj calls for the children to come and sing the song). The answer is in the lyrics. Very nice question.

(Children sing the song composed by HG Atma prabhuji)

The answer is in the last line of that song. "You can only remember Krishna if Krishna remembers you." You cannot remember Him unless He allows us to remember. You cannot step into this place unless you are ready to hear about Him. So He allows you to come here. There are so many living entities outside, nobody is here, only few 50 – 60 people are here. What for? Because He only allows these many living entities. Those whom He wants to keep outside, those whom He gives the intelligence to come here, it is His grace.

What is that verse? tat te 'nukampaam su-samikshamaano (SB 10.14.8), that is our condition. tat te 'nukampaam su-samikshamaaano, we are always waiting to obtain His mercy. tat te 'nukampaam su-samikshamaano and what we do in between,bhunjaana evaatma-krtam vipaakam, this is our condition. bhunjaana means we are suffering. While we are waiting to obtain His mercy, we are continuously suffering. sarvatra taapa-traya-dukhitaatmaa (SB 7.6.14), there is no doubt about it. Everywhere, all the living entities are suffering from three-fold miseries, bodily miseries or other people inflict miseries or natural disasters are there. Nobody is exception to this. And we are always suffering, so, bhunjaana evaatma-krtam vipaakam. What is the reason we are suffering? We have performed the karmas and we are suffering the reactions. That is the reality. If you don’t want to suffer, you have to purify your karmas. That is how it is. This is our condition. So instead what is your duty in this? That is in the third line, hrd-vaag-vapurbhir vidadhan namas te. You have to do this. hrd-vaag-vapurbhir, vaakmeans speech, vapu means whole of your existence, vidadhan namaste, you have to worship Krishna. And all your whole existence, you have to remember the Lord. mad-guna-shruti-maatrena, “Just remember Me”. sarva, He is situated, sarva guhaashaye, in everybody’s heart. He is situated as paramaatma, localized paramaatma. So He will definitely co-operate with you. So, hrd-vaag-vapurbhir, with the whole of our existence, we should serve Him. This is 10th canto. Very nice instruction by Krishna. "Really, you want to obtain My mercy, then do this."

And you will be suffering your own reactions after your karmas, any single karma you perform, you have to suffer for it. Good and bad, everything, you have to have this reaction. No doubt about it. yathaa dhenu sahasreshu (Mahabharata, Anushasana Parva).

yathaa dhenu sahasreshu / vatso gachhati maataram
yat ca krtam karma / kartaaram api gachhati

This is Vedic instruction. If you go to the cow protection centre, we see in India, there may be hundreds and thousands of cows there. They bring the calf there and the calf will find out its mother out of the crowd. It has the potency. So, yac ca krtam karma, whatever karma you do, sinful particularly, it will definitely catch you wherever you are. You may be born in this planet or you may be a dog in another planet, but it will come to you definitely. Karmas can never be leaving you alone till you suffer for it or enjoy for it. See, that is the secret of it. So in between, while suffering, you should always devote your time to serve Krishna. And then if you do that, jiveta, if you lead your life like this, we are waiting for mercy from the Lord, you are suffering in between but you are completely devoted to Krishna’s service, then you are the heir-apparent (daaya-bhaak) to go back home without much endeavour. The whole life is dedicated to Krishna. This is how we should do. And as soon as you follow these formulas, you can never go wrong. Try to read Bhagavatam, try to read Bhagavad Gita and try to coin your own formulas. So many formulas are there. Very easy to understand but we have to have a bit of time. And please go through the scriptures very seriously and try to dedicate yourself to some service of Krishna, whatever you can do in your own capacity. And you will be definitely happy. That is the answer of this question.

In my insignificant experience in devotional service, many times I have been thinking, "How to remember the Lord more and more". Never did a dull-head like me come to realize that ultimately without Krishna’s mercy, we cannot remember Him. Maharaj’s sublime instruction in this exchange is really the practical and perfect answer that neophytes like me can put into practice, again purely by the mercy of the Supreme Lord and His devotees. I pray to the lotus feet of Srila Gurudev that by Gurudev’s mercy, I can put these instructions into practice.

Thank you very much.
Yours in the service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev,
Svayam Prakash Krishna Das
Singapore.

Chant,

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna

Krishna Krishna

Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama

Rama Rama

Hare Hare

and be happy.