Live From Sri Mayapur Candrodaya Mandir!
Date: March 10th, 2011
Topic: Dhruva Maharaja Goes Back to Godhead
Verse: 4:12:34
Speaker: HG Jagajivan Prabhu
tatra tatra prasamsadbhih
pathi vaimanikaih suraih
avakiryamano dadrse
kusumaih kramaso grahan
TRANSLATION: While Dhruva Maharaja was passing through space, he gradually saw all the planets of the solar system, and on the path he saw all thedemigods in their airplanes showering flowers upon him like rain.
PURPORT: There is a Vedic version, yasmin vijnate sarvam evam vijnatam bhavati (Mundaka Upanisad 1.3), which means that by knowing the Supreme Personality of Godhead, everything becomes known to the devotee. Similarly, by going to the planet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one can knowall the other planetary systems on the path to Vaikuntha. We should remember that Dhruva Maharaja's body was different from our bodies. While boardingthe Vaikuntha airplane, his body changed to a completely spiritual golden hue. No one can surpass the higher planets in a material body, but when one gets a spiritual body he can travel not only to the higher planetary system of this material world, but even to the still higher planetary system known as Vaikunthaloka. It is well known that Narada Muni travels everywhere, both in the spiritual and material worlds.
It should be noted also that while Suniti was going to Vaikunthaloka she also changed her body into spiritual form. Like Sri Suniti, every mother should train her child to become a devotee like Dhruva Maharaja. Suniti instructed her son, even at the age of five years, to be unattached to worldly affairs and to go to the forest to search out the Supreme Lord. She never desired that her son remain at home comfortably without ever undertaking austerities and penances to achieve the favor of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Every mother, like Suniti, must take care of her son and train him to become a brahmacari from the age of five years and to undergo austerities and penances for spiritual realization. The benefit will be that if her son becomes a strong devotee like Dhruva, certainly not only will he be transferred back home, back to Godhead, but she will also be transferred with him to the spiritual world, even though she may be unable to undergo austerities and penances in executing devotional service. [End of Srila Prabhupada's purport to SB 4.12.34]
HG Jagajivan Prabhu: Just like when a hero comes back from war they have a parade for him. It is called the 'Tick or take Parade.' They throw confetti paper as he is coming through. Just like this to honor him. Like this Dhruva Maharaja is leaving the material world. In this sense he is a hero and the demigods are honoring him by throwing flowers on him. That is their way of honoring somebody. They are throwing flowers. He had become successful.
Here Srila Prabhupada explains that he could not go with his material body. His body was purely spiritualized upon entering the airplane and it became golden, which is the power of bhakti. The color of Radharani is also golden. The color of Lord Caitanya is also golden. So in this way he became purified but he was getting on his plane and he was thinking, "How can I go without being grateful to my siksa guru, my mother who awakened in me the desire to become Krishna conscious.
So that is the nature of a devotee. He is very grateful. Canakya Pandit also mentions that is the nature of a civilized person. He is very grateful. So he was thinking, "How can I go without giving some benefit to my mother who has helped me so much?" It is also explained that because of her prayers to Dhruva Maharaja he was also able to advance spiritually - because of the prayers of his mother." Because of this influence he was able to undergo these austerities by the help of his mother.
In the previous verse of course Srila Prabhupada takes a very humble attitude and says that by the help and blessings of his disciples he will also become perfect. Of course Prabhupada is the most perfect person. It is not that he needs our help but he was taking this humble attitude. Sometimes Srila Prabhupada would manifest this attitude of being one of the devotees, being a humble servant of Krishna. When he was asked, "What is your quality, what is your power?" He said, "I am just a servant of Krishna that is my power."
I will tell a little story that Rupanuga Prabhu told me, which happened on twenty six second avenue. Not many know this story. At that time they were instituting the process of serving prasadam by the devotees standing up and getting in line for prasadam. They had just instituted that. So Rupanuga wasannouncing to the devotees how to do it. So he said to all the devotees, "I want you all to stand up. Please get in line, get a plate and then you will be served your prasadam. Okay? So all the devotees please stand up and get in line." So all the devotees stood up. Rupanuga was looking at the line and right in the middle of the line Srila Prabhupada was standing like one of the devotees thinking in humility, "I am one of the devotees. Why shouldn't I stand in line with the devotees?" So in this way he showed his great humility.
As we see in the previous purport he was thanking his disciples or he was asking his disciples to become advanced spiritually so he may become benefitted. Once someone asked Srila Prabhupada what was the relationship between the disciple and the Siksastakam since in the Siksastakam of Lord Caitanya all truths are present there. The devotee wanted to know where the relationship between the spiritual master and the disciple was in the Siksastakam. So Srila Prabhupada said, "amanina mana-dena."
Amanina mana-dena, mutual respect you can say or amanina we are not looking for respect but mana-dena, we are looking to give respect. In this way Srila Prabhupada showed us how he was respecting his own devotees, his own disciple and at the same time he was receiving their respect also. That is the nature of love. It is a mutual thing, something between the two.
We can understand also that love that Suniti had for Dhruva Maharaja helped him advance spiritually. Recently my mother passed away so I was able to meditate on this. It is amazing how the Srimad-Bhagavatam is a living scripture. It touches your heart, the heart of each individual person. So I was thinking what purport and verse there would be and this is something that recently happened to me so I was very affected by it So this verse of Srimad-Bhagavatam is purifying me by this knowledge.
We all have mothers and fathers who maybe at one point were not very favorable toward becoming devotees but still somehow or the other they gave us their love. They were loving a devotee so what greater boon is there for someone to love a devotee for many, many years, thirty to forty years of loving a devotee. This was an amazing thing. So in this way they become benefitted.
We can speak coldly philosophically but the fact is when there are these loving exchanges as we see with Dhruva Maharaja. There was a loving exchange between him and his mother, so much so that he didn't want to go to Vaikuntha without his mother. He didn't want to go. "What about my mother," he was thinking. This is his great amanina mana-dena and very respectful. So the devotee is a gentleman. Prabhupada said we can conquer the world in eighteen day if we are gentlemen. Ladies and gentleman. Dhruva Maharaja is also showing his compassion, his gentlemanly nature, his civilized nature.
So devotees who are also are very kind to all living entities and treat them with mercy and compassion they will be effective preachers of Krishna consciousness. Here it is explained also that the devotee because he worships the Supreme Personality of Godhead who is the source of all knowledge, knowledge of all planes of existence are also revealed in that devotee. So Prabhupada quotes, yasmin vijnate sarvam evam vijnatam bhavati (Mundaka Upanisad 1.3) that when one knows Krishna everything is revealed. So when one chants Hare Krishna all mantras, all Vedic purports are given to him when his devotion is so intense that he is come to this stage of purity.
One thing that touched me in the purports about Dhruva Maharaja is that his determination was very intense. He had a very strong determination to advance spiritually. Rupa Goswami explains that with this enthusiastic determination we can advance spiritually. Otherwise when we would become complacent we lose our drive to advance.
In a letter Srila Prabhupada also wrote that enthusiasm or that determination will come when you arise early and participate in the morning program. You will become enthused. This will give you enthusiasm, to follow the process of devotional service. This material world is not an easy place. We have these material bodies which we are trying to purify by using them in Krishna's service. So it is a very difficult situation. Sometimes it is very austere for the devotees. We have to rise early. Our mind says, "No. Why rise early? No one will see you. Take more rest. You need it." Here we can see how Dhruva Maharaja's determination and beyond all consideration if things were difficult or not. He was very determined to reach the goal of Krishna consciousness.
Now I would like to give an update. How many of you have gone on the parikrama? Few have gone. So I will give an update. So before in the US during World War Two after the movie they would have a news review about the war effort. So like this I would like to explain a little bit about our parikramas. I had the great fortune of going with Jayapataka Maharaja. He goes to all four of the parikramas every day so I was able to go. Today I couldn't go unfortunately because I am here. But we were able to go with him to these four different parikramas - the Bengali, the Hindi, Russian and International groups. It was very inspiring experience. Each of these holy places vibrates with special blessings for the devotees. In different places you will receive different blessings in devotional service. Apart from the fact that the islands are different aspects of devotional service each specific place has a specific boon for the devotees.
Yesterday we went Suvarna Bihar which was existing from Satya yuga. The king Suvarna Sena, and you can see ruins from Satya yuga there. Suvarna Vigraha is the golden form of Lord Caitanya. Vihar is moving. So this is the place of dancing. We first received the international group and then the Hindi devotees came and we got them to dance to Nitai Gauranga. They all got up and danced. It is a place where the dancing is more powerful. If you dance there you will get great benefit.
Then yesterday we went to Pancaveni which is the confluence of five sacred rivers and where the demigods still come to sport. There we met the Russian devotees. Jayapataka Maharaja is trying to encourage some competition between them of who will serve nicer. Who will pick up after themselves! So in this way he was fanning the fire of competition between the devotees.
Then we went to Nrsingapouli where Lord Nrsimhadev cleansed His hands after killing Hiranyakasipu. That was before the first day. Sometime we duplicated. We were waiting for one group and another group came also.
Yesterday we went to Vidyanagara where the Lord studied, the place Lord Caitanya received knowledge from Brhaspati who incarnated as Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya. So in different places, different vibrations. I was explaining that the psychics can feel an object and know where it has been. So this holy land is vibrating with the touch of the lotus feet of Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Lord Nityananda so just walking here is like one asvamedha yajna, or something like that - on the parikrama. So like this, this place is very holy.
Also here in Mayapur we began to walk all over the dham with my companion and we were seeing in different places even close here to Mayapur, not only the holy places but different places where devotees live and engage in spiritual activities, we saw the making of date ghur. Some ladies were making it with straw fires. Then we saw the bee hives. They were making honey. There is also big honey production in the back. These are hidden places.And of course the cows, not only in our goshala we saw cows but devotees also have cows Mother Hrimati, Bhagavatamrta also has his cows. So we were able to visit different devotee's goshalas which was very nice. And we saw how many devotees are actually building. The Russians are winning of course. They are making so many buildings. There are two left if you still want to buy! Two apartments! The Russians are building like crazy.
So like this as our main temple goes up and up the city around it has been formed. So like this the dham is a mystical place. Just like if you walk around Vrindavan you will see different things. It is very mystical. So here in Mayapur it is also very mystical. Not only the holy places we visit but everywhere you go has some special rasa for you, so special vibration. So we should try to be very receptive to these spiritual vibrations.
Lord Caitanya's birthplace was discovered by the spiritual perception of Jagannath das Babaji. He was able to feel and to see the place where Lord Caitanya appeared. Also the Goswamis when they went to Vrindavan everything was just a forest and somehow or the other they had to find these holy places. Through Srimati Radharani and Krishna's help they were able to discover these places but also because of their spiritual advancement they were able to perceive the spiritual nature of these holy places. So that means that the holy places are giving off this very divine vibration which we can perceive and appreciate. So this is a movement of appreciation.
That is also what amanina mana-dena means. That is also Dhruva Maharaja's feeling of appreciation. So we should appreciate the service of other devotees. Everyone is serving Krishna. In the spiritual world it is a world of appreciation. It is not a linear place or hierarchy but a world of appreciation where everyone appreciates the service of others. So that is what I am getting from Dhruva Maharaja, from the preaching of the Srimad-Bhagavatam. So as devotees I think this is the emblem or the devotee's divine quality that he is able to appreciate the service of others.
There is one devotee in Brazil, Dhanvantari Maharaja. I don't know if many of you know him. The nature of maharaja is that he remembers all the service all the devotees have done. At any given time he can say all the wonderful service that any devotee has done and I always marvel watching him do this because it is such a wonderful thing, this gift he has, hoping that one day that gift will also rub off on me. You get old and memory goes but somehow or the other if we can appreciate just a little bit the service of others and in this way worship the devotees of Lord Caitanya our life can be successful. Sri Nityananda Prabhu said, "Anyone who worships Lord Caitanya I will worship him." And Lord Caitanya also glorified the devotees so many times. So I will end here if there are some questions?
Prabhu: Respected Prabhuji broadcasted in your lecture amanina manadena kirtaniyah sada harih. You should respect and appreciate each and everybody but you should never consider to get respect. This is also the teaching of Caitanya Mahaprabhu this is the Vaisnava system but mostly we say half the time by lip service, "I am your servant." But mostly when we need the help of our devotee and well wishers those mostly in the disciplic succession of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu they don't co-operate and support. When we need the support and co-operation of our devotees at that moment they forget thisslogan, amanina manadena kirtaniyah sada harih. They mostly harass and chastise the devotee in 98% of the cases. Why they should support the devotee, why do they forget, why do they not follow it, what is their idea?Hare Krishna.
HG Jagajivan Prabhu: They need you to tell them. This material world is a place of forgetting. So it is not surprising. It is surprising those who do not forget. That is surprising. But to forget is not surprising. Everyone is forgetting so it is up to you to remind them.
Prabhupada once wrote me a letter. "This is the wish of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu that, yare dakho tare kaho krsna upadesa, everyone you see or meet, tell him about krsna; amara ajnaya guru haya tara ei desa [Cc. Madhya 7.128], and by My command you become a guru and save this land. This was also the mission of my guru maharaj and it is my mission. You will perfect your life if you make it also your mission.
People everywhere are suffering on account of being led by blind leaders who are devoid of all knowledge of the soul. Such foolish men lead other foolish men and all concerned suffer. Andha yathandhair upaniyamana, when one blind man leads another, the result is that both of them fall into the ditch. Therefore there is a requirement for a section of society to become first class men, free of the influence of the modes of material nature, who can understand the mission of this human form of life and who can teach it to others. I am trying to create these men, but it is hard, for people have become lost of all intelligence due to the coverings of the three modes of material nature. So I am one man alone, yet now there are so many nice boys and girls like you to help me push on this movement in my old age. I thank you very much for your sincere efforts and you have my blessings that you will without a doubt be successful if you stick to the regulative principles and chant at least 16 rounds a day. Surely Krsna will recognize your service, and as soon as you are recognized by Krsna, then your life immediate becomes perfect. So continue your preaching activitiesi" [Srila Prabhupada's Letter to: Jagajivan -- New Delhi 1 September, 1976] So people are suffering. Don't think that everyone will understand this amanina manadena Principle but you can teach them.
Prabhu: Thank you very much Prabhuji for focusing on this issue of preaching Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu's statements and always follow Srila Prabhupada'sinstructions. Hare Krishna.
Prabhu: This attachment of Dhruva Maharaja to his mother is the question I like to ask about. Prabhupada was once quoted as saying if we were attached to the sunrise or a sunset, I forget which one, in this material world we will not be able to go back to Godhead. Then there is the famous prayer of Queen Kunti where Krishna is leaving to go to the Vrsni's who are her relatives and she is attached to the Pandavas who are her relatives and they are all devotees of the Lord, so she prays to Krishna, "Please just let me give up all this attachment and just be attached to you. So the question is what is material attachment and what is spiritual attachment? If Dhruva's attachment to his mother was spiritual and not material why wasn't Kunti's attachment to her devotee children and devotee relatives material and not spiritual? It is really hard to judge so I was wondering if you could speak on this or say something.
HG Jagajivan Prabhu: It has to do with Krishna's interest, how Krishna is interested. Just like Suniti was a devotee you can say because she was devoted to her devotee son because Lord Visnu says, "You cannot be My devotee. Being My devotee means to be the devotee of My devotee." So certainly she was a devotee because she was devoted to her devotee son. So in this way she was in the same position as Kunti in one sense. Even though she was not qualified in one sense she became qualified because of her son but that is not material. Dhruva Maharaja never showed his attachment to her materially. He just thought she was taking on this role as Prabhupada explained in other purports of his siksa guru. So he was very grateful, just like we are very grateful to someone who gives us something in Krishna consciousness. We are very grateful. So in this way he was showing his gratitude. We show gratitude to one devotee or another. Sometimes someone is not much of a devotee but they help us to come to Krishna consciousness somehow or the other and we are grateful to them and then that person becomes benefitted because Krishna is pleased. Krishna says this in Bhagavad-gita. He is pleased.
Prabhu: So you are saying that Dhruva wasn't attached to his mother and the he was grateful to her. So that is the difference?
HG Jagajivan Prabhu: I am saying that she was a devotee. His attachment to his mother as a devotee was justified spiritually. It wasn't a material attachment. Therefore Krishna is in our heart and there are loving exchanges between devotees. Why Dhruva Maharaja a great maha-bhagavata devotee why would he be on the bodily platform of life? It is not possible but at the same time he understood that, "My mother is vartma-pradarsaka-guru. She is the person who has given me Krishna consciousness. She pushed me, she prayed for me."
That is what I was explaining. A devotee even though his parents may be material whenever there is a relationship with devotees Krishna has something to do with it.
Prabhu: You made the statement that Prabhupada said that if everyone was a gentleman then he could spread this movement worldwide in eighteen days. Sowhat is the definition of a gentleman? One definition is that he is someone for who no one is put into distress. What is the definition that Prabhupada saw/sought (?)?
HG Jagajivan Prabhu: I was explaining and emphasizing in the class, respect, amanina manadena. Respect is one of the most important aspects of a gentleman. Ladies know that because they open the door for you. That is respect. Our mothers know that we respect them so they feel more protective.If someone is respectful he will become honored.
I would give you an example very close to home. My son, some of you may have met my son, he is very respectful and because of that everywhere we go people say, "Where is your son? Is your son coming?" They want to see my son because he is so respectful to people. I realized this point of being respectful. Prabhupada said how many devotees are still looking at the ground as they walk to see if the step on some insect? So we don't want to cause distress to anyone as you said. That is also respect because we don't want to cause any suffering to anyone.
Everyone is suffering. On the contrary we want to alleviate that suffering. Magnanimity of the heart is when you want to life the suffering. It is not material. It is spirit that is suffering. That is the devotee. He is compassionate.
Prabhu: In other places Srila Prabhupada says that this society is controlled by demons and cannot become Krishna conscious simply by gentleman like behavior. This is only applicable to the innocent like people. He also said there will hopefully be a battle because society is controlled by demoniac people. Abhiram Prabhu said in Vrindavan two weeks back that Prabhupada said in 1977at the globe is controlled by man eating raksas, drinking the blood of children. That simply by being a gentleman we can create a responsible society.
HG Jagajivan Prabhu: Sometimes being a gentleman doesn't work. In diplomacy one of the things is to be a gentleman. Sometimes it doesn't work.
Prabhu: That we could change the world in eighteen days simply by being gentleman - I think it is an incomplete quote. Did Prabhupada say this? HG Jagajivan Prabhu: Yes. There are many quotes actually.
Prabhu: What I remember is that Prabhupada said we could conquer the world in eighteen days if you all follow my instructions.
HG Jagajivan Prabhu: That is the praman. Of course Prabhupada mentions about being a gentleman. I have to look into it to see what seems to be theargument or discussion about that point.
Prabhu: About the perfect gentleman, can I comment on that?
HG Jagajivan Prabhu: Sure.
Prabhu: On a morning walk there was a discussion. Prabhupada was saying we have to become genuine Vaisnavas and not the show bottle Vaisnavas. Sosomeone asked how do we know who is the genuine Vaisnava? Prabhupada said the genuine Vaisnava is a perfect gentleman.
HG Jagajivan Prabhu: There are many places he mentions that. You don't necessarily have the eighteen days or twenty days. We have the example of Srila Prabhupada himself. Anybody who met Srila Prabhupada personally will say he was a perfect gentleman. He was very heavy sometimes. Your head was taken off but you liked it. You were very happy because he was such a gentleman. You didn't mind. In this way sometimes it doesn't work. But because as you said there are so many demons.
Usually we see in media communications signs that someone who is very respectful and who is a gentleman his results are more positive just on a material platform. So many more positive results are there. As was pointed out that is the nature of a devotee. This is what I was bringing out. This was Dhruva Maharaja's nature. "My mother may, you better come some other day." Let her come on her own merit. Why should she come? But he was very grateful. Apart from respect gratitude is part of a civilized person. These are qualities of a devotee that automatically come up. In one sense this concept,
Yasmin vijnate sarvam evam vijnatam bhavati [Mundaka Upanisad 1.3]
It is also there, that by worshipping Krishna all these qualities automatically manifest - spiritual and very positive material qualities are also there. They are sub products of our devotional service. But certainly in the character of His Divine Grace we can see that apart from the spiritual aspect of this teaching Krishna consciousness or giving Krishna consciousness he was able to endear himself to a range of different people that came to him because of the way he treated them. Everyone that came received prasadam.He made sure of this. When I went to him in Los Angeles I went into his garden and I sat on the grass and he had his servant come give me something to sit on. He didn't want me to sit on grass so he gave me some place to sit. Here I was lowly twenty something year old, nothing! And here Prabhupada was offering me a seat! This trait endeared us. It is the science of civilized people. So we should become civilized devotees and become respectful to others. There is some problem with being respectful or being a gentleman with someone? That is the nature of a devotee. Devotee greets everyone.
We were walking in Caracas with Prabhupada and people were jogging. This one man comes and he sees Srila Prabhupada and he said, "Beunos dias." Whichmeans "Good Morning" in Spanish. So Srila Prabhupada asked Hrdayananda Maharaja, "What does this mean?" And Hrdayananda Maharaja said, "This meansGood Morning." And Prabhupada says, "Ah." And in Spanish Prabhupada said, "Beunos dias!" Then he said to everyone, "Beunos dias." So he was very much a gentleman and he is acarya so if we want to have success as devotees we emulate the most successful devotee. Dhruva Maharaja is also successful devotee. Prabhupada. You can also become successful and maybe by your mercy and by all of your mercy I also can become successful. So it is 9 o'clock and I will finish here. Anyone else wants to ask anything afterwards I will stay and we will discuss. You want to make a comment or a question?
All glories to Prabhupada.
Hare Krishna
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