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Madhavananda das GGS (Gopal Jiu Publications – IN)

Notes from Sri Hari-bhakti-vilasa

Texts 247 to 542 of the 15th section of Hari-bhakti-vilasa describe the glories of Janmastami and how to observe it. The introduction to this section describes three reasons for observing the Lord’s appearance day:

nityatvam ca param tasya bhagavat-prinanan matam
vidhi-vakya-visesac cakarane pratyavayatah

The observance of Janmastami is accepted as a regulative principle in three ways: 1) the Supreme Lord becomes pleased when one observes it; 2) there are special sastric injunctions requiring its observance; and 3) it is a fault to not observe it. (Hbv. 15.266)

FOR KRISHNA’S PLEASURE

That the observance of Janmastami pleases Krishna is supported with the following statement from the Skanda Purana:

prahladadyais ca bhu-palaih krta janmastami subha
sraddhaya paraya visnoh pritaye krsna-vallabha
prajapatyarksa samyukta sravanasya sitastami
varse varse tu kartavya tustyartham cakra-paninah

For the pleasure of Lord Vishnu, even great kings like Prahlad Maharaja faithfully observed the vow of Janmastami, which is very dear to Krishna. It is the duty of everyone to celebrate Janmastami every year, on the eighth day of the dark fortnight of the moon in the month of Sravana, when it is joined by the Rohini-naksatra, for the satisfaction of the Supreme Lord, who carries a cakra in his hand. (Hbv. 15.267-68)

THE FAULTS OF NON-OBSERVANCE

Texts 269 to 282 of this section of Hari-bhakti-vilasa cite the Visnu-rahasya Purana describing various ghastly reactions that one will suffer by not properly observing the Janmastami fast and offering special worship to Krishna on this day. A few examples:

Eating on Janmastami is equivalent to eating the flesh of a vulture, a crow, a hawk, or a human being. If one eats on Janmastami they get the reaction of eating all the sins of the three worlds. If one eats even a tiny bit on Janmastami they will be tortured by the Yamadutas after death…. Those who eat on Janmastami take one hundred generations of their ancestors and one hundred generations of their offspring with them to hell… It is the duty of all devotees to celebrate Janmastami, even with a very small budget, for the pleasure of the son of Devaki. One should not fail to celebrate Krishna’s appearance day, otherwise one will be forced to reside in hell for a kalpa. (Texts 270-272, 274, 282)

MATERIAL BENEFITS

Texts 283 to text 340 then go on to speak about the glories of following Janmastami as collected from various sastric sources. This section entices the reader with many material blessings. For example, Hari-bhakti-vilasa (Texts
283-284, 289-292) quotes from the Bhavisottara Purana regarding the benefits of observing this festival:

[By observing Sri Krsna Janmastami] one becomes free from the sinful reactions committed in seven lives. One gets good children, good health and great wealth…. One will not have to fear enemies, and will get sufficient rainfall and never have to suffer from drought. One will not have to fear natural calamities, hellish conditions, snakes, disease, or the attacks of rogues and thieves.

BHAKTIVINODE’S ANALYSIS

In this connection it is interesting to note Thakur Bhaktivinode’s enumeration in the first chapter of Caitanya-siksamrta of the various general motivations people have to try to please the Lord:

1) Bhaya — out of fear.
2) Asa — for satisfying material aspirations.
3) Kartavya-buddhi — out of a sense of duty (literally, “a mentality of what should be done”).
4) Raga — out of genuine attraction for the Lord.

Bhaktivinode elaborates on these motivations: Those who take to worship of the Lord out of bhaya, asa or kartavya-buddhi are not on such a pure level. Those who worship the Lord according to raga are real worshipers…. Bhaya o asa nitasta heya — Bhaya and asa are extremely low class. When a practioner’s intelligence becomes clear, he gives up bhaya and asa, and kartavya-buddhi becomes his sole motive. As long as raga towards the Lord has not appeared, the devotee should not give up worship according to kartavya-buddhi. From this sense of duty, kartavya-buddhi, two considerations arise: vidhi-samana, respect for the rules, and avidhi-parityaga, avoidance of those things contrary to the rules.

SRILA PRABHUPADA’S INSTRUCTIONS

His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada also instructed his followers to abide by the rules of the janmastami-vrata, such as fasting. He wrote in his commentary on Bhagavad-gita 11.54:

There are so many rules and regulations, and if one at all wants to understand Krishna, he must follow the regulative principles described in the authoritative literature. One can perform penance in accordance with those principles. For example, to undergo serious penances one may observe fasting on Janmastami, the day on which Krishna appeared, and on the two days of Ekadasi (the eleventh day after the new moon and the eleventh day after the full moon).

FOOD VERSUS PRASADAM

As cited above, Hari-bhakti-vilasa [15.272] states that anyone eating even the smallest morsel on this day will have to go to hell. One may ask, then, why it is that Srila Prabhupada did not repeatedly stress this point, and why it is that that many vaisnavas serve prasadam to their guests on Janmastami? Although forbidding the eating of food on this day, Hari-bhakti-vilasa does not describe any adverse reactions for persons who honor prasadam. Krishna states in Bhagavad-gita (3.13):

yajna-sistasinah santo mucyante sarva-kilbisaih
bhunjate te tv agham papa ye pacanty atma-karanat

The devotees of the Lord are released from all kinds of sins because they eat food which is offered first for sacrifice. Others, who prepare food for personal sense enjoyment, verily eat only sin.

Prior to the section describing the glories and rules of Janmastami, Hari-bhakti-vilasa already described that prasadam is not to be considered food. Like Krishna himself, it is always situated beyond this material world. Hari-bhakti-vilasa (9.403-404) quotes the Brhad-visnu Purana:

naivedyam jagadisasya anna-panadikam ca yat
bhaksyabhaksa-vicaras ca nasti tad-bhaksane dvijah
brahmavan-nirvikaram hi yatha visnus tathaiva tat

Those foodstuffs and beverages that are offered to Krishna for his pleasure are transcendental and one should never try to distinguish them as eatables and non-eatables. Offerings to Sri Hari are transcendental, incorruptible, and non-different from Vishnu.

Honoring prasadam cannot result in any type of contamination. Rather, those who consider that Krishna’s remnants, which are non-different from him, to have sin in them, or that there is some mundane fault associated with honoring them, are great offenders. Hari-bhakti-vilasa further quotes the Brhat-visnu Purana:

vikaram ye prakurvanti bhaksane tad dvijatayah
kustha-vyadhi-samayuktah putradara-vivarjitah
nirayam yanti te vipra yasman-navartate punah

O brahmins, those who have a perverted mentality, and think offerings to Sri Hari to be material, will suffer from leprosy, and reside in hell after losing their wife and children.

As stated in Hari-bhakti-vilasa [15.282, quoted towards the begining of this article], it is the duty of all devotees to personally observe Janmastami. To not do so would be neglecting the instructions of sastra. However, understanding the following principle given in the Utkala khanda (36.19-20) of the Skanda Purana, many vaisnavas don’t hesitate to serve prasadam to their guests on Janmastami:

asucir-vapyanacaro manasa papam-acaran
prapti matrena bhoktavyam natra karya vicarana

Even if one is in an unclean state of body or mind, or engaged in irreligious acts, he should eat maha-prasada whenever it is available to him. There is no need to deliberate on this.

Bibliography
— Bhagavad-gita As It Is. English translation and commentary by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Bhaktivedanta Book Trust. Bombay. 1995.
— Bhaktivinode Thakur. Sri Caitanya-siksamrta. Sri Chaitanya Math. Mayapur. Bengali. Gaurabda 420.
— Gaudiya-vaisnava-kanthahara. Compiled by Atindriya Bhaktigunakara. Sri Chaitanya Math. Mayapur. 1960. Bengali.
— Sanatan Goswami. Sri Hari-bhakti-vilasa. English translation by Bhumipati Das. Rasbihari Lal & Sons. Vrindavan. 2005.
— Sanatan Goswami. Sri Hari-bhakti-vilasa. Sanskrit with Bengali translation by Kanailal Adhikari. Sri Chaitanya Gaudiya Math. Mayapur. 2000.