19840918 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.12.25-28

The following is a lecture given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami on September 18, 1984 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The class begins with a reading from the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10th Canto, Chapter 12, Verse 25-28.

itthaṁ mitho ’tathyam ataj- jña- bhāṣitaṁ
śrutvā vicintyety amṛṣā mṛṣāyate
rakṣo viditvākhila- bhūta- hṛt- sthitaḥ
svānāṁ niroddhuṁ bhagavān mano dadhe

(ŚB 10.12.25)

Translation (by His Divine Grace Śrīla Abhaya Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda): The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is situated as antaryāmī, the Supersoul, in the core of everyone’s heart, heard the boys talking among themselves about the artificial python. Unknown to them, it was actually Aghāsura, a demon who had appeared as a python. Kṛṣṇa, knowing this, wanted to forbid His associates to enter the demon’s mouth.

*Translation with repetition*

No purport, text 26:

tāvat praviṣṭās tv asurodarāntaraṁ
paraṁ na gīrṇāḥ śiśavaḥ sa-vatsāḥ
pratīkṣamāṇena bakāri-veśanaṁ
hata-sva-kānta-smaraṇena rakṣasā

(ŚB 10.12.26)

Translation: In the meantime, while Kṛṣṇa was considering how to stop them, all the cowherd boys entered the mouth of the demon. The demon, however, did not swallow them, for he was thinking of his own relatives who had been killed by Kṛṣṇa and was just waiting for Kṛṣṇa to enter his mouth.

*Translation with repetition*

No Purport. Text 27:

tān vīkṣya kṛṣṇaḥ sakalābhaya-prado
hy ananya-nāthān sva-karād avacyutān
dīnāṁś ca mṛtyor jaṭharāgni-ghāsān
ghṛṇārdito diṣṭa-kṛtena vismitaḥ

(ŚB 10.12.27)

Translation: Kṛṣṇa saw that all the cowherd boys, who did not know anyone but Him as their Lord, had now gone out of His hand and were helpless, having entered like straws into the fire of the abdomen of Aghāsura, who was death personified. It was intolerable for Kṛṣṇa to be separated from His friends the cowherd boys. Therefore, as if seeing that this had been arranged by His internal potency, Kṛṣṇa was momentarily struck with wonder and unsure of what to do.

*Translation with repetition*

Text 28, no purport of 27.

kṛtyaṁ kim atrāsya khalasya jīvanaṁ
na vā amīṣāṁ ca satāṁ vihiṁsanam
dvayaṁ kathaṁ syād iti saṁvicintya
jñātvāviśat tuṇḍam aśeṣa-dṛg ghariḥ

(ŚB 10.12.28)

Translation by His Divine Grace Śrīla Abhaya Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda:

Now, what was to be done? How could both the killing of this demon and the saving of the devotees be performed simultaneously? Kṛṣṇa, being unlimitedly potent, decided to wait for an intelligent means by which He could simultaneously save the boys and kill the demon. Then He entered the mouth of Aghāsura.

Purport: Kṛṣṇa is known as ananta-vīrya-sarvajña because everything is known to Him. Because He knows everything perfectly well, it was not difficult for Him to find a means by which He could save the boys and at the same time kill the demon. Thus He also decided to enter the demon’s mouth.

Thus ends the Purport and Translation to Text 25 to 28 of the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam by His Divine Grace Śrīla Abhaya Charan Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, in the matter of “The Killing of the Demon Aghāsura”.

Jayapataka Swami: So Kṛṣṇa, is so wonderful, that in His transcendental pastimes, through the via media of His internal potency, so many wonderful pastimes are arranged. Then Kṛṣṇa, He is able to play in those pastimes. He plays the part perfectly. He plays the part so perfectly that, He Himself, momentarily gets absorbed in the pastimes. He gets absorbed, therefore when the boys are in danger, for a moment He is also struck with wonder. But of course, Kṛṣṇa, He has got unlimited potencies. So, He can immediately understand exactly what is to be done. But, for us it’s wonderful that Kṛṣṇa, who is the all-powerful, omnipotent, omniscient, Supreme Personality of Godhead, that He allows himself to play such intimate pastimes with His friends, and allows His internal potency to arrange things so nicely, that He Himself is able to experience this very personal emotions.

So whatever the reason, we have any emotion, whether wonder, or fear, or whether astonishment, or whether appreciation, or laughter, or love, you see… of course, Kṛṣṇa is known as Abhaya, or He is completely fearless. But whatever feeling we’re feeling, you see in the material life that is degenerated, mutated, it’s no longer pure. But in Kṛṣṇa, those different emotions are completely pure. There are different expressions of His love for His devotees, and in His personality they’re never degenerate. They are always śuddha-sattva, or pure transcendental in the mode of goodness. But this is just that the… this also disproves the impersonal point, where they say that the Absolute Truth is impersonal and somehow, almost like the modern scientists, they somehow, simply by some accident, by some coincidence, out of this impersonal nothingness, the material creation came. This is not at all possible, neither this is feasible, neither does anyone ever has an experience of something coming from nothing. Something has never come from nothing, and never will come from nothing. Something is coming from something else.

So originally this whole material world is coming as a reflection or the shadow of the original spiritual world. And we have emotions in material life, because in the spiritual world emotions are there. But in this material life, emotions are cause of suffering for us. But in the spiritual world these emotions are cause of ecstasy. They are an expression of transcendental love and ecstasy. Just see how the wonderful that the devotees of Kṛṣṇa, they are so fearless, that they fearlessly walk into the mouth of a serpent, even after considering that it’s a serpent, when they are so fearless of Kṛṣṇa is there, what can anyone do to us? Because of being eternal associates of Kṛṣṇa they are so confident of their relationship with Kṛṣṇa that they are completely fearless.

We shouldn’t, as I mentioned yesterday, imitate this, and do something whimsical thinking that Kṛṣṇa will protect us. But if we act always under the guidance of guru, sādhu and śāstra, then we can be very confident that, “Kṛṣṇa will always protect us.” So, this is wonderful that these cowherd boys they, they were feeling fearless. When they were inside Aghāsura, then yoga-māyā had created such a scenario for Kṛṣṇa, that even Kṛṣṇa was momentarily put into wonder, “How will I …” Of course, this is also His play, that He puts Himself in that very personal position, you see on His own free will, not that He is forced into it. But He comes into Vṛndāvana just to have these types of pastimes. This is His playground. The difference is that in Spiritual world, there are no demons. Just a feeling that the demons are there. So, the devotees are sometimes apprehensive that the demon will come and disrupt our pastime with Kṛṣṇa. But no demon can enter into the spiritual world.

So here in the material world, this is like a special country resort for Kṛṣṇa. He comes down here, and He can play with real demons. Of course, they are not really demons. Because, they are also His part and parcels – jīvātmās, who have somehow become rebellious to Him. So, He is dovetailing them into His pastimes, and by this, they achieve liberation, and they can return back to the spiritual world, you see. Just like those in the prison house, sometimes they volunteer to take some medical tests, experimentation, and if they do that, then they can get out pretty fast, but there is some risk of course in material life. But there is no risk involved here. Anyway, somehow or another these demons, even though they are fighting with Kṛṣṇa, they get let out early, immediately, by being killed by Kṛṣṇa. But the devotees, their whole situation is completely different. They are not at all inimical to Kṛṣṇa.

The description of devotional service is

anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam
ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānu- śīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā

ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānu-śīlanaṁ, ānukūlyena means, free, means very favorable. Favorably, ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānu-śīlanaṁ one is following Kṛṣṇa. The devotees, they are following Kṛṣṇa. They follow the instructions of their spiritual master, they serve Kṛṣṇa, that is considered to be favorable. But, Kaṁsa, he is also always talking about Kṛṣṇa. But he is talking about Kṛṣṇa unfavorably. It says here that when Kṛṣṇa went into the mouth of the demon, the demons became, Kaṁsa and the others, became very happy. Because, they were wishing – “Oh! Let Kṛṣṇa die! Now, Kṛṣṇa is going to be killed!” They don’t know that Kṛṣṇa can never die. God is not changing His body like an ordinary demon or human. Rather He, His eternal form is eternal. He can never be killed. But these demons they are thinking, “O, now Kṛṣṇa will be killed! And Aghāsura will be victorious! We have got rid of that splinter in our foot. Kṛṣṇa, who is always an obstacle for our complete persecution of everyone. He is always standing in our way of our absolute demoniac power.”

So, they want to get rid of Kṛṣṇa. So, their thinking of Kṛṣṇa, their meditating on Kṛṣṇa... It says that Kaṁsa, he was sometimes so absorbed in thinking about Kṛṣṇa, he couldn’t sleep at night. Even more intensely than many devotees. In his waking, in his sleeping, he just sees Kṛṣṇa everywhere. He was so obsessed in complete fear of Kṛṣṇa. But his mood was, that he wanted to somehow or another to kill Kṛṣṇa! And he was almost being haunted by the thought of Kṛṣṇa. He was so afraid that Kṛṣṇa was going to come and kill him.

So, that type of devotional… that type of thought of Kṛṣṇa, is not considered devotional service. Because, it is not favorable at all. But, because Kaṁsa was so thoroughly absorbed in Kṛṣṇa, therefore when he died, when he was finally killed by Kṛṣṇa, he achieved liberation.

But the example is given in the Bhakti-Rasāmṛta-Sindhū, that there was another king, who was also very offensive to Kṛṣṇa, but he wasn’t fully offensive to Kṛṣṇa. Not like Kaṁsa. And he was part time offensive. Sometimes, he was engaged in sense gratification. Just his normal material activities. And sometimes, he was offending Kṛṣṇa. So, as a result, he didn’t achieve liberation. He went to hell. He was…, he had to accept the reactions of his offensive activity and his bad karma. But Kaṁsa was so thoroughly absorbed in Kṛṣṇa that practically, all he could do was think about Kṛṣṇa. Because of his complete absorption, he could achieve liberation. His whole life he was thinking about Kṛṣṇa killing him, so Kṛṣṇa finally did do that. But gave him eternal life.

So, this is the 10th canto of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. We’ve already read through the succeeding nine. Actually, it’s recommended for the new devotees to read the first nine cantos and then read the 10th. Of course, today, there are many new devotees here. And they are hearing Śrīmad Bhāgavatam fairly for a short period of time, but they are listening to this 10th canto. While the other 9 cantos gradually build up one’s understanding of the supreme position of Kṛṣṇa. Once, when realizes the complete absolute position of Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, how He is creating the material world, how He is maintaining them, how He is destroying them, how He has acted with His different devotees, and in different incarnations, how He has expressed His unlimited potencies and powers, then when you understand Him in His very Human like form of Kṛṣṇa, where He plays as a little boy. Then you can understand that this is just an expression of His unlimited potency.

Since He can do anything, He can also play like a little boy with His friends. When His friends are in danger, He can be angry that, “Why my friends are in danger?”. When He wants to, then He can tap on His unlimited resources, and immediately understand what to do. And when He wants, He can just play as if He is a little boy, very simply, very intimately, very lovingly and affectionately with His friends. So, it’s understandable, when you see that in total instruction and total information about Kṛṣṇa.

Śrīla Prabhupāda mentioned in his Vṛndāvane Bhajana, that unfortunately when the missionaries came to India, and they heard bits and pieces about Kṛṣṇa, they heard that He was a butter thief, they heard that He was stealing butter and feeding to the monkeys. They heard that He was dancing with the gopīs in rāsa-līlā and He was in the battlefield of Kurukṣetra and so on. So they sometimes criticized, “What type of God are you worshiping? He is a thief!” So, Prabhupāda was saying that they only say such foolish things because all the people in Vṛndāvana, those who are living in Vṛndāvana, those who are the great, so-called great devotees of Vṛndāvana, recently, the different babājīs and Goswamis and what not, because they are not preaching the glories of Kṛṣṇa, therefore these padres come, make offenses and go, and nobody understands what, nobody explains to them rather, what is the actual situation and position of Kṛṣṇa. He is not a thief. That anyway, anyhow everything belongs to Him, so what can He steal? We are thieves. But rather, Kṛṣṇa is taking the butter from His mother’s warehouse to feed to the monkeys. These monkeys are great saints, who have taken birth as monkeys, just to get a little butter from the hand of God. This is His special mercy. But because they have such a poor fund of knowledge, and because nobody is explaining to them, you can’t blame them, if no one explains to them how will they going to get the correct information?

You hear that the God is unlimited, the omnipotent, then you say that, “God has come down on this earth, they say how is it possible?” But how is it impossible? If God can do anything, why can’t He come down? In fact, one devotee, in New York, has published different quotes from the Bible, and there are surprising. In one of the prayers, I think Solomon, he was praying, that my Lord is forever youthful. That His lotus feet, that He has feet, His toenails are just like pearls. And the same description you’ll find in the Vedic literatures. But somehow, in Saint Peters uh… What’s that – they call the Basilica or something? There they have the picture of God, with a big old beard. Because, if He is the oldest, therefore He must get old and wrinkled.

They don’t realize that God is oldest, but He doesn’t need a material body which has built in obsolescence. Everyone in this country would love to have the perpetual light bulb, the cars which never breaks down. Except, of course for the manufacturers, as this is not good for their cash flow. But all the consumers would love to have something like that. So, similarly, everyone wants to have a body which will never grow old, which should always stay youthful. Because that’s what the eternal spiritual body is. It’s a body, it’s a form that never changes. It never grows old. It simply remains ever vital, ever youthful. It doesn’t require to go through these different transformations, which are existing here in this material world.

So, we should understand this and very patiently, if somebody wants to hear about Kṛṣṇa and they are willing to listen, then we can explain. Of course, if they don’t want to really hear about Kṛṣṇa, if we try to explain to them, they turn a deaf ear, or they immediately start firing off other questions before hearing yours, your replies, then it is indicative that they are not actually interested in knowing anything, they are simply trouble makers. So, what’s the use of wasting our time arguing? We are willing to discuss, to have an exchange, a communication, to try to convince one another, “What is the Absolute Truth?” But if somebody is dogmatic, he only wants to speak, he doesn’t want to hear, we have no time to hear such people. Yes, we were willing to hear someone’s questions and willing to answer the questions, but not willing simply to extend our valuable breaths, when someone is not listening. Better even we talk to a tree, because the tree would actually benefit.

These pastimes actually they are very nectarine. When you understand the powerful, absolute position of Kṛṣṇa, then you realize how gentle and kind and personally He is dealing with His devotees. Then one can see that how merciful Kṛṣṇa is, how wonderful it is to be a devotee of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is not an impersonal feeling person. But He is very personal, very compassionate, very loving to His devotees, you see, much more than anyone could imagine. Rather He outdoes, all of His devotees except, there is a very strong competition between Rādhārāṇī and Her associates. Where She, Kṛṣṇa sometimes says that, “She has defeated Him”. So, when Rādhārāṇī and Kṛṣṇa combined together, when that completely all compassionate form of Kṛṣṇa, His spiritual potency, Hladini Shakti, Rādhā, again combines with Kṛṣṇa, that form is known as Sri Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu. The all-powerful Kṛṣṇa combined with His all-compassionate power. It’s inconceivable, this combination.

So, Kṛṣṇa is the friend of the fallen. he kṛṣṇa karuṇā sindhū dīna bandhu. Dina bandhu – the friend of the fallen. When the friend of the fallen, combines with the compassion of Rādhārāṇī, then you get Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Therefore, we see that these demons, they were killed by Kṛṣṇa and He gave them liberation. That’s very compassionate of Him. But, Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu was even more compassionate, more compassionate. Because, when Lord Caitanya, He didn’t kill the demon. He touched their heart with His transcendental mercy, with His weapon of Love, He was able to change their mentality, from a demoniac mentality to the one of pure lover of Kṛṣṇa. In this way the same killing process is there of killing the demon, but Lord Caitanya killed the demon without making him change the body. Just the demoniac aspect, that was destroyed. But, instead, their pure love for Kṛṣṇa was revealed. Therefore, Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu is known as the most compassionate.

Now, to appreciate the transcendental pastimes of the Lord, on the spiritual platform… actually when we hear these pastimes, our heart should be melting. But our heart is sometimes so hard that it doesn’t melt. Because, for someone may mentally think, “Oh, this is very nice.” But actually, it should touch us in the heart. But our heart becomes hard, due to several reasons. Sometimes due to being proud. Our performing a little austerity, we become hard hearted. Sometimes, due to attachment to sense gratification we become hard hearted. Sometimes, due to offenses, against the devotees of the Lord, we become hardhearted. So, we hear the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra being chanted, when we hear the pastimes of the Lord, when actually our heart should be melting, we should be immediately experiencing full ecstasies, instead, something less dynamic or less ah world-shaking happens, you see.

That means, when somebody, hears the pastimes, or hears the holy name, hears the chanting of the Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s holy name, and tears don’t fill his eyes, his hairs doesn’t, don’t stand on end, then his heart must be as hard as a stone. So, of course, devotees find themselves in these hard-hearted conditions sometimes. And this is a great worry, because in this hard-hearted condition, that means that they are more susceptible to māyā. And then our devotional service becomes more dry because somehow or another, the juice is not able to penetrate our hard heart. So, process of devotional service is actually to soften the heart.

In the Nectar of Devotion, it is described that the heart can be described as gold or as butter. As a butter or cotton wool, different descriptions are given. Or ghee. It says gold, the gold heart is someone who is very grave, very learned, very sāttvika – in the mode of goodness. But somehow, in their aloof position, in their almost proud position, their very pure and grave position, their heart is sometimes is also hard. Just like gold. It’s somewhat hard. It’s a metal. Not as hard as iron or rock. But hard. Pure but hard. So, therefore, such people, they have intellectual appreciation of Kṛṣṇa. They have some faith in Kṛṣṇa but somehow, they don’t always melt. They are not so enthusiastic in their service to Kṛṣṇa.

Someone whose heart is like ghee, where with slight... Or like a cotton. With the slightest contact with Kṛṣṇa’s glories, immediately their heart starts to flutter, it starts to become melted. And one becomes, just like a flow of the Ganges, it just starts to flow, his entire mentality and energy towards Kṛṣṇa. So, actually process of devotional service, is to soften the heart towards Kṛṣṇa, you see.

Why we practice sādhanā? – regular practice of devotional service, chanting, reading, attending temple programs, hearing the…, or taking prasāda with the devotees? In Māyāpur, Prabhupāda, he was very emphatic, that everyone should take prasādam together with the devotees. Sometimes, devotees like to take their prasādam alone, or separate, or in little units. But Śrīla Prabhupāda, was saying that no, this is a purification. Just as Kṛṣṇa would sit with His cowherd boys in a line – ‘sari sari’ and take prasādam. To take prasādam with the devotees, that is very pleasing to Kṛṣṇa and that is purifying. It was astonishing to us, you see. It seemed like a very insignificant thing. But Prabhupāda was saying “No! It’s preferable if everyone takes prasādam together or different devotees they take in groups.” Sometimes, he had special system called daoya system, where groups of devotees were taking about twelve at a time, and hot chapātīs and hot dāl was taken right off the fire. Anyway, that’s another…

Then, of course Śrīla Prabhupāda, he always impressed us the importance of coming together to hear the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from the devotees. Because something is heard, it’s discussed, even some of the people present, if they are more advanced, they may bring some point at the end of class or ask a question which is illuminating to the others. Plus, the energy, when something is discussed with many devotees, Kṛṣṇa says that there are many places where He is not, but one place He is, is where His devotees have assembled together to discuss His glories, you see.

Just as, you see all during the day, people are gathering together in the coffee shops. In India we call it as tea stalls. Or in the taverns, people gather together, and they start to talk. But here, so the devotees, they gather together, bhāgavata nitya sevayā, and they discuss the Bhāgavata. They discuss the glories of Kṛṣṇa. They discuss the Bhagavad-gītā. This is very pleasing to Kṛṣṇa. And this is very purifying. This allows ones’ consciousness to be little more open and is little more effective in softening the heart.

Sometimes, devotees when they first come, sometimes even they may come, and their heart may be very open, very receptive, very enthusiastic. And you see that they make very rapid advancement. But then, sometimes due to offending other devotees, due to little jealousies or something, which are little subtle māyās.

Just like Lord Caitanya, when He did Gundīcā-mārjana, first He swept out all the big leaves, and the big branches and stones and things that had fallen in the temple over the year. After cleaning it out, then He… Everyone thought, “Well! This is very nice!”

He said, “No, now you bring in brooms, we are going to sweep out the dust, and the small little, little broken leaves, cracks and everything.” So, these big branches, these are like following the four regulative principles, avoiding the grossest, you see, māyās. Breaking regulative principles, being violent, things like that.

But then the next thing, sweeping, these are the little subtler. Little subtler desires for sense gratification, desires for false prestige, desire for being respected by others, desire for having some position, somehow when these get frustrated, then one also is put into illusion. One is feeling very frust…uh... feeling very bad.

Then after that was all swept out, then Lord Caitanya had them bring in buckets and buckets of water, and they completely washed down the whole Gundīcā temple. Then after washing down, everything looked completely spotless, and just sparkling. The Caitanya-caritāmṛta suggests that it was like Lord Caitanya’s heart, it was so pure, and still Lord Caitanya sat down with His little nail, with little twig or something, they were scraping out the cracks.

So, like that, in the purport, Śrīla Prabhupāda said that, “We have to cleanse our heart layer after layer after layer after layer, until finally we come down to the absolute pure layer.”

Sometimes we may have a certain layer, instead, just like a coal, if you don’t continually fan it, then gradually over the charcoal, ashes form. So, even though, beneath that there is a fire, sometimes…. you see, a devotee is already on fire, but then they become little lax, or they become somehow implicated in some kind of subtle weeds or offenses, and then, somehow their devotional service slackens. And then, little ash forms over the charcoal, so to speak. So Prabhupāda said, we have to be continually fanning the fire. Even the association of devotees is such that one way or another it gets fanned. By association we are encouraged to, you see, come up to the proper standard.

That’s…. one thing is that, when Narottama Thakur says that we should associate with devotees. vaiṣṇava-sevā chāḍiyā… chāḍiyā vaiṣṇava-sevā nistāra pāyeche kebā - that who has ever achieved deliverance who has given up the association and service of the devotees of the Lord?

In one purport in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Śrīla Prabhupāda explains, the purport when Lord Caitanya met Rūpa and Sanātana, and embraced them and told them that, “They no longer should be known as Dabir Khasa and Sakara Mallika. But that they should be known as Rūpa and Sanātana.” In there He gave the blessing to them and He told the other devotees, “You give your blessings to Rūpa and Sanātana, so that they can be pure devotees, or they are pure devotees you give their blessings to them.” Immediately, Rūpa and Sanātana, they were humbled, they went and touched the feet of the other devotees. And the other devotees were congratulating them for getting the mercy of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

So, in the purport, Śrīla Prabhupāda explains, “This is the attitude of a Vaiṣṇava. If he sees that another Vaiṣṇava is getting the mercy of the Lord, He is not envious, He is not jealous. He is rather congratulative. He is rather very happy, he is overjoyed.” “All glories to you! You have got the mercy of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu.” They said that, “The non-Vaiṣṇavas, or someone even in the garb of Vaiṣṇavas, who is envious, when someone gets the mercy of Lord Caitanya, who is critical, unnecessarily, then such a person is not actually a Vaiṣṇava. Because, a Vaiṣṇava, means non-envious, non-jealous.”

So, when, Prabhupāda said that, “When it says to associate with Vaiṣṇavas, that means, those who are not envious or jealous, those who are not bitter against their Godbrothers.” But those who are having the quality of a Vaiṣṇava, and if someone gives up the association of those who are envious, rather that is required. Because for a madhyama-adhikārī devotee it says there are four recommended activities - we should surrender unto the Supreme personality of Godhead, we should be friend the devotees of Lord, we should be merciful and compassionate on the innocent, and we should neglect the envious.

So, Śrīla Prabhupāda said, “There are many envious and jealous persons in the garb of Vaiṣṇavas, in this Kṛṣṇa Conscious movement. And they should be completely neglected.” Now when he says Kṛṣṇa conscious movement he wasn’t only meaning the International Society for Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. But, in the broad sense. Anyone who is proclaimed follower of Lord Caitanya, in the broad sense is a member of the Kṛṣṇa Conscious movement. But, if they can’t appreciate the Kṛṣṇa Consciousness societies spreading, Prabhupāda’s spreading this movement all over the world then we should neglect such people. It’s not that by neglecting them, that we are committing any offense. Rather, if they are jealous or envious, and they have nothing good to say, and we neglect them, this is required.

How can anyone avoid, appreciating the wonderful activities of Śrīla Prabhupāda. You see, if someone is so jealous, envious that they can’t appreciate what Prabhupāda has done, if there is such a person exists, we should neglect that person, as a madhyama-adhikārī. Similarly, someone who is trying to follow Śrīla Prabhupāda, and in following Śrīla Prabhupāda is preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness, if that person is anyway successful, rather that should be appreciated, should not be a source of uh… shouldn’t be received with any kind of envy. If it is alright, we don’t have to also even criticize such people. But neither do we have to associate with people like that. Because we want our heart to be softened. We want our heart to be filled with love for Kṛṣṇa. If we get distracted, by statements of envious people, then our hearts will become disturbed. It will become hardened to Kṛṣṇa. It will have opposite effect, and that means, hard heart is more attracted to sense gratification.

Because sense gratification is very selfish, and it builds the heart as harder and harder. As the person becomes greedy or selfish, everyone knows, he becomes hard hearted, and as a person becomes more and more God conscious, his heart becomes more soft, more compassion, all the good qualities of God, become manifest in him. So, we have to keep our heart in a very receptive state so that Kṛṣṇa can reside there, we can be completely Kṛṣṇa conscious. And that’s why we practice this sādhanā. If for nothing else, even if our sādhanā is not very good, good enough to get us back to Godhead on its own, but because Śrīla Prabhupāda has… or our spiritual master in the disciplic succession from Śrīla Prabhupāda, has instructed us to do this practices of devotional service, we do, to get the mercy of guru. We perform these activities, just to get the mercy of the spiritual master.

When you see that devotees, who are preaching in very difficult situations like, eastern Europe or Muslim countries, or sometime they have to go all alone for a long time. You see, when they are very happy to come back and associate with the devotees. Sometimes, those who get the association of devotees, they take it for granted. They don’t realize that how valuable it is to associate with devotees, if they are discussing about Kṛṣṇa, discussing how to expand our service, if they are actually, sincerely trying to serve the spiritual master, having association with them is so purifying, it’s so enlivening.

Before what… If one wants to go back to spiritual world, is very simple, if one loves those whom Kṛṣṇa loves. If you want to love Kṛṣṇa, you should love the loved ones of Kṛṣṇa. Just as Kṛṣṇa has shown here in this Aghāsura-līlā. How much He loves His devotees. He actually felt… He didn’t want to be… even Kṛṣṇa doesn’t want to be separated from His cowherd devotees. Even Kṛṣṇa was, didn’t want to be alone without His devotees. So, how wonderful are the devotees of the Lord! If even Kṛṣṇa… of course they are very, the eternal associates of Kṛṣṇa. Nonetheless, we can see that how much Kṛṣṇa loves his devotees. So, it’s recommended that if you want to see Kṛṣṇa, first you have to see His devotees.

If you want to love Kṛṣṇa, you love the loved ones of Kṛṣṇa. If you love Kṛṣṇa’s cows and His calves, His cowherd boys, if you love His holy dhāma, His devotees then it is very easy to love Kṛṣṇa. Because they are with Kṛṣṇa. If you are with them then you are with Kṛṣṇa. When we leave this world, if we think of a devotee of Kṛṣṇa, if we think of the holy dhāma of Kṛṣṇa, or if we think of the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa, or the form of Kṛṣṇa, or the name of Kṛṣṇa, then we return back to Kṛṣṇa, because they are not different on the absolute platform. How can we think directly of Kṛṣṇa until we are already on the liberated platform, you see? Then when we have seen Kṛṣṇa, rather, we are thinking of Kṛṣṇa’s saṁbandhī, those things which are related to Kṛṣṇa. Some may say, “I like to see you Kṛṣṇa, but I don’t want to see those smelly cows. Right. I want you without the cows.” Well, then you can’t go to Goloka Vṛndāvana. Plus, the cows are not smelly anyway. They are scented, they are beautiful. But when someone has some prejudice like that then you see, he won’t be able to go back to Kṛṣṇa. On the other hand, if someone is very appreciative of all the loved ones to Kṛṣṇa, then immediately he becomes very intimate with Kṛṣṇa.

Why does He say that if anyone lives in the holy dhāma, even for six months, or even for one month, or fifteen days, or even for three nights, that one can achieve liberation, one can achieve elevation to the spiritual world? So, if someone is a resident of the holy dhāma, they become a confidential devotee of the Lord. If one simply remains in favorable devotional service long enough, identifying with the holy dhāma, identifying with Kṛṣṇa’s service, identifying with Kṛṣṇa’s devotees, identifying… one becomes a dhama-vasi, he becomes the resident of the dhāma. He is no longer citizen of the material world. He is a citizen of the spiritual world. He becomes a confidential devotee.

If you live in America long enough, you become an American citizen. You get that right. They think that, that association changes your mind enough that now you become a loyal American. If you live in the spiritual world long enough, even the extensions of the spiritual world, the temples, the communities, the holy dhāma in India, when you start to fully identify with Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa’s devotees, and Kṛṣṇa’s loved ones, when you think that, “The temple is my home”, you think that, “Holy dhāma is my land”, you think that, “Kṛṣṇa is my eternal master and His devotees are my only friends.” then where else are you going to go when you leave your body? You are going to go home. You are going back to Godhead. You are going to be with Kṛṣṇa. There’s no doubt about it. This is a very easy process.

But if you think that, you know, the New Orleans, what they call, the Pirates, or the Saints are my friends, my heroes and the… you see, that this material world is my home, you may think, “God is my friend.” but, you know, some kind of distant... Then naturally, you may think, “My only friends are my family members.” Then it’s harder for one to go back to the Spiritual World. Because instead of thinking of Kṛṣṇa, instead of identifying with Him, you’ll be identifying with this material world. One would be implicated in so many karmas.

So, one should see, what wonderful arrangements that Śrīla Prabhupāda has given us to associate with our God brothers and with the Vaiṣṇavas. Sometimes, of course, now we not only have God brothers, we have God nieces and nephews, sons and daughters, uncles, aunties... it’s a whole spiritual family. But that was also there in the time of Lord Caitanya’s pastime, just immediately after He disappeared. When you read the pastimes of Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, we know that his dear God brother, his equal associate was Śrīnivāsa Ācārya. Śrīnivāsa _Acārya was the disciple of Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī. Gopāla Bhatta Gosvāmī was the disciple of Lord Caitanya. And, similarly, Lokanātha, he was the disciple of Lord Caitanya, for all practical purpose and Bhugarbha. Lokanātha was the master of Narottama. So, in that sense by level they were God brothers, cousin brothers, but one united family - equal. And the disciple of Śinivasa Ācārya happened to be Rāmacandra Kavirāja. So, Rāmacandra Kavirāja was also a great preacher.

Somehow, although they were nephew… you can say in that sense, Śrīnivāsa and Narottama were great friends, great Godbrothers, but somehow, Narottama would always respect Śrīnivāsa. But Śrīnivāsa treated Narottama just as an equal. But somehow, Rāmacandra was helping Narottama and Narottama became so affectionate, so kind with Rāmacandra, that actually he appreciated his association. That even in his song we sing, “rāmacandra sanga māge - that I always like the association and anxious for the association of Rāmacandra.” That actually he was in one sense, he was his God nephew, he was junior devotee by external value, but still he had a very close relation with him, he appreciated his association. Obviously, Rāmacandra Kaviraja was a very advanced Vaiṣṇava, in spite of taking initiation later from Śrinivāsa Ācārya. So in that way we can see that there was a… you see, the boundaries were not very rigid, there wasn’t any saffron walls, or any iron curtains, or anything. But it was a very loving relationship, a very intimate relationship.

In fact, it was so nectar to read sometimes how, in this one book, that I am just studying now, it’s called the Narottama Vilāsa. It’s important for finding out all about the history of Narottama Ṭhākura and the holy places that Prabhupāda wanted me to preserve. One day, Bīracandra, the son of Nityānanda, without any information, he just suddenly came to the house of Śrinivāsa Ācārya. So Śrinivāsa Ācārya, was actually, initially a very fixed up brahmacārī. But, Narahari Ṭhākura had ordered him, that he should get married. Because, there was some reason which he wouldn’t say why, but he should get married, and as a married house holder, he should practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So, Śrinivāsa Ācārya would spend about six months to seven months out preaching. And a four – five months at home. May be maximum six months. From all the preaching that he did, that’s just my estimation. And he later became the guru of the King Viramvira Vikrama, the king of Viṣṇupura.

And as a sannyāsī, he could never be the rāja-guru. He had to be a grhastha to be a rāja-guru. A sannyāsī can’t participate in the court, according to the ancient traditions anyway. Those times which is still practiced. So, anyway, he was there, Śrinivāsa Ācārya, he had six children. Three boys and three girls. And with his saha-dharmiṇīs, he was there and suddenly Bīracandra came with his whole kīrtana party. And they were overjoyed. Immediately they received him. They gave him elevated seat, they washed his lotus feet, then they brought their different relatives and devotees and he gave them his mercy and they fed him fantastic feast of prasādam. Just so happy that suddenly the Vaiṣṇavas had come to their house. Just suddenly without any warning or anything, just spontaneous. Then again, Bīracandra went off towards Narottama’s place. I didn’t read that far yet, what happened when he met Narottama. It’s very simple pastime. Not a very philosophical work. It’s a historical treatise. But, just how the Vaiṣṇavas were receiving each other, how they were associating. It’s so wonderful.

So, of course, I am always very hopeful that here in ISKCON, we will be able to preserve that original mood of Lord Caitanya’s movement - where the Vaiṣṇavas, they will come, they’ll always be very well received, very... feel very much a part of our family, and of course we hope that always, the non-envious Vaiṣṇavas, the pure devotees, who are simply dedicated to spreading the holy name and glory around, that they will always come and benedict us. We hope that we don’t have to encounter those persons who are in the dress of Vaiṣṇavas, but have got some bitterness in their heart, and they want to criticize others, unconstructively, you see. You don’t want to associate with those people, because we see that our previous ācāryas like Raghunatha Dasa Gosvāmī, whenever he heard any criticism of Vaiṣṇava he ran away. He didn’t want to hear that.

So, we can understand that our life is very short. We want to, in this lifetime, become so thoroughly in love with Kṛṣṇa, we want to become so thoroughly addicted to associating with Kṛṣṇa’s devotees, to eating Kṛṣṇa prasādam, to dancing in Kṛṣṇa’s kīrtana, to reading and hearing the classes about Kṛṣṇa, and to telling other people about Kṛṣṇa, to serving and building projects for Kṛṣṇa, and doing service for Kṛṣṇa, we want to become so thoroughly absorbed in that transcendental association, that we thoroughly can identify with Kṛṣṇa, and be accepted by Kṛṣṇa in His eternal circle of devotees. Especially, we want to be accepted by Śrīla Prabhupāda as his eternal family member that we can continue to associate with him wherever he is, eternally, knowing that whenever we are with him, we can immediately feel his transcendental presence, the presence of Kṛṣṇa and Vṛndāvana, Māyāpura-dhama.

jaya śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda
śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa,Hare Hare,
Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam grantha-rāja ki,

Devotees: Jaya!

Jayapatākā Swami: It doesn’t have to be a devotee that comes as a demon. It’s mentioned in the purport, just because Jaya and Vijaya came as demons to fight with Kṛṣṇa, doesn’t mean that every time a devotee has to fall down from the spiritual world to become a demon to fight with Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa also delivers souls that were in the material world.

Yes?

Question: Where does it say…  [break]

Jayapatākā Swami: It says that one shouldn’t preach to the faithless. In India, there are many life members who are complete Māyāvadis. No matter, as much as you tell them about the personality of Godhead, they… their brain has been thoroughly like a computer, it’s got a translator in it, or something, their brain, everything they see gets converted into impersonalism (laughter). So, talking to those people, after a while, becomes like a pointless effort.

So Śrīla Prabhupāda said that, “If a person is really, thoroughly polluted due to Māyāvadīsm, that better is to engage them in some form of service. Either in buying a book, or buying a, becoming a life member, doing some service.”

In fact, I personally, one life member was a nice person, but he was so thoroughly polluted, even, when I read from the Bhagavad-gītā, “brahmaṇo hi pratiṣṭhāham - I am the foundation of the impersonal Brahman.” He just like, he was stunned. Two days later, I came to see him, he said, “I called up my Māyāvadi friend in the University and he told me that, ‘No, it’s not that Brahman, it’s the four headed Brahmā.’” (laughter)

Said, “No in the context…” (laughter) You know, it’s just like this… (imitates computer processor sound) (laughter) But even… so we get, we engaged him in service. Actually, he helped us in many ways to secure… he was very good server, he had a very good service attitude. He would come and serve in many ways. Especially, he was a very influential person. So, he helped us with the government, with the municipality, with some other people who were envious against us, he would defend us. But when he saw Kṛṣṇa, he didn’t see Kṛṣṇa the way we did. That was the only thing. He was uh… he was polluted by this impersonal idea.

But even he, by associating, by chanting, eventually you could see that his heart was being changed. And in the end, he started to appreciate, because we had continually engaged him in service. So Prabhupāda said that, at least try to, if you can, if they are so much prejudiced against the personality of Godhead, either by materialism, or he specifically said impersonalism but, I would extend that even to someone who is very materialistic. If they could be engaged in service, materialism is even less dangerous than a Māyāvadi. Even by, just slipping them a little prasādam, or by, if they come, have them come during a festival and give out food to the poor or something. Whatever they can relate with, you see, if they do some service, that will start to purify their heart. Doing something practical. Sometime the philosophical can only be received by those who have got some spiritual asset. So, the children, they can give some spiritual assets to their parents by giving them some prasādam, by engaging them in some service, by sometimes giving those books which are very indirect type of preaching. Very gradual.

If you try to push something on one too fast, then they tend to become very defensive, especially in the West where people are… have a lot of value identity problems. And they want to protect their own... when they see the whole devotional situation, immediately, they... if they have to accept even that this is a viable alternative, then it brings their whole… all their own values into question, then they are not mature enough, or don’t have enough understanding yet to know how… they are just seeing some external things without knowing what it all means. So, they tend to become afraid. Because in their heart, sometimes even they feel that there is something real here, but this is so far out, “If this is real, then, where am I?” Right?

My little brother, he came to visit me, when I was first living in Montreal. He stayed for a month or two. At the end, while taking prasādam he said, “I have to immediately go back home”. I said, why, you were supposed to stay another month? He said that, “The food is so good and now I am chanting and am starting to like it. But if I stay here any longer, then I won’t be able to uh... I won’t… I’ll be very, put into very great difficulty when I go back home. They won’t be able to provide vegetarian food.” You know, he had a whole, because... he was still completely in material identity. His reference was completely material. He was saying that, “If I get too much attracted to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then somehow it’s going to be very un… very incompatible for my material life.”