19850711 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.15.5

The following is a lecture given by His Holiness Jayapataka Swami on July 11,1985, in Bangalore, India. The class begins with a reading from the Srimad Bhagavatam, 1^st Canto, Chapter 15^th, Verse 5.

Jayapatākā Svāmī: (Reads the Translation and the Purport)

arjuna uvāca
vañcito ’haṁ mahā-rāja
hariṇā bandhu-rūpiṇā
yena me ’pahṛtaṁ tejo
deva-vismāpanaṁ mahat
[SB 1.15.5]

Translation:

Arjuna said: O King! The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Hari, who treated me exactly like an intimate friend, has left me alone. Thus my astounding power, which astonished even the demigods, is no longer with me.

Purport:

In the Bhagavad-gītā (10.41) the Lord says, “Anyone specifically powerful and opulent in wealth, strength, beauty, knowledge and all that is materially desirable is to be considered but a product of an insignificant portion of the complete whole of My energy.” No one, therefore, can be independently powerful in any measure without being endowed by the Lord. When the Lord descends to the earth along with His eternal, ever-liberated associates, He not only displays the divine energy possessed by Himself, but also empowers His associate devotees with the required energy to execute His mission of incarnation. It is also stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (4.5) that the Lord and His eternal associates descend to the earth many times, but the Lord remembers all the different roles of incarnations, whereas the associates, by His supreme will, forget them. Similarly, the Lord takes away with Him all His associates when He disappears from the earth. The power and energy which were bestowed upon Arjuna were required for fulfillment of the mission of the Lord, but when His mission was fulfilled, the emergency powers were withdrawn from Arjuna because the astounding powers of Arjuna, which were astonishing even to the denizens of heaven, were no longer required, and they were not meant for going back home, back to Godhead. If endowment of powers and withdrawal of powers by the Lord are possible even for a great devotee like Arjuna, or even the demigods in heaven, then what to speak of the ordinary living beings who are but figs compared to such great souls. The lesson is, therefore, that no one should be puffed up for his powers borrowed from the Lord. The sane man should rather feel obliged to the Lord for such benefactions and must utilize such power for the service of the Lord. Such power can be withdrawn at any time by the Lord, so the best use of such power and opulence is to engage them in the service of the Lord.

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta translation and purport of the Srimad Bhagavatam, Canto 1, Chapter 15, Text 5, in the chapter entitled, “The Pandavas Retire Timely”.

Jayapatākā Svāmī: (Reads the Translation again)

Jayapatākā Svāmī: So, this episode in the history of the world is very dark hour, especially for the devotees and the religious people of the world. This is the period just after the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Krishna has left the world, going back to His spiritual abode. So long Krishna was present religion, austerity, transcendental knowledge, glory, victory for all auspiciousness, and so many other transcendental influences were present. When Krishna returned back to the spiritual world, when He left this universe, then there was an irreplaceable vacuum, and which the great devotees like Arjuna who were the constant companion of the Lord, His dear most friends and devotees, for them it was a completely crushing experience.

Actually, Arjuna could hardly speak. You can understand that he is totally choked up in crying, and he is feeling intense love in separation for the Lord. This is a symptom of pure devotion. If someone has pure devotional service, then in the absence of Krishna, or the spiritual master, then such devotees would feel an intense separation for the Lord, that they cannot forget the Lord, or His devotees even for a second. Their separation is so intense that they are constantly meditating on the Lord.

For this reason, Lord Caitanya said that, if someone can come up to the level of devotion where they are feeling a separation from the Lord, that is a perfect expression of transcendental consciousness, or pure devotional service. Because in that separation there is not actually the slightest separation on the spiritual platform. One is constantly without any cessation meditating on the Lord, due to an intense desire for His association.

Sometimes when one is in the presence of the spiritual master or the Lord, one’s mind may be distracted, but when one comes to the level of separation, then in the absence one is actually, one’s meditation may be more complete. So on the spiritual platform, there is no difference between serving in the physical presence or in separation. What is required is that one should give full attention without any break. Ahaituki apritahata, apritahata means without any break in that connection, in that devotional service.

So even though you may say or look at, what type of devotee is Arjuna, he is lamenting, he is feeling some misery, so devotional service is not very blissful. Some doubts like that if it comes, these are all different expressions of pure love for Krishna. If you were to go to Arjuna and say, “Alright you are feeling bad, take one crore of rupees, take a ton of gold, enjoy yourself”, even if you offer him the whole universe he doesn’t care. He only wants Krishna, that means he is nothing material.

Someone is suffering, he lost his business or something, if you go and give him a few hundred ah… crores or something, he will forget about it, nothing like that. This is incurable, but actually within that relationship what they are feeling is ah… another form of, another form of, another expression of transcendental ecstasy, that they are feeling different and newer kinds of ah flavors of loving exchange with Krishna.

And in fact, even they say in English, “Separation makes the heart grow fonder.” Sometimes if the Lord is separated from His devotee, and then when there is a reunion but at that time the devotee experiences even more transcendental joy in uniting with the Lord. So you find that this is continually going on. Krishna is also never always in one place, even though He never leaves Vrindavan, sometimes He disappears from the view of the devotees, and just watches them feeling some separation and then when it becomes too unbearable for the devotees, when that becomes too intense, then Krishna, He can’t resist, He has to come back, and then there is a huge reunion, when there is a sambhoga, feeling of transcendental ecstasy in reuniting.

In this way the Lord is very expert, like a musician plays on a musical instrument and makes so many different tunes, Krishna is very expert, and He plays on the devotee’s heart. If you say that if the devotee’s love were a string instrument, Krishna is playing on those strings and making a beautiful melody of transcendental relationships in love. So of course, the devotee’s love for Krishna is so intense that even to imagine their conditioned when they are experiencing the separation is enough to ah… melt, you see, even the stone heart of the materialists.

Normally materialists are very stone hearted, and they are not very affected by all these things, they are considered to be very sentimental, or irrelevant, and they are more concerned with such things as money, power you see, other things like that, different kinds of family attachments and so on. But these things are going far beyond any kind of material affection, this is an actual soul to soul relationship. Because of this, Krishna is always in constant contact with His devotees, and they are never really separated from Him. So this is one aspect of this verse.

Another important aspect is how Arjuna who is known for doing so many wonderful, so many wonderful activities. Arjuna was… you cannot imagine how he could go to Swarga and he could astonish the demigods, how he could even go to the Mahavishnu. Where is the history in the world that anyone from this planet gone to see Mahavisnu in the self-same body and then come back to tell about it? Even Lord Brahma, he waits on the side of the ah… Ksirodaksyai Visnu ocean, and he just meditates, even he cannot see Ksirodakshayi Visnu hardly. He would just get a message through meditation in the heart, and then he would transmit that on to the other devotees. So Arjuna, he did so many wonderful ah things, culminated of course in being victorious in the Kurukshetra battle, that the whole mahabharat is ah basically discussing about this, and this devotee and other pandava’s wonderful power and devotion for Lord Krishna.

So here, after Krishna decides that, now, He has wound up His pastimes and He has gone away, He wants to bring on His devotees to come with Him to His next place of pastime. So naturally He takes away all their powers, alright your work is finished, now come with Me. Even Arjuna, all the powers that he had, in one second it is gone. This is also a demonstration, just in case there was any confusion, where did Arjuna, Arjuna’s powers stem from. These powers were specifically the mercy of Krishna. The devotees, they are always ah candidates to get the mercy of Krishna, and to get some extraordinary powers to perform some duties. Krishna only gives such powers to pure devotees.

Just like in the world today, there is so much materialism, nobody can ah see any way out, practically people become hopeless, what is the solution for the way that even religion in the world has become so divided that they are always fighting for one sect and one community to another. Amongst all this international disturbances and dissention, His Divine Grace A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada was able to go all over the world and establish Radha Krishna, Sita-Ram, Nita-Gaur, Jagannath temples. And practically in all the major country in the world, in every continent, hundreds of temples, and spiritual centers, and farms, and goshalas, and books in just a short span of less than 12 years. Even the Guinness book of records, at one time published that, he had printed and published and written the most number of books in the shortest period of time of any man in the history of the world, of any person in the history of the world.

Don’t like to consider Prabhupada as a man, he was a mahabhagavat, he was the greatest pure devotee. Because he got this transcendental power, he never headed that this power is simply coming to me by the mercy of my spiritual master, by the mercy of Lord Caitanya Krishna. Of course, there was never any moment when that potency was ever withdrawn, right up to the very last moment of his preaching, he had the full transcendental potency. But Krishna of course also called him back for Krishna’s own reasons.

So we should understand that how special Srila Prabhupada was that he had received this transcendental potency. So many sadhus and representatives have gone to India over the years, but no one has been actually able to establish Vedic culture actually being practiced wholesale by thousands and millions of people in Western countries. Even this professor Basha, the Indology world expert from Australia, his commentary is that in the history of the world since the coming of Christianity from the middle-east to the west this is the single and the most prominent export of the eastern, oriental God, philosophy, religion, way of life to the western world. So he compared it with the coming of Christianity to the west. This Christianity now is practically ah like the world religion in the western countries.

So in the future, since this is the original culture of the world, that we are showing that how all the cultures have their roots and their unity stemming from the Vedic culture. There have been so many predictions being made that in the 21st century this chanting of the Hare Krishna will become the world religion, the world’s spiritual process. Of course, people, at least the Indians who have got much more of an intimate connection with this movement from their very birth and from their culture, behooves of that to take it up very seriously. If all the Indian people would take up this movement of Lord Caitanya very seriously, all the so-called social ills which are always slogans are vented around, they would all be solved in a very short time. This would be a great inspiration for the rest of the world. Otherwise in any case the other countries are not delaying, they are not waiting for India to catch up, day by day it is snowballing, people are taking to the Krishna conscious movement by the mercy of Lord Caitanya and Nityanada in ever increasing numbers. Because it is not based on any kind of a sectarian viewpoint, but it is based upon the real eternal principles of religion.

The nature of kali-yuga is to divide. So when we forget the actual principles of religion, and instead we start to see even religion as a political devise or a communal kind of a thing, then we forget our relationship with the Lord in our actual spiritual position, or if we never known it to begin with because of the generation, but actually the world this becomes a very materialistic place. But when a materialistic world looks through materialistic religion for a solution, the result is more materialism. So therefore, what is required in this kali-yuga is religion without materialism. You get enough materialism without religion, to give you more of it. Therefore, in the Srimad Bhagavatam, the wonderful nature of religion is providing pure spiritualism, pure theology.

In fact even ah the previous of Russia, Anderpop he has said that, this hare Krishna movement is not ah any kind of a sectarian religion but it is based upon pure theology, pure belief of a supreme absolute truth, a supreme personal absolute truth. Of course, he had no opinion about how they like that or not, but that was his personal critic. He was quite confident that, this was a purely spiritual movement, but it’s not worthy that they don’t mind so much other materialistic religions gradually doing activity, but are little bit concerned about something which is dealing with pure theology. This Marks set an analogy against that. Anyway, Marks is not perfect, he is after all only a man that’s occupying 6 feet by one and a half feet more than the ground, but the Vedas are perfect. So Marks and Lenin and so many other people, great thinkers and philosophers of the world, and their followers have a lot to learn from the Vedic culture.

Even if one is attracted to the idioms of socialism, they will find the best synthesis between capitalism and socialism, and all these other systems in daiva varnashrama economic and social and spiritual system. That’s another whole great subject. So here we are discussing with becoming a representative of the Lord, recognizing who is actually the representative of the Lord? Someone can produce Sony tape-recorders or rasagullas from the air, might me someone can do that, but after all you can buy a Sony for a couple of thousands of rupees, and a rasagulla you can get from KC Das that is here in Bangalore for about a rupee. So if someone who has started to distribute for a rupee diamond rings, that might be a even a more useful trick, but actual point is that even in spite of doing all those things, the real test is whether someone’s heart actually changes. Because so long we are attached to material things, that means again we have to take rebirth.

So we don’t find that Krishna specifically or all any avatar who is around and hands on material gifts, because what will be the benefit of that? Of course sometimes they do give Their devotees material opulence like They gave the Pandavas, the kingdom of the entire world, but that was because they knew that the Pandavas were very mature, and they used that kingdom in such a way that it was actually uplifting for the entire planet. This indiscriminately, the Lord who wants to, of course sometimes they do give material benefit, but we find that it is not considered to be the highest benediction, therefore it is not stressed very much.

I mean it is mentioned out how at one time Krishna gave one fruit seller, an entire basket full of diamonds, rubies and emeralds, because that ah… when we was a small baby, this fruit seller was coming and trading fruits for ghee and rice and other things. Little baby Krishna, just one, one and half, three years old, He grabbed a handful of rice and came to give her. So all the rice fell off and just a few grains were left in His hands, so He gave that to her and she was… just liked that Krishna looked so nice, filled His hands up with all kind of fruits. So then when she looked back in the basket, instead of fruits and ah… flowers and things, there it was filled with this huge 20-50, how much is a 50 Carat ah… diamond worth? Yea, doesn’t exist. You see huge, all crown jewels and things, all these stacks of big, big jewels like that. So, I mean that’s kind of thing if you go to avatar and if you give him few fruits, and he hands you a basket like that, but at least that you are pretty good, you know, it’s, it’s not that something you can just produce you know, you can always pick up something else. At least that would be quite a, quite a nice gift materially speaking.

But even for Krishna that wasn’t considered to be very astonishing or even a significant benediction, there were much greater gifts which He gave others. Especially the demons who even came to Him and when they tried to kill Krishna, even that instance He would kill them but then their atma would leave their body and then come and merge into His body, and in this way he would achieve sayujya mukti. So even these demons, they were benedicted by getting liberation from the world, the same liberation that the Advaitas are desiring. So if you use a little common sense, if a monist wants to get the merging liberation and such asuras as Kamsa, Sisupal, Bakasur and others, if they got such liberation, then what is it if a demon who tries to kill the Lord and get that liberation, then surely the devotees must get something more. And the monist they are only desiring that liberation. Doesn’t make sense but that would be the highest benediction, someone like ah… like ah… Arjuna and other devotees, who their whole life for serving Krishna and in friending Him and just being His constant companion.

Would that be their highest benediction, the same as Kamsa who is torturing Krishna’s parents, who’s is torturing the people, and then he gets killed by Krishna and then the soul goes out and everyone can see how it goes in Krishna’s body. So would the devotee who has been serving in love and devotion and faith the entire life get that same liberation? Doesn’t make sense! That’s why it is described that the devotee actually gets a much higher form of liberation.

The Vedas describe five types of liberation and above that there is the sixth type which is called the pure love for Krishna, which means one can constantly be serving Krishna in love and devotion, without any separation, on the spiritual platform. So this type of merging liberation is specially reserved for those who are envious of the Lord, for those who have no relationship with the Lord, for those who are, you see without any devotion or faith in the Lord. So those ah… yogis who purposely neglect the Lord or feel that there is no relationship required, who think that everything is simply oneness, they merge into that existence. They are considered little bit offensive by their neglect of the Lord.

In fact, Ramanujacharya, he had many runnings with even his own guru at one point was speaking about the Lord in a very offensive way. The technical Sanskrit…(Aside: Speaking with someone. Not audible) Instead of saying Padmacha he translated in another way. Instead of saying lotus eyes, I forget the exact Sanskrit word, he changed the you know how in Sanskrit you can divide the words up in different ways. So he cut the words in a different way that you know padmacha instead of Padmalochana, instead he divided in some other way, I forget the exact word, so I can’t divide it. And he said that this means that Naryana who face is just like… His eyes are red just like the red ass of a monkey.

When Ramanujacharya heard that, he started to cry. How the Lord can be thus described? His guru said, what’s the matter? He said that, this is, this is unfair able. That in this way they had discussion. And actually, Ramanucharya defeated that ah… that ah…spiritual master. This what’s the… may not be proper, in this way the mayavadis they say that God or Isvar has got no head, no hands, no legs, no feet, no face. Can you imagine if you started to describe, if someone started to say that, “I think Rajiv Gandhi or this Prime Minister or Chief Minister he has got no brains, he has got no ears, he has got no nose”, you know people will start before, you know, the whole party will come out, and they will be burning your house down. But here they have the full license to say that, “God is totally void.” If you go up to someone and say, “As far as I think you are big zero.” (laugh) You get a punch. But they have the full license to say that, “God, I think that you are a big zero”, and then you know we are supposed to sit by his devotees and say that that’s a wonderful thing to say. No! It’s very offensive. So as a result, all they get, their realization of God is zero. They only realize is undifferentiated aspect. They are not able to realize His blissful, personal aspect which Arjuna could realize.

If you offered Arjuna that you can merge, he would say, he wouldn’t even think for a second, he would say that, “what! the whole universe is a big empty without Krishna, what I want more emptiness for, what do I want more void for? No impersonal, undifferentiated, I want Krishna.” That is the wonderful feature of the realization of param brahma in the full bhagavan form, in the full sac cid ananda vigraha form. But that becomes irreplaceable. Thus the devotee is drawn like a magnet. That’s why one of the Lord’s name is Sankarshana. Because of that love, Krishna just takes away all of the distractions, takes away all the power away from Arjuna, and then that love for Arjuna then is just focused on Krishna like a magnet, and it gets pulled to wherever Krishna is.

Because even if the demigods say what can we give you? He no longer wants the Gandiva bow, he no longer…. he only wants Krishna. At the ultimate issue, all the devotee’s things wind up and he fixes everything upon Krishna, he simply wants to go back to Krishna. Because the other works are over, other works are only for serving Krishna.

So we should see that the devotee actually gets something much higher, than what the demons get or those who are offensive to Krishna. The devotees get the highest benediction, they get the complete benediction offered by the Vedic culture, offered by…, this is the highest given, there is no higher benediction than that. Even Krishna admitted it to His devotees that what you are getting, there is higher, there is no higher benediction I can offer you. So it’s like, someone if they pray to Krishna, you can give them a basket of jewels, you can give them unlimited wealth, you can even give them merging liberation- sayujya mukti. If He wants, He can even give salokya, samipya, swarupya, Sasthi. He can give all those types of liberation, which are much higher than the merging liberation, but the devotee, he said that he doesn’t accept. … mad seva vina, that the Lord… the devotee doesn’t accept those five forms of liberation unless or the first, the merging they don’t accept, but four other forms of liberation they don’t accept, unless it is also including what’s necessary for performing devotional service of the Lord.

Just like when Yudhisthira was given the test, and he was digging the planet, at that time he heard the voices of, he was picked up by Yamaraj, and then Yamaraj was showing that this way is the way to Vaikuntha, this is the way to the spiritual world, but then he heard the voices of his brothers calling. And then he said that, “Where are… where is that voice coming from? Those are my brothers.” “It’s coming from narak; you can go there to the spiritual world.” He said, “no! if my brothers were in narak, then I want to go there, not for family, but because they are all devotees. To be with the devotees.” Their relationship is so intertwined and intermingled with devotion to Krishna you can’t separate, but to associate with the devotees, he preferred that than even going back to the spiritual world. Of course, that was, there are many other reasons for all that. Of course his brothers were not in narak, but he went back to where Krishna was.

So this in conclusion, what to speak of someone like Arjuna and Yudhisthir who had the entire power of the world government of unlimited mystic powers and physical, mental, intellectual prowess. The common people of today, even the greatest thinkers, scientists, politicians, or industrialists, or wealthy people, their wealth and power is insignificant to compared to that what the Pandavas wealth, what they had. They had undisputed kingdom of the entire world. They can go to the deva loka at will, if it was needed. Even apsaras were proposing to Arjuna to accept as his maidservant.

In spite of all these qualities, they never use their power for even one thing apart from something which is sanctioned by Krishna, they always used their potency in a such a way that will be a service to Krishna. It’s only there by the blessings of Krishna, and thus if he uses that in such a way that Krishna is ultimately served. … means that you stop eating or stop living or changing the entire standard of living, but they didn’t change the standard of living, they didn’t become ah… from kings that they become sudras, something else, they remained as kings, they remained as emperors but they ran their entire kingdom in such a way that Krishna was worshipped, Krishna was glorified.

When they did the Rajasuya, Sahadeva said offer the first thing to Krishna. The whole thing was based on Krishna. Let Krishna be worshipped by every action. In the same way if a person uses whatever little he has, even if it is totally nothing compared to what the Pandavas had, it’s nothing compared to all that there is. If it is used in such a way that Krishna is glorified throughout the world as far as possible, then that means that his actual life has become a success, then at the end of life not only does he have the opportunity of having the blessings of Krishna, but he was able to establish a relationship with Krishna like Arjuna, he will be going back to Krishna not to suffer again and again conditioned life of suff… this miserable material conditions of birth, death, old age, disease. But to be able to enjoy transcendental loving devotion for Krishna eternally.

Hare Krishna hare Krishna Krishna Krishna hare hare Hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare

Any questions? What offering this at 9:30, 9:15? Is that the normal time for offering? Whether they have prasad ready or not, you have to offer whatever they have or some fruit or something on the exact time. This you have to, you don’t wait for them, the Lord takes every day at the same time. And if the cooks can’t get it ready in time, they should fast until the Lord gets His prasadam in time. But you as a pujari offer prasadam at time, not one day 9.15, one 8.15, you don’t, you are independent on the kitchen. You have your rasagulla or anything, you offer something to the Lord on time. And if it’s not the full course then that is the offense of the temple administrations and the cooks, they have to atone for that by properly organizing it.

Any questions? Yes.

Question: Krishna came to establish dharma, religion, just like we see that the just after he disappeared, monarchy is established in …

Jayapataka Swami: Just after…. Kali yuga came. He was holding kali yuga back. Krishna swada…dharma, jnana adi bhi swaha, kalua nastham disam tesam, puranarka dunodo…Krishna left, with Him He took dharma (religiosity), He took ah… jnana, everything also left. So that time, just at the sandhi, just at the time of change, the puranarkas, the bhagavat… the bhagavat came just to provide light to the fallen people in this age of kali, because the age of kali is going to come, and the nature of kali is already there, and to counteract that Krishna has left the Srimad Bhagavatam.

Rather than always seeing things in a negative way see things in a proper objective perspective. The age of kali was already supposed to come, and the people’s spiritual quality was to be destroyed, but because Krishna was present it was held back, until He left. But even after He left because of Bhagavat coming and great devotees like Parikshit and after Parikshit was Janmejaya being on the planet practically speaking kali yuga didn’t take any effect for one or two thousand you know… I mean took effect but not to that extent, there was not that degeneration for one to two thousand years. It was only up to a thousand years ago.

In fact the Vedic kings were so powerful that even they were attacked by so many different like Alexander, different people, but nobody get confident themselves until a thousand years ago, but it took 4000 years to generate to the point that the Moghuls could finally come in and defeat the ah… Vedic kings. Up to that point always this ah… up to that point gradually part by part they started to lose their hold. Only a thousand years when they were first… for the first time they ever defeated by any outside force in the history of the entire world. Millions of years, but that’s a pretty good… what ah… there is no history. Even the British empire… how many, it is… lasted for a few centuries. Here you have a Vedic tradition which is going 4000 years into the kali yuga without being ah… changed at all, but even then, the Moghul ah… invasion in India was not complete. Even up to 500 years ago South India was kept free by the Vijayanagara king here in South India.

Orissa was never defeated by the Moghuls, ever. Some people say that because Maharaja Prataparudra became ah… a devotee of Lord Caitanya, he became a bhakta, so he became weaker or something, but history proved that Orissa was never defeated anytime by the Moghul invasion. So then how can you complain that he was too weak, or his family was weak. History has no proof. There was, one or two provinces, districts or something that I don’t… I don’t know the exact… The fact that the main Orissa was never lost.

Even after a few generations after Krishnadeva Rai arrived, because of degeneration and certain principles, this Hampi was totally burned down by the Mughals. So, it’s not that the actual appearance to the real principles of Krishna devotion. Krishnadeva Rai was the greatest devotee. The present structure of ah… of ah… Srinivasji Balaji and Tirupati was constructed by him according to the tabloid there in the temple. Of course, the Deity is thousands of millions of years old. But ah… apart from that the recent structure four, five hundred years ago was constructed by him only, according to the tabloid that they have there. He was never defeated. The entire South India was one empire.

It’s not that because the person is devoted to God, to Krishna, to Vishnu that he become weak. There is no such evidence, maybe more compassionate, they have not to become weak, so it is rather due to loss of Krishna that ah… this things happen, that people become more materialistic, they become just like ah… royal animals, they fight with each other and they just become kind of sophisticated tribal, that’s all- aborigines. Prabhupada described western people as white aborigines.

Comment: Not audible.

Bhakti movement, spiritual life isn’t material. The voidist movement has to give up materialistic movement. It is there based upon brahma mithya, jagat mithya. But in our devotional movement, we say that everything is satya, but if you use it in devotional service it becomes satya, and if you use it for materialism it is asat. So, we in the… in the Vedic culture, in the teachings of Lord Caitanya’s followers they coined the phrase yukta vairagya. They use everything. Even the modern materialism they also use that in bhakti. Just like we have buses, we have videos, we have cinemas. So, if we have the ah… if we are given the opportunity, we can use everything in Krishna’s bhakti.

Comments: Not audible

Pardon.

Comments: Not audible

Jayapataka Swami: It’s a totally foolish statement. The reason why the country is pushed to poverty is because of lack of bhakti, because of over adherence to ah… casteism, blind mechanical religious principles without… they would be… there wouldn’t be one Muslim in the whole of India if it was… if Lord Caitanya’s principles of bhakti were accepted. Because the brahmanas refused to accept those who were accept back, those who were forcibly converted into Islam, therefore has got so many Muslims.

Then in Lord Caitanya in His movement... when the Hussain Shah’s son came one time and converted 500 people into Islam, then the son of Nityananda Prabhu- Virachandra prabhu, he went to the same place and he initiated those 500 people back into Vaishnavism and he took another 500 Muslims, preached to them, convinced them that what was, what was their actual nature, and he also initiated 500 of them making one thousand, and he told that ah… emperor, he challenged him, and defeated him in so many ways, and finally the emperor himself said that no more, no more forcible conversion, no more impeding the preaching of Virachandra prabhu. These are all false propaganda by atheistic people who are the actual cause for India’s degradation.

In India it is not in an impoverished condition for any other reason than they are forgetting about religious principles. In the Vedas it is described that in the seven dvipas of this planet, six of the dvipas are meant for bhoga or enjoyment, and one dvip is meant for dharma. The Bharat varsha is meant for dharma and the others are meant for enjoyment. Because Bharat is… was going after enjoyment and forgetting karma, therefore it became impoverished.

Now because Prabhupada’s movement has come to India, so in the past few decades, because of so much chanting of Hare Krishna, even in Bombay, twelve lakh people wait to see Krishna in Janmasthami. Because of Prabhupada’s movement and Ratha yatra is going to the major cities and this type of devotional service, that’s why India is coming up. Any little bit of development in India is only due to Prabhupada’s mercy that all their industrial and other efforts are successful.

Devotees: Srila Prabhupada ki Jaya

Any other question? Finished. (Bell sounds)

Question: Not audible

Jayapataka Swami: It is hard to discern actually where the mercy of the spiritual master begins and where it ends. Because we are given some minute independence, at some point, at some crucial points, we decide that we want to serve Krishna rather than serve maya. Because of that somehow or another by Krishna’s mercy, He gives us the bonafide spiritual master. As long as we continue in that desire to want to serve Krishna, then things in so many ways are happening by the mercy of guru and Krishna. So of course, the desire to want to achieve Krishna…. Sometimes someone who prays that you drag me to Krishna’s lotus feet, somewhere along the way you have done something accidentally or knowingly something to put ourselves in a position where we can render devotional service. The devotee in utter humility, they see that somehow that is also the mercy of Krishna, one who has been given that opportunity, given that chance.

In our actual devotional service, we always have the choice to reject Krishna and go back into the material world. Someone can always choose to simply engage in sense gratification. Similarly, one can willingly try to increase in one’s devotional service, one can try to engage in, try to take advantage of more mercy. Maya is very strong, so maya can take one away. So how if one able to continue to engage in devotional service and to use the mind in such a productive way, that is all considered that one is being protected by guru and Krishna. So it is very much intertwined, and there is no real practical use in trying to separate and see where the mercy will get one, where one’s self-initiative begins.

And we were told that, one’s responsibility, one’s very specific responsibility or freedom in that regard is that one has the choice whether to serve Krishna or not. The more that one cultivates that choice, more that one willfully offers them to Krishna, there is some slight freedom there. Even in material life there is some freedom, that one can choose between good, bad and neutral. So gradually one can go up to Swarga, go down to narak, some slight freedom is there. That freedom is much more enhanced if one achieves devotional service. There wasn’t some freedom than there would be no meaning to offenses, weeds, so many other obstacles, but definitely is some. So the devotee may pray to the spiritual master, give mercy, and sometimes there is causeless mercy where a spiritual master out of his own desire prays to Krishna to deliver someone.

So each case is individual, it’s an individual case. To what extent one person has desired, one person has got this pure mercy, that may vary in percentages. So normally those devotees who are more advanced they take the attitude that this is the mercy of the spiritual master to avoid any kind of fall down due to false ego. To what extent, who is… who is… who is qualified to say? Apart from Krishna who can what extend? It is totally kind of intertwined.

We have to take it from the Vedic literatures that there is pretty point, there is some amount of free choice that we have. Apart from exercising our spiritual speculation, there is no other practical value that you one can gain by analyzing it, rather we should see that at every moment we are given a choice, whether to sit and go to class, whether we get out and go to mangala arati, whether to…. So from our side we should use our whatever strength, whatever apparent choice we have, and always chose the Krishna conscious alternative, and whatever we see as lacking, whatever amount we see that we are not able to come up to the mark, we should pray for more strength to get that. Then the ultimate issue you taken that.

So we are not concerned with, we are not concerned with partial success. To achieve full success certainly would never have been possible without the mercy of guru and Krishna. So since without their backing we cannot be fully successful even though our participation was ah… was an absolute necessity, the devotee naturally offers that knowing that he could never get the cent percent success without the blessings of Krishna. He offers the credit to the Lord. But the whole world knows that without the devotee’s surrendering and also participating in so many ways acting, the world in general offers the glory to the devotee. This is Krishna’s arrangement; He wants His devotee to be glorified.

If a devotee is able to go back to godhead, all the demigods, all the religious people, they will all glorify that person as being a great devotee, and certainly they recognize that he has got the mercy of Krishna, guru, and somehow or other he was able to get it, the others weren’t. So he is very fortunate. But from our point of view we have to adapt these things and personally try to get as much mercy, of course just try to put ourselves in the position hoping to get as much mercy as we can and trying to put whatever power we have, do our devotional service to our maximum capacity.

Any mothers have any questions?

Question: Why do the Muslims take non-vegetarian feasts?

Jayapataka Swami: Why do the Muslims take non-vegetarian feasts? During the feasts? Because basically those are known as javana, javana danavas, religions which were given for cultures which were based on meat eating, it’s a type of, a type of concession. The people who are totally eating meat, so they are… for religions which were meant just to keep them out of total irreligion, it’s not the highest standard. And even in the Quran it is described that, there is a nivritti marg and there is a pravritti marg, and if one follows the nivritti marg that is better, and in there in the nivritti marg it is mentioned that vegetarian food is best, but no body follows that. These things were discussed between Lord Caitanya and the Chand Kazi.

Lord Caitanya pointed out, and the Kazi admitted, but actually in the Koran, it says that one should try to go back to Allah, that is nivritti marg, that is the path of renunciation, but generally nobody follows that; And pravritti marg which is concessions for performing material activities, and not getting totally bogged down by sinful reactions. That is the concession, it is not bhog. So all over the world religion has adopted the pravritti marg path and are more or less are forgetting the nivritti marg. So Lord Caitanya’s bhagavatam path is what based primarily in nivritti marga, based upon going back to home, back to godhead. So there you find, you find that this is supported by all of these different holy books in some place or another. But the way they are practicing it today it will be generated through a purely pravritti marg practice, and in some cases even deviated from the original teachings.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.