19860129 Arrival Address

The following is an arrival address given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami on January 29^th 1986 in Ipoh, Malaysia.

All of you are very fortunate here in Ipoh that their Lords, Śrī Śrī Nitāi-Gaura, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya and Prabhu Nityānanda have come here. The most merciful incarnations. No one can imagine their mercy. Lord Caitanya predicted that His message would be sung and practiced in every town and village throughout the entire world

pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi grāma
sarvatra pracāra haibe mora nāma
(Cb. Antya-khaṇḍa 4.126)

So, of course the message is being sung all over the world - Europe, America, Africa, Russia. So it's nothing surprising that in this important country of Asia Lord Caitanya has come. Lord Caitanya doesn't come because of someone being important or insignificant, but because of His causeless mercy.

Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya!

nārāyaṇaṁ namaskṛtya
naraṁ caiva narottamam
devīṁ sarasvatīṁ vyāsaṁ
tato jayam udīrayet

saṁskāra-kālo jāyāyā
apatyasyātmanas tathā
preta-saṁsthā mṛtāhaś ca
karmaṇy abhyudaye nṛpa

atha deśān pravakṣyāmi
dharmādi-śreya-āvahān
sa vai puṇyatamo deśaḥ
sat-pātraṁ yatra labhyate

bimbaṁ bhagavato yatra
sarvam etac carācaram
yatra ha brāhmaṇa-kulaṁ
tapo-vidyā-dayānvitam
(ŚB. 7.14.26-28)

Translations (by His Divine Grace Abhay Charan Bhaktivedānta Swami Prabhupāda): O King Yudhiṣṭhira, at the time prescribed for reformatory ritualistic ceremonies for one’s self, one’s wife or one’s children, or during funeral ceremonies and annual death ceremonies, one must perform the auspicious ceremonies mentioned above in order to flourish in fruitive activities.

Nārada Muni continued: Now I shall describe the places where religious performances may be well executed. Any place where a Vaiṣṇava is available is an excellent place for all auspicious activities. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the support of this entire cosmic manifestation, with all its moving and non-moving living entities, and the temple where the Deity of the Lord is installed is a most sacred place. Furthermore, places where learned brāhmaṇas observe Vedic principles by means of austerity, education and mercy are also most auspicious and sacred.

(7.14.29) Auspicious indeed are the places where there is a temple of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, in which He is duly worshiped, and also the places where there flow the celebrated sacred rivers mentioned in the Purāṇas, the supplementary Vedic literatures. Anything spiritual done there is certainly very effective.

(Śrīla Prabhupāda gives the) Purport: The Vedas recommend many ritualistic ceremonies to be performed with one’s wife, on the birthdays of one’s children, or during funeral ceremonies, and there are also personal reformatory methods like initiation. These must be observed according to time and circumstances and the directions of the śāstra. Bhagavad-gītā strongly recommends, jñātvā śāstra-vidhānoktam: everything must be performed as indicated in the śāstras. For Kali-yuga, the śāstras enjoin that saṅkīrtana-yajña be performed always: kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ. (Cc. Ādi 17.31) All the ritualistic ceremonies recommended in the śāstras must be preceded and followed by saṅkīrtana. This is the recommendation of Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī.

It is also indicated that a Vaiṣṇava temple where the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, is worshiped, and where Vaiṣṇavas are engaged in the service of the Lord, is the best sacred place for performing any religious ceremonies. At the present day, especially in big, big cities, people live in small apartments and are not able to establish a Deity or temple. Under the circumstances, therefore, the centres and temples being established by the expanding Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement are the best sacred places for performing religious ceremonies. Although people in general are no longer interested in religious ceremonies or Deity worship, the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement gives everyone the chance to advance in spiritual life by becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious.

As it is said in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.2.47):

arcāyām eva haraye
pūjāṁ yaḥ śraddhayehate
na tad-bhakteṣu cānyeṣu
sa bhaktaḥ prākṛtaḥ smṛtaḥ

“A person who is very faithfully engaged in the worship of the Deity in the temple but does not know how to behave toward devotees or people in general is called a prākṛta-bhakta, or kaniṣṭha-adhikārī.” Therefore, in the temple there must be the Deity of the Lord, and the Lord should be worshiped by the devotees. This combination of the devotees and the Deity creates a first-class transcendental place.

Aside from this, if a gṛhastha devotee worships the śālagrāma-śilā, or the form of the Deity at home, his home also becomes a very great place. It was therefore customary for members of the three higher classes — namely the brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas and vaiśyas — to worship the śālagrāma-śilā, or a small Deity of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa or Sītā-Rāma in each and every home. This made everything auspicious. But now they have given up the Deity worship. Men have become modernized and are consequently indulging in all sorts of sinful activities, and therefore they are extremely unhappy. (*a dog barks* Confirmed!) (laughter)

According to Vedic civilization, therefore, the holy places of pilgrimage are considered most sacred, and still there are hundreds and thousands of holy places like Jagannātha Purī, Vṛndāvana, Hardwar, Rāmeśvara, Prayāga and Mathurā. India is the place for worshiping or for cultivating spiritual life. The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement invites everyone from all over the world, without discrimination as to caste or creed, to come to its centres and cultivate spiritual life perfectly.

Thus end the purports and translations to texts 26^th upto 29^thof the 7^th canto chapter 14 in the chapter entitled ‘Ideal Family Life’.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, this is a conversation between Nārada Muni and Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, where Nārada Muni is explaining to Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira the principles of ideal life. He had already discussed brahmacārī life, gṛhastha life, vānaprastha life, sannyāsa stage of life in brief. Now he is giving a more detailed explanation of the family life. At first it mentions that in family life there are so many saṁskāras, or purificatory processes, to be observed. Actually, for the civilized human beings there are 10 saṁskāras starting from garbhādhāna-saṁskāra, and ending finally with the śrāddha. So all of the various saṁskāras are meant for uplifting the consciousness of the human being right from even before birth, at birth, and after. So, the family life is given practically the largest of all concentration of saṁskāras and everything, especially for the gṛhasthas. There are very few saṁskāras that brahmacārīs or vānaprasthas or sannyāsīs go through. Of course, because in the gṛhastha-āśrāma the tendency is to become absorbed in materialistic activities, but to counteract that, and at the same time because gṛhasthas have the very important service of producing new progeny, new children which are going to be the future of the world. So those children are brought in a proper spiritual environment. Then that means the future of the world is going to be very promising.

Infact Arjuna in the Bhagavad-gītā, he was so concerned about the future of the world, that one of the reasons he gave for not fighting in the Kurukṣetra battle was he said, “If I kill all these opponents, then their wives are going to become unprotected and will produce varṇaśaṅkara - unwanted progeny, which is one of the problems we are facing in the modern world. At least in the Western countries, not so much here. So it's not possible of course to do all of the saṁskāras, but the principle saṁskāras can be easily performed. Even if the saṁskāras are not considered to be effective unless before, and after, there is a performance of the saṅkīrtana-yajña. Even Śukrācārya mentions in the Bhāgavatam; when Bali Mahārāja, after he got the blessing of Vāmanadeva after his being captured, and after Śukrācārya could understand his mistake in giving bad guidance to his previous disciple, then he mentioned that whenever the Holy Name of Hari is chanted, whatever defect may be there in the ritual, that defect is corrected. He said from "chidraṁ", it becomes "niśchidraṁ". So even the guru of the demons agreed that this chanting of the Holy Name in that yuga is all auspicious.

Nowadays in the modern world there are not those type of qualified brāhmaṇas who are able to perform all of the rituals perfectly, but in the beginning and in the end, by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa then everything is made auspicious. So one of the objectives of our Kṛṣṇa conscious preaching is that we want to see that the whole world becomes sanctified, and one way of doing that is… Prabhupāda in 1970, before he sent me to India, just a few days before he sent me, he pulled me aside and he told me that, “Don't think that all of the Kṛṣṇa conscious devotees are going to live in these temples.” These temples are training centres. They are places where people will gather on occasions or weekends or, but in the future there will be huge congregations around every temple, (and at that time I only knew the western world) they will be having temples in their homes. In 1977, he instructed me to see that this message gets spread to the homes of all the towns and villages. So, we had the opportunity now working in the past so many years with people who are practicing Kṛṣṇa consciousness in their homes. And we see this as the biggest frontier of preaching. And of course in India, it's not a new thing that people will be having a temple in their home. Most people will be having some pūjā room or some altar in their house. And most people coming from that Vedic or spiritual tradition, they are having this system.But in many of the temples you find that they hire a purohita, who does the pūjā. So, Prabhupāda was requesting many of the big industrialists and other people in India that why do you hire a purohita to do your pūjā? They said he's a brāhmaṇa. He said never mind, he may be a brāhmaṇa or vaiśya or śūdra or anything else. I will give you the necessary training. As a Vaiṣṇava you should do your pūjā. Don't give power of attorney. You get the personal benefit, the personal mercy of worshipping the Deity. But very few took advantage. Some have taken. Those who are taking that opportunity, they are finding that this is a very enjoyable uplifting spiritual experience. We have read today, that wherever the Deity is established, that place becomes a holy place. So that means if every home has a Deity; not a neglected Deity but a Deity which is worshipped, which is respected by the residents of that home. And especially someone may say we make so many mistakes. And if we make a mistakes, then there will be misfortune. But in this regard the reassurance is given that while worshipping Deity before and after, if you chant:

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

then everything becomes auspicious. Even if there is some mistake that will be overlooked. So, in this way when they say Vṛndāvana is the place of 5000 temples, they mean that there are 5000 houses in Vṛndāvana and every house is a temple! So like that, it could also be 5000 temples. Doesn't Ipoh have 5000 homes? It could have temples. Certainly, it does. So, then this could be just like Vṛndāvana, at least for those people who are having Kṛṣṇa in their home. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, he used to sit in his house and worship Kṛṣṇa, and he would see that his house as the spiritual world. So, this is actually the purpose of human life.

Actually as a human being, we have this potential to know Kṛṣṇa, to understand the self, to become completely transcendental. To realize what the difference between life and death is, Bhagavad-gītā (2.20) tells us ajo nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṁ purāṇo na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre. That we are 'ajo'- we are never born, we never die. Only the body is dying. This basic thing is there. But factually speaking, now in the modern world how many people understand that they are not their body? You read in the newspapers you will find that all the battles are going around in the world because one person thinks I'm American, I'm Libyan, I'm Arab, I'm Christian, I'm Muslim, I'm Hindu, I'm Buddhist, I'm black, I'm white, I'm Russian, I'm Chinese, I'm this, I'm that, Indian. Everyone is thinking that they are this body. Because of this body consciousness, there is so much strife in the world, so much fighting. And they are looking, what is the solution? They are all having big meetings, United Nations, everything. But where is the solution? The solution is so simple. But that solution is SO simple that they won't accept! This is their foolishness. This simple solution that people have to realize who they really are, they are not the body. When they realize that they are actually the spirit soul. The spirit soul is the same, no matter which body it may be. On the spiritual platform it's the same - paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ (Bg. 5.18) That transcendental vision to see all living entities as the same can only come when one has Kṛṣṇa consciousness or spiritual vision. You can make so many rules and so many meetings on how to have cultural integration, how to have this integration, how to have this understanding. But as long as people are on this bodily platform, it is simply a show. But when people come up to the spiritual platform, they realize mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ (Bg. 15.7), that we are jīvas, eternal souls, part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Then we can see that because we are all part of the same Absolute Truth, therefore we are all one brother-sister, one family, under the Supreme. So that is the actual consciousness which is needed in the world, but instead they are putting on so many shows. What is the result? Nothing! The result is that we have 40 wars going on today in the world. Although there is no world war, there are 40 wars all over the world or more according to a recent count that was made. So, we are not concerned with that so much, but we are concerned about the personal battle we have to do in our lives.

That we are also fighting a war, that is a war against time. We've got this special benediction given to us. That as a human being we have the potential to become completely God realized, self-realized, completely perfect in this life, completely happy. We can transcend all of the various problems that are there. The difference between human life and animal life is animal dies - human dies, animal is born - human is born, animal is growing old - human is growing old, animal is getting disease - human is getting disease, animal is suffering, eating, mating and enjoying. So, as a human what is the difference is that the human being can transcend the problems, can solve the problem, can realize what is the actual relationship with Kṛṣṇa, but an animal cannot. Animal has to just stay in its own place. So, if we are satisfied to stay in our own place and simply go on like that, then naturally it's a hopeless situation. As Prabhupāda said that we have all the modern advancement, but we are unhappy. This is the modern world. People have so much advancement, but they are unhappy. Caitanya Mahāprabhu's movement is not to make people unhappy, it's to make people happy. And by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa; we just went on a tour, the padayātrā that was started in Dvārakā on September 2nd, Rādhāstami 1984. Went down through Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala through Udupi, through Guruvayoor, through Padmanābha in Trivandrum, Kanyakumari and Madurai - Meenakshipuram, Sundareswaran, through Rameswaram, Srirangapuri, Kanchipuram, Madras, Tirupati-Tirumala, upto Andhra Pradesh, Siṁhācalam and through Jagannātha Purī. Now it's entering the last stretch, the last few 100 kms into Bengal. So, in this padayatra-kīrtana and preaching throughout India, wherever we went we encouraged people to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and thousands of people would chant along with us. So in the Vedic times we know that there were aśvamedha-yajña. Aśvamedha-yajña, they would take an old horse, take the life of the old horse and give the life back by mantra. That shows the effectiveness of the Vedic mantra. So we would get all the people to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, then afterwards we would ask, “How do you feel?”

They would say, “Very good!”

Because in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta is says that 

adyāpiha sei līlā kare gaurarāya
kona kona bhagyavān dekhibāre pāya
(Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata, Madhya-līlā 10)

Adyāpiha - who ever chants the name of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya and Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra even today they can immediately feel transcendental peace and happiness. Not only in India, but I've done the same thing in South America and Africa when I was recently visiting there all over. And anyone who chants, giving it honest concentration, they cannot help but feel some change in their consciousness. So we ask is this not proof of the mantra? You want to test the mantra? This is the proof! Just as much as bringing the horse back to life is the proof, if we can bring spiritual life into our dry existence, it is also proof that the mantra is effective.

So Lord Caitanya said that he will deliver even the most fallen souls. What to speak of those who are already pious, who are simple people. Actually, delivering the most fallen is difficult, but even that Lord Caitanya's mercy is doing. We find in Malaysia that the people are not offensive by nature, they are very good natured. Even though sometimes they may be somewhat addicted to various kinds of non-devotional activities, they are very good at heart. So when they come in contact with spiritual association, they don't have any inhibition like that, they don't have any prejudice or anything. Many of the people, they are open to try. And when they try, they find that yes, they experience some sublime changes in their lives. This is simply the proof that Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s mercy is there. Even if the most fallen can be delivered, then what about those who are more pious, what about those who are more gentle hearted? We need that injection of spiritual force in this age of Kali. Otherwise sooner or later gradually all the good qualities go. It is predicted that in Kali-yuga all good qualities of a human being get destroyed:

kaler doṣa-nidhe rājan
asti hy eko mahān guṇaḥ
kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya
mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet
(ŚB. 12.3.51)

Śukadeva Gosvāmī told Maharaj Parīkṣit that this Kali-yuga is the ocean of defects, an ocean of faults. But it has one good quality–asti hy eko mahān guṇaḥ–one mahā-guṇa, one great quality. What is that great quality? Kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya–chanting the holy name of Kṛṣṇa. That one good quality... you put all the bad qualities of Kali-yuga on one side of the scale and the other side you put the one good quality of chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, that one good quality outweighs all of the bad qualities. But then if you don't chant Hare Kṛṣṇa then... you have only one good quality; so that means your scale is totally on the down-side. That is the one. He says asti hy eko, eko mahan gunah - one great quality, no other great quality. Eko mahān guṇaḥ - one great quality. So if you have that one great quality, you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa then it always will solve all the other problems. But those who don't have the benefit of taking the name of Kṛṣṇa, then unfortunately they have to suffer so much unnecessary pains in their life, which we don't want to see anyone suffer. Therefore, we go through some trouble to try to encourage people to take up this chanting in a serious way. What is the effect of chanting? That is also mentioned in the same verse. asti hy eko mahān guṇaḥ, kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet. Mukta-saṅgaḥ means to be liberated from the bondage of the three modes, the suffering, the association of the guṇa-saṅga, of the three modes of material nature. Then when that happens, finally one is uplifted to param-vrajet, to param-padam, or to the supreme abode, the supreme destination who is Kṛṣṇa Himself in the spiritual world.

So Caitanya Mahāprabhu, we are very fortunate that He has come here with Lord Nityānanda to Ipoh in a very beautiful form, maybe big or maybe small that has nothing to do. He is not limited by the form. He's spiritually present when His devotees are worshipping Him with devotion and love. Caitanya Mahāprabhu, when He was present only 500 years ago, that time He was travelling throughout South India and there was one brāhmaṇa called the Kūrma-brāhmaṇa. He was a brāhmaṇa in the place where Kūrma-kṣetra was. Kūrma-kṣetra has one deity in Andhra Pradesh of Lord Kūrma deva, the tortoise incarnation. And he approached Caitanya Mahāprabhu and he said that, “Caitanya Mahāprabhu, I have go so many family problems, so I decided that I want to join you and travel with you, and leave my family and my every problems to go with you and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.”

Then Lord Caitanya He chastised him and said, “You don't say this ever again! Never, never say this again to me! I don't want to hear this from your mouth. It is my instruction to you: you must stay here, practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness, deliver your family, deliver your people in this area. Teach them the principles of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. There is absolutely no necessity. Rather I forbid you to think about going anywhere else, or leaving, or coming and joining me, or anything like that.

yāre dekha, tāre kaha ’kṛṣṇa’-upadeśa
āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra’ ei deśa
(Cc. Madhya 7.128)

That was His specific instruction to that brāhmaṇa. And He gave that instruction to many persons, specifically telling them to take up this order of the disciplic succession and to deliver their people. In this way, you find that people are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa all over, everywhere. North India, there are many people that have spread this chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa. In South India, no one can attribute that any specific ācārya has spread the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa, yet whether in Tamil Nadu, or Kerala, or in Karnataka, or in Andhra Pradesh there are many people who are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. In Ayyappa temples and of course Kṛṣṇa temples, Śiva temples, you find many places where people are chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Only one that has spread that is Caitanya Mahāprabhu when He toured throughout the entire India.

Actually, Lord Caitanya also made it popular in North India, but then subsequently many others have taken His inspiration and propagated it. So you find that some people, they chant Hare Kṛṣṇa but they are not making the same advancement. They are chanting, but they are not getting the change. This is explained, that if you chant the name of Kṛṣṇa, then Kṛṣṇa He considers your offenses. So when you chant, and we are bound to make some offenses in this age of Kali, then we can go on chanting for birth after birth, even for thousands of births. But if we chant and we commit offenses, we are not going to get love for Godhead, we are not going to get Kṛṣṇa-prema, we are not going to get the highest potential from that chanting. We may get some other benedictions in the lower level, but we won't get the highest thing. The difference is that Caitanya Mahāprabhu, actually He doesn't accept any offenses. So when we chant Caitanya Mahāprabhu's names first, and then we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, then you find that you can make advancement very quickly. For instance, in Africa some of our preachers, they have to preach to people who are drinking all kinds of horrible things and they are eating all kinds of unmentionable things. So Śrīla Prabhupāda simply told them you teach them to chant the names of śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu nityānanda śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda first. Let them chant that, after some time then introduce the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa. This chanting of Caitanya there is no offense, that purifies them. And then when they chant Hare Kṛṣṇa then immediately they get the effect. In other places where they are not so impious, little chanting of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya and then Hare Kṛṣṇa is very effective. This is of course mentioned that Lord Caitanya doesn't accept the offenses, that's His particular mood. It was predicted in many Vedas, not that we are just saying this because we are trying to promote our personal Founder as some incarnation. Nowadays there are so many popular avatāras, and people want to promote their gurus as God and so on. This is not at all our intention. Actually, Kṛṣṇa consciousness philosophy does not accept that the guru is God. We accept that the guru is respected like God, because he is the very confidential servitor of God and he's representing God. So that way, guru is respected by the disciples almost on the level of God, but he is never considered God in the real sense. And the guru certainly never considers himself to be God, but considers himself to be a devotee of the Lord. So Lord Caitanya came as a devotee. So naturally, he would never allow anyone to call him as God. He would never allow that. But it was predicted that in the age of Kali, actually Kṛṣṇa Himself comes as the devotee in disguise. So naturally, when He comes as a devotee, then He has to play the part of a devotee. He won't allow anyone to call Him (God). Just like in the Bhāgavatam (11.5.32) it mentions that:

kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ
sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam
yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair
yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ

That Kṛṣṇa comes in a golden color in the age of Kali–kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ. Akṛṣṇa-varṇa - a non-blackish, a golden color. What is he coming with? Who is he coming with? Sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam - he is coming with saṅga, his own expansions. sa-aṅga—aṅga means body, sāṅga means his own bodily expansions. From Kṛṣṇa came Balarāma, from Catur-vyūha - Pradyumna, Aniruddha, Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, and Nārāyaṇa. Like this so many expansions are coming. So along with Kṛṣṇa Caitanya there's Nityānanda. Nityānanda is Baladeva and there are so many others. Advaita is incarnation of Mahā-Viṣṇu. Like this so many on the one side. Sāṅgopāṅgā - upāṅga means so many energies are coming also. Upāṅgas. The sāṅga is His own, that means the Sva-prakāśa, His own expansion. And then the upāṅgas, that is coming as the Energies. In the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad it is explains that 'parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate'. Supreme Personality of Godhead, Bhagavān has got unlimited potencies. So when Lord Caitanya came, He came with His expansions and also His energies, His upāṅgas. Pārṣada means jīva-tattva. This means that there are different categories of living entities. Not that everything is just one. That can be broadly categorised that there is first Bhagavān and His energy. This is the broad sense. But energy we describe as parāsya śaktir vividhaiva. Vividhaiva means many kinds, not just one kind of energy. Just like in this city you have got electrical energy, you've got gas, you've got coal, you've got petrol, diesel you've got so many kinds. These all comes into different types of energy. Combustible energy, electrical energy, magnetic energy and so on. So the Lord, He has got so many spiritual energies. So this spiritual energy we will discuss in a minute. But first the Lord Himself.

Generally, people know the Lord as Nārāyaṇa, or they may consider as Śiva. These are expansions actually. It is explained that when Lord Śiva was asked by Pārvati that there is so many worship, so many pūjā, there are so many deities, that which one is actually the Supreme? Then Lord Śiva said:

ārādhanānāṁ sarveṣāṁ
viṣṇor ārādhanaṁ param
tasmāt parataraṁ devi
tadīyānāṁ samarcanam
(Padma Purāṇa)

That of all the types of worship, the worship of Viṣṇu is the supreme. The only thing that is more effective than that is worshipping Viṣṇu devotees – tadīyānāṁ samarcanam. His devotees or His related things like His name, qualities and so on–tadīya. Tulasī, they are all tadīya. But then which of the Viṣṇu-tattva? So this thing was being discussed, whether it is Nārāyaṇa, or whether its Kṛṣṇa, or Varāha, or Kūrma, or Matsya, or Narasiṁha? Which is the Supreme? Lord Brahmā, he said

īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ
anādir ādir govindaḥ
sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam
(Bs. 5.1)

That of all īśvaras… there are so many īśvaras. Śiva is Īśvara. Śiva-tattva, Viṣṇu-tattva, so many Īśvaras are there. Viṣṇu, Mahā-viṣṇu, Kāraṇodakaśāyī-viṣṇu, Kṣīrodakaśāyī-viṣṇu, Garbhodakaśāyī-viṣṇu, the Puruṣa-avatāras, then there is the Catur-rūpas then there is the Nārāyaṇa-rūpas - Vaikuṇṭha-nātha and finally you have Kṛṣṇa. So of all the īśvaras, Brahmadeva is saying īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ - of all of the īśvaras, the Parameśvara, the supreme Īśvara is Kṛṣṇa. In the Bhāgavata Purāṇa (1.3.28) it is also mentioned ete cāṁśa-kalāḥ puṁsaḥ kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam. That of all of the various avatāras, all the various incarnations, that were mentioned, they mentioned Matsya, Kūrma, Varāha, Paraśurāma, Nṛsiṁha and so on, Buddhā, everyone. He said they are all - ete cāṁśa - aṁśl;a, or part or part of a part. But the original, the Supreme Person in the original form Himself - kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam - it's Kṛṣṇa. This is the original form. Actually Nārāyaṇa is the official form, and the intimate, very confidential form is Kṛṣṇa. Just like if you want to meet the Sultan, he has his official form. You have to go and he is sitting there with his turban, and he is dressed and everything, and you go and he will give you some service award after your 50^th anniversary of working for the government or some special function. His official presentation. But then after the presentation is over and everyone leaves, then he goes back into his quarters, then he has his wife and he has his queen, and his children, and his other friends. And within their circle, there is a different relationship that is going on. But we don't see that one, that's their confidential life. You see, so like that, Nārāyaṇa is the official, it's the formal aspect. But what is behind the scene, what goes on in the higher level, that is Kṛṣṇa. That is the intimate, loving relationships. So because Kṛṣṇa is not just one person… I mean He is one person, but He is not like you or I. He is unlimited. He creates a new form for each aspect. So He keeps the permanent Nārāyaṇa aspect. That's also Kṛṣṇa, but in that way He has that particular mood - very majestic, opulent and so on. And in His Vṛndāvana aspect, or that is the intimate mood, there He is relating in another way. But it is the same Kṛṣṇa, the same Nārāyaṇa, it's the same unlimited Viṣṇu who's got all the potential power. And that original form is actually most confidential, full form, as Kṛṣṇa. It is mentioned in the Ṛg Vedā,

om kṛṣṇa vai saccidānanda-ghanaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ ādi-puruṣaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puruṣottamaḥ

So that Kṛṣṇa, He is is coming with His all expansions, all His energies. So on one side He is coming with all the expansions. Then on the energies side, in the energies we have basically three categories. One is called antaraṅga, one is called bahiraṅgā and another is called madhyasthā. That means antaraṅgā means internal energy, bahiraṅga means external energy and madhyastha means the intermediate or middle energy. So this material world, if you look all around you see the trees, the plants, everything, they are only they are a combination of 2 energies - material and spiritual. This wall, this fan, light, bulb this is basically the material energy. The living things are a combination of material and spiritual energies. So the spiritual energy is what makes the things alive. If you see a car accident and you see there's a body lying on the street, the life is gone; it was a human being, it was a live body, but now its no longer alive and it doesn’t look the same. It isn't the same, the life is gone. The life is the spirit soul. It is the easiest thing to understand that within us there is a living force, that living force is us. So the Vedas describe that this living force is a minute part of Kṛṣṇa's spiritual energy. That spiritual energy is known as the antaraṅga-śakti or internal potency, or in Bhagavad-gītā it is described as parā-śakti, and this material world is called the aparā-śakti.

bhumir apo’nalo vayuḥ kham mano buddhir eva ca
ahaṅkara itīyaṁ me bhinnā prakṛtir aṣṭadhā
(Bg. 7.4)

Bhinnā-prakṛti, this is the separated energy. This external Durgā, Mahamāyā, Ammā, she's the separated energy of the Lord. She is all powerful in this material world. Brahmā-saṁhitā says:

sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya-sādhana-śaktir ekā
chāyeva yasya bhuvanāni bibharti durgā
icchānurūpam api yasya ca ceṣṭate sā
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
(Bs. 5.44)

That She alone, Durgā alone is doing all the creation, all the destruction. She is all powerful in this material world. Chāyeva, icchānurūpa. But she is doing exactly like the shadow is moving. According to the will of the Lord, she is moving. You cannot see what the Lord is willing, you can only see her action. Therefore, some people say Devī, she's the supreme. She is supreme on her sphere, but they don't understand that she is acting only according to the desire of the Supreme Lord. She is not independent. But just like the government may give the chief minister, or governor of a state, or some chief minister of a state authority and everyone will think he's totally independent. But then if they want they can also call for revote or so on and so forth. Of course, there is no revote for Durgā. She is a permanent position, but she follows the desires of her Master. But we don't see that relationship between her and Him. That is not visible to people on the lower level. If you are in a prison house, what the chief in the prison, what the warden does, that is supreme to you. You don't know what the governor, or prime minister, or anyone is telling that warden. He is not showing you his mail. All you know is what he is providing you. He’ll put you in a rigorous imprisonment, or he will give you a lighter imprisonment, or he will make you a trustee and you can wander around in the prison house and give ration out to the others and so on. So like that within this material universe, this bahiraṅgā-śakti or Durgā Devī, she's got the total run of the show. And she keeps everyone under her control That's why this material world is known as Durgā. Dur-gā. ‘Dur’ means too difficult to get out of, and ‘gā’ means prison house. This is a prison house that is very hard to get out of. So this is one of the energies, the external. The internal energy is Lakṣmī, Rādhā. They never fall down. They are always remaining in the spiritual world. So both of these are great energies—Mahāmāyā and Yogamāyā. The Yogamāyā is the spiritual energy–Subhadrā. And Bhadrā is the material energy. Both of these are huge, great, unlimited energies. You cannot limit them practically speaking. But then there are the small particles of that spiritual energy known as jīva-tattva. They are called the middle energy. They are actually part of the internal, but they are just atomic parts. It describes in the Upaniṣads that this spiritual spark is a cit-kaṇa, it is a spiritual spark or just a small fragment from the fire of spiritual light. We are just a small spiritual atom, like an atom of light. But we are an individual personal small spiritual energy. So because we are so minute, we can fall under the sway of the mahā-māyā or Durgā, or we can fall under the shelter of Yogamāyā or the internal potency. Those who turn their face away from Kṛṣṇa, away from the Lord, and try to enjoy in the material life, they get put under the control of the mahā-māyā. So in Lord Caitanya's pastimes, all these energies, they also took part. Gadādhara Prabhu is the internal potency and Śrīvasa, he is representing the liberated jīvās. There are two types of jīvas – nitya-mukta and nitya-baddha. The jīvās who are liberated are considered nitya-mukta. Once you are liberated, you are eternally liberated. And those who are not liberated are considered nitya-baddha, or eternally in bondage. So in this material world, everyone is a nitya-baddha. They have been bound in this material world since time immemorial. So the purpose of Lord Caitanya's mission is to take them from the conditioned state, from the bound state, and take them back and give them their liberated existence. But just like a person's asleep, you are trying to wake him up, “Wake up!”, he is having a nightmare.

“Save me! A lion is coming to eat me!”, and the baby is screaming and crying. The child is saying, "Lion! Lion!!"

And you go and shake, "Wake up! Wake up!"

They don't want to wake up, they are frightened. If you wake them up, then they look around and say, “Oh! Now everything is alright. Now I am in my house, here's my mother, my father, everything is okay. Ha! was being eaten by a tiger mother!”

“No no! It's alright baby. Everything is alright now!”

It's like that, we are in the material world and we think, “I have so many problems… I have so many things that are coming and what is the solution? What to do? I better take some whiskey and that will make me feel better. I better make money so I should do some black market or buy some lottery tickets and get some money, or I should rob a bank or I should do this…” Like this our desires are disturbing us, maybe we don't have such bad habits but somehow or the other we just struggle and live with anxieties, thinking that we'll get better in the future or something like that.But actually, it's not our purpose just to work hard without any objective. The purpose is to come back to that liberated state. To wake up from this illusion or the dream that we think this world is a permanent place. This world is not permanent. This is a temporary place - very temporary for us because none of us would live to be 100 years old practically speaking, except for a very rare soul. That is the very real fact. But the world itself, even though we know that after this life we take again rebirth, and again and again we take birth. That can be ended in a moment if we fix our mind up in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

So Lord Caitanya is so kind that He is saying you don't have to externally change. You don't have to go through, you don't have to take sannyāsa, or leave your house. Of course, if someone wants to come out and help in preaching and otherwise they are qualified, we do take some to do that kind of missionary work. But our overall objective is that everyone, in all the families, in all the homes, they should practice this principle of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and they should be liberated from all these kinds of material bondages and come up to their original position. And when a person reaches that, then they are totally transformed people. They don't have to externally change, but internally we change the consciousness. The whole vision of life changes. Instead of seeing things in the animalistic vision. Just like a little child is just starting off, first putting everything in its mouth. ‘What does this taste like? Is this food?’ Whether it's a nail, or whether it's a razor blade, or a pin, or a piece of dirt, everything goes in the mouth. Then after a while they are taught, “No, this is food and that is not food. You should put food in your mouth and not other things.” And thus, their sense increases. So similarly, the human consciousness is not only to go upto the point of this is food and that’s not. No. They must go to the ultimate level. That this is the Supreme Absolute Truth, this is the spiritual world and this is the material world. Īśopaniṣad says we should know both side by side - what is the material world and what is the spiritual world. And unfortunately, people are not being developed to that level in the modern world, and therefore they are suffering.

So Prabhupāda said that his desire was that every home should become a holy place and thus that type of spiritual culture, people growing up in that environment, naturally become totally liberated people and they will be able to help to liberate others. So therefore, we try to encourage people to perfect their lives and help others to perfect theirs. So I thank you all very much because I know that I've heard so many good reports here on Ipoh, that many of you are all chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and you've shown a great interest in this movement started by His Divine Grace Abhay Charan Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda to spread the Sanātana-dharma and the message of the Vedas, especially this mercy of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. And I am very grateful for the support and active participation all of you have been giving, and I hope that although we are trying to discuss and see how we can have a permanent arrangement here for all you. Because especially of course if many people are interested, then actually it's an encouragement for us to try to make a permanent arrangement.

Verified by your humble ever Servant
Vinoda Gopīkeśa Dāsa 
23-01-2025
Māyāpur India