19860129 Arrival Address

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

Guru Mahārāja  :

All of you are very fortunate here in Ipoh that the Lords Sri Sri Nitai Gaur, Sri 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 - "Prithibite ache yata nagaradi grama sarvatra pracara haibe mora nama". 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 or Asia - Lord Caitanya has come, Lord Caitanya doesn't come because of someone being important or significant but because of His causeless mercy. Samskaara Kalo Jaya yaya Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya.

Nārāyaṇam namaskritya naram chaiva narottamam devim sarasvatim vyasam tato jayam udirayet,saṁskāra-kālo jāyāyā apatyasyātmanas tathā preta-saṁsthā mṛtāhaś ca karmaṇy abhyudaya nṛpa (Srimad Bhagavatam 7.14.26)

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 (SB 7.14.27 - 28)

Translation 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 nonmoving 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. 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. (SB 7.14.29)

Srila Prabhupāda gives the purport The Vedās 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. All the ritualistic ceremonies recommended in the śāstras must be preceded and followed by saṅkīrtana. This is the recommendation of Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī. (SB 7.14.26)

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 centers 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. (SB 7.14.27-28)

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. 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 centers and cultivate spiritual life perfectly. (SB 7.14.29) Thus end the purports and translations to text 26 upto 29 of the 7th canto chapter 14 in the chapter entitled Ideal family life.

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, Vānaprasthalife, 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 samskaras or purificatory processes to be observed. Actually, for the civilized human beings there are 10 samskaras starting from garbhodaka samskaara and ending finally with the shradh. So all of the various samskaras are meant for uplifting the consciousness of the human being right from birth, at birth and after. So, the family life is given a very large, largest of all concentration of samskaras and everything specially for the gṛhastha. There are very few samskaras that brahmacārīs, vanaprastham or sannyāsīs go through. Of course because in the gṛhastha ashram the tendency is to become absorbed in materialistic activities, but to counteract that and at the same time because gṛhastha 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.

That means the future of the world is going to be very promising. Infact Arjuna in the Bhagavad-gītā, he was so concerned of the future of the world that one of the reasons he gave for not fighting in the Kurukshetra battle was he said if I kill all these opponents then their wives are going to become unprotected and will produce varna sankara - unwanted progeny which is one of the problems we are facing in the modern world, so at least in the western countries not so much in .. So one of the.. it's not possible of course to do all of the samskaras, but the principle samskaras can be easily performed.

Even if the samskaras are not considered to be effective, then before and after there is a performance of the sankīrtan yajna. Even Sukracharya mentions in the Bhagavatam when Bali Mahārāja  , after he got the blessing from Vaamana Dev, after his being captured, after Sukracharya understood of 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 "chidram" it becomes "nischidram". 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 took 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 centers. They are places where people will gather on occasions or weekends or, but in the future everyone will be huge congregations around every temple and they will be having, even in western, 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 for 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 ofcourse in India it's not a new thing that people will be having a temple in their home, most people will be having some puja 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 purohit who does the puja. So, Prabhupāda was requesting many of the big industrialists and other people in India that why are you hiring a purohit to do your puja? He's a brāhmaṇ. He said never mind, he may be a brāhmaṇ or vaishya or shudra or anything else. But I will give you the necessary training, as a vaiṣṇava you should do your puja. Don't give power of attorney. You get personal benefit, the personal mercy of worshipping the deity. But most of, 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 and the deity not a neglected deity but a deity which is worshipped which is respected by the residents of that home and especially some one may say we make so many mistakes. And if we make mistakes then there will be misfortune. 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 Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. Then everything becomes auspicious, even if there is some mistake that will be overlooked. So, in this way when say Vṛndāvan is the place of 5000 temples, they mean that there are 5000 houses in Vṛndāvan and every house is a temple. So like that it could also be 5000 temples. Ipoh doesn't have 5000 homes, it could have temples, certainly it does. So then this could be just like Vṛndāvan at least for those people who are having Kṛṣṇa in their home. Bhaktivinod Ṭhākur, he used to sit in his house and worship Kṛṣṇa and he would actually see the entire, he would see the entire 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 is the difference between life and death, Bhagavad-gītā tells us ajo nityah sasvato 'yam purano na hanyate hanyamane sarire That we are 'ajo'- we are never born, we never die, only the body is dying. This basic thing is there. But factually speaking in the modern world how many people understand that they are not their body. You read in the newspapers you will find that how many 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 Budhist, 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.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. One may 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 - panditah samah darshinah. 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 mamaivamso jiva-loke jiva-bhutah sanatanah, That we are jivas, 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 14 wars going on today in the world. Although there is no world war, there are 14 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 is 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 be staying in its own place. So, if we are satisfied to stay in our own place and simply go 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 are so advanced, but they are unhappy. Caitanya Mahāprabhu's movement is not to make people unhappy, it's to make them happy. And by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, we just went on a tour in .... the padayatra was started in Dwaraka in September 2nd, Rādhāshtami 1984 went down through Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala through Udupi, through Guruvayoor, through Padmanabhaji in Trivandrum, KanyaKumari and Madurai - Meenakshipuram, Sundareshwar, through Rameshwaram, Sri Ranga Puri, Kanchipuram, Madras, Tirupati, Thirumala upto Andhra pradesh to Simhachalam and through Jagannath Puri.

Now it's entering the last stretch, the last few 100 kms into Bengal. So, in this padayatra kīrtan 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 was Ashwamedha Yajna. Ashwamedha Yajna they would take an old horse, take the life of the old horse and give 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 adyapith sei lila kare gora raya kona kona bhagyavan dekhibar paya adyapith - who ever chants the name of Sri Kṛṣṇa Caitanya and Hare Kṛṣṇa Maha 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 any one who chants, giving his honest concentration they cannot help but feel some change in their consciousness. So we ask is this not proof of the Vedā or the mantra. You want to test the mantra, this is a proof. Just as much as bringing the horse back to life is the proof that we can bring spiritual life into our ..... into our dry existence, this is also proof that the mantra is effective. So Lord Chaitanya said that he will deliver even the most fallen souls. What to speak of those who are already pious, who are sinful people. Actually, delivering the most fallen is difficult, but even that Lord Chaitanya'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 not-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..... 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 Chaitanya Maha Prabhu mercy is there. Even if the most fallen can be delivered, what about those who are more pious, what about those who are more gentle hearted. We need that injection of spiritual course 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-nidhi rājann asti hy eko mahān guṇaḥ kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet.  Sukhadev Gosvāmī told Maharaj Parikshit 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 mahān guṇaḥ, 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 mahan gunah - 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 to 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 gunah saṅgaḥ of the three modes of material nature. Then when that happens finally one is uplifted to param varajet 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 Nityānanda to Ipoh in a very beautiful form, maybe big or maybe small that is 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 Kurma brāhmaṇa. He was the brāhmaṇa in the place with the Kurma kshetra one. Kurma kshetra has one deity in Andhra Pradesh of Lord Kurma dev, 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 changed him, He 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 principle of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. There is an absolute no necessity rather I could beat 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.  That was His specific instruction to that brahman. And He gave them instructions to many persons, specifically telling them to take up this order of the disciplic succession, to deliver their people. Caitanya Mahāprabhu 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 acharya 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, Śivatemples you find many places where people are chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa Maha mantra. Only one who has spread that is Caitanya Mahāprabhu when He toured throughout the entire India.

It's 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. This is the difference is that Caitanya Mahāprabhu, actually He doesn't accept any offenses. When you 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 doing all types of eating, all kinds of unmentionable things, so Srila Prabhupāda simply told them you teach them to chant the names of Sri Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Prabhu Nityānanda Sri ādvaita gadādhara Srivas adi Gaura Bhakta Vrinda 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 Sri Kṛṣṇa Caitanya and then Hare Kṛṣṇa is very effective. Why this is so is of course mentioned.

That Lord Caitanya doesn't accept the offenses, that's His particular mood. It was predicted in many Vedās, 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 avataars and people want to promote their Gurus to get God and so on.

This is not at all our intention. Actually, we do not believe Kṛṣṇa consciousness philosophy does not accept that the Guru is the God. We accept that 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.....just like in the Bhagavatham 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 sanga, his own expansions. sa-anga--anga means body, sa anga means his own bodily expansion. From Kṛṣṇa came Balaram, chatur vyuha -- Pradyumna, Aniruddha, Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, 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.. ādvaita incarnation of Mahaviṣṇu. Like this there are so many on the one side. sāṅgopāṅgā - Panga means so many energies are coming also. Upanga, the saṅga is the own, that means the sivaprakash His own expansion, and then the Upaanga that means coming from the or the panga, that is coming as the energies. In the svetasvatara Upaniṣad it is explained that 'Parasa sakti vividiva suyate ' Supreme personality of Godhead Bhagavan has got unlimited potencies.

So when Lord Caitanya came, He came with His expansions and also His energies, His upangas. Parashara menas jiva tattva. This means that there are various categories of living entities. Not that everything is just one. That can be broadly categorised that, there is first Bhagavan and His energy. This is in the broad sense. But energy we describe as Parasya saktir vividaiva. Vividiva 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 come into different types of energy. Combustible energy, electrical energy, mechanical energy and so on.

Lord He has got so many spiritual energies. So this spiritual energy we will discuss in a minute. But first the Lord Himself, the Lord generally people know the Lord is Nārāyaṇ, or they may consider that Shiva, these are expansions actually. It is explained that when Lord Śiva was asked by Parvathi that when there is so much worship, so many pooja, there are so many deities, then which one is actually the supreme. Then Lord Śiva said arādhānam sarvesam visnur aRādhānam param tasmat parataram devi tadiyanam samarcanam (Padma Purana). 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--tadiyanam samarcanam. His devotees or His related things like His name, qualities and so on--tadiya--they are all tadiya. Anyway....But then which of the viṣṇu tattva? So this thing was being discussed between whether it is Nārāyaṇ or whether its Kṛṣṇa or Varaha or Kurma or Matsya or Narasimha.Which is the Supreme?

 Lord Brahma, he said isvarah paramah Kṛṣṇah sac-cid-ananda-vigraha anadir adir govindaha sarva-karana-karanam That of all īśvaras, there are so many īśvaras, Śiva is īśvara, ŚivaTattva, viṣṇu Tattva, there are so many īśvaras are there, viṣṇu, Maha viṣṇu, Kāraṇodakaśāyī viṣṇu, Kṣīrodakaśāyī viṣṇu, Garbhodakaśāyī viṣṇu, the purusha avataars, then there is the Chathur rupas then there is the Nārāyaṇ rupas, Vaikuṇṭhanatha and finally you have the Kṛṣṇa. So of all the īśvaras, Brahmadev is saying isvarah paramah Kṛṣṇah - of all of the īśvaras, the param īśvara, the supreme īśvara is Kṛṣṇa.

 In the Bhagavata Purana it is also mentioned ete cāṁśa-kalāḥ puṁsaḥ kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam That of all of the various avatars, all the various incarnations, that were mentioned, they mentioned Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Parasurama, Nrsimha and so on Buddha and everyone. He said they are all ete ca amsa, they are all amsa or part or part of a part. But the original, the Supreme person in the original form Himself Kṛṣṇa Tu Bhagavan Svayam. It's Kṛṣṇa. This is the original form. Lord Sriman Nārāyaṇ 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 in everything and you go and he will give you some service award after your 50th anniversary of working for the government or some special function or 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 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 , Nārāyaṇ 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, He is one person, but He is not like you or I, He is unlimited, He can create, He creates a new form for each aspect. So He keeps the permanent Nārāyaṇ aspect. That's also Kṛṣṇa, but in that way He has that particular mood - very majestic, opulent and so on. And in His Vṛndāvan aspect or that is the intimate mood there He is relating in another way, but it is the same Kṛṣṇa, the same Nārāyaṇ, it's the same unlimited viṣṇu who's got all the potential power and that original form is actually most confidential full form is Kṛṣṇa, it is mentioned.

In Rig Vedā, om Kṛṣṇa vai sac-cid-ananda-ghanashyam Kṛṣṇa adi-purusha Kṛṣṇa purushottama. 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 Antaranga, one is called Bahiranga and another is called Madhyastha. That means Antaranga means internal energy, Bahiranga means external energies and Madhyastha means the intermediate or middle energies. 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 makes the things alive.

Once you see if you see a car accident and you see there's a body lying on the street, the life is gone, then what's the human being, then where the life in the body, but now its no longer alive, it no longer looks the same. It isn't the same, life is gone. 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 Vedās describe that the living force is a minute part of Kṛṣṇa's spiritual energy. That spiritual energy is known as the Antaranga shakti or internal potency or in Bhagavad-gītā it is described as Para shakti, and this material world is called the Apara shakti.

 Bhumir apo 'nalo vayuh kham mano buddhir eva ca ahankara itiyam me bhinna prakrtir astadha (BG 7.4) Bhinna prakritir this is the separated energy, this external Durga, Mahamāyā, Amma, She's the separated energy of the Lord. She is all powerful in this material world Brahma Samhita says this srishti-sthiti-pralaya-sadhana-shaktir eka chayeva yasya bhuvanani bibharti Durga icchānurūpam api yasya ca ceṣṭate sā govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi that She alone, Durga alone is doing all the creation, all the destruction. She is all powerful in this material world. Chayeva icchanurupa, 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 I've seen some people think Devi, 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 Durga, 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 wardon. That he is not showing you his mail. All you know is what he is providing you. He puts you in a rigorous imprisonment or he puts you in a lighter imprisonment or he will make you a trustee and you wander around in the prison house and give ration out to the others and so on. So, like that within this material universe, this bahiranga shakti or Durga Devi, she's got the total run of the show. And she keeps everyone under her control.

That's why this material world is called Durga. Dur-ga. Dur means too difficult to get out of and Ga 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 Lakshmi., Rādhā. They never fall down. They are always remaining in the spiritual world. So both of these are great energies--Mahamāyā and Yogamāyā. The Yogamāyā is the spiritual energy--Subhadrā. And Bhadra 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 Jiva 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 guna, it is a spiritual spark, a spiritual spark or a...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 Mahamāyā or Durga 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 Mahamāyā. So in Lord Chaitanya's pastimes, all these energies, they also took part.

Because Gadhadar Prabhu was the internal potency and Srivas--he is representing the liberated Jivas. There are two types of Jivas--Nitya mukta and Nitya baddha. The jivas 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 Nitya baddha. They have been bound in this material world since time immemorial. So the purpose of Lord Chaitanya'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 he is screaming and the baby is 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 ok. Haa...... I 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 and 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, 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 that some how 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 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, none of us would live to be 100 years old practically speaking except for a rare soul. That is the very real fact. But the world itself, even though we know that after this life we take 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 you see, of course if someone wants to come out and help in preaching, otherwise they are qualified we do take some, to do that kind of missionary work. But the overall objective is that everyone is 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 bondage and they can come up to the 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 starting off, putting everything in its mouth. What does this table taste like? Is this food? Whether it's mail or whether it's a razor blade or a pin, or a piece of dirt, everything goes in their 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 by this their sense increases. So similarly the human consciousness is not only to go upto the point of this is food and 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. Isopanishad says we should know both sides - 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 the ..become totally liberated people and they will be able to help to liberate others. So therefore we encourage people to try to perfect their lives and others to perfect theirs. So I thank you all very much because I know that I've heard so many good reports here of people, 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 Bhakti Vedānta Swami Prabhupāda to spread the sanatana dharma and the Vedās and specially 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 an permanent arrangement here for all you, because specially ofcourse if many people are interested, then actually it's an encouragement for us to try to make a permanent arrangement.

Proofread by :- revathi Mtji on 20/10/2020.