19871027 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.10.25-39

The following is a Sunday Feast lecture given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami on October 27th 1987 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The class begins with a reading from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10th canto, chapter 10, text 25 - 39.

Jayapatākā Swami:

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ
paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande
paramānanda-mādhavam

Happy Diwali! Happy Indian New Year!

Today several festivals are being celebrated at the time. This is the Diwali observance, a few days, this is also Govardhana Pūjā, also this is the month of Dāmodara or the Dāmodara bandhan. All these are very sacred occasions which can help us to advance in our Kṛṣṇa consciousness, help us to achieve real happiness in life. The month of Dāmodara is known because Lord Dāmodara or Lord Kṛṣṇa was bound by his mother by ropes around His waist. He was a small child only two or three years old. In order to keep Him from getting in trouble, just like mothers today put their children in a playbed, so that they stay within that one area otherwise they may wander in the street or anywhere. So mother Yaśodā was afraid Kṛṣṇa will wander off somewhere. He was stealing butter and feeding it to the monkeys so she tied Kṛṣṇa around the waist to a stone mortar that they use for grinding pulses. It’s a great history how two residents of another planet had been cursed. There’s one Hare Kṛṣṇa spiritual master who wanders about the universe like a transcendental spaceman and he spreads this message of kṛṣṇa-bhakti all over the universe. So when he, his name is Nārada Muni, when Nārada Muni went to the planet where the sons of Kuvera were near Kailāsa. He found them to be in need of some spiritual guidance, they were misbehaving. So he cursed them to become trees in Vṛndāvana and stand there until Kṛṣṇa came and Kṛṣṇa would release them. So for a long time these two residents of another planet had taken their birth in the land of Vṛndāvana standing as twin arjuna trees. So when Kṛṣṇa was tied to that mortar He pulled the mortar nearby the trees then He said

devarsir me priyatamo
yad imau dhanadatmajau
tat tatha sadhayisyami
yad gitam tan mahatmana

(ŚB 10.10.25)

Translation: Although these two young men are the sons of the very rich Kuvera and I have nothing to do with them, Devarṣi Nārada is My very dear and affectionate devotee, and therefore because he wanted Me to come face to face with them, I must do so for their deliverance.

Jayapatākā Swami: In other words, these two sons of rich Kuvera from the other planets, they have, they may be the son of a rich man but they didn’t have any, they didn’t have any scope for meeting God face to face, for meeting the Supreme Personality of Godhead face to face. Actually they are two misbehaving but somehow Nārada Muni blessed them that they could come to their senses and also be able to see Kṛṣṇa face to face. This shows the causeless mercy of a devotee. By his mercy one can get Kṛṣṇa. So then Kṛṣṇa He entered in between those two arjuna trees.

bālena niṣkarṣayatānvag ulūkhalaṁ tad
dāmodareṇa tarasotkalitāṅghri-bandhau
niṣpetatuḥ parama-vikramitātivepa-
skandha-pravāla-viṭapau kṛta-caṇḍa-śabdau
(ŚB 10.10.27)

Translation: By dragging behind Him with great force the wooden mortar tied to His belly, the boy Kṛṣṇa uprooted the two trees. By the great strength of the Supreme Person, the two trees, with their trunks, leaves and branches, trembled severely and fell to the ground with a great crash.

Purport: This is the pastime of Kṛṣṇa known as dāmodara-līlā. Therefore another of Kṛṣṇa’s name is Dāmodara. As stated in the Hari-vaṁśa:

sa ca tenaiva nāmnā tu
kṛṣṇo vai dāma-bandhanāt
goṣṭhe dāmodara iti
gopībhiḥ parigīyate

tatra śriyā paramayā kakubhaḥ sphurantau
siddhāv upetya kujayor iva jāta-vedāḥ
kṛṣṇaṁ praṇamya śirasākhila-loka-nāthaṁ
baddhāñjalī virajasāv idam ūcatuḥ sma
(ŚB 10.10.28)

Translation: Thereafter, in that very place where the two arjuna trees had fallen, two great, perfect personalities, who appeared like fire personified, came out of the two trees. The effulgence of their beauty illuminating all directions, with bowed heads they offered obeisances to Kṛṣṇa, and with hands folded they spoke the following words

kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa mahā-yogiṁs
tvam ādyaḥ puruṣaḥ paraḥ
vyaktāvyaktam idaṁ viśvaṁ
rūpaṁ te brāhmaṇā viduḥ
(ŚB 10.10.29)

Translation: O Lord Kṛṣṇa, Lord Kṛṣṇa, Your opulent mysticism is inconceivable. You are the supreme, original person, the cause of all causes, immediate and remote, and You are beyond this material creation. Learned brāhmaṇas know [on the basis of the Vedic statement sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma] that You are everything and that this cosmic manifestation, in its gross and subtle aspects, is Your form.

tvam ekaḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ
dehāsv-ātmendriyeśvaraḥ
tvam eva kālo bhagavān
viṣṇur avyaya īśvaraḥ
tvaṁ mahān prakṛtiḥ sūkṣmā
rajaḥ-sattva-tamomayī
tvam eva puruṣo ’dhyakṣaḥ
sarva-kṣetra-vikāra-vit
(ŚB 10.10.30 - 31)

Translation: You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the controller of everything. The body, life, ego and senses of every living entity are Your own self. You are the Supreme Person, Viṣṇu, the imperishable controller. You are the time factor, the immediate cause, and You are the material nature, consisting of the three modes passion, goodness and ignorance. You are the original cause of this material manifestation. You are the Paramatma, Supersoul, and therefore You know everything within the core of the heart of every living entity. O Lord, You exist before the creation. Therefore, who, trapped by a body of material qualities in this material world, can understand You?

Jayapatākā Swami: In this way they offered their prayers to Lord Kṛṣṇa who is just before them small child - two three year old boy and they are offering their obeisances to Him. Then he prayed “O Supreme form, we are always servants of Your servants, especially of Nārada Muni. Now give us permission to leave for our home. It is by the grace and mercy of Nārada Muni that we have been able to see You face to face. Hence forward, may all our words describe Your pastimes, may our ears engage in aural reception of Your glories, may our hands, legs and other senses engage in actions pleasing to You, and may our minds always think of Your lotus feet. May our heads offer our obeisances to everything within this world, because all things are also Your different forms, and may our eyes see the forms of Vaiṣṇavas, who are non-different from You.” Śukadeva explained “The two young demigods thus offered prayers to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Although Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Godhead, is the master of all and was certainly Gokuleśvara, the master of Gokula, He was bound to the wooden mortar by the ropes of the gopīs, and therefore, smiling widely, He spoke to the sons of Kuvera as follows. "Prabhupāda, explains that Kṛṣṇa was smiling because He was thinking to Himself, “These two young demigods fell from the higher planetary system to this planet, and I have delivered them from the bondage of standing for a long time as trees, but as for Me, I am bound by the ropes of the gopīs and am subject to their chastisements.” In other words, Kṛṣṇa submits to being chastised and bound by the gopīs because of pure love and affection worthy of being praised by a devotee in so many ways. Kṛṣṇa is so powerful, He can release these sons of Kuvera, He can do so many wonderful things yet He allows Himself to be tied by mother Yaśodā. So this month is known as the Dāmodara month where we remember how Kṛṣṇa was caught by the love of His mother. Similarly how He delivered those two sons of Kuvera by His causeless mercy even though they were only doing improper activities but by the blessing of the Vaiṣṇava, they could get delivered. So we also pray that by the mercy of Lord Dāmodara just as the sons of Kuvera could be freed from their bondage, we can be fixed in the devotion of the Lord. Now, on this day also we are observing this Dāmodara month is glorified, known also as the Kārttika-māsa, ūrjā-vrata that anyone who does some spiritual activity in this month gets a thousand times, a hundred times of benefit. So, it’s a very good month to practise being a vegetarian, good month to eat Kṛṣṇa prasad and do all these festivals. Of this.., there will be description of Govardhana-pūjā and also description of Diwali. Then we’ll do a worship of Govardhana and Kṛṣṇa.

Govardhana-pūjā happened when Kṛṣṇa was six or seven years old. At that time His father wanted to do the worship of Gova.., Indra. Indra is the king of the demigods. In the universe, there is many universal controllers known as demigods according to the vedas. Sometimes people think that all the gods are same. But the vedas really say that “ekam brahma dvitīya nāsti” - there is one Supreme Brahman, is one Parameśvara “Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ, sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ, anādir ādir govindaḥ, sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam” - there many other subordinate controllers. So sometimes Kṛṣṇa has to cut them down to size to bring them into the proper mood. So this…, the king according to the vedas, the king of the higher planets is known as Indra and his personal weapon is the thunderbolt and he is incharge of all the clouds. So he brings the rain or drought to the people. So they wanted to worship Indra to get good rainfall but Kṛṣṇa, He convinced them instead of worshiping Indra you should worship Govardhana hill. He did this for 2 reasons; one was to establish the worship of Govardhana - the sacred hill in Vṛndāvana and the second was to arouse the anger of Indra for stopping his traditional pūjā or worship so that He could teach Indra a lesson. So Kṛṣṇa explained to moth.., fath.. Nanda Mahārāja worship be the Govardhana-pūjā

tasmād gavāṁ brāhmaṇānām
adreś cārabhyatāṁ makhaḥ
ya indra-yāga-sambhārās
tair ayaṁ sādhyatāṁ makhaḥ
(ŚB 10.24.25)

Translation: Therefore may a sacrifice for the pleasure of the cows, the brāhmaṇas and Govardhana Hill begin! With all the paraphernalia collected for worshiping Indra, let this sacrifice be performed instead. Let many different kinds of food be cooked, from sweet rice to vegetable soups! Many kinds of fancy cakes, both baked and fried, should be prepared. And all the available milk products should be taken for this sacrifice.The brāhmaṇas who are learned in the Vedic mantras must properly invoke the sacrificial fires. Then you should feed the priests with nicely prepared food and reward them with cows and other gifts. After giving the appropriate food to everyone else, including such fallen souls as dogs and dog-eaters, you should give grass to the cows and then present your respectful offerings to Govardhana Hill. After everyone has eaten to his satisfaction, you should all dress and decorate yourselves handsomely, smear your bodies with sandalwood paste and then circumambulate the cows, the brāhmaṇas, the sacrificial fires and Govardhana Hill.

Jayapatākā Swami: So in this way Kṛṣṇa got all the residents of Vṛndāvana to go around the Govardhana hill in a procession and had this very big festival. After the festival was over and they went back home, Indra became furious that who is this Kṛṣṇa? They are listening to some little boy. He’s just an ordinary boy and they are listening to Him and they are stopping my worship. I will teach them all a lesson. So then he started to flood Vṛndāvana with a huge rain. Then of course, we know that Kṛṣṇa as a small six year old boy, He lifted up the Govardhana hill like a huge umbrella.. we can see, those of you don’t know this pastime we can see it demonstrate, Kṛṣṇa lifted up the hill for seven days - lifted it. Holded like this. Held up the Govardhana hill for seven days while the flood waters were going. Afterwards Lord Indra he could realise that he made a mistake. That this was not an ordinary boy. Ordinary boys don’t lift up mountains for seven days with one finger like this effortlessly. And he came to his senses that actually Kṛṣṇa is his lord, he had mistaken. Just when Kṛṣṇa comes and plays the part, when Lord Rāma comes, They play the part in such a way that They are not easily recognizable. When an incarnation of God comes down, He comes just to enjoy intimate pastimes with His devotees. Especially as Kṛṣṇa or Rāma, They are very human-like in that They are the original and immediate expansion. So then Lord Indra, he came and he fell down at Kṛṣṇa’s feet and he begged forgiveness that he hadn’t recognized Kṛṣṇa. He thought He was just an ordinary boy. Now he could realise He was the original Kṛṣṇa, the original personality of Godhead. So today is the Govardhana-pūjā celebration and we are also going to offer some worship to Lord.., to the Govardhana hill.

Also Deepāvalī celebration is the returning of Lord Rāma to Ayodhyā after the vijayā-daśamī, where the Lord was victorious. Then Rāma returned to Ayodhyā after some days. The residents of Ayodhyā, they lit lights all around their house to welcome Lord Rāma back to His kingdom after so many years of absence. They all decorated their house, they all wore nice clothings and they all put candles and lights on the top of their houses so that Lord Rāma could easily find where Ayodhyā was even if He came in the night. So dīpāvalī , dīpā means lights, dīpāvalī means “the festival of lights”. So today we are going to also offer lights to the deity of, the deities and to the Govardhana hill and will circumambulate the Govardhana hill. Like this there is so many festivals. Actually there is unlimited festivals in the vedic culture. The different festivals are special because not only are they including feasting and culture but they all have Kṛṣṇa as the center, they have the Supreme person - bhagavān as the center, all these ancient festivals. One cannot separate the Indian culture from religion, it’s so much intertwined. Even the dance dramas generally are covering the pastimes of either Kṛṣṇa or Lord Rāma or some avatar, dasavatars. The king of Nepal once mentioned that at a big Hindu conference that you cannot separate the way of living from our spiritual heritage, it’s like the air we breathe. Actually Prabhupāda, when he came here to the west, he noted that here in America there’s everything, there’s wealth, people are good looking, enough houses, enough cars, enough roads, everything is there basically, whatever a person needs but he saw one thing is missing that Kṛṣṇa was missing, spiritual culture was missing. If Kṛṣṇa is added, then everything is perfect. He said there should be a cooperation between American and Indian culture. The American technology and Indian culture should be combined. Just like we have the two sisters Sarasvatī and Lakṣmī, they both are required. So Prabhupāda, he requested that there should be a cultural kind of spiritual revolution or spiritual dissemination here in America so that people can understand that more than just the technology or just the roads, material existence, the real happiness of life is in having the spiritual festivals, in understanding our own nature, we are ultimately are all parts of the Supreme Person and that the purpose of the human life is to chant and worship the Lord, to develop in our devotion for Him, to return back to Him at the end of this life.

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare

I thank the members especially of the Indian community for coming for this occasion and Kṛṣṇa He promises in Gītā “yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham” whatever you have I protect, I preserve whatever you need I provide. Indra, he was getting a little proud, so Kṛṣṇa just established pride for a little bit. He came and he bowed down to Kṛṣṇa, then Kṛṣṇa said alright you can go and again have back your kingdom but be more humble, be more conscious of me, don’t get overly proud. Sometime people have a mistaken idea that Kṛṣṇa takes away, don’t worship Kṛṣṇa then He’ll take away everything. This is a misconception. If someone is too proud, if they are bewildered, if they are being hard, because of their ignorance and their intoxication with materialistic life, then He may take away for a moment to bring back the sense, then He gives once one has a proper consciousness. But if one has the consciousness from the beginning then He doesn’t take away, there’s no need to take anything away. Just like if a small child is playing with a knife you may take that knife away that the child doesn’t hurt. But when the child grows up, knows how to use the knife, he can use the knife, there’s no problem, cut vegetables or whatever. So by the Kṛṣṇa conscious philosophy everyone can develop. They don’t have to worry Kṛṣṇa will simply preserve what they have and give whatever they lack. Thus everyone can be peaceful in this lifetime and at the end of this lifetime they can go back to home back to godhead. Thank you very much!

Are there any questions?

Devotee : You mentioned that Kṛṣṇa was ..

Jayapatākā Swami: He questioned. It’s a long story. He questioned and Kṛṣṇa defeated him by various arguments and finally because of great affection for Kṛṣṇa they agreed to what Kṛṣṇa said. Kṛṣṇa gave lot of explanation that we are farmers, we live off the land, for us the cows and the brāhmaṇas are the most important. We should worship the Govardhana, we should worship the cows and the brāhmaṇas, we don’t need to worship demigods, we can just worship the Supreme Person. Kṛṣṇa gave many arguments - we don’t need demigod worship we can directly worship.

Are there questions?

Devotee: ..

Jayapatākā Swami: The month goes until November 6th. It’s a lunar month. The table so what, the basic the table, you are going to circumambulate at this?

Devotee: ..

Jayapatākā Swami: The table we put will have this landmark of Govardhana placed in the center of the room. Then we are going to offer lights, lamps, little candles and lamps to the Govardhana, to Lakṣmī, to Kṛṣṇa, to Jagannātha. While the kirtan is being performed, we will also go around the hill.

Devotees: Giri Govardhana ki! Jaya!

Devotees: Giri Govardhana ki!

Devotees: Jaya!

Devotees: Giri Govardhana bhagavān ki!

Devotees: Jaya!