19881112 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.7.46

The following a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on 12^th November 1988 at ISKCON Śrī Śrī Kṛṣṇa Balarāma Mandir in Vṛndāvana. The class begins with the reading from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam canto 7, chapter 7, verse 46.

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.7.46

nirūpyatām iha svārthaḥ
kiyān deha-bhṛto 'surāḥ
niṣekādiṣv avasthāsu
kliśyamānasya karmabhiḥ

Translation: My dear friends, O sons of the asuras, the living entity receives different types of bodies according to his previous fruitive activities. Thus he is seen to suffer with reference to his particular body in all conditions of life, beginning with his infusion into the womb. Please tell me, therefore, after full consideration, what is the living entity's actual interest in fruitive activities, which result in hardship and misery?

Purport by Śrīla Prabhupāda: Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantur dehopapattaye [SB 3.31.1]. The living entity receives a particular type of body according to his karma, or fruitive activities. The material pleasure derived in the material world from one's particular body is based on sexual pleasure: yan maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukhaṁ hi tuccham [SB 7.9.45]. The entire world is working so hard only for sexual pleasure. To enjoy sexual pleasure and maintain the status quo of material life, one must work very hard, and because of such activities, one prepares himself another material body. Prahlāda Mahārāja places this matter to his friends, the asuras, for their consideration. Asuras generally cannot understand that the objects of sexual pleasure, the so-called pleasure of materialistic life, depend on extremely hard labor.

Thus can the Bhaktivedanta Swami translation and purport to the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam text 46, chapter seven, canto seven in the matter of “What Pralāda learned in the womb”.

Jayapatākā Swami: So as Prahlāda Mahārāja preaches to his demoniac schoolmates, even though they are really young, he was very practical in explaining the problems of material life, the actual situation of material life, and thus encouraging them to come to the proper conclusion of chanting and serving, chanting Lord Kṛṣṇa’s holy names and serving Kṛṣṇa and devotional service.

The point here in a nutshell is that we shouldn’t have or there is really no reason to have any hope to be happy in the material world. The whole basis of material happiness is not permanent, and by its very nature it produces suffering. Śrīla Prabhupāda explained that if someone wants to seriously make advancement in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they have to come to the conclusion that there isn’t any happiness in the material world. In other words, they have to become totally hopeless, that by any material arrangement I am going to ultimately become satisfied. There is temporary happiness and that happiness leads to temporary suffering. And there is no satisfaction in the material world.

As long as we think that by making some arrangement, there is a hope to be happy, we dont put our full concentration, our full surrender at the lotus feet of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. We continue to hope upon hope that maybe I can be happy in the material world. Thus we give Māyā chance after chance to bewilder us with new plans for being happy in the material world. Even devotees who may have been serving for years and years together, if they are not giving up fully on the idea that there is happiness in the material world, then down the road Māyā can create a new offer, a new plan that just fills our own mental brain at that moment. And we think, “Aha, here is my chance.” And again we get lured away. “I wasn’t happy before because at the wrong path. Here is a new one.” “I wasn’t happy before because I didn’t have enough money. Now I got an inheritance. Okay, enjoy now.” And so many other possibilities. Māyā has got unlimited opportunities. I wasn’t happy with this guru. Let me reject my guru, take a new guru because he is offering me a different facility. Even people go that far to commit spiritual aparādha due to the influence of Māyā.

So Prahlāda Mahārāja, he is very to the point that to enjoy in the material world, you have to suffer. You have to work very hard. You have to suffer for that hard work. The hard work is suffering. And material attachment also creates with it suffering. Therefore, to end all the suffering, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who descended into the material world to give people the real happiness, the eternal happiness, the highest happiness of your love for Kṛṣṇa.

Locana dāsa Ṭhākura, when he described Caitanya Mahāprabhu as a saba avatāra sāra śiromaṇi, as the topmost of all the incarnations of all the descents of Kṛṣṇa, because He is giving a process which is kevala ānanda-kāṇḍa, it is pure nectar, pure transcendental bliss. Then He advised us, viṣaya chāḍiyā, se rase majiyā, mukhe bala hari hari. The two things were there. Three, in fact. viṣaya chāḍiyā means to give up. Viṣaya means seeing things in the material world as objects of sense gratification. Giving up the enjoying mood. Devotional service means to develop a serving attitude. Actually, if we allow someone to maintain in an enjoying attitude, thinking, alright, give the guy a chance, whatever he have an enjoying attitude. Actually, we are doing violence to that person, because so long as we see things that this is mine, this is mine to enjoy, we are not going to be able to experience pure love for Kṛṣṇa. We are perpetuating the illusion of the viṣaya. The movement of Lord Caitanya is to be always in ecstasy, se rase majiyā, to always be absorbed in the ecstasy of serving and loving Kṛṣṇa. But in order to experience that pure love, we have to give up the viṣaya, we have to give up the enjoying attitude. We grossly give it up, by avoiding the four regular principles, and we suddenly give it up by continuously rooting out from our consciousness, desire based on karma or fruitive desire, based in jñāna or desire for liberation, based in mystic powers, based in lābha, pūjā, pratiṣṭhā, based in any aspect of māyā. And we totally absorb ourselves in se rase, in that transcendental mellow of serving. The only satisfaction, eternal satisfaction that we can achieve is in serving Kṛṣṇa, serving His devotees. In order to appreciate that rasa of serving. Mukhe bala hari hari, we have to continuously chant: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. It’s actually by the mercy of Lord Caitanya, by His mercy even the animal, even the rocks melt, the animals cry.

Nārada Muni went he had seen that the world was going to go into Kali-yuga, and he got information from Kṛṣṇa, He was going to come in the Age of Kali and he went all over the universe and he informed the different demigods to come down in the Age of Kali. When Kṛṣṇa Himself comes as His own devotee to spread love of Godhead, to relish the love of God Himself. Love of Kṛṣṇa. By the time he returned from the higher planetary systems here to the planet earth, to the Bhārata-varṣa, he realized that Kṛṣṇa had already disappeared and Kali-yuga had begun. He could see that the people were engaged in materialistic activities more than ever before. He could see that people weren’t chanting the name of Kṛṣṇa like they did when Kṛṣṇa was on the planet. He felt great separation from Kṛṣṇa and he felt very frustrated. How to give the people love for Kṛṣṇa? It seemed too great a task for him alone. He was weeping in anxiety and concern. Then there was a transcendental voice that, “I am here in Nīlācala. You come and see Me immediately.” It was Jagannātha speaking to Nārada Muni. Nārada Muni immediately went to Jagannātha Purī. There he offered his frustrated obeisances before Puruṣottama Jagannātha. Jagannātha said, “I have come to give the mercy to the people in Age of Kali. But the question that you have, can only be answered now if you go to the spiritual world, go immediately and your answer will be received.” So Nārada Muni left the material world, went to Vaikuṇṭha, Lord Nārāyaṇa told him to go to Śvetadvīpa. There you will find Śrī Caitanya in the part of Goloka Vṛndāvana, known as Śvetadvīpa.

Nārada Muni, he went to the Goloka. There he found Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu seated on a beautiful throne, raised platform, gold, jewels. And Rādhārāṇī was there on one side, fanning Lord Caitanya. Rukmiṇī was there. All the sakhis of Vrndāvana, mañjarīs, millions of devotees, a vast assembly all engaged in chanting the glories of the Lord Caitanya. When Nārada Muni came, he immediately offered his prostrate obeisances. And Śrī Caitanya was very happy to see Nārada. When Nārada was disturbed, “Don’t you be disturbed in Vaikuṇṭha and in Goloka.” So He took him aside. “What is the matter?” He said that, “When Kṛṣṇa left the planet, the universe is a four-headed Brahmā. He is no longer there. The people are becoming totally absorbed in viṣaya and enjoying attitude. They are forgetting their devotional service. How will they get Your love?” So then Lord Caitanya went back and He called all of the devotees. They all gathered around. He spoke to them, “Nārada informed the universe of the four-headed Brahmā. Kṛṣṇa just left. The people were all Kṛṣṇa conscious. But now they are losing their Kṛṣṇa consciousness. They are becoming absorbed in sense gratification. Nārada Muni was concerned, everybody is simply going to be absorbed in the dark well of sense gratification.” Since Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He said, “So, I am going to take My appearance in that universe and I am going to inundate the entire universe with love of Kṛṣṇa. I am going to personally preach all over India as a devotee. We are going to spread the love of Godhead to everyone. So you all come with me. Come, let us all appear. You take your appearance in Navadvīpa, in Gauradeśa in different places in order to assist Me.” Everyone, they all became enthusiastic. They all said, they all immediately prepared to go and take appearance to descend into the material world to flood with the saṅkīrtana movement of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. And Lord Caitanya said, “I am going to preach India. But in case sinful people flee away to distant places, if there are other parts of the world, where there are sinful people, who do not get this message later, my ‘senāpati-bhakta’, my commanding general devotee will come and bring the saṅkīrtana movement to the other countries and it inundate the entire world with my saṅkīrtana movement.” Then He left with all of His devotees and prepared to decend. He told Nārada Muni, “You go immediately and tell Balarāma, you find Them in this particular spiritual planet. You tell Him that He must also come as Nityānanda Prabhu and assistant Me.” Nārada Muni, he left and went to see Lord Balarāma.

What is very interesting in this prediction. This is written in the Caitanya-maṅgala, 500 or 450 years ago. This is a confidence of revelation, which was given by Lord Caitanya to Svarūpa Dāmadara just before His disappearance. And what actually happened in the spiritual world before He descended that 450 years ago that this is written down that there will come one ‘senāpati-bhakta’, one commanding general devotee, who is going to preach outside of Bhārata, of India, that we know how is India and bring the message of Lord Caitanya to the other parts of the world. When I saw this, isn’t this directly a prediction of Śrīla Prabhupāda? Prabhupāda kī. He was the one who brought the message of Lord Caitanya all over the world to the people, who had fled away from India. The sinful people millions of years ago, thousands of years ago had migrated from Ārya-deśa to the western countries, possibly fleeing from Paraśurāma’s wrath. Prabhupāda, pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe – to deliver the western countries, the countries which are more engrossed in sinful activities, in Māyāvādī, impersonalism, etc. Actually, Lord Caitanya had already predicted the coming of Śrīla Prabhupāda. This is recorded by Locana dāsa Ṭhākura and the Caitanya-maṅgala. Lord Caitanya in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta said: kali-kālera dharma—kṛṣṇa-nāma-saṅkīrtana [Cc. Antya 7.11]. The dharma for the Age of Kali is the Harināma saṅkīrtana movement. kṛṣṇa-kṛpā vinā nahe tāra pravartana – without the mercy of Kṛṣṇa, no one can expand it. It wasn’t an accident that Śrīla Prabhupāda expanded the saṅkīrtana movement all over the world. He had the full blessing and empowerment of Śrīla… of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, of Śrī Caitanya.

If we remain very fixed, completely fixed in carrying out the instructions of Śrīla Prabhupāda in expanding his vision of worldwide Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then we will crossover all obstacles. Just as Prahlāda Mahārāja is uncompromising with māyā in his lessons to the asuras. He doesn’t say have a little sense-grat chant a little Harināma. Neither Locana dāsa Ṭhākura says, kichu viṣaya, kichu harināma. He said, viṣaya chāḍiyā, se rase majiyā,– we have to give up sense gratification, wherever we find it, subtle, gross. In every one of us, we have little viṣaya, I need your help, everyone needs the help of the Vaiṣṇavas to get us out of every aspect of viṣaya to thoroughly engross us in the nectar, we need to be absorbed in the nectar of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, to constantly be hearing and remembering the holy names of Kṛṣṇa.

Śrīla Prabhupāda’s movement is based upon saṅkīrtana, spreading the glories of Kṛṣṇa. And he is our great commander-in-chief, and he is still guiding us, through his books, through his tapes, through his lectures, through his instructions. Following his directions, we need to carry on his battle plan of spreading the glories of Lord Caitanya to every town and village in the world. May well need be that after we leave this body, we see there is a whole program for the other planets waiting for us. We are not even attached to go back to the spiritual world. If we can simply remain in the saṅkīrtana movement of Lord Caitanya spreading this message, what is the difficulty, if we remain even in the material world forever? If we are simply in the saṅkīrtana movement of Lord Caitanya, that is transcendental, that is beyond the three worlds of the material nature, that is being liberated even while living. Actually, Lord Caitanya’s message is so nectarian, the process is so blissful, that if someone actually absorbs into it, then the snake bite of material viṣaya, the cobra has the poison fangs broken. If there is no poison in the poison sacks of the cobra, if it bites, it no effect. So therefore, we need to absorb ourselves in the saṅkīrtana movement fully under the shelter of Śrīla Prabhupāda. It is the only hope to be immunized from the poison of viṣaya.

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

Any questions? Yes.

Devotee: Is Śrīla Prabhupāda is an avatāra?

Jayapatākā Swami: He is not an avatāra. He is a senāpati-bhakta. He is a bhakta. He is a devotee. Lord Caitanya predicted, I’m going to send My senāpati-bhakta. The exact word used by Lord Caitanya in the Caitanya-maṅgala is senāpati-bhakta. Bhakta means, he is devotee, but he is a commanding devotee, he is an empowered devotee. Not that he is viṣṇu-tattva, he is jīva-tattva. But senāpati, commanding, empowered spiritual master. If that prediction refers to Prabhupāda. It would seem that, the point is we have been in the material world for millions of years. We have been calling him to rescue us for a long time. So we become conditioned. But this is not our eternal nature. Jīvera 'svarūpa' haya-kṛṣṇera 'nitya-dāsa' [Cc. Madhya 20.108]. Eternally we are servants of Kṛṣṇa.

nitya-siddha kṛṣṇa-prema ‘sādhya’ kabhu naya
śravaṇādi-śuddha-citte karaye udaya
[CC. Madhya 22.107]

We all have kṛṣṇa-prema within us, but it’s dormant, because we are being absorbed in viṣaya for so long. But by hearing and chanting, engaging in devotional service, we can return. We return, we awaken our original love for Kṛṣṇa.

The point is, for some period of time, we have to stay out of viṣaya, long enough, we have to absorb ourselves in the transcendental atmosphere, the transcendental association, intensively enough that we awaken completely our original Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Then we reach a stage in rāgānuga, where we don’t go back. The desire to go back to the stool or back to viṣaya is no longer there, rather than our desires to go back to Kṛṣṇa. So in the beginning to guide ourselves, we follow the rules and regulations. We continue to always show that example. But the point is, eventually we reach a point, where we actually awaken our original Kṛṣṇa consciousness, our original love for Kṛṣṇa. At that point, we actually start to feel separation for Kṛṣṇa. We start to develop an actual intense desire to be with Kṛṣṇa. At that time, just like Prahlāda Mahārāja, he is disgusted. He is disgusted by sense gratification. He is feeling separation from Kṛṣṇa. We need the blessing of Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma, Nitāi-Gaura to enable us to develop our spontaneous attraction. That is what Lord Caitanya prayed in His Śikṣāṣṭaka. When will I have tears in My eyes? When will My throat be choked up in love? When will we actually reach that state? First we have to na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ, alright, we get up to that point. The next point, when will I feel love for Kṛṣṇa? When we reach that state, then the mind doesn’t want to crawl back again to viṣaya. But still we are susceptible if we go in bad association to get covered. So we have to remain even to the last. We have to always be very careful. But finally we reach a point where we become totally liberated and become kṛṣṇa-prema and we are not susceptible again. We are not attackable by māyā. If our own... That is why Kṛṣṇa says,

nāpnuvanti mahātmānaḥ
saṁsiddhiṁ paramāṁ gatāḥ
[Bg. 8.15]

Once we go back to the supreme consciousness, the supreme destination, we again don’t fall down into the material world. We have to get up to the param gatim. We have to reach that supreme awakening, full development of our Kṛṣṇa consciousness, to become totally immunized. But we can become very immunized, if we can just get to the point of actually feeling spontaneous separation in love for Kṛṣṇa, which comes by following the process. Hare Kṛṣṇa!