19890430 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.21.44

Lecture Code: 19890326

Srimad Bhagavatam 4.21.44 Lecture By

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja

In Sridham Mayapur, India

vande 'ham sri-guroh sri-yuta-pada-kamalam sri-gurun vaisnavams ca

  sri-rupam sagrajatam saha-gana-raghunathanvitam tam sa-jivam

sadvaitam savadhutam parijana-sahitam krsna-caitanya-devam

sri-radha-krsna-padan saha-gana-lalita-sri-visakhanvitams ca

19890326-SB-01- Lakshmi Radha DD             12 December 2019

( audio starts with reading second paragraph from the purport of this verse 4.21.44)

A devotee acquires all the good qualities of the demigods; he is guṇāyanam, the

reservoir of all good qualities. His only asset is good behavior, and he is grateful. Gratitude for the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is one of the qualities of brāhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇavas. Everyone should feel grateful to the Supreme Personality of Godhead because He is maintaining all living entities and supplying all their necessities. As stated in the Vedas (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13), eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān: the supreme one is supplying all necessities to the living entities. The living entity who is therefore grateful to the Supreme Personality of Godhead is certainly qualified with good characteristics.

The word vṛddhāśrayam is very significant in this verse. Vṛddha refers to one who is

advanced in knowledge. There are two kinds of old men — he who is advanced in years and he who is experienced in knowledge. One who is advanced in knowledge is actually vṛddha (jñāna-vṛddha); one does not become vṛddha simply by advancing in age. Vṛddhāśrayam, a person who takes shelter of a superior person who is advanced in knowledge, can acquire all the good qualities of a brāhmaṇa and be trained in good behavior. When one actually attains good qualities, becomes grateful for the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and takes shelter of a bona fide spiritual master, he is endowed with all opulence. Such a person is a brāhmaṇa or Vaiṣṇava. Therefore Pṛthu Mahārāja invokes the blessings and mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, with His associates, devotees, Vaiṣṇavas, brāhmaṇas and cows.

Thus end the Bhakti Vedanta Swami translation and purport to canto 4, chapter 21, text 44 of the Srimad Bhagavatam, Instructions by Maharaja Prithu.

So the Brahminical qualifications here glorified. Brahminical qualification is exemplified by practical action. It states here Brahminical qualification -whose only wealth is good

behaviour -who is grateful and who takes shelter of advanced devotees, knowledgeable

devotees. They get all the opulence of the world. So by being a brahmana is not simply a matter of birth. Jagai, Madhai were brahmanas, they were born in Brahmana families. But no one considered them Brahminic because their occupation was to be murderers and that way. So this is the basic problem- that someone wants to be a brahmana or a vaisnava they have to also attain those qualities . A ksatriya -just like a ksatriya has the quality of being courageous, of being very resourceful , energetic. Therefore a so-called Ksatriya, when danger is there, he is afraid and doesn’t come forward to do the needful protection or if he’s lazy, what is the significance of such a kshatriya ? Similarly, if a person- a brahmana or a vaisnava,

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Similarly if persons a Brahamana or a Vaishnava that means the ladies they have a practical good behaviour by acting in a proper way naturally people will appreciate their good qualities if that simply, one claims I am a Vaishnava or I am a Brahamana and if they do not act like that people will not respect Krishna will also not reward them fully. Krishna says “ye yatha mam prapadyante tams tathaiva bhajamy aham” according to how people surrender to me that is how I reciprocate with them. So if a person takes up the Brahmana, Vaishnava quality Krishna reciprocates and gives his mercy also one who is grateful we know how in Bengali there is a saying “noon khaon goon gaoo” if you eat someone’s food you should also be grateful and you should not become envious of that person, you should give him proper respect. The whole world is eating the salt of the food given by Krishna “Eko bahunam vidhdhati Kaman” he is providing the necessities of the life for everyone in the entire world so we should be grateful. So those who are grateful they are the Vaishnava’s and the Brahaman’s  they are the proper person those who are ungreat  who are not grateful for the nice thing that Krishna is giving they  are actually un…… unfortunate situation sometimes you hear devotees when they have some difficulties they come angry and say what have I gained  by Krishna conciseness or I want to leave I don’t feel proper something if they are not actually great full for all the mercy they received or how everything is being or what blessing they received from Krishna in this material world you don’t know what’s going to happen from one moment to the next someone may get in a car accident he should die but Krishna saves him and gives him some life hearts to his body the same thing is happening all the time there may be things we can visibly see who are benefitting there are many more things that we may not be able to see now that we are actually benefitting so when a person becomes ungrateful and rejects the lords mercy to him or the mercy of the devotee or the spiritual master then that means that person is not very qualified in transcendental consciousness they don’t fit the qualification here the brahminical qualification proper brahminical qualification.  Whatever someone has done for me, for the world, and we recognise it. This is Krishna’s greatness even if someone does a little service just like if just someone stands up during the Ratha yatra and offers respect Lord Jagannath is so merciful that he gives liberation. Even if you take a little maha prashadam it’s enough to deliver you we say koni kamatram or take a small  piece of prashad and that is enough to take you back to godhead that means the lord is so merciful but if you don’t take that mercy that’s our fault so these are very essential qualification they seem very simple but we find them due to lack of knowledge or due to forgetfulness, bad association, different causes people loose these good qualities, so devotees they lose their brahminical qualities they don’t attain them means that it will be more difficult for them to make progress. Brahmana means in the mode of goodness they are the leader of all the four varnas so to be a Vaishnava one needs to be become at least a Brahmana. Then Vaisnava means Brahmana with complete surrender to Krishna, brahmana means that he is 100% surrendered but they may be engage them in some kind of yogic meditation or worshipping demigod Shiva with some desire for going to heavenly planets things like that but a Vaisnava means that one is completely fixed and thinks of Krishna and Vishnu this is the basic difference the difference between a Brahmana and a Vaisnava, so Vaisnava is good Brahmana, one should become qualified as a Brahmana to be fully a Vaisnava so Vamana is also having these qualities mentioned by parikshit maharaj having so many good qualities “shila dhanam” who is always well behaved “Kritagyam” who is very kritagya, very grateful and who is vidha svayam which means one who takes shelter.

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Kritagyam who is very kritagya very grateful and who is vidha svayam  which means one who takes shelter of a learned person Prabhupada explains that. So these basic qualifications are essential, we should be grateful for the help that is given to us we should act in a proper way just like if someone say’s  that I follow the four  principles but they are smoking cigarettes, no one Is going to take him seriously. If someone say’s don’t smoke cigarettes but they smoke, people will think this man is joking with us, he is saying do something and don’t do something himself is doing it, so in order to preach act properly one needs to follow what they preach, they need to follow the principles to the best of their ability then people naturally they feel ah, encouraged, they feel sheltered. Caitanya Mahaprabhu he is an ocean of mercy, so even if someone may say I have no qualification like a Brahmana, but with Lord Caitanya’s mercy, by chanting, by hearing they can gradually build themselves up to, but one actually attains good qualities, becomes grateful for the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and takes shelter of a bonafide spiritual master he is endowed with all opulence such a person is a Brahmana or a Vaishnava. In order to become a Brahmana or Vaishnava one needs to attain good qualities, become grateful for the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and take shelter of a bona fide spiritual master, if we don’t have a bona fide spiritual master we are not thinking of acquiring the good qualities and if we are not grateful to Krishna for his mercy, we are not really in the Brahmanical culture, what to speak of the Vaishnava culture, so Prithu Maharaj is requesting his mercy of his citizens we were mentioning that in the verses.

Any questions? (question not audible)

That is why we need a spiritual master to guide what is a particular person’s mode, we rise above the modes by doing everything for Krishna under the guidance of Guru we do everything for Krishna then that means it is transcendental, but a person may have, someone may be an artist, someone may be a writer, someone may be a construction worker they can do whatever they are habituated to doing for Krishna, in this way they can become perfected in devotional service the real purifying factor is that devotional service that we are doing everything we are offering to Krishna, so when this happens that purifies us, that brings us to the pure devotional path so what we do, we don’t have to seek out a very difficult thing we can do that thing which  we are basically capable of doing easily, someone can do fund raising, somebody can do a pujari work, that way you can do what comes naturally, but in the end our objective is to offer the activities to Krishna, is that alright we get rid of the modes of passion and ignorance and we come to pure goodness, pure goodness is the goodness that one comes to pure goodness rather. Pure goodness is transcendental when one is in the modes of goodness they are Brahmana, when they are in pure goodness offering everything to Krishna then it is Vaishnava. Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita “Mam ca yo vyabhicarena bhakti yogena sevate sa gunan samatityaitan brahma bhuyaya kalpate” when you are engaging in bhakti yoga then you are on the transcendental platform “bhomati” above the modes of nature but below those activities are to be regulated according to the different scriptures, so for that devotee they have the laws of karma they are dealing with for devotee acting in devotional service they are already goodness and transcendental, pure goodness but that will be shown in there positive works and their deeds, if they are actually offering. It is very difficult to recognize a pure devotee because everything they do they offer to Krishna but someone who is untrained they may think well they are not doing for Krishna, they doing for other reason and they may commit an offense like that. So one has to actually see why someone is doing, if someone is doing something that appears to be devotional , His divine grace Bhakti siddhantha sarswathi thakur, or Rupa, Sanatan Goswami he would ask that

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If someone is doing something appears to be devotional, there is history where His Divine grace Bhakti Siddhantha Saraswathi Thakur or Rupa, Sanatana Goswami he would ask that Vaishnava why are you doing this? Or Swaroop Damodar some poet was there writing he would say what do you mean by this? Because they were meant to see that, they were at such an elevated level they know how such a thing could be done in Krishna Consciousness, so they wanted to know and then a person would explain and then in the explanation they find that no he is not doing in Krishna Consciousness reason he is doing for some material reason, therefore they will reject no its not proper. It’s difficult unless one gets trained to know whether a person is Krishna Conscious or not on a very subtle level, very high level, but basically as far as the general level. I am talking about very high philosophy but basic activities would be there of serving Krishna, of following regulative principles etc. chanting the holy name if one does not have that activity then they are very neophyte, to reject someone on a higher level you have to advanced. Spirited Devotee they can know how to engage a person according to his nature alright you are proud of you very proud of you for Krishna, you are an artist so you make painting of Krishna, they can direct according to that persons qualities how to use that for Krishna but the principle of everything needs to be offered to Krishna that is the same for everyone

“Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare”

(audience voice not audible) He is asking that we are all serving Krishna but why Nama ruchi is not coming taste for chanting, first of all speak for yourself ….. The point is if you are chanting Hare Krishna and not getting the taste, then the Bhagavatam says that your heart is very hard, you must have a heart like a stone. If someone is chanting the names of Krishna, he is doing the activities of Krishna and they are not getting any taste or their heart is not melting, they are not crying then it should be know there heart must be steel frame, reinforced concrete steel frame, Prabhupada recommended in such a situation we should cry, we should be crying for Krishna. If we are not then we should be crying why we are not crying for Krishna. We should feel so bad that why I am not crying for Krishna, I am chanting I must be committing so many offences, I must be committing so many Nama apradha, Vaishnava apradh, Seva aparadh therefore my heart is hard. We should be crying why I am chanting Hare Krishna when I have no love for Krishna and if we can cry then why we are not crying. Then Prabhupada said we should cry that we are not crying, that we are not crying and if we are not able to cry that we are not crying, we are not crying we should cry that we are not crying, we are not crying, we are not crying.  We should really desire to have love of Krishna to have a taste for chanting, then with that intense desire that we don’t have a desire we should really desire to desire and so on. Laulyam a strong desire to achieve devotional service is the most important qualification, so one can get that Laulyam be serving and associating with the Vaishnava who have that, similarly by certain things one can get like some special mercy of Krishna, Vaishnava, fasting on holy days, we have to go on with our devotional service and the devotional service itself includes sympathisis for getting this taste and the desire comes quicker …….

(Devotee not audible) In fact last night Jagannath temple was being attacked so that time we needed somebody to be in the mode of passion and go there and help them do something that type of action is very important but if the people are in the mode of passion and go on sleeping when the temple is attacked and when someone goes and and says oh! I don’t like your face come on lets fight and they want to show some, what is that is the mode of ignorance due to their ego they will fight and when the deity is attacked what is the use of such action.

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They want to show some what is that mode of ignorance due to their ego they will fight and when the deity is ….. what is the use of such passion. That passion and ignorance was a predominance of ignorance for himself I don’t tolerate so much but when he saw the attack was coming on his brothers the pandavas and devotee he could give his life for them, that the real mode of passion, it can be dovetailed in Krishna concioussness everything can be dovetailed but this ignorance is very difficult to dovetail sleeping, ignorance and laziness. Passion can be easily dovetailed and purified otherwise how Arjuna. I do not describe the whole kurushetra battle and be considered a great saint because he can use it for Krishna’s service that also needs a proper guidance therefore he surrendered to Krishna I am now your disciple and Krishna guided him how to fight the battle in a Krishna conscious way like that we need to surrender to Krishna guidance, through his representative and fight against maya and become Krishna Concious Hare Krishna

Transcribed By: Volunteers

Transcribed On: 14-March-2020

Proof Reading By: Amrita Padma Devi Dasi

On 08/10/2020