19891216 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.14.17

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on December 16th, 1989 in Singapore. The class begins with a reading from the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 3.14.17.

Jayapatākā Swami: Birth place of Caitanya Mahāprabhu where I will be building temple project and I am very grateful to all my followers for helping because the reason is Bhakti Vinoda Ṭhākura went door to door begging to build a temple here. Bhakti Siddhānta Ṭhākura, he built a temple and wanted to develop Māyāpur. It’s a right time to develop.

So, everyone are pleasing, trying to please trying to fulfil. So, this is very pleasing to the previous ācāryas. Where on his disappearance day we remember how important the essence of spiritual life is to please not only guru but the previous spiritual masters and

Prabhupāda expressed his gratitude in such a way not only he just became overwhelmed with ecstasy and tears started pouring he couldn’t speak any more.

Picking out the mercy of the of His Divine Grace Bhakti Siddhānta Ṭhākura and previous ācāryas. So it is very important day where we try to dedicate ourselves in serving the previous ācāryas. This is the thing we have to be greedy to get love of Kṛṣṇa. Bring out, bring out little Kṛṣṇa into your pocket and in the bag given to you. So, we can please the previous ācāryas very easy to develop love of Kṛṣṇa. It’s a shortcut. So it’s a very spiritual day we could remember the instructions of our previous ācāryas and it helps to focus how we can fulfill the orders of guru we need to take the spiritual master, serve the spiritual master and that connects us to all the previous spiritual masters and we fulfill their instructions and in this way, we can develop love of Kṛṣṇa very quickly. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

So, if anyone want to speak to me individually then I can speak. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Well kīrtana first.

Devotee: 17th December Singapore 1988 Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 3rd canto.

Jayapatākā Swami: Translation by Śrīla Prabhupāda ki Jaya.

O afflicted one, I shall forthwith gratify whatever desire is dear to you, for who else but you is the source of the three perfections of liberation?

Purport (by Śrīla Prabhupāda): The three perfections of liberation are religiosity, economic development and sense gratification. For a conditioned soul, the wife is considered to be the source of liberation because she offers her service to the husband for his ultimate liberation. Conditional material existence is based on sense gratification, and if someone has the good fortune to get a good wife, he is helped by the wife in all respects. If one is disturbed in his conditional life, he becomes more and more entangled in material contamination. A faithful wife is supposed to cooperate with her husband in fulfilling all material desires so that he can then become comfortable and execute spiritual activities for the perfection of life. If, however, the husband is progressive in spiritual advancement, the wife undoubtedly shares in his activities, and thus both the wife and the husband profit in spiritual perfection. It is essential, therefore, that girls as well as boys be trained to discharge spiritual duties so that at the time of cooperation both will be benefited. The training of the boy is brahmacarya, and the training of the girl is chastity. A faithful wife and spiritually trained brahmacārī are a good combination for advancement of the human mission.

Thus ends Bhakti Vedanta Swami translation purport of text 17, chapter 14, canto 3, Śrīmad Bhāgavatam in the chapter entitled “Pregnancy of Diti in the evening”.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, this is the reply of Kaśyapa muni to the request by Diti to control her desire to have a child. Unfortunately, she was approaching her husband at a very inauspicious inopportune time,

just that the juncture of night and day. At the twilight period. So twilight is very bad time for procreation. So, the husband is wanting to actually fulfill her desire at other time. Now he is glorifying the qualities of a wife to pacify her and to encourage her to wait some time. Because she was very insistent, so this is one of the verses glorifying the position of a wife.

Actually, in the age of Kali the sannyāsa-āśrama is forbidden by the Vedas. This especially means the karma-sannyāsa where someone totally stops doing any activities and just ah.. remain in a total negation of karma. Rather a tridaṇḍī or a Vaiṣṇava sannyāsī they always engage themselves in Kṛṣṇa’s service. They do Kṛṣṇa’s works. Thus, practically engaging their mind, senses and words in the service of Kṛṣṇa. Just like we see Buddhist monks or Māyāvādī sannyāsīs they stop doing all work. They just beg for their maintenance and they study some religious books and they don’t do anything. So that type of activity is very difficult. To maintain the mind the nature, all one should do some activity.

Especially where you in Thailand you see that many times people become monk for three months, six months one year then they had to give it up. Again, they go back to material life then again after sometime they get frustrated and they come become a monk and go back and forth. When they finally become old then they may stay on over fifty, they may stay on for longer time. When they ask I go there they all of ask me how long have you been monk. I say 23 years. They say wa wa wa! very good, very good. Because not any other reason but because they are not getting connected up being able to have devotional service. They have no practice of spiritual activities to occupy themselves. So it’s very difficult to keep the mind.

We find in India, the Māyāvādī sannyāsīs sometimes they go to social work although they take sannyāsa they say jagat mithyā. The universe is false. Brahmā satya. Only the absolute truth is real. This is different from Māyāvādī philosophy and Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. In Kṛṣṇa Consciousness we say the jagad is asat. It’s temporary it’s not permanent.

Brahmā is sat. Brahmā is eternal. Being non-permanent doesn’t mean it’s not real or that is false scenario that means it’s not permanent. That means this reality is also not permanent in the sense of all its always changing its form. But it is there it’s not that it doesn’t exist at all. It always exists but its forms are always changing.

So, we are in Singapore. About 100 years ago it was another country it was a part of British empire may be. Then we thought it was some other kings were here local kings. History is there for all parts of the world. So now the reality is the Singapore and under the Singapore 100 years ago Singapore there was another reality, 500 years ago there was another reality. So, like this material life means the so-called reality is only for the present how long will it last in the future we don’t know. But the eternal reality that never changes.

Brahman, Paramātmā, Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa’s eternal absolute nature is never changing. It’s not like this time. Recently in India there were elections. So Prime minister changed. Previous prime minister is Rajeev Gandhi now it’s Mr. Singh. So that way governments are some times changing in different countries. So the present government doesn’t mean eternal government. Reality is that government may change in many countries but we don’t have change. So, this is the difference between material and spiritual. But the impersonalists, whatever they say, Jagat mithyā is all false. So, our question, Prabhupāda’s question, he gave in Bhagavad Gītā purport, if jagat is false, then why these sanyasis are going and doing social work which is, also, even government, all materialistic people can appreciate social work opening hospitals, opening eye clinics, opening chicken and pig farms, various type of social work they are doing, some of these impersonalities are also doing.

So then what is the meaning when they say Jagat is mithyā, why they are doing work of the world? So, this is the contradiction. For the devotees, we know that the world is not false. It is the energy of Kṛṣṇa, how can it is false? But it is temporary!

So, you don’t make any permanent plan that by some material arrangement we can have eternal happiness. This is not possible. Instead we make our own spiritual plan to serve Krsna and engage in Krsna’s service. So, this is the difference between the impersonal and the Vaiṣṇava sannyāsa philosophy. So, this impersonal sannyāsa was forbided. But Vaiṣṇava sannyāsa, our sannyāsa was forbidden, but some scope is there that someone may become a sannyāsī, if he remains pretty active in Kṛṣṇa’s service. But each person has a particular nature and if someone can be peaceful in his mind, serving Kṛṣṇa only. Without envy (not sure), he can control the urges of the tongue, of the genitals, of the senses, so that without being disturbed in the mind, without being distracted, then that is very nice, we can just completely, use all energy and become a tridanḍī-sannyāsī.

But as Prabhupāda mentions here in this verse, that he mentions that or one of the future verses, Text 20 that “The sex demand is inevitable for everyone but one who has a fixed wife is saved from the onslaughts of the sense enemies, that its natural, that one will have sex desire”. Once there was some devotee who went to Śrīla Prabhupāda and said that he was speaking, Śrīla Prabhupāda “I have got no sex desire, I am completely free all sex desire”. So then Prabhupāda asked him, turned to his secretarial, ask him, he said that something is wrong with him, he has got some disease, what is wrong with him? When we are born, we are born with certain bodily senses, we are born with faculties, that means then we actually want to eat otherwise you die.

Similarly, sex desire is one of that natural desires or urges of the body which is built in, programmed using computer language, programmed into the body. You see. It is a very natural thing, otherwise the world wouldn’t want it if that wasn’t there. There would be no reproduction. So that is part of life. Some person, they may be able to just, they may be more detached, they can fully engage in devotional service and that can be suppressed, that can be diverted in other ways without disturbing their mind. And Other person, majority of the people they cannot do that way, it is very difficult, they may although doing devotional service, in subtle ways, their mind may become disturbed, their emotions may be disturbed, they may find that they are actually struggling a lot. Although they are doing everything very nicely in devotional service, but actually lot of energy is spend just fighting with this bodily urge which is coming or emotional urge which is coming. So, what happens is that actually, they could be doing a lot more productive service but instead a lot of energy is going in this way or some people that may come such a way may that actually they may get mislead; they get taken off. You might see that today we have certain devotees here, some devotes over a period of time we see that they follow it, they may give some excuse, they are like this for other group or that other group or this thing.

Actually, that may just be that in their heart, they may be feeling some disturbance for the sex desire and this way their mind is taking them to this place that is called mano rath. They are just going away under the chariot of the mind where the thing is that they settle down and then they can actually do the devotional service very peacefully and productively. So, the importance to having a proper Kṛṣṇa Conscious husband - wife is stressed here in this verse. So particularly in mentioning the importance of the man having a Kṛṣṇa Conscious wife, having a good wife. By this thing he can perform his duties, without being disturbed, and he can, ... in this way, make spiritual advancement.

You see that nowadays in many Western countries, marriages are not, especially in Europe, in some countries people don’t like marriage. They are going to one person to the next. Even they came in India, in the newspaper they did a study. In one small village in America, in Michigan, in their most, all of 85% of women in that village. By the age of 35 already they have 5 different lovers. And about 15% are over 13. So practically speaking there is no question of like, faithful marriage life, and no chastity, people are like going like cats and dogs. This is the morality that prevalent.

So, what happens is that you get, that’s why the abortion is debarred, trying to keep it legal. This way there are lot of disturbance in society, children are unwanted, by their parents. I have one friend when I was in high school and he was very much disturbed his whole life. Because his mother and father one time were very angry at him. He was the, they told him, you know actually, you are accident, we never wanted you, but somehow the medicines whatever we are taking, family planning taking didn’t work and you came out by accident; We need to decide whether to so whole life, you see my parents are not loving. I am an accident, this that, you know. And he will tell me sometime you know, little back of his mind always, that his parents didn’t want him.

He was a real varṇa-śankara, as Bhagavad Gītā teaches us, as unwanted child. And he became a very unknown I have to stop associating with him because he was completely bad natured person. He was very bad, doing all kinds of illegal things, I can see that he was very bad ah to be in his life. But underlying fact is, that is always coming in his mind is that, I am unwanted child. They don’t want me, they never wanted me.

So, the Vedic culture is meant for producing a society, of human civilization, at a topmost level. For having each individual facility and also spiritually advanced. So, what happens is that it is very important for people should be married. And lead faithful married life. It’s actually not a luxury, it’s not meant that husband-wife should treat each other just as object of sense gratification. It’s a duty, to perform to advance in Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. It’s called Vivāha Yajña, the sacrifice of marriage. You see.

Nowadays, someone gets married because of, girl looks very nice. This boy looks very nice. So, because of their looks they have love marriage. Then they get married for some time, then may be some disturbance comes, then they may think oh! I am not feeling happy by this person anymore, let me divorce and look for someone else. And that is why people whole life they disturbed going from one marriage to another. And there is some movie star. Something 13 or 8 or 18 marriages already. One lady went to, one Chinese lady went to 55 marriages. 55, So, I mean exactly one per year. 50 years old, more than in one year, was in the paper.

There are other funny things going on in the world. There are people are very much disturbed by these things. People commit suicide, and become alcoholic, so many problems, because of all these disturbed personal relationships. But in Vedic culture, especially in Kṛṣṇa Consciousness the point in marriage is both to have a higher objective. Two types of gṛhasthas, gṛhamedhī, which is simply seeing the married life as purpose applied for sense gratification.

And gṛhastha, who thinks that it’s a duty, to perform my Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. Husband-wife cooperate together for leading a higher spiritual life. You see. And whether there is a disturbance or little disturbance or whatever there is sometimes pleasure or whatever it is not, actually one supposed to be one with devotional service and try to please Kṛṣṇa.

Now, temporary happiness or distress is not the criteria. One goes on with the duty, they have wife, children, husband, children,and they gone, you see. But this training is not there in western countries. And it was there in India, still there to large part, but gradually Indian community is also getting contaminated more and more by western ideas. So now same problem is coming because the marriage binds and keeps it together is the spiritual path.

Even in America they did a study about successful marriages and they found that about 60% or 70% of successful marriages the people said the reason why they are still together is not because that only about 10% said it is a perfect matching marriage. They never had any problem. 90% said they had some problem and they thought about they thought about one point they saw the god he will surprising but about to say 60% stay together because it is our religion duty. It took some church in a mosque in the synagogue in a temple so that is why we are doing it and so now everything is alright. and all the people they have other reason along with number.

But I know at that time majority of people stay together because of common problems. Actually, marriage is given in the scripture marriage is a given by god. So, the husband wife man and women can in a proper social environment, proper parents they can engage in spiritual cultivation.

So, in Kṛṣṇa Conscious is also very important ceremony very important phase of life but the whole goal whether you are brahmachari weather you are gṛhastha whether you are vānaprastha, the goal has to always to kept the same. gṛhe thāko, vane thāko, sadā hari bole ḍāko.. to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare.

As Rāmānanda Roy said “Varṇāśrama is to please Hari.” So, all the āśramas are primarily meant to please Hari. But the Kṛṣṇa consciousness vaṛnāśrama is to OK I am doing this to please Hari. But practically we are engaging in devotional service directly, pure devotional service which is the actual perfection of life surrender pure devotional service to the lord.

So, this is the to do that actually I read one a verse by Bhakti Vinoda Ṭhākura one accepts from his writings. And he said the what is the definition of gṛhastha? Someone asked him. He said, “The first thing about gṛhastha means that the wife, the husband and there is an appropriate mate that the spouse is Kṛṣṇa conscious”. In other words we should have the life having Kṛṣṇa conscious house hold and doesn’t have both husband and wife devotee. It may be that one of them is a devotee they may be have they may be some house holder but the ashram has not yet been created gṛhastha-āśrama that one person has to be created proper gṛhastha-āśrama both has to be a devotee, that’s why very important.

Sometime someone I believe in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, I met one devotee who has coming to our temple regularly. But his parents pushing him you have to get married you have to get married. So then he succumbed ok I will get married. But already there are so many nice Kṛṣṇa consciousness girls he could marry that time. He succumbed to his parents and the parents arranged some girl who was not even appeared vegetarian. She is eating fish and things so many problems was there but she was looking nice. Parents were pushing he decided OK easy way out, do it then he came and crying and what to do?

Now my wife does not cooperate all with me and my spirituality activity. She said you know my family was not vegetarian you know that I have these things all these thing, I won’t do now she has pregnancy and child what do I do? This thing so many problems somehow in the end it worked out for him. The wife starts good association, which was really tough. I said why didn’t you want to get married no problem this is allowed in our Kṛṣṇa consciousness, this is recommended perfect why don’t you go to the path you could have discussed, you could have seen some nice Kṛṣṇa consciousness girl would have been there. He said now I realized but at that time I did not realized that time I was just blind. Now I am suffering.

So actually, Bhakti Vinoda Ṭhākura was saying, first thing you should talk to husband-wife they should both be Kṛṣṇa Conscious. Then maybe I marry someone already married their wife and husband is not Kṛṣṇa consciousness what can I do, patiently they have to go on practicing Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And eventually hoping and trying whatever they can through various means to bring up the spouse to Kṛṣṇa Conscious level.

Then the second thing that Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says is that we have the 5 action senses, I mean the 5 senses of knowledge gathering. These senses like tasting, smelling, seeing, hearing and feeling, all these senses have the nature of being sense gratification. But a gṛhastha means that he uses all of these senses in the service of Kṛṣṇa. He uses all of them but in the service to please Kṛṣṇa. Very simple and straight point. Very profound. Very Heavy. It is not that gṛhasthas senses, so that he doesn’t control. No. he has the senses. He uses all of the senses. Just like the wife serving the husband, she is also getting the benefit, whatever the work..

Actually, the wife, she is getting double. Whatever spiritual activity she is doing, she is getting a 100% and then whatever the husband is doing, she is also getting. She is getting a double facility. Actually, if the wife doesn’t act properly, the husband has to take karma. Of course, in Kṛṣṇa Consciousness, because that’s transcendental. It is especially in puṇya-karma, say husband is doing some material karma-kāṇḍa activity, wife gets 50%.

But in Kṛṣṇa Consciousness, since Kṛṣṇa Conscious activities are unlimited, their effect has unlimited value. So, even whatever 50% of unlimited is also unlimited. So that way, the Kṛṣṇa Conscious devotees, they all get equal. Because we are dealing with the transcendental service which has got no material limitation. But one should cooperate. How would one be able to cooperate with the other to work to attain spiritual line? It’s not a joke to cooperate, you know.

If one says I want to go every day to the cinema to see a lot of film and see this and that and the other one, I want to come to temple, hear Bhāgavatam class and Caitanya-caritāmṛta class, that’s it, there’s going to be problem, unless both are trained in spiritual life. Isn’t it?

So, training in the sense, otherwise you are going to find that, the two of you are going in opposite direction. So this training, Prahlad Maharaj says should start at very child age “kaumāra ācaret prājño”. Actually, it should start from 5 years of age. Then it is, at least at 5 years of age, someone can train a child. Before that it is only the parents who can give their love and affection and some association. No other person can give much training to a child below 5. But after 5, teacher can also start 4, 5, they can start to train. Before that it is up to the parents to give prasad, to train the child to whatever extent they can be trained as a small child.

So, by bringing the children into this type of environment, then naturally they develop good qualities. I see that the children’s program also has been very successful in our movement. In Bahrain, the south Indians, they are working and they have organized regular Gītā classes in Malayalam, in Tamil, in English. But they found that the most successful program is the children’s class, The Rapid Bhagavad Gītā study, Crash course study of the purāṇas in the vacation period where all the children were coming just before this Sunday program and then the parents would come to pick up their children. So many would stay over for the evening program also.

So, they got double the evening attendance and about hundred and sixty children are coming. And they are all really enjoyed the course. And the children with so much enthusiasm for Kṛṣṇa Conscious activities that interested many parents and brought them around although they were not so much interested previously.

So even in terms of preaching, training children has very good effect. But in the term of society, there is a time to start training. Otherwise it is more difficult when one gets older. Still we are seeing, making mainly people who are in them teens or in their young twenties, there are few older people who are also fully taking it up but mostly young people are coming and taking it up with full heart. Say, At least majority, because they are flexible, they can adjust more easily. But if such training is there from very young age, then it is very natural for them. It is very natural to like this Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. So, that’s the duty of being a parent.

Prabhupāda said it’s actually they train their child to be Kṛṣṇa Conscious. Ultimately the child will have to choose. Nobody can make a vaiṣṇava. But what you can do is you can create an environment where all opportunity is given for someone to be a Vaiṣṇava. A point is there is no cent percent guarantee. But there is a very good opportunity and a good percentage of those children brought up in that Kṛṣṇa conscious environment, they do become Kṛṣṇa Conscious.

Sometimes people discuss why the ISKCON gurukula system does not always produce the devotees. But then did also few years ago, there was a study and they found that, when both the husband and wife were fixed up devotees, something like almost 100% of the children were also fixed up devotees. When husband and wife, mother and father, one of them was didn’t stick to the process, then again like 60, 40%, they also, the children didn’t stick. When both husband and wife left, both mother and father left, 90% children also leave.

So, that parents are also so important to the spiritual development of the children. That actually whatever they do, that influences the children very much. When they were in Kṛṣṇa Conscious, most of the children, almost 100%,but almost 100% they also became Kṛṣṇa conscious. most of the children, almost 100%,but almost 100% they also became Kṛṣṇa conscious When they were in māyā, most of the children who took the opportunity, they were also went in māyā. So again, we come it is very important to have a Kṛṣṇa conscious family, Kṛṣṇa conscious home, then it is very easy for people to be Kṛṣṇa Conscious.

Otherwise when they become adults, over 18, they already come to their own understanding of life. They decide that they want to Kṛṣṇa Conscious, then of course, that’s starting from scratch. I know that I think I became a devotee at the age of 19. I think first eighteen years, how much waste of time? The moment I could have started from 5 years. Why I had to start at 19 and 18 years, I wasted in so many useless activities, destructive activities.

But I didn’t have that opportunity of having fully God Conscious parents. Although there were somewhat God conscious, but they were not at that level of being fully fixed in pure devotional service. They didn’t know about it. So only after achieving majority of age could I get the option that I could find out about. So, this is the case in most of the situations that we are dealing. But the ideal situation is have a Kṛṣṇa conscious family, let people practice. We find in history of Caitanya Mahāprabhu there are many. Most of His associates were gṛhasthas and their family life, we don’t stress that very much, we don’t study that very much.

But actually, if we study how their family life is so much fixed in Kṛṣṇa. How they are just like you eat, How Lord Caitanya came? and How Advaita Gosāñī fed Lord Caitanya prasādam?

Prasādam is cooked by Sītā Ṭhākurāṇī, she is in the house, she is cooking. They are taking and offering everything to the Deities, they are daily worshipping the Deities, so Lord Caitanya was coming and they were feeding directly mahāprasāda.

So, the husband, wife perfectly cooperating. They had 6 children. 3 became great ācāryas, 3 became gurus but still they didn’t reach preach pure Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. So, He rejected them in that sense. They have not even mentioned their names. Although they were spiritual people, but not pure devotional service, so they were considered as having rejected their father’s great spiritual teachings. Anyway 50% leavers, completely succesful. So, the whole family life was all centred around Kṛṣṇa. Then we have so many examples. In Śrīnivas Śrīvas prabhu one of the Pañca-tattva, in their family, they were always discussing Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Nityānanda prabhu regularly going.

Mālinī is cooking and feeding Nityānanda prabhu. Lord Caitanya is coming and doing His kīrtan. The whole family was so much in love. Even one day, the son of Śrīvas died. But Śrīvas he heard someone crying inside, he came to check whats going on? Your son Gopāla is died. He said, don’t grieve. The kīrtana is being disturbed. If the son was sick, I can do something. He is already dead. What can I do? Dead means he is dead. I don’t have the capacity to bring him back from the dead. So then why cry. His soul is gone, why cry and disturb Lord Caitanya’s kīrtana? You told women, you stop crying. You are disturbing the kīrtana.

He is dead after the kīrtana is over, I will do the necessary. They were so much shocked. Your son is dead. You stop crying or I will also commit suicide. Then you have to cry both for the dead son and dead husband. Then the women, they have so much sentiment. You cannot change their nature. Draupadī, she cried once she lost her five sons. Later on she philosophically realized it, But naturally first thing, you feel so much sentiment. Then afterwards, you can understand the real meaning of it. So, they all became quiet. Then he went back out in the kīrtana.

After the kīrtana was over, Lord Caitanya said, what’s happening? What was that crying inside your house, I heard some shouting or some crying? Śrīvasa said, my son Gopāla died. What! Your son is died! He is dead! Why didn’t you tell us? No No, I didn’t want to disturb your kīrtana Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Arreey… who ever has heard such a thing? His son died and he doesn’t tell us. He just lead the kīrtana. No no I dont want to disturb your kīrtana. Aree.. There is no devotee in the whole world like you Śrīvas. You could be called an avadhūta.

You don’t have to be….. You bring Gopāla here right now. Look at this Śrīvas. One doesn’t have to go to that extent. Your son dies. You don’t tell you know. But Śrīvasa as so much a pure devotee that although he was doing his family life perfectly,everything but he is completely attached to pleasing Lord Caitanya. There was no other consideration more important to him. Apart from that he did everything perfectly. But, when it came to pleasing Lord Caitanya , that was the only thing that mattered to him. When it was a neutral thing and nothing to do with Caitanya Mahāprabhu, then he did his other activities in such a way that they were proper examples to society, fulfilled all his duties, maintained his family etc.

So, they got Gopāla out from the house. Gopāla's mother and everyone is crying. Where he’s gone, he’s gone. Then Lord Caitanya had Gopal lay down in front of him. His body, he said, Gopal, get up. Stand up, now. Stand up. Gopal stood up. Everyone was shocked! Dead body came back to life! Completely, people’s hair was standing on end. They never saw anything like that before.

Lord Caitanya just brought him back from dead . You speak up. Why did you leave? Why did you leave your parents? Mother is watching. Everyone is watching. Then he is speaking. “My Lord, you are the Supreme controller. When you call, we have to go when the time is up, we have to leave this body. Why do you ask me why I left, when I am not in one to control of my staying or my going. Any you say why have I left my parents? Which parents?

In every life, I have parents. Millions of lives I have taken, I have millions of parents. Which parents do you mean I left?” Once the ātmā leaves the body, he remembers all his previous births, so many previous births. Especially Gopāla left during the kīrtana, he went right back and was heading back to Godhead. Naturally, he could see all the history behind him when he was going back to the spiritual world. So he is saying, which parent? You have so many parents. And then Śrīvas’s mother was thinking, I was thinking this body is my son. The son is really the soul and the soul was going back to godhead. I am bringing the soul back. I am just one parent. Then Lord Caitanya said “Now you are a great devotee, your mother and father, Mālinī and Śrīvasa”. By your mercy, I could take birth in a Vaiṣṇava devotee family. I could get your association. By your blessing, I could achieve your mercy, out of your desire, I am going back to Godhead going back onto the place where you are desiring. .

So then Lord Caitanya looked to them and this time, mother of Śrīvas’s son Mālinī, she became completely pacified. She could understand that the goal in life is for her son to go back to Godhead. He is going back now, what’s the problem? I think she didn’t worry at all. She became very peaceful. Everyone was very peaceful and many more things. I’m just giving a shortcut version. He said so many things. The people in the whole could get whole instruction. Just like in the Bhāgavatam, may be Citraketu came back to life called by Nārada's calling, son of Śrīvasa was brought back to life.

Then Lord Caitanya allowed that you can go. The body then came back down and the ātmā went off, went back to Godhead. Lord Caitanya personally took the body and they went down to the Gaṅgā and they did all the last rites, bathed him in the Gaṅgā. And everyone was just like, you can imagine that just like amazed seeing all these things. This is type of the family lives, right one after another, how many family lives do you want to hear how Kṛṣṇa consciousness worked.

So, It’s very important to have that type of focus on what is the purpose of life, whether one is a brahmacārī, whether gṛhastha, whether? Vānaprastha or sannyāsa everyone has to have the objective to please Kṛṣṇa. Then life is very peaceful, perfect. So here, in this verse, training of brahmacārīs, training of grihastas, stress, importance of spiritual life, spiritually trained husband, distress all these things have been explained.

Anyway, now it is Kali-yuga. Brahmacārī training is lacking for those who are not born in a Kṛṣṇa Conscious family. Other things are lacking. So, you just have to make the best use of a bad bargain as Prabhupāda said that we have to cure ourselves by chanting, tolerate all the problems that come up. And become purified and realize what is the standard that we should try to act in. Whatever the standard of our devotional service and whatever stage of life we are in, accordingly we should try to come up to that standard. It is not going to be possible, cent percent perfect in all these regards. But if we can become sincere devotees fixed in our Kṛṣṇa Consciousness, whatever little mistakes that we might do in our external activity, Kṛṣṇa will cleanse all that away. We have to be very fixed in our desire to be a devotee and sincerely continue trying our level best at all times to practice the process of Kṛṣṇa Consciousness.

Be true yogīs, controlling the senses by engaging them in Kṛṣṇa’s service. So then, we can in the future, we can actually have a society which is Kṛṣṇa Conscious. We might think how it is possible. We meet so many people. Just like you are having big festivals here in Singapore, how many people are coming, thousands are coming to the festival. May be hundreds of thousands are hearing about the festival in newspaper, different places. When I was flying here once, there was a Chinese, Japanese lady living in Australia, she was next to us on the airplane. So naturally she does nowhere connected with this movement for various reasons and but then we discussed she mentioned how she become Buddhists she comes to Buddhist temple, there are not many Buddhist temple, but in Australia there is the Hare Kṛṣṇa temple.

So, she said Hare Kṛṣṇa a dozen times during the discussion. Hare Kṛṣṇa.. Hare Kṛṣṇa this, Hare Kṛṣṇa that. So, one time if you say Hare Kṛṣṇa, that means your spiritual life is already guaranteed. One time you say Hare Kṛṣṇa, you get purified in so many sinful activities. So just by how many people, you can say that more or less over a period of time, every single person, man, woman, child, Hindu, Christian, Muslim, atheist whatever they be, sometime in their life, there is a very good chance that they would say Hare Kṛṣṇa. So that reading in the newspapers, somehow there is a good chance for them to say Hare Kṛṣṇa, just one time they say Kṛṣṇa, in the next life, you get another chance to say about Kṛṣṇa. Again in the next life, born in a Kṛṣṇa Conscious family, they would brought up in a Kṛṣṇa Conscious environment,

Do you like that person? He has got some book from the devotee. I have never read the book. You gave me a book and I gave some donation. Then she is sitting next to me. Why don’t you come with me, I will show you Bodha-gayā and we can show you Māyāpur also. She gave the address. In this way so gradually it will come, so step by step by step. May be not in one life, may take 5 lives, may take 10 lives, but eventually they are coming step by step closer because devotees are giving them prasādam, giving them books, hearing the harinaam, we don’t realize what a dynamic effect we are having on the whole future of the world. Twenty years ago, five years ago, no one knew what was going on in the communist countries, now definitely this is because millions Kṛṣṇa Consciousness books have been distributed in these countries. It has changed the whole karma of those people.

So, we should be very convinced about this process and realize that whatever we are doing, for our own Kṛṣṇa consciousness of course, this is benefitting us and whatever we are doing to help others. Whether we can immediately see the results, or whether it is a long term matter, definitely we are contributing to the total reconstruction of the human society. Establishing a better world, a world based on spiritual values, which can be a world which will take all the people back home back to Godhead, you can say in the long run. In the next 10,000 years, by Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s mercy, you can expect these people to be transferred back to the spiritual world because of all your sincere efforts.

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

Any question?

He was taking one example, crude example. Like Prabhupāda said, if you take one grain of rice from a pot, you can see the whole pot. With one thing, you can see few things and then how so much effect is there. You may think that this lady cannot be a devotee in this life no doubt but effect is there and that effect goes on amplifying. Any questions?

If you know someone go on preaching. Prabhupāda said that the temple is like a doctor, like a hospital and the preachers are like doctors. So we don’t like to lose any patient. So, we don’t want to see any patient die spiritually. So we want see them achieve the complete health now in this life. That’s the best thing. You know, You may see so many other people are benefitting. In the future, they may also be able to get fully cured. Those who were actually working, there is a good chance that in this life time they can finish up their bondage to the material life, they can go back home, back to Godhead. They can develop pure love for Kṛṣṇa.

So, we don’t want to lose that chance or very eager to see that they can be delivered and when someone gets snatched away by māyā and the whole progress is delayed, naturally for us, it’s a source of, you can say, concern, intense concern. Is there any question?

Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Śrīla Bhāgavatam ki Jaya!