19900909 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.25.42

The following is a lecture given by HH Jayapatākā Swami on September 9th, 1990 at Sweden. The class begins with a reading from the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 4th canto chapter 25 verse 42.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim

yat-kṛpāṁ tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam

paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī-caitanya-īśvaram

hariḥ oṁ tat sat

kasyā manas te bhuvi bhogi-bhogayoḥ
striyā na sajjed bhujayor mahā-bhuja
yo ’nātha-vargādhim alaṁ ghṛṇoddhata-
smitāvalokena caraty apohitum

Translation: O mighty-armed, who in this world will not be attracted by your arms, which are just like the bodies of serpents? Actually you relieve the distress of husbandless women like us by your attractive smile and your aggressive mercy. We think that you are traveling on the surface of the earth just to benefit us only.

Nārada Muni is continuing in his story of King Pūrañjana.

Purport by Śrīla Prabhupāda: When a husbandless woman is attacked by an aggressive man, she takes his action to be mercy. A woman is generally very much attracted by a man’s long arms. A serpent’s body is round, and it becomes narrower and thinner at the end. The beautiful arms of a man appear to a woman just like serpents, and she very much desires to be embraced by such arms.

The word anātha-vargā is very significant in this verse. Nātha means “husband,” and a means “without.” A young woman who has no husband is called anātha, meaning “one who is not protected.” As soon as a woman attains the age of puberty, she immediately becomes very much agitated by sexual desire. It is therefore the duty of the father to get his daughter married before she attains puberty. Otherwise she will be very much mortified by not having a husband. Anyone who satisfies her desire for sex at that age becomes a great object of satisfaction. It is a psychological fact that when a woman at the age of puberty meets a man and the man satisfies her sexually, she will love that man for the rest of her life, regardless who he is. Thus so-called love within this material world is nothing but sexual satisfaction.

Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta Swami translation purport text 42 chapter 25 canto 4 of the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam in the matter of the characteristics of King Pūrañjana.

Jayapatākā Swami: So Nārada Muni is explaining this story of King Pūrañjana in the form of, almost like a love story. Young man meets young girl in the forest. Love at first sight and he is proposing and she is accepting. Yes, you are beautiful armed, wonderful handsome man. What unmarried girl won't accept you as a husband. So this way, it seems, very kind of, well what do you say, like a beautiful love story or something that Nārada Muni is explaining and the king is listening. Of course, it's very easy for the king to listen but end of the day what does this all mean? Why is Nārada Muni telling me this story? and then of course Nārada Muni explains what it all means. So, through this setting of the scene, these few verses are there where Pūrañjana meets his so-called wife and then they get married, live together. What actually is happening is just setting a scene to explain the relationship between the living entity or jīva who is Pūrañjana and the intelligence was the queen and then the other characters, once they get married will all enter in. They enter into the city of nine gates which is the body etc etc, all these things will be explained in due course. so, what is the significance when Nārada Muni is explaining this allegory that the girl is seeing. Prabhupāda is also explaining in this verse, what is the meaning of all this, even in this particular verse that, generally you see that in society, of course Pūrañjana and his wife are ordinary people. They are not devotees or anything. They are just showing what is material love or what is material sex attraction? How it unfolds? What are the nature, physiological and otherwise of man and woman? So Prabhupāda is explaining these natural tricks that you find that in the attraction between man and woman. In the Vedas, it says that a father should get the daughter married before puberty. The ancient Vedic system was that even though the engagement was done when they were very young and child marriage was very common. In fact, even Prabhupāda explained how one Prime Minister or I think it was the Prime Minister, minister in the Parliament in India explained that how when he got married actually. One day, he was sleeping and the father woke him up. So, time for you to get married. He was just like 10 years old or something. To get up, he said no, no. There is, you know, he's got married. Then, okay, go back to sleep. Then the wife and him are kept separate until they grow older. He knows he's already married. His wife is staying and once a while they meet each other. You know, the wife is staying at the father's house until they both become older. But the people had already get married by like family alliance even before, far before achieving puberty. This was a very common happening in the past. Of course, we also see that, when they get married, the whole families were very united. They call it a joint family situation. Just like you see in the Rāmāyaṇa, where there was the different wives of Daśaratha and Rāma, the different sons of the different wives. There are all brothers. They consider each other brothers. Like in the western society because all the families are separate, so your uncle is sometimes someone quite distant and then your uncle's children, cousins are you know cousins like the. But in India, they say my cousin brother my cousin brother because all the whole family lives together, means the father and all the sons live in the same house and so the sons of the uncles will be really cousin brother because they are all grown up together. And sometimes, hardly, the auntie won't consider that my son is in most cases is better than the other son or be very liberal. They consider all very affectionately. Of course, that's not always. Just like, Kaikeyī, she suddenly became because of some politics by her maid servant hunch back maid servant, she got political for her own son Bharata and banished Rāma to the forest for 14 years. But this is a exception, not the rule. Even then, it is said, she felt very bad afterwards and before that she had also had more affection for Rāma. Even in like Vṛndāvana where, all the villagers, they all loved Kṛṣṇa more than their own children. Of course, because Kṛṣṇa was the transcendental Lord, so they all felt attracted. But even in the village situation, a normal situation, you find that all the people in the village, all the children, even there's very collective, they'll consider that we are village brothers. In other words, you are grown up in the same village. Like, sometimes people meet in a far distant place and they find out, there are from the same village from India, then they will introduce - yes, my brother. Why? because you are born in the same village. Therefore, you are brothers. So, this kind of relationship was very strong. So, you find that studying, how the Indian family system works. How this child marriage was at all possible. It was because when their young son. How is the young son? He is not able to maintain the whole family. He didn't have to. Neither the wife has to maintain the household. Because he is simply a member of a much bigger family. He's got his father and mother. He's still living with his father and mother and when the young wife is coming, he's helping his father in whatever his business is or doing his business under the father. The mother of the son, mother-in-law of the wife, she is the one who is engaging the young wife and the young wife that doesn't help the whole shoulder of the whole responsibility of the household on her shoulder, even she has a child. So, with so many people to help, in caring for the child. The mother-in-law will be there. It's customary also when the daughter has the first child, even second sometimes, she'd go back to her mother and spend 2-3 months there and have the child there in the company of her own mother and other women of her father's house and then come back with the baby to the husband's house. Like that, there's a whole, it's a whole system that they follow and then because I personally experienced in having some disciples who were young girls, co- girls who got married at a young age. But then here in the west, it's a whole different setup where the husband wife, they live in their own apartment, they live in their own situation and then like the whole pressure is on her to maintain her conscience but she's just a young girl. So then, find a lot of pressure on the young girl which normally would be absorbed by the mother-in-law and the whole family situation. So, although, this is, certainly physiologically correct and this would increase. You can see in India how now the government, they thought the way to control population, they passed a law. Nobody can get married before 18. Nobody follows in the village. But in the cities, they won't register marriage unless the girls are 18. What happens is then the girls already watching so many movies. They are already getting attached in so many ways. Just like in the west, they get their crushes on all the movie stars. So on. By the time they get married, they are much more distracted and this is now getting a lot more difficult in India. Before in India, there was practically zero divorce rate. Now, I don't know. It's still low but maybe 1 or 2 percent divorce rate is already started. But before, it was even unheard of. So, the government, because they don't understand Vedic culture, Prabhupāda is explaining that actually being married in the young age will solve a lot of the problems that already starting and the problems that are going in the west. But at the same time, we have a practical problem in the west, to accommodate this type of marriage has also got its problems which had to be dealt with by the parents, that how will a young wife be able to maintain the pressure of being a mother and a wife without, you know, if she doesn't have a backup of the whole family system that they have in Indian society. But this is prevalent. Also, the girls are trained right from their early age that you are going to get married and being trained how to be a proper wife in the future, how to be Kṛṣṇa conscious in spite of all the different type of circumstances. This verse of course again is discussing simply a material boy and girl meaning. It is just a example that Nārada Muni has given to explain the king Prācīnabarhi. This is isn't particularly a Kṛṣṇa conscious meeting or Kṛṣṇa conscious marriage or anything. This is just an ordinary material relationship. In a Kṛṣṇa conscious gṛhastha life, of course, it's also much different. In the sense that, Kṛṣṇa is kept in the center and that the goal of the gṛhastha life is like Kṛṣṇa should be pleased. The husband and wife co-operate with each other to serve Guru and Kṛṣṇa. Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākura explains what is gṛhastha āśrama. He said that we have 5 senses. The sense of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, feeling. So gṛhastha life means to taste, to smell, to hear, to use all of the senses in Kṛṣṇa's service and engage the senses in Kṛṣṇa's service in the association of a qualified wife who should by definition be a devotee of Kṛṣṇa. So, he gave like a simple explanation. He also stressed that husband and wife should both be devotees, there is a question of a gṛhastha āśrama. So, one person maybe a devotee, may be married, but unless both are devotees, then it's not a āśrama, it's not a congenial place for serving Kṛṣṇa as an āśrama. So, these are practical points. I'd like to read also the next verse.

nārada uvāca

iti tau dam-patī tatra

samudya samayam mithaḥ

tāṁ praviśya purīṁ rājan

mumudāte śataṁ samāḥ

Translation: The great sage Nārada continued: My dear King, those two — the man and the woman — supporting one another through mutual understanding, entered that city and enjoyed life for one hundred years.

Purport by Śrīla Prabhupāda: hundred years is significant in this connection because every human being is given the concession to live up to a hundred years. The span of life is different on different planets, according to the planet’s distance from the sun. In other words, one hundred years on this planet is different from one hundred years on another planet. Lord Brahmā lives for one hundred years according to time on the Brahmaloka planet, but one day of Brahmā is equal to millions of years on this planet. Similarly, the days on the heavenly planets are equal to six months on this planet. On every planet, however, the span of life for a human being is roughly one hundred years. According to the life spans on different planets, the standards of living also differ. text 43 chapter 25 canto 4 Śrīmad Bhāgavatam.

Jayapatākā Swami: So Pūrañjana and his queen, they support each other. They enter the city which is actually the body and enjoy life for 100 years. So Prabhupāda explained what is the 100 years significance, that whether human or deva or mahā deva, great deva rather in the upper, like Indra and others. They all live a life span of 100 years by their own calculation, even Brahmā. But by our calculation, it may be something very much longer. Brahmā, when he went and took the cows from Kṛṣṇa and the calves and the cowherd boys and then he went and came back. For him, it was only a moment. Then, for us one year gone. But this for him, a flash is a year for him. Who was it? Indradyumna Mahārāja had gone off to see Brahmā, request him to do the abhiṣeka for Lord Jagannāth's installation and he was waiting outside for 20 min or an hour something and by the time Brahmā saw then Brahmā said, I can come. But already whole family is dead, everything's gone. Tens of thousands, hundred thousand years have gone by because he is waiting in Brahmaloka for that long. But in Earth planet, things are going on at a faster pace. He came back, you know, the whole Jagannāth temple is under sand and everything is changed. Then some king has discovered Jagannāth and he wanted to do some worship and discovered the top of the temple. He wanted to claim it and then Indradyumna claimed that it is my temple. He said, "your temple. Who are you?" He said I'm Indradyumna. Yes, I have some hear history book, in some ancient ancestor Indradyumna was there but disappeared, we never saw him anymore, you know. How can you be Indradyumna and I was like hundreds of thousands, tens of thousands of years ago and he had a difficult time to prove. Finally, there was some crow there that was living so long and he said No, this is the Indradyumna. Because of this ancient raven who spoke, then that king believed. Okay. He claimed back his temple. Of course, by Kṛṣṇa's arrangement, all these other members had re- incarnated and transmigrated, taken birth in these different families of that era, so they could also be present during the installation of Lord Jagannāth. So, this time span in different planets is different. So, by our calculation, the devas are very great but it doesn't mean, when on their planet, their life is still going just like how we say - Time is flying. Now it's already. Their time is also flying for them. By our thinking, "Wow, they live so long”. But their time goes very quick. They may get a birth on one of these planets and they can enjoy their heavenly delights and burn off their good karmas. But that life goes also very fast for them. Before they know, then their life is gone and they come falling down again to some other birth. So, the devas are also smart. They want to get the mercy of the Lord. In fact, when Lord Caitanya was in the womb of mother Śacī, many devas came to see Him and pray for His blessing. He said in every avatāra, you come as Matsya, Kūrma, Varāha, different avatāras and in this avatāra, you come as the golden avatāra, as the most merciful incarnation of God. Because you are so merciful, we are devotees in the higher planetary systems, we are begging You for Your mercy. So please give us love for Kṛṣṇa. You give mukti and liberation but this is the only and every appearance. But this is the only avatāra that You give out love of Kṛṣṇa. So, we want that mercy for love of Kṛṣṇa. We didn't come here to get some kind of material benediction. We've got enough material gratification in the heavenly planet, like we really don't have any problem. Amongst problem is only two that we can consider. One is that sometimes demons attack us. So, we have to be little bit in fear. When the demons are going to attack us, then defend ourselves. There's no problem in the heavenly planets in themselves, as far as, there's enough sense gratification. There's no too much heat or cold. No difficulty in terms of diseases. People don't grow old. One day, they get old and die. So, they don't have to go through lengthy process of old age. Even pregnancy apparently is one day and they have a child. They don't have to kind of go through austerity of nine months bearing a child and everything. So, all kinds of facilities are there for easy life. Only difficulty is sometimes, they get attacked by the demons, also want to take the same facilities by force so that it'll be a little apprehensive when they are going to be attacked. So, the other second problem is because of such a nice material facility, but practically hardly any problem. Therefore, the resolute determination to render devotional service doesn't come in our heart and we are deprived of love of Kṛṣṇa and this is the greatest suffering. This is the greatest suffering that could possibly be. So therefore, we are begging You, Lord Caitanya that when this avatāra, when You appear, give us Your mercy. So then, of course, later when Lord Caitanya appeared, the devīs, they came and they would come with the tilak and you know, all nice ornaments. You don't know where they've all come from. They're all coming and giving gifts to the child. Not only the local neighbors, but even from other planets, they were coming in their subtle carrier airplanes and giving their gifts to Caitanya Mahāprabhu as a baby. Then sometimes, when the Lord was a small child, the other Gandharvas and other smaller devas had come and picked up Lord Caitanya invisibly. They couldn't be seen. So, then Lord Caitanya would play with them and He'd make their shadow visible. So, then mother Śacī would see a shadow moving or would be able to see something of the devas and she started screaming Narasiṅga Dev! Narasiṅga Dev!, thinking some spook had come and the deva was you know enforced to be invisible. The humans can't see me, you know, how is it that she is seeing me, you know. He is well off and hides and then you know Lord Caitanya would set time and this is all fixed by Lord Caitanya as the child and He would reveal the deva and create a little bit of rasa there. So then, when Lord Caitanya was a small child, couple, maybe 2 years old, just a toddler, just being able to walk, He wanted to. Mother Śacī was keeping baby Caitanya on her lap in the courtyard after doing some deity worship and putting the deities to rest, closing the altar. Jagannāth Miśra after taking prasāda, was just resting in the deity room. Mother Śacī was feeding Lord Caitanya, the baby. All of a sudden, the whole courtyard filled up with devas, dazzling with helmets and golden and jewels and who are these generals and who are these soldiers and couldn't figure out what's going on here. She wanted to scream Jagannāth Miśra!. But suddenly, she was frozen. She couldn't move. Just couldn't move. She couldn't speak. All she could do was see. They picked up baby Caitanya right from her lap. Really, you know, wants to speak, wants to scream, wants to call her husband. She can't move. Then they brought a golden siṁhāsana, placed Caitanya on it and started like a mahā abhiṣeka and all the devas worshipped offering various prayers. Just can't believe what she's seeing and she's saying, what’s going on? What does all this mean? And the devas are offering, you know, full worship to Lord Caitanya, full Ārati, chanting kīrtana, mantras. Then after it's all finished and baby Caitanya, they put Him down. He walks up on the verandah. He walks up over the room and sees Jagannāth Miśra resting. Mother Śacī, wake up!! wake him up!! wake him up!! You know, she's still disturbed, petrified, what's going on? Call my husband. That's all, she could think. So, then Lord Caitanya walked back to the verandah, and then he tells the devas, you know, sing Vṛndāvan bhajan, sing glories of Kṛṣṇa. Then all the devas started chanting hari haraye namaḥ kṛṣṇa yādavāya namaḥ gopāla govinda rāma śrī-madhusūdana, different mantras and big kīrtana starts and they all start dancing and then Lord Caitanya, He raised His hands and He started little baby little toddler and he starts dancing and then the devas are dancing and then mother Śacī - What is going on? This is too much for her. Oh! she faints. [laughter]. When she hits the ground, that sound Jagannāth Miśra heard. All this other kīrtana, huge conch shells, bells singing dum dumi drum, he couldn't hear anything. This is on a higher plane. So, this sound of her falling, he heard. Mother Śacī! Śacī! and she woke up hearing Jagannāth Miśra's voice. Jagannāth! Jagannāth! whatever, maybe Indian women don't call her husband by name, whatever she called out. Svāmī. So then, he ran up and she got and then she just grabbed him, was crying. What's wrong! What's wrong!. Then she looked around and there were so many. He looked around and nobody was there, you know. Baby Caitanya is sitting in the Sun, you know and playing with the pebble or something [laughter] in the courtyard. Then she explained what happened, what she saw. What does it all mean? Where have they all gone? Was I seeing, was it a dream, what was it? He looked around. There was no sign of anyone being there, not a foot print, not a little splatter of even a drop of yogurt or milk, nothing. Might be you had a dream [laughter] Don't see anything. They went and picked baby Caitanya and embracing Him and everything is alright. See our baby is alright and she looked and I heard ankle bells on His feet but look at this, there's no ankle bell. Later, of course they felt, they heard ankle bells and they saw Lord Caitanya walking as a little bigger child. But no ankle bells on his feet but they could hear Jing Jing Jing ankle bells. Then she says that maybe what I saw was true. So, like this the devas are always coming from other planets, eager to get the Lord's mercy. One day when Lord Caitanya was sitting in the house of mother or rather Śrīvās Paṇḍit, was about 5-7 devotees and they were discussing Kṛṣṇa Kathā during the day and all of a sudden and about half a dozen of devas, they appeared in the house with their devīs and they pay their prostrated obeisances to Lord Caitanya and they beg please give us your mercy and Śrīvās said these are the devas, they come. Lord Caitanya is not paying much attention due to regarding Kṛṣṇa-kathā. Śrīvās said, they are very eager to get your mercy. They want love of Kṛṣṇa. Please give them your blessings and then they are just like begging, you know. So then Lord Caitanya, they requested, give us your mercy, we can have love of Kṛṣṇa. Then Lord Caitanya said tathāstu. ha okay. So be it. They always started getting completely ecstatic in kīrtana

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/

Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare

They started jumping up and down in ecstasy. Even their consorts were ecstatic, they were falling down on the ground paying obeisances, something like that. Then tears were coming. They started getting so ecstatic rolling back and forth on the ground. Their two hands, the four arms, whatever different forms, all rolling back and forth in ecstasy jumping up and down. The other associates Lord Caitanya watching this pretty far out, you know, seeing the whole ecstatic, ecstasy that how Lord Caitanya had given his love of Kṛṣṇa to these devas and how they are completely overwhelmed in loving ecstasy. So finally, after they repeatedly come, they finally get the mercy of Lord Caitanya. So, they finally got the mercy in the house of Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura. Then they went back to their respective planet and then from there we can know that those devas are still spreading the ecstasy around and they got the mercy of Lord Caitanya. Maybe they didn't, one of them wasn't from the candraloka. Because one day Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura walking with his disciples. He looked up at the moon planet and just all of a sudden, he said in Candraloka, the people have become bahirmukha. They have become materialistic. They have turned their face away from Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So now they are suffering so much because of lack of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We have to go there and preach [laughter]. All the disciples [laughter] are completely amazed. What is Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura saying? Going to the moon planet and preaching [laughter]. you have to take birth there, in future birth and preach and spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness there. Those people in candraloka, they are suffering like anything due to lack of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So, the ācāryas, they have the vision to spread Lord Caitanya's mercy not only in this planet, not only in India, but all over the world, all over the universe. Śrīla Prabhupāda, when he wanted to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness to the Western world, he faced lot of limited vision, narrow-mindedness. He told all the people; he wanted to spread it was Lord Caitanya's prediction that “pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi grāma sarvatra pracāra haibe mora nāma”. That this movement will spread all parts of the world. But people said, maybe that time the world was, you see, India, means all of India should be spread. They were preaching all over India. No Prabhupāda said, the whole world. They didn't take Prabhupāda seriously. But Prabhupāda could understand Lord Caitanya meant the entire planet should be Kṛṣṇa conscious. So he took the order of Caitanya Mahāprabhu upon his head and brought it here to the western world and therefore now all over the world people are chanting

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/

Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare

Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Prabhu Nityānanda

Śrī Advaita Gadādhara Śrīvāsādi Gaura Bhakta Vṛnda.

But it doesn't even end on this planet. So even a drop of dust from the lotus feet of a pure devotee can liberate the whole universe. Vāsudeva Datta, he prayed to Lord Caitanya that let me take all the karma for all the living entities in the entire universe. Let me suffer. Let one person suffer, but let all of them get love of Kṛṣṇa. I have already tasted what is love of Kṛṣṇa. I know how much these people are suffering, not having love of Kṛṣṇa. But he wasn't thinking that only the poor people who have got some you know, shortage of food or something. He's thinking that even the devas, even Indraloka, even Varuṇaloka, Yāmaloka, whatever, all the different heavenly planets, hellish planets where all the living entities, anyone who doesn't have love of Kṛṣṇa, they are all suffering. When we even see the person who is saying really happy, just like in this Pūrañjana story. This is a real happy story. Unmarried girl meets handsome young king and becomes a queen and they go off together. They enter into the palace. It seems like, wow what a wonderful story. This would make a good movie. Maybe one Day they will be the Pūrañjana movie, hope with purport [laughter] at the end. Then it seemed like such a wonderful, you see happy story but how on the other planets, the whole universe is meant to be Kṛṣṇa conscious. Just like one pure devotee can deliver the whole universe. So, what would happen? that I was saying Vāsudeva Datta. Vāsudeva Datta, he had prayed for the deliverance of all living entities. So here it is example that young king and queen, Prince and princess, whatever, they meet together. So, they think this is great happiness but even that type of happiness, but the devotees see, you know, these people are suffering. Suffering because they are missing out on the real happiness of Kṛṣṇa Prema. They are not bewildered. This is real happiness. They know the real happiness; the highest happiness is Kṛṣṇa-prema. Just like Prabhupāda gave the example when you are eating in one restaurant. Someone says, Oh! this is really garbage, you should come to this other restaurant. There is really good food and so you think I thought this is good. No no, this is nothing, you should try the other one. Let me go to the other. Oh! it's much better. See, forget that one. That we are enjoying on one level in this planet and when you go to the heavenly planets you think the other place is really a dumb. Now this place is really good. But when you compare even the highest happiness in the material world for love of Kṛṣṇa is insignificant. So even, in viewpoint of, just, you now people looking after happiness specially in Sweden, America, all these, happiness is the main aim but they are missing out on the highest happiness. We are offering not only the perfect, you know freedom from suffering, freedom from hell, freedom from burning in the infernal and all these things, we are offering the highest happiness. So even the devas, they came to Lord Caitanya eager to get that happiness but the difference is that someone who is suffering materially they are little more objective in seeing - Well I was happy. Now I am suffering. So let me get something where I am having happiness without suffering where someone is in the midst of enjoying material sense gratification, they sometimes get a bit proud and they think that this is all it is and this is enough for me. I don't need any more and that way, they are really unfortunate. So Vāsudeva Datta, he wanted to take all of those people's suffering. Even these devas after the life is over, they come back down. a-brahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino 'rjuna. Again they come down even from Brahmaloka, if they are not Kṛṣṇa conscious, they have to come down again. So Vāsudeva Datta wanted to deliver all of them and I'll take all the sufferings. Of course Lord Caitanya embraced him and said, you are so compassionate. Infact Prabhupāda said, what to speak of, you see even Jesus Christ took the sins of his followers and saved them in this way. But Vāsudeva Datta, he took the sins for the whole world, the whole universe, even the demons, even the demigods, everyone, all the human, whether they were Christian, Muslim, Jew, atheist, Buddhist or Hindu whatever, Vāsudeva Datta took everyone's karma and saved all of them. He's even more merciful than any savior or any prophet in the whole world. Simply one Vāsudeva Datta, that's how merciful he was. So, Lord Caitanya said how Kṛṣṇa will let you suffer physically. Just by your desire, He will deliver all these people. So, everyone is already delivered by the desire of Vāsudeva Datta. Now simply somehow or the other, we have to get the books to them, get the saṅkīrtana movement to them. Already the ticket has been purchased for them, they simply have to take it and they can get on the express and go back to home, back to Godhead. Ticket is booked; place is there already. Don't have to worry. I was trying to get out of India. There was no place. He said, you can't get out till the 14th of September, booked out. So, it's a big scam but people are waiting at the airport because so many planes were stopped, cancelled because of the Gulf problem. Kuwait airlines not flying. Iraqui airway is not flying. So, all of extra passengers are cramping on the other planes. Big trouble. So, these people fighting, you know. Even I saw one lady she practically started punching the airline guy because she had a okay ticket and they overbooked 150 people and 25 didn't get on the flight. So, it was like, people get afraid. Maybe there's no place for me. Some maybe blasting, what happens if everyone becomes a devotee. Don't worry. Your seat is already booked. No problem. You don't have to worry about overbooking or being unloaded at the gate (devotees laughing). You simply chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and be happy. As Prabhupāda had advised you will get back to home back to Godhead without any problem. So, we heard recently how Prabhupāda, he told his devotees when he was doing a life membership program in a big rich life membership's house says whenever I come to this big millionaire's house, I always pray to Kṛṣṇa, please bless me that I don't get contaminated. I don't get attracted, protect me. A devotee thought that why Prabhupāda is already so advanced then why he has to worry about being attracted. Because you go these big rich, they have they have beautiful houses swimming pools and gardens and all kinds of nice material facilities. So, they are trying to figure out what is the purpose? Why did Prabhupāda say that? He is just doing that to teach us or is it because this is why, he is so great. He's always taking a humble position. He's taking shelter of Kṛṣṇa and therefore because he is always praying to Kṛṣṇa for protection, therefore he is always protected from Māyā. You can figure it out yourself what the purport is. But we can definitely take that this is the actual proper attitude that a devotee should have. He should be afraid of and we should understand what is the position of material happiness but still we should be afraid knowing that because we've been in this material world for millions and millions of, unlimited millions of births. We have tendency to again fall back into the enjoying attitude. They can become just like Pūrañjana, who was going to take birth few times but now he is a big king. Next birth, he becomes a woman because he got too attached to his wife, he took birth as woman. Then after that, goes on. So, we are going to hear all about Pūrañjana. This is a big story and we are going to learn a lot from his example but the ultimate instruction is don't get into the same thing he is getting into or she is getting into whoever his consort, his wife. Become Kṛṣṇa conscious in this lifetime and that's what ultimately King Prācīnabarhi got from Nārada Muni became Kṛṣṇa conscious. He understood the purport of instruction and he became Kṛṣṇa conscious. This is personally what Prabhupāda has taught us we're all here. So, I assume everybody here because they want to be Kṛṣṇa conscious and they are Kṛṣṇa conscious. So, we have to be now and also to be careful not to become unKṛṣṇa conscious, not to leave Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Bhagavad-Gītā says that we should be very careful not to deviate from the path. So, the way to do that is by having a helpful respect of Māyā. To always pray to Kṛṣṇa, always pray to the spiritual master for protection. Not think that there is no danger for me. I'm not a devotee, so long māyā cannot affect me. Then why Prabhupāda is saying when I go to some rich man's house, I pray to Kṛṣṇa to protect me, that I don't become affected. Because this is the attitude that we should have whether we are beyond external we should always be afraid. Infact even when going to the spiritual world, sometimes Kṛṣṇa will take you by the heavenly planets and then you see some nice planet. You're like Oh! look at that beautiful garden, look at those apsarās [laughter]. Let's just stay here for a little while. Well then, you get off the express. Everyone else goes back to Godhead but you'll be stuck there in some whether Indraloka Brahmaloka whatever. So we have to very thoroughly develop our taste for Kṛṣṇa consciousness and get this mercy of Pañca Tattva just like the devas were begging. They were begging again and again for the mercy of Lord Caitanya. This was one sweep of the hand tathāstu, okay take it, love of Kṛṣṇa and they became fully ecstatic in love of Kṛṣṇa. So, we are serving, when will we get the mercy of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu will have pure Kṛṣṇa-prema. He can give it any time he likes. Must be that our desire is not very strong. He said that if we have a strong desire, if you very humbly approach to Lord, He could very easily give to us full love of Kṛṣṇa. So we can only know that we must be very unfortunate, we must not have any strong desire yet for having Kṛṣṇa-prema. Otherwise, certainly Lord Caitanya would give to us that great benediction because He is there to give it easily to anyone who wants it very strongly. Hare Kṛṣṇa! Caitanya Mahāprabhu ki Jaya! Śrīla Prabhupāda ki Jaya! Any questions! Mātajīs

Guru Mahārāj: Lord Caitanya told him that because He embraced him and said that you are a pure devotee of the Lord and simply by your desire that how the Lord will let you take all, everybody's sin. He'll deliver everyone and give you all the karma and you'll be rotting for millions of years in taking all this sin in hell. So Kṛṣṇa cannot have His pure devotee suffer like that. So just because you desired, you prayed and Vāsudeva Datta, he was crying and he very much wanted to take all the karma but because of his desire that Karma was given immediately purified. So he didn't have to suffer. Rather what was happened is that, by his desire all the conditioned souls got the benediction to be delivered, simply by his desire. See, he didn't have to go through all that suffering. He was ready to do that. He was begging to take it but because of his sincere desire, he delivered all the souls, simply by his desire is it clear. Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Guru Mahārāj: Yes mtji

Question not audible

Guru Mahārāj: I never heard. Never heard any connection. It's a common name. Even in the Mahābhārata, there was Indradyumna and that's what Prabhupāda explains in the purport

What's the exact question?

Question not audible

Jayapatākā Swami: It is just that the people, the karma then was less. People are in the mode of goodness, so people could live longer. People could live longer that time because they were less sinful activities but that's a good question whether those people who are living hundred thousand years, whether for them it was also feeling like still like a 100 years. A new point. Generally, Prabhupāda always says that you feel still whenever you life span us, you still feel like hundred years. you don't feel light even if you're living thousand you don't feel like 100 but that's especially in terms of other planets. As far as this planet, now we know that people live a hundred years as a mean but practically we see people are not living hundred, very few, rare person lives hundred. Generally, the average the insurance companies, what's the average they state? 67 or 71 like that. The average life span they figured out, something like that. If you live over 40, you can probably live up to 70, the average. The average is no longer hundred. The average is less but, on the planet, it's created in a way that humans can live hundred but because people are more sinful, irregular habits, pollution and so many other things, anxiety so on. Therefore, they don't live up to hundred but as far as in previous, there was thousand, ten thousand, hundred thousand in previous yugas and again next Kali-yuga further. Indra, he is seeing the Kali-yuga has changed. In one day, he will have a few Kali-yugas, one of his days or few of his days he'll see. Can't figure out mathematically but in his lifetime, he'll see many Kali-yugas, you see changing. Because in a Manu, there's 14 Manus in a day of Brahmā. Because in a Manu, it's 14 Manus in a day of Brahmā and there's a 1000 cycles of the you see 4 Yugas. So that means, is it 14 Manus? ya 14. 14 Manus in a day of Brahmā means that each of them is going to see e so many even Manu is going to see any changes of these 4 yugas 14 whatever it comes so in the same way they was there going to see many of these changes but for us as a human being is born in the Kali Yuga it’s hundred years if it’s Dvāpara for a thousand 1000 but a 1000, he may live only up to 200 or 300 depending on whatever 500. That's the mean. That's your, but then because of the end of Dvāpara-yuga, maybe became less, in the beginning it was more. Like in the end of Kali-yuga, it says it will come down to 30 years. When Kṛṣṇa spoke Bhagavad-Gītā, He was 125. Maybe he was on the planet 175 years. So maybe by the end of Dvāpara-yuga, the lifespan came down to 200, then in the beginning it was a 1000. We don't know this because we are in Kali-yuga. We are more concerned with what the present situation is but we have to actually deal with it. But we know something about the previous ages but when you go into lot of details about it. Because, it doesn't, it's kind of just like unrelated knowledge it doesn't really make lot of difference this way or that way for us right now. But just to give us a perspective on how everything is, we are given an overview. We are not given a lot of details like that. So, what, I don't really have the answer in other words as to what the experience of the people in Satya-yuga whether their hundred thousand years life feels to them like a hundred thousand years also feels like a hundred years. Because that kind of detail, we are not given. I don't know if it's really important but as far as the other planetary systems, their cycles are going to go on the same. Here hundred thousand years means hundred thousand by our calculation. Devas, they got their calculations as already one of our years is 6, our six months is their one day. Our 1 year is one day one night for them in heavenly planets. So that's going to go on the same that's not going to change. It's not like because Satya-yuga, the planets suddenly starts to orbit, the quickest speed or something. It's just that the environment here is changed.

Jayapatākā Swami: Yes!

Question: [Inaudible]

Jayapatākā Swami: I had to get out the Caitanya-caritāmṛta Vāsudeva Datta heard Lord Caitanya. Was that Caitanya-caritāmṛta or Caitanya-bhāgavata, that particular pastime. I think it's in Caitanya-caritāmṛta what He said. He said they are already delivered by your desire. So, when He said that already delivered, when He said we empty out one universe, again it fills up. There are so many other living entities to fill up. There's a lot of big waiting list. I mean, the souls are there to fill up the universe, even you empty out, again it fills up. It's not because you empty one universe, all living entities, it's finished. Again, more living entities are there to take up the positions. So, when He said, already delivered, at that time, the people were still present. So that means they are delivered means they will be delivered. Whether at the end of this immediate life or in the future. But by Vāsudeva Datta's desire, they'll be delivered. We know that Lord Caitanya, His desire is there to deliver all the conditioned souls. So also, you can say by that desire, they are delivered. His desire won't be unfruitful. It will definitely bear fruit. Then what's separating them from being delivered and not being delivered is simply how Caitanya Mahāprabhu wants them to be delivered. Does He want them to be delivered just spontaneously like that or He wants them delivered by devotees going and giving them the mercy and seeing the whole world become Kṛṣṇa conscious right before everybody's eyes. So that second aspect is certainly already been predicted that, otherwise He wouldn't have said pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi grāma sarvatra pracāra haibe mora nāma. That everyone will be chanting My holy names in every town and village. So certainly, in this world, He wants everyone to be chanting. So, therefore it's our duty that we go and we get everyone to start to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and whether one batch of souls gets the liberation and the new batch comes, but still we have to go wherever the souls are there, then Lord Caitanya's preachers are going to go and approach them and get them to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa whether they are the same souls or new batch, then they got the human body or a deva body and they are in the universe, well, it's our duty, we're going to go to them and we're going to get them to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and either case we know that Lord Caitanya wants this universe to be Kṛṣṇa conscious and therefore it's going to be Kṛṣṇa conscious in due course. Interesting thing happened. it's not, it's just like, well since, even in Prabhupāda's biography, sometimes we quote the astrologer that said he'd make a house in that would fill the whole world. Sometimes we quote astrologers just there's something other than that. They say one of our devotees have gone to see one famous Roman catholic astrologer who's been making modern predictions, predicting earth quakes and things like that. Very famous astrologer. Just went to that astrologer to get some advice what he would say. But when the astrologer saw, you're a devotee of Kṛṣṇa. He said yes, I'm a Hare Kṛṣṇa devotee. He said then you want to tell advance or something. Hare Kṛṣṇa devotee. Yes, I have seen many times in my future, that in 20 years Hare Kṛṣṇa is going to be the predominant religion in the whole world. He said that those huge house of people are going to be joining, everyone is going to be coming to join the Hare Kṛṣṇa, your religion and he was shocked to hear. This is Roman catholic. What about the Roman catholic. [laughter] He said, I don't know. Roman catholic but I had to say but not much happening with them [laughter]. Whatever I've seen I had to say. He was just glorifying like anything the Hare Kṛṣṇa. Then why don't you become a Hare Kṛṣṇa [laughter]. since you can see what the future was [laughter]. So well, being a Roman catholic, I just can't change like that but anyway you are definitely, your religion has been. I think he said all the Roman catholic, they are going to regulate a little bit, like the human rights or something but that's not really going to have any. As far as the people actually change of heart and change of mind in the future, it's going to be very big in the next 20 years. So, we can see his predictions correct.

Question: [Inaudible]

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Caitanya was one person, going around, whenever he would go, He would get people to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. They would chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and this way all over India, He was going to different places. He went to all the holy places and in those places, there are definitely people that are still devoted to Viṣṇu. He didn't stay a long time and preach to them. He didn't give them a lot of philosophical background but wherever He went he got the people to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Definitely didn't hear a lot of devotees of Kṛṣṇa. Infact even in one village in South India, the devotees went and found in this village they were chanting Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Prabhu Nityānanda. They were chanting this mantra. They were very surprised. So where did you get this mantra.

They said, we don't know. My father had it, his father, they had this mantra and we been chanting and someone in the past they gave this mantra and gave the Hare Kṛṣṇa. Behind 10 generations it's been coming, we don't know where it began. In the whole South India, all these mantras, very rare you know. You won't find. Even in some remote village in Tamil Nadu they were chanting the names of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So, you find also like in whole Kerala. Now Kerela, you can say okay, people there are Śaṅkarācārya everything, they have an institution. They have the birth place of Śaṅkarācārya in Kerela. They have got mathas, temples. They got hundreds and thousands of millions of followers. They got, you know sannyāsīs galore, everything. But how is it that everybody in Kerala chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā mantra. It's a common mantra everyone chants. In their temples where they chant 24 hours a day, they try to find where did this begin. Nobody can figure out. Śaṅkarācārya didn't tell them to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa but everybody there is chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. It is a common Mantra there, in fact the whole India, the most common Mantra, believe it or not is

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/

Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare

is the. Now in the meantime other gurus, like Lord Caitanya didn't convert all the Māyāvādīs. They kept on preaching. What He did is. He went and spread chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa to the common people. Everyone was chanting, you see. Exactly how comprehensive it was cause He went and visited all these holy places. But He didn't like, oh systematically like we do, you know, take a map, here's Sweden, here's every village, here's every district, okay. This group, now go there. You cover all these. We didn't, like, you know, have a whole team. He just went from one holy place to the next. In between, He got people to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. But I tell you, the whole of South India, there is no history of, not Madhva, not Rāmānuja, not Nimbārka, not Śaṅkarācārya, nobody told the people to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nobody can remember who told them to chant, everybody chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. I definitely know that Lord Caitanya had a very big effect and that's why the people are very spontaneously attracted to the chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa. When we have programs thousands of people come. So, for one you know, wherever He made His home, just chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and this was there for 60 years and not 6 years, just travelling around, in one place one day one day, just going and telling people. But everyone they know about the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and you can't find any other historical cause who gave them Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Because, although it's in the Vedas, none of the other ācāryas really promoted the Hare Kṛṣṇa chanting except Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. It's there, it's one of the mantras. But Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu was the one who promoted and it's very, in some places very very common. But I don't think there is anything unusual about the present situation. Lord Caitanya planted the seeds, you know but He didn't like completely. He converted some Māyāvādīs. Many of them joined his movement and some Rāmānuja Śrī sampradāya preachers to, like Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī. He sent him to Vṛndāvana to join the six gosvāmīs. He saved different people but he didn't, even like, he visited Udupi, He didn't convert all the Mādhvas to to His followers. He saw what they were. He preached there a little bit, he went on so that whatever was there, was still remaining. But when He would chant, He would get people to chant. A lot of people took up to the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa from His visits and you find all these places people are still chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. Inspite of, I think that it's pretty clear that Lord Caitanya did have that type of effect when He was there but seeing in the context of everything, it's not unusual that they didn't expand in the same way they did in say Bengal where people took to it in the Orissa. Because six Gosvāmīs and all the preaching was done there. After Lord Caitanya went for 6 years, who went back after that. Who went to South India and spread the saṅkīrtana, we are just doing now, after 500 years. So, nobody, in the meantime I've never heard that anybody that went to South India to preach. But there's all this other, you know religions are still going on there since that time. Still people chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, even today, before we came, they were chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. So definitely Lord Caitanya got them to chant. They continue to chant and now it's waiting to be made all devotees of Lord Caitanya again. Okay, any last question

Question: [Inaudible]

Jayapatākā Swami: supposed to be promoting religion on this planet. They have 54:05 of interest so that people are, I don't know how they do it but obviously they are based on interest. The more people are religious here; they get some benefit from them. So, in Kali-yuga, religion goes way down, so also, they don't get so much. That's why they don't even come here. Prabhupāda said, they don't even come to this planet to pass water [laughter] in the age of Kali but when you are chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahāmantra and kīrtana, having a big nāma yajña, that time all the devas are present. That time, they are also getting the blessing in so many ways. How devas are connected and how pitṛs are connected with the people on this plane, that's another, that's another chapter, another subtle connection how they but there's some connection is there. So ,all the devas are very pleased when you do the nāma yajña and that's why even the whole world gets benediction from the devas also by performing the nāma yajña, they naturally can become better and nicer, the whole climate, everything. I don't know if that answered your question.

Okay, Hare Kṛṣṇa Jaya!