19901002 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 6.17.39-41

The following is a lecture given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami on October 2nd 1990 in Atlanta, Georgia. The class begins with a reading from the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, 6th Canto, Chapter 17, verse 39-41.

? Translation: My dear King Parīkṣit, you inquired from me how Vṛtrāsura, a great devotee, took birth in a demoniac family. Thus, I have tried to explain to you everything about this. ? If one hears this history of Citraketu from a pure devotee, the listener also is freed from the conditional life of material existence.

Purport: The historical incidents in the Purāṇas, such as the history of Citraketu explained in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, are sometimes misunderstood by outsiders, or non-devotees. Therefore, Śukadeva Gosvāmī advised that the history of Citraketu be heard from a devotee. Anything about devotional service or the characteristics of the Lord and His devotees must be heard from a devotee, not from a professional reciter. This is advised herein. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s secretary also advised that one learn the history of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from a devotee: yāha, bhāgavata pada vaiṣṇavera sthāne. One should not hear the statements of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from professional reciters, or else they will not be effective. Quoting from Padma Purāṇa, Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmī has strictly forbidden us to hear about the activities of the Lord and His devotees from the mouths of non-devotees:

avaiṣṇava-mukhodgīrṇaṁ 
pūtaṁ hari-kathāmṛtam 
śravaṇaṁ naiva kartavyaṁ 
sarpocchiṣṭaṁ yathā payaḥ

“One should not hear anything about Kṛṣṇa from a non-Vaiṣṇava. Milk touched by the lips of a serpent has poisonous effects; similarly, talks about Kṛṣṇa given by a non-Vaiṣṇava are also poisonous.” One must be a bona fide devotee, and then he can preach and impress devotional service upon his listeners.

Devotee: There is one last verse in the chapter with no purport to it.

? Translation: One who rises from bed early in the morning and recites this history of Citraketu, controlling his words and mind and remembering the Supreme Personality of Godhead, will return home, back to Godhead, without difficulty.

Jayapatākā Swami:

nama om viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāyabhūtale
śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine 
namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe 
nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe

śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda 
śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare 
Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare

Om namo bhagavate vāsudevāya 
Om namo bhagavate vāsudevāya 
Om namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya iśvaram 

So we have heard the pastimes of Citraketu. After this, Citraketu pastime will be transformed into Vṛtrāsura pastime since he was cursed to become born as a demon. So, he appeared as Vṛtrāsura. But, although Vṛtrāsura is considered asura or demon, because he was born in that mode, but he is also a great devotee. So it is possible for great devotees to be born in any species, in any caste, in any type of birth. Naturally, Vṛtrāsura had a certain character, which was very fearful to look upon, fearful in battle. But, then when he was speaking, it could be understood that he was actually a great devotee, which was very surprising to the devas. It also says in the scriptures that in order to understand who is a devotee, in order to understand, uh, someone's actual position, it’s important to hear. By hearing from them one can understand what is their realization. As long as, uh, someone doesn't speak he could be a fool or he could be very erudite.

We found in Māyāpur there was this one person, very great gentleman in appearance. Came up with a very white, long kurta, very nicely pressed, nice starched. Very elegant looking. And, uh, he was coming around the temple. But then a devotee who was on a special duty, from hidden place, he was trying to bust the shoe stealing mafia that was operating in Māyāpur. He saw this gentleman sit down, look around, not see anybody. And, then under his long kurta he had a specially built pouch for stealing shoes. (devotees laugh) And he would pick off the most expensive shoes there at the doorways if he's putting on his own shoes and then nobody there put them in his pouch. Then, ah, when he was captured and started to speak it found out that he was some kind of a famous deaf-and-dumb pickpocket. Or not been a deaf but at least that I know he could just speaking “arhaharha” [Guru Mahārāja trying to imitate]. Some strange sounds coming out. He was handed over to vigilante crew. So, sometimes the appearances can be misleading. As soon as he opened his mouth, all the local rickshaw drivers said hey! wait a minute it's not a gentleman, this is, you know, this is bimbo, the dumb (laughing). Famous. “What are you dressed up like a gentleman, you're a pickpocket, you're a thief.” So, he had a whole underground racket. You could get inexpensive used shoes in Navadvīpa.

Anyway, many symptoms are like that. So, the way that, uh, one can recognize Vṛtrāsura was, what he was speaking was very Kṛṣṇa conscious, so then the devas could understand that actually he was a great devotee. Even later in the fight with Vṛtrāsura, was of course was many few chapters before or... later, Indra hesitated to fight with Vṛtrāsura since he was, when he realized he was a great devotee. So, these are all very amazing incidents. Very wonderful incidents. These stories are actually, they pale.

Even modern action-packed stories and movies etc. The wonderful accounts. So, sometimes when people hear these amazing things, you'll find that they consider this is just some kind of a legend or a mythology. But specifically, here in this verse it says itihāsam. itihāsam means history. itihāsam imaṁ puṇyaṁ,

And, this very pious history of Citraketu. These accounts are actual histories. Certainly not recent histories, histories very far in the past. Some of these histories in the Bhāgavatam are even from previous kalpas. Every kalpa is a day of Brahmā. 1000 cycles of Satya, Treta, Dvāpara, kali. Thousand mahā-yugas. At the end of one kalpa or one thousand yugas, the Lord Brahmā takes rest and the planets and everything are inundated or destroyed. And ah, I think they're inundated and align the bottom of the ocean.., uh, universal ocean until Brahmā wakes up again and then he puts them back into place and restarts the new day. Whether they are fully destroyed and recreated from scratch or kept in the bottom of the universal water. In any case, everything is wound up and destroyed.

So, like this, there is no way that anyone could know a historical account from a previous kalpa, since everything is recreated at the new day of Brahmā. Nowadays archaeologists are trying to trace out the history of the world by digging, excavating different historical sites. One excavation they found the Atlanta underground. This ancient historical relic has been reproduced or has been preserved now. Course not that ancient, about 100 years ago or so? But, they also find millions of years old things, but when you talk about a thousand yugas, which is about four billion, 300 million years. So, that's beyond any recorded historical evidence. So far that I know.

I don't know if anyone knows of anything more than 4 billion years old that they found. So, how we know what is the history of the universe in a previous age in a different yuga? We're in the kali-yuga, in the 28th Kali Yuga or Mahā Yuga cycle out of the thousand. We're practically just at the beginning of the day of Brahmā. 28 out of a thousand is what? It is not even, not even 3% of the day is gone.

That's like, if you got up ah, if you got up at 4 in the morning, then how much of the day would be gone? Probably just be maṅgala-ārati getting over now. So, we're still just in the early morning of this day of Brahmā, and uh, this pastime may have happened in a Satya-yuga of some other day of Brahmā, but they've been recorded by Vyāsadeva here in the purāṇa. So, these historical incidences in the purāṇas.

Prabhupāda, explains that sometimes misunderstood by outsiders and non-devotees. Because the devotee can understand logically how the Vedas can have these ancient histories and how in different ah, creations in different ah, planets, and different ah, maybe even different universe in some cases it might be a historical account. But, even say if it’s this universe, a different creation, a different day of Brahmā. So then naturally be some differences.

But still you'll find that Lord Śiva is the same, the human beings are the same. It's not that every time Brahmā recreates then human beings are replaced and then some other species comes. The human species is a fixed species. There are 8,400,000 species. There may be slight variations, but these are basically already pre-organized by Kṛṣṇa. Simply Brahmā, he pulls from the sack so to speak, he pulls from the different species and lets them come into being. He has his own techniques which are very difficult for us to understand. We know the basic sequence of events. How it actually unfolds in a practical way in terms of how he actually does it, of course no one can understand the way he does, because he is specially empowered by Kṛṣṇa to do this.

So, there are some things which are beyond our ability to be exactly express to us in words, but in the histories, that always explains, how the material world is created, how the universe is situated, and then various histories of the universe.

This is, in the 12th and 11th cantos of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the nature and the criteria for something to be considered a Purāṇa or an authorized Vedic history is given. So, in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, in this history of Citraketu, we can get so much spiritual benefit that although this is from a, all different period, that were able to easily achieve self-realization by understanding it from a devotee. We could understand that if we heard this from someone who wasn't a devotee, they could say anything. Who knows what the, commentary they would give? This would be completely out of the scope of a non-devotee to even begin to try to rationalize what is going on.

Even India we find that we have the Caitanya Mahāprabhu exhibit, and above each picture or plaque, base relief, there's a brief description, more or less almost like a title. Sometime it just says 'Lord Caitanya delivers Jagāi Madhāi' or something like this. Sometimes it's lengthier.

So, you find that when the husband is taking his wife and children and grandparents to the exhibit, many times they don't really know the pastime.

There may be Lord Caitanya feeding the dog of Śivananda Sena. You know the past time where Śivananda Sena was taking a dog with him when all the devotees were going from Navadvīpa to Jagannātha Puri. And every day he would feed the dog prasādam. He was treating the dog just as one of their companions, one of their associates. If the dog was lost, then he would send out the devotees to find the dog. When they got to the ferry and the ferryman refused to take the dog free, then he'd pay the fare. The individual fare that cost the ferry- in India you had to pay a fare.

When I first arrived in India the fare to cross the river was 6 paisa. But, now there's been inflation and its raised. It first raised to 10 paisa and I think now its 12 paisa. 12 paisa in the rupee, 20 rupees in the dollar. So, in those days it wasn't even a paisa, it was a few conch shells. But still you have to pay something. After all, it all adds up.

So Śivānanda Sena would pay for the dog to cross over. So then finally, ah, just before reaching Jagannātha Puri the dog disappeared! When Śivānanda Sena, all the devotees arrived they found that there, the dog was seated by Lord Caitanya, and Lord Caitanya was eating coconut prasāda. And, He was occasionally throwing a piece of coconut to the dog, the dog would jump up at catch it in his mouth as dogs do, taking the prasāda from the hand of Lord Caitanya. How fortunate that the dog is! So, the dog went back to Godhead, disappeared and went back to the spiritual world just by the mercy of Lord Caitanya. This is the story but not everyone knows it, it's a pastime.

I remember like, some people go by and then they say, you know, they just give some speculative commentary. I don't remember what they all say but, they make something up you know, here the dogs going to attack the Lord or here is (devotees laugh), Here's some dog who's going to be initiated, (devotees laugh) or just like this, they say anything. I mean, if they didn't know they'd make up something.

So, like that, if someone's not trained, they don't know something, they tend to speculate. and they don't want to appear that they don't know. The devotee, the first year, training, is that we should be, we should qualify whatever we say. We should only repeat what we hear from the spiritual master. We shouldn't speculate on something, if we don't know then we say we don't know.

Even here in ah, Atlanta Pāṇihāti pastimes, I've heard in the reports, the narration that one time somebody asked Prabhupāda a question he said

"I don't know". Wasn't it like this?

Someone asked some huge long question I think it was, maybe I got two places mixed up, but someone asked, or something and, Kṛṣṇa this and that, and something else, and they put it a whole long question together and they asked Prabhupāda what do you, what's your reply to this and Prabhupāda said,

“I don't know." (devotees laugh)

It was a ridiculous question, of course, but the account was everybody laughed. But sometimes Prabhupāda would say, well! "I don't know". better than you see, speculating. We are not Kṛṣṇa that we can know everything.

Someone was telling Śrīla Prabhupāda, "well, what you're supposed to be the pure devotee but sometimes we see that you doze off in the back of the car, you miss a Sanskrit verse, you're not perfect."

Then Prabhupāda replied, "I'm not Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is perfect. Being a pure devotee means, or being a dedicated devotee, a pure devotee means that one is completely purely surrendered to serving Kṛṣṇa. Doesn't have any other motive. He's under the protection of, [not clear 20:14].. protection and shelter of Kṛṣṇa as well. Not that he is Kṛṣṇa, or that ah, he never makes any kind of slight, doesn't make any mistake in terms of ordinary dealings.

But a devotee is properly fixed and established in his relationship with Kṛṣṇa. And, therefore he is to be, devotional service is to be learned from a devotee, according to Lord Kṛṣṇa. So, the devotee is trained not to speculate. When they know something as they heard it from the spiritual master, then they repeat that. If they don't know then they don't speculate. The problem, maybe one of the lacuna in India, particularly we know and in general amongst all educated people, is they never like to be defeated of course in discussion, they don't want anyone to think that there is something that they don't know.

Like when you're driving in India, if you ask someone how to get to such and such place, say you want to go to the city hall. Well, they don't know where that particular place is, but they want to say that thing which is pleasing to you. So many times, they just say well, you just go over that way. (devotees laugh) about three miles. Yeah.

So, Śrīla Prabhupāda said if you're gonna ask directions in India you have to ask at least 5 people. If they all say the same thing than you believe it. (devotees laugh) If you go to the next person, he says, it's that way. (devotees laugh) And then finally you ask him, by the time you get to the fifth person, 'well you're standing right in front of it'. And, you look and there is City Hall. (devotees laugh)

So, there's a story like that, of course Prabhupāda said that everyone I think knows the story of Sarghil Singh, the, the famous donkey of the laundry man.

In India, the laundry man carries the laundry on the back of donkeys or asses. And this one laundry man had a very faithful donkey that served him for 18 years of his life and passed away.

So, in India it is the custom if one of your relatives dies, you shave your hair. So, the laundry man felt so sad that his donkey died, he felt like it was his own relative, so he shaved his hair off, it was completely shaved up.

So, Sarghil Singh is a kind of impressive name because Singh means Lion. Sarghil Singh it sounds like a kṣatriya type of name, kind of official, heavy duty name. So it so happened that one ah, it was a lieutenant or a sergeant or something like that, some army man, he uh, came to pick up the generals or the colonel's cloth from the laundry man, and he saw that the laundry man was shaved up, so he picked up the cloth, and he said ' well who died?" "You don't know?! Sarghil Singh has died."

So, the soldier thought "Sarghil Singh, Sarghil Singh?"

"Yes, the Great Sarghil Singh has died!" Oh! So, he went and shaved his hair off (devotees laugh) The great Sarghil Singh has died. So, like this the colonel said you know [not clear 25:20], What happened to you?

"You don't know, sir?

? Sarghil Singh, the Great! has died."

"Really?"

So, like this the colonel, and the general everybody was getting shaved up (laughter). Finally the king was seeing his whole army was all shaved up, everybody.

He said, you know, "What's going on?"

"You don't know? You don't know? Sarghil Singh the Great has died, you know”.

"Who is Sarghil Singh the great, you know, I've never heard" then they asked them. Turned out and, it went down the chain of command to find out who Sarghil Singh was, actually nobody knew. No one wanted to admit, they just said, you don't know?" The king was the first person that said "no, I don't know.

Who is Sarghil Singh? I'm not going to shave my hair off [before] I know who Sarghil Singh is" (Guru Mahārāja Laughs with devotees). 

So, this tendency that people don't want to be, of course eventually it was revealed that Sarghil Singh was the laundryman's ass (devotees laugh). Everybody was made an ass or a fool (devotees continue to laugh).

So, this is the, ah in the west there's also that fable the King without the clothes. Nobody wants to let on that they don't know. So, as a result, people, actually make a fool of themselves. So, if one doesn't know one says. By what happens is the non-devotee explain these things. They may not know, actually, but they go on speculating and saying something. Or worse yet they may know but they may be envious and they may purposely change.

Rāmānujācārya was learning from one Sanskrit teacher who was a Māyāvādī. And when, I forget the exact śloka, I think it says... ? there's one Sanskrit verse. And, the teacher was having ah, Rāmānuja give his lotus, giving his legs a massage. Some other disciple came and was asking for a commentary about this particular verse. And the teacher he, at that time Rāmānuja was just a young boy about 10 or 12, going to school. But he was a favorite disciple of the teacher.

So, when this other student asked about that verse, he said well, this means that ah, the eyes of the Lord which are reddish in color like the ah, rear end of a monkey. Some monkeys have a red behind. So, this was so painful to Rāmānuja who was a pure devotee of the Lord that, he started to cry, even as a child, and the tears were falling on the leg of the teacher.

So, he said 'What's going on? Why you are crying?'

He said 'Because of the way you've translated that verse, calling the lotus eyes of the Lord, calling the eyes of the lord, red like a monkey.' So, what other translation you give for that verse?

So then in Sanskrit, sometimes the words, each syllable has its own meaning and you combine different syllables to get different meanings, so... the way that Rāmānuja gave the proper explanation that word means "He who is drinking the sun and who is lying in the water. That means is the lotus. the lotus is lying in the water, drinking up the sun. It's a very poetic name for a lotus. And he gave some kind of crude translation which was using the syllables in a different ah, formation.

So actually, the teacher was defeated by Rāmānuja, from that time he became very envious of Rāmānuja. He chastised, “What!You are going against Śankarācārya?” he said that this was the meaning. I don’t know who said it but I don’t see it that way.

So, Rāmānuja, he didn't accept the Māyāvādī interpretation of the scripture even though he was learning Sanskrit from him in those days. So, several times like this Rāmānuja became so expert that um, he would ah, defeat his own teacher. Especially when he was going against the straight scriptural explanation.

One time the king had a son who was ah, son or a princess, I think a princess. She was very sick, and ah, she was possessed by a ghost.

So, they called the Sanskrit teacher was like the senior teacher of the king. Famous for his ability of chanting mantras, to chant some mantras and get rid of the ghost. So, he brought along with him, at that time. So, he had chanted so many mantras, but uh then he told the ghost to leave and then the ghost talking to that girl, the princess, he said your mantras are ineffective. The only way you can get me out is, if you bring your student Rāmānuja.

So, then the king said to bring Rāmānuja. Rāmānuja came and then uh, Rāmānuja put his feet on the head of the princess. And the ghost apparently was some kind of Kṛṣṇa Conscious ghost, wanted to get the blessings of Rāmānuja (laughter). And, by getting touched by the lotus feet of Rāmānuja then he was liberated from his ghostly existence and left the princess who became normal again.

So, Rāmānuja became very celebrated, and ah, his Sanskrit teacher, Sanskrit guru was reduced in stature in the presence of Rāmānuja. So, then he decided that he wanted to murder Rāmānuja. So that this wouldn't happen.

So, like this, the non-devotees, can do unusual or even horrible things and you cannot rely on their explanations of the śāstra. Of course, actually in the end, the Sanskrit teacher, he failed to kill Rāmānuja. And instead, Rāmānuja became independent and eventually took initiation of a disciple of Yamunācārya. I believe Yamunācārya is the name.

And then ah, later on when Rāmānuja became a sannyāsa, the Sanskrit teacher surrendered to him and took initiation and sannyāsa from Rāmānuja. So, he got forgiven for his offenses then he became a Vaiṣṇava preacher. Then he was qualified to speak and then he regretted all the nonsense he had spoken before.

So, being a devotee is not a or a non-devotee is not eternal, but when the non-devotees, you cannot hear from them about kṛṣṇa-kathā. When they're devotees you can hear from them. So, you need to hear the histories of the Vedas from the bonafide authorities.

So, Citraketu history, when its heard from the devotee, then the listener is also freed from the conditional life of material existence. In other words, both the listener as well as the speaker is delivered. But the point is, that the speaker should explain the pastime in its proper way. Citraketu was blessed by Anantadeva, and Anantadeva being the last incarnation of the Lord, He is very merciful. In spite of that, Citraketu got cursed.

Sometimes devotees, when they get into difficulty, they think "Why me?"

Of course, even the materialists they even think why me. Why I'm dying? Why I'm getting an accident? why I'm losing my job? Why I lost my family member and dad, why...

In this material world the laws of karma are very stringent. Anyone can suffer. Any reaction. Or anyway, even living in the material world is dangerous at every step, so some different dangers may happen. So, instead of thinking 'why me?', Citraketu didn’t bother with well 'why me,' he just accepted. Well, I was cursed, this must be the will of the Lord. He was thinking how, can I maintain the, in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Devotees always simply thinking of, why me? If there is there any offense? Did I mean any offense? He just wants to remain Kṛṣṇa Consciousness that's their only desire.

See the false ego, whenever we get pinched by the false ego, then we think well, 'why me?'. But actually, in material life, we commit so many unauthorized activities. What is the astonishing thing when something happens? Rather, even a great devotee like Citraketu, he got cursed. So then someone says “well, what’s the advantage of being a devotee?”

But of course, even though Citraketu was cursed, still he went back to Godhead. He may have been slightly delayed, went through another birth, but that birth was the last birth.

So, it even said that Citraketu wanted to, he could have counter-cursed Durga. Durga's curse was powerful enough that it would affect Citraketu, she being the powerful energy of the Lord. But, due to her not realizing the actual situation, and having cursed without going deep into the motives of the actual... So she was actually at fault, but Citraketu could have counter-cursed her, he was that powerful. He didn't bother. He wasn't concerned about getting vengeance.

The brāhmaṇas, sometimes when they get offended then they may curse. The pure devotees, when they curse, like Nārada Muni, their curse is always a blessing. He curses someone and then they like, he cursed ah, the sons of Kuvera to stand as Arjuna trees in Kṛṣṇa’s father's backyard and they were delivered by the activities of the king... Or by the activities of ah, Nārada Muni. That was actually deliverance because Kṛṣṇa, when they saw His pastime they became completely purified.

So, the pure devotees, their blessings, or their curses they're all blessings. But the brāhmaṇas, sometimes they curse without the idea of uplifting, but rather because they've been offended.

So, in India, people are very afraid of curses. But a devotee doesn't need even to be afraid of a curse. If he's just humbly performing devotional service. Kṛṣṇa will still deliver the devotee.

So, this type of pastimes, they show that a devotee has reason to be fearless. At the same time, it’s not necessarily that we're going to go back to Godhead directly in this life. If we do something, if we get cursed, or we do some... we may get delayed but we'll still get back. We may have to take another birth. If we remain fixed properly, no curses, no exceptional things, well, we can get back in this life time also. We should be careful not to develop this attitude though something happens, these are all tests.

Citraketu gets such a test he's cursed to become a demon, but he passes it with a straight A marks, flying colors. And, we get a little test, little pressure, little difficult situation, and ah, immediately we get frustrated, why me? Why this is happening? Little test comes, we become all flustered. If we can't pass the little test the major test like death, and other major things which happen.

So, we should accept that these little tests are like lifting weights to build up our strength. We should take it that well even if ah, in the āśrama someone deals with us in a harsh way, some little thing happens. 

Even sometimes our husbands in good mood, sometimes she's, or he’s in a bad mood. Vice-versa, the wife may be sometime be good, may sometime be, on a bummer. (devotees laugh) So rather than let it pull us down, at least if one of the two can remain Kṛṣṇa Conscious then there is no problem.

But, if we react to everything that happens, you see then there's no end to it. The only thing that we really need to react to, is when the deities of the Lord, or His pure devotee are being offended, you see.

That's what Pārvati reacted to, she thought that Citraketu was offending Śiva. Later, what Śiva said “It wasn't really an offense, you misunderstood our relationship”. That also is a problem. That the guru and his god-brothers have got a brotherly relationship. That was the kind of relationship Citraketu had with Lord Śiva. It is so elevated that that was the kind of relationship. But this was not known by Pārvati. She was seeing Lord Śiva in a worshipable way.

And she thought, "Who is this Citraketu? He should also see my master like that, My Lord like that."

So, this happens sometimes, that ah, amongst the god-brothers there's a particular relationship, but the disciple they feel that it’s offensive. So, therefore, to avoid these problems, the god-brothers are careful in discussing with the spiritual master in front of the disciple. And generally, the disciple avoids getting too familiar with the spiritual master's god-brothers, which tends to set them up for making offenses due to misunderstanding.

So, if we hear this history of Citraketu we can see ‘that just like.... he was delivered from God...from the, from māyā. He achieved the Lord, even though he had to go through some difficulties. We may also have to face difficulty. Big or Small. But, if we remain fixed at the lotus feed of the Lord, we also cross over the difficulties.

The other point here is that someone who rises from bed early in the morning, recites the history of Citraketu controlling his words and mind and remembering the Supreme Personality of Godhead will return back home back to Godhead without difficulty.

So here, rising early in the morning is stressed. Means before sunrise. That for spiritual life, rising before sunrise is especially recommended. Chanting early in the morning is recommended then it's easy to remember the Lord the rest of the day.

Prabhupāda’s formula to rise early is especially for our spiritual benefit. We reciting every morning the different pastimes in the Bhāgavatam. So, automatically for the devotees living in the temple community, attending the daily Bhāgavatam class they're getting all these benefits. The other aspect is controlling words and mind and remember. We have to, during class period, during our (not clear 43:57) chanting we have to control the mind. When we worship the deities, we have to, in fact, not only worship the deities, in front of the deities, technically speaking, and I mention in nectar of devotion, no unrelated talk is allowed. Its offensive to, before Kṛṣṇa, be talking about something else.

In the temple, sometimes some emergency, even then you know, like very quietly... (whispers) telephone call. But especially if you're in the deity room, then there's no discussion goes on. It’s offensive to Kṛṣṇa, it’s like you're treating Kṛṣṇa like a statue, not as an understanding, He’s actually the Lord. When we hear these pastimes, these histories, we recite them, just like when we chant the holy name, these are all non-different from Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa's form, His name, His pastimes, His qualities, they are all non-different. They are all on absolute platform. So, while the Lord's glories are being heard or spoken, we have to concentrate our mind and listen.

While we are worshiping the deity... the form of the lord, we also, we have to concentrate. This is why before we physically worship the Lord, it’s recommended we do a mānasa-pūjā. a mental worship, this is to further focus our concentration.

We worship the Lord once mentally, doing the complete bathing, everything to Guru, Lord Caitanya, the Lord... by mantra in our mind. Then we do the practical. This is so that our mind will be more focused, will not be.. But what focus is there if while we're worshiping the deity then we go on talking? Then it becomes so casual that this benefit, it says here “if you do it in the right way, you get back to Godhead easily. But if you do it in the wrong way, there's no such guarantee”.

When it says, śraddhayā vāg-yataḥ paṭhet. Controlling the mind in words with faith. So, if we don't have faith, if we don't control our minds, don't control our words, then we are just be like impersonalists. Or something, or we just uh, already fallen then naturally we're not going to get the benefit. We struggle to control the mind and words while worshiping, still there might be some wandering of the consciousness. For that, we pray to the Lord at the end to forgive us if there's any error, if there's any offense, knowing or unknowing.

But, where's the, if we mechanically say please forgive me but we haven't made any effort to control our mind or our words while worshiping the Lord. Then it’s not going to be very effective. Why Kṛṣṇa should forgive us? You're not trying. Some attempt has to be made there then... Of course, the Lord's anyway forgiving is causeless mercy.... he doesn't have to forgive us. And if He wants, He can forgive. But the proper thing is that we should give our concentration, control our mind.

So, how we can control the mind if we are talking? If we're sleeping during class, then how we will go back to godhead? If we're talking while we worship the deities, ordinary, unrelated talk, then how seriously do we take the worship of the deity? So, all these things are very important.

If we follow it, then without difficulty then we'll go back to godhead. And, if you don't follow, then don't be surprised when you have difficulty. It just says here that without difficulty under these circumstances, but if somebody's not controlling their words, Not controlling their mind, Not trying to remember the Lord, Not remembering the Lord, Not doing their devotional service in the prescribed way, then you can understand that you had to go back to Godhead with difficulty. Why one devotee seems to have less difficulty, and other devotees having more difficulty? We can also be introspective and see whether we're actually following the formula properly. Because even a slight deviation, even a slight impropriety in our actions may create difficulty for us. Śrīla Prabhupāda ki !!

Devotees: Jaya !! So, by Prabhupāda’s mercy he’s giving us all this explanation so we can go back to home, back to Godhead, without difficulty. Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya!

Jayapatākā Swami: Any question? comments?

The scriptures also explain, how to, and what to adjust according to time place and circumstances. There's mukhya and gauṇa, regulations in the scripture. There's the prah.... Like when you register a society you have a memorandum of association. You have the articles of association. The articles, of a trust, and many trusts are not able to be changed. But the rules of how to implement them, they are subject to being amended.

So, there is some basic principles, like, which are mentioned by Rūpa Gosvāmi. These basic principles like accepting a Guru, or worshiping the Lord, these principles are not amendable. But, some fine points like ah, don't take carrots on Tuesdays (laughter) Don't shave your beard for four months during the rainy season, or don't travel over the sea, or don't wear shoes in the.... things like this, these are not the primary things.

There are guidelines that were given originally for helping people to implement the principles. But due to changing circumstances some of these guidelines just don't fit in with the present situation. So, the ācārya who's realized, he knows which things can be changed and which things can't.

Of course, Śrīla Prabhupāda, He didn't want that, ah, in ISKCON there should be some kind of ah, the gurus would be rubber stamped of that type of ācārya who could change how to apply these sampradāya rules. Because he said basically that ah, in 1987, that his senior devotees, disciples, they were sincere devotees.

He said they were pure devotees, but they weren't very experienced in many things. That there were many areas naive or like children, simple, innocent, and that it would be easy for them or easier for individuals to get mislead. Due to, ah, not knowing the real dangers which are ahead in certain areas.

So, he gave us some areas to watch out for. He also said that therefore he didn't want that any one person could change the situation for the whole society but there should be a governing body commission. So that anything that had a far-reaching effect would be enacted through the governing body commission.

He said that if 25 of the senior most Vaiṣṇavas in the society felt in a particular way, they had real- they came to the conclusion about how to apply his instructions that would be, he had faith in that. So, we're in the material body. The material body has senses. The senses become run down or something sometimes. That's... Kṛṣṇa's in a transcendental body, transcendental form. He knows past, present and future directly.

A realized soul may also know past, present and future but, some know through the scriptures or someone who's in a spiritual body like Nārada Muni, they know directly. So, anything that the guru does he has to also substantiate that by the scriptures. It’s not that just because the guru says he can do anything. There are, as I said initially, special points in the scripture that say that about how to adjust according to time, place and circumstance. The scriptures themselves say that according to time, place and circumstance these things have to be applied. They say which things can be changed, which things cannot be changed, which contradictions are unacceptable. So, that's the training that the guru has, or that uh, from his guru, to know how to apply that. And, know anything he's applying he has to also substantiate; this is why and this is why, it’s a minor point which can be changed and this is the reason why it should be changed.

So, like that there's discussion always in devotional service. Someone may think that preaching is better this way or that way.

Śrīla Prabhupāda faced some criticism in India, people criticize- "Why have you let women join the movement?" Because in India, people, householders would ah, chant- practice in their homes, but the temples were monastic in nature, generally speaking. Only the celibate priests and the renounced, the widows, and like that.

But also, in India the situation is that all the women are always protected, they're living in the house, their, with their father, their husband, their sons. Even now, just now India wants to start thinking about having old folks homes because their modern families aren't taking care of their old folks. But they, so far, I don't think there's hardly any, there's just maybe one.

In the Christian community there's a lot of old folk’s homes. But the Hindus, they maintain their old people, up to now. But now there's more desire to, modern apartments, etc. Changing times.

So, the circumstance in India is that there's very few unprotected women. They're protected by their families. In fact, their families don't want their women to join the āśrama and things like that. It is a very big, even they want to.

The social environment is such that it's frowned upon were, in the western world it’s a completely different circumstance. Girls start dating from, I don't know what age nowadays. Twelve? Thirteen? Fourteen? Eleven? I don't know. (laughter) And ah, they're on their own after- at an early age also. And so, they're also guaranteed the equality. And so, it's completely different.

? So, when people, when spirit souls in women’s body want to take shelter of Kṛṣṇa and there was no one protecting them and they want to take shelter and serve Kṛṣṇa, there wasn't any social environment like in India. So then Śrīla Prabhupāda saw also that the men are not able to be sannyāsīs in the western world very easily, environment also, because the women are also out, unprotected, so they are looking for shelter from the men, personally, not being taken care of by society.

So, like in India, it’s not that so many women that are just forward and going and proposing, but in the west it’s uh, much more open market kind of situation, capitalist, flea market. In all respects, So, it’s very difficult with the whole environment to practice sannyāsī life. And, they need to be married and also to good Kṛṣṇa conscious women. Women need to have good Kṛṣṇa Conscious husbands.

So, Prabhupāda instituted marriage, He said that no sannyāsī did marriage before, I think, or very rarely might it have happened. Neither did ah - so he didn't call his temples as maṭha or monasteries, he called them temples. Temples can have... In the temples in India, just general Vedic temples, the pujārīs are generally married. But in the preaching mathas, the gauḍīya-maṭha, maṭha means monastery, hermitage. So Prabhupāda didn't make any hermitage, any maṭhas. He made mandiras, temples. So, they were criticized, "Please come out to America, see what it's like. Come to London. You don't understand, It’s a completely different circumstance. I'm applying it, this is the only way it can be done."

So, if you follow all of the people who are criticizing then you see there'd be no ah, chance, for the half the population of the western world, then. the ladies to become Kṛṣṇa Conscious. So, Śrīla Prabhupāda had had to apply, and He substantiated scripturally why this is bonafide and why and obviously socially why this is a different circumstance.

So, this was because of śāstra, Kṛṣṇa says, anyone whether man or women whoever they are they can all get to Him by surrendering. And ah, so there are many, very obvious anyone has a kind of objective viewpoint, they can see very obvious decisions Prabhupāda made. Substantiated by the scripture, practical in their nature. So this way, Prabhupāda had to defend, but others you know, they don't understand the reason why, they criticize. So, Śrīla Prabhupāda had that vision. He had the worldwide perspective. He wasn't narrow minded. He was very pragmatic and practical. Utility is the principle is one of His slogans, mottos, but he wouldn't do things whimsically, he would do them according to the evidences.

Any other questions?

Devotee: (unable to hear question 1:01:33)

Jayapatākā Swami: Many of these songs, Prabhupāda said were ac - you know for non-devotees, just to kind of engage new people to become congregation. And, Prabhupāda approved that you can make a rock and roll tape with Kṛṣṇa Conscious lyrics, or you can do that, you know, folk music or whatever. But he also said it wasn't really meant for the devotees who were full time to listen to it. It was something to kind of get the new people more into Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. But, for those who are more serious in devotional service, they read, or they hear the tapes of Prabhupāda, devotees in good standing, etc.

So, some musician offers their time and they want to sing Hare Kṛṣṇa for the devotees free, may add some nice tunes or whatever. So, Prabhupāda in the temples they would come and sing, he wouldn't object. But, then if the devotees were playing the tapes of these musicians over Prabhupāda said 'Why are they listening to this? It's not...." you know.

It’s like on ekādaśī in Māyāpur we serve out sometimes, we serve grains to our life members who come there, who don't observe Ekādaśī. Because Prabhupāda said its better they take prasādam, because if they didn't they'd go out and eat bhoga from the tea stalls or the outside restaurants. You know, Gaura Pūrṇimā we give out khicari sometimes. Those who are strict people they're going to follow fasting anyways, so they're not going to eat. Those who are gonna be eating anyways, they're just kind of running, you know, like pilgrims, they're really not into devotional service, they're just coming for the pious experience or whatever. So that better they eat Lord Caitanya's prasādam, even though it’s a fast day, then they eat, you know, some kind of ābi-jābi (pointless) stuff on the roadside.

So, there is a different standard for those who are sādhakas. Sādhaka means one who is practicing regulated devotional service. Initiates, sādhakas, they're, as we read today in the verse, they are controlling their minds, their words, their activities. they're under śāsana, they're under discipline, they're disciples, śiṣya, śāsana. They're following a certain discipline. Now if we try to impose our discipline on a visitor, that also is inappropriate. They may become fried out. Sometimes we hear some first-time visitor comes in and someone says, you know, starts getting on their case, you know, "why you should..." Some guest come, "Why don't you shave your head?" you know, "What are you talking about. My beautiful hair? I am this body." Oh ho, they don't know anything.

So, until someone comes to the platform they want to perform sādhanā, then they realize there is an importance to purifying, then you know, then automatically all the aspects of sādhanā are applied.

So, we have to also preach like that in phases. First you get a person to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, to eat some prasādam, and to realize the importance of practicing sādhanā. Once they started or agreed that, you know, they can understand the importance of practicing sādhanā then you can start to differentiate, well, this is good to, you know... As far as hearing Māyāvādī tapes I mean nobody should hear those (laughs)

It’s one thing, you know... Like in our radio, sometimes they play a George Harrison's My Sweet Lord, or they play different tapes which are not.., are those artists offering to Kṛṣṇa, they give some Kṛṣṇa Conscious purport to it. But ah, they play different tapes that were nice they made in the past by people in devotional service, but then if someone is actually into sādhana-bhakti it’s understood that it’s more selective.

You wanna make any comment? Paramparā?

Devotee: (difficult to understand)..... a lot of times devotees from India will play tapes from India... musically and ah, chanting musically.... I mean personally I’ve heard....

Jayapatākā Swami: Well, It's the same thing, you know, you have the singing materialistic songs. They also get the tape to hear and they're hearing them sing a devotional song, and it’s a Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, some bonafide.

So, I would hope that ah, generally ones published by ISKCON have been added to the Māyāvādī songs and been allowed to go on. Usually, it's either composed by the singer, it’s been approved that there's nothing objectionable or otherwise. If there's something objectionable that you find in the words then you can write to the person who's producing. But all these are meant mainly for the public. Sometimes our saṅkīrtana vans play them in India because that's the sales pitch. "oh, that's a nice song", you know, they buy it.

Devotee: (unable to understand)

Jayapatākā Swami: Well they don't play that, that's not so well appreciated. Yeah. Yeah they like Hari Om, they're famous.

Devotee : All glories to Śrī Kṛṣṇa saṅkīrtana..!

? Jayapatākā Swami: HARIBOL!!!!!