19960807 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.24.17

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami on August 7^th, 1996 in Śrīdhāma Māyāpur in India. The class begins with a reading from the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, 4th Canto, Chapter 24, verse 17.

Text 17

saṅgamaḥ khalu viprarṣe
śiveneha śarīriṇām
durlabho munayo dadhyur
asaṅgād yam abhīpsitam

Translation: The great sage Vidura continued: O best of the brāhmaṇas, it is very difficult for living entities encaged within this material body to have personal contact with Lord Śiva. Even great sages who have no material attachments do not contact him, despite their always being absorbed in meditation to attain his personal contact.

Purport (by Śrīla Prabhupāda): Since Lord Śiva does not incarnate himself unless there is some special reason, it is very difficult for an ordinary person to contact him. However, Lord Śiva does descend to a special occasion when he is ordered by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In this regard, it is stated in the Padma Purāṇa that Lord Śiva appeared as a brāhmaṇa in the Age of Kali to preach the Māyāvāda philosophy, which is nothing but a type of Buddhist philosophy. It is stated in Padma Purāṇa:

māyāvādam asac-chāstraṁ
pracchannaṁ bauddham ucyate
mayaiva vihitaṁ devi
kalau brāhmaṇa-mūrtinā

Lord Śiva, speaking to Pārvatī-devī, foretold that he would spread the Māyāvāda philosophy in the guise of a sannyāsī-brāhmaṇa just to eradicate Buddhist philosophy. This sannyāsī was Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya. In order to overcome the effects of Buddhist philosophy and spread Vedānta philosophy, Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya had to make some compromise with the Buddhist philosophy, and as such he preached the philosophy of monism, for it was required at that time. Otherwise there was no need for his preaching Māyāvāda philosophy. At the present moment there is no need for Māyāvāda philosophy or Buddhist philosophy, and Lord Caitanya rejected both of them. This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is spreading the philosophy of Lord Caitanya and rejecting the philosophy of both classes of Māyāvādī. Strictly speaking, both Buddhist philosophy and Śaṅkara's philosophy are but different types of Māyāvāda dealing on the platform of material existence. Neither of these philosophies has spiritual significance. There is spiritual significance only after one accepts the philosophy of Bhagavad-gītā, which culminates in surrendering unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Generally people worship Lord Śiva for some material benefit, and although they cannot see him personally, they derive great material profit by worshiping him.

Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta Swami translation and purport to the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, 4^th Canto, 24^th chapter, 17^th verse, in the matter of ‘Chanting the song sung by Lord Śiva.

Oṁ Tat Sat!

Jayapatākā Swami: So here, Vidura is astonished that these young princes, the Pracetās, are able to see Lord Śiva, when even great sages who meditate on Lord Śiva their whole life praying to him to reveal himself or give a darśana, they are still not able to see Lord Śiva. He is quite amazed by this. In the universe, Lord Śiva is second in existence. Lord Śiva is second to none except for Lord Viṣṇu. Actually Lord Śiva also started a Vaiṣṇava disciple succession that Prabhupāda explains later, which was started here in Navadvīpa-dhāma when Lord Śiva gave instruction to Viṣṇuswami. Here in Māyāpur Navadvīpa Dhāma there are a lot of pastimes of Lord Śiva. In fact, Lord Śiva is Vṛddha Śiva. He is the protector of the dhāma. You cannot enter into the holy dhāma unless we have the blessing of Lord Śiva… Vṛddha Śiva, and Durgā is here in her form of Prauḍha Māyā. When we go on Navadvīpa-parikramā, we take the blessings of Vṛddha Śiva. The Śiva deity is just behind the yoga-pīṭha. We pay our obeisances to Lord Śiva as a Vaiṣṇava with the right side. We offer it to Lord Caitanya with the left side. As we go around, we find in the different islands, Sīmantadvīpa: Lord Śiva instructed Pārvatī to worship Lord Gaurāṅga, and by following His instruction she could get the darśana of Lord Gaurāṅga and take the dust from His lotus feet, putting in her forehead. And that’s why the island is known as Sīmantadvīpa. In Godruma, we have the Hari-Hara-kṣetra. There in Hari-Hara-kṣetra, Lord Śiva is situated as half Hari and half Hara. After defeat by the Mohinī-mūrti, Lord Śiva was meditating there and then this form was revealed to him by Lord Viṣṇu that, “You are non-different from Me.” And so HariHara- half Hari, half Hara; half Śiva and half Viṣṇu - manifested. That is the place non-different from Banaras; and it is said that any of the devotees who leave their body in that place as they are dying, Lord Śiva comes up to them and whispers or calls in their ears, “Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga!” (*devotees repeat*) And thus by the mercy of Lord Śiva, they are immediately delivered.

In the Madhyadvīpa, there is the place of Naimiṣāraṇya, and there is also the place there of Haṁsa-vāhāna. Haṁsa-vāhāna, where the Gaura-Bhāgavata was spoken and Lord Śiva came down on Brahma’s carrier. Thus,  because he was so eager to hear the pastime of Lord Gaurāṅga, that his Nand bull was too slow. So for him he borrowed the swan and came down on the haṁsa. The deity of Lord Śiva on the back of the swan is still being worshipped there. Then we come over to Koladvīpa. Any pastime of Lord Śiva in Koladvīpa? But there we have deity of Prauḍha Māyā. So wherever Prauḍha Māyā is, Lord Śiva is also there. So we take the blessing of Prauḍha Māyā for the parikramā of Vṛddha Śiva.

So then we go to the place of Ṛtudvīpa. Then we have Jahnudvīpa. There might be pastimes but we  just can’t remember. Then we have Modadrumadvīpa. Of course in Jahnudvīpa, there the Ganges was swallowed by Jahnu Muni. Actually the Gaṅgā is coming down from the hair of Lord Śiva, and then coming down to the three worlds. So everything, pastime with the Ganges also, is connected with Śiva to some degree. So Koladvīpa is also on the border of the Gaṅgā, as well as is the Ṛtudvīpa. Then we go in the Modadrumadvīpa... let’s see, there we have Vaikuṇṭha Mahatpur. What happened in Mahatpur? Any Śiva pastime there? Śiva worshiped worshiped by Nityānanda in Mahatpur.

Then finally come over to Rudradvīpa. Rudradvīpa has got lot to with Lord Śiva. Rudradvīpa has got Śankarapura where Lord Śaṅkarācārya personally visited and got the darśana of Lord Caitanya. And Lord Caitanya told him, “Here, this My dhāma. Everybody here is a devotee. There is no need you to preach here. You go preach somewhere else.” (laughter) So Śaṅkarācārya, he was prohibited from preaching here in Navadvīpa-dhāma by Lord Gaurāṅga. This was good. Śaṅkarācārya is a long time ago. About 2000 years or so ago, I don’t know the exact year but after Buddha. So Buddha is 2500. That means Śaṅkarācārya is over 2000. After Śaṅkarācārya, various Vaiṣṇava-ācāryas came and were bringing back some of the people to the Vaiṣṇava, personal worship, of the Lord.

So four Vaiṣṇavas ācāryas came – Rāmānujācārya, Nimbārkācārya, Madhvācārya and Viṣṇuswami.

Jaya Rādhā-Mādhava aṣṭa-sakhī-vṛnda kī… Jaya!!

Jay Rādhā-Mādhava, Māyāpura-Candra kī… Jaya!!

Giridhāri kī… Jaya!!

Lord Caitanya came to unite all the four Vaiṣṇava disciplic successions. There is some prediction like that, that all the four Vaiṣṇava disciplic successions will be united in the Kali-yuga, into one. So Prabhupāda is clearly saying, now no need for Buddhism. No need for Māyāvāda. Now everyone should become personalists. Hope our Buddhist brothers don’t take offence. But they should also know that actually Lord Buddha Himself is Viṣṇu. And now is the time for them to recognize Viṣṇu. The Māyāvādīs should understand how Śiva is coming as Śaṅkarācārya on the order of Lord Viṣṇu, simply to bring back the Buddhists back to the Vedas. Now it’s time that everybody should become a devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa. This is the special mandate.

Now Lord Caitanya, He ordered everyone to accept Kṛṣṇa consciousness. All humans in the universe to accept Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and to distribute it to others. So even when Lord Śiva came here, he was also preaching, although he was told only to preach part of the truth. Advaita-vāda is only part, because it only talks about the impersonal Brahman. But we know that the Absolute Truth is brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate (ŚB. 1.2.11). It’s the combined Personal, localized and the jyoti. All the three, for the complete Parama Brahma to be understood. When Lord Śiva came, of course nobody knew he was Śiva. They knew only he was ācārya. Very rare to see Lord Śiva. Lord Śaṅkarācārya was very effective preacher. He could bring everyone back to the Vedas. Like that, we also need the blessing of Lord Śiva to preach Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. It’s said that Śiva came within the form of the Mahā-Viṣṇu of Advaita Ācārya. He is the combination of both. In the Baghnapara, there there is Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma deity and a Śiva-liṅga and it is said that Gaura-Nitāi have come as Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma and Advaita Ācārya came as the Śiva-liṅga. So the devotees there, they take blessings from Lord Śiva and go and worship Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma.

In Vṛndāvana, Lord Śiva is worshipped as Gopeśvara Śiva. When I was preaching in South India, then someone was saying, “You are always talking about all the avatāras, about Kṛṣṇa, about Rāma. What about Rudra-sampradāya? What about Lord Śiva? Because in the Tamil areas, Lord Śiva worship is very prominent. So in our disciplic succession, Lord Caitanya, He was very respectful to Lord Śiva. And even He went to Lord Śiva mandiras, like the Sundareśvara mandir in South India and the Mīnākṣī temple there. And what did Lord Caitanya do? He chanted the mahā-mantra:

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

Also, when Lord Caitanya was travelling He went to the place called Śrīsailaṁ. And there He met Lord Śiva and there He sat together and there He discussed Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. Inside our Caitanya Exhibit, there is a diorama of Lord Śiva and Gaurāṅga together, discussing. So we have to focus on this point. Prabhupāda said, “Now, there is no need of other philosophies. No need of Māyāvāda. The spiritual significance begins after studying Bhagavad-gītā which culminates in surrendering unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” So, although generally people worship Śiva to get material benefit, if you worship Śiva to get devotional service, he can also give that. Just like the gopīs worshipped Katyāyanī in order to get Kṛṣṇa as a husband. If someone worships Śiva as a Vaiṣṇava and begs for Kṛṣṇa-bhakti, he can also give that blessing. So in these areas where worship of Śiva or Śakti are very prominent, you try to encourage them to try to pray for Kṛṣṇa-bhakti. It is very difficult to tell people just to stop worshipping. They have already developed an attachment for so many years, since their birth. So it’s important to let them know that how Śiva actually himself is offering these prayers to Viṣṇu. And now it is time to reclaim all the conditioned souls who are born into Māyāvāda, and bring them back to the acintya-bhedābheda-tattva, bring them to the personal realization of the Absolute Truth. This requires a very intense program of preaching Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. Some people translate Bhagavad-gītā and when Kṛṣṇa says, “sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja… Surrender unto me.” (18.66), then some commentators think, “Don’t surrender unto Kṛṣṇa. What this means is surrender unto the void within Kṛṣṇa.” I think Radhakrishnan commentary says that. Prabhupāda says that this is wrong. There is no void within Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa’s inside and outside are all the same. Transcendental, sac-cid-ānanda. It’s not that Kṛṣṇa has got a void in Him. This way however, people get bewildered and they don’t understand about the personal form of the Lord. Kṛṣṇa’s personality is very difficult to understand.

In the Bhāgavatam, when Kṛṣṇa left Vṛndāvana and went to Mathurā and Dvārakā, there were so many intrigues. Once He became a prince, then He had to deal with so many kinds of political intrigues. Very difficult to understand Kṛṣṇa’s position. When Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma went to Hastināpura, then Kṛtavarmā and Akrūra went and they convinced Śatadhanvā that he should steal the Syamantaka jewel, and to do that he had to assassinate the father of Satyabhāmā. Satrājit. And when Satyabhāmā kept her father in some oil, then she went immediately to see Kṛṣṇa in Hastināpura and said, “My father was killed.” And then Kṛṣṇa is playing just like an ordinary human being and tears are filling His eyes, “Oh my dear wife. I feel so horrible, horrible, horrible.” You see. Although Kṛṣṇa is transcendental. He has nothing do with material loss or gain, but when He comes in the world, He plays the pastime like a human. 

So it’s very hard for people to understand how Kṛṣṇa is God, because they understand God is above all these things. God is transcendental. He is nirguṇa. He is above sattva, rajas and tamas. So then how is it Kṛṣṇa is having tears come in His eyes, with Satyabhāmā is coming and telling about her father’s assassination? But that is part of Kṛṣṇa’s greatness. As Nārāyaṇa, He keeps His majestic, aloof role. But She can also, in Her original form, reciprocate with the emotions and sentiments of Her devotee in an appropriate manner. So when His wife comes and is crying, He also is very personal and concerned. Even how Satyabhāmā, who is Lakṣmī, how she is feeling so much sentiment for her father? Why she is not detached? The soul never dies. She never becomes all emotional. So that’s to create the līlā. In Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes, to create the līlā, His līlā-śakti makes all the participants into these different things that happen.  So that way, it creates like a drama, it creates an environment for different līlās.

So immediately Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, they take off after this Śatadhanvā. Śatadhanvā, he goes with a very fast horse that can run for 800 yojanas. And he just runs the horse at full speed, but Kṛṣṇa is so fast on His chariot that He catches up to him. He goes all the way from Dvārakā up to Mithilā. North Bengal and Bihar border is Mithilā-deśa. And the horse is going so fast, finally it just falls over and dies. Śatadhanvā was pushing it so much. And then Śatadhanvā gets off his horse. He had no choice, the horse was dead! He was running by foot. And Kṛṣṇa gets off His chariot, runs after him and then cuts off his head. And He goes and He looks for the Syamantaka jewel, and He says, “Oh no use of killing him, he doesn’t have the jewel.” This is very bewildering. Actually the Syamantaka jewel was kept with Akrūrā, by Śatadhanvā. Śatadhanvā goes to Akrūra and says, “Help me! Kṛṣṇa is going to get me.”

“There is nothing I can do! Kṛṣṇa is so powerful. What can we do against Kṛṣṇa?”

Goes to Kṛtavarmā, and Kṛtavarmā says, “What can I do?” So neither of them could help.

So then he gave the Syamantaka jewel to Akrūra and he ran. But he also got taken, and Akrūra heard about the death of Śatadhanvā. He got frightened that, “I really made a mistake getting involved in this whole intrigue.” And he went off to Banaras.

How is that if Kṛṣṇa is God, how is it that he didn’t know that Śatadhanvā had the jewel? Of course this is the aspect of Kṛṣṇa, knows everything but somehow for the līlā Kṛṣṇa plays in such a way. He just takes that role. He can somehow limit His awareness to the extent He wants to, and any time He can increase His awareness totally. This is completely inconceivable. Actually, understanding Kṛṣṇa is completely impossible, how can you simultaneously be, at will, apparently ignorant of things, and at will, knowing everything? It’s like completely inconceivable. So even great ṛṣīs, they are not able to understand Kṛṣṇa’s personality, you see. Only the devotees can understand this is part of His greatness, that for the pastimes He can play in this way as one of the actors. And whenever He wants to, He can of course know everything. Simultaneously, somehow, He is doing both and how this is possible? That is totally inconceivable. Sometimes we can know little bit about Kṛṣṇa. We can never know everything.

But what we can see is that how Kṛṣṇa deals with His devotees. Now after all these intrigues… Akrūra had done so many bad things. Akrūra was hiding there in Banaras, and because Syamantaka jewel was giving him so much gold every day, he had a golden altar and he was doing daily sacrifice. So Kṛṣṇa’s devotee Akrūra never gave up his worship of the Lord. Even though he was getting so much gold, he was just doing sacrifice to the Lord. Then people started started making bad rumors against Kṛṣṇa. “Kṛṣṇa exiled Akrūra.” Even when Kṛṣṇa was on this planet, people were criticizing Him. Sometimes His peers. So in this world, enviousness and criticism is very prominent. Even Kṛṣṇa was sometimes falsely accused. He had nothing to do. Akrūra had left on his own and they were saying that Akrūra was driven out by Kṛṣṇa. It’s good weather. So then Kṛṣṇa, just to clear His name, He started letting Dvārakā have bad weather going on, so that people started saying, “We need Akrūra back.” So then Kṛṣṇa sent a message to Akrūra, “You please come back here.” So then Akrūra came back and then Kṛṣṇa tells Akrūra, “Actually I know all the things that happened, and that you are also having the Syamantaka jewel. You are involved with this. But actually the jewel should belong to the son of Satyabhāmā. Because Satrājit was killed, his wife was killed, he had no son. So according to Vedic inheritance, the next in line is the daughter. But Satyabhāmā doesn’t want the jewel. After the daughter come the daughter’s sons.” So that time Satyabhāmā was expecting. So Kṛṣṇa, in this way, told everyone about the soon to be born son of Satyabhāmā. So that should belong to him. “But in the meantime you keep the jewel. No one else can protect it properly.” Because Akrūra was a great warrior. “You keep it in safe keeping, and later we will claim it from you. But just to show everybody that you have it, I want you to show the Syamantaka jewel.” And then Akrūra, he was like really embarrassed. He got exposed. Kṛṣṇa knew everything. And so he took out. Yet Kṛṣṇa was so kind. He had done so many things but Kṛṣṇa still forgave him and took him back. He is very kind with His devotee. So then Akrūra showed the Syamantaka jewel. Everyone could see that it wasn’t true, it was all false story, false accusation against Kṛṣṇa. He had nothing to do with Akrūra leaving. It was Akrūra’s own mischief, his own guilt that caused him to leave.

So like Vidura, he was also falsely accused by Duryodhana. Many many things which were completely unfounded. Vidura had simply spoken the truth at Kuru’s raja-sabhā, simply for the benefit of Dhṛtarāṣṭra. But this was intolerable to Duryodhana, and he said so many false things against Vidura. So sometimes devotees spread rumors against other devotees, speak against them. It is not very good to do so. This discourages devotees. But we should not be discouraged actually, although it is discouraging. But somehow, we should go on with our service, knowing that even Lord Kṛṣṇa sometimes had bad rumors spread against Him. Sometimes the devotees, they get very sentimental and they say, “Someone has spoken against me; therefore, I cannot do anymore devotional service. I am too disheartened.” You should not have such false ego. We have to serve Kṛṣṇa whether we are in “bipade, sampade.” Whether we are in good fortune or whether we are in distress, whether we are in fame or infamy, you see. But from our part, we should avoid bringing on ourselves any kind of infamy. So even though we can say that certainly the brahmacārī and sannyāsī āśramas have got so many plus points to them in devotional service. But if one is not able to carry out properly that āśrama, or if they are finding themselves difficult in maintaining it, it’s the responsible thing to do to be a householder. One time a devotee came up to Prabhupāda and said that he was confused what to do because he was… something… I forgot all the details. But he was asking Prabhupāda… Prabhupāda said, “Why don’t you take the household āśrama?” But he said, “No, no. Because if I take a household āśrama, then I will be fallen.” But that brahmacārī was having difficulty. But he was refusing to take household āśrama because he said, “If I take āśrama of householder, I will be fallen.”

And then Prabhupāda said, “No, you are already fallen because you are not following brahmacārī āśrama properly. And if you take household āśrama, that is to become out of being fallen. That is responsible, you see.”

We want that whatever brahmacārīs in the āśrama, they should be strict brahmacārī. There should never be illicit sex of any kind. This is Kali-yuga and sex desire is very strong, you see. That we have to admit is a very strong desire. Nobody can escape that. So if one can fight that desire by being always engaged in Kṛṣṇa’s service as a brahmacārī and simply tolerating that disturbance that occasionally the sex desire gives, it’s very good. But if one’s tendency is not to be able to be control that desire as a brahmacārī, we don’t want brahmacārī to break the principle and have illicit sex either with women or man or with children or any kind of, or with oneself. This is very bad, you see. So therefore you should never think that householders are fallen. Actually householders are in a path to getting out of being fallen. They are in a path of responsibility because they are very responsibly carrying out their devotional service. So whatever āśrama, we need responsible brahmacārīs, we need responsible householders, vānaprasthas, sannyāsīs. What we don’t need is, we don’t need irresponsible brahmacārīs who are very proud of being brahmacārī, but they are breaking the principles. This is a very bad thing. We don’t need irresponsible householders who don’t take the responsibility for their āśrama and their families, and leave the burden on the society. We don’t need irresponsible vānaprastha or sannyāsīs who are creating some kind of a disgrace for the movement. So whatever āśrama we are in, we should choose the āśrama we can do properly with. The one we can do the best that’s where we should be. And there is no doubt that we should try our best. Prabhupāda wanted people try to be a good brahmacārī if you can, because of the advantages. But better than being a fallen brahmacārī, breaking the principles; obviously so much better to be a responsible householder. So whatever we do, we have to try to be responsible. Now these Pracetās, they are brahmacārīs, but they knew that in the future they are going to become householders, you see. Some are brahmacārī knowing that they are going to be householder, and some are brahmacārī wanting to be brahmacārī the whole life. Now the Pracetās, they knew that in the future they may have to accept a wife because that was the order of their guru. But they didn’t want to go into household āśrama and become gṛhamedhīs. So they were doing tapasyā to be very strong brahmacārīs, so when they become householder, they can become very strong householder. And because of their worship of Kṛṣṇa in a cooperative way, they were pleasing Kṛṣṇa. They were pleasing Lord Śiva. They were pleasing so many.

So there are the different kinds of brahmacārīs. Those who want to be naisṭḥikī-brahmacārī or lifelong brahmacārī and there are some kind of brahmacārīs who in the future, they may want to be married, but now they are doing tapasyā, they are doing brahmacarya to become very strong, you see. But whatever āśrama we are in, we should follow that carefully. That’s what Lord Caitanya advised. Of course, it is very difficult. Even a simple varṇāśrama is very difficult in Kali-yuga because of this Māyāvāda situation with the Kali. Māyāvāda cannot protect us to make us strong enough to follow this principle, because there is no ānanda there. There is only nirākāra, there is only impersonal truth. But when we perform bhakti-yoga, we worship Kṛṣṇa, we can remain in the sac-cid-ānanda, remain in transcendental bliss, by completely absorbing ourselves in remembering Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes, His qualities, serving Kṛṣṇa with our thoughts, our words, our deeds. We have to be very active; we have to give no time for the senses to be in māyā, you see. Those who are devotees who are in the beginning of their spiritual life… when I was a brahmacārī I read so many times Prabhupāda’s books. I was very fortunate to have that opportunity. But since becoming… and even while as sannyāsī here in Māyāpur, I could get some time. But since being a GBC, I am finding so much trouble to get time to read the books. Even last night some brahmacārī from Bombay phoned me up, all disturbed. Talking with me on the phone, long distance, till 11:30 at night. So where is the time? How can you be regulated? I said, “Please prabhu.” So this is very hard. The more you get responsibility, it seems very hard. Harikeśa Swami is very expert. Every night, one hour he reads. And Bhakti Charu Mahārāja, he somehow or other he breaks free. He has translated all the Bhāgavatams. Definitely we have to be so much disturbed sometime by so many management issues, you don’t get as much time to read. But Prabhupāda said, even in Bhagavad-gītā, this is the key to counteract the Māyāvādīs. Prabhupāda’s books have so much information. We need to become very expert. Prabhupāda wanted us to know his books so expertly, we can defeat these Māyāvādīs and establish Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So that is the thing.

So whatever āśrama, whether brahmacārī, gṛhastha, sannyāsīs, whatever. Everyone has to know Prabhupāda’s books very well and has to preach, or help in the preaching movement. Even our Nāmahaṭṭa devotees, they are also helping in the preaching. They also need to be trained systematically, so that in the future Māyāpur will become more and more a training center, where people will come to get trained how to preach. So there may be so many obstacles to stop us in preaching. Fame, infamy, sense gratification, false ego. We should go on with our service no matter what obstacles come up. We pray to Nṛsiṁhadeva, Prahlādanātha, to help us to overcome all the obstacles in the path of devotional service. This is very important that we just keep on. And by the mercy of Kṛṣṇa, He promises us that He will protect whatever we have and give us what we need. So we should be tolerant with other devotees. Whatever decisions they make in their life. But we should make our own decision and stick to that what we are going to do. Very important we stick to our own determination to be a devotee, to go on with our service. So that’s what they Pracetās did and that’s we’re seeing how much blessings they got. That somehow whatever vows they taken, they stick to it, and they are getting so much mercy. Even though we are in a very difficult time, very hard to keep our determination in Kali-yuga. Only we can just try and hope for Kṛṣṇa’s mercy. Seeing how merciful He was, even he took back Akrūra after so many difficulty, even after Akrūra displeased all the Vrajavāsīs. Still somehow or another he could do some sevā. We can only pray we can never get the wrath of the Vrajavāsīs and the gopīs, because very difficult then to get the intimate service of the Lord. So while we are here serving Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, Rādhā-Mādhava and the eight gopīs, we should be very careful to please them. Please Rādhā-Mādhava.’

Thank You very much.

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

Any questions?

Yes?

(inaudible question)

Śiva temple in the temple in Māyāpur project. We are going to have four dhāmas: Devī-dhāma, Maheṣa-dhāma, Hari-dhāma and Goloka-dhāma in the Vedic planetarium. In the Mahesh-dhāma, there will be Śiva.

What was the other question?

South India… Andhra Pradesh… Śrīsailaṁ is Andhra Pradesh.

He is asking why is that Lord Kṛṣṇa Caitanya didn’t directly bring back the Buddhists. Why did he send Lord Śiva. The Buddhists are śūnyavādīs. They believe in nothingness. So it’s hard to bring people from nothingness to Personality of Godhead. If you first bring them from nothingness to impersonal truth, but spiritual. Then from the spiritual, it is easier to come to the personal truth which is spiritual. And since Lord Śiva is himself the Lord of the tamo-guṇa, therefore he has to cover the philosophy a little bit. So he has to preach in a covered way. So therefore, Lord Viṣṇu requested him to do that.

When Lord Caitanya came, He directly preaches pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He doesn’t compromise anything. Since Lord Śiva had to compromise with Śaṅkarācārya, then he was sent to do that. Is that clear?

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Thank You very much!

Devotee: Śrīla Ācāryapāda kī…!

Devotees: Jaya!