20040401 Vyāsa-pūjā Morning Class - Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 9.4.68

[Level 1 Transcript]

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 9.4.68

sādhavo hṛdayaṁ mahyaṁ
sādhūnāṁ hṛdayaṁ tv aham
mad-anyat te na jānanti
nāhaṁ tebhyo manāg api

Translation by His Divine Grace by Śrīla Abhayacaraṇāravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda: “Saints are My heart, and only I am their hearts. They do not know anyone but Me, and therefore I do not recognize anyone besides them as Mine.”

This is a purport from the Caitanya-caritāmṛta. It’s a different purport in the Bhāgavatam. I’m using… This śloka was quoted in Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā.

This verse appears in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (9.4.68) in connection with a misunderstanding between Durvāsā Muni and Mahārāja Ambarīṣa. As a result of this misunderstanding, Durvāsā Muni tried to kill the king, when the Sudarśana cakra, the celebrated weapon of Godhead, appeared on the scene for the devoted king’s protection. When the Sudarśana cakra attacked Durvāsā Muni, he fled in fear of the weapon and sought shelter from all the great demigods in heaven. Not one of them was able to protect him, and therefore Durvāsā Muni prayed to Lord Viṣṇu for forgiveness. Lord Viṣṇu advised him, however, that if he wanted forgiveness he had to get it from Mahārāja Ambarīṣa, not from Him. In this context Lord Viṣṇu spoke this verse.

The Lord, being full and free from problems, can wholeheartedly care for His devotees. His concern is how to elevate and protect all those who have taken shelter at His feet. The same responsibility is also entrusted to the spiritual master. The bona fide spiritual master’s concern is how the devotees who have surrendered to him as a representative of the Lord may make progress in devotional service. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is always mindful of the devotees who fully engage in cultivating knowledge of Him, having taken shelter at His lotus feet.

Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta Swami translation and purport. This is from Ādi-līlā, first chapter 62^nd verse. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam verse, ninth Canto, fourth chapter 68^th text.

Jayapatākā Swami: This verse especially we chose it today because the Lord, He states that He wholeheartedly cares for His devotees. The Lord is free from all problems. If somebody has a problem, it’s difficult for them to fully take care. Because, they take care of their problem first, then they take care of other people’s problems. But since Lord Kṛṣṇa has no problem, He can take care of everybody else’s problems. Also, since He is unlimited, He can do that unlimitedly. But here in this verse, it also Prabhupāda explains in the purport, the same responsibility is also entrusted to the spiritual master. So the spiritual master is also trying to care for the devotees. Especially, he wants to see how devotees can progress in devotional service. Those devotees that have surrendered to the spiritual master as a representative of the Lord, then he is personally responsible and concerned that they make progress.

We saw that His Divine Grace Śrīla A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, He was always concerned about how his followers would advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. How they would get back to Kṛṣṇa. So he made a different programs, like the daily temple program, like different devotional services, he wrote his books, he built Māyāpur and Vṛndāvana dhāmas, temples and so many other things all considering what is needed for his disciples, his followers, who are taking shelter of him to get back to Kṛṣṇa. He instituted the guru-paramparā system, continued. Ordering his followers to also be gurus and take care of the responsibility on his behalf. Sometimes we would see Prabhupāda crying for a disciple, who was misplaced, misdirected.

Even we heard the New York in 1967, there was a bhakta, kind of a visitor, who had come to the temple frequently. So it was known as like a Bhakta Harry or something (I forget his name). And somehow, because he was still not fully practicing, he became depressed because of some intoxication or something. For some reason he stopped coming. And the devotees heard that he couldn’t give up his bad habits, he was feeling frustrated, he wanted to be a devotee. But then somehow, he committed suicide and his frustration. The Prabhupāda one day asked, “Where is this Bhakta Harry?” (inaudible can’t remember) And they said, “Well, he is…” “Probably, I haven’t seen him for so many days.” They told him what happened. He said, actually Prabhupāda said, “Let’s pray for him.” And he prayed, “Kṛṣṇa, where is this Bhakta Harry now? Where has he gone? We wandered in the forest. We beat our head against the trees and the rocks. Where is our dear Bhakta Harry? Please have mercy on him that he can take birth in the family of the devotees.” And Prabhupāda was crying for this visitor, not taken initiation. Just he came a few times. Prabhupāda said, “We failed. We failed this devotee because somehow, we couldn’t get him fully into devotional service. Kṛṣṇa send him to us and we failed.” So that is how compassion is, Śrīla Prabhupāda was. Śrīla Prabhupāda kī! Jaya!

I was thinking that Śrīla Prabhupāda sent me a number of devotees. So I should care for it. And past few years, I was… as I was feeling since 1997, that as a Prabhupāda disciple, my concern, it should not be only whatever my individual responsibilities are. But I have to also see for the whole ISKCON, to some degree, welfare, especially as a GBC, as a senior disciple. So then, for many years, since then, since 1997, I have been stepped up a program for trying to care for any devotees that came to me. But then, in the meantime, there were many other disciples, who took shelter of me, surrendered to me. They are feeling the lack that I am not taking enough care for them.

And that was this last Janmāṣṭamī, Prabhupāda Vyāsa-pūjā, then I had to start to balance things, my services to Māyāpur, to India, to my zone, to my disciples and to all the devotees, otherwise depending on me or looking to me for any help. So as I realized, Prabhupāda had given a practical system for caring for devotees. In those days all the devotees, most of them lived in the temples. So the Temple Presidents and temple leaders and few sannyāsīs and GBCs, they were mainly taking care of the devotees on behalf of Prabhupāda. And then, if there was an emergency, could always write a snail mail to Prabhupāda. In those days, there was no email. And then eventually you get a reply after a few weeks or months. And whenever Prabhupada visited and sometimes these people could see him if it was an emergency. A few devotees, they would go wherever Prabhupāda was and chase him around, which he didn’t always appreciate. But it was another way. So I think we are trying also that all devotees, they are either in a temple or they are in Nāmahaṭṭa or Bhakti-vṛkṣa or a counselor group, or they are helped by senior devotees. As you can imagine, if everybody came to me at one time and all wanted like I question-and-answer, like yesterday, somebody made a big thing. So “I have to see the guru, I had this question for one year. It’s vitally important. Stop everything.” Okay, then he wanted to know, you know, some question about his Brahmin thread. Which he could have found out from any senior devotee, any other senior Brahmin. Which, if time permitting, then it’s okay. I don’t mind answering any questions, we are going to have question-and-answer session tomorrow afternoon. But also, it wasn’t a personal, highly personal question. Maybe other people have the same question about the brāhmaṇa thread, I don’t know. Since it was a funny question. But, how to you know, actually, I was thinking that I really need a help from disciples and my godbrothers and all the devotees… from the godbrothers and the older devotees, I also there to help them whatever they need. But I need their help also to help care for all these devotees taking shelter; spread around a little bit the mercy. And from the older disciples that they also guide the younger disciples. Sometimes there is special opportunities when they get like those who come on Safari, we have a lot of personal association. Sometimes, even sometimes those who travel with me, it is not always… Sometimes it’s so intense that they don’t get so much time even to ask the question. Traveling might be very intense. Sometimes Māyāpur is a difficult place, during Gaura-Pūrṇimā, Vyāsa-pūjā people come from all over India and all over the world. So then I have to tell, they have come from a long distance, I have to see them. The rest of the year,  the Māyāpur devotees Narasiṁha Caturdaśī and Rādhāṣṭamī and Bhīṣma-Pañcaka, Kārtika, there are not so many outsider devotees. So the locals get more of my time. But I think this year, I like to give the maximum, they may come as a lot of the local devotees here haven’t seen me personally. But it’s going to require also a lot of help and patience. Then I was thinking that now we are starting the big temple and I have to do more hands on management with the big temple; designing or some fine tuning of the… also making the exhibits. So whenever you do something hands on, that means you don’t have time for other things, I have to just focus. And then a couple years ago India, they decided all the Zonal secretaries have to be more hands on, check the temples, spend more time in each temple. That’s good for the devotees in those temples. But it also means sometimes when I’m there, we have to talk about management. It’s not like all the time will be just for the disciples. So this is a big challenge. We want to take care. As I said, it’s the responsibility also the spiritual master to take care. But Kṛṣṇa can expand Himself into unlimited forms; where the guru is just… Of course, not only can make ten forms, but I still have only one. So it’s going to require a lot of help from everybody. How to give association and help. You know, sometimes devotees send emails and sometimes I get 200 emails in one day. It would take me three days to answer it. So email has become also like an impossible situation. And then people say, “I didn’t get an answer from my email, so my guru doesn’t love me,” which is not the case. I said, it is that I don’t know how to deal with all this information. We have been working on it for a few years, we still don’t have the formula. If anybody has any ideas… I’ve been answering all my emails myself, only getting help for drafting. Not a single email is replied by a disciple in my name. Unless they get an email himself or some general thing where they write it, we can see it’s them who’s writing. But maybe that’s not possible to do because just to sort through all the emails and figure out what’s relevant, what’s not relevant. Some people write to me, “Dear Jayapatākā Swami, when is Gaura-Pūrṇimā?” So then if I have to answer all those letters, some of you know that someone who really has a crisis, “Gurudeva, I’m really to jump out the window, I need this.” So how to sort out and see which is the essential one. I may have to have everything go through as secretary first. So far it hasn’t done like that. I don’t see all the emails either. So in the modern day, we have this modern expectations and modern situations and I’ll be spending more time in Māyāpur. I was thinking somehow, we can set up some webpage and have worldwide iṣṭagoṣṭhīs, where people can answer question-and-answer on the Internet. There may be one way to use the modern technology. They heard they have such kind of user groups where at one time few hundred people are online. So maybe that’s have some schedule. And I just want the devotees to know that in spite of all these practical obstacles…