20050107 Bhagavad-gītā 4.11

The following is a Bhagavad-gītā (4.11) class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on January 7^th, 2005, in Coimbatore, India.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya īśvaram
Harihi oṁ tat sat

Bhagavad-gītā 4.11

ye yathā māṁ prapadyante
tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham
mama vartmānuvartante
manuṣyāḥ pārtha sarvaśaḥ

Translation: As all surrender unto Me, I reward them accordingly. Everyone follows My path in all respects, O son of Pṛthā.

Purport: Everyone is searching for Kṛṣṇa in the different aspects of His manifestations. Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is partially realized in His impersonal brahmā-jyoti effulgence and as the all-pervading Supersoul dwelling within everything, including the particles of atoms. But Kṛṣṇa is fully realized only by His pure devotees. Consequently, Kṛṣṇa is the object of everyone’s realization, and thus anyone and everyone is satisfied according to one’s desire to have Him. In the transcendental world also, Kṛṣṇa reciprocates with His pure devotees in the transcendental attitude, just as the devotee wants Him. One devotee may want Kṛṣṇa as supreme master, another as his personal friend, another as his son, and still another as his lover. Kṛṣṇa rewards all the devotees equally, according to their different intensities of love for Him. In the material world, the same reciprocations of feelings are there, and they are equally exchanged by the Lord with the different types of worshipers. The pure devotees both here and in the transcendental abode associate with Him [Kṛṣṇa] in person and are able to render personal service to the Lord and thus derive transcendental bliss in His loving service. As for those who are impersonalists and who want to commit spiritual suicide by annihilating the individual existence of the living entity, Kṛṣṇa helps also by absorbing them into His effulgence. Such impersonalists do not agree to accept the eternal, blissful Personality of Godhead; consequently they cannot relish the bliss of transcendental personal service to the Lord, having extinguished their individuality. Some of them, who are not firmly situated even in the impersonal existence, return to this material field to exhibit their dormant desires for activities. They are not admitted into the spiritual planets, but they are again given a chance to act on the material planets. For those who are fruitive workers, the Lord awards the desired results of their prescribed duties, as the yajñeśvara; and those who are yogīs seeking mystic powers are awarded such powers. In other words, everyone is dependent for success upon His mercy alone, and all kinds of spiritual processes are but different degrees of success on the same path. Unless, therefore, one comes to the highest perfection of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, all attempts remain imperfect, as is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (2.3.10):

akāmaḥ sarva-kāmo vā
mokṣa-kāma udāra-dhīḥ
tīvreṇa bhakti-yogena
yajeta puruṣaṁ param

Translation: “Whether one is without desire [the condition of the devotees], or is desirous of all fruitive results, or is after liberation, one should with all efforts try to worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead for complete perfection, culminating in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.” 

Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta Swami translation and purport 4^th chapter, 11^th verse of the Bhagavad-gītā As It Is – Transcendental Knowledge.

* * *

Jayapatākā Swami: So, this is the very important verse, it has significance materially, spiritually and every sphere according to how we surrender to the Lord. He rewards us accordingly. If someone approaches God as a light as a personal truth, then He reciprocates and He only reveals Himself as a light. If some one He thinks God as Super soul, then He reciprocates like that. If somebody approaches the Lord as a Supreme person then He reciprocates. This is the same for Hindus, Christians, Muslims, for anyone. All religions, Jews. This is a very important thing.

And for the devotees of Kṛṣṇa, according to how they have a desire. Devotees they want to serve Kṛṣṇa in a particular way, so Kṛṣṇa reciprocates with them. Yaśodā, Nanda Mahārāja wants to serve Kṛṣṇa as a parent, so He reciprocates with them and becomes their child. Śrīdhāma, Subala, they want to stay with Kṛṣṇa as a friend, so Kṛṣṇa reciprocates with them as a friend. The others want to serve Lord as servants like Hanumān, Pañca-mukhi Hanumānjī kī jaya! So, they served the Lord as a servant. So, everyone approaches the Lord according to their particular desire, nature, and understanding and the Lord reciprocates with them. That’s very important to know. That’s why we find so many different people with different understandings about God and they all feel that God is reciprocating with them. Because He promises I reciprocate with all of them as they approach me. Ultimately the Lord, He reveals Himself according to their faith.

In this way, in a village there were some people and they had never seen a train before. So, they decided that they are going to go to the train track in the station and they are going to find out what is a train. They all went to have train realization. So, the three are waiting and a train is coming in the distance and one can see “Aha! I see there is a light, train is a light. Nothing more to look for. I have realized train.” He went back to the village “Train is a light! Train is a light nothing but a light, jyoti, nothing more!” That he saw in the night the light coming from the front of the train. But the other person waited, and he saw that there was whistle, “Uooo! Uooo! Chikuchu chikuchu chikuchu uooo!” and there was a form, “I have realized train. It has some visible aspects of black steel.” He just saw the front and the engine of the train, and he thought that is everything. So, he went back to the village “I have realized what is a train. It is a light and a form and a whistle. “Uooo uooo chikuchu chikuchu. I have realized train”. But the third one he waited, and the train moved into the station. “Uooo uooo chikuchu chikuchu!” So many getting up, getting down, TT’s are there getting the people by name, giving the seats. Vendors are there gharam chai, apple apple, apple, dosa, dosa. Train is an engine and so many, there is cabins, bhogis, there are many passengers, there are many vendors, so many people. And they are selling things. So, these are the train, has many more things. He went back to the village he said, “Now I realized train. It is all of these things.” So, each one had a different realization about train. What’s the difference? Why they have different realizations? They didn’t wait to see the entire thing. Each one, other two had partial realisations. They are also true, but train is light. Light is there, they said already light. But they have already waited to see the light and he went. So, somewhere there they think absolute truth paraṁ satyaṁ dhīmahi is only light. They don’t wait to find out if there is anything more. They didn’t wait to find out. The second man he waited little longer but he got excited, this is like a paramātmā realization. First the Light is like brahmā-jyoti realization. The second, the form, and the bell, the whistle, is like the paramātmā. But the full train with passengers, TT, form, so many different things happening, this is the true example like personality of God head. So, we are trying to get the people should have the desire to wait for the full realization. Don’t get off the train early. Oh, one elderly lady told me “Why are you worship Deities, why you do Ratha-yātrā, don’t you know everything is impersonal light? She doesn’t know she only came to the first level of God realization.

In the Śrīmad-Bhagavatam it said God has three, param-satya has three forms. brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate that there are three forms. Impersonal Brahman, localized Paramātmā, and Personal Bhagavān, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam. So then bhaktas they realise Bhagavān. The haṭha-yogīs and aṣṭāṅga-yogīs, they can realise Paramātmā. Then the jñānīs they only realise the impersonal jyoti. So, we are trying to let people should desire to go to the full distance to the personal realization. Personal realization is the perfection. That is sat-cit-ānanda-vigraha.

īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ
anādir ādir govindaḥ
sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam

Brahmā-saṁhitā 5^th chapter 1^st verse. If we take from Brahmājī and realized the full personal aspects of the Lord, we have also realized the unlimited sense, they at least definitely understand that Kṛṣṇa is a person. But we are not so pure to see His personal form. That personal form is not material. We need to purify our senses in order to realise that personal form. That purification comes through devotional service. If we serve the Lord, “I want to serve You Lord”, Lord changes them up to ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham [Bg 4.11]. He reciprocates with us. You want to serve me, and I will accept your service.

One way this is happening in Ratha-yātrā. The Lord has come as arca-avatāra. He is come as Dāru-Brahma, as the wooden form of the Lord. But we serve the Lord in this wooden form, then He reciprocates with us, and He reveal Himself. When Caitanya Mahāprabhu was performing Ratha-yātrā festival, that time He would dance before the Lord. One time He transpire, he wanted to know he was in the mood of Rādhā whether Jagannātha love me or not, whether He notices me or not, Lord Caitanya was in a mood of Rādhā and He was feeling like that. So sometimes He would dance in front of Lord Jagannātha very beautifully.

jagannātha svāmī nayana patha gāmi bhava tume
jaya jagannātha jaya jagannātha!
jaya jagannātha jaya jagannātha!
jaya jagannātha jaya jagannātha!

And sometimes Lord Caitanya would go on the side. So, it was hard for Jagannātha to see. So Jagannātha would slow down. And sometimes Lord Caitanya would go behind. Out of sight. Then Jagannātha would stop the cart that even no matter how much everyone was pulling He wouldn’t move. That way Lord Caitanya think, “Aha! Okay He is thinking about Me! He stopped the cart.” Then He keeps forward and keep dancing.

jaya Jagannātha, jaya Jagannātha, jaya Jagannātha, jaya jagannātha!
nīlācala-candra amu prabhu jagannātha, jaya jagannātha jaya Jagannātha!
nīlācala-candra amu prabhu jagannātha, jaya jagannātha jaya Jagannātha!

So, like this Jagannātha was sometimes going forward, sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly, sometimes stopping, all reciprocating with the love of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu kī jaya! Maybe he didn’t do that.  For us because nobody has so much love, no body has this idea. Rādhārāṇī’s love is so great that Kṛṣṇa He reciprocates. If our love become very great with Lord, then He will reciprocate very deeply. According to how much we love Him, how much we serve Him, how much we depend on Him, He reciprocates with us. This is very important.

Prabhupāda said that if you depend on the Lord and if you serve Him very dutifully then the Lord will also reciprocate. Therefore, Lord will do if you are serving Him as a grandeur of duty. He is seeing you serve; He reciprocate, He protect you as His duty. How many wants protection of Kṛṣṇa? and He says that if you serve me as a matter of duty, you are also protected as a matter of duty. If I want things from the Lord, we say bhakti mix with some karma-kāṇḍa so material desire. If I want mystic power for my service, then that is bhakti mix with yoga. ……..  desire.  If I don’t want anything but the pleasure of the Lord that’s what the devotees and Kṛṣṇa would reciprocate with us.

Sometimes the devotees but they are having many other desires they have to be careful. Sometimes our material desires Kṛṣṇa does not fulfil or satisfy. Because even when they get their desires fulfilled then we also afraid of losing them. Sometimes devotees stop. We have to be careful how we desire things. Sometimes also there is not having children, they got blessings to get a child. You shouldn’t ask for a child. You should ask for a devotee child. A good child who will be a devotee, who will be trained up to be a pure devotee of the Lord. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and his wife they prayed to Jagannātha give us a ray of Viṣṇu. Give us a pure devotee child who can make a difference in the world who can make the world a better place by giving people spiritual life and guidance. Therefore, they got a child Oṁ Viṣṇupāda Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura and he was born in Jagannātha Purī on the day of a Ratha-yātrā the chariot ratha stopped in front of their house. So, the mother passed up the baby just like people are passing up bananas, passing up coconuts, she passed up the baby offer to Jagannātha. I want to offer my baby to Jagannātha that he will be a servant of Jagannātha. I don’t think we have, this ratha is very tall. So somehow, they took the baby and they put on the feet of Jagannātha Svāmī and His garland fell down and went over the baby. That was taken as a special blessing, Jagannātha is blessing the child. So, he started the mission 64 branches and sent Prabhupāda 41 years ago to America. Prabhupāda in 1965 reached to America to establish the Kṛṣṇa consciousness preaching. Also, Prabhupāda’s efforts he had many great desires to serve Kṛṣṇa and serve his Guru Mahārāja. Kṛṣṇa reciprocated with their desire to give him this Kṛṣṇa Conscious movement. It is very important that the devotees should purify their desires they should desire the right things. There is nothing wrong that gṛhastha wanting to have a child. That’s quite natural and that’s alright. But being a devotee, we should want a devotee child. We want a child who can serve Kṛṣṇa. There are two kinds of good children for the devotees. One is like ray of Viṣṇu, great ācārya, or some avatāra or some kind of very elevated spiritual person who become a real leader, great acharya or something Prophet. The other kind is someone who was doing yoga before, who couldn’t finish their job of yoga practice. So, they are born in a family of yogīs and they take up again where they left off. So, they continue Kṛṣṇa consciousness very easily as in their previous life they were also doing spiritual life. So, these two kinds of children are good. But for doing that gṛhastha may go to the temple in the morning and when they want to have a child, they pray to the Lord that they want to have a devotee child we want to have someone that we can who is the ray of Viṣṇu, he can be a great spiritual leader or at least a devotee that we can help to go back to Godhead in this lifetime. So even if we pray for something that might appear little material if it is done in a right way that it won’t be a problem. But sometimes gṛhastha come please give us blessings we want baby may be its not good enough. Maybe you will get offensive babies. You don’t have to go into all the categories. Suputra bhakta this is the category or Viṣṇu-aṁśa, Viṣṇu ray. How we serve the Lord, how we pray the lord, all these things are very important. 

So, this Ratha-yātrā festival is also the reciprocation of the Lord with His devotees coming forward. We want to thank all the devotees who are coming forward for being such nice devotees.