20071124 Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.29.31-34 (Rāsa Pūrṇimā)

The following is lecture given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on November 24^th, 2007, on the auspicious day of Rāsa-purnima in Śrī Māyāpur dhāma, India. The class is on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.29.31-34.

nārāyaṇaṁ namaskṛtya
naraṁ caiva narottamam
devīṁ sarasvatīṁ vyāsaṁ
tato jayam udīrayet

So today is the last day of Kārtika. And Prabhupāda in Nectar of Devotion, he said we should observe the Kārtika month. One of the… In the Caitanya-caritāmṛita [Madhya-līlā, 22.127] also it is said that, “One should surrender to Kṛṣṇa in all respects. One should observe particular vows like the Kārtika-vrata. These are some of the sixty-four important items of devotional service.”

Ūrja-vrata is observed in the month of Kārtika (October-November); especially in Vṛndāvana, there is a specific program for temple worship of the Lord in His Dāmodara form. “Dāmodara” refers to Kṛṣṇa’s being bound with rope by His mother, Yaśodā. It is said that just as Lord Dāmodara is very dear to His devotees, so the month known as Dāmodara or Kārttika is also very dear to them. (NoD, chapter 12)

Prabhupāda also says that the “Lord may offer liberation or material happiness to a devotee. But if somebody performs devotional service particularly in Mathurā during the month of Kārtika, the devotees want only to attain pure devotional service of the Lord.” (NoD, chapter 12)

Prabhupāda also said in other places that, in Māyāpur, in Mathurā, in Vṛndāvana is not different. So, while our observing month of Kārtika here you get so many different blessings.

Prabhupāda was talking with Guru Dāsa. He asked “What is this ūrja-vrata?” He said “You chant Hare Kṛṣṇa 24 hours one month. That’s all. Yes. Don’t sleep, don’t eat. This is ūrja-vrata. Can you execute?”

Devotee: “I don’t know.” (The Nectar of Devotion - October 18, 1972, Vṛndāvana)

So anyway, we restrict a little bit our diet.

Those who bathe in the holy river in His birthplace in the month of Kārtika, go to the planet of Kṛṣṇa. Residing in the holy dhāma during Kārtika is a rare attainment for humans. They, who worship Him there and then the Lord gives their original spiritual forms.

By serving Lord Dāmodara in Mathurā during Kārtika, the people can easily attain pure devotional service to Lord Hari. Although Mathurā is easy to visit in the world, although Kārtika comes every year, the fools still swim in the ocean of repeated birth and death.

Those who as a joke serve Lord Hari during Kārtika in Mathurā will attain pure devotional service. What to speak of they who serve the Lord with faith and devotion?

We got some jokers here doing joking service. They still get pure bhakti. So, what do we get if we are sincerely trying to do it?

Then also in the śukla Dvādaśī which was a couple of days ago, who bathes in the holy river and sees the Deity in the dhāma attains the supreme destination.

Viṣṇu Purāṇa says a person during the śukla Dvādaśī in the month of Kārtika bathes in the Yamunā and sees the Deity of Lord Hari in Mathurā attains the supreme destination.

We have here Gaṅgā, Yamunā and Sarasvatī. All the three rivers are here in Māyāpur. Because from Prayāga, they mix.

Then also in the Mathurā-māhātmya by Rūpa Gosvāmī, he mentions Bhīṣma-pañcaka from an Ekādaśī till the Pūrṇimā. Today is our last day. Kṛṣṇa said to Bhīṣma:

atha bhīṣma-pañcake, pādme bhīṣmaṃ prati śrī-kṛṣṇa-vacanam ―
tvayā kṛte vrate paścāt khyāsyate bhīṣma-pañcakam
ye tvatra karmabhūmau me kariṣyanti mahāvratam
mathurāyāntu gāṅgeya! teṣāṃ bhaktiḥ kare sthitā

“O Gaṅgeya! This vow whom you have followed will henceforth be known as Bhīṣma-pañcaka. They who follow this great vow in My birthplace, Mathurā find pure devotional service resting in their hand. Pure devotional service to Me which because it takes place Me under the devotee’s dominion is very difficult to attain is easily attained by following the Bhīṣma-pañcaka vow in Mathurā during the month of Kārtika.

purāṇāntare ca―
sarvābhīṣṭapradaṁ proktaṁ
māthure bhīṣma-pañcakam

In another place in the Purāṇā, it is said following the vow of Bhīṣma-pañcaka, in Mathurā is said to fulfill all desires.

In the Bhaviṣya Purāṇa, it is said, “A person who observes Bhīṣma-pañcakā and prabodhinī tithi in Mathurā will see the Lord’s splendid sandals.”

So here we are observing in the holy Gupta Vṛndāvana or Māyāpur, Navadvīpa dhamā in the month of Dāmodara. This month is also known as ūrja-vrata. And one of the names of Rādhārāṇī is Ūrjeśvarī. The queen of the ūrja-vrata. Satyavrata Muni uttered in his Dāmodarāṣṭakam

namo rādhikāyai tvadīya-priyāyai

My obeisances unto Rādhikā. You are most beloved. By this statement, it indicates the sole activity to be done during the observance of Dāmodara-vrata is the worship of Śrī Rādhā Dāmodara. “Jaya Śrī Rādhe Śyāma!” So devotees asked me to tell something about Bhīṣma-pañcakā, found a little bit…

I heard Narasiṁha-kavaca dāsa was talking about separation. The… Kṛṣṇa is blowing His flute and the gopīs wanted to meet Him. But their husbands, fathers-in-law, and mothers-in-law were watching over them so that they don’t go out, lock them in the room. So, then there was so much separation from Kṛṣṇa and so much desire to serve Kṛṣṇa that they left their bodies and that just in their spiritual body they went to meet Kṛṣṇa. Their physical bodies remain in the house. Also, when Kṛṣṇa started the rāsa-līlā was after the Govardhana-līlā, He was about seven years old. So, that is not material lust in seven-year-olds generally. This is a transcendental exchange. But Kṛṣṇa was testing them. So He was preaching to them to go back home. But they weren’t agreed, agreeable. So, this is the second verse of the gopīs. [A-side] You read the first verse?

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.29.31: The beautiful gopīs said: O all-powerful one, you should not speak in this cruel way. Do not reject us, who have renounced all material enjoyment to render devotional service to Your lotus feet. Reciprocate with us, O stubborn one, just as the primeval Lord, Śrī Nārāyaṇa, reciprocates with His devotees in their endeavors for liberation.

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.29.33: Expert transcendentalists always direct their affection toward You because they recognize You as their true Self and eternal beloved. What use do we have for these husbands, children, and relatives of ours who simply give us trouble? Therefore, O Supreme Controller, grant us your mercy. O Lotus-eyed one, please do not cut down our long-cherished hope to have Your association.

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.29.34: Until today our minds were absorbed in household affairs, but You easily stole both our minds and our hands away from our housework. Now our feet won’t move one step from Your lotus feet. How can we go back to Vraja? What would we do there?

Jayapatākā Swami: So the gopīs are complaining that Kṛṣṇa stole their minds. How can they go back without their mind? Everything was stolen by Kṛṣṇa. So, like this, they are completely surrendered. Because they have this concept that they have a different husband. It’s called parakīya-rasa. More difficult to go to meet Kṛṣṇa. And in Dvārakā where they feel that Kṛṣṇa is their husband directly, they don’t have anybody else then that is svakīya-rasa. So, this caused lots of confusion. Where some people feel this is not religiously correct. So that preachers had to do a lot of different preaching. So Jīva Gosvāmī in defending the rāsa-līla… One aspect is that Kṛṣṇa is the soul of everyone. He is the husband of everyone. So, there is nothing unnatural. But even in case people don’t want to accept that then when Kṛṣṇa… cows and calves… cowherd boys and calves were stolen by Brahmā, He manifested Himself into all the cowherd boys. Then Nārada Muni encouraged Nanda Mahārāja to organize a wedding so all the young cowherd boys would marry the cowherd girls. So actually, everyone is also really married to Kṛṣṇa. The cowherd boys couldn’t remember anything because they were stolen at that time. So, from all aspects, Kṛṣṇa is their husband. That’s what they feel in their heart. And they don’t want to leave Kṛṣṇa. They want to serve Him.

The Kṛṣṇa… In nectar of… In Caitanya-caritāmṛta a few verses

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 13.66

pūrve yaiche rāsādi līlā kaila vṛndāvane
alaukika līlā gaura kaila kṣaṇe kṣaṇe

Translation: Just as Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa formerly performed the rāsa-līlā dance and other pastimes at Vṛndāvana, Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu performed uncommon pastimes moment after moment.

Prabhupāda said that, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa expanded Himself into many forms while engaged in the rāsa-līlā dance, and He also expanded Himself when He married 16,000 wives in Dvārakā. The same process was adopted by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu when He expanded Himself into seven forms to dance in each and every group of the saṅkīrtana party. These expansions were appreciated by pure devotees, including King Pratāparudra. Although for reasons of external formality Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu refused to see King Pratāparudra because he was a king, King Pratāparudra became one of the Lord’s most confidential devotees by the Lord’s special mercy upon him.

Prabhupāda mentions that the class of men known as prākṛta-sahajiyās who consider the transcendental pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa something like the behavior between a man and a woman in a material field artificially think that hearing the rāsa-līlā will help them by diminishing the lusty desires of their diseased hearts. But because they do not follow the regulative principles but instead violate even ordinary morals their contemplation of rāsa-līlā is a futile attempt which sometimes results in their imitating the dealings of the gopīs and Lord Kṛṣṇa to forbid such habits of the prākṛta-sahajiyās. (Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 13.67, purport)

Antya-līlā 14.19–21: Lord Caitanya had a vision of Kṛṣṇa performing rāsa in Antya-līlā… the gopīs were dancing in a circle in the middle of the circle, Kṛṣṇa, the son of Mahārāja Nanda, danced with Rādhārāṇi. Seeing this, Srī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was overwhelmed with the transcendental mellow of the rāsa dance and he thought, “Now I am with Kṛṣṇa in Vrindāvana.” When “Govinda saw that the Lord had not yet risen, he awakened him to understand that he had only been dreaming.” The Lord was somewhat unhappy.

Prabhupāda explains that, “The gopīs’ loving exchanges with Kṛṣṇa have nothing to do with mundane passion, but because they resemble lusty activities in the material world, those with impure minds mistake them for that. So Śrīla Prabhupāda was therefore always very cautious in presenting Lord Kṛṣṇa’s rāsa-līlā. (I don’t know who wrote this.) Lord Caitanya was also very cautious in discussing such topics. Although he was always merging gopī-bhāva, He discussed Kṛṣṇa’s loving affairs with the gopīs only with a few intimate disciples. For the mass of people, he distributed the love of God by propagating congregational chanting of the holy name.” (Nārada-bhakti-sūtra 2.23, purport)

So, because during the rāsa-līlā thousands of people come, there was so much Kṛṣṇa consciousness expanding after Lord Caitanya, then one king… Krishna Nagar was the royal capital of the kingdom of Nadia district, Nadia kingdom and Navadvīpa was the paṇḍitas’ place, the place of the brāhmaṇas. So there was a king, I don’t know what his name was… he was against kṛṣṇa-bhakti. So he started what they called a special new kind of rāsa-līlā in Navadvīpa, where he paid for people to make dioramas and deities of different demigods and demigoddesses. So if you go… now it’s mixed. But I don’t know a few hundred years ago, when he started this, then whole Navadvīpa would be doing Durgā-pūjā, Kālī-pūjā, all the different demigod pūjās. Today their rāsa is like competing with kṛṣṇa-rāsa show that, just see all the devī worship demigod worship so many thousands and maybe 150,000 - 200,000 people come here. But we should more and more expand. We just have these Deities here, but during the night they go and see the deities Navadvīpa. Now they are also Kṛṣṇa Deities and rāsa-līlā clay deities. When we were walking with the yātrā, with Rādhānātha Swami, we saw one of the artisans making deities of different demigoddess and Gaṅgā and different personalities. So, he asked “What’s this for?” He said, “This is for the navadvīpa-rāsa.” So, there’s a little bit of background you should know. All these people coming, but we come to see all the different deities at night and now during the day mostly they come here, at night they are all in Navadvīpa watching there different… but over the years it’s not been so much fanatic about it. Then you got devas and devīs, now there are more mixed Gaṅgā, Kṛṣṇa, that king’s long gone.

And then in Śāntipur they have another kind of rāsa which starts tomorrow, where they drive through the town with lorries and have the kids dress up like rāsa-līlā, kṛṣṇa-līlā and as they drive in the back of a flatbed truck and have big processions. Big procession going throughout the city. And all the children are dressed up. It’s a living instead of dolls, it’s all living display of rāsa-līlā. Living rāsa-līlā, kṛṣṇa-līlā presentation.

So today is the last day of our Bhīṣma-pañcaka. And today is the last day of the Dāmodara month, we get a lot of mercy where we can… by worshiping Kṛṣṇa, by remembering His pastimes, by following the footsteps of the gopīs who surrendered everything for Kṛṣṇa. We should also try to surrender everything for Kṛṣṇa. Use our words, our thoughts, and our activities in Kṛṣṇa’s service. That’s what pure devotional service is all about. It says in this month you can get pure devotional service very easily. So, we hope that the devotees here in Māyāpur will cultivate their pure devotion, cultivate their spiritual development. The highest blessing is to get pure bhakti. And here Lord Caitanya gives it out very easily. Here Rādhārāṇi, it is Her abode. She created this for Kṛṣṇa. When Kṛṣṇa comes here, He takes the form, the mood rather of Rādhārāṇi, the color of Rādhārāṇi. So by observing the month of Dāmodara here we can also get the mercy, whatever mercy you can get in Mathurā, can get here. Because this is also Gupta Vṛndāvana. We hope that all the devotees take advantage of this mercy flow. There is a lot of people coming through here. We have prasāda distribution. It’s a good day for doing book distribution. Sometimes our children have competitions, they used to have in the past. I don’t know if they do anymore… who can distribute books, and all the kids will be distributing books. And we give them a prize at the end. But you may learn a few Bengali mantras. Also... One thing, whenever a lot of people come, there is also another thing that comes with them, pickpockets. I wouldn’t keep anything valuable, don’t wear your money belts, don’t wear anything valuable, because whenever you are in a crowd, they know how to bump into you, and even a slash money belts with razor blades. I saw one person showed me their bag was cut with about seven times with a slash by a razor blade. They took out some things from there. So whenever there is a big crush. That were the pickpockets go. Don’t let them steal your bhakti or don’t let them steal your passport or anything. It’s just better if you don’t have anything to take. Nothing to worry about. Lock up your valuables. So, this is the second biggest crowd usually comes today. Biggest is Gaura-Pūrṇima and this Rāsa-Pūrṇima is also very big. So, if you want, there will be a lot of services. If you want to distribute prasāda, and many other services, the opportunity to give the mercy.

So, Lord Caitanya said of all the devotees, the vraja-vāsīs, especially the gopīs, they’re the greatest. So, you can pray to them. Today they give us the mercy that we can also leave our attachments and go to Kṛṣṇa. Take shelter of Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet. Even Kṛṣṇa is trying to discourage them and go back home. They are determined. They want to serve Kṛṣṇa. Thank you very much. Any questions? Comments?

Devotee: [Inaudible]

Jayapatākā Swami: I couldn’t hear what you said. One of the last things that Bhīṣma remembered was the gopīs and the rāsa dance feeling separation from Kṛṣṇa. Bhīṣmadeva kī jaya! Okay, we are going to go… Today at 5.30pm… Those doing Bhīṣma-pañcakā there will be the breakfast.

And now we take our breakfast, break fast and breakfast of Pañcaka, fruits and roots.