20110425 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.3.6

The following is a lecture given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on April 25, 2011 – in Coimbatore, India. The lecture begins with a reading from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.3.6.

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.3.6

tena taptā divaṁ tyaktvā
brahmalokaṁ yayuḥ surāḥ
dhātre vijñāpayām āsur
deva-deva jagat-pate
daityendra-tapasā taptā
divi sthātuṁ na śaknumaḥ

Translation: Scorched and extremely disturbed because of Hiraṇyakaśipu’s severe penances, all the demigods left the planets where they reside and went to the planet of Lord Brahmā, where they informed the creator as follows: O lord of the demigods, O master of the universe, because of the fire emanating from Hiraṇyakaśipu’s head as a result of his severe austerities, we have become so disturbed that we could not stay in our planets but have come to you.

Jayapatākā Swami: Here we are at the Ayurvedic Pharmacy hospital in Coimbatore. We have less than a month up to the Nṛsiṁha-caturdaśī. So we have some selected verses about the things that transpired leading up to Lord Narasiṁhadeva’s appearance. Lord Narasiṁhadeva came to save the son Prahlāda, but what happened before is interesting. You see, Hiraṇyakaśipu, he was doing some severe austerities to please Lord Brahmā. He stood on his toes even though an anthill came over him and ate all his flesh. In those days you could keep your life air in your bones and so there, he kept in his bones – this kind of severe austerity is normally not possible for anyone to do but he did. And as a result, his head was emanating fire which caused heat in the whole universe. So all the devas, all the suras, they came to Lord Brahmā and they said that we are suffering a lot because of the severe austerities of Hiraṇyakaśipu. So Brahmā came to see Hiraṇyakaśipu and he sprinkled water from his kamaṇḍalu and as a result Hiraṇyakaśipu regained his flesh and he became normal. Then he told him that whatever you want I will give you.

Hiraṇyakaśipu said, “Give me immortality.” He said, “I am not immortal, so what I don’t have I cannot give you.” So then he thought, and said, “Give me the boon that I will not be killed by any deva, any human, any rākṣasa, demon, any animal, like this . . . I won’t be killed by day or night, I cannot be killed by anyone alive or dead, I cannot be killed in or out . . .” so he gave so many conditions and Brahmā said, “Okay, okay!” So he thought he was immortal because no one could kill him. So then he began to fight with all the devas and defeated everyone. He became the Lord of the universe under Brahmā. But still, although he had unlimited power, he was not satisfied, he was always hankering for more and more. This shows us that even if we get all kinds of material benedictions, all kinds of material power, still we are frustrated.

He had a son and the devas they wanted to capture the son and so they waited for the son to be born but Nārada Muni came and he said that, “This son will be a devotee, you have nothing to fear and so they left.” It is interesting because even the devas didn’t want to cause an abortion because it was so sinful to cause abortion. They were waiting that let the child be born and we will right away kill the child but not abort the child. So this abortion is very, very, bad. So Nārada Muni, he began to teach Kayādhu and Prahlāda was in the womb, and he could hear all the teachings of Nārada Muni. He never forgot but Kāyadhu forgot –but he didn’t forget! When he was born, he was already very Kṛṣṇa conscious and that is why Hiraṇyakaśipu, he could never understand how his son knew all these things about Viṣṇu. So these are very subtle.

The modern civilization wants to give us all a lot of material things – we can fly around the world, we can buy a jet, or buy a ticket and fly on a jet, of course we think we won’t be hassled when we are sick but of course that is not the fact. Even in America, it is not that people don’t die. Everyone dies, everyone falls sick, and so they get old and again they are reborn. So these are the facts of life.

So, Hiraṇyakaśipu, he loved sense gratification. He thought that sense gratification was the goal in life. But now, we can also understand that sense gratification is not the real goal in life. The real goal, as Prahlāda taught is to chant the names of Lord Hari. Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa . . . So, it is to serve the Lord. Like, Gadādhara Prabhu, we heard that He used to hear again and again Prahlāda’s instructions.

Prahlāda was very dear to all the devotees because his instructions were so Kṛṣṇa conscious. He taught to his demon friends that they should also chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. When they said, “Come on, we are just kids! We want to enjoy, eat and play, and chant later,” and Prahlāda said, “Well, as kids, the first ten years you waste in playing, and the next ten years you go to school and also there you have organized sports, and the next 20–30 years you are a gṛhastha. So like that when you are too old you have no time because then you are too old and you have spent so much time sleeping, eating, so where is the time actually? So you should chant now, you should serve now, now is the time.” So he got all his friends together like that. Mahārāja, Bhaktivinoda Swami, he would like to see everyone following in the footsteps of Prahlāda. We should all preach – Prahlāda did tough preaching, he was preaching to his demon friends. I hope your friends are not demons! Your work colleagues, your neighbors, friends, relatives, let them all take advantage because in this Age of Kali, this is a special blessing.

Śukadeva Gosvāmī said,

kaler doṣa-nidhe rājan
asti hy eko mahān guṇaḥ
kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya
mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet
(SB 12.3.51)

That in this Kali-yuga, it is an ocean of defects, but there is one good quality. Kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya – chant the name of Kṛṣṇa. Mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet – by that chanting you will be free from the conditioning of the guṇas and you will be able to achieve the Supreme destination. Hari bol! Hari bol! Hari bol! So just by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare . . . By chanting you can achieve so much more than what you could achieve in Satya-yuga, more than in Tretā-yuga, more than in Dvāpara-yuga – by chanting you get the mercy. So, people should take advantage, side by side, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, and also engage in devotional service (and also take care of material life). And also if you are a gṛhastha, get your children, and your wife or your husband also to chant. So the idea is to practice yukta-vairāgya – to use everything in Kṛṣṇa’s service and in this way, you can achieve all the benefits.

Especially, if you can get one person to go back to Kṛṣṇa, you get a free ticket!

Hari bol! Buy one get one free!

Like that Dhruva Mahārāja, he was going back to Godhead, and he thought, “What about my mother, she should also go back?” And then the Viṣṇudūtas showed him, “Your mother is already going ahead of you.” (Hari bol!)

So we can take Kṛṣṇa’s mercy – especially Lord Caitanya didn’t consider who is qualified and who is disqualified. He was giving His mercy to everyone. So we want to especially take the mercy given by Lord Caitanya. Haribol! Nitāi Gaurāṅga jaya Nitāi Gaurāṅga . . .

If you have any questions, you may ask now. If you have any ‘kelvis’ . . . (laughter)

Question: While chanting Gāyatrī mantra, facing directions are important or facing Deities are important? – Gopati Govinda dāsa

Jayapatākā Swami: If the face is before the installed Deities that is nice. Otherwise, morning and noon – east and evening north. Some people face pictures. But specially it says, Deities. If you have faced the Deities, it is alright. Some people have pictures in the altar. We call that ‘citrapāṭ ‘. So you can face the citrapāṭ or face the altar.

Question: In the bhakti-yoga chanting of the holy name is eternally present, how is it differentiated between Kali-yuga and other yugas? Specially, in Kali yuga? – Śānta Gopī devī dāsī

Jayapatākā Swami: In the Satya-yuga Ajāmila named his youngest son Nārāyaṇa and was saved. In Tretā-yuga, Hanumān built the bridge over the ocean by putting the name of Rāma and in the Dvāpara-yuga, Draupadī, she got the unlimited sārī by saying “Hey Kṛṣṇa! Hey Keśava!” But in those yugas there was also offence, so we have to chant without offence. All these people chanted without offence. In Kali-yuga, even offensive chanting has effect because of Lord Caitanya’s mercy. Gaurāṅga! But if you can chant without offense, that is better. Still, any chanting helps.

Question: Why do the living entities still exist who are suffering? Lord Caitanya had already liberated the people then?

Jayapatākā Swami: In this universe, there is ananta-koṭi brahmāṇḍa, there are unlimited millions of universes. So like mustard seeds and waves. How many drops are there in the ocean? So one universe and they fill up. So all the human beings may be liberated but there are so many insects, animals, birds and they can also go . . .

Bhaktivinoda Swami: Guru Mahārāja, you mentioned about preaching and in your Vyāsa-pūjā offering you spoke how you want help to expand what Prabhupāda told you to do, here in Gaura-pūrṇimā we had a meeting, and we decided this year the theme would be how to expand, bring more conditioned souls into Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Hari bol! So by your mercy we will be able to do that. Haribol! All the devotees have taken a saṅkalpa and offered to Lord Gaurāṅga that each one will try to endeavor to bring ten people to chant 16 rounds within the year by their vigorous preaching, by programs and various types of outreach activities. So we need a little message from you and also blessings that we may accomplish that.

Jayapatākā Swami: (Gestured blessing to all devotees!) Haribol! We are goṣṭhy-ānandis. We want to see the number of devotees increase and this was Prabhupāda’s special order to me, He said, expand the Kṛṣṇa conscious preaching propaganda unlimitedly. So I need a lot of help. If you can increase the number of devotees, I would be very grateful. Of course, at first, they need to chant one round and then two and gradually go. Those who took, aspire, you can also include in the śikṣā program – you can include them. Like this gradually, the idea is we want to see that many people take shelter of Lord Kṛṣṇa. So I will be very grateful if you could do that. And I pray for you every day, that all my disciples, all the śikṣā, all the dīkṣā, all the sheltered and all the aspiring disciples – I pray that they will also be able to preach and be very strong in their Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Hari bol! So please, may Kṛṣṇa bless you that your serving Śrīla Prabhupāda, to expand this year, will be successful!

Hari bol!

Bhaktivinoda Mahārāja: There are 100 devotees who have already taken the saṅkalpa and 100 x 10, should be bringing in 1000 people into the fold.

Jayapatākā Swami: Jaya! Hari bol!

Bhaktivinoda Swami: So I think we have said Haribols and now we have to work on it! (laughter) We have to work on it throughout the year and try our best. Then the mercy will work.

Jayapatākā Swami: It works gradually. One at a time. You try bringing one person. And like this gradually, one, two, three. Of course, if you can bring 10 at once it will be nice!

But usually, we have to bring one at a time. One family. And, like this gradually they take up. We have to bring many people. This month is the month of Vaiśākha, so in this month you get 100 times the benefit, so if in this month people take advantage they will be benefitted. I told some people that you will get special blessing this month if you preach. This month and also Kārtika, month of Dāmodara. These two months are very special in the year. Hari bol!