20160723 Śrīmad Bhāgavatam

20160723 Srimad Bhagavatam

Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya

Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya (devotees)

Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya

Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya (devotees)

Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya

Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya (devotees)

tatheti guru-putroktam

 anujñayedam abravit

dharmo hy asyopadestavyo

 rajñam yo grha-medhinam

Translation:

After hearing these instructions of Sanda and Amarka, the sons of his spiritual master, Hiranyakasipu agreed and requested them to instruct Prahlada in that system of occupational duty which is followed by royal householder families.

Purport:

Hiranyakasipu wanted Prahlada Maharaja to be trained as a diplomatic king in ruling the kingdom, the country or the world, but not to be advised about renunciation or the renounced order of life. The word dharma here does not refer to some religious faith. As clearly stated, dharmo hy asyopadestavyo rajñam yo grha-medhinam. There are two kinds of royal families — one whose members are simply attached to household life and the other consisting of rajarsis, kings who govern with ruling power but are as good as great saints. Prahlada Maharaja wanted to become a rajarsi, whereas Hiranyakasipu wanted him to become a king attached to sense enjoyment (grha-medhinam). Therefore in the Aryan system there is varnasrama-dharma, by which everyone should be educated according to his position in society’s division of varna (brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya and sudra) and asrama (brahmacarya, grhastha, vanaprastha and sannyasa).

A devotee purified by devotional service is always in the transcendental position above the mundane qualities. Thus the difference between Prahlada Maharaja and Hiranyakasipu was that Hiranyakasipu wanted to keep Prahlada in mundane attachment whereas Prahlada was above the modes of material nature. As long as one is under the control of material nature, his occupational duty is different from that of a person not under such control. One’s real dharma, or occupational duty, is described in Srimad-Bhagavatam (dharman tu saksad bhagavat-pranitam). As described to his order carriers by Dharmaraja, or Yamaraja, a living being is a spiritual identity, and therefore his occupational duty is also spiritual. The real dharma is that which is advised in Bhagavad-gita: sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja. One must give up one’s material occupational duties, just as one must give up his material body. Whatever one’s occupational duty, even according to the varnasrama system, one must give it up and engage in one’s spiritual function. One’s real dharma, or occupational duty, is explained by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Jivera ‘svarupa’ haya — krishnera ‘nitya-dasa’: every living being is an eternal servant of Krsna. That is one’s real occupational duty.

Text 47

aprameyanubhavo ’yam

 akutascid-bhayo ’marah

nunam etad-virodhena

 mrtyur me bhavita na va

I can see that this boy’s strength is unlimited, for he has not feared any of my punishments. He appears immortal. Therefore, because of my enmity toward him, I shall die. Or maybe this will not take place.

Text 48

Thinking in this way, the King of the Daityas, morose and bereft of bodily luster, remained silent with his face downward. Then sanda and Amarka, the two sons of Sukracarya, spoke to him in secret.

Text 49

jitam tvayaikena jagat-trayam bhruvor

 vijrmbhana-trasta-samasta-dhisnyapam

na tasya cintyam tava natha caksvahe

 na vai sisunam guna-dosayoh padam

O lord, we know that when you simply move your eyebrows, all the commanders of the various planets are most afraid. Without the help of any assistant, you have conquered all the three worlds. Therefore, we do not find any reason for you to be morose and full of anxiety. As for Prahlada, he is nothing but a child and cannot be a cause of anxiety. After all, his bad or good qualities have no value.

Text 50

imam tu pasair varunasya baddhva

 nidhehi bhito na palayate yatha

buddhis ca pumso vayasarya-sevaya

 yavad gurur bhargava agamisyati

Until the return of our spiritual master, Sukracarya, arrest this child with the ropes of Varuna so that he will not flee in fear. In any case, by the time he is somewhat grown up and has assimilated our instructions or served our spiritual master, he will change in his intelligence. Thus there need be no cause for anxiety.

Text 51

After hearing these instructions of sanda and Amarka, the sons of his spiritual master, Hiranyakasipu agreed and requested them to instruct Prahlada in that system of occupational duty which is followed by royal householder families.

JPS: So I may speak sometimes Bengali and sometimes in English, however it is easy. So you see how Prahlada, how he had received the instructions of Narada Muni. So he was already fixed up in Krishna consciousness and he was fearless. So Hiranyakashipu tried to kill him in different ways. But none of the ways were successful. So Hiranyakashipu got very depressed. This boy is not even afraid of my attempts to kill him, seems he is immortal and because I against this boy I may die or maybe not.

So then the sons of Sukracharya said, “don’t worry we will train him in material diplomacy. How to enjoy the senses? So don’t worry by the time he grows up we will have him completely materialistic.”

So Hiranyakashipu accepted this instruction and he gave the order to guard the school so that no vaisnava comes and pollutes Prahalada’s intelligence. He gave the order, “shoot on sight if any vaisnava enters the school.” , but Prahlada is the vaisnava and he is in the school. So he taught the children of the demons to chant Hare Krishna. They said, “Oh, we are just children, lets grow up and then we will chant.”

The Prahlad said that in this way half the time we spent sleeping and for the first 10 years we are foolish, next 10 years we are engaged in sports and other education. So like this the last 20 years you are old and invalid and from 20-50 years you are busy with household affairs. So like that where do you have time. You should do it now. If you don’t it now you won’t be able to do it later. So he had all the children chanting.

(Hare Krishnna kirtan by Gurumaharaj)

So Prahalad had all the children of the demon’s chanting. So great devotees like Prahlad, Hanuman they all came and participated in the pastimes of Lord Caitanya. Caitanya Mahaprabhu went to various people’s houses. In one house he went to was a perfuma-wala. So the perfume merchant brought a very highly scented oil. So he started to apply it to the Lord’s body. The Lord asked, “How is it that you are giving me the oil and not even asking me the price.”

“I feel like it.”

If after you bathe tomorrow and you still have this high fragnance, then you can give me whatever you please. Then Lord Caitanya went from house to house. He went to a mali’s house and he got a garland. Like this went to different houses. He told him, “I don’t have any money with me.” Everyone gave him things and some told that, “well, when you arrange it then you pay me.”

And some said, “That’s alright, you don’t have to pay me anything.” But they didn’t know who Nimai was, they didn’t know that he was the supreme personality of Godhead, they just loved him, they held him in awe and reverence and went to a cowherd’s house and he said I want some cow products from you, give me some cream, ghee, some yogurt, milk, Sandesh and the…actually the cowherd ladies called him as Thakur dada, so that means older brother, so the children of the cowherd lady called Lord Caitanya Mama, maternal uncle since he was the big brother of their mothers. So they said, “mama, come to our house and have some rice.”

They were very familiar with him and by the blessings of Saraswati actually everything they say was true because Lord Caitanya as a cowherd boy. So like that Lord Gauranga, Nimai would go from house to house. That’s why this place is considered non-different from Vrindavan. When Lord Caitanya left after starting the sankirtan movement, many years later people were feeling such separation from the Lord, he went to Vidya Vachaspati’s house in Vidyanagar.

The word came out, “Gauranga is back, Gauranga is back!” People dropped whatever they were doing and ran to the river and the boatman told, “Ok, no more, no more, no more !” “Ah… Ah… then it sunk”

The people dived into the Ganges and started swimming across. Normally the Ganga is saffron in colour, so many people were in the river that only their hair could be seen and the whole river became black and they all ran to the house of

Vidya Vachaspati, thousands and thousands of people were chanting, “Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga!”

Vidya Vachaspati told Lord Caitanya if you don’t show Yourself they will break down my house. Lord Caitanya was talking to Sachi Mata how he would go and take her prasadam. So like that he was comforting her but he had told her that don’t tell anyone that I am here, but somehow the world got out. People were so eager to see Lord Caitanya. So then Lord Caitanya went out and all the people paid their obeisance’s and Lord Caitanya told them a few words and then he went back in their house, but he disappeared from the house and appeared about two kilometres away and then he continued on his journey walking.

Then Vidya Vachaspati told everyone, “See look in my house, Caitanya Mahaprabhu is not here.”

So five people confirmed that Lord Caitanya was not there. So actually even the devas the higher planets they rarely see Lord Caitanya and the pastimes are very short- 48 years.

So the great souls like Prahlad Maharaj, they participated. We are very fortunate that Lord Caitanya delegated Srila Prabhupada to spread Krishna consciousness all over the world. Once somebody asked why didn’t Lord Caitanya spread Krishna conscious all over the world. Prabhupada said that he wanted me to do that.

So we are very fortunate to have the presence of Srila Prabhupada. He stayed here in Mayapur, he stayed in grass hut, he stayed in the lotus building, he came and worshipped Radha-Madhav and Lord Caitanya. So we all here very blessed to be here where Srila Prabhupada spent so much time.

Lord Caitanya, this is his eternal abode, he resides here eternally and Prabhpada said that this is place of worship. Vrindavan is his home and Bombay is his office.

So in the Satya yuga you had demons like Hiranyakashipu who were out and out demons, but here in Kali yuga you have demons and like demigod qualities mixed together.

So Lord Caitanya, He destroys the demoniac qualities and he enhances the devotee qualities. The devotee quality increases by his blessings, and how Lord Caitanya as Nimai Pandit was enjoying the scholastic pursuits but all the Vaisnavas were blessing him that he may become a devotee. He didn’t refuse that because you can only develop devotion you have the blessings of a devotee.

So you should all be giving your blessings to each other to have bhakti. If Lord Nimai would take the blessings of the devotee and he is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then what to speak of us.  Please give me some blessings so that I may have pure love for Krishna. So this pastime of Lord Caitanya is very sweet. Even the devas, they don’t see the form of the Lord.

So those who are able to see the form of the Lord or hear about the pastimes of the Lord they are really blessed. In Andhra Pradesh there are many Narasimha temples. There Lord Caitanya visited most of these temples. There are foot prints in Mangala Giri. At the base of Mangal Giri there is a new temple. That temple was built by Yudhishir Maharaj because Mangal Giri exists for many yugas and there they offer soma rasa for satya yuga, I think ghee for the treat yuga, milk for the dwarapa yuga and gur water for the kali yuga.

Now they call the deity panaka Narasingha because he takes gur-water. He can put it down his throat, half of it goes in and half of it he gives back. So Lord Caitanya visited all these temples. He went to Ahobalam, he went to Tirupati, Srirangam, and he went all around South India.

So it’s said that Lord Krishna visited the house of Bahulaswa and Sutadeva. Bahulaswa was a king in Janakpur and Suta dev was the poor Brahmin in the same city. So this was the king of the Mithila desh- Bahulaswa. Now that Mithila desh is part in Bihar and a part in Nepal.

Lord Caitanya for six years he travelled in South India, also in Western India, northern India, eastern India. Every night, every day he would spend in a new house, they bathed his fee, feed him prasadam, listened to his class, how much mercy he gave out, Prabhupada sang the song by Locana Das, “Parama Karuna Pahu Dui Jana Nitai Gaura Chandra.”

So, he went to thousands of houses. How many of you would like to have Lord Caitanya to come to your house? So we read about Prahlad and Narsimha.

Hare Krishna.

Any questions?

It is also Gopal Bhatta Goswami’s tirovav. He was the son of the head priest in Sri Rangam. Lord Caitanya stayed there four months of the rainy season and Gopal Bhatta was serving him. So Gopala Bhatta was wishing that he could see Lord Caitanya with all of his devotees. Then he felt asleep. Then he saw a vision of Lord Caitanya with all of his devotees.

Hari Bol.

Then Lord Caitanya was calling him, “Gopal, Gopal!”

He came running. Then he saw Lord Caitanya’s divine form as Radha and Krishna. Lord Caitanya put his lotus foot on the head of Gopala Bhatta and he told Gopal Bhatta to go and meet Rupa Goswami. He was one of the six goswamis in Vrindavan, and our samskara dipika with all the samskara’s like wedding, garbadhana etc was written by Gopala Bhatta Goswami.

So our samskara’s are very similar to those of the Sri sampradaya and the Radha-Raman deities was worshipped and manifest by Gopal Bhatta Goswami.

Any question?

Question : Gurumaharaj, you have spoken how Lord Caitanya went house to house and Lord Caitanya accepted Sandesh from people, accepted different ingredients from people. So after hearing your explanation of how Lord Caitanya accepted different things from devotees, so we all wish, it is our desire in heart, we want to offer him mangoes, we want to offer him things and with your blessings we are hoping that Lord Caitanya would accept.

JPS: Panchattatva are there to accept our offerings and Radha Madhav has also Maypur Chandra who was worshipped by Srila Prabhupada, also Nitai Gaur deities in the bhajan kutir was worshipped by Srila Prabhupada, Sri Krishna Caitanya Prabhu Nityananada – this big deities, travelled around India in the pada yatra. When they came here we didn’t let them go, we gave them other deities. Lord Caitanya came home and stayed here. So you offer them bhoga, take prasadam. This are called the aprakat lila, those who are very fortunate they can see the pastimes of the Lord but in the Lord’s prakat lila everybody could see.

Question : Hare Krishna Gurumaharaj, the weaver and the flowering and the perfumist and the milkman… Vrindavan Das Thakur said that in the previous lives in Vridavan Krishna visited their houses and they said, “just like before you visited come again.” So what is their position, they are mukta purush, eternal vrajavasis and they are completely in yoga maya and they are thinking they are weaver or they are flowerist in Nabadwip and Nimai is the scholar and they are completely absorbed in thinking of Nimai just like the residents of Vrindavan don’t think Krishna is God but they are always thinking of him?

JPS: They did the same pastimes in Vrindavan. If they did the same pastime in Vrindavan, that means that all with all the avatars of Krishna they perform the same pastime. So just like Murari Gupta, he was Hanuman, and Hanuman was Ram-doot. Also he carried Ram and Laxman. So in the pastime Murari Gupta also carried Lord Caitanya in his shoulder when he chanting the Visnu Sahasranam.

When he came to the name of Lord Caitanaya, Lord Caitanya came in the mood of Narasimha and he was running in the street with the stick. “Where are the demons, where are demons?”. He came out in an angry mood, then the people started running.

But here our Narasimha deity, he is sthanu Narasimha, he just came out of the column and looking, “where are the demon? Where are the demons?”

So Lord Caitanya’s pastimes and Sthanu Narasinha’s realize the same. So some devotees have small part in the Lord’s pastime, “providing the Lord with vegetables, providing the Lord with clothe, providing the Lord with incense.”

So to be in any part of the Lord’s service is a great blessing.

Now it is time for breakfast. Hari Bol.

Gauranga! 

Gauranga! (everyone)

Nityananda!

Nityananda! (everyone)

Advaita!

Advaita! (everyone)

Gadadhara!

Gadadhara! (everyone)

Srivasadi Gaur Bhakta Vrinda !

 Srivasadi Gaur Bhakta Vrinda ! (everyone)

Transcribed by : Sadananda Krishnaprem Das

Mayapur