20181027 Evening Talk

Nama Om…

Mukham karoti…

So today the Damodar puja continues. We get unlimited mercy by observing this vrata or Damodar puja. But some people do not seem to appreciate the mercy of the Lord. We received countless letters from a devotee where he said, who says I am not getting a taste for chanting, better your renounce me. One day he may write ten days, saying, renounce me, renounce me, renounce me, renounce me, but this devotional service is a gradual process. We don’t say that in one day, two days, people will achieve their full realization. But then if they follow the nine processes of devotional service then gradually they will get purified. And gradually they will be able to realize how wonderful Lord Caitanya, Lord Krishna, Radharani and the avatars are. But it is not something that we demand. It is something that by the Lord’s mercy manifests. So this devotee thinks that I took initiation and in two three days I should get love of Krishna otherwise renounce me! Prabhupad said to achieve perfection he took twenty years and I have been practicing for 50 years, I don’t say I have achieved any perfection. But I have been able to realize something, how wonderful Krishna is! Parikshit maharaj took a vow not to eat, not to sleep, not drink water while the Bhagavatam was spoken. So in tenth canto he inquired from Shukadev Goswami, so there are 12 cantos, so the tenth canto would be about the sixth day or maybe fifth day. What would you be thinking after five days of no sleep, no eat, no drink? I need something to drink, I need to eat something, but what did Parikshit say? He asked Shukadev Goswami, what else did my wonderful Lord do? What else did my wonderful Lord do? He wasn’t at all thinking about his body. He was so much absorbed in hearing the wonderful pastimes of Lord Krishna. So that is what this Damodar month is, we all can be absorbed in the childhood pastimes of Lord Krishna. More and more we will develop affection for Lord Krishna. In the Rajasuya sacrifice, Shishupal started to blaspheme and criticize Lord Krishna and Bhima and others stood up, they couldn’t tolerate and they wanted to tear up Shishupal to pieces. Krishna told them, cool it, just wait! Krishna had promised Shishupal’s mother that He would not kill Shishupal until he had committed 100 blasphemes. And he was on the 96th. So one after the other he was committing 96th, 97th, 98th. So when he reached a 100 Krishna sent the Sudarshan chakra which went and cut off Shishupal’s head but it did not spill any blood. So it did not make any mess of the sacrifice. So then a light came out of Shishupal’s body, rose in the air and in front of everybody and it merged into the body of Shri Krishna. So Krishna had such wonderful pastimes. He described how Bhima was crying when he had to hear the blaspheme of Shri Krishna and his tears came out hot. So these accounts given in the Bhagavatam are wonderful. This Damodar lila was also described in the Srimad Bhagavatam. Although Krishna would appear like a child to His parents, He was still the Supreme Personality of Godhead but then He had unlimited power. When Krishna went to Mathura and He killed Kamsa, as was predicted, He dragged Kamsa by the hair and threw him into the arena demonstrating that Kamsa was finished. So then He went up to free His parents, Devaki and Vasudev. But they had just seen Krishna delivering Kamsa and so they were offering their obeisances. But Krishna did not want that. He wanted them to be in the parental mood, so then He called His lila shakti and took some mercy of the lila shakti and threw it over the heads of Vasudev and Devaki. And the two of them became overwhelmed with affection for their divine Son. So like this Krishna’s pastimes are inconceivable and they are wonderful! In the material world we have to serve people but these people are all limited and have shortcomings of the jiva shakti but Krishna is unlimited and has no shortcomings. So we hope that devotees will gradually engage in devotional service and awaken their spontaneous affection for Lord Krishna. Prabhupad gave us this unlimited mercy to serve Lord Caitnay, to serve Radha Madhav. So we should take this opportunity and make our lives successful. Hare Krishna!

Any questions?

Question: Hare Krishna Guru maharaj! Please accept my humble obeisances! Everything happens according to Krishna’s plan. How can we practically apply it when things are going adverse around us, for example in the family? How do we practically accept it as Krishna’s mercy? Sadguru Sevanandini devi dasi, Delhi. 

Guru maharaj: Krishna allows things to happen. It is not that it is according to His plan. Maybe it is our karma, maybe some desires we had. We take it as a test, if we pass the test we can go forward. They say in English, it takes two to tango. I don’t know where it says this but it says to clap your hands it need two hands. So if there is some difficulty it may take some communication to normalize things. Maybe someone needs counselling to see what their deeper points of view are. But if one attempts to be a better spouse, if one avoids criticism, then usually that can solve most of the problems. 

Question: Hare Krishna guru maharaj! Please accept my humble obeisances to you! Why do have a need of a friend at every stage of our life, when our dearmost friend is Krishna within us? Mehak Ahuja. (Shyam Madhusudhan das prabhu said this question was answered before)

Question: Siddharth Rajasekhar – how do we understand the phrase mayawad baasho sunile hoibe sarbanaash? How does this philosophy contaminate the soul?

Guru maharaj: You see that the contamination is because the individual soul thinks that he or she is God. This illusion is very serious. So mayawadis are expert to make them think that he or she is God. And if you think that you are God then you cannot perform devotional service. In devotional service the individual soul takes a supportive role and serves the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But the mayawadis think that they are God. So then there is no question of devotional service or love of God. So one should be very careful not to listen to the mayawadis. I was sent by Prabhupad to get entrance for devotees at Jagannath Puri. So to cut short a long story, I was sent to the Shankaracharya of Puri. So I asked him whether he would authorize us to go to the temple. He said, take one litre of ghee, boil it and drink it. You know boiling! I said that would kill you! Yes, so when you die you can take birth as a Hindu and then you can enter the temple!! So then he had a beautiful ashtha dhaatu murti of Radha and Krishna. I said your deities are very beautiful! He said, they are non-different from me! I said they are young and beautiful but you are old and wrinkled! He said, this is my leela!! I realized there was no value in talking to him. I said this leela of growing old is done by everyone! And then I left. Recently I was thinking there must be a new Shankaracharya of Puri. So we can again try through him to get admission to the Jagannath temple!