20181227 Śrī Krishna Caitanya Book

Nama Om…

Hari Haraya Naama Krishna Yadavaya Namaha Gopal Govinda Ram Sri Madhusudhan

Mukham karoti vaachalam…

So today we are reading a new chapter entitled “Vishwambhar Decides to Manifest Himself to Mitigate the Distress of the Devotees.” So the devotees have been suffering because all the pandits, and yogis, meditators and impersonalists, mundane scholars and other non-devotees were criticizing Krishna and the holy names. And this blasphemy was intolerable for the devotees. So in this way they suffered so much. 

So before we start the chapter, I just wanted to say that we did the physical exercises in the bedroom. 29 sets. And each set has 36. So I chant one mantra for each of the 36. So that means in 36 I chant 36 mantras. So then I was asked to take little rest, which I did and then we went on the tricycle around the block and chanted noon Gayatri and then we came up for lunch. So like this the program ensued. I got some very nice letters today. So I thank everyone who has been writing to me. If there are any temples who have not sent their Damodar month scores to the Congregational Development Ministry in Mayapur, please do that as soon as possible. So far we have accumulated over 2 million lamps. There are still many temples which have not sent their scores. So now we will begin the Caitanya history.

When Lord Vishwambhar heard the suffering or the sorrow of the devotees, He desired to quickly manifest Himself. 

So Lord Gaurasundar said, you are all very dear to Lord Krishna. So whatever you have said will undoubtedly happen, or will certainly happen. 

My life is glorious because of your good words. You have glorified Krishna to Me. In this age of Kali, no one can go against your words. So Lord Vishwambhar, He was glorifying the devotees for their glorifying Krishna and discussing His transcendental qualities. By chanting Hare Krishna, one’s fear of time is finished. That is described in the Srimad Bhagavatam 3.25.38 by Kapiladev to His mother: 

“My dear mother, devotees who receive such transcendental opulences are never bereft of them; neither weapons nor the change of time can destroy such opulences. Because the devotees accept Me as their friend, their relative, their son, preceptor, benefactor and Supreme Deity, they cannot be deprived of their possessions at any time.”

So the power of the holy name to remove fear is explained in the Srimad Bhagavatam by Shri Suta Goswami, 1.1.14:

“Living beings who are entangled in the complicated meshes of birth and death can be freed immediately by even unconsciously chanting the holy name of Krishna, which is feared by fear personified.”

In the Agni Bindu Stava of the Kaashi Khanda it is stated:

“Oh Narayana, Oh deliverer from the hellish ocean of material life, Oh Damodar, Oh killer of the demon Madhu, Oh Chaturbhuj, Oh Vishwambhar, Oh Spotless One, Oh Janardhan, how will one take another birth if he constantly addresses You by these names?”

So it is not only one place that these names are glorified - again and again, through different scriptures the holy names of Krishna are glorified. So everyone should take shelter of the holy names and chant them in this age of Kali. 

What rejected, sinful, atheists say, why should you bother? We should happily chant the holy names of Krishna Chandra – Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare (Guru maharaj sings in kirtan). So here Lord Vishwambhar, He is advising that don’t bother what the atheists say. Just go on chanting Hare Krishna in bliss. 

The Lord, He cannot tolerate the devotees’ sorrow. For the devotees, Sri Krishna always incarnates. For the devotees who are pure, service inclined, He can never tolerate their miseries. Whenever and wherever this distressful condition appears for devotees, He immediately incarnates and mitigates all the sufferings of His unalloyed, surrendered devotees. In the Adi Purana Krishna tells Arjuna:

“The vaishnavas are the spiritual masters of the entire world and I am the spiritual master of the vaishnavas. As I am the spiritual master of everyone, the devotees are also the spiritual masters of everyone. The devotees are My friends and I am the friend of My devotees. The devotees are My spiritual masters and I am the spiritual master of My devotees. Oh son of Prtha, I go wherever My devotees go.” Hariiiibol!!

So here Krishna sums up His special relationship with His unalloyed devotees. In the Padma Purana, the Supreme Lord speaks the following words to Lord Brahma:

“By vision, by meditation and by touch only, do the fish, the tortoise, and the birds maintain their off springs. Similarly, do I also, oh Padmaja.”

So now I can understand that you will bring Krishna Chandra to advent and which will fill Navadvip with Vaikuntha happiness, Vaikuntha ananda. 

By your mercy, the whole universe will be delivered. For you will induce Krishna to descend from the spiritual world. So Lord Caitanya is predicting that Krishna will come to mitigate their sorrows. No one knows that He is Krishna Himself! Ha! At least few may know but they have taken an oath not to reveal. If they tried to reveal, they would be removed from this world. So Lord Caitanya is predicting that Krishna will descend, and nobody knows how that will be, but hearing His words, they are encouraged. Actually Vishwambhar, Sachinandan Himself, is Krishna avatar. So He will reveal that to His unalloyed devotees in due course. So for the time being He is just encouraging them with these words. So we will continue this chapter tomorrow. And now we will have questions and answers.

Devotees attending – names were read by the repeater.

Question: Rukmini: Why devotees sometimes go through many tribulations like you, guru maharaj, or Haridas Thakur or Srila Prabhupad if Krishna doesn’t tolerate devotees’ sufferings?

Guru maharaj: I am assured that any suffering I have been through; it is a small token to what I deserve. Unfortunately, some of my disciples do not follow strictly and shamefully break some principles. So I should take all of their karma, which would be a lot. But somehow, Krishna is giving me only a small reminder. Somehow although I probably should be in my next body by now, but somehow Krishna has allowed me to stay! I am trying to carry out more of Prabhupad’s orders. So I am very glad that Prabhupad told me to expand the Krishna conscious propagation unlimitedly, and we hear that about 2 and half million lamps were offered in Damodar, and that that is only a partial score is very encouraging. So we are trying to carry out this order of Srila Prabhupad and any help you can give to help others become Krishna consciousness is appreciated. 

Question: Gauranga Karunasindhu das: How to make the examination of the heart for weeds which may slow down our progress in Krishna bhakti part of our daily sadhana? Are there any instructions from the previous acharyas regarding this topic?

Guru maharaj: There is a book I translated by Om Vishnupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Prabhupad Thakur, in Bengali it is called Vaishnava Ke – Who is a Vaishnava? So in there he talks about controlling the mind. He says that the mind which is hankering to be appreciated and get some prathistha, some exalted position in the minds of devotees, that devotees get natural appreciation. But someone who is trying for it, their desire for aggrandizement (for glorifying) is like the stool of a pig. A pig eats stool and his stool must be the stool of stool!! So Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupad, he had a very low opinion of people who tried for their own position and appreciation. So he talks about controlling the mind and how the mind can be brought around. Also Srinivas Acharya he wrote a song about controlling the mind. So from these two works you can get. 

Malini Nitai, did you get my letter?

While we are live Facebook you are allowed to write some question or comment. Hare Krishna!