20200822 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.1.23

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on August 22nd, 2020 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur, India. The class begins with a reading from the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.1.23.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī caitanya iśvaram

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

So today my voice is a bit down, so I think that we should have a repetition.

Translation: Since Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Absolute Truth, the master of all mystic powers, has departed for His own abode, please tell us to whom the religious principles have now gone for shelter.

This is a very sanguine question. That Kṛṣṇa said, He comes:

paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām
dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya sambhavāmi yuge yuge

—(Bg. 4.8)

He comes in every age to establish the religious principles. So now He is gone, He went to the eternal abode, and so, who is dharma under the shelter of? And so, Kṛṣṇa says that after His departure, He is present in two forms. As the Bhāgavata, there are two kinds of Bhāgavatas – book book Bhāgavata and person Bhāgavata. So when Lord Kṛṣṇa left, He was present as the book Bhāgavata. That is described as the śabda incarnation of the Lord. Sound avatāra. So, then the Bhāgavata is also present as the Bhaktivedānta, the pure devotees of the Lord. We were reading also how Lord Caitanya, He was present to establish the yuga-dharma. But because the people in Kali-yuga people have a demoniac aspect, he couldn’t kill the demons because He would have to kill everybody. Rather He killed the demoniac aspect by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. When He decided to take sannyāsa, His mother Śacī, became very disturbed. He tried to pacify her. He told the history of Dhruva Mahārāja. And how Dhruva took his mother to the spiritual world. So, Śacīmātā said I will shave my hair, and wear saffron and put on a big earring. We will enjoy talking about Kṛṣṇa. This is not exactly what Lord Caitanya wanted. So then Lord Caitanya revealed to her that He was Lord Kṛṣṇa. And that she was His eternal mother. She came as Pṛśnigarbha, Aditi. As Aditi, she was the mother of Vāmanadeva. She was Devahūti, mother of Kapiladeva. She was Kauśalyā, mother of Rāma. She was Devakī, mother of Kṛṣṇa. And now she was mother of Lord Caitanya. Lord Caitanya said, He would come in two forms. And she will also be His mother. So I was interested because Lord Kṛṣṇa said, He came in two forms. And Lord Caitanya said, that He would also come in two forms. So what forms are those? So, one form is the holy name. The nāma is also the avatāra. And the other form was the arcā-vigraha, the arcā-avatāra, His Deity form. How was Śacīmātā the mother of the two avatāras? So Gaurāṅga said, as the holy name, You are the tongue. The tongue is the mother of the holy name. As the vigraha, you are mother earth, as the deity form is made from earth or marble or metal, or something that comes from the earth. Lord Gaurāṅga, in this way somewhat pacified His mother. He would tell one more thing. Any time you want to see Me, I will come immediately! Immediately I will be present! Seeing all these things, she was somewhat pacified.

So the sages want to know after Kṛṣṇa has left, who will take care of the śāstras, who will take care of the dharma? So you can see how important the book Bhāgavata is. Everyone should have, as far as possible, a book Bhāgavata in their house. By having a set of Bhāgavata, the house becomes a tīrtha, Bhagavān is there.

Bhādra Pūrṇimā is coming up, and if one donates a Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam set, on that day he goes back to Godhead. So whether the husband gives the wife, or the wife gives the husband, or they give their father, in laws, or to some brāhmaṇa, some devotee. I am thinking to give a set of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to the Gauḍīya Maṭhas in Māyāpur, if they want. Then they would realize how great Śrīla Prabhupāda is! I saw how great austerities Śrīla Prabhupāda did by translating the Bhāgavatam. From 12 midnight to 3 or 4 in the morning, he would be translating. He would only take rest, 10 to 12. There was a Bhāgavatam with seven ṭīkās in Sanskrit, 7 commentaries,with Śrīla Prabhupāda on his desk. Śrīdhara Svāmī, Baladeva Vidyā Bhūṣaṇa, Madhvācārya, etc. That is why in the book, Śrīla Prabhupāda said, this person said this, that ācārya said that thing. If I speak in Bengali then my repeater cannot repeat.

This way, the ṛṣīs of Naimiṣāraṇya were thinking what would be the welfare for the human society. So that is the feeling of the Vaiṣṇavas, the brāhmaṇas. They were thinking how the future welfare of humankind would take place. The Temple of Vedic Planetarium Exhibits section intend to have in the ground floor, the sages of Naimiṣāraṇya exhibit. Because they were thinking of asking questions that the people should be asking for the welfare of the human beings. Now in the modern age, people are thinking how to make money. But these ṛṣīs they were thinking how to help the human beings. They were doing a 1000-year sacrifice in Naimiṣāraṇya, for the welfare of the human beings in Kali-yuga. So this is a great sacrifice of these ṛṣīs. People could understand how the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is so important. Lord Caitanya said, bola-kṛṣṇa, bhaja-kṛṣṇa, kara-kṛṣṇa-śikṣā. Please chant the holy names of the Lord, please worship Lord Kṛṣṇa and please study the teachings of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Śrīla Prabhupāda said that the teaching of Kṛṣṇa include Bhagavad-Gītā, teachings by Kṛṣṇa, and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam teachings about Kṛṣṇa. So, we are seeing that Lord Caitanya is also telling us to read Lord Kṛṣṇa’s teachings. And His Divine Grace Abhayacaraṇāravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, he translated the Bhagavad-Gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in English, and also in various other languages. We should take interest to read all the books that Śrīla Prabhupāda translated. Especially the Bhagavad-Gītā and Bhāgavatam. When I took first initiation, Śrīla Prabhupāda told me to read the Bhagavad-Gītā ten times. For getting first initiation, at first I had to read ten times Bhagavad-Gītā. That was the standard at that time. Now I ask devotees to at least read Bhagavad-Gītā twice. And read the first canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Still, it is hard for some people.

So presently in this verse the sages are asking since Kṛṣṇa left, who is responsible for the principles of religion? And Śrīla Prabhupāda explained how Kṛṣṇa comes in two forms – in the book Bhāgavata and the person Bhāgavata. We can see how important it is to distribute book Bhāgavata. I was looking in the library for something, I was looking at mythology or something, but I couldn’t find anything what I was looking for. And if Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books were present in those days in the library, then right from my childhood,I would have had access to this knowledge of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So I was looking everywhere, but what I could find was about different angels, demigods. So in your local libraries or anywhere there are libraries, they should have Śrīla Prabhupāda books. Bhāgavatam is the incarnation of the Lord. How much effect it will have on the people, cannot be imagined! I gave one of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books, to a Christian priest for review. After he got it and read it, he refused to give a review. So the books of Śrīla Prabhupāda are so profound, that they create a revolution in the materialistic mind. So, if we can somehow distribute this transcendental sound. There is a saying that whatever endeavors are made in society, the aim is sense gratification. But in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it says we should not make sense gratification our ultimate goal. While we have a body and have senses, we will have some degree of sense pleasures and also some degree of sense suffering. But our goal should be to achieve Kṛṣṇa. And Lord Caitanya said that He thinks a parent who is trying to give Kṛṣṇa consciousness to the children, they are the real mothers and fathers. But if they have lots of kids and do not try to make them Kṛṣṇa conscious, then He considers them like piglets. He said some heavy things. We should see that our duty as a parent, that we try to get our children, that they don’t have to repeat the cycle of birth and death again. Anyway, this verse is very important to see how the sages were thinking about our welfare. So people in this world tend to envy everyone else. But these sages were thinking of the welfare of everyone. They did not have any envy for anyone. So, this shows us the standard that Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted for his preachers to be in.

Oṁ tat sat.

If there are one or two questions on this verse?

Question: Guru Mahārāja, can you further explain how the tongue is the representation of mother Śacī?

Jayapatākā Swami: You can only sing Hare Kṛṣṇa with your tongue. Try to sing Hare Kṛṣṇa without your tongue! Ha! Ha! So, that way the tongue is the mother of harināma. And mother Śacī is therefore, the mother of harināma.

Question: Hare Kṛṣṇa Guru Mahārāja, Please accept my humble obeisances. As per Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 12.13.13, it says that if someone donates Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam on Bhādra Pūrṇimā, they will go back to Goloka. Can a person donate in the name of a person who left the body, and can the person who has left his body also go back to Godhead?

—Vijaya Gaura Kṛṣṇa dāsa.

Jayapatākā Swami: Interesting question. So, we know that people offer piṇḍa at the Gayā temple. And we have heard, how people can offer the effect of Ekādaśī. We can offer the fruit to someone else. So it would seem that one could offer the fruit of the donation of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. I don’t have on hand the direct verse saying that. But a son who helps the father from the hellish condition is called the putra. Pu is a hell. And tra means in short, to deliver. Putra means one who delivers the parent from hell. Putrī is the female of the same. So, it certainly cannot hurt a person, to give such a donation. We hope that they would go to Goloka. Certainly, he would be blessed in many ways.

Question: Hare Kṛṣṇa Guru Mahārāja! We kind of remain calm and peaceful, but if the person or situation is provoking, then we manifest our real svarūpa of being impatient and get involved in vaiṣṇava-aparādha. It is a big challenge to remain undisturbed in provoking situations. Kindly guide us. Thank you.

—Your spiritual son, Tattvavit Nimāi das

Jayapatākā Swami: A devotee can stay very calm in an undisturbed situation. Kaṁsa was very calm and serene, driving the chariot of his sister on her wedding. Then this voice came from the sky, your sister’s eight son will kill you. Immediately he became disturbed, he grabbed his sister by the hair and wanted to kill her. So, we should not be like Kaṁsa. There will be some disturbing situations. These are tests. If we are like Kaṁsa, we will get disturbed. If we are devotees, we control ourselves, like Vasudeva. He tried to convince Kaṁsa, that it is not good to kill your sister on her wedding day. It is said, you should take decisions when you have a cool head. So that was a very disturbing situation, his wife is being killed! But he tried to pacify Kaṁsa. So like that we should try to control ourselves, if we are agitated. Everything is calm, no trouble to be calm. The test is when things get disturbed. At that time if we can control our emotions and think very deeply, and do things that are most pleasing to guru and Kṛṣṇa. And pass the test.

Haribol!

Kṛṣṇe matir astu, sokalera kṛṣṇer matir hok!