20200905 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.2.10

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on September 5th, 2020 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur, India. The class begins with a reading from the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.2.10.

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

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

This is a very important verse. It tells us, in what mood we should lead our life. Normally since all the people are identifying with the body, they think that sense gratification is the goal of life. They don’t try to achieve Kṛṣṇa, they try to achieve sensual satisfactions. That is the goal of the whole world. Śrīla Prabhupāda used to say that he wanted to change the way people are thinking in the world. So he was dedicated to bring about a revolution in the minds of the people. We should actually be trying to please the senses of Kṛṣṇa. We are the prakṛti of Kṛṣṇa. We are His jīva-śaktī. And as a result, we should try to please God. As long as we have bodies, they have senses. And there are certain minimum amount of sensual pleasure we require to keep ourselves healthy. Śrīla Prabhupāda indicated here that we should not desire unlimited sense gratification. One time I had the BBC reporter here. I took him to the Sulabha prasāda distribution. I took him around on the boat. At some point I was talking to him, I said how the people try for sense gratification. He said, what is wrong with that?! That is the goal of life! So this is the normal conditioned soul’s idea. Lord Caitanya taught us, that actually we should learn to love Kṛṣṇa. He said, bola-kṛṣṇa, bhaja-kṛṣṇa, kara-kṛṣṇa-śīkṣā. He said, you should chant the holy names of Kṛṣṇa, you should worship Kṛṣṇa and you should learn about the science of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This way, whoever came to His house, He would ask them to chant the names of Lord Kṛṣṇa. The people who came to Lord Viśvambhara would give sandalwood paste and flower garlands. In reciprocation, Lord Gaurāṅga would give the garlands to the devotees, and then He would tell them to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and always remember Kṛṣṇa. While sleeping, while eating, while waking, all the time, think of Kṛṣṇa. So this was His universal teaching, for everyone.

There were some who would criticize Him all the time. And they were atheists and offenders. But when He went to take sannyāsa, and all the people of Navadvīpa came to see Him in His house. But then they found the house was empty. Then they were lamenting, we won’t see the lotus face of Nimāi again! And even the atheists and the critical people, they were swept away in the grief. They started to lament, that we are very sinful people. Without Lord Caitanya, what is the hope for us? Everyone was rolling on the ground, crying, holding their heads. Hai! Hai! In this way they cried very loudly and piteously.Hai! Hai! They were saying Hai! Hai! So actually, Lord Caitanya was such a genius that He knew how to bring devotion to everyone.

And now the whole world is suffering this pandemic of the corona virus. And we know that this is because the human beings are breaking the laws of nature. This virus is not a human virus; it came from the animals. Because we kill animals and eat their flesh, so somehow this animal disease came to the human beings. That is why we don’t have any natural defense. So, Śrīla Prabhupāda said in his books that this pandemic comes because of breaking the laws of nature. And if everybody chants the name of God, then we will bring peace to the world, and we can go back to the spiritual world. People do dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa. And the śāstras give some indriya-tṛpti or some sense gratification incentive for certain practices of religion. But the coming month of Puruṣottama is different. So in this Puruṣottama month, no śubha-karma is prescribed. No weddings, no pious activities. Simply, pure bhakti. But for the devotees, this is a very special month. Worshiping Kṛṣṇa in this month, worshipping Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, is especially recommended in this month. It starts in the coming Amāvasyā, dark moon. So the smārta-brāhmaṇas call this as the māla-māsā and other things. But for the devotees, this Puruṣottama month is the most special month. In the year, the Dāmodara month is considered the best. But the Dāmodara month is not even 1/16th of the part of the Puruṣottama month! If you follow the Puruṣottama month very carefully, then you can lead this life very comfortably and at the end you go back to Goloka Vṛndāvana.

There was one brāhmaṇa, he was kicked out from his family, he was not a good person. But he had a very good wife. He went and lived in the forest with his wife. And somehow, he saw a sādhu who fainted on the road. At that time, he had some sympathy in his heart. He took the brāhmaṇa on his lap and took him to his home. There he and his wife were fanning the brāhmaṇa and gave him some water. That brāhmaṇa was going to Puṣkara-tīrtha. And being in the hot sun, fasting, he fainted on the road. He was a great devotee of Kṛṣṇa. And he was very pleased by the service this family had rendered. He asked, why are you living in the forest in such a despicable manner? So he said, I am a very sinful people. I deal with people very bad. You can tell past, present and future, tell me why am I suffering like this and what is the solution? Anyway, that is a long story, but he said, that you can solve this problem if you offer a lamp every day to Kṛṣṇa in the Puruṣottama month. Normally, one should offer with ghee, but being in the forest you may not get ghee. So, you can use some oil, tila or sesame oil and maybe when you are in a better condition you can use ghee. So he offered everyday a lamp to Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. Eventually, he got back to Kṛṣṇaloka. So, this is a very special month, to worship Kṛṣṇa.

We don’t want to stay in this world for a long time. Unless we can somehow always be rendering devotional service. One time I went to Śrīla Prabhupāda, I want to serve you, life after life. And he said, why do you want to make me come back?! I thought well, I said the right thing! Then I said, I want to serve you, even life after life! And so, if am in this world I want to serve him, if he takes me back to the spiritual world, that is alright. So, we should make our goal in life to serve Kṛṣṇa. Sometimes our senses will be happy, sometimes they will be sad. So we don’t depend on our senses, for achieving our ultimate satisfaction. Some basic comfort zone is there. So accordingly, that may differ from person to person. Some people are happy to be in the vairāgya path. And some people want to be gṛhasthas. Most want to be gṛhasthas. But the goal should be, husband and wife to worship Kṛṣṇa. The devotees, they preach this everywhere, that people should serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When the people were chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa with Lord Caitanya, they felt unlimited spiritual bliss!

Still today if we chant the names of Nitāi and Gaurāṅga we feel love! And if we chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra of course then we feel spiritual ecstasy. Basically, we are the spirit soul in the body. When Lord Caitanya gave the instruction that jīvera svarūpa haya nitya-kṛṣṇe dāsa - the constitutional position of the living entity is that he is the servant of Kṛṣṇa, and if we don’t do this, then it is like taking a fish out of water situation. So by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, by serving Kṛṣṇa, by reading His books, we can achieve real satisfaction.

Thank you very much! It is 9 o clock. Any questions?

Question: Hare Kṛṣṇa Guru Mahārāja. Please accept my respectful obeisance. Can we offer lamps for departed souls and count that as part of our scores for Puruṣottama month?

—Your spiritual daughter, Ratī Gopīka devī dāsī, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Jayapatākā Swami: I don’t know what this score is for Puruṣottama month! You see, the temple makes it a score, but if you are offering the lamp on behalf of your forefathers, it goes to your forefathers. So you can offer twice as much lamps, once for yourself and once for your forefathers.

Question: Dear Guru Mahārāja. Please accept my respectful obeisances. Why is that even we make our goal to serve guru and Gaurāṅga life after life, we face so many obstacles, which at time feels like taking us away from the goal?

—Your sheltered spiritual daughter, Pooja, Bengaluru.

Jayapatākā Swami: You see, this material world is like a prison house. And if you serve Kṛṣṇa, you get out of this prison. If you serve guru and Kṛṣṇa, you will be free! Do you think that the jail keeper will let you go so easy?! She tests you first to see that you are really sincere. And when you pass the test, she will offer you her obeisances. Thank you, you can go back to Godhead!

So I said two questions but there is one more.

Question: Hare Kṛṣṇa Gurudeva. Please accept my respectful obeisances. When you give lectures, we feel very blissful but after some time we forget everything. How to do anusmaraṇa?

—Your spiritual daughter, Trilokinī Śakhi devī dāsī.

Jayapatākā Swami: That is why we need to read Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books, listen to lectures, every day. We listen to our guru’s lectures, because by nature we forget.