20210206 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.6.25

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on February 6th, 2021 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur, India. The class begins with a reading from the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.6.25.

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

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 1.6.25:

Translation: Then that supreme authority, personified by sound and unseen by eyes, but most wonderful, stopped speaking. Feeling a sense of gratitude, I offered my obeisances unto Him, bowing my head.

Oṁ Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya
Oṁ Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya
Oṁ Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya

Guru Maharaja: Nārada muni was telling his history to Vyāsadeva. How, he was taking the remnants of the Bhaktivedāntas, how he had received various blessings. Then how his mother died by a snake bite, how in his childhood, he went out of the house. How he travelled through different villages, towns and cities. How he sometimes went to the big forests. There were dangerous animals there, tigers and lions and things. Then he saw some beautiful lakes and rivers. Then he sat down and started to meditate. The Lord then gave darśana, to him. Then He disappeared. Nārada Muni tried to see Him again. But that it did not happen. Then the Lord spoke to him. But He was not visible. He said that Nārada muni was not ready yet. So he would not see Him for the rest of his life, but He revealed Himself just to increase the desire of Nārada Muni. Nārada Muni felt very grateful to hear the topics of the Lord. Śrīla Prabhupāda said there is no difference between seeing the Lord and hearing the Lord. And Lord Kṛṣṇa He is also present in the Bhagavad-gītā. Because He spoke the Bhagavad-gītā. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is spoken about Him. And about His pure devotees. So we may or may not be so fortunate to see the Lord, as Nārada muni was. But by Śrīla Prabhupāda’s mercy we have the Bhagavad-gītā, the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, in a language that we can understand. Similarly, we can be benefited by the transcendental sound vibration of the Lord. And in this way we can have the company of the Lord. So, also we can give this sound representation to other people. That is why Śrīla Prabhupāda he repeatedly said, if they just read a little bit of the Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, they will be purified. Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam both. So, we can try to give this mercy of Lord Caitanya out to the people. That is why Śrīla Prabhupāda was repeatedly saying that whoever distributes his books, they are doing the greatest welfare for humanity at large. Nārada Muni also felt grateful and therefore after the Lord spoke he bowed his head down. So by giving out the sound representation of the Lord, we hope that all the people will feel grateful, and bow down like Nārada muni. Lord Caitanya was chanting, dancing, and as He went through South India, people would see Him and would get inspired. He gave those people so much mercy that He even embraced them, and by that He gave them the bhakti-śakti. The Kurmadesa brāhmaṇa wanted to renounce everything and become a sannyāsī. Lord Caitanya told him, stay in your house, be a gṛhastha, but everyone you meet tell them the sound of Kṛṣṇa. And He ordered them, by My order be a guru and deliver the country. So in that way, He made hundreds and thousands of people devotees. Then Māyāvādīs, Buddhists, Jains, all kinds of people were there, pāṣaṇḍīs. So those who think Śiva, Brahmā, equal to Viṣṇu, they are considered pāṣaṇḍīs or atheists. Although, we respect these great devotees, Brahmā, Śiva, Durgā, Gaṇeśa, Kartikeya as Vaiṣṇavas. So Lord Caitanya went in all the temples, of Kartikeya, Durgā, whatever, He went and chanted Hare Kṛṣṇa. And seeing Caitanya Mahāprabhu, all the people got converted. There was a brāhmaṇa devotee who was chanting the holy holy name of Rāma throughout his life. He knew that Kṛṣṇa-nāma is three times more powerful than the name of Rāma. But he could not change because his iṣṭa-devatā was Lord Rāma. After getting the darśana of Lord Caitanya once, he started chanting the name of Kṛṣṇa. So Lord Caitanya said, why the difference? He said, after seeing You, I changed! I think You are Kṛṣṇa Himself! And he bowed down and grabbed the lotus feet of Lord Caitanya.

How Lord Caitanya gave out so much mercy! Śrīla Prabhupāda, took this same mercy of Lord Caitanya and distributed it throughout out the entire world. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura gave second initiation, the upanayanam, to non-brahmaṇas. Śrīla Prabhupāda gave initiation to yavanas and mlecchas. So he distributed this mercy of the previous ācāryas very mercifully. So in the Brahmā Vaivarta Purāṇa, Kṛṣṇa said there will be a Golden Age. Everyone will be one varṇa. Hari bhakta! So, we want to establish varṇāśrama but varṇāśrama is not the way that previously the caste system was. One kind of mercy, one kind of caste, devotees of Lord Hari. And how everyone engages in Lord Kṛṣṇa’s service is very special. Be it women, be in men, all of them, whoever serves Kṛṣṇa, is blessed! So we are getting the mercy of Lord Caitanya through Śrīla Prabhupāda and the guru-paramparā. So Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted to see this reach all over the world. Especially those born in Indian culture, they have the special responsibility to spread this. Lord Caitanya said, Bhārata bhūmi te janma haila yāra, janma sārthaka kari kara para upakāra (Cc Adi 9.41) – those who have taken birth in the holy land of Bhārata, India, they should perfect their lives and perform welfare activities for the whole world. Sometimes Bhārata refers to the whole planet. In the time of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Bangladesh, Pakistan, all were one Bhārata. So, we need to distribute the mercy of Lord Caitanya, not considering caste creed or gender, to everyone.

This morning I was trying to see the different temples in Bangladesh, through YouTube. And I tried to see Cox Bazar. They had some 3-4-year-old videos. One more recent video but it showed a few devotees chanting, kīrtana. In the middle there was a temple of Chaṭṭagrāma, Chittagong. Bangladesh TV video broadcast it. One lady was showing the temple and talking to different devotees. So one devotee was saying how the marble was brought from Makrana, India. And Lilārāja Prabhu was saying that this is for everybody. They showed the devotees chanting, dancing. And then they showed Jagannātha Baladeva Subhadrā, and Māyāpur picture of the Pañca-tattva. We tried to go to Kheturī, but we did not spell it right. Then we went to Thakurgaon. We saw a video by Pāṇḍava prabhu and Śyāma-rasika dāsa. There we saw Lord Caitanya, Rādhā Kṛṣṇa deities, Śrīla Prabhupāda darśana. There were lacs of people. I think only Bangladesh has this kind of huge assembly of people! So then we figured out the spelling of Khetri gram. It is Kh. Then we saw the deities and devotees in Kheturi grāma.

Anyway, yesterday we went to Odisha and we also saw the Sydney temple which was decorated as Jagannātha Purī. I think devotees, they should use this YouTube to put up regularly some videos. They could show this to their congregation and this way they could have good connection within the congregation. Just as this śloka says to see Bhagavān or hear Bhagavān is the same. So if someone sees the videos and get darśana of the Lord hears the chanting of kīrtana, will they not be benefitted? I saw even Śaṅkarācārya in Purī, it is put Śaṅkarācārya Purī ISKCON! Because ISKCON has a name now, therefore even the Śaṅkarācārya feels that if I put ISKCON next to my name people will see, I will get views.

So this verse tells us whether we see or hear Bhagavān, it is all the same. We know that by giving out the books of Śrīla Prabhupāda will help people. During this lockdown period it is very difficult to travel. But we see that we can virtually visit places, use this virtual media to reach people. It is not very easy, especially nowadays, even originally, it is not easy to visit Australia, Bangladesh, Malaysia. But now we see this virtual internet makes us accessible all over the world. In the morning in this class many devotees from the East, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Bangladesh, are available. But it is very early in Europe or the UK, but some people in West America may be a little late, but they can watch. In the evening it is too late for the Australians – not many people watch. A few are there from Kashadesh etc. But Africa, Europe, America, south America they can be seen at night. So like this, although I am locked up, I am able to travel all over the world!

We see from this verse, there is no difference hearing Viṣṇu or seeing Viṣṇu. This way if we are speaking or giving a lecture, there is no difference.