20210417 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.8.9

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on April 17th, 2021 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur, India.

The class begins with a reading from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.8.1.

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

Jayapatākā Swami: So the Pāṇḍavas, they were completely depending on Kṛṣṇa all the time. And so Uttarā is the daughter in law of Arjuna. Her husband was killed by the seven mahā-rathīs who ganged up on him. Which was against the rules of the Kurukṣetra war. So Uttarā would have followed him, but she was carrying his baby. So she was duty bound to protect her embryo. This was the last descendant of the Kuru dynasty. Abhimanyu was merely a boy and all the mahā-rathīs got together and killed him. I wanted to say that Aśvattāmā had killed the five sons of Draupadī in their sleep. Abhimanyu was the son of Arjuna by Subhadrā devī. And so his embryo was in the womb of Uttarā. That was Parīkṣit Mahārāja. So Aśvattāmā had released a brahmāstra to kill Parīkṣit Mahārāja. So she was asking for Kṛṣṇa’s protection. So this is an example for us that all of us should be taking shelter of Śrī Kṛṣṇa for our protection. Uttarā devī in this way, surrendered unto Lord Kṛṣṇa.

This is a very wonderful example. How Uttarā was depending on Kṛṣṇa. In this way all the Pāṇḍavas depended on Lord Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa helps everyone. Those who are completely dependent on Him, He has special care for them. A small child is completely dependent on the care of his parents, so the parents take special care of the child. Uttarā knew what was Lord Kṛṣṇa’s position. Even in this emergency she offered prayer to Lord Kṛṣṇa. She addressed Him, Lord of Lords, Lord of the universe, greatest of all the mystics, pāhīmāṁ pāhīmāṁ please protect me. No one can protect us from death in this world of duality. So she was finally asking Him, “Even if I die, please protect my child.” So we can see that she was selfless. So we would like all our lady devotees to have this realization, Kṛṣṇa is the Absolute Truth. He is our Supreme Protector. There are so many instructions and the five Pāṇḍavas were His great devotees.

Sometimes we don’t care much about the ladies. But here we see the glory of Uttarā devī in this connection. Kuntī devī, Draupadī, they are all great Vaiṣṇavīs. We would like all our female devotees to also have these great qualities. It is not only the men. Men, ladies, both need to be pure devotees. And we see here how Uttarā she was also a very special devotee. In many instances we don’t hear much about the female devotees. But here we have a glimpse how great the Vaiṣṇavīs were. They could approach Kṛṣṇa, they could pray to Kṛṣṇa, they could ask something from Kṛṣṇa, they were very special.

So we want every devotee to develop and mature as devotees. Śrīla Prabhupāda mentions how in this world of duality, everyone is envious against everyone else. Presently there are elections going on in India and one party is envious of the other. One side they are saying, “dīdī dīdī” you are finished. Dīdī is also speaking against the others. This is the nature of the material world. Everyone is envious towards one another. In the spiritual world, there are no dualities. Whereas in this world our body and soul are different. So it is a duality. In the spiritual world everything is spiritual. There is nothing material at all. Here everyone wants to be the Lord. But in the spiritual world everyone accepts that the Lord is everything. So we can have the spiritual world here if we all accept Bhagavān as the Supreme. As long as we do not surrender unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead we do not get free from the clutches of death.

So, Kṛṣṇa consciousness is where we accept to serve Kṛṣṇa. And so we want to help everyone else. There is no enviousness in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But sometimes our material nature is carried with us, and we have some enviousness against others. Kṛṣṇa is in every one of our hearts. And He judges us individually. So there is no reason for us to envy others. There is one saying that the devotee is nirmatsarāṇāṁ, which means he is freed of envy.

So sometimes people, they inquire what do I do if someone wants to put me down? Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja was known as not have enemy. Therefore, if people had envy on him, he did not reciprocate. That is why he was dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa. We should also follow in those footsteps. If we see that someone is envious on us, we should try to make friends with that person. If that is not possible, we should be sorry for that person. Because that is part of the material duality. That is not part of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. If somebody maintains envy in his heart, that is a sign that he is not very advanced in devotional service. Bhakti-yoga is śuddha-sattva. Pure goodness. No envy. So this way, we have to depend on Lord Kṛṣṇa.

Śrīla Prabhupāda said that this material world is not a place for gentlemen and gentle women. Here people are envious against one another. I talked to some disciples who are managers in big companies. In the company there is marketing, there is production, there is quality control. So many managers. Over them is the general manager. Everyone wants to be the general manager. So one manager screws another manager to be promoted. But the company suffers! So this is the material world! Corporate life! This way, the material world is a disgusting place. So, somehow we are here. Śrīla Prabhupāda said make the best use of a bad bargain. In every situation, if we can achieve devotional service, then our life is successful. So like this, we should not waste our time. We should try to engage in Kṛṣṇa’s service. We should not imitate the people in the material world. In this way, we can achieve the ultimate success of human life.

So today is the sacred day of Rāmānujācārya’s appearance. And he came down about a thousand years ago. And he was one of the ācāryas that brought people back from the Māyāvādī Śaṅkarācārya to the Vaiṣṇava-dharma. Caitanya Mahāprabhu visited all the temples. Śiva, Durgā, Viṣṇu, He went to every temple. He understood that Śiva, Gaṇeśa, Kārttikeya, Durgā, they are all Vaiṣṇavas and Vaiṣṇavīs. Whichever temple He would go to He would chant the holy name of Hare Kṛṣṇa. So that way He was uniting all the people. Haribol! Haribol! He would bring everybody into the fold of Kṛṣṇa’s devotional service. Haribol!

So we should take advantage of the example of Uttarā to surrender to the lotus feet of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. How Lord Caitanya brought the Śaivites and Vaiṣṇavas together. Sometimes we are given a temple in Bangladesh which has a Śiva deity. We offer Śiva, Durgā, Kali, we offer them worship as Vaiṣṇavas. In Māyāpur the protector and the protectress of the dhāma is Śiva and Durgā. In the form of Vṛddha Śiva and Prauḍa Māyā. If you want into the esoteric dhāma of Navadvīpa, you have to have their mercy. If you want to enter Vṛndāvana, you have to have the mercy of Gopeśvara Śiva. Sometimes we see that Lord Śiva, He is chanting on the rudrākṣa beads the holy name of Lord Rāma. I think in the fourth canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam He instructed the Pracetās, the Kṛṣṇa mantra. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is written that vaiṣṇavānāṁ yatho śambhu – among all the Vaiṣṇavas Lord Śiva is the greatest. So Lord Caitanya He united everyone. So we want to engage everyone in chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra.

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare
Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare!