20210814 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.10.21

The following is a morning class given by His Holiness Jayapataka Swami Maharaja on August 14th, 2021 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur, India.

The class begins with a reading from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.10.21.

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

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya!
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya!
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya!

Translation: They said: Here He is, the original Personality of Godhead as we definitely remember Him. He alone existed before the manifested creation of the modes of nature, and in Him only, because He is the Supreme Lord, all living beings merge, as if sleeping at night, their energy suspended.

Jayapatākā Swami: So in His form as Mahā-Viṣṇu this is what happens. When everything is destroyed and all the living entities go into the Mahā-Viṣṇu. Except those who are liberated, and go back to the spiritual world. Otherwise, they remain in the body of the Mahā-Viṣṇu until He recreates the material world. Brahma, Śiva, the devas, nobody exists. Only Mahā-Viṣṇu remains. When He creates different universes and He enters into each one as the Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. And from His navel sprouts a lotus flower. From that lotus, Brahma is born. And the Kṣīrodakaśāyī He comes as the Supersoul in every heart. So we should know these three Puruṣas. Mahā-Viṣṇu, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu and Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. So who is saying these prayers? Different Vaiṣṇavī ladies. So these ladies they practically fainted thinking that Kṛṣṇa is going to leave. And all the devotees from Hastināpura who had come out, they were all crying thinking that Kṛṣṇa is going to leave. But they were thinking that it is a sign of inauspiciousness to cry when somebody is going on a journey, so they were trying to control their grief. Kṛṣṇa was acting as an ordinary human being. Then He bowed down to Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja. As an elder cousin brother, Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja embraced Lord Kṛṣṇa. We remember that previously, Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja requested Kṛṣṇa to stay for a few days more. So then Kṛṣṇa did that. Now He would be leaving. How much the Pāṇḍavas loved Kṛṣṇa! They sat with Him, they touched Him, they talked with Him, they took prasāda together. Their life, their soul and treasure was Kṛṣṇa. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, he sang the song, kṛṣṇa-mātā, kṛṣṇa-pita, kṛṣṇa-dhana-prāṇa. Kṛṣṇa is the father, Kṛṣṇa is the mother, Kṛṣṇa is the only wealth. So this is how the Hastināpura nivāsīs were thinking.

And Nārada Muni, he was searching for the greatest devotee of Kṛṣṇa. So this way, in his search he went to different places and arrived at Prahlāda Mahārāja’s place. But Prahlāda Mahārāja said, you please go to the Pāṇḍavas. They are the greatest devotees. So then he went to see the Pāṇḍavas. They were having a meeting. A private meeting with all the brothers, Draupadī and wives, war meeting. But what was the subject of discussion? How can we bring Kṛṣṇa back! Someone said in order to save ourselves from our enemies. Another said that will not work, because already Kṛṣṇa defeated all the enemies. Like this they were discussing different ways, how, how to bring Kṛṣṇa back. And Nārada Muni came and said you are the greatest devotees. Then Arjuna stood up and humbly said that ok we are devotees, but we are not the greatest devotees. The greatest devotees are the Vṛṣṇis. You go to Dvārakā and you will see that how dear they are to Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa left us and He has gone to Dvārakā. So like this, the Pāṇḍavas were totally Kṛṣṇa conscious.

We read this morning Śrīla Prabhupāda’s quote, that a material couple, husband and wife, they died at the same time. In the third canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Kapila Muni is teaching His mother Devahūti, that for the wife, husband is a gate to hell. Because she is attached, often getting sarees, ornaments and giving children, but for the husband the wife may be the gate to hell. Strī-vidhī, duty, their way of talking may make the husband very attached. So if he thinks of his wife when he is dying he becomes a woman in his next life. And the wife if she thinks of her husband while she is dying, then she becomes a man. But Śrīla Prabhupāda said in the purport that regarding Kṛṣṇa conscious couples, he was a bit relaxed on this principle. Because both of them are more attached to Kṛṣṇa, they go back to Kṛṣṇa. So we see in so many houses on the Zoom visit, how they have the Deities, how they worship Kṛṣṇa in their homes. Many are attached to Śrīla Prabhupāda and the spiritual master. So they are not ordinary people. The Pāṇḍavas, they were all gṛhasthas, but their wife, husband they were all very attached to Kṛṣṇa. Then we should preach that those who are ordinary couples if they don’t become devotees of Kṛṣṇa, then it is very dangerous. Then they have to take birth again. We want everyone to become a devotee and thus be freed from this repetition of birth and death. Those who are brahmacārīs, they can fully be absorbed in Kṛṣṇa bhakti. But if they want to change their āśrama then we can see how important it is to marry a devotee. Then they may have other priorities but a devotee is required. Anyway if one can maintain as a brahmacārī, that is mahā-vratā, bṛhat-vratā.

So anyway, how these ladies in Hastināpura, they knew the position of the Supreme Lord. And this way, all these general knowledge about the Lord, they all had. Although Kṛṣṇa was acting like an ordinary human being, they knew His actual position.

And we are so fortunate that we can become the devotes of Lord Caitanya. Those who are devotees of Lord Caitanya, they are devotees of Lord Kṛṣṇa. If one hears the pastimes of Lord Caitanya they are within the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa. If one is a devotee of Lord Caitanya, He is simultaneously in both līlās – Gaura, Caitanya-līlā and Kṛṣṇa-līlā. So we should understand the basic facts mentioned here in the Bhāgavatam. We are eternal, living entities. And when this material universe is destroyed, we are not destroyed. We go into the body of Mahā-Viṣṇu but we remain ourselves. Just like when we wake up from sleep, we remember what we are supposed to do. In a similar way, when we are created by Mahā-Viṣṇu, we again begin our activities from where we left. We are not created again, we always exist. The universe is created, destroyed, maintained. But we always exist. We are part of Kṛṣṇa. An infinitesimal part.

We are reading every night the pastimes of Lord Caitanya. When He went to Rāmakeli, which is near Malda, He had manifested different ecstatic symptoms. So the Hussain Shah Bādasāha, he asked his constable what symptoms He had. When Lord Caitanya was crying it seemed as if Gaṅgā was gushing out of His eyes. And sometimes He would laugh very loudly. And that laughter would last for six hours. One prahara is 3 hours. So the Hussain Shah his eyes opened wide. He said, He must be Allah! No human being can have these qualities. So Lord Caitanya was showing such fantastic qualities. The Hussain Shah asked, “What do you think? Who is this Caitanya Mahaprabhu?”

They asked him, “Mahārāja, you are the king. the ruler of the whole kingdom, you are the representative of the Lord, you should answer us who is this person.”

He said, “Why does everyone obey my order?”

"You are the king, you are the ruler.”

“No, this is not the reason. Because I am giving salary, paying everyone, that is why they are working. If I stop giving money for six months, then there will be a revolution against me. Within my kingdom my orders are executed. But this Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, wherever He goes in the universe, His order is followed. Everywhere. Caitanya Mahāprabhu His order is followed. Everywhere. He doesn’t pay anybody any money! But all the people follow Him. So He must be non-different from Khuda.”

So like this, Lord Caitanya’s pastimes were so ecstatic. From Śāntipura He went to Vidyānagara. From Vidyānagara He went to Kuliya. In Kuliya, the people when they heard that He was in Kuliya, which is where the present city of Navadvīpa is, different kīrtana groups came and chanted before Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityānanda. As a result, Nitāi-Gaura joined each kīrtana group that came and chanted and danced with them. Lord Caitanya, He was crying in ecstasy, tears shot from His eyes like syringes. One kīrtana group, then another kīrtana group, then another kīrtana group, they came. In every group, Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityānanda danced.

One Godbrother told me that in 1969, he was driving Śrīla Prabhupāda after the Ratha-yātrā in San Francisco. And Śrīla Prabhupāda then he told the devotee, “Did you see? Did you see how wonderfully Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityānanda were dancing with the devotees?!” Of course, he did not see. He just said, “Jaya Prabhupāda! Jaya!” Now when you do kīrtana in the modern day, if you feel some extra ecstasy, it may be that Nitāi-Gaura are in your kīrtana! In the Bhāgavatam, there is a pastime when Lord Rāma was the emperor of the world, then at that time nobody had any problems and no one had old age or disease or any other problems. Even people if they did not desire to leave their body, death would not take place during the emperorship of Lord Rāma. Śrīla Prabhupāda has commented that we can have this even in Kali-yuga, if everyone chants the holy name offenselessly. The Lord and His names are non-different. Through the Harināma, chanting of the holy name, we can bring the presence of the holy names. Haribol! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Nityānanda! Haribol! Haribol! Haribol!