20210904 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.11.2

The following is a morning class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on September 4th, 2021 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur, India. The class begins with a reading from the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.11.2.

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: The white and fat-bowled conchshell, being gripped by the hand of Lord Kṛṣṇa and sounded by Him, appeared to be reddened by the touch of His transcendental lips. It seemed that a white swan was playing in the stems of red lotus flowers.

Jayapatākā Swami: So the devotees in Hastināpura, they were in great separation of Lord Krsna. But Krsna sounded His conch shell and inspired the devotees. You all become relieved, convinced that I am here. I remember sometimes when we were feeling great separation from Śrīla Prabhupāda. After that we would see the burgundy colored ambassador car used to come, and some devotees would burst fire crackers and we would know he has arrived. We sounded the siren on top of the Lotus building. We were so happy that Śrīla Prabhupāda was coming! So we are reading about the devotees of Dvārakā, they are on a much higher level and we can imagine how much separation they would have felt from the Lord. We were so happy that Śrīla Prabhupāda was coming, we got so much ānanda. That was incomparable bliss. How much the devotees in Dvārakā they loved, how much happy they would have been. Krsna coming was like bringing life back to a dead body. For us Śrīla Prabhupāda is a representative of Lord Krsna. So we had these realizations, or experiences. When Śrīla Prabhupāda used to enter through the Main Gate and he would approach the main temple, then all we devotees would be dancing blissfully and chanting uproariously and greet Śrīla Prabhupāda. Śrīla Prabhupāda would come out of his car and would smile at all the devotees. So these are some unforgettable moments! But we are kaniṣṭha, neophyte bhaktas, the Dvarakāvāsīs, the residents of Dvarakā, they are devotees in the stage of love of God. So how happy they must have felt is unimaginable. The other thing was that when Krsna touched and sounded the conch shell, the conch shell appeared red. By the touch of Krsna it became spiritualized.

Now we people of the material world, we are mostly busy with our sense gratification. But if Lord Krsna comes in contact with our lives, then our lives will be completely spiritualized. We were seeing how the Chennai congregation was observing Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Vyāsa-pūjā. in chennai They did this on the days between Balarāma Pūrṇimā and before Janmāṣṭamī. And so they had one skit by one of the bhakti-vrksa groups. There were two Yamadūtas complaining to Yamarāja. They were complaining, what do we do now? We are not getting any customers because of the massive preaching of AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada who is preaching on behalf of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. These devotees are all the time chanting the holy names of the Lord. And if they chant Krsna-nāma at the time of death, they go back home to Goloka. They have Deities in their home and they worship the Deities. How can we take them to hell? We are not able to do anything. Therefore, please give us some other job! Ha! Ha! We hope that such a situation occurs and everyone chants Hare Krsna and worships Deities in their homes.

And we saw that the Manu had three daughters and two sons. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says that by reading about the daughters of Manu and their off springs, one gets liberated from the material world. Devahūtī devī, she was the mother of Kapila muni, the avatāra of Krsna. In this way, he had three daughters called Ākūti, Devahūti and Prasūti. Such was the history, that they produced many wonderful devotees. Uttanapāda, he was the father of Dhruva mahārāja. Dhruva mahārāja’s mother also went back to Godhead. She had asked her son to go and search out for the Lord. In this way, Svāyambhuva Manu was a gṛhastha, but he had all connections with Krsna, whatever he did everything was connected to Krsna. Lord Caitanya also instructed His devotees in the same way, whether you are in the house or forest please keep chanting the sacred names of the Lord. This way, by coming in contact with Krsna consciousness our lives become completely full of happiness and also our lives become spiritualized. So, this is a very, very easy method. We have to think how to mold our life so that it is around Krsna. Śrīla Prabhupāda, we pray to him every day, gaura vāṇī pracāriṇe. So we can help Śrīla Prabhupāda to preach the message of Lord Caitanya. So in that way, if we are fully dedicated to Krsna consciousness, then there will be no problem. People are forgetful of Krsna and they think they are the body. They think that the land they are born in is worshipable. The by-products of the body are theirs. – girls, boys. And all things connected to their bodies is very dear to them. They go to the holy place and just like to take some bath and they don’t like go to the holy people to hear about the holy place. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says they are like asses or cows. They have no spiritual vision. This way, they take birth again and again in the material world. Some write at the back of their car - born again and again and again! Because the Christians like to say, born again. When they accept Jesus Christ, they think they are born again. This born again and again and again, this promotes that we are actually eternal ātmās, born many times.

Now we are seeing in the world so many hurricanes, floods, droughts and so many different things. Then there is the pandemic and hundreds and thousands of people are dying due to the corona virus. So Śrīla Prabhupāda, Caitanya Mahaprabhu, they advented, they came, to give some solution to the problems to the masses. Please take shelter of Krsna, then all problems will be dissolved. Just as the lips of the Lord touched the conch shell, it became red. So if we think how we can help people to be Krsna conscious - it is said like to make one devotee, Śrīla Prabhupāda said it takes buckets of blood. So like this all the devotees can be engaged in devotional service, by following Lord Caitanya’s example, His order, we can be Krsna conscious. We may think of some bhakta or bhaktin and want to encourage that person to be Krsna conscious. By befriending them, by encouraging them to practice Krsna consciousness. Once they are a devotee, they should also be encouraged to continue to practice Krsna consciousness. In this way, one can engage in Krsna’s service. At the same time, caring for people, helping people, and we want that people will not have to take birth again and again in this material world. So, to take the human consciousness up to the highest level, Krsna consciousness is the highest form of welfare work. Any other help has a limit. But this way, to gift one devotional service to Krsna, and to stop one’s repetition birth and death is the highest form of service.

Kṛṣṇa desires that if somebody surrenders unto Him completely, then He will bestow mercy on him. But Lord Krsna Caitanya is much, much more merciful than Krsna. His mercy, Śrīla Prabhupāda would say is limitless. Even the tribals from Africa, they had some very. Very degraded habits. Śrīla Prabhupāda asked them to chant the Pañca-tattva mantra. The Pañca-tattva mantra is so merciful that whatever sinners were there, they all got delivered by the power of the congregational chanting of the holy name. Lord Caitanya He did not consider who is qualified who is not qualified. He just gave mercy to everyone. So we know that Lord Caitanya’s movement will be around in this world for ten thousand years. So if we take birth in heavenly planets and have material enjoyment, our life span may be a lot longer than ten thousand years. All the pure devotees they pray that in this birth if I am not qualified to go back to the spiritual world now, let me be born in the family of Vaiṣṇavas.

So, I was listening to the lecture Śrīla Prabhupāda gave in Calcutta on his arrival in 1975. He got a round the world ticket, He went from Bombay to Hong Kong. From Hong Kong somehow he stopped in Honolulu. Then he went to Mexico City. And then from there he went to Caracas. He wanted to go to Trinidad but he did not have time. And he said that some of the Trinidadians who were mostly Indians and they came to see him. And then from there he went via Miami to Atlanta. Śrīla Prabhupāda, his arrival in Atlanta from Latin America was something that I have heard many times. I was the GBC for Atlanta for 22 years. So then how Śrīla Prabhupāda went, he talked to Swarupa Dāmodara Mahārāja, how he chanted before the deities, Locanadāsa Ṭhākura’s bhajana. He sang parama karuṇā pahu dui jana nitāi gaura candra. So the deity of Gaura-Nitāi was there in the central place. He said that Atlanta should have the spiritual name, New Pāṇihāṭi Dhāma. In America, New York, New Hampshire, etc. there are so many new names. Now Śrīla Prabhupāda has given them different spiritual names. New Vrndavana, New Pāṇihāṭi, New Dvārakā. So like this Śrīla Prabhupāda was training everyone to be Krsna conscious. Just like if we add Krsna to our lives, everything becomes spiritualized. We want everyone to spiritualize their lives and end the cycle of birth and death.