20210918 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam on Vāmana Dvādaśī

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
hariḥ oṁ tat sat

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

Jayapatākā Swami: So today is the very special day of the Vamana dvadasi. We fasted yesterday on the Vamana Ekadasi. Today on dvadasi, one should not fasṭ. Today is the appearance day of Vamanadeva and it is Srila Jiva Gosvami’s appearance day as well. Also, yesterday we had the Vyasa puja of His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami. So today, is the appearance day of Vamanadeva and it is a very, very special day for worshiping. Bali maharaja had conquered the whole universe legitimately. If a king conquers another king, that is considered legitimate. So in that same way, Bali maharaja, he performed the Bisvajita yajña and he performed the Asvamedha yajña and then he set out to conquer the whole universe. So, there were only two ways to get the property back from him – either defeat him in the war, or beg from him. So, Aditi, mother of Indra, she was very upset that Indra was taken out from his position. So then, Kasyapa muni, her husband was in meditation. When he came out of his meditation he preached to Aditi when he saw that she was morose. But Aditi was not pleased to hear the words of her husband. Mother Aditi she wanted that Indra get his position back, that was her desire. Then Kasyapa muni had instructed her that she should worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So she did the payavrta and tried to satisfy Lord Visnu. So as a result she had the Lord as her son. She did not get to enjoy the childhood pastimes as was the case in the childhood pastimes of Lord Krsna. Vamanadeva, He first appeared as a four handed Visnu avatara. Carrying the conch shell, lotus, gada and the cakra. Sao, then the Lord took the form of a dwarf brahmana. So, the Supreme Lord said that Bali and the other demons were unconquerable almost, because they got special favor from the brahmanas. So, Lord Visnu said since you have worshiped me with the payavrata and you want the welfare of your son Indra, I will also become your son and help you. This way, Vamanadeva appeared as her son. The Lord entered the womb of mother Aditi. So after appearing from the womb of mother Aditi, He took the four armed form with conch shell, club, lotus and cakra. On His chest He had the Srivatsa mark. And His ear rings resembling sharks were very beautiful. With bangles on His hands and armlets on His arms. Helmet on His head. And there was a brahmana thread on His chest. And on His feet were ankle bells. And He had beautiful garland on His neck. And there the bees were buzzing around collecting honey from the garland. And He was wearing the Kaustuba gem around His neck. He had effulgence which lit up the whole house of Kasyapa muni. By His appearing the whole universe, everyone became very happy. The devas, the cows, the brahmanas, everybody became very joyful. There is another name for the appearance day of Vamanadeva and that is Vijaya. So Krsna is sat cit ananda. He is fully transcendental. And as the Brahma Samhita explains, anandi ananta rupam. He is having unlimited forms, He is original. Like the main actor, He can assume any form. So, He took the form of a dwarf brahmana. And all the sages were very happy to see Him appearing as a young brahmacari. Some immediately gave Him the brahminical initiation of upanayanam. Some gave Him an umbrella; some gave Him a brahmacari danda. Some offered Him a kamandalu, water pot. Some offered Him an umbrella. So like that He had all the paraphernalia of a brahmana.

 In the Caitanya-bhagavata it is explained that when Lord Caitanya had the sacred upanayanam ceremony, at that time Lord Caitanya looked just like His Vamana incarnation. He went begging from door to door. So this is a very beautiful form of the Lord. So then He went to Bali maharaja and asked him to give Him three steps of land. Bali maharaja was saying, I can give you an entire planet, why are You asking for so little? But Vamanadeva said, I don’t need much, if I am not satisfied with three steps, I will not be satisfied with a planet. So, Bali maharaja said, ok, I will give You what You want. But Sukracarya, his guru, told him no, no, don’t give Him! He is actually Visnu, He will take everything! Bali said, I have already given Him my word. So, Sukracarya said that in different times and different ways one can lie. One thing I remember during marriages, if you say something little extra, there is no fault in that. Like that, Sukracarya said you can just say it was a lie. But Bali, he disobeyed his guru. And Sukracarya cursed him, you will lose everything. Then Vamanadeva, He wanted to pour some water from His kamandalu into the hand of Bali maharaja. But Sukracarya, he took the form of a fly and entered the kamandalu spout and blocked the water. But then Vamanadeva, He held up the pot and saw there was a fly blocking it. He took a straw and poked the fly, that way one of the eyes of Sukracarya became blind by the straw of Vamanadeva. So, Vamanadeva said He only wanted three steps of land by the measurement of His steps. You are not very intelligent, Bali maharaja said, I can give You everything, I can give You a whole planet, I can give You money, wives, You only want three steps of land! So He poured the water from His kamandalu, three drops in the hand of Bali and thus the deal was fixed. And then, Vamanadeva, He started to expand Himself, one step He covered the whole earth. With the second step, He covered the whole universe. And He reached the edge of the universe and broke the shell of the universe, the Ganges water entered through it. Then Lord Siva caught the Ganges on His head. And the Ganges poured in from the heavenly planets. Later, Bhagi maharaja asked the Ganges to come down to this planet. In Mayapur we have the Bhagirati. And went down to the Ganga Sagara, to the asrama of Kapila muni. So, Deity of Vamanadeva is very important because with that, the Ganges entered our planet. Then Vamanadeva asked Bali maharaja, where should I put My third step? Then Bali maharaja said, put it on my head. Then, He got the lotus foot of Vamanadeva on his head. Then he was tied up like a thief. Then he was granted the planet of Sutala loka. But Vamanadeva, He agreed to be his doorman. And, He would protect him from all attackers. And He said, he would be the legitimate Indra after three Manus. So this is a very interesting pastime. And we can see that by surrendering to the Lord we don’t lose. So in two steps, He had taken everything from Bali maharaja and the third step, He said where should I put it? He had taken all his possessions in two steps. So Bali maharaja wanted to satisfy the Lord in any way possible, and therefore he said, You please place Your third steo on my head. Then Bali maharaja could not actually see the Lord expanding because the Lord’s foot was on his head. Then in Kanchipuram temple I have seen. Bali maharaja I cannot see Your form, please show me that form of Yours. That is called Sri Ulagai Alarntha Perumal in Kanchipuram, South India. Anyway, there is a huge Deity there about 35 feet wide. He expanded one foot this way. Like this he could see the Deity expanding into three steps. I went to that temple, it is very beautiful. I don’t think there is any temple like that – 35 feet Deity! Anyway, today was the pastime of Lord Vamanadeva. Trying to explain this, our entire time has passed.

And I also wanted to talk about Srila Jiva Gosvami. He was the nephew of Rupa and Sanatana. And his father Anupama passed way when he was always thinking of Lord Caitanya. But Srila Jiva Gosvami he desired that all the time to follow Lord Caitanya and to join with Srila Rupa and Sanatana Gosvami in Vrndavana. So he got an order from Lord Caitanya by a dream that in Kasi, Banaras, he should learn Sanskrit from a disciple of Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya. So he became a great scholar in Sanskrit. And he studied all the Vedas, the pramanas of the Vaisnava tattva. Śrīla Prabhupāda had said that in his Sata Sandarba he had given all the philosophy, the topmost philosophy in the world. Anyway, he went to Vrndavana and he was told by Sanatana Gosvami to take diksa from Rupa Gosvami. One Digvijaya pandita came to Vrndavana and told Rupa Gosvami that I want to debate with you. Rupa Gosvami said, oh! you are a great pandita, there is no use wasting your time. He said that then sign my book that you have been defeated by me. So they signed. Srila Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura said that jader pratista, sukerer bhishta – material fame is likened to the stool of the hogs. But this pandita, he was exclaiming, I have defeated Rupa and Sanatana, in front of me there are just nothing! Hearing this, Srila Jiva Gosvami became angry. Then he challenged that pandita. Then for seven days he debated with the pandita and it was decided that Srila Jiva Gosvami became victorious. He did not do that for his own prestige and fame, he just did it to keep the respect and honor of his spiritual master. But Rupa Gosvami became displeased with his behavior. He said, you have wasted seven days, you are not fit to reside in Vrndavana. So Jiva Gosvami was very sad that his guru was dissatisfied. And he was living in some crocodile hole. And he would eat every two or three days. Somehow Sanatana Gosvami came to that village and heard that there was a saint there. Then he went to the hole and saw Jiva Gosvami and that time Jiva Gosvami was so weak to leave the hole, so Sanatana Gosvami took him out and carried him back to Vrndavana. Sanatana Gosvami told Rupa Gosvami that there is one thing you have not understood in Lord Caitanya’s philosophy. That is jiver daya – mercy on all living entities. Jiva is a kind of duplicate – he said jiva daya, jiva means all living entities and also means Jiva Gosvami. Anyway, Rupa Gosvami embraced Jiva Gosvami. Jahnava devi later wrote to Jiva Gosvami that we need all these books that the Gosvamis wrote, so Jiva Gosvami sent the books back to Bengal to be copied. At that time, Srila Gosvami was the siksa guru of Narottama dasa Thakura, Srinivasa Acarya and Syamananda Pandita. Anyway, there are so many histories. After Rupa and Sanatana Gosvamis, Srila Jiva Gosvami was the crest jewel of all the Vaisnavas. So he wrote all the philosophy in his Six Sandarbas.

Anyway, today is Srila Jiva’s appearance also and yesterday was Bhakti Charu Swami’s appearance or Vyasa puja. He translated Śrīla Prabhupāda’s English books into Bengali. So Bhakti Charu Swami, he was dedicated to following the order of Śrīla Prabhupāda. Anyway, today is a very special day. We should understand how the Lord He has unlimited forms, He can appear in any way He wants. And despite all that, He is the same Supreme Personality of Godhead. I will take a few questions and then we will have to end here. Please put in the chat, one Bengali and one English question.

Bengali: Sukamal Nityananda dasa, Habibganj: Bali maharaja had donated three steps of land and the Lord covered with two steps the entire universe and then Bali maharaja in order to give everything to the Lord, even his own self, he offered his head for the third step of the Lord. So over here we see that Bali maharaja is a very charitable person, he has given everything in donation to the Lord. But at the same time he has also surrendered everything. So which of Bali maharaja’s aspects is more glorified – his aspect of full surrender to the Lord? Or his aspect of being a great charitable person.

Jayapataka Swami: His aspect of being a devotee of the Lord. This other pastime occurred in some other yuga. But then the half-brother of Indra was Bhaskara Pandita. Bhaskara maharaja. So there Vamanadeva also conquered Bhaskara and begged him for three steps of land. But He took all the universe in three steps. So He said to Bhaskara maharaja, you are very charitable, you can ask any boon from Me. In this lila maybe Bhaskara maharaja was glorified for his charity. Bhaskara asked, where You come from, I want to go to that place! I WANT TO GO THERE! I want to go to Vaikuntha! So he got the mercy of the Lord. So, this may have been in a different life of Brahma, I don’t know. Last question in English.

Sudhamayi Citra devi dasi: Why did not Bali maharaja not go back to Godhead but still come back as Indra, after getting so much mercy?

Jayapataka Swami: He got the association of Krsna. So it was his desire to have the position of Indra. So he would become an Indra, three Manus later. And at the end of his life, certainly he will go back home back to Godhead.

Alright, thank you all very much, let us see the Mayapur devotees and they can take their breakfast. Then visit the temples and Far East devotees.