20211009 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.11.34

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on October 9th, 2021 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur, India. The class begins with a reading from the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.11.34.

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!

Jayapatākā Swami: We remember how Bhūmī devī goes to Lord Brahmā and complained how there is unwanted military force, burdensome on the earth. Missing Lord Brahma went on the bank of the Kṣīra-sāgara, milk ocean and prayed to the Lord, as to what is to be done. So He was giving the reply, that Kṛṣṇa Balarāma would come. So He was giving the reply,that Kṛṣṇa Balarāma would come. And in Dvāpara-yuga, at the end, Kṛṣṇa Balarāma appeared. One of the tasks that the Lord had was to remove the unwanted, extra military burden on the earth. Now He is coming back to Dvārakā, after the Kurukṣetra battle, after He had spent time with the Pāṇḍavas. Duryodhana was very proud that he had a bigger army, he had Bhīṣmadeva, he had Droṇācārya. Kṛṣṇa personally went as a messenger to broker peace. He asked Duryodhana to give them five villages they can rule over. But Duryodhana said he would not give as much land which you could put a pin in. Duryodhana tried to arrest Kṛṣṇa, although He was protected by the messenger protocol. Kṛṣṇa showed a type of Viśvarūpa to Duryodhana. And He escaped from that place. So although Duryodhana, he had every opportunity to make peace. Because of his pride he wanted to have the war. So we have seen that in the world, in Greece, in Turkey, in America, there are many forest fires. How those start, no one knows. Here it says by the wind blowing two bamboos or two trees they rub each other and start the fire. So like that, Kṛṣṇa was not personally involved, but like the wind, He caused them to fight. In this way, the demoniac kings killed each other. And Kṛṣṇa was not personally fighting. Like that, the kings they could have surrendered to Kṛṣṇa, they could have accepted His śānti message. But instead they killed each other in the battle. This way, by getting the rare human form of life they misuse it.

Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu has appeared to make our human lives successful. So, Lord Caitanya, He changed the heart of people. He did not kill the demons but he killed their demoniac nature. So Lord Caitanya is a very special avatāra. And we have the great opportunity to be in His movement. And Śrīla Prabhupāda brought the message of Lord Caitanya all over the world. You see, even if people have some other idea about Him, if they chant Hare Kṛṣṇa they will get purified. Dhruva Mahārāja, he wanted a kingdom greater than his father or great grandfather, but once he got darśana of the Lord he did not want anything else. But then later he became a pure devotee. He went back to the spiritual world to Vaikuṇṭha, Viṣṇu-loka. What we call Dhruva-loka, it is actually a Viṣṇu planet or Vaikuṇṭha planet. And Dhruva Mahārāja got deliverance by doing many austerities. We are not able to do such difficult austerities as Dhruva Mahārāja. But if we follow Lord Caitanya, then we can achieve pure bhakti very easily. Maybe to get freed from this pandemic we may chant. But, then we can get purified by the mercy of Lord Caitanya. Śrīla Prabhupāda said if we fall in the Atlantic Ocean we will be tossed around by the waves. If we say we want the Atlantic Ocean to be very peaceful, that is the nature of the Atlantic Ocean, it is wavy. The solution is to go out of the ocean. If we think that we want peace on this planet, so that there is no problem while we are here, that is not possible.

The nature of the material world is that there will be problems. No matter how much scientists speculate and create options, we still have disease, death, old age and then rebirth. So, the real solution is to get out of this world. And that we can do if we surrender to Kṛṣṇa. Now to surrender to Kṛṣṇa it was difficult in other ages. By the mercy of Lord Caitanya in this Age of Kali the process of surrendering to the Lord has become very easy. He doesn’t think who is qualified, who is not qualified, He gives out His mercy to everyone. So, even the Māyāvādīs in Banaras, He made them Vaiṣṇavas. In Vṛndāvana, the brāhmaṇas, they said, “Actually, You are Kṛṣṇa!” to Lord Caitanya. He said, if even if you see Him once, a lady, a child, an old man, or even a dog eater, then can all become spiritual masters of the world. Just by seeing Lord Caitanya once. And it said in the next verse, just by hearing the name of Lord Caitanya, you can deliver the whole world. Such is the mercy of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu!

We see in the world today so many climatic problems. Fires, volcanoes, earthquakes, cyclones, hurricanes, pandemic pandemic and so this world is a very horrible place. But the scientists they are giving everybody a postdated cheque that we will solve all these problems. And we see even people who have the double vaccine, they get sick. They are being bitten by animals, there are different problems. Car accidents, plane accidents. So this material world will always have problems. We should take shelter of Kṛṣṇa and leave this world. The easiest way is by chanting the holy names.

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

We are trying so that everybody chants the holy names of the Lord. Śrīla Prabhupāda said that harer nāma means the names of the Lord. So if people don’t want to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, they can chant any name of God. They can chant Allah, Jehovah or Kṛṣṇa or Rāma. Kṛṣṇa is in Sanskrit. And Sanskrit is our mother language. All the languages they emanate from the Sanskrit language. Kṛṣṇa means the all-attractive reservoir of or source of all happiness. So, that means the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So, that is why, if one chants Kṛṣṇa’s name there is no problem. But if they want to chant some other name, as long as it is the name of God, it is alright. I had a nun in South America who was chanting the name of Jesus Christ. And then she thought why not I try chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. Then she found that it was like chanting of Jesus Christ, but better. Like that we are trying to get people to take shelter of the holy name. This was Lord Caitanya’s movement.

So, I thank all the devotees that are taking the shelter of Lord Caitanya. We hope that everyone will try to take the shelter of the holy names of the Lord in this way. This is the only way in Kali-yuga.

harer nāma harer nāma
harer nāmaiva kevalam
kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva
nāsty eva gatir anyathā

This is the only way, the only way, the only way, in Kali-yuga. So, there is no reason to argue, just chant. Śrīla Prabhupāda was giving an example of somebody who was saying, “Chant, chant, chant!” But that materialist he replied, “I can’t, I can’t, I can’t!” So, if he chanted even a little bit, his life would become successful.

There was a Kazi and a Vaiṣṇava was there. The devotee, Vaiṣṇava, said that you are very handsome, tall, beautiful and very intelligent I have one thing to ask. Alright, he said. The devotee said, forget everything, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa! He said I will chant Hare Kṛṣṇa tomorrow. The Vaiṣṇava said, you have already started, don’t stop now! Because he said, “I will chant Hare Kṛṣṇa tomorrow!” So the Vaiṣṇava said, “You have already chanted Hare Kṛṣṇa now, don’t stop.” So, somehow or another we should get people to chant. Otherwise, we see in the material world, there are so many problems. We will chant the holy names of the Lord and we will go back to the Lord.

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

Gaurāṅga! Jaya Śacīnandana Gaura Hari! 

So few questions and then we will go for temple darśana and house visits. 

Bengali: You said that those who have received the mercy of Lord Caitanya should be very careful and alert. How will we understand that we have been received the mercy of Lord Caitanya? 

Jayapatākā Swami: This question is like, if we have eaten lunch how will we understand if we have eaten lunch or not! By the mercy of Lord Caitanya you will know that you have it. If you have not yet understood, that means you are still a neophyte. If you keep on chanting, keep on practicing and it will be revealed to you. Lord Caitanya, He felt such ecstasy, He used to foam from His lotus mouth and He used to have profuse tears running down His eyes. The deer would lick the foam from his foam and the birds would drink the water from His tears. The deer and birds, they understood, why cannot you? 

Question: How can we navigate the dangers of this material world? Should we be only proactive in devotion and leave the rest to Gaurāṅga? 

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Caitanya advised, keep your heart always on Lord Kṛṣṇa. Materially do your activities very responsibly. I was mentioning that if somebody falls into the ocean and if he feels let the ocean become peaceful, that is not a possibility. The Atlantic Ocean will be the ocean. And this material world is a place of distress. Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam says Bhagavad-gītā. It is a place of suffering and it is temporary. So if you have less suffering you think it is very nice. If you have more suffering you think it is very bad. But the real solution is to leave this place and go back home back to Godhead. 

Subāhu Śacīsuta dāsa, Subhadrā Voice, Caṭṭagrāma: Due to the preaching effort of devotees many people are taking to Kṛṣṇa consciousness amongst them are many young children who are engaged in studies. They spend a lot of money studying and get financial help from their families and parents. Now these people, when they come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness if we allure them or enthuse them with financial help, do you think this would be a good proposal? What is your opinion in this matter? 

Jayapatākā Swami: Śrīla Prabhupāda, when he went to the West, if somebody started education, he encouraged them to leave. Because he needed helpers to spread the Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But if the people were already advanced in their education, he would tell them to go and finish. So by the colleges, universities we have established bases, kind of spiritual hostels where they can stay and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. We do that. I never heard about giving money for their studies. Now, we don’t encourage people to give up their studies but teach them how to keep their mind of Kṛṣṇa. And many of them become gṛhasthas and some of them become brahmacārīs. We teach them how to serve Kṛṣṇa in any situation. The question of giving money does not arise unless we have a lot of money. But anyway, what is the guarantee that they will be Kṛṣṇa conscious, if we give them money for their education? If we have work for them, we can give them money, like some of the businesses give scholarships but you have to work for the business. So this is something we can consider in the future.