20211023 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.12.8-9

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on October 23rd, 2021 in Sri Dhama Mayapur, India. The class begins with a reading from the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.12.8-9.

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!

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.12.9 

śrīmad-dīrgha-catur-bāhuṁ
tapta-kāñcana-kuṇḍalam
kṣatajākṣaṁ gadā-pāṇim
ātmanaḥ sarvato diśam
paribhramantam ulkābhāṁ
bhrāmayantaṁ gadāṁ muhuḥ 

Translation: The Lord was enriched with four hands, earrings of molten gold and eyes blood red with fury. As He loitered about, His club constantly encircled Him like a shooting star. 

Purport by Śrīla Prabhupāda: It is said in the Brahma-saṁhitā (ch. 5) that the Supreme Lord Govinda, by His one plenary portion, enters into the halo of the universe and distributes Himself as Paramātmā, or the Supersoul, not only within the heart of every living being, but also within every atom of the material elements. Thus the Lord is all-pervading by His inconceivable potency, and thus He entered the womb of Uttarā to save His beloved devotee Mahārāja Parīkṣit. In the Bhagavad-gītā (9.31) the Lord assured everyone that His devotees are never to be vanquished. No one can kill a devotee of the Lord because he is protected by the Lord, and no one can save a person whom the Lord desires to kill. The Lord is all-powerful, and therefore He can both save and kill as He likes. He became visible to His devotee Mahārāja Parīkṣit even in that awkward position (in the womb of his mother) in a shape just suitable for his vision. The Lord can become bigger than thousands of universes and can become smaller than an atom at the same time. Merciful as He is, He becomes just suitable to the vision of the limited living being. He is unlimited. He is not limited by any measurement of our calculation. He can become bigger than what we can think of, and He can become smaller than what we can conceive. But in all circumstances He is the same all-powerful Lord. There is no difference between the thumb like Viṣṇu in the womb of Uttarā and the full-fledged Nārāyaṇa in the Vaikuṇṭha-dhāma, the kingdom of Godhead. He accepts the form of arcā-vigraha (worshipable Deity) just to accept service from His different incapable devotees. By the mercy of the arcā-vigraha, the form of the Lord in material elements, the devotees who are in the material world can easily approach the Lord, although He is not conceivable by the material senses. The arcā-vigraha is therefore an all-spiritual form of the Lord to be perceived by the material devotees; such an arcā-vigraha of the Lord is never to be considered material. There is no difference between matter and spirit for the Lord, although there is a gulf of difference between the two in the case of the conditioned living being. For the Lord there is nothing but spiritual existence, and similarly there is nothing except spiritual existence for the pure devotee of the Lord in his intimate relation with the Lord. 

Jayapatākā Swami: Normally, the brahmāstra weapon is insurmountable. But Kṛṣṇa is unlimited. So He appeared in the womb of Uttara in a small thumb size and with His gadā He protected the child embryo of Parīkṣit Mahārāja. And He was visible to Parīkṣit Mahārāja. And Parīkṣit Mahārāja, in order to see Lord Viṣṇu again he would examine everybody throughout his whole life. That is why he got the name Parīkṣit Mahārāja. So here, we learn something about the tattva of Lord Kṛṣṇa. He simultaneously can be in every atom, if He wants, He can be bigger than we can even imagine. In whatever situation and state He may be, He is the same Supreme Personality of Godhead who is unlimitedly powerful. And in Kali-yuga there are so many so called pseudo avatāras who express themselves as avatāras of God. But actually they cannot show the symbols or signs of God.

When Lord Caitanya was hearing about the Viṣṇu-sahasranāma and they came up to Varāhadeva, then He manifested four hoofs. And He was running around like a boar. If someone says or declares he is God, we will ask them please show your hoofs. Lord Caitanya, He manifested different līlās. When He heard the name of Narasiṁhadeva, He ran out in the street with a stick. Then He said, “Where are the demons? Where are the demons? I will kill them!” Our Narasiṁhadeva in Māyāpur is in this mood. Where the demons want to molest My dear devotee Prahlāda. Like this, Lord Caitanya He manifested different pastimes. When one devotee of Lord Śiva was glorifying Lord Śiva, and Lord Caitanya then He took that devotee on His shoulder and started to dance. Lord Caitanya, He would exhibit different avatāras’ symptoms. He was performing a drama in the house of Māmu Ṭhākura, and He exhibited the role of Lord Balarāma, and everybody could smell the Vāruṇī beverage in the air. Then Lord Caitanya manifested the form of Lord Balarāma. So in that drama Lord Caitanya took the role of Lakṣmī or Rādhā, someone. And even His mother, Śacī could not recognize Him. So, He manifested that pastime as His śakti.

Therefore, so the same Personality of Godhead had protected Parīkṣit Mahārāja within the womb of Uttarā in the family of Arjuna is nothing surprising. He can do anything. That is why we particularly pray to His lotus feet that He may protect the devotees in Bangladesh.

Last night we saw the devotees in Chaumahani, Bangladesh. And it was very moving. Two devotees who lost their lives, the mother and father were there. And one was a congregational member, he was visiting the temple, he was protecting Śrīla Prabhupāda’s mūrti and he got killed and we saw the widow and the child. So, we will try to provide something for all these people and all the devotees should pray that they reach the spiritual world. All religions teach love. But these extremists teach hate. Actually they are the enemies of religion. Anyway, this Kali-yuga is a very dangerous place. And we hope that all the devotees may be taking full shelter of Kṛṣṇa. We saw the Deities in Chaumahani – Rādhā Kṛṣṇa and Jagannāthadeva, Nitāi-Gaura. And because They were locked so They were protected. And the devotees said that at that time, the Deities were asleep and the devotees were taking prasāda. So then this mob entered and started to meet them. So we pray that these people may be brought to justice. That the temple may remain protected by the police. And the people who have lost their things become compensated.

So, we see here that even in Dvāpara-yuga that Parīkṣit Mahārāja was attacked by Aśvatthāmā’s brahmāstra. But Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa protected him. We cannot know, what is the plan of Kṛṣṇa. He said that My devotees will not perish – na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati. We hope that those devotees who got killed may be able to achieve the abode of the Lord and those who were harmed will be compensated.

So in this pastime we understand that Lord Kṛṣṇa is all powerful. And so with that faith we do our devotional service. And so, Śrīla Prabhupāda explained that this was a great science. Śrīla Prabhupāda said that in the scripture it is said,

brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva
guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja
(Cc Madhya 19.151)

While wandering in the universes some fortunate souls by the mercy of Lord Kṛṣṇa gets the mercy of the seed of the creeper of devotional service. And they have to be gardeners and being a gardener, one should plant that seed in the heart and through hearing and chanting, And they have to be gardeners and being a gardener, one should plant that seed in the heart and through hearing and chanting, one should water the creeper of that plant. We get the seed from the spiritual master. While wandering in the many universes when the living entity gets a desire to approach the Lord, at that time the Lord sends the spiritual master to such a soul. While wandering in the many universes when the living entity gets a desire to approach the Lord, at that time the Lord sends the spiritual mast to such a soul. So it is very rare to get a bona fide spiritual master. And in this human form of life, we are usually very interested getting some material fruitive results. Getting some material benefits for one’s sense gratification, the conditioned souls do not understand the science of the mercy of the Lord. I said satisfying the Lord’s senses. It is not understood by even the great scholars. They want their own sense gratification. But the idea of satisfying the senses of the Lord never comes to their mind. This is the whole purpose of the devotees. They want that the Lord will become satisfied.

sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ
tat-paratvena nirmalam
hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-
sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate

This is what bhakti means, that with our senses we serve Hṛṣīkeśa, the Master of the senses. Hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate - with our senses we serve the Master of our senses, Hṛṣikeśa, this is the meaning of bhakti. In the spiritual world there is variety. But there is unity, everybody wants to serve the Lord. In the material world, there is variety but no unity. Everyone wants to serve their senses, either directly or expanded. Like someone may want to benefit his family, his society or his nation. But actually, if everyone serves the Lord, then we have unity in diversity. Just like in a family if the husband and wife unite to serve Kṛṣṇa, then there is unity in diversity. Otherwise, may be the wife has one desire, the husband as another desire. Like that, there is some dissension in Kali-yuga.

So, we want to create universal unity by serving Lord Kṛṣṇa. With our material senses we can never see the Lord. But for our benefit, for our welfare the Lord appears within the arcā-vigraha or Deity form. This month of Kārtika, we see the devotees are offering lamp to the Deities. By offering that lamp they are getting advanced benefit. So, even if we offer a lamp, it may seem like a small service to Kṛṣṇa, He accepts that very greatly. And if we offer a tulasī twig, then it increases. So like this, we should take the Lord’s mercy and thus make our lives successful. Śrīla Prabhupāda used to say that if we go towards Kṛṣṇa one step, the Lord will come forward towards us, ten steps. So, Kṛṣṇa wants that we go back home back to Him from our conditional state. We were serving masters in the material world who really do not care about us. But Kṛṣṇa, He cares about all the conditioned souls. In the 18th chapter of Bhagavad-gītā He said that a devotee who explains the science of Bhagavad-gītā he is most dear to Me. So, we want to help people to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. And this is normally very difficult to achieve. But by the mercy of Lord Caitanya, it is very easy. Caitanyadeva did not consider who was qualified who was not qualified, He gave the mercy to everyone.

Śrīla Prabhupāda, he crossed the Atlantic Ocean and reached America, he said, if you fall in the ocean and you pray that the ocean becomes peaceful and there are no waves, that is not possible. The ocean has its own nature. Like that this material world has its nature. Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam – temporary place of suffering. So, if we think that this material world should be nice, this material world is a place of disease, old age, death. And then after we die, we take rebirth again and we go through the whole sequence. Śrīla Prabhupāda was saying that if you fall in the Atlantic Ocean, the best thing is you get taken out of the ocean. If anyone falls into this material world, the best for him to try is that he should try to go back home to Godhead, back to the Lord. The material world will become a nice place, give up this hope. Go back to Lord Kṛṣṇa. And the goṣṭhyānandīs, that I will not go alone back to the Lord, I will take as many as possible with me to the Lord.

So Prahlāda Mahārāja, he was a goṣṭhyānandī. He preached to the children of the demons. He asked them to chant the holy names. So the teachers were complaining that somebody is teaching the children about chanting the holy name of the Lord. So Hiraṇyakaśipu told his soldiers to keep a protective barrier around the school, shoot at sight, any Vaiṣṇava visible. Then, they figured out that actually Prahlāda Mahārāja in the school was preaching. So, then Hiraṇyakaśipu he tried to kill Prahlāda. But somehow, he was not able to do that. So he said, “Where do you get the power to defy me? I can kill you!” Prahlāda said, “Where you get your power, I get the power from the same person, the Supreme Person.”

So anyway, we pray at the Lord’s lotus feet that we always be engaged in His service. Whether man or woman, any devotee, should try to preach the message of Kṛṣṇa, distribute Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books. So whatever situation, we can try to use that in a positive way.