20220723 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.18. 27-28

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on July 23rd, 2022 in Śrī Māyāpur, India. The class begins with a reading from the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.18.27 & 28.

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: Hare Kṛṣṇa! So, Parīkṣit Mahārāja was angry that he was not given proper reception.

Parīkṣit Mahārāja was such a king that he would not become overcome by emotions and for him to become angry in a situation like this is completely unnatural.

Just as Parīkṣit Mahārāja’s grandfather was Arjuna, and it wasn’t Arjuna’s nature to be in his weak state.

But Kṛṣṇa put him in that situation so that Bhagavad-gītā was spoken.

In the same way, Arjuna’s grandson was put into this situation so that the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam would be spoken. 

We were just reading in the evening the pastime of Lord Caitanya and Junior Haridāsa.

Lord Caitanya made an example of Junior Haridāsa.

He wanted to create a precedence that brahmacārīs and sannyāsīs have to behave very carefully with women.

And how a vairāgī, a renunciant should behave in order to create that precedence, Lord Caitanya punished Junior Haridāsa.

This way, the Supreme Lord makes His intimate devotees as examples and performs His pastimes this way.

Of course, Arjuna, he lived after the Bhagavad-gītā was spoken and he fought in the battle.

But Parīkṣit Mahārāja, he was cursed to die in seven days.

But in seven days and nights, twelve cantos of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam was spoken.

Bhagavad-gītā is around 745 verses.

And Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is 18,000 verses.

So, Parīkṣit Mahārāja sacrificed his life and as a result we got the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

So, of course many devotees are reading the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, we should read the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam again and again.

I am very busy with activities, but to give example, I am doing the Bhakti-vaibhava and Bhakti-vedānta degrees.

And I just sent in my test for the third canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam for Bhakti-vaibhava.

And got the report that in all the questions I got 100% Haribol!

Harilīlā Prabhu and his wife they already have the Bhakti-vaibhava degrees.

And some devotees have already Bhakti-vedānta degrees.

And in Vṛndāvana, this year they are going to start the Bhakti-Sārvabhauma degree.

That is over the Caitanya-caritāmṛta.

So it is very important that devotees study Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam very carefully.

Śrīla Prabhupāda created these degrees because he wanted the devotees to take and pass these tests.

So now, gradually devotees are reading the books and taking the tests.

So the minister of education, Tapan Miśra, who is in Māyāpur, has made some fast track methods to get the degrees.

Like, Teach and Learn. 

So if we remember how Parīkṣit Mahārāja was sacrificed so that Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam would be revealed, we should not make his ultimate sacrifice futile.

We should study the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and get the degrees.

But I heard from Maṇi Gopāla dāsa that some people have the Bhakti-śāstrī degree but they cannot answer the questions.

Anyway, we should read and be able to keep it in our mind. 

So all these pastimes are leading up to Parīkṣit Mahārāja being cursed and the revelation of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

And it is interesting Śrīla Prabhupāda gives in the purport how the etiquette of reception of a guest in the house was very important.

Śrīla Prabhupāda gave in his purport, he said that how Bhīma and Jarāśandha were fighting to kill each other in the daytime, but at night, they were talking like friends.

So even if an enemy comes to the householder’s home, he should not feel that he is an enemy.

So there are many rules like this for the householders.

And this way being a gṛhastha is not an easy thing.

There are many rules here.

Although there is some facility for enjoyment but actually one has to be practicing many religious principles.

So, we see that the gṛhasthas, they perform different spiritual activities.

And just like to have a child, they pray to the Deities and have the garbhadāna-saṁskāra.

This way Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and his wife prayed to Lord Jagannātha and as a result they had Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura as their illustrious son.

So being a vairāgī means that you are completely celibate and you will not talk to a woman in private.

Even in some śāstra it says that one should not sit with one’s mother, daughter or sister alone.

What to speak of other ladies?!

And we have seen that some people by sitting privately next to some lady, they got into some problems.

So this advice is there.

Also, Cāṇākya Paṇḍita says that a gṛhastha should see every woman but his wife as his mother.

So, maybe the gṛhasthas, naturally the human nature is that they want to enjoy many women.

But when we say no illicit sex, that means you are allowed to have connection with your wife.

But you should not connect with other women.

That is the austerity that a man or a woman is supposed to do. 

So we see here that Parīkṣit Mahārāja, he was not received as he expected.

But why this kind of a situation took place?

Now, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam was to be revealed through him.

So when he was cursed he took it as if it was arranged by the Lord.

When he was cursed, he took it as Kṛṣṇa’s arrangement.

He went to his palace and ordained his kingdom to his children.

Then he went to the side of the Ganges and he was preparing to leave.

But many ṛṣīs and demigods from other planets, they all came there.

He asked what one should do at the time of one’s death?

I have seven days to live, what should I do?

Jñāna-yoga, aṣṭāṅga-yoga, but what could be done in seven days?

So they were bewildered what to do? And Śukadeva Gosvāmī came and Parīkṣit Mahārāja asked him the same question.

He said seven days, is a long time, no problem!

And if seven days you stay thinking of the Lord then there is no problem.

So Parīkṣit Mahārāja knew he had seven days.

But we don’t know. If we have to leave in one minute’s time.

We have seven minutes, seven hours, seven days or seventy years!

Are we ready?

Parīkṣit Mahārāja knew that he had seven days.

But we don’t know.

So we should be ready to go at any time.

When I joined the temple, I was 19 years old.

My purvāśrama mother said, why don’t you do this when you are old?

I asked her how long do I have to live?

She started crying.

No mother knows how long her child would live.

How they can say that they will be able to perform devotional service when they are old?

What is the guarantee that I will live to be old?

So that did not work!

Anyway, we should spend every day reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Bhagavad-gītā and other sacred books.

Anyway, are there any questions?

Medhāvinī Sakhi devī dāsī: How should we prepare our consciousness to always remember Kṛṣṇa so that we always are in that consciousness that we are ready for death. Please give us some tips.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, every day if we read some śāstra, that will help us to always remember Kṛṣṇa!

In the morning I listen to Śrīla Prabhupāda lectures, in the evening I hear or read Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

During the day I give classes.

But we are told that we should always remember Kṛṣṇa and never forget Him.

So I am ready to hear any suggestions!

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Question: When studying the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam how should our consciousness be and how do we understand that by performance of devotional service I have become mature enough to face death? 

Jayapatākā Swami: Rādhārāṇī always thinks how I can surrender more unto Kṛṣṇa.

If we think that we are ready to face death, that is not right, then we may get lazy.

But if we have eagerness to understand devotional service all the time then that will always be beneficial for us. 

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Question: If Mahāprabhu is displeased with such behavior of Choṭā Haridāsa, and in view of this teaching of Caitanya Mahāprabhu will this behavior satisfy Caitanya Mahāprabhu or you?

Jayapatākā Swami: Especially meeting with a married woman in a private place, that was prohibited by Lord Caitanya.

Sometimes I will be in a room, and there would be a man and woman and the man walks out!

Then I would ask the lady to go out or tell the man not leave or I would go out myself.

Sometimes a vairāgī says they just want to experiment.

You see, checking or experimenting should be done before you become a vairāgī!

If you are a gṛhastha, do all the experimenting with your wife.

If you take the vairāgī path, then at least you should follow the vows of renunciant life, at least for a sannyāsī.

Last question. 

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Ānandinī Sītā devī dāsī: Parīkṣit Mahārāja was able to fully concentrate on each and every word of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam being his last seven days and so able to remember Kṛṣṇa at the time of death. But being in gṛhastha-āśrama even after reading every day, still we have material thoughts like what will happen to our family and close ones if we leave this world. Please suggest Guru Mahārāja how we can act in this situation?

Jayapatākā Swami: Parīkṣit Mahārāja, he was a gṛhastha.

He had children, he had a kingdom.

But when he heard that he was going to die in seven days, he gave up everything.

So, actually what can you do anyway for your children, for your pet dog cat?

Some people in the last minute, they are thinking, oh my dog, who will take care of my dog? Who will give him food?

Then they may birth as a dog in his next life.

When we leave we leave everything to Kṛṣṇa.

And at the last minute what can we do in any case?

All these things should be given in your will.

When you leave your body you only think about the Lord. 

Hare Kṛṣṇa!