20221224 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.3.2-7

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on December 24th, 2022 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur, India. The class begins with a reading from the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.3.2-7.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī caitanya iśvaram

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

Jayapatākā Swami: So you heard today there are many verses without purport. So, at the end I was hearing the purport of Śrīla Prabhupāda. Here in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam we find out what those who have material desires can do to attain them. Those who are weightlifting in the Olympic games, they should worship the earth. Now actually who are we? Are we the body or the ātmā? I think that all the people who come to live in Māyāpur are convinced that they are not the body. But by worshiping the demigods you get these different benefits, but you have to take birth again and again and again. We want the devotees to attain pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness. There is a śloka after some verses where it is stated that if anyone has any material desires, those who have no desire, or those who desire impersonal liberation, whatever they may be, they should worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He did not say those who have no desire.

akāmaḥ sarva-kāmo vā
mokṣa-kāma udāra-dhīḥ
tīvreṇa bhakti-yogena
yajeta puruṣaṁ param

- that verse is in this second canto 3rd chapter, verse 10. Even if somebody has material desires but his desire is to back to Godhead in the future, then he should do devotional service. This is in the verse 10 which is coming up. If we have broader intelligence, we should worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The real problem of life is birth, death, old age, and disease. Now by worshiping the demigods this is not resolved. Therefore, Lord Caitanya has taught to engage in devotional service to Kṛṣṇa.

By the way, I just completed by Bhakti-vaibhava exam for the sixth canto. I am waiting for the result! But a two-year-old devotee he is taking Bhakti-vedānta degree, he approached me for blessings. That means that people can get their degree very fast if they work on it. Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted that we should distribute, and we read as well. He did not want that if somebody asks what is in this book, you say, “I don’t know, I only distribute the books” then we are not professional salesmen. We believe in the book and therefore we are distributing it. We want that people should read the book and they should get the blessings of Lord Kṛṣṇa and Lord Caitanya. And by this course, I had read the book many times, but this course forces you to understand. In the sixth canto I don’t know how many of you have read – there is one story how Nārada Muni, he preached to the sons of Dakṣa. Whether you understand the story. He preached that on the earth; in the far side of the earth there is a kingdom. One king, one male who is the king he lives there. There is a hole, if you enter that hole, you will never come out. There is an unchaste woman, she wears various beautiful dresses, sārīs and jewels. And there is a river there that flows in both directions. There is a house with twenty-five elements. And there are some swans there which make various sounds. And there is a machine with razor blades and thunder bolts. But he told the sons, you are immature boys, how will you understand what your father really wants? So how many understand this story? Hearing this Dakṣa’s sons they all became sannyasis and renunciants. As a result, finally Dakṣa decided to have daughters. Because daughters won’t take sannyāsa. So I won’t tell you what the story is, I want you to read the sixth canto. I told you the story but what the meaning is, that you have to read! But Dakṣa’s sons could understand. So they had that intelligence. So the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam has so many interesting things. We should distribute as His Holiness Bhakti Vijaya Bhāgavata Swami wants and we should read.

So like this in this verse it says by worship, this particular demigod you get this, by worshiping that demigod you get this, in this way so many things have been told in this purport. So if you want to take birth again and again, then you can worship these devas for some particular thing. If you worship Śiva you get this, if you worship any iṣṭa-deva you get that, like that by worshiping different devas you get this and that. But when Pārvatī asked Lord Śiva, “There are so many kinds of worship – which worship is the best?” Lord Śiva, Mahādeva said:

ārādhanānāṁ sarveṣāṁ viṣṇor ārādhanaṁ param
tasmāt parataraṁ devī tadīyānāṁ samarcanam
(Padma Purāṇa)

Of all the worship, worship of Lord Viṣṇu is the best. With one exception, my dear goddess. Worshiping objects which are connected to Viṣṇu is better.”

So that is why we respect all the Vaiṣṇavas, and we avoid any form of vaiṣṇava-aparādhā or abuse. If these devotees, these objects which are connected to Viṣṇu are worshipable, why should we offend them? So, while we are living in the material world, we will have some material desires. But we should spend most of our time worshiping Kṛṣṇa. We preach the congregational chanting of the Lord’s holy names and sing the Lord’s glories, this way we spend most of our time in worshiping the Lord. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, I forget, it says that for the gṛhastha, morning, noon and night, he chants Hare Kṛṣṇa. They should read Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, they should worship their Deities or come to the temple and worship the Deities. Eat kṛṣṇa-prasāda. So in this way, all their activities are centered around Kṛṣṇa.

Now, we do not engage in any illicit activities or illicit sex. Now husband and wife, if they are united in solemn marriage, there is no sin. But if they want to do devotional service, they can perform the garbhādāna-saṁskāra, they pray to the Lord and take blessings from guru and if they try to beget Kṛṣṇa conscious child then that is devotional service. Of course, taking care of our child is a very big responsibility. We were hearing that Śrīla Prabhupāda when he heard that some teacher was hitting the child, then someone said, he should be stopped. Śrīla Prabhupāda said “No, he should hung. He should be hung from the neck!” So Śrīla Prabhupāda, he took these things very seriously. Of course, we don’t have the authority to hang anybody! But anyway, this is something that Śrīla Prabhupāda felt very strongly about.

I was remembering today, how Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī said, he wished he had millions of ears and mouths to chant the holy name. Someone said that Lord Brahmā has four heads. Some say that Mahādeva has five heads. Rāvaṇa had ten heads. If he had done harināma it would have been very nice! Unfortunately, he did chant the name of Rāma but in a negative way! Like that, Kaṁsa, he was always chanting the names of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, but in a negative sense. And then two ladies came, one wearing a white dress and one wearing a blue dressand they approached Kaṁsa. He said “Ah! Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma are coming at me. They have come to kill me”. They said, “Mahārāja, they are your wives!”

So, in these verses people have various material desires and worship various devas to get them fulfilled. But those who think they are the body, this is for them. Those who understand they are the soul, and they have a body, they worship the Lord. Haribol! Any questions?

Bhakti Vijaya Bhāgavata Swami: So it is a nice nectarean class by you. Śāstra says disciple should learn Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from guru. So I think this is my good fortune, I am hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from you. In this particular topic when I was reading these verses, I have some questions and many people are quoting these verses asking many questions. That Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in the beginning it says - dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo ’tra - completely rejecting all religious activities which are material motivated. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam gives us pure bhakti. Ahaitukī and apratihatā - unmotivated and uninterrupted - so then why Śukadeva Gosvāmī brought this topic to encourage us to fulfill our desires by worshiping demigods? What is his mission behind it?

Jayapatākā Swami: He is not actually, if you read the whole thing, he is not particularly enthusing that we should worship the devas. He is saying how worshiping different devas can get different results. But in the end, he is saying, worship Kṛṣṇa. If you have no desire, all desires, desire to merge.  So actually, I take this, that he has given these examples, to say that if you do this, you take birth again and again. But if you worship Kṛṣṇa, then whatever your desire is, that will solve the real problems of life. Birth, death, old age, and death are the real problems of life. If you pray for a big kingdom you have to take birth again. If you like a nice wife, nice husband, you worship a deva and take birth again. But if you worship Kṛṣṇa, you have a Kṛṣṇa conscious household, then you go back to Godhead. Next question.

Question: We have Deities in the house but I like to come to the temple for maṅgala-ārati, darśana-ārati and class, I am wondering if I am committing an offence to my Deities at home?

Jayapatākā Swami: When do you worship the Deities at home?

(Devotee: If I come to maṅgala-ārati, then I don’t come for darśana-ārati, I do darśana-ārati at home).

Jayapatākā Swami: You see, the temple we have to worship the Deities time by time, whatever the time is. But gṛhastha-pūjārīs at home if they fast until they worship, then it is alright. That is the difference.

Question: Thank you for being the perfect example for everything. You are inspiring us for book distribution. Now is also the book marathon and we constantly receive a campaign about printing, reading, and distributing Śrīla Prabhupāda books that have not been edited by the BBT. Would like to know what is your instruction about it?

Jayapatākā Swami: Śrīla Prabhupāda gave some directions about editing his books. So, there is some committee that is going over the existing edits. And any other edits, they do with great resistance, only if it is very obvious and everybody says, then they edit. Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books were edited in his presence, but now editing is allowed when there is a typo or spelling mistake is there.