20221231 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.3.14

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 2.3.14

etac chuśrūṣatāṁ vidvān
sūta no ’rhasi bhāṣitum
kathā hari-kathodarkāḥ
satāṁ syuḥ sadasi dhruvam

Translation: O learned Sūta Gosvāmī! Please continue to explain such topics to us because we are all eager to hear. Besides that, topics which result in the discussion of the Lord Hari should certainly be discussed in the assembly of devotees.

Purport by Śrīla Prabhupāda: As we have already quoted above from the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu of Rūpa Gosvāmī, even mundane things, if dovetailed in the service of the Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, are accepted as transcendental. For example, the epics or the histories of Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata, which are specifically recommended for the less intelligent classes (women, śūdras and unworthy sons of the higher castes), are also accepted as Vedic literature because they are compiled in connection with the activities of the Lord. Mahābhārata is accepted as the fifth division of the Vedas after its first four divisions, namely Sāma, Yajur, Ṛg and Atharva. The less intelligent do not accept Mahābhārata as part of the Vedas, but great sages and authorities accept it as the fifth division of the Vedas. Bhagavad-gītā is also part of the Mahābhārata, and it is full of the Lord’s instruction for the less intelligent class of men. Some less intelligent men say that Bhagavad-gītā is not meant for householders, but such foolish men forget that Bhagavad-gītā was explained to Arjuna, a gṛhastha (family man), and spoken by the Lord in His role as a gṛhastha. So Bhagavad-gītā, although containing the high philosophy of the Vedic wisdom, is for the beginners in the transcendental science, and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is for graduates and postgraduates in the transcendental science. Therefore, literatures like Mahābhārata, the Purāṇas and similar other literatures which are full of the pastimes of the Lord, are all transcendental literatures, and they should be discussed with full confidence in the society of great devotees.

The difficulty is that such literatures, when discussed by professional men, appear to be mundane literature like histories or epics because there are so many historical facts and figures. It is said here, therefore, that such literatures should be discussed in the assembly of devotees. Unless they are discussed by devotees, such literatures cannot be relished by the higher class of men. So the conclusion is that the Lord is not impersonal in the ultimate issue. He is the Supreme Person, and He has His different activities. He is the leader of all living entities, and He descends at His will and by His personal energy to reclaim the fallen souls. Thus He plays exactly like the social, political or religious leaders. Because such roles ultimately culminate in the discussion of topics of the Lord, all such preliminary topics are also transcendental. That is the way of spiritualizing the civic activities of human society. Men have inclinations for studying history and many other mundane literatures — stories, fiction, dramas, magazines, newspapers, etc. — so let them be dovetailed with the transcendental service of the Lord, and all of them will turn to the topics relished by all devotees. The propaganda that the Lord is impersonal, that He has no activity and that He is a dumb stone without any name and form has encouraged people to become godless, faithless demons, and the more they deviate from the transcendental activities of the Lord, the more they become accustomed to mundane activities that only clear their path to hell instead of return them home, back to Godhead.* Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam begins from the history of the Pāṇḍavas (with necessary politics and social activities), and yet Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is said to be the Pāramahaṁsa-saṁhitā, or the Vedic literature meant for the topmost transcendentalist, and it describes paraṁ jñānam, the highest transcendental knowledge. Pure devotees of the Lord are all paramahaṁsas, and they are like the swans, who know the art of sucking milk out of a mixture of milk and water.

Jayapatākā Swami: Now all the sages and rishis who were present there were very much eager to hear the transcendental topics of Lord Hari from Sūta Gosvāmī. The four Vedas and the fifth Veda is considered to be the Mahābhārata, Purāṇa, Rāmāyaṇa, etc. I was listening to a lecture on this verse what Śrīla Prabhupāda gave in the USA. He said that when in his childhood he went to his uncle’s house then he in the night used to hear Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata. Like that every night they would hear the pastime of Kṛṣṇa, Rāma or Viṣṇu. And they would be discussing after that the topics of Lord Hari. When sleeping they would dream of the Mahābhārata, Rāmāyaṇa, etc. Now Śrīla Prabhupāda said that your country America everything is nice here, you have very good roads, etc. I went all over the world and this is the best place. But there is no Kṛṣṇa! The people are frustrated! All the people in the world think that you are the very best and therefore if we become like you, we would become very happy. But why your youth are frustrated? Like a dead body is not beautiful, because the soul has left the body. If you decorate a dead body, what is the use? He said that what is the difference between our temple and the neighboring house? Both are made of bricks and cement. But we have Kṛṣṇa, and they don’t have Kṛṣṇa. So we have to keep Kṛṣṇa present. If Kṛṣṇa is present, then the USA will be very happy. So, like this, Śrīla Prabhupāda indirectly he was saying how without Kṛṣṇa, the society is a waste. If you want to be happy without Kṛṣṇa, it is not possible. Just like people get, Śrīla Prabhupāda used the example, they get married, and when they are young married life seems nice. But with time there are some disagreements, many cases of separation, divorce happens. But if Kṛṣṇa is with them then there is happiness there. Kṛṣṇa’s nature is to be always happy. Ānanda-mayo ‘bhyāsāt - we are part of Kṛṣṇa, so our nature is also to be always happy. We were seeing in the gṛhastha area they are having every two weeks they have a market. And one of the devotees had dolls of Kṛṣṇa, of Jagannātha.

Now in this verse, Śrīla Prabhupāda is saying how Parīkṣit Mahārāja from his childhood, bāla-kriyā, he would play with the dolls of Kṛṣṇa. There is a verse in the Bhagavad-gītā [7.3] manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu – out of thousands of thousands of people hardly one is interested in knowing about Me. But when by Lord Caitanya’s mercy we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, then very quickly we can know Kṛṣṇa. So that principle is overruled by Lord Caitanya’s mercy. So devotees living in Māyāpur, Lord Caitanya’s dhāma, the idea is to get Kṛṣṇa consciousness. In the class at night we are reading about the ciḍā-dadhi festival in Pānihāṭi. That evening Nitāi Gaura sat in the house of Rāghava Paṇḍita and took prasāda. So the description was so sweet that Rāghava Paṇḍita was serving and the two Lords were honoring prasāda. If there was a description of that such and such Bose or such and such Ghosh was taking prasāda then we would not be interested. But Nitāi Gaura were honoring prasāda, that was so blissful! A non-devotee cannot understand how much bliss there is in devotional service. Here all the pure devotees are paramahaṁsas. What is a haṁsa? A haṁsa can take out the milk from a mix of milk and water. What is a paramahaṁsa? He can take out the spiritual nectar from material things. So we want, Śrīla Prabhupāda was saying, he wants all his devotees, all his gṛhasthas to be paramahaṁsas.

Now-a-days, there is a lot of propaganda that God is impersonal. This way people are becoming atheistic. But God is transcendental, divine and He has His transcendental pastimes and characteristics. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is known as paramahaṁsa-saṁhitā. Why? Because it is about Lord Viṣṇu’s glories. About His devotees, about His pastimes. We see a lot of families in Māyāpur and a lot of brahmacārīs and there are children. So, the secret is how everyone can be Kṛṣṇa conscious. We have to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, today is the end of the year right? All over the world they celebrate the New-Year’s-eve. Maybe they get drunk. I was at a Ratha-yātrā on New-Year’s-eve at Byron Bay in Australia. And one lady at the end of the Ratha-yātrā, she told me that if it weren’t for you and your Ratha-yātrā, I would have been just another drunk on the street. We did Harināma kīrtana and Jagannātha Ratha-yātrā and have kīrtana. They put colored lights on Jagannātha. Blinking lights! There was a very big Lord Caitanya like 20 feet high! So at first they did not want but then they requested, please have the Ratha-yātrā, it is very good. How they become happy that may not be understood easily but they become happy internally.

So Parīkṣit Mahārāja, he was the grandson of Arjuna. The grandson of Subhadrā Devī, the sister of Lord Kṛṣṇa. He heard the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam for the last seven days of his life, day and night. Now we have the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, he gave up his life to give us the Bhāgavatam. His sacrifice is useful when you read the Bhāgavatam. When you have the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, you can read it, you can study it. (Confirmed!) So how much bliss is there in the Harināma, how much bliss there is in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Caitanya-caritāmṛta is beyond calculation. But if we are not in Kṛṣṇa consciousness then māyā will always try to keep us under her grip. We have to prepare our lives in such a way so that māyā has no way to enter. Whatever we do, we have to keep Rādhā Kṛṣṇa as witness, Rādhā Mādhava we should pray to Them and perform our duties. We were reading how Lord Caitanya, He liked to do things which, how to explain, His special bliss was to go against the varnāśrama. Let me put it this way – He wanted to prove that bhakti was superior to varnāśrama. Actually, varnāśrama is made by Lord Kṛṣṇa, so it is good. But better than varnāśrama is bhakti. So He is a sannyāsī, He is a brāhmaṇa – Lord Caitanya. Rāmānanda Rāya was a śūdra. But he got instruction from Rāmānanda Rāya. That was His special bliss. And there was one brāhmaṇa in Purī, Pradyumna Miśra, He told him, if you want to learn Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam go to Rāmānanda Rāya. So, Pradyumna Miśra went to Rāmānanda Rāya and he appreciated that he was the best devotee. Vallabhācārya, Vallabha Bhaṭṭa, of the Puṣṭi-mārga, he went to see Lord Caitanya. And Lord Caitanya told him that I am a Māyāvādī sannyāsī. I do not know much. Whatever I have learnt, I have learnt from these wonderful devotees and started introducing them and started glorifying Advaita Ācārya, Lord Nityānanda, Rāmānanda Rāya. He told how Haridāsa Ṭhākura, he is the Nāmācārya and chants 300,000 times the holy names every day. This way, he glorified each of the devotees. Then there was invitation for prasāda and Lord Caitanya was there and all the devotees from Bengal, Orissa about 100 devotees took prasāda. Some devotees six of them volunteered to serve the prasāda, Svarūpa Dāmodara, Jagadānanda Paṇḍita and others volunteered to serve prasāda. V B brought lots of Jagannātha mahā-prasāda. Every devotee, he offered obeisances. And it is said that he felt great satisfaction. Actually, the real happiness, real satisfaction is serving the Vaiṣṇavas. I am very happy, we have a great opportunity as dhāma-vāsīs, Māyāpur residents, we can serve all the Vaiṣṇavas. I am very pleased with the devotees who man the Help Desk. So we get the opportunity during Gaura Pūrṇimā and at this time during winter to receive many guests. Other times we should take advantage of the MI (Māyāpur Institute), and others who are giving us the facility to read and study Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

So, this way, we will welcome the New Year chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. But this we do every day! Why not on New-Year’s-day? I am very happy to have all your association. Hare Kṛṣṇa! Are there any questions or comments?

Question: We heard from scriptures that Lord Kṛṣṇa does not easily give us bhakti. How we can get that devotional service?

Jayapatākā Swami: That is true. To get devotional service from Kṛṣṇa you have to surrender to Him. That is why it was very hard in previous yugas to get bhakti. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He easily distributed kṛṣṇa-prema. Who is qualified, who is not qualified, He is not considering. Kṛṣṇa, you have to surrender to Kṛṣṇa to get prema. And Rādhārāṇī, She is more merciful. She distributes prema, love to all. And Kṛṣṇa, came in the form of Lord Caitanya, with the heart, of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. So don’t miss this chance! You are in the dhāma of Lord Caitanya, in the movement of Lord Caitanya and with His mercy you stay together and you will get kṛṣṇa-prema.

Question: Since we are fallen in this material world why are we not feeling the pain of being separated from Kṛṣṇa

Jayapatākā Swami: You will if you have bhakti for Kṛṣṇa. We are suffering from birth, death, old age disease, we are feeling them the real problems. People don’t feel separation from Kṛṣṇa because they don’t know Kṛṣṇa. When they have love for Kṛṣṇa and they will feel separation.

Hare Kṛṣṇa! Thank you.