20230715 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.8.21

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 2.8.21

samplavaḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ
vikramaḥ pratisaṅkramaḥ
iṣṭā-pūrtasya kāmyānāṁ
tri-vargasya ca yo vidhiḥ

Translation: Please explain unto me how the living beings are generated, how they are maintained, and how they are annihilated. Tell me also of the advantages and disadvantages of discharging devotional service unto the Lord. What are the Vedic rituals and injunctions of the supplementary Vedic rites, and what are the procedures of religion, economic development and sense satisfaction?

Purport by Śrīla Prabhupāda: Samplavaḥ, in the sense of “perfect means,” is employed to denote the discharging of devotional service, and pratisamplavaḥ means just the opposite, or that which destroys the progress of devotional service. One who is firmly situated in the devotional service of the Lord can very easily execute the function of conditional life. Living the conditional life is just like plying a boat in the middle of the ocean. One is completely at the mercy of the ocean, and at every moment there is every chance of being drowned in the ocean by slight agītātion. If the atmosphere is all right, the boat can ply very easily, undoubtedly, but if there is some storm, fog, wind or cloud, there is every possibility of being drowned in the ocean. No one can control the whims of the ocean, however one may be materially well equipped. One who has crossed the oceans by ship may have sufficient experience of such dependence upon the mercy of the ocean. But one can ply over the ocean of material existence by the grace of the Lord very easily, without any fear of storm or fog. It all depends on the will of the Lord; no one can help if there is some unfortunate danger in the state of conditional life. The devotees of the Lord, however, cross the ocean of material existence without anxiety because a pure devotee is always protected by the Lord (Bg. 9.13). The Lord gives special attention to His devotees in their activities within material, conditional life (Bg. 9.29). Therefore everyone should take shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord and be a pure devotee of the Lord by all means.

One should know, therefore, from the expert spiritual master, the advantages and disadvantages of discharging devotional service, just as Mahārāja Parīkṣit asked his spiritual master, Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī. According to Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, the science of devotional service, one should not eat more than what he requires to maintain body and soul together. Vegetable diets and milk are sufficient for maintenance of the human body, and therefore one has no need to eat anything more to satisfy the palate. One should also not accumulate money to become puffed up in the material world. One should earn his livelihood easily and honestly, for it is better to become a coolie for an honest livelihood than to become a great man in society by hook and crook. There is no harm if one becomes the richest man in the world by honest dealings, but one should not sacrifice the honest means of livelihood simply to accumulate wealth. Such an endeavor is harmful to devotional service. One should not talk nonsense. A devotee’s business is to earn the favor of the Lord. Therefore a devotee should always glorify the Lord in His wonderful creations. A devotee should not decry the creation of the Lord, defying Him by saying that He has created a false world. The world is not false. Factually we have to take so many things from the world for our maintenance, so how we can say that the world is false? Similarly, how can one think of the Lord as being without form? How can one become formless and at the same time have all intelligence and consciousness, direct and indirect? So there are many things for a pure devotee to learn, and he should learn them perfectly from a bona fide personality like Śukadeva Gosvāmī.

The favorable conditions for discharging devotional service are that one should be very enthusiastic in serving the Lord. The Lord in His form of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu wanted the cult of devotional service to the Lord to be preached all over the world, in every nook and corner, and therefore a pure devotee’s duty is to discharge this order as far as possible. Every devotee should be very enthusiastic, not only in performing his daily rituals of devotional service, but in trying to preach the cult peacefully by following in the footsteps of Lord Caitanya. If he is not superficially successful in such an attempt, he should not be deterred from the discharge of his duty. Success or failure has no meaning for a pure devotee because he is a soldier in the field. Preaching the cult of devotional service is something like declaring war against materialistic life. There are different kinds of materialists, such as the fruitive workers, the mental speculators, the mystic jugglers, and so many others. All of them are against the existence of Godhead. They would declare that they are themselves God, although in every step and in every action they are dependent on the mercy of the Lord. Therefore a pure devotee may not associate with such gangs of atheists. A strong devotee of the Lord will not be misled by such atheistic propaganda of the nondevotees, but a neophyte devotee should be very cautious about them. A devotee should see to the right discharge of devotional service under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master and should not stick only to the formalities. Under the direction of the bona fide spiritual master, one should see how much service is being executed, and not simply in the matter of rituals. A devotee should not hanker after anything, but he should be satisfied with things that may automatically come to him by the will of the Lord. That should be the principle of a devotional life. And all these principles are easily learned under the guidance of a spiritual master like Śukadeva Gosvāmī. Mahārāja Parīkṣit inquired from Śukadeva correctly, and one should follow his example.

Mahārāja Parīkṣit inquired about the process of creation, maintenance and destruction of the material world, the process of Vedic rituals and the method of executing pious activities in terms of the supplementary Vedas like the Purāṇas and Mahābhārata. As explained before, the Mahābhārata is the history of ancient India, and so also are the Purāṇas. Pious acts are prescribed in the supplementary Vedas (smṛtis), which specifically mention digging tanks and wells for the water supply of the people in general. To plant trees on the public roads, to construct public temples and places of worship of God, to establish places of charity where the poor destitutes can be provided with foodstuff, and similar activities are called pūrta.

Similarly, the process of fulfilling the natural desires for sense gratification was also inquired about by the King for the benefit of all concerned.

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Jayapatākā Swami: This was a very long purport. Śrīla Prabhupāda, he spoke many things. He was explaining how one can cross the ocean, and how if there is a little disturbance the ship could sink and we can drown. Śrīla Prabhupāda had this practical experience, because he himself had crossed the ocean in a ship. And he had suffered two heart attacks on the way. Whether he would reach America or not, Śrīla Prabhupāda had prayed fervently for this. So by Kṛṣṇa’s mercy, he reached America. He described how the pure devotee is always protected by Kṛṣṇa. So he said for a devotee, there is no loss or gain because he is just doing his service for Kṛṣṇa. He went to Russia and there only one person took initiation. But from that travel to Russia a great movement had begun. He commented that people in Russia are actually spiritually inclined and artificially they have been kept back. In the purport he also said that preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness is something like declaring war on material nature. So we have to be very committed. My pūrvāśrama, previous āśrama father, when I told him that I had joined Kṛṣṇa consciousness, I was thinking that he would be happy. But his mentality was based on nationality and caste, his sectarian religion. So, he told me, “I am going to turn your name over to the American Army and you will have to die in the Vietnam war.” So I told Śrīla Prabhupāda that my father said this and asked him and what should I do? But he said that, “Better you join Kṛṣṇa’s army.” So I have the personal experience of joining Kṛṣṇa’s army. And I am still in the army! I have been wounded in the war.

In Gorakhpur they have a statue erected by the British of a Nepali General. There in the war this person, his stomach was cut open and his intestines had come out. The Nepali soldiers they would carry a plate at the back of their head. So he took his plate, held his guts in and continued fighting. The British were so impressed by that chivalry that they erected a statue of this General. That is why the British, they stopped fighting with the Nepalis. Instead, they had the Gorkhas join the British Army.

Anyway, we are in Kṛṣṇa’s army. Men, women, everybody! You see, I saw Amṛteśa Kṛṣṇa dāsa, he is preaching to the army and navy and air force. So husband and wife took initiation. Husband is an air force pilot. And his wife is also a fighter jet pilot. Anyway, we are fighting a different war. We are encouraging people to do bhakti-yoga. So this verse says it is necessary that people know Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, etc. This way, we should preach and convince the people that they are eternal servants of Kṛṣṇa. So this way, our women and men everyone should be trained properly in devotional service. Now we have the Bengali class given in the morning and in the night. And English class once a week is by ladies. I want to speak to Braja-vilāsa dāsa regarding that we have a big room in the TOVP, if ladies could give class to ladies is possible or not. We want that everybody should give a class convincingly and this way spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Śrīla Prabhupāda said we have declared war that means you are all soldiers. So how do we know if people can give class properly? So that we will see, we can have tape recordings and we can listen. So we want to present Kṛṣṇa consciousness in a very convincing way.

There is a story here that Yamarāja comes in the form of a boy and there are the queen s who are lamenting over the death of their husband who was the king. There Śrīla Prabhupāda said in the purport generally little children or ladies don’t speak philosophy or Kṛṣṇa consciousness in such a way but when they do speak people are attracted by their words. So we want all our devotees to be expert in preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Parīkṣit Mahārāja, he was asking Śukadeva Gosvāmī many things and those were answered. So in this way for the general masses sense gratification is the goal of their lives. Yesterday, we read that Lord Caitanya came to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness in an ecstatic way. So, Advaita Ācārya, He said that You came as a madman. And now all the people are crazy, they all want love of Godhead! Haribol! They are less interested in material life. So he wrote some song which was hard to be understood. So, Advaita Ācārya was saying that now the market has been flooded. Now all the people have purchased the goods. So, there is no more demand. But now you see that was 500 years ago. Now, you can sell. The people of that age have all gone home back to Godhead. Because they got the association of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. And now we have a new crowd, and we want to give them kṛṣṇa-prema. So we need a lot of soldiers. And we have to give the mercy to these people.

So charity begins at home first. So we need our own devotees to be very strong. So the co-directors were discussing how to increase the potency of the devotees. So don’t be surprised if you hear in the next month or so, different programs. I see Keśavī dāsī here and she preaches over the internet to the Japanese. On internet we can be in Māyāpur and we can preach far and wide. Russian, Chinese, we have various devotees, they can preach. And we want that in this way let the message of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu spread everywhere. We want to offer respect to everyone, but we want to preach the message of Lord Caitanya. So this is a great opportunity we have to be in the holy dhāma. And how Śrīla Prabhupāda, he was taking so much risk, crossing the ocean by a ship. But he went and preached Kṛṣṇa consciousness all over the world! This way, Śrīla Prabhupāda took this vow and he also said that if you feel indebted to me then take this message and these books and spread them all over the world.

So Māyāpur is no.1 in book distribution. But we haven’t reached our potential yet. And we can do much, much more than this. As Vaiśeṣika prabhu has a song – Assume It can be Done. He wants to distribute a lot of sets of Caitanya-caritāmṛta and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And his goal is that ten million Bhagavad-gītās should be distributed each year. And he says, assume it can be done! Anyway, whether books, whether festivals, we want to present Lord Caitanya’s vāṇī everywhere. Now over the internet, there is ample opportunity to preach the message of Lord Gaurāṅga. Now, in Bengal also there is a lot of interest in the social media. Like, Lord Caitanya said, that one should not listen to unnecessary village talk and one should not discuss such talk. So people are not having much alternative. On Māyāpur TV and other broadcasts, we want to give Lord Gaurāṅga’s vāṇī. Mumbai Juhu temple has five million viewers on the social media. I have two lakhs. I don’t know what Māyāpur has. I have Jānakī Rāmacandra dāsa and his wife who are making videos every day. So, it is increasing gradually. But the potential is so great.

Anyway, Śrīla Prabhupāda was saying in the purport we want to present Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and we do that very enthusiastically. So, now it is time for your breakfast! Any questions? Where is Kamalāpati? He is one of our enthusiastic book distributors!

Kamalāpati dāsa: Now it is all by your mercy it is going on. Puruṣottama month is about to come and people are taking books, if you can speak a little about the glories of Puruṣottama month?

Jayapatākā Swami: Puruṣottama month they say it is not good for material karma. But Rādhā Kṛṣṇa They said that okay We adopt you as Our month. So this Purusottama month is especially meant for bhakti-yoga. Whatever bhakti you do in the Puruṣottama month is multiplied by a thousand. Now Dāmodara month is a hundred times, but Puruṣottama is a thousand times. Here in Māyāpur anyway it is a thousand times. So what is one thousand times one thousand? Ten lacs. One million. So what are you waiting for? 18 July starts Puruṣottama month!

Thank you very much! Tell the people that for Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa this month there are special facilities given. Thank you very much! Haribol!