20240803 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.8.8-9

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 3.8.8

sāṅkhyāyanaḥ pāramahaṁsya-mukhyo
vivakṣamāṇo bhagavad-vibhūtīḥ
jagāda so ’smad-gurave ’nvitāya
parāśarāyātha bṛhaspateś ca

Translation: The great sage Sāṅkhyāyana was the chief amongst the transcendentalists, and when he was describing the glories of the Lord in terms of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, it so happened that my spiritual master, Parāśara, and Bṛhaspati both heard him.

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.8.9

provāca mahyaṁ sa dayālur ukto
muniḥ pulastyena purāṇam ādyam
so ’haṁ tavaitat kathayāmi vatsa
śraddhālave nityam anuvratāya

Translation: The great sage Parāśara, as aforementioned, being so advised by the great sage Pulastya, spoke unto me the foremost of the Purāṇas [Bhāgavatam]. I shall also describe this before you, my dear son, in terms of my hearing, because you are always my faithful follower.

Purport by Śrīla Prabhupāda: The great sage of the name Pulastya is the father of all demoniac descendants. Once upon a time Parāśara began a sacrifice in which all the demons were to be burnt to death because his father had been killed and devoured by one of them. The great sage Vasiṣṭha Muni arrived at the sacrifice and requested Parāśara to stop the deadly action, and because of Vasiṣṭha’s position and respect in the community of sages, Parāśara could not deny the request. Parāśara having stopped the sacrifice, Pulastya, the father of the demons, appreciated his brahminical temperament and gave the blessing that in the future he would be a great speaker on the Vedic literatures called the Purāṇas, the supplements of the Vedas. Parāśara’s action was appreciated by Pulastya because Parāśara had forgiven the demons out of his brahminical power of forgiveness. Parāśara was able to demolish all the demons in the sacrifice, but he considered, “Demons are so made that they devour living creatures, men and animals, but why on that account should I withdraw my brahminical qualification of forgiveness?” As the great speaker of the Purāṇas, Parāśara first of all spoke on the Śrīmad-Bhāgavata Purāṇa because it is the foremost of all the Purāṇas. Maitreya Muni desired to narrate the same Bhāgavatam be had heard from Parāśara, and Vidura was qualified to hear it because of his faithfulness and his following the instructions received from superiors. So Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam was being narrated from time immemorial by the disciplic succession, even before the time of Vyāsadeva. The so-called historians calculate the Purāṇas to be only a few hundred years old, but factually the Purāṇas existed from time immemorial, before all historical calculations by the mundaners and speculative philosophers.

* * *

Jayapatākā Swami: We have the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. But there was another type of Bhāgavatam before the Age of Kali. So this is a very interesting thing to know, that the Bhāgavatam was there long ago. But at different times the Bhāgavatam may have had different forms. Parāśara Muni, he was going to burn to death all of the asuras, but Vasiṣṭha Muni forbade Parāśara Muni that this is an extremely dangerous act and you should immediately stop it. So out of respect for Vasiṣṭha Muni, he stopped and he forgave all the demons. So, this is another interesting point, how the advanced munis would give instruction. Now Parāśara Muni is the father of Śrīla Vyāsadeva. So, this way, out of respect for Vasiṣṭha Muni, Parāśara Muni listened to his instructions and he stopped the sacrifice that he was performing to kill all the demons.

So in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, we don’t find any mention of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. But there is some prediction that in the Kali-yuga the Lord will come. In the previous yugas according to the varṇāśrama, śūdras could not perform yajñas. But in Kali-yuga there is a statement – kalau śūdra sambhavaḥ. Now everybody is born a śūdra in Kali-yuga. Lord Caitanya, He appeared in order to deliver everyone. So, the appearance of Lord Caitanya was something very special. And Lord Caitanya, His external reason for appearing was to start the saṅkīrtana movement. Then He also had some confidential reason. He wanted to understand what the devotees felt for Him. So therefore Lord Kṛṣṇa came in the mood of a devotee. So, here we see how Parāśara Muni, he wanted to kill all the demons. How Vasiṣṭha Muni stopped him. Some demons and Rākṣasas became devotees like Prahlāda Mahārāja, Bali Mahārāja. So even a demon can become a devotee. So I mean among the devotees, some are brāhmaṇas, some are kṣatriyas, some are vaiśyas and some are śūdras and some are lower than śūdras. The Yavanas, the caṇḍālas, mlechhas. So, Śrīla Prabhupāda went to the West and he established Lord Caitanya’s vision. So Lord Kṛṣṇa in the Brahma-vaivarta Purāṇa, He predicted there would be a ten-thousand golden age. It seems that we are just at the beginning. Śrīla Prabhupāda said that we are ISKCON branch of Lord Caitanya’s tree. And he wanted us to fulfill Lord Caitanya’s prediction. Lord Caitanya said,

pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi grāma
sarvatra pracāra haibe mora nāma
(CB Antya-khaṇḍa 4.126)

in all the towns and villages of the whole world, My name shall be spread. So Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted that we fulfill this prediction of Lord Caitanya. So, are you all ready? I was thinking how to do it? We only want to do it, Śrīla Prabhupāda gave us some idea. You see, he said, say we have ten thousand gurus. Then, he said from ten thousand we could have a lakh. One lakh to ten lakhs. And then one crore. In this way, we can fulfill the prediction of Lord Caitanya. We can search to find out if Śrīla Prabhupāda has said anything more on this subject matter. So, we have to see that the world is flooded with Lord Caitanya’s mercy.

Now, we have a lot of things to do. So, all the devotees should be thinking how can I get others to put this into practice. We want every devotee should give classes and preach. So, in this way, we can make people take up Kṛṣṇa consciousness. I was reading in the 8^th chapter of the Ādi-līlā of Caitanya-caritāmṛta, there it is explained how Lord Caitanya was giving Kṛṣṇa consciousness to men and women. And some of our Nāma-haṭṭa ladies could give nice class. And we need everyone, men and women, to give class. You see, Kṛṣṇa has so many wonderful qualities that you cannot ever finish explaining. Even Anantadeva, who has unlimited heads, he cannot find the end of Kṛṣṇa’s glories! You see, we cannot exactly explain the glories of Lord Kṛṣṇa. But Kṛṣṇa takes us into His company. So this is a very great thing but the common people cannot understand it. That we can enter into the pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa. In the material world people are trying to find happiness in sense gratification. Lord Caitanya He accepted people who were attached to various material things. But He wanted people to be more attached to Kṛṣṇa. So, Parāśara Muni, he wanted to kill all the asuras. Lord Caitanya, He destroys the demoniac consciousness. But He does not kill the asuras. And He gives the asuras a new life as devotees.

So, when Lord Caitanya was leading a big kīrtana to the Chand Kazi, there were four parties, Lord Caitanya, Lord Nityānanda, Gadādhara was in one of the parties. And They were the last group. There were some asuras, demons who were laughing. But when they saw that Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, their demoniac consciousness ended. They saw Lord Caitanya crying and fainting and they became transformed.

Here we see how Parāśara Muni, he wanted to kill all the asuras. He was stopped by Vasiṣṭha Muni. But in Lord Caitanya’s līlā all the asuras are made devotees! So, Vasiṣṭha Muni doesn’t have to stop Lord Caitanya! The demons will not die but they will all become devotees! So, this is a very interesting part of the Bhāgavatam. We know that asuras are not proper. But how we can have the material asuras understand the bliss of Kṛṣṇa consciousness? Vasiṣṭha Muni can stop such a dangerous sacrifice. But he cannot change demons to devotees. But Lord Caitanya can.

Śrīla Prabhupāda was telling devotees in 1973 in London, that my guru Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, he was an ācārya. He was the son of Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. So, he requested all grhasthas, please have ācāryas as children. We have bhaktas, brahmacārīs, all kinds of devotees. And some people stay brahmacārīs, some enter the gṛhastha-āśrama. Śrīla Prabhupāda, he on the same day, in the lecture, he told the gṛhasthas, that you should all be paramahaṁsas. And so he said that they should have ācārya children and should be paramahaṁsas. So, in London, I don’t think there were many brahmacārīs there. So there Śrīla Prabhupāda was preaching to the gṛhasthas. So, in each place whoever was there, Śrīla Prabhupāda would enthuse them in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Here we have a variety of devotees and they are all trying to serve Lord Caitanya.

śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda
śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

So any questions or comments?

Question: You had told in the previous class that we should we should chant the name of Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityānanda and then you said we should chant the names of Pañca-tattva. So my question is can we chant the Pañca-tattva mantra on our japa mālā?

Jayapatākā Swami: We begin with the chanting of the Pañca-tattva mantra. Then after that when we chant the mahā-mantra there will be no offences. We don’t just chant the Pañca-tattva mantra, we also chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. But some people are so sinful that they drink cow blood! So for them Pañca-tattva mantra is the only way!

Question: How can we overcome the asura propensities in ourselves?

Jayapatākā Swami: We try to do the things in a pleasing way to Kṛṣṇa. Just like devotees, gṛhasthas, ask the blessing to have a baby. But there is a system in the Sat-kriyā-sāra-dīpikā how to do garbhādhāna-saṁskāra. That is only for gṛhasthas! Last question.

Question: We feel so inspired to preach and become the instrument to spread the mercy of Lord Caitanya and assist Śrīla Prabhupāda. But sometimes we see that due to our own conditioning, anarthas and some misunderstanding amongst devotees, they disturb our enthusiasm, and we lose our focus. So how to remain focused and not be disturbed by these petty problems?

Jayapatākā Swami: So, how to not be distracted by the material distractions? We have to be very fixed in what we want to achieve. In the third verse of the Śikṣāṣṭaka, it says we should be more humble than a straw in the street. More tolerant than a tree. We should offer respect and praise to others. And not expect any reciprocation. If you follow this, you will not be distracted. So, I will end here.