20240831 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.9.5

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

Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.9.5

ye tu tvadīya-caraṇāmbuja-kośa-gandhaṁ
jighranti karṇa-vivaraiḥ śruti-vāta-nītam
bhaktyā gṛhīta-caraṇaḥ parayā ca teṣāṁ
nāpaiṣi nātha hṛdayāmburuhāt sva-puṁsām

Translation: O my Lord, persons who smell the aroma of Your lotus feet, carried by the air of Vedic sound through the holes of the ears, accept Your devotional service. For them You are never separated from the lotus of their hearts.

Purport by Śrīla Prabhupāda: For the pure devotee of the Lord there is nothing beyond the lotus feet of the Lord, and the Lord knows that such devotees do not wish anything more than that. The word tu specifically establishes this fact. The Lord also does not wish to be separated from the lotus hearts of those pure devotees. That is the transcendental relationship between the pure devotees and the Personality of Godhead. Because the Lord does not wish to separate Himself from the hearts of such pure devotees, it is understood that they are specifically dearer than the impersonalists. The relationship of the pure devotees with the Lord develops because of devotional service to the Lord on the authentic basis of Vedic authority. Such pure devotees are not mundane sentimentalists, but are factually realists because their activities are supported by the Vedic authorities who have given aural reception to the facts mentioned in the Vedic literatures.

The word parayā is very significant. Parā bhakti, or spontaneous love of God, is the basis of an intimate relationship with the Lord. This highest stage of relationship with the Lord can be attained simply by hearing about Him (His name, form, quality, etc.) from authentic sources like Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, recited by pure, unalloyed devotees of the Lord.

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Jayapatākā Swami: So, Lord Brahmā, after his hundred years of austerity, he could see the Lord. And he was sorry for all the conditioned souls, that they could not see the Personality of Godhead. The Lord is the Supreme Absolute Truth. So, if you see anything else, it is not the Absolute Truth. So after doing great austerity, Brahmā was able to see the Lord. He was so beautiful, that one cannot describe Him! I was thinking that now we are fortunate that Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Bhagavad-gītā, these are printed in millions of copies. And now we have the new printing machines, so this is possible. Also, the BBT in Mumbai, they have all of Śrīla Prabhupāda books written in digital and audio version through the Transcend App. The Saṅkīrtana Department should ask how we can get points to distribute through this Transcend App. They are available in all Indian languages and English also. If you meet someone on saṅkīrtana and they say, I don’t English, I know only Telugu! So then, you can pull out the App and say, here you can buy Telugu! And someone says I only read Tamil. You can show them, this is also available. Every language in India, Kannada, Hindi, Nepali. I think Malayalam is still under making.

We know that if someone wants to know Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes, then Kṛṣṇa is situated in his heart as Paramātmā and He will purify all his material desires. I wanted to find out some history of transcendental figures. I looked in the libraries but I could only find mythology. In the region of Scandinavia, they had some devas. Now I know they are devatas because Indra, he was throwing lightning bolts. But every library should have Kṛṣṇa Book, Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and every child should be able to find them. We know how some of the words in different countries are actually nāmābhāsa. Like, the branch of a tree in Spanish is called Rāma. When Lord Caitanya appeared on Phālguna Pūrṇimā, there was a lunar eclipse. So, all the Hindus went into the Ganges and chanted the holy names. And the Muslims were laughing, look at how the Hindus are chanting, “Hare Kṛṣṇa! Hare Kṛṣṇa!” This way the whole world was chanting the holy names.

So now, one of the candidates for the American Presidentship is called Kamala Harris. So half the Americans are saying her name and praising her. Kamalā is a name of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. Harris, Hari is the name of Lord Hari. So the opposite party is saying oh, Kamala Harris and criticizing her. Even in foreign countries, I watched a BBC report, the American presidential candidates is Kamala Harrish. So somehow or another, people are chanting the holy names. This is nāmābhāsa but still they are chanting somehow or other. Of course, in Bengali, they say Kamala Lebu! So they are also saying the name of Rādhā, Kamalā.

Śrīla Prabhupāda gave me an order to expand the preaching unlimitedly. But I am an old man, I don’t know how long Kṛṣṇa will keep me here. I want my disciples, grand-disciples, well-wishers to take up this preaching aspect. So, this is an unlimited order. Expanding the preaching unlimitedly. I was thinking this morning that like we have picture books of Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes, just like they have the Amar Chitra Katha. So, we could have books for kids, on history of Kṛṣṇa. Brahmā was so fortunate that he could see the Lord! If we can see a picture of the Lord, that will be the next best. Somehow or another, I mean there may be millions of ideas unlimited ideas how to help people to know Kṛṣṇa. So, in this material world there are always so many problems. But we want to solve these problems, rise above these problems, to please Kṛṣṇa. So in this material world when we come in contact with different types of association, we think of sense gratification. But if we try to please the Lord then we are successful in life. In the Śikṣāṣṭaka by Lord Caitanya, the last verse is by Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. All the vraja-vāsīs’ mood is how to please Kṛṣṇa. Rādhārāṇī is saying, “Even if Kṛṣṇa brings Me close, or steps on Me, whatever He does, He is always My Lord. And if some other better gopī is able to Kṛṣṇa more, I will serve her!”

So, we want to have the mood of the vraja-vāsīs, that means we want to please Kṛṣṇa by any means. So, this is a great teaching of Lord Caitanya. And if we are serving Lord Caitanya, serving Lord Kṛṣṇa, this is very nice! In the material world as I said earlier, everybody is thinking how to enjoy the senses. But yukta-vairāgya means we try to use our senses in such a way that they are pleasing to Kṛṣṇa. So, we have to practice this that whatever we do, it should be for the pleasure of Kṛṣṇa. So, in the varṇāśrama system, brahmacārī, vānaprastha and sannyāsī, they do not have any sex life. Lord Caitanya, He quoted from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam how the different śāstras say that sannyāsa is forbidden in Kali-yuga. So we don’t practice the kind of sannyāsa, where we live in the forest. We stay in the āśrama. It is better to be a good gṛhastha than a bad brahmacārī.

We should do whatever we do, do it good. The gṛhasthas as Śrīla Prabhupāda repeatedly said, the ideal thing is that they should do the garbhādhāna-saṁskāra. In the garbhādhāna-saṁskāra written by Śrīla Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, in Sat-kriyā-sāra-dīpikā, there it is described. There are many saṁskāras. I wanted to send out in my monthly letter but there are various translations. In the original saṁskāra that I got, you should chant the Puruṣa-sūkta, offer argya, various mantras. And then there was a letter from Śrīla Prabhupāda in 1969. He told some girl that you just chant 50 rounds. How could he tell her chant Puruṣa-sūkta, different things, it is the year 1969, how would she know?! So now, devotees know, so they have given these different options. Anyway, everything we do, even having children, is our service to Kṛṣṇa. Every day when I go out I have birthday cakes, anna-prāśana, different things. We want to do everything to please Kṛṣṇa. When I see how the parents are giving so much care to the children, I am really impressed. And then I think we are so indebted to our father and mother. Of course, if we serve Kṛṣṇa then we don’t owe anything to our parents, etc. We see that many children try to get their parents to become devotees.

So, Kṛṣṇa stays in the heart of His pure devotees. And so, every devotee gets a special blessing from guru and Kṛṣṇa, Gaurāṅga to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

So, Lord Brahmā was thinking that these people are so unfortunate, they cannot see the Personality of Godhead! By the mercy of Lord Caitanya, and our guru-paramparā, by the mercy of Śrīla Prabhupāda, we can let people know about the Personality of Godhead. So this is a great responsibility. All these people, sometimes these devotees would see how the people are walking dead! Even in Kolkata at the airport, Śrīla Prabhupāda one day said, all these people are walking dead! They are born to die and die to be born. So we can save them from the cycle of rebirth.

So you have the great responsibility. Any questions or comments?

Question: Guru Mahārāja, thank you for your class. Many times in your class, you have advised us how to become an ideal gṛhastha, how to become an ideal gṛhastha, how to become a Kṛṣṇa conscious gṛhastha. Sometimes it is seen that our children they go to school, college and mixing in the society. And sometimes our devotee girls are falling in love with a karmī boy, or a devotee boy is falling in love with a karmī girl and marrying them. Most of the times, these children have a lot of difficulty in their devotional life later. If you can kindly give some advise or shed some light on this matter.

Jayapatākā Swami: That is why we need to give quality time to our children. Then they don’t want to eat meat, fish, egg, onion or garlic. They want to serve Pañca-tattva, Lord Caitanya. I have seen some children they marry a karmī and they think I can change my husband or wife. But it is not so easy! So the desire to enjoy the senses should be less and you should do it in such a way to please Lord Caitanya and Lord Kṛṣṇa. That is why we have different educational facilities here so that they would avoid this kind of māyā. But they need to get good instructions from the parents.

Alright! Thank you very much! Hare Kṛṣṇa!