20241221Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.12.30-31

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 3.12.30

naitat pūrvaiḥ kṛtaṁ tvad ye
na kariṣyanti cāpare
yas tvaṁ duhitaraṁ gaccher
anigṛhyāṅgajaṁ prabhuḥ

Translation: O father, this performance in which you are endeavoring to complicate yourself was never attempted by any other Brahmā, nor by anyone else, nor by you in previous kalpas, nor will anyone dare to attempt it in the future. You are the supreme being in the universe, so how is it that you want to have sex with your daughter and cannot control your desire?

Purport: The post of Brahmā is the supermost post in the universe, and it appears that there are many Brahmās and many universes besides the one in which we are situated. One who fills this post must be ideal in behavior, for Brahmā sets the example for all living entities. Brahmā, the living entity who is the most pious and spiritually elevated, is entrusted with a post next to that of the Personality of Godhead.

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.12.31

tejīyasām api hy etan
na suślokyaṁ jagad-guro
yad-vṛttam anutiṣṭhan vai
lokaḥ kṣemāya kalpate

Translation: Even though you are the most powerful being, this act does not suit you because your character is followed for spiritual improvement by people in general.

Purport: It is said that a supremely powerful living entity can do anything and everything he likes and such acts do not affect him in any way. For example, the sun, the most powerful fiery planet in the universe, can evaporate water from anywhere and still remain as powerful. The sun evaporates water from filthy places and yet is not infected with the quality of the filth. Similarly, Brahmā remains unimpeachable in all conditions. But still, since he is the spiritual master of all living entities, his behavior and character should be so ideal that people will follow such sublime behavior and derive the highest spiritual benefit. Therefore, he should not have acted as he did.

* * *

Jayapatākā Swami: Śrīla Prabhupāda said that Lord Kṛṣṇa had instructed the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to Lord Brahmā. So this must have happened before that. Because Kṛṣṇa told Brahmā that now you will never fall down. Anyway, there is a lot to learn from this incident. That this material world is such a powerful place! Anyone can fall in māyā, illusory energy. He did not actually fall but his senior children, like his disciples, they preached to him very respectfully. That shows that if the spiritual master is having difficulty, the senior disciples, with respect, can talk to him and not to reject him right away - rather than reject him!

I was very impressed by the realizations on the recent disappearance day of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda! There it mentions how Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, he was inspired by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. So, at that time, Bengal was overrun by prākṛta-sahajiyās. And people thought that was the real religion of Lord Caitanya. They did not know what the real instruction of Lord Caitanya was. I mean, I don’t know if you know what the prākṛta-sahajiyās preached? There are different types. So there is one type, they say the body is a microcosm of the spiritual world, something like that. They apply tilaka with their stool, because they believe that whatever comes from the body is pure! The bāulas, they have I don’t know what you call them, maybe bāulinīs? Āula, bāula, kartābhajā, neḍa-neḍī, we had one neḍa-neḍī who had come here. He or she was a guest of the Home Minister who came here to Māyāpur by helicopter. So, he was sitting, he was wearing a saree covering his head. But then he looked over and we saw he had a beard! So, they want to dress like a sakhi, in that way they think they will become a gopī! So there were 13 types of prākṛta-sahajiyās at that time. They thought that this was actually propagating Lord Caitanya’s movement. So Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, his preaching was to show the right way to the people who were influenced by these prākṛta-sahajiyās. And one another type is they think you have to be born in a brāhmaṇa family, jāti-goswami or something. If one is born in a śūdra family, or if one is a śūdra, then that person can never be purified. But daivi-varnāśrama does not say this – guṇa-karma-vibhāgayoḥ [Bg. 3.28] - and there is no mention janma, only guṇa, karma. So Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, he went to a big meeting of paṇḍitas at Medinipur. And he started out preaching the glories of the brāhmaṇas. All the brāhmaṇas liked that very much! Then he spoke about the qualities of the brāhmaṇas. Like, following the four regulative principles and so on. Then, they got very upset. Then he had some quotes Everything was backed up by śāstra. Just like we know there is a verse that says that a brāhmaṇa if he does material activity and has no faith in Kṛṣṇa he is a śūdra. And if a śūdra has faith in Kṛṣṇa, then he is a Vaiṣṇava.

śuci hañā muci haya yadi kṛṣṇa tyaje
mucihañā śuci haya yadi kṛṣṇa-bhaje

If one is a purified soul but does not worship Kṛṣṇa, he turns into an untouchable, a cobbler. But if an untouchable, a cobbler worships Kṛṣṇa, he becomes the most purified devotee. There is a Sanskrit verse also in this regard.

caṇḍālo 'pi dvija-śreṣṭho

hari-bhakti-parāyaṇaḥ

hari-bhakti-vihīnaś ca

dvijo 'pi śvapacādhamaḥ

If a person is devoted to Lord Hari, even if he is a dog eater, he is greater than the dvija, twice born.

So then I was very impressed and very touched by Rāmeśvara Prabhu’s mention that every day the devotees would come back from book distribution. He used to write on a piece of paper whatever books were distributed that day, and other preaching activities performed that. Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted a paper, and he also wrote something on the paper. What did Śrīla Prabhupāda write?

Rāmeśvara Prabhu (ACBSP): I have been asked to speak on the order of Śrīla Jayapatākā Swami. One night, Brahmānanda came down the stairs to tell me that Śrīla Prabhupāda was lying in his bed, and he was rocking his body back and forth and speaking, we will smash all these bogus yogīs! But then, he wrote on another note in his lotus hands a message that said I am so pleased that my Guru Mahārāja is so pleased with your book distribution, surely, he will bestow his blessings a thousand times more than me, and that is my satisfaction.

Jayapatākā Swami: So yesterday we heard that 41,000 people came. They announce every day how many people come. So, I have been saying that our devotees, they should all preach to the visitors. So I will be very pleased. But after hearing Rāmeśvara Prabhu, Śrīla Prabhupāda will be a thousand times more pleased! I have no right to say how much the previous ācāryas would be happy!

You know, they did an all India survey and Bengal was No. 1. But it was not a thing to be proud of! 98% non-veg! Fish, meat, eggs, onions. So, the devotees who have taken to the vaiṣṇava-ācara, if they can get any visitor to even chant or do something that will be a great, great achievement! Śrīla Prabhupāda was giving a lecture in London on his Vyāsa-pūjā, in 1973. I don’t know how many gṛhasthas and brahmacārīs were present there, but Śrīla Prabhupāda told all his gṛhasthas  devotees that you should all become paramahaṁsas. I was thinking who could I show as a paramahaṁsa example? So in our Pañca-tattva we have Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura. He was a gṛhastha, he had children and he led one of the kīrtana parties to the Chand Kazi. There was a Ratha-yātrā going on in Jagannātha Purī. There he led a kīrtana party in Purī. It is not that when people say, “Oh, gṛhastha, how can you be a paramahaṁsa?” It is not out of reach. So if Śrīla Prabhupāda said gṛhasthas should be paramahaṁsas, what to speak of the brahmacārīs?! Ha! ha! So, Śrīla Prabhupāda in that lecture in London, he also said that Guru Mahārāja was the son of Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura who was a gṛhastha, who was an ācārya. So my disciples said should also have ācāryas as their children. When it was time for leaving his body, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura held the hands of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura. And he told him to preach the message and instructions of the Six-Gosvāmīs and Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. And his wife, the mother of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, lived on the planet for a few more years. When she was on her death bed, at that time she also held on to the hands of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, and she said to preach the teachings of Lord Gaurāṅga, as much and as far as possible. So everyone of the gṛhasthas here, their children, if they can be inspired like that, then that would be really wonderful! When I heard this, I was very touched.

So we have many gṛhasthas in our community, like seven thousand. Maybe like five hundred brahmacārīs - most of them are out on book distribution. So this was a very inspirational day. I was sick and I could not come down, but I was listening on my mobile phone. So Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and his good wife gave a nice example of how the gṛhasthas should live. He also told Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura to begin the parikramā of Śrīdhāma Māyāpur, Navadvīpa. And it was beyond my imagination how to use this, but Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura said by doing this Navadvīpa parikramā everyone in the universe can receive kṛṣṇa-bhakti! And he also instructed that we should see to the service of Śrī Māyāpur, that it becomes permanently established and more resplendent each day! He said, nirjana-bhajana is not the way. Distribute books and propagate Nāma-haṭṭa!

They gave me this to read on the Pañca-krośa parikramā on 26^th December. But we do different parikramās, and one of them is Pañca-krośa. So he is saying to Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, this is my special instruction to you. Śrīla Prabhupāda, he took out the first parikramā party and it was his instruction that we continue with the parikramā. So we see that through the guru-paramparā we have received these instructions. So, please distribute books, preach and make Māyāpur effulgent! Haribol! Haribol! Haribol!