20250111 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.13.6-7

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 3.13.6

maitreya uvāca
yadā sva-bhāryayā sārdhaṁ
jātaḥ svāyambhuvo manuḥ
prāñjaliḥ praṇataś cedaṁ
veda-garbham abhāṣata

Translation: The sage Maitreya said to Vidura: After his appearance, Manu, the father of mankind, along with his wife, thus addressed the reservoir of Vedic wisdom, Brahmā, with obeisances and folded hands.

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.13.7

tvam ekaḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ
janma-kṛd vṛttidaḥ pitā
tathāpi naḥ prajānāṁ te
śuśrūṣā kena vā bhavet

Translation: You are the father of all living entities and the source of their subsistence because they are all born of you. Please order us how we may be able to render service unto you.

Purport: A son’s duty is not only to make the father the source of supply for all his needs, but also, when he is grown up, to render service unto him. That is the law of creation beginning from the time of Brahmā. A father’s duty is to bring up the son until he is grown, and when the son is grown up, it is his duty to render service unto the father.

* * *

Jayapatākā Swami: So every 71 catur-yugas you have a different Manu. In one day of Brahmā, you have 14 Manus. So, he, Manu, is a person with a long-life. So he was praying to his father, Brahmā along with his wife, what service can we do for you? Lord Brahmā is the source of all Vedic knowledge. He is the father, spiritual master, everything. So the duty of a father, spiritual master is that you must deliver your children, your disciples from the cycle of repeated birth and death. There is a verse in the scriptures that one should not be a guru or father or a husband or a deva. Because he is under your guidance, under your supervision, therefore you must deliver him from the cycle of repeated birth and death. Most children look to their fathers to supply their needs. But when they grow up, they should serve their fathers. This is the law of creation, Śrīla Prabhupāda said, since the time of Lord Brahmā. So, the father is supposed to bring up the son and when the son has grown up, he should serve the father. I thought my father would be very pleased when I told him that, “I have become a devotee!” My father said, “You come right back, otherwise, I will give your name to the draft, and you will die in Vietnam!” So, this stipulation that we should not be a father, husband, guru, is if you cannot your liberate your children. So, I realized that my purvāśrama father was not able to liberate me. So, in that situation, we don’t have to follow the father’s order. So I asked my guru, Śrīla Prabhupāda, “What should I do?” He told me that, “Better you join Kṛṣṇa’s army!” So I did that and have been in Kṛṣṇa’s army ever since! If your father is Brahmā or someone, then it makes sense to follow his instructions. Lord Rāma’s father was very religious, Kṛṣṇa conscious. When Lord Rāma was told by His father to go to the forest for 14 years, He felt obliged to do that. But His mother told Him differently. But He had received from His father first. So, He felt obliged to follow His father’s order. His mother, she gave an opposite instruction. So, Kauśalyā the mother said, You are giving me pain! Anyway, there are various examples where the father gave instructions and the son followed them. If the father is spiritually inclined and has powers, then he has to be followed. So, we think that we do not know what is good for us and what is bad for us. Therefore, we accept a guru, spiritual master and whatever orders he gives we follow.

Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted us to spread Lord Caitanya’s movement all over the world. And so by carrying out the orders of our guru, our Founder-Ācārya, the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement has spread all over the world.

Manu, he is asking Lord Brahmā, “What service we can do for you? So he is a putra, a good son.”

Today is also Jagadīśa Paṇḍita’s appearance day. He is a friend of Lord Nityānanda Prabhu or His branch. He went to Jagannātha Purī on the order of his superiors. Then, he preached there and from there he came back to a village near Chakdaha. And he brought Lord Jagannātha Deities on a stick. So, Śrīla Prabhupāda went to Chakdaha. He saw the Jagadīśa Paṇḍita’s Deities. And the stick that Jagadīśa Paṇḍita brought the Jagannātha Deities on, that stick is still there! Śrīla Prabhupāda gave a lecture in Chakdaha. One of the few times he gave a Bengali lecture! And it was an interesting lecture. He said how people went to Calcutta by train. Then from the train station they go to their office, either by bus, train or walking. Then they get into their office and work for a couple of hours. Then they have a tea break. They would eat a biscuit. And after that again back to work. For a couple of hours. Then after that have lunch or tiffin for half an hour. After that back to work and then tea break for fifteen minutes. Then work again. And then they have another tea break! Take a biscuit! 15-minute break. Then back to work. Then they leave for the day. They walk or travel one hour to the train station. Then they take a train to Chakdaha, for an hour or hour and a half. Then they go and have their dinner. Then they either have sex or go to sleep. Śrīla Prabhupāda gave a lecture like this. Then he asked people, “Is this human life? IS THIS HUMAN LIFE?!” “While going by train to Calcutta, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa,” he said. After that, following Śrīla Prabhupāda’s instructions, the people arranged one bogie on the train, all the people from Chakdaha would perform kīrtana till they reached Calcutta. Last time I asked, it seems they were still doing it! Śrīla Prabhupāda, he was encouraging the people to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Manu, he lives 71 catur-yugas. We are in the Kali-yuga. In Kali-yuga people live approximately 100 years or 80 years of life span.  But Kali-yuga is 420,000 years. So, our life is very short. 71 times 4million 20 or 30 thousand years - that is Manu’s life.  So he has different things he has to do for Lord Brahmā. Lord Caitanya, His prakaṭa-līlā, His visible pastimes, was for 48 years. And He spent half of that in Navadvīpa. Within those 24 years in Navadvīpa, maybe He spent a year in Bangladesh. Then He went to Jagannātha Purī, He spent six years travelling around India. So, Lord Caitanya and the Pañca-tattva, They come externally to start the saṅkīrtana movement. But the confidential reason was to be a devotee.

Śrīla Prabhupāda was saying how a putra means a son. And mūtra means urine. Both the son and the urine come from the same genitals. If the son is an obedient servant of the Lord, he is called putra. If the son is not learned, not a devotee then he is no better than urine! So, if our father gives us instruction that is religious, then it is our duty to follow, but if he does not then it is not necessary to follow them. Like, Prahlāda Mahārāja, his father was a demon, he told him not to worship Kṛṣṇa. Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī wanted to join Lord Caitanya. But, his father did not want that. Bali Mahārāja disobeyed Śukrācārya. So, there are many examples when the person gave irreligious orders, the son did not follow.

So this verse and purport gives some instructions, how we should be dedicated and follow the father, guru, etc. And when not to follow. So, the fathers and mothers have a big responsibility. I saw in New Tālavana, USA, a mother (a lady) was sitting with six children. There was a plate of sandeśa! And all the children were chanting their japa. At the end of the japa period, they did not have beads, they were just chanting. Then they gave the sandeśā out to the kids. Like that, they were training the children to chant.

Jagadīśa Paṇḍita whose appearance day is today, next station down is the place of his brother Maheśa Paṇḍita. I don’t know his birthplace or āśrama but the sevaite there told Śrīla Prabhupāda that we want this āśrama to join ISKCON. So, Śrīla Prabhupāda went there and gave a lecture. He said, “Monday to Saturday, you work in Calcutta. On Sunday, you all, what you eat, you put together, cook it and offer to the Deity and eat it!” So Śrīla Prabhupāda gave some practical suggestion how they could be more Kṛṣṇa conscious. Now here in Māyāpur, we have about 7,000 odd devotees living, you have to see how to get love of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu and how to preach, you have to think about this.

Sujitendriya dāsa: We have about 60,000 visitors coming into Māyāpur, we have to see how to make them Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu conscious and preach to them.

Jayapatākā Swami: That was the next thing I was going to say. But I wanted to say that you all be Kṛṣṇa conscious and think what you want to do. Actually, on the New Year’s Day, we had 105,000 people who came here. And every day we have tens of thousands of people!

So just as Manu was asking Lord Brahmā what sevā they could do, similarly we should think what sevā we can do for guru and Śrīla Prabhupāda. Haribol!