19850609 Bhagavad-gītā 9.34

The following is a lecture given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami, on June 9th, 1985, in Toronto, Canada. The class is beginning from the reading of Bhagavad-gītā, Chapter 9, text 34.

Jayapatākā Swami: Today we are reading from the Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā As it is, Chapter 9, text 34.

Translation by his Divine Grace Abhay Charan Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda: Engage your mind always in thinking of me, become My devotee, offer obeisance’s unto Me and worship Me. Being completely absorbed in Me, surely you will come to me.

Purport: In this verse it is clearly indicated that Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the only means of being delivered from the clutches of this contaminated material world. Sometimes unscrupulous commentators distort the meaning of what is clearly stated here: that all devotional service should be offered to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. Unfortunately, unscrupulous commentators divert the mind of the reader to that which is not at all feasible. Such commentators do not know that there is no difference between Kṛṣṇa's mind and Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is not an ordinary human being; He is Absolute Truth. His body, His mind and He Himself are one and absolute. It is stated in the Kūrma Purāṇa, as it is quoted by Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī in his Anubhāṣya comments on Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Fifth Chapter, Ādi-līlā, verses 41-48), deha-dehi-vibhedo 'yaṁ neśvare vidyate kvacit. This means that there is no difference in Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Lord, between Himself and His body. But because the commentators do not know this science of Kṛṣṇa, they hide Kṛṣṇa and divide His personality from His mind or from His body. Although this is sheer ignorance of the science of Kṛṣṇa, some men make profit out of misleading people.

There are some who are demonic; they also think of Kṛṣṇa, but enviously, just like King Kaṁsa, Kṛṣṇa's uncle. He was also thinking of Kṛṣṇa always, but he thought of Kṛṣṇa as his enemy. He was always in anxiety, wondering when Kṛṣṇa would come to kill him. That kind of thinking will not help us. One should be thinking of Kṛṣṇa in devotional love. That is bhakti. One should cultivate the knowledge of Kṛṣṇa continuously. What is that favorable cultivation? It is to learn from a bona fide teacher. Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and we have several times explained that His body is not material, but is eternal, blissful knowledge. This kind of talk about Kṛṣṇa will help one become a devotee. Understanding Kṛṣṇa otherwise, from the wrong source, will prove fruitless.

One should therefore engage his mind in the eternal form, the primal form of Kṛṣṇa; with conviction in his heart that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme, he should engage himself in worship. There are hundreds of thousands of temples in India for the worship of Kṛṣṇa, and devotional service is practiced there. When such practice is made, one has to offer obeisances to Kṛṣṇa. One should lower his head before the Deity and engage his mind, his body, his activities—everything. That will make one fully absorbed in Kṛṣṇa without deviation. This will help one transfer to the Kṛṣṇaloka. One should not be deviated by unscrupulous commentators. One must engage in the nine different processes of devotional service, beginning with hearing and chanting about Kṛṣṇa. Pure devotional service is the highest achievement of human society.

The Seventh and Eighth chapters of Bhagavad-gītā have explained pure devotional service to the Lord that is free from speculative knowledge, mystic yoga and fruitive activities. Those who are not purely sanctified may be attracted by different features of the Lord like the impersonal brahma-jyoti and localized Paramātmā, but a pure devotee directly takes to the service of the Supreme Lord.

There is a beautiful poem about Kṛṣṇa in which it is clearly stated that any person who is engaged in the worship of demigods is most unintelligent and cannot achieve at any time the supreme award of Kṛṣṇa. The devotee, in the beginning, may sometimes fall from the standard, but still he should be considered superior to all other philosophers and yogīs. One who always engages in Kṛṣṇa consciousness should be understood to be a perfectly saintly person. His accidental nondevotional activities will diminish, and he will soon be situated without any doubt in complete perfection. The pure devotee has no actual chance to fall down, because the Supreme Godhead personally takes care of His pure devotees. Therefore, the intelligent person should take directly to the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness and happily live in this material world. He will eventually receive the supreme award of Kṛṣṇa.

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta purports to the ninth chapter of the Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā in the matter of ‘The most confidential knowledge’.

Jayapatākā Swami: This material world is sometimes described as ‘saṁsāra’ or the world of birth and death, and in the material world we become entangled in the reactions to our activities in this life and in previous lives. Therefore, even though we may want peace and happiness sometimes, always we want, but we are not able to always have that peace and happiness in the material world. So the example has been given that this material world is like a spider’s web and Kṛṣṇa is just like the spider who is weaving the web. So, you know that in the spider’s web, so many little flies are getting caught. And the more they try to get out the more they become entangled. But the spider; have you ever seen, has a spider ever got caught in the web? Who can say? No, the spider does not get caught. He is able to run on the web without getting caught. That is his mystic power. Spider has got some mystic power. So in the same way someone who surrenders to Kṛṣṇa as he has advised here by thinking of Him, becoming His devotee, offering obeisance to Him, and worshiping Him, becoming absorbed in thinking about Him; that person will be able to go back to Kṛṣṇa. So even in this lifetime,

īhā yasya harer dāsye karmaṇā manasā girā
 nikhilāsv apy avasthāsu jīvan muktaḥ sa ucyate
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.187)

Such a person is considered to be liberated even while living. So it is said it is just like becoming a baby spider. The baby spiders, they also do not get captured in the spider’s web. So if a person becomes a devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Parambramha or the absolute truth and engages in pure devotional services is recommended here. Then one does not get entangled in the material world, but rather just like the spider babies you can go without getting entangled. So, Kṛṣṇa is trying to help his friend Arjuna how to get out of the material world, how to achieve His eternal shelter? He had previously said in the 32nd verse, today we are reading at 34th, that anyone, even those who are a businessman, labor, or any age, whether man, whether women, that if they take shelter of the Lord through this process of devotional service or sādhana-bhakti, that they can attain the supreme destination. So then it is said that, if there is someone who is already very qualified, someone who is already very righteous, someone who is a great brāhmaṇa, or who is very learned in spiritual matters, then how much quicker can they achieve perfection by engaging in the devotional service of the Lord.

Just as so many rivers are gradually merging into the ocean, so the different paths of spiritual realization ultimately bring one to realize Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Param Bhagavān and when one realizes Kṛṣṇa, then one engages in his bhakti or His devotional service. That is considered to be on the transcendental platform. For instance, in this material world we are always serving someone. We are serving either our friends, or our wife, or our husband, or our family, or some relative or the country. If someone does not want to serve anyone, then they may serve at least their pet dog. In the morning you can see people taking their dog out, doing dog-sevā, service to the dogs. We are naturally by nature servant. It is unnatural for us to be Lord. Artificially in this material world we are trying to lord it over the material nature. Because of that lording over tendency, we become entangled in the stringent laws of the material world. So, when we rather cultivate our serving attitude by serving the Supreme object of service, the Lord Himself, that is the singular most purifying thing that we can do. That automatically lifts us up and frees us from the entanglement of this material world, and it established a link with us and Kṛṣṇa to take us back to his spiritual world. This is Kṛṣṇa’s very clear promise—mām evaiṣyasi—that you will definitely come back to me. This is very scientific. According to the Bhagavad-gītā (8.6)

yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ
tyajaty ante kalevaram

At the time of leaving this body, known normally as 'death we go to what everyone thinking about. For instance, the history in the Bhāgavatam reveals that Mahārāja Bharata, a great king, he gave up his family, gave up his kingdom, gave everything up and went into the forest to do meditation. He had even achieved some siddhi or perfection. But inadvertently a baby deer was adopted by him when during a storm the mother died, the mother deer died. giving birth to the baby. So he picked up the baby, fed it and treated as a pet. When that mahārāja Bharata was dying, he was thinking about the deer, ‘Who will take care of the deer? Who will feed the deer? What will happen to the deer?’ So because he was thinking about the deer, in his next life he became a deer. He took birth as a deer.

Whatever we think about, that is what we achieve in our next life. So fortunately because he had performed so much yoga practice, he could remember his; he maintained the same human consciousness although in a deer’s body. So he had plenty of time to contemplate on how ridiculous it was that he had gone so far, and yet at the last moment, rather than giving his full attachment to Kṛṣṇa, instead he allowed himself to become infatuated with the baby deer, thus causing him to take another birth as a deer. Of course it’s a long story. The next life after his deer birth, he took birth as Jaḍa Bharata. At that time, he was able to achieve complete perfection. 

So I just wanted to use that as an example that whatever we are thinking about when we die, when we leave this body, that’s where we will go in our next life. So, if we train our mind to think about Kṛṣṇa in this life; man-manā bhava mad-bhaktaḥ: Man-manā means give me your mind, think about me. ‘Mad-bhakto’—become my devotee. This is the easiest way to achieve Kṛṣṇa, to just become his devotee, whether you are living in a house, whether you’re living in a temple, wherever we may be living, it is very easy to think of Kṛṣṇa, to chant Kṛṣṇa’s name, to offer your obeisances to Kṛṣṇa, to offer your meals to Kṛṣṇa according to the process of “bhoga naivedya”, or offering of prasāda foodstuff. In this way, naturally, when you leave the body you can think of Kṛṣṇa because that has become your habit.

So, suddenly if a person says “Now, I am too young. Let me get old, then I will practice.” That is not a very good proposal. Suddenly after 60 years of thinking in one way, how will a person suddenly change their habit of thinking? Rather by gradual habit of chanting, of meditating on the Lord, it will be easy even at the end of life or any sudden moment to think about Kṛṣṇa. Someone may say, “Well! what will happen to me… what if at the time of death I am not be able to think of Kṛṣṇa?” Well, even Mahārāja Bharata, although he made a mistake, but because of his spiritual practices, he was protected. So that eventually he did achieve the shelter of Kṛṣṇa. So Kṛṣṇa describes in Bhagavad-gītā that someone who does good, someone who does auspicious spiritual activities, there is never… any, it is not possible to get a bad result. There will always be a good result.

Kṛṣṇa, when He was present, some people could recognize Kṛṣṇa, and some people could not recognize Kṛṣṇa. There is a very interesting example. You know that Kṛṣṇa lived in Vṛndāvana for the first sixteen years of His life. In there in Vṛndāvana, He was tending the cows. He was under the care of Nanda Mahārāja and Yaśodā Māyī, and there he had so many pastimes in Vṛndāvana including rāsa-līlā and others. So then Akrūra came and took him to Mathurā, and he went there to rescue Devakī and Vasudeva, his original mother and father from the prison house of Kaṁsa. So Kaṁsa had invited Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma to come and wrestle against Muṣṭika and Cāṇūra, two great wrestlers. His idea was that these wrestlers should kill Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma. Also Kamsa arranged that his killer elephant, the Kaliyapada was it? Kuvalayāpīḍa would crush Kṛṣṇa when he came to that arena. Kaṁsa was a demon who his whole life, he would always think about Kṛṣṇa in hate. His idea was always to kill Kṛṣṇa from the very moment he heard Kṛṣṇa’s name.

So it was very unusual when Kṛṣṇa entered into that arena. There were thousands and thousands of people all around. The wrestlers were in the centre. King Kaṁsa, he was in the cover area of the stadium, it was a big stadium.

Mother Yaśodā and Nanda Mahārāja, they were present, great yogīs and sages were present. Common people were present. There was this huge audience to see what was going to happen. So when Kṛṣṇa came in as a 16 years old boy with his brother Balarāma, at that time each individual who saw Kṛṣṇa; saw Kṛṣṇa from a different realization. For instance, his mother Yaśodā and father Nanda Mahārāja, they saw Kṛṣṇa, they thought, “There is our son!” Some common people, they said, “What is this!? These two boys coming in, they are going to fight against these big wrestlers? This is not fair! What is this? This is no even match.” There are some foolish people, they look, they said, “What is this? They are two fools. They will come and fight against these wrestlers?” and there were some great siddha-yogīs, some great realized yogīs. They saw Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma, they said, “There is the Paramātmā Himself, come here.” Those who are the impersonal yogīs, they saw there is the bramha-jyoti personified. Those two wrestlers they looked at the Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma. Although they were young boys, they looked at them as great heroes. And they were very afraid that these are very formidable foes.

The young ladies in the audience they saw Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, “They are the most beautiful cupid. Who has ever seen someone so handsome, so beautiful?” Everyone there looked at Kṛṣṇa and saw something different. No two people could see the same unless they were on the same level of realization. The pure devotees of Kṛṣṇa, they saw Kṛṣṇa and said, “There is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Supreme Absolute Truth, our eternal Lord and Master”. And Kaṁsa, the demon king, when he saw Kṛṣṇa, he saw personified death, that, “Today my death has come.”

So achieving Kṛṣṇa… many people have seen Kṛṣṇa when He was here on this planet 5000 years ago. But simply seeing Kṛṣṇa, that is not the actual perfection. Because Kaṁsa saw Kṛṣṇa, all those different people saw Kṛṣṇa, but who could actually see Kṛṣṇa as He was? Only His pure devotees could see Him in his perfectional, in His real form, in His more complete form. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa says ‘bhaktyā mām abhijānāti’ (Bg. 18.55) except form my devotee no one can know me as I am.

So, if someone wants to know Kṛṣṇa, then the only method that He has offered is this process of devotional service or bhakti-sādhanā.  To know the other forms of Kṛṣṇa, there may be other processes. But eventually everyone, in the final realization, they come to the point of realizing Kṛṣṇa. and at that time they have to perform this same system of devotional service. So why go through so many different processes which are roundabout, when there is a direct route? Actually, there is no difficulty in performing devotional service. It is very natural. If one understands that one is actually the servant of the Lord, what is the difficulty in bowing down to Him? What is the difficulty in chanting His name? We should not think that chanting the name of the Lord is like some form of concentration. Because in that case we could chant so many rock and roll songs. *Gurudeva hums a tune* So many songs are there. someone could chant those songs, why chant the mantra? Whole world is chanting some rock n roll, or some music or some song, but they are not achieving the perfection of life. They are not solving the problems of their life. There is something different about the chanting this mahā-mantra

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣna Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare
Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare

The chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa is described in the Vedas as being non different from Kṛṣṇa Himself.

nāma cintāmaṇiḥ kṛṣṇaś
caitanya-rasa-vigrahaḥ
pūrṇaḥ śuddho nitya-mukto…
(Cc. Madhya 17.133)

This holy name is actually eternally liberated and nāma-nāmī—there is no difference between the name and the named. For instance, if I am thirsty and I call out “Water, water” is not going to quench my thirst. I will become more thirsty. Because there is a difference between the word water, pānī, tanni, jol, and the substance water. But Kṛṣṇa being the Parama Brahma, there is no difference between his name, the vibration Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa Himself, His eternal form—the sac-cid-ānanda rūpa. This is the difference between a material vibration and a spiritual vibration.

So, when a person is in need, for instance Draupadī. Draupadī was alone. Her husband was there helpless. She was being insulted by Duḥśāsana, the unworthy son of the Kurus. At that time who was there to save her? But simply she raised her hand and called out on the name Keśava, Kṛṣṇa. Immediately Kṛṣṇa was present. You can say it’s like transcendental telephone. If you say Kṛṣṇa, He has no separation between time and space, because He is all pervasive, He is existing simultaneously within everything as well as in His eternal abode. So when you say Kṛṣṇa, He is immediately present, dancing on your tongue. So Draupadī said “Kṛṣṇa!!”, and Kṛṣṇa came and immediately saved her. When little Prahlāda Mahārāja, his father challenged him “Where is your Kṛṣṇa? Is He in the sky?”

“Yes.”

“Is He in this column?”

“Yes, He is everywhere.”

So then he took his sword and smashed the column of his palace, and immediately there was a resounding sound which shattered the entire universe, and out came the form of Kṛṣṇa—Narasiṁhadeva—to prove His devotee’s word was correct. That He is simultaneously present in every atom, in everyone's heart, everywhere.

So, the devotee is able to see the Lord everywhere. But the non-devotee is not able to perceive that. Non-devotees, they try to love themselves, they try to love their neighbours through a mental adjustment. But the devotee by loving Kṛṣṇa, because Kṛṣṇa is present in everyone’s heart, they naturally love everyone. So, the easiest way to develop love for everyone is to love Kṛṣṇa. If you try to love everyone, that is very difficult in some other independent way, because it is very artificial. But when someone is actually a lover of Kṛṣṇa, then as the Bhagavad-gītā (5.18) states ‘paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ’ that person become equal-visioned to everyone.

So Lord Caitanya, whose 500^th anniversary we are celebrating this year, 1986 rather, in March 26^th, He came as is predicted in the Vedas. That in Kali-yuga it is predicted, the Lord personally comes as a channa-avatāra. That Kṛṣṇa comes in a non-blackish colour, in a golden colour.

kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ
sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam
yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair
yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ

(ŚB. 11.5.32)

So Kṛṣṇa, He was here 5000 years ago as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But only 500 years ago He came as his own devotee to teach how to practice this process of bhakti-yoga, or devotional yoga, by His personal example. Just like sometimes a teacher takes a pencil and shows how to write, “Write like this”, just to show the student. When Śrī Kṛṣṇa spoke the Bhagavad-gītā, then there was only one understanding of Bhagavad-gītā. But now there are hundreds and hundreds of copies and translations of Bhagavad-gītā, and people, they started to misinterpret, and to misunderstand the real purport or purpose of the Bhagavad-gītā.  So to show by his own example, Kṛṣṇa came as Lord Caitanya. To show this process of applying the Bhagavad-gītā. Lord Caitanya, He had devotees who were kings, great zamindars (or landlords), as well as simple banana salesman.

He had one devotee called Kolāveca Śrīdhara. Kolāveca Śrīdhara, he was very poor. He was growing bananas in Bengal. In Bengal every house has got bananas. So when he is selling bananas, it is not a kind of high supply and demand item. Everyone has got bananas. Only if there is some accidental need, might you need bananas. So, he wasn’t making a lot of profits from his banana sales. It is like selling bananas in Costa Rica or something like that. Or for those who are from North America. Bengal and Orissa, these are very humid parts of India where there are plenty of bananas, and mangoes, and tropical fruits. So everyone has got bananas in the village. So his occupation was growing bananas, selling the leaves, the banana, the flower, the centre, the ‘thora’ of the banana, the mocā (flower), all the different parts of the bananas. But he was a very great devotee. Although he was a small businessman, He was very sincere. He would chant everyday

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare
Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare

and he was very happy. So, he had a special service given by His guru, that with 50% of his income he would worship every day the mother Ganges. He would go to the Ganges and he would do worship like he is doing here, ringing the bells, offering lights and fans. Normally when we give a lecture, they don’t ring the bell. Not to disturb but when you worship, you are ringing a bell. This is a standard practice. So, they ring the bell, offer different things. So, he was very poor. It took half of his income just to buy the incense, the ghee and the few things that he would use in worshiping the Ganges. He would spend, how much he made, 50% in buying that many ingredients, and he would offer worship to the Gaṅges. So, some of his fellow countrymen, they approached him, and said, “Listen! Why don’t not stop this worship of the Gaṅges for a year? Build up your capital, become rich, and then you can do a bigger worship of the Gaṅges.”

He said, “If I stop worshiping the Gaṅges, then what will ensure that again in future I will begin to worship again? Once I break the habit, then I could forget forever. No, I don't want to take that risk.” 

So, then they would… because the whole night he was always chanting with his friends ‘Hare Kṛṣṇa’. So, they used to say, “Listen! Why do not you repair your house? It has got holes in the roof.” Because he is a very poor man.

He said that, “It is all right. It keeps out the sun and in hot weather it gives a little ventilation.” He had a sense of humour.

They said, “Well! Listen, you have got a hole in in your dhoti, in your cloth.”

He said that, “At least I am not naked. And there is no problem for that.” 

So in this way there was always a constant. All his materialistic friends, they would always be on his case that, “Why don’t you simply give up all this spiritual nonsense and then you become rich and famous.”

And then he said, “If I become rich and famous, it is by the Lord’s mercy. I am working hard, I am working sincerely, I am not going to try beyond. I will try… but I will never stop this chanting process.”

So they would be so critical that when he chanted at night, they would say, “Oh! This crazy guy! He is chanting at night because he is hungry, can’t sleep. So he is howling ‘Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa.” Totally you see, un-sympathetic people.”

One day Lord Caitanya, He would have these very big kīrtana parties. Kīrtana means it is congregational chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa with hundreds of devotees. So, one day Advaita Gosāñī, one of the great devotees of Lord Caitanya, He perceived by saying some prayers to Lord Kṛṣṇa, that Lord Caitanya had gone into a trance and was actually manifesting… He was in that particular moment, in that particular mood, He was in the mood of His original self. Kṛṣṇa. So at that time, he started to perform a great ārati ceremony to Lord Caitanya, and in that moment Lord Caitanya, He started to give benedictions to different devotees.

There was one devotee named Murāri Gupta. Murāri Gupta was a doctor. He was a great devotee of Lord Rāma, So, at that time Lord Caitanya revealed his form as Lord Rāmacandra, and then Murāri Gupta… He revealed that actually he was Hanumān who had taken birth as Murāri Gupta and to assist Lord Caitanya who was actually Kṛṣṇa and Rāma, in that special pastimes. So when Murāri Gupta saw he was Hanumān, he became so shocked to see his real identity, he fainted. When he came back to his consciousness, he was back again, Dr. Murāri Gupta. So, like this each devotees are being called and they are been revealed their previous births. What they were in their previous birth. What was their real identity? It was a great revelation, It was a wonderful mystery! Some devotees, Lord Caitanya would give them benedictions, give them blessings, whatever they wanted. He said, “You bring me that banana salesman Śrīdhara.”

They went to Śrīdhara, the banana salesman and said that, “Lord Caitanya wants to see you now!”

He said, “Me? I’m just a simple vegetable, banana seller. He wants to see me? Lord Caitanya??”

“Yes.”

He fainted.  It was too much. Couldn’t imagine why he would be wanted to be seen. So they picked him up and brought him to Lord Caitanya. So that time, when he became conscious, there he saw Lord Caitanya was manifesting his effulgent form with effulgence everywhere. There was a complete transcendental display. The devotees are chanting kīrtana and ārati is going on. Lord Caitanya said, “Now Śrīdhara, you are My devotee. You served me faithfully. Whatever you want you can have. You tell me what do you want? Do you want to have unlimited wealth? A big kingdom? Take it.”

Kolāveca Śrīdhara, the banana salesman said “No. I don’t want that.”

“You don’t want that!? Mystic power (siddhi)? You can become smaller than an atom, larger than a planet. You can reach away in Hong Kong and bring back a Rolex watch!” Of course, He did not say that but I am explaining what siddhi is. One of the siddhīs is prāpti—you can get anything you want. If you want something from the moon, you can get it. That’s called prāpti. Aṇimā, laghimā prāpti, mahimā, these are different siddhīs, aṣṭasiddhīs.

So of course, Lord Caitanya said, “Do you want siddhi? Want this mystic power?”

So he said, “No, I don’t want mystic power”

“What do you want? You take mystic power! You can have anything you want.”

He said, “That’s not what I want.”

“Okay, what do you want? Do you want liberation from the repetition of birth and death? Freedom from reincarnation?”

He said “No, I don’t want that.”

“You don’t want liberation?? Then what is that do you want?”

He said “My dear Lord! My desire is that whenever you take Your avatāra—Your incarnation in this world—whether it is Kṛṣṇa, or Rāma, or Caitanya, or whatever from You come in, my desire is that I could offer You Your banana and vegetable needs. If I could do some service, I don’t want liberation. If I can serve you eternally, that is my desire. If I am not worthy to serve you, then at least if I can have the association with Your devotees who are always filled with Your transcendental loving devotion.”

So then Caitanya said, “I am going to give you that benediction which even Lord Śiva and Lord Brahmā are eager to get. But they don’t get it easily. I am going to give you my pure love. Krṣṇa-prema.”

When the devotees heard that the simple banana salesman, a hawker in the street, he was given by Caitanya Mahāprabhu the āśīrvāda, the blessings of Kṛṣṇa-prema, pure love for Kṛṣṇa. they started to say “HARIBOL HARIBOL HARIBOL” they started to just rejoice. The mercy of Lord Caitanya is compassion. This is very esoteric. Most people in our Hindu tradition, or Vedic tradition, we know that there is dharma, artha, kāma, and mokṣa. First there is religious practices—dharma, then there is artha—the economic development, make some money. Why? Kāma—so you can get sense gratification, and enjoy the senses, and have a happy material life. And at the end-of-life mokṣa—achieve liberation from birth and death. So these are considered as the puruṣārthas, or the purpose of life. Actually Kṛṣṇa, He gives these benedictions very easy. If you want liberation, or material benediction, Kṛṣṇa gives his devotee very easily. In Vṛndāvana one lady came up, offered Kṛṣṇa some fruits. She looked back; her whole basket had become jewels. Kṛṣṇa gives this type of material benedictions very easily. Why? Even giving liberation, He gives very easily. What is the reason? The reason is that when Kṛṣṇa gives those benedictions, there is no obligation on his part. Just like if a boss says, “You take a hundred-dollar bonus.” It’s a onetime thing. Finished. But if he says, “I am going to give you a raise.” That means that it is a perpetual thing. So when Kṛṣṇa gives liberation or some material benediction or mystic power, or something like that, then Kṛṣṇa has got no further warranty, no kind of further obligation is there. But when Kṛṣṇa gives pure devotion to His devotee, when He gives that love of Kṛṣṇa, then Kṛṣṇa says, “I never let my devotee perish. I always protect my devotee.” Just like Kṛṣṇa adopting the devotees, just like the spider and baby spider.

*End of Transcription*

Verified by: Sadānanda Kṛṣṇaprema Dāsa