19870809 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.10.18 & Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta Ādi 6.76

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami on August 9^th, 1987 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The class was given on the occasion of Lord Balarāma’s appearance day and begins with a reading from the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.10.18 and continues with the reading from the Caitanya Caritāmṛta Ādi-līlā 6.76.

*Gurudeva shares some drops of Prabhupāda nectar*

Jayapātāka Swami: Thousands were gathered nicely. The crowd was some time so large and excited that Prabhupāda would have difficulty speaking above the noise. So, he would have hold the kīrtana. When they were quiet, he would have one or two of his disciples speak. Then he would speak. If the audience again begin noisy, he would again sing. “Alright let us have kīrtana.” Sometimes he would simply sit and distribute bits of sugar candy to the thousands who approached him to touch his lotus feet and take a piece of prasādam.

Girirāja: “All the area around his block was completely packed with people.  They were all mad after Śrīla Prabhupāda, and Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Although a very big area, still people were occupying every space available, perching on roof tops, looking out windows, sitting on hard cement boulders or blocks scattered here and there. Everything about Prabhupāda’s programme was completely satisfying to everyone. The old people liked it because there was the saintly figure of Śrīla Prabhupāda with his young foreign disciples. And the intellectual liked it because Śrīla Prabhupāda was giving such sound philosophy, and the children liked it because they can run and dance and join the kīrtana.”

Madri dāsī: “At one programme they mobbed us. So we couldn’t even get out of the cars. They were so eager to see Śrīla Prabhupāda. There were so many people. Prabhupāda said, “All right, the next night would be a night for ladies only.  So, the next line only ladies came, but still it was just as packed! And Prabhupāda gave a wonderful lecture.”

Bruce: “One programme was so noisy that no one stopped talking. So Prabhupāda just started chanting the Brahma-saṁhitā. That was the whole programme. He just chanted the Brahma-saṁhitā. Then he gave up and went out.”

Cidānanda: “Before going to attend these programmes, Prabhupāda looked like a general getting ready to go out for battle. He would come out of his room beautifully dressed and effulgent, ready to go out and fight māyā. There were thousands and thousands of people waiting. I didn’t know what to make of it.  I couldn’t handle so many people, but Prabhupāda was raging war on māyā. He was there to convince all these people, and the more people would come, the stronger he will get. Prabhupāda preached to the outline villages also. He would ride in a car with Mr Jariwala, several disciples and his Rādhā Kṛṣṇa deities. The village dwellings made of big mud with strong woods and cow dung walls and floors. The villagers do rice flour designs on the ground, outside their houses and line their lanes with clay pots, plantain leaves and coconuts.

Mr. N.D. Patel: “People in my village very much impressed by the presence of Prabhupāda. They used to say that he has done miracles by chanting. He is a miracle saint, no doubt, people were saying. So many western people have become devotees just by chanting the name of the Lord. People were very much impressed by Prabhupāda’s practical way of bhakti. In his lectures Śrīla Prabhupāda ji created such a good impression not only on Vaiṣṇavas, but so many Christians, Parsīs. Even some Mohammedan friends started believing Lord Kṛṣṇa as universal Godhead.  With regards to all these things, nobody has been able to spread this philosophy like this in the past. In our village, we are already Vaiṣṇavas. Of course, we used to believe in Surya ji, Durgā, Ṭhākuraji and all these things, but after Prabhupāda’s explanation of what is Gītā, what is Lord Kṛṣṇa, we are chanting

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

After Prabhupāda conducted his discourse here in the village, the people were so impressed that even his absence they chant the mahā-mantra loudly and they greet people with the words, "Hare Kṛṣṇa! Hare Kṛṣṇa!" At the time of departure, the people wished every devotee and Prabhupāda with the words, “Hare Kṛṣṇa!”

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevaya! (3x)

nārāyaṇaṁ namaskṛtya
naraṁ caiva narottamam
devīṁ sarasvatīṁ vyāsaṁ
tato jayam udīrayet

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.10.18

mukhatas tālu nirbhinnaṁ
jihvātatropajāyate
tato nānā-rasojajñe
jihvayāyo ’dhigamyate

Translation: From the mouth the palate became manifested, and thereupon the tongue was also generated. After this all the different tastes came into existence so that the tongue can relish them.

Purport (by Śrīla Prabhupāda): This gradual process of evolution suggests the explanation of the controlling deities (adhidaiva) because Varuṇa is the controlling deity for all realisable juices. Therefore, the mouth becomes the resting place for the tongue, which tastes all the different juices, of which the controlling deity is Varuṇa. This suggests, therefore, that Varuṇa was also generated along with the development of the tongue. The tongue and the palate, being instrumental, are adhibhūtam, or forms of matter, but the functioning deity, who is a living entity, is adhidaiva, whereas the person undergoing the function is adhyātma. Thus, the three categories are also explained as to their birth after the opening of the mouth of the virāṭ-puruṣa. The main principle namely the adhyātma, adhidaiva, and adhibhūta as explained there.

Thus, end the Bhaktivedānta Swami purport and translation Text eighteen, chapter ten, canto second Śrīmad Bhāgavatam ‘The matter of the Bhāgavatam is the Answer to all questions’

Jayapatākā Swami: In the material creation things come from the subtle and they go to the gross. That’s how the original creation is formed. The Lord desires something, he manifests some sense, from there the subtle qualities come… taste, sound. In this way the Lord is the original cause of everything: the demigods, living entities, and the senses and the sense objects. Everything is provided by Kṛṣṇa. This is His transcendental opulence, that He simultaneously as Mahā Viṣṇu, He is manifesting the entire material universe without moving a hand. He can do it all lying down. If we must do something, we have to make so many endeavors to do it. But for Kṛṣṇa, He simply desires, and everything is happened. The Upaniṣads and the Purāṇas repeatedly mention there is 3 statuses: ādhyātmika, ādhidaivika and ādhibhautika. Here, in this section of the Bhāgavatam, very nice explanation from different points of view, different applications of ādhyātmika, ādhidaivika, ādhibhautika have been given. Now in other places, Śrīla Prabhupāda would use this example for the sufferings of material life. That means that he is practicing Kṛṣṇa conscious outside of the direct association of the devotees. Prabhupāda used examples. Ādhyātmika - that we suffer the pains of the body or mind, our own pains coming in body and mind. Ādhibhautika is the suffering coming from other living entities, and ādhidaivika are those sufferings which are coming beyond our control, because of the natural causes. These examples are given many many times in different parts of the śāstras. Here we have another application for ādhyātmika is the soul ādhidaivika are the demigods who control and ādhibhautika is the body which is encasing the soul. So, these different concepts of ādhyātmika, ādhibhautika and ādhidaivika have different applications in different parts of the Vedas. In this regard here, the ādhidaivika, ādhibhautika, and ādhidaivika which are been discussed relation to the creation and evolution, they are giving the second indication. The purpose of human life is meant to understand what is  the self. Ādhyātmika is ultimately meant to understand the Supreme Self. The Supreme Self is not different from the individual self. It is explained, the acintyabhedābheda-tattva. The Lord, being the complete whole, His parts are also part of the whole. But they are the similar quality. The same qualities in a minute proportion. So, this way the living entity never can become Kṛṣṇa, but the living entity can realize himself as well as the Supreme Self. When one has this realization, at that time when one’s suffering ends, one is situated in what is known as liberated state. Kṛṣṇa has senses, as revealed here in the Bhāgavatam. He can perceive things, He can see, taste, feel.  He can do everything we can do but much more. His senses are ‘sakalendriya-vṛttimanti.’ One sense can do the job of the other sense. He can taste with His hands, He can see with his feet. Any sense can do the activity of any other. He is not limited in any way by practically expanding senses to the living entities. It’s all coming through His desire. Kṛṣṇa, His spiritual body therefore is directly able to function and have perception. But being conditioned souls, we are given a material body, and the material body is outfitted in such a way that it can also perform similar functions. That is the wonderful thing. We can perform similar functions. These are all reflections of the Supreme Lord. Very proud and foolish religionists, they consider that we, the human beings are the top and what we can do - we can see, we can feel, we can smell - that Kṛṣṇa, or God, the Supreme Lord cannot do. If He can’t do something we can do, then how He is Supreme?  If He is Supreme, He must be able to do everything we can do plus more. Makes sense, the Supreme has to be able to do anything than anyone else can do. Now if we relate that the Supreme cannot do these things, that is in fact reducing Him lower than we are.  As we read this morning in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta that Lord Caitanya, He was spreading the saṅkīrtana chanting, going from place to place. On His way back from Vṛndāvana, He felt ecstatic and then there were group of soldiers, pathans, who saw Him unconscious with His associates. They thought that His associates had killed Him by giving Him some dhatūrā poison and killed Him, and now they were taking His money. But by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa they brought him back to consciousness. And then He was preaching to them from the Quran, how even in the Quran it mentions that the Lord has a form, and that form is actually the supreme understanding. In the Vedas there are many philosophers who conclude that the Supreme Lord is impersonal. They say since we have form, God must have no form. It very hard to convince such persons that what is the actual truth, because most of them are already in their preconceived idea, and they are not so open listen or want to change. This is very unfortunate. If such persons do get association of devotees and do engage in devotional service, it is possible that eventually, they can change. Just as the jñāna-yogīs, advaitavādīs, who consider in this way that the Lord is impersonal. Prabhupāda explains that their understanding is simply like taking from night to day, just making the opposite. So, it’s material logic. We have form in the material world, so the spiritual world must have no form. Spiritual truth must be formless. But if the Lord was formless, then where did all forms come from. If the original Absolute Truth was simply formless, there was never any from in the Absolute Truth, then where does form come from? Why would a formless Absolute Truth manifest a world filled with form? If the Absolute Truth is simply energy source, then how did everything with form come about? These questions remain unanswered because it is totally outside their purview.

Now modern science, they like the impersonal philosophy. They think it’s more appropriate for their scientific quest. In fact, the others like impersonal philosophy. In Calcutta, the local head of the KGB, Russian embassy worker who comes over and checks us out now and then, he was saying that, “When you are preaching your Kṛṣṇa consciousness, why can’t you preach like all the other missions? Rāmakṛṣṇa, this and that, they all preaching that God is nirākāra, he has no form. We don’t mind any worship, but why you have to preach that He is a Person, and He is the Supreme Autocrat, and He is the Supreme Authority and everyone has to surrender to Him, and they have to serve Him, and then He is the owner of everything, and He gives everyone of their quota. Why must you preach that? Why can’t you be just like advaitavādīs and preach that everything is nothing? We can’t accept that. You see actually, whole world has been proliferated with this disease of impersonalism. With the idea that everything is coming from nothing. Sometimes, when they speak, its very confusing, that how they said say that, “Yes, everything is something, and something is nothing, nothing is everything, everything is nothing, nothing is nothing (laughter).” See? Now you understood. (laughter) And as I mentioned before, when people go to these classes; they have big talks about nothing. (laughter) And after the talk when we ask, “Have you enjoyed the jñāna talk by swamiji?”

They said “Oh! Yes, brilliant speaker, brilliant speaker, wonderful!”

“What has he said?”

“What has he said? He is a big scholar! I am an ordinary person and I’m supposed to understand what he says? If I could understand what he said then what is the value of it? Of course, I couldn’t understand what he said (laughter). He is such a great speaker. It’s completely over my head, wonderful, wonderful.” So, this is the illusion. People, they want to think simply there is nothing and I can do whatever I want. I can enjoy my sense gratification because Absolute Truth is nothing, it just impersonal. So that means that I am Supreme in my own sphere, and there is no higher reality in the personal level. Finally, when they get frustrated, then they think about merging, or annihilating. Nihilistic. Otherwise, they simply think what is the use of merging. I will enjoy, because in the future there is just nothing. Actually, this impersonal philosophy encourages people to have more children, or more sex life, because it doesn’t give any alternative happiness. So people, they become more attached to the material happiness. The impersonal truth doesn't provide any attractive thing that would encourage one to reduce their sense gratification. So, this is basically the problem. But the impersonal philosophy, it encourages the people to take more shelter of the material world. So Kṛṣṇa comes down to dispel all this illusion. He comes with His brother Balarāma, and His associates, and They show the world His pastimes. He is the Supreme Person.  He is saccidānanda. Ṛg Veda says “oṁ kṛṣṇa vai saccidānanda ghanaḥ kṛṣṇa ādi-puruṣaḥ kṛṣṇa puruṣottamaḥ” He is eternal blissful knowledge.  He is Puruṣottama, Supreme personality. This is the nature of the Lord.  Because He is the person, therefore from Him, He can manifest this world. It is not that we imagine God. The atheist says, “Oh you just imagine God.” In fact, Kṛṣṇa is lying in yoga-nidrā and He is imagining the whole material world, and it is manifesting. That's what happens. So, by His desire the material world is manifesting. We are having material bodies so that we can imitate or emulate Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is actually the Supreme Enjoyer. When we want to enjoy imitating Kṛṣṇa, then He gives us this material body, so we can also create our own little world. In Bengali, when you enter in the gṛhastha life, they say saṁsāra-jīvana. I don’t know of other parts of India what they say, but they say saṁsāra-jīvana, life of saṁsāra. Saṁsāra means, of course, a world. And household life means to create one saṁsāra. So actually there one is creating one’s own little world with a wife, and the children, and the house, one's domain. And head of the samsara is husband. Wife is co-head helping. She is also making her world in relation with husband and children, and this way saṁsāra life, they’re creating their own dynasty. Children, grandchildren, businesses, properties, cows, servants etc, etc. as much as they’re able, to whatever degree, even up to being a king. This is the saṁsāra life. In that perspective you can how we are imitating Kṛṣṇa in a sense. He creates the world, we create our little world, our little dominion. But the difference of course is Kṛṣṇa is always satisfied and when we do it, we find that lot of problems come up. So, the conclusion is that we are not God. Although we have a little controlling propensity, our natural position is actually to be a servant of Kṛṣṇa. Not only are we a servant of Kṛṣṇa but everyone other than Kṛṣṇa is a servant of Kṛṣṇa, including his personal expansion who is? Balarāma! This is explained in Caitanya-Caritāmṛta Ādi-līlā text 76, chapter 6

ānera ki kathā, baladeva mahāśaya
yāṅra bhāva — śuddha-sakhya-vātsalyādi-maya

Translation: Not to speak of others, even Lord Baladeva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is full of emotions like pure friendship and paternal love        

Purport: Although Lord Baladeva appeared before the birth of Lord Kṛṣṇa and is therefore Kṛṣṇa’s worshipable elder brother, He used to act as Kṛṣṇa’s eternal servitor. In the spiritual sky all the Vaikuṇṭha planets are predominated by the quadruple expansions of Kṛṣṇa known as the catur-vyūha. They are direct expansions from Baladeva. It is the singularity of the Supreme Lord that everyone in the spiritual sky thinks himself a servitor of the Lord. According to social convention one may be superior to Kṛṣṇa, but factually everyone engages in His service. Therefore, in the spiritual sky or the material sky, in all the different planets, no one can supersede Lord Kṛṣṇa or demand service from Him. On the contrary, everyone engages in the service of Lord Kṛṣṇa. As such, the more a person engages in the service of the Lord, the more he is important; and, conversely, the more one is bereft of the transcendental service of Kṛṣṇa, the more he invites the bad fortune of material contamination. In the material world, although materialists want to become one with God or compete with God, everyone directly or indirectly engages in the service of the Lord. The more one is forgetful of the service of Kṛṣṇa, the more he is dying. Therefore, one develops pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he immediately develops his eternal servitorship to Kṛṣṇa.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, just like Lord Caitanya often said, “ekala īśvara kṛṣṇa, āra saba bhṛtya”. Balarāma He is being the older brother of Kṛṣṇa, He serves Kṛṣṇa like older brother going to protect Kṛṣṇa from anyone else,  but also it describes that Balarāma is the also the source of the service attitude.

Text 88

bhakta-abhimāna mūla śrī-balarāme
sei bhāve anugata tāṅra aṁśa-gaṇe

Translation: The source of the sentiment of servitude is indeed Lord Balarāma. The plenary expansions who follow Him are all influenced by that ecstasy.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Balarāma He also has His mood of servitorship. At the same time Balarāma is considered the first expansion of Kṛṣṇa. Prabhupāda said basically there is no difference between Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma. It says Kṛṣṇa as śyāma colour and Balarāma is whitish.

Ādi-līlā Chapter 5

Text 4

sarva-avatārī kṛṣṇa svayaṁ bhagavān
tāṅhāra dvitīya deha śrī-balarāma

Translation: The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, is the fountainhead of all incarnations. Lord Balarāma is His second body.

Purport: Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the absolute Personality of Godhead, is the primeval Lord, the original form of Godhead, in His first expansion is Śrī Balarāma. The Personality of Godhead can expand Himself in innumerable forms. The forms that have unlimited potency are called svāṁśa, and forms that have limited potencies (the living entities) are called vibhinnāṁśa.

Text 5

eka-i svarūpa doṅhe, bhinna-mātra kāya
ādya kāya-vyūha, kṛṣṇa-līlāra sahāya

Translation: Regarding Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, they are both born in the same identity. They differ only in form he is the first bodily expansion of Kṛṣṇa and he assists Kṛṣṇa in Lord Kṛṣṇa’s transcendental pastimes.

Purport: Balarāma is a svāṁśa expansion of the Lord, and therefore there is no difference in potency between Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma. The only difference is in Their bodily structure. As the first expansion of Godhead, Balarāma is the chief Deity among the first quadruple forms, and He is the foremost assistant of Śrī Kṛṣṇa in His transcendental activities.

Text 6

sei kṛṣṇa — navadvīpe śrī-caitanya-candra
sei balarāma — saṅge śrī-nityānanda

Translation: That original Lord Kṛṣṇa appeared in Navadvīpa as Lord Caitanya, and Balarāma appeared with Him as Lord Nityānanda.

Jayapatākā Swami: Balarāma has many intimate pastimes with the Lord. Here are some of the natures of Lord Balarāma.

Text 135

kabhu guru, kabhu sakhā, kabhu bhṛtya-līlā
pūrve yena tīna-bhāve vraje kaila khelā

(Jaya Jagannātha Subhadrā Balarāma kī… Jaya!)

Translation: Sometimes Lord Nityānanda serves Lord Caitanya as His guru, sometimes as His friend and sometimes as His servant, just as Lord Balarāma played with Lord Kṛṣṇa in these three different moods in Vraja.

Jayapatākā Swami: You see Sometime Balarāma was the Guru of Kṛṣṇa, Sometimes His friend, & sometimes His servant. Sometimes Balarāma would tell Kṛṣṇa, “Do this, do this”, as Guru.  Sometimes as a friend and sometime as a servant.  

Text 136

vṛṣa hañā kṛṣṇa-sane māthā-māthiraṇa
kabhu kṛṣṇa kare tāṅra pāda-saṁvāhana

Translation: Playing like a bull, Lord Balarāma fights with Kṛṣṇa head-to-head. And sometimes Lord Kṛṣṇa massages the feet of Lord Balarāma.

Text 137

āpanāke bhṛtyakari’ kṛṣṇe prabhu jāne
kṛṣṇera kalārakalā āpanāke mane

Translation He considers Himself a servant and knows Kṛṣṇa to be His master. Thus, He regards Himself as a fragment of His plenary portion.

Text 138
vṛṣāyamāṇaunardantau
yuyudhāte parasparam
anukṛtyarutairjantūṁś
ceratuḥ prākṛtauyathā

Translation: “Acting just like ordinary boys, they played like roaring bulls as They fought each other, and They imitated the calls of various animals.”

Text 139

kvacitkrīḍā-pariśrāntaṁ
gopotsaṅgopabarhaṇam
svayaṁviśrāmāyātyāryaṁ
 pāda-saṁvāhanādibhiḥ

Translation: “Sometimes when Lord Kṛṣṇa’s elder brother, Lord Balarāma, felt tired after playing and lay His head on the lap of a cowherd boy, Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself served Him by massaging His feet.”

Text 140

keyaṁ vā kuta āyātā
 daivīvānāryutāsurī
prāyomāyāstu me bhartur
nānyā me ’pi vimohinī

Translation: “Who is this mystic power, and where has she come from? Is she a demigod or a demoness? She must be the illusory energy of My master, Lord Kṛṣṇa, for who else can bewilder Me?”

Purport: The playful pastimes of the Lord caused suspicion in the mind of Lord Brahmā, and therefore Lord Brahmā, to test Kṛṣṇa’s Lordship, stole all the Lord’s cows and cowherd boys with his own mystic power. Śrī Kṛṣṇa responded, however, by replacing all the calves and boys in the field. Lord Balarāma’s thoughts of astonishment at such wonderful retaliation are recorded in this verse.

Jayapatākā Swami: In other verse Lord Brahmā stole the calves and cowherd boys, then Kṛṣṇa re-expanded himself as calves and the cowherd boys. Then one day, the calves got loose and they went and drank all the cow’s milk, and the cowherd man, they saw what’s going on. They became angry and they started running down the hill. But when they saw their sons, they became so filled with love they started to embrace their sons and smell their head. Normally the cows are more attached to green grass even if the calf is sucking the milk. But here the cows are licking their calf, & every cow has tears in their eyes. Balarāma is seeing that normally this type of love the calves are having for Kṛṣṇa. And the cowherd boys are having this kind of love for Kṛṣṇa. Not even so much love they have for their own children or the cows don’t have so much affection for their calves. “How is this, how is this going on? There is some type of yoga-māyā going here.” So Then He said “Who is this mystic power and where has She come from? What is causing all this play? Is She a demigod or demoness? She must be the illusory energy of My master, Lord Kṛṣṇa, for who else can bewilder Me?” No one can bewilder Balarāma! Not a demoness, nor the other potencies. Only one who can bewilder Him, even for a moment, is Kṛṣṇa. So, then he can realize, “Aha!  This is Kṛṣṇa!”

Then another pastime is when the Kurus, the Kauravas, they went to flatter Baladeva, and they spoke ill of Kṛṣṇa, and they said, “We are going to give you the throne. Just side with us fight with us against Kṛṣṇa.”

So then in response to them, Balarāma said to them:

Text 141
yasyāṅghri-paṅkaja-rajo ’khila-loka-pālair
mauly-uttamairdhṛtamupāsita-tīrtha-tīrtham
brahmābhavo ’ham apiyasyakalāḥkalāyāḥ
śrīścodvahemaciramasyanṛpāsanaṁkva

Translation “What is the value of a throne to Lord Kṛṣṇa? The masters of the various planetary systems accept the dust of His lotus feet on their crowned heads. That dust makes the holy places sacred, and even Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva, Lakṣmī and I Myself, who are all portions of His plenary portion, eternally carry that dust on our heads.”

Text 142

ekale īśvara kṛṣṇa, āra saba bhṛtya
yāre yaiche nācāya, se taiche kare nṛtya

Translation: Lord Kṛṣṇa alone is the supreme controller, and all others are His servants. They dance as He makes them do so.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, this way no one can understand some of the different aspects of Lord Balarāma. Prabhupāda also mentions that sometimes there is a controversy. Does Hare Rāma signify Rāma or Balarāma? Prabhupāda says (quoting Cc. Ādi 5.132):

“In this connection we may mention an incident that took place between two of our sannyāsīs while we were preaching the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra in Hyderabad. One of them stated that “Hare Rāma” refers to Śrī Balarāma, and the other protested that “Hare Rāma” means Lord Rāma. Ultimately the controversy came to me, and I gave the decision that if someone says that the “Rāma” in “Hare Rāma” is Lord Rāmacandra and someone else says that the “Rāma” in “Hare Rāma” is Śrī Balarāma, both are correct because there is no difference between Śrī Balarāma and Lord Rāma.”

Kṛṣṇa called yoga-māyā in the spiritual world, and told her to attract Balarāma to the womb of Rohiṇī in Vṛndāvana. Thereafter, He would take birth, take shelter in womb of Devakī. And then yoga-māyā should go into the womb of Yaśoda. So, then Balarāma was attracted. He already in the womb of Devaki, He was attracted to the womb of Rohiṇī. Then Kṛṣṇa took shelter in the womb of Devakī, and yoga-māyā took shelter in the womb of Yaśodā. When Kṛṣṇa was born in the prison of Kaṁsa, and then taken over to Nanda and Yaśodā’s house, the baby girl was taken from Yaśoda. Kṛṣṇa was placed there. That baby girl whom Kaṁsa tried to kill flew out of Kamsa’s hand and revealed her form of Māyādevi. Balarāma, appearing as the son of Rohiṇī, who was a co-wife, from that angle of vision was also the brother of Kṛṣṇa, half-brother. And from the aspect that he was also previously in the womb of Devakī, He is a direct brother of Kṛṣṇa, in our external vision. Of course, He is directly the plenary first expansion of Kṛṣṇa. it’s another pastime of Lord Balarāma. So, today Balarāma appears some days before Kṛṣṇa, therefore He is considered the older brother. So we respect and worship Lord Balarāma. Balarāma is also known as the original Guru and by the mercy of Balarāma, we can have the mercy of Kṛṣṇa. Just as by the mercy of Guru, one can have the mercy of Kṛṣṇa. So, therefore we pray to Lord Balarāma for His mercy that we can develop spontaneous love for Lord Kṛṣṇa. Then we can also serve the spiritual master in the disciplic succession for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma.

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

Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Verified by Vinoda Gopīkeśa Dāsa 18-12-2024 Māyāpur