20221108 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Class

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on November 8th, 2022 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur, India.

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

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

Jayapatākā Swami: Happy Rāsa Pūrṇimā! May it be an auspicious one! This verse is from the second canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, where the descriptions of Virāṭa-rūpa is given. Gradually, the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam takes one up to understanding the kṛṣṇa-līlā. The first and second cantos are His lotus feet. And gradually you go up to the different parts of His body and the head is the 10th canto. The path of devotional service is such that one should start from seeing the Lord’s lotus feet and go up. Today is the Rāsa Pūrṇimā day. And Rāsa Pūrṇimā is famous because it is the special pastime of Kṛṣṇa. But it is misunderstood. We heard today in the verse has how common sense has no area in bhakti. We have to take the scriptural understanding.

So in the material world if the lady goes to her paramour other than her husband, that is very sinful. In the 5th canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, there is a chapter where all the descriptions of the hellish planets is given – I think it is the 26th chapter. There, there is a particular hell called Tāmisra for those who associate with the wives of others. And if an illicit woman is achieved through conspiracy and through cheating and maneuvering, one usurps another man’s wife, his wealth and children, etc.then such a person is put in a hell called Andha-tāmisra. But the kṛṣṇa-līlā is all full of parakīya-rasa. Because Kṛṣṇa already the husband of everyone. What is the difference between love and lust? What is lust? Lust is the desire to satisfy one’s own senses. What is prema or love? We want the satisfaction of the senses of Kṛṣṇa.

sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ
tat-paratvena nirmalam
hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-
sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate
(Cc. Madhya 19.170)

– being free of all kinds of material designations, we simply try to use our senses to satisfy Hṛṣīkeśa’s senses. That is the meaning of prema. Why do we do ārati? That is not for our pleasure, we do it for Kṛṣṇa’s pleasure. When we please Kṛṣṇa, we feel automatically pleased because we are part of Kṛṣṇa. So there are many different relationships with Kṛṣṇa. Being His servant, friend, parent.

This month we are celebrating Dāmodara-māsā where Mother Yaśodā bound up her son Kṛṣṇa. Generally, Kṛṣṇa cannot be bound because He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This way one cannot bind Him. But when He saw the effort of Mother Yaśodā, and her love, then He allowed Himself to be bound. When Kṛṣṇa was six years old, He lifted the Govardhana Hill. And the pastime that takes place in Śārada-Pūrṇimā, that particular year it did not take place because He was lifting the Govardhana. After that, Nanda Mahārāja, because he took bath at the wrong time, he was bound up by Varuṇa or his messengers and Kṛṣṇa freed him. This way, if we calculate He was not even seven years of age. He was only eight years of age when He first performed the rāsa dance. All the gopīs had performed Kātyāyanī vrata to get Kṛṣṇa as their husband. And when Lord Brahmā stole His cowherd boyfriends and the calves then Kṛṣṇa expanded Himself. That was the year when all the young gopīs were married to all the young cowherd boys. Actually, they were all wives of Lord Kṛṣṇa. But they thought that when Lord Brahmā returned all the calves and cowherd boys they thought that oh, all the children and calves came back home. So Kṛṣṇa was eight years old on this day, He played the flute. So when He played the flute, all the gopīs, in order to please Kṛṣṇa, they all left their homes. Śrīla Prabhupāda said these gopīs were locked up by their husbands, by their parents. And their bodies were lying on the bed. But they were meditating on Kṛṣṇa and they left their bodies. And they went in their spiritual form to meet Kṛṣṇa. So the father, the husband they were thinking my daughter, my wife is sleeping. She did not go to meet Kṛṣṇa. They cannot see that she spiritually went. So this material world is under mahāmāyā. The spiritual world is under yogamāyā. So lust is by mahāmāyā. Prema, love is by yogamāyā. Actually, the gopīs have no desire for their personal gratification. They wanted to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. This, we cannot understand while we are in this material world. Because this does not take place in this material world. We cannot imitate the pastimes of the gopīs. We can appreciate how these devotees have given everything to please Kṛṣṇa. But they did not have any relationships like boys and girls in the material world. We can try to please Kṛṣṇa by the nine processes of devotional service.

śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ
smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam
arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ
sakhyam ātma-nivedanam

(ŚB 7.5.23)

So, we can try spreading the glories of Kṛṣṇa, by preaching, by distributing books, we can please Kṛṣṇa. We can do the Navadvīpa-maṇḍala parikramā and hear the glories of Lord Caitanya and Lord Kṛṣṇa. We have to be very careful to avoid the sinful activities. People want to see Kṛṣṇa but they are doing sinful activities. It is not so cheap! If you want to really have the vision of Kṛṣṇa, you have to be very much renounced and become very much pure.

In Kali-yuga, Lord Caitanya has given us an opportunity. Gṛhe thāko vane thāko sadā hari bole ḍāko. Whether one is in household life or one is in the forest, one should always chant the name of Lord Hari. In our gṛhastha life we are allowed to have relation with our wife but we should not have any other relations with ladies. The women should not see any other man other than their husbands in relationship. So, this is the definition of illicit sex. And also, like people are eating meat, fish, egg, and they want to see Kṛṣṇa. It is not so cheap! We read the scriptures, we distribute them, and this actually pleases Kṛṣṇa. By this, we also naturally become pleased. This way we can go to the spiritual world.

Are there any questions?

Question: You said that when Kṛṣṇa was playing the flute the husbands and the fathers closed the doors of their houses so that the girls could not go out. But we hear that when Kṛṣṇa plays the flute, only the person for whom the flute is for, can hear. So how could the husbands and fathers hear Kṛṣṇa play the flute and the intention of the gopīs to go out in the middle of the night? How do we understand this?

Jayapatākā Swami: Where is this written? Kṛṣṇa was playing the flute and everyone heard Kṛṣṇa playing the flute. And the gopīs, some of them ran to meet Kṛṣṇa. Some were locked in their rooms. I never heard that others did not hear. But then they heard, oh Kṛṣṇa is playing the flute, He is always playing His flute. Maybe He played in such a way that the gopīs were very attracted. Others, they heard it but they were not attracted.

Question: For the last month, the whole month of Dāmodara, we along with our godbrothers and godsisters did parikramā of all the temples in Māyāpur and we went also went on Harināma every morning. What would be the result of this?

Jayapatākā Swami: If you tried to do this to please Kṛṣṇa, then definitely you will get the good result.

Question: I heard that Bhīṣma-Pañcaka is that Bhīṣmadeva had vrata before his departure, but I don’t know how authentic it is because we have Gītā-jayantī in December where Bhagavad-gītā was spoken. So if Bhagavad-gītā was spoken on the first day of the war, then it falls in December, how can Bhīṣma-Pañcaka fall in Kārtika, which is earlier to December? That is my question.

Jayapatākā Swami: You see, I have never read that these were particularly the last days of Bhīṣmadeva. Why these particular five days are stated as Bhīṣma-Pañcaka, I don’t particularly know. Some people say that Bhīṣmadeva was fasting for five days or something. I did not see that written anywhere. And maybe these five days at the end of the Dāmodara month are observed so that we get extra benefit. There is mention of these five days in the Hari-bhakti-vilāsa. And also in the Padma Purāṇa. I am curious to see if any reason is given, why these five days. Because your logic is good. I heard that logic before. The Ekādaśī in the month of December is the Gītā-jayantī. We know that the Kurukṣetra war was for 18 days. And we heard that the sun had changed to the Uttarāyaṇa. That would be the saṅkrānti day on 15th of January. Anyway, I don’t know, maybe a speculation. I did not read that.

I heard many people have sponsored Caitanya-caritāmṛta. And I would like to give everybody Rāsa Pūrṇimā blessing – Kṛṣṇa matir astu!