20221210 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.2.27

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
hariḥ oṁ tat sat

Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.2.27

na yātrā śoko na jarā na mṛtyur
nārtir na codvega ṛte kutaścit
yac cit tato ’daḥ kṛpayānidaṁ-vidāṁ
duranta-duḥkha-prabhavānudarśanāt

Translation: In that planet of Satyaloka, there is neither bereavement, nor old age nor death. There is no pain of any kind, and therefore there are no anxieties, save that sometimes, due to consciousness, there is a feeling of compassion for those unaware of the process of devotional service, who are subjected to unsurpassable miseries in the material world.

Purport by Śrīla Prabhupāda: Foolish men of materialistic temperament do not take advantage of successive authorized knowledge. The Vedic knowledge is authorized and is acquired not by experiment but by authentic statements of the Vedic literatures explained by bona fide authorities. Simply by becoming an academic scholar one cannot understand the Vedic statements; one has to approach the real authority who has received the Vedic knowledge by disciplic succession, as clearly explained in the Bhagavad-gītā (4.2). Lord Kṛṣṇa affirmed that the system of knowledge as explained in the Bhagavad-gītā was explained to the sun-god, and the knowledge descended by disciplic succession from the sun-god to his son Manu, and from Manu to King Ikṣvāku (the forefather of Lord Rāmacandra), and thus the system of knowledge was explained down the line of great sages, one after another. But in due course of time the authorized succession was broken, and therefore, just to reestablish the true spirit of the knowledge, the Lord again explained the same knowledge to Arjuna, who was a bona fide candidate for understanding due to his being a pure devotee of the Lord. Bhagavad-gītā, as it was understood by Arjuna, is also explained (Bg. 10.12-13), but there are many foolish men who do not follow in the footsteps of Arjuna in understanding the spirit of Bhagavad-gītā. They create instead their own interpretations, which are as foolish as they themselves, and thereby only help to put a stumbling block on the path of real understanding, misdirecting the innocent followers who are less intelligent, or the śūdras. It is said that one should become a brāhmaṇa before one can understand the Vedic statements, and this stricture is as important as the stricture that no one shall become a lawyer who has not qualified himself as a graduate. Such a stricture is not an impediment in the path of progress for anyone and everyone, but it is necessary for an unqualified understanding of a particular science. Vedic knowledge is misinterpreted by those who are not qualified brāhmaṇas. A qualified brāhmaṇa is one who has undergone strict training under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master.

The Vedic wisdom guides us to understanding our relation with the Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa and to acting accordingly in order to achieve the desired result of returning home, back to Godhead. But materialistic men do not understand this. They want to make a plan to become happy in a place where there is no happiness. For false happiness they try to reach other planets, either by Vedic rituals or by spacecraft, but they should know for certain that any amount of materialistic adjustment for becoming happy in a place which is meant for distress cannot benefit the misguided man because, after all, the whole universe with all its paraphernalia will come to an end after a certain period. Then all plans of materialistic happiness will automatically come to an end. The intelligent person therefore makes a plan to return home, back to Godhead. Such an intelligent person surpasses all the pangs of material existence, like birth, death, disease and old age. He is actually happy because he has no anxieties of material existence, but as a compassionate sympathizer he feels unhappiness for the suffering materialistic men, and thus he occasionally comes before the materialistic men to teach them the necessity of going back to Godhead. All the bona fide ācāryas preach this truth of returning home, back to Godhead, and warn men not to make a false plan for happiness in a place where happiness is only a myth.

* * *

Jayapatākā Swami: So we heard about life on Satyaloka. That is the highest planet in the material world. There, there is no misery there. Sometimes, one feels some compassion on the poor living entities that do not know about devotional service. That is why, they feel distressed. So here, Śrīla Prabhupāda said we should be qualified brāhmaṇas. I remember Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura had sent some sannyāsīs to London. And one Lord there asked if he could become a brāhmaṇa? “Oh yes, you can become. You have to give up eating meat, fish, egg. And to stop any type of intoxication. And you cannot do any gambling. And no illicit sex.” “That is life” he said. “How can I give up my life?” So the Lord, he declined. This way, now if one leads a life under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master he can become a brāhmaṇa.

We are reading Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s līlā, pastimes, at night. Lord Caitanya, He was a very special avatāra. If you want to get love of Kṛṣṇa, you have to beg Kṛṣṇa for it. But Rādhārāṇī gives it out freely! Lord Caitanya is Kṛṣṇa with the heart of Rādhārāṇī. He came in this Kali-yuga to deliver the people from a sinful life. He came to give them love of Kṛṣṇa. Haribol! This is not just like automatically, all the avatāras that come, they do not distribute love of God like that. Jagāi and Mādhāi were very sinful and once they took shelter of Nitāi Gaura they were also forgiven. Mādhāi, he approached Lord Nityānanda and said, “I want to be forgiven.” Lord Nityānanda said: “It is just a baby is handled by the mother, the baby sometimes kicks the mother, but the mother doesn’t mind. Like that I consider you as My child and I do not take any offence.” But Mādhāi said “I committed many offences to the dhāma-vāsīs and the Vaiṣṇavas. How can I be forgiven for this?” So then Lord Nityānanda said, “You build in the month of Jyeṣṭha, month of May, you build a bathing ghāta, and all the people will bathe using your ghāṭa and you will be forgiven.” There is a temple called Mādhāi-ghāṭa temple.

We know that Navadvīpa is the audārya-dhāma, the land of mercy. But still Lord Caitanya would not tolerate Vaiṣṇava-aparādhā. Cāpāla Gopāla committed an offence to Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura. As a result, Cāpāla Gopāla was affected by leprosy. One day, Lord Caitanya, He went near where Cāpāla Gopāla stayed. Cāpāla Gopāla paid obeisances to Lord Caitanya and said, “You are magnanimous, kindly have mercy on me”. “NO! NO! You have committed an offence to My devotee, You will burn in hell. You will burn in hell due to your offence, unless you get forgiven by Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura, I will not forgive you.” said Lord Caitanya. So then some devotees went to Śrīvāsa and told him you should forgive this Cāpāla Gopāla. Śrīvāsa said, “I am the most fallen, how can anyone offend me? I am the most fallen”. “You may think that but Lord Caitanya thinks you are a devotee”, the devotees said. “Do you want someone to suffer because of you?” they asked. “No, no, no, no, I don’t want that, I don’t want that” said Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura. “Then okay, you forgive Cāpāla Gopāla, otherwise Lord Caitanya will not forgive him. Therefore, Cāpāla Gopāla will be forced to suffer”, said the devotees. Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura went to that secluded place where Cāpāla Gopāla was staying. And Cāpāla Gopāla, he fell at the feet of Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura and said, “Please forgive me, I have committed an offence”. Then Śrīvāsa, he said, “If you have committed any offence, I pray that you may be forgiven.” As soon as he said that Lord Caitanya appeared and embraced Cāpāla Gopāla. Haribol! Cāpāla Gopāla was cured of all his leprosy. Then, Cāpāla Gopāla was one of the parts of the saṅkīrtana movement of Lord Caitanya. Haribol!

So, I was thinking of this pastime. That even in Navadvīpa dhāma which is the audārya-dhāma, we should be free of any Vaiṣṇava-aparādhā. As they say that zero tolerance of any Vaiṣṇava-aparādhā. So, we have heard how in the past, maybe there was some kind of abuse of our children. Actually, in Māyāpur we should have zero tolerance for this, this is also Vaiṣṇava-aparādhā. From now if some child is abused then immediately then the authorities should file a case. The complaint has to be made to the police by the authorities. If the authorities do not do that, then they have to go to jail for six months. So, Māyāpur dhāma we are no. 1 in saṅkīrtana, big temple, but we should be zero in offence. Now, I don’t know what the law is for violence, but anyway we should have zero tolerance for domestic violence. When we take initiation, we promise to follow the four regulative principles. I was studying for the examination in Bhakti-vaibhava, the 5^th canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 26^th chapter is about some hells – 28 hells. Of course, it says that there are lakhs of hells. Some of the architects who are sinful, they are engaged by Yamarāja to design special hells! So one of the hells is for people who have kind of indiscriminate sex life. Like a śimula tree which has thorns, the thorns are strong like thunderbolts. And in that hell, you are dragged down through the tree and torn into pieces. And for ordinary illicit sex - a woman will to embrace a red hot iron man and similarly a man will embrace a red hot iron woman, and burn. They go to the hell called Tāmisra and they are tortured by Yamadūtas. And if they do this by some deception, they go to Andha-tāmisra hell. They are tortured so bad that they go blind. They lose their intelligence, and they are tortured. So you can read about these hell, but by following the four regulative principles you are freed from these hells:

Tāmisra, Andha-tāmisra, Raurava, Mahāraurava, Kumbhīpāka, Kālasūtra, Asi-patravana, Sūkaramukha, Andhakūpa, Kṛmibhojana, Sandaṁśa, Taptasūrmi, Vajrakaṇṭaka-śālmalī, Vaitaraṇī, Pūyoda, Prāṇarodha, Viśasana, Lālābhakṣa, Sārameyādana, Avīci, Ayaḥpāna, Kṣārakardama, Rakṣogaṇa-bhojana, Śūlaprota, Dandaśūka, Avaṭa-nirodhana, Paryāvartana and Sūcīmukha. [SB 5.26.7]

So all these you do not have to see these places if you follow the regulative principles. And it says between husband and wife, their relation is considered a type of celibacy. So, I was present once, in Śrīla Prabhupāda’s time, when a husband was caught going to a prostitute. Śrīla Prabhupāda said to him, “You are a gṛhastha, why are you going to a prostitute?” And he said that the wife is for having children, but I wanted more sex than that, so I went to a prostitute. Śrīla Prabhupāda said that, “If you have a relation with your wife there is no sinful reaction, but if you go to a prostitute you are committing sin”. In the 5^th canto it says that husband and wife, their life is celibacy. If you want to have pure bhakti then the goal is to have relationship only for children. But in any case, there is no sin. We should avoid all forms of illicit sex, that means sex that is not between husband and wife. Now we have many brahmacārīs, they have to be good brahmacārīs. Otherwise instead of being a bad brahmacārī, better they can be a good gṛhasthas. Anyway, we want to make Māyāpur a zero tolerance for any kind of abuse.

Lord Caitanya, He got great pleasure in having different Vaiṣṇavas present Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Lord Caitanya instructed that Rāmānanda Rāya and Pradyumna Miśra who were Vaiṣṇavas. Pradyumna Miśra was a brāhmaṇa but Rāmānanda Rāya externally he was a śūdra but he was also a very pure Vaiṣṇava. So Rāmānanda Rāya, he gave instruction. Similarly, Ṭhākura Haridāsa, he was born in a Muslim family. And Lord Caitanya made him the Nāmācārya. Sanātana Gosvāmī, he had converted to Islam, but then he took shelter of Lord Caitanya. And Lord Caitanya instructed him to write Vaiṣṇava literatures. So Lord Caitanya, He got great pleasure in having Vaiṣṇavas give instructions to caste brāhmaṇas and others. It says, sometimes transcendental personalities descend from the spiritual world to teach to the conditioned souls Kṛṣṇa consciousness and take them back home. I consider that His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda is also like this. Any questions?

Question: Thank you Mahārāja for the wonderful class. You were talking about interplanetary travel and moral instructions, and we are entering the Golden Age where it may be possible about interplanetary travel again. So we have the examples of Urvaśī and Arjuna and we have the example of Suryanārāyaṇa and Kuntī, and Śantanu and Gaṅgā. So we had examples we read in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam everyday, how would you reconcile this with your class today?

Jayapatākā Swami: I don’t understand the question. The real goal is not flying from one planet to another. This verse tells us that even the highest planet in this universe is eventually destroyed. So, we should travel to the spiritual world. Back to home back to Godhead! But if we go to other planets, it should be for preaching. We don’t want to be materially happy. Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Question: Thank you very much for speaking in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam class and proclaiming that Māyāpur dhāma will be zero tolerance zone for child abuse and domestic abuse. As a gurukula graduate it means a lot to our generation to hear you speak like this in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam class. How can we as a community do better about creating such awareness about making sure that such things do not happen. We may not be leaders but how can we help to avoid these?

Jayapatākā Swami: I have some ideas, but we are open to take any suggestions. I want to start, first thing is raise some money for the CPO, the Child Protection Office. I want the CPO to talk to people dealing with children and see that there are no abuses. But if there are any other suggestions, please give them. It is one thing to say, make an abuse-free community, but I want to achieve that, so how to do that? Thank you.