20231210 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.1.41

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on December 10th, 2023 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur,India. The class begins with a reading from the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 3.1.41.

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: So, here we see that Vidura, he is a well-wisher, even for someone like Dhṛtarāṣṭra. We see how these were all the līlās of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Līlā means what? Drama, this is like a drama but it is played on earth. (I cannot speak in Bengali because he cannot understand.) Actually, Lord Kṛṣṇa He does not change but He is playing in these līlās and that is His enjoyment. So Vidura is so fortunate he is in the līlā of Lord Kṛṣṇa. In ordinary material life we ask how is your kākā, how is your uncle, etc. But Vidura, his relatives are associates of Lord Kṛṣṇa and also Lord Kṛṣṇa, Himself. So, he is doing the same thing, he is asking about his family members but they are all divine associates. He doesn’t ask about the welfare of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, because he is doing evil things. During my bedtime I was reading the tenth canto again, how Rukmiṇī Devī wrote a letter to Kṛṣṇa, how Kṛṣṇa could kidnap Her. And prior to that she explained about her family custom how before the wedding she would visit the Durgā temple, and she could be more easily stolen away from there. When she was in the Ambikā or Durgā temple, she offered Her respects to Ambikā. She also offered Her respects to the husband of Ambikā, her husband is Lord Śiva. And she said all respects to your children. Her children are Kārtikeya and Gaṇeśa. Some elderly ladies were with her. They were encouraging her, “Please ask what You really want.” Her brother wanted Her to marry Śiśupāla. She prayed to Ambikā, she pleaded, “Please allow Me to have Kṛṣṇa as My husband. I want Kṛṣṇa! I want Kṛṣṇa!” To go to a Devī temple is not a big thing, but it is what you pray for. The gopīs worshiped Kātyāyanī for Lord Kṛṣṇa. Rukmiṇī Devī, she prayed for Kṛṣṇa. As soon as she came out of the Ambikā temple, the soldiers, mahārathīs, they looked at her and saw her beauty. Seeing her beauty, their weapons in their hands fell down and they fainted. Like this, Kṛṣṇa just came up and took her away. Jarāsandha said, “Hey wait! He is taking Rukmiṇī!” So like that he and the other mahārathīs and army followed Kṛṣṇa. But behind was Balarāma and the Yadu army. Kṛṣṇa told Rukmiṇī, “Don’t worry, Your army will defeat them.” Because she was now married to Kṛṣṇa. So like this, in kṛṣṇa-līlā so many different things are happening but they are all in relation to Kṛṣṇa. Some of the people are transcendental personalities, they come down from the spiritual world, some are devas and some are human beings.

When Pradyumna was stolen he was seven days old. So Rukmiṇī, she was lamenting and everything. And Kṛṣṇa told her, “You know better.” She was just playing the part of a human being, and is lamenting. It gives you some vision of the līlā that was going on. Kṛṣṇa knows how the things work, but we do not know.

Lord Caitanya, He was Nimāi Paṇḍita teaching at a school. Then Keśava Kāśmīrī came to Navadvīpa with his entourage of elephants and horses and he declared that he would debate with anyone, who is interested in debating? Then Lord Caitanya, Nimāi Paṇḍita, He thought that one should not be puffed up in this way. Then He thought that, “If He publicly defeated him, he would be disgraced and all his elephants and horses would be taken away.” So He thought how to defeat him in a way that he will not be disgraced. So He was praising Keśava Kāśmīrī, who happened to come and take bath in the Ganges at that time. He asked, “Can you compose a hundred verses glorifying the Ganges?” So he started glorifying the Ganges with poetry after poetry. The students of Nimāi Paṇḍita heard, and they saw and admired, such erudite scholar. “O bābā!” So he composed all of this poetry but it was not as if he remembered them all. So Lord Caitanya said, “Very nice I have not seen a paṇḍita like you in the whole world!” “Tell me one of the good and bad aspects of your poetry.” But he was astounded, there can be fault in my poetry he said. But Lord Caitanya had memorized the 57th verse and Keśava Kāśmīrī said, “You memorized it?” Lord Caitanya said, “Just like God gave you pāṇḍityā, He has given Me memory!” So like that He pointed out the good and bad qualities of his poetry. Keśava Kāśmīrī prayed to his Deity Goddess Sarasvatī that, “I got defeated by this young paṇḍita.” “I could not help you this time because the boy you talk about is my husband!” So Keśava Kāśmīrī, he went to the house of Nimāi Paṇḍita the next day. So like this, he was converted to Vaiṣṇavism. He became an ācārya in the Nimbārka sampradāya. There are four Vaiṣṇava sampradāyas – Brahmā, Śrī, Nimbārka and Viṣṇu Svāmī sampradāyas.

So this is Kṛṣṇa’s līlā but in the kṛṣṇa-līlā people knew He was God. But here in gaura-līlā, He kept it a secret except for a few. When He was in East Bengal preaching His wife Lakṣmīpriyā left. She went back to Vaikuṇṭha due to separation. Because in Vaikuṇṭha there is not so much separation. When He came back His mother was very sorry. So He agreed to marry Viṣṇupriyā. So Viṣṇupriyā’s father was very happy that my daughter will have a husband like Nimāi Paṇḍita. Nimāi Paṇḍita was walking somewhere, and some villager came up to Him and said, “Ha ha ha! You are marrying Viṣṇupriyā!” But when this person and was laughing, Lord Caitanya said, “I will also make fun.” So He said, “I did not hear anything about my marriage to Viṣṇupriyā!” So this person went back and told this to the father of Viṣṇupriyā. Viṣṇupriyā’s father, he was like crushed! And he started crying. Nimāi Paṇḍita, He got me! And he was so sad! Then Lord Caitanya Nimāi, He thought that My devotees should not suffer like this. If you study the pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, Lord Kṛṣṇa, They had so much consideration for Their devotees. Not only devotees but everybody. So He told a brāhmaṇa to tell the father of Viṣṇupriyā that this was just a joke. And there is absolutely no doubt that I will get married to Viṣṇupriyā. Just like in kṛṣṇa-līlā there was the Kurukṣetra war, He married so many queens, danced with the gopīs in Vṛndāvana.

Like that, Lord Caitanya had a huge kīrtana, millions of people in front of the Chand Kazi. When He went to the Chand Kazi’s house and had a discussion, the Chand Kazi said, “I had a dream a half-man half-lion came up to me and ripped my chest,” and said if he dared to stop the kīrtana of His devotees, He would kill him. Then he showed his chest, there was a scar! Then he said, “From now on You have my permission to do Harināma saṅkīrtana.” So from there on they had this symbol of the Chand Kazi, the permission for doing kīrtana.

So like this the caitanya-līlā was apparently in this world was for 48 years. When kṛṣṇa-līlā was over it was over, but Lord Caitanya’s līlā started but it is not over. Lord Caitanya, there was a prediction that someone will come and spread the Harināma throughout the world. That was Śrīla Prabhupāda! In the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa it also says that for ten thousand years there will be a golden age in Kali-yuga. That will happen 5,000 after the beginning of Kali-yuga. And Lord Caitanya came 4,500 years after Kali-yuga started. Śrīla Prabhupāda came 5,000 years after Kali-yuga began. Our saṅkīrtana devotees are going out to distribute books. This is a part of Lord Caitanya’s līlā! We have to distribute books, we have to preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness, so that this ten-thousand-year prediction that all the world becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious comes true. Anything that happens in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is part of the caitanya-līlā. Whatever we do, we should do it as a service to Lord Kṛṣṇa. That way, those services will also be considered as Lord Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes. Śrīla Prabhupāda told all the gṛhasthas in London, they should be paramahaṁsas. He said my gurudeva was the son of Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. Therefore, all you gṛhasthas should try to get ācāryas as your son. We need many ācāryas. Whatever you do if you do it for Kṛṣṇa, then Kṛṣṇa will be happy.

We are very happy that Her Grace Daiva Śakti devī dāsī is here. She used to live here but now she always stays in Vṛndāvana. So we welcome her!

And our saṅkīrtana devotees are going out today. Apparently, Delhi is 2.5 lakh book points ahead. Let us all give our blessings to the saṅkīrtana devotees.

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

Those who are staying back, December month there are many holidays and lot of people come to Māyāpur. You all should think how you can distribute some books. In the 9th canto there is a verse and in the purport Śrīla Prabhupāda says, as far as Kṛṣṇa consciousness is concerned, man, woman, śūdra, whatever, they are all equal. So we want everyone to be Kṛṣṇa conscious. Then all will be equal. But if Kṛṣṇa consciousness is not there then there are differentiations. So we will again give our blessings to the saṅkīrtana devotees, we want everyone to go out on saṅkīrtana and distribute books. And make many ācāryas, be paramahaṁsas and flood India with books! I heard that the devotees after they do the marathon, they come back to Māyāpur and very soon after they go back, they will go to Ayodhyā! The Central Government has requested ISKCON to be present. Māyāpur has been given responsibility along with Delhi to distribute books. Every ācārya produced, paramahaṁsa produced, every ārati, are all part of caitanya-līlā. Every book that is distributed, all those things are part of the Caitanya pastimes. So, at the end of the class we are giving darsana to the Far East devotees. How does it feel to be part of Lord Caitanya’s līlā?

Just like Vidura, he was sorry for Dhṛtarāṣṭra. So many people, they don’t have Śrīla Prabhupāda books, they don’t have the ecstasy of being part of caitanya-līlā! Vidura, he cared about Dhṛtarāṣṭra just like our saṅkīrtana devotees care about all the fallen souls. We want to see the whole world happy in Kṛṣṇa consciousness! Any comments or questions?