19801204 First Class Presentation, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.16.11

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on December 4th, 1980 in Los Angeles, California, USA. The class begins with a reading from the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 4.16.11.

durāsado durviṣaha
āsanno 'pi vidūravat
naivābhibhavituṁ śakyo
venāraṇy-utthito 'nalaḥ

Translation: King Pṛthu was born of the dead body of King Vena as fire is produced from araṇi wood. Thus King Pṛthu will always remain just like fire, and his enemies will not be able to approach him. Indeed, he will be unbearable to his enemies, for although staying very near him, they will never be able to approach him but will have to remain as if far away. No one will be able to overcome the strength of King Pṛthu.

Purport (by Śrīla Prabhupāda): Araṇi wood is a kind of fuel used to ignite fire by friction. At the time of performing sacrifices, one can ignite a fire from araṇi wood. Although born of his dead father, King Pṛthu would still remain just like fire. Just as fire is not easily approached, King Pṛthu would be unapproachable by his enemies, even though they would appear to be very near him.

Thus end the purport by Śrīla Prabhupāda

Translation: King Pṛthu was born of the dead body of King Vena as fire is produced from araṇi wood. Thus King Pṛthu will always remain just like fire, and his enemies will not be able to approach him. Indeed, he will be unbearable to his enemies, for although staying very near him, they will never be able to approach him but will have to remain as if far away. No one will be able to overcome the strength of King Pṛthu.

No one will be able to overcome the strength of King Pṛthu.

Jayapatākā Swami: Of course, Lord Pṛthu is a śaktyāveśa-avatāra of Kṛṣṇa. So wherever there is Kṛṣṇa, māyā cannot stand.

kṛṣṇa-sūrya-sama, māyā andhakāra 
yāhāṅ kṛṣṇa tāhāṅ nāhi māyāra adhikāra
(Cc. Madhya 22.31) 

So this Kṛṣṇa conscious movement, Śrīla Prabhupāda said, is an incarnation of Kṛṣṇa.Caitanya Mahāprabhu. It is a branch of his transcendental tree. The tree of which he is the gardener, as well as he is the tree! So this movement, although situated in so many countries, so many cities around the world, right in the midst of civilizations based upon rajo-guṇa and tamo-guṇa, although envious minded people are very near, still they have to stay as if far away. That is the protection which Kṛṣṇa gives. Śrīla Prabhupāda so often said that purity is the force. We must maintain our purity. And then, Kṛṣṇa always protects us. Because this movement is non-different from Kṛṣṇa, every preacher, every book distributor, every devotee who's going out, sticking his neck out so to speak, to present Kṛṣṇa consciousness, not for any ulterior motive, but for the benefit of the conditioned souls in this material world, who are bound up in ignorance, they are protected by the mercy of Kṛṣṇa.

So, of course, purity has many connotations. Purity… we study, of course, is there's internal purity and external purity. We take a bath for external purity, and we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and worship the deities for internal purity. Internal purity, of course, means much more, because with chanting comes the deep obligation we have to our spiritual master. Everyone in this material world is living in a very abominable condition because they're taking that this body and this mind and this intelligence which has been received due to so many repetitions of birth and death in this material world, they're taking that this polluted body, mind and intelligence is their self. And therefore they're suffering in so many bodies, in so many situations. They're suffering. In anxiety, in desire, in so called misery and so called enjoyment. They're being tossed around this ocean of material world. Therefore their existence is most abominable.

So the spiritual master, he gives one the seed of pure devotion.

brahmāṇḍe bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva
guru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpāya pāya bhakti latā bīja
(Cc. Madhya 19.151)

Kṛṣṇa sends the spiritual master. And by the mercy of the spiritual master, one gets the seed of devotion. And that seed of devotion is so valuable, it saves one from that abominable condition. So the devotee has two obligations. One is, he has to tend the seed which sprouts and turns into a plant, into a tree. He has to tend that, because that is a service given to him by his spiritual master. And with that, which is part of the tending itself, he has to fulfill whatever orders, whatever responsibilities the spiritual master gives to him. It's like in the description of taking initiation. When one chants Hare Kṛṣṇa for some time and is very strict, then a spiritual master gives Gāyatrī-mantra. And Śrīla Prabhupāda said when this Gāyatrī-mantra is given, that does not mean that he's already perfect. That means now he's ready to make further progress. From that point, now he can become more sincere, more advanced.

The spiritual master gives his mercy seeing the good qualities in someone. Not that there is no bad quality or that taking second initiation means that having gotten our thread, now there's no more bad quality. Everything about me is perfect. Doesn't mean that. It means a spiritual master has seen some sincerity of purpose. Therefore, to reinforce that, he has given some special mercy. In this way, the spiritual master gives his mercy many times, seeing some spark of hope. But the disciple, it is his duty to always remember that without the mercy of his spiritual master, he was simply in the most abominable state. In the most abominable state. And by the mercy of the spiritual master, he's been taken out of that abominable state. Kṛṣṇa is working through the spiritual master. He is present as the spiritual master. The spiritual master who is in his own right a devotee of Lord Caitanya.

So when we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, naturally we should be relishing that chanting. In fact, the devotees… the previous ācāryas in their prayers, they say that if someone is chanting and he's not crying, it must be known that when he's hearing the holy name of Kṛṣṇa, of Lord Caitanya, his heart isn't melting. His heart is hard like a stone. Very unfortunate. So the bhajanānandīs, they take a little taste and they want to go on relishing. But Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, he has revealed that actually the highest taste comes in chanting with so many devotees and in giving that devotion to others.

So the responsibility that Prabhupāda has given to all of his followers in the disciplic succession and which has been given before him by the previous ācāryas, and ultimately by Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, is that every person, every house should be approached and they should begged to please take up the order of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. What is that order? To chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, to worship Kṛṣṇa and to study the teachings of Kṛṣṇa like the Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. bolo 'kṛṣṇa', bhajo kṛṣṇa, koro kṛṣṇa-śikṣā. This was the ājñā, the order that Lord Nityānanda and Haridāsa, they received.

So although the Supreme Personality of Godhead has come as Lord Nityānanda and Lord Brahmā has come as Haridāsa, they're going from every house to beg the people to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, to take up this message. So that is how we relish. Whether it's relishing or not? Anyway, we first have our first duty to our spiritual master. We can't forget that. We are completely subordinate to his mercy. So Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted… all the great devotees want that every person should get the chance to take up chanting.

I remember that before I went to India in 1969… 1970, I visited. At that time, we just moved into this New Dvārakā Avenue address. That time there were little… small Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa deities that were taken around the block and we would give a morning report. It was very inspiring.

Devotee: Śrī Śrī Rukmiṇī Dvārakānātha kī…!

Devotees and Gurudeva together: Jaya!!! 

And all the devotees would give their report. Śrīla Prabhupāda was very satisfied. So one morning, Śrīla Prabhupāda was taking a walk and he mentioned that it's not that everyone will be a devotee, shaved up and living in the temple. He didn't say shaved up, but he said living in the temple. Not that everyone will be living in the temple, but just like there are so many churches or there'll be so many temples and some devotees who are fully giving their time for preaching, instructing, they'll be living there. And others, hundreds and thousands, they'll be coming sometimes to the temple and in their house they'll be worshipping and chanting. In 1970, I remember he mentioned that. And this is also in the fifth canto, one place Śrīla Prabhupāda says in the purport that there's no reason why every person in every society all over the world cannot chant Hare Kṛṣṇa in his home with his family. Every night.

This is a mission. Everyone may not be able to come in our temple, although many more will, hundreds and thousands and many more temples will be made. But everyone can chant in their home. This type of preaching was started by Lord Nityānanda, of course. And that was revived by Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura in his Nāmhaṭṭa program, where individual houses or in groups, anyway, he would encourage them to open up little shops. Śraddhā-kuṭīras, houses of faith. And of many programs that started now around the society… a few programs have started to encourage people to form the broad varṇāśrama base that Prabhupāda said was yet to be completed in his work. Contributing something every month, at least chanting in their homes, to form a broad congregation. In this way there are so many things yet to be done, so many books yet to be distributed to cultivate all these people.

But Śrīla Prabhupāda, he was very concerned about the future of the movement which he had spent so much time to cultivate. His whole life he simply prepared. We see from Śrī Gurupāda’s manifested biography how he was preparing from his youthful days, simply for preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness all over the world. I remember that in Vṛndāvana, Māyāpur also, many times he mentioned that if you can't… “Even if you don't expand, I don't mind. In one sense, even if you don't expand… at least all the good respect, all the buildings, all the things which I have been able to expand, at least maintain. Don't let that deteriorate the smallest bit.” Of course, especially in Māyāpur we see the very striking example, practically before our eyes. We see the Gauḍīya-maṭha crumble with the paint falling off the walls. If they had just maintained the respect that Bhaktisiddhānta had established. The Viceroy of India had gone to the birthplace of Lord Caitanya. If they even maintained that respect, today so many bogus philosophies would not be rampant.

So… of course we're not going to be satisfied with just maintaining. We want to also expand. But the point is how deeply Śrīla Prabhupāda felt. That every step we take must be a step forward. We should be very careful. We should be very cautious. We should be very responsible. What is responsibility? Every disciple is responsible to a spiritual master. What is the principle of devotional service? We are responsible to our spiritual master and he is responsible to his spiritual master. And he is responsible to his spiritual master. Ultimately, everyone is responsible to Kṛṣṇa through disciplic succession. So, the order of the spiritual master, that is supreme. Everyone has to serve that order. Whether that individual is a spiritual master, or whether he is not a spiritual master, whoever he may be, the order of the spiritual master is supreme over all the disciples.

We have seen that in our sampradāya, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura had started a panchayat of ten men. Panchayat means governing body. And he said that whatever they meet privately and decide, that is non-different from Lord Nityānanda's verdict. That is to be accepted as Nityānanda's desire. Then we saw how Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, he ordered his disciples that you cooperate together, make a governing body. And failing to do so, now everything has crumbled. Just the trace is there. And Prabhupāda has very lucidly expressed all these things in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi Līlā, third part, first few verses, when he's describing Advaita Ācārya's six sons. Three being asāra or separated, because they deviated from the Ācārya, and three being bonafide because they maintained their loyalty to the order of Advaita Gosāñī. Even a son of Mahā-Viṣṇu avatāra, if he deviates from Mahā-Viṣṇu, is no longer considered to be a real son. He's considered to be asāra. So it's an unending struggle to fight with our mind, to fight with our materialistic mind and senses and materialistic intelligence. We have to fight with our enemies or make them our allies by simply making them subservient to the instruction of our spiritual master.

So just like our previous ācāryas, Śrīla Prabhupāda also said that there must be a governing body. And he made the governing body in his presence. He didn't leave it up to chance. And he sat through so many in initial meetings also just to make sure that everything went nicely. And when he entered into his eternal pastimes; although he's still present here, there's no doubt about that. It's not that he's entered and left us. He's still present. So much present. So carefully watching what is going on. So carefully giving out punishment and reward to make us aware of our mistakes and our success. At that time when he left from our physical vision; before then, in his will, verbally so many different ways, he said that he wanted the society to go on under the Governing Body Commission, that is the order of the Spiritual Master. Of course, he also appointed certain devotees to give initiation. And these devotees are his disciples. So, in spite of the fact that they have to be spiritual master, it is their duty to give spiritual instruction exactly as they heard it from their spiritual master. Exactly as is bonafide and authorized in the scripture. Definition is there. What is guru? Guru is one who simply repeats what he heard from his spiritual master and from Kṛṣṇa as he realized it. That should be always completely in line with the śāstra.

So, inspite of some members being initiating ācāryas, the devotees in general should be mature enough to see that they have the order of their spiritual master to follow. And that is the highest principle. And that order is that in this ISKCON society, the Governing Body Commission’s decision is to be accepted as the desire of the previous ācāryas, the desire of Kṛṣṇa, of Śrīla Prabhupāda especially. And therefore, they have to accept that instruction, you see. Even though they're absolute spiritual masters or devotees, still that absolute order they've received from their spiritual master takes great and supreme precedence over everything else.

Śrīla Prabhupāda has given us so many instructions in the scriptures. In fact, he's given so many instructions how to be a devotee, how to be a disciple, how to be a spiritual master, how to be a king, how to be a kṣatriya, how to be a brāhmaṇa, how to be a vaiśya, how to be a śūdra. He's given all the instructions, how to be a gṛhastha, how to raise children, how to give up gṛhastha and be a sannyāsa. He's given all the instructions so that for 10,000 years this movement will go on expanding. And so that everyone has a clear idea how we should act. Nobody is independent of the śāstra.

Lord Caitanya would sit and discuss with senior devotees śāstra. Who is today the great ācārya of the Vallabha-sampradāya, he came and wanted to present. He had so many conceptions from… and his conceptions of śāstra were not accepted by Lord Caitanya. And that has been very carefully given. Although he was such an advanced person. Of course he couldn't swallow it, so he went off and he made his own sect, or took another initiation from Viṣṇuswami's sect. So therefore, their sect does not understand what is mādhurya-rasa. They don't understand what is the highest point. They just go up to a certain level. But they're devotees, no doubt.

So here we see how Pṛthu Mahārāja, he was such a great ruler that he was just like fire, you see? Similarly, every devotee should be just like fire. Fire, when it's controlled, is very useful and it is very powerful. Uncontrolled fire means that it is very destructive. So devotees, they are like fire, but that fire is applied, you see? That's why they get continually more fuel. It's given down the disciplic succession and the preaching goes on expanding. As much electricity as is required for illuminating a light, that much is given from the powerhouse. It's an automatic system. Condensers and relay switches, as much as it draws, that's how much is taken. We have a generator at Māyāpur. If we turn on 20 KW of lights, the generator will work on a 20 KW load. It won't produce more. And if we turn on all the lights, like at the festival, we burned a fuse! (laughter) Because it had only 60 KW load capacity, but we turned on 80 KW. All on one phase. Three phase system. And Viṣṇupāda went down and got everyone jumping to fix the fuse. So no one even knew more than a few hours.

So the point is that, as much as we can give out Kṛṣṇa's mercy, Kṛṣṇa will provide so much more load, so much more electricity, śaktī. That we simply have to see that there's no short circuits. That we're not having what they know as leak. If you have a loose wire touching the wall, it creates electrical leak. The electricity is drawn off. So much energy is expended for no useful purpose. In fact, if you touch the wall, you get a shock. It can even be very dangerous. So there is where purity comes in. That by purity, we are insulating ourselves from any leaks, from any contact with māyā conductors, and we're simply taking that energy right where it needs to go, right through the conditioned soul's heart, igniting their wood-like heart and making it a fire altar. In this way the fire goes on spreading and more bulbs are lit, more and more spiritual fires are ignited.

So Prabhupāda knew that when a little spiritual light, little fire is started; little plant is there… it's very fragile. It can be easily destroyed. Especially the faith that he created in many countries was after a lot of effort, and is very thin. Can be easily destroyed. So therefore, he wanted us to be very careful to act exactly in line with his instructions. So this goes down to every distributor, goes down to every devotee, goes to every single person. The more that one IS responsible, the more he has to BE responsible and understand how he is so liable to Śrīla Prabhupāda. But every single devotee, how he's presenting himself, how is he presenting Kṛṣṇa? He's not presenting himself. When someone sees a devotee, he doesn't think of that person as an individual sense. He thinks of him in the sense that he's a member of the ISKCON society. He's a Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Therefore… we had difficulty in India. One time, you see, one devotee was caught stealing. You know what happens sometimes. And there were some devotees from America, and they said, “All right, throw him out of the temple. But first cut off his śikhā.” This is an old pastime. But in India, everybody has a śikhā. So they cut his śikhā off and he went to the police and said, “They cut off my śikhā. They take away my Hindutva, my Hinduism.” And the police became all angry, “How can you cut off his śikhā?”

Well, he was stealing, he was smoking. He was….” “I smoke, I steal, I take bribes, I got a śikhā!” (laughter)

So it was a very touchy thing. (laughter) So in India you see we can't do such thing. I had to explain to the other devotees. They couldn't understand the Indians… “Why is this going on?”You see, in the west, nobody wears śikhā but Hare Kṛṣṇa Devotees. So if they go out and do something, people say, oh, look at this Hare Kṛṣṇa. In India of course, it's not necessary. There you can send them out with śikhā and no one will know.

So the point is that we're a society and we're sampradāya, and actually we have very good chance. In fact, we have no doubt of success if we simply stick to these principles. There's no doubt. Just like Pṛthu Mahārāja, even there's so many enemies, they couldn't get near him. They couldn't approach. They couldn't find a fault or an opportunity to attack him. He was so powerful and he was so mysterious. They didn't know where he was coming, where he was going, what he was doing, how much money he had, didn't have. Everything about him was opulent because he was covered by Kṛṣṇa's transcendental potency.

So similarly, we have to always be under the shelter of Jagannātha Subhadrā Balarāma. Subhadrā, Yoga-māyā, when we're under her shelter, no one can really see what is happening, you see. And somehow or another we lose His shelter and Kṛṣṇa's mahā-māyā shelter means big trouble. So that we always have to be very careful to be under the shelter of yoga-māyā. Yoga-māyā samāvṛtāḥ. We have to be under the shelter of Kṛṣṇa, and that we can only be when we are always fixed up and following the instruction of the previous ācāryas.

So I was looking forward to coming to New Dvārakā for the Ratha-yātrā festival (Devotees: Jaya!) but Rāmeśvara called me here early. I don't know now whether I'll have the fortune to be here also during the ratha-yātrā. (laughter). I went down to Venice Beach just to see the previous site. (laughter)

But it's very nice to be back and have the holy darśana of Śrī Śrī Rukmiṇī Dvārakādhīśa and Nitāi-Gaura. Rukmiṇī Dvārakānātha, Jagannātha, Subhadra Balarāma and to be present amongst all the great Vaiṣṇavas of this noble and transcendental community. And to be present amongst so many great devotees from all over the world, the present day ācāryas and GBC members. So Śrīla Rāmeśvara was saying that they always wanted to have an ISKCON festival. So by his purity, this new Dvārakā has been the place of coming of so many devotees. So somehow I also slipped in just to take advantage of this association. So I think there's other programs.

Rāmeśvara Swami: Śrīla Ācāryapāda mahārāja kī…

Devotees: Jaya!

Śrīla Prabhupāda kī… 

Devotees: Jaya!

Śrīla Rāmeśvara Swami kī… 

Devotees: Jaya!

ISKCON vartamāna ācāryavṛnda kī….

Devotees: Jaya!

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Verified by: Bhakta A.
Śrī Māyāpur