19870616 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.2.8

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami on June 16th 1987 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The class begins with a reading from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2nd canto, chapter 2, text 8.

Jayapatākā Swami: (leads the chanting of the verse, synonyms and translation with devotees repeat)

kecit sva-dehāntar-hṛdayāvakāśe
prādeśa-mātraṁ puruṣaṁ vasantam
catur-bhujaṁ kañja-rathāṅga-śaṅkha-
gadā-dharaṁ dhāraṇayā smaranti
(ŚB 2.2.8)

Hare Kṛṣṇa !

kecit — others; sva-deha-antaḥ — within the body; hṛdaya-avakāśe — in the region of the heart; prādeśa-mātram— measuring only eight inches; puruṣam — the Personality of Godhead; vasantam — residing; catuḥ-bhujam — with four hands; kañja — lotus; ratha-aṅga — the wheel of a chariot; śaṅkha — conchshell; gadā-dharam — and with a club in the hand; dhāraṇayā — conceiving in that way; smaranti — do meditate upon Him.

Translation: Others conceive of the Personality of Godhead residing within the body in the region of the heart and measuring only eight inches, with four hands carrying a lotus, a wheel of a chariot, a conchshell and a club respectively.

Purport: The all-pervading Personality of Godhead resides as Paramātmā in the heart of each and every living entity. The measurement of the localized Personality of Godhead is estimated to expand from the ring finger to the end of the thumb, more or less eight inches. The form of the Lord described in this verse with distribution of different symbols — beginning from the lower right hand up and down to the lower left hand with lotus, wheel of a chariot, conchshell and club respectively — is called Janārdana, or the plenary portion of the Lord who controls the general mass. There are many other forms of the Lord with varied situations of the symbols of lotus, conchshell, etc., and they are differently known as Puruṣottama, Acyuta, Narasiṁha, Trivikrama, Hṛṣīkeśa, Keśava, Mādhava, Aniruddha, Pradyumna, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Śrīdhara, Vāsudeva, Dāmodara, Janārdana, Nārāyaṇa, Hari, Padmanābha, Vāmana, Madhusūdana, Govinda, Kṛṣṇa, Viṣṇu-mūrti, Adhokṣaja and Upendra. These twenty-four forms of the localized Personality of Godhead are worshiped in different parts of the planetary system, and in each system there is an incarnation of the Lord having a different Vaikuṇṭha planet in the spiritual sky, which is called the paravyoma. There are many other hundreds and scores of different forms of the Lord, and each and every one of them has a particular planet in the spiritual sky, of which this material sky is only a fragmental offshoot. The Lord exists as puruṣa, or the male enjoyer, although there is no comparing Him to any male form in the material world. But all such forms are advaita, non-different from one another, and each of them is eternally young. The young Lord with four hands is nicely decorated, as described above.

Thus end the Bhaktivedānta Swāmi Purport of Text 8, Chapter 2, Canto 2 of the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam in the matter of The Lord in the heart.

Jayapatākā Swāmi: So, in previous verses it was discussed about the gross materialists who take to temporary names, as well as about rendering service unto the Supreme Supersoul situated in one’s heart because He is the Almighty Personality of Godhead, eternally unlimited. He is the ultimate goal of life and by worshipping Him one can end the cause of the conditioned state of existence. So to this verse there is a description, beginning of the description of the Supersoul in the heart, the Lord. We have heard many times that God is in everyone’s heart. This is described in the vedas very clearly within the region of the heart, the Lord is present in His Supersoul expansion. The one Lord who is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the original person resides eternally in His spiritual abode who may sometimes also descend in the material world to display His pastimes to the public, the people in this world, to attract them to go back to the spiritual sky. He also expands Himself as the Supersoul in everyone’s heart. As many living entities as there are, as many atoms as exist, in each and everyone of them the Supersoul is present. The Supersoul is not visible to ordinary material vision because He is not material, He is completely spiritual. Sac-cid-ānanda, He’s non different from Kṛṣṇa, simply is the form of Kṛṣṇa who is fulfilling this particular function of being present with the living entity. The Lord in the heart accompanies the living entity even from birth to birth. After this body is finished and again we enter into a new birth, Supersoul is also present. His 8 inches size is mentioned in this verse is proportional to one’s body. It’s basically the measurement from here (shows the ring finger in his hand) to the tip of the thumb which is more or less 8 inches depending on size of one’s body, size of one’s hand, the proportion may change. So in comparison, the individual soul is 1/10000 the tip of a hair, very infinitesimal part. Sometimes the individual soul when it becomes God realised, when he become God realised, realises the Supersoul in the heart, he mistakes that he is that Supersoul. He is actually seeing the Supersoul. He’s a very small infinitesimal fragmental part, when he sees the Supersoul he thinks I’m seeing myself. This is who I’m God you see. Actually he is seeing the form of God in the heart but he is the small particle next to the small part of God, next to the Supersoul. So in this way sometimes even Paramatmā realised yogīs, they fall down again from their exalted position by mistaking themself to be God. They start to demonstrate some mystic power and then in the end they become entangled again. So.., but by devotional service if one is able to realise the Supersoul, then there is not this danger. Because by the force of devotional service one can continue in performing the.., in remaining in the proper service attitude. If you have the service attitude when you realise Kṛṣṇa, you won’t think you are Kṛṣṇa. For instance, haa..Lord Rāma offered Hanumān the blessing, you can have whatever benediction you want. I’ll give you liberation. You can merge into the brahma-jyoti. But Hanumān, he refused, he said that my dear Lord Rāma, I don’t want anything which will come in between my relationship with you. You are my eternal master, I’m your eternal servant. The devotee rejects liberation without devotional service even if Kṛṣṇa Himself offers it. The devotee simply wants to remain engaged in the devotional service of the Lord. In this way the devotee is protected from the illusion that he has become God. No individual soul can ever become God. God is God, Kṛṣṇa is Kṛṣṇa, individual soul is individual soul. We can become totally harmonious to the Lord’s will. One can be empowered to be a controller of a planet, of a constellation, of a universe, but that does not mean that one is God. There’s only one Supreme Lord, one Supreme Personality of Godhead. He expands Himself into unlimited forms, one in every heart of every living entity, but He is the same person. The difference between one form of the Lord and other form of the Lord is simply the nature of Their activities, Their qualities and Their attitude. This has been very elaborately explained how many different types of expansions there are of the Personality of Godhead in a synopsis form in The Teachings of Lord Caitanya, in a more expanded form in the Caitanya Caritāmṛta. That.., just as here in this verse you read the 24 different forms of Viṣṇu according to the different placement of Their hands, of the weapons of They are holding. Because all the Viṣṇu forms look very similar. So one can tell one from another,They hold Their weapons in a different order. Just like in America, you want to know one place from another, they have a zip code. In the spiritual world, how do you know when Nārāyaṇa appears before you, is it Nārāyaṇa, or is it Janārdana or is it Trivikrama, or Hṛṣīkeśa, Śrīdhara, which form of Nārāyaṇa? Nārāyaṇa is in so many Vaikuṇṭha lokas. How would you know which Vaikuṇṭha loka you have reached? That you can know because They hold their different, their arms are different order. So this is the way of knowing. If someone says that you see the Lord in the heart carrying four.., with four hands carrying lotus, wheel, conchshell and club, then you can find out there is a description how with each position, each form of Viṣṇu carries the weapon. You can know that is Janārdana, maybe śaṅkha-cakra-gadā-padma maybe the position of Lord Nṛsiṁha. Like that each form has got its own particular order. So for those who know this science, and they can know that which form of the Lord. Now Janārdana is described as Prabhupād once explained that Janārdana, He rewards His devotees and He punishes the miscreants. That is the particular nature of Janārdana.Like Nṛsiṁha dev, He is very much, He is very absorbed in saving His devotee and destroying the demon where Janārdana is half rewarding the devotee and half punishing the miscreant. Of course, all the forms of the Lord are merciful for the devotees but there are different forms and they have different attitudes and activities. The Govinda and Kṛṣṇa mentioned here are not the original Govinda and Kṛṣṇa in Goloka Vṛndāvana, these are Nārāyaṇa or Viṣṇu forms of Govinda .. Kṛṣṇa. They also have the name Govinda and Kṛṣṇa.

Another interesting point is in the previous verse all it says do not chant “asatīṁ nāma”, that the materialists, rather those who don’t have any transcendental thoughts you see they adopt non-permanent names. Of course in the purport Prabhupāda refers to worshipping demigods. Demigods can only give temporary benediction. You can worship, in fact, in India sometimes there is pujās on a particular day in the year. Once a day they worship may Śītala, to be protected from smallpox and all kind of poxes. (16:49 Not clear) another form for snake bite. And there is another form, say, like if you worship Lord Śiva, you can get a good husband, if you worship Umā, you get a good wife. So that’s continual. You can also worship Śiva for mystic.., other things as well. You worship Gaṇeśa, every time they start something they worship Gaṇeśa because he destroys the obstacles in the path. Like this there are so many different demigods which are being worshipped but each of them are giving some temporary blessing. So sometime we hear about the demigods and we think “well, this is really, in one sense not so intelligent because they are worshipping these demigods who are giving temporary benediction, they could be worshipping Kṛṣṇa who gives eternal blessing. But I was just in perspective thinking here in the material world talk about “asatīṁ nāma” - temporary names, what to speak of at least they are worshipping someone who is temporary, very powerful like Śiva, Gaṇeśh, Durgā, so on. Here in the western world in the modern material world, we worship asatīṁ nāmas - temporary names like Elvis Presley, people who are no longer even here, who already left their body. No one knows what their next birth was, not to mention I don’t want, any..so many names are there - singers, cinema artistes, politicians, writers (one devotee says)..writers.. It’s getting that they have some temporary fame because of newspaper articles, because of some position. So even the previous leader in the American House of representatives - Tip O’Neill, they have named a lounge after him in Washington. He went to the lounge and the person at the gate asked what’s your name, to check whether he could go in or not, you know (laughs..).So what is the meaning of so called fame..anything you see, even they name something after you, the very person, appear at the gate, they don’t know who you are. So, but people are so absorbed in this asat nāma. They are worshipping those names. Relative to that it’s more intelligent to worship the demigods. That’s why Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gītā, those who worship the demigods generally are in the mode of goodness, those who worship men are in the mode of passion, those who worship ghosts and demons and other such things, they are in the mode of ignorance. But those who worship the Supreme Person, they are in the transcendental, śuddha-sattva - pure goodness. Actually Kṛṣṇa Consciousness is meant not to waste time either with tamasic, rajasic or sattvic things. Neither with ghosts and hobgoblins, setan worship and so on, neither with worshipping some temporary man whether he is a Marx or Lenin or whether he is a Pretzel or this one or that one, anyone, no simply worship of a human being. Neither to worship the demigods, who are powerful controllers in the material world, at least not as independent controllers. We may see them, we may see anyone, see the good qualities but then the understanding that those good qualities have come from Kṛṣṇa, they have come from the Supreme. So then we do concentrate on worshipping Kṛṣṇa.

Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ,
anādir ādir govindaḥ sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam

So we ask people, please chant the holy name, please chant the name of the Lord, chant “Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, HareRāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare”. Someone may say I don’t have time to chant name, but actually we kind of.., everyone is chanting names. Everything.., “book” this is a book , this is a temporary name. Everything has got a name. So,every temporary things is identified by a particular name. So all day long we are chanting names. Whether personal names like Mary, Bill, Pradeep and so on or whether some name of an object like books, tables, chairs, things, or whether name of activities like baseball, football, work or concepts - communism, idealism, capitalism, socialism, so many names. We are all day long chanting temporary names. So we are just saying that within that deluge of temporary names, why not chant for sometime everyday eternal names - Sat nām? Chant the eternal name of the Lord. In this way one can become situated in the transcendental life. If someone says, I have no time to chant, everyone is chanting, simply a question what they are chanting. We are saying chant the name. There are so many names you can chant 24 names - “Puruṣottama, Acyuta, Narasiṁha, Trivikrama, Hṛṣīkeśa, Keśava, Mādhava, Aniruddha, Pradyumna, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Śrīdhara, Vāsudeva, Dāmodara, Janārdana, Nārāyaṇa, Hari, Padmanābha, Vāmana, Madhusūdana, Govinda, Kṛṣṇa, Viṣṇu-mūrti, Adhokṣaja, Upendra” this is. But it says if you chant the 1000 names of Viṣṇu, it is equal to chanting one name of Rāma -

sahasranāma tat tulyam
rāma nāma varānane

To chant 1000 names of Viṣṇu is equal to chanting one name Rāma,

raghupati rāghava rājā rāma
patīta pāvana sītā rāma
śrī rāma jaya rāma
jaya jaya rāma
śrī rāma jaya rāma jaya jaya rāma

This is confirmed also in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, when Lord Caitanya visited South India, he met one brāhmaṇa who was always chanting the name of Rām. He went somewhere and came back, He found that the person was chanting the name “Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, HareRāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare”. He said why is it that, now ..you were chanting Rāma before and now you are chanting Kṛṣṇa. He said all along from the śāstra I also knew this secret that to chant the name of Rāma is 1000 times more than the name of Viṣṇu. But I also knew, to chant the name of Kṛṣṇa is 3000 times more powerful than the name of Viṣṇu. I never chant the name of Kṛṣṇa, somehow even I tried, but I found myself naturally attracted to chanting the name of Rāma. But by your association, when you came I was able to chant spontaneously the name of Kṛṣṇa. So now I’m chanting the name “Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare”. So chanting the names of Kṛṣṇa are the most effective means. We are chanting anyway names - temporary names of various type. Why not chant some spiritual name?

If one doesn’t have the faith in the name of.., vedic names, Sanskrit names of God, they can chant whichever are authorised name of God they have faith in, in their language that they speak. These Sanskrit names, are sometimes people ask, why you are giving us a foreign culture? Why can’t we chant the name of God in English? But I don’t know exactly what the name of God is in English, - Harry, Bill. You can chant the name Harry, Harry Kṛṣṇa. But the point is what is English? What is any language? Languages have developed over the years. Recently we find English comes from a mixture of Latin, of Germaniac influences and you trace those further back, eventually you come to Sanskrit. So actually Sanskrit is not a foreign name, even 50 years ago or less, even maybe 10 or 15 years ago all the Roman Catholic Services were done in, the Masses were done in Latin. Still in some places they are performed in Latin on certain occasions. So, Latin is come only from Sanskrit. The Roman Catholics never thought that Latin was totally irre.., was certainly wasn’t irreligious to chant a Mass in Latin. People wanted to know what it meant, so they chanted now in Vernacular. But if Latin is not foreign to their culture totally, why should Sanskrit be considered la.., Sanskrit is definitely without any doubt the mother of Latin. So simply we have taken it back to the original language. Now also Sanskrit, in our Kṛṣṇa Conscious movement, we give a basic instruction on what is the meaning of Sanskrit words. And this also for a worldwide movement, is far more practical to chant the original names in Sanskrit because we can chant those names all over the world. Whether you have a Chinese and a Russian and American and a South American, everyone together, they can all chant “Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare”. If they were all to chant simultaneously the meaning “all attractive Lord, reservoir of all pleasure” you know, in their different respective languages it’ll be very complicated. So, also these names are names which don’t have any mis.., don’t have any temporary meanings included within them. There is no ambiguity in Sanskrit. So in this way, there are many reasons. Names have been verified, we know their potency. If we start to chant other names of God, they may fit within a Viṣṇu category instead of the Kṛṣṇa category. There will only be 1/3000 the potency.

Generally we speak of the Supreme Lord in the west as being the creator of the universe. Even some offshoots of Christianity like the Mormons, they say that the Supreme Lord is the progenitor in a universe, and that there maybe many Supreme Lords, each one per universe. So in this way they come up with a concept which remem.., resembles the vedic concept of Lord Brahmā, who is the progenitor, the original progenitor in each universe, who is directly given birth by Viṣṇu, by God, the original Supreme Lord and then he is the only visible controller in the universe who progenit.., creates the progeny throughout the entire universe. So like this you get various concepts. When someone says God, who do they mean? God means controller, God means creator, or in some cases they mean the Supreme Lord, the Supreme Lord of what, of the planet? Of the universe? Of what? You see. If one’s very clear about their terminology, then there is no problem. Prabhupāda, Bhaktivedanta Swami, when he translated from Sanskrit to English, he was very careful that the words would not be ambiguous. Therefore some places he would use, what people may even criticise as being more verbose. He would use more words, but actually there is no reason to criticise because by doing that he has made the subject very clear. Instead of saying just God, is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the all pervading Personality of Godhead resides as Paramātmā in the heart of each and every living entity. By presenting the subject matter very clearly, it becomes easier to assimilate, to understand what is the basic concept. We have therefore within this English language people, who even have various concepts of the meaning of God. You can get a variety of ideas what is God. God is light, God is love, God is person. So in the vedas is very clear differentiation, there is Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān. There is the..there is the Supreme Absolute Truth in these different features.

The Supreme Lord has these different aspects, one of all pervasive energy, one of localised all pervading Personality of Godhead – the Supersoul in the heart and the original personality.., the Supreme Personality of Godhead from which everything else is coming - Bhagavān. So Brahman, Paramātmā, Bhagavān - these three aspects have been very clearly explained in the Vedas. So there is no confusion, if one knows this science, if one goes deep into it. But it is a science and one has to study it from the authorized previous scientists of this transcendental science. Therefore, the system of guru-paramparā is there, from one spiritual master to the disciple and so on, the message has been handed down. So here we are describing, we are discussing about spiritual planets Vaikuṇṭha planets in the spiritual sky, about the para-vyoma what is the spiritual sky?. And that there are hundreds and crores of different forms of the Lord. Each one of those forms has its own particular planet in the spiritual sky. There is so much information given about not only this world but about the world that lies beyond this world. That although the Lord is a person, He appears as a male enjoyer, you can’t compare Him with the male form in the material world.

Prabhupād said all such forms of Kṛṣṇa are advaita - non different from one another. And each of Them is eternally young. The young Lord with 4 hands is nicely decorated as described below, in the next verse to give some descriptions of the Lord. His mouth expresses His happiness, His eyes spread like the petals of a lotus. And His garments yellowish like the saffron of the kadamba flower are bedecked with valuable jewels. His ornaments are all made of gold set with jewels, and He wears a glowing head dress and earrings. His lotus feet are placed over the whorls of the lotus like hearts of the mystics. On His chest is the Kaustubha jewel engraved with a beautiful calf and there are other jewels on His shoulders. His complete torso is garlanded with fresh flowers. He is well decorated with an ornamental wreath above His waist and rings studded with valuable jewels on His fingers, His leglets, His bangles, His oiled hair curling with a bluish tint, and His beautiful smiling face are all very pleasing. The Lord’s magnanimous pastime, it goes on. So Prabhupāda explains in the purport to text 10 that the ornaments, flowers, clothing and all other decorations on the transcendental body of the Personality of Godhead are identical with the body of the Lord. None of them are made of material ingredients. Otherwise there will be no chance of their decorating the body of the Lord. As such in the Para-vyoma spiritual varieties are all distinguished from the material variegatedness. In other words, when the Lord’s form appears to be gold with jewels, that is original spiritual gold. Gold here is a imitation, just like you can get imitation gold. Well, compared to the spiritual, everything there is spiritual but to create a replica of that, so here are similar kind of artificial copy of that. Here in the material world we have golds and jewels, gold various types, various carats, jewels which are also most valuable. But the particular ornaments worn by the Lord are all transcendental. In conclusion Prabhupād says here in another purport for verse 11 that “the Supreme Person of God is the most beautiful person among all others” and Srila Śukadeva Gosvāmī describes every part of His transcendental beauty one after another in order to teach the impersonalist that the Personality of Godhead is not an imagination by the devotee for facility of worship but is the Supreme Person in fact and figure. The impersonalist feature of the absolute truth is but His radiation as the sun rays are but radiations from the sun. So these descriptions are being made by self realized soul, someone who is actually seen the Lord or who has heard from those who have seen the Lord. It’s not just some imagination for concentrating one’s attention. It is actually the form of the Lord.

So when we do our devotional service, Kṛṣṇa is there to help us. If we desire to go to Kṛṣṇa, if we desire to surrender to Kṛṣṇa, He will give us intelligence how to surrender to Him, how to serve Him. If we desire to forget Kṛṣṇa, as He is in our heart as the Supersoul, He may give us intelligence how to forget Him. Our suffering or enjoying, although awarded by the Supreme Lord, are only due to our own desires and our own activities. Therefore, He cannot be held responsible. We have to be., hold our own self responsible, our own selves responsible for whatever we do, whatever we suffer in this material world. So if we develop this desire to go back to Kṛṣṇa and then if we help others to go to Kṛṣṇa, we do devotional service to Kṛṣṇa, He also appreciates that, He reciprocates, and He brings us back to Him very quickly. So it’s very important. It’s the most important thing is to cultivate and develop that desire to serve and return to Kṛṣṇa. In this way He gives us the intelligence to come to Him.

teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ
bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam
dadāmi buddhi-yogaṁ taṁ
yena mām upayānti te

I give the intelligence by which the devotee can come to Me. We have to be “satata-yuktānāṁ” - always absorbed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The process of bhakti-yoga means 24 hours a day we are to be engaged in devotional service, serving Kṛṣṇa and then we are brought back to Kṛṣṇa. So that prabhu, my dear master, my dear god brother, my dear spiritual master, I have done so much service, 12 hours a day I do service, only the other 12 hours a day I’m in maya. Or even I do 22 hours service it’s only 2 hours a day I go for a little break, or little māyā, little this, little that. Actually, it is like in the Old Testament, they were saying that “the Lord is the jealous God” or something like that. There it’s all very allegorical. But the point is that to go back to the spiritual world, we need to remain always engaged. Engagement is very attractive, is very nice. Serving Kṛṣṇa is the most exciting experience. But we have to remain in service. Whether we are resting, we are resting so we can gain our strength to do more service. We are eating, we are eating Kṛṣṇa prasadam so we can continue doing our everything, even those things which may be normally considered somewhat gratifying to the senses - procreation, eating, sleeping, even defending. All these things can be used in Kṛṣṇa’s service in a proper way under the guidance of the scriptures, the guidance of the spiritual master. It’s not a question when the president comes up to the devotee and asks what you are doing. That prabhu, I’m an older devotee, I don’t need anyone to tell me or I know when I am.., no, it's a question. That’s a very important service in anyone helps us to remain fully engaged. That’s the only method by which Kṛṣṇa will bring us to Him very quickly. So one person’s or 2 persons’ or several persons’ service may be to see that we are remaining in service. Just as māyā is also a servant. Her service is to try to take us away from serving Kṛṣṇa. She is always there ready to offer you an alternative. Similarly some devotees are there senior Vaiṣṇavas, who have been given the service to see that all the devotees are provided with adequate service. Ultimately no one can be forced to do any service. Service means voluntary sevā. In Sanskrit there are 2 words for service. One is called sevā and the other one is called.., like dāsatva. That two., sevā means like voluntary service. Service offered with love, service that’s voluntary. Then the other type of service is more like.., like an employment, like doing a service but not with some renumeration. Just like in the west, there is one word in English but they say like, you call it like an employment, more or less like service and server. Service meaning that what is your like an employment where you are getting some renumeration and sevā which is service offered as a voluntary offering. We put ourselves in Kṛṣṇa’s hands, we pray to Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa please make me be your devotee, make me think of You. Because by my insignificant intelligence I may become bewildered and think of something else. So similarly we request and we want the vaiṣṇavas to help us to keep engaged in Kṛṣṇa’s service. We appreciate that. That is the proper attitude, not that we resent if someone comes and sees that we are being properly engaged. Rather we appreciate that, we relish that someone is actually helping us and concerned about our spiritual protection and spiritual advancement. So on course to all the services so that we continue to see whatever we are doing with a proper perspective. We chant the sat-nāma, the spiritual nāma - the spiritual names of the Lord which keeps our consciousness properly directed. And we avoid unnecessarily chanting the asatīṁ nāma or the temporary names which do not have any spiritual potency unless those temporary names are used in Kṛṣṇa’s service. If we can use those names in Kṛṣṇa’s service then that’s alright. Hare Kṛṣṇa !

Devotees: Hare Kṛṣṇa !

Jayapatākā Swāmi: Any questions? Yeah there is a hand up

Devotee: (asks question - indistinct 44:20)

Jayapatākā Swāmi: Well, it’s only the limit to how many combinations of four there are. You have four hands, you have four weapons. There are other forms also like Varāha - form of a boar, Kūrma- the form of a tortoise. He appears in different species also.

Devotee: Those who are

Jayapatākā Swāmi: This is not when He appeared as Varāha, the boar, it’s not like the ordinary pig you see running in the street or something. One shouldn’t make that mistake. He was a boar, first of all was it Brahma sneezed, a little speck came out of his nose. Something we may have all experienced. But then all of those there looked, there was a little tiny baby pig / boar. Like about as big as a little speck. And then it gradually started growing, growing and growing right in front of his eyes, became 1inch, 2 inches, 3 inches and then 4 inches. Kind of the reverse of the incredible shrinking man, they got these ideas from the vedas originally. It’s the reverse, who came from the smallest to bigger and bigger and bigger. Finally He was you know 3 feet, 5 meter, you know bigger and then as far as kept getting bigger and bigger until He became a huge form which was so big that it could lift the entire planet. And then He went in the outer space and it was going around in the space and all the sages and they were amazed to see that this was giving effulgence like suns. So then the sages were offering and chanting “Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare” at the unlimited potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He could appear in any form. In this He just appeared as a boar, but a huge boar, universal kind of boar. When He sometimes He would shake His back and shake off the perspiration, and the, all the great devotees and sages were, and they were bathing in that like nectar. So this was His pastime, like His play. If He wants, He can appear in any form. When He appears, it is not an ordinary form. He does things that no one could do. The only similarity is in the form is in the basic silhouette. Apart from that His form is totally transcendental. But because He was coming for the purpose of lifting up the earth which had fallen from its orbit at that time. According to the ancient history of the universe, one time the earth fell from its orbit because people were draining out so much subterranean matter from the earth that the basic equilibrium that keeps the planets in orbit was destroyed. Mean all that in the center of this earth there is the fire in the middle. Sometimes it comes out through the volcanoes. So according to the Vedas in Sanskrit codes written 5000 years or more ago, that there is a balance of subterranean matter which keeps that fire going. And if that fire goes out in the center of the planet, the planet loses its ability to float in space. So right now we are draining you know what is no tomorrow, just take out all the oil and everything. We don’t think that you know, we are never thinking that may be in the total ecological balance we have on this planet, may be there is a reason for that oil to be there. Somewhere down the line by taking it out, we might be causing some trouble, think about that. That never occurred to anybody. But in the vedas it is said that there were demons who were draining out fuel from the center of the earth 1000s of you know millions of years before and the earth fell from its orbit. So then Kṛṣṇa came in the form of a boar and lifted it back up and corrected the imbalance. But in the contrast now we are draining out so much petroleum which took millions of years to produce. Somewhere down the line, it normally goes down on there would be the fuel for keeping the heat going in the center of the earth. Who knows what problems that’s gonna create in the future? We are worrying about the ecology that some, you know, birds gonna become extinct the last condor, the last you know yellow breasted blue-eyed pigeon or whatever. And, but we don’t worry about the ecological balance of the whole planet by draining out subt.., 5000 feet into the earth and more and draining out the petrol that what imbalance that’s gonna create for the planet in the future. Very short sighted goals. Without knowing even what next this planet exist or function, we just go on trying to exploit it for some temporary sense gratification. So when things mess up in the universe, then sometimes in the past people were religious enough that they could actually approach through various procedures to the Supreme Lord to correct these things. We are far, the modern society is far away from that position now but by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, one can again communicate, by chanting the names of God, one can communicate with the Lord and eventually be able to establish direct personal communication in a very reciprocal face to face manner.

Yes ?

Devotee: (asks question - indistinct 51:09)

Jayapatākā Swāmi: I couldn’t hear the last point.

Devotee: Indistinct 51:30

Jayapatākā Swāmi: Well, mother Yaśodā was a ball of nerves.... She was always in anxiety. But her anxiety was out of love. She was anxious for cooking Kṛṣṇa’s meal, for feeding Kṛṣṇa, what is Kṛṣṇa doing now? The impersonalists, they think that the perfection of life is to be peaceful, to be very calm. That is in the mode of goodness. The transcendental life is beyond goodness. There’s where all opposites can become, all opposites meet and they become a harmonious congruence. So a person can be in anxiety externally at the same time be completely internally stable and peaceful. If you told mother Yaśodā that you know you are always in anxiety over your son, He’s stealing butter, and He’s doing this and I mean such a terror, going out to all, you know sometimes He’s running out and feeding the butter to the monkeys and He’s going out then all these demons are attacking Him and everything, I mean you are always in anxiety about your son. So wouldn’t it be better you know not to have Kṛṣṇa as your son or something like that? It’s totally inconceivable. Why is mother Yaśodā in anxiety about her son? Because she loves Kṛṣṇa. So in her, if someone says o mother Yaśodā is in anxiety, sure she is in anxiety. But her anxiety means she is in constant ecstasy. She’s in samadhi, she’s fixed in meditation on Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda was in anxiety for preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Sometimes he would express to us the extreme pressure he felt in trying to manage and expand a worldwide movement for spreading God consciousness. But if you would offer another alternative, he would never accept. And if you ask is he satisfied, he is completely satisfied. So there in Kṛṣṇa consciousness you can be in anxiety and be totally satisfied.And In material world people do anything to become free from anxiety, take intoxication, they can do anything to be free of anxiety. So they think that the spiritual life means that everything should be peaceful and calm. But spiritual life you call Vaikuṇṭha - no anxiety that means no material anxiety. It is not an anxiety to be concerned to serve Kṛṣṇa. It’s not a suffering. It’s a concern, it’s a meditation, it’s an expression. In love there’s going to be anxiety, there’s going to be concern, there’s going to be death, that’s part of it. But when one is in that position of spiritual love they are totally satisfied. They are concerned with doing something properly for Kṛṣṇa and when Kṛṣṇa is accepting that service. Because service is already non-different from Kṛṣṇa.

I can personally say the most blissful moments, the most profound experiences, the most profound ecstasies that I have experienced was that at the peak of anxieties of doing something for Prabhupāda and Kṛṣṇa. Think of the anxiety that Hanumān was in when he was sent to get the.., when Lakṣmaṇa was there, I mean the whole Kṛṣṇa līlās are meant like that, the devotees are put into so many spiritual anxieties. And then, then they become more and more intimately connected with Kṛṣṇa. It’s a completely inconceivable for the impersonalist or for the materialist to understand what is devotional service. It’s an entirely different realm. But they can gradually experience because in the devotees’ anxiety, You can call it as anxiety, their concern, in their anxiety to serve Kṛṣṇa, they’re also experiencing and they are.., it’s obvious, it’s a totally different. Even to hear about it is purifying, it’s very satisfying. When you hear Hanumān, he was sent to get the medicine to save Lakṣmaṇa. Lakṣmaṇa is in a coma being struck by a poisoned arrow. There’s only one antidote and that has to be brought before the sunrise. They say this particular herb is available on this mountain and looks like this, you go there. He goes to the mountain. It’s like a huge mountain with filled with jungle all over the whole mountain. I mean, there is millions of plants there, which he knows. You know He is not you know a herbologist or something whatever you call, he’s not a biologist. He is just in a wisp, you know he couldn’t remember that exactly. This is like the whole mountain is covered with plants. What if he brings the wrong one? He’s in, if you think his anxiety at that time. Sun is about to rise just in a short time, Lakṣmaṇa is in coma, he’s been given the service to bring that plant. Well he picks up the whole mountain and brings it to Rāma. Hanumān ki

Devotees: Jaya !

Jayapatākā Swāmi: Right, so he’s glorified for that. Whereas he would have gone as well you know (pplach..), they gave me a service how I can figure out what plant. I gotta go back and tell the piece of my mind, right. Prabhu, you didn’t tell me, it was too difficult, so many plants were there how can you expect me, right. Then the whole Rāmāyaṇa would have to be re-written. Because someone was you know in a conditional, because Hanumān’s desire. What do you think that if you desire to do something and when you in the act of doing it you are so absorbed in trying to do it, that you can call that as an anxiety. So in material world, people are so anxious to get some form of sense gratification which even when they get it, they are still not satisfied. So then there are, just this difference of one frustration to another, with the hankering, fearing and lamentation. But in spiritual, externally in Kṛṣṇa con, the similar activities may be there but throughout the entire activity, one is completely satisfied, because the connection with Kṛṣṇa. When one is so concerned about doing his service to Kṛṣṇa, then he takes the height of anxiety that actually a person is so concerned with serving Kṛṣṇa and His devotee, that it actually it appears that the person is anxious to serve Kṛṣṇa. That is considered very advanced. Normally you can barely get someone even to go to the church or the mosque or the temple or just even to pray God please give me some material benediction, even you can’t get people to do that, and then maybe you can get someone to pray that please give me salvation, I’m fed up with the material world. But to someone, the other end of the sphere you are talking. There was a dark knight in the bright day, the person is so much involved with God, with Kṛṣṇa that he is anxious to serve God. His anxiety is how to please the Lord. People don’t even think how God would give them pleasure nowadays. What’s the need of God, I can get just a job and work it out or at most they pray God please end it all, I’m fed up and maybe sometime you know, that’s the point. Then someone might sometime just sing a prayer to God for a few moments and, but to be so absorbed in God consciousness that you are anxious, you are involved so intimately that your relation is so personal that you are actually experiencing what appears to be anxiety to give Him pleasure, to satisfy His desire. That is the, that is the symptom of love for God. And in that anxiety to please Kṛṣṇa, one can experience these higher realms of devotional ecstasy, higher realms of devotional service. It says in the Nectar of Devotion that the devotee is so concerned with trying to please Kṛṣṇa, just like Dāruka was one time fanning Kṛṣṇa that he was feeling ecstasy, he went.., he became angry at the ecstasies. His eyes were filled with tears, he couldn’t see Kṛṣṇa, how could he fan properly? You know with the fan, his body was shaking, he couldn’t hold it in hand, as he was going in deeper deeper anxiety, how to serve and fan Kṛṣṇa properly, he was feeling more ecstasy of love for Kṛṣṇa, it was making it harder to fan. And he was getting in more anxiety on how to fan, then he was getting more ecstasy. You see Sometime a devotee who is maybe more advanced in devotional service maybe accused of being passionate. Passion to serve Kṛṣṇa and passion to enjoy the senses is totally different.