20100611 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 5.19.8

mūkaṁkarotivācālaṁ
paṅguṁlaṅghayategirim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁvande
paramānanda-mādhavam
śrīcaitanyaīśvaram

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 5.19.8

suro 'surovāpyathavānaronaraḥ
sarvātmanāyaḥsukṛtajñamuttamam
bhajetarāmaṁmanujākṛtiṁhariṁ
yauttarānanayatkosalāndivamiti

suraḥ—demigod; asuraḥ—demon; vāapi—or; atha—therefore; vā—or; anaraḥ—other than a human being (bird, beast, animal and so on); naraḥ—a human being; sarva-ātmanā—wholeheartedly; yaḥ—who; su-kṛtajñam—easily made grateful; uttamam—most highly elevated; bhajeta—should worship; rāmam—Lord Rāmacandra; manuja-ākṛtim—appearing as a human being; harim—the Supreme Personality of Godhead; yaḥ—who; uttarān—of northern India; anayat—brought back; kosalān—the inhabitants of Kosala-deśa, Ayodhyā; divam—to the spiritual world, Vaikuṇṭha; iti—thus.

TRANSLATION

Therefore, whether one is a demigod or a demon, a man or a creature other than man, such as a beast or bird, everyone should worship Lord Rāmacandra, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who appears on this earth just like a human being. There is no need of great austerities or penances to worship the Lord, for He accepts even a small service offered by His devotee. Thus He is satisfied, and as soon as He is satisfied, the devotee is successful. Indeed, Lord Śrī Rāmacandra brought all the devotees of Ayodhyā back home, back to Godhead [Vaikuṇṭha].

PURPORT

Lord Śrī Rāmacandra is so kind and merciful to His devotees that He is very easily satisfied by a little service rendered by anyone, human or not. This is the special advantage of worshiping Lord Rāmacandra, and there is the same advantage in worshiping Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Lord Kṛṣṇa and Lord Rāmacandra, in the manner of kṣatriyas, sometimes showed Their mercy by killing asuras, but Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu awarded love of God without difficulty even to the asuras. All the incarnations of the Supreme Personality of Godhead—but especially Lord Rāmacandra, Lord Kṛṣṇa and, later, Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu—delivered many of the living entities present before Them, indeed almost all of them. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is therefore represented in the six-armed form of ṣaḍ-bhūja-mūrti, which is a combination of Lord Rāmacandra, Lord Kṛṣṇa and Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. The best purpose of human life can be fulfilled by worshiping the ṣaḍ-bhūja-mūrti, the form of the Lord with six arms-two arms of Rāmacandra, two arms of Kṛṣṇa and two arms of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

* * *

Guru Maharaja:

Raghupati Raghava Raja Ram

Patita Pavana Sita Ram

Hare Krsna.

So, in this verse, we hear the glories of Lord Ramchandra, and also in the purport Prabhupada mentions that Lord Krsna and later most of all Lord Caitanya also equally and more merciful.

When we went to Ayodhya dhama, we heard that all the residents of Ayodhya had moved on to the spiritual world. They had gone back to Godhead. So, this was a very special mercy that Ramchandra, He accepted little service.

Dipawali is observed… some by Krsna lila, or some by different lilas but one of the lilas that Diipawali represents in North India is when Ramchandra is coming back with Sita by the Puspa Bimana or the flower airplane. So, he was flying in night. So, in order to find Ayodhya, everyone lit candles and lit ghee lamps, and everyone lit the city so that Ramchandra could come back easily even in the night. So, this was very special occasion.

So, still today this is one of the biggest festival of India, is Dipawali. And it means the festival of lights which was the residents of Ayodhya weLord Chaitanyaoming back Lord Ramchandra.

We took the safari when we were to the Ayodhya, and we were taken to Chitrakuta. So, I hadn’t seen Chitrakuta. I didn’t know really so much about Ram Lila. So, Chitrakuta, it was a very beautiful place. Its few hours by car to the South. Maybe a hundred or two hundred kilometers. It is said that Lord Ram and Sita and Laxman, they lived there for around eleven years, and there was … it was like the Vrndavana of Ram Lila in the sense that it had very beautiful hills and trees and forests. So, the whole city came with Bharat Maharaja, and they all came to worship Lord Ram, please come back. But since Ram was ordered by his father to spend fourteen years in the forest, because he had…. Father had promised two boons to the wife. So, she was misdirected by one hunch back lady to… so she asked that Ram be banished for fourteen years, and that Bharat, her son be made the king. So, Darasanth said, how can ask for such a thing from me? Ram …19.20… but she insisted, he did this because he had given his word, and it hurt him so much that he died, and she became a widow, and Bharat said, You are my queen, but you are no longer my mother. So, you hear children being rejected by the parents. But she was a mother rejected by her son. So, I respect you as a queen, but you are no longer my mother, and the whole thing was quite moving, and Bharat and the kingdom came and requested Ram, Please come back. And he said, well, my father ordered me, I have to follow his instruction. Although it is difficult, but it is my duty. So, he tells the… he shows that one should follow one’s … father, one’s guru’s instructions. So, he was very careful to follow.

So, then, Bharata, he gave his wooden shoes, he said, ok, and Bharat he put the wooden show on the singhshan, and he would sit by the side. So, he managed the kingdom on behalf of Ram, but yet someone had to manage. But officially he put the shoes of Ram on the Singhasan. So, he said, since Ram is waiting outside the city, we also will live outside, we will banish ourselves. So, he lived in one place, I forget the name, Nanda Gram or Nanda something, and it was outside of Ayodha, and … and when Hanuman was flying to look for that Mandara hill to … with Ravana, at that time, he … with bharata. So, Bharata… who is this? Who dares to fly over the singhasana or Ram, and then he showed to Ram…

So, they … they have a deity of Bharata embracing with Hanuman, you are Ram Bhakta, jai Shri Ram Chandra ki….

Like that there is beautiful, beautiful scenery. All the Ram Lila, Sita Kunda and Ram Kunda, and we went to this one place where they had a cave that Ram lived in, and that was a little pond in the cave. So, Sita used to take a bath in … so, then we went to one place, I forget the exact lila but Anusuya who is the daughter of I think Takshak or …. I forget kardamba Muni, and she married Achi, the great sage. So, she was known as the most chaste woman in the whole universe. So, at that time Laxmi and … what is the name, the wife of Brahma,

No, no. wife of Siva is Parvati, and wife of Brahma is … no, no, Gayatri is the second wife, and the first wife is….

And so, they told her husband, you please go there and test her, is she really that chaste. So, they went as brahmanas, and they went and begged a boon, and she said, ok, I will give you a boon. So, then they hid that Brahma and Siva and Shambu. So, they said, we want to see you naked. So, how can she remain chaste to her husband and show herself naked to some other man? So, this was the test. So, she thought, ok, and she turned them into little babies, because the mother can appear naked before her baby. So, she had them as little babies, six month old, and she rocked them. So, after a while, then Laxmi and Parvati and what’s her name… anyway the wife of Brahma, they begged to her, please give back our husbands, we are sorry, you are the most chaste.

So, she was also in Ram Lila, that she only agreed to help Bharat to find Ram, if he stay there one day with the people, and she did some seva. So, like that. We went to place, we saw, there was a sadhu and gave us all fruit, and then he said, you know, I went to mayapur, and you didn’t receive me. I felt so bad that… because Prabhupada told us, every sadhu who comes to Vrndavana, to Mayapur, we should receive them, so we should give them food. So, somehow he had fed us, but we hadn’t fed him. So, then I came back to Mayapur and I told them, Make sure everything sadhu comes, whoever they are, we give them Prasad.

(inaudible)

Confirm.

So, like that, we were anyway, we saw all this places of Ram Lila, it was very interesting.

So, but here Prabhupada, he mentions that, you see, Ram and Krsna, they were ksatriyas, and then later… I mean Krsna in his later lila, Ram throughout his lila. So, sometimes they killed demons. When he killed him, they got liberated. But Lord Caitanya, He promised not to take any weapon of violence. So, he just gave love of Krsna to everyone. Even Jagai and Madhai got love of Krsna.

Its said, when we go to see the samadhis at Katwa, I think Caitanya das, you are from katwa.

You are born there? OH….

Oh, there the jagai and Madhai, they used to dance in the kirtan on the way to Ganges in Katwa, and it was said that they would cry that they have love of Krsna. They would cry in ecstasy when they chant.

Hare Krsna Hare Krsna

Krsna Krsna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama

Rama Rama Hare Hare…

So, sometimes Lord Chitanya would reveal his satabhuja, that he is Ramchandra, rsna and Lord Chaitany all in one. So, he would have the six handed form. Two hand bow and arrow, two hands flute, and two hands kamandalu and stick. So, like this he would show the satabhuja form. I see Prabhupada said that the Thai people and the Chinese, they like deities with many hands. So, this Satabhuja should be popular there.

So, at one point we had the Satabhuja deity in Thailand and Bangkok. I don’t know what happened to the deity. But there we had… so, Lord Chaitanya is very merciful. And that’s our hope. You see, if the people of Ayodhya just by little service they could please Lord Ram, so just be a little service, just by chanting Hare Krsna, by taking some prasadam, and you get love of Krsna.

You see, in the Shantipura, there… in the pastime when Advaita was on the Govinda Dwadashi, he was giving the festival for the disappearance day of Madhavendra Puri. So, he has especially on that day he made elaborate arrangement, and Lord Chaitanya said, anyone who takes Prasad in this place, on this tithi, they get love for Govinda.

So, we take buses and buses of devotees every year to this place in Shantipura. Just by a little prasada we get love of Krsna. No austerity, no fasting, just a little prasada you get love.

Gauranga….

Gauranga….

Gauranga….

So, like that, there is many pastimes of Lord Chaitanya where he freely gives love for Krsna. Without all the you see different austerities, just by chanting Hare Krsna Hare Krsna

Krsna Krsna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama

Rama Rama Hare Hare…

So, this is a very special revelation. We heard that … see Ravana he had also like Hiranyakashipu, he had a certain blessing where he couldn’t be killed by any asura, or by any Rakshasha or anything like that, but he was himself a rakshasha. He was a maneater. So, he used to eat humans and animals. So, he didn’t ask for any blessing to not be killed by a human or an animal, because he thought anyway it is my food. So, I am have nothing to be afraid of them.

So, and that’s why the Lord came in the human form, and his devotees came as monkeys and bears. So, they fought with Ravana, great monkeys like Hanuman, Angada and others, and like… what’s the bears name? Jambavana.

So, they fought with these great demons, like Indrajit and Ravana and Kumbhakarna, and so on. So, there was a great battle, and finally Sita was liberated. So, later … technically Ravana’s brother Bibhisana, he was …. because he advised Ram… Ravana, you give back sita. Ram said he won’ t fight, just give back his wife. So, give her back, and why are you doing sacrifice of whole kingdom and everything for this one woman, give her back, she is not your wife. But Ravana, he was such a demon, he said, ok, you are one of them, you go with him, you don’t belong here. You know, he gave good advice and instead he banished him. So, then he went to Ram and Laxman said, well, I have been banished. So, I want to join you.

But they… Laxman thought, maybe he is a spy. How can we trust him?

He said, I am not a spy, honestly I will join you, I have been banished by my brother, I gave him a good advice, he didn’t accept it.

What is the proof that you are not a spy?

I swear, if I am a spy and I am not honest, I will become a ksatriya, a king or a brahamana in kaliyuga.

O my god, alright, he is telling the truth.

That was such a heavy thing.

That… so, that gives us a little insight into how the brahmanas and the kings are considered in Kali Yuga. So, that convinced Laxman, ok, ok, you are true, I believe you.

So, like this the Ram Lila goes on, but Ram came some ten thousand years ago, and Krsna came five thousand years ago. Lord Chaitanya came only five hundred years ago. So, we can get the mercy of Lord Chaitanya very easily.

I mean he is within the history books, His activities, his everything is very recent. Five hundred years is not much. So, we can take advantage of his great blessing, and just by practicing Krsna Consciousness by chanting

Krsna Krsna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama

Rama Rama Hare Hare…

We can achieve this greatest of all mercy which is love of Krsna. So, finally last night, Rabinanath, the head pujari, he came to see me. So, I got some nectar. He couldn’t have all the nectar, but I was encouraging him to write down the pastimes of the deities, but we one thing heard from Brahmananda that, Prabhupada said that Dwarakanath, Rukmini-Dwarakanath had ordered him to start the preaching in India. So, that was… it was interesting. And then Rabinanath, he told last night that also somewhere in the books that… or in the letters or somewhere, where Prabhupada said that Rukmini and Dwarakandish, they asked him or ordered him whatever, instructed him to go back to Vrndavana. And some …one time 1977, then he realized that he wasn’t going to stay very long in the world. That his time had come to an end. So, like that these deities are very important. Somehow Prabhupada, he keeps referring to them that they are advising him to do this, do that. So, he was directly in contact. So, we should understand that these deities are very special.

When I was having a vision of the different deities, somehow Rukmini and Dwarakadish, … many deities around the world, but that I should come here and take shelter of these deities. I mean, I would make advancement, being cured.

So, I hope that they do record the different lilas, afterwards some pujaris told me that they would tell me if I would promise not to tell, but they may…but then I didn’t follow up and that. So, but because in the West here people think that maybe they are crazy or some, whereas in India, they were hungry for this lilas. Anyway, this are definitely special deities, and they had different pastimes at different times, but maybe the devotees would like to reveal, because they are afraid that people want to accept, but we should understand that this are archa avatars, that they are incarnations of the Lord as the worshippable deity, so that we have lila.

It says in the shastra that the deities have lila vaicitra, athough it is the same Krsna, but different deities have different lilas, they have different pastimes. So, somehow this deities of Gaura-Nitai and Rukmini-Dwarakadish, Rukmini-Dwarakanatha and Jagannatha Baladeva and Subhadra, Prahlad Narasimha, they have some pastimes. He was mentioning before that they had put the Prahlada-Narasimha below the Jagannthat altar, and they took all together, but someone said, well they shouldn’t come up there, and they took off, some house behind the temple, can’t find… and it was burned, and then they put the deity of the picture of Prahlada-Narasimah where he is now in the pillar.

So, they found out maybe this house burning this. And Narasimhadeva was angry, why, and then Madhavisa said, Prabhupada put this Los Angeles deities and for all the deities around the world, he had said, you should chant three times the Narasimha prayers, pray to the Ratha yatra, because taking the deities out is the bit risky thing. So, Madhavisa said he forgot to chant. This is our nature, we get order from Prabhupada, we forget. Madhavisa forgot, and then here there was some …42.38… and the … broke down, and it had to be replaced. So, since then… because it is important thing because I don’t think every ratha yatra chants three times Narasimha prayers. So, many things happened here in Los Angeles. So, you are very fortunate that you have deities who are very much… Prabhupada referred to them, and he considered them very important.

So, here in the Western world this is a very important temple. And these deities are very important for Srila Prabhupada. So, please take very seriously their service, and their blessings. I am very particularly avoiding the marriage thing, I have to speak at the marriage later this morning. At that time I got some other things to say, but this morning I wanted to mention about the deities.

So, I do have here the Narasimha oil from Mayapura, that recent oil that was sent over, just got by yesterday. So, I would like to share that with whoever wants. It is said to remove the obstacles in the path of bhakti, as… if you put on your forehead.

Are there any questions?

Inaudible

Devotee Mataji: The question is not really related to the class, but I wanted you advice on this point, because we regularly decorate the temple, and when the deities are resting it is impossible to be completely silent, and you know there is various noises of shuffling and people coughing and all sorts of things. So, I was wondering if it was better if we chant Hare Krsna while we are working because it was less disturbing for the deities.

Guru Maharaja: Couldn’t hear everything. You asked that when the deities are asleep, sometimes there are festivals, you need to prepare something, if there is some noise, is it alright to chant…

Mataji: Because we make noise when we are working in the temple room, when the deities are resting, and I was wondering, because it is impossible to totally silent, if we could sing softly, if that is better to do that, rather than the kind of noise that just goes on, shuffling of things and like that…

Guru Maharaja: Well, I know that in Mayapura and Vrndavana Prabhupada had us to do the twenty-four hour kirtan. So, that was chanting around the clock. That was authorized by His divine grace. So, I don’t see any problem with chanting while the deities are at sleep      

If that is your question?

Internet.

J.K.Das from Auzakh??46.30 … he was asking, if Krsna prema was so easy to get, then why should I perform Harinam daily?

Who is that?

It just says, J.K.Das.

Auzaks….

Auzak hills…well, that is the way you go over Krsna, by doing the Harinama, by chanting Hare Krsna. That is not considered a very difficult austerity.

Like some people, the Chandra, what it is called, the Chandrayana fast, they start with the… on the first day of the rising moon, one grain of rice, next day two grains, after the fifteenth day, the full moon day, they take fifteen whole grains of rice. And then fourteenth, thirteenth, one month fast. I mean that you will fill your stomach even fifteen grains of rice. So, all kinds of like really difficult fast. If you want to do some heavy austerities, but chanting and singing and dancing, that is not considered to be a different austerity. But if you don’t chant how will get the mercy of Lord Chaitanya?

Please…

I think the context was that you told the story about how just by taking a little Prasad at Shantipura on a certain day, Advaitas appearance or whatever it is, you get prema. You mentioned that in your talk. If you just take a little Prasad. That’s why we have the food distribution right at Shantipura during the Mayapura festival. So, this devotee is saying, well, ok, I will travel … Prema is the most valuable thing, so, I will travel to that city on that day, take a little Prasad, and then why do I have to go out everyday. He is saying why should I do all this chanting, I will just do that.

Guru Maharaja: If you go to Shantipura and take Prasad, and you get love of krsna, you want to chant. If you have love of Krsna, you can’t stop chanting. [laughter]

And what is the other way? Now you are chanting to get something, but there if you chant there is love of Krsna. Ever since you take the Prasad, you will be chanting,

Hare Krsna Hare Krsna

Krsna Krsna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama

Rama Rama Hare Hare…

That is a different thing, that say if you go on Nabadwipa Parikrama, … Shantipura to take some prasada, you get Govinda bhakti, based on some different things.

At the same time we have taken vows, this person identifies as a dasa. So, if we are dasa, if we are initiated devotee, we take a vow from the guru to chant sixteen rounds. So, everyday we chant

Hare Krsna Hare Krsna

Krsna Krsna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama

Rama Rama Hare Hare…

We chant our sixteen rounds, we want to engage in service. So, this is …. That if we do it because you want to achieve something, and if this is austerity for you, you don’t have love of godhead yet. So, you need to take this Prasad I think, and then if you have love of Godhead you want to chant, you want to serve. What does love mean? If you love someone you want to serve that person. If you love Krsna you want to serve him, and he is pleased when you chant his holy name. So, you want to do it. Now if you are doing it because it is your duty or some other thing, that’s called Vaidi Bhakti, doing devotional service according to the rules and regulations.

Its… when you are actually above … it is the same thing, if you want to do it, you like to do it, and then you won’t think, Why do I have to go on chanting every day? ….

You think, I can’t stop chanting…

 When I started chanting, if… you know, … I don’t know… a devotee who chant, but later, if I tried to do something else, (inaudible) 53.00.. if we chanting Hare Krsna, I can’t think of anything else. All I can think of is chanting.

So, like when you are chanting, the whole mindset changes after sometime. So, I hope that you won’t see the Harinam as some austerity. Rather like… when I was only two occasions … harinam, I found it very very blissful to do harinam. And other times somehow I had therapies and different things, but I don’t that the devotees, I saw the devotees virtually dancing and distributing the mercy, I don’t think you go on Harinama because it is a great austerity. Rather they like it. Govinda Dutta and Jaya Gauranga, and who else, there is several …Banabhatta and others, they seem to sincerely enjoying …. Who is the devotee here.

Ganesh… they are chanting, they are ecstatic. You find the Harinama to be some great austerity?

(inaudible)

Haribol.

So, rather all this other things we do, like going on visiting Mayapura, and visiting … and taking prasada in holy place, what they do is make you want to do this things. They make it natural, and they don’t think, Oh it is an austerity I have to do, why try to do this, I can just take Prasad.

When you take Prasad, you rather you be mad after chanting. Like the six goswamis, hey radhe, hey govinda, they are running around the forest of Vrndavana, they are not thinking this is some austerity. They love Krsna, they love Radharani.

Haribol…

So, this Bhaktivinod Thakura, he had a vision where he saw the kirtan of Lord Chaitanya turn into rasa lila. So, he saw that the modern day kirtana was like the rasa lila, it is ecstatic.

So, I think time is up…