20201114 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.4.3

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

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.4.3

kasmin yuge pravṛtteyaṁ
sthāne vā kena hetunā
kutaḥ sañcoditaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
kṛtavān saṁhitāṁ muniḥ

In what period and at what place was this first begun, and why was this taken up? From where did Kṛṣṇa-dvaipāyana Vyāsa, the great sage, get the inspiration to compile this literature?

Purport: Because Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the special contribution of Śrīla Vyāsadeva, there are so many inquiries by the learned Śaunaka Muni. It was known to them that Śrīla Vyāsadeva had already explained the text of the Vedas in various ways up to the Mahābhārata for the understanding of less intelligent women, śūdras and fallen members of the family of twice-born men. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is transcendental to all of them because it has nothing to do with anything mundane. So the inquiries are very intelligent and relevant.

Jayapatākā Swami: We see that the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is perfect questions and perfect answers. So the sages wanted to know, what was the inspiration of Vyāsadeva to write the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So what was the need for Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam? Very nice questions. This helps us to understand the importance of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Of course, this necessity is given by the speaker himself. All the other Vedas give some inspiration for sense gratification. But this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is known as the Amala Purāṇa. Because the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is pure, transcendental, subject matter. Throughout, the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam speaks about the pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His pure devotees. Lord Caitanya recommended that we read Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the required reading for all the devotees. But many devotees they don’t read Śrīla Prabhupāda’s transcendental, nectar filled writing. Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted that all the devotees should read all of his books. There is so much nectar in Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books. And we don’t have any excuse, not to read his books. I have seen Śrīla Prabhupāda, every night, till late hours, how he used to take the difficulty of translating these books. Through Śrīla Prabhupāda, Kṛṣṇa has manifested this wonderful knowledge.

Sometimes, he used to call me at 1 or 2 in the early hours. If he wanted me for something, he would call. Not that I was working in an office, 9 to 5 or something like that. Any time, 24 hours, Śrīla Prabhupāda could call me. And that is why I saw that at 1 or 2 in the early hours, he would be translating. When he went through so much difficulties, why should we not read these books? We don’t have to stay up at night and read the books! Any time we can read the books. Reading is not that difficult. But when we get to read these books we can relish so much nectar.

Parīkṣit Mahārāja, he was cursed to die in seven days. And he heard the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam day and night, fasting. He did so much austerities for the manifestation of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. What difficulty do we have to read these? If we read these books we can know so much about the philosophy of Kṛṣṇa. so this way, the sages in Naimiṣāraṇya were gathered for the welfare of the humanity. So we have a chance to read Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam this way. Śrīla Prabhupāda created the Bhakti-vaibhava, Bhaktivedānta degrees, so that we are able to read all this literature. Anyway, we have pure devotees, in our disciplic succession.

We are reading something about Mādhavendra Purī in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta. I was doing both, English and Bengali. This Mādhavendra Purī, he was so fortunate! Lord Caitanya asked Lord Nityānanda, is there anyone more fortunate than Mādhavendra Purī? First of all, Kṛṣṇa came to him as a village boy and gave him a pot of milk. Then, He gave him darśana in his dream. He told him that I am in the forest. Vajra das, Kṛṣṇa’s grandson installed Me. Later when the Mughals were attacking Vṛndāvana, the pūjārī kept Me in this forest. So, like that, Kṛṣṇa came in Mādhavendra Purī’s dream. And then Mādhavendra Purī took all the villagers and took out the Gopāla Deity. He put Govardhana-dhārī, Gopāla Deity on the Govardhana hill. Then he observed the Annakūṭa, the mountain of rice festival. And that was performed sometimes by different villages. Different villagers came and offered their pūjā to Govardhana-dhārī Gopāla. Govardhana-dhārī Gopāla came second time in the dream of Mādhavendra Purī, and asked him, “He was hot, and He needs sandalwood. I need the sandalwood pulp and camphor to cool My body down,” He said. Mādhavendra Purī had no money, he was a sannyāsī and it was thousands of mile away, because this place from where he would get sandalwood was in Jagannātha Purī. But he didn’t hesitate. When our guru asks, get this for me from somewhere thousand miles away, then we would ask, where is my ticket, and so many conditions we give! But Mādhavendra Purī did not do anything like that, he went immediately. Then, when he came to Remuṇā, the deity of Gopīnātha stole the kṣīra for him. Then he went to Jagannātha Purī. He got one maund of sandalwood. And 20 tolās of pure, organic camphor. So then, without hesitation he started for Vṛndāvana. But along the way toll collectors, they stopped them and said, you cannot go with this candana. But he had papers from the authorities, from the king. Then he got up to Remuṇā. Again, the Deity of Gopāla came to his dream. And said, there is no difference between Me and Gopīnātha. Just smearing the candana and camphor on Gopīnātha, I will become cool. This way, he had the Lord come three times in his dream. The Lord stole the kṣīra for him. The Lord gave him milk personally.

So Lord Caitanya asked Lord Nityānanda, is there anyone as blessed, as fortunate as Mādhavendra Purī? Use your judgement, what do the listeners/viewers think? What do you think? Is there anyone as fortunate as Mādhavendra Purī? (No!) Although he did not have any money, somehow he was very enthusiastic, to serve Lord Gopāla. And he was also feeling separation from the Lord. Śrīla Prabhupāda said that if we feel separation from the Lord then our life is successful. By feeling separation from the Lord, naturally we are detached from all material things. So that is the symptom of love, that we should feel separation from Lord Kṛṣṇa.

So, the Ayodhya-vāsīs they observed Dīpāvalī, when they heard that Lord Rāma and Sītā were coming back, and they lit the city up. Because they felt separation from the Lord. Now they burst crackers on the day of Dīpāvalī! How long, or to what extent they feel separation from the Lord, we don’t know. They will sit and burn off the firecrackers. But the Ayodhya-vāsīs they observe the Dīpāvalī to bring the Lord home. In the night, Lord Rāma and Sītā devī could come into the city because the whole city would be lit up with lights. They were flying on the Puṣpa Vimāna. So how would He see the city unless they lighted it up? That was the origin of the Dīpāvalī.

So this way the Lord may enter our heart, therefore we should always keep our hearts open. We want that the Lord will enter our heart. So I was thinking that how Mādhavendra Purī just to follow the instructions of His Gopāla, he was going through so many difficulties. In the same way, Śrīla Prabhupāda, he went to the West. He didn’t have money. He went by a freighter ship. He didn’t have any associate, any friend. He went just on the order of his Guru Mahārāja. Śrīla Prabhupāda Kī Jaya! He had to undergo many, many problems. He had a heart attack and many other inconveniences. Someone beat him up, somebody stole his goods. But with all this, in order to follow the instructions of his spiritual master, he moved ahead. He chanted the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra in the Tompkins Square park. And gradually he established the Matchless Gift temple. At first, one person saw that he was lecturing. So he felt that many people may be present there. So he entered. But Śrīla Prabhupāda was alone! He was surprised, he thought so many people would be there! Śrīla Prabhupāda was saying that where Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is, all the devas, Nārada were all present. So, anyway from that humble beginning, now we have a worldwide movement. Due to the surrender and sacrifice of Śrīla Prabhupāda. But we don’t have time to read Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books. Alas! This is a very, very, unfortunate thing! To get first initiation I had to read the Bhagavad-gītā ten times. I did that to get my first initiation. Now we have Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Caitanya-caritāmṛta and many books. So, we should take advantage of this sacrifice that Śrīla Prabhupāda made.

So I will answer four questions.

Question: Day before yesterday, a mātājī had a question on the class of Guru Mahārāja on the subject of Mādhavendra Purī. Guru Mahārāja had said that the Gopāla and Gopīnātha are the same Deity. Therefore, Gopāla had said that if you smear sandalwood and camphor paste on Gopīnātha, I will also cool down. In our Rājāpur Jagannātha temple, there was a little tussle between Lord Jagannātha and Girirāja, over the acceptance of bhoga. Guru Mahārāja had made a solution to that, that day he gave the answer but I would like to hear that again from Guru Mahārāja. – His Holiness Bhakti Vijaya Bhāgavata Swami Mahārāja.

Jayapatākā Swami: You see, sometimes we think that the Deity is stone or wood or something. So by this pastime, Lord Jagannātha, Baladeva, Subhadrā and the Govardhana hill, they established that They were people. Every avatāra has a particular quality. By this pastime, Lord Jagannātha was revealing the special quality of the Govardhana-śilā. That Govardhana was a mountain. So He could eat unlimitedly. And so Lord Jagannātha said, “He eats everything! We don’t get anything!” So the pūjārī came to me and said, “Please solve this problem!” Generally, temple presidents have to deal with certain problems, but this was an unusual problem. So this helps us to realize how the Lord is a person. This was the most important aspect. That Their deity forms are particular individual persons, and how we should deal with Them. So I said that they should offer a separate plate to Govardhana, and a separate plate to Jagannātha, Baladeva, Subhadrā. So after that, we received no complaints! But we felt the great, great mercy of Lord Jagannātha! How great a responsibility we have, for all the deities! Śrīla Prabhupāda said that all the Deities are the boss, and we are Their servants.

Question: Hare Kṛṣṇa Guru Mahārāja. We sometimes are particularly attached to some Deities of some temple. Example, of Rādhā Mādhava in Śrīdhāma Māyāpur, or Rādhā Govinda in Kolkata temple. Is it okay as Govardhana-dhārī Gopāla told Mādhavendra Purī that He and Gopīnātha are non-different?

Jayapatākā Swami: I don’t understand the question. Who are we to say what Gopāla can do or not do? He is the independent Personality of Godhead. He can do whatever He wants. If He says that the Deity of Gopīnātha is non-different from Him, what is wrong in that? And by that He was considered as Bhakta-vatsala. Mādhavendra Purī was ready to travel through all these mleccha countries. He had a patra from the Orissa authorities. Once he went into Bengal, or into Vṛndāvana areas, those papers were not serving the purpose. So the Gopāla Deity was the iṣṭa-devatā of Mādhavendra Purī. He came in his dream and told Mādhavendra Purī to give the sandalwood pulp to the Gopīnātha Deity. So his worshipable Deity was Gopāla. Who is now known as Śrīnāthajī. So, that Śrīnāthajī, Gopāla, told him to put the sandalwood pulp on the body of Gopīnātha. So what is the harm in that? That was His special mercy. To save His devotee from untold problems.

Question: How can we train our lazy mind to get the taste of reading the transcendental books of Śrīla Prabhupāda? – Mohan and Sunita.

Jayapatākā Swami: I heard that one devotee, he is locked down in Māyāpur. And not having anything else to do, he is every day reading four or five hours’ Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books. This way, he developed a taste to read. By reading, you can overcome your laziness. You can conquer your laziness.

Question: Where did the great sage Dvaipāyana Vyāsadeva, receive the inspiration to compile this great literature? (In Bengali).

Jayapatākā Swami: He felt that after writing all the 17 Purāṇas, 108 Upaniṣads, the Mahābhārata, the Vedānta sūtra, the four Vedas he still felt dissatisfied. His spiritual master was Nārada Muni. So he asked him this question, why do I feel dissatisfied? Nārada Muni instructed him to write a literature, like the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Completely, on the direct subject matter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Thank you very much for your questions. I promised four and I answered four!

Class is over, now we will make a few home visits. Devotees serving in Māyāpur can now go for prasāda, if they have not gone already!

Sorry, I got a little emotional, talking about Śrīla Prabhupāda!

(Gopati Kṛṣṇa dāsa, the repeater: We are very fortunate to witness all this Guru Mahārāja!)

Says, Gopati Kṛṣṇa dāsa!

So we are running late. So we will do house visits now.