20210626 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.9.23

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on May 26th, 2021 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur, India.

The class begins with a reading from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.9.23.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī caitanya iśvaram

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya!
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya!
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya!

reading from the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.9.23.

bhaktyāveśya mano yasmin
vācā yan-nāma kīrtayan
tyajan kalevaraṁ yogī
mucyate kāma-karmabhiḥ

Translation: The Personality of Godhead, who appears in the mind of the devotee by attentive devotion and meditation and by chanting of the holy name, releases the devotee from the bondage of fruitive activities at the time of his quitting the material body.

Purport: Yoga means concentration of the mind detached from all other subject matter. And actually such concentration is samādhi, or cent-percent engagement in the service of the Lord. And one who concentrates his attention in that manner is called a yogī. Such a yogī devotee of the Lord engages himself twenty-four hours daily in the service of the Lord so that his whole attention is engrossed with the thoughts of the Lord in ninefold devotional service, namely hearing, chanting, remembering, worshiping, praying, becoming a voluntary servant, carrying out orders, establishing a friendly relationship, or offering all that one may possess in the service of the Lord. By such practice of yoga, or linking up in the service of the Lord, one is recognized by the Lord Himself, as it is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā concerning the highest perfectional stage of samādhi. The Lord calls such a rare devotee the best amongst all the yogīs. Such a perfect yogī is enabled by the divine grace of the Lord to concentrate his mind upon the Lord with a perfect sense of consciousness, and thus by chanting His holy name before quitting the body the yogī is at once transferred by the internal energy of the Lord to one of the eternal planets where there is no question of material life and its concomitant factors. In material existence a living being has to endure the material conditions of threefold miseries, life after life, according to his fruitive work. Such material life is produced by material desires only. Devotional service to the Lord does not kill the natural desires of the living being, but they are applied in the right cause of devotional service. This qualifies the desire to be transferred to the spiritual sky. General Bhīṣmadeva is referring to a particular type of yoga called bhakti-yoga, and he was fortunate enough to have the Lord directly in his presence before he quitted his material body. He therefore desired that the Lord stay before his view in the following verses.

Translation: The Personality of Godhead, who appears in the mind of the devotee by attentive devotion and meditation and by chanting of the holy name, releases the devotee from the bondage of fruitive activities at the time of his quitting the material body.

Jayapatākā Swami: So Yudhiṣṭhira and the other Pāṇḍavas were present when Bhīṣmadeva was lying on the bed of arrows. He was directly looking at Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. So in this way because Śrī Kṛṣṇa was present before him at the time of death, he was very happy. So he was also very happy to see that Yudhiṣṭhira and the Pāṇḍavas were in the royal position. Bhīṣmadeva gave instruction to Yudhiṣṭhira, this was all by the will of providence. No one can know the plan of Kṛṣṇa. Sometimes devotees think that if I become a devotee I will no longer face any problems. But as long as we are in this material world, there may be problems. So we should understand that this material world is not the place for us to stay. And by thinking of the Lord, by meditating on the Lord, by chanting the holy names, we can go back to the spiritual world. The human form of life is a rare opportunity which is given to get back to Godhead. If we are in the heavenly planets there is immense amount of sense gratification which makes us forget the Lord. And in the hellish planets, the punishments are so rigorous that we cannot remember the Lord. So in this middle planet, for the human beings there is some kind of happiness and distress mixed. So this is a good opportunity to get back to Godhead. And if we perform devotional service, then we can perfect our life, our mission. There are nine processes of devotional service. So in the Navadvīpa dhāma, each island is connected to one of the nine practices of bhakti. Lord Caitanya taught this process of devotional service. Especially the chanting of the holy names of the Lord. So, we should take this advantage of Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s saṅkīrtana movement. By chanting the holy name, we can have the Lord be present. Bhīṣmadeva, he was taking the advantage that Kṛṣṇa was present. If we die at any moment, we can remember to chant the holy name of the Lord. If the devotee chants the holy name of the Lord all the time, at the time of death the Lord helps the devotee to remember Him.

Caitanya Mahāprabhu has given us such a mercy. Now people should make the best use of a bad bargain. We should practice bhakti-yoga and go back home back to Godhead. I once told Śrīla Prabhupāda that I would like to serve you, life after life. He said, why do you want to make me come back? I thought oh, I had said the right thing! But what should I say? So I said I want to serve you even, life after life. Then he smiled. So, we should take advantage of this human birth, and practice bhakti-yoga. In the material world, many people are simply busy with sense gratification. Śrīla Prabhupāda said that they are leading the lives of animals. But if along with that lifestyle, if they can a little bit of Kṛṣṇa consciousness then all problems can be resolved. Svāyambhuva Manu, he had all material comforts and facilities. But because his material enjoyment was done in a Kṛṣṇa conscious way, he was saved. I saw that many temples they were organizing and celebrating the snāna-yātrā, the bathing festival of Lord Jagannātha, the ciḍā-dadhī festival very nicely. This way, if we perform devotional service, then our lives will become auspicious. So, it is very important that people serve the temples, and also in their house, the gṛhasthas they can have the deities. There are many homes where the Lord is worshiped very nicely. This way, if we practice spirituality in this way then our human life becomes successful. Any process of dharma should lead to love of Godhead. So that is the real test. Are we developing love for Kṛṣṇa?

One sannyāsī came to visit Advaita Ācārya. And he asked what is the relation of Lord Caitanya with Keśava Bhāratī. So, Advaita Ācārya was thinking what should I say. Then He thought I will speak from the external way. And then He said that Lord Caitanya is the disciple of Keśava Bhāratī. Advaita Ācārya’s eldest son was Acyutānanda. At that time his age was about five years only. But he was naked and his body was covered with dust. But when he heard that his father said that Lord Caitanya had a guru, he got angry and came there. He came and said, Lord Caitanya is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, how can He have a guru? He is the guru of everyone! Brahmadeva had learnt the spiritual tattva from Him! He was very angry at his father and said why are You speaking in this way? But Advaita Ācārya seeing all the devotion of his little son, He was very ecstatic. My one son has become a devotee of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Haribol! Hari Hari Hari bol! Gaurahari! So He apologized to His son and said I will never say this again. Then He hugged and embraced His son, put him on His lap and expressed his pleasure. That sannyāsī who had come, he said I have never seen a child speaking such philosophy and the father asking for forgiveness from His child. So, he bowed down and he was very grateful.

So, we have all these pastimes of Lord Caitanya and His devotees. They have no material forms, they are all transcendental. So we can remember these pastimes. When Lord Caitanya, He came from Jagannātha Purī, just at that time to the house of Advaita Ācārya, along with His associates. Anyway, Advaita was so happy to have Lord Caitanya in His house. And the wives ulu-dhvani. And the men did jaya-dhvani! Haribol! Then Lord Caitanya, He said that Advaita Ācārya is like My father, so We are brothers He said to Acyutānanda. Then He took Acyutānanda on His lap, although he was smeared with dust and showered His mercy on him. So Acyutānanda was so much blessed by Lord Caitanya. Then Acyutānanda went to Jagannātha Purī and then he accepted the discipleship from Gadādhara Paṇḍita.

So Advaita Ācārya had six children. Three were devotees, three were smārtas. So there is no guarantee that all your children will be devotees. But parents can be very careful and try to have Kṛṣṇa conscious children. Look for an auspicious period. Ekādaśī, Aṣṭamī, Pūrṇimā, Amāvasyā it is forbidden to conceive a child on these tithīs. It is forbidden on fasting days and festival days. So, one should pray at the lotus feet of the Lord to have a Kṛṣṇa conscious, healthy and long-live son. Of course, only the gṛhasthas can do this yajña. But we encourage them to try to have Kṛṣṇa conscious children. This way Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and his good wife, prayed to Lord Jagannātha, and as a result His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura had appeared. Many people are having children who are not devotees. We need gṛhastha devotees to produce Kṛṣṇa conscious children. I have heard from different quarters that our devotee children are very peaceful and obedient. We heard how in the schools in India, the students are very rebellious and agitated.

So any way, Yudhiṣṭhira and his brothers, Kṛṣṇa, they were all present by Bhīṣmadeva’s side. Many sages and saints and ṛṣīs were present as well. This way, a great soul like Bhīṣmadeva, was in front of the Lord, so in this kind of a beautiful spiritual atmosphere, certainly he would go back to the spiritual world. So they wanted to witness this.

Anyway, at this present of the corona-virus, many people are leaving the world. We want to help them go back to the spiritual world by chanting the holy name. In this way, use the valuable human form of life. We may survive the corona-virus, but everyone somehow or another we will have to leave the body. So we should take inspiration from Bhīṣmadeva left to be Kṛṣṇa conscious at that moment. So that we don’t take birth again in this material world. So, this is what Śrīla Prabhupāda had wanted, that he made the magazine Back to Godhead.