20210717 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.9.41

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

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

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam

muni-gaṇa-nṛpa-varya-saṅkule ’ntaḥ-
sadasi yudhiṣṭhira-rājasūya eṣām
arhaṇam upapeda īkṣaṇīyo
mama dṛśi-gocara eṣa āvir ātmā

Translation:  At the Rājasūya-yajña [sacrifice] performed by Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, there was the greatest assembly of all the elite men of the world, the royal and learned orders, and in that great assembly Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa was worshiped by one and all as the most exalted Personality of Godhead. This happened during my presence, and I remembered the incident in order to keep my mind upon the Lord.

Purport by Śrīla Prabhupāda:  After gaining victory in the Battle of Kurukṣetra, Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, the Emperor of the world, performed the Rājasūya sacrificial ceremony. The emperor, in those days, upon his ascendance to the throne, would send a challenge horse all over the world to declare his supremacy, and any ruling prince or king was at liberty to accept the challenge and express his tacit willingness either to obey or to disobey the supremacy of the particular emperor. One who accepted the challenge had to fight with the emperor and establish his own supremacy by victory. The defeated king would have to sacrifice his life, making a place for another king or ruler. So Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira also dispatched such challenging horses all over the world, and every ruling prince and king all over the world accepted Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira’s leadership as the Emperor of the world. After this, all rulers of the world under the regime of Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira were invited to participate in the great sacrificial ceremony of Rājasūya. Such performances required hundreds of millions of dollars, and it was not an easy job for a petty king. Such a sacrificial ceremony, being too expensive and also difficult to perform under present circumstances, is now impossible in this Age of Kali. Nor can anyone secure the required expert priesthood to take charge of the ceremony.

So, after being invited, all the kings and great learned sages of the world assembled in the capital of Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira. The learned society, including the great philosophers, religionists, physicians, scientists and all great sages, was invited. That is to say, the brāhmaṇas and the kṣatriyas were the topmost leading men in society, and they were all invited to participate in the assembly. The vaiśyas and śūdras were unimportant elements in society, and they are not mentioned herein. Due to the change of social activities in the modern age, the importance of men has also changed in terms of occupational positions.

So in that great assembly, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa was the cynosure of neighboring eyes. Everyone wanted to see Lord Kṛṣṇa, and everyone wanted to pay his humble respects to the Lord. Bhīṣmadeva remembered all this and was glad that his worshipful Lord, the Personality of Godhead, was present before him in His actual formal presence. So to meditate on the Supreme Lord is to meditate on the activities, form, pastimes, name and fame of the Lord. That is easier than what is imagined as meditation on the impersonal feature of the Supreme. In the Bhagavad-gītā (12.5) it is clearly stated that to meditate upon the impersonal feature of the Supreme is very difficult. It is practically no meditation or simply a waste of time because very seldom is the desired result obtained. The devotees, however, meditate upon the Lord’s factual form and pastimes, and therefore the Lord is easily approachable by the devotees. This is also stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (12.9). The Lord is nondifferent from His transcendental activities. It is indicated also in this śloka that Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, while actually present before human society, especially in connection with the Battle of Kurukṣetra, was accepted as the greatest personality of the time, although He might not have been recognized as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The propaganda that a very great man is worshiped as God after his death is misleading because a man after his death cannot be made into God. Nor can the Personality of Godhead be a human being, even when He is personally present. Both ideas are misconceptions. The idea of anthropomorphism cannot be applicable in the case of Lord Kṛṣṇa.

Jayapatākā Swami:  So this happens to every one of us. Those who are born in this world, they also have to die. So, death is like a final exam. In schools we have different types of exams but the final examination is the most important. We learn every day to be able to think of Kṛṣṇa at the time of need. When we leave the body, we want to think of Kṛṣṇa. So, Kṛṣṇa or His pure devotee, we have to think at the time of leaving the body. Lord Kṛṣṇa is present before Bhīṣmadeva at the final stage of his life. That great personality who had fought on thousands of battlefields, in thousands of wars, and had fought valiantly, that great personality is now lying on a bed of arrows and he has controlled his breath completely and he has fixed his mind and eyes completely on the personality of Godhead, Lord Kṛṣṇa. He was very fortunate to have Lord Kṛṣṇa there. But we can remember Kṛṣṇa’s names, Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes, Kṛṣṇa’s qualities. Sometimes we may forget Kṛṣṇa, but if we are always thinking of Kṛṣṇa, He will never forget us.

So, Bhīṣmadeva, he saw Kṛṣṇa as he was in the battlefield, defending Arjuna. There are five principle relationships. And seven less fixed principles. One of the seven was his chivalry. And that was Bhīṣmadeva’s special rasa to see Kṛṣṇa in chivalry. So that is why he remembered Kṛṣṇa in the battlefield. So, every devotee may have a unique rasa with Kṛṣṇa. In the spiritual world everyone loves Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa reciprocates that love. But in the material world, everyone wants to Lord it over the material energy. They want to enjoy, but in the spiritual world, they want to please Kṛṣṇa. If we serve Lord Kṛṣṇa we get so much happiness or bliss. Some days back we had the Ratha Yatra festival and it is so much bliss, so much happy to be engaged in the service of Lord Jagannātha. If we get the taste, then there is nothing to compare the taste with anything in this material world. So the devotees they have deep love for Kṛṣṇa. And therefore, in serving the Lord they get supreme happiness and satisfaction. By following the varṇāśrama system you gradually develop pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The scriptures describe that if one hundred lifetimes a person can follow strictly the rules of varṇāśrama dharma, that person is eligible to become a Brahmā. But I don’t want to be a Brahmā or Indra or anything. I would just like to serve Śrīla Prabhupāda and Lord Gaurāṅga, Nitāi Gaura, Rādhā Kṛṣṇa.  I don’t want to be a Brahmā or Indra or any devatā. And Śaṅkarācārya he said, by being a sannyāsī we can get the nirākāra brahmā. Devotees when they are offered that nirākāra mukti, they refuse it. They want to maintain their personality and serve the Supreme Personality. So the devotees, they want to serve the Lord, that is their only desire. That is the standard of pure devotion. Some people they want some material facility from the Lord. Some people they approach the Lord and desire some material benefits. That is called sakāma bhakti. And only wanting to serve guru and Kṛṣṇa is niṣkāma bhakti. But somehow or another, everyone wants to do bhakti. One should engage in devotional service but the niṣkāma bhakti is the most elevated. Then there is the desire for liberation, mukti kāmī, and then there is the person who desires material benefits from Kṛṣṇa and he is called sarva kāmī. Whether they are sarva kāmī, mokṣa kāmī, mukti kāmī or niṣkāmī kāmī they should all engage in pure devotional service. You can satisfy all your desires.

 In the Brhad-Bhagavatamrita, it describes the journey of Gopakumara. So when he is leaving the material world, he is going to the spiritual sky, in the middle he is in the brahmā jyoti. Then he merges. And he calls out, Govinda! GOVINDA SAVE ME! At that time instantly he was transferred to a Vaikuṇṭha planet. But he saw in the Vaikuṇṭha loka, everybody is four handed and everyone is very handsome. He could not understand who is God and who is not. Because the only way you can understand Bhagavān is that He has the mark of Śrīvatsa on His chest. So this is a very nice book which tells very confidential things.

Anyway, Bhīṣmadeva, he was fixing his mind on Kṛṣṇa, at that time he did not feel any of the arrows penetrating him. Some of my dear disciples have passed away during this COVID-19. Not only that, some of my dear God brothers they have also left their bodies during this period – my God brothers and God sisters. So at this time we should be very serious and ready to fix our mind on Kṛṣṇa like Bhīṣmadeva did.

Parīkṣit mahārāja had seven days’ notice, he came to know he would die in seven days. He travelled to the bank of the Ganges and he sat there and sages and rishis from all over the world and he put a question to all of them as to how one can receive the highest perfect of life within seven days. There were different yogis and rishis. So, aṣṭāṅga yogis, they said, seven days is not enough time to learn all the āsanas and everything. Māyāvādīs said that seven days are not enough time to achieve perfection. So all the yogis and rishis present, they did not know what to tell him. Then Śukadeva Gosvāmī came. He asked the same question to Śukadeva. That in seven days can I get perfection of life? Seven days is a lot of time, Śukadeva Gosvāmī said, you can get it in less time! Simply one has to fix their mind on Kṛṣṇa. So in these seven days’ time, Śukadeva Gosvāmī continuously spoke the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And in that way, he covered all the topics.

So we are hoping all the devotees will read all of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Caitanya-caritāmṛta, and all books that Śrīla Prabhupāda left us. I one day asked all of my secretaries, what books they have read. I did not really – I have maybe 30 or 40 servants, but I just asked 10. Maybe others read more. But in the 10, one read all of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books. Another person read up to the 8th canto. Everybody else read the minimum required to get second initiation. They did not read any more! Śrīla Prabhupāda, we saw that he would be up every night and translate, he was working so hard. And he would have in front of him, in Sanskrit, the commentaries of seven of our ācāryas in front of him. Every night, in the middle of the night he would write. So he did a great sacrifice for all of us! So we should read his books. That is why he has these exams Bhakti Śāstrī, Bhakti Vaibhava, Bhakti Vedānta, Bhakti Sārvabhauma. I don’t think the VI or MI have Bhakti Sārvabhauma exam yet. But this Caitanya-caritāmṛta is a must read. And so we are trying, we are compiling a variety of books in one Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya book. Sometimes the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, sometimes Caitanya-bhāgavata, sometimes Caitanya Mahāprabhu various śāstras.

We are reading that Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu   going to Vṛndāvana. As of now He has been to Śāntipura. Śāntipura, Navadvīpa, Rāmakeli. So sometimes details are in Caitanya-bhāgavata, sometimes in other scriptures. So we are doing this so that all devotees can have more of a complete picture of the Caitanya Līlā. So, Lord Caitanya He has given us a special process to fast track our progress. By following the varṇāśrama principles it will be achieved in a delayed manner. Lord Caitanya’s process is this holy name, and through the congregational chanting of the holy names of the Lord, one can get easily one’s life’s perfection. So in Bhagavad-gītā he describes striyaś, vaiśyas tathā śūdras - they can directly achieve perfection by taking shelter of Him. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2nd canto there is a verse that says by taking shelter of the devotee of the Lord, the  kirātas, punandras, pulkaśas, pulindas, ābhīras, the yavanas,  mlecchas, even all  these Greeks, Russians, Chinese, Turks, they get delivered taking shelter of the Lord’s pure devotees.

So like that, we need to follow in the footsteps of Bhīṣmadeva, think of Kṛṣṇa all the time and do our daily activities. So like this, we are very happy that devotees are attending this Bhāgavatam class. So I liked to share a little bit about the nectar of Bhīṣmadeva. Sometimes we observe the Bhīṣma Pancaka. Last five days of Kārtika month. From Ekādaśī to Pūrṇimā. We can remember how dear Bhīṣmadeva was to Lord Kṛṣṇa. And Bhīṣmadeva’s last breath Kṛṣṇa was there to help him. Even though Bhīṣma had made some mistakes to be on the wrong side. We could follow the example of Bhīṣmadeva to always think of Kṛṣṇa.

So, we take this opportunity to answer your questions for a few minutes and then we will go to the temples.

Braja Kṛṣṇa dāsa:  If we desire some minimal facilities for performing niṣkāma bhakti, would it be an obstruction, or would it be helpful for my progress in devotional service? 

Jayapatākā Swami: If the desire is not something that is required for devotional service, then it could be compromised. If the thing we want is part of bhakti, then there should not be a problem.

Subāhu Sacisuta das: Bangladesh: Bengali: Guru Mahārāja you said that Gopakumar when he was going to the spiritual world, he was about to enter into the impersonal brahmā jyoti and at that time he shouted the name of Govinda and in this way he was transferred to a Vaikuṇṭha planet.  Now when he was in Vaikuṇṭha planet he was thinking of himself as a cowherd boy and because of this he came back to the earth planet again and he performed his devotional service and in this way he went back to Goloka. So my question is that how is it that once Gopakumar, a worshiper of the impersonal brahman, he was taken to the brahman effulgence? And the other question is that we heard that once one goes to Vaikuṇṭha, he never returns, but how is it that Gopakumar returned from the Vaikuṇṭha planet to the earth planet?

Jayapatākā Swami: He was not a devotee or worshiper of the impersonal brahman. That is why when he was merging into the impersonal effulgence brahman out of fear he called out Govinda! So when he came to Vṛndāvana on earth, Vṛndāvana is like an extension of the spiritual world. So, it is easier to reach Goloka from Vṛndāvana than Vaikuṇṭha. In Vaikuṇṭha people worship Nārāyaṇa with awe and reverence. But in Vṛndāvana Kṛṣṇa is worshiped in a very simple manner in different relationships with Him.

Akhil, sheltered disciple, Indore, India: I am a student and I daily read Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books with my peers. We are reading the same chapter of Bhīṣmadeva leaving his body. Sometimes it is difficult to understand how is Bhīṣmadeva able to maintain his full Kṛṣṇa conscious mind in spite of having so much pain in his body as he was lying on a bed of arrows. Why such an exalted Vaiṣṇava has to suffer so much pain in his life?

Jayapatākā Swami: It says that at the time of leaving the body, he was concentrating on Kṛṣṇa, at that time, he did not feel the pain from the arrows. He was fixing his consciousness on Kṛṣṇa.

Anyway, many questions but there is not much time. I will visit the temples and devotees from the East - Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Kashadesh.

Devotees from Māyāpur who want to go and take prasāda it is alright.