20211204 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.13.16

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on December 4th, 2021 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur, India. The class begins with a reading from the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.13.16.

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

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

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

Jayapatākā Swami: So, we see that after the war in Kurukṣetra, Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja, he had achieved a very peaceful, prosperous situation. So, we see that a devotee, he may also achieve material peaceful situation. But this success in material life is temporary and transient. Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja was not very attached to the material success. So, but we can see he was successful. But Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja always had intense attachment for Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja’s eagerness to hear or Kṛṣṇa’s eagerness to hear, there is no difference. You see the pure devotee of Kṛṣṇa, they are always connected with Kṛṣṇa. So, in the material world, there may be some success, that is only temporary and for a short time. We should desire to have devotion, to have love for Kṛṣṇa, this hope one should maintain. There is no change in this goal. Kṛṣṇa is eternal, the jīva is eternal and our love for Kṛṣṇa is eternal. So, Nārada Muni, he was trying to find the greatest devotee in the universe. He went to various people and then eventually he went to the Pāṇḍavas. At that time the Pāṇḍavas were having a special war conference. But what was the agenda of their discussion – how we will be able to see Lord Kṛṣṇa again? Someone suggested, [inaudible] that won’t work, Kṛṣṇa has already removed all our  enemies. So like that they were discussing how they would get Kṛṣṇa’s association again. Then Nārada Muni said, you are the greatest devotees. Arjuna stood up and said I am a devotee but I am not the greatest devotee. Kṛṣṇa went to Dvārakā with the Vṛṣṇis, the Yadus, so they are the greatest devotees. Like this, every devotee was thinking the other devotee is better. So the Pāṇḍavas, they are very special. Kṛṣṇa’s devotees all have special characteristics. Now for us to become Kṛṣṇa’s devotees has become difficult. We can be aspiring devotees. The actual devotee of Kṛṣṇa is so exalted, if you are a devotee of Kṛṣṇa, a pure devotee is a very great thing. We may be very attached to some material situation. But we see whether in happiness or distress, Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja and the Pāṇḍavas were very, very attached to Kṛṣṇa. So that is the thing we should try to achieve. We want to have pure devotion for Lord Kṛṣṇa. Not that there may be material success or material distress whatever it is, we simply want to serve Kṛṣṇa. Now these devotees are very exalted. By reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, reading Bhagavad-gītā, we get to associate with Kṛṣṇa and His great devotees. By their association we can develop our natural devotion.

Many complain that what is the use of reading books? But by reading these books we are able to have sacred association. If you read these books, you are able to get the association of Śrīla Prabhupāda. He said his purports are the best of him. So, you may get more of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s association by reading his books. We have this human form of life, and it is a rare opportunity for us to worship Kṛṣṇa. Many people are attached to worshiping some devīs, some devas to get some material auspicious situation. But in this way, they are bound to take birth again and again in the material world. So, actually, if we can become attached to Lord Kṛṣṇa then we can give up this material world and return back home back to Godhead with Kṛṣṇa. Where we will have eternal life with Kṛṣṇa. So we should not be very attached to the material situation. So specially in the Kali-yuga we see there are so many problems in the world.

Now there are the variants of the COVID-19. Previously we had the delta variant. That is still the principle-variant. But now Omicron variant is there. And people are panicking what to do! Actually, everybody should chant the harer nāma.

harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam
kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā
(Cc. Ādi 17.21)

So in this way they can achieve lasting peace. Like Vidura, he came back happy to see the Pāṇḍavas well settled. But his desire was that Dhṛtarāṣṭra, his brother, how he will execute the path of religiosity, that was his worry. Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja asked Vidura how have you been? How is Kṛṣṇa and the Yadus? So, Vidura he said all the good things. But he did not say that the Yadus were all finished. That Kṛṣṇa had left. Because he did not want to see the Pāṇḍavas suffering. We should tell the truth which is pleasing. If someone has a wart on his nose, that maybe true to say, you have a wart on your nose. You don’t say truthful things which are painful. Truth should be said in a palatable way. The bad news he will come to know through different sources, why Vidura should express those. So there are various things we can learn from the activities of these great souls.

So, human life is meant to associate with the great souls. Now, in Kali-yuga, how can we get the association of good people or great souls? Kṛṣṇa, has given us the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, this is a great opportunity for us to get good association. At the beginning of the Kali-yuga, simultaneously the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam has risen like the brilliant sun. Parīkṣit Mahārāja was the grandson of Arjuna and Subhadrā devī. And we worship Subhadrā devī in the Ratha-yātrā. She is the internal potency of Kṛṣṇa. I can see ISKCON Pravartaka, Caṭṭagrāma, Bangladesh, there is Jagannātha Baladeva and Subhadrā. That Subhadrā’s grandson gave us the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So we should read that. We should study this, we should read it very nicely. Śrīla Prabhupāda said, there were complaints that devotees, especially second initiated devotees, they are not competent in spiritual knowledge. He said that to get the second intiation, one should have Bhakti-śāstrī. Those who have already gotten the second intiation but have not got the Bhakti-śāstrī, they should study and get the Bhakti-śāstrī. He said that to become a sannyāsī they must have the Bhakti Vaibhava degree. If they want to be a guru, he said that one should have Bhakti Vedānta degree. So, since last ten years, we have the Bhakti Vedānta degree in the Māyāpur and Vṛndāvana institutes. Māyāpur Institute declared that within six months they will start the Bhakti Sārvabhauma course. So everyone should study Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books. Śrīla Prabhupāda said that these degrees are like bachelors, masters, Ph.D. Every devotee they should think how they can study Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books. We are trying to work out with the Ministry of Education, how the managers can get their degrees by studying Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books.

We are trying to work out with the Ministry of Education, how the managers can get their degrees by studying Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books.

This human life is meant to know about Kṛṣṇa. We should know the Absolute Truth. They say that there is one universe, one world, and there is nothing else. But the Bhāgavatam says that there are the heavenly planets, the middle planetary systems, the lower planetary system, and the entire universe is filled with living entities. Just like there are living entities in water, there can also be living entities in fire too. Because the spirit soul cannot be wet, cannot be burnt, it is the most finest thing of the material object. They have been having an idea that only our ecology can sustain life. But, in every ecology, every system there is the presence of living entities. So, we only see in modern science a very limited aspect of the universe. But actually, if we want to know what the universe has, then we should have the science of the descending knowledge from the Vedic scriptures. But actually, if we want to know what the universe has, then we should have the science of the descending knowledge from the Vedic scriptures. So, we are trying to express this in the West Wing of the Vedic Planetarium. We are showing various exhibits and film. We see a whole different universe, a whole different creation, when we read the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. In this Mahat-tattva, there are innumerable universes, unlimited universes. And we know the all merciful Lord, Karuṇā-sindhu Bhagavān, by the touch of His lotus feet at the covering of the universe the Gaṅgā entered into this universe. Brahmā, he came from Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, and Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu came from Mahā Viṣṇu. And Mahā Viṣṇu comes from Saṅkarṣaṇa. And Saṅkarṣaṇa came from Balarāma. Balarāma comes from Kṛṣṇa. So like this the whole material world is called ekapāda-vibhūti, it is one fourth of the whole energy of the Lord. And the spiritual world is three fourths vibhūti, three fourths of the creation. Anyway, it is a great science to know the Absolute Truth.

Now we will take some of your questions after a small break.

Jayarāseśvarī devī dāsī: You said that truth has to be conveyed in a palatable manner. But I fear that if I convey the harsh truth to a very near and dear one that could result in straining the relationship. Please guide me what to do.

Jayapatākā Swami: That is why we only tell the palatable truth. We don’t tell things that we know which would disturb the people.

Devotee: Is Maheśa dhāma a part of the spiritual world or material world?

Jayapatākā Swami: It is on the border.

Devotee: If the conditioned souls are called nitya-baddha, eternally conditioned, how to understand our original eternal position, if they are eternally conditioned?

Jayapatākā Swami: We can become nitya-siddha from nitya-baddha, can become eternally liberated from the eternally conditioned. The point of saying nitya-baddha is that we will stay permanently in nitya-baddha until we desire to become nitya-siddha. So only if we desire to be eternally liberated, then we can achieve that.

Devotee: Please Guru Mahārāja, tell us what we should do to take initiation?

Jayapatākā Swami: There is a checklist which has 31 or 32 points. There is a Jayapatākā Swami Office website from where you can get this.

Milton Chowdhury [Bangladesh]: Bhakti-śāstrī course is only for initiated devotees alone? Can uninitiated devotees also take this course?

Jayapatākā Swami: Śrīla Prabhupāda said that initiated or non-initiated can take the Bhakti-śāstrī. But to take sannyāsa or brāhmaṇa initiation, or to become guru, then certain behaviors are to be observed. Academic study you can do.

Akhila Bandhu Gopāla dāsa, [Indore, Madhya Pradesh]: As you explained that ¼th of the cosmic manifestation is material and ¾th is spiritual world. Guru Mahārāja can a time come when all the all the people will go to the spiritual world and all the people will be liberated, and no one will be there in the material world?

Jayapatākā Swami: That is wishful thinking! Do you ever find 100% of the people receptive? There are always a few who are attached to their material things. This is in our planet, what to speak of other planets? I mean, in the lower planets they are very much demoniac. But anyway, that is not a problem. If you make everybody a devotee, very good! Kṛṣṇa will not complain. But there will always be some who will not be interested. You have the animals, the birds, the trees, the fish, if you can make all of them Kṛṣṇa conscious, very good! At least Lord Caitanya He had all the animals chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. So if we can at least get the human beings to be Kṛṣṇa conscious that would be a good thing.