20240810 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.8.22

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

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.8.22

kālena so ’jaḥ puruṣāyuṣābhi-
pravṛtta-yogena virūḍha-bodhaḥ
svayaṁ tad antar-hṛdaye ’vabhātam
apaśyatāpaśyata yan na pūrvam

Translation: At the end of Brahmā’s one hundred years, when his meditation was complete, he developed the required knowledge, and as a result he could see in his heart the Supreme within himself, whom he could not see before with the greatest endeavor.

Purport by Śrīla Prabhupāda: The Supreme Lord can be experienced only through the process of devotional service and not by one’s personal endeavor in mental speculation. The age of Brahmā is calculated in terms of divya years, which are distinct from the solar years of human beings. The divya years are calculated in Bhagavad-gītā (8.17): sahasra-yuga-paryantam ahar yad brahmaṇo viduḥ. Brahmā’s one day is equal to one thousand times the aggregate of the four yugas (calculated to be 4,300,000 years). On that basis, Brahmā meditated for one hundred years before he could understand the supreme cause of all causes, and then he wrote the Brahma-saṁhitā, which is approved and recognized by Lord Caitanya and in which he sings, govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi. One has to wait for the mercy of the Lord before one can either render service unto Him or know Him as He is.

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Jayapatākā Swami: So one cannot find the Lord by seeking Him. The Lord reveals Himself to the devotee. So, we can understand from this how Lord Brahmā performed creation. He was instructed by Kṛṣṇa. The modern scientists are giving a theory that the world happened accidentally. But one cell or a molecule, it is not possible that it has come into being by accident. Lord Brahmā, he had tried going down the lotus stem and tried different things, but he could not see the Lord. Śrīla Prabhupāda described that he, Lord Brahmā, could not see the Lord in spite of his greatest endeavor. But then the Lord revealed Himself and he could see the Lord personally.

Then Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu said that, “Nityānanda Prabhu is My brother and He has come, all of you go out and find Him.” But they tried to find Him the whole day, but they couldn’t. Then Lord Caitanya said that, “You can try, but you cannot find Him, I will find Him. Because God cannot be found by looking for Him! If He exposes Himself, then He can be found.” But Lord Caitanya, being God Himself, He could find Him. If you try to search, you will not be able to find God. He has to reveal Himself. So, Kṛṣṇa appears in a worshipable Deity form, so we can see Him. So we can see Him in the temple, to see Him personally, He has to reveal Himself. Sometimes people say, show me God! But it is not so cheap! To see the Lord, one has to render devotional service. And when the Lord is pleased with the devotee then He Himself reveals Himself to the devotee. So if the devotees do the Nāma-haṭṭa, if the Lord is pleased, He may reveal Himself! Like that, if a devotee does the temple service, they may also get the Lord’s vision! One should follow the instructions of the spiritual master. When the disciples do not follow properly then the spiritual master may have to get some of the reactions. The spiritual master may get some physical sufferings or he may get some bad dreams or nightmares. Śrīla Prabhupāda was saying how sometimes, he had to suffer bad dreams. Whatever the disciple does, the guru is responsible.

Lord Brahmā here, has not created the living entities as yet. He is just trying to first of all find out who he is. That is what every human being should think, who am I? So then Kṛṣṇa revealed to Brahmā what he had to do. At different levels, we find that human beings existed always. This is because things did not evolve as different people speculate. When he wanted to, Brahmā created all the human beings. It is not that they accidentally evolved. Nowadays, in schools and colleges, they do not teach that Lord Brahmā has created this universe. So Brahmā, he came to exist on the lotus that was coming from the navel of Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. But he couldn’t see that Viṣṇu. Even when he crawled down the lotus stem, he could not still find Him. Even though he reached the navel of Viṣṇu, he could not see or find Viṣṇu.

So if we want to see the Lord, we should render devotional service to Him. This Navadvīpa dhāma has nine islands. Each one of the islands is connected with one of the limbs of devotional service. Sīmantadvīpa is the first island, the island of hearing. The next island is Godrumadvīpa, the island of kīrtana. Then comes the island of Madhyadvīpa, the island of remembering. Each island like that is also connected with one of the angas of bhakti-yoga. We do every year parikramā in Kārtika and Gaura-Pūrṇimā, at that time we discuss in each island, what happened there. Different maharajas take the different groups around like the Nāma-haṭṭa by His Holiness Gaurāṅga Prema Swami. Everyone who wants to see the Lord should serve Him in bhakti-yoga. So, those who take initiation promise to avoid the breaking of the regulative principles.

Kṛṣṇa was thinking that I have enjoyed My pastimes so much in Vraja. But, the people in Kali-yuga are deprived of this. I usually do not really distribute this Prema to everyone. So, that is why Kṛṣṇa came as a devotee, Lord Caitanya. And He came as the Pañca-tattva. He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and devotee. Nitāi is His expansion. Advaita is His avatāra. Gadādhara is His internal energy. And Śrīvāsa and all the other devotees are the separated jīva energies, pure devotees. So that is the Pañca-tattva.

śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda
śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

So before we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, we should chant the Pañca-tattva mantra.

In the Brahma-Vaivarta Purāṇa. Kṛṣṇa predicts there will be a ten thousand Golden Age period in which people would be Kṛṣṇa conscious. That will begin 5000 years after the departure of Kṛṣṇa to His eternal abode. That means after the beginning of Kali-yuga the Golden Age will start after 5000 years. So, Śrīla Prabhupāda went to the West about 5000 years after the beginning of Kali-yuga. So now is the beginning of the Golden Age. So we need all you devotees to carry out the instructions of Lord Caitanya. We want that everybody will try to preach the order of Lord Caitanya. It is not very difficult, whatever is instructed one should follow, then it is not difficult. In Kali-yuga people are very fallen. And by the mercy of Gaura-Nitāi, people can become Kṛṣṇa conscious. So, we want to encourage people to take up Lord Caitanya’s service. When you go around the Deities here, you can see nice pictures of the saṅkīrtana. When Lord Caitanya went through the forest of Jhārikhaṇḍa the tigers, lions, deer, elephants came up to Him and all chanted Hare Kṛṣṇa with Him! Haribol!

So, the Gurukula is offering a two-month course for adults in performing yajña, etc. So some students have gone through this course and we are giving them certificates today. Braja Vilāsa Prabhu said when we want to have the Deities moved from here to the TOVP, we would need to have 108 yajña-kuṇḍas. So other temples can also send their devotees to be trained how to do yajñas. I am not so clear whether it is the Gurukula or the Bhaktivedanta Academy. It is the course of the Gurukula I am told, just it is the adult education program. So we would like to thank Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya for teaching this course.