20250531 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.16.10

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

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

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.16.10

ye me tanūr dvija-varān duhatīr madīyā
bhūtāny alabdha-śaraṇāni ca bheda-buddhyā
drakṣyanty agha-kṣata-dṛśo hy ahi-manyavas tān
gṛdhrā ruṣā mama kuṣanty adhidaṇḍa-netuḥ

Translation: The brāhmaṇas, the cows and the defenseless creatures are My own body. Those whose faculty of judgment has been impaired by their own sin look upon these as distinct from Me. They are just like furious serpents, and they are angrily torn apart by the bills of the vulturelike messengers of Yamarāja, the superintendent of sinful persons.

Purport: The defenseless creatures, according to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, are the cows, brāhmaṇas, women, children and old men. Of these five, the brāhmaṇas and cows are especially mentioned in this verse because the Lord is always anxious about the benefit of the brāhmaṇas and the cows and is prayed to in this way. Therefore the Lord especially instructs that no one should be envious of these five, especially the cows and brāhmaṇas. In some of the Bhāgavatam readings, the word duhitṝḥ is used instead of duhatīḥ. But in either case, the meaning is the same. Duhatīḥ means “cow,” and duhitṝḥ can also be used to mean “cow” because the cow is supposed to be the daughter of the sun-god. Just as children are taken care of by the parents, women as a class should be taken care of by the father, husband or grown-up son. Those who are helpless must be taken care of by their respective guardians; otherwise the guardians will be subjected to the punishment of Yamarāja, who is appointed by the Lord to supervise the activities of sinful living creatures. The assistants, or messengers, of Yamarāja are likened here to vultures, and those who do not execute their respective duties in protecting their wards are compared to serpents. Vultures deal very seriously with serpents, and similarly the messengers will deal very seriously with neglectful guardians.

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Jayapatākā Swami: Hare Kṛṣṇa! My voice is a little down today. So, yesterday we heard how the Supreme Lord is in charge of both the material and spiritual worlds. And Vaikuṇṭhaloka, spiritual world  is the Kingdom of God, and the material world is a reflection of the spiritual world. The material world is the kingdom of Māyā. So I was reading the Teachings of Lord Caitanya last night. I have read the Caitanya-caritāmṛta many times. So, it has been a long time since I read the Teachings of Lord Caitanya. Lord Caitanya was teaching Sanātana Gosvāmī and He told all the glories of the Supreme Lord. Like about the different avatāras. We see how the whole creation is under the protection of Kṛṣṇa and His expansions. So, I am reminded of Mahā-Viṣṇu. How, He breathes out hundreds and millions of universes. Time and other things are created by Him. We are so fortunate that 500 years ago Lord Caitanya appeared in this world. Lord Caitanya is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But He came in the mood of a devotee and Nitāi is Balarāma, His first expansion. And Advaita Gosāñī or Advaita Ācārya is Mahā-Viṣṇu.

Those living entities that are helpless are especially protected by the Lord. Śrīla Prabhupāda said that in the śāstra it says that, cows, brāhmaṇas, they are specially protected, also children, women and old men are especially protected. And amongst them the cows and brāhmaṇas are especially mentioned. Lord Caitanya and the Pañca-tattva, They are spreading the saṅkīrtana movement and many people are being delivered. In 1969, Śrīla Prabhupāda said that all the disciples, both men and women, by 1975 should become spiritual masters by having the Bhakti-vedānta degree. Through the Māyāpur Institute it takes many years to get all these degrees. Our Education Minister has made it easier. Those who are aged, they can get the degrees by taking a summative test. We want to see that all the devotees read Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books. So Śrīla Prabhupāda, he had a vision that everyone – initially they are students but eventually they become teachers or gurus. In other yugas it was harder to be a devotee. But in this age, Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He told all His followers that they could be gṛhasthas. So some disciples, He told you stay like this, don’t get married! I think that Lord Caitanya had told Raghunātha Bhaṭṭa was the son of Tapana Miśra, I don’t know why they have different names, but he was the son.

So we see in Māyāpur, we have many brahmacārīs, we have many gṛhasthas and many women. And since there are ladies there are many children. So I was told that 33,000 people came yesterday. I saw on video, His Holiness Bhakti Vijaya Bhāgavata Swami along with a group of saṅkīrtana devotees were in Digha. He also distributed many books! And after that I saw a video that many devotees from Russia, they came to the Digha temple, and they are still there. They are chanting, dancing, etc. So like this, there are a lot of activities going on. Māyāpur Institute devotees also went to Digha. Some of the devotees from the Gītā Course also went there. Here, I see that there is a camp run by the Gītā Course and devotees from Murshidabad and Nadia have gathered. The special thing about Lord Caitanya’s movement is that we should practice devotional service.

Śrīla Prabhupāda was saying that we should have as our goal, love of Kṛṣṇa. The sinful people tend to be envious, we should never be envious towards the five kinds of helpless people. So in Māyāpur for all the festivals there are many, many devotees. And we have the cow festival. You see, as we get more attached to Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes, we are advancing in bhakti-yoga. So Lord Caitanya, He was describing different qualities of Nārāyaṇa, the avatāras and Kṛṣṇa. Then Hari-dhāma of the Lord is worshiped in awe and majestic. But in Goloka dhāma, people, there they don’t know, and even if they know, they don’t care, they just love Kṛṣṇa. And His qualities of beauty is the most important. So, that is considered the most special quality of Kṛṣṇa that in Kṛṣṇaloka He is very attractive to the ladies! You ladies, you cheated us, you are attracted to Kṛṣṇa, more than we! We see that Uddhava, Arjuna, different devotees were attracted to Kṛṣṇa, but they said that the gopīs of Vṛndāvana, their attraction was unparalleled. Our whole purpose in life should be to get more and more attracted to Kṛṣṇa. So, Lord Caitanya’s process was to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa! And also, people, they have to hear about Kṛṣṇa, they can get the books, read and get attached to Kṛṣṇa. I mean, here we hear how Kṛṣṇa purifies the universe by giving the Ganges water that has washed His feet. Here we have the Ganges water in Māyāpur. And how those who are envious towards the helpless people, the messengers of Yamarāja will tear them apart. Those who are gṛhasthas, they have children, they naturally have to take care of the children otherwise they get the Yamadūtas’ mercy! They are very ferocious. Now, if you like you can ask any questions.

Question: Thank you, Guru Mahārāja. We eagerly wait for the Saturday class. In every class you always say how many visitors visit Māyāpur, like yesterday 33,000 people came. But in other reports that say only 11,000 people have taken prasāda and 680 books are distributed. We pray to you, how we can engage the community devotees so that every visitor is benefited and we can reach Kṛṣṇa consciousness to them?

Jayapatākā Swami: Every devotee should be given a responsibility to do a particular quota. In Delhi there was an old man who took up the goal to distribute 5,000 Bhagavad-gītās during the marathon and he would stand in front of cars and say, I won’t leave unless you take a Bhagavad-gītā! So, now in Kolkata I saw that there were different kinds of posters, advertisements about Māyāpur. And if you go to the MLA, he would provide you a free ticket to visit Māyāpur. The TMC government is doing this strategy that they are preaching about Māyāpur and Digha, that you visit these places and preach there. Anyway, this may be their political strategy or something but somehow or another, they are preaching about Māyāpur and Digha. So the challenge is that people are coming, and we have to distribute books to them. Are you ready? It is not, Śrīla Prabhupāda did not restrict men or women for distributing books. I was told now is the time for your prasāda.

5^th June is Gaṅgā-pūjā. What are we doing?