20260426 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.8.19–23

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

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

Śrīmad-Bhagavatam 7.8.19–22

mīmāṁsamānasya samutthito ’grato
nṛsiṁha-rūpas tad alaṁ bhayānakam
pratapta-cāmīkara-caṇḍa-locanaṁ
sphurat saṭā-keśara-jṛmbhitānanam

karāla-daṁṣṭraṁ karavāla-cañcala-
kṣurānta-jihvaṁ bhrukuṭī-mukholbaṇam
stabdhordhva-karṇaṁ giri-kandarādbhuta-
vyāttāsya-nāsaṁ hanu-bheda-bhīṣaṇam

divi-spṛśat kāyam adīrgha-pīvara-
grīvoru-vakṣaḥ-sthalam alpa-madhyamam
candrāṁśu-gauraiś churitaṁ tanūruhair
viṣvag bhujānīka-śataṁ nakhāyudham

durāsadaṁ sarva-nijetarāyudha-
praveka-vidrāvita-daitya-dānavam

Translation: Hiraṇyakaśipu studied the form of the Lord, trying to decide who the form of Nṛsiṁhadeva standing before him was. The Lord’s form was extremely fearsome because of His angry eyes, which resembled molten gold; His shining mane, which expanded the dimensions of His fearful face; His deadly teeth; and His razor-sharp tongue, which moved about like a dueling sword. His ears were erect and motionless, and His nostrils and gaping mouth appeared like caves of a mountain. His jaws parted fearfully, and His entire body touched the sky. His neck was very short and thick, His chest broad, His waist thin, and the hairs on His body as white as the rays of the moon. His arms, which resembled flanks of soldiers, spread in all directions as He killed the demons, rogues and atheists with His conchshell, disc, club, lotus and other natural weapons.

Śrīmad Bhagavatam 7.8.23

prāyeṇa me ’yaṁ hariṇorumāyinā
vadhaḥ smṛto ’nena samudyatena kim
evaṁ bruvaṁs tv abhyapatad gadāyudho
nadan nṛsiṁhaṁ prati daitya-kuñjaraḥ

Translation: Hiraṇyakaśipu murmured to himself, “Lord Viṣṇu, who possesses great mystic power, has made this plan to kill me, but what is the use of such an attempt? Who can fight with me?” Thinking like this and taking up his club, Hiraṇyakaśipu attacked the Lord like an elephant.

Purport: In the jungle there are sometimes fights between lions and elephants. Here the Lord appeared like a lion, and Hiraṇyakaśipu, unafraid of the Lord, attacked Him like an elephant. Generally the elephant is defeated by the lion, and therefore the comparison in this verse is appropriate.

* * *

Jayapataka Swami: These are very nice verses in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And here we have a vision of the form of Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva. We know that we hear the description of the form of the Lord, name of the Lord, pastimes of the Lord, etc. all are transcendental because He is the Absolute Truth, the Cause of all causes. You see, Hiraṇyakaśipu was a demon! He hated the Lord. And he thought I will kill the Lord. He was a demon! But Prahlāda in his family, but he was not a demon! The devas wanted to kill Prahlāda Mahārāja and they arrested the wife of Hiraṇyakaśipu, but Nārada Muni told them that he would be a devotee! So they let him go. And Nārada Muni instructed his mother when she was carrying Prahlada in the womb and he could hear all the instructions. So when he was born, he was fully conscious of Kṛṣṇa! So, he was not a demon! He was a devotee! He was a Vaiṣṇava! So we want all of you to be Vaiṣṇavas or Vaiṣṇavīs!

You see, we are born in some family, but by the process of chanting the holy names, hearing of the pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa, our subtle body changes. So Hiraṇyakaśipu was so fortunate, he could see the Lord, he was killed by the Lord! Prahlāda Mahārāja was born in a demonic family, but he was a Vaiṣṇava. We desire that all should become Vaiṣṇavas! You see, the difference is that a Vaiṣṇava, he wants to serve the Lord! He or she understands that they are the spirit soul, part of Kṛṣṇa. But the materialist think that they are the body. And they want to serve the senses of the body. So, Hiraṇyakaśipu told I am great, I am undefeatable! Because he thought he was the body! And he got blessings from Lord Brahmā that his body could not be destroyed by anything! But all the blessings he got, somehow Lord Kṛṣṇa fulfilled those! And defeated him! That is the super intelligence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead!

Now this is Kali-yuga! And so the only hope for us is constant chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa! I was at one time chanting 32 rounds! Śrīla Prabhupāda asked me, “What are you doing?” I was very proud and said, “I was chanting 32 rounds!” He said, “No! You chant your 16 rounds, go and preach! Otherwise, who will preach?” So, our standard in ISKCON is different. So Haridāsa Ṭhākura, he would chant 300,000 names a day, but we cannot imitate. Now, 100,000 he would chant loud and 100,000 soft and 100,000 mentally. So, some lady asked him that, “Is chanting mentally better?” He said, “No, chanting loudly is a hundred times more powerful!” So, as far as possible we like to chant loudly. We owe a certain number of rounds to our spiritual master. 16 rounds minimum. That is 1,728 mantras. In 2009 or something I had a stroke and my right hand has paresis. And as a result, I have to chant on the counter. So every day, like today I have done 768 mantras so far. By the end of the day, I could do more than 16 rounds! Like this, somehow or another, when I started, I used to chant loudly in front of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Deity. I was a temple president and was thinking of different things. So I kept a small notebook in my pocket. And I would write down whatever came to mind and kept it in my pocket and then chanted. But now after 50 years of chanting, I cannot help it, I think of Kṛṣṇa all the time!

So I want all of you to be bhakti-yogīs and yoginīs! Be Vaiṣṇavas and Vaiṣṇavīs and in this Kali-yuga, we can always think about Kṛṣṇa, chant His holy name at least 16 rounds minimum! But there is no harm if you think of Lord Kṛṣṇa all the time! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! If you think of Gaurāṅga all the time, I mean, Lord Gaurāṅga, He was asking Haridāsa Ṭhākura, “How will the insects and creepers be saved?” I mean, so much mercy He had, he was worried about the insects! About the plants! We kill the insects, but Lord Caitanya was very worried how will they be delivered! How will they be delivered!!! Not only human beings, birds, animals, reptiles He wanted all to be liberated! Where will we find such a merciful Lord as Lord Caitanya!! So much mercy! So we can take advantage in this Age of Kali! By chanting the holy name, engaging in kṛṣṇa-sevā. Now people are working outside, doing their jobs and earn a salary. They can think they are doing this for Kṛṣṇa! They can give 11% minimum of their salary to different Kṛṣṇa conscious projects! Śrīla Prabhupāda’s projects, global projects, local temple projects, when the temple was being constructed or being maintained, or your own personal outreach initiatives. You should do something – without working, without any income then how is it possible for you to do preaching? So you think that whatever I am doing, I am doing to serve Kṛṣṇa. So this way, we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. By chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, it says, maybe we don’t see the external change in the physical body, but our subtle body changes! The subtle body becomes a Vaiṣṇava or Vaiṣṇavī. If we see people by their physical body, that is wrong! If we see, like it says in the śāstra, if we see a Vaiṣṇava or Vaiṣṇavī as having some particular caste, that is an offence! We are living in hell! So if we see our spiritual master as an ordinary human and if we see the Deity being made of wood or stone or something, various other instructions, by this we are actually a resident of hell! So, we should see people – I was with Śrīla Prabhupāda in the Calcutta airport. He said, all these people are living dead! Because everyone is born to die. Everyone dies to be reborn. But I see this is a Vaiṣṇava or Vaiṣṇavī or this is a material person. So, I see a material people, with one vision, and Vaiṣṇavas or Vaiṣṇavas, I see with another vision. This year we want everyone to understand their eternal relationship as servants of Kṛṣṇa.  Lord Caitanya predicted that His message will spread to every part of the world, every town and village.

pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi grāma
sarvatra pracāra haibe mora nāma
[CB Antya-khaṇḍa 4.126]

Now, India is a special place! Because all the avatāras came, Kṛṣṇa, Lord Caitanya came, Lord Rāma came! So this is a Kṛṣṇa conscious country! Thank you! Dhanyavād! His Holiness Gopāla Kṛṣṇa Gosvāmī was a Gosvāmī. And he was controlling his senses to serve Kṛṣṇa. So we want everybody to be a controller of their senses in the service of Kṛṣṇa. In the material world we are not go-svāmī but go-dāsa. We are servants of our senses. So, we need to purify our consciousness. So that is why this saṅkīrtana movement – ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam, purifies our consciousness. But people in this material world, even in India, they do not understand that this is a rare opportunity.

And I heard that some devotees are made a campaign – Har ghar bhāgavat – every house Bhagavatam! People in India should know what their duty is! So we have this Bhādra project to distribute one lakh Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam sets! It is not hard, but is something! So, I saw the Mahāvatāra Nṛsiṁhadeva movie. Very nice! So, here Hiraṇyakaśipu is seeing the Lord, all His majesty, all His anger! Why was He angry? Because He was torturing, trying to kill a Vaiṣṇava, a devotee of the Lord! As a result, He was angry! The Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad says that cetanaś cetanānām – the Lord is the Supreme conscious entity. So we get angry but for the wrong reasons. But Bhagavān gets angry for the right reasons. His devotee is being tortured, being abused, being assassinated, so that is a good reason! Now, just as if you put steel, iron into fire it becomes very hot, like fire. Similarly, if we associate with Kṛṣṇa and His different forms then naturally we get purified. People may not see, they don’t understand how this is happening. But, Kṛṣṇa has unlimited power! So by His association one gets purified.

So we want everyone to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, read the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, do different services – become a bhakti-yogī or yoginī, a Vaiṣṇava or Vaiṣṇavī and serve the Lord. Otherwise, māyā will cheat you and you will end up serving only your senses. We are in this material world, so naturally we have material bodies. We have to see to our health, we have to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, we have to do our service and we should do our study, reading Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books. He wanted us to read his books. I saw, at 1 o’clock in the morning, he was translating the books. Unbelievable efforts! To give his books to all of you! I read the diary of Śrīla Prabhupāda on the Jaladūta. Have you all read it! It is not very long! How he endured sea sickness, heart attacks, how he prayed to Kṛṣṇa, he surrendered. He wanted to please guru and Kṛṣṇa! And how would the people accept the message – it was not possible. But for Kṛṣṇa, nothing is impossible. So, the way he surrendered, I felt so much indebted! I feel everyone, of us should feel indebted.

Like, I was in 1968 with His Holiness Gopāla Kṛṣṇa Goswami, we were bhaktas. At that time, he was a gṛhastha and so that was a very nice situation to have such transcendental association. At that time, my parents told me that I should come back and leave Kṛṣṇa consciousness or be drafted in the war against Vietnam. So I asked, “Śrīla Prabhupāda, what should I do?” He said, “It is better you join Kṛṣṇa’s army!” So I don’t have any ill-feelings. I hope my pūrvāśrama parents get liberated! My mother came to Māyāpur and served Śrīla Prabhupāda. She fell in the Ganges! And fell with water up to her head a little above the top. Śrīla Prabhupāda told her that here down you are protected! Then she suffered anorexia, a stroke in the top of her head. She came back to Māyāpur and then took a full bath again in the Ganges! She put in her will, that when she was cremated, some of her ashes should be put in the Ganges! So Śrīla Prabhupāda went to the West and inspired all the devotees and told them to come to India, some of them. Now mainly the Indian leaders are leading the yātrās in India. I have also become Indian! Like in this temple we have the leader like Mohana Rūpa Prabhu. But we see that through Śrīla Prabhupāda’s sacrifice and as a result of his surrender to Kṛṣṇa, he inspired various devotees, I am a pure bet! Pure bet means pure rasa! But by Śrīla Prabhupāda’s mercy I became a Vaiṣṇava!

Anyway, whether you are a brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra or anyone – everyone can become a Vaiṣṇava.

Any questions?

So Śrīla Prabhupāda created these different temples, like this Delhi temple. His Holiness Gopāla Kṛṣṇa Goswami made many temples! In the future there will be more temples. We want you to come, Mohana Rūpa Prabhu is inviting you to come to this temple, or go to any other temples and serve.

Two questions, one from prabhus and one from mātājīs – one from a Vaiṣṇava and one from a Vaiṣṇavī.

Question: I have no problem to attend maṅgala-ārati but while doing services I get into tamo-guṇa, mode of passion, so how can I get over this?

Jayapatākā Swami: Śrīla Prabhupāda said if you distribute my books, you will be happy and if you read my books, you will be! So, like that, His Holiness Gopāla Kṛṣṇa Goswami, he used to attend every maṅgala-ārati, he used to take up service, he would chant his rounds, he would worship his Deities and he would do service all day long! So this is our example. We need to attend the āratis and things. We need to chant our rounds, then when we do our service do that thinking we are doing for the pleasure of guru and Kṛṣṇa. And we read Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books and remember all these things. So our process is not very complicated. But this is bhakti-yoga, you had to be serious! Yogī or yoginī, you should be thinking all the time how do to do my service for Kṛṣṇa! In London in 1973, Śrīla Prabhupāda told all the devotees that you should have ācāryas as your children. You should be paramahaṁsas, all the time thinking about serving Kṛṣṇa! It is not – we do everything, gṛhasthas have children, whatever we do, we serve Kṛṣṇa. So, if you are doing a service to the temple, whether it is accounts or puja or something else, why would you think this is māyā?

Question: We become Vaiṣṇavas but how do we maintain being that all our life?

Jayapatākā Swami: That is why I am saying that taking initiation means you are declaring war against māyā! I am going to be a Vaiṣṇavī! Māyā will test you! She will maybe cause you some suffering or give you some enjoyment. I had a devotee, he suddenly inherited a big fortune from his parents. He thought I became a devotee because I was poor and suffering, but now I am rich! Let me enjoy! So he became a go-dāsa. And he went to clubs and wasted money. So like that, after he lost all his money and all his friend, then he came back! This material world is not what we want. We have to cling to the lotus of feet of Lord Caitanya, lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa! Māyā may give us various tests, so we have to pass those tests. It is not easy to go back to the spiritual world. We are bhakti-yogīs and bhakti-yoginīs. So how to stay so all our life? Why are you taking initiation? You are declaring war, Māyā will test you! Don’t be simplistic, understand this is war, this is war! It is not a joke! You have to be very, very serious!

Hare Kṛṣṇa! Thank you very much!

We have Back to Godhead magazine in three languages – English, Hindi and Bengali. So you can take advantage and take these magazines. Hare Kṛṣṇa!