CONTENTS:
- LORD RAMA - THE PARAGON OF TRUE LEADERSHIP
- LAKSHMANA - THE EMBODIMENT OF SELFLESS SERVICE
- ESTABLISHING THE SUPREMACY OF KRISHNA
1. LORD RAMA - A PARAGON OF TRUE LEADERSHIP
Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19). Dharma is the law given by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Now who are the miscreants? The miscreants are those who don’t want to abide by the law given by the Supreme Lord. They want to create their own law. They do not want to accept the authority of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So that is a miscreant or a demon. So those who abide by the laws given by the Lord, those who are submissive to the Lord, they are devotees and those who are inimical to the Lord, they are demons. Now the Lord performs His pastimes and the Lord’s pastimes are actually like a drama. What are the essential elements of a drama? The essential elements of a drama is conflict. Now that’s the difference between a drama and a documentary. A drama must have conflict, the more the conflict the more the drama. Therefore, in a drama there is a hero and a villain. And the hero and villain conflict. The more the conflict, the better the excitement so similarly the Lord’s pastimes are the real drama. The dramas are enacted on a stage. Different actors play different roles. In the Lord’s pastimes also, different actors are playing different roles.
So, there are villains. The villains are actually actors. A drama needs a director. So, who is the director here? In the drama of the Lord’s pastimes, Yogamaya (is the director). She actually trains up the actors and actresses to play their roles. The hero is the Lord Himself. The one villain who is playing the role very nicely is Ravana. There were two brothers – Jaya and Vijaya. Two gatekeepers of Vaikuntha. Gatekeepers of Vaikuntha means they were devotees of the Lord. But they have been casted by Yogamaya. And they are playing the roles – in Satya Yuga, Hiranyakashipu and Hiranyaksha, and in Treta Yuga, Ravana and Kumbhakarna. When they play the role of these demons, they acquire inconceivable power. Incredible power. So, in order to compete with the Lord, one had to be strong enough. Similarly, Ravana also became very very powerful by performing different austerities. By performing such austerities, these people become very powerful. And he became also practically immortal. Immortal means, nobody could kill him. The only person who could kill him was the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So, this way the villain is established on the scene and the Lord comes, the Hero. And then what happens? A lot of conflict. And the conflict also happens with the heroine at the centre. And who is the heroine here – Sitadevi. And this demon Ravana stole Her. And in this respect, we can go back to one incident in Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s pastimes.
When Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was travelling in South India, one Brahmana who was a Ram Bhakta invited Him for Lunch. So, during lunchtime Mahaprabhu went and He found that this Brahmana didn’t cook anything. So, Mahaprabhu said, “What happened, you invited me for lunch and you didn’t cook anything?” And that person, he was actually in the mood of Ramachandra. He became very sad, just contemplating on the point that Ravana stole Sitadevi. That the demon stole Sitadevi. So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu assured Him, that Ravana couldn’t even touch Sitadevi. When he came to steal Sitadevi, Sitadevi took shelter of Agnidev because in the house there was always a fire burning. So, in the hut where Ramachandra was staying with Sitadevi, there was a fire. So Sitadevi took shelter of this Agnidev.
And Agnidev took Sitadevi and replaced Her with a Maya Sita, illusory Sita. So, this is how Chaitanya Mahaprabhu consoled that Brahmana, “Don’t worry, Ravana couldn’t even touch Sita. Sita was taken away by Agnidev to safety and it was Maya Sita that he stole.” And then later on also we see, you remember that Sitadevi now had to stand for the fire test? Agni pariksha? So, what happened? When Sitadevi entered into the fire, the Maya Sita disappeared and original Sitadevi came back. So, this is how the Lord’s pastimes were enacted. So, this is how wonderfully the Lord performed His pastimes. There was so much conflict with Ravana and finally He killed Ravana. After killing Ravana and rescuing Sitadevi, in the Pushpak Vimaan(flying vehicle), They came to Ayodhya. Now when they were coming to Ayodhya, another very nice incident took place. When They were flying over Kishkinda (the capital of the monkeys), Sitadevi requested Ramachandra, “Please take the wives of all the monkeys also to Ayodhya."
So, the Pushpak Vimaan according to Her desire landed in Kishkinda all the wives of the monkeys were also invited to come in. And they went to Ayodhya. One special feature of Pushpak Vimaan is that it can expand according to the need. When it is one person, it expands according to that size. When there are thousands of people, it expands to accommodate all those people. So, when Ramachandra came, the whole city of Ayodhya was lit up with lamps, Deepas, Deepavali. So that celebration was held there and everyone was glorifying Lord Ramachandra for killing Ravana.”
2. LAKSHMANA - THE EMBODIMENT OF SELFLESS SERVICE
At that time Agastya Muni, he actually protested that the credit for killing Ravana actually goes to Lakshmana. So, everybody was very surprised that how is it possible? Everybody knows that Ramachandra killed Ravana. But Agastya said no. If Meghnath, Ravana’s son, was not killed, then Ravana couldn’t have been killed. And Meghnath was practically immortal because Meghnath had various boons of being almost immortal. And he had so many things – for example, if he performed a yagna, after that he would go to the battlefield and nobody could kill him. And by performing this yagna he could become invincible and fight from behind the cloud, practically becoming invisible. So, it was very difficult to kill him. And another condition was that Meghnath could have been killed by somebody who did not eat anything for 14 years and who has been a brahmachari for 14 years. So, Ramachandra said that he gave him (Lakshmana) fruits every day.
He took the fruit and how can you say he didn’t eat anything? Then Lakshmana says, “When you gave me the fruits you said take it. You didn’t say eat it. Therefore, I didn’t eat it. I placed it in the forest." So, Hanuman was asked to go to the forest. And since the fruits have been touched by the hands of Lakshmana, those fruits are imperishable, they are not going to rot. So, they must be there in the forest. "So, Hanuman, you go and see if Lakshmana’s words are true. “So, Hanuman went, counted the fruits and found 4 fruits short of the 14 years. So, this means for 4 days he had eaten fruits. Then Lakshmana said, “No, for those 4 days, you forgot to give me the fruits – the day when you got the news that father left this planet, the day I was hit by the Shakti shell (weapon), the day Sitadevi was stolen, the day Ravana was killed. So, they considered okay, “That’s wonderful, that you didn’t eat anything for 14 years. But Sitadevi was there and a true Brahmachari never looks at a woman, so Sita was there and you’ve been seeing Sita.” Then Lakshmana said, “I only saw Her feet.” Then Ramachandra remembered, when they saw the ornaments that Sita dropped, the monkey’s found it, Lakshmana could recognise only one ornament – Her ankle bell. And Lord Ramachandra said that this was the only ornament that Lakshmana recognized and he only saw Her feet and not any other part of the body.
So, Ramachandra was feeling very bad that Lakshmana being my younger brother, you went through so many difficulties so in our next pastimes, you will come as my elder brother. And who is that? Balaram. So, the next pastimes were the pastimes of Krishna in Dwapar Yuga. So, although Krishna says: “Yada yada hi dharmasya, glanir bhavati bharata, abhyutthanam adharmasyatadatmanam srijamy aham (BG 4.7) but Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead doesn’t come Yuge Yuge. He comes only once in a day of Brahma. And what is the duration of Brahma’s Day? Sahasra-yuga-paryantam(BG 8.17). One thousand Chaturyugas. One thousand (of these). Satya, Treta, Dwapar and Kali put together is one Divya yuga and one thousand such Divya yugas He comes only once. In a day of Brahma there are 14 Manus. Each Manu’s reign is 71 Chaturyugas. Meaning, divide 1000 by 14, about 71. So (in) each Manu’s reign there are 71 Chaturyugas and there are 14 Manus. The seventh Manu is Vaivasvata Manu – the Manu who is the son of Vivashvaan.
“Imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam, vivasvān manave prāha, manur ikṣvākave ’bravīt.” (BG 4.1) Who is that Manu – His son Manu. And Manu then told it to his son, Ikshvaku. Now this is the reign of the seventh Manu, Vaivashvata Manu. We are actually in Vaivashvata Manvantar. And what’s the duration of Manu’s reign? 71 Chaturyugas. Out of this 71 Chaturyugas, the 28th Chaturyuga, in Dwapar Yuga, at the end of Dwapar Yuga, Krishna the Original Supreme Personality of Godhead comes. So fortunately, this is the Vaivashvata Manvantar, 27th Manvantar went passed, in the 28th Manvantar, in Dwapar Yuga, Krishna came. And then following Kaliyuga (came) and when Krishna left, Kaliyuga began. And in that Kaliyuga, Krishna came as Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. And He actually revealed the identity of Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Who is that Supreme Personality of Godhead? “Aradhyo bhagavan vrajesa-tanayas tad-dhama vrndavanam.”
3. ESTABLISHING THE SUPREMACY OF KRISHNA
That Supreme worshippable son of Nanda Maharaj, vrajesa-tanayas. And His Dham, His abode is Vrindavan. And what is the speciality of Vrindavan? Ramya kacid upasana vraja-vadhu-vargena va kalpita. The way Vraja Vadhus, the cowherd damsels worshipped Krishna, that is the highest form of worship. So that is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Others are His incarnations. “Ete cāṁśa-kalāḥ puṁsaḥ, kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). So, this Swayam Bhagavan is not an avatar, He is the avataari. He is the source of all incarnations. And this original Supreme Personality of Godhead resides not in Vaikuntha, He resides in Vrindavan. And in Vrindavan, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is not the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is the cowherd boy. Although He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna in Vrindavan is acting like a cowherd boy that’s why it is very difficult to recognize Him as the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Therefore, He had to come as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. And as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, He revealed His identity – that this Krishna is The Supreme Personality of Godhead and He explained why, especially the Goswamis of Vrindavan have very wonderfully established the supremacy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And at the same time Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu also retrieved the 5th chapter of Brahma Samhita, where Krishna’s identity has been revealed. Rāmādi-mūrtiṣu kalā-niyamena tiṣṭhan(B.S. 5.39) Ram, Nrsinga Varaha, Kurma etc. These incarnations are Kalaa – the parts and parts of the parts of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Niyamena tiṣṭhan nānāvatāram akarod bhuvaneṣu. He manifested various incarnations in this material world but Kṛṣṇaḥ svayaṁ samabhavat paramaḥ pumān yo govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi. Krishna is the original.
So, in this way Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu very wonderfully established the identity of Krishna. Krishna is the Lila Purushottam; Lord Ramachandra is the Maryada Purushotam. He is establishing Maryada – the proper standard of behaviour. He Himself, by enacting His pastimes He is teaching us how one should behave. He stuck to the truth, not of His own truth, but his father’s commitment. “Even if I have to go to the forest, it is fine. But your words must be upheld.”
He not only had one wife, but when somebody expressed their doubt about Her character, He banished Her. Only the Lord can act like that. And Srila Prabhupada said if one wanted to imitate the Supreme Personality of Godhead, imitate the activities of Lord Ramachandra, but Krishna’s activities should not be imitated. His activities are only for His own pleasure. Therefore, we have to approach Krishna with proper understanding. He is The Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is The Supreme Enjoyer; therefore, He can enjoy, we cannot enjoy. We are enjoyed. We are servants. Our business is not to enjoy, but to serve. So, it is Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s mercy that Krishna’s identity was revealed in such a wonderful way, then through the Goswamis through their elaborate and extensive writings. One such beautiful book is Brhad Bhagavatamrita. Brhad Bhagavatamrita gives a very clear understanding of the spiritual sky, and Krishna’s position there and the highest form of devotion to Krishna.