CONTENTS:
- HOW TO KNOW KRISHNA THROUGH BRAHMA SAMHITA (PART - 4)
- SRILA PRABHUPADA'S APPRECIATION
- GURU MAHARAJA’S INSTRUCTIONS
1. HOW TO KNOW KRISHNA THROUGH BRAHMA SAMHITA (PART - 4)
BRAHMA SAMHITA TEXT 44
srsti-sthiti-pralaya-sadhana-saktir eka
chayeva yasya bhuvanani bibharti durga
icchanurupam api yasya ca cestate sa
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami
TRANSLATION
The external potency Maya who is of the nature of the shadow of the chit potency, is worshipped by all people as Durga, the creating, preserving and destroying agency of this mundane world. I adore the primeval Lord Govinda in accordance with whose will Durga conducts herself.
Maha Maya is the shadow of the chit potency and chit potency is spiritual. Here Maha Maya or Durga’s identity is being established. Who is Durga? Durga is Maha Maya. Who is Maha Maya? Maha Maya is Krishna’s external potency. External potency means the shadow of His chit or spiritual potency. She manifests, maintains and destroys. All her activities are in accordance to Krishna’s desire. She actually follows the orders of Krishna.
The next verse establishes the identity of Lord Shiva:
BRAHMA SAMHITA TEXT 45
ksiram yatha dadhi vikara-visesa-yogat
sanjayate na hi tatah prthag asti hetoh
yah sambhutam api tatha samupaiti karyad
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami
TRANSLATION
Just as milk is transformed into curd by the action of acids, but yet the effect curd is neither same as, nor different from, its cause, viz., milk, so I adore the primeval Lord Govinda of whom the state of Sambhu is a transformation for the performance of the work of destruction.
Milk becomes yogurt, is there any difference between milk and yogurt? Yes and no. Yogurt is milk that has become transformed into yogurt. Similarly, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, transformed Himself into Shambhu. Yogurt is milk, milk can become yogurt but yogurt cannot become milk and that is the only difference. In order to execute some special mission and what is that special mission? Apparently that special mission is to destroy, to take care of the demolition department. Another way to look at it is Lord Shiva is the husband of Maya. yah sambhutam api tatha samupaiti karyad also means to perform a very special mission and that special mission is to send the living entities into the material nature.
The material nature is Maya and who is the husband of Maya? Lord Shiva. It is through Lord Shiva that the material entities come to the material nature, therefore Lord Shiva is considered to be the male symbol and Maya is the female order. Material nature is a combination of purusha and prakrti, male and female concept. Krishna does not directly deal with material nature because material nature is external energy so Krishna does not deal directly. To deal with the material nature Krishna transforms Himself as Shambu and Shambu is the husband of Maya.
BRAHMA SAMHITA TEXT 46
diparcir eva hi dasantaram abhyupetya
dipayate vivrta-hetu-samana-dharma
yas tadrg eva hi ca visnutaya vibhati
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami
TRANSLATION
The light of one candle being communicated to other candles, although it burns separately in them, is the same in its quality. I adore the primeval Lord Govinda who exhibits Himself equally in the same mobile manner in His various manifestations.
So, what is the difference between Krishna and different incarnations? Actually, different incarnations are Krishna Himself, same potency is there, He, Himself multiplies into different incarnations. These incarnations are non-different from Krishna, but Krishna has the potency to become many and retain the same amount of potency. This has been exemplified just as one lamp lights up other lamps, when the lamps are lit, they give off the same amount of light. The first lamp and the last lamp gives off the same amount of light, right, but it’s the first lamp that lit up the other lamps.
BRAHMA SAMHITA TEXT 47
yah karanarnava-jale bhajati sma yoga
nidram ananta-jagad-anda-sa-roma-kupah
adhara-saktim avalambya param sva-murtim
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami
TRANSLATION
I adore the primeval Lord Govinda who assuming his own great subjective form, who bears the name of Sesa, replete with the all-accommodating potency, and reposing in the Causal Ocean with the infinity of the world in the pores of His hair, enjoys creative sleep [yoganidra].
Here is the description of Maha-Visnu. One who enjoys. Maha-Visnu what is He doing? He is lying on Causal Ocean and He went to sleep, yoganidra. His sleep is different from ours. Ours is mahanidra and his is yoganidra. This entire material creation is a dream of Maha-Visnu, He is lying in a sleep, yoganidra, in Causal Ocean and all that is happening here is His dream and that is why it is considered to be a reflection. Can we consider our dream to be a reflection of what we are seeing during the daytime? Like we are seeing and experiencing and those experiences are retained in our memory and then at night we fall asleep and we dream. These dreams are actually projections of our experiences. In this way we can see that a dream can be considered as a reflection of the reality, that is how this material nature is a reflection of the spiritual reality which is actually Maha-Visnu’s dream. We all have tuned out of that dream and that is why we have two types of dreams: Individual dream and collective dream.
When we fall asleep and dream only, we see it and nobody else even somebody who is sleeping lying next to us cannot share that dream and that one is individual. This dream is collective dream, whoever will be here at this point in time will see the same dream but that also he will see from his own perspective. Although we are all seeing the same dream but from this side, I am seeing that wall and you are seeing this wall and our emotions are also involved.
Another way to look at seeing the same dream differently like a mother sees her baby and her heart becomes filled with affection and a lion sees the same baby and starts to salivate in his mouth. So this is how we have our perceptions, point of view and emotions. The main point is that it is a collective dream because it’s Maha-Visnu’s dream. He is lying down and enjoying, it has been described as bhajati sma yoga nidram He enjoys his sleep in Causal Ocean and universes are emanating from His pores of His hair assuming the all accommodating potency in His own subjective form.
I adore the primeval Lord Govinda who assuming his own great subjective form, who bears the name of Sesa, replete with the all-accommodating potency, and reposing in the Causal Ocean with the infinity of the world in the pores of His hair, enjoys creative sleep [yoganidra].
Yoganidra has been beautifully translated as creative sleep. He is sleeping but, in his sleep, He creates all the universes.
Then Brahma is being described here:
BRAHMA SAMHITA TEXT 48
yasyaika-nisvasita-kalam athavalambya
jivanti loma-vilaja jagad-anda-nathah
visnur mahan sa iha yasya kala-viseso
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami
TRANSLATION
Brahma and the other lords of the mundane worlds, appearing from the pores of Maha-Visnu, remain alive as long as the duration of one exhalation of the latter [Maha-Visnu]. I adore the primeval Lord Govinda of whose subjective personality Maha-Visnu is the portion of portion.
Brahma is the head of the universe; the lifespan of Brahma is just one breath of Visnu. Now consider from our point of view the duration of Brahma’s life? One day of Brahma consists of 1000 chatur yugas, according to that calculation Brahma lives for 100 years. One second of Brahma is one year according to human calculation. So, from our point of view the duration of Brahma’s life is inconceivable. Here we are seeing what is the duration of Brahma’s life? One exhalation of Maha-vishnu.
2. SRILA PRABHUPADA'S APPRECIATION
When kirtana stopped, Prabhupada recited the prema-dhvani prayer, glorifying and offering respects to the Lord and the previous acharyas. Then he spoke about the goals of the Mayapur project. His spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, had maintained absolute conviction in Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s prediction that the Krishna consciousness movement would spread throughout the world, to every town and village. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta had shown how one can serve Krishna even while living in big cities and making use of motorcars and other modern amenities. He had given Srila Prabhupada the mission to spread the movement not only in India but also throughout the world, and Prabhupada had carried on the mission with a broad vision, making all kinds of arrangements to attract different kinds of people.
(Extract from “Ocean of Mercy” book written by HH Bhakti Charu Swami Pg. 82)
3. GURU MAHARAJA’S INSTRUCTIONS
If you follow Srila Prabhupada’s instructions very sincerely accepting, Him as your Siksha Guru, then Your spiritual perfection is guaranteed.
(The content of this E-magazine is based on a lecture given by His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami in November 2005)
(Compiled and Edited by Hemavati Radhika Devi Dasi)