CONTENTS:
1. OUR ORIGINAL SHELTER IS BALARAMA
2. SRILA PRABHUPADA'S APPRECIATION
3. GURU MAHARAJA’S INSTRUCTIONS
1. OUR ORIGINAL SHELTER IS BALARAMA
I wanted to speak on Lord Balarama’s appearance but I first of all had to establish that Krishna is God and then we can go into His pastimes. Like if we not understand that Krishna is God, God is the Supreme Personality with form, variegated qualities and entourage and paraphernalia then it is impossible to go deeper into that philosophy. Lord Balarama who is the elder brother of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Krishna, He appeared before Krishna came. Actually, before coming to this material world, this universe, this earth planet Krishna made the arrangements. First before coming Himself He sent His fathers and mothers and then He sent His elder brother and other relatives and friends and then Krishna appeared. Balarama was actually the seventh child of Vasudeva and Devaki, the father and mother of Krishna. When the earth was very much troubled by the tyrannical demons Mother Earth went to Lord Brahma in the form of a cow and with tears in her eyes she told Brahma about her distress of how demons were troubling her so Brahma then decided to go to the Lord along with other Demi-gods and Mother Earth to the milk ocean and there Brahma began to offer his prayers to Lord and the Lord instructed Brahma in the heart that very soon He would descend to rid the earth of the miseries and He would establish dharma and He asked Brahma to tell the Demi-gods to take birth in the Yadu and Vrisni dynasty.
In this way the Lord predicted His advent and He made arrangements that before he came the other associates of him should take birth on this earth planet. Then he sent all His associates and friends and His relatives. In the meantime, His father and mother got married. Now the question may arise how come the Lord has mother and father? The Lord is unborn but in order to perform his pastimes the Lord takes birth as a child of some of his devotees. He has explained it in Bhagavad Gita by saying ajo api sann avyayatma bhutanam ajo means unborn bhutanam isvaro although I am unborn and eternal and the Supreme Lord of all beings but still in order to give pleasure to my devotees I take birth by my internal potency. In the material nature we are born and changing one body to another due to our karma our previous actions But God doesn’t take birth by the influence of karma He appears by His causeless desire. He simply desires to be born and He appears through some of His devotees those who wanted to have Him as their son. Devotees are related to the Lord in different mellows as I have mentioned. Those mellows are neutrality, servitorship, friendship, parental and conjugal, some devotees of the Lord are related in parental mellow, some devotees want to get the Lord as their own son. Now when the devotee desires like that the Lord also allows them to have Him as their son so the Lord takes birth through them as their child.
When his two great devotees Vasudeva and Devaki got married and when Vasudeva was taking his wife to his palace at that time Devaki’s cousin Kamsa was driving the chariot and there was a celestial announcement from the sky that “Kamsa you are such a fool so jubilantly you are taking your sister and her husband in your chariot and you are personally driving the chariot but you do not know that the eighth son of this sister of yours is going to kill you,” As soon as Kamsa heard this forecast he immediately grabbed Devaki by her hair. Although Devaki was his cousin still, he had no mercy because he was a great demon so he decided to kill her right there. He grabbed her by her hair, pulled out his sword and was about to chop her head but Vasudeva stopped Kamsa and said, “Kamsa you are such a great person and you should not kill a woman because if you do everybody will look down upon you. A brave hero like you killed a woman.” In the Vedic culture killing a woman is considered to be a great crime or heinous act. In this way he consoled Kamsa and said, “Look Devaki is not going to kill you but her eighth son will kill you so when Devaki gives birth to her sons, I will bring the sons to you and you can do whatever you want with them.
In this way Kamsa was pacified and he let her go and then when a son was born to Devaki, Vasudeva true to his commitment took the son to Kamsa. Kamsa in the beginning mellowed down and felt that he has only to be afraid of the eighth son so he had nothing to fear from the first son so he gave the son back to Vasudeva and said, ‘You take him back, I don’t want to do anything to him. He is not going to cause any harm to me.” Then Kamsa was advised by his friends not to take a chance like that, this instruction came from Narada. Narada is a great devotee of the Lord and he wanted to hasten the advent of the Lord if possible so he tricked Kamsa to understand that there was no way of knowing that the eighth son would be counted in forward or backward progression. The first son could be the last son counting from the last son, in this way he convinces Kamsa and Kamsa immediately went and killed the child. Not only did he kill the child but he put Vasudeva and Devaki in the prison, in this way year after year they were giving birth to a son and they were brutally killed by Kamsa. Six sons were killed one after the other. The seventh son is actually Baladeva, Balarama Krishna’s elder brother.
When Balarama was seven months old in the womb of Devaki then by Krishna’s instruction Yoga Maya Krishna’s internal potency took Balarama from Devaki’s womb and transplanted Him in Rohini’s womb. Rohini was another wife of Vasudeva who was staying in Vrindavan under the protection of Nanda Maharaja. This has been analysed why Balarama first came to Devaki’s womb and then to Rohini’s womb that has been described as Balarama makes the arrangements of Krishna for Krishna’s bed and paraphernalia. So, before Krishna arrived in Devaki’s womb Balarama went there and made all the arrangements for Krishna to come and then after making the arrangements He went to Rohini’s womb and then Krishna came as Devaki’s son and Balarama was born as Rohini’s son. In this way Balarama appeared so today is the day when Balarama appeared in Vrindavan.
Balarama is Krishna’s first expansion and the same Balarama expanded Himself as Ksirodakasayi Vishnu who is present in everyone’s heart as Paramatma the super soul. Actually, the super soul in our hearts is the expansion of Balarama or Balarama Himself. The super soul is the original guru. The Lord who is present in our heart is the spiritual master so Balarama is the spiritual master. Balarama is the shelter of all living entities. When the living entities go back to Godhead then first, they go back to Balarama and through Balarama they go to Krishna. This Balarama appeared again as Nityananda prabhu and Krishna appeared as Caitanya Mahaprabhu brajendra-nandana jei, saci-suta hoilo sei balarama hoilo nitai. Brajendra nanda Krishna became the son of Saci mata and Balrama became Nityananda. In Mahaprabhu’s pastimes one has to approach Mahaprabhu through Nityananda prabhu. Hena nitai bine bhai radha Krishna paite nai.
Without Nityananda prabhu one cannot approach RadhaKrishna. Without the sanction of Balarama, one cannot approach RadhaKrishna because our original shelter is Balarama so we have to go back to our original shelter in the spiritual sky. Balarama is the source of all the living entities. By Balarama’s mercy we are engaged in devotional service to Krishna. Today is the appearance day of Lord Balarama who very mercifully came to help us go back to Godhead so let’s take full advantage of His advent and glorify Him so that His mercy can spread all over the world and thus the whole world can benefit. Hare Krishna Thank you very much. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
2. SRILA PRABHUPADA'S APPRECIATION
I belong to the asrama of ISKCON which belongs to Srila Prabhupada and ISKCON has a structure which is giving Srila Prabhupada’s teachings. By Srila Prabhupada’s arrangement it is giving protection to the devotees. And by Srila Prabhupada’s arrangement devotees are getting the opportunity to make advancement in spiritual life. Srila Prabhupada has created everything for us and we simply have to take advantage of that. Like, although Srila Prabhupada is not present on the planet, Srila Prabhupada is the siksa guru of all the devotees of ISKCON.
3. GURU MAHARAJA’S INSTRUCTIONS
Our original shelter is Balarama so we have to go back to our original shelter in the spiritual sky. Balarama is the source of all the living entities. By Balarama’s mercy we are engaged in devotional service to Krishna. Today is the appearance day of Lord Balarama who very mercifully came to help us go back to Godhead so let’s take full advantage of His advent and glorify Him so that His mercy can spread all over the world and thus the whole world can benefit.
(The content of this E-magazine was based on a lecture given by His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami in ISKCON Ujjain on 3 May 2020)
(Compiled and Edited by Hemavati Radhika Devi Dasi)