Ocean of Nectar: Special Edition For Krishna Janmashtami And Srila Prabhupada’s Appearance Day

1. KRISHNA, THE SUPREME PERSONALITY OF GODHEAD

oà namo bhagavate väsudeväya. Oà namo bhagavate

väsudeväya. Oà namo bhagavate väsudeväya.

narayanam namaskritya naram cha eva narottamam

devim saraswatim vyasam tato jayam udirayet. nañöapräyeñv abhadreñu

nityaà bhägavata-sevayä bhagavaty uttama-çloke

bhaktir bhavati naiñöhiké

Today due to Krishna’s appearance day Janmastami we are going to read from the tenth canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, the third chapter describing the birth of Lord Krishna, text 45: (SB 10.3.45)

yuväà mäà putra-bhävena

brahma-bhävena cäsakåt

cintayantau kåta-snehau

yäsyethe mad-gatià paräm

WORD-FOR-WORD MEANINGS

yuväm—both of you (husband and wife); mäm—unto Me; putra-bhävena—as your son; brahma-bhävena— knowing that I am the Supreme Personality of Godhead; ca—and; asakåt—constantly; cintayantau— thinking like that; kåta-snehau—dealing with love and affection; yäsyethe—shall both obtain; mat-gatim—My supreme abode; paräm—which is transcendental, beyond this material world.

Translation

Both of you, husband and wife, constantly think of Me as your son, but always know that I am the Supreme Personality of Godhead. By thus thinking of Me constantly with love and affection, you will achieve the highest perfection: returning home, back to Godhead.

PURPORT

This instruction by the Supreme Personality of Godhead to His father and mother, who are eternally connected with Him, is especially intended for persons eager to return home, back to Godhead. One should never think of the Supreme Personality of Godhead as an ordinary human being, as non-devotees do. Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, personally appeared and left His instructions for the benefit of all human society, but fools and rascals unfortunately think of Him as an ordinary human being and twist the instructions of Bhagavad-gita for the satisfaction of their senses. Practically everyone commenting on Bhagavad-gita interprets it for sense gratification. It has become especially fashionable for modern scholars and politicians to interpret Bhagavad-gita as if it were something fictitious, and by their wrong interpretations they are spoiling their own careers and the careers of others. The Krishna consciousness movement, however, is fighting against this principle of regarding Krishna as a fictitious person and of accepting that there was no Battle of Kurukshetra, that everything is symbolic, and that nothing in Bhagavad-gita is true.

In any case, if one truly wants to be successful, one can do so by reading the text of Bhagavad-gita as it is. Sri Chaitanya Mahäprabhu especially stressed the instructions of Bhagavad-gita: yäre dekha, täre kaha 'Krishna'-upadesha [Cc. Madhya 7.128]. If one wants to achieve the highest success in life, one must accept Bhagavad-gita as spoken by the Supreme Lord. By accepting Bhagavad-gita in this way, all of human society can become perfect and happy. It is to be noted that because Vasudeva and Devaki would be separated from Krishna when He was carried to Gokula, the residence of Nanda Maharaja, the Lord personally instructed them that they should always think of Him as their son and as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That would keep them in touch with Him. After eleven years, the Lord would return to Mathura to be their son, and therefore there was no question of separation. (End)

yuväà mäà putra-bhävena

brahma-bhävena cäsakåt

cintayantau kåta-snehau

yäsyethe mad-gatià paräm

This is the last thing Krishna told his father and mother before leaving for Vrindavan. Krishna was born in the prison of Kamsa. Kamsa heard that Vasudeva and Devaki’s eight son will be the cause of his death.

At that time Kamsa wanted to kill Devaki to prevent himself from this threat and at that time Vasudeva, Devaki’s husband, Krishna’s father pleaded with Kamsa and suggested that, “There is no need to kill Devaki but as soon as the sons are born of Devaki he would bring them to Kamsa and Kamsa could decide what he wanted to do. In this way Devaki was rescued but as and when their children were born, Vasudeva carried them to Kamsa and Kasmsa mercilessly killed them. In this way Kamsa killed six of Devaki’s sons. The seventh son was Sankarshan, Balarama and Balarama after seven months was transferred from Devaki’s womb to Rohini’s womb and it was understood that the seventh pregnancy of Devaki was a miscarriage then Vasudeva appeared in the womb of Devaki and in due course of time Krishna was born in the prison of Kamsa. Kamsa imprisoned Devaki and Vasudeva because he didn’t want to take any chance.

Although Kamsa knew that Vasudeva was very honest and truthful, Vasudeva is situated in sutrasattva, transcendental mood and that transcendental platform is the platform of absolute truth there is no falsity in that platform. Vasudeva never tells a lie, a person who is situated in sutrasattva or brahmabhüta platform he never tells anything but the absolute truth so Kamsa knew that Vasudeva, Krishna’s father would never tell a lie or would never do anything deceptive, will never cheat anyone but still because Kamsa was a demon and the demons are by nature suspicious and never trusts anyone. Kamsa could not even trust the most honest person Vasudeva so he put Vasudeva and Devaki in the prison and Krishna was born in the prison. So here is the pastime of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Although He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Supreme controller and Supreme Proprietor of everything, although without His sanction even a blade of grass doesn’t move, that Supreme Personality of Godhead simply out of His sweet will and in order to perform His pastimes took birth in the presence of Kamsa. This is how unpredictable Krishna’s activities are.

Krishna acts in the most unpredictable way and He acts in that way simply to give pleasure to His devotees simply to increase the love of His devotee. Everything that Krishna does is to increase the love of His devotee. Now by appearing in the prison of Kamsa as the son of Vasudeva and Devaki, Krishna actually increased the love of His devotees. First of all, the love of Vasudeva and Devaki. In the prison is a very distressful condition and when one is in a distressful condition and when one is going through a lot of difficulties one’s heart naturally becomes heavy and when our hearts become heavy our dependence and our submission to Krishna and our love for Krishna becomes more intensified therefore Krishna puts His devotees into difficulties. When the devotees are in difficulties then they can depend upon Krishna and meditate upon Krishna in a better way and that is why often it is seen that the devotees undergo various kinds of difficulties whereas the non-devotees the demons apparently enjoy.

A perfect example are the Pandava and Kauravas. The Pandava were devotees of Krishna but when we look at the lives of the Pandava we can see that from the very beginning of their lives they were undergoing so many difficulties. At a very young age their father died and when they were brought to the palace of Hastinapur, the Pandava King they were the rightful successors to the throne but their cousins Duryodhan and others became very envious of them and tried to create a lot of difficulties for them, they were just little children, 4,5, 6 years old but they had a deadly enemy around them their own cousins. Their cousins tried to kill them although they were all children Duryodhan was so demoniac right from his childhood what to speak of his childhood right from his birth actually. As soon as Duryodhan was born instead of crying like a human child he started to bray like an ass and at that time everyone could see that this child means trouble.

Vidura actually instructed Dhitrashtara, Duryodhan’s father, “Get rid of this child. “With his foresight he could see that this child would be the cause of destruction for the whole family but due to his paternal affections Dhitrashtara could not kill his son and this son was so envious that he wanted to kill the Pandava right from their childhood. He gave poison to Bhéma and after tying his hands and feet dropped him in the river. Later he tried to burn them alive in a house made of wax so in this way from his childhood Duryodhan tried to kill the Pandava but Pandava was always protected by Krishna because they are devotees of Krishna. Apparently, there were difficulties but ultimately, they were protected by Krishna and that is what happens to Krishna. Devotees also maybe in difficulties and distresses but Krishna always gives them protection. Krishna comes to this planet simply to give pleasure to His devotees and Krishna allows them and helps them become situated on the perfect spiritual platform.

Krishna Himself comes and allows His devotees to participate in His pastimes and participating in His pastimes the devotee becomes completely purified of their material contaminations or material attachments. Here Krishna appeared to give pleasure to His devotees Vasudeva and Devaki and here Krishna is giving them the final instruction before leaving for Vrindavan or Gokula. The instruction was always thought of Me as your son and the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Thinking of Krishna is the means of becoming free from material bondage. Krishna gives the assurance if you do that then you will gain the ultimate perfection and you will go back to the spiritual sky. Prabhupada is pointing out here that Krishna gave this instruction to Vasudeva and Devaki not because they needed that instruction but it is Krishna’s pastime and He plays in a certain way to teach the conditioned soul and Krishna in this way is showing them how everyone can become free from material bondage and go back to the spiritual sky. The only way to go back to the spiritual sky is to think about Krishna with love and devotion.

Time and time again Krishna instructed that in Bhagavad Gita man-manä bhava mad-bhakto mad-yäjé mäà namaskuru think of Me, become My devotee, worship Me, offer obeisances unto Me. In Bhagavad Gita this is the only instruction that Krishna repeated twice. Never in Bhagavad Gita one instruction has been repeated twice except this one so that shows how important this instruction of Krishna is and here also Krishna is giving the same instruction, Think of Me with love and affection and remember Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, always know that I am the Supreme Personality of Godhead and think of Me as your son. Actually, one can think of Krishna in any way he wants and Krishna will reciprocate. Our thinking cannot be impersonal, impersonal thinking cannot be long lasting, we cannot think on one thing that we do have any feeling for, for a long time but the things that are dear to us, that we have attachment and feelings we can think of them for a long time. When we think of Krishna we must think of Krishna with feeling and certain emotion.

There are four positive and active emotions namely servitorship, friendship, parental and conjugal and one can develop these with Krishna. One can develop a relationship with Krishna thinking Krishna is the master and he is the servant. One can also think of Krishna as a friend, one can even think of Krishna as his son and one cane even think of Krishna as his lover. Krishna has actually given us the freedom to develop our relationship with Him. Krishna says, as one surrenders unto Me, as one develops his relation to Me accordingly, I reciprocate. One has the freedom to develop his relationship with Krishna it is not that since Krishna is God, He is very remote and no one can ever come close to Him. No, Krishna is not that kind of great personality. In the material world a great personality is difficult to approach. In the material nature the greater one is or most famous and important one is the more difficult it is to approach him but that is not the case with the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the spiritual nature. In the spiritual nature the spiritual personalities are very easily accessible and available.

The Supreme Personality of Godhead has become so easily accessible that He has given everyone the chance of freedom to decide for himself how he wants to develop his relationship with Krishna, that freedom has been given to the individual. In order to develop that relationship with Krishna one must go through the process of devotional service and practise sadhana bhakti. One must become free from his material attachments in order to develop his relationship with Krishna and the process to do this is called vaidhé bhakti, devotional service in practise. Unless and until one becomes free from material attachments, he cannot develop his genuine spiritual relationship with Krishna. The way to become free from material attachments is sadhana bhakti. If he does not follow the sadhana bhakti and wants to directly develop a relationship with Krishna then that is called sahajiya taking Krishna very cheaply.

Therefore, Krishna is saying here, “Always know that I am the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” Krishna is telling them that you can think of Me as your son but at the same time remember that I am the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It is not that one should try to develop relationship with Krishna remaining on the material platform then we are running at the risk of mistaking Krishna to be an ordinary mundane living being. If we want to elevate ourselves to the transcendental platform then we must recognise Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead and then as we develop our relationship we will be elevated to that platform. Here Prabhupada is pointing out that the only way to become free from material bondage is to develop a loving relationship with Krishna by constantly remembering Him, by constantly thinking about Him. Going back to Godhead is not difficult Krishna actually wants us to go back to the spiritual sky back to Godhead. Consider how simple the process is, Krishna says BG 4.9

janma karma ca me divyam

evaà yo vetti tattvataù

tyaktvä dehaà punar janma

naiti mäm eti so 'rjuna

If one understands that my birth and activities are divine then when he gives up his body, he does not take birth again and that is Krishna’s assurance to us. If we simply understand that Krishna’s birth is divine, not material. Krishna’s birth is not like the birth of an ordinary human being. Krishna took birth out of His own sweet will. He didn’t have to take birth to come to this planet, He could have directly come as He has done before. Many many times Krishna had appeared in many many wonderful ways. He appeared from Brahma’s nose as Varahadeva; He appeared from the pillar as Nrsinghadeva. Krishna’s actions are not by chance or karmic actions like our actions. All our actions are guided by karma and the superior controller and the modes of material nature. In one hand Krishna’s activities are divine and completely independent of any law of nature whereas our activities every single action is guided by the modes of material nature and our previous karma.

As we acted in the past accordingly, we are susceptible to the reactions of those actions and these are guided by the modes of material nature and that is how we are all functioning in this material nature but Krishna’s activities are not like that. Krishna’s activities are not guided by any guna or karma. Krishna is reminding us that if you simply understand that My birth and My activities are divine then when you give up this body you won’t have to come back to this material nature which means then you will go back to the spiritual sky. Krishna comes to this planet and acts the way He does simply to remind us that His birth and His activities are divine and if we can understand that truth in reality and this is how easy we can go back to the spiritual world. To go back to the spiritual sky again is not at all difficult all we have to do is to understand who Krishna is, recognise Him as the Supreme Personality of Godhead and develop some loving relationship with Him and then we not only will go back to the spiritual sky but in the spiritual sky we will be able to develop a very intimate loving relationship with Him.

We will be able not only to perceive Him face to face but we will be able to play with Him; eat with Him; sleep with Him and embrace Him. This is how easily Krishna makes Himself available. To consider how easily Krishna makes Himself available we have to remember that Krishna is present in our hearts and that is how easily available Krishna is to us. Although we rejected Him and do not want anything to do with Him but He has made Himself available to us so much so that wherever we are going no matter how dirty that place is, no matter how difficult the condition is, no matter how degraded that situation is Krishna goes with us. Even when one becomes a pig and stays the whole day and night in a pool of stool Krishna stays with him and this is how much He loves us. Can you imagine anyone jumping with you in a pool of stool? No one in this world loves anyone in that way.

When King Prataparudra heard that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu cured Vasudeva Vipra from leprosy by embracing him by His touch all of Prataparudra’s doubts of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was dispelled. King Prataparudra, the King of Orissa had some doubts about Chaitanya Mahaprabhu being the Supreme Personality of Godhead but when he heard of this pastime of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu then King Prataparudra recognised Him without any doubt that yes this is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and he gave a reason. He said that curing lepers and even reviving the dead have been done in the past by many great personalities with great spiritual power but never ever has anyone embraced that person but Chaitanya Mahaprabhu embraced that leper. Only God can display that kind of compassion and that compassion is not only flowing from upper to lower level but that compassion in a personified way is coming down and embracing that personality. This is how compassionate the Supreme Personality of Godhead is. He has made Himself available in our hearts at the very depth of our own existence then why should He be difficult to approach? If He Himself is making Himself that available that, why should it be difficult to approach Him? To approach Krishna and develop our relationship with Him is not at all difficult.

The only requirement is to desire that. Only requirement is to feel that He is there and how much He cares for us, how much He loves us that He is following us, practically He is crying and running behind us and inviting us to come back to Him. Telling us, “Please come back, please come back to Me. My heart is breaking due to your separation.” This is how the Supreme Personality of Godhead cares for all living entities. If we show a little bit of willingness and eagerness to go back to Him then He will make all arrangements. Prabhupada said if we take one step towards Krishna then Krishna will take hundred steps to pick us up. Why hundred steps Prabhupada said thousand steps to come and pick us up. This is how Krishna wants us to go back to Him. The final question is do you really want to go back to Him? If we search for the answer in the depth of our heart then we will see that we don’t that is why instead of Krishna we want so many things in this material nature. We are constantly regarding dhanaà, janaà and sundaréà. So, it is we who don’t want to go back to Krishna but Krishna is always waiting for us to go back to Him like a loving father not only like a loving father like a Supreme loving father.

So today is Krishna Janmashtami let us try to understand how divine Krishna’s birth is and how wonderfully Krishna performed His activities and just by remembering His wonderful activities we can actually understand that He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. If we can simply recognise Him as the Supreme Personality of Godhead and place ourselves in relation to that recognition. If we become humble and submit ourselves knowing that He is the Supreme and we are just a fragmental part and parcel of that Supreme Personality then we will become free from all material bondage and we will become elevated to the spiritual sky. Hare Krishna. Thank you very much. I want to make another point Prabhupada is this purport is making another point the best way to submit ourselves to Krishna and remember Krishna is by accepting Krishna’s teachings as He gave them in the Bhagavad Gita. So if we really want to celebrate Krishna’s Janmashtami festival then you must make a resolution that from now on we will follow Krishna’s instructions In Bhagavad Gita to the point and we will not deviate from that even from a fraction of an inch. How many of you are willing to make that resolution? Raise your hands high up don’t feel shy to make such a resolution. Hare Krishna. Thank you very much. That is the best way to celebrate Krishna’s Janmashtami festival. Of all of Krishna’s instruction the most important instruction is BG 18.66

sarva-dharmän parityajya

mäm ekaà çaraëaà vraja

ahaà tväà sarva-päpebhyo

mokñayiñyämi mä çucaù and

man-manä bhava mad-bhakto mad-yäjé mäà namaskuru

Hare Krishna. Thank you very much. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

2. SRILA PRABHUPADA'S APPRECIATION

So, the more we dwell on Srila Prabhupada’s achievements, the more we probe into what Srila Prabhupada has done, the more we recognize what an amazing spiritual personality Srila Prabhupada is. In this way Srila Prabhupada came to bless this world.

(Extract from HH Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja’s 2017 Srila Prabhupada Vyasa puja message)

3. GURU MAHARAJA’S INSTRUCTIONS

When one is going through a lot of difficulties one’s heart naturally becomes heavy and when our hearts become heavy our dependence and our submission to Krishna and our love for Krishna becomes more intensified therefore Krishna puts His devotees into difficulties. When the devotees are in difficulties then they can depend upon Krishna and meditate upon Krishna in a better way and that is why often it is seen that the devotees undergo various kinds of difficulties whereas the non-devotees the demons apparently enjoy;
Thinking of Krishna is the means of becoming free from material bondage;
The only way to go back to the spiritual sky is to think about Krishna with love and devotion;
When we think of Krishna we must think of Krishna with feeling and certain emotion. There are four positive and active emotions namely servitorship, friendship, parental and conjugal and one can develop these with Krishna;
Unless and until one becomes free from material attachments, he cannot develop his genuine spiritual relationship with Krishna. The way to become free from material attachments is sadhana bhakti. If he does not follow the sadhana bhakti and wants to directly develop a relationship with Krishna then that is called sahajiya taking Krishna very cheaply;
Krishna is reminding us that if you simply understand that My birth and My activities are divine then when you give up this body you won’t have to come back to this material nature which means then you will go back to the spiritual sky;
So, if we really want to celebrate Krishna’s Janmashtami festival then you must make a resolution that from now on we will follow Krishna’s instructions In Bhagavad Gita to the point and we will not deviate from that even from a fraction of an inch.

(The content of this E-magazine is based on a lecture given by HH Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja in Durban, South Africa on 2 August 1992 Janmashtami and)

(Compiled and Edited by Hemavati Radhika Devi Dasi)

CONTENTS:

1. KRISHNA, THE SUPREME PERSONALITY OF GODHEAD

2. SRILA PRABHUPADA'S APPRECIATION

3. GURU MAHARAJA’S INSTRUCTIONS