CONTENTS:
- SRILA PRABHUPADA GAVE US EVERYTHING
- GURU MAHARAJA’S OFFERING TO SRILA PRABHUPADA
1. SRILA PRABHUPADA GAVE US EVERYTHING
Hare Krishna It is always very enlivening to come to New Dvarika dham and be with you’ll. This temple has a very beautiful flavour which is very unique. Srila Prabhupada used to consider this temple to be the headquarters of ISKCON and in a way it is the headquarters of ISKCON. BBT used to be here, faith used to be here and all the wonderful devotees are already here. Prabhu is such a wonderful example and there are so many Prabhupada disciples here which are also very rare nowadays so it’s always very enlivening to be here. So today I have selected two verses from Sri Chaitanya-Charitamrita. This is from the Ädi-lélä third chapter. The few verses not just these two but few more verses from this chapter actually describes who Krishna is, what is the purpose of Krishna’s coming as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and also through these verses we can see that Srila Prabhupada gave us everything. Sometimes some individuals claim that Prabhupada did not give everything therefore they are going to give it to us and in this way many devotees get misled. Just to point out that Srila Prabhupada not only gave everything but Srila Prabhupada gave everything in the most perfect way. So that is the objective of selecting these two verses from this third chapter of Ädi-lélä.
Jai Jai Sri Chaitanya Jai Nityananda Jai Advaita Chandra Jai Gaura bhakta Vrinda Jai Jai Sri Chaitanya Jai Nityananda Jai Advaita Chandra Jai Gaura bhakta Vrinda Jai Jai Sri Chaitanya Jai Nityananda Jai Advaita Chandra Jai Gaura bhakta Vrinda Gaura premananda Hari Haribol!!
So text 5 and 6 of the third chapter of Ädi-lélä have been written on the board so we will recite them together
TEXT 5
pürëa bhagavän Krishna vrajendra-kumära
goloke vrajera saha nitya vihära
TRANSLATION
Lord Krishna, the son of the King of Vraja, is the Supreme Lord. He eternally enjoys transcendental pastimes in His eternal abode, Goloka, which includes Vrajadhama.
PURPORT
In the previous chapter it has been established that Krishna, the son of Vrajendra (the King of Vraja), is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, with six opulences. He eternally enjoys transcendentally variegated opulences on His planet, which is known as Goloka. The eternal pastimes of the Lord in the spiritual planet Krishnaloka are called aprakaöa, or unmanifested, pastimes because they are beyond the purview of the conditioned souls. Lord Krishna is always present everywhere, but when He is not present before our eyes, He is said to be aprakaöa, or unmanifested.
TEXT 6
brahmära eka dine tiìho eka-bära
avatérëa haïä karena prakaöa vihära
TRANSLATION
Once in a day of Brahmä, He descends to this world to manifest His transcendental pastimes.
Although Krishna mentioned in Bhagavad Gita sambhavämi yuge yuge that is I come in every yuga again and again, I manifest Myself but actually the Supreme Personality of Godhead Krishna, He does not come in every yuga. He comes once in a day of Brahma. The original Supreme Personality of Godhead Krishna, the son of Nanda Maharaja comes only once in a day of Brahma. What is the duration of a day of Brahma? Brahma’s day comprises of ten thousand chatur yugas. Satya, Treta, Dwapara and Kali. These four yugas together is called one chatur yuga or a divya yuga. In one thousand chatur yuga is the duration of a day of Brahma and Krishna comes only once in a day of Brahma. When it’s almost at midday when Krishna comes in that day of Brahma. In a day of Brahma there are fourteen Manus and the seventh Manu is Vaivasvata. As Krishna mentioned in Bhagavad Gita imaà vivasvate yogaà proktavän aham avyayam vivasvän manave präha. Vivasvän is the Sun-God, the predominating personality of the Sun planet and his son is Manu the seventh Manu, because he is the son of Vivasvan therefore he is known as Vivasvate Manu means son of Vivasvan.
There are various Manus as mentioned there are fourteen Manus and they appear in the day of Brahma and they have their period of reign, they preside over that period. When the whole shift changes, the demigods change with the change of Manu. Manu comes with a set of demi-gods, set of sages and so forth. In the next Manu’s reign who will become Indra? Bali Maharaja will become Indra. Sometimes in a factory we see along with the shift the personalities change. The foreman of the shift comes with his team. The one shift goes another shift comes and they operate according to the foreman. Manu is like the foreman of the shift and there are fourteen shifts in a day of Brahma. One thousand divided by fourteen is about seventy-one so the reign of each Manu is seventy-one chatur yugas. The seventh Manu is Vaivasvata Manu and out of his seventy-one chatur yugas in the twenty eighth chatur yuga in that Dwapara-yuga towards the end of that Dwapara-yuga Krishna the son of Nanada Maharaja descends. This son of Nanda Maharaja is THE original Supreme Personality of Godhead. Krishna comes once in a day of Brahma and He manifests His pastimes in Vrindavan, Goloka.
Now Goloka is a little different from the other region of the spiritual sky which is generally known as Vaikuntha. The basic difference is in the spiritual sky in Vaikuntha the Supreme Personality of Godhead is THE Supreme Personality of Godhead. Narayana is the Supreme Personality of Godhead but in Goloka the Supreme Personality of Godhead is Not the Supreme Personality of Godhead He is the cowherd boy. In Goloka He has some very special relationships with His devotees which is not available anywhere else. What are those relationships? Those relationships are friendship, parental and conjugal. These three loving relationships are not available in Vaikuntha or in a way we can say that these three loving relationships are not possible in Vaikuntha where the Supreme Personality of Godhead is manifest as the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Friendship takes place amongst equals so who can become equal to the Supreme Personality of Godhead? In friendship they are at least equal but in parental relationship the Supreme Personality of Godhead becomes subordinate and His devotee becomes superior to Him so who can become superior to the Supreme Personality of Godhead? Conjugal relationship is like the relationship between a young boy and young girl. Now who can ever develop such a relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead? We see that these three relationships are available in the material nature. We see that there is friendship in our dealings with our friends; there are parental relationships and conjugal relationships. Since material nature is a perverted reflection of the spiritual sky so whatever is there in the material nature must also be available in the spiritual sky otherwise how can that be there in the reflection. So, whatever is there in the reflection must be present there in the spiritual world.
What’s the difference between material and spiritual? The difference is when we are at the centre that is material and where Krishna is the centre that is spiritual. We have relationships friendship, parental and conjugal. In the spiritual sky these three relationships also must be available. The problem is how can one become the friend of the Supreme Personality of Godhead or parents of the Supreme Personality of Godhead or the lover of the Supreme Personality of Godhead? A living entity, a devotee may not be able to become equal to the Lord or superior to the Lord but if the Lord wants then He can become equal to His devotees or subordinate to His devotees. Goloka, Vrindavan is the region where the Lord has become equal to His friends, subservient to His parents and the paramour of His devotees.
In order to enable His devotees to develop that relationship with Him, He had to stop becoming the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So that is why in Vrindavan Krishna is not the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead under all circumstances but what actually happens is He makes the devotees forget that He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Forgetfulness are of two kinds one kind of forgetfulness is out of ignorance that is the natural forgetfulness that we naturally suffer from. In Vrindavan there is a special type of forgetfulness which is out of LOVE; out of intense love one forgets the position of the object of his love. An example to illustrate this point is that the son has become the president of the United States; it is not that the mother doesn’t know that her son is the president of the United States but does the mother treat him like the president of the United States? No because of her love for her son she treats him in spite of his exalted post in the eyes of others she treats him completely different.
She treats him just like her son. Like who would ever dare to chastise the president? But she does. When he comes home late, she chastises him so this is an example of forgetfulness out of love. In Vrindavan the devotees have forgotten that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead because of their intense love for Him not that they do not know that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead but their attitude is You may be the Supreme Personality of Godhead so what? We don’t care whether You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead or not to us what really matters is that we love You. You are the object of our love that is the only thing that matters to us. That is the special mood of the residents of Vrindavan and that is the special arrangement of Krishna in Vrindavan which is called the arrangement of Yoga Maya, by the arrangement of Yoga Maya they have forgotten that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Otherwise, they could not develop this loving relationship with Krishna.
In this Vraja-lila Krishna reveals only once in a day of Brahma where people get to see Him dealing with His devotees in this very very special way. After manifesting His Vrindavan pastimes Krishna considered that “I revealed my Vrajalila but how will anyone enter into My Vrindavan pastimes” Krishna considered this way. After performing His pastimes abundantly to His heart’s content. After performing His pastimes Krishna disappears and after disappearing Krishna considers that “I have revealed My Vraja-lila where prema bhakti, Vraja- prema has been manifest, displayed so how will anybody ever enter into Vraja-lila Krishna is considering that, ‘My devotees generally serve Me following the rules and regulations of the scriptures following the vaidhé or the rules and regulations of the scripture. When one renders devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead that is called vaidhé bhakti and achieves the spiritual perfection he goes to Vaikuntha and in Vaikuntha one gets his swarupa, eternal spiritual identity which is eternal now that cannot be changed.
When one goes to Vaikuntha one gets stuck there so how will one go to Vrindavan which is beyond Vaikuntha? Vaidhé bhakti leads to Vaikuntha but Vraja is beyond Vaikuntha and the point here is that there are two types of Bhakti vaidhé bhakti and rägänuga-bhakti. Vaidhé bhakti leads to Vaikuntha and rägänuga-bhakti leads to Vrindavan. Now Krishna is pointing out that ALL the devotees ALWAYS render devotional service unto Me following the rules and regulations of the scriptures vaidhé bhakti. The Supreme Personality of Godhead must be served following the rules and regulations of the scriptures and he will get four types of liberation in Vaikuntha. It has been very clearly pointed out by Rupa Goswami in the Nectar of Devotion that çrutismåti-puräëädi-païcarätra-vidhià vinä aikäntiké harer bhaktir utpätäyaiva kalpate. If one renders devotional service without following the instructions of the çruti means Vedas, småti means Upanishads, puräëädipaïcarätra, etc.
If one renders devotional service without following the rules and regulations of the scriptures it will simply create a disturbance. Utpät means disturbance. The point that is becoming clear here is that devotees must render devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead following vaidhé bhakti but rägänuga-bhakti is the way to go to Vrindavan. Serving the Supreme Personality of Godhead following the rules and regulations of the scriptures one will go to Vaikuntha and Krishna’s consideration is how will anyone ever come to Vrindavan? How will anyone ever have access to Vrindavan? Krishna had a problem and Krishna can solve the problem also in the most perfect way. What did He do? He decided to come as a devotee. When the Supreme Personality of Godhead is served following the rules and regulations of the scriptures then one ends up in Vaikuntha but when the devotee Krishna is served following the rules and regulations of the scriptures then he goes to Vrindavan. See how wonderfully Krishna has solved the problem! There is something more to that also.
What is rägänuga-bhakti actually? Why serving this devotee Krishna is the way to enter into Vrindavan which is actually the means of entering into Vrindavan is rägänuga-bhakti. This word rägänuga is a combination of two words räg and änuga räg means love and änuga means following. The residents of Vrindavan have only love for Krishna the only way they see Krishna is through their love therefore those devotees of Vrindavan are called Rägätmikä bhaktas and when one follows these residents of Vrindavan these eternal associates in Vrindavan that is called rägänuga-bhakti. Following one of the residents of Krishna when devotional service is rendered that is rägänuga-bhakti. Rägänuga-bhakti is the way to enter into Vrindavan. An example to illustrate this point is once Lakñmé-devé wanted to go to Vrindavan and She approached Narayan, “Please take me to your Vrindavan pastimes.” Narayan said, “Look to enter into Vrindavan you will have to follow one of the Gopis.” She replied, “I am Lakñmé-devé, your eternal consort how I can ever be subservient to anyone else?” Narayan said. “Then you cannot enter into Vrindavan.” Lakñmé-devé then performed severe austerity and as a result of that Krishna appeared and asked Lakñmé-devé, “Why are you performing such severe austerity?” So Lakñmé-devé narrated what had happened and Krishna placed Her on His chest and that is how Lakñmé-devé had Her entrance to Vrindavan as the Srivatsa on Krishna’s chest.
Even Lakñmé-devé cannot enter into Vrindavan without following a resident of Vrindavan without following rägänuga-bhakti. This means in order to enter into Vrindavan we have to practise rägänuga-bhakti. When we follow Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Who is Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu? Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is Krishna in the mood of Srimati Radharani. Actually, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is Radha and Krishna together. Krishna came assuming the mood of Srimati Radharani. When we are following Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who are we following? We are following Srimati Radharani the greatest of all Rägätmikä bhaktas. Therefore, we can see that vaidhé bhakti to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is automatically being transformed into rägänuga-bhakti. Vaidhé bhakti means the way to render service unto the Lord following the instructions of the scriptures.
What are the instructions in the scriptures to serve Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu? yajnaih sankirtana-prayair yajanti hi sumedhasah This personality Krishna as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu krsna - varnam tvisakrsnam sangopangastra-parsadam Krishna appeared assuming a molten golden complexion always chanting the holy name of the Lord. He descended with His associates and His abode. How to serve this Personality of Godhead? yajnaih sankirtana-prayair. When by serving Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu following this instruction of the scriptures and when one achieves his perfection then he sees Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as RadhaKrishna just as Rämänanda Räya saw Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Rasaräja mahäbhäva. When one is seeing RadhaKrishna one is automatically transported to Vrindavan. This is how Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu created this very very special arrangement for living entities to have access to Vrindavan. There is another consideration here the order for the yugas are usually Satya, Dwapara, Treta and Kali.
Dwapara means second and Treta means third. How come is it first yuga, third yuga and then second yuga then Kali yuga? Does that sound right? No. In this particular 28th chatur yuga in the manvantara the Treta and Dwapara switch places and Treta goes first and then comes Dwapara. Why? Because in Dwapara yuga Krishna will come and perform His Vraja-lila and after that He will come in Kali yuga as Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. If Treta yuga came after Dwapara yuga then people would not be able to relate to that in Kali Yuga that is why this very special arrangement was made. Krishna performs His pastimes as soon as He withdraws His pastimes Dwapara yuga ends and Kali yuga begins and then He comes as Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and that is how He creates the good fortune for the living entities for the age of Kali to have access or entrance to Vrindavan. This is the very very wonderful arrangement of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Now you can see how perfectly Srila Prabhupada gave everything.
Actually, Srila Prabhupada gave the way Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu arranged, the way Krishna arranged. This is the divine arrangement of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and that is what Srila Prabhupada gave. Therefore, Srila Prabhupada’s presentation is perfect and complete. If anybody says that Prabhupada did not give everything I will very clearly say that he is in Maya and he is not following Chaitanya Mahaprabhu He is hurting Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s movement. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s movement and arrangement to spread Krishna Consciousness throughout the world has been most perfectly manifested by Srila Prabhupada’s divine arrangement because Srila Prabhupada has been especially sent by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to fulfil His prediction. There are three personalities Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur and Prabhupada. These three personalities are the divine arrangement of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to spread Krishna Consciousness all over the world.
Bhaktivinode Thakur revived Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s sankirtan movement when it was practically lost and eclipsed by the upper sampradaya’s deviant preaching. Then Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur gave it a shape and then Srila Prabhupada took it and distributed it all over the world. It is the divine arrangement of Srila Prabhupada in the form of ISKCON that will continue to spread Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s mission throughout the world. That is how it happened and that is how it’s happening and that’s how it will continue to happen. Those who do not line up in this arrangement will come and go without creating a tangible effect. I thought of making this point here today because I felt that the devotees need to know that. This year during the Mayapur GBC meeting we had a festival called ISKCON Leadership Sanga when all the leading devotees of ISKCON, the temple presidents and other senior devotees from all over the world were invited. About 1200 devotees came to this programme ISKCON leadership Sanga and when I was asked to give a seminar, I decided to give a seminar on this topic entitled “Srila Prabhupada gave us everything even rägänuga-bhakti.”
2. GURU MAHARAJA’S OFFERING TO SRILA PRABHUPADA
oà ajïäna-timirändhasya jïänäïjana-çaläkayä cakñur unmélitaà yena tasmai Sri-gurave namaù Srila Prabhupada came to this world to fulfill the prediction of Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is Krishna Himself. Krishna appeared again, soon after His Vrindavan pastimes on this planet, in order to make us understand the secret of Krishna’s Vrindavan pastimes. He came to give us the rare gift of Krishna prema or Vraja prema. So, this is how Krishna made this arrangement so that we can experience this loving relationship with Krishna and the residents of Vrindavan. Appearing as a devotee and assuming the loving devotional mood and complexion of Srimati Radharani, Krishna appears as Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and distributed Krishna prema.
namo maha-vadanyaya krishna-prema-pradaya te Krishna prema, which is rare for Lord Brahma and even rare for Lord Shiva, was distributed by Krishna as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Although He distributed this prema only throughout India, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu made a prediction that this Krishna consciousness movement will spread all over the world, in every town and village, and in order to fulfill that prediction, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu sent Srila Prabhupada. And through Srila Prabhupada’s amazing achievements, we can see that this was a special arrangement made by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. At the age of seventy, Srila Prabhupada came to America, and within a short period of 10 years, Srila Pabhupada spread it all over the world. We cannot even imagine, even conceive of what an amazing achievement this is. Like, while we are spreading Krishna consciousness, Srila Prabhupada had already made all arrangements everywhere.
Still, we find it difficult to establish even one temple; it takes us years to establish one temple together, but Srila Prabhupada, within 10 years, established 108 temples. How was it possible? No one in the past had ever achieved such a thing. 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. Srila Prabhupada came to fulfil the prediction of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, literally fulfill the prediction of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, that this Krishna consciousness movement will spread all over the. When the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself says that every town and village, then we have to accept that as it is. It literally means every town and village, and it will happen. Srila Prabhupada, of course, came at a very late stage of his life, therefore he did not have much time.
Still, whatever he achieved is the most amazing miracle that has ever happened, and at the same time, Srila Prabhupada created an amazing arrangement so that this Krishna consciousness movement would continue to spread even after his disappearance. And that arrangement is the establishment of ISKCON. Prabhupada came and remained on this planet about 12 years after he arrived in America, and he made the arrangement that this mission would continue: His mission, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s mission, Krishna’s mission would continue even after his disappearance, and that’s why he established the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. And we are seeing today after 41 years after Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance from this planet, Krishna Consciousness is spreading. It is another amazing phenomenon. Generally, after the disappearance of a founder of an organization we see that his institution collapses but that did not happen in ISKCON.
Even after 41 years of Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance, this institution has not only remained, but is expanding. And for that, Srila Prabhupada made a very special arrangement in order to keep the institution intact and to survive all kinds of onslaughts. He made the special arrangement of his position in this institution as the Founder Acharya and the collective concept of management through the GBC. So because of that arrangement, this institution survived and it’s continuing. That’s why you should always remember that you must keep this institution intact, one of the most important responsibilities that we have is to protect this ISKCON because if ISKCON remains, the Krishna consciousness movement will continue to spread. On the other hand, if ISKCON disintegrates then the preaching mission will stop. We, the members of ISKCON; we, the leaders of ISKCON, must remember this very, very important consideration.
Srila Prabhupada appeared on a very special day, the day after Krishna’s appearance. Krishna appeared on Janmastami, and the day when Krishna’s appearance was being celebrated as Nandotsava, Srila Prabhupada appeared. That’s why this day is very, very special to us. We are actually worshiping the representative of Srila Vyasadeva, and Srila Prabhupada is Vyasadeva’s most perfect representative. He is distributing the message of Vyasadeva. Vyasadeva is the literary incarnation of Krishna. Krishna appeared as Vyasadeva to distribute his Vedic wisdom. As Kali Yuga begins, a very dark age actually begins. Therefore, Krishna made the arrangement that before Kali Yuga begins, the Vedas would be kept in a secure way. Krishna made the arrangement through Vyasadeva so that people would be able to understand the message of the Vedas. They are presented in such a way that people in the age of Kali who are extremely atheistic and unintelligent, always troubled by all kinds of material difficulties, and on top of everything extremely lazy (could understand).
Therefore, very systematically, Vyasadeva presented the Vedas in four different sections: Rig, Sama, Yajur and Atharva. Then he gave all kinds of dharma sastras, then all kinds of the spiritual instructions, then the Upanisadas, Puranas, Samhitas, and all the other sub-branches of the Vedic wisdom. Vyasadeva very systematically presented these scriptures. Then he gave in the form of Mahabharata, the history of the royal families of this world. Then he presented Vedanta Sutra, but still Vyasadeva was despondent; he felt that his mission was improperly accomplished, and at that time, Narada Muni came to him and told him that He did not glorify the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the sublime, most effective, and profound way. Then Vyasadeva gave the natural commentary of Vedanta. The Vedas were converted into Vedanta, and then the Vedanta was explained in the form of Srimad Bhagavatam.
So, these two literatures are extremely important for us: the essence of all the Puranas and the essence of all Upanisads. Based on these two literatures, Srila Prabhupada gave his teachings with his Bhaktivedanta purports. In this way, we can see that Srila Prabhupada is actually an ideal representative of Srila Vyasadeva, and he in that way can also be considered the personification of Vyasadeva; he appeared to distribute this most sublime spiritual wisdom, the results of which we are seeing. The perfect manifestation of Vyasadeva’s work has become personified or manifest in the form of Srila Prabhupada’s presentation. Vyasadeva gave the Vedas, but Srila Prabhupada made them available to everyone in the age of Kali so that they can take advantage of this spiritual presentation and understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So that is why this particular day of Srila Prabhupada’s appearance day that we celebrate as Vyasa Puja is important to us. Actually, Vyasadeva’s mercy is becoming perfectly manifested through the appearance of All Glories to His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada ki Jaya! Gaura Premanande Hari Hari bol!
(The content of this E-magazine is based on a Lecture given by His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami on 17 June 2014 in Los Angeles)
(Compiled and Edited by Hemavati Radhika Devi Dasi)