CONTENTS:
- CHURNING OF THE MILK OCEAN
- QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
- SRILA PRABHUPADA'S APPRECIATION
- GURU MAHARAJA’S INSTRUCTIONS
1. CHURNING OF THE MILK OCEAN
Laxmidevi left the demi-gods due to Durvasa Muni’s curse. When Laxmidevi disappears, there is no prosperity or opulence everything becomes very distressful and ominous. The demi-gods were wondering what to do so they approached the Supreme Personality of Godhead and then the Supreme Personality of Godhead suggested, “You churn the milk ocean.” How to churn the milk ocean in order to get the nectar Krishna advised them to join hands with the demons and jointly they will accomplish that. Indra approached Bali Maharaja and after consulting amongst themselves the demons agreed to get into this unusual joint venture. The joint venture amongst the demons and demi-gods. The demons had a hidden agenda “together we will churn to get the nectar but when we get the nectar, we will snatch it away from the demi-gods and enjoy.” This is one of the first symptoms of the demons, they always have a hidden agenda. They agree to do something but they have a hidden agenda for their sense gratification. Then they decided to churn the milk ocean.
Churning the milk ocean was not an easy job. This mission could be accomplished only with a very special arrangement. Churning means you need a churning rod and a rope to make it move back and forth. The Mandar Mountain was made into the churning rod and Nagraja Vasuki, the King of the snakes was the churning rope. The demons and demi-gods collectively tried to carry the Mandar Mountain. They uprooted it and was carrying it but it was so heavy although jointly carrying it, they dropped the mountain and many of them died. Seeing that situation the Lord came to their rescue riding on His Garuda and with His left hand He picked up the Mandar Mountain, placed it on Garuda and carried it to the milk ocean. So, this is the potency of the devotees of the Lord, they are empowered by the potency of the Lord so that is why they can perform some inconceivable acts. The demi-gods and demons are extremely powerful individuals but what they could not collectively do Garuda just carried the mountain on his back and not only the mountain but the Lord also on top of him.
The Mandar Mountain was taken to the milk ocean and they tried to place it to begin the churning but it sank because the milk ocean is so deep. Another problem so again the Lord came to their rescue. He assumed the form of a tortoise and on His back, He placed the mountain. This is how the demi-gods could churn the ocean. Lots of things happened in between. When they were churning the first thing that came out was halahal the deadliest poison and that poison was about to destroy the world and the entire creation so the Lord told Lord Shiva, “Mahesh, you do something about it.” Lord Shiva took the poison and drank it. This is another sign of a devotee. A devotee no matter how difficult or dangerous the act maybe whenever the Lord wants him to do something he just does it. Lord Shiva drank the entire poison but the poison did not go below his neck, it remained on his neck and due to the effect of the poison his neck became blue therefore Lord Shiva’s neck is blue. Another name of Lord Shiva is Neelakanta, one whose neck is bluish.
Then one after other things started coming up from the churning. Airavat came and Indra took him. Some things were taken by the demons and some things were taken by the demi-gods. Laxmidevi came and She just approached Vishnu and stayed on His chest. Finally, Danvantari came and when he came with the nectar then this is what is being described here. After a lot of struggles, they churned the milk ocean and got the nectar but now the demons have snatched it away. The demi-gods became morose and what to do now? So, what does a devotee do when he is in difficulty? Another wonderful lesson we are seeing here. When a devotee is in distress what does he do? He takes shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Also, the Lord came and assured them, “Don’t worry I will take care of you.” The Lord said “do not be aggrieved. My own energy shall bewilder the demons by creating a quarrel amongst them.” This is due to the illusory energy of the Lord that the Lord bewilders the demons, creates a quarrel amongst them which foils their purpose and ultimately destroys them.
Demons fight amongst themselves and destroy each other. Here they were fighting amongst themselves and their mission was foiled and that was the cause of the fight. “I will be the first one to drink the nectar not you” “I will be the first one to drink! I will be the first one to drink! Not you! Not you!” That is another tendency of the demons they want to enjoy themselves depriving everyone else. In this way they started to fight then the Lord came in His illusory Mohinimurti. Extremely beautiful woman whose form is inconceivable. When Krishna becomes a woman no one can imagine how beautiful He will be. In that respect in the Lalita Madhava drama Rupa Goswami is narrating one incident. When Satyabhama was brought into the Dwarika palace. In Vedic culture the women have their rooms in the inner region of the palace where they stay and the men don’t enter the inner region during daytime. So, Krishna was eager to meet Satyabhama but it was daytime and He could not go so He assumed a female form to enter.
Uddhava felt attraction to this woman and started to wonder, “I am not usually attracted to any women so how is it that I am becoming attracted to this one. I am only attracted to Krishna.” He considered is this the form that bewildered Lord Shiva? So that is how beautiful Krishna appeared that even a devotee like Uddhava who has no attraction to any female form he became attracted to this form when the Lord assumes a female form Mohinimurti. This Mohinimurti is a worshipable form of Mayadevi. In the final region of the universe, the region of Maya, there is a Durgadevi, Mahamaya, the Lord is being worshipped there as Mohinimurti. So, this is how the demons naturally became bewildered and they forgot about the nectar. This is another thing about the demons their sex impulse is so strong that they forget everything else and that is the prime consideration for them sex desire. They just got enchanted by that form and that lady said, “Give me that pot of nectar” and they said, “Please take please take.” She told them not to worry and she would distribute it and they must sit in lines one side demigods and one side demons.
The Lord started to distribute the nectar to the demi-gods. The demons were so bewildered by the Lords beautiful form they even forgot about the purpose of the nectar. The only person that recognized what was going on was Rahu, he realized what was happening so he came and sat in the line of demi-gods and he got the nectar. As he was about to drink it Surya (Sun-God) and Chandra (Moon-God) reported, “My Lord this is a demon.” Lord said, “Oh alright” and Sudarshan immediately cut off Rahu’s head otherwise what could have made him immortal didn’t go below his neck. So that is how Rahu became kind of immortal and that is how he developed an eternal animosity with Surya and Chandra and he swallows them and that is solar and lunar eclipse. But because he doesn’t have a body he just swallows and it comes out. All the pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the scriptures make one point time and time again. The same point that is made time and time again is surrender to the Lord and you will be successful. Surrender to the Lord no matter how difficult it is, the Lord will come to your rescue don’t worry about it, no matter how difficult the situation is.
On the other hand, we get to see no matter how powerful, capable, famous and influential the demons are eventually they don’t succeed. All the demons are very powerful personalities but ultimately, they do not succeed, they always fail. So that actually presents a very wonderful option in front of us what should we do? Should we become a devotee or should we become a demon? And that is what we learn from nityam bhagavatam sevaya. By studying Srimad Bhagavatam this is the lesson that we are reminded time and time again. Surrender to Krishna, surrender to Krishna, surrender to Krishna and never go against Krishna’s arrangement. And that is what actually makes the distinction between demi-gods and demons. The demi-gods are those who are surrendered to Krishna and the demons are opposite to that. Divine personalities are those who surrender to the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the demons are those who don’t want to accept the Supreme Personality of Godhead’s arrangement. Its Krishna’s arrangement that demi-gods have been given the responsibility to take care of the different universal affairs and as a result of that they are getting some facilities.
The demon’s consideration is, “We are from the same family actually cousins, why this line is getting so much benefit and we are not? They got heaven and we got lower planets. Why?” So, they are fighting but they do not realize that this is the arrangement of the Lord because of their attitude. When one is surrendered to Krishna, Krishna gives you all facilities and when you don’t surrender to Krishna then you suffer or enjoy your karmic reactions. Karmic reactions will automatically lead you to an intense suffering condition. The lesson to learn is mamekam saranam vraja. Never ever become averse to Krishna. The moment one becomes averse to Krishna then Maya grabs him, imprisons him and subjects him to all kinds of punishments. Whereas the devotees in whichever situation they are in they are enjoying. Apparently, it may seem the devotees are suffering but devotees never suffer, real devotees never suffer. Pandavas apparently was suffering; they went to the forest but they were enjoying in the forest. They were having the association of the saintly personalities in the forest and as warriors they love to fight and there is so many opportunities to fight with the demons in the forest. They were killing them one after another so that is how they enjoyed.
Sometimes rich devotees’ parents when they come and see how their sons and daughters are living in the temple, they get very surprised. Oh, you are living in a room where 4 or 5 people are sharing and only 2 toilets for 25 devotees! They get so shocked to see the situation but when they want to take the sons and daughters back, they say no we don’t want to go back even though there is so many luxurious arrangements. That shows where they are actually enjoying. Spiritual life is full of enjoyment irrespective of wherever we are. Thank you all very much. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. Gaura premanande Hari Haribol.
2. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Q: Hare Krishna Maharaja. Thank you for such a wonderful and sweet class. Seeing you we are all delighted. Can you please explain about Indra being a devotee yet committing so many offenses and mistakes again and again and being pardoned by the Lord?
A: Very good question. Indra in spite of being a devotee why does he commit so many mistakes and wrong doings. See Indra is not a pure devotee. Indra is a karma misra bhakta that means he is a devotee but he wants to enjoy and that is why he is not promoted to Vaikunta and he is in the heavenly planet. Oh, you want material enjoyment have material enjoyment. In this respect an example can be given the demi-gods are like the employees and the pure devotees are like children of the father. Father is a big man and he has employees, they are having a wonderful life like high salary, lots of perks, and lots of facilities but after all they are employees but the son of the same person he enjoys in a different way. That is the difference between the devotees and the demi-gods.
Q: Is the exchange between Bali Maharaja and Vamandeva before or after churning of the ocean?
A: Bali took over Indra’s kingdom and Indra was driven out along with the demigods and then Aditi performed penance and Vamandeva came so it was after.
Q: When we are not averse to Krishna, we feel Maya is still attacking us repeatedly. We are attached to Krishna but Maya’s attacks come again and again so what should we do?
A: Surrender even more. If Maya is attacking it is due to our own lacking in devotion. We have to recognize if we are becoming subjected to Maya’s onslaught it is our fault because we didn’t submit to the Lord enough. We are not fully surrendered so the Lord’s illusory energy is bewildering us but when we become fully surrendered then Maya comes to test our devotion and a devotee by the mercy of the Lord always passes those tests and move forward. When Maya comes, we have to say Krishna is testing us Maya is testing how strict or serious we have become in our devotion.
3. SRILA PRABHUPADA'S APPRECIATION
The more we recognize and appreciate the glory of Srila Prabhupada the more we will be able to appreciate of the activities of Supreme Personality of Godhead, because Srila Prabhupada came to give the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The mercy of the Lord flows through Srila Prabhupada, the most bona fide representative of the Lord.
(Prabhupada realizations)
4. GURU MAHARAJA’S INSTRUCTIONS
- Another wonderful lesson we are seeing here. When a devotee is in distress what does he do? He takes shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Also, the Lord came and assured them, “Don’t worry I will take care of you.”;
- All the pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the scriptures make one point time and time again. The same point that is made time and time again is surrender to the Lord and you will be successful. Surrender to the Lord no matter how difficult it is, the Lord will come to your rescue don’t worry about it, no matter how difficult the situation is;
- Should we become a devotee or should we become a demon? And that is what we learn from nityam bhagavatam sevaya. By studying Srimad Bhagavatam this is the lesson that we are reminded time and time again. Surrender to Krishna, surrender to Krishna, surrender to Krishna and never go against Krishna’s arrangement. And that is what actually makes the distinction between demi-gods and demons;
- When one is surrendered to Krishna, Krishna gives you all facilities and when you don’t surrender to Krishna then you suffer or enjoy your karmic reactions;
- The lesson to learn is mamekam saranam vraja. Never ever become averse to Krishna. The moment one becomes averse to Krishna then Maya grabs him, imprisons him and subjects him to all kinds of punishments;
- Surrender even more; and
- When Maya comes, we have to say Krishna is testing us Maya is testing how strict or serious we have become in our devotion.
(The content of this E-Magazine is based on an Interview with HH Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja on 5 October 2017 at ISKCON Juhu.)
(Compiled and Edited by Hemavati Radhika Devi Dasi)