Become Fearless in All Situations | Rus-Split | SB 1.16.13 | 27.1.92 |Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaja

Om namo bhagavate vasudevaya. Om namo bhagavate vasudevaya. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto 1, Chapter 6, Texts 13-15. So there are 3 verses today, but we will read the Sanskrit only of the first verse. Tatra, tatra parśambhāna. Tatra parśambhāna. Swāh-purbhēśa-mahatmānā-pragiyamānā-chāyāśa-kṛṣṇa-mahatmya-so'chakam. Tat-tat-tat-paśan-vānā, svāpurveśa-mahatmānā, pragiyamānam cāyaśa, Kṛṣṇa-mahatmyā-so-cakām, tat-tat-tat-paśan-vānā, Sapurbheśa mahatmanam pragiya mānam cāyaśa Kṛṣṇa mahatmyāso cakam. Tat-tvā tato paśanvānaḥ svāpurbeśa mahatmanam pragiya mānam cāyaśa Kṛṣṇa mahātmīya so'cakaṁ ātmānām ca pari-traṇām aśvatāmo śrtejasā snehaṁ ca vṛṣipārtha-nām teśaṁ bhaktim ca keśavet. Tebhyam parama santauṣṭhaḥ pṛṭi ujrambhīta-locanaḥ mahā-dhānāni vāśām-si dadho harāti mahā-mānahaḥ. So this was is being spoken by Suta Gosvāmī. Actually, 3 verses are being discussed in today's class. In this chapter, we are seeing how Parikṣit Mahārāja received the age of Kali. Specifically, in these verses, it is being explained that King Parikṣit, who is the king of this whole planet, he used to travel all over the planet At that time, even though King Parikṣit was the king of the whole planet, there were many small kings all over the globe also. And King Parikṣit would travel to all these places to make sure that the principles of religion were being followed everywhere. As we have explained many times, the way the kings would be very concerned not only about their own welfare but the welfare of the whole planet. So wherever King Parikṣit would travel, he would be received by all the citizens. And when he would be received, people would talk about his grandfather and the Pandavas and how they were devoted to Krishna. Parikṣit's grandfather and the Pandavas were being remembered everywhere because they were great devotees of Krishna. Chanakya Pandit has analyzed, and he states that if a rich man, he's known just in his own village, but a devotee of the Lord is known all over the planet. So the Pandavas were great devotees of Krishna, and hence their fame was spread to every corner of the globe. And also because society was more civilized at that time, he, King Parikṣit, had the opportunity to hear about the glorious pastimes of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. In this verse it is explained the glorious acts of Kṛṣṇa. So Kṛṣṇa, when He appears, He performs glorious acts, not ordinary acts. That is why we differentiate Kṛṣṇa from all these other so-called bogus incarnations, because Kṛṣṇa does not appear or perform ordinary activities, but always glorious activities. And Praśad RAVALAJ He would also hear how he was saved when he was in the womb of his mother Uttara from the Brahmastra that was released by Asvatthama. When Parikṣit's mother was pregnant, when Parikṣit was in the womb of his mother, Asvatthama released the Brahmastra hoping that Parikṣit in the womb would be killed. So when mother Uttara saw asuddha Brahmastra coming towards the womb, She prayed to Kṛṣṇa, "Please protect the child in my embryo." She said that, "I may die, but protect the child." And then Kṛṣṇa, who is in the heart as Paramātmā, at once manifested Himself in the womb and protected Parīkṣit from the heat of Vibhramaśtra's weapon. When Parīkṣit was in the womb of his mother, he personally saw the form of the Lord for one second, but then the Lord withdrew. And all his life, Parikshit was looking for that form of the Lord that he had seen in his mother's womb. And that, and that's why this king was called Parikshit. Parikshit means examiner. So all his life, whoever Parikshit saw, he was examining. Does this man look like what I saw in my mother's womb? So as the verses are explaining, the king would be very pleased when he would be received in this manner, because— not because the king was being flattered, but because the citizens were discussing topics about great devotees, the Pandavas, Arjuna, and Krishna. So the devotee is pleased when the Lord and the devotees are glorified. Sometimes some people say, I will glorify God, but I won't respect his devotees. But this is wrong. The Lord can never tolerate blasphemy of his devotees. Just like in the play you saw last night, when Nityānanda was attacked by Jagāya and Mādhāya, Lord Caitanya was furious, very angry. Similarly, when the rāsa-muni was trying to harm the beloved devotee of the Lord, King Amṛśa, the Lord was also very, very displeased. He was so displeased that even He said that, "I can't forgive you. Only My devotee can forgive you." So as aspiring devotees, we should also be dedicated to only hearing about the transcendental glories of the Lord and His beloved devotees. In the prayer part, Prabhupada is making many important points which we shall now discuss. For example, Prabhupada says that just like King Parikṣit was welcomed by the citizens wherever he went, similarly even these days the leaders of society are welcomed by people. So what is the difference between the welcome given to King Parikṣit and the welcome given to leaders like Yeltsin or Gorbachev and others? So Prabhupāda explained the difference is that King Parikṣit was an unalloyed devotee of the Lord, so he was fit to get welcome. Whereas the welcome that we give these days to politicians and so on, we just flatter them to make them feel good. But when we— even when we are flattering them, we know that they don't deserve it. But it's become a custom to flatter them. Devotees, however, don't believe in false flattery. Therefore, we stay away from this category of people. Now, Prabhupada says in the prayer book that the Lord puts the devotee in danger, but actually the devotee is not in danger. The Lord puts the devotee in danger just to make the devotee glorious and himself more glorious. Actually, the devotees of the Lord are totally fearless. But the Lord creates a situation by which the devotee seemingly appears to be in difficulty, but by this process the devotee deepens his meditation on the Lord, and the Lord also becomes more glorious. Just like Prabhupada is explaining in the purport that Lord Krishna would not have been so glorified had the Pandavas not been entangled in the Battle of Kurukshetra. Padam padam yātri-padam nāte śām. Bhāgavatam says, danger at every step. So one can never be sure when the end will come. But in spite of danger at every step, the devotee is still fearless. But one can become fearless not by developing some powerful muscles or taking a course in karate. One can become fearless by understanding the art of remembering Kṛṣṇa. In modern-day society, People try to become fearless by building nuclear weapons, having big army, taking courses in karate, and so on. Like in America, it's such a craze. Everybody wants to— every young man wants a course in karate. But a devotee becomes fearless by learning the art of depending on Krishna. And as we learn the art of remembering Krishna, working for Krishna, then Krishna is anxious to also protect us. Just like Śukadeva Gosvāmī appeared on the scene to protect Parikṣit Mahājī, who was cursed by the Brahmin boy Śrīṅī. When Arjuna's life was in danger on the Battle of Kurukṣetra because of Bhīsmadeva's anger, the Lord personally appeared, broke His promise, and protected Arjuna. So a devotee knows that in every situation the Lord will protect me. Rākhe Krishna, mane ke, mane Krishna rākhe ke. There's a Bengali saying which says Who Kṛṣṇa wants to protect, no one can annihilate, and who Kṛṣṇa wants to annihilate, no one can protect. Queen Kunti has prayed, vipāda santu taha saśvatatā tatā jagat-guru bahāvato darśnam yātsyed apanaḥ bahāvā darśnam. "My dear Lord, please may the calamities increase, because the more the calamities increase, the more I meditate at Your lotus feet, and the more I meditate at Your lotus feet, the faster will I gain freedom from birth and death. In the Srimad Bhāgavatam, you have a very wonderful story of Jād-bhārata, how Jād-bhārata was protected by the Lord. Actually, in the Bhāgavatam, you have innumerable stories that show how the devotees of the Lord were protected, but the story of Jād-bhārata is just one of them. Jād-bhārata, in one of his previous births, was King Bharata. The emperor of the whole planet. Even though he was able to renounce his beautiful wife, kingdom, children, unfortunately he had developed an attraction for a deer in the forest. He became so attached to the deer that he would not even sleep or eat without the deer being in his presence, and as a result he had to take his next birth as a deer. Yam Yam Bapi Smaran Maharam. Wherever your mind is at the moment of death, that is where the living entity is transported. However, because he had also executed devotional service in the past, he did not have to take his birth— he did not have to stay for very long as a deer, and he soon took his birth in the family of a brahmana. And in that birth he was known as Jad Bharata. And in that birth he had vowed never to get entangled again. So to cut a long story short, On one occasion, Jadbhart was guarding a paddy field, and while he was guarding the paddy field, he got kidnapped by some dacoits. I'm sure you have kidnappings in your country also. It's, uh, they have kidnappings everywhere. So the guy Jadbhart got kidnapped by the dacoits who wanted to offer him to Goddess Kali. But, um, so the dacoits were getting ready to offer their Jat Bharat to Goddess Kali because they thought by this offering they will be able to please Goddess Kali and the dacoit chief may have a son. But Jat Bharat, even though they were getting ready to kill him, he was not at all fearful. He did not protest because he was fully absorbed in meditating on the Lord. The Goddess Kali came up from the Deity, she annihilated the dacoits, and Jat Bharat was saved. So the devotee of the Lord, by his meditation on the Lord, obtains complete protection of the Lord. Durbhasa Muni had produced a demon from his hair, from his sikha, with which he was hoping to burn Amresh Maharaj. But Amresh Maharaj was totally unmoved. So the devotee feels the presence of the Lord by chanting His names and by meditating upon Him. Very often people say, how can I feel the presence of the Lord? So Pralad Mahājāja has explained, śrī-nāma-kṛṭṇaṁ viṣṇu-smāṇaṁ. These are the activities by which you can realize the presence of the Lord. When we talk about feeling the presence of the Lord, there has to be a practical way how we feel the presence of the Lord. So Pralad Mahājāja has given us a complete package: śrī-nāma-kṛṭṇaṁ viṣṇu-smāṇaṁ pāda-sevaṇaṁ aśrī-nāma-vānyam dāsaṁ-sakyaṁ ātmil-vedaṁ. These are 9 different processes through which one can execute service to the Lord. So śrī-nāma-kīrtanam, we are all familiar with, means to chant and hear. If you chant and hear attentively, then there's a very good chance you'll also be able to remember the Lord. But if we don't chant and hear properly, then we can't remember the Lord. In order to feel the presence of the Lord, you must meditate on the Lord. One should always feel the presence of the Lord. Just like here, we have the very wonderful Shri Shri Gauranatha Deities. And I'm sure all of you feel very inspired about the presence of the Lord when you greet the Lord every morning with the Govinda tape and when you're participating in kirtan. But we should so mould our lives that we feel the presence of the Lord all the time. Even when you're on the streets, even when you're out in book distribution, even when you're out cooking in the kitchen, Even when you're doing a service, you should feel the presence of the Lord. That is what this Krishna conscious movement is, is supposed to train us to always absorb the mind in thinking of Krishna. So vishnusbandha means to meditate on the Lord, meditate on the Lord's form, pastimes, instructions. Arjuna was meditating on the instructions of Krishna from the Bhagavad Gita after the Lord had departed from the planet, and he became very joyful. Just like when you go out to preach, when you go out on book distribution or doing any service, if your mind is absorbed in the instructions of Guru, shastra, sadhu, and you're absorbed in those instructions, then that activity, even if it is externally it may appear difficult, will become very relishable and tasty. And if you're not absorbed in thinking of Krishna, automatically your mind will gravitate towards sinful activities. So just like Parikṣit Mahājāna was constantly feeling the presence of the Lord, we also have to train ourselves to always feel the presence of the Lord. To feel the presence of the Lord, two things are necessary. One is called medicine, the other is called diet. Medicine, of course, refers to what we have been discussing— śrāma-nāma, kṛṭṇa-nāma, Viṣṇu-smāra-nāma. Just like when you are sick, if you want to recover from a disease, you need both the medicine and the diet. So we have to recognize that we are sick, therefore we need medicine. But you also need the diet. And Prabhupada explained diet means practical execution of service. So we should practically execute devotional service in the day to reflect our understanding of the philosophy. So if you're taking both the medicine and the diet every day, then it will be very easy to feel the presence of the Lord. The service that one has to execute, if one is always remembering How important it is to do this service for the pleasure of the Lord and the Guru and the sha and the sadhu. So we have to so train our mind that we feel the presence of the Lord all the time. Krishna says, satatam kathyantamam, always engage in chanting my glories. So when Krishna says, sarvadhamā praritajamāne kamchandram raja, he wants us to completely surrender to him, not just partially. Krishna says, I will protect you, but he'll only protect us if we surrender to him fully. And full surrender to Krishna is realized when we are taking both the the medicine and the diet. And even what may appear to be a difficult task becomes easy by meditating and surrendering to Krishna's instructions. In the Bhāgavatam it is said, uh, the vast ocean becomes equal to water left behind in a hoofprint of a calf. To jump over a vast ocean is almost impossible, but to jump over water in the hoofprint of a calf is very easy. So the vast material ocean becomes equal to the footprint of a calf if you surrender to Mukunda, the giver of liberation. So this Krishna conscious movement is training everyone how to surrender to Krishna. We only have one business, that is to get everyone to surrender to Krishna. So Suta Gosvāmī is— to summarize the verse, Suta Gosvāmī is describing how King Parākṣita used to hear the glories of his grandfather and the Pandavas. And the citizens are all glorifying these great kings because these leaders, they did not cheat the citizens. They were always concerned about the welfare of the citizens. A devotee of the Lord is not interested in cheating anyone. So like Parikṣit Mahāj took great pleasure in hearing about the glorification of Krishna and his— and the Pandavas, we should also take great pleasure in hearing about the devotees of the Lord and the Supreme Lord. And if we perfect the art of meditating on the Lord, then even what is difficult will become easy. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna.

Hare Krishna.

So I'll take on questions for a few minutes. I just wanted to announce one thing. Bifindar Prabhu, you will announce the schedule for today evening to the devotees. Should I, should I tell them? Okay, so I spoke to our temple president, our honorable president, and I suggested that I'll give the Bhagavad Gita class today after the arati, and at 6 o'clock I'll give a class on Krishna's Vrindavan pastimes. Okay, questions for 10 minutes. How the conditioned souls can be engaged in sakyam and asyam types of service? What now in this present body is possible for us? Of course, sākya means to serve the Lord as a sākya, as a friend, and dāsyam means to serve the Lord as a servant. I think the best is we consider ourselves only as servants of Kṛṣṇa rather than friends of Kṛṣṇa at the moment. We are not as elevated as Arjuna was. In Kali-yuga, it's best to just consider oneself to be dāsyam. Yes.

There is some misunderstanding of terms. For example, what the philosophy means and What is path in devotional service?

Philosophy. Philosophy means knowledge spoken by Kṛṣṇa and explained by Prabhupāda in his purports and published by Bhaktivedānta-bhaktas in its books. Is that okay, sannyāsa? That is philosophy. And in the purports, Prabhupāda has written not only his understanding of what Kṛṣṇa is saying but he's also quoted the great Ācāryas about their realization of what Kṛṣṇa is speaking. Just like when you go to university, you study the textbook, but that textbook is explained by the professor. Why can't you become a doctor just by reading the medical books at home? Because you need somebody to explain what the textbook means. Was that your question, Prabhu? You want to know what is philosophy now? Yes, so I explained philosophy from the Vedic point of view. We mean God's spoken language and explanation by great sages. In the mundane world, people are studying philosophy as mental speculator. Therefore, when you tell somebody you're a student of philosophy, they think, oh, you must be a big intellectual, but it just means you're a big speculator. Okay, yes, yes.

In which cases am I service to Krishna? I should be silent.

You should be silent? What is your service?

I am brahmachari and my goal in life is to make other people also brahmachari. That's why I should know in which cases I, I should be silent.

Okay, okay, okay, I understand. Actually, if you want, you can never be— you can talk all the time except when you go to sleep in the night, but you should only talk about Krishna, and that is called silence. Silence doesn't mean you artificially seal your lips. Silence means you only talk about Krishna.

When the soul falls down from the spiritual sky, first she attained a high position, and in which way he degraded to the lowest position of the germ? Because it is said that animals do not create any sankarma.

Well, when the soul falls down, depending upon what his desires were, he falls down by committing sinful activity after getting a human life. Again, when they commit sinful activities, they begin to fall down.

In which way we can satisfy Radharani?

By becoming a good devotee like her. Radharani is always absorbed in serving Kṛṣṇa, so you should also be always absorbed in serving Kṛṣṇa. So I just want to say a few words about book distribution, and I'll talk more about that tomorrow. I understand that now, as the Russian and the other republics have gone towards what they call market economy, The prices of everything has gone up 5-10 times. And I understand the cost of the Gītā now at distribution is 200 rubles in sannyāsa. Is that in all the republics or only Russian Republic? So I understand that book distribution has gone down tremendously. Those devotees who were doing 100 books a day are now doing hamni, skolka, pitṛt. 5, 10 books a day. So some devotees may be getting discouraged. Boy, this is very difficult service now. Nobody wants to buy book because it's only— the price is so high. Actually, if we just remain determined, Krishna will once again make it possible for us to distribute more and more books. Ultimately, nothing happens without Krishna's permission. So now we just have to learn to deepen our faith in Kṛṣṇa even more. From a philosophical angle, a devotee doesn't like to blame anybody for his failure. So now Kṛṣṇa wants us all to surrender even more. No doubt all of you are surrendering, and the book distributors are also surrendered, but now Kṛṣṇa wants us to surrender more. What can you do? You just have to accept it. We should not think that book distribution will never come to the previous levels. Actually, it's very nice that Moscow Temple, I understand, distributed 100,000 big books in December. All of, all the republics, how much, 400,000? They did 300, Moscow 100, so 400 total. And the other republics did 300,000 big books. This actually, devotees all over the world were watching how many books Russia will, how many books these republics will do. I have to say, the Moscow Temple defeated the Bombay Temple. The Bombay temple did 70,000 big books, but the Bombay temple, after doing marathon for 1 month, they took a break for 2 weeks to study. And now from January 15th to January 30th, they're on phase 2 of the marathon in which they're going to do the remaining 30,000 books. So I feel confident that by the time next December comes for Prabhupada marathon, Moscow and the other republics will again be able to do like last year. We just have to have faith in Prabhupada's instructions on the importance of book distribution. And if we go on trying our best, slowly, slowly it will increase. Just like I understand, right after the price increase, on some days some devotees only did 1 or 2 books, and slowly, slowly it went up to 5 books, 7 books, and now we have reached 10 books. They say slow and steady wins the race. So I think, I think if we keep on meditating and we continue with our effort Slowly, slowly you'll come back to 50, 100 books a day. Of course, we may have to print more medium and small books also, isn't it? So please be enthusiastic. Don't get discouraged by the high prices, and Kṛṣṇa will reciprocate. And if you're enthusiastic, everything is possible. Nobody should think, now market economy, prices so high, people are not going to buy our books in future. In the material world, there will always be disturbances, but devotee is not disturbed by these disturbances. So we should continue to have full faith in Prabhupada's emphasis on book distribution as a medium to save humanity. One very good thing is in Moscow now you have 26 legal spots, no? I remember last year we only had 7, 8 legal spots. So maybe due to the opening of market economy, very soon we may have 50 legal spots. There's nothing to worry. Krishna will always keep rewarding his devotees. Krishna is thus testing how strong and determined we are. So I'll talk more about book distribution tomorrow. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna. There's a last question. There's a question: what is the meaning of intelligent man? Intelligent man is one who surrenders to Krishna, who follows guru's instructions, who recognizes his mind is fool number one. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna. All of you are intelligent because you're anxious to hear about Krishna. Hale Krishna. Lama Lama Ale Ale.