In this devotional lecture, Gopal Krishna Goswami reflects on the recent Balarambhyanthi celebration, explaining that "bala" (spiritual strength) and "rahm" (happiness) together constitute the true source of spiritual power. He describes Balaram as the manifestation of Krishna whenever the Lord appears, emphasizing that the Supreme Personality chooses to incarnate freely to establish dharma. The talk recounts Vāsudeva’s intense devotion, the ancient Vedic measure of charity, and the importance of mental service when physical service is impossible. Goswami highlights A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada’s translation of the 10th Canto of the Śrīmad‑Bhāgavatam, stressing its role in presenting Krishna’s childhood and amorous pastimes to a modern audience. He argues that Krishna’s pastimes are not mythic stories but transcendental realities that cannot be grasped by material reasoning; only bhakti (devotional service) can reveal the Supreme Lord. Illustrative anecdotes such as Sakshi Gopal, Ananda Puri, and the miraculous offerings at Lemuna illustrate the Lord’s omnipotence. The speaker stresses that true understanding comes from cultivating transcendental knowledge, purifying the heart through devotion, and regularly chanting the holy names. Practical guidance is offered for preparing for Janmashtami: daily reading of a chapter, meditation on Krishna’s leelas, and focusing on positive devotional activities. Throughout, the lecture affirms Krishna’s supremacy over all other deities and calls listeners to deepen their bhakti to experience the Lord’s inconceivable nature.
Chapters
We all had a nice Balarambhyanthi celebration. Source of spiritual strength. Not only the source of spiritual strength, it's also the source of spiritual happiness. There are two types of strength: material strength and spiritual strength. Bala means— bala means spiritual strength, and raham means ananda, happiness. So this is a bala raham appeared. The only one motive is serve Krishna in all this life. In the same, Balaram appears whenever the Lord appears. Just like when Lord Rāma appeared, Balaram appeared as Lakṣmaṇa, the younger brother. And when Kṛṣṇa appeared, again appeared as the older brother. When Lord Caitanya appeared, he appeared as— Balarama no need to start as the sister of Kṛṣṇa. He just— Krishna appears on his own free choice. If you and I appear on our own free choice— have a free choice, choose your own father and mother. Why? I want Bill Gates, the richest man in the world, as my father. We are bound by karma. So the Lord appears on his own free choice. I manifest myself. So the Lord manifests himself according to his desire with one purpose: Vaidhanya sadhana, Vinayasa yajnasvidhāma, dharmasana-sapanātāya moha-mayūgya-vyayāma— establish religion. The Kṛṣṇa chooses his own devotees and his parents. Vāsudeva Devaki had the privilege of being the father of the Lord in two previous incarnations, and they had performed extremist charity for 12,000 years, celestial years. 6 months of our earthly planet, we could be 12,000 years celestial planet. So, 12,000 celestial years, Vāsudeva Devaki. When Devi leaves It's full of trees and Kunti Devi is here. And their constant meditation was to have a son like the Lord. So the Lord appeared. The Lord reciprocates with his devotees. And when the Lord appeared, he appeared in his transcendental form, beautifully ornamented, decorated. He wanted to assure his parents And now the Lord has appeared. Previously, the 4-6 sons of Hirvaki were killed by Kamsa. They were assured, they were happy, the Lord has finally appeared. They were concerned that Kamsa may find out the Lord has already appeared. So they requested the Lord to transform Himself like an ordinary chaplain. Krishna says, 'Janma-karma-chāme devyām.' My appearing and disappearing are both completely transcendental. So how can we understand the Lord? By the path of bhakti. So Vāsudeva was so happy that the Lord has appeared that he mentally gave away 10,000 beautiful deities. How to do charity? In the Vedic days, society's wealth was measured in terms of how many cows you had and how much land you had. If you're ever in a position, you can't physically serve, you can mentally serve the Lord. So Prasadam here is saying, you are the Supreme Person beyond material existence. You can't understand the Supreme Lord by a material endeavor. Some people, when they hear of Kṛṣṇa's pastimes, they think it's mythology, imagination. They don't understand God is jyotir, inconceivable. Prabhupāda was very keen that the members of the movement and the humanity Get a proper understanding of Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Prabhupāda translated the first canto when he was in India, and he resumed and he continued his translation from the second canto after he came to the West. Prabhupāda was very keen the people have a proper understanding of who the Supreme Lord is. The 10th canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam describes Lord's pastimes, childhood pastimes, and his amorous pastimes. So Prabhupāda translated 10th Canto and presented it to us in the form of Krishna Book. Prabhupāda wasn't sure how long he would be on the planet, and he wanted to leave behind proper understanding who the Supreme Lord is. A layman, when he hears these pastimes, he may conclude this is fiction, imagination. But the devotee knows God is inconceivable and infallible. Nothing is impossible for the Lord. Lord can eat with His eyes and ears, just like when we offer prasadam to the Lord. After some time, we lift the plate off the altar and say, "Yes, the Lord has eaten. Now you can eat." And we eat it in the form of prasadam. But the impersonals say, "Look at it, it's full. It's vaishnava." They say, "God has eaten. The plate is still full." God has ears, ears, ears and eyes. If you were to take a dropper, put some soup Your ears and eyes, you have probably turned blind. Similarly, Lord appears in His archa-vigraha form. Any person will argue, look at that, he's fully Vaishnava. He worships these deities, statues. He says, here is God. God can appear in any form, in the archa-vigraha form also, in the form of the Lord as cow. According to the description in the scriptures, and install. When you proceed, you're going to be victorious. God is non-reprovable. That's like the story of Sakshi Gopal, Divijay Racheer, Raja Ramakrishna. The Brahman went to the Lord and said, my reputation is at stake, please testify. Lord said, But I can't walk. How do you want me to come in this car? The devotee said, my dear Lord, if we are talking about the walk, you read the story of Ananda Puri in the Chaitanya Charitamrita, where the spiritual grandfather of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Ananda Puri, is fully absorbed in serving the Lord, meditating on the Lord. He will eat only the somali aubergine, the prasada. So after installing the Deity, which was— he was guided by the Lord in a dream, that I'm still feeling great heat, please bring some sandalwood for me. So Madhava Devi left the Deity in the care of two Bengali Brahmins that he initiated, and he proceeded towards Jagannath Puri. On the way, he stopped in Lemuna. Lemuna is a historical temple. It was called Alagobina. The temple is noted for offering very high quality prasada to the Lord, especially the sweet rice which is described as as tasty as if it was made in heaven. You would call it amritakiri. Mahāprasāda had a desire. If only he could taste this sweet rice Then when he went back to Govardhan, he could make signal sweet rice with Gopal Devī. He manifested the desire while the offering was going on. So feeling embarrassed, he left the temple and proceeded to the marketplace to do his japa. What did the Devī do? The Devī stole a cup of sweet rice. She told the pujari in the dream, "I have hidden a cup of sweet rice for my devotee, Baladeva Prabhu." please give it to him. This God is invisible. When we read about Krishna's childhood last time, the devotee— God can do anything. God doesn't have to be trained in the gymnasium to become strong. If we want to get strong, we take the vitamins, go to the gymnasium, exercise. God is God from the beginning, so He was only human, so He's a powerful demon, putana. So Vāsudeva is saying, my dear Lord, You are the Supreme Person. Scriptures clearly establish Krishna is not only God, He's the Supreme Lord. Ishvara Parama Krishna, sat citi vinarigata, nādirādhikau vidā. Many controllers, but there is one supreme controller. And then people think all gods are one, take any path, the results will be the same. Then you read about Shiva, Brahma, all acknowledging Krishna is supreme. Krishna is the only master. That is clearly established in the scriptures and is being reconfirmed once again with this word. I said, 'My dear Lord, you are the Supreme Person.' God is not Supreme Person. He is the Bhagavad Gita. Krishna gives us some guidelines how we should think of him. Krishna says, 'Think of me.' One of the oldest— being the oldest, you would imagine as white beard, long beard, wrinkled cheeks, using a cane to walk. He looks useful. As Prabhupāda Ji said, atam pranaparishnam, now you have learned that. You hold it, but it will never be useful. Think of me as one of the smaller than the smallest. Think of me as one of the oldest of persons. The Supreme Lord is inconceivable and also ineffable. Just like we read the Gītā every day. When was this knowledge originally given to the son of Sun God? Krishna said he gave it to Vivasvanu, and from there it came to Manu, and then it traveled. Arjuna said, 'How do you want me to believe?' He gave it to the son, God, when he's here. Lord said many, many times, 'You and I have appeared. You can remember all of them, but you can't.' And we need to keep that regularly, never get tired. That's the nature of transcendental sound, that's the nature of transcendental message. The Lord is infallible.— and the source of everything is your spirit. So don't be surprised you meet people at times who may not believe Krishna's pastimes. The answer is very simple. God cannot be understood with mature, mundane effort. You may be a Sanskrit scholar, but that doesn't give you the license to understand God. Through the path of seva, you can understand the Lord. So Krishna's appearance and disappearance is both completely transcendental. Only takes the path of devotion, really understand the Lord. Now, as Ramani was on his way to give a report about his preaching activity to the Lord, and on the way he met two devotees, both in same person as The other person asked him, "Please find out how much longer we have to take for the pilgrimage." The Lord gave the answer to that. They wanted to know what I was doing when he spoke to me. Tell them I was passing a gigantic elephant with the eye of a needle. The impersonalist, when he heard that he would have to take 7 more births, he didn't believe it. What was the Lord doing when he inquired from him? He was passing a big elephant behind him and he said, "I knew you were bluffing." How can anyone pass an elephant behind him? And on the other hand, Pavla, who was not a Sanskrit pundit, but he had firm faith in the inclusiveness and potency of the Lord. He said, "Why not the Lord can put a huge banana tree in a small seed?" I can imagine. So Prasad RAVAL, your form can be perceived only through transcendental knowledge, by which you can be understood as the Supreme Lord. So we need to cultivate transcendental knowledge. Transcendental knowledge is flawless, coming from the Supreme Lord. It's not subject to the four defects that our mundane knowledge is subject to. And as we engage on the transcendental path, we begin to get purified. Transcendental path starts with glorifying the Lord. As we get purified, as we surrender, we engage in devotional service, we understand the Lord better. Just like the devotees of Lord Krishna in Vrindavan. The main army is Sanskrit pundits. But they're engaged in the path of devotional service. They know Kṛṣṇa is invincible and He can perform superhuman activities. On the other hand, these academic scholars may be well-versed in Sanskrit, but because they're not engaged in the pure path of bhakti, they keep speculating on the nature of the Supreme Lord. What is essential is the path of bhakti. And bhakti, in a conclusion of the Vedic scriptures, Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita said, bhakti mama vidyam, I can only be understood through the path of your devotion. Vyasa Deva compiled the Bhagavad Gita, some money he did, he still felt there is something lacking in his effort. As he was meditating, what will be the cause of my Just satisfied him. Now the muni walked in there and he said, because he's not exclusively committed to the path of pure devotional service. So what is essential is to take to the path of devotional service, and as we cleanse the heart, our capacity to understand the Lord's activity also gets increased. We present the pure path Proper and genuine explanation, correct explanation, sincere will take to it. That's like Prabhupāda's letter, the Bhāgavad-gītā Katha Paniniyaṣṭha. That is with more devotees than any other presentation of the Bhāgavad-gītā. Why? You have to have proper presentation, of course. As it is, not any interpretation. So for God, nothing is impossible. Balarama and his friends had complained to Mother Yashoda, Krishna had 4 swallows and lived today. Nandana had 900,000 cows, all ornamented. With these cows, we get flavored milk. Now if you want a flavor, if you add the flavor in the milk, these cows will give flavored milk. There's plenty of butter, curd, milk in the house. Why should my son eat dirt when there's so much of milk and yogurt and butter in the house? So the mother questioned her son, have you eaten dirt today? No, they file a false complaint so that you chastise me. If you don't believe me, I'll open my mouth. And he opens the mouth, what does the mother see? Battery systems, the universe, the universe, all living entities are suffering from karmic reaction, from Mother Nature. And when you open your mouth, what do you speak? Just music. So Krishna, these past centuries you read about, please don't think they are mundane or speculative. God is inconceivable. And Angeli is a secret element of humanity. With any one part of the body, you can perform the function of any other part. So we are very fortunate that we got exposed to the real understanding, real knowledge, where you can understand the Supreme Lord. As we prepare for Janmasmi, we can absorb ourselves in the different pastimes of the Lord. Krishna does say, 'Manana bhava, man bhaktao, man yajni manam ashta.' Think of me, bow down to me, offer your obeisance to me, and in return you'll definitely come to me. One positive way to think of the Lord is to think about the different pastimes of the Lord. So a good way to prepare for Janmasmi Just take on one chapter a day and read and meditate on that story. Prasad Raaval has summarized that summary in such a nice form, story form, you can read it very easily. If we absorb ourselves with positive activities, then there'll be no room for negative thoughts. And if we don't have positive Meaning that in the mind, the thing that is being said will come. So Vāsudeva, after he saw this transcendental form of the Lord, he concluded, "Lord has appeared." And he goes on to establish that this Supreme Lord can only be understood by cultivating transcendental knowledge. So we don't— we not only see that God is great, we also say, "How great God is!" And from the pages of the Bhagavad Gītā and Kṛṣṇa books, you can get a good understanding. Akīyana Tākura explains, when reading these līras of Kṛṣṇa killing the different demons, we kill our different anāntāras. Together dissolve in śrīmad-bhāgavat-kīrtanam. Śrīmad-bhāgavat-kīrtanam forms the basis of our spiritual success. Śrīmad-bhāgavat-kīrtanam includes Chanting the Holy Name and chanting the healing power center of the Lord. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna.
