Prabhupāda books are meant to destroy Ignorance SB 2.7.26 |Rus Split | 11.12.92 |Gopāl Kṛṣṇa Goswāmī

So this verse is being spoken by Lord Brahma. And in the elaborate purport which Prabhupada has presented to this verse, there are many, many important points to meditate upon. However, as this is a short class, we will only cover some of them quickly. So Lord Brahma is describing how when the world is overburdened, then the Lord appears to reduce the burden of the earth. And How the Lord acts in an extraordinary manner to show that He is the real personality of Godhead. Actually, as Lord Brahmā is saying, no one can actually estimate the greatness of God. Because the opulences of Kṛṣṇa are increasing every minute. So how can you estimate His unlimited transcendental glories? Just like we are having the Bhāgavatam class now. But by the time we finish the class, his opulences would have expanded even further. Therefore it is said that even Ananta Seśa, Ananta Seśa doesn't have one tongue, two tongues, he has thousands of tongues. But even with thousands of tongues, he cannot fully describe the unlimited transcendental glories and qualities of the Lord. Lord Brahmā is clearly establishing that the Lord's qualities are transcendental. Transcendental means beyond the material modes, something that does not get contaminated. Therefore, in the Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa explains, janma-karma-cāma-devyam evāma veditāt-pataḥ taktadehyam panaḥ janma-naitimāmiti sarajuna. My coming and going is both completely devyam, or transcendental. Kṛṣṇa is avyaya, Āvijñāya means inexhaustible, and He has unlimited transcendental forms. Therefore the Brahma-samhita says, advaita-macchūta-manādi-ananta-rūpam. Ananta-rūpam. Ananta-rūpam means unlimited transcendental opulences, unlimited transcendental forms. And in these forms, He always performs activities which nobody can ever perform. Just like once upon a time, the Lord incarnated as a fish. There are two fish incarnations of the Lord, just like there are two boar incarnations of the Lord. The first Matsya fish incarnation appeared in Saryambhuva Manu's reign, and the other second one appeared in the reign of Chakshusha Manu. So in the first Matsya incarnation, the Lord saved the Vedas who were stolen from Lord Brahma's mouth by a demon called Haregeva. The whole world was inundated with water, and this demon came and stole the Vedas out of Brahmā's mouth. So in the fish incarnation, the fish killed the demon and brought the Vedas back to the Lord Brahmā. Then in the second incarnation, which took place during the reign of Chakṣuśa Manu, the Lord as Matsya Avtar, Dilu, performed a very wonderful transcendental pastime with his beloved devotee called King Satyavrata. So King Satyavrata was practicing great austerity in order to please the Lord. He was living only off water. So one day when he was taking the water from the river to drink, he saw a small fish in his hand. A small fish came along with the water in his hand. So when the fish came in the hand, the king threw the fish back in the water and said, "Ah, you go back in the water, don't come with me." The fish said, "King, you must protect me. If you leave me in the water, the bigger aquatics will eat me up." So the king was very compassionate, so he took the fish and took it home. And he put the fish in a jug of water. But the next morning when he got up, he saw that the fish had expanded itself to cover the whole jug. And there was no place, the jug was very small for the fish to live in. So the fish told the king, please take me out of here, this jug is too small for me. So the king took the fish and threw the fish in a bigger pond. But when he put the fish in the pond, within instantly, as soon as he put the fish, the fish expanded itself and covered the whole size of the pond. King would— then the king took the— and the fish told the king, please, this water is not enough, put me in a bigger Put me in more water. Then the king carried the fish again to a bigger river. Again, the lake turned out to be very small. Finally, the king took the fish and put it in a big sea. Again, the fish expanded itself unlimitedly to cover the whole length of the sea. So the king was amazed. He said, I have never seen something like that. You must be the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And it was the Supreme Personality of Godhead that appeared as Matsya Avatar. It's a little long story, and the Lord appeared as Matsya Avatar, 8 million miles long. Have you ever heard of a fish 8 million miles long? And it was golden in color. Similarly, the Lord appeared as Vamanadeva, and in 3, 2 steps he covered the earth, and in one step from the earth to the sky, everything was covered. So In brief, the Lord's pastimes are all unimaginable and inconceivable. Just like He lifted the Govardhana Hill, just like a small child lifts a mushroom from the earth. So Lord Brahmā is establishing for the benefit of all of us that Kṛṣṇa is inexhaustible and He is always transcendental. So the Lord has two kinds of parts and parcels as Prabhupāda talks about in the purport. One is known as Vishnu Tattva, the other is known as Jiva Tattva. Swamsa and Bibhinamsa. Swamsa means the personal expansion of the Lord. This is also known as Swamsa or Vishnu Tattva. Then there is Bibhinamsa. Bibhinamsa means the jee— Bibhinamsa also means the Jiva Tattva or the living entities. So the Lord expands through the Bibhinamsa and Swamsa expansion. Lord Kṛṣṇa's expansions are also— Lord Kṛṣṇa is also known as Śiva. Śiva means all-auspicious. So the Lord expands as Svāmsa or Viṣṇu-tattva and He performs many different transcendental pastimes. The demigods also belong to the Jīva-tattva category. So, and the Paramātmā belongs to the Viṣṇu-tattva or Viṣṇu or Svāmsa category. The Svāmṣa category is as powerful as the Supreme Lord himself. But in the Vīvanamṣa category, only a minute percentage of the Lord's potency is possessed. So as the purport is saying, the Lord has innumerable expansions. The problem in Kali-yuga is jīvā-tattvas are claiming that they are Viṣṇu-tattvas. The Vīvanamṣas are claiming that they are Svāmṣas. Those who are bogus are claiming they are expansions of God. So there are so many expansions of the Lord that you cannot even count them. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said, just like you cannot count the atoms that come and go out of a window, or you cannot count the waves on the banks of the ocean, similarly, the unlimited expansions and incarnations of the Lord cannot be comprehended or listed. Nāham prakāśya sarvaśayoga-māyā samāvṛtāḥ. Lord Bhāgavad-gītā 7th chapter explains how the Lord does not reveal Himself to everyone. Queen Kunti has very nicely explained this point in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1st canto. She says that just like an actor, an actor when he does makeup and go on the stage, then you cannot recognize who is that actor. Just like in our ISKCON temples, when we do dramas, different devotees play on different roles. And then when the actors come on the stage, even devotees want to know which devotee is that playing that role. So Queen Kunti says that just like an actor on the stage cannot be recognized because of the makeup and the different role that he's playing, similarly she says that Krishna cannot be recognized except to one who takes the process of bhakti. Therefore, Lord Brahmā says, premañjanā chuṛrīta bhakti-vilochanena santaiva sardāyava hedeṣu viloka-yanti. To one whose eyes are anointed with love of God can the Supreme Personality of Godhead become visible. Therefore, in the Bhāgavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa talks about different types of yoga. Talks about sankhya yoga, jñāna yoga, dhyāna yoga. But in the end, he concludes bhakti yoga, bhakti yoga is the medium. So in the purport, Prabhupada says that Krishna always appears like a youthful boy of 16 years. He does not age or change with the passage of time. You and I get wrinkles on the cheeks as we get older, our hair turns white, our eyes become weak, our legs and hands become weak. But in the case of Krishna, He always remains youthful and fresh. Therefore it is said, adyam puranapurusham navyavnam cha. Though Krishna is the oldest, he appears ever youthful. Why? Because he is transcendental. Every morning we greet the deities accompanied by the prayers of Brahma Samhita. And one of the lines of the prayer is Govindam adipurusham tavaam aham bhajami, which means Govinda, you are adi-purusam, the original person. So Krishna is the original person, but still he looks youthful. In— according to Prabhupada said many times that by material calculation on the Battle of Kurukshetra, Krishna was at least 120 years of age, but he looked like a youthful boy of 20. So Krishna is transcendental and beyond the material modes. Now why does the Lord come as But as the verse and the purpose says, to reduce the burden of the earth. The earth is overburdened with sinful activities. Bali Maharaj told Śukracārya in the 8th canto of the Bhāgavatam that the earth can tolerate the weight of mountains, oceans, rivers, but it cannot tolerate a liar. But today virtually everyone's a liar. Everyone wants to be Ravana. So Krishna has incarnated again. 500 years ago Krishna incarnated as Lord Caitanya. And now in the present Kali-yuga Krishna has again incarnated. Who knows where is that incarnation? Prabhupada said Krishna has incarnated in the womb of this Krishna Consciousness Movement. So this Krishna Consciousness Movement is the present-day incarnation of Krishna. Because this Krishna Consciousness Movement is giving exactly, is giving nothing but Krishna's message. And Krishna's message is meant for what? For reducing the sinful burden on the earth. And where is Krishna's message contained then? And this Krishna's message is in Prabhupada's books. So when we do book distribution, that is an activity to reduce the burden of the earth. When we do book distribution, that is an activity to reduce the sinful tendencies of society. When we do book distribution, that is for the purpose of establishing dharma on this planet. When we do book distribution, that's an activity aimed at fulfilling the inner desires of the Lord. What is the inner desire of the Lord? To bring everyone back to Him. Just like it is a natural desire of every mother or father to have their children with them, similarly Krishna says, aham bija-pradāpitā, I am the seed-giving father of all living entities. So Krishna wants all the living entities to return to Him. But they don't want to return. They seem to think that mature life was happy. That is the part of Maya. Even the hog that is eating stool, living in filth with his wife and neural children, is very happy in that situation. You may not see hogs in action in Moscow area, but if you go to the Asian segment of CIS and India, you'll see the hogs in action. In India, you see how the hogs are living in stool and they They're so happy, smiling. Even Indra, Indra was once disrespectful to his spiritual master, so he was cursed to take the body of a hog. So when he got the body of a hog, he was really enjoying that body. He had wife and piglets, children, many children. Pigs produce lot of children. So Lord Brahma came to Indra once and said, "Now your punishment is over. Return to resume your duties as the administrator of rain." Indra said, no, now I'm happy in this body, I'm not going to give this up. Finally, Brahma had to come with a butcher's knife and put the— show the butcher's knife. Then Indra agreed to return to him. That's why even if you have a fly, you go to drive the fly away or hit the— catch the fly, it'll run away. So everyone loves his body, everyone identifies with the body, nobody wants to part with the body. Not just the human beings, but even the insects, even the ant. When you go— when you try to catch the ant, it will run. So this is due to avidya. Avidya means ignorance, identifying with the body, the senses, and the different desires of the mind. This avidya has to be smashed, destroyed. With what? With vidya. Vidya means knowledge. Dharma means the words of God. So we can only destroy Avidya with vidya. Just like darkness can only be destroyed with light. So these books of Prabhupada are actually vidya and meant to destroy avidya. So when you devotees go on book distribution, you're carrying the medicine that can cure the disease of sense enjoyment. In the purport of this verse, Prabhupada talks about the Vishnu Dutas, how they saved Arjuna. So the devotees of the Lord, the devotees of this Krishna conscious movement, all of you Whether you're a new bhakta of one day or whether you're a devotee of 20 years, all of you are also Vishnu tattvas when you're acting in the capacity as agents of Lord Vishnu. So as Vishnudutas, our business is to go house to house, village to village, city to city, and give and beg people, please take these books which have nothing but vidya. Take these books because they will give you the path of real happiness. And all those who take part in this transcendental activity are blessed by the spiritual master Prabhupada and the whole parampara. So Lord Brahma— to summarize the verse— Lord Brahma is describing the transcendental nature of the Lord. So when you distribute these books, people understand how God, how great God is. We just don't say God is great, we say how great God is. And once you understand how great God is, then you understand how small you are. And then you have been sincere, you will want to serve the greatest. And we can serve and inspire others to serve through the medium of book distribution. This is one service that Krishna never forgets, the service of the sankirtan devotee. Why? Because those who endeavor through difficulties to preach the glories of the Lord, they automatically become dear to the Lord. So here's an opportunity, the Prabhupada marathon, to become dear to the Lord. Hare Krishna. I won't take any questions because they have to have an ishta-goshti now, otherwise it will get late. So I hope that everyone will take part in the Prabhupada marathon. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Prabhupada said, "If you love Me, then distribute My books." So please wait. Nobody should leave the temple room with ishta-goshti by Kṛṣṇa Kumar Prabhupāda and Yamraj. Krishna Krishna Hare Hare. Hare Rama Hare Rama. Lama Lama Hare Hare.