The Lord controlled by His devotees | Rus-Split | SB 10.10.38 |17 Aug 2016 | Gopal Krishna Goswami

Om Mano Bhagavate Vasudevaya. Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya. Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya. So we're going to read the verse again, the translation in purva bhūta. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare. Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. So, as we approach Janmashtami, we should absorb ourselves in different pastimes of the Lord. One of the most famous pastimes of the Lord is the Dāmodara pastime. Because there is dāvana-pāśtāna is divided into two parts. The first part is mother Yasyoda tying her son down. Why did she tie her son down?

Because he was stealing butter and breaking the pots.

Stealing butter? But he never got caught. How can you say he was stealing butter?

You know.

Stealing butter. The first big ISKCON temple in the Western world was in Los Angeles. It was a church purchased by ISKCON and converted to a temple. It's on Walseck Avenue, not far from Hollywood. Radha-Krishnidevi were installed in the temple. They named it Rukmini Dwarakadesh. The worry that I had was stealing flowers from the neighboring houses and making garlands for the Deities. So the neighbors were wondering what happened to our flowers every day. Then they saw that the fishes were stealing the flowers. So one day when one of the tenants shot pellets at the feet of a devotee. So Prabhupāda heard of this incident. He was not happy. He said, "If you want to steal, you should be like Kṛṣṇa." He never got caught. Otherwise, don't steal. What Prabhupāda was saying is, We are not like Kṛṣṇa, so let's not imitate. So Kṛṣṇa would steal the butter and all, and He never got caught. The gopīs would come and complain to Mother Yāśodā, "Hisanaṁ kāmaraṇaṁ, He is stealing from our house." So the mother would say, "Hide the yogurt and butter at a higher level." And they would say, "We've done that." But they managed to put different stools, one on top of each other, and reach over there. Even in the dark, they can find out where the butter is. Because they're waiting, wearing such nice ornaments, and ready with so much of fragrance. Maniswara was saying, "I will take the, I'll take the ornaments out." Then they said, "No, no, no, please don't do that." They like to see Kṛṣṇa ornamented. Dalte vele maniswara. Tied the busun down with a mortar. So there are so many wonderful pastimes of the Lord. Just like in this chapter, we read the story of Manigreev and Kluvar. Who were they?

Boyara.

Who is Kluvar? Prasada RAVAL. Prasada RAVAL, the demigod. Ochinbhagavate. He is more than all the oligarchs put together. Generally, when you're born in a rich family, you also get polluted very easily. Wealth, beauty, material education are all stumbling blocks to not use in service of the Lord. If you're very wealthy, you think, "Oh, I have money. I can buy everything. I don't need God." You don't see too many millionaires coming to your lectures. You are materially very educated, again you become proud. Kṛṣṇa says, "Four types of people do not surrender to Me." One, those who work very hard like an ass. One is one who has a lot of material knowledge. Second one is one who is very handsome or beautiful. Then again one becomes very proud. So these two sons of Koirya, Being born to rich families, very addicted to sense enjoyment. And they were so intoxicated that even when the great sage Nārada came, they didn't cover their naked bodies. So Nārada thought they should be taught a lesson. They wanted Nārada Muni to curse them. To become trees in the courtyard of Nandamurāja. This morning I was hearing the reading of the Kṛṣṇa book, and it was described that these trees of Vṛndāvana, when Kṛṣṇa and Bālaḍava were walking, the trees were all bending down as if they were offering obeisances to Kṛṣṇa and Bālaḍava. Prabhupāda says in the Kṛṣṇa book, "These trees of Vṛndāvana," are not ordinary entities. They're very special. I imagine most of you have been to our Kṛṣṇa-Bāla-nāma Temple. There you may have seen in the courtyard is a tamāla tree. When we were building the Kṛṣṇa-Bāla-nāma Temple, Prabhupāda insisted that the tamāla tree not be touched. And the tamāla tree is standing there since God alone knows how long. That Amaltri attends every Ārati of the day in Vṛndāvana. You attend one mārā, one Ārati, and run away. This Amaltri is there from morning to night. He is every Bhāgavatam class. He is the 24-hour chanting. So these two, Sāndokūya, were cursed to become trees in the courtyard of Nanda Mahārāja. But along with the curse, they were given a benediction. And the benediction was, at the end of 100 celestial years, you'll be able to see the Lord face to face. Not a bad, not a bad curse. 100 celestial years, you see the Lord. 6 months of our earthly years is equal to 12 hours of the celestial planets. The Lord always honors the commitment of His devotees. Just like in the Nrsimhadeva pastime, you see that Brahmā was giving Nānaka Ājipu various promises. Nānaka Ājipu wanted to become deathless. He performed great austerity. And when Brahmā then gave the benediction that he will never die, he secured the same indirectly. After obtaining all these benedictions, Brahmā thought, "Now I've become deathless." So for the Lord to honor Brahmā's commitments and still appear to kill Hiranyakāśipū and Prahlāda was not an easy job. The Lord is inconceivable, as we were explaining last night. Yabhirḥ desādhāraṣa-gadeva. Keeping all of Brahmā's promises intact. So after killing Hiranyakāśipū, Prabhupāda jokingly said, "Lord told Brahmā, 'Don't give such promises in future. You made my job very hard.'" So the Lord honored Mother Brahmā's promise. Similarly, over here, Lord was tied to the mortar. Mother Yāsodā tried her best to tie the Lord down. She did one rope, two ropes, three ropes. All the ropes of Vṛndāvana put together, it was still 2 fingers short. So the Lord could see, "My mother is perspiring." And then the elderly gopīs are laughing, "Look at this, Mother Yāsodā, she can't even tie her young son down." So what did the Lord do? He agreed to be bound. So we can only understand the Lord when the Lord agrees to be understood by us. So the Lord tied to the mortar. Could remember the promise given by Narada Muni. You become trees, but at the end of 173 years, you see the form of the Lord. So what did the Lord do? He pulled down the two trees, because the mortar was stuck between the two trees. He pulled, and the trees fell down. And when the two trees fell down, what came out of the trees? What you call the store in Manipur. When the two trees fell down, they made such a heavy sound. And Mother Sura at that time was in the kitchen cooking, churning butter. She heard this heavy sound, two giant trees falling down, and she came running. Where the sound come from? She saw the two trees on the ground, just inches away from her son Krishna. She said, "How did these trees fall?" The other coward boy said, "Your son pulled down the two trees." "How can my young son pull down these two gigantic trees? I don't believe it. Must be a hurricane that caused the trees to fall. Maybe Nandamana pulled the trees down." "So, how are the trees?" came and they converted one degree. The first of all, offer obeisances to their spiritual master, whose name was? Nārada Muni. Nārada Muni. Nārada Muni is spiritual master of a variety of devotees. He is spiritual master of Vyāsadeva. Vyāsadeva was meditating. Why am I not being satisfied even after compiling the Vedānta? And the muni appeared on the scene. And he told him, the true cause of it is unhappiness, is that you have not exclusively presented the process of devotional service. And that gave birth to the Śrīmad-Bhāgavata. He is the spiritual master of the Nūmārāja. Though dissatisfied because he was insulted, by his stepmother. He decided to go to the forest to look for God. As he was leaving home, another muni showed up and said, "Why take the words of your stepmother so seriously? Go and play. This is not the age to look for God." And what did Druva say? "You want to help me? Look for God, we'll talk. Otherwise leave me alone." That's what he said.. And then Nārada Muni gave him instruction. Vṛdhū was spiritual master. He is— Mrgarī, the hunter's spiritual master. Hunter! Of course. Used to make his living by killing, off-killing animals. He got saved by Nārada Muni too. And here we see the spiritual master of Nārada Govinda and Muni Deva, the two puffed-up sons of Kūrera. So they were puffed up, but by Nārada Muni's grace they became humble. So these two sannyāsīs expressed gratitude to Nārada Muni for giving them the opportunity to have an audience with the Lord. And then they offer this prayer that we just read. They are saying, "Henceforth, may all our words describe Your pastimes, may our ears engage 'in order to the reception of Your glories.' So here the word 'henceforward' is very significant. Henceforward. From now onwards. So before coming to spiritual life, we were all in ignorance. By and large, we are born in ignorance, brought up in ignorance. Prabhupāda. And we die in ignorance. But some fortunate souls are born in knowledge. Just like these children, these children born in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. They're very fortunate. And even if you're not fortunate, by the mercy of a pure devotee of the Lord, you become fortunate. So these two sons of Kuvaira, Because of their exalted position, became very puffed up and intoxicated to sense enjoyment. But by Nārada Muni's mercy, they have now realized that they made a mistake, and now they should rectify. We say a prayer before speaking: Om jyānti-mandasya jñānanjanāśrayaḥ. Shakṣirvandanīnā. That's my Shrii, Prasad RAVALVAL. I was born in ignorance, but by the mercy of a spiritual teacher, I become enlightened now. So similarly, all of us sitting here, we were all born in ignorance, but we met a devotee of the Lord, and, or we read a book, and we realize what's right, what's wrong. So we made a lot of mistakes, but now we should endeavor not to make mistakes. So they are saying, henceforward. It means we made mistakes, but now onwards we don't want to make mistakes. And the fourth item they are focusing on: May our words describe your pastimes, may our ears hear your glories. In other words, the emphasis is on śrāvanaṁ and kṛṣṇaṁ. From the beginning to the end of the Bhāgavatām, this theme comes out again and again. Śrāvanaṁ and kṛṣṇaṁ. As a key to our spiritual advance. These anarṭhas are there to tie us down to material existence. We know what the disease is. And what the mercy of the Ācāryas is. You know the cure. We just need to take the cure and then the disease will get corrected. So they're saying, "May words constantly describe your pastimes and may our ears constantly hear your glories." Through this principle of śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and Kṛṣṇa-nāma hearing and chanting keeps getting repeated. Someone may say, "Oh, what is this? Every time I go to a class, I hear the same thing, 'śrī-nāma-kīrtanam.'" It doesn't matter who is giving the class, whether it's a mahārāja giving class or a new bhakta.

Yes.

Unfortunately, even after hearing 100 times, we still don't honor it. Repetition is necessary to drive the point home. Prabhupāda says in the Bhāgavad-gītā, Krishna wanted He's going to explain in one verse, "You're not this body. It appears, but it's false." But through so many verses, Kṛṣṇa is making the same point. There is a soul in the body. So the Bhāgavatam repeats the important points again and again. So now that we have come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, we should increase our transcendental chanting and hearing. What do we do with the words? One is to chant the Holy Name. The other, what is being explained here, discuss the different pastimes of the Lord. So as you are headed for Janmashtami, each of you could take on one pastime every day and discuss that. I'm sure all of you have Kṛṣṇa book at home. Read one chapter a day and then talk about it. So, there's so many parts. If you finish reading once, read the second time, third time. Keep reading, keep chanting. Do you ever get tired?

No.

That is the nature of spiritual service. What does it say? May our hands, legs, and other senses engage in actions pleasing to You. So may our hands be used in service of the Lord. Who gave an idol example? Or how to use the hand and the senses in service to the Lord. We'll give that example. Another very good example, Lord Caitanya cleaning the Gundīja temple. This festival was held right before Rādhayātra. Gundīja is the name of the Vaibhava king in the Dhamma. So Lord Caitanya organized a massive cleanup of the Gundīja temple. Hundreds of devotees were engaged in this Leela. Lord Caitanya Himself took part in it. With the hands, they were scrubbing the floor, scrubbing the roof, scrubbing the walls. When you scrub, what do you remove? So they were scrubbing the walls. And they were putting the, keeping the dust together. Lord Caitanya would Himself go and check. How much dirt each had accumulated. Rādhā Caitanya himself was cleaning also. And he alone would collect more dirt than all of them put together. Yes. Rādhā Caitanya would go to each of the groups. And those that were collecting more dirt than others, he would use them as an example. So Bhaktisiddhānta Mahāprabhu has explained This pastime of the cleaning of the Gudīcār temple represents the cleansing of the heart. Our hearts are clean or dirty? Clean. Just more black than a coal. So we should clean the temple with our hands. Do we do Gudīcār mārjanam? So with the hands, scrub the Lord's floor. We can do that every time we come to the temple. You can do it any time. So they are saying, "Please my hands and legs, engage in actions pleasing to You." So we are all trying to please someone or the other. How is that? I was just hearing a lecture, I think this morning, of Prabhupāda was lecturing. Try to hear Prabhupāda's lectures every day. So Prabhupāda was saying, giving the example of Mahātmā Gandhi. You all heard of Mahātmā Gandhi. He fought very valiantly to make the country, India, independent. But in the end, what happened? Somebody shot him. So in the material world, we are all trying to please each other, whether it's a husband-wife relationship, children-parents relationship, but nobody really gets satisfied. Like there was a survey done, few surveys done in the Western countries, and these surveys have shown that people today are more lonely than ever before. They're more lonely. Now everyone has found a new companion, and that's a smartphone. So now you play, the smartphone becomes your best friend. These computers are a blessing and a curse. Now most people are married to their smartphones. So for various reasons, at least in the Western world, I don't know about Russia,— when the survey was done in America and Europe. They found out that people are far more lonely today than they were before. So, we stay in the material world. Doesn't matter how hard you try, you can never please anyone. But Krishna is so kind, even if we do a tiny bit of service, he accepts it. There was a small village in India, We did not have electricity. And they had a Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa temple. And people were able to get darshan of the Lord because there was a lamp being lit over there all the time. The flame of the lamp was about to die. A rat thought that, "Ah! Looks like there's some nice butter there." He went to taste the butter. And she accidentally pushed the cotton, so the flame became brighter for people to see the Lord. Just with this tiny service, Prasada Rāvala Mākhārāja. Śrīla Śrīla Vīrādhara Ācārya says, "Devotional service is so safe that even if you run on it with your eyes closed, you won't fall." Further, Sādhana-kaveraṣṇī, "May we always think of Your lotus feet." So lotus feet doesn't necessarily mean you just meditate on the picture of the feet of the Lord. It really means you meditate on the form, the instructions, the desires of the Lord. Prasad RAVAL will always think, "How can I make the unfortunate fortunate?" In other words, engage in service to the Lord. What did it say? May our heads offer our obeisances. May everything in the world, to all things, give a different form. So that is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, recognizing everything has different forms of the Lord. So the Lord is the ultimate enjoyer. Prabhupāda said becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious is very easy. You only have to do 3 things, that's all. Then a big list. What are the three things? Understand, A, Kṛṣṇa is the ultimate enjoyer proprietor. Niyam. Not you or me. And C, He is the ultimate enjoyer. It's not you or me. And He is a well-wisher. Well-wisher means He does what is best for me. Kṛṣṇa says, madhya-pārtam nānyam. There's no truth higher than Me. So only three things. That is because, "Oh, it looks like this because unless Kṛṣṇa is the proprietor, the enjoyer, He is not well-wisher." If you accept Kṛṣṇa as a well-wisher, then you will accept Kṛṣṇa's advice in the Gītā as the ultimate. That is the devotee's recognition for the sages. When I see the different forms of the Vaiṣṇavādas, So with the devotee eyes, we see everything as an extension of the Lord. And the Vaiṣṇavas, they're exalted. Of course, in our position, we are frankly Vaiṣṇavas in the making. We can't say, "I'm initiated yesterday, so I'm a Vaiṣṇava today." We are Vaishnavas in training. Just like the moment you enter medical school, you don't become a doctor. But if you study, pass the exam, do your internship, then eventually you become a doctor. We are all undergoing training. Part of our training is sadhana bhakti. Sadhana bhakti means following rules and regulations. The rules and regulations are there. For our purification. Like we chant 16 rounds a day. So, this is all training. So Rūpa Gosvāmī explains, by following sādhana-bhakti, you get to the stage of rāgānuga-bhakti. And our desire should be to associate with Vaiṣṇavas. Sadhu-sanga, sadhu-sanga, śrīla Mahāprabhupāda. All the scriptures emphasize the importance of spiritual association. So by following the advice that is being presented by Nārada-korināmānī-gṛhī, we can all make spiritual progress. They are admitting, due to ignorance, they acted improperly. But now we've got enlightened. "So may our tongue constantly describe Your glories." You may say, "How can our tongue constantly glorify the Lord? I have to do a job, business, earn my livelihood." You people work also. Okay. So naturally you have to work also. In the 7th canto, there's a nice exchange between Narada Muni and Yudhisthira Maharaj. I see many of you here are householders, and this dialogue is specially meant for householders. Yudhishthira Maharaj said, "Please enlighten us, are we householders can achieve perfection by following the Vedic way of life?" He wanted to know how one in the Vedic householder ashram can achieve spiritual perfection based on the Vedas. If you want to hear Nārada Muni's reply, or for some of his instructions, may scare you, so I won't talk about that. I'll only talk about what will not scare you. The first thing he says is, you have to engage in earning livelihood. Naturally a householder has to. Engage in some occupation. But then offer the results to Vāsudeva also. That Kṛṣṇa eat the fruits of the tree, fruits of your effort. And you get this knowledge by associating with saintly people. So naturally we have to earn livelihood also. So if you are in that position, then that you can't constantly glorify. Meditate on that. Then they are saying, "Please may we engage our senses in actions pleasing to You." So that should be our yardstick. What's pleasing to Kṛṣṇa we do, what's not pleasing we abstain. And please may we meditate constantly at the Lord's feet. So this advice is very practical. The more you hear, the more you get inspired. So, just like the siddha Kaviraja got enlightened when he was in the Muni association, we also get enlightened when we come into devotee association, especially association of those who are more advanced. Without spiritual association, it's impossible to make spiritual advancement. So we look forward to association. Accept association and give association. Take association from those who are more advanced and give association to those who are less advanced. Prabhupāda used to say we should be like the bee and not the fly. What's the difference between the two? Tosa nāyat.

Tosa nāyat. The bee is looking for honey and the fly is looking for dirt.

Yes, most of us are like flies. Any scandal about that, don't worry. We should look at the good in everyone, and that will help create a Vṛndāvana atmosphere. Vṛndāvana atmosphere is transcendental atmosphere. So if we all try to do that, then it will have a cumulative effort. Even if the other person is not doing it, you do the right thing. That's what Lord Caitanya says. Offer me respects to everyone, regardless of whether they are offering you respects or not. What it does, God, is never overcome by evil. So if we do the right thing, then you'll never go wrong. So I thought the advice of this, these, of this verse is very practical. Let's try to make that as our janajmi agenda. Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Śrīla Nāmācārṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Okay, any questions?

It is stated that when we chant our rounds, if we are inattentive, then it's an offence. But what about additional chanting? If we chanted our 16 rounds and then we chant more and we are not so attentive at that, is it also considered an offense?

Karaju abhro. If you can do 16 or 20 rounds every day, then your ticket back to Godhead is guaranteed. There are many letters from Prabhupāda where he said, if you follow the four regulative principles and chant the rounds every day, you'll go back to Godhead guaranteed.

The question is that the demigods are very exalted, Even though sometimes they commit some mistakes, but why they needed Narada Muni to instruct them? Why couldn't Kuvira, their father himself, instruct them?

But they wanted Narada Muni to get the credit. Lord Caitanya could have taken the Holy Name to every corner of the globe, but Lord Caitanya wanted Prasada RAVAL to get the credit. Said, "Give the work to Prabhupāda. Arjuna could expand the preaching in every corner of Russia.

Nothing is impossible for the Lord, but He wants all of you to get the credit." He said, "Leave it up to all of you." When Druva Mahārāja, you mentioned today the story of Druva Mahārāja, and when he met Nārada Muni, he got instructions and Finally he saw the Lord and he, all his desires were fulfilled. Why the Lord didn't take Dhruva Maharaj immediately back to him? Why he had to send him back home? Why, what was the meaning of that, that he had to remain?

The Lord gave him 36,000 years to rule the planet. The Lord purified Dhruva. —And Vādhū was born in a royal family. —Praṣādhū. —And he ruled the planet for 36,000 years. Lord rules qualified people to be rulers.