Whatever Lord does is his mercy | SB 7.1.34 | 12 Feb 1995 | New Delhi | Śrīla Gopāl Kṛṣṇa Goswāmī

Om Namah Bhagavate Vasudevaya. Om Namah Bhagavate Vasudevaya. Om Namah Bhagavate Vasudevaya. Actually, today is not Varaha, the appearance day, but Mohan Drupad says that Jayadvaita Swami gave the class yesterday on Lord Varaha. So I am lecturing today from the regular course of the Bhagavatam. Shriyudheshwar Vācchā. Shriyudheshwar Vācchā. Vācchākāpya Vācchāpo. Shriyudheshwar Vācchāpo. Ādhyāphālimāśchana. Ādhyāphālimāśchana. Ashtadeyahi vābhāti. Prasad Raavalī! Hare Kṛṣṇa Mahābhagavatam! Hare Kṛṣṇa Mahābhagavatam! Mahañjana Yudhiṣṭhara enquired what kind of great curse could affect even liberated Viṣṇu-bhaktas? And what sort of person could curse even the Lord's associates? For unrepenting devotees of the Lord to fall again in this material world is impossible. I cannot believe this. Purported by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda. In Bhāgavad-gītā, the Lord clearly states, mama peta dikānti apunajñanam vidyati. One who is purified of material contamination and returns home back to Godhead does not return to this material world. Elsewhere in Bhāgavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa says, One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activity does not, upon leaving the body, take His birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode of Ārjuna. Mādhya Viṣṇudeva was surprised. It appeared he would return to this material world. This is certainly a very important question. Oma jñāna te manda sya jñānaṁ jñānāśalakyaḥ. Chakshur netanina tasmai Śrī Brāhmaṇa māḥ. Śrī Caitanya Mano-Vṛṣṇaṁ saktam ina-bhrūkhalay. Hoyam rūpa-kalāmayam dadāti svāpadaṁ tikāṁ. Bande ham Śrī Guru Śrī Uddhāpada-kamdam Śrī Guruṇavaīśṇāmanāśāḥ. Śrī Rūpa-āmṣa-gāda-tam-sahāyena rādhūnāṣaṁ tam-tam-sa-dīvāṁ. Sadve-tam-so'roḥ tam-prajñāna-saītam Kṛṣṇa-kṛñāndevo. Hare Krishna! Hare Krishna! Krishna Kṛṣṇa Nāmaḥ. Hai dāṣāne mārṣanaḥ aśrādheya iḥvā-bhātiḥ padekānti-nāmbhāḥ. So, Maharaj, Yudhiṣṭhira, just to refresh everyone's memory, in the previous verse, Nārada Muni pointed out that these two cousins of Yudhiṣṭhira, namely Śrī Śrīpala and Danda Vākara, they were actually the cousins of Mahārāja Yudhishṭhira. Not only were they cousins, but they were also formally the associates by the brāhmanas, and then they fell down from the Vaikunṭha to the material world. So Yudhishṭhira Mahārāja, when he heard that these cousins of his were at one time the eternal associates of Lord Viṣṇu, and had they had to descend to the material world, they were actually, he was actually very, very surprised. He was very surprised. "How could somebody from the spiritual world come back?" Actually, there's a big controversy going on now, even in our movement. About this issue. It's almost— it's going to be on the verge of being resolved. Kṛṣṇa says, māmā-pedir-koṇḍya-paṇā-jāmānā-veṇyate. Anyway, over here this refers to the eternal associates of the Lord. And Jaya and Ujjaya were not certainly ordinary. They were the doorkeepers of the Supreme Lord. To become the doorkeeper of the Supreme Lord, is not an ordinary privilege. It's a very, very great privilege. And Yudhishthira Maharaj was— actually all the questions that you and I are asking today have already been asked in the Bhagavad-gītā and the Bhāgavatam. If you analyze the question that Arjuna is asking in the Bhagavad-gītā, then exactly the question that you and I would ask, Arjuna has asked. Similarly, In the Bhāgavatam, the question that Parīkṣit Mahārāja is asking and the other great sages, these are questions that normally you and I would ask, and the answers are all there in the scriptures. So, Jaya-Vatāya, these were the two gatekeepers of the Supreme Lord. And Yudhiṣṭhira's bewilderment is, "How did they come down to this material world?" Not only did they come down to the material world, but they came down and became an enemy of the Lord. It's one thing to come to the material world, but the other thing is to become an enemy of the Supreme Lord. Because Jaya and Vijaya, when they were cursed by the Brahmanas, when they were cursed by the sons of Lord Brahmā, they were cursed to take 3 births as enemies of the Supreme Lord. The first birth was as Hiranyakāśipū and Hiranyakṣya, then as Ravana and Kumbhakarna, and then as Śeṣapalā and Dandavātra. But an important point to note is that in all these births, jīva-jīva, although they were appearing as demons, In the core of their hearts, they were always singing the glories of the Lord. Prabhupada has said that in the first book, that though they were playing the role of demons, in the core of their hearts, they were always remembering Kṛṣṇa. So this cursing of Jaya, the two doorkeepers, by the sons of Brahmā is very nicely explained in great detail. In the third canto, and there again is a summary explanation in the seventh canto. Actually, in the Bhāgavatam, you see one pattern, which is that several important points, they get repeated again and again. Isn't it? Like this is now the seventh canto. And in the seventh canto, Nārada Muni is explaining what has already been explained in the third canto in great length. That is because repetition is necessary to drive the point home. So the four sons of Brahmā, or the Kumaras, were wandering throughout the three worlds till by chance they came to Viṣṇu-loka. And when they came to Viṣṇu-loka, These sons of Brahmā, who were naked. Why were they naked? Sānākara, Sannandana, Sannātana, and Sannātkumāra. They refused to obey or follow their father's desire that they get married. And they were in possession of great mystic power, so they were able to control the growth of their body. And hence they always looked like young children. Pramāna means, pramāna generally refers to a child once he attains the age of 5. So very rightly the two doorkeepers, they said, "You cannot come in. You are naked children. We cannot let you come inside and see the Lord." And at this, The sons of Kamara became very, very angry and they cursed. They cursed them, "You have to take on 3 births as demons." So now when the Kamaras realized that these 2 doorkeepers were not ordinary, but were very, very dear devotees of the Lord, because they saw the way the Supreme Lord spoke to these 2 doorkeepers, he spoke with such great affection that they could realize that they have underestimated or wrongly cursed these two sages, these two doorkeepers. And so they begged forgiveness from the Lord for what they had done, and they wanted to withdraw their curse. They wanted to withdraw the curse. They had the power to withdraw But the Lord said, "You don't have to withdraw the curse." Why? Why did He say that? This was His desire. It was His desire that His beloved devotees get cursed. So the appearance, so this act of the Lord was by the arrangement of the Yogamaya potency of the Lord, not by the arrangement of the Mahamaya potency of the Lord. Say, when I desire the Lord, there the Lord appears. He has very, very powerful devotees playing the role of demons with whom He could exhibit His pastimes. Just like today's appearance of Lord Vārāṣṭra. Of course, Jai Jagadgīrāṣvāmī explained the whole story yesterday. So I'm not going to repeat that. But I'll just make one quick point. That is that the Lord appeared as Lord Vāraḥ. When He appeared as Lord Vāraḥ, He was very small, smaller than the size of the top of the thumb. But instantly He expanded Himself. And He made such a tumultuous sound that even when the demigods heard it, Then you will know the Lord has appeared. And how the Lord in the Vārāya incarnation, how He lifted the earth out of water. After all, normally Prabhupāda has explained, nobody wants to go near a pig, isn't it? Nobody wants to go near a hog, a pig. But here we worship the hog, we worship the fish, we worship our tortoise, The Lord incarnates in different forms. Advaitam ujjam, ajyutam anādhyānāntam rūpam. So the Lord is capable of descending in the form of a hog. He is capable of descending in the form of a fish. He is capable of descending in the form of a tortoise. How the Lord appeared as Lord Vāraṇa. And He not only lifted the earth out of water, But also how He was able to kill this very powerful demon Hiranyakṣa, who was very, very angry at the Lord. So the point is that the Lord had a plan, and the plan of the Lord was that He was going to appear very soon. So the Lord wanted some devotees of His playing the role of demons. Therefore Prabhupāda has explained in the verses of this section of the Bhāgavatam that it was essentially the desire of the Lord that these demons, that these devotees appear and play the role of demons so that the Lord can get the opportunity of performing His transcendental pastimes. And these devotees who were cursed to become demons, they were such powerful demons that even the demigods were scared of them. There are many categories of demons. But these demons were the most powerful. Even the demigods were scared of them. Even the demigods were scared of these demons. So there is also another explanation given by Jīvāgurūṣvāmī as to why the Lord permitted these two doorkeepers to be cursed. One reason was that the Lord was going to appear. So He wanted His devotees to play the role of extraordinarily powerful demons. Another reason was that the Lord also wanted to please Lakṣmījī. Because Lakṣmījī was very angry at Jaya and Vajra. Why was she angry at Jaya and Vajra? Because on one occasion, Lakṣmījī wanted to come and see the Lord. And when she wanted to come and see the Lord, she was stopped from coming to see the Lord by the two doorkeepers. They said, "You cannot go in. The Lord is resting now." Lakṣmījī said, "How dare these people stop me from going and seeing my Lord?" See, in her heart, She had anger. So the Lord wanted to please her, but at the same time He did not want to appear henpecked. So therefore the Lord arranged a situation by which somebody else would curse these two doorkeepers, and the Lord would be a silent witness to These doorkeepers getting cursed. So in the purport Prabhupāda says, Prabhupāda quotes that famous verse, mom bhokṛ te kāntya panaḥ janmānā vidyate. One who is purified of material consciousness returns all back to Godhead, does not return to this material world. So to go back to Godhead or to return to the spiritual abode of the Lord, One has to cleanse his heart completely of all material contamination. You cannot expect to go back to Godhead unless your heart is completely clean. Actually, once in 1972, I asked Prabhupāda this question. I said, "Will everyone in ISKCON go back to Godhead?" Prabhupāda said, "No." He said, "Unless you rigidly follow the instruction of spiritual master and you free your heart from all material dirt, you cannot go back to Godhead." So that's very clear that we have to free our heart of all the dirt. And there is so much dirt reflected through unlimited material desires that are there. So the Kṛṣṇa consciousness process is a process by which we endeavor to cleanse the heart. And if we cleanse our heart completely of all material contamination, then as Prabhupāda says in that purport of Vṛṣṇa, one can go back to Godhead. And if we are not completely pure, if we are still in the material desires, then stay on in the material world. Yama yama api smāram bahauḥ. Wherever your mind is at the moment of death, that is where you will go. Now at the moment of death, where will your mind be? Somebody may say this makes Kṛṣṇa consciousness very easy. "Let me do what I want, but at the moment of death I'll think of Kṛṣṇa." But it's not so simple. By the laws of nature, at the moment of death, your mind will be on those activities where your mind is focused when you were alive, active, healthy. And if you have been practicing Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then at the moment of death also you will have the ability to remember Kṛṣṇa. But if you've been practicing material consciousness, then at the moment of death you will not be able to remember Kṛṣṇa. Ante narayana-smṛti, that at the moment of death, somehow or the other, one must be able to remember the Supreme Lord. That is why it is said the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement teaches you how to live and how to die. He teaches us the art of living and the art of dying. Dying is actually a very big art. The materialists always teach you that you should die in an atmosphere where your family is next to you smiling. But our philosophy is we should die remembering Kṛṣṇa. Just like in the Bhāgavatam, in the 5th canto you read the story of King Baharata. And in that story of King Baharata, You see that even though King Bharata was so austere, even though he had sacrificed his beautiful wife, kingdom, children, etc., and he had begun to practice great austerity in the forest, still because of a little bit of attachment that he developed for whom? Deer. Ah. That he developed for a deer. He had to pay the price. And in the purport of those verses, Prabhupāda explains that Kṛṣṇa wanted to show that it doesn't matter how great a devotee you will be, but if you do not take precaution and follow the standard, then anybody can get caught. One cannot think, "Oh, I'm exempted from the rules because of this, this, this." Even King Bahadur did not get exempted. He was such an exalted devotee, but he did not get exempted. He also got trapped. So we must understand from this that actually this process has to be very, very carefully followed. One should not deviate from this process at all. And if you strictly follow the process, then actually one will be safe. Spiritually. So Maharaj Yudhishthira's concern is very natural. How did he come from this— how did these two doorkeepers get cursed? Of course, a brahmana's curse is not an ordinary curse. Generally, the curse by the devotees of the Lord is for the benefit of individual concern. When the Lord sees that, when the curse is given by the Lord or His great devotees, it is ultimately for their benefit. Just like these two sons of Kuvaira, they were also cursed, isn't it? They were cursed because they misbehaved in front of who? Maharāja Prasada Raṣadra. But however, as a result of this curse, They had the benediction which was that one day they got liberated by the personal form of the Lord, by the Lord Himself, and they had the opportunity to see the Lord. So actually these two doorkeepers, they were also very fortunate because they got that opportunity to serve the Lord after what is the desire of the devotee. The desire of the devotee is to serve the Lord in any service that the Lord desires. That is known as unconditional devotional service. In the material world, everybody wants conditional service, isn't it? Just like you go for a job, it is conditional. "I'll work for you if you give me so much salary." So we also come to worship the demigods, etc., and the Supreme Lord in— under certain conditions and assumptions. "If I get this, then I'll continue my bhakti. If I don't get this, then I'm going to switch over to somebody else." But the scriptures say unconditional, no conditions. So Jāiva-jāiva, they did not protest. They did not protest, "My dear Lord, why are You letting us get cursed?" They could understand that the Lord is a witness to that curse. The Lord is aware of this. So this is the desire of the Lord, and they agreed to play the role of demons, and they were constantly remembering the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So it is very important, and this has been explained in the verses earlier in this section, that sava-dhyāna, we should always remember Kṛṣṇa. If we always remember Kṛṣṇa, then our life will be successful. And it doesn't matter in what position you are. Just like in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is said, all the rules and regulations that you have, they are all meant to make us achieve one thing. What is that? Always remember Kṛṣṇa and never forget. So, jāiva-jāita, they were playing the role of demons, they were always remembering Kṛṣṇa. And it made Kṛṣṇa enjoy His pastimes. So that is our business, just to engage in any activity by which Kṛṣṇa becomes pleased. Hare Kṛṣṇa.