BCS Istagosthi

Chant Hare Krishna And Krishna Will Provide

THE FOLLOWING LECTURE ON THE SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM CANTO 4, CHAPTER 18, PRITHU
MAHARAJA MILKS THE EARTH PLANET, TEXT 16, WAS GIVEN BY HIS HOLINESS BHAKTI
CHARU SWAMI IN ISKCON JUHU, MUMBAI, INDIA, ON 3 JULY 2009.

Transcription : Bhakta Nimesh Prabhu
Editing : Their Graces Hemavati Radhika Dasi & Ranga Radhika Dasi

Audio-link :
http://audio.iskcondesiretree.info/index.php?q=f&f=%2F02_-_ISKCON_Swamis%2FI
SKCON_Swamis_-_A_to_C%2FHis_Holiness_Bhakti_Caru_Swami%2FVarious

daiteya danava vatsam´
prahladam asurarsabham
vidhayaduduhan ksiram
ayah-patre surasavam

Synonyms:
daiteyah — the sons of Diti; danavah — demons; vatsam — the calf; prahladam
— Prahlada Maharaja; asura — demon; rishabham — the chief; vidhaya — making;
aduduhan — they milked out; ksiram — milk; ayah — iron; patre — in a pot;
sura — liquor; asavam — fermented liquids like beer.

Translation:
The sons of Diti and the demons transformed Prahlada Maharaja, who was born
in an asura family, into a calf, and they extracted various kinds of liquor
and beer, which they put into a pot made of iron.

Purport:
The demons also have their own types of beverages in the form of liquors and
beers, just as the demigods use soma-rasa for their drinking purposes. The
demons born of Diti take great pleasure in drinking wine and beer. Even
today people of demoniac nature are very much addicted to liquor and beer.
The name of Prahlada Maharaja is very significant in this connection.
Because Prahlada Maharaja was born in a family of demons, as the son of
Hiranyakasipu, by his mercy the demons were and still are able to have their
drinks in the form of wine and beer. The word ayah (iron) is very
significant. Whereas the nectarean soma was put in a golden pot, the liquors
and beers were put in an iron pot. Because the liquor and beer are inferior,
they are placed in an iron pot, and because soma-rasa is superior, it is
placed in a golden pot.
[End of Purport]

So, Prithu Maharaja milks the earth. Prithu Maharaja, when he saw that the
earth became unproductive, the earth was not catering to the needs of the
living entities, he became very angry and he chastised the earth planet very
severely. The personified earth planet or in other words, we can say Mother
Earth, Vasundhara. And being afraid and at the same time recognizing Prithu
Maharaja's anger, the earth explained why she did what she did and her
reason was that all kinds of non devotees are simply exploiting the planet.
Everything is meant; whatever Krishna is actually providing through Mother
Nature is for the living entities' survival. The first consideration is
actually living entities get what they need and the second consideration is
that whatever is there must be offered to the Supreme Personality of Godhead
and by doing that the living entities will become spiritually elevated, the
living entities will become situated in their constitutional position.
The bahirmukha jivas, the living entities, those who have become averse to
Krishna and as a result of that fallen under the influence of the illusory
energy of the Lord, they are getting a chance to rectify their perverted
mentality in this material nature. And through proper guidance, they
ascertain how to rectify their perverted mentality and become free from
their suffering condition. And the process is very simple, just surrender to
Krishna. And the process of surrendering to Krishna is? By offering
everything to Krishna. And the process of surrendering is? To engage the
senses in order to give pleasure to Krishna's senses.
This is the very simple consideration of devotional service. Devotional
service is not a very difficult thing to execute. Other spiritual activities
are very difficult: austerities, penances, sacrifice, even deity worship,
difficult. But devotional service is very simple. And devotional service is?
Devotional service constitutes just these two considerations: [BG 9.27]

yat karosi yad asnasi
yaj juhosi dadasi yat
yat tapasyasi kaunteya
tat kurusva mad-arpanam

That is one aspect of devotional service, the other aspect of devotional
service is: (CC Madhya-lila 19.170)

sarvopadhi-vinirmuktam´
tat-paratvena nirmalam
hrishikena hrishikesa-
sevanam´ bhaktir ucyate

Jai Sri Sri Gaura Nitai ki jai! Jai Sri Sri Radha Rasabihari ki jai! Jai Sri
Sri Sita Rama Lakshman Hanuman ki jai! Jai Jagadguru Srila Prabhupada ki
jai!

So, Srimad-Bhagavatam, time and time again reminds us of this principle.
Srimad Bhagavatam and Bhagavad-gita are giving us a very simple
understanding of devotional service. And devotional service means our
constitutional activity or our constitutional position. Bhagavad-gita time
and time again has pointed this principle out that ultimately coming to the
conclusion of "Surrender unto Me. Just surrender unto Me."
Surrender whatever you have, surrender yourselves, surrender your senses,
your activities, everything ultimately. The result will be, "I will take
care of you in all respects."

You surrender, and Krishna will take care. You don't surrender, Krishna will
provide, but He won't take care in that sense. He'll provide out of a sense
of duty. But when you surrender, then a loving relationship will develop and
that love is a source of joy.

So Krishna made all the arrangements through material nature, especially
this planet earth and then Mother Earth actually surrendered to Krishna, she
actually explained why she did withdraw all the grains and herbs and plants
and medicinal plants, herbs, which actually provide for the living entities'
survival. Because she saw that those assets, those gifts were being
exploited by the demoniac people.

So from that we can understand that Mother Earth is actually able to provide
everything that one needs, but if we are not careful, if we do not offer it
to Krishna, if we do not accept them with a sense of gratitude, which is the
principle of sacrifice: [ BG 3.10]

saha-yajnah prajah sristva
purovaca prajapatih
anena prasavis yadhvam
esa vo 'stv istva-kama-dhuk

Saha-yajnah, when the prajas, the progeny, was procreated, when the living
entities were brought into this material nature, this system has been
established. A kind of rapport between the human beings and the demigods. So
the human beings are receiving the gifts from the demigods in the form of
different necessities being supplied. The demigods are supplying everything
that we need. There is a need of water, the demigods are supplying. Indra is
supplying water, in the form of rain. Pavandeva is supplying the wind.
Suryadeva is supplying the sun rays, rays of the sun, light.

And in this way different demigods are responsible, in charge of different
departments and they are providing for us, they're supplying for us and we
are supposed to pay them something in return for the service we are taking
from them, the facilities we are taking, and that is called yajna. And
Krishna is saying by establishing that relationship you live happily. The
living entities are meant to live happily. And it's a common sense
consideration, we see in our day-to-day lives, we get facilities and in
exchange we have to pay the price. We get electricity, at the end of the
month the bill comes and we have to pay the bill.
We get the supply of water, the bill comes at the end of the month and we
have to pay. We get nice facilities for roads, we have to pay the bill. We
have an education system, we have to pay the bill. We have the ability to
earn money, and we have to pay the tax.

So in this way there are different facilities that we are receiving and in
exchange for that we have to pay the bill. In our day to day lives we see...
Now if we don't pay then what will happen? Those supplies will be cut. We
won't get that supply anymore. So that is the primary consideration, initial
consideration. In the material nature we are getting different facilities,
we are being provided with different facilities, and who are supplying those
facilities? The demigods. And we have to pay the price. What is the price?
The price is yajna. Whatever you are getting from them, a part of it is
given back to them for their pleasure.

It has been pointed out in this chapter that the grains are actually meant
to be offered in sacrifice. Not all the grains, part of the grains, with the
milk in the form of ghee. These are the two essential things we are getting
from Mother Earth: cows' milk which is ultimately transformed into the
essence, the ghee, and the grains. And when it’s offered for the pleasure of
the demigods, that is sacrifice.

So in this way we can see that the food grains that are actually provided by
the Mother Earth have three aspects, three purposes. One is our personal
survival, for our food. The other is in the form of seeds to continue the
process of production. And another part is offered to the demigods in the
form of sacrifice. And then by getting that the demigods will provide. The
demigods means the devotees so here it is pointed out these are non
devotees. Mother Earth has pointed out she didn't say a special demon, she
said the non devotees. That means those who do not accept the authority of
Krishna and the arrangement made by Krishna.

So because they are exploited and today's world situation is like that,
that's why we can very easily conclude that what's going to happen to this
earth planet in a few years' time and if we do not rectify the situation.
Like we are seeing there are so many natural calamities taking place. One
natural calamity is the weather pattern is changing. Then there is excessive
heat, the heat waves, all the climactic conditions are changing so much. The
places which were hot, they're becoming extremely hot. The places that were
cold, even they are becoming hot. And although we have not seen, we are
seeing the rain is becoming scarce, the water is becoming scarce.

I remember when we used to travel in India, even twenty, thirty years back
we used to see the rivers even in winter, even in early summer, they were
full and rivers didn't become dry the way they are becoming now. Yamuna, the
way Yamuna changed the last thirty years. I remember when I used to come to
Vrindavan in the seventies, the Yamuna was full, nowadays it is becoming
dry. Most of the rivers are becoming dry. When we travel we see, we are
going over a bridge, but we are not actually going over a river, we are
going over some dry riverbeds.

So rivers are becoming dry, the sky is not generating rains. So what is
going to happen? It is probably only a matter of a few years when the earth
planet can actually become a desert. And then on top of that they are doing
so many things, like hybrid seeds. Then such intense, heavy fertilizers are
being used, they're burning out the soil. And this civilization is a very,
very destructive civilization. And what they are doing? They are causing
these calamities for themselves. Due to their reckless activities, the human
society today is causing such a calamitous situation for themselves in the
near future.

They are simply concerned about their temporary pleasure. That is what
materialistic was of life is. Just for a momentary pleasure, we are prepared
to sacrifice anything which begins with sex life. Just for a momentary
pleasure, they are prepared to undergo any kind of damage and loss. And in
the broader scale, the human society is running after a similar kind of
attitude, "Let us enjoy, even if it is for one day, one month or one year,
doesn't matter. Just have it. What will happen? We don't care."
They are not concerned with... At least they may survive, they may go
through their generation but what about their children? How they are
creating the future for their children? What kind of future they are
creating for their children? Their children will probably not have any food
to eat, they won't have any water to drink, they won't have any pure oxygen
to breathe.

It's happening, like thirty, forty years back no one could even think that
water could be polluted so bad that we have to drink only bottled water. We
won't be able to drink tap water, nobody ever thought of that. Prithu
Maharaja simply wanted the grains and seeds. And he used Svayambhuva Manu to
become the calf. Mother Earth in the form of a cow, she admitted that, "You
come, you present me a calf and I will provide."

Because the cow gives and provides for the sake of the calf but everyone
else benefits. The cow gives milk for the sake of the calf, the calf only
drinks a little bit but the rest of the milk is used for human beings. So
that is the nature of the cow and that is the nature of Mother Earth. She
said, "Present a calf, approach me in the proper way, I will provide."
So then Prithu Maharaja made Svayambhuva Manu into a calf and he got the
grains and seeds and all the wealth of mother nature. That was his need, to
establish the principle of sacrifice, yajna. And then different living
entities, different creatures came and fulfilled their needs. Like
Brihaspati was made a calf by the sages because he is the best of the sages.
So best of the community was made into a calf and they fulfilled their
needs. And what was their [the sages'] need? Their need was to control their
senses. The demigods made Indra into a calf. And what was their need from
Mother Earth? Soma-rasa, nectar.

And this verse is describing the demons, what is their need? Their need is
intoxicants. The demigods, the devas, thrive on nectar and the demons thrive
on intoxicants, and Mother Earth provided those intoxicants for them, like
alcohol and other such intoxicating beverages, that comes from the earth.
So in this way, Prithu Maharaja established the proper standard of receiving
things, the gifts from Mother Earth for the sake of prosperity of different
communities. The needs are not the same. The needs are according to one's
nature. Those who are in the mode of goodness, the demigods and their need
is in the mode of goodness. Those who are in the mode of passion... Rather I
should say that the demigods are not exactly in the mode of goodness, the
rishis are in the mode of goodness, the sages are in the mode of goodness
and their need was according to their nature and it was provided by Mother
Nature.

The demigods are in the mode of passion, and their needs are rather passion
and goodness. Their needs were provided by Mother Earth. The demons are in
the mode of passion and ignorance, passion in ignorance, and their needs
were also provided, according to their demoniac nature, by Mother Earth. And
according to their nature, their activities have also been prescribed. The
demigods’ activities are to give and the demons’ [sages’] activities are to
restrain their senses.

Jai Sri Sri Gaura Nitai ki jai! Jai Sri Sri Radha Rasabihari ki jai! Jai Sri
Sri Sita Rama Lakshman Hanuman ki jai!

So in this way different living entities have their different nature and
accordingly their activities have been prescribed and their necessities have
been prescribed, just according to their nature. And varnashrama means to be
engaged in our activities according to our propensities, and then it becomes
easy, it becomes joyful. But when the varnashrama is not there, then people
become engaged for other purposes.

In varnashrama, it is according to one's propensity and tendency. Those who
are in the mode of goodness, they act; they are engaged in a certain way and
being engaged in that way they feel happy. The people in the mode of passion
become engaged in a certain way; they feel happy doing what they are asked
to do and so forth. But when the varnashrama system is not there, then some
other factor, some other consideration becomes the motivation for the
activity and as a result of that, they are not happy, they suffer.
Like in today's society, people are not engaged according to their
propensity, not according to their nature, but people are engaged in
different activities for the sake of money. The criterion is money, not
whether one likes to do or not. The consideration is? How much money I will
earn, this job will fetch me more money, let me go for that. And as a result
of that, no one is happy. Everyone is suffering, because they may get money
but it doesn't fulfill their inner cravings which is set according to their
characteristics, according to their modes.

So this is how the whole society today has become so misguided that... Now
to rectify the situation, Prabhupada has given this ISKCON movement,
Prabhupada has created the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.
So we have to bring in the right understanding and educate people with the
right information and engage people according to their right, according to
their propensities. And the ultimate objective should be not just sacrifice,
the ultimate sacrifice.

The initial concept of sacrifice is yajna, is to please the demigods. But
the ultimate consideration of yajna is to please Krishna. This point can be
explained in this way that in the yajna, or offering it to the demigods, is
like giving the tax, paying the bill to different departments in the
government. The different departmental heads collect the funds, but then
what do they do? They offer it to the King, the head of the state. And he
decides what's to be done, because he is the ultimate consideration for
collection.

The initial stage of yajna is for the sake of the demigods' pleasure but
when the demigods receive those gifts, what do they do? They don't keep it
themselves, they offer it to Krishna. And that's a devotee, he's like a via
medium. He is not holding, like the departmental heads they are not...they
are collecting the money but not spending it themselves, they are just
offering it to the central treasury. And from there they get the budget.
They offer everything to the head of the state and then the head of the
state gives them the necessary budgets for them to spend, to fulfill their
purposes.

So similarly the demigods are actually departmental heads, but the Supreme
Personality of Godhead is Krishna. And everything is ultimately meant for
Him so when you offer it directly to Him, there is no need to go through the
via medium of the demigods, we can directly go to Krishna, especially when
Krishna is giving us that opportunity. In other ages, Krishna did not give
that opportunity to have direct access, but in Kali-yuga He gives that
opportunity: [BG 18.66]

sarva-dharman parityajya
mam ekam´ saranam´ vraja
aham´ tvam´ sarva-papebhyo
moks?hayisyami ma sucah

yat karosi yad asnasi
yaj juhoshi dadasi yat
yat tapasyasi kaunteya
tat kurushva mad-arpanam

That is the ultimate consideration. The ultimate consideration of yajna then
again in this age of Kali is sankirtan-yajna. We don't have to offer grains
in the sacrificial fire. If we do it that's all well and good, but even if
we can't do that, doesn't matter. A special yajna for this age is:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
[Kali Santarana Upanishad from the Krishna Yajur Veda]

You just chant the Hare Krishna Maha mantra and everything will be provided
by Krishna. And we are seeing that time and time again how it happens.
Recently I had an experience. In Ujjain there was an acute water shortage, I
mean, it became actually world news. When you go to different countries and
you hear, "I'm from Ujjain."

"Oh!" Because there has been so much broadcasting on the TV that the
scarcity of water which is in Ujjain. And so when that happened, the
district magistrate met with me and told me about the crisis, that there is
going to be an acute water shortage because the reservoir of water that they
have for the city supply, it dried out, only in April. Not April, say late
March it dried out. So rain wouldn't be there until July, so that meant
April, May, June and half of July, or practically end of July. So four
months without water. No proper supply of water.

So I told him that the water actually comes by the mercy of the Lord, so if
we do the sankirtan-yajna, the Lord will provide. So and then I proposed
that, "Let's have a three day harinama," and we did that, he arranged, he
was very supportive and the newspaper came and we had a press conference and
big publicity was there and so we had a three day long sankirtana. Right in
front of the temple we made a big pandal, blocked the road [laughs], we had
three-day long kirtana, non-stop, 24 hours a day, 72 hour long kirtana.
And then some of them were asking, they were expecting that right after the
third day there would be torrents of rain. And in the middle, actually some
of the press people came and asked me, "Do you think because of that there
will be rain?"

I said, "I don't care. I don't know whether it'll come in the form of rain,
whether it will come from the top or from the bottom, but the point is the
Lord will supply."

And then the acute shortage was there, and sometimes people came and said,
"Oh you said that will happen and this will happen, didn't happen."
Then my question to them was, "Did you come and participate in the
sankirtana? You didn't."

Then do you know what the reality was? That everywhere there was a huge
shortage. But in our temple there was no shortage. We had three wells. Those
three wells were full of water and I literally saw, when we told the press,
I kind of casually told them, "Whether the rain comes from the top or the
bottom, that's not the consideration, the consideration is: the Lord will
provide."

And so then not only we had sufficient supply, we had so much water that
every day we were giving out twenty to thirty tankards of water to the city.
So this is how Krishna actually responds, Krishna reciprocates. And another
thing that happened is there was one village, which was about 14km away from
Ujjain city, and those village people came, practically the whole village
came. That person who led them is a schoolteacher, he's also like the
landlord of that area and he is very well-respected and because he has
become a devotee, they're also following him. And he reported that after the
village people participated and when they went back in their village there
was rain and their village didn't have any scarcity of water.

So we see that our temple didn't have any scarcity, even at the driest
condition we had enough water, so much so that we could provide twenty-five
to thirty tankards, you know those big trucks with those big tanks? We had
been supplying thirty tankards every day to the village. And the water would
go down; some tankards would go down to one foot or two feet, just water.
And the Temple President, Ganganarayana came and reacted, "Oh, what will
happen if the water dries out?" But next morning you see that the water
level went up again. [laughs]

So this is how Krishna actually reciprocates and increases our faith. This
is the way to do, this is how to act. You render devotional service, Krishna
will reciprocate. And as a result of that, our faith will become
established.

Thank you very much, all glories to Srila Prabhupada! Gaura Premanande, Hari
Hari Bol!

Does anybody have any question or comments? Yes?

[Devotee asks question:] Though Prahlada is born in a demon family, he is a
great devotee of the Lord, why did he milk from the earth liquor?

[HHBCS:] Because that is their nature. You see the demoniac nature means
those who are in the mode of ignorance, they need that. Just like a tiger
needs meat, it's his nature. And Krishna made that arrangement. According to
one's nature, he will get what he wants, whatever he needs. Just like you
know a person in the mode of goodness will act a certain way, a person in
the mode of ignorance will act in another way. Right? Like a cow will act in
a certain way and dog will act in another way. A lion will act in another
way.

So Mother Nature provides. Well, if that is your constitution, fine, take,
drink. But don't stay in that situation, that's the thing. Become elevated.
The purpose of tamasic tantra will actually elevate from ignorance to
passion, passion to goodness and from goodness, transcendental goodness. And
Prahlada Maharaja, because he is born in a demoniac family, I mean, he has
been born for some reason also in that family.

That has been described in Hari Bhakti Vilas. In his previous life, Prahlada
Maharaja acted in a certain way, and as a result of that he had to be born
in a demoniac family. But although he took birth in a demoniac family, he
did something also in his previous life, like worshipping, unconsciously
fasting on Narsimha Chaturdashi, cleaned the temple and stayed up the whole
night. As a result of that, although born in a demoniac family, he became
devotee of Lord Nrisinghadev, but because of ajnata-sukriti.

OK, thank you very much. All glories to Srila Prabhupada! Gaur Premanande,
Hari, Hari Bol!

One Click A Day

A very beautiful slide show was sent to me by David Crick about the Gaura
Purnima 2012 celebrations, it is most attractive to watch such
presentations. We can take inspiration in Iskcon Ujjain ?

Please keep clicking on the websites (as added in attached files)

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Please find photos below of Gaura Purnima 2012 taken at Bhaktivedanta Manor,
and in London for the harinama.

Several photographers contributed to this set. Special thanks to Rukmini
Patel for her comprehensive coverage of the day, and to Nick Romensky for
additional photos of the harinama.

Slideshow:
http://davidc.zenfolio.com/gaura_purnima_2012/slideshow
(please turn on your speakers if you have Flash installed)

Gallery:
http://davidc.zenfolio.com/gaura_purnima_2012

With best wishes,

Hare Krishna,

David.

First Memorial Service For His Grace Harivamsa Prabhu

Yesterday, in Bhaktivedanta Manor, London, UK, the first memorial service
for His Grace Harivamsa Prabhu, a very dear disciple of His Holiness Bhakti
Charu Swami, was held in the auspicious presence of a packed temple room
full of devotees and congregation members. Eminent devotees like the
Bhaktivedanta Manor Temple President, His Grace Srutidhara and Srila
Prabhupada disciple His Grace Kripamoya Prabhu and others spoke on the
glorious life of Harivamsa Prabhu. The program went on until late at night.

A picture of Harivamasa Prabhu is shown in www.bcswami.com

His Grace Harivamsa Prabhu Ki Jaya!!
Jaya Sri Guru And Sri Gauranga !!
Jaya Srila Prabhupada !!

Achieve Your Immortality

THE FOLLOWING LECTURE ON THE SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM CANTO 3, CHAPTER 9, BRAHMA’S
PRAYERS FOR CREATIVE ENERGY, TEXT 15, WAS GIVEN BY HIS HOLINESS BHAKTI CHARU
SWAMI IN ISKCON UJJAIN, INDIA ON 28th JANUARY 2009.

Transcription : Her Grace Ranga Radhika Dasi
Editing : Ramananda Raya Dasa

Audio reference:
http://audio.iskcondesiretree.info/index.php?q=f&f=%2F02_-_ISKCON_Swamis%2FI
SKCON_Swamis_-_A_to_C%2FHis_Holiness_Bhakti_Caru_Swami%2FSrimad_Bhagavatam%2
FCanto-03\

yasyavatara-guna-karma-vidambanani
namani ye 'su-vigame vivasa grinanti
te 'naika-janma-samalam sahasaiva hitva
samyanty apavritamritam tam ajam prapadye

Synonyms:
yasya -- whose; avatara -- incarnations; guna -- transcendental qualities;
karma -- activities; vidambanani -- all mysterious; namani -- transcendental
names; ye -- those; asu-vigame -- while quitting this life; vivasah --
automatically; grinanti -- invoke; te -- they; anaika -- many; janma --
births; samalam -- accumulated sins; sahasa -- immediately; eva --
certainly; hitva -- giving up; samyanti -- obtain; apavrita -- open; amritam
-- immortality; tam -- Him; ajam -- the unborn; prapadye -- I take shelter.

Translation:
Let me take shelter of the lotus feet of Him whose incarnations, qualities
and activities are mysterious imitations of worldly affairs. One who invokes
His transcendental names, even unconsciously, at the time he quits this
life, is certainly washed immediately of the sins of many, many births and
attains Him without fail.

Purport:
The activities of the incarnations of the Supreme Personality of Godhead are
a kind of imitation of the activities going on in the material world. He is
just like an actor on a stage. An actor imitates the activities of a king on
stage, although actually he is not the king. Similarly, when the Lord
incarnates, He imitates parts with which He has nothing to do. In
Bhagavad-gita (4.14), it is said that the Lord has nothing to do with the
activities in which He is supposedly engaged: na mam karmani limpanti na me
karma-phale spriha. The Lord is omnipotent; simply by His will He can
perform anything and everything. When the Lord appeared as Lord Krishna, He
played the part of the son of Yasoda and Nanda, and He lifted the Govardhana
Hill, although lifting a hill is not His concern. He can lift millions of
Govardhana Hills by His simple desire; He does not need to lift it with His
hand. But He imitates the ordinary living entity by this lifting, and at the
same time He exhibits His supernatural power. Thus His name is chanted as
the lifter of Govardhana Hill, or Sri Govardhana-dhari. Therefore, His acts
in His incarnations and His partiality to the devotees are all imitations
only, just like the stage makeup of an expert dramatical player. His acts in
that capacity, however, are all omnipotent, and the remembrance of such
activities of the incarnations of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is as
powerful as the Lord Himself. Ajamila remembered the holy name of the Lord,
Narayana, by merely calling the name of his son Narayana, and that gave him
a complete opportunity to achieve the highest perfection of life.
[End of Purport]
yasyavatara-guna-karma-vidambanani
namani ye 'su-vigame vivasa grinanti
te 'naika-janma-samalam sahasaiva hitva
samyanty apavritamritam tam ajam prapadye

Let me take shelter of the lotus feet of Him whose incarnations, qualities
and activities are mysterious imitations of worldly affairs. One who invokes
His transcendental names, even unconsciously, at the time he quits this
life, is certainly washed immediately of the sins of many, many births and
attains Him without fail.

So Brahma is praying to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Narayana, and he
is pointing out here the advantage of taking shelter of the Supreme
Personality of Godhead. If one with faith accepts Him and surrenders unto
Him then he becomes free from all his sinful reactions. Sinful reactions
cause us suffering. Actually, nobody wants to suffer, everybody wants to
enjoy. So enjoyment is desirable but suffering is undesirable. When we are
enjoying then we don't mind. When we are enjoying the material nature
appears to be a very nice place but when we suffer then the trouble starts.
Then we say, "We don't want this."
So, what is the cause of suffering? The cause of suffering is sinful
reactions, reactions of sinful activities. When we act in a sinful way,
sinful way means when we act in an inappropriate way, in a wrong way, then
we commit sin and as a result of the sin we are subjected to punishments. We
are punished. All these difficulties or distresses, pain, that come to us is
actually a kind of punishment. These punishments are inflicted on us in
three ways: adhyatmika, adhidaivika and adhibhautika. Adhyatmika: the
sufferings that are caused by body and mind. We receive suffering, we
receive pain. How? Through this body and mind. Like somebody comes and hits
us with a rod, hits us with a stick. What is the cause of this pain,
receiving this pain? The body, adhyatmika. The body got afflicted. Okay,
somebody came and hit with a stick. Okay, we are climbing down the stairs
and we fell, and the body feels pain, suffering. Somebody, his mind is in
difficulty, in distress. In his mind he is thinking, "Why this happened to
me?" The body is alright but his mind is in distress. He has been removed
from his exalted position and his mind is in distress. "Why this happened?
Why this happened to me?" And he is so much in distress that he can't sleep
at night, he can't eat his food. His mind is troubling him. These are kinds
of adhyatmika sufferings. As we just mentioned earlier, somebody comes and
hits us with a stick. Somebody else came and inflicted the pain on us.
Actually, all the pains are received through the body and mind. The body is
actually the machine through which we receive pain. Somebody comes and hits
us with the stick, we feel pain. A mosquito comes and bites us and we get
malaria. So these are all adhibhautika: other living entities are giving
pain. And sometimes there is an earthquake or a flood, or a famine,
epidemic. These are actually caused by daivas, the demigods. The demigods
are causing these pains. So these are the three types of sufferings.
Can anyone be free from these sufferings? We may think that, "Oh, If I have
a lot of money then I won't have any suffering." But we can see that even
the richest person goes through these threefold miseries. These miseries we
cannot take control of. These miseries are bound to be there. But to some
people there are more miseries, to some people there are less miseries. So
when the miseries come, what do we have to understand? When the miseries
come then we have to understand that these miseries are due to our past
karma, either individual karma or collective karma. Like, generally daiva is
a collective karma. When there is a flood or when there is a famine, when
there is an earthquake many people go through the suffering at the same
time. So this is a result of collective karma. Or war, there is a war, so
rich and poor, everyone will go through the suffering. So individually or
collectively we are subjected to different types of punishments, different
types of sufferings.

Now, these sufferings are caused by our condition in the material nature,
our situation in the material nature. In the material nature everyone must
suffer. No matter how much you try to remove our suffering, we won't be able
to. Therefore, it is important to find out, how can we solve these problems?
Does anybody want to suffer? No. Nobody wants to suffer. So what to do? I
don't want to suffer but suffering comes. So what to do? So the solution has
been given here, through this prayer by Lord Brahma.
Lord Brahma is saying that even if somebody remembers Your name at the time
of quitting his body unconsciously, vivasa grinanti, vivasa means
unconsciously, without knowing why he is chanting, even if he does it
unconsciously, then what happens? Apavritamritam tam ajam, apavrita-amrtam,
the gate of immortality opens to him. Apavritam means opening, open up. He
is certainly washed immediately of the sins of many, many and he achieves
apavrita-amritam, amritam means immortality. He becomes free from sinful
reactions and he achieves immortality.

What is the meaning of the word immortality? Less intelligent people think
that immortality means that this body will never die. But does it happen?
No, this body will die. Maybe we can keep this body for a long time. Maybe
if the body can be elevated to the heavenly planet, there the body will live
for a long time. In the heavenly planet there is no death. So people think,
"If I can go to the heavenly planet then I will not die." But there also
there are two conditions. One goes to the heavenly planet due to his pious
activities and when the pious activities are finished then he has to come
down again. He falls from the heavenly planet. If we fall on the ground it
hurts. Can you imagine if we fall from that height what will happen? So the
living entities want to go to the heavenly planet thinking that they will
not die there, but there also the situation is not really immortal because
if our piety is finished then we will fall from the heavenly planet. Or when
the heavenly planet is also destroyed then we will also die. So there is no
place where there is immortality in this material nature.
These points have been very clearly established by many, many incidences in
the scriptures. Like, for example Hiranyakasipu is a classic example.
Hiranyakasipu performed so many austerities because he wanted to become
immortal, and he performed his austerities and he received Brahma's favor
and he thought by Brahma's mercy he will become immortal. But when Brahma
came Brahma said, "Look, you cannot become immortal. Even I am not immortal
so how can I make you immortal? When I myself am not immortal how can I make
you immortal?" Then Hiranyakasipu thought that he will trick Brahma and
attain immortality. Practically he tried to seal all the possibilities of
death. I will not die in this condition; I will not die in this condition
and so forth. But the Supreme Personality of Godhead can come and trick the
biggest trickers like Hiranyakasipu.

So, then what does immortality mean? In one hand we can see, like Brahma
told Hiranyakasipu, "There is no way that you can achieve immortality." But
here he is saying that if one just remembers the name of the Lord
unconsciously at the time of death he becomes immortal. So what is then the
mystery of immortality, the secret of immortality? The secret of immortality
is that one becomes situated in his spiritual identity and that spirit soul
is immortal. There are two considerations: make this body immortal or become
situated in your soul and achieve immortality because the soul is immortal.
Those who are foolish they try to make this body immortal but those who are
intelligent, what they do? They simply want to become situated in the
spiritual identity and become immortal.

Now the question is: what is the way to become situated in spiritual
identity? The process of becoming situated in spiritual identity is
surrender unto Krishna and become His servant. Just surrender unto Krishna.
As you surrender unto Krishna you become situated in your spiritual
identity. So this is how easy it is to become immortal. In order to become
immortal we won't have to perform austerities and penances like
Hiranyakasipu and Ravana and all these people did. They performed severe
austerities, inconceivably severe austerities. But there is no need to
perform these austerities and penances to become immortal. What is the
easiest way to become immortal? Just become situated in your immortal self.
You are immortal. Therefore one of the instructions at the beginning of the
Vedas is amrtasya putrah. Amrta means immortality and putrah means children.
All the living entities are children of immortality. By nature living
entities are immortal. But when the living entity forgets about his identity
then he becomes mortal. He forgets his spiritual identity and identifies
himself with the body, and the body is mortal, the body is perishable. So
what is the intelligent thing to do? What is the most intelligent thing to
do? Just become situated in your spiritual identity. How to become situated
in the spiritual identity? Just surrender unto Krishna. And when you
surrender unto Krishna then what will happen? Surrendering unto Krishna
means becoming a servant of Krishna. Surrender means accepting His supremacy
and becoming subordinate to Him. And when one is engaged in serving Krishna
he is situated in his spiritual identity. So what is needed is to become
situated in the spiritual identity. What is needed is to surrender unto
Krishna and become His servant. The process is as simple as that. To be
surrendered to Krishna means just giving up our false ego, giving up our
false identity and accepting a humble position. Therefore Mahaprabhu is
saying trnad api sunicena taror api sahisnuna. Become more humble than a
blade of grass, become more tolerant than a tree, as simple as that.
Sometimes devotees ask, "Oh, I am practicing devotional service for so long,
but why am I not making advancement?" Or in spite of serving for so many
years why do we see that devotees go away? They fall down from the spiritual
path. Why is that? We have to understand that they didn't surrender. They
came to devotional service, they were practicing devotional service but they
didn't surrender. They wanted to become the big controller. They wanted to
become the proprietor. They wanted to become the lord and master. So that's
why they could not make spiritual advancement. In course of time they just
left, they fell down. One doesn't fall down just by chance or accident. If
one is properly surrendered to Krishna then Krishna will give him
protection. Taking shelter of Krishna means Krishna is taking control of us.
When one sincerely surrenders to Krishna, Krishna takes control of him.
Krishna will protect him. Even if there is a possibility of fall down
Krishna will save him. But when one is not surrendered to Krishna then all
these problems start. Therefore, we should always remember that we have come
to the platform of spiritual service, spiritual platform of devotional
service. So the process is very simple: surrender. Surrender! Surrender to
Krishna means surrender to the representatives of Krishna. Surrender to
Krishna means surrender to those who are representing Krishna to you. That
means surrender to your authority. Not only that I will surrender to my guru
and I won't surrender to anybody else. No, that is not surrender. Surrender
means surrendering to the authority. The authority structure is there by
Krishna's arrangement. You have your departmental heads. You have your
temple president. You have your GBC. You have your senior devotees. They all
are representing Krishna. So surrender to them. It is a neophyte mentality
to think that I will surrender only to my guru and not to anybody else. It's
a neophyte, like not a very advanced devotee. But it is good that he is
surrendering. That is good, but it is not a very advanced situation.
Another consideration is, sometimes we notice: I will surrender only as long
as I get MY desires fulfilled. My wish, as long as it is fulfilled, I am
surrendering. When everybody is flattering me, when everybody is giving me
big position, when everyone is giving me a nice plate of mahaprasada, then I
am surrendering. But the moment it is stopped then no surrender. "Ah, why
did they do this to me?!" That is not surrender. That is a conditional
surrender, neophyte surrender. Surrender means I have surrendered to
Krishna, I have taken shelter of Krishna. He knows what to do with me. I
have taken shelter of Him. Krishna is omnipotent, Krishna is omnipresent,
Krishna is omniscient. Krishna is seeing everything, Krishna knows
everything and Krishna can do anything. So if I am truly surrendered to
Krishna then Krishna will do whatever is necessary. Therefore, the first
consideration is faith. We have to have this faith that Krishna is God.
Krishna is seeing everything, Krishna knows everything and Krishna can do
everything, whatever is necessary. So when I am surrendered to Krishna I
just can relax. I am surrendered to Krishna, now all I want to do, all I
need to do is serve Krishna. Just serve Krishna under the guidance of
Krishna's devotees. Again, surrendered means to be surrendered to Krishna's
devotees.

So the process is very simple, but the question is how we are going to
practice this process, how we are going to follow this process. And here
Brahma is saying, through his prayer to the Lord, that when one surrenders
unto You, when one remembers You being sheltered by You, being submissive to
You, then he becomes delivered. Brahma is making another point here, that in
order to make everybody understand that, You perform all these wonderful
activities and pastimes. You perform these wonderful pastimes so that people
will become inspired to surrender to You. Your avatara
guna-karma-vidambanani, they are mysterious, Your avatara, Your incarnation,
mysterious. You appeared like a half-lion half-man. You appeared like a
boar. You appeared like a fish. You appeared like a dwarf. So these are
mysterious: why do You appear like that? But You appear with a purpose. And
those activities that You perform through Your incarnations they are like
the acts of a play, a play on a stage, a drama on a stage. You are playing
the role of somebody. You don't need to do that. You don't need to do that.
Just like a drama. Somebody is playing the role of someone. The person may
be a poor person, doesn't even have the money to have his food, now he is
playing the role of a king on a stage. Is he a king? No, he is not a king.
He is just a poor actor but when he plays the role of a king on a stage, if
he is a good actor what does it look like? It looks like he is a real king.

Similarly Krishna, although He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He
plays like a human child. He plays like an ordinary human being. Krishna is
not an ordinary human being. Krishna is not a cowherd boy in that sense. He
is not ordinary; He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But what is
happening? He is stealing butter. Does Krishna need to steal butter? He can
flood the whole universe with butter! [laughs] And He is stealing butter as
if He is hungry to eat something. Then mother Yashoda is chasing Him and He
is running away. Does Krishna need to run away out of fear? When mother
Yashoda catches Krishna He starts to cry. Does Krishna need to be afraid and
start crying? Then what is this? It is acting. It is acting, very good
acting, and very expert acting. He acts so well that you can't make out that
He is acting. Now why He is doing that? He is doing that to give pleasure to
His devotees. Itidrk sva-lilabhir anandakunde sva ghosam nimajjantam, sva
ghosam means His devotees. [Sri Damodarastakam, verse 3] To submerge His
devotees in an ocean of ecstasy Krishna is acting like that.

So these are His activities simply to attract the living entities towards
Him, simply to have a loving exchange with His devotees and simply to
inspire everybody to surrender unto Him. When we hear the activities of
Krishna then we understand that how wonderful it is to surrender to Krishna.
It is so wonderful to surrender to Krishna. What happens? We surrender to
Krishna, we get to see through these pastimes. There was a fire all of a
sudden in the middle of the forest. They were tending the cows and the fire
was a blazing fire that came from all four directions. There was no way to
run away. They saw the fire, they wanted to run this way then they saw the
fire this way. They wanted to run this way they saw the fire that way, so
everywhere there is fire. If you are in a situation like that, what's going
to happen? Won't you become extremely afraid? So that is how the cowherd
boys felt, and what did they do? They started to cry out, "Krishna! Krishna!
Please save us from this situation! Krishna, please tell me what are You
going to do?!" Then Krishna said, "Don't worry, just close your eyes." They
closed their eyes. "Okay, now you can open your eyes." The fire was gone!
Krishna just swallowed the fire up.

Now, does Krishna have to be present in order to do that? Yes, Krishna has
to be present and Krishna is present everywhere. If this happens to you in a
situation like this, you don't have to be in Vrindavana with Krishna to be
saved like that. You can be anywhere and you are in that situation, call out
to Krishna, ask for His help. Krishna will come and save you. He may not
swallow the fire, but He has His way of saving you. He has His way of
saving. Therefore it is important to always remember that if I take shelter
of Krishna, Krishna will give me protection. Avasya rakshibe Krishna visvasa
palana. [song by Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura, Saranagati section five] Avasya
means positively, definitely, rakshibe Krishna, Krishna will protect. If I
take shelter of Krishna, Krishna will protect me. There is no doubt about
that. So that faith we have to have and with that faith we must surrender. A
classic example is Draupadi is calling out to Krishna. Draupadi is calling
out to Krishna when Dushasana is trying to disrobe her. She is calling out
to Krishna with one hand holding on to her sari, the other hand raised up.
Krishna didn't come. When she gave up both the arms and she raised up both
the arms in calling out to Krishna, yes, Krishna started to supply endless
amount of sari. So that is how Krishna protects.

So when we are surrendering we should have total surrender, not hold on to
something. Maybe Krishna will protect, if He doesn't then let's have some
money in the bank so that I can take some action if necessary. Krishna will
do that even then. Krishna will protect but it is better to be fully
surrendered, unconditional surrender. And unconditional surrender means
whether He will keep me or whether He will kill me, it's up to Him. If You
kill me that's also fine but if I am surrendered to You, that would mean
that when somebody comes to kill me I won't see that person, I will see You.
You have come to kill me. It can be possible. You killed Hiranyakasipu, so
if I am a demon like Hiranyakasipu please come and kill me. Because by being
killed by You I will be delivered. So that is the advantage of being killed
by Krishna. Not that Krishna will always protect us. Krishna can even kill
us, but if Krishna kills that's the most wonderful achievement. So we have
to see Krishna as our Supreme Shelter: even if You kill me, I am taking
shelter of You. But then what will happen? When one takes shelter of Krishna
can he be killed? He cannot be killed.

This surrender is something like, the teeth of a cat is like death
personified to a rat. To a rat the jaws of a cat is death. And you know
where a cat bites when he catches a rat? Right here, at the back of [the
neck]. The cat and tiger, lions, when they kill an animal they grab the
animals at the back of the neck and they give a twist and that's how they
kill. At first what they do is drink the blood. Tigers, lions, they all do
the same, even the rats. Cats kill rats and tigers and lions kill bigger
animals. Now when the cat carries the baby cat to safety, how does the cat
carry the baby cat? Does the baby cat jump on to the cat's back and ride? Or
does the cat carry the baby cat on her arms and carry it? How does the cat
carry a kitten? Grabs on the back of the neck and carries it. Although it
may seem like the cat is going to kill that baby cat, but does the baby cat
become afraid? No, the baby cat thinks, "My mother is carrying me. I don't
have to worry about anything." He is perfectly alright. So similarly a
devotee, even though it may seem that Krishna is killing him but the
devotee's attitude is that He is my Supreme Lord, He is carrying me to
safety. And that's what the cat does to the baby cat and that's what
Krishna does to His devotees. Others may think, "Oh, the devotee has been
killed by Krishna." No! The devotee has been carried by Krishna to ultimate
safety.

So this is how Krishna actually protects His devotees, Krishna takes care of
His devotees and these are His pastimes. The pastimes are all transcendental
and wonderful. His incarnation is wonderful, His activities are wonderful
and His qualities are wonderful.

Hare Krishna! Gaura Premanande Hari Haribol! Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!
Does anybody have any question? Yes, Krishnarchana?

Devotee: I have a couple of questions.
BCS: A couple of questions!
Devotee: The first question is, in the purport Prabhupada explains that
Krishna's activities are like an actor on the stage. He gives the example
of the king, but the actor is actually not the king. The example can be
interpreted in a totally different way [inaudible]
BCS: You see, the examples are simply to give a direction, an indication.
The example itself is not the full statement. Like for example, it may be
said that look at that tree and in between those two branches the moon is
there. So you are indicating the moon but it doesn't mean the moon is
existing between the two branches of the tree. Does the moon exist between
the two branches of the tree? But it is a way to point out to give some
idea, to give some understanding. So when such examples are given of an
actor, therefore Krishna is acting it is not real. But the real point is
that Krishna is so real that whatever He does becomes the Absolute Truth,
not only truth, it becomes the Absolute Truth. Whatever is in connection
with Him is Absolute Truth. That is Krishna. Param satyam param, satyam
param, He is not only satya, He is param satya, so much so that whatever
comes in contact with Him also becomes satyam.

Devotee: And the other question is regarding surrender. You said that the
service attitude should be total and unconditionally. When one finds himself
in a situation where he is not yet able to fully surrender in a particular
situation, then should he express that or should he, you know, I mean keep
praying [unclear]
BCS: Yes, the question is if somebody is surrendering but he is not able to
surrender in a particular condition, what should he do? Should he continue
or should he give up? Practice means whether you like it or not, you should
carry on. That is the meaning of practice. Practice, keep on doing it and
then the result will be there. So, fine, you can't surrender in a certain
condition, in a certain situation. You can do two things. Either you can
carry on doing it, even though it is difficult. But if it is not possible to
continue in that way then change the situation in consultation with your
higher authorities. But the main point is not to give up. Like, in India in
summer it is very hot. You can't render your service; you can't really
surrender because it is becoming too hot. Fine, go to London, like
Priyavrata does. [laughter]

Devotee: Sometimes we see that pure devotees, while they are taking shelter
of the Holy Name, they also perform severe austerities. Like Dhruva
Maharaja, when he was taking shelter of the Holy Name he was also performing
severe austerities and penances. What is the use of such austerities?
BCS: Okay, so I am repeating the question so that those who are watching
through the broadcast can also understand what the question is. The question
is you said that for a devotee there is no need to perform austerities and
penances, just to surrender, but we still we find that personalities like
Dhruva Maharaja perform so much austerities. Yes, you see, Dhruva Maharaja
was in Satya Yuga and in Satya Yuga the people were so exalted that they
could naturally perform such austerities without difficulty. For Dhruva
Maharaja to go to the forest and perform these austerities was not at all
difficult because he was so exalted. But in the age of Kali it is not
possible. Therefore Krishna made the process very simple. No performance of
austerities. The austerities in this age are no meat eating, no
intoxication, no illicit sex, no gambling. This is the austerity for this
age. And eat as much mahaprasada as you want! [laughter] Chant as many
rounds as you want, become intoxicated by the Holy Name. So all the
spiritual alternatives are there. So that's why there is no need to
separately perform austerities. Yeah, another austerity is perform Ekadasi.
But you can see in ISKCON Ekadasi is not an austerity, Ekadasi is a feast.
The only austerity is no grain, no grains, no beans, but have all kinds of
sabudana khichari. Nowadays they have this one kind of rice also. The other
day I was in Bombay. Nowadays because I have to take medicines I can't
observe Ekadasis so strictly. Last Ekadasi I was in Bombay and I was staying
in somebody's house and they served me puris, not puri, like parathas. And I
said, "Today is Ekadasi." They said, "Yes, it is Ekadasi paratha."
[laughter] The parathas are made of water chestnut flour. So this is how we
are performing our austerities in this age. [laughter] Just chant the Holy
Name, becoming surrendered to the lotus feet of the Lord and He will take
care.
Any other question? Yes, Raghava Pandita?

Devotee: My question is on surrendering. You said we have to surrender to
the authorities and devotees, but surrender does it come spontaneously? By
seeing the authorities, or by vaidhi bhakti, we have to study?
BCS: Initially it is vaidhi bhakti practice, but after practice it will
become spontaneous. It becomes spontaneous. The main thing is that we have
to surrender.

Devotee: [inaudible]
BCS: Not 'maar maar ke' [meaning by beating up], if you want to beat up,
beat up yourself. But yes, surrender has to be there. Initially our mind is
rebellious so then you have to beat the mind sometimes because surrender you
have to. This surrender should not be conditional, it should be
unconditional. And then you can see how others are being surrendered. That's
the advantage of being in the association of devotees. You can see others
are being surrendered. Others are being happily engaged in their service.
Then you can question: what's wrong with me? What's wrong with me? Others
are doing fine. This is how you have to control your mind. The mind is
actually rebellious. The mind doesn't want to surrender. The mind will say,
"Why surrender?! You are a bigger boss. He is a big devotee but you are an
even bigger devotee! So they should recognize you as the biggest personality
so everybody should surrender to you." That's what the mind will say. But
what is the devotional or spiritual attitude? Become more humble than a
blade of grass. I am not big, I am small. I haven't come to ISKCON to become
big. I have come to ISKCON to become more humble than a blade of grass. So
if you maintain that attitude then everything will become easy but if we
allow the mind to play tricks then the mind will say so many things. The
mind will say [in Hindi], "Dekho, maar maar ke tumhe musalman bana raha
hai," jaise tum bol rahe the.

Devotee: [inaudible]
BCS: [translation from Hindi] If you can just surrender that's the most
important. For that you don't need to practice. The difficulty comes when
you are not able to surrender. That's why you need to practice.
Yes, Soni?
[audio recording discontinued]

My memories with Srila Gurudeva

Article Sent By Sumeet Prabhu From Delhi.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

All glories to Srila Gurudeva

*** Gurudev's sublime Mercy ! ***

I had shifted to Gurgaon in April 2011 and started visiting Radhey Shyam
Prabhu's house for Srimad Bhagwatam class early morning every day. Since
then Gurudev visited our place and other devotees few times. In one of his
visits in November at Radhey Shyam Prabhu's house, Gurudev gave a lecture
and then asked if there were any questions. Aarti Mataji (aspiring disciple
of HH Mahanidhi Maharaj) asked him what should she do to invite sanniyasis
and senior devotees at her place. She further stated that she has been
doing 16rounds and follows all regulative principles diligently for past 4
yrs. However, whenever she has invited anybody to serve, they chose to go
to other devotees' houses and she feels very distraught.

On this Gurudev asked "Do you call them with all love and devotion? Can you
demonstrate how you invite them." Mataji said with folded hands, "I humbly
request to give me an opportunity to serve your lotus feet. Pls come to
our home and honour the prasadam and bless my family."

Gurudeva looked at her and smiled, "ok, I accept your invitation and shall
come to your place for prasadam next time I visit Gurgaon." Mataji was
stunned and became very ecstatic. The next trip to Gurgaon was not long
away. He came back in November to catch onward flight to Russia and called
her, "I am coming for prasadam tomorrow afternoon to your place." Needless
to say, she made very sumptuous prasadam and was indebted to gurudev for
his sublime mercy...

I have never seen such merciful individual in my life. Gurudev has immense
power to discriminate whose prayers are pure. The lesson I have learnt from
this episode is: "If one desires with all honesty, surrender and
devotion, Gurudev surely grants the wish."

I humbly pay my respectful shat shat (100 times) obeisances to him and seek
his blessings and mercy for me to evolve and grow in spiritual path.

Trying to be your servant,

Sumeet

Daksha Conflicts With Lord Shiva

THE FOLLOWING LECTURE ON THE SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM CANTO 4, CHAPTER 2, DAKSA
CURSES LOFD SHIVA, TEXT 29, WAS GIVEN BY HIS HOLINESS BHAKTI CHARU SWAMI IN
ISKCON SRIDHAMA MAYAPURA, INDIA, ON 26 APRIL 2010.

Transcription : His Grace Nimesh
Editing : Her Grace Hemavati Radhika Dasi

nasta-sauca mudha-dhiyo
jata-bhasmasthi-dharinah
visantu siva-diksayam
yatra daivam surasavam

WORD-FOR-WORD MEANINGS

nasta-saucah -- cleanliness being abandoned; mudha-dhiyah -- foolish;
jata-bhasma-asthi-dharinah -- wearing long hair, ashes and bones; visantu --
may enter; siva-diksayam -- into initiation of worship of Siva; yatra --
where; daivam -- are spiritual; sura-asavam -- wine and liquor.

TRANSLATION
Those who vow to worship Lord Siva are so foolish that they imitate him by
keeping long hair on their heads. When initiated into worship of Lord Siva,
they prefer to live on wine, flesh and other such things.

PURPORT
Indulging in wine and meat, keeping long hair on one's head, not bathing
daily, and smoking ganja (marijuana) are some of the habits which are
accepted by foolish creatures who do not have regulated lives. By such
behavior one becomes devoid of transcendental knowledge. In the initiation
into the Shiva mantra there are mudrikastaka, in which it is sometimes
recommended that one makes his sitting place on the vagina and thus desire
nirvana, or dissolution of existence. In that process of worship, wine is
needed, or sometimes, in place of wine, palm tree juice which is converted
into an intoxicant. This is also offered according to Shiva-agama, a
scripture on the method of worshiping Lord Shiva.

CLASS
So this is the episode describing Daksha-yajna, the sacrifice that was
organised by Daksha, and this is a preview. Before that sacrifice, there was
an assembly, another sacrifice where all the demigods assembled and Daksha
came there, and Lord Shiva and Lord Brahma did not get up to show respects
to him. All the other demigods, all the other personalities present there,
they all stood up. Brahma didn't stand up to offer respect to him because
Brahma was a senior; Brahma is the father of Daksha. But Lord Shiva is the
son-in-law of Daksha. So when Daksha saw this, that Lord Shiva did not stand
up to offer him worship...

In that assembly, Daksha became very, very upset and he left the assembly,
cursing Lord Shiva that he will not get the yajna-bhag, he will not get any
share of that yajna. This yajna is something, the sacrifice, something that
the demigods derive their pleasure from. Krishna says in Bhagavad-gita,
saha-yajnah prajah sristva / purovaca prajapatih? (BG 3.10). At the time of
creation, Krishna created the demigods as the different personalities in
charge of different departments of universal affairs. That is the demigods,
devas and devis. There are various departments in the universal affairs:
water department, fire department, wind department, rain department, sun
department, moon department, education department, finance department.

And just as in a country, in a state for the smooth operation and the
benefit of the citizens, different departments are created and those
departments have different personalities heading those departments,
similarly, not similarly, but originally in the universal affair also there
were these kinds of departmental arrangements. And Krishna appointed
different demigods as in charge of those different departments, so they are
the devas. And at the same time, Krishna also created the praja, the living
entities.

Now, living entities derive their benefit from those departments. In order
to survive, we need water, we need air, we need fire, we need the light of
the sun, we need education and they need their flourishing aspects...we need
wealth, we need education, living entities need those things, and those
things are supplied by those departments, and as a result of that, the
living entities are meant to offer their sacrifice. So that is the
saha-yajnah prajah sristva, at the beginning of the creation Krishna
created.

Now, this yajna, performance of yajna, is something like paying the bills to
the department, like we use electricity, we consume water, we consume so
many different things from the state and at the end of the month or at the
end of the year in some cases, there comes a bill. We have to pay the bill,
we have to pay the tax. So those departments flourish from those payments.
Similarly, in the universal affairs the demigods flourish by performance of
sacrifice. All the demigods have their share of the sacrifice. But Daksha,
who was one of the heads of society, one of the heads of the universal
affairs, very exalted personality... This is Daksha, daksha means expert,
and he, because Lord Shiva did not stand up to show respect to him, he felt
very insulted.

Now, this actually is an indication that Daksha, although a very exalted
personality, but he was not exalted enough to understand or recognize the
exalted position of a pure devotee. Please understand why Lord Shiva did not
stand up. The reason Lord Shiva didn't stand up, because he was so absorbed
in his meditation and so absorbed in his thoughts of Lord Sankarshan, his
worshippable Lord, that he did not have any external consciousness; he did
not notice who was coming and who was going, he was sitting there completely
absorbed, serving his Lord and chanting the glories of his Lord and master.

So this shows, which will be revealed later on, that Daksha was very, very
gross materialist. He was very expert materially, but spiritually he was not
so advanced. Therefore Daksha cursed Lord Shiva, that he won't get any
sacrifice and not only that, he harboured a very, very strong resentment
towards Lord Shiva, so much so that later on when he performed his
sacrifice... Two sacrifices he performed. The second one was very special
sacrifice, the avabhrta yajna. In that sacrifice, where all the exalted
personalities of the universe were invited, he deliberately did not invite
Lord Shiva and his own daughter, youngest Sati. So that's why Daksha...

Anyway, an uninvited Sati came to the assembly and Daksha just completely
disregarded her and insulted, and started to blaspheme Lord Shiva. As a
result of that, Sati left her body, that will be described in next couple of
chapters, those incidents. But here, when Daksha insulted Lord Shiva, in
this way, then Lord Shiva's chief associate, Nandishvara, could not tolerate
the insult to Lord Shiva. So, at that time, he actually cursed the followers
of Daksha, the caste brahmanas: those who were brahmanas by birth and that
curse became...and then Bhrigu also countercursed the associates of Lord
Shiva. So this verse is actually describing the curse, the countercurse that
Bhrigu gave to the followers of Lord Shiva.

Recordings of the class stop here.

The Law Of The Supreme Creator Part 2

THE FOLLOWING LECTURE ON THE SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM CANTO 3, CHAPTER 9, BRAHMA’S
PRAYERS FOR CREATIVE ENERGY, TEXT 13, WAS GIVEN BY HIS HOLINESS BHAKTI CHARU
SWAMI IN ISKCON UJJAIN, INDIA ON 1 JANUARY 2008.

Transcription : Her Grace Ranga Radhika Dasi
Editing : Ramananda Raya Dasa
Audio reference:
http://audio.iskcondesiretree.info/index.php?q=f&f=%2F02_-_ISKCON_Swamis%2FI
SKCON_Swamis_-_A_to_C%2FHis_Holiness_Bhakti_Caru_Swami%2FSrimad_Bhagavatam%2
FCanto-03\

Thank you very much. Does anybody have any question? Yes?

Devotee: Guru Maharaja, Brahma was the first living entity, he was just
born, and there was nothing else at that time, then how is he talking about
austerities and various people?
BCS: Yeah. You see, it is a situation after he got the revelation. He got
the mantra, Gayatri, he meditated upon the Gayatri, saw the Supreme
Personality of Godhead and then he is situated in perfect knowledge. Then he
is not dealing only with this life, his whole awareness is not of the
spiritual reality but also of the material nature from the past. And from
the past he is actually deducting these conclusions.
Any other questions?

Devotee: I have a question. Everything should be offered to the Supreme
Lord, Brahma is saying, but the thing is the living entities actually came
to the material world and they are separately from Krishna. So then how was
it possible that the living entities will feel like offering anything to
Krishna unless they are spiritually advanced. How is it possible?
BCS: Yeah, that’s why the living entities need the guidance. A living entity
becomes aware of his spiritual identity and becomes aware of the Supreme
Personality of Godhead only when he comes across a spiritual teacher. And
what does the spiritual teacher or spiritual master do? He guides him, he
instructs him what to do and what not to do. On his own he cannot learn
anything. On his own he cannot know anything. And that is not only about the
spiritual subject, that is the case with anything, even material knowledge.
How did you get to know that there is a country called America?

Devotee: By hearing from teacher.
BCS: By hearing from authoritative source, reading from books. Your teacher
taught you through the books of geography and that’s how you got to know. So
in this way for every[one] to receive knowledge you need the guidance of
books and qualified teachers. So the informations of these higher topics are
available through the books called scriptures and the teachers are there to
teach you on those subjects.
Yes, Ian?

Devotee: Sometimes it is difficult to understand when people give you
something but you don’t know how they got it, what they did to get these
things, like money or whatever. So if we know that they did it in a fraud
way, in a bad way, can we accept it?
BCS: Yeah, you can accept it provided you are going to offer it to Krishna.

Devotee: Then it is okay?
BCS: Then it is okay, otherwise you have to take the karma. If he got it
through some unfair means, if he got it by committing some sin and then you
get it from him and you enjoy it, then you will be subjected to that sin
that was involved in that. Therefore, when you are taking something for
yourself, it is always better to pay some price. That way the karmic aspect
will be nullified.

Devotee: Sometimes it is difficult to explain to the people in the West.
They say so whatever they do is good as long as you give it to Krishna and
they don’t understand that.
BCS: I see, yeah. See that understanding will come when they understand who
Krishna is, who God is.

Devotee: The only way I could explain is, like Arjuna didn’t want to fight
and he had to fight. He had to kill, and that is difficult to understand for
them.
BCS: Well, okay, so that can be explained in this way. A judge has given
death sentence to somebody. Why? Because he killed somebody. So for that
crime the punishment is death sentence. Now the executioner is killing that
person. Now is it his act of killing? He is simply following the order. In
that way he will never be considered as a killer. Previously there used to
be executioners. They used to take that axe and chop the head off, or take a
sword and chop the head off. But now they give poison. They do that but the
person who is executing that order, does anybody call him a criminal? Does
anybody call him a killer? No, because he is actually carrying out the order
of a system. Therefore he is not personally responsible for that. Hare
Krishna. Yes?

Devotee: There are a few questions. This question is by Guru Gauranga
prabhu. Here in this purport Srila Prabhupada states that anything done on
account of the Lord is a permanent asset and accumulates in the form of
unseen piety or gradual promotion to the unalloyed devotional service of the
Lord. Some people [inaudible]
BCS: I see. The last part, read it again?

Devotee: He just quoted from the purport: Anything done on account of the
Lord is a permanent asset and accumulates in the form of unseen piety for
gradual promotion to the unalloyed devotional service of the Lord. People
sayi
BCS: Let me seeisign of devotioniYeah, so maybe he’ll come back. Guru
Gauranga, the last part of your question is not clear. It came up to some
people say, but maybe you can just add to that, like what is the actual
question?

Devotee: He didn’t finish the question. I think he will come back.
BCS: Okay.

Devotee: This question is by bhaktin Karen. Is it possible for material
scientists to learn anything of the actual creation? Are any materially
accepted theories valid?
BCS: Any materially accepted?

Devotee: Any materially accepted theories valid.
BCS: Accepted series?

Devotee: Theories.
BCS: Theory, oh, whether any materialistic theory is valid. It will depend
how correct it is to the actual reality. Like, what the materialistic
scientists are doing, they are simply observing something and they’re coming
to a conclusion. They are observing something, they are developing their
hypothesis, meaning they are speculating by observing something, and then
they are trying to justify that hypothesis with some logical observations or
research and then after supporting it with the substantial research they are
making it a thesis or a theory. Now observations are not reliable all the
time. Like, just by observing something you may not know the real thing.
Say for example, this is actually a kind of a joke, but to make the point I
will say it. You see, in India the washermen, how do they wash the cloth?
They go to a pond and they dip the thing in water, put soap and they hit it
on a piece of stone. That’s how they used to clean before the washing
machine came into action. So one Englishman saw a washerman is cleaning
cloth like that, so he wrote to his people back home in England saying the
people here in India are so stupid that I saw one man, he was trying to
break a stone with cloth, hitting it with a piece of cloth. [laughter] Now,
you see, if that is his conclusion, that he is trying to break the stone by
hitting it with a piece of cloth, and if his theory is simply based on that
observation, he’ll never come to any conclusion, any justified conclusion.
But if the Englishman was intelligent enough then what he should have done?
He should have asked the person what he’s actually doing and then he
would’ve known, “Oh, I see. He is actually cleaning cloth.” So that is the
fallacy of the modern scientists in many cases. They are simply basing
everything on their observation. But in reality our observation is so
limited, and just by observing something you cannot really understand.
Like, for example, when I was a child and I used to listen to the radio I
used to think that inside the radio there are small, small people actually
making the sound. [laughter] They are singing, they are talking. Now, if I
based my knowledge with that, that inside the radio there are small, small
people and if I tried to create a theory out of that, would that theory ever
receive any validity? Therefore the intelligent thing is to receive
knowledge from the higher source. Those who know, receive the knowledge from
them. Then it is easy.

Devotee: Here is the question by Guru Gauranga prabhu. He’s come back. Some
people say that we are only performing devotional service but the Lord
accepts a devotee, otherwise it is considered practice of devotional
service. Here we see that all activities dedicated to the Lord gradually
promote one to devotional service.
BCS: Yeah, okay. You see, devotional service has two aspects: one is
devotional service in practice and then perfected devotional service. So it
is not that the moment one comes to the platform of devotion he immediately
achieves his perfection. Like, he comes to a platform and the initial stage
is to, the devotion actually has two considerations: one aspect is surrender
and the other aspect is the action to please the Supreme Personality of
Godhead. As soon as one begins he doesn’t come to the platform of perfection
like any other situation. So gradually by performing devotional service he
comes to the platform of perfection. So that is what Brahmaji is saying here
that initially one can offer the results of his actions to the Supreme
Personality of Godhead. He may have acted for the sake of his own sense
gratification, for his enjoyment, but he is offering the results of his
actions to the Lord, and by doing that gradually he will become purified and
come to the platform of perfection.
Now to give an example of how it happens, initially one is acting according
to the instructions. The scriptures say that offer the results of your
actions to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Because it has been
instructed in the scriptures he does that. He offers the results to the
Supreme Personality of Godhead. He doesn’t really understand that the
Supreme Personality of Godhead isi how He is receiving it, or whether He is
receiving it all together at all, but because he has been instructed by his
spiritual master he acts accordingly, offering the results. But then by
offering the results he sees that he is getting the results out of that. He
sees that by doing that he is getting so many benefits and gradually it
becomes clearer and clearer to him. He begins to realize that it is not just
a one way thing, that he is offering and the Lord is not accepting but he
begins to realize that the Lord is accepting and the Lord is reciprocating.
And in this way his submission to the Lord becomes more intensified. His
consciousness of God or his awareness of God becomes clear, and he, because
he receives the benefit out of it, his impetus for rendering service also
increases and in this way, gradually, through this reciprocation with the
Lord, through this loving exchange, through this receiving the benefits and
rewards, his intensity improves or increases and finally he comes to a point
when he is prepared to offer himself and everything that he has to the Lord
and that is the point of pure devotional service. Is that clear, Guru
Gauranga?

Devotee: Guru Maharaja, there is a question by someone called Farah, asking
if a devotee falls down in this lifetime will he resume more chances in his
next lifetime?
BCS: What’s that? What’s the question?

Devotee: If a devotee falls down in this lifetime, will he resume more
chances in his next lifetime?
BCS: He resumes more chances?

Devotee: Does he resume more chances in his next lifetime?
BCS: Oh okay, whether he will get any chance in his next lifetime. It will
depend. Some day he will get a chance but there is no guarantee that it will
be in the next life. So why wait for that? So even if somebody falls down in
this life he should just stand up and continue in this life only, not wait
for the next lifetime because who knows what is going to happen in the next
life? Don’t wait for your next life. So if you have fallen in this life
don’t remain in that fallen condition and continue. That should be my
advice. But yes, when he will resume in his next life then he will begin
from the point where he left. But what is the guarantee in WHICH next life
that will be? After one million lifetimes? Why wait for that? Therefore,
once you have come to this platform, don’t give up. Continue. Even if you
fall, stand up and keep walking. And if you are serious then you will see
how the Lord is helping you when you try to stand up. And what to speak of
when you are in the association of devotees and if you have some difficulty,
what will the devotees do? Those who are around you. They’ll help you to
stand up. They’ll even carry you if you have difficulty. Like, for example,
when you are climbing a mountain in a group and if you fall, if you get
injured, what will your other team members do? Will they leave you there,
waiting for you to die? Or they’ll help you to stand up? They’ll even carry
you if necessary! So that is why the association of devotees is so
important.
Okay, Hare Krishna! Next question, yeah?

Devotee: When someone surrenders himself to the Lord does he maintain any
attachments to his wealth, even though devotees in today’s world need money
to maintain themselves?
BCS: Yeah, you see, when one is in a household situation, when he has
responsibilities, it is advised that he maintains some reserve for the tough
times, if at all there is. Now one may be surrendered but when one has a
family, he is surrendered to the Lord but that doesn’t mean that he is has
to offer all the money that he has in the bank to the Lord. Because he has
other responsibilities, he is advised, yeah, you save something for your
rainy days. But the more conducive situation in this respect will be, you
offer yourself to the Lord and along with yourself you offer your family to
the Lord and then you maintain the family as if you are maintaining the
devotees of the Lord. And that is how everything is perfectly harmonized.
And also, you offer yourself to the Lord and as a result of that whatever
you are doing is for the Lord. So whatever assets you have is also going to
be used in the service of the Lord. So it is a matter of practical
consideration. There are no hard and fast rules as such. Use your common
sense. Use your intelligence. Use your intelligence to make all the
practical arrangements but offer your heart to the Lord. That’s the perfect
balance.
Yes?
[This part of the session in Hindi, translation by the transcriber]

Devotee: Guru Maharaja, I have three questions. How do we understand the
difference between de demigods and Lord Krishna (Bhagavan)? People say
Ganesha and Shiva are also Bhagavan.
BCS: Is there any reference in the scriptures regarding this? Do you say
‘Ganesha Bhagavan’ or do you say ‘Ganesha Deva’?

Devotee: Ganesha Deva.
BCS: Ganesha Deva. This is not our independent or individual opinion.
Whatever opinion we carry is derived from the scriptures. Our teachings
should be according to the scriptural injunctions. We think, we have heard,
we say, there is no opinion like that. What is the opinion of the
scriptures, what have the previous great souls, the acharyas thought us,
mahajano yena gatha sa panthah, we follow those teachings of the mahajanas.

Devotee: Guru Maharaja, the second question is it is written we are the
servants of the Lord and He is our master but I am unable to experience this
relationship like that. I feel I am not even good enough to be His servant.
BCS: Can you please repeat that?

Devotee: The Lord is our master and I am His servant, but I am unable to
have those feelings and I feel like I am not even worthy to be His servant.
BCS: That’s why we need vaidhi bhakti. Vaidhi bhakti means performing
devotional service according to the scriptural injunctions. This procedure
will bring us perfection. Practice will bring you perfection. A child can’t
walk but he tries to walk and sometimes while trying he falls down. If the
child will think that is it is not capable of walking, that it will not try
anymore, will it ever be able to walk? If the child falls down, what should
we do? When the mother is near, what does she do? The mother picks it up and
helps it to walk. In this way one day the child will be able to walk by
himself. Similarly, if we are not able to experience our relationship with
the Lord in the initial stage, it doesn’t matter. Gradually, after
practicing we will able to relish our relationship with the Lord more and
more.
As I said in the beginning, the taste will be there, it will develop. It is
not that we are serving the Lord and the Lord doesn’t see anything or hear
anything, or that He doesn’t reciprocate with us. If we act for the sake of
the Lord, the Lord will reciprocate with us. Then our faith will strengthen:
yes, the Lord is there. The first time He reciprocates one may think maybe
this happened by accident. I did something for the Lord and was abundantly
rewarded. So perhaps the Lord didn’t give this, maybe it happened by
coincidence. The second time it happens, still one may think that okay, this
is also by accident. But when it happens the third time, the fourth time,
then what happens? Then the faith starts to develop that when I do something
for the Lord He indeed accepts it and reciprocates with me. Gradually our
way of thinking will adjust accordingly, when we see how much the Lord has
already given us. Because I am doing things for Him that’s why He is
rewarding me, but even better is to realize how much He has already given
me.
The food we get since childhood, where is it coming from? The food we ate,
did it come from the shop? Did the shopkeeper give it to you? Did the
shopkeeper produce the food? Did we just get the food by giving money in
return? The foodgrains, the vegetables, fruits, milk etcetera which we
receive, who granted it to us? Whose arrangement is this? Look how the Lord
arranged everything for our food supply. A little grain is placed in the
soil, then it grows into a tree and fruits start to grow on the tree. We eat
that fruit, isn’t it? And within that piece of fruit there is a seed. Within
that seed there is another tree. How many fruits are there on that tree? In
all those fruits there are seeds. In all the seeds there are trees. So tell
me, who arranged all this? Not only for us, for all the upcoming
generations, generation after generation the Lord has made all the
arrangements.
We breathe air, we take in oxygen. We exhale carbon dioxide. If we would
have kept inhaling oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide, what would have
happened to the atmosphere? Normally the whole atmosphere should have been
filled up with carbon dioxide, but is that happening? Why not? Because the
plants and trees absorb the carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. Now who made
this arrangement? In the same way if we start serving the Lord more and more
we start to recognize His mercy and greatness more and more. When we start
to feel the mercy of the Lord then our faith in the Lord strengthens, we
become grateful to the Lord and in this way our relationship with Him
becomes established. This is not blind faith. This is practical knowledge.
We just have to open our ears and eyes and without prejudice receive it.
Hare Krishna.
[End of Hindi session]

Devotee: God is even present in every particle, then why is there a need,
like it is described in the Bhagavad Gita, “I am residing in the heart of
every living entity?”
BCS: So what’s your question?

Devotee: The question is, if God is present anywhere, then what is the need
to specify, “I am in the heart of every living entity?”
BCS: Because He is there also. The question is, in that way you get to know
that He is in your heart and then you begin to reciprocate, right? He is
everywhere. He is also in your heart. So what are you going to do now? [In
Hindi:] Will you go to sleep? He is in our heart after all. What will YOU
do? What are you going to do about that? Are you going to do something about
it? That you realize that He is watching you every moment, how you are
acting He is seeing you. That awareness helps, right? It helps you from
doing something inappropriate. [In Hindi:] If you are aware that the Lord is
sitting in your heart observing everything, you will think of that before
acting in a sinful way, won’t you? That’s why you need to know that He is
there in your heart.

Devotee: [In Hindi:] Guru Maharaja, if someone is performing bhakti-yoga and
whatever he does is without a desire for the fruits of his results, is he
performing both karma-yoga and bhakti-yoga simultaneously?
BCS: [In Hindi:] Karma-yoga and bhakti, meaning the actions performed with
devotion for the Lord that is karma. The offering of the fruits of your
actions to the Lord is karma-mishra bhakti or karma-yoga. There is no
karma-yoga without bhakti. Karma is one thing and karma-yoga is another.
When you perform actions in a devotional mood then it becomes karma-yoga.
And when you perform actions without desiring any of the results, solely for
the purpose of serving the Lord then that is suddha bhakti.

Devotee: Then karma-yoga and bhakti-yoga are not separate?
BCS: No, they are not separate. They are different stages. In the lower
stage it is karma-yoga, in the advanced stage it is bhakti. Yes?

Devotee: I have a question and before asking the question I would like to
say, please forgive my thought because my knowledge is very, very less in
comparison to the people who are sitting here.
BCS: That’s alright.

Devotee: My question is, yesterday during the program I was told that Lord
Vishnu and Krishna are one and another form of each other. With Vishnu you
just need to serve Him and you just need to pray from a distance, but with
Krishna you can be His lover, you can be His friend, you can be His parent
and all those things. So my question is, if you are treating Krishna as your
friend, then what’s the need to worship Him or do His puja? You can be
eating with Him, you can be dancing with Him, you can be singing with Him,
you can enjoy with Him, but what’s the need that you should go and worship
Him? Because you don’t worship your friends. You just eat and enjoy and do
everything good, what’s the need to worship them? [laughter]
BCS: Very good, very good. You see, the first consideration is to develop
our relationship with Him, that you are accepting Him as the Supreme. That
is the first step, otherwise you have so many friends and Krishna is also
your friend. Is there any difference?

Devotee: He is a genius kind of friend.
BCS: No, the other friends are ordinary individuals but Krishna is the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is also your friend, who can be your
friend, right? But that friendship, the difference is, you see when it is a
matter of developing a friendship with somebody very much exalted, then can
you just go and demand your friendship with him? Okay, let’s put it this
way. The friendship is among equals. Generally friendship is among equals,
or rather, through friendship they become equal. But when it comes to
developing a friendship with somebody who is very exalted, can you go and
demand friendship from him? Like, say for example, can you just walk up to
Manmohan Singh [the Prime Minister of India at that time] and say, “Are
yaar, kaise hain?” [meaning: Hey buddy, how are things going?!] You cannot
because he is so exalted, but if Manmohan Singh considers you to be a friend
then, yes, there can be friendship. You see, an ordinary person cannot
develop friendship with an exalted person, but an exalted person can come
down to an ordinary person’s level and become friends to that person.
Now, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Supreme, He is the Supreme
Creator, He is the Supreme Maintainer, He is the Supreme, right? Now to
develop friendship, can you force that friendship with Him? So we have to
wait, if at all we have to wait for Him to accept us as His friend. We
cannot force our friendship to Him. Therefore, at least to recognize that He
is the Supreme, we have to develop our mentality and that is why worshipping
Him is necessary because we are preparing our mentality to accept Him. You
see the difference? So when Krishna comes and says that, “You are My
friend”, then yes, that friendship can develop but until then we have to
worship Him. You see, we are not treating Him as a friend as such but we are
treating Him as somebody who is very exalted and that is why worship is
necessary.
So any other questions from the internet? No.
Okay, Soni, yes?

Devotee: It is best to offer directly to Krishna, so what is the best tax to
pay to Krishna?
BCS: Directly offer to Krishna, what?

Devotee: What is the best, as you told we should pay the tax.
BCS: Okay, very good point. You see, generally the procedure is that you pay
to the departmental heads, but if you have access to the king and you can
directly offer to him, then do we have to go through the via medium of the
departments? No, so similarly if one can develop a direct relationship
directly with Bhagavan, with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then there
is no need to go through the via medium of the demigods.

Devotee: My question is what is the best tax? In what form do we pay to
Krishna?
BCS: What form? In any form, whatever is dear to you offer it to Him. If you
love somebody what do you offer Him? If you love somebody then do you offer
that person something that is not useful to you? [laughter] [In Hindi:] Oh,
this is lying uselessly in the house, it is his birthday, let’s go and give
it to him. If you love someone dearly, then what do you do? What is dear to
you, you offer that thing to him. So similarly, when it comes to offering to
Krishna and if we love Krishna then we will offer Him something that is very
dear to us.
Okay, thank you very much! Hare Krishna! All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

One Click A Day Keeps Maya Away

Daily opening/clicking on the websites of His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami is
an important service, please don't forget it.

We want to ask all disciples who are involved in this important service to
regularly report on BCS.Weekly@pamho.net. This will allow us to get a
better organize ourselves. BCS.Weekly@pamho.net is a private conference.
If you are not member, send me a mail please, I will make you member.

-----------------------

Putting information on Iskcon Desire Tree about Guru Maharaja is also very
helpful in this Internet Campaign. Following information is sent by His
Grace Kartik Agarwal.

There is an upload option in the various options available on the site
toolbar like home, blogs, videos, photos, etc. One can go in this
upload section and can upload videos, images, articles/blogs, etc.
Naming them properly as they get uploaded is very important. We can
also add description and tags to our images. This will make them more
catching for search engines. As once uploading is complete an editing
page automatically comes for this facility.

Then there are various groups/communities there. We have made one
named as HH Bhakti Charu Swami (
http://www.iskcondesiretree.net/group/hhbhakticaruswami ). First you
can join this group. Then you can write in various discussions about
Guru Maharaja like
1. Experiences with HH BCS
2. About HH BCS by his godbrothers.

You can comment on this group. You can send message/email to all 222
devotees at once. You can add new discussions too.

You can also 'like' various photos, videos, etc. just as facebook to
make them popular.

I am using one more id on it. I made it with name "servants of bhakti
charu swami". I made it as any devotee can use it to upload Guru
Maharaja's photos/lecures/videos.

This website is really helping in making things more public.

As you told me one and half year ago to send transcribed lectures to
iskcondesiretree.net , I am sending them and you can see them in
ebooks section.

I will feel myself very blessed if you got what you asked me to send you.

Praying in the dust of your lotus feet,

One Click A Day Keeps Maya Away

Please don't forget to daily open Guru Maharaja's websites, it is most
important.

Guru Maharaja urges India to become proud of its spiritual culture. A
highlight from a recent class in Mayapura by His Grace Badrinarayana Prabhu
definitely shows how India can be proud of Srila Prabhupada as the most
eminent embassador of India's spirituality :

The first thing (an American journalist) said (to Srila Prabhupada in an
interview) was, "Your coming here to America and you are coming from India,
what can you possibly teach us? We already have religious institutions. We
have our understanding of God and you are coming from a place where the
death rate is so high. What can you teach us?" Prabhupada said, "Death rate
is the same everywhere - one hundred percent." [Laughter]

So the man was a little taken by that. There was a little pause then he came
back and he said, "According to your cosmology you say the world is flat."
Now they are actually talking, it is a long story but the plane of the solar
system, all the planets, - that is relatively flat. That is what the Vedas
are talking about. But this man misunderstood. He thought it meant the
planet earth. So he said, "You say the world is flat." Prabhupada
replied,"Everywhere I walk it is." [Laughter]

So he had a lady assistant. He was a little stunned so she came in as his
partner to fill the gap and she said, "Why do you shave your head?" SP
replied, "Why do you shave your legs?" [Laughter] Prabhupada said, "Better
have warm legs and cool brain." [Laughter] So the show host had recovered
and he came back one last time and in a very exaperated voice he said, "What
would happen if everyone in the world became Krishna conscious?" Prabhupada
said, "Don't worry there will always be fools like you who won't."
[Laughter] The man was just shut down. That was it. And for the next ten
minutes Prabhupada spoke uninterupted. He owned the station."[Laughter]

Important Message

The message below sent to me by His Grace Kartik Agrawal prabhu has
originally been sent by Vaishnava Seva Prabhu the webmaster/owner of Iskcon
Desire Tree. Practically he says we need to post lots of materials in
relation to Guru Maharaja/Internet on the website of Iskcon Desire Tree
(http://www.iskcondesiretree.net/). Please read it carefully and help
campaigning as much as possible. We need to take up a marathon spirit till
we get results on this one. ys, rrd.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Hare Krishna! Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila
Prabhupada.*
*
I am noticing that on iskcondesiretree.net there are many disciples who are
actively helping SEO / click campaign for their respective
spiritual masters.*
*Following are some of the way:*
*Post photos regularly*
*Post videos regularly*
*Post blog - articles written / trascripts*
*Participate in forums / discussion - here there is excellent scope. eg.
you can answer a particular question by quoting experts of your spiritual
master
*
*iskcondesiretree.net gets on an average 4500 to 5000 unique visitors
daily. Thus by Krishna's mercy it's becoming a great place
for campaigning. I am supporting all the spiritual masters beat negative
content on search engines - so that we can build positive image of iskcon
and Srila Prabhupada - thus aid preaching of Lord Sri Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu's message to every town and village. The negative content on
search engines is one of the biggest hindrance in modern day preaching.*
*Spread the word to your godbrothers and godsisters if you feel so.*
*
Your servant
Vaishnava seva dasa*