The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapataka Swami Maharaja on January 8th, 1982 in Calcutta, India. The class begins with a reading from the Srimad-Bhagavatam, Canto 8, Chapter 8, Texts 39 and 40 and continues with a Vaisisastaka verse number 8.

Jayapataka Swami:

Translation with repetition:

Some of the demons said

Devotees: Some of the demons said,

Jayapataka Swami: "All the demigods

Devotees: "All the demigods

Jayapataka Swami: have taken part

Devotees: have taken part

Jayapataka Swami: in churning the ocean of milk

Devotees: in churning the ocean of milk

Jayapataka Swami: Now,

Devotees: Now,

Jayapataka Swami: as everyone has

Devotees: as everyone has

Jayapataka Swami: an equal right

Devotees: an equal right

Jayapataka Swami: to partake

Devotees: to partake

Jayapataka Swami: in any public sacrifice

Devotees: in any public sacrifice

Jayapataka Swami: according to the religious… eternal religious system

Devotees: according to the eternal religious system

Jayapataka Swami: it is befitting

Devotees: it is befitting

Jayapataka Swami: that the demigods

Devotees: that the demigods

Jayapataka Swami: now have a share

Devotees: now have a share

Jayapataka Swami: of the nectar."

Devotees: of the nectar."

Jayapataka Swami: O King

Devotees: O King,

Jayapataka Swami: in this way

Devotees: in this way

Jayapataka Swami: the weaker demons

Devotees: the weaker demons

Jayapataka Swami: forbade the stronger demons

Devotees: forbade the stronger demons

Jayapataka Swami: to take

Devotees: to take

Jayapataka Swami: the nectar.

Devotees: the nectar.

Jayapataka Swami:

Purport by His Divine Grace Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad: Desiring to take the nectar, those among the demons who were less strong spoke in favor of the demigods. The weaker Daityas naturally pleaded on behalf of the demigods to stop the stronger Daityas from drinking the nectar without sharing it. In this way, disagreement and trouble arose as they forbade one another to drink the nectar.

So, this is the the nature of demons. They are interested in their own sense gratification. They, and demigods or the devotees they are interested in satisfying the lotus feet of Lord Sri Krishna. Therefore they try to satisfy Lord Sri Krishna first, always. Everything is offered to the Lord as a bhoga, as an offering, and the devotees are accepting the remnants as prasada or mercy. But the demons, they are not thinking about giving anything to Krishna, so they are simply thinking, how each one can first taste the nectar and thus become eternal, you see.

Sometimes we see that even there are certain groups which come together and then after some time when they achieve the goal, then they break apart. Because each person is interested in his own material development and not in actually the total good, nor in… especially in satisfying the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore a devotee is known to be as para duhkha duhkhi, one who is always compassionate to see… when he sees the miseries of others and is trying to deliver that misery… deliver those people from that misery. In this regard I would like to go to the saptam Vasisastya or the seventh great glorification of the transcendental qualities of His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura as written by our Founder Acarya, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

This is,

para dukhi haya vaishnava prassiddha,

sei khyati hobe saba pracare pravrddha.

That truly a great devotee of the Lord or one of the great qualities of a devotee of the Lord is that he is para dukhi. That he is himself compassionate to see the suffering of others and therefore he wants to do something about it. So the placing of the practical effect of that compassion is that such devotees, they go on attempting to increase the pracara or the preaching work of Krishna consciousness.

Srila Prabhupada goes on to say:

Nitya-siddha krsna-bhakti jagile sabara

apani palabe kali kari ha-ha-kara

That in the heart of every person is the eternal spirit soul. So that is actually who we are and that spirit soul has as its… one of its… or as its basic, eternal characteristic, an eternal loving relationship with Lord Sri Krishna, the Supreme Person, Supreme Personality of Godhead. So therefore that is known as nitya siddha Krishna bhakti. That Krishna bhakti is there within the heart. That simply has to be awakened.

Now we have forgotten or misdirected that natural flow of affection to the Lord. So by the preaching work of such great devotees who are compassionate for the suffering of others, then all the evil effects of this age of quarrel, age of Kali, they run and the personification, or personified Kali himself run away when that pure devotional characteristic is automatically awakened from the heart of great… of the common man and so Kali runs away screaming out “Ha ha, ha ha! Save me!” Because Kali is destroyed by the effects of Krishna consciousness.

In the next verse Prabhupada says:

‘praninamupakaraya' mahaprabhu vani

iha kala para kala sukhera se khani

Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s message is to deliver or to help all of the living entities. By that one is happy in this world and one achieves eternal happiness in the spiritual abode of the Lord even after this life, after this life.

Verse 64 is

eto kaja pore ache tomadera hate

ekatre miliya karya karaha tahate.

That “Well, oh my brother Vaisnavas, there is a lot of work to be done and it is all waiting to be done by us. Therefore, now we should come together, take up this work seriously, for the benefit of all the fallen souls, you see. In a cooperative spirit we should work.

Then Srila Prabhupada said,

vasudeva vipra bale prabhuer namiya

sakala jivere dao uddhara kariya

tadera saba papa-tapa mo-hinere dao

duhkhi jivera duhkha tumi se ghucao

se ta vaisnavasrestha para-duhkhe duhkhi

atmendriya tripti yahe nahe tara sukhi

So, Srila Prabhupad here he accounts the transcendental pastime of Vasudeva Datta, that Vasudeva Vipra, the great bra… he called, he prayed to Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu that all of the sinful reactions, all of the karmas which are accumulated by all the living entities conditioned and… in bondage in this universe, that they should all be given personally to him. He prayed, “Give me all of their sinful reactions. I will take all the bad karma, I will take all of the sufferings, I am the most fallen, I am the most insignificant, let it all come upon me.” This was his request.

Why? duhkhi jivera duhkha tumi se ghucao So then “You take all the miseries, all of the sufferings from all of the living entities and simply give it to me and You liberate all of them and take them all back to the kingdom of God. Let me just alone suffer. I’ll just stay here and rot forever, doesn’t matter, let hundreds and millions and unlimited people go back to God. Let me alone suffer, that is much better. Even I stay here forever, no harm. Let them taste the nectar of pure love for Krishna, let them taste the eternal happiness.” This was Vaasudev Datta’s prayer.

So Srila Prabhupad said, “This is the characteristic of the top most of all pure devotees, vaishnavas, of the Lord that transcendentally he feels compassion for the miseries and sufferings of all the suffering people of this world. atmendriya tripti yahe nahe tara sukhi. He has complete, you see, transcendental happiness through Krishna consciousness. Therefore he does not require any material happiness, even material misery is no problem for him. He is already tasting eternal happiness in Krishna consciousness, therefore willingly he would rather take on their misery and let them go back to Krishna. They don’t have any concern with material affairs.

So three more verses here in this uh, seventh, or sixth… seventh:

Ki daya korite pare avaisnava-jana

aparadhi haya matra ‘daridra narayana’

What type of mercy, what type of real help can be done by those who are not devotees, who are… of the Lord, who are avaishnavas? They simply become offenders by calling poor people as uh, poor Narayanas – daridra Narayanas, thus offending the Supreme Lord Narayana, by giving Him some type of artificial title as daridra.

Vijnana sammata sei vaisnavera daya

vaisnava vihina bhume maya duratyaya

Visnu-vaisnava-rajya yadi dharaya haya

tabei se sukhi loka muni-rsi kaya.

According to scientific… The mercy of the pure devotees is very practical and scientific. Without… A land without pure devotees of the Lord is simply a place of suffering in materialistic misery. Therefore, in every land, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Visnu must be placed in the top most position and His pure devotees, the vaisnavas, they must be given full scope to work actively for delivering real happiness to all the people. This is the verdict of all the great sages and the saints from the Vedic literature.

Thus end the seventh Vaisistya of Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. So here Srila Prabhupada is showing us the real characteristic of His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura and the real characteristic of the devotees or bhakti-yogis in Krishna consciousness. That they are actually compassionate you see, to the ultimate degree. They are willing to accept all types of difficulties, all types of obstacles, so that the soul in bondage in this material world may be delivered.

Actually, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada has shown in his personal lifetime the highest degree of compassion on the whole world, by, at the advanced age of seventy years, taking all types of difficulties for spreading the message of Caitanya Mahaprabhu all over the world and travelling profusely from 1965 until 1977, all over the world, at least about seventeen times.

So because of this one compassionate pure devotee, the whole world has become awakened to Hare Krishna and the great movement of Caitanya Mahaprabhu has spread all over the world fulfilling the prediction 500 years ago that in every town and village throughout the whole world, His holy name would be sung, His movement would be spread. So now, that is fast coming true. This is because of compassion.

It is not possible to spread such a glorious and pure thing as pure devotional service, pure love for God, the highest practice of yoga, without being empowered by Krishna Himself, without having the pure desire.

kali-kālera dharma—kṛṣṇa-nāma-saṅkīrtana/

kṛṣṇa-śakti vinā nahe tāra pravartana

In this Kali yuga the recommended process for the age is to chant

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna

Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/

Hare Rama Hare Rama

Rama Rama Hare Hare

Maha Mantra. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, His instruction was that everyone should be engaged in this sankirtan movement. And Lord Caitanya Himself personally engaged even the jungle animals – in the Jharikhand forest, Caitanya Mahaprabhu requested tigers, elephants, deer, snakes, everyone to chant

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna

Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/

Hare Rama Hare Rama

Rama Rama Hare Hare

To chant Hari bol! Hari bol! And because He Himself was the Lord of everyone He was able to get all the animals to chant, roll in the ground. At that time, together there were tigers, deer, elephants and there was no question of any uh, danger felt by anyone because everyone was absorbed in love for Krishna. So of course Caitanya Mahaprabhu would even get the animals filled with ecstatic love for God, what to speak of human beings. So our Founder Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, he had instructed us that we may not be able to immediately engage all of the animals, but at least we should get all the human beings to dance in ecstasy, chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra.

By this means, the miseries of this immediate lifetime are dissipated and one is freed from the repetition of birth and death, that one is given the highest position as an eternal sevaka in the eternal devotional service of the Lord. So in this way, there is no higher position that one could achieve.

iha kala para kala sukhera se khani

So it is a great responsibility upon those who know better. Nowadays of course, people have become very self-centerd. Not in real sense as our real self is not the body but our eternal soul, but in artificial material sense they have become bodily centred. The body as the self. So even if there’s some big doctor or someone who knows how to help people, he may be afraid, especially in Western countries that “If I try to help someone, I won’t get any money out of it and in the end I may get sued, or this or that.” So it is very difficult if one wants to do material charitable work. Even if he wants to do it, then there is every risk that someone ultimately won’t appreciate it. So that type of material welfare work is filled with many defects.

So the welfare work which is being discussed here is something which is pure. Why do we suffer? Why are we miserable? Why are we forced to get old and die? These are some of the questions that every human being should ask himself and should find out the answer. If I don’t like to be miserable, if I don’t want to grow old, why I am forced to do it? There is a cause for everything. So therefore we can understand that ultimately we are not independent.

We are strictly controlled by various natural laws and those natural laws are given by… ultimately by Krishna. Mayadhyakshena prakriti The whole material nature is under His control. So He is saying to us, it is very difficult to get over this material nature.

daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī

mama māyā duratyayā

mām eva ye prapadyante

māyām etāṁ taranti te

But it is very easy to cross over this material nature and it’s stringent laws by taking shelter of Lord Shri Krishna. Just as someone who is given a death sentence may approach the president of the country to get a reprieve, to get a pardon. That ultimate pardon is the right of the Head of State to give in most countries of the world. So the head of everything is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So similarly there are various processes of yoga, religious systems which are ultimately meant to get a pardon or to finish our term in this material prison house. But if one gets a pardon, there is no question, free.

The material people they are in illusion and do not realize that they are not free. That’s their first mistake. So therefore the laws of nature are made in such a way that they have to suffer the reaction for the activities that they perform. So then they realize that actually whatever they are doing, they are forced to suffer for that. And they are also given a limited time in each body. Each body has got a particular term which is fixed at the time of our birth. How many breaths we have – eighty-one lakhs, maybe five lakhs, five hundred thousand, five million, whatever. A certain amount of breaths are given, one can reduce those number of breaths or one may slightly increase by certain pious activities, but no matter how much one may increase, ultimately in this material world he cannot stay forever. He has to leave the body sooner or later.

Those yogis who have been able to control their breath by pranayama because they stop the breathing process, naturally their life increases. If they can stop breathing completely then they can remain without breathing, that is why you find yogis sleep for hundred years. As long as they are remaining in samadhi, they are not growing older. When they come out of samadhi and they start breathing again then they grow older again. But even then unless one transfers oneself out of this material world… even the greatest mystic yogis, once their material world is dissolved, they have to give up this body because at that time everything is finished, even though they may be the greatest siddhas or mystic perfected souls. That type of welfare work which is based upon the body… that you can never satisfy everyone’s body. They are always some dissatisfied mentally or physically with what someone else is doing. Kennedy was appreciated by many people but Howard Oswald did not appreciate him. Like that Gandhiji was appreciated by many people but there was one man who did not appreciate him. He shot him. In this way, there is always someone who appreciates and someone who doesn’t appreciate any material activity. But the devotee doesn’t care that what if people in ignorance appreciate or don’t appreciate. They first of all care whether Krishna appreciates, because if Krishna appreciates, automatically everyone is taken care of, because He is the controller of everyone. By His mercy all the difficulties can be crossed over.

So just like that I was saying, if we can get the pardon then there is no question. All these diffeent processes… difficult processes of yoga, difficult processes of religious systems have been simplified in this age of Kali to enable everyone to directly make their appeal to the supreme head. Generally the systems are quite indirect, even if you pray it is only some abstract name God. Allah only means God. (inaudible) There is no direct name.

Just like if you write a letter, “Dear Prime Minister, Dear President,” if you know his name, Sanjiv Reddy, president of India, Ronald Reagen, president of the USA, whatever, then at least it has a personal touch. And if you send them letter through one of his aides who may be personally connected with him, then you are sure it is going to get there, otherwise it may not get past the secretary in the outer office. So like that people think… Of course, it gets there, but in a very abstract way, doesn’t go directly to the most merciful form of the Lord but goes through His expansions here in the material universe for maintaining.

So this is the problem. People, they don’t know how to directly approach and get a direct pardon from this material prison house, how to achieve a direct relationship with the Supreme Lord. Therefore they are being kicked by the material nature. They are forced to suffer and the only hope for them is the devotees, the Vaisnavas, who already have a connection with the Lord, who know these secrets, who have uncovered these from the Vedic literatures and rather have received this special system in the disciplic succession. So if those persons who know better, who know the secret, if they do not give it out to others, then what is the hope for the common person? Therefore the whole world is going to hell.

So Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad is writing this particular poem to the devotees of the Lord, that they should be very active and take up this responsibility which is theirs alone. No one else can do this to give out this medicine or this mercy for the upliftment of all the fallen souls, all the suffering persons in this material world, irregardless of their background, of their designation, caste, creed, color, whatever may be. So sometimes non-devotees, they’re trying to put on that type of a show to help the suffering people but because they’re also dependant on getting sense gratification, they depended on their bodily demands, otherwise they don’t get their personal happiness, the happiness they get by helping others is simply mental or sentimental. Because they are not connected through the process of bhakti-yoga with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, with the Supreme Absolute Truth, and they are therefore not getting spiritual bliss from the spiritual platform, which is satisfying not only the soul but the mind and the body, you see, therefore they have to go here and there for eating, for sleeping, for sex life, as their only source of happiness. So what happens? They don’t get a good food, they don’t get good edibles then they are feeling unhappy. They are not having good sleep, then they are feeling distressed. They are having some uh, disruption in their love affair, everything is down. So then in this way they are afraid of some kind of attack from opposing parties, from envious people, they are afraid, they are fearful. So in this way they are completely absorbed in animal propensities, and it is very difficult for them to actually overcome that to do any good welfare work for the people.

And if somehow or other they are able to just control the basic problems, somehow or other just satisfy the minimum wants to be able to push on and think about doing something for others, even then their ideas are all wrong. Their ideas are concocted, they don’t have any real basis of what the real problems of the people are, they just put on something which is satisfying for publicity sake, or to their own mental idea.

[break]

…you see, so in this way, the human ideas try to do something. In this way they call all the poor people, “You serve them. They are Narayana.” this is the type of impersonal idea that everyone is Narayana. Actually Narayana is the Supreme Person. He is always above this material world. He never comes under the control of this material world. He is always possessed with all opulence, all knowledge, all beauty, all fame, all renunciation and all power. So He doesn’t become in any way limited by this material world, you see. He is Bhagavan. Sarvajna sarvasakitman, sarvajnanaman, sarvabhauma, sarvasaundarya, sarvaisvarya, like this, all the six qualities, sarvavairagya. So He doesn’t become a daridra or a poor man.

So, this idea, daridra Narayana, simply some concoction. “All these poor men suffering, beggars, they are just another form of Narayana, another form of God and we are serving the poor God!” You see, God doesn’t become poor. They are poor humans, poor jivas fallen in the material world. They are part of God but they are not God. God is above all this – daridratva, poverty, suffering. He is always there to give the help, to lift the people up if we so desire and He has given process how to do that.

So in different ages there were different processes and some of those processes are still practiced today. But it is pretty hard to practice the different religious systems in this Kali-yuga, properly. So a system has been given which is so easy that anyone practice, and it is so sublime that immediately one feels transcendental happiness in the spiritual platform. So whether or not one is materially simply getting by or whether materially enjoying or materially suffering, he doesn’t lose his uh, complete hope. Doesn’t become completely dejected or filled with lamentation and fear because he is getting transcendental happiness from the spiritual platform.

That type of person can actually do welfare work for the people. He actually can have real compassion and his idea’s being authorized by Krishna, by the Vedas. They are not simply concoction. They don’t create disturbance in the future. So therefore Srila Prabhupada, he was saying that, “Every place in the whole world needs such pure devotees of the Lord, that may purify those lands, may create a proper atmosphere for human development, for cultural and spiritual development, based upon the principles of the eternal knowledge, eternal truth. Based on the principles of Vedic culture, Krishna consciousness. So how, at this time, he wrote this before he went to the West. He implored to all the Vaisnavas of India, “Let us work together, let us now make a program to go abroad, to go to the different countries, to help the people to understand what is the purpose of life, to create devotees in each of those countries that they may in turn purify their own lands and in this way the world can be freed from all the sufferings and misery.” In this way he was imploring upon them, “Let us wake up, wake up these sleeping souls, let us go out of our religious hermitages and ashrams and all these places, simply living a type of a lazy life. Let us take up the active preaching work.” This was his plea but no one was interested at that time.

Only those who were interested, they didn’t want to go for making people devotees. They wanted to make some business, show some yoga posture which is simply the very basic warm up of real yoga practice. It has nothing to do with the highest system of yoga at all. So finally… he was all this time humbly thinking that “We should do it together. We should do it together. I don’t want to make it a one man show.” But when no one came forward, no one would take the courage or the initiative or would have the magnanimity of even working together or discussing the topic, then receiving so many orders in dream by Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura, then he was obliged that he must go himself to the West. Even he’s alone, even he’s at the fag end of the material body, he must go to make one last effort. Whatever be the will of Krishna, that will happen but he must not himself, after realizing so many transcendental truths allow that mercy not to be distributed as widely as possible.

So he took up the mission and distributed it all over the world. This was his mission of his whole life. It wasn’t that he got this idea late. His whole life he had the idea. He was planning and he was preparing but he was thinking that together we should do it. He was not the only devotee, not the only Godbrother, not the only person, why should he go on himself first? He was feeling, “We should all work together and do it as a joint effort…”

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… in a proper mood of cooperation. But no one took it up. He realized actually that time was coming to a close on the period he would spend in this world. Said, “I have to go at least, no one else is going, it is my duty, I must go. Come what may, depending on the Lord’s mercy.” So now his heritage of helping the souls in this world who are suffering from the material bondage, material misery, has fallen on so many devotees all over the world.

Some of these devotees will think that “It is a difficult thing to worry about others, better to worry about one’s own material facilities and position first and then we can think about doing something for Krishna consciousness, we can think about doing something for the misery of others, in giving them pure God consciousness.” So such people, they won’t be able to do much, they’ve become materially affected.

Others, individually if they try to do, without trying to engage the others, then they won’t get the full mercy of the Lord. But cooperatively, they try… Prabhupada tried cooperatively. No one came and he had no choice but to do it alone. This was the goal, this was the movement of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, to work in sankirtan. Sankirtan means, khol, kartals, cymbals, drums, singer, dancer, everyone together working and then you create a beautiful sankirtan chanting party. Just one person cannot make a sankirtan party very perfectly. So many people together, this is the movement of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, organized – organized movement for delivering the people from their ignorant, miserable condition through highest form of pure bliss, pure Krishna consciousness.

So the demons, they are always interested in “Me first, me first, therefore there is always this type of difficulty, this type of disturbance. But the devotees who have actually understood the essence of Krishna consciousness, put always the order of guru, order of Krishna in the forefront. Therefore there must be a harmony. There is only one order, only one goal, only one Supreme Lord. Therefore everyone is directed to the same end, must be harmony.

If everyone is… the symphony is playing to the same tune, to the same time then there will be a harmony. Even if there’s varieties of instruments, varieties of sub-tunes but the whole thing becomes a symphony, because it is all being directed by the will of the Supreme… same Supreme Lord. When everybody wants to play their own thing, then it becomes a different creation. If they reject the guidance of the Lord and His representatives, then it becomes hopeless.

So now this responsibility is upon all the devotees of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu in the world to continue spreading His sankirtana movement until Kali is completely driven out of this world. He’ll run crying, you see. We don’t mind. The devotee doesn’t mind if such an envious person who creates misery, quarrel and dissension amongst the people, is forced to run out. Devotee doesn’t mind if that cruel person is driven out and the people are allowed to be happy in transcendental joy. Let the one troublemaker go out, if that is his misfortune, we don’t mind.

Someone whose happiness is causing misfortune and misery to others, the devotee doesn’t mind if he gets driven out, because they want to see that all the innocent people should get real spiritual bliss.

Jaya śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya

prabhu-nityānanda

śrī-advaita gadādhara

śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa

kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare/

hare rāma hare rāma

rāma rāma hare hare

Transcribed by

H.G. Jayaraseshwari devi dasi

Revised by

H.G. Jagannatha dasa Brahmacari