19821016_Srimad_Bhagavatam.10.9.9_Learn_to_play_the_Role_of_Literal_Version

The following is a lecture given by His Holiness, Jayapataka Swami on October 16th, 1982 at Murari Sevaka farm in Mulberry, Tennessee. The class begins with a lecture from the Srimad-Bhagavatam, 10th Canto, Chapter 9, Verse 9.

Jayapataka Swami:
When Lord Sri Krsna saw His mother, stick in hand, He very quickly got down from the top of the mortar and began to flee as if very much afraid. Although yogis try to capture Him as Paramatma by meditation, desiring to enter into the effulgence of the Lord with great austerities and penances, they fail to reach Him. But mother Yasoda, thinking that same Personality of Godhead, Krsna, to be her son, began following Krsna to catch Him.

Yogis, mystics, want to catch Krsna as Paramatma, and with great austerities and penances they try to approach Him, yet they cannot. Here we see, however, that Krsna is going to be caught by Yasoda and is running away in fear. This illustrates the difference between the bhakta and the yogé. Yogés cannot reach Krsna, but for pure devotees like mother Yasoda, Krsna is already caught. Krsna was even afraid of mother Yasoda's stick. This was mentioned by Queen Kunti in her prayers: bhaya-bhavanaya sthitasya (SB 1.8.31). Krsna is afraid of mother Yasoda, and yogis are afraid of Krsna. Yogis try to reach Krsna by jnana-yoga and other yogas, but fail. Yet although mother Yasoda was a woman, Krsna was afraid of her, as clearly described in this verse.

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta Purport to text 10, chap… Text 9, Chapter 9, Canto 10 of Srimad-Bhagavatam, in the matter of Mother Yasoda Binds Lord Krsna. Om Tat Sat

Here, we see the sloka which describes how… [break] …Kartika month, or Damodara-vrata beginning… lila. Every year, in the next coming month, around November, we celebrate Damodara month, where we offer lights to Krishna, singing Damodarastakam. This form, Damodara, means one who is tied by the waist.

[break]

…allowed Himself to be tied by His devotee, allowed Himself to be captured by His devotee. For those who know Krishna’s real position, like Mother Kunti, how He’s the Lord of all the universe, how He’s the creator of all that be, how He’s the cause of all causes, for them, when they see how Krishna has allowed Himself to be caught by His devotee, who was thinking that she was His mother, of course Krishna can have no mother and father, because He has no origin, He Himself is ever-existing, He’s the adi-purusa, the original being.

This is the wonderful thing, is that how Krishna has allowed Himself to be caught by His devotee. When great great yogis, sages who do severe austerity, penances and other forms of yoga, they’re not able to even get near to Krishna, what to speak of catch Him, rather they’re afraid of Krishna while Krishna has shown fear from His mother. This is the wonderful pastime that Krishna’s manifesting.

Who can not fail but be attracted to how wonderful and loving are the pastimes of Krishna? Knowing how Krishna is so favorably disposed to His devotees, who would be so foolish as to accept some other process of yoga? Who would be so foolish as to miss this opportunity? So, this is a very important pastime for us who are in the path of bhakti-yoga. We should remember this pastime.

Mother Yasoda was working very hard, trying to catch Krishna, was not able to easily catch Krishna, but Krishna finally allowed Himself to be caught. Sometimes, the devotees are put in difficulties, you see, but that makes their achieving Krishna all the more relishable. It also fixes a devotee that there’s no other source of shelter, except for Krishna.

Sometimes, even in devotional service, people have had so many brainstorms, where they thought that they knew a way of doing some type of service which was not actually desired or authorized particularly, by Krishna, and as a result, then sometimes, devotees are put into difficulty by their own unauthorized plans which are not purely connected with devotional service or were not completely authorized, just like sometimes we find ourself saddled with responsibilities which were created because we didn’t follow the spiritual master, therefore to rectify, we have to work harder.

But actually, to somehow or other remain steady in devotional service, remain fixed, is actually what seasons a devotee or what purifies the devotee. Sometimes it may be by the will of Krishna. It may be by one’s own mistake. Maybe so many different reasons, but ultimately everything that happens, happens with Krishna’s sanction. He’s allowed it to happen, even if it’s being performed without His direct apparent hand, nonetheless, His sanction is always there. Therefore, He will not let any devotee perish, will not let any devotee go away, so long as the devotee wants to come to Him. He promises, na me bhakta vinasyati. My devotee shall never perish.

So, sometimes, just like a parent takes the baby and then throws the baby up in the air, and they go, gasps, and he catches, or sometimes in the water they put the baby just like under the hand, they all let the hand go, “Daddy!” (devotees laughing), that way they’re forced to depend a little more on the parents, or something, but actually the parent is all along, holding the child.

Sometimes the situation happens where it seems that, “Well, why there’s so much difficulty?” But, actually, in the eternal sequence it’s just for a flash, but during that moment, that’s actually the opportunity for us to really depend upon Krishna and realize that He’s actually the one who is making or breaking us. He’s the one who is actually the ultimate controller.

Because our tendency is to depend simply upon our own material intelligence, simply upon our material abilities, simply upon so many material situations, not that a devotee doesn’t use intelligence, and use everything, but the actual dependence on success or failure is left to Krishna. That, whether… just as Bhaktivinoda Thakura prayed, “Manasa deha geho jo kichu mor, ar pilo tuwa pade, nanda-kisora. Jivane marane bipade sampade, ar pilo tuwa pade nanda-kisora.”

Or… whether in success or in failure, whether in life or in death, whatever I have, I’m simply offering unto you, Nanda-kisora. Everything is… I simply want to engage in your service. So, by understanding these pastimes, actually there’s no one who’s more merciful than Krishna. He’s so kind that even sometimes His devotee is apparently having difficulty, or struggling in terms of the service, that this is again, an opportunity to develop a closer relationship with Krishna. To more intimately surrender to Krishna, for…

It’s up to us to utilize every situation that happens to remember Krishna. Just like you’re in a car and suddenly… Krishna forbid, say someone’s in a car accident. At that moment, its up to that person whether he’s going to shout out, “Oh golly!” (devotees laughing) or “Hare Krishna!” What do you think, Steve?

[break]

And, if you chant Hare Krishna, then Krishna gives you the shelter. If you don’t, and you survive, then you learn next time to chant Hare Krishna. That actually happened to me once, several times, where actually I was in a car accident, but somehow, by Krishna’s mercy, we always chanted Hare Krishna, and somehow it always seemed that just by a hair, we missed any severe injury.

So, of course, ultimately the action was because of our own negligence, we fell asleep or it was some other… or sometimes it was completely beyond our control, but there was like a little split-second warning before it happened. We could understand that immediately now there was an extreme, impending danger. At that moment, “Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna”, we chanted Krishna and everything became alright.

So, sooner or later, we have to leave the body. So, sometime also that will happen and it will be the last moment. These are so many dress-rehearsals, and in our service also, the more we can learn to depend upon Krishna, the more that uh, we become fixed in devotional service.

Sometimes, of course a devotee might start to think, “Better if I have a easy situation, then I’ll be able to think of Krishna better. But, I… I was hearing how, I think it was Pancadravida in New Orleans was mentioning… no, it was Brahmananda Swami. I heard Acaryadeva mention this once also, this is a very false or wrong proposition.
Where is there in the world, that when the going gets easy, people think of God more? Right? During all the wars, during all the diff… everybody’s praying. Right? As soon as it gets easy-going, then gradually, they start to become more and more uh, forgetful of God.

Just see the history of America. When they first came here, on the Mayflower and on the different uh… on the different uh, boats, all the pilgrims, they’re very religious people. We find, at least the f… the founding fathers, they put on our money, “In God We Trust”, they encourage prayer in many ways. Nowadays, what has happened?
Now America has got more and more money, gradually, the people are becoming more and more Godless. “Now, we have science, now we have money, we don’t need God. We don’t need prayers in the schools.” Just on technicalities, they’re able to remove God. God is removed due to technical reasons. What prayer, this or that.

Even one County passed a law that for one minute there’ll be silence, let everybody during that minute, if they want to doze off, meditate, whatever, but there’ll be one minute of silence in class, that was also struck down because it implied that someone might pray then. Basically speaking, prayer has been outlawed. Even a minute of silence where if someone wants to, they can pray, that also has been outlawed. So, this is all because people now, they think, “We don’t need God.” They would never make these laws if they think that we actually needed God. They wouldn’t… They would overrule all these technical arguments, but because of… “We have enough money. We don’t need God.”

So, this is what happens when a person actually has less difficulty. It’s often that that intense calling for Krishna is less prominent. So, mother Kunti, when she said goodbye to Krishna, what did she say? She was lamenting that, “Now we’ve been given this whole kingdom to rule. Now we defeated our enemies. We’ve overcome the difficulties but Krishna is leaving, so what is the use? Krishna is actually the dear most object of ours.” So, she told Krishna, “Better that You give us some more difficulty and You stay, than You give us all this material opulence and You leave. We don’t want You to leave.” Very profound understanding.

So, actually, when there’s some pressure put on devotees, it’s a very great mercy because they come up to it, and they will, as long as they depend upon Krishna. Then it gives them that much more of an opportunity to actually become very close to Krishna. There’s a saying in Sanskrit… I always… I never memorized the thing, but it basically… that… basically the meaning of it is that… goes something like, it’s very beautiful candanam, canda gandham gandhan pundara ki puraih kancanam kancavanam.

The more that you heat up gold, (aside: of course Richard could tell us about that, but…) the more brilliant it becomes. The more that you heat it up and the more it brilliant and pure, lustrous it becomes. The more that you smash sugarcane, the more the sweet juice comes out. The more that you rub sandalwood against the stone, ghristam ghristam, the more that the sweet scent comes, similarly the sadhus, the more that they’re put under different pressures, the more their transcendental qualities become manifest. The more that the devotees are put in various tests, the more that their transcendental qualities… even after death, these qualities become manifest.

So, in the eternal sequence, sometimes things are going very very opulently, and then sometimes in the material world, they go up, down, up, down, like that, so somehow, if we’re able to never forget Krishna, even in our success, you don’t have to actually suffer difficulties. It’s… It’s a special opportunity when we are in difficulty however, to remember Krishna even more intensely because for the devotee, naturally, they think of Krishna, or else, for Krishna to give intelligence, for Krishna to give avenues so that His service can continue.

So here, we see that mother Yasoda was very um, anxious to protect Krishna. She just thought Krishna was her son and Krishna allowed Himself to be chased by His mother, even acted as if He was afraid, so this is very attractive to all the devotees because it illustrates how Krishna actually is so intimately connected with His devotees. It illustrates what is the actual purpose of rendering devotional service, what is the result if one actually becomes close to Krishna, one actually can capture Krishna, who is otherwise, uncapturable. Krishna… the devotee, because a devotee completely depends upon Krishna, therefore, Krishna is willing to depend upon the devotee in reciprocation. You trust me, I will trust you.

If the devotee is not ready to put himself under Krishna’s care, then how would Krishna trust that person, to be put in that person’s care? That just like if you have someone who, you know, “Can you loan me some money?”, but you know that that person thinks that, “Well, would this guy ever loan me any money? Would he actually uh, trust me?” This is just a natural thing you would think about, from reciprocation, what is? So, in the spiritual realm, that is also there. If you trust Krishna, then He will trust you, and if you don’t trust Krishna, it’s an indication that you still have something in the back of your head, some ulterior motive, some desire, something else.

So, of course Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s so merciful that He’s accepting devotees, even they don’t have this highest level of surrender, and He gives them the opportunity to become Krishna conscious by chanting the holy name, but as a devotee chants and takes the mercy of Nitai Gaur, the point is that they are also to come up to this standard of pure devotion, even though they may have had the uh, previous life which was so fallen and so otherwise unqualified, by the mercy of Nitai Gaur, one comes up to this.

If one doesn’t have this standard of devotion, then one should pray to Nitai Gaur, and Their representatives in the disciplic succession to give that special strength, because this is the special mercy of Nitai Gaur; He gives this level of pure devotion, very easily. It’s not that one gets Krishna just on some artificial qualification. This is the qualification. The devotee is able to completely fix his mind on Krishna, and surrender to Krishna through all difficulties and through all happinesses, and not become infatuated by success, or become uh, overwhelmed by failure.

In this material world, no one can be successful all the time, at every moment. It is not possible, except for Krishna, you see, but even Krishna’s devotees, they may sometimes suffer a temporary setbacks, but they’re never completely defeated, and for the materialists, they’re always being defeated, you see. Of course their ultimate defeat is death, where they lose everything. For the devotee, death is not at all a defeat. It is opening the door back to Godhead.
So, in this way, in our Krishna conscious movement, we take the mercy of Nitai Gaur to serve Krishna, and we take every opportunity, every s… every situation as an opportunity to learn to surrender to Krishna, better.

There are so many examples. Haridas Thakur, when he was put into the prison house. Hari… Harinamacarya, the great spiritual master of the holy name, he was thrown in a prison because he chanted Hare Krishna, so what did he do? He preached in the prison, and made all the prisoners Krishna conscious, preaching to them, that, “You’re thinking you’re in the prison, the whole world is a prison. Once you’re out you’re going to fall into again theft, and again into sense gratification. Here you’re… you’re very renounced, not by your own choice, but (chuckles) because living in prison life is very austere. So, if you use this austere environment to chant Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/ Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare, then you’ll be able to quickly advance in spiritual life and actually, achieve real freedom, not just from this prison to the bigger prison, but out of the whole material cycle of birth and death. Out of the whole material prison house.

So, they all began to chant, then Haridasa Thakura was called up, “Why you uh, are making everyone chant, in our prison? You were thrown in the prison because you were chanting, now you’re making everyone else chant. You must stop, otherwise, we will kill you. Otherwise you’ll be severely punished.” Haridasa Thakura said, “Even if you divide my body into thousands and thousands of pieces, I will never give up the chanting of Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/ Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.”

So, then they tried to do just that. They said whip him in 22 marketplaces, which was supposed to shred him up into little pieces. But, even then, Krishna protected him and he survived all the whippings unscathed. You see, so, of course, how can we imitate Haridasa Thakura, but therefore Krishna doesn’t whip us in 22 marketplaces. He doesn’t put us through those tes… If someone was put into a serious test, that’s an indication that the person is strong enough to take the test.

Simply if the person depends fully on Krishna… just like sometimes some of our devotees are also arrested and put in prison, or put in jail for a short time. Sometimes, just due to preaching Krishna consciousness, due to false charges and other things, not due even to their own karma… karmic activities before they were devotees, or unauthori… just they’re put there, not due to any offense, but just because they’re preaching.

Sometimes, it happens and uh, just like uh, Mayapura was attacked one time by uh, some Communist and Muslim people and as a result of just simply defending the temple, Bhavananda Goswami and a number of other devotees were arrested, at which time Prabhupada was in very anxiety, and it came out in the newspaper that Hare Krishna devotees are in the pr… are in the jail, and now the whole jail is chanting Hare Krishna.

We were bringing prasadam for the devotees, they were giving out to all the prisoners, some prasada. They had the whole… whole prison, everybody was chanting Hare Krishna. In fact, they would uh, let the devotees out at a time different than the other prisoners, so they could walk around in this courtyard. They said it was for their protection.

So, they went around anyway and gave everybody prasada, and uh, but in India, they have high security prisoners where they’re just like the old time, they actually shackled down, hands and feet. They’re the terrorists… the terrorist communists who are trying to overthrow the government by armed rebellion, and they’re always yelling out, “Lal, salaam!” this means, “Red salute! Red salute!” You know, and all the… and all kinds of slogans, you know. Lenin jindavad, Marx glories… all these things, and you know… have to mention these names. But uh, when the devotees would walk by, they’d see the devotee they’d… even they would say, “Hare Krishna salaam!” (Devotees laughing) “Hare Krishna salute!” There… we know that the six gosvamis, it says that they were liked both by the ruffians as well as the rascals, as well as by the gentle people.

But the… but the… so, therefore, we try to follow in the footsteps of mother Yasoda and these great devotees, and learn every… to take every opportunity to simply serve Krishna. Actually, this is the secret to capture Krishna. Someone who avoids service to Krishna when the going is difficult is… it’s a indication that the person either wants to be elevated to the heavenly planets in his next life, or to obtain liberation, but is not actually fixed in pure devotional service.

Someone wants a very comfortable material situation, those desires will take one to heavenly planets after death, where one will have very very comfortable material situation, but not immediately getting Krishna. And so… devotee who wants liberation, they’re usually very fixed in the mode of goodness. They don’t want to be uh, dirty. They don’t want to go out and take all the difficulties of some difficult service, or preaching. They want to just stay very much uh, fixed in a type of very protected service, that no rocking the boat, cause they’re afraid that somehow or another they may be distracted and then have to again take birth, you see?

But the mood of Lord Caitanya is that pure devotion is actually much more relishable. The pure devotee, he has the attitude, “Even if Krishna wants me to take birth again, at least I wanna be a devotee.” I want to simply render pure devotional service. So, as a result, whether it’s uh, very convenient or whatever, the devotee simply stays in his devotional service, doesn’t allow anything to interrupt that flow of devotional service, whether it’s a desire to uh, achieve liberation, or a comfortable material situation or whatever. Pure devotee simply tries to continue rendering devotional service, accepting the mercy of Krishna to bring him closer and closer to Krishna.

And, of course, like the Pandavas, ultimately, when all the difficulties are over, and the facility is there for doing more service, but then, the devotee was… is thinking back on, “How… how close I was brought to Krishna in the difficult situation!” When the pressure is let off a little bit, then devotee would be thinking that, “Actually, that was more relishable in many ways. I was forced to think of Krishna. I was forced to work so much harder for Krishna, and actually, I was feeling more transcendental happiness.” just like when Krishna wrote the gopis that, “Actually I’ve only left you so that you could relish the love for Me more intensely, in separation. But actually, we are more intimately united because of your intense feelings of love for me.” So, these things on a material platform are completely inconceivable, but on the spiritual platform, all these opposites are perfectly equated, perfectly balanced, perfectly uh, synthesized, or how do you say, integrated.

The uh, mercy of Krishna is realized by the devotee in various forms. Sometimes in pleasure, in great happiness, the devotee also realizes the mercy of Krishna intensely, and even then, feels separation from the Lord, but uh, it’s easier for us to forget about Krishna in happiness sometimes, and the devotee of course sometimes can also forget about Krishna when there’s material difficulty. The tendency is then to start to lament.

But since we’re actually eternal spirit souls, and we’re, practically speaking, living out this material drama, that we should learn to play the part of a devotee and then take the great benefit from this bad bargain, to actually become completely Krishna conscious. After all, this is not our real role that we’re playing in this particular body. Our real role is devotional service to Krishna. This is just a setting on the stage, and we are the actors. But, if we play in our eternal role as the servant of Krishna, regardless of what the setting is, as the time causes the setting to change, we never come out of our role as serving Krishna, then actually, we are transferred to the eternal setting, then we don’t have to play the uh, role in these material setting… but for the pure devotee, wherever… whatever setting it may be, the temporary settings of the material world, or the eternal setting of the spiritual sky uh, his consciousness is always one, it’s always fixed: eke ha kuru-nandana, in pure devotional service.

Therefore, for the pure devotee, it doesn’t make any difference whether he’s in the material world, or whether he’s in the spiritual sky. It’s just a question of what stage props are there. For him, his role is always the same: Pure devotional service to Krishna.

Thus, a person actually becomes immunized. The fangs of this material nature are depoisoned. In any situation a person realizes that, “I can be Krishna conscious, and simply that’s my only duty, to be Krishna conscious. Whether my service is ultimately successful or not is not the reason why I’m doing devotional service. I’m simply doing it to please you, my dear Nitai Gaur, my dear Srila Prabhupada, my dear spiritual master. It’s simply… I’m offering my service unto you for your pleasure. Success and failure are yours. I am simply a… your eternal servant. I surrender at your lotus feet. May my service be pleasing unto you. I have no other purpose for my energy than to serve you.”, and by gradually assuming this attitude, then one becomes so steady that nothing can shake, even death, which is a very big test, does not shake such a devotee.

jaya sri-krsna-caitanya

prabhu-nityananda

sri-advaita gadadhara

srivasadi-gaura-bhakta-vrnda

hare krsna hare krsna

krsna krsna hare hare

hare rama hare rama

rama rama hare hare

Any questions? Yes.

Devotee: Sometimes it seems that we engage in service, but we don’t have the full enthusiasm for it, we’re lacking… lack of… I wish I had more enthusiasm is all I can say. So I could offer more… When I’m chanting my rounds doing all these things still seems like less enthusiasm, is there any need to change?

Jayapataka Swami: Well in general… is there what?

Devotee: Any need to change.

Jayapataka Swami: For… for a devotee, the more that you understand that Krishna’s directly accepting your service through the spiritual master, and the main thing that He’s accepting is how enthusiastically you do it, because ultimately, He doesn’t need the service. What He’s relishing is your desire to serve, your devotion, your enthusiasm.

Just like that time when Krishna appeared in the kitchen, and they so enthusiastically handed Him the banana peel, instead of the ba… they handed Him the banana peel, and He ate the banana peel, so then they saw, “I gave Krishna the banana peel, and I kept the banana. He’s eating the peel!”, then He said, “Well for Me, the peel and the apple are the same. I was relishing your enthusiasm to serve Me.”

Actually, Krishna doesn’t need anything. He’s already atmaramas ca munayah. He’s already complete. Om purnam adhah purnam idam, but the fact that after so many millions of years of forgetting Him, the conditioned soul is coming forward to serve Him, that enthusiasm and that desire is what Krishna appreciates most, so therefore, even if uh, the service may not be the…

Sometimes uh, one needs a slight change of service, sometimes the service is alright. These are things that can only be discussed by the authorities with the individual devotee as to whether there’s adequate service to keep the person fully engaged. That’s a separate situation. That has to be dealt with, individually, but even in such a situation, still, one should be very enthusiastic, and still if after being very enthusiastic the person is bored, or just unengaged, it’s not enough service, or not enough to keep the mind in… involved, then that’s something that has to be dealt with between the spiritual master, or their representative… his representative, the temple authority, still, the person should be doing the service fully enthusiastically, otherwise, how could you tell whether you’re working up to the capacity or not.

Just like if you’re driving in a car and the pedal’s… the gas pedal’s not down and the car’s killing, you say… you know, you come to some conclusion, “Well, something’s wrong with the car.” But then sometimes when the engine’s cold, or you’re overloaded, you just have to put on more gas.

You’re going up a hill, you keep going up the hill, then when you’re going up the hill, it kills, say, “What’s wrong?” “Oh I’ll look at the tire…”, and everything, because you weren’t putting the gas on. Right? So, when you’re going up the hill, you’ve got to put the gas on. Maybe sometimes you downshift, put on the gas, and go up. If you don’t put on more gas when you’re going uphill… So, that’s why sometimes Krishna makes a person go uphill a little bit, just like you’re forced to put on the gas. Sink or swim.

Ordinarily, if you’re always putting on the gas, then it doesn’t make any difference. Those type of tests are no longer really needed, either. So, a devotee’s not actually tested that much, and even if he is, it doesn’t make any difference. He just passes to show other devotees as an example. See how easy it was for Krishn… for Prahlada to swim in the boiling oil, because he such a great devotee. Similarly, for us, we get very infinitesimal situations, comparatively, but Krishna helps us to cross over them.

Enthusiasm is something that is just… just somehow or another, like the person riding… running in a race. How do you become enthusiastic? Someone… either through instruction, through criticism, through joking, through something, a person just gets fired up and goes out and does it. Ultimately, enthusiasm is not something you can pray… of course, Nitai Gaur, Nityananda to help you become more enthusiastic, but enthusiasm comes from one’s desire.

If you desire something, you’re enthusiastic. If you want to please Krishna, you become enthusiastic.
It’s just a question of focusing. Focusing your… focusing your desires, focusing your intentions, tivrena bhakti-yogena, just like the sunlight. Focusing on Krishna. If its not focused, energy gets splayed, you lose enthusiasm. Like, we’re discussing having ham radio sets here in Murari, and different places. Now we have a way of getting a license with that for a short time, there must have found some nice source. Satyanarayana was setting up ham radio sets and doing some work for Rupanuga prabhu and setting up in Europe and in Mayapura and everywhere, so they’ve come out now with a special beam antenna.

Normally, an antenna is broadcasting 360 degrees around, right? So what they do is they… they take that antennae is designed in such a way… I‘m not an electric whiz, but just saying, they… so it only beams 60 percent… or 50 degrees, range. So, because it’s beaming in 50 degree range, like this much, and then the other area’s only like, just a very small fraction is actually being beamed, only like 10%, and everything is going at either 40 or 50 degrees out of the 360, so therefore, there’s 7 times the force in that particular direction, so in this way, because the other direction is not doing anything, it’s all being focused.

So in the same way, we have in material life, 360 degree vision. Every sight, we have desires, car, this, that, whatever. Just millions of desires, so then gradually, all the 360 degrees are focused, just to Krishna: Single point. Therefore, so much energy is produced. Much more energy than what a materialist is supposed to have. That creates an enthusiasm. All we can do is focus more clearly.

Any other questions?

Did you have… were you present when we asked the question about the sun in the New Orleans? Anybody was here? So, anybody here can give an example of any example that we use in our Krishna conscious movement, philosophical etc. where the sun is used as an example, can anyone think of one?

Devotee: Sure.

Jayapataka Swami: Is what?

Devotee: Prabhupada gives the example of the uh, sun when he compares it to uh, Paramatma, Bhagavan and…

Jayapataka Swami: You have won a prize.

Devotees: Jaya!

Jayapataka Swami: Any others raise your hand. Yes.

Lady Devotee: When Prabhupada said that the sun is… comes into your room, isn’t he saying, the sun rays and the sunshine are different, you know?

Jayapataka Swami: Hare Krishna. Anyone else?

Lady Devotee: Hare Krishna.

Devotee: When the aspect of the sun being in purified, without the sun being contaminated.

Jayapataka Swami: Yes. Vedanta-krt?

Vedanta-krt: By ordinary vision, the sun appears to be just a small disc you can cover just with your fingers, but we know, of course that it’s so much bigger.

Jayapataka Swami: So, what does that illustrate?

Vedanta-krt: Just like Krishna uh, here may cover a small aspect, but actually He’s… vasudeva sarvam iti, He’s actually there.

Jayapataka Swami: Congratulations.

Devotee: Should probably describe the difference between like, the sun and the moon. The sun rays still are like Krishna’s energies.

Jayapataka Swami: Yes.

Lady Devotee: As the sun sometimes becomes covered by the clouds, but actually we’re the ones that are covered, not the sun.

Jayapataka Swami: (to another devotee) you don’t have any example?

Devotee: I was just about to warn you just that… (devotees laughing)

Jayapataka Swami: How come you didn’t have your hand up? (devotees laughing) Can’t think of any other? So, you can tell one you’ve too, Steve.

Steve: Sun is the eyes, eyes of Krishna.

Jayapataka Swami: Congratulations, Steve. (devotees laughing) you want to go after him, too?

Steve: Krishna is just like the sun, so where there is no sunlight, there is no darkenss, so where there is Krishna, there is not maya.

Devotees: Hari bol!

Jaypataka Swami: You know that one?

Devotee: I think it’s mentioned that sunlight… the darkness cannot prevail the sunlight. The sunlight is prevailing. Where there’s light, there’s light… there’d be no darkness. Of course, darkness… we live in the darkness.

Jayapataka Swami: So, he made one for him. (devotees laugh) Support your brother in law. You have any Pariksit?

Pariksit: All taken up. (devotees laughing)

Jayapataka Swami: No. No there’s so many… (laughing).

Pariksit: All the ones that I know are.

Jayapataka Swami: Well, let Varaha make one for him.

Varaha: Okay, ah, let’s see. It’s Prabhupada compared sometimes the sun sets but you know, that uh, you know that the sun isn’t actually there, he compares…

Jayapataka Swami: It dies, you know, in the night and it’s born in the morning.

Varaha: It’s compared to Krishna’s pastimes. They’re always going on somewhere, just like the sun is always rising somewhere.

Jaypataka Swami: One for yourself. (indistinct)

Devotee: I was hearing an Acaryadeva tape. He’s saying that the sun’s going on its orbit and exactly according to specific di… its destination around the universe, like that. If it varied even one fraction, the whole planetary system would be destroyed, like that. So, he’s saying that who’s actually directing the sun? They don’t know, but actually it’s Krishna focusing its heat.

Jayapataka Swami: So, who is this for, you? (devotees laugh) What about… what about Caitanya-caritamrta? It makes an example about Nitai Gaur.

Devotee: Oh, yeah

Lady devotee: Like the setting of the sun, has been lost, but…

Jayapataka Swami: What, you didn’t think of one yet?

Devotee: Oh! (all laughing) [end of recording]

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Transcribed by Jagannatha dasa

April 18th, 2015

Sri Mayapura Dhama