19891012 SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM 10.2.41-42, NEW TALAVAN

SB 10.2.41 TRANSLATION:

O mother Devaké, by your good fortune and ours, the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself, with all His plenary portions, such as Baladeva, is now within your womb. Therefore you need not fear Kaàsa, who has decided to be killed by the Lord. Your eternal son, Kåñëa, will be the protector of the entire Yadu dynasty.

SB 10.2.42 TRANSLATION:

After thus offering prayers to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Viñëu, the Transcendence, all the demigods, with Lord Brahmä and Lord Çiva before them, returned to their homes in the heavenly planets.

Today is the disappearance day of which transcendental personalities? Raghunath Das and Raghunath Bhatta. We are just coming up before the sacred month of Damodar, the Damodar month is a special opportunity to increase in one’s devotional service because whatever devotional service is done one gets hundred times benefit. But during that month and prior to it many transcendental festivals are there and many great devotees have disappeared and appeared during this time. Raghunath das Goswami – his life is very well documented because he is a very colorful personality. He was the son of a landlord who was one of the richest landlords in Bengal but in spite of having all material opulence, unlimited material wealth at his disposal, he was simply attached to the sankirtan movement of Caitanya Mahaprabhu and he wanted to join Caitanya Mahaprabhu like anything but his parents and uncle used all their royal influence and army to tie him down and capture him. Then he did the Panihati chira dahi festival, chipped rice festival which New Panihati celebrates every year as well as old Panihati in Bengal. He also got the mercy of Nityananda and then after some time he could escape and reach Jagannath Puri. There he was accepted by Caitanya Mahaprabhu and given under the charge of Swarup Damodar and thus he became the assistant secretary of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Although he was used to a luxurious lifestyle he became very austere and initially he was getting donations from his father which he used to provide prasadam for Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Then when he could understand that Caitanya Mahaprabhu was not very happy with that, then he started to take a more renounced lifestyle standing in front of the door of Jagannath temple, he would take whatever mahaprasad the pilgrims would give him. Then he thought that wasn’t so good so he then started taking the mahaprasad they would throw out. Then he found that dogs and other animals would eat the mahaprasad that they would throw out so he felt bad that he was depriving them of that mercy, so he would let the animals eat that first and then whatever was left after the animals ate, some rotten chunk of rice was there or rotten on the outside, he would take it and break it open and in the centre a good piece would be there and he would eat that! So he became the personification of vairagya – so nobody can be as renounced as Raghunath das, he became so renounced that we cannot even begin to imagine or imitate. Of course simultaneously he was always directly serving Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Therefore, different devotees had different qualities. Sanatan and Rupa Goswami were renowned for being the most humble, Ramananda Rai for being totally undisturbed by any sense gratification, Raghunath das for renunciation. So of course later, Raghunath das went to Vrindavan and was serving in association with the other five of the six Go swamis, Rupa and Sanatan. Krishnadas Kaviraj considered himself initiated by Lord Nityananda but he accepted Rupa and Raghunath das as his instructing spiritual masters. So throughout the Caitanya Caritamrita he always refers to Rupa Raghunatha pade, that one who has taken the shelter of the lotus feet of Rupa and Raghunath. Of course he found that in his family life there was not very suitable association – his brother had become very offensive to Lord Nityananda, so he didn’t want to live where there were offenses to the vaishnavas or to the Lord. So then he left that place on the order of Lord Nityananda who appeared in his dream and ordered to go to Vrindavan because Lord Nityananda appeared in his dream when he was at that place, he constructed a temple to the lotus feet of Lord Nityananda, he considered that Lord Nityananda had actually come there and to this day there is a temple to Lord Nityananda’s lotus feet, one of the places he visited and the temple of Krishnadas Kaviraj is still there. Krishnadas Kaviraj was very old rather and he could hardly write or hardly see but still somehow although he was so old he wrote the Caitanya Caritamrita from the notes that he had gathered from Rupa Goswami and Raghunath das Goswami who had all the information from Swarup Damodar. So specifically the details of all the later life was gathered. He didn’t repeat the earlier life which was already recorded by Vrindavan das Thakur except some details that were not there. Otherwise he just would refer to the original teachings, not trying to duplicate an already done effort. So Gopal, this is Raghunath Bhatta Goswami also lived in Vrindavan, one of the six Goswamis. I know less about Raghunath Bhatta Goswami. I don’t know if anyone knows something about his activities but he was especially favored by Caitanya Mahaprabhu and he also took shelter in Vrindavan. So today is the day that they left the world, went back to the spiritual sky. Great devotees are in the world, they are serving the Lord in transcendental devotional service, they are already in the pastimes of the Lord. The six Goswamis, they were practically seeing Caitanya Mahaprabhu, they were practically seeing and constantly feeling the presence of Radha and Krishna. So although they were in this world by external vision, actually they were already in the transcendental world and their disappearance means that their visible connection with this world is cut but they are already connected with the spiritual world and so that connection simply remains. So it is on one hand a rejoicing because when anyone returns to the spiritual world that is also very happy, cause of rejoicing but on the other hand in this world we don’t get their association. So we didn’t have so much opportunity to associate or any opportunity to directly associate with the six Goswamis or other eternal associates. We are very fortunate to have had the association of Srila Prabhupad who brought the sankirtan movement of Caitanya Mahaprabhu all over the world. And according to the previous acharyas, one who is preaching the message of Caitanya Mahaprabhu is also considered a confidential servitor. Srila Prabhupad was a nitya siddha devotee who came down specifically to spread the sankirtan movement and his teachings are not only explanations of the scripture but they are also prescriptions for the people of the present age. Just like a doctor comes, when I was in the hospital I went for days without a doctor coming. Sometimes I got upset, then I would hear the doctor would come, look at my record and give some instruction, take him off intravenous, put him on this or that, whatever. So the doctor was overseeing giving some prescription and sometimes the doctor would come and see everything and then he would give some specific instruction. So Lord Caitanya had given the general instruction to chant Hare Krishna, to read the Bhagavatam, etc. etc. Then Srila Prabhupad he gave specific instruction how that couldn’t be applied today in the 20th century. Srila Prabhupad wasn’t a fanatic, he was the most expert spiritual physician who knew what we needed to become Krishna conscious. He gave us the prescription to go back home back to Godhead. And if we follow his prescription guaranteed we could return to him. Now if we do follow there is not much to worry about. If we don’t follow strictly then there is a lot to be concerned about. Now people strictly follow Prabhupad’s instructions like go to mangala arati, chant japa, live with the devotees, take Krishna prasadam from the temple, attend Bhagavatam class, guru puja. If you label them fanatics, no matter what you label them, they are Prabhupad’s faithful followers who are trying to follow the instructions he gave to go back to Prabhupad. There may be some people who are not losing sleep over getting back with Srila Prabhupad you know, I can just tell you frankly as a person who did not know whether I would be living or not, I only had two concerns, either that if I died I get back to Srila Prabhupad and that if I live I could continue to serve Srila Prabhupad in this life and I don’t see there is any other priority in my life or purpose, to any disciple of Srila Prabhupad. Whatever we do, what other purpose do we have than to serve Krishna, to serve Srila Prabhupad in this life or in the next.

Krishna personally came down out of His causeless mercy to give us an opportunity to know Him, to serve Him. Lord Caitanya came down with the same purpose and to bring everybody into the pastimes of Lord Krishna. Srila Prabhupad came, just like the six Goswamis and other previous acharyas, he came with a special purpose of spreading this message of Caitanya Mahaprabhu to people who normally didn’t have the chance to get it. Here in the west we were running in a dark pool of sense gratification, we didn’t have any idea about spiritual life, didn’t have any idea about Vedic culture, didn’t have any idea of who we are, who is Krishna or anything. We thought we were the body, we thought that serving this body was the goal of life, and we are just rotating in the cycle of life and death, out of his causeless mercy, he brought to us this entire spiritual link with Caitanya Mahaprabhu, gave us the Bhagavatam, gave us spiritual communities, gave us countless gifts and gave us prescriptions how we can remain in constant connection with him. Now the more that we remain connected, the more we can feel the presence of Prabhupad and Krishna and Caitanya Mahaprabhu in this movement. Just as this verse that Prabhupad referred to adhaapiha means today, right now, at the present time Caitanya Mahaprabhu is still performing these pastimes and those who have good fortune –jaar bhaagye thaakhe, shei deekheyai nirantare, they are able to see the pastimes of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, nirantar – nir means without and antar means end – without cessation, they can see the pastimes of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. So Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s pastimes are continuing even today. The only reason His pastimes don’t end, our ability to realize them, to experience them, to be part of them, that can end. Why? We can lose our good fortune. Because if we have good fortune then we will experience Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s pastimes. If we lose our good fortune or we don’t have it, we didn’t get it then we don’t know, we don’t experience His pastimes. So we have to be very careful. Once someone asked Prabhupad, I didn’t have any spiritual qualification, I don’t see that I was doing any pious activities before I became your disciple. So how is it that I am even a devotee, I don’t understand. I didn’t cross over any of the Vedic regulative processes or anything. So how is it that I have all this good fortune. Srila Prabhupad said, I have made your good fortune. I have given you your good fortune. All of Srila Prabhupad’s disciples, his grand disciples, the devotees taking shelter of Srila Prabhupad certainly they are receiving, they received, and they will continue to receive the good fortune from Srila Prabhupad as long as we follow is instructions. Prabhupad said those who follow my instructions, they live with me. What other connection can we maintain? We can maintain sentimental connection, that is fanaticism. That is fanaticism, to remain sentimentally attached but we don’t actually follow. That is called lip service, sentimentalism, fanaticism. That is what is going on in the whole world. The Moslems, the Christians, the Jews, the Hindus, they are fanatics because they don’t follow the scriptures, many of them are fanatics when they don’t follow the scriptures but they say, I am a Moslem, I am a Hindu, we don’t have a fanatical Hare Krishnas. Who is a fanatic? The people who consider themselves Hare Krishnas but do not follow the instructions of Prabhupad. They are real fanatics. Because Prabhupad defined fanaticism as sentiment without knowledge, without practice. The people who practice Prabhupad’s instructions, they are not fanatics, they are followers. They are the people that are getting the full mercy of Prabhupad. Others are getting some mercy in proportion to how much they are able to follow. When I see devotees who are so nicely following, I am not so expert in following due to one reason or other, I consider that they are more fortunate than me. They are following so nicely, if I can only become a better follower of Srila Prabhupad, then I would be more pleasing to Srila Prabhupad and I could get even more mercy from Srila Prabhupad. We should be very clear about what the Krishna conscious movement is. The six Goswamis, they were so great because they were realistic, they were humble, they had all good qualities. They would see a small defect in themselves and they would feel very ashamed. They would see defects that if any other person saw, they wouldn’t see the defects. They were so determined to try to please Lord Caitanya that even a little bit of what they considered a feature that was not pleasing Lord Caitanya, they would become very concerned. So Raghunath das is feeding Lord Caitanya with the money from his father. There are so many devotees who are there to feed Lord Caitanya and Raghunath das having taken the renounced order why should he take money from his parents and then give it to Lord Caitanya. Lord Caitanya, He thought that enough is enough, it was better for the grihasthas to feed Lord Caitanya and for those in the renounced order, they have other duties. There are different duties for grihasthas, for sanyasis, for people in the renounced order. So he was taking from his parents, although he was in a renounced order he is giving Lord Caitanya meals, so after a while Lord Caitanya thought that this is kind of a funny situation but he didn’t say anything directly through hints and indications, and Raghunath das he could pick up that this is not very pleasing to Lord Caitanya, so immediately he gave it up and he contributed that money to Jagannath or to some other fund. He didn’t use it for that purpose any more. So that is actually the mood of pure devotees is that they are simply trying to know what is going to be pleasing to the Lord. So Prabhupad, he didn’t leave us in the dark or leave us in any kind of bewilderment as far as what is pleasing to him. Everybody in the whole world knows what is pleasing to Prabhupad because in no uncertain terms did he tell us that he wants us to follow the four regulative principles, chant 16 rounds and attend spiritual programs, to associate with devotees, to engage in the sankirtan movement, to preserve what he has given us and try to develop it. He has given his instructions and his books, his lectures, to individuals in his letters. Because of the 20th century we have Prabhupad’s lectures taped, we have his letters microfilmed, we have all of his books published. Can you imagine if we had that for the six Goswamis from Lord Caitanya, all of Lord Caitanya’s talks on tape! The only thing we failed to do is that we failed to video tape all of Prabhupad’s lectures. Actually at that time it was not so common, a few videos we have. Now is like the video age, now we could have every discussion video but that is unfortunate that we didn’t take advantage, it was a new thing at that time. You can imagine how wonderful it would be to have photos and videos of Lord Caitanya, the six Goswamis. It was the Lord’s desire that He came before we got into that level of materialistic technology. We can see how technology has complicated life, so when Lord Caitanya came life was still simple. It was still much closer to the Vedic – at least in India – it was much closer to the Vedic culture. It was still Vedic culture, varnashrama really prominent. But now it is a different story, it is a different situation. So the six Goswamis they taught how we should use whatever we have in Krishna’s service. Whatever will help us in furthering the cause of Krishna, yena taina prakaarene Krishna mana nivosate – whatever will encourage a person to become more attached to Krishna, that is actually good, that is very beneficial. Here in the verses of the Bhagavatam, the devatas, the great demigods, they are telling Mother Devaki that you are very fortunate because Krishna is present in you. So that is very good for Devaki as she has Krishna within and that is very good for the universe because Krishna is present in the universe. And although Kamsa, he could be a devotee but instead he through his own desire, he has become an enemy of Krishna, he decided by being inimical to Krishna, to be killed by Krishna. He decided to kill Krishna, since you cannot kill Krishna that is a decision to be killed by Krishna. That is also an unusual kind in a way to his benefit in that he will receive liberation but it is much more beneficial to be a devotee of the Lord. So the devatas, they can see that when Krishna is present, it is all fortunate. And then then offered their prayers and returned back to their respective homes in the higher planets. It is interesting that in the purport the previous acharyas and Prabhupad, they give in the purport that the incarnations of the Supreme Personality of Godhead appear continuously, there is no limit but they can be perceived only by devotees who are fortunate. And they say that Lord Caitanya is still present. Actually the devatas are saying that you are very fortunate because Krishna is in your womb. So don’t worry. A lot of times devotees get apprehensive, they get afraid, they wonder what is my future? What is the future of the world? What is going to happen? But just as the devatas told Devaki don’t be afraid, don’t worry, actually these verses are telling us don’t worry because Krishna is with us. Here the deities are present, Prabhupad is present, the Bhagavatam is present and if we chant Hare Krishna congregationally, Hare Krishna, the naama avatar is present. So what is the question of fear when the Lord is present? Fear should only be there when the Lord is not present. When Krishna is present there is no cause of fear. It is very interesting when I heard the next verse because the verse 41 had the word kukshigata but in the purport for 42 it gave the commentary on kukshigata. So it is kind of interesting that text 42’s commentary referred to verse 41. So then how are these two verses then in verse 42 it says the Lord is always present, but in 41 the verse says it is your good fortune and there is nothing to worry about because Krishna is present within you. So the two verses were very much connected in the purports. Prabhupad is saying here referring to Lord Caitanya but the verse says that Krishna is present, so Devaki you shouldn’t worry because Devaki was worried naturally because she is in a prison house and her brother Kamsa is ready to kill her child when he is born, he can do anything, he is very demoniac. He could kill them. He had tried to kill her once before. Certainly there was sufficient cause for being afraid. However, the devatas are saying, Siva, Brahma and other demigods are saying, don’t be afraid because Krishna is present. Then in the purport Prabhupad says that Lord Caitanya is present today for those who are fortunate enough to see. So sometimes we find devotees becoming fearful, apprehensive. Apparently in the material world there is kind of middle-age syndrome when people become afraid or something of their future, I think they call the middle-age syndrome, I am not sure of the technical word for it. Actually here Prabhupad is telling that there is no need to be afraid because Caitanya Mahaprabhu is present. We find 40-year-old devotees who have been in the movement for 20 years suddenly they become very concerned with getting a job, getting a house, getting this and getting that. They give up active devotional service because of fear. Prabhupad said fear is an animal principle due to not remembering Krishna, due to forgetfulness of Krishna, animals have no consciousness of Krishna, they are always afraid. Human beings are also afraid until they become Krishna conscious. When we are Krishna conscious there is no cause of fear. Prabhupad’s name is Abhaya Charanaravinda Bhakti Vedanta Swami Prabhupad. Abhaya means fearless Charanaravinda – having taken shelter at the lotus feet of Lord Sri Krishna. Bhaja hu re mana Sri Nanda Nandana Abhaya charanaravinda re. So by taking shelter of Sri Krishna, Sri Nanda Nandana, or taking shelter of Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His sankirtan movement abhaya charanaravinda re –there is no cause of any fear. Everybody wants to be fearless, so the sure fire method of being fearless is to be in constant connection with Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His sankirtan movement. So that connection is maintained because of our own – you see when Lord Caitanya was present we could just run out in the sankirtan party. Lord Caitanya is still present, the sankirtan party is still there but you cannot see Lord Caitanya except you can see Him on the altar. So in order to get that association we have to come to the temple and see Him on the altar and run out in the sankirtan party, Hari naam. We have to still go out and join Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s sankirtan, then we feel fearless. Prabhupad knew it was very difficult in the material world to survive in the struggle for existence, so he wanted to make it easier for devotees to have a simple living, high thinking, to simplify their lives so that they could give more time to being Krishna conscious and by being Krishna conscious all the fears, all the anxieties, problems in their lives would be diminished to nothing and more they are separated from that transcendental connection naturally fears and problems start to increase and the more we take to material methods to solve them then the more – it is like a syndrome – we have to work harder, more and more complicated, then to solve that. So Prabhupad realized all this that we have to keep our problems to the minimum by simplifying our lives and by being as Krishna conscious as possible by chanting and hearing and serving. So the six Goswamis, Krishnadas Kaviraj are very merciful that they left many teachings behind them, they have written many books so that we can read these books. Prabhupad was very kind, he left his books behind so that we can read and hear the books – nityam Bhagavata sevaya – I was supposed to serve the devotee Bhagavat and book Bhagavat every day for purification. So in this way we can also get directly the teachings of Srila Prabhupad. This is the real purpose of human life to remain in transcendental consciousness.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Transcribed by: Jayaraseshwari dd 11 August 2016