Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.24.9
Бхакти Вигьяна Госвами · Калькутта · 2013
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Invocation prayers and scriptural recitation
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Omnamo Bhagavat, Omnamo Bhagav so devaya. Nārāyaṇam namaskṛtya. naram caiva narottamam. devīṁ sarasvatīṁ vyāsaṁ tato jayam udīrayet.
naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu. Bhagavaty uttama-śloke bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī. bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī. yaṁ pravrajantam anupetam apeta-kṛtyaṁ dvaipāyano. virahakātara ājuhāva putreti tanmayatayā.
taravo 'bhinedur taṁ sarva-bhūta-hṛdayaṁ. munim ānato 'smi. Hare Krishna. So we're reading today Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto 5, Chapter 24, The Subterranean Heavenly Planets. yeṣu mahārāja mayāvinā vinirmita
purāṇāni nānā-maṇi-pravara-pravāla- vicitra-bhavana-prākāra-gopura-sabhā- caitya-catvara-ratna-dhibhiḥ nāgāsura-mithuna-pravāra-parvata- śuka-śārikā-kīrṇa-kṛtrima- bhūmibhir viveśvara-kṛtotamaiḥ
samalaṅkṛtāś cakāsuḥ. Translation by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda.
by his divine grace bhaktividanta svana sila pravadaki my dear king, in the imitation heavens, known as Bilasvarga, there is a great demon named Mayadhanava, who is an expert artist and architect.
He has constructed many brilliantly decorated cities. There are many wonderful houses, walls, gates, assembly houses, temples, yards and, temple compounds, as well as many
hotels serving as residential quarters for foreigners. The houses for the leaders of these planets are constructed with the most valuable jewels, and they are always crowned, and
they are always crowned with living entities known as Nagas and Asuras, as well as many pigeons, parrots, and similar birds. All in all, this imitation heavenly cities are most beautifully
stimulated and attractively decorated. Text number 10. The parks and gardens of the artificial heavens surpass the beauty of those of the upper heavenly planets.
The trees in those gardens, embraced by creepers, bent with heavy burden of twigs, with fruits and flowers, and therefore they appear extraordinarily beautiful.
The beauty could attract, that beauty could attract anyone and makes his mind fully blossom in the pleasure of sense gratification.
There are many lakes and reserves of clear transparent water agitated by jumping fish and decorated with many flowers such as lilies, kuvalas, kachalas and blue and red lotuses, Pairs of chakravakas and many other water birds nest in the
lakes and always enjoy in a happy mood, making sweet, pleasing vibrations that are very satisfying and uh conducive to enjoyment of the senses. Text number eleven.
Since there is no sunshine in those subterranean planets, time is not divided into days and nights. And consequently, fear produced by time does not exist there. Text number 12.
Many great serpents reside there with gems in their hoods. And the effulgence of these gems dissipates the darkness of all directions. And two more text.
Since the residents of these planets drink and bathe in juices and elixirs made from wonderful herbs that are freed from all anxieties and physical diseases. They have no experience of grey hair, wrinkles, or invalidity.
Their bodily luster does not fade. Their perspiration does not cause a bad smell and they are not troubled by fatigue or by lack of energy or enthusiasm due to old age. And text 14.
Material comfort and inevitable death
They live very auspiciously and do not fear death from anything but death-established time. From anything but death-established time, which is the effulgence of the Sudarsana Chakra of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
This is the defect of material existence. Everything in the subterranean heavens is very nicely arranged.
There are well-situated residential quarters, there is a pleasing atmosphere, and there are no bodily inconveniences or mental anxieties.
But nevertheless, those who live there have to make another birth according to their karma. Persons whose minds are dull cannot understand this defect of materialistic civilization aiming at material comfort.
One may make his living conditions very pleasing for the senses, but despite all favorable conditions, one must, in due course of time, meet death.
The members of demoniac civilization endeavor to make their living conditions very comfortable, but they cannot check death. The influence of the Sudarsana chakra will not allow their so-called material happiness.
Swami, Namaste Sarasvati-devi. Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, Prabhu Nityānanda, Śrī Advaita, Gadādhara, Śrīvāsādi Gaura-bhakta- Vrinda, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hari Ramhari Ram Ram Ram Hare Hari.
Ajanulambiti Bujokanakavadu Sankirtanaikapitarukamalaitaksu Vishwam Barodvija Varu Yugdharma Palu, Vandeja Jagatpriya Karovarunavataru.
Yundah pravi shya mamavachimu mamprasuptam sangivaya takila shakti darakswadamna, anjamashravanatva gadim pranandamo bhagavati purusha etubjam. Hare Krishna.
I'm very happy and honored to speak in front of all of you in the home city of His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada and in front of the deities Śrī Śrī Rādhā Govinda Chaitanya Mahaprabhu which he installed.
I feel very undeserving and humbled, but still in a spirit of service to all of you, I will try to say a few
Purpose of ten topics in Srimad-Bhagavatam
words about this very instructive section of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. To understand it properly, we have to really know composition of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam in general.
The composition of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam is being described in the last chapter of the second Kanto of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, where Śukadeva Gosvāmī explains that there are ten topics in Śrīmad Bhāgavatam.
Atrasarga V Sarga Schastanam Posanam, Utaya, Manvantares, Nukatha, Nirodha Muktir, Ashraya. And when we read this, we may develop some doubt that this is a defect of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam.
Because ultimately to understand something, you have to have only one topic. It's a huge 18,000 verses book. And if this book is talking about 10 different subject matters,
after reading this book, you will be totally bewildered. And sometimes people they do become bewildered after reading of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. It's not so easy to understand the idea and the composition of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam.
Therefore, in the next verse, Śukadeva Gosvāmī explains the reason why there are 10 topics in Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. If we really want to drive the point home, then the topic should be only one.
And ultimately, Śrīmad Bhāgavatam wants to drive a very important point home to our mind and to our heart. And this point is very simple and very clear, and this is what Śukadeva Gosvāmī explains in the next verse.
He says there is only one topic in reality. This is Ashraya. And Ashraya means shelter and ultimately it means where the living entities can really find shelter in this material world.
What is the real shelter as opposed to illusory shelters which we are all very eager to find. We all feel that we need some shelter, some protection, something.
And ultimately, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam teachings, uh, teaching us, uh, is teaching us this simple thing, which is very difficult due to our conditioning to understand that there is only one shelter uh everywhere in the creation. That is Lord Krishna.
But then the question arises: why there are so many other topics being described. Why there is sarga, why there is visarga, why there is sthāna, why there is poṣaṇa, ūtī, and so on and so forth.
And Śukadeva Gosvāmī explains that there is a very important role which all these topics play for us to understand the real topic of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: the shelter.
By explaining this, we can understand much more clearly and much more convincingly that there is only one shelter, that is Lord Krishna.
Ultimately, everything else which is being described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and there are so many other things, is just to explain to us that there is no other shelter, there is no other shelter, there is no other shelter than Lord Krishna.
Because there will be a temptation for us to try to find shelter somewhere else. Yes, Krishna is fine, yes, yes, yes. But what about my present condition? Does he really give me shelter?
I need to eat, I need to have a roof over my head. You know, and Krishna is too far away. Is he really taking care of me? And maybe I should try to find some other shelter.
And particularly here, you can be very easily bewildered, and the whole uh you know fifth canto is about this. You can be very easily bewildered by reading this description of Bila-svarga.
Specifically Śukadeva Gosvāmī says here that bila-svarga is even better than svarga. Underneath the earth there is a planet and the planet Rahu somewhere there, I don't know, in subterraneal realm. And it's so nice there.
And you feel like going there immediately. And
they use special elixirs to base your body very nicely, and the body is not really Really making a bad smell. There's no bad smells there. Sweat is not smelling as obnoxiously as it smells here. Isn't it nice?
You know, it's seems like a big billboard. Welcome to bila-svarga.
Nice place to live, isn't it? You know, such a graphic description, you know, there are gardens and flowers and snakes happily crawling there with big jewels on their hoods and so many and the houses are much nicer than here.
Much nicer. It's so many different beautiful gardens and it's not as congested as Kolkata, definitely not. And and Maya Danava he is he is the greatest architect.
You know, Lord Krishna employed him to build a beautiful assembly hall for Pandavas, so he definitely knows what he's doing. He's a beautiful architect. He arranged everything. Everything is so perfectly arranged there.
And no old age. Absolutely no old age. So this is the real shelter, isn't it? We feel like you know immediately, yeah, this is a give me the mantra to get there. Explain to me how to take birth in this place.
But then uh at the end unfortunately Śukadeva Gosvāmī says, yes, yes, everything is nice. If you don't count one simple factor. That is, everyone there still has to die. And the fear is still there, even though there is no immediate fear, but still everyone knows that I'm destined to die and therefore everyone is feared this unknown time when the death will come.
And this fear is even stronger only because it's so nice there. You know, to die in Calcutta it's not such a big deal because after all, who would like to live here? It may not be such a tragic event.
Thank God I'm finally dead. But to die in Bilas Varga, oh huh. You know, and you don't know where you will be born. Maybe in Calcutta. You know, and after Bilas Varga, it will be few. You know, there is hardly any parks here.
And there it's just so nice.
Fifth Canto representation of spiritual protection
So basically, this whole fifth canto is about this. The meaning, and when we read Fifth Canto, we really have to keep this point in mind.
The whole meaning of every verse in Fifth Canto, according to some ācāryas. There are different ideas about this, but uh there is quite prominent uh conception among the ācāryas who uh explain Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is that uh there is a so-called krama theory and according to krama theory the topics of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam are explained in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in uh the uh chronological order or uh in the order
which they are described by Śukadeva Gosvāmī in the first verse of the tenth chapter of second canto. Atrasarga visarga's chas. So Sarga first, then Visarga second.
And by the way, Śrīla Prabhupāda also obviously ascribes to this point of view to this Krama theory.
So according to krama explanation of the meaning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, fifth canto represents the third topic of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which is sthānaṁ. Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura explained this.
Of course, Jīva Gosvāmī says that all the topics are explained in all the cantos. But Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura is very clear about this.
He says that first and second cantos are just introduction of Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam. And the first topic sarga is explained in the third canto, second topic in the second canto, and third topic, sorry, not the first.
The first topic is explained in the third canto, uh, second topic in the fourth canto, and third topic, sthānaṁ, is explained in the fifth canto.
So in order to understand the meaning of fifth canto, and again, if we don't keep it in mind, the whole description which is there may be very bewildering.
We have to really understand that fifth canto is explaining sthānaṁ. And sthānaṁ basically means, as Śukadeva Gosvāmī himself explains, sthānaṁ means sthiti vaikuntha vijaya. Sthiti means protection.
And he very clearly says that the sthāna or protection, oh again shelter you may say, what protects me? Where I can find protection here in this world, it is said uh very clearly
by Śukadeva Gosvāmī himself, sthitir vaikuntha vijaya. That it is vaikuntha vijaya which really can give me protection. And this vaikuntha vijaya can have two meanings according to our ācāryas.
It can be vaikunṭhasya vijaya, where vaikunṭhasya means Lord Krishna. And Vijaya means excellence.
In other words, the meaning of fifth canto, please listen very carefully. The meaning of fifth canto is to explain to us the super excellence, in this case, vijaya would mean super excellence of Lord Krishna.
As opposed to faulty conditions which are everywhere else, why Lord Krishna is the only one who can give protection? Because he is super excellent, whereas everyone else has some faults.
Or any other situation has some faults. And this fault is very clearly described in the last verse which we read.
It may appear very super excellent. Everything is so perfectly arranged, everything is just, you know, like I don't know. Yeah, but there is little fault is there. And this fault is not so visible for our bewildered mind.
But we have to understand through this description is that oh no, it ultimately it stinks. I don't want to go there. You know what is the use? I will die there.
And it will be again tragedy, and then then I will be again born as a cockroach in Calcutta.
Uh big cockroaches here in Calcutta and I will feel very important cockroach having my realm of my material authority among other cockroaches.
Anyway, so the thing is that meaning of fifth canto and any description of the fifth canto is that ultimately you can find the shelter or protection only from Lord Krishna because he is super excellent. He can do something.
Or other kind of meaning which can be derived from this Vaikuṇṭha-vijaya is that Vaikuṇṭha, Lord Krishna is the real one who is Vijaya, who can conquer over all the sufferings conditioned in this world.
Unless you take shelter of Vaikuṇṭha or Lord Krishna or Vaikuṇṭha planets, the suffering conditions will just go on and on and on. And in this case, vijaya would mean victory. Who is victorious in this world?
It's only Lord Krishna. Everyone else will be defeated. Like today, this morning, we went to the Victoria Square.
And you know, this lady, queen of Great Britain Empire, is sitting there in a form of statue. And she's called Victory Victoria.
Means she is the key. She is the one who can make everyone victorious. So what happened with her?
You know, she's just sitting there in a form of statue, which to some dull minds can be considered as some Victorious Ann. She's sitting there for the rest of Kali Yuga.
But when we were working there, she's there you know an old lady fat and a crow is sitting on her head and passing stool. This is this is her victory.
Now she's there and you know during her lifetime probably crow would not be allowed to do this. You know, she's a powerful lady.
But now any crow or anyone else can basically pass stool, And even though she's called Victoria, it's not a victory, it's a defeat. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam very clearly says that uh everyone is defeated in this world.
Lord Rishabhadev says this in this fifth canto. And the same fifth canto, Lord Rishabhadev says that uh Parabhava that defeat is the only destiny in this world and
if we want to be victorious, we have to take shelter of Śrīla Prabhupāda. Oh, of Lord Krishna, at least.
We have to understand that the only protection which we can obtain in this material world is coming from Śrīla Prabhupāda. Yes, from Śrīla Prabhupāda. I will explain this a little later in the course of my talk.
But as if now we at least have to understand that the protection is ultimately coming from Lord Krishna because of his super excellent qualities, because of his kindness, because of his basically he is the only one who is able to give us protection.
Otherwise we will be defeated.
Defeat within the material world
This whole material life is just only description of defeat after defeat after defeat. You know, sometimes people they play games, and in game, you know, somebody is victorious and somebody is defeated.
But in the game of material life, nobody is victorious. Can you imagine that there is a game going on, football game or whatever? And one team is defeating other team with the count 1000 over zero.
This is this is our material life. We're being defeated millions and millions and millions of times. The defeat is sure. If there is anything sure in this material life, this is the defeat.
We will die and God knows where will we be born. You know, we may have a conception, illusory conception in our mind that I am so successful in this life. And so many people do have this conception.
You know, we were working in this house and so many very important people, you know, working there and you know saying something very important and you know, but defeat this is defeat nothing else but defeat because they don't want to take shelter of Lord Krishna never in their lives
you know, Śrīla Prabhupāda once very graphically explained it to Ambarīṣa Prabhu.
Ambarīṣa Prabhu, as we all know, he is great-grandson of Henry Ford. And he probably, you know, was sick and tired of explaining to different people how he is connected with Henry Ford and this and that.
And when he first met with Śrīla Prabhupāda, he started reading his books and he wanted to join. So Prabhupada made an appointment and he met with Ambarish Prabhu.
And the first question which Prabhupāda asked Ambarīṣa Prabhu was: So you are the great-grandson of Henry Ford.
And you know probably thousands of people ask the same question of Ambarish Prabhu He was probably by that time sick and tired of this stupid question.
So you are the grandson of, or grand-grandson of, Henry Ford. And he thought, oh no. He's also asking the same question to me. And he said, yes, yes, yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda, I am the grandson.
And Prabhupāda asked the second question, which nobody before asked Ambarish Prabhu. So where he is now? He said, yes, I got the point. You know, you may be Henry Ford, but you don't know what is your next destination.
Where you will be born. You m— you may be a great, great Henry Ford with, you know, fortunes, but next lifetime you will be a cockroach somewhere or maybe you will become a Ford automobile or I don't know what.
So Prabhupāda, he— he just wanted to make this point very clear because because of the illusion we always try to find permanent shelter here. And ultimately, there is no permanent shelter here.
We will be defeated, royally defeated. We will be suffering like, I don't know who, while dying this. But the illusion will be so strong that we will think, oh, I will get better again.
You know, I recently spoke with one gentleman, he's a very rich gentleman, and his mother was dying. And she was a nice lady. She was quite pious, and this gentleman is also very, very pious, nice, nice gentleman.
And he wrote to me, he said, she's just dying and she's suffering like hell. And all these sufferings basically nullified all her achievements in life. This whole nice life which she lived.
And she has only one desire, to die as soon as possible. No other desires. Everything else became nil and void. Meaningless. Absolutely meaningless.
Just because of the very fact that you not only die, you die while suffering so deeply and while being so engrossed in the material body. And we have to be very clear that this death is the real sufferings.
And unless we find a solution to this problem, we will be defeated. This is the only problem which we should try to find solution. Once somebody uh a journalist was trying to defeat Śrīla Prabhupāda. Good try.
He said, «Why, why did you come here?» He said I came here to America to teach you something. And he said, you're coming from India. And what is the death rate in India?
He just wants to show to Śrīla Prabhupāda that we are superior country, who are you to come here to teach us? And Prabhupada says as far as I know, the death rate everywhere is hundred percent.
Death rate is the same everywhere. It's 100%. And 100% means 100%. No one is exempt. There is nobody who is free from this condition of life. And I came here to teach you how to become exempt.
I came here to explain to you what you should do to get rid of this sufferings and horrible condition in life. You know, if you're little sane, you will understand if you're little sane, of course it's big if.
But if you have some brain, you will understand this is the real problem. People are trying to solve so many problems in this material world, but the problems become more and more acute and severe.
Five causes of material suffering
And nobody is trying, nobody is trying to solve this problem, death — what should I do uh to get free of this particular suffering. It's very interesting that in Yoga Sutras there
is a sutra which explained five kleśas, pañca-kleśa. And this pañca-kleśa explained in yoga-sūtras, our ācāryas very often quote these sūtras. Kleśa means basically five causes of sufferings.
There are only five causes of sufferings in this material world. Five. First is avidyā, second is asmitā, rāga-dveṣa and abhiniveśa.
These five kleśas or five conditions or five causes for our sufferings are there for every conditioned living entity. No one is exempt from it.
You know, you will be suffering one way or another because these five conditions, they always present, they are built in our material bodies.
No matter where you're born, whether you're born in svarga or you're born in bila-svarga or you're born in the Earth, you're born in Venus, you are born in Saturn, it doesn't matter.
Material body means these five causes of sufferings. And among those the fear of death is the last suffering. Abhinives. Avidya means ignorance. Asmita means false ego, asmi. This is me. This is I. Raga means attachment.
Dvesha means hatred, and as a result of it, abhinivesha, fear of death. So basically when we examine our mind very clearly we can see that the causes of sufferings are there.
We all have avidyā or ignorance of our identity. We don't know who we are. We don't really know what is our spiritual identity. We don't know our svarūpa, we don't know our relationship with Krishna.
And therefore, asmita is there, I have a false identity. What is false identity? I am this, I'm that, I'm I'm a man, I am woman, sorry, I am you know so many other designations are there.
I am the temple president, I am the temple commander, I am the temple treasurer, I am a minister, I am GBC, I am guru. It's all false. It's all completely false.
It's just roles which we play temporarily in this material world. And that's asmita. And then because of this, we develop some raga, we like something.
Trying to play some roles, yeah, I like this is good. And this is bad, this I hate. But as a result of this, there is only one result: abhinivesha.
You become completely fearful of death because you don't want to part with all these roles, temporary roles.
That brings me so much happiness, and of course there are some sufferings, but sufferings we somehow or other will avoid, but we will maximize the pleasures and this is nice. It doesn't matter, you may be born as a hog.
And as a hog you will be completely attached to the position of a hog. You don't believe it, but you will be. And for that, the famous story from Purāṇas is there that how Lord Indra became a hog.
And he was enjoying his hog's life, being cursed by some sages in the heavens, he became a hog.
And I heard one lecture by Radhanath Maharaja, he said, unfortunately, he didn't become a hog in Vṛndāvana. He just became a hog somewhere else, because to become a hog in Vṛndāvana would not be that bad.
But he became a hog and he didn't want to leave this body. He was so attached to his wife, he said, you know, I have such a nice wife. You know, can you imagine? You know, to be attracted to a she hog.
And nice cute children which make some strange sound and eat some stew. It's nice, isn't it? So much so that Lord Brahmā has to come and say, come on, get out of here, let's go to heaven. He said, No, no, no, no way.
Let me live happily life here. I am happy. I'm perfect. Get out of here. And Lord Brahmā has to teach him a very drastic lesson. First, he killed his wife. Just in front of his eyes. And he said, oh no, my beautiful wife.
What are you doing, my beautiful wife? How you can do this? But but that was not enough. Even this was not enough. He was still attached to his, you know, okay, somehow or other we'll live without wife.
I still have my children. And then Lord Brahmā killed all his children. He said, no. But still he was attached. Even this was not enough.
Still, he wanted to live, and Lord Brahmā said, Okay, now I will kill you. Are you ready to go to heaven? Yes, yes, yes, yes. This is called Abhine Vesh.
Abinivesh means complete attachment or absorption in this material body and everyone, every living entity is the is a subject of this problem. Everyone.
Patanjali Muni, who explained this in Yoga Sutra, he says that unfortunately, you know, he explains first what is a vidya, then he explains what is Asmita, Raga and Vesha.
When he comes to Abhini Vesha, he doesn't explain what it is. The only thing which he says is that even the great sages have this problem.
The only thing which he says about Abinives is that nobody is exempt of this problem being absorbed in the pleasures of this body.
Nobody. You may be a great sage, you will still be very much absorbed in this problem, and ultimately you, will develop some illusory ideas about your identity, you will try to keep the status quo in this material world, and you will never be able to get out of here.
Attaining fearlessness through pure devotees
So, what to do? That's a good question. What to do. And of course, uh, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam gives us solution. What to do. And we have to really take shelter of somebody who does not have fear of death.
Everyone has the fear of this. Every single one. But there are some rare exceptions.
And one obvious exception in front of our eyes is Abhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda is called abhay because he is fearless.
And his spiritual master confirmed this by giving him the name Abhay Charanaravinda. His fearlessness is coming from his ability to take complete shelter of lotus feet of the Supreme Lord.
You know, who else can do what he did? Who else in the age of 70 without having convertible money go to America? I challenge you. Is anyone of you is ready to do this?
Go to America without any money and and without having any contemplated address. only somebody who does not have even as slightest trace of fear can do this. Yeah, you know, I'm sheltered.
I have my shelter because Krishna is there. I I I would not be able to, you know, once I c once. It once happened to me.
Nightmare of traveling sannyasi is that to come to some unknown place and nobody picks you up in the airport. And that happened with me once.
I, and I had money. I came to Dubai, and even though I explained when I'm coming, there was no devotees in the airport, and I was totally completely lost. I didn't know what to do.
I was ready to jump into the plane again and fly back. Nobody was there. I completely I was completely that's it I don't know what to do. I didn't start opening a temple in Dubai as Prabhupada did.
I I I I was not enthused by this fact that you know, okay, now the real preaching will start. No. I didn't know what to do.
And next day of you know, I spent the night in a hotel and somehow or other somebody picked me up and I was little in peace. But you know, Śrīla Prabhupāda started it. Why? Because he was Abhaya. Abhaya Charanaravinda.
And there's a very nice verse in the fourth canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Sa vai priyatamas cātmā yato na bhayam anvapi. iti veda sa vai vidvān yaḥ vidvān sa gurur hariḥ. Sa Vai Priyatamas Cātmā Yato Na Bhayam Anvapi.
The one who knows that Lord Krishna is priyatama, He is the most dear and the most beautiful
one, and he is always there, sa vai priyatamas cātmā, yato na bhayam anvapi, and on account of this knowledge, does not have even the slightest fear, anvapi, anu api. Even the, even the trace of fear is not there.
iti veda sa vai vidvān. The one who knows this, he is Vidvan. He is the only one who really knows. yo vidvān sa gurur hariḥ. Only such vidvān can become a guru.
Only someone who is in this condition of complete fearlessness, he can become guru of the whole world. He can give shelter to others. And the point which I want to make, do I have still few minutes to go? Yeah?
Only such a person who is completely fearless in this world he can give shelter to others even though he is not God but he is equal to God.
Yo vidvān sa gurur hariḥ. He is guru and his real manifestation of Lord Hari. He is the manifestation. And even though I said that the point of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is to encourage us to take shelter of Lord Hari himself.
But how we can take shelter of Lord Hari? We cannot. We don't see him, we don't have the experience of his presence, we are bewildered.
Ultimately, it's explained by Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura in one place that this is māyā.
This is how māyā influences our mind and actually Prabhupāda explaining the verses from the second Kanto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam where Śrīdhara Svāmī, he says this is all māyā.
And Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura says that māyā has two functions. One is Avidya, another one or uh. And he says that uh the first klesha avidya is caused by a varana aspect of maya.
And second asmita is caused by Vikshepa. Our false identity which we developed is caused by Vikshepa. And then he says that rāga, dveṣa, and abhiniveśa, it's all manifestation of vikṣepa.
It's all manifestation of this uh kind of projecting uh potency of Maya.
That Maya is so strongly influencing us that it forces us to project our consciousness, this which is spiritual by nature, into something material. And Abhini Vesha ultimately is the result of this projection.
But Maya is very strong. And if we are to be advised that the solution for all these problems is to take shelter of Krishna. It's practically impossible because we don't know how to take shelter of Krishna.
We don't believe, we have some doubts, the fear is still there, it's not going to work. Really.
But to solve this problem, to really solve this problem of birth and death, which is the real problem which we have to try to solve, is to take complete shelter of a devotee of Kṛṣṇa.
And I can uh try to prove it if you give me five or seven more minutes.
Overcoming the root cause of fear
If you give me, I will try to prove.
There is a nice little section of Gopāla-campū by Jīva Gosvāmī where it is explained the teachings of Parjanya Mahārāja, father of Nanda and Upananda and Sunanda, the five sons of Parjania.
It is explained there that once all the sons of Parjania approached their father. And the father became a little old. They asked their father a very important question.
They asked, dear father, please explain to us the root cause of all fear. The topic of our discussion today is the fear, fear of death.
So Nanda, Sunanda, Upananda and Abhinanda, and they all approached their father and said, please tell us the description, describe as the root cause, the mūla of all fear, which everyone experiences.
You know, we may say, some people proudly say, I'm not afraid of death.
Yes, you're not afraid of death, but you're afraid of you're afraid of your wife. So many other things. You're afraid of your boss and uh and your job. You know, everyone is is fearful.
So they asked, please tell us the root cause of the fear. And Parjani said, the destiny is the root cause of fear. We don't know what destiny has in store for us. Therefore, astrology is such a lucrative job.
You know, so many you you may not know astrology at all, but you still can fool people and say, oh, yeah, yeah, everything will be nice.
And they will happily pay you 100 rupees and go to another astrologer to confirm your glorious predictions. You know, everyone is fearful, everyone is fearful.
And he said this destiny, we don't know what what is there for us. Therefore, everyone is fearful. And uh the the next question would be what should we pray for? How should we appease the destiny?
Because people know that we should pray for something to appease the destiny. And the answer of uh Parjanya Maharaj was very clear. You should pray to have the shelter of a devotee of the Lord.
This is he didn't say the Lord. Our prayer, if we want to get rid of the fear or fearful condition of our mind, should be only one. Please.
Make sure that I will meet somebody who is totally fearless and from whom I can take complete shelter in life. The next question was, what is the real happiness?
And Parjania Maharaj answered, the real happiness is to obtain love of Krishna. And who can teach you this love of Krishna? The one who is totally fearless.
Somebody who can teach you how to become fearless in this world by taking complete shelter of Lord Krishna.
Conquering death through scriptural wisdom
And I wanted at the end tell you a very beautiful story about Śrīla Prabhupāda and how Śrīla Prabhupāda even now continues to give shelter to living entities, making them completely fearless and freeing them from this condition of birth and death.
The story, the story was described by Indradyumna Maharaj in his one of his Vyasapuja offerings. And he said that once once a magician came to
Śrīla Prabhupāda and Krishna Balaram Mandir. And this magician was you know wanted to display his art. And he was doing different tricks and you know and he was making uh different things to appear and disappear. You know how magicians are.
They you know somehow or rather they they take their hat and they take a little rabbit from the head and say, you know, sis this was my hat, you know.
How did and so many things, you know, appearing, disappearing, appearing, disappearing, and he was very proud and ultimately, you know, everyone was clapping and you know all the devotees
were completely happy, yes, yes, yeah, oh great, great, great. And on the Śrīla Prabhupāda, he was smiling quite skeptically. And he said, yeah, yeah, very nice, very nice. Can you do one favor to me? Prabhupāda.
You made so many things appear and disappear. Can you please make the death disappear from my life? And he said, magician said, no, that I cannot do. Prabhupada looked at him very proudly and said, I can do it.
And then Prabhupada said, and I'm doing it, and therefore in the lives of my disciples and therefore I'm greater magician than you.
I I can show greater miracle because uh I can make the fear of death disappear from the minds of my disciples. And in Radimna Maharaj, he goes on describing the story of his own mother.
He says, my mother was a very educated woman. She graduated from the best university in America. And this education was a real obstacle.
She was totally materialistic and initially she reacted overreacted very much when he joined Hare Krishna movement and it was a cause of complete anxiety for her.
Gradually over the years she came somewhat in peace, but she still didn't believe in God or anything else, didn't believe at all. And she was always calling in Radiumna Maharaj, trying to call him home.
And whenever they had some discussions, she ultimately was trying to tell him, yes, you know, the life comes from matter. And when we die, nothing is going to remain of us. We will just die and that's it. Yes.
And he said that over the years I would send to her some books of Śrīla Prabhupāda and she would put these books of Śrīla Prabhupāda in some shelter and uh not shelter in some shelf.
And uh he said that once I came to my home and I saw that all the books which I sent to her over the years are collecting dust in a garage. And not a very prominent place.
And uh she was quite old and she didn't she didn't even have idea to uh to read the books. And then she was diagnosed with the terminal cancer and she knew that she only has a few months to live.
And she didn't tell Intradub Numara, she didn't want to cause him anxieties. So he didn't know anything else. Anything. But then she wrote him a letter. And she said all of sudden out of blue can you take me to India?
And he said, many, many times over my career as a devotee, I was trying to invite her to India. I was offering her this opportunity. And she always said, no, no, no.
And all of a sudden, she writes to me a letter, please, you promised to me, take me to India. And he said, immediately I called her and I asked you, My dear mother, why are you asking this?
And this phone call arrived to her by the mercy of Lord Krishna just the day before she passed away. The day before she died.
And she said, you know, I'm dying of cancer, and before dying I wanted to see some holy places but probably it's not going to happen because my disease is quite advanced.
And anyway they had some some little conversation with Indradyumna Maharaja. He wanted to make sure that he calls you every day.
So he called the next day and nobody answered the phone and he called his brother and brother said, mother passed away. And she asked him, while passing away, did she say something significant? How did she pass away?
What was the condition of her consciousness when she left? He said, Yes. She said something very significant. She said, Don't lament about me. I am an eternal spirit soul. Only body dies and there is no cause for lamentation.
Indradyumna Maharaj was completely shocked. He said, I was trying to prove it to her so many times. How did it happen? She said, you don't know.
Because she started reading books of Śrīla Prabhupāda. Five months ago, when she was diagnosed with terminal cancer, she started reading books which you sent to her.
And she was reading one book after another after another. And she was marking some places which she couldn't understand, and she was making some notes of these books.
And ultimately she realized that she needs some explanation. So she contacted your tape ministry and she started listening to your tapes with your lectures.
And she would listen twice a day your lectures and reading books of Śrīla Prabhupāda till the very end of her life.
And because of this, she was completely fearless. She left her body in a completely fearless condition of life without any any slight slightest trace of the fear of death.
And Indra Jimna Maharaj writes to Śrīla Prabhupāda, Śila Prabhupāda, that's what you did. By taking shelter of your books, you achieved something which I was not be able to achieve.
Even though I was trying to preach to her and didn't didn't work. But uh because she started reading your books, you made her fearless and completely free from māyā.
And therefore, Parjani Maharaj says so, what should we pray for? And his answer was you should only pray to take the complete shelter of the devotee of Lord Krishna.
That is the only solution to this problem of birth and death. There is no other solution. There is no other solution. There is no other solution.
So m this is few points which I wanted to explain in connection with this section of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Thank you very much. Thank you. Śila Prabhupāda ki.