Planet ISKCON

Damodarastakam, verse 7 (video)
Class by H.H.Badrinarayana Swami in ISKCON Vrindavan, 06.11.2018.

“Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, quoting from the Vaisnava-tosani of Srila Sanatana Gosvami, says that the incident of Krsna’s breaking the pot of yogurt and being bound by mother Yasoda took place on the Dipavali Day, or Dipa-malika. Even today in India, this festival is generally celebrated very gorgeously in the month of Kartika.” (SB 10.9.1–2 purport). We are now in the month of Damodara. It began on the full-moon night and will continue until the next full moon. Damodara is a name for Krishna. Dama means “rope,” and udara means “belly.” So Damodara means, “one who is bound around the belly with ropes.” And you can see in the picture of Lord Damodara with Mother Yasoda that she was binding His belly with ropes. The history behind the incident is that Mother Yasoda was feeding baby Krishna with her breast milk when suddenly some milk on the fire began to boil over. So, she set aside Krishna to attend to the milk on the fire. But baby Krishna had not yet been satisfied with His mother’s milk, and when she left Him He felt frustrated and angry. So, to vent His anger and to satisfy His desire, He broke a pot of butter that was hanging from a rafter on the ceiling. When Mother Yasoda returned from attending to the milk on the fire, she saw that the butter pot had been broken and she saw little footprints smeared with butter on the floor. And she understood that the mischief was the work of her son, Krishna. Continue reading "Damodara-lila: Works and Grace
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Today we are beginning a new year, according to one calculation, and celebrating the return of Lord Rama to Ayodhya. Lord Ramachandra, His brother Laksmana, and His eternal consort, Sita, had gone into exile. While in exile in the forest, Sita was kidnapped by Ravana and carried to his kingdom of Lanka. In time, Lord Ramachandra organized an army of monkeys, bears, and other creatures of the forest. He floated boulders on the ocean and created a bridge to Lanka. One may question how the Lord could make boulders float on water, but Srila Prabhupada answers, “The Lord can make huge planets float in space, so why can He not make some insignificant boulders float on water?”

Lord Rama and His army traversed the bridge to Lanka and challenged the mighty army of Ravana, and in the end Lord Ramachandra and His allies were successful. Srila Prabhupada explains that there are two types of strength: daiva and purusakara. One is the strength that one gets from one’s own intelligence and resources, and the other is the strength that one derives from higher powers, from God. And of the two, the strength that one derives from God is superior. Although from the material point of view Ravana and his army were much more powerful than the army of Lord Rama, still Lord Ramachandra’s army was successful because they were blessed by strength from superior authorities, from the Lord Himself.

Eventually Lord Ramachandra Himself engaged in combat with Ravana and killed Him. Thus, Mother Sita was liberated from her imprisonment in Lanka. Still, Lord Ramachandra was not prepared just to accept her, because she had gone away, albeit by force, with another man. And according to Hindu tradition a woman who has gone with another man, spent the night outside of the house, cannot be accepted back. Of course, Mother Sita was completely pure and chaste, but to demonstrate her actual position, Mother Sita was put into fire—a true “test by fire.” She emerged from the fire without harm, and thus her chastity was proved.

So, Rama, Sita, Laksmana, and Their associates returned to Ayodhya. The citizens of Ayodhya were jubilant: their lord and master was returning with Mother Sita and Laksmana. To welcome the Lord and His associates, they lit lamps and placed them on their rooftops, windows, balconies, and other places. And thus we have the festival of Diwali, or Dipavali, the festival of lamps.

The return of Lord Ramachandra to Ayodhya was a new beginning for Ayodhya, and for us the New Year also marks a new beginning. And just as Ayodhya’s new beginning was made auspicious by the arrival and continued presence of Lord Ramachandra, so our new beginning in the New Year can be made most auspicious by the presence of the Lord; just as the denizens of Ayodhya welcomed Lord Ramachandra back to Ayodhya, we can welcome the Lord into our hearts and our lives. Of course, He is already there, but we can increase our appreciation of Him and strive to feel His presence even more.

What was the effect of Lord Ramachandra’s presence in Ayodhya? And, by implication, what would be the effect of the Lord’s presence in our lives? The answer lies in a verse from Srimad-Bhagavatam.

As Lord Krishna, the original Supreme Person, includes within Him all incarnations—Rama, Nrsimha, Narayana, and so on—so the Srimad-Bhagavatam, the supreme scripture, recounts the pastimes of many of the Lord’s incarnations, including Lord Ramachandra’s. Thus there is a summary of the Ramayana within the Bhagavatam. Today’s verse comes from that section of Srimad-Bhagavatam, Canto Nine, Chapter Ten, “The Pastimes of Lord Ramacandra.”

TEXT 53

nadhi-vyadhi-jara-glani-
  duhkha-soka-bhaya-klamah
mrtyus canicchatam nasid
  rame rajany adhoksaje

 TRANSLATION

When Lord Ramacandra, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, was the King of this world, all bodily and mental suffering, disease, old age, bereavement, lamentation, distress, fear and fatigue were completely absent. There was even no death for those who did not want it.

PURPORT

All these facilities existed because of Lord Ramacandra’s presence as the King of the entire world. A similar situation could be introduced immediately, even in this age called Kali, the worst of all ages. It is said, kali-kale nama-rupe krsna-avatara: Krsna descends in this Kali-yuga in the form of His holy name—Hare Krsna, Hare Rama. If we chant offenselessly, Rama and Krsna are still present in this age. The kingdom of Rama was immensely popular and beneficial, and the spreading of this Hare Krsna movement can immediately introduce a similar situation, even in this Kali-yuga.

COMMENT by Giriraj Swami

We are in Kali-yuga—an ocean of faults. The scriptures list some of the faults of Kali-yuga, of the people in Kali-yuga:

prayenalpayusah sabhya
  kalav asmin yuge janah
mandah sumanda-matayo
  manda-bhagya hy upadrutah

“In this iron age of Kali men have but short lives. They are quarrelsome, lazy, misguided, unlucky and, above all, always disturbed.” (SB 1.1.10) In Kali-yuga people’s memories, physical strength, and duration of life are diminished. They tend to be hypocritical and unfortunate and always prone to quarrel. In fact, the word kali means quarrel, and so Kali-yuga is “the age of quarrel.” And we see it everywhere: quarrel and hypocrisy in every stream of life—especially in politics. The situation is very bad. And personally, we always suffer from the threefold miseries of material existence: adhyatmika, sufferings caused by the body and the mind; adhibhautika, sufferings caused by other living entities; and adhidaivika, sufferings caused by the material nature.

As mentioned in today’s verse, we suffer from vyadhi, disease. Medical science tries to give us hope (now they are talking about stem-cell research) that we will become free from disease, but actually we are not becoming free from disease. Disease is increasing. Srila Prabhupada said that if medical science were really able to cure disease then the hospitals should become empty. The patients should go home. The doctors and nurses should have no work. But we find the opposite is true. There is always clamor for more hospitals, more beds, better facilities, more nurses, more doctors. More students want to become doctors, and there is fierce competition to be admitted into medical schools. And there is always a shortage of nurses, so some places import nurses from other countries, although the other countries are already short. So, disease is not being eliminated. It is not even decreasing. Rather, it is increasing. We may find some remedy for one disease, but then another disease comes—and another and another—for which we have no cure. Years ago tuberculosis was a great scourge. Now, although to a large extent we have controlled tuberculosis, we have cancer. Cancer has spread like an epidemic everywhere. Even younger people in their forties and fifties are afflicted.

So, although we try to counteract the miseries of material existence by material means, the fact is that we cannot succeed. These various types of suffering, especially birth, disease, old age, and death, have exercised people for centuries. For millennia people have tried to overcome them by material means but failed. They have failed in the past, they are failing in the present, and they will fail in the future, because the material miseries are inflicted upon us, by superior arrangement, for a reason.

We have come to the material world for a reason, and the reason is that we have rejected God. We have been envious of God and tried to enjoy independently of Him. Atheists may challenge, “Where is God? Show me God. There is no God. If there is God, why is there so much of suffering in the world?” But the reason that we are in the material world and so are suffering is that we have turned away from God. We have wanted to take God’s place, and so we are being punished. But just as a criminal is punished in the hope that he will reform himself in the prison and become a good citizen, so we criminals who have gone against the law of God can also reform ourselves in the material world. And when we do reform ourselves, we can be released from the prison house of material existence and thus from the punishments of the material nature, maya. Only then will we be freed from disease, old age, death, rebirth, and other miseries.

Until then, the litany of miseries continues: glani, bereavement; duhkha, grief; soka, lamentation; bhaya, fear; klamah, fatigue—we all must suffer from all of them to greater or lesser degrees. We can scarcely imagine what life would be like without them. In fact, sometimes we identify with these miseries. We feel that these miseries define our existence. We would not feel normal without them. Still, there is another life, a spiritual life, without these miseries, in which we engage in devotional service to the Supreme Lord and feel ecstatic bliss in our relationship with Him.

Some people are so attached to material existence that they claim that without material misery there can be no experience of happiness. They think that everything is relative, and they identify with the dualities of the world. So they conclude that if we did not suffer miseries we would not know what happiness is. Srila Prabhupada’s reply to that is, “All right, then let me kick you in the face with boots, and then when I stop kicking you, you will know what happiness is.” Although we may make excuses and try to artificially rationalize our miseries as the other side of happiness, the fact is that we do not want miseries. Although it is true that in the material world there are dualities of happiness and distress, pleasure and pain, still, there is another world, a spiritual world, an absolute realm, where there is only happiness and that happiness is always increasing. That happiness is not just the absence of misery that we call happiness here, but it is actual positive happiness that comes from bhakti. In fact, one of the characteristics of pure devotional service (beyond that it brings relief from material distress) is that it bestows great happiness. Therefore devotees are jolly. Brahma-bhutah prasannatma na socati na kanksati: when devotees no longer identify with the body but realize themselves to be spirit souls, parts and parcels of the Supreme Soul, and when they engage in their relationship with the Supreme Soul, they become happy and free from hankering, lamentation, fear, and so on.

We can achieve this wonderful state of existence by Krishna consciousness, by invoking the presence of the Lord. Someone may question, “Well, Lord Ramachandra was present in Treta-yuga, and Krishna in Dvapara-yuga, but God is not present now. How can we receive Him?” In fact, sometimes in India people used to complain, “Kali-yuga is so bad, why isn’t God coming? He should come.” But He will come if we just chant His holy name without offence. Kali-kale nama-rupe krsna-avatara. Kali-kale means in the time of Kali-yuga; nama-rupe, in the form of the name; krsna-avatara, Lord Krsna will descend. The nama is the avatara of Krishna for the present age.

Therefore the Hare Krishna movement is so important—both for us as individuals and for the world—because chanting Hare Krishna can invoke the presence of the Lord. And in the Lord’s presence, the symptoms of the age of Kali, which are so terrible, will disappear, and we will invoke the same situation as in Satya-yuga, the golden age. The Srimad-Bhagavatam has informed us that during the reign of Lord Ramacandra the situation was just like in Satya-yuga, the golden age, although He ruled in Treta-yuga. And now, even in Kali-yuga, the worst of ages, the same principle applies: If we invoke the presence of Rama and Krishna by chanting Hare Rama, Hare Krishna, we can experience the same situation of Satya-yuga and be free from all these distresses.

So, this is our opportunity to make a new beginning—to begin our practice of Krishna consciousness, or to renew our commitment to the practice of Krishna consciousness, to renew our efforts to invoke the Lord’s presence through the holy name and other devotional activities, and to try to work with other devotees of like mind to invoke the Lord’s presence for the benefit of more and more people. We should try to encourage more and more people to chant Hare Krishna, Hare Rama, and thus invoke the presence of the Lord in their lives.

There are so many political movements, and if a particular movement is not successful in gaining control of the government, the movement more or less fails. Srila Prabhupada points out that if Krishna consciousness is actually accepted by enough people and they elect a leader who is Krishna conscious and the government is conducted on principles of Krishna consciousness, certainly the whole world will benefit; but even if Krishna consciousness does not spread on such a large scale, any individual who adopts Krishna consciousness will benefit personally. He or she does not have to depend on others, that they should also accept. But any single individual who accepts Krishna consciousness can get the full benefit. It is more out of compassion for others that we want them to take Krishna consciousness, so that they can be relieved from the miseries of material existence, which are worse in the present age of Kali.

So, we have every facility. Srila Prabhupada has given us every facility—beautiful Deities, the holy name, the knowledge of Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam, the association of devotees. In the year to come we should take full advantage of these facilities and make Krishna consciousness the most important part of our lives. And we should work together with the devotees here to help others become fortunate and get relief from the material miseries.

I probably should not add this, but in India there are so many so-called incarnations. One was Ramakrishna. It is just an example—Ramakrishna. So, someone approached Srila Prabhupada and insisted, “Ramakrishna is God. He is the incarnation of Rama and Krishna. You should accept Ramakrishna.” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “Well, I really do not know if he is or not, but everyone knows that Krishna is God. So rather than take chances on someone who may or may not be, why not accept the one whom we know is God?”

Recently we have been hearing, “A vote for so-and-so is a vote for God.” Well, we do not know for sure about that. But a vote for Krishna or Rama is definitely a vote for God, and that is the party we should support.

Hare Krishna.

Sri Ramachandra Bhagavan ki jaya!
Sri Krishna Bhagavan ki jaya!
Sri Giri Govardhana ki jaya!
Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!
Nitai-Gaura-premanande hari-haribol!

[A talk by Giriraj Swami on Dipavali, November 13, 2004, Houston]

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“Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, quoting from the Vaisnava-tosani of Srila Sanatana Gosvami, says that the incident of Krsna’s breaking the pot of yogurt and being bound by mother Yasoda took place on the Dipavali Day, or Dipa-malika. Even today in India, this festival is generally celebrated very gorgeously in the month of Kartika.” (SB 10.9.1–2 purport)

We are now in the month of Damodara. It began on the full-moon night and will continue until the next full moon. Damodara is a name for Krishna. Dama means “rope,” and udara means “belly.” So Damodara means, “one who is bound around the belly with ropes.” And you can see in the picture of Lord Damodara with Mother Yasoda that she was binding His belly with ropes. The history behind the incident is that Mother Yasoda was feeding baby Krishna with her breast milk when suddenly some milk on the fire began to boil over. So, she set aside Krishna to attend to the milk on the fire. But baby Krishna had not yet been satisfied with His mother’s milk, and when she left Him He felt frustrated and angry. So, to vent His anger and to satisfy His desire, He broke a pot of butter that was hanging from a rafter on the ceiling. When Mother Yasoda returned from attending to the milk on the fire, she saw that the butter pot had been broken and she saw little footprints smeared with butter on the floor. And she understood that the mischief was the work of her son, Krishna.

According to Vedic literatures, Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, so how is it that we are speaking of Him as if He were a baby who got frustrated and angry and made mischief? The answer is that every living entity has eternal love for Krishna within the heart, and that this love can be manifest in one of a number of relationships. The relationships we have in the material world are actually reflections of the relationships that devotees have with Krishna in the spiritual world. In the material world we have the relationship of servant and master; the relationship of friends, who are equals; the relationship of parents and children; and the relationship of husband and wife, or boyfriend and girlfriend. The relationships we have in the material world exist because they exist originally with Krishna in the spiritual world. Mother Yasoda has maternal love for Krishna, and her desire to serve Krishna as His mother is so pure and so strong that Krishna, to reciprocate with her, plays the role of her son and thus allows her to serve Him as His mother. And when Krishna plays the role of Mother Yasoda’s son, He identifies with the role so much that He actually feels as if she is His mother and He is her son.

After Krishna did His mischief, He knew that when His mother found out He would be in trouble, so He was anxiously looking here and there. And Mother Yasoda, after she put down the milk that had been boiling over on the stove, found Krishna sitting on a wooden grinding mortar. When He saw her with a stick in her hand, He began to run away from her in fear. She didn’t really intend to strike Him, but she felt that she needed to show the stick to enforce some discipline, because, like every mother, she wanted her son to be good and well-behaved and disciplined, according to her conception. So, baby Krishna began to flee in fear. He was small and agile, and she had a large body, so He could escape her. She pursued Him and became tired, but she was so determined and sincere in her desire to catch and train baby Krishna that eventually He felt compassion for her and allowed her to catch Him.

After catching Krishna, Mother Yasoda thought that she should tie Him up, not as a punishment, but to keep Him from getting into more trouble. So, she took a length of rope and attempted to bind Him around the waist. But the rope was too short by the width of two fingers. She got some more rope and added it to the first length of rope and still the rope was too short by two fingers. And she got some more rope and added it, but still the rope was too short. Mother Yasoda became perplexed: every morning she would dress baby Krsna and tie His ornamental belt around His waist, and she knew how big His waist was and how long the belt had to be, and the length of the ropes now was much longer, but still the ropes couldn’t reach around Krishna’s waist. Mother Yasoda was the wife of the king of the cowherd community, and she had lots of ropes for various purposes. Yet even after putting together all the rope she could gather, still she couldn’t get it to fasten around baby Krishna’s belly. Then Krishna, in appreciation of her ardent desire and endeavor to serve Him, took compassion on Mother Yasoda and allowed her to bind Him. But actually, He was bound not by her ropes, but by her love.

Srimad-Bhagavatam, describing the story of Mother Yasoda and Lord Damodara, explains that Krishna cannot be caught by the greatest yogis, but still He allowed Himself to be caught by Mother Yasoda. Krishna cannot be bound by any means, but still He allowed Himself to be bound by the ropes—by her love.

Many learned scholars have commented on this particular pastime of Krishna, and Jiva Gosvami has explained on the basis of this pastime how the Lord can be bound. Of course, Lord Krishna Himself declares that He can be conquered only by the pure love of His devotees, and the pastime here demonstrates that He was indeed bound by such love. But what exactly is the process of binding Krishna and developing pure love?

Srila Jiva Gosvami explains that there are two factors, signified by the two fingers by which the rope was too short. He states that one finger represents the endeavor of the devotee. For example, in Krishna consciousness we have certain basic practices, the most essential of which is chanting the holy names of Krishna, while following certain basic principles of purity. As one is able, one should rise early in the morning and have a program similar to the program that devotees have in the temple. But the essential process really is chanting and hearing about Krishna and endeavoring to serve Krishna according to one’s capacity and taste. So, part of the two fingers’ gap can be closed by the devotee’s hard labor (parisrama), and Mother Yasoda showed that effort. She really tried her best to bind Krishna to the extent that she may have put together miles and miles of rope, but still her effort alone was not enough. So, the other factor that allows the devotee to bind Krishna is Krishna’s mercy (krsna-krpa). When Krishna was pleased with Mother Yasoda’s endeavors, He mercifully allowed Himself to be bound. Thus the other half of the gap, the second finger, was closed.

Recently a devotee told me that her brother, who is a Christian missionary, had challenged her, “How will you go to the kingdom of God?” She replied, “I will go the kingdom of God by chanting the holy names of God.” Then the brother said, “Oh! You think you can go to the kingdom of God by your own endeavor, by works. No. One cannot go by works; one can go only by grace.” And what her brother said is true. One cannot go by works alone. “Works” in this context means spiritual practices or following the injunctions of the scriptures, the law. But it is very unusual for a person to reach the kingdom of God without making any effort, just thinking, “I’ll wait for the grace of God.” So, the conclusion we reach from the story of Lord Damodara, from the instructions of the acharyas and the instructions of Lord Krishna Himself in the Bhagavad-gita, is that we work to the best of our ability but at the same time depend on the mercy of the Lord for our success.

The acharyas have given two examples. One is the example of the mother monkey and the baby monkey. The baby monkey holds on to the mother and puts his little arms around her and holds on. And as the mother monkey is swinging and flying from tree to tree, the baby monkey is in a very precarious position because the baby just has his little arms and he has to hold on to his mother for dear life as she swings from tree to tree. At any moment he could lose his grip and fall down.

The other example is the mother cat and the kitten. The mother cat picks up the kitten in her mouth and carries the kitten. And the kitten really doesn’t have to do anything. The kitten just allows the mother to carry him or her to wherever the mother wants. In a broader context, the karmis, jnanis, and yogis are like little monkeys that are trying to hold on with their own strength, and therefore they are always in anxiety. They are in anxiety because they do not know if their strength will be sufficient to bring them to their destination. The devotees, however, are like the kitten that doesn’t really have to worry. The kitten just surrenders to the mother, and the mother picks up the kitten and takes the kitten to the destination.

Now, if we look closely at the life of the devotee, yes, ultimately the devotee is picked up by the grace of the Lord, but still the devotee makes efforts to serve the Lord, and then the Lord’s mercy allows the devotee to bind the Lord, or to bring the Lord under the control of the devotee’s love. So, if someone thinks he or she can, as they say, storm the gates of heaven, or reach God by one’s own endeavor, that is not correct. But then again if someone says, “Well, I am just going to sit and pray to God to deliver me, and I am not going to make any effort,” that also is not complete. So, we do both.

The kingdom of God actually has different divisions, or sections, and the highest is Vrindavan, Goloka Vrindavan, and the special feature of Goloka Vrindavan is that there the love of the devotees is completely spontaneous. The devotees there do not think, “Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and therefore I must serve Him”; they are spontaneously attracted to Krishna according to their particular mood of service. For example, the cowherd boys are attracted to Krishna as their friend. They are not thinking that He is God; they just love Him as their best friend. Similarly, Mother Yasoda and Nanda Maharaja are not thinking that they have to serve Krishna because He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Rather, they are thinking, “Oh, Krishna is our son. We have to nourish Him and protect Him and educate Him.” Similarly, other elders in Vrindavan have a mood of parental affection. And the young ladies of Vraja are spontaneously attracted to Krishna because they think He is a handsome young man and they want to make friends with Him. So, in the Damodarastaka, with reference to the pastime of Mother Yasoda binding Krishna, the author says that by being bound by Mother Yasoda’s ropes, by her love, Krishna shows that He is conquered only by pure love. Here “pure love” means not just without any material motivation, but without any conception at all that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and without any attraction for the opulence of the other sections of the kingdom of God called Vaikuntha, where the Lord’s opulence is prominent. Only in Goloka Vrindavan do the devotees have such pure love that they forget that Krishna is God. And thus, they are not bound by any restrictions or barriers, thinking, “Oh, Krishna is God. He is great, and I am small.” They treat Him as an equal, as a friend, or even as a dependent, as a son or pupil.

In the other section of the kingdom of God, Vaikuntha, the devotees are aware of Krishna’s opulence—His majesty, His greatness. Therefore, they serve Him in a mood of awe and reverence. At most, there may be a sense of friendship, but even the friendship is mixed with a sense of awe and reverence, and although the love is pure in that it is without any material desire, it is not pure, natural, spontaneous attraction but is mixed with the knowledge of Krishna’s supreme opulences. That love is not sufficient to bind Krishna, to bring Krishna under the control of the devotee. Not that Krishna actually ever comes under the control of the devotee, but He comes under the control of the devotee’s love. So, the Damodara pastime also proclaims to the world that Krishna can be conquered only by pure love, which is not mixed with the conception of Krishna’s supreme opulence and Godhood.

There is a class of transcendentalists called impersonalists who desire to merge and become one with God. Srila Prabhupada, our spiritual preceptor, says that the impersonalists want to merge and become one with God but that the devotees can become greater than God. They can bring God under their control by their pure love. So, the achievement of the impersonalists cannot even be compared to the achievement of the devotees. The devotees relish ecstatic love for God, and the happiness that they experience in their loving relationships with God is millions and trillions of times greater than the happiness the impersonalists relish if they merge and become one with the effulgence of God. And the mystery or the charm is that one can develop one’s pure love, which is already there within one’s heart, just by chanting the holy names, like we did tonight—so beautiful, so pleasant, so congenial—just chanting Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare, and as Prabhupada said, “You chant, and when you feel tired you take a little prasada.”

Hare Krishna.

Are there any questions or comments?

Q: Can you tell me if a person, who after so many lifetimes on earth eventually departs to Vaikuntha, can make further advancement from Vaikuntha to Krishnaloka?

GS: Each devotee has eternal love for Krishna within the heart, and by chanting Hare Krishna the eternal love is manifest. Now, whatever one’s particular type of love is, it is just right for the individual, and the individual will feel fully satisfied in his particular relationship with the Lord. For example, if you tell Hanuman that his mood of service to Rama is not the highest, that he should give up the service of Rama and come to Krishna, he’ll say, “No way!” because he is fully satisfied in his service to Lord Rama and wouldn’t want to exchange it for anything. But there are rare instances, as the case of Gopa Kumara described in Brhad-Bhagavatamrta, when a devotee moves on. Gopa Kumara went to Vaikuntha, and although Vaikuntha is the spiritual kingdom of God and everything there is eternal, full of knowledge, and full of bliss, and everyone there is absorbed in the same mood of service to the Lord with awe and reverence in the opulence of Vaikuntha, still somewhere within his heart he didn’t feel completely satisfied, and ultimately he came back to earth, to Vrindavan on earth, the best place to perform practices to go to Goloka Vrindavan. And from there he was promoted to Goloka Vrindavan. So, it may be that one reaches Vaikuntha but hasn’t really developed one’s full love for Godhead. Then one may, as you say, make further advancement to Goloka Vrindavan.

Q: I have heard that Jesus Christ has his own planet. Can people who go there move on after further knowledge of self-realization and eventually go to Vaikuntha or Goloka Vrindavan?

GS: Your basic question is whether someone can go to the planet of Jesus and make further advancement, and the answer is, “Yes.” But I would hesitate to claim that I have a definite answer as to where his planet is. Still, I can say that wherever it is, one could make further advancement. And the planet of Jesus could be in the spiritual world, or it could be a heavenly planet within the material world.

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura said that he accepted Jesus Christ as a saktyavesa-avatara. Saktyavesa means “one who is empowered by God, for some particular purpose,” and avatara means “one who descends.” One category of saktyavesa-avatara comes from the kingdom of God into the material world, empowered by the special potency of God. But in principle, someone who is already in the material world could also be empowered with some special potency from God. So, accepting Jesus Christ as a saktyavesa-avatara does tell us that he descended and that he was empowered by some special potency from God. However, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta didn’t tell us exactly where he descended from, and I would not like to venture to guess, but I would say if someone is a sincere follower of Jesus Christ and follows the instructions of Jesus Christ, he could definitely, eventually enter into the kingdom of God.

Hare Krishna!

[A talk by Giriraj Swami in Isla Vista, California, on November 10, 2001]

Answer Podcast

The post When we feel that we can’t do something, how can we know that our mind is not keeping us in comfort zone? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Фотоальбом

At the most sacred place in the universe, Radha Kunda, we heard many amazing pastimes about Radha and Krsna. Greatly inspired we then had had kirtan with Bada Haridas and then did parikrama around both Radha Kunda and Syama kunda. It is said that one who bathes in Radha Kunda achieves the same love that Radha has for Krsna and one who bathes in Syama Kunda achieves the same love that Syama ( Krsna ) has for Radha. It was a most remarkable day!

Dear disciples: This is a very interesting lecture on the glories of the Kalpa Vriksa trees in Vrindavan. Over an hour of katha about Desire Trees!

https://narottam.com/2018/11/the-glories-of-vrindavan-s-desire-trees/

Amidst all the divisive and inflammatory political rhetoric right now, approaching the midterm elections in the US, Srila Prabhupada’s brief essay “The Peace Formula” seems especially relevant, timeless, and appealing. 

The great mistake of modern civilization is to encroach upon others’ property as though it were one’s own and to thereby create an unnecessary disturbance of the laws of nature. These laws are very strong. No living entity can violate them. Only one who is Krishna conscious can easily overcome the stringency of the laws of nature and thus become happy and peaceful in the world.

As a state is protected by the department of law and order, so the state of Universe, of which this earth is only an insignificant fragment, is protected by the laws of nature. This material nature is one of the different potencies of God, who is the ultimate proprietor of everything that be. This earth is, therefore, the property of God, but we, the living entities, especially the so-called civilized human beings, are claiming God’s property as our own, under both an individual and collective false conception. If you want peace, you have to remove this false conception from your mind and from the world. This false claim of proprietorship by the human race is partly or wholly the cause of all disturbances of peace on earth.

Foolish and so-called civilized men are claiming proprietary rights on the property of God because they have now become godless. You cannot be happy and peaceful in a godless society. In the Bhagavad-gita Lord Krishna says that He is the factual enjoyer of all activities of the living entities, that He is the Supreme Lord of all universes, and that He is the well-wishing friend of all beings. When the people of the world know this as the formula for peace, it is then and there that peace will prevail.

Therefore, if you want peace at all, you will have to change your consciousness into Krishna consciousness, both individually and collectively, by the simple process of chanting the holy name of God. This is a standard and recognized process for achieving peace in the world. We therefore recommend that everyone become Krishna conscious by chanting Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

This is practical, simple, and sublime. Four hundred and eighty years ago this formula was introduced in India by Lord Sri Chaitanya, and now it is available in your country. Take to this simple process of chanting as above mentioned, realize your factual position by reading the Bhagavad-gita As It Is, and reestablish your lost relationship with Krishna, God. Peace and prosperity will be the immediate worldwide result.

BBT Press release

The “annotated scans” for Chapter Eleven of Bhagavad-gita As It Is are now online at BBTedit.com/changes.

You can also directly download the pdf file for this chapter.

The scans for this chapter are the latest in a series that shows all the revisions done for the transliterations, word meanings, and purports of the second edition. Nearly every revision also has a note explaining why it was done, along with an image from the BBT’s oldest manuscripts, allowing you to verify the history for yourself.

Jayadvaita Swami did his revisions for the second edition on a physical copy of the first edition. The scans show that copy. (Revisions to the translations aren’t shown, because he edited them separately, not in the book itself.) Each chapter forms one downloadable pdf file.

The revisions to this chapter were extensive, so the scans for this chapter give you much to see.

• You’ll see twenty Sanskrit quotations (and one in Bengali) and several lost passages in English now recovered—on average, more than one quotation for every three pages.
  
  
• You’ll see three spelling errors fixed in the Devanāgarī, the original Sanskrit text.

• You’ll see various mishearings corrected. For example, in the purport to text 37, Kṛṣṇa is the “shelter” (nivāsa) of the universe, not its “center.” In the purport to text 3, “Arjuna’s asking the Lord’s permission” was a significant mishearing, now fixed.
  
  
• You’ll see many editorial and transcription errors fixed in the word-for-word meanings. For example, in text 1 the meaning for vigataḥ is no longer “educated” but “removed” (that is, eradicated).

• You’ll see several places where the original editor misunderstood what the manuscript intended and the 1983 edition has recovered the correct sense.

Apart from images for specific changes, the scans for this chapter include twelve complete sample pages from the original manuscripts.

Whether you’re for “the changes,” against them, or neutral, here’s another opportunity to see what the changes actually are.

For devotees who have been critical of the second edition but are thoughtful and open-minded, the scans for this chapter provide ample food for thought.

See for yourself in the annotated scans for Chapter Eleven, now online at BBTedit.com/changes. The changes for the Preface, the Introduction, and the previous chapters are already online there too.

The post Now online: “Gita changes” for Chapter Eleven appeared first on Jayadvaita Swami.

HG Sachi Rani Devi Dasi a disciple of Srila Prabhupada, left her body.
Respected Devotees, Hare Krishna!
Please accept ou...

Book Distributors Reach Out to Russian-Speakers in North America!
ISKCON book distributors are constantly trying to find new ways to give out Srila Prabhupada’s books, and new people to reach. One of the biggest niche audiences is the Russian-speaking community in North America – some 7 to 8 million natives of Russia and former Soviet Union countries. What is particularly exciting about this audience is that many have already been introduced to Vedic knowledge and are looking for more.
To read the entire article please click here: https://goo.gl/yvGHpK

Meet the cows in Gita Nagari (6 min video)
HH Devamrta Swami talks about what happens when people meet the cows in Gita Nagari...

Visit to Durvasa Munis’ ashram (Album of photos)
Indradyumna Swami: As a part of our Kartik parikrama, we took a beautiful boat ride on the Yamuna to Durvasa Munis’ ashram in Pani Gaon in Vraja. It was a wonderful ashram with a scenic surrounding where Durvasa Muni had performed austerities. Some nice sadhus live there and we absorbed ourselves in amazing kirtan and discussing Krishna Katha.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/iJ3Wwn

TOVP: 3D interactive view of the inner section of the Main Dome.
Sadbhuja Das: This is a 3D view of the inner section of the M...

A Pilgrimage to Vrinda Kunda (10 min video)
Indradyumna Swami: Once again we were fortunate to visit Vrinda Kunda here in Vrindavan where Vrinda devi and Purnamasi meet to arrange Radha and Krsna’s daily pastimes. Only by the mercy of Vrinda devi, can we come to Vrindavan and hear the pastimes of the Divine Couple and only by her grace can we enter into these pastimes. “Vrinde names te caranaravindam!”

Answer Podcast

The post If our bhakti practice is not removing our conditionings, how to avoid being discouraged? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

[Sunday feast class at ISKCON, Brampton, Toronto, Canada]

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The post Appreciating Krishna’s longing for love through Damodara-lila appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

ISKCON book distributors are constantly trying to find new ways to give out Srila Prabhupada’s books, and new people to reach. One of the biggest niche audiences is the Russian-speaking community in North America – some 7 to 8 million natives of Russia and former Soviet Union countries.