Prahlad M prayers 1 – Comprehending the Mystery of Humility

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
then we can avoid misunderstanding.
Thank you very much. So, welcome all of you to this Santulan session on Anartha Nivratti. So, we will be discussing the prayers of Prahlad Maharaj from chapters 9 and 10 of the 7th Canto.
And we will be discussing some insights for getting rid of the anarthas from our heart based on those prayers. So, I have a Word file with these prayers. I also have a PowerPoint.
So, some of these prayers, we will recite them together and then we will discuss based on them. Now, we know the Srimad Bhagavatam has 335 chapters. Out of that, the maximum chapters are devoted to Lord Krishna’s pastimes.
There are 90 chapters in the 10th Canto. And it’s almost one-third, nearly one-third of the total 335 chapters. Apart from Lord Krishna’s pastimes, the maximum duration that is spent on any other avatar is to some extent Lord Narasimhadeva.
Lord Kapila has much more chapters in the 3rd Canto, but there are not much pastimes of His. Mostly, His teachings are there. Extensive teachings of Sankhya are there.
So, Lord Ram’s pastimes, Shukadeva Goswami completes only in 2 chapters, 9th Canto, 10th and 11th Chapters. But the Prahlad Maharaj’s pastime practically starts from the 2nd Chapter of the 7th Canto and goes on till the 10th Chapter. So, there are 9 full chapters and in that also there is philosophy, but it’s a systematic flow of the pastime.
Now, Rupa Goswami has written a book called Laghubhagavatamrit. In this Laghubhagavatamrit, he describes the various avataras that are there. This Laghubhagavatamrit is almost like a book of avatar science.
What are the different avataras? What is their position? What is their interrelationship? So, he talks about it and there he describes that among all the incarnations, Krishna is supreme and there are Vishnu incarnations. Various incarnations are there, but between Krishna and the various Vishnu incarnations, two incarnations are special. Lord Ramachandra and Lord Narasimhadeva.
Why are they special? Of course, all forms are forms of the same Supreme Lord, but these two are special because in these two forms, the Bhaktavatsalya is seen very vividly. Normally, if we talk about Varahadeva, we just see him killing Hiranyaksha. That’s glorious activity.
It’s not just. It’s wonderful, but we don’t see him having a specific intense devotional relationship with any particular devotee. Yes, the Devatas offer him prayers and Lord Varahadeva casts a merciful loving glance on the Devatas.
That’s about it. Or if we look at Parashuram, Parashuram is just so angry in one sense. Of course, there are his devotees also, but all these are the same Lord, but that same Lord in some incarnations manifests his Bhaktavatsalya more.
So, that is manifested most in Krishna, but is also manifested in Narasimhadeva and Lord Ramachandra. So, now the part of the pastime we are focussing on is the climax. So, as we go over the verses of the 7th Canto chapters 9 and 10, we will also do some flashbacks and discuss some aspects of pastimes, but we will be focussing primarily on the prayers of Prahlad Maharaj.
Now, Prahlad Maharaj’s prayers are 42 verses from 7.9.9 to 50. So, it starts from 7.9.8 and goes to 7.9.50 roughly. This is the last prayer.
So, in the next chapter also, so in this chapter, I’ll just do an overview of what we are going to have in the five classes. So, in this chapter, Prahlad Maharaj offers prayers. Then Lord Narasimhadeva expresses his pleasure with Prahlad Maharaj and asks him for some benediction.
Please ask for some benediction. At that point, this chapter ends and then in the 10th chapter, Prahlad Maharaj speaks and he says, my dear Lord, I don’t want anything. So, he speaks some response to the prayers and that is very beautiful about pure devotional service and then Narasimhadeva says, still Prahlad, I’ll ask something and then in this response of Narasimhadeva, it is practically the only place in the scripture where Lord Narasimhadeva offers some instructions about how one should live.
Lord Narasimhadeva is more a lord of action than instruction. Krishna gives instructions, but Narasimhadeva also gives some very valuable instructions because Prahlad Maharaj feels that this material world is so entangling, I don’t want to live here and Narasimhadeva is telling him, you become the king. He says, no, I’ll get entangled as a king.
He says, no, I’ll tell you how you can live by which you will not become entangled. So, now in this chapter, so in the previous chapter 7.9.8, Lord Narasimhadeva appeared and he delivered Prahlad and Bahirinikashipu. Then the Deva gods come and offer prayers, but Lord Narasimhadeva is not the least pacified by the prayers.
The Acharya described that not Lord Narasimhadeva was not satisfied. He continued to be angry. So, why was he angry? He was angry because of two reasons.
Firstly, when his beloved devotee Prahlad Maharaj was being threatened and tortured, the demigods neither protected nor protested. They did not protect Prahlad Maharaj nor did they protest the atrocities against him. So, Lord Narasimhadeva was feeling so angry that now you are offering me good, good prayers, but why didn’t you do anything at that time? So, all the demigods fall back.
They offer one or two prayers, but they see Lord Narasimhadeva is not cooling down. So, they all withdraw. Sometimes somebody is angry, we may try to pacify that person, but then if we are not able to pacify, then what do we do? We just beat a hasty retreat.
Let me get out of here before that person explodes on me. And then Lakshmidevi herself comes along. So, when Lakshmidevi comes along, she is there actually and Brahmaji says, please go and pacify him.
He is your Lord. So, Lakshmidevi says, no, he may be my Lord, but I have never seen him in this mood. I cannot go.
So, now, I have never seen him like this. Now, Vishwanath Chakrathakur is one of our great Acharyas. He has commented on the whole Srimad Bhagavatam and his commentary is called as Sarartha Darshini.
There are several other Acharyas also who have commented on the Bhagavatam, but his commentary is very special and Prabhupada extensively referred to that commentary. So, now Vishwanath Chakrathakur raises a question over here. He says that actually Lord Narasimhadeva is there in Vaikuntha and Lakshmidevi is there with him.
Sripad Shankaracharya has written a very emotional and philosophical set of prayers called Lakshmi Narasimha Karuna Rasa Stotra. So, in that prayer, he is meditating on Narasimhadeva with Lakshmidevi. He says, my dear Lord, in one hand you have the Chakra.
In the other hand, you have Shankha, you have the conch. And another arm you are holding on to, you are embracing Mother Lakshmi. So, with one hand he is raising his hands to offer blessings.
Varda Bhaya Padma Chinnam Abhaya Padma. There is a lotus on his hand, which is signifying fearlessness. So, he is saying that my dear Lord, you are bestowing fearlessness on everyone.
And why? Because Lakshmi is by your side. So, if the goddess of fortune is by your side, how can there be any misfortune for your devotee? Therefore, Padma Chinnam. So, Lakshmidevi is there.
So, Lakshmidevi is always there with Lord Narasimhadeva. Then how can Lakshmidevi feel that I have never seen my Lord in this form? So, not only is she there with the Lord in Vaikuntha, but every time in every Kalpa, this Narasimha Leela is repeated. And she is eternal.
So, how she is not able to remember? So, Chakravarti Pada explains that there is the Leela Shakti of the Lord. And the Leela Shakti arranges to heighten the rasa, so that a particular devotee, whose glories are to be emphasised, whose glories are to be revealed in a particular pastime, the pastime is revealed in that way. So, that Leela Shakti has covered the memory of Lakshmidevi.
Lakshmidevi herself is actually Ladini Shakti in one sense, Radharani Ladini Shakti, but she is covered. Why? Because that’s the desire of the Lord, that’s her desire also. She says, I cannot go.
And then after that, Brahmaji looks around. So, Brahmaji is in charge in one sense. So, he says, who will go now? Brahmaji sort of feels responsible because he knows, in one sense, I am the cause of all the trouble.
Because it was my benedictions which got Hiranyakashipu to acquire so much power. So, then he says, Prahlad, can you please go? And Prahlad immediately goes forward. And then he offers obeisances to Lord Narasimhadev.
And Lord Narasimhadev, who is roaring like a lion, suddenly starts purring like a cat, you know, very smooth, gentle, smiling. And he picks up Prahlad and he puts his hand on his head. And it is described that Prahlad Maharaj gets completely purified.
Actually, Chakravarti Padakshita, Prahlad Brahma is already pure. But that purity was slightly covered because he was born in a demoniac family. But now that purity became manifested.
And then Prahlad Maharaj starts speaking. So, then his prayers start from this verse 8. So, this was the verse, satatkarasparcha dhutakhilashubha, akhilashubhaha, all impurity is washed away. And Prahlad Maharaj holds his hand and starts offering prayers.
So, let us see what are the prayers that he offers. So, our plan is, so this is the overview. So, 1 to 12 is, we are talking about how Prahlad Maharaj had all the opportunities to be proud, but he did not become proud.
In the next section, we will talk about how to avoid, how to not get caught up in false shelters of this world. And then we will talk about a debt of gratitude to the spiritual master. So, we will discuss these sections one by one, today and tomorrow.
Today morning, we will complete probably till 12 and maybe a little bit about the second section. And 2-2 of these, we will take in each of the next sessions. So, now we are discussing this avoiding pride when we have reason to be proud.
So, in one sense, Prahlad Maharaj had every reason to be proud because everybody else had failed in trying to pacify the Lord and he has succeeded. So, at such a time when his glory has been unequivocally demonstrated, there is no doubt, he is the greatest devotee in one sense. So, when this has been demonstrated, how does Prahlad Maharaj respond? What does he speak? So, that is a self-revelation.
So, we will come back to this. I will just play it later. Let us recite the verse.
So, we will recite some of these verses. Is the font okay? Is it visible behind or should I make? So, some of these verses are long metre. So, I will just have a straightforward tune.
It is a flat tune. It should not be very difficult to say. Prahlad Maharaj says, He is talking about all those personalities who spoke before him.
So, Brahma was there, the Devas were there and all the Munis were there. And what is their quality? They are all situated in the mode of goodness and not only are they just situated in the mode of goodness, they are acting in the mode of goodness. What is the characteristic of action in the mode of goodness? One’s speech is very sweet.
Lord Krishna says in the 17th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita that austerity of speech means to speak in a non-agitating way. So, to speak in a pleasant way. Their words were like a flow of nectar.
But still, my dear Lord, you were not satisfied. What possibility is there that I will be able to satisfy you? O Lord Hari, I am Ugrajaate. Ugrajaate means I am born in a demoniac family.
So, Prahlad Maharaj has actually achieved the greatest success. But first thing he is remembering is his disqualification. He is contrasting himself negatively with others.
They are all in Satvaguna. What about me? I am born in a Ugrajaate. I am born in a demoniac family.
So, if they could not do it, how could I have done it? Actually, he is saying rhetorically, how could I have done it? How could I have satisfied you? Actually, he satisfied the Lord. But he is himself contemplating on what he is seeing. And he is expressing his heart as well as his philosophical wisdom that is there deeply rooted in his heart of devotion.
So, normally speaking, before we come to Krishna consciousness, even if we have an idea of praying, the idea of praying is something very utilitarian. Utilitarian means, okay, I want to get this, this. Go and pray to God.
So, praying for many materialistic people is just a pious way of expressing a shopping list. Isn’t it? A pious way of expressing a shopping list. This is what, this I want, give it to me.
Now, if you see many of the prayers of the Bhagavatam, there is no shopping list at all. If we look at Kunti Maharani’s prayers in the 8th canto of the first chapter, practically speaking, Kunti Maharani is not asking for anything. Here also, we will see what is the last among these.
Lala is going to offer 43 prayers. What is the last prayer we will see? Actually, he doesn’t ask anything at all. So, then what is the purpose of praying? People think praying is for asking something.
If you are not asking, then what is the purpose of praying? And on the other hand, sometimes, some devotees have this fear that if I pray to Krishna for something, and if Krishna doesn’t give it to me, then maybe my faith will get disturbed. So, better let me not pray for anything at all. And sometimes, we want to be pure devotees.
We aspire to be pure devotees. So, then we may wonder, if I need something material, can I pray for it or not? So, the Vaishnava understanding of prayer is very different from the Karmakandya understanding. And understanding this difference is important for us to tap the power of prayer.
The first difference is that when Prahlad Maharaj talks about the nine processes of bhakti, śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanaṁ arcanaṁ vandanam dāsyam sākhyam ātma-nivedanaṁ iti puṁsārpita-viṣṇo bhaktiś-cenaṇa-valakṣaṇaḥ kriyeta-bhagavaty-adhyātman manye dhitaṁ uttamam He is telling these are the nine processes of bhakti. So, we often know this first verse, but the second verse is also important, because it tells what is the background for this whole thing. iti puṁsārpita-viṣṇo These nine activities, when they are offered to Lord Vishnu, bhaktiś-cenaṇa-valakṣaṇaḥ These are the nine characteristics of bhakti.
And what is the fruit of these? kriyeta-bhagavaty-adhyātman attachment These increase our attachment to Krishna. manye dhitaṁ uttamam And I think that is the best education. Actually, Prahlad Maharaj speaks these verses in response to Hiranyakashipu’s question, what was the best thing that you learned at school? This is what I learned.
So, now if you look at this context, one of these is vandanam, offering prayers. So, Prahlad Maharaj is telling that the purpose of offering prayer is not to get our particular object of prayer fulfilled. It is to increase our attraction to Krishna.
So, this is the fundamental difference in goal, in purpose. In material religious life, people think that purpose of prayer is to get the desire fulfilled. But Prahlad Maharaj is saying the purpose of prayer is to increase our attraction to Krishna.
So, then what exactly does prayer mean? Actually, to understand what prayer actually means, let’s compare it with the other activities of bhakti. So, right now all of us are doing shravanam. Shravanam, kirtanam we are doing.
Now, what is our objective for doing shravanam and kirtanam? Is it that maybe our bank balance is going to increase by this or our health is going to improve? That is not going to happen and that is not our objective also. We are very clear that our objective is to increase our attraction to Krishna, to deepen our understanding of Krishna. So, now we may say that when I am doing shravanam and kirtanam, I am getting more knowledge about Krishna.
So, that is how my attraction to Krishna is increasing. But then how does vandanam, how does praying increase our attraction to Krishna? So, praying, in praying we are not necessarily getting more knowledge because if I am offering prayer, I will only be expressing what I know. So, I am not increasing my knowledge.
Then how does prayer, so if prayer doesn’t fulfil our desires, that is not the objective of prayer. Prayer is not deepening our knowledge. Then how is prayer increasing our attraction to Krishna? Actually, the essence of praying in the path of bhakti is sharing our heart with Krishna.
The essence of praying is sharing our heart with Krishna. Sharing our heart with Krishna means that whatever is closest to our heart, we speak that with Krishna. So, normally speaking, even in material life, if there is something burdening our heart and if we speak it with someone, then what happens? We feel unburdened and also we feel our relationship with that person thickening.
In fact, that is the whole, in one sense, the principle of the counsellor system. We have our counsellors because we can share some of our challenges and when we share our hearts, then we go closer to that person. So, now often when we share something with a friend or a senior devotee, whoever, it’s not necessary that by sharing, the problem gets solved.
Sometimes it may get solved, but often a big part of the problem is the burden the problem is creating on our heart. The problem may be an external situation, but that external situation creates a mental pressure, an inner burden. And when we share that problem with somebody, then the inner burden goes away and we go closer to that person.
Similarly, the principle of praying is to share our heart with Krishna. So, when we pray, this is what we will see in the Bhagavatam prayers, that when Prahlad Maharaj prays or Kunti Maharani prays, in fact, Prahlad Maharaj’s prayers are among the longest in the Shrimad Bhagavatam. There are many acharyas, many great devotees who offer prayers.
Kunti Maharani’s prayers are around 26 verses. These are 43 verses. Gajendra’s prayers are around 25 verses.
So, if we see what is Prahlad Maharaj doing in his prayer, he is expressing his heart to Krishna. Now, we may say, if I express my heart to Krishna, my heart is filled with so much dirt. What is there to share with Krishna? But actually, our heart is not just filled with dirt.
Our heart also has the desire to become purified. So, we acknowledge, like we have Bhaktanath Thakur offering his prayers. So, he is acknowledging that my heart is filled with so much contamination.
He prays like that, but along with that, he also is praying, my dear lord, you are so glorious. You can purify anyone and everyone. So, all the demons have been purified.
So, I will also be purified. So, essentially, praying means spending some time in the presence of God. So, when we share our heart with Krishna, we are offering our heart in the presence of Krishna.
And then we express our heart, and then the lord will reciprocate. So, now we will see, Prahlad Maharaj, what is he doing here? He is expressing his heart. And first, he starts by thinking that, okay, I am so unqualified.
So, we will just go over these four verses, which form this section, and then we will talk a little bit about humility. So, first he is saying, my dear lord, I cannot satisfy you. If those who are high born and in goodness can’t satisfy you, then I am low born in a passion ignorance, how can I satisfy you? But then he has heard the glories of the lord and the glories of bhakti from his spiritual master, that is Narada Muni.
So, then he speaks. So, he says, my dear lord, I know that nothing material can satisfy you. So, So, my dear lord, what do I consider? He gives a long list of material attributes that cannot satisfy you.
So, dhana is wealth, abhijan is aristocratic followers, material beauty, power to perform austerity, shuddha is learning, ojasa is physical prowess, teja is sensory prowess, prabhav is influence, bala is physical strength, paurusha is heroism, buddhi yoga, intelligence. My dear lord, all these don’t satisfy you. So, why? Because you are transcendental.
Whereas all these things are material. And what will satisfy you? The only thing that will satisfy you, my dear lord, is bhakti. And he gives the example of Gajendra.
So, now he is telling, Gajendra, he did not have great intelligence. He did not have any capacity to perform austerity. He was there with his whole family enjoying.
But you were satisfied with him. Why? Because he had bhakti. So, when he is saying this, So, this is the difference between the karmakandi understanding of God and the devotional understanding of God.
In karmakanda, what is karmakanda? Karmakanda essentially means that dharma, artha, kama and moksha. So, I perform religion so that I get something material from God. Dharma is for artha and artha is for kama.
For fulfilling our desire for wealth and for our desire for enjoyment. So, in this understanding, people worship God so that God will provide them material things. So, we will talk about this more in detail in our 10th chapter about the different levels of worship and pure devotional service.
But briefly here, many of you probably know this story. There was this person who went to God and he said, I have taken a lottery of one crore. So, we will do a 50-50 deal.
If I win the lottery, I will give you 50 lakhs. So, then he went and prayed to God very sincerely. Then after a few days, the lottery result came out and he saw his name was there on the prize winner’s list.
He was jubilant and then suddenly he paused because he realised that his name was not on the first prize. It was the second prize. So, he had got not one crore but 50 lakhs.
So, then he became a little thoughtful and then he went to the temple and he said, Oh God, you are so intelligent. You took your quota before only. So, this is the idea where people want to do business with God.
So, the idea of God is primarily as a fulfiller of our desires, as a provider of supplies. But in the devotional understanding, God can play this role but we don’t want God to play this role. We want God to be our object of love.
And so, in this understanding, if we do material sacrifices, yes, there are some sacrifices we do, we will get the material results of that. But this doesn’t please Krishna. This doesn’t please Krishna because he is transcendental.
He doesn’t need anything material. And this is very beautifully illustrated in the Mahabharata. Just before the Kurukshetra war is about to happen, so at that time, Dhritarashtra sends Sanjay to the Pandavas and he tells Yudhishthira a very cunning message Dhritarashtra gives.
He says, Oh Yudhishthira, you are wise, you are virtuous, you are detached and you know that everything in material life is temporary. Ultimately, everyone has to renounce material life. Even a person who becomes a king has to renounce his kingdom and take vanaprastha and go to the forest.
You know, you are so fortunate that what is to be achieved at the end of the life, you have already achieved it. So, you are already in the forest. Now, why do you want to come back into the kingdom? You live peacefully in the forest and you live with the… and let us avoid warfare.
So, I cannot believe that a virtuous person like you will cause bloodshed. So, at that time, Yudhishthira replies very politely, but Bhima and Krishna get very angry. Yudhishthira says that, Oh Sanjay, I think my uncle completely misunderstands my motives.
He says, I have no desire for war. But, he says, I am married and as a grahastha, I cannot go prematurely into the forest. It is my duty to maintain my family and to maintain my subjects and therefore I need a kingdom.
And then, Krishna speaks very strongly. Krishna says, it is not that Yudhishthira who wants a war, it is Duryodhana who has done so much injustice. And if at all peace is to be had, the choice of getting peace is in the hands of Duryodhana and you.
It is not in the hands of Yudhishthira. Yudhishthira is doing everything possible to avoid the war. And there is a long talk and Sanjay gets completely convinced.
Sanjay goes back and tells Yudhishthira. And Krishna also tells Sanjay that, tell Yudhishthira that I will come once to try for peace. So, now when he goes for peace, at that time, and before he goes, Dhritarashtra calls his full assembly.
And in that assembly, Duryodhana is there, Karna is there, Bhishma, Drona, everybody is there. And then he tells about everything that has happened. And then Duryodhana speaks.
He says, when Krishna comes along, he will come alone, he will be unarmed. So, I will arrest. I will arrest him and imprison him.
And that will change the odds dramatically. Because without Krishna on the side of the Pandavas, they will become weak. So, Bhishma hears this.
Bhishma is actually a devotee. He gets so angry, just jumps up from his throne and he says, oh Duryodhana, what you are speaking is unimaginably sinful. First of all, a messenger can never be arrested.
And this is not, that is even against ordinary morality. But Krishna is not just a messenger, He is the Supreme Lord. Not only will your scheme fail, but it will rid with you, rid you, burden you with great sin.
And I can be no part of this. And he walks out. So, when Bhishma walks out like this in anger, at that time Dhritarashtra gets a little disturbed.
And Duryodhana becomes a little calm. Dhritarashtra says, oh Duryodhana, you should not do such a dangerous thing. Then Dhritarashtra says this and Duryodhana starts thinking.
He says, okay, what I will do first is, I will try something else. That is Saam, Daam, Danda and Bhed. So, first I will try Daam.
If that doesn’t work, then I’ll try Danda. He says, what I will do is, when Krishna comes along, I will offer him the best possible hospitality. So, Duryodhana also has his family affection.
So, he has a beautiful palace, but the most beautiful palace in Hastinapur is reserved for his younger brother, that is Dushasan. So, he says, Dushasan, when Krishna comes, let him stay in your palace. The best palace we will offer him.
And when he comes, we will offer him so much jewellery, we will offer him so many gifts that he will become attracted. So, at that time Dronacharya and Krupacharya are there. So, they say that Krishna will not accept any of your gifts because your intentions are not good.
So, he doesn’t pay any attention. Then Krishna comes along and then all the Kuru elders are there to meet him. Duryodhana is also there.
And then Duryodhana tells Krishna, Krishna, I have arranged a big banquet, a feast in your honour. Please come. So, Krishna doesn’t smile.
Krishna is quite aggrieved. He says, I am not going to come to your feast. So, Duryodhana is a little perturbed.
He says, I am inviting you for a feast. Why are you not coming? So, then Krishna says, one person eats at the house of another in only two situations. First is when one is hungry or second is when there is affection between the two people.
Krishna says, I am not hungry. And because you hate the Pandavas, there is no affection between us. So, I will not come.
And then what does he do? We know that he tells, at that time Vidura comes. He says, Vidura, I will come to your house later. But his work gets over and he goes to the house of Vidura quickly.
So, when he goes to the house of Vidura, Vidura’s wife is there and she says, Krishna has come to our house. So, because Vidura has always been opposing Dhritarashtra and especially opposing Duryodhana, so what has happened is Duryodhana has used his political schemes and he has kept Vidura quite impoverished. So, although Vidura is in one sense a brother of the king Dhritarashtra, but he is not very wealthy over there.
So, when he comes along to Vidura’s house, of course, he is also living in a palace, whatever way it is, but there is nothing in his house at that time. So, what does Vidura’s wife do, Vidurani? She says, Krishna, please come and she offers him bananas. But she is so excited to see Krishna coming that she just takes the bananas and she thinks I will throw away the peels, but she throws away the banana and offers Krishna the peel.
So, she offers Krishna the peel and Krishna takes it and she offers another and Krishna takes it. She offers another and then she is just beholding Krishna’s beauty and then she is actually in like a maternal rasa for him, vatsalya rasa. And then after she feeds Krishna, then Krishna says, enough and Krishna says, now I have to go.
He says, Vidura, my husband will come. He says, no, I will come some other time. I have to go now and Krishna departs and Vidura comes rushing back and when Vidura comes back, he says, I heard Krishna had come.
He said, yes. Now, what did you do? What happened? He told everything. He says, I know I offered him so many bananas and he ate so much.
Just see, so many peels are lying and she turns and points and there are no peels there. They are all bananas there. So, Vidura and Vidurani, they look at the peels, they look at each other, they look at the peels and they are just thinking of Krishna.
This is Krishna. Krishna doesn’t care for anything material. From the material point of view, actually banana peels are considered inedible.
You know, one time I just to try to get some realisation of the past time, I decided to eat one banana peel. I couldn’t complete. Even one part I could not complete.
Just one small fracture. It is not only tasteless, it is actually bitter to taste. Tasteless means it doesn’t have a taste.
Bitter to taste is something intolerable. So, Krishna ate it all. Duryodhana ka bhogan khayo, Vidurgarh rukhi shaak khayo.
So, Krishna is not attracted to anything material. What was Krishna attracted to? To the devotion in the heart of Vidura’s wife. So, that’s why Prahlad Maharaj is saying, Bhaktya tu toshe bhagwan, gaja yutha paya.
My dear lord, you are not satisfied by anything material, you are satisfied only by bhakti. But now, is Prahlad Maharaj expressing humility or is he expressing pride over here? Because, is he trying to say that, okay, all these demigods, they may have material qualities, but they don’t have bhakti, I have bhakti. If somebody says like that, if I have bhakti, that itself would be a sign of great pride, isn’t it? So, is Prahlad Maharaj saying that? Let us see.
He emphasises this glory of bhakti in the next verse in a more dramatic contrast. This is a verse which Prabhupada would often quote also. Viprad vishad gunayutad arvindanabha gunayutad arvindanabha Adarvind vimukhachv pachamvarishtam arvind vimukhachv pachamvarishtam Manyeta darpita mano vacinehitartha darpita mano vacinehitartha pranam punatisakulam nathubhurimanah punatisakulam nathubhurimanah nathubhurimanah So, earlier, in the previous verse, he said that, okay, material qualities cannot satisfy you, only bhakti can satisfy you.
Now, he offers a most dramatic contrast for this. He is saying, if there is a brahmana, now, brahmana is considered to be the most qualified material. If there is a brahmana, but if he doesn’t have bhakti, and there is a shvapacha, who has bhakti, then who is better? Shvapacha means a dog-eater.
He says, the dog-eater is better. Why? Because not only will he deliver himself, but he will deliver his whole family. And the brahmana cannot deliver even himself.
So, Srila Prabhupada writes in this purport over here, about how, you know, his European disciples are taking up Krishna consciousness, and one European devotee’s mother, when she was passing away, she called out Krishna’s name. Prabhupada says that she was delivered because she was connected with a devotee. So, in this way, Prabhupada says that, therefore, it is theoretically true and has been practically proven that a devotee can give the best service to his family, his community, his society and his nation.
So, a devotee can deliver even his family members, because he is connected with Krishna, even if that devotee is low-born. When the devotees had come to Vrindavan for the first time, they were like a curiosity object for the Vrajavasis. It was fascinating for them to see people from all over the world had become devotees, but at the same time, they were little suspicious.
Have they really become devotees? So, now we have this place called Loi Bazar in Vrindavan, where people go to purchase many devotional paraphernalia. It has become very commercialised. So, at that time, it was very small and Prabhupada was there.
So, Shrutakirti Prabhupada was telling us that when they would go to purchase something in the temples, in the shops in Vrindavan, so the shopkeepers would say, keep your money here and we will pick it up. They say, don’t touch us. So, shopkeepers were thinking that you are western people, you are low-born.
If we touch you, we will become contaminated. So, keep your money down, we will pick up the money and what you want, we will keep it down, then you pick it up. So, they went and told this to Prabhupada.
So, actually Prabhupada was so penetrating in his vision. Prabhupada is saying, so Prabhupada said, see, they consider that you are untouchable, but your money is not untouchable. That you are saying that they can take money from you, but they can’t touch you.
So, then they went to some of the temples over there and in one of the temples, one of the devotees, he said, he was offering prayers very sincerely and in other temples, they went that some of the temples, they were not allowed to enter also. So, they said that you are not brahmanas, you are not. So, of course, this did not happen in any major temple.
The Goswami temples, they were allowed. But at one time, they were saying, actually, you are not born in brahmana families. Actually, bhakti can be performed only by those who are born in brahmana families.
And some other people, they said, actually, if you want to become advanced in devotional service, you can do that only if you are born in India. If you are born in foreign families, you cannot become like that. Only India.
India is, Bharat is punya bhoomi. So, when Srila Prabhupada heard this, Srila Prabhupada said, go and tell them that the original brahmana, that is Brahmaji, he was not born in India. The original brahmana, he was not born in India.
So, when Brahmaji was born, there was no India at all, there was no earth at all. And other time, they went to a temple, they were praying very sincerely. So, one of the devotees came and said, one of the pujaris over there, he said, continue praying rightfully over here like this.
Then, in your next life, you will be born as a Vrajavasi and then you can do worship to, you can become a pujari and worship the deities. So, when the devotees came and told, Srila Prabhupada told them, you should go and tell them that if they do their worship very nicely, then in their next life, they will be born in America and then they will become preachers in the Krishna consciousness movement. So, this is not a matter of sectarian arrogance or anything like that.
Underlying principle is dedication to the service of the Lord. So, here it is described that if one has surrendered, he has offered his mind, he has offered his words, he has offered his life. So, Srinathji Prabhu was telling me that in his early days, when he was going to be initiated, get initiated in ISKCON, so many of his relatives got a little upset.
They said that you are born in India. Why are you taking a foreign guru? At all, if you have to take a guru, you should take an Indian guru. So, Srinathji Prabhu is a very penetrating person.
So, his uncle was most aggressive in this. Why are you doing like this? So, he said that, you know, I have observed my spiritual master for many, many years and there is nothing American left about him except the colour of his skin. His heart is completely sold to Krishna.
And there, just to tease him a little bit more, he said that, actually, I can see more of America in you than in my spiritual master. Because most Indians wear western dress, they have western values, they have western lifestyles. So, actually bhakti is not the monopoly of any country.
Not is the monopoly of any caste. So, he is saying, if somebody has offered his heart and life to Krishna, then such a person is much, much more glorious. So, Pilat Maharaj is here glorifying that if bhakti is there, then it more than compensates for any material disqualifications.
So, then is he going to claim now that I possess bhakti? Let us see what he says in the next verse. So, before going to that issue, he says that, if you are pleased, my dear Lord, by bhakti and you are not pleased by any material qualities, now to the material vision, bhakti may appear to be just like flattery. Isn’t it, Krishna is? All the devotees are glorifying Krishna and Krishna is standing and hearing very proudly.
So, in material life, if we see somebody who is being glorified by others, then the person is relishing his glories. Then we will think this person is a very proud person. So, he is asking, he is raising this question, why is it that Krishna is pleased by bhakti? Is it that Krishna likes to hear his own glories? Is it that Krishna has a lot of pride? And that is why somebody flatters him and Krishna becomes very pleased? And he answers this in this question, in this verse.
No, sorry. So, he is saying, my dear Lord, you are purna, you are self-satisfied. This Prabhu which is in front of me, this Lord Narasimhadev, he is purna, he is completely satisfied and he doesn’t need anything from anyone.
He doesn’t need our glorification. In fact, Lord Maharaj goes into greater detail. He says, actually a respectable person does not accept glorification from somebody who is not respectable.
That means, a wise person does not accept glorification from an ignorant person. Because what does the ignorant person know? A wise person, you know, if we do something nice, if somebody cooks very nicely, then, okay, if somebody who doesn’t know anything about cooking, that person says, hey, you, this item was very good. Okay, that’s fine.
But we don’t take it very seriously because that person doesn’t know how to cook. And any cooking that sounds, that tastes a little good, he will say, this is very nice. But if somebody, another person who is an excellent cook, and then that person says, in this particular item you had cooked, that was so good.
And then he says, this composition was very good, this was good, this was good. So when somebody who knows a field, that person appreciates in that field, that appreciates truly of value. Somebody is ignorant, that person glorifies, that is not of much value.
So a cultured person does not take the praise of ignorant people very seriously. So then he says, for Krishna, he doesn’t need anybody’s glorification. Then manam janat avidushah.
Vidushah means intelligent. Avidushah means unintelligent. So unintelligent people, when they offer glorification, avidushah karuno vrinite, that when they offer glorification, it is the karuna of the Lord, it is the mercy of the Lord, that vrinite, he accepts that glorification.
Why? Yad yad jano bhagvate viddhiditamanam. When these people offer glorification of the Lord, what happens? Tat chatmane pratimukasya dhamukashri. These people, they become purified.
When Krishna accepts their glorification, they become purified. In the Lalita Madhava, there is a description of how these kings who have been imprisoned by Jarasandha, when they are liberated by Krishna, they start offering glorification to Krishna. And one of the glorification that they offer is that they say, in the past, we glorified you.
We glorified you, but now we are understanding that the glories that we offered to you were actually insults. What we thought was a glorification was an insult. Why? Because they say that if somebody is the emperor of the whole world, and if we glorify that person as the landlord of a village, now that glorification is not a glorification, it’s an insult.
So similarly, whatever glories we have offered, they are actually not glories, they are insults. There is a Ram Bhakta who offers a beautiful poetry and he says, Lord Ram’s eyes are as beautiful as… He thinks, thinks, thinks. Which analogy can you use? Lord Ram’s eyes are as beautiful as Lord Ram’s eyes.
There is no analogy that can be used. So Vishwanath Chakrit Thakur explains that whenever we use some analogies, we may say Krishna’s complexion is like a freshly formed blackish blue monsoon cloud. He is describing Krishna and he is saying, Krishna, Shyamala is a cloud.
Shyama is a blackish. So ambuda, ambu is water, ambuda is that which gives water. That is a cloud.
So a newly formed cloud, So you have actually stolen the complexion of that freshly formed monsoon cloud. So when he speaks this, Vishwanath Chakrit Thakur says that whenever any material analogy is given, it is not descriptive. It is only indicative.
It is not a description. When we actually see Krishna, the experience will be much deeper. It will be much richer.
It is only an indication of what is there. So he is saying that when we glorify the Lord, what happens is, it is not that Krishna needs our glorification. It is we who need the purification.
So when Krishna accepts whatever glories we offer, it is we who become purified. And therefore, Krishna, it is your mercy that you are accepting the glorification that we are offering. And then Pralaya Narayana concludes the section by saying, therefore, why am I offering this prayer? I’m offering this prayer because for my own purification.
Therefore, I give up all my doubts. What was his doubt? He says all the Devatas, their praise could not satisfy you. Then how can my praise satisfy you? How can my praise satisfy you? He says, actually, now his conclusion is not that I have bhakti.
His conclusion is that, actually, by glorifying you, I will get purified and I will get bhakti by that. So he is saying, you are satisfied only by bhakti, but I don’t have bhakti. But by serving you, by glorifying you, I’ll get purified and I’ll get bhakti.
Therefore, I give up all my doubts. And I, that those who have moulded, those who have blended with the lower modes, they will all become purified. One will become purified.
How? By glorifying the Lord. So, let’s look at some of the aspects about humility. So now, Prahlad Maharaj is exhibiting humility by saying that I am unqualified.
There is a fundamental difference between humility and inferiority complex. What is that difference? That is, in humility, there is no desire to hold on to the false ego. Whereas, in inferiority complex, there is no ability to hold on to the false ego.
What does that mean? Many times, people feel if you are humble, why should you be so? You should, you’ll feel inferior. You’ll feel inferior. If you are, if you feel inferior, then how will you go and achieve? How will you succeed in life? In fact, when people have to go for their jobs, when we have to make your, when we have to make our own CVs, the CV is actually just the best expression of the ego.
Isn’t it the best way I can express my ego? So then, this seems to be antithetical to the idea of humility. People feel that if somebody doesn’t have confidence, he will feel inferior. He will have inferiority complex.
And inferiority complex is undesirable. It is undesirable even from a devotional perspective. But inferiority complex is not the same as humility.
So, what is the difference? That, when a person is humble, he doesn’t need others to glorify him, to feel his sense of self-worth. No, he is confident. Actually, I am a soul.
I am a servant of Krishna. And Krishna is going to accept me as I am. So, he doesn’t feel insecure.
He doesn’t feel worthless. What he feels is secure in his relationship with Krishna. And humility in that sense is independence.
He is not a humble person. He or she is not dependent on glorification by others. Whereas a person who has inferiority complex, that person wants to be proud.
That person wants to do wonderful things. But that person doesn’t have the ability to do anything wonderful. Suppose there is a student and a student is in a class where everybody else is cleverer than that person.
Then everybody else is getting better marks. And this student wants to get good marks. But he is just not able to study that much.
He doesn’t have the brain capacity. He doesn’t have that much memory. And then he starts feeling inferior, inferior, inferior.
And then there is a lot of feeling of inferiority. Then that whole thing becomes complex. That is called an inferiority complex.
So, humility is false ego rejected. Inferiority complex is false ego frustrated. There is a difference between the two.
In humility, we reject the false ego. I don’t want to have a false ego. Whereas inferiority complex is false ego frustrated.
I want to be big, but I am not big. I can’t be big. So, therefore, I become frustrated.
So, Duryodhana, despite all his bragging, all his bragging and all his scheming, he used to boast a lot and used to scheme a lot, do a lot of conspiracies. He was very insecure. He was very insecure internally.
In fact, whenever he would compare himself with the Pandavas, he would feel inferior. And because of that inferiority, he was being eaten away from inside. So, at one time, after the Pandavas had been exiled, then Duryodhana and Karna and Shakuni and Dushasan were discussing.
These four people were there. They were the evil four people who were always scheming everything. Of course, the mastermind behind all the scheming was Shakuni.
So, he was there. And as they were scheming along, Duryodhana started saying that, no, we have actually angered the five Pandavas now. They have gone to the forest and when they come back after 13 years, we’ll be in a lot of trouble.
So, Duryodhana said, don’t worry. I will not allow them to stay in Agyatvas. I’ll find them out and I’ll send them again out.
Karna said, don’t think it will be so easy. They are also very intelligent. They are also Kshatriya children.
He said, I have an idea. He said, you, the Pandavas are weakened now because they are all alone and you are the emperor. Why don’t we take your full army and go into the forest and attack them and finish them off? Attack them and finish them off.
So, Karna says, Duryodhana and Dushasana immediately agree. Shakuni is a little apprehensive, but he says, okay, now there is a chance of victory because now they are powerless. They don’t have any army with them.
So, immediately they start marching out. And as they are marching out, suddenly Vyasadeva comes over there. And Vyasadeva comes and he looks very angrily at Duryodhana and he says, actually for Vyasadeva, Dhritarashtra, Vidura and Pandu are like his sons.
The Pandavas and Kauravas are like his grandsons. So, he says, what you have done to the Pandavas is already sinful. Now, if you dare to go into the forest to attack them, I will curse you and you and your whole army will be destroyed right here.
So, Duryodhana, no matter how evil he is, he still understands the power of Brahmanas. He quickly beats a history retreat and comes back. But when he comes back, he is still scheming, how can I? Like in Hindi, you have to put salt on the wound.
He is thinking, what should I do? So, he gets an idea. He says, Yudhisthira will be living in poverty. Let me go and show my wealth to him.
I will go with my queens and maidservants and all my wealth and chariot and let him see it. So, he makes a scheme. Dhritarashtra is not ready to allow him to go, but somehow he makes a scheme and goes.
When he goes to Kamyavan, his plan is that on one side of the river, the Pandavas are there. So, he will go on the other side of the river. It’s not a very big river.
So, they can see what is on the other side. Other side, he will set his camp and he will exhibit his glories. So, here, see Duryodhana has no intrinsic self-worth.
What is intrinsic self-worth? You know, I am who I am and I am a part of Krishna and Krishna has made me in a particular way. I am happy as I am. Of course, I can try to improve myself, but Duryodhana has no intrinsic self-worth.
So, his sense of self-worth, his sense of security doesn’t come from himself. It has to come from something external. So, although he is the king, still he needs something to boost his ego.
He is so insecure internally. Then, he goes to the forest and there the Gandharvas are playing, sporting and suddenly, his soldiers hear a voice. They say, this area is the area of the Gandharvas.
Tell Duryodhana, go away from here. Otherwise, we will punish you. The soldiers are a little angry.
Who are you? They say, we are the Gandharvas and we are far superior to you humans. Go away from here. So, at that time, they go and tell the news to Duryodhana.
Duryodhana gets very angry. He is thinking, I am the controller of the whole earth. Everything here belongs to me.
Who are these Gandharvas? So, he goes and tells them, leave here immediately or otherwise, you will be destroyed. So, Gandharva starts laughing. He says, we order humans.
We don’t take orders from humans. So, this incenses Duryodhana. He says, now you will meet with my power.
Attack them and arrest them. And all the soldiers start attacking. And the Gandharvas just laugh.
And they pick up their weapons and just break havoc in the Duryodhana’s army. And then, seeing this, Karna comes along. Karna attacks and the Gandharva Chitrangada is there.
Chitratha is there. So, he just attacks, attacks. And Karna is completely, he is disarmed.
His armour is broken. He is wounded. And finally, he just gets off the chariot and runs away from there.
And practically, Duryodhana’s whole army is devastated. Karna is fled. And Duryodhana gets so angry.
Duryodhana starts attacking. But his anger is no substitute or equivalent for skill. So, the Gandharvas overpower him and arrest him.
And they shackle him like an ordinary prisoner. And there are a few of the Kaurava soldiers. They run over to the other side.
They flee from the Gandharvas. And they go and tell, Yudhishthir, Yudhishthir, you know, Duryodhana has been arrested by the Gandharvas. Please help him.
So, when the Pandavas hear this, Bhima is very happy. He says, oh, it is fortunate to know that there are at least still some people who want to do us some good. I thought everybody was against us.
All the gods, but the Gandharvas want to. So, what we would have had to do after 13 years, after great labour, the Gandharvas have done for us right now. Very good.
So, then Yudhishthir starts pacifying Bhima. And he says, oh, Bhima, you should not speak like this. You know, we may have our differences, but we all belong to the same family.
And for within us, we may be 5 and 100. And they may be 100. But for outsiders, we are 105.
And when they have arrested Duryodhana, they have insulted our dynasty. Should go and rescue them. Bhima is just, Bhima just cannot understand Yudhishthir’s way of thinking.
Bhima accepts it because he is the older brother. What nonsense. Although Yudhishthir is a Kshatriya, he has a Brahminical sort of mindset.
And Duryodhana, Bhima is like the quintessence of a Kshatriya. That is just complete Kshatriya mentality he has. So, what nonsense.
He says, Duryodhana has been arrested. Why should we go and help him? So, Yudhishthir says, actually, I am doing a sacrifice here. Otherwise, I myself would have gone.
But Bhima is not ready to go. So, at that time, Yudhishthira, Yudhishthira is also very intelligent. So, he decides to use Bhima’s Kshatriya tendency to engage him.
He says, oh, Bhima, just think what can give you more pleasure than to show mercy on your worst enemy. Your enemy’s survival and freedom today depends on your mercy. So, he titillates Bhima’s ego.
Bhima is like, okay, I’ll go now. So, Bhima agrees to go. And then Bhima and Arjuna go on the other side.
And they start attacking. So, Arjuna tells Gandharvas, you release Duryodhana. He says, we follow only one master.
That’s why we are never confused. He says, we are not going to follow your orders. We follow only one master.
Our master is Chitraratha, our Gandharva king. So, then Chitraratha tells them, don’t release. Then Arjuna attacks and they have fierce fight.
Arjuna defeats all the Gandharvas. Then Chitraratha gets very angry. He starts attacking.
A fierce fight. But Arjuna is extremely powerful. Arjuna defeats Chitraratha.
And Chitraratha says, hey, Arjuna, this is your old friend, Chitraratha. Why are you attacking me like this? So, Arjuna doesn’t lower his voice. He says, because you attacked me, that’s why I’m attacking you.
Because you attacked our family member, that’s why I’m attacking you. Now, Duryodhana is right in front as a prisoner, shackled. And Chitraratha tells, but actually, I came to do you good.
He says, you know, your father in heaven, Indra, he knew about the evil intentions of this wicked one. And Duryodhana is right in front. In front of his ear, he speaks everything.
In his ear shot. He says, you know, he wanted to shame you by parading his wealth in front of you. And that’s why he brought his whole army over here with his wealth and his family.
And this one has such evil intentions. Now, when Duryodhana hears his intentions being spoken in front of Arjuna and Bhima, he feels like I should sink into the ground. And Arjuna tells, so Chitraratha says, this person doesn’t deserve to live.
Kill him immediately. Bhima says, I was waiting for that only. So, Arjuna says, no, no, no.
He says, we have been ordered by Yudhishthira to have him released. So, Chitraratha says, he doesn’t deserve to be released. He deserves to be killed.
So, Arjuna says, let us take him to Yudhishthira. And then they, so he’s like a taken like in handcuffed shackle, a prisoner to Yudhishthira. And then Arjuna tells everything that Chitraratha has told and everything that has happened.
Yudhishthira very graciously folds his hands and thanks Chitraratha. And he says, now, I’m very grateful to you for your desire to do a favour to us. It is already a favour that you have not killed our cousin.
If you wish to do us any further favour, please release him. So, Chitraratha is very touched and he says, it’s exceptional to see a person who is as virtuous as you are, that one who came to harm you, you don’t want to harm him still. Still, it’s your desire, then I’ll release him.
And he hands over, Arjuna is released. And Yudhishthira is so utterly non-envious. He treats, he actually wants to show some kindness to Duryodhana.
But Duryodhana is such a pervert. He says, oh child, Yudhishthira tells Duryodhana, oh child, don’t act so foolishly. Don’t act so foolishly.
And you may go now. Duryodhana is burning in anger, practically speaking, burning in anger. And then as he comes back, as he comes back, at that time, Karna comes back.
And Karna says, oh Duryodhana, you must have, you have performed a miracle. I was not able to defeat the Gandharvas. I was so badly wounded that I had to go to nurse my wounds.
But you alone had defeated all the Gandharvas and made them flee. How great is your power? I’m impressed. So, you know, this is further mortification for Duryodhana.
And Duryodhana cannot even look up. So he tells Dushyasana, tell Karna what happened. And then Dushyasana tells Karna, Duryodhana is not ready to speak.
And then as they come to their side of the bag, Duryodhana says, I have been completely disgraced. Not only in front of my soldiers, my maidservants, my queen, not only, but in front of the Pandavas, my worst enemies. What can be a greater dishonour than this? I cannot live.
Oh Dushyasana, you go back and you become the king. I am going to fast to death. Dushyasana, Karna, they are shocked.
He says, what? He says, I cannot go back and do. He says, I will not. And he sits down on some Kusha grass and he says, I’ll fast to death now.
I will not do anything. I cannot tolerate this insult. I will fast.
And then Shakuni comes along and Shakuni is very skilled at words. But even Shakuni cannot convince Duryodhana. He says, I am going to fast to death.
And everybody, soldiers and all his assistants are bewildered. And Duryodhana sits down to fast. And it’s a long story.
Then as he’s sitting down to fast, he gets a mystical vision of the Rakshasas. The Rakshasas tell him, of the Daityas rather. The Daityas tell him that, you are our instrument on earth.
And we will be acting through you and implementing our rule on earth. So there might be a small reversal for you. Don’t worry.
When the actual battle will take place, we will be there by your side. We will enter into your soldiers and empower them. And you will attain victory.
Don’t throw away your whole chance because of this one reversal. And when he gets this whole vision, then he comes back and he says, okay, I will. So again Dushasan and Shakuni and Karuna are telling him, it was just bad fortune that you lost right now.
In the future again, you can win. If you fast to death, there is no chance for victory for you. You continue and you will win in the future.
So then Duryodhana opens eyes. He says, your words are agreeable to me. So I will not fast to them.
They all say happy. They all become happy and go back. So the point I told the story is that with Duryodhana, he had a sort of inferiority complex because he was not having any virtue.
And he is comparing himself with the virtuous Pandavas. He is feeling I am sinful. And that’s why he always wanted security from something external.
And when he wants security from something external, then the result is one becomes more and more insecure. His attempt to get his ego gratified led to his greater humiliation. So what is humility? Humility doesn’t mean that, oh, I am fallen.
I am fallen. I am fallen. That’s not humility.
The motivation for action is not the desire to prove one’s superiority to our others, but the desire to serve others in the best possible way. For a proud person, whatever he does, why is he doing it? His motivation is to prove his superiority over others. That’s what Duryodhana’s motive was when he went out in the forest.
I want to show, see, I have so much wealth. I have so much power. I have so much followers.
What do you have? So humility doesn’t mean that we don’t do wonderful things. It doesn’t mean that we are not ambitious. It means that our motivation for action is different.
It’s not that we are motivated by the desire to prove our superiority. Our desire is to serve others. Now for serving others, we may take whatever position is required.
So the spiritual master may sit on a high asana and give class to thousands of people. But his motivation is what? His motivation is not that he wants to feel I am superior to everyone else. Actually, if Srila Prabhupada wanted to feel superior to everyone else, he would never have left India and gone to America.
Because in India, at least a sannyasi is respected. But in America, nobody knew what is a sannyasi. Nobody cared for a sannyasi.
So Srila Prabhupada’s motive was the desire to feel superior. In India, he had that. America, he lost that.
Srila Prabhupada’s motive was, how can I serve? How can I best serve? So he saw that in India, people are so enamoured by the West and Western things that they are not ready to listen to their own culture. They are not ready to take care of their own culture, understand their own philosophy. Therefore, let me go to the West and preach.
So in one sense, Srila Prabhupada was very ambitious. At an old age, to go abroad is not easy. But Srila Prabhupada went there.
Why? Because he wanted to share Krishna’s message. So humility doesn’t mean that one cannot be ambitious. It doesn’t mean that one cannot do glorious things.
It simply means changing our motivation. And this is the last point in this. If we serve maya, then what happens is, we are humiliated, betrayed and imprisoned.
If we serve Krishna, we become humbled, but then we are vindicated and liberated. How are we humiliated? Actually, material life essentially means we are begging for sense gratification. Give me this.
Give me this. Give me that. It’s that humiliation.
In material life, actually, when people go for a job interview, the word may be job interview. Basically, Prabhupada would say, one is going to actually, one is practically speaking begging, please give me a job. So when, if a boy is proposing to a girl, a proposal is just a refined word for begging.
The boy wants sense gratification and this girl is going to provide him. So he’s begging for it. So actually speaking, what happens? When we want sense gratification, when we serve maya, we want sense gratification.
When we want sense gratification, that humiliates us. Not only it humiliates us, maya betrays us. Because after going through that humiliation, the pleasure that we get is so little.
There’s no pleasure practically speaking. And not only that, we get bound because the desires keep coming back again and again. Whereas if we serve Krishna, we have to become humble.
We have to bow down to Krishna, chant Krishna’s names. But we are vindicated. Vindicated means we are proven right.
We find that actually when we serve Krishna, we get deep happiness. And ultimately, we are freed from all our other desires. We become liberated.
So this is, Tilak Maharaj is exhibiting this humility by saying that he did not say, oh, I’m so fallen. How can I speak the glories of the Lord? He still speaks the glories of the Lord. And now in the future, we’ll see he’ll speak such profound wisdom.
So thank you very much. Are there any questions? Yes. Hare Krishna.
Thank you very much for such a masterly presentation, Prabhuji. But this, despite the fact that last 15 years I have been chanting, but this false ego, false pride, you know, is not going. So what is the best thing to do practically and theoretically? Rest your posture.
Hare Krishna. So how can we deal with false ego? Even if you’re practising Krishna consciousness for many years, if you’re a leader, it’s difficult to deal with the false ego. All of us are struggling with it.
Probably, I’m struggling with it more than everyone else. So I’m not the right person. But whatever I have heard, I’ll try to speak that.
First is that often in the desire to give up false ego, we sometimes become too self-centred. That means, OK, I want to be humble, but in that we become more I conscious than Krishna conscious. It’s am I proud or am I humble? That introspection is good.
But sometimes we become too I conscious in the whole process. And when we become I conscious, then actually it is very difficult to become purified. So essentially, humility is not so much.
The focus is not so much on not having pride, but as it is more it’s on rendering service to Krishna and glorifying Krishna. Just like if we have pride is one another, lust is another. So if you want to become free from lust, if you just keep focussing on thinking, I should not become lusty, I should not become lusty, I should not become lusty.
There is no purification in that. And that causes a lot of struggle also. Rather, if we fix our mind on serving Krishna and take our mind off sense objects, then automatically lust goes away.
So sometimes the pursuit of giving up false ego, it takes up more of our mental energy than the pursuit of glorifying Krishna. So when we focus on that negative side, we make life more difficult for ourselves. Not exactly deviating, I could say slightly, but it’s more of going off on a focus that makes things difficult.
So our process is not so much the process of saying no, as a process of saying yes. We are not so much saying no to maya, we are saying yes to Krishna. In fact, bhakti, the path of jnana is the path of giving up desires.
Bhakti is not so much about giving up desires, it is more of taking up desires. Now Srila Prabhupada, he did not just give up the desire for family life, he took up the desire for preaching all over the world. And actually it was because he took up that desire more than all his godbrothers.
All his godbrothers also had the desire to preach. But Prabhupada’s desire was so great that he was ready to take any risk for that. So the whole process of bhakti is more of taking in than of giving out or giving up.
It’s not so much of giving up desires, but of taking up fresh desires. So when we take up the desire to glorify Krishna, then automatically the desire to glorify oneself subsides. But if the focus is, I should not become proud, I should not have a false ego, if that is the focus, then that itself is negative.
There is no positive joy in that. But there is one nice pastime, Janani Vastu tells us that this one devotee was a very good kirtan player and very good singer. So he was singing in the temple hall and Prabhupada was just coming in.
So Prabhupada saw that and Prabhupada came to him and says, he says, your kirtan is very nice. And this devotee was sincere. So he told Prabhupada, he thought this is the only time I have with Shrila Prabhupada.
I may get some instructions. But Prabhupada, sometimes I feel proud. Sometimes I feel proud.
So Shrila Prabhupada’s reply may seem a bit shocking to us. Prabhupada says, what’s wrong with that? What’s wrong with that? Now, Prabhupada himself has told in his books, there is so much wrong with that, isn’t it? But here, what Shrila Prabhupada is emphasising is, you know, pride is like an anartha, which cannot be wished away. We cannot wish it away.
So if we have to have, if we have that desire to do something good and get some praise by that, the best that we can do is, we get that praise within devotee circle, then we get it in non-devotee circle. Because how it is, if I say that, because I don’t want to become proud, so I’ll not take up any leadership position. I will not do anything wonderful.
Then what happens is, just like a coin has a head and a tail. So pride is one side of the coin and envy is the other side of the coin. So if I don’t do anything wonderful, if I do something wonderful, I’ll become proud.
But if I don’t do anything wonderful, I will see others doing wonderful things and I will become envious of them. So either way, there is no freedom from this. So if I do something wonderful for Krishna, I may become proud by that.
But at least I’m rendering service to Krishna. And by rendering service to Krishna, that connection with Krishna will purify me. But if I, in the name of not becoming proud, if I don’t render service to Krishna, then I’m not doing anything to become purified.
So in one sense, our only purification will be through the connection with Krishna. So when we connect ourselves with Krishna more and more, service and even leadership position in service is one way to connect with Krishna. So it may happen that our leadership position itself will give us praise.
That is fine, that may happen. But the important point is that we are still serving Krishna and that service will not purify us. So over a period of time, if we keep serving Krishna and keep glorifying Krishna, we ourselves sort of param drstva nivartate.
We get a higher taste. We understand that actually in glorifying Krishna, there is much more happiness than in hearing my own glories. Because what happens is, when we have two choices, either we seek pleasure in Krishna’s glories or we seek pleasure in our own glories.
Now the problem with we have, if we seek pleasure in our own glories, there are two problems with it. First problem is that we don’t have too many glories. We don’t have too many glories.
And second problem is that whatever are our glories, they are very unsteady. I may do something glorious today, but tomorrow somebody may do something more glorious than me. Then it will go away.
So what happens is, as we practise Krishna consciousness and we glorify Krishna, over a period of time, we see that okay, the happiness that I’m getting in glorifying Krishna and the happiness that I’m getting in hearing my own glories. We just say, okay, this is much, much better. So in the Gopi Gita, it is said that Gopis are saying, So the Gopis are praying to Krishna.
Krishna, if you have gone away from us, because you think we are proud, then what is the way you will destroy our pride? You come in front of us. Smaya means proud. Nijjana means your devotees pride.
Smita is smile. He says, your smile destroys the pride of your devotees. Now, what does it mean? Krishna’s smile destroys the pride of his devotees.
It means that actually pride gives us some happiness. But when we look at Krishna’s smile, the happiness in beholding Krishna’s beauty is far greater than the happiness in pride, happiness in our own glories. So we will actually see Krishna’s smile.
We will relish Krishna’s glories only when we engage in service. So therefore, even if the pride is there, rather than focussing on not having false ego, if we focus more on glorifying Krishna and gradually we start relishing the glories of Krishna more and more, then what happens is that whether we are with, whether we are glorified or not, that doesn’t matter too much to us. So Harishauri Prabhu said about Prabhupada, actually Prabhupada would speak with the same intensity about Krishna, whether he was just sitting in his own room, giving darshan to a few people or whether he was addressing a Mahasatsang programme to thousands of people.
Because for Srila Prabhupada, the important thing was that he was glorifying Krishna. So in one sense, there’s a big honour in addressing thousands of people. But Srila Prabhupada was equally intense because his focus was glorifying Krishna and relishing Krishna’s glories.
So actually that is how, in my understanding, we get the higher taste. That if we focus too much on thinking, that there is no pleasure in thinking about that. That is just fighting the negative.
But if we keep focussing on how can I glorify Krishna? How can I glorify Krishna? How can I serve Krishna? Then that focus purifies us and it also frees us from our dependence on others’ glorification for our own sense of self-security. So that’s my understanding. Mahaprabhu, you would like to add something? So thank you very much.
Next class, just a little later. Thank you very much. Hare Krishna.
Hare Krishna. So what I offered was just the beginning part. Now the real show will start for all of you.
You have His Grace Radha Gopinath Prabhu. Most of you probably know him already. But just like Prahlad Maharaj was telling, that one gets purified by glorifying Krishna.
So one gets purified by glorifying Krishna’s devotees also. So I’ll just briefly introduce His Grace Radha Gopinath Prabhu. Radha Gopinath Prabhu is of course one of the temple presidents of Radha Gopinath Temple.
He had his own doctorate degree in speech therapy and he was a successful practitioner. And he was one of the founding pillars in 1987-88 when the temple was just starting. He joined Radha Gopinath Temple at that time.
And since then he has been a source of inspiration for thousands of devotees, not just in Mumbai but all over the world. He is especially famous for his 7-day Bhagavad Gita course. His Bhagavad Gita course which has made devotees in all parts of the world.
Even when he is there and even when he is not there, people hear his recordings. It’s just a systematic presentation that is also so spontaneous. He is very systematic in his presentation but whatever he speaks is so deeply heartfelt and realised that he disarms everyone and transforms their hearts.
So he travels regularly to Russia and other parts of the world also for preaching. And along with serving as the temple president in Mumbai, he is also overseeing the preaching in Kolhapur where he goes for 3-4 days a week in a fortnight. And so all of us are very fortunate to have him here with us.
Yeah, he is the mentor’s mentor. We have the counsellors who are looking after the whole Radha Gopinath congregation. So he is looking after all the counsellors.
He regularly takes them for retreats and camps and frequent meetings. So let us welcome His Grace Radha Gopinath through loudly chanting, Haribol! Haribol! Haribol! His Grace Radha Gopinath Prabhu ki Jai! Devotees can take a break now for 10-15 minutes. There are some juices outside.
We’ll start in 10 minutes.