Balaram Jayanti class – Balaram acts as the via media between Krishna and the Vrajavasis as well as the conditioned souls

So, Balram Jayanti is the occasion where Balramji appeared thousands of years ago, and he appeared just before Krishna.
Now, all over the world, there are people, am I audible to everyone behind? No? Okay. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna. Is it better now, or still not yet audible? You have to do some adjustments.
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Ram, Hare Ram, Ram, Ram, Hare Hare. Is it better now? Yes, it’s better now. Better? So, all over the world, there are people who believe in God and they direct their belief in God, direct their devotion to God in accordance with whatever conception of God they acquire from their culture or their tradition.
And Bhaktivinoda Thakur, a prominent Vaishnava Acharya in our line, he explains that the same absolute truth, he reveals himself in different ways at different places. And there can be some difference in message of the Lord, depending on the context, depending on the culture, depending on the audience. But essentially, there is one absolute truth.
And that absolute truth has revealed himself in various ways at different places. But how much we can become attracted to the absolute truth, how much we can become devoted to the absolute truth, a major factor in determining that is how much we know about the person. Knowledge about God alone doesn’t bring about devotion to God.
There can be academic scholars who have done a PhD in Krishna and they may not even believe that Krishna existed. Or they may believe that Krishna just existed and he was a person and he was not God. So, knowledge alone doesn’t engender devotion.
But knowledge is helpful in practising the process that engenders devotion. So, knowledge is not the way, but knowledge inspires us to go along the way. Knowledge is not the way, but knowledge inspires us to go along the way.
And as far as knowledge is concerned, there is enormous knowledge about God that is given in the Bhakti tradition of ancient India. So, Sri Prabhupada would often say that, actually, if you want to know God, if you want to have a concrete conception of God, here there is a concrete conception. It is Krishna.
And we have what he looks like, what he does, who he is with, what his likes are. It’s such a clear concrete knowledge. And when Sri Prabhupada was once in America, at that time, some Christian priest came to him.
And Prabhupada was saying, there is one God who is revealed in various traditions. So, he said, they said that, you know, but if Krishna is the same one God whom Jesus talked about, then why did Jesus not talk about that? So, Prabhupada said, no, Jesus himself has actually said that there is much that I have to tell, but you are not the ears to hear. Prabhupada was even more strong at times.
He said, actually, he just told, repeated thou shall not kill and he himself was killed for that. So, how much could he reveal in that situation? But the important point is, the point here is not to denigrate any religion. The point is to highlight a principle.
The principle is, if you are interested in knowing God, then wherever knowledge of God is available, take that and benefit yourself. Suppose, say, a student studies in some engineering college in India, computer science. And then after that, they come to know about, let’s say, in America, there is MIT, Massachusetts, and that is the top premier college in the world for computer science.
Now, will that student say that, no, I will study computer science only in my college. I will not go to any other college. If a student starts saying like that, then actually the question will come, are you interested in knowledge or are you interested in college? So, are we interested in religion or are we interested in God? No.
Religion is meant for God. God is not meant for religion. Religion is meant to help us to go closer to God.
So, wherever we can get deeper knowledge about God, we can take that knowledge and enrich ourselves. So, in the bhakti tradition, not only is there knowledge about God, but there is knowledge about God’s family. So, God is not alone.
God is supreme and supreme means there is one supreme person. But he is not alone. He is with his whole family.
And one of his closest associates is his brother. So, God has a consort also. And we will discuss more about that in our later classes when we come closer to janmashtami.
Here we focus on this principle that God has a full family. The Bhagavad Gita tells that this world is a reflection of the spiritual world. urdhva-moola-madhah-shaakham asvattham drahudavle chandamsya-sya parnaani yas tam vedasavedam 15.1. It says that this world is like an upside down banyan tree.
So, we see an upside down tree where there is a reflection of a tree in water. So, there is a real tree. So, whatever relationships we see in this world, those relationships are there in God.
And they are there in purity and perfection. So, God has his brother. And Krishna and Balaram are the divine, they are two divine brothers.
When they would go around fighting, each of them was unmatched. But when the two of them would come together, they were the awesome twosome. Nobody could match them.
So, now Balaram, he, his name signifies his position. So, I will talk about this class in three parts. First, I will talk briefly about the position of Balaram.
Then I will talk about one or two pastimes of Balaram. And then we will conclude about with some prayers, of what kind of prayers we can offer to Balaram. So, Balaram, the word Balaram means Bala and Rama, it has two aspects to it.
So, Bala is strength and Rama is pleasure. So, Balaram refers to that person who gives us the strength to find pleasure. He is the person who gives us the strength to find pleasure.
Now, what does it mean the strength to find pleasure? You know, if there is a delicious food somewhere, I can just go and eat it. I do not need strength to find that pleasure. But what it means is that strength to find pleasure means that pleasure is not found in this world where it appears to.
This world promises us so much pleasure, but all those pleasures are temporary. They are Mrigatrishni rupa, they are like mirages, Lord Maharaj says. And they promise a lot of pleasure, but they deliver very little.
And yet it is very difficult to resist the lure of pleasure. Now, there are people who are alcoholics and they do not want to be alcoholics. So, there are medicines or drugs you could say, which people take, you know, after they take that drug and after that they take alcohol, they fall sick because of that.
So, they try to take that drug in order to avoid taking alcohol. Because if they take that drug and then they take alcohol, then they will vomit and they will have a lot of problems. But in spite of that, in spite of taking that drug, still they are compulsorily dragged to take alcohol.
So, what is happening here? You notice, they do not have the strength to resist the lure of pleasure. So, when we say the strength to find pleasure, that means we have to know where real pleasure exists and where there is a trap in the name of pleasure. And then to move from illusoried pleasure to real pleasure, that requires strength.
And that strength is provided by Balramji. So, his role is to give us the strength to resist the pleasures of this world and the strength to persevere in seeking the pleasure of bhakti. So, with bhakti there is pleasure, but we need to persevere, we do not get it immediately.
Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita that higher pleasures, they taste like poison in the beginning, but they taste like nectar in the end. So, we have to persevere through the poison till we can get to the nectar. And that requires strength.
So, Balram is that divine person who gives us the strength to find real pleasure. And in this role, he acts as the Adi Guru. He is the original spiritual master.
The spiritual master’s primary purpose is to help us to find real happiness in life. Vishal Prabhupada was once giving a lecture on Rath Yatra in America, second Rath Yatra in 1969. And in the initial days, most of the followers, people who came to Prabhupada were hippies.
So, Prabhupada said that you hippies, you are not very much appreciated in America. You are called as frustrated people. But Prabhupada said, I appreciate you.
He said, human life is meant to be frustrated. Human life is meant to be frustrated. Why? He says when we become frustrated in our search for happiness, then we will search for higher happiness.
Then we will come to Athato Brahma Jignasa. Then we will enquire about spirituality. So, no Acharya before has explained Athato Brahma Jignasa as meaning, human life is meant to be frustrated.
But this was Prabhupada’s contemporary presentation of Shastras. So, he said, it’s when we become, when our attempts for pleasure. So, the spiritual master is meant to guide us when we become thwarted in our search for pleasure, to guide us towards where real pleasure exists.
And Balramji plays that role. So, we have many spiritual masters in our life. We have one Deeksha Guru, but we have many other Gurus.
And they are all manifesting the mercy of Balram. It is by his mercy, am I audible behind? Has the voice lost? It is by his mercy that the spiritual masters that we have, they guide us. In Krishna, there is a famous verse in the Bhagavad Gita, 4.34, So, the significant point here is, the Bhagavad Gita is using plural, not one Tattvadarshi, Tattvadarshi Naha.
So, there are many spiritual masters. So, one spiritual master will be the initiating spiritual master, but we learn from many, many, many spiritual teachers. And they all are giving us knowledge by the grace of Balram.
So, now Balramji plays this role. In this world, he plays the role of being the Guru, being the spiritual master. In Krishna Leela, he plays another role.
Krishna Leela is comprised of devotees who are already elevated. So, they are already liberated, they are already purified. So, there he doesn’t have to play this role.
So, he plays the role of the assistant of Krishna. And he assists Krishna in various ways. So, he assists, he becomes the Sheshanath, the bed of Krishna.
He becomes the Dham, the whole Dham Vrindavan is manifested by Krishna’s energy. And this way he assists Krishna. I will focus on one specific way in which he assists Krishna.
This is described in the book Gopal Champu, written by Sri Jiva Goswami. Jiva Goswami is known as the Siddhanta Acharya of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Our tradition is the Gaudiya Vaishnav tradition.
And in this, the Siddhanta was systematically explained and established based on Shastra by Jiva Goswami. So, he wrote a book named Gopal Champu, which is an expanded retelling of the 10th Canto. So, it’s not a verse by verse commentary, but he takes the basic storyline of the 10th Canto and he expands it based on various Shastras and based on his own revelations.
So, there he describes how Balaramji helps Krishna remember Vrindavan outside of Vrindavan. So, I will talk this briefly and I will talk this more in future classes also. So, Krishna and Balaram, if you see, especially Krishna’s, their life is very adventurous.
Right from when child is born, the whole conspiracy to murder the child, the child is whisked away at night and he goes to distant place and stays. And while he is staying there, there are various assassins who are sent to try to assassinate him and he survives. And eventually, Krishna and Balaram are told to come to Mathura.
Kamsa decides that my men are not able to get him in Vrindavan, so I will get him to my territory. And my territory, my men will get him. That’s his plan.
Now when Akrura comes to take Krishna, Nanda Maharaj doesn’t know that Krishna is not his son. Nanda Maharaj actually thinks Krishna is my son only. And when Gargamuni comes and Gargamuni has to do the namakaran, so then the questions may rise because of that, why is Gargamuni the Acharya of the Yadus, why is he doing this namakaran of this child? So, Gargamuni is a Brahmana, he doesn’t want to speak lies, but at the same time, he doesn’t want to speak the truth.
Why? Because, multiple reasons. One is, he doesn’t want to raise the suspicion of Kamsa, that Krishna might be the son of Vasudeva. And also, there is such intense love that Nanda Maharaj has for Krishna that Gargamuni doesn’t have the heart.
So, what he does is, he tells that in a previous life, your son was the son of Vasudeva. And he says, your son is almost like Narayana. So, he doesn’t say he is Narayana, he is almost like Narayana.
So, when Akrura comes and he tells Krishna that you are actually the son of Vasudeva and you should come back and help Vasudeva. So, Nanda Maharaj does not accept it. And then, still, because it’s Kamsa’s order, they all go there.
And at this point, we may often think of Krishna as God who went and effortlessly killed Kamsa. But, if you consider it from the Leela perspective, Krishna is just a small child. He is barely 10 years old.
And at the age of 10, he just has to leave his parents, leave those who throughout his life thought of as his parents, and he has to go to somebody else whom he has to accept as parents. You know, sometimes, some parents may give up a child when he is at birth for adoption to someone else. And the child is growing there at adoption for maybe 10 years and then suddenly the parents come and claim custody rights.
You know, it is very disruptive. So, for Krishna, it is like that. He has this intriguing two aspects.
He exhibits superhuman strength when he kills demons like Kamsa. But then, after Kamsa is killed, then there are Vidruta and other elders, they tell that Krishna, you should stay with us. You are a Yadu and you should stay with us.
And there are other demons also who are there and you have to protect them. So, now, Krishna somehow persuades Nanda Maharaj. And it is a very smooth moving conversation.
Nanda Maharaj says that, and Krishna tells that, based on that prophecy, he said that the 8th child of Devaki will kill Kamsa. Based on that prophecy, they are claiming that I am their son. So, Nanda Maharaj says, he starts crying.
And then he says, anyway, it is our fortune that great people are claiming our son to be their son. So, he says that, if you are going to stay here, Krishna, and I will also stay here. We will stay outside Mathura and we will have our house here.
Krishna says, but you know, what will mother Yashoda do? She will also come here. She will stay here. And we will see you every day, even if you are not in our house.
And Krishna says, but we are all the servants of the cows. And now you have so many cows. They need grazing place.
They need a pasture. And around Mathura, it will not be able to provide a pasture for the cows. So, how can we put the cows into trouble for our sake? We are the servants of the cows.
Therefore, please go back. And Nanda Maharaj says, actually, Krishna, the cows will not be able to live without you. So, Krishna says, yes, I have thought about it, I know.
So, I will give my dress, my garlands and my ornaments to Subala. And Subala looks just like me. And the cows smell the fragrance of my body from my dress, they will think that this is Krishna.
And that is how they will pacify. Then finally, tearfully, Nanda Maharaj departs. And as Nanda Maharaj departs, Krishna has no one with him.
All the people he loved from his childhood, not only is he away from them, but he has to, he has to maintain his composure so that Nanda Maharaj doesn’t break down, the Gopas don’t break down. But you know, he has a heart and his heart is also breaking. So, at that time, he has no one to turn to except Balaram.
And Krishna and Balaram fall into each other’s arms and they cry bitterly, cry in separation from Vrindavan, longing to be back there, just not able to go back. There is a call of the heart and there is a call of duty. And these two are pulling them into different directions.
And Balaram consoles Krishna, says, Krishna, you have to do your duty. Duty calls and please steal yourself. Please steal yourself and do whatever is required.
And Krishna, with his head on the shoulder of Balaram, cries till all the tears dry up. And then he tearfully goes back to the house of Vasudeva and Devaki. And as he’s staying there, his heart is constantly remembering Vrindavan, longing for Vrindavan.
And the primary solace that he gets is by talking with Balaram about Vrindavan, remembering Vrindavan. And Vasudeva observes this. Every parent wants their children to be happy.
So, he sees that Krishna is not happy here. And he thinks what to do? So, for Krishna, he’s just a ten-year-old child. For a child, the closest relationship is with the mother.
And now Vasudeva observes that Krishna is not able to properly even address Devaki as his mother. From a ten-year-old child’s perspective, you take him suddenly from one house to another house and tell him, this is your mother. Mother is not just a name.
There is a relationship, there is affection and Krishna is not able to call out. Now Vasudeva thinks, maybe I can take Krishna back to Vrindavan for some days. And Krishna will be a little happy.
But then, all the Yadus, they say, no, if you take Krishna there, he will never come back. I don’t know what those Vrajavasis have done to our Krishna. Probably, they have fed him butter and because of that, he has become mad for Vrindavan.
So, if we are to get Krishna back, the only way is that we should cut off all contact with Vrindavan. Cut off all contact. Now, initially, when Nanda Maharaj and Krishna depart, Krishna separate, at that time, Nanda Maharaj says, I’ll keep sending messengers.
You know how you are doing. But what the Yadus do is, their intention is that Krishna should be happy with us. And they feel if the memories of the past keep coming, then Krishna will not be happy with us.
So, even when the messengers from Vrindavan come, they try to bring various critics and they don’t let the messengers meet Krishna also. Of course, Krishna secretly keeps sending some messages, some gifts, but overall the connection becomes very less. And Nanda Maharaj says that I will come.
I’ll come regularly. And Krishna says, no, you cannot come here. Maharaj says, how will I live if I don’t come here? Why can I not come here? Krishna tells that I am staying here to protect the Yadus from their enemies.
Now, the enemies of the Yadus have become my enemies. And they will become the enemies of all those who are connected to me. So, if they think that you Vrajivasis are very close to me, then in order to take revenge against me, they will attack you.
And if I am in Mathura, I cannot put it to Nanda Maharaj. So, therefore, we should make it appear to the world that actually there was no affection between me and you. I just stayed at your place for some time and now that I have come back, I have forgotten.
So, this is the predicament because of which the Vrajivasis, we hear there is so much separation from Krishna, but they could have gone just a few hours to Mathura. But they couldn’t go. They couldn’t go because that would have endangered and Krishna did not want that.
So, Krishna was completely disconnected from all the Vrajivasis. And at that time, Balramji thought what to do? And he thought somehow I have to allay Krishna’s suffering. And then for Balramji, he was also not much older than Krishna.
So, he was also a child. But still he was trying to take the role of elder brother as well as his younger brother. And then when Vasudeva saw both these brothers so morose, that time he got the idea.
He said, I cannot get the woman whom Krishna thinks to be his mother, that is Yashoda. But Krishna has been there in Vrindavan even with Rohini. So, and Rohini is Balram’s mother.
So, I will call Rohini back. If I call Rohini back, then Krishna will at least have some maternal figure whom he knows from childhood, from infancy. And maybe Krishna will be happier.
And then he sends a message, please send Rohini back. And then when Rohini gets that message, Yashoda is also waiting, is Krishna going to come back? Is there any message for Krishna? There is no sign of Krishna coming back, no message for Krishna. And Rohini says, please come back.
So, at that time, Rohini says, how can I go without you, Yashoda? We are like one soul in two bodies. Yashoda says, yes, and that is why you should go. That is why you should go.
She says, when you go to Mathura and you embrace, you hug Krishna, you put him on his lap, you feed him, it is as if I will be hugging him, I will be feeding him, I will be keeping him on my lap. And this way I will get some solace. And thus, Yashoda sends Balram back, Balram’s mother back.
And Rohini, when she comes back, Krishna, the two sons, they treated both mothers like their own mother. But still, for Krishna, Yashoda was his mother. And for Balram, Rohini was his mother.
So, Krishna was delighted to see Rohini. But Balram was even more delighted. And then Balram told, how much Krishna is suffering in separation from his love.
How much Krishna is tormented day and night with thoughts of his love. He is here, he is doing his duties. But still, he is in agony in separation from his love.
And at that time, Rohini thought, yeah, I can do something. She says, the problem is, that Krishna is not just torn between two families, but he is torn between two families who are somewhat hostile to each other. So, if I can decrease the hostility, the hostility was because of love for Krishna only.
The hostility was not because of any negativity. It was just because of both loved Krishna and the Brajwasis wanted Krishna in Vrindavan and the Mathurawasis wanted Krishna in Mathur. And because of that, there was this problem.
In a perverted sense, sometimes there is a problem in this world when say a couple separates and they have a child and there is a custody battle for the child. You know, both the husband and wife want possession of the child and then the poor child is torn in between. So, at least for the child’s sake, if the couple maintains some congenial relationship, that’s better.
So, Rohini thought that, what I will do is, I will try to act as a mediator and I will try to tell the Mathurawasis how much the Brajwasis love Krishna and how much Krishna loves the Brajwasis. And ultimately, their concern is also for Krishna. So, he starts speaking about the Brajwasis.
And when he starts speaking about the glories of the Brajwasis, at that time, the Mathurawasis, they get irritated. They say, oh Rohini, we thought you were in our party, but it seems you are in their party. So, the Rohini becomes totally disheartened.
And she realises that she is not going to be able to do it. She goes and tells Balram. And Balram says that, yes, I think this is a test.
And then they start thinking what to do. Then at that time, Vasudev sees that Krishna is still very morose. Krishna is not really very happy.
But suppose a child is very sad or morose, then what do parents do? Parents try to provide some engagement for the child. If the child is very sad at one place, send the child to some other place. So, Vasudev thinks that I can do two things at one go.
He says that actually, Krishna has always been in Vrindavan and now he has come to city, which is Mathura. So, it is not that in the past, everything was only rural. Sometimes, bhakti, people think that we have to go to a very simple rural village and we have to live.
Yes, Varanasi was nice. But even in the past, Vrindavan was a rural place and Mathura was an urban place. So, he thought maybe if I send Krishna to a little bit of a rural setting, then maybe Krishna will be a little happier.
So, he decided that I will send Krishna to a Gurukul. Now, when he decides to send Krishna to a Gurukul, he decides to send him far away from Vrindavan. So, Vrindavan and Mathura are so close and almost, even the Vedus, every morning when they wake up, they would go to Krishna’s room and they see, is Krishna there today or not? Or has Krishna run away at night, back to Vrindavan? Because they can see Krishna is longing for Vrindavan.
And because of longing for Vrindavan, they are always fearful. So, they decide that maybe we can send Krishna far away somewhere to a Gurukul. And practically from one end of the country, they decide to send him to the other end of the country.
So, they decide to send him to Sandipanamudra Ashram. Actually, Vasudevan says that we should go to a Gurukul and learn from a Guru. Krishna says, yes, I will do that.
And he says, I would like to learn from Sandipanamudra. And then they agree. And then Krishna says that actually when I go, I will not go on a chariot.
So, Vasudevan says, why? You have to go such a far distance. How would you go there? He says, I will not go with a chariot, with soldiers escorted. He says, why? Because I am meant to be here to protect you.
And if our enemies come to know that I am not there, then they will attack. So, therefore, I will go secretly. And I will go and I will come back soon.
So, that is why Krishna, when he is in Gurukul, he has an accelerated learning course. There is a crash course. So, he goes there, does super fast learning and he comes back.
But when he is away, when he is there, again at that time, now Krishna has stayed in Mathura for some time. And when he stayed in Mathura for some time, at that time, he slowly started getting acclimatised with Mathura and he started developing some affectionate relationship with the Mathuravasis. But at the same time, now he has to go away from there also.
And again, the only person with him is Balaram. So, actually throughout all of Krishna’s pastimes, wherever he goes, the one person with him is Balaram. And when Krishna and Balaram go to Sandipani Muni’s ashram, Anantipur, at that time, they stay there and Sandipani Muni welcomes them.
They do not tell that they are the Yudhvamshis. So, just by seeing them, Sandipani Muni understands that these are very special people. See, when Krishna manifests in this world, he does not always manifest his Godhood.
He is God, but he conceals his Godhood so that love can reign supreme. Krishna is not a God who wants to delight. I am God, everyone bow down to me.
Krishna wants to reciprocate love. And for the reciprocation of love, he subordinates himself. How Krishna manifests himself in Vrindavan and in this world, that is an elaborate subject which we will discuss later.
But the point here is that Krishna does not manifest his Godhood. Sandipani Muni thinks he is a special person, very effulgent, attractive child. Both of them are so attractive.
So, Krishna and Balarama start staying in the Gurukul. And while they are staying in the Gurukul, at that time, again, in the daytime, they go on to do activities. But at night time, again, Krishna very fervently remembers Vrindavan.
And when he remembers Vrindavan, again, it is Balarama who offers him a shoulder. They hug each other, they cry, they remember Vrindavan. Throughout it all, so everything for Krishna is just a 10-11 year old child.
And for him, everything is changing. But the one thing constant in his life is Balarama. Balarama is the one constant, one fixture in Krishna s life.
As everything around him goes around, being in a state of great emotional turbulence, Krishna finds shelter in his relationship with Balarama. And this Balarama acts in the role of an elder brother. In Ramayana also, Lakshman is constantly there with Ram.
But most of the times, it is Lakshman who is emotional and Ram has to come in love. Lakshman gets angry and Ram has to come in love. So, because Ram is the elder brother over there.
But when it comes to Krishna-Balarama Leela, actually, Balarama is the elder brother and then Krishna becomes very disconsolate. In separation from Vrindavan, it is Balarama who consoles him. And then after the Gurukul, actually, I am going quite fast.
We will see in future classes, we will discuss more about this. We are focussing on Balarama in this class. So, we are not going to other pastimes.
When Krishna and Balarama come back after the Gurukul, now, at that time, they decide that, before they go, they do a thread ceremony. A thread ceremony is done by Brahmanas, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas, all three of them. So, at that time, now, if a thread ceremony is, although Krishna is staying in Dwaraka, sorry, in Mathura at this stage, Nanda Maharaj still thinks that Krishna is my son.
Krishna is my son. So, when Krishna is going to perform his thread ceremony, at that time, if Krishna performs his thread ceremony in the presence of his Kshatriya father, then it is as if he is accepting that I am a Kshatriya. If he accepts his thread ceremony in the presence of a Vaishya father, he is accepting that I am a Vaishya.
That means, I am, Nanda Maharaj is my father. So, when they are going to perform his thread ceremony, Krishna thinks what to do. And he asks Balarama.
So, Krishna and Balarama confer and then Krishna sends a message. He says, actually, my heart is in Vrindavan and I would love to have a thread ceremony performed with you acting as my father. But, for the sake of our duty, I have to do this.
So, what you do, he says, is that you perform an identical thread ceremony at the same time in Vrindavan. And I will be present in your heart at that time. And thus, I will be initiated for you.
Initiated as your son, your present. So, after that, in this way, Krishna and Balarama, it’s like their bodies are in Mathura, but their hearts are in Vrindavan. And as this goes on more and more, then eventually, at one time, Balarama gets angry with Krishna.
Krishna, you told the Rajivasi that you will come back soon. Such a long time has passed and you have still not gone back. When are you planning to go back? So, Krishna says, I would have gone back long ago, but I am just not allowed to go back.
He says, and Nanda Maharaj has bound me in two ways, by his love and by his words. He says, by his love, I am bound to him and I long to go back to him. But by his words, he has told me, obey Vasudev, he is your father.
And he says, I will not get permission from them to go back to Vrindavan. So, what should I do? So, Balarama says, what you can’t do, I will do. So, he says, I will go to Vrindavan.
He says, you may have a stone heart and you may not feel for the Rajivasi, but I long for them, I will go. And Krishna says, yes, very good, you should go. You should go to Vrindavan.
And he says, it is quite likely that you will get the permission. Because they know that from childhood, Balarama knew that I am a Yadu. Balarama knew that I am a son of Vasudev, I am a son of Rohini.
So, they did not have so much insecurity of Balarama going there and Yad Gathwan and Yuvartante happening. Balarama going to Vrindavan and never coming back. They did not have that fear.
So, when Balarama said this to Vasudev and Devaki, now Vasudev and Devaki also, they were also in a delicate situation. They knew that, you know, suppose a child is demanding something, you cannot say completely no to him. So, you have to allow something or not allow something.
So, they thought this is a safe thing. At least Krishna is not asking to go to Vrindavan. So, they said, Balarama, you go back to Vrindavan.
So, now before this, what happens is, Krishna sends Uddhava to Vrindavan. And he also says, I am going to come soon. I will come soon and that’s a very beautiful pastime of Uddhava in Vrindavan.
But then after that, Krishna, Balarama says, I am thinking of sending some messenger again to Vrindavan because I have not gone for so long. So, then at that time, he turns to Uddhava and he says, last time only when I got, I got so much flack and I said you are going to come soon and if you don’t come soon, I will get beaten there now. Of course, nobody will beat him, but that’s his feeling.
He says, I promised them, Uddhava is single, I promised them that you will come soon and now if I go and tell them, give them the same promise, you will come soon, they are not going to accept it. So, at that time, Balarama says, yes, oh Balarama, if you go, you are my elder brother and if you are going and you are giving your word, then they will take it very seriously. They will know that I will, I must honour your word and I will surely come back to Vrindavan.
Then, Balarama goes on behalf of Krishna to Vrindavan and when he goes to Vrindavan, the Vrindavans are delighted to see him and he is alive in the Maharajas, they cry tears, ocean of tears, practically, seeing Balarama. They embrace him and they bless him and then Krishna, Balarama performs various pastimes with all the Rajivasis, fulfilling their hearts and there are two kinds of Bhakti, there is Vyoga and there is Sanyoga, there is union and there is separation. So, now, love and separation is said to be higher than love and union.
So, the Gopis have been experiencing love and separation for so long and when they see Krishna, actually, Balarama has his Gopis and Krishna has his Gopis also. So, Balarama performs Leela with his Gopis and Krishna’s Gopis, when they see this, they remember Krishna and the remembrance of Krishna gets stimulated further and although they are separated, they also feel some level of union with Krishna. So, Balarama goes on behalf of Krishna and fulfils both, serves both the devotees, his own associates and the associates of Krishna also he serves and in that way, Balarama performs various services, especially, so what I told till now, how Krishna helped Balarama remember Vrindavan outside of Vrindavan.
Constantly talking about him, giving ideas of how to stay connected with Rajivasis and how to keep the hearts tuned together. But here when he comes back, at this particular point, what he does is, he assists his devotees. So, one role is to help Krishna remember Vrindavan outside of Vrindavan.
The other role is to help the Rajivasis remember Krishna when Krishna is outside of Vrindavan. So, he does both and this is actually the role of the spiritual master also. The spiritual master reminds us of Krishna and the spiritual master reminds Krishna of us.
Now, what do we mean reminds Krishna of us? Krishna does not need to be reminded of us. Krishna always is there in our heart and Krishna is very close to us. But when the spiritual master reminds us of Krishna, that is clear enough.
He does Krishna katha and he gives us instructions about how to practise bhakti. He reminds us of Krishna. But when we say he reminds Krishna of us, that means that he actually appeals to Krishna on our behalf.
The spiritual master prays to Krishna and there is remembrance and there are various levels of remembrance. So, when somebody who loves Krishna very much and they pray to Krishna on our behalf, then that prayer has a special intimacy. It brings greater proximity.
So, Balramji plays this role of the Vayameeya. Just as he plays the role of the Vayameeya between Krishna and the Vrajavasis, similarly, he plays the role of the Vayameeya between the conditioned souls, the sadhakas and Krishna. And Balram, he is inconceivable in his actions.
Sometimes he gets angry, sometimes he acts in various ways, but all of them are meant to enhance his service to Krishna in various flavours. So, one of the ways he serves Krishna is in Viparitrasa. Viparitrasa means, that this is not one of the twelve rasas, but this is just an emotional flavour.
That God, when he wants to do something, no one can stop him from doing it. He is omnipotent. But in his leela, he would like sometimes to somebody to stop him.
And then he overcomes that opposition. So, that is not so much in the Vraja leela, but that is in the Mahabharata leela. That Balram plays the role of obstructing Krishna.
How does he do that? He becomes the Guru of Duryodhana. So, he becomes the Guru of Duryodhana not because Duryodhana has any special qualification. He becomes the Guru of Duryodhana because that is one way in which he can serve Krishna.
That is, Krishna wants to perform his pastimes and he, in one sense, trains the opponent of Krishna’s devotee so that there can be a bigger fight. So, there can be more exciting fight. So, that is also one extraordinary way in which Balram serves Krishna.
And overall, the role of Balramji is to keep devotion alive in separation. He keeps Krishna’s attraction to Krishna. The flame is burning and burning.
And similarly, the Vajvasis remember Krishna in separation. So, now, love in separation, as I said, is supposed to be higher than love in union. So, how is it like that? See, love is like a fire and separation is like a wind.
So, when there is a big fire, say there is a forest fire and then the wind blows. The wind spreads the fire and the fire becomes bigger and bigger. So, like that, for both Krishna and for the Vajvasis, when there is separation from Krishna, when there is separation from each other, that separation acts like the wind that causes the fire to become bigger and bigger and bigger.
Now, this is not the only possibility. If the fire is not a forest fire, if the fire is a candle and wind blows at that time, the candle will get extinguished. So, we should not think love in separation is higher than love in union.
So, I will not go to the temple, I will stay away from the temple. I will stay away from association, maybe my love will increase in separation. No, our love is like a candle actually.
So, when there is separation, then it will get extinguished. We see that if we do not associate with devotees regularly, if we do not come in a Krishna conscious atmosphere, our bhakti becomes very dry and weak. We just start doing rituals.
If we do not hear Krishna Katha regularly, even if we do our japa, we chant around, but what we do is, sometimes we are chanting and we take out the beads. How many beads are remaining? So, 108 beads seem like 1008 beads. It is not getting over.
So, we need association, we need inspiration, we need to hear about Krishna’s glories, then we can practise bhakti. So, Balramji, it is by his mercy that we get the opportunities to hear about Krishna, to kindle our flaming bhakti. And on this day of Balram Jayanti, Balramji is giving us mercy throughout the year by giving us facilities to remember Krishna, facilities to serve Krishna.
And on this particular day, when he has appeared in this world as a precursor to the appearance of Krishna, just as he appeared in this world to pave the way for the appearance of Krishna. That is a whole different story about how Devaki’s womb, he appeared 7th and then 8th, 8th was Krishna’s appearance. We will discuss that later.
But the point is, just as he prepared the womb for Krishna to appear. So, he appears in this world to prepare the world for the appearance of Krishna. And similarly, on this day, we can pray that he prepares our heart for the appearance of Krishna.
Not just in terms of preparing our consciousness for Janmashtami, but actually making our heart more receptive for Krishna. And in this, I will conclude with one point that actually, when we practise bhakti, our willingness is more important than our willpower. Our willpower refers to what we are able to do.
Our willingness refers to what we want to do. What we want to do, it is often that we may not be able to do it. Now, we may want to do various activities in our life, we want to do more bhakti, do more seva, but it may not just be possible for us.
So, sometimes when the situation doesn’t allow us to do some things, we become disheartened and we let our desire also become weak. But, no matter what the circumstances, even if we are not able to do something, if we let our desire stay strong, okay, I am not able to do, I want to study scripture regularly, I want to do service, I want to tell about Krishna to others, but I don’t have time, I don’t have this, I don’t have that, all these problems are there, but rather the problems may take away the facility, but the problems don’t have to take away the desire. If we preserve the desire to serve Krishna in whatever situation we are in, then Krishna will arrange the situation for us.
He will change the circumstances so that we will be able to serve Him better. And Balramji is the person who actually kindles the bhakti desire within us and it is He whom we can pray. We all have various difficulties, not just in practising our spiritual life, but even living in the material world.
There are always many, many difficulties in life. So, we need strength to persevere and actually speaking, we never lose till we lose hope. We never lose till we lose hope.
And that perennial hopefulness can come from Balramji. When we understand that He is the eternal spiritual master and He is always there to help us in various ways. When He is there, we know that He is there in so many different ways to help us, rather than when we see that something is not working.
Often our attitude is, why is this not working? Why is this not working? Why is this not working? And our resentment of reality hurts more than reality. Our resentment of reality hurts more than reality. Suppose I wanted to go somewhere.
Maybe I wanted to go for a yatra. And just before the yatra, I get flu and fall sick. And then maybe all other devotees in my group are going for a yatra.
They are going for something which is very relishable. And I am lying in a sick bed, not doing anything. Now, actually, yes, it is troublesome.
It is distressing. But sickness, it is not apart from the physical exhaustion and maybe some fever. Sickness is not, a normal flu is not constantly a pain.
But if we are constantly, why could I not go? Why could I not go? Why could I not go? Why could I not go? Then that resentment hurts more than the disease. So like that, we will see that quite often in our life, we all have problems. The reality of this world is that there are problems.
But the resentment of reality hurts often much more than reality. And if we understand that the Lord is there in our heart, and the Lord appreciates our desire, the Lord appreciates our intention, He values our intention and He rewards our intention also. That knowledge, that remembrance, that Krishna does not just look for our actions.
He also looks more important for intentions. That remembrance, we have heard this many times, that remembrance comes by the grace of Balramji. So when circumstances thwart us, at that time, we may not have the power to change them.
But we have the power to maintain our intentions, to maintain our determination, to not lose hope. And that remembrance comes by the grace of Balramji. So we can pray to Balramji that please, no matter what happens, give me the strength to move onwards in Bhakti.
He is the person who gives us the strength to find pleasure. So often we think the pleasure comes in doing particular activities. Even in Bhakti, we think, oh, I have to distribute so many books, I have to raise so much funds, I have to do this.
It’s all good if we can do it. But actually, the most important thing is not doing the service. The most important thing is remembering Krishna.
And we can remember Krishna irrespective of what our externals are. And that strength to remember Krishna, that comes from Balramji. So sometimes we pray to, sometimes devotees, I’ll conclude with this point now, that sometimes devotees say that if I pray to Krishna that some problem should be solved.
And then if that problem is not solved, then I lose my faith in Krishna. So maybe I should not pray for the solution of problems. Or sometimes you may think that if I have a problem, if I pray that the problem be solved, then maybe I am not praying purely, I am not a pure devotee.
So maybe I should not ask Krishna about any problem solving. But the point is that rather than seeing prayer as a give and take, we see prayer as a form of relationship. We see praying as a way of relating with Krishna.
Suppose we have a problem, sometimes it’s a bit burden on our heart, we share it with someone. At that time that person may not be able to solve the problem, but just the fact that person heard it out, we feel unburdened by that. So we see prayer more as a way of connecting our heart with Krishna.
And then at the end, we leave it to Krishna. Krishna, whether this problem is solved or not, please give me the strength to serve. Prabhupada asked once, what is the best prayer that you can offer? And Prabhupada said, pray to Krishna, give me the strength to serve.
Give me the strength to serve. Whatever happens in my life, if I have the strength to serve you, I can move onwards. And that strength comes from Paramahamsa.
So we can pray to him, go Paramahamsa, please give me the strength to always go on, no matter whatever happens in my life. I will quickly summarise. I started by talking about how knowledge of God does not automatically bring devotion to God.
But knowledge helps us to practise the process by which we can bring devotion to God. And the Bhakti tradition gives us so much rich knowledge about God. And Bhakti is not sectarian.
Are we interested in knowledge or are we interested in college? So the various traditions are meant to help us be knowledgeable about God. And what does Bhakti tradition tell us? That God has his whole family and he has all his own kingdom and he does, so many details about him are there. And we discussed about the various ways in which Balarama serves Krishna.
The one I focused on is, how he helps Krishna remember Vrindavan outside of Vrindavan. He acts as a guru for the conditioned souls, for all of us. And for Krishna, he acts as a link between him and Vrindavan.
We discussed about when they were separated, just leaving Vrindavan and coming to Mathura, in Mathura, and then going from Mathura to Dwaraka, to Avanthi and coming back. And then eventually Balarama going back to Vrindavan. Through it all, he was actually acting as a link between Krishna and the Rajivas.
And similarly, this spiritual master also acts as a link between us and Krishna. He reminds us of Krishna and he reminds Krishna about us. That means he petitions Krishna on our behalf.
And that Balarama, we can pray to him to give us the strength to serve him always. We may not have the willpower to do some things internally or we may not have the power to do things externally also. But still, we should not lose our willingness.
This is what I want to do. Krishna, please give me the strength to serve you. If we have that, to that Balarama’s mercy, we will keep marching ahead.
This is Balarama prepared the heart for Krishna. He has prepared Devaki’s womb for Krishna to manifest. Similarly, Balarama will prepare in our heart for Krishna to manifest.
Thank you very much.