Appreciating the divine Krishna-Balarama relationship

[Balarama Purnima talk at ISKCON, Perth, Australia]

Video:

Thank you Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Rama Rama Hare Krishna So today evening we are celebrating an extremely important festival of the appearance day of Lord Balaram. Balaram is the transcendental brother or the transcendental supreme personality of Godhead. The Bhakti tradition reveals a very endearing conception of God.
God is talked about in many different traditions across the world, but the Bhakti tradition as revealed in the ancient texts of India gives us a very intimate picture of God. Many traditions talk about God as all-powerful, as being the person capable of rewarding us for our good deeds, punishing us for our wrong deeds and therefore a person to be venerated and feared. One of my friends is a judge and he told me that he does his job but he says, if this job were what I had to do for all of my life, I would get frustrated.
And he said, if God has to be a judge for all of eternity, then God’s job would be a very frustrating job. So, actually, yes, that is one aspect of God. But that is, that judging people’s actions, that is actually what God does in his office and even he doesn’t do it, material nature does it under him.
But the Bhakti tradition reveals that God, not just what God does in office, but what God does at home. Krishna in Vrindavan is God at home and the Bhagavad Gita says that this world is like an upside-down reflection of the spiritual world. Urdhva moolamadha shakham asvattham prahur avyayam.
That this world is like upside-down reflection, is upside-down tree. That means it’s a reflection of the spiritual world. So, whatever is present in this world is present in its purity and originality in the spiritual world.
So, in this world we live in a community, we have many relationships, we have friends, we have brothers, sisters, we have parents, we have relatives. All the relationships that we have in this world, they are present in their originality in Krishna, in the spiritual world. The difference is that Krishna is the centre.
Here we all try to be the centre ourselves. So, Krishna as God at home has various kinds of relationships and one of the closest relationship he has is with his brother Balaram. Now, the word Balaram, what its significance is, I will talk towards the end of the class.
Here, I will focus on the intimacy of the relationship between Krishna and Balaram and the wonderful loving exchanges that happen between them through this. Krishna’s life is itself very dramatic. He is born in a jail and then he has to flee for his life and he has his foster parents take care of him in Vrindavan and then demons keep coming and attacking him and he just dispatches all those demons.
Now, when Krishna is living in Vrindavan, the Vrajavasis don’t know that Krishna is actually the son of Vasudeva and Devaki. The Vrajavasis think that he is our son and Maharaja Yashoda might think that he is my son. Now, they all know that Balaram is the son of Rohini and Rohini is the wife of Vasudeva.
So, Balaram is also fully integrated in Vrindavan. But everybody knows Balaram is a Kshatriya. Whereas, they think Krishna is our boy.
Krishna is a Vaishya. He is from our community. And thus, Krishna and Balaram, as they grow up together, by the law of transcendental arrangement, Krishna and Balaram grow up together as the closest of friends.
And initially, their intimacy is so close that when either of their mothers, Yashoda or Rohini, when they call Krishna or they call Balaram. Balaram is a long name. So, they call him Ram.
So, both of them turn their head. They are almost like one. As children, both of them turn their head.
Because they are always together. So, by one name, you call both of them. But then as they grow up in their manifest Leela, they start understanding.
So, then when Krishna is called, Balaram, instead of turning towards them, turns towards Krishna. And when Balaram is called, Krishna instead of turning towards them, turns towards Balaram. And they start calling out each other’s names.
And they are almost inseparable. Whatever they do, they always do it together. Now, Balaram is slightly older than Krishna.
And thus, Krishna always subordinates himself to Balaram. He is mischievous, but in the presence of Balaram, he is a little shy to mischievous. So, every evening when Krishna and Balaram, they go out in the forest, to every morning, Atatiyat Bhavan Ahani Kaananaam Tritiyugayate Tvam Pashyataam.
The Gopis describe every morning, Krishna, when you go out in the forest to graze the cows, Chalasiyat Vraja Charayan Pashun. You go out to graze the cows. At that time, our hearts go out with you.
We long, when will we be able to see you? So, when Krishna is going out, all the Gopis, all of Vrindavan comes out to behold Krishna. The Gopis go to the upper part of their houses. And from there, they are beholding Krishna.
And all the other Vrajavasis, they are on the streets. And from there, they are beholding Krishna. So, the Gopis long, when will Krishna come back? And Krishna and Balaram, they have wonderful pastimes in the forest, all kinds of adventures.
And Krishna is always very respectful to Balaram. So, in Vrindavan, everything is meant for the pleasure of Krishna. So, when they are walking through the forest, at that time, there are honeybees, which is going round and round them.
The honeybees normally go towards flowers, so they can get the nectar. But even the honeybees in Vrindavan understand that Krishna and Balaram are the ultimate nectar. So, they want to go round and round them.
And normally, if a honeybee goes around, we might get irritated. Is it going to bite me? Get a little scared or annoyed. But when these honeybees are going around, Krishna tells Balaram, these honeybees, they are great sages from a previous life.
And in a previous life, they chanted mantras in praise of you. And thus, now that they have got your association of Balaram, they do not want to leave that association at all. They want to be constantly with you.
Vrindavan is filled with beautiful flower and fruit bearing trees. And as Krishna and Balaram pass by, these flower and fruit bearing trees, they all seem to be bowing down. They are bowing down so that they can offer themselves to Krishna.
Krishna can take whatever flowers and fruits they want. And they are bowing down further so that they can touch Krishna’s lotus feet. Or, when they can’t touch, they can touch the dust that is touching Krishna’s lotus feet.
But when Krishna sees this, he tells Balaram, oh Balaram, you are such a great person that all of Vrindavan is bowing down to you, longing for the dust of your lotus feet. So, Krishna is very deferential, sweet but very deferential towards Balaram. And then, in the evening, when Krishna and Balaram come back, at that time, all the gopis are eager to see Krishna.
Now, Krishna, in the presence of his elder brother, Balaram, he feels very shy to even look at the gopis. So, as they are walking along, then Krishna suddenly acts, I am very tired. And starts walking very slowly.
And then Balaram says, come on, you need to go home. Mother will have prepared food for us. Let us go and eat.
So, Krishna says to Balaram, I am tired, you go ahead. I will come slowly. And then, as soon as Balaram goes, Krishna feels liberated.
And then, all the gopis, Radharani and all the other sakhis are there. They are all beholding Krishna, offering the love of their hearts to Krishna through their glance. And Krishna, by his loving glance, accepts their love and offers his love back to them.
Every single gopi, Krishna glances at them. And as he enters into Vrindavan, it is a celebration of love for everyone. And in this way, when Krishna is living in Vrindavan, Balaram is always by his side.
And, although Krishna is close to many gopis, but Balaram is the one with whom he is constantly. Krishna pours out his heart to Balaram. And then, when Krishna is just a boy, less than 10 years old, at that time, a big disruption in his life happens.
At one level, we understand that Krishna is God. But at another level, in his leela, he is just a small boy. And he is invited by Kamsa to Mathura.
To watch the Malla Yuddha, the wrestling match, to observe that, to participate in the festivities there. When Krishna goes there, Balaram also goes with him. Many of the gopis also go.
And there, Kamsa has made plan after plan after plan to kill Krishna. But Krishna survives it all. He foils all of the plans of Kamsa and Mushti Kachan and all these big demoniac wrestlers.
Krishna and Balaram effortlessly defeat them. And, at that time, in this arena, is the first time that Krishna has a real fight. In Vrindavan, Krishna delivers, destroys and delivers many demons.
But, it is all, he is just a horse comes charging towards him. Krishna just puts his fist. The fist goes into the horse’s mouth.
The horse gets choked. A demon comes to take Krishna away into the sky. Who is that demon? Yeah, Trinavarth.
And what does Krishna do? Krishna has a free aerial ride and when he feels enough ride, then he increases his weight and Trinavarth crashes down. So, Krishna, everything that he does in Vrindavan is simply playful. There is no serious fight which Krishna has with any demon.
Even Indra, when he comes, Indra is not a demon, but Indra comes at that time, when he showers down the rains, what does Krishna do? Ek din maan Indra kumaro, nak upar govardhan dharo. He lifts up Govardhan, not even his small finger, pinky, actually on the nail of his pinky. Suppose two wrestlers are going to fight and at that time, both of them have an earnest fight and one wrestler is defeated.
Then that wrestler is defeated honourably. But if one wrestler comes and attacks, another wrestler just catches him with the left hand, hurls him around and knocks him down. It is a one-sided match, just with left hand also.
But Krishna shows Indra, what to speak of my left hand, you are not equal to even the nail of the little finger of my left hand. So when Krishna wants to crush someone’s ego, he does it thoroughly, completely. But when Krishna comes here to Vrindavan, to Mathura, that is the first time when he has a serious fight.
He fights with Kamsa and he defeats Kamsa, destroys Kamsa and frees the world and especially the Yadu dynasty from this great curse. Now, Krishna’s plan at that time is as he had promised the Vrajvasis. The Gopis were mortified to think that Krishna is going to leave.
So at that time, Krishna promises, I will soon come back. And at that time, Krishna meant his words. He was planning to come back.
But then, after Krishna kills Kamsa, then Krishna takes up the crown which Kamsa has been wearing. And actually the Yadus take the crown and they offer it to Krishna. Krishna, now you have saved us from Kamsa, you become the king.
And Krishna says, I am a cowherd boy, how can I become a king? He says, this crown is meant to go to Ugrasi. He is the king from whom Kamsa has served the throne. So let him become the king.
Now, at one level, the Yadus are delighted to see how respectful Krishna is to his elders. But at the same time, they feel that if Krishna doesn’t become our king, then Krishna will go back to Vrindavan. And on one side, there is their love.
Vasudev and Devaki also, as well as all the other Yadus, their love for Krishna is there. How can we, just now, after so many years, we saw Krishna. How can we let Krishna go back? On the other side, there is the fear.
Kamsa had made many powerful allies across the world. And they would surely attack. So at that time, Krishna, the Yadus approach Krishna and say, O Krishna, you have protected us from Kamsa, but what about all the allies of Kamsa? They will break vengeance on us.
Please stay with us and protect us. Krishna’s heart is driven into him. When Krishna and Balram come here, at that time, Krishna speaks to Balram.
And his elders say this to him, Vasudev and Devaki also, they don’t speak direct words telling Krishna to stay. But from their faces, Krishna can understand. And they should stay here.
And now Krishna, he is suddenly like a small boy in a new place. And from his perspective, he has grown up as a small boy. He has grown up knowing Nanda Maharaj and Yashoda as his parents.
Now suddenly, he has taken to another set of parents and told, these are your parents. These are your parents. And now he just doesn’t know what to do.
Whom does he speak to? The only person he can pour his heart to is Balram. He says to Balram, what do I do? When I left Vrindavan, when I was coming into the kingdom of Mathura, Nanda Maharaj told me that do what Vasudev does. Just as you obey me, treat Vasudev just like me.
He is my brother and my close friend. Now Vasudev and elders like him are telling me to stay here. Nanda Maharaj, Nanda Baba, how can I show him? How can I let down the Brajwasis? How can I not go back? As Krishna is pouring out his heart.
He is just a small 10-year-old boy. He has to make this big decision. Which parents to stay with? It’s such a difficult decision for him.
And as Krishna in great agony, his confusion, tears start coming from his eyes. And Balram pulls him into a hug. And both of them start crying.
Both of them cry with agony. And then finally, Krishna steals himself. And Balram goes, both of them go to Nanda Maharaj.
And Krishna tells Nanda Maharaj that the Yadus, Nanda Baba, the Yadus are saying that based on the prophecy, till this point, Nanda Maharaj doesn’t know that Krishna is Vasudev’s son. So he says, the Yadus are saying, based on the prophecy, that it was Vasudev’s son who will kill Kamsa. And because I have killed Kamsa, Nanda Baba, they are saying that I am Vasudev’s son.
So, Nanda Maharaj, he is so aggrieved to hear this, he starts laughing in sadness. Sometimes, the only way to stop from crying is by start laughing. Start laughing.
You know, Nanda Maharaj says, it is our fortune that that which is ours, great people are claiming it to be theirs. That thought is fortune, he feels it is misfortune. But, he says, and also, Krishna says, also they are saying that if I come to Vrindavan right now, then there will be the allies of Kamsa who will attack.
Oh Nanda Baba, I will have to stay here. So Nanda Maharaj says, Krishna, he doesn’t say how I can stay, he says, how do you think Yashodamayi will stay without you? He says, no one in Vrindavan can stay without you. We will all come here.
We will all stay on the outskirts of Mathura. Krishna says, Oh Nanda Baba, we are all, we are all the servants of the cows. And we have thousands and thousands of cows.
Where will all those cows be grazed? There is no space here. You will have to stay in Vrindavan. We are the servants of the cows.
Now as he is speaking all this, every single word that Krishna is speaking, is causing him great pain. And Balram is there by his side, steadying him, giving him strength. And then he says, then Nanda Maharaj says, we cannot live without you, Krishna.
He says, either you keep coming to meet us regularly, or we will come regularly to meet you. Krishna becomes extremely grave. He says also, Oh Nanda Baba, till the point when all the allies of Kamsa are killed, there can be no contact between us.
Nanda Maharaj is shocked. He says, what are you speaking, Krishna? Krishna says, Oh Nanda Baba, just as Kamsa was a great demon, Kamsa’s allies are also great demons. And now that they know, that it was I who killed Kamsa, they will want to hit back at me.
And if they know, that we have such a loving relationship with each other, then to get back at me, they will attack you. They will attack you. And I can be at one place.
I can protect Mathura. But if you are in Vrindavan, how can I protect Vrindavan? Therefore, for, no, Krishna doesn’t say, for your safety. He says, for the safety of Rajivasis, for the safety of our cows, we will have to cut off all connections.
Let Kamsa’s friends think that, I just happen to stay there at your place for a few years. But, now that I have come to the kingdom, let them think, that I have forgotten you. And you have forgotten me.
Nanda Maharaj says, we can never forget you, Krishna. Can you forget us? Now, every one of these words, this is like a thunderbolt on Nanda Maharaj’s heart. And it is also, very very painful for Krishna to speak.
And what Krishna is going through, who else can understand, except Balram. Krishna says, I will never forget you, I will remember you every single day. But, this is what I need to do.
Nanda Maharaj goes away with a broken heart. And Krishna comes back to Mathura, to his chambers. And he and Balram hug each other and cry.
Balram tries to console Krishna, but in consoling Krishna, Balram remembers Vrindavan, Balram starts crying. And as Balram starts crying, Krishna tries to console Balram. And as Krishna tries to console Balram, Krishna remembers Vrindavan, and Krishna starts crying.
And now, on seeing this, the Yadus become very worried. And they start thinking, this Krishna, he has been in Vrindavan for so long, what did the Vrajvasis do? He is our child, but he is not connecting with us, he is simply remembering the Vrajvasis. Now, Balram is their son, they try to talk with Balram, but Balram has been in Vrindavan, he has seen the immense love with the Vrajvasis for Krishna.
He tries to explain it to them, but from their perspective, he is also just a small child, just a little older than Balram. So then, at that time, Krishna and Balram start living very alone. The children are normally filled with life and joy, and cheerful, running, laughing, but Krishna and Balram become very silent.
They are doing their responsibilities very grave, and Vasudev becomes very concerned. He is a father, and he is concerned about his children. And now Krishna, although he offers respect to Devaki and Vasudev, but he is not able to connect with them till now.
And normally, a child has a much closer connection with the mother than with the father. So now, he is not able to connect with Devaki. So then Vasudev thinks what to do, and Vasudev sends a message to Vrindavan, that now, I am back in the kingdom, now Kamsa is dead, please send Rohini back.
When they had come, at that time, only Krishna, Balram and the Gopas had come, none of the Gopis had come, because they all knew Kamsa was a dangerous person. So, only the males of the family had come. Now, he asks Rohini to be sent.
And when Rohini comes, Krishna and Balram run to her, and she hugs them tightly, and they pour out their heart. What is happening? Nobody understands us. They all want us to forget Vrindavan.
They think if we keep remembering Vrindavan, then we will go back to Vrindavan. And they won’t allow us to even talk with anyone about Vrindavan. Now, although Krishna has told Nanda Maharaj, that there should not be any contact between us, but Nanda Maharaj, he can’t live without knowing about Krishna.
So he keeps sending his spies to Mathura, to find out about how Krishna is. And because Krishna has been in Vrindavan, Krishna knows everyone from Vrindavan. So, anybody who is a spy, who comes in there, Krishna sees them.
And Krishna becomes delighted, wanting to talk with them. But immediately, the Mathura-vasis become, this must be from Vrindavan. And they don’t allow any connection to happen.
And in this way, they pour out their heart, they ask, how is Nanda Maharaj, how is Yashoda Maharaj? So, Rohini says that they are all remembering you. And then she tries to explain the whole situation. See, how much the Vraj-vasis loved Krishna.
So, when they start speaking this, the Mathura-vasis, they say, Oh Rohini, are you from Mathura or are you from Vrindavan? He says, is it that the Vraj-vasis fed you so many sweets, that you have become on their side now? Now, Rohini also becomes silent. She also can’t speak anything. And then, as Krishna and Balarama are living here, with Vasudeva and Devaki, and Vasudeva starts thinking, now he is my son, they are my sons, I have to think of their growth.
So, here they are living so morose. So, let me send them out somewhere. Let me send them to a Gurukul.
And there, they will have a change. They will be happier over there. Mathura is like a city.
Vrindavan is like a village. Sandipani Muni’s Gurukul is also like a village. Maybe if they go there, they will be happier.
And then, one day Vasudeva tells this, and immediately next day, Krishna and Balarama go to Sandipani Muni’s ashram. And now, they have no means to tell. They have no means to tell Nanda Maharaj, and send any message to Vrindavan, that they are going.
And at least Mathura and Vrindavan are very close. But now, his ashram Avanti, which is modern day Ujjain, it is very very far away. So, they go all the distance, and they stay there.
And normally, you go to a Gurukul, you go at the age of 5, and complete learning at the age of 25. 20 years you stay in the Gurukul, and then you come back. But Krishna and Balarama, when they are in Sandipani Muni’s ashram, their heart is still in Vrindavan.
And they are there with each other at night, when they are in the Gurukul dormitory, they sit and talk with each other, and they remember Vrindavan. Both of them remember fondly, the very wonderful things that they did in Vrindavan. And they hug each other, shed tears, and long for Vrindavan.
And because they are so eager to go back, if not to Vrindavan, at least close to Vrindavan, that they take the ultimate crash course, in the Gurukul. Crash course is when something you are going to learn in one year, you learn in one month. So, people who don’t study throughout the year, they take a crash course to pass the exam.
So, what happens is, Krishna and Balarama learn everything at a super fast speed, just so that they can go back to Mathura. And then, and finally they finish all their educations, and Nibbani Muni blesses them profusely, and both of them return back to Mathura. So, if we consider the 10 cantos of Srimad Bhagavatam, sorry, 12 cantos of Srimad Bhagavatam, in the 10th canto, there are 90 chapters.
The first 40 chapters describe the Vrindavan Leela. The next 10 chapters are the Mathura Leela. And the next 40 chapters are, more or less, the Dwarka Leela with Krishna going to many different places.
So, all this is happening in the Mathura Leela. Now, Krishna longs to go back to Vrindavan. And he realises that, I cannot go back so easily.
He thinks I need to send someone. He talks with Balarama. He says, whom can we send to Vrindavan? He says, I want to go, but our Yadu elders are not letting me go.
They are afraid I will not come back. What should we do? Then they both talk and they decide to send Uddhava. Now, Uddhava goes to Vrindavan, and Uddhava tells the Gopis, how much Krishna is longing for them.
He tells the Rajvasis, how much Krishna remembers them. And actually, along with that, it is Krishna who goes in the heart of Uddhava. And by Uddhava speaking about Krishna, the Rajvasis feel pacified.
And then Uddhava comes back. At that time, Krishna and Balarama, they eagerly hear from Uddhava, what has happened? And they long, long again to go to Vrindavan. But they just can’t go.
And then something even more traumatic happens. Because Jarasandh is repeatedly attacking Mathura. And each time Jarasandh attacks Mathura, Jarasandh’s kingdom, so Mathura is here, Vrindavan is here, and Jarasandh’s Magadh is here.
So Vrindavan is on the way between Jarasandh’s kingdom and the Yadu kingdom, Mathura. So every time Jarasandh comes along, he passes by Vrindavan. And all the Rajvasis, when they hear, there is this big army coming.
Then they have to leave their homes, take all their cows, and go deep into the forest to hide over there. Because Jarasandh, when he is marching through, is angry. And he has no scruples.
So the Rajvasis, they don’t have weapons, they are Vaishyas, they don’t really have weapons to fight against an army. So this happens once, twice, thrice. Jarasandh comes again and again and again.
Finally Krishna decides that this is becoming too much. He says that if in the future Jarasandh comes suddenly and attacks the Rajvasis, what will happen? So he decides that now I will go far away from Vrindavan. Why? To protect Vrindavan.
To protect Vrindavan from being attacked by demons who want to attack Mathura. I will go away from Vrindavan. And where does he go? He goes to Dwaraka.
Now unfortunately when he goes to Dwaraka, for the Rajvasis, Krishna was at least near us. But now he has gone so far away. The other end of the country.
And not only the other end of the country, Dwaraka is like a water fortress. It is not easily accessible also. So when Krishna is staying there, it is far away from Vrindavan.
At that time, one day Balram comes to him. And Balram says, Krishna, my legs feel as if they want to run to Vrindavan. Krishna says, I also feel like that.
I also want to go. He says that. And I am feeling great separation from the Rajvasis.
Krishna says, maybe we should send some messenger again. Uddhava, at that time when he saw Rajvasis’ love for Krishna, Uddhava came and begged to Krishna, Krishna, how can you do this? Go to Vrindavan. Why are you not going? And the way Uddhava had besieged Krishna, Krishna knew that Uddhava would not agree to go as a messenger.
And anyway, even if Uddhava met as a messenger, the Rajvasis would not believe him this time. Because Uddhava would have said, Krishna is soon going to come back. So now whom to send as a messenger? As both of them are looking at each other, suddenly Balram says, I will go to Vrindavan.
On one side Krishna is delighted, but on the other side Krishna is distressed. Krishna and Balram have always been together. And now that much longed for union with the Rajvasis is about to happen, but it will be only Balram who will be going back.
Krishna will not be going. So Krishna and Balram hug each other. And then Balram starts off to go all the way to Vrindavan.
And Krishna goes in the heart of Balram. And through it all, now when Balram reaches Vrindavan, at that time, it’s a festival. All of Vrindavan erupts in joy.
Balram has come. But everyone, when they see Balram, they look behind Balram. You know, if two devotees are very close friends and they are always together, as soon as you see one, people ask, where is the other? So Krishna and Balram are like that.
And when Balram comes, where is Krishna? He says, Krishna couldn’t come. And in the meanwhile, the Vrajvasis were in great anxiety because they knew Balram is a Kshatriya. So when Balram had to get married, it was understood that he will marry a Kshatriya.
So when Balram is to get married, so at that time, he sends a message to Vrindavan. He says, Vrindavan, I seek your blessings. And then they are very happy that he is getting married.
But they are thinking, what about Krishna? Krishna will also marry. Will Krishna marry a Kshatriya princess or will Krishna marry a Vaishya girl? If Krishna marries a Kshatriya princess, that means he is accepting that Vasudev and Devaki are his parents. If Krishna comes back here, then he will accept that he marries one of us.
Then he will accept that he is one of us. So at that time, when Krishna decides to marry Rukmini, then he tells the Vrajvasis that actually I am longing for the day when I can come back to you. But while I am here in the kingdom, I have to do royal responsibilities.
That is why I need to get married. And then here when Balram has come back, at that time Balram, Krishna has his Gopis, Balram also has his Gopis. And Balram performs wonderful pastimes.
Balram performs the Rashtrila with his Gopis. And when he performs the Rashtrila with his Gopis, Krishna’s Gopis observe it from a distance. And by observing it, they feel their separation from Krishna decreasing.
They feel Krishna’s presence in their hearts. And thus they feel pacified. Balram stays in Vrindavan reciprocating love with every single Vrajvasi.
He can’t fill in for Krishna. But he is not just the brother of Krishna. He knows the heart of Krishna.
He is also himself God. So he heals the wounded hearts of the Vrajvasis. And he too says, I promise you, Krishna will come back soon.
Krishna will come back soon. And with these words of Balram in the hearts of the Vrajvasis, Balram returns. Now when Balram returns, when Balram comes, he brings life, he brings hope, he brings love, he brings joy into the hearts of the Vrajvasis.
And that, the role which Balram performs, the Vrajvasis or the devotees, Krishna is the Lord. Although Balram also is God, but Balram is playing the role of the brother of God. And here he plays the role of the messenger of God.
He plays the role of the messenger of Krishna and he comes to the Vrajvasis to pacify their hearts, to fill their hearts with hope, with love, to rejuvenate them so that they can continue their life and their bhakti in the absence of Krishna. And that role of the messenger of Krishna that Balram plays, that is of eternal significance for all of us. Balram represents the Guru Tattva.
Balram is the Adi Guru. He is the original spiritual master and all spiritual masters, they are the representatives of Balram. In the Bhagavad Gita, when Krishna asks us to go and take shelter of a spiritual master, tad viddhi pranipatena pariprasnena sevaya upadekshan tite jnanam jnaninas tattva-darsinaha.
So he says the word he uses is tattva-darsinaha. Not tattva-darshi, but darsinaha. It’s not singular, it is plural.
That means Krishna is saying that there are many great souls. We have one Diksha Guru but we have many Shiksha Gurus. We get spiritual inspiration, knowledge from many many people.
Krishna says, go and learn from them. And by learning from them you will also grow spiritually. So all those who give us spiritual knowledge they are the representatives of Balram in our lives.
So all of us, we are nowhere like the Vrajvasis. Vrajvasis are supremely exalted. I was once giving a class in India and I spoke that the Vrajvasis, they don’t consider Krishna to be God.
And after that, one person in the audience raised his hand and said, I also don’t consider Krishna to be God. So now the Vrajvasis, they don’t consider Krishna to be God because they are in Yoga Maya. They are in a divine illusion.
They love Krishna so much that they consider Him to be their child. They can’t consider Him to be their God. They know He is God but that is in the background.
Whereas when we, when people in the world don’t consider Krishna to be God they are not in Yoga Maya, they are in Maha Maya. They are in great illusion. But either way, the situation is similar.
Just as the Vrajvasis were separated from Krishna and Krishna was in another place in Dwarka. Similarly, Krishna is in the spiritual world. We are in the material world.
And in the material world we are disconnected from Krishna. Some of us know that we are disconnected from Krishna. Many of us have forgotten that we are disconnected from Krishna.
But the spiritual master comes and reminds us of Krishna. Not just he reminds us of Krishna, he reminds us of Krishna’s love for us. And he inspires us to love Krishna.
And thus just as Balaram, the name it has two parts, Bala and Ram. So, one way of understanding it is that he delights Ram he delights in exhibiting his strength. In fighting against powerful demons and destroying those demons, he delights in that strength.
But Balaram can also refer to the two blessings that Balaram gives us. He gives us Bala and he gives us Ram. He gives us this Bala, the strength to resist our lower desires.
To resist the world’s temptations. To resist our mind’s impulses. And Ram.
Ram means he gives us the higher taste in bhakti. He gives us the ability to start relishing Krishna bhakti. So, when we hear from our spiritual masters when we hear from our spiritual guides or the representatives of Balaramji, by the mercy of Balaram coming through them we also get Bala and we also get Ram.
We get the strength to resist temptations. We get the taste in bhakti. We start delighting in bhakti.
Ultimately we all by hearing about the sweet pastimes of Krishna with his intimate devotees we are meant to get one faith. What is that faith? That faith is not just in Krishna’s existence. The faith that we long for is that Krishna always loves us.
No matter what happens, if we can get this faith that even when the Brajwasis were far away the Brajwasis were in the heart of Krishna and Krishna was in the heart of the Brajwasis, Krishna always loves us. That Krishna never forgets us. Krishna never abandons us.
There is nothing that we can ever do no matter how terrible. There is nothing that we can ever do that can make Krishna stop loving us. Krishna will never abandon our heart and go away.
Madhruprapanna Pashupashya Vimokshanaya Muktaya Bhuri Karunaya Namo Layaya He says the Lord is untiringly present in our hearts. Why is He present? It is because He loves us. So the devotees, Gajendra is saying, Krishna please liberate me.
He says, why should I liberate you? You are bound by your own karma. No, but you are free. Yeah, but you are bound by your own karma.
But you are merciful. So please liberate me. Krishna says that I have been merciful to you for so long.
I have tried so long to liberate you. But you kept entangling yourself. Oh Krishna, you are not just merciful, but you are untiringly merciful.
So please please give me your mercy. So that faith in Krishna’s unfailing love, that is what Balarama gives us. And that is what when Srila Prabhupada went from India to America and from America all over the world, that is the faith that Srila Prabhupada gave to millions of people all over the world.
That there is a living loving God who cares for us, who wants us to love Him and in loving whom we can experience life’s supreme fulfilment. Srila Prabhupada is the foremost representative of Balaramaji in the modern world. He has blessed millions of people with Bala and he has blessed millions of people with Rama.
With inner strength and with higher taste. And on Balarama appearance day we can pray to Balaramaji and we can pray to Srila Prabhupada that we too become attracted to the mercy of Krishna coming through them and that we also get the strength to resist our lower desires and we get the taste to relish Krishna Bhakti more and more. Gaur Bhakta Vrindake Itai Gaur Prevanande Thank you.
Wow. I have one question. Anyone can ask, you can ask me five minutes of questions.
I want to ask one question. I want to ask if Krishna Balarama went from Vrindavan to Mathura and made the Vrajavasis so sad if we go back to Vrindavan and be one of those residents there, if Krishna leaves will we be also so sad? Ok. So when Krishna left Vrindavan he made the Vrajavasis so sad if we go to Vrindavan will we also become sad? The sadness of Vrindavan Vrajavasis is a happy sadness.
What does it mean happy sadness? Actually remembrance of Krishna is like nectar. Remembrance of Krishna is like nectar but some nectar is cool, comforting very enjoyable but some nectar is hot and burning it is nectar but it is hot and burning so actually when there is remembrance of Krishna with the union with Krishna then that is like soft gentle cooling nectar but when there is remembrance of Krishna with separation from Krishna that is like hot burning nectar it is also nectar the Vrajavasis when they are separated from Krishna they are still absorbed in Krishna in fact their absorption in Krishna increases more and more there is a prayer in the Padyavali where Radharani says that Krishna when I am united with you I see you only in one place but when I am separated from you I see you everywhere so in that sense that separation increases the ecstasy now for us in the material world actually is the place of forgetfulness of Krishna so forgetfulness of Krishna is like poison now sometimes in the material world in forgetfulness of Krishna we experience some pleasure so that is like tasty poison that is like delicious poison and in this material world sometimes we experience distress so that is like bitter poison but both are poison so we want to move from the poison of forgetfulness of Krishna to the nectar of remembrance of Krishna whether that nectar comes in the form of union with Krishna or separation from Krishna that is secondary in both there will be ecstasy just the form of ecstasy will be different thank you I have got two questions one is that when Krishna and Balram used to steal butter did Krishna feel shy because he misused it ok when Krishna or Balram would steal butter would Krishna feel shy no because Balram also joined him in the crime my second question is that when the Rajya Varsis were with Krishna did they still feel sad when Krishna went to graze the cows ok so when the Rajya Varsis were with Krishna would Krishna go to graze the cows would they feel sad yes when will Krishna come back is it the same sad when Krishna went to Mathura no because when Krishna went to Mathura they did not know when Krishna will come back but when Krishna would go to the forest they would know that every evening Krishna is going to come back and they are constantly longing when will Krishna come back and when evening would come all the Rajya Varsis would assemble at the entry of Vrindavan and they would wait and watch and then they would start seeing a dust cloud coming because Krishna and Balram had so many cows as the cows would come in by their hues dust would rise and as the dust cloud would start settling then they will see all the cows and then see all the cow herds and at the end at the back would be Krishna and Balram because Krishna and Balram they were the most responsible they wanted to make sure that every single cow comes back home and at the end of it they would come so the Rajya Varsis would have a festival of joy beholding Krishna right from the back of all the cows to see him all coming inside so it would be they would be very afflicted, very distressed but they would be longing when Krishna would come back and because they knew that Krishna is coming back so then it was not that difficult it is like if we have to fast and if we know fasting is till afternoon fasting is till evening then it is difficult but we can fast but if somebody tells us we have to fast, till when? till we are able to get some food and we can cook the food how long? we don’t know that will be extremely difficult so the Rajya Varsis, they didn’t know when Krishna is going to come back when he had gone to Mathura that’s why it was much more difficult for them one last question, anyone? Hare Krishna Prabhu just wanted to ask a question about Balram when Krishna left his body with that arrow the incident that happened what happened to Balram afterwards? so when Krishna departed from the world what happened to Balram? actually Balram is Sheshanag Sheshanag is the expansion of Balram so when the time came for Krishna to end his past tense at that time Balram sat in meditation and when he sat in meditation a mystical white snake appeared from his mouth and that snake came out from his mouth and then that snake went all around him, shaded him and that snake went under him and Balram sat on that snake and Balram disappeared so it was like Anant Shesh was the expansion of Balram he manifested over there to take Balram back to the spiritual world thank you I am very proud as part of the Ishkhan member