BALI acronym of Bali Maharaj glories- 3

So we had been discussing the past time of Bali Maharaj and we had come near the conclusion, the attitude, the love, the devotion and the intelligence of Bali Maharaj. We had come to the point where Bali Maharaj was arrested by the Lord.
And when he was arrested, then Prahlad Maharaj in Vrindavali offered prayers to the Lord. Then Brahmaji offers prayers to the Lord and he requests, please release Bali Maharaj. And then the Lord responds, Lord speaks his heart.
So we were comparing Bali Maharaj’s predicament with the test that the Pandavas had to face. Bali Maharaj’s predicament was even tougher because it was not some enemies who were stealing away his wealth, but it was the Lord himself who was stealing away his wealth. And it was not that the Pandavas at least had the family members together, but Bali Maharaj was all alone in being arrested and condemned.
So at that time the Lord spoke to Brahmaji and he said that when material opulence leads to pride, then to show mercy on that devotee, I take away that devotee’s material opulence. And then he further said that if somebody has material opulence but does not become proud, then I don’t have to take away his opulence. And one who can retain such humility is actually one who has received my most special mercy.
So we discussed about how ability is the first instalment of Krishna’s mercy and humility is the second instalment, much more important, and much greater mercy. So now after hearing all this, the Lord turns to Bali Maharaj and says, my dear Bali, you have conquered maya. You have conquered maya.
So Vishwanath Srivedhapur says that it is not that you will or you may conquer maya, since you have conquered maya. Although I tested you so severely, taking everything away from you and depriving you of everything, still you were so determined that you are so fixed in your devotions that you did not flinch, you did not protest, you did not resent, you accepted. And therefore, since you have conquered maya, and temporarily you may have to go to hell, but you won’t have to suffer in hell.
You will go to sutala, where the opulence of sutala is more than the opulence even of swarga. So even from the material point of view, you will not be the loser, you will be the gainer. So during this manmantra, you will be the ruler of sutala.
And the next manmantra, you will become indra. So what you had aspired for materially, that will also be provided for you. Actually he said that, for you who are my devotee, the opulence of swarga is insignificant, but because you have desired it, I will provide it to you.
And after your reign as indra for one more manmantra, then you will come back to my abode, to Vaikuntha, to live with me forever. And now, when you are in sutala, I will be there personally with you. So do not think that because you have made enmity with the devatas, therefore the devatas will attack you and will trouble you in sutala, because I will be there personally to guard you and protect you.
So, we see here the tremendous reversal of roles. What is the reversal of role? Normally the devatas are protected by Vishnu from the asuras. But here Bali Maharaj, though in the body of asura, the lord is saying that I will protect you.
Now who is going to attack the asura? Then the asura’s devatas. He says, I will protect you from the attacks of indra. And Bali Maharaj may feel, but I have bad association.
I have the association of the other demons over there in sutala. And because of that, I may get contaminated. So the lord says, no.
You are such a great devotee and you will be protected by me. Therefore, far from you getting contaminated by the association of the demons, they will become elevated by your association. And then the lord says, go now to sutala and I will come with you.
And Bali Maharaj holds his hand and tears of ecstasy are flowing through his eyes. And he says, my dear lord, I was born in a demoniac family. And when you came, I wanted to offer you respects.
But I did not offer you respects out of fear of displeasing the demons and fear of Shukracharya. I treated you just like an ordinary brahmana and not like the supreme lord of my life. But I desired to offer respects and obeisances to you.
And just the desire to offer those respects has yielded such a glorious result that now I have got your eternal association. So I have got your mercy and I have got your personal association. And then Bali Maharaj departed joyfully.
And then Indra brought a flying plane from swarga and he got Upendra. Upendra is the younger brother of Indra because he was also born of Aditi, a demon chariot, and took him to the heavenly planets where he was worshipped and adored. And Indra felt very grateful that he had got his freedom back.
And then after all the festivities were over, Upendra or Mamandev left Swarga Loka and came to Sutala where he is forever there with Bali Maharaj. And Bali Maharaj every day has darshan of the lord and every day he can reciprocate with the lord and that is eternal mercy. So actually the Bali Maharaj pastime is a very deep pastime.
The Bali Maharaj, was he a devotee before or not in his previous life? He might have been, he might not have been. The scriptures may say different things. But the important thing which we learn from this pastime is that when he did atma samarpana, when he surrendered himself to supreme lord, that is a great transformation that from being the king of the demons, he became one of the greatest devotees.
He is included in one of the Mahajanas. So that just happened back. That is the potency of atma samarpanam.
That once one surrenders oneself to the lord, then that act of surrender can transform oneself so thoroughly. Now in this material world, when we interact with god and god’s administration, there are two aspects of god’s administration. There is justice and there is mercy.
So justice means if I have done something good, I must get something good in return. If I have done something bad, I will get bad in return. And most people in this world is unjust.
Most people feel that life is giving them a raw deal. They feel that I deserve things much better in my life, whether it is my professional life, whether it is my health, whether it is my, even for devotees, whether it is my service. Actually I am working so much, other devotees are not recognising me, they are not appreciating me.
So in general, people get this feeling that this world is unjust. And by extrapolation, if this world is controlled by god, then god is unjust. So, all of us may feel some sort of sense of injustice at different times.
Suppose somebody gets suddenly an accident, we feel, oh this is unjust. Now as devotees, we understand that it is because of our past karma. But still, there may be some residual feelings of resentment, because we may feel that, oh I don’t know what karma I had done, did I really do such bad karma that I deserve such terrible reactions.
So, sometimes that feeling may come that what is happening to me is unjust. But, from the material point of view, who can say that I got as much injustice as Balint Aaraj got, from the material point of view. He actually was acting as a chivalrous charitable king, and he promised to a brahmana three steps of land.
So, he was adhering to brahmanical culture. And when he was adhering to brahmanical culture, which is itself very rare and very noble to do, at that time the lord came and lord gave him a lecture about how one should be satisfied with whatever is obtained by the will of destiny. And I want only three steps of land.
And normally even three steps of land is said, that literally means three steps of land. But suddenly, deceptively, the lord expanded himself and took everything away from me. And on top of that, somebody may ask us to do a big sacrifice, and we may do it reluctantly.
Imagine somebody comes and tells, all the savings that you have in your mind, please donate it to the temple. Now, very few people will be ready to do that. But if somebody does that, and on top of that, somebody comes and says, because you have not donated enough, we are going to arrest you now.
This is outrageous. I have given you everything. I would not have given so much to anyone, and still you are arresting me.
So, the lord took much more than what he had said he will take. Just three steps, he took the whole world, and then he arrested Balint Aaraj. So, Balint Aaraj had every reason to be resentful.
He had every reason to be angry. And he could have cried out, this is injustice. Why have you done to me like this? And nobody could have pointed any fault with him if he had done that.
But by the devotion that he got from Balint Aaraj, and of course, by his own surrender, he understood that whatever the lord does is for my good. And he accepted it all. And then, if he would have demanded for justice, maybe he would have got justice.
But he would not have got mercy. When he surrendered to the lord, accepted whatever the lord was doing to him, then what he got was the lord’s mercy. And by the lord’s mercy, he did not just get a protect, he did not just retain the heavenly credence, he got sutra which is better than heavens.
More than that, he got the lord’s personal sohila, which is as good as Vaikuntha, which even Indra does not get. So, therefore, by demanding for justice, we may get justice, but we will lose our mercy. By accepting whatever happens in our life, then we become qualified for the lord’s mercy.
That whatever happens, one who accepts it as the lord’s mercy and thinks that actually I deserve more because of my past tense, and what I have been given is actually just a fragment. And that has been reduced to a fragment, my own past and future reactions, because of the lord’s mercy. And in this way, he offers obeisances.
The heart, the words and the body. And actually this verse to a large extent is personified by Bali Maharaj. He literally offered his body for the lord to put his foot on.
So, when this principle is understood, that actually the lord, whatever he does, it is very difficult to know what he is doing and why he is doing it. And we, sometimes some people may try to do some past life regression to find out what did I do? Did I do anything wrong in the past life that I got something like this? But the important principle to understand is that the lord has no ulterior motive in his heart. The lord only wants our good.
So, the purpose of scriptural study is not to know a lot of shlokas, to know a lot about all the characters and all the past tense. For example, if you talk about Bali Maharaj, you may come to know, okay, Bali Maharaj, this is talked about in the Bhagavatam, something else is talked about in some more details are given in Padma Purana, something else is talked about in Mahabharata. And there may be academic scholars who may be able to get a lot of encyclopaedic information about Bali Maharaj.
If we have an intellectual ability and inclination, we can do that. But the purpose of studying scripture is to gain the faith that Krishna is my ultimate well-wisher. Krishna is my ultimate and unflinching well-wisher.
So, Prabhupada actually uses the word in 5.29 translation, uses well-wisher and benefactor. Well-wisher means one who wishes me good and benefactor means one who does good for me. Like some devotee will be sick and others will pray for you.
That is being well-wishers. But suppose that devotee is sick and he needs some financial assistance and somebody goes and gives the financial assistance at that time. That is a benefactor.
Benefactor means to do something practically good for us. So, if Prabhupada translates that, that one who knows that I am Suryam Sarvabhutana, I am the well-wisher and the benefactor of all living beings, such a person attains the ultimate peace. So, now this shanti is not the shanti of inactivity.
You know there is in the new book of Maharaj, Soul Wise, Raman Maharaj makes an interesting and striking differentiation between peace of the mind and peace of the heart. This peace of the mind comes by going to a very serene, peaceful, tranquil circumstance and not having any agitating stimulus externally or any agitating thoughts internally. One may feel I am temporarily peaceful.
That is peace of the mind. But peace of the heart or peace of the soul, generally when we use the heart, we are talking about the centre of consciousness. So, peace of the heart means peace of the soul.
Peace of the heart comes when the heart is in harmony with God and that harmony with God is not intellectual. Intellectual is fine. We have to be intellectually convinced about Krishna consciousness.
But that harmony of the heart comes when we understand that Krishna loves me and Krishna is my creator. So, we see the end result of this whole pastime that how the Lord ultimately blessed Bali Maharaj and although intermediately the Lord tested him very severely and imagine if the Bhagavatam had ended at that point. Okay, Bali Maharaj is arrested and then the story ends over there.
It would appear to be a great injustice. How can the Lord do like this? But actually the complete story is told and then you understand that yes, what the Lord did was the best for me. So, now in our life, when we are leading our life, we don’t know what the complete story of our life is.
So, we may be feeling certain situations where we are being tested by the Lord and when we are being tested by the Lord, then at that time what do we do? We may feel that certain devotee is speaking like this to me, certain people are misunderstanding me, my boss is troubling me, my health is letting me down, my material desires are unnecessarily coming back again and they are causing so much torture internally for me. So, now for these sort of situations, as devotees we have to work at two levels. At one level, we do practically whatever we can to face the situation.
Prabhupada, in the Krishna book, when Kamsa is trying to kill Devaki and Vasudeva is trying to stop, so Prabhupada writes that Vasudeva tries his best and he says if beyond our best effort if something does not work out, then one is not considered to be blameworthy for that. That means I try my best, still it doesn’t work out, then we understand the will of destiny. So, it doesn’t mean we don’t try our best.
We do try our best. For example, in the early days of ISKCON, I think in the early 1970s, some devotees were travelling from one place to another and they were going in a vehicle, a car, and the car met with an accident. And then it seemed that those devotees had been driving very recklessly, very fast, and that’s why they met with an accident.
So, when this was told to Prabhupada, the devotees asked Prabhupada, was it because of destiny that this happened? Prabhupada said, it is not destiny, it is irresponsibility. It is irresponsibility. What does that mean? Now, certainly, if somebody has passed away, we can say that that is destiny.
But at a practical level, what can we do? At a practical level, if we see that, okay, somebody, this has happened because of this material factor, then we try to counter that material factor. So, for example, somebody gets malaria or dying, we check, oh, are there so many mosquitoes in our area? Then we have to keep our voice clean, we have to put mosquito net, we have to put some mosquito repellent. We do that at a material level.
And acting at a material level is important. It is also necessary. But it is not sufficient.
Sometimes, despite our best efforts in the material level, still things will go wrong. Now, why do we act on the material level? Because that is our duty. We want to show Krishna that we want to serve him, and for serving him, we will do whatever is required.
So, for example, if some devotees or some other person, some Kali or some boss is troubling us too much, then we can try to see at a material level what can be done. Maybe we can talk politely and clarify and make things better. So, at a material level, a devotee should do whatever is required.
So, Bali Maharaj, at a material level, he tried to pacify Shukracharya, he tried to satisfy the Supreme Lord. But when he was arrested, ultimately, he did not try to resent it. So, sometimes, despite our best efforts, things may seem to go wrong materially.
And in the end, the result may seem unjust. But if we try to have the speak that Krishna is my well-wisher, and rather than resenting, we try to understand. Instead of protesting, we try to submit and understand what is happening.
Then we will find that Krishna will, in the end, give us a far greater mercy than what we could have hoped for. So, many a times when things go wrong in our life, the resentment that comes in our mind saps away a huge amount of our mental energy. And the resentment sort of chokes and throttles us and does not allow us to function.
But, okay, my dear, if we can just surrender to the Lord. Whatever it is, I am not able to understand it. But please give me the strength to serve you, my dear Lord.
Please give me the strength to serve you. Then, if we pray like this, Krishna will surely answer that prayer. And when that prayer is answered, then we will get some guidance of how we can serve Krishna.
And then once with that guidance, we can move forward, steadily in our spiritual life. And a devotee may be perplexed, but he is not discouraged. No matter what happens in life.
Perplexed means to be indecisive, to not be able to know what to not do. What should I do? If I do this, this seems to be happening. If I do this, this seems to be happening.
If I do this, this seems to be happening. So, what should I actually do? A devotee may be perplexed, because he doesn’t know what to do in such a situation. Everything seems to be going wrong.
But a devotee doesn’t get discouraged. He doesn’t lose heart. He doesn’t think, oh, things are never going to work out.
Maybe Krishna doesn’t want me to do this only. Maybe Krishna doesn’t exist. Maybe Krishna is not my validation.
Maybe Krishna doesn’t care for me. No, a devotee doesn’t have those doubts. He doesn’t get discouraged.
Then, okay, Krishna, it’s a time. It’s a time for intensification of our direct devotional service. Pray to Krishna.
Chant some extra rams. Sing some Varshna songs. Take shelter of the spiritual master’s words.
And then we get guidance. Okay, what does Krishna want me to do? And then with that guidance, when we move forward, then the perplexity is resolved. So, a devotee is perplexed, but he is not discouraged.
He is not discouraged because he knows Krishna is always there with me to guide me at all times. And by that faith, a devotee can counter even insurmountable obstacles. Obstacles which would devastate and cripple an ordinary person can be faced by a devotee with his faith in Krishna.
Basically, in Prabhupada’s own life, we say Prabhupada was empowered to preach Krishna consciousness. To be empowered does not mean that there were no obstacles for him. To be empowered means that he had the internal determination to persist in spite of obstacles.
So, there were times even when Prabhupada was, from a material point of view, perplexed. When Prabhupada tried to preach his life to Godhead, nobody was taking it. So, then he stopped that and tried something else.
He tried to assist his Godbrother in editing their magazines. Then he tried to write the Bhagavatam. Then, before starting the Bhagavatam, he tried his league of devotees.
Then he wrote the Bhagavatam. Then he went to America. Even in America, it was not that for Prabhupada, when he went to America, everything was clear.
Now, we are in a particular situation where when we are trying to preach in a particular college or we are trying to settle our material life in a proper way in whichever ashram we are planning, we may feel that I don’t know what the future is going to bring. But it is not that Prabhupada knew everything that was going to come in the future. Prabhupada did know that because Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had made the prediction, it will come out to be true.
But it is not that Prabhupada knew everything. Okay, in this year, this devotee will come to Brahma Mahayana and then he will go in this year to this country and then he will preach. At least Prabhupada did not preach or manage in that way.
Devotees would inform him about their plan and Prabhupada would consider the situation and then accordingly, he would give the instruction. And then if he got some other input, he might change his instruction also. So, Prabhupada did not act as if he was omniscient.
He also, in one sense, was dependent on Krishna’s mercy for guidance about how to preach Krishna Consciousness, in which part of the world, what strategy to use. Therefore, as devotees, if you look at Prabhupada’s life, Prabhupada was so sincerely trying to preach Krishna Consciousness. And from the material point of view, you may wonder, why did that cow have to come and hit Prabhupada? Or why Prabhupada started the League of Devotees? Why did the Supersoul in the heart of that Mr. Munshi had to allow him to make a political clique against Prabhupada and drive him away from the building which was supposed to be the international headquarter of the League of Devotees? So, why? Prabhupada demanded justice and he could have said, Krishna, I am doing so much for you.
Throughout my Granthasa life, I was struggling to earn money so that I could help in your mission. But then you arranged that my whole business was lost because of the stealing of some person and because of a fire. And I am trying to dedicate myself and preach to you.
And you are letting people make conspiracies against me and plots against me and you are making everything go wrong. So, Prabhupada could have protested. Prabhupada could have demanded justice.
But Prabhupada did not demand justice. Prabhupada is continuously serving Krishna. And what Krishna gave was far, far greater.
Now, Prabhupada, if we would have known Prabhupada in 1960s or 1950s, now in the Gaudiya Sampradaya’s history, Prabhupada’s position would have seemed much more insignificant than even his other Godbrothers, who were Sanyasis, who had their own Mathas, who even had disciples. Prabhupada had no one. But, when we see the complete picture, and we understand Prabhupada was an empowered Acharya, the Sinhapati Bhakta, who had been given a special mission by the Lord.
So, now, in our own life, we don’t know what the future is going to be. So, all that we can do now is, you know, by our sadhana, by our swadhyay, we cultivate the faith that Krishna is our greatest well-wisher. Krishna is our ultimate and unflinching well-wisher.
And with that faith, we do our seva. As devotees, we have our two aspects to our life. We have our sadhana, swadhyay, and we have our seva.
So, we do our service in whatever best we can, in whatever circumstances we are put, whatever abilities and facilities we are provided. And, at the same time, by our sadhana, we cultivate this faith that Krishna is our well-wisher. And, actually, both of them feed each other.
You know, when we do our swadhyay and sadhana nicely, then, in our seva, we will see Krishna acting. We will see how Krishna is trying to help me. Krishna is arranging this for me.
Krishna is arranging that for me. I mean, because I was becoming proud, so Krishna is trying to curb my pride. We will be able to see Krishna acting when we are trying to do service.
And, when we see that, and that will inspire us to try to study scripture more, by which we can see more about how Krishna is, how we can learn more about how to see Krishna in Krishna’s hand, in the life of a great devotee. And then, it becomes a mutually nourishing process, where both of them, both our swadhyay and sadhana, and our seva, both of them nourish Bhakti Vatabhi Ji in our heart. And, our Bhakti Vatabhi Ji, as it keeps growing, growing, growing, it ultimately goes to the spiritual world, penetrates the universal caverns, goes to Brahmajyoti, goes to the spiritual world, goes beyond the ekunta planets to Goloka, and rests on Krishna’s lotus feet.
Now, generally a creeper, a creeper does not flower a fruit unless it has found a shelter. So, when this creeper finds a shelter of Krishna’s lotus feet, then the creeper gives a fruit, the fruit of love of God. And, that fruit of love of God falls from the spiritual world, down back into the material world.
And, it falls down on the earth, and then breaks open, and it gives out the juice, and the devotee can drink that juice, and become eternally happy. In this way, we can take shelter of Krishna even in this life, and experience the joy of Krishna consciousness even in this life. So, this faith that Krishna is our greatest well-wisher, no matter what he seems to do, no matter how unjust, no matter how outrageous what he is doing, seems to be, that faith is what we learn from the past time of Bali Maharaj.
Now, many times, in the Bhagavatam, we hear the phala-shruti, that if you hear this past time, then you will be free from all sinful reactions. If you hear this past time, then you will get this much punya, you will get that much, all that is fine, that is the phala-shruti. But the essential phala-shruti is what? The essential phala-shruti is the awakening of our dormant faith in Krishna, and when that happens, then all these phalas that are there, they don’t matter so much to us.
What matters the most is that we advance in Krishna consciousness, and deepen our faith and our love for Krishna. I will quickly summarise, and we will have two question-answers, if any of you have. So, I talked about how Bali Maharaj gratefully accepted whatever the Lord did, and therefore, he was sent to Sutala, and not only was he sent, the Lord came with him.
Then we discussed about how this world may seem unjust to us, but instead of demanding justice, a devotee begs for mercy. And Bali Maharaj, he might have got free from the pasha of Varuna if he had demanded justice, but he accepted the pasha of Varuna, and then what happened by that? He was able to bind the Lord with his bhakti-pasha. He was bound by the Varuna-pasha for a few minutes or a few hours, but he was able to bind Lord Vamanadeva with his bhakti-pasha for an entire manvantara, and then for the whole of eternity, and he would be back with Vamanadeva in the spiritual world.
So, a devotee reacts to the practical level by doing whatever can be done when difficulties come in his life, but at a deeper level, he tries to take shelter of Krishna, accepts Krishna as his own. And we discussed Gopala’s example, he did not demand justice, he continued serving. A devotee may be perplexed, but he is not discouraged.
He keeps praying to Krishna and trying to serve Krishna, and the perplexity is resolved eventually. And we discussed that the ultimate purpose of scriptural study is not to acquire information, but it is to acquire the fake that Krishna is our ultimate and unclenching world-assured. Once we acquire that fake, our prakriti-abhiji reaches Krishna’s lotus feet and gives us the fruit and the juice that we can relish even in this world.
Thank you very much. Are there any questions? I deliberately ended this class early, so that we can have questions. If there are no questions, then I will speak a couple of more points.
Yes, bro. Yes, bro, please tell me. Yes.
Good question. See, if we look at the qualities of a brahmana in the bhagavad-gita, so in these qualities, bhakti is not mentioned as a qualification of a brahmana. Sense control, mind control, austerity, clumsiness, shantirajyamanuja, truthfulness, tolerance, jnanam, vijnanam, astikyam, knowledge, realisation, and faithfulness.
Now, this astikyam is in a more general sense. You see, in the Vedic culture, generally we use the word nastik for one who does not believe in God. But in the Vedic culture, nastik is used for one who does not believe in the Vedic scriptures.
So, when the brahmana is called as astik, that means he has faith in the Vedic scriptures. So, we know that there are scriptures, there are puranas in goodness, passion, and ignorance. And when there are scriptures in goodness, passion, and ignorance, that means there are rituals to be performed in goodness, passion, and ignorance.
Now, for example, meat is to be offered to Kali. Now, who is going to be offering that? There is only the brahmana who will offer that. Generally, the rituals and the priestly activities have to be done by brahmanas.
But those brahmanas have faith in those particular Vedic scriptures. They may not have faith in the transcendental goal of the Vedic scriptures. They have faith in the potency of the Vedic scriptures to provide material results.
Common people may not have even that faith. Common people may think, what are these rituals going to do? But the brahmanas have that faith. So, the brahmanas are not necessarily Vaishnavas.
Like Vaishnavas are higher than brahmanas. Because there can be brahmanas who may be priests for those who are in Tamoguna or those who are in Vajoguna. So, for example, the Ramayana describes that Ravana had his own brahmanas who were called the Yatudhanas.
And they would do rituals for him when he would do his worship either of Shiva or of whoever he was worshipping. So, the Yatudhanas are a class of brahmanas who serve the Rakshasas. Similarly, Shukracharya is a brahmana who serves the Asuras.
So, still he has brahmanical qualifications. What are the brahmanical qualifications? That he has faith in scripture. He has faith that if the scripture rituals are performed properly, they will provide the proper result.
So, now, in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna condemns these sort of people as Vedavadrataha. You know, in the second chapter as well as the ninth chapter. Second chapter verses 42, 43, 44, Krishna talks about how these people are attracted to the materialistic fruits promised in the Vedic literature.
And Krishna tells Arjuna that they are avipashchitaha, yam vampushkutam vacham pravidhinty avipashchitaha. Vedavadrataha pasa na anyad asthiti vadyamaha. So, they think that this is the highest fruit that is to be told in the Vedic literature.
And therefore, Krishna tells Arjuna, traihunyam shaya vedanih, traihunyam bhava arjuna, go beyond the three modes. Now, this one important thing again, which your questioner has raised, actually, when Bali Maharaj is arrested and sent to Sutala, at that time, Lord Vishnu, Vamadeva turns to Shukracharya and tells him, please complete the sacrifice now. You may say that the Yajaman is not there, but when the Brahmana like you is there, then surely the sacrifice can be completed.
Just by your glance, it can be completed. And can you tell me, what was it that Bali Maharaj did wrong in your sacrifice, the sacrifice that he performed? What was it wrong? So, at that time, Shukracharya speaks, this famous person, mantratas tantratas chidram. He says that whatever may be wrong in a sacrifice, if there is anusankirtan, if there is chanting of the holy names, then that gets countered.
So, what does this mean? Shukracharya also knows that Vishnu is supreme. He understands the glory of the chanting of the holy names also. But that doesn’t interest him.
What interests him is the material fruits that scripture can provide. See, we see this theme, even in Krishnalaya where there are Yajik Brahmanas. Yajik Brahmanas, they are expert in the rituals of Karmakand.
And to some extent, when their wives come back, actually what Vishwanath Shukracharya describes, that when the wives had gone, they continued with the sacrifice. And the devatas came and accepted the sacrifice. And the devatas informed them that you are doing sacrifice for us, but our Lord is there in Mathura, is there in Vrindavan.
And they feel great lamentation. That’s why when the wives come back, they are completely transformed. Earlier they were stopping and chastising their wives.
Now they are very respectful to their wives. And they condemn themselves. But still, even after condemning themselves, they don’t go to Vrindavan to offer themselves and surrender or apologise to Krishna.
Why? Because they are afraid of Kamsa. Now if Krishna is the Supreme Lord, what is the need to be afraid of Kamsa? But somehow there is knowledge, because there is infatuation with matter. And there is a fear that my material assets, my material body may be threatened or lost.
There is the reluctance or the hesitation to surrender to the Lord. So, the brahmanas like Shukracharya, or the yajni brahmanas, they are brahmanas because they have astitya. And because they have astitya, they have potency.
By serving even a brahmana like Shukracharya, because he is a brahmana, one gets the brahminical power. By that brahminical power, one can oneself get empowered. At the same time, the empowerment that one gets is material.
It is not devotional or spiritual. Shukracharya, he is actually not a spiritual master in the sense of the spiritual master who takes one back to Krishna. He is like a, you know in family sometimes they have Kula Guru.
He is something like that. And that Kula Guru or a Purohit, that is the worldly rituals that need to be done. And by that, people get their worldly rewards fulfilled.
Shukracharya is that kind of spiritual master. So, it is more appropriate to call him like a priestly spiritual master, priestly guide, a priest who is a guide, rather than a literal spiritual master. But, he can be called as a spiritual master because he is guiding them according to their level in following the Vedic rituals.
Does that answer your question? Any other question anybody has? We have a couple of minutes more. Yes sir. Seeing the hand of Krishna does not necessarily have to be Sahajyak.
Now Prabhupada, in his letters especially, when devotees would come up with new plans for practising Krishna Consciousness, for preaching Krishna Consciousness, Prabhupada would so often quote this verse, Zadami buddhi yogam tam yena mam upayanti te. Prabhupada, for example, Tamal Krishna Maharaj has written this book, Servant of Servant, where it is basically like a commentary with background events being described on the letters that Prabhupada wrote to him. So, there are so many times when Tamal Krishna Maharaj comes up with, for example, decides to start having beautiful dramas and festivals and other things in the Sunday feasts, on Sundays he starts doing very nicely.
And Prabhupada writes to him, because you are sincere, so Krishna is guiding you from within this heart, within your heart and giving you so many intelligent plans for preaching Krishna Consciousness. Please continue with your sincerity and Krishna will give you more and more plans. So, you know, Zadami buddhi yogam tam means what? That at our level, we try to serve Krishna and we get some good idea of what could be done.
We get some, for example, when we are preaching, some boys may ask some questions and we pray to Krishna, we get an answer, sometimes we may not know the answer. We give an answer and then later on we check, we find the answer is correct. Of course, we should not settle it.
But the point is that we get guidance in our practical services and that we see as Krishna’s mercy. So, that is wonderful. Prabhupada has talked about it so many times.
So, hajiyaism means we start imagining that Krishna comes in my dream or the deities are smiling at me, that my hair are standing on end. You know, in the Bhakti-sambit-sindhu, there are different kinds of symptoms of bhava-bhakti that are described. So, there are some symptoms which are, as I said, romantic, impassive, taranga-bhaju.
But there are other symptoms also of an advanced devotee, like avyartha-kalatvam or na magane tada ruchi, he does not waste time, he is always interested in glorifying Krishna, he is detached from material sense gratification. So, these are symptoms which as devotees, as adhikas, we try to aspire for. So, hajiyaism comes when we try to, or we imagine that those advanced symptoms are manifesting in our life.
But, you know, if certain circumstances work out in such a way, and we feel that I can draw some lesson from this, I can see Krishna’s hand in this, we shouldn’t think that Krishna is going to reciprocate only with his pure devotees. So, Krishna reciprocates with even the sadhakas. But that should not make us proud, that should make us inspired to serve Krishna all the more.
And sometimes, in our seeing Krishna’s hand, we may go into the zone of speculation, and it may not be bona fide. But the important thing is not that whether we see Krishna’s hand or not, the important thing is whether we act according to Krishna’s will or not. So, yes, we may try to preach, and sometimes, by some miraculous circumstances, we may get certain permissions, certain book distribution may happen very nicely, certain very sincere boys may come, and people may become devotees.
Now, is that Krishna’s arrangement? Yes. A devotee sees that as Krishna’s arrangement, and he doesn’t consider himself to be great. There are other things that Krishna is actually helping.
You know, there are three levels of doing our service. For example, when they started the base in Mumbai, Raghunath Maharaj gave a lecture by inaugurating the base. And he said, when you preach, sometimes you may give very good classes, and you think, I am so clever.
That is completely materialistic consciousness. Then you have to say that, actually, it is Krishna who is empowering me. You see, that is higher consciousness.
But even in that, there will be pride that Krishna is empowering me and not anybody else. Yes, I am an instrument, but still Krishna is choosing me as an instrument. Therefore, I must be special.
But he says, actually, Krishna said, I am not qualified. But because the Vaishnavas are instructed me to write Chaitanya Saraswatham, so Krishna is empowering me. So, the empowerment is not because of my sincerity.
The empowerment is because of the Vaishnavas’ instructions. So, therefore, I am not special in any way. So, therefore, when we talk about sahajiyaism, sahajiyaism is very much associated with pride and neglect of regulative principles.
But if a devotee stays humble, and seeing the hand of Krishna can inspire him to take shelter of Krishna more, then that is one thing. Without that sort of reciprocation, we will not find our bhakti-lata being nourished in our heart. So, I will summarise what I said.
The important thing is, when we say Krishna’s reciprocation, Krishna’s hand, it is basically based on dadami buddhi-yogam. Krishna gives us the intelligence of how to do our service nicely for him. And when we get that intelligence, we don’t imagine that we are very advanced devotees experiencing ashtavikar and become proud by that.
But rather, we understand that it’s not that I am special, or not even that I am a special instrument, because the Vaishnavas have instructed me. So, Krishna is giving me this intelligence to do this service. So, that makes us more humble and grateful to the Vaishnavas and grateful to Krishna.
And that is wonderful for our bhakti-lata being nourished. Does that answer your question? Thank you very much.