Flavors of divine friendship – Krishna’s relationship with Madhumangala, Sudama and Arjuna

[Sunday feast class at Connecticut, USA] Video:

I'm grateful to be here amongst all of you today. And today I'll speak on the topic of Divine Friendship.

The Bhakti tradition reveals God in a very special way. In the Biblical tradition it is said God is great. And yes, God is great.

And in some ways how great God is is revealed in the Bhagavad Gita's display of the universal form. Whole universe is contained within him. So his greatness is what often attracts submission.

Say if you are having some discussion with someone, maybe politics, sports, fashion, technology, whatever it is. I may have my opinion, you may have your opinion. But if I come to know that say you have a double PhD in that subject, then immediately understanding your position will bring some submission.

So like that, understanding God's greatness brings submission. But submission alone is not enough for a loving relationship. So there is God's greatness which brings submission and there is God's sweetness which brings affection.

So Krishna says that understand my Leela, my pastimes, tattvata in truth. Then you will become so attracted to me that you will come to me and not come back to this world. So we could say devotion has this combination of submission and affection.

Now normally Krishna, how does he manifest his sweetness? There are many different ways. His childhood pastimes are sweet. But one way sweetness is manifested is through vulnerability.

What do I mean by vulnerability? The world is a tough place and because of that it's sometimes cruelly competitive and if anybody, any slight weakness is seen in someone, world will smash that person at that weakness. If say two people are fighting a boxing match and say one of the boxers just grazes the jaw of the other boxer and he grazes the jaw and other boxer winces. Immediately this boxer will understand he's got a weakness over here.

He's got maybe some previous wound over here. And will hit that boxer right at that point till that boxer is defeated. So the principle in any competition is hit where it hurts.

So in general we conceal our weaknesses and we put on a front of being strong but we can't always keep putting on this front. So in front of some people we have to put down our front and whom do we do that in front of? Say there's somebody very powerful very influential and they always have solutions to every problem and then one day they tell us actually this particular issue I don't know what we should do about it. If we do like this, this will happen.

If we do like this, this will happen. Now we might see that oh I thought you are perfect you are not perfect. That might lead if we are only in that mode of like a fan worshipping a star then that might bring that image down.

But if you are interested in a personal relationship what will happen is that admission of vulnerability will actually increase intimacy. Whom do we talk with about our vulnerability? It is with someone whom we trust. So for any relationship to be meaningful there are many aspects to it.

One very important aspect in a relationship is that we should feel needed in that relationship. We want to feel loud. But just loud is ok.

But we want to feel needed in that relationship. Otherwise the relationship we feel ok what am I doing in this relationship. Now Krishna as God is perfect.

Because he is perfect he doesn't need anyone. Om Purnamadah Purnamidam Purnat Purnam Purnamatachyate. It is completely perfect.

No matter how many units come out of him he still remains perfect and complete. So he doesn't need anyone. And if he doesn't need anyone then how can anyone have a relationship with him in which they are felt to be needed.

For that to happen Krishna exhibits vulnerability. The supreme who is completely invulnerable he exhibits vulnerability. Krishna as a small baby starts becoming restless and crying when he is hungry.

And Mother Yashoda feels if I don't feed Krishna on time he will become weak, he will become sick, he may even die. And thus she feels needed in that relationship. And in general if we want to go close in any relationship we need to exhibit some vulnerability.

And then we tell some issues which are troubling us, other person tells some issues that are troubling them and then we come closer to each other. So Krishna also does the same thing. And this applies especially in the Vatsalya Ras.

Where Krishna puts himself in a position of dependence to his mother. But this also applies in his Sakya Ras. Now God is the father of everyone.

He is the source of everyone. So he can't have a parent. But in order to relish the full gamut of relationships that we all aspire to relish, Krishna puts himself in the vulnerable position of being a infant who needs his mother.

Similarly in friendship friendship usually it's a relationship of equals. Now one of the sayings in the Upanishads which Prabhupada would often quote is that that actually that absolute truth, nobody is equal and nobody is superior to. Asamurdha, as I said.

So how can there be friendship? So again Krishna exhibits vulnerability. So he acts in his friendly relationships that sometimes the friends are in trouble and they need him and sometimes he has some situation for which he needs them. So to understand Krishna and the relationship with Krishna we need to first begin by appreciating this concept of how the invulnerable becomes vulnerable or appears to become vulnerable to become more lovable.

He is worshipable but Krishna doesn't just want a worshipable relationship. He wants a lovable relationship and as invulnerable becomes vulnerable to appear more lovable. Now let's look at this dynamic of lovability as manifested through vulnerability in three different relationships which Krishna exhibits with three different individuals in the flavour of friendship.

So broadly speaking Krishna Leela if you consider 90 chapters in the 10th canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam, the first 40 chapters describe Vrindavan. The next 10 chapters are about Krishna in Mathura and the remaining 40 chapters are of Krishna in Dwarka. But actually out of those 40 chapters Krishna is in Dwarka for a very short while.

Most of those chapters are incidents that happen when Krishna is based in Dwarka but is travelling everywhere. It's like when somebody has a small child the children, unless their parents travel, they don't travel much. They may just play in their back courtyard or Krishna may go out to the nearby Vrindavan forests.

That's why most of the pastimes are localised to Vrindavan in childhood. So we look at a friendship of Krishna in Vrindavan then another friendship in Dwarka and another friendship when he was based in Dwarka and travelling to various places. So let's go through this linearly.

When Krishna is in Vrindavan now he has many different friends. Some of the friends are Gopas like him. So Shri Rama and others, they are Gopas and Krishna goes out to the forest with them and although there are the four Varanas, sometimes when we hear about the four Varanas, Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra, we think of them as we may think of them like water tight categories but any conceptual system of classification when it is translated into reality, there are always porous holes over there.

It's just like if you consider America and Canada, on the map you might say this is Canada ending, America beginning. But if you go walking over there, where exactly is America and where is Canada beginning? You might say it's this river. Okay, but is it like 50% of this river is in America, 50% in Canada? You can't have that neat division.

So the point I am making is, although Madhumangal is a Brahmana and Krishna is a Kshatriya, Vaishya, of course Krishna is beyond Varanashram but when he manifests in the world he plays the role of a Vaishya. So although Krishna is born in a Vaishya family and Madhumangal is born in a Brahmana family, but because in Vraja everyone is primarily a pastoral community. So it's so even Madhumangal goes out and plays with Krishna.

And Madhumangal goes out and plays with Krishna and they go to the forest and Brahmanas also have cows which they take care of. But Brahmana's primary duty is not taking care of cows. So we see many times that the kings when they give charity, they give charity of cows to the Brahmanas.

Now if the cows are given charity to the Brahmanas, who is going to take care of them? The Brahmanas own the cows but they give the cows to Vaishyas for taking care of charity. But in childhood, children play so just as all the small boys from Vrindavan go to the forest to play so Krishna also goes and at that time Madhumangal also goes with him. Now when Krishna and Madhumangal go to play, at that time Madhumangal is in some ways the comedian in Krishna Leela.

He always knows how to, he doesn't necessarily have to be humorous. He just spontaneously is humorous. So first time when Radharani has grown up a little bit, she has come to her early teens at that time, Nandamaharaj and his whole family is invited to Barsana for lunch.

And Krishna initially says, I don't want to go, I want to play with my friends. But then his friends tell him, I have heard that Vishwanamaharaj is going to do a big feast there. Let's all go there.

So then Krishna says, Krishna initially tells Mother Yashoda, I will not go, I want to play with my friends. But then, now he doesn't say I want to go, he says my friends want to go. So I will also go.

So then they all go together. And then so Krishna is sitting and Krishna sits down taking prasad and so Balram sits on one side of him, next to Balram is Nandamaharaj and next to him is Madhumangal. And when the prasad is served now the whole of Vrindavan, their dream is that Radha and Krishna should get together.

So this is a portion where Yashoda tells Radha, you go and serve Krishna. So she serves prasad and food to everyone and then Madhumangal eats the food and Krishna has a peacock with him. Sorry, a parrot with him.

And that parrot's name is also Madhu. And Madhumangal's short name is also Madhu. So then he eats that food and Madhumangal says oh my god! He says this food has put me in great anxiety.

Normally if somebody serves you food and you say food has put me in great anxiety. What do you mean? What happened? They have not cooked properly naturally everybody gets a little concerned. And Krishna tells Madhumangal, stop being so naughty.

Now Krishna is naughty but Krishna says stop being so naughty. He says I am in anxiety, how can I stop myself? So then Balram, what is your anxiety? He says this food is so delicious that I am worried after this how will I be satisfied with any other food. So there are often straight ways of giving compliments and there are indirect ways of giving compliments.

So then Krishna and Madhumangal just keep quiet and eat some food now. So then Krishna and Madhumangal start having a banter and Radharani is watching all the Barsanavasis are watching and Krishna and Madhumangal they are such close friends. Seeing their friendship seeing their cheerful exchanges, everybody becomes cheerful.

Most of the interactions between Krishna and Madhumangal are centred on food. In general it is said brahmanas are bhojanapriya. That generally brahmanas it is said that they have two main duties and both are done with the mouth.

One is to take food and the other is to speak some spiritual wisdom. So Prabhupada used to say that in modern times the brahmanas are only doing the first not the second. They just take dakshira and take food but they don't teach anything and that's why in India much of the culture is getting lost because the wisdom underlying it is not known to people.

So now of course Madhumangal is a small boy so Madhumangal says that Madhumangal is, he just likes to eat food and many times what Krishna does is Krishna and Madhumangal as I said they interact from food and in this case Krishna knows Madhumangal is a brahmana but Krishna doesn't he himself doesn't really respect Madhumangal as a brahmana because they are children but he is very much there to point out to others he is a brahmana and don't dare offend him. So once what happens Krishna takes his gopa friends to steal butter and when they go to steal butter at that time Krishna and Madhumangal because he is bhojanapriya he is a little stocky and they all steal butter they eat butter and everybody runs away and the gopis come over there and among the gopis there are young gopis there are older gopis the gopis come to catch and Krishna runs away and all the other gopis run away only one gopi is left over who is that Madhumangal and Madhumangal always he says Krishna you do the mischief and I get caught so he gets caught and then now Krishna also at one level he wants to have fun but he doesn't want Madhumangal to get into trouble so he sees that he runs away and then he realises Madhumangal is not there when we are in trouble we just want to scoot away but after that trouble has gone away they look around who is missing Madhumangal is missing then Krishna makes a plan and Krishna goes there acting as if he is just visiting over there not that he just ran away from there he is just passing by and the gopis have caught Madhumangal Krishna sees them he becomes alarmed what are you doing what he is a thief he is a brahmana if you abuse a brahmana you will be committing a brahma apraath and there is no greater disaster than that now Madhumangal is so frightened that actually when he is a small child and children are hungry just forget everything else so most children live atleast in the early years in annamai kosh annamai kosh means what it is a level of consciousness where all of existence is potential food all of existence is potential food so children experience they experience the world through the tongue they will put their fingers in the tongue they will put their toes in the tongue they will put their toys in the tongue so they experience it like that so Madhumangal is initially he is panicking I have been caught and then when Krishna looks very grave he he is a brahmana how dare you aren't you afraid of offending him and immediately Madhumangal gets the plan where is my thread I am going to curse all of you now and immediately assumes his almost regal brahmanical mirroring and the gopis become scared he says oh no no no please don't curse us please don't curse us and then now Krishna and Madhumangal they are such close friends that they immediately they are two people and they are close to each other they don't have to speak words to communicate just with their eyes you can communicate just a little gesture or even some little hand gesture also ok this is the plan you understand it now when two people's hearts are close to each other just a glance can communicate volumes but when people's hearts are apart even screams can't communicate anything it may scream and yell but other person doesn't hear anything so Krishna and Madhumangal both understand what the plan is and then what happens then Krishna and Madhumangal play along I'm a brahmana where is my threat? I'm going to curse you no no no please don't curse and Madhumangal is very angry I'm going to curse how dare you catch me like this how dare you manhandle me like this and then the gopis become panicky no no no and Madhumangal is so angry they turn towards Krishna Krishna please help us Madhumangal is a brahmana if he becomes angry he will destroy every one of you but there is one way you can please him what is that? give him prasad give him ladoos give him sweets give him delicious food yes yes of course everything that we have is there yours and now in this way the things that Krishna and Madhumangal had come to steal earlier all that and more the gopis willingly give to Krishna Krishna and Madhumangal and in this way Krishna and Madhumangal in their childhood are partners in crime so now if you see in this particular pastime in the flavour in Vrindavan they said Krishna doesn't always exhibit his godhood when needed he will exhibit his godhood other times he just acts like an ordinary small boy and similarly Krishna doesn't really talk much about Madhumangal's brahmanical position unless it is needed most of the times it is just one among us and this particular flavour of the relationship between Krishna and Madhumangal it is so special that even Brahmaji can't understand it that once Krishna and Balaram and all the gopis they have gone to the forest and they are sitting around near the Yamuna in a circle taking their food many of you may have seen that beautiful picture of Krishna taking prasad so at that time when Krishna is taking that food so at that time you know to say Madhumangal is not here where is Madhumangal gone now Madhumangal is from a brahmana family and brahmanas are generally not very wealthy, when they get charity they may have a lot, but charity is never reliable, sometimes he doesn't have much, so on that day from his home he has got some chaach, some buttermilk and he feels this buttermilk is not of such a good quality that Krishna can take it so now once you sit down to eat then Krishna if he sees this, he will want it and if he wants it I can't say no at that time so he decides I will just sneak away behind the thicket of trees and I will drink the buttermilk myself, and then I won't have to give it to Krishna he feels this is not good enough for Krishna and then he goes behind and he starts drinking and he drinks at that time Krishna looks away where is Madhumangal and starts noticing starts searching and he sees Madhumangal is behind that tree and Krishna comes over there and Madhumangal sees, Madhumangal has got a small pot so he sees Krishna coming and he becomes anxious and he drinks everything and as he drinks it, now suppose if you drink too much water or buttermilk then our cheeks swell up so now he drinks it all and he finishes the pot, now I won't have to give this to Krishna and Krishna comes running over there and Madhumangal is happy the pot is over but Krishna comes up Krishna slaps his cheeks and he slaps his cheeks so some of the buttermilk from his mouth comes out and the buttermilk goes and falls on Krishna's body Krishna's arms, Krishna's chest and Krishna starts touching it and drinking it and when Brahmaji sees this from above Brahmaji gets a violent cultural shock what's happening how can this happen he actually for somebody who is not familiar with traditional Indian culture I was once travelling with some western or westernised people and in India we have this concept of what we call as Jhuta if you have eaten something then you normally don't have somebody else eat from that same plate, so I have usually carry a water bottle with me and I drink it touching my mouth so then we were driving a long ride for 3-4 hours and the other people, they were devotees of a kind I was thirsty, I drank some water they said we are thirsty, can you give us some water I said no actually now there is not even a proper word in English for Jhuta you can say remnants but it doesn't convey anything so then I said that no actually in our tradition if you touch your mouth to some water or any food we don't give it to anyone else then immediately, you mean if I am dying of thirst you won't give me water so this whole concept is not so easily communicable for me but for somebody who understands the concept of purity first of all Brahmaji can't understand this boy who is eating something which has fallen on his body how can this be God and it's not just fallen on his body but it's fallen from somebody's mouth how can he eat that and on top of that he knows Madhubangal is a Brahmana so as a Brahmana even he doesn't have the culture to understand that he should not give something like this to Krishna that whole incident is incomprehensible for Brahmaji and that's why he decides to test Krishna and thus he causes all the Gopas to disappear, is Krishna really God so it's all triggered by the sweet pastime between Krishna and Madhubangal where the intimacy of the love overshadows the awareness of the Godhood so Krishna is not concerned for Brahmaji when he is offering there are proper mantras chanted and the food is offered with great purity we do something similar when we offer food to the deities but for Madhubangal Krishna is so eager in the food from his mouth Krishna wants to take that so in Vrindavan the flavour is of pure intimacy where Krishna doesn't exhibit not as Madhubangal, nobody goes around throwing about the weight of their position so it is very close intimacy now as Krishna moves away, you see one of the names of Krishna is Brahmana Priya so although Madhubangal is a Brahmana it's more of close friendship without much awareness that he is a Brahmana or he is God it's just two friends being together always then when Krishna is in Vrindavan from Vrindavan he goes to Mathura, from Mathura he goes to Dwaraka now Krishna's interactions with Arjuna happen throughout over many many years it happens repeatedly we have primarily one major interaction of Krishna with Sudama, I'll talk about that and then we'll go to Arjuna so now Krishna and Sudama they meet in the Gurukul of Sandipani Muni now Krishna he has lived as a Vaishya and he has trained as a Vaishya but suddenly he is thrust into the role of a Kshatriya and he goes to Gurukul and he just does fast forward of everything he learns all that is to be learned in the Gurukul in a very short while but even during that time he makes friends one of the friends is Sudama generally in a Gurukul there has to be generally walls have to be built before they can be broken what does that mean that means that there has to be certain understanding of training of what is to be done and what is not to be done and then first we need to learn the rules and then we may learn exceptions for the rules this is how things are to be done but sometimes in emergency this is not how it is to be done so for example the normal traffic rules on this side you travel on this side you travel but if there is an emergency if somebody is about to die and there is ambulance going then the rules don't apply but although there are exceptions to the rules that doesn't mean the rules themselves are not important so in childhood just as there is not much there is not much distance of awareness of positions between Krishna and Madhumangal similarly there is not much awareness of difference of position between Krishna and Sudama they became very close friends and then they went their separate ways the Bhagavatam gives the example that we are all like twigs twigs in a river based on the currents of the river we come together and the currents of the river move separately then we just move apart so Sudama goes his way Krishna goes his way and then Sudama eventually is in great poverty so we may wonder this is the time of Krishna and Sudama is a Brahmana so how can he be poor when Brahmana is always taken care of actually not always Krishna says at the time when he has come then because of the effect of Kala the pure Dharma is disappearing and that's why he has come to restore Dharma that means the society and the culture that are described in the Mahabharata and the Bhagavatam Krishna is not saying what is described when Krishna was present Krishna is not saying this is the ideal says things have deviated from the ideal and he has come to restore the ideal so there are some places where Brahmanas were taken care of well others they were not in general if what somebody is giving is valued then the giver is valued so if somebody doesn't have spiritual inclination then anybody gives spiritual knowledge what is the value of that so in a materialistic culture spiritual knowledge is not valued and so Sudama was quite poor and then his wife told him that please you have Krishna who is Dwarakadi she is your friend go and ask him for some help we are in such great poverty we have a child who is weak who is starving please go he doesn't want to go to seek help from Krishna but then when his wife requests him repeatedly says okay I'll take this as a reason to go and at least see Krishna and then when he is going at that time he says give me something to carry with me there is a gift to Krishna and she has nothing so she just has some simple chip toys and she packs it in a small bag for him and he carries it and now when he goes to meet Krishna he is also apprehensive on one level he has heard about how Krishna is so kind to the brahmanas he also knows how Krishna was such a sweet person in his childhood but when we meet somebody after many years we don't know how time has changed them how time has changed us and when we meet somebody if we meet somebody unknown entirely then we are on our guard if we meet somebody who is known then we are a little more relaxed but if somebody who is known who may have gone through some unknown changes then we don't know how to react so he is a little apprehensive at that time while he is apprehensive he goes in and Krishna sees Sudama is delighted gets off his throne and embraces him and brings him and sits him on his own throne and does his pada puja and he lavishes such honour and affection on Madhubangal he is completely overwhelmed and then after that Krishna says Madhubangal you must have not Madhubangal Sudama Sudama you must have brought some what have you brought for me now Sudama he is seeing the magnificence of the palace somebody has lived in a small village and they come to a city such big houses also exist I didn't even know such big houses such legal what is this for how can I give it to him he says no I don't have anything and he doesn't want Krishna to notice so he wants to hide it now he doesn't even have any pockets in which to hide it a simple brahmana so he will have to put it behind Krishna says now give it to me and Krishna takes a chip tries and eats it and says this is delicious he wants to eat more and then Rukmini says just by eating one morsel you satisfy the whole universe and now Krishna has much much more opulent food which he can get anywhere why is Krishna so eager for this food that Sudama is giving him in the 7th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita there are four kinds of people who come to him in 7.16 and 7.17 Krishna says udhara sarva evai te udhara means broad hearted charitable they are all charitable now Ramavacharya in his Bhagavad Gita commentary asks normally we would consider God or somebody wealthy to be charitable we won't consider somebody needy to be charitable all these people who are coming to Krishna are needy so how can the needy be considered charitable they need wealth, they need relief from their problems they need knowledge how can they be considered charitable so he describes that Krishna as Lakshmipati as the lord of the goddess of fortune he owns everything except one thing and that one thing which Krishna can't own is our heart and Krishna wants, Krishna is hungry for the love of the souls not just the souls of every soul and therefore he feels that if any soul comes and offers a little devotion to him even if it is tainted by some self centred motive still at least you are offering your worship and devotion to me oh you are so charitable Krishna says so this is Krishna he is hungry for love and he again I talked about vulnerability in the beginning so the vulnerability is not just because of physical vulnerability oh I am hungry I need some food it's also Krishna exhibits purely spiritual emotional vulnerability that without my devotees I feel incomplete I want the love of my devotees and thus and so Rama gives that chit rice to Krishna Krishna feels so touched because he is not tasting the rice he is tasting the love of the heart of his devotee and then Sudama is so happy to be received so warmly by Krishna to spend time with Krishna both of them have very sweet reminiscences of all that they did and then Madhumangal forgets sorry again Sudama Sudama forgets why he had come there and he goes back now you go to somebody to ask something but you get so caught that you forget it that shows Madhumangal's transcendence just so much filled with love for Krishna he doesn't have the desire to ask Krishna for anything and he forgets it also but Krishna doesn't forget now Vishwanath Chakraborty says that Krishna knew what Madhumangal sorry what Sudama wanted but then why didn't Krishna give it to Sudama straight he yeah he could have Krishna felt that Sudama his love for me is so pure that although he has such great need for this he is not asking me for it therefore he said how can I ever repay such love it's like Krishna tells the gopis that you know that service you have performed I cannot repay it similarly Krishna feels I cannot repay the love that Sudama has offered and because it cannot be a proper exchange what I will give is just a small token and therefore he gives it secretly by the time Sudama comes back and he sees a small cottage has disappeared in front of the big palaces come over there and he sees his wife who is earlier wearing simple clothes now she is wearing magnificent clothes, her children are also dressed opulently and now that is itself a miracle but the bigger miracle is that Sudama he doesn't get captivated by this he takes this as Krishna's mercy but he still becomes absorbed in Krishna so in every relationship to some extent there is some kind of reciprocation reciprocation means we do something for the person, other person they do something for us so in every relationship there is some contribution that we make and there is some expectation from others so now the best relationship is where both do their part and there is no need for anyone to tell their expectations the worst situation is each person says I am doing so much for you what are you doing for me other person says I am doing so much for you, what are you doing for me so the sweetest is where both just do their part and other person understands what is needed so when Krishna when Sudama comes to Krishna he just wants to be with Krishna, he wants to offer his love to Krishna and that is just a means by which he offers that love so and Krishna knows what Sudama needs, Sudama doesn't even have to ask and Krishna doesn't make it also I am doing a big favour to you Krishna says so what is required it is automatically done so that is a special flavour of the intimacy so here there is give and take but the give and take is not the centre point of the relationship the give and take just happens by the side the real substance of the relationship is the reciprocation of the heart, the reciprocation of the love and if something is to be given and taken that is done on the side so here of course Krishna and Sudama both have grown up Krishna and Madhyamangala just play, it's childhood play and we could say Vrindavan is like an idyllic world where we aspire to go but to go to Vrindavan how to live so that we can go to Vrindavan, that is described in many ways by Krishna's pastimes in Mathura, Dwarka, Kurukshetra and other places for this particular we want the pure loving relationship with Krishna unconcerned with everything else in the world that Krishna and Madhyamangala exhibited but while we are functioning in this world Krishna and Sudama demonstrate how actually the sweetness of the relationship is both just focus on the relationship and everything else is incidental to the relationship now of course this is where Krishna and Sudama don't have like a constant service to do together just have one interaction, one very sweet endearing interaction but what about when we have to constantly interact with someone or repeatedly interact with someone that is what happened between Krishna and whom? Arjuna so Krishna and Arjuna they are friends and they are not just friends for friendship sake they are friends who are on a mission together, now of course Krishna and Sudama had also gone on a mission once when they had gone to get some firewood for their guru and they had got lost in the forest but that was like a small mission for them of course it was very serious, it was a service to the guru but Krishna and Arjuna when eventually they had to fight wars at that time it was a matter of life and death and not just for them but for their loved ones for their citizens, a very serious matter and how do they interact over here so I will talk about two main incidents in this particular dynamic this itself is a whole class in itself about Krishna and Arjuna's interactions the first major devotional interaction between Krishna and Arjuna happens in Khandava Krishna and Arjuna meet for the first time after Draupadi swayamvar and Arjuna appears and wins Draupadi's hand and after that they all go back to the small place where they are staying as brahmanas, Krishna comes over there and Krishna introduces himself I am Krishna and this is my brother Balram and the Pandavas are so happy of course we know you but they never met each other and then they just, all of them they didn't become very close to each other but Krishna and Arjuna you may say they hit off just become very close just naturally gel with each other and now Jiva Goswami explains that among the five Pandavas why is it that Krishna and Arjuna become the closest to each other there can be different explanations Jiva Goswami in Gopal Champu explains everything from the perspective of Vrindavan even when Krishna leaves Vrindavan he is still thinking about Vrindavan he is still remembering Vrindavan and he says that Krishna has a Gopal friend in Vrindavan whose name is Arjuna so Krishna doesn't have any friend over there whose name is Nakula, Sahadeva, Yudhishtira or Bhima so this Arjuna reminds him of that Arjuna who is from Vrindavan so because this Arjuna reminds him of Vrindavan Krishna becomes very close to Arjuna now of course this is one reason Arjuna himself has great devotion that's another reason but we see the sweetness of Rajya in this explanation as manifested to Jiva Goswami's devotional heart now the two incidents when Krishna and Arjuna are there in Khandav so at that time they are sitting and talking and that time Agnideva comes over there, the Brahmana and he says this forest is filled with dangerous sinful demons who have now assumed the bodies of animals and they are planning to, they are wreaking havoc over here and they will wreak havoc everywhere else so he said I need this forest as avati as offering for me and then Arjuna uses his celestial weapons to put the whole forest on fire and Agnideva starts eating that and the water of fire starts consuming it and then Indra has a friend over there and Indra starts showering rains and then Krishna and Arjuna they have they start their first fight together so what happens over there, Krishna for the first time becomes the charioteer of Arjuna and Arjuna is actually, Arjuna first he starts fighting on three fronts, first he shoots arrows in such a way that the whole Khandav forest becomes covered as an umbrella by his arrows and the rains are showering heavily so that umbrella made of arrows will break and Arjuna is shooting arrows and repairing that, anywhere there is breaking he is fixing it, simultaneous with that as the demons from that forest they see the forest is burning and they start fleeing Krishna and Arjuna are going round and round that forest and any demons who try to escape, Arjuna shoots them now on top of that there are Devatas when Indra sees that his plan of showering down rains is stopped has been thwarted he calls the Devatas and they all start attacking Arjuna so Arjuna is fighting against them also so it's magnificent, on three fronts he is fighting, it's like sometimes you could say there is some tennis player or sports player or cricket player might be playing in some local clubs and they burst on the international scene and suppose the sports player makes a double century in the first match they make a triple century create a sensation so this is the fight by which Arjuna bursts not just on the global scene but on the universal scene and even the Devatas are stunned to see the sheer prowess of Arjuna how can anyone fight like this on three fronts and Indra is shooting Arjuna is the son of Indra at one level and he just keeps attacking more and more to see how strong Arjuna is and finally Indra, all his weapons are used the gods, all their weapons are used and Arjuna is still standing fighting, triumphant and Indra becomes so pleased with him at that time and at that time Mayadana he, so various things happen over there there is a Maya who is a demon who comes and takes shelter of, not Krishna but of Arjuna and then Arjuna from he goes to Krishna either way he gets shelter then there are benedictions to be asked so then normally Devatas whenever they give darshan the idea is that they will give some asherwad some benediction, so Indra tells Arjuna and Krishna the heroism you have exhibited is extraordinary so ask for some boons now it's interesting at this point Arjuna he says please bless me, please give me celestial weapons and Indra smiles and says I'll give this to you later and then now Krishna has to ask now of course Krishna is the god of Indra also but Krishna is playing the role of a human being over here and thus when Indra asks for benediction, what does Krishna ask for Krishna says may my friendship with Arjuna go on forever unimpeded so here it is Krishna values the friendship of Arjuna so much that he is asking that as a benediction it isn't really a benediction but that reveals his heart how much of a value he gives to that friendship doesn't want it to be lost at all and then Krishna and Arjuna have many sweet interactions together, some fierce interactions together through thick and thin and then comes the first battle which they fight together and then there is the last battle, that is in Kurukshetra and in that battle the 13th night and the 14th day are the most intense on the 13th day in the Kurukshetra war Abhimanyu is slaughtered and Arjuna is shattered, Arjuna just crumbles in agony and then he rises in fury starts lashing out at everyone starts lashing out at his brothers he says all their weapons, are they just ornaments you couldn't protect my son and then he turns towards Krishna and he says Krishna you must know what happened to Abhimanyu why didn't you tell me so now here Krishna doesn't take the wrong I am God, how dare you challenge my judgement, how dare you question my plan, actually Krishna is very understanding over there sometimes when something terrible goes wrong in our lives, we might feel very upset, so one day one day I was in Australia, one devotee was telling me and that he says, I am feeling very angry with Krishna can I feel angry with Krishna I said what do you mean if you are feeling angry you cannot just wish away your feeling he says that whatever feeling might be there, don't let it interrupt your relationship with Krishna because God is big enough to accommodate even our anger of course we understand that God's plan is supreme but even Draupadi she is upset with Krishna she says Krishna I called you when I was in the assembly, I was being dishonoured why didn't you come now of course her sorry got extended but she didn't see Krishna coming over there and Krishna again doesn't say I am God, how dare you question, he just said I didn't know, I was fighting a war with a demon who had attacked Dwarka as soon as I came to know, immediately I came here so here there is a time for speaking philosophy and there is a time for manifesting humanity just connect to your humanity so Krishna doesn't defend himself, Krishna doesn't criticise Arjuna what does Krishna say oh Arjuna those who are in grief the wise try to decrease their grief not increase it because Agamanyu was not just your son Agamanyu is the son of all of us see your brothers they are in as much grief as you are please don't speak words that will worsen their grief so Krishna calms Arjuna down and as Yudhishthir tells the whole story of how Agamanyu was so brutally slaughtered because of the intervention of Jaidat Arjuna's agony changes to anger when it changes to anger he takes that wow tomorrow sunset I will either slay Jaidat or I will enter into fire and then all the Pandavas become excited for fight they all start blowing their conches and then after that when they are going back at that time they are going back to their tent Krishna and Arjuna stay in the same tent very close to each other so Krishna tells Arjuna oh Arjuna you got excited by your passion and you took a rash wow tomorrow Drona will do everything to thwart you you have courted death by taking a wow like this you should have consulted me before doing this and then Arjuna says Krishna I cannot understand your anxiety he says you know my power and I know your power so what is there to worry and then Krishna and Arjuna go to their tent and Arjuna has a long day fighting so Arjuna he goes to sleep and Krishna is not able to sleep Krishna is thinking oh the next day is fight and then he is walking pacing around restlessly and then by his mystic power he summons his chariot here Daruka and tells him that keep my chariot with all my best weapons just on the side of Kurukshetra battlefield if Arjuna is not able to fulfil his vow he says I will jump from Arjuna's chariot here to my chariot and I will destroy all the Kauravas and Daruka is overwhelmed to see the extent the depth of Krishna's love for his devotees and then he says yes of course I will make all arrangements and then Krishna goes back and Krishna sees Arjuna is fast asleep and Krishna says such are my devotees they go to sleep and give me sleepless nights so here in this we see Krishna at one level is a friend but Krishna is also the protector at one level it is Arjuna who is doing all the fighting but another level it is Krishna who is making all the arrangements it is Krishna who is there to guide Arjuna at the right time it is Krishna who is there to make everything right so that Arjuna wins in many ways our relationship with Krishna will mirror the relationship of Krishna and Arjuna not in terms of intimacy Arjuna is a great devotee but the body is also like a chariot and we as souls are in charge of this chariot and Krishna can become our chariot here our own mind our own worldly intelligence can be our chariot here or Krishna can be our chariot here and Prabhupada said in an initiation lecture in the second initiation lecture that he gave where Hargiru Prabhu and others called initiation, Prabhupada said now when you take initiation you have made Krishna the chariot here of your life now whatever happens do not lament you serve Krishna and he will lead you to safety so for all of us we often face great difficulties in life and we have to do our part, Arjuna fought to the best of his capacity to win the wars similarly we do have to fight but often we feel, I am doing so much and Krishna is not doing anything for me but actually Krishna is acting in hundreds of ways that we are not even aware of whenever we succeed in life we may say I did this right I did this right, I did this right, yes it's true we did those things right but there were so many other things that also went right if all of those had gone wrong we would have not succeeded so Krishna is always with us just like he was always with Arjuna and just as Krishna was a non combatant Krishna himself did not raise weapons in the Kurukshetra war similarly in our lives in this world Krishna is almost invisible, we don't see him although Krishna was invisible, Krishna's influence in the war for Arjuna's sake was not only undeniable it was irresistible at all the critical times Krishna gave decisive guidance Krishna made the necessary arrangements so for a devotee Krishna is making those arrangements, Krishna will give us guidance from within Krishna will clear the path in the devotee's life now if that does not seem to be happening then that means simply that Krishna wants us to grow sometimes struggle is what is required for our growth and when we are struggling it is not that Krishna is not helping us, Krishna is helping us by giving us the strength to struggle so that we can grow big enough so that we can fly we can fly towards him we can ultimately attain him I conclude with one metaphor when a bird is very small inside the nest inside the shell at that time for it to come out it requires lot of effort it requires enormous amount of effort the difference between say how human babies are delivered and say birds babies are delivered the mother has to exert a lot to get the baby out but the egg is already delivered outside and in birds the baby has to struggle on its own to come out similarly for all of us we are covered by a shell of ignorance, of our worldly attachments, of our worldly illusions and through our difficulties we are breaking that shell now Krishna can break that shell in one moment just like the mother bird if she wants she can just crack and she can break the egg but if the mother bird breaks the egg and the baby bird comes out, the baby bird may come out without effort but it is through that effort that the baby bird's wings develop and the wings are not developed the baby bird will come out but it will not be able to fly its wings will not be able to carry its weight and the baby bird will be easily devoured by any predator nearby so similarly for us now Krishna is there watching and Krishna is waiting but it is we who have to break the shell when we are breaking the shell, by that each time we break the shell we are becoming stronger so when we have to struggle against our situations, against our temptations, against our various provocations in our life it might appear as if we are struggling all alone, but Krishna is waiting, Krishna is giving us the strength and it is through that struggle that we become stronger and we are all situated on some branches the branches we are on a shell we are in a branch the branch is like our material shelter the branch can be our job it can be our family, our health our social position our abilities and all these are our present shelter now when a bird is on a branch it is sheltered in the branch but the bird doesn't live in chronic fear if this branch breaks I will crash to my death the bird is sheltered in the branch but the bird has confidence in its wings so even if this branch breaks then I will flap my wings and fly away so similarly for us sometimes the very thing we are sheltered on seems to break just seems to break and when it breaks what's happening in my life but that's the time when our wings if they have grown, then we fly from that one branch to another branch during that branch when we are flying, we don't know where is the next shelter, will I crash? but we will find another branch to shelter and if we keep doing like this throughout our lives gradually our wings will become strong enough that at the time of death we don't fly from this branch to another branch we don't move from one material shelter to another material shelter but rather we fly from the branch high into the sky we fly by the power of our spiritual wings toward Krishna so Krishna is our friend who is with us during our struggles and he will be with us during our flight ultimately towards him and Krishna as God is not just our destination not that at the end of our journey we will see him Krishna is also our companion although we can't see him right now he is there with us, even if we can't see his actions right now he is acting for us and if we open our eyes to perceive all the things that whenever we are able to do anything right see what all things went right at that time without my effort we will start seeing that Krishna is acting in our lives and just as Krishna was there for Arjuna in all the situations where Arjuna was in trouble we find that Krishna will be there for us whenever we need him Krishna walks with us but Krishna will not walk for us Krishna will fight with Arjuna but Krishna won't fight for Arjuna it is Arjuna who has to fight similarly we go through our struggles but Krishna as our friend is always there with us and he will walk with us, he will strengthen us, he will guide us and ultimately he will empower us to attain him so this is the beauty of the friendship of Krishna with his various devotees so I will quickly summarise I spoke today on this topic of the flavours of divine friendship I started by talking about how God's greatness brings submission and his sweetness brings affection and submission and affection both lead to strong emotion, now one way God manifests his sweetness is by exhibiting vulnerability the world being brutally competitive we put on a front of invincibility but in front of those whom we trust we take off that mask and similarly when somebody takes off that mask it brings intimacy you actually reveal your vulnerability so Krishna has no vulnerabilities but just for having intimate loving relationships Krishna, the invulnerable Lord becomes vulnerable he wants his devotees not just to love him to have a loving relationship with him but to feel needed in that relationship and he does that with Mother Disha by saying I am hungry and I need food and you have to provide it to me and similarly he does that with those who are in friendly relationships also so with Madhumangal we discussed how Krishna and Madhumangal, neither of them is conscious of their position, Krishna doesn't think I am God or I am Vaishya Madhumangal doesn't think I am Brahma they are just friends loving each other but whenever it's needed Krishna will bring for Madhumangal's brahminical position and it's there they don't have in a sense any work to do but work is also play so just sweet reciprocation of love is in the arm and I talked about the relationship with Sudama where Sudama comes to Krishna and goes back he comes with very little and goes with nothing but actually he gets more than what he would have asked for so in a relationship there will be a material component of give and take but that can be like a side interaction the real interaction is the connection of the heart so Madhumangal doesn't, Sudama doesn't even mention it because he doesn't he forgets it actually and Krishna doesn't mention it because he feels in comparison with the love that Madhumangal is offering what is the little bit that I can give so Krishna owns everything except one thing and that is our heart and if you offer the devotion of our heart Krishna feels oh you are so charitable Krishna feels grateful and that's a Udara so that is when we relate with Krishna we may have some needs we may ask sometimes but that should never be the central point of the relationship it's just incidental and then we talked about primarily Krishna and Arjuna as operating in a mission in the world that's how we also have to operate in the world so Krishna and Arjuna the first battle they fought together was in Khandav and there Arjuna fought heroically and Krishna took the role of his charioteer so right from the beginning in these relationships Krishna seems to take the lower role the invisible role Arjuna is the heroic role but after that when Benediction is asked Krishna says let my friendship with Arjuna go on forever that's how much Krishna although he has that invisible role he cherishes that friendship and then I talked about toward the end how on the 13th night Arjuna takes that vow and Arjuna goes to sleep and Krishna can't sleep so the world may say Arjuna fought heroically and he won the war but it is the bhakti commentators who reveal that Krishna was an anxiety for protecting Arjuna similarly for us just like Arjuna was on a chariot with Krishna and Arjuna was the main warrior we are on the chariot of the body and we may seem to be grappling with all our problems but it is Krishna who is guiding us from within and who is clearing the path from us from without and if we seem to be struggling it is not because Krishna is uncaring it is because that struggle is required for us to grow it's like the struggle is required for the baby bird to come out of its shell so that its wings are strong enough so that it can fly so for us our struggles are ways in which we come out of our shell of attachment and ignorance and the challenges that come in our life, upheavals they are like the branch under us breaking that is the time when we test our wings and we fly to another branch, to some other shelter and if we keep flying like this serving Krishna and developing our spiritual wings one day we will become strong enough to fly all the way to Krishna and although Krishna never walks for us but he always walks with us and in that way Krishna is Subhrudam Sarvabhoothanam he is the dearest of our friends so let us conclude with a prayer to Krishna that his untiring affection and friendship and benevolence that we start getting more and more realisation of that so that we can reciprocate with him and redirect our lives towards him Shri Krishna Bhagwan ki are there any questions or comments? yes yes I just found it interesting how it sends the doubts getting upset at least I was doing I don't see at least I don't remember any instances where the cowherd boys had any doubt about Krishna it also makes me think of in the bible this is what they say I have no idea what's really going on but when Lord Jesus was on the cross he's on the cross suffering for so long and then he says something like why have you forsaken me oh father yeah so it's similar to so is this yeah that's true so how can pure devotees have doubts it's said even Jesus when he was being crucified he cried out in despair oh father oh father why has thou forsaken me and we don't see Rajivasi having doubt but Arjuna and Draupadi also had this kind of doubts firstly I'm not sure whether the word doubt would be appropriate for this because doubt is something much deeper it's more of a circumstantially induced emotion it is doubt is where we we question Krishna's existence or something like that this is much more circumstantial not so much deep rooted as far as the Rajivasis are concerned there is no explicit like that but the Rajivasis do say to Krishna Krishna when the stormy rains start say Krishna because of you we stopped Indra puja and now see what Indra has done please do something to protect us so it's not exactly a doubt but it is they are pointing at Krishna you got us into trouble so now there are some incidents like that even in in Tamal Krishna Maharaj T.K.G.'s diary the last day of Darshan of Prabhupada so Prabhupada that he had a very long sickness sometimes it appeared to improve and it didn't improve and then it did improve and again it went back so Tamal Krishna Maharaj writes at one point Prabhupada said you know why is this happening to me now Prabhupada also said at one time when he was in Delhi and the cow hit into him when he was returning back to Godhead Prabhupada said I thought why is this happening to me and then we know that his God brother showed him that verse those who have special mercy I take everything away from them they have nothing except me left them so then Prabhupada said I felt very comforted by him so rather than seeing this as a doubt or Vishwanath Chakraborty Chakraborty uses in a different context Dushana and Bhushana Dushana is contamination and Bhushana is ornamentation so just like Krishna has he exhibits a full gamut of emotions in his relationships if Krishna is God then how can he be so agitated by hunger that he becomes angry and starts breaking pots how can Krishna have a headache the spiritual world is beyond all disease, death and all those problems in the world how can Krishna get a headache Krishna's body is transcendental how can blood come out of his body when Bhishma's arrows hit him so now in Krishna's case it is whatever is required to enhance the leela is done so it's like if Krishna always acts like God and a devotee always acts like a pure devotee then the breadth of the relationship will become restricted by that so yes the devotees are pure in the sense that their conviction to serve Krishna is never shaken but some situations can evoke some emotions that's why in the definition of bhakti it is anyabhilashita shunyam it is not anyabhilasha shunyam there is no inclination to ask for any worldly things to ask for anything other than Krishna but although there is no inclination sometimes by some situation somebody might ask something so Draupadi when she is in trouble and she calls out to Krishna for help, now she is desperate at that time you could say that somebody surrendered to Krishna, whatever happens I don't care but she calls out to Krishna for her it's a chastity, it's a dharma it's her life for her in many ways similarly when Sita sees that deer, she says please get this deer now if she has the lord with her why does she want a deer in fact it is said that she has the lord and the deer is away, so to get the deer she sends the lord away now why would she do like that now we could say to somebody that's a contamination but it's understood that her desire was that this deer can be with us while we are in the forest and just one year is remaining we will go back, such a beautiful deer it is it will be like a memento that I will give to my mother-in-law later when we go back a forest memento so the point is that there is a full gamut of emotions that are exhibited and they flavour and sweeten the relationship so when when devotees because of certain circumstances some sort of circumstantial emotions come up that actually is an indication of the depth of their devotion that although their emotion comes up that emotion doesn't deviate them from their devotion that means situations may trigger some emotions but the determination to serve Krishna is never shaken and that emotion if it comes if it doesn't come then it could also be said that they are so transcendental that we can never be like that situations will trigger certain emotions but those emotions are not the basis of their decisions Gurujan Paru I think writes in My Glorious Master that how once they had gone for a morning walk and suddenly became very chilly and then Prabhupada was still continuing instructing his disciples and he was talking with them and then he, I don't remember all the details but then he said Prabhupada isn't it very cold and Prabhupada was continuing talking is it very cold or something like that Prabhupada said that we can tolerate it for Krishna Prabhupada didn't say I am not feeling cold he said we can tolerate it for Krishna so in many ways the mind is just like the body so when the weather goes cold the body has a certain reaction similarly when things go wrong the mind has a particular reaction but the soul is beyond the body and the mind so because of certain situations the body and the mind can have certain reactions which might not seem devotional but the soul's determination to serve Krishna is so strong that in spite of those inimical those unfavourable reactions on the body and mind the soul continues to serve Krishna so now in the case this is how the Christians explain this about Jesus that when he says that oh father why have you forsaken me their understanding is that even even one who is the son of God he can also amid extreme provocation go through moments of despair but they are only moments and after that by the time eventually when he is about to end his life forgive them father for they know not what they do so that means that even for a pure devotee sometimes what exactly is Krishna's plan may not be known as we see in the markine bhagavad dharma also that song which Prabhupada composed there he says so he says Krishna I think you must have some plan for me otherwise why would you have brought me here and the word over there is anumane now anumane it means guess now Prabhupada was strong that devotees don't rely on prateksha anumane praman we rely on shabja praman but if I had Prabhupada saying this is my anumane this is my guess Krishna you must have some plan now what does that mean that means Prabhupada is also it's not that Prabhupada was absolutely clear I'll go here and this person will come over here and I'll go there and this person will come over here Prabhupada had faith that my spiritual master has given me instructions and Krishna will make the instruction come true but how exactly it will happen we may not know so that means we might invest ourselves fully in a particular course of action and when that doesn't seem to be working we might despair and that despair rather than being seen as a contamination of the devotion that despair is seen as ornamentation of the devotion that a devotee is so desperate to serve Krishna when the service is not coming it's not that devotee is uncaring a devotee is deeply emotionally invested but so when a particular plan is not working so when Prabhupada says that Krishna why is this happening to me that when he was in his final days that when Prabhupada was trying maybe take the medicine get healed and again he would have a relapse again he would be healed so what is happening that means what does Krishna want me to do but eventually when it became clear that Krishna wanted him to leave the world and Prabhupada serenely accepted that and that's why when he was asked finally did you have any last desires Prabhupada said ko chicha nahi no desires left so that means when we are trying to serve Krishna in a particular way and that service is not working or that service is completely going haywire then naturally we may be disturbed by that and that disturbance also indicates the intensity of the devotion I remember in my early days when I was just 2-3 years old in the Brahmacharya ashram one devotee had gone for Buddhist tuition and he had lost all the money he had carelessly forgotten the bag somewhere and then the Sankirtan incharge he said he went and told him actually I lost the bag what you lost the money he said no no don't get disturbed Krishna tells in the Bhagavad Gita you should not get disturbed by life's ups and downs laughter so now if you say you are not disturbed but is it because you are so attached to Krishna that you are not disturbed by life's ups and downs or is it you are so irresponsible that you don't care for Krishna or Lakshmi so now if somebody is concerned when the Juhu land was being threatened Prabhupada is concerned Tamal Krishna Maharaj said that when they got the Mayapur land back that night Prabhupada would usually sleep and wake up early so that he could do his translation but that night when Tamal Krishna Maharaj came back he was expected to come in the day time but he didn't come so Prabhupada was awake late in the night so Prabhupada had given Tamal Krishna Maharaj some Lakshmi in cash to go and give and Prabhupada said later on I was afraid that did somebody come and rob you or what happened so that anxiety that despair that anger it's all it ornaments a devotee's devotion so when we are trying to serve Krishna in a particular way and it's not working a devotee might come up with lot of intense emotions associated with that but once it becomes clear this is not what Krishna wants Krishna wants something else that a devotee surrenders to that also that's why we see that Prabhupada was able to accept Prabhupada was able to surrender and that's how Arjuna also at one level he was angry that Abhimanyu had been killed but he didn't keep railing at Krishna although there was one circumstantial emotion but now that's happened it's over don't know why Krishna wanted to go like that but it happened but how can I serve Krishna now so there is dynamism of emotions in a devotee's life also and if we don't if we try to suppress that emotion thinking that oh I am a devotee I should not feel like this then our devotion can become sometimes very artificial we don't want to wallow in those emotions for a long time but sometimes those emotions come up that doesn't necessarily indicate a doubt in the devotion it just indicates the intensity of the devotee's investment in that particular activity you answer the question yes I have one quick question about this I don't know whether my answer will be quick I hope I get a quick answer but your answer was very good just with Draupadi she told Krishna where were you why did you come what did she think when this unlimited saree was coming if she wasn't thinking that this was coming from Krishna where did she think this came from so what did she think about unlimited saree definitely she called out to Krishna and she closed her eyes and the saree expanded so generally what everybody thought over there was sometimes in the Mahabharata movies or TV serials you might see Krishna up there with his hands smiling and saree coming from him it was not like that it was all that happened the saree just didn't get over it did not get exhausted it just kept coming and coming so everybody over there thought that because of her chastity the saree had become expanded so much that so now she prayed to Krishna but she did not really see that it was Krishna reciprocating of course it was Krishna reciprocating but she had a personal relationship with Krishna and there was no personal intervention of Krishna over there that's why she felt Krishna did not come and then later Krishna came into the forest when they had already gone there yes sir thank you very much for this wonderful lecture could you please explain the double double concept of Arjuna the double concept of Arjuna where Krishna met Arjuna somewhere before the current Arjuna sorry what I mean by that is the double concept of Arjuna he said Krishna met Arjuna somewhere before no no before no no it's not that Krishna met Arjuna earlier what I meant was that there is a Gopa by the name Arjuna in Vrindavan it's a different person it is not the Pandava Arjuna it is a Vrajavasi Arjuna they just had the same name so that same name whenever Krishna would refer to Arjuna he would remember the Arjuna of Vrindavan and that's how he would be reminded of Vrindavan it was not that Krishna and Arjuna they had met over there it is just that the name was similar to a character Gopa in Vrindavan is that clear yes sir so we know as aspiring devotees that Krishna arranges whatever happens to us for our advancement but it's not always clear what we should do to take advantage of that situation so how can we how can we know I can accept whatever falls in this Krishna's arrangement he only does that for my advancement but I don't always know what to do or how to react to that situation so what are we doing in such a situation that's tough even if we know that something is for our advancement how do we know what to do in that situation broadly speaking bhakti has two aspects to it one is dependence on Krishna and the other is diligence for Krishna so that which is not in our control we entrust it to Krishna I depend on you for that and what is in our control we do our best we are diligent now if you look at Prabhupada's life at one level Prabhupada tried many different things he tried to help his god brothers start Gaudiya Math he tried to earn money so that he could sponsor his spiritual master's mission he tried to write back to god back to god in India started league of devotees and whenever each translating books so he tried his best and some things worked some things didn't work and Prabhupada moved on so it's that Prabhupada was fixed in purpose but flexible in process the purpose is I want to serve Krishna I want to carry on my spiritual master's mission but exactly how, whatever works so there are different reasons but Prabhupada was asked Prabhupada himself raised the question once that do you know why I went to New York and not to London that when he had to go his god brothers had gone to London at that time I planned eventually to go to London there can be many reasons that was pre second world war London's stock in the world had gone down and New York was much more important city but Prabhupada gave a disarmingly humble answer he said that my god brothers had gone to London and they had failed over there so I thought if I am going to fail let me try at some other place if I am going to fail let me try at some other place so Prabhupada was trying and Krishna arranged for Prabhupada to come at a time when the counter culture was there and not that the audience was easy but at least the audience was open they took time to get convinced but at least they were interested and it worked out so there is no clear it's like the way I think about this is that sometimes we have street lights on our path this is the path and this is how I am going to go but sometimes the street lights go off then we might groan or curse for a few moments but then we turn on our flashlight the flashlight doesn't replace the curse, the street light but the flashlight will show us one step ahead so Krishna in this situation what can I do how do you want me to serve you right now so generally when things have gone wrong in our life at that time if you start thinking about too much long term 5 years, 10 years down the line the variables are so many if somebody has just lost a job or lost a loved one or lost their or got some serious disease at that time you start thinking long term then the sheer number of variables will overwhelm and crush us so at that time amidst unmanageably uncertain times it's best to decrease our working frame of reference, to break our working frame of reference into manageable units of time, that means for the next coming day today time's up time's up that's a great and sweet way of indicating I'll just finish in a minute so we need to we can just decrease the frame of reference to for this one day today can I be can I do the best that I can or can I at least not make a mess of things for one day so one day I can do that we all even no matter how uncertain situations are we can all know that there are many things if we do it particularly we can make things worse sometimes we feel the situation is so terrible I'm just powerless, I can't do anything but no matter how bad things are we can always make them worse I might have a fracture and I might be bed ridden I'm helpless, I can't do anything but I can take a hammer and fracture my other leg also so no matter how bad things are, we can always make them worse and if we can make them worse that means we are not as powerless as we think if we can make them worse that means we can make them better also so we think how can I do the best that I can in this situation do it for one day that gives us some calmness, that gives us some confidence that gives us some connection with Krishna and then one more day that's why about Prabhupada it is said that his head was in the sky in the clouds, but his feet were on the ground and that's how we work in our own small ways so thank you very much Shri Prabhupada Ki Shri Krishna Bhagwan Ki Jai Jai Gaur Premanand.