Isn’t Balaramji’s killing Romharshana just because of failure to offer respects objectionable?

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Swamiji, how do you deal with your subconscious? Hare Krishna.
Question, isn’t Balramji’s killing Romaharshan’s suit, just because he did not offer obeisances, objectionable? Why should somebody be killed, just because that person doesn’t offer obeisances? Answer, the Lord’s activities are of two types. One is to that which has set an example, which we all are meant to follow. And the second is those which demonstrate his supreme position.
So, certain activities which set an example, we are meant to follow them. But the activities which are meant to demonstrate his supreme position are definitely not to be followed. So, if anyone else does like that, that is definitely objectionable.
That is definitely, it will definitely be objectionable. Not only objectionable, but scandalous. Now, let’s look at the specifics of Lord Balram doing this.
So, Balramji came to this assembly of sages, where Romaharshan Suta was speaking, and everybody got up and offered respects to him. But Romaharshan Suta did not. And then, with a blade of grass, Kusha grass, Lord Balram touched him, and just by that contact, Romaharshan Suta left his body.
Now, after this, all the sages, they protested in a sense. They said that we had given a blessing to him, that he was going to have a long life so that he could do the Katha. And now you have falsified the blessing by your actions.
So, please do the needful so that the words are honored. So, now here, we will see that, what is the objection the Brahmins are raising? They are not raising the point that, oh, you killed him. They are not saying, oh, it’s scandalous, why did you kill him? What are they saying? Oh, what about the blessing? And then, what does Balramji say now? The skeptical, cynical attitude towards this whole pastime would be that Balramji is so respect hungry, so power hungry that just a little disrespect made him go into a temper tantrum and made him do something so brutal.
But if that were Balramji’s nature, then Balramji could have done the same thing to all the other sages also. How dare you object to my actions? Now, I’ll punish you. But Balramji doesn’t do that.
He doesn’t take a busha grass and start attacking everyone else, start doing anything to them. What does he say? First thing he says is that if you feel that my action is wrong, then I can bring them back to life if that’s what you want. So, both these actions, first is that he is using a busha grass to kill somebody and secondly he is saying that he can bring that person back to life if that’s what is required.
Both indicate his supreme position. So this is not something that anybody can do and therefore this is not an action to be at all imitated. Now, let’s look at the specifics of the situation more.
What does Balramji say over there? Balramji says that actually here you are learned but your speaking of scripture is simply like an actor reading out or actor reciting a drama plot. The actor may even act as if there are feelings but it’s all a show. Show done as a professional performance for gaining something material.
So the scriptures are ultimately meant to develop our love for Krishna. The same Bhagavatam in which his pastime comes describes that that if rati for the Lord is not developed then everything is simply a waste of time. So, a speaker who does not have attraction to the Supreme Lord and doesn’t want to develop attraction to the Supreme Lord whatever that person does actually that person is going to neither make spiritual advancement oneself nor help others to make spiritual advancement and especially such a person is in a position of spiritual leadership then others will also not be able to make advancement under that person’s insufficient inadequate guidance.
So, here Balramji wants to show in a dramatic way the vital importance of the substance over the appearance. It is not just that Ram Maharshi and Surat disrespected Balramji. That is just an immediate trigger or that is a surface symptom that indicates a deeper malice.
What was that deeper malice? The deeper malice was a lack of internalization of the principles of the scriptures. So, when the scriptures are internalized that reflects itself in many ways. One of the ways is through the sharing of through the offering of respect to respectable people.
That also reflects itself as attraction to the Supreme Lord and the desire to share that attraction with others. So, this pastime where knowledge breeds not humility but pride where knowledge doesn’t fulfill the purpose of knowledge can be socially very misleading and harmful. So, the essential principle of humility and respectfulness is being highlighted in this pastime.
So, Lord Balramji does not repeat that at other times with any other sage. And he himself does, when the sages do atonement, he does atonement for that. So, why does he do atonement? To set an example that if somebody does something which is thought to be wrong by others then that should be corrected.
So, he sets an example for that. Now, when the Lord teaches something sometimes he uses extreme examples to teach vital lessons. Just like, at one level, Chhota Haridas was not culpable for just a glance at a woman who was also elderly.
But Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, through that pastime demonstrates in an extreme way how one should be careful. And Jagranand Pandit, one of his songs says that So, after So, that That, oh mind, you remember the pastime of Vidas Thakur and don’t think about your opposite sex even in dreams, especially when you are in the renounced order of life. So, that pastime illustrates the absolute necessity for the absence of any hypocrisy or any tendency towards questionable behavior among those who are in the renounced order.
That is by no means a pastime to be imitated or repeated. So, similarly, the Balramji chastising Romaharshan Sur is an extreme example meant to demonstrate firstly, the Lord’s supreme position and secondly, his desire to unforgettably imbibe a particular lesson. That is, the need for internalizing scripture in terms of imbibing the qualities of humility and genuine devotion.
So, beyond that, we shouldn’t see this pastime as something to be literally imitated. If it is, then that is definitely objectionable. But when the Lord does it, because the Lord is supreme and because the Lord grants deliverance, liberation to those whom he would kill and because the Lord can counter his actions if he so desires.
So, therefore, this pastime should be understood as a way in which the Lord is demonstrating his supreme position and teaching us a vital lesson. Thank you.