KRISHNA acronym – How Krishna shares his opulences with his devotees

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna. So, on this sacred day of Janmashtami, when Krishna appeared thousands of years ago, we will discuss something about the glories of Krishna. So, I’ll be discussing about the omniscience of Krishna based on an acronym.
Do we have the powerpoint? So, I’ll discuss this, we’ll take the word Krishna, K-R-I-S-H-N-A, and we’ll take this and discuss each of his opulences. Go ahead, next slide. So, I’ll talk about how Krishna shares his opulences with his, Krishna has his opulences and how Krishna shares his opulences with his devotees.
So, I’ll add a little bit of adjustment to the term used for opulences so that it can fit in with the word Krishna. So, K is knowledge, R is enunciation, I is influence. A famous person has influence.
Now, there are some people who are simply famous for being famous. They are somehow a bit of famous. They don’t do much, but because of their faith, they have influence.
So, that is faith. And then S is strength. Now, H is wealth.
In the past, we had landholders who had a lot of land. So, if somebody has some holdings in the temple. So, that is wealth.
Then N is his newness. He’s so beautiful that he always seems new. So, that is newness.
And last A is affection. So, I’ll talk about each quality first. Then I’ll talk about how Krishna exhibits that quality in concept, in terms of analysis.
Then I’ll talk about a pastime which demonstrates that quality. And then we’ll talk briefly about how Krishna exhibits that, shares this opulence with his devotees. So, Krishna is not sometimes, you may think that, oh, you know, Krishna is God, I am his servant.
That means, you know, everything I’m doing for Krishna, what am I going to get out of it? So, you know, everything for Krishna, nothing for myself. What is there for me in it? But actually, this comes from a conception that we and Krishna are separated. We are actually all connected.
We are not one in the impersonal sense. But we are connected in the sense that, actually, we are all parts of Krishna. And whatever Krishna has, we also have.
Mamayvam, Shivji, we are his parts. So, in the connection with him, we experience great fulfilment. And Kulashekhar Maharaj, in his book, Mukunda Mala Stotra, in one verse, he stated that, actually, swasya padasya dātari pare nārāyaṇe tiṣṭhati.
So, he says, nāthena puruṣottame, is that lord nāmanam. Puruṣottam, not our nā, not our master. nāthena puruṣottame, jagatam ekādhipe cetasa.
He is the one lord of all the three worlds. And that lord is our master. And what happens? cetasa sevayasya swasya padasya dātare pare nārāyaṇe tiṣṭhati.
That lord is so transcendental that when we serve him, and he can be served simply by consciousness, cetasa, simply by remembering him. When I go to office, just sit down, boss says, what work are you doing? No sir, I am remembering you. So the boss will not appreciate that you do some work.
But Krishna is such a wonderful lord that just if you remember him, he is pleased by that. And he considers even his remembrance as a service. So cetasa sevayasya swasya padasya dātare.
What does he give? swasya padasya. He gives his own abode. He gives his own opulence.
He shares his opulence with his devotees. And then he says, unfortunately, what happens? yam kanchit puruṣādhamam katipayagrāmeṣaṁ alpārthadam sevāyai nrūyāmahe aho mūḍhāvarākāvayam He says he is contrasting the qualities of the supreme master with the master in this world. So although Krishna is so merciful, he gives so much with so little effort.
But what do we do? He says, actually, we go around begging for some master in this world to engage us in his service. So he says, what is the contrast, the quality is between the supreme master and the master in this world. He says that master is tri-jagatam ekādhipe.
He is the master of all the three worlds. Whereas, any master we may have in this world, katipayagrāmeṣaṁ, you know, he is the, maybe if he is the landlord, he is the owner of a few villages. Now, actually, in today’s world, you know, the boss is just the owner of a few square feet of office here.
It’s not even a few villages. So katipayagrāmeṣaṁ, that person is just a small country owner. And what can that person give us? Alpārthadam.
They can give some money, but it’s alpārthadam. And the nature of the money is that it never feels enough. So it always feels alpārthadam, it always feels to be insufficient.
That’s what Krishna uses his own opulence. And then he further contrasts that actually Krishna is puruṣottama, whereas the masters of this world are puruṣādhama. So puruṣādhama means that actually they are very exploitative.
Quite often, you know, the masters in this world, normally, you know, we all have certain experiences based on which our perceptions are shaped. So say if somebody had a nasty neighbour in their childhood, then they’re always afraid of neighbours, isn’t it? So like that, so if somebody had abusive childhood, then they’re always afraid, always insecure. So like that, based on our experiences, our perceptions are shaped.
And in general, our experience in this world with masters is that most masters are exploitative. They want to give as less as possible and take as much as possible. And because of that, when we come to hear that Krishna is also a master, we carry that conception forward.
And that creates a problem. Prabhupāda says the relationship between Krishna and the devotee is not like the relationship between the master and the servant. In this world, he says, it is the most congenial form of intimacy.
It’s the most congenial form of intimacy. They’re very, very close to each other in a bond of loving service. So he says, my fortune is that Krishna is ready to accept our service.
Whereas, bhūgāyām ahe aho sevāi aho mūḍhā varākāi He says, how fortunate we are that we are going around begging for some master of this world. Please give me some service. Please give me some service.
Please employ me. So basically, the theme which we’ll discuss is how Krishna is not just a master who delights in his own glory. Krishna is a master who delights in sharing his glory with others.
And in that way, there is a joyful reciprocation of love between Krishna and his devotees. So let’s go ahead, knowledge. So now, Krishna is omniscient.
Krishna knows everything. That is one of the defining attributes of God. Vedāṁ samatītāni vartamāṇāni cārjana bhaviṣyāṇi ca bhūtāni māṁ tvedana kṛṣṇa Krishna says that.
He is. He knows past, present, future. He knows all living beings.
But him, no one knows. That is the difference. He is omniscient.
Normally, if somebody is omniscient, there are often movies or novels which talk about big brother is always watching. You know, you have no secrets. Anything you do, there are always, if you do anything anti-national, anti-government, anti-authority, you’ll be caught.
So the idea of somebody being always doing everything, that often causes insecurity. But Krishna’s omniscience is not to catch us. It is to coach us.
He is not interested in catching and punishing us. He’s a well-wisher. And he wants us to improve.
He wants us to become better and better. So just like a coach. Now, a coach is also aware of the faults of the student, of the trainee.
But the coach’s focus is not on the faults. The coach is aware of the faults, but the coach focusses on the potential. So Krishna knows our problems.
Krishna knows our conditions. But Krishna focusses on our potential. And just as the coach’s focus is primarily on helping to develop the potential.
Similarly, Krishna’s focus is always on developing the potential of everyone. And that’s how Krishna uses omniscience to help us grow. And that is illustrated in the Akshaya Patranda.
Now, most of us know this pastime. So I will narrate only that part, which is of relevance to this narrative. So Duryodhana manipulated Durvasa Muni.
So that Durvasa Muni went to Pandava’s place after Draupadi had lunch. And then at that time, the Akshaya Patra would not give any more food. And Durvasa Muni came with his many disciples.
And from this table, it was a dharma centre. Although he was in the forest, but in the forest also he had created a home. And he was hosting brahmanas and he was taking care of guests.
So he said, such a great sages come. And he was fearful, not only because he was violating his… he could not fulfil his duty, but also because he felt that Durvasa Muni is a very short-tempered sage. So quite often what happens is self-control creates the illusion of the self as the controller.
You know, when I am self-controlled, then what happens? I think, you know, I can control my senses, I can control my mind. So I become self-controlled. Now, we want self-control so that we can surrender to the Supreme Self.
So that we can go into the control of the Supreme Self. But what happens, the more we are able to control ourselves, the more we think that I should be able to control everything else also. It can happen.
And when that happens, that’s why quite often sages who are self-controlled in terms of, say, having conquered lust and other sensual desires, they are often quite short-tempered. Why is that? Because one has to be careful that we want to be self-controller, we want to have self-control, but we don’t want that self-control to increase our controlling mentality. So especially if someone is not devoted to Krishna, one is not surrendering to the Supreme Controller, then that self-control actually increases the controlling mentality.
See how controlled I am. So that’s what happened over here to Durvasa Muni also. And he was a self-controlled sage, but he was also known to be short-tempered.
So they didn’t know what to do. So Durvasa Muni said, I’ll just take a bath and come. And Yudhishthira and everyone was panicking.
So Yudhishthira turned to Draupadi. Draupadi worshipped him. Draupadi said, I don’t want to speak to Krishna.
And now she prayed to Krishna. And miraculously enough, as soon as she prayed to Krishna, Krishna right now appeared over there. Now Krishna has his own ways of responding to prayers.
So Krishna appeared and before Draupadi could speak anything to Krishna, Krishna told Draupadi, Draupadi, I’m very hungry. Give me some food. Now you can imagine the plight of Draupadi.
Actually, as it is feeling bad that she’s not able to feed Durvasa Muni. The sage has come to her help. Now she’s not able to feed her lord also.
So it seems as if praying to Krishna has aggravated her problem. And Draupadi says, Krishna, I called you because we did not have any food. Please make some arrangement.
Krishna said, I’ll make arrangement afterwards. You just give me some food. No, I don’t have any food.
I said, just go and check in the Akshaya Patra. There might be something left over there. Now the Akshaya Patra, she went and what did she see? Just one morsel of food over there.
Now normally the emphasis of the story is that it was like one morsel of food Krishna ate and all the sages, you know, they blurt out. You know, they felt, oh, they belched. Oh, I’m full now.
But so Yasmin, Tushtham, Jagat, Tushtham. When Krishna is satisfied, everyone is satisfied. But I would like to focus on something else in the story.
Now how is it that there was that one morsel of food left on that plate? Actually speaking, you know, see, Draupadi was a very meticulous and responsible queen. Like she was so responsible that when she met, when the Dwarkavasis met her, the Dwarka queens asked Draupadi, how do you take, how do you serve? How do you take care of your house? How do you take care of your husbands? So she was such a competent queen and she was a very responsible housewife. And now, normally also I will not keep any vessels unclean, but to speak of some vessel which is very special.
You know, somebody has a golden plate, you know, then we may use it for serving, but as soon as it’s finished, we’ll clean it and keep it very careful. So this Akshaya Patra was such a precious plate for them. So how would she have just kept one morsel of food over there just like that? So we may say that, you know, either she cleaned it herself or she has her maids clean it.
Even in the forest, the Pandavas had a few maids with them. And those maids and maidservants were there. But then they left them when they went to Aghyatvas.
Just disappeared one day, one night they just left. But during that time they were there. So either they were supposed to clean or he was supposed to clean, whatever it was.
But how did that remain unclean? You know, at one level we could say it was a mistake. But what happened? Krishna knew that the morsel of food was there. But what did Krishna do? Krishna is so expert that he can bring good even out of our mistakes.
You know, Draupadi apparently committed a mistake by leaving a morsel over there. And Krishna did not catch that and say, you don’t clean your house properly, you don’t clean your utensils properly. No, Krishna took that and used it for, you know, fulfilling his plan.
So he just took that one morsel of food and he ate it. He was satisfied and everyone was satisfied. So even when Krishna knows our faults, Krishna has got a fault finding God.
You know, Krishna knows our faults, but his purpose is of helping us to overcome the faults. In the Vishnu Sahasranam it is said that, अनिमिष्यो निमिष्य स्वाग्रि वाचस्पतिर्दारधि अनिमिष्यो निमिष्य। So अनिमिष्य means one who never blinks his eyes. निमिष्य means one who blinks his eyes.
So it is said that the Supreme Lord, he never blinks his eyes and he also blinks his eyes. So how can we have two contradictory qualities like this? So it is described, बलेज द्यावुष्यन, it is a commentary on the Vishnu Sahasranam, and then it describes that actually when a devotee is trying to serve sincerely and at that time the devotee somehow commits a mistake, then Krishna blinks his eyes and overlooks the mistake. So Krishna blinks his eyes and overlooks the mistakes.
That means Krishna blinks his eyes. That is how it is understood. And the example of this is actually Putana.
And Putana came to, she had a both. She had a little bit of a service attitude. She was offering Krishna milk, but she had a malicious intention.
She wanted to poison Krishna. So what did Krishna do? Krishna closed his eyes. Krishna closed his eyes and took away not just her life hair, that is one part Krishna took away.
If you just see that, that is the external image. Krishna also took away her malevolent mentality. Krishna took away her sinful desires.
And what did he do? That demoness who had come, what did Krishna do? Krishna elevated her dhatri. He made her into his own nurse. So what does Krishna do? Krishna overlooked the faulty part, highlighted the small part of service that was there, and he magnified and elevated her ways from that.
So Krishna sees the potential. Krishna doesn’t see the fault. He’s aware of the fault, but that is not his focus.
That is the meaning of earning it, of earning it. One who blinks his eyes. The other is one who does not blink his eyes.
So what does it mean, one who does not blink his eyes? That means that if a devotee, Baldev Devashankar explains, that if a devotee is rendering service, then Krishna unblinkingly notices even the smallest service that is being done. Sometimes you may feel, I am doing so much service, maybe the temple authorities don’t know, my counsellor doesn’t know, my spiritual master doesn’t know. What is happening? You know, is this service being counted for? Actually, it is.
Even if nobody knows, we can, if we are doing services, we should report to our authorities. But it is not necessary that the reward of the service depends on the world doing it. Krishna knows it and Krishna is the reward.
And we know that Leela of, once Krishna was with Arjuna in Indraprastha. At that time, Krishna and Arjuna were talking, so Draupadi came there and she offered some fruits to Krishna. And she offered some fruits.
At that time, she saw that Krishna and Arjuna were talking intimately, so she just decided to leave. As of then, Krishna took up a fruit and started cutting the fruit. As he was cutting, you know, the knife slipped and his finger got cut.
Now his finger got cut, some blood started coming out. What did Draupadi do? Without looking at it, she had a silk sari, just ripped apart her silk sari and started bandaging Krishna. She was in anxiety and Krishna was smiling.
Krishna was smiling. Krishna told her, Hey Draupadi, for this service, I will reward you. She offered a small piece of sari.
And what did Krishna do? Krishna gave her unlimited sari. When her honour was being challenged, at that time, Samacharya said that Krishna did not just give her sari, Krishna actually incarnated as her sari. Krishna himself came and he said, Krishna is an exhaustible, that sari will make him an exhaustible.
So Krishna, unfailingly, unblinkingly, knows even the smallest service that we do and we reward their service. So Krishna’s omniscience is there for us. It benefits us.
And that’s why when we know that Krishna is omniscient, at one level, we may feel very insecure. If I do something wrong, you know, Krishna knows it. Yes, Krishna knows it, but he wants us to overcome it and he’s there to help us for overcoming it.
So that is the knowledge. Let’s go ahead. How does Krishna, so we’ll be discussing, each of us will discuss how Krishna shares this knowledge with others also.
Now, only God is omniscient. No one else is omniscient. But by God’s grace, others can also exhibit phenomenal levels of knowledge.
And this is demonstrated in the Srimad Bhagavatam itself, in chapter 9 of the first canto, where first it is described that when Yudhishthira Maharaj was disconsolate after the Kurukshetra war, because he thought that I was, my greed for a kingdom was responsible for this colossal bloodshed. And he felt I have no right to rule the kingdom. I should just renounce the forest and commit penance for atoning for this sin of causing so much bloodshed.
So at that time, all the Pandavas, they tried to convince Yudhishthira. Draupadi tried to convince Yudhishthira. Kunti spoke.
There were great sages. Vyasa spoke. They all spoke.
Krishna himself spoke. And none of them were able to persuade Yudhishthira. And then what happened? Krishna said, let us go to Bhishma.
And actually the leela is described very briefly in the Mahabharata, in the Mahabharata, just one chapter. In the Mahabharata, actually this goes on over the Shanti Parva and the Anushasan Parva. So it’s where the 11th, 12th Parvas, they are among the longest Parvas in the Mahabharata.
And there, elaborate discussions there between Bhishma and Yudhishthira. So before it starts, when Krishna comes, gets Yudhishthira in front of the Pandavas, of Bhishma, and says Yudhishthira desires to hear about dharma from you. So at that time, Bhishma says, Oh Lord, you are the master.
You are the teacher. You are the knower of everyone and everything. What can I tell you? What can I speak in front of you? What can the students speak in front of the master? Krishna says, Oh Bhishma, you are supreme.
You are learned. There is no one in the world with knowledge that you have. Please share this knowledge with the world.
And then Bhishma says, But, no, I am in so much pain. My voice, my body strength is going. My voice is so weak.
My memory is failing. So Krishna says at that time, Oh Bhishma, I will bless you. From this moment onwards, till the moment you leave your body, you will feel no pain.
You will have the strength that you had in your youth and health. And your memory will be totally clear. And speak, Oh Bhishma.
So then Bhishma speaks phenomenal instructions. Now, there are devotees who have rendered the Mahabharata. There are many devotees in this con who have rewritten the Mahabharata.
Now, I talk to those devotees and I look at the original Mahabharata. They said that normally the Mahabharata, if you retell it, it is around 500, 600, 800 pages. But actually speaking, if we just look at Bhishma’s instructions in the Anushasan in the Shanti Parva, the whole Mahabharata if you stick to the story is 500 pages.
But just the instructions over there will become five times more. That itself is around thousands of pages actually. So Bhishma spoke all this on his deathbed.
Such is the way Krishna shares his opulence with Bhishma. And similarly is Prabhupada. Now Prabhupada, he would go out all over the world and he would discuss and he would debate.
And Prabhupada would say that, you know, I am not a great scientist, but when I make arguments, you know, I am able to challenge and counter all objections. So Prabhupada wanted us to become learned and we used to use our intelligence. But along with that, we also depend on Krishna.
So it is not that Krishna has all the knowledge and it is not like he keeps all the secrets with him. He shares that knowledge with everyone and that is his opulence. Go ahead.
So renunciation. So now normally renunciation, so the word Bhagwan means Bhagwan. One who has opulences.
One is possessor in Dhanvan. So like Bhagwan is one who has Bhag opulences. So the Acharyas have described six opulences.
One of them is Vairagya, renunciation. So now, you know, again we may wonder, is renunciation really an opulence? How many people are attracted to the Vendi? But how many people are attracted to the renounced? We may say not many. All the people who are attracted to renunciation, they are attracted to the fruit of renunciation.
That is, if somebody is very peaceful, somebody is very cool, like, you know, in cricket if a batsman stays very calm and cool even under pressure, you know, he is very much praised. India’s former test captain was called as Captain Cool. Why is he called that? Because he would stay very cool.
So that is considered very special. People ask him, how do you stay so cool? So he said that actually I get also agitated but I don’t show it. Everybody feels pressure.
But the point is, if somebody can stay peaceful or appear peaceful, people are attracted to that. Or if there is pressure and then people just crumble and they get stressful and they do foolish things and they crumble under pressure. So there is a cricket team which does that.
So that team has got the label of chokers. They always choke under pressure. So they choke.
So basically, we may not be attracted to renunciation. The fruit of renunciation is composure, is calmness. And that is something everyone is attracted to.
Now, Krishna, how is he renounced? His renunciation is that he is not attached to his creation. Krishna has made this beautiful world and Krishna’s renunciation, we can see at three levels. First level is that Krishna, suppose a painter is there.
If a painter, normally any painter makes a painting at the bottom somewhere, they write their name. Isn’t it? They won’t credit, I have made this world. I have made this painting.
So Krishna made this world which is far, far more beautiful, artistic and marvellous than any artist’s work. But Krishna does not directly claim that this belongs to him in a way that is evident to everyone. Now, looking at this world, if people want to be atheists, they can be atheists also.
Actually, if you look at the world, how it works is that the evidence of the world can reinforce theism for the theists and the evidence of the world can reinforce atheism for the atheists. How is that? Now, theists may look at the world and say, you know, we all need water and there is such a marvellous arrangement for giving water. What is that? You know, water is there in the oceans and then it goes up as clouds, the sun raises the water and then when the clouds are formed, cloud is what? Normally, you know, if you have any water bottle or you have any water container, there is always a fear of leakage.
If there is little, that lid is not covered, a small hole is there, everything gets spoiled. And the water tanker is there, if there is a leak, the tanker goes from one to other place, but there is no water. But the cloud is like a mobile airborne aircraft-proof water tank.
It is not just bulletproof, but aircraft-proof. You know, even the designers of the twin towers could not make aircraft-proof technology. But Krishna makes something like this.
It’s so magnificent. So, if we just look at the mechanism by which we get rains, then there is so much intelligence involved over there. For the theists, this will point to God’s marvellous intelligence manifest over it.
But for the atheists, they will say, you know, if you say God created the mechanism of clouds for rains, then why does it rain on the oceans? There is no need for water over there. Why does it rain on the oceans? Why does it rain on the seas? Why does it rain on the rivers? Yes, the answer is, it rains on the rivers and oceans so that atheists can ask this question and defy God. So, eko bahunam yo viddhati kamaan.
He says, that one Lord maintains all living beings. Now, the specific quote of the Upanishad is, He maintains their desires. So, if somebody desires to be atheistic, this world will give them reasons to be atheistic also.
So, Krishna does not make his omnipotence, make his presence, make his artistry very evident over here. The evidence is there for those who want to see. But those who want to deny, he doesn’t force it.
So, that is his detachment. He’s made this world, but he doesn’t force everyone to acknowledge that this is the world I have created. That is his detachment.
Further, somebody makes a beautiful painting. And then somebody comes and, you know, just throws some paint on it. The whole gets spoiled.
And the painter comes, painter will get angry. What is this? Why did you do this? So, Krishna has made this beautiful creation. But if we see, we human beings have in many ways spoiled it.
Especially, the way the industrialisation has spread. And because of that, so much land has become dirty, barren, wasteland. There was an environmentalist who went around the earth in a helicopter.
And he made a movie of what he could see from the helicopter. And it was remarkable, you know, all the natural parts, wherever there was nature, it was so beautiful. And the cities also, as long as there are buildings, metropolis, it looked beautiful.
But around the cities, it’s just like a person has a beautiful space, but somewhere they have a scar. The scar just stands out. Like that, wherever humanity has touched, the earth looks like it is scarred.
So, where we are living, we might keep things clean. But around us, there is so much non-degradable waste that is created. And it creates so much pollution of the earth, not just in terms of air, water or land, but also in terms of visual scene.
It looks so terrible. And there are many scientists who are worried, you know, what do we do with all this waste? There is so much waste all around. If we burn it, it pollutes the air.
If we bury it, it will pollute the land and the crops will get polluted. If we put it in the ocean, then it will poison the fish and we want to eat the fish. So, what to do? So, some of them are thinking, we will put all the non-biodegradable waste in a satellite on top of a rocket and send it into outer space.
This is a serious proposal. So, we are not satisfied by polluting the earth, we want to pollute the space also now. So, the thing is that actually God, he has made this beautiful creation, but he has renounced.
If you want to play around with it, if you want to spoil it, then spoil it. That is a renunciation. He has made this, but he leaves it to us, to what we want to do with it.
Further, actually, in his Leela also, he demonstrates renunciation. One of the most misunderstood Leelas of Krishna is his Leela of Raas Leela. Now, the Raas Leela is actually a very exalted pastime which demonstrates love in its pure and highest form.
So, the Bhagavad Gita says that this world is a reflection of the spiritual world. So, just as all the relationships that are there in this world, they are there in Krishna. Why? Because in a reflection something is there, it has to be there in reality.
So, what is there in this world? It is present in its original and pure form in Krishna. So, the male-female attraction is a very powerful force in this world and that male-female attraction comes from the original attraction between the divine couple. So, Krishna and Radha, they are the original divine couple and the attraction that is there between them, that is reflected in a fragmented and often a perverted way in this world.
So, when Krishna performed the Raas Leela, what exactly happens? It is that Krishna, it is said, right in the beginning it is said, Krishna took shelter of Yogamaya. And normally, you know, the Bhagavad Gita is very clear, that it is, this is my Maya Krishna, this is Mahamaya, this is his Maya. So, what is this Yoga? Everybody takes shelter of Krishna.
The Bhagavatam teaches, Bhagavatam discusses ten subjects and the last of them is Krishna, who is the Ashraya. Everything else is Ashruta. And yet, that person who is the Ashraya, who is the supreme shelter, the Bhagavatam itself is saying that he, Yogamaya Mupa Ashritaha, he took shelter of Yogamaya.
So, what is going on here? How can Krishna take shelter of Yogamaya? So, actually, what, now the word Yogamaya itself is, what is, in English it is called as a oxymoron. You know, oxymoron means, when two words which are contradictory are brought together. That is a oxymoron.
So, if somebody says, you know, he is a brilliant fool. Either he is brilliant or he is foolish. How can you say somebody is a brilliant fool? So, the point is, what usually it means is that, Prabhupada says many of the modern intellectuals, they are intelligent fools.
What it means, their intelligence is there, but it is directed towards a foolish person. So, oxymoron means two opposite words are brought together for a particular purpose of emphasis. So, actually, Yogamaya is an oxymoron.
Why? Because maya is that which covers us and takes us away from Krishna. And yoga is that which takes us towards Krishna. So, how can Yogamaya come together? Yoga takes us towards Krishna, maya takes us away from Krishna.
So, what is this Yogamaya? So, Yogamaya, normally illusion takes us away from Krishna. But Yogamaya causes the illusion that takes us closer to Krishna. Yogamaya is that divine energy that causes the illusion which takes us closer to Krishna.
So, Yashodamayi, if she thinks Krishna is God, she cannot discipline Krishna, she cannot chastise Krishna. She cannot think that if I don’t feed Krishna, Krishna will starve, Krishna will become weak, Krishna may even die. She cannot think that if she thinks Krishna is actually the giver of food to everyone.
So, therefore, in order to intensify the love between Krishna and his devotees, Krishna arranges for this energy of Yogamaya. And this energy of Yogamaya is his energy and he takes shelter of Yogamaya at times. He takes shelter of Yogamaya and what does he do by taking shelter of Yogamaya? He actually seems to come under illusion.
He never comes under illusion. But it appears as if he has come under illusion so that he can perform pastimes. So, it is not only Yashoda who forgets that Krishna is God.
At times, Krishna also forgets that I am God. Krishna thinks that, oh, Yashoda, if she is angry and she beats me, the beating will hurt me. I have to run away from here.
Otherwise, I will get beaten. So, that is, so Krishna Leela is in that sense the divine illusion. It is illusion, but it is illusion that actually increases devotion.
Illusion that actually takes us closer to Krishna. So, here it is Yogamaya Upashyata. What does it mean? At this time, in the middle of the night, on Shalak Purnima, Krishna had a desire to perform Leela with his gopis.
And this is described in five chapters of Srimad Bhagavatam, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33. So, it’s like actually these five chapters are like a five-act play. In the 29th chapter, Krishna plays his flute and calls the gopis.
And there is some discussion between the two. In the 30th chapter, as the gopis are about to start dancing, the dance is about to happen. At that time, Krishna disappears from them.
And the gopis search frantically for Krishna. They go deep into the forest. So deep that the forest, the thicket, the trees, the vegetation is so thick that even the moonlight cannot penetrate over there.
And the gopis finally feel, you know, we can’t find Krishna over there. And then in despair, they come back and sit on the banks of the Yamuna. And there they offer prayers.
And those prayers are told in the 31st chapter. There is a gopi who told. Very beautiful prayers.
Where basically they say, Krishna, you are the giver of fortune to everyone. Why are you causing misfortune to us? Please come back. They fervently pray to Krishna.
And then Krishna finally, at the end of the 31st chapter, the start of the 32nd chapter, Krishna comes back. And then as they are about to start, the gopis are a little angry with Krishna. How did you leave us and go away like this? We gave up everything for you and you just left us.
What kind of lover are you? So there is a very beautiful discussion on the nature of love over there. And then Krishna says that actually I go from my devotee just to increase their love for me. And then 33rd chapter, actually there is a culmination where the gopis and Krishna perform their rasa dance.
So now here, where they actually dance in the rasa dance. So now here, what happens is Krishna is there with all these beautiful gopis. And what happens? Suddenly at one moment, if you consider this to be like a romantic drama, when the boy and the girl come together, and then suddenly, now the moment of enjoyment will come.
But at that time, Krishna just leaves. How can Krishna just leave like that? Explained by the Acharyas at multiple levels. Firstly, Krishna is not attached.
Krishna is renounced. Krishna doesn’t need anyone for enjoyment. He has a relationship which enhances his happiness.
But he doesn’t need anyone for his happiness. He is Atmara. But another deeper level of understanding is that actually Krishna does not like pride in his devotees.
So the gopis become proud thinking, oh, we are so fortunate. Krishna is with us. Now Krishna has called us and Krishna is with us and Krishna is performing leela with us.
When Krishna sees that, at that time, when he sees their pride, he disappears. So Krishna dislikes pride even in devotees as exalted as his gopis. But in the Aniruddha Vachampu by Kavi Karanapur, he gives a deeper explanation.
He says, he actually reveals the thinking of the gopis and the thinking of Krishna and of Radha. What happens is, as all the gopis are performing leela with Krishna, Krishna has expanded into as many gopis are there. And each gopi feels Krishna is with me.
And they feel so fortunate. They feel so blessed. And then they suddenly look around and they say, oh, Krishna is there with everyone.
And then the gopis, they all love Krishna, but they all love Radha Rani. And Radha Rani is their chief gopi. She is, as the Chetan Chetan would say, that she is a prema ratna khani.
You see, she is the queen of the gopis and she is the reserve, mine of the jewels of love for Krishna. So the gopis want to demonstrate the supreme position of Krishna to Radha Rani. And in order to demonstrate their position, they feel that if Krishna is with all of us, then people will think that we are all equal.
But no, they want to demonstrate that Krishna, Radha Rani is the highest. So they act as if they are proud. And Radha Rani doesn’t act like that.
So what happens is Krishna goes away with Radha Rani. Krishna leaves all the gopis. And when Krishna leaves all the gopis to go only with Radha Rani, at that time Radha Rani’s special position is demonstrated.
Now the nature of love is that both the people who love each other, they think about each other. So the gopis are thinking about glorifying Radha Rani. And Radha Rani’s singular position should be demonstrated.
But at the same time, when Radha Rani sees that, oh, Krishna has left everyone, Krishna has come with me alone deep into the forest. Initially she is delighted, oh, how much Krishna loves me, that Krishna has left everyone to come with me. But at the next moment, she starts thinking, but what about Lalita, what about Vishaka, what about Palika, all of them, how much agony they will be in when they are separated from Krishna.
How can I be happy when Krishna, when they are unhappy, and they will be devastated, heartbroken. They will be on the verge of death to be without Krishna. I cannot enjoy without them.
And that’s why Radha Rani also puts on an act. And Radha Rani says, Krishna, we have come so deep into the forest, we have come so fast, and I am feeling tired. I cannot go any further.
So Radha Rani’s thinking is that if I say that, we cannot go any further, then Krishna will stop over here. And the gopis will be searching for us, and they will come to us, and Krishna can be with all of us also. So with that thinking, Radha Rani says, Krishna, I cannot go any further.
Now, Krishna takes a viparita vow. And Krishna says, no, I cannot get a palanquin for you in the forest. So if you are tired, then you just get on my back and I will carry you.
Now Radha Rani is actually thinking of the gopis. And she doesn’t think that Krishna will get angry. When Krishna gets angry, she turns around to Krishna.
And then, is Krishna really angry? Is Krishna serious? Is Krishna really asking me to climb on his back? What is happening? And she just says, she looks at Krishna, Krishna disappears from there. And Krishna just leaves her. And then Radha Rani understands that Krishna thought that I became proud.
And that’s why Krishna has left me and gone away. She thinks like this, Krishna has gone away, Krishna has left me. She swoons in agony, falling on the ground.
And Kali Karnapur says, actually, that swoon, Nidra Devi came to save Radha Rani’s life. Because if Radha Rani had been conscious, and she thought that Krishna is angry with me and Krishna has left me, she would not have been able to maintain her life. So by falling unconscious, she was no longer conscious that Krishna is pleased with me.
And that’s how she was able to maintain her life. And meanwhile, the gopis were further coming along. And when they saw, they were looking, they were acting like detectives.
They were trying to look at the footprints and see. They saw Krishna’s footprints and they saw there’s one more footprint. And there is a small feet.
This is a female. Who is this special gopi? Who is there in Krishna? And then they were trying to deduce. Maybe it is this gopi, that gopi.
And they’re looking around. All these gopis are here. Who is it? Trying to find out.
As they came forward and they saw Krishna’s footprints moving at one point alone. And they looked around. What had happened was Krishna and Radha Rani were talking.
And then Krishna was at this place. Radha Rani was at this place. And it was very dark.
So they saw the footprints. And they suddenly saw Krishna’s footprints alone. What happened? And they looked around and they saw Radha Rani falling unconscious.
And then initially, whatever little negative feelings they had, who is this special gopi within Krishna has gone, leaving all of us. They’re thinking like this. But when they saw Radha Rani also in the agony of separation from Krishna, then all negative feelings disappeared.
They immediately went and got some water, sprinkled some water and consoled Radha Rani. And they consoled her and reassured her. That soon we’ll find Krishna.
That Krishna will come back. So here, actually Krishna demonstrates his renunciation by leaving the gopis. Now Krishna, later on we’ll describe in 32nd chapter.
That why does he leave his gopis? So that their love for him can increase. In separation, their longing for him increases. In that longing, their absorption in him increases.
In this way, their affection for him increases. So Krishna is in that sense the ultimate selfless lover. He is a lover.
Normally, when we think of somebody who is renounced, we may think of them as unloving. You know, if you are renouncing, how can you be loving? But Krishna’s renunciation is not in being unloving. His renunciation is in being selflessly loving.
So renunciation in that sense is not hard-heartedness. Hard-heartedness means one does not have any feelings. Renunciation means that one does not come under the control of unhealthy feelings.
So renunciation is not lack of feeling. It is lack of being controlled by lower feelings. Krishna’s renunciation is not that he is not a lover.
But that he is the selfless lover. The supremely selfless lover. So this is his renunciation.
And now, not only Krishna has his renunciation, Krishna shares renunciation with others. So Krishna, what does he do? He helps his devotees to become renounced. That means that actually Krishna, he helps his devotees to become renounced so that they can become devoted.
When you practise bhakti to Krishna, Krishna offers himself to us. We experience Krishna within the heart. And the experience of Krishna is so joyful.
It is so thrilling. It is so fulfilling that by the experience of Krishna in our heart, we feel this is the experience I want more and more. I don’t need any other experiences.
I long to remember Krishna. I long to love Krishna. I long to become absorbed in Krishna.
And in that way, we become detached from other things. So Krishna shares his appearance of renunciation by enabling his devotees to become renounced. And that’s why the path of bhakti, renunciation is not the end.
It is the means to the end of savouring and sharing Prema. We want to be renounced from everything other than Krishna so that we can become absorbed in Krishna. And Krishna helps devotees to become renounced in this way.
Sometimes you may feel that, actually, I’m trying to practise bhakti, but my attachments are holding on to me. I’m not able to give them up. Yes, it may happen.
So Krishna wants us to become renounced, but again, he wants us to become renounced so that we can become devoted. Sometimes, you know, if you become renounced, okay, I have some bad habit, I give up this bad habit. We may give up some lower desires, but if we become proud of our renunciation, then we will not go closer to Krishna.
So what happens is, we may renounce, say, lust or greed or anger or such lower desires, but we become proud. And when we become proud, proud is a bigger obstacle. So what happens sometimes when we struggle with our senses and we fall again and again to the lower senses, then what happens? It is not that Krishna is not helping us.
It is, if we are able to control our senses very easily, we think, oh, I am the controller of my senses. We become proud. But we struggle against our senses, fall repeatedly, and then we realise, I cannot do this on my own.
Eventually, when we get sense control, we understand this has come by Krishna’s mercy. So that sense control, which comes with the awareness that this has come by Krishna’s mercy, that sense control does not make us proud. That sense control brings humility.
So that’s how Krishna shares his opulence in terms of renunciation, not only making us renounce from the desires of, say, sense gratification, but he helps us to become renounced from pride also. That is, he shares his renunciation. Go ahead.
So influence or fame, we may say. Now, Krishna is the most famous of all the endings. So now we may say, well, there are so many people who are famous in this world.
Yes, that is true. But whatever anyone has that makes them famous, that comes from Krishna. But there are people who are very famous, and because they are famous, because they say, cricketer bats very nicely, or a musician plays music very nicely, a singer sings very nicely.
But then that fame is there for some time, after that time it goes away. That fame doesn’t stay forever because that fame does not belong to them. But whatever it is that is making them famous, that is coming from Krishna.
And it is that all fame belongs to Krishna. Now some people may say that, no, but Krishna, how many people know him in this world? He is a Hindu God. He is thought of as a Hindu God.
So maybe a quarter of the world’s population knows. Many people who don’t even know who is Krishna. So when Sri Prabhupada went to America, many people actually had not heard of Krishna also.
So one of Sri Prabhupada’s disciples was Henry, he was a professor in English in Ohio State University. So when he was giving class, while he was talking about English literature, and English literature, talking about God, he would talk sometimes about how Krishna is God. So some of the students apparently reported to his, reported to the college authorities.
And the principal called him. And then he said, I have heard, we have heard that you are talking about God in your classes. He says, Sir, I don’t know about any rule which says I cannot talk about God.
Now he says, I am not saying that, I am not imposing. At that time the secularism was not such an aggressive issue. He says, no, talking about God is not the problem.
You know, if say some Wordsworth or Shakespeare talked about God, you can also talk about God. That’s not a problem. But you are talking about a strange conception of God.
So he says, what is your conception of God, Sir? I don’t have any conception of God. At that time it was fashionable to be agnostic. So, you know, I don’t have any conception of God.
Then if you don’t have any conception of God, how can you say that my conception of God is strange? How can you say that? You are no conception. No, no, no, but you are saying that God is a cowboy. You may have heard of western cowboy movies, you know, where they wear hats and they have guns and they go on horses.
He says, no, God is not a cowboy. He is a cowherd boy. So what is it? But you are saying that God is black? At that time there was a civil rights movement which was increasing.
So there is this issue of whites and blacks. So God is black? No, God is blue. This completely flummoxed them over there.
So now we may say there are so many people in the world who do not know about Krishna. The thing is that even if they don’t know specifically about Krishna, they do know about God. Even if they don’t believe in God, they still have.
See, God means the absolute truth. So everybody has some conception of the absolute truth. And that way, in that sense, nobody can have, be completely disconnected from God.
I’ll come to this a little bit later on suddenly. But the point is that fame is, and Krishna’s fame is an eternal opulence. It does not depend on the contextual reality.
It’s like, you know, there’s a billionaire. There’s the wealthiest person in the whole world. The person in the front page of Fortune magazine or whatever.
So how many thousands of people know that person all over the world? But there will be a cockroach in that person’s house and cockroach in the nose. Cockroach will think, oh, this person is coming in my way. So what happens? Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Ram, Hare Ram, Ram Ram, Hare Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Ram, Hare Ram, Ram Ram, Hare Hare.
So even if the cockroach does not know, cockroach doesn’t know about the trillionaire or whatever it is, still that person’s wealth is an objective fact irrespective of whether some people know about him or not. Like that Krishna is a supremely famous person. Even if in this darkness of Kali Yuga, there are many people who do not know about Krishna’s greatness.
That is because his greatness is an eternal fact that is integral to him. That is not dependent on the awareness of others. Just like the sun is the source of the fulgence.
But if there is something like a owl which opens its eyes only at night, it can never see the sun. But that does not change the objective fact that sun is source of light. Really? Krishna is the reservoir of fame irrespective of people know about him or not.
Go ahead. Now Krishna is not only famous, but he shares his fame with others. Now when he descended to this world, he did not simply, I am the king of all kings.
He took the position of the emperor. What did Krishna do? Even for his own dynasty, he did not become the king. He had Ugrasen become the king.
And actually speaking normally, when the father is the king, then the son becomes the king. After the son, then the son’s son will become the king or whoever comes after that to power will become the king. So, Ugrasen had been the king, but Kamsa was the son of Ugrasen and Kamsa had overthrown Ugrasen.
So, at that time, Kamsa had overthrown Ugrasen. What happened? Krishna, he did a lot of tyranny. Kamsa did a lot of tyranny for a long time.
When Krishna overthrew Kamsa, the Yadus said, now you should become the king. Krishna said, I cannot become the king. Ugrasen is the eldest and he should become the king.
So, Krishna gave the fame to Ugrasen and himself remember, remained just one prince in the Yadu dynasty. And not only that, even when it was the time to have the world emperor anointed, Krishna did not choose to himself become the world emperor. He did not even choose to have the world emperorship in his own dynasty.
Ugrasen said, okay, my dynasty, I can’t become the world emperor. At least a member of my dynasty will become. No, Krishna did not bring the Yadus, the emperor of the world.
He had the Kurus become the emperor of the world. So, Yudhishthira patishthata barhi barhava kamsaka In the Krishna stotra shatana, in the Brahmanda Purana, they said that two names of Krishna are given here. What is that? Yudhishthira patishthata.
He established Yudhishthira as the king of the world. He offered him the crown that belonged to the emperor of the world. And for himself, what did he take? Barhi barhava kamsaka.
He simply took a peacock feather for himself. And the peacock feather was the opulence. So, Krishna actually shares the fame that he has with his devotees.
In fact, he makes his devotees extraordinarily famous. Now, that is Krishna’s goal. Krishna wants to make his devotees famous.
But as far as the devotees are concerned, they are interested in making Krishna famous. Their desire is to glorify Krishna. All these opulences, Krishna will give to us.
But if we start changing the opulences, then we go away from Krishna. So, obsession with fame deprives us of praise. What happens is, if I am too God, how famous am I? How famous am I? Do people know me or not? Then what happens? I am thinking about myself and how much people know me.
I am not thinking about Krishna. If I am not thinking about Krishna, then I cannot become absorbed in Krishna. So, it is Krishna’s part that he uses opulence.
But the devotee does not look for opulence. The devotee looks primarily for Krishna. That is his fame.
Go ahead, please. So, Krishna has the opulence of strength. Now, when we say Krishna has the opulence of strength, this does not only mean that Krishna is the strongest of all the Indians.
That is true. But in the Prabhakar Dheela, when Hiranyakashipu asks Mahalav, what is the source of your strength? When I raise my eyebrows, at that time, even the Gods tremble in fear. And what to speak of eyebrows? I am raising my voice.
I am attacking you and still you are fearless. What is the source of your strength? Now, he is thinking because Prahlad is a small five-year-old boy, he says, you know, if some small person starts challenging a big person, you know, that big person will think that there is somebody behind you is opponent. Otherwise, how do you have the audacity to challenge him? So, like that, he is asking who is behind you? Who is behind you, he is asking.
So, now, what is Prahlad Maharaj’s reply? What is the source of your strength? Prahlad says, the source of my strength is also the source of your strength. And he is also the source of the source of your strength. The source of your strength is Brahma.
Brahma has given a benediction, why would you have become so powerful? And he is the source of the source of your strength also. Now, at one level, this might seem just like cheekiness. You know, somebody talks back.
Somebody asks a question and you answer in a very provocative way. So, it may seem like cheekiness. But Prahlad is not just being unnecessarily provocative.
Prahlad is actually conveying the philosophical truth over there. What is that truth? You know, Prahlad, Hiranyakashipu has this conception that there is a hierarchy of being. You know, I am here, say like if you are a tennis players, you know, somebody is the number 10 rank now.
Personally, you know, if I just move up, move up, one day I will become one. So, right now there is someone with the number one player. And if I just keep moving up, moving up, there is a hierarchy, I can become the number one player.
So, he is thinking that there is a hierarchy of beings. I am here now. The devatas were above me, but I have one of all the devatas now.
Then Brahmaji is above me and above me is Vishnu. So, he is thinking there is a hierarchy of being like that. If I just become more and more powerful, I will come to the top in that hierarchy of being.
So, that is his conception. Prahlad is telling him this conception is not true. You know, God is not just at the top of the hierarchy of all beings.
You know, Krishna is not just the best of all beings. He is the basis of all being. Nothing can exist without Him.
God exists in His own category. Sometimes for the sake of comparison, we may say that Brahma has 50 qualities, Shiva has 55 qualities, Vishnu has 60 qualities, Krishna has 64 qualities. This is simply for analysing in a particular way.
Actually speaking, Krishna has unlimited qualities. The Bhagavatam also says that. So, the point is that Krishna is not just the best in a hierarchy of beings.
Krishna is completely out of that hierarchy. Krishna is in His own category. And Prahlad wants to contribute this to Hiranyakashipu.
He says, don’t compete with Vishnu. You cannot compete with Him. Because you know, you cannot replace Him because you cannot exist without Him.
So, He is completely in a different category. That’s why He is the source of the strength of everyone. Krishna, of course, demonstrates extraordinary strength.
You know, in Govardhan Nila, what did He do? Great! Indra thought that I have great strength. And I am the king of all the gods. And he thought I have this power to cause rains.
And with that rains, He caused such tremendous devastation and love. Normally, you know, it’s a one wrestler challenging another wrestler. And that wrestler, what happens? That wrestler attacks and he just, you know, he just takes one left hand and gives one punch and that person falls back.
Tu to mere baaye haath ka kheel hai. I can just dismiss you with my left hand. That is like, you know, mocking the other person.
Showing that completely that the other person is no match. But what does Krishna do? Indra has this pride that I am so powerful. What does Krishna do? Krishna says, normally tu to mere baaye haath ka kheel hai.
Tu to mere baaye haath ke chhote unhli ke naakhoon ka kheel. Ek dil maan Indra kumaro, nak upar Govardhan dharo, naam kuru yudhari. So what happened is, it was not even on his pinky that he lifted the Govardhan.
It was on the nail. It was on the nail. And Anandam ji further describes that at least, you know, if you see, if there is a big storm, a person does not get wet because they have got a good umbrella.
But if there is a heavy storm, because there is a lot of rains falling, a lot of wind coming, the umbrella will get spoilt. The umbrella will get spoilt, isn’t it? But Krishna was so powerful that he used Govardhan as an umbrella. Not only was not even one hair hurt on the body of any Rajivasi, but also by Krishna’s omnipotence, not even was one grass hurt on Govardhan also.
So nothing happened to Govardhan also. So Indra was completely shattered. Now I use all my powers and what happens? They all say, you know, there is some, say, Pakistan is their best bowler, best fast bowler and best is best fast balls.
And if you have six fast balls and some Indian batsman, not one batsman gets out, but all the six balls are hit for six sixes. That bowler will be completely shattered. What is this? All my best weapons and the worst possible result.
So Indra, you know, uses all his strength and no impact at all. Absolutely no impact. Not just Krishna not hurt, Rajivasi is not hurt.
Even what they have used to prevent themselves from Govardhan is also not hurt. So Krishna completely smashes the ego of Indra over there. So he demonstrates to Indra that, you know, you just have no match in front of you.
So this is Krishna’s opposite of strength. And some sceptics might say, actually, you know, they often try to reduce Krishna’s pastimes to mundane reality. There is actually, you know, if Krishna really lifted, maybe he lifted a big boulder and some people thought that he lifted a mountain.
Or some people say that actually, you know, Krishna actually took everybody into a cave. And when there was a landslide and the cave started falling, Krishna held up the roof. It’s not like that.
Krishna actually lifted up the Govardhan. All these are reductions which people do because they don’t understand the omnipotence of God. But sceptics may ask, if Krishna lifted Govardhan, Govardhan is so big, he lifted it at one point.
If I have to lift this computer on one finger, then, you know, I have to place my finger, even if I am going to lift it, I will have to place my finger right at the centre, at the centre of gravity. If I put it here, it will just fall off. So if somebody asks, how did Krishna find the centre of gravity of Govardhan? How did Krishna find the centre of gravity of Govardhan in order to lift it? So Krishna doesn’t have to find the centre of gravity because he is the source of gravity.
The law of gravity acts by his will. And by his will, when he wants, he can suspend that law. Miracles are not against science.
Miracles are about science. What does it mean? Against science because it’s unscientific. No, it’s not unscientific, it’s trans-scientific.
That means that actually, yes, basically science studies how material nature works according to certain laws. And we also acknowledge that. It does work according to some laws.
But those laws have a controller. And that controller can suspend the laws whenever required. That means science and God’s omnipotence are not contradictory.
Now, miracles which God does, they don’t contradict science. They transcend science. Miracles are not against science.
They are above science. This is Krishna’s strength. Go ahead.
So, Krishna, what does he do is, Krishna uses his omnipotence to help his devotees to overcome their conditions. Some devotees say, I am so formidable and I can never become beautiful. Well, actually, we shouldn’t be so confidently pessimistic.
We are assuming that I am so impure that even Krishna cannot purify me. This is not humility. This is actually, in a sense, perverse arrogance.
So, we don’t have to be so confidently pessimistic. Krishna’s omnipotence is there to help us become elevated. In one of the prayers of Prahlad, Maharaj Narasimha Devi says, koanvatrte yakhilagulo bhagvan prayasam uttayasya bhavasambhavalopaheto He says, oh dear Lord, for you, what is the difficulty in destroying the conditioning of your devotees? Now, you, bhavasambhavalopaheto, you create the world, you maintain the world and you destroy the world also.
So, if you can destroy the whole world, what is the difficulty for you to destroy the conditioning in the hearts of one devotee in this big world? You can easily do this. So, somebody may say, why should Krishna, the Lord? The Lord may say, but why should I do it? You know, you have become conditioned yourself. My dear Lord, I was very foolish.
It was because of my own foolishness that I thought the things of this world will offer me pleasure and that’s how I became bound. So, those who are foolish, towards them, the wise are generous, the wise are kind. I am distressed, oh Lord, and you are the beneficiary minister.
Therefore, please deliver me. I am, my dear Lord, I am trying to serve those who love you, those whom you love. So, if we please Krishna, we can please him, but it is difficult.
But if we please those whom Krishna loves, then Krishna becomes pleased very fast. And then Krishna helps us to overcome the conditionings. So, we should not think so much in terms of, oh, I have this anartha, I have to give this up.
I have this anartha, I have to give this up. We can focus more on trying to become better servants. Think, I want to become a better servant in the hands of my spiritual master.
I want to serve those who are serving Krishna. And when I want to serve them, actually my conditionings come in the way. So, I just don’t want to become free from the conditionings for the freedom’s sake.
I want to become free from the conditionings so that I can serve Krishna better. And that service attitude pleases Krishna. And that’s how Krishna, what he does is, he purifies the devotees.
So, this is what happened. Many of the Prabhupada’s early disciples, they had tremendous conditionings. But somehow they were attracted to Prabhupada and they wanted to assist Prabhupada.
And because at that time there was no one to assist Prabhupada, he was all alone. Anyone who had a desire to assist Prabhupada, Prabhupada prayed for them, Prabhupada blessed them, Prabhupada empowered them. And it was amazing, people who were totally addicted to drugs, just within a couple of days, they just decided to give it up, they gave it up.
How did it happen? It just happened because Krishna wanted assistance for his devotee so that his devotee could share his blessings. And anyone who came to assist them, Krishna purified them. And that’s how, actually, that’s how the devotees became purified.
And similarly, we too can become purified rapidly by the practise of bhakti. As we just keep steadily practising bhakti, and we practise bhakti in the mood of serving Krishna. When we keep practising bhakti in the mood of serving Krishna, then we move onwards and slowly but steadily we become purified.
And by the practise of bhakti we become purified. But if we have the desire to serve Krishna more and more, the desire to assist devotees more and more, then that desire makes Krishna purify us faster. And thus we can all become cleansed and we can move onwards.
So there are two more opulences which I will not be able to take right now because we have run out of time. But I conclude, actually, we should never be discouraged in our practise of bhakti. No matter what happens, Krishna is always there with us.
And his omnipotence is there to assist us in overcoming whatever obstacles we have. Krishna says that whatever obstacles come in our way, his mercy will enable us to overcome all the obstacles. So what happens is, when problems come in our life, we become problem conscious instead of being Krishna conscious.
When we are chanting Hare Krishna, we are thinking, this problem is so big, this problem is so big, this problem is so big. So what is happening is, don’t tell God how big your problems are. Tell the problems how big God is.
That means these problems are big. But if we just stay in the consciousness that this problem is so big, so big, so big, then what will happen, we will become fearful, we will feel disempowered. Suppose I am going on a road and I see a big, heftily built some gunda coming along, some thug, I will become fearful.
But if I see behind that thug, there is a bigger built policeman also there. And what happens, if I look at that thug, I will feel fearful. If I look at the policeman, I think, yeah, this policeman is there, he will protect me.
So what happens is like that, yes, our conditioning is very big, like a thug. But Krishna is bigger than that. So if we become problem conscious, then even in Krishna consciousness, we will have a lot of problems.
Because we are externally in Krishna consciousness, but we are not in Krishna consciousness. We are externally in the Krishna consciousness movement, but we are actually not Krishna conscious, we are problem conscious. See problems are there everywhere, whether we are outside the Krishna consciousness movement or inside the Krishna consciousness movement, wherever.
This world is a place of problems. The speciality of Krishna consciousness movement is not that it will in a magical way free us from problems, but rather it will give us something other than problems to be conscious of. So the gift of Krishna consciousness movement is not freedom from problems.
The gift of the Krishna consciousness movement is the opportunity, the facility, the inspiration for Krishna consciousness. And when we become Krishna conscious, then we are able to and by that consciousness of Krishna, we rise above the problems and we rise above the problems. Then we learn, either we, how should I deal with the problem? Sometimes you get the intelligence to solve the problems.
Sometimes we get the maturity to tolerate the problems. But either way, you can go through the problem when you are conscious of something bigger than Krishna. And we see Vasudev was in great danger.
Now his sons had been killed, his wife had been imprisoned, he himself had been imprisoned. At that time also, he was always focussing on Krishna, conscious of Krishna. And Krishna came, Krishna just, miraculously the doors of the palace got opened, his shackles got opened and he was able to take Krishna where he wanted.
But we see, even after Krishna’s birth, Vasudev’s problems did not go away. Still he was under Kamsa’s control. But he did his service to Krishna even amidst those problematic conditions.
And eventually, 12 years later, Krishna came back and killed Kamsa. And developed Vasudev. So, even when Krishna comes in our life, all the problems will entirely disappear.
That will happen ultimately when we become liberated from it in existence. But Krishna’s appearance brings auspiciousness in our life. So, when we say that Krishna, we can pray to Anjana Mahashtami, there is Krishna’s address, Krishna appeared in this world, like that he appeared in our heart also.
That’s what we normally pray to Anjana Mahashtami. It’s a very good prayer. But we also need to understand Krishna is already there in our heart.
It is not that Krishna’s appearance in the heart is required. What is required is that he, that we become aware of his appearance. And that awareness of his appearance comes by hearing, comes by chanting, comes by associative devotees and especially on a day of Anjana Mahashtami, we pray to Krishna that we become more conscious of him.
We become more conscious of his presence. Then by that consciousness, even if we face problems in this world, we will be able to tolerate and transcend those problems. Thank you very much.