Meditation on the only prayers to Balaram in the Bhagavatam

Transcript

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Thank you.
On the sacred occasion of the appearance day of Lord Balram, let’s look at two special prayers that are offered to Balramji in the Srimad Bhagavatam. Now, the Srimad Bhagavatam focuses in the tenth canto primarily on Krishna as the central character and as also the object of worship. So, in not many places are prayers offered to Balramji separately.
In fact, Balramji doesn’t appear in any independent role much in the Bhagavatam. He does kill some demons like the Hinukasur, Pallambasur. He does fight with some of the wrestlers in the wrestling arena and often he is by the side of Krishna.
Whatever he is doing, he goes to the times. But generally prayers are offered to Krishna. For example, Indra, Brahma and Govardhan, they offer prayers to Krishna.
Now, when Krishna and Balram are going from Vrindavan to Mathura, at that time Balramji is also the object of prayers by Akrura along with Krishna. So, both of them are offered prayers. Again, the primary focus is Krishna but then Krishna and Balram reveal themselves as Vishnu and Shesha.
So, prayers are offered to both. But prayers to Balramji specifically alone, where can they occur? When Balramji is separated from Krishna. Or Balramji is doing some activity in which Krishna is not present and he does something heroic.
So, that we see in the Bhagavatam. Now, there are occasions, many occasions where this happens. And there are various places where Balabhadra Sahasranam or Balabhadra Rajas Tawa.
There are many prayers to Balramji that are offered. But in the Bhagavatam, these sort of prayers are not mentioned. These occur in other Puranas like the Garbha Samhita and Brahma Vyavarta Purana, Brahma Vyavarta Purana, like that.
In the Bhagavatam, only one place this happens. In the 65th chapter of the 10th Canto, where Balramji comes to Vrindavan. Krishna sends him and when he is there, he pacifies the Vrajavasis and especially the Gopis.
And he performs Ras Tila with his own set of Gopis. And at that time, when he wants to bathe in the Yamuna, he summons Yamuna. But Balramji appears to be intoxicated at that time because Varuni has come there in the form of delicious intoxicating sort of beverage which oozes out through the tree as sap.
And Balramji has drunk that and his motion appears to be like that of a drunkard. And Yamuna feels a little shocked, appalled, dismayed by this kind of appearance of Balramji. And she refuses to obey.
And when she refuses to obey, Balramji just takes his blouse and drags her along. He says, you will not come to me, I will drag you and bring you here. So, when he exhibits this prowess, then Yamuna understands that actually this is Mahavakshipan Lord himself.
No matter how he looks, even if he looks drunk, he is still the Supreme Lord. His appearance of being drunk is simply a Leela. And she offers prayers.
Now, it may seem that why does Lord Balramji first appear to be, first of all, why does he get drunk? And why does he, while being drunk, command Yamuna in such a way that she is likely to misunderstand? And then when she refuses, is he like so short-tempered person that he has to sort of rip Yamuna and drag her along? No, we have to understand that the Lord demonstrates certain principles through his actions. So, here he is demonstrating that we shouldn’t let our perception, our sensual perception, sensory perception blind us to the scriptural reality. So, scripture requires that Balramji is as good as Krishna in most ways.
He is the Supreme Lord himself. And no matter how he behaves, he still remains the Supreme Lord. So, if we let Pratyaksha override Sabda, then that is the formula for illusion.
That illusion can be in the form that we may see the things of this world as objects of pleasure when scripture tells us that they are actually sources of misery. Dukkha yo naya evate, Bhagavad Gita 5.22 tells us. And that misunderstanding can happen if we give precedence to Pratyaksha over Sabda, also within the Supreme Lord.
Now, when we see him and we misunderstand him. Duryodhana saw Krishna and even saw the Virat Rupa of Krishna, Vishwa Rupa of Krishna. And still, what did he think? This is Krishna showing some magic.
He didn’t accept Krishna as God, he surrendered to God. So, we shouldn’t let Pratyaksha Pramana override Sabda Pramana. And so, in these prayers which Jamuna offers, her theme is that, Oh, please forgive me that I had not realized your glory.
I did not know your glory. No means she is not ignorant. But at that particular time, she is not knowing.
So, please, now I know your glory, now I surrender to you. Please forgive me. Please release me.
So, it often happens in our life also that we misunderstand the Lord’s promise. Minimize His promise of position because of giving excessive importance to our own perceptions. So, this is a very good prayer to meditate on and offer to the Lord.
Whenever we blunder like that or also as a prayer, precautionary prayer, to pray to Him that we pre-empt against such blunders, to avoid such blunders. So, let’s look at these two prayers. So, the first is 10.65.28. So, here Jamuna is praying.
So, we know one of the names of, among the many names of this Divine Supreme Personality, the name Rama conveys the idea of Him being the reservoir of pleasure. Because the Puran says, So, because the yogis can get unlimited pleasure from Lord Rama, therefore He is called as, they can get unlimited pleasure from the Absolute Truth, so He is called as Rama. So, now, here she is also using the word Rama.
Now, in the Vaishnava Tosha Ritika, it is explained that, why does she use the word Rama? Because she is implying, my dear Lord, You give pleasure to everyone. So, please don’t afflict me, please don’t punish me, please don’t cause me misery. And because she is so ashamed of her actions, in her frantic anxiety to mitigate her disrespect of the Lord, and in the hope of attracting the attention of the Lord, when somebody is angry, that person is so caught up in the anger, the person may not even perceive what we are saying.
So, in order to attract His attention, He says Rama Rama, He repeats the word Rama Rama twice. And then, to further draw His attention, to the point that she has now understood His power, she refers to Him also by the name Maha Bahu. I had not understood you, but now you are extremely powerful, I acknowledge it, you are Bahu, your arms are so powerful, who else could have done this feat of dragging me like this? You are Maha Bahu, you are immensely powerful.
And then, now why are you saying like this? Why did you not obey my command earlier? I had not known your power. So, because of… Now, we understand that everything that happens in Vrindavan is ultimately orchestrated by Yogamaya, and Yamuna Devi actually never falls under Mahamaya like we may fall. This whole pastime is orchestrated by the Yogamaya, but we can also learn that we should not fall in Mahamaya.
So, He is saying that I had become covered by illusion. I didn’t know your prowess, and that’s why I disobeyed you. And now, what is the prowess that you are so celebrated for? Do I really understand your position? How do I know that you have understood the position? She is telling, यस्से कामशेन विद्रता Jagati can refer to this universe, or to more specifically refer to the earth.
So, this whole material existence is just sustained by एकामशेन, by just one fragment of you. So, He is saying that actually it is not even your limb. It is not that you have to raise your hand and lift up and hold it.
No, it’s just one expansion of you that is doing the work. यस्से कामशेन विद्रता Now, this use of the means the use of अम्श use of demonstrating one’s power by demonstrating the power of one’s अम्श is done in the Bhagavad Gita. In 10.42 it is said, अथवा बहुनाई तेन किम्या तेन तवार्जुन विष्ठभ्याहमिदं कृच्ण एकामशेन स्तितो जगत So, same word, there also it is यस्से कामशेन, there also it is एकामशेन.
So, Krishna is given the तिन्मोक्तुमरसि विष्वात्मन् प्रपण्नां भक्त वच्चलां So, she says, परंभावं, your supreme nature, your supremacy, your transcendental position, परंभावं भग्वतो, भग्वतो, connected with Bhagwan, so you are transcendental, that, भग्वन्ममजान् तिन्मोक्तुमरसि विष्वात्मन् I did not know about it, but now I have come to know about it, मोक्तुमरसि विष्वात्मन् So again she says, you are the soul of the universe, you are inside everything, you sustain everything, मोक्तुमरसि, it befits that you liberate me, you release me, why? You disobeyed me, you deserve to be punished, why should you be liberated? He says, that actually, प्रपण्नां भक्त वच्चलां भक्त वच्चलां, प्रपण्नां, I surrender to you, and if somebody surrenders to you, you, O Lord, are भक्त वच्चलां, you are the lover of your devotees, you are the caretaker of your devotees, so here she is praying, that, O my dear Lord, I did not know your glory, and that’s why I did wrong, but now that I have come to know of your glory, I have surrendered to you, and you are the protector of the surrendered, so please protect me, please release me, मोक्तुम् अर्हसी, so, she is now, so the point is that, sometimes we may go into illusion, and, that is unfortunate, that is of course preventable, but sometimes, just by the force of circumstances, by lack of caution, or whatever, we may go into illusion, so, what is more important is, not that, we never go into illusion, we can try our best to never go into illusion, but we may go into illusion, that is the first mistake, but what is important is how we will respond to that mistake, do we correct that mistake, or do we perpetuate that mistake, so, perpetuating that mistake means, that we try to justify what I did, and we try to prove that what I did was right, no, we admit that we are wrong, and then we correct it, sometimes, trying to, justify one’s mistake, can get one into far greater trouble, now suppose, I slip out on a dark night, in a forested road, without a torch, and then suddenly I put my leg on a snake, and the snake comes and bites me, and I am in intense pain, so, now I made a mistake by going carelessly in that area, now when I see the snake slithering away after biting me, if I make a mistake, secondly I become angry, and you snake, you bit me, you hurt me, now I will hurt you, I will chase after the snake to kill the snake, now that would be a double mistake, so, that second mistake will, actually aggravate the first mistake, and there, the poison would not have spread so fast, and we might have been able to save ourselves, if we chase after the snake, in running after it, the poison will spread fast, and we may well die also, so like that, the first mistake may not be avoidable, but the second mistake is, that means, once you become aware that, ok, I have done something wrong, now let me correct myself as quickly as possible, so, Jehuna demonstrated that, that actually, now that I have, I was earlier, parambhavam ajanatim, I did not know your parambhavam, but once I came to know, then what have I done, then prapannam, I have surrendered to you, and therefore, my dear lord, please release me, muktum arasi, so, when we, when we fall under illusion, in whatever way it is, we can also pray, when we chant, when we go for the readings, my dear lord, please, release me from this illusion, now Krishna, ultimately, yoga maya, which catches also, acts by Krishna’s will only, chaiva yasya bhuvana nivibharti durga, icchan rupam api yasya cha cheshta tesa, so, durga actually acts as a chaiva, chaiva yasya bhuvana nivibharti durga, so, durga, she acts as chaiva, and she acts according to his will, so, whenever we go into illusion also, it is because we have shown interest in illusion, we have quoted danger, and then Krishna, in order to teach us that doesn’t allow us to fall into illusion, so, we pray to Krishna, Krishna, now I understood how powerful you are, I need your protection to save myself, and how powerful your illusionary energy is, that if I don’t stand in your protection, I will fall under your illusionary energy, now I understood your glory, I want to surrender to you, please release me from your illusionary energy, moktu marhasi vishwatam, prapannam bhakta vatsalah, moktu marhasi, please release me, and you are the protector of the surrender, I surrender to you my lord, please release me, so, in this way we can pray to Balramji, that my dear lord, please release me from your illusionary energy, you are the source of bala, please give me bala, by which when temptation comes, I can resist temptation, I can stay fixed in the ocean, shivadram yehi, shivadram, avirbhakti mahotsav hi, jai, thank you very much, avirbhakti mahotsav hi,