Narada Muni – Not kalah-priya, but krishna-priya

Sunday feast at Radha Gopinatha temple on 17-1-16

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So, I had three different ways. One was, Narada Muni is the only character who occurs in each canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam, apart from Krishna. So, one way of taking this class on Narada Muni could be to talk about his whatever references and incidents which occur in each canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam.
The second way was to talk about him from a biographical perspective, where we start from his childhood and then move forward. Not just his childhood, actually. Because, from the Vedic perspective, we are not the body, we are the soul.
So, we start from his previous life, as far as we know, and then we move onwards in a linear, chronological way. The third way, which we can analyse about Narada Muni, is by looking at his character as is depicted in various books. So, for example, we can start from the Vedas.
What all are the references to Narada Muni in the Vedas? Then, what are the references to Narada Muni in the Upanishads? Then, what is the picture of Narada Muni that comes from the various Puranas? Then, what is the picture, how that differs, or how that picture of Narada Muni is developed in the Srimad Bhagavatam? And then, a person can be, especially a saint, is best known through his teachings, through his Vani. So, Narada Muni has composed two books. One is the Narada Bhagavata Sutra, and the second is the Narada Smriti.
So, we could look at these. And in this way, we can analyse, to understand more about Narada Muni. So, I’ll take the third approach.
The first approach is going over all the twelve cantos of the Srimad Bhagavatam. I tried that once in one class. Brahmaji had taken long ago.
I had taken the series of twelve Mahajanas earlier also. So, many devotees found it very technical and exhausting, going over all the cantos. So, of course, Narada Muni is, when we talk about Brahma, we get into technicalities of creation.
Narada Muni is much more, in today’s language, we could say, user-friendly. He is much more reader-friendly. He is much more into action.
But to understand, so, linearly we could go also, from the biographical point of view. I will go into the biography a little bit. But just to get a broad glimpse of how the Bhagavatam doesn’t just, we know the Bhagavatam is the, as Jiva Goswami says, it’s Sarva Pramana Chakravarti Bhuta.
It is the emperor among all Pramanas. That there are various Pramanas given in scripture, and all of them have their importance. But among them, the Bhagavatam is the highest.
Because the Bhagavatam gives us the clearest understanding of Krishna, of the absolute truth, not just clearest in terms of the description of who the absolute truth is, but clearest in terms of how we are meant to relate with him, with the clearest consciousness, with the most pure consciousness. And what pure love for Bhagavan, Sri Krishna is, that is depicted in the Bhagavatam most clearly. So it is not just that the Lord is depicted most clearly, even his intimate devotees are depicted much more clearly in the Bhagavatam than in the other scriptures.
So while analysing the description of Narada Muni in various scriptures, we will also see how his description attains its culmination, its peak, its summit in the Bhagavatam. So if we look at the Vedas, the Vedas primarily focus on Karmakanda. So in Rig Veda, Narada Muni is described as the composer of one of the famous mantras, which are meant for recitation.
The way we use the word mantra, for example, we use the word Hare Krishna Mahamantra. So we usually talk about mantra as Manas Trayate Iti Mantra, that sound vibration, which frees the mind from anxiety, from inebriity, that is mantra. Now traditionally, there is the understanding that there is Varna, there is Shabda and there is Mantra.
So Varna is letter, like in English we have letters. So Varna is letter. When letters are combined together to form a meaningful unit of thought, that is called as Shabda.
So for example, if we have a sentence which means something, then that is a semantic unit. But you can just put any set of letters together and A, Z, Q, L, M, N, O, P, I can put anything together, it doesn’t make any sense. So when something makes semantic sense, that is called as Shabda.
But now within the English framework or within not just English, English language is 800 years old, within the Greco-Latin framework from which English emerged, anything that does not have semantic meaning, anything that does not have meaning, it is considered to be meaningless. But mantra is a combination of Varna, whose potency is not in its meaning. Its potency is in its arrangement itself.
A mantra, of course, it has some meaning, but we don’t need to understand the meaning of the mantra to get its potency. It’s like if somebody makes a joke, like a joke is made in a language which you don’t understand, then we will understand that everybody is laughing, some joke is going on, we will not understand anything. But the mantra, its potency does not depend on semantic comprehension.
We don’t have to understand the mantra. So composing mantras in that sense is far more difficult because coherent sentences can be composed, but to understand which sound vibrations are having that divine potency and to combine them together to create a mantra, that requires very special potency. So, of course, Narada Muni has that potency.
So the Vedas talk about mantras and their primary focus is mantras are tools for elevating towards heaven. That is the Vedic understanding. Then from the Vedas we move towards the Upanishads.
I am going a little fast because our focus will be on the Puranas and the Bhagavatam. The Upanishads are primarily metaphysical treatises. That means rather than trying to do things.
Now karma means I want to do, I want to do, I want to do this, I want to do that, I want to do that, run around and do a lot of things. So the Upanishads are for Gyan. What is the use of doing so many things? Ultimately everything is temporary.
Think, think about what is the ultimate purpose of life. So the Upanishads focus more on metaphysical discourse, on trying to understand what is the ultimate purpose of life. And one of the characteristics of the Upanishads, the Upanishads are custom made for people who are intellectuals or people who think that they are intellectuals.
So for such people, if you give things simply, this is too simple. So for example, if you tell them, you are not the body, you are the soul. I have heard it so many times.
Tell them, your destiny is greater than your biology. What is that? It means the same thing. Your destiny is greater than your biology.
It means the same thing, you are not your body. But when you put it like this, your destiny is greater than your biology. You have to think what it means.
And people like to think. So Radha and Krishna are the divine couple. I know it all.
Radha and Krishna represent the primordial cosmological masculine and feminine principles. So the Upanishads specialise in catering to intellectuals. And for catering to intellectuals, they often speak things in paradoxes.
Paradox is different from contradiction. Contradiction means two things are opposite. You know, you are wrong.
No, I am right. That’s a contradiction. But paradox is where there are two contradictory statements which are brought together to convey a deeper truth.
So for example, in English say, a teacher may tell to students, the least corrected paper is the most correct. The least corrected paper, the paper on which there are the least red marks, the least corrected paper is the most correct. Initially, how can the least corrected be most correct? We do not understand.
But if you think, then you understand. So like that, the Upanishads speak, for example, the Aishwarya Upanishad books. That absolute truth can run and can move, can’t move.
It’s inside everything, outside everything. He is close and he is far away. And you say, how is this possible? And the intellectuals get some food for thought.
When they get some food for thought, then they feel there is something exciting over here. So Narada Muni, within the Upanishads, in the Upanishads, there are various dialogues. So there are great sages who are invited by the kings to come assemble and then they have discussions on various topics.
So Narada Muni, within the Upanishads, features as a superstar intellectual. He is a person who bamboozles others by his intellectual gymnastics. And we see this, a glimpse of this, even in the Bhagavatam, where he speaks, he instructs the sons of Dakshaprajapati through enigmatic riddle-like instructions.
That is described in the Bhagavatam. So the point is that for whoever is in whichever category, Narada Muni gives instructions accordingly. So the Upanishads are more for intellectual speculators and Narada Muni gives instructions accordingly over there.
And then if you look at the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, and then we’ll come to the Upanishads, the Bhagavatam. If we get time, we’ll look at Narada’s sutra towards the end. In the Ramayana, in the Mahabharata, actually Vyasadeva appears much more prominently than Narada Muni.
But let’s look at him appearing in the Ramayana. In the Ramayana, his role is foundational. Because it is by his inspiration that Valmiki gets the purity and the motivation to compose the Ramayana.
We know Valmiki is the composer of the Ramayana. And Valmiki was earlier a bandit, a dacoit. And it is by Narada Muni’s instruction, inspiration.
Narada Muni, a preacher has to be resourceful. You have to present according to time, place, circumstance. If a preacher doesn’t do that, then people will not be able to relate.
So, for example, Valyaguni is so contaminated by sin that he is not able to chant the name of Ram also. So, what does Narada Muni tell him? Chant? Can’t chant Ramayana? Ma Ram, Ma Ram, Ma Ram, Ma Ram, Ma Ram, Ma Ram, Ma Ram, is going round and round. It becomes Ram.
So, this is what Rupa Goswami tells. I was told 500 years ago that the responsibility, that the basic principle of Sadhana Bhakti is Yena Kena Prakarena Mana Krishna Divyesha Veda Somehow or the other, fix the mind on Krishna. So, this principle is illustrated by Narada Muni here when D is change the name, chant the name of Mara.
Mara is actually the god of death. But just changing that round, chanting Mara Mara makes it Ram Ram Ram. So, Vishal Prabhupada also exhibited such expertise in presenting Bhakti according to time, place, circumstance.
Once he was giving a class in the Lower East Side in New York. There were people who were often, when they would come for the classes also, at that time there was no temple. And even if there had been a temple with Deities, people had no idea of the sanctity of the Deities over there.
So, they would just come, maybe they had just taken drugs. Drugs were always available all the time. So, they had taken drugs and then they would come to the temple and they would be in a half-dazed and half-dosed stage.
So, one of them, Sachipi, asked Prabhupada, Swamiji, what is Vaikuntha like? So, now, Prabhupada could have spoken, Chintamani Prakarasatma Shukal Paruksha. He said, oh, there are so many desire trees. Now, these things, people do not comprehend it.
So, what did Prabhupada say? Vaikuntha is like an ocean of LSD. Vaikuntha is like an ocean of LSD. Now, nowhere in scripture is it said that Vaikuntha is like an ocean of LSD.
Somebody wants to be a fault finder, you say, this is a aparad. How can you compare Vaikuntha to a drug? But the point is, you know, if there had been hypercritical people, at the time of Narada Muni, they could have found fault with Narada Muni also. Who has told you to chant the name of Mara, Mara, Mara? But, the point is, the expertise of the preacher is to present bhakti according to time, place and circumstance.
So, Narada Muni, he told him to chant Mara, Mara, Mara and it became Rama, Rama, Rama and Valmiki became purified. And then Valmiki got an inspiration that, I want to know, my character was so debauched and my character got transformed. So, is there any person who is of ideal character? And if there is such a person, what was his character? What were his qualities? What were his activities? So, he asked this question to his guru, Narada Muni.
And then Narada Muni at that time tells him about Lord Rama. And in a very brief description, in summary, he gives up the entire Ram Leela. And based on that summary, then Valmiki Rishi enters into a trance.
It’s a long story how from shoka comes a shloka. Now, from his grief at having an uttered accidental curse, he gets a metre of the Ramayana and he composes the whole Ramayana over there. So, Narada Muni is the source from which Ramayana manifests in this world.
Now, within the Ramayana itself, also Narada Muni appears at various times. One of the most significant times where he appears is right at the beginning. In the Ramayana, we have a… Now, Ramayana starts from Balakanda where Lord Rama appears and the back story a little bit is given.
But in the last kanda of Valmiki Ramayana is Uttarkanda where after everything has happened, then Narada Muni again visits Lord Rama when he is in his palace. And at that time Narada Muni and other sages who were accompanying him, they felicitate Lord Rama for his glorious victory over Ravana. And then Rama asks him that how is it that Ravana was so powerful? How is Indrajith so powerful? And at that time the various stories of Ravana, what all earlier he had done, they are told.
So, that means here we will see that there are three levels if Narada Muni is present in the Ramayana. Not three incidents, three levels. First is, it is by his inspiration that Ramayana is coming.
Now, within the Ramayana, he is a character who is narrating the story. And while narrating the story, he is a character in the story also. So, how is that? He tells the story.
One of the stories is Ravana, he goes around. After he gets boons from Brahma and Shiva, he is going around terrorising the universe. And as he is terrorising the universe, he is especially terrorising the humans because he feels that I can inflict as much damage as possible on people.
So, at that night, Narada Muni comes over there. Now, there are different narratives in different Puranas. It is referred to different Kalpas.
So, what happened in different Kalpas. So, first when he sees Narada Muni, Narada Muni is having his veena and he is chanting the names of Lord Narayana. And he says, hey, this is a devotee of Narayana.
So, he is initially a little angry. So, he just beckons him to go away. Narada Muni doesn’t go away at that time.
And according to one retelling of the Ramayana, actually, Ravana attacks Narada Muni. And he finds to his amazement that all his arrows, it has disappeared into Narada Muni’s body, nothing happens. And Ravana starts saying, what is this? I have overpowered the Devatas.
And this is a sage. He doesn’t even have a weapon. And still I am being defeated.
Then, Narada Muni is also expert. So, he says that he has to earn the respect of Ravana in a way which Ravana will respect. So, Ravana is not a sage, he is not going to respect misdemeanour.
But he respects promise. Then Ravana comes along. Ravana tells Narada, please come in, please come in.
He offers him a seat in his chariot. And he says, please tell me, how is it that none of my arrows hurt you? What is your secret? Can you share it with me? He says, yes. No problem.
You cannot kill me because I have a spiritual body. He says, can I get a spiritual body also? He says, yes. Just chant the name of Narada.
He says, that is impossible for me. I can’t do that. So, Narada Muni is so sweetly calm.
He says, so what are you doing? He says, I am finding my next shikara. Whom should I kill next? Narada Muni says, all these humans, they are like mosquitoes. Why are you fighting with them? Don’t waste your time with them.
If you really want to exhibit your prowess, go and attack the god of death. Go and attack Yamaraj. If you can attack Yamaraj and you can defeat and kill Yamaraj, then that will be a glorious victory for you.
No, everybody is afraid of death, but you will have defeated that itself. So, Ramana Ayyappa says, very good idea. So, I will go immediately.
Now, I will address this theme a little later. Narada Muni, in some Puranic narratives, he is called as Kalaha Priya. Kalaha Priya is one who likes to create quarrels.
In fact, just a few days ago, there was an Indian headline, I don’t know, probably first time, Narada Muni may have come on the front page. So, there was one politician from one political party accused another politician from another political party that don’t be like Narada Muni. So, this politician was trying to create a dissension between the top rung leaders of this party as well as the lower rung leaders.
Don’t be like Narada Muni. So, the idea is that Narada Muni creates conflicts. But this is such an oversimplified understanding of things.
It is oversimplification to the point of error. Yes, Narada Muni does set up situations where conflicts are either accelerated or aggravated. Conflicts occur faster or conflicts become tougher.
But the point is not that conflicts occur, the point is what is the purpose served by conflicts. So, in this case, what happens is, Ravana, anyway, he had that misdirected Kshatriya zeal. A Kshatriya is Kshatatrayate, one who protects others from hurt.
That is actually a Kshatriya. But when that Kshatriya zeal is misdirected, then one gets delight in hurting others. One gets delight in overpowering and oppressing others.
So, he already had that zeal. And anyway, he was not going to stop. So, better direct him against someone by fighting with whom he will incur bad karma because he is disrupting the universal order and with whom he will not be able to very easily defeat also.
So, that way he will be engaged in the battle for a longer time. And that way he will not cause havoc elsewhere in the world. So, that is the purpose.
And we will see when we come to the Mahabharata how Narada Muni actually plays a significant role in avoiding Kalaha also. But here, so Ravana goes out and he goes to the lower planets. Now, Yamaraja is the ruler of Narakloka.
He doesn’t live in Narakloka. His abode is celestial and others cannot even access his abode. So, when Ravana finds that he just goes around and he is not able to see Yamaraja’s abode anywhere.
So, he starts attacking the residents of Yamloka. The Yamadutas and the prisoners who are suffering over there. And by breaking havoc over there, he tries to provoke Yamaraja to come.
And it’s a long story. Yamaraja and he has a very fierce fight. And finally Yamaraja is so furious at the disruption that he is creating.
Yamaraja is about to use his weapon to kill him. But at that time Brahmaji appears and tells him that I have given him benediction. Please don’t kill him right now.
Later on, he will be killed. So then Yamaraja disappears. And Ravana becomes all the more inflated.
He says, Oh, Yamaraja also fled away from me. Actually Yamaraja has not fled away. But Yamaraja has been requested by Brahmaji to go.
So, by increasing his ego, then when his ego increases like this, eventually he, even after he knows that Ram has single-handedly killed 14,000 of his warriors, still he tries to abduct Sita and thus he courts his own destruction. So, this is a story which is told by Narada Muni later about Ravana in the Uttarkhand of the Ramayana. Now if we move on to the Mahabharata.
In the Mahabharata, Narada Muni’s student Vyasadeva is present much more. He keeps appearing frequently for many reasons. One of the main reasons is Vyasadeva is directly related to the protagonists also.
Vyasadeva is the grandfather of both the Kauravas and the Pandavas. So, now Narada Muni appears on a few occasions. One of the most significant occasions when Narada Muni appears in the Mahabharata is after the Pandavas are married.
So, in the Swayamvar, Arjuna wins Draupadi. And then we all know the story about how Kunti tells Yudhishthira, whatever you have got, you should share it. And the Pandavas are alarmed.
How can we share? And Kunti just speaks it casually and there is complete silence. Then she turns around and says she has got a bride. Then they all start thinking.
At that time Vyasadeva appears. Then there is a lot of discussion between them and Draupadi. And finally, they told that in the previous life, Draupadi had prayed to Mahadeva that she wanted a husband.
And when Mahadeva appeared, she had been performing austerities for so long that when Mahadeva appeared in her desperate eagerness, she said, I want a husband, I want a husband, I want a husband, I want a husband, I want a husband. She said five times. So, Lord Shiva said, you will have five husbands in your next life.
So, now because of this, Vyasadeva tells this story. And then Draupadi, when this story is told, Draupadi’s anxiety is relieved. And then she gets married to all five of them.
Now after this marriage, at this time the Pandavas are in exile. Before they are put in exile, after the gambling match, prior to that, when they had been taken to Varnavat and their palace had been burnt, then they had gone to exile once. So, then when they get married, when the Pandavas, they get married to Draupadi, at that time Dhritarashtra recognises, oh, that now Drupada is a very powerful king.
And the Panchalas and Kurus were traditionally rivals. And he is concerned that if the Pandavas are alive with the Panchalas, the Panchalas may attack and overrun us completely. So, he decides to give half the kingdom.
And of course, he gives the deserted Khandavaprastha by Krishna’s mercy, they make it Indraprastha. So, at that time, when they just come to their palace back, Narada Muni comes over there. And what does Narada Muni instruct the Pandavas? No, Narada Muni is a great sage, he is coming to the house of some householders, he may talk about detachment, he may talk about devotion.
No, he talks about something eminently practical. And he says that he starts telling about a story of two great demons, Sunda and Upasunda. And he says that these two demons, they had done a lot of austerity and they had got a benediction from Brahma, that they would not be killed by anyone except each other.
So, Sunda would be killed by Upasunda and Upasunda would be killed by Sunda. And they were the best of friends, they were brothers and friends. So, there was no possibility that they would fight against each other and kill each other.
They were undefeatable, wreaking havoc in the universe. All the Devatas went to Brahmaji and then Brahmaji told, he said that this is a problem, he said I will make a solution. So, at that time, Brahmaji created Apsara.
Her name was Tilottama. And this Apsara appeared in front of Sunda and Upasunda. And as soon as both of them saw, Sunda said, she will be my wife and your sister.
He said, no, she will be my wife and your sister. And both of them started fighting. So, Tilottama was just sitting there, watching there, smiling and both of them fought and fought and they killed each other.
With one blow, both of them hit each other and killed each other. So, this story is being told by Narada Muni to the Pandavas. And Narada Muni tells them that those demons were undefeatable but they were killed because of such a quarrel.
Now, the implication was clear for the Pandavas. The Pandavas became very brave. You are five brothers who are the best of friends.
But, don’t think that your friendship will stay as it is. You have to have clear policy, clear plan of how you are going to make this marriage work. Sometimes, based on this whole pastime, we can’t go into the whole pastime.
When I was in Columbus, I gave a whole class on cooperation among equals. If you have to cooperate among equals, it is not that just because we are all equals, we will be able to cooperate. Or just because we are equal, whatever I do, he will understand, she will understand.
It is not like that. When any particular, I don’t want to use here, there is no objectification of women over here. There is a principle being talked about over here.
When any resource is being shared, there has to be clear policies about how it is to be done. And we see here, we may say this is a very private affair for the Pandavas. How they deal with their wife? And why is Narad Muni coming and interfering over there? But the point is, it is so serious that it has to be dealt in an appropriate way.
So, we may be working in a particular service and we may have to share particular resources. So, at that time, we can’t just say, he will understand. No, we have to have clear policies by which things will be understood clearly.
Not that we assume others understand. So, Narad Muni here, he, what he does is, far from creating conflict, he anticipates and prevents conflict. And the Pandavas also take it very seriously.
So, seriously, in fact, basically they say that when Draupadi is with one of her husbands, the other husbands should not go there. They should have private time for them. So, at one time, when Arjuna, when Draupadi is with Yudhishthir, and at that time, this Brahmin comes and says, my fire, sacrifice, paraphernalia has been stolen by thieves.
So, Arjuna has to get his weapons to chase after them. And the weapons are in that room where Draupadi and Yudhishthir are together. So, at that time, Arjuna doesn’t know what to do.
So, Arjuna knocks on the door, goes inside. Yudhishthir and Draupadi are talking. Yudhishthir smiles.
He explains the situation. And then he takes the bow and arrow, goes out, chases the thieves. Gives back the lost property to the Brahmin.
And then he comes back and he tells Arjuna, Arjuna tells Yudhishthir that, you know, I have violated the condition. So, I will now go to exile for one year. Yudhishthir and Draupadi both are shocked.
He says, no, you don’t have to go. We understand. This is the exception.
He says, no exceptions. He says, I have to go. Yudhishthir says, no, actually, this rule… Yudhishthir actually gives various arguments over there.
And he says that, no, actually this rule is for if an older brother comes to his younger brother. You are like my son. A son can always come where the mother and father are there together.
He says, no problem. Arjuna says, no, I will go. So, the point is, Narada Muni, here, he comes in a role where he is anticipating and preventing conflicts.
Of course, Narada Muni comes at several other places also in the Mahabharata. But let’s move on to the Bhagavatam now. So, the Bhagavatam is Amala Purana.
And Jiva Goswami has written a set of books called the Shat Sandarbhas. And in the Shat Sandarbhas, he analyses the Bhagavatam and places the various conversations and themes in the Bhagavatam in a systematic framework. So, in his analysis of the Bhagavatam, he says that the Bhagavatam has various seeds from which it emerges.
So, normally we think of the Bhagavatam as a conversation between Shukadeva Goswami and Parikshit Maharaj. And that is, yes, that is the essence of the Bhagavatam we can say. That is one level from which the Bhagavatam emerges.
Another is what starts the Bhagavatam. So, actually the conversation between Shukadeva Goswami and Parikshit Maharaj starts from the last few verses of the first canto, 19th chapter. And Shukadeva Goswami speaks for the first time in the first chapter of the second canto.
And he ends off in the fifth chapter of the twelfth canto. So, the subsequent chapters after the fifth chapter and all the 19 chapters of the first canto, they are actually another conversation. They are a conversation between Shukadeva Goswami and the sages of Naimisharanya headed by Shaunak Rishi.
So, we could say that is another seed of the Bhagavatam. So, one seed is from the second canto to the 12.5. Another is from the first canto, first chapter to the last canto, last verse. Not exactly first canto, first verse because there are some invocation verses before it starts off.
But another from the conceptual point of view, so this is from the chronological and historical point of view. Where is the Bhagavatam spoken first? But from the conceptual point of view, the Bhagavatam emerges through the instruction of Narada Muni to Vyasadeva. This is described in the Narada Vyasa Samvad in the fourth, fifth and sixth chapters of the first canto.
And in this Narada Vyasa Samvad, actually Narada Muni describes to Vyasadeva how he should glorify the Supreme Lord. Use all his abilities, his phenomenal intellectual literary abilities to glorify the Supreme Lord. The fourth canto sets the scene that Vyasadeva, not the fourth canto, the fourth chapter of the first canto, it sets the scene that Vyasadeva has systematically composed all the Vedic literature, putting them into written form, the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Puranas, including Mahabharata.
It’s phenomenal intellectual work he has done. And yet after that, he’s feeling dissatisfied, he’s feeling dissatisfied. And at that time, he is thinking, what could be the cause of my dissatisfaction? He says, I’ve been disciplined, I’ve been dedicated, I have written all this literature.
What could be the cause? And he starts suspecting himself. Probably, is it that I did not glorify the Supreme Lord enough? As he’s thinking like this, at that time Narada Muni appears over there. And Narada Muni confirms to Vyasadeva.
Now, it’s interesting that normally when two people meet each other, they may ask, how are you? What are you doing? How are things going on? So, Narada Muni is very properly received by Vyasadeva, washes his feet, offers him a seat of honour. But the first thing that Narada Muni asks, Narada Muni, when he starts speaking, it’s a rhetorical question. And the essence of that question is, are you satisfied by identifying the body and the mind as the objects of self-realisation? So, are you satisfied by identifying the body and the mind as the objects of self-realisation? That means, you have provided all this knowledge which is actually catering to the body and the mind.
It is not catering to the soul. How can you be satisfied with that? So, then he gives beautiful instructions about how you should direct all your energies for glorifying the Supreme Lord. It is whatever branch of knowledge one might be studying in.
It all should be used to glorify Uttam Shloka. The Lord who is glorified by choice verses, we should also glorify Him using our talents. And that is the purpose and perfection of all our abilities.
One and a half, two years ago, one of the world’s most famous comedians, Robin Williams, he committed suicide. So, at that time, it created a shock in the world because he was a comedian. He is a person who is supposed to make everyone laugh.
And he was expert in making people laugh. So, why did he commit suicide? So, at that time, I had written an article about it called After the Laughter. So, after the laughter, on the screen, on the comedy shows, we may see him laughing, we may see him causing others to laugh.
But what happens after the laughter? Normally, we think if a person is laughing a lot, that person is happy. Yes, it is possible that person may be happy. But, you know, the ability to crack jokes, the ability to be humorous is also a material ability.
Just like some people can sing nicely, some people can speak eloquently, some people can write very beautifully. Like that, some people can crack jokes. So, just that because somebody’s handwriting is very good, that doesn’t mean that person is happy.
Isn’t it? It’s just a skill that the person has. So, now, this we can very easily understand because we see it’s a separate skill. Okay, your hands have a particular skill by which you can write nicely.
But, when we think about humour, when we see somebody who is humorous, we think, oh, this person must be happy. But the capacity to be humorous is also just a skill. It’s a skill that some people get by their past karma.
And some people may have it more, some people may have it less. And like all skills, whatever skill one has, one can develop it. But just because one is capable to be humorous, that does not mean that one will be happy.
So, it’s just a skill which one can use for becoming famous, for earning a living, for gaining prestige, whatever. But it’s different from happiness. Happiness comes when we glorify the Supreme Lord.
यद उत्तमशलोक गुणानुवरणनु And there, actually, this chapter, Narada Muni gives beautiful instructions here. He says that just as if a boat does not have an anchor, it will always be shaken by the waves that will come in the ocean. Similarly, a mind that is not anchored in God, that will always be restless.
वाताहत, वाताहत By wind, when a boat is afflicted, it will always be shaken. So, like that, the mind that is not sheltered in God, that will always be restless. And, therefore, the duty of you, O great sage, he says, महानभाव Narada Muni refers to Vyasadeva respectfully as Mahanabhava.
He says, what should you do? He says, समाधिनानुस्मरविचेष्टितं समाधिनानुस्मरविचेष्टितं विचेष्टितं, विचेष्टितं is the glorious activities of the Supreme Lord. And describe those activities. So, after speaking these instructions, wherein Narada Muni tells, So, Vyasadeva has this intuition from within, Yes, I have not glorified the Supreme Lord.
And, Narada Muni comes and confirms that intuition. So, normally, when we start practising spiritual life, Initially, we have our spiritual guides and we may ask everything to our spiritual guides. What should I do in this situation? What should I not do in this situation? But as we start moving onwards in our spiritual life, ददामि बुद्धियोगंतमियेनमामुपयांतिते Krishna gives intelligence by which, how we can come towards Him.
And, the voice of consciousness starts speaking from within. But still, when we have to make major decisions in our life, We shouldn’t just depend on the inner voice. But we should also look at and consult our spiritual guides.
But here we see this harmony of the inner voice, inner guiding voice and the outer guiding voice. So, Vyasadeva has been serving sincerely. And when he has been serving sincerely, he starts feeling, This is what is missing.
This is what I am not doing enough. Maybe I have to focus on this more. And he talks to the spiritual guide and the spiritual guide also confirms, This is what you should do.
In our life, we all struggle to balance things. We live in a culture wherein our lives are overstressed, overscheduled, overworked. We have just too many things to do.
And so, the only way that we can do things is by one of the ways, not only way. It’s like if we have to go for a journey. And we are going to carry one suitcase.
It’s a big suitcase. If we try to fit our whole house into the suitcase. We can’t fit it in.
It’s just not possible. So like that, if we try to do everything that we want to do, Or everything that others tell us we should do, It’s just not going to fit in 24 hours. So, we have to prioritise.
And that prioritisation, when we want to balance, Balance, often we think, I want to balance. Okay, morning I’ll do this, afternoon I’ll do this. Evening I’ll do this, then I’ll do this.
Like this we try to plan. This is what I’ll do. This, this, this, this.
This sort of plan looks very good on paper. But once we start coming to real life, It’s just, all the plans seem to just, Everyday, we find not the plan working, A new reason for the plan getting disrupted. That is what we find.
And sometimes we may just give a plan. But, actually, plans may not work, but planning works. Plans means, this is what I’ll do, this is what I’ll do.
If we try to do like that, it may not work. Because we are not really in control. But still, planning gives us an overall sense of direction in our life.
So, if we expect a static balance, That means we want to make our life like a formula. I’ll do this, then I’ll do this, then I’ll do this, then I’ll do this. It will not work.
What we need for life is not static balance, but dynamic balance. Dynamic balance means, let’s suppose somebody is riding a cycle. And you are going on a cycle, and then you want to turn right.
At that time, normally, when a cycle, the balance state is the vertical state. But if I want to turn right, the balance state is the tilted state, the right tilted state. But after I have turned right, if I still stay tilted, then I’ll go around in a circle.
So, after I have turned right, then again I have to become vertical. And even if I want to go straight, and there is no road over there, or there is a traffic jam over there. Then I turn right, then again I have to turn left.
At that time, I have to tilt towards the left. And after tilting towards the left, again I have to become vertical. Then again turn towards the left, and then I’ll be on the right track back again.
So, just as in a cycle when we are going, at that time, it’s a dynamic balance. So, you may have to turn left, you may have to go in this direction, But sometimes you have to turn left, sometimes you have to turn right, Sometimes when the road is clear, we’ll go fast, sometimes we’ll go slow. But overall, the direction is there and we keep moving.
So, like that, planning, it doesn’t tell us, it won’t tell us the details of what we should do. But planning at least gives a direction of where we need to go in our life. And this is focused, centred on recognising that the creativity, the principle that Narada Muni tells Vyasadeva in chapters 5 and 6, especially in his instructions, that is, the creativity of the creature is meant for the creator.
The creativity, all our abilities that are there of the creature, we are all creatures, the creativity is not to be rejected. We have abilities, they are not to be rejected. But the creativity of the creature is meant for the creator.
Svakarmana tam abhyarja siddhim vindati mānava. What Krishna tells to Arjuna and Bhagavad Gita, Svakarmana, by your work, worship him. Tam abhyarja, you worship him.
Siddhim vindati mānava. In this way, one will attain perfection. This is Narada Muni in the first khyancha of the Srimad Bhagavatam, I was talking that this is the conceptual seed of the Srimad Bhagavatam.
Chapters 4, 5, 6 are the conceptual seeds. And based on this seed, then the chapter 7 of the Srimad Bhagavatam, of the first khyancha, there it is described that Vyasadeva sits in meditation. And when he sits in meditation, so at that time he gets a vision.
Apashyat purusham puranam māyāṁ cittadhapāśrayam. He sees how the supreme person is in control and māyā is under his control. So there are five verses which describe Vyasadeva’s vision.
And from that vision, he expands the full Srimad Bhagavatam. So in this sense, Narada Muni is also the seed of the Srimad Bhagavatam because he gives the conceptual vision from which he gives the conceptual understanding from which comes the mystical vision of Vyasadeva and from that mystical vision comes the whole Srimad Bhagavatam. Now after that, there are practically each canto we have Narada Muni coming.
In the second canto, Narada Muni asks Brahmaji that, Brahmaji is Narada Muni’s father and he asks him that you created the world and therefore you must be the supreme. But I see that you also meditate on someone. So whom do you meditate on? And here Narada Muni is taking the role of a seeker and is asking the question.
And then Brahmaji, he says, yes I appreciate that illusory energy because of which you think I am the creator. So he doesn’t chastise Narada Muni directly but indirectly he says you are an illusion. You are an illusion.
So then Narada Muni and Vyasadeva through this conversation, Narada Muni and Brahmaji through this conversation, they bring about the glory of the Supreme Lord. About how Brahmaji is not the supreme but Vishnu is the supreme. The second canto is often called as, it’s titled often as creating the creator.
You know, it is the creator, Brahmaji is the secondary creator. The primary creator is Vishnu. So like that in the third canto also there is a reference to Narada Muni but I will focus on the fourth canto now.
From the Bhagavatam I will talk about three main incidents. I will talk about the fourth canto, seventh canto and tenth canto. So in the fourth canto Narada Muni appears several times.
He appears in the Prachinipati pastime also but I will focus on the Dhruva pastime. Now the story of Dhruva Maharaj is extraordinary for many reasons. One of the main reasons is that how normally when a mother sees her child crying and the natural maternal instinct is to console the child and Suniti when she sees Dhruva crying, he is not just crying, he is sobbing, he is devastated to have been rejected, to have been castigated by his mother and neglected by his father.
He is coming in tears and Suniti when she sees her son crying like this, her heart is shattered. By the same time it requires intelligence to acknowledge that some things are beyond our power. She doesn’t try to console him and tell him everything will be alright.
She says, Dad, actually if you want to solve this, she just tries to console him. Dhruva is angry and he says, I want a kingdom bigger than my father’s. How can I get it? So then his mother, she tells him that only Lord Vishnu can give it to him.
She says, where can I find Lord Vishnu? And we don’t know whether Dhruva Maharaj’s mother when she was answering those questions she really expected Dhruva will suddenly go to the forest. The child is crying and the child comes to the mother and he says, Oh Vishnu, I have heard the sages go to the forest in search of Vishnu. And Dhruva just wipes off his tears and walks out.
And he doesn’t even speak to his mother. His mother must have been shocked at that time but she doesn’t stop him. She sees that he has determination and she blesses him.
So then, this is such an extraordinary act of courage. Not only from Dhruva, as Dhruva is courageous at the age of five going out of the forest but even his mother to let go of a son like that. He goes and Narad Muni has his ESP, extrasensory perception.
He is able to see wherever there is an extraordinary action happening, Narad Muni is there. So Narad Muni comes to know that Dhruva has gone to the forest like this, all alone. Then he goes to the forest and he comes right in the path of Dhruva.
And Dhruva sees, oh this is a sage. His mother has taught him some culture. He says, when sages are there, they should be respected.
So he offers respect to Narad Muni. And Narad Muni sweetly asks him, Oh Dhruva, what are you doing in this forest all alone? He says, I am searching for Vishnu. What do you want to do with Vishnu? Narad Muni is basically playfully talking with him.
What do you want to do with Vishnu? He says, I want to find Vishnu. Why do you want? Because I want a kingdom bigger than my father’s. So he says, why, what happened? Dhruva is still very angry.
He tells the whole story. And then Narad Muni says, you are just a small child right now. These austerities are performed by people when they grow older.
Anyway, he is your father only. He did not mean anything bad to you. Just go back home now.
So Dhruva says, Now Narad Muni, if you can tell me how to find Vishnu, please tell me. Otherwise, please let me go ahead. So then Narad Muni tries another time.
He says, actually, yes, I see that you are not just a child. You are a grown-up. If you are truly grown-up, and if you are a child, you should not… Parents may chastise sometimes.
Children don’t take it very seriously. And if you are grown-up, then you should be spiritually mature. And actually you should be beyond honour and dishonour.
So Narad Muni tries to checkmate Dhruva. If you are a small child, go back home. If you are grown-up, go back home.
If you are grown-up, truly grown-up, then you should be beyond honour and dishonour. So go back home. So now Dhruva is very respectful.
But at the same time he is very firm. He says that, Oh Narad Muni, the instructions that you are giving are true. But they find no place in my heart.
I cannot follow them. Because I am… There is Kshatriya blood within me. That I cannot tolerate this dishonour.
And at that time, Narad Muni, before this actually, when Narad Muni hears that Dhruva has left home, at that time there is a verse in the Bhagavatam, Narad Muni is speaking this verse, He says, just see the glory of the Kshatriyas, that they cannot tolerate dishonour. Now we may say, is that really a glory? To not tolerate dishonour? We say we should… We should tolerate all insults. That’s what he says.
We should not expect respect. We should give all respect. We should be humbler than a blade of grass.
Then he says, what is this? Why is Narad Muni saying that how glorious they are that they cannot tolerate insult? There are two distinct concepts which should not be conflated. Now there is honour and there is arrogance. Arrogance means that we we crave for respect from others.
And when we don’t get that respect from others, we become vituperative. We become vicious. We become malicious.
We become destructive. So arrogance is undesirable. But in contrast, there is honour.
Honour is something very different. Honour is not exactly pride. We usually talk about the six anarthas.
Lust, anger, greed and greed. Pride, anger and illusion. So now if you see the words also have different meanings in different cultural contexts.
So nowadays the word pride often has positive connotations. You may have a hotel pride. Hotel executive pride.
You may have that. Now at least I have not seen any hotel arrogance. Arrogance is understood to be a negative quality.
But pride is often seen as a positive quality. So for example, suppose there is a cricket series going on. Say five match series.
And say one team loses all the first three matches. Today is the third match between Australia and India. So because of this less people are here.
So suppose India loses the third match also. So all three matches are lost. Then what they say is a series is lost, but we will play for pride.
So we will play for pride means at least we don’t want a 5-0 scoreline. Although the series is lost, but still we want to acquit ourselves at least at some respectable level. So the point which I am making is that the word pride does not always have the negative connotation of arrogance.
So Ranath Maharaj in his book Journey Home, when I was editing that book for him, I noticed that when he talks about the six anarthas, he translates mother, he doesn’t translate that as ahanka, he doesn’t translate that as pride. He translates that as arrogance. Then I asked Maharaj about it.
Maharaj said that pride is considered to be a very good thing normally. So when we are talking to new people, if you say we should not have any pride, they use the word pride in the sense of honour. Honour means what? Now Prabhupada also talks about honour.
Say for example, if somebody has taken an initiation vow and then some devotee did not follow the initiation vow. So Prabhupada wrote a letter to them. Don’t you have any sense of honour? You have taken a vow in front of the spiritual master.
You have taken a vow in front of the deities. You have taken a vow in front of the sacred fire. How can you not follow your vow? How can you not honour the vow that you have taken in front of it? So when we talk about honour, honour is what enables people to act honourably.
If people don’t have a sense of honour, then they will do anything and everything just for their selfish interests. But when people have a sense of honour, then there are certain things which they will not do. Because their own conscience, their own sense of honour will not let them do those things.
So in that sense, if honour enables us to act honourably, honour impels us to act honourably, then that is not undesirable. So here, when we see that Narada Muni is telling Dhruva, Narada Muni is appreciating ahok kshatriya tejasam, maan bhangam amrishyatam how glorious are the kshatriyas that they are not able to tolerate dishonour. What does it mean? We see, yes, when they are dishonoured, they are not able to tolerate it.
But what do they do when they are dishonoured? It is not that Dhruva Maharaj is going on a rampage. He is not, I am going to have a blood feud against my stepmother and her son. He displaced me from my throne, so I am going to kill him.
Nothing like that. What he does is, if one has a sense of honour and then one is dishonoured, that dishonour impels one to seek recourse by honourable means. So what does he do? He worships Vishnu.
And it is because of that sense of honour that he is so determined. He says, I have to correct this wrong. So Narada Muni appreciates him.
And here Dhruva says, what you are telling, I cannot do this. So here, usually we talk about the spiritual master and disciple, the guru-shishya relationship as vertical. Spiritual master gives instruction and the disciple follows.
Yes, that is true. But it is not just a vertical relationship in the sense of one way. It is actually a bilateral relationship.
The disciple also speaks to the spiritual master. The disciple also shares one’s heart. Even if you don’t have a spiritual master, whoever our spiritual guide is.
The point is that we all need to be situated in our service to Krishna in a way that is compatible and comfortable for us. If we find ourselves in a situation that is incompatible, that is too demanding, then that itself will take a huge toll for us and we will not be able to serve properly. So I had in Prabhupada memories, in that CD as well as in the book, there is a beautiful pastime of Prabhupada with one of his disciples, Nishan Prabhu.
When I had gone to Alachua last year, I met Nishan Prabhu and asked him about this pastime. He said that is the brightest memory. He is a very elderly devotee now, staying in Alachua.
So he told me this is the brightest memory of my life. And this illustrates this point of bilateral relationship between spiritual master and disciple. So when Prabhupada was in Europe, at that time England, London was the European headquarters.
And Prabhupada had devotees from Germany, from France, from various other places had all come to London. And Prabhupada was asking each of them, so how is the preaching going on in Germany? What are the programmes in France? And all of them were giving reports. Nishan Prabhu was also there.
And then he felt, everybody has something to do for Srila Prabhupada, but I don’t have anything to do. So after the meet darshan, other devotees went, he approached Prabhupada. He said, Prabhupada, everyone has some service for you.
Please give me some service. So Prabhupada looked at him and he says, what do you want to do for Krishna? He said, whatever you tell me Prabhupada, I will do. No, Prabhupada said, what do you want to do for Krishna? He said, maybe Prabhupada is testing me.
He said, whatever you want Prabhupada, I will do it. Prabhupada said, no, understand our philosophy. Our philosophy is to find out what we want to do and to do it for Krishna.
So he said, I have never heard this before. So he said, Prabhupada, think about it. And then he thought about it for a day or two.
Then after that he came back to Prabhupada. Prabhupada, he said that we have this Mridangas, which we have in Kirtans, but many times when the Mridanga falls, it cracks, it breaks, and then we have to get it all from India, from Mayapur, it becomes very difficult. So I am thinking, I will use some material which is available here, and I will make Mridangas here.
And I will make them such that they will not break very easily. So Prabhupada said, very good. Your western godbrothers are very passionate.
So make the Mridanga in such a way, even if they throw it down, it should not break. So, of course, nobody should throw down a Mridanga. The point is, Prabhupada encouraged him in that way.
And then he said, through that one instruction, I got lifelong service. So, yes, if the spiritual master gives us an instruction, we should consider it as a treasure and do according to that instruction. But if we don’t get an instruction, that does not mean that we should wait for the future when the spiritual master will give me an instruction, and till that time I stay passive, doing nothing.
No, you know, if we keep waiting, we are waiters. We are not devotees. We have to do what we can do right now.
So, in one sense, surrender means to do what we can with what we have now. To do what we can with what we have now. So we have some talent, some time, some ability, just use them in Krishna’s service.
So here, when Narada Muni sees that Dhruva is serious, but Dhruva also says that I cannot follow this instruction. When Narada Muni gives Dhruva the instructions, chant Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya. And he tells him how to create a place of worship in the forest.
And Dhruva performs the austerities and the meditation, the devotion with such intensity that in a short time he is able to see the Supreme Lord. So, Dhruva Maharaj, for him, his anger and his sense of injury and hurt that is channelled towards Vishnu by Narada Muni. That is Narada Muni’s expertise.
Narada Muni, he gives him higher level instruction first, but when he sees that it doesn’t suit, Narada Muni gives him an appropriate level of instruction. And Dhruva becomes purified. And the success of Dhruva Maharaj is not just that he sees Vishnu.
It is not even that after seeing Vishnu, he no longer has any desire for getting a kingdom. And he says, He says, Oh Lord, I came before you and you are yourself the supreme jewel. And I was looking for broken pieces of glass.
That he gets this realisation, yes, that is glorious, no doubt. His darshan of Vishnu is glorious. His being purified of his desire for the kingdom is also glorious.
But what is even more special is, when he goes back to the kingdom, he has no animosity towards his stepmother. Nor does he have any animosity towards his stepbrother. In 12.13, Vishnu tells in the Bhagavad Gita that, actually my devotee is a non-envious friend of everyone.
So, Dhruva Maharaj’s heart has been completely transformed by the process of bhakti which Narada Muni gave to him. So, similarly we see, here we see Narada Muni’s expertise. One is he is instructing a hunter.
Yes, sometimes we have these coaching classes. And they often advertise after 10th standard exam or 12th standard exam, that so many students came in the merit list. So many students got into IIT.
Yes, that is good. But if we actually look behind, most of these top coaching classes, they take top students only. To get into these coaching classes, especially top coaching classes, there is a lot of competition.
So, if you are already getting top students, and then they give top results. It’s not all that glorious. You know, if the coaching class said that, okay, this student, this person, in the 9th standard, he just got 40%.
And now in 10th standard, he got 95%. That is a miraculous transformation. Very few people can do that.
So, Narada Muni’s profile extends over the whole gamut. On one level, he is instructing a super learned sage like Vyasadev. On another level, he is instructing a person who is a criminal like Vallaguri, who later becomes Valmiki.
At another level, he is instructing a small 5 year old boy. Now, actually to instruct a 5 year old boy, what is the intellectual capacity of 5 year old boys? To instruct him requires a special skill, special expertise. So, he has that expertise.
But, in the 7th canto, his compassion attains the zenith. Even to instruct a 5 year old boy requires some amount of skill, but Narada Muni is so eager to preach, that he doesn’t even wait for a person to be born. So, even before Prahlad is born, at that time, Narada Muni starts preaching to him.
The back story is that Hiranyakashipu has decided to perform austerities in order to take revenge for the killing of Hiranyaksha by Varaha. And so, he goes to the mountains for performing austerities. At that time, the Devatas are apprehensive.
Hiranyakashipu is already a powerful demon and his son will also be equally oppressive. So, they decide to arrest Kayada, his wife. And they say, keep her in prison till she delivers the child.
And then, after the child is delivered, they are planning to kill him. So, here we see the Devatas are themselves acting in quite a terrible way that they are thinking of killing a small child. And they have arrested a woman over there.
So, at that time, Narada Muni intervenes. And Narada Muni, he instructs that, he says that why are you arresting her? The child in her womb is actually a great demon. He is a Mahabhagavata.
Now, Narada Muni has such respect even among the Devatas that immediately they accept his word. And the same person whom they had arrested, she was a woman, so they had not put any handcuffs around her, but she was their prisoner. At one moment, she was their prisoner.
And the next moment, she becomes an object of veneration. The Devatas circumambulate her. And Kayada is wondering what is happening over here.
She doesn’t even understand initially. Because, you know, she is a woman, she is scared, her husband is away and somebody has come and abducted her. What is going to happen? And then she sees Narada Muni over there.
The Devatas have come and arrested her. And then, suddenly the Devatas, their whole attitude changes. And they are offering their respects and they just go away.
And she starts thinking, Narada Muni must be a very powerful person. Those Devatas, they were so powerful and they just left on one word of Narada Muni. So, how powerful he must be.
She thinks that, this Narada Muni can protect me. Who knows, the Devatas may come back again. If they come back and try to arrest me again, who will defend me? So, she says to Narada Muni, let me stay with you.
Now, Narada Muni is a nunciate. But, he sees this as an opportunity that he can instruct Kayada. Now, Kayada, she is there not because she has a very great devotional inclination.
See, in the Vedic culture, we see that, broad Vedic culture, even the demons understand that their powers don’t exist in isolation. That even they have to appease some higher beings by which they can get powers. In the Ramayana, it is described that before Ravana went for battle, you know, he had his own Brahmanas.
The Brahmanas, they are called Yathudhanas. They were the Brahmanas who would serve the Rakshasas. So, normally we think of Brahmanas as people who are in Sattva Guna.
But, yes, they are Brahmanas, relatively speaking, in Sattva Guna. But, we know the Puranas, there are Sattvic Puranas, Rajasic Puranas, there are Tamasic Puranas. So, now in the Tamasic Puranas, there are rituals which are described, for example, meat eating and other such things are described.
Now, these rituals, who is going to perform them? If all the Brahmanas are in Sattva Guna, who will perform those rituals? So, there are some Brahmanas who also do Tamasic activities. That means Tamasic rituals they perform. So, Yathudhanas are like that.
So, the point I am making here is that even in the Rakshasa culture, there is some respect of Brahmanas. But, that is not out of any Bhakti for them. That is just treating them as a channel to some higher power.
To invoke that higher power, the Brahmanas are said to know the rituals by which higher powers can be channelled. And that’s why they are respected. So, Kayadu also, she has that pious respect for Narada.
And Narada tells her, hear. And she sits and hears what Narada Muni is speaking. But she hears and she forgets.
So, there is no transformation substantially that happens in her. But, Narada Muni is actually not just speaking for her. Narada Muni is also speaking for Prahlad who is in her womb.
And he speaks and speaks and speaks. And Prahlad hears all of it. And Prahlad assimilates it.
So, there have been a lot of scientific research done about what is the extent of the prenatal cognitive ability in infants. Prenatal means before the birth. What is the cognitive ability? How much can children understand? And there have been well documented researches done which show at the very least that, So, for example, there are, Dr. Ian Stevenson is one of the most famous researchers in past life memories.
So, he did some interesting research that if the mother sees some violent stimuli when she is pregnant. So, for example, if she sees a burning fire and she is emotionally scarred by that burning fire, then quite often that translates as a scar on the body of the infant. And usually if a child is born with some problems, then the cause can be traced.
If there is no genetic cause, then there has to be some systemic cause. That means either there is some biochemical imbalance in the mother’s womb because of which the problem has come. And if that is also not a problem.
So, the child in the womb is in a very protected environment. If it is having any problems, where do the problems come from? Either they can come from the genes or they can come from the environment, which is the womb of the mother. So, if from neither the problems are coming, then where are the problems coming from? That means at a psychological level, the thoughts of the mother create an impression on the child.
Now, how this happens? The mainstream modern science may not be able to understand it right now. Because it focusses largely on gross material phenomena. So, anyway, Narada Muni speaks and Prahlad hears.
Prahlad understands. And how much does Prahlad understand? When we think about spiritual knowledge, we talk about we should always remember Krishna. Yes, we should remember Krishna.
But remembering Krishna is not just a matter of intellectual recollection. It is a matter of devotional redirection. It is not a matter of intellectual recollection.
It is not like some children, you know, okay, 3 3s are 9, 3 4s are 12, 3 5s are 15. That is a mathematical table children can repeat. So, remembrance of Krishna is not a matter of intellectual recollection.
When we talk about we should remember Krishna, what it means is, it is a matter of redirection of the heart. That when we are attached to something, when we are captivated by something, that we naturally remember that thing. Suppose some cricket world cup is coming and there is cricket mania everywhere.
Sometimes you may see some young men are walking along the ground and they are moving their hands as if they are the next Sachin Tendulkar going to hit a match winning six. So, they are on the road walking along but their minds are in the cricket field. So, their heart is attached to that.
So, when like that, when Krishna is saying always remember me, yes, initially we do make a conscious exercise to try to remember Krishna. But it is not just intellectual or mechanical recollection. It is actually devotional redirection that one is asked for.
And this is what happens to Prahlad Maharaj. So, now later on we will see the Prahlad past time, it actually goes on, it starts from around the 5th chapter. From the 1st canto, 1st chapter of the 7th canto itself, this narrative starts.
But Prahlad Maharaj appears in the 5th canto and then 5th chapter onwards, 5th, 6th chapter it goes on. So, his instructions to his activities and his instructions to his schoolmates are described in 7 chapters, 6-7 chapters. And in 8th chapter Hiranyakashipu, Narasimhadeva appears and kills Hiranyakashipu.
And in 9th chapter Prahlad Maharaj prays. So, I was talking about how the greatness of a teacher is understood not just through the greatness of the student. That is one way of understanding the greatness of the student.
How great a student becomes, through that we can understand the greatness of the teacher. Another way is how great is the transformation that the teacher brings in the student, from here to take him to the here. So, it is said that the ideal guru-disciple relationship is the disciple never thinks that I have become better than the guru.
But the guru’s greatest joy is when the disciple becomes greater than the guru. So, one devotee asked, Shyamananda Prabhu often tells this pastime that, one devotee asked Prabhupada that, Prabhupada, the Bhaktivinoda Thakur preached in Bengal. Bhaktivinoda Thakur preached in India.
You preached all over the world. Therefore, you are greater than all of them. Prabhupada said, you should never think like this.
He says, what I have achieved is by their mercy. By their mercy I have achieved this. Similarly, but still we see that Prabhupada achieved a lot.
So, we will see in this pastime, Narada Muni’s success is what, within the leela of this pastime, Parala becomes greater than Narada Muni. In what sense? It is, so, Narada actually, the Bhagavatam is, I was talking about nested conversations. One conversation with another conversation with another conversation.
So, this seventh canto is one of the high-level nestings. So, the conversation between Sukhdev Goswami and Sonak Rishi. Then, it is a conversation with Parikshit Maharaj and Sukhdev Goswami.
Then, that starts from the second canto. Seventh canto is the conversation between Yudhishthir Maharaj and Narada Muni. So, Narada Muni is himself speaking about how he rescued Prahlad and how he instructed Prahlad.
The whole story is being told. Within that, so now this is a fourth level narrative that is going on. So, this fourth level narrative, what happens is, Narada Muni is describing that Hiranyakashipu’s glory was so great.
Hiranyakashipu’s prowess was so great that not only all the devatas, all the devatas bowed down to him, but he said, sages like me also have to bow down to him. Now, we may wonder, why would Narada Muni have to bow down to him? Narada Muni did not bow down to Ravana. Why did Narada Muni here bow down to Hiranyakashipu? So, every pastime has a particular rasa and every pastime has a particular purpose.
So, within that leela, for increasing that rasa, for fulfilling that purpose, the Lord arranges for the various characters to act in particular ways. So, for example, in the Draupadi Vastraharan leela, Bhishma could have intervened, Vidura could have intervened, the Pandavas could have said, I don’t care about my word, I’ll just stop. I’ll stop Draupadi.
But the point is, this whole pastime, this mood is to demonstrate the glory of the devotion of Draupadi and the glory of the Lord’s protection. So, all the other characters, consciously or subconsciously, they act in particular ways by which the purpose of the pastime is fulfilled. So, similarly, it is not that Narada Muni was afraid of his life, Narada Muni was thinking that Hiranyakashipu will kill me, therefore, let me bow down to him.
No. Narada Muni understood that this pastime, his whole purpose of this pastime is to glorify Prahlad. So, therefore, the point he makes is that everybody in the universe bowed down to Hiranyakashipu.
Even Narada Muni says, I myself bowed down to Hiranyakashipu. But Prahlad did not bow down. Prahlad did not bow down.
Such is the glory of Prahlad. How great is his devotion. Such total transformation.
Therefore, the Devatas, actually, they had their own abodes. They could just go and stay over there or they could flee anywhere. Prahlad is a five-year-old boy.
So, where will he go? At that time, practically, he has not even gone out of his kingdom. So, he has to stay over there. That is where his home is.
And while being in that home, he is disobeying his father. Now, he disobeys his father, but his mood is not disobedient or arrogant. He says to him, Hiranyakashipu asks him, Hiranyakashipu, this is the eighth chapter, the beginning, Hiranyakashipu says that, Just by my raising of the eyebrows, even the Devatas start trembling.
And you, how is it that you are not trembling at all? I am shouting at you. So, now, normally, you know, if we see some big bodybuilder kind of person and some other very thin, skinny person and this thin, skinny person is standing fearlessly in front of the bodybuilder, there should be someone behind him. Somebody must be there with him.
Otherwise, how will he be able to do this? How does he have this courage? So, that is the question that Hiranyakashipu asks. Hiranyakashipu asks, he says, by whose power are you able to defy me like this? So, now, sometimes people may think that God is the best of all beings. You know, there is this, I am so powerful, he is that powerful, he is that powerful, he is that powerful.
There is a hierarchy and top of that hierarchy is God. God is the best of all beings. Now, at one level, this understanding is okay.
But, if we have only this understanding of God, that God is the best among all beings, then we may think, okay, if somebody else becomes the best, then God can be replaced. Just like there are, there is tennis, there are players, and there is one person who is number one, because that person has maximum number of points. If somebody else gets the maximum number of points, then number one will be displaced.
So, if we think that God is the best of all beings, then we may think that God is replaceable. So, God is not just the best of all beings. He is the basis of all beings.
He is the basis of all beings. He says, यच्चापि सर्वभूतानां बीजम् तदर्मार्जुनां न तदस्ति विना यच्चान मयां भूतं चराचरु Krishna says, nothing can exist without me. And that is what Prahlad Maharaj tells Hiranyakashipu that, actually, you are asking about the source of my power.
I will tell you the source of everyone’s power, including your powers. Don’t think that there is a hierarchy in way, or there is someone bigger than you. And if you become big enough, you will knock him down.
Don’t have that conception of Vishnu. Vishnu is not just the top of hierarchy. He is the basis of all beings.
He is the source of the strength of everyone. At one level, this might seem like provocation. It’s like you go in a lion’s den and then pull its moustache.
Why is Prahlad doing like this? Is he provoking? Has he got a death wish on his head that he is provoking Hiranyakashipu like this? No. The point is, Prahlad is trying in his own small capacity to educate Hiranyakashipu. To make him see sense.
If you see the whole flow of verses, it’s very beautiful. And the next point, one of the later verses, what does Prahlad say? That, he says, you are saying Vishnu is your enemy. Actually, you have no enemies.
The only enemy is your uncontrolled and misdirected mind. Beautiful adjectives for describing. Uncontrolled.
It’s not just uncontrolled, but it is misdirected also. Therefore, he says, learn to control the mind and then you will see that Vishnu is not your enemy. So, he is trying to tell his father that don’t think I have become a defector.
You are thinking that I have become a traitor. That I have sided on the side of your enemy. But no, I have not sided on the side of your enemy.
Because Vishnu is not your enemy. Vishnu is the basis of all of our existence. So, the point is, this is, that Prahlad can speak such profound philosophy at the age of five.
This is the glory of Narada Muni. This is the greatness of Narada Muni by which he has been able to inculcate such values. So, it’s not that when Prahlad tells his schoolmates also, but his schoolmates ask, where did you learn all this? You know, our teachers never taught us these things.
And our parents also never taught us these things. How did you learn this? He says that I learned it from Narada Muni. He says, when did you meet Narada Muni? He says, I never met him.
But how did you learn from him? He says, I heard when I was in my mother’s womb. They are impressed by that. How did you hear? We don’t even know what we were doing when we were in our mother’s womb.
But, so now the point which I am making is, that it is not that Prahlad just is doing rote repetition over here. He heard, he assimilated, he understood, and now he is repeating with assimilation and realisation. So, remembrance is not just intellectual or mechanical recollection.
It is devotional redirection. So, Narada Muni’s success is that Prahlad Maharaj’s heart is completely redirected in utter fearlessness. And even in the face of death, he is able to have this Jnana Chakshu, this Prema Chakshu, the eyes of knowledge, the eyes of devotion.
And he is able to, even after his father tries to assassinate him, what does he do? He begs for the Lord’s mercy on his father. He begs that Hiranyakashipu be forgiven. And Asimale is so pleased and blesses him.
That is the success of Narada Muni. And then if you move to the 10th Canto, Narada Muni comes in the 10th Canto at several places. I will talk about two places, one from the Bhargavatam and one from Gopalchandpur, with which I will then move to the conclusion of the class.
So, in the 10th Canto, first he appears in the, when Kamsa is going along his chariot and he is driving Devaki Vasudev’s chariot. At that time, the Akashvani comes along. And when the Akashvani comes, at that time, his complete mentality is about to kill Devaki.
And Vasudev talks in an emergency action. He pacifies him. Tells him, I will give all my sons.
You are afraid of my sons. Why should you let Devaki die? Why should you kill Devaki? So now, here, I was asked this question on my website. He said, you know, if Kamsa was afraid of the son of Vasudev and Devaki killing, him, why did he keep them in the same cell? He could just have kept them in separate cells.
There would be no son. So, now, the point is, if you look at Kamsa’s mentality, Kamsa, he was a demon. And a demon doesn’t mean that he, Vishnu, Vishnubhakta Sato Deva, asuras tad viparyaya.
The asuras, they want to go against, not just Vishnu, but against the whole cosmic order. So, Kamsa, it was not just because of the goodness of his heart, that when Vasudev said that, oh, why do you want to kill Devaki? I’ll give her sons to you. So, it was not because of the goodness of his heart, that he abandoned his plan to kill Devaki.
He thought, that I will prove the Akashvan to be wrong. He says, the son of Devaki is going to kill me? By killing him, by killing the one who is supposed to be my killer, I will prove the Devatas to be wrong. And when I prove the Devatas to be wrong, when I prove the Akashvan to be wrong, then my glory will be enhanced by that.
So, it was his foolhardy arrogance, because of which, he allowed Devaki and Vasudev to stay together, and he allowed them to beget children. And his idea was, he did not even try to kill the womb. Because he said, let the child be born.
After he is born, I will kill him. And this way, I will prove who is going to kill me. I have killed my killer.
So, he had this mentality. Now, what happens is, the first child, who is Kirtivan, is brought by Vasudev to Kamsa. Because Devaki is in tears, Vasudev conceals his tears, controls himself and takes her.
And Kamsa is very pleased. He says, oh, you are so truthful. He says, anyway, I am actually afraid of the 8th son only.
So, you can take him back. There is no problem. Now, when he does this, at that time, Narada Muni comes there.
And Narada Muni tells him, so, according to later retellings of this Krishna Illa, Narada Muni brings a flower petal to him. And he says, which is the 8th? Which is the 8th petal over here? He says, 1, 2, 3, he says, 8th, you don’t know. See, the Devatas are very dhurta.
These Devatas are very cunning. They will say, the 8th son will kill. But who knows, the 1st son may also kill.
So, now at this point, well, Kamsa becomes very furious. Fearful and furious. And he decides that, better not take any chances.
And he kills all the sons, one by one by one. Now, we may say that, is Narada Muni responsible for this? That Kamsa, he would not have killed Devaki’s son, but because of Narada Muni’s provocation, Kamsa did. Actually, it’s not as simple.
There are multiple things going on over here. The 6 sons, I can’t go into the back story, most of you probably know the story also. The 6 sons were higher beings.
They were the sons of Marisha, who was the son of Brahma, who had been cursed to be born on the earth. And the quicker their lifespan on the earth, the quicker they would go back to the heavenly residence. So, that was one purpose.
Another was that, by killing those sons, Kamsa would be increasing his power. And as he increases his sin more and more, the reaction will come faster. Thirdly is that, if they don’t have children, Vasudeva and Devaki, they have a child, and they have to take care of the child, and they will let the child grow a little bit.
And after some years, they may beget the next child. But if they don’t have a child, then they will beget the next child. So, the idea was, Narada Muni wanted Krishna to appear as fast as possible, so that Kamsa’s atrocities would be ended as fast as possible.
So, when he is acting, he is not just provoking Kamsa for fun’s sake or provocation’s sake. Narada Muni is not Kalaha Priya, he is Krishna Priya. He wants Krishna to appear as quickly as possible.
And for causing the appearance of Krishna, if Kalaha has to be done, he will do Kalaha also. But the point is, his love is for Krishna. It’s not to create conflict.
Now, interestingly, Narada Muni appears many times, but Narada Muni appears once very significantly, when Krishna is in Vrindavan, and he is just about to depart from Vrindavan. So, at that time, this is described in Gopalachampu. And Jiv Goswami gives a very beautiful analysis of Krishna’s pastime in the 10th canto in Gopalachampu.
And he states over there, that when Narada Muni appears, we will see that Narada Muni at that time tells Krishna, that Krishna, in the future, now you are here, now I will see you, you will go to Mathura, and you will kill the elephant Koliapida, you will kill the demons, and then you will destroy Kamsa, and then you will build Dwarka. He tells the whole 10th canto in advance. And sometimes, if you want to go and watch a movie, and then somebody tells, this movie is so nice, I will tell you the story.
Don’t tell me the story, I want to go and watch it. You will kill the suspense. In Krishna Leela, it is, you may say, Narada Muni, if he already knows the whole story, then what is the joy in it? Actually, once there is love for Krishna, the joy is not just in the new information.
It is in the new recollection. Even if the same story is told, it triggers newer and deeper recollections. So at that time, Narada Muni, Krishna has not yet made a plan to depart from Vrindavan.
But Krishna, Narada Muni tells him, that you are living here, and you are performing pastimes, and whichever demons are coming here, you are killing them. But the rest of the world is still populated by demons. And you have a duty to go there.
And you have to kill those demons. And Krishna’s heart is not ready to go. He says, how can I leave my Vrajavasis? How can I be a separation from them? How can they be a separation from me? I cannot go.
But Narada Muni tells him, O Lord, you know, you have descended at the plea of the Devadas, for the sake of doing good to the world. You have done good to the world by demonstrating the pastimes of Vraja. But that is not the only purpose of your descent.
You also have to establish order in this world. So please, O Lord, whatever you desire, you may do. But Krishna is a small child and is in that role of a small child.
Krishna understands that Narada Muni has actually instructed him. So he decides to go. And actually when Krishna goes away from Vrindavan, what does he do? Okay, it is Narada Muni.
So Narada Muni knows what is going to happen. So Nakrura comes along and Krishna gets separated from the Gopis. But here what happens is Narada Muni inspires Krishna and the Gopis.
By inspiring Krishna to leave Vrindavan, he enables them all to experience love in separation. So in the Narada Bhakti Sutra also, this bhakti is analysed very beautifully, very coherently. And intense recollection is the essence of devotion.
Intense recollection. That is one of the definitions of bhakti given in Narada Bhakti Sutra. And normally, if the person whom we love is present, there is some recollection.
But when the person is not present, at that time, the recollection often becomes intensified. So the example is given that separation is to love what wind is to fire. The fire is burning somewhere and then a wind starts blowing.
There is a forest fire, some forest fire occurs and if at that time a big wind also comes, that is a firefighter’s nightmare. Because that wind will cause the fire to spread more and more. So like that, for the devotee, there is like a fire of love for Krishna in their heart.
And when separation is there, separation acts like a wind. And that wind causes the fire to grow more and more and more. The devotee’s recollection of Krishna becomes more and more and more.
And actually, ultimately Krishna is not hard-hearted. Krishna is not leaving his devotee. Even when Lord Ram, when he separates Sita from himself, it is not just because of his reputation.
It is ultimately Ram and Sita, they are both experiencing love and separation. So, Narada Muni plays a pivotal role in enabling this love and separation to be experienced by both Krishna and the Vraja devotees. Now, of course, we have to know that this metaphor works both ways.
That there is fire and there is wind. If the fire is big, the wind will increase the fire. If the fire is just a candle, the wind will extinguish it.
So, we should not think, I will become separated from devotees, my love will increase. Our love is like, our bhakti is like a small candle. If we go away from devotees, the winds will come and extinguish the devotion.
So, we need association. But in a very advanced stage, when Krishna’s presence is alive and active in our heart, then when externally we are separated from the manifestation of Krishna, then the flame of devotion burns brighter and bigger and intensifies our devotion. So, Narada Muni is the person who causes the manifestation of Krishna and his wonderful pastimes in various places, throughout the universes, in various ages.
And Narada Muni is especially known for travelling here and there, everywhere. Wherever Krishna’s pastimes are having a dramatic turn, Narada Muni will appear there. And he will make the dramatic turn even more dramatic.
And that missionary zeal of travelling far and wide, that was also manifested in Srila Prabhupada. So, Srila Prabhupada had in one sense, both the missionary zeal of travelling that Narada Muni had and also the literary zeal of writing that Vyasadeva had. So, both he combined together.
For, I am a writer and when I start travelling, I just can’t write much. Because you need a particular set of framework and things like that to write. But Prabhupada, he was always travelling.
And yet he was always writing. How he did that and how he wrote so much and such deep stuff, that is phenomenal. And Prabhupada travelled.
In the last 10-11 years of his life, he went around the world not once, not twice, 14 times. Round and round and constantly travelling. So, what was it that made him travel? Sometimes, when people are very much tortured by desires, by lust, by greed, by anger, then because of that they are not able to sleep, they are not able to eat, they are not able to do anything.
Desire is burning them. So, Prabhupada’s heart was burning with compassion. And that compassion did not let him rest.
He would just sleep for a few hours and he would wake up and start writing. So, all day he would be talking about Krishna to people who came to meet him. And all night he would be talking about Krishna to people who did not come to meet him.
By writing books for them. In this way, he travelled far and wide. He went to practically all the inhabited continents of the world.
For the 50th anniversary, I have written a small book called Prabhupada, the moments that made the moment. So, in that book I have described how Prabhupada went to all the five continents. He went from here to America and from America to Europe, from Europe to USSR.
Then, of course, he came to India, then he went to Australia, then he went to Africa, then he went to South America. You know, he would have gone to Antarctica also, but people were not there in Antarctica. So, Prabhupada travelled all over the world.
And the way he travelled was, wherever he went, he just filled people over there with spiritual memories, with spiritual energy, with spiritual inspiration to share Krishna Bhakti. Not only practise it themselves, but to share it with everyone. So, that machinery is him.
Prabhupada said that he had got special blessings of the previous Acharyas. When he had been in Vrindavan, at that time, he had prayed to the previous Acharyas. And of course, in a distant way, one of the previous Acharyas was also Narada Muni.
So, Narada Muni is not just a historical character who lived long time ago. Yes, he is definitely a person who lived long time ago. He is a person who is a great character.
But that spirit that Narada Muni embodied, spirit of selfless, tireless devotion, that Sri Prabhupada also embodied. And through his example, by meditating on how Narada Muni so extraordinarily practised and shared Bhakti, we can pray to him, we can beg his blessings and get his mercy by which we can also be inspired in his Bhakti. There is one shloka which comes repeatedly, twice in the Mahabharata and once in the Bhagavatam.
And that is, the theme is basically, when Yudhishthira is talking with Yaksha, the Yaksha asks, what path should one follow? And at that time, Yudhishthira replies, The path that we should follow is the path given by the Mahajanas. So, the path is not just a straight physical path, the path is a path of an example which they have given. So, we, by meditating on, by praying to and by internalising the example of the great Mahajana like Narada Muni, we can also be inspired in our devotion, we can be instructed in our devotion, we can be enlivened in our devotion and march onwards in our journey, going closer to Krishna ourselves and helping others to come close to Krishna.
Thank you very much. Narada Muni Ki Jai. Shilpa Prabhupada Ki Jai.
Thank you very much. Do we have time for any questions? Does anyone have any questions? Yeah. Raj Pariksit Puri.