Prithu Maharaj Pastime (3)

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So, the Srimad Bhagavatam, as we know, is a conversation. And this particular incident of the past life of Krishna comes as a conversation at the fourth level of a nested group. We have to be aware of nested groups in computers.
So, there is one flow of logic. Even then we have another sub-programme, another programme. So like that, the Srimad Bhagavatam at the outermost level, we could say, is the conversation between Vyasadev and us.
So that is the outermost level of conversation. Then at the historical level, is the conversation between Sita Goswami and the living Krishna. Within that, so the conversation between Vyasadev and us starts right from the first verse of the first canto till the last verse of the twelfth canto.
Then, after three invocation verses, so roughly 15 verses, something like that, of the first chapter, the second conversation starts. That is Sita Goswami and Nandi Sharani’s ages. The third level of conversation is between Shukadeva Goswami and Parishadana Pariksit.
That starts from the first chapter of the second canto. And at the last chapter of the first canto, the appearance of Shukadeva Goswami is described and Parishadana Pariksit asks him some questions. Shukadeva Goswami’s speaking starts from the second canto.
And in the third canto, from the fourth chapter onwards, the fourth level of conversation starts. That is between Vidura and Maitreya. So Vidura has left the kingdom of Dhritarashtra because he was insulted by Dhritarashtra and goes to the forest, meets Uddhava, as described in the first chapter.
Uddhava directs him to Maitreya. And in the whole third canto, the whole fourth canto and the whole fifth canto, actually they are conversations, these three cantos are conversations between Maitreya and Vidura. Vidura is asking questions and Maitreya is describing the answers.
So this is the level of conversation in which Uddhava and Maitreya’s past life occurs. So it’s interesting that while there are multiple conversations going on, there is still an underlying structure to the Bhagavad Gita. So essentially, we know that the day of Brahma is divided into Manvantaras.
On the fourth day of Brahma, how many Manvantaras? Fourteen. Fourteen Manvantaras, yes. Manvantara is the time when the monkey moves.
So basically, the Bhagavad Gita’s internal flow, apart from the conversations, is that the various Manvantaras and their rules and especially the incarnation that appeared during the Rudra’s birth. So from the third canto onwards, till almost the end of this age, till the start of the eighth canto almost, actually on five cantos, the period of Swayambhu Manu is described. So during Swayambhu Manu’s period, what was going to happen? And then after that things go forward in the eighth canto, where various Manus are described.
And until the present Manus, what will happen? Vaivasak Manu. So you can go on and repeat it some other time. So it is going forward sequentially.
So it is not that all the pastimes that are described from say the third canto to the seventh canto happened during Swayambhu Manu’s time. Ajaman’s pastime happened some other time. But overall, this is the overall narrative we know.
Just like if two people are conversing, then while they are conversing, they are discussing one particular topic. But while discussing one particular topic, some other topic may come up also for discussion. But overall, the flow is this.
So then in the tenth canto, the current Vaivasak Manu is going on. So Krishna’s incarnation is described. Before that, the other Arjuna incarnations are described.
And then the eleventh canto goes on to describe Krishna’s subsequent pastimes and his departure from the world of Bhogita. And the twelfth canto describes what happens after Krishna has passed. And then there are connections about Kali.
So this is how the whole Vaivasak Manu’s individual structure. So in the third canto, the daughters of Swayambhu Manu are described. That is, the main person that was there in the seventh day Bhogita.
And in that connection, Kapil would leave. And this pastime that is there. So what I was telling you, this is the data that I was telling you.
From here onwards, the conversation between Bhogita and Maitreya starts. And he asks various questions about the creation described. And from chapter 20 onwards, here the pastime of Devahuti starts.
So before that, basically what is happening, how creation happens in Swayambhu Manu’s life, that is described. And this whole thing goes on. That is Devahuti’s pastime.
Why is Devahuti coming? She is the daughter of Swayambhu Manu. So that pastime is described for around 11 chapters. Then after describing one daughter Devahuti, then he describes briefly the other daughter Akuti.
And in that connection, the pastime of Raksha comes. Because Akuti gets married in that family. We will not go into the detailed genealogy.
And after he finishes that, then he comes to the sons of Swayambhu. So, Srimadev Goswami also follows ladies first. So he describes daughters first, and then he comes to the sons.
So then, among his sons, the first son is Udana Rupa. And then the descendants of Udana Rupa are then described. So Udana Rupa’s son, in the papers of Udana Rupa.
So you will see that 5 chapters. So at this 4.7, the sacrifice performed by Raksha, Akuti’s pastime, that means the daughter’s lineage is over. So it goes back again to the father and the son’s lineage starts.
So when the son’s lineage starts, so there are 5 chapters of Dhruva Maharaja’s pastime. And then Dhruva Maharaja’s descendants go. So Dhruva Maharaja’s prominent descendant is Utti Maharaja.
So basically, the whole 4th canto is the sons of Swayambhu. Not just the sons, actually only one son, Udana Rupa, and all his descendants are mentioned. So Utti Maharaja is described, and after Utti Maharaja, then the Sarvajna variations go on.
And in that canto, there is Pachiri Parishad, and there is a Pachirta. So with that, this canto gets over. And then, in the next canto if we go, actually, at this particular point, Sumadhar Baccheta, that dynasty ends.
The kings do not begin in the son. So then, there is a question of who you will be. Then again the story goes back to the other son of Sarvabhadra, that is, Priyadratha.
And then Priyadratha, and in this line, we have Vrishabhadevi coming up, Bharatanatyam Raj coming up, and then we can go from there. So, we are, when we are discussing, what we are discussing today will be, we will see as the moment we will discuss, we will discuss from 15th chapter onwards, till the 24th chapter. We will see how much we can cover.
This is 9 chapters on the pastime of Kunti Maharaja. So, historically speaking, we are, I am discussing this pastime, this is all, so I don’t know how much time. And it is a descendant of Umanapada and Dhruv Maharashtra.
So, what is the reason for discussing all this history? Actually, the Bhagavatam is primarily concerned with transcendental principles. It is not concerned with historical details. But still, by looking at these things, we understand that there is still a structural issue to address.
And that structure helps us to spiritualise our vision of history. Spiritualise our vision of history. The history that we study in our normal history books is basically, basically a history of battles and deaths.
That’s all. You know, this battle happened this particular time, this person died and this person became a king and this person moved to this bank. That is all that is there.
So, in that sense, history as we study from the material perspective is a list of names of dead successful people. People who became successful people are gone and dead now. That is all that history is from the material perspective.
So, the Bhagavatam does not merely record the history of this country. Bhagavatam records in history those people who have been able to transcend death. So, those who have been able to cultivate virtues that enabled them to transcend death.
And how the Lord descended from outside this time domain into this time domain to help people to transcend death. So, Bhagavatam focusses on that history. That’s why, if you consider it to be a historical narrative, you know, it’s like if somebody is showing you the house in a camera.
So, the camera is moving around the house and then there is something of interest in focus. The camera is moving, suddenly it stops and focus goes away. So, like that, the camera of Gurudev Goswami is moving down chronologically.
But why moving chronologically? Whenever there is an exalted devotee, all the things of course are pious and virtuous. But some of them are extraordinary. So, this camera is chronologically camera focussing and we describe their characteristics now.
So, Shri Gurudev Goswami and the whole Shiva Bhagavatam is centred around the principle of being a hermit and a spiritual mystery and a spiritual historian. So, it’s not necessarily detailed in terms of systematic or exhaustive material chronology. There is a chronology where the focus is not on detailing facts and figures.
The focus is on characters, on persons who have lived in this samsara chakra. So, one such person is Bhutangaraj. So, let us start with this.
So, basically the background of the pastime of Bhutangaraj is that he is actually, generally speaking, anything wonderful that happens in this world, from the spiritual perspective, that is often perceived as something disastrous. That is quite often the meaning of the existence. You know, Krishna appeared because of the disastrous, before there was this convenient way.
Now, Shri Gurudev Goswami started speaking of Shiva Bhagavatam because of the disaster of Arjuna who has been purged, he got no serious thought of this. Similarly, here, Bhutangaraj appeared, that is, we see the time, the disastrous guru of the tyrant named Vena. So, Vena, he was such a horrible thing that he, he would, as a child, when playing with other children, would kill the children, in what I mean.
And, he eventually became the king. And, he became the king. He started terrorising everyone.
Of course, the Sikhs became terrorised. But, even good people were terrorised. And, when the Brahmins went to give little counsel, he had such much arrogance, he told the Brahmins, you know, all of you, I am Narada, I am God, and all of you are meant to worship me.
And, instead of my worship, you are telling, you are telling that I should worship somebody else. So, you are like an unchaste wife who is worshipping somebody other than her husband. And, you deserve punishment.
So, Shri Aurobindo, first of all, came to take instructions from the saints and to take instruction, he is not only trying to instruct, he is also making accusations. So, therefore, the Brahmins generally do not exercise their power in material terms. But, here, you see, it’s a human being, and they exercise the power of sound vibration.
And, just by the power of sound vibration, he, this powerful tyrant, Vrindavan, he sponsored it. And then, after that, his body is preserved by his mother, and then the Brahmins come and churn his body. And, it’s a mystical process.
Through the churning of his body, Kutumaraj appears. And, he appears, as Kutumaraj has no childhood, there is no Baal-Veda of Kutumaraj. He appears through the Guru-Nama.
And, he appears directly with his father. So, let me ask you, both of them appear together. And, when they appear together, then, let us see what happens.
So, this is the background of Kutumaraj’s appearance. So, we will read some of the verses. We will recite some of the verses.
And, we will discuss some of the proposals. We will obviously not be looking through all of it. So, my friend is sitting over there.
So, I will say, a male and a female couple came out of their arms. In the arms of, and I call it, let it come along. So, So, Aisha, she is, and this person, Vishnu, he is actually Vishnu himself.
And, here is Tata, the person who is accompanying him. That is Bhuvana Pali. Pali means the feminine genie.
She is the protectress of the earth. So, this Lord, Yamuna’s person, Lakshmiya Sambhuti, Sambhuti means to appear, will appear to Lakshmi, Bhuvishasya, Bhuvishasya Anapayi. So, Anapayi, binding means to separate, inseparate.
So, there is kind of this group of personalities who appear together. So, this is one of the distinctions of Pruthu Maharaj, that he and his consort appear directly. Other incarnations of Krishna, where the consort appears directly with him.
So, there are some incarnations like Narasimha there, where the consort is there before him. In the sense that she is there in the past and Narasimha there, where Lakshmi comes and she goes. And some incarnations like Vamana, when he is a Dhramachari.
And Prakshana also, he takes a vow of renunciation. So, in general, as far as we have the broad list of incarnations, as far as we know. So, this is the only incarnation where the consort directly appears to him.
And both of them have been glorified by the sages only. So, as the sages glorify her, then there is a very interesting thing that happens. They are already being glorified and at that time Pruthu Maharaj says, stop.
He starts saying, you are a great person, you are this, you are that. He says, stop. I have not done anything till now.
I have not done anything till now. Why do you glorify me like this? So, Pruthu Maharaj has a very interesting purpose over here. So, we will discuss some of the purports.
So, she mentions this very purport that there is a concept of Viputis. So, when we talk about Viputis, can you see the Viputis in the list? Whatever I have in the purport, we will discuss something about those sorts of Viputis. I cannot keep a picture of those Viputis.
So, Prabhupada explains that this particular Pruthu Maharaj is a Shaktyamesh avatar. And there in that purport he says, how do we recognise who is God? How do we recognise an incarnation of God? So, now in this purport as well as in general, there are different purports. So, Prabhupada gives four broad criteria.
So, let’s look at these four criteria. How do we recognise divinity? The first very important point is, there has to be, there have to be scriptural references. So, scriptural references have to be there.
This person, the popular business person. And this will be, this will be mission. Broad references have to be there.
And then, in this particular pastime in his life, there was a Pruthu Maharaj that day, Brahmaji came over there. And Brahmaji looked at his hands. And he saw, oh, there is an extraordinary characteristic on his hands.
And then, how does he look at his hands? What is the characteristic of Krishna? Vajra. Vajra. On Krishna’s lotus feet there is Vajra.
What is Vajra? Vajra is a fly. Vajra is like a boat. Jiksha is fish.
So, only the power of the yoga. So, Krishna’s lotus feet has the characteristics of Vajra, Vajra, Krishna. Only the power of the yoga.
So, like that, every incarnation has certain characteristics. So, the bodily features are there. And then, not only bodily features, but there have to be extraordinarily personal activities.
And along with the extraordinarily personal activities, there is a capacity to give divine experiences to others. So, divine experiences can be of various categories. Something can be like, say, Shri Vishnu.
There can be various kinds of divine experiences that one can give. But, actually, some people may claim to have some extraordinary characteristics. But, for all four to be present, it is quite unusual.
It is very rare. So, there are many people in India who claim to be incarnations. So, there is one incarnation, one incarnation who did full plastic surgery of his body to get all those bodily marks made on his body.
And then, after he did the plastic surgery, then what happened? The doctor who did the plastic surgery, he became very famous as an incarnation after that. I mean, he became very famous as an incarnation. He said, I have all these bodily marks on my body.
And then, the plastic surgeon who had done the surgery, he started blackmailing me. You know, I will expose you. So, God got blackmailed at that time.
So, people do all sorts of things. So, we try to claim to be God. So, an important point is, in general, we can talk about this in a few minutes.
Some of the claimants for God are very absent. They are outright superstitial who have not much spirituality, not much character. A bunch of sentimental negativity of their followers makes them believe that they are God.
And they also accept that claim. But there may be other people also who might be living pure lives. They might be somewhat saintly.
And their followers accept them as God. And these people may also accept that, may not accept that. But in general, when we talk about, if we meet a person who believes somebody is God, which particular person is God, it has to be delicate, sensitive.
Scriptural references are important. The point of scriptural references alone is not enough. We can’t just take that argument, scriptural references, and bang it down their throat.
We haven’t accepted the scriptural proofs earlier. Therefore, we have to accept. Actually, it is a cumulative process of gradual development of faith.
So, all four have to be there. So, she has written a book called Thakur. It is a very interesting way of reasoning.
So, this is a book called Thakur. We have another mic. So, this is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s Life and Precepts, a book by Thakur.
So, he describes the characteristics of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s incarnations, activities. And this is one of the concluding passages of it. So, let us watch this video.
So, Bhaktivedanta Thakur is guiding us over here. How do we present Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s divinity to people who are not yet ready to accept Him? So, in general, if we look at this from those who are in Krishna consciousness, from their perspective, so many people are claiming to be God. And we may say Prabhupada never claimed to be God, but still we say Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is God.
So, in general, for people to accept Krishna as God is easy, Rama as God is easy, because this is widespread. It is over accepted by everyone in the media that he is a God. But Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s divinity is not so well known or so well accepted.
So, therefore, for what we are presenting such people, now there is a huge set, a significant set of scripture references also. But Bhaktivedanta Thakur is presenting, he is writing his book on Bhagavad Gita, the intellectual people of And he says that, okay, we don’t insist. We use the perspective of Krishna.
We accept that He is God. But the important thing is, even if you can’t accept He is God, accept that He is a noble, holy teacher. And that is easy to accept, isn’t it? He is certainly an extraordinarily devoted person.
And then he says, what proves Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s divinity is not that He performed miracles. He did perform many miracles. He cured lepers and when He was attacked, He made animals dance and He did many miracles.
But even that is not the proof of His divinity. If we actually want to say, it is now and its overwhelming influence. So, this is, would you like to read this? Bhaktivedanta Thakur underscores that the most important teachings of Gaudiya Vaishnavism are not so much the knowledge of the divinity of God Chaitanya, as the law evident in His activities accessible through His teaching.
So, actually speaking, how will people understand Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s God? Okay, scriptures are there, but if they follow the process, then they experience the transformation which I have asked you, the law of which we are living in the life of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and that is accessible when we check in meditation and we follow the process. And when we do that in pratyeksha of our own living, actually that is direct living experience. And that experience will lead to perfection.
So, certainly over a period of time, we need to develop faith and logic in the environment. But faith is something which organically permeates. So, in the initial stages, even if we accept the process of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu or when we are teaching others, at least accept the process of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
It is called a daily process and it is a process that you do. It is actually based on the scriptures. So, if you follow the process, you will experience transformation there.
And that transformation will give them healing. It is like, if somebody is a doctor, how do people develop faith that he is a doctor? Okay, you see the certificate, that is okay. But a certificate is not enough.
What would help people develop decisive faith is that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is actually like the process to the transformation. Actually, the scriptural references are important. But if you look at Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s actual life story, it is not that wherever he is going, people are reading the scripture.
Oh, the scripture is super, that is why he wants to be God. It is not like that. What happens? Actually speaking, there are inclusive people.
If you look at the past, Sarvabhaupada Acharya, he says, doesn’t people accept this that he is God? I don’t accept. They give you some reasons for that. And then Gopinath Acharya says, there is a reference in Mahabharata, there is this.
So, scriptural references are for inclusive people. They are important. At the same time, what does Chaitanya Mahaprabhu do? He either emphasises that he is God or he just gives them hope to stay.
And if we see when he goes to Varanasi, at that time there is Prakashananda Saraswati. So, Prakashananda Saraswati is in Mayavadi and he brings this Chaitanya Mahaprabhu sentimental sannyas in Varanasi. So, what does Chaitanya Mahaprabhu do? He exhibits that he is God by chance.
No way. First he exhibits humility, then he exhibits Siddhanta Saraswati by chance. And that is what impresses me.
So, actually he gets attracted by that. And then after he becomes attracted by that, then there are philosophical discussions. And in our philosophical discussion, when he gets convinced, you know, such ambition, you know, he has explained in the Vedanta Kirtana, far, far better than what Siddhanta Saraswati has explained.
That expression is quite stretched. Such a brilliant explanation. Nobody’s mind can reach that explanation.
So, actually the pastime of Prakashananda Saraswati is described in Chaitanya Mahaprabhu twice. First, it comes in the 7th chapter of the Abhidheela, where there are five manifestations of Lord Chaitanya. And then again, it comes in the 24th, 25th chapter of the Abhidheela, where it is described how all the sannyasid Kashi, they became Vashishtas.
So, basically at first he describes the philosophical position of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Then he describes how philosophically they were transformed. And chronologically, he describes in Abhidheela.
But the important point is, that the combination of effort for the, for Prakashananda Saraswati, when he saw the pulses of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he heard his explanation of the Vedanta Sutra and he stopped and insisted that it should be written. And his name was Prakashananda Saraswati. But after interacting with Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he understood what is Prakash, what is Ananda, what is Saraswati.
He completely transformed and elevated. So, after the fact, he, now he knew all the scriptures at that time. Then after the fact, he said, yes, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is God and the scriptures also are God.
So, finally it was a cumulative process. The central thing was the experience. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was able to give the experience, this extraordinary experience of love to everyone.
So, that’s why, you just cannot, scriptures are important. Anybody might say, oh, I got the experience of something. As I said the other day, my Guru put his hand on my head and I got the experience of a shock.
Therefore, my Guru is God. Anybody can claim any experience. But the point is, the experience has to be according to the scripture also.
Scripture goes that Guru did an electric shock. That’s another kind of experience. But the point is, different people may have got different experiences.
Some experience they may have got because of that they have certain beliefs. So, how do we help them develop their Chaitanya Mahaprabhu? It’s a combination of scriptural teaching and personal experience. Both go together.
Scriptural teaching and personal experience, both go together. There’s a monologue on Krishna Prabhupada at this Krishna. So, he asked, so why do you accept Krishna as God? So, different people have different answers.
Prabhupada was playing the devil’s advocate. He just picked up all the answers. And then, somebody said, here is the answer, here is the answer.
Now, why do you not accept any of the answers? And finally, nobody knew the answer when Prabhupada said, you know, because Bhagavad Gita says this. Bhagavad Gita says Krishna is God, but why do you accept Krishna as God before he is God? So, then after that, they went to another place and Prabhupada is monologuing and answering Krishna. When he answers the same question, all the devotees knew, but there was only one devotee going there from this side.
So, he was just waiting for the answer. Different people had different answers. And there he is.
Prabhupada said, so why do you accept Krishna as God? You are just waiting for the answer. Yes, Prabhupada said, yes, because Bhagavad Gita says this. Bhagavad Gita, you are scripture, I don’t believe you.
He didn’t know what to say. And finally, Prabhupada said, we accept Krishna as God because when we chant Hare Krishna, we experience it. When we chant Hare Krishna, we experience it.
So, what does it mean? These two criteria go together. So, we have scriptural revelation and personal experience. So, when both are together, then we have a proper understanding.
So, if we just emphasise scriptural teaching, scriptural preaching and don’t give people the opportunity to get personal experience, they will not get convinced. On the other hand, anybody can claim to have any personal experience, but if they are not based on scriptural teaching, then their personal experience will not be lasting. It will not be transformational for a long time.
So, that’s why both have to be there, the scriptural teaching and personal experience. So, now for people to get their personal experience, they have to follow the process. And for following the process, they just have to accept Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as a teacher of the people.
That is good enough. And that will start to gradually, as the process works, as the heart gets transformed, illumination comes on the heart. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . and all the great personalities from the universe come the great universe and they give gifts to them so something similar happens in the Mahamudra past time in the Mahamudra years at that time also all the devatas come and give gifts to them so this is an indication also that this person is not ordinary and the devatas normally if you have a wife then you give blessings and then give blessings when my daughter-in-law didn’t tell us as the blessings were coming as the blessings were coming and actually they are giving these gifts this is a way of actually showing that we are there to assist you in the past time then what happens then all these gifts are given this is a proper explanation over here and you have to wear a particular kind of slippers so these slippers when you walk around again they give a horn and arrows sun god present in arrows gurloka present in slippers full of mystic power so what is this mystic power as soon as you get into the slippers you can go to whichever part of the universe you want it’s an extraordinary gift now how is this possible actually the universe has very circular dimensions and just like if you want to go from if I have to go from that corner to this corner I can go like this and like this if I go diagonally I can go much faster so they does have access to circular dimensions and that’s how they can just travel from here to there in modern physics also they have a concept called word moves word moves means they consider the universe to be like space time they can go from here all the way around to the other part of the universe in a very complex they can go from inside they can go fast, that is the way that time travel is possible so siddhartha guru uses this metaphor in the Vedic cosmology to describe how you know the Vedic scriptures offer access to higher dimensions so when somebody has practised he is sitting here and he switches his hand and he gets some fresh gifts from karma how is it possible, he is sitting here so actually speaking what happens because the mind has secular powers so when a person has advanced to yoga he can access the powers of the mind he can access the powers of the mind by that power he can just get it all he can access the secular realm which are at a higher dimension and he can reach there there is much more that exists in the universe beyond what science tells us there are many experiments scientists have done which indicate that there is much more so one of the most common experiments is called the staring experiment staring experiment means I am sitting here and somebody says do me a favour and then I have to guess is that person looking at me or not looking at me and they have done this experiment thousands of times with thousands of people and normally if there were no extraordinary ability I can’t see behind myself so my chances of getting right would be 50% yes looking not looking looking not looking but almost everyone they get it right at least 65% some people get it right 90-95% also so how do they know this is empirically developed so somehow if somebody looking at me from behind what is this so I have got a video also showing this so there is a person looking not looking looking not looking so as per the physics there is no explanation for this but the evidence for that is undeniable so the point is mind has so the basic understanding is apart from the physical eyes the mind has a subtle sight mind capacity is subtle eyes and the subtle eyes are not limited to the physical so by that it is possible to perceive things which you cannot normally perceive so this is the whole field but the point is mystic power I talked about in the Vedic literature they are not just practising there is much in knowledge that is supporting then as he performs various other things then all the professional singers they have come they were about to praise him so at that time what happened so they were about to praise him he said please don’t praise him so this is what I was thinking who is going to praise this this is the conclusion how could an intelligent man confident enough to bother with exalted qualities allow his followers to praise him if he did not actually have them praising a man by saying that if he were educated he might have become a great scholar or great personality is nothing but a process of cheating a foolish person who agrees to accept such praise does not know that such food was simply insulting so in general the conditioned soul’s greatest hunger is not food it is the hunger for glorification everybody is extremely hungry to be glorified and this hunger for glorification even makes people go to the extent of paying professionals to have them employed as glorifiers the part they are working is known as Vards Vards means people who pay them so in modern times people have something similar whenever a guest is going to come you need a very good person that person hires somebody so the guest should not be ignorant about my glory so while he is waiting outside this person will come discreetly and tell me yes yes so the idea is the world has to know my glory but when we want the world to know our glory there are two problems with this the first problem is that we don’t have too many girls and the second problem is that our glories don’t stay too long with us they are there today they are gone tomorrow so that’s why when we try to delight in our own glories actually the world is still very insecure the world is still very insecure because there is not too much to delight in and what is there may also go away but if you delight in Krishna’s glories Krishna’s glories are unlimited and they are eternal so that’s why Guru Nanak Dev said for me the glory of Mahamruta is unlimited the glory of Krishna is like an unlimited glory so Guru Nanak Dev is saying that you don’t need to invite the glory of a person if you can be unique you are such a great scholar so how is that an insight actually that is saying you are not a scholar this is it so why does that have to be emphasised and I get emphasised indirectly so basically once in a while if some things have gone wrong in somebody’s life at that time the person needs conservation at that time to tell him that way is ok but for example if somebody had studied very nicely for an exam but somehow at the time of exam he got sick that’s why Guru Nanak Dev said you are actually a good student even if you are not qualified you are a good man that is good to speak at that time but it cannot be spoken publicly to glorify a person so that’s what he is saying over there that this sort of invented glorification is a probable experiment to perform but although he had all good qualities he had not exhibited those qualities and because he had not exhibited those qualities it was not appropriate for him to be glorified therefore he was not willing to accept the praise of the devotees so for incarnation of God they should therefore take lessons from the behaviour of demons demons without Godly qualities should not accept false praise from their followers false praise from their followers it’s actually you see actually Nandina is if you look at the newspapers if you look at the magazines they are filled with some glorification of sports star, movie star or nowadays when there are elections there are big pictures of politicians that are displayed and those politicians are displayed as if they are the saviours of humanity the saviours of humanity and such people become these people because they are so habituated so so addicted to praise they have modifications, they don’t get it and then the politician he was a Punjabi politician so he was going at a toll road car and he was NPO so the local toll person he had to show his car he just followed so angrily he took out his gun and pointed he said actually I am the NPO you can respect me and somehow what happened was that at that town they had put a camera and that camera was there live and the camera went to the national news channel and you know the national news channel there was MP, he was pointing the gun and shouting at the town officer he became a national number athlete a national number athlete so people are so addicted to praise that when someone doesn’t praise then that tall officer is basically doing you a guilty, he is asking for I just like to shoot, he is like almost a shooter for some brandishing a gun and afterwards when he was interviewed also he was very racist, he was like you know I am the NPO, you deserve respect he is not respecting, I was not going to kill him but he deserves to be fitted so the logic is so perverse the logic is so perverse, people are just having some power for a few years and then they are ready to terrorise others to just get the maximum to mint the maximum glorification and then, now interestingly when Prithvi Maharaj says don’t glorify me what happens after that in the next chapter the professional the professional reciters the praisers, the singers they ended up glorifying Prithvi Maharaj so the next chapter why did they glorify Prithvi Maharaj? so how would they imagine, this is the next chapter starting now this chapter 16, praise of King Prithvi by the professional reciters, now what does the word professional reciter mean? you know we have a lot of professional software professional we have or corporate professional so professional reciter does not have that kind of meaning over here professional reciter means that these are singers they are learned people but they are not exactly Brahmins they are learned people who earned their glory by praising the king and one of the ways of praising the king is praising the king for his harvest activity in the king’s programmes and basically their professional reciters means they sing, they do singing and recitation and they are paid for it so that’s the meaning of professional reciters so to describe many of our Acharyas have commented on the Shiva Chakra Bhagavatam, so Shiva Chakra describes that on one side the king is telling you don’t sing, but the sages are there because they are telling you don’t sing and the professional reciters are like what will you do now? the king is saying don’t go and fight the sages are saying go and fight the sages are Brahmins you follow Brahmins and then they decide let us go and then they start saying that actually you are so glorious that we can’t glorify you ourselves because these sages who warned us they have instructed us and they have blessed us and it is by their blessings that we will be able to speak something about your glory something about your glory so now here there is an important point about culture what is the point? that actually devotional culture is a culture of appreciation it’s a culture of appreciation so there was one devotee in Mumbai he had asked, he is a very nice responsible committed devotee he asked Adham Maharaj but many times when we come in devotee association everybody starts glorifying us and then actually when we are hearing all their glorification it is very difficult to actually hear their glorification and say we feel like we should go away from devotee association but if we go away from devotee association we will not have shelter of devotees so this devotee had been he is very close to the Mumbai congregation so Maharaj said that you know we told him his name was Gaurav and Gaurav said to him your glories are all in all the 14 walls and he said you are so glorious that if we don’t glorify you we will fall down and then Maharaj said and if you accept the glorification we will fall down so actually what is the meaning of this actually the Vaishnav culture is a culture of appreciation and glorification so we cannot reject that culture we cannot reject that culture unless when the devotees see it actually they will appreciate it and we can’t avoid the appreciation but actually speaking we need to recognise that when others appreciation will glorify us then if those qualities are there they are all by Krishna’s mercy generally we should see glorification as encouraging as encouraging actually devotees see some good qualities in me and this is the direction which devotees want to we want to do more activities so when we do it like that then it is actually by Krishna’s mercy giving some qualities and by the mercy of Devotee Krishna I will be able to do it more so we start believing yes yes yes yes please speak more please speak more and then we become proud and we follow but at the same time our goal as devotees is to have a loving culture so actually when appreciation appreciation can be taken at the ego level or it can be taken at the affection level You can take it at the level of the ego or you can take it at the level of the heart.
What does it mean to take it at the level of the heart? Appreciation also indicates acceptance. Appreciation also indicates belonging. Appreciation also expresses connection.
So if we see it at that level, affection, belonging, connection. We see it at that level, then the appreciation, we do not see that as gratifying for our ego. But rather we say, yes, we are all connected to the same family.
As a family, we are all serving Krishna together. So appreciation is one way of bonding. When people appreciate each other, that bonding is because we are all trying to serve Krishna together.
And yes, you are doing something and I am happy that you are doing something. I appreciate that and I leave it. So can we also appreciate that? And basically by this, we get connected to each other and all of us get connected to Krishna.
But if we take the appreciation at the level of the ego, then rather than our connection with that devotee or our connection with Krishna, what happens is our connection with our ego reduces. And that connection with the ego blocks our connection with that devotee also, blocks our connection with Krishna also. So how do we block our connection with that devotee? Because every time we meet that devotee, we expect more glorification.
And there is a lot of glorification. Therefore, actually, we need to have the proper understanding of the culture. So Bhikshu Maharaj, from his side, is saying, please don’t talk about it.
But the culture is there. And as a part of the culture, the sage is not telling you, please glorify Bhikshu Maharaj. So then Bhikshu Maharaj is being glorified.
Now what are the glorifications that they offer to Bhikshu Maharaj? So he decides, he will make some of these. So Bhikshu Maharaj told, he is saying that, one of the direct incarnations is to be personality. And the other thing, even great orators and speakers like Mahatma and other demigods cannot exactly describe the glorious activities of your lordship.
How are they able to glorify you? By the mercy of the sages. And then, I will give you a follow-up. So, he decided this was, He cannot speak.
So, Sreshtho Sreshtho is the greatest snake. Dharmabhidham. Those who are the maintainers of dharma.
Lokam dharmam vartayan He will get others to follow the path of dharma. Gopta chidham setunam Gopta is the protector. So still I talk about Setunam.
Dharma, religion is like a setu. Setu is a bridge. Like Rama setu.
So, he is the protector of the setu. So, what is actually dharma? That might not be setu. This is the material world, this is the spiritual world.
And dharma is the bridge that takes us to the material world and the spiritual world. And that bridge has to be created. Gopta chidham setunam Shasta tatparipandhina Describing that.
By protecting this, Shasta, he chastises those who try to obstruct this path. Don’t you get it? So, Gopal is explaining about all. Right? He reduces the government.
I have to read this. Something is written here. It is the duty of the government here to see that people strictly follow religious life.
A king should also be strict in chastising the atheists. In other words, an atheistic or godless government should never be supported by a king or a government chief. That is the test of the good government.
And what is the test of the good government? It should not support atheists. Atheistic or godless principles. So, whenever Shri Gopal would present Krishna Consciousness, he would present it all at the time he was the first priest.
So, actually, our understanding of Krishna Consciousness is when we present it, we can visualise the mission of Krishna Consciousness as three concentric circles. What are these three concentric circles? The inner circle, the innermost is the spreading of Vaishnava principles, the spreading of the Kali Krishna Mahamantra. So, for example, right now we are discussing, we are all devotees.
So, we will talk about spreading of direct Krishna Consciousness. But when we are going to ourselves, if we are going for some programmes, when we are going to college, and when there are people from other religions also, then we cannot direct Krishna Consciousness. So, then we encourage Gopal Consciousness in general.
So, that is the second circle. So, this consciousness is not just to increase the numbers of one particular organisation. Because ultimately, we are not despairers of an organisation.
We are raisers of consciousness, of global consciousness. So, that raising of global consciousness can happen at various levels. So, the process of chanting Hare Krishna is extremely powerful for raising consciousness of people.
But, in programmes where people are not ready to accept that, then we cannot work in the first circle. The second circle is what? These are raisers of God Consciousness movement. So, whoever is practising whatever path of God Consciousness, encourage them to practise that and raise their God Consciousness.
And further, sometimes we go to colleges where we talk about stress management. That we cannot bring in Gopal Consciousness. The outermost circle is we are strengthening the ethical and spiritual fabric of society.
Strengthening the ethical and spiritual fabric of society. This is like a foundation by which people engineer God Consciousness. If there is no morality in society, then we cannot practise also.
So, it is very important that we present ourselves according to the level or according to the forum that we are in. So, what is the innermost circle? Among devotees, we present the principles of Gaudiya Vishnu. And we help people to practise and raise their Consciousness.
But, say for example, now if we are meeting people of other religions or other spiritual paths, then, the second circle, we help people raise God Consciousness. And if people are not even ready for God Consciousness, then what? We raise, we create the foundation of ethical and spiritual fabric, strengthening. So, we see Prabhupada operating at various levels.
Now, so Gopal, normally with devotees, what he does is Jain religion. But then, there was a famous tennis player, V. K. Varghosh. So, he met Prabhupada and Prabhupada told him that actually, prepare the ground for Krishna Consciousness by encouraging people to become vegetarians.
This is at which level? Third level. But if you do not have God Consciousness, other four ones, in his book, Perfect Questions, Perfect Answers, where Bob Fogel comes along and he has come to India and America to be a vegetarian is very rare at that time. Now, it is quite common.
Forty years ago, before Prabhupada went and introduced Krishna Conscious cuisine, people thought if you have to become a vegetarian, then you have to be vegetarian all your life. They had no idea of vegetarian people. So, it was quite difficult.
So, still, this Bob Fogel had become a vegetarian. And he had come to Prabhupada with a nice question. Prabhupada, I am a vegetarian.
Prabhupada, you are mentally a vegetarian. What is the big deal about that? So, here, he is in the inner circle. He is in the inner circle and he is already interested in Krishna Consciousness and he is capable of being elevated further.
So, here, somebody Prabhupada tells him you dedicate your life to getting to the point of vegetarianism. What is the great deal about it? So, it depends on what is the level of receptivity of a person. So, if somebody can practise Krishna Consciousness, then he will be already elevated.
So, he will be elevated. So, Sri Prabhupada even wrote a letter to Pope John Paul II. Now, he said that a spread of vegetarianism cannot be tolerated.
And all the religions of the world need to unite together to counter this. So, this is at which level? Second level, raise God Consciousness. Raise God Consciousness.
So, another incident is there that I didn’t get time to speak this yesterday. Yesterday, I spoke about how Krishna Consciousness is… How many of you were there yesterday? Yesterday, I spoke about how Krishna Consciousness is the best. So, that was at which level I was speaking? Second level.
First level. Why we should commit to our own process? So, why? That doesn’t mean that there is no problem towards other processes. Krishna Prabhupada was in Iran and he was pitching Iran at that time.
So, some Muslim boy had come into the business and Prabhupada was talking nicely with him. Then he left. And then the two of them were discussing at that time.
And suddenly, in the background, the Nanas prayer started. And Prabhupada closed his eyes and folded his hands and was silent. There was no… Full prayers only.
Full prayers. And finally, when the presence of Nanas Prabhupada opened his eyes, he said, Krishna, believe me. So, the whole area was taken aback.
And then Prabhupada said, Krishna, even if you had done this chant of your Krishna instead of Allah, Krishna Prabhupada, he said, why are you making me say things? He said, Krishna, you are not my God. You are not my God. Krishna Prabhupada said, why are you also chanting Allah? Prabhupada said, shut up.
So, the point is, again, just to understand, the Acharyas will be at different levels at different times. So, Krishna Prabhupada, he appreciated God when he was there. And he thought himself he was also appreciated.
But as far as the practise was concerned, there were many Christians. Most of Prabhupada’s disciples were two Christian mad ones. So, in Detroit, the devotees had got a temple.
And when they had got a temple over there, I am talking about this because Prabhupada talks about how secularism should not be used to dominate and propagate atheism. Secularism is not atheism. Prabhupada always implemented it.
Secularism essentially means impartiality towards equities. It doesn’t mean religiousness. So, Krishna Prabhupada indulged in presenting like that.
So, in Detroit, the devotees had got a very good place. But nearby, there was a church. And in that church, there was a priest.
And then, this father-in-law answered. So many young people are coming to this temple. And what happened was, most of Krishna Prabhupada’s early disciples were hippies.
So, they were not able to give a very cultured presentation. Then young people, this father-in-law was an elder She was quite dismissive. When he was spreading rumours about these are all these are all good things, drugs and this and that.
She was used to never to tell that. But when he came to meet Prabhupada, he saw that Prabhupada was an enlightened person. So, he was a little disturbed.
And then, when he came to meet Prabhupada, Prabhupada had a discussion. So then, they started discussing. And to his amazement, to his amazement, that father-in-law, Prabhupada started quoting the Bible.
Prabhupada had been a legitimate politician for almost four years. He studied the Bible as a part of the politics. So, he knew quite a bit of the Bible.
And this father-in-law was completely shocked. He said, why are people suffering? He said, Prabhupada asked, it is because they are sinful. What is sin? He said, sin means sin.
That is fine. But what is the sin of people now? The sin of people is disobedience to God. And how can you disobey God? Prabhupada said, according to the law.
And he said, what is the disobedience to God? He said, you don’t follow the instructions that are given in the scripture that I have given you. Then Prabhupada said, Bible says thou shall not kill. Why are you killing? And then, none of that does not refer to means.
But all along Prabhupada was asking questions and Prabhupada was speeding in gulab jamuns. You know when a big pot of gulab jamuns he is speeding in gulab jamuns. First he said, I will not take the help of 1, 2, 3, 4. And by the time Prabhupada actually talked with him very nicely and finally he said, Swamiji, my church is right here but in my church no young people come.
How do you tell your temple is still so many young people? Prabhupada said, he said, this is the secret. In your church, you give that tiny wafer. You know in the church they have masks and they have that little piece of bread and then they have what they call as what they call as wine.
So wine is according to their tradition the blood of Jesus and bread is the flesh of Jesus. So of course, what it means is it’s not that they are non-legitimate. It implies that actually Jesus has sacrificed his flesh and his blood for us when he got crucified.
So that is their idea. But he said, you give this tin wafer over there. He said, you learn to cook all this and all this you will become house food.
But then, by the time when Prabhupada gave his boon as it is and then as he was going, Prabhupada took out his garland and he accepted the garland also around him. He was completely transformed. So Prabhupada did not write a new book but he did a new petition and to do it better.
So the point is that especially in today’s society if we present if we present direct Christological principles especially at any official forums, it will be accepted. So Prabhupada is sometimes addressing devotees sometimes he is addressing the general public also in the name of in the name of in the name of secular government the people of government has remained neutral and allows people to engage in all sorts of religious activities. That is not acceptable.
Then he says that people cannot be happy without religion or consciousness. It’s fine. And then after that, Prabhupada talks a lot in this section about how all of us are dependent on nature for prosperity.
So actually when the government takes taxes so what is the example given in this picture of how taxes should be utilised? Anyone know the example? Yes? This section? Yes. Some lawyer takes the water from the rivers and the oceans, converts it into clouds and brings it back on the earth as a rainfall. So taxes have to be taken like that by the government.
And whatever is taxed has to be returned. So actually speaking corruption is a fact of life in modern existence. But in recent years, the scale of corruption in Indian society has become extremely high.
It’s become extremely high. Actually, in just the last five years, the extent of scams that have been uncovered, actually that plunder is more than what the Britishers plundered to India 200 years ago. The scams are extraordinarily high.
So what is happening is that all the religious scams, the gold gate scams, all those scams that are there. So these scams, earlier it was maybe a few thousands, few crores but it is like 100,000 crores or 1000,000 crores in India. It is huge.
So how is this happening? And the society is becoming, actually India is in the midst of a cultural change in Tamil Nadu. India has a traditional culture and then the western culture. So west and east are mixing very well.
But the way they are mixing together, India is getting the worst of the west and the worst of the east also. What do you mean by that? The worst of the east and the worst of the west. Actually, we may speak about America in difficult terms, but in terms of little organisation, America is a much better organisation.
Much, much better organisation. So, what is happening is, India, Prabhupada is telling that India should be the ground country for the whole world. Offering spiritual guidance.
And behind that is Ling Man, Lime Man, and Arunachala. So Ling Man, Lime Man, Arunachala says India is like the ice, but it doesn’t have the functionality to work. So what has happened because of hundreds of years of foreign rule, India’s self-administrative capacity is lost.
We don’t have any competent chieftains who can rule the country in every way. There may be few here and there, but they are not having any competence. So, India doesn’t have Kshatriyas, Kshatriya characters in what? So, in the West, there are Kshatriyas.
If you look at the middle management, middle management is reasonably good. This is one of the things which enamors Indians’ view of America. In the middle class of the world, the power supply is there, the resources are there, the comforts are there.
So, at the material level, there is no doubt that the organisation in the West is much better. So, in the West, the Kshatriya level management is good. In India, there is no Kshatriya level management.
But India still has a Brahminical body in the sense that the spiritual wisdom is there. But Indians are rejecting spiritual wisdom. And when we are getting from the West to India, what are we getting? We are getting the Western culture to India.
We are getting the Western technology to India. But the technology requires an infrastructure. And infrastructure is not there.
What happens is that the improvement of the technology leads to chaos. I’ll give you examples to illustrate this. Now, India in the West, for example, Hinduism and Hinduism.
But in the West, everything is centralised and commercialised. So, there are very dairy farms. It’s not dairy farms.
There are dairy factories. They will manufacture thousands and thousands of litres of milk. And then they will efficiently transport it from this part of the country to that part of the country and that’s how milk is produced.
In India, we have the model of self-sufficiency. Everything is almost self-sufficient. So, if you want to sell your business, then some other common person will get the milk from you.
So, what the Indian government decided? We want to centralise the milk production. So, they imported these Jersey cows. A huge amount of money was spent on that.
And then they did very well in India. Of course, now they have overrun the national government. But then, when we make the milk, but India does not have the adequate transportation infrastructure.
So, what happened? Many of the traditional milk-producing households were there. They were discouraged through mode of subsidy and extra taxation and so many other things. By which, for them, it became uneconomical.
And these big dairy manufacturing farms, they were established. But milk, when it is made, it has to be efficiently transported. But India does not have that system.
So, huge gallons of milk will be made. But because it is not a transportation system, it will get spoiled before it reaches the people. And in order to avoid it getting spoiled, lots of preservatives are put in it.
And, in America, at least, preservatives are added to some level of chicken. So, check what kind of preservatives are there. Of course, everywhere, corruption is there.
But, in India, actually, no chicken is allowed in India. You know, anybody can put meat in it. What happens is, the milk has to be preserved when it reaches the customer.
And it is going to take billions of people to reach the customer. It has to be preserved for days. And such activities are added.
Actually, the milk that is available often in commercial outlets, that milk is gluten-deficient. So, you can often call it hazardous. So, in general, this is one problem.
Another problem is that because of the traditional respect for cows, when there are traditional people who act as milkmen, they treat the cow with love. They respect the cow. They take care of the cow.
They make milk for her. But, when there are big dairy farms, the cow is basically a production unit. And then, in production unit, the cow is subjected to a lot of brutality.
Cow’s milk is taken out. Normally, milk should be taken out as milk comes out. But here, they want to take out as much as possible.
And, when we use the machines, what is the test to find out if all the milk has come out or not? When we squeeze it and at the time when blood starts coming, that is the indication that now, no more milk is coming out. So, the cows go to so much torture. So, what has happened is we disrupted the traditional system, saying that it is old-fashioned, primitive.
But then, we created a western system, which is not sustainable. We just can’t sustainably churn it. The impact has been quite a bit in India.
But, in India, the attempts to westernise itself have definitely been backfired because we don’t have a infrastructure facility to intervene. That’s why India, to a large extent, is getting the worst from the East and the West. So, why has there been so much corruption in the last, say, 10-15 years? Because after India became liberalised.
After India became liberalised in 1992 onwards, at that time, much of the natural resources, natural property, they were given to outside commercial agencies. And, deeply there is a huge universe of corruption. Complete universe of corruption.
Nevertheless, this is not a historical story. There was a British politician, Indian politician went to America. It’s a joke.
So, when he went to America, not to America, he went to Britain. Anyway, he got a big palace. How do you get such a big palace? He said, come on, join our palace.
Did you see this mountain? Did you see that mountain? Yes. Did he consider that a British man had a big palace? After a few months, the British politician left and went to India. He was with the palace.
How do you get such a big palace? He said, come on. Did you see this mountain? Did you see the greenery? Yes. 100% of the world.
So the point is that, actually the liberalised economy model is good if we have some level of Kshatriya regulation. So nothing is there. So the Kshatriyas in India are complete as Saita and the Brahmanas because they have secularism in their left leg.
But the Kshatriyas are not even materially good leaders. So the Kshatriyas are not even materially good leaders, but they have secularism in their left leg. So the Kshatriyas are not even materially good leaders, but they have secularism in So the Kshatriyas are not even materially good leaders, but they have secularism in their left leg.
So the Kshatriyas are not even materially good leaders, but they have secularism in their left leg. So the Kshatriyas are not even materially good leaders, but they have secularism in their left leg. So the Kshatriyas are not even materially good leaders, but they have secularism in their left leg.
So the Kshatriyas are not even materially good leaders, but they have secularism in their So the Kshatriyas are not even materially good leaders, but they have secularism in their left leg. So the Kshatriyas are not even materially good leaders, but they have secularism in their So the Kshatriyas are not even materially good leaders, but they have secularism in their left leg. So the Kshatriyas are not even materially good leaders, but they have secularism in So the Kshatriyas are not even materially good leaders, but they have secularism in their left leg.
So the Kshatriyas are not even materially good leaders, but they have secularism in their left leg. So the Kshatriyas are not even materially good leaders, but they have secularism in their left leg. their left leg.
So the Kshatriyas are not even materially good leaders, but they have secularism in their left leg. their left leg. So the Kshatriyas are not even materially good leaders, but they have secularism in So the Kshatriyas are not even materially good leaders, but they have secularism in their left leg.
So the Kshatriyas are not even materially good leaders, but they have secularism in their left leg. their left leg. So the Kshatriyas are not even materially good leaders, but they have secularism in their left leg.
So the Kshatriyas are not even materially good leaders, but they have secularism in their left leg. So the Kshatriyas are not even materially good leaders, but they have secularism in their left leg. So the Kshatriyas are not even materially good leaders, but they have secularism in their left leg.
So actually speaking, this is the individuality of every seeker that is irreducible. So, Prabhupada put the pictures in the books. So, in India, people know that if you put the pictures, people may put it down, throw it away.
So, in India, people know that if you put the pictures, people may put it down, throw So, in India, people know that if you put the pictures, people may put it down, throw it away. So, in India, people know that if you put the pictures, people may put it down, throw it away. it away.
So, in India, people know that if you put the pictures, people may put it down, throw it away. So, in India, people know that if you put the pictures, people may put it down, throw it away. So, in India, people know that if you put the pictures, people may put it down, throw it away.
So, in India, people know that if you put the pictures, people may put it down, throw So, in India, people know that if you put the pictures, people may put it down, throw it away. So, in India, people know that if you put the pictures, people may put it down, throw it away. So, in India, people know that if you put the pictures, people may put it down, throw it away.
So, in India, people know that if you put the pictures, people may put it down, throw So, in India, people know that if you put the pictures, people may put it down, throw it away. So, in India, people know that if you put the pictures, people may put it down, throw it