The success of calling Krishna is in the call itself – Govinda damodara stotra

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Thank you. This is a verse from the. Govinda Damodara Stotra.
And the theme of the discussion here is. About how. Sita.
Relentlessly called out. The name of Ram. While she was all alone.
In the Dandaka forest. She had been there. For a long time.
Almost. Their exile was about to end. Not much more than.
A year was remaining. She had lived safely. With Ravana and Lakshmana.
But. At this particular time. Because of the conspiracy by.
Ravana. Executed through Maricha. Sita was.
Suddenly alone. She was left alone. In the Dandaka forest.
And then. A ten headed beast. The ten headed demon.
Ravana. He was not a beast. But he was.
Bestial in his behavior. In his forceful abduction of Sita. He grabbed her.
And abducted her. And then in despair. Desperately.
Sita called out. Knowing. That I have no other master.
So what did she call out? She called out the names of Govinda. Damodara and Madhava. Now.
At one level it may seem. That such calling out. Was futile.
Because although. Sita called out the name of Rama. But still.
Ravana abducted her. Why would. Someone.
Immortalize. Such a moment. Of apparent emotional defeat.
By putting it into verse. So significantly. Sri Bilvamangal Thakur.
Has made a verse about it. And the whole point of the verse is. Glorifying.
The names. Of the lord. Govinda, Damodara, Madhava.
So he is envisioning how. Different situations. Throughout history.
Different devotees. Under their respective circumstances. When they were in danger.
They chanted the names of the lord. So. The current of devotion.
Unites. Devotees. From different backgrounds.
Under. Different situations. And it is that current of devotion.
That. We all aspire. To relish.
So. Now someone may argue. Skeptically that.
Will Sita chant the names of Krishna. Govinda, Damodara, Madhava. Are not the names of Krishna.
Why would Sita chant the name of Krishna. And not the names of Rama. So significantly.
Vande Vidya Bhushan. In his commentary. Govinda Bhushan.
Explains that. In devotional ecstasy. The devotees while glorifying one form of the lord.
May chant the names of the other forms of the lord also. Because for them. At a transcendental level.
They sometimes relish. The distinctiveness of one particular form. Other times.
They relish. The non-difference of the various forms of the lord also. So.
Sita is basically. The principle she is calling out to the lord. Govinda, Damodara, Madhava.
The. Success. In calling Krishna.
Is the call itself. It is not the response. Why is that? Because.
At one level. We can say that. Krishna is always prevailed.
With the conditioned soul in the heart. Because Krishna is present in the heart. So there is no need.
For. So there is in one sense. When we are calling someone.
The presumption is that person is far away. And we call that person. So that.
That person comes close to us. But if Krishna is closer than the closest to us. He is right in our own heart.
So. If he is right in our heart. What is the point of calling him? The point is.
That Krishna. Is. He is always close to us.
But we are not close to him. And. When we call out to him wholeheartedly.
We realize and relish his proximity. His proximity is an eternal fact. But we do not have the realization.
We do not have at present the realization of that fact. So when we call out. To Krishna.
Krishna. It is he who is. The.
Supreme Lord. Who is awaiting. Us in our own heart.
And. Because he is non different from his holy name. So when we chant his name.
We realize his presence. As the holy name. And as our.
As we become purified. As we become more tuned. By calling out to Krishna.
As we become more and more tuned. To relish his holy names. So then.
We start. Relishing. His presence.
As a super soul also. So the success. Of calling Krishna.
Is in the call itself. Not necessarily in the response. Because Krishna is.
Responding and being present in our heart. Even before we call and even without our calling. Of course.
In certain special situations. Krishna may. Directly respond to the call also.
As say Vendrapati called and Krishna responded. Or Vajendra called and Krishna responded. But Pillai Mangal Thakur here.
Is conveying to us. That. He is immortalizing.
A call that was apparently unsuccessful. Because. Sita was still getting abducted.
Ram did not reach her in time. To save her from the abduction. But still.
The success was. That even when. Ravana came and first he.
Tempted her. By bragging about his. Wealth and his prowess.
And. By offering her. Position of his chief queen.
Astronomical amount of wealth and splendor. And she did not. Get allured by that.
And then she was physically no match to. To him. And yet.
When he threatened her. Even then he remained. Firm.
Sita remained firm. And rather than. Either getting tempted.
Or threatened by. By. By Ravana.
She in both situations. Stayed faithful to Ram. And that faithfulness.
Is demonstrated. By her calling out. To Ram.
So. At the internal level. The very fact that Sita.
Remembered the lord. Remembered Ram. And called him out.
Called to him. Even amidst such a stressful situation. Dangerous situation.
That itself is her glory and her substance. So. We too.
Sometimes. Make these situations. Where at external level.
We may urgently need help. We may need divine intervention. And no intervention may seem to be forthcoming.
But still. We need to know that. It is not that our prayers.
Our chanting. Is in vain. Krishna is hearing.
And even if Krishna does not. Immediately intervene. Externally.
Krishna is appreciating our calling him. And Krishna will. Reveal himself more fully.
In our heart. And give us strength and shelter. And solace and satisfaction.
Even in that. Externally troublesome situation. And.
Thereby. Enable us. To deal with the situation.
Effectively. So rather than. Yes sometimes external situations.
Can act as impetus for us. To pray more intensely to Krishna. But rather than.
Depending on. An external response of Krishna. And seeing.
And considering that. External response alone. To be the success of our prayer.
We can. Adopt a more complete vision. Where we see that.
If we can just call out to Krishna. Krishna in all situations. Whatever be the temptation of the tribulation.
That itself. Is our devotional success. By that.
We are surely taking swift steps. Towards the supreme success. Becoming absorbed transcendentally in Krishna.
Of loving Krishna. And attaining Krishna. Thank you.