Nama Om Vishnu paadaaya..
Hari Haraya Naama Krishna …
Jaya Prabhupada…
Mukham karoti…
Jaya Prabhupada…
So today we are continuing with Lord Nityananda’s glories. The safari group went to Katwa, the place of Lord Caitanya’s sanyas. Also to Jajigram, the place of Srinivas Acharya, Jahnava devi and various pastimes and associates. There they dug a small pond and they put some mats and banana leaves and filled it up with prasadam – khichri – a pukur of khichri! That is how many people they fed! A lake of dal, ha! and rice! They also are going to Srikhanda where many associates of Lord Caitanya appeared there. So we wish them all success in their preaching and they come back tomorrow night. So ok, Deva Gauranga will read the Bengali.
Parvati with innumerable maid servants, arbooda is thousands of crores, means tens of billions, innumerable maidservants, she helps Lord Shiva who is worshipping Lord Sankarshan. Otherwise, Lord Shiva is worshipping Sankarshan, the expansion of Lord Balaram with Parvati and her unlimited maid servants helping Him. The maid servants helped her and she helped Him. In the 5th canto Srimad Bhagavatam, Suta Goswami glorifies Anantadev, as the expansion of Sankarshan as follows:
“Lord Ananta is the predominating deity of the material mode of ignorance as well as the false ego of all conditioned souls. When a conditioned living being thinks, I am the enjoyer and this world is meant to be enjoyed by me, this conception of life is dictated to him by Sankarshana. Thus the mundane conditioned soul thinks himself the Supreme Lord.”
So Sridhar Swami says a similar thing. In the 10th canto 2nd chapter 13th verse the Supreme Lord says to Yogamaya:
“The son of Rohini will also be celebrated as Sankarshana because of being sent from the womb of Devaki to the womb of Rohini.”
So Balaram was sent from Devaki’s womb to Rohini. In the Srimad Bhagavatam, 5th canto 17th chapter, 16th verse it is said:
“In Ilavrata varsha Lord Shiva is always encircled by ten billion maidservants of Goddess Durga, who minister to him. The quadruple expansion of the Supreme Lord is composed of Vaasudeva, Pradyumna, Aniruddha and Sankarshana. Sankarshana, the fourth expansion, is certainly transcendental, but because His activities of destruction in the material world are in the mode of ignorance, He is known as taamasi, the Lord’s form in the mod of ignorance. Lord Shiva knows that Sankarshana is the original cause of his own existence, and thus he always meditates upon Him in trance by chanting the following mantra.”
What is the mantra?
Om Namo Bhagavate Mahaa purushaaya
Sarva guna sankhya anaayaanantaaya avyaktaaya”
Sri Bhagavan uvacha: Om Namo Bhagavate Maha purushaaya sarva guna sankhya anaayaanantaaya avyaktaaya That is a very hard word!
“The powerful Lord Shiva says: O Supreme Personality of Godhead, I offer my respectful obeisances unto You in Your expansion as Lord Sankarshana. You are the reservoir of all transcendental qualities. Although You are unlimited, You remain unmanifest to the non-devotees.”
Narada muni sees Lord Shiva become absorbed while chanting and dancing in the mood of a devotee, as he worships Lord Sankarshana. Although Lord Shiva is the Lord of the universe, He accepts the mood of a devotee and eternally worships the thousand headed Shesha with love. Rupa Goswami describes Sankarshan as the second expansion in the chatur vyuha in Goloka, and is known as Sankarshana. He merges with Shesha who supports all the universes and then appears as Lord Balaram, a lila avatar. Shesha has two forms – one who supports all the universes and one who serves as the bed of the Vishnu incarnations. The former Shesha is the empowered incarnation of Sankarshana and therefore also known as Sankarshana. So sometimes Anantadeva is giving classes to the great sages of the universe. In His hands, He holds a plough, club and trident. He is dressed in blue garments. So His pastimes are mentioned in the Brihad Bhagavatamrita, Laghu Bhagavatamrita. So Sankarshan is the reservoir of all living entitites. He is also known as Jiva (guru maharaj said: JIIIIVA!)
So 5th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam has topics concerning Lord Balaram the original Sankarshan and these are glorified by all the vaishnavas. Srimad Bhagavatam 5th canto, 17th chapter, verses 16 to 24, describe this topic. Those who accept Vishnu as the Supreme Lord are called vaishnavas. And the Moola Sankarshana or Balaram are the source of all Vishnu tattvas. Therefore, it is the duty of all vaishnavas to glorify Moola Sankarshana who is non-different from Lord Balaram. Unalloyed devotees and leaders of the snakes offer their obeisance to Lord Sankarshana with great devotion. They become very joyful! Haribol! Haribol! Haribol! Once someone asked Prabhupad, why should I bow down? WHY SHOULD I BOW DOWN? In New York, in 1966 or ‘67. Prabhupad said, bow down and you will see! He bowed down and he became very joyful. Ha! Ha! So this is confirmed. If you bow down to the Lord you will feel very joyful! The other religions and the scientists are pondering over the thought, are there other living entities in the universe? But this verse tells us some of the living entities in the universe – the demigods, the demons, the uragas or the serpentine demigods, the siddhas, the Gandharvas, the vidyadharas, and many elevated sages constantly offer prayers to the Lord. Narada muni who is the son of Lord Brahma, always glorifies Anantadeva in the assembly of his father Lord Brahma. He sings blissful verses of his own compositions. Accompanied by his stringed instrument or celestial singer. His stringed instrument is known as a tamburu.
Lord Balaram’s narration of his pastimes with the gopis of Vrndavan or raasa lila are most elevated. So the gopis in Vrndavan, some gopis observed raasa lila with Lord Balaram. Sridhar Swami explains in his commentary on Srimad Bhagavatam, raasa lila refers to a particular type of dance involving many women dancers. In the Brihad Vaishnava Toshani, Sanatan Goswami gives the characteristics of raasa dance as follows:
“When many women join hands in a circle and are embraced around the neck by male dancers, it is called a raasa dance.”
In the book known as Sangeeta Sara, it is stated describing the raasa dance:
“where the male dancer performs being surrounded by a circle of many women dancers moving about, it is called a halli shakha. When a halli shakha dance is accompanied by various refined taalas or tunes, dance steps and gestures, it is called a raasa dance. As it does not exist even in heaven, what is the question of it existing on earth?”
In his Saraartha Darshini Vishwanath Chakravarti Thakur writes or states:
,
“Raasakrida refers to raasa dance in which there is a mixture of ingredients such as dancing, singing, kissing and embracing. “
The word udaara in this verse means great or exalted. So in the Srimad Bhagavatam 10th canto, 65 chapter, 16th verse it states:
“Jiva Goswami describes – Sri Baladev who is non-different from Sankarshana solaced the damsels of Vrndavan by singing the glories of Krishna’s names. Sometimes Sri Baladev draws Krishna from Dwaraka by His mind and presents Him before a particular gopi in a secluded place. Therefore, He is known as Sankarshana. He then says, in this way, it is reasonable to say that Sri Baladev performed raasa lila with His own gopis because He is the all-knowing Supreme Lord and endowed with all potencies, He knows the internal feelings of His eternal, beloved gopis. If one explains this verse in another way, it would diminish the prestige of Dwaraka. So there is no need to further elaborate on this. He further says, at this juncture, Baladev’s mood as the older brother did not manifest in order to protect the pathetic gopis. He also gives a description in his Krama Sandarbha commentary as follows: The all attractive Baladev also known as Sankarshana, attracts Krishna by His mind and reveals Him. The word tha refers to Krishna’s beloved girlfriends. Also in his Brihad Krama Sandarbha, Jiva Goswami says the word thaha refers to Krishna’s gopis.”
So Vrndavandas Thakur who has accepted Lord Nityananda as his guru, he particularly wanted to bring to our attention that Balaram also has His own Raasakrida. Therefore, although He is the expansion of Krishna, He is almost the same. Just a different color. So there are two raasa lilas – Krishna’s and Balaram’s, at different places within Vrndavan. So we have to be very careful in explaining these pastimes. Not to become affected by impersonalism. There are subtle differences between Krishna and Balaram as the svayam rupa and svayam prakash – the original form and the original expansion. Although the Lord is one, each one has a particular unique feature or characteristic. So Balaram, He is also the Supreme shelter. But He acts as a subordinate to the original form.
So while we know that Krishna performs His raasa lila in Kartik or fall, Balaram observes His raasa lila in the months of Madhav and Madhu, the two months of spring. This is explained in different puranas. So the last month of the Bengali year, Chaitra and the first month of the new year, Baishaka, Balaram performs His raasa lila and this is described in the Srimad Bhagavatam and Vishnu Purana.
Please listen to the verses that were spoken by Shukadev Goswami to King Parikshit in the Srimad Bhagavatam. So the four verses in the Srimad Bhagavatam 10th canto 65 chapter, 17-18 and 21-22 are the verses. So Balaram does His raasa lila in spring during the full moon. So Lord Balaram, He went to Vrndavan, and He received the affection of His juniors, He met with His Vraja friends, and He solaced those who were afflicted by separation from Krishna. Such as the elders headed by Nanda and Yashoda, friends of the same age and the gopis who had fully dedicated their lives to Krishna. So these activities of Balaram are also seen in a different light, in a different way, in the character of Lord Nityananda. Just as Lord Balaram was helping Krishna, Lord Nityananda was helping Lord Gauranga. Lord Gauranga wanted to give out the mercy to everyone and Nityananda Prabhu personally did that, as His service to Lord Gauranga. So who wants the mercy of ln? Haribol! Haribol! Haribol! So although there are only four verses, there are long commentaries by Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Prabhupad Thakur. So you understood some of the secrets between Lord Nityananda and Lord Gauranga. Balaram and Lord Krishna. Any questions?
Question: How a conditioned and extremely fallen soul like me can be saved from the sudden and acute attack of maya in the form of desire for sex and lust. What should he do at that moment to stop such type of thoughts immediately so that he can save himself from further fall down and the entanglement of maya? How can he develop strength to fight and win against maya? Hare Krishna! Your useless spiritual son, Shaasvatha Keshava das
Guru maharaj: Shaasvatha Keshava. It depends a lot on how advanced you are in Krishna consciousness. Like Lochanadas t said, vishaya chariya shei raase mojhiya mukhe bolo Hari Hari! If you can absorb yourself in the rasa of Lord Nitai Gaur then you can let go ofr the sense gratification. There are different ways to approach lust. All the vices except envy can be dovetailed in Krishna consciousness. So the dovetailing also is said, just like you have itching, you can scratch it but then it comes back or you have a fire. You put ghee in the fire, the fire goes down then it burns up more. So there is no easy way to fight fire with more ghee. Either you use it for Krishna’s service or you have so many nice children that are produced in family life. And maybe some of them have been caused by some material desires. Or some are caused by spiritual desires, to give some soul an opportunity to get back to Krishna in this lifetime. Different people have different capacities, different natures, how they can fight the material desires, some by dovetailing, some by renouncing. So everyone should see their own capacity. In the Gajendra Moksha lila of the 8th canto, Prabhupad gives a very dynamic purport. He said that the elephant was a creature of the dry land. And he was attacked by a crocodile, who was a creature of the water. At that time the elephant was in the water. So he realized that he was losing the battle. The crocodile was in his elements. And the elephant was not So the elephant was getting weak and the crocodile was GETTING STRONGER! So then he surrendered to Krishna, the elephant. In the purport Prabhupad writes, that each individual should see what their positon of strength is. Some may be able to fight it, some may have to dovetail it. So you can read that verse and purport and see which way you can go. But you have to fight any way. That is where if you have a taste for hearing, chanting and serving, then you can see how insignificant the pleasures of this material world are. It lasts only for a few seconds and then you are back to more material suffering.
Is anyone leaving tomorrow? Anyone needs to be introduced to me?
Transcribed by Jayaraseshwari devi dasi
24 March 2019