English
23 July 2020
‘Krsne matir astu’
Hare Krishna! We have participants from 888 locations today.
Sri Krsna Janmastami Mahotsava ki jai! Balarama Purnima Mahotsava ki jai!
Both festivals are approaching and hence temple authorities and congregational devotees will be engaged in making arrangements. Once one of the reporters asked Śrila Prabhupāda whether God is some kind of concept?
avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā
mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam
paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto
mama bhūta-maheśvaram
Translation
Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form. They do not know My transcendental nature as the Supreme Lord of all that be. (BG. 9.11)
There are so many foolish people in this world, as the Lord has said, who do not know the transcendental nature of the Supreme Lord. Śrila Prabhupāda replied to the reporter, "God is not a concept, but He is a person like you and me." It does not mean that we start thinking, ‘God is like me or I am like God.’ We need to use 'acintya bheda abheda tattva' here. It all starts with whether the Lord exists or not? Maya has made conditioned souls illusional in this manner.
daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī
mama māyā duratyayā
mām eva ye prapadyante
māyām etāṁ taranti te
Translation
This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it. (BG. 7.14)
What is the proof that the Lord exists? The Lord appears to give proof. Although the Lord is present all the time and His pastimes are always going on in Goloka and Vrindavan, He appears from time to time.
paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ
vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām
dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya
sambhavāmi yuge yuge
Translation
To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I, Myself appear, millennium after millennium. (BG. 4.8)
The Lord appears to prove that He is the Lord. He looks like this. This is the truth and it is written in all the scriptures. Krsna Janmastami is approaching. When, where and why had the Lord appeared? How does He look? All these facts and information is available and it's accurate. I got to know this in a dictionary. Lord appeared 5227 years ago. Now 2020 AD is going on. 3102 years Before Christ, Lord returned to His abode. From that day Kaliyuga began. Kaliyuga is 5122 years old. The Lord's manifest pastimes continued for 125 years, from birth to disappearance. The Lord has nothing to do with death.
na jāyate mriyate vā kadācin
nāyaṁ bhūtvā bhavitā vā na bhūyaḥ
ajo nityaḥ śāśvato ’yaṁ purāṇo
na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre
Translation
For the soul there is neither birth nor death at any time. He has not come into being, does not come into being, and will not come into being. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain. (BG. 2.20)
There is neither birth nor death for the soul. Then how does this apply to the Lord? The Lord appeared and then He displayed His pastimes for 125 years. Svadham … syam tyakva svapadam gatah. The Lord disappeared 3102 years BC. AC 2020 years have gone. When we total, it comes to 5247 years. What else is required?
On which day did the Lord appear? - It was a Wednesday.
Where? - In a prison house in Mathura He became the son of Devaki and Vasudeva. Gopala Gopala Devaki Nandana Gopala…..
What was the time? It was exactly at midnight.
He then went to Gokula. Vasudeva took Him to Gokula. Then all His pastimes took place in Gokula and Vrindavan. He again returned to Mathura. He went to Ujjain and Avantipur. After that He went to Sandipani Muni's asrama. Thereafter He went to Dvaraka where He had 16108 marriages. All this information is available with the names of His wives and His sons. Information regarding the Lord's name, His form, qualities, pastimes, abode and associates are all given.
dharma-kṣetre kuru-kṣetre
samavetā yuyutsavaḥ
māmakāḥ pāṇḍavāś caiva
kim akurvata sañjaya
Translation
Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: O Sañjaya, after my sons and the sons of Pāṇḍu assembled in the place of pilgrimage at Kurukṣetra, desiring to fight, what did they do? (BG. 1.1)
Then the Lord goes to Kurukśetra where a battle took place. One time Śrila Prabhupāda was travelling by train from Amritsar to Delhi with his disciples and the train stopped at Kurukśetra. Śrila Prabhupāda showed the place where Krsna became the chariot driver (Sarathi) of Arjuna and is therefore also known as Parthasarathi.
senayor ubhayor madhye
rathaṁ sthāpaya me ’cyuta
yāvad etān nirīkṣe ’haṁ
yoddhu-kāmān avasthitān
kair mayā saha yoddhavyam
asmin raṇa-samudyame
Translation
Arjuna said: O infallible one, please draw my chariot between the two armies so that I may see those present here, who desire to fight, and with whom I must contend in this great trial of arms. (BG. 1.21-22)
You can visit the exact location where the Lord took the chariot between the two armies. Mahatma Gandhi didn't have faith that the Lord was there in Kurukśetra. He was saying that if this can be proven, then he would resign from the Hindu religion. His thinking was different. He was thinking how the Lord can inspire Arjuna to participate in violence. Mahatma Gandhi has misunderstood the concept of violence. There are various reasons due to which people don't accept the existence of the Lord and if they do accept, then they call Him formless.
nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya
yoga-māyā-samāvṛtaḥ
mūḍho ’yaṁ nābhijānāti
loko mām ajam avyayam
Translation
I am never manifest to the foolish and unintelligent. For them I am covered by My internal potency, and therefore they do not know that I am unborn and infallible. (BG. 7.25)
The Lord does not manifest Himself in front of everyone. He covers Himself with His internal potency.
ye yathā māṁ prapadyante
tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham
mama vartmānuvartante
manuṣyāḥ pārtha sarvaśaḥ
Translation
As all surrender unto Me, I reward them accordingly. Everyone follows My path in all respects, O son of Pṛthā. (BG. 4.11)
The Lord manifests Himself to the one who surrenders unto Him. If someone has zero faith in the Lord, his knowledge about the Lord is also zero. Conditioned souls don't have knowledge about the Lord.
sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo
mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca
vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyo
vedānta-kṛd veda-vid eva cāham
Translation
I am seated in everyone’s heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness. By all the Vedas, I am to be known. Indeed, I am the compiler of Vedānta, and I am the knower of the Vedas. (BG. 15.15)
Lord has compiled the Vedas and Puranas to give knowledge of His existence.
māyā-mugdha jīvera nāhi svataḥ kṛṣṇa-jñāna
jīvere kṛpāya kailā kṛṣṇa veda-purāṇa
Translation
The conditioned soul cannot revive his Kṛṣṇa consciousness by his own effort. But out of causeless mercy, Lord Kṛṣṇa compiled the Vedic literature and its supplements, the Purāṇas. (CC Madhya 20.122)
The Lord has compiled śastras so that the conditioned souls can know Him. Can you celebrate Janmastami for an impersonal aspect of the Lord?
man-manā bhava mad-bhakto
mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru
mām evaiṣyasi satyaṁ te
pratijāne priyo ’si me
Translation
Always think of Me, become My devotee, worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend. (BG. 18.65)
How will you offer obeisances to an impersonal aspect of the Lord? How will you become a devotee of Brahman (impersonal effulgence)?
Aham Brahmasmi, impersonalists increase their ego to such an extent that they can't worship the Lord. They themselves want to be God or Brahman and not a devotee. There is also a misunderstanding that the Lord came from Brahman. But actually the Lord is the source of Brahman and paramātmā.
vadanti tat tattva-vidas
tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam
brahmeti paramātmeti
bhagavān iti śabdyate
Translation
Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, Paramātmā or Bhagavān. (ŚB 1.2.11)
brahmaṇo hi pratiṣṭhāham
amṛtasyāvyayasya ca
śāśvatasya ca dharmasya
sukhasyaikāntikasya ca
Translation
And I am the basis of the impersonal Brahman, which is immortal, imperishable and eternal and is the constitutional position of ultimate happiness. (BG. 14.27)
The Lord has explained that He is the source of the impersonal Brahman. The world is under illusion and by hearing words of such souls under illusion and impersonalists, we also become illusional.
Mayavadi Krsna Aparādhi
There are many mayavadis, impersonalists, materialists, Gandhivadis. Today everyone is preaching Individualism. We need to hear about the Lord and the ācāryas by studying Bhagavad-gītā and other śastras so that we can distinguish between right and wrong.
For now we will stop here.
Hare Krishna!
Gaura prema nande Hari Haribol!
