English
30 August 2020
Learn 'Atmasmarpan' of Bali Maharaja
Chanting is taking place from 717 Locations. Welcome to you all.
It is Shubhangi Mataji's 61st birthday. She is from Nagpur. Haribol! All devotees can greet by chanting Hare Krsna one time. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Today is an auspicious day. Lord Vamana Dev's Appearance day. It is also the appear-ance day of Srila Jiva Goswami. Srila Goswami avirbhav tithii mahotsav ki jaya! We are discussing the Katha of Sukadev Goswami. Today is the 4th day of our discussion. He also narrated the pastimes of Lord Vamandeva. He is also called Batu Vamana and Sundara Vamana because He is short and beautiful. Right after taking birth, He carried an umbrella and kamandalu and went to help the demigods from King Bali who was per-forming a major Yajna. He was so effulgent that everyone including Bali Maharaja thought that millions of suns have appeared together. When the sister of King Bali saw this beautiful form of Vamana Dev she was mesmerized and desired to be the mother of such a child and breastfeed Him.Some say it was Bali Maharaja's daughter and not sis-ter. Her name was Ratnamala. So it was she who appeared as Putana in Krsna Lila. Krsna delivered her and gave her the place of Mother in His eternal abode. Lord is so merci-ful.
Well, here Vamana Dev has arrived and He asked for alms. King Bali promised to give whatever he was asked for. Vamana Dev asked for some land. He said, “I want only as much land as I can cover with 3 steps.” King Bali was surprised and he said, “You are asking from the king of the three worlds. You should ask for more. Then Vamana Deva said, “I need only land where I can place 3 steps of My feet.” If I am not satisfied, then I will ask for 6 feet, but greed will not let me be satisfied even with that and I will seek more and more and more. This is the lesson for us. Greed makes us blind and there is no end. We should be satisfied.
yadrccha-labha-santusto
dvandvatito vimatsarah
samah siddhav asiddhau ca
krtvapi na nibadhyate
Translation:
He who is satisfied with gain which comes of its own accord, who is free from duality and does not envy, who is steady both in success and failure, is never entangled, alt-hough performing actions.[ BG 4.22]
We should be satisfied with whatever the Lord gives.
The Lord has appeared as a Seeker. He is asking for alms. The Lord of the universe has become a Beggar to King Bali. This is such a great honour for King Bali. There is bhava and bhakti prem in this Lila.
After some conversation, the King was convinced and asked Lord to measure the land with His feet. As soon as he said this, the dwarf Lord now became a huge Giant. He be-came Trivikrama. He covered all of Brahmand. One foot was on the earth and when he lifted His second foot it reached the outer covering of this universe. His toe punctured the covering and from the hole entered the holy Ganges. The universes float in the water which is emanated from the transcendental body of Maha Visnu, has now entered the universe. Brahma Loka is the highest planet in this universe.
pada-nakha-nīra-janita-jana-pāvana
keśava dhṛta-vāmana-rūpa jaya jagadīśa hare
Translation
O wonderful dwarf, by Your massive steps You deceive King Bali, and by the Ganges water that has emanated from the nails of your lotus feet, You deliver all living beings within this world.”
When the Lord's feet reached there, Lord Brahma bathed His feet and this Caranmrita came down. It is purifying the entire planet now.
The Lord has already taken two steps. The earth in the first step and rest of the universe in his second step. King Bali had promised 3 steps so now he was perplexed. The Lord asked where to take the 3rd step? King Bali kneeled and bowed and asked the Lord to place His lotus feet on his head.
mānasa, deho, geho, jo kichu mor
arpilū tuwā pade, nanda-kiśor!
Translation:
Mind, body, and family, whatever may be mine, I have surrendered at Your lotus feet, O youthful son of Nanda![Manasa Deho Geho Jo Kichu Mor song verse 1 by Bhaktivi-noda Thakura]
śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam
arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ sakhyam ātma-nivedanam.
This is the atma nivedana of Bali Maharaja. This is complete surrender. There are acar-yas who are famous as the best examples of the 9 forms of Bhakti. Sukadev Goswami is the acarya for kirtanam, Parikshit Maharaja is the acarya of sravanam, Hanuman is the acarya of dasyam, Prahlad Maharaja is the acarya of smaranam. Similarly, King Bali is the acarya of atma nivedanam. This way he surrendered at his fullest. Bhaktivinod Thakur says, “Nothing belongs to me. Everything belongs to Krsna. So I offer everything to the lotus feet of the Lord.” Many materialistic people sing prayers saying, “Nothing belongs to me and everything is yours,” but in the same prayers they ask for success, money, happiness, and relief from pain and all such things. This is the prayer of a Sa-kami person. Devotees don't ask for such things. Bali Maharaja showed such symptoms of a great devotee, but he was born in the Demon lineage. He is among the maha Bhaga-wats. He was the great-grandson of Hiranyakasipu. But at the same time, he was the grandson of Prahlad Maharaja. He had such great devotion. Don't only hear about them, but try to understand and learn.
mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ
One should accept whatever progressive path the mahājanas advocate.
Vamana Bhagavan ki Jaya!
Bali Maharaja ki Jaya!
World Holy Name Week Ki jaya!
This World Holy Name Week is going to be celebrated majorly in the holy Purushottama month. It starts on 17 September and Purushottama month, also known as the Adhika Masa starts on 18 September. Just take note of this. Two festivals will be celebrated together. World Holy Name Week will be the part of Adhika Masa. This ex-tra month is very blessed and holy. One must do extra chanting, hearing, and reading. We have to do more sravanam and kirtana so that we can remember the Lord. By cele-brating World Holy Name Week we will be doing more hearing and chanting.
We have this group of devotees who are regularly meeting on this zoom Japa platform. You all are the team members or representatives of the World Holy Name Festival. You should take up the responsibility. You are not alone. You are in such a large num-ber. Right now you are 841. Your number also reaches 900 and 1000 sometimes. This 17 September marks the arrival of Srila Prabhupada in America. This was the auspicious day in 1965 when Srila Prabhupada started with his mission to make the people of this world fortunate. To fulfil the desire and order of his Spiritual master, he arrived in America, so celebrate this revolutionary day. We are all Prabhupadanugas along with being Rupanugas. You all are also becoming Lokanath Swamianugas. It's a disciplic succession. Prabhupada is the founder Acarya of ISKCON. We must celebrate this im-portant day. We, as a team, have been regularly meeting and chanting and discussing. I want to depend on all of you. I want your contribution. Devotees from Australia, Middle East, Ukraine, Bangladesh are chanting with us. Wherever, whichever country you be-long to or whichever city you belong to, take up the responsibility to engage your tem-ple in this celebration. If you are from Bangalore, you meet your Temple president and propose to celebrate. To a great extent, our Ministry has proposed many activities. We have this Harinam Ministry, I am the Minister so support me in this. Discuss with the temple authorities and plan out a Japathon and 24-hour kirtana.
When I realized that this World Holy Name Week coincided with the Purushottama month, I thought this is a good opportunity for us to celebrate with more enthusiasm. Tell all these things to your TMC . Temple president of Nagpur, Mauritius, Sydney can be informed. From whichever temple you come, try to involve that centre in the celebra-tion of this World Holy Name Week. Devotees from Sydney are also chanting here. Make sure all the Temples in Australia celebrate this festival.
We, at our end, are also trying to reach out and connect with all the centres. But presi-dents of temples are bombarded with so much communication. Information just gets lost. Madhavi Gauri from Delhi has taken responsibility for the India Zone and she is inspiring all the Temple Presidents to celebrate this festival.
We have devotees who are taking up this communication and co-ordination responsibil-ities. You must engage anyone and everyone according to your capacity.
It is important. Srila Prabhupada once said, We say, “Chant! Chant! Chant!” and people say, Can’t! Can’t! Can’t!” Though they have a tongue they can’t chant. Prabhupada said that people are unfortunate. Then Prabhupada said, “It is our duty to make the people fortunate.” But since it is our responsibility we have to do it. That is why our theme says ‘Let’s make the World fortunate'. As such in the current scenario, the world is suffering from this Coronavirus. It is a result of our collective Karma. In this situation of a pan-demic the holy name should spread among people as much as possible. Participate ac-tively. If devotees from different local centres participate then this can become a big success. Think about this. What can be done. We have a little more than 2 weeks and we need to take action now. Communicate with the local temple and plan. You can think of different ways to celebrate apart from our plan. Plan and execute. Take it seriously.
We all are chanting regularly so that we develop an attachment to the holy name. For that Vaisnava seva, serving the devotees is very important. Today Subhangi Mataji is doing Vaisnava seva of Pandharpur and Aravade devotees. On the occasion of her birthday, she has sponsored the bhoga for both the temples. Serving every living entity is also Vaisnava seva. You must show mercy on your family members, colleagues, and friends. You can make them record the mantra. Padmavati Mataji goes every day and sets up a preaching table and all people pass by her, She appeals to them to chant the holy name. These people have no clue of Hare and Krsna. They know nothing, but through her efforts they chant. She is like an Ambassador of the holy name. She always keeps posting on Loksanga and one devotee from Russia, Shaktyavesha Prabhu also has this campaign. Our Padamavati Mataji is doing this for several years now. She has dedi-cated her life to this. She also distributes books.
This is the order of Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He is the Lord. We need to follow His orders. If we do not follow, we will be in trouble. We need to preach Krishna Con-sciousness to anyone and everyone we come across. Especially those who are born in India. They must do this favour to the beings of this world.
Give them Krsna. All of you received Krsna in the form of His name. Share this Krsna with others. Give prasada. You can serve this holy name of the Lord in this way. Start preparing. Share Hari Nama. Hari Nama is the Lord. Give the holy name to others.
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare
We have selected 7 major verses from Srimad Bhagawatam which especially sing the glories of the holy name. We also have a Bhagawat Katha during the World Holy Name Week which is the Adhika Masa.
We have planned that all the temples can have morning Srimad Bhagawatam classes on selected verses which glorify the holy names. In the evening we will have these clas-ses online with senior disciples of Srila Prabhupada like Jayapataka Swami Maharaja, Anuttama Prabhu, and many others. We are going to celebrate 2 festivals together, World Holy Name Week and Purushottama month. So get ready.
If anyone of you has any suggestions, thoughts Ideas, or questions you may write them here in the chat box. It has been enabled for the next few minutes.
Hare Krsna
