A message to all members of His Holiness Jayapataka Swami Disciples
GURU MAHARAJ’S CLASS ON 12 JANUARY 2011 IN AUSTRALIA:
(transcribed by HG Jayaraseswari mji)
Nama Om Vishnupadaya…
Sri Krisna Caitanya….
Hare Krishna…
Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya
Jaya Jaya Sri Caitanya…
Jaya Radha Gopinatha …
Mukham karoti vaachalam…
Hari Om tatsat!
We have the Bhagavad Gita? What verse are we listening?
Devotee: Yesterday we did Chapter 9 text 13.
GM: We will do 11th chapter end…
Today Iveshwara the cook, went out to Govinda Valley and the cooking was
done by Shyamalaki, Navadveep Iswari and Shyama and… Vishaka (Guru
Maharaj gave the names of the devotees who cooked) very nice cooking, thank
you!
Thank you Gurudev!
BG AS IT IS Chapter 11, Text 53:
Naham vedair na tapasaa/na daanena na cejyayaa
Shakya evam vidho drashtum/drshtavaan asi maam yatha
Translation:
The form you are seeing with your transcendental eyes cannot be understood
simply by studying the Vedas, nor by undergoing serious penances, nor by
charity, nor by worship. It is not by these means that one can see Me as I
am.
Purport:
Krishna first appeared before His parents Devaki and Vasudeva in a
four-handed form, and then He transformed Himself into the two-handed form.
This mystery is very difficult to understand for those who are atheists or
who are devoid of devotional service. For scholars who have simply studied
Vedic literature by way of grammatical knowledge or mere academic
qualifications, Krishna is not possible to understand. Nor is He to be
understood by persons who officially go to the temple to offer worship. They
make their visit, but they cannot understand Krishna as He is. Krishna can
be understood only through the path of devotional service, as explained by
Krishna Himself in the next verse.
GM: Read the next verse. Just the translation.
NEXT VERSE: TRANSLATION ONLY: My dear Arjuna, only by undivided devotional
service can I be understood as I am, standing before you, and can thus be
seen directly. Only in this way can you enter into the mysteries of My
understanding.
GM: Many people like to see the universal form of the Lord but alternately
Krishna took the four handed form of Narayana and then the two handed form
of Krishna. So it is only possible to see Krishna in his two handed form by
unalloyed devotion otherwise he is not visible to the non devotees. Because
Arjuna was his friend and his devotee therefore he could see Krishna in His
original two handed form. So now like by doing austerities, penances, by
studying the Vedas you cannot see Krishna, you cannot know Krishna as He is.
Only by the unalloyed devotional service. So this devotional service we are
trying to make it popular because in Kali Yuga there are so many problems.
But there is one good quality and that is chanting Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
So we hope that everyone will take advantage of Krishna’s mercy in this age
of Kali as He has come in His most merciful form as Lord Caitanya and
thereby giving mercy. And by the mercy of HDG AC Bhaktivedanta Prabhupad
that the conditioned souls even from very distant places, actually he went
to Gainsville, Florida.Of course everybody in Gainsville they think that
they are in the centre of the universe because America is the super power.
But Prabhupad said you are far far away, in one corner of the world, far
away from the Holy Dham of Mayapur! Hari bol! So he shocked the people. This
is how Prabhupad he was a very dynamic preacher. So he gave the mercy of
Lord Krishna to the people all over the world. He came here to Australia, he
came to North America, he visited South America, Africa and also Russia,
Europe. He went everywhere, all over Asia, Malaysia. So by his mercy we got
the opportunity to be engaged in devotional service. This is a great
opportunity. Usually it was not possible.
Great Kshatriya like Duryodhana and the Kurus although they saw Krishna they
could not recognize that He was the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Although
Arjuna, he could tell. So like that we can also get the mercy of Lord
Caitanya through HDG AC Bhaktivedanta Prabhupad. So we should take his
mercy, we should take the mercy of Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda and in
this way we can make our lives a success.
So In this 11th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, the Mahatmaya it is given like
glories are given in the Padma Purana that there was a man he was a brahmana
and he would visit many holy places. So on his journey he stopped in a
village by the side of a village and he asked is there any guest house here,
any dharamshala? Sure! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Why are you laughing? Found that
strange.
Could I stay in a guest house? The man said sure, why not! And laughed Ha!
Ha! So why are you laughing? You see our guest house closes at night and
opens the next morning at 6 so till then you are inside. He said okay. He
gave the key to the room and he stayed there. Everyday he would read the
11th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita so he read. The guest house was full of
people. Next morning he saw it was empty. The door was still locked. The guy
opened the door. And he saw.. strange place. Had a nice sleep? Then he
started walking. A Brahman came and said: Sir, please help me, you can save
my son. Just tell me will you help me. Tell me what is the matter and I will
tell you if I can help. There is a cow demon a raakshasha who lives here and
he used to come down and eat our people. So we made a deal he will live in
the guest house and eat all the people in the guest house. He won’t eat our
children and he won’t eat us. Why did he not eat me? That is the mystery!
You were reading the 11th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita that is why he did
not eat you! Then he said that my son he had a guest and he unknowingly
went into the guest house and he wanted to put him up in the guest house but
he got locked in and got eaten by the raakshasha.
So that is why I am crying, please save my son! Please Please save my son!
Hold yourself. How can I help your son? He said even the raakshasha I went
to him and I said you ate our son, you promised you would not eat our son.
The raakshasha said but you let him into the guest house. I said I will eat
all those in the guest house. The brahmana said but he was our only son! The
raakshasha said listen, there is one person in the guest house, he read the
11th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, that is the only thing which can free me
from my curse. And if he reads the 11th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, I and
your son will be liberated. So please you can save my son.
Okay, okay I will go with you. So he went out with him to see the
raakshasha.
He chanted the BG 11th chapter in Sanskrit over the water and poured it over
the raakshasha and as a result the raakshasha was free and the Vishnudutas
came and took him. Also the son was free. At that time the father told the
son, now come home, come home son! He said dad I am going back to Godhead, I
am going to Vaikuntha, see the Vishnudutas are here! Your sister, your dog,
your mother all are waiting for you you go later.The son said what is the
guarantee I will go later. The brahmana said no no, stay here and go later!
The son said you read the 11th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita and you come I
will wait for you there! Chow! Good bye! Om Namo Narayanaya… Hare
Krishna…. The viman of the vishnudutas went back to Godhead. So what is
the moral of the story? 11th chapter is very powerful and it can also
liberate a raakshasha from a curse.
I will tell you tomorrow, you see the raakshasha was a farmer and he
was ploughing his field. He heard somebody said help help and he did not
help. He said let me finish my ploughing and then I will help him. But he
did not. Then a rishi came and said you demon why did you not help that
person, he was eaten alive by vultures and you could have helped him, he
broke his leg. The vultures ate him up. Because you let him die I am cursing
you to be a raakshasha. So this verse we will do tomorrow.
So in this way the 11th chapter of Bhagavad Gita and every chapter has got
some super powers. So we can also take the mercy each chapter has got some
special message, some special shakti.
This was told by Lord Siva to Parvati and so Hari Om tat sat! How many are
watching? 21! Any questions? It is a very windy day here!
Question: Manohar Shyam Das, Malaysia: Dear Srila Gurumaharaj, PAMHO: How
can we establish a relation with the deity? How to pray to the deity?
GM: Manohar Shyam, he is the brother of Ekanath Gaura das. I am reminded
today is the birthday of Devaki Mayi dd. She recently left her body in a car
accident. She was only 20 years old. She was a gurukul student. She was
recently married to Ekanath Gaura das. And her mother and father are here in
Govind valley in Sydney. … She was a wonderful devotee and we miss her.
She was very healthy and danced Bharata Natyam and dramas. Somehow everyone
she met she touched, she was a very simple and sincere devotee, so somehow
Krishna took her away and when she left she was surrounded by shaligram
shilas and Goverdhan shilas and she had 1008 holy rivers water put on her
head. She was in this way she also achieved the Krishna loka. So on this day
let us remember Devaki mayi dd and also pray for her well being. Hari bol!
Hari bol! Hari bol!
This morning Kanu Pandit he came and he showed me a video of Devaki mayi was
very beautiful and moving how she was in her short life she had done so
many Krishna conscious things. So she was a very happy soul and somehow she
did not deserve also to be in this material world. So she was taken back to
Godhead.
Anyway about the deities, we should see that the deity is the archa avatar,
the deity is the incarnation of the Lord and if the deity has a leela
vichitra that means this deity has some special quality some special
pastimes like in Remuna dham deity He is called Kshir Chor Gopinath because
He stole Kshir to give to Madhavendra Puri or in Orissa they have the deity
of Sakshi Gopal. He walked all the way from Vrndavan to be a witness in
Orissa. So like this different deities have different pastimes. So when we
pray to the Lord we should think that the Lord is actually there. He is
listening to our prayer and with a particular deity we can take shelter as
our Ishtha devata and other deities we can see as the representatives of our
worshipable deity. Say that, somebody surrenders to Radha Gopinath or
somebody surrenders to Radha Madhava whatever someone Radha Rasabehari or
Radha Parthasarathy or some deity so whichever deity we want to surrender we
can surrender and other deities we take as representatives of that deity. In
this way we pray to the deity that we want to serve. Now Krishna He is
present as that deity. We present ourselves to Krishna that I am taking
shelter of You I don’t belong to anyone else. I belong to you so in this way
like in the prayers of Bhaktivinoda Thakur, in the Sharanagati he also tried
to give our obeisances and our surrender to the deity. So in this way we can
also pray to the deity for some mercy, some bhakti. Okay? Hari bol!
Question: Amulya Harinam Prabhu, Iskcon Sydney: Please tell key daily check
points to keep myself steady and strong on sadhana and devotional service.
GM: Prabhupad, he told us the most important thing is to chant our 16 rounds
and also to attend the guru puja. So maybe it is not possible for everyone
to attend the general guru puja. But you could do this in your house, you
could offer flowers to Prabhupad and your guru and in this way and also fix
some time before breakfast and before lunch and before dinner how many
rounds you chant.
In this way you try to achieve your 16 rounds. You can also do other things
like read – give some time everyday for reading – if we are not able to read
then we listen to the lectures of our guru or Prabhupad – we can listen in
our car. Here in Sydney I think sometimes there are traffic jams, get stuck
at the rush hour so we can listen, housewives when they are cooking they can
listen to Krishna and to other Krishna’s message through the lips of the
guru, through the lips of His Divine Grace so in this way you can hear some
lectures. Somehow we should try to use whatever spare time, of course you
need to as a grihastha you have to do your work but in the spare time
whenever possible try to hear classes and throughout the day think of some
strategy how to chant your rounds. Hari bol!
Question: Amritasakhi from Malaysia: How to become a sat shishya?
GM: There are three kinds of disciples. Uttama, Madhyama and Kanishtha. So
the uttama he or she knows what the guru wants even before they could ask. I
saw that sometimes, Tamal Krishna Maharaj, Prabhupad would do..(GM made a
gesture lifting his hand up)… what does that mean? I was a madhyam I could
not figure it out. Did you know I did not. Ha! Ha! Somehow he could tell
what the guru wants even without his asking. That is uttama. If he asks and
acts properly then that is madhayam. If he asks and you do it but not very
properly somehow or other you do it. That is called kanistha. Uttama,
Madhyama and Kanishtha. So if you are really focused on what the guru wants,
you can understand what he wants even without his saying so – is that what
you mean by a sat shishya. We have heard of sat guru but we did not hear of
sat shishya. Next question.
Question: Araadhya Radhika DD from Iskcon, Sydney: (GM: She recently got
initiated). What mood should I be in before I start chanting in the morning?
GM: Anxious! Ha! Ha! Morning is there I have not chanted yet. I should be
eager to chant! Sri Krishna caitanya… Hare Krishna….Hari bol! If there
is a delay we should be anxious. So much time has passed and I have not
started chanting yet! Right? What do you think Venka? (Devotee says: I am
always anxious) Ha! Ha!
(Devotee: I think we have to be very happy because we are chanting Hare
Krishna) She says before chanting. (Devotee: Yes, before chanting because
before chanting we have to be ready to receive Krishna no, Krishna and
mahamantra are the same. Krishna says in the Kali yuga He stays in the
mahamantra, so to receive Krishna we have to be in the mood of happiness,
oh, I am going to receive Krishna I think) So Shyama devi dasi is realizing
that we have to be very happy to receive Krishna in your heart. Thank you!
Any other advice? (Shyama: I am very sorry guru maharaj, if I made a
mistake, I only shared my feelings).
Devotee: I want to ask one question.
GM: OK Shoot!…Ha! Ha!
Question: If someone offered us a demigod prasad should be accept or not?
GM: You see some devas they worship you offer it to the shaligram shila and
then offer it to the deva like this we can take that. Like in the Jagannath
prasad all the Jagannath prasad is offered to Bimala Devi. She is a form of
Parvati and we take. We take the mahaprasad of Jagannath but that is offered
to a demigod – demigodess. So first we offer it to Krishna and then some
deva that is alright. But if it is just offered to a deva and not offered to
Krishna first then it is improperly done. So we just touch it to our
forehead and we don’t eat it because it has not been properly offered.
Question: Dinanath guru das from Moscow
GM: Aha!
Question: How to do the seemantha unayan samskara without porcupine quill?
GM: I don’t when I was in South Africa and I did not have any porcupine
quill. So I went to the witch doctor there and said I want a porcupine
quill. He said you want that! No! No! I don’t know what you use it for. It
is used it for keeping in the hair of the lady who is 4 months, 6 months or
8 months pregnant. So this is something used by Aditi in her hair. She is
the mother of Indra. If you don’t find, I guess you could take a knitting
needle and offer it the lotus feet of Krishna or take a Tulasi twig and
offer it to the lotus feet of Krishna but usually I think in Russia you
must have some zoo and if you go to the zoo and offer the zoo keeper some
money to give you some fallen porcupine quills and use it. So you can get
that way. But if you cannot get then do the best you can and offer that to
the lotus feet of Krishna. Any more questions?
GM: He came all the way, all the way from Melbourne Australia, Victoria
province to New South Wales!
Question: When we read yesterday’s verse it was clearly mentioned that we
should only concentrate on Krishna and no other forms of Krishna. But when
we are offering I have heard that we should offer it to Sri Sri Lakshmi
Narayan first and we should not offer it to Krishna. Can you please
elaborate on that please?
GM: We are told that we should offer with prayer to the three: Gurudev, Lord
Caitanya and Krishna. …namo brahmanaya devaya go brahmana hitaya ca,
jagaditaya krishnaya govindaya namo namaha! so where is the question of
offering to Narayana? But you see it says the worship we do to Radha and
Krishna because we are not necessarily in spontaneous devotion so that
service is offered in the mood of Lakshmi Narayana. This is a form of Radha
and Krishna. Actually true Radha and Krishna worship would be offered in a
mood of spontaneous love but since we don’t have that necessarily, therefore
it is said that our worship to Radha and Krishna is accepted by Lakshmi
Narayana. So Lakshmi Narayana or Radha Krishna, it is the same. As we get
spontaneous devotion, then our offering can be accepted directly by Radha
and Krishna. When we have formal respect, then it is Lakshmi Narayana. As I
have explained earlier, the Lakshmi Narayana form They are the aspect of
godhead like the judge in the court and the judge when he is at home he is
like Krishna. So the same person but two different moods – one is very
informal and one is very formal. So our worship initially is very formal.
But later like, Gaur Kishore das babaji and others, they were very
spontaneous. So we cannot imitate. As we realize Krishna. Any one else have
a question? No Megha Shyam?
35 people on line…
Srila Gurudev ki jai!