All glories to Śrī Gurū and Gaurūṅga
My Mission 10-11
Śrī gurū charaṇa-kamalebhyo namaḥ
By the blessings of our divine Spiritual Master we have come to realize that the devotional path is the best path, because if is followed rightly, it brings the Supreme Lord’s blessings that rewards liberation from this world. All the ancient Vedic scriptures have unanimously established that Kṛṣṇa is the supreme God, God of all gods and there is no one equal to or superior to Him in any way. The Vedic scriptures are age old and were put in writing in the Sanskrit language over five thousand years ago by the literary incarnation of Lord Kṛṣṇa, Śrīla Vyāsadeva and we have been taught these scriptures since childhood. The Vedic scriptures state that the path of devotional service is the sure path to please God and if followed rightly, God’s blessings will surely be received, which is why we decided to make it our mission to put everything Vedic rightly, in its right prospective, so people that sincerely want to obtain God will have a sure path to follow to reach Him. Following the right path rightly brings the right result, but if that same path is followed wrongly, it will reap the same result as following a wrong path. In other words, people that have adopted the devotional path that dress like devotees or claim to be devotees must follow the path the ancient scriptures prescribe as a way of life to be benefited. But a person ignoring this prescription who merely repeats some scriptural injunctions as lip service, will lead them to be diagnosed as a hypocrite and will cause them to be condemned in eyes of the Lord. To warn people about such things is our mission.
The Vedic scriptures state that every living entity takes birth in this world in a particular body to experience their propensities. It doesn’t matter what kind of body a living entity takes birth in, be it human, animal, bird, reptile or aquatic, it seeks food for its survival. As stated in the Urugāya Dīpikā, āhāra-nidrā bhaya maithunaṁ ca sāmānyam etat paśubhir narāṇām , “The propensity to eat, sleep, mate and defend is equally found in human beings as in animals and other spices of life.” When the stomach is full the living entity seeks a mate and the desire to mate is equal in every species of life. When the object of sense gratification is found, it assumes ownership of it, considering it theirs and this propensity to be possessive is found in every species of life. Even though everyone knows they are born alone and will die alone and cannot take anything with them at death, they believe anything they obtained to facilitate their enjoyment belongs to them. People without much facility to enjoy envy those who do, so the materially fortunate insure their possessions and/or acquire defensive measures for their safely and to protect their belongings to avoid problems from envious people. With all the extenuating circumstances in material life people find many reasons to justify not taking to spiritual life for liberation.
There are two kinds of people in this world; the theistic, who believe in God and pray for His mercy; and the atheistic, who don’t believe in God and don’t pray for mercy, and think it’s best to enjoy while alive because after death they will no longer exist and state that God is a creation of weak minded people afraid of, or incapable of coping with the outside world. Some people claim to be agnostic, but they are considered atheists because they don’t even take time to examine spiritual philosophies, thus ignore God. Theists defeat such atheistic arguments by stating that, unless there is a supreme power behind everything, people couldn’t obtain objects to fulfill their desires. To introduce God and how to obtain Him is our mission, because arguments and counter arguments against God will always exist. All spiritual questions have already been asked and answered in the Vedic scriptures, and part of our mission is to inform those who are always yearning to know more. God shouldn’t be the subject for argument, because He is the principle object of the humbly faithful. It’s not that God shouldn’t be inquired about, but after scrutinizing spiritual knowledge a person either decides to surrender to a higher power or wants to rebel, not acknowledging that they will soon die and they are powerless to do anything about it. But those who recognize their finite life and yearn for their eternal home in the spiritual world develop genuine faith in God in their heart and He reciprocates in their heart that He is there for them. When a person develops spiritual knowledge, feelings for the Lord intensifies and the particular relationship they desire with God is established and they become acquainted with the Lord. In this way, a person may love God as a servant, friend, guardian or lover; and each feeling is superior to the former. As stated in the Śvetāśvatara Upanisad, yam eṣa vṛṇute tena labhyaḥ , “One who properly understands and becomes acquainted with God obtains Him.”
For example, about seventy years ago there was a two year drought in Vraja and because of insufficient food cows and others faced hunger and thirst. One cowherd man with a stick on his shoulder went to the ancient Govinda temple and started screaming at the deity of Lord Govinda saying, “How can You be so harsh and hardhearted? You are sitting here and Your cows are dying of hunger and thirst everywhere in Vraja. You claim to be God so why won’t You use Your powers to produce rain? You like to eat butter, but when all the cows are dead and there is no milk, how can we get butter for You? What will You eat then?” Saying these words he started crying aloud and prayed, “O brother, please follow my helpful advice for rain, Lord Indra, the master of rain, will follow Your orders because You had defeated him by lifting Govardhana Hill. Do something right now.” Then he paid his obeisance and left. People in the temple hearing and watching him couldn’t stop him because he was committed to find a solution for this calamity; and he addressed and was looking at the deity of the Lord with this single pointedly directive. The people present there said there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, but a little later clouds appeared and rain fell. This type of relationship with the Lord is one of friendship with God, where the person feels he is equal to God and God will consider his suggestions.
There is another example that took place in Ayodhyā, the city of Lord Rāma, where a humble learned Brāhmaṇa whose lineage comes down in the unbroken chain from Vaśiṣṭha Munī, Lord Rāma’s family priest. Daily he made a nice garland and took it to the temple and first placed it around his neck, then placed it around Lord Rāma’s neck. People witnessing the Brāhmaṇa perform this act felt uncomfortable but weren’t authorized to say anything because according to the scriptures, a learned Brāhmaṇa shouldn’t be chastised for any reason. After some time devotees gathered and reached the Brāhmaṇa and humbly requested, “O learned one, we feel very hurt seeing you placing your used garland around Lord Sri Rāma’s neck.” Hearing the devotees’ plea, the Brāhmaṇa said, “O devotees, since the beginning of our dynasty Lord Rāma has blessed us and He also desires blessings from us as well, which is why I was blessings Him by giving Him my used garland. But from today forward I will give Him an unused garland.” The next day when that Brāhmaṇa offered the Lord a garland the Lord did not accept it. That night the Lord came to the worshipping priest in a dream and said, “I want the used garland from the Brāhmaṇa, because the feelings that Brāhmaṇa has for Me in his heart is very dear to Me.” The following morning the worshipping priest revealed his dream and the Brāhmaṇa returned to offering his used garland to the Lord. This signifies that the Lord loves the genuine feelings of His devotees, which are developed over many lifetimes of spiritual practice. This is why God professes His eternal axiom, “Whatever way My devotee worships Me, I reward them accordingly.” And to introduce this feeling of reciprocation with the Lord is part of our mission.
The Gopīs of Vrindāban worshipped the Lord with paramour feelings for Him, which is the culmination of all spiritual feelings for God. The Gopīs surrendered body, mind, heart, morality and everything else to Kṛṣṇa, as explained in chapter thirty-one of this Canto. They didn’t care about their own pain or pleasure, but their goal and reason for living was to please Kṛṣṇa in every way in every circumstance, which is why the Gopīs are called the best devotees and their service to Lord Kṛṣṇa is the culmination of devotional service.
In each of the five moods a devotee worships the Lord in, they develop different feelings accordingly. A person develops a particular demeanor and behavior for each type of relationship and there is a different type of service and prayers for each. Even though the Lord’s servants are seen offering the Lord the same prayers in the temple, internally each devotee prays in a particular mood and the Lord reciprocates accordingly. For example, when the Lord disappeared from the Gopīs at His Rāsa dance, the Gopīs searched and prayed for Him. Externally their prayers may have seemed to be in the mood of a servant, but the Gopīs were in the mood of conjugal love with Lord Kṛṣṇa, therefore internally their prayers were in that mood. Chapter thirty-one and thirty-five of this Canto are examples of this type of relationship with the Lord. The essence is, when a person follows the right path rightly they undoubtedly experience wonderful results. To illustrate, of the nine gates of the body, the mouth is the right orifice to ingest candy to experience a sweet taste, because the mouth leads to the stomach. The Mādhava Nidāna states, nava-randhari udara sambandhīni , “The nine orifices in the body; the two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, mouth, rectum and urinary tract, are connected to the stomach, from which they receive nourishment.” But if a person thinks that because all of these orifices lead to stomach one way or another and must work identically and therefore can put candy in any of them and receive the same result, they are grossly mistaken because one must do the right thing rightly to get the desired result. Doing the right thing wrongly may end in a harming result. Therefore one should be very careful to do the right thing rightly while following the devotional path. And to introduce the right thing is part of our mission.
In this volume the demons Jarāsandha, Śiśupāla and Dantavaktra are killed by the Lord. These demons, although engrossed with demoniac qualities, also acted piously. For example, Śiśupāla and Dantavaktra were the Lord’s relatives and Jarāsandha worshiped the Brāhmaṇas and gave them everything they needed in charity. Jarāsandha never displeased Brāhmaṇas nor disobeyed them in any way. Using this knowledge as a way to infiltrate Jarāsandha’s defenses, Lord Kṛṣṇa, taking Bhīmasena and Arjuna with Him and disguising as Brāhmaṇas, had him killed using deceptive strategy. This illustrates that an external show of a devotional attitude is irrelevant, because internally a person may have an ulterior motive, as Jarāsandha did, and therefore the Lord condemns guising as a devotee. And to let people know this point is a part of our mission.
No one could ever be born into a better circumstance than Śiśupāla and Dantavaktra, who were sons of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s father’s sisters, but were killed by the Lord because of their resolve against Him. This shows it doesn’t matter what family a person is born into, what position they have, what path they have adopted or that they changed their life from material to spiritual, but what matters is a person must follow the right path rightly to progress on the spiritual path, otherwise one’s destruction is eminent. For example, a candidate should follow all the Vedic rules regarding devotional service in their practice and never disrespect or humiliate a devotee who is fixed in devotional service, but due to the influence of the age of Kaliyuga we see people acting contrary to this axiom. An organization propagating following the right path but acting contrary to it needs correction. A nonviolent revolution should be carried out to reform misrepresentations of our culture so followers are not mislead to think they are following the real Vedic devotional path when they are not. Such hoaxes should be carefully removed because heretics are destroying the purity of devotional life. Our Spiritual Master wanted to establish everything spiritual rightly, but hoaxers are breaching his will. The scriptures state real followers of the Vedic path are not easily found, because unless a person had performed many pious deeds in previous lives focusing on purity without committing offense, they won’t be inclined to follow the austere guidelines directed by the scriptures. A person who had a different focus in pervious lives will tend to lean in that direction. People seek out like people. Just as a calf finds its mother in a herd of thousands of cows, similarly a pious person will seek out and develop a connection with a scripturally authentic Gurū and become a real follower of the Vedic path. Everyone who considers themselves a real devotee should unite with other like minded devotees and while following laws of the state, correct the hoax that was bred in our spiritual institution that our Spiritual Master worked so very hard to create for us. To inform people of the injustice that has been done to our Gurū’s movement is a part of our mission.
No fraud lasts forever, because everyone is forced by the hand of time. For example, when Balī Mahārāja promised to give three paces of land to Lord Vāmanadeva, two paces measured everything in the creation, so when Vāmanadeva asked Balī Mahārāja where He could claim His next step, Balī Mahārāja’s ambitions were exposed and thus offered the Lord his head as the third pace of land. When Vāmanadeva was tying Balī Mahārāja, his demoniac associates wanted to attack the Lord, but Balī Mahārāja forbid it saying, “Presently the Lord is acting as time and time is not on our side. When time was on our side everything went favorably for us and we were victorious in the three worlds, but now time is working against us, therefore do not disturb the Lord.” The Lord acts as time. He hates no one, He sees everyone equally, but when the time comes for a change, He runs nonstop like His disc weapon to make that change. Whenever He wants to perform a certain activity, He creates a suitable environment and that thing takes place. People unaware of this end up recognizing the Lord as time when they experience the dire outcome of material life. For those who don’t properly recognize the Lord, He functions as all devouring time, thus ending their life causing them to experience rebirth and death. As long as the time for favorable things to happen remains, situations end nicely, but this won’t last forever because the nature of time is to keep moving and thus things change and one day favorable things cease. There is a limit to how long the Lord will allow Himself to be misrepresented and to let people know this point is part of our mission.
Once Nārada Munī came to earth to see how things were going when he came upon a prince enjoying indiscriminately. The prince didn’t care about spiritual life or about respecting the Lord’s devotees. Seeing his behavior Nārada Munī blessed him saying, rāja-putra ! cirañjīva , “O son of a king, live forever.” Indicating wasting his life in material pleasures will cause him to suffer after death and therefore it would be better for him not to die. Then Nārada Munī saw a sage’s son wearing a loin cloth bringing holy water in a jug from the Ganges for his Gurū to worship to the Lord with. Seeing his austere situation Nārada Munī blessed him saying, mā jīva muni-putraka , “O son of a sage you should not live, but die right away.” Indicating the student’s experiencing misery from austerities meant enjoyment was awaiting him in heaven after death. Then Nārada Munī saw a devotee fixed in devotion to the Lord. Seeing his determination Nārada Munī said, jīva vā mara vā sādho ! “O devotee, whether you live forever or die right away, both are the same for you.” Meaning a real devotee experiences a spiritual atmosphere while alive by living spiritually and after death will reach the spiritual world where he/she will continue the same. Therefore dying and living are equal for a devotee because they are always with Lord Kṛṣṇa. Then Nārada Muniī saw a hunter carrying birds that he had killed and said, mā jīva mā mara vyādha , “O hunter, you should neither live nor die.” Meaning killing other living entities and eating them and performing other atrocious activities condemned in the scriptures is hellish and after death hell is awaiting him. Therefore Nārada Munī’s blessing him to neither live nor die meant he is experiencing hell and will experience hell after death.
It’s always best to use one’s remaining life to become eligible to enter the kingdom of God by becoming a sincere devotee of the Lord, following the commands of a Spiritual Master who is authorized by the ancient Vedic scriptures written in Sanskrit. Śrīmad Bhāgavatam is the culmination of all the scriptures and it induces the impetus to become completely purified using the shortest possible spiritual methodology. Lord Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhū followed Śrīmad Bhāgavatam and told every sincere soul to execute devotional service abiding by its instructions. Our divine master followed Śrīmad Bhāgavatam in his life and we are humbly trying to follow in his footsteps and introduce the same to others. Our Bhāgavat Dharma Samāja society is based on the instructions of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam and therefore anyone who comes in connection with this society will surely be purified thereby developing perfect etiquette and purity. Our humble mission is to establish rules on how to follow the right thing rightly and thus receive the right result. We appreciate all help we can get in this regard and Lord Kṛṣṇa will surely bless those who help in this mission to teach sincere seekers of the truth how to obtain Him and to let people know this point is part of our mission.
As in every volume, we personally typed everything in this volume to present this needed knowledge to human society. Our dear disciple Nanda Kumār dās voluntarily edited this work and our dear friend and godbrother Śrīman Kavirāja Prabhū and Mrs. Viki Knowles proof read the work and disciples like Lochan dās, Mukunda dās and others around the world helped in various ways to bring this volume out. May their Lordships Śrī Śrī Rādhā Govindadeva whom I pray regularly pray with single-pointed intelligence bless them and fulfill their ultimate desires. If this endeavor produces even one pure devotee in this world we will consider our mission of expounding on the great literature Śrīmad Bhāgavatam a success. Thank you. Jai Srī Rādhe.
Dāsānudāsa,
Kṛṣṇa Balarām Swāmī
Rādhāṣṭamī day, August, 28, 2009
Baltimore, Maryland, USA