| |
Online Books | |
"How to Spend Your Last Seven Days on Earth" Chapter Five
Fifth day’s Lecture All Glories to Sri Guru and Gauranga
All Glories to Sri Guru and Gauranga
Sri Sukadeva Goswami continued: In his assembly hall, Kamsa told his ministers and advisers what Durga had said, hearing which one of the ministers said, “We are by nature demoniac and adverse to devotional life; Sanatana Dharma (spiritual life) is our enemy. If we completely destroy Sanatana Dharma our strength will increase manifold. To destroy it we must do five things: one, stop all devotees from performing their regular spiritual practice; two, stop Brahmanas from studying the Vedas and other devotional scriptures; three, stop the worship of cows and declare that cows are no better than goats and sheep; four, make a law prohibiting all austerity and punish anyone who breaks this law; five, stop all sacrifices and charities and make a law that anyone that performs sacrifices will be punished. If we follow these five rules Sanatana Dharma will be destroyed. Cows and Brahmanas are the root cause of our degradation. (The Lord loves traditional Brahmanas and cows and they represent His mouth.) If these two are destroyed, Lord Visnu will also be destroyed.” After hearing his ministers’ words, Kamsa said, “Wherever saints, devotees and Brahmanas are found, punish them, destroy their sacrifices, and show no mercy to anyone. Manage so that no one is able to chant the names of Lord Visnu.” Then Kamsa left for his palace. On the other side of the Yamuna River, at night, Lord Krsna took birth in Mother Yasoda’s house, which is why no one knew of His birth. Nanda Maharaja got up early in the morning and went to bathe in the Yamuna River as usual. Nanda Maharaja’s younger sister, Sunanda, entered Mother Yasoda’s room and seeing that she had given birth to a very beautiful child, woke everyone and told them of the wonderful news. Upon seeing the child, everyone in unison said, “Just see how beautiful this child is!” This shows that the Lord attracted everyone towards Him from His very birth. Raktaka, Patraka, Chitraka and other cowherd boys reached the Yamuna and told Nanda Maharaja of the wonderful news of Krsna’s birth. He immediately went home and invited many traditional Brahmanas and Sadhus to come. All of Gokul Village was decorated because of Krsna’s birth. Brahmanas chanted auspicious mantras while performing the Lord’s birth ceremony. Nanda Maharaja placed large amounts of gold beneath heaps of grains and donated seven such heaps together with many cows to each Brahmana present. Nanda Maharaja invited everyone from all three hundred sixty villages of Vraja land for Krsna’s birth festival, which pleased them very much and they commenced in groups to his house singing the glories of the Supreme Lord. After reaching Nanda Maharaja’s home, the cowherd girls started jubilantly dancing and singing Krsna’s glories. The Goddess of Fortune, Laksmidevi, also participated in the Lord’s arrival by filling Nanda Maharaja’s house with unlimited wealth, unbeknownst to anyone. Mother Yasoda and Nanda Maharaja gave abundant charity to everyone who came to glorify their son, and after they finished glorifying Him, everyone went home and Gokul Village became silent. One result of following spiritual life is that the practitioner develops real love for the Lord and his/her heart becomes the Lord’s temple where He comes to reside. Nanda Maharaja’s heart was such a temple. He was so absorbed in thinking about the Lord that he did not personally oversee the management of the kingdom from the time he became king, but had his younger brothers Upananda, Abhinanda and Sunanda manage the kingdom. He focused on chanting the Lord’s names on beads and would walk behind the cows at pasture. He did not concern himself with the goings on in the kingdom. But after Krsna’s birth, he looked after everything. He personally went to Mathura and paid tax to Kamsa for the first time on the fifth day after Krsna’s birth. Before this day he never performed any of the kingdom’s management responsibilities, but out of excessive love for Lord Krsna he became interested in everything in the kingdom. Similarly, after renouncing worldly affairs and becoming fully detached from material things, great devotees of the Lord build temples for His pleasure, and they will even quarrel with workers to insure that the Lord’s temple is constructed properly. This means love for Krsna is superior to becoming detached from material affairs alone. For example, only after Hanuman became fully self-realized did he engage in burning Sri Lanka, the capital city of the demon Ravana. He is a pure devotee, thus he did not envy or hate anyone nor did he have any material desires, but to serve the Lord he became filled with anger and killed many demons. Also, the devotee Prahlada Maharaja turned against his father only after becoming attached to the Lord; and Lord Rama’s brother Bharat called his mother, Kaikeyi, a witch and a demon only after becoming attached to Lord Rama. Just becoming free from material desires is not sufficient to please God; one must have intense love for Him as well. These examples help illustrate that when one develops unlimited love for the Lord they can do anything to please Him. Only this class of devotees obtains the Supreme Lord. Those that become free from material desires but have not yet developed intense love for the Lord, He awards them the same category of liberation that He rewards to demons after killing them. The demons the Lord fought and killed, ate nicely, slept well, enjoyed material life and reached the same place pure people reach after performing rigorous austerities. Only removing the negative things from one’s life is good, but to please the Lord one must also do something positive. Therefore the scriptures state that just becoming free from material pleasure is not everything; one has to also develop intense love for the Lord. Only then does the Lord become pleased. The Lord is the all-transcendental personality and is always situated beyond this world. He is the source of the Brahman effulgence and is the Lord of all the Lords. He appears just to benefit the world. Those who do not chant His glories suffer after death. The Lord appears to destroy those adverse to religion and those against spirituality, and He pleases those who remain pious and become His devotees. Just before departing to Mathura to pay tax to Kamsa, Nanda Maharaja arranged for the leading Vrajavasis (people of Vraja land) to protect Gokul in case of any trouble. He told them, “There are two small children at home, please see to their safety.” Customarily a small festival is observed on the sixth day after a child is born, where the mother and child are brought out of the room the birth took place. When Krsna was brought to this festival, many Gopis came to see Him, singing congratulatory songs and participating in many auspicious activities. They bathed the Lord, dressed Him in new clothes, placed Him in a palanquin and started swinging it, while singing nice songs. Some Gopis were singing, others were playing musical instruments, others were clapping and some were dancing in great joy. In this way they were all busy pleasing the Lord. At this moment demoness Putana entered Gokul Village. It is stated in the Srimad Bhagavatam: ”Anywhere the hearing and singing of the transcendental pastimes of the Supreme Lord, who destroys the demons and protects His devotees, does not take place, demons enter there and perform ghastly deeds.” According to spiritual philosophy, calamities occur wherever chanting the Lord’s names, singing His glories or service to Him is not performed; demons like Putana enter such places. With this in mind, one may question why Putana entered the Lord’s birth festival where all the cowherd girls were singing the Lord’s glories? Furthermore, Vraja land is the Lord’s own place and is protected by His disc weapon. Lord Siva also personally protects the area. How then did Putana enter Gokul guarded by the Lord’s disc weapon and Lord Siva? Putana got past these guards because of the involvement of the Lord’s Lilasakti (performing potency) in order for the Lord to perform His pastime. Although Putana had a ferocious ghastly female demon form, she had changed herself into a beautiful woman decorated nicely so she could freely mingle with the residents of Gokul to find out what house a child had just taken birth in. Many other children were born at about the same time as Krsna, namely Sridama, Sudama, Stokakrsna, Subala, Arjuna, Bhadra, Vrsabha and others, but by Krsna’s arrangement she came near Him and said, “See how beautiful this child is.” Putana then took Krsna on her lap and placed her nipple, which was smeared with Kalakuta, an infallible poison, in Krsna’s mouth. Sri Sukadeva Goswami states this female demon was named ‘Putana’ because no child could ever be happy on her lap. Her lap was like a slaughterhouse where innocent children were killed. After placing her poisoned nipple in Krsna’s mouth Putana said, “O my dear baby boy, drink my milk and become strong. You are so very beautiful. Just drink my milk and You will become immortal.” Thus receiving Putana’s nipple in His mouth He thought, “I shall devour her life air.” The Lord then held her breast with two hands and started sucking her life from her body. Then she shouted, “Leave me, leave me,” but the Lord did not release her. This sucking caused her excessive pain and she could not conceal her female demon form any longer, thus her real form manifested. Her body was as huge as a mountain. Even though she begged the Lord to leave her, the Lord did not let go of her nipple because the Lord’s nature is that once He catches someone, He never lets them go. If He were to let someone go after catching them, then all scriptural evidences would become false. The scriptures state that the Lord never lets anyone go from His shelter. Whosoever comes before Him, He does not reject. This is His open promise. Even though Putana was unimaginably strong, she could not free herself from this six day old infant. She then began running with Krsna still sucking her nipple and fell on the ground and died. Krsna is all powerful and the Lord of all the Lords, which is why He could kill the female demon Putana. The Gopis were fully dedicated and only wanted the Lord’s safety and happiness. By seeing Krsna lying upon Putana’s huge form, they experienced the same amount of misery as devotees do from demoniac people’s behavior. But because the Lord’s dedicated devotees have firm faith that He will protect them at every moment is why they execute devotional service even in dire circumstances, without being disturbed. When Putana fell, she destroyed everything beneath her twenty-four mile long body. The Gopis climbed upon Putana and brought Krsna to safety. Then, using the trees she fell upon as a funeral pyre, they burnt Putana’s dead body. The smell from the funeral pyre was very fragrant, rather than ill smelling because Putana was touched by Lord Krsna. This signifies that when a person becomes serious with his/her devotional relationship with the Lord, their odor like bad qualities turn into fragrant like good qualities. This is a secret of sincerely performing serious devotional service to the Lord. The inner meaning of the name Putana is, a female with impure character. Putana was also called, Lokabaghini, which means a female demon that kills children and eats them. Anyone who kills an innocent faultless entity is called Putana. Nowadays many people eat innocent faultless animals, birds and aquatics and thus they are no better than Putana. Putana was a ferocious female demon with a ghastly form and her nature was to kill and eat innocent faultless entities. Whereas people today have human forms, but from their actions they could be related to Putana, because they eat innocent faultless animals when there is an abundance of food grains readily available. If one sincerely becomes a devotee of the Lord and executes devotional service seriously, it is irrelevant how much sin one has committed, because the Supreme Lord will take all his/her sin and bless him/her in every way. Putana had come to kill the Lord, but rather she was killed. This indicates that anyone that wants to create a harmful environment for the Lord’s devotee is severely punished. Putana had offered her breast to the Lord so He gave her His spiritual world to live in. Because she came to the Lord acting as His mother, He awarded her His aunt’s position. Just see how surprising the Lord is! Even though the female demon came to kill Him, she was given a position equal to His mother. This incident was relayed to Sukadeva Goswami through his father Vyasadeva’s direction, by which hearing made him switch from the impersonal path to the devotee path. There is no limit to the amount of mercy the Lord shows towards the living entity. For example, when the Lord kills demons, He awards them His own spiritual world to live in. How can an intelligent person cast such a Lord aside and worship another Lord? When Nanda Maharaja returned to his camp in Mathura after paying Kamsa taxes, Vasudev secretly came to meet him. After inquiring about Krsna’s well being, Vasudev said, “Nowadays there is terrorism in Vraja, therefore you please return to Gokul immediately.” Heeding Vasudev’s advice, Nanda Maharaja immediately returned to Gokul and gave lots of charity to traditional Brahmanas because the Lord had been protected from Putana. Each of the Lord’s pastimes are filled with amazing ecstasy and He is always performing them. Then, through Yogamaya’s arrangement, Mother Yasoda put Krsna on a palanquin that was kept under a bullock cart. Just then, Sakatasura, another demon sent by Kamsa, arrived and saw the Lord in a seemingly vulnerable condition and entered into the cart undetected, to kill Him. The Lord is omniscient, which is how He knew of the demon in the cart and simply kicked it once, thus killing the demon. Kamsa was the most powerful demon and had an array of powerful demons whose alliance he had gained by defeating them in battle, and he commissioned them to kill the Lord. He sent them one by one to Vraja to kill Krsna. Kamsa was shocked when Krsna killed Putana. From this he concluded that his enemy, the eighth child of Devaki, whose name is Krsna, is certainly living in Nanda Maharaja’s house. Due to this reason, he started sending demons one by one to Gokul to kill Him. After Sakatasura was killed, Kamsa sent Trnavarta demon to Gokul. Trnavarta went in the form of a tornado blowing dirt and dust everywhere, thus making everyone either close or shade their eyes. Creating this helpless condition Trnavarta took Krsna high in the sky, but Lord Krsna hit him hard with His fist, thus killing the demon. Sri Sukadeva Goswami continued: One day after Mother Yasoda placed Krsna on her lap and fed Him her breast milk, Krsna yawned, whereby she saw the whole universe in His mouth. One day Vasudev sent Gargamuni to Gokul from Mathura. Gargamuni was a traditional Brahmana and the priest of the Yadava Dynasty. Upon his arrival Nanda Maharaja welcomed him and said, “You are not an ordinary Brahmana. You are a great austere personality filled with many categories of knowledge. You are a very important devotee and dedicated to pleasing the Supreme Lord.” It was a fact that nobody could be compared to Gargamuni in the science of astrology, which is why he was very famous everywhere. In the Srimad Bhagavatam, Nanda Maharaja stated to Gargamuni: mahad vicalanam nrnam grhinam dina cetasam “O respectable Brahmana, souls like you traverse the earth facing and tolerating many difficulties only to come to homes of householders like us for our welfare. We householders are very much attached to our family engagements, which is why we have become fallen. But people like you come to our homes and benefit us. Except for benefiting people like us, there is no other reason for your traveling the world.” Great devotees spread religious and spiritual principles by their behavior and speech. By nature, real devotees have equal vision and the mood of helping others, which is why they are worshippable for everyone. Real devotees always instill a positive impetus in others. They teach everyone how to become purified and tell everyone to work to receive liberation. When a serious devotee of the Lord enters one’s home, the householder’s welfare is certain. By associating with a real devotee material complacency is removed and replaced with the desire to reform their character. Sometimes devotees reach a householder’s house for no apparent reason other than to benefit the householder. By devotees going to householders’ homes, the householder’s piety increases and their deception, duplicity, mischief and hypocrisy decrease. In present times there are very few real devotees and only the most fortunate find them. The less fortunate find showboat spiritualists who deceive them; thereby jealousy, hatred, envy, faultfinding, violence, criticism and other bad habits develop in them. Chanakya Pandit says, “By associating with lower class people one’s intelligence gets contaminated, from which one’s nature becomes degraded. By associating with someone of equal class one’s intelligence remains unchanged; but by associating with a real devotee, one’s intelligence opens up to high quality thoughts.” In other words, associating with a real devotee purifies one’s intelligence. For example, if a worldly person associates with a saintly person, he/she will surely be influenced with saintly qualities, thereby correcting his/her bad habits. Saintly association instills the qualities of an ideal life in a person, like generosity, honesty, simplicity, purity and the desire for chanting the Lord’s names. Spiritual qualities only develop in a person through the association of a real devotee; they do not manifest by themselves. Nanda Maharaja, in knowledge of the value of having a great saint like Gargamuni visit his home, said to him, “Your arrival at our home is for the welfare of householders like us. The endeavors that great personalities like you embark on are not for your benefit, but for the benefit and development of cripple minded people like us.” People whose concern is only for their children, spouse, relatives, health and home are called householders. If householders are not devotees, they are unaware about how to benefit their soul, which is why they seldom receive liberation from this world. Only if a real devotee comes to their home and mercifully gives the knowledge of self-realization do they engage in chanting the holy names of the Lord and perform service to Him. Nanda Maharaja requested Gargamuni, “Please perform the name giving ceremony of our two children and make their horoscope as well.” Upon hearing this Gargamuni said: yadunam aham acharyah khyatas ca bhuvi sarvatah “O Nanda, everyone knows that I am the priest of the Yadavas. If I perform the name giving ceremony of your children everyone will think that these two children are the sons of Devaki.” Gargamuni indicated that if he performed the name giving ceremony Kamsa may think they are Devaki’s sons and cause trouble. Therefore he did not want to perform the ceremony. Sandilya Muni is the priest of the cowherd Gopas. Therefore Gargamuni hinted to Nanda Maharaja, a Gopa, that it would be safer if Sandilya performed the ceremony. Gargamuni continued, “If Kamsa finds out that these boys are Devaki’s sons, he will run here from Mathura to kill Them. Kamsa knows, devakyam astamo garbho na stri bhavitum arhati, “Devaki’s eighth issue cannot be female.” Not only this, but at your house, Putana, Sakatasura and Trnavarta demons were already killed, and on top of this if I perform the name giving ceremony, Kamsa will surely be convinced these boys are Devaki’s children.” Hearing all of this from Gargamuni Nanda Maharaja said, alaksito’smin rahasi mamakair api go vraje, “We shall perform the ceremony in a secluded place in total secrecy. We shall perform the ceremony so secretly that not even my brothers, relatives, friends, servants etc. will know about it. I intensely desire to have this ceremony only performed by you.” After hearing Nanda Maharaja’s intense desire, Gargamuni agreed and they went to the cow barn and he began the ceremony. After chanting the auspicious mantras, Gargamuni gave Rohini’s son His name saying: ayam hi rohini putro ramayan suhrdo gunaih “This son of Rohini will please everyone with His wonderful qualities, which is why He will be called Rama, and because He has unlimited strength people will also call Him Balaram.” After giving Rohini’s son the name Balaram, Gargamuni gave Yasoda’s son His name saying: asan varnas trayo hy asya grhnato’nu yugam tanuh “This son of Yasoda takes birth in all of the four yugas (ages). In Satyayuga (golden age) His color was white, in Tretayuga (silver age) His color was red, in Dvaparayuga (copper age) His color is black and in the Kaliyuga (iron age) His color will be yellow. Because this age is Dvaparayuga, He has appeared in the color black, which is why His name is Krsna.” Gargamuni did not give Lord Krsna His name as is normally done for a child after its birth, because he recognized Him as the Supreme Lord and His name has existed since time immemorial. While making the Lord’s horoscope Gargamuni said, “In the sixth house from the birth house in this child’s horoscope there is an inauspicious planet, from which there is a little problem, the rest is very wonderful.” Hearing this disturbed Nanda and Yasoda very much and they asked, “In our later years we have received a child and He has an unwanted planet. How unfortunate! Please tell us what misfortune this planet will bring.” Gargamuni said, “He will be loved by too many females.” Upon hearing this Mother Yasoda became very jolly and said, “There is no harm if many ladies love my child.” Gargamuni then said, “There will be more marriages than can be counted, of which ceremonies will take place for sixteen thousand one hundred and eight marriages. The rest of them will be love marriages.” This made Mother Yasoda very happy. The scriptures state that the Lord will incarnate only as Buddha (of Buddhism), Kalki and Chaitanya, in Kaliyuga. Lord Chaitanya’s physical color will be yellow and He will preach the glories of chanting the Lord’s Holy Name. He will state that by no other means such as seeking knowledge, meditating, performing austerities or any other spiritual method can one obtain the mercy of the Lord. It does not matter if one chants loudly, murmuringly chants or quietly chants on beads; one can obtain the mercy of the Lord and receive liberation from this world. Such a merciful incarnation as Lord Chaitanya had never before appeared nor will He ever appear in the future. The scriptures state, namo mahavadanyaya krsna prema pradayate, “The incarnation of Lord Chaitanya is the most magnanimous incarnation of all the incarnations, because only in this incarnation does He give the remedy to cut the tie to the cycle of the ocean of rebirth and death by giving love of Godhead.” There are many problems in life. No doctor in any hospital can guarantee that they can completely cure a patient. By feeding the hungry no one can remove poverty, and no one can rewrite one’s fortune by giving food, medicine and clothing. By becoming a charitable person one cannot remove everyone’s misery. No man or woman can erase the tie to the cycle of rebirth and death or erase what is predestined for a person. But the Personality who can cure all of everyone’s ills is the most merciful person. One should be charitable and feed the hungry, but while caring for them one should teach them to chant the holy names of the Lord. Chanting will help them become free from their committed sins and help keep them on the correct path. If one adheres to this program one can remove poverty and the problems of life. By chanting the Lord’s holy names one’s bad karma is destroyed, thus paving the way to experience good karma. If a person convinces someone else to become a devotee, the person has done the greatest possible service for them, and the person becomes dear to the Lord for praising Him. There is nothing more beneficial for humanity than helping people turn towards God. It is very beneficial to give charity to a worthy person. When a person gives charity their sins leave them and go to the receiver, but if the charity receiver is not authorized as defined in the scriptures to accept charity, the donor’s sins do not leave them. Therefore one should seek out an authorized person to accept their charity. The scriptures authorize a person born into a family that performs pure devotional service and has performed pure devotional life in past lives worthy to accept the charity, not others. The scriptures boldly state that only those born into a pure dynasty and living by their merits are worthy of accepting charity. As Lord Siva states: paranna bhojane pranam panau dagdha pratigrahe “If someone eats food given free from others their soul becomes contaminated; if someone accepts charity their acquired merits leave them through their hands, going to the donor; and by ogling women the mind gets contaminated; which is why it is very difficult to obtain perfection for those desirous to advance on the spiritual path.” Mother Yasoda would daily make many categories of sweets and offer them to Krsna, but He would still go to the homes of other Gopis and steal their butter. The scriptures state that love is spiritual and that no one can live without loving someone. Unconditional love can only be exchanged with the Supreme Lord, because there is no one else in the creation capable of real love. Anyone that tries to develop a loving relationship with someone other than the Lord falls short, because after some time such love sours, turning into cold indifference, hate and may degrade into a fight or even murder. Real love can only be extended to the Lord and to an authentic Spiritual Master. Favorable things offered to please the Lord in the proper mood is called love. If these guidelines are followed, real love and peace ensues. Real love only sprouts from a purified heart. Hankering for material sense gratification is called “dirt in the heart.” A person can know how dirty his/her heart is by determining how much they hanker for material things. Desiring good house, wealth, happiness, mystic powers, children, husband, wife, good family, prestige, honor from others or any other thing connected to material life is material hankering. Lust, anger and greed are born from such desires. The Bhagavad Gita states that these three things are the gateway to hell. Sri Sukadeva Goswami says the Lord is performing many pastimes in Gokul to please His devotees. Once, on Krsna’s birthday Mother Yasoda said, “O Krsna, You have to stay home today, do not leave the premises.” While playing with His friends outside, the Lord started eating earth. His friends tried to stop Him, but could not, so they ran to Mother Yasoda and told her. She thought, “How naughty this child is! When I confined Him to the house, He ate earth.” When asked, Krsna claimed He did not eat earth, so Mother Yasoda asked Balaram, “Who is lying, Krsna or the cowherd boys?” Balaram answered, “Krsna is lying.” Then Krsna said, “I am afraid of you Mother.” Mother Yasoda then said, “If You are afraid of me, tell me why have You eaten earth?” Krsna said, “No mother, I have not eaten earth, all these boys are lying. I did not eat any mud. If you do not trust Me, open My mouth and look inside it.” When Krsna opened His mouth Yasoda saw: sa tatra dadrse visvam jagat sthasnu ca kham disah “Krsna’s mother looked inside His small mouth and saw all moving and nonmoving entities of this world, the entire sky, all directions, mountains and hills, islands, seven oceans, the entire earth, blowing air, fire, the moon, the stars and the sun.” Mother Yasoda became perplexed seeing such surprising things in Krsna’s mouth, so she closed her eyes and thought, “What am I seeing? The very same Lord that I worship daily has appeared as my son.” Understanding Yasoda’s revelation, Lord Krsna thought, “If Yasoda remembers this incident, it will become an obstacle for My childhood pastimes.” Therefore the Lord had Yogamaya cover this memory so that Mother Yasoda could again relate to Krsna as her son. Hence her relationship with Krsna became the same as it had been before she looked into His mouth. Then Mother Yasoda lifted Krsna upon her lap and started feeding Him her milk, as she had before without any memory of seeing any astonishing thing in His mouth. After hearing all this from Sri Sukadeva Goswami, King Pariksit asked: nandah kim akarod brahman sreya evam mahodayam “O dear Gurudeva, what type of meritorious deeds did Mother Yasoda and Nanda Maharaja perform to get the Supreme Lord Sri Krsna to become their son and drink Mother Yasoda’s breast milk with pleasure?” Sri Sukadeva Goswami said that Mother Yasoda and Nanda Maharaja did not perform any special austerity, but that they are the Lord’s eternal parents. Two other souls had come to reside in Nanda’s and Yasoda’s bodies, but they are still the Lord’s eternal parents. A soul named Dhara came to reside inside Yasoda and Drona came to reside inside Nanda, but Yasoda and Nanda remained the eternal parents of the Lord. Dhara and Drona had performed great austerity in their previous life, after which Lord Brahma appeared before them and offered them a boon. They requested him to fulfill their desire to have the Supreme Lord become their child and drink their milk. Lord Brahma blessed them with that desire and left. To fulfill this blessing, the Supreme Lord appeared and fulfilled their desire. King Pariksit found it hard to believe that the Supreme Lord, who is even inconceivable to Lord Brahma and Lord Siva in their prayers, would become anyone’s son by their blessings. It is surprising that the Lord of Lord Brahma and Lord Siva can be born to someone with their blessings. Therefore to clear Pariksit’s doubt, Sri Sukadeva Goswami told him that Yasoda and Nanda are Krsna’s eternal parents and this time Dhara and Drona came to live inside them as a boon for their having performed austerities. Hence, Lord Brahma’s benediction came to be. Pariksit was satisfied with this answer. The heart that has unlimited intense love for the Lord becomes the Lord’s temple and He resides there. In such a heart there is no question about the supremacy of the Lord. The conception that the original form of the Lord is an impersonal power that accepts a form to incarnate in this world and afterward merges back into that impersonal form is incorrect. The Lord’s original form is an eternal personal form and He performs transcendental pastimes eternally. This truth is supported by Lord Brahma in the Brahma Samhita (5.2). Everything we say, read or hear should be supported by scriptural evidence. Improperly understanding the scriptures may lead one to believe the Lord is an impersonal power. A real devotee can comprehensibly teach one the serious fact that the Lord has an eternal personal form. But as long as a person is influenced by ignorance they cannot understand the correct devotional philosophy of the Lord. A person wakes from material consciousness when their merits from previous lives emerge. They are then able to identify an authentic devotee of the Lord and take initiation from him. But if merits do not emerge, it doesn’t matter how much they hear about devotional life, they cannot understand it nor will they desire to follow it. In other words, only after receiving the Lord’s blessings is one able to follow a real devotee’s instructions. The unfortunate cannot understand a real devotee or the real meaning of the scriptures. Sri Sukadeva Goswami states that the Lord is performing many categories of pastimes in Gokul. One day Krsna told His friends, “Let’s go steal butter from the Gopis’ houses.” In this way the Lord and His friends would daily steal and eat butter and afterward smash the clay butter pots, and if there were any butter left, they would smear it on the walls of that house. If Krsna did not find any butter in a house, He would have His friends mix mud, cow dung and water and smear it on the house, and if there were any children sleeping in the house, He would wake them by pinching, thereby causing them to cry. If a Gopi caught the Lord with His hand in the butter pot, He would tease her. In this way Krsna performed many naughty pastimes. After the Gopis witnessed the Lord acting naughty and teasing them, they would become ecstatic, feeling as if they were diving into the ocean of bliss. Lord Krsna did not enter the Gopis’ houses to steal their wealth or ornaments, but to take the unconditional love they had for Him kept in their homes in the form of butter. Lord Krsna is hungry for true love and the Gopis had it in abundance in their hearts. What to speak of humans beings, even demigods are selfish. For example, in Sanskrit language demigods are called Devata, which means only after they are worshipped do they reward the worshipper, otherwise they remain indifferent. But Lord Krsna is no such God, whether one does something or not it doesn’t matter; Krsna is bought by a person who sincerely says, “O Krsna, from today forward I am Yours.” Krsna is hungry for love, which is why whatever condition one is in, if he/she pleadingly calls to the Lord, He comes running to that person. But there is one condition, these pleas are only acknowledged when they are transferred through His pure devotee, a scripturally authentic Spiritual Master; therefore, for the desired result one should chant the Lord’s names after accepting an authentic Spiritual Master. If this method is followed, in due course the Lord rewards one’s prayers. The Padma Purana states: na desa kala niyama na saucasauc nigraha “The Lord’s names are so transcendental that the chanter is not bound by any rules. One can chant anywhere. It does not matter if the place is dirty or clean. The Lord’s names can be chanted in any condition, because they are so transcendental that there is no difference between the Lord Himself and His names.” It does not matter who or how one thinks of Lord Krsna, He blesses the person. Krsna belongs to everyone, therefore no one is alien or strange to Him. People that do not believe they belong to Krsna remain miserable in this world. Krsna’s real devotees always think of themselves as Krsna’s property, which is why He is always ready to protect them. It does not matter what way one is connected to Krsna, it only matters that he/she is connected. If in whatever remaining time one has left in their life, if they chant Lord Krsna’s names, He surely blesses them. The Gopis relished the memories of Krsna when He was acting as an infant and they could place Him on their laps. They still had the heartfelt desire to cradle and feed Krsna butter with their own hands, but their desire could no longer be fulfilled because He had grown and would run from them. When Krsna was out of their sight, the Gopis discussed topics about Him, and when they were alone in their houses they would meditate on Him and fall in trance. In this way the Gopis felt pleasure by hearing and speaking about Krsna’s pastimes. On occasion a Gopi would go to Mother Yasoda and complain about Krsna’s behavior saying, “Your son Krsna steals butter from our homes.” Sometimes they would present His behavior as a complaint and other times present it in admiration and love for Him. The only reason they brought up Krsna’s behavior is because whenever they spoke about Krsna, they would feel joy and satisfaction. Lord Krsna is the Supreme Lord, is from beyond the material world, is the source of the Brahman effulgence and His appearance into this world is for everyone’s welfare. People that do not chant His names feel the pangs of this material world. His appearance in this world is to please those who become His devotees and to punish those who are against spiritual life. Sri Sukadeva Goswami said: One day while Mother Yasoda was churning butter, Krsna came to her and said, “I am hungry mother, please feed Me your breast milk.” Mother Yasoda said, “Please wait until the butter rises from the churning, then I shall feed You.” Krsna finding that His mother was not giving Him the attention He wanted, grabbed the churning rod she was using and said, “I want to drink now.” She then lifted and cradled Krsna in her arms and started feeding Him her breast milk. Lord Krsna is the Unlimited Supreme God and thus He cannot be satisfied in a short time. His satisfaction comes from love and devotion. The more one loves the Lord, the faster He becomes satisfied with him/her. But the Lord does not look at those who do not have faith in Him, whereas He even begs from His real devotee, as He begged Mother Yasoda to drink her breast milk. He will even eat a devotee’s leftovers and accept ordinary food if offered with love and devotion by His real devotee. But even if the highest quality eatables are offered, but without love and devotion, He will not even look at it, which is why the scriptures state that the Lord’s sole hunger is for the love and devotion of His devotees. Whenever the Lord drank Mother Yasoda’s breast milk He did not stop drinking on His own, but His mother had to stop Him. It is not that she did not have enough milk, but she had unlimited love for Krsna, which is why her breasts were filled with unlimited milk. This day when Mother Yasoda was feeding Krsna her breast milk, cow’s milk was put on the stove to boil. Knowing the milk was about to boil over she told Krsna, “O my child, leave me now, I have to check the milk on the stove.” Krsna responded, “But mother, My stomach is not yet full, how can I leave you now?” Mother Yasoda had to forcibly separate herself from Krsna and left to tend the boiling milk. He did not like her behavior and became upset with her. Therefore He thought to teach her a lesson so He broke the clay pot where she was churning butter. Krsna struck the clay pot with the churning rod, thus spreading yogurt all over the floor and all over His feet. Anticipating His mother’s reaction to the mess, Krsna got scared and went to hide leaving a trail of yogurt footprints. He reached the butter storehouse, took a pot filled with butter and left through the back door to where a grinding mortar sat upside-down. Nanda Maharaja had nine hundred thousand cows, therefore the storehouse was filled with butter. Krsna sat on the grinding mortar and started eating butter. He called some monkeys and started feeding them as well. After Yasoda removed the milk from the stove she returned to the room where she left Krsna. She did not see Him there, but saw the broken clay pot and yogurt all over the floor. Thus she became angry and thought, “O my dear boy, today You have broken pots in my house as well. I shall punish You for this.” With a thin stick in hand, following the trail Krsna left from His yogurt smeared feet, Mother Yasoda found Him sitting on a grinding mortar feeding butter to monkeys and eating some Himself. Yasoda ran to catch Him, but could not. Krsna was scared thinking His mother will surely beat Him, but He did not find any place to hide and she finally caught Him. He started screaming; still she did not release Him. Gopis living nearby heard Krsna screaming and came running, thinking He had fallen and hurt Himself. When they reached Yasoda’s house they were surprised to see her holding Krsna by the ear with one hand, with a stick raised to hit Him in the other. They saw Yasoda questioning Krsna saying, “Tell me why You broke the yogurt pot?” While shaking in fear of His mother’s anger Krsna said, "Mother, please do not beat Me, I will die." Then Yasoda asked Krsna again, “Why did You break the yogurt pot?” Krsna answered, “I did not break the pot.” This made Mother Yasoda more angry, so then she asked, “Why are You telling lies?” Krsna said, “No mother, I do not tell lies. When you hurriedly left Me to check the boiling milk you knocked over the pot with your foot and broke it.” Yasoda thought, Krsna is very naughty, and then asked, “OK, so if I broke the pot with my foot, tell me who stole the butter? Who is the thief?” The Lord answered, “My uncle is the thief.” Mother Yasoda had a younger brother who would steal butter and everyone in Vraja would call him “thief.” Lord Krsna continued, “O mother, My name is not ‘thief,’ My name is Krsna. Thief is My uncle.” This momentarily silenced Mother Yasoda because this much was true. Then she asked Krsna, “Who was feeding butter to the monkeys?” Krsna responded, “Whoever created monkeys is feeding them.” Then Yasoda asked, “Did You create the monkeys, because I saw You feeding them? If You created monkeys then go live with them. Don’t live in my house.” To this Lord Krsna said, “Yes, please leave Me alone, I want to go and live with monkeys. I love monkeys very much.” Krsna’s face turned black by seeing the anger on His mother’s face. Seeing Krsna in this condition, a Gopi witnessing this exchange said to Yasoda, “O Yasoda, such a wonderful son should not be beaten or chastised. Please leave Him alone.” Another Gopi said, “Look Yasoda, Krsna’s face has faded from fear. Please leave Him alone.” Another Gopi said, “You just have one child and you do not feed Him enough butter and on top of that you are ready to beat Him. You are such a miser.” Upon hearing this, Yasoda turned to that Gopi and asked, “How do you know I do not feed Him butter until His stomach is full?” To this the Gopi responded, “If you had fed Him until His stomach was full of butter He would not have to steal butter from us to eat.” Then a Gopi ordered her, “O Yasoda, you have nine hundred thousand cows, what will you do with all that butter? Feed the child with enough butter and leave Him alone.” To this Yasoda said, “I will not leave Him alone, I will tie Him up as punishment.” All the Gopis there heard these words and wanted to quarrel with her to free Krsna from punishment, but Yasoda firmly said to them, “Whatever happens let it happen, but today I will tie Krsna up. If I do not, He will run away and live with monkeys. Monkeys are His relatives.” When Krsna heard His mother’s resolute words, He thought, “Let Me see how she plans to tie Me up. I shall show My all pervading prowess.” Then Mother Yasoda took the rope from the churning rod and bound Krsna’s hands, then wrapped it around His waste, but it fell two inches too short to tie the knot. Then she asked the Gopis, “O Gopis, please bring some rope.” A Gopi returned with a smooth soft piece of rope that Yasoda joined to the other and then attempted to tie the knot to bind Krsna, but still the rope fell two inches too short. One by one, all the pieces of rope in the house were joined together, but in the end the rope was still two inches too short. Lord Krsna seeing Yasoda’s endeavor said, “Mother please do not tie Me up,” then slipped away from her and ran all around the courtyard. Everyone was baffled why such a long length of rope could not bind such a small child. The rope would wrap around His waist, but it was always two inches too short to make a knot. Witnessing this a Gopi said, “Yasoda, face it, it is not written in Krsna’s luck to be tied up today. Just look, His stomach is but the size of a fist and His belt is loose; if such a small waist cannot be bound with miles of rope, He cannot be tied up today. Please let Him go free.” But Yasoda had decided that it didn’t matter what else happened that day; she was going to tie Krsna up. So Mother Yasoda persisted, had all the rope collected from all over Vraja and joined together by the Gopis and connected it to the first length of rope, but still the rope fell two inches too short. A rope thousands of miles long was not long enough to tie Krsna up. Yasoda’s endeavor caused her to sweat even though it was not the summer season. She was tired and her hair had loosened, but she persevered and was not about to go back on her word. She contemplated, “The rope is always too short, what should I do now? I shall not cook, eat or prepare food for Nanda Maharaja today until I tie Krsna up.” This incident began in the morning and it was now noon. Hence, it was lunchtime and Nanda and his younger brother Upananda came there and said, “Please let Krsna go free.” She responded, “He has made too much trouble, which is why I am determined to tie Him up.” Seeing Mother Yasoda’s persistence Krsna thought, “How can I ever become superior to My devotee? And other devotees of Mine are experiencing trouble from her persistence. Therefore I should yield and allow her to tie Me up now. Mother will be mother for all time and I will always be her son. This cannot be changed.” Thus the Lord of all the Lords, the all powerful personality, the all pervading Lord, the source of the Brahman effulgence, the Supreme God, the source of all and Lord of the universe, the shelter of everyone, the Supreme controller, the creator, maintainer and the regulator of all, got defeated by His devotee. In other words, before His devotee’s persistence, His own intention was overcome and He was bound. A person who is initiated in the unbroken chain of disciplic succession by a scripturally authentic Spiritual Master and who properly performs spiritual life can obtain Krsna in that very lifetime. One must develop the determination that Mother Yasoda had to insure that he/she will see the Lord face to face, otherwise the odds are the person will not become a serious devotee. One must be firmly fixed that they will obtain Krsna within their lifetime and then Krsna will surely come to see them. Lord Krsna will come to any devotee that has made up their mind that it doesn’t matter what happens, they will not stop their devotional practice until they see Krsna face to face. Krsna comes to those stubborn devotees that will not give up devotional service to Him even at the cost of their own lives, but those not fixed in devotional life cannot get Krsna. Only firmly fixed devotees obtain Krsna’s mercy. The Bhakti Rasamrtasindhu states: ksantir avyartha kalatvam viraktir mana sunyata “In whoever devotee’s heart the seed of devotion sprouts, they automatically manifest the following qualities: tolerance; not wasting time; detachment to worldly affairs; pride-less-ness; always hoping for the Lord’s mercy; determined to continuously perform devotional service to the Lord; attracted to chanting the Lord’s holy name; attached to speaking the Lord’s glories; and they love to live in holy places where the Lord had performed His transcendental pastimes.” People should take advantage of the wonderful gift of human life by striving to obtain the Lord’s mercy. Such a gift may not be awarded again. The ability to understand the Lord’s pastimes and philosophy is not available in the animal kingdom, even though they have the same desires to eat, drink, sleep, mate and defend, as do human beings. The matured intellect to understand the Lord is only developed in human beings and should not be wasted. What could be worse for a soul than squandering such a rare opportunity? If this fortune is not taken advantage of in this life, no one can foretell when another human birth will be awarded to the soul. Therefore every intelligent person should become determined to obtain the blessings of the Lord by sincerely practicing spiritual life. The Lord’s names should be chanted with full concentration. The power of concentration gradually develops through practice. One should not think that they will chant when they are able to concentrate. Chanting can be done in every condition and thus the ability to concentrate develops and their chanting improves. One should never think that they have been chanting for a long time yet the Lord did not come to them and therefore stop chanting. Such thoughts are a product of the illusory energy. One should remain humble and chant, thereby inviting Krsna to come. If a person cannot peacefully chant, he/she should look to their own shortcomings and humbly correct their frame of mind to receive the Lord’s blessings so He will come to them. People thinking that they have served the Lord and chanted for a long period of time, yet did not receive any result have flickering minds and are compared to monkeys. Once monkeys observed that everyone eats mangoes, whereas they do not. So they researched and found that if a mango seed is planted, a mango tree will grow and produce mangoes. Therefore they gathered seeds discarded from people after they had eaten mangoes, planted them and waited for some time. Impatient for mangos, they dug up the seeds to find why they had not yet grown. They saw the seeds had sprouted, but mangoes were not produced. Because they did not allow the seed to fructify, the sprouted mango seeds died. Similarly, people that only chant for a short time expecting to receive the Lord’s mercy are referred to as having the flickering mind of a monkey. Just as the sprouted seeds the monkeys uprooted died, similarly spiritual or religious deeds performed by flickering minded people remain fruitless. Therefore the scriptures state one should not give up chanting the Lord’s names and serving Him until the Lord comes to see him/her face to face. Mother Yasoda’s mind was fixed on tying Krsna up, which is why the Lord yielded and allowed Himself to be tied up by His mother. This signifies that only when devotional service and chanting the Lord’s names is done with full determination does Lord Krsna come under control. Thus Mother Yasoda tied Krsna to the same grinding mortar where He was sitting and feeding monkeys. While tied up, Krsna saw twin Arjuna trees standing nearby and thought, “These two trees are the sons of Kubera, the treasurer of heaven, who were cursed by Narada Muni. Even though they were followers of Lord Siva, they became attracted to material sensual pleasures and shamelessly played naked with women in the Ganges River. Even when they saw Narada Muni approaching, they persisted, overcome by lust. Seeing them there so shameless, Narada Muni cursed them to become trees. They then pleaded to Narada Muni who blessed them saying, ‘Go and become trees in Vraja, there you will receive Lord Krsna’s blessing.’ These two sons of Kubera named Narakubara and Manigriva became twin Arjuna trees in Nanda Maharaja’s courtyard.” This day Lord Krsna desired to liberate these twin Arjuna trees from their present existence. In the Lord’s every pastime His devotees are benefited in one way or another. To liberate the twin trees, Lord Krsna passed between them dragging the mortar He was bound to. The mortar got stuck between the trees, but Krsna continued dragging it, thus toppling the twin trees and liberating Kubera’s two sons. At this point in Krsna’s childhood He started taunting the Gopis. The Gopis approached Mother Yasoda and complained to her saying, “After we milk the cows, we leave the milk buckets to release the calves to suckle their mother’s milk, then Krsna comes and knocks over the buckets in our absence.” Hearing this complaint Mother Yasoda said, “You should discipline Him.” The Gopis responded, “When we start to scold Him, He smiles at us in such a pleasing way that we forget to chastise Him. By seeing His smile we are drowned in an ocean of bliss and just about faint.” Then Yasoda said, “If you cannot control Him, then I will take care of the situation.” When Krsna came home, Yasoda asked Him, “Why do You steal butter from the Gopis’ homes?” Krsna said, “O mother, who told you such a thing?” Yasoda replied, “O Krsna, all the Gopis of Vraja said it.” Hearing this Lord Krsna said, “They were all telling lies. I never steal from anybody’s house. O mother, you are very innocent, whenever someone tells you anything you immediately believe them. I always tell you not to believe the Gopis. When I leave the house these Gopis call Me to come to them, then they take Me by the hand to their home and lock the door behind us. I am still a small boy and they are all grown youths, so I become completely helpless. O mother, therefore please do not believe what they tell you.” Thus the Lord complained about the Gopis’ complaint and made a complaint about them. In dilemma, not knowing who to believe, Mother Yasoda thought, “My son must be telling the truth because children do not tell lies.” Hence, Mother Yasoda believed Krsna and kissed Him with great love and continued with her housework. One day Mother Yasoda asked Krsna to sit on her lap and drink milk. Krsna inquired, “What happens by drinking milk?” Mother Yasoda said, “Drinking milk grows long hair, from having which You will marry quickly. As long as You don’t drink milk Your sikha (a portion of hair that grows at the back-top of the head) will not grow, and for as long as You do not grow a sikha, You cannot get married.” Upon hearing this Krsna said, “Oh, My marriage will quickly take place.” Then He quickly sat on His mother’s lap and said, “Give Me milk, I want to drink milk.” Then He grabbed hold of His sikha with one hand, drank a mouthful of milk and said, “O mother, My sikha did not grow.” Mother Yasoda said, “You have to drink more milk, then it will grow.” Krsna then drank another mouthful and said, “It still did not grow.” Each of the Lord’s pastimes is transcendental and should not be thought of as child’s play, because meditating on them completely transforms a person so that he/she can achieve liberation from this world. While meditating on these pastimes many great devotees fall in trance and speak with the Lord. In modern times most people only think of their family’s material welfare and talk about worldly matters. They are unaware that by only thinking about material things they cannot reach the goal of human life. Maintaining one’s family and/or performing philanthropic work is not enough to reach the Lord’s spiritual world; one must absorb his/her mind in the Lord’s activities. Just by thinking about the Lord’s pastimes one receives perfection and self-realization. Even Lord Siva and Lord Brahma become stunned and perplexed by witnessing the Lord’s childhood pastimes. One day, while performing His pastimes, Krsna’s birthday arrived. On that day He was kept at home, where all the Gopis brought Him butter. They thought, Krsna comes to our homes and steals butter, so today on His birthday, we will feed Him butter with our own hands. The Lord loves butter, which is why when He found out the Gopis have brought butter for Him, He said to them, “Give Me butter.” Then the Gopis said, “Our butter is not free. If You want this butter, You have to dance for it. Only then will You get it.” Krsna then said, “Alright, you please sing and I shall dance.” Thus the Gopis started sweetly singing and Krsna started to dance, but He stopped dancing after just one minute and said, “Give Me some butter.” The Gopis responded, “You can’t get butter for such a short dance. You have to dance longer.” The Lord said, “But I am feeling hungry now, I can’t dance any more right now.” Upon hearing this, the Gopis gave Him a little butter. Seeing such a small amount the Lord said, “This much butter cannot satisfy Me, you have to fill My stomach.” The Gopis said, “If You dance more, You will get more.” So Lord Krsna again started dancing. Just see, Krsna has nine hundred thousand cows at home, but is dancing to get a little butter from the Gopis. The Lord’s hunger is solely for His devotees’ love. The Lord did not crave butter; He craved His devotees’ love and the Gopis’ love was in the form of butter. He even reciprocated that love by dancing for a little butter. The Gopis’ austerity, love, worship and prayers were so great that the Supreme Lord, to whom everyone prays, the Lord of all the Lords, the all pervading all cognizant Supreme controller, forgot His own prowess and danced to pay for their devotional service. Great sages prepare wonderful dishes and offer them to the Lord with mantras, but the Lord does not even come to eat their offerings. If He does come, He does not eat. The Lord who is rarely seen in trance by great yogis secretly entered the homes of the Gopis to steal and eat their butter. Sometimes without any coaxing the Lord dances to enchant the Gopis and then begs them for butter. How wonderful this pastime of Krsna is! It is amazing that Krsna’s devotional service is so powerful that it can control the Supreme Lord in such a way! How glorious are the Vrajavasis, by whose devotion, Krsna remains under their control! Since the day the twin trees in Nanda Maharaja’s courtyard toppled, all the residents of Gokul conferred with each other about how and why the trees fell. There was no whirlwind, cyclone, earthquake or flood, so how did the trees fall? No natural calamity had occurred and the roots of the trees had not rotted, so why did the trees suddenly fall? All the residents, Gopas and Gopis would cordially meet and discuss the surprising event. They were unaware that Yasoda’s son Krsna is God Himself and has unlimited transcendental prowess. God can do anything just by thinking about it. Nothing is impossible for Him. To ascertain why the trees fell and to settle all the gossip, Nanda Maharaja gathered all the leading Vrajavasis and His brothers, Upananda, Mahananda and Sunanda and commenced a meeting on the topic. There, Nanda Maharaja said, “All the villagers say the twin trees that fell in my courtyard is an indication of an upcoming calamity. Please tell me what we can all do to save ourselves from it. Where can we go to be safe?” Everyone assembled responded in unison saying, “Krsna is everything for us. We can even leave Gokul Village which was established by our forefathers for His safety.” After hearing the villagers, Upananda said, “We should leave Gokul and go to reside in Vrindaban. Vrindaban is situated on the right side of the Yamuna’s current and there is an abundance of grass for our cows there. All the bushes, trees, twigs and groves are conducive to our needs.” Following Upananda’s advice, all the Vrajavasis packed all their belongings and took them and Krsna and Balaram to Vrindaban. Once, while living in Vrindaban, Lord Krsna, seeing some cowherd boys taking their cows to pasture for the entire day, said to Mother Yasoda, “I also want to go and graze cows.” Upon Krsna’s excessive insistence and Nanda Maharaja’s advice, Krsna was given calves to graze. Krsna would daily go behind the calves to the banks of the Yamuna to graze them. One day Krsna saw one of His companions playing a flute, thus He also desired to have a flute. Krsna’s belongings are not ordinary, hence His flute is supernatural. After ascetics perform great austerities for many births they may become a stick, ankle bell, or dress of Lord Krsna’s. Similarly the bamboo stick used to make the Lord’s flute must also have performed great austerities. The Lord Himself chose the bamboo stick from the bank of the Yamuna River and constructed the flute from it. When Krsna played His flute, the sound mesmerized Lord Brahma, Lord Siva and all the movable and immovable entities in the three worlds. The scriptures state Krsna’s flute is His main weapon. Once, when Krsna was grazing His calves together with His boy friends, Kamsa sent a demon named Vatsasura in the form of a calf to Vrindaban, who mixed with the herd to kill Him. Kåñëa immediately recognized him to be a demon, grabbed his tail and spun him into a tree, thus killing him. Later, Kamsa sent a demon named Bakasura to kill Krsna, who took the form of a crane who suddenly swallowed Krsna, but no one can kill the unlimited Lord, thus the Lord came out of the crane and the demon died. After this, Kamsa sent a demon named Aghasura to kill Krsna, who took the form of a huge python. This demon laid in the forest with its huge mouth open resembling a cave. Krsna recognized the demon and entered his mouth, leading all His calves and friends in as well. But while Krsna was entering, He got stuck in the demon’s throat, thus the demon choked and died. Seeing the demon dead, all of Krsna’s friends praised Him saying, “How wonderful is our Krsna!” Krsna rewarded liberation to all the demons He killed. This illustrates that whosoever in whatever way thinks of Krsna, He extends His mercy to them. Although Krsna rewarded liberation to all the demons He killed, He is God of everyone. Problems come to those that do not believe they belong to Krsna. No one is alien to Him. Therefore all the Gopis of Vraja would think, “Krsna is mine.” The scriptures state that every human being, in whichever way they can, must establish a connection with Lord Sri Krsna to reach the spiritual world. If one chants the Lord’s names even in the remaining years of their life, he/she will surely receive Krsna’s mercy. Krsna is not of this world. He is supra-mundane. He is the source of the Brahman effulgence, He is Lord of all the Lords and He is God Himself, who appeared to help the materially conditioned souls get liberated from this material world. His motto for appearing in the material world is, “I appear in the world to annihilate the miscreants and give pleasure to My real devotees.” There is no limit to His mercy; when He kills demons He even sends them to His spiritual world to enjoy. For example, the Lord exhibited His mercy to Ravana in His Rama incarnation. After Lord Rama shot Ravana with arrows, he fell to the ground squirming and called to Lord Rama, “O Rama, please come here.” Lord Rama came near Ravana and said, “What is the matter.” Ravana said, “O Rama, even though You have shot me I am truly the victor. My whole life I did not let You enter my kingdom, Sri Lanka, and even after my death it will remain mine, because I sent my younger brother Vibhisana to You and You appointed him king of my kingdom. Thus I have saved the kingdom for the demons. If I hadn’t sent Vibhisana to You ahead of time, today You would be king of Sri Lanka. My diplomacy was not detected by You. Please listen, I am departing before You to Your home, the spiritual world, and You cannot stop me from entering Your residence. O Rama, if You meditate upon all this seriously, You will see victory is mine.” This example clearly illustrates that no one is more generous than Lord Sri Krsna. Ravana tortured the Lord and shot at Him, but in the end the Lord sent him to His eternal abode. Only an unintelligent person would leave such a merciful Lord aside and worship another lord. Serving the Lord and chanting His holy names can at once fulfill all of a person’s desires. As stated in Srimad Bhagavatam: akamah sarva-kamo va moksa-kama udaradhih “If a person has no material desires, has unlimited material desires or only desires liberation, if that person has good intelligence, they should please the Supreme Lord Sri Krsna by executing devotional service sincerely.” There is no need to worship any demigods to fulfill one’s material desires because they are but the Lord’s tenders of universal affairs. Blessings from demigods and demigoddesses sprout material feelings, but if the same blessing is received from the Supreme Lord it brings satisfaction, fulfillment and at the end rewards liberation. Everything can be gotten from the Supreme Lord and anything received from Him is eternal and removes the fever of materialism. The scriptures state those that are not connected to the Supreme Lord are not recognized by Him. Those initiated by a scripturally unauthorized Guru are also not recognized by Him. The scriptures state that only a scripturally authentic Guru can connect a person to the Supreme Lord because he knows the inner meaning and real knowledge of the Supreme Lord. An authentic Guru is born in a pure traditional Brahmana family, learned in the scriptures and is connected to the Supreme Lord through Vaisnava initiation in the unbroken chain of disciplic succession. Such a Guru introduces the disciple to the Supreme Lord. Just as water should be filtered before drinking, similarly before establishing a connection with a Guru, one should first scrutinize his knowledge and birth dynasty and find if he is connected to the Lord in an unbroken chain of disciplic succession. The Lord designates souls that were devotees in their last life by their being born into Brahmana families. After initiation from such a Guru, one should follow His commands. If after initiation a person finds their Guru is not authorized by the ancient scriptures, they should search a scripturally authentic Guru for re-initiation. The power to recognize real devotees comes from one’s previously acquired merits. The scriptures state there are two different unbroken traditions in this world. One is vindu parampara and the other is nada parampara. Vindu parampara is one’s connection to the Supreme Lord through parentage. Children born in unbroken parentage will behave properly and will become real devotees of the Lord. If parentage is flawed, children will not behave properly and may not act theistically. Similarly in the nada parampara, Guru and disciple are connected through an unbroken chain of disciplic succession to the Supreme Lord. The Lord created four Varnas: Brahmana; Ksatriya; Vaisya; and Sudra; and four Ashrams: Brahmachari; Grihastha; Vanaprastha; and Sanyasi in this world and this will not change at any time. Just as there are four blood types (A, B, AB and O) and one type of blood cannot be transfused to a person with another type, similarly according to one’s karma the Lord knows a person’s nature and decides what varna the person should be born into. A person’s nature is not easily changed and has been developed by their previously performed karma. With this in mind, one should establish a connection with a scripturally authentic Guru because he can recognize a person’s nature and engage the disciple accordingly. In other words, at the time of death the Lord recognizes only an authentic disciple. More information regarding Guru and disciple can be found in our book entitled, “Guru Nirnaya Dipika, Who Can Become Guru and Who Cannot.” We are living in the age of Kaliyuga, the age of hypocrisy, when real spiritual life diminishes in quality and quantity. Today, more and more people are posing as spiritualists around the world. Real spiritual knowledge coming down in the disciplic succession from God is very rare and is slowly disappearing from earth. Most spiritualists today are neither initiated by a pure scripturally authentic Guru, nor do they fully believe in the spiritual process. They neither follow the spiritual process rigidly nor chant the holy names of the Lord with faith. They neither worship the Lord in the proper manner nor propagate the proper spiritual procedure. They even preach there is no need to rigidly follow spiritual life even though the scriptures diametrically oppose such statements. Most of the time they neither apply Tilak (a holy mark on the forehead) nor wear neck beads closely fit around their necks. Tilak and neck beads are necessary for every devotee, because no spiritual function can successfully be performed without them. As stated in the Padma Purana: yajna dana tapo homa svadhyaya pitr tarpanam “Without applying the lamp-flame Tilak mark on the forehead no religious or spiritual function can be performed by anyone. Be it performing a sacrifice, giving charity, performing austerity, studying the scriptures, worshipping the deity or offering oblations to the forefathers, because if they are performed without wearing the Tilak mark on the forehead they remain fruitless or award less result.” Even though the Supreme Lord belongs to everyone, everyone cannot obtain Him. The scriptures state that the Lord is obtained by His pure devotees. The Lord Himself states, aham bhakta paradhinah, “I am under the control of My pure devotees.” The destination of those that worship other gods and goddesses is not the same as those that worship the Supreme Lord. As the Lord states in the Bhagavad Gita: yanti deva vrata devan pitrn yanti pitr-vratah “Those who worship the demigods (demigoddesses) reach their planets; those who worship the ancestors, reach the ancestors; those who worship ghosts and evil spirits become ghosts and evil spirits; but those who worship Me reach My spiritual abode.” From an insignificant ant to the highest living entity in the universe (Lord Brahma), everyone is searching for the Lord whether they know it or not, because the Lord is the best thing for everyone. But according to one’s previously acquired merits, one’s degree of understanding about the Lord is revealed. For example, when a person moves from one rented house to another rented house, they gather all their belongings and take them to their new residence. While moving their valuable things, they even pack petty and unwanted things as well. Similarly when a living entity changes from one body to another it also takes its good and bad karma with them. According to one’s behavior in previous lives, they develop a particular inclination and karma, which goes with them (the soul) and causes them to act similarly in this life. For example, when moving from a rented house sometimes a person obtains a better house and sometimes an inferior house, depending on their financial status. Similarly depending on one’s karma, after death a living entity receives a better or lesser body. The body is but a temporary residence for the soul. Due to past karma, today we have a human body, but without proper worship of the Lord, after death one may be awarded a bird’s body, an animal’s body, or be forced to exist as a tree or plant. Everyone hopes to enjoy life, but if destiny forces a person from his/her body, they are helpless to prevent it. A person cannot have peace or happiness as long as he/she does not serve the Lord and chant His holy names. Just as when one constructs their own house on their own property there is no anxiety of being evicted by the landlord, similarly when a person sincerely and seriously engages in chanting and serving the Lord, they become free from the cycle of rebirth and death and gain entrance into the spiritual world. The spiritual world is the eternal home of the soul, where the anxiety of having to change from one body to another does not exist. To properly understand this knowledge one should accept a scripturally authentic Guru, who can be found only by the mercy of the Supreme Lord. When a person performs devotional service under the command of an authentic Spiritual Master their soul definitely feels peace and is happy. A person may wonder how to know if their soul is happy and peaceful? The scriptures state if one feels happy and satisfied after accepting and practicing the scriptural rules, it must be understood that the soul is happy and peaceful. External disturbances remain until one leaves this world, but the material atmosphere has nothing to do with the peace and happiness of the soul. Nanda Maharaja experienced problems from demons in Vrindaban, which caused him to leave Vrindaban, but he was always peaceful and happy. He established a new village named Nandagram, on Nandisvara Hill, and lived there. Thus Krsna would take His calves to graze from there. When Lord Brahma received the news that Krsna had killed Aghasura he thought, “Who is this child? He looks like a small boy, but He is killing many big demons, therefore let me examine Him.” Thus Lord Brahma came near the Lord incognito, stole His friends and calves and hid them in a mountain cave. Then he thought, “Let me see what He does now.” The all-cognizant Lord was aware of what Brahma was going to do, so after Brahma took His friends and calves, Krsna expanded Himself into forms exactly resembling all His friends and calves and started playing with them as usual. After some time Brahma checked back to see Krsna’s reaction to His cows and friends disappearance, only to find Krsna still playing with them there. Surprised by this, Brahma went back to the cave where he had hidden the boys and calves and found them still there. He then returned back to where the Lord was and saw the exactly same looking boys and calves playing with the Lord. This bewildered Brahma. But the Lord was joyfully playing with His friends and calves as though nothing had happened. Then, the Lord, understanding Lord Brahma’s great anxiety, retracted all His forms resembling the boys and calves back into Himself and stood there alone. Then, upon seeing the Lord alone, Brahma came and prayed at the lotus feet of the Lord. Lord Brahma begged pardon from Him and prayed to Him in many ways. Until that day, Brahma had thought Lord Visnu is the Supreme God, but on that day he saw all the boys and calves transform into four armed Visnu forms and then merge into Krsna. It is amazing that such a powerful Lord plays with ordinary cowherd boys as would a normal child. How surprising are the Lord’s pastimes, just see! The Lord who creates food for every living entity is seen begging the Gopis for a little butter. The lotus feet that are massaged by the Goddess of Fortune, walk barefoot on the thorny pebbled ground of Vrindaban. Those lotus feet that are worshipped by great devotees and demigods with great devotion, walk on the hard land of Vrindaban without shoes. Only pure devotees of the Lord understand such amazing pastimes. One day Mother Yasoda said to Krsna, “O Krsna, do not walk barefoot anywhere. Thorns and pebbles may pierce Your feet.” The Lord responded, “O mother, there are no thorns or pebbles in Vraja. If you think there are, they do not touch Me because I do not walk on land.” Then Mother Yasoda asked, “So where do Your feet touch when You walk, in the sky?” Krsna answered, “No mother, I do not walk in the sky. Wherever I place My feet, the hearts of unlimitedly pure devotees lay. My feet fall on the pure hearts of pure devotees. My feet do not touch earth.” Mother Yasoda was influenced by Yogamaya (internal potency of the Lord) and could not understand what Krsna was saying. Even though Krsna spoke the truth, Mother Yasoda disregarded what He said as meaningless child’s talk. Yogamaya did not let Yasoda understand Krsna’s words properly in order to keep His pastimes relishable. Lord Brahma understood that Lord Krsna is under the control of love, which is how Krsna’s devotees control Him, through their unconditional love. After praying to the Lord and returning all His friends and calves, Lord Brahma returned to his abode, Brahmaloka. Lord Krsna then arranged for Lord Balaram to kill two powerful demons sent by Kamsa named Dhenukasura and Pralambasura. Dhenukasura came in the form of a donkey and Pralambasura came as a cowherd boy, and Balaram easily killed both of them. Then Sri Sukadeva Goswami tells Pariksit how Lord Krsna subdues the Kaliya serpent. He states that there is an island on the other side of the ocean named Ramanakadvipa, where Kasyapa’s wife Kadru bore all cobras, who live there. This island is also known as Nagaloka, the abode of cobras. Just as grass is food for a cow, similarly snakes are food for Garuda. Garuda has an eagle like form and is the carrier of Lord Visnu. Garuda would go to Nagaloka to kill and eat cobras, discarding the ones he did not want to eat. Garuda’s behavior caused the cobras misery, so they gathered and pleaded to him saying, “We will send one leading cobra along with your food. You can eat him with your food, so that other cobras do not have to die needlessly.” Garuda agreed to the cobras’ proposal. After some time the Kaliya serpent’s turn came to be sacrificed and he deliver Garuda’s food. Kaliya had one thousand hoods, was very strong, and hence was very proud and arrogant. When he reached Garuda, rather than allow himself to be eaten, Kaliya fought with him. But finding himself not a worthy opponent for Garuda, Kaliya fled to Vrindaban and resided in the same pond where Garuda was cursed by Saubhari Muni not to go. We have already mentioned the curse by Saubhari Muni on Garuda in the previous chapter. Saubhari Muni died, but his curse on Garuda remained. By nature fear resides in everyone’s heart, and everyone acts for self preservation. Kaliya knew of this curse, so for him and his family’s safety, he chose to take them to that lake formed by the Yamuna River. Kaliya was so poisonous that his presence in the lake caused its water to boil. No one could drink or touch that water, and the only things that grew in it were poisonous lotuses. Kamsa knew Krsna is his enemy and He is living in Nanda Maharaja’s house. In a maneuver to kill Krsna, Kamsa sent a message to Nanda to send him one thousand lotuses from that very pond where Kaliya was residing. Upon hearing this news, Nanda became despondent and was informing Yasoda, where Krsna secretly heard the news. Although the Supreme Lord is all-cognizant and knows everything in everyone’s heart, he also secretly listens to everything as a pastime. Just to remove Nanda Maharaja and Yasoda’s anxiety, and to surprise Kamsa, the Lord decided to remedy the problem. So He took His cows to graze near that pond with His cowherd friends. There He climbed on a Kadamba tree (a tree with ball shaped, fragrant flowers) and jumped into the pond. Upon seeing Krsna jump into the poisonous water, His friends ran to tell the residents of Vrindaban, who then all hurried to that place in grief. Kaliya, hearing the splash, was offended that someone dared come to where he was living, and went to confront the intruder. He was very proud and arrogant because he was the brother of Vasuki, the king of all cobras. So without care of repercussion from anyone, he started fighting with Krsna. Kaliya attacked Krsna in every way, but Krsna overpowered him and climbed upon his hoods. Kaliya then emerged from the water carrying Krsna. Then, Krsna began stomping on his hoods in a style of a dance. Due to the immense pressure from Krsna’s feet, Kaliya started vomiting blood from all of his one thousand mouths. The dancing punished Kaliya, thus humbling him. Kaliya had many wives who begged Krsna for their husband’s life, which is why Krsna did not kill Kaliya, but ordered him out of Vrindaban and told him to go back and live at Ramanakadvipa. After Kaliya departed from the Yamuna, its waters again became pure and thus living entities started using it again. Just as Kaliya was humbled after being kicked by the Lord, similarly proud arrogant people surrender to the Lord after being kicked with material problems. Eating meat, taking intoxication, as well as doing other unwanted activities, prevents a person from understanding the philosophy of the Supreme Lord. But when the Supreme Lord kicks a person with material problems, he/she either surrenders to Him and rectifies their bad habits or gets beaten down to a shadow of their former self. The intelligent and wise sincerely surrender to the Lord with heart and mind before getting subdued by material nature. Kaliya did not chant Krsna’s names nor was he inclined to perform devotional service to Him, therefore the Lord stomped each of his one thousand hoods. Just as only after being beaten did Kaliya find room in his heart for the Lord, similarly only after the wicked experience many troubles do they begin to develop a devotional attitude towards the Lord. Kaliya prayed to the Lord, “O Lord, starting today I will chant Your holy names. From today You are my caretaker and in charge of me. I was drowning in a pool of illusion until today. I had thought my family, wealth, strength and youth would help me, but today I have come to understand that everything I possess is temporary and useless. Taking Your shelter is the only remedy and goal for the soul.” Ordinarily less intelligent people must experience trouble to wake from the material illusion that they are their body and thus identify with their material interests, in order to adopt the devotional path. When they do, all their problems are solved by the Lord. While Krsna was driving Kaliya from the Yamuna the sky had became dark, so He said to the Vrajavasis present, “Let us spend this night here.” Everyone agreed and they stayed on the bank of the Yamuna that night with Krsna. When Kamsa’s assistants saw Krsna and other Vrajavasis sleeping on the bank of the Yamuna, they surrounded them with dry wood and set it afire. The fire was very big and hot and woke the Vrajavasis. Thus they became anxious and took shelter of Lord Krsna saying, “O Krsna, we are trapped in the midst of this big fire, please save us.” The Lord then said, “You all please close your eyes.” As soon as the Vrajavasis closed their eyes, the Lord swallowed the entire fire. Such is the mercy of the Lord. He is always ready in every circumstance to protect His sincere devotees. Everyone in Vraja is attracted to Lord Krsna. There were some Gopis in Vraja who were not yet married and wanted Krsna as their husband. They had heard that by worshipping the Goddess Katyayani their desires would surely be fulfilled. Therefore they took a vow to perform the Katyayani fast in the month of Kartika (October-November) to get Krsna as their husband. They would rise at four o’clock in the morning, gather together and proceed to the Yamuna singing Krsna’s glories. There they would bathe, then worship Katyayani following the proper rules of worship. The scriptures state a person should not be criticized if they worship a demigod or demigoddess to get Krsna. The same scripture states if the desired goal is achieved, the demigod or demigoddess’ worship must then be stopped. The Gopis performed the Katyayani fast for one whole month, after which Katyayani appeared to them and blessed them to have their desire fulfilled. When the Gopis bathed during their fast, they would put their clothes under a Kadamba tree and bathe without clothes in the Yamuna. On the last day of their fast, while bathing, Lord Krsna quietly stole their clothes. He hung them on branches of the same Kadamba tree and while sitting upon a branch, He began playing His flute. Seeing this act by Krsna, the Gopis requested their clothes from Him. The Lord responded, “You should all come to Me one by one and retrieve your respective clothes.” The Gopis were ashamed of this situation, but they didn’t get angry or complain because they all wanted Krsna as their husband. Morally only the husband should see his wife naked, hence the Gopis understood, “Today our vow is fulfilled.” With this in mind, all the Gopis went to Krsna to get their clothes. The Lord told the Gopis, “You have bathed without clothes in the Yamuna, therefore you have offended Varuna, the Watergod. To eliminate this offense, you must pay your homage to Me with folded hands. After you pay homage unto Me, all your offenses will be forgiven.” The Gopis paid their obeisance. Seeing their unalloyed love for Him, Krsna became pleased with their vow and blessed them in the following way: yatavala vrajam siddha mayema ramsyatha ksapah ”O Gopis, now you all go to your homes because your vow of fasting has been completed properly. Whatever desire you had while observing the Katyayani fast will be fulfilled by Me in the coming full moon night of Sarat Purnima. On that night you will all enjoy My company.” Sri Sukadeva Goswami continued: Once Lord Krsna grazed His cows heading in the direction of Mathura. On that day His friends felt very hungry and told Him, “O Krsna, O Balaram, we are very hungry, please arrange something for us to eat. None of us have brought anything with us to eat today. What should we eat? We are unable to walk due to this intense hunger.” Lord Krsna said, “Just nearby Brahmanas are performing a sacrifice and a rule of sacrifice is that food must be distributed. If there is no food distributed at a sacrifice it bears the opposite result. Therefore please go to the sacrificial arena and ask for food in My name. Just by hearing My name and My brother, Balaram’s name, you will surely receive food.” When the cowherd boys reached near the sacrifice they heard, “krsnaya svaha, baladevaya svaha etc.” (chanting performed during a sacrifice), which surprised the boys, making them think the Brahmanas were worshipping their Krsna and Balaram. This boosted their confidence that they would surely receive food. Upon reaching the arena the boys said, “O Brahmanas, that Krsna you are now worshipping is just nearby with His brother Balaram. They are very hungry, please give us some food to take to Them to eat.” Here the boys are asking food for Krsna and Balaram because they are not authorized to accept charity themselves. The Brahmanas were totally indifferent to the boys’ plea. Even though the cowherd boys begged three times, they did not even look at them. The boys then reached Krsna and said, “Krsna, the Brahmanas were offering oblations into the fire in Your name, but when we asked for food in Your name they did not give us anything.” Lord Krsna said, “You made a mistake, you should not have gone to the Brahmanas, you were supposed to go to their wives.” Usually when a person becomes hungry they go to their mother, because mothers have softer hearts and cannot tolerate another’s physical difficulty. Krsna further said, “It does not matter that you did not receive food by going only once. You go there again, but this time reach the Brahmanas’ wives and you will surely receive food.” Then the cowherd boys reached the Brahmanas’ wives and after paying their respects to them said, “We have come a long way and Lord Krsna and Balaram are nearby. They are very hungry and have sent us to you to ask for some food.” After hearing only this much, all the Brahmanas’ wives took whatever they had prepared for Lord Brahma, Lord Siva, Lord Indra, Lord Varuna and other demigods for the sacrifice and proceeded immediately towards Krsna. When the Brahmanas saw their wives leaving without their permission, they called them by name, but none of them heeded their call. They did not stop because they thought if they did that might become an obstacle in seeing and serving Krsna. When the Brahmanas found their wives not paying attention to their calls, they personally went to stop them. But their wives said, “From today Krsna is our husband.” Hearing this the Brahmanas said, “When you return we won’t let you enter the house.” Hearing this the wives said, “We will not come back to you because we are going to the one from whom no one returns. To whom we are now going, there is shelter for every living entity at His feet.” After reaching Krsna all the wives paid homage to the Lord and fed everyone there. After they finished their service, the wives wanted to stay near the Lord, but He told them, “You all return to your homes.” Upon hearing such words from Krsna, the Brahmanas’ wives became very unhappy and prayed to the Lord. After hearing their prayers the Lord said, “You please chant My names in your homes, think of Me, serve and worship My deity form, and I will meet you again.” The Brahmanas’ wives then said, “We have come to You after relinquishing our husbands, now we do not have any home.” Then the Lord said, “When you return home you will be respected even more then ever before.” After their wives left, the Brahmanas had condemned themselves saying they had an opportunity to serve the Lord, but were too consumed with the ritualistic rules of the sacrifice to see the opportunity. They regretted they could not use their human birth to serve the Lord and condemned their high birth and Vedic knowledge because it did not take them near the Lord. The Srimad Bhagavatam states their regret thus: dhig janma nas-trivrd vidyam dhig vratam dhig bahujnatam “Shame to our threefold births (pure parentage, sacred thread ceremony and perfect knowledge of the scriptures), shame to our knowledge, shame to our austerities, shame to our vast learning, shame to our high class dynasty, shame to our expertly performing ritualistic ceremonies, because we remained disinclined towards serving the infallible Lord.” The Brahmanas continued, aho pasyata nsrinsam api krsne jagat-gurau “Oh, how surprising it is that even the females have developed unflinching devotion to Lord Krsna, who is the Spiritual Master of the entire universe! That enables them to sever the strong attachment to household life that binds one to this mortal world.” The Brahmanas were deceived from serving the Lord by their ritualistic attitude. Thus, they felt great regret because they could have served the Lord the offerings prepared by their wives, rather than forgo the opportunity. If a person’s hard-earned money is used in the Lord’s or His pure devotee’s service, his/her heart softens towards devotional life. The scriptures state that charity should only be given to a correct authentic candidate, authorized to accept charity. And items given should be unused and functional, otherwise merits may not be received from the charity. Whenever Krsna would leave the village to follow behind the cows to graze, the Gopis would feel a moment of that separation to pass like a thousand years or more. As long as the senses do not acquire a taste for spiritual things they give trouble. The nature of the senses is that they only desire material things and material pleasures. The demands of the senses are so great that no demigods or demigoddesses could ever fulfill them, hence no human could ever fulfill the demands of his/her senses. But if a person becomes a serious devotee of the Supreme Lord, He fulfills all the desires of that person at once; hence a serious devotee is always seen peaceful, happy and fully satisfied. In other words, when one becomes seriously dedicated to Lord Govinda, the hankering for sense pleasure ceases. The Supreme Lord is unlimitedly beautiful, unlimitedly attractive, unlimitedly sweet, unlimitedly relishable, and He has extraordinary taste, which is why serious devotees’ senses always remain satisfied. While performing His pastimes to please the Vrajavasis, Krsna noticed that Nanda Maharaja and other leading Vrajavasis were making arrangements for a festival, so He asked Nanda Maharaja, “What festival are all these arrangements being made for today? What is the benefit of observing this festival? And for whom is this festival meant for?” After being asked repeatedly by Krsna, Nanda Maharaja said, “This festival is the annual worship of Lord Indra, the King of Heaven. There will be a fire sacrifice and a big offering of many kinds of preparations for Indra to eat. With this he becomes pleased, and pours sufficient and timely rain.” The Lord is all-cognizant and knew that Indra had become very proud and he needed to be reformed, which is why He convinced Nanda Maharaja not to perform the Indra worship. The Lord said, “Indra cannot give life to anybody. How long one has to live on earth depends only on their karma. Every living entity takes birth and dies according to its previously performed karma. Everyone’s suffering and pleasure also depends on their previous karma. Whatever type of activities and attitude a person harbored in their previous life, that kind of experience they will have while living this life. Whatever activities one performs in this life are deposited to be withdrawn in the next life, which is why sometimes sinners are seen enjoying and pious people are seen suffering. This is all due to their previously performed karma only. Impious people seen presently enjoying life had performed many pious deeds in their previous life, but will suffer in their next life. Their suffering is waiting to embrace and welcome them. Whereas pious people seen experiencing problems and miseries in life had performed misdeeds in their past life, but will enjoy in heaven in their next life. One’s performed karma does not leave anyone at any time or change in any way. It follows them wherever they take birth unless they become sincere devotees.” The Lord states in Srimad Bhagavatam: dehan-uccavacan-jantuh prapyotsrjati karmana “Only due to karma does a living entity accept a lower or higher birth and die. Only due to karma does a living entity become an enemy, friend, or indifferent to others. Therefore, karma is foremost for and the controller of the living entity.” The Lord continued, “Therefore one must very carefully perform actions to correct their karma. Worshipping demigods or demigoddesses should not be a person’s goal, because they themselves are under the control of their own karma. How can someone under the control of their karma reward anything to others? Therefore everyone should only worship the Supreme Lord because only He can reward anything to anyone or take anything away from anyone.” The Lord told Nanda Maharaja that everything that was prepared for worshipping Indra should be used to worship Govardhana Hill. It should be understood here that the Lord is not telling the Vrajavasis to worship a hill; He is urging them to worship Him in the name of worshipping the Hill. Krsna is the Supreme Lord and God of all the gods. At this point, even though Krsna was with the Vrajavasis as a child, He also expanded into a gigantic form and entered into Govardhana Hill, exhibiting His head and arms at the top of the hill and said, “O Vrajavasis, please come and worship Me and feed Me all your preparations.” As stated in Srimad Bhagavatam: krsnas tvanyatamam rupam gopa-visrambhanam gatah “Just to establish firm faith in the Vrajavasis’ hearts, Lord Krsna assumed another unprecedented, huge form appearing on the top of Govardhana Hill and said, ‘I am Govardhana Hill,’ and ate the abundance of food offered to Him there.” When Indra found that the Vrajavasis had relinquished his worship, and followed a child’s advice to worship a hill, he became very angry at them. Indra thought, “Because of me only do all the inhabitants of Vraja live happily. Now I shall see if this small boy can protect them?” He then started pouring the same torrential rain that falls at the time of the inundation of the world. The Vrajavasis became very anxious from the excessive rain, hail and tornadoes, and thus took shelter of Lord Sri Krsna. Heeding the cry of His devotees, the Lord lifted Govardhana Hill with one hand like a child lifts a mushroom from the ground. The Lord then told the Vrajavasis, “Gather all the cows and please come under the hill for protection.” All the Vrajavasis and cows took shelter under the hill and were relieved from Indra’s wrath. Sri Sukadeva Goswami states: krsna-yoganubhavam tam nisamyendro ’ti-vismitah “Indra became very surprised by observing Lord Krsna’s mystic power. His plan to destroy Vraja was thwarted and he was stripped of pride. Indra then ordered his clouds to terminate the rain immediately.” Indra came down from heaven and caught hold of the Lord’s lotus feet and begged pardon. Lord Krsna forgave him and sent him away. Yogamaya had concealed Indra’s taking shelter and begging pardon from the Lord from everyone present. The Lord’s stopping Indra’s worship clearly illustrates that He does not want anyone to worship demigods. Then Sri Sukadeva Goswami speaks about the Lord’s Rasalila pastime (romantic dance), saying that this particular pastime is the most extraordinary. Anyone that thinks the Lord’s Rasalila is like the sensual dance of ordinary men and women will surely become degraded. The Gopis of Vraja have unwavering attraction and ever increasing love for the Lord. One symptom of love is, it does not remain steady, it increases or decreases daily. Unlike the ever-increasing love the Gopis had for Krsna, the love or attraction between ordinary men and women is material and diminishes in due course of time and becomes inert. Therefore the scriptures state that the relationship between a man and woman is not called love, but is called lust or illusion. This is the real difference between love and lust. If a person develops love for someone they always hanker to see them, as the Gopis of Vraja did for Krsna. They had intense, ever-increasing love for Lord Krsna. The Gopis that came to Krsna in Vraja were all the most spiritually advanced souls and they related to Him in four different ways. Some Gopis related to Krsna in the mood of parenthood, loving Him as their child; others related to Him in the conjugal mood; others were unmarried and wanted Krsna as their husband; and married Gopis wanted Krsna as their paramour. At this time Krsna only looked eight years old, but is always fully independent and goes where He likes, whereas the Gopis were looked after and lived a structured life. Hence they were only able to meet with Krsna three ways, while going to fetch water from the Yamuna; when going out to discard things; and when they would go out to sell yogurt and butter. Whenever the Gopis saw Krsna they desired to listen to His sweet words and would try to touch Him. Although the Gopis performed their household duties properly, their minds were constantly engaged in thinking about Krsna. Lord Krsna’s form is so attractive that as soon as any Gopi saw Him, they became overwhelmingly attracted to Him. Sometimes Gopis would faint and fall to the ground from their yearning desire for Krsna. If someone delivered news that a Gopi fell unconscious, Krsna would run to her and whisper in her ear, “In the coming full moon night of Sarat Purnima (September-October) you will enjoy in a romantic dance with Me.” Upon hearing this, the Gopi would at once regain consciousness. The word spread, and everyone in the village came to know that Krsna is a mystic and has perfected mantras, so whenever any Gopi fell unconscious, Krsna would whisper the same mantra in her ear and revive her. Everyone in the village talked about it. An old lady lived in the village who thought, “I want to know what mantra Krsna whispers in our daughter-in-laws’ ears that immediately wakes them from an unconscious state. Let me devise a plan.” Thus the old lady faked an unconscious state and told her daughter-in-law to call Krsna. The young Gopi ran to Krsna and said, “O dear one, my mother-in-law has fainted, please come and whisper Your mantra in her ear.” Lord Krsna said, “My mantra does not work on a female with gray hair.” It indicates that Krsna only blesses His serious, sincere devotee. Just as Krsna did not come to the old lady because she had pretended to faint, similarly Krsna does not favor hypocrites or showboat devotees. Sri Sukadeva Goswami continued: Lord Sri Krsna now desires to destroy Kamadeva’s (lust personified) pride. Thus He placed His flute to His lips and played. The sound reached Sivaloka, Lord Siva’s abode; Brahmaloka, Lord Brahma’s abode; and the subterranean planets. All the demigods, demigoddesses, Lord Brahma, Lord Siva, Bali Maharaja, and the Seña Serpent who holds the universe on his hoods became restless to be near the Lord. In other words, the sound of Krsna’s flute mesmerized everyone in the universe and attracted everyone from the three worlds towards Him. The Lord wants to defeat Kamadeva this day, which is why He appeared as Madana Mohana, standing, bent in three places (neck bent to the left, hip bent to the right and legs bent to the left) and playing His flute under a banyan tree on the bank of the Yamuna River. The Gopis of Vraja were of the highest caliber, which is why they were able to approach the Lord. But the demigods and demigoddesses could not go near Him because they do not have enough purity in their hearts, therefore they saw Krsna from the sky while sitting on their celestial aircraft. Almost all of the Gopis that approached Lord Krsna were married; only the Gopis who had performed the Katyayani fast were unmarried. When Krsna played His flute, some of the Gopis were serving supper to their husbands, some were nursing their children, some were decorating themselves, while others were doing household duties. But as soon as they heard the sound from Krsna’s flute, they immediately abandoned what they were doing and ran towards Krsna, not caring how they looked. In material life, before a woman goes to meet her paramour she decorates herself to captivate him, but the Gopis weren’t concerned with that; they reached Krsna as they were. People of this world fly on the plane of lusty desires that takes them to sense gratification, whereas the Gopis flew on the plane of love of Godhead and flew to the Supreme Lord. Lusty people neither chant the Lord’s holy names nor have any desire to reach the Supreme Lord; they ride the plane of uncontrollable desires and go to a fantasyland, oblivious to life’s real plight. When the Gopis reached Lord Krsna, first He welcomed them and then asked, “What can I do for you. How come so many of you have come here all at once? Has any trouble fallen upon you? Because Vrajavasis only surrender unto Me at the time of trouble.” Hearing such words from the Lord the Gopis remained silent; they did not respond in any way. Seeing their silence the Lord spoke, “It seems to Me that you have an ulterior motive.” Then the Gopis said, “We have come to take shelter at Your lotus feet, You can use us anyway You wish.” After this the Lord embraced the Gopis and started performing His Rasa dance with them. Sri Sukadeva Goswami states that the Lord’s Rasalila is not like an ordinary dance of this world. It is the dance of the Supreme Lord who appeared in Sri Vrindaban Dham. This Rasalila cannot be performed by Dwarakadhisa (a name for Lord Krsna when He was ruling in Dwaraka) of Dwaraka, Lord Visnu of Vaikuntha (the spiritual world) or Lord Rama of Ayodhya, because they do not possess the mood to perform Rasalila. Lord Krsna of Vrindaban alone possesses the conjugal mood required to perform Rasalila. Only devotees blessed by Srimati Radharani can fully understand Rasalila. Therefore one must become a serious devotee to be blessed by Srimati Radharani to gain the spiritual insight to understand Lord Krsna’s Rasalila. Srila Sridhara Swami explains the meaning of Rasalila thus, eko nartaka bahu-nartaki viseso rasah, “Where one male dancer dances with a multitude of female dancers at once and each female feels that the male dancer is only dancing with her, such a special dance is called Rasalila.” Lord Krsna expanded into as many exact Krsna forms as there were Gopis and danced with each individually. Rasalila is the Lord’s topmost pastime in this world, which is why Srimati Radharani’s blessings are required to properly understand it. Rasalila is the Lord’s transcendental love dance where He exhibits His own personal behavior. Just by hearing about Rasalila, Lord Brahma, Lord Siva and many great sages were stunned and praised it with great amazement. There is no vulgarism or prurience of any kind in the Lord’s Rasalila. Once Kamadeva became very proud and thought, “I have defeated Lord Brahma by making him shamelessly run behind his own daughter, Sarasvati, to satisfy his desire. I also defeated Lord Siva because he was humiliated when the Lord appeared as Mohinimurti. Now the only person left for me to defeat is Visnu. If somehow Visnu is taken in by my scheme, He will have great difficulty freeing Himself from my control. And if I control Visnu, then all of His devotees will also be under my control.” With this scheme in mind, Kamadeva reached the Lord and said, “I have come here to fight with You. If You have the ability to fight with me, then let’s fight now, or else give up Your position.” To this the Lord said, “I shall certainly show you My prowess, but not now. If we fight now, no one will know about our fight. There are only the two of us here. If by chance you defeated Me, how would anyone know of your victory? This is no battlefield for us. We need an audience and the proper atmosphere and resources. Without everything properly arranged our encounter wouldn’t be right, which is why I say fighting now is not suitable. You please wait for some time. I shall personally arrange a field for you from which you will have the best advantage fighting with Me. I shall appear at the end of Dvaparayuga, and meet you at night on the bank of the Yamuna. At that time there will be one billion young females with Me and our fight can commence. Kamadeva agreed to the Lord’s proposal and waited for the agreed upon time to arrive. The Supreme Lord is performing this Rasalila to please His devotees and destroy Kamadeva’s pride. There were one billion Gopis with Lord Krsna to romantically dance with Him. In the dead of night the Lord embraced the Gopis, kissed them passionately, and holding their hands in His, He danced with them, but did not become captivated or attached to them in any way. Meaning, the Lord did not become disturbed lustfully in any way. Even in this situation not a hint of Kamadeva’s influence affected Krsna, and thus the Lord defeated him. When the Gopis were dancing, holding Krsna’s hands in theirs’, they became proud of achieving such a paramount fortune and each thought, “How glorious and great my fortune is! The Supreme Lord is personally holding my hands! Not only this, He is embracing and kissing me as well. Oh, how lucky I am!” When such pride entered the Gopis’ hearts, Lord Krsna immediately disappeared. Lord Krsna does not want anyone or anything besides Him in His devotee’s hearts, which is why He disappeared from the Gopis. After Kåñëa disappeared from the Gopis’ sight they searched all over the forest for Him like they were mad. Sri Sukadeva Goswami states: | |
