sva-dehaṁ jamadagnis tu
labdhvā saṁjñāna-lakṣaṇam
ṛṣīṇāṁ maṇḍale so 'bhūt
saptamo rāma-pūjitaḥ
sva-deham — his own body;
jamadagniḥ — the great sage Jamadagni;
tu — but;
labdhvā — regaining;
saṁjñāna-lakṣaṇam — showing full symptoms of life, knowledge and remembrance;
ṛṣīṇām — of the great ṛṣis;
maṇḍale — in the group of seven stars;
saḥ — he, Jamadagni;
abhūt — later became;
saptamaḥ — the seventh;
rāma-pūjitaḥ — because of being worshiped by Lord Paraśurāma.
Translation by Śrīla Prabhupāda
Thus Jamadagni, being worshiped by Lord Paraśurāma, was brought back to life with full remembrance, and he became one of the seven sages in the group of seven stars.
Purport by Śrīla Prabhupāda
The seven stars revolving around the polestar at the zenith are called saptarṣi-maṇḍala. On these seven stars, which form the topmost part of our planetary system, reside seven sages: Kaśyapa, Atri, Vasiṣṭha, Viśvāmitra, Gautama, Jamadagni and Bharadvāja.
These seven stars are seen every night, and they each make a complete orbit around the polestar within twenty-four hours. Along with these seven stars, all the other stars also orbit from east to west. The upper portion of the universe is called the north, and the lower portion is called the south. Even in our ordinary dealings, while studying a map, we regard the upper portion of the map as north.
I’ll speak in English. I don’t know how far I will be successful. I feel my weakness because of my language.
All right, this is a philosophical discussion. In this verse:
“Thus Jamadagni, being worshiped by Lord Paraśurāma, was brought back to life with full remembrance, and he became one of the seven sages in the group of seven stars, saptarṣi-maṇḍala.”
In the purport, Śrīla Prabhupāda says:
“The seven stars revolving around the polestar at the zenith are called saptarṣi-maṇḍala. On these seven stars, which form the topmost part of our planetary system, reside seven sages: Kaśyapa, Atri, Vasiṣṭha, Viśvāmitra, Gautama, Jamadagni and Bharadvāja. These seven stars are seen every night.”
Though they are in the sky, they are covered up by the sunshine; we cannot see them. And, “they each make a complete orbit around the polestar within twenty-four hours. Along with these seven stars, all the other stars also orbit from east to west. The upper portion of the universe is called the north, and the lower portion is called the south. Even in our ordinary dealings, while studying a map, we regard the upper portion of the map as north.”
The question here... there’s nothing here. What is it? It is stars. There is nothing. Is there anything here? Nothing. And Jamadagni got a place there. That is the only thing here.
The only thing that Śrīla Prabhupāda talks about in this purport is stars. But still, a question arises: Every night the seven stars can be seen. They all orbit around the polestar, Dhruva. They are not seen in the daytime because in the daytime there is sunshine. They are only seen in the darkness.
There is a philosophical point here: some persons want darkness. For those who only want to see the polestar — always looking at the polestar, the brightest star, only looking at it — the sunshine is an obstacle, a hindrance for them.
What is the message of the Bhāgavatam? In the Bhāgavatam you’ll find that every man, every jīva, wants happiness because he is unhappy, distressed.
It is not a fact that he never gets any happiness. He gets some little happiness sometimes — very little, temporary, fleeting happiness — but he is not satisfied with it. He wants, in his heart, constant, unbroken happiness in which there is no mixture of unhappiness. He wants constant, unbroken happiness — unmixed happiness.
What is the name of that happiness, or what is the name of that ānanda?
Paramānanda.
Brahmānanda.
So knowingly or unknowingly, what a person wants — he wants that brahma-vastu, para-brahma, Bhagavān. He is searching for Him. Some may be searching directly, a few may be searching indirectly. But man, here in this material world — the conditioned jīva, or conditioned person — doesn’t know the path to search for Him.
Therefore, all Vedic literatures have shown the path. Vedic ācāryas have shown the path — that the constant, eternal ānanda-ghana-vastu is Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa. The śāstras have shown the path, and the ācāryas have shown that the path is sat-cit-ānanda-ghana-vastu, Kṛṣṇa.
If you engage in His bhajana, śāstras say, ācāryas say, you will get eternal happiness, blissfulness and peacefulness — if you can get Him.
One who is fortunate can understand this, and if he engages himself constantly in bhāgavata-bhajana, following the instructions of sādhu-śāstra-guru, following in the footsteps of the mahājanas — if he gets Him, he will have constant blissfulness and peacefulness.
But those who are ill-fated, they don’t know how to do bhajana. They are all floating in this dreadful ocean of materialistic existence and have been suffering, suffering, suffering. The material world is filled with them.
Therefore, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam has appeared here in this material world upon the advent of Kali-yuga. And the Bhāgavata carries to us a completely new message for the jīvas of Kali-yuga.
All śāstras have said: do Bhāgavata-bhajana. But the Bhāgavatam not only says that — Bhāgavata says something more than that.
What is that?
Besides bhāgavata-bhajana, the Bhāgavata says something more. What is that?
Bhāgavata says:
“Hey, jīva! You have no ability to do bhajana. You have no qualification at all to call Him. You listen to Me.”
Bhāgavata says:
“Stay. Open your ears! Listen. You listen silently. How will you call Him? You listen to how He is calling you!”
Understand me? Not understanding? Deaf?
“Listen to how He is calling you!” Bhāgavata says this — how His heart is splitting for you! You are not crying for Him — He is crying for you! You listen to this.
He is calling you — Muralīdhara Kṛṣṇa is calling you. The deity of the Bhāgavata is Muralīdhara Kṛṣṇa.
Look at Him holding His flute and calling you:
“Come to Me. Come to Me. Come to Me. Come to Me!”
Are you listening? Have you ears? Are you listening?
Sarva-bhūta-manoharam.
You cannot call Him — therefore He is calling you.
You cannot go to Him — therefore He comes to you. He comes down here to this material world to you!
Therefore, holding a flute — mohanā-vāṁsuriyā — He is calling you.
This is the most wonderful message of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
Bhāgavata says:
“Who am I?”
Nigama-kalpa-taror-galita-phala — “I am nigama-kalpa-taror-galita-phala, I am the most ripened, sweetest, nectarean, juicy fruit of the Vedic tree. I am Bhāgavata.”
So the Bhāgavata has appeared here, and Muralīdhara Kṛṣṇa, leaving His Goloka Vṛndāvana, has come down here to the Gokula of Vrajabhūmi on the bank of the Yamunā, Kālindī.
This message fills all the pages of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, bābā.
Find out this message. It is also here, on this page.
You can’t find it?
“Where is it? Where is it? Where is it? Only star and polestar, seven stars — nothing else. Where is this message here?”
Blind man, you cannot see it.
Blind man cannot see it.
In every page, this message is throughout Bhāgavatam:
kaṁ vā dayāluṁ śaraṇaṁ vrajema — Bhāgavata (3.2.23) says this thing.
It speaks through all Vedic literatures of the world: Who is such a supremely merciful Lord?
The demoness Pūtanā came, smearing a very dreadful poison on her breast to kill baby Kṛṣṇa. She had such an ill motive. But Kṛṣṇa is so merciful.
Aho bakeyaṁ stana-kāla-kūṭaṁ
jighāṁsayāpāyayad apy asādhvī
lebhe gatiṁ dhātry-ucitāṁ tato ’nyaṁ
kaṁ vā dayāluṁ śaraṇaṁ vrajema
(SB 3.2.23)
Yes, read it.
“Alas, how shall I take shelter of one more merciful than He who granted the position of mother to a she-demon [Pūtanā], although she was unfaithful and she prepared deadly poison to be sucked from her breast?”
So merciful is Kṛṣṇa. He gave her the position of mother. So merciful!
So, except to Him, to whom shall we surrender?
Therefore, you will never find — in any country, in any grantha, in any śāstra, at any time — such a merciful Lord as Kṛṣṇa.
This is the message of Śrīmad-Bhāgavata.
Man wants Bhagavān, but the message of the Bhāgavata is that Bhagavān wants man.
The bhakta is crying for Bhagavān, but much sweeter and more beautiful than this — Bhagavān is crying for the bhakta.
Baby Kṛṣṇa is crying to suck the breast of Mā Yāśodā, mother Yāśodā.
You see how Kṛṣṇa is crying.
Kṛṣṇa in His boyhood pastimes — how He is running, wandering in the jungles of Vṛndāvana, searching for His dear calves. Holding His mohana-muralī, how He is calling the damsels of Vrajabhūmi — gopī-jana-vallabha.
This is the message of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Bhagavān is crying for bhakta. Yes.
Bhakta is crying for Bhagavān, but Bhagavān’s crying is more than the bhakta’s crying.
To speak this, Kṛṣṇa sends Uddhava to Vrajabhūmi.
This is such a sweet and loving message. This is Uddhava-sandeśa.
Uddhava is a very dear devotee of Kṛṣṇa.
na tathā me priyatamā
ātma-yonir na śaṅkaraḥ
na ca saṅkarṣaṇo na śrīr
naivātmā ca yathā bhavān
(SB 11.14.15)
“Uddhava, you are so dear to Me. Ātma-yonir, Brahmā, is not so dear to Me. Śaṅkara is not so dear to Me. My brother, Saṅkarṣaṇa, is not so dear to Me. My wife, Lakṣmī, is not so dear to Me. My ātma, Myself, is not so dear to Me — as you are dear.”
So He called Uddhava, caught hold of his hand, and sent him:
Gacchoddhava Vrajabhūmi!
“Go! Go to Vrajabhūmi!”
Why?
To carry this message of love.
The devotees in Vrajabhūmi — the vrajavāsīs, His father and mother Nanda and Yāśodā, the damsels of Vrajabhūmi, the gopīs — they are feeling the acute pang of separation from Kṛṣṇa.
Tenth Canto, 46th chapter, 3rd verse.
“Uddhava, go to Vrajabhūmi. Going there, deliver this message of love of Mine to My father, Nanda Mahārāja, and to My mother, Vrajeśvarī Yaśodā-mātā. Console them. They are crying, they are crying, they are crying. They are burning in the fire of separation, burning, burning. Please extinguish this burning fire, soothe them.”
Then He says:
gopīnāṁ mad-viyogādhiṁ
mat-sandeśair vimocaya
Then He speaks about the gopīs: “They have also been burning in the fire, blazing fire of separation, that is due to mad-viyoga, separation from Me. So, mat-sandeśair vimocaya — please carry this message of love. Deliver it to them, soothe them, console them. As they are crying for Me, similarly I am crying for them also. This is reciprocal. It is not one-sided. This is the message. And this message will be a soothing balm for them. I hope so. So, carry this. Go there.”
Kṛṣṇa Himself is speaking about the gopīs, how they have developed pure love for Him. He Himself says:
tā man-manaskā tṛṣṭa-prāṇā
mad-arthe tyakta-dehikāḥ
mām eva dayitaṁ preṣṭham
ātmānaṁ manasā gatāḥ
Tenth Canto, 46th chapter, Kṛṣṇa says.
In the Gītā, Kṛṣṇa says:
man-manā bhava mad-bhakto
mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru
Where is the example? Who are man-manaskā? Here He gives the example: tā man-manaskā — the gopīs. Constantly, day and night, twenty-four hours thinking of Kṛṣṇa. No other thought is there. And such persons are not available, devotees are not available freely, abundantly in this material world. They are durlabha. Sudurlabhā bhāgavatā hi loke — very, very rare personalities. So they are man-manā-bhakta.
“They are crying, they are burning in the fire of separation. Go there and console them.”
So Uddhava came. Uddhava is a jñānī-bhakta, not premī-bhakta. He’s a jñānī-bhakta. He is a disciple of Bṛhaspati, who is a jñāna-guru, a paṇḍita. Uddhava is a jñānī, śāstra-jña-paṇḍita, he knows śāstra. He’s a paṇḍita, a scholar, and at the same time he is a devotee — jñāna-miśra-bhakti, devotion mixed with jñāna. It is not pure bhakti.
By sending him to Vrajabhūmi, now he will develop pure bhakti. When he comes in contact with Nanda Mahārāja, Yaśodā, and the gopīs, especially Rādhā, then he will understand, then he will feel himself ashamed, and his pride as a great paṇḍita will be crushed and he’ll admit, “Yes, my pride is crushed.” Then he will cry and beg for the dust of the lotus feet of the vraja-gopīs. “If I can get that dust, then my life will be successful. Otherwise my life is useless.” So this gain he will get. This is the good done to him.
When Uddhava came to Vrajabhūmi he was thinking of Nanda Mahārāja, because very often Kṛṣṇa was speaking of Nanda Mahārāja, His dear father. He had marked it.
When Uddhava met Nanda Mahārāja, Nanda Mahārāja inquired about Vasudeva, “My friend, his wife Devakī?” He inquired about them because they are friends. Then he asked about Kṛṣṇa:
diṣṭyā kaṁso hataḥ pāpaḥ sānugaḥ svena pāpmanā
sādhūnāṁ dharma-śīlānāṁ yadūnāṁ dveṣṭi yaḥ sadā
“Kamsa has been killed now. My brother Vasudeva and his wife Devakī, they were so much persecuted in prison. Now they are released. Those who persecute the sajjanas (devotees), they will be burnt by the fire of their sinful activity. So the Kamsas, the demons, are burnt. The Yādavas are happy now.”
Saying like this, then he asked about Kṛṣṇa. “Is Kṛṣṇa there in Mathurā? If He is there, why is He not coming? I heard that my brother Vasudeva sent Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma to guru-gṛha, and they are initiated now and have gotten sacred thread now — yajña-upavīta.”
Vrajabhūmi Kṛṣṇa has no sacred thread. Kṛṣṇa in Mathurā has a sacred thread. So some of the pūjārīs have put a sacred thread on Vrajabhūmi Kṛṣṇa, with Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, but it is not śāstra-siddhānta. I have seen in many temples. How is it?
Nanda Mahārāja said this thing: “When I heard this thing — that my brother Vasudeva sent Them to guru-gṛha, to Sāndīpani Muni’s āśrama in Avantinagara — oh, my heart split, Uddhava. They have become brahmacārīs. They have to go out and beg alms for guru. They have to collect samidhaḥ (fuel) for yajña. Uddhava, my son (Kṛṣṇa), He is only a milk-fed child, a milk-fed child who eats ten times in one daṇḍa [twenty-four minutes]! Such a heavy responsibility is on Him. He is going to the forest to fetch wood, fuel for the guru’s āśrama. This is not befitting my milk-fed Gopāla. Uddhava, my heart is splitting hearing all these things.”
Alright, so many things he said. He asked Uddhava, “Is He remembering us? Is He remembering us now? Is He remembering His most beloved mother? Remembering His friends, the cowherd boys? Is He remembering His most beloved cows and calves, which He was feeding with His own hands? He was forgetting His food, forgetting His sleep when He was playing in this Vrajabhūmi, in this jungle of Vṛndāvana. Is He remembering it? Is He remembering Girirāja Govardhana? His footprints are still there. Girirāja Govardhana is still carrying them. Is He remembering it? That Girirāja Govardhana is crying for Him. Is He feeling it? Has He such feelings?”
Nanda Mahārāja asked all these things. But Nanda Mahārāja couldn't speak about himself. He asked about others. Uddhava understood very well what Nanda Mahārāja said. Nanda Mahārāja, when he was speaking like this, his heart became filled with this vātsalya-prīti and he couldn’t speak. His voice was choked up.
Nanda Mahārāja said, “O Uddhava, Kṛṣṇa is a very simple child. He was not thinking of anything on any day. Now, on Him, so much thought, so much anxiety.
Jarasandha attacked Mathurā. Therefore the Yādavas had to be protected from that attack, to kill the demons, and to give them all comforts. Such a small child, so much heavy burden on Him. When I think of this, my heart splits.”
Uddhava said, “O Nanda Mahārāja, Kṛṣṇa is not an ordinary boy. He has extraordinary intelligence. He never commits any error or mistake. He always thinks of Vrajabhūmi. He thinks of you, O Nanda Mahārāja. I have seen with my own eyes, when He thinks of you tears roll down from His eyes.”
Nanda said, “Is it true Kṛṣṇa thinks of us? If He is thinking, why is He not coming? Why is He not coming? When Kṛṣṇa was leaving Vrajabhūmi He said,
jñātīn vo draṣṭum eṣyāmo
vidhāya suhṛdāṁ sukham
(ŚB 10.45.43)
He said this thing to us, ‘I am going. I have some duty there in Mathurā. I am going there to do My duty. I have duty towards the Yadavas. I’ll make some arrangement for their comfort. Then I’ll come to see you.’
He has said this thing. Uddhava, when will that day come to us? When will it come? When will He come to Vrajabhūmi to give us pleasure?
apy āyāsyati govindaḥ
sva-janṁ sakṛd īkṣitum
(ŚB 10.46.19)
Men and women, old men and boys, everybody in Vrajabhūmi has been put into a blazing fire of separation from Kṛṣṇa. They are all burning, burning. He has saved us from so many dangers. Now we are burning in the fire of separation. We cannot survive. We’ll die. So this is the general etiquette when someone is on their deathbed, dying, his relative who may be in some far-off place, giving up everything, runs there to see him. ‘Let me go and see him, he is dying.’ So why is Kṛṣṇa not coming? We are dying.”
When Nanda Mahārāja said like that, he couldn’t speak any more. Tears rolled down from his eyes. In his meditational eye Nanda Mahārāja saw the beautiful face of Kṛṣṇa, Gopāla. He said, “Uddhava, how beautiful is the face of my Gopāla. What beautiful smile is there. Such a beautiful nose He has, beautiful cheeks, beautiful eyes, such a sweet voice. Can we see it again?
tarhi drakṣyāma tad-vaktraṁ
su-nāsaṁ su-smitekṣaṇam
(ŚB 10.46.19)
Uddhava, what shall I speak? Everybody gets a son. Have they gotten a son like Kṛṣṇa, endowed with such qualities? Kṛṣṇa has unlimited good qualities. I cannot describe them completely. Leaving such a treasure, I am surviving. This is wonderful.
Everything has gone, kevala, only this empty life is there. Only crying is there, nothing else. Sarvā naḥ śithilāḥ kriyāḥ. All my activities have stopped. This house seems like a prison house to me now. Do you understand, Uddhava?
I go out of the house to forget Kṛṣṇa. But how can I forget? Wherever I go I see, “Oh yes, Kṛṣṇa has done this thing here.” Again it comes to my mind. How can I forget?
Sometimes I go to the bank of the Yamunā, “Oh, so many water pastimes He was performing here.” Still it comes to my mind. How can I forget?
When I go to Govardhana Hill, still it comes to my mind, “He has lifted this hill like a mushroom and carried it on His left hand continuously for seven days.” Still His footprints are there. Girirāja is carrying them. How can I forget?
“O Kṛṣṇa.”
In this way Nandarāja was speaking.
Uddhava was thinking of Nanda Mahārāja when he was coming from Mathurā, because he had marked how many times Kṛṣṇa was shedding tears for His beloved father and mother, speaking about them.
So Uddhava had come to give consolation. What will he say? If somebody is crying, losing his son in this material world, who comes to give consolation, then he says, “Don’t cry. This is a material son and material relationship, it is temporary. Why are you crying for temporary relationships and a temporary material son? That is not real."
But how can I tell Nanda Mahārāja not to cry? He is crying for Kṛṣṇa. If someone has to cry, then he should cry for Kṛṣṇa. How can I say, 'Don’t cry'? Then it will be aśāstrīya (contrary to śāstra). All śāstras say, cry for Kṛṣṇa. How can you say, Nanda Mahārāja, don’t cry? I have no language. How can I console Nanda Mahārāja?
Uddhava is śāstra-jña. He knows śāstra. He is a paṇḍita, yes, as well as bhakta also. He knows very well that the supreme perfection of life is to get Kṛṣṇa Bhagavān. And how can one get Kṛṣṇa Bhagavān, unless he cries? Unless he cries, how can he get Bhagavān? He cannot. Those who are crying for Kṛṣṇa they are rare personalities. They are very fortunate. In the material world many are crying for material wealth, name, fame, prestige, adoration, enjoyment and opulence. Who is crying for Kṛṣṇa? Is there anyone? Such a person is a rare person. Crying for Kṛṣṇa is the supreme perfection of human birth.
Uddhava could understand, even for crores of lives if one does sādhana, tapasya, such crying will never arise in his heart, hard heart. Uddhava’s heart is hard because of śāstra-jñāna. Jñāna is like light, jñāna is like the sun. When the sun is in the sky, the polestar and the saptarṣis are not visible. Understand my point here? My point is here, what Bhāgavata says. On every page it is there. Understand, in every page of Bhāgavata this message is there. Yes. Jñāna-sūrya, jñāna is like sūrya, sun. When jñāna-sūrya is there, the stars, polestar, saptarṣis, the innumerable stars are not visible.
So, Uddhava’s heart is very hard because of śāstra-jñāna, such dry śāstra-jñāna. It will never be possible in the heart of Uddhava to cry for Kṛṣṇa. But Uddhava has developed that desire, “How can I get such love like Nanda Mahārāja has gotten? His heart is filled with such love, pure love, unmixed love. How can I get it? I will give up everything and undergo very severe austerities to get it.” Such a desire has arisen in the heart of Uddhava. The love that Nanda Mahārāja has gotten cannot be compared in unlimited universes.
How can I tell Nanda Mahārāja, “Don’t cry?” If I say this, “O Nanda Mahārāja, don’t cry,” then all śāstras will come and stop my mouth. Yes, all śāstras will come and stop my mouth. Śāstras will say, “Uddhava, what are you saying? Such unjust words. Crying for Kṛṣṇa is the ultimate perfection. How are you telling Nanda Mahārāja not to cry? The śāstras tell me this thing.” He, Uddhava, is the embodiment of śāstra. He is thinking like that. “How can I say contrary to śāstra?" So Uddhava is thinking according to śāstra. "Then I have to say, Nanda Mahārāja, cry more, cry more, cry more! Cry yuga after yuga, millennium after millennium! Go on crying, go on crying, go on crying. Shed more tears, more tears, more tears!” But alas, this is not the language of consolation. Is it consolation?
If I give some consolation then it will be contradictory to śāstra. Śāstra-pravīṇa Uddhava understood very well. For what purpose I have come, it is quite impossible on my part to do it. So, śāstra-pravīṇa Uddhava understood it (śāstra-jñāna). Śāstra says,
sarva-dharmān parityajya
mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja
Abandon all varieties of dharma and just surrender unto Kṛṣṇa. Always think of Kṛṣṇa and cry for Kṛṣṇa. So how can I tell Nanda Mahārāja not to cry for Kṛṣṇa? Then this would be a sinful activity on my part. Yes. How can I commit such a sin? Even after coming to Vrajabhūmi, shall I commit such a sin?” Uddhava understood, “It is quite impossible on my part to console Nanda Mahārāja.” So, he understood it.
Nanda Mahārāja spoke many things. Nanda Mahārāja became humble. Nanda Mahārāja said, “Uddhava, I have no qualification to become the father of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is not an ordinary boy. When Gargamuni came here for giving the name, nāma-karaṇa-saṁskāra, gargasya vacanaṁ yathā, he had said, I am now recollecting, he said, ‘Nanda Mahārāja, your Kṛṣṇa is like Nārāyaṇa, the Supreme Lord. These two boys, Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, all great sages and munis are meditating on Them, surāṇāṁ mahad-arthāya.’ Gargamuni said this thing. Sometimes it comes to my mind and I think, ‘Yes, what Gargamuni said is true.’ And you saw with your own eyes, Kaṁsa was such a powerful demon, whose strength was equal to ten thousand elephants, possessed the strength of ten thousand elephants and Kṛṣṇa killed him very easily. With just one kick (from Kṛṣṇa) he fell down to the ground and died. Such mallas (wrestlers) are there, big mallas, and Kuvalaya, elephant, very fierce, very strong, and Kṛṣṇa killed them very easily.
kaṁsaṁ nāgāyuta-prāṇaṁ
mallau gaja-patiṁ yathā
avadhiṣṭāṁ līlayaiva
paśūn iva mṛgādhipaḥ
(ŚB 10.46.24)
As a mad elephant very easily breaks a sugarcane stick, similarly Kṛṣṇa broke that big bow, Śiva-dhanu. That Śiva-dhanu, big bow, very long, one hundred cubits high, very strong. All of you have seen this with your own eyes, Uddhava, what shall I say? Such Kṛṣṇa, always I am thinking of all these things. Kṛṣṇa is not an ordinary boy. He may be some devatā, who has fallen down from a heavenly planet, being cursed, I think. Or, some topmost devatā may have come down here to do some work.
I became His father because, I am thinking, I have acquired many, many sukṛtis from many, many lakhs of lives. As a result of that, I became His father. That is the result of my sukṛti. Otherwise how would Kṛṣṇa call me “bābā”? Otherwise, I have no qualification to become the father of Kṛṣṇa.
This is wonderful, how such humbleness came in Nanda Mahārāja. And this is a clue for Uddhava, to speak about Kṛṣṇa as Bhagavān now. Because he says, “Kṛṣṇa is not an ordinary boy.” Nanda Mahārāja said, and Uddhava got a clue.
Now Uddhava, speaking, trying to establish Kṛṣṇa as Bhagavān. Then Uddhava started. Uddhava said:
“Nanda Mahārāja, you are very, very fortunate. There is no limit to your good fortune and no limit to the good fortune of Mother Yaśodā — yuvāṁ ślāghyatamau nūnaṁ (SB 10.46.30). Such love you have developed for Kṛṣṇa, nobody can have it — even undergoing very severe austerities and penance for thousands, thousands, thousands of lives, nobody can have it. You have gotten it, love for Kṛṣṇa.
Do you know who is Kṛṣṇa? Nanda Mahārāja, do you know who is Kṛṣṇa? He is svayam bhagavān. He came down here to this material world and with Him many, many devotees have come down here. And of these devotees there is no such devotee like you who has developed such pure love for Kṛṣṇa — kṛṣṇa-anurāga. I have never found, I have never seen anywhere.
You know, Nanda Mahārāja, He is Nārāyaṇa, Original Nārāyaṇa. Kṛṣṇa is Original Nārāyaṇa. All the demigods, they are fragmental parts and parcels. Even Mahā-Viṣṇu, puruṣa-avatāra, He is His part.
Whatever is there in the whole world, whole universe, He is the source of everything. And you have bound Him up with your pure vātsalya-prema. There is no comparison to your bhakti. Those who have gotten such bhakti-dhana in this world — they are so fortunate, I have no language to speak about it.
Oh Nanda Mahārāja, to whom you know as your son — Kṛṣṇa, Balarāma — I am telling. You hear me:
etau hi viśvasya ca bīja-yonī
rāmo mukundaḥ puruṣaḥ pradhānam
(SB 10.46.31)
This Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma is bīja and yoni of this whole universe. Understand my language, bīja and yoni?
That means nimitta-kāraṇa, upādāna-kāraṇa. What do you say in English?
Devotee: nimitta-kāraṇa?
Gour Govinda Swami: upādāna-kāraṇa?
Devotee: Chief cause…
Gour Govinda Swami: Chief cause and…
Devotee: Secondary cause.
Gour Govinda Swami: Both of Them — Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma — bīja and yoni. As for example, a potter makes pots. So the bīja of the pot is potter — kumbhakāra. And yoni — clay. Understand? Bīja, yoni? So Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma are bīja and yoni of the whole universe.
He said all this tattva. I am not going to elaborate on all these things. Nanda Mahārāja is hearing, wonderstruck.
Uddhava said, “Hear, Nanda Mahārāja, if at the time of death some person, even for a moment, thinks of the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, all his sinful reactions are immediately destroyed, and he gets that supreme abode — param padam — and sometimes he may become the associate of Kṛṣṇa and come out as effulgent as the sun.
So Kṛṣṇa is the ātmā, the soul of all souls in innumerable brahmāṇḍas. And you have developed so much love for that Kṛṣṇa and you are rich with such kṛṣṇa-prema-dhana. So there is nothing in this world which is unattainable by you. You have attained everything. You have gotten Kṛṣṇa.
kiṁ vāvaśiṣṭaṁ yuvayoḥ su-kṛtyam
So there is no comparison to your good fortune. Even it cannot be conceived in anyone’s mind. I have no language to describe. My mind cannot conceive of it. But if you can understand, Nanda Mahārāja, what is Kṛṣṇa, then you’ll never feel such pangs of separation from Him.
Why this viraha comes? Because when one feels deficient — ‘I cannot get Him, therefore I am not getting Him’ — therefore, he feels separation, viraha. And you have already gotten Him. Why do you feel separation?
If somebody has no deficiency at all, has gotten pūrṇa-brahma — Kṛṣṇa is pūrṇa-brahma, He is completely full — getting whom, there will be no incompleteness at all. You have gotten Him. How is it that you are feeling incompleteness and crying in separation? There will be no separation at all.
So, Kṛṣṇa is always there in your heart, Nanda Mahārāja. So there is no reason at all why you will feel such separation. So please, don’t feel such separation. Don’t cry. Kṛṣṇa is with you. Kṛṣṇa is inside you, in your heart.” Yes. Understand? Uddhava said all these things.
mā khidyataṁ mahā-bhāgau
drakṣyathaḥ kṛṣṇam antike
antar hṛdi sa bhūtānāṁ
āste jyotir ivaidhasi
(SB 10.46.36)
Tenth Canto. Nanda Mahārāja, you think that Kṛṣṇa is your son, very, very dear, and you are crying for Him feeling separation because you don’t know kṛṣṇa-tattva. Because you don’t know kṛṣṇa-tattva. Kṛṣṇa is paraṁ brahma. He is māyātīta, He is above māyā. There is nobody dear, nobody not dear to Him. He is completely satisfied. This is Kṛṣṇa.
Oh, you and Yaśodā-mātā think you are father and mother of Kṛṣṇa. This is not true, this is not true. This sambandha, this relationship — father and son, mother and son — this is all illusory. Who is māyātīta, who is beyond māyā — how can one be His father and mother?
In this world — day-to-day activities, daily activities of this world — there is this pitā-mātā, father and mother. But nobody can become Kṛṣṇa’s father and mother, because Kṛṣṇa is para-brahma, who doesn’t belong to the material world.
It is said,
na mātā na pitā tasya
na bhāryā na sutādayaḥ
nātmīyo na paraś cāpi
na deho janma eva ca
(Bhāg. 10.46.38)
He has no father and no mother, no wife, no son, no relatives. He is parabrahma, who is the cause of all causes, sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam. Nobody is His own, nobody is not His own. There is a difference between deha and dehī, an ordinary person. Understand my language, deha-dehī? But there is no difference between Kṛṣṇa’s deha and dehī. What is Kṛṣṇa’s deha (body) is Kṛṣṇa Himself.
And here in the material world, all reap their karma-phala, the result of their karma, therefore there is birth and death. But Kṛṣṇa has no karma-phala, no birth and death. So hearing all these things you may raise this question, “Then why Kṛṣṇa come here?” The conditioned souls, everybody comes here, is forced to come here to reap his karma-phala. Kṛṣṇa has no karma-phala. Why He came here? You may raise this question.
I am saying. You hear. krīḍārthaṁ so ’pi sādhūnāṁ paritrāṇāya kalpate. He came here to play, krīḍārtha, and to deliver the sādhus, paritrāṇāya sādhūnām. Kṛṣṇa says that thing in Gītā, also in the Tenth Canto (Bhāgavatam) you’ll find. So, bhakta-gaṇa-rakṣaṇa, to protect His dear devotees, Kṛṣṇa comes here and to manifest His līlās here.
His bhakta is so dear to Him. The bhakta is sādhu. Sādhu rakṣa, to protect sādhu—it is His dharma. If there is any impediment in bhakta’s bhajana, then Kṛṣṇa drives away that impediment and makes all arrangement for favorable circumstances. Kṛṣṇa does that.
If some bhakta wants to get Bhagavān as his son, as his friend, or as a husband, then Kṛṣṇa appears in that form with him. He is not the son of anybody. In the mood that one does their bhajana, Kṛṣṇa appears in that form with them.
yuvayor eva naivāyam ātmajo bhagavān hariḥ
sarveṣām ātmajo hy ātmā pitā mātā sa īśvaraḥ
“O Nanda Mahārāja, it is true from one angle of vision that Kṛṣṇa is your son. From another angle of vision it is not true.” Uddhava is a paṇḍita philosopher, speaking philosophy.
“Because your heart is filled with very deep vātsalya-rasa, therefore He is your son. ye yathā māṁ prapadyante, tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham. In this logic He is your son. It is Kṛṣṇa’s promise, ‘In whatever mood one does My bhajana, I appear in that form with him.’ So your heart is filled with very deep vātsalya-rasa, therefore in that vision Kṛṣṇa is your son.
But if you think of Kṛṣṇa as other people think of their sons and daughters, in a father and son relationship—janya-janaka-sambandha, general people think like that—and if you develop that sort of relationship with Kṛṣṇa, that is not true at all. Kṛṣṇa is the soul of all souls. He is dear to everybody. He is the father and mother of everybody. He Himself has said: pitāham asya jagato mātā dhātā pitāmahaḥ, Kṛṣṇa says, ‘I am the father, mother, and creator of this jagat, of this world. I am the grandfather of everyone.’
This is tattva, kṛṣṇa-tattva. He is your son. This is according to your vātsalya-rasa, and that is your abhimāna (your conception). In all of these unlimited universes there is nothing but Kṛṣṇa. Whatever you hear here, whatever you see here, what was in the past, what is in the present, and whatever will be in the future—moving, non-moving, great, or minute particle—whatever you find and see here is not different from Kṛṣṇa, because He is paramātmā, the Supersoul. He is param-āśraya, the shelter of everything and everybody, sarva-svarūpa.
dṛṣṭaṁ śrutaṁ bhūta-bhavad-bhaviṣyat
sthāsnuś c-cariṣṇur mahad alpakaṁ ca
vinācyutād vastu tarāṁ na vācyaṁ
sa eva sarvaṁ paramātma-bhūtaḥ
(Bhāg. 10.46.43)
Uddhava said all these things and depicted a nice picture of kṛṣṇa-tattva and held it before Nanda Mahārāja, śāstra tulikāye.
Uddhava doesn’t know Nanda Mahārāja is blind. What sort of blind man is he? kṛṣṇa-premāndha, blind in kṛṣṇa-prema. Everybody is blind here in this material world for material enjoyment, bhogāndha. But Nanda Mahārāja is kṛṣṇa-premāndha. Understand my language?
So Uddhava depicted a nice picture of kṛṣṇa-tattva and held it before Nanda Mahārāja, but Nanda Mahārāja is blind—he cannot see it.
We can see all objects here by the help of the sunshine, sūryaloka. They are not seen in deep darkness. Śāstra-jñāna is like sunshine, jñāna-sūrya. Jñāna is compared to sūrya. Śāstra-jñāna is like sunshine. Because in that sunshine everything is clear. All truth is revealed. At that time bhrama, pramāda is like andhakāra, darkness. All darkness is dispelled.
Nanda Mahārāja is crying for whom? Crying for Kṛṣṇa. Uddhava knows why one cries—because of delusion, moha. “Oh, my son has gone away.” This is delusion. Everybody cries for delusion. Why delusion comes? Because of ignorance. Yes. If somebody gets tattva-jñāna then his delusion is gone, his ignorance gone, dispelled. When ignorance is dispelled, delusion is gone, so you’ll never cry again. Isn’t it?
Uddhava tried to present śāstra-jñāna, jñāna-like enlightenment, light-like sun before Nanda Mahārāja. Uddhava is the embodiment of śāstra. Uddhava is a jñāna-sādhaka, jñānī-bhakta. He knows it very well that with the help of jñāna-loka, the enlightenment of jñāna, one can see the real truth. It is the only possibility there.
But there are some things that are only visible in the darkness. There are innumerable stars, polestar, and saptarṣi, seven stars—they are only visible in darkness. This is there in the pages of Bhāgavatam. In every page this message is there.
If there would have been only sun here, so he couldn’t see the innumerable stars in the sky. The brightest star, polestar, the brighter stars, saptarṣis—he couldn’t see them if only the sun was there. Understand my language? Try to understand.
This is here in the pages of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. When sūrya, the sun, sets and darkness comes, then innumerable stars are visible. If somebody only looks at the polestar—it is his jīvana, his life’s vrata, vow to only look in the northern direction, dhruva-nakṣatra, that polestar with open, unblinking eyes—then this sunshine will be a great obstruction. It will be very detrimental to keep up his vow.
Understand my language? Understand? Do you understand? This is not an easy thing to understand.
“Kṛṣṇa is my son.” Goparāj, Nanda Mahārāja, is always looking in the northern direction to that polestar—Kṛṣṇa-rūpī, in the form of Kṛṣṇa. With unblinking eyes, Nanda Mahārāja is looking at the Kṛṣṇa-dhruva-nakṣatra, Kṛṣṇa-rūpī-nakṣatra, dhruva-nakṣatra in the form of Kṛṣṇa. He is always looking at it with unblinking eyes.
So for him, śāstra-jñāna, the enlightenment of śāstra, śāstra-sūrya, the sunlight of śāstra, is an obstruction. Śāstra-sādhaka Uddhava—whatever he said about śāstra-jñāna and Kṛṣṇa-tattva before Nanda Mahārāja—it is very, very difficult for Nanda Mahārāja to understand.
And also avāntara-kathā—What do you say in English, avāntara-kathā?
Devotee: Meaningless.
Gour Govinda Swami: Meaningless. He says meaningless. All right. I don’t know language.
“I am the father of Kṛṣṇa.” This is Nanda Mahārāja’s abhimāna. This is the inner feeling in the heart of Nanda Mahārāja. Where is the scope that the other thought will enter into the heart of Nanda Mahārāja? Uddhava gave a very long speech on Kṛṣṇa-tattva. Uddhava is the embodiment of śāstra, and that speech was anavadya. What do you say in English?
Devotee: In English, ‘not understandable’.
Gour Govinda Swami: Not understandable on the part of Nanda Mahārāja. But what Uddhava has expected, he cannot get it.
Hearing all this tattva-kathā, Nanda Mahārāja said, “Uddhava, in age you are a boy, you are a boy. But I had some faith in my heart—in intelligence you are not a boy, you are very old in intelligence. But now I see you are not only a boy in age, even in intelligence you are also a boy.
You spoke so many things, but you don’t know to whom what to speak. You don’t know this thing. You don’t know at all.
You told my wife and me that we are very, very fortunate, bhāgyavān, bhāgyavatī. How can you utter this thing, Uddhava, with your mouth if you have some intelligence? You cannot utter all these things. We are most unfortunate in this world! Yes, definitely—one who loses his son is unfortunate. Even one who loses a son like Kṛṣṇa is most unfortunate! Most unfortunate! Most unfortunate!
I am most unfortunate, and you tell us we are very, very fortunate! You have no intelligence what to speak to whom.
Many people get a son, Uddhava, but does anyone get a son like Kṛṣṇa? Does anyone get such a son like Kṛṣṇa? Or has anybody gotten a son like Kṛṣṇa? Or in the future will anyone get a son like Kṛṣṇa—so beautiful, so sweet, such smiling, so loving, so fickle, such nice singing on the flute, such loving words?
Is there, in the whole universe, or will there be? Those who have lost such an invaluable treasure? Those who are crying, having lost such an invaluable treasure—you told them, ‘very, very fortunate,’ Uddhava. This is ridicule. You ridicule us, ridicule us, isn’t it? Yes.
Uddhava, if you had spoken that ‘there is nobody in the world as unfortunate as you,’ then I would have been very much pleased with you. I would have been very much pleased and happy. Then my distress, the fire of separation, would have been to some extent extinguished. But you make this fire more ablaze by saying we are most fortunate.”
“Oh Uddhava, you have discussed bhagavata-tattva before me. I don’t know śāstra, but I have this faith. I have heard from sādhus that one Bhagavān is there, and He is the guru of the universe. He is the controller of the universe. He is the mūla-kāraṇa, the original cause of puruṣa-prakṛti. He is anādi, beginningless. He is sarveśvara. I know He is Nārāyaṇa. I know.
And in the form of śālagrāma He is there in our house—yes, yes, in the form of śālagrāma He is there in our house, always there in our house, Uddhava. You speak about nārāyaṇā-tattva. You have not only said this much—you said more. With that you said that Nārāyaṇa is Gopāl and Kṛṣṇa. You said this thing.
Because you are a mere boy, I excuse you. I excuse you because you are a mere boy. Therefore, you gave such an opinion—that Nārāyaṇa is my Gopāl and Kṛṣṇa. I excuse you. I excuse you.
Understand my language? Understand? Understand or not? I don’t know. I don’t know if you are understanding or not. Yes, I have not read śāstra, but from the mouths of mahātmas I have heard—Nārāyaṇa is God, the Supreme Lord. What symptoms are there in Nārāyaṇa, I know to some extent. But those symptoms are not even a single drop found in Kṛṣṇa at all.
How do you say my Gopāl Kṛṣṇa is Nārāyaṇa? I excuse you because you are a boy. You don’t know what you speak.
Nārāyaṇa is the cause of all causes, the cause of the whole universe—you have said. But my Kṛṣṇa is a milk-fed boy, a milk-fed child, a simple child. Nārāyaṇa is pure. Nārāyaṇa is peaceful. Nārāyaṇa is apāpa-vidha, sinless. But my Kṛṣṇa is very fickle, greedy, and angry. Yes. Where is the symptom of Nārāyaṇa?
Nārāyaṇa is pure. Nārāyaṇa is free from contamination—śuddha-sattva-guṇa-maya. My Kṛṣṇa is a thief, a liar, abhimānī. Where is the symptom of Nārāyaṇa in my Kṛṣṇa?
Nārāyaṇa is the shelter of the whole world, but my Kṛṣṇa is dependent on us. Where is the symptom of Nārāyaṇa?
Understand me? Uddhava, what shall I say? There is no—what do you say—sādhṛśya?”
Devotee: Similarity?
Gour Govinda Swami: No similarity of Nārāyaṇa with my son Gopāl. Nārāyaṇa is satya-saṅkalpa, truthful, but my Kṛṣṇa is very expert in speaking lies. I have heard, I personally heard, yes, Nārāyaṇa is āpta-kāma, self-satisfied. Never needs anything. He is self-satisfied. He is beyond hunger and thirst. But I have seen with my own eyes my Gopāl Kṛṣṇa cries when He becomes hungry. He becomes restless when He is hungry and thirsty. Uddhava, Nārāyaṇa is worshipable by everybody, but I have seen my Gopāl carrying my wooden sandals on His head, runs. Where is the similarity with Nārāyaṇa? I may commit mistake, but Bhagavān never commits a mistake, isn’t it? Bhagavān never commits a mistake. If Kṛṣṇa is Bhagavān, how will He commit a mistake? If Kṛṣṇa is Bhagavān, why will He call us ‘bābā’, ‘mā’? He has no bābā now, you say. Kṛṣṇa is always dependent on us. He feels completely, what do you say, asahāya?
Devotee: Helpless.
Gour Govinda Swami: Completely helpless, when He cannot get our help, Kṛṣṇa feels, yes. Where is the symptom of Nārāyaṇa with Kṛṣṇa, with my Gopāl, as you say? You are a boy, you are a boy, Uddhava, you are a boy. You have no intelligence at all. In intelligence also you are a boy. Therefore I excuse you, I excuse you.
I have never seen such symptoms in Kṛṣṇa. But it is a fact—by the unlimited mercy of Nārāyaṇa we have gotten such a son like Kṛṣṇa. That is a fact. I know it very well—Kṛṣṇa is our son. This is very, very deep-rooted in my heart, Uddhava. This is the deep-rooted feeling in my heart. How can you, Uddhava, say it is not true?
All right, Uddhava, you listen. All right, suppose your words are true—Kṛṣṇa is not an ordinary person, He is Bhagavān. I accept it. If we understand that Kṛṣṇa is Bhagavān, He is not an ordinary person—how can you soothe us saying this thing?
Hearing your Kṛṣṇa-tattva, my afflicted heart, burning heart—my heart is burning in the blazing fire of separation from Kṛṣṇa—has increased, increased, increased thousands and thousands of times. You cannot extinguish it. Rather you make it more ablaze, Uddhava.
If we know we have lost a son, but hearing from you we know that Kṛṣṇa is mūla-bhagavān, then I understand—we have not lost an ordinary son, we have lost Bhagavān! I thought I had lost a piece of copper. Now I know, hearing from you, I have lost a piece of diamond! Hearing from you, the blazing fire, the acute fire of separation in which we are burning—we are burning—you made that fire more ablaze, more ablaze, more ablaze, Uddhava.
You are a boy, you are a boy. Therefore you cannot extinguish this fire. You are trying to extinguish this fire pouring ghee into it? Uddhava, you are a boy, you are a boy. Therefore I excuse you.”
Saying this, Nanda Mahārāja’s voice became choked up, and tears rolled down from his eyes like torrential rain.
When Kṛṣṇa showed the universal form to Arjuna, Arjuna’s sakhya-rasa became slackened. Therefore Arjuna begged excuse, tat-kṣāmasva, “You are so great!” The vātsalya-rasa of Devakī and Vasudeva—when they saw the four-handed form of Viṣṇu appear as their son and became two-handed—they offered prayers. Their vātsalya-rasa became slackened.
After the killing of Kaṁsa, when Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma went to pay obeisances to Vasudeva and Devakī, they became afraid to get obeisances from Kṛṣṇa. After such a long separation they are meeting their son—but they cannot have such feeling, vātsalya-prīti. Rather, they were afraid getting praṇāmas from Kṛṣṇa.
Uddhava had thought, “If I speak Kṛṣṇa-tattva, if I put this thing into the heart of Nanda Mahārāja, then he will become weak like Nanda and Yaśodā.” (Gurudev means to say Vasudeva and Devakī.) “So his crying will subside.” But now Uddhava sees—what he expected, he couldn’t get it.
Hearing the bhagavattā of Kṛṣṇa, Nanda Mahārāja’s vātsalya-prīti never slackened. Rather, it became much deeper, much deeper, much deeper—vātsalya-sneha. Nanda Mahārāja’s Kṛṣṇa-vātsalya is far, far beyond the ordinary vātsalya of ordinary persons. So Uddhava’s tattva-kathā could not check it.
If anurāga—understand my language?—sneha, māna, praṇaya, anurāga, deep attachment—if anurāga becomes melted, then you will be able to thrust opulence into it—aiśvarya-prīti. Understand my language? jñāna-aiśvarya into it—you’ll thrust into it if anurāga is melted. It is melted. But if it becomes much deeper, much deeper, more condensed, more condensed—then how can you thrust jñāna and aiśvarya into it? Can you?
Understand my language? Try to understand me. I don’t know whether you are understanding or not. I don’t know. Let Mahāprabhu help you.
Water is liquid, therefore you can thrust your hand into it. But can you thrust your hand into a log of wood? Can you thrust your hand into it? You cannot, because it is not liquid. But with the help of a hammer, you can thrust a nail into it. But Nanda Mahārāja’s Kṛṣṇa-prīti is harder than a log of wood. Even an iron nail cannot be penetrated into it. Where is the scope?
Only one thought is there—the thought of Kṛṣṇa. No other thought is there in the heart of Nanda Mahārāja. Kṛṣṇa Bhagavān.
Uddhava tried to thrust this jñāna-aiśvarya, which is like a peg, into the heart of Nanda Mahārāja. But now he saw—he is completely unsuccessful. He cannot penetrate the heart of Nanda.
There is scope of penetrating this jñāna and aiśvarya in the sakhya-prīti of Arjuna and the vātsalya-prīti of Vasudeva and Devakī. But no scope is here. Understand me? Understand my language, the philosophical point I am hitting at—you understand? Thank you if you understand. I don’t know how many are understanding.
So, it is not possible on the part of Nanda Mahārāja. Only the thought of Kṛṣṇa is there—nothing else is in his heart. Therefore Uddhava was not at all able to touch such vātsalya-prīti, the anurāga that Nanda Mahārāja had in his heart. He cannot touch that.
Such realization was not there in Uddhava. How can he understand it?
Uddhava develops bhakti towards Kṛṣṇa by knowing Him as Bhagavān. That’s very good. One should develop bhakti towards Bhagavān. This is a general thing. This is wonderful—that knowing Him Bhagavān, one should develop bhakti. But Nanda Mahārāja...
Bhagavān aiśvarya-maya, Bhagavān is filled with six aiśvaryas. Aiśvarya is there in that sense. But Nanda Mahārāja’s prīti is very deep. In the vātsalya-prīti, vātsalya-rati, vātsalya-prema of Nanda Mahārāja, there is no tinge of jñāna and aiśvarya there at all. He knows—Kṛṣṇa is my son, nobody else.
Now hearing from Uddhava that his son is Bhagavān, hearing this thing, Nanda Mahārāja’s anurāga doesn’t become slackened. Rather, it becomes much harder, harder, harder, harder—more condensed, condensed and condensed.
This is śāstra-vidhi—that one should develop bhakti towards Bhagavān. So Uddhava’s Kṛṣṇa-prīti is according to śāstra-vidhi. But Nanda Mahārāja’s Kṛṣṇa-prīti is beyond śāstra-vidhi, far above śāstra-vidhi.
Uddhava’s Kṛṣṇa-prīti—because he knows Kṛṣṇa is Bhagavān—only this hetu, this cause. But Nanda Mahārāja’s Kṛṣṇa-prīti is causeless—no cause—ahaitukī, without cause, causeless, svayaṁ-siddha, perfect by itself.
Correct language?
Devotee: Yes.
Gour Govinda Swami: Alright, very good. I don’t know language.
Look at the horizon, far away. You see at a far distance, the horizon. Can you touch it stretching your hand? Fool! Fool! You are a fool. Can you touch the horizon stretching out your hand? Nanda Mahārāja’s Kṛṣṇa-anurāga is like that. Uddhava couldn’t understand this thing. Uddhava stretched out his śāstra-like hand to touch it, but failed, but failed, but failed. Cannot touch it. Understand my language, what I said? This is very deep philosophy.
He couldn’t touch it. He felt his inability. Uddhava became very amazed. Such a dear devotee of Kṛṣṇa, Uddhava, he became amazed. Uddhava thought, I cannot. This is like a Himalayan mountain, the topmost peak of a Himalayan mountain. I cannot climb up to it. Uddhava felt so. He felt his inability. Then he expressed, what shall he say? He said, “Nanda Mahārāja, I am very sorry. He said, I am sorry. Please excuse me. I am very sorry, Nanda Mahārāja, please excuse me. I am such an unqualified person. I was trying to console you, speaking such words of consolation to a person who is such a Kṛṣṇa-premī. I am such a rascal. This is my drṣṭā (what do you say in English?)
Devotee: Foolishness.
Gour Govinda Swami: Foolishness, alright. “This is my foolishness. I came here to give consolation. Now I am feeling much pain because of my foolishness, I have no language at all to console you. But, what I have felt, I’ll speak that thing. Alright, if Kṛṣṇa would have promised He’ll never come to Vrajabhūmi, I have firm faith now, His promise will be broken. I know it very well, Kṛṣṇa becomes bound up with love. Such love you have. If Kṛṣṇa would have promised this thing, He will break His promise. He will definitely come to Vrajabhūmi. He cannot but come here. Your love will drag Him here. All your desires will be fulfilled.”
ägamiṣyaty adīrghena kālena vrajam acyutaḥ
priyaṁ vidhāsyate pitror bhagavān sātvatām patiḥ
He uttered this verse then said, “Nanda Mahārāja, one more, one more, please, don’t be so, what do you say, kāṭara?
Devotee: Eager?
Gour Govinda Swami: Don’t be so duḥkhare-kāṭara. What do you say in English?
Don’t break down because of this very deep...
Devotee: Broken-heart.
Gour Govinda Swami: Don’t become broken-hearted because of your deep distress. Have patience, have patience. Think of all sides. You are the leader of Vrajabhūmi. If you become so impatient, then who will console the others? So this is my request to you, don’t be so impatient. Your Gopal is a milk-fed child, boy, but He is the shelter of all the jīvas of the whole universe.”
Thank you very much.
Haribol! Haribol.
Gour Govinda Mahārāja ki jaya!
Devotee: I have three questions.
Gour Govinda Swami: Yes.
Devotee: He is the Supreme Lord. Uddhava deliberately accepted God's rise of prema in his heart. I mean, here, Uddhava saying to Nanda Mahārāja intentionally took up rise of prema in his heart?
Gour Govinda Swami: Now he developed, coming in contact with the vrajavāsīs, Nanda Mahārāja, Yaśodāmātā, and specially the gopīs, especially Rādhārānī, then Uddhava, his pride was broken, smashed, jñāna-garva, he felt ashamed. In order to crush my pride, my friend sent me here. I feel myself ashamed. I have no tinge of love for Kṛṣṇa. This love they have developed, so he intensely desired how to get some dust from their lotus feet, otherwise my life is spoiled. That at last he will say.
Devotee: The Lord had deliberately sent him?
Gour Govinda Swami: Yes, deliberately sent him.
Devotee: Is it safe to draw this conclusion, that śāstra has offered two kinds of kṛpā. It is like sunlight for them, those who attain to understand it, does it also help like seeing the polestar and saptarṣī in the darkness for those who surrender to it?
Gour Govinda Swami: That is a question of prema, love. Prema is above jñāna.
Devotee: It terminates the relationship with śāstra, when you say, Gurudeva, that śāstra-jñāna…
Gour Govinda Swami: Śāstra-jñāna is like sun, sunlight. Prema is above that. Therefore it says, Nanda Mahārāja is blind after prema, premāndha. So, for them śāstra-jñāna is a detriment, an obstruction. I say, those who have taken the vow to look just with unblinking eyes, look at the polestar with constant, unblinking eyes, then jñāna-sūrya is a detriment, an obstruction. Therefore in the daytime the stars are not visible, the polestar is not visible.
Devotee: Gurudeva, when you say it is not the sunlight but the dark night that helps seeing this...
Gour Govinda Swami: Polestar
Devotee: Polestar, does it mean that since darkness is often compared with ignorance, does it mean that ignorance has also its...
Gour Govinda Swami: Therefore with that thought, if ignorance is dispelled, Nanda Mahārāja can understand Kṛṣṇa-tattva, tattva-jñāna, then he’ll not cry. He’ll be soothed.
Devotee: But does it mean that ignorance has also its necessity?
Gour Govinda Swami: This is not ignorance.
Devotee: In terms of providing the background simplicity, I mean to...
Gour Govinda Swami: This is not ignorance. This is not material relationship, bäbä. This is loving relationship. There is no question of ignorance at all. śuddha-vātsalya-prīteḥ bhāgavata-jñāna nāhi tāra. Because he has pure vātsalya-prēti, therefore He says, "No, Kṛṣṇa is not Bhagavān." He says, "my son." trayyā-copaniṣadbhir ca, that verse is there.
trayyā-copaniṣadbhir ca
sāṅkhya-yogaiś ca sātvataiḥ
upagēyamāna-māhātmyaṁ
hariṁ sāmanyatātmajam
Yaśodāmātā. All Vedas, all Upaniṣads speak He is Bhagavān, satadṛṣṭi bhaktas offer prayer to Bhagavān with bhakti, sāṅkhya-yogaiś ca sātvataiḥ. Sāṅkhya-yogīs engage themselves in sāṅkhya-locana about him. Yaśodāmātā says, "He is my son, He is my son." śuddha-vātsalya-prīteḥ bhāgavata-jñāna nāhi tāra, because of pure vātsalya-prēti, they are completely blind. They don’t know that Kṛṣṇa is Bhagavān. If they knew it, then that prīti would be slackened, bābā, slackened, slackened. It is such deep prīti. This is such deep tattva.
Dāsyā-prīti, therefore this Rāmacandra left Hanumān here. He took everybody to Ayodhyā. He didn’t take Hanumān. No, stay here and teach that bhakti, dāsyā-bhakti. Hanumān is still there. Dāsya-kapi-pati, yes, dāsya-kapi, dāsya-bhakta. Kapi dāsya bhakta is Hanumān-jī, Bhadrāṅgī. He knows only Rāma. mama jīva na sarvācā Rāma-rajjīvālōcana. He knows. He’s sādhu, he knows tattva.
śrī-nāthe jānakī-nāthe
abheda-paramātmani
mama jīva na sarvācā
rāma-rajjīvālōcana
He says, “I know there is no difference between śrī-nātha and jānakī-nātha, I know it. But my life and soul is rāma-rajjīvālōcana, not śrī-nātha. It is jānakī-nātha.”
Devotee: Devotees often wonder how it is because his bhakti is aikāntika, he is so fixed on Rāma. How is it that he came and took part in Gaur-līlā?
Gour Govinda Swami: This is one-pointedness.
Devotee: Then he comes and takes part in Gaur-līlā?
Gour Govinda Swami: Yes.
Devotee: Not with Rāmacandra, but with Gaurāṅga.
Gour Govinda Swami: He showed ṣaḍbhujā, Gaurāṅga, He is Rāma.
Devotee: Gurudeva, a jñānī has to get the darśana of Nārāyaṇa. But a premī alone can get the true darśana of Kṛṣṇa.
Gour Govinda Swami: Original Nārāyaṇa, Kṛṣṇa, mūla-nārāyaṇa, who is the source of Nārāyaṇa, that is Kṛṣṇa.
All this message is there in all Vedas, is in every page of Bhāgavata, in every page of Bhāgavata. nigama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalaṁ, the most ripened, sweetest, nectarean juicy fruit of the Vedic tree. This is Bhāgavata. Are you reading Bhāgavata? Hearing Bhāgavata? Can you taste this mellow, nectarean juice? What is your Bhāgavata hearing, reading? In every page of Bhāgavata it is there, every page. And this verse says about stars, saptarṣi-maṇḍala.
Devotee: jñāna-dīpena bhāsvatā.
Gour Govinda Swami: Yes.
Devotee: Gurudeva, by the association of the vrajavasīs, then Uddhava, did he get a taste of vraja-prema?
Gour Govinda Swami: Yes. Therefore he desired to become a grass or medicinal herb in Vrajabhūmi. Otherwise, I cannot get the dust from the feet of the gopīs. If I ask, “Please give me some dust,” they won’t give me, so how can I have such fortune? How will my life be successful, perfect, unless I get the dust from their...
āsāṁ aho caraṇa-reṇu-juṣām ahaṁ syām
vṛndāvane kim api gulma-latauṣadhīnāṁ
yā dustyajaṁ sva-janam ārya-pathaṁ ca hitvā
bhejur mukunda-padavīṁ śrutibhir vimṛgyām
This verse is there in 10th Canto 10.47.61. At last, he says, “What they have not done for Mukunda-padavī (ornament?)...”
...holy name of Kṛṣṇa, think of Kṛṣṇa. If you have love for Mahāprabhu, then you must carry out His order. You must have love for His words. Think of Kṛṣṇa, yes. If you have love for Mahāprabhu, that is very good, then carry out His order, what He says, His instructions, follow. And you may pray to Mahāprabhu, “You are Kṛṣṇa, please show me Your Kṛṣṇa form.” Then He will show you Kṛṣṇa form. Understand? ...? I like You. I want to think of You, but You are Kṛṣṇa. Please show me Your Kṛṣṇa form, then you see Kṛṣṇa. Why don’t you say like that to Mahāprabhu? All right, very good.
Devotee: Gurudeva?
Gour Govinda Swami: Yes?
Devotee: You said that the disciple, they should follow the instruction of the spiritual master, as it is.
Gour Govinda Swami: Yes.
Devotee: And also that we should not be independent. But is it alright that sometimes if the disciple gives some idea to...
Gour Govinda Swami: No, no, no, what are you saying? You should not be dependent means what?
Devotee: That we cannot have our own desire.
Gour Govinda Swami: Not only that, no. No separate desire. I have no separate desire. I have no independence at all. If you retain your independence, then you have separate desire. “I think like that.” But I have no independence. Where is separate desire? What is Kṛṣṇa’s desire, that I have accepted. I have no separate desire. Then?
Devotee: But it’s alright if you give some idea for the spiritual master. Like, Gurudeva, I would like to do that sevā or that sevā.
Gour Govinda Swami: Guru knows this thing, you are retaining your independence doing that. Guru says, “Do it. Alright, do it. Alright, do it. Alright, do it.” Then you get the consequence. Yes. You are a fool. Why are you giving instruction to guru? Then, Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī said, “I am not guru, I am goru.” You are thinking guru as goru? Nonsense. Therefore I told that thing yesterday.
Devotee: They are trying to instruct the spiritual master?
Gour Govinda Swami: Yes. He got angry. “I am not guru, I am goru.” Therefore this Bon Mahārāja, Bhakti Pradīp Tīrtha, they were bereft of the mercy of Bhaktisiddhānta. They came back. They came back. Came back unsuccessful.
Devotee: So they were being tested because the guru gave specific instruction. But the result wasn’t coming according to their understanding, so...
Gour Govinda Swami: They are understanding, they are understanding. They have no patience. You should have patience. You should follow guru’s instruction and cry, cry. “Please help me, Gurudeva. I am failing, I am failing.” And you are giving instruction to guru?
... and you are giving instruction to guru? It fails. “No, we think this will act.” Nonsense.
Devotee: Similarly, they are thinking, “Guru’s given me this instruction, but there is no result. Because there is no result, so I must not be doing right. Therefore, I should change the instruction.”
Gour Govinda Swami: Āre bābā, you have no right for the result. karmaṇy evādhikāras te
mā phaleṣhu kadāchana (Bg. 2.47). You have right to work. You have no right to the result of work. It is My right. Then? Yes, whatever fruit Kṛṣṇa gives. “Oh, Kṛṣṇa gives sour fruit. Alright, very good. I’ll have it, flower, fruit.”
Devotee: You said one thing in class about these translations, you were saying that someone may read and understand, then again he won’t understand because he has to go through ācārya. So how do we understand it?
Gour Govinda Swami: We say, defective mind, polluted, contaminated mind and consciousness, it will never be revealed to you. Śāstra has kṛpā.
sādhu-śāstra-kṛpāya yadi kṛṣṇonmukha haya
sei jīva nistare, māyā tāhāre chāḍāya
(Cc. Madhya 20.120)
If some fortunate person gets the kṛpā, mercy of sādhu, pure devotion, he’ll be free from the clutches of māyā. Yes. But if you are trying to understand śāstra through your own scholarship, learning, understanding, without begging mercy from śāstra, then śāstra will never reveal itself before you. You cannot get kṛpā. Understand?
Devotee: Prabhupāda says that if someone has the four defects, we cannot accept knowledge from him.
Gour Govinda Swami: How? He has four defects. He is not free from anarthas.
Devotee: Even if he has read, he is repeating?
Gour Govinda Swami: He’s not free from anarthas. He is surrounded by so many anarthas. He is not free from defect, what will he speak? What will he speak?
Devotee: Guru Mahārāja, how will one understand that he’s getting the kṛpā of śāstra? How will he understand that he’s getting kṛpā from śāstra?
Gour Govinda Swami: One who begs mercy from śāstra. Therefore, before approaching Bhāgavata, we glorify Bhāgavata, beg for mercy. Then? Without His mercy, we cannot approach Him. He is not mere book. He is as good as Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, ācāryas have said like that, beg for the mercy of śāstra. Yes, then śāstra will shower His mercy, He’ll approach, then you can understand by His mercy. Then? Sādhu’s mercy, śāstra’s mercy.
Devotee: So the śāstra mercy will be revealed through the sādhu?
Gour Govinda Swami: Sādhu. Guru appears in that form, we say. Guru appears in the form of śāstra, guru appears in the form of sādhu. Yes.
Devotee: There is a story, Guru Mahārāja, about Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, he was compiling some ṭīkā on the gāyatrī-mantra and he was looking at Kavirāja Gosvāmī’s explanation. Kavirāja Gosvāmī said there are 24 and a half syllables. So he couldn’t find. He was reading all the commentaries, all in the śāstra, but it seemed like Kavirāja Gosvāmī was disagreeing with śāstra. So Viśvanātha Cakravartī was going to agree with Kavirāja Gosvāmī rather than śāstra. He was going to fast until death, and Rādhārānī came to him... so, is that our mood that we prefer to accept the sādhu, even if there is some conflict between sādhu and śāstra, do we accept śāstra? That’s what Viśvanātha did.
Gour Govinda Swami: Accepted, and therefore he cried. Rādhārānī came and gave the proper guidance, so...
Devotee: Guru.
Gour Govinda Swami: Guru. Guru came. Rādhā is guru. Topmost is Rādhā. We go to guru-tattva, we come to Kṛṣṇa. And Kṛṣṇa says, āmi śiṣya naṭa, rādhikāra prema guru, āmi śiṣya naṭa (Cc. Ādi 4.124), “Rādhā is My guru. I am Her disciple.” When guru-tattva comes, topmost is Rādhā. Kṛṣṇa is the disciple of Rādhā. “And She makes Me dance. According to Her tune, I am dancing.” So?
Devotee: Alright.
All glories to Śrīla Gurudeva
Jaya Śrīla Gurudeva ki jaya