Contents:
- Srila Prabhupada - Changing the Course of History
- Srila Prabhupada - Savior of the Whole World
- Understanding Krishna's Divine Appearance
- Remembering Krishna's Instructions
Srila Prabhupada - Changing the Course of History
"Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, one afternoon in Bombay I was seated at your lotus feet overlooking Śrī Śrī RādhāRāsavihāri temple from the balcony of your quarters. I told you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, “Although you taught me that Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead still I feel that I do not know Him. However, I know you, and you are my everything. All I want is to be with you life after life.” Without saying anything, you smiled in a way that conveyed everything to me. I offered obeisances to you with a voice ringing with gratitude, “Śrīla Prabhupāda, although I am totally unqualified, please let me stay at your lotus feet forever engaging my entire existence in your service.” -H.H. Bhakti Charu Swami(Excerpt from Vyasa Puja Offering 2019)
Jaladuta Dairy, 1965 Markine Bhagavata-Dharma
"My dear Lord Krsna, You are so kind upon this useless soul, but I do not know why You have brought me here. Now You can do whatever You like with me. But I guess You have some business here, otherwise why would You bring me to this terrible place?
Most of the population here is covered by the material modes of ignorance and passion. Absorbed in material life, they think themselves very happy and satisfied, and therefore they have no taste for the transcendental message of Vasudeva. I do not know how they will be able to understand it. But I know Your causeless mercy can make everything possible because You are the most expert mystic. How will they understand the mellows of devotional service? O Lord, I am simply praying for Your mercy so that I will be able to convince them about Your message.
All living entities have become under the control of the illusory energy by Your will, and therefore, if You like, by Your will they can also be released from the clutches of illusion. I wish that You may deliver them. Therefore if You so desire their deliverance, then only will they be able to understand Your message. The words of SrimadBhagavatam are Your incarnation, and if a sober person repeatedly receives it with submissive aural reception, then he will be able to understand Your message.
It is said in the Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.2.17-21): "Sri Krsna, the Personality of Godhead, who is the Paramatma [Supersoul] in everyone’s heart and the benefactor of the truthful devotee, cleanses desire for material enjoyment from the heart of the devotee who has developed the urge to hear His messages, which are in themselves virtuous when properly heard and chanted. By regular attendance in classes on the Bhagavatam and by rendering of service to the pure devotee, all that is troublesome to the heart is almost completely destroyed, and loving service unto the Personality of Godhead, who is praised with transcendental songs, is established as an irrevocable fact. As soon as irrevocable loving service is established in the heart, the effects of nature’s modes of passion and ignorance, such as lust, desire and hankering, disappear from the heart. Then the devotee is established in goodness, and he becomes completely happy. Thus established in the mode of unalloyed goodness, the man whose mind has been enlivened by contact with devotional service to the Lord gains positive scientific knowledge of the Personality of Godhead in the stage of liberation from all material association. Thus the knot in the heart is pierced, and all misgivings are cut to pieces. The chain of fruitive actions is terminated when one sees the self as master."
He will become liberated from the influence of the modes of ignorance and passion and thus all inauspicious things accumulated in the core of the heart will disappear. How will I make them understand this message of Krsna consciousness? I am very unfortunate, unqualified and the most fallen. Therefore I am seeking Your benediction so that I can convince them, for I am powerless to do so on my own. Somehow or other, O Lord, You have brought me here to speak about You. Now, my Lord, it is up to You to make me a success or failure as You like. O spiritual master of all the worlds! I can simply repeat Your message, so if You like You can make my power of speaking suitable for their understanding. Only by Your causeless mercy will my words become pure. I am sure that when this transcendental message penetrates their hearts they will certainly feel engladdened and thus become liberated from all unhappy conditions of life. O Lord, I am just like a puppet in Your hands. So if You have brought me here to dance, then make me dance, make me dance, O Lord, make me dance as You like. I have no devotion, nor do I have any knowledge, but I have strong faith in the holy name of Krsna. I have been designated as Bhaktivedanta, and now, if You like, You can fulfill the real purport of Bhaktivedanta."
~ A poem by Srila Prabhupada on the Jaladuta, Sep 1965
Srila Prabhupada - Savior of the Whole World
H.H. BCS: Of all the time, this particular phase, which is known as Kali-yuga, is the most degraded. This is the age when adharma becomes perfectly established. As Krishna said,
yada yada hi dharmasya
glanir bhavati bharata
abhyutthanam adharmasya
tadatmanam srjamy aham [Bg. 4.7]
“When there is a decline of religious principles and irreligiosity (adharma) prevails, then in order to establish dharma, I descend Myself.” Therefore, in this age to reestablish dharma Sri Krishna came as Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Appearing as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Krishna gave the most wonderful gift to this world, which is called sankirtana yajna. It has been mentioned in SrimadBhagavatam,
kaler dosa-nidhe rajann
asti hy eko mahan gunah
kirtanad eva krsnasya
mukta-sangah param vrajet [SB 12.3.51]
Kali-yuga is an ocean of sinful activities but in this age there is one great advantage, there is one great benediction: just by chanting the holy name of the Lord one can become free from material bondage and go back to the spiritual sky.
Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s gift is so wonderful, that it not only takes one back to the spiritual sky, but it takes him to the topmost region of the spiritual sky, which is known as Goloka Vrindavan. In order to pave the way for the people of this age of Kali back to Goloka Vrindavan, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came and inaugurated this sankirtana yajna.
This sankirtana yajna, this process of sankirtana, the congregational chanting of the Hare Krishna Maha-mantra: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare, not only takes one back to the spiritual sky, but gives him the opportunity to become involved in Radha-Krishna’s most intimate pastimes in Vrindavan.
This gift of the Supreme Personality of Godhead had never been distributed before. Krishna came in various incarnations and delivered innumerable amounts of living entities, but never ever Krishna bestowed this benediction. Therefore this gift is considered to be "anarpita", which had never been given before. And that gift is the love of Krishna in Vrindavan in the most intimate relationship that Krishna displayed with the cowherd damsels of Vrindavan, Vraja gopis, in madhurya rasa. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu distributed this only in India, but Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu predicted that it will be distributed, it will be broadcast all over the world in every town and village. "Prithivite ache yata nagaradi grama sarvatra pracara haibe mora nama."
[Chaitanya-bhagavata, Antya-lila 4.126].
This prediction Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu made 500 years ago and about 460 years back this had been recorded by Srila Krishna Dasa Kaviraja Goswami. This prediction was made at a time – what to speak of every town and village – when people did not even know how many continents there were. Columbus at that time had just discovered America. People were not aware of Australia. People were also not aware of Africa. At that time when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu made that prediction, that in every town and village it will be distributed, it appeared to be a poetic exaggeration. But the words of the Supreme Personality of Godhead never go in vain. Whatever He says becomes a reality, and in the recent past we have seen how this incredible prediction has become a reality.
It happened in an amazing way, in the most inconceivable way: a 70 year old devotee of Krishna went to America in a cargo ship and he started his journey from this very place, Calcutta, Khidirpur Dock. On Thursday, 13th August, Friday, 1965, Srila Prabhupada embarked on this voyage, not in a passenger ship, but in a cargo ship that carries goods from one port to another, from one continent to another. Srila Prabhupada persuaded the owner of Scindia Steamship Company, Srimati Sumati Morarjee, to give him a passage to go to America. Although initially she was extremely reluctant to let Srila Prabhupada go on such a voyage, eventually she succumbed to his pressure and persuasion and she enabled him to go to America.
Srila Prabhupada arrived in America, where he did not know a single person. The person, Gopal Aggarwal, who actually sponsored his visa, was the only contact he had in America and he wrote a letter to him mentioning when he was arriving. Fortunately Gopal Aggarwal arranged some travel agency to receive Srila Prabhupada in New York harbor and arranged for a bus trip to Butler, Pennsylvania, where he was living.
Srila Prabhupada not only did not know anyone there, Srila Prabhupada did not have any money. He did not have any foreign exchange whatsoever. All he had was 40 rupees, which had no value in America at that time.
So in this way Srila Prabhupada at the age of 70 goes to America in 1965 and after an enormous struggle he established an institution with a handful of young Americans, young American boys and girls who became attracted to him. With them he started this International Society for Krishna Consciousness.
This is another amazing happening: he started his movement, which he registered in 1966 as the International Society for Krishna Consciousness in a small, little storefront, in the Lower East Side of New York City, but he named his institution the “International Society for Krishna Consciousness.” Mind you, a small little storefront where he is situated, registering his institution, and he is calling it the International Society! Well, the lawyer who was registering the organization did not mind that so much, but he had difficulty in accepting “Krishna Consciousness”, so he advised him, “Please don’t call it the ‘International Society for Krishna Consciousness’, rather call it the ‘International Society for God Consciousness’ because people do not know who Krishna is.” And even Srila Prabhupada’s followers, young Americans who were following him at that time, agreed with that and said, “Yes, Swamiji, maybe it will be better to call it the International Society for God Consciousness.”
But Prabhupada’s response was, “No, I have come here to make everybody understand that Krishna is God. People speak about God but do not have any understanding of who He is.” And Srila Prabhupada made that point, “I have come here to make everybody understand that Krishna is God.”
And that is what he did. That was the beginning of the fulfillment of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s prediction that the Krishna Consciousness Movement would spread all over the world in every town and village.
Within a short span of 11 years Srila Prabhupada not only spread this movement practically throughout all the countries of the world, but he established 108 temples in all the major cities of the world. This is how we can see that in order to fulfill his prediction, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu reserved the credit to one of His most intimate devotees and that is His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
In course of time we will see that the institution that Srila Prabhupada has established, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), is going to spread this movement all over the world, in every town and village, fulfilling the prediction of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
Understanding Krishna's Divine Appearance
10th Canto of Srimad Bhagvatam, third chapter describing the birth of lord Krishna, Text 45.
yuvāṁ māṁ putra-bhāvena
brahma-bhāvena cāsakṛt
cintayantau kṛta-snehau
yāsyethe mad-gatiṁ parām
Translation: Both of you, husband and wife, constantly think of Me as your son, but always know that I am the Supreme Personality of Godhead. By thus thinking of Me constantly with love and affection, you will achieve the highest perfection: returning home, back to Godhead.
Purport: This instruction by the Supreme Personality of Godhead to His father and mother, who are eternally connected with Him, is especially intended for persons eager to return home, back to Godhead. One should never think of the Supreme Personality of Godhead as an ordinary human being, as nondevotees do. Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, personally appeared and left His instructions for the benefit of all human society, but fools and rascals unfortunately think of Him as an ordinary human being and twist the instructions of Bhagavadgītā for the satisfaction of their senses. Practically everyone commenting on Bhagavad-gītā interprets it for sense gratification. It has become especially fashionable for modern scholars and politicians to interpret Bhagavad-gītā as if it were something fictitious, and by their wrong interpretations they are spoiling their own careers and the careers of others. The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, however, is fighting against this principle of regarding Kṛṣṇa as a fictitious person and of accepting that there was no Battle of Kurukṣetra, that everything is symbolic, and that nothing in Bhagavad-gītā is true. In any case, if one truly wants to be successful, one can do so by reading the text of Bhagavad-gītā as it is. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu especially stressed the instructions of Bhagavadgītā: yāre dekha, tāre kaha ‘kṛṣṇa’-upadeśa. If one wants to achieve the highest success in life, one must accept Bhagavad-gītā as spoken by the Supreme Lord. By accepting Bhagavad-gītā in this way, all of human society can become perfect and happy.
It is to be noted that because Vasudeva and Devakī would be separated from Kṛṣṇa when He was carried to Gokula, the residence of Nanda Mahārāja, the Lord personally instructed them that they should always think of Him as their son and as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That would keep them in touch with Him. After eleven years, the Lord would return to Mathurā to be their son, and therefore there was no question of separation.
yuvāṁ māṁ putra-bhāvena
brahma-bhāvena cāsakṛt
cintayantau kṛta-snehau
yāsyethe mad-gatiṁ parām
Both of you, husband and wife, constantly think of Me as your son, but always know that I am the Supreme Personality of Godhead. By thus thinking of Me constantly with love and affection, you will achieve the highest perfection: returning home, back to Godhead.
H.H. BCS: This is the last thing Krishna told his father and mother before leaving for Vrindavan. Krishna was born in a prison of Kamsa. Kamsa heard that Vasudeva and Devaki’s eighth son will be the cause of his death. At that time Kamsa wanted to kill Devaki to prevent himself from this threat and at that time Vasudeva, Devaki’s husband, Krishna’s father pleaded with Kamsa and suggested that there is no need to kill Devaki. As soon as the sons are born of Devaki he would bring them to Kamsa and Kamsa could decide what he wanted to do. And in this way Devaki was rescued, but as and when the children were born out of Devaki and Vasudeva, Vasudeva carried them to Kamsa and Kamsa mercilessly killed them. In this way, Kamsa killed six of Devaki’s sons.
The seventh son was Sankarshan, Balaram. And, Balaram after seven months was transferred from Devaki’s womb to Rohini’s womb. And thus Balaram, it was understood that seventh son, in the seventh pregnancy of Devaki had a miscarriage. In due course of time Krishna was born in a prison of Kamsa. Kamsa imprisoned Devaki and Vasudeva because he didn’t want to take any chance. They could have cheated, although Kamsa knew that Vasudeva was very honest, very truthful - Vasudeva is situated in Suddha Satva, in the transcendental mode and that transcendental platform is the platform of Absolute Truth. There is no falsity in that platform. So Vasudeva never tells a lie. A person who is situated in Suddha Satva or Brahama Bhuta platform, he never tells anything but the Absolute Truth.
So Kamsa knew that Vasudeva, Krishna’s father would never tell a lie or would never do anything deceitful, he would never cheat anyone. Since Kamsa was a demon and the demons are by nature suspicious and never trust anyone, Kamsa could not even trust the most honest person, Vasudeva. So he put Vasudeva and Devaki in the prison and Krishna was born in the prison. So here is the transcendental pastime of Supreme Personality of Godhead. Although He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, although He is the supreme controller and although He is the supreme proprietor of everything, although without His sanction even a blade of grass does not move. That Supreme Personality of Godhead simply out of His sweet will and in order to perform His pastimes took birth in the prison of Kamsa. So this is how unpredictable Krishna’s activities are. Krishna acts in a most unpredictable way and He acts in that way simply to give pleasure to His devotees,. simply to increase the love of His devotees.
Everything that Krishna does is to increase the love of His devotees. Now, by appearing in the prison house of Kamsa, as the son of Vasudeva and Devaki, Krishna actually increased the love of His devotees. First of all, the love of Vasudeva and Devaki. In a prison one is in a very distressful condition and when one is in a distressful condition, when one is going through a lot of difficulties, one’s heart naturally becomes heavy. And when our hearts become heavy, our dependence upon Krishna, our submission to Krishna and our love for Krishna becomes more intensified. Therefore, Krishna puts His devotees in difficulties. Because when the devotees are in difficulties, the devotees can depend upon Krishna, the devotees can meditate upon Krishna in a better way. And that is why often it is feels as if the devotees undergo various kind of difficulties whereas the non-devotees, the demons apparently enjoy.
A perfect example are the Pandavas and Kauravas. The Pandavas were the devotees of Krishna but when we look at the lives of Pandavas then we can see that from very beginning of their lives, they were undergoing so many difficulties. At a very young age, their father died. And they were then brought to the palace of Hastinapur, the palace of the Pandava King and they were the rightful successors to the throne but their cousin Duryodhana and others become very envious of them and tried to create a lot of difficulties for them. They were just little children, a four, five, six years old. But they had deadly enemies around them, their own cousins. They tried to kill them. Their cousins tried to kill them although they were all children but Duryodhana was so demoniac right from his childhood. What to speak of his childhood, right from his birth actually. As soon as Duryodhana was born he started to bray like an ass. Instead of crying like a human child he started to bray like an ass. Thus at the time everyone could see that this boy means trouble. This child means trouble.
And Vidura actually instructed Dhrtarashtra, Duryodhana’s father to get rid of this child because in foresight he could see that this child will be the cause of destruction of whole family. But due to his paternal affection Dhrtarashtra could not do that, could not kill his son. And this son of his was so envious that he wanted to kill the Pandavas right from their childhood. He gave poison to Bhima and tying his hands and feet, dropped him in a river. And then he tried to burn them alive in a house made of shellac, in the Jatugriha-daha parva(Maharbharat).
So in this way from childhood, Duryodhana tried to kill the Pandavas but the Pandavas were always protected by Krishna. The devotees of Krishna, although they were in difficulties but ultimately they were protected by Krishna. And that is what happens to a devotee. The devotees, although they may be in difficulties and distresses but Krishna always gives them protection. And Krishna comes to this planet simply to give pleasure to His devotees and thus Krishna allows them or helps them to become situated on the perfect spiritual platform. Krishna Himself comes and He allows his devotees to participate in His pastimes. And participating in his pastimes, the devotees become completely purified of their material contamination or material attachment.
Here Krishna appeared to give pleasure to His devotees, Vasudeva and Devaki. And here Krishna is giving them the final instruction before leaving for Vrindavan, for Gokul. And the instruction was that always think of me as your son and always think of me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Because thinking of Krishna is the means to become free from material bondage. And Krishna gives that assurance that if you do that then you will attain the ultimate perfection and you will go back to the spiritual sky.
Prabhupada is pointing out here that Krishna gave this instruction to Vasudeva and Devaki not because Vasudeva and Devaki needed that instruction but it is Krishna’s play, Krishna’s pastime. And Krishna plays in a certain way to teach the conditioned soul and Krishna in this way is showing them how they can go, how everyone can become free of material bondage and go back to the spiritual sky.
The only way to go back to the spiritual sky is to think about Krishna with love and devotion. Time and time again Krishna instructed that in Bhagvad Gita.
man-mana bhava mad-bhakto
mad-yaji mam namaskuru [BG 9.34]
Man-mana bhava- think of me, mad-bhakto - become my devotee, mad-yaji- worship me, mam namaskuru - offer obeisances unto me. In Bhagavad Gita, this is the only instruction that Krishna gave, Krishna repeated it twice. Never in Bhagavad Gita one instruction has been repeated twice, except this one. So that shows how important this instruction of Krishna is. And here also Krishna is giving the same instruction. Think of me with love and affection and remember me as Supreme Personality of Godhead. Always know that I am the Supreme Personality of Godhead and think of me as your son.
Actually one can think of Krishna in any way he wants and Krishna will reciprocate. Our thinking cannot be impersonal or rather impersonal thinking cannot be long lasting. We cannot think of something that is not related to ourselves and does not have any feeling for a long time. But the things that are dear to us, the things that for which we have attachment and feelings we can think of them for a long time. Therefore, when we think of Krishna, we must think of Krishna with feelings, with certain emotions and basically there are four positive active emotions. That they are servitor ship, friendship, parental and conjugal. So these are the four positive and active relationships that one can develop with Krishna. One can develop a relationship with Krishna thinking that Krishna is the master and he himself is the servant. One can also think of Krishna as a friend, one can even think of Krishna as a son and one can even think of Krishna as his lover. And Krishna actually has given us the freedom to develop a relationship with him.
ye yathā māṁ prapadyante
tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham [BG 4.11]
As one surrenders unto me, as one develops his relation to me accordingly I will reciprocate.
So one has the freedom to develop his relationship with Krishna. It is not that since Krishna is God He is very remote and no one can ever come close to Him. No, Krishna is not that kind of a great personality. In the material nature, a great personality is difficult to approach. In the material nature, the greater one is or most famous and important one is, the more difficult it becomes to approach him. But that is not the case with the Supreme Personality of Godhead or that is not the case with the spiritual nature. In the spiritual nature, the spiritual personalities are very easily accessible, very easily available. The Supreme Personality of Godhead has become so easily accessible that He has given everyone the chance or freedom to decide for himself how he wants to develop his relationship with Krishna. That freedom has been given to the individual, but in order to develop that relationship with Krishna one must perform devotional service, the process of devotional service in practice, Sadhana bhakti.
One has the freedom to develop his loving relationship with Krishna but in order to develop his loving relationship with Krishna one must become free from his material attachment. And the process to become free from material attachment is called Vaidi-Bhakti, devotional service in practice.
Unless and until one becomes free from material attachment he cannot develop his genuine spiritual relationship with Krishna. In order to develop a spiritual relationship with Krishna one must become free form material attachment. And the way to become free from material attachment is Sadhana-Bhakti. If one does not practice this Sadhana-bhakti and directly wants to develop a relationship with Krishna then that is called Sahajiya, taking it very cheaply, taking Krishna very cheaply. We must understand that therefore Krishna is telling here that always know that I am the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna is telling them that you can think of me as your son but at the same time remember that I am the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It is not that one should try to develop relationship with Krishna remaining on the material platform then we are actually running the risk of mistaking Krishna to be an ordinary mundane living being. If we want to elevate ourselves to transcendental platform, then we must recognize Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And then as we develop our relationship, we will be elevated to that platform.
So here Prabhupāda is pointing out the only way to become free from material bondage is to develop a loving relationship with Krishna by constantly remembering him, by constantly thinking about him. Going back to Godhead is not difficult. Krishna actually wants us to go back to the spiritual sky. Krishna wants us to go back to Godhead. Consider how simple the process is, Krishna is saying:
Janma karma ca me divyam
evam yo vetti tattvatah
tyaktva deham punar janma
naiti mam eti so 'rjuna [BG 4.9]
Janma karma ca me divyam - if one understands that my janma -my birth and my karma-my activities are divyam. If anyone can understand that my birth and my activities are divine then when he leaves his body-tyaktva deham, when he gives up his body, punar janma naiti mam eti so 'rjuna - When he gives up his body, he does not take birth again. So that is Krishna’s assurance to us.
If we simply understand that Krishna’s birth is divine, that is non material. Krishna’s birth is not like the birth of an ordinary human being but Krishna’s birth is divine - Krishna took birth out of His own sweet will. He did not have to take birth to come to this planet, He could have directly come as He had done many times before.
Many-many times Krishna had appeared in many-many wonderful ways. He appeared from Brahma’s nose as Varaha dev. He appeared from the pillar as Nrsimha dev. If you just understand that and if we understand the way Krishna acts is also divine, Krishna’s activities are not a chance action or karmic actions like our actions. We cannot really say positively what we are going to be tomorrow because all our actions are guided by Karma and by the superior controller and the modes of material nature.
Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ
karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ [BG 3.27]
So in one hand Krishna’s activities are divine. Krishna’s activities are completely independent of any law of nature, whereas our activities, every single action of ours is related to guna-karma. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ. All our actions are guided by the modes of material nature and our previous karma. As we acted in the past, accordingly we are susceptible through the reactions of those actions. And those reactions of our actions are guided by the modes of material nature. And that is how we all are functioning in this material nature.
Krishna’s activities are not like that. Krishna’s activities are not guided by any guna or any karma. So Krishna is reminding us that if you simply understand that my birth and my activities are divine, when you give up this body you will not have to come back to this material nature which means after our death will go back to the spiritual sky.
So this is how easy it is to go back to the spiritual sky. To go back to the spiritual sky again is not at all difficult. All we have to do is understand who Krishna is, recognize him as the Supreme Personality of Godhead and develop some loving relationship with him. And then we will not only go back to the spiritual sky, but in the spiritual sky we will be able to develop a very intimate loving relationship with Him. We will be able to not only perceive Him face to face but we will be able to play with Him, we will be able to eat with Him, we will be able to sleep with Him, we will be able to embrace Him. This is how easily Krishna makes Himself available. To consider how available Krishna makes Himself, we have to remember that Krishna is present in our hearts. That is how easily available Krishna is to us. Although we rejected him, although we do not want anything to do with Him but He has made Himself available to us.
So much so that wherever we are going, no matter how dirty that place is, no matter how difficult the condition is, no matter how degraded that situation is, Krishna goes with us. Even when one becomes a pig and stays a whole day and night in a pool of stool, Krishna goes with him and stays with him. This is how much he loves us. Can you imagine anyone if you’re in a pool of stool, he will also jump with you in a pool of stool with you? No one in this world loves anyone in that way.
When King Prataparudra heard that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu cured Vasudev Vipra who had leprosy and He embraced him, that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu embraced that leper and cured him by His touch. All Prataparudra’s doubts about Chaitanya Mahaprabhu were dispelled. Prataparudra, the king of Orissa had some doubts about Chaitanya Mahaprabhu being the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But when he heard about this pastime of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu embracing the leper and curing him, then King Prataparudra recognized Him without any doubt that – Yes! This is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And he gave the reason why - he says that curing a leper, even raising the dead has been done in the past by many great personalities. By personalities with great spiritual powers lepers have been cured, the dead have been revived but never ever did anyone embrace that person. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu embraced that leper and only God can display that kind of compassion. That compassion is not only flowing from upper to lower level but that compassion in a personified way is coming down and embracing that personality.
So this is how compassionate the Supreme Personality of Godhead is. And now He has made Himself available in our hearts at the depth of our own existence then why should he difficult to approach. If He Himself is making Himself that much available, then why should it be difficult to approach Him?
Therefore, to approach Krishna and develop a relationship with Him is not at all difficult.The only requirement is to desire that. Only requirement is to feel that He is there, that how much He cares for us, how much He loves us, that He is following us. Practically He is trying and running behind us and inviting us to come back to Him and telling us – “Please come back please come back to Me! My heart is breaking due to your separation.” This is how the Supreme Personality of Godhead cares for all living entities.
Remembering Krishna's Instructions
And if we show a little bit of inclination, little bit of willingness and eagerness to go back to Him then He will make all arrangements. As Prabhupada says, if we take one step towards Krishna then Krishna will take hundred steps to pick us up. Why hundred steps? Prabhupada says, he will take a thousand steps to come and pick us up. This is how Krishna wants us to go back to Him. But the bottom line, the final question is, do we really want to go back to Him and if we search for the answer at the depth of our heart then we will see that we do not. That is why instead of Krishna we are desiring so many things in this material nature. We are constantly desiring dhanam, janam and sundarim. So it is we who do not want to go back to Krishna. But Krishna is always waiting for us to go back to him like a loving father.Not only like a loving father, a supreme, loving father.
So today is Krishna’s Janamastami. Let us try to understand how divine Krishna’s birth is and Krishna’s activities are, how wonderful, how wonderfully Krishna performed His activities. And just by remembering His wonderful activities we can actually understand that He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And if we can simply recognize Him as the Supreme Personality of Godhead and place ourselves in relation to that recognition, if we become humble and submit ourselves knowing that He is the supreme and we are just a fragmental part and parcel of that Supreme Personality then we will become free from all material bondage and we will become elevated to the spiritual sky!
I wanted to make another point - Prabhupāda in this purport is pointing out, the best way to submit ourselves to Krishna and the best way to remember Krishna is by accepting Krishna’s teachings as he gave them in the Bhagavad Gita. So if we want to really celebrate Krishna’s Janmastami festival then you must make a resolution that from now on we will follow Krishna’s instructions in Bhagavad Gita to the point and will not deviate from that by even a fraction of an inch.
Of all of Krishna’s instruction, the most instruction is, the most important instruction is
sarva-dharman parityajya
mam ekam saranam vraja
aham tvam sarva-papebhyo
moksayisyami ma sucah [BG 18.66]
And "man-mana bhava mad-bhakto
mad-yaji mam namaskuru." [BG 9.34]