Contents:
- Lord Balarāma - Protector of the Devotees
- Krishna's Expansion as Balarāma
- The Aim of Religion - To Love God
- Lord Balarāma's Divine Appearance
Lord Balarāma - The Protector of the Devotees
Yes, God has an elder brother. Not only does God have an elder brother, but he also has his father, mother, grandfather, uncles, aunts, and so forth. Actually, why shouldn’t God have them? In order to enjoy one needs his associates around him. One cannot enjoy alone. So when God wants to enjoy, He expands into many. That is why in the Upanishad this fact has been established that one became many. “Ekoham bahuśyāma” [Chandogya Upanishad]. The Lord, although He is one, He became many. -H.H. Bhakti Charu Swami
Srila Prabhupada on Lord Balarama's Appearance Day
Amongst various names of the relatives, the name of Rāma or Balarāma, eldest brother of Lord Kṛṣṇa, is added with the words “the Personality of Godhead” because Lord Balarāma is the immediate expansion of viṣṇutattva as prakāśa-vigraha of Lord Kṛṣṇa. The Supreme Lord, although one without a second, expands Himself as many other living beings. The viṣṇu-tattva living beings are expansions of the Supreme Lord, and all of them are qualitatively and quantitatively equal with the Lord. But expansions of the jīva-śakti, the category of the ordinary living beings, are not at all equal with the Lord. One who considers the jīva-śakti and the viṣṇu-tattva to be on an equal level is considered a condemned soul of the world. Śrī Rāma, or Balarāma, is the protector of the devotees of the Lord. Baladeva acts as the spiritual master of all devotees, and by His causeless mercy the fallen souls are delivered. Śrī Baladeva appeared as Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu during the advent of Lord Caitanya, and the great Lord Nityānanda Prabhu exhibited His causeless mercy by delivering a pair of extremely fallen souls, namely Jagāi and Mādhāi. Therefore it is particularly mentioned herein that Balarāma is the protector of the devotees of the Lord. By His divine grace only one can approach the Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and thus Śrī Balarāma is the mercy incarnation of the Lord, manifested as the spiritual master, the savior of the pure devotees. [Purport to SB 1.14.29]
H.H BCS: The question arises- who is Lord Balaram? Lord Balaram is the elder brother of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Actually, when we say this to a layman, he will immediately frown at this comment and will say well how can God have an older brother? When most of the people do not even believe that God has a form, especially in the western world, they practically do not even believe in the existence of God then when they hear that we are celebrating the appearance day of God’s elder brother I am sure they will be completely flabbergasted.
But yes, God has an elder brother. Not only does God have an elder brother, but he also has his father, mother, grandfather, uncles, aunts, and so forth. Actually, why shouldn’t God have them? In order to enjoy one needs his associates around him. One cannot enjoy alone. So when God wants to enjoy, He expands in many. That is why in the Upanishad this fact has been established that one became many. “Ekoham bahuśyāma” [Chandogya Upanishad].
The Lord, although He is one, He became many. Why? He is “anandamaya abhyasad”, that He is anandamaya, that He is the Supreme enjoyer And also it has been pointed out that the Lord in order to enjoy His bliss, He expands Himself into many and they are His intimate associates in the spiritual sky. This is actually a very wonderful and profound sign on the subject of the spiritual nature and the spirit soul. So the Supreme Spirit Krishna, He is not only anandmaya abhyasad or supreme enjoyer, but He is also “rasobay saar”- He is the source of all the mellows. Actually, enjoyment is related to mellows or rasas.
Those rasas are generally twelve in number and there are five principal rasas and 7 secondary rasas. Those 5 principal rasas are santa, dasya, sakhya, vatsalya and madhurya. The mellow of neutrality, servitorship, friendship, parental, and conjugal. Above servitorship is friendship, and above friendship is parental, and above parental is conjugal. So conjugal is the highest of all mellows that is the Lord’s dealing with His eternal lovers, the cowherd damsels of Vrindavan. So in order to enjoy, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the reservoir of all pleasure and all the transcendental mellows, expands into many.
His first expansion is Balarama. When Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead expands Himself first He expands into Balarama and then the further expansions take place through Balarama.
Actually, Balarama expands into five features and his first expansion is Balarama then his expansion is mulaSankarshan or original Sankarshan. Then He expands into Karanodakshayi Vishnu, then to Garbhodakshayi Vishnu then Kshirodakshayi Vishnu and then Ananta Shesha. So expanding himself in these five different forms Balarama actually renders service to Krishna. Although Balarama is Krishna’s expansion but Balarama is the source of all the service of Krishna and any paraphernalia that is used in serving Krishna, that is actually an expansion of Balarama.
When you offer aratik, the paraphernalia is actually an expansion of Balarama. The chamara, the bell, and lamp are expansions of Balarama. So anything that is used in serving Krishna, even this singhasana is an expansion of Balarama. The throne where Krishna is situated is an expansion of Balarama. Krishna’s bed Ananta Shesha is an expansion of Balarama. So everything that is used in rendering devotional service to Krishna is actually an expansion of Balarama. It is a very profound realization of the Absolute Truth so unless and until one has the basic knowledge it is difficult to understand. Unfortunately, just in one meeting it is not possible to explain the science of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, or the Absolute Truth to the fullest extent. That is why we always request people to read books. We have many books to reveal our philosophy or establish our points that we are not blindly following a certain dogmatic process. We are not blind followers. We are following the highest philosophy that has been propounded by the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself and thus we are following the Absolute Truth. There is no room for imagination; there is no room for mental speculation or any kind of concoction.
This knowledge that we are practicing is flowing in a disciplic succession, Guru Parampara. In this disciplic succession the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the original guru. And then He imparted the knowledge to the first created being of the universe Brahma, and then Brahma gave the knowledge to his son Narada. Narada gave this knowledge to Vyasadeva, the compiler of the entire Vedas and who simplified the Vedas for the people of this age of Kali. And this way the knowledge is flowing in a bonafide disciplic succession and the support of this knowledge are the scriptures. Whatever we follow, or whatever we preach and propagate is based on those scriptures. We never say anything just out of our mental concoction. Whatever we say is supported by the scriptures.
Krishna's Expansion as Balarāma
I was saying that it is completely baffling to a layman, especially a man from the west who is not very familiar with the spiritual culture. When we say that today is the appearance day of God’s elder brother, it is baffling but still we see that the intelligent class of people are joining this movement and celebrating the birthday of the Lord’s elder brother. So that shows that it is not just a blind, superstitious ritual, this is not some kind of superstitious ritual, this is a practice of the Absolute Truth. And one thing we can very boldly announce is that if anybody gives us a chance to preach to him for seven days and if he listens to us we can guarantee that he is going to become a devotee of Krishna. Or in one word we can say a devotee of the Lord.
Actually, when we say Krishna we mean God. When we say God it is not a Hindu God or Muslim God or Christian God and so forth or an Indian God or Russian god or Chinese God. God is God. He is the only one. He is the Supreme Personality. Although He is one but He has innumerable names according to His innumerable pastimes and innumerable qualities. Even in English we notice God is addressed as the Almighty or Omnipotent. Almighty and omnipotent are the names of God. As God is all powerful, He is the Almighty or Omnipotent. So, in the same way God is all cognizant that is why he is omniscient. In the same way, in Sanskrit God’s different attributes and qualities have been analyzed in different names. And Krishna in Sanskrit means all attractive. Now God is all attractive that is why He is Krishna. It is not that when we call him Krishna, He is one personality and when we call Him somebody else, like Jehovah He becomes another personality. A self-realized soul, a person who knows God will be able to see that Krishna and any other name of the Lord is addressing the same personality.
And although the Supreme Personality of Godhead is one and without a second. And there is no one equal to Him or superior to Him that is another attribute of the Lord. In Sanskrit it has been described as “aushomurdha”, “aushom” means one who doesn’t have an equal and “urdha” means above. There is no one superior to the Lord or equal to the Lord. Although He is one and without any second, He expands Himself into innumerable forms. And although He expands Himself into innumerable forms, He still remains that original Supreme Personality. He expands with His inconceivable potency but still remains the same personality.
It is not that His expansions are different from Him, His expansions are identical to Him. Krishna is God, and Narayana also is God. Now Krishna and Narayana are nondifferent. Krishna and Vishnu are non-different. Krishna and Rama are non-different. Krishna and Varaha, Nrsimha, Kurma, or Vamana - They are all non-different. It is one personality that expands into many different forms. Of course, from the material point of view it appears to be impossible or imaginary but even from a material perspective we can understand by some analogy or by some example that we can see that one man can have different features or different appearances.
Let us consider a high court judge - when he is in the court, he is the judge and everybody is seeing him with great awe and reverence and he is addressed as my Lord. When the same person goes home then someone is a son, someone is his wife, and someone is his daughter and someone is his mother and so forth. Now the same person in the high court appears to be one, when in the club he appears to be in another form and when he goes home then he is present in another. If in the material platform we can see a different individual may have different features although he is the same personality so what to speak about the Supreme Personality of Godhead who has inconceivable potencies and who can do whatever He wants. When God wants, He can expand Himself into innumerable forms. It is possible for Him. Even though He expands Himself, His potency does not deteriorate. Although the Lord is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and He expands Himself into innumerable forms with equal potency, but still He remains the same original personality. “Govindam Adi Purusham” – [Brahma Samhita].
Now, on the material platform it is impossible to understand how a person can expand himself into innumerable forms, and still remain the same. On the material platform we see that when we take something away from something it diminishes. When we add something to something, it increases. On the spiritual platform, it is the absolute platform. And on the absolute platform everything is absolute. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is absolute, His expansions are absolute, His nature is absolute, His paraphernalia is absolute, His pastimes are absolute, His name is absolute, everything is absolute.
Now it is inconceivable because from the material platform we cannot conceive of the spiritual nature. In mathematics we find something that actually defines the spiritual nature. In mathematics there is a symbol, there is a concept of infinity. Now that infinity, when we take something away from infinity it remains as infinite, when we multiply infinity by something it remains infinite, when we subtract something from infinity it remains infinite. So this infinity, in mathematics where they are using this expression – this means that no mathematical law ultimately applies. Even the greatest mathematician does not know what this infinity actually is. Their concept is that beyond this nature at a certain point where all the laws of mathematics do not apply and that is infinity. Actually, from our point of view and from our understanding, this infinity is the absolute and is actually God. So if we apply this principle, you multiply God, God is multiplied into different forms, and God is expanded into different forms, but still He remains that Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
With His inconceivable potency, He remains unchanging and eternally the same. Now that Supreme Personality of Godhead expands Himself first as Balarama. And when the Lord appears in this nature to perform His pastimes, He comes to this material nature to perform His transcendental pastimes in order to attract the living entities.
We have rejected the Supreme Personality of Godhead and that is why we have fallen into this material nature and we are suffering. But God who is our supreme father, or dear most friend, or dear most lover who never rejects us. Although we have rejected Him, although we have forgotten Him, but He did not reject us nor did He forget us. Although we leave Him, He goes wherever we go. And that is why the Lord is present in everybody’s heart in the form of Paramatma, the Supersoul.
Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati [BG 18.61] Krishna is telling Arjuna in Bhagavad Gita, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is saying – I am the Supersoul and I am present in everybody’s heart. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is present in everybody’s heart and is waiting for the living entity to turn his face towards Him.
Rejecting God, we all are suffering. The way to get rid of this miserable condition is to surrender to the Lord, or establish our lost relationship with the Lord. When we re-establish our lost relationship with the Lord, then immediately we become joyful. Of course here again, I will repeat that same point, there is no question of a Hindu God or a Muslim God or a Christian God and so and so forth. God is God. Religion actually means the process to establish our relationship with the Lord. It is not that different religions have different Gods or different religions are showing different ways to approach God. No. There is one God and the way to approach Him is also one. So in that respect there is one religion.
Unfortunately, less intelligent people have made all kinds of discrimination and sectarianism. They have imposed all kinds of sectarian concepts on different religious truths, or religious processes which has caused a lot of damage to this world, and which is completely bewildering innocent people. The real religion is one and the real religion’s aim is to take everyone back to Godhead, and help everyone to establish a loving relationship with the Lord. That is religion, and everybody must follow that religion.
The Aim of Religion - To Love God
If we do, then we are not on any misconception about religion. Nowadays, different kinds of religions are simply causing disparity instead of unity. Once when Prabhupada was in America, some Christian priest asked Prabhupada, “Why are you converting these Christian boys and girls into Hindus?” Then Prabhupada said, “No. I am not converting any Christian into Hindus or Christian into Jews or Jews into Muslims and so and so forth.” He said, “I’m simply making better Christians out of the Christians, better Jews out of the Jews, better Hindus out of the Hindus and better Muslims out of the Muslims.”
When we practice this process of loving devotional service to the Lord, then we are perfectly situated in whatever religion we have inherited from our parents. And when we begin to love God, then we become a perfect Christian, we become a perfect Jew, we become a perfect Muslim, and we become a perfect Hindu. When we reject God and get caught up with all kinds of rituals, that cause problems, instead of creating peace and prosperity in the human society, it destroys the human culture. And that is exactly what is happening all over the world. In the name of religion they are doing all kinds of irreligious activities. Instead of approaching God, they are going away from God.
To teach one how they can go back to Godhead, how to develop a loving relationship with the Lord, He comes down to this material nature. Sometimes He, Himself comes, sometimes He sends His messengers, or His intimate associates. And whenever they come, they teach the same principle. And that principle is- we are suffering being isolated from the Lord and if we want to be rid of that suffering then we have to establish a loving relationship with the Lord. So in essence, all the religions are teaching the same principle - how to love God. When we consider the principle teaching, the most important instruction of Jesus, we see what the final instruction or the most important instruction of Jesus Christ is - Love the Father, the Lord, and God with all thy heart, soul and mind, in entirety. So the same principle of how to love God is the principle of religion. Love the father, the Lord, God with all thy heart, soul, and mind. And in the same way Krishna comes, and He gives the same instruction in Bhagavad Gita.
Sarva-dharman parityajya
mam ekam saranam vraja
aham tvam sarva-papebhyo
moksayisyami ma sucah
[BG 18.66]
“Give up all kind of nonsense activities that you are caught up in, and simply surrender unto Me.” Sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja. A very precise instruction - sarva-dharman parityajya - give up all kind of so called religious activities, and just surrender unto Me because religion actually means to be surrendered to the Lord. So when we become surrendered to the Lord, then we are perfectly situated in our religious conviction.
And when we do that, then what is the benefit? “Aham tvam sarva-papebhyo moksayisyami ma sucah”- I will deliver you from all your sinful reactions, do not worry about it. God is giving us the assurance that the moment you surrender unto Him, He will take care of us. So He is so merciful that He comes down Himself, sometimes He sends His sons, sometimes He sends is friends, and sometimes He sends His associates, and they come and give us the same teachings. “Sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja” - give up your nonsense activities, and just surrender unto the Lord.
And whoever came in the bona fide line—if somebody comes, an un-bona fide person, and claims himself to be God or something, then he will teach something different from these instructions. And this how we can make out who is bona fide and who is not bona fide. Nowadays, we see that there are so many gods appearing, like mushrooms, in the Western world. It has actually become a very good business nowadays. To come from India and start a religious sect, money is made pretty quickly. Today, when I was driving from Lugano to Zurich, I just saw one such (Bhagavan’s) castle on the way, but the thing is when we analyze their teachings, it does not fall in line with Krishna’s teachings, and we know that it is a farce. So non - bona fide teachings will always collide with the instruction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
So in the same way, when the supreme king or the Supreme Personality of Godhead sends someone, He also speaks about the Supreme Personality of Godhead and no one else—especially not about himself. He speaks about God and God’s associates, God’s nature, God’s paraphernalia, God’s pastimes. Everything connected to God he describes, and thus, he helps the living entities to develop a loving relationship with the Lord. That we have noticed also very wonderfully in Srila Prabhupada, our spiritual master.
Prabhupada came, actually, Prabhupada went to America at a time when many Indian swamis went to America to start their religious business, but the difference between them and Prabhupada is that Prabhupada never “blew his own trumpet" like the others. When we see the other religious groups, we notice that they are all named after the person who was propagating that cult. We can consider every single religious group in the West. It is Mahesh Yogi, Rajneesh, Bal Yogi—they had their own society. But this society that was propagated, that was established by Prabhupada, is the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. It is not an International Society for Bhaktivedanta Consciousness or International Society for Prabhupada Consciousness. It is the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.
Prabhupada never presented himself as the center point. Prabhupada always presented Krishna for many, many years. Even today, what to talk about in the Western world, even in India, people do not know that this International Society for Krishna Consciousness was established by His Divine Grace Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. This is because Prabhupada remained always in the background, and he put Krishna in the front. Prabhupada simply presented Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead and that is why it worked.
When all, practically all, other religious societies are just simply fizzling out, this International Society is becoming stronger and stronger. As time passes, this society will become stronger and stronger because this society is simply glorifying the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It is not a cult that worships some individual and puts the individual in center and everything is done for the sake of the individual. Yes, it is done for the individual and that individual is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And that is why everyone is so perfectly situated, no one is dissatisfied in this society. Actually, if this were a cult, if this were some un-bona fide, ritualistic society, then at least I know that I would not have come to this society.
Actually in the beginning, I had my doubts also and, what to talk about doubts, when I first saw the devotees, I liked them. That was in 1970 in Hamburg, but I never thought of joining the movement. And then, when I decided to take to spiritual life and went back to India, I was searching for one and a half years for a guru. But I never thought that I would join ISKCON.
And finally when one day I received Prabhupada’s books, I realized that this is the philosophy. And I realized that this is the process that I was looking for all this while because this is dealing with the Absolute Truth. When we look at the society from a distance, we may have all kinds of misconceptions. And I do not blame anyone for having misconceptions; yes, we are strange with our shaved head, with our sikha, with our saffron robes. Yes, we do look strange. We look strange from a distance, but when one comes close to us, I’m sure he will see that after all, we are not that strange. Or even if we may be a little strange, we are not that bad. After all a person who doesn’t eat meat, who doesn’t take intoxication, who doesn’t indulge in illicit sex, and who doesn’t gamble must be a good man. Only a good man can follow these four regulative principles. So my honest request to everyone is that please don’t judge us from a distance. Please try to come close to us and find out for yourself what we are actually doing.
I wanted to speak on Lord Balarama’s appearance, but as I mentioned that for an initial speech, first, I have to establish that Krishna is God, and then we can go into His pastimes. If we do not understand that Krishna is God or that God is the Supreme Personality with form, variegated qualities, entourage, and paraphernalia, then it is impossible to go deeper into that philosophy. Lord Balarama, who is the elder brother of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, appeared before Krishna.
Actually, before coming to this material world, to this universe, to this earth planet, Krishna made the arrangements and before coming Himself, He sent his father and mother, or I would say fathers and mothers, and then He sent His elder brother and other relatives and friends, and then Krishna appeared Himself. Balarama, was actually the seventh child of Vasudeva and Devaki.
Vasudeva and Devaki are the father and mother of Krishna. And it so happens that when the Earth was very much troubled by the tyrannical demons, then the demigods along with Vasudha (Mother Earth) went to Lord Brahma in the form of a cow, and with tears in her eyes, she told Brahma about her distress—how the demons are troubling her. Brahma then decided to go to the Lord and, along with other demigods and Vasudha Devi, went to the Milk Ocean. And there, Brahma began to offer his prayers to the Lord. Then the Lord instructed Brahma in the heart that very soon, He would descend to rid the Earth planet of miseries, and he would establish Dharma.
He asked Brahma to tell the demigods to take birth in the Yadu and Vrsni dynasties. So this way the Lord predicted His advent, and He made arrangements that before He came, the other associates of His should take birth on this Earth planet, and then He sent all His associates and friends as I mentioned - His father and mother got married, Vasudeva and Devaki got married. Now the question may arise how come the Lord has a father and mother?
Actually, the lord is ‘aja,’ meaning unborn but in order to perform His pastimes, the Lord takes birth as a child of some of His devotees. This has been explained in the Bhagavad Gita by saying, “ajo'pi sann avyayatma.”[BG 4.6].
Ajo means unborn - ajo'pi sann avyayatma bhutanam adi isvaram - “although I am unborn, eternal, and the Supreme Lord of all beings, still, in order to give pleasure to My devotees, I take birth by My internal potency.” In the material nature we are born, and we are changing from one body to another due to our Karma - due to our previous actions. But God does not take birth by being influenced by Karma. He appears by His causeless desire. He simply desires to be born, and He appears through some of His devotees, those who wanted to have Him as their son. Devotees are related to the Lord in different mellows as I mentioned.
Those mellows are neutrality, servitorship, friendship, parental, and conjugal. Now some devotees are related to the Lord in parental mellow. Some devotees want to see the Lord, and want to have the Lord as their own son. When the devotee desires that, then the Lord also allows them to have Him as their son. And so the Lord takes birth through them as their child.
When a son was born of Devaki, then Vasudeva true to his commitment, took the son to Kamsa. And Kamsa in the beginning, he was rather mellowed down, and he felt – “The eighth son of Devaki is going to kill me, so I have to be afraid of only the eighth son. This is the first son, so I have nothing to fear from him. So he gave the son back to Devaki and Vasudeva and said -“You take him back because I don’t want to do anything to him because he is not going to cause any harm to me.” Narada who is a great devotee of the Lord wanted to hasten the advent of the Lord. So he tricked Kamsa to understand that there is no way of knowing the order that the eighth son is going to come in—was it counted from the forward way—in a forward progression or in backward progression. The first son could be the eighth son counting from the last son. So this way he convinced Kamsa about that, and Kamsa immediately went and killed the child—and not only killed the child, he put Vasudeva and Devaki in prison.
In this way, year after year, they were giving birth to a son, and they were brutally killed by Kamsa. Six sons were killed one after the other. And the seventh son is actually Baladeva, Balarama, Krishna’s elder brother. When Balaram was seven months old in the womb of Devaki, then by Krishna’s instruction, Yogamaya, Krishna’s internal potency, took Balarama from Devaki’s womb and transplanted him in Rohini’s womb. Rohini is another wife of Vasudeva who was staying in Vrindavan under the protection of Nanda Maharaja.
Lord Balarāma's Divine Appearance
It has been analyzed why Balarama first came into Devaki’s womb and then into Rohini’s womb. It has been described that Balarama makes the arrangement for Krishna - for Krishna’s bath and Krishna’s paraphernalia. Before Krishna arrived in Devaki’s womb, Balarama went there and made all the arrangements for Krishna to come. After making the arrangement, He went to Rohini’s womb. And then Krishna came as Devaki’s son, and Balarama was born as Rohini’s son. So in this way, Balarama appeared. Today is the day when Balarama appeared in Vrindavan. Balarama is actually Krishna’s first expansion, and the same Balarama again expanded Himself as the Ksirodakasayi Vishnu. And as Ksirodakasayi Vishnu, He is present in everybody’s heart as Paramatma, Supersoul. So the Supersoul in our heart is the expansion of Balarama or Balarama Himself. And this Supersoul is the original guru, caitya guru, the Lord is present in our heart as the spiritual master.
Balarama is this spiritual master. And actually Balarama is the shelter of all living entities. So when the living entities go back to Godhead, then first they go back to Balarama. And through Balarama they go to Krishna. And this Balarama appeared again as Nityananda prabhu. Krishna appeared as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Balarama appeared as Nityananda prabhu.
Brajendra Nandana jei, saci-suta hoilo sei,
Balarama hoilo nitai
[a song by Narotam Das Thakur]
Brajendra Nandan Krishna became the son of Saci Mata and Balarama became Nityananda. So Mahaprabhu—in Mahaprabhu’s pastimes, one has to approach Mahaprabhu through Nityananda prabhu.
“Heno nitai bine bhai
Radha-Krishna paite nai”
[a song by Narotam Das Thakur]
Without the mercy of Nityananda prabhu, one cannot approach Radha Krishna. That is, without the mercy of Balarama, without the sanction of Balarama, one cannot approach Radha Krishna. Because our original shelter is Balarama. So we have to go back to our original shelter in spiritual sky because Balarama is the source of all the living entities. And then from Balarama we are engaged, by Balarama’s mercy we are engaged in devotional service to Krishna.
Today is the appearance day of Lord Balarama who came very mercifully to help us go back to Godhead. So let us take full advantage of His advent and glorify Him so that His mercy can spread all over the world and thus the whole world can benefit. Hare Krishna!