Contents:
- Understanding Krishna in Truth
- Soulful Inquiries United with Beams of Wisdom
Understanding Krishna In Truth
Krishna can come in any way He wants. There are many other incarnations. How did He come? There is Varahadev, Nrsimhadeva. How did He come? How did Nrsimhadeva come? He came from a pillar. Similarly there is the fish incarnation of the Lord. How did He come? He just appeared to Satyavrata Manu. And so in this way the Lord can come in any way He wants but sometimes He takes birth. It appears that He took birth but He doesn’t actually take birth. Krishna Himself is saying in Bhagavad- Gita -janma karma ca me divyam, evaṁ yo vetti tattvataḥ, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janmanaiti mām eti so ’rjuna [BG 4.9]. He is saying that when one understands that My birth and My activities are divine, he doesn’t have to take birth again. So see, if we understand that Krishna’s birth is divine then we will become free from the cycle of birth and death and Krishna also says that - ajo ’pi sann avyayātmā, bhūtānām īśvaro ’pi san, prakṛtiṁ svām adhiṣṭhāya, sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā [BG 4.6] He is saying ajo ’pi sann - means although I am unborn, I am not born, I never was born and nor do I ever take birth - ajo ’pi sann; avyayātmā - I am inexhaustible; and bhūtānām īśvaro ’pi san - I am the Lord of all the living entities - bhūtānām īśvaro ’pi san; prakṛtiṁ svām adhiṣṭhāya- taking shelter of my prakrti, yogamāya; sambhavāmi- means I manifest; ātma- māyayā - by my internal potency, yogamāya; It appears that Krishna takes birth. - H.H Bhakti Charu Swami
Srila Prabhupada - Understanding Krishna
So by understanding the transcendental activities of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, by Kṛṣṇa consciousness, one can become liberated. And what is the result of that liberation? That is also spoken in the Eighth Chapter of Bhagavadgītā. The Lord says, mām upetya tu kaunteya: "My dear Arjuna, Kaunteya, son of Kuntī, please note it that mām upetya, anyone who comes to Me," mām upetya tu kaunteya duḥkhālayam aśāśvataṁ nāpnuvanti [Bg. 8.15], "that he does not come again to this material world, which is duḥkhālayam, duḥkhālayam, a place of misery.
"This material world is certified by the Supreme Personality of Godhead as the place of misery. Now, if this place is made for that purpose, just to give us miseries only, how you can make it a place of happiness? The place is meant for that purpose. So Lord Kṛṣṇa says that "Somebody, anybody who comes back to Me, he hasn't got to come back again to this place of miseries. -Srila Prabhupada in New York, July 25, 1966, BG4.9.]
Soulful Inquiries United with Beams of Wisdom
H.H BCS: It is like a drama. It appears that somebody died on the stage but did he really die? No. Similarly it appears that Krishna took birth. Was He really born? No. In Kaliyuga generally the Lord doesn’t come to perform His Lila in that way. He comes covering His identity; He comes not as the Lord but He comes as a devotee and that is Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. On this altar do you know who They are? They are Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is Krishna and Nityananda Prabhu is Balarama.
So they came but they didn’t come as the Lord Themselves; They came as devotees to teach us how to become a devotee. In this age of Kali, the Lord has another incarnation that is the Holy Name - Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. At the end of Kali the Lord will come as Kalki avatar. What is the duration of the age of Kali? Do you know? The duration of the age of Kali is 432,000 years, out of that only 5,000 years just went by. So there are still 427,000 years to go. At the end of Kaliyuga, the Lord will appear as Kalki avatar and he will - paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām. He will annihilate the “duṣkṛtām”, the demons and by protecting the devotees He will again establish dharma.
Question: Why is this material nature called a prison house? What was our crime? So is everyone a sinner?
H.H BCS: Yes very good point. Everyone goes to prison because of some crime? Why is a criminal sent to a prison? Why is he punished? To rectify his mistake, isn’t it? Through punishment he realizes what he shouldn’t do. So this is the point you made. Everyone in this material nature is a sinner; yes, that is true because otherwise we wouldn’t have come here. If I am not a criminal I wouldn’t go to a prison house. Similarly material nature is compared to a prison house and we are in this prison because of our crime. Can you tell me what is the definition of crime or what actually is crime? Crime means to break the law. Who makes the laws? Generally, the king or the government makes the laws. So similarly the ultimate law is made by Krishna, the King of Kings. God is the King of Kings and He makes the ultimate law and that law is called Dharma. Now, one may be in the prison but if he abides by that, “I have learn’t my lesson and I am not going to disobey the king anymore, I will follow him, I will abide by his instruction”, then will he be punished in the prison? No. Then the King will say, “Okay let him go out. He has become rectified.” Similarly when Krishna sees that we are becoming obedient to Him then He frees us from the material bondage and not only does He frees us from the material bondage, Krishna says, “Let him come back to My palace.” The King not only releases the prisoner but if the King says, “Okay this is a very good prisoner; this is a very good person; bring him to my palace; let him live with me.” Won’t that be wonderful? That is what Krishna does when one becomes obedient to Him, when one surrenders unto Him and when one becomes His devotee.
Question: What is the surety that we will go to heaven?
H.H BCS: Actually our destination is not heaven. Heaven is also in the material nature. Heaven is also part of the prison. In a prison you have some better facility. Sometimes we become a first-class prisoner and the first class prisoner gets some better facility but it is still a prison. So really what we need to do or what we want to do is to get out of the prison house altogether and now as you are asking what is the surety? So I just corrected - not that we want to go to heaven, we want to go back to the spiritual world. The surety is that there are so many examples. So many in the past have received that result. From that we get to know that if I also act in that same way, I will also get the same result. You may say, “Well how can I trust?” Well! That trust, that faith you have to have but one thing is that when you start practicing the process then you will experience that - yes, you are becoming free- your life is becoming better, your facilities are increasing just by becoming a devotee of the Lord. When you see that all these wonderful things are happening, your faith becomes stronger, but initially you have to start with the faith that it will work, if I act in this way it will work.
Question: It is said that Krishna “died”. Please clarify this pastime.
HH BCS: As I told you that it is a drama that He was playing, it is an act He was playing. His appearance was a drama. All that He did was a kind of a drama and then at the end when He left that was also the part of the drama.
The way it happened is Krishna was lying under a tree and His feet which are the color of lotuses (pink), were sticking out of the grass and a hunter mistook those feet of Krishna’s to be a rabbit’s and shot an arrow and that arrow pierced His foot and Krishna (apparently) died.
That is why I wanted to make that point clear that His appearance, His birth is “divyam”. His pastimes, His apparent death also is a pastime so that it seems that Krishna left, Krishna died in that way but see how the reactions take place.
The devotees know that it is Krishna’s pastimes. Krishna - what to speak of killing all the demons, lifting Govardhan Hill, performing all kinds of wonderful feats. , even on the battlefield of Kuruksetra, Krishna’s whole body was pierced with arrows. In the South, in Madras there is a temple called Parthasarathi temple and in the temple the deity of Krishna is pierced all over because after the battle of Kurukshetra, Krishna actually came at that place and at that time His whole body was pierced with arrows. Although he was not fighting, He was just the charioteer of Arjuna; so many arrows were shot and He was hit; nothing happened to Krishna when His whole body was pierced.
And now, just a single arrow, that too, not of a warrior or Maharathi like Duryodhan or Bhishma or Karna or Drona or Kripa. He was just an ordinary hunter who just hunts some animals - his arrow just pierced Krishna’s foot and Krishna (apparently) died. Will anybody accept that? No. A devotee will not but an atheist who doesn’t believe in God, he will. So the atheist will get materials to become more atheistic and a devotee will get the opportunity to become more attached to Krishna.
Question: Why in India there is so much suffering, so much depravation?
HH BCS: Good point. Now tell me are they following Krishna? Are those people who are suffering accepting Krishna? Especially India is the land of dharma (Dharma Kshetra). In the land of dharma when one acts in a sinful way, the reaction of the sin is multiplied by thousands of times. Similarly on the Dharma Kshetra, if someone acts in a pious way the reaction of his piety is magnified by a thousand times. It is a land of dharma; in this land everyone is meant to be virtuous (dharmik) but when people become atheistic in this land, then naturally their suffering becomes very, very intense. Actually the land of India is the most glorious land. India used to rule over the entire Earth planet, even up to Parikshit Maharaja five thousand years ago.
The kings of India used to rule over the entire Earth planet not only the land part of the earth but including the oceans - sa sagara. Sa - means along with and Sagara - means ocean. The rulers of India used to rule over the entire Earth planet including the ocean. This land is most advanced spiritually therefore materially also this land was most advanced but unfortunately since people have rejected the path of dharma now, since people have rejected their submission to the Lord, since people have become atheistic, their suffering has become multiplied.
Now my point is - yes it is a cause of concern why people in India are suffering and my solution to that will be - let these people become God conscious; let this people become virtuous then India will become the greatest nation in the world.
Question: So Maharaj, what can we do?
HH BCS: Yes, very good, very good point. What can we do? I will correct it a little bit. Instead of asking “What we can do?” I will suggest you ask, “What I(you) can do?” What you can do is understand the message of the Vedas, understand the message of Bhagavad-Gita (which is the essence of the Vedas). If you understand Bhagavad-Gita, you have understood the Vedas perfectly. Similarly Srimad-Bhagavatam is another essence of the Vedas.
Let us stick to just the teachings of the Vedas; you understand it from Srimad Bhagavad-Gita and SrimadBhagavatam and by understanding, by mastering the subject then you can go out and teach this subject to others. By doing this you will create awareness. So it is a matter of educating people. People are not bad; the mass generally are innocent but when there is no proper direction, when there is no proper guidance, then the mass become misled. Consider what is happening today in India - people have become misled unfortunately. They are pious; they want to follow dharma; they want to become situated on the path of righteousness but there is no education. Tell me - is this education available in the schools? No. Is this education available the universities? No. Is this education available at home? No. How can we expect that people will get this knowledge? That is why we are establishing these temples and inviting you all to come. So that first you become the students and then you become the teachers and then you have to go out. It is a very noble intention that you have displayed. That is the right way to think that people are suffering, what can I do?
It is your real noble attitude the way you asked people are suffering what can I do to mitigate the suffering of these people. We are very happy that you displayed this attitude and that is what we have to do. Say, you see people are suffering from disease and then what do you do? You want to learn the cure and go out to treat them. So that is what we have to do; we have to teach people the right understanding, give them the right understanding and then their life will improve.
You will see these devotees have offered themselves and they are so much happier. I can tell you for myself, I was suffering, suffering like anything but since I came to this path; since I accepted this path - no more suffering, no more suffering. Everything is full of joy. In the material nature we all are suffering constantly. Tell me - does anybody go to the prison to enjoy? No. Why does one go to prison? To suffer but this suffering is meant to remind him that he is not meant to suffer and there is a way to real enjoyment.
You will also see it when you practice. You will see how your life improves; it becomes full of joy. And then you have to become a teacher. When you have become a master and PhD, then you have to go out and teach. And where do you teach? This knowledge is necessary not only in India; this education is needed all over the world all over the world. The Indians have this responsibility, as I mentioned. It is a Dharma Kshetra. Just by being born in India we have come very close to Krishna, to this process of Krishna consciousness. That is why it is the responsibility of the Indians to go out and teach.
Doesn’t a boy who is the son of a teacher get a better opportunity to become a teacher? Similarly Indians have a better opportunity to educate people with this science because they have been born in the family of teachers. So, now you teach not only the material subject but the spiritual subject also. Please come whenever you have time and whenever you are in Ujjain, please come here. Now that you have expressed your desire to become a teacher, we will pursue that you do become a teacher. Thank you. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna. All glories to Srila Prabhupada! Gaura Premanande Hari Hari bol!