Bhagavatam Rasamalayam: Counteracting Conflict Through The Power Of Love

He never demands, but always remains a servant

"Just try to understand this nicely. Why have we come to Iskcon? To get some material benefits? Why have we come to Iskcon? To get name and fame? No, I have come to Iskcon to become a follower of Mahaprabhu and under the guidance of Srila Prabhupada, to follow the path of devotional service. After that what Krishna will do with us, it is up to Him. Does any servant demand to his owner that you give me this? No, he doesn’t because he is a servant and he always remains a servant." - H.H. Bhakti Charu Swami

Srila Prabhupada on Conflict

The desire for material association arises from one’s propensity to deny that everything is God’s energy. Falsely imagining material sense objects to be separate from the Supreme Lord, one desires to enjoy them; such desire gives rise to conflict and quarrel in human society. This conflict inevitably gives rise to great anger, which makes human beings become foolish and destructive. Thus the actual goal of human life is quickly forgotten. A real Vaiṣṇava is always pure and faultless in character. However, in those places where nondevotees congregate there will undoubtedly be envious criticism of the devotional service of the Lord, and those who falsely attempt to analyze reality without the Supreme Personality of Godhead will create much disturbing noise in the name of philosophy. Therefore, one should remain in those places where the Supreme Lord is properly worshiped according to the Vedic standard. If everyone is dedicated to glorifying the Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, there will not be any impediment in mutual association. However, in a place where people have many different purposes besides the pleasure of the Supreme Lord, social dealings will certainly be disrupted.

One should therefore avoid the association of those who are inimical to devotional service; otherwise one will be frustrated in achieving the spiritual purpose of life. One who always keeps himself in the company of the devotees of the Lord is actually living alone. If one lives in a community where the only consideration is the pleasure of the Lord, then one can avoid the contradictory situations caused by many persons competing to satisfy their own material desires. -Excerpt from Srimad Bhagavatam 11.21.20

United by the Mercy of Srila Prabhupada

H.H BCS: By the mercy of Srila Prabhupada we are here and even this (spiritual) wealth is also rare for Brahma; “brahmaro durlabho prem”. So now the rarest form of love that even Brahma doesn’t have, what is that? That is Krishna Prem!

"Namo maha-vadanyaya krishna-prema-pradaya te

krishnaya krishna-chaitanya-namne gaura-tvishe namah"

How fortunate all the people are as you all have become connected to this path, and have the opportunity to serve at Mayapur Dham. This itself is a wonderful opportunity. Mayapur is place where the Lord resides and is called Bhagavat Dham which means this place doesn’t belong to this material world. Mayapur has come from the transcendental world to this material world. Vrindavan and Mayapur - there is no difference.

Sri-gauda-mandala-bhumi, jeba jane cintamani ( Prarathana – Narottama Das Thakur). Cintamani means transcendental world - cintamani-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vrksa. How is the transcendental world described? It is cintamani-prakara-sadmasu. Therefore there is no difference between Mayapur and Vrindavan. Mayapur is Vrindavan and Vrindavan is Mayapur. The only difference is that in Vrindavan Krishna is relishing the loving relationship with His devotees and this Krishna Prem in Mayapur, Krishna has come in the form of Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and very easily distributing that love, this is only the difference. That(Vrindavan) is Madhurya, where the Lord is enjoying with His devotees and that love is being distributed by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu(in Mayapur) – “Krishna-prema-pradayate”. This is a very big good fortune because to enter into the pastimes of Vrindavan is very very difficult. Only those who are nitya-siddha devotees, only they can enter into the Vrindavan and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has given that fortune or that eligibility to be provided to us, He has come and is giving it to everybody.

This is why Mahaprabhu is the most munificent. This means that if one is not a nitya-siddha then there is no entry into Vrindavan. Not only nitya-siddha in Vrindavan even Goddess Lakshmi cannot enter, then you can imagine the glory of Vrindavan.

Goddess Lakshmi said to Narayana - I want to see your rasa-lila. Narayana told her – Okay, then you have to be under some Gopi so that you can enter Vrindavan. Lakshmi says - I am Lakshmi so how can I be under someone, then Narayana told her - that then it is not possible for you to enter into Vrindavan. The only way to enter into Vrindavan is under “vraja jane anugata” – under the Gopis only one can entry and can get the mercy of the Lord.

Then what did Goddess Lakshmi do? Goddess Lakshmi felt hurt and started penance (tapasya) and with that tapasya, Lord Krishna became satisfied and appeared before her and asked Lakshmi - what happened? Why are you doing such severe penances? Then Goddess Lakshmi explained everything. Then what did Lord Krishna do? He placed Goddess Lakshmi on His chest and entered into Vrindavan. So on Krishna’s chest, Lakshmi is present and is known as Srivatsa. Now just imagine, to enter into Vrindavan how difficult it is and what is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu doing? He has opened it for everyone. If you are a follower of Mahaprabhu then only one can enter into Vrindavan.

Just try to understand this nicely. Why do we have come to Iskcon? To get some material benefits? Why do we have come to Iskcon? To get name and fame? No, I have come to Iskcon to become a follower of Mahaprabhu and under the guidance of Srila Prabhupada follow the path of devotional service. After that what Krishna will do with us it is up to Him. Does any servant demand to his owner that you give me this? No, he doesn’t because he is a servant and always remains the servant. That is why a devotee goes to the Lord and says “anyabhilasita sunyam”, I do not have any other desire, abhilash means desire. I don’t have any desire - anyabhilasita sunyam. Sunyam means nil. I do not have anything jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam. By the advent of jnana, knowledge what happens? Mukti – liberation. And by the influence of karma what happens bhukti.

Enjoying this material nature is the fruit of karma and by jnana, mukti comes. But a devotee wants neither bhukti nor mukti.

Bhukti-mukti-spriha vihina je bhakta, labhaite tako sanga anurakta (Saranagati – Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur) So this is what the mindset of a devotee should be. Now shall we all want to enjoy this material nature? If we enjoy material nature then what happens? One gets name, fame and wealth. If I do this then I will get this gain and if I do this I will be in a loss, so there is only thoughts about gain or loss. One will respect me and also worship me and I will get a reputed position but a devotee never thinks like that. And then comes famethat is - I should be famous so that I can guard this position. But what is the mindset of a devotee? We can see that Yudhistir Maharaj and the five Pandavas left everything and went into an exile. Bharat Maharaj also left everything and went away, so you can see here he is king, but what kind of a king is he? He is the king of the entire Earth planet but within a minute he left everything and went away. Who could do such a thing?

In the history of the world have we seen any king that has left his kingdom and went away? Only Bharat Maharaj is the one. It is said that, He (Bharat) is ―He Bhārata, nṛpatire sikhāyecho tumi, tyajite mukutdanda siṁhasan bhūmi dharite daridrabese – (from a poem by Rabindranath Tagore). This only happens in Bharat Varsha - He Bharat - nṛpatire sikhāyecho tumi. O Bharat Maharaj you have taught the kings tyajite mukutdanda siṁhasan. This is only available in the history of Bharat Varsha. Why? Because only in this Bharat Varsha was devotional service flourishing. No other country was familiar with this. Where does the detachment from material nature come from? It comes from being Krishna conscious.

When we get something bigger then there is no problem leaving the smaller things behind. Prabhupada used to say by the example of Bhagavad Gita that when you have a higher taste then you can leave the other ones which are not in line with Krishna. When we get Mahaprasad do we have any other appetite for other food items? But if one doesn’t have Mahaprasad or for the person for whom only eating is important then he will be busy with that only and he cannot give that up. That is why only a devotee can be desireless (free from material desire), anasaktasya visaya - this is the mindset of devotee. So if we want to progress in our devotional life what we have to do? We have to develop this kind of mindset at anytime we should be ready to leave everything and go tyajite mukutdanda siṁhasan but for what is this for? Only to serve Krishna.

Killing the Influence of Kali- Sankirtan & Surrender

Actually, you all have come leaving your home and leaving your family, friends and everyone. And what to say of those, whoever it may be, where in their home were treated like a prince, is it not? In their own home everyone is a prince. Why have we left those and come here? Why? Because we have a very important thing to do. We all have left everything and came to Iskcon. That we should remember all the time. In Iskcon we have come not to get anything, we have come to Iskcon to give everything. Whatever you may have, as per the capacity of that person. In return we don’t desire anything. If by doing these suppose sorrow or distress comes to us - I remember one line of Bhaktivinod Thakur which I am unable to recollect properly. It says - if in your service, My Lord even if sorrow comes to me that is also my fortune. By serving you even if I am distressed then that is also a good fortune because why has this sorrow has come to me? Because my senses are not being satisfied, so I am feeling this sorrow but My Lord if you are feeling happier then I am also happy.

So even though I am in sorrow and distress it doesn’t matter to me. So with this mindset we have to proceed in this path. So for this what should you all have to do? We have to serve the devotees. And if everyone develops this attitude then all are on the same platform. And in Iskcon, our master is Srila Prabhupada and we all are serving him and we have to see all others in the same way, as they are also serving Srila Prabhupada. Therefore, with this kind of mindset we all can, in unity, serve the Lord.

Always remember what Kali does, what is the other name of Kali it is “kalaha” – quarrel. “Kalis ca kalaha priyah”. So this is the description of Kali. “Karalavadana krurah” - this is the nature of the Kali. Therefore whenever there is a quarrel remember that there is a presence of Kali there and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu what has He done? He is engaging everyone in Sankirtana. Kali is creating differences and Mahaprabhu is engaging everyone in Sankirtana. So the only solution to dissolute the attacks of Kali is by Mahaprabhu’s sankirtana. So whenever there is any difficulty, all of you start doing kirtana and you will see everything will come under control.

So you all remember the instance when Srila Prabhupada was in Kolkata and it was about to be bombed by the Japanese and everyone was fleeing from Kolkata because at that time Kolkata was one of the military hubs of the British. So this is the reason why they thought they would destroy it. So everyone began to flee. What did Prabhupada do? Did Prabhupada run away from Kolkata? Prabhupada along with one or two devotees accompanying with kartal and mridanga started kirtana. Abhay Charan do you remember this incident? Then did the Japanese bomb Kolkata? And no one knows why these Japanese didn’t bomb Kolkata. But we know why it is so? Because Prabhupada was performing kirtana, that is why they didn’t bombed it.

One of my personal experiences, I would like to share with you. During the last few years a big problem visible to us was the temple in New York - it was stolen by the temple president there and he also managed to get all the documents in his favour. And he was about to sell the temple.

Do you know for how much? It was for 65 million dollars, 1 million equals 7 crore rupees then multiply 7 by 65, it comes to around 500 crore rupees or 445 crore rupees. So two years ago as GBC chairman I was there. I was given this responsibility to save the temple. To achieve this we worked together, myself, Shashi prabhu and Prabhas prabhu, and Guru Gauranga Prabhu who is a famous lawyer. From the last three years we were trying to do things and finally a time had come with resolution from the GBC to remove the temple president. So this burden had fallen on me ( as GBC Chairman). So I went there and it was the Sunday feast and there were many devotees in the temple. After Narsimha kirtana I went to him and handed him the letter stating that he is being removed from Iskcon and from now onwards he is not the president of this temple. Now, you can imagine what the situation was like at that time. He became very angry. And what did I do at that time? I began kirtan:

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

When I started this Hare Krishna Maha mantra, whoever was present at that time they also started to do kirtana with us and by seeing this the temple president got even more angry and went and switched off the lights. In the dark we were all doing kirtan. And his wife came and closed the temple and we were doing kirtan on the opposite side of the Srila Prabhupada’s asana. One devotee amongst them knew where the main switch of light was and went there and switched it on again.

The main thing is that because of doing the kirtan - and suppose I started to argue with him then what would have happened? An unwanted situation would have arisen. Because I have started the kirtan, due to this there was no word from him and thereafter everyone started to perform kirtan and no one was able to hear his words. This is my personal experience. Now you can imagine what is the result of doing the kirtan and it is natural, isn’t it? Devotees, when they start kirtan, does anybody come to fight with you? Even after this, if anyone comes then the other devotees make him go from there. So from here we can see how to control the menace of Kali - it is "kalau tad dhari-kīrtanāt", Kaliyuga dharma is harinaam sankirtana.

Now we will go to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Once Chand Kazi said that if anyone does kirtana he will be forced to convert his religion. Mahaprabhu then said if that is the case, then let all of us do this kirtan. And what was the effect? Was Chand Kazi able to do anything? Instead Chand Kazi surrendered to Mahaprabhu and turned into a devotee. Therefore wherever there is opposition or difference arising, if the probability is there, please restrain from it. If there is misunderstanding among yourselves means there is a presence of Kali and your ability to do things will get reduced and destroyed and finally vanquish.

We all have to be united only by remembering that why we have come here. If I don’t have to get anything here then whether I get that or not I do not have any problem. The problem arises only when I want something and when we don’t get that - kāmaḥ krodhaḥ abhijāyate. When desire doesn’t get fulfilled then anger arises. And here we again get one thing to look into - who’s son is Kali? Kali is a person. Who is the father and mother of Kali? Envy and anger. Then think where does this quarrel takes place? Where there is anger and envy. And suppose there is no anger and envy then there is no quarrel.

Therefore actually you all know one of the finest instructions of Srila Prabhupada was: “Your love for me will be shown by how you cooperate with each other.” Who among yourselves know this instruction? Who knows what it means? Your love for me, how will it magnify? Only by your cooperation. When you all, among yourselves, will serve together only then it will be proven how much you love me. Now, from this what are we able to learn?

Why did Prabhupada say this kind of thing? Who is here who doesn’t love Prabhupada? But how do we express our love for him? Only by our cooperation. Why? Because this cooperating with each other is a very difficult task as there will be many difficulties and hindrances that come. Instead of all these problems whether we like it or not, we have to do it because by doing this only we show our love to Prabhupada. You all have come onto this path and you all have accepted me as your spiritual master or as a leader. So what is my duty? I have to take you to the path of righteousness that is why I am telling you all these things which you should always remember and with full happiness, in this land of the Lord of Mayapur please be engaged in service with this in mind.

(This song is taken from the book Saranagati (Section: Saranagati Introduction))

sri-krsna-caitanya prabhu jive doya kori’

swa-parsada swiya dhama saha avatari’

atyanta durlabha prema koribare dana

sikhaya saranagati bhakatera prana

Here He is teaching us to surrender unto Him – “sikhaya saranagati” and this saranagati is the only life of devotional service bhakatera prana.

So what are the six limbs of the saranagati –

dainya, atma-nivedana, goptrtve varana

‘avasya raksibe krsna’—visvasa, palana

bhakti-anukula-matra karyera svikara

bhakti-pratikula-bhava varjanangikara

One has to develop dainya. Now what Bhaktivinod Thakur is saying about this dainya - āmāra jīvana, sadā pāpe rata, I am a very big sinner. nāhiko punyera leṣa, with no drop of piousness there within me. Why is Bhaktivinod Thakur saying all this? Only by keeping us in his mind.

We have to inquire about this kind of mindset and we should say that I am a very big sinner and by the mercy of the Lord and also by the mercy of Prabhupada and by the mercy of the devotees of Prabhupada I have come to this path. In this also we remember another verse - yogyata-vichare kichhu nahi pai tomara karuna-sara.

Only by the mercy of the Lord I have come to this path and what is my ability, only when you get this humility then only we can surrender to the lotus feet of Supreme Personality of Godhead. Why we have to surrender unto the lotus of the Supreme Personality of Godhead? Because He is only my protector, goptrtve varana, because He is my Lord, He will definitely protect me from everything and there is no need for fear for me as I have taken the shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead then He will protect me.

Marobi rakhobi jo iccha tohar- whether You kill me or maintain me it is up to You as I am your servant and You have all power and control over me. So in this way one should depend on the Lord and ‘avasya raksibe krsna’—visvasa, palana and the activities, those that are favourable for devotion we should accept them and those which are unfavourable we should reject them. Anukulasya svikara pratikulasya varjanangikara - therefore with this mindset always you all be unto the path of devotional service and unto the Lord with faith you serve.

You can see the Lord has made such wonderful arrangements and you can see that there is no scarcity of anything here. Yesterday one devotee told me that by coming to this devotional life whatever I desired I got everything and he started to explain to me in detail all that he desired and all that he received. I think you also experience this kind of thing because the Supreme Personality of Godhead knows what we have and He says that if someone wants something then He gives it. Therefore you can see how wonderful this path of devotion is. Even if we don’t want it the Lord gives it to us. Maybe in your mind, many days ago we had this kind of desire and now we may have forgotten it but the Supreme Personality of Godhead sees and says that you are to get this from me and He gives it to you. We think that I didn’t desire this but how did I get this and this is not only one time it is happening to me but it is happening to me every time. So now you can see how many a times the Supreme Lord has been protecting us. Does anybody experience this kind of a thing that the Lord has been protecting you? How many times did we understand it? Therefore we have to keep complete faith in the Supreme Personality of Godhead - Tomar carane asiya aj bolibo dukhero katha. So with this kind of mindset we should surrender unto the lotus feet of Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Contents:

He never demands, but always remains a servant

Srila Prabhupada on Conflict

United by the Mercy of Srila Prabhupada

Killing the Influence of Kali- Sankirtan & Surrender