CONTENTS:
- The Holy Name, Part 2;
- Srila Prabhupada's Appreciation;
- Guru Maharaja’s Instructions;
1. THE HOLY NAME PART 2
Here we can see such a wonderful opportunity we have, to call Krishna by His name. KRISHNA! And not only that along with Radharani, Hare Krishna. RadhaKrishna. In one hand it’s a great and good fortune for us. I want to go to the main point, when we say Hare Krishna who are we actually addressing? It can indicate many: Hare Krishna can mean Krishna of Vaikunta; Hare Rama can mean Ramchandra of Ayodhya; Krishna can mean Krishna of Dwarika; but in the ultimate sense who are we addressing? By Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s mercy we are addressing RadhaKrishna, that is a very special prerogative. RadhaKrishna, where is RadhaKrishna? When we say RadhaKrishna where are they? Are we addressing Krishna in Vaikunta or Krishna in Dwarika? No, we are addressing Krishna in Vrindavan. Now to understand what is Vrindavan, I will briefly tell you the summary, very quickly I will tell you the story of Gopkumar’s journey back to Goloka Vrindavan.
Mind you what I am trying to present is one half of the second part of Brhad Bhagavatamrta. Brhad Bhagavatamrta has two parts first part and second part, the first part comprises of a volume like this and the second part is so such volumes and this is one half of the second part. So, it’s going to be tough to cover the entire story in maybe half an hour. Okay, I’ll try. This is written by Srila Sanatana Goswami. This is the Brhad Bhagavatamrta. The name itself indicates, Brhad means great, extensive, large. Bhagavad means about the Supreme Personality of Godhead and amrita means nectar, the nectarine descriptions of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, we can say in simple words: Srimad Bhagavatam and this is Brhad Bhagavatamrtam, Srimad Bhagavatam you have seen has twelve cantos eighteen thousand verses but this is even greater and bigger than that.
This book is actually giving us the perfect understanding of Srimad Bhagavat and Sri Sanatana Goswami is presenting it in a story form. The first part of the Brhad Bhagavatamrta is Narada Muni’s search for the greatest devotee. Narada Muni is trying to find out the greatest devotee of the Lord. He is searching and searching. Like, first he thinks that one Brahmana is the greatest devotee who is performing the worship of the Lord in such a wonderful way displaying such devotion to the Lord but when he goes to the Brahmana, the Brahmana said, “No, no, no, no I am not a great devotee. The great devotee is a Ksatriya King in South India.” So Narada Muni went to that Ksatriya king and started to glorify him as the greatest devotee and he said, “No I am not the greatest devotee, I am also insignificant and he was proving through reasons and arguments how he is not the greatest devotee. This is the difference between an advanced devotee and a neophyte devotee. A neophyte devotee thinks that he is the greatest devotee, that actually is a fact. The definition of a neophyte devotee is one who thinks that he is not only the greatest devotee, he thinks that he is the only devotee.
SB 11.2.47
arcayam eva haraye
pujam yah sraddhayehate
na tad-bhaktesu canyesu
sa bhaktah prakatah smrtah
TRANSLATION
A devotee who faithfully engages in the worship of the Deity in the temple but does not behave properly toward other devotees or people in general is called a prakrta-bhakta, a materialistic devotee, and is considered to be in the lowest position.
He worships the Supreme Personality of Godhead with great sincerity, he worships the Lord with a lot of faith and reverence but he doesn’t recognise the Lord’s devotee, what does it indicates? He thinks that he is the only devotee and does not recognise the Lord’s devotees. He doesn’t recognise others those who are innocent and offensive to the Lord. He is a neophyte devotee.
SB 11.2.46
isvare tad-adhinesu
balisesu dvisatsu ca
prema-maitri-krpopeksa
yah karoti sa madhyamah
TRANSLATION
An intermediate or second-class devotee offers his love to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is a sincere friend to all the devotees of the Lord, shows mercy to ignorant people who are innocent, and disregards those who are envious of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
The second-class devotee recognises the devotees, has love for the Lord, has friendship for the devotees, compassion for the innocent and disregard for the offenders. He is a madhyam adhikari.
Who is a utama Adhikari?
SB 11.2.45
sarva-bhutesu yah pasyed
bhagavad-bhavam atmanah
bhutani bhagavaty atmany
esa bhagavatottamah
TRANSLATION
The most advanced devotee sees within everything the soul of all souls, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna. Consequently, he sees systematically everything in relation to the Supreme Lord and understands that everything that exists is eternally situated within the Lord.
He sees that everybody has become a devotee of the Lord only he couldn’t become a devotee. So how it works. It works in reverse order. The neophyte devotee thinks that he is the greatest devotee and the real devotee thinks that he couldn’t even become a devotee. That becomes quite apparent and obvious in the first part of the Brhad Bhagavatamrta.
2. SRILA PRABHUPADA'S APPRECIATION
The following week, Kalyana Dasa, a second-initiated Bengali devotee who lived outside the temple and worked as an insurance agent and schoolteacher, came to Mayapur to see Srila Prabhupada. Prabhupada asked him about his spiritual life and also enquired about his wife and children. It was a sweet, warm exchange. Then Kalyana asked, “Srila Prabhupada, what is my siddha-svarupa?” What he wanted to know, was his spiritual identity.
This idea, to learn one’s spiritual identity at the time of initiation, was a sahajiya, or deviant, practice, and Srila Prabhupada’s mood changed immediately. He became extremely angry, and with his voice roaring and lips quivering, he repeated, “You rascal. Your siddhasvarupa…...You rascal. Your siddha-svarupa…...” Finally, when he had cooled down but with his voice still raised, he told Kalyana, “Don’t worry about your siddha-svarupa. When you become qualified, I will personally come and reveal it to you.”
I was surprised by Srila Prabhupada’s vehement reply, but I could also see two things clearly. The first was that as devotees we did not have to worry about our spiritual identity; we simply had to be engaged in devotional service. The rest would happen automatically, and our spiritual identity would be revealed by the mercy of guru and Krishna. The second was that Prabhupada would always be there for us. He would take us back to Godhead; it was just a matter of our becoming qualified.
3. GURU MAHARAJA’S INSTRUCTIONS
I was surprised by Srila Prabhupada’s vehement reply, but I could also see two things clearly. The first was that as devotees we did not have to worry about our spiritual identity; we simply had to be engaged in devotional service. The rest would happen automatically, and our spiritual identity would be revealed by the mercy of guru and Krishna. The second was that Prabhupada would always be there for us. He would take us back to Godhead; it was just a matter of our becoming qualified.
(The content of this E-magazine is based on a lecture given by His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami on 19th June 2017)
(Compiled and Edited by Hemavati Radhika Dasi)