CONTENTS:
- They could not tolerate separation from Krishna even for a fraction of a second,
- Srila Prabhupada Appreciation; and
- Guru Maharaja’s instructions.
1. THEY COULD NOT TOLERATE SEPARATION FROM KRISHNA EVEN FOR A FRACTION OF A SECOND
Krishna left Vrindavan and went to Mathura and the residents of Vrindavan were so attached to Krishna that they could not tolerate a moments separation from Him especially the Gopis. When their eyes would blink, for a fraction of a second their eyes would close they could not see Krishna during that time they considered that was a big defect in Brahma’s making this human body. They criticized Brahma for this what kind of body he made that the eyes blink and as a result of that we can’t see Krishna so in this way they could not tolerate separation from Krishna for even a fraction of a second! Now Krishna has left. While Krishna was leaving Vrindavan the Gopis did not want to let Him go they tried to stop Krishna. Their attitude was literally, “Over our dead bodies.” They were holding onto the wheels of the chariot, holding onto the horses and some of them even laid down in front of the chariot with a very simple attitude, “Krishna now we won’t let you go.” Krishna assured them, “Don’t worry I will come back soon, there is something to be done is Mathura. As soon as I finish my job I will come back.” But when Krishna went to Mathura and killed Kamsa and released Ugrasena, Vasudeva and Devaki and reinstated Ugrasena on the throne. At that time Ugrasena requested Krishna, “Krishna in your absence all the kings are going to attack us so how we are going to deal with them, if You go away, please stay on.” Krishna stayed on and during that time seventeen times Jarasanda, Kamsa’s fatherin-law attacked Mathura and Krishna and Balarama defeated him seventeen times. The army that Jarasanda came with was twenty three aksohini and Krishna and Balarama went out destroyed the entire army and only spared Jarasanda and let him go and Jarasanda came again with another twenty three aksohini soldiers, mind you the battle of Kuruksetra was fought with eleven aksohini from Kaurava side and eleven aksohini from Pandava side, total number of soldiers in the battlefield of Kuruksetra was eighteen aksohini but Jarasanda attacked with twenty three aksohini and Krishna and Balarama won seventeen times. The question arises why did Krishna spare Jarasanda? He wiped out the entire army but He left only Jarasanda standing and let him go. The answer to that is Krishna came to kill the demons and, in His mission, Jarasanda was actually Krishna’s recruiting agent, he collected all the demons and brought them to Krishna. Krishna did not have to go to all these places Jarasanda had brought them to Krishna. When Jarasanda was to attack on the eighteenth time at that time another enemy Kalyavana also arranged and attack. Seeing this precarious condition of the attack from two sides Krishna decided to transport all the residents of Mathura to Dwarika. Overnight Krishna arranged for a city to be built in the middle of the ocean and while the residents of Mathura were sleeping in their sleep, they all were transported to Dwarika. Can Krishna do that? Yes. The city was built by Visvakarma.
Krishna just ordered: Visvakarma just build this.
Visvakarma: How many houses?
Krishna: Every family will have a house
Visvakarma: How much time?
Krishna: Overnight
Visvakarma: Your wish is my command my Lord First Krishna dealt with Kalyavana, He didn’t kill Kalyavana, He got Muchukanda to kill Kalyavana and then He dealt with Jarasanda. He played a trick with Jarasanda He ran away from the battlefield, Ranchor, one who ran away from the battlefield. Krishna climbed onto a mountain and Jarasanda set the whole mountain on fire. Krishna jumped off from the top of the mountain with Balarama into the ocean and arrived in Dwarika. Anyway, a long time went by and in the meantime, Krishna got married to 16 108 princesses. Quite a long time went by and Krishna also had quite a few children.
See for how long Krishna could not go to Vrindavan. Finally, on the occasion of the solar eclipse Krishna went to Kuruksetra. It is the custom in India that during the solar eclipse people go to Kuruksetra to take bath in a lake. On this occasion Krishna went there with Balarama and Subadra. The residents of Vrindavan also went there. The solar eclipse was over everyone was ready to leave to their respective places and the residents of Vrindavan were about to leave and at that time they got the news that Krishna was there. Upon getting the news that Krishna was there they all ran to meet Krishna. In the meantime, Krishna was also preparing to leave Kuruksetra and was already on His Chariot, Balarama was on His chariot and Subadra was on Her chariot. The residents of Vrindavan especially Gopis headed by Srimati Radharani arrived. When Radharani saw Krishna, She felt this is not the Krishna that we knew.
Radharani: Krishna that I knew He was a cowherd boy and this person is a prince. My Krishna wears a peacock feather on His head and He is wearing a crown on His head. My Krishna wears a flower garland and He is wearing all these valuable necklaces and auspicious gems. My Krishna wears a yellow silk dhoti and He is wearing a royal robe. My Krishna carries a flute and He is carrying weapons. Where I used to meet Krishna, it was such a serene atmosphere on the bank of the river Yamuna. Here there is so many soldiers, so much noise, elephants are trumpeting, horses are whining and clashing of weapons. This is not the one I wanted to meet and this is not the place where I wanted to meet Him.
Understanding Srimati Radharani’s heart what did the residents of Vrindavan do? What did the followers of Srimati Radharani do? They grabbed the horses and started to pull the chariot towards Vrindavan in order for Radharani to meet Krishna in a proper way. So that is the Ratha Yatra festival.
Krishna came from Dwarika to Kuruksetra and the residents of Vrindavan were taking Krishna from Kuruksetra to Vrindavan. Here Jaganatha temple is the Kuruksetra and Gundica temple is Vrindavan. Krishna stayed in Vrindavan for eight days and He had His loving exchange with His most intimate devotees the residents of Vrindavan. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu used to clean the Gundica temple and cleaning the temple is synonymous to cleaning our hearts. When you clean the temple then our hearts become clean then Lord who is present in our heart becomes manifest. This is ceto darpanam marjanam heart needs to be cleansed because when the heart is dirty, like a mirror that has dust on it can we see our faces in it? Similarly, when our hearts are dirty then because of the dirt in the heart we cannot recognize our actual self. It is due to the dirt in the hearts that we cannot recognize our spiritual identity, because of the dirt in the hearts we become absorbed in our body consciousness and that is actually an impurity. But when the heart becomes purified and cleansed then we can see our real self in the mirror of our heart. In the heart we can also get to see the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is the process and that is why Caitanya Mahaprabhu at the very beginning of His Sri Siksha Astakam says ceto darpanam marjanam, cleanse the mirror of the heart.
2. SRILA PRABHUPADA APPRECIATION
Prabhupada mentioned that finally when Caitanya Mahaprabhu sent him to the West, he sent him as a pauper, without any money, without any resources. But all kinds of wonderful things started to happen. Srila Prabhupada was not in the limelight, Srila Prabhupada was not even in the forefront when Srila Bhaktisiddanta Sarasvati was present. But Bhaktisiddanta Sarasvati Thakur knew who Srila Prabhupada was and what Srila Prabhupada would do.
(Prabhupada Realizations)
3. GURU MAHARAJA’S INSTRUCTIONS
The old year is left behind and the new year has appeared. With us everyday is a new day, every month is a new month, every year is a new year because the time is moving. Time does not stand still even for a moment, it is moving from the future into the past through the present. Chanakya Pandit said that one second, one moment of time cannot be purchased with all the wealth of this world. Time that is gone is gone forever we can’t get it back. Therefore it is very very important that we utilise our time properly and utilizing the time properly means using the time being engaged in the service of Krishna. Time is actually Krishna’s expansion. Krishna appears in the form of time. Kalo smi loka ksaya krt pravrddho. It is Krishna’s energy and is flowing and in this time. In the river of time we all are floating and we should float because this time if we float in this river of time properly then we can go back to the spiritual world. Time will take us to the spiritual world. When we become engaged in the service of Krishna then this world becomes spiritualized. Spiritualized means Krishna centered. This distance between material and spiritual is me and Krishna. When I put myself in the center that is material, when I put Krishna in the center that is spiritual. That is the distance, its actually a distance of consciousness. We are floating in the time now the question is whether we, whether we will swim upstream or downstream? Swimming upstream is very difficult. If we go against time that is if we spend our time without being engaged in Krishna’s service then not only it’s a waste of time but it is a very difficult way to deal with time. When we float in the natural stream of time then we will be moving towards Krishna. Therefore let us take every single moment of our time as it comes with it’s all newness to be engaged in Krishna’s service. Not only the year but every month, every week, every day, every hour, every minute, every second, every fraction of a second, let all of that be used in Krishna’s service. This is how time is actually helping us to move towards Krishna provided we utilize our time properly, provided we flow in the stream of time that is taking us back to Godhead. The secret is just be Krishna Conscious, think of Krishna, act on behalf of Krishna simply depending upon Krishna’s mercy. I wish all of you a very happy new year, let this new year come with all prosperity and happiness in Krishna Consciousness, let us utilize our time and energy in spreading Krishna Consciousness in pleasing Krishna Consciousness then only will our life become successful.
(BCS Facebook video released on 1.1.2023 entitled “Each moment with Krishna ever Fresh and New”)