Classes of people, Srimad Bhagavatam, New Year tomorrow...

Verse 1.4.24: As explained in the past, once we understand that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vedas and Updanishads also confirm the same.

Not anyone or everyone can comment on the Vedas. Srila Prabhupada is saying: A class of men, who claim brahminical qualification simply by their birthright in the family of a brahmana, claim that the study of the Vedas is a monopoly of the brahmana caste only. Another section of the people take this as an injustice to members of other castes, who do not happen to take birth in a brahmana family. But both of them are misguided.

But if you have taken birth materially in a lower caste, but you are vibrating the Holy Name on your tongue, then you are a brahmana. But if somebody is born as a brahmana, but does not behave so, then he is not a brahmana. Srimad Bhagavatam is making it very clear.

So what is our qualification, it is pure devotional service.

For people in the mode of passion and ignorance, Srila Vyasadev wrote Mahabharata. For people in the spiritual mode, self-realization, he wrote Srimad Bhagavatam. For reading this, we should come out of body consciousness.

Srimad Bhagavatam does not give material benefits. It will remove the 3-fold miseries and bring us out of the cycle of birth and death. At once, you will put onto the platform of Brahman. That is Srimad Bhagavatam.

This world is a place of misery, always there is some problem. Even if we are happy, it is temporary. So Krishna is telling, this is not our abode, so come back. And this Srimad Bhagavatam brings us to the Brahma-buta platform.

Tomorrow is New Year:
For a circle, there is no beginning and no end. Like-wise, for the cycle of birth and death, there is no beginning and no end. For devotees, every day is new beginning. For a person situated in the material world, every day brings him closer to death, his life-span is reducing. But there is only one person, for whom by every, his life-span is not reducing. That person is he who is chanting the Holy name of Krishna, for he is getting closer and closer to going back to Krishna, Who is beyond time itself. So our aim is to be steady, take spiritual responsibilities and keep moving forward with our goal always being to serve Krishna.

Disappearance Day of Srila Jiva Goswami!

Disappearance Day of Srila Jiva Goswami:
* Son of Anupam, brother of Srila Rupa and Sanatana Goswami
* Srila Jiva Goswami has written so many volumes of books on Vedic Philosophy, apprx 400000 verses
* Usually, we should not skip acharya's and approach previous acharya's. But there is an exception, on their appearance day and disappearance day, we can directly approach the acharya and seek his blessings for our spiritual life
* Srila Prabhupada: Srila Jiva Goswami is the greatest philosophers of all time.
* His books hold immense vedic knowledge

Division and Dissemination of the Vedas...

Verse 1.4.20-24: Srila Vyasadev divided the vedas into four divisions. Paila Rsi became the professor of the Rg Veda, Jaimini the professor of the Sama Veda, and Vaisampayana alone became glorified by the Yajur Veda. Then other sages like Angira, Romaharsana etc. took portions of the Vedas and have carefully delineated and imparted the knowledge to the masses. This Romaharsana is the father of Srila Suta Goswami.

Going back, Romaharsana was giving a Bhagavatam lecture. That time Balaramji came there, but Romaharsana did not stand up. Then we all know how Balaramji punished him for this negligence.
Moral: Mere knowledge is not enough. Just reciting the Vedas is not enough. We need to understand that Krishna is to be known from the Vedas, that is their real purpose.

Some Upanishads speak of the impersonal form of Lord. That's why Krishna Himself in Bhagavad-gita, which is also known as Gitopanishad, tells us about the Personal Supreme Lord, Himself.

Krishna says in Bhagavad-gita that He is the owner of everything material and spiritual. Whoever understands this will surrender to Him.

The exalted devotees apply the knowledge of Srimad Bhagavatam is given in Caitanya Caritamrta. So these 3 books are enough for us, for us to go back to Godhead. All this is due to the mercy of Srila Prabhupada, coming in the succession of Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

That's why Chanting is the way. We should take it very seriously, if we are interested in self-realization. If we do that, it is very easy.

Purpose of the Vedas...

Verse 1.4.19: Here it is being explained that Srila Vyasadev divided the one Veda present into 4 Vedas, just to make it easy for the purification of the people in Kaliyuga. So purification is the real purpose here. And Puranas, the Mahabharata and the Samhitas etc are the fifth Veda.

Purpose of the Vedas: To know who Krishna is, to know about Krishna.
Interesting verse in Bhagavad-gita too, that states that the main purpose of all our activities is to know Krishna in full.

Second point, is the purification process. Unless one purifies himself, he will not be able to know Krishna. In this age, the main purificatory process is of chanting the Holy Name. Following the four regulative principles, along with chanting the Holy Names is the process in the age for purifying ourselves.

Vedas are thus the guiding light for knowing Krishna. Again here, the 10 offenses while chanting the holy name must be avoided in order for us to move forward in this path.

Effects of Kaliyuga....

Verse 1.4.17-18: When Vyasadev sat in meditation, with his vision he forsaw what is going to happen in Kaliyuga. He could see that in terms of life span, memory, height, agricultural produce, everything is in reduced scale in this age.

When someone is involved in satisfying their lustful propensities, their name, fame, life span, desire for going back home to Godhead is all reduced. In this age, this is so much prevalent.

Disease starts from the mind. If we have unhealthy ideas and a strong desire to enjoy independent of Krishna, that will show its effect on the body eventually, manifesting in the form of disease.

Vyasadev could actually foresee all these degradations in Kaliyuga.
9th Canto SB says, if we are too lusty and give up shy, then what happens, then such habits (like alcoholics) become natural, due to the weakness of the heart (hrdaya-daurbalyam). This can happen with chanting also. We might not fight to keep the mind on the Holy name. We will just complete the rounds with our mind elsewhere. Hence it is very very important to chant sincerely.

But what is the hope of Kaliyuga: By chanting the Holy Name of Krishna, we can go back to the spiritual world. We have a jewel with us, but Maya will try to take it away from us,little by little. That's why when maya tells don't chant, we should chant. When maya tells don't associate with devotees, we should associate.

Small talk on Jesus Christ's birth: Christmas!

Appearance Day of Jesus Christ: Today is a very Holy Day.
He is a shakytavesha avatara. He is a jiva, a vaishnava, sent to this world to mainly prevent insist in the society at that time.

Most of the people were shepherds, did not know the principles of God. Jesus Christ was sent as an acharya, Guru to help them all understand love of God. Srila Prabhupada says in Australia, that he came there not to convert, but to make them better Christians, better lovers of God.

Jesus Christ and his pastimes: It all happened in Jerusalem. It was a place of humility.
Point: Mary Magdalene, a prostitute, was condemned to death for her sins. She genuinely agreed that she has done sins and now wanted to reform, took the shelter of Jesus. Jesus accepted her and saved her from her imminent death. She became a follower of Jesus Christ's teachings.
Her firm commitment to her Guru, her service attitude, willingness to risk the life for her spiritual master, she is even now worshiped with her statue being erected in various churches.

Jesus Christ and his followers were arrested and crucified by the Romans and others. But still he prayed from the cross that please my Lord, excuse them from all these sins.

....

Compassion is another quality that Jesus Christ has exhibited. But today, his teachings are diluted.

....

He came at the time when stealing, killing, insist was common in the society. He came to preach these basic principles of humanity to people of that society. And even for such basic teachings, they crucified him. Jesus Christ said he knew a lot of things, but the people at that time were not in a position to understand all that, so he just gave them what they could understand.

Oneness and difference between Brahmanas and Parivrajakacharhya's

Verse 1.4.13: Bhagavatam is a ripened fruit of Vedic literature. The difference between bhakti and rituals is nicely described here. What is the use of parrot-like recitation of Vedic rituals, eventually the persons who practice this themselves go away. Brahmanas have by-hearted these mantras and they perform rituals, but the people sitting in the puja do not understand what is happening, they just sit there to get some material benefits. But the younger generation not understanding the mantras, go away, give it up. That is why today India is so vulnerable.

...

Genuine devotion is required for people to be attracted. Vaishnava acharya's, because of their devotion, it is not spreading all across the world.

Vedas lead to Upanishads and Bhagavad-gita is the topmost Upanishad. That is, surrender to Krishna is the topmost essence of all Vedic literature. That is why we are reading Srimad Bhagavatam today.

Maharaj Parikshit, a just ruler!

Verse 1.4.12: Basically the rulers should work for the welfare of the citizens. Maharaj Parikshit would take care of all the living beings, including animals, and ensure that their needs are met. Eg: Maharaj Parikshit is ready to kill the sudra, in the dress of a ksatriya, who is trying to kill a cow.

The head should make sure that the essential needs of the family members are met, and should impart spiritual knowledge too. How to do this:
1) Association of devotees
2) Chanting of Holy names
3) Krishna Prasadam
4) Serving Vaishnavas

Qualities of Maharaj Parikshit, Haridasavarya...

Verse 1.4.10 and 11: These 2 verses are talking about the glory of Maharaj Parikshit. He was born in the Pandu family, he inherited the whole kingdom, the whole world. Usually when you become a devotee, automatically all the good qualities of this world and all the higher planets manifest in you.

Bhagavatam explains, one should become the devotee of Krishna (Krishna is the property of the impoverished), when you become His devotee, all the qualities that the demi-gods possess are inherited by you. As for non-devotees, where are the good qualities, it is none. They want something, some name, some fame, some fortune, there is no room for a non-devotee to have all these qualities.

Sometimes it may be difficult to deal with devotees than non-devotees. But in such circumstances too, it is better to deal with devotees since their heart is pure and they are in the correct path. Deal with non-devotees only till the place where you can preach to them.

There are 3 Haridasavarya (very very exalted pure devotees, very expert in serving other, very amazing serving attitude): Maharaj Parikshit, Maharaj Yudhistir and Giriraj Govardhan. They are expert in serving the devotees of Krishna.

Gopi's are considered the topmost of the devotees, but they are themselves praising Govardhan hill, he is the topmost haridasavarya.

Sometimes, humility, the devotees consider it as meek. But no, it is not so. Definition of Humility: By the mercy of Guru and Krishna, everything is happening, I am not the doer. But we work very hard for the service of Guru and Krishna.
This is Maharaj Parikshit's quality.

Maharaj Parikshit is a perfect devotee, a perfect ksatriya. When we hear Bhagavatam, we hear it in a mood to imbibe such qualities in us.

Bhagavatam is about the Lord, as told by His Devotees!

1.4.9: Srimad Bhagvatam is full of stories about devotees. Krishna tells in Bhagavad-gita how to attain perfection of life and go back home back to godhead. So here Krishna speaks about Himself less. Whereas in Bhagavatam, it is explained how devotees attain this perfection and also the devotees speak about Krishna here.

So this SB is a wish-fulfilling tree and it is the ripened fruit of Vedic literature, more so it is coming from Srila Sukadeva Goswami, like a fruit tasted by a parrot, even more nice.

One story being told here: Maharaj Parikshit, how he was saved by the Lord, how wonderfully he ruled, how he checked Kali personified. Knowing that one good point is present (chanting of the Holy Name) in Kaliyuga, he allowed Kali. Finally he was cursed to die and even then it is seen how very well he took it. How one should die was shown by Maharaj Parikshit. He heard SB for all 7 days and nights. He protected the weak, dharma, raised everyone's consciousness and finally went back to the spiritual world, actually before the takshaka came to bite him, he was already liberated from the cycle of birth and death.

Qualifications of Sukadeva Goswami...

Verse 1.4.7 and 8: Here Saunaka Rishi is asking questions to Sukadeva Goswami and at the same time is glorifying the exhalted qualities of Srila Sukadeva Goswami.
1st point: Bhagavatam is not an imaginary story, as it is considered by unauthorized people. It is an open secret, the transcendental essence of all the vedas. Unless we know this, we will not be getting any realizations from the bhagavatam.

2nd verse: Sukadeva Goswami used to get alms from householders. He would only stay long enough for a cow to be milked. In this case, the quality of a sannyasi is highlighted, of how he is a rolling stone. He is constantly moving from one place to other, so that he does not accumulate the conditioning from householders. Srila Prabhupada says: One who is in the renounced order of life should not be allured by the glamor of the householder's worldly possessions and thus become subservient to worldly men.

This also applies to preachers, who should not be affected by the attachments of worldly men. We should give association of the worldly minded people, but not take association from them.

Srila Sukadeva Goswami, behavior description...

Verse 1.4.6: This is the shloka about the behavior of Sukadeva Goswami. In Ch 2 of Bhagavad-gita, Arjuna asks Krishna about the behavior of a transcendental personality. Krishna explained to Arjuna about this.

We cannot perceive a sadhu from their outward appearance, only after hearing from them we will be able to know. Srila Sukadeva Goswami, for him gold and stool is the same. From him, everyone is equal, he does not need to appease anybody, he does not wear clothes as he sees the soul and the bodies just as different dresses.

Similarly we should aim to fit in only one position of servant of servant of servant of the Gopi's. (Gopi bhakta pada kamalayor, das das das anudas)

The activities that materialists are fond of (like eating, sleeping, mating, defending), these are not appeasing to the sages. Similarly, the activities of the sages (good sadhana, getting up very early in the morning, keep connection with Krishna through dipping their consciousness in the Holy name of Krishna, and hence are good for themselves and for the humanity), are not appeasing for the materialists. But these are the activities that we should aim for, because we are a spirit soul.

If we don't do this, Krishna is telling in the Bhagavad-gita that we are a thief. Since we are utilizing everything being given to us for our enjoyment, but not for the right purpose.

Devotee is transcendental to material world!

Verse 1.4.3 and 1.4.4: What a liberated soul does, or a person who tries to liberate himself does, the conditioned soul cannot even understand it.
Eg: Devotee in Mumbai temple distributing books for a long time. His father was a big person in the Railways. TC abused this boy for distributing books, beat him up. But this boy did not even tell that his father was a big man in the railways. Second person came and rescued him from the TC, and told him he was also a Hare Krishna devotee. He saw how the boy was doing the best welfare activity for mankind by distributing these books.

People who are materially attached think we are another nonsense, distributing books as beggars in trains. So devotee's actions are not understood.

Similarly, Sukadeva Goswami was a liberated soul, but to the materially affected people he appeared to be a like a beggar. They did not know him at all. But when he came to the audience of Maharaj Parikshit, everybody stood up since they knew this spiritual potency.

Eg: Haridas thakur, Srivas thakur were abused in public place, their eternal spiritual nature was not understood by people in general.

Qualifications of the Speaker

Verse 1.4.2: Here, the qualifications of the speaker is given. Saunaka rishi is a great Goswami and Suta Goswami is also a great Goswami. You have the listen Srimad Bhagavatam only from Vaishnava's.

In India, many places, we have Bhagvatam sapthaha, thinking that Maharaj Parikshit also heard Srimad Bhagavatam in 7 days and he attained liberation. But this is not the way that we can imitate. Devananda Pandit (DP) was a Bhagavtam recitor. Srivas Thakur (ST) was totally excited hearing Srimad Bhagavatam from him and was ecstatic. Not understanding this transcendental behavior, DP's disciples threw ST out. Although CM was not born still, but He was totally angry with DP. He did not give him any mercy. Later DP did some nice service to Vakreshwar Pandit, and only then he got the mercy of Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

So Srimad Bhagavatam should not at all be heard from the professional reciters. Here Srila Prabhupada is also telling how some reciters directly jump to the 10th canto to misexplain the confidential part of the Lord's pastimes. Srila Bhaktisiddanta Saraswati Thakur, was speaking about the Srimad Bhagavatam, but that time he did not touch the 10th Canto at all, since he knew.

By serving the devotees, chanting very nicely, serving the devotee bhagavat, we can make a lot of spiritual progress.

Chapter 4 Begins! What is realization?

Summarizing Chapter 3:
There Srila Suta Goswami was explaining how Srila Sukadeva Goswami was explaining about the different incarnations of Lord Krishna. It ended by saying how Srimad Bhagavatam is the ripened fruit of Vedic literature, how it should be heard only from one who is in a bonafide disciplic succession and how the listener should listen with rapt attention to this Supreme knowledge of Lord Krishna and his pastimes.

Chapter 4:
Today's verse, very important. Srila Prabhupada is giving what is the meaning of realizations. Srila Prabhupada says: "Personal realization does not mean that one should, out of vanity, attempt to show one's own learning by trying to surpass the previous äcärya. He must have full confidence in the previous äcärya, and at the same time he must realize the subject matter so nicely that he can present the matter for the particular circumstances in a suitable manner. The original purpose of the text must be maintained. No obscure meaning should be screwed out of it, yet it should be presented in an interesting manner for the understanding of the audience. This is called realization."

Listening with Rapt Attention....

Verse 1.3.44: This is a very instructive, wonderful message. If we really want to understand and realize that Krishna is in the pages of the Srimad Bhagavatam, we have to hear properly from a personality who is a bonafide representative of Sukadeva Goswami. He who personally lives the Bhagavatam, is free of the four sins and is pure in thought, word and deed.

Srila Bhaktisiddantaswami was telling about Srila Prabhupada, that he listens with rapt attention, and hence told that whatever Srila Prabhupada writes should be printed, because he understands since he listens properly.

Caste, creed etc, does not matter. If one has the heart, and listens from Vaishnavas, and listen with rapt attention, then we will realize that Srimad Bhagavatam is Krishna, we can see Krishna Himself in the pages of the SB. We should also attentively read Srimad Bhagavatam. These 10-15 minutes that we listen everyday will create auspiciousness in our entire life.

Srimad Bhagavatam is light for this world!!

Verse 1.3.43: Actually, as Krishna was disappearing from this planet, He is going back to His abode, so qualities like dharma, gyana are also going back with Him. Only thing left is Kaliyuga, then how will the people manage here. The sages were worried because of this.

Then what happened, Srimad Bhagavatam descended. Vyasadev compiled it and his son Sukadeva Goswami spoke it. Maharaj Parikshit was cursed and for him and the rest of Kaliyuga, Bhagavatam was spoken. Srila Prabhupada writes that more or less almost people are just involved in the 4 things of eating sleeping mating and defending. But to elevate people, taking shelter of Srimad Bhagavatam, will help us go back to Krishna.

Srimad Bhagavatam is compared to light especially in the darkness of Kaliyuga. In this age, it is all I me and mine. Let me enjoy before I go. This is the mentality. But if we take the shelter of Srimad Bhagavatam, no other book is required in Kaliyuga.

Parampara - Importance - Sripad Sankaracharya's BhajaGovindam

Verse 1.3.42: Today's verse is talking about how Sri Sukadeva Goswami received the Bhagavatam from Srila Vyasadev, and then hearing from Sukadeva Goswami, Srila Suta Goswami is now speaking it to other sages.
3 Points:
1) We should receive the message of Srimad Bhagavatam in parampara, in disciplic succession. This Srimad Bhagavatam is not fiction, it is factual history that has taken place not just in this planet, but so many other planets all around the material universe. It should not be heard from a professional recitor, then it is like drinking milk that is touched by a serpent, but we should do this in disciplic succession, only hearing from a bonafide representative of Srila Suta Goswami.
2) Srila Prabhupada is mentioning a point on how Maharaj Parikshit once he came to know that he was going to die, he immediately sat down to listen Srimad Bhagavatam from Sukadeva Goswami. We need to understand the mood of Bhagavatam.
3) Srila Prabhupada is quoting Sripad Sankaracharya. Although he presented vedantasutra's in a impersonal form, he finally stated that realizing Govinda is the highest and all other flowery language that he himself presented is useless, if it does not help one remember Govinda at the time of death.

Bhagavatam is factual history

Verse 1.3.41: Bhagavatam is not a mythology. The goal of Britishers was to prove that we are fools, and hence they were successful in getting Bhagavatam to be a mythology. But that is not a fact.

First of all, Bhagavatam is factual history, that happened in this and other planets. And Srila Vyasadev compiled it. The beauty is that it has stories of all things related to Lord Krishna. So two things: it is history for sure and it is all about Krishna.

Bhagavatam has a purifying effect, on the person who is speaking and who is listening too.
Eg: Ganga, she is so pure. Even after 100 years, the water from Ganga is always pure. This is so because she is coming straight from the higher planetary systems.

The point is that, science does not know so many things.
Bhagavatam is therefore not mythology. But it should be heard from a bonafide source, for the effect to take place, the purifying affect.

Gita-Jayanti Today!!!

Today is Gita Jayanti!
5000 years apprx, Krishna spoke Bhagavad-gita (BG) to us through Arjuna. Krishna did not speak to Arjuna because he was prepared on that. There was a situation there, of there being a problem if you do this or do that. Same is our case.
So Krishna is giving directions to the living entity for this life.

Eg: We depend on mapquest for such a short direction say to go from here to Niagara Falls. Life is long journey, BG gives a very nice direction for this journey.
Eg: Take a watch, who can tell about the watch better than the company. Similarly this world is made by Krishna, and he is telling us how to live in this world, by this operational manual BG.
Krishna is telling here how to live, how to eat, how to have recreation and finally how to go back home, back to Godhead.
In here we can find as to how we can get rid of envy, the root cause of our material existence. In BG, Krishna is telling us about the ultimate surrender.

Krishna is also telling that whoever distributes this knowledge, he is very dear to me and at the end of the life, he will come back to me.

What we need to do:
To get rid of the 6 forms of lust, anger ..., Krishna says we need to chant very nicely. As a genuine ardent follower of Krishna, first we practise and then give out this mercy as a compassionate servant of Srila Prabhupada.

Chant the rounds very effectively. Krishna is non-different from his holy name.

Srimad Bhagavatam is Lord Krishna!!!

Verse 1.3.40: Actually, we are very very fortunate to read and hear Srimad Bhagavatam (SB). So many life times we have waited to do this. SB is the purest of all the puranas, it is also the natural commentary of the Brahmasutras. So this is pure and meant for paramahamsa's. This facility of us reading SB everyday, is so very very auspicious and we are so lucky. Why? Because it is non-different from Lord Krishna.

If we understand and assimilate this SB, then we can become a book bhagavat. Means we are applying the instructions of SB in our life. SP is called a maha-bhagavat, since he was a walking bhagavatam.

SB if purchased, it is not like a simple book, we install it, since it is not different from Krishna. This is done with the permission of the siksa guru or diksa guru.

Naradamuni also says, that just by the association of bhagavats, and chanting the names of the Lord, he is what he is today. So, please don't under-estimate the power of SB, the power of chanting the names of the Lord.

Also talked about Odan-shashti: It is a festival celebrated in Jagannath Puri. Pundarika vidyanidhi(PV) was a pure devotee. He was Maharaj Vrsabhanu in Krishna's pastimes. CM used to call him father father.
This festival is a time when the Lord is offered new clothes. The pujari's this time, offered starch-filled cloth. This was an offense. The devotees were watching and dancing during this time. Swarup-damodar Goswami (Lalita Sakhi in Krishna's pastimes) (SG) was also there. P. Vidhyanidhi asked him why they are doing this, which is an offense. SG told that Jagannath is accepting this, then why should we be troubled.

Everything got over, but PV was thinking in the mind, why this was happening. He then was sleeping and Jagannath and Baladev came to his dream. They were very angry that whay right does he have to be angry when They Themselves were accepting what the devotees were giving to Them. They asked him not to offend the devotees anytime ever.

Next day morning, he came late to the program. PV saw that his both cheeks were swollen and red (since in the dream Lord Jagannath slapped him actually). He told to SG that since the Lord has accepted him as His servant, He came and corrected him.

Moral: Even if somebody does something, that might not be correct. There might be something. Don't criticize him. If Krishna is offended, then there will be a reaction. We might not be able to take it. So tell to those people who will listen, to those who will not listen do not ask.

So please do not offend anybody. If you are not in an authoritative position, it is better to keep quiet.

Feasting, Chanting and Dancing - Devotion!!!

Verse 1.3.38: Bhagavad-gita says -"Tesam satata yuktanam ..." Krishna is telling that if somebody approaches Me with love and devotion, I give him the intelligence to come back to me. Krishna is also telling in the next verse that simple bhakti to Him is enough for a person to go back home, back to Godhead. So bhakti-yoga is inclusive of gyana-yoga and karma-yoga. If you want attain the perfection of self-realization, you have to genuinely chant, serve the devotees, then slowly by steadily you will attain self-realization.

Srila Prabhupada has give a simple process: fasting, feasting, chanting and dancing. Kaliyuga means the Holy Name is the yuga dharma. So please chant very nicely and you will attain to the lotus feet of Krishna in this lifetime itself.

Only a Devotee can know Krishna!!!

Verse 1.3.37: Krishna cannot be perceived by our blunt senses. Krishna is there, His energies are there, what is visible to our blunt senses is His energies. Krishna says in Bhagavad-gita, the whole cosmic manifestation works under His direction. So the person who has written the script behind it is not visible, only the drama is visible. So how do we perceive Him.

Some people, materialists or the mental speculators try to do this by speculation. They are also called gyani's, who try to guess who the Lord could be. If we keep on guessing who the Lord can be, then there is no room for bhakti or Krishna there. Krishna says, only a bhakta can know Him.

Only a devotee can know Krishna who utilizes his tongue to talk about Krishna and eat prasadam. No matter what happens, do not utilize this tongue to criticize anybody. If we criticize, we will definitely fall down. Krishna will withdraw His mercy and we will lose our taste in chanting. So whatever happen, never ever criticize anybody, just praise devotees for their qualities always.

Krishna's activities are spotless!

Verse 1.3.36: The verse starts off with saying that the Lord is the one who creates everything. His activities are completely spotless and He is the only one with all the 6 opulences. Srila Prabhupada is further commenting that nothing in this world is lamentable. This is a powerful statement. When we are seeing many times, so much misery around us, it is actually not a problem with this creation, but it is because we ourselves are disturbed.

As long as we abide by the laws of karma, they protect us. But when we break it, it comes back and affects us. This material world is perfectly designed by Krishna, for us to go back to Godhead.

Eg: Whatever activities we perform in devotional service, the credit accrued will never go off. That is Krishna's mercy on us.

Further, Srila Prabhupada explains that Krishna is not at all affected by anything of the material world. Krishna even though maintains the whole creation, he is detached from it. Krishna is equal to everyone. But in case of a devotee, Krishna gives His heart to the devotee.

Holy Name and Krishna's form...

Verse 1.3.36: In the Bhagavad-gita, Krishna says: His birth and activities are transcendental. It is absolutely true, even Srimad Bhagavatam explains the same thing here. SB also explains how to cut the cycle of birth and death. It is very easy, just by listening and understand the activities, birth, pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Holy name is the root for all these things. What we are doing is we are chanting the Holy Name. When we keep on chanting with a focused mind, when Krishna understands that we are sincere, slowly Krishna's form will come, the form becomes steady. Then when we keep on chanting, next stage is guna. We will meditate on the qualities of Krishna (compassion, loving etc).
Then we meditate on His lila: how Krishna subdues Kaliya, how Krishna is sleeping on the banks of Yamuna. These pastimes manifest in the heart of the devotee who chants.

This will happen to any sincere devotee. That's why we have to avoid the 10 offenses. Specially the last one of inattentiveness. And along with it, we should have the service attitude, of being a servant of servant of servant.

External can change to Internal Energy, Will of Krishna!!!!

Verse 1.3.34: Srila Prabhupada says quoting Vishnu-purana, Krishna has unlimited energies. The main energies are 3: antaranga, tatashta, bahiranga shakti. We are part of the second one. We should actually be under the first energy, but under the influence of the 3rd energy, we are in a incompatible state. We want to be happy, but we are very frustrated.

But this is very dynamic. For example: Prahalad Maharaj and Hiranyakashipu live in the same house. One is under the protection of the internal energy and the other is under the external energy. Prahalad Maharaj did not have anything, but was happy, but his father although he had everything, he was not happy. That is because he was fully dependent on Maya.

Maya is very powerful. She covers our knowledge, we have to be very very careful of Maya. Eg: Kalkrishna das, assistant of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, was influenced by the batahari's.

It is our choice. If we genuinely chant, in the mood of the servant of servant of servant, then we will come under the shelter of Srimati Radharani.
Otherwise, we will be subjugated under the hands of Maya and therefore suffer continuously.

3 Commanders of Krishna: devotees, holy name and service, who can save us from the clutches of Maya.

What is Self-realization?

Verse 1.3.33: Today'e verse is very very imp. Here it is explained what is self-realization. If we perceive our self beyond the body, that we are a spirit soul and our connection with the Supreme Soul...
Narada muni was a Gandharva in his previous life. His mother died, he walks towards the Himalayas and meditates on Krishna. Now he realizes that he is different from his gross body, subtle body, that he is a soul, sees the supersoul sitting beside him. Then he becomes happy. That is self-realization.

Usually we are tormented by the gross and subtle body. The needs of the gross body is the senses and they demand attention all the time. Similarly the mind also has its needs. But when we go beyond these demands, that's called atma-sakshatkaram. We don't care then of the demands of the gross and subtle bodies. Srila Prabhupada is an example. That should be our goal.

So how do we get to that stage: Genuine chanting, serving the Vaishnavas, Deity worship is the key. And what is the mood: servant of servant of servant.

Coming out of the cycle of birth and death...

Verse 1.3.29: In Bhagavad-gita also it is mentioned: janma-karma chame divyam....
Anyone who hears and understands the birth and activities of Lord Krishna, then he does not have to take birth again. That is the advantage of reading this Srimad Bhagavatam. We don't need to take birth again. What a wonderful gift it is. How many of us would want to be 9 months in a mother's womb legs up, head down. After that, we are pushed down. 5 years we need to be completely dependent on parents, and then all the troubles of growing and disease. Problems keep coming. We need to serve so many spirit souls while we live. Our life is burnt like a candle here and then old age comes in. We think we are this body, which we are not. The same body has to dwindle. Eyes cannot see properly, bones become weak, then death, then again take birth and go through the whole cycle.

The only one who can take us out of this cycle of birth and death is our spiritual master. He teaches us devotional service, by which we can continuously hear Lord Krishna's birth and activities. And that is how we can come out of this cycle. This is possible only in the human life. That's why we need to chant nicely and serve the spiritual master very very sincerely.

64 Qualities in total, only in Lord Krishna!!!

Verse 1.3.28: Continuing the Purport and its summary.
Until today, we discussed the different incarnations of the Lord. And in this verse, Srila Sukadeva Goswami is explaining that Lord Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Srila Prabhupada is explaining further that only Krishna has all the 64 qualities. No other entity has all these qualities. The living entity or jiva can only at the max come up to 78 percent of this this total qualities of Krishna.

The scriptures clearly mention that Krishna is the origin of all the incarnations. Krishna is so merciful, for example we cannot reciprocate with the Mahat-tattva. So Krishna to simply reciprocate with the jiva's love, He comes down and displays so many wonderful relationships like son, lover, friend of devotees. He is just so lovingly reciprocating all the love and service of devotees.

Again, in today's reading, Srila Prabhupada is explaining until we develop all the 78% of qualities that a living entity can max reach, he cannot go back to Goloka Vrindavan. One should perform devotional service which is unmotivated and uninterrupted, then we can become eligible to back home, back to Godhead.

Lord Krishna is the Supreme Lord, declared in the Bhagavatam!

Verse 1.3.28: Please memorize this sloka.
If this sloka is not there, then Krishna cannot be recognized. Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami writes in Caitanya Caritamrta, to clarify the position of Krishna, because He also descends as other avataras, He is avatari too.

All the different incarnations are His portions or portions of His plenary portions. Since sometimes incarnations come from Vishnu, who is Himself an expansion of Lord Krishna.

Krishna comes to protect the theists and to check the activities of the wrong people.

In some incarnations, complete power is not shown. Because that is the need there. But some other incarnations, Krishna displays higher potencies. But Krishna is the Supreme Controller. He says in the Bhagavad-gita that...bhoktaram yajna ....maheswaram.
Krishna is actually watching us all the time. We don't have love for Him, He has all love for us, since He is the father.

We are not orphans, we have our eternal Father, simply by chanting His Holy Names, we can beg Him to please accept us. We should concentrate on purifying our heart. We have to conquer our own mind, that is our main enemy, who comes through False ego, and the 6 bad habits of greed, anger, pride, lust, envy

We should memorize this sloka. Since this is Krishna Himself. We have to convey our message to Krishna that we are interested in Him, by chanting to Him sincerely, learning these Srimad Bhagavatam verses, thinking of Krishna all the time.

The problem is with us. It is with our mind. Actually we want maya, we don't want Krishna. We call for Him while chanting, but we are just seeing that the 16th round is over and that's it. Then why will He come to us. We need to be sincere is trying to remember Him all the time.

Again, the problem is with us. With our mind. We need to open up to accept the mercy which is always present for us through the teachings of acharya's.

More on Incarnations of the Lord!

Verse 1.3.27: Here Vyasadev is going little technical. Like in any administration, the Prime Minister has Cabinet level ministers, bureaucrats etc, also at the state level. Similarly, Lord Krishna also has His energies manifested through various expansions, expansions of expansions, plenary expansions and so on.

Jivas are also sometimes empowered for special reasons. Srila Prabhupada is also a shaktyavesh avatar, an empowered personality, who was given this special role of introducing the movement of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to the entire world. He traveled around the 14 times in 12 years and established more than 108 temples. It is definitely not possible by an ordinary person.

But what we must understand is that Lord Krishna is a person. His pastimes, activities are all real and it is not just some impersonal void. We should understand that God is a person and He is watching over us at every moment.

He is explaining that this world is a place of suffering, but as a Father He is actually waiting for us. Thats why He again and again comes just take us back to His eternal home.

Verse 1.3.26:

Lord Kalki's Incarnation!

Verse 1.3.25: Actually, this is a prophecy of Srimad Bhagavatam. In Madhya Pradesh, there is a place called Sambalpur. There will be only one Brahmana, his name is Visnu Yasa. There to him, the Supreme Personality of Godhead will be born to him as Lord Kalki and He will kill all the demons. He will have a sword and ride a horse. That's how Kali yuga will end and Satya Yuga will start.

This Srimad Bhagavatam is so authoritative, all its prophecies come true. Not even one was failed. So, this one is also going to take place. There is nothing suprising. Actually next 10000 years, whatever will come in the newspapers is actually mentioned in the Srimad Bhagavatam... life span is reduced, height and weight of people will decrease, marriage is based on sex, water and air will be sold, etc.

Likewise, Lord Kalki will definitely come. Kaliyuga is already degraded like anything and it is just 5000 years, there 427000 years still to go. Just think how bad it will be then. And this movement of Caitanya Mahaprabhu will also only last for 10000 years. That's why intelligent people should take shelter of this best process of Kaliyuga, of taking Hari's name. And using this process, we should take cleanse our heart, take the shelter of the Holy Name and go back home back to Godhead.

Lord Buddha's incarnation, Continued...

Verse 1.3.24: Jayadeva's songs. Buddha came to stop violence to animals. Caitanya Mahaprabhu was telling to Chand Kazi that animal killing was there in the vedas, not for indiscriminate killing and eating, but just to give the animals a way to get a human form of life based on the power of how the brahmans chanted the mantras. But people were misusing this and started killing and eating animals indiscriminately and not one was pure enough to even chant those vedic mantras. Hence Lord Buddha appeared and superficially rejected the veda and set forth the principles of non-violence.

But today, the philosophy of Buddhism is totally diluted, even the monks in Buddhism eat meat, which is a strict no by the principles of Lord Buddha.
Kaliyuga, it is not a situation for a gentleman.

Lord Buddha and Sankaracharya, came to pave the way for theism because at the time they came, people were not inclined to listen to the highest message. But once they paved this way,then Caitanya Mahaprabhu set the process for this Kaliyuga to chant the Holy name of the Lord:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
This is to cleanse the heart and purify ourselves so that we can go back home back to Godhead.

Lord Buddha

Verse 1.3.24: Lord Buddha is an incarnation of Krishna, but people ask that Buddhism has different principles. Srila Rupa Goswami suggests us to not follow these principles, although Lord Buddha is an incarnation of Krishna.

This is because, one portion of Vedas (karma kanda) supports animal sacrifices, not for eating them, but to give a chance for those old animals to get human form of life. The Vedic mantra's chanted during those sacrifices were very important for the animal being sacrificed to get a human form. But the brahmanas started misusing this and because of that animal killing became prominent.

To stop this, Krishna incarnated as Lord Buddha. He preached that he did not believe in the tenets of the Vedas and stressed the adverse psychological effects incurred by animal-killing. Less intelligent men of the age of Kali, who had no faith in God, followed his principle, and for the time being they were trained in moral discipline and nonviolence, the preliminary steps for proceeding further on the path of God realization. He deluded the atheists because such atheists who followed his principles did not believe in God, but they kept their absolute faith in Lord Buddha, who himself was the incarnation of God. Thus the faithless people were made to believe in God in the form of Lord Buddha. That was the mercy of Lord Buddha: he made the faithless faithful to him.

According to the Bhagavad-gita (15.15), the whole system of the Vedas is to lead one gradually to the path of the Supreme Lord. The whole theme of Vedic literature is to know the Supreme Lord, the individual soul, the cosmic situation and the relation between all these items. When the relation is known, the relative function begins, and as a result of such a function the ultimate goal of life or going back to Godhead takes place in the easiest manner.

Therefore to bring back people into the Vedic system, Sankaracharya came. After Buddhism, then came Sankaracharya to preach Mayawada. He brought the people back into believing in the Vedas, but only until the realization of the impersonal form, Brahman platform. That you are God, everyone is God. But truly, both are not right philosophies.

By the mercy of Caitanya Mahaprabhu and other acharyas, Krishna slowly again brought it higher forms of realization, that is of the personal form of God. That is, in this age of Kali, chanting of the Holy name of the Lord, is the one means and way to go back home back to Godhead.

19th and 20th: Lord Balaram and Lord Krishna!!!

Verse 1.3.23: This verse says that Lord Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself. Even though it seems he came after Lord Rama, He still is the svayam bhagavan. It is also said so in the Brahmasamhita (isvarah parama krishna satchitananda vigraha, anadir aadir govinda sarva karana karanam)

Usually, we have a misconception that Krishna is an incarnation, but here it is clearly established that Krishna is the Godhead Himself, and all other incarnations actually expand out of Krishna. He is directly the original Personality of Godhead, and Balaräma is the first plenary manifestation of the Lord. From Baladeva the first phalanx of plenary expansions, Väsudeva, Sankarshana, Aniruddha and Pradyumna, expands. Lord Sri Krishnais Väsudeva, and Baladeva is Sankarsana.

Lord Ramachandra, the 18th incarnation!

Verse 1.3.22: Lord Ramachandra is the 18th incarnation as Bhagavatam is explaining. The demons are everywhere and every time. Demon is one who is infatuated with lust, anger, greed and who defy the order of the Lord. Today, the modern scientists come into this category too. They are trying to do inter-planetary travel, which is completely against the order of the Lord.

To save the demigods, Krishna sometimes Himself comes to kill such miscreants and save the order He set up.

Today's world: One should work hard, but not at the expense of Krishna, not at the expense of chanting. Chant nicely, is to awaken the love of God. It is not just to finish the rounds. We cannot just chant rounds and attain the love of Krishna. Not possible.

For genuinely cleansing of the heart, chant nicely and shoulder the material responsibilities also in proper way. Chant with a good mood of serving Krishna, then only we can make progress.

17th Incarnation, Srila Vyasadev

Verse 1.3.22: Today's verse is describing the incarnation of Srila Vyasadev, the literary incarnation of Krishna. He divided the one Veda (means knowledge) into 4 parts. Then he also gave purana's and Mahabharata. Vedic language and the subject matter are very difficult for ordinary men. They are understood by the highly intelligent and self-realized brahmanas. But the present age of Kali is full of ignorant men. Therefore, he did this all specifically for the dvija-bhandhu's, sudras and women. Since in this age, only these classes of human beings are present.

Srila Vyasadev, after he compiled the Vedas, the puranas, the Mahabharata, he was still not happy. Then on the instruction of Srila Naradamuni, he goes ahead to write the Srimad Bhagavatham, the pastimes and activities of the Supreme Lord, which finally gives him satisfaction. Thus it is seen that only by glorifying the Lord and His pastimes, we will achieve complete satisfaction. And the recommended method for this, in this Kaliyuga is to chant the Holy Name of the Lord.

It is therefore very important that we sincerely chant the name of the Lord and yearn for service to Him and His devotees.

16th Incarnation: Lord Parashuram

Verse 1.3.20: Usually ksatriyas are meant for protecting the citizens from being hurt. But at the time when Parashuramji appeared, the ksatriyas were very arrogant, were actually harassing public. All of them were demoniac. In case of Parashuram, his father is Jamadagni and mother is Renuka.

Story of Parashuramji: One day, kartaviyarjuna and his army visited Jamadagni's aasharam. ...Kamadhenu Cow...He wanted this cow...killed Jamadagni and takes the cow away. This angers Parashuram (Krishna's shaktavesha avatar). He releases cow, kills Kartaviyarjuna. It is said: that Parashuram's axe was spinning at the speed of the mind, then when he became tired, it moves at the speed of the wind. He killed 21 generations of such bad Ksatriyas.

Then when Lord Rama appears, he knows that the Supreme Personality of Godhead has come and that his work is now over and so goes off into meditation into the mountains.

15th Incarnation: Lord Vamana

Verse 1.3.19: In the fifteenth incarnation, the Lord assumed the form of a dwarf-brahmana [Vämana] and visited the arena of sacrifice arranged by Mahäräja Bali. Although at heart He was willing to regain the kingdom of the three planetary systems, He simply asked for a donation of three steps of land.

14th Incarnation: Lord Narasimha

Verse 1.3.18: In the fourteenth incarnation, the Lord appeared as Narsimha and bifurcated the strong body of the atheist Hiranyakashipu with His nails, just as a carpenter pierces cane.

12th and 13th Incarnations of the Lord...

Verse 1.3.17: Avatar means descend, coming down.
One point to remember: 19th and 20th, the incarnations are Krishna and Balarama Themselves. Here it is the Avatari Himself, Krishna the svayam bhagavan who appears.

Coming to today's verse: 12th and 13th Incarnation. Dhanvantari, an incarnation of Krishna, appeared during the churning of the ocean. And the 13th, as Mohini Murthy, Krishna comes just to bewilder the demons and share the nectar only with devotees.

Srila Prabhupada: Anybody who gets bewildered by lust, they can get rid of it by meditating on the deity form of Krishna (taking darshan from the lotus feet, slowly progressing towards the face, while continuously meditating or praying to the Lord) and focusing on the lotus feet of Krishna.

The 11th Incarnation: Kurma Avatar

Verse 1.3.16: We are reading about the different incarnations of the Lord. Today, we read about the tortoise incarnation of the Lord. He had the Mandaracala Hill resting on His back, so that the theists and atheists could use it to churn the ocean.

So from all these incarnations, we see how much love the Supreme Personality of Godhead has for us in that He comes time and again as different incarnations and attracts us back to His eternal abode. He performs various pastimes, destroys irreligion, just to attract us back.

It is not totally Maya's problem, it is actually our attachment's or bondage to this material world that cause us to remain here.
Eg: Guru, disciple, guru holding onto a tree and saying, hey tree leave, hey tree leave me.
Krishna gives an answer to this in Bhagavad-gita: If you take shelter of Me, you can easily come out of the bondage of the material world. How the ocean of nescience can be crossed by boat of the shelter of the spiritual master, this ocean becomes as small as foot print of a calf. Caitanya Mahaprabhu has given us this promise, that if we sincerely chant our 16 rounds everyday, and if we follow the regulative processes, we can for sure (Srila Prabhupada's promise) get out of this material world and go back home back to Godhead.

Matsya avatara, to protect Manu...

Verse 1.3.15:
Recap: First chapter, questions of sages to Suta Goswami.
Second chapter, Suta Goswami is answering questions of the sages
Third chapter, He is explaining the different incarnations of the Lord. Today, we are reading about the Supreme Personality of Godhead, when he took the form of a fish. When the whole world was in inundation, he protected Vaivasvata Manu and the different other creatures during this whole inundation.

Since we are talking about Manus, we will reflect on them a little more:
There are as we all know, 4 yuga's: satya, treta, dwapara and kali
kali is 432000 years
dwapara 864000 years
treta 1296000 years
satya 1728000 years
Total: 4 million 32 thousand years = 4.32 million years
1 day of brahma: 1000 such cycles of 4 yugas
1 night of brahma: 1000 such cycles of 4 yugas
1 year of brahma: 365 such days
Brahma lives for 100 such years

A Manvantar (change of a Manu) takes place every 71 x 432000 solar years. One day of Brahma is equal to such 14 Manus plus 15 times the age of a Satya yuga. This duration of one day's time in the life of Brahma, is called a Kalpa.

At present it is the regime of Vaivaswata Manu.

....

The reason we came to the material world is that we are in a prison house, to purify ourselves. From Brahma's point, if we are Krishna Conscious for a moment, then we can get out of this material world. It is really a big opportune moment for us.

Analogy: Ants busy building an anthill. For us, if a small rain comes, it is completely destructed. Same thing we need to know to, this life is very short and we have a golden chance to easily get out of this material world. Wrt the demigods lifetime, ours is a moment. But due to Srila Prabhupada's mercy, just in this life time we can get out of this cycle of birth and death. So, in a moment in the demigod's lifetime. Therefore, We need to sincerely chant, be in the association of devotees and serve them.

Maharaj Prthu, the 9th Incarnation

Verse 1.3.14: We are discussing the different incarnations of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. We are talking about the 9th incarnation, where the Lord descended as a ksatriya. Here Srila Prabhupada is highlighting us about the varnaashrama system. The intelligent class of men (the brahmanas) are responsible for selecting or dethroning the King (the administrative class), according to the rules and regulations of scriptures. If the King is not pious and does not take care of the all-around welfare of his citizens, then they can dethrone him. But they themselves do not occupy this position, as their duty is to simply select a Ksatriya for this purpose, who would fulfill his duties for the welfare of the citizens.

Maharaj Prthu, the ninth incarnation of the Lord is the example being quoted in this verse.

The 8th incarnation, King Rsabhadev...

Verse 1.3.13: Today we are discussing the 8th incarnation of the Supreme Lord, which is King Rsabhadev. Summarizing how the Supreme Lord came to be the son of Kind Nabhi and his wife Merudevi. They prayed and performed austerities to have a son like the Supreme Lord, but He told them that there is no one like Him, so He Himself will come as their son.

King Rsabhadev sets the path of perfection for the rest of humanity. He also had 100 sons, the prominently known among them is Maharaj Bharat. King Rsabhadev instructs His sons to tapasya, austerity, so that the real purpose of life is fulfilled.

Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 5, Chapter 5 is completely immersed in these instructions that King Rsabhadev gives to His sons, which are so potent even today to all of us. We read 5.5.1, 5.5.2 and 5.5.3 translations too, as a glimpse into King Rsabhadev's instructions.

Preparation to understand Krishna...

Verse 1.3.12: In the first chapter of this Canto, one of the questions the sages in Naimisharanya were asking was to explain the incarnations of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So here in this chapter, Suta Goswami is explaining the various incarnations of the Lord.

An important point to understand in the complete Srimad Bhagavatam is that the first 9 Cantos are setting stage for a clear understanding of who we are and who is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And only then we can understand in Canto 10, the complete pastimes of Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is above all the modes of material modes of nature.

Prabhuji shared with us the story of Narada muni, the brahmin, the poor farmer and Vishnu, about Vishnu passing an elephant through the eye hole of the needle.
Moral: The farmer has a clear cut conviction that nothing is impossible for the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Because of this conviction, he was going to be liberated in this life itself. Unless we understand that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is beyond our understanding, unless we read Srimad Bhagavatam to prepare ourselves and purify ourselves by chanting, we will not be able to understand Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Incarnation of Dattatreya!

Verse 1.3.11: Sixth Incarnation. The story of Atri muni praying to Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva is given in the 3rd Canto of Srimad Bhgavatam. Here Srila Prabhupada comments that Atri muni was not advanced enough to understand who the Supreme Personality of Godhead is. That's why he wanted all three of them together as his son.

Dattatreya was born there of. He spoke about the soul and especially instructed Alarka, Prahlada and others.
The incarnation of Dattatreya is one of the different incarnations of the Lord. We think there are only 10, but there are many incarnations.

Although all these incarnations are either expansions of the Lord or expansions of expansions of the Lord, Krishna is the svayam bhagavan, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, from whom all these incarnations emerge.

And to understand this, chanting is very very important. Chanting, Srimad Bhgavatam class, serving devotees and Guru, the temples established by Srila Prabhupada, are all there just for us to be involved in bhakti and invoke transcendental love for Krishna within us. That's why we should take this opportunity and chant very very well.

Kapila Muni, 5th Incarnation, Sankhya Philosophy explained

Verse 1.3.10: Kapila muni is called devahuti putra kapila. His father was Kardama muni.

He is known for his knowledge. He expounded the sankhya philosophy, the 24 different material elements, but everything in relation to Bhakti. There is another non-devotee kapila, but to not confuse ourselves, we refer to this Kapila Muni as Devahuti-putra Kapila.

There are 8 gross material elements(Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego), 5 knowledge acquiring senses (eyes, nose, ear, mouth, skin), 5 sense objects (taste, sight, perception, sound, smell), 5 working senses (hands, legs, rectum, genitals, mouth), false ego and mahat-tattva. He has delineated very nicely this whole material world into these 24 elements. There is nothing other than these 24 elements, in this material world, even in the body of a cinema star.

If we understand this and get a realization out of it, we will make a lot lot lot of progress. Please contemplate on it.

Fourth Incarnation...

Verse 1.3.9: Nara-narayana rishi is another incarnation of Krishna, known for their austerities. Each incarnation has a purpose. Nara and Narayana are sages and they performed many many severe austerities. One pastime is there. Indra felt they are performing such austerities, to usurp his throne. So he sent many apsaras to deviate them.

But Nara and Narayana, being Krishna's incarnations understood Indra's plan and Narayana created Urvashi from His thigh. Looking at her captivating beauty far better than their's, all the apsaras got embarrassed. Indra understood that Narayana was the Lord Himself. Then Narayana rishi gave Urvashi to Indra.

This incarnation, came about to show exemplify to people that voluntary acceptance of penance for realization of the Transcendence, is the only duty of the human being.

The Boar Incarnation, Varaha Avatar!

Verse 1.3.7: This chapter details Krishna and His incarnations. We will come to know about the different types of incarnations. Gunaavatars, shyaktavatars etc. Today we are reading about the boar incarnation. The Earth stays in the balance because of gravitational force. Hiranyaksa, the demon takes all the gold away. Because of this, Earth becomes light, and because of that it fell down away from its orbit into the garbodhka ocean.

Today, we are taking off so much oil from Mother Earth. She needs it for lubrication. It is said that this extraction of too much oil is also like Hiranyaksa taking the gold away. We are in this process, putting Mother Earth is jeopardy again, of losing her balance in this gravitational field. Similarly, cell phones, although very inconspicuous, their electro-magnetic signals make the bees loose their way back to home and hence so many of them die. This is today's problems.

When earth so fell down into the lower planets, into Pluto's region of filthy matter, the Supreme Lord took the form of the boar. So why this form. Since the garbhodaka ocean has to be searched and you get wet in this process, and the boar is best in taking something out of the filthy matter, the Supreme Lord Himself descended in the form of a boar to bring Earth back to its orbit, and thus astonished the demons.

4 Kumaras, sons of Brahma

Verse 1.3.6: Brahmana is not a qualification by birth, but it is by action. Srila Prabhupada said that he came to bring Vedic culture to America, but reporters were saying that he brought cast system to America. To this, Srila Prabhupada said no, I am bringing a system that is there in the scriptures. Someone is very intelligent, someone is not so, someone is very less, so comes Brahmana, Vysya and Sudra. Srila Prabhupada said it is already there in America. An intelligent class, not so intelligent mercantile class and the labor class, people are there with such qualities.

A Brahmana means brahma janati brahmana. They are very very intelligent class. Eg: 4 Kumaras, the sons of Brahma. They are bachelors, extremely qualified to be Brahmanas. Their energy is flowing upwards, and so they are not interested in any material things, only interested in spiritual brahman realization.

Incarnations: Direct and Indirect

Verse 1.3.5: Continuing the purport...
Here in the beginning, Srila Prabhupada is talking about Lord Siva. Lord Siva is a guna-avatara. This material world is created for living entities who have rebelled. This material nature is guided by the 3 modes of material nature. So the jiva's have to be impregnated in material nature, that is done by the glance of Maha Vishnu, which is Lord Siva. ..does not come in contact with material nature directly, He does it through Lord Siva.

So it is like milk and curd. Curd is also milk type, but it cannot be used in place of milk.

Next, Srila Prabhupada talks about the manu's. There are 14 manu's in one day of brahma. Right now, Vaivasvata Manvantara is going on. Actually in Bhagavad-gita, it is told that Krishna spoke the Bhagavad-gita first to Vivasvan, he then told it to manu.

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Then Srila Prabhupada writes about yuga cycles and the long span of a Manu.
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Krishna has all this incarnations and empowered incarnations only to bring us back to Godhead.

Explaining how we come into being....

Verse 1.3.5: This is how the material world is created. There is a scripture called Sattvata tantra, in which all these 3 incarnations are given. There are 3 Vishnu's, not just one: This Maha-Vishnu creates mahat-tattva. When he lies down in the causal ocean, Karuna, the universes emanate from His pores of His body. In each universe, He enters as Garbodhaksayi Vishnu, lying in the Garbhodaka ocean. From the navel of this Vishnu, a lotus stem comes and then Brahma takes birth.

So this brahma is the secondary creator. He creates prajapati's. Through prajapati's, Brahma creates all the living entities. So this whole thing is part of Krishna's universal form. Right now, Brahma's age is 57 years, so for mahapralaya to come there are 47 more Brahma's years. Then Brahma sleeps. Then complete destruction takes place.

Srila Prabhupada's disciple (Sadaputa Prabhu) gave a wonderful example on how time works: like a Whirlpool. On the top, the ball in it might move slowly, but as it goes down, the speed of the ball is very very fast. Similarly, we are lower in the system, so time seems to be going very very fast, but for Brahma who is in the top system, it is slower.

So we take brith in the day of Brahma helplessly and in his night we die helplessly. So what is the end, so that's why we should chant nicely and try and get out of this cycle of birth and death in this lifetime itself. And for this we have the mercy of Srila Prabhupada.

Eyes anointed with love, only can see Krishna!

Verse 1.3.4: "Premanjana churitha.... govindam adi purusam tamaham bhajami", Krishna is the supreme spirit and our matarial vision cannot see His transcendental form. We need to have eyes anointed with love, devotional service. Krishna says, only a devotee can know Me who I am. This is not easy, devotional service is not so easy. Bhakti is actually equivalent to all sacrifices, austerities.

This is Karthik month. If we offer morning and evening, ghee lamps to Krishna with devotion, it is very very auspicious. The mood is completely dominated by love. Mother Yasoda always thinks that Krishna cannot live without her protection. That is her love dominates all the real facts happening. Same is with all the gopi's.

But in Vaikunta, the mood is dominated by the aishwarya bhav. That's why the residents of Vaikunta knew Narayana as God, and they offer prayers. But the residents of Goloka dham do not know that Krishna is God, thats why their always want to protect Krishna. Thats why we want to be there to serve unconditionally, in Vraja bhakti.

And this is provided to us by Srila Prabhupada. That's why we should be so indebted to our previous acharya's. Srila Prabhupada has been given this facility of bringing anyone to the spiritual world, by Caitanya Mahaprabhu and by Krishna. That's why we need to utilize this facility. Anyone who does not use this is actually by himself taking poison.

Virat-rupa is temporary, for neophyte understanding...

Verse 1.3.3: Krishna is actually one without a second. This material world, Sankarshan maintains all the planets bearing it on His head.

The Lord's universal form is actually temporary. Once the mahat-tattva expands, then the universal from becomes manifest. When it goes back into pradhan state, the universal form becomes unmanifest. So basically Krishna and other incarnations are eternal, always existing in the spiritual planets, but the universal form is not. Krishna has nothing to do with the material world, He is always in the spiritual worlds.

First point to remember: We hear the names of Narayana and Vishnu more in the material world than Krishna, why. This is because Narayana is the incarnation in qualitative mode of goodness, is in contact with the material world for its creation, maintenance and destruction. Hence Narayana is more heard in this world. Whereas Krishna is always in the spiritual world, but just to take back conditioned living entities back to godhead, Krishna Himself appears once in the day of Brahma.

Second point: Unlike other forms of Krishna, the universal form is temporary.

Brahma, the master of all engineers is born...

Verse 1.3.2: The first purusa is the Karanodakshayi Vishnu. From His skin holes innumerable universes have sprung up. In each and every universe, the purusa enters as the Garbhodashayi Vishnu. He is lying within the half of the universe which is full with the water of His body. And from the navel of Garbhodashayi Vishnu has sprung the stem of the lotus flower, the birthplace of Brahmä, who is the father of all living beings and the master of all the demigod engineers engaged in the perfect design and working of the universal order. Within the stem of the lotus there are fourteen divisions of planetary systems, and the earthly planets are situated in the middle. Upwards there are other, better planetary systems, and the topmost system is called Brahmaloka or Satyaloka. Downwards from the earthly planetary system there are seven lower planetary systems inhabited by the asuras and similar other materialistic living beings.

From Garbhodashayi Vishnu there is expansion of the Ksirodakshayi Vishnu, who is the collective Paramätmä of all living beings. He is called Hari, and from Him all incarnations within the universe are expanded.

It is also explained in this verse that material nature has no power to create without the power of the purusa, just as a prakrti, or woman, cannot produce a child without the connection of a purusa, or man. The purusa impregnates, and the prakrti delivers.

Krishna Is the Source of All Incarnations!

Verse 1.3.1: Starting Chapter 3 of Canto 1, explaining Lord Krishna as the source of all incarnations.

Srila Süta Goswami is saying: In the beginning of the creation, the Lord first expanded Himself in the universal form of the purusa incarnation and manifested all the ingredients for the material creation. And thus at first there was the creation of the sixteen principles of material action (5 gross material elements and 11 working senses). This was for the purpose of creating the material universe.

It is also explained as to how the eternally conditioned beings are given a chance through this creation to come out of the cycle of birth and death and go back home back to Godhead.

In the Bhagavad-gita it is also mentioned that the material world is created at certain intervals and then again destroyed. This creation and destruction is done by the supreme will because of the conditioned souls, or the nitya-baddha living beings. The nitya-baddha, or the eternally conditioned souls, have the sense of individuality or ahankara, which dictates them sense enjoyment, which they are unable to have constitutionally. The Lord is the only enjoyer, and all others are enjoyed. The living beings are predominated enjoyers. But the eternally conditioned souls, forgetful of this constitutional position, have strong aspirations to enjoy. The chance to enjoy matter is given to the conditioned souls in the material world, and side by side they are given the chance to understand their real constitutional position. Those fortunate living entities who catch the truth and surrender unto the lotus feet of Väsudeva after many, many births in the material world join the eternally liberated souls and thus are allowed to enter into the kingdom of Godhead. After this, such fortunate living entities need not come again within the occasional material creation. But those who cannot catch the constitutional truth are again merged into the mahat-tattva at the time of the annihilation of the material creation.

Divinity and Divine Service...

Oct 14: Canto 1, Chapter 2 last verse completed.

Sincerity is the key....

Verse 1.2.33: Krishna, as paramatma sits in the heart is explained in this shloka.
We are actually making newer bodies for us everyday, especially if we are not Krishna conscious. Krishna is explaining that it is very difficult to explain the material nature.

Paramatma sitting in the heart, allows some actions and rejects some. Why paramatma rejects is that we might not deserve those reactions. He is the overseer and permitter.
He watches our actions and either permits them or rejects them. The gross material body is based on the conditions of the subtle mind, and the senses are created according to the desire of the living being. The Lord as Paramätmä helps the living being to get material happiness because the living being is helpless in all respects in obtaining what he desires.

This is what has been happening for time immemorial. Because Krishna is not there, our actions have reactions. It is deepening the feeling that we are this body and we are getting into the conditioning of doing it again and again.

Our have a subtle body, in close proximity of around 1 m with another body, we are being influenced by the other body. Unknowingly we are making newer bodies for us. Actually spirit soul has nothing to do with this body, it is just because of avidya we identify with all these bodily connections.

Happiness-distress-happiness-distress....continues.
So what should we do. There is no happiness in this world. It is so temporary.
So finally we come in touch with Krishna. In the association of devotees, we chant and serve. That cleanses us. Until we are sufficiently cleansed, we will not know for sure that we are not this body, we are spirit soul.

So we should be very very sincere. Why? Because only in the human beings, we are have this wonderful opportunity to understand. No other body will allow us this facility. Sincerity is the only way we can continue our quest to be Krishna Conscious.

Paramatma is Transcendental....

Verse 1.2.31: So here, Sukadeva Goswami is telling that after creating the creation, Vasudev (Krishna) enters into each and every atom.
Nice example in Srimad Bhagavatam: iron rod in contact with fire. Likewise,
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What we need to do: is to develop prema.
Our krishna conscious path given by Srila Prabhupada is very pure and purifying to us, that's why we need to chant very very nicely.

How do we chant nicely...."trnad api sunicena.....sada harih".

Recognizing the mercy of the parampara....

Verse 1.2.30: Sripad Sankaracharya writes in his commentary that the Supreme Lord Narayana manifests in the material world.
Pradan means the elements needed for the mahattatva to manifest. From mahattatva, ether, wind, fire, air, water and earth, the gross elements of matter come.

Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gita to Arjuna: about his 8 separated elements which cause the material nature.
Krishna's internal energy is different from His external energy. The living entity from time immemorial are trying to enjoying the dead matter of material nature. This is because of false ego, ignorance and we have developed a taste for the 3 modes. But we are never happy in this situation. This itself is a fool-proof thing that we don't belong to this material world. So how to come out of this cycle.

That's where eating prasad, going to holy places which are spiritually surcharged, we slowly try to revive our original nature. Otherwise we will be trying to enjoy matter and we will be forced to enjoy the material bodies birth after birth. Actually Srila Madhvaacharya says that anyone taking birth and living for just 18 years, creates enough karma to again take birth for another 10 births.

So we should see how much fortunate we are, we are getting this mercy of in just one life time we have a chance to get out of this cycle of birth and death. Srila Prabhupada has told us that if we simply follows his words, he will take us back somehow. That is the mercy of the acharya's of our parampara and of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. We really do not know how much mercy we are receiving.

Maya tells us to give it up. This is Maya's service to Krishna. We should not leave it for anything, we should continue in this as our service to Srila Prabhupada.

Para and apara Prkrati's...

Verse 1.2.28-29: Continuing the purport summary -
Krishna is explaining in the Bhagavad-gita that there are two prakriti's - para (transcendental) and apara (material nature). Krishna has two expansions: amsa (integrated) and vibinnamsa (separated). The jiva's, who want to enjoy independent of Krishna, fall in the later expansion. We fall down, get caught in the 3 modes of material nature, have pride, false ego and we enjoy for a little time or suffer for some time and this has been going on since time immemorial. The thing to remember is happiness is for a much smaller time than suffering.

So here Sukadeva Goswami is explaining as to how we come out of this cycle, by taking shelter of Krishna unmotivated and uninterrupted. There is a way to come out of the material nature, Krishna is telling that just by serving to Him, coming under his shelter, we will definitely transcend the modes of nature and come to the platform of Brahman. That is the only way, only way, only way. Except for the chanting of Krishna only, there is no other way. Even one round of chanting of the Holy Name of Krishna, will give us eternal credit.

All austerities as an offering to Krishna...

Verse 1.2.28-29: Continuing summary to purport.
Actually Bhagavad-gita 18th chapter speaks of the austerities. In India, usually we see people fasting on specific days for material needs. It is mainly in the mode of passion or mode of ignorance, since the goal of fasting is something other than Krishna.

But Srimad Bhagavatam and Bhagavad-gita explain that it is wrong. There is benefit, but it is in the mode of ignorance and passion. But austerity should be done for Krishna. Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gita..."Yat karosi, yat juhosi....tad kurusva mad arpanam", whatever austerities you perform, do it for me as an offering to me, then you will become my devotee and you will come back to me. That is Krishna Consciousness. So doing things, should be according to dharma is important. If we somehow or other keep Krishna as the goal of life, then we achieve the perfection of our life.

Culturing of Knowledge...

Verse 1.2.28-29: Summary to Purport Continuing-
Srila Prabhupada is explaining that there are so many people who are educated, but why they are not understanding Krishna. A Person who is well educated, but his knowledge is stolen away by maya, is the lowest among mankind, is demoniac. According to Bhagavad-gita, there are 18 items in culturing knowledge. The topmost objective of knowledge is to surrender to the spiritual master, offering oneself to his service culminating in devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That will be eternal credit, as compared to the temporary nature of material knowledge.

Krishna is the Ultimate everything!!!

Verse 1.2.28-29: Basically this verse summarizes that Krishna is the ultimate source of all the sacrifices. So Krishna is the source of all the devathas. So whatever Srimad Bhagavatam says and is explaining, is confirmed in Bhagavad-gita. People do not understand this. Though Sankaracharya initially talked about the demigods, he himself in the Bhagavad-gita's commentary is telling the let their be one God, Sri Krishna, etc .

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There are problems we are exposed to, so we understand the temporary nature of this world. So we are reminded of taking shelter of Sri Krishna. So so many life times goes waste for us, it is important to realize this.

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If we don't follow strictly the philosophy of Krishna Consciousness, then it becomes diluted and once so, it is very tough for all of us. There are many examples we can see today of this dilution in many religions. Uphold the principles strictly and give it to our family and all others.

Verse 1.2.27: Coming soon...

Verse 1.2.26: Coming soon...

3 Modes of Nature

Verse 1.2.24: Krishna speaks of the same thing in Bhagavad-gita also, worship in the 3 modes. Mostly no one of us was aware of these 3 modes before we came to Krishna Consciousness. Here Srimad Bhagavatam is explaining that tamo guna is like wood, but sattva guna is like fire, which can be used very nicely. Many people in this world have little idea on ignorance, passion and goodness, modes of nature.

Only when one comes into the sattva guna, will one get an understanding of the temporary nature of this world. They therefore lead the life oriented towards Krishna. But the problem with mode of goodness is we tend to think that we are the doer. Since many activities especially philanthropy etc., are done in the mode of goodness, it leads us to think we are the doer's. But we are not. So higher than this is shuddasatva. Sincere candidates must, therefore, approach an expert spiritual master for such a progressive march, and the bona fide, expert spiritual master is competent to direct a disciple from any stage of life: tamas, rajas or sattva.

It is a mistake, therefore, to consider that worship of any quality or any form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is equally beneficial. Except Vishnu, all separated forms are manifested under the conditions of material energy, and therefore the forms of material energy cannot help anyone to rise to the platform of sattva, which alone can liberate a person from material bondage.
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By simply serving the lotus feet of Krishna, we can transcend the 3 modes. The beauty lies in balancing the material and spiritual life, so if we chant nicely, we can perfectly do that.

Goal of Religion....

Verse 1.2.25: The goal of religion is to understand that we are not this body, we are spirit soul and render devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The goal of any/every religion is to go back to Vaikunta. For that, what is to be done is to chant the Holy Name, serve the Vaishnavas and stay in the association of Vaishnavas.

Devotional service performed in the the association of Vaishnavas is the cause of pure devotional service. Srila Prabhupada is telling that for us to get pure devotional service, we have to do bhakti staying in the association of devotees. If devotees are pleased, then Krishna is pleased.

We have to please Krishna by starting from sravanam and kirtanam. We have to serve the devotees according to their spiritual levels. Uttama, Madhyama and Kanishta adhikari's, all of them have to be paid obeisances and take guidance from Uttama and Madhyama adhikari's.

Non devotee and people who are envious, we have to avoid their association.

Devotional Service is blissful....

Verse 1.2.22: Srila Prabhupada is writing here that Bhakti is very pleasing. Srimad Bhagavatam, Bhagavad-gita and other scriptures repeatedly tell that you are not this body, you are a spirit soul. The constitutional nature of the spirit soul, being a part and parcel of it is to render service to Lord Krishna. Unmotivated and uninterrupted devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So actually anything that is natural to the spirit soul, it is very very happy.

So when we don't do that, we are in a different difficult state. Because of the association of matter for such a long time, because of the desire to enjoy without Krishna, we think we are enjoying in the material life with eating, sleeping, mating and defending. We think we are happy, but it is actually a suffering.
But as soon as we turn to this constitutional position of serving the Lord, we become so blissful. That's why so many transcendentalists could be so delightful.
Eg: Rupa Goswami, Sanatana Goswami, Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu.... they all gave up everything although they had so oppulent background.

So when we begin this process of serving the Supreme Personality of Godhead, initially what happens, we get nice pleasure. Then Krishna wants us to serve Vaishnavas and by our continued sincere service, we get progress little by little by little and ultimately leading us to enlivening our self.

The knot is cut.....

Verse 1.2.21 : All these verses, they explain the process of our existence. This is a process. We are trying to know who we are and our connection with God. God realization also means self-realization. (Eg: Having $100 also means having $10)
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We are stuck in this body, the knot is there. The spirit soul is tied up with the body by the root of false ego. So how do we cut this root. By reading Srimad Bhagavatam, serving devotees. Then what happens...today's sloka. The tough knot in the heart is pierced and all misgivings cut into pieces. So this know is cut by knowledge and detachment. Then we will see the spirit soul.

When we see the spirit soul, then we attain the perfection of life. Until such time we are caught up in so many problems. The only control we have is we can purify ourselves of our karma, with the grace of Krishna. What is that we have in our hands, thoroughly purify our hands. Do we try to enjoy in the bathroom, not really. We try to cleanse our body there, similarly this world means to purify ourselves.

Rendering service to the Pure Devotee + Regular reading of Srimad Bhagavatam = Highest perfection of Life

Verse 1.2.18: This section of the Srimad Bhagavatam is very important, verses 13 to around 24. Here Srila Suta Goswami is explaining the perfection of life and the process to achieve it. In verse 13, he explains how to please the Supreme Personality of Godhead and from there on he explains how each one links to other. Like a chain reaction:
13: Highest perfection of life is to please the Supreme Personality of Godhead
14: Hearing, remembering and worshiping the Supreme Personality of Godhead, we can please him
15: What will we achieve then, we will be able to cut the knot of material entanglement
16: Then he goes on to explain, how one can get the taste of Hearing. Just by serving the devotees, one gets the taste for hearing. Serving is most important.
17: Then what happens, once we get the taste, the paramatma cleanses the heart
18: Here, service to devotees and attending bhagavatam classes are stressed. This will help loving service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead get established into our heart. By serving the book and devotee bhagavatam, all obstacles troublesome to the heart are completely destroyed. These two things are very important for all devotees to remember. This will eventually help us to please the Supreme Personality of Godhead and therefore achieve the highest perfection of life.

Urge to hear His messages...Cleanses the Heart!!

Verse 1.2.17: What a wonderful sloka. First Canto is very very important because of these wonderful slokas. Krishna is to be glorified, when we chant His name, what happens... anything that is troublesome to the heart, it is removed. It can be seen from experience. The knots of the heart, the things that are troubling us for so many years, are removed. We might live in the material world, we are dealing with so many things, when we keep chanting, our perception to the world changes. How is this, Krishna in our heart, is cleansing us of so many things. It can be very clearly observed as life passes.

The day is over, the year is over....., we don't even realize how years are going by, we are so much in passion that it just keeps going. But when we come to Krishna Consciousness, then we start looking at our bad qualities. The socialists say introspection, but did we ever do it. It is actually Krishna, who is giving us the difference between bad and good and is cleansing our impurities. We are going to the temple, reading SP's books,how...because of Lord Krishna. He is also called "Uttama Sloka".

Actually if we glorify Krishna, our heart gets purified. So what we have to do, develop this taste. How...just chant properly. Morning one hour and evening one hour, or it is good to do all our rounds in the morning. But should not to do two things at a time, chanting and thinking of something else when Krishna is coming to us. Then our chanting is offensive and we cannot get His mercy. So we should please chant very very attentively.

Attraction to Krishna, by Service and Humility

Verse 1.2.16: When we serve the devotees, (with humility and sincerity), what happens, we develop affinity (attraction) to Krishna and His devotees. This is the subtle science. If we serve nicely to devotees and Krishna, we will surely see an increase in our attraction to the pastimes of Krishna. That is the barometer.

Our condition life exists because we are rebellious of Krishna. So how do we come out of that. By serving the pure devotees. Eg: Narada muni, in his previous life, served the bhakti-vedantas for 4 months, had their remnants and that increased his affinity to the Lord. That type of service brings you from the greatest problem of life to the lotus feet of Krishna.

Whoever has surrendered their life to the lotus feet of Krishna, their life will go on smoothly, even if they have tons of karma, their life will just be so smooth. So we surrender our life to Krishna through Guru, then he protects us from the blazing fire of material existence. But what we have to do, to let the mercy flow, we should be very very eagerly serving the devotees, chanting the Holy name of Krishna and thus get attracted to Krishna's lotus feet.

Cutting the knots of Material Existence...

Verse 1.2.15: Always thinking of Krishna will cut the knot of the chain of reactions. Actually, Srimad Bhagavatam very nicely explains the process of self-realization, as to how do we come out of the problems due to passion, ignorance and finally transcend the mode of goodness into spirituality.

How to come to mode of goodness, everybody is passionate. By listening SB, listening about the pastimes of Krishna, by constant remembrance of Krishna, slowly even for 5 to 10 minutes every day, slowly we will come to the mode of goodness. When we come to mode of goodness, we will be happy. But Krishna says that we should be just be there, we should aim for the spiritual world, ultimate service for Krishna. Liberation is an insignificant by-product of Bhakti. Sravanam and Kirtanam are most essential for this Bhakti process. All 9 processes of bhakti are important too.

Anything we do, we can do it for Krishna. Imagine we are greedy, just think of Krishna, we will lose all our greediness. Since where Krishna is there, there is no passion or ignorance.

It all depends on our chanting. Praying and chanting is our only way for spiritual progress.

4 Principles of Life: Glorifying, Hearing, Remembering & Worshipping the Supreme Personality of Godhead!

Verse 1.2.15: Bhagavatam is imploring everybody, that we should listen, glorify and remember the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna all the time. What is the advantage? Because of the 3 modes of material nature, whatever is temp appears as perm and whatever is perm appears temp. That is the problem of this yuga. A person does not know how to enter and exit from this world, because he does not have the eyes of scriptural knowledge. Until he is cleansed off his conditioning, it is tough. And how is this done, by glorifying the Supreme Personality of Godhead, chanting His name, serving His devotees.

So SB is imploring everybody that the problems in this world exists because there is no Krishna Consciousness. Material benedictions have a beginning and an end, but pure devotional service has no end.

Eg: Sanatana Goswami and Rupa Goswami, how they left their affluent material situations to simply serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

Devotees: Morning they do sadhana for themselves, later part of the day they utilize everything they know for others, bringing them into Krishna Consciousness. That's what will keep us in KC always and protect us from the hands of maya.

3 phases of the Absolute Truth!

Verse 1.2.11: Everyone should definitely memorize this verse. Prabhuji will ask in a couple of days.

So Sukadeva Goswami after telling the previous slokas, was talking about the spirit souls. But now, he is coming to the Absolute Truth. This is very important, the absolute truth is realized in 3 phases: brahman, paramatma and bhagavan. There is qualitative oneness, but there is difference too.

Srila Prabhupada has given a lot of emphasis: brahman, paramatma and bhagavan. Everything rests in the brahman, but Krishna is telling that I am the source of brahman. Next is paramatma, which is the localized presence of Krishna, he is the closest to the soul. The next and the highest is Bhagavan. Srila Prabhupada always gave this example: Sun rays (similar to all pervading brahman), Sun Planet (similar to trying to understand paramatma) and the Sun God (similar to realizing Bhagavan).

Brahman (sat feature is there), Paramatma (sat and chit feature is there), but only in Bhagavan ( has all three: sat-chit-ananda features). Similar to perfect, more perfect and most perfect.

The actual ananda comes in the Bhagavan realization stage, since the Supreme Personality of Godhead is enjoying different rasas with so many of His devotees.

Restraint of the Senses, Inquiry of the Absolute Truth!

Verse 1.2.10: This is a very heavy verse and it is important too. There is lot of difference between Kama and Prema. They really do not know that nobody in the word except for devotees know the difference between lust and love.

When we try to enjoy our senses, then it is lust. When we try to please Krishna's senses, it is love. Srimad Bhagavatam is clearly explaining this. We should not target enjoy our life for sense enjoyment. Srimad Bhagavatam is telling don't enjoy on the level of senses, it is degraded. Because people do not know that they are spirit soul, they go to huge extents and finally leave the body. Not just America, even India is nothing less is sense enjoyment.

Eyes want to see nice beautiful things, similarly ears, skin, tongue everything wants nice things. But Srimad Bhagavatam is explaining please do not do that. It is not asking us to completely stop it, but it is asking us to exercise restraint. Regulation is absolutely required.

Anybody who says yes to us is our friend, no to us is our enemy. Thats how it is. Everyone is nicely using their life for sleeping, eating, mating and defending. All the time is gone here. Today that person is considered more advanced, if he does it in more advanced way (laughter). Actually we need a lot of preaching in this world now.

Life and life, we are completely absorbed in this sense gratification, but Srimad Bhagavatam is asking us to desire only a healthy life, or self-preservation, since a human being is meant for inquiry about the Absolute Truth. Nothing else should be the goal of one's works.

That's why we have to chant very nicely, clearly cleanse the heart, otherwise we are missing the chance.

Occupational Engagements not for Sense Gratification!

Verse 1.2.9: Actually, Sukadeva Goswami is telling about the goal of life. Dharmasya hi apavargasya. The goal of Srimad Bhagavatam for our life is to go back home back to Godhead. First thing is we need to come out of the materistic life. The "pa" varga: parishram (people work very hard for sense gratification), then comes bhoga-tyaga (enjoyment-renunciation), since they work so hard, in the night they get "fena", foam comes out of their mouth, then sense gratification and then comes "bha" means bhandha (bondage), then comes "bhaa" means bhaya (fear to protect what one has), then one day they will reach "ma" means mrutya, death, which takes away everything.

But what is the use of Srimad Bhagavatam here, it gives us the a-pa-vargasya. It is giving the means of breaking the above problem, through reading Srimad Bhagavatm, serving devotees, then attraction to Krishna comes, then we can break this chain of "pa" varga. Then we will be eternally happy.

For this chanting should be very very sincere.

Religion is not for sense gratification, religion comes from the root religio means to connect back, back to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. How is this done, by serving the book and devotee bhagavat sincerely.

Shrama eva hi kevalam!!!!

Verse 1.2.8: Actually, the verse that we read today is so wonderful. We have to really understand it very well. Anything in this world, that has no connection with Krishna is absolutely useless. For example, a rich person constructs a big 20-story house and starts collecting money for 20-30 years. But still he has to leave and go some time or the other. Even Brahma has to leave.

But here Bhagavatam is telling about pure devotional service, that which is eternally useful to us. It is telling that we are either in sense gratification or extended sense gratification. We are better and we want others also to get better to enjoy better sense gratification, since everything does not involve Krishna.

So bhagavatam is straight away rejecting such ism's. Anything we do should increase our inclination for hearing and chanting, increase our attachment to Krishna. Any other thing is useless.

Which does not invoke attraction to Krishna, all such activity is absolutely useless. Philanthropies, Altruism etc etc, all this without Krishna will not get us anything.

Prabhuji wants everyone to memorize this verse too. Thank you.

Knowledge and Detachment!

Verse 1.2.7: This is a very very nice verse. This verse tells you actually as to why we should worship Krishna.

People now do not have faith in God, they are thats why shifting to other Baba's etc. But that is why our philosophy is so great. It starts from you are not this body, you are spirit soul.

But by devotional service to Krishna, the advantage is that detachment and knowledge comes with it. We will not be proud with our positions etc, since we develop detachment, with the increase of bhakti.

Another advantage of worshipping Krishna is knowledge. When we eat, we will be satisfied, our stomach is full and we get energy. Like wise, in bhakti we get detachment and knowledge.

So Bhakti is ultimate.

Fearless!

Verse 1.2.6: Prabhuji asked us to tell this verse without seeing the text and its purport.

Message for today: No one is fearless in the world, except for Pure Devotees.

Tomorrow too: Devotees will have to quote this verse without seeing the text. This verse is so very important.

From Garuda Purana...

Verse 1.2.6: The constitutional nature of spirit soul: unmotivated, uninterrupted service to SPG.

Prabhuji spoke from from Garuda Purana today.
.......
Internally, do good sadhana, pursue process of self realization. Externally, we can do our services in working, taking care of family etc.

This process is Vaidybhakti. Mind does not want to do it, but we still need to do it.
Serve nicely, chant nicely, increase our attraction to Krishna by the mercy and Guru and Krishna.

Story of King Mayuradvaj!

Verse 1.2.6: Continuing the summary of this verse, with a nice story.

Story: There was a king by name Mayuradvaj. Janamajeya was asking whether there were any other pure devotees, contemporary to the Pandavas. So he was told about Mayuradvaj.
Arjuna...sacrificial horse...Tamaradvaj...defeat Arjuna...then Krishna will come into their kingdom...etc.

Unparalleled sacrifice of King Mayuradvaj is the essence here. That's why devotional service is great.

Moral: The bhakti to Krishna is unmotivated and uninterrupted. That type of devotion wins Krishna. This story was told to substantiate the purport to the verse.

We are Spirit Soul!!

Verse 1.2.6: Continued from second paragraph of Purport

What is the dharma of the living entity?
We are not this body, we are spirit soul. To understand this practically is perfection of human life. But how do we come out of it. By unmotivated and uninterrupted service to the Supreme.

If we understand that everybody is a part and parcel of Krishna and we start serving them, then automatically we come out of the grip of our senses.

If we serve like this, we become the friend of everyone and not be envious of anyone. That's why we need to do intense sadhana.

Unmotivated and Uninterrupted Devotional Service

Verse 1.2.6: The first step in spirituality is that we are not the body, we are spirit soul. But when we are covered by conditioning, we look for the demands of the body...of nice eatables, skin needs nice touch, eyes need beautiful things to watch, ears need nice words, nose wants nice smell.

Thats why the first step of spirituality is sense control. But as a spirit soul, we need to enjoy, so we indulge in the loving service of Krishna. Radharani is the Goddess of Devotion, she does not have any other motive other than pleasing Krishna. She is cooking for Krishna, she is making all arrangements for Him. So when we offer something to Krishna, she makes it pure and offers to Krishna. And she gives all the credit to us.

Likewise, we should also try. Vaishnava means to push others forward and himself stays at the background.

Those people who want to control the senses, servitude is the way. Then Krishna will be pleased with us, since our bhakti is unmotivated and uninterrupted, then we become happy because our senses are completed satisfied by serving Krishna. Then we attain the perfection.

Thats why chanting means what, O Radharani, please engage me in Krishna's service. That's why we Her mercy.
Srila Prabhupada makes the point, how do we make progress in Krishna Consciousness, please Radharani. And how, by serving other vaishnavas and Guru.

Questions and Answers, to satisfy the soul!

Verse 1.2.5: Here is an interesting point that Srila Prabhupada is pointing out. There is only one thing happening in the whole world, questions and answers. The whole world is running on the basis of questions and answers. Srila Prabhupada says that different kinds of people, birds have different kinds of questions and answers. But unless they ask questions about Krishna, there is no satisfaction in this act of questions and answers. As we keep reading Srimad Bhagavatam, since it deals with questions and answers about Krishna, it gives us total satisfaction. No mundane talk will give us satisfaction, only Srimad Bhagavatam can provide us an all around solution, as Krishna is the sum total of all things.