Vasudeva, Akrura and Ugrasena!

Verse 1.11.16-17 (Padma Mji):
* Different personalities of the Yadu dynasty are being described here.
* Vasudeva's life and pastimes are described.
* Akrura: Uncle and great devotee of Krishna. Perfected his life by offering wonderful prayers to the Lord. He was also the one who was sent to bring Krishna and Balarama to Mathura for the first time. He was an close devotee of the Lord.
* Ugrasena: Grandfather of Krishna. Was imprisoned by son Kamsa, released by Lord Krishna. Was a very humble king in the Yadu dynasty.

Cleaning and then decorating!

verse 1.11.13 (Supriya Mji):
* This verse talks of how Dvaraka city was decorated.
* Krishna is giving an opportunity for His devotees to see Him.
* No one can see Krishna without having a relationship with Him. For that, we need to establish a relationship with one who has seen the absolute truth - Spiritual master or senior acharyas.
* If Krishna is coming to our heart, then we need to decorate our heart. Its imp to have a thorough cleansing has to be done. CM has said this in the first verse of siksastakam.
* And for maha cleaning for the heart, the Lord has given us this Mahamantra.
* This dirt is there in the heart, it has to be cleaned. It should be a priority. But if not, and another shows it, then only anger and frustration arises.
* Krishna will give an opportunity, if we want to do it for Him. And it will be a joyfull thing.
* Once cleaning is done, then decoration starts. That's where the 3rd verse of Mahaprabhu comes - trnad api sunicena. The Lord will decorate the devotee, it is His mercy only.

Dvaraka vs. modern civilizaiton!

Verse 1.11.12 (Harisha Mji):
* The fantastic beauty of the city of Dvaraka is given.
* In the purport, SP is comparing the current modern civilization with the civilization in Dvaraka.
* Perfection of human civilization is made possible by utilizing the gifts of nature in their own way.
* Both humans and animals are doing the same 4 things: eating, sleeping, mating and defending. But the human being is doing it in a sophisticated way. And even that humans are not doing well - fast foods are there because they don't have time, then so many ppl are sleepless these days, so much the modern man is afraid in these days.
* Whereas, in Dvaraka, there were hermitages, orchards, flower gardens, parks and reservoirs of water breeding lotus flowers all over. The description of Dvārakā-dhāma is the ideal of human civilization.
* ...

Faith in the Lord and the Process!

Verse 1.11.11 (Mohan Pr):
* Story from Panchatantra- sage going to village to beg for food. Mice, mouse eating the rice, raising the pot but still the mouse was able to jump into the pot
- moral: every person has some confidence, this depends on the strength he has, its his confidence. we put little faith on some reservoir that we have. most of the time it is the money. however sometimes, as this storage of the mouse, we lose it. then our life becomes weak. unless we increase our faith we will always be shaken up. first thing we need to do: increase our faith in the SPG.
* Unless we have faith there, we will have faith in material things and those will cause misery sometime or the other.
* Here, the residents of Dvaraka had so much faith in the SPG.
* Current examples: Srila Prabhupada, single handedly challenged the material world, because of his unflinching faith in the SPG. not even 1% less faith, complete surrender to the Lord that He will protect.
* Others: Vrindavan vasi's, Pandavas, so much surrender to the SPG, Sri Krishna. Arjuna killing Jayadratha, with the help of Sri Krishna.
* Second thing: understand the process and have faith in the process. Unless we have this, we will fall down. BG 2.40, nehabikramo....
Before Krishna speaks about Buddhi-yoga, He is glorifying it. That there is no loss in here. If we have little faith in DS and start off, we will definitely be pulled to success.
* So, we should have faith in the Lord and in the process, then we will surely be able to complete it up to the finish line.

Prayers to the Lord...

Verse 1.11.7 (Yugal Kishore Pr):
* Here the residents of Dvaraka are praying and praising the Lord.
* We should learn these prayers. SB is full of such prayers
- Maharaj Muchakunda prayers, Wives of Kaliya prayers, Prahalad Maharaj prayers etc.
* Importance of prayers
- we acknowledge the SPG
- we are part and parcel
- our inability
- our ingratitude
- His unconditioned love
- our inability to come out desire to enjoy
- to continue serving Him
* Glorification of devotees actually helps us overcome envy within us.
* Krishna also says in BG, I am father, mother, well wisher of all living entities.
* Imp pt: Krishna never leaves you. One thing we don't like is cheating, imagine how many times we have cheated Him, but He will never leave us. That shows His unlimited mercy on us, He never leaves us.
* If we follow Him in every respect, we will become successful. Any success that comes in our life, attribute it to Krishna.
* In bhakti, Srimati Radharani has been maintaining us.
* Symptom of advancement: don't criticize any Vaishnava, genuinely chant the rounds, not just completing it. Surrender to the process completely and follow 4 regulative prayers.
* Kulasekhar Alwar prayers also, so very beautiful, Srila Prabhupada recited it so many times.

Taking darshan and Prayers to the Lord....

Verse 1.11.6 (Yugal Kishore Pr):
* The residents of Dvaraka are now praising the Lord. They are telling that all the demigods, Brahma are worshipping you Krishna.
* In Vedas, they glorify You, eternally singing His glories.
* Actually, prayer is a very very powerful substance. We go to temple so that Krishna can see us. We go to temple for purification. Once we go there, we realize who we are.
- first say, how fallen we are
- second, thank you Krishna, despite being fallen, still You gave me Your mercy
- third, glorify Krishna and then ask for some boon in the form for unmotivated uninterrupted service, taste for the holy name, different spiritual benedictions we ask then we make a lot of progress.
* If we do not compose our own prayers, then we should recite the Acharya's prayers.
* Most beautiful form of Krishna's body is face, and in that smile is most beautiful. If we meditate on Krishna's eyebrows, then lust is gone. Genuinely pray like the residents of Dvaraka are praying.
* SB explains that if we take darshan this way, we get rid of lust, then the other things also go away.
* There are 3 types of prayers
- asking for perfection, can be done only by pure devotees
- explaining our pitiable condition and praying for the mercy and service of the Lord
-
* Hare Krishna Maha mantra is the best prayer for chanting, also chant Siksastakam prayers everyday. Because it has from the conditioned stage to the liberated stage.
* Bhaktivinoda thakur and Narottama das prayers, we have to read.

Only love is required to please Krishna!

Verse 1.11.4-5 (Aashish Pr):
* Eg: Father and son, if son gives him some gift something out of love, even if the father is completely rich, he will still feel happy. That is the same with Krishna. He is only looking for our love, with which we can offer Him anything and He will accept it.
* Krishna is also a desire tree, from Him everyone can have everything by His mercy.
* BG: one who engages in full devotional service, meditating on His form, for him Krishna carrier what he lacks and preserves what he has.
* In the worship of the sun, there is some sort of demand made by the worshiper, but in the case of devotional service to the Lord, there is no question of demand from either side. It is all a sign of pure love and affection between the Lord and the devotee.

Holy Name, then no fear!

Verse 1.11.3 (Sundari Mji):

* Life is so unpredictable, without taking the shelter of the Lord, there is no escape.
* The citizens of Dvaraka were so very much in melancholy
* Unless there is a problem, there is no serious surrender to the Lord. Eg: Chitraketu, he had everything but did not have a son. Ultimately he had a son, then no mood to listen to Narada muni about the goal of life. When son dies, then only he listens. Again, curse by Parvati, then again in this troubled situation, he surrenders more.
* Krishna, like this, sometimes takes away everything, just to help us surrender to the Lord.
* Fear problem always exists and it exists due to ignorance only. But once we know the ultimate goal of life, then this fear is not there.
* In this life, two things for sure
- one who takes birth, will surely die
- investment done in bhakti will always remain
* How to execute this bhakti
- lot of enthusiasam
- patience and gratitude
* Our heart must be fertile, unless it is fertile, the seed of bhakti sowed by Guru will not grow. So cultivate it with lot of humility.
* Chanting is like putting the water, but the soil needs to be fertile by humility.
* Krishna sees how sincerely we are performing all this.
* Holy name is the greatest savior from the biggest fears of this world. Holy name is everything. Eg: Gajendra moksha too, he remembered the holy name as an animal too.

No matter in the Spiritual World!

Verse 1.11.2 (Sachisuta Pr):

* The white and fat-boweled conchshell, being gripped by the hand of Lord Kṛṣṇa and sounded by Him, appeared to be reddened by the touch of His transcendental lips. It seemed that a white swan was playing in the stems of red lotus flowers.
* In various places in the Vedic literature, like BG, Brhama Samhita, SB, the form of Krishna is described and glorified.
* In the holy dham also, we will find the special presence of the Lord. Eg: Srila Prabhupada and his disciples, how they find so much energy in the dham's of the Lord.
* SP writes: the paramahaḿsa, or the supremely intelligent person, plays the part of the ducking swan in the water of spiritual bliss, eternally decorated by the lotus flower of the Lord's feet.
* Chanting being one of the foremost services, we need to sincerely chant.

Utilize this life now!

Verse 1.10.36 (YK Pr):
* Here we see that Krishna is travelling through various provinces to reach Dvaraka.
* Krishna is also doing His duties as a family man. In BG, Krishna said that He does not have to do anything, but He still does so only to set an example.
* Eg: Lord Ramachandra, He was committed husband, son, father, king.
* We have to do our duty actually, in a very Krishna Conscious way.
* Giving charity, performing sacrifices any one can do. But what everyone cannnot do is tolerance, self control, uphold the scriptural injunctions (our case 4 regulative principles). Very difficult to control/restrain the senses whereas very easy to do charity and philanthropy.
* Body is a machine given to us, before it is completely down, we should utilize every moment of this body to cleanse it up. We need to become fully Krishna Conscious, then we will not have another birth. But if we become victim to these other things, we will have to come back to this suffering again.
* Do ur duty given by Krishna.
* Sense control means no prajalpa. Don't take wrong about anybody. Realizations will not come because we are blinded by Maya, desire to enjoy.
* That's why Krishna comes to set an example as to how to live this life. So we have to utilize this opportunity to become strong in KC.
* Maya puts obstacles in the form of doubts, so we should not have any doubt about KC.
* Love everyone, serve everyone! Chant nicely!

Longing, mood for devotional service!

Verse 1.10.33-35 (YK Pr):
* Here Krishna has accomplished His job in the Kuru world and is now returning after a long time to His own dhama, Dvaraka.
* The residents of Hastinapura though could not stand the separation from the Lord.
* Two types of devotees- nitya siddha and nitya-baddha
* If you want to continue in KC, then SP explains, we need to develop the yearning, the longing, that when will the day come when I will develop the taste for the Holy name.
* The only way to come out of maya conditioning is geniune faith in the name of Krishna. Even if we are seeing death everyday, we don't realize the futility of material existence.
* Shelter of Guru and Krishna must be accepted to learn and apply them nicely. Take guidance and execute bhakti, devotional service. To the extent we are sincere in doing this, we will go forward.
* The mood is important, the melting of the heart. Unless we develop the mood of trnad api sunicena, we might be chanting for millions of years, we will not go forward.
* As neophyte devotees, we have lot of respect for everyone. We need to maintain the same mood, because if not, we will start developing the habit of judging others.
* We need to make sincere effort.

Krishna's causeless mercy...

Verse 1.10.31-32 (Vidya Mji):
* Here we see that Lord Krishna accepts the arrangement made by Maharaj Yudhistira.
* If required, Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself was sufficient to defend Himself from the attack of others who counted the Lord as their enemy, but still He accepted all the arrangements made by Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira because He could not disobey the King, who was His elder cousin. The Lord plays the part of a subordinate in His transcendental sporting, and thus sometimes He puts Himself in the care of Yaśodāmātā for His protection in His so-called helplessness of childhood. That is the transcendental līlā, or pastime of the Lord.
* Out of His causeless mercy, He takes up this role to give transcendental pleasure to His devotee.
* So Lord Krishna killed so many demons in His childhood, so why is He afraid of Mother Yasoda.
* All that is because of His love for His devotees. He can be controlled by the unconditioned love of His devotees.
* It is tough for us to understand this, because we are too busy with our own material affairs. We keep speculating the KC process all the time. The Lord's feelings cannot be understood by us so easily.
* These spiritual books like SB and BG cannot be understood by us as we do maths and science. They need to be understood only through the mercy of the Spiritual master.
* It is all Krishna's supreme mercy, that He comes down to hold our hand and take us back. So only submissive love, constant attentive chanting and loving service to devotees will help us get there.
* It is upto to us to drink water from the river. The acharya's show us the path and help us, but we have to make the step.
* Whether situations work or not, we should understand that everything is Krishna's work and He is doing things to help us. So then we will be happy otherwise, we are always finding fault with others and are in anxiety.
* Always keep in mind that the ultimate goal is to go back to Godhead. Just based on short time goals, we should not miss out our ultimate goal.
* It's hard to not think that it is all Krishna's plan, but we need to practise it. He comes out of His superior position and comes and helps us in our day to day activities. It is all His mercy.

Love:Lust:::Gold:Iron

Verse 1.10.28 (Mohan Pr):
* Queens of Hastinapur are glorifying the high position of the queens and girlfriends of Krishna. This is a very high topic and we are not qualified to speak on this topic.
* There is a lot of difference between love and lust. This is all love, the rishis in their previous births did many many penances to attain the conjugal relationship with the Lord.
* The wifes and girlfriends of the Lord, must have undergone vows, baths, fire sacrifices and perfect worship of the Lord of the universe.
* Srila Prabhupada here says: Attainment of this stage of pure spiritual life is the highest perfection, and this stage is called svarūpa, or the factual identity of the living being. Liberation means renovation of this stage of svarūpa. In that perfect stage of svarūpa, the living being is established in five phases of loving service, one of which is the stage of mādhurya-rasa, or the humor of conjugal love.
* Herein two classes of devotees of the Lord are mentioned in the stage of conjugal love. One is svakīya, and the other is parakīya. Both of them are in conjugal love with the Personality of Godhead Krsna.
* The kissing of the Lord, either by His wives or His young girl friends who aspired to have the Lord as their fiance, is not of any mundane perverted quality. Had such things been mundane, a liberated soul like Śukadeva would not have taken the trouble to relish them, nor would Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu have been inclined to participate in those subjects after renouncing worldly life. The stage is earned after many lives of penance.
* Mahaprabhu has displayed the same rasa lila in front of Lord Jagannath along with his associates and has brought reverance to it,

Make your heart Vrindavan!!!

Verse 1.10.27 (Supriya Mji):
* Residents of Hastinapur are glorifying the residents of Dwaraka.
* They says residents of Dwaraka are more glorious than even the residents of the heavens. Because Krishna Himself was present there.
* The Lord brings His associates with Him.
* This material world otherwise is a miserable place. Only Vrindavan, Mathura and Dvaraka are the most important places.
* Just following the sadhana bhakti process of going behind the acharyas.
* Make your house Vrindavan, our heart Vrindavan, and invite Krishna into our hearts. Purifying our heart through chanting of the holy name will help us.
* In USA itself, we have so many opportunities of service and bringing Krishna into our hearts.
* "Make your heart Vrindavan", by associating with devotee, by eating Krishna prasadam, by reading Srila Prabhupada's books, by chanting Krishna's holy name and by serving the devotees!!

Krishna's Appearance and Disappearance...

Verse 1.10.26 (Mohan Pr):
* As Lord Sri Krishna is departing hastinapur to go to Dwaraka, the ladies from the rooftops are now glorifying the Yadu dynasty and the place where He was born.
* In the BG also it is given that, if one truly understands the transcendental nature of the appearance and disappearance of the Lord, we will immediately be liberated.
* The appearance of the Lord is not something material, at least that much we much understand.
* The conditioned soul is forced to take a body when he comes to this material world, but for Krishna it is not so, He has a transcendental body, His birth is not like the conditioned souls.
* EG: Sun is always existing, it only appears in the east in the morning and disappears in the west in the evening. Very clear example of what it means Krishna appears and disappears. It only means that in our vision He appears and disappears.
* The Yadu dynasty is also being glorified here and the land of Mathura also. How glorious are the different places where the Lord performed His pastimes.
* Material world < Vaikunta planets < Goloka Vrindavana, similarly Mathura < Vrindanvan < Govardhan Hill < Radha kund
* So the Lord comes here to perform the pastimes, so that we can get attracted to Him.
* Through His holy name, we can purify ourselves, then we will be able to understand the pastimes of the Lord.
* This week, the World Holy Name Week, pls chant extra rounds just to glorify the Lord.

Verse 1.10.25 (Kasi Pr):
* Krishna appears whenever there is decline in religious principles. Even in BG, it is mentioned the same.
* SP states how wonderful activities the Lord performs when He comes here.
* Unfortunately, there are ppl who still do not believe that the SPG does come to this material world for our benefit. And Krishna says this also in the BG
* To understand the Lord's transcendental nature, in the Kaliyuga, chanting the Hare Krishna Mahamantra is the only way. With love and affection, if we chant, then Krishna will reveal Himself to us.
* We are conditioned souls, following devotional service is the only way for us to realize the Lord in our heart.
* Power of sense gratification is too much. It is very difficult to satisfy these senses. The only way we can control them is by reading the scriptures like BG, SB. We have to utilize the power of devotional service to overcome the attachments to sense gratification.

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur!

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur's Appearance Day (Yugal Kishore Pr):
* After Visvanath chakravarthy thakur and Baladev Vidyabhushana, the Vaisnava sampradaya was being covered down because of apasampradaya's.
* Even Ganga changed its course and covered
* Famous in this lifetime: his Schedule, his writings, Bishakcshen's episode, his finding of Mahaprabhu's birthplace.
* Most efficient magistrate
* When he was coming home, he was seeing goloka vrindavan. He had 10 children, but who were they
- Bhaktisiddanta Saraswati Thakur, a ray of Vishnu, who chanted 192 rounds for 10 years, and then began the Gaudiya math for spreading the glories of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu
* He was an ideal grhastha.
* Temple president of Jagannath Puri, corrected so many things there.
* Bishakschen's episode is also famous, where Srila Bhaktivinoda thakur deposed this false imposter of mystic powers.
- He imprisoned Bishakschen, and that guy caste a bad spell on the whole family of Bhaktivinoda thakur
- All the family became sick, except SBSST. But Bhaktivinoda thakur didn't care, he gave the right judgement anyway.
- That guy's head was shaved, he lost all his power
* Bhaktivinoda Thakur is Kamala Manjari in the spiritual world.
* His schedule is just amazing. Write, chant, work, sleep and eat a little, completely efficient. Never complained that he did not have time, he made the best use of time available.
* Another episode, position of Vaisnava higher than Brahmana. SBSST established how Vaisnavism is greater than Brahmanas.
* Bhaktivinoda thakur wanted Bimala Prasada (SBSST) to take initiation from Gaur Kisora Das Babaji Maharaj. He told him that don't come home without taking initiation. How wonderful.
* He found out Mahaprabhu's birthplace - Yoga-pita
* He wrote so many wonderful songs, bhajans for the pleasure of the Lord.
- sarvasya tomar tumitho thakur.....
- keno hare krishna naam ....
- Gaura arati
- so many songs in ISKCON all come from him.