Faith in the Lord!

Verse 1.17.22 (Padma Mataji):

* In this shloka we can see how a devotee behaves.
* The King said: O you, who are in the form of a bull! You know the truth of religion, and you are speaking according to the principle that the destination intended for the perpetrator of irreligious acts is also intended for one who identifies the perpetrator. You are no other than the personality of religion.
* In our case, when we have some suffering, all our sadhana goes for a toss and we start blaming every one and sometimes God too.
* In general people think that when we start worshiping God, all things should be good, otherwise we lose faith in Him.
* God actually gives us what we need, not exactly what we want. We have to remember that everything happens according to God's plan only.
* Examples of devotees who had complete faith in God in spite of many reversals in their lives: Prahalad Maharaj, Srila Prabhupada, Sant Tukaram etc.
* This will be possible only when we are in complete Krishna consciousness.

If Krishna willing...

Verse 1.17.20 (Mohan Prji):

* Nice instructive verse.
* Different people have different theories as to why somebody is suffering. Same is being told by Dharma personified to Maharaj Parikshit.
* SP has put in so many points in this purport.
* One point we will be looking more into is
- Why does He put some into difficulty and not others?
* So how can one develop faith that the Supreme Lord puts us always in the best possible situation.
* By associating with those who have faith.
* DS must be uninterrupted, unmotivated too, whether sorrow or happiness, it must continue.
* Eg: Naradamuni as a small child, no father, and in some time lost his mother too. But he did not stop, he very enthusiastically continued forward to search for the Lord and finally he became the best devotee.
* Another Eg: Pandavas, Queen Kunti was faced with so many problems. She never lost her faith, she continued performing her DS, continued her devotion to Krishna.
* Then, Prahalada Maharaj's example.
* And recently, look at the life of Srila Prabhupada. Until he established ISKCON, every attempt of his was a failure, but he continued.
* Every difficulty in our life, 6 months down the line we will see that this was the best thing to happen to us.
* So very important is to control the mind just when we are in the difficulty, then when we are out we will know that it is for my benefit only that Krishna put us into this.
* SBSST: Whenever we take up any activity, "If Krishna willing, we will do it". That consciousness will always protect us since one always remembers that it is only Krishna's will that makes or breaks things for us, for our benefit.

The Run for Happiness!

Verse 1.17.19 (Mohan Prji):

* Today, Dharma personified is answering Maharaj Parikshit's questions.
* But he is not directly answering it, but telling that there are a lot of pholosopies, so how is he to tell who is the cause of their problems.
* Everyone is seeking pleasure. Everyone is running behind happiness throughout the day and night.
* It is the nature of the soul, happiness, that is the reason we are trying to find this.
* So we try to find happiness in the object of the senses. We are looking to find pleasure in them.
* But if we slow down, step back and think, will this really bring us happiness. Then we will know is that happiness is not in the objects of the senses.
* E.g. eating a laddu, when a bad news comes to us. Laddu is sweet, but the potency to give happiness is not there in it, cause it is in the mind alone.
* Another example is from the SB, the example of the Avanti brahamana.
* Unless one controls the mind, he will never be able to find the supreme happiness.
* Spirituality is the answer. But some might say that there is no happiness there. The answer is that every moment, Krishna is giving us a chance to change our heart. All of a sudden this change of heart will not come. But in the rest of our life, we need to know that we are trying to change our heart through spiritual process, so even though it is slightly difficult, we need to continue.
* SP: Spiritual life is difficult, but material life is impossible.
* SB: One has to patiently suffer through the difficulties, but has to focus on the devotional service thinking that he is getting all these difficulties as a result of his own reactions only, then liberation or pure devotional service becomes your birth right.
* Application: Spiritual life is difficult, but material life is impossible, so we need to keep focus on spiritual life and continue forward.

Suffering, it's actual cause, Krishna's mercy!

Verse 1.17.18 (Saci Suta Prji):

* Upon inquiry from Maharaj Parikshit to Mother Earth and Dharma, they tell: it is very difficult to ascertain the particular miscreant who has caused our sufferings, because we are bewildered by all the different opinions of theoretical philosophers.
* Srila Prabhupada's (SP) purport is also so wonderful: There are many theoretical philosophers in the world who put forward their own theories of cause and effect especially about the cause of suffering and its effect on different living beings.
- Generally there are six great philosophers: Kanada, the author of Vaisesika philosophy; Gautama, the author of logic; Patanjali, the author of mystic yoga; Kapila, the author of Sankhya philosophy; Jaimini, the author of Karma-mimamsa; and Vyasadeva, the author of Vedanta-darsana.
* Also SP mentions how a devotee tells takes every problem as Krishna's mercy
- Prabhuji mentions about his own experiences of previous accidents and how Krishna saved him throughout.
* We should have strong faith in Guru and Krishna and must take shelter of the holy name.
* SP: Krishna is so powerful, that he immediately takes away all the sins of a living entity and make one completely sinless.
* Devotee should not view an offender as their enemy. We should just know that it is our own reactions coming back at us. If we point at one, there are three fingers pointing us.
* The cause of one's own suffering is one's own mind.
* Patience and perseverance is necessary.
* Teachings of BG and SB will always remain true. They all mention that the actual cause of suffering is our own reactions and of course it is all by Krishna's will, and that also He is just giving it in small portions although we deserve more distress.

Glorious Kings!

Verse 1.17.17 (Srinivas Acharya Prji):

* In this verse, the personification of dharma is glorifying Maharaj PArikshit and his fore-fathers, to a very great extent, that even the SPG Lord Sri Krishna did services like being a messenger and a chariot driver for them.
* SP comments nicely: He was not falsely proud, for a devotee of the Lord is equally as powerful as the Lord or sometimes more powerful by His grace, and any promise made by a devotee, though it may be ordinarily very difficult to fulfill, is properly executed by the grace of the Lord.
* Lord also takes pleasure in doing such services to His pure devotees.
* Only devotees would become the family members of the great devotees, the Pandavas. Example is Uttara, upon her prayers, Lord Krishna protected MP in Uttara's womb itself.
* The Supreme Lord is not attained by past experiences etc, He is only attained when He Himself chooses to come.
* So here, Maharaj Parikshit (MP) is so devoted, that Krishna Himself chose to give His darshan to MP and save him.
* Here, Dharma is glorifying MP as a great King in the Pandava dynasty. The king before him was MY. SP said the best of the best of the Kings were just 2 - Lord Ramachandra and Maharaj Yudhistira (MY).
* People of the whole kingdom, even nature was very very happy under MY's rule. Glories of MY is also unlimited.
* Sometimes even Krishna used to touch the feet of MY, as he was elder to Krishna. He was also so happy with the Pandavas, that Krishna made him the King of the whole earth and they ruled for 36 years.

Prescribed Duties!

Verse 1.17.16 (Ganeshan Prji):

* One must perform their duty without attachment.
* Renunciation in action, not renunciation of action.
* Srila Prabhupada, a real example of such renunciation in action and service.
* SP's Jaladuta prayers, so humble and selfless.
* We should try hard to follow his footsteps.
* A pure does his duty and patiently awaits for the Supreme Lord's directions.
* ...
* We commit so many sins without even knowing it. That's why we need to continously render service to the Lord.
* Krishna cares only about the degree of our surrender.
* Our prescribed duty may not be flawless, but if we offer everything we have to KRishna, we are automatically taken care of.
* Follow SP's instructions to the best of our ability.

Verse 1.17.14 (Yugal Kishore Prabhuji):

* Maharaj Pariskshit is declaring here: Whoever causes offense-less living beings to suffer must fear me anywhere and everywhere in the world. By curbing dishonest miscreants, one automatically benefits the offense-less.
* Whether it may be man, woman or child or animals, whoever tries to harm these living beings, must fear Maharaj Parikshit cause he will not tolerate this. This is how powerful he was.
* Justice is applied equally to everybody.
* In China, 400 years ago there was an opium war. The whole country became addict to opium. So the King passed an order that anybody who sells/buys opium will be sentenced to death.
- The next day, the prince was caught. Even the prince was hanged, just to give the people the word that the state was strong in controlling this menace.
* But today, although given the power, it is not being used in thr right way to protect the innocent.
* That's why SP called democracy as demon-crazy.
* But Maharaj Parikshit was ready to even kill Kali to protect his citizens.
* Actually today there are no ksatriyas at all. The qualities of Ksatriyas was so genuine, for protecting the citizens.
* Even Duryodhana had good ksatriya qualities. Story: Arjuna taking the 5 arrows from Duryodhana.
* Even those qualities, today's people don't have.
* But at least chant nicely and go back to Godhead.

It's Go-Var (boon of a Cow), not Gobar!

Verse 1.17.13 (Yugal Kishore Prji):

* People want Rama rajya, because all the citizens were nice protected then and everyone was very happy.
* But people these days want Rama Rajya without Rama, which is never possible.
* In those days, Maharaj Yudhistira and Maharaj Parikshit protected the citizens so very well, that it was practically Rama Rajya.
* But from the recent past, during British rule, cow slaughter started in India. Congress promised that they will ban cow slaughter, but did not do so.
* Then the deterioration of the country started, because cows were not being protected.
* Actually cows are so important, even the urine and stool of this animal is so useful to man.
- It is not gobar, it is Go var (the boon of the cow)
- Cow dung can be used also as antiseptic, even in cleaning, boiling the milk in the pot with cow dung cakes (it is so tasty actually),
- Cow items, has so much positive energy
- Anything that is created artificially, it creates so much negative energy. (For eg., a lot of cell phone use is also surely a problem)
* SP came once to New Vrindavan and they made sabji from the local growth. He said he never tasted something like that, so nice.
* But we are getting used to artificial foods. No one has remembrance of the original taste of food.
* In America, so much food is preserved and then supplied. Almost no life in that food.
- Cold things are eaten. Pizza is most eaten, so much cheese, so tough to digest, but still people continue.
* So much health problems, consciousness problems exist because of all this bad artificial foods being eaten.
* Today, life is artificial, cows are not protected, leaders are not even looking into this aspect.
* The size of garbage in Pacific ocean is almost equal to an island.
* The earth has become barren. Just apply cow dung on it and in 6 months the soil became fertile again.
* Please support cow protection where ever you are. Maybe you can buy cows in India too and maintain them.

Animals are also citizens of the state!

Verse 1.17.10-11 (Saci Suta Prji):

* Srila Prabhupada has stated many important points here:
- Any living being who takes birth in a state has the primary right to live under the protection of the king.
- The law of God, who has created the law that a living being subsists by eating another living being. The Isopanisad directs that one should live by the direction of the Lord and not at one's sweet will.
- People will be happy when the animals, who are also the citizens of the state, are well cared for.
* Standard is to follow the scriptures.
* When vegetables, grains, fruits are available for the human beings, why kill animals. It is to be done otherwise, only when there is no other way of subsistence.
* ...
* Story of the hamburger - lady saying it as in human for tying the dog, but ate an hamburger in the afternoon.
* Krishna himself says in the BG: patram puspam phalam toyam.
* Food consists of two parts
- gross part - grains etc
- subtle part - is the taste of the food
* The Lord accepts the subtle part of the food and leaves the gross for us.
* Just as an elephant consumes a wood apple!
* That is Prasadam is the direct mercy of the Lord.

Enviousness and its end!

Verse 1.17.9 (Srinivas Acharya Prji):

* "O son of Surabhi, you need lament no longer now. There is no need to fear this low-class śūdra. And, O mother cow, as long as I am living as the ruler and subduer of all envious men, there is no cause for you to cry. Everything will be good for you."
* 3 points that Maharaj Parikshit is mentioning here
- Surabhi as mother
- One who is hurting the mother is a low class sudra
- Identifying himself as the ruler and subduer of all enviousmen
* For all the enviousmen, Krishna creates this material world and also gives the Varnashrama dharma.
* ...
* We have history from Ramayana and other scriptures as to how some people born of Brahmanas were themselves actually so envious of the Lord and causing trouble to cows and brahmanas.
* Eg: Ravana
* Goal of Varnashrama dharma is to please vishnu.
* One who attacks such an dharma will immediately become a demon. Same with Ravana.
* Another Eg: Hiranyakasipu was the son of a brahmana, Sage Kasyapu. He also killed cows and trouble brahmanas, in the end was killed by Lord Vishnu
* Another eg: Lavanasura, cousin of Ravana, finally killed by Shatrugna
* So as Krishna Himself says that this Varnashrama dharma has been made on guna and karma, not on janma, so if someone exhibits specific qualities, he will fall in the such and such varna's. Birth does not give one right to any specific varna.
* Here, Maharaj PArikshit is assuring mother cow that he will protect her as long as he was living on this planet.
* SP: In order to please Krishna, one has to please cows and brahmanas.
* Cows give milk, which SP mentions to be "MIRACLE FOOD"
* In order to advance this vedic culture, Krishna Consciousness has been put forward by SP and is open to all irrespective of caste, creed, sex, nationality or anything else.
* Chanting the Holy name is at the center of the Varnashrama Dharma in this Kali Yuga.

Do not neglect!

Verse 1.17.8 (Yugal Kishore Prji):

* Here Maharaj Parikshit is saying: Now for the first time in a kingdom well protected by the arms of the kings of the Kuru dynasty, I see you grieving with tears in your eyes. Up till now no one on earth has ever shed tears because of royal negligence.
* Even in families, husband and wife should protect each other. Otherwise, with neglect, the result is that children will become frustrated and helpless.
* We should not make any one else cry. Ravana means who finds happiness in making others cry.
* In 1997 apprx, first time they started McDonald's in Delhi and there was a big queue to taste beef burgers. So the consciousness inside needs to be corrected.
* Story of Mrgari and Narada muni. Mrgari used to find happiness in half killing the animals.
* But by the association of Narada muni, he changed, when he was coming to offer obeisances to Narada muni, he saw some ants, he slightlybrushed them away with his chadar and then paid obeisances.
* Moral - Just chant the holy name, you will be fed very well.
* SP: Just have faith in the holy name. Keep serving Krishna as the motto. Krishna is maintaining a 100 kg eating elephant in Africa, will He not take care of His devotees.
* Srila Prabhupada, treated everyone equally. Even insects and trees, not just the people devotees. He embraced the trees in John Lenon's house and next day they were uprooted and went back to Godhead.
* Just by wishing a pure devotee, a person's account of devotional service is opened.
* It's all for the pleasure of Krishna, that is the spiritual world. There, even a cuckoo stops singing to allow Krishna to hear a bumble bee.
* Request: If you can maintain a cow or cows, even in the latter part of the life and take care of them, then you will have unlimited mercy.
* (Gobar (cow dung) mixed with plastic/toxic waste, surprisingly all the toxic waste started decomposing)!
* Ecologically, financially, socially, physically and even mentally, the cow is important.
* Best service you can do to humanity is by becoming a pure devotee.

Milk and Cow Protection!

Verse 1.17.7 (Puja Mataji):

* ...
* In Kaliyuga, animal killing and other things are totally troubling the society. Because of this
- our bodies are becoming wrinkled sooner
- unclean perspiration due to all this bad eating.
* Importance of milk is being lost
- Instead of drinking milk, people are preferring to kill the animal and eat its flesh
- although cholesterol due to meat is almost 6 times higher than milk
* Milk must be taken
- to prolong our life
- improve ourselves spiritually
* Realization
- we should support cow protection, somehow or other
- for the sake of our tongue, we cannot kill other living beings
* Krishna Himself says: Suhrdam sarva bhutanam
* Law of nature: When we kill an animal, we will have to take birth as the same animal and be killed by the animal
* Therefore, to get us rid of these propensities, the only medicine is
- Hare Krishna Maha mantra.
* Science of Self-realization
- is it necessary to follow a certain diet for self-realization?
- SP: Yes, our bodily constitution and spiritual enrichment completely depends on what we eat. You are what you eat. Our process is that we don't eat anything immediately, we first offer to Krishna and then eat Krishna prasad, which will relieve us of all sins
* Vegetarianism has a very deep meaning. It is very clearly given in our scriptures. And above it Prasadam is most important. Finally cow protection also is the essence of this verse.

Twice-born Ksatriyas!

Verse 1.17.5 (Yugal Kishore Prji):

* Maharaj Parikshit as he is traveling, happened to see the conversation of Mother Earth in the form of the cow and Dharma in the form of a bull.
* He also saw that Kali, as a king, was beating the legs of the Bull.
* So he became angry and said: Oh, who are you? You appear to be strong and yet you dare kill, within my protection, those who are helpless! By your dress you pose yourself to be a godly man [king], but by your deeds you are opposing the principles of the twice-born ksatriyas.
* That is the duty of a ruler.
* But today, practically there are no such good rulers. And that's because people also are like that only.
* The rulers don't do anything good for anyone these days.
* But previous rulers were not like that. For eg: Shivaji Maharaj. His mother Jijia bhai used to tell him how to protect the cows, how to protect people.
- One time a muslim ruler was killing a cow, then Shivaji got angry and took a sword and just killed the person who was trying to kill a cow.
- He was so daring that he killed so many soldiers who killed cows.
- That is a ksatriya. One who protects others from being hurt.
* India also, so much unhappiness exists now, because cows are being killed, calves are being killed.
* Today's mothers, they don't know the glory of India, cause we have been reading only about Lord Wellesley, Benting or Mccauley, but not about the Kings who saved cows from being slaughtered or who protected the citizens as valuable ksatriyas.
* ...to be continued

Need of proper Administrators!

Verse 1.17.4 (Krishna Patro Prji):

* Maharaja Pariksit, well equipped with arrows and bow and seated on a gold-embossed chariot, spoke to him [the sudra] with a deep voice sounding like thunder.
* Here we see how ksatriya's reacted to Kali. Their nature is mentioned as
- strong, powerful, heroic, courageous to counteract the agents of kali
* SP mentions, without a proper Ksatriya, there is no possibility of stopping the age of Kali.
* Lack of proper ksatriyas, we can see the decline in society.
* In this age, practically over the whole world, there are no brahmanas or ksatriyas or vaishyas.
* SP insisted that the Varnashrama Dharma is established.
* So called just dresses of the royal order will not work, it is the actions that actually work. So devotees need to be properly trained in the Varnashrama system.
* A devotee should be ready to discharge any duty when needed.
* With so many projects oriented towards the natural living as prescribed in the Vedic systems, there is definitely hope that some day a devotee will become a proper ksatriya and hence lead the society in the best possible way.

Significance of Protecting Cows!

Verse 1.17.3 (Phani Prji):

* Previous chapter, we discussed the symbolic representation of Mother Earth and Dharma.
* In this chapter, we see Maharaj Parikshit getting to know the condition of the Bull, Dharma personified.
* SP mentions about the significance of cow's milk. Milking the cow means drawing the principles of religion in a liquid form. The great rsis and munis would live only on milk. Srila Sukadeva Gosvami would go to a householder while he was milking a cow, and he would simply take a little quantity of it for subsistence. Even fifty years ago, no one would deprive a sadhu of a quart or two of milk, and every householder would give milk like water. For a Sanatanist (a follower of Vedic principles) it is the duty of every householder to have cows and bulls as household paraphernalia, not only for drinking milk, but also for deriving religious principles.
* Krishna too, is most close to the cows. That's why he is called Govinda, and the topmost spiritual world is called Goloka. Therefore cows should be protected.
* Being a devotee, we might unknowingly be using products from animals, especially cows. So in this age, it is very tough.
* But there is only one way to escape out of this.
* Sincerely chanting the holy name. We need to develop taste for the holy name, the scriptures. So sincerity is very essential.
* If we are not sincere in our Krishna Consciousness, then we will be considered a sudra who is troubling Mother Earth and hence a burden to Mother Earth.
* Genuinely take shelter of Krishna's holy name while chanting, not mechanical chanting. Be in the present mantra, just put our mind and listen to it sincerely.
* Nama ruchi, jiva daya and vaisnava seva are most important.
* Very important to use natural products, not from animal products.
* We have been speaking on cows for such a long time, it is also important to do something tangible in this regard.

Importance of Cows!

Verse 1.17.1 (Ramana Prji):

* One thing to note, Sudra is not by birth, it is by the qualities of a person.
* Of course in Kali yuga, everyone is a Sudra.
* 4 vices of Kaliyuga - meat eating, illicit sex,
* Importance of Cows and Bull
- Cow is symbolizing Mother, Bull is symbolizing the Father
- Bulls, when they are used for ploughing, they nourish the Earth. If we use machines, then we are taking away the service of Lord's children. And then what happens, the bulls will be killed.
* Everything of these animals is so wonderful, even the urine and stool of the cow and bull is so very useful.
* Even Lakshmi devi is present in cow dung.
* For cooking, first class fuel is cow dung, second class is wood, third class is gas and finally it is electricity. So today's modern electric cooking is basically the lowest class of methods.
* By circum-ambulating the cow, one circum-ambulates the entire world.
* For those interested in spiritual advancement, milk of a cow is a miracle.
* SP: If everyone is willing to serve, instead of being puffed by with material ways, then the whole world will be happy.

Solution to miseries!

Verse 1.16.34 (Yugal Kishore Prji):

* So here Mother Earth in the form of cow and Personification of Dharma, Bull, they are talking.
* Mother Earth is telling that: I was greatly overburdened by the undue military phalanxes arranged by atheistic kings, and I was relieved by the grace of the Personality of Godhead. Similarly you were also in a distressed condition, weakened in your standing strength, and thus He also incarnated by His internal energy in the family of the Yadus to relieve you.
* They are thinking of the good old days because this happened after Krishna just left the Earth.
* When you are sad, the only relief is to take shelter of Krishna.
* When you cannot avoid some unwanted situations in your life, people do not know this, if you genuinely take shelter of Krishna, He will bring you out of it so nicely or at least make you immune to its effects.
* To the extent you are materially happy, to that extent you will be distressed.
* So what should we do when we are in a lamentable situation...
* If you have spirituality in your life, then it teaches you patience, cause you see the hand of Krishna in it and therefore it helps you to cross-over the temporary miserable situations in your life.
* Krishna is telling, you tolerate the unavoidable troubles.
* Material world is designed in such a case that everyone is frustrated.
* Behind every sad distressful condition, there is a hidden blessing in it. We need to be tolerant, then we will be able to understand it actually.
* Today, everyone is practically a sudra, and because of that even devotees are in trouble.
* Even in Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's time, the yavana kings were troubling others. Of course Mahaprabhu defeated Chand Kazi.
* Now so many natural problems on earth, so why does Earth not give much, cause the human beings are exploiting Mother Earth like anything.
* Reading Srimad Bhagavatam, chanting the holy name individually and collectively, are the only things that can please Mother Earth and Dharma too. That's why we have to purify ourselves a lot, then it is very beneficial.

On Chanting!

Verse 1.16.32-33 (Mohan Prji):

* Today's verse is very nectarine because Mother Earth is very poetically expressing her fortune when Krishna was present on the Earth and also her misfortune when Krishna left.
* She is expressing her fortune by saying that because the SPG was walking on her, His feet had the special signs (the impressions of the flag, thunderbolt, elephant-driving rod and lotus flower), it was so auspicious and she became very opulent.
* And she is also saying that by the time she realized her fortune, the Lord left her.
* In the purport, SP puts a question and answers that too:
Q: One may ask how we can detain the Supreme Lord on this earth after His mission is fulfilled and He has left this earth for His own abode.
A: The answer is that there is no need to detain the Lord. The Lord, being omnipresent, can be present with us if we want Him at all. By His omnipresence, He can always be with us if we are attached to His devotional service by hearing, chanting, remembering, etc.
* The Lord is non-different from His holy name.
* Advantage of chanting: One can become immune to the effects of the age of Kali only offense-less chanting.
* So what is the process (from book HH Mahanidhi Swami):
- Definition of namaparadha = you are chanting the holy name without any auspiciousness. Srimati Radharani is missing in the holy name
- Effects of this: One looses the taste to perform sadhana bhakti. With offenses, we start losing that taste and we feel devotional service as a burden.
- Stopping chanting is the worse thing that can happen. One should continue chanting, cause only chanting will bring us out of namaparadha.
- Of all the offenses, first offense is the most problematic. It is the mad-elephant effect. One should be very careful in not blaspheming the devotees of the Lord. The cause of this is asat-sanga, association of materialistic people, which makes one feel envious of devotees and then we can very easily get into performing this offense.
- How do avoid it: one should always cultivate the habit of finding the good in other devotees. One should know that no one is a pure devotee and no one is a bad person eternally. Third is we should know that Krishna is putting me in this situation for my goodness. Fourth is that his mind is a rascal, I just need to turn away from it.

Qualities of a Brahmana!

Verse 1.16.31 (Saci Suta Prji):

* This section of the verses are the dialogue between mother cow and Dharma.
* Krishna's presence gave transcendental happiness to Mother Earth.
* Srila Prabhupada comments: When God-made varṇāśrama-dharma, which is strictly meant for developing animal consciousness into human consciousness and human consciousness into godly consciousness, is broken by advancement of foolishness, the whole system of peaceful and progressive life is at once disturbed. In the age of Kali, the first attack of the venomous snake strikes against the God-made varnasrama-dharma, and thus a person properly qualified as a brāhmaṇa is called a śūdra, and a śūdra by qualification is passing as a brahmana, all on a false birthright claim.
* Mother Cow, is lamenting a failure of this system.
* Today, primarily it is more based on the birth, rather than on qualification.
* SP: A devotee is neither a ksatriya nor a brahmana, he is just a servant of the Lord.
* We have to realize that Lord Krishna is the destroyer of all obstacles on the path of self-realization.
* Dharma is standing on the four legs of truthfulness, mercy, cleanliness and austerity. But these legs are being destroyed now meat eating, illicit sex, intoxication and gambling.
* Nice Parable: Of the creation of donkey, dog, monkey and human being.
Moral: Human life is a package of different animal life, devoid of any spiritual realizations. Unless one primarily tries to acquire self-realization.

40 Transcendental Qualities of the Lord!

Verse 1.16.26-30 (Srinivas Acharya Prji):

* So many wonderful (around 40) qualities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead (SPG) are mentioned herein.
* For the rebellious souls, Lord Krishna creates the material world where these transcendental qaulities are presented in the perverse way, upside down.
* But through scriptures and his devotees, He tells that there is the other, the spiritual world, where all these qualities are present as they are and therefore is requesting everyone to come back.
* Out of His causeless mercy for the living entities suffering in this world, He Himself comes personally taking avatars.
* But in the spiritual world, there are no avatars, Krishna Himself expands Himself and is present there in all the spiritual planets.
* Even when Krishna comes with all his opulence and His associates, He faces maximum enemies than friends. This shows that this material world is completely opposite to the spiritual world, where the Lord has only friends.
* Krishna uses 3 modes of material nature to make the conditioned souls to understand the troublesome nature of this world.
- In Ramayana, Ravana against principles of dharma kidnapped Mother Sita, then Lord Rama had to kill Ravana to establish dharma again. Even Lavanasura pastime. So we can see that the SPG Himself has to face so many problems in this material world.
- Even in Mahabharata, Krishna tried to establish peace between Pandavas and Kauravas, but still the battle happened. Even Gandhari curses Krishna
- This explains how powerful the 3 modes of material nature, where, Gandhari, a chaste and devote lady, could not control herself and she curses the SPG.
* In order to solve all problems of material world, Krishna explains in the BG that they have to shift focus, so that they can establish their relationship with Him. And this will purify all other relationships too.
* The highest dharma of any living entity is to surrender to Him and chanting His glories. Lord Caitanya also says that the highest perfection of human life is chant the Hare Krishna Mahamantra:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare!

Dealing with devotees = Dealing with Holy Name!

Verse 1.16.25 (Yugal Kishore Prji):

* So today, we are reading the shloka relating to the discussion between Mother Earth (cow) and the Dharma (the bull).
* Mother Earth is saying to Dharma: Whatever you have inquired from me shall be known to you. I shall try to reply to all those questions. Once you too were maintained by your four legs, and you increased happiness all over the universe by the mercy of the Lord.
* Dharma means the laws enunciated by the Lord. And there is somebody who is watching whether we are following dharma or not. So please do not take it very easy.
* Kaliyuga means no time, busy busy. But what are we busy for, SP comments: Going to hell!
* So there is ultimate need for cleansing of the heart.
* Dharmo raksati raksithaha - If you protect Dharma, then Dharma will protect you.
* 4 regulative principles are just to become a human being. But are we trying to become a devotee.
* Another wonderful point SP makes: The best part of valor is to maintain the principles despite all kinds of odds.
* Complacency is death to spiritual life. We are chanting, but is it changing my heart, is the question we need to ask.
* If we are not service oriented and are arrogant in thinking we are better than others, then we cannot progress in any way.
* If you are extremely sincere, you will never get to see Dharma raja.
* Story: Krishna bringing back Maharaj Mrga from the lizard form. (Never steal the property of a Brahmana, cause Maharaj Mrga accidentally kind of stole the property of a brahmana, the same which he himself had donated to the brahmana.)
* The way we deal with the devotees, that is the way we deal with the Holy name!
* To please Krishna, we have to sincerely chant the holy name, serve the devotees humbly and become servant of the servant of the servant!

The body is not Us!

Verse 1.16.24 (Ganeshan Prji):

* The Lord has presented this world with sufficient quantities of foodstuff.
* But it is the greed of people that puts the conditions topsy turvy.
* Similarly, whatever the Lord has given, especially the senses, if we don't use it in the right way, it will be taken away,
* Eg: Younger days - muscles strong, when old - muscles weak
* One thing very clear is that life is very very short.
* The only thing meaningful in life is to surrender to the holy name of Krishna!
* If we don't think why we are here, then Krishna has death will come and take away everything.
* We should live everyday as if it is our last. We should live humbly devoted to God.
* Even a blade of grass does not move without the Lord's permission.
* The stage is set for us, we do a little part, but we take so much credit for it.
* Everything is given by God, so all glories should go to him.
* We need to control our senses. They should be used only for the service of the Lord.