“The Appearance of Lord Krishna,” a talk by Giriraj Swami
Today is Sri Krsna Janmastami. We read from Srimad-Bhagavatam, Canto Ten, Chapter Two: “Prayers by the Demigods for Lord Krsna in the Womb.”
TEXT 18
tato jagan-mangalam acyutamsam
samahitam sura-sutena devi
dadhara sarvatmakam atma-bhutam
kastha yathananda-karam manastah
SYNONYMS
tatah—thereafter; jagat-mangalam—auspiciousness for all living entities in all the universes of the creation; acyuta-amsam—the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is never bereft of the six opulences, all of which are present in all His plenary expansions; samahitam—fully transferred; sura-sutena—by Vasudeva, the son of Surasena; devi—Devaki-devi; dadhara—carried; sarva-atmakam—the Supreme Soul of everyone; atma-bhutam—the cause of all causes; kastha—the east; yatha—just as; ananda-karam—the blissful (moon); manastah—being placed within the mind.
TRANSLATION
Thereafter, accompanied by plenary expansions, the fully opulent Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is all-auspicious for the entire universe, was transferred from the mind of Vasudeva to the mind of Devaki. Devaki, having thus been initiated by Vasudeva, became beautiful by carrying Lord Krsna, the original consciousness for everyone, the cause of all causes, within the core of her heart, just as the east becomes beautiful by carrying the rising moon. Continue reading »
Giriraj Swami spoke on Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.2.31.
“Why did Srila Prabhupada speak with such confidence and certainty? Because Krishna — who is very merciful to His empowered representative, the acharya — accepts the method the acharya leaves behind for other devotees to follow. Srila Prabhupada left us instructions that are meant to engage us in devotional service that Krishna will accept. And Krishna, out of His mercy and love for Srila Prabhupada, accepts that method and the service rendered by devotees according to those instructions. It is a very simple process, although in a way it is very mysterious.”
“During the struggle in Juhu I said to Tamal Krishna Goswami, ’I am doing what Srila Prabhupada wants me to do, but still I am suffering so much. How is that?’ In reply, he gave the example that you are in a room that catches fire and the only way out is to break the window with your hand. When you force your hand through the glass it will get cut and you will feel pain, even though the hand is doing what the body, what the brain, wants it to do — what it has to do for the sake of the body, the sake of the whole. We, as parts and parcels of Krishna, serve the Supreme Whole, and, as followers of Srila Prabhupada, serve him as Krishna’s representative. Even then we may feel pain in the course of our service, even if we are doing exactly what we are meant to do. But then again, sometimes the inner pleasure we feel when we are in difficult external circumstances is greater than the pleasure we experience when we are in more comfortable situations.”
Today is Balarama Purnima. “One cannot attain the supreme platform of self-realization without being sufficiently favored by Balarama. One must have the spiritual strength which is infused by Balarama. Balarama is the source of spiritual power, or the original spiritual master. Therefore Lord Nityananda Prabhu, who is also the incarnation of Balarama, is the original spiritual master. And the spiritual master is the representative of Balarama, the form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead who supplies spiritual strength. In the Caitanya-caritamrta it is confirmed that the spiritual master is the manifestation of the mercy of Krsna.” (Srila Prabhupada, Krsna, Chapter 2)
Giriraj Swami spoke from Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.3.22 and other texts about various aspects of Deity worship, at the home of Vrindavan Bihari and Prema Manjari.
“I was there in the 1970’s when a man who had small brass deities wanted to give them to Srila Prabhupada. Prabhupada replied, “I can accept them, but you have to give me two lakhs of rupees.” That was a large amount of money, more then than it is now. Srila Prabhupada continued, “It is not a cheap thing to maintain deities.”
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“Mr. Sethi told me that different devotees had been asking him why he hadn’t taken initiation, and he mentioned it to Srila Prabhupada. ‘You are more than initiated,’ Prabhupada replied. ‘If you are given diksa you can worship the Deities, but you are serving the devotees, and serving the devotees is higher than serving the Deities. When you are initiated, there are so many rules to follow, but we are in the material world, and I need you to do so many things.’ So even though he wasn’t officially initiated, he was more than initiated. And that was demonstrated by him throughout his life and at the very end. He was fully absorbed in Srila Prabhupada.”
“A friend suggested we have our own ten-day Hare Krishna pandal festival. It seemed like an impossible feat. Then Srila Prabhupada gave the example of shooting a rhinoceros: “If you try to shoot a rhinoceros and fail, no one will blame you, because everyone knows you can’t shoot a rhinoceros. But if you succeed, everyone will praise you.”
We divided the activities into different departments. Shymasundara Prabhu was the temple president and personally took charge of the publicity. Gurudas Prabhu was in charge of public relations–getting the permits. Yamuna Devi was in charge of the Deities, and I was in charge of the fund raising. I got a lot of advertisements to publish, but many companies would pay only after receiving the book with their advertisements printed. So we were short of funds, and we really needed them.
Yamuna was most sincere, but there was no money. And one day, by Warden Road, she just broke down crying. She was sitting on the side of the road crying, when a gentleman in a black limousine saw her and stopped. He got out and asked why she was crying. She explained that we were having a pandal program and were installing Radha-Krishna Deities but that we had no money and she had to arrange outfits and ornaments and decorations for Them.
He said, “Don’t worry; I am the chairman of the two largest temple religious trusts in Bombay. How much do you need?” She said, “Three thousand rupees”–which was a lot of money then. So they went to his office and he wrote out a check for the entire amount.”
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Here is the recording of the talk Giriraj Swami gave upon his arrival in Juhu, Mumbai.
“Although we may engage the body in devotional service, the mind may be somewhere else. And here there are two categories. One is the person who is engaging in what appears to be devotional service but whose actual intention is to get some material gain. He is not actually a pure devotee, but he engages in the activities of devotees in order to get some material profit. He is not fully situated in the spiritual energy. And the other is the devotee who wants to serve Krishna fully, with body, mind, and words–who wants to control the mind–but who struggles because of material conditioning, the mind’s habit of going here and there. That sincere devotee should engage fully in devotional service in the association of other devotees and try to remember Krishna all the time. Everything he or she does should be done for Krishna’s pleasure. We should always think, “Would Krishna want me to do this? Will Krishna be pleased if I do this?” At every moment. That is Krishna consciousness. That is bhajanty ananya manso, or engaging in devotional service with undeviated mind. Srila Prabhupada said that a pure devotee does not engage any of his senses without first taking permission from Krishna.” – Giriraj Swami
The following is an interview with Sripada Aindra dasa conducted last year for the forthcoming book Kirtana Meditations: The Mood and Technique of Bhakti Kirtana, compiled by Dhanurdhara Swami and Akincana Krishna dasa.
Doing kirtana for Srila Prabhupada
When Srila Prabhupada came to Washington in 1976, we would all briefly stop at his quarters before going to the temple to greet the Deities. One morning, somehow or other, the mrdanga was pushed into my hands and I was told to lead the kirtana. I guess there was nobody else to do it, so I was trying to play as best as I could in a very simple way. I was walking right by Srila Prabhupada’s side when he suddenly turns to me, lifts his head in his typical, regal way, and says with a very positive glance of approval, “Jaya!” And that’s the only word he said to me in my whole Krishna conscious life. Continue reading »