Giriraj Swami

For Sri Hanuman Jayanti, I quote Sri Prahlada’s glorification of Hanuman from Sri Brhad-bhagavatamrta (1.4.40–52):

“Hanuman is much more fortunate. For many thousands of years he has enjoyed serving the Lord constantly, without obstruction.

“He is the most powerful person. When he was just a child, the demigods favored him with several wonderful benedictions. Thus he became immune to old age and death.

“He is free of all fear, he maintains great vows, and he performs auspicious deeds. Outstanding among heroes, he is an exceptional servant of the Lord of the Raghus.

“With playful disregard he jumped across thousands of miles of fathomless ocean. Expertly, in the capital of the Raksasa king, he comforted Mother Sita in her distress.

“He boldly threatened his enemies, burned Lanka, and destroyed its citadel. When he brought back news of Sita, he received his master’s deep embrace.

“It was Hanuman who acted as his Lord’s best carrier, his tail serving as a royal white umbrella, his broad back a comfortable seat for the Lord. And it was Hanuman who directed the project of bridging the ocean.

“He fulfilled the desires of Vibhisana. He destroyed the military force of the Raksasas. And he had the special power to deliver the healing herb called visalya-karani.

“He was the very life of his soldiers. Always giving great pleasure to his divine Lord and the Lord’s younger brother Laksmana, he devotedly served as carrier for Them both.

“Supremely intelligent and valorous, he brought victory for Lord Ramacandra. He added to the spotless fame of his Lord, who killed the king of the Raksasas.

“It was Hanuman who encouraged Mother Sita. And by the Lord’s order, this Hanuman, the one true recipient of his master’s favor, still lives in this world, though unable to bear separation from the Lord.

“He keeps himself alive by constantly hearing the glories of Lord Rama. Staying by the side of the Lord’s Deity, He is present even today with the same splendor as always.

“Hanuman’s greatness is well known from scriptural statements like ‘The chief of the monkeys became perfect by acting as the Lord’s servant.’ His servitude is proof of the Lord’s mercy.

“Although Hanuman obtained from the son of Dasaratha the boon of liberation without striving for it, he never wanted to accept liberation without the opportunity to serve. To that Hanuman I offer my obeisances.”

Today being Earth Day, I thought of a prayer that resonated with me in my youth: “The earth is the Lordís, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. For He has founded it on the seas, and established it on the floods. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord, or who shall sta

Later, when I met Srila Prabhupada, I came across a verse spoken by the Lord Himself, Krishna, which confirmed and expanded the same principle: “A person in full consciousness of Me, knowing Me to be the ultimate beneficiary of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods, and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attains peace from the pangs of material miseries.” (Bhagavad-gita 5.29)

How, then, should we deal with the earth and its resources? “Everything animate or inanimate that is within the universe is controlled and owned by the Lord. One should therefore accept only those things necessary for himself, which are set aside as his quota, and one should not accept other things, knowing well to whom they belong.” (Isopanisad 1)

Thus one should be happy and satisfied in Krishna (God) consciousness.

Hare Krishna.

Yours in service,
Giriraj Swami

We read from Srimad-Bhagavatam, Canto Two, Chapter Seven: “Scheduled Incarnations.”

TEXT 23

asmat-prasada-sumukhah kalaya kalesa
  iksvaku-vamsa avatirya guror nidese
tisthan vanam sa-dayitanuja avivesa
  yasmin virudhya dasa-kandhara artim arcchat

TRANSLATION

Due to His causeless mercy upon all living entities within the universe, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, along with His plenary extensions, appeared in the family of Maharaja Iksvaku as the Lord of His internal potency, Sita. Under the order of His father, Maharaja Dasaratha, He entered the forest and lived there for considerable years with His wife and younger brother. Ravana, who was very materially powerful, with ten heads on his shoulders, committed a great offense against Him and was thus ultimately vanquished.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Lord Rama is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and His brothers, namely Bharata, Laksmana, and Satrughna, are His plenary expansions. All four brothers are visnu-tattva and were never ordinary human beings. There are many unscrupulous and ignorant commentators on Ramayana who present the younger brothers of Lord Ramacandra as ordinary living entities. But here in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, the most authentic scripture on the science of Godhead, it is clearly stated that His brothers were His plenary expansions. Originally Lord Ramacandra is the incarnation of Vasudeva, Laksmana is the incarnation of Sankarsana, Bharata is the incarnation of Pradyumna, and Satrughna is the incarnation of Aniruddha, expansions of the Personality of Godhead. Laksmiji Sita is the internal potency of the Lord and is neither an ordinary woman nor the external potency incarnation of Durga. Durga is the external potency of the Lord, and she is associated with Lord Siva.

As stated in the Bhagavad-gita (4.7), the Lord appears when there are discrepancies in the discharge of factual religion. Lord Ramacandra also appeared under the same circumstances, accompanied by His brothers, who are expansions of the Lord’s internal potency, and by Laksmiji Sitadevi.

Lord Ramacandra was ordered by His father, Maharaja Dasaratha, to leave home for the forest under awkward circumstances, and the Lord, as the ideal son of His father, carried out the order, even on the occasion of His being declared the king of Ayodhya. One of His younger brothers, Laksmanaji, desired to go with Him, and so also His eternal wife, Sitaji, desired to go with Him. The Lord agreed to both of them, and all together they entered the Dandakaranya Forest, to live there for fourteen years. During their stay in the forest, there was some quarrel between Ramacandra and Ravana, and the latter kidnapped the Lord’s wife, Sita. The quarrel ended in the vanquishing of the greatly powerful Ravana, along with all his kingdom and family.

Sita is Laksmiji, or the goddess of fortune, but she is never to be enjoyed by any living being. She is meant for being worshiped by the living being along with her husband, Sri Ramacandra. A materialistic man like Ravana does not understand this great truth, but on the contrary he wants to snatch Sitadevi from the custody of Rama and thus incurs great miseries. The materialists, who are after opulence and material prosperity, may take lessons from the Ramayana that the policy of exploiting the nature of the Lord without acknowledging the supremacy of the Supreme Lord is the policy of Ravana. Ravana was very advanced materially, so much so that he turned his kingdom, Lanka, into pure gold, or full material wealth. But because he did not recognize the supremacy of Lord Ramacandra and defied Him by stealing His wife, Sita, Ravana was killed, and all his opulence and power were destroyed.

Lord Ramacandra is a full incarnation with six opulences in full, and He is therefore mentioned in this verse as kalesah, or master of all opulence.

COMMENT by Giriraj Swami

Srimad-Bhagavatam is the supreme scripture, or book of knowledge, in the science of God. It explains the Absolute Truth in detail. The Vedanta-sutra says, janmady asya yatah, that the Absolute Truth is that from which everything emanates, and Srimad-Bhagavatam begins with the same words—janmady asya yatah—and proceeds to explain that the Absolute Truth is a person, the Supreme Person, Krishna. Krishna expands Himself into various plenary portions and portions of plenary portions, and the Bhagavatam, after listing so many incarnations of Godhead, says, krsnas tu bhagavan svayam, that all of the abovementioned incarnations are either plenary portions or portions of the plenary portions of the Lord but that Lord Krishna is the original Supreme Personality of Godhead.

So, Lord Rama is an expansion of Krishna. There are so many expansions of Krishna mentioned in Srimad-Bhagavatam, but Rama is an expansion of Vasudeva, who is an expansion of Krishna. Laksmana is an expansion of Balarama, who is the first expansion of Krishna. Bharata and Satrughna are also direct expansions in the category of visnu-tattva. They are all God but manifest in different forms. Sri Brahma-samhita gives the example that from one candle you can light a second, from the second you can light a third, from the third you can light a fourth, and so on. All the flames are the same fire, and all have the same strength, but still, there is one original candle, and that is Krishna. Still, Rama, Laksmana, Bharata, and Satrughna are all God. They are all the same as Krishna, but they descend into the world for different pastimes. The verse says, avatirya. Avatara means “one who descends.” They descend from the spiritual world into the material world out of mercy—prasada—for the conditioned souls, to deliver the conditioned souls from the quagmire of material existence. Continue reading »

Today, Sripada Aindra Prabhu’s appearance day, I share with you a sweet pastime involving him and my disciple Arca-vigraha Dasi, from Aindra: Kirtan Revolution by Kalachandji Das.

When the curtains opened one morning in the winter of 1989, Aindra was amazed by what he saw. Srimati Radharani’s eyes were newly painted. And they were incredible, more beautiful than ever. “Who painted them?” he asked Radha-Shyamasundar’s pujari Bhaktisiddhanta das.

“One of the brahmacharis,” Bhaktisiddhanta had replied.

Aindra knew something was off. No pujari, no artist he’d ever known, would have been able to paint Radharani’s eyes with such bhäva or spiritual expertise. “No way,” he challenged. “Who painted them?”

Bhaktisiddhanta held fast; he wouldn’t identify the source of the transformation. But when Aindra kept asking, Bhaktisiddhanta finally revealed the secret: the renowned South African devotee artist, Arca-vigraha dasi, who had come to India to find themes for her work but was then diagnosed with cancer and remained to spend her final days in Vrindavan, had noticed that the temple Deities were in need of repainting and done the work.

But there had been an obstacle: as was standard, even in ISKCON temples, in India, women were not allowed on the altar. But Bhaktisiddhanta, who had created the bronze bas-relief panels in Srila Prabhupada’s samadhi mandir and was himself an accomplished artist—classically trained in Europe and America and a successful commercial artist in New York—had felt that the Deities deserved Arca-vigraha’s talents and come up with a plan. “I’ll arrange for you to do this service,” he had told her, “but you have to do it in complete secrecy.” Indians especially, but also other pujaris and many devotees would have disapproved of a woman doing the service. “I’ll leave the key to the Deity room on the ledge above the door. Don’t use it any earlier than 10 p.m. By that time, everyone except the boys on night shift for the 24-hour kirtan should be asleep.”

“How will I get in without them noticing?” she had asked. “They sit so near the door.”

“I don’t know,” he’d said. “That’s a challenge.”

A little after ten, Arca-vigraha had been hovering around the door to the altar, waiting for an opportunity, when Aindra had suddenly appeared beside her. “Do you need something, mätäjé?” he had asked.

“No, no . . . thank you,” she’d replied, and left out the temple’s side door.

A little while later, the electricity had gone out (it frequently did), and under the cover of darkness Arca-vigraha had slipped back into the temple and onto the altar, where she had spent the night painting the Deities’ faces, hands, and feet, then sneaking out before the pujaris came to prepare for maìgala-ärati.

The drama had resumed each night for two weeks. On the final night, Arca-vigraha had painted Srimati Radharani’s eyes.

“Where is she?” Aindra demanded.

“Prabhu, calm down . . .”

“Where is she?” he persisted. “If you don’t tell me, I’ll find out from someone else.” And, learning that Arca-vigraha was staying in the guesthouse, he rushed over.

When Aindra knocked on Arca-vigraha’s door, he heard a faint “Come in” and entered.

Arca-vigraha was lying in bed, visibly weak and ill.

Aindra went straight to her feet and touched them with respect. “How did you do it?” he asked.

“Do what?” she replied.

“How did you paint Radharani’s eyes like that?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “I just painted what I was inspired to paint.”

“How do you know what Radharani’s eyes look like?”

“I don’t know what they look like. I just painted them by inspiration.”

“You painted them exactly as I envision them every day in my own meditations!”

April Fools’ Day is celebrated yearly on April 1, and today I thought of Srila Prabhupada’s instruction that we remain fools before the spiritual master, as stated in a room conversation in Bombay on August 16, 1976.

A devotee asked, “Even nitya-siddha has guru . . . Even the liberated soul, nitya-siddha?” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “Liberated soul never says that ‘I am liberated.’ As soon as he says ‘liberated,’ he’s a rascal. A liberated soul will never say that ‘I am liberated.’ That is liberation. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, He is God—guru more murkha dekhi’ karila sasan [Cc Adi 7.71]: ‘My Guru Maharaja saw Me fool number one, and he has chastised Me.’ He’s God. This is the example. If one remains always a servant, everlastingly, of guru, then he is liberated. And as soon as he thinks that he is liberated, he’s a rascal. That is the teaching of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Guru more murkha dekhi’. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is murkha? Why He is posing Himself that murkha, ‘I am fool number one’? That means that is liberation. You must be ready always to be chastised by guru. Then he’s liberated. And as soon as he thinks that ‘I am beyond this chastisement. I am liberated,’ he’s a rascal. Why Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says guru more murkha dekhi’ karila sasan? This is sahajiya-vada, thinking, ‘Oh, I have become liberated. I don’t require any direction of my guru. I’m liberated.’ Then he’s rascal. . . . So better remain a foolish person perpetually to be directed by Guru Maharaja. That is perfection.”

In a letter dated December 14, 1967, Srila Prabhupada wrote, “I may inform you that you cannot be fool as you have humbly expressed yourself. Better to remain ever a fool before the spiritual master. But if a disciple is actually fool, it reflects on the spiritual master. To think of becoming a fool is the real qualification for a bona fide disciple. As soon as one thinks that he has become a wiser man than the spiritual master, one is surely doomed. We should remain everlastingly a fool before the spiritual master—not artificially but feelingly—and then we can make real progress. Even my spiritual master, a great scholar, remained a so-called fool before his spiritual master, who was outwardly an illiterate village fellow. So, in the absolute world the fool is also the master and the master is also a fool in reciprocal exchange of dealings. Lord Chaitanya also accepted Himself a great fool before His spiritual master, and all of us must follow the transcendental process.”

I pray to be directed by Srila Prabhupada eternally as his humble servants’ servants’ servant.

Hare Krishna.

Your servant,
Giriraj Swami