HG Badrinarayana Prabhu

[Guest guest]

[Class was at 6 am this morning as after gurupuja was the flag-hoisting

ceremony to officially inaugurate the Festival]

 

>From Sri Mayapur Candrodaya Mandir!

 

February 27, 2006

Verse: Srimad Bhagavatam 2.2.26

Speaker: HG Badrinarayana Prabhu

__

 

 

atho anantasya mukhanalena

dandahyamanam sa niriksya visvam

niryati siddhesvara-yusta-dhisnyam

yad dvai-parardhyam tad u paramesthyam

 

 

(The temple president's son was about three years old at the time. He had

seen Srila Prabhupada, heard "Srila Prabhupada this, Srila Prabhupada that",

pictures of Prabhupada. So Prabhupada came in, sat down on the vyasasana and

the boy had a pair of pajamas, flannel pajamas, top and bottom, soft. So he

came running the door, tripped on the door jam, fell on the floor - didn't

hurt himself - but he had such a speed that he flew across the floor

[mimicking sliding noise] just like flat out dandavats, stopped right in

front of the vyasasana and Prabhupada said, "Ah, utsaha, this is essential

for spiritual life." So I was appreciating your utsaha for chanting the

verse.

 

Do the ladies have a chance to chant? Do the ladies chant? Not all at one

time. I've offended them already? Alright, we'll go for the word for word

then.)

 

 

TRANSLATION: At the time of the final devastation of the complete universe

[the end of the duration of Brahma's life], a flame of fire emanates from

the mouth of Ananta [from the bottom of the universe]. The yogi sees all the

planets of the universe burning to ashes, and thus he leaves for Satyaloka

by airplanes used by the great purified souls. The duration of life in

Satyaloka is calculated to be 15,480,000,000,000 years.

 

Again a "Prabhupada said." Some man was criticizing that, you know, the West

is so advanced, so many things, you know. And Prabhupada said, "You know, in

India, in Vedic tradition, in Vedic culture, everything is there."

Prabhupada said, "Just like this airplane. There are three ways you can

travel by the Vedic method. You can chant one mantra and one thousand birds

will come and carry you," of course what condition you'll arrive in at the

other end, I don't have an answer for that. Prabhupada said, "Or you can

chant a mantra and make anything fly or you can take this demoniac

airplane."

 

So the man said, "How did you come? I suppose you came in an airplane. Why

did you come in an airplane?

 

Prabhupada said, "Just to be one with you."

 

[laughter]

 

This is the same man . . . because this is a small group, we can just speak

informally here. Oh, look at this, Raj to the rescue. Thank you very much,

Prabhu. My enfeebled condition is well known to Raj, he's spent years

compensating for me. Hare Krishna.

 

This is the same man, he got all flustered. He said, "What would happen if

everyone took to Krsna consciousness? How will things go on."

 

Prabhupada said, "Don't worry. There will always be fools like you who

won't."

 

[laughter]

 

?

 

The man asked Prabhupada, he said, we'll get to the bottom of the text, he

said, "I heard according to the Vedas the world is flat."

 

Prabhupada said, "Everywhere I walk it is."

 

[laughter]]

 

Then he turned to Kirtanananda and said, "Except for New Vrindavan," because

there are hills there.

 

So anyway, where were we, oh, the flower airplanes. . . .

 

Fifteen trillion, four hundred and eighty billions years, that's a long

time.

 

PURPORT: It is indicated herein that the residents of Maharloka, where the

purified living entities or demigods possess a duration of life calculated

to be 4,300,000,000 solar years, have airships by which they reach

Satyaloka, the topmost planet of the universe. In other words, the

Srimad-Bhagavatam gives us many clues about other planets far, far away from

us which modern planes and spacecraft cannot reach, even by imaginary

speeds. The statements of Srimad-Bhagavatam are accepted by great acaryas

like Sridhara Svami, Ramanujacarya and Vallabhacarya. Lord Sri Caitanya

Mahaprabhu specifically accepts Srimad-Bhagavatam as the spotless Vedic

authority, and as such no sane man can ignore the statements of

Srimad-Bhagavatam when it is spoken by the self-realized soul Srila Sukadeva

Gosvami, who follows in the footsteps of his great father, Srila Vyasadeva,

the compiler of all Vedic literatures. In the creation of the Lord there are

many wonderful things we can see with our own eyes every day and night, but

we are unable to reach them equipped by modern materialistic science. We

should not, therefore, depend on the fragmentary authority of materialistic

science for knowing things beyond the range of scientific purview. [pauses

purport]

 

 

 

Give them credit for what they can do, fine you can make a sewing machine,

fine you can make one of these little sticks. Fine, we offer our respects to

that, but don't say you created life. Don't say there is no God. Stay within

your purview, that's what Prabhupada is saying.

 

One man, Stephen Miller, came to see Srila Prabhupada, famous biologist, he

said, and Sadaputa mentioned this is not an uncommon phenomena, the man

appeared before Prabhupada, naturally he's puffed up, he was introduced as a

biologist. Prabhupada said, "Poor frogs."

 

Immediately, "No, no, no," the man apologized, "I don't do any dissection."

He became a little apologetic.

 

Prabhupada immediately put him back in his box, you know. So the man was

saying we are creating life. Actually what they have done, they're taking

pre-biotic soup; you know pre-biotic soup? Huh? You must know pre-biotic

soup. Nobody makes it? It's the primordial, they say, it's the primordial

chemicals from which life was generated. They saw there was some that

lightning struck, remind me there is a joke I want to tell you, some

lightening struck it and then life was created like that. So this man took

some chemicals, base amino acids, shot electricity through it. No, put the

chemicals together, shot electricity through it to convert to a very basic

amino acid.

 

Now amino acid is the first building block of a protein. From protein,

that's. . . suppose I said to you, here's a screw. Suppose I give you a

screw. You know, a screw in the wall - you now have Calcutta. What?! You

know, there are a few more factors that have to be added, a few more steps

before you have the city of Calcutta.

 

So this man was saying he created life because he created some amino acid

which is a precursor to a precursor to a precursor to the first building

block of what might someday be a cell.

 

So Prabhupada said, "Okay, fine, fine, just, can you make me one fly?" He

said, "You know, fly, it goes forward, backwards, it can take off straight

up or straight down. Can you make me a fly?" And Prabhupada said, "And make

me a fly, like an airplane, that can self-generate." They have Boeing, you

know these big companies that make, why don't they just put a male airplane

together with a female airplane, and make a bunch of baby airplanes? Then

they've done something. So Prabhupada said, "Just make me a fly."

 

Well, he couldn't do that, so Prabhupada said, "Okay, Can you make me a

blade of grass?" You're talking life, make me a blade of. . . . No, he

couldn't. Well, that was coming. So Prabhupada said, "Make me one drop of

milk." Couldn't do it.

 

There's a devotee, he wears contact lenses. I was taking him to the doctor

and they gave him something called artificial tears because his eyes don't

make sufficient tears, artificial tears so that your eyes don't become too

dry. Anybody have contact, maybe you know? Actually, he said, "These are

not as good as real tears. We cannot make real tears. We can't figure it

out." We take it for granted, just think of it, we take it for granted, but

if some of you right now, while we are speaking, even though we are speaking

Bhagavatam at early time in the morning, somewhere in the world there's a

laboratory and there are scientists figuring out how to make tears. They'll

make millions of dollars if they can figure out how to do it. And Krsna's

going to be just like this [snapping], it's coming, all around us, Krsna

mystical potency is happening all around us and they cannot even make tears

and they're talking how they're going to create life. So we are not so

impressed. Stick within your parameter. Don't tell us you are going to

create life and there is no God.

 

Ah, the joke, anyway, just by seeing your bright face I remembered. So the

scientist says to God, "You know, basically, you're finished. Anything you

can do, we can do better, You've served your purpose, you're outdated. You

can retire, go off and knit or take up bowling or do whatever you want to

do, but leave us alone."

 

So God says, "Okay fine, I'm not attached. I have my gopis. I'm happy, no

problem, but just as a responsible," he's the original father of all living

entities, "I want to make sure before I hand it over and walk off the stage

that you've got things together here. Let me just see if you can create

life."

 

"Ah, no problem, we'll call Stephen Miller."

 

So God says, "But let's do it the old fashioned way." And this is Biblical,

according to the Bible, they take dust and from dust God blew in life and it

was good, you know. So God said, "We'll do it the old way." So God put some

dust, blew life, and there's a man.

 

So the scientist says, "Oh, I can do that."

 

God says, "Hang on a minute, go get your own dirt."

 

[laughter]

 

Follow? Like Prabhupada used to say where did the lump come from? It is such

a bluff. That is our point. The business of Bhagavatam is they are simply

bluffing.

 

Hitler's propaganda man, Mr. Goebbels, his statement was, "You tell a lie

loud enough and long enough and people will believe it." Loud enough and

long enough. And he said, "Don't tell a little lie. You tell a little lie,

people may think, 'Aww. . .', they'll nitpick it, but if you tell a big lie

- 'They'd never lie about that.'" But the fact of the matter is we have

been foisted, this huge lie has been foisted upon us.

 

And please remember these are the same people that brought us, what is it,

Mariner or Voyager, that one, the one that cost billions with a "b", you

know, your tax dollars at work, billions of dollars. They put this thing, I

forget if it was Mariner or Voyager, it was supposed to measure the distance

of. . . . They shot it off into space. Never heard from it again. They just

missed, they completely missed the planet, went off into some dark vortex.

"Woops, we don't know what happened." So they did a mission analysis, part

of the work was done in Europe - it's a true story - part of the work was

done in Europe, part of the work was done in America. What happened? The

Americans were all working in inches and in Europe they were all working in

meters. [laughter] All their calculations were completely off.

 

We have to call these people . . . just to drink water. It is one of the

most basic, you know, water. If you can't provide water, what kind of

society are you. We've come to the point, everyone accepts bottled water.

We're buying bottled water. I mean Bhakti Charu Swami told me he was

surprised when he first came to Europe that bottled water was more than

fruit juice. He was wondering, "What is that?" So we've come to a culture

that even to drink water. I know in the West no one drinks from the tap.

They have something, I swear to you, it's called "Toilet to Tap". They're

now recycling the water from the toilet. Toilet to tap - this is a society?

We're going to follow these people? Just to sleep, I mean just to lie down

and get six hours sleep, that sweet elixir we're all so attached to, it's a

big instinct, need, and they found that sleeping aids are the biggest -

second biggest - I'll tell you what's first in just a minute, the second

biggest pharmaceutical. It's huge in America. It's amazing, they can't

sleep. So just to drink water and sleep they have to have some pill, some

prescription, and then when they wake up what do they take?

Anti-depressants. So they can't go to sleep and when they go to sleep, this

is their condition. So we have to think, what is this culture that they

brought us. It is simply a bluff.

 

The . . . did we finish the purport?

 

[laughter]

 

You laugh, I'm also a little sick. I apologize. I'm firing about four

cylinders, so I apologize. I don't know if we finished. I'm sorry. I got

launched off on this.

 

 

PURPORT continued: For a common man, both modern science and Vedic wisdom

are simply to be accepted because none of the statements either of modern

science or of Vedic literature can be verified by him. The alternative for a

common man is to believe either of them or both of them. The Vedic way of

understanding, however, is more authentic because it has been accepted by

the acaryas, who are not only faithful and learned men, but are also

liberated souls without any of the flaws of conditioned souls. The modern

scientists, however, are conditioned souls liable to so many errors and

mistakes; therefore the safe side is to accept the authentic version of

Vedic literatures, like Srimad-Bhagavatam, which is accepted unanimously by

the great acaryas.

 

 

(Om ajnana, etc.)

 

 

I was speaking just a sort of thematic wrap around of this set of verses. If

you ever come visit us in San Diego, beautiful place, wonderful weather. The

only problem is you have hurricanes and tsunamis, but other than that, it's

a great place, with no warning. Oh, we get forest fires, we had a race riot,

but that doesn't matter. Stop by.

 

We have a great place that we chant harinama every Friday. Again, tax

dollars at work, they've cleared out a nice plaza area, so people gather.

It's really a great place for chanting. And I want to get a picture of it

because in the background, devotees are blissful chanting and dancing . . .

..

 

I had a man come up to me, New Year's Eve, tuxedo, came out of a so-called

fancy restaurant. There were bones and feathers practically sticking out of

his mouth, but that's another issue. So he came up to me and ? nice man, he

had some realization. So he said, you know, New Year's Eve is a big thing in

the West, so he said, "You know, I just spent over a thousand dollars for

dinner for myself and two friends and that restaurant is full of people

spending the same amount of money." And he said, "After this, we're going to

go to the Grand Hotel and there's a midnight ball and tickets to that are a

thousand dollars a person. By the time the whole thing is over I'll have

spent three-four thousand dollars and there are so many other people doing

the same thing, but you know what?" He said, "You people," pointing to the

harinama party, he said, "you're the only ones who are happy." [laughter]

 

And given my nature, if I wasn't a devotee, I would have had my teeth

punched out a long time ago, I said, "And you know what, Sir? We're doing it

for free." [laughter] It's true.

 

Of course, there is a price, there is sraddha, there is some, but the point

I was making is that we're chanting there, the devotees are obviously

blissful, and right across the street are two of the most famous bars and

restaurants in San Diego. And I swear to you, Raj is a witness, the name of

one of them, you can see it across from the harinama party, one of them is

called "Rock Bottom". The other restuarnt is called the "The Bitter End".

 

It's right there. Just like when Maya, Mohini-murti, was appearing before

the asuras, she explained, "I am unchaste. You don't know who my husband is,

you don't know what my nature is and you're taking shelter of me?" Maya is

upfront. So here we see, here it is explaining in the Bhagavatam, no matter

where you go, no matter what you attain, we just read the arduous process to

attain these planets, and yet it is all burnt to ash, it is finished.

 

When you go up to the GBC offices for the GBC meetings, there were some

pigeons. Not pigeons, but doves, and they were building a nest in the

elevator shaft. You could tell that that pigeon were deeply in love. They

were cooing and they were nestling and you could just see they were young

lovebirds, literally lovebirds. And the man was very diligent, he was flying

out, he would get some twig or stick to build the nest. He wouldn't loiter

at the bar or go bowling. He came right back. And while he was gone, the

wife wasn't watching television, Oprah, and eating bonbons, she was working

very hard. You could just understand they had their plan where there little

baby doves were going to go, you know, "Fly By Night U", they had a college

plan for them. You could just see there was deep emotion. And then one day,

I happen to be going up the stairs and I saw with just a flick of a broom,

one guy was cleaning and just the whole thing is gone, finished. [laughter]

So their love nest, they're birdbrains, they're making their home in this

elevator shaft. But we're in the same boat, we're in the exact same boat.

Everything here is finished, everything is burnt to ash. Whatever you have,

there's nothing left over.

 

Therefore the intelligent conclusion is that let us attain that which is of

actual value. The Srimad Bhagavatam says the human form of life actually

begins sat and asat, at least do that, put things in two piles, sat and

asat. We were recently at a memorial for a gentleman, Dr. Durury, passed

away. My son sent me the lyrics for a country western song, and one of the

lines was "They're all just circling the drain of time." You know when you

see the water go down the drain, a little twig may be there, it may be n the

outer end of the vortex, but in due course of time, it goes down the drain.

You never see that the twig wins out. We're all like that, we're all in the

vortex of time and no one succeeds.

 

They asked Prabhupada, same guy asked Prabhupada, "Why is the death rate so

high in India?"

 

Prabhupada said, "The death rate is the same everywhere-100%."

 

[laughter]

 

It's true.

 

So the Srimad Bhagavatam says that we should obtain that which is of actual

value, that which is eternal, that which will give us permanent benefit,

that which will never be taken and that is the attainment of the lotus feet

of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is something of value, and

frankly, everything else is dust.

 

I wanted to say one other thing, something about a Vaisnava heart. We also

aspire for the future, here in Mayapur, there's a tape, Prabhupada's walking

and Prabhupada says, "Devotees don't suffer."

 

Now this is one of the first times in Mayapur, and at least for those coming

from the West, it was a real ? living in Mayapur. They had a cook, I don't

know how you manage to do it, somehow or other, the rice was burnt on the

bottom, completely raw on top and the middle was cooked into

indistinguishable starch. I don't know how you do that. I don't know how you

actually accomplish that. Then we used to get watery dal, went through you

like a razor, and some gur or guava. So very, very austere, and we were

here, I think, six weeks. How long were we here for in '74, '76, something

like that?

 

So Prabhupada goes on the morning walk, Prabhupada says, "Devotees don't

suffer."

 

There's this long pause, [laughter] one of the devotees, Pancadravida, you

hear, "Well, Prabhupada, what exactly it is devotees are doing then?"

 

Prabhupada, with his deep perception, chuckles and then, "That's all right,

but after this life, back home, back to Godhead."

 

On one hand we have that aspiration, but I'd like to offer something now

that as one advances in spiritual life, as one actually becomes Krsna

consciousness . . . . Prabhupada was sitting in his room in Los Angeles, the

cloudy day, little bit cold. Clouds cleared for a minute, sun came through

the window, it was bathing Prabhupada with a golden shaft of light, warm

sunlight, very auspicious scene. Prabhupada turned, he said, "Yes, some day

you feel this sun just like a lover's embrace." Prabhupada said, "You think

you're sitting on the floor, I'm sitting on the hand of Krsna."

 

So for such a personality in Krsna consciousness, wherever he is, we have

example, we have our Bhakti Raghava Maharaja, now his leg is gone, but he

used to have that leg. Remember that? As I recall, correct me if I'm wrong,

he was thinking have it removed, don't have it removed. Maybe it could be

saved, maybe . . . . And when the Deities were attacked, someone threw a

bomb and blew the leg off. What was his response? His response was, "I was

thinking to have it removed anyway, Krsna took care of it." This is a

Vaisnava. This is the amazing nature of a Vaisnava heart.

 

Many years ago I was chanting japa at Radha Kund, just visiting, doing

Govardhan parikrama and I saw some very elderly Vaisnavas, bent over almost

horizontal, very, very old, wearing a simple little white cloth. They were

absorbed in their own bhajan. One came from this direction, one came from

the other direction, completely oblivious to each other and they met at the

top of the stairs coming down to the Kund. Each had a lota. I couldn't hear,

I was at some distance, but I could understand what was happening. They were

each going to get some water for their salagrama sila bathing, whatever they

were . . . . When they met at the top, one said, "Let me get water for you."

The other said, "No, no, let me get water for you." So they were holding

onto each other's lotas like that, they were tugging. They were so old they

both fell over. [laughter] So there was some discussion after they finally

managed to get up and you could tell the conclusion was that okay, I'll get

water for you today, you get water for me tomorrow. We'll do some rotating

program like that because no one wanted to take service from the other. They

wanted to offer service. I thought, this is a Vaisnava heart, this is a

Vaisnava heart.

 

Prabhupada was speaking, some man was invited for darshan. This was in

Detroit and the man just went off, you know, this that, so many things,

Krsna's, this is, I don't want to get too far off, but the man actually

criticized that your Krsna's so lusty. He said, "Your Krsna has so many

wives, and . . . ."

 

Prabhupada said, "Actually, Sir, you are lusty. Actually, everyone is

prakriti, Krsna is the only purusa, what are you doing with Krsna wife?"

 

And the man was stunned, he had nothing to say, but the point is, he was a

little offensive so the devotees were saying, "What will happen to him? He

was offensive, he'll burn in hell, he'll do this and that, worm in stool. .

.. ." You know devotees come up with all this. "What are we going to do?

 

Prabhupada's answer was, "Well, we could forgive him."

 

We never thought of that, we never thought of forgiving. We thought what

Patala-loka he was going to, but Srila Prabhupada's heart was forgiving.

 

There's that time that Prabhupada was lecturing and he was doing the

Communist student's power people. Prabhupada was talking about Vedic

society, how there are four orders. So someone stands up, "Oh, I suppose you

think you're first class! You think you're first class!"

 

Prabhupada said, "No, I am fifth class. I am servant of all the other

classes." And he said it with such force that the man shut up and sat down

quietly. The audience burst into applause because it's true, that's how

Prabhupada felt.

 

It's not quite as profound, but it's sweet. When Prabhupada came to Chicago,

the temple president was Sri Govinda at the time and he wanted to greet

Srila Prabhupada. when Srila Prabhupada came in, there was a veranda, what

do you call it, a mezzanine around the lobby of the temple. He wanted

Prabhupada to come in and as Prabhupada came in we would shower Prabhupada

with flowers. We even practiced with confetti so it was all timed to fall

just at the right time. Best laid plans of mice and men.

 

So Prabhupada got out of the car. Devotees were lined up. He's coming up the

steps. Just before he walks in the door, some Mataji comes out with a baby,

coming to see, you know, didn't know Prabhupada's arrived, she was

immediately like a deer in headlights, doesn't know what . . . . So she just

completely panicked.

 

Prabhupada comes to the top of the stairs, perfect gentleman. Nobody else

knew what to do, Prabhupada reaches forward, opens the door, and gestures

for her to walk in. She walked in, all the flower petals came down on her.

Smoke's coming out of the temple president's ears. Prabhupada was laughing,

"In this way my movement is going on."

 

Actually it's off the track but it's so much fun to talk about Srila

Prabhupada because this is the standard, this is my point. We are meant to

become Krsna consciousness and if we become Krsna consciousness in any

state, in any condition we are completely satisfied. Not only that, but we

can give to others.

 

There's that famous story, of course it's folklore, but it's Alexander the

Great comes to the Hindu Kush, he's coming down to India and he's standing

before some risi in his ashram, he says, "I'm Alexander the Great, I can

give you anything you want, what would you like?"

 

The sage says, "You can step out of my sun." What does he want from this

fool?

 

Or there's the story of a rich man and his friend, a nice friend, who

encouraged him to come and see a Vaisnava sadhu. He thought, "Oh, sadhus . .

.. ." What's that verse, sadhus pray to God but come to me for donations. So

he's thinking like that. So somehow or other, the rich man goes to see the

sahdu. The rich man says, "Can I do something for you, let me give you some

land, some cows, let me give you something."

 

The sadhu says, "Yeah, actually, you can help me. I've had this one needle

that I've had for quite some time for sewing up my dhoti, can you just keep

this needle and give it to me in my next life?"

 

The rich man thought for a few minutes and realized, "Actually, I can't do

that. I can't even give him a needle." So he was thinking, "All my riches,

all my wealth, what is the use, I can't even keep one needle for the next

life."

 

We can give people, from the pages of Srimad Bhagavatam, how to actually

become satisfied, how to actually become peaceful, Prabhupada says, how to

become sane. We know what is what, we know who is who, we know the purpose

of life, we know how to face death. There was a devotee who recently passed

away in Southern California, sincere sankirtana devotee, got cancer. He's

lying on his disappearance bed, all of a sudden, he opens his eyes bright,

puts his hands out and says, "Prabhupada you came!" Left his body. This is

how you leave your body, not people are wailing and crying and you, "Put me

on the drop, give me three more."

 

I think we should probably end there, but the Bhagavatam lays it out clearly

that everything ultimately comes to ash and the real purpose of human form

of life is to culture the Vaisnava heart. If you become Krsna conscious in

this life and the next, we are fully satisfied and we can do the best for

others.

 

Thank you very much. Hare Krsna.

 

[applause]

 

It's 7 o'clock, I'm sure something is supposed to happen, so thank you very

much. Hare Krsna.

 

(Someone asks about questions.)

 

I have a habit of having some kind of spiritual life. For me, we started at

six, I think the devotees would like to chant their japa.

 

(Five minutes. . . )

 

All right, five minutes, anybody have any questions?

 

Krsna's arrangement.

 

All right Prabhus, thank you very much. Hare Krsna.