Kartika (Damodar) - 13th Oct to 11th Nov + Ekadasi

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Dandavats, vaishnavas. Jaya Prabhupada!

 

It's well known that Krishna is quite fond of butter, milk, yogurt,

etc. He is even willing to dance for it, at the beck and call of simple

village women, just like an ordinary child. This has been described in an

old Brajabhasha poem as follows:

 

sesa ganesa dinesa mahesa suresa hu jAhi nirantara gAvai

jAhi anAdi ananta akhaNDa acheda abheda subeda batAvai |

nArada se suka vyAsa raTai paci hAre ta-U puni pAra na pAvai

tAhi ahIra kI chauhariyA chachiyA-bhari chAcha pai nAca nacAvai ||

 

"He whom Shesha-naga, Ganapati, Shiva, Surya, and Indra constantly

glorify, He whom the best of the Vedas describe as 'beginningless,'

'unlimited,' 'unbroken,' 'impenetrable,' and 'nondual,' He whose glories

are sung by Narada, Shukadeva, and Vyasa, but whose furthest extent

remains beyond even them--that very Personality of Godhead, these

daughters of the cowherds can force to dance in hopes of a spoonful of

buttermilk!"

 

Perhaps this song was composed on the basis on the following verse

from the Shrimad Bhagavatam (10.11.7):

 

gopIbhiH stobhito 'nRtyad

bhagavAn bAlavat kvacit |

udgAyati kvacin mugdhas

tad-vazo dAru-yantravat || 7 ||

 

"The gopis would say, 'If You dance, my dear Krsna, then I shall give You

half a sweetmeat.' By saying these words or by clapping their hands, all

the gopis encouraged Krsna in different ways. At such times, although He

was the supremely powerful Personality of Godhead, He would smile and

dance according to their desire, as if He were a wooden doll in their

hands. Sometimes He would sing very loudly, at their bidding. In this way,

Krsna came completely under the control of the gopis."

 

It is pure love that Krishna is so attached to, though of course

buttermilk (like other auspicious offerings) may be our tangible

manifestation of such love. He becomes completely controlled by it

(tad-vazaH), and even forgets His own identity. There are many places

throughout Shrila Prabhupada's books in which this principle is reiterated

in various ways (cf. Bhagavatam, 1.8.31). Similarly, in Shrila Rupa

Gosvami's anthology Padyavali (133), the same idea is found in the

following beautiful verse:

 

kvAnanaM kva nayanaM kva nAsikA

kva zrutiH kva ca zikheti dezitaH |

tatra tatra nihitAGguli-dalo

ballavI-kulam anandayat prabhuH || 133 ||

 

"'Where's your face? Where are your eyes? Where's your nose? Where

are your ears? Where is your shikha?' Instructed in this way by the

cowherd ladies, the Lord put His lotus finger wherever they told Him to,

and He thus delighted them."

 

Krishna is unlimitedly greedy for this pure love; we all know from the

Shvetashvataropanishad (6.8) and other sources that He factually has

nothing to do except revel in it perpetually. The Mundaka (3.2.3) and

Kathopanishads (1.2.23) repeatedly remind us that we cannot enter into

these truths except through His Divine grace. But even if just we try to

consider just what such love means to Krishna, and how much He is both

attracted and attached to the diverse manifestations of His inexhaustible

pleasure potency, we can reap tremendous benefit. Thus we may become more

receptive to the Lord's Divine grace.

 

Unfortunately, we are far less attached to Krishna than He is to His pure

devotees.

 

Nowadays, child abuse is a widespread problem, largely because so many

people no longer have much character--mostly due to their prolonged

immersion in the various aspects and processes of unprincipled sense

gratification. It seems to me that our offensive chanting--in which

we repeatedly call Krishna to us--but then ourselves go off to something

(or someone) else--in effect simply teases the Lord, like offering

milksweets to a hungry child but then witholding them. Considering how

much Krishna craves pure devotion, is this not absolutely abusive?

 

MDd

 

Q. How important is Ekadasi for the followers of Caitanya Mahaprabhu?

 

A. Ekadasi was very important to Caitanya Mahaprabhu. One day in his

childhood he approached his mother and asked, "Mother, please do one thing

for me?" She said, "Yes, Nimai, whatever you like." He said, "Please don't

eat grains on Ekadasi." At that time in Bengal only widows were thought to

have to follow Ekadasi and women who were married and had families and

husbands, they didn't. Ekadasi was looked at as a punishment. If you're a

bad person, then you have to fast on Ekadasi. They thought widows were

unfortunate people, with bad karma, inauspicious. So if your life was

inauspicious, only then did you need to follow Ekadasi. But Mahaprabhu said

something quite different. So immediately, from that day on, Sacidevi began

to observe Ekadasi.

 

Later on, in Jagannatha Puri, the devotees of Mahaprabhu had a dilemma

about observing Ekadasi. Because in Jagannath Puri there is so much prasad,

54 offerings daily and taking Jagannath prasad is very auspicious. So, if

Ekadasi means fasting, how can we not honor the prasad of Lord Jagannatha?

This question was put to Caitanya Mahaprabhu and he gave his opinion; "We

shall observe Ekadasi and we shall honor Jagannath prasad. When Jagannath

prasad comes, we will pay our dandavats to it. In this way, prasad will be

honored and we will continue to observe the upavasa at the same time."

 

So Mahaprabhu emphasized this point a great deal. Even raganuga bhaktas

should observe Ekadasi. It is favorable, it is anukula for raganuga bhajan.

We should not think that raganuga means we don't need to follow all of the

regulations.

 

Q. What is the principle behind Ekadasi?

 

Upavasa means to fast. Vasa may mean to reside and upa means nearby. So

upavasa means "to reside nearby". So the main principle of Ekadasi is to

reside near the Lord. It is not about fasting but about coming closer to

the Lord. This is the actual heart of the idea. In fact, every day we

should come closer to the Lord but two days have been singled out to

emphasize the point. So we can call it Hari's day and everyone will be told

to do certain observances. But the purpose is to reside closer to the Lord,

to come near to him. And when we do it we find it is nice, and then we may

end up doing it every day. That is the real idea.

 

In the Christian faith they make Sunday the Lord's Day. Every day actually

is the Lord's day, but they select one day so that at least on that one day

everyone will observe. So this is the principle, to come near to the Lord.

Our Ekadasi observance should revolve around that. In other words, if

fasting is only making me go to sleep, if fasting is only making me proud,

what is the value of that? Will I be brought nearer to the Lord by that?

 

Q. Are there ever any exceptions?

 

On one occasion a disciple of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur had to

travel for preaching on Ekadasi. It was important for the mission that he

preach, and for traveling you have to eat grains - especially if you're

Bengali, you have to have some rice. So they ate rice and went preaching on

Ekadasi. This is mentioned in Hari Bhakti Vilasa, if sad-guru says break

Ekadasi, then you can break it.

 

In the preaching mission of Caitanya Mahaprabhu we should position

ourselves as assistants to a real preacher. We should follow very

carefully. But if sad guru says "take grains on Ekadasi" then for the

higher purpose of preaching we can do that, as Sarasvati Thakur showed. We

have to become acquainted with the principle of Ekadasi, as we must with

all the devotional practices. Otherwise it is just niyamagraha. We follow

the rules but don't know the meaning. That will be counterproductive and a

cause of going down.

 

We should have this kind of sensibility and understand the principle. We

should be saragrahi Vaisnavas and not baragrahi Vaisnavas who simply carry

around a burden of so much form that the substance is obscured. This is a

gostyanandi line we are coming in, and it is all about adjusting the

details for delivering the principle. We have to have some dynamic thinking

if we are to preach. Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur was prepared to serve

even meat if this meant Westerners would come to Mayapur to hear about

Caitanya Mahaprabhu. His own disciples were shocked. He told them, "You

have to have Vaikuntha vritti." This means like Vaikuntha in the mind,

where anything can be adjusted from the Vaikuntha perspective, and all

things are possible. He was no ordinary devotee preacher. We should aspire

to come under the auspices of such a person.

 

And we cannot imitate such a preacher of course. But we should know who it

is we are connected with, and what an extraordinary devotee Bhaktisiddhanta

Sarasvati Thakur was, and how great were his followers. We must keep this

line of the Gaudiya Sarasvata sampradaya alive with real preaching through

understanding the essence of the devotional principles.

 

Q. What is the significance of the moon and Ekadasi?

 

In the Bhagavad-gita Krsna says, "I am the light of the sun and the moon."

There is another way of thinking about this, looking at it from another

direction. "In this world I am the light. The light of the sun and moon

cannot reveal me, but at the same time in whatever light there is, I am

there." If we think of the sun and moon in this way, it will shed light on

the nature of Krsna's position and take us to him. Krsna says, "I become

the moon and by that I nourish the vegetables."

 

The moon is said to have some position in influencing the juices. The tides

of the ocean, for example, are determined by the phases of the moon. And

our human body is constituted primarily of water. So at the time of

Ekadasi, the water in the body rises up by the influence of the moon and

puts pressure on the senses and increases our tendency to enjoy. From this

perspective it seems to be inauspicious because we are pushed toward sense

gratification which is not drawing us nearer to the Lord but away. So by

fasting, the pressure on the senses goes down and we will not be pushed

away from the Lord by the influence of that phase of the moon. So from the

point of view of the sadhaka, it may seem that Ekadasi is inauspicious.

 

But Prabhupada said, "Ekadasi is most auspicious," did he not? "It is not

fasting, it is feasting." So for the siddha, who dwells in the aprakrta

conception of the Absolute, Krsna is not God, Krsna appears to be like one

of us. Mother Yasoda is not thinking, "Krsna is the Supreme Godhead." The

cowherds and the gopis are not thinking like this. They are thinking along

these lines, "My son, my friend, my lover." They are thinking that Krsna is

human like them. So on Ekadasi they think, "Pressure is there on Krsna's

senses to enjoy more. So we can offer him more on this day, more prasad we

can offer. We can satisfy his senses more. Although we are already giving

him everything, by the grace of this phase of the moon, we can serve even

more." So these devotees see Ekadasi as increasing their service.

 

In this way Ekadasi is most auspicious. It is feasting for the Lord and not

fasting at all. So we should try to come to this aprakrta conception of

Krsna. This is our ideal. First we teach Krsna is the Supreme God, but we

hope in the future people will forget that. At one stage we are preaching

Krsna is the Supreme, but only to get people to the stage where they will

think he is their friend only, their lover. This is our ideal. So ours is a

very funny religion - turning the Veda upside down. But this is Vrindavan,

this is Goloka. And this is how we should try to understand Ekadasi.