HH Varsana Maharaja, Janmastami class

[Guest guest]

Sri Janmastami, August 17, 2006

Verse: SB 7.14.18

Speaker: HH Varsana Swami

Location: ISKCON New Vrindaban [www.newvrindaban.com]

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tasmad brahmana-devesu martyadisu yatharhatah

tais taih kamair yajasvainam ksetra-jnam brahmanan anu

 

TRANSLATION: Therefore, my dear King, first offer prasada unto the brahmanas

and the demigods, and after sumptuously feeding them you may distribute

prasada to other living entities according to your ability. In this way you

will be able to worship all living entities-or, in other words, the supreme

living entity within every living entity.

 

PURPORT: To distribute prasada to all living entities, the process is that

we must first offer prasada to the brahmanas and the Vaisnavas, for the

demigods are represented by the brahmanas. In this way the Supreme

Personality of Godhead, who is situated in everyone's heart, will be

worshiped. This is the Vedic system of offering prasada. Whenever there is a

ceremony for distribution of prasada, the prasada is offered first to the

brahmanas, then to the children and old men, then to the women, and then to

animals like dogs and other domestic animals. When it is said that Narayana,

the Supreme Being, is situated in everyone's heart, this does not mean that

everyone has become Narayana or that a particular poor man has become

Narayana. Such a conclusion is rejected herein.

 

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[Transcription is not verbatim]

 

Maharaja: So Narada Muni is instructing King Yudhisthira how to offer

prasadam to the brahmanas and demigods and in this way, by distributing that

prasadam to all living entities, worship the Supreme Lord who is situated in

the heart of every living entity. Since the Lord is situated in the heart of

every living entity and the Lord is omnipotent and present everywhere, we

should contemplate deeply what is the meaning of Janmastami.

 

There is a very significant prayer by Sri Vasudeva just after the appearance

of his child in the prison of King Kamsa. This one prayer is very

philosophical and it is very relevant to the appearance of Lord Krsna and

what is the actual meaning of Sri Krsna Janmastami. Sri Vasudeva prays to

his newborn child:

 

"The mahat-tattva, the total material energy, is undivided, but because of

the material modes of nature, it appears to separate into earth, water,

fire, air and ether. Because of the living energy [jiva-bhuta], these

separated energies combine to make the cosmic manifestation visible, but in

fact, before the creation of the cosmos, the total energy is already

present. Therefore, the total material energy never actually enters the

creation. Similarly, although You are perceived by our senses because of

Your presence, You cannot be perceived by the senses, nor experienced by the

mind or words [avan-manasa-gocara]. With our senses we can perceive some

things, but not everything; for example, we can use our eyes to see, but not

to taste. Consequently, You are beyond perception by the senses. Although in

touch with the modes of material nature, You are unaffected by them. You are

the prime factor in everything, the all-pervading, undivided Supersoul. For

You, therefore, there is no external or internal."

 

And then the last line of this verse, very appropriate for the appearance

day of Sri Krsna: "You never entered the womb of Devaki; rather, You existed

there already."

 

So today we are celebrating the birth of the unborn Supreme Personality of

Godhead, who personifies and includes and reconciles all apparent

contradictions. Vasudeva is praying to his newborn son that "It is not so

surprising that you appear in the womb of Devaki because you were already

there."

 

It is a very philosophical prayer. He is explaining how Krsna is present

everywhere eternally, how from the child-like form of Gopal in Goloka

Vrindavan emanates an effulgence, which is all pervading, known as

brahmajoyti. Within that effulgence is the spiritual world and in one corner

of that spiritual world, the mahat-tattva, which is likened to a cloud,

shades the effulgence of that brahmajyoti and causes a dark corner called

the material world. Krsna enters the material world as Karanodakasayi Visnu,

the Supersoul of the collective material energies and material worlds. Then

he expands himself as Garbhodakasayi Visnu, who is the Supersoul for every

individual universe, who expands himself further as Ksirodakasayi Visnu, the

Supersoul for all living entitles and every atom. He further expands himself

between every atom and this is what it means that Krsna is all-pervading.

Everything in creation rests within the form of Krsna and Krsna resides

within every thing and everyone. There is no place in all of creation where

Krsna is not present.

 

So what is the significance of the appearance of the Lord in this world?

Srila Prabhupada, on that record album, is reading a verse by his spiritual

master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur, who explains:

 

"The materialistic demeanour cannot possibly stretch to the transcendental

autocrat who is ever inviting the fallen conditioned souls to associate with

Him through devotion or eternal serving mood."

 

The transcendental autocrat means the absolute ruler who holds unlimited

powers by his inherent right. That transcendental autocrat is all-pervading

and yet he appears in this world on Sri Krsna Janmastami. And what is the

meaning of his appearance when he is already present everywhere?

 

Nanda and Yasoda have a plenary portion known as Drona and Dhara, who in a

previous age prayed to the Lord to take birth as their child to inspire

loving devotional service in this material world. And the aisvarya

manifestation of Drona and Dhara, Prsni and Sutapa, were performing tapasya

for tens of thousands of celestial years after which the Lord appeared to

them and asked what is your desire. They prayed that we desire to have a son

like you. And Lord Visnu replied that there is nobody like me, therefore,

I'll have to become your son. Thereafter, he glorified his devotees by

becoming their son by the name Prsnigarbha.

 

He told them he would take birth three times as their son. In their next

lives as Kasyapa and Aditi, the Lord became their son Vamana. In their third

birth in this material world as Vasudeva and Devaki, the Lord took birth as

the son of Vasudeva.

 

Vasu means residence of the Lord, and Vasudeva in Mathura was known to Kamsa

to be his only potential rival. So Kamsa arranged the marriage of his

cousin-sister Devaki to Vasudeva. He was very motivated because he was

thinking that if Vasudeva became his brother-in-law, he would not be able to

instigate an uprising against Kamsa, so he was very politically motivated in

arranging this marriage. Further, Kamsa himself married the two daughters of

Jarasandha. When Jarasandha came down from Bihar to Mathura for the

marriage, he brought a good portion of his vast armies with him. And he left

a portion of that army behind to protect his daughters. So Kamsa was not

really a king, he was a senapati, he was the commander, the general under

Ugrasena. He was supposed to be the son of Ugrasena, but he really wasn't

because you might wonder why such a saintly soul as Ugrasena would have a

demon like Kamsa for a child.

 

The story is that Ugrasena's wife, a very beautiful young lady, was playing

in the garden. A raksasa flew overhead and saw this beautiful lady. It was

springtime, the romantic feeling was very high. So he flew in. Raksasas have

a mystic ability to assume any form they like, so he took the form of

Ugrasena. His wife was very excited that my husband is approaching in a

romantic mood, and so a child was born who was the demon Kamsa.

 

So Kamsa being very politically motivated, and also out of affection for his

sister, arranged her marriage to Vasudeva. When he was driving the chariot

during the marriage, the demigods spoke from the sky, "Kamsa, you fool! You

don't know the eighth child of Devaki will kill you!"

 

Immediately, the next second, Kamsa is ready to cut off his sister's head.

You can't trust someone who can't control his senses, they will follow the

dictates of the mind and be unsteady. Vasudeva is pleading with him, "This

is not right, your reputation will be destroyed," he tried to reason with

Kamsa. "If there are children, I'll hand them all over to you, just spare my

wife's life."

 

Kamsa accepted that proposal and then when they had the first child, he did

it, he brought the child to Kamsa. Kamsa said, "I'm not afraid of the first

child, keep him." But then Kamsa's advisors told him that "You can't trust

the demigods. We are very straightforward, but they are tricky, they may

count backwards and in any way and any child may be the eighth." Then Kamsa

began killing all the children, as soon as they were born in front of the

parents he smashed the babies.

 

So Kamsa was acting out of fear. He symbolizes fear. Visvanatha Cakravarti

Thakur explains the inner dimension of the meaning of the appearance of Lord

Krsna. Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakur explains that Kamsa sybmolizes fear and

Devaki symbolizes devotion from whose heart Krsna appears. This refers or

can be applied to our own individual sadhana. The goddess of fortune has

many maidservants, bhukti, mukti, sense gratification, liberation--they

enter into the lives of devotees. So when you become a devotee you may find

at times that your prospects for material enjoyment increase. For

renunciates this is money and women, these may come to the door begging

entrance to the bhajan kutir of renunciates. We're not all on the level of

Haridas Thakur that we can deliver maya after three nights.

 

When these enter into the life of a devotee we should be very fearful. Kamsa

represents that fear of material existence, and the six sons represent kama,

krodha, lobha, moha, mada, matsarya, the archetypal offspring of the mind.

These six were previously the sons of Marici, who at the beginning of

creation laughed at Brahma who was chasing his daughter with lusty

aspirations. It was very disrespectful so they were cursed to take birth as

the sons of Kalanemi, who was the son of Hiranyakasipu.

 

These six can also be the objects of the mind: sound, form, taste, smell,

touch and the activities of the mind itself. These are the potentially the

enemies of a devotee. And flowing the footsteps of Hiranyakasipu, they

approached Lord Brahma with the desire to be immortal. When Hiranyakasipu

heard about this he was infuriated that they approached Brahma instead of

him, and he cursed them to be killed by their own father. Their father,

Kalanemi, became Kamsa and they become the sons of Devaki to be killed by

him.

 

Narada Muni told Kamsa that, "In your previous life as Kalanemi you were

killed by Visnu." He was trying to accelerate the appearance of the Lord. So

being fearful from all this, Kamsa killed all the six sons of Devaki.

 

In our own sadhana, Kamsa, the personification of fear of the material

existence, symbolizes that we should fear material existence. When these

offspring of the mind try to distract us from devotional service we should

take deeper shelter of Krsna to protect us, he will arrange that that fear

will kill these material ambitions of the mind, and then when the mind is

free of kama, krodha, lobha, moha, mada, matsarya, when these are

eradicated, then Baladeva appears.

 

What is his function? As the adi-guru, he is there to kick out all the

anarthas and make a nice place for Krsna to reside. So he became the seventh

offspring, and expanded himself there as Sesa as the throne, bed, holy dham,

in the heart of Devaki. He made all arrangements for Krsna, and then he was

transferred to the womb of Rohini. Many of the Yadus were hiding in caves

out of fear of Kamsa, and when Rohini became pregnant she was evacuated to

live with Yasoda. It seemed suspicious as she was pregnant and not with her

husband, but Nanda Maharaj's priest could understand the situation and told

the Brijbasis, and told them not to talk about it so Kamsa wouldn't know. So

Baladeva appeared eight days before Krsna and was sad until his brother

appeared when became very joyful.

 

When Krsna entered the womb of Devaki she became effulgent, auspiciousness

prevailed in the atmosphere, everyone's minds became peaceful, the

sacrificial fires which couldn't burn before began to burn. On this evening,

the eighth day of the waning moon, the moon was so overjoyed that it

appeared full as the Lord was appearing in his dynasty.

 

When the Lord appeared in the prison cell of Kamsa, he appeared as Visnu to

confirm his promise that he would appear as their child. They were so

fearful that Kamsa would hear the child and come that Visnu transformed into

a little baby, and then the shackles fell off, the doors opened, the guards

fell asleep, and Vasudeva took the child to Vraja. First Devaki breastfed

the baby and then Vasudeva left the prison. While crossing the Yamuna he was

about to be submerged, and was calling out for help. Then Krsna who was on

his head put his foot out and touched the water and then Yamuna subsided and

allowed him to cross.

 

In Vraja, the other son of Surasena ruled as Parjanya Maharaja. Ugrasena was

a ksatriya ruling over Mathura, but was imprisoned by Kamsa. He put his own

father in prison. Surasena had Parjanya by his vaisya wife. Parjanya's

eldest son was Upananada, but Upananda saws that his younger brother Nanda

was so saintly that he should be the king. And all the Brijbasis were elated

to have such a king. Nanda then married a beautiful girl named Yasoda from a

neighbouring village, but Nanda and Yasoda did not have any children. The

Brijbasis and all became very sad, a cloud of gloom was hovering overhead.

What is the hope of having offspring in old age? But Nanda Maharaja never

gave up hope and was praying to Narayana to have a son. He told Yasoda that,

"Actually I feel the presence of a son who is even more attractive than

Narayana himself. I can see him moving around the courtyard. Am I

dreaming?" Yasoda said, "I also see such a child like that."

 

The natural questions is why didn't Nanda do some sacrifice for offspring?

The answer is that Nanda was so surrendered that he was only concerned with

the Lord's will.

 

Upananda would call for there to be council meetings whenever there was a

crisis in Vraja. He called a meeting about this, "What to do, Nanda and

Yasoda are so old and have no offspring? This is a crisis." In that assembly

mysteriously there appeared an old lady in saffron and a young child

brahmacari. Upananda asked, "Who are you appearing like this?" She said,

"They call me Purnamasi, and I eternally appear in this form. I have come to

your assembly as a lifelong brahmcarini and I am a learned astrologer. I

have come to wait for Yasoda and Nanda's child. I have come to wait for

that."

 

Everyone was elated, "Yes, please stay in our village!Yes, I will be very

happy to live on the bank of this Kalindi, who is also known as Krsna for

her dark waters and where a child will appear who is also known as Krsna,

the son of Nanda and Yasoda. This child will be very powerful."

 

One night, when Mother Yasoda was massaging the feet of Nanda Maharaja, she

fell into a slumber where she saw a very beautiful, dark-complexioned child

appear in the heart of her husband from where he was transferred to her

heart from where he was transferred to her womb. And then, spontaneously,

she developed all the symptoms of pregnancy. Then the Brijbasis saw that the

words of Purnamasi were true, Nandarani is with child, and the dark clouds

of gloom dispersed.

 

Later on in her pregnancy, before it was time to give birth, when Mother

Yasoda was residing in the room for giving birth, her nurse was gone on

other visits and she awoke in the middle of the night and found herself

giving birth to two children, all alone. There was no one to assist her. She

was so exhausted from the labour of child birth that she just fell asleep.

That is when Vasudeva approached from Mathura with his child Vaasudeva.

 

You may question, what kind of gentleman is this trading his son for a

daughter to be killed by Kamsa, but it was all under the direction of

Yogamaya and the desire and pleasure of the Lord. So he placed Vasudeva at

the side of Mother Yasoda and he merged into Krsna and Vasudeva took

Subhadra, Yogamaya, back to Mathura, placed his shackles back on, closed the

doors, and the child began to cry. The guards told Kamsa and he came to kill

the child. She flew up into the sky and said, "Kamsa, you fool, you cannot

kill me. The child who will kill you is already born so stop these

atrocities."

 

The next morning the nurse came and saw the child of Yasoda. When Nanda

Maharaja heard, he was so elated that he ran to see his child then thought

"No, I have to inform the brahmanas, but no, I should see the child. He was

running back and forth and the nurse said, "What are you doing, come see

your child!" He was so attractive.

 

The Brijbasis were so elated they were throwing butter on each other. The

demigods were hiding in the clouds offering prayers. They did not want to

disturb the mood of the Brijbasis who did not know that Krsna was the

Supreme Personality of Godhead due to the madhurya that pervades Vraja.

 

So contemplating the Lord's appearance, Srila Prabhupada reading his own

gurudeva's purport:

 

"The materialistic demeanour cannot possibly stretch to the Transcendental

Autocrat who is ever inviting the fallen conditioned souls to associate with

Him through devotion, the eternal serving mood."

 

What is Krsna doing? When Krsna and Rama were able to crawl about on their

hands and knees, they would scamper after the sounds of anklebells thinking

that was their mother. When they were a little older, they loved to grab the

tails of little calves and the calves in fear would run through the

pasturing grounds and they would be sliding around in the manure. This is

the transcendental autocrat who, by his divine powers, everyone in creation

is worshiping through their various religions and faiths? What kind of

transcendental autocrat is this?

 

When Krsna could walk and run, then they would go and steal yoghurt and

butter. When the neighbours would challenge, "You are a thief!" Krsna and

Balarama would say, "No, you're the thief!"

 

Then if he couldn't get his hand into the butter pot, they would take their

cowherd sticks and poke holes in the butter pots and it would all pour out.

Krsna was so full of butter and yoghurt that he couldn't eat any more, so he

would feed it to the monkeys. What is Krsna doing? He is trying to soften

and melt our hearts by his charming ways. So Krsna just enchanted the hearts

of the Brijbasis.

 

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was with Raghupati Upadhyaya and he pleased him so

much with his spontaneously composed verse: "Let others, fearing material

existence, worship the Vedas, the Vedic supplementary puranas and the

Mahabharata, but I shall worship Nanda Maharaja, in whose courtyard the

Supreme Brahman is crawling."

 

So Krsna grew up and Akrura was dispatched to bring him to Mathura for the

wrestling match. And Vasudeva and Devaki were spectators in the wrestling

arena. They were so fearful. Everyone was so fearful, as Krsna and Balarama

were just fresh youths pitted against these fierce wrestlers. But they saw

how Krsna just effortlessly killed the wrestlers, how he defeated the mad

elephant Kuvalayapida. Then he jumped up on the dais and grabbed Kamsa by

the hair and said, "You killed my brothers, imprisoned my father," and he

just punched him and killed him. Then he was dead and gone and he just

dragged him around the arena.

 

Vasudeva and Devaki were shocked that "Our child Krsna is the Supreme

Personality of Godhead," that when Krsna and Balarama came before Vasudeva

and Devaki, they were just standing there with folded palms, awestruck by

their divine prowess. Krsna and Balarama fell at their feet and touched

their feet and stood before them. Vasudeva and Devaki were still just

standing there with folded palms and Krsna and Balarama began to cry, "We

have been gone for so long and now we come back to see you and you just

stand there with folded palms?" They felt neglected. Krsna and Balarama

began to cry.

 

That evoked the madhurya because Vasudeva and Devaki are half aisvarya and

half madhurya and Krsna does not appear in that consciousness. He only

appears where there is complete, sweet, pure madhurya-bhava. Vaasudeva

appears there, but not Krsna. That did not please Krsna and Balarama. They

began to cry. Vasudeva and Devaki embraced them and that made them so happy.

 

But then Devaki, in her happiness that her sons had returned, was also

contemplating the ghastly horror she had to undergo to facilitate the

appearance of Krsna and Balarama. She was thinking she should ask for some

benediction. Then she began crying. She said, "Krsna, when you went to

gurukula, you fulfilled the desire of your teacher by bringing back his son.

I so much want to see my six children. Now that I have seen your powers, I

am asking you, can you bring back my children?"

 

Krsna looked at Balarama and said no problem. He brought back Devaki's six

babies from Yamaloka and handed them all to her. She was so elated that milk

began flowing from her breasts. As she began feeding them, they all just

disappeared. They were liberated because that breast milk that was

previously fed to Lord Krsna was mahaprasad.

 

Krsna does not appear in this world to kill the demons. He says in

Bhagavad-gita he comes to annihilate the miscreants, but he is not going to

come personally to annihilate the miscreants, they are annihilating each

other. Material nature is adequate to kill the demons, but there is

something material nature cannot do, and that is to please the devotees, to

satisfy their deepest desires. That only Krsna can do and he has to appear

for that reason.

 

Krsna has various names. He who is composed of aisvarya and karuna is

glorified by the name bhakta-vatsala, that he is the friend of his devotees.

That is the endearing name of how he gives himself fully to his devotees. So

the birth of Lord Krsna, the birth of the unborn, means that Krsna appears

in this world to awaken our dormant service mood.

 

Only with premanjana cchurita, with eyes tinged with the salve of love, only

with senses awakened with devotional service, can we realize that the Lord

is present within our hearts. He is present everywhere but he cannot be seen

with material senses. He cannot be understood by the materialistic

demeanour, but only through loving devotional service.

 

Krsna appears in this world to give pleasure to his devotees and to award

the opportunity for devotional service to everyone by enchanting their

hearts. On the appearance day of Krsna, on his birthday, if we want to

really please him, we have to offer him our hearts. When he appears in our

hearts, he purifies them of all the kama, krodha, etc., all the thoughts for

materialistic pleasure. We should be fearful of such thoughts and let Kamsa

kill them so that Baladeva can appear in the humble mood of our soul and

make a nice dham for Krsna to appear.

 

So the appearance of Lord Krsna means that he contradicts his own words. He

says, "I'm never manifest to the fools and miscreants. To them I am

eternally covered by the curtain of yogamaya." But 5000 years ago, Krsna

appeared. Was he breaking his own promise? Was he violating his own word?

No, it was a higher principle, the principle of love.

 

Sukadeva Goswami was explaining to Maharaj Pariksit how Krsna was captured

by mother Yasoda and bound by the ropes of her affection. Srila Prabhupada

comments in the purport that it is not that Krsna is controlled by his

devotees, but by the love in the hearts of his devotees. When Krsna said he

is not manifest, there is an exception that when one's eyes are decorated by

the salve of love and when one's dormant senses are awakened to Krsna's

love, Krsna appears in our hearts.

 

So Janmastami is not simply the celebration of an event that takes place

5000 years ago but it is an eternal event where Krsna wants to appear in our

hearts to our senses that are awakened. Those spiritual sentiments can be

very much inspired by contemplating the love that inspires the Lord to

appear in this world to captivate our minds and enchant our hearts and lure

our minds beyond the confines of egocentric thought.

 

Thank you very much. Are there any questions?

 

Q: [unclear]

 

A: Service to others should be done because it pleases Krsna, but it's also

service to others if it's pleasing to Krsna; it will awaken their own

service propensity. What service we offer to others should be with the goal

of inspiring them to serve Krsna, that is real service to others and Krsna.

 

Q: Prabhupada set up our movement in such a way that we serve others, it's

difficult sometimes to?? [unclear].

 

A: There's only one real authority, he may have many representatives, but if

we we're really submissive and chaste to his will then all apparent

dualities will be reconciled. Srila Prabhupada comments on that in the

chapter when Upananda called another meeting to decide what the Brijbasis

should do since from the birth of Krsna there had been so many calamities in

Gokula, so for the good of all of us and Gokula we should go to Vrndavana

and be peaceful.

 

But it was there too, disturbances. Srila Prabhupada comments that it's not

that things will ever be peaceful in this world, like the appearance of

winter and summer seasons as mentioned in Bhagavad-gita, but the wise should

learn to not be disturbed. This means that our Krsna consciousness and

resolution won't be disturbed, though there may be conflicts.

 

Srila Prabhupada said there are so many difficulties in this Krsna

consciousness movement, but it goes on if we make that the priority of life.

Then our soul will not be disturbed by the dualities. We only really have

one authority and shouldn't be bewildered by conflicting authorities. He

wants us to be purified and go back to Godhead. Then all dualities will be

resolved. Advaita Acarya told Mahaprabhu that the obstacles are so we take

shelter of Krsna with deeper conviction and aspiration.

 

Q: I didn't clearly understand that Kamsa is fear and the six children

represent six anarthas, and Devaki represents devotional service and

Vasudeva is the residence of the Lord, ??

 

A: It kills the anarthas and material propensities. Then only the Lord will

come.

 

Q: Even after getting initiated we struggle with the six anarthas. ?

[unclear]

 

A: It's not an event when they are killed, it's a process. It takes time.

 

Q: Should we have so much fear that we isolate ourselves from the outside

world?

 

A: Only as much as is healthy for our service and consciousness. Understand

that fear is a very powerful motivating force, it is a good friend and

terrible master. We shouldn't be controlled by fear but fear should be

expressed in a more sincere approach to Krsna for shelter, going deep into

our sadhana and to know we are in a very fearful situation where material

influences are trying to take us away from Krsna. Therefore we should

approach guru and Krsna and Vaisnavas with ever increasing sincerity to

protect us from these temptations. Fear should not be debilitating our

service, it should be enhancing our service.

 

Thank you very much.

 

END