Shri Krishna Janmastami Mahotsav Ki Jai!

[Guest guest]

Lecture delivered by H. H. Radhanath Swami Maharaj at Juhu, on the eve of Janmashtami, dated 28th August 1994. I would like to offer my deepest gratitude to all of you for taking your precious time to come to this holy place to celebrate the glorious occasion of Lord Krishna's Janamashtami.            In the Srimad Bhagavatam it is described how the Lord appeared in this world. In Gita Krishna explainsjanma karma ca me divyamevam yo vetti tattvatahtyaktva deham punar janmanaiti mam eti so'rjunaThat one who understands the transcendental nature of the Lord's appearance and activities in this world, never takes birth again in this world of suffering, but attains eternal spiritual abode of the Lord.            Janamashtami, historically is the day that Lord Krishna appeared in Sri Dhama Mathura in the prison cell of Kamsa to Vasudev and Devaki, approximately 5,000 years ago from today. And also the great Gaudiya Vaisnava acaryas have given us the essential lesson that Krishna wanted to reveal to us through the means by which He took birth in this material world. As you know Devaki and Vasudev were married and Kamsa was taking them in the chariot to Vasudev's kingdom, when that voice echoed in the sky that the eighth child of your sister Devaki would be the cause of your death, Kamsa. Kamsa, being the very symbol of a materialistic person trying to exploit the resources of the material nature for his own personal interest, became so threatened by this challenge that in order to protect his egoistic domain, he was willing to perform the greatest atrocity of slaughtering his own innocent helpless sister. He drew his sword, he held her by her hair and he was about to murder her. She was helpless and with folded arms prayed to the Lord for protection. And Vasudev with so many arguments ultimately promised Kamsa that every child that takes birth from the womb of my wife, I vow that I would turn over to you. Why, after being put in the prison house, did they continue to have children? For a mother, a new born child is more dear to her than her very life. And to the father as well. The first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth of those infant babies were taken by Kamsa right before their very eyes of Vasudev and Devaki and smashed upon a rock. Understand that Kamsa in his previous birth as Kalanemi was killed by Lord Vishnu, but Shukracharya, by administering him the mystical Sanjeevini herbs of medicine brought him back to life and Kalanemi performed sever tapasya for long periods of time and after satisfying Brahma, he received such benedictions that he could not be killed by any creature on this world. And he gained great powers and he conquered all great asuras and he made them his servants. And then he conquered the entire universe including Indra, the king of heaven. It is said that he had the strength greater than 10,000 elephants. And yet with all of that strength, he had taken the innocent infant children of Devaki and Vasudev and he was smashing upon the rock.            Why did Devaki and Vasudev continue to have children under these circumstances? Because they knew that the Supreme Personality of Godhead was to become their eighth child. And in order to prepare the way for Him, they were willing to accept any type of personal sufferings for themselves. Why? Because the Lord appearsparitranaya sadhunamvinasaya ca duskrtamdharma-samsthapanarthayasambhavami yuge yugeHe appears out of His causeless mercy for the welfare of all living beings in the world. To annihilate the miscreants; to protect His devotees and to reestablish the principles of religion. When we are willing to make such sacrifices of our own attachments in this world and our own personal interests and comforts, at that time Janamashtami will take place within your hearts. Krishna will appear.            But what is preventing us from this pure unmotivating, uninterrupted loving service that was exhibited by Vasudev and Devaki? There are six enemies which are born out of the mind which are prohibiting us from making our hearts a pure and proper place for Krishna to manifest Himself to us. Those six enemies are lust, anger, greed, pride, envy and illusion and until these six enemies are killed, Krishna will not appear within our hearts. And Visvanath Chakravarty explains that originally these six sons in previous births were the sons of Marici and they committed an offense to Lord Brahma and therefore they were cursed to be the grandsons of Hiranyakashipu in form of demons and then next birth they came into the womb of Devaki. Marici was born of the mind of Brahma and he symbolizes the mind. The six anarthas are symbolised by these six children. And until they are cast out of the womb of our heart, and until they are killed Krishna will not take birth. Devaki's womb represents bhakti. When our bhakti is pure, free from the six enemies of material attachments, then as Krishna explains in the Gita, One who has control over the mind, for one who has a pure mind, the Supersoul has already reached. Krishna is there.ceto-darpana-marjanam bhava-maha davagni-nirvapanamsreyah-kairava-candrika-vitaranam vidya-vadhu-jivanamanandambudhi-vardhanam prati-padam purnamrtasvadanamsarvatma-snapanam param vijayate sri-krsna-sankirtanam That the mind is like a mirror. The mind is meant to reflect the light and the glory of the eternal soul which is part of Krishna. When the mirror of the mind is pure and clean, the beauty of the paramatma reflects not only for our own eternal joy but for the enlightenment of the whole world.            So this cleanser of our mind, this destroyer of the attachment of our mind, is the purpose of Sanatana Dharma. It is the purpose of all religion. Krishna says in the Gita, (18.55)bhaktya mam abhijanatiyavan yas casmi tattvatahtato mam attvato jnatvavisate tad-anantaram That only when we have unalloyed devotion will Krishna reveal to us as He is. And Brahma Samhita also explains that when our eyes are decorated with the salve of pure love, then we perceive the 3-fold bending form of Syamsundara. So the real internal significance of Janamashtami is when Krishna makes His appearance within our hearts and within our lives. Krishna appeared in this world for one purpose only - to teach us the process by which we can experience the love and the mercy of Krishna, the presence of Krishna 24 hours a day for all eternity. Krishna performed His wonderful pastimes to attract our hearts and our minds to His loving service. He spoke the Gita to teach us how to strictly follow a lifestyle by which we can purify our existence and become pure servitors of the Lord. Bhagavad Gita is not simply meant to study as a theoretic scholarly practice. Bhagavad Gita is not meant simply to memorize and show the world how we can recite cloaks in perfect Sanskrit meter. Bhagavad Gita is meant to apply to every phase of our life. Arjuna was not a Brahmin. He was a Ksatriya. He was not a bramhachari, he was a Grihasta with many wives and many children. The Bhagavad Gita was spoke by Parthasarthy Krishna to Arjuna to impel him to put those teachings into his life 24 hours and to fight against all the enemies of illusion and exploitation, not for himself but as a humble service to the Supreme Lord Govinda. This is Bhagavad Gita.man mana bhava mad-bhaktomad-yaji mam namaskurumam evaisyasi satyam tepratijane priyo 'si meThis is the essence of the Gita - to always remember Krishna; to become His devotee; to offer everything to Him; our body, mind, our words, our life. And this is the blissful life. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu who is Lord Krishna Himself in the divine mood of Srimati Radharani, appeared in this world, but He revealed Himself as a devotee to teach of us by His practical example how to perfect our lives; how to always remember Krishna; how to be His devotee; how to surrender everything for Krishna's sake; how to purify our hearts. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu taught us a simple process which is the essence of the application of all the teachings of the Vedas. And what is that? That we must associate intimately in a mood of humble service with the Vaisnavas; with those pure hearted sadhus who are dedicating their lives in the service of the Lord and in their association, we must learn the process of sadhana bhakti; we must learn to regulate and discipline our lives by following regulative principles - no illicit sex; no intoxication. no gambling; no meat eating. These activities further perpetuate the illusion and bondage of the imprisoned soul. They feed and nourish the six enemies which are destroying our spirituality; at the same time in the association of simple, humble pure hearted devotees, we must learn the proper process of serving the Lord; serving the devotees and the chanting the holy names of Krishna Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. Krishna is non different than His name. kali-kale nama-rupe krsna-avataar. In this age of Kali yuga the Lord appears within His name (Garuda Purana)om apavitrah pavitro vasarvavastham gato 'pi vayah smaret pundarikaksamsa bahyabhyantarah sucihKrishna is all pure.nama cintamanih krsnascaitanya-rasa-vigrahahpurnah suddho nitya-mukto'bhinnatvan nama-naminoh(Padma Purana). And all those purifying powers of Krishna is fully endowed in His name. Therefore it is said in the Puranaharer nama harer namaharer namaiva kevalamkalau nasty eva nasty evanasty eva gatir anyathawhen we learn to chant the holy name of the Lord with deep concentration and attention without offense in a pure state of mind, then Krishna will manifest Himself to us in a most wonderful way with the beautiful sound of His holy name. Therefore Srila Rupa Goswami has explained to us that I cannot fathom understand or conceive the nectar that is contained within these two most blessed syllables Krs - na. When I chant the holy name of Krishna with this tongue that name is so infinitely sweet that I desire many tongues to allow the Lord to dance upon and when that name enters into many ears I desire millions upon millions upon millions of ears to experience the unlimited joy of Krishna's name and when that name enters into my heart, it conquers my senses; it conquers my mind and I become utterly surendered at the lotus feet of the holy name.Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare HareHare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare HareFor, the holy name cleanses the mirror of the mind and reveals the Supreme Personality of Godhead not only to ourselves but to whoever we come in contact with. So this is the message. This is the determination that this holy time of Janamashtami should inculcate within our lives. We should have that enthusiasm and willingness to follow in the footsteps of Devaki and Vasudev. And cleanse these sinful enemy of lust, anger, envy pride, greed and illusion from our hearts. We should be willing to accept inconveniences and sacrifice in the service of the Lord to assist in the mission of the Lord. And this all comes about through the chanting of the holy names. When we chant the holy names in  Sankirtan in the association of the devotees and when we chant very loudly as Gaursundar has taught us, then that holy name travels to purify the entire existence. We cannot calculate the potency of Krishna's holy name when it is chanted by so many wonderful sincere devotees of the Lord. There are so many crisis and so many sufferings all around us in this world. In our personal life terrible misery is either taking place or imminent. And when we hear what is taking place in the news we find terrible droughts and floods and earthquakes epidemic diseases, greed, crime, drug addiction, alcoholism, murder, wars, cold wars, hot wars, nuclear bombs, we can list forever practically the various ways to suffer in this world. And it is all around us. And we should hide our eyes from the factual reality. And through the United Nations and through the various social, political and philanthroic organisations, they are trying to at the most releive some of the symptoms of material miseries. But despite all of our technology, all of our science, and all of our developed diplomacy, the world is in a terrible condition of conflict and suffering, because there is only process in this age of Kali yuga to actually relieve the sufferings of this world. And that is to get out of this world. We were explaining today at Sri Radha Gopinath temple at Chowpatty that this material existence is like a vast unlimited ocean of suffering of birth and death and if you are in the middle of that ocean, you cannot avoid from getting wet. If you are cast in the ocean, can you become dry? It is not possible nor it is possible to be in the ocean of material suffering and not suffer. Therefore Krishna is so inconceivably merciful that out of love and compassion for all of his children, for all living entities, He appears within this material world only for our sake, to attract us to His beautiful loving pastimes; to give us proper instructions and to reveal His divine name. And He is coming to throw us that life raft to take us out of this ocean of suffering. And through His name and through His devotees, the great acaryas in the parampara system, they are coming to give us the life raft of Krishna's mercy to take us out of this ocean of material suffering. But how foolish is material civilization is today! That the life raft is there. We are wet with material suffering and we say, "Please take the life raft. Take the name of Krishna. Take the association of His devotees. Come out of this material world. Transcend it today. " But what do they say? " I don't have time to take the life raft because I am too busy trying to dry myself off in this ocean. I am too busy trying to relieve the suffering in this world of suffering." When Krishna says We have to get out of this world, dukhalayam asastvatam, it does not mean that we have to die. Death doesn't work because the soul is eternal. Whatever state of being we remember at the time of death we have to be born again in that condition. It means to no longer identify oneself with this material body which is ever changing; to realise that I am the eternal soul. I am not this body. And to live with the purpose of the soul. The purpose of this body is janasya moho yam aham mametiprakrteh kriyamananigunaih karmani sarvasahahankara-vimudhatmakartaham iti manyateThis is the material life. We serve the body by claiming proprietorship that I am this body and everything in relation with this body is mine to enjoy and to control. To get out of this world means to get out of that illusory conception of that life and to realize that I am the eternal soul; I am part of Krishna; I am eternal, full of knowledge, full of bliss jivera 'svarupa' haya - krsnera 'nitya dasa' And the joy of the soul is to reunite with Krishna. To love and to serve Him and to realise that is to purify our intelligence by reading the holy scriptures with the pure commentaries of the great acaryas. Srila Prabhupada has given us those books. We should read them carefully and live by them. And the conclusion of all the scriptures, the conclusion of all of Srila Prabhupada's literatures is to accept this divine gift of Caitanya Mahaprabhu in the form of association of devotees, service to the Lord and the chanting of the holy names. It is so simple. Thakur Bhaktivinode has prayedgrhe thako, vane thako, sada 'hari' bole' dakosukhe dukhe bhulo na'ko, vadane hari-nam koro rethat whether you are a Grihastha having a profession with a family and children and home, or whether you are a sannyasi traveling, preaching, living in the jungles, if you sincerely chant the holy names, take this medicine of Hari Nam regularly everyday, you will be free form all the happiness and distress of this world and you will be established in the eternal divine joy of Krishna. And then Krishna takes birth within our hearts . And when we chant the holy names we can perform the greatest welfare service to all humanity by allowing the ambrosial sweet sound of Hari Nama to echo through the entire universe. And if we perform this activity with sincere hearts, we are truly celebrating the real Janamashtami of Lord Sri Krishna. We are inviting Him again to appear again in His name into this world. So let us all now celebrate Krishna's Janamashtami by loudly chanting the holy name according to direction of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. As I am chanting with folded hands, welcome Sri Krishna through the sound of His name into our ears, into our minds and into the core of our hearts, by listening attentively, with humility. And when you are chanting, raise your arms very high into the sky, making your life an offering, "Krishna. You have come in Your name and I surrender to You. I am Yours. I give up all my illusory attempts to enjoy your creation and I offer my life to You. And we should chant very loudly with great feeling and with great concentrationâ€.H H Radhanath Swami Maharajguru-mukha-padma-väkya, cittete koriyä aikya, är nä koriho mane äsä