BG 9.13 – Sri Radhastami—Evening Lecture to Guests

Giriraj Swami:

[Bhagavad-gītā 9.13]

mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha
daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ
bhajanty ananya-manaso
jñātvā bhūtādim avyayam

TRANSLATION

O son of Pṛthā, those who are not deluded, the great souls, are under the protection of the divine nature. They are fully engaged in devotional service because they know Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, original and inexhaustible.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

In this verse the description of the mahātmā is clearly given. The first sign of the mahātmā is that he is already situated in the divine nature. He is not under the control of material nature. And how is this effected? That is explained in the Seventh Chapter: one who surrenders unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, at once becomes freed from the control of material nature. That is the qualification. One can become free from the control of material nature as soon as he surrenders his soul to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is the preliminary formula. Being marginal potency, as soon as the living entity is freed from the control of material nature, he is put under the guidance of the spiritual nature. The guidance of the spiritual nature is called daivī prakṛti, divine nature. So when one is promoted in that way – by surrendering to the Supreme Personality of Godhead – one attains to the stage of great soul, mahātmā.

COMMENT

Once, when Srila Prabhupada was in Bombay, a leading Hindu gentleman came to meet him and asked a question. He said that, “India is a land of mahatmas; we have so many mahatmas in India, yet India has so many problems, so why? How is it possible that in the presence of so many mahatmas, we can still have so many problems?” Srila Prabhupada replied that, “The reason India has so many problems is that people do not know who is a mahatma.” But here, the description of a mahatma is given: he is always under the divine energy. Every living entity is marginal, which means he can come under the spiritual energy or under the material energy. He is like the land at the seashore. Sometimes, when there is a high tide, the marginal land becomes part of the ocean, and sometimes, when the tide recedes, the same land becomes part of the land. So it is marginal. In the same way, the living entities are marginal; they can either come under the spiritual energy or the material energy.

The material energy is personified as Durga devi. Durga devi rides on her lion carrier, and she holds a triśūla, a trident. What is the trident? The trident is the threefold miseries of material existence. Every conditioned soul is being pierced by the threefold miseries: miseries caused by our own mind and bodies, miseries caused by other living entities, and miseries caused by acts of nature. If we observe ourselves minutely, we will see that, practically speaking, we are always suffering from at least one of the three types of miseries, if not more. We all have experience of how we suffer due to the body or the mind. We get some physical ailment, and we suffer, but we can suffer more mentally. If some loved one dies, we can suffer more; the suffering is in the mind. And we suffer due to other living entities also. Somebody may insult us, offend us, or abuse us. Somebody may take us to court. Miseries can be caused by others than humans also. Mosquitoes can trouble us, a dog can bite us—so many miseries, and they’re everywhere.

Once, when Srila Prabhupada was in Caracas, Venezuela, one devotee noticed that there were so many mosquitoes biting everyone else but not Srila Prabhupada. So, the devotee remarked to the Srila Prabhupada that, “You are such a pure devotee that mosquitoes doesn’t trouble you.” So, Srila Prabhupada said that, “Here, the mosquitoes show respect, but in Calcutta, they make no distinction.” So the miseries are everywhere. We might escape one in one place, but we will get it in another place. But actually, we cannot escape.

There is one story from, I forget the name of the book, some book of wisdom from Persia. A rich man sent his servant to Baghdad to the bazaar to purchase some things and bring them. While the servant was in the bazaar, he bumped into death personified, and death personified looked at him in a very menacing way. He became terrified, so he immediately left his work and everything and went back and told his master what had happened. The servant decided that he would go to Samara to escape death. The master went to Baghdad to see death personified and asked him why he had jostled his servant and why he had looked at him menacingly. The master went to the bazaar in Baghdad, and there he met death personified. He said, “Why did you jostle my servant and give him a menacing look?” Death personified replied, “I didn’t give him a menacing look. I was just surprised to see him in Baghdad because I had an appointment to meet him in Samara in the evening.”

So, whatever misery is destined to us, we cannot escape. We can make so many plans, but still, we cannot escape by any means because every conditioned soul is destined to enjoy a certain amount and suffer a certain amount according to his past activities. The Bhāgavatam gives the instruction that nobody wants miseries, nobody wants problems, but automatically problems come. Nobody goes to the temple or the church to pray for problems, but still, they come. So in the same way that the problems come without our trying for them, similarly, happiness will also come without our trying. Both will come. Just as distress comes without our making any effort for it, happiness will also come without our making any effort. Therefore, we should not waste our time and energy trying to increase our happiness or trying to reduce our distress because we cannot do either. Whatever is destined to come to us will come to us; we cannot escape.

There was a saying in India previously, because previously Calcutta was the greatest city in India. Even in the British Empire, Calcutta was considered the best city, and people from the villages in India thought that if they went to Calcutta, they would get money, material enjoyment, and whatever they wanted. So many people used to go to Calcutta, like now in India, many people want to go to America or any place. Back then, they used to want to go to Calcutta. So there was a saying that even if you go to Calcutta, your forehead will go with you because, in Sanskrit or other Indian languages, the word for forehead and the word for destiny are the same. So even if you go to Calcutta, your forehead will go with you means your destiny will go with you. Even now in India, if people lament their bad luck or destiny, they point to their forehead, saying, “So unfortunate.” So wherever we go, our destiny will go with us. We cannot escape our destiny.

We should not waste time trying to increase our happiness or reduce our distress, but practically everyone spends their whole time, wastes their whole time, trying to get more happiness and less distress, but they can’t. Everybody has a certain mixture of both, and they can’t escape. Realizing the fact that whatever is destined to come to us will come to us, whether we try for it or not, whether we like it or not, we should just accept it and use our valuable energy for Krishna consciousness, our valuable time, our valuable intelligence. When I first went to India in 1970, I was shocked when I visited some of the offices, especially the government offices, how little work the people did. I remember going to the charity commissioner’s office, and there were so many tables and chairs, so many people sitting on the chairs, but they were not working. They were reading the newspapers, drinking tea, talking with each other, and there were literally piles and piles of files stacked up along the walls in the corners. I was amazed. So, many people had the idea or have the idea that Indians are lazy; they don’t want to work. But actually, they are not lazy. They may be lazy for material development, but they are not lazy for spiritual development. At least that is the Indian culture.

Some years later, we went to Khumba-mela in Allahabad, Ardha Khumba-mela in 1977, and at the end of the last big bathing day, we wanted to go to the city because we had maybe to make some deposits in the bank, maybe make some purchases. We had to walk a long way from the camp just to the entrance of the area. On the way, we were trying to find a rickshaw that could take us to the city, but we couldn’t find anything. Apparently, so many pilgrims had come to take bath and gone, they had taken all the vehicles, and there was no transportation left. Private vehicles were not allowed.

Finally, it was cold, cloudy, and raining. As we approached the gate, we saw in the fog one rickshaw parked on the side of the road. We became very happy that there was a rickshaw we could take. We went up to the rickshaw, but we saw there was no driver. Then we looked more closely and saw that in the back portion of the rickshaw where the passengers stayed, there was a covering pulled down, and the driver was sleeping in the back. We woke him up and said, “We want to go to Allahabad. Can you take us?” He said, “No.” We said, “We will pay you double.” He said, “No, I am tired, and it is raining.” Then we said, “You name how much you want us to pay you.” He said, “No, I am feeling tired.”

We had nothing to do, so we thought we would have some conversation with him. In the course of the conversation, he mentioned that at 3:30 in the morning, he had gotten up because the auspicious time to take bath was about 4:15. He had walked many miles in the cold and the rain to take bath at the auspicious moment. We can see that actually, the man, although he appeared to be lazy, was not lazy. When it came to spiritual advancement or liberation, he was not lazy, but when it came to material advancement, he was lazy. So actually, we should be a little lazy materially but very active spiritually. Lazy materially means that if we are active materially, it won’t make any difference anyway; we will get whatever we are destined to get, so it is a sort of foolish activity. Srila Prabhupada said there are actually four categories of persons: lazy intelligent, active intelligent, lazy foolish, and active foolish. He said the best is lazy intelligent. He doesn’t do much activity himself, but by his intelligence, he inspires others. Like Srila Prabhupada, most of the time he was just sitting in his room, but by his intelligence, he was inspiring devotees all over the world to work hard. The next best is active intelligent. He is intelligent and active to fulfill the plan. Next best is lazy foolish. He has bad ideas, but he is lazy, so he doesn’t do anything about them. The worst is active foolish because he acts on his bad ideas and creates havoc. We should be at least active intelligent, but not active foolish. Trying to be happy in the material world is foolish, actually, and trying to be Krishna conscious is intelligent.

The personification of the material energy is Durga. Durga means fortress or Durga can mean prison. We are actually in the prison house of material existence, and Durga devi is the superintendent. Durga devi is maya, and she is meant to keep us in the prison house of material existence. She punishes us with her trident. She is always punishing and piercing our hearts and making us suffer, and we can’t escape. As long as we are in the prison house, we can’t escape punishment. The only way to escape the punishment is to become free from the prison house, to be released from the prison house. And what is the method to be released from the prison house or the control of maya? Lord Krishna himself gives the answer in the Seventh Chapter, daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī mama māyā duratyayā, that this maya, which consists of the three modes of nature, is very difficult to overcome, but mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te, one who surrenders unto me, unto Krishna, can easily cross over maya. We cannot fight maya directly because she is too powerful, but we can fight her indirectly by surrendering to Krishna. Just like the king can order the warden of the prison to release any prisoner if some prisoner surrenders to the king and the king is satisfied that he is sincere, then the king can pardon the criminal for his offenses and order his release from the prison.

In the same way, if we surrender to Krishna, he will order our release from māyā, and we will be free. But free does not mean that we will be independent because we are marginal; we can never be independent. We have to be either under the material nature or the spiritual nature. The material nature is personified as Durga devi, and the spiritual energy is personified as Srimati Radharani. The great souls who accept Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead and surrender unto him are placed by him under the guidance of the spiritual energy or under the guidance of Srimati Radharani. So, this should be our goal: to come out from the control of maya, of Durga devi, of the superintendent of the prison, and come under the guidance of the internal energy, Srimati Radharani. One who does so is mahatma.

PURPORT (continued)

The mahātmā does not divert his attention to anything outside Kṛṣṇa, because he knows perfectly well that Kṛṣṇa is the original Supreme Person, the cause of all causes. There is no doubt about it. Such a mahātmā, or great soul, develops through association with other mahātmās, pure devotees.

COMMENT

The great souls are under the protection of the divine nature or under the protection of Srimati Radharani. If we come under the shelter of great souls, then automatically we come under the shelter of Srimati Radharani directly or indirectly, and that is our success.

PURPORT (continued)

Pure devotees are not even attracted by Kṛṣṇa’s other features, such as the four-armed Mahā-viṣṇu. They are simply attracted by the two-armed form of Kṛṣṇa. They are not attracted to other features of Kṛṣṇa, nor are they concerned with any form of a demigod or of a human being.

COMMENT

Here, Srila Prabhupada commenting on the words bhajanty ananya-manaso, that they render service to Krishna without deviation of mind. Their minds are not even deviated to other forms of Godhead, but they concentrate only on the Krishna form.

PURPORT (continued)

They meditate only upon Kṛṣṇa in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. They are always engaged in the unswerving service of the Lord in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

COMMENT

So, to become Krishna conscious, the main process is hearing. Hearing about Krishna, hearing the holy name of Krishna, or hearing the transcendental pastimes of Krishna. Since we have a few minutes, we may tell one or two stories about the appearance of Srimati Radharani, pastimes of Srimati Radharani.

In Vrindavan, Vrishabhanu Maharaja and Kirtida devi desire to have a child. Actually, they were staying in Barsana. This is near Barsana, so they desired to have a child, but they were not getting any child. Then they thought if they move closer to the Yamuna, by the mercy of the Yamuna, they may get a child. So they moved to a place called Raval. Very soon after moving to Raval, Srimati Radharani appeared. They were both joyful and miserable. They were joyful because they had a child they wanted; they had a daughter. But their joy was mixed because she was born blind. Her eyes were shut closed, and they remained closed. In the meantime, Narada, the great sage who already understood the fact that Krishna had appeared, now understood the fact that Krishna’s internal potency had also appeared. He wanted to go to Vraja to have her darshan, so he went to the palace of Vrishabhanu Maharaja and Kirtida devi and inquired from them.

At first, they did not want to mention that they had a baby girl because she was blind, and they felt ashamed if he would see her. But then they considered that he is a great soul, and if we show her to him, he may bless her, and she may be able to see. So they brought the baby in the presence of Narada. Narada, recognizing her as the internal potency of Krishna, offered obeisances to her and offered prayers to her. As she was in the form of a baby, he also gave blessings to her and left. However, she remained as she was. A little while later, Nanda Maharaja and Yasoda mayī came to visit, and they brought with them little Krishna. When they happened to visit the house, Srimati Radharani was being swung in a cradle. As soon as Krishna saw her, he, as a little child, began to run towards her. He went up to the swing and touched her, and as soon as Srimati Radharani felt the hand of Krishna, immediately she opened her eyes. The first thing that she saw was Krishna. The purport is that she is only meant to see Krishna and to serve Krishna.

Then may be a few years later, when they were both still very young children, the idea was already in Mother Yasoda’s mind that Srimati Radharani would be the perfect wife for little Krishna. She was always thinking how nice it would be if Krishna married Srimati Radharani, but they were just small children. One time, when Vrishabhanu Maharaja and Kirtida devi came to Nandagram to visit, they brought Srimati Radharani with them. When Nanda and Yasoda saw the plate filled with priceless gems and jewels as a token of acceptance, they also became jubilant and began to dance in ecstasy. The news spread throughout Nandagram, and all the people of Nandagram were also full of joy that Radha and Krishna were going to marry. Everyone was singing in the streets, “Jaya jaya Sri Radhe Shyama!” and started to flock to the palace of Nanda and Yasoda to offer congratulations.

In the meantime, Mother Yasoda began to look at the jewels and gems on the plate. She started to think that according to the custom, when the other party accepts the proposal and sends the jewels, the first party is supposed to fill the same plate with jewels and send it back as acceptance of the proposal. Mother Yasoda started to look at the jewels and think. Then she said that ‘We have no such valuable jewels and gems as these to send in return. We have milk, we have butter, we have yogurt, but we don’t have such valuable jewels and gems. What will we do?’ Thinking and discussing, they remembered that the palace was full of guests that had to be attended to, so they left the jewels and went to attend to the guests.

In the meantime, little Krishna started looking at the colorful jewels and gems. He thought that many times he had seen his father give seeds to his farmers, and they would throw the seeds in the fields, and plants would come up, bearing fruits or vegetables. So he thought, I will take these and plant them. He collected each and every jewel and gem from the plate and took them with him into the fields. He looked around the field and saw one that was just freshly plowed. He threw all the jewels in the ground, planted them, and went back to the house.

In the meantime, Nanda and Yasoda came and looked at the plate, and they saw there were no jewels left, not even one. They became frantic about what had happened to the treasure and looked everywhere, they couldn’t find the jewels. Then they thought there is only one culprit in the whole of Nandagram that could have done this, and it is only Krishna. So they called for little Krishna, and Nanda Maharaja said, “Now Krishna, you are a very good boy, and we will give you lots of sweet rice and curd and mākhana; just tell us what you did with the jewels.” Krishna said, “Yes, Father, I have taken the jewels. Yes, Mother, I have taken the jewels, and you’ll be very glad to know what I did with them. I have planted them in the field, and very soon we will be getting nice trees that will be bearing jewels.”

Nanda Maharaja smiled and said, “My dear child, these are jewels; these are not grains like rice or wheat that you plant in the ground. These are jewels; we don’t plant jewels.” Krishna said, “No, Father, I planted them, and I am sure that very soon they will sprout. Anyway, let us go and see. The worst that can happen is we will have to pick them up from the field.” So, they went to the field, and there was nothing, only earth. Nanda Maharaja decided to start digging in the soil, and just as he was starting to dig, Krishna said, “Oh, look, Father, look, there is a sprout coming out.” So Nanda looked, and yes, actually, there was a little sprout. Right in front of him, the sprout grew up and up and up, and it became a whole bush full of the most valuable gems and jewels. They collected all the gems and jewels, took them into the house, and had them made into golden ornaments, bangles, rings, crowns, and all sorts of things. They filled up the whole plate with jeweled ornaments, and there were so many jewels that they also filled up a whole bullock cart with jewels and sent them to Vrishabhanu Maharaja and Kirtida devi with acceptance of the proposal.

Of course, we all know that in the end, Radha and Krishna never married publicly, but that is another story, we don’t have time to tell. However, I will just tell one short one about the chastity of Srimati Radharani. After some time, as fate would have it, she did not marry Krishna because we cannot escape our fate. She married Abhimanyu, and her mother-in-law Jatila and her sister-in-law Kutila always had doubts about her, thinking she had some relationship with Krishna. They always tried to put obstacles in the way of Srimati Radharani.

One day, Krishna was bitten by the snake of separation from Srimati Radharani, and bitten by the snake of separation, He fell unconscious and looked like He was about to die from a snake bite. Nanda Maharaja and Mother Yasoda were completely terrified, and they tried many persons, but nobody could help. Finally, they consulted Paurnamasi. Paurnamasi is the expansion of yoga-māyā in Vrindavan, and she is like the elder brahman lady of Vrindavan and is accepted as the śikṣā-guru of Vrindavan. Whatever she says is law for all vrajavāsīs. They went to Paurnamasi and told her that Krishna had been bitten by a snake and was lying unconscious, about to die unless somebody did something.

Paurnamasi came and gave her opinion that some chaste lady should take a bucket with one hundred holes in it, fill it with Yamuna water, and by the power of her chastity, bring the water to Nandagram where Krishna was. By sprinkling the water on Krishna, he would be cured from the snake bite. So who is chaste in Vraja? Well, Jatila and Kutila are considered to be very chaste, and they also consider themselves to be very chaste. Both being in the same family, they feel it is due to their family heritage that they are so chaste. Kutila came forward and said, “Yes, I will do it.” They gave her the pot with one hundred holes, and everybody went to the Yamuna. She put the pot in the water and lifted it up, and no sooner did it come above the surface of the water, all the water in the pot came out. Then everyone started to laugh and jeer at her, and in humiliation, she left. In the meantime, Jatila was watching the whole affair, and she became a little nervous because she thought that she was very chaste and her daughter was also. She thought, “Let me test myself.” So she got a pot with fifty holes, submerged it in the Yamuna, and lifted it up, and all the water came out. Then she thought, “I should not be found here,” and she ran away and hid herself.

Meanwhile, all the vrajavāsīs were looking for Jatila, “Where is Jatila? Where is Jatila?” but they couldn’t find them anywhere. These were the two chaste ladies, supposed to be the two chaste ladies, and one had failed, and the other disappeared. Now everyone was really in anxiety about what to do because Krishna looked like He might die at any moment. They went back to Paurnamasi and told her that Kutila had failed and Jatila was nowhere to be found. Paurnamasi said, “Look, let’s not waste any more time. Let’s just go to Srimati Radharani and ask her.” So they all went to Srimati Radharani and told her of the situation. She immediately said, “No, I will not go. People are always doubting me, always calling me like a woman of ill repute and thinking that I have bad character, especially Jatila and Kutila. I am not going.” They all begged her, saying there was no one else who could save Krishna. Finally, she said, “All right, if Jatila and Kutila insist, then only I will go; otherwise, I will not go.” So they looked everywhere and found Kutila, and even Jatila came out of hiding. They found her and told her, “You must go to Srimati Radharani and insist that she takes the water to Krishna.”

Now, Jatila and Kutila do not like Krishna, but yoga-māyā expanded her mystic potency and told them, “If you don’t do this, Krishna will die. If Krishna dies, Nanda Maharaja and Mother Yasoda will also die, and then I will also die.” They became very frightened and immediately ran to Srimati Radharani and told her, “You must go to Krishna.” She said, “No, I am not going. You are always doubting me, suspecting me, and ridiculing me. I am not going.” They asked her very nicely to please go, but still, she refused. Then they begged her, “Please, please, please go.” She said, “No.” Finally, they fell down at Srimati Radharani’s lotus feet, crying, and begged her to forgive them for their offenses to her and to please save Krishna’s life. Then she agreed. She went to the Yamuna, put the pot with one hundred holes in the water, and lifted it up, and not a single drop came out. She put it on her head and very gracefully and beautifully carried it to the house of Nanda and Yasoda. Then Gargācārya and Nanda Maharaja took the water and sprinkled it all over the body of Krishna, and He came back to life, being saved by the chastity, the power of the chaste of Srimati Radharani.

Srimati Radharani ki jaya!

Nitai-Gaura premānande Hari Haribol!