SB 8.5.46 – The Lord Descends to Protect the Devotees

Giriraj Swami: Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Eight, Chapter Five, “The Demigods Appeal to the Lord for Protection,” 

TEXT 46

tais taiḥ svecchā-bhūtai rūpaiḥ
kāle kāle svayaṁ vibho
karma durviṣahaṁ yan no
bhagavāṁs tat karoti hi

TRANSLATION

O Lord, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, by Your sweet will You appear in various incarnations, millennium after millennium, and act wonderfully, performing uncommon activities that would be impossible for us.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

The Lord says in Bhagavad-gītā (4.7):

yadā yadā hi dharmasya
glānir bhavati bhārata
abhyutthānam adharmasya
tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham

“Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion — at that time I descend Myself.” Thus it is not an imagination but a fact that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, by His sweet will, appears in different incarnations, such as Matsya, Kūrma, Varāha, Nṛsiṁha, Vāmana, Paraśurāma, Rāmacandra, Balarāma, Buddha, and many other forms. Devotees are always eager to see one of the Lord’s innumerable forms. It is said that just as no one can count how many waves there are in the sea, no one can count the forms of the Lord. This does not mean, however, that anyone can claim to be a form of the Lord and be acceptable as an incarnation. The incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead must be accepted in terms of the descriptions found in the śāstras. Lord Brahmā is eager to see the incarnation of the Lord, or the original source of all incarnations; he is not eager to see an imposter. The incarnation’s activities are proof of His identity. All the incarnations described in the śāstras act wonderfully (keśava dhṛta-mīna-śarīra jaya jagadīśa hare). It is only by the personal sweet will of the Supreme Personality of Godhead that He appears and disappears, and only fortunate devotees can expect to see Him face to face.

COMMENT

So here, the demigods led by Lord Brahma pray to the Lord that they wish to see Him, and they glorify the Lord that He appears by His own sweet will. Svecchā-bhūtai means by His own sweet will. We conditioned souls are forced to take birth in the material world, and we are also forced to suffer not only birth but disease, old age, and death. And we have no choice. Here, the Lord appears whenever and wherever He likes, but we have no choice that “I will take birth in America, I will take birth in India.” We want to be in India, we are foreigners, we want to be in India, but we have these visa problems, and you are Indians, you may want to live in America, but you also need a visa. So we are not free to move according to our own sweet will; we are under the control of higher authorities. But Krishna is free to appear wherever and whenever He like by His sweet will because there is no superior authority to Krishna. Krishna is the supreme authority. No one is equal to Him or greater than Him, therefore He can appear wherever and whenever He likes, yadā yadā. But why should He appear at all?

As explained in the verse from Bhagavad-gītā quoted in the purport, yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata, whenever and wherever there is a decline in the performance of religious duties and a predominant increase in irreligion, the Lord descends. What is dharma? Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam; dharma is the order of the Lord or the law of God. Just as in the state there are laws created by the government, similarly within the creation there are laws of God that are enacted by the Lord. And just as in the state, if we disobey the laws of the state, we are guilty of committing a crime and are punishable. So anywhere within the creation, if we violate the laws of God, we are committing sin and are punishable. There are many policemen, but they don’t come; they are living in their police station or home. But if there is a crime, immediately they come. So similarly, the Lord is also residing in His abode, but if there are discrepancies in the performance of religious duties, or in other words, if there are violations of the laws of God, He descends either personally or He sends His representative, His son, His servant, or He comes in some disguised form, but He comes; somehow or other, He comes.

Now, how do we know what the laws of God are? In the state, if we want to know the laws, there are books. So how do we know the laws of God? The laws of God are recorded in the Vedas. In fact, the Vedas are the laws of God, and the Vedas emanate from the Lord Himself. Tene brahma hṛdā ādi-kavaye. The Lord himself first imparted the Vedic knowledge in the heart of Brahma. So the Vedas are the laws of God, and to transgress the injunctions of the Vedas means to violate the laws of God. And when there is too much transgression of the laws of God or Vedic injunctions, the Lord appears or He sends His representatives.

There is one very interesting historical account in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam about one man named Ajamila. Ajamila was born in a pious brahman family, and he was educated as a good brahman. But somehow or other, when he was a young man, he saw a low class person embracing a prostitute in the open, and he became agitated. But because of previous good education, he tried to control his mind and his senses. But because he was not so mature in Krishna consciousness, although he tried to control his mind and senses, he failed. And in the end, he made contact with the very same prostitute that he had seen from the streets, and he became so attached to her that he gave up his brahminical principles. He gave up his good family, he gave up everything to pursue his relationship with her. So he became fallen because of lust. He became fallen. Ultimately he married the prostitute, and throughout his life, he engaged in so many abominable activities for the sake of his wife and for the sake of sense gratification.

Eventually, he became very old, more than eighty years, about eighty-seven years, and the time of death came. So he was lying on his deathbed, and he had a small son named Narayana. And at the time of death, because he had been so sinful, the agents of Yamaraja, who is the God of death who punishes the sinful, appeared in the room to take him away, to drag the soul and the subtle body out of the gross body to be punished. So when Ajamila saw the Yamadutas, he became terrified, and he began to scream at the top of his voice, “Narayana!” He was so attached to his little son because he began to call for his little son, “Narayana, thinking that his son could help him. It is also interesting to note that although he was well into his eighties, he had a small child. That means up to the age of eighty, he was still so lusty and attached to sex life that he was having children. So anyway, he called Narayana, he called the holy name of Narayana, and although he was intending his small son, still he chanted the holy name of God. And therefore, the Lord’s representatives, the Vishnudutas, immediately appeared, yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata, and they intervened. They stopped the Yamadutas from dragging the soul of Ajamila to be punished in the hellish region. They said, “Stop, you cannot take him.”

So the Yamadutas were very surprised because they were sent by their master Yamaraja, and no one can escape the order of Yamaraja. Nobody wants to die, but when Yamaraja sends his representatives to take you, you have no choice. You cannot say, “Wait a minute, you don’t know who I am. I am the prime minister, I am the chief of police, you can’t touch me.” No, you can’t say, “Wait a minute, wait a minute, I have crores of rupees, I will give you as much as you want, leave me alone.” No, it doesn’t matter who we are. When the order comes from Yamaraja and the Yamadutas come to take us away, no one can stop them. But here, the Yamadutas were stopped for the first time, and they were surprised. “Who are these people? They have the power to stop us?” They were very surprised. Anyway, there was some discussion between them. The Vishnudutas said, “Why are you taking this poor man? He is innocent.” And they said, “No, he is not innocent. He is sinful and he deserves to be punished.” So Vishnudutas asked, “What is your definition of sin?” They said that anyone who violates the orders of God is sinful. Anyone who violates the Vedic injunctions is sinful, but still,” the Vishnudutas explained, “still at the last moment he chanted the holy names of God, and because he chanted the holy names of God, he was purified from all sinful reactions.” The holy names of the Lord are so powerful that no matter how many sins the person has committed throughout his whole life, if you chant the holy name at the time of death without offense, he is freed from all sinful reactions.

So, the case is very interesting because the Yamadutas thought that they were coming to uphold the mission of the Lord, which is to punish the sinful. Actually, because they did not appreciate the significance of chanting the holy names of the Lord, they themselves were involved in adharma because they were punishing a person who is not punishable. Therefore, yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata, Lord sent his representative Vishnudutas because there was adharma. So they intervened and they gave protection to Ajamila. The Yamadutas were very surprised. No one had ever stopped them before. They returned to Yamaraja and inquired, “What happened? We thought you were the supreme. No one has ever defied your servants in the past. What happened?” Then Yamaraja explained that actually he is not the supreme. Lord Vishnu or Krishna is the Supreme, and because Ajamila chanted the holy name of Lord Narayana at the time of death, he was saved. The representatives of Lord Narayana came, and no one can check the representatives of Lord Narayana.

Srila Prabhupada explains that the Vishnudutas are present everywhere, all over the universe, and whenever a devotee is in trouble, the Vishnudutas can immediately appear on the spot and give them protection. So devotees never have anything to fear because whenever there is any adharma specifically offences committed against devotees, the Vishnudutas appear. Lord Krishna also says,

paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ
vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām
dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya
sambhavāmi yuge yuge

In order to protect the devotees, somehow Ajamila come in category of devotee because he chanted the holy name at the final moment. And Viswanatha Cakravarti Thakura explains, as quoted by Srila Prabhupada, Ajamila had been a devotee earlier, but because he was immature in devotional service, he became overwhelmed by lusty desires and had fallen down. But actually, he had been a devotee, and although he meant to call his son, when he chanted the holy name of Lord Narayana, he remembered the Krishna consciousness of his earlier life and thus he actually did remember the Lord at that moment. So, paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ, the Lord descends to protect the devotees. Ajamila was considered a devotee, so the Lord sent His representative on His behalf to protect the devotees. Therefore, Yamaraja instructed the Yamadutas, “Do not approach the devotees or the Vaishnavas at any time because they are under the direct protection of Lord Vishnu. Do not come to them even in dreams.” So if we want to be protected from the agents of Yamaraja and the punishment of hellish sufferings, we have to become devotees of Lord Vishnu or Lord Krishna and chant the holy names.

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare

So, here, the demigods pray to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, kāle kāle, millennium after millennium, and Lord Krishna says the same thing in Bhagavad-gītā, yuge yuge, that He appears millennium after millennium. Sometimes people raise the question that now in Kali-yuga, there is so much adharma everywhere, so why doesn’t the Lord appear now? The answer is given in the scriptures that, kali-kāle nāma-rūpe kṛṣṇa-avatāra. In the age of Kali, the Lord appears in the form of His holy name. So when we chant the holy name of Krishna, Krishna is actually present. We can invoke the presence of the Lord whenever we want by offenseless chanting, and the Lord will appear. To those whose minds and senses are purified by chanting and by serving, they realize that the holy name of Krishna and Krishna are identical. There is absolutely no difference between the holy name and the Lord Himself. In addition to the Lord’s incarnation as the holy name, the Lord does appear in Kali-yuga in the form of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. As stated by Srila Prabhupada, we have to recognize an incarnation with reference to the scriptures. The scriptures actually predict the appearance and activities of the Lord as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ
sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam
yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair
yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ

That Krishna Himself appeared in the age of Kali as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ means that he is in the same category as Krishna, or in other words, he is Krishna. kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ also means that he is always engaged in glorification of Krishna, kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ, but his color or his complexion is akṛṣṇaṁ, not black like Krishna’s in Dvapara-yuga, but it is yellowish or golden. Sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam. He comes with his associates, with his servant, śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda. So, he doesn’t come alone, and with his associates, he propagates the saṅkīrtana movement of chanting the holy names of Krishna. Yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ. Those who are intelligent will worship the incarnation of the Lord in Kali-yuga by the performance of saṅkīrtana-yajña. By the performance of saṅkīrtana-yajña, we invoke again the presence of the Lord in the form of transcendental sounds. We can have the association of the Lord whenever and wherever we like. It is according to our will that we can chant the holy names of Krishna and experience Lord Krishna’s presence. It depends on us. If we want the benefit of the Lord’s association, if we want to follow dharma, then we should chant the holy name.

There is another verse in Bhagavad-gītā which also gives us an important instruction because at the end of Bhagavad-gītā, Lord Krishna says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja. That abandon all varieties of religion and take exclusive shelter of me. The conclusion is that the purpose of the Vedic injunctions is to bring the conditioned souls ultimately to the point of complete surrender to Lord Krishna, and that is dharma. If someone actually surrenders to Krishna, he has fulfilled all religious truths. He doesn’t have to do anything else. If he has some fear that, “Oh, if I surrender to Krishna, I won’t be able to serve my nation, I won’t be able to serve my community, I won’t be able to serve my family,” but Krishna says, “And therefore, I will be guilty of sin because I am not doing dharma. I am doing adharma. I am guilty of sin and I am punishable.” But Krishna says, ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ, “Do not worry because you have surrendered unto Me. I will protect you from all sinful reactions. I will protect you, so don’t worry. Don’t hesitate. Don’t fear that by surrendering to Krishna, I will be lacking in some way, I lacking in some performance of religious duties, and therefore I will be sinful and punishable.” But Krishna says, “No, don’t worry. mā śucaḥ. Don’t worry. I will protect you.” Of course, for one who is engaged in the service of the Lord and the propagation of Krishna consciousness, there is no better service that one can render to one’s family, community, nation, or all of humanity. Spreading Krishna consciousness is the best service to everyone. From every point of view, we should surrender to Krishna, and He and His representatives will protect us.

Hare Krishna. Devakinandan Prabhu?

Devakinandan Prabhu: [Unintelligible 00:32:20]

Giriraj Swami: When Ajamila was chanting holy name of Narayana, he wasn’t thinking of the Supreme Lord Narayana; he was thinking of his little son. But still, by chanting the holy name of Narayana, he remembered Narayana. There are different stages of chanting. One stage is offensive chanting nāma-aparādha, another stage is offenseless chanting, which is nāma-ābhāsa, and the perfect state is śuddha-nāma, pure chanting. If one commits sins with the idea that he will chant the holy names of God in order to neutralize the effect of the sin, that is an offense, and he doesn’t get the result of the sins being neutralized but becomes more implicated. That is nāma-aparādha; to commit sin on the strength of chanting. Because I am a devotee of Krishna and chants Lord Krishna’s holy name, so I can commit the sin. It doesn’t matter, Krishna will protect me. I chant Hare Krishna and Krishna will protect me. That is a very offensive mentality, and when one commits such an offense, nothing can protect him from the reaction, even the holy name, which is so merciful, even the holy name will not protect him. So that is offensive chanting. But Ajamila did not chant the holy name with the offensive mentality that, “I have committed sins for the last sixty or seventy years. Now I will chant the holy name and become free from the sinful reaction.” No, he chanted the holy name in complete helplessness. In complete helplessness and complete anxiety, he just chanted “Narayana.” So, that comes in the intermediate stage, nāma-ābhāsa.

And there are different gradations of nāma-ābhāsa also. In his case, he remembers the Lord, but even if one doesn’t remember the Lord, he can still chant in nāma-ābhāsa. The result of chanting in nāma-ābhāsa is that one is freed from sinful reaction, which ultimately means he is freed from hellish punishment. But by chanting in nāma-ābhāsa, one is not eligible to enter the kingdom of God. In order to enter the kingdom of God, one has to have pure love of God, which means that he will be chanting purely, śuddha-nāma. So although Ajamila chanted the holy name, because he chanted nāma-ābhāsa and was freed of sinful reactions and hellish punishments, he was not yet qualified immediately to enter the kingdom of God. So he was allowed to remain in the body for some time more. Another effect of chanting in nāma-ābhāsa is one becomes liberated from material desires. Both took place in the case of Ajamila. He was freed from sinful reaction, he didn’t have to suffer in hell, and he was liberated from material desires. So his dear wife, that he was so attached to, for whose sake he engaged in so many abominable activities, and his dear son that he was so attached to, he left them without any hesitation. He left them, and that is the power and the glory of nāma-ābhāsa. One becomes liberated from material attachments and free from sinful reactions. Then he went to Haridwar and he continued bhakti-yoga. By the association of the devotees of the Vishnudutas, he developed faith in the process of devotional service. So he went to Haridwar and continued in the practice of devotional service. When he actually reached the stage that he could chant purely with love for God, then the Vishnudutas came again and took him back home, back to Godhead. There are different stages in chanting that bring different results.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:37:55]

Giriraj Swami: Oh yes, this is a good point. He says that Ajamila chanted the holy name unknowingly, and by chanting the holy name unknowingly, he was cleared of sin. When he was cleared of sin, he could remember the Lord.

Yes, because yeṣāṁ anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ, when one is cleared of sin, he can engage in devotional service and smaraṇam, the remembrance of the Lord is also service. So it is true, by chanting unknowingly, he became cleared of sin, and being cleared of sin, he was able to remember the Lord. Very good.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:38:45]

Giriraj Swami: He says, what is the difference between the deity and the holy name?

Both are the Lord, there is no difference. The only difference is that, at least the form of the deity in the temple, we have to come to the temple to see or to experience, whereas the holy name, we can experience the presence of the Lord by chanting the holy name anywhere, everywhere. Suppose someone doesn’t want to see the deity, he just wants to chant. Well, to chant continuously is perfection, but people cannot chant continuously until they are liberated. If they are not liberated, they will become restless and they will want some other activities. So the deity worship is there to engage the senses of the conditioned souls because they are not able to chant continuously. But if you are liberated like Haridasa Thakura was, you can chant the holy name constantly, you don’t need to worship the deity.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:40:10]

Giriraj Swami: He says that Ajamila chanted the holy name accidentally. Could we say that he chanted inattentively?

No, he was not thinking of anything else. In complete helplessness, he was chanting the holy name. A very good question.

Question note: He says that the Lord’s incarnations are scheduled, so how can we say that the Lord descends at His sweet will?

Giriraj Swami: He descends according to the schedule. But yadā yadā means that he can descend whenever and wherever he likes. He may come on schedule, but apart from the scheduled appearance, He may also appear. Yes, we are on the point of the schedule. What I was going to say is this. We are just on the point of how we can say that the Lord appears at His own sweet will when He comes on schedule. For example, Srila Prabhupada used to come to India around September and stay until March, and then he would be in the west from April until August. But if he wanted to come back to India between April and August, he could because he was free. And if he said that he was coming in September, but in the end, he decided not to come in September, he could also change the schedule because he was free. But generally, so as not to disturb the program, he would stick to the schedule as far as possible, but sometimes he might not. No, because the shastra says that the Lord is independent, so if He doesn’t come according to the schedule, He proves that He is independent.

Okay, now a new subject. So once in Indore, one disciple was chanting on his beads when Prabhupada was giving Bhāgavatam class, and Srila Prabhupada stopped the class and asked the disciple whether he was able to hear the class and the name both at the same time. He said, if you are not able to listen to both at the same time, then you shouldn’t do both at the same time. I have understood that yogis are actually able to listen to more than one thing at the same time and think of more than one thing at the same time. But if we are not able to do that, then we should just concentrate on one or the other.

Question note: Is it offensive to chant inattentively or hear inattentively? I would say so. He says that Ajamila chanted the holy name of Narayana with his son in mind, so how did he get remembering the Lord?

Giriraj Swami: Well, the answer is that by chanting the holy name, he got purified of sin. When he was purified of sins, he was able to remember the Lord as he had done in his youth.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:44:20]

Giriraj Swami: Very good, very good. He says that his son’s name was Narayana, so many times throughout his life he must have been chanting Narayana, “Narayana come here.” It was confirmed in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that he was always chanting the name of Narayana for his son, and it was all building up his pious credit.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:44:55]

Giriraj Swami: Oh, he is saying that Yamaraja determines the time of death for sinful people, so how does he determine the time?

According to our karma, we are destined to live a certain amount of time in a particular body, and the duration of life in the particular body is calculated in terms of the number of breaths. So when the number of breaths that is allotted to you in a particular body is over, you have to leave the body. Therefore, yogis who practice pranayama and slow the process of breathing, they can live in the body for hundreds of years because they are not using up their allotted number of breaths.

Question note: He says that in sanātana-dharma, the children are given names of the Lord like Krishna and Govinda, so naturally we are calling the name of Krishna and Govinda. So what is the need of making a regular practice of chanting?

Well, that is a very good idea. I would much better rather go to the movies than chant Hare Krishna.