SB 9.10.14–16 – Rama-vijaya-mahotsava

Giriraj Swami: We have gathered here by the mercy of Sila Prabhupada, who brought Krishna consciousness to the western world and spread Krishna consciousness throughout the entire world. Srila Prabhupada has given us many gifts, and one of the most important of all gifts Srila Prabhupada gave us was the association of devotees.

When Srila Prabhupada first began the movement, there were a few devotees in the cities when devotees went to open centers, but now we see, by Srila Prabhupada’s grace, there are devotees all over the country and all over the world, even where there are no major centers or official temples. But the same process is continuing. Srila Prabhupada said that we don’t expect that everyone will live in the temple. Actually, very few people will be able to live in the temple. But why do we have temples? Srila Prabhupada said we established temples to show the example for householders, for people in general, how to be Krishna conscious at home. Practically, whatever we do in the temple, we can do the same things at home because the activities are very easy.

Srila Rupa Gosvami has enumerated sixty-four items of devotional service in The Nectar of Devotion, and of the sixty-four, he has named five that are the most potent, and one is sādhu-saṅga, associating with devotees. Another is chanting the holy names, just as we did tonight. Another is hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which we will do just now. Another is worshiping the Deity with faith and veneration, which we have done. And the fifth is to reside in a holy place. But residing in a holy place also includes residing in a place where the Deity has been installed, where the Deity is worshiped, and where devotees gather to chant the holy names and hear the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So, all of the most potent forms of devotional service can be practiced anywhere by anyone at home. And I am sure that Srila Prabhupada and the Deities here are very pleased with the devotees who are continuing the practices of devotional service for their pleasure.

Today is an especially auspicious day. It is the occasion of Rama-vijaya-mahotsav. Just as all incarnations are included in Krishna, similarly, all scriptures are included in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And the Ninth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam contains a summary of the pastimes of Lord Ramachandra, or the Rāmāyaṇa. Of course, we also have the Rāmāyaṇa published by Torchlight, but it would have taken too long to read those sections from Rāmāyaṇa, so we’ll just read the summary from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

But Lord Rama is one of the incarnations of Lord Krishna. The Vedic literatures explain there are many expansions of Godhead, but the original Personality of Godhead is Krishna, and He expands Himself into many portions, plenary portions, and portions of plenary portions. But Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam explains kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam, that the original Supreme Personality of Godhead is Krishna. So, one of the most important expansions of Krishna is Lord Ramachandra, who appeared some millions of years ago in Treta-yuga. But He is still loved and adored and worshiped by millions of devotees all over the world.

Lord Ramachandra played the part of the ideal king, and as the ideal king, He voluntarily accepted certain restrictions. Lord Krishna played the part of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and as Supreme Personality of Godhead, He didn’t have to follow any restrictions. He simply enjoyed His loving pastimes with His pure devotees. And because Lord Rama was playing the part of the ideal king, He voluntarily accepted some restrictions to set an example for human beings. And we find the Rāmāyaṇa is full of all sorts of the ideal examples. Of course, Rama was the ideal king, the ideal son, the ideal brother, the ideal husband. Dasaratha was the ideal king and father. Sita was the ideal wife. Lakshman also was the ideal brother. Bharata also was the ideal brother. So, the Rāmāyaṇa shows us all sorts of ideals.

How many of you have come to many Hare Krishna programs? I know a lot of you. Still, we will give a more basic introduction than the others. So, the history that led to the event that is celebrated today is Lord Ramachandra was sent into exile, and Sita, as the ideal wife, wanted to follow her husband, although she herself was a princess by birth and was used to living a very opulent and comfortable life. Still, as a devoted wife, she chose to follow her husband into the forest. And Lakshman was Lord Rama’s younger brother. He also wanted to follow the Lord into the forest in order to serve Him.

So, while they were in the forest, a great demon named Ravana kidnapped Sitadevi and took her to his kingdom in Lanka. So eventually, Lord Rama traced Sita with the help of an army of monkeys and bears. Not exactly the types of monkeys and bears we find today, but they were devotees, and they were a little bit more evolved than monkeys and bears that we are familiar with. And they crossed the ocean to Lanka and waged war against Ravana, who was very materially powerful and had a very well-equipped army. So, we will just read a few verses that lead to the event that we are celebrating today, which was the victory of Lord Rama over Ravana.

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Nine, Chapter Ten, The pastimes of Lord Ramachandra.

TEXT 13

yad-roṣa-vibhrama-vivṛtta-kaṭākṣa-pāta-
sambhrānta-nakra-makaro bhaya-gīrṇa-ghoṣaḥ
sindhuḥ śirasy arhaṇaṁ parigṛhya rūpī
pādāravindam upagamya babhāṣa etat

TRANSLATION

After reaching the beach, Lord Rāmacandra fasted for three days, awaiting the arrival of the ocean personified. When the ocean did not come, the Lord exhibited His pastimes of anger, and simply by His glancing over the ocean, all the living entities within it, including the crocodiles and sharks, were agitated by fear. Then the personified ocean fearfully approached Lord Rāmacandra, taking all paraphernalia to worship Him. Falling at the Lord’s lotus feet, the personified ocean spoke as follows.

TEXT 14

O all-pervading Supreme Person, we are dull-minded and did not understand who You are, but now we understand that You are the Supreme Person, the master of the entire universe, the unchanging and original Personality of Godhead. The demigods are infatuated with the mode of goodness, the Prajāpatis with the mode of passion, and the lord of ghosts with the mode of ignorance, but You are the master of all these qualities.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

The word jaḍa-dhiyaḥ refers to intelligence like that of an animal. A person with such intelligence cannot understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Without being beaten, an animal cannot understand the purpose of a man. Similarly, those who are dull-minded cannot understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but when punished severely by the modes of material nature, they begin to understand Him. A Hindi poet has said:

duḥkha se saba hari bhaje
sukha se bhaje koī
sukha se agar hari bhaje
duḥkha kāthāṅ se haya

When one is distressed he goes to the church or temple to worship the Lord, but when opulent he forgets the Lord. Therefore, punishment by the Lord through material nature is necessary in human society, for without it men forget the supremacy of the Lord due to their dull, blunt intelligence.

COMMENT

So recently, the world was shocked by the attack on New York City in Washington DC. Since the attack, people are questioning why God allowed such a thing to happen. But here, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam gives an idea that when people are too opulent, they forget the Lord and they become absorbed in the enjoyment of material things. But such enjoyment is illusory. It is not the real standard of true happiness. And the Lord knows that the living entities cannot really be happy unless they surrender unto Him and engage in His service.

The Lord is compassionate towards the living entities, and sometimes He arranges for the material nature to punish the living entities to wake them out of their dream of material enjoyment, so that ultimately, they come back to Him. And we saw, just as the verse said, that when people are distressed, they go to church or temple. But when they are opulent, they forget the Lord. So, I think just within a few days of the attack, the President of the United States himself advised people to go to their temples, to their churches, and to pray.

So, such punishment by the material nature is necessary because people tend to forget the Lord and become absorbed in illusory enjoyment, which is not real enjoyment. And even as someone said, “Even if it is not the highest standard of happiness, I am satisfied with it.” But even if you want to make a compromise and accept temporary happiness, you can’t. The material nature will not allow you. The body itself will not allow you to continue to enjoy it.

So, people are thinking that God is good, although they are probably thinking that God should protect them so that they can continue with their sense gratification. But still, they are thinking of God is good. Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura has given us a very nice example, that a child is sleeping and the house is on fire. So, the parents will wake up the child to bring the child out of the burning house to safety. So, the child doesn’t really want to wake up, but the parents may have to sort of pinch the child. The word that Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura uses, the parent may have to pinch the child so that he wakes up.

So, sometimes the Lord also, like a loving parent, will pinch us so that we wake up from our slumber. We are actually in a very dangerous position in the material world. So, the Lord wants to wake us up from our slumber so that we can get out of the burning house, the whole material world is like a burning house, and come to the safety of Lord’s lotus feet.

TEXT 15

My Lord, You may use my water as You like. Indeed, You may cross it and go to the abode of Rāvaṇa, who is the great source of disturbance and crying for the three worlds. He is the son of Viśravā, but is condemned like urine. Please go kill him and thus regain Your wife, Sītādevī. O great hero, although my water presents no impediment to Your going to Laṅkā, please construct a bridge over it to spread Your transcendental fame. Upon seeing this wonderfully uncommon deed of Your Lordship, all the great heroes and kings in the future will glorify You.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

It is said that a son and urine emanate from the same source — the genitals. When a son is a devotee or a great learned person, the seminal discharge for begetting a son is successful, but if the son is unqualified and brings no glory to his family, he is no better than urine. Here Rāvaṇa is compared to urine because he was a cause of disturbances to the three worlds. Thus the ocean personified wanted him killed by Lord Rāmacandra.

COMMENT

So, when Srila Prabhupada began to preach in the West, naturally, he met many Christians who put forward their ideas of religion, and who sometimes challenged Srila Prabhupada’s statements. So, one statement that Christians often put forward was the idea that Jesus is the only son of God. Srila Prabhupada replied in a similar vein by saying, “There are two words: muta and puta.” Muta means son, and puta means urine. So, Srila Prabhupada said that at the time, Jesus Christ may have been the only good son of God, and therefore he is puta, he is a son. And the others who are not good sons of God could be called muta, not puta.

But Srila Prabhupada, in general, would make two points to the Christians. One, that the Bible says, “Thou shall not kill.” So why are you killing? “Thou shall not kill” means thou shall not kill the animals also, so you should not kill the animals and eat flesh. And the other point Srila Prabhupada would make is that an ordinary man can have several sons, so how can we say that God, who is unlimited, can have only one son? God can have unlimited sons. But still, Srila Prabhupada did accept the idea that Jesus was the only son in the sense that he was the good son, maybe the only good in that particular context.

TEXT 16

Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: After constructing a bridge over the ocean by throwing into the water the peaks of mountains whose trees and other vegetation had been shaken by the hands of great monkeys, Lord Rāmacandra went to Laṅkā to release Sītādevī from the clutches of Rāvaṇa. With the direction and help of Vibhīṣaṇa, Rāvaṇa’s brother, the Lord, along with the monkey soldiers, headed by Sugrīva, Nīla and Hanumān, entered Rāvaṇa’s kingdom, Laṅkā, which had previously been burnt by Hanumān. 

TEXT 17

After entering Laṅkā, the monkey soldiers, led by chiefs like Sugrīva, Nīla and Hanumān, occupied all the sporting houses, granaries, treasuries, palace doorways, city gates, assembly houses, palace frontages and even the resting houses of the pigeons. When the city’s crossroads, platforms, flags and golden waterpots on its domes were all destroyed, the entire city of Laṅkā appeared like a river disturbed by a herd of elephants.

TEXT 18

When Rāvaṇa, the master of the Rākṣasas, saw the disturbances created by the monkey soldiers, he called for Nikumbha, Kumbha, Dhūmrākṣa, Durmukha, Surāntaka, Narāntaka and other Rākṣasas and also his son Indrajit. Thereafter he called for Prahasta, Atikāya, Vikampana and finally Kumbhakarṇa. Then he induced all his followers to fight against the enemies.

TEXT 19

Lord Rāmacandra, surrounded by Lakṣmaṇa and monkey soldiers like Sugrīva, Hanumān, Gandhamāda, Nīla, Aṅgada, Jāmbavān and Panasa, attacked the soldiers of the Rākṣasas, who were fully equipped with various invincible weapons like swords, lances, bows, prāsas, ṛṣṭis, śakti arrows, khaḍgas and tomaras. 

TEXT 20

Aṅgada and the other commanders of the soldiers of Rāmacandra faced the elephants, infantry, horses and chariots of the enemy and hurled against them big trees, mountain peaks, clubs and arrows. Thus the soldiers of Lord Rāmacandra killed Rāvaṇa’s soldiers, who had lost all good fortune because Rāvaṇa had been condemned by the anger of mother Sītā.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

The soldiers Lord Rāmacandra recruited in the jungle were all monkeys and did not have proper equipment with which to fight the soldiers of Rāvaṇa, for Rāvaṇa’s soldiers were equipped with weapons of modern warfare whereas the monkeys could only throw stones, mountain peaks and trees. It was only Lord Rāmacandra and Lakṣmaṇa who shot some arrows. But because the soldiers of Rāvaṇa were condemned by the curse of mother Sītā, the monkeys were able to kill them simply by throwing stones and trees. There are two kinds of strength — daiva and puruṣākāra. Daiva refers to the strength achieved from the Transcendence, and puruṣākāra refers to the strength organized by one’s own intelligence and power. Transcendental power is always superior to the power of the materialist. Depending on the mercy of the Supreme Lord, one must fight one’s enemies even though one may not be equipped with modern weapons. Therefore Kṛṣṇa instructed Arjuna, mām anusmara yudhya ca: “Think of Me and fight.” We should fight our enemy to the best of our ability, but for victory we must depend on the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

COMMENT

Srila Prabhupada, in his efforts to spread Krishna consciousness, also met opposition from enemies. Although Srila Prabhupada himself was the friend of everyone, some people, by their own natures, become enemies without any real cause. So, when Srila Prabhupada entered into the agreement to buy the land in Juhu, Bombay, the owner and various friends and politicians related to the owner formed a clique. They tried to drive the Deities of Radha and Krishna and the devotees from the land. The owner of the land had been the sheriff of Bombay, and he owned one of three large daily newspapers in Bombay. He was also a very wealthy person. So materially, he and his friends were much more powerful than Srila Prabhupada and his few devotees.

One evening, Srila Prabhupada was sitting on the terrace of one of the buildings at Juhu, at probably about seven o’clock in the evening, and he noticed there was no sound of kirtan in the temple. I mean, we had ārati here at seven o’clock with kirtan, but one night, Srila Prabhupada detected there was no kirtan in the temple at the time of the ārati. So, he said to the devotee who was with him on the terrace fanning him, “Where are all the devotees?” And the devotee fanning Srila Prabhupada, whose name was Haridasa Prabhu, replied, “The devotees are probably out collecting.” But Srila Prabhupada said, “That was not my idea that the devotees should be out all day and night collecting.”

And then he asked Haridasa, “Why do you think we were successful in getting the Hare Krishna Land? Mr. Nair and his friends were much more powerful than we were. They had money, we had no money. They had influence, we had no influence. They knew how to engage in political intrigues, and you all had no such knowledge. But still, in the end, we were successful, and he was not. So, why were we successful?” Then Srila Prabhupada himself gave the answer, “Because we worked to please the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He gave us His mercy. Therefore, we were successful.” And then Srila Prabhupada said, “So, we should come back from the city and gather at the temple and chant for the pleasure of the Deities, because the pleasure of the Deities will make us successful, not our own independent efforts.”

And here we see the same instructions from Srila Prabhupada in relation to the Rāmāyaṇa, that the army of monkeys was very weak materially compared to the army of Ravana, but still, the army of Lord Ramachandra was successful because of the mercy of the Lord. They were given power by the mercy of the Lord, and the power they got by divine mercy was superior to the material power that Ravana and his followers had.

Once, Srila Prabhupada compared himself to Lord Rama and us to the monkeys. He said that just as Lord Rama crossed the ocean to get back Sita, similarly, he, Srila Prabhupada, had crossed the ocean to come to America. Sita is in the same category as Lakshmi, and Lakshmi is equated to wealth. So, wealth is actually meant to be. . . Well, everything is meant to be engaged in the service of the Lord.

So, just as Sita was meant to be engaged in the service of Rama, so in a general sense, Lakshmi is meant to be engaged in the service of Narayana, or in other words, all wealth and opulence is meant to be engaged in the service of the Lord. So, Srila Prabhupada said that just as Ravana kidnapped Sita, similarly, the western countries had sort of captured the world’s material opulence. So, just as Lord Rama crossed the ocean to liberate Sita from Ravana, similarly, Srila Prabhupada crossed the ocean to free the wealth in the hands of the westerners to engage it in the service of the Lord.

And later, Srila Prabhupada gave another example, which was that of the blind man and the lame man. The blind man, he may be very strong physically, but he is blind, so he can’t see where to go, so he can’t really go anywhere. And a lame man, he may have perfect vision, he may be able to see exactly where to go, but because he is lame, he also can’t go anywhere. But if the blind man takes the lame man on his shoulders, then together, they can go forward.

So, Srila Prabhupada compared India to the lame man, because after years of foreign subjugation and exploitation, India was materially weak or lame. And America was like the blind man. Although America was very strong materially, it didn’t have a spiritual vision of where to go. So, Srila Prabhupada said that just as the blind man and the lame man, when they combine together, they can make wonderful progress, similarly, Srila Prabhupada said, if American wealth combines with Indian culture, then it will enable the whole world to make progress.

And actually, it happened that Srila Prabhupada’s disciples were able to secure donations from America and other countries and send it to India to establish projects like Juhu, Vrindavan, and Mayapur. But to complete the analogy, Srila Prabhupada said that we were like the monkeys in the army of Rama. In other words, we were not very qualified from one point of view. I mean, this is my own interpretation. But we did have devotion to Srila Prabhupada, just like the monkeys had devotion to Lord Rama. And just as the monkeys were successful in liberating Sita from Ravana, so Srila Prabhupada, assisted by us, monkeys, was successful.

Of course, sometimes esoteric ideas would circulate in ISKCON. So, one such esoteric idea that came to me was that all of the service we do on earth is meant to bring Radha and Krishna together in the spiritual world. So, one day, I asked Srila Prabhupada in Calcutta, “Someone told me that you said that all of our service on earth is meant to bring Radha and Krishna together in the spiritual world.” So, Srila Prabhupada said, “Someone said I said that?” I said, “Yes.” So then, he paused for a moment, then he said, “Just as Ravana kidnapped Sita, so materialistic people have kidnapped material wealth. And just as Hanuman went to Lanka to bring back Sita to Rama, similarly, you should go and get the wealth from the materialists and bring it back to the service of the Lord.”

Is that alright? Yes?

So, Srila Prabhupada engaged us, and because he carried so much mercy from Krishna, which he bestowed upon us, we were also enabled by Srila Prabhupada to assist him and have the appearance of assisting him, although ultimately, it was really he who did everything. But he engaged us, and by his mercy, there were wonderful results.

Of course, Srila Prabhupada was very concerned about the future of the movement, and sometimes he would appear to wonder what the future of the movement would be, whether it would continue. But when I come here and see how devotees are still following Srila Prabhupada, of course, there are the ISKCON temples, and just the fact that the temples are continuing is wonderful, and that the devotees are preaching and distributing books and inspiring new people to become devotees. But even in a place like. . . Not sure how to pronounce it, Visalia. Even in a place like Visalia, there are devotees who are very sincerely continuing the same program that Srila Prabhupada gave us and serving his mission. And practically the whole block is filled with houses of devotees.

So, I think Srila Prabhupada would feel very gratified that his movement was continuing and that Krishna consciousness has taken such root in America and in other places, that in cities and towns and villages all over America, there are devotees who are practicing Krishna consciousness. I mean, sometimes we think what ISKCON could be or what ISKCON should be, and then we might feel discouraged. But just based on my own experience with Srila Prabhupada, I think he would be very pleased that devotees like you are practicing Krishna consciousness after so many years and so many changes of circumstances, even in Visalia, which, I mean, I am an ignorant person, but I never heard of it until Chandra Prabhu told me about it two years ago or one year ago. So, Prabhupada was pleased by our little efforts, and I am sure he is pleased by our effort here. Such beautiful Deities, nice kirtan, nice association, and I am sure there will be nice prasāda too.

So, Hare Krishna. Anyone else?

There are many senior devotees here, very senior devotees. Would anyone like to add anything or ask anything?

Devotee: Are you based in India?

Giriraj Swami: I was based in India from 1970–1999, but for the last two years now, I am based in California. I am not traveling like I used to, but I would like to write about Srila Prabhupada because it is so important. Well, it is important for us to glorify Srila Prabhupada, and it is important for devotees to understand Srila Prabhupada, and it is important for the world to know Srila Prabhupada. I have seen sometimes devotees will read things in Prabhupada’s books or come across things in his letters or conversations or classes that sound very absolute, and certainly, when Srila Prabhupada wrote and spoke from the vyāsāsana, he spoke as the acharya.

And some people even become disturbed by some of the things that Srila Prabhupada said, but I was never disturbed by anything that Srila Prabhupada said because we took them in the context of Srila Prabhupada. Sometimes people will find a statement that Srila Prabhupada made about a certain category of living entity, but Srila Prabhupada himself saw everyone equally and he encouraged everyone.

I saw once, Srila Prabhupada was. . . Ah, so many wonderful stories, but anyway, Srila Prabhupada was staying at a family’s house, and there were two brothers, and they had their wives. No, actually, there were three brothers, and two of the brothers were married. Maybe all three were, but anyway, the wife of the older brother asked Srila Prabhupada a question, and Srila Prabhupada very patiently answered, and the lady couldn’t catch it, and she asked again, and Srila Prabhupada explained again very patiently, and still, the lady couldn’t quite grasp it, and Srila Prabhupada explained it again.

And then, one of Prabhupada’s associates/servants said, “Well, she is just a woman. So, we can’t really expect her to understand. She is just a woman, so maybe you shouldn’t spend so much time.” And when Srila Prabhupada heard that, it was like he was startled. I mean, this was my perception, but to me, it appeared that Srila Prabhupada was startled because he wasn’t seeing her as a woman, he was just seeing her as a soul, and he was trying to help her in Krishna consciousness. And then one of the devotees said, “Woman,” Prabhupada was startled. He wasn’t thinking of her as a woman, he was thinking of her as a soul, as a person. So, Srila Prabhupada was like that with everyone.

So, there may be statements about certain categories of people, and of course, the statements about the categories are just sort of. . . There are always going to be exceptions. Even if it is taken as a rule, there are always going to be exceptions. When we really deal with individuals, it’s not really relevant what the person’s designation is, and certainly, Srila Prabhupada just saw the soul in everyone, and he tried to encourage everyone.

So, I was speaking about writing, that it is important that devotees know what Srila Prabhupada was like as a person because otherwise, they find statements and they can take them in a very fanatical way, and Srila Prabhupada was not fanatical at all, and he was very kind and compassionate, and he was balanced. But he definitely gave more prominence to seeing the good in everyone, almost to the point that he almost seemed not to see the false in a person or the weakness in a person.