SB 3.9.24 – Srila Prabhupada’s Prayer

Giriraj Swami:

[SB 3.9.24]

nābhi-hradād iha sato ‘mbhasi yasya puṁso
vijñāna-śaktir aham āsam ananta-śakteḥ
rūpaṁ vicitram idam asya vivṛṇvato me
mā rīriṣīṣṭa nigamasya girāṁ visargaḥ

TRANSLATION

The Lord’s potencies are innumerable. As He lies down in the water of devastation, I am born as the total universal energy from the navel lake in which the lotus sprouts. I am now engaged in manifesting His diverse energies in the form of the cosmic manifestation. I therefore pray that in the course of my material activities I may not be deviated from the vibration of the Vedic hymns.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Every person engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord in this material world is prone to so many material activities, and if one is not strong enough to protect himself against the onslaught of material affection, he may be diverted from the spiritual energy. In the material creation Brahmā has to create all kinds of living entities with bodies suitable to their material conditions. Brahmā wants to be protected by the Lord because he has to contact many, many vicious living entities. An ordinary brāhmaṇa may fall from the brahma-tejas, or the power of brahminical excellence, due to his association with many fallen, conditioned souls. Brahmā, as the supermost brāhmaṇa, is afraid of such a falldown, and therefore he prays to the Lord for protection. This is a warning for one and all in the spiritual advancement of life. Unless one is sufficiently protected by the Lord, he may fall down from his spiritual position; therefore one has to pray constantly to the Lord for protection and the blessing to carry out one’s duty. Lord Caitanya also entrusted His missionary work to His devotees and assured them of His protection against the onslaught of material affection. The path of spiritual life is stated in the Vedas to be like the edge of a sharpened razor. A little inattentiveness may at once create havoc and bloodshed, but one who is a completely surrendered soul, always seeking protection from the Lord in the discharge of his entrusted duties, has no fear of falling into material contamination.

COMMENT

Here Lord Brahma, as the leader of the disciplic succession, shows the example of how a devotee should be humble, always praying for the Lord’s protection and blessings in the course of executing one’s prescribed duties in devotional service. Once Srila Prabhupada gave a class at Bhaktivedanta Manor, and in the course of the lecture he declared that he can never fall down. He told us that we may fall down, but that he can never fall down. After the class Srila Prabhupada came before the Deities and was obviously praying to Them with great feeling. A disciple asked Srila Prabhupada what he had been praying, and Srila Prabhupada replied, “I was praying to the Deities that I may never fall down.” The disciple remarked, “But in the class you said that you can never fall down.” Srila Prabhupada explained, “Yes, because I am always praying that I may never fall down, therefore I can never fall down.”

The pure devotee is always meek and humble and feels himself dependent on the mercy of the Lord and the superior authorities in the line of disciplic succession; thus all of his activities are successful. In India we used to visit aristocratic gentlemen to enroll them as life members and to solicit contributions. Once Srila Prabhupada commented that whenever he went into a rich man’s house he was always praying that he may not become attracted to the rich man’s opulence. So we, as followers of Srila Prabhupada in the disciplic succession from Lord Brahma, should also be meek and humble and always pray to the Lord and our superior acharyas for protection.

In the purport to today’s verse Srila Prabhupada mentions that Lord Brahma was concerned about the contamination that would accrue from association with vicious people. Brahma had to create the bodies of all the living entities in the universe, and he had to create their bodies according to their conditions and their mentalities, and some of their mentalities were vicious. As he came in close contact with people with such bodies and mentalities, he was afraid that he might become contaminated.

Association is very powerful, and therefore the scriptures give many warnings about associating with nondevotees—injunctions such as, “It is better to live in a cage of fire or embrace a tiger than to live in the association of nondevotees"—because their association can be very infectious and poisonous. At the same time the scriptures offer many injunctions that we should stay in the association of devotees. So, on the positive side we have the association of sincere devotees, and on the negative side we have the avoidance of intimate association with nondevotees.

But then again, Lord Chaitanya, who is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself, has descended to reclaim the fallen souls, and He has entrusted His mission to His devotees. So, as devotees of Lord Chaitanya and followers of Srila Prabhupada, who is the empowered servant of Lord Chaitanya, we also have inherited the same mission to reclaim the fallen souls, and how can we reclaim them unless we give them our association? And to give them our association means in one sense that we are subjected to their association. So, how do we reconcile the instruction to preach with the injunctions that one should associate only with devotees and not associate with nondevotees?

In the purport here, Srila Prabhupada mentions that Lord Chaitanya has assured His devotees that they will be protected from material contamination in their efforts to serve Him and preach Krishna consciousness. When Lord Chaitanya traveled in South India he met a brahman named Kurma in a village near Kurma-ksetra, and the way Lord Chaitanya dealt with the brahman Kurma was indicative of the way He dealt with all the devotees He met in His travels.

When Lord Chaitanya came before the Deity of Kurma deva in the temple, He danced in ecstasy as usual. He chanted, danced, laughed, and cried. As news spread about the extraordinary sannyasi who had come to Kurma-ksetra, who was so exceedingly beautiful and who exhibited such ecstatic love for Krishna, all the people around there came to see Him. Then, as Lord Chaitanya traveled from village to village, brahmans would invite Him to their homes to accept prasāda, and thus Lord Chaitanya visited the home of the brahman Kurma. When Lord Chaitanya arrived, Kurma washed the Lord’s feet with water according to the etiquette, and then he and his family members drank the water. Then Kurma served the Lord prasāda, and thereafter he and his family members accepted the Lord’s remnants.

The brahman Kurma told the Lord, “Now that you have come to my house, my birth, my family, and my wealth have all been blessed. They have all become successful.” He became so attached to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu that when the Lord was about to leave, Kurma begged Him, “Please allow me to come with You. I can no longer bear the waves of misery from materialistic life.”

Lord Chaitanya replied, “Do not say such things. You should remain at home and chant the holy names of Krishna, following the regulative principles.” Then Lord Chaitanya spoke the famous verse:

yāre dekha, tāre kaha ‘kṛṣṇa’-upadeśa
āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra’ ei deśa

“Wherever you go, whomever you meet, speak the message of Krishna. Thus become a guru and deliver everyone in this land.” Lord Chaitanya assured Kurma, as Srila Prabhupada assures us in the purport here: “If you follow My instructions, the waves of material existence will not touch you.” And Lord Chaitanya promised Kurma, “Do not worry. Again we will meet here, or, rather, you will never lose my company.”

So, the words that Lord Chaitanya spoke to the brahman Kurma are very important for us because Lord Chaitanya instructs that we don’t have to change our position or our location. We have simply to chant the holy names of Krishna under the guidance of the Lord’s representative, following the regulative principles, and try to induce others to follow the same process. If we do this, the contamination of material existence will not even touch us, and we will always have the company of Lord Chaitanya.

But then again, Srila Prabhupada balances his instructions in his purport here. We shouldn’t think that just because we are devotees of Lord Chaitanya, chanting Hare Krishna and trying to preach, we have become invulnerable or infallible. No. Even though we are chanting and preaching, still we have to be careful. And so Srila Prabhupada cites the verse from the Katha Upanishad that spiritual life is like a razor’s edge and that one has to be very, very attentive, “always seeking protection from the Lord in the discharge of his entrusted duties.” In the mood of being careful and cautious, we should constantly pray to the Lord and to Srila Prabhupada and the paramparā that we may not make any mistake, and that we may serve them exactly as they desire. That will keep us safe.

Once a disciple suggested to Srila Prabhupada, “Even liberated souls have a guru.”

Srila Prabhupada replied, “A liberated soul will never say ‘I am liberated.’ As soon as he says he is liberated, he is a rascal.” Srila Prabhupada quoted Lord Chaitanya, guru more mūrkha dekhi’ karila śāsana: “My spiritual master called me a fool (mūrkha) and chastised me.” Srila Prabhupada said, “Was Lord Chaitanya a fool? He was the most learned scholar in India—what to speak of being the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Was He a fool? No. But He accepted the position of being a fool before his spiritual master.” In other words, Lord Chaitanya had the feeling of being a fool before His spiritual master, and so He was always ready to be chastised by him and instructed by him. And that, Srila Prabhupada said, should always be our attitude. We should always feel that we are fools before the spiritual master and be ready to be chastised by him. That will make us liberated. And as soon as we think that we are liberated and beyond being chastised by the spiritual master, we become rascals. So, humility is essential in spiritual life.

At another time, a disciple asked Srila Prabhupada, “Lord Chaitanya summarized the entire philosophy of Krishna consciousness in the Śikṣāṣṭakam, but He hasn’t made any mention of the spiritual master. Yet the spiritual master is so important.” Srila Prabhupada replied that Lord Chaitanya prayed,

tṛṇād api sunīcena
taror api sahiṣṇunā
amāninā mānadena
kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ

Srila Prabhupada explained, “To be more humble than the straw one must accept a spiritual master. If one is humble and feels his own incapability then he will want to be guided by someone more capable, and he will accept the guidance of a spiritual master.”

We have so many spiritual masters. Of course, Krishna is the original spiritual master, and Lord Chaitanya also is the original spiritual master, especially for Gaudiya Vaishnavas. Lord Chaitanya is followed by the six Gosvamis of Vrindavan, and after them there are so many acharyas in our paramparā, and especially we have Srila Prabhupada, our founder-acharya in ISKCON. So they are all there to guide us.

Yet even though they are there to guide us by their words and their examples, we also need practical guidance. We may not always know how to apply their instructions in our daily lives and in our practical service, and therefore we need the association of other devotees.

Recently I spent some time in Dallas after our esteemed and beloved godbrother His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami departed. While there I remembered a conversation I had shared with him in Dallas several years earlier: The day I had arrived Goswami Maharaja had told me, “Although I got all of my initiations from Srila Prabhupada—first initiation, second initiation and sannyasa initiation—and although I had so much personal association from Srila Prabhupada, still, in Prabhupada’s absence, I feel the need for personal guidance. Therefore I always take guidance from godbrothers.” At that time Goswami Maharaja actually listed the names of various godbrothers whose guidance he sought, and whom he had accepted as śikṣā-gurus.

When Goswami Maharaja revealed this to me, I had to think about what he had said because at the time many of the leaders in our movement had fallen down—maybe for the reason suggested here in the purport, that perhaps they didn’t remain humble as they should have: “Pride cometh before a fall.” Anyway, many of the leaders that I had been attached to and had respected had fallen down, and I practically had vowed: “I am never going to place my faith in anyone again except Srila Prabhupada.” So, when Tamal Krishna Goswami started talking about his accepting guidance from his godbrothers, and taking his godbrothers as śikṣā-gurus, I was sort of in a dilemma—because in general I took what he said very seriously, but at the same time I had made my resolution never to put my faith in anyone else except Srila Prabhupada. So I just heard what he said and considered it.

Then, the next morning, when we were chanting our rounds in the temple, I just had the realization that what he had said was true. Actually we do need guidance. We need the association of devotees, and the association of devotees implies guidance.

The structure of ISKCON includes guidance. We have the temple presidents and the different authorities in the temples, and they are guides for us. We have the different devotees who speak on the scriptures in the classes, and they too are guides for us. The preachers who come and visit can also be guides for us, and we need that guidance. That is also part of humility. And that is also part of Krishna’s and guru’s guidance, that they send sadhus: they send sadhus who can inspire us, encourage us and instruct us—and chastise us, if required—both in a general way and in a specific way. That is one of the greatest gifts Srila Prabhupada has given us, the association of devotees, and it’s really the association of devotees that protects us.

In Lord Chaitanya’s instructions to Rupa Gosvami about the devotional creeper, He advises, as many of you may know, that one receives the seed of devotional service by the mercy of guru and Krishna. Lord Chaitanya then instructs that we should become gardeners, plant the seed of devotional service in our hearts, and then water it by hearing and chanting about Krishna so that it will grow nicely. At the same time, Lord Chaitanya warns that we should be vigilant and see that no weeds grow up along side the devotional creeper—and if any weeds of material desire or behavior do begin to sprout, as soon as we detect them we should pull them out. And He instructs that we should especially guard against the mad elephant (hātī mātā) of offense, of Vaishnava- and guru-aparādha. If we offend a Vaishnava, and particularly the guru, it is like letting loose a mad elephant (hātī mātā) that will uproot our devotional creeper. Thus Lord Chaitanya instructs that we must defend the devotional creeper by fencing it all around, so the powerful elephant of offenses may not enter.

What is the fence? In the purports there Srila Prabhupada explains that the fence is the circle of pure devotees. If we always stay in the circle of pure devotees and follow the regulative principles, that will keep out the mad elephant of offence. Srila Prabhupada explains that to disobey the orders of the spiritual master (guru-avajñā) is one of the offences one must carefully guard against, but that we can be saved from such offenses—from failing to chant our prescribed rounds and giving up the regulative principles—if we stay in the circle of pure devotees. And that is the association that Srila Prabhupada has given us in ISKCON in particular.

So we should be happy that Srila Prabhupada has given us such association, and we should adhere very closely to the association of devotees—and in our case especially to the association of devotees who are strict followers of Srila Prabhupada. So, we have the circle of devotees here that can protect us, and we should stay in the circle and be safe.

At the same time, we also have to extend ourselves to others who are not in the circle now, and that is preaching. That is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s mission, and that is Srila Prabhupada’s desire. We must humbly approach people who are not in the circle now and encourage them to come into the circle. How can they enter the circle? By following the instructions Lord Chaitanya gave to the brahman Kurma, by following the instructions that Srila Prabhupada has given us in his books and purports. And what are those instructions? To chant Hare Krishna, to follow the regulative principles under the guidance of the spiritual master, and to preach—that is, to encourage still others to adopt the same principles. If they do this, and if we do this, that will make all our spiritual lives successful. That will make Srila Prabhupada’s mission and service to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu successful, and that will ultimately lead us to the eternal service of the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada and his lords and masters, Sri Sri Radha and Krishna and Their divine servants.

Hare Krishna.