SB 12.11.19 – Wherever There Is Krishna There Is Opulence

Giriraj Swami: 

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

We read from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Twelve, Chapter Eleven: “Summary Description of the Mahāpuruṣa,” Text Nineteen.

TEXT 19

ātapatraṁ tu vaikuṇṭhaṁ
dvijā dhāmākuto-bhayam
tri-vṛd vedaḥ suparṇākhyo
yajñaṁ vahati pūruṣam

TRANSLATION

O brāhmaṇas, the Lord’s umbrella is His spiritual abode, Vaikuṇṭha, where there is no fear, and Garuḍa, who carries the Lord of sacrifice, is the threefold Veda.

COMMENT

So, there is no purport, but I will comment briefly and proceed to the next verse. But in describing the Mahāpuruṣa, in a sort of poetic way, “The Lord’s umbrella is His spiritual abode, Vaikuṇṭha.” If we consider the sky, quite often, people can use the image that the sky is like an umbrella. And even the stars could be painted on the umbrella, and you can turn the umbrella, and it looks like the sky. But the Mahāpuruṣa, his umbrella is not the material sky, figuratively speaking, but it’s the spiritual sky, Vaikuntha. And it is also described that his abode is ākuto-bhayam. This phrase, ākuto-bhayam, figures prominently in a verse at the beginning of the Second Canto, in which it is said that constant chanting of the holy name, following the ways of authorities, is the doubtless and fearless, ākuto-bhayam, means of success for all sorts of people; those who are full of material desires, those who desire freedom from material existence, and also those who are self-satisfied.

So, ākuto-bhayam, to be free from fear, is not ordinary. In fact, the four qualifications of every conditioned soul is eating, sleeping, mating, and defending (fearing). Only someone who is liberated can be free from fear, from eating, sleeping, mating, and fearing. And that is realized when one goes to the spiritual world, and it is also realized when one takes shelter of offenseless chanting of the holy name, anukīrtanam. Anu means continuous, and anu also means to follow.

So, Srila Prabhupada has very beautifully translated the verse. Constant chanting of the holy name, following the ways of the authorities, to pick up both the meanings of the word anu. And what does it mean, following the ways of the authorities? It means specifically, to chant without offense. Srila Jiva Gosvami has advised us that we should chant while avoiding the ten kinds of offenses, which are mentioned in the Padma Purāṇa, and Srila Rupa Gosvami also. So, if we chant constantly, following the ways of the great authorities, which means without offense, we will live in Vaikuntha, the spiritual world, where there is no fear.

Sometimes Srila Prabhupada would say that the temples in ISKCON are Vaikuntha, the spiritual world, and they are. If we take full shelter of the holy name, which really means to take full shelter of the Supreme Lord, then it is like Vaikuntha, and there is no fear. Now, we shall proceed to Text Twenty. Please repeat. Well, you are all thoughtful sages, so even without seeing the words on the board, I’m sure you’ll be able to follow these short lines.

TEXT 20

anapāyinī bhagavatī
śrīḥ sākṣād ātmano hareḥ
viṣvaksenas tantra-mūrtir
viditaḥ pārṣadādhipaḥ
nandādayo ‘ṣṭau dvāḥ-sthāś ca
te ‘ṇimādyā harer guṇāḥ

TRANSLATION

The goddess of fortune, Śrī, who never leaves the Lord’s side, appears with Him in this world as the representation of His internal potency. Viṣvaksena, the chief among His personal associates, is known to be the personification of the Pañcarātra and other tantras. And the Lord’s eight doorkeepers, headed by Nanda, are His mystic perfections, beginning with aṇimā.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

According to Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, the goddess of fortune is the original source of all material opulence. Material nature is directly controlled by the Lord’s inferior energy, Mahā-māyā, whereas the goddess of fortune is His internal, superior energy. Still, the opulence of the Lord’s inferior nature has its source in the supreme spiritual opulence of the goddess of fortune. As stated in Śrī Hayaśīrṣa Pañcarātra:

paramātmā harir devas

tac-chaktiḥ śrīr ihoditā

śrīr devī prakṛtiḥ proktā

keśavaḥ puruṣaḥ smṛtaḥ

na viṣṇunā vinā devī

na hariḥ padmajāṁ vinā

“The Supreme Soul is Lord Hari, and His potency is known in this world as Śrī. Goddess Śrī is known as prakṛti, and the Supreme Lord Keśava is known as the puruṣa. The divine goddess is never present without Him, nor does He ever appear without her.”

Also, Śrī Viṣṇu Purāṇa (1.8.15) states:

nityaiva sā jagan-mātā

viṣṇoḥ śrīr anapāyinī

yathā sarva-gato viṣṇus

tathaiveyaṁ dvijottamāḥ

“She is the eternal mother of the universe, the goddess of fortune of Lord Viṣṇu, and she is never separated from Him. In the same way that Lord Viṣṇu is present everywhere, so is she, O best of brāhmaṇas.”

Also in Viṣṇu Purāṇa (1.9.140):

evaṁ yathā jagat-svāmī

deva-devo janārdanaḥ

avatāraṁ karoty eva

tathā śrīs tat-sahāyinī

“Thus, in the same way that the Lord of the universe, the God of gods, Janārdana, descends to this world, so His consort, the goddess of fortune, does also.”

The pure spiritual status of the goddess of fortune is described in the Skanda Purāṇa:

aparaṁ tv akṣaraṁ yā sā
prakṛtir jaḍa-rūpikā
śrīḥ parā prakṛtiḥ proktā
cetanā viṣṇu-saṁśrayā

taṁ akṣaraṁ paraṁ prāhuḥ

parataḥ param akṣaram

harir evākhila-guṇo ‘py

akṣara-trayam īritam

“The inferior infallible entity is that nature who manifests as the material world. The goddess of fortune, on the other hand, is known as the superior nature. She is pure consciousness and is under the direct shelter of Lord Viṣṇu. While she is said to be the superior infallible entity, that infallible entity who is greater than the greatest is Lord Hari Himself, the original possessor of all transcendental qualities. In this way, three distinct infallible entities are described.”

Thus, although the inferior energy of the Lord is infallible in her function, her power to manifest temporary illusory opulences exists by the grace of the internal energy, the goddess of fortune, who is the personal consort of the Supreme Lord.

The Padma Purāṇa (256.9–21) lists eighteen doorkeepers of the Lord: Nanda, Sunanda, Jaya, Vijaya, Caṇḍa, Pracaṇḍa, Bhadra, Subhadra, Dhātā, Vidhātā, Kumuda, Kumudākṣa, Pundarīkṣa, Vāmana, Śaṅkukarṇa, Sarvanetra, Sumukha and Supratiṣṭhita.

COMMENT

Hare Krishna. So, this verse explains that bhagavatī, the goddess of fortune, who is known as Śrī, is anapāyinī, inseparable from the Lord, and she is sākṣād ātmano hareḥ, directly His personal potency. So, people in the material world are after fortune or wealth, material opulence. And the inferior energy or material energy is mahā-māyā, or Durga. But this illusory pursuit of material happiness, or material opulence, cannot satisfy the self. As Bhadrinarayana Prabhu mentioned yesterday, “A nation may have a high degree of material opulence, GNP, but it may have a very low degree of happiness.” And that is commonly known to be true. In fact, a whole new field of psychology has developed to study happiness. Because there is a whole generation of people who did everything they were told that would make them happy; they got good educations, had high incomes, got qualified spouses, had bright, talented children, had fabulous homes in fantastic neighborhoods, went to exciting holidays to exotic places, they did everything that they were told that will make them happy. But guess what? They weren’t happy.

So, this phenomenon has given rise to a whole study of psychology, what makes people happy? And, you may be interested to know that improving one’s income, improving one’s job or work, improving one’s residence, all things that people generally work very hard to improve, affect a person’s happiness hardly, somehow, they analyzed it, about 10 percent. Only 10 percent of a person’s happiness can be affected by getting a better job, a better house, a better car, better this, better that.

So, of course, we know that material things cannot satisfy us or please us because we are not material, we are spiritual. We are the soul within the body, we’re not the body. And Srila Prabhupada is always ahead of the psychologists, the sociologists, the economists, he’s always ahead of them. And he said very simply and very succinctly, “If you are performing a mathematical calculation and you make a mistake in the first step, even if you perform all the other steps perfectly, you may get further and further away from the solution.”

So, the generation that I’m referring to, they did everything perfectly, but they made a mistake in the first step, they thought that they were the body and not the soul. So, even though they did everything perfectly for the benefit of the body, they got further from the goal of happiness. So, if we have the correct understanding from the beginning, that we are the soul within the body, and then we act for the benefit of the soul, then we can be peaceful and happy, because that’s who we are, we are the soul. So, this mistake of seeking material happiness, or seeking happiness through maya, or matter, was acted out on a huge scale by the demon Ravana.

Now, it is said here anapāyinī, that the Lord and His internal potency are inseparable. So, in the Rāmāyaṇa, when Lord Rama was banished to the forest, Sitadevi insisted that she go with Him, and Lord Rama refused because she was the daughter of a king, she was a princess, she was used to all sorts of opulence, and how could she live in the forest with Him? But she said, “No, You are my husband, and I must follow You.” And so, He agreed. So, anapāyinī, inseparable. But the demon Ravana, hearing about the extraordinary beauty of Sita, and being very lusty and sinful, he wanted to separate Sita from Rama, he wanted to enjoy the Lord’s energy. Of course, he couldn’t distinguish between the spiritual energy and material energy. He thought she was an object for his sense enjoyment, like any woman’s body in his conception.

I won’t tell the whole story because it’s quite elaborate. It’s interesting, but it’s quite detailed. But what happened was the original Sita went into the earth, and what Ravana got was not the original Sita, or the Lord’s personal energy, but he got a maya Sita, an illusory manifestation of Sita. And then, at the end of his fight with Lord Rama, he was killed and his whole army was vanquished. And his whole capital; the beautiful, opulent, golden city of Lanka was destroyed. The original Sita came out, and the original Sita was reunited with Rama.

So, this story of the Rāmāyaṇa is very instructive, that if we want to take the Lord’s energy to enjoy for ourselves, not only will we not be able to enjoy, but we will be punished severely, and ultimately vanquished. So, instead of trying to enjoy the Lord’s energy without the Lord, we should rather serve the Lord and His internal potency, who are inseparable. And then, automatically, all opulence will be there.

In the material world, people are all chasing after Lakshmi, meaning material wealth, opulence, money. But Lakshmi is known as cañcalā, She is very unsteady, She goes from place to place to place. She is with one person for a while, and then she leaves him and goes to someone else. She’s with the other person for a while, and then goes to someone else. And so, that is also something that we should keep in mind. Many people have gone through periods where they were very wealthy, and periods where they were struggling, it happens.

So, although She has that cañcalā nature, when She is with Narayana, Lakshmi-Narayana, when Lakshmi is with Narayana, She is steady, She never leaves the side of the Lord. And therefore, if we worship Lord Narayana, Lakshmi will automatically be there. And there are many verses that confirm this fact. The last verse of the Bhagavad-gītā. Who knows the last verse of the Bhagavad-gītā? Yes?

Devotee: English?

Giriraj Swami: If you can do Sanskrit and English, so much the better. But otherwise, just English will be fine.

Devotee:

yatra yogeśvaraḥ kṛṣṇo
yatra pārtho dhanur-dharaḥ
tatra śrīr vijayo bhūtir
dhruvā nītir matir mama

“Wherever there is Kṛṣṇa, the master of all mystics, and wherever there is Arjuna, the supreme archer, there will also certainly be opulence, victory, extraordinary power, and morality. That is my opinion.”

Giriraj Swami: Okay. So, wherever there is Krishna, there is Sri, opulence. This was the specific point that I wanted to derive from the verse. Wherever there is Krishna, there is Sri, opulence. So, the idea of getting material opulence and ultimately, happiness, without Krishna, is doomed to fail. But as Srila Prabhupada said, “If you worship Narayana, then Lakshmi will automatically be there.” Everyone is chasing after Lakshmi, but Lakshmi is chasing after Narayana. When Ravana kidnapped Sita, she was always thinking of Rama, she was yearning for Rama, she was pining for Rama. But Prabhupada said, “That is true everywhere, except Vrindavan. In Vrindavan, Krishna is chasing after Radharani. But everywhere else, Lakshmi is chasing after Narayana.” So, this is the secret of success. And another point here, anapāyinī, that wherever there is the Lord, there is His energy, Sri, the spiritual energy. And it’s very beautifully stated, wherever there is Vishnu, there is also Sri. And wherever there is Sri, there is also Vishnu.

But, in one class at the Ardh Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, Srila Prabhupada took it a step further, and he said, “Just as Krishna is all-pervading, so His abode, Vrindavan, is also all-pervading.” So, this is true, wherever there is the Lord, there is His internal potency, they are inseparable. But they do not exist in isolation. They exist in Their dhāma with all of their other associates. And so, they’re all all-pervading. So, yes, that’s a fact.

The Lord is in the heart, but He’s not alone in the heart, He’s there with all of His associates. And when we chant the holy name and the Lord is present, He is not alone, He is with His internal potency, Radharani, and all of Their associates and all of Vrindavan. But that has to be realized. Of course, it’s realized in degrees. As we chant more and more without offense, we realize more and more that Krishna is present when we chant, Radharani is present, and Their associates are present, and ultimately, the entire spiritual realm of Vrindavan is present. And if we can absorb ourselves in remembrance of Krishna, which arises naturally from offenseless chanting and hearing about Krishna, chanting and hearing of the holy name, and also the transcendental topics of Krishna, then we will not be living in the material world, but we will be living in the spiritual world, Vaikuntha. Vaikuntha means where there is no anxiety, and ākuto-bhayam, no fear. And that is the perfection of life, and that is our true happiness and satisfaction. Hare Krishna.

Devotees: Hare Krishna.

Giriraj Swami: So, are there any questions or comments? Yes?

Devotee: Your Holiness, you mentioned that where is Krishna, Lakshmi is there, opulence. Sometimes we see the kind of devotees who are very opulent. That means that Lakshmi will be there only for devotional service, but not for personal needs? How can you explain that?

Giriraj Swami: [laughter] That is a very good question. In fact, that question was raised thousands of years ago in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Krishna is the husband of the goddess of fortune, Madhava. The name Madhava means the husband of the goddess of fortune. He’s the most opulent personality. Yet, sometimes it is seen that His devotees are very poor. And Lord Shiva, who lives under a tree, is completely renounced. But sometimes it is seen that His devotees are very opulent. So, how to understand? And when Śukadeva Gosvami was asked the question, he referred to an earlier discussion in which Maharaja Yudhisthira asked Krishna the same question. And Krishna replied, “Yasyāham anugṛhṇāmi hariṣye tad-dhanaṁ śanaiḥ, sometimes to show My devotee special mercy, I take away his material opulence.”

And there is another discussion on this connection about a demon named Vrikasura. And the idea is that Vrikasura was given a boon by Shiva. But because he misused the boon, in the end, he was destroyed by Krishna. And Krishna chided Lord Shiva, “You should be careful when you give boons, because people can misuse the boons for bad purposes.” So, the analysis is that Lord Shiva is known as Ashutosh, which means that He is very easily pleased. And so, He very easily gives material boons without considering whether they will be in the best interest of the person or not.

But Lord Krishna is very considerate. He will not give a devotee anything material if it could hamper the devotee’s spiritual development. And if a devotee has something material and is attached to it, and thus is unable to progress properly, the Lord may take away his opulence. But then, when the devotee is purified and is able to accept the opulence only for the service of the Lord, without any material attachment, the Lord can give him more opulence, even more than he had before. But the idea is the Lord is very conscious and caring for His devotees, and He will only give the devotee opulence if it is favorable for His service, for the Lord’s service.

But our happiness doesn’t come from either; having wealth or not having wealth. Whatever the Lord wants us to have, we’ll use in the service, and if He doesn’t give it to us, then we will serve Him without it. So, we are the same in every condition, we’re satisfied just to have the opportunity to serve the Lord.

Devotee: You mentioned, wherever Krishna is there, Lakshmi is also there. But isn’t it that when the gopīs are looking for Krishna, just before the rāsa dance, they say that Lakshmi isn’t always with Krishna because sometimes She has to go to her devotees, as opposed to Tulasi-devi, who is always at Krishna’s feet. So, can you explain?

Giriraj Swami: I’m not sure I know exactly what you’re referring to. But there are verses like that in the Bhāgavatam, and those verses are speaking of Lakshmi, the consort of Narayana. Lakshmi, the consort of Narayana, is always with Narayana. But She also had a desire to be with Krishna. But She could not actually enter the rāsa dance with Krishna because only gopīs can dance with Krishna.

So, one of the famous verses is that, this was spoken by the Nagapatnis, the wives of Kaliya Naga, serpent Kaliya, “The mercy that our husband got by Your placing Your lotus feet on His hood was never enjoyed, even by the goddess of fortune.” Because She wanted that mercy, but She could not get it in the form of Lakshmi. So, that’s true, when we speak of Lakshmi, in particular as four-handed Lakshmi, the consort of Narayana, in that form, She’s not able to enter into the intimate pastimes of Krishna in Vrindavan. And it is also said that the opulence of Vrindavan is much greater than the opulence of Vaikuntha. There is an idea among Hindus, or among Vaishnavas, that Lakshmi-Narayana are the original. And they have an idea that Radha and Krishna are expansions of Lakshmi-Narayana, but they are just simple, rustic folks, and Lakshmi-Narayana, that’s the Lord of Vaikuntha, the kingdom of God.

So, when Lord Chaitanya was traveling in southern India during the rainy season, cāturmāsya, He stopped His travels, and He stayed with Venkata Bhatta at the Srirangam temple. And Venkata Bhatta had the idea that Lakshmi-Narayana were superior. So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu brought up the subject, that Lakshmi is supposed to be the most chaste woman, but still, She wanted to enjoy the rāsa dance with Krishna. So, Venkata Bhatta was a learned scholar, brahman. So, how could she be the most chaste woman and enjoy the pastimes with another man? So, Venkata Bhatta said, “Krishna is actually the same as Vishnu. So, Her wanting to experience Her husband, Vishnu, in another form, is natural. It doesn’t mean that She is unchaste.” So then, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, “Yes, that is true. Then why is it She was not allowed to enter the rāsa dance?” And to that question, Venkata Bhatta had no answer. And then, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu explained the philosophy, but in the end, He said, “Well, they are actually the same.” They are the same.

There is a verse that’s quoted in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, it’s in the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, that in terms of tattva, siddhānta or tattva, Krishna and Vishnu are the same. But in terms of rāsa, there is a difference. Because with Vishnu, or the Lord of Vaikuntha, one can only have the lower two and a half rāsas; śānta-rasa, dāsya-rasa, and sākhya-rasa, the lower half of sākhya-rasa with some veneration. And it is only in Vrindavan that there is the higher sākhya-rasa with complete intimacy, and vātsalya-rasa and mādhurya-rasa. So, it’s true they’re the same, that’s true in terms of tattva, but in terms of rāsa, there is a difference. And that sweet intimate pastimes of Vrindavan are not possible in Vaikuntha.

But just to show the superiority of Radharani, there was a pastime during the springtime rāsa at Govardhana, and Krishna left the gopīs and He hid in the bushes. And so, the gopīs were walking around Govardhana Hill looking for Krishna. And when they got close to that bush where Krishna was hiding, they saw that He was hiding there. So, what happened is Krishna, He came out in the form of Vishnu with four hands. And so, the gopīs approached Him, they said, “O! You’re not Krishna, You’re Lord Narayana. We’re looking for Krishna. Can you tell us where is Krishna?” No answer, they just went on. They were not interested in Lord Narayana, they only wanted Krishna. And then, a little later, Radharani came, and it was the same thing, Lord Narayana with His four hands. But in the presence of Radharani, He could not maintain His four-handed feature, He had to let go of His extra two arms and become Krishna. So, this shows the supreme love of Radharani, the supreme attraction of Radharani for Krishna. That He could maintain His pose as Lord Narayana with everyone else, even the other gopīs, but not with Radharani. Any other questions or comments? Alright, so we will end now. Granthraj Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam ki jaya! Srila Prabhupada ki jaya! Nitai Gaura premānande Hari Haribol!

Devotee: Giriraj Swami ki jaya!