SB 10.33.36 – Sri Krishna Janmashtami Evening

Giriraj Swami: We welcome you all to the most auspicious celebration of Sri Krishna Janmashtami.

In the Bhagavad-gītā, Lord Krishna says, “janma karma ca me divyam evaṁ yo vetti tattvataḥ tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti so ‘rjuna.” That anyone who understands the transcendental nature of Lord Krishna’s appearance in the material world and His activities here, never has to take birth again in this world of birth and death, but he or she goes to Krishna. Of course, being here for the celebrations of Krishna Janmashtami, we are not really in the material world, we have already transcended the material miseries. But if we leave the spiritual environment of Krishna consciousness, we will be back in the material world and we will have to suffer the pangs of material existence, which are mentioned in the Bhagavad-gītā, janma mṛityu jarā vyādhi duḥkha doṣhānudarśhanam. Lord Krishna says that part of the process of knowledge is to always be conscious of the miseries of repeated birth, death, old age, and disease. This is part of the process of knowledge because without this awareness, we can easily fall into the illusion that the material world is a nice place to live or that the material body is a nice place to inhabit. And sometimes, people even say, “Well, what is wrong with living in the material world? What is wrong with having a physical body? We can enjoy.” But if you ask such a person, “Do you want disease?” “No.” “Do you want to grow old?” “No.” “Do you want to die?” “No.” But that is what having a material body in the material world means. And therefore, the whole purpose of Vedic culture is to get liberation from this repetition of birth, death, old age, and disease.

Now, there are many schools of thought, many different processes by which people attempt to become liberated from this saṃsāra-cakra, this repetition of material miseries, but they are all relatively difficult or very difficult. There is karma-yoga, jnana-yoga, ashtanga-yoga. And not only are they difficult, but there is no guarantee that one will be successful in gaining actual liberation. In fact, without bhakti, without some mixing of bhakti, it is guaranteed that one will not be successful. There must be at least some element of bhakti for the other processes to be even partially successful. But one can be fully successful only by a pure devotional service, uttamā-bhakti or śuddha-bhakti. And we can learn this lesson from the pastime of Lord Krishna’s taking birth.

It is described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Well, it is a long story. We will start at the beginning but we can say very briefly that when the world was overburdened by demonic, materialistic, egotistic rulers, Lord Brahma and the demigods prayed for Lord Krishna to descend, to relieve the burden of the world. Now, it was not necessary for Krishna to come personally to do that, perform that function, because Lord Vishnu himself is capable of doing that. But coincidentally, it was the time for Krishna, the Original Personality of Godhead, who appears in a human-like form, coincidentally, it was time for Him to come. And so, He appeared as the son of Devaki in the prison of Kamsa, who was a very cruel tyrant.

Now, it was predicted that Kamsa would be killed by the eighth son of Devaki, and therefore, he arrested her and her husband Vasudeva. And Devaki had four sons, one after the other, and Kamsa killed all of them. The seventh child was Balarama, but Krishna asked His spiritual energy, yoga-māyā, after Balarama had made the arrangements for Krishna to be transferred to Gokula to take birth as the son of Rohini. And then Krishna was transferred from the mind of Vasudeva, her husband, into her mind by a process that resembled or could be called dīkṣā or initiation. By that process, one who carries the Supreme Personality of Godhead transfers the Supreme Personality of Godhead from his pure mind or heart, into the pure mind or heart of his disciple.

Now, how can we come to that position? Our acharya, Srila Prabhupada, quoting Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura explains that Kamsa represents material association. Even though one is a devotee engaging in the practices of devotional service, but because he or she is in a material body with material senses, there is always a chance of becoming attracted by the objects of the senses and becoming entangled in material existence. Therefore, pure devotees are always afraid of associating with maya or associating with people who are absorbed in material activities. And that fear is mentioned throughout Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, out of fear of Kamsa, it comes again and again and again. That fear of material association actually purifies the devotee from the desire for material enjoyment. And only when we are purified from such material desires, can Krishna appear within our hearts. We are celebrating Krishna’s appearance in the material world about five thousand years ago, but what we really want to do is have Krishna appear within our hearts, just as He appeared within Devaki. And that is what we should try to understand from this history.

So it is said, there is a figure in Vedic history named Marici, and Marici was born from the mind. And therefore, he can be considered a representative of the mind. The mind, I should say, the mind gives rise to six unwanted, unnecessary things: lust, anger, greed, envy, illusion, and madness. So, even devotees practicing bhakti-yoga in the material world can be subjected to these disturbances, lust, greed, anger, illusion, envy. But if we are afraid of Kamsa, of material association, then those all will be vanquished just as those first sons of Devaki were vanquished. And then, Balarama or Ananta can take birth. He is the personification of service to Krishna and ultimately, Krishna can appear within our hearts. And when we are mature in devotional service, we can also see Krishna face to face and enter into our own personal, loving relationship with Krishna. And that is the specific reason why Krishna, the original Personality of Godhead, appears. Any incarnation of Vishnu could kill the demons and deliver the devotees and re-establish the principles of dharma, but only Krishna can show us the beautiful life that awaits us if we join Him in Vrindavan. And therefore, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says. . . and I will read this verse because it is very important. This is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Ten, Chapter Thirty-three,

TEXT 36

anugrahāya bhaktānāṁ

mānuṣaṁ deham āsthitaḥ

bhajate tādṛśīḥ krīḍa

yāḥ śrutvā tat-paro bhavet

TRANSLATION

Kṛṣṇa manifests His eternal humanlike form and performs His pastimes to show mercy to the devotees. Having heard such pastimes, one should engage in service to Him.

COMMENT

So, why does Krishna come, the original Krishna? He comes to display His loving activities in Vrindavan so that we can hear about them and speak about them. We all have tongues and those tongues are eager to wag, so instead of speaking about mundane people who are doomed to suffer and die, like animals without Krishna consciousness, if they are without Krishna consciousness, we can hear about Krishna’s activities and then speak about them. And that is the actual process, by which we can purify our heart and experience Krishna’s presence here, in this lifetime. And upon leaving our body, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti, we don’t have to take birth again in the material world, but we go to Krishna, back home back to Godhead.

In displaying his pastimes, Krishna shows us that whatever relationship we want to have with Him, He is ready. But the relationships with him are not like those in the material world that are doomed to end when the body ends. In fact, we are lucky if our relationships last as long as our bodies last. Quite often they end well before our body ends. A devotee recently quoted that there was a couple who celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary, which is a pretty good accomplishment. And so, someone asked them what was the secret of their success or the longevity of their relationship, and the lady replied that, “We are from a time when if something was broken, we fixed it, we didn’t throw it away.” But that time for most people has passed. People are so egoistic and so selfish, as soon as they don’t like something, just toss it, get a new one, get a better one.

My godbrother, Bhurijana Prabhu, told the story of a man who got married thinking that by marriage he would be happy. And he wasn’t happy with the relationship so he divorced her. Then he married a second time, wasn’t happy, divorced her. Third, not happy, divorced her. Fourth, not happy, divorced her. Fifth, not happy, divorced her. Sixth, not happy, divorced her. Then he decided to get together with number five thinking, It didn’t work the last time around but maybe it will work this time. So, he married number five again, she was number seven, didn’t work. Married number eight; and I guess still counting, I mean, that was as far as Bhurijana Prabhu knew.

So, the point I am making here, of course, we should be dutiful and try to preserve our relationships according to religious principles, but the higher point I am making is that no relationship in the material world can last. If it lasts until death do us part, well, that is very good, but death will you part. So it is temporary, it won’t last. And it won’t satisfy you either, it won’t completely satisfy you. In fact, one authority on marriage made a statement that I would like to quote because it is very applicable. He says that, “The purpose of marriage is not to make you happy. The purpose of marriage is to make you married. And when you are properly and securely married, then you can find your own happiness.”

So, we have relationships in the material world, we need relationships. But ultimately, those relationships are meant to provide a support, in which we can find our real eternal happiness, which is with Krishna. And we can find out about those relationships and life with Krishna, by hearing about His appearance and activities from scriptures like Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or Kṛṣṇa book, which is Srila Prabhupada’s summary study of the Tenth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And by hearing these descriptions, we become attracted. We think, Oh, I could have a relationship like that with Krishna, I could be a cowherd boyfriend of Krishna and I could go out to the forest of Vrindavan with Him and take the cows to pasture and play and joke and eat, or I could have a relationship like a father of Krishna or mother of Krishna, and like today’s celebration, take Krishna in my arms and He will be the perfect child, He will be the perfect friend.” Or hearing about Krishna’s activities with the gopīs you think, Oh, I want to have that relationship with Krishna and we can meet and dance and enjoy.” You can swing Radha and Krishna and take pleasure in their happiness.

So, these relationships are possible and we should really read these books. Srila Prabhupada took great effort to write these books and translate these books just for this purpose so that we can hear about Krishna, hear about life with Krishna in the spiritual world, Goloka Vrindavan, and desire to join Him. And then, when that goal is fixed, we adopt the process, it is very simple. Just like somewhere along the line you heard about this temple and you got attracted, “Let me come” and then there is a process. You get the address, you get whatever the bus or the train or get in your car and you follow the directions and you end up here and you are in the spiritual world. So, in the same way, we hear about Krishna in Vrindavan and we decide we want to go there, we want to live that life, which is beyond birth and death, and then there is directions and the directions are bhakti-yoga. And especially in this age, śravaṇam, kīrtanam, hearing and chanting about Krishna, beginning with His holy names,

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.

And this should be something we do always, kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ. So, thank you very much. Hare Krishna. [applause]