SB 9.10.20 – Sri Rama’s Victory

Giriraj Swami: And in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which is the topmost scripture in the Vedic literature, there is a summary of the Rāmāyaṇa. But in brief just to give some background, Lord Rama—actually I can’t be brief, it’s too much to tell. I’ll go straight to today’s verse. And in that context, you’ll come to know whatever you need to know to understand the verse and the context. So, listen to a few prayers of invocation, and then we’ll read.

[Maṅgalācaraṇa prayers]

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

We read from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Nine, Chapter Ten, “The Pastimes of Lord Rāmacandra,” Text Twenty. I’ll just read the translation to save time. No, we’ll read the synonyms. 

Please repeat.

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.

COMMENT

So here, to give a little background, Lord Ramachandra is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, acting as the ideal person. Krishna acted as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and He exercised His freedom to act in ways that were pleasing for Him and His devotees in their pastimes. Krishna is called līlā-puruṣottama, but Lord Ramachandra was acting as the ideal son, husband, brother, king, and so He is called maryādā-puruṣottama, which means that He acted according to etiquette, you could say. 

So, Lord Ramachandra was to be coronated as the king of Ayodhya. But on the eve of His coronation, the King Dasaratha’s co-wife, whom the king had offered a boon because of some special service she had rendered to him, reminded him of her boon, and the king said, “Yes, whatever you say.” So that co-wife, not Lord Rama’s mother, Kausalya, but another of the king’s wives named Kaikeyi, she asked that Rama be banished to the forest for fourteen years. And that her son Bharata becomes the ruler, becomes the king. When the King Dasaratha heard this, he did as she requested because of the great value of his word. It was said that one can give up one’s head, but one cannot give up one’s words. And shortly thereafter, he died from the shock. 

So Lord Ramachandra prepared to go into the forest in exile. And His wife Sita said, “I will go with You.” And Lord Ramachandra said, “No, You can’t come with Me, You’re the daughter of a king, You can’t live in the forest. You should stay back.” But She said, “No, I will go with You.” And Lakshman, Lord Rama’s ex-brother said He wanted to come too, and Lord Rama agreed for Him to come as well. So, They went into the forest, and while in the forest, Ravana, who was a demon, kidnapped Sita and took Her to his capital city, his kingdom of Lanka. So thereafter, Lord Ramachandra—there are many details, but in brief—He prepared to go to Lanka to kill the demon Ravana and get back Sita. 

Along the way, He made some alliances with some monkeys in the jungle. They’re not the typical monkeys that we find in zoos nowadays, but they were devotees, they were elevated souls, but they were in the bodies of monkeys, monkey-like. So this verse is approaching the climax of the whole project to get back Sita and kill Ravana. So I’ll read the translation again and then the purport. 

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 

So, there are two ways in which this war can be seen. One is the external war that we have to fight with different enemies, and the other is the internal war that we have to fight with our internal enemies. Ravana is the personification of lust, and with lust, envy. And that demon, lust with envy, is there within us. And to fight that enemy and vanquish that enemy, we need the strength derived from transcendence. We also may have external enemies, but the same principle applies, we can be victorious by the strength that comes from transcendence. 

We had external enemies in Juhu, Bombay, led by the demon Mr. Nair. Srila Prabhupada called him the demon Mr. Nair—I’m not making it up—and his cohorts, his associates. One evening, Srila Prabhupada was sitting on the rooftops of one of the old buildings that were at the back of the land, and his disciple Haridasa was fanning him. At 7:00 p.m., Srila Prabhupada had said to Haridasa, “Do you hear that?” Haridasa said, “No. Hear what?” Prabhupada said, “Do you hear the sounds of kirtan in the temple?” And Haridasa said, “No, I don’t.” Srila Prabhupada said, “That’s the point, there is no sound of kirtan coming from the temple. Where are all the devotees?” So, Haridasa imagined, and he answered that they must have gone to the city to collect, and they hadn’t gotten back. And Srila Prabhupada said, “That was not my idea that the devotees should go out all day and collect and come back late. They should leave the city at 5:00 p.m., come back and join in the temple programs. Otherwise, they’ll become like karmis, materialists.”

Then Srila Prabhupada said, “Do you know why we were successful, and Mr. Nair wasn’t? Mr. Nair was very influential, he had been the sheriff of Bombay, and he owned The Free Press Journal, which was one of three English daily newspapers in Bombay. He had a lot of money, and a lot of friends in high places, and a lot of influence. We didn’t have any money, we didn’t have any friends in high places, we didn’t have any influence, but still we were successful, and he was not. Why?” Well, Haridasa didn’t answer, and Srila Prabhupada himself gave the answer, “Because we were working to please Krishna, for Krishna’s sake, and he was working for his own sake.” So Srila Prabhupada said, “We’re successful because of Krishna’s pleasure.” And then he came back to that point, “Krishna will be pleased if we come back and chant in front of the deities.” But within that instruction, he made the same point that even though someone, an enemy, may be more powerful than we are materially, but we can still be successful by the mercy of the Lord, as Srila Prabhupada quoted, mām anusmara yudhya ca, “Think of Me and fight.” So, we fight our enemy to the best of our ability, but for victory, we must depend on the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

And, Srila Prabhupada was successful by the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and his efforts, but he didn’t have a lot of help. I mean, he had us, but as Srila Prabhupada himself said, he compared himself to Lord Ramachandra, and he compared the Western countries, such as America to Ravana because Ravana possessed great wealth, and he kidnapped Sita, who is Lakshmi, the goddess of fortune. So Srila Prabhupada was saying that the Western world is like Ravana, who had the possession of Sita or Lakshmi, great wealth. And, just as Rama crossed the ocean to get to Lanka, Srila Prabhupada had crossed the ocean to come to America. And, just as Rama was assisted by so many monkeys, Srila Prabhupada had been assisted by us.[laughter] We are certified monkeys, [laughter] but that’s glorious because we’re monkeys in Srila Prabhupada’s army. 

So yes, coming to the internal, Ravana, lust and envy. So we can vanquish that enemy by the same process by divine power. And that comes by our strong spiritual practices, especially chanting the holy names, getting up early in the morning. Our god-brother in Gainesville, Florida, Kalakantha dasa, he often says that the most important advice he can give anyone for their spiritual life is to take rest early, because if they take rest early, they can get up early, and then their spiritual practices have added value. 

Sri Sri Radha-Kalachandji ki. . . jaya

I don’t always rest early, but I do get up early. Of course, I do have the luxury, you could say, of being able to take a nap, but the idea is to get up early. And, the early hours beginning, say an hour and thirty-two minutes before sunrise, called brahma-muhūrta, are very auspicious for spiritual practices. And, Srila Prabhupada established our temple program to begin at 4:30 a.m. in the morning with maṅgala-ārati so that we could take advantage of those early hours. 

And, in other traditions. . . Pretty much every tradition has its esoteric section, most people, they are just conventional religionists—they go and pray—they’re pretty much on the material platform. But even in Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, there are, you could say, esoteric traditions, and all of those emphasize rising early in the morning, before sunrise. In Bombay, I made friends with some Muslims, and they used to come to the Juhu temple before maṅgala-ārati to pray. And, they said, in their tradition Allah hears the prayers that are offered before sunrise more than He hears the prayers offered after sunrise. So, that’s a common feature. Right now, we are really lucky in Dallas because the sunrise is so late, [laughter] it’s like 7:30 a.m., so we can get in a lot of chanting before sunrise without even getting up at 4:00 a.m. That’s a very important part of our practice. 

And, as Vaisesika Prabhu says, our preaching, not our book distribution, our preaching should be the overflow from the ecstasy or bliss we feel from our morning spiritual practices, and that is a very good, powerful combination. As His Holiness Giridhari Swami often says, “It works the other way too. Yes, that our strong sadhana enhances our preaching. But our preaching also enhances our sadhana because they work together, and they’re both meant to please Krishna, Srila Prabhupada, guru, and Krishna.” So, that critical moment at which Lord Ramachandra killed Ravana, that’s the celebration of Rama Vijayadashami. That moment is described in one of the most beautiful verses in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, not exactly from this section, but I’ll read it, just the translation because it’s so wonderful. This is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Two, Chapter Seven, “Scheduled incarnations,”

TEXT 25

When Rāvaṇa was engaged in the battle, the trunk of the elephant which carried the King of heaven, Indra, broke in pieces, having collided with the chest of Rāvaṇa,

COMMENT

Just imagine how powerful he was. So, I’ll read that again. 

TEXT 25

When Rāvaṇa was engaged in the battle, the trunk of the elephant which carried the King of heaven, Indra, broke in pieces, having collided with the chest of Rāvaṇa, and the scattered broken parts illuminated all directions. Rāvaṇa therefore felt proud of his prowess and began to loiter in the midst of the fighting soldiers, thinking himself the conqueror of all directions. But his laughter, overtaken by joy, along with his very air of life, suddenly ceased with the tingling sound of the bow of Rāmacandra, the Personality of Godhead.

COMMENT

The purport by Srila Prabhupada, it’s just one sentence but it’s very deep.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

However powerful a living being may be, when he is condemned by God no one can save him, and, similarly, however weak one may be, if he is protected by the Lord no one can annihilate him.

COMMENT

Krishna mare rakhe ke, Krishna rakhe mare ke: ‘If Krishna wants to kill you, who can protect you? And if Krishna wants to protect you, who can kill you?’ 

Lord Ramachandra Bhagavān ki. . . jaya, 

Sri Rama Vijayadashami ki. . . jaya. 

Of course, we do chant the holy name of Rama every day in the maha-mantra. That Rama can mean Krishna, Radha-Ramana; it can mean Lord Balarama; it can also mean Lord Ramachandra. Are there any questions or comments? All right, well, we have finished with one minute to spare, so who is our MC here? What comes next? Oh, Raja, do you want to say something?

Devotee: Nityananda Prabhu is saying about how today’s a day to give a prayer for spiritual service, what service you would like to have in this lifetime or in future lifetimes on Dussehra, I think it’s today. How do we go about picking something like that when it’s such a big--?

Giriraj Swami: Yes, today is Dussehra, but what was your question? 

Devotee: He was saying about how today’s a day you can pick a spiritual service that you would like to be engaged in, and pray to Krishna to give you that service, and He’ll give you that service. Whether it’s to see Krishna face to face, serve the movement in some significant way, or even in a small way for your own life, your own spiritual practice. Today’s a day to make a prayer to Krishna and then get some power to do that service in the future, and I was wondering how you can pick that service when it’s such an arbitrary kind of idea? 

Giriraj Swami: Who told you that if you pray that--? 

Devotee: Nityananda Prabhu, we had a class outside in the afternoon. 

Giriraj Swami: Oh, okay, well, that’s good. What service do you want to do? 

Devotee: I’m not sure, I thought you would be able to help. [Laughter] 

Giriraj Swami: That has to come from you. I mean, there was a devotee during Srila Prabhupada’s time, and he saw so many devotees had different services they were doing for Srila Prabhupada, he didn’t have any specific service he was doing for Srila Prabhupada. So he asked Srila Prabhupada to give him some service, and Srila Prabhupada said, “I will not give you the service, you have to think to yourself what service you want to offer.” He thought, and he saw that devotees had clay mridangas, which are very good, very sweet, but they would break, it wasn’t that easy to transport them. So, he came up with the idea of making Balarama mridangas because Srila Prabhupada have asked him to think of a service that he would like to do.

So I won’t ask you to tell us now, but you should think of what service you want to do, that desire has to come from inside of you. Of course, sometimes we might have difficulty finding that within ourselves because of our coverings. But knowing what service to offer forces us to come to a higher level. It’s said that a third-class disciple. . . Well, the way Srila Prabhupada put it, the spiritual master will give him an instruction, and he’ll say “Yes, I’ll do it.” And then halfway out the door, “What was it that Guru Maharaja wanted me to do?” A second-class disciple will receive an instruction from the guru, and execute it perfectly. A first-class disciple will know what the guru wants even without the guru telling him, and he will do it. 

At the Mayapur festival in 1972, I had come from Madras where I’d been preaching very successfully and arranged a nice program for Srila Prabhupada in Madras. I went into his room that has a grass hut there, if you’ve never been, towards the entrance, and Srila Prabhupada said, “During the British rule, there were three provinces, Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras, so which do you want?” I said, “Srila Prabhupada, I’ll do whatever you want me to do, just tell me where you want me to go, and what do you want me to do, and I’ll do it.” He said, “No, I want you to decide.”

So I thought about it, and I considered he was forcing me to come to a higher level where I could understand what he wanted or what Krishna wanted. From Mayapur, we went to Calcutta, and I would chant my rounds in front of the deities, Radha-Govinda, and pray for some answer, but no answer was coming. Finally, I thought, I’ll trick Srila Prabhupada into disclosing what he wants. So, I went into his room, and I said, “Srila Prabhupada, I was thinking the best thing would be for me to go back to Madras.” I gave the reasons, and in a completely neutral tone without any change of facial expression, he said, “Yes, you can do that.” Then I said, “But then again I was thinking, I should go to Bombay.” And I gave the reasons for that. And again, no change of expression, no change of tone of voice, “Yes, you can do that.”

By then I had the sinking feeling that this wasn’t going to work, but I’d already invested in it, so I thought I’ll follow it through. I said, “But then again I was thinking, I could stay here in Calcutta.” And then I gave the reasons for that, and he said, “Yes, you can do that.” Exactly the same. So I was actually happy that I couldn’t trick Srila Prabhupada, so I went back to my chanting and praying. And meanwhile, Srila Prabhupada left Calcutta, went to Bombay. I don’t know. Suddenly one day, I got an insight that I should go to Bombay, that Bombay was our head office. And, the main program in India then was making life members. If we took good care of the members, they would help us make more members. At one stage, Srila Prabhupada said, “If you just give me three life members a day, I’ll do everything else.” Then I wrote Srila Prabhupada my idea to come to Bombay, and he said, “Yes, come immediately.” And as they say, the rest is history. But I don’t think, I should say that. 

So that’s like a higher level to, on one’s own, be able to think of a service that one wants to render, to serve the mission, and to please guru and Krishna. But you can also consult, I mean, that’s also allowed, but you want to take advantage of today, right? You want to take advantage of today, so you want to make that prayer today. Well, I guess you have to pray to know what prayer to offer, I mean, there’s still time, there’s going to be kirtan, you might get some insight in the kirtan. But God willing, you’ll live for many Rama-vijaya-dasamis, so you can make one prayer at this time, make another one if you think of something else, do it the next time around, you’ll be okay. 

Any other questions or comments? 

All right, thank you very much. All glories to Srila Prabhupada, Hare Krishna, Hare Rama. 

His Holiness Giriraj Swami Maharaja ki. . .jaya