SB 3.2.23 – Sri Krishna Janmashtami

Giriraj Swami: Singing that kirtan I felt like I was in front of Sri Sri Radha-Kalachandji in the wonderful kirtans that we have in Dallas.

So, I will read a verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam which glorifies Lord Krishna and specifically His quality of mercy. So this is Canto Three, Chapter Two, Text Twenty-Three. This verse is significant, not only is the verse beautiful but it also has historical significance. Because when Śukadeva Gosvami came out of the womb after sixteen years, he left home immediately, and his father Srila Vyasadeva followed him into the forest. And when he came close enough to him, he recited two verses from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: one describing Krishna’s beauty, from the Tenth Canto, and one describing Krishna’s mercy which is the verse I’m going to read now. When Śukadeva Gosvami heard these two verses, the one describing Krishna’s mercy and the one describing Krishna’s beauty, he became attracted, although liberated, he became attracted by the transcendental qualities of Krishna. And so he came back to hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from his father, Srila Vyasadeva.

So now I’ll read the verse.

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

TEXT 23

aho bakī yaṁ stana-kāla-kūṭaṁ

jighāṁsayāpāyayad apy asādhvī

lebhe gatiṁ dhātry-ucitāṁ tato ‘nyaṁ

kaṁ vā dayāluṁ śaraṇaṁ vrajema

TRANSLATION

Alas, how shall I take shelter of one more merciful than He who granted the position of mother to a she-demon [Pūtanā] although she was unfaithful and she prepared deadly poison to be sucked from her breast?

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Here is an example of the extreme mercy of the Lord, even to His enemy. It is said that a noble man accepts the good qualities of a person of doubtful character, just as one accepts nectar from a stock of poison.

COMMENT

So, I’ll speak at intervals during the purport. At this point I would like to say that the Lord is absolute, He is all good for everyone and He is neutral toward everyone. He is always thinking of how to do good for others, so even if one approaches Him as an enemy, He will try to do good for the person as He did with Pūtanā. Although she came to kill Him by administering poison from her breast, He elevated her to the position of a nurse, like a mother in the spiritual world.

Srila Prabhupada said that it is a mark of a good man that he takes the good side, not the bad side of others, and that is something that we should also practice as far as practical. He gave the example of his Guru Maharaja, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta had a disciple named Kunjabihari dasa, people used to call him Kunja Babu, as we sometimes used to affectionately call Kunja Bihari, Kunja Babu, but anyway. . . People used to call him Kunja Babu who Srila Prabhupada said came to do business with their Guru Maharaja, to profit personally from his relationship from their Guru Maharaja and from his service to the Gaudiya Matha. But Srila Prabhupada said that their Guru Maharaja didn’t take Kunja’s dark side, that he was coming to make business, but he took the bright side, that he was coming to offer service.

So, Pūtanā Rākṣasī, yeah, I’m going to read a little quotation from Srila Prabhupada’s talk with Bob Cohen on February 28th, 1972, in Mayapur, which has been reproduced in the book Perfect Questions, Perfect Answers. So Srila Prabhupada says:

“Pūtanā Rākṣasī, she offered Kṛṣṇa poison. But Kṛṣṇa is so nice that He thought, “She took Me as My mother,” so He took the poison and delivered her. Kṛṣṇa does not take the bad side. A good man does not take the bad side, he takes only the good side. Just like one of my big Godbrothers, he wanted to make business with my Guru Mahārāja, but my Guru Mahārāja did not take the bad side. He took the good side. He thought, ‘He has come forward to give me some service.’”

So I’ll continue reading the purport.

PURPORT (continued)

In His babyhood, He was administered deadly poison by Pūtanā, a she-demon who tried to kill the wonderful baby. And because she was a demon, it was impossible for her to know that the Supreme Lord, even though playing the part of a baby, was no one less than the same Supreme Personality of Godhead.

COMMENT

So the background is that on the occasion of the wedding of Vasudeva and Devaki, Kamsa, who was Devaki’s brother, was driving their chariot and he heard a voice from the sky, Aakashvani, saying that the eighth son of Devaki would kill him and he was so selfish and egoistic and demonic that he didn’t wait for the eighth child, he killed all the sons of Devaki one by one. Then eventually Krishna appeared, and He manifested His four-handed form of Vishnu to convince Vasudeva and Devaki that He was the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But still out of parental affection they were afraid for Him and thus Vasudeva carried Krishna to Vrindavan.

Now, there is a whole discussion which I won’t enter into deeply now, but the basic idea is that Krishna took birth simultaneously as the son of Vasudeva and Devaki in the prison of Kamsa and as the son of Nanda and Yasoda in Vrindavan. And there are many evidences from the scripture to establish the fact that actually Krishna took birth both as the son of Vasudeva and Devaki in Mathura and as the son of Nanda and Yasoda in Vrindavan. But that’s a whole other discussion.

But anyway, so, out of parental affection Vasudeva and Devaki were afraid for Krishna and, so Vasudeva carried Krishna to Vrindavan. Kamsa sent many demons to Vrindavan to kill Krishna and Pūtanā was one of them and it is described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that when sucking Pūtanā’s breast, Krishna sucked out her life air. It is also described that He closed His eyes and commentators explained that He closed His eyes because He didn’t want to look at her, because although she was a demon, she was a woman who appeared to be showing motherly affection.

So, now I’ll come back to the purport. The end of the purport.

PURPORT (continued)

And because she was a demon, it was impossible for her to know that the Supreme Lord, even though playing the part of a baby, was no one less than the same Supreme Personality of Godhead. His value as the Supreme Lord did not diminish upon His becoming a baby to please His devotee Yaśodā. The Lord may assume the form of a baby or a shape other than that of a human being, but it doesn’t make the slightest difference; He is always the same Supreme. A living creature, however powerful he may become by dint of severe penance, can never become equal to the Supreme Lord.

Lord Kṛṣṇa accepted the motherhood of Pūtanā because she pretended to be an affectionate mother, allowing Kṛṣṇa to suck her breast. The Lord accepts the least qualification of the living entity and awards him the highest reward. That is the standard of His character. Therefore, who but the Lord can be the ultimate shelter?

COMMENT

So, this verse, apart from glorifying Krishna’s merciful nature, always reminds me of Srila Prabhupada, how shall I take shelter of one more merciful than he? There was no one more merciful than Srila Prabhupada. Lord Nityananda is most merciful,l and Srila Prabhupada manifested the same quality of mercy as Nityananda Prabhu.

When Srila Prabhupada was in Bombay, he received a phone call from the temple president in Calcutta who reported that one of Prabhupada’s earliest disciples from America had come to Calcutta and was smoking ganja, marijuana, and asked what to do. Prabhupada told his secretary to relay his response, “Tell him that if he doesn’t stop smoking ganja, I will reject him.” Afterwards, Tamal Krishna Goswami asked, “Is it true that if he doesn’t stop smoking ganja you will reject him?” And Prabhupada replied, “No, I cannot reject anyone, the mercy of Lord Nityananda has no limit.”

Then maybe two years later we were in Juhu and Srila Prabhupada had a disciple who fell into bad company and was living on Juhu beach and doing yogic tricks, he was doing things like putting a penny or paisa in his ear and then making it come out from somewhere else, different strange things to collect money. And he was known as a disciple of Prabhupada and a member of ISKCON, so Tamal Krishna Goswami approached Srila Prabhupada and said, “This is happening and he is giving you a bad name and giving ISKCON a bad name, you should reject him.” And again Srila Prabhupada replied, “I cannot reject anyone.” Tamal Krishna Goswami asked, “But don’t you have to draw the line somewhere?” And again Srila Prabhupada said, “The mercy of Lord Nityananda has no limit.”

So another person whom Srila Prabhupada encouraged was Dr. C.P. Patel. It just occurred to me that I have about six minutes left, so rather than continuing to speak, maybe we should open the floor or open the microphone to questions and comments, so we can have a little time for a discussion.

Nityananda Prabhu? Where is our dear Nityananda dasa?

Anyway, I think that will be good, so if any of you have any, oh yeah.

Devotee: Hare Krishna, Maharaja, sorry. I was trying to unmute myself and start the video again.

Giriraj Swami: Okay.

Devotee: So, sorry about that, Maharaja. Yes, thank you very much for the class, Maharaja, I had one question to ask you.

Giriraj Swami: Sure.

Devotee: And that was relating to this very last topic, that Lord Nityananda’s mercy is unlimited.

Giriraj Swami: Yeah.

Devotee: The times when others feel so challenged by the situation that they say to us, “If you don’t take care of the situation we are leaving, we are going to leave.” So how do you manage one side as opposed to the other side? How do you manage it?

Giriraj Swami: That reminds me of an incident that took place in the old Boston temple when I joined, that would have been in 1970, 1969 or 1970. So, there was a devotee whom we gave the nickname “Crazy Peter”, and “Crazy Peter” would station himself in the front hallway, he would stretch out his legs and yeah, it was sort of strange. And so the first thing that new people saw when they came to the temple was “Crazy Peter,” and so we wrote Srila Prabhupada and asked him what to do and he replied, “What’s the matter? Can’t you tolerate?” So, I think that for people who take that stance, that hard line, I mean of course not knowing who they are or what the situation is, it’s sort of hypothetical but I would quote that, “What’s the matter? Can’t you tolerate?”

Devotee: Right.

Giriraj Swami: And then years later, anyway I started to spend a lot of time in Vrindavan with Tamal Krishna Goswami and we were reading a lot of translations of Prabhupada’s books. Not, sorry, not Prabhupada’s books, excuse me. A lot of translations of books by the Goswami’s and previous acharyas. And they were really nourishing our devotion and they were translated by a devotee named Kusakratha dasa. So years later I came to L.A. and I saw “Crazy Peter” in the temple room, so I asked someone, “Who’s that?” And they said, “Oh, that’s Kusakratha Prabhu.” So “Crazy Peter” went on to become this brilliant translator of the books of the Gosvamis and previous acharyas from Sanskrit into English. And that I would say began from Srila Prabhupada’s protecting him and saying, “What’s the matter? Can’t you tolerate?”

So that would be my response.

Devotee: Thank you, Maharaja, thank you very much.

Giriraj Swami: Are there any other questions? We have two minutes left, of course I guess there are different clocks, have different, I’ve noticed that there, but anyway, we have one or two minutes left if anyone else wants to.

Devotee: Hare Krishna, Guru Maharaja. Daṇḍavat-praṇāmās.

Giriraj Swami: Yeah, thank you so much.

Devotee: Maharaja, I just wanted to ask, usually on regular Janmashtami in regular times we would have services and we’ll go in the temple in association with devotees, it’s just a different atmosphere at home now in today’s time, what can we do? What should be our mood?

Giriraj Swami: Yeah, well, yeah I’m sure you have deities at home.

Devotee: Yes.

Giriraj Swami: You can serve your deities and we can chant more and read. Srila Prabhupada on Janmashtami, he would have devotees read Kṛṣṇa book, you can start at the beginning and keep reading. And that’s really powerful. I remember one year in Ahmedabad, they had I think thousands of people for Janmashtami, that’s usually the way it is. And so Yasomatinandan Prabhu, who is the temple president, he just read Kṛṣṇa book and people were captivated, they were riveted.

So yeah, chant more, read more, of course fast and then at midnight you can break the fast with Ekādaśī type prasāda, yeah. And I’ll be having a few more programs today, you can join.

Devotee: Thank you, Guru Maharaja.

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna.