SB 10.33–36 – In Anticipation of Sri Krishna Janmashtami

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna. My dear devotees who have joined on Zoom, as far as possible, please put on your cameras so we can see your moon-like faces, and it will be more personal. So, tonight we are going to discuss Sri Krishna Janmashtami, the appearance day of Lord Krishna, which is coming up in one week. On special occasions such as this, and soon, we will be celebrating the pastimes of Mother Yasoda binding Krishna with ropes, and then Krishna lifting Govardhana Hill. Unless we know who Krishna is, we won’t know what to make of these seemingly fantastic stories. The scriptures give different explanations of why Krishna, the all-loving, ever blissful, Supreme Person appears. The Bhagavad-gītā 4.8 states.

paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ
vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām
dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya
sambhavāmi yuge yuge

That He appears to deliver the devotees, and to annihilate the miscreants, and to re-establish the principles of religion. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.33.36 explains further:

anugrahāya bhaktānāṁ
mānuṣaṁ deham āsthitaḥ
bhajate tādṛśīḥ krīḍa
yāḥ śrutvā tat-paro bhavet

TRANSLATION

When the Supreme Lord assumes a humanlike body to show mercy to His devotees, He engages in such pastimes as will attract those who hear about them to become dedicated to Him.

COMMENT

So, who is Krishna? Is Krishna just a concept, or as some people think, it is that the impersonal one assumes the form of Krishna, Rama, Shiva, Ganesh, or Durga, and you can worship any form and in the end merge into the one? To avoid such misunderstandings, we have to know who Krishna is. And that begins with studying the Bhagavad-gītā, and the first Cantos of the Bhāgavatam. Ultimately, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam gives us a picture of the spiritual world, what life with God in the spiritual world is like. We read about Krishna, how He comes home from tending the cows, and we read that we can live with Him forever in a loving relationship in the most splendrous land of Vrindavan, and we become attracted and think, Oh, I want to go there. I want to experience that life. That is why Krishna comes specifically in His human-like form, to show mercy to His devotees, so that by hearing about life with Krishna, we become attracted to Him and inspired to dedicate our lives to Him.

But we should not think that Krishna is only in the spiritual world. Krishna is everywhere. And if we surrender to Him, we can get the same benefit here, in the material world, that the pure devotees get in the spiritual world. If you read the Kṛṣṇa book or otherwise hear about the pastimes of Krishna, you will find that almost every day, some demon was coming to Vrindavan to cause trouble. But did the residents of Vrindavan come rushing out with their plows and sticks to attack the demons? No, they took shelter of Krishna. And what did Krishna do? He protected them. So, when we hear these stories, we should think, Wow! Krishna is so kind to His devotees. Even in the midst of the worst calamity, if we just take shelter of Krishna, He will protect us. All I need to do is surrender to Krishna. So, Krishna appears for that reason, and we can make the purpose of His appearance successful by hearing about His pastimes and dedicating ourselves to Him.

So, now I will speak more about the actual appearance of Lord Krishna. I will read from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Ten, Chapter Two: “Prayers by the Demigods for Lord Kṛṣṇa in the Womb.”

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

TEXT 18

tato jagan-maṅgalam acyutāṁśaṁ
samāhitaṁ śūra-sutena devī
dadhāra sarvātmakam ātma-bhūtaṁ
kāṣṭhā yathānanda-karaṁ manastaḥ

TRANSLATION

Thereafter, accompanied by plenary expansions, the fully opulent Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is auspicious for the entire universe, was transferred from the mind of Vasudeva to the mind of Devakī. Devakī, having thus been initiated by Vasudeva, became beautiful by carrying Lord Kṛṣṇa, the original consciousness for everyone, the cause of all causes, within the core of her heart, just as the east becomes beautiful by carrying the rising moon.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

As indicated here by the word manastaḥ, the Supreme Personality of Godhead was transferred from the core of Vasudeva’s mind or heart to the core of the heart of Devakī. We should note carefully that the Lord was transferred to Devakī not by the ordinary way for a human being, but by dīkṣā, initiation. Thus the importance of initiation is mentioned here. Unless one is initiated by the right person, who always carries within his heart the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one cannot acquire the power to carry the Supreme Godhead within the core of one’s own heart.

The word acyutāṁśam is used because the Supreme Personality of Godhead is ṣaḍ-aiśvarya-pūrṇa, full in the opulences of wealth, strength, fame, knowledge, beauty and renunciation. The Supreme Godhead is never separated from His personal opulences. As stated in the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.39), rāmādi-mūrtiṣu kalā-niyamena tiṣṭhan: the Lord is always situated with all His plenary expansions, such as Rāma, Nṛsiṁha and Varāha. Therefore the word acyutāṁśam is specifically used here, signifying that the Lord is always present with His plenary expansions and opulences. There is no need to think of the Lord artificially as yogīs do. Dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yoginaḥ (Bhāg. 12.13.1). Yogīs meditate upon the Supreme Person within the mind. For a devotee, however, the Lord is present, and His presence need only be awakened through initiation by a bona fide spiritual master. The Lord did not need to live within the womb of Devakī, for His presence within the core of her heart was sufficient to carry Him. One is here forbidden to think that Kṛṣṇa was begotten by Vasudeva within the womb of Devakī and that she carried the child within her womb.

When Vasudeva was sustaining the form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead within his heart, he appeared just like the glowing sun, whose shining rays are always unbearable and scorching to the common man. The form of the Lord situated in the pure, unalloyed heart of Vasudeva is not different from the original form of Kṛṣṇa. The appearance of the form of Kṛṣṇa anywhere, and specifically within the heart, is called dhāma. Dhāma refers not only to Kṛṣṇa’s form, but to His name, His form, His quality and His paraphernalia. Everything becomes manifest simultaneously.

Thus the eternal form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead with full potencies was transferred from the mind of Vasudeva to the mind of Devakī, exactly as the setting sun’s rays are transferred to the full moon rising in the east.

Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, entered the body of Devakī from the body of Vasudeva. He was beyond the conditions of the ordinary living entity. When Kṛṣṇa is there, it is to be understood that all His plenary expansions, such as Nārāyaṇa, and incarnations like Lord Nṛsiṁha and Varāha, are with Him, and they are not subject to the conditions of material existence. In this way, Devakī became the residence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is one without a second and the cause of all creation. Devakī became the residence of the Absolute Truth, but because she was in the house of Kaṁsa, she looked just like a suppressed fire, or like misused education. When fire is covered by the walls of a pot or is kept in a jug, the illuminating rays of the fire cannot be very much appreciated. Similarly, misused knowledge, which does not benefit the people in general, is not very much appreciated. So Devakī was kept within the prison walls of Kaṁsa’s palace, and no one could see her transcendental beauty, which resulted from her conceiving the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Commenting on this verse, Śrī Vīrarāghava Ācārya writes: vasudeva-devakī jaṭharayor hṛdayayor bhagavataḥ sambandhaḥ. The Supreme Lord’s entrance into the womb of Devakī from the heart of Vasudeva was a heart-to-heart relationship.

COMMENT

Hare Krishna. So, we have gathered to remember or celebrate the appearance of Lord Krishna in this world. According to Vedic literature, Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayaṁ, He is the Absolute Truth, the origin of all that exists. And He is realized in three features, nondual (advaya), as explained in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.2.11):

vadanti tat tattva-vidas

tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam

brahmeti paramātmeti

bhagavān iti śabdyate

“Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, Paramātmā or Bhagavān.”

Brahman is the impersonal effulgence that emanates from the transcendental form of the Lord. Paramātmā is the localized feature of the Lord, within the heart, and Bhagavān is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna Himself, full in six opulences.

The form of Krishna is not material. Our bodies are material, distinct from the soul, which is spiritual. But in the case of Krishna He and His body are non-different because He is absolute. There is no difference between His inside and His outside. He is completely spiritual. The Brahma-saṁhitā says:

īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ

“Krishna is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal, blissful spiritual body.”

anādir ādir govindaḥ
sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam

“He is the origin of all, but He himself has no origin and He is the prime cause of all causes.”

That is Krishna. Everything we see in the material world has a cause. On a simple level, we can say, “I am caused by my parents,” or, “My body is caused by my parents.” They, in turn, were caused by their parents, who, in turn, were caused by their parents. And if we keep going back further, further, further, eventually, we will come to the original cause, and that is Krishna, sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam. He is the cause of everything, the cause of all causes. But He Himself has no cause.

This is hard for us to understand in the conditioned stage, because everything material has a cause, everything has a beginning and an end. But Krishna has no beginning and no end, He is eternal, sanātana. Eternal means no beginning and no end. Even we, as spirit souls, are also eternal. We have no beginning and no end. Our life in a particular body has a beginning, which we call ‘birth’ or ‘conception,’ and it has an end within a particular body, which we call ‘death.’ But we, as spirit souls, have no beginning and no end, because we are parts and parcels of Krishna. We are of the same quality as Krishna, just in different quantity. The Lord says in the Bhagavad-gītā (15.7):

mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke
jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ
manaḥ-ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi
prakṛti-sthāni karṣati

“The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind.”

The living entity is an eternal, fragmental part of Krishna. This is the sublime philosophy of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu called acintya-bhedābheda-tattva, the inconceivable simultaneous oneness and difference of the living entity and the Supreme Lord. We are one in quality with the Lord but different in quantity. He is infinite and we are infinitesimal. Because we have the same qualities, we can have a relationship with Him. Unless there is some commonness, we cannot have a relationship. And because of the difference in quantity—He is the whole and we are the part—our relationship is one of service. It is the natural function of the part to serve the whole. For example, the hand is a part of the body, so the function of the hand is to serve the body. If the hand doesn’t serve the body, there is something wrong; it is diseased or dead. So, our natural function is to serve Krishna, jīvera svarūpa haya kṛṣṇera nitya-dāsa. As we are eternal, as Krishna is eternal, and our relationship, our service, is also eternal. It never ends. This is called sanātana-dharma.

Earlier, we mentioned the three features of the Absolute Truth; Brahman, Paramātmā, and Bhagavān. There are different classes of transcendentalists, who have different spiritual aspirations. Most people are materialists. They are not even interested in spiritual life. They just want to enjoy the world. But when one becomes a little more elevated, a little more purified in consciousness, one thinks of improving oneself spiritually. And when one becomes serious enough, one will actually enter into a discipline in a particular school of thought and practice.

So, one category of transcendentalists is the jnanis. Their goal is to merge and become one with Brahman, the impersonal effulgence that emanates from the transcendental body of Krishna. And higher than the jnanis are the yogis. They want to realize the localized feature, the Lord within the heart. And above them, the highest, are the bhaktas. They want to enter into a loving relationship with Bhagavān, Sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Although in one sense, because the Absolute Truth is nondual (advaya), all transcendentalists are the same, still, from an analytical, or objective, point of view, there are degrees of realization. As stated earlier, Krishna is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha. Sat means eternal, cit means cognizant, and ānanda means blissful. The jnanis who attain impersonal Brahman realize only the sat feature, eternal existence. The yogis who realize Paramātmā have perception of sat (eternity) and cit (knowledge), because they apprehend the individuality of the Lord in the heart. And the bhaktas, devotees, have full realization of sat, cit, and ānanda (eternity, knowledge, and bliss) because real happiness comes from loving relationships.

Although one may say that there is a sort of bliss in impersonal Brahman, compared with the ecstatic happiness of loving service to Krishna, it is insignificant. There are many statements in the shastras, the Vedic scriptures, to the effect that the happiness realized in relationship with Krishna is like an ocean and that the happiness of merging, or trying to merge, into a personal Brahman is like a puddle of water in comparison.

tvat-sākṣāt-karaṇāhlāda-
viśuddhābdhi-sthitasya me
sukhāni goṣ-padāyante
brāhmāṇy api jagad-guro

“My dear Lord, O master of the universe, since I have directly seen You, my transcendental bliss has taken the shape of a great ocean. Being situated in that ocean, I now realize that all other so-called happiness, pleasure derived from impersonal Brahman, to be like the water contained in the hoofprint of a calf.” (Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya 14.36)

Practically, there is no comparison. Furthermore, to realize impersonal Brahman is very difficult, especially in the present age. And even if one succeeds, or imagines that one has succeeded, there is every chance that one will fall down.

ye ‘nye ‘ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas
tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ
āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ
patanty adho ‘nādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ

“O lotus-eyed Lord, although nondevotees who accept severe austerities and penances to achieve the highest position may think themselves liberated, their intelligence is impure. They fall down from their position of imagined superiority because they have no regard for Your lotus feet.” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.2.32)

More likely, they just imagine that they have realized Brahman, but whether they have actually realized it or just imagine they have, because they have neglected the service of the lotus feet of Krishna, they fall down, patanty adhah.

So, why does the Lord descend? He is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha; eternal, full of knowledge and bliss. And He lives in His spiritual abode, where everything is eternal, full of knowledge and bliss. And He is served by great souls completely free of material contamination, liberated from the material bodies that cause so much pain. So, why should the Lord come here at all? What does He have to gain?

Personally, He has nothing to gain. But He comes out of His mercy, to deliver us. The material world is compared to a prison house, and we, conditioned souls, are the prisoners. We are restricted, like prisoners. We can’t just go anywhere and everywhere, wherever we want. Liberated souls can travel anywhere in the universe. They don’t need spaceships or any other such contraptions. They can move about freely. But we are bound. We are not allowed to leave this planet very easily, and even if we do, we don’t really have any other place to stay. So, we are bound, we have to suffer.

There are different schools of philosophy—sad-darsana—and one philosopher has analyzed and concluded that the body is meant for misery. He gives the example of your little finger. How many ways can your little finger enjoy? Not many. And how many ways can it feel pain? So many. Even a little sliver or blister can be so painful. And the finger can be cut, burned, crushed. The body is so vulnerable. But the soul is not. As the Gītā says, it cannot be cut, it cannot be burned, it cannot be made wet, it cannot be withered. It is beyond the range of material elements.

nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi
nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ
na cainaṁ kledayanty āpo
na śoṣayati mārutaḥ

“The soul can never be cut to pieces by any weapon, nor burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor withered by the wind.” (Bhagavad-gītā 2.23)

Without the body, the soul can enjoy freely, in every way, but without the pain. And because the soul is part and parcel of Krishna, it derives its real happiness in relation to Krishna. We are now like fishes out of water, because originally, we come from Krishna, from the spiritual atmosphere, and we have come into the material world and are suffering in a foreign atmosphere. We are always restless, anxious, and fearful. So, why does Krishna come? He comes to reclaim us, His lost children, to bring us back home, back to Him. That is why He comes. There is no other reason. There is nothing for Him here. He comes only for our sake.

Although He comes into the material world, He doesn’t come in a physical body. He comes in His original, spiritual form, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha. And Krishna in particular comes in a form that resembles a human being. As it is said, man is made in the image of God. That Krishna comes in a human-like form is very good for us, because it makes it easier for us in human bodies to relate to Him.

anugrahāya bhaktānāṁ
mānuṣaṁ deham āsthitaḥ
bhajate tādṛśīḥ krīḍa
yāḥ śrutvā tat-paro bhavet

“When the Lord assumes a humanlike body to show mercy to His devotees, He engages in such pastimes as will attract those who hear about them to become dedicated to Him.” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.33.36)

He comes to reclaim us and deliver us, His lost children and devotees. And how does He come? He does not take birth like ordinary human beings, by seminal discharge. Rather, He manifests Himself, or appears.

ajo ‘pi sann avyayātmā
bhūtānām īśvaro ‘pi san
prakṛtiṁ svām adhiṣṭhāya
sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā

“Although I am unborn and My transcendental body never deteriorates, and although I am the Lord of all living entities, I still appear in every millennium in My original transcendental form.” (Bhagavad-gītā 4.6)

And that is what we read. It is a very esoteric subject, how the Lord appears. But He chooses a completely purified devotee and enters the mind of that completely purified devotee. The name of the devotees whose mind Krishna entered is given here, Vasudeva. And the state that enabled him to receive Krishna within his pure mind is called vasudeva, which means completely beyond the three modes of material nature, completely transcendental. The state of pure goodness, śuddha-sattva. As stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, sattvaṁ viśuddhaṁ vasudeva-śabditaṁ, completely pure consciousness is known as vasudeva.

sattvaṁ viśuddhaṁ vasudeva-śabditaṁ
yad īyate tatra pumān apāvṛtaḥ
sattve ca tasmin bhagavān vāsudevo
hy adhokṣajo me namasā vidhīyate

“The condition of pure goodness [śuddha-sattva], in which the Supreme Personality of Godhead is revealed without any covering, is called vasudeva. In that pure state the Supreme Godhead, who is beyond the material senses and who is known as Vāsudeva, is perceived by my mind.” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.3.23 quoted as Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Ādi-Līlā 4.66)

After Vasudeva received Krishna within his purified mind or heart, he, by his spiritual power, transferred Krishna into the purified heart of Devaki. There was no seminal discharge. And the process by which the Supreme Personality of Godhead was transferred from the heart of Vasudeva to the heart of Devaki is called dīkṣā. Dīkṣā means spiritual initiation. Dīkṣā takes place between the teacher, or guru, and disciple. When the guru is qualified enough, he can carry Krishna within his heart. And when the disciple is qualified enough, he can receive Krishna from the guru through the exchange called dīkṣā. We cannot attain Krishna by our own efforts. We have to receive Krishna by the mercy of one who has Him. Thus, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, a great spiritual teacher, prays to the pure devotee:

kṛṣṇa se tomāra, kṛṣṇa dīte pāro,

tomāra śakati āche

āmi to' kāńgāla, 'kṛṣṇa' 'kṛṣṇa' boli',

dhāi tava pāche pāche

“Krishna is yours; you have the power to give Him to me. I am simply running behind you shouting, “Krishna! Krishna!” That’s from Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s book of songs called Śaraṇāgati. The song is called Ohe Vaishnava Thakura.

The act of dīkṣā, as described in today’s verse, is really the culmination of a gradual process. The process of purification varies from age to age. Although the basic process is the same—Krishna consciousness—in the present age, the specific process recommended is to chant the holy names of the Lord,

harer nāma harer nāma
harer nāmaiva kevalam
kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva
nāsty eva gatir anyathā

“One should chant the holy name, chant the holy name, chant the holy name of Lord Hari [Krishna]. There is no other means, no other means, no other means for success in this age.” (Bṛhan-nāradīya Purāṇa 38.126)

Chant is repeated three times for emphasis. “You must do it, you must do it, you must do it.” There was once a cartoon in the newspaper, which depicted an elderly man sitting across from his wife. She was requesting him, “Chant, chant, chant,” and he was replying, “Can’t, can’t, can’t.” That is our misfortune. Shastra, scripture, tells us, “Chant, chant, chant,” (hari-nāma, hari-nāma, hari-nāma), and for no good reason, just some causeless aversion, we say (not necessarily by our words but by our behavior), “Can’t, can’t, can’t.” “Can’t, because I’m too busy.” “Can’t, because I prefer other things.” “Can’t, because, because, because. . .” So, harer nāma, harer nāma, harer nāma is emphatic: chant, chant, chant. And kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva; there is no other way, no other way, no other way for success in this age.

The process of chanting (saṅkīrtana) cleanses the heart, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ, and makes it a fit place for the Lord to reside. That is what we have to do to prepare to receive Him. We have to chant. And chanting is pleasant. That’s the other thing: although the result of Krishna consciousness is the highest, the process is also the easiest and most sublime. It’s almost too good to be true, but it is true. Chanting is easy and joyful, and at the same time it cleanses the heart, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ, and makes it a fit place for the Lord to reside. That is the perfection of Krishna consciousness, and it is possible for each and every one of us.

So, Krishna comes to give us this message, and if from this occasion, Sri Krishna Janmashtami, we can just take this message, take it in our heart, that will be the beginning of our perfection. We must take it in our heart and practice it and repeat it to others—repeat it both for the benefit of others and for our own sake. And the results will be glorious. Krishna’s purpose in appearing in this world will be fulfilled, and our purpose as human beings will be fulfilled. And we will all be happy in Krishna consciousness together. Hare Krishna.

So, we have spoken a little about the Lord’s merciful appearance, and now we can open the floor, or open the mic, to devotees to ask questions or make comments, share with us their reflections. I see Shyama Chandra dasa raising his hand.

Shyama Chandra dasa: Can I be heard?

Giriraj Swami: Yes.

Shyama Chandra dasa: Okay. Hare Krishna, Guru Maharaja. Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Your Divine Grace. I have a question, not specifically related to your lecture, although it was very nice, very esoteric. It is related to Kṛṣṇa book. In Kṛṣṇa book, Devaki is the daughter of Devaka, and Kamsa is the son of Ugrasena, but Kamsa and Devaki, they’re not siblings, they don’t have the same father. How is it that they are siblings?

Giriraj Swami: Yes, but technically, they are cousins. And in India, they would often use the phrase cousin brother or cousin sister. So, in that sense, we can say that Kamsa was the brother of Devaki, but actually, it would be precise to say that he was the cousin brother.

Shyama Chandra dasa: I have another question. You don’t have to answer it. Why did Krishna allow the holocaust?

Giriraj Swami: Well, it’s sort of like the question of the problem of evil. And Srila Prabhupada says that Krishna is light, but when we turn our backs on Krishna, we are in darkness and in shadow, and Krishna gives us minute independence. Ultimately, He wants our love, and love is voluntary. So, we have free will. And also, we are part and parcel of Krishna, mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ, and Krishna has complete independence, and we as His parts and parcels have minute independence, which means that we can use our free will properly or improperly. And when we use it properly, we serve Krishna and all living entities, and when we misuse our minute independence, we go against Krishna’s will and engage in many sinful activities, such as the holocaust. But we can’t really blame Krishna for that. It’s our misuse of our free will that we engage in such horrible activities. It’s described in the Bhagavad-gītā, the demoniac nature engaging unbeneficial horrible works.

Well, I see there are some other hands up.

Shyama Chandra dasa: Thank you very much.

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna. So, Nitai-Gaurasundara Prabhu, can you decide who will speak next?

Devotee: I think Krishna Lila Mataji’s hand was up first.

Giriraj Swami: Okay.

Krishna Lila dasi: Actually, Phanesvari’s hand was up first.

Phanesvari Laxmi: It’s okay, Mataji, you can go, please.

Krishna Lila dasi: Hare Krishna, Maharaja.

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna.

Krishna Lila dasi: I was wondering about. . . When you were talking about this transference from Vasudeva’s heart to Devaki’s heart, you were referring to it being an initiation. So, this transference from the guru to the disciple is called dīkṣā, just like Vasudeva transferred Krishna to Devaki. So, can this transference also be applicable to both types of the gurus; the śikṣā-guru and the dīkṣā-guru, even though it’s called dīkṣā, this transference?

Giriraj Swami: Yes, that’s a good question. I mean, it is mentioned specifically here dīkṣā, but the same transferal can take place through śikṣā, that is true. And therefore, Caitanya-caritāmṛta says that we should respect our śikṣā-gurus and dīkṣā-guru on the same level. Of course, there are different kinds of śikṣā-gurus. Some are more general, and some are more particular, but yes.

There was one GBC meeting in which the GBC was listing the qualities of the guru or functions of the guru, and His Holiness Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja wanted them to put on the list, “He gives Krishna.” And somehow, they were reluctant to put that on the board, but Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja said, “You must put it. He gives Krishna, he gives Krishna, he gives Krishna.”

Phanesvari Laxmi: Hare Krishna, Maharaja. Please accept my respectful obeisances. Thank you for a wonderful class. I have two questions. I’ll ask them both, and you can answer them however you want. My first question is: when they say that there’s no separation between Krishna and His body, what does that exactly mean? How can I understand what that means?

Giriraj Swami: So, in our case, there’s a difference between the soul and the body, because the soul is spiritual, and the body is material. But in the case of Krishna, He’s all spiritual, He’s absolute. There’s no difference between His inside and His outside. So, He’s advaya, He’s nondual.

Phanesvari Laxmi: Okay. My other question is about the chanting. You were saying that this process is sublime and it’s easy. How come it’s so difficult for us? [laughter] I mean, there will be days when we’re thinking, This is what chanting is. And there will be days, and unfortunately, sometimes this other type is what adds more, Oh my God, I still have rounds to chant. And sometimes I feel bad because now it has become a chore, it has been something that I need to do instead of thinking, Let’s do this. How can we get out of that mindset? How do we change that?

Giriraj Swami: Yes. Well, there are many nice books about chanting. Bhurijana Prabhu has written a book called Japa, and His Holiness Sacinandana Swami has written many nice books about chanting. And reading those books will help us. And some devotees have written affirmations. Although you wouldn’t necessarily think that they work, but they do, actually. Affirmations do actually work. So, you can have your affirmations, “I like chanting.” I’ve facilitated japa retreats and japa workshops with many wonderful devotees, and in one of them, Mahatma Prabhu was saying, “Today is a sixty-four-round day.” Because one of the days, we would dedicate to chanting sixty-four rounds. And so, he wrote, “Today, I have to chant sixty-four rounds.” And then he crossed out the ‘have’ and put ‘get,’ “Today I get to chant sixty-four rounds,” to change our mindset, change our attitude towards our chanting. I mean, chanting because we have to do it and finish our rounds, it’s not bad, but it’s not the best.

Phanesvari Laxmi: Thank you very much. Hare Krishna.

Giriraj Swami: So, if there are no more questions or comments, maybe we can end now.

Devotee: Never mind, one more question.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, Kartiki from Pune.

Kartiki Turkar: Hare Krishna, Guru Maharaja. Daṇḍavat-praṇāmās. Am I audible?

Giriraj Swami: You are.

Kartiki Turkar: Maharaja, my question was that Krishna is a little hesitant to give love of Godhead, and He checks the surrender of devotees thoroughly before giving the love of Godhead. Is it true, Maharaja?

Giriraj Swami: Yes, it is said that Krishna will give other benedictions more easily, but He does not give love of Godhead so easily, because by love of Godhead, He becomes conquered by His devotee. But Srila Jiva Gosvami comments that that statement is not exactly true, because Krishna likes to be conquered by the love of His devotees, He likes it. But the purport of the statement is to show how rare and how valuable love of Godhead is. That’s the actual understanding.

Kartiki Turkar: Guru Maharaja, my related question was if this is the case, it’s a very rare opportunity that Krishna grants the love of Godhead, then I feel myself like I’m not Kunti Maharani, [Unintelligible 01:21:52], nor like the gopīs, who are pure devotees. But at the same time, I don’t want to lose this opportunity of this human life, this birth. So, is there any hope for me?

Giriraj Swami: Of course, there’s hope for you. You should persevere. There’s a small book by Srila Rupa Gosvami called Upadeśāmṛta that Srila Prabhupada has given us under the title The Nectar of Instruction, and that book, in one verse, mentions the six items that will guarantee one’s complete success in devotional service. So, utsāhān means enthusiasm, niścayād means confidence, and dhairyāt means patience, tat-tat-karma-pravartanāt. And in one purport, Srila Prabhupada writes that Krishna consciousness is so pure and perfect, that having once begun, one is dragged to ultimate success. So, just persevere, utsāhān niścayād dhairyāt, and ultimately, you will be successful by the grace of Krishna and the paramparā. Don’t give up, don’t stop.

Kartiki Turkar: Okay, Maharaja, thank you. I’ll try persevere my best. Haribol.

Giriraj Swami: Malati dasi?

Devotee: You have to unmute yourself.

Malati dasi: Thank you so much for your beautiful class today, Guru Maharaja. I have a question related to initiation. If a devotee is not yet initiated and following the instructions of her spiritual master and it’s a heart-to-heart relationship, that devotee is not officially getting the direct saṅga of guru, but she is having this relationship. But then, if in between, that guru leaves his body, and then she’s having that heart-to-heart relationship and following all the instructions, is it important to take initiation, Maharaja? Can she just continue with the same relationship ahead?

Giriraj Swami: There have been a number of cases like that, and in some of those cases, the devotees have come to me. One should take initiation, it’s part of the standard process of bhakti-yoga, guru padashaya diksheti siksheti, and should take shelter of the lotus feet of the spiritual master, take initiation and instructions from him. But of course, the disciple should take initiation from a guru who is cognizant of and respectful of that disciple’s relationship with the other guru who left before he could initiate that disciple.

There was one lady in Mayapur who was very attached to His Holiness Sridhar Swami Maharaja, but he left before he could initiate her. And because of my relationship with His Holiness Sridhar Swami Maharaja, she approached me, and I felt within my heart that Sridhar Swami Maharaja was directing me to accept her. So, first, we went to Srila Prabhupada’s samadhi, and then we went to His Holiness Sridhar Swami’s samadhi. And I initiated her in front of Sridhar Swami Maharaja’s samadhi on behalf of Sridhar Swami. And in front of his samadhi, I said to her, “I’m initiating you on behalf of Sridhar Swami, but I’m also initiating you. I can’t really initiate you on behalf of Sridhar Swami because that would be a ritvik initiation, and Sridhar Swami was completely against Ritvik. And she said, “I know.”

Malati dasi: Thank you, Guru Maharaja, it was such a beautiful exchange. Thank you.

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna.

Malati dasi: Hare Krishna.

Giriraj Swami: Are there any other questions or comments? Well, if not, then I suppose we can end now, which I suggest we do with Vaishnava praṇāma.

Let us offer our respectful obeisances unto all the Vaishnava devotees of the Lord who are just like desire trees who could fulfill the desires of everyone, and they are full of compassion for all the fallen conditioned souls.

vāñchā-kalpa-tarubhyaś ca
kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca
patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo
vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ

Ananta-koṭi  Vaiṣṇava-vṛnda ki Jaya.

Srila Prabhuoada ki Jaya.

Sri Krishna Janmashtami ki jaya!