SB 2.7.23–25 – Sri Rama-navami

Giriraj Swami: We read from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Canto Two, Chapter Seven – “Scheduled Incarnations with Specific Functions,” Text Twenty-three

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

TEXT 23

asmat-prasāda-sumukhaḥ kalayā kaleśa

ikṣvāku-vaṁśa avatīrya guror nideśe

tiṣṭhan vanaṁ sa-dayitānuja āviveśa

yasmin virudhya daśa-kandhara ārtim ārcchat

TRANSLATION

Due to His causeless mercy upon all living entities within the universe, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, along with His plenary extensions, appeared in the family of Mahārāja Ikṣvāku as the Lord of His internal potency, Sītā. Under the order of His father, Mahārāja Daśaratha, He entered the forest and lived there for considerable years with His wife and younger brother. Rāvaṇa, who was very materially powerful, with ten heads on his shoulders, committed a great offense against Him and was thus ultimately vanquished.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Lord Rāma is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and His brothers, namely Bharata, Lakṣmaṇa and Śatrughna, are His plenary expansions. All four brothers are viṣṇu-tattva and were never ordinary human beings. There are many unscrupulous and ignorant commentators on Rāmāyaṇa who present the younger brothers of Lord Rāmacandra as ordinary living entities. But here in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the most authentic scripture on the science of Godhead, it is clearly stated that His brothers were His plenary expansions. Originally Lord Rāmacandra is the incarnation of Vāsudeva, Lakṣmaṇa is the incarnation of Saṅkarṣaṇa, Bharata is the incarnation of Pradyumna, and Śatrughna is the incarnation of Aniruddha, expansions of the Personality of Godhead. Lakṣmījī Sītā is the internal potency of the Lord and is neither an ordinary woman nor the external potency incarnation of Durgā. Durgā is the external potency of the Lord, and she is associated with Lord Śiva.

As stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (4.7), the Lord appears when there are discrepancies in the discharge of factual religion

COMMENT

yadā yadā hi dharmasya

glānir bhavati bhārata

abhyutthānam adharmasya

tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada:

Lord Rāmacandra also appeared under the same circumstances, accompanied by His brothers, who are expansions of the Lord’s internal potency, and by Lakṣmījī Sītādevī.

Lord Rāmacandra was ordered by His father, Mahārāja Daśaratha, to leave home for the forest under awkward circumstances, and the Lord, as the ideal son of His father, carried out the order, even on the occasion of His being declared the King of Ayodhyā. 

COMMENT

So, the history is that when Maharaja Dasaratha was very ill, one of his wives, Kaikeya, took care of him and he offered her two benedictions. She replied that, “I will not accept them now but when there is need, I will approach you.”

So, Maharaja Dasaratha had three wives. One was Kausalya, who was the mother of Ramachandra, and another was Kaikeya, who was the mother of Bharata. Now, Rama loved Kaikeya just as His own mother and she also loved Him just like her own son. But she had a maid servant named Mantara who was very crooked minded and on the eve of Rama’s coronation, she influenced Kaikeya to approach Maharaja Dasaratha and ask for the two boons he had promised her and to ask that her son, Bharata, be enthroned as the king and she was very diplomatic, because she thought, Bharata might be enthroned as the king but Rama might come back with His army and take back the kingdom. So, she added a second benediction that Rama should go into exile for fourteen years. Maharaja Dasaratha was not happy with her request but because he had given his word that he would give her two boons when she asks, so he kept his promise.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada:

Lord Rāmacandra was ordered by His father, Mahārāja Daśaratha, to leave home for the forest under awkward circumstances, and the Lord, as the ideal son of His father, carried out the order, even on the occasion of His being declared the King of Ayodhyā. One of His younger brothers, Lakṣmaṇajī, desired to go with Him, and so also His eternal wife, Sītājī, desired to go with Him. The Lord agreed to both of them.

COMMENT

Although the Lord agreed, but initially, He encouraged Sita to stay back. He said, “You are the daughter of the king and you are used to a comfortable and luxurious life and living in the forest will not be appropriate for you. So, while I am away you should rather stay with your father.” But Sita refused. She said, “I am your wife and my duty is to follow you wherever you go under any circumstances, just like the shadow follows the person, so I will come with you.”

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada:

One of His younger brothers, Lakṣmaṇajī, desired to go with Him, and so also His eternal wife, Sītājī, desired to go with Him. The Lord agreed to both of them, and all together they entered the Daṇḍakāraṇya Forest, to live there for fourteen years. During their stay in the forest, there was some quarrel between Rāmacandra and Rāvaṇa, and the latter kidnapped the Lord’s wife, Sītā. The quarrel ended in the vanquishing of the greatly powerful Rāvaṇa, along with all his kingdom and family.

COMMENT

So, when Rama and Lakshman and Sita were in the forest, Rāvaṇa kidnapped Sita and as he was taking her to Lanka, a great devotee in the form of a bird, an eagle, named Jatayu, saw Rāvaṇa abducting Sita and he fought with Rāvaṇa and although Jatayu was very powerful, but also he was very old at the time and so he was unsuccessful in rescuing Sita from Rāvaṇa. When Lord Ramachandra was searching through the forest, looking for Sita, He came upon Jatayu who told Him what happened and He was so move by Jatayu’s sacrifice, practically he sacrificed his life trying to rescue Sita, so He kept him on His lap and caressed Him and Jatayu left his body and Lord Rama performed the funeral rites just like a son would do for his father. And Srila Prabhupada gave this as an example of how we as preachers should engage ourselves. We may not be successful in every attempt but if we do our best, if we give our all, the Lord will be pleased with us regardless of the result.

So, eventually, Lord Ramachandra came to the southern tip of India and He wanted to build a bridge to Lanka and there, at the seashore, Hanuman was heaving huge boulders into the ocean and there was a little squirrel who was flicking grains of sand into the ocean. So, Hanuman chastised the squirrel that, “Can’t you see that I am heaving these huge boulders into the ocean and you are just getting in my way?” And the squirrel replied, “I want to serve Lord Rama too.” So, Lord Ramachandra overheard this exchange and He chided Hanuman and said that, “You are serving Me to your capacity and the squirrel is serving Me to her capacity. So in my eyes both of you are equal and besides, I am the one who is making the boulders float, so why are you taking the credit?” So, eventually, Lord Ramachandra reached Lanka and engaged in battle with Rāvaṇa and his armies. We will come back to that.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Sītā is Lakṣmījī, or the goddess of fortune, but she is never to be enjoyed by any living being. She is meant for being worshiped by the living being along with her husband, Śrī Rāmacandra. A materialistic man like Rāvaṇa does not understand this great truth, but on the contrary he wants to snatch Sītādevī from the custody of Rāma and thus incurs great miseries. The materialists, who are after opulence and material prosperity, may take lessons from the Rāmāyaṇa that the policy of exploiting the nature of the Lord without acknowledging the supremacy of the Supreme Lord is the policy of Rāvaṇa. Rāvaṇa was very advanced materially, so much so that he turned his kingdom, Laṅkā, into pure gold, or full material wealth. But because he did not recognize the supremacy of Lord Rāmacandra and defied Him by stealing His wife, Sītā, Rāvaṇa was killed, and all his opulence and power were destroyed.

Lord Rāmacandra is a full incarnation with six opulences in full, and He is therefore mentioned in this verse as kaleśaḥ, or master of all opulence.

COMMENT

I will just skip ahead to a very beautiful verse that describes the end of Rāvaṇa. 

TEXT 25

vakṣaḥ-sthala-sparśa-rugna-mahendra-vāha-

dantair viḍambita-kakubjuṣa ūḍha-hāsam

sadyo ‘subhiḥ saha vineṣyati dāra-hartur

visphūrjitair dhanuṣa uccarato ‘dhisainye

TRANSLATION

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.

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

Thus, it is said – rākhe kṛṣṇa māre ke, māre kṛṣṇa rākhe ke—that if Krishna wants to kill someone, who can save him? And if Krishna wants to save someone, who can kill him? Rāvaṇa was a great devotee of Lord Shiva and during the fighting when Rāvaṇa was in difficulty, Parvati, Shiva’s wife, said to him, “Rāvaṇa is your great devotee and now he is in trouble. You should do something to help him.” And Lord Shiva replied that, “When Ramachandra, the Personality of Godhead wants to kill him, what can I do?” So, that is the position.

Once, I heard that all of our activities here in the material world are meant to bring Radha and Krishna together in the spiritual world. So, I asked Srila Prabhupada about it and he replied that, “Wealth, or Lakshmi, is in the hands of the Westerners, who are like Rāvaṇa.” So, just as Rama crossed the ocean to rescue Sita or Lakshmi from Rāvaṇa, similarly Srila Prabhupada crossed the ocean to rescue Lakshmi from the Rāvaṇas, the Westerners, and just as Lord Rama was assisted by so many monkeys, Srila Prabhupada was assisted by us. So, I will just read two more verses and purports. Two chapters of the Ninth Canto of Srila Prabhupada are the summary of the Rāmāyaṇa, and there are two very nice verses and purports that are very relevant to us. So, this is Canto Nine, Chapter Ten – “The Pastimes of Lord Rāmacandra,”

TEXT 51

tretāyāṁ vartamānāyāṁ

kālaḥ kṛta-samo ‘bhavat

rāme rājani dharma-jñe

sarva-bhūta-sukhāvahe

TRANSLATION

Lord Rāmacandra became King during Tretā-yuga, but because of His good government, the age was like Satya-yuga. Everyone was religious and completely happy.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Among the four yugas — Satya, Tretā, Dvāpara and Kali — the Kali-yuga is the worst, but if the process of varṇāśrama-dharma is introduced, even in this Age of Kali, the situation of Satya-yuga can be invoked. The Hare Kṛṣṇa movement, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, is meant for this purpose.

kaler doṣa-nidhe rājann

asti hy eko mahān guṇaḥ

kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya

mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet

“My dear King, although Kali-yuga is full of faults, there is still one good quality about this age: simply by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, one can become free from material bondage and be promoted to the transcendental kingdom.” (Bhāg. 12.3.51) If people take to this saṅkīrtana movement of chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Rāma, they will certainly be freed from the contamination of Kali-yuga, and the people of this age will be happy, as people were in Satya-yuga, the golden age. Anyone, anywhere, can easily take to this Hare Kṛṣṇa movement; one need only chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, observe the rules and regulations, and stay free from the contamination of sinful life. Even if one is sinful and cannot give up sinful life immediately, if he chants the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra with devotion and faith he will certainly be freed from all sinful activities, and his life will be successful. Paraṁ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam. This is the blessing of Lord Rāmacandra, who has appeared in this Age of Kali as Lord Gaurasundara.

TEXT 53

nādhi-vyādhi-jarā-glāni-

duḥkha-śoka-bhaya-klamāḥ

mṛtyuś cānicchatāṁ nāsīd

rāme rājany adhokṣaje

TRANSLATION

When Lord Rāmacandra, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, was the King of this world, all bodily and mental suffering, disease, old age, bereavement, lamentation, distress, fear and fatigue were completely absent. There was even no death for those who did not want it.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

All these facilities existed because of Lord Rāmacandra’s presence as the king of the entire world. A similar situation could be introduced immediately, even in this age called Kali, the worst of all ages. It is said, kali-kāle nāma-rūpe kṛṣṇa-avatāra: Kṛṣṇa descends in this Kali-yuga in the form of His holy name — Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Rāma. If we chant offenselessly, Rāma and Kṛṣṇa are still present in this age. The kingdom of Rāma was immensely popular and beneficial, and the spreading of this Hare Kṛṣṇa movement can immediately introduce a similar situation, even in this Kali-yuga.

Comment by Giriraj Swami: So, Hare Krishna.

Sita-Rama Lakshman Hanuman ki jaya!

Sri Rama-navami ki jaya!

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

So, if any of you have any comments or questions, you can raise your hand. Alright, what is next?

Devotee: Maharaja, I have a question. I have a question Maharaja.

Giriraj Swami: Sorry?

Devotee: I said I have a question to ask you. Can I ask you the question?

Giriraj Swami: Please!

Devotee: But the question is not related to today’s topic. It is not related to Rama’s appearance.

Giriraj Swami: Alright.

Devotee: My question is what is the connection between cleanliness and consciousness because once when the devotees told Prabhupada there are some rats in the apartment. (Unintelligible 44:35-45:09) So, Prabhupada was telling – if you chant attentively, properly then there would be no rats in the house. The devotee asked what is the relationship between chanting and having small pests in the house. Prabhupada said, “If you are chanting offenselessly that means (Unintelligible 44:55) to be very attentive while chanting without any offenses. So, I want to ask you what is cleanliness and consciousness, how is it related?

Giriraj Swami: Srila Prabhupada said it. He said, “If you chant attentively and offenselessly, your consciousness will be cleared and then you want everything to be clean and you keep everything clean and when everything is clean, there will be scope for pests to come. But what you said reminded me of another incident with Srila Prabhupada. When he first came to New York, he was living in an apartment building and the landlord was bringing fumigation company to kill the pests but Srila Prabhupada didn’t allow them to fumigate in his apartment and so all the pests in all the other apartments came into Srila Prabhupada’s apartment. And Srila Prabhupada said, “Just see, they are taking shelter of Krishna consciousness.”

Devotee: (Unintelligible 47:02-47:07)

Giriraj Swami: Yes. Srila Prabhupada said, “Cleanliness is next to godliness.” He accepted the truth of the saying.

Devotee: (Unintelligible 47:17–47:50)

Giriraj Swami: Any other questions? Yes

Devotee: (Unintelligible 47:57-48:20)

Giriraj Swami: Well, the idea is that on the absolute platform, the name of Krishna and Krishna Himself are the same. In the material world, or in the relative world, the name of the thing and the thing are different. For example, if you are hungry and you chant, “Mango, mango, mango, mango, mango,” you won’t get mangoes because the word mango and mangoes themselves are different, but when you chant, “Krishna! Krishna! Hare Krishna,” Krishna is actually present, dancing on your tongue. And because Krishna is all pure, by associating with Krishna you become purified—ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam. All the dirty things within the heart become cleansed and Srila Prabhupada said that the first dirty thing is to identify with the body. So, you become free from false identification of the body. And then you chant and chant and chant, and there are different stages of chanting. One stage is called nāma-aparādha, that stage you commit offenses while chanting and then, the stage is called as nāma-ābhāsa, that is the clearing stage. So, when you make a conscious effort to hear the holy name and when your mind wanders and you bring it back to the sound of the mantra, that is the clearing stage. And then, the perfect stage is called śuddha-nāma. So, technically speaking, one could say that one enters samadhi when one chants śuddha-nāma, pure name. Although, there are elements of samadhi even when one chants nāma-ābhāsa.

Are you chanting? Do you have beads? Okay. Would you like to start to chant on beads? Do we have any beads here? Okay. Anything else?

Devotee: What is our task supposed to be in this Kali-yuga stage?

Giriraj Swami: What is our. . .?

Devotee: What is our task in Kali—yuga.

Giriraj Swami: Well, our purpose in every age is to develop love for God, and to go back home, back to Godhead, but in Kali-yuga, the specific process is chanting the holy names.

harer nāma harer nāma

harer nāmaiva kevalam

kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva

nāsty eva gatir anyathā

“We should chant the holy name, chant the holy name, chant the holy name of Hare Krishna. There is no other way, no other way, no other way for success in this age of Kali.”

So, that would be the main method but actually Srila Rupa Goswami has written a book called Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu which Srila Prabhupada has rendered as a summary called The Nectar of Devotion, and he enumerates sixty-four items in devotional service and he says, out of the sixty-four, five are most potent and even a little association with any one of the five is sufficient to awaken dormant love of God. So, the five are- sādhu-saṅga—which means association with advanced devotees, nāma-kīrtana—chanting the holy names, bhāgavata-śravaṇa—hearing the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, mathurā-vāsa—residing in a holy place like Vrindavan, Mathura, or Mayapur, and śrī-mūrtira śraddhāya sevana—serving deity with faith and veneration. So, those are the five most potent. Anything else?

Devotee: What is the importance of preaching enlightenment and are we all supposed to be on the path of enlightenment or is this a choice?

Giriraj Swami: Well, we should all be on the path of enlightenment. Of course, you have your free will. If you want to walk on the path of darkness, you are free to walk on the path of darkness. Although, you are meant to walk on the path of enlightenment. But Krishna never forces. At the end of Bhagavad-gītā, He says to Arjuna that, “Now, you have heard everything that I have said, (Unintelligible 55:06-55:09) now you do whatever you think is the best idea.” He gives the chance to exercise your free will. And Arjuna said, (Unintelligible 55:24-55:40), I am prepared to act according to your instruction and that should be the conclusion.

Any other questions? Yes

Devotee: Thank you Maharaja for the nice reading. We read there that Prabhupada said that a Krishna consciousness movement can immediately provide the same facilities like (Unintelligible 56:06) so how are we to see that because it seems as if it has been (Unintelligible 56:10).

Giriraj Swami: Well, if the Krishna consciousness movement is accepted by enough people, then it will likely have an impact and Srila Prabhupada said, “We don’t expect everyone to take to Krishna consciousness but if 10 percent of the world’s population takes to Krishna consciousness, then the whole faith of the planet can change. (Unintelligible 57:05-57:16). Any other questions?

Devotee: I have a question. Maharaja, so who directs our free will towards Krishna? (Unintelligible 57:31- 57:54)

Giriraj Swami: Free will means that you can decide to serve Krishna or serve maya. By constitution, you are a servant. So, you have to be a servant. You can’t be a master. But your free will, the minute independence, is whether you serve Krishna or maya and if you use your free will properly then you will voluntarily choose to serve Krishna (Unintelligible 58:25-58:34)

Devotee: Is the suffering also in my karma?

Giriraj Swami: Sorry

Devotee: Is the suffering that I don’t use the free will in the right direction, is it my karma? Is it because of my karma?

Giriraj Swami: Yes, if you don’t surrender to Krishna, then you have to suffer the results of your karma but if you surrender to Krishna, then He frees you from all your sinful reactions.

sarva-dharmān parityajya

mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja

ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo

mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ

“Abandon all varieties of religiousness and just surrender to Me and I will protect you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear.”

So yes, you are suffering your karma, but if you surrender to Krishna then there is no more karma.

Devotee: Thank you

Giriraj Swami: Yes

Devotee: (Unintelligible 59:30-1:00:25)

Giriraj Swami: There is a saying that you should work as if everything is dependent on you and you should pray as if everything is dependent on God. I mean, you should make your best effort, but again, it depends on the situation. There is such a thing as over-endeavoring (Unintelligible 1:00:54) But in the line of devotional service, yes, you should make your best effort but there should be a balance. You should put a balance to your life, between your sadhana and your service (Unintelligible 1:01:10).

Devotee: So I guess it comes with wisdom; surrendering more to Krishna, that is when that understanding comes more. What is the (Unintelligible 1:01:26)?

Giriraj Swami: (Unintelligible 1:01:35) Those who serve Krishna with love, He gives them the intelligence by which they can come to Him. So, yes.

Devotee: So pray to get intelligence.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, pray for their guidance.

Devotee: I have another question. Remembering that I am not a door but I am allowing to Krishna to do through me. So again when I hear the struggle that, Okay, if I am allowing, I am still doing something or I am still making some effort.

Giriraj Swami: Of course, you are making effort. Yes, I mean, (Unintelligible 1:02:54-1:02:58) Krishna told Arjuna to be an instrument. So, we want to be instruments in Krishna’s hands, Prabhupada’s hands, but being an instrument doesn’t mean that we don’t do anything. We do make our efforts but on their behalf.

Devotee: Offering all my results to my guru, to Srila Prabhupada, to Krishna?

Giriraj Swami: Yes. Any other questions?

Devotee: I have one question, Maharaja. So, it appears that whenever the Lord descends, when Lord Krishna descends or when Lord Rama descends or when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu descends, it seems that there is emphasis on service and separation. When Krishna was in Vrindavan He (Unintelligible 1:04:07-1:03:59). I am wondering why there is so much emphasis on them.

Giriraj Swami: Well, are you talking about the devotees being in separation or the Lord being in separation?

Devotee: The Lord Himself and the devotee; both seem to be.

Giriraj Swami: Well, that is life, it is living in separation. So, we have to learn how to serve in separation. Yes, that is what Srila Prabhupada wrote in his dedication to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam; dedicate it to his spiritual master. “He lives forever by his divine instructions and the followers live with him. That is how you associate in separation.

Devotee: So we will have a quick ārati and then prasāda. Thank you very much Maharaja for the wonderful class.

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!