HH Bhaktividya Purna Swami
Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 10.3.21
Sunday, February 02nd, 2003
Mayapur
TRANSLATION
“O my Lord, proprietor of all creation, You have now appeared in my house, desiring to protect this world. I am sure that You will kill all the armies that are moving all over the world under the leadership of politicians who are dressed as ksatriya rulers but who are factually demons. They must be killed by You for the protection of the innocent public.”
PURPORT
Krsna appears in this world for two purposes, pariträëäya sädhünäà vinäçäya ca duñkåtäm: [Bg. 4.8] to protect the innocent, religious devotees of the Lord and to annihilate all the uneducated, uncultured asuras, who unnecessarily bark like dogs and fight among themselves for political power. It is said, kali-käle näma-rüpe Krsna avatära. The Hare Krsna movement is also an incarnation of Krsna in the form of the holy name (näma-rüpe).
Every one of us who is actually afraid of the asuric rulers and politicians must welcome this incarnation of Krsna: Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Räma, Hare Räma, Räma Räma, Hare Hare. Then we will surely be protected from the harassment of asuric rulers. At the present moment these rulers are so powerful that by hook or by crook they capture the highest posts in government and harass countless numbers of people on the plea of national security or some emergency.
Then again, one asura defeats another asura, but the public continues to suffer. Therefore the entire world is in a precarious condition, and the only hope is this Hare Kåñëa movement. Lord Nåsiàhadeva appeared when Prahläda was excessively harassed by his asuric father. Because of such asuric fathers -that is, the ruling politicians - it is very difficult to press forward the Hare Kåñëa movement, but because Kåñëa has now appeared in His holy name through this movement, we can hope that these asuric fathers will be annihilated and the kingdom of God established all over the world. The entire world is now full of many asuras in the guise of politicians, gurus, sädhus, yogés and incarnations, and they are misleading the general public away from Kåñëa consciousness, which can offer true benefit to human society.
[Maharaja:]
So here we are at the time when Krsna appeared, and now we see at the present time, we have the same difficult situation where the demoniac persons, they take charge of the leadership of the world and then try to do whatever they like: harassing everybody else, basically. The history of this time when Krsna was present is that the demons, they went forth - it was Çukräcärya - and they fought with the demigods, and at that time the demigods didn't have the saïjéva mantra, so then the demons, after being killed in battle, would be revived by the saïjéva mantra and they would come back and fight again.
So the demigods couldn't keep up with the demons, so the demons won. Then the demigods decided that they had to get this mantra, so they sent Brihaspati's son, who then became a disciple of Çukräcärya, and being a proper brähmië Çukräcärya accepted him and he was trained by him. In the process, somehow or other he gave the saïjéva mantra and he took it back to the demigods. Then the demigods also had the mantra and could revive themselves when killed also, so now the asuras couldn't defeat, so they were frustrated in their attempt and so came and took birth on the earth planet in various species of life and started to harass and control everything here.
So this was increasing to the point at this time when Kåñëa came when there were so many demoniac kings who were oppressing the people and doing whatever they liked. So there was a need for Kåñëa coming. Then He came to perform His pastimes, they had the battle of Kurukñetra, and then all these demoniac forces were removed from the earth, and then the devotees - the Päëòavas and others - were then properly situated.
So now in this age, then again the demons have taken the positions of leaders and they perform things how they like, against the Vedic principles. Because the Vedic principles are designed to create a harmonious environment in the creation. The Lord designed this system so that everybody would have a place and by the performance of their duties everything would go very smoothly and the world would be I the interactions, everything would work properly. But then the demons, it's not so tasty for them to act in this way, they want more than they deserve, so they go beyond, or outside, the Vedic cultural directions and fight to control and enjoy what is not theirs to control and enjoy.
So then the common person becomes harassed. So the Lord has appeared in the form of the Holy Name, and in this form, has come to save everybody. So this time, the manifestation is different. In previous ages Kåñëa would come and physically kill the demons. You know, they were out on the battlefield and Kåñëa would come out on the battlefield and they would be annihilated by His arrangements in some wonderful pastimes. But in this age, because that would require killing everybody, He's taken a slightly different approach.
We see that in Satya-yuga, the demons lived in different planetary systems, right, the demons in the lower planets and the demigods in the higher planets, so it was very obvious who's who. So you had your demigods and you had your demons. In the Treta-yuga then we see they lived in different continents. The pious people lived in India and Rävaëa and his crew lived in Laìka. Then in the Dvapara-yuga, they lived in different families, so you had the Päëòavas and the Kauravas, and those who supported the Kauravas were the demons, and those who supported the Päëòavas were the demigods.
And in the Kali-yuga the demons and devotees live in the same body, so then the systems that worked in the other ages won't work, means you kill the demons, leave the devotees, because the problem is that the body is commonly shared between the devotee and the demon, so in this age one has to kill the demoniac mentality.
So this is a very key point. Prabhupäda said by chanting we will truly be protected. So how is that? Means that, one can't bother someone if they're not susceptible to being bothered. This is a very essential point, is that one is disturbed because one actually leaves himself open to be disturbed, or wants to be disturbed, otherwise one is not disturbed - not at least for yourself. One is only disturbed really if it's a disturbance to yourself.
If it's a disturbance for Kåñëa, or a disturbance for the devotees, for the movement, for the mission, that's not actually a disturbance, that's actually proper räsa. But when it's our own personal disturbance, because of our own particular needs, then that disturbance is mundane and we are bothered, and that is because of the demoniac mentality.
Because the demoniac mentality is "I should enjoy, I should be in control", and if we actually look very carefully at anything we're really disturbed about, then it's because we can't get control, or our control has been thwarted or removed or threatened, and therefore our enjoyment will be threatened, our facilities - whatever it is we have gained from this control.
It's a simple thing, you know, it doesn't have to be some big big political thing. You have two kids, they have their prasädam on a plate, they both have a sweet on their plate, so in the mind of the person sitting in front of the plate, he is the lord of that plate, he's in control of that plate, whatever's on that plate is his right to enjoy. Now if the kid next to him reaches over, steals the sweet and pops it in his mouth, he's very frustrated, because he's lost control of his plate, right? His control over that plate is now threatened, anything on that plate is now open to be removed by the boy sitting next to him. Not only that, but because it's been removed, his enjoyment has been reduced. Means his sweet has disappeared, and the other person who gained control has enjoyed it. So therefore, between this and what we think is political control, everything in between works on the same principle.
So this is manana, or contemplation. How to apply this in our lives - whenever the anxiety comes up then one should check what has caused this anxiety, what control have we lost, what enjoyment are we feeling threatened, right?
So this is the demoniac mentality, because in a spiritual mentality, we're surrendered to Kåñëa, whatever He wants, that's how it's meant to go, and we accept that. So we see with Prahläda Mahäräja, Kåñëa allowed his demoniac father to harass him, but it wasn't a harassment for Prahläda, because he did not allow himself to be threatened by this, he didn't feel that "my control or my bodily situation is threatened, or my enjoyment is threatened."
No, he went on and was Kåñëa conscious in those situations. So he was unaffected. He just chanted Hare Kåñëa. So one may say, "Oh, that's Prahläda Mahäräja, but the reality is something quite different", but no, that has already been discussed in the previous verses, that this is the thought of a demoniac mentality, because a demoniac mentality thinks that the material world and what it has to offer in the way of sense gratification is valuable, that it actually has substance - it's worth fighting for, right? I'd rather fight than switch, it's worth it.
But the sages and those who are God conscious know it's not. What comes within the realm of His service and is enjoyed by us in His service then it comes, when it comes. If it doesn't come we don't worry about. So things can move by the Lord's arrangement but we are not disturbed. So this is the devotee, and the demon is that, "I am disturbed by this", so this is something that we have to contemplate very carefully because this is a very crucial point in coming into the state of advanced devotional service.
Advanced devotional service basically begins with this point that "I am not the controller and enjoyer, I am simply the servant." Then the identity is clear, therefore that's called pure devotional service. "I am not the controller", that's jïäna, and "I am not the enjoyer," that's karma; jïäna-karmädy anävåtam; karma is the desire to control, "I am the lord, I am the controller", right? "I am the lord, no one else." That's envy, so that is jïäna.
The jïänés are envious, that is the definition. They're envious of the Lord, they're envious of their own soul, so that means everything between the Lord and themselves they're envious of. They might come here and find some nice culture, some nice words, speak gently, you know, draw out their "s's", you know, but it's the demoniac nature of envy, that's control. And then the karmé, he is the enjoyer, so that's why these two are always mentioned, that "devotional service is free from karma/jïäna", right? Again and again. Because this is the essence of this problem.
So if we can catch this, then one can do much to elevate oneself by always trying to keep our own inherent nature to control and enjoy for our own purposes, and not to serve Kåñëa. And we have to be very very honest with ourselves, because of course by various perspectives we can take anything and turn it around, right? This is the bewilderment many times for devotees these days, that they tend to not even trust the çästras or trust the thought process.
Why? Because someone can take it and present it from two opposing sides. So therefore the scriptures don't remain an authority to them, so what does that mean for them? Because we're proud, because we're imbued with the demoniac quality, my own mind, what it says is good and bad, is the authority. And that changes from moment to moment, so it's not a prosperous or good position, because the mind is always changing, a mind doesn't have any discrimination.
The intelligence has discrimination but in this scenario it's controlled by the mind, so then the difficulty that comes then is what is one's authority other than one's own sentiments and desires? So that brings it back again down to enjoyment, and to enjoy you have to control. So even if someone is saying nice, sweet, sentimental things, "you have to care, you have to be sensitive," this is all so they will be happy and enjoy, but you can't be happy and enjoy unless you control. So these same people who are speaking all these nice, caring things, you'll find them many times the most political and untrustworthy people, if one analyses them.
Because you can't be nice, and "lovey-dovey" unless you're in control. A mother can be very lovey-dovey with her kid if she's in control of her kid. If the kid's running around and doesn't care for the mother, how does she express those sentiments? So she has to be actually in disciplinary control of her child to actually exchange with the child. So the two go together, but of course what happens is one takes one side and the other takes another, then they start this dichotomy that there's two opposing.
No, the two are the same thing. You have a glass and you have water, are they opposing elements? One's hard like anything, and so shiny and cold, and the other is so soft and malleable. You can't have a drink of water without a glass, the glass has no meaning without the water, the two go together, so control and enjoyment go together. So if you see one, you know the other is there. If someone says, "that is very political", then you know there must be some trying to enjoy behind it. If someone says, "oh, that's just mäyä, that's just sense grat" then you know there's some control behind it.
One has to know the enemy. That's the demoniac nature, so one has to know how it works, how to catch it.
So one has to analyse. This is the meaning that the devotee is thoughtful, manéça, so they go into these things and they analyse, how is it that mäyä is working, how is she working. Because she's very subtle, she's expert. It's said if you do something for 10,000 hours you become expert at it. Now if we analyse, even with us, mäyä's been tricking us for more than 10,000 hours, right?
You multiply that by hundreds of entities living here, and multiply that by eternity (laughter). So she's quite good, right? She knows exactly how to get the point in that you don't even know, you very happily become defeated, she's so expert. And she's so expert she's beyond having to prove herself, that she has to be in your face laughing "I'm the one who did it!" Little kids like to do that, you know, they like to let you know that they're the one, because they get the credit, the prize.
But she's beyond that, she just is in control, she doesn't have to prove it. So she'll trick you very subtly you won't even know it, she won't even show her face. But if you look, then you can see. So we have to be very very careful to see that this Hare Kåñëa mantra, this movement of chanting, this IS the real thing, this IS the solution, there's no other solution, there's nothing outside: outside is the demoniac mentality.
Demons, they like to have nice interactions, so they can be very pleasant. But what is their purpose? That is their own purpose. They're not caring for you. A man is polite to everyone on the street because he doesn't know who they are, so he doesn't want to offend anyone that can get him back, and if he has something that he wants to get done, he wants to have a good relationship so he can get it done. So therefore, people who are really demoniac are generally quite pleasant.
They can speak very sweetly, very nicely, because they know that's how it gets done, that's all. You smile, you're nice, you get anything done. Anyone who's smart knows that. And people who are not smart, they fall for it. Therefore sometimes it is seen, it will be said, "Oh, the people outside are so nice, and the people in the movement aren't so nice." That's because people outside are freely exercising their demoniac nature to be the controller and enjoyer, and they don't want an unpleasant situation. They can't enjoy like that.
So they're nice. But of what value are they? What can they do for you? If pleasantness is the goal, then what happens to developing love for Kåñëa? We just want "pleasant"? Do we just want to go to the spiritual world because everyone there is nice, that's it? Or do we want to do something positive for Kåñëa? Is our goal bigger than ourself?
So therefore, in the movement there are people who are wrestling with this divine and demoniac nature. And sometimes they may drop that external pleasantry to just be nice just because that's how you make things work for you. They shouldn't drop it, but it's a natural thing. Any person who is untrained will drop it. One may say what one likes, but you just have no petrol in America. People will actually shoot each other over gasoline. It's happened.
People are waiting in line in the station to get their gasoline, and they're very annoyed because you never have to wait for anything, whatever you want is there immediately, and now they have to wait in line. Somebody has an emergency, he's got to take his wife to hospital or something, so he pulls into the front of the line, somebody gets out of his car in frustration, goes up there and shoots this guy. I'm not making this up. This is your wonderful, pleasant, nicer-than-the-devotee karmé.
It's only because their buttons haven't been pushed. That's all. So somebody has to be a fool to think that those who are not devotees are better than the devotees. Only a demon can say this. And I can say this very confidently. It's the demoniac mentality only that can think that demons are better than devotees. Think about it. What is their purpose?
So now we can see that these nice demons will give up their niceness if anything goes wrong with them, they get nasty. So this is the common platform of the untrained person. The untrained person has this defect that if something doesn't give you immediate pleasure, you drop it, you don't want to do it. So Kåñëa has to spend a lot of time discussing this, in the Gétä, that although you're not doing it actively for your own personal sense gratification, you still do those duties because you are thinking of the Lord - that is Kåñëa consciousness. That is Kåñëa consciousness.
So that is the naiçkarmya that Narada Muni is preaching. Kåñëa preaches it in the Gétä. Kåñëa preaches it to Uddhava in the Uddhava-gétä in the 11th Canto. So this theme comes up and up again, that even though you are not going to get any material benefit from this, still you do it because it is pleasing to the Lord. This is the process. But the natural thing is that if you don't see any profit you'll drop it. That's what's happened since time immemorial, people are practical, they only want to do something that gets a result, it doesn't get you a result you drop it, it's a natural thing.
So therefore what's happened is devotees don't see any profit from mundane pleasantries, so they drop it and they deal with each other naturally, in an unpleasant way, because they don't need artificial. That's okay, as a first stage. But actually if one wants to mature, then one sees, "No," one has to follow the culture, because it's pleasing to Kåñëa, because these are Kåñëa's devotees. So it's not artificial. I may be unpracticed in real devotional transcendental pleasantries, but that doesn't mean I don't practice it, that's sädhana-bhakti.
So even though I may not be getting any benefit from it, seemingly, it pleases Kåñëa, it pleases the devotees, therefore I follow the culture. So we can see that actually these unpleasant dealings are a natural fault…
…meaning, be more advanced, understand this, don't become disturbed yourself. The mother's not disturbed by the child because they don't know how to go to the toilet and pick up after themselves, or how to eat properly. No. The mother takes care, takes pleasure in helping, in training.
So if one is better, then be better. But if one's betterness is simply one can point out a fault, what is so special about that? What is the speciality? Anyone - you go to the streets of New York - anyone, they've never seen me before, they can find a fault in a moment. And they can say it in the cleverest one liner that you've ever heard. So what? There's 15 million of them. And that's just sitting on one little island. So what? Is that special? The dogs.
If you're just walking, you have nothing to do with the dog, he starts barking at you, he's found some fault. Right? People outside the front gate. I can guarantee you all those people in those shops can go on for hours about ISKCON! Things you've never dreamed of they can say. So finding fault is not something special. It's just the manifestation of the desire to control. I can find fault, therefore I am the controller, I'm better. So it's just another manifestation of this envy.
Fault means being discriminating, that's intelligence. So it's within the path of jïäna; jïäna means finding fault in the material world, and therefore take the spiritual. But the impersonalists do it for their own purposes. They're still envious of God, because they won't I they ignore Him. So it's still nothing special, it's still just a mundane quality that actually everyone else has, maybe you're better than the one liners from the other guy, you can stay up later at night, talk more stuff with your friends, but that doesn't mean we've solved the problems of the universe or worked it all out.
It's the standard thing, the brahmacärés sit around and lean on the railing on the verandah and talk till 11 o'clock at night and work out all the problems in the movement, right? Like, every night they do it, "Agh, these guys, why can't they understand, just do this, just do that... yeah, yeah". Yeah, great. And next morning, everything's back to normal. Nothing changed, right? But it gives a feeling of superiority. Why? Because this is the demoniac nature, the need to control.
So then one has to look at this very very carefully, very deeply to see what are the paths with which mäyä has tricked us, due to our particular unique conditioned nature, what it is, how we want to control, how we want to enjoy, how we combine these, what are the methods we'll use. And then seeing this, then we can start to be unaffected by the material energy.
By chanting, then that will give us the strength that will purify us, by taking shelter of the devotees and the äcäryas of this mission, we'll gain that strength, that inspiration. Then we will slowly slowly give up this desire and need to control and enjoy this material energy. Then we can qualify to go back to Godhead.
So that's it. Questions, comments?
Question: "If a pure devotee then starts acting in a demoniac way, how should we react, what should we do?"
Answer: Basically just ignore it. If you can change the person, go ahead. If you can't, what are you going to do about it anyway? Why become disturbed. The point is, that until you become to the platform of prema, then anyone below that point can get off track. So pure devotee means that their determination is pure, it doesn't mean that it can't be distracted. So if it happens, we just take advantage of it, find out what they did wrong that distracted them, and avoid it. It's like if you're in a trench and the General pokes his head up to see what the enemy is doing and gets his head blown off, then the private standing next to him knows, "Don't stick your head up", but he doesn't go, "how can they blow the head of the General off??! It's not possible!! I mean, how can this war go on? We can't do this any more!! It doesn't work!!" That's just an excuse to get into mäyä ourselves.
Point is that mäyä doesn't discriminate between an advanced devotee and a neophyte. She checks everybody. That's her business. When you come to prema, when you come to that point when you're ready for it, she herself goes to the Lord and says, "I've checked this devotee on every level and every aspect and they're not interested at all, please bless them with prema."
That's her job. So therefore, one should not become. Prabhupäda said don't be amazed or bewildered by who leaves, be amazed at who stays. So this whole thing to become bewildered that a senior devotee falls down so therefore no one can do it, that's just mäyä's trick. Those people that say that are in mäyä. It's not intelligent, it's just mäyä. I mean, like this: you're a practical person, when you take up a strategy that you have to go through 1,000 people and somehow find a trick to get each one of them one at a time into mäyä, right, or would it be an easier strategy that you know that all these people are connected to one, I get the one, all thousand are in mäyä?
Which is the best strategy? So therefore, I mean, she's smart. So now do we want to fall for her tricks, or do we want to be independent. Independence means Kåñëa consciousness. To be in mäyä, everybody's in mäyä. Big deal. No big deal - nothing special. Prabhupäda said to Gurukåpa, "Just another face in the crowd." That's all. He just said, "another face in the crowd", that's all, doesn't matter. Everybody's face will be famous for 15 minutes, right?
Then after that it's fades into oblivion with all the other faces. So that's the thing. Real independence, real intelligence, is to see how mäyä works and not be bewildered by it. And be impressed and inspired by those who have avoided mäyä. Say what you like, they're here. Right? Whatever criticisms one may have about the devotees, they're here. So one should be impressed by that. What are they doing that they are still here? Mäyä's already finding the faults, so we are not adding any service to Kåñëa, any pleasure to Kåñëa, by finding faults.
So if we can find what's good, why it is they're here, why they're in the dhama, how is it that these people are here, in the dhama? That's special. Find that. Be inspired by that.
