Om Namoh Bhagvate Vasudevaya
Navamah karma-kalpo ‘pi
Viphalayesvanarpitah
Kalpate purusasyaiva
Sa hy atma dayito hitah
Spiritual activities never go in vain
Activities dedicated to the Supreme Personality of Godhead , even if performed in small measure, never go in vain. The Supreme Personality of Godhead being the Supreme father is naturally very dear and always ready to act for the good of the living entities.
Purport by his divine grace Srila AC Bhakti Vedant Swami Prabhupada – In Bhagavad Gita the lord says apy asya dharmasya trayate mahato bhayat: This dharma, devotional service is so important that even if performed to a very small almost negligible extent , it can give one the supreme result. There are many instances in the history of the world in which even a slight service rendered to the Lord has saved the living entity from the greatest of danger . Ajamil for example was saved by the Supreme Personality of Godhead from the greatest danger that of going to hell. He was saved simply because he chanted the name of Narayan at the end of his life . When Ajamil chanted the Holy Name of the Lord Narayan he did not chant knowingly, actually he was calling his younger son whose name was Narayan. None the less Lord Narayan took this chanting seriously and thus Ajamil achieved the result of ante Narayane smriti – remembering Narayan at the end of life . If one some how or other remembers the holy name of Narayan, Krsna or Ram at the end of life, he immediately achieves the transcendental result of going back home back to Godhead. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is actually the only object of our love . As long as we are in this material world we have so many desires to fulfill. But when we come in touch with the Supreme Personality of Godhead we immediately become perfect and fully satisfied , just as a child is fully satisfied when he comes to the lap of his mother. Dhruva Maharaj went to the forest to achieve some material result by austerity and penance , but when he actually saw the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he said “ I do not want any material benediction, I am completely satisfied “.Even if someone wants some material benefit from serving the Supreme Personality of Godhead, it can be achieved extremely easily without hard labor.
Therefore the shastra recommends –
Akamah sarva kamo va
Moksa-kama udara-dhih
Tivrena bhakti-yogena
Yajeta purusam param
Whether one desires everything or nothing or desires to merge into the existence of the Lord , he is intelligent only if he worships Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead . By rendering transcendental loving service, even if one has material desires one can undoubtedly achieve what he wants by rendering service to the Lord.
Translation: Activities dedicated to the Supreme Personality of Godhead even if performed in small measure never go in vain . The Supreme Personality of Godhead being the Supreme Father is naturally very dear and always ready to act for the good of the living entity.
Krishna – cause of all causes
Krsna who is seated within the heart of every living being through his feature of Paramatma and who also expands Himself in between every atom, who is all pervasive and locally manifest and who simultaneously remains separate as the supreme cause of all causes, Vaikunta Nath, Lord Narayan, who is the supreme enjoyer, dwelling in his eternal abode, the Supreme Father of all living beings, it is described here that it is only by His sanction and by His mercy that any of our desires can be fulfilled. It is said that man proposes and God disposes. In the Bhagavad Gita Lord Krsna explains ‘those materialistic persons whose intelligence has been captured by illusion, they worship the demi gods for some temporary material benefit to further sensual desires. And Lord Sri Krsna explains that “ultimately the demi gods are powerless, whatever they have to give is coming from Me and Me alone”, therefore a wise person simply worships Me . Sarva karna karnam. Lord Hari is the cause of all causes. He is the source of all that is, even the greatest Asuras. We have the example of Hrinayakashyapu. Due to his envious mentality and his insatiable pride, he wanted to be the master of all he surveyed within this creation. Therefore he performed great great tapasya in order to satisfy Lord Brahma. And with the sanction of Lord Hari, Sri Vishnu, Lord Brahma delivered to him the power given by God. It was not Lord Brahma’s power. It was Vishnus power. The demi gods are simply the agents who distribute the potency to fulfill your desires.
“suhardam sarva-bhutanam
jyatva mam santim rcchati”
Krishna – The Supreme Power
It is Krsna who is the proprieter of everything the demi gods are given and He is the best friend of all living beings. So Hrinyakashyap became very very strong and powerful to conquer the universe by the divine role of God, but his great illusion was that he was thinking that this power is mine, that this kingdom is mine, that this reputation that I have earned is mine. Prahlad, his son being a devotee of the Lord, he would constantly tell his father “
“Matir na ksna paratah svato va
mitho ‘bhipadyeta grha-vratanam
adanta-gobhir visatam tamisram
punah punas carvita-carvananam”
My dear father you are simply chewing what has already been chewed. You should leave your home. You should go to the forest and you should worship Krsna who is the proprietor of everything, who is the bestower of all benedictions ‘hitvatma patam grham andha-kupam’ you are simply immersed in the blind deep well of material family life. Hrinayakashyapu could not tolerate it. He tried to kill Prahlad through so many means, you know the story, throwing him into fire, into burning oil, throwing him off large mountains, crushing him with large stones, with the feet of mad elephants, feeding him deadly poison, piercing his body with spears and tridents and swords, harassing him with harsh and cruel words, but Prahlad was unaffected. Then ultimately Hrinayakashyap was being frustrated he asked Prahlad in great anger and sarcasm “where do you get your power” ? Then Prahlad told him “my dear father I get my power from the same place that you get your power – from Krsna, from Bhagwan. Krsna is the power source. The demi gods may be the various outlets but all the power is coming from Krsna. A pious person may take and plug a stove into the wall to cook Prasad for everyone. He is making very good use of the power of God, the power of the power plant . Another person, he may plug in a horrible thing like a television set to watch all kind of crazy, ridiculous so called entertainments. Another person may plug in an electric chair to kill somebody, it is all the same power coming from the same power plant, but according to our mentality we utilize that power. Some people are cooking with stoves, some people are refrigerating with refrigerators, hot or cold but it is the same power. It is the question of what type of receptacle is our consciousness empowered to use the divine energy of God. So Prahlad Maharaj was using his divine energy, God’s Divine energy simply to glorify for the benefit of all living beings and Hrinayakashyap was utilizing the same energy, the same God given shakti to usurp the rights of others for his own malicious sense enjoyment. But Prahlad told him “my dear father everything is coming from Krsna, nothing is ours. And Hrinayakashyap was so furious to hear this, where is your God, you talk about your God, I do not see him, if I do not see him I do not believe in him, where is He? Prahlad said he is everywhere. And then Lord Narahari in order to protect his devotee as the supreme loving father, he appeared within the pillar to annihilate the demon Hrinayakashyapu and thus take back what belonged to him. Very ironic too. Hrinayakashyapu worked so hard to perform so much tapasya, went through so much hardship to conquer the entire world, and the result was, he got to sit on the throne of the King of Indra , the king of heaven. But actually who does that throne belong to – Does it belong to Indra ? No. Does it belong to Hrinayakashyapu ? No. Sarva lok maheshwaram –That throne belongs to God. So ultimately Lord Narahari tore the demon Hrinayakashyapu to pieces with his sharpened nails, as he was sitting upon the great demons throne. Vvery ironic, He took him on the throne and threw him off and again re-established that I am the king . So the question is – Do you want to become like Prahlad and simply stand on the side of the throne of our father and worship Him with folded hands and chant His glories as his humble servant and the servant of his servants or do we want to try to sit on the throne of our father, take the throne of our father, ultimately our father will appear to us as cruel death, tear us to pieces and throw us off our so called throne. In other words He will take away everything we have, everything we can do, and establish again the truth that everything belongs to Him.
Krishna even fulfills material desires
So Krsna is fulfilling every ones desires, therefore an intelligent person becomes Krsna’s devotee and worships Krsna with love. And it is described here that even if one still has material desires, worship Krsna, He will fulfill your material desires but at the same time, because you are coming to Him, gradually you will become purified of all of your material desires.
Ultimate purity by remembering Krishna
Krsna says in the Gita there are four types of men that approach Him – Those who are impoverished, that is they approach Him for material desire-wealth, those who are in great distress, another material desire, looking for relief, those who are inquisitive and those who are sincerely seeking out the absolute truth. But Krsna explains that all four of these types of people are considered saintly because they are coming to the right place, they are coming to the Supreme purifier. Simply by remembering Him whatever their motivation may be, ultimately they will become purified .
Kind Krishna
“Api cet su-duracaro
Bhajate mam ananya bhak
Sadhur eva sa mantavyah
Samyag vyavasito hi sah”
Sometimes we are very quick to judge devotees, but Krsna explains in the 9th. chapter of Bhagavad Gita that even if my devotee, due to previous habits caused by past conditioning, even if such person commits the most abominable of all activities, I consider him saintly because he is rightly situated. If Krsna considers him saintly what is our position to consider him by any other calculation. This is the glory of anyone who approaches Krsna directly with devotion. So therefore, real intelligence is to understand that everything is the property of God and He is the Supreme Father who is very kind to me. “ yasyaham anugrhnami, harisye tad-dhanam sanaih” Krsna says when I am very kind to My devotee I give that devotee whatever he wants, just like the demi gods. It is explained that many of the demi gods, they are mixed devotees , they have material desires, but at the same time they want to lord it over material nature, they want material opulence, they want luxury, they want a beautiful beautiful family, they want to enjoy but they want to do it and at the same time be in the service of Krsna. So Krsna fulfills their desires. He gives them a planet where they can live where there is no material distress. He gives them a place with great wealth , great power, great health, incredible sense gratification but yet day and night they are engaged in God’s service. So that is considered to be the kindness of the Lord. In fact in Bhagavad Gita Krsna says for one who takes to the path of devotional service who does not finish, most likely He gives them the birth either in a higher planet as a demi god or in the family of devotees which is the ultimate highest birth. In other words if you have material desires to enjoy but at the same time you are very devoted to Krsna, and you are very pious, then you are most likely to take birth as a demi god in your next life where you can be enjoying like anything, and you can be engaged in so much service to Krsna, so much important service. In other words, Krsna fulfills just what you desire. But if you sincerely desire pure devotional service, unmotivated, uninterrupted devotional service, but you die before you finish the process then you take your next birth in a family of devotees, saintly persons who will train you in such a way that you will never have to take birth again anywhere on this material world.
The Supreme Compassion of Krishna
“A brahma bhauvanal lokah
Punar avartino ‘rjuna
Mam upetya tu kaunteya
Punar janma na vidyate”
From the highest planet in this world down to the lowest, they are all places of misery. Therefore Krsna says “ yasyaham anugrhnami, harisye tad-dhanam sanaih, tato adhanam tyajanty asya, svajana duhkha-duhkhitam”. If I want to show my supreme compassion upon my devotee, I take into consideration what he really wants, what his ultimate desire is, and I do not even consider it all his immediate desires. This is Krsna’s great mercy that He takes everything away that is required to bring us to the point of falling down on our hands and knees, raising our arms and crying out “Hey Krsna ! Hey Govinda ! Save me, I have no one but Hu. That is the greatness of the Lord. yasyaham
Krishna knows our consciousness
Krsna consciousness is to aim for this divine benediction to have trust, to have faith that Lord Sri Krsna, He knows our consciousness, He knows our every single desire even to the minutest extent . He knows what we want and He knows what we need and if we are not so sincere he will give us what we want and if we are really sincere He will give us what we need to fulfill our true desire. The transcendental loving service of the Lord-that is the true desire of the soul. So on whatever level we are in or whatever level others are in, we should be the instruments of compassion to guide people to the lotus feet of Krsna, because simply by thinking of Krsna, ultimately, gradually, we become purified from all of our selfish desires in the world and we desire only to become the maid sevant of the Lord, the servant of the servants of the servants.
Is there any question ?
Anchor of material desires.
Hare Krishna. Bhakti Siddhant Saraswati Thakur gives an example of the marriage party- You know the story- Generally the bridegrooms family goes to the brides village for the marriage. You know in India this is the traditional system. So what happens is the bridegroom and his party, all of his relatives and friends, they all boarded a boat to cross the river, and it was just night coming and they told the boatman this is a very long and wide river, please make sure you get us there by early the next morning, because it is required that we attend to the functions at sunrise. The boatman said ‘no problem’, you all go to sleep have a nice nights rest , I will take care of all the rowing. And all night long that boatman was working very, very, very hard, rowing that boat, rowing and rowing and rowing and then the light of day came and everyone woke up and they looked around and they noticed that they were exactly in the same place they were the night before. They said what happened ? The boatman said I don’t understand I have been rowing so hard all night long and then one of the passengers noticed that he forgot to pull up the anchor. The anchor is attachment to material enjoyment. If we do not give up our attachments to material enjoyments in sinful activities even though we are engaging in so much activities, it appears that we hardly get anywhere. In other words this is a very very slow slow process, but better late than never. You see if you do like this eventually after 16 years you’ll realize I forgot to pull up the anchor and you’ll begin to pull it up – right – Its not that the bridegrooms party never made it, they just made it very late. For such a person we should know it might take him not 16 years, it may take him 16 births, but eventually because he is engaging in devotional service , eventually he will become purified to the extent that he says I should pull up the anchor and continue on. So therefore Krsna says even such a person is to be considered saintly because ultimately he will reach the destination, he’s on the way, but very slow, very slow . Such a person is making advancement but so slow we can hardly see it. So why should we go so slow. With the same effort, with the same time we can swiftly cross over the ocean of birth and death if we simply engage in our devotional service with detachment. So I have just received the message that I must go to a very important meeting right now. We will end here.Thank you very much.
Hare Krsna !
