By Giriraj Swami<\/p>\n
Today, in observance of Sri Rama-navami, we shall read a verse from Srimad-Bhagavatam, Canto Two, Chapter Seven: \u201cScheduled Incarnations.\u201d<\/p>\n
TEXT 24<\/p>\n
yasma adad udadhir udha-bhayanga-vepo
\nmargam sapady ari-puram haravad didhaksoh
\ndure suhrn-mathita-rosa-susona-drstya
\ntatapyamana-makaroraga-nakra-cakrah<\/p>\n
TRANSLATION<\/p>\n
The Personality of Godhead Ramacandra, being aggrieved for His distant intimate friend [Sita], glanced over the city of the enemy Ravana with red-hot eyes like those of Hara [who wanted to burn the kingdom of heaven]. The great ocean, trembling in fear,
\ngave Him His way because its family members, the aquatics like the sharks, snakes, and crocodiles, were being burnt by the heat of the angry red-hot eyes of the Lord.<\/p>\n
PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada<\/p>\n
The Personality of Godhead has every sentiment of a sentient being, like all other living beings, because He is the chief and original living entity, the supreme source of all other living beings. He is the nitya, or the chief eternal amongst
\nall other eternals. He is the chief one, and all others are the dependent many. The many eternals are supported by the one eternal, and thus both the eternals are qualitatively one. Due to such oneness, both the eternals constitutionally have a complete
\nrange of sentiments, but the difference is that the sentiments of the chief eternal are different in quantity from the sentiments of the dependent eternals. When Ramacandra was angry and showed His red-hot eyes, the whole ocean became heated with
\nthat energy, so much so that the aquatics within the great ocean felt the heat, and the personified ocean trembled in fear and offered the Lord an easy path for reaching the enemy\u2019s city. The impersonalists will see havoc in this red-hot sentiment
\nof the Lord because they want to see negation in perfection. Because the Lord is absolute, the impersonalists imagine that in the Absolute the sentiment of anger, which resembles mundane sentiments, must be conspicuous by absence. Due to a poor fund
\nof knowledge, they do not realize that the sentiment of the Absolute Person is transcendental to all mundane concepts of quality and quantity. Had Lord Ramacandra\u2019s sentiment been of mundane origin, how could it disturb the whole ocean and its inhabitants?
\nCan any mundane red-hot eye generate heat in the great ocean? These are factors to be distinguished in terms of the personal and impersonal conceptions of the Absolute Truth. As it is said in the beginning of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, the Absolute
\nTruth is the source of everything, so the Absolute Person cannot be devoid of the sentiments that are reflected in the temporary mundane world. Rather, the different sentiments found in the Absolute, either in anger or in mercy, have the same qualitative
\ninfluence, or, in other words, there is no mundane difference of value because these sentiments are all on the absolute plane. Such sentiments are definitely not absent in the Absolute, as the impersonalists think, making their mundane estimation
\nof the transcendental world.<\/p>\n
COMMENT by Giriraj Swami<\/p>\n
The Vedanta-sutra begins with the aphorism janmady asya yatah: \u201cThe Absolute Truth is that from which everything emanates.\u201d Srimad-Bhagavatam begins with the same words and explains that the Absolute Truth, the origin of everything,
\nis a person\u2014the Supreme Person, Krishna (krsnas tu bhagavan svayam). He is the origin of everything spiritual and material, and in the Bhagavad-gita He confirms, \u201cI am the origin of everything. From me everything emanates.\u201d<\/p>\n
aham sarvasya prabhavo
\nmattah sarvam pravartate
\niti matva bhajante mam
\nbudha bhava-samanvitah<\/p>\n
\u201cI am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who perfectly know this engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts.\u201d (Gita 10.8) Further, He says, aham adir hi devanam:
\n\u201cI am the source of the devas.\u201d (Gita 10.2) Srila Prabhupada explains that the three primal devas, or gods, are Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesh and that Krishna is the origin of them all\u2014even of Vishnu.<\/p>\n
Srimad-Bhagavatam describes the Absolute Truth in detail. It lists twenty-six incarnations of Godhead and states, ete camsa-kalah pumsah krsnas tu bhagavan svayam: \u201cAll of these incarnations are either plenary portions or portions of
\nthe plenary portions of the Lord, but Lord Sri Krsna is the original Supreme Personality of Godhead.\u201d (SB 1.3.28) As such, Krishna includes all of the other incarnations, including the incarnation of Lord Ramachandra. Thus we need not worship
\nLord Ramachandra separately. By worshiping Krishna, we automatically worship Lord Rama simultaneously.<\/p>\n
Krishna, being the origin of everything and everyone, is also the origin of us, the living entities. So whatever qualities we have must also exist in Krishna\u2014originally. We have individuality, so Krishna must too. We have form, and so
\nmust Krishna. We have thinking and feeling and willing, so Krishna must too. And we have activities, so Krishna must too. Krishna, the Absolute Truth, has everything that we have plus more\u2014and in greater quantity.<\/p>\n
In the specific incarnation of Rama, the Lord acts as the ideal human being\u2014the ideal son, ideal brother, ideal husband, ideal king. The Ramayana, the history of Lord Rama, is filled with the exemplary behavior of the Lord and His associates,
\nand they all show ideal examples. Sita shows the ideal of a chaste wife, Laksmana and Bharata of faithful brothers. The Ramayana is full of ideal examples that we are meant to follow\u2014ideal father, ideal son, ideal brother, ideal husband,
\nideal wife, ideal servant, ideal ruler, and so on.<\/p>\n
Lord Rama, who is ideal in every respect, still became angry\u2014and aggrieved. Both are mentioned here. He became aggrieved because of separation from Sita, and He became angry at Ravana. Such sentiments as grief and anger exist
\nin the Absolute Truth, in particular here in the person of the incarnation of Godhead, who shows the ideal in all respects. So we living entities also have such sentiments\u2014even in perfection, after liberation. Of course, our experience in the material
\nworld is with conditioned souls, so what we have experienced of grief or anger is largely mundane. But we should not think that the Lord\u2019s sentiments are mundane or that the Lord, being beyond material sentiment, is devoid of all sentiments. The impersonalists
\nthink, \u201cWe, conditioned souls, have anger and sorrow, so how can the Lord, who is liberated and pure, have anger or sorrow? In fact, He cannot have anything\u2014no name, no form, no qualities, no activities, no relationships with others or sentiments
\nand emotions\u2014nothing.\u201d They want to make everything zero. Thus statements such as \u201cthe red-hot burning eyes of Ramachandra\u201d cause havoc for the impersonalists.<\/p>\n
As conditioned souls, we all tend toward impersonalism. Every conditioned soul has two conditioned tendencies: one toward sense gratification and the other toward impersonalism. So we carry impersonal conceptions with us even when we come to devotional
\nservice, and our impersonal conceptions may influence us to deal in impersonal ways even though we know in theory that we all are eternal persons and that Krishna is the supreme eternal person. Still, in practice we may tend to act in impersonal ways,
\nbecause we may still have impersonal ideas that devotees should not feel sorrow or anger\u2014or any \u201cnegative\u201d emotion. And we may try to avoid responsibility for how our behavior affects other devotees by saying, \u201cPrabhu, why are you getting upset? You
\nshouldn\u2019t get upset.\u201d Although there may be truth to the notion that under certain circumstances a devotee should not become upset, we also should not act in such a way as to upset the prabhu. \u201cPrabhu\u201d means \u201cmaster.\u201d We are meant to see
\neach other as masters and ourselves as servants. So we shouldn\u2019t say, \u201cNow, Prabhu, don\u2019t get upset.\u201d One wouldn\u2019t tell one\u2019s master not to get upset. Rather, we should say, \u201cOh, I am so sorry, my dear master. I am sorry that I made a mistake. I am
\nsorry that I upset you. Please forgive me. Please rectify me.\u201d That is the meaning of seeing others as prabhu.<\/p>\n
The same pastimes that are described here in brief, in three verses in the Second Canto, are elaborated upon in the Ninth Canto in two full chapters. The entire Ramayana is summarized in the tenth and eleventh chapters of the Ninth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam.
\nAnd there Sukadeva Gosvami elaborates on these two points: the Lord\u2019s being aggrieved in separation from Sita, and the Lord\u2019s becoming angry.<\/p>\n
In relation to Rama\u2019s separation from Sita, who had been kidnapped by the great demon Ravana, externally the Lord was lamenting. The Bhagavatam says that the Lord showed by His personal example the condition of a man who is attached to women\u2014that
\nis the material side of attachment. But the situation of Lord Rama is spiritual, beyond material conditions. The Lord and His pleasure potency\u2014whether Sita-Rama or Radha-Krishna\u2014are not of the material world. They are completely spiritual, and their
\nactivities are within the internal energy. The separation of the Lord from His consort is an activity of the Lord\u2019s pleasure potency (hladini-sakti) and serves to increase their transcendental bliss. So although externally the Lord appears
\nto lament in separation from His devotee or His devotees appear to lament in separation from Him, internally they experience transcendental bliss and actually relish the feelings of separation (vipralambha) as the highest ecstasy.<\/p>\n
Once, when Rama was wandering through the forest searching for Sita and lamenting, Parvati, Lord Shiva\u2019s consort, saw Him but did not recognize Him. She thought that He was an ordinary man in grief. She told her husband and guru, Lord Shiva, what she
\nhad seen, and he replied, \u201cThat was no ordinary man. That was the Personality of Godhead Ramachandra.\u201d But Shiva could detect that she had some doubt in her mind, so he warned her, \u201cDo not try to test Him. He is the Personality of Godhead, Lord Rama.\u201d
\nStill, she wasn\u2019t convinced. She harbored some doubt within her heart.<\/p>\n
So, Parvati disguised herself as Sita and went out to trick this man. She appeared before Lord Rama looking exactly like Sita. In effect, she was saying, \u201cHere I am, Your beloved Sita.\u201d But Lord Rama did not even see her; He ignored her, as if she didn\u2019t
\nexist, and continued searching for Sita. But from her side, wherever Parvati looked, she saw Rama, because He had expanded Himself into so many forms that wherever she looked she saw the Personality of Godhead Ramachandra.<\/p>\n
Parvati realized that her husband was right. She had made a mistake, but she didn\u2019t want to admit it. So she left the area, reassumed her original features, and returned to her husband\u2014and didn\u2019t say anything about what had happened. But Lord Shiva knew,
\nso he asked, \u201cDid you see anything unusual in the forest?\u201d She replied, \u201cNo, not in particular.\u201d So he became angry\u2014not just because she had disobeyed him, but because she had not told him the truth. And he was ready to burn her to ashes.<\/p>\n
So, Lord Ramachandra is the Personality of Godhead. He is not an ordinary person, although He appeared to lament like one. And Lord Shiva, a pure devotee beyond the modes of material nature, became angry, as was appropriate.<\/p>\n
Returning to the pastimes of Lord Ramachandra as described in Srimad-Bhagavatam: After searching for Sita in the forest and being unable to find her, He ultimately learned that she had been kidnapped by Ravana and carried to his capital of Lanka.
\nSo Lord Rama made His way to the southern tip of India, to the Indian Ocean, and there glanced over the golden city of Lanka, angry that Ravana had kidnapped Sita and thus insulted the Raghu dynasty.<\/p>\n
The ocean, in a sense, created an impediment to Rama and His army reaching Lanka, but the anger in His eyes created so much heat that the aquatics in the ocean were burning and the ocean was trembling. So, the ocean personified came before the Lord and
\noffered to give Him way\u2014to not impede His travel. Commenting on this incident as described in the Ninth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, Srila Prabhupada raises the question of why suffering is necessary. In the Bhagavad-gita Krishna
\nsays, sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja\/ aham tvam sarva-papebhyo moksayisyami ma sucah: one who surrenders to Me is relieved of all sinful reactions. So from where does the surrendered devotee\u2019s suffering come? Just by chanting
\nthe holy name of the Lord once, like Ajamila, in namabhasa, without offense, one is freed from the reactions to more sins than one is able to commit. From where, then, does the suffering of a devotee come?<\/p>\n
Srila Prabhupada explains that sometimes people become so covered by material attachments and illusion that they cannot understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead or His purpose. He gives the example that an animal is supposed to understand the indications
\nof the master and that if he doesn\u2019t, the master may have to beat him until he does. When the ocean personified came before Lord Rama and apologized for not having given Him way earlier, she referred to herself as jada-dhiyah, \u201cdull-minded,\u201d
\nor \u201cpossessing intelligence like that of an animal.\u201d Srila Prabhupada remarks that sometimes an animal, to understand the purpose of a man, has to be beaten, and that similarly, people whose intelligence is dull like an animal\u2019s sometimes have to
\nbe punished so that they can come to their senses and understand, \u201cThis is our master. He wants our service. This is what He wants us to do.\u201d \u201cTherefore,\u201d Srila Prabhupada concludes, \u201cpunishment by the Lord through material nature is necessary in
\nhuman society, for without it men forget the supremacy of the Lord due to their dull, blunt intelligence.\u201d (SB 9.10.14 purport)<\/p>\n
Eventually Rama and His army crossed the ocean to Lanka, and ultimately Rama killed Ravana, as described so beautifully in the next verse and translation:<\/p>\n
TEXT 25<\/p>\n
vaksah-sthala-sparsa-rugna-mahendra-vaha-
\ndantair vidambita-kakubjusa udha-hasam
\nsadyo \u2019subhih saha vinesyati dara-hartur
\nvisphurjitair dhanusa uccarato \u2019dhisainye<\/p>\n
TRANSLATION<\/p>\n
When Ravana 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 Ravana, and the scattered broken parts illuminated all directions. Ravana therefore felt proud
\nof 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
\nRamacandra, the Personality of Godhead.<\/p>\n
COMMENT (continued)<\/p>\n
The culmination of Ravana\u2019s kidnapping Sita and taking her to Lanka was that Ramachandra killed him and freed Sita. And for us, there is a great lesson to be learned. Sita is the Lord\u2019s energy, the Lord\u2019s property, and if we try to take the Lord\u2019s energy,
\nHis property, for our own purposes, for our own enjoyment, we will lose everything and we will be destroyed. In other words, the mentality of enjoying the Lord\u2019s energy or using the Lord\u2019s property for one\u2019s own purposes is demonic. And if we persist,
\nwe may be destroyed like Ravana and his dynasty, and our property may be devastated and lost. Even as devotees, we may have some vestiges of this demonic mentality\u2014the desire to take the Lord\u2019s place and enjoy His property\u2014and so we pray to Lord Rama
\nand to Laksmana, who have so kindly appeared in Kali-yuga as Gaura-Nitai, to destroy our sinful mentality.<\/p>\n
After defeating Ravana and his armies, Lord Rama found Sita, who had been kept captive in a forest of asoka trees. She had become thin, being aggrieved because of separation from Him. And naturally, she was delighted to see her eternal Lord and
\nmaster. But according to strict Vedic custom, a lady who spends the night outside of her home is considered to be tainted. In the orthodox Hindu system, the girls do not spend the night out of their homes. They stay first under the care of their fathers;
\nafter marriage, under the care of their husbands; and after their husbands pass away, under the care of their grown sons. So, Lord Rama refused to accept Sita. Naturally, she was heartbroken, but He refused to accept her, because she had spent the
\nnight outside and thus her position was unknown. Finally, it was concluded that Sita\u2019s chastity would be tested. She would be placed in a fire. If she survived the fire, it meant she was pure. And if she was burned in the fire, it meant that she had
\nnot remained chaste.<\/p>\n
So, Sita was placed in the fire, and she emerged unscathed. But there are some secret facts, which we can learn by the mercy of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Once, when Lord Chaitanya was traveling in South India, near Madurai, He was invited for lunch by
\na learned brahman who was a rama-bhakta, a devotee of Rama. After taking His bath in the river, Lord Chaitanya went to the brahman\u2019s house to have lunch, but the food was not ready, because the brahman had not cooked. Finally, late in the
\nafternoon, Lord Chaitanya took His lunch, but the brahman fasted.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is the matter?\u201d Mahaprabhu asked. \u201cYou seem so worried. Why are you so morose?\u201d The brahman replied, \u201cHearing that Mother Sita, the mother of the universe and the supreme goddess of fortune, has been touched by the demon Ravana, I am so distressed
\nthat I prefer not to live.\u201d Lord Chaitanya appreciated the brahman\u2019s mood of devotion, but He assured him that Ravana could never touch Sita. \u201cSita has a spiritual form full of bliss, and material senses cannot even see her, what to speak of touch
\nher,\u201d He explained. \u201cWhat Ravana kidnapped was not actually Sita but an illusory material form of Sita [maya-sita].\u201d<\/p>\n
Lord Chaitanya continued His travels in South India, and at a temple in Ramesvara He heard a reading from the Kurma Purana about Sita\u2019s chastity. That scripture says that when Ravana came to kidnap her, she took shelter of Agni, the fire-god,
\nwho covered her original form and provided an illusory representation of her, which Ravana took. So the original Sita was never abducted by Ravana\u2014only the maya-sita. And when Rama killed Ravana and Sita was released and brought before the
\nfire, Agni made the illusory form disappear and delivered the real form of Sita to Lord Ramachandra. Thus the original Sitadevi was reunited with her eternal Lord and master, Ramachandra.<\/p>\n
There is a lesson for us here, which is, as Srila Prabhupada often said, that the same thing that is material when used for sense gratification becomes spiritual when engaged in the service of the Lord\u2014and vice versa. Take, for example, rice. If someone
\nprepares rice to eat for sense gratification, it is material\u2014and sinful. But the same rice, when prepared for Krishna and offered to Him with love and devotion, becomes spiritual and releases one from all sins. As stated in the Bhagavad-gita (3.13):<\/p>\n
yajna-sistasinah santo
\nmucyante sarva-kilbisaih
\nbhunjate te tv agham papa
\nye pacanty atma-karanat<\/p>\n
\u201cThe devotees of the Lord are released from all kinds of sins because they eat food which is offered first for sacrifice. Others, who prepare food for personal sense enjoyment, verily eat only sin.\u201d When one eats even vegetarian food prepared for one\u2019s
\nown bodily nourishment, one is eating lumps of sin. And when one eats the same ingredients prepared and offered in love to Krishna\u2014krsna-prasada\u2014one becomes purified and liberated from all sins. The same item can act either materially or
\nspiritually depending on how it is used, in what consciousness. So we should be careful to use whatever facility we receive by the grace of the Lord exclusively for the Lord\u2019s service and not for sense gratification.<\/p>\n
Once, a gentleman who had recently wedded came before Srila Gaurakisora dasa Babaji Maharaja. When Babaji Maharaja heard about the man\u2019s marriage, he remarked, \u201cIt is good that Sambu Babu has married. Now every day he should personally cook for Krishna,
\noffer the food, and serve the prasada to his wife. If he thinks of her more or less as his worshipable guru\u2014not someone to be enjoyed or exploited by him\u2014he will benefit. Everything that exists is Krishna\u2019s property, meant for Krishna\u2019s
\nenjoyment, and should be used for Krishna\u2019s service. Sambu should not think of his wife as his servant. Rather, he should respect her as Krishna\u2019s servant.\u201d So, whatever it may be, we should see the person or the object as Krishna\u2019s property, meant
\nto be engaged in Krishna\u2019s service. Then we can move in the world without becoming entangled. But as soon as we think, \u201cOh, here is something nice for me to enjoy,\u201d we may be entangled. That demonic mentality of wanting to enjoy apart from the Lord
\nmay become prominent, and then we may require some special mercy to free ourselves from that contamination. Krishna may take from us the object of our material attachment and remove that obstacle to our spiritual progress (yasyaham anugrhnami harisye tad-dhanam sanaih).<\/p>\n
We have many lessons to learn from the pastimes of Lord Ramachandra, but in relation to today\u2019s verse in particular, Srila Prabhupada is pointing out the most fundamental of all lessons: that the Personality of Godhead is a person with all of the sentiments
\nof a person and that we too are persons, eternally. Even in the liberated stage we have such sentiments, and we should respect them. We do not necessarily reject \u201cnegative\u201d emotions that arise within us as being material, because they may in fact
\nbe spiritual. Even a \u201cnegative\u201d emotion engaged in Krishna\u2019s service is spiritual, and a so-called noble sentiment outside of Krishna consciousness is material.<\/p>\n
\u2018dvaite\u2019 bhadrabhadra-jnana, saba\u2014\u2018manodharma\u2019
\n\u2018ei bhala, ei manda\u2019,\u2014ei saba \u2018bhrama\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the material world, conceptions of good and bad are all mental speculations. Therefore, saying \u2018This is good\u2019 and \u2018This is bad\u2019 is all a mistake.\u201d (Cc Antya 4.176) In other words, nothing is really good or bad. If it is favorable to Krishna\u2019s
\nservice, it is real\u2014and good. Otherwise, it is illusory.<\/p>\n
Unlike Mayavadis, we do not reject sentiments\u2014\u201cOh, you should not get angry.\u201d In fact, Mayavadis themselves sometimes get angry, but they try to conceal it\u2014\u201cOh, we can\u2019t get angry.\u201d Actually, sometimes it is our duty to get angry. Once, a young American
\nwho happened to attend the first Delhi pandal became so inspired by Srila Prabhupada and the devotees that he came to meet Prabhupada after the program. In a heartfelt display of eloquence, he expressed his appreciation to Srila Prabhupada:
\n\u201cIf the world could just become Krishna conscious, there could be peace and happiness. People would learn to love each other and give up their hatred and anger.\u201d Srila Prabhupada replied, \u201cAnger? Is there something wrong with anger? Did someone tell
\nyou that anger is wrong?\u201d The young man didn\u2019t know what to say. Then Srila Prabhupada explained, \u201cKrishna spoke the whole Bhagavad-gita just to make Arjuna angry. He wanted to convince Arjuna to fight and kill the enemy, and how can you
\nfight and kill unless you are angry? He spoke the whole Bhagavad-gita just to make Arjuna angry.\u201d So, anger, when used in the service of the Lord, is spiritual.<\/p>\n
After Ravana kidnapped Sita, Rama sent Hanuman to Lanka to find her. Eventually Hanuman did, in the asoka grove, but he was soon apprehended by Ravana\u2019s soldiers. To punish and humiliate him, they set fire to his tail. But Hanuman was no ordinary
\nmonkey. He was a great devotee, powerful as a demigod, and he went on a rampage through the whole of Lanka, setting it ablaze. That\u2019s how furious he was. And so we see that anger can also be used in the service of the Lord, as demonstrated by Hanuman
\nand Arjuna.<\/p>\n
Even lust can be dovetailed in the service of the Lord. The Bhagavad-gita (3.37) says,<\/p>\n
kama esa krodha esa
\nrajo-guna-samudbhavah
\nmahasano maha-papma
\nviddhy enam iha vairinam<\/p>\n
\u201cLust is born of contact with the material mode of passion and later transformed into wrath; it is the all-devouring sinful enemy of this world.\u201d Srila Prabhupada explains in his purport to this verse that when a living entity comes in contact with the
\nmaterial creation, his eternal love for Krishna is transformed into lust, in association with the mode of passion. And lust, when frustrated, turns into wrath, which is a manifestation of the mode of ignorance. But lust and anger, which exist originally
\nin the Lord, the Absolute Truth, dovetailed in the service of the Lord can help the living entity revive his original Krishna consciousness. Srila Prabhupada explains, \u201cIf, therefore, lust is transformed into love for the Supreme, or transformed into
\nKrsna consciousness\u2014or, in other words, desiring everything for Krsna\u2014then both lust and wrath can be spiritualized. Hanuman, the great servitor of Lord Rama, exhibited his wrath by burning the golden city of Ravana, but by doing so he became the
\ngreatest devotee of the Lord. Here also, in Bhagavad-gita, the Lord induces Arjuna to engage his wrath upon his enemies for the satisfaction of the Lord. Therefore, lust and wrath, when they are employed in Krsna consciousness, become our
\nfriends instead of our enemies.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anything and everything can be used in the service of the Lord, and that is the basic principle of Krishna consciousness.<\/p>\n
anasaktasya visayan
\nyatharham upayunjatah
\nnirbandhah krsna-sambandhe
\nyuktam vairagyam ucyate<\/p>\n
prapancikataya buddhya
\nhari-sambandhi-vastunah
\nmumuksubhih parityago
\nvairagyam phalgu kathyate<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen one is not attached to anything but at the same time accepts anything in relation to Krsna, one is rightly situated above possessiveness. On the other hand, one who rejects everything without knowledge of its relationship to Krsna is not as complete
\nin his renunciation.\u201d (Brs 1.2.255\u20136)<\/p>\n
Because spiritual sentiments and activities can resemble mundane ones, we can easily misunderstand the Lord or His pure devotees. We may think that such transcendental sentiments are mundane, or that the Lord and His pure devotees have no such sentiments.
\nThus one may develop an artificial view of the Lord and His devotees.<\/p>\n
From our experience with Srila Prabhupada, we know that, like the Lord, a pure devotee has the full range of emotions\u2014but all in relation to Krishna. And a pure devotee may temporarily become angry or distressed, according to the situation. Sometimes
\nPrabhupada became discouraged\u2014or encouraged\u2014by what others said and did. He was fixed in his relationship with Krishna and in his service to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and his guru maharaja\u2014they were the center of his life\u2014but with temporary changes
\nof circumstances related to Krishna\u2019s service, he could display temporary changes of emotion.<\/p>\n
As soon as we finally got the Juhu land in ISKCON\u2019s name, Srila Prabhupada wanted to start raising funds to build the temple for Krishna, Sri Sri Radha-Rasabihari. He said to his friend Dr. C. P. Patel, \u201cNow we want to begin the collection for the construction.\u201d
\nAnd Dr. Patel replied, \u201cPeople won\u2019t give.\u201d Srila Prabhupada countered, \u201cBombay is such a rich city that if the people of Bombay wanted, they could give the entire amount in one day.\u201d And Dr. Patel replied, \u201cThey don\u2019t want. You have to bring the
\nmoney from America.\u201d Prabhupada responded, \u201cI could bring the money from America, but then what is your credit?\u201d Dr. Patel began, \u201cPrabhupada, I don\u2019t want to discourage you . . .\u201d And Srila Prabhupada interjected, \u201cBut you are discouraging
\nme.\u201d So, Prabhupada could become discouraged.<\/p>\n
Similarly, he could become encouraged. Once, Srila Prabhupada called me into his room to discuss book distribution in India, and at the end he said, \u201cSeeing you all so enthusiastic to distribute books, I become enthusiastic.\u201d Being a relatively new devotee,
\nI thought, \u201cSrila Prabhupada is always in transcendental bliss. How can our enthusiasm increase his enthusiasm?\u201d In time, I began to overcome my impersonal conceptions and to realize that, like Krishna, liberated souls are always persons, with the
\nfull range of emotions, and can be encouraged or discouraged. So, when we deal with devotees, we should always be careful\u2014and considerate.<\/p>\n
Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was considerate. Every year, Sivananda Sena would lead the devotees from Bengal to Jagannatha Puri for Ratha-yatra, and it was a major effort. The party, which numbered two or three hundred, went by foot, and he arranged prasada and accommodations for them and sometimes boats to take them across rivers. One day when the party was being checked by a toll collector, the other devotees went ahead while Sivananda Sena remained behind to pay the taxes. Because no one else could
\narrange for their accommodations, the devotees waited beneath a tree. Meanwhile, Nityananda Prabhu, who was with the party that year, became very hungry and upset. And when Sivananda finally arrived, Nityananda stood up and kicked him severely. Of
\ncourse, Sivananda accepted the kicking as the greatest blessing. After bringing Nityananda Prabhu to His residence, he told Him, \u201cThe dust of Your lotus feet is not attainable even by Lord Brahma, yet Your lotus feet have touched my wretched body.
\nToday my birth, my family, and my activities have all become successful.\u201d But Sivananda\u2019s nephew, who was only a boy, felt offended and left the group. On his own, he traveled to Jagannatha Puri to meet Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.<\/p>\n
When the boy reached Mahaprabhu\u2019s residence, Lord Chaitanya\u2019s servant told him to remove his coat and shirt, because the rule is that when one comes before the Deity one must remove such garments. But Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, \u201cDon\u2019t disturb him. He
\nhas come in a distressed state of mind. Let him do as he pleases.\u201d Lord Chaitanya considered the person\u2019s emotional state, the person\u2019s psychology. And when someone is in a distressed state, you don\u2019t disturb him. Rather, you try to help him, to pacify
\nhim, and then talk of other things.<\/p>\n
Once, Srila Prabhupada told Tejiyas Prabhu, then the temple president in Delhi, that the problem with his disciples was that they didn\u2019t understand common psychology. We may want to give someone some instruction, but we may have to wait until they are
\nready to hear. We may have to pacify them first, and then they may be more open to what we have to say. We may have to wait for the right time. It is the speaker\u2019s responsibility to present his message in such a way that his audience will appreciate
\nand accept it. If our audience becomes discouraged\u2014or inimical\u2014we should feel responsible. We should think how we can improve and perhaps act to rectify the situation\u2014by the grace of the Lord and the devotees.<\/p>\n
Hare Krishna.<\/p>\n
Narottamananda dasa: Thank you for the wonderful class, Maharaja. I read the Valmiki Ramayana produced by Bhakti Vikasa Maharaja. In that account, after Rama returns to His capital, Ayodhya, with Sita, He hears the slanderous (that is the word
\nthe book uses) statements of some of the residents, such as \u201cHow has Rama accepted Sita back when she sat on the lap of a raksasa? How has Rama accepted Sita back after she lived in the house of that villain for over a year?\u201d And Rama, the
\nrepresentative of the Iksvaku dynasty, became disturbed and asked His brother Laksmana to leave her in the forest near Valmiki Rsi\u2019s ashram. Actually, Sita herself had a desire to visit the sages along the bank of the river, so on the plea of satisfying
\nthat request, Laksmana took her there, explained the situation to her, and left her there, near Valmiki\u2019s ashram. Earlier, Rama had inquired in His court, \u201cWhat are the citizens saying about us? Without knowing what they are saying, we can never improve
\nourselves.\u201d Rama had made that point. He insisted, and finally His ministers came out with these criticisms from the residents of Ayodhya.<\/p>\n
Then an incredible pastime took place, when Valmiki brought Sita back to Ayodhya to establish her purity before the citizens. He proclaimed, \u201cI have performed austerities for sixty thousand years, and I state that if this woman is in any way unchaste,
\nlet all the results of my austerities be taken from me.\u201d Then Rama asked Sita to show her purity. And she declared, \u201cIf the residents of Ayodhya don\u2019t accept me, then at least, if I have been chaste to You, let my mother, Bhumidevi, the earth-goddess,
\ntake me back.\u201d Then a huge earthquake took place and a crevice opened and from within the earth Goddess Bhumi came out on a golden throne surrounded by celestial snakes (nagas). She announced to all that Sita was chaste and that she would
\naccept her. Tearfully, she embraced Sita and took Sita with her; they vanished into the earth, and the earth closed. And Rama fell off His throne, crying and lamenting in separation from Sita. Thereafter, Rama made a golden deity of Sita, which He
\nkept by His side. And so it was established that Sita was perfect in every respect.<\/p>\n
So, how are we to view the residents of Ayodhya in that position? Personally, I have a lot of harsh feelings when I see that even after Sita showed her purity in that test of fire, they criticized Rama for taking her back.<\/p>\n
Giriraj Swami: That was a very moving narration. I don\u2019t know if I can speak after that.<\/p>\n
There are different perspectives. When one accepts a position of leadership, he or she does so with the intention to help the people, even those who are ignorant and offensive. And so the leader may adjust his or her behavior. Sita was pure and Rama was
\npure, but when He found that some of the residents were finding fault with Him, He sent her away. He didn\u2019t want people to criticize Him\u2014not because He minded the criticism personally, but because to rule effectively and guide the population, He had
\nto have their complete support and faith. Still, where this incident is described in the Ninth Canto, Srila Prabhupada refers to those critics as rascals. He says that Lord Ramachandra, fearing such rascals, abandoned His wife, Sitadevi.<\/p>\n
We find that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu also adjusted His behavior when He was criticized. When a senior sannyasi criticized Him for eating too much, He reduced His eating by half. All the devotees became upset; as it was, the Lord accepted so many austerities.
\nBut because the sannyasi was a godbrother of His spiritual master, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu respected him as a superior and said of him, \u201cHe is concerned about My sannyasa principles. He doesn\u2019t want Me to overeat.\u201d But the devotees were distressed
\nand could hardly wait for the sannyasi to leave town. And when finally he did leave, they felt as if a great burden had fallen from their heads. Then Chaitanya Mahaprabhu accepted prasada as usual.<\/p>\n
Sometimes someone in a high position will make an adjustment for a rascal\u2014but not always. It depends on the issue and the context. Even in relation to that offensive sannyasi, Ramachandra Puri, it was said of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, kabhu ramacandra-purira haya bhrtya-praya\/ kabhu tare nahi mane, dekhe trna-praya:
\n\u201cSometimes He accepted Ramacandra Puri as His master and considered Himself a servant, and sometimes, not caring for him, He would see him as being just like a straw.\u201d (Cc Antya 8.94) Sometimes Srila Prabhupada didn\u2019t compromise, and sometimes
\nLord Chaitanya didn\u2019t either\u2014but sometimes they did.<\/p>\n
In India, Srila Prabhupada would be open to visitors every afternoon for one or two hours. Anyone could come and see him. But in his later years, Prabhupada\u2019s health wasn\u2019t that good, and he often complained that he wanted to translate more.
\nIn Juhu once, he even cited the example of Aurobindo, who would give darshan just once a year, from his balcony. And Prabhupada said that he wished he could do that. \u201cOtherwise,\u201d he said, \u201cpeople just come and waste my time. They ask, \u2018Swamiji, how
\nis your health?\u2019 Everyone can see that my health is not good.\u201d So he proposed that he should do as Aurobindo did, give audience only once a year. And the devotees, of course, were ready to facilitate whatever Prabhupada wanted. But finally Prabhupada
\nconcluded, \u201cNo, because if I don\u2019t meet people, they will think, \u2018Oh, Swamiji is a big man now. He has no time for us. He has become puffed up.\u2019 Maybe when the new complex is ready, I can do that\u2014not now.\u201d So, he continued, until the very end\u2014until
\nhis illness prevented him\u2014to have open darshan every afternoon.<\/p>\n
In practical matters he could compromise\u2014he could make adjustments for the sake of the fallen souls\u2014but on certain matters of principle, certain matters of philosophy, there was no compromise. When it came to his main mission, he often quoted, \u201cThe dogs
\nmay bark, but the caravan will pass.\u201d \u201cWe don\u2019t care,\u201d he said, \u201cWe will go on. Let the dogs bark.\u201d But to please someone\u2014to avoid offending someone\u2014he could adjust. For example, after the first Delhi pandal, one of the main organizers invited Srila
\nPrabhupada to her home for a program. She had done a lot of service and really wanted to help. She invited many prominent people to the program, and after the kirtan in her garden, Prabhupada and the devotees went in the house to take prasada.
\nNow, one of the preparations had onions in it. And Malati dasi, wanting to save Srila Prabhupada, warned him, \u201cPrabhupada, this preparation has onions in it. We can\u2019t take this.\u201d But Prabhupada didn\u2019t want to offend the host, so he ate it. Malati
\nsaid, \u201cPrabhupada, there are onions in this.\u201d And Prabhupada replied, \u201cNo, there are no onions in this.\u201d There were, but he didn\u2019t want to discourage his host. He didn\u2019t want to hurt her feelings. So, in some ways we may compromise, to encourage and
\nelevate people, but in other ways we don\u2019t compromise. And we have to be intelligent enough to be able to distinguish between principles that we must maintain and less important details that we can adjust.<\/p>\n
Devotee: Maharaja, can we see the residents of Ayodhya as being instruments in the pastime that Lord Ramachandra displayed? Can they be seen as parts of the Lord\u2019s whole pastime, in which everyone was meant to take part?<\/p>\n
Giriraj Swami: We can always see a higher arrangement, but we cannot assume that they were impelled by yogamaya to find fault. For example, in special cases some demons in the Lord\u2019s pastimes were actually the Lord\u2019s eternal associates, but in
\nother cases they were just demons. Rupa Gosvami explains that Sisupala and Dantavraka in one appearance were Jaya and Vijaya, eternal associates of the Lord, but in other appearances of the Lord they were just demons. We can\u2019t say that all the residents
\nof Ayodhya were necessarily eternal associates who were being guided by yogamaya, but we can certainly say that they were fortunate, because, as citizens of Ayodhya, they got to see the Lord. And in the end they all were liberated by the
\nLord\u2019s grace. So, we can also see a higher arrangement.<\/p>\n
Narottamananda dasa: After Sita exhibited that pastime of entering into the earth, the demigods from heaven showered flowers from above and praised her, and all the people present, even those whose minds had been confused and who had been blasphemous,
\nbegan to praise Sita and Rama again and again. It was glorious. But Rama Himself, seeing this and being separated from Sita, was devastated.<\/p>\n
Giriraj Swami: In the end, Lord Rama delivered all the residents of Ayodhya. Srimad-Bhagavatam explains,<\/p>\n
tata urdhvam brahmacaryam
\ndharyann ajuhot prabhuh
\ntrayodasabda-sahasram
\nagnihotram akhanditam<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter Mother Sita entered the earth, Lord Ramacandra observed complete celibacy and performed an uninterrupted Agnihotra-yajna for thirteen thousand years.<\/p>\n
smaratam hrdi vinyasya
\nviddham dandaka-kantakaih
\nsva-pada-pallavam rama
\natma-jyotir agat tatah<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter completing the sacrifice, Lord Ramacandra, whose lotus feet were sometimes pierced by thorns when He lived in Dandakaranya, placed those lotus feet in the hearts of those who always think of Him. Then He entered His own abode, the Vaikuntha planet
\nbeyond the brahmajyoti.<\/p>\n
sa yaih sprsto \u2019bhidrsto va
\nsamvisto \u2019nugato \u2019pi va
\nkosalas te yayuh sthanam
\nyatra gacchanti yoginah<\/p>\n
\u201cLord Ramacandra returned to His abode, to which bhakti-yogis are promoted. This is the place to which all the inhabitants of Ayodhya went after they served the Lord in His manifest pastimes by offering Him obeisances, touching His lotus feet, fully observing Him as a fatherlike king, sitting or lying down with Him like equals, or even just accompanying Him.\u201d (SB 9.11.18\u201319, 22)<\/p>\n
Thank you very much. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.<\/p>\n
Sri Sri Radha-Kalachandji ki jaya!
\nSri Sri Sita-Rama-Laksmana-Hanuman ki jaya!
\nSri Sri Gaura-Nitai ki jaya!
\nSrila Prabhupada ki jaya!
\nNitai-gaura-premanande hari-haribol!<\/p>\n[A talk by Giriraj Swami on Sri Rama-navami, April 6, 2006, Dallas]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Giriraj Swami Today, in observance of Sri Rama-navami, we shall read a verse from Srimad-Bhagavatam, Canto Two, Chapter Seven: \u201cScheduled Incarnations.\u201d TEXT 24 yasma adad udadhir udha-bhayanga-vepo margam sapady ari-puram haravad didhaksoh dure suhrn-mathita-rosa-susona-drstya tatapyamana-makaroraga-nakra-cakrah … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[140,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-area2","category-english"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-24 06:07:42","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49092\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}