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WORLD January 15, 1999 VNN2857 Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja In Malaysia December '98 Part 4 BY SRIDAM SAKHA DASA  MALAYSIA, Jan 15 (VNN) — Evening class: December 6th, 1998That evening Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja spoke about Krsna's very early pastimes from the Srimad Bhagavatam. "Pariksit Maharaja had much genuine greed to hear the sweet pastimes of Krsna, and, being very pleased, Sukadeva Gosvami became so inspired to speak. Automatically, one can experience an endless stream of bhakti rasa through the sweet pastimes of Krsna. Those who are so lucky, they can take bath in that, and their lives will be successful. They will forget all kinds of fear, lust, anarthas, aparadhas, and they'll very soon have prema bhakti for the lotus feet of Krsna. "Pariksit Maharaja was listening day and night for seven days from Sukadeva Gosvami. Sukadeva Gosvami asked: 'Do you want to take water?' Pariksit Maharaja replied: 'No! My ears are drinking an ocean of rasa coming from your mouth, so go on speaking.' So if anyone will hear this, then they'll certainly have prema bhakti very soon, and not have to worry for birth, death and sorrows. "Then Sukadeva Gosvami again begain to describe Krsna and Baladeva. Baladeva is non-different from Krsna, only Their bodies are different. Krsna has appeared in the body of Baladeva only to teach us how to serve Him. therefore Baladeva is akhanda-guru tattva, collective guru, and He gives all tattvas. "Now Krsna and Baladeva are somewhat older. The older Vraja gopis would sometimes go to Yasoda's house at 7:00 in the morning to see Krsna, even though they all had their own sons. They wanted Krsna as their son, so that they could give him their own breast milk. Sometimes even the cows would spontaneously squirt out milk, wishing that Krsna was their son. Now Krsna has become bigger. Naked like the four kumaras, He and his friends have started to go and steal from the houses of gopis, doing mischief like monkeys. Although the gopis complain that Krsna comes and steals from their houses, actually they really feel that Yasoda is so unfortunate because she is unable to witness it. Therefore on the pretext of complaining they make Yasoda drink the nectar of Krsna's pastimes. "Sometimes Krsna would say to one of His friends: 'Go and tell your mother that a calf has escaped and is now drinking all its mother's milk.' When the mother of Krsna's friend would run to catch the calf, Krsna would go into their home and steal makhan. But sometimes the gopis would lie in wait in their house instead because they knew what Krsna was going to do. If they would catch Him they would say: 'Why are you stealing?' 'Oh' Krsna would reply 'Stealing? I thought that this was *my* home and that you were *my* mother.' Then He would just smile in such a charming way that the gopis would laugh. Then in a moment He would run away. Once a gopi was telling Yasoda the following story: 'I caught Krsna in my house stealing yoghurt from one of the pots. I said to him 'What do you think you are doing?' Krsna replied 'I was looking for my calf who had run away and jumped into this yoghurt pot.' Then, removing His hand from my yoghurt pot, He pulled out a small, marble, toy calf and ran out of my house!' "Being the supreme personality of Godhead, Krsna wants to give pleasure to all His bhaktas. In all of His incarnations He is served, but in His form as Krsna He simply wants to serve His devotees. He only came to steal from the houses of the gopis to give them pleasure, otherwise He won't come for anyone. Duryodhana made a huge opulent feast with every kind of preparation and wanted to offer it to Krsna. But Krsna refused, saying that he had no appetite. Krsna only has appetite for love and affection, and Duryodhana was not able to offer Him this. Krsna had come to see Duryodhana with a peace proposal. But Duryodhana had not accepted, so Krsna left saying: 'I'm not a beggar'. Immediately after this Krsna went to see Vidura, and Vidura's wife, Vidurani, in a state of ecstatic love mistakenly gave Krsna banana skins to eat instead of bananas. However, they tasted more sweet to Him than all the preparations of His queens. When Vidura was about to correct her, Krsna told him not to say anything which might disturb her ecstatic mood. When Vidurani realized what she had been doing and began to give Krsna the fruits instead of the skins, Krsna thought: 'Oh, not so tasteful.' "Krsna doesn't want the food, but the essence, the love and affection. Otherwise He will not accept. As Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Krsna would come to steal banana flowers from His dear devotee Sridhara Kholavecar. Further on in his class Srila Maharaja described the incident of Yasoda feeding Krsna with her breast milk and then hurriedly leaving Him to stop a pot of milk from boiling over, and the deep tattva behind it. "Krsna had become notorious as a thief by now, and Yasoda, worrying about this, thought that this might be because the butter which she was feeding Him was not tasty enough because she had not prepared it herself. Therefore she decided to make it personally instead of engaging servants. Already one of her friends had come to her recently holding a boy under her veil saying: 'Krsna came to my house to steal today, and, not being able to find anything, He pinched my sleeping baby by the ear. Well, I caught Him red-handed, so now you'll have to believe me!' But when she pulled away her veil, the boy underneath was her own son. Acting as the victim of a wrongful accusation, Krsna came into the room crying, saying 'O Mother just see, your friends are liars. Because she has accused me, now I must definitely steal from her house!' In His boyhood Krsna was very naughty, and this is why he was so loved by the gopis. "Yasoda started to make the butter on Dipavali. She sent all of her maidservants to Upananda's house with Baladeva. Like Krsna, Yasoda was so beautiful. Her breasts were very large, and her waist so thin it looked as if it might break. As she worked her eyes were closed, and her heart melted in affection for Krsna. While she was churning, her bangles knocked together sounding like sweet karatalas, while the sound of the churning 'dhik dan dhik dan' resembled a mrdanga and tablas. Meanwhile, Krsna was looking for His mother. Because He could not see her He began to weep, rubbing His eyes with the back of His hands. Although He is the supreme personality of Godhead, He had difficulty getting down from the bed, as He went towards the sound of Yasoda's singing and churning. The tears running from His eyes resembled the Yamuna and Ganga, and He walked unsteadily, still half-asleep. Reaching Yasoda, He grabbed her churning stick with one hand and her veil with the other, and, seeing Him, she wiped His face with her veil, and then began to feed Him from her breast. Krsna stopped weeping, and automatically tears of love came from the eyes of Yasoda Maiya and all of the other symptoms of asta-sattvika vikara appeared on her body. The beads of sweat on her face and body resembled pearls. Although Krsna was hungry, when Yasoda realized that a pot of milk was beginning to boil over, she ran to save it. "The milk is a person, and he was thinking 'Krsna's stomach is so big that the whole world can fit inside it, while Yasoda has an unlimited, endless ocean of her own milk to give him, so even in lakhs of years it will not be finished. I'll never have a chance to serve Krsna, so there is no more point in living.' This is a symptom of bhakti, separation, that because neither my body, mind nor senses are serving Krsna, then let me die. If we are not feeling like this, then we're not a good sadhaka. If this bhava is there, then Krsna or any bhakta will come at once to give us a chance to serve. "When Yasoda saw the milk giving up its life on the fire she thought 'I'll feed Krsna afterwards, but first I'll engage the milk.' The guru always thinks 'I'll engage newer and newer persons, who are eager like the milk.' Yasoda is the guru of vatsalya rasa, so she gave up Krsna to save the milk. The tendency and mood of guru is like this, he thinks that to help is the best duty. When Krsna saw that Yasoda was going to leave Him, He sucked her breast very hard, and held on to her very tightly with both hands and both feet like a monkey. But very easily she pulled him off with one hand, saying: 'O you should sit here,'. Krsna was helpless, being easily defeated. And yet Putana, who had the strength of 10,000 elephants had not been able to get free of Krsna, when He was only six days old. So there is a good lesson to learn from this. If one has such bhakti then Krsna becomes like a baby, and, by the arrangement of Yogamaya all His power goes away. Although He wanted to drink her milk, still Yasoda quickly left, and He began to weep loudly and angrily. "Those who serve Krsna also take care of those things by which He is being served, such as His utensils, cloths, flute, and peacock feather. So Yasoda gave more attention to them than to Krsna Himself. This is the nature of bhakti. When Krsna would get his cloth dirty, then she'd slap him. Here she is saving the milk, rather than serving Krsna directly. So why? For whom does she have more affection, Krsna or the milk? The milk is there for the satisfaction of Krsna, yet she chooses to give more attention to it than Krsna Himself. If Krsna's cloth is only there to serve Krsna, then why does Yasoda slap Him when He gets it dirty? It is the nature of pure bhakti. Krsna has more affection for those who serve His devotees than He does for those who serve Him personally, so this is why. If one is serving Radhika, then it is higher than serving Krsna personally. And if one is serving the servant of the servant of Rupa manjari, then it is even higher. Yasoda considered it very essential to save the milk, because from her own breast milk makhan cannot be made. Although Krsna was weeping so much in an angry mood, still, internally He was so happy. "Then Krsna decided that he was going to teach her lesson, by smashing the yoghurt pot. He tried to upset the pot but He was not strong enough. Although He had killed Putana now He could not even shake this pot. By the effect of Yasoda's love, He had forgotten all his opulence. Then he saw a grinding stone lying there. Nowadays machines are used for grinding, but before ladies would use a mortar to grind spices. This was such good exercise. No need to do other exercises, there was so much exercise in the house. Krsna at first tried to break the vessel from the top but the clay was too thick, so he started to bang away at the bottom instead. He could understand that by doing this, all of the yoghurt would drain out. When He had broken a hole in the bottom, He began to clap, 'Oh, how beautiful, a current is coming out!' After this, Krsna went into the next room to avoid being caught for this mischief. He started to take butter out of a pot hanging from the ceiling, and feed it to the crows and monkeys. Yasoda followed Krsna's yoghurt footprints and began to creep up on Him as silently as a cat. When all of the monkeys and crows began to flee, Krsna could understand that someone had entered the room, and He was able to run away in time, out of another door to the outside. Yasoda could not catch Krsna at first, because He was running away in a zig zag fashion. As Yasoda chased Him she called out: 'Krsna, you're a chor (thief)!' 'Oh' replied Krsna, 'There's no chor in my dynasty, but I have heard that one of your forefathers was a chor!' (Krsna had heard his parents discussing one of Yasoda's ancestors who was named "Chor ghosa.") Krsna asked Yasoda why she was chasing Him - He was not guilty of anything. If the pot had broken, He said, then it must have been caused by her heavy ankle bracelets knocking against it as she ran past. "The sadhaka has to have more love for Krsna than Krsna has for them, or Krsna will not be controlled. Yasoda's love for Krsna was much greater than Krsna's for her, so she was able to catch him. But by vaidhi you can never control Him. Raganuga, ragatmika bhakti is needed. Krsna says he cannot repay the gopis: na paraye 'ham niravadya-samyujam sva-sadhu-krtyam vibudhayusapi vah ya mabhajan durjaya-geha-srnkhalah samvrscya tad vah pratiyatu sadhuna ("O gopis, I am not able to repay My debt for your spotless service, even within a lifetime of Brahma. Your connection with Me is beyond reproach. You have worshiped Me, cutting off all domestic ties, which are difficult to break. Therefore please let your own glorious deeds be your compensation." Srimad Bhagavatam 10.32.22) and He takes their footdust. But Uddhava does not even feel qualified to do this, so he offers his pranams to that dust from a distance. vande nanda-vraja-strinam pada-renum abhiksnasah yasam hari-kathodgitam punati bhuvana-trayam ( repeatedly offer my sastanga dandavat pranam from a distance to the dust of the lotus feet of the Vraja ramanis of Nanda Maharaja's village. When these gopis loudly chant the glories of Sri Krsna, the vibration purifies the three worlds. 10.47.63) Srila Maharaja stopped speaking, and asked Krsna das prabhu to do kirtan. However, seeing that not everyone was singing he stopped Krsna das prabhu, and warned us: "When devotees sing Krsna kirtana, then all kinds of sin will come out from them and float in the air, and if they see one is not singing, they will go into his heart. So you should all sing in kirtan!" Krsna das then began to sing a bhajan 'Mai to ratu Radha Radha nama, braja ki galiana me' Then Srila Maharaja asked: "What is the meaning? A bhakta is praying 'When will that day come when, wandering through the narrow lanes in Vrndavana I will see Krsna waiting there. I will chant 'Radhe, Radhe' and become unconscious. There, the Yamuna is flowing, there are so many beautiful flowers blooming, even more than here in Malaysia, of all different seasons. There is a beautiful kunja where Krsna and the sakhas and gopis can play. At night, all the monkeys automatically leave Seva Kunja. Anyone who stays will die. Nobody knows why, but we know something. If that person gets darsan of Radha and Krsna then they'll leave their bodies and go to Goloka. In this next verse he is praying 'I will try to enter Radha Kund but the thorn bushes will catch my cloth and stop me. Then I will become mad chanting 'Radhe, Radhe' and I'll give up my body.' No harm. A raganuga sadhaka can pray like this, not an ordinary person." --end-- These reports could not have been produced without the help and guidance of a certain person who wishes to remain nameless. I am very neophyte, I don't know siddhanta, and I am very much subject to come to false conclusions about what I hear or see. Having what I've written edited by this person has certainly helped me realize that. Therefore, I would just like to offer whatever credit is due to him. If you would like to read more material on or by Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja, then please contact the following websites: http://www.igvp.com/tours http://www.igvp.com http://hgsoft.com/~agrahya/ http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/2469 http://www.angelfire.com/ar/goloka/index.html http://www.angelfire.com/ar/goloka/index.html Comment on this Story This story URL: http://vaishnava-news-network.org/world/WD9901/WD15-2857.html
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