Srimad Bhagavatam Katha
Srimad Bhagavatam katha day 3
Pune Hadapsar
27th December 2022
Can you all hear at the back? I know you can all hear on the monitor. Okay, apart from welcoming you all it is also important that I thank you for your coming here today. I can see that you are not getting tired although you have been coming for two days (shouts of Haribol).
vayam tu na vitrpyamau
uttama sloka vikrame
yac chrnvatam rasa jnanan
svadu svadu pade pade
(Srimad Bhagavatam 1.1.19)
Translation
We never tire of hearing the transcendental pastimes of the Personality of Godhead, who is glorified by hymns and prayers. Those who have developed a taste for transcendental relationships with Him relish hearing of His pastimes at every moment.
There were many sages who had gathered at Naimisaranya, there was a big gathering of eight eight thousand and they all said ‘vayam tu na vitrpyamau. We are not becoming tired of listening about the transcendental pastimes of the lord. Svadu svadu pade pade, we want to hear these at every moment. So these feelings are also coming to all of you and what can be said about your enthusiasm?
Today you have made a great achievement and you have made a great uproar. How many days he had been sitting down, but today you have all stood up, and not only did you stand up but you were all dancing! Haribol! By listening to the pastimes of the lord, there is perfection and satisfaction and this was what was discussed at the end of the Bhagavad Mahatmya.
The four Kumaras were speaking on the pastimes of the lord continuously and the lord suddenly appeared there with so many of his associates. Then there was a Maha Sankirtan, a great Sankirtan and everyone including Jnana and Vairagya started dancing. In the same way when we first enter and start listening to the pastimes of the lord initially, we are in the same situation which Jnana and Vairagya were in, but they also started dancing.
I am sure the lord who is here present before us in his deity form and he is here is his form of the holy name
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare
This is also a form of the lord.
kali kale nama rupe krsna avatara
nama haite haya sarva jagat nistara
(Caitanya Caritamrita Adi 17.22)
Translation
In this Age of Kali, the holy name of the Lord, the Hare Krsna maha mantra, is the incarnation of Lord Krsna. Simply by chanting the holy name, one associates with the Lord directly. Anyone who does this is certainly delivered
Once there was a discussion about the different forms of the lord and it was discussed that one form of the lord is which one? Kali kale nama rupe krsna avatara, the lord appears in the form of his holy name.
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare
when we chant, the lord appears.
nama nache jiva nache nache prema dhana jagat nachaya maya kare palayana
(Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur)
The Name dances, the soul dances, and divine love dances. The whole world then begins to dance and Maya flees.
The name starts to dance also which means that the lord is dancing and the jiva is dancing also. Then by doing this, everyone attains prema dhana, prema dhana. Krishna prema pradaya te.
Namo maha vadanyaya
Krishna prema pradaya te Krishnaya Krishna Chaitanya
namine gaura tvishe namah
(Rupa Goswami)
I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Lord Shri Krishna Chaitanya, who is more magnanimous than any other avatara (incarnation of the Supreme Lord), even Krishna Himself, because He is bestowing freely what no one else has ever given – pure love of Krishna.
Krishna kahnaiya lal ki jai! Dwarakadhish ki jai! Kahnaiya lal is in Vrindavan and Dwarakadhish is in Dwaraka. We are speaking a little about the pastimes of Dwarakadhish, I think I have not spoken of everything in full so you will only understand in accordance to what has been spoken. It is true that we can never speak fully on the glories of pastimes of Srimad Bhagavatam, we can only speak in a limited manner.
This is because the pastimes of the lord are a sea, a whole ocean is there, it is unlimited. Krishna Katha is an ocean out of which we can only spray or throw a few drops from that ocean upon you all by speaking something. A few drops from the ocean we can take and even these few drops of the nectar of the pastimes of the lord is enough for us. These few drops then become an ocean for us.
om purnam adah purnam idam purnat purnam udacyate purnasya purnam adaya purnam evavasisyate
(Sri Isopanisad invocation)
Translation
The Personality of Godhead is perfect and complete. And because He is completely perfect, all emanations from Him, such as this phenomenal world, are perfectly equipped as a complete whole. Whatever is produced of the Complete Whole is also complete by itself. And because He is the Complete Whole, even though so many complete units emanate from Him, He remains the complete balance.
Whatever comes out of this ocean of transcendental pastimes becomes complete also. Sarvatma snapanam param vijayate sri krsna sankirtanam
ceto darpana marjanam bhava maha davagni nirvapanam sreyah kairava candrika vitaranam vidya vadhu jivanam anandambudhi vardhanam prati padam purnamrtasvadanam sarvatma snapanam param vijayate sri krsna sankirtanam
(Siksastakam 1)
Translation
Glory to the sri-krsna-sankirtana, which cleanses the heart of all the dust accumulated for years and extinguishes the fire of conditional life, of repeated birth and death. This sankirtana movement is the prime benediction for humanity at large because it spreads the rays of the benediction moon. It is the life of all transcendental knowledge. It increases the ocean of transcendental bliss, and it enables us to fully taste the nectar for which we are always anxious.
Once we become part of this Sankirtan movement, which for us is just a drop in the ocean of transcendental pastimes of the lord, then what do we do? We take bath in that ocean or there is a bathing of our soul and along with this, yayatma suprasidati.
sa vai pumsam paro dharmo
yato bhaktir adhoksaje
ahaituky apratihata
yayatma suprasidati
(Srimad Bhagavatam 1.2.6)
Translation
The supreme occupation, or dharma, for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted in order to completely satisfy the self
The soul will be happy, and that soul is us ourselves because we are not this body but we are the spirit soul. When you were all dancing I was thinking that now you are all relaxed, right? ‘Relax, take it easy- relax!’ There is so much tension and pressure in the whole world and there is operation in separation and depression by which the whole world is troubled. That’s why I was thinking when I saw you dancing that ‘now you’re relaxed. You are now at home.’
You’re soul is now taking that joy, stealing joy just like when a person dances, what should we take from that? We should understand that the person must be very happy and that’s why he is dancing. It is also true that crazy people dance as well, Hari Hari. Well, we can also dance because we are crazy for Krishna and we can be called crazy as well.
kiba mantra dila, gosani, kiba tara bala
japite japite mantra karila pagala
(Caitanya Caritamrita Adi 7.81)
Translation
My dear lord, what kind of mantra have you given Me? I have become mad simply by chanting this maha mantra
Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, ‘what kind of mantra have you given Me? Since you have given me this mantra what has happened? I have become mad simply by chanting this maha mantra. Japite japite mantra karila pagala. The people of Mayapura, Navadwipa are calling me mad, a crazy man.’ Actually every person is mad, some are mad after Maya and some are mad after Hari Katha, crazy to hear Krishna’s pastimes.
As I was coming here, on the way as I went to sit in the car, I met a Mataji who was here yesterday in the katha and she was saying also that ‘Maharaja, yesterday’s talk which you gave, this katha has made me mad. This is because on the way home and upon reaching home I kept thinking of all the things which you had spoken in the katha.I was listening to your katha and so I was not even able to sleep at night also.’
If I have pleased at least one person and that’s job satisfaction. I am doing a job here by speaking in the pastimes of Krishna and I am satisfied that by my doing so, at least one person has become happy. I dont know if any of you ate happy or not but at least one person was, (shouts of Haribol). Thank you. So Dwarakadhish ki jai. Dwarakadhish went to Kuruksetra three times and once her went during the time of a solar eclipse and this is going back five thousand years ago.
When there is an eclipse of the sun or it can be an eclipse of the moon which also takes place, the saintly persons go to a scared river or lake to take bath. So the supreme lord himself, Dwarakadhish went along with his queens, and there were how many in number? Sixteen thousand one hundred and eight and of course his parents were there too, Vasudeva and Devaki. And also there were many ministers there along with the lord, and they were just about to leave.
If I tell speak like this then the story will start but actually all of this is part of the story, the katha but I was not supposed to speak in this way and so I wont do so. Anyway so, I’m talking to myself, so almost a hundred years ago or itself possible that it’s a little less than that, the Brajavasi’s were feeling sunyayitam jagat sarvam govinda virahena me
yugayitam nimesena caksusa pravrsayitam sunyayitam jagat sarvam govinda virahena me
(Siksastakam 7)
Translation
O Govinda! Feeling Your separations I am considering a moment to be like twelve years or more. Tears are flowing from my eyes like torrents of rain, and I am feeling all vacant in the world in Your absence.
For the Brajavasi’s in Vrindavan it was sunyayitam jagat sarvam. They were feeling the while world to be vacant without Govinda and you can take it that they were dying due to feelings of the intense separation from the lord. They were so anxious to meet the lord, you can’t even imagine how much. Krishna knew of this and he was also missing them of course. ‘Odho mohi Braj visrat nahi. Oh Uddhava I cannot forget Braja, Vrindavan. Yeh mathura kanchan ki nagari.’
At that time Krishna was in Mathura so he was telling Uddava ‘this Mathura is a city made of gold. There is always business dealings going on here of gold and silver and so many other things. But in Vrindavan the dealings are the dealings of love and so I not happy with all these other business dealings here in Mathura. Oh Uddhava, mohi Braj visrat nahi. Oh Uddhava I cannot forget Braja.’ So both parties were missing each other and when these things are discussed, we should see if we are also missing the lord.
This is our misfortune, that we think we can live in separation from the lord. As it is said, what sort of life is that? Some people say like this but I am saying, ‘what sort of life is this, to live without Krishna? What life is this without the supreme lord?’ For the soul the only life is Krishna otherwise there is only death or there is death again and again.
punarapi jananam punarapi maranam punarapi janani jathare sayanam, iha samsare bahudusare krpaya’pare pahi murare
(Sankarachrya bhaja govindam verse 21)
Translation
Being born again, dying again, and again lying in the mother’s womb; this samsara is extremely difficult to cross over. Save me, O destroyer of Mura, through your infinite compassion.
Sankarachrya has sung this in the bhaja govindam bhajan. Bhaja govindam bhaja govindam govindam bhajamudhamate.
bhaja govindam bhaja govindam
govindam bhajamudhamate
samprapte sannihite kale
nahi nahi raksati dukrumkarane
(Sankarachrya bhaja govindam verse 1)
Translation
Worship Govinda, Worship Govinda, Worship Govinda. Oh fool! Rules of Grammar will not save you at the time of your death
‘You fool! What should you do? bhaja govindam. Govindam bhajamudhamate. Worship Govinda.
In Varanasi there was one Maha Pandit, a great expert knower of Sanskrit and he kept speaking Sanskrit and he was the one Sankarachrya was speaking to when he said ‘oh fool bhaja Govindam, worship Govindam.’ And what is that one bhaje Pandurangam?
When Sankarachrya cane to Pandharpura, I was supposed to be speaking on another subject but anyway when he came to Pandharpura he took darshan of Pandharinath, of Vitthal Rukmini. Then he wrote one Astaka called the Panduranga Astaka, Panduranga Panduranga. In this Astaka he says Parabrahma lingam bhaje Pandurangam. Lingam means the form , although those who preach Advaita, about the formless and the lord who has no qualities are called Mayavadi’s.
Sankarachrya had come to preach this Mayavada and he did this also but those who preach like this say that the lord has no form and neither does the lord have any qualities also. That Sankarachrya who was preaching that the lord was formless and without qualities came to Pandharpura and started saying ‘bhaja Govindam.’ Actually this he was already saying in Varanasi and so when he came to Pandharpura he said ‘Parabrahma lingam bhaje Pandurangam.’
You say it to, Parabrahma lingam bhaje Pandurangam, Parabrahma lingam bhaje Pandurangam. I was speaking or rather I was asking if we really miss Krishna and I was also reminding everyone that we must miss the lord. We have to think of the lord to be able to miss him and so when Krishna had to go to Kuruksetra to bathe in the lake calles Surya Kunda, Dwarakadhish sent a personal letter addressed to the residents of Vrindavan, to each individual. He sent a hand written letter, not typed because typed is not personal.
He signed it ‘yours sincerely Dwarakadhish.’ When that letter was received by Nanda Baba and even Radharani and the Gopis, the cowherd boys, everyone had a personal invitation. There was no limit to the joy of all the residents of Vrindavan who shouted ‘we will go! Kuruksetra dham ki jai! Let’s go to Kuruksetra, let’s go to Kuruksetra!’ I was trying to say in brief that in Kuruksetra there was a meeting between the residents of Dwaraka and Dwarakadhish with the residents of Vrindavan, the Brajavasi’s. There was a great reunion.
itidrk sva lilabhir ananda kunde sva ghosam nimajjantam akhyapayantam
tadiyesita jnesu bhaktair jitatvam punah prematas tam satavrtti vande
(Damodarastakam verse 3)
Translation
By such childhood pastimes as this He is drowning the inhabitants of Gokula in pools of ecstasy, and is revealing to those devotees who are absorbed in knowledge of His supreme majesty and opulence that He is only conquered by devotees whose pure love is imbues with intimacy and is free from all conceptions of awe and reverence. With great love I again offer my obeisances to Lord Damodara hundreds and hundreds of times.
The joy and pastimes of that meeting was enjoyed by all who were present there in Kuruksetra and there manifested a lake or ocean which was made of joy. Anandambudhi vardhanam prati padam purnamrtasvadanam
ceto darpana marjanam bhava maha davagni nirvapanam sreyah kairava candrika vitaranam vidya vadhu jivanam anandambudhi vardhanam prati padam purnamrtasvadanam sarvatma snapanam param vijayate sri krsna sankirtanam
(Siksastakam 1)
Translation
Glory to the sri-krsna-sankirtana, which cleanses the heart of all the dust accumulated for years and extinguishes the fire of conditional life, of repeated birth and death. This sankirtana movement is the prime benediction for humanity at large because it spreads the rays of the benediction moon. It is the life of all transcendental knowledge. It increases the ocean of transcendental bliss, and it enables us to fully taste the nectar for which we are always anxious.
So purnamrtasvadanam, they were tasting that joy and so the residents of Vrindavan had gone there at this time to Kuruksetra with a decision which they had made and what was that? ‘When we meet Krishna this time, and Balarama will also be there, we will not let them go back again to Dwaraka. We will instead bring then to Vrindavan!’
This was the decision which they had made and how they would bring them to Vrindavan? ‘As the lord was Dwarakadhish, he will certainly come in a chariot,’but the residents of Vrindavan had gone in ox carts.’ The residents if Dwaraka had come in many chariots and there were kings and warriors amongst that gathering and important ministers whereas the business and wealth of the residents of Vrindavan is the cows, Go dhan.
They had many ox’s also and that is how they would travel, in ox carts within Gokul or Vrindavan and so in the same way they had gone to Kuruksetra in the ox carts. Then they were thinking ‘when Krishna and Balaram along with their sister Subhadra would be sitting on their chariot, there may be horses to pull them but we will tell the horses to get out! We will remove those horses and we ourselves will become the horses!
If it is necessary, we can also become donkey’s for the lord, why not? Whether it be a horse or a donkey, it doesn’t matter. We will become that for the supreme lord and we will pull that chariot and bring Krishna and Balaram back to Vrindavan.’ In Jagannath Puri there is a festival of Jagannatha Rathayatra, is there or not? You must have heard of it. There every year, this Rathayatra festival is held in commemoration of this meeting of Kuruksetra.
Krishna did not go to Vrindavan but the attempt was made to take bring Krishna’s chariot by pulling it to Vrindavan. The Jagannatha temple in Jagannatha Puri is the same as Dwaraka or Kuruksetra and there is one more temple in Jagannatha Puri which is called the Gundica temple. This Gundica temple is Vrindavan so when Ratha Yatra in Puri takes place, the people who pull the chariot are in the mood of the residents of Vrindavan, the devotees of Vrindavan.
You could also say they are in Gopi Bhava, the mood of the Gopis or of Nanda Baba in Vatsalya, the mood of parental affection. They could also be in Sakhya Bhava, Like the friends of the lord. They come and take those moods and the they pull Jagannatha’s chariot from Dwaraka or Kuruksetra towards the Gundica temple or Vrindavan. You can say that Jagannatha Rathayatra has this history and the story we have just told behind it.
These are all stories of history, itihasa. Iti means ‘like this’ and asa means ‘it happened.’ So it literally means this is what happened and this is called itihasa, history. Just like the stories of there was once a king and a queen, first the King and then the Queen. The King was Rama and the Queen was Sita. The story of this King and Queen is not just a story but these are the facts of historical events that occurred.
This was the first time that Krishna had visited Kuruksetra and when he went the second time it was Mahabharata and the Kuruksetra war that was going to happen. Dharma kshetre kuru kshetre samaveta yuyutsavah.
Dhritarashtra uvacha dharma kshetre kuru kshetre samaveta yuyutsavah mamakah pandavashchaiva kimakurvata sanjaya (Bhagavad 1.1)
Translation
Dhritarashtra said: O Sanjay, after gathering on the holy field of Kurukshetra, and desiring to fight, what did my sons and the sons of Pandu do?
At that time the lord had gone to Hastinapura in preparation for the war and both Duryodhan and Arjuna reached at the same time to meet the lord. Both of them wanted the lord’s help and participation in the upcoming war. This is all part of the Mahabharata and so the lord said ‘okay, on one side will be my own army, the Narayana army with one akshauhini in number (218,700) and on the other side I will come myself on my own. Also, I will be there but I will not fight.’
The war that was going to take place is called a pastime of the war in the sastras. It is called a pastime because the lord’s pastimes are about to take place there. So it is not that only the Rasa Lila is a
pastime of the lord, the war that took place is also a pastime due to the the lord being present there. In that pastime at the end Duryodhan took the lord’s Narayan army and then he said or he must have thought ‘oh look at that poor Arjuna! I took the while army with thousands of men and he just got one man.’
yatra yogeshvarah krishno yatra partho dhanur dharah tatra shrie vijayo bhutir dhruva nitir matir mama
(Bhagavad 18.78)
Translation
Wherever there is Shri Krishna, the Lord of all Yoga, and wherever there is Arjun, the supreme archer, there will also certainly be unending opulence, victory, prosperity, and righteousness. Of this, I am certain
This is the last sloka of the Bhagavad wherein Sanjaya has spoken, Sanjaya uvaca but in the first sloka of the Bhagavad it was Dhritarashtra uvaca and Dhritarashtra had asked
Dhritarashtra uvacha dharma kshetre kuru kshetre samaveta yuyutsavah mamakah pandavashchaiva kimakurvata sanjaya
(Bhagavad 1.1)
Translation
Dhritarashtra said: O Sanjay, after gathering on the holy field of Kurukshetra, and desiring to fight, what did my sons and the sons of Pandu do?
So he is asking, ‘kimakurvata?’ What is happening once they have decided to go to the battlefield of Kuruksetra?’ What happens in a war? One party wins and the other one loses, there is only win or loss. That is why the answer to the first question of the first sloka in Bhagavad is given in the last sloka of by Sanjaya. That is why it is said Sanjaya uvaca. In the last five slokas of the Bhagavad are spoken by Sanjaya, Sanjaya uvaca.
Sanjaya has said yatra yogeshvarah krishno yatra partho dhanur dharah, wherever there is Shri Krishna, the Lord of all Yoga, and wherever there is Arjun, the supreme archer, what will be there? Tatra shrie vijayo, there will be unending opulence and there will be victory! Wherever there is the pair of Krishna and Arjun, Krishna and his devotee, there is victory.
So remember this. Also it is said in the Mahabharata,
Jayas tu pandu putranam yesam pakse Janardanah
(Mahabharata)
Translation
Victory is always with persons like the sons of Pandu because Lord Krsna is associated with them
Why will the sons of Pandu be victorious? Yesam pakse Janardanah, Lord Janardana is on their side, Krishna is there on their side and that is why victory is assured for the sons of Pandu. There is also another sloka from the Mahabharata
Yato Dharmastato Jayah
(Mahabharata)
Translation
Where there is Dharma, there will be Victory
There will always be victory where there is righteousness. Satyameva Jayate na anrtam, the truth always prevails. Why is it said ‘eva jayate?’ They could have said ‘satyam jayate’ but no, it is ‘satyameva jayate.’ Eva means only, it is emphasised in this way to show that only the truth can prevail. Not that the truth prevails but only the truth prevails. Satyameva jayate. Usually we hear only these two words but there is another part to this saying, nanritam.
This word nanritam means that victory can never come to the untruth, to those who speak falsely and who lie. Na means not and ritam means truth so nanritam is untruth. Hari Hari. Let me tell you first and then I will come back to the war, the third time Krishna comes to Kuruksetra is after the war has ended. Krishna goes to Hastinapur with the Pandavas and King Yuddhishtir. He then begins to stay in Hastinapura and before the war it was Arjun’s turn to grieve and he was so worried and full if grief.
That is why lord Krishnahad to speak the message of the Bhagavad and then after the war King Yuddhishtir is grieving,‘because of me, for me sixty four crore people had to die including our own friends and relatives and these and those. All this just for me to become the King!’ Krishna was explaining and appeasing them. Firstly Krishna by speaking the message of the Gita to Arjun became famous as the speaker of the Bhagavad . At the end Arjun says
nasto mohah smrtir labdha
tvat prasadan mayacyuta
sthito ‘smi gata sandehah
karisye vacanam tava
(Bhagavad 18.73)
Translation
Arjuna said, My dear Krsna, O infallible one, my illusion is now gone. I have regained my memory by Your mercy, and I am now firm and free from doubt and am prepared to act according to Your instructions
These are Arjun’s last words in the conversation between Krishna and Arjun- karisye vacanam tava. This is the end of the eighteenth chapter and the few slokas that are left at the end are spoken by Sanjaya. So Arjun says ‘karisye vacanam tava, I will act according to your order and I will fulfill your desires.’ This is where the dialogue between Krishna and Arjun ends.
Arjun then says that he has no doubts left within his mind and he has become fixed in his mind by listening to the words spoken by Krishna in the . He has become steadily fixed and sober. Even though Krishna was trying to make Yuddhishtir understand for two months in Hastinapur, he continued to lament. At this time they het the news that Grandfather Bhishma is about to leave his body.
Upon hearing this, Krishna and the five Pandava’s ran to that place, back to Kuruksetra and there is a description of this in the Mahabharata. There were so many Kings and sages who had assembled there when they found out that Grandfather Bhishma was about to depart. Krishna is the supreme personality of Godhead of course, as is Balaram, but amongst all men and devotees, Bhishma is a great personality and he was a great grandfather. His age was around four hundred years and he was a greatly respected personality and so on.
He was of great character and he was respected by the Pandavas and by everyone. He was called ‘Gangeya’ because he was the son of Ganga and he had come down to earth after taking so many lessons and instructions in the heavenly planets. His spiritual master was the supreme lord Parashurama who instructed him in the heavenly abode and that is why when he came from the heavenly planets to earth, he was known a Devavrata.
Then also he had taken a vow so that his father King Santanu could marry the fisherwoman. What was the vow he took? ‘I will be a lifelong Brahmacari!’ This is a great vow. There are many vows that a person can make but this Brahmacari vow is called a Brihad Vrata. ‘I will never get married and I will remain a Brahmacari throughout my whole life!’ When the Gods heard this, they cried ‘what?! This is a very Bhishan vow, a terrible vow. How can the son of a great King take such a vow?’
This is how he got the name Bhishma. In this Kuruksetra war, he was fighting on the side of Duryodhan and he was also the commander in chief for the army. The war went on for eighteen days and the Bhagavad has eighteen chapters also. Hari Hari. The Mahabharata has eighteen Parva’s and one of these parts (Parva) is called Bhishma Parva. You can call the Parva a part or a chapter and the Bhishma Parva starts from chapter twenty five till forty two.
The forty second of chapter of Bhishma Parva is the eighteenth chapter of the Bhagavad gita which means that the Bhagavad gita is basically a small part of Mahabharata which has one hundred thousand slokas. Srila Prabhupada used to say that Mahabharata is the history of Greater India. Bhagavad gita is a part of Mahabharata and because we are Hindus or this or that, we do not sometimes realise that the Bhagavad gita and the Srimad Bhagavatam are two depending books.
So many people think this but I will not ask you all here how many of you know this and how many of you don’t know this. The Gita has been spoken by the lord in Kuruksetra and it has seven hundred slokas and Srimad Bhagavatam is a great book with eighteen thousand slokas in it and twelve cantos. There are three hundred and thirty five chapters, do you understand what a chapter is?
Just like in the Gita there are eighteen chapters, so in Srimad Bhagavatam there are three hundred and thirty five chapters and eighteen thousand slokas. The speaker is Srimad Bhagavatam is Sukadeva Goswami who spoke the Bhagavatam on the outskirts of Hastinapura on the banks of the Ganges. This is where King Parikshit had left his Kingdom and everything, he had become completely renounced and he had come to this place.
All the saints and sages had reached this place and Sukadeva Goswami was welcomed there and this place is called ‘Shuktaal and that tree is there also. That is where Sukadeva Goswami sat, under that tree for seven days reciting the Bhagavatam. That is why it is called a ‘Bhagavad Sapta,’ because Sapta means seven days and that is for how long Sukadeva Goswami’s recitation of Srimad Bhagavatam went on for. Srimad Bhagavatam is like the Puranas and it has
the history of the whole universe in it.
I wont speak on it now but it describes the creation of the universe also and it has so many other things. The Bhagavatam has ten topics and it is the description of the pastimes of the lord and his devotees. The incarnations of the lord who we were describing and speaking of yesterday, all these are described in detail along with the instructions and pastimes of the different incarnations.
Out of the three hundred and thirty five chapters, take note of this- the ninth chapter is a description of Sri Krishna himself. Out of the whole Bhagavatam, the ninth chapter which is the tenth canto is the description of lord Krishna and the eleventh canto has another Gita in it. One is the Bhagavad gita from the Mahabharata but in the eleventh canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam there is one more Gita.
This Gita is also spoken by lord Krishna but this Gita has a different name which is Uddhava gita. Who knew that? Have you heard of this before? Uddhava gita. It has more chapters and slokas than the Bhagavad gita and that is also a Gita, a song of God spoken by Krishna himself. There is a dialogue in the Uddhava gita between Uddhava and Krishna which is in this Uddhava gita but the name given in this is Uddhava’s name, not the lord’s name.
In one sense you can say that Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam are two separate books but when put together they become one complete work. They compliment each other, the Gita and Bhagavatam or you could say that the Gita ends with Krishna’s instruction
sarva dharman parityajya
mam ekam saranam vraja
aham tvam sarva papebhyo
moksayisyami ma sucah
(Bhagavad gita 18.66)
Translation
Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear.
But when we open the Bhagavatam what are the first words? Om namo bhagavate Vasudevaya. This is where it begins, telling one to take shelter of the supreme lord Vasudeva. Lord Krishna kept emphasising in Bhagavad gita to Arjun to take shelter of the lord, or rather the spirit soul should take shelter of the supreme lord but the whole of Bhagavatam is the topic of those already under the shelter of the lord. satyam param dhimahi are the words of the first verse of the first chapter in the first canto.
We meditate, dhimahi upon whom? Satyam param, the supreme lord is satya, the supreme truth is the lord. So okay, back to Kuruksetra which is where we were more or less and Krishna has taken the five Pandavas and reached Kuruksetra and there is a gathering of sages who have also come there. From the tenth day of the battle of Kuruksetra till the day of Makar Sankranti, what happens on the 14th of January?
Makar Sankranti. This is when the sun travels from the south hemisphere to the northern hemisphere by changing it’s direction. Also Grandfather Bhishma who had received a blessing from his father, what was that blessing? ‘you can die whenever you desire, and not before then. You will be able to leave your body by your own will. No one will be able to kill you.’ We have a curse upon us but he had gained a blessing. The war went on for many days and even those who survived the war had left for their own kingdoms and the ones who died were dead and gone but Bhishma was still there on a bed of arrows.
So he is just lying there and when the lord arrives there with the Pandavas, Bhishma requests ‘get me some water.’ Duryodhan and his party should not have been present there but they were there and so Duryodhan bought back a vase full of water. ‘No, no not this water! I need Ganga jal, the Ganges water.’ So Arjun took out his famous bow the Gandiva and the water of the Ganges appeared from the earth and went straight into the mouth of Grandfather Bhishma.
Because his arms were busy as they had been tied down in the bed of arrows so he couldn’t drink with his arms, so Arjun arranged like this for him to be able to drink Ganges water. Arjun ki jai! This is Arjun, the greatest archer, he was the number one, at least he was the best of his time. There was a person called Ekalavya who was also a great archer but he was asked by Drona, ‘give me your thumb as my fee’s for being your Guru.’
So his number went down and in this way Arjun remained the number one archer. So over there, King Yuddhishtir who was still lamenting over the outcome of the war , had a dialogue which was in that him and Grandfather Bhishma. So in that dialogue, whatever Grandfather Bhishma said to him made that grief go away. Just like Arjun said in the Gita ‘nasto mohah smrtir labdha tvat prasadan mayacyuta’
nasto mohah smrtir labdha
tvat prasadan mayacyuta
sthito ‘smi gata sandehah
karisye vacanam tava
(Bhagavad gita 18.73)
Translation
Arjuna said, My dear Krsna, O infallible one, my illusion is now gone. I have regained my memory by Your mercy, and I am now firm and free from doubt and am prepared to act according to Your instructions
In the same way, when King Yuddhishtir heard the words of Grandfather Bhishma he became free from illusion, doubt and lamentation. The lord was showing the world that ‘the message of my devotee, whatever words come out of the lotus mouth of my devotee is even more powerful than my own words.’ He is demonstrating this here in this incident where the lord was so tired trying to explain these things to King Yuddhishtir, but here Grandfather Bhishma got the glory of instructing the King and all who were present there.
Also King Yuddhishtir became peaceful and happy and along with all these happenings, Grandfather Bhishma is now getting ready to leave his body. He will get ready to leave his body now and the way in which he will do leave his body and his situation at this point is a very difficult situation which he is in. There are very few instances of someone leaving their body in such a way because we were singing just yesterday
Itna to karna swami, jab prana tan se nikale
govinda nama leke, tab prana tan se nikale
Translation
Oh Lord, Please do this much, when the soul leaves my body, that I take Your beautiful name of Govinda.
Then we add to the last part, ‘oh lord you too should come at that time to give your darshan and may it be on the bank of the Ganges.’ In those days the river Saraswati used to flow through the Ganges but now it does not flow there. So we can say on the banks of the Saraswati and especially in the presence of lord Krishna, having darshan of the lotus face and the lotus feet and all the limbs of the lord, meditating on the form of the lord, Grandfather Bhishma left his body.
Grandfather Bhishmadeva ki jai! So this was the third time in which Krishna came to Kuruksetra. I will speak a little about the second time the lord went to Hastinapura in the time we have left. This is during the time of the war, when war was still going in and Krishna said that he will be there in the battlefield but he will not fight. So the lord has come there and just see which role he has taken. Krishna has become Partha Sarathi, have you heard this name before?
Partha meaning Arjun and he has become the sarathi, the chariot driver of Arjun. Krishna has become a driver! What can Krishna not become for his devotee. Before this he had also become a messenger and he had gone to Hastinapura to compromise before the war. That time when he went, he had pleaded on behalf of the Pandavas, ‘if you cannot give them half the kingdom then at least give them five villages.’ Krishna had made a suggestion like this but the answer he got was ‘five villages are a lot!
I will not give them the land in which you could fit the point of a needle!’ Then from one viewpoint the lord’s mission was unsuccessful so the only other solution was to have the war. This was all after the Pandavas were exiled to the forest of twelve years, was it twelve or fourteen years? Twelve years yes, lord Rama’s exile was fourteen years and the Pandavas also had to stay incognito, in hiding for a year and the Kingdom of Virat is where they chose to hide, where Krishna and Balaram came to see them.
From there Krishna was asked to go to Hastinapura with the suggestionof the five villages and that is when Duryodhan tried to arrest lord Krishna. What did the lord do? He showed his universal form, ‘try to arrest me. You can’t do anything!’ He had also arranged beforehand a big party and welcome and he wanted to host a meal for the lord, but Duryodhan’s nature was so wicked and he was also so arrogant amd the lord could smell the foul smell of his arrogance.
The lord therefore did not accept the invitation to eat at the place of Duryodhan and in fact the lord left his place. Because the lord is going to soon say in the ninth chapter of the Gita, ‘patram puspam phalam toyam yo me bhaktya prayacchati.’
patram puspam phalam toyam
yo me bhaktya prayacchati
tad aham bhakty-upahrtam
asnami prayatatmanah
(Bhagavad gita 9.26)
Translation
If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit a water, I will accept it
The lord has said in the ninth chapter, ‘patram puspam phalam toyam’ which means vegetarian food. Actually we should not even be taking a vegetarian diet because we need to be
Krishna-tarian. This means that anything we eat shouldn’t be offered to the lord first because the lord is the enjoyer as he has said in the Gita ‘bhoktaram yajna. tapasam’
bhoktaram yajna tapasam
sarva loka mahesvaram
suhrdam sarva bhutanam
jnatva mam santim rcchati
(Bhagavad gita 5.29)
Translation
The sages, knowing Me as the ultimate purpose of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attain peace from the pangs of material miseries
The food, the ingredients should be for the lord’s enjoyment and the when he eats that it becomes Prashad, mercy which is for us. One time lord Krishna went to the home of Vidhura and Vidhura was living in a small little cottage along with Vidhurani, his wife and when Krishna came, well Krishna is like a VVVIP. He is a very, very, very important person and so when the lord came to their little home they both got confused. ‘How shall we welcome the lord properly? Where shall we sit the lord and what can we offer him? What can we offer him to eat?’
At that time, the wife of Vidhura, Vidhurani cut banana skins on a plate instead of the banana. She threw the banana into the dustbin or threw it to one side and instead she kept the skin on the plate and she was cutting that banana skin and feeding it to the lord. When Krishna was eating this he was thinking ‘aaaahh, I have not had a meal like this in my whole life. It is so sweet.’ So we can see what the supreme lord is hungry for. He is hungry for our devotion and our love because the whole world belongs to him, including all the greens and food stuffs he has everything.
He is the one who gives to us all that we have. Eko bahunam yo vidadhati kaman.
nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam
eko bahunam yo vidadhati kaman
tam atmastham ye ‘nupasyanti dhiras
tesam santih sasvati netaresam
(Katha upanisad 2.2.13)
Translation
The Supreme Lord is eternal and the living beings are eternal. The Supreme lord is cognizant and the living beings are cognizant. The difference is that the
Supreme Lord is supplying all the necessities of life for the many other living entities
Krishna is the one who fulfils the desires of everyone, and so what could we actually feed him? Krishna is not hungry but here Vidhurani pleased him by her act of devotion just like Sabari had pleased lord Rama. Who says that the lord does not eat? Of course he does but we do not feed him in the same manner that Sabari or Vidhurani did or how Yashoda used to feed the lord. That is why Krishna may not be eating now.
Mostly people do not eat patram puspam phalam toyam but instead of these vegetables and fruits they are eating mutton and chicken. Hari Hari. This is not the diet for Krishna and this is not the menu for us humans either and this is an abomination. So Krishna has brought Arjun and is reaching Kuruksetra and there is a description in the Gita
tatah shvetairhayairyukte mahati syandane sthitau madhavah pandavashchaiva divyau shankhau pradadhmatuh
(Bhagavad gita 1.14)
Translation
Then, from amidst the Pandava army, seated in a glorious chariot drawn by white horses, Madhav and Arjun blew their Divine conch shells
The lord is driving a great chariot which is being pulled by white horses, shvetair. Sitting on that chariot are Madhava, Krishna and Pandava who is Arjun. Just as they entered the battlefield, divyau shankhau, they both sounded their divine conches. The lord’s conch shell was named Pancajanya, yes there is a name for the conch and Devadattam dhananjayah. Dhananjayah is another name of Arjun’s because he was known as one who could get wealth.
What did Dhananjayah do? He blew his divine conch which was named Devadattam and just as the chariot goes further into the battlefield, Arjun says, ‘let me see who has come here to fight with me! Who can fight with me, who dares to do so?!’ His blood is boiling and he is very enthusiastic to fight and so just as they reach there Arjun says to Krishna senayor ubhayor madhye ratha? sthapaya me ’chyuta
senayor ubhayor madhye ratha? sthapaya me ’chyuta yavadetan nirikshe ’ham yoddhu kaman avasthitan kairmaya saha yoddhavyam asmin rana samudyame
(Bhagavad gita 1.22-22)
Translation
Arjun said: O Infallible One, please take my chariot to the middle of both armies, so that I may look at the warriors arrayed for battle, whom I must fight in this great combat.
So Arjun tells Krishna ‘senayor ubhayor madhye- please take my chariot in between both armies, just take it more forward.’ So Krishna took the chariot forward and put it in between both the armies. If you go even today- have any of you been to Kuruksetra? Put your hand up properly otherwise I cannot see. I know you all have arms but if you have gone then.. Okay some hands are going up. His Holiness Sundar Caitanya Maharaja has also been to Kuruksetra so Kuruksetra dham ki jai!
So that place where Arjun had told Krishna to put his chariot in between both armies, that place now has a chariot and deities of Krishna and Arjun are sitting on that chariot. That chariot is in the exact location of where the chariot was places by Krishna upon Arjun’s request. There is also a tree there which is called Akshayavata.
Krishna’s message of the Gita has not yet started in where I am telling you this story but the message that we know Krishna will tell, that message of the Gita was also heard by this tree. This tree then became immortal and he was a witness and he is there still today, you can see, yes? You are sitting here, but you are taking darshan of that tree so pay your obeisances to the tree and that dham, Kuruksetra.
When Krishna took the chariot in the middle of both armies, the lord began to speak. And whatever I speak today of what Krishna speaks in the Bhagavad gita, this has all been spoken by the lord in the first chapter of Bhagavad gita, so it is only half of what is actually being said. The lord says ‘pasyaitan- look Arjun. You wanted to see who had come here to fight against you didnt you? So see here!’
bhisma drona pramukhatah
sarvesam ca mahi ksitam
uvaca partha pasyaitan
samavetan kurun iti
(Bhagavad gita 1.25)
Translation
In the presence of Bhisma, Drona and all other chieftains of the world, Hrsikesa, the Lord, said, Just behold, Partha, all the Kurus who are assembled here.
Pasyaitan samavetan kurun. It is the Kaurava’s who have come together to fight. When Arjun heard this, he became very much affected and with this Arjun is going to make a U-turn. Before he had a strong desire and so much enthusiasm to fight like a hero but now he will become lax. Gradually Arjun will start saying ‘no no no. You are telling me to fight and that is the reason for us coming here but now mukham ca parisusyati, my throat is drying up. Sidanti mama gatrani, the limbs of my body quivering and gandivam sramsate hastat. My great Gandiva bow is slipping from my hands and you are asking me to fight?
arjuna uvaca
drstvemam sva janam krsna
yuyutsum samupasthitam
sidanti mama gatrani
mukham ca parisusyati
(Bhagavad gita 1.28)
Translation
Arjuna said: My dear K???a, seeing my friends and relatives present before me in such a fighting spirit, I feel the limbs of my body quivering and my mouth drying up.
‘Na ca rajyam sukhani ca, I do not want the Kingdom and hatva sva janam ahave, I do not want to kill my own people, my Kingsmen. Sreyo ’nupasyami, I cannot see how any good can come out of this.’
na ca sreyo ’nupasyami
hatva sva janam ahave
na kankse vijayam krsna
na ca rajyam sukhani ca
(Bhagavad gita 1.31)
Translation
I do not see how any good can come from killing my own kinsmen in this battle, nor can I, my dear K???a, desire any subsequent victory, kingdom or happiness.
Arjun went on and on like this, giving his reasons and at the end Arjun has sat upon the chariot and he has put down his bow and arrow. So this bewildered, confused and sorrowful Arjun needs to be pulled up to stand again. Because one cannot fight whilst sitting down, how is one supposed to fight? By standing up, and if one is sitting then what is to be said to him? ‘Get up!’ Fighting is always done by standing whereas one has a conversation whilst sitting and Arjun is sitting which means?
Anyway, when there is a cart being pulled by a buffalo and there is a big load on that cart and there is a lot of heat on a hot summers day, sometimes the buffalo does not want to pull the cart. Then the farmer or whoever is controlling the buffalo will hit him with a stick so he gets up and then he goes a little further and sits again. Then the farmer will hit him again and so he will go a little further and finally what happens? He sits down and he is saying ‘no more, finished, full stop. I do not want to go further and I do not want to pull this cart!’ So in the same way Arjun sat down and said ‘no war, no fighting.’ Then Krishna speaks his instructions in the Bhagavad gita and in the seventeen chapter especially the lord has said so much and shown so much.
What can be said? Do you all know where Kuruksetra is? It is in the north of Delhi and during the war, Dhritarashtra is sitting in Hastinapura and Sanjaya is there also. So by sitting in Hastinapura, Sanjaya had darshan from far away. It is like a television and he can see what is happening on the battlefield of Kuruksetra whilst sitting in Hastinapura. He is watching the scene and he is even listening to Krishna’s instructions of the Gita.
He is also narrating all this back to Dhritarashtra and he is even having knowledge of what everyone is thinking! Just like he says at the end of the Gita
‘Vyasa-prasadac chrutavan.’
vyasa prasadac chrutavan
etad guhyam aham param
yogam yogesvarat krsnat
saksat kathayatah svayam
(Bhagavad gita 18.75)
Translation
By the mercy of Vyasa, I have heard these most confidential talks directly from the master of all mysticism, Krsna, who was speaking personally to Arjuna
Before the war Srila Vyasadeva had Dhritarashtra and had told him, ‘I can give you sight as you are blind.’ But Dhritarashtra said, ‘oh no no no. I don’t want sight because I will see my sons being killed. Please do not give me vision and do not open my eyes. If you like then you can give Sanjaya this power of attorney.’ That is exactly what happened and honesty is the best policy which is why Sanjaya said at the end of the Gita, Vyasa prasadac.
By the mercy of Vyasa I was able to see and hear all that was happening at Kuruksetra and Sanjaya then narrated everything that was happening on the battlefield to Dhrtarastra whilst sitting in Hastinapura. This Kuruksetra is the place which was ruled once by King Kuru. That is why it is called Kuruksetra, it is the Ksetra, land of Kuru. There was a Kingdom called Kuru close to Kuruksetra and Panchal was also close by.
Panchal is where Draupadi was born and therefore she was known as the daughter of Drupada, Panchali. So both these were both close to each other, it is only recently that they became different states. You can see the map which is five thousand years old and Kuruksetra is in itself a Kingdom also and Panchal is close by, you can see Panchal here. There is also the Kingdom of Kosala close by and also Wardha is there. Five thousand years ago Maharashtra was also there and South India was called Pancha Dravida.
In the sastras, the place we now know as Gujarat was called Gurjaradesa, this is mentioned in the Puranas. Ww cannot say how important Gita is, how great it is. Just like yesterday I was telling you, ‘nigama kalpa taror galitam phalam. Srimad Bhagavatam, the mature fruit of the desire tree of Vedic literatures
nigama kalpa taror galitam phalam
suka mukhad amrta drava samyutam
pibata bhagavatam rasam alayam
muhur aho rasika bhuvi bhavukah
(Srimad Bhagavatam 1.1.3)
Translation
O expert and thoughtful men, relish Srimad Bhagavatam, the mature fruit of the desire tree of Vedic literatures. It emanated from the lips of Sri Sukadeva Goswami. Therefore this fruit has become even more tasteful, although its nectarean juice was already relishable for all, including liberated souls.
In the Bhagavatam it is said that the Gita is also called Gita upanisad. Sarvopanishado gavo, there was a description of the gita where is was said that there was a tree made up of all the scriptures. And in regards to the gita it was said that the cow is made up of all the Upanisads and dogdha gopalanandana. Who is milking the calf? Gopalanandana is Krishna and if there is a cow who is being milked then there must be calf. Parthovatsa, Partha is the Vatsa, the calf.
Sudheerbhoktha, those persons who are intelligent will listen and give attention to the gita. In this way the gita’s milk is described as Amrita, nectar.
sarvopanishado gavo dogdha gopalanandana parthovatsa sudheerbhoktha dugdham gitamrutam mahat
(gita Mahatmya 4)
Translation
The Bhagavad gita is just like a cow, and Lord Krishna who is a cowherd boy, is milking this cow. The milk is the essence of the Vedas, and Arjun is just like a calf. The wise men, the great sages and pure devotees, are to drink the nectarean milk of Bhagavad gita
bharatamrta sarvasvam
visnu vaktrad vinihsrtam
gita gangodakam pitva
punar janma na vidyate
(gita Mahatmya 5)
One who drinks the water of the Ganges attains salvation, so what to speak of one who drinks the nectar of Bhagavad gita? Bhagavad gita is the essential nectar of the Mahabharata, and it is spoken by Lord K???a Himself, the original Visnu.
The lord has given us his mercy in so many ways and the Bhagavad gita is one of the most important gift. It is the lord’s message and as the lord left the earthly planet, he wrote a letter for us and he left that behind. What is that letter? It is the Bhagavad gita and Arjun was made just the via medium for us to receive the instructions of the Gita.
The whole point in the lord reciting the gita was for us, we are the targets for his recitation of Bhagavad gita. This is why we must study Bhagavad gita in this human form of life which we have received with so much different.
ekam sastram devaki putra gitam
eko devo devaki putra eva
eko mantras tasya namani yani
karmapy ekam tasya devasya seva
(Gita-mahatmya 7)
There need be only one holy scripture – the divine Gita sung by Lord Sri Krishna, only one worshipable Lord – Lord Sri Krishna, only one mantra – His holy names, and only one duty – devotional service unto that Supreme worshipable Lord Sri Krishna.
Ekam sastram devaki putra gitam, one scripture is enough, and what is that? Devaki putra gitam, the song of the son of Devaki, that one sastra is enough. Eko devo devaki putra eva, there should be just one God, and anyway that is the case and who is that adi deva? Devaki putra Krishna is the only one lord and that is also sufficient.
One sastra and one lord, then eko mantras tasya namani yani. One mantra for the whole world is sufficient
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare
We all should have one job, only one occupation and what is that? Tasya devasya seva, only the service of the lord should be our work and our life. We must always be ready for performing service of the lord, this is what Bhagavad Gita teaches us, it teaches Bhakti Yoga. The international society of Krishna consciousness ki jai, this is also called Iskcon and it’s founder Acharya is Srila Prabhupada ki jai!
Srila Prabhupada presented the Bhagavad gita and he gave it the name Bhagavad gita as it is, and there is a reason behind why Srila Prabhupada called it this but it will take a lot of time to tell you. Anyway there’s no time but I recommend this Bhagavad gita for all of you and this Bhagavad gita is available in how many languages is gita translated in, Maharaja, do you know?
Seventy or eighty? Oh, Bhagavad gita has been translated in eighty languages! This includes Chinese and Swahili for Africans, Hebrew and this one and that one. In eighty languages. And the local devotees of each of these countries are distributing the Bhagavad gita to the people of each country. Devotees are joining and that is why it must be called Bhagavad gita as it is.
Arjun became free from his illusion and he then became ready in his service to the lord, in the same way by reading this Bhagavd gita, thousands and millions of people in over one hundred countries are coming to serve the lord! This is a fact and even in China they have stopped eating mutton and chicken and even rats, they eat everything including rats. I went there a few years back and I found out that they have bread there but which type of bread?
Ant bread, made out of ants and they showed me many fields, ‘this is a red any field and this is a white ant field, this is that kind of field’ and so one kind of ants are put into a certain bread and different ants are put to make a different bread. Whoever will eat this bread is certainly not a human being but a demon. This is why people are becoming diseased and Yuhuan in China is where Covid 19 started.
Then they spread this Covid throughout the whole world and then then the poor Chinese people themselves got it infected. Anyway we pray for the many persons who are losing their lives. We are made from the food we eat and you will think accordingly to what you eat. They say ‘you are what you eat.’ Our body is made of whatever we eat but along with this, the mind is also influenced by what we eat.
Depending on whether we are eating in the mode of ignorance, passion or goodness, we become as such body and mind. It’s a big topic and the three modes of material nature make up one whole chapter of the Bhagavad gita and it is very important. So all if you please be sure to read Bhagavad gita and the Bhagavad gita is here also for you to take. I also thought to speak upon this topic today because in this month of December the lord spoke the Bhagavad gita.
We also know the day, it was on the day of Mokshada Ekadasi and at what time if the day did Krishna speak the Gita? At seven o clock in the morning, at the time of sunrise. The Mahabharata war was a righteous war, so from sunrise it would begin until sunset when it would end daily. So in this way the supreme lord spoke these instructions in the morning at Kuruksetra. Our spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada had also gone there to Kuruksetra in 1975 to see some land and open an Iskcon temple there.
At that time the Prime Minister of India was Gulzarilal Nanda and he was only the Prime Minister for a short time and he became friends with Prabhupada. He had shown Prabhupada this land at Kuruksetra and now I remembered something, as Srila Prabhupada came to Vrindavan from Kuruksetra, the next day Srila Prabhupada on the 6th of December 1975 gave me Sannyasa initiation (shouts of Haribol)!
You are all looking at my Danda, please dont be scared that ‘Maharaja has a Danda.’ It is there for your protection and so Srila Prabhupada gave me a Danda and made me a Tridandi Sannyasi as he returned from Kuruksetra. The eighteenth chapter is called ‘Sannyasa Yoga’ and in this very Kuruksetra there is now an Iskcon temple being constructed called ‘Sri Sri Krishna Arjun Mandir.’
It will look something like this and it the temple inauguration is going to happen in maybe a year or so it could happen. Also this Bhagavad gita is being distributed throughout the world and it has already been distributed to literally ten million people. In China, in America, in Africa, everywhere. The people of those countries are becoming Krishna devotees by reading Bhagavad gita and then they’re distributing Bhagavad gita.
So you all take Bhagavad gita as it is, many people take Bhagavad gita as it is and they keep it somewhere in their home as it is. ‘I have Bhagavad gita as it is and it is still as it was when I bought it.’ So do not just take it home and leave it as it is but open it and please read. When you read it the lord will talk to you, okay I think we have a short clip to show about changing bodies. We are always changing bodies and going from one body to another. The lord has said dehino ’smin yatha dehe
kaumaram yauvanam jara
dehino ’smin yatha dehe
kaumaram yauvanam jara
tatha dehantara praptir
dhiras tatra na muhyati
(Bhagavad 2.13)
Translation
As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A sober person is not bewildered by such a change