Damodhar lila and killing of vatsasura
Dated : July 2004 (Bhagvat Saptah-Day one)
Hare Krsna!

Thank you for coming in this endeavor of worshipping Bhagavatam. We took Bhagavatam on the procession today. When we want to glorify someone, the players also do, when someone wins the match, they lift him, really give him lift. So we lifted Bhagavatam to worship Bhagavatam. Of course we were chanting Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare! We glorified that Bhagavatam. Bhagavatam is incarnation of Krsna. There are many forms, that is one form which stands before us. Bhagavatam is also the Lord, Lord’s pastimes are also the Lord, non different than Lord. His dham is Bhagavat svaroop, non different. Sva, His own rupa, another form of the Lord.

Everyone runs to see Rukmini Dwarakadhish. I don’t want to minimize the importance of running to Rukmini Dvarakadhish, and seeing them, but Prabhupada did emphasize hearing. Unless you hear you will not understand or really see. That’s why Bhakti Siddhant Saraswati Thakur one time asked one of his followers, who had left the dharma sabha where Bhagavat discourse was on and he went away and returned. ‘Where did you go?’ ‘I went for darshan’, he thought my spiritual master will be pleased to hear such reply. Instead he asked, ‘so how was your eye exercise? You went, you opened your eyes and closed them many times. So how was your eye exercise? I was here teaching technique or science of how to see Krsna, with the help of Bhagavatam, Bhagavad Gita and you ran away in middle to see.’ So this way our previous acaryas and certainly Srila Prabhupada has emphasized hearing process.

That’s certainly number one business, nitya siddha krsna prema sadhya kabu naya sravanadi suddha citte karah uday We all have love for the Lord. It is not something to be purchased from the market near by. It is in there, it is part of you. So how to get it out? How to manifest it? Sravanadi suddha citte karah uday, sravan, then citta shuddha, consciousness is pure then Krsna prema uday, manifest naturally. So Srila Prabhupada certainly wanted us to distribute his books. He also wanted us to read them, not only read them but study them. Many of us read but not everyone studies Prabhupada’s books. Anyway we will attempt to study Bhagavatam, contemplating on Bhagavatam. This is very very favorable time, nice time. Any time is good, shubhasya shighram.  If it’s a good think. Do it when? Tomorrow? No. this evening? No. Do it now. When there is the best thing to do then you don’t have to check our watch, one day, no. but there are certain times certainly beneficial. We get more benefit out of those times. And this is that time. Staring from today is also Caturmasya, right? Today marks beginning of Caturmasya. What is business of Caturmasya? Eat less, circular was distributed, don’t eat salt, sweet voice. So minimizing, cutting down eating sleeping etc and maximize certainly hearing and we would like to do that. Today also guru pornima, it’s guru day, also Brhaspati var (wednesday).

We don’t do this as a money making thing. That is why Prabhupada was against this ‘saptah business’. Yeah this has become a business. Contract has to be sign. How many lacks? They are not shy about this. And some other reasons why Prabhupada was against this reciting for 7 days, but he was not against reciting Bhagavatam. It’s popular thing and few extra people do come in the name of Bhagavata katha. So we could take advantage of that trend that tradition. And don’t do this this and this while studying Bhagavatam or reciting Bhagavatam.

So last time we did childhood pastimes of Krsna, Krsna in Gokula, circumstances before His birth, Bhumi-devi crying and demigods go to Brahma, and Brahma said, ‘let’s go to Supreme Personality of Godhead’ and Lord heard the prayers. Prabhupada said ‘wireless communication’, from the beach of Svetadvipa Brahma communicated. He was on the beach and Lord was in Sveta ocean. Sveta means white, why white? Because there is milk all around, Lord in the middle. And He said, ‘ok, sure, you go ahead, you Demigods you take birth’.

So they took birth and then Lord also took birth. And then He was taken across through Jamuna to Gokula and baby girl back to Mathura and an attempt to killing and that did not work out and more pastimes. Krsna was 6 days old and what happened? Putana! And she was killed, then name giving ceremony was there, Gargacarya came. Krsna Balarama’s names, privately in a goshala, no big affair. He did not want; otherwise news will easily reach Kamsa and then more trouble. Why invite trouble.  Then more pastimes and Krsna as child eating dirt; ‘open your mouth.’ What was inside? Whole universe was inside. ‘Oh you heard that I ate dirt. Ok you may see inside. There was so much dirt, whole universe, it is made of dirt. I took few pinches. Please look inside. Not only dirt, there was water, fire, air and ether and earthly planet was there. Bharat varsa, New Delhi Agra highway road and Bhaktivedanta Swami Road and Jamuna and there is Gokula too and as Yasoda looked more closely, there was Yasoda inside chastising Krsna.

Wonderful Krsna! But He was thief also. Nice child but stealing. So, so many complaints; everyday complaint box would get full. Yasoda said ‘you have to prove.’ Then attempts were made to catch Krsna, red handed or white handed? Butter in hand then hand becomes white. White handed. Bluish hand covered with white butter. So many attempts were made to catch hold of Krsna. One lady was successful. And her name was Prabhavati.  She caught hold. She thought she caught hold of Him and dragged Him. As she got closer, she started yelling, ‘Yasoda please come, I caught hold of your son look.’ And she enters Nanda bhavan. Yasoda comes running. This lady’s face was covered like this.

(Guru maharaj shows with action, Vrajwasi ladies cover their face with sari) Brajavasi ladies! With one hand she was dragging Krsna. She said ‘look, here he is.’ And Yasoda went close, ‘remove your veil please’. And when she really looked there was no Krsna, there was son of Prabhavati. You could imagine the embarrassment of Prabhavati. She was thinking, I am the one, I will get the special reward. I will be in the front pages of Mathura newspaper, ‘thief was caught by Prabhavati’.  But instead her son was there. Then she rushed out of Nanda bhavan back to her home. On the way to home there was Krsna waiting for her. He said, ‘Ok, next time you try this, I will become your husband.’

How could Krsna be a thief? Who is a thief? We are. Everything belongs to Him. So that is just pleasure pastime. Not for His pleasure but everyone was highly pleasing with Krsna’s stealing butter. Ladies got up early morning. Why would they get up early morning? If Krsna comes to steal and butter is not ready, He will go disappointed. Keep all ready, just in case thief comes to steal. So there was competition for getting up early in Vrindavan to prepare butter. So many pastimes stealing butter related. And everyone just loved this Krsna, the butter thief.

One day stealing took place in Yasoda’s own home. Krsna was hungry and then Yasoda runs to kitchen to take care of milk dropping the hungry child middle of, He was drinking the breast milk. She just threw Him on floor and ran to the kitchen. Krsna was very angry. He did not like this and He became so angry that His lips were trembling with anger and He broke that pot in which Yasoda was churning butter that morning. And He was hungry so He did stealing. Yasoda came. He was watching. He thought He was smart. He was seeing this way and that way. But Yasoda was smarter. She came from behind. Krsna still noticed and not only she was coming, she had a stick. And He jumped down and ran. And attempts were made to catch hold of Him.

Yasoda is well built and Krsna is liitle. He is running and she is running behind Him. It took a while to catch hold of Him. Even yogis can not catch, but Yasoda caught and trying to bind Him. Not Him only but also the mortar. Why mortar? Because mortar also has to be punished. What is mortar’s fault? Mortar helped Krsna to climb up and reach butter. So one who helps stealing, he also gets punished. So Krsna and the mortar both are getting punished. She trying to tie and ‘two inches short’ story and finally it worked out.

And He wanted to do some more naughty things. He crawled as mother Yasoda was busy in some other activity. Behind at the backyard two trees were waiting from a long time. Yamalarjuna trees, they were cursed and blessed at the same time. So now was a blessing time. Otherwise also these trees had good time. They were with Krsna, seeing Krsna in court yard of Nanda maharaj. That’s not the curse.  Would you like to be tree in the court yard of Nanda maharaj, anyone here? Many hands are there. Anything in Vrindavan, anybody. And so Krsna uprooted those two giant trees. They crashed and there was dust storm.  Everyone came running. ‘What happened?’

Yamalarjuna trees were liberated. They were sons of Kubera. And they were trying to untie the knots. ‘May I help you’? These two demigods asked, seeing Krsna in awkward condition, ‘May I help you?’ Krsna’s response was, ‘thank you for the offer but this knot has been tied by my mother. Only someone with equal amount of affection could untie this knot. This is knot of affection, my mother’s affection for me. You won’t be able to do untie this.’ So they had circumambulated Krsna and went happily. So right in there in the middle of this story, Sukadeva Gosvami describes another pastime just in two verses, beautiful. One lady she comes with big basket of fruits. And ‘please buy fruits. I have this fruit, that fruit. Kela lelo, amruda lelo, buy gvava, by chikoo.’ And she is going around and around more to Nanda bhavan than any other place. Because this fruit vendors, they come with intension of hoping to get glance of Krsna, to meet Krsna. The selling business is just secondary thing. Primary goal is how to get to meet Him, see Him. So for sure, Krsna heard, ‘take fruits, buy fruits’ and Krsna, ‘oh fruits,’ was excited and hurriedly ran out of the door of Nanda bhavan.

Sukadeva Gosvami describes, Krsna who is sarva phal pradah, the Personality Of Godhead who gives fruits to everybody, fruits of their labor to everybody, every time, that Personality is now in need of fruits. He is giving fruit to everybody but now He becomes phalarthi, He likes to get a fruit for Himself. Those were not the time for dollar, rupees and currencies. Those were time of barter system. So Krsna caught hold with both hands, full of grains. Lady is now comfortably sited. Potential buyer is there. Krsna is coming with His small, baby steps, taking longer, and that is fine with her. She wants Krsna as long as possible in her site, vision. So she could take darshan. What fun is it if He ran out and ran in with fruits? No, she wanted it, ‘take your time baby’. He is coming and He is trying to hold those grains tight. Tighter as He holds, they are spilling more, they are losing the grip. First of all how small fist, just a little child, how many grains could He hold. And by the time He reached, He had hardly anything there. But she took it and she is returning now.

He has been described as Acyuta, means what? Infalliable, but the grains are falling from His hands. He is Acyuta but grain is cyuta. He can not even hold dhanya (grains). So He is loosing grains. So she accepted those few left over grains and in exchange she is giving fruits to the beautiful darling of Yasoda, and as she is looking at Him, fully focused on the beauty of the Lord, beautiful moon like face, blooming lotus like face. And while doing so she lost the track, how many fruits she is handing out. She also wanted to stay longer and she knew as soon as she stops He will turn around and go away. What good is that? She is trying to keep Him longer. So in the process she emptied her whole basket.

And He is also looking for more fruits. You have some more you know. We hear sometimes, when you give, He takes note of that and what you haven’t given, Krsna notice that. He tries to go deeper into the person. ‘Hey that’s moha, you know.’ So Krsna knows what he has kept. Krsna would like everything.  So this is what this lady has done. She has given everything. But is she the looser? Look at her basket. It is getting full of jewels, diamonds and rubies.

Sukadeva gosvami, middle of all this lila, he has talked of this pastimes and then Krsna was rescued, Nanda maharaj came at the site, and picked up baby and was delighted to know if the baby is safe. He started to pray to the Lord for protection of the child.

And following that there was big ista-gosti held in Gokula dham. All the leading citizens gather together. They wanted to review all situations and come to some conclusion. Is there some way out? Elderly persons, in the forest, there are 12 forests in Vrindavan and Gokula is Brihad vana, big vana, Brihad Bhagavatam like that. So in Brhad vana, Gokula, all the elderly persons after experiencing the recent disasters, terrorist attack; Nanda maharaj and others have gathered. And in that assembly there is Upananda, who is eldest brother of Nanda maharaj.

There are five brothers. Nanda maharaj is number three,  Upananda is number two. So Upananda is there in the assembly and he is well known for, first of all he is superior, he surpasses everybody in two things. First of all in age he is eldest member present and in jnana, experience also he is most experienced. That’s not always the case, right. You may be oldest but you may be.. Hiranyakashipu was very old but so far jnana is concerned he was just a baby. And Prahlad maharaj was older in jnana, and his father was older in age. But Upananda was older in age and in jnana, experience. He was also known for, someone who is always concerned, care for Balarama and Krsna.

So what he had been doing, he had been travelling all over Brajamandal. He had been thinking that we have to leave this Gokula.  We have to get out of here to a safer location. No one appointed him but because of his concern for Krsna and Balarama and other residents of Gokula also, he had been doing this research. And travelling and travelling and he had just now returned from his travel, and he is proposing, ‘you know we have to leave this place. We care for all residents of Gokula, and for everyone’s benefit, especially for the benefit of Krsna and Balarama we have to leave this place. And it is seen that target of these attacks are children and specially Krsna and Balaram.’

And he is reminding everyone ‘do you not remember, that Krsna was only 6 days old, Putana appeared. Luckily Krsna managed. Then Krsna was 3 months old, then Sakatasura, he just kicked the cart, flying and broken into pieces, but attempt was there, trying to kill this child. Then he was 100 days old, 3 months old and Trinavarta came, took the baby in sky. Of course baby did not mind. He was enjoying seeing whole Braja, great opportunity to fly in the sky, free. And Krsna became heavier and heavier and He killed the demon. And before us this ghastly disaster you could see, the trees uprooted and Acyuta, Lord Narayan is protecting our children but how long, you know. One of these days, who knows? So far so good, protected, but we can’t take risk. We have to go, take everything with us, all the residents, all the cows, all the basic needs. We have to leave this place.’

‘Where to go?  What are you talking about? Do you any concrete proposal?’ ‘Yes yes I have been travelling through out Brajamandal and I have found a place. Place called Vrndavan. Let’s go to Vrndavan.’ Are you ready? (Hari bol!) Then what about katha? You have taken sankalpa. We are in Vrndavan! As we listen to katha of Krsna and Vrndavan, we are in Vrndavan. We are with Krsna, trying to become part of Krsna’s pastimes, witness those pastimes through the eyes of the Bhagavatam.

Bhagavatam has two pages. See through one page with this eye and another page with another eye and there is window through which you could see things, sastra chaksusa.

‘And that Vrndavan is very appropriate, suitable place for cows.’ Always the concern is cows. ‘For the cows very good place and for us also.’ And especially he is mentioning, ‘there is one mountain called Govardhan. There is lots of grass and creepers and lakes, everything is there. Beautiful place I have come across. And we should go there right away.’ Now he made this presentation, proposal in front of residents of Gokula and he says, ‘if you like we will go. If you think its good place then we go.’ What do you think what was the response of the residents? Jay Jay they said sadhu sadhu, speaking sanskrit now. Forgot english! Yes that’s what they said, ‘sadhu sadhu, wonderful. Yes let us go to Vrndavan.’ And they got ready to go to Vrndavan. They have long way to go. Residents of Vrndavan are also singing on the way.

So everything is ready to go. Everything is getting loaded into bullock carts. Every family has at least one bullock cart or more. So many cows and so many bulls.  And that’s the mode of transportation. Krsna had never gone, His travels were limited to Brhad vana, more into Gokula, into the town, around the bank of Jamuna. This was the first time He was going on very long travel. Going to another country. ‘Mummy mummy where are we going?’ ‘We are going to Vrndavan.’ ‘Vrndavan!! Why Vrndavan?’ ‘You know there are big big playgrounds, you can play there.’ ‘Hey!!’ Krsna started jumping in the cart.  So there are so many carts. Cart after cart after cart. Carts were mainly for elderly folks, old people and children and ladies were in the carts. Everyone else were walking. And Cows were all the way in front. And priests were chanting the prayers. And they also have weapons for protection of cows. Cows have been described repeatedly ‘the wealth’, go-dhan of Vraja. So they used to protect them. So they are going. They left Gokula.  There is no one in Gokula. They all left. Ghost town! And they went in northerly direction.

There mention of this special cart where is Krsna, Balarama and Yasoda and Rohini, four of them in one cart. We also hear that, everyone would like to have his cart next to this cart and Krsna makes them experience. Everyone was thinking, ‘my cart is next to Krsna’s cart. Everyone else’s cart behind or ahead, my cart is just next to Krsna’s.’ Krsna is expanding, His cart has been expanded, He had expanded.  So because it was getting late, sunset time, they camp at the bank of Jamuna. Some distance in north. Whole camping has been described. The next morning as they got up, they wanted to cross. So what they do? They tied carts, one cart to another. What is this going on?  Bridge! They are walking, and crossing, many bridges like that. Other cowherd men carrying calves little baby calves on their shoulder and swimming Jamuna, going across. And as they are swimming across with the calves on their backs, who is swimming right behind you think? Mother cow! So many men are carrying the baby calves on their shoulders and they are swimming and the Cows are swimming right behind. Thousands of them are swimming across like that. Go mata ki jay! And now they all have reached Vrndavan. Vrndavan dham ki jay!

We are in Vrndavan now. There are 12 forests. All of them put together is we call Vrndavan but one of those twelve forest is also Vrndavan. Between Jamuna and Govardhana is Vrndavan forest and beyond also. So after entering Vrndavan they parked their carts in semi circular format. And made that as compound and they started residing there. Temporary housing facility and they stayed there for several years. According to Visvanath Chakravarti Thakur, Krsna stays for 3 years and 4 months in Gokula and He stays 3 years and 4 months, where they have just now come, Shakatavarta. Probably you have heard the name Chatikara. You go to Delhi Agra highway; then you take turn to go to Krsna Balaram temple, the Bhaktivedanta Marg. So at that junction, highway, you are turning left to go to Krsna Balarama temple. So that junction, there is village called Chatikara, that’s where they parked their carts. Big area! So 3 years and 4 months there and finally from there they go to Nandagrama. Krsna stayed for 3 years

and 4 months in Nandagrama. And then comes Akrura to invite Krsna to Mathura. So just to give idea where is Krsna now? Where is his family? So here at this place, Krsna becomes a calf-herd boy. He was given the task of herding calves. He was little boy and He could only manage herding little calves.

choti choti gaiya, chote chote gvala,
chotoso mero madan Gopala

Everything is chota, Krsna chota, cow choti choti everything choto. So Krsna is very anxious to take this assignment. So with this sakhya bhava, in Gokula basically vatsalya bhava; He is spending time with Yasoda and parents and little bit sakhya, few friends. But having come to Vrndavan, now the friendship became more dominant, sakha bhava. So He has to be away from home playing with friends, so this calf herding pastime, more opportunity to be with friends and more play, to give excuse to be away from family but play with friends.

So when Krsna first time proposed, Yasoda said no no you are going into forest? Forget it. She was not ready. Stay home. You are still tiny baby. You don’t have to go to work at this age. But He was insisting and then Nanda maharaja took Krsna’s side. Father and mother debating. And Krsna and Nanda maharaj won the debate. And Krsna was allowed to go out, to be cowherd boy. First day Nanda maharaj, he gathered small group of calves and he had friends. They had small group of calves also. And Nanda and Yasoda personally were accompanying Krsna and Balaram, training them, how to control the cows, how to turn them. They gave little ropes in the hands of Krsna and Balarama and little sticks. ‘But don’t go deep into the forest ok, come back before lunch.’ ‘Yes yes daddy, yes yes mummy.’

So they were proceeding towards forest and then lots of playing and then they came back. This is going on for some days and one day; once upon a time, at the bank of Jamuna, other side now, everyone is staying at western bank, and now Krsna and Balaram and others are going across Jamuna to estern bank of Jamuna. They are herding their cows and one demon arrived on the scene. With the aim of killing Krsna and Balarama, he has come. And Krsna noticed. And this demon has come in the shape of calf. Easy right? So many calves there, one more calf. So demon thought it’s easy, no one will notice me. But Krsna noticed, not only noticed, He brought in notice, ‘hey Balarama, you see? What about him? That’s not regular calf, strange kind of.’ ‘Yes yes, something we had never seen. This is extra one.’

Krsna showed him to Balarama and Krsna is moving forward then closer and closer and closer to that calf. As He got there, He caught hold of that calf’s two hind legs and the tail. And then next thing He did, whirling and demon felled on top of a big tree. The demon lost his life in this process. And as he has been thrown, whirl around and thrown, this calf, it was no more calf, it was gigantic demon form. Big from and he was so heavy. That tree fell down with so many other trees. Demigods they were highly pleased, and they started showering flowers. And all the cowherd boy friends they were kind of hiding. Krsna was handling the demon. They were not sure what could be outcome of this. So they were maintaining safer distance and watching from behind the trees. And once the demon was killed then they came forward and sadhu sadhu, well done.

Next thing they are doing is some special kind of fruit tree. So the tree fell and there are so many fruits and all the cowherd boys are running after the fruits. There is breakfast time. Someone lost life and no big deal. They just wanted to enjoy fruit. Ran for the fruits!

So like that they would have good time, herding calves and playing with friends.  And another day they were all thirsty. These are two pastimes. One demon killing which was Vatsasur and there is more. There is news of Vatsa the calf.  Some residents of Vrndavan, ‘hey Krsna you killed the cow, you have to take bath. You have to take holy deep now for self purification; go take bath in Ganga.’ So Krsna was willing but He doesn’t leave Vrndavan. How does He manage? He creates Ganga from His mind. That is Manasi Ganga. When you do Brajamandal parikrama, you take darshan of Mansi Ganga. So that comes from mind of Krsna. Krsna takes bath, everyone taking bath now in Mansi Ganga. Some other pastimes also mentioned in connection of this Mansi Ganga. This is one of them.

So another day boys were thirsty. There was another demon coming. He is Bakasur, brother of Putana. Putana has been killed. Now second member of family, he has come as big duck. So they drank water and suddenly they saw big big huge size duck. So Bakasura comes with big pointed beak and catches hold of Krsna and he swallows. Where is Krsna now? He was just playing with the friends and demon came and he just swallowed Him. And cowherd boys were right there. Where is Krsna? Seeing His friends disturbed and Krsna inside the throat is becoming very very hot and very bitter also. Could you swallow something that is so hot and bitter? You will vomit. So this demon vomits. And what came out? Krsna! Krsna held beak of this demon and Bakasur also was killed.

We are rushing because idea was to kill another demon today. Aghasur! So Putana is sister, and Bakasur and Aghasur are two brothers. So Aghasur’s time for killing. Cowherd boys, as the news spread of Krsna killing another demon, residents of Vrndavan, Nanda maharaj reminded of Garga muni’s prediction, ‘this will happen, that will happen, but Krsna will always come victorious, always depend on Him, He will protect you.’ And the way he predicted is exactly happening. They all are talking.  So these topics are giving great pleasure to residents, protectors of the town, Nanda maharaj and ohers. This Rama Krsna katha they are absorbed, this is their life.

mat cittah mat-gat pranah, bodhayantah parasparam
kathayantas ca mam nityam tusyanti ca ramanti ca

Krsna says in Bhagavad Gita. Same thing; residents of Vrndavan are busy, absorbed talking about Krsna. We also wish, before we talk what we have to do? You have to hear, you have to read. Otherwise what would you talk about? Whatever you hear about, you talk about. Gramya katha! Simple thing! What goes in, input, is the output. If katha goes in, katha will come out. You will relish. We also wish to how Krsna katha is topic of devotees. Krsna is expecting that we talk about Krsna, hear about Krsna, hear more and more and then do mananam. Krsna is reminding us, ‘you hear Me, hear and then come back tomorrow to hear more, but in mean time what happens? Mananam, bring those pastimes back to the mind, contemplate, relish and take them in again. Just like cows or animals they eat twice. First time they gobble up, grazing, and when they sit down, then what do they do? Chewing the chewed. They bring whole thing back into the mouth, then chewing it finer and finer and they assimilate it into the system and they get nourished.

So here we hear, gobble up in couple of hours. Then we have 22 hrs more. To do what? Bringing these pastimes back into the mind and relish them, then they will become our property. Then we will not forget them. Bring them back again.

So the person who did this katha, I told you in beginning only, he was Gokarna. This is part of Bhagavat Mahatmya and he was reciting this Bhagavat for seven days for the benefit of his brother Dhundhakari. Dhundhakari was kind of not good fellow. His brother Gokarna showed special mercy. This person was turned into ghost in fact. Dhundhakari had no body, just subtle body. So he took shelter in bamboo which had seven knots. Otherwise the wind comes, they he will go away. It ‘s not heavy 100 kg body, just 50 gm body. So he took shelter of this bamboo of seven knots. So what was happening, at the end of each day, one of the knots was getting opened. And another recitation, another day, by the end of second day, one more knot was opened. Like that the end of the seventh day, that bamboo was no more and there comes out four handed beautiful person.

And mean time there was one aircraft that had come from up above, the trance airline, TWA, and landed and airhosts were signaling please come please come. He was about to got the steps and take his seat, but before they took off, this Gokarna said hey hold on. What’s the matter? In audience I have so many listeners, not just one person. I was expecting you would bring big jambo jet and board everyone to take back home. But how come only one person is boarding the plain? Haridas, Visnudas, they were captain, airhosts, they said, the question was raised by Gokarna that the speaker is same, same subject matter was shared by me with everyone and they all were listening. So how come not the same fruit. How come one person become capable of going back to Vaikuntha and everyone else is staying behind? Why there is discrimination? What went wrong?

Several things were pointed out by these Haridasas. One of these is mananam, this contemplation, what had been heard. This person was thinking, contemplating, relishing, bringing into the mind and others were not doing. This was the reason. Faith of the listener is also other factor. But main thing was pointed out, mananam. So sravanam kirtanam, and the mananam pat. So he said, ‘but we have no problem. You can organize another katha and let them follow the guidelines that we have just mentioned and we will have bigger plane next time.’ and that is what happened. Another katha was organized, Gokarna spoke. Eveyone who was attaining that katha, ‘hey mananam, hey mananam. Unless we do mananam, no going. Mananam mananam. And we need to have attention. Turn off mobile phone and children … ‘ like that.

And everybody was so alert, so respectful. No offenses, attention and the result was at the end of those seven days of recitation of Bhagavatam, big jambo jet arrived. And this time Lord personally accompanied pilots and the staff. And everyone was shown the door of the aircraft, please get in please and the engine started and everyone went back to the Lord.

So the quality of hearing, contemplation, attentions, etc. kind of few things mentioned there in Srimad Bhagavat mahatmya. These things mentioned by four Kumaras, also how fund should be raised.  Just like at the time of marriage you raise funds somehow. First thing mentioned by four Kumaras is fund raising and invitaion. And they have given little draft, how to invite, and what should be location, where should be katha to be conducted and which part of the year. What kind of speaker has to be vaisnava, Hari bhakta and like that it goes. The main thing is hear about subject matter. So we are trying to stick to what Sukadeva Gosvami speaks and how Prabhupada has explained that in purports, something from purports and something from previous acaryas. We are going to try to share this with you. Hare Krishna