Kṛṣṇa’s entrance into Dvārakā

During the time of the battle of Kuruksetra and afterward, Krsna stayed a long time in Hastinapura assisting the Pandavas in many different matters. During all this time, the inhabitants of Dvaraka experienced the ecstasy of separation from the Lord.

When Krsna finally returned after this long visit, the inhabitants of Dvaraka bloomed with the ecstasy of meeting again the Lord after a long period of separation. As soon as they heard the sound of His conchshell, all the inhabitants ran fast towards the Lord, to satisfy their long cherished desire of being again with Him.

There is a lot of spiritual significance in these verses. When it’s described that the conch appeared to be reddened by the touch of the Lord’s transcendental lips, a reference is made to the fact that a devotee can exhibit all kinds of wonderful spiritual qualities due to his contact with Krsna. This is something we can see in practice: people change when they sincerely start practicing devotional service. Negative traits disappear, they gain new qualities and abilities, and even their physical appearance changes. This is all due to the contact with the Lord. In the same way, material objects used in the service of Krsna become spiritualized, just like prasadam offered to Him.

As its customary in Vedic culture, the inhabitants of Dvaraka didn’t go to see the Lord with empty hands; they brought many valuable offerings to the Lord. These offerings are described as being like the offering of a lamp to the sun. The sun the is source of heat and light for the whole universe and thus has nothing to benefit from a small lamp offered by a worshiper. Similarly, the Lord is the source of everything, and the possessor of everything, and thus He doesn’t have anything to gain from any material offering. The offering serves however as a vessel for our devotion to the Lord. The offering itself is not very important, but the devotion and the love carried by it satisfy the Lord and increase our relationship with Him.

As Prabhupada mentions: “Therefore, any presentation, however valuable it may be, is not needed by Him. But still, because He is the well-wisher for one and all, He accepts from everyone everything that is offered to Him in pure devotional service. It is not that He is in want for such things, because the things are themselves generated from His energy.”

When the Lord finally entered the city, the dwellers of Dvaraka offered prayers to the Lord. Here are a few points:

  • The Lord is transcendental to the influence of material time. He is the predominator, while we are the predominated. The Lord is thus the shelter for all who aspire to attain the ultimate goal, worshiped by all demigods and important personalities.
  • The Lord is the well-wisher of all. When we follow the instructions he gives through the scriptures, devotees, and the spiritual master, we become successful in all spheres of life.
  • Our relationship with the Lord is eternal, it can neither be broken nor destroyed. This human form is a chance to revive it.
  • Even the demigods rarely have the opportunity to see the Lord, but the inhabitants of Dvaraka can constantly see Him face to face due to their purity and love. This is the original state of the soul, which can be unveiled only by the practice of devotional service.
  • The opposite of Kṛṣṇa is māyā or illusion. Without Him, all our knowledge is covered by illusion. We need thus to keep ourselves always in the presence of Krsna.
  • We are molecular parts of the whole spirit and are separated from the Lord by the artificial covering of māyā, the illusory energy. When this curtain is removed, we can see the Lord face to face, and all miseries of life end.

The opulence of Dvaraka is an example of how a society can become prosperous by the practice of Krsna Consciousness and the use of the gifts of nature. Prabhupada mentions in the purport that when people have the choice, they prefer to live in beautiful areas with nature, but in modern societies, this is available only to the rich. Poor people are forced to live in congested areas in the cities, which are just hellish. In Dvaraka however, the whole city was beautiful.

“It is understood that the whole dhāma, or residential quarter, was surrounded by such gardens and parks with reservoirs of water where lotuses grew. It is understood that all the people depended on nature’s gifts of fruits and flowers without industrial enterprises promoting filthy huts and slums for residential quarters. Advancement of civilization is estimated not on the growth of mills and factories to deteriorate the finer instincts of the human being, but on developing the potent spiritual instincts of human beings and giving them a chance to go back to Godhead.”

Not only was the city extraordinarily beautiful, but the inhabitants decorated the whole city with natural ingredients, like plantain trees, mango leaves, pots with water and grains, fruits, flowers, and so on, instead of paper and plastic like nowadays.

Apart from the decoration, it’s described that Brahmanas came forth to receive the Lord, alongside elephants, men blowing conchshells and musical horns, and so on. Vedic hymns were chanted and all classes of people offered their respects.

Srimad Bhagavatam mentions that many hundreds of well-known prostitutes began to proceed on various vehicles. One may question how prostitutes are present in Dvaraka, the city of the Lord. The first point is that these were not prostitutes in the modern term, but more like courtesans, unmarried girls who would make a career by chanting, dancing, and entertaining. They are described as prostitutes because, in the course of their activities, they would have affairs with different men, just like the apsaras in the celestial planets, who are also described as prostitutes in different passages. On the positive side, however, these ladies were all devotees and were very eager to meet the Lord. This shows how persons in all ways of life can be purified by the process of devotional service.

In the purport, Srila Prabhupada brings the topic closer to our reality by making the point that activities like drinking and prostitution are present in every society and are very difficult to eradicate. The real process of reformation is to enlighten people in Krsna Consciousness. As Krsna mentions in the Bhagavad-Gita (9.32), all classes of people can attain perfection if they take shelter in devotional service, including meat-eaters, drunkards, and prostitutes.

Similarly, the Lord was also greeted by dramatists, artists, dancers, singers, historians, genealogists, etc. This shows that all their professions were also present in Dvaraka, but they were all devotees, and their activities were centered around the activities of the Lord. In his purport, Prabhupada makes the point that the presence of such devotee artists is important for the spiritual enlightenment of the common man, by presenting knowledge from the Vedic literature in ways that are simple and capable of attracting the less enlightened classes of the population. Not everyone will come for a philosophical discussion, but everyone can come for a theatrical performance or a movie.

A little later, it’s mentioned that the Lord reciprocated the greetings of all, showing that he is attentive to all kinds of devotees and the Lord is equally affectionate to all. No one who approaches the Lord sincerely is ever rejected or barred from entering His kingdom. It’s just up to us to accept His association or not.

“Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead, approached them and offered due honor and respect to each and every one of the friends, relatives, citizens and all others who came to receive and welcome Him. The almighty Lord greeted everyone present by bowing His head, exchanging greetings, embracing, shaking hands, looking and smiling, giving assurances, and awarding benedictions, even to the lowest in rank. (SB 1.11.21-22)

These descriptions give us a glimpse of life in the spiritual world. Due to the influence of the false ego, the soul becomes ready to accept any material identity, from a demigod to a dog or hog, or even a tree, any position except his eternal position as a servant of the Lord. These descriptions are included in the Srimad Bhagavatam to help us become attracted to the eternal reality of the spiritual world, which is centered around such sweet exchanges of love with Krsna. The more we become attracted to these descriptions, the more our attraction for the temporary and illusory world of matter will be slackened.

Devotional service in ignorance, passion and in goodness.

At the end of the third canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, Sukadeva Goswami describes four categories of devotional service, according to the teachings of Lord Kapila. We may think that devotional service is always transcendental, but that’s not the case. Although the propensity of serving Krsna is originally present in the soul, as long as we are conditioned it may be expressed in impure ways through the three modes of material nature, just like the light of the sun can become blue or red when passing through colored glasses.

What are the symptoms of devotional service in the mode of ignorance? “Devotional service executed by a person who is envious, proud, violent and angry, and who is a separatist, is considered to be in the mode of darkness.” (SB 3.29.8)

What about devotional service in passion? “The worship of Deities in the temple by a separatist, with a motive for material enjoyment, fame, and opulence, is devotion in the mode of passion.” (SB 3.29.9)

“Separatist” means someone who has different interests from the Lord, someone who is still acting under material desires, false ego and the dictations of the mind. What he wants is different from what the Lord wants, which creates lots of contradictions in his service. Some of his actions may be positive, while others will be very negative.

Finally, there is service in the mode of goodness, which is based on the idea of achieving liberation (not pure, but almost there) and pure devotional service, which “is exhibited when one’s mind is at once attracted to hearing the transcendental name and qualities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is residing in everyone’s heart. Just as the water of the Ganges flows naturally down towards the ocean, such devotional ecstasy, uninterrupted by any material condition, flows towards the Supreme Lord.” (SB 3.29.11-12)

In the 4th canto, Sukadeva Goswami proceeds by giving practical examples of these different qualities of devotional service and what results they award.

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The Passing Away of Bhīṣmadeva

Bhismadeva was defeated by Arjuna and Srikandi during the 10th day of the battle of Kuruksetra. Dozens of arrows transpassed his body, but he landed in such a way that the arrows supported the weight of his body, and he didn’t touch the ground. It looked like he was lying on a bed of arrows. Later, at his request, Arjuna added three arrows under his head, that served as a pillow.

Any regular person would die instantly in this situation, but because Bhismadeva had the blessing he would not die until the time he had chosen, he remained alive and conscious. He was waiting for an auspicious moment to leave his body.

The news that the great Bhismadeva was preparing to leave his body quickly spread, and many great sages and other important personalities came to pay him their respects, including Vyasadeva and Sukadeva Goswami. It’s mentioned that “all the great souls in the universe, namely the ṛṣis amongst the demigods, brāhmaṇas, and kings, all situated in the quality of goodness, were assembled there.”

Chronologically speaking, these events happened around the time of the birth of Pariksit Maharaja, many years before Sukadeva Goswami spoke the Srimad Bhagavatam to him.

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The true history of the Vedas

One point in Vaishnava philosophy that is very different from what most historians believe is the eternality of the Vedas. We believe the Vedas are eternal, being present since the beginning of time. However, when historians study archaeological evidence, it appears that the Vedas although very ancient passed through a process of evolution and change. How is that?

The point is that indeed, the Vedas passed through a process of transformation about 5000 years ago, but it was different from what is believed by most historians.

The point is that in the previous Dvapara-yuga, the knowledge of the Vedas was practically destroyed, with the followers of the Vedas degenerating into six separate schools, none of which conserved the proper understanding of the scriptures.

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The vision of Srila Vyasadeva in his meditation

In the first canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, Narada Muni tells the story of his previous life to Vyasadeva and urges him to write the Srimad Bhagavatam, explaining exclusively about the pastimes of the Lord. At the end of chapter 6, Narada Muni leaves after instructing Vyasadeva.

What happened after that. What did he do after receiving these instructions from his spiritual master? Suta Goswami describes the meditation of Vyasadeva before starting his work. Meditating on the bank of the river Sarasvati, he was able to see the Lord along with His external energy.

The Sarasvati is a river described in the Vedic texts that is not available currently. It was a great, sacred river in the North of India, close to what is now New Delhi, that nourished several important kingdoms in Vedic times. From this description, it seems that Vyasadeva was situated in his hermitage in the Himalayas, close to the nascent of the river.

“Thus he fixed his mind, perfectly engaging it by linking it in devotional service [bhakti-yoga] without any tinge of materialism, and thus he saw the Absolute Personality of Godhead along with His external energy, which was under full control.” (SB 1.7.4)

Mayavadis think that Maya can capture parts of the impersonal Brahman and when these parts realize their real nature they become liberated and merge back into the Supreme Brahman. This verse however dismisses this theory. Maya is not an independent force, but simply one of the energies of the Lord, who is completely under His control. Not only Maya is not capable of touching the Lord, but it is incapable of even touching the individual souls who are engaged in the eternal service of the Lord. Only the souls who reject their eternal nature and become averse to the service of the Lord are put under the care of the external potency of the Lord and become thus covered by Maya.

Originally, the soul has nothing to do with matter. However, when the soul comes in contact with it, he falls under the influence of the three modes of nature, and under the influence of the false ego, identifies with many different temporary forms in this material world. Under the influence of the false ego, the soul is prepared to accept any identity in the material world, be it of a demigod, a human being, or even a hog, a dog, or a plant. Anything except his original position as a servant of Krsna. In all these forms the soul performs material activities and thus becomes more and more entangled in the results of these activities, Karma, suffering perpetually in the material world, life after life.

Vyasadeva however, didn’t just see the causes of the misery of the living entities, but also the solution for such miseries:

“The material miseries of the living entity, which are superfluous to him, can be directly mitigated by the linking process of devotional service. But the mass of people do not know this, and therefore the learned Vyāsadeva compiled this Vedic literature, which is in relation to the Supreme Truth.” (SB 1.7.6)

The goal of the process of devotional service is to reconnect the soul with Krsna, reestablishing our original position. That’s why devotional service is described here as the linking process.

The real goal of all Vedic literature is to bring one to the platform of devotional service, but in most of the books that compose the Vedas and even many of the Puranas, this point is not so clear. Vyasadeva thus meditated on writing a book that would directly convey this message and nothing more. In this way, he conceived the Srimad Bhagavatam, a book capable of extinguishing the lamentation, illusion, and fearfulness from the hearts of people. After compiling and revising this original version of the Srimad Bhagavatam, he taught it to his son, Srila Śukadeva Gosvāmī.

How do we practice rāgānugā-bhakti in Iskcon?

Prabhupada mentions (NoD 2) that “Every living entity under the spell of the material energy is held to be in an abnormal condition of madness.” The original position of the soul is a position of love for Krsna, but somehow or other we forget this and somehow or other become absorbed in material desires and activities.

Sadhana-bhakti is the process of regulated devotional service, offered as a way to gradually elevate our consciousness from this absorption into matter back into our original attitude of loving service to Krsna.

By definition, we start practicing the process of sadhana-bhakti, or vaidhī-bhakti when there is no attachment or love for the Lord. We get in contact with devotees, accept a spiritual master, and out of obedience to the guru we, liking or not, execute a process of regulated service that gradually purifies us.

As Prabhupada mentions (Nod 2):

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Satya, Treta, Dwapara, and Kali or Satya, Dwapara, Treta, and Kali? A mysterious verse

In the first canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, there is a verse that we may have a little trouble explaining:

“Sūta Gosvāmī said: When the second millennium overlapped the third, the great sage [Vyāsadeva] was born to Parāśara in the womb of Satyavatī, the daughter of Vasu.” (SB 1.4.14)

Prabhupada mentions in the purport:

“There is a chronological order of the four millenniums, namely Satya, Dvāpara, Tretā and Kali. But sometimes there is overlapping. During the regime of Vaivasvata Manu, there was an overlapping of the twenty-eighth round of the four millenniums, and the third millennium appeared prior to the second. In that particular millennium, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa also descends, and because of this there was some particular alteration.”

Just in case you are wondering, the literal translation of the verse is:

“Coming in the second millennium (Dvāpara-yuga), at the time the third (Treta-yuga) appeared before it, he (Vyasa) was begotten by the great sage Parāśara in the womb of the daughter of Vasu. He is the plenary portion of the Personality of Godhead.”

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How to become free from karma?

Apart from our material desires and the crazy mind, another formidable obstacle in our spiritual path is karma. Our karma is compared to a bunch of knots in a rope that binds us to this material world. Karma makes us take birth in a certain place, become part of a certain family, live in a certain place, have a certain circle of friends, work on a certain job, have certain positive and negative personal characteristics, and so on. We always have a certain degree of choice, but it is actually much more limited than we like to think.

We may complain that we don’t have enough time to practice spiritual life because we have to struggle so hard to live, because we live too far away from the temple, because our relatives or spouses are not devotees, because other people are mean to us, or cheat us, or even because we can’t wake up early to chant, because our minds are too unstable, and so on. However, what we may fail to realize is that most of it comes from our Karma. In this way, Karma more often than not puts us in situations that are unfavorable to cultivate our spiritual practice.

The scariest of all however is that karma can affect the way we think. The values and mental paradigm we have in this life are also a result of our past actions, and thus also connected with karma. In this way, karma can also make things quite hard for us when we speak about understanding spiritual knowledge.

What is the solution? We have to break through this tangle of knots and gradually free ourselves from these impediments. Only when the knot of our previous karma is destroyed we gain the freedom to change our lives.

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Three aspects of the absolute

Different transcendentalists have different ideas about God. To some (the impersonalists), God is a formless, spirit, that is eternal and transcendental to the material world. To others (the yogis), God has a form, situated inside the heart. For the devotee, however, God is a blue boy who plays the flute and cultivates loving relationships with His devotees. Who is right?

Well, according to Srimad Bhagavatam, all of them:

“Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, Paramātmā or Bhagavān.”(SB 1.2.11)

At first, these there ideas may appear contradictory, but that’s not the case. God has these three aspects simultaneously. The impersonal Brahmajoti is just the effulgence of His body, Paramatma is his localized aspect, present everywhere, while the Bhagavam aspect is the complete aspect of God as a person, who performs wonderful activities. Paramatma also includes Brahman realization, while Bhagavan realization includes all three aspects simultaneously.

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