Reading Assignment

Conquered by His devotee

a) Nectar of Devotion lecture, Calcutta. 30 January 1973.

Summary: During the recent observance of Ramanavami, many discussions arose related to "apparent errors" of Sita, Rama, Laksmana, Kaikeyi, etc. Speculations abound as to "Why" different events in Rama's lila took place in the manner they did, especially when it appears that some flagrant mistake has been made by divine omniscient pure beings.

Summary: While in Vrndavan for our Yatra, we visited Chir Ghat, the place where Krishna stole the garments of the gopis. It is a very sublime place, as is the lila performed by Krishna there. After extracting total surrender from the young gopis, Krishna promised them: "O saintly girls, I understand that your real motive in this austerity has been to worship Me. That intent of yours is approved of by Me, and indeed it must come to pass." The young girls ardently wanted Krishna as their husband, and so He promised to fulfill their desire. In fact he did so, both by way of His rasa-lila, and by way of marrying their expansions in Dwaraka. See the following text from Srila Sanatana Goswami's Brhad-bhagavatamrta for evidence.

Summary: The entire set of prayers by the demigods to Lord Krishna in the womb runs from texts 26 to 41. This assignment, in anticipation of Krishna Janmastami, covers just 3 of the 16 texts of prayers. Krishna's various appearances in this world provide the residents here with His merciful lotus feet, which give protection to the pious and destruction to the duskritis.

Reading assignment  (From Garga Samhita, Canto One, Chapter Seventeen; Translated by Sri Kusakratha Das. The Krishna Institute)

Summary

Application of one's life energy to fulfill the desire of Krishna,by the grace of guru, is our means of  spiritual elevation and is a manifestation of our love for Krishna.

"Bringing our aspirations and convictions into the world of action" is the contemporary phrase.

Srila Prabhupada comments that if we strive to always consider the ways and means of expanding the flow of Lord Caitanya's mercy, there is no better way of controling the mind!

Below is a passage from Mahabharata, in which Krishna confirms the importance of acting with sincere effort to fulfill a spiritual mission in life.

In Bhagavad Gita 4.9 Krishna teaches us that we can enter the kingdom of God and never return here to this temporal realm if we simply understand the transcendental nature of Krishna's appearance and activities.

In Sri Brahma-samhita, within the purport to text 32 (where it specifically deals with the subject of Krsna's interchangeable senses) it is quite clear that perfected jivas have a spiritual body with interchangeable senses as does the Lord.

Reading assignment

Sri Brahma-Samhita 5.32 purport:

Prior to Krishna's appearance, there were six sons of Devaki who were killed by Kamsa. Who were these six sons, and how did they become so unfortunate that they would be killed by Kamsa just after their birth? In the introduction to Chapter 1 of Canto 10, Srila Prabhupada writes:

I was visiting a college town, where a person in the audience asked a classic question: "Why do we consider Krishna to be the source of all incarnations when it clearly states in Srimad Bhagavatam that Krishna is the 20th incarnation of Vishnu?" You may all have been asked this question at some point in time. One answer is found in Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Adi 2.67-90. The entire section can be read from this file.

You will also find there the dialogue between Lord Caitanya and Venkata Bhatta on this topic. Madhya 9.111-161. Very important!!

Reading Assignment

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Adi 2.67-90 Adi 2.67