Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.8.32

Nitāi: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [devotees repeat] [leads chanting of verse, etc.]

kecid āhur ajaṁ jātaṁ puṅya-ślokasya kīrtaye yadoḥ priyasyānvavāye malayasyeva candanam [SB 1.8.32]

[break] [01:04]

"Some say that the Unborn is born for the glorification of pious kings, and others say that He is born to please King Yadu, one of Your dearest devotees. You appear in his family as sandalwood appears in the Malaya Hills."

Prabhupāda:

kecid āhur ajaṁ jātaṁ puṅya-ślokasya kīrtaye yadoḥ priyasyānvavāye malayasya eva candanam [SB 1.8.32]

So Kṛṣṅa has nothing to do. He is the Supreme. Why He shall have something to do? Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṅam... This is the definition in the Vedas: "God has nothing to do. He is self-sufficient. Neither He has got any aspiration." Just like we are thinking of purchasing this land, that land. Why Kṛṣṅa will think like that? Because every land is belonging to Him. So He has nothing to purchase. Everything is there. So why He comes? That is the same way, as Kṛṣṅa says personally. He comes for paritrāṅāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām [Bg 4.8].

[In order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium after millennium.]

He wants to give protection to the devotees, to glorify the devotees. That is His business. Otherwise He has no business. He has nothing to do. Just like a devotee has nothing to do except serving Kṛṣṅa, except to see Kṛṣṅa is pleased; similarly, Kṛṣṅa has nothing to do, but He wants to glorify His devotee. This is reciprocation. Ye yathā māṁ prapadyante [Bg 4.11].

[All of them—as they surrender unto Me—I reward accordingly. Everyone follows My path in all respects, O son of Pṛthā.]

If you... If you dedicate your life for glorifying the Supreme Lord, the Lord is also ready. His business is to glorify you. Otherwise, He has no business.

Therefore here it is said that priyasya, yadoḥ priyasya. King Yadu became very dear to Kṛṣṅa by rendering service. Priyasya. The... As Kṛṣṅa is very dear to the devotee, similarly, devotees are also very, very dear to Kṛṣṅa. There is another verse, sva-pāda-mūlaṁ bhajataḥ priyasya [SB 11.5.42]. Sva-pāda-mūlaṁ bhajataḥ priyasya: "If one is engaged at the lotus feet of Kṛṣṅa, he becomes very, very dear." Sva-pāda-mūlaṁ bhajataḥ priyasya. Bhajataḥ, one who is simply engaged for rendering service to the lotus feet of Kṛṣṅa—he has no other business—he becomes priya. And as soon as you become priya, or dear to Kṛṣṅa, then your all problems solved. Just like if you become a dear child of a very big, rich man, then where is your problem? Automatically he's taken care of. Because he has become dear child of a very big man, so what is his problem? No problem. Similarly, we have to become very dear to Kṛṣṅa. Then all our problems solved.

These rascals, karmīs, they do not know. They want to become happy by their own endeavor. That is called karmī. They are working very hard—the same thing—to be very happy, and the devotee is also trying to become happy. Everyone is trying. Sukham ātyantikaṁ yat tad atīndriya-grāhyam [Bg 6.21].

[The stage of perfection is called trance, or samādhi, when one's mind is completely restrained from material mental activities by practice of yoga. This is characterized by one's ability to see the self by the pure mind and to relish and rejoice in the self. In that joyous state, one is situated in boundless transcendental happiness and enjoys himself through transcendental senses. Established thus, one never departs from the truth, and upon gaining this he thinks there is no greater gain. Being situated in such a position, one is never shaken, even in the midst of greatest difficulty. This indeed is actual freedom from all miseries arising from material contact.]

Everyone is trying to be, become happy, because to become happy is our natural tendency. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt [Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12].

[By nature, the Supreme Lord is blissful.]

Everyone is trying to become happy. But the karmīs, the jñānīs, the yogīs, they do not know how to become perfectly happy. They're making their own endeavor. Karmīs are trying to work harder, hard, day and night, to get money: "Some way or other, never mind black and white, bring money. I must have nice car, nice house, nice bank balance." This is karmī. And jñānī, when he is fed up with working, when he understands that "This working hard and bank balance could not make me anyway happy, so therefore this is false, all these activities, what I am..." The brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā. So they become disgusted and take to Brahman. Brahma satyam.

But brahma satyam is fact, but because they are trying to understand Brahman by their speculative method, they cannot understand Brahman. Athāpi te deva padāmbuja-dvaya-prasāda-leśānugṛhīta eva hi, jānāti tattvam [SB 10.14.29].

[My Lord, if one is favored by even a slight trace of the mercy of Your lotus feet, he can understand the greatness of Your personality. But those who speculate to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead are unable to know You, even though they continue to study the Vedas for many years.]

You can understand the Supreme Brahman... Simply understanding Brahman will not give you satisfaction. Simply understanding ahaṁ brahmāsmi, this will not... Suppose if you have got money, and you are aware that you are very rich man. So simply thinking that you are very rich man and you see your money in the treasury, you'll be happy? No. When the money is utilized in so many ways for your gratification, then you are happy. Similarly, simple understanding ahaṁ brahmāsmi, this realization, will not make you happy. You have to utilize his Brahman's position. That means bhakti. This is called śānta-rasa, simply to understand ahaṁ brahmāsmi. This is called śānta-rasa. You must develop further. That is called dāsya-rasa, to become the servant of the Supreme Brahman. Then further advance. Simply to understand that "I am Brahman" will not give you...

Just the same example: it is very easy, that if you simply understand you have got much money... Just like we are trying to purchase land, but purchase land means I must have money. So money is there. So why I am not happy? Why I am trying to purchase land? To utilize the money. That is required. Every businessman has got money, enough money. But why they are active in the business circle? They are going to the market, share market, this market. Utilize the money. The same thing: simply to understand that ahaṁ brahmāsmi... Therefore they fail. All these so-called sannyāsīs, simply understanding ahaṁ brahmāsmi, "I have become now Nārāyaṅa," not giving them satisfaction. But because they have no information about rendering service to the Para-brahman, they come to again to this material field to render service, to open hospital, to open school, to feed the daridra-nārāyaṅa, and in this way they imagine, because they want activities.

So Brahman realization without activity of Brahman will not allow you to stay in the Brahman position. You'll fall down. Āruhya kṛcchreṅa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adhaḥ anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ [SB 10.2.32].

[[Someone may say that aside from devotees, who always seek shelter at the Lord's lotus feet, there are those who are not devotees but who have accepted different processes for attaining salvation. What happens to them? In answer to this question, Lord Brahmā and the other demigods said:] O lotus-eyed Lord, although nondevotees who accept severe austerities and penances to achieve the highest position may think themselves liberated, their intelligence is impure. They fall down from their position of imagined superiority because they have no regard for Your lotus feet.]

Patanty adhaḥ. By great austerities and penance, they can rise up to the paraṁ padam, ahaṁ brahmāsmi, brahma-pada. But āruhya kṛcchreṅa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ, from that place, patanty adhaḥ, again falls down in this material world. Why? Anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ: "Because they did not learn how to honor Your lotus feet." Because they are impersonalists, they are—"God, or the Brahman, has no leg." So how they will take shelter of the leg or lotus feet? Impersonal. Therefore the very word is used, anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ. Aṅghrayaḥ means this leg, or lotus feet. So because they have no information, or they..., even they have got information, they are not inclined to render service, therefore they fall down. This is the position.

So our business is not to realize simply that "I... ahaṁ brahmāsmi." That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā [Bg 18.54].

[And of all yogīs, he who always abides in Me with great faith, worshiping Me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all.]

When you understand that you are not this body but you are spirit soul, then, actually, if you realize, then, if I understand... Na jāyate na mriyate vā: the soul does not die. Then here the karmīs are working very hard because he's upset that "If I do not work hard, if I do not get money, then I shall die out of starvation." But if you are actually Brahman realized, if you understand that "I'll not die," then where is your activities? You'll not die. If somebody, some physician, gives you a tablet: "Now you take this tablet. You'll not die," then you'll stop working immediately, because "I'll not die." So brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā. "That is all right. Now I am spirit soul. I understand I will never die." That is prasannātmā. Na śocati na kāṅkṣati [Bg 18.54]. There is no need of lamentation. Samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu. But mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām. If you do not take to devotional service, simply by realizing that you are Brahman will not help. And by devotional service, you can become dear. Just like Arjuna is addressed by Kṛṣṅa, bhakto 'si priyo 'si [Bg 4.3]:

[That very ancient science of the relationship with the Supreme is today told by Me to you because you are My devotee as well as My friend; therefore you can understand the transcendental mystery of this science.]

"You are My devotee and very dear friend."

So our business is, somehow or other, to become very dear to Kṛṣṅa—as a servant, as a friend, or as father and mother, or as lover. Some way or other, you become... Make Kṛṣṅa your dear as master or as son or as father or... Father, they are taki..., doing, everyone. Even ordinary person, if he is God conscious, he takes Kṛṣṅa as supreme father. Just like the Christians, they take that "O Father, give us our daily..." Father means to ask him, "Give me, give me, give me, give me." Nobody wants to give father, but wants to take from father. Sometimes our students, when they spend extravagantly and I point out, he says, "My father has sent money." Sometimes. "My father has sent money." Yes. "Why did you stay at Ashoka Hotel?" "My father sent money." "Why not ask your father to send money? Why you are collecting by making Life Member?" So means idea of father... Father means that "Whenever I want to stay in Ashoka Hotel, he'll send money," not that "I will send money to father, he may stay at Ashoka Hotel." Nobody thinks like that. "Father may send money, and I shall stay in Ashoka Hotel." This is the idea of father. Father means to exploit him. To exploit.

So the father conception of God, mother conception of God, is not bad. Just like in Bengal especially, they have got mother conception. Mother conception means the same thing: to exploit, take from mother, or father. But the Vaiṣṅava conception is not to accept God as father or mother but as son. Son means to give. Father means to take from him, and son means to take from the father. So if you become father of God, then your business will be to give, not to take. That is Vaiṣṅava conception. From the very beginning of the son's life, the mother is giving service to the son, the father is giving service. Therefore the service is there. Even Kṛṣṅa is afraid of Mother Yaśodā. Why? Why Mother Yaśodā was trying to bind Kṛṣṅa? Because He disrupted the process of service of Mother Yaśodā to Kṛṣṅa. That is... Mother Yaśodā tried that "You have broken the butter, and You have distributed to the monkeys, You rascal. Then how You will live? I kept the butter for You so that You will eat and You'll become fatty. And You have broken that, and You have distributed the butter to the monkeys, so You must be punished." So the aim is to serve Kṛṣṅa. Not that Yaśodā is thinking, "My butter is spoiled by this child. Therefore He should be punished." He [she] is anxious to see that "Kṛṣṅa may not starve for want of butter. He's child. He does not know. He has distributed the butter to the monkeys." But Kṛṣṅa knows that "These monkeys are not ordinary monkeys." Those monkeys, they have taken birth in Vṛndāvana and come to Kṛṣṅa, do you think they're ordinary monkeys? They're devotees. They're devotees. They're playing as monkey for Kṛṣṅa's satisfaction. These are the intricate meanings of understanding Kṛṣṅa's līlā. Therefore Kṛṣṅa says, janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ [Bg 4.9].

[One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.]

So to understand kṛṣṅa-līlā... So therefore we have to understand kṛṣṅa-līlā, Kṛṣṅa, from these books, Bhāgavata, Bhagavad-gītā, but not directly. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu recommends, bhāgavata giyā paro bhāgavata sthāne. Just try to understand Bhāgavata or Bhagavān from the realized soul, not from the professional man. So here: kecid āhur ajaṁ jātam. Āhuḥ ajaṁ jātam. Contradiction. Now Kṛṣṅa says, ajo 'pi: "Although I am birthless, I do not take birth." Ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san... [Bg 4.6].

[Although I am unborn and My transcendental body never deteriorates, and although I am the Lord of all sentient beings, I still appear in every millennium in My original transcendental form.]

He is the Supreme Being, He's the master of everyone, and He never takes birth; still, He takes birth. Contradiction. He never takes birth, aja; at the same time... Ajo 'pi... Here it is said, kecid āhur ajam. God, or Kṛṣṅa, is aja. He never takes birth. But again he [she] says, jātam: "He has taken birth." This contradiction should be understood. The Vedas, there are many such contradiction like that. Paśyaty acakṣuḥ: "Kṛṣṅa, or God, sees, but He has no eyes." Similarly, God, Kṛṣṅa, takes His birth, although He never takes birth. These are contradiction. Paśyaty acakṣuḥ. Apāṅi-pādo javano grahītā: "He has no leg, but He goes so fast, nobody can compete Him." These are Vedic statement. You'll find in the Upaniṣads, apāṅi-pāda: "He has no leg, He has no hand," but javano grahītā, "but if you offer Him something, He takes." Kṛṣṅa says—it is not my word—patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati, tad ahaṁ aśnāmi bhakty-upahṛtam [Bg 9.26].

[If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it.]

Now, if the Supreme Lord, God, has no hand, no leg, then how He can walk? Just like Sākṣi-gopāla. Sākṣi-gopāla, He was Deity, apparently showing as made of stone, and the devotee's asking, "My Lord, Gopāla, You have to come to give witness." So Gopāla was smiling and said, "How you expect a Deity can walk, that I shall go to give witness for you?" The bhakta said, "If the Deity can speak and smile, He can walk also." That is the conviction of devotee. And the other party, they agreed that "If Gopāla comes to give witness, my sister will be given to you." He... Because he's atheist, he is thinking that "How the Deity will come? He'll never come. Then I shall not have to fulfill my promise." He is... He was confident like that. That is the difference between a devotee and nondevotee. The nondevotee cannot understand. They will take it that "Once you say that God has no eyes, then how He can see? God has no leg. Then how can He walk? God has no hand. Then how can He accept your offering?" Therefore the conclusion should be that ajo 'pi, although Kṛṣṅa never takes birth, and again He takes birth. He has taken birth. Therefore His birth is not like our birth. This is to be understood. He has no birth, but He has taken birth. Therefore, an intelligent man will conclude that His birth is not like our birth.

Therefore Kṛṣṅa says, janma karma me divyam [Bg 4.9].

[One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.]

It is all transcendental. It is not this ordinary birth. Ordinary birth means male and female union, then there is pregnancy, then the child comes out of the womb. It is not like that. It is... We can take this example: just like the sunrise in the morning, udilo aruṅa pūraba-bhāge. Before the sunrise, the sky becomes reddish, and then the sun comes out. So if somebody says that "The eastern side is the birthplace of sun," is it a fact? No. The sun is always there in the sky, but with your limited eyes you are seeing that now sun comes, sunrise. Sun does not rise nor set. Sun is already there. Your imperfect eyes—you see there is sunrise, there is sunset. Is it not a fact? Similarly, Kṛṣṅa is always there, but because we do not know Kṛṣṅa, therefore we understand that Kṛṣṅa is taking birth from Devakī, or Kṛṣṅa has taken birth in the family of the Yadus. Yes, He appears like that, that He has taken birth in the Yadu family. Because why? The purpose is to glorify the family because it belongs to the devotee, Mahārāja Yadu. That is His purpose. His real purpose is that the Yadu dynasty... Mahārāja Yadu was a great devotee. Here the yadoḥ priyasya. He appears to take birth in the family of Mahārāja Yadu. Just like Lord Rāmacandra, He took birth in the family of Mahārāja Raghu. Therefore Lord Rāmacandra is called Raghunātha, Dāśarathi, as Kṛṣṅa is called Vāsudeva because He accepted Vasudeva as His father.

So actually, Kṛṣṅa has no birth. Kṛṣṅa doesn't require. He can appear in any family. He... Just like Kṛṣṅa appeared, matsya-avatāra, in the family of fish. Keśava dhṛta-mīna-śarīra, jaya jagadīśa hare. Kṛṣṅa took birth as a pig. Keśava dhṛta-varāha-śarīra, jaya jagadīśa hare. Kṛṣṅa is free. He can appear anywhere, everywhere. That is... Just like īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati [Bg 18.61].

[The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone's heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine, made of the material energy.]

He's situated in everyone's heart. So He is with everyone's... Every living being has got Kṛṣṅa. So Kṛṣṅa is already there in the heart. From the heart, if He appears in front... Just like Dhruva Mahārāja: He was meditating that Viṣṅu form of Kṛṣṅa, and all of a sudden he saw that Viṣṅu is not there. Then he opened his eyes, he saw Viṣṅu is in his front. So what is the difficulty for Kṛṣṅa? If He is within the heart and if He comes in your front, is it very difficult task for Him?

But the rascals, atheists, they cannot understand. Kṛṣṅa is everywhere. That is explained here, yadoḥ priyasya anvavāye. He can appear... How it is? Malayasyeva candanam. The sandalwood is famous as produced in Malaysia, or Malaya. I think formerly they used to grow sandalwood in Malaysia. What...? What is that capital?

Devotee: Kuala Lumpur.

Prabhupāda: Kuala Lumpur. Yes. We had been in Kuala Lumpur. Now, instead of sandalwood, they are growing rubber, rubber wood. Yes. So formerly malaya-candana, Malaysia, Malayasian candana, sandalwood, was very famous. Still it is famous. So this candana tree can grow anywhere, but it is famous as Malayan candana. Similarly, Kṛṣṅa can appear from anywhere. He is independent. But He appeared as this descendant of the Yadu dynasty. Why? Yadoḥ priyasya, puṅya-ślokasya kīrtaye. Those who are devotee, they are puṅya-śloka. Or Kṛṣṅa is also puṅya-śloka, uttama-śloka, Kṛṣṅa's another name. As Kṛṣṅa is known as Uttama-śloka, similarly, the devotees are called puṅya-śloka. How they become puṅya-śloka? Simply by hearing about Kṛṣṅa. Śṛṅvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṅaḥ puṅya-śloka-kīrtanaḥ [SB 1.2.17].

[Śrī Kṛṣṅa, the Personality of Godhead, who is the Paramātmā [Supersoul] in everyone's heart and the benefactor of the truthful devotee, cleanses desire for material enjoyment from the heart of the devotee who has developed the urge to hear His messages, which are in themselves virtuous when properly heard and chanted.]

Anyone who is always in contact with Kṛṣṅa, he's puṅya-śloka, and Kṛṣṅa is uttama-śloka. Uttama-śloke bhagavati bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī [SB 1.2.18].

[By regular attendance in classes on the Bhāgavatam and by rendering of service to the pure devotee, all that is troublesome to the heart is almost completely destroyed, and loving service unto the Personality of Godhead, who is praised with transcendental songs, is established as an irrevocable fact.]

So these are the terms used in the śāstras. As Kṛṣṅa is uttama-śloka, similarly, a devotee is puṅya-śloka. As the devotee worships Kṛṣṅa with selected poems, uttama-śloka... They are not ordinary poems. Cintāmaṅi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayan... [Bs 5.29]. These are not ordinary verses. These are transcendental verses: govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi. So Kṛṣṅa is worshiped by transcendental verses, transcendental language, Vedic language. That is transcendental language. Therefore it is called uttama-śloka. So puṅya-śloka, when he's advanced, he can worship the Uttama-śloka. Naṣṭa-prāyeṣu abhadreṣu nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā [SB 1.2.18]. Nityam, daily, regular. So as you are daily hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, so if you go on, then naṣṭa-prāya, everything, all dirty things within your heart, ceto-darpaṅa-mārjanam [Cc Antya 20.12],

[Let there be all victory for the chanting of the holy name of Lord Kṛṣṅa, which can cleanse the mirror of the heart and stop the miseries of the blazing fire of material existence. That chanting is the waxing moon that spreads the white lotus of good fortune for all living entities. It is the life and soul of all education. The chanting of the holy name of Kṛṣṅa expands the blissful ocean of transcendental life. It gives a cooling effect to everyone and enables one to taste full nectar at every step.]

This is the process of cleansing the mirror of the heart. Mirror, when it isit will be all cleansed. Then you become puṅya-śloka. Puṅya-śloka. Nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā. Śṛṅvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṅaḥ nityam..., puṅya-śloka-kīrtanaḥ [SB 1.2.17].

[Śrī Kṛṣṅa, the Personality of Godhead, who is the Paramātmā [Supersoul] in everyone's heart and the benefactor of the truthful devotee, cleanses desire for material enjoyment from the heart of the devotee who has developed the urge to hear His messages, which are in themselves virtuous when properly heard and chanted.]

Simply by hearing.

So we are inviting everyone to become puṅya-śloka simply by hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavata. There is no... Come here. Take prasādam. Chant Hare Kṛṣṅa. Dance in jubilation. Become puṅya-śloka, and Kṛṣṅa..., you'll become very dear to Kṛṣṅa. This is perfection of life.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda. [end]