Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.9.5

Pradyumna: Translation: "When Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva saw the small boy Prahlāda Mahārāja prostrated at the soles of His lotus feet, He became most ecstatic in affection toward His devotee. Raising Prahlāda, the Lord placed His lotus hand upon the boy's head because His hand is always ready to create fearlessness in all of His devotees."

Prabhupāda:

sva-pāda-mūle patitaṁ tam arbhakaṁ vilokya devaḥ kṛpayā pariplutaḥ utthāpya tac-chīrṣṅy adadhāt karāmbujaṁ kālāhi-vitrasta-dhiyāṁ kṛtābhayam [SB 7.9.5]

So to become devotee or favorite to the Supreme Personality of Godhead is very easy. It is not at all difficult. Here we see the example, Prahlāda Mahārāja, a five-year-old boy...

[break] ...being a devotee, he only knows the Supreme Lord, and he offered obeisances. That is his qualification. Anyone can do that. Anyone can come here in the temple and offer obeisances. Where is the difficulty? Simply one must have the sense that "Here is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṅa or Nṛsiṁhadeva or any one of His multi-expansions."

In the śāstra it is said, advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam [Bs 5.33].

[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is inaccessible to the Vedas, but obtainable by pure unalloyed devotion of the soul, who is without a second, who is not subject to decay, is without a beginning, whose form is endless, who is the beginning, and the eternal puruṣa; yet He is a person possessing the beauty of blooming youth.]

Kṛṣṅa has ananta-rūpam. Therefore every rupa is expansion of Kṛṣṅa's original rūpa. The original rūpa is Kṛṣṅa. Kṛṣṅas tu bhagavān svayam [SB 1.3.28].

[All of the above-mentioned incarnations are either plenary portions or portions of the plenary portions of the Lord, but Lord Śrī Kṛṣṅa is the original Personality of Godhead. All of them appear on planets whenever there is a disturbance created by the atheists. The Lord incarnates to protect the theists.]

Then there are so many rūpas: Rāma, Nṛsiṁha, Varāha, Balarāma, Paraśurāma, Mīna, Tortoise, Nṛsiṁhadeva. Rāmādi-mūrtiṣu kalā-niyamena tiṣṭhan [Bs 5.39].

[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who manifested Himself personally as Kṛṣṅa and the different avatāras in the world in the forms of Rāma, Nṛsiṁha, Vāmana, etc., as His subjective portions.]

He's always existing with different forms, not that He is existing only in Kṛṣṅa form. Every form, rāmādi-mūrtiṣu. The same example, as we have given many times: just like the sun, time of sun, twenty-four hours, so out of the twenty-four hours or twenty-four incarnations, any time is present. It is not that now it is, say, eight o'clock, then seven o'clock is finished. No. There is seven o'clock in any other part of the world. Or nine o'clock. Nine o'clock is also present. Twelve o'clock is also present. We have got one watch given by Gurukṛpa Mahārāja. [laughter] He has brought from Japan. It is very nice. Immediately you can see what is the time now in different places—immediately. So all of them are existing. Therefore Kṛṣṅa's līlā is called nitya-līlā, not that one līlā is going on, other līlā is finished, no. Everything is existing simultaneous. Therefore this word is used, rāmādi-mūrtiṣu. Rāmādi-mūrtiṣu kalā-niyamena tiṣ... Niyamena. Exactly in due time. Just like the sun, exactly. Formerly there was no watch, but by the shadow one could study. You can study now also, even now. In our childhood we used to study by seeing the shadow: "Now it is this time"—and exactly the same time. So kalā-niyamena tiṣṭhan, not that haphazardously—now this shadow is one o'clock here, and next day, one o'clock there. No. The same place, you'll find. Kalā-niyamena tiṣṭhan.

Similarly, Kṛṣṅa's līlā, niyamena tiṣṭhan—exactly. There are innumerable universes. Here Kṛṣṅa is born. Now Kṛṣṅa is taken by Vasudeva to Vṛndāvana. Same thing—immediately here born, Kṛṣṅa has gone to Vṛndāvana—in another universe Kṛṣṅa is born, Kṛṣṅa is born again. In this way His līlā is going on. There is no cessation, neither there is any discrepancy of time. Exactly. Just like Kṛṣṅa comes upon this earth once in Brahmā's day. So, so many millions of years Kṛṣṅa will appear again, if not personally, by His expansion, aṁśena. Caitanya Mahāprabhu will appear exactly in due course of time. Lord Rāmacandra will appear. So rāmādi mūrtiṣu kalā-niyamena tiṣṭhan [Bs 5.39].

So this līlā, Nṛsiṁhadeva, that is also exactly in time.

So sva-pāda-mūle patitaṁ tam arbhakam. Very innocent child. If an innocent child like Prahlāda Mahārāja, he can get so much mercy of Nṛsiṁhadeva, so fierceful appearance of the Lord that even Lakṣmī could not approach... Aśruta. Adṛṣṭa aśruta pūrva. There was no such form of the Lord. Even Lakṣmī did not know. But Prahlāda Mahārāja, he's not afraid. He knows, "Here is my Lord." Just like the cub of a lion, he is not afraid of the lion. He immediately jumps to the head of the lion because he knows, "It is my father. It is my mother." Similarly, Prahlāda Mahārāja is not afraid, although Brahmā and others, all demigods, became afraid to approach the Lord. He simply as an innocent child came and offered his obeisances. Tam arbhakaṁ vilokya. So, so God is not impersonal. Immediately he could understand, "Oh, here is an innocent child. He has been harassed by his father so much, and now he's offering his obeisances unto Me." Vilokya devaḥ kṛpayā pariplutaḥ. He became very much, I mean to say, melted with mercy. So thing, all, everything is there. Don't think that God has no feeling, thinking, feeling. No. Everything is there. Unless He has got sympathetic feeling in Him, where we have got it? Because everything is coming from God. Janmādy asya yataḥ [SB 1.1.1]. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. What is Brahman? Brahman means the original source of everything. That is Brahman. Bṛhatvāt bṛhanatvāt.

So if this feeling is not there in God, then how He can be God, this feeling? Just like if one innocent little child comes and offers some respect to us, immediately we become feelingly merciful: "Oh, here is a nice child." So Lord Kṛṣṅa, Nṛsiṁhadeva, He also became pariplutaḥ, feelingly merciful, not ordinary merciful, feeling that "How innocent this child is." So feelingly, utthapya, immediately got him up: "My dear child, get up." And immediately put His hand on the head. Utthāpya tac-chīrṣṅy adadhāt karāmbujam. Karāmbhuja, lotus hand, lotus palm. So these feelings are there. And He wanted... Because this boy was bewildered that such a big mūrti came from the stambha, the columns, and the father, gigantic father, is dead, naturally he is little disturbed in mind. So therefore vitrasta-dhiyāṁ kṛtābhayam: "My dear child, don't be afraid. Everything is all right. I am present, and there is no fear. Be pacified. I will give you protection." So this is the exchange. So there is no need of very..., becoming very learned man, Vedantist and... Simply these things are required: you become innocent, accept the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and fall down at His lotus feet—everything is complete. This is wanted: simplicity. Simplicity. Believe in Kṛṣṅa. As Kṛṣṅa says, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañ... [Bg 7.7].

[O conqueror of wealth [Arjuna], there is no Truth superior to Me. Everything rests upon Me, as pearls are strung on a thread.]

Believe it! There is no more superior authority than Kṛṣṅa.

And He says, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru [Bg 18.65].

[Always think of Me and become My devotee. Worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend.]

This is the instruction. This is the substance of all instruction. Believe Kṛṣṅa, the Supreme Personality. Here is Kṛṣṅa. Believe that here is Kṛṣṅa. Innocent child will believe, but our brain is so dull, we will inquire, "Whether the Deity is made of stone or brass or wood?" because we are not innocent. We are thinking that this Deity is something made of brass. Even it is brass, a brass is not God? Brass is also God. Because Kṛṣṅa says, bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhir..., apareyam..., bhinnā me prakṛtir aṣṭadhā [Bg 7.4].

[Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego—altogether these eight comprise My separated material energies.]

Everything is Kṛṣṅa. Without Kṛṣṅa there is no existence. So why Kṛṣṅa cannot appear as He likes? He can appear in brass. He can appear in stone. He can appear in wood. He can appear in jewel. He can appear in painting. Any way He can... That is all-powerful. But we have to take it that "Here is Kṛṣṅa." Don't take it that "Kṛṣṅa is separate from this Deity, and here we have got a brass form Deity." No. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam [Bs 5.33].

Advaita. He has multi-expansion, but they're all one.

So similarly, He is represented in His name. Abhinnatvān nāma-nāminoḥ [Cc Madhya 17.133].

[The holy name of Kṛṣṅa is transcendentally blissful. It bestows all spiritual benedictions, for it is Kṛṣṅa Himself, the reservoir of all pleasure. Kṛṣṅa’s name is complete, and it is the form of all transcendental mellows. It is not a material name under any condition, and it is no less powerful than Kṛṣṅa Himself. Since Kṛṣṅa’s name is not contaminated by the material qualities, there is no question of its being involved with māyā. Kṛṣṅa’s name is always liberated and spiritual; it is never conditioned by the laws of material nature. This is because the name of Kṛṣṅa and Kṛṣṅa Himself are identical.]

When you are chanting the holy name of Kṛṣṅa, don't think this is sound vibration and Kṛṣṅa is different. No. Abhinnatvān. Nāma-cintāmaṅi-kṛṣṅaḥ. As Kṛṣṅa is cintāmaṅi, similarly, His holy name is also cintāmaṅi. Nāma cintāmaṅiḥ kṛṣṅaś caitanya-rāsa-vigrahaḥ. Caitanya, full consciousness, nāma-cintāmaṅi-kṛṣṅaḥ. If we associate with name, that you must know, that Kṛṣṅa is fully conscious of your service. You are addressing, "He Kṛṣṅa! He Rādhārāṅī! Kindly engage me in Your service." Hare Kṛṣṅa mantra means, Hare Kṛṣṅa, "He Kṛṣṅa, he Rādhārāṅī, he energy, kindly engage me in Your service." Ayi nanda-tanuja patitaṁ kiṅkaraṁ māṁ viṣame bhavāmbudhau. This is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's teaching. "O my Lord, Nanda-tanuja..." Kṛṣṅa becomes very glad when you associate His name, His activities, with some devotee. He's not impersonal. Kṛṣṅa has no name, but when He deals with His devotee, there is a name. Just like Kṛṣṅa dealing with Nanda Mahārāja, that Nanda Mahārāja's wooden slipper... Yaśodāmayī asked the child Kṛṣṅa—you have seen the picture—"Can you bring the slipper of your father?" "Yes!" Immediately took on the head. You see? This is Kṛṣṅa. So Nanda Mahārāja became very pleased: "Oh, your son is very nice. He can bear such a load." So this is dealing.

Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu is addressing Kṛṣṅa, ayi nanda-tanuja: "O Kṛṣṅa, who is born out of the body of Nanda Mahārāja." Just like the father is the body-giving person, seed..., seed-giving father, similarly, Kṛṣṅa, although He is the origin of everything, but still, He is born by the seed of Nanda Mahārāja. This is Kṛṣṅa-līlā. Ayi nanda-tanuja patitaṁ kiṅkaraṁ māṁ viṣame bhavām-budhau [Cc Antya 20.32, Śikṣāṣṭaka 5].

[O My Lord, O Kṛṣṅa, son of Mahārāja Nanda, I am Your eternal servant, but because of My own fruitive acts I have fallen into this horrible ocean of nescience. Now please be causelessly merciful to Me. Consider Me a particle of dust at Your lotus feet.]

Caitanya Mahāprabhu never addressed Kṛṣṅa, "O the Almighty." This is impersonal. He says, ayi nanda-tanuja, limited, "son of Nanda Mahārāja." Son of Nanda Mahārāja. So this is bhakti. He's unlimited. Just like Kuntīdevī was surprised that when he thought that Kṛṣṅa was afraid of Yaśodāmayī. That śloka you know. So he was..., she was surprised that "Kṛṣṅa, who is so exalted and great that everyone is afraid of Him, but He has become afraid of Yaśodāmayī."

So this can be enjoyed by the devotees, not the... Atheist class of men or non-devotees cannot understand. Therefore Kṛṣṅa said, bhaktyā mām abhijānāti [Bg 18.55].

[One can understand the Supreme Personality as He is only by devotional service. And when one is in full consciousness of the Supreme Lord by such devotion, he can enter into the kingdom of God.]

Only the devotees, no others. Others, they have no admission in this kingdom, to understand. If you want to understand Kṛṣṅa it is only through bhakti. Neither knowledge nor yoga nor karma nor jñāna, nothing—nothing will help you. Simply a devotee. And how to become devotee? How easy it is? See here the Prahlāda Mahārāja, innocent child, simply offering his obeisances. And Kṛṣṅa is also asking you, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru [Bg 18.65].

[Always think of Me and become My devotee. Worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend.]

If you sincerely do these four items—always think of Kṛṣṅa... Hare Kṛṣṅa, Hare Kṛṣṅa, Kṛṣṅa Kṛṣṅa, Hare Hare/ [devotees join in chanting] Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. So this is thinking of Kṛṣṅa, man-manā. And you can stick to this principle of Hare Kṛṣṅa mantra if you are unalloyed devotee. Without being unalloyed devotee it is very difficult. It will be tiresome. But we shall practice. Abhyāsa-yoga-yuktena [Bg 8.8].

[He who meditates on the Supreme Personality of Godhead, his mind constantly engaged in remembering Me, undeviated from the path, he, O Pārtha [Arjuna], is sure to reach Me.]

Immediately we cannot be first-class devotee. We cannot imitate Haridāsa Ṭhākura. That is not possible. But minimum. Saṅkhyā-pūrvaka-nāma-gāna-natibhiḥ [Ṣaḍ-gosvāmy-aṣṭaka].

[I offer my respectful obeisances unto the six Gosvāmīs, namely Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī, Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmī, Śrī Raghunātha Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, Śrī Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī, and Śrī Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, who were engaged in chanting the holy names of the Lord and bowing down in a scheduled measurement. In this way they utilized their valuable lives and in executing these devotional activities they conquered over eating and sleeping and were always meek and humble enchanted by remembering the transcendental qualities of the Lord.]

We have to practice. Certain numerical strength we must maintain. And we have made it, therefore... Some of our so-called devotees, they criticize me that I have limited only sixteen rounds. No, why sixteen rounds? You can make three hundred rounds—but minimum, minimum sixteen rounds. Because we are not accustomed to devote much time. We must be busy always. But to sit down in one place and chant Hare Kṛṣṅa mantra continuously, that is not possible for any conditioned soul—unless he is liberated. So don't try to imitate. My Guru Mahārāja has strictly forbidden, "Don't try to imitate big personalities like Haridāsa Ṭhākura, Rūpa Gosvāmī." He used to say, rūpa gosvāmī ke mogha vāñchā[?]. Rūpa Gosvāmī, because he used to put on a loincloth... Tyaktvā tūrṅam aśeṣa-maṅḍala-pati-śreṅīṁ sadā tucchavat bhūtvā dīna-gaṅeśakau karuṅayā kaupīna-kanthā... [Śrī Śrī Ṣaḍ Gosvāmy Aṣṭaka 4]

[I offer my respectful obeisances unto the six Gosvāmīs, namely Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī, Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmī, Śrī Raghunātha Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, Śrī Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī, and Śrī Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, who kicked off all association of aristocracy as insignificant. In order to deliver the poor conditioned souls, they accepted loincloths, treating themselves as mendicants, but they are always merged in the ecstatic ocean of the gopīs' love for Kṛṣṅa and bathe always and repeatedly in the waves of that ocean.]

So it is no use imitating Rūpa Gosvāmī, to imitate the dress, and then, as soon as there is opportunity, smoke biḍi. [laughs] [laughter] Don't do this nonsense. This is no use, imitation. Anusaraṅa, not anukaraṅa. Anukaraṅa is dangerous. Anusaraṅa. Sādhu-mārgānugamanam. This is bhakti. We shall try to follow the footsteps of big, big devotees, sādhus. We cannot... We shall try to follow. Don't try to imitate. That is very dangerous.

Some of our devotees, they left, that "There is no bhajana here," [laughter] and asking me my blessing to find out another guru. So he wants my blessing for find out a guru. So this rascaldom is no good. So best thing is that mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ [Cc Madhya 17.186].

[Dry arguments are inconclusive. A great personality whose opinion does not differ from others is not considered a great sage. Simply by studying the Vedas, which are variegated, one cannot come to the right path by which religious principles are understood. The solid truth of religious principles is hidden in the heart of an unadulterated self-realized person. Consequently, as the śāstras confirm, one should accept whatever progressive path the mahājanas advocate.]

Here is mahājana. Prahlāda Mahārāja is one of the mahājanas. Out of the twelve mahājanas, Prahlāda Mahārāja is one of the mahājanas. Svayambhūr nāradaḥ śambhuḥ kapilo manuḥ prahlādaḥ [SB 6.3.20].

[Lord Brahmā, Bhagavān Nārada, Lord Śiva, the four Kumāras, Lord Kapila [the son of Devahūti], Svāyambhuva Manu, Prahlāda Mahārāja, Janaka Mahārāja, Grandfather Bhīṣma, Bali Mahārāja, Śukadeva Gosvāmī and I myself know the real religious principle. My dear servants, this transcendental religious principle, which is known as bhāgavata-dharma, or surrender unto the Supreme Lord and love for Him, is uncontaminated by the material modes of nature. It is very confidential and difficult for ordinary human beings to understand, but if by chance one fortunately understands it, he is immediately liberated, and thus he returns home, back to Godhead.]

Prahlāda Mahārāja name is there. Janako bhīṣmo balir vaiyāsakir vayam [SB 6.3.19].

[Real religious principles are enacted by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Although fully situated in the mode of goodness, even the great ṛṣis who occupy the topmost planets cannot ascertain the real religious principles, nor can the demigods or the leaders of Siddhaloka, to say nothing of the asuras, ordinary human beings, Vidyādharas and Cāraṅas.]

So Prahlāda Mahārāja is mahājana. So follow, try to follow Prahlāda Mahārāja. Anusaraṅa. Sādhu-mārgānugamanam. So what Prahlāda Mahārāja did? He was put into so many troubles by his father, and what did he do? He was simply thinking of Kṛṣṅa: "What can I do? My father is against." That is man-manā bhava mad-bhaktaḥ. And at last, when the father is killed, he is offering obeisances. So these four things, follow in the footsteps sincerely, as an unalloyed devotee. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam [Cc Madhya 19.170].

[Bhakti, or devotional service, means engaging all our senses in the service of the Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the master of all the senses. When the spirit soul renders service unto the Supreme, there are two side effects. One is freed from all material designations, and one’s senses are purified simply by being employed in the service of the Lord.]

Prahlāda Mahārāja never thought that "I am son of Hiraṅyakaśipu." Never thought. He always used to think, "I am the servant of Nārada." That he said. When He wanted to give him benediction, so he asked Nṛsiṁhadeva, "Kindly engage me in the service of Your servant, Nārada, by whom I have got this instruction." He never said, "Let me serve my father." No. Because he got instruction, he always... Cakṣudana dilo janme janme pitā sei. He is father. No other father. Cakṣudana dilo yei, janme janme pitā sei. What is the next line?

Devotees: Divya jñāna hṛde prakāśito.

Prabhupāda: Ah, divya jñāna hṛde prakāśito. So he is the father. So we should always bear in mind. Don't be upstart and leave this Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement whimsically... [break] [end]