Understanding the Lord's Actions - Part 1

Date: 2016-04-04 Author: Narahari das

Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva.

In many of the incarnations, the Lord displays His strength and Valor while fighting with the demons and doing super human tasks. Strength is generally defined as physical power possessed by an individual which enables him perform different activities. In it is denoted by the word 'bala'. Valour usually denotes a person's courage to enter in a battle and fight with enemies without fear and subdue them. It is denoted by the term 'veerya'. And the Lord is abode of infinite strength and Valor. The Supreme Lord is denoted by the word 'bhagavan' which means He is the abode of six principal qualities of which Bala and Virya are significant. This is confirmed in the purana (6.5.79) by the great sage Parasara as follows.

jnaana sakti bala aishvarya veerya tejaamsi asheshatah bhagavacchabda-vaacyaani vinaa heyaih gunadibhih

The word 'bhagavat' is associated with the six superior qualities of knowledge, strength, lordship or non- dependence on anything else, valour, power, and effulgence in unlimited measure, absence of any inferior qualities of material nature.

In this world, we generally become attracted to people who has great physical strength and stamina (like sportsmen and wrestlers) and great warriors who possess great valour. So the Lord display these qualities in various degrees in His incarnations to attract the conditioned souls. When the Lord descended in human like forms, He displayed His strength when He lifted the Govardhana Hill and broke the Yamala Arjuna trees; Lord exhibited His strength by breaking the bow of Lord and kicking the skeleton of the demon Dundubhi(who was killed by Vali) miles away. He displayed His valour while He fought with Ravana, Kartavirya Arjuna, in battle.

In these incarnations the Lord sometimes behaves like a human being with frailties i.e. He appears to fall into delusion, sorrow etc. though He is full of knowledge and He becomes defeated by the demons though He is all powerful. This creates doubt in the minds of inquisitive persons whether the Lord becomes a conditioned human being and becomes limited in His powers when He incarnates in this world. Because of this, some people misunderstand His human like incarnations like Rama, Krishna and Parasurama and think that He is just a powerful human being with great powers or a person who is now having great siddhis because of pious credits or yogic practices. Some even thought that He is a just a human being born out of karma just like us.

But a close study of the scriptures like , and the authentic as explained by the acharyas reveal that the Lord is always the Supreme Absolute Truth when He appears in any form in this world. Also the scriptures tell that the Lord's display of strength and valour are much different from the strength and valour of humans in this world, though it resembles the humans. They also teach us how to understand these apparent actions of the Lord.

Krishna willing, let us meditate on some aspects of the Lord's behaviour in the subsequent offerings.

Hare Krishna. Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva, Narahari Krishna das Chennai. Understanding the Lord's Actions - Part 2

Date: 2016-04-05 Author: Narahari Krishna das

Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva.

This is in continuation of the previous topic titled, "Understanding the Lord's Actions". We will continue to meditate on the Lord's strength and valour.

In the wars with Jarasandha, Narakasura, Paundraka Vasudeva, Salva etc., the Lord used many weapons such as bow and arrows, clubs and fought for a long time just like a normal King. Now a question arises, if He is all powerful why does He need weapons to fight? Also one may think that the Lord has only limited power during His incarnations and that's why He took a long time to win over the battles. We also see that the Lord fought with wrestlers like Chanura and Mushtika like a normal fighter and sometimes, was even attacked by them during the fight. If He is the all powerful Lord who can create, maintain and destroy the worlds just by His will, then why He should struggle to fight and kill demons like a normal warrior? However the great sage Parasara answers this in the (5.22.14-15) as follows.

manushyadharmasheelasya leela saa jagateepateh astraanyanekarupaani yadaraatishu muncati manasaiva jagatsrshtim samhaaram ca karoti yah tasyaapipakshakshapane kiyaanudyamavistarah

It was the pastime of the Lord of the universe, in His capacity of man, to use various weapons against his enemies; Otherwise, what weapon is needed for the Lord who creates, maintains and destroys all the worlds just by His mere will, to annihilate His enemies?

So, even though He is the all-powerful Lord, as a pastime and also to exhibit human behaviour, He fights like a normal king/warrior. The also confirms this truth. After Kamsa was killed, Jarasandha was very upset because both his daughters Asti and Prapti (who were wives of Kamsa) became widows. So he wanted to destroy Lord Krishna and the entire Yadava clan. So he collected a huge army and came to fight with Yadavas. At that time Lord Krishna started thinking how to handle Jarasandha and his huge army. One may think why the Supreme Person should worry about an army of soldiers. We tend to think that when He comes as a human being, His powers become limited and hence He is worried. But the Bhagavata Purana verses,(10.50.5-6) gives the true reason as follows.

nirīkṣya tad-balaṁ kṛṣṇa udvelam iva sāgaram sva-puraṁ tena saṁruddhaṁ sva-janaṁ ca bhayākulam cintayām āsa bhagavān hariḥ kāraṇa-mānuṣaḥ tad-deśa-kālānuguṇaṁ svāvatāra-prayojanam

Although Lord Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the original cause of this world, when He descended to the earth He played the role of a human being. Thus when He saw Jarasandha's assembled army surrounding His city like a great ocean overflowing its shores, and when He saw how this army was striking fear into His subjects, the Lord considered what His suitable response should be according to the time, place and specific purpose of His current incarnation.

The purport explains, "The acharyas point out that the Supreme Godhead did not have to worry about a mortal attack from Jarasandha and his soldiers. But, as stated here, Sri Krishna was playing the part of a human being (kārana-mā nushah), and He played the part well. This play is called Lila, the Lord's enactment of spiritual pastimes for the pleasure of His devotees. Although ordinary persons may be dumbfounded by the Lord's pastimes, the devotees derive tremendous pleasure from His inimitable style of behaviour ."

So, when the Lord appears in human-like forms, He plays the part of a human being without any compromise on His divinity. This gives pleasure to His devotees and attracts innocent souls to His lotus feet. Let us continue to meditate more on this aspect in the subsequent offerings, Krishna willing.

Hare Krishna. Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva, Narahari Krishna das Chennai. Understanding the Lord's Actions - Part 3

Date: 2016-04-06 Author: Narahari Krishna das

Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva.

This is in continuation of the previous topic titled, "Understanding the Lord's Actions". We will continue to meditate on the Lord's strength and valour.

We saw that Lord Krishna displayed human behaviour when was attacked by Jarasandha. He fought with Jarasandha 18 times. Out of this, 17 times He defeated Jarasandha but did not destroy him. Now a question may be raised why the Lord did not kill him? Is it because He did not have the power to do so? Many enemies of Lord Krishna rebuked him stating that He was actually defeated by Jarasandha since He could not kill him even after fighting so many times. But the Bhagavata purana (10.50.7-8) answers why the Lord did not kill Jarasandha in the first war itself.

haniṣyāmi balaṁ hy etad bhuvi bhāraṁ samāhitam māgadhena samānītaṁ vaśyānāṁ sarva-bhūbhujām akṣauhiṇībhiḥ saṅkhyātaṁ bhaṭāśva-ratha-kuñjaraiḥ māgadhas tu na hantavyo bhūyaḥ kartā balodyamam

[The Supreme Lord thought:] Since it is such a burden on the earth, I will destroy Jarasandha's army, consisting of akshauhinis of foot soldiers, horses, chariots and elephants, which the King of has assembled from all subservient kings and brought together here. But Jarasandha himself should not be killed, since in the future he will certainly assemble another army.

One of the reasons behind the Lord's descent was to reduce the burden of the world by destroying the impious and since Jarasandha was enthusiastic to bring all the demons to His doorsteps, the Lord spared him every time. So one should not think that the Lord spared Jarasandha because He was unable to fight with him or his army. Because in the Bhagavata purana itself we find that Lord Krishna and Lord Balarama fought with Jarasandha's huge army vert effortlessly. In Srimad Bhagavatam verse 10.50.28, Sukadeva Goswami says

balaṁ tad aṅgārṇava--bhairavaṁ duranta-pāraṁ magadhendra-pālitam kṣayaṁ praṇītaṁ vasudeva-putrayor vikrīḍitaṁ taj jagad-īśayoḥ param

And though this force was as unfathomable and fearsome as an impassable ocean, for the two sons of Vasudeva, the Lords of the universe, the battle was hardly more than play. After Jarasandha's army was destroyed, Lord Balarama wanted to arrest Jarasandha, but Lord Krishna stopped him from doing so and advised that Jarasandha should be released. Also, the Lord did not kill Jarasandha because He wanted Bhima to kill Jarasandha in a wrestling fight. That is the greatness of the Supreme Lord. Although Lord is the cause of all causes, He does not want to take any personal credit for Himself. But He always takes pleasure in giving the glories to His devotees. Our normal human tendency is that we crave for name and fame and try to take credit for even the things which are done by others. We yearn for every opportunity to take credit for our ownselves. Whereas the Lord yearns for every opportunity to glorify His devotees. That is why in the case of Jarasandha, Lord did not kill him, but let Bhima do the same. In the Bhagavatam, we also find that the 18th time Jarasandha came for the fight, Lord Krishna constructed a fort in the midst of sea so that he can avoid fighting with Jarasandha.

Also when , a mleccha king came for war, The Lord along with Balarama ran away from the battlefield. This earned Him a lot of criticism from His enemies. Why the all-powerful Lord should run away like a coward. It is explained in the scriptures and by great devotees in a proper way. We will meditate on this in the next offering Krishna willing.

Hare Krishna. Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva, Narahari Krishna das Chennai. Understanding the Lord's Actions - Part 4

Date: 2016-04-07 Author: Narahari Krishna das

Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva.

This is in continuation of the previous topic titled, "Understanding the Lord's Actions". In the previous offering we saw that when Lord descends,

1. He performs inconceivable lilas to give pleasure to His devotees and to attract fallen souls to His lotus feet. 2. Lord takes pleasure to remain in background and give the credit and glory to His devotees.

We will continue to meditate on the Lord's strength and valour.

Ranchod pastime: After Jarasandha was defeated 17 times, a mleccha King called Kalayavana came to fight with the Yadavas. Now Lord Krishna started running away from Kalayavana who started chasing Him and abusing Him that He is a coward. But the Lord did not bother about his words and entered into a cave where King was sleeping. The Lord hid Himself in that cave. Kalayavana entered the cave and saw Muchukundha who was covering himself with a blanket and sleeping. He mistook him for Lord Krishna. Speaking all ill words, he kicked Muchukunda. When Muchukundha woke up and stared at Kalayavana who woke him up, the mleccha king was burnt to ashes instantly. (Once Muchukunda fought with demons in favour of the devatas as their general. The devatas being pleased with him offered him a boon. The king sought a boon whereby he will sleep for a long time and whoever disturbs him in sleep will be burnt to ashes.) Once Kalayavana was burnt, Lord Krishna came out of His hide-out and offered His darshan to Muchukunda and revealed His Supreme nature. Muchukunda retired to Badarikashrama to perform penances and purified Himself to go back home, back to Godhead.

We may wonder why the all powerful Lord ran away from Kalayavana. There is always very good purpose behind each and every action of Supreme Lord. The acharyas explain that the Lord did not run away in fear, but He ran away to the cave only to bless Muchukunda. He did not want to fight with Kalayavana and wanted him to be killed by the sleeping Muchukunda. Also the Lord did not kill Kalayavana to honour the boon given by Lord Shiva and this is stated in Vishnupurana as follows.

There was a brahmana called Gargya who was the priest of the Yadavas. He did not have any children. His brother in law, once humiliated him in front of all the Yadavas saying, "He is not able to have child because he is a transgender." All the Yadavas laughed at Gargya. Gargya was very offended by this and left the place. He went to the south of Vidhya mountains and started meditating on Lord Shiva just by eating powdered iron. He prayed Lord Shiva to bestow a son who will be inimical to the Yadavas and who can challenge the Yadavas in battle. Lord Siva became pleased and bestowed the same to him. This news reached the king of Yavanas and he approached Gargya and worshipped him respectfully. He said, "I do not have children. Please impregnate my wife and produce a son who will challenge the Yadavas." Gargya agreed and as a result a son was born of the Yavana king's wife. They named him Kalayavana and he was made the king. He was well built and he asked Narada Muni, "Who are most powerful people in this planet whom I can challenge for fight?" Naradji replied, "Krishna and Balarama who are the leader of Yadavas are the most powerful." And hence Kalayavana approached Mathura for fighting with Lord Krishna.

Since Lord Shiva gave benediction to Gargya that his son will be a challenge to Yadavas, Lord Krishna did not fight with Kalayavana but pretended as if He was afraid of him and ran away. This He did to make the words of Lord Shiva true. Lord Krishna returned to Mathura and immediately Jarasandha came to attack Mathura with a huge army for the 18th time. This time, the Lord did not want to fight with Jarasandha and hence built a fort in the sea and moved all the Yadavas into the fort. Then the Lord along with Balarama escaped from the battle field and ran away far and was chased by the army of Jarasandha. After this incident, Jarasandha, Sisupala and other inimical kings rebuked by calling Him as 'Ranchod' (one who ran away from battle).

This is yet another glory of Supreme Lord. To keep up the vow of His devotees, He is ready to do any kind of sacrifice - even to the extent of breaking His own promise as He did in the case of Bhishmadev or not minding others decrying Him as Ranchod. Again we may wonder why the Lord who defeated Jarasandha's army effortlessly 17 times should run away from the battle in the 18th time. We will meditate on this in the next offering, Krishna willing.

Hare Krishna. Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva, Narahari Krishna dasa Chennai. Understanding the Lord's Actions - Part 5

Date: 2016-04-08 Author: Narahari Krishna das

Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva.

This is in continuation of the previous topic titled, "Understanding the Lord's Actions". We will continue to meditate on the Lord’s battle with Jarasandha. We saw that Lord Krishna and Balarama fled from the battle field. Srimad Bhagavatam describes this very nicely in verse 10.52.7-8,

vilokya vega-rabhasaṁ ripu-sainyasya mādhavau manuṣya-ceṣṭām āpannau rājan dudruvatur drutam vihāya vittaṁ pracuram abhītau bhīru-bhīta-vat padbhyāṁ palāśābhyāṁ celatur bahu-yojanam

O King, seeing the fierce waves of the enemy's army, the two Madhavas, imitating human behaviour, ran swiftly away. Abandoning the abundant riches, fearless but feigning fear, They went many yojanas on Their lotus like feet.

The words "abhītau bhīta-vat" indicates that Krishna and Balarama were not at all afraid, but ran away as if they were afraid. Srila Prabhupada explains this in Krishna book (Chapter 52) as follows.

​"Due to this pastime Krishna is known as Ranacora, which means "one who has left the battlefield." In India, especially in Gujarat, there are many temples of Krishna known as temples of Ranacoraji. Ordinarily, if a king leaves the battlefield without fighting he is called a coward, but when Krishna enacts this pastime, leaving the battlefield without fighting, He is worshiped by the devotees. ...By following in the footsteps of pure devotees, we can know that Krishna, the Ranacoraji, left the battlefield not because He was afraid but because He had some other purpose. The purpose, as it will be revealed, was to attend to a confidential letter sent by , His future first wife."

So the Lord ran away to prove the He is all worshipable in spite of whatever He does. Also this running away of the Lord displays His renunciation which is explained by Srila Prabhupada as follows.

"Krishna's leaving the battlefield is a display of one of His six opulences. Krishna is the supreme powerful, the supreme wealthy, the supreme famous, the supreme wise and the supreme beautiful; similarly, He is the supreme renouncer. Srimad-Bhagavatam clearly states that He left the battlefield in spite of having ample military strength. Even without His militia, He alone would have been sufficient to defeat the army of Jarasandha, as He had done seventeen times before. Therefore, His leaving the battlefield is an example of His supermost opulence, renunciation."

All the points are summarized by the great sage Parasara in the Vishnu purana (5.22.16-18)

tathaapi yo manushyaanaaṃ dharmas tam anuvartate kurvanbalavataa sandhim heenair yuddham karotyasau saama ca upapradaanam ca tathaa bhedam ca darshayan karoti dandapaatam ca kvacideva palaayanam manushyadehinaam ceshtaamityevamanuvartate leelaa jagatpatestasya cchandatah parivartate

But willingly subjecting Himself to human customs, the Lord formed alliances with the brave persons, and engaged in battle with the rest. He resorted to the four principles of diplomacy namely negotiation (saama), presents (dhana), creating splits (bheda), and chastisement (dandam); and sometimes even betook Himself to escaping from the enemies (like Jarasandha and Kalayavana). Thus imitating the conduct of human beings, the Lord of the world pursued His pastimes at His own sweet will .

These are few incidents in which the Lord acted in an apparently bewildering way, but His devotees can understand it properly. Also in His incarnation as Lord Rama, there are many esoteric pastimes which can bewilder us and make us think that Lord Rama is a mere human being. We will meditate on the proper understanding of these pastimes in the coming offerings.

Hare Krishna. Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva, Narahari Krishna das Chennai. Understanding the Lord's Actions - Part 6

Date: 2016-04-09 Author: Narahari Krishna das

Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva.

This is in continuation of the previous topic titled, "Understanding the Lord's Actions". So far we saw reasons for some of Lord Krishna's apparently contradicting actions. Now we will see some incidents from the battle between Rama and Ravana and the reasons behind the Lord's actions.

Being the Supreme Lord, He should have destroyed Ravana and his huge army just by His will. The great devotees compare Lord Rama's killing of Ravana to the following example. A powerful king goes to his garden for walking. There he finds a leaf in one of the plants infected and spoiled because of some insects. Since the infection may spread and affect the entire plant, the king just plucks the leaf and throws it away. If someone starts glorifying the King for this action and calls it great valor, it is actually an insult for the King. In the same way, the material world is just a fragment of the Lord's power and our universe is a small speck in the creation. Ravana who was king of the Lanka, which is a speck in the universe, is no match for the Lord. So killing Ravana is not at all a great act for the Lord. The Lord who simply creates and destroys universes just by His will, can finish off Ravana and other evil forces alone. This was confirmed by the Lord Himself and others in the Ramayana.

When flew to Lanka (for finding Mother ), after meeting Sita, he defeated many rakshashas and finally he was taken to Ravana by Indrajit. While advising Ravana to return Mother Sita, Hanuman spoke the valour of Lord Rama as follows and advised Ravana not to earn Lord Rama's displeasure. (Valmiki Ramayana - 6.51.44)

sarvān lokān susaṁhṛtya sabhūtam sacarācaram punareva tathā sraṣṭum śakto rāmo mahāyaśaḥ

Lord Rama, the most famous one, can completely destroy all the worlds consisting of moving and non- moving entities and create them again by His arrows.

Also when Lord Rama and Lakshmana realized that Mother Sita was kidnapped by Ravana, Lord Rama spoke the following words. [Valmiki Ramayana-3-64-70]

pureva me cārudatīm aninditāṃ diśanti sītāṃ yadi nādya maithilīm sadevagandharvamanuṣya pannagaṃ jagat saśailaṃ parivartayāmy aham

If my dear Sita is not returned indeed in the same state as She was, before My running after golden deer, I will be annihilating the triad of world in its entirety, together with its moving and non moving beings, and I will be sweltering the entire universe with My arrows, as long as I am not going to get a glimpse of her.

Not only the Lord and His devotees, even the so called enemies of Lord Rama confirmed this truth. Ravana's spies namely Sukha and Sharana shared their opinion about Lord Rama to Ravana as follows. (Valmiki Ramayana-6.16.27)

yādṛśaṃ tasya rāmasya rūpaṃ praharaṇāni ca vadhiṣyati purīṃ laṅkām ekas tiṣṭhantu te trayaḥ Such is Rama's form and such are his weapons, that He can alone annihilate the city of Lanka, His three other companions (Lakshmana, Sugreeva and Vibheeshana) just standing by.

These were not mere statements but Lord Rama proved these statements in the Ramayana. During the war with Ravana, Ravana had a special army called "moola bala sainya" (the core army). Lord Rama fought alone with this army. The sage Valmiki described that during this war, the demons could not see Lord Rama at all, because of His swift movement. They could see only the destruction of their army just like when a forest is devastated by strong wind, one cannot see the wind but one can only see the destruction of the trees caused by the wind. In the same way sometimes, they saw innumerable forms of Lord Rama and sometimes they saw one only one Rama, because of His lightning movement. Also He employed the astra by which the demons saw each one of them as Lord Rama and started killing each other. Thus He annihilated the entire moola bala sainya of 3 lakh powerful demons with horses and elephants within 3 hours. After the war, Lord Rama told Hanuman, Jambavan and others, "This kind of missile power (using gandharva astra) and extraordinary destruction is possible for Me and the only other person who can do this is Lord Siva who employs it to destroy universe."

When such is the case, why Lord Rama took the help of monkeys headed by Sugreeva and Hanuman and Jambavan to fight with Ravana and army, while He could have easily defeated Ravana and His army alone (even without Lakshmana's help)? The Bhagavata purana and acharyas explain the reason for this and Krishna willing, we will see it in the next offering.

Hare Krishna. Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva, Narahari Krishna das Chennai. Understanding the Lord's Actions - Part 7

Date: 2016-04-10 Author: Narahari Krishna das

Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva.

This is in continuation of the previous topic titled, "Understanding the Lord's Actions". We will continue to meditate on the Lord's strength and valour. If the Lord is all powerful and He can destroy the whole world alone, why did He take the help of monkeys. The Bhagavata purana verse 9.11.20 explains this as follows.

nedaṁ yaśo raghupateḥ sura-yācñayātta- līlā-tanor adhika-sāmya-vimukta-dhāmnaḥ rakṣo-vadho jaladhi-bandhanam astra-pūgaiḥ kiṁ tasya śatru-hanane kapayaḥ sahāyāḥ

Lord Ramacandra's reputation for having killed Ravana with showers of arrows at the request of the demigods and for having built a bridge over the ocean does not constitute the factual glory of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Lord Ramacandra, whose spiritual body is always engaged in various pastimes. Lord Ramacandra has no equal or superior, and therefore He had no need to take help from the monkeys to gain victory over Ravana.

The Lord took the help of monkeys for the following reasons.

1. To prove the curse of Nandishvara as true:- He took the help of monkeys to make the curse of Nandisvara (the bull carrier of Lord Siva) true. Ravana once was flying in his aerial car. When the aerial car flew over over Mount Kailasa (the abode of Lord Siva), it stopped automatically. Ravana was astonished by this and Nandi who is the carrier and servant of Lord Siva said that it was not proper to fly over Kailash and hence Ravana should circumambulate the mountain and resume his travel. But Ravana out of his arrogance shouted at Nandi said, "You monkey like ugly creature, why you're stopping me from crossing this mountain. I'm Ravana the all powerful". Nandiswara was very much offended by this statement and cursed Ravana, "You called me ugly looking like a monkey. You and your dynasty will be ruined because of monkeys". So to make this statement true, the Lord during his incarnation as Lord Rama asked all the devatas to appear as monkeys in kishkindha and took their help in killing Ravana and his army.

2. To engage the devatas in service:- It is actually the devatas who took birth as monkeys in Rama Lila. The Lord could have done with just a handful of monkeys just to prove Nandi's curse. But He took help from a huge army of monkeys, because all the devatas wanted to assist in the Rama Lila and enjoy the Lord's association in His form as Rama. To bless them also, the Lord took the help of a huge monkey battalion.

3. To teach the below lessons to the world:- a. If a person follows the path of dharma, then even animals like monkey and bears will come to help him and if a person follows adharma, then even his own relatives will desert him. b. If a person is condemned by offending a chaste woman (Mother Sita), even an unsophisticated army of monkeys can defeat him. c. For serving Lord Rama or making friendship with Him, one does not need aristocratic birth or beauty or any material qualification. One just needs a sincere desire to serve Him. To prove this the Lord engaged even monkeys and squirrels in His service and blessed them with His merciful glance and association. d. The monkeys and bears were not at all good in fighting and they were just using stones and trees. But the demons were expert in magic and great weapons. However the monkeys and bears won the battle because they had the mercy of Lord Rama, Mother Sita, Hanuman and Vibhishana. In the same way, we may not be qualified to advance in devotional service. But if we follow in the footsteps of great devotees and spiritual master, by their mercy we will be victorious in achieving Krishna prema.

Now another question is raised. We see that during the war with Indrajit, Lord Rama and Lakshmana were struck by the Nāgastras shot by Indrajit and they fell unconscious and later saved by Garuda. Also, they were struck by Indrajit's bramastra and saved by Hanuman. If the Lord is all-powerful, then why He became defeated by Indrajit. This will make us to think the Lord is an ordinary human being during his Human-like incarnations. But the Bhagavata Purana explains the true reason behind this and Krishna willing we will see it in the next offering.

Hare Krishna. Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva, Narahari Krishna das Chennai. Understanding the Lord's Actions - Part 8

Date: 2016-04-11 Author: Narahari Krishna das

Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva.

This is in continuation of the previous topic titled, "Understanding the Lord's Actions". We will continue to meditate on the Lord Rama's strength and valour.

During the fight with Indrajit, Indrajit struck a series of nagastras on Rama and Lakshmana in such a way that there was not even an inch left in their bodies, without being pierced by arrows. Indrajit applied the nagastra and bound Lord Rama and Lakshamana. Lord Rama completely fainted by the arrows and seeing Him in this condition Lakshmana also fainted. On seeing this Sugriva, Jambavan and and Hanuman were all worried about how to bring Them back to consciousness. At that time, Garuda descended from Vaikunta and chased away the all the serpents and also by his touch cured Lord Rama and Lakshmana of all the wounds on their body and made them fully rejuvenated.

There is one more incident in the Ramayana where Indrajit stuck Rama and Lakshmana with brahmastra and also the entire army of monkeys and rendered them unconscious. Sugreeva and Jambavan were also fatally wounded. And on the advice of Jambavan, Hanuman brought the Sanjeevani mountain and just by the breeze which emanated from the mountain Lord Rama and Lakshmana regained their consciousness.

From the above pastimes, it may appear that Lord Rama fainted like an ordinary human being struck by the weapons of Indrajit. However by careful study we can understand that Lord Rama did this for some reasons.

1. To honour the boons given by Lord to Indrajit 2. To bring out the glory of His dear servants. 3. To teach lessons to the world.

1. Boons given by Lord Brahma:- Though the Lord is Supreme and independent, He always respects the boons awarded by the devatas to the demons so that the cosmic order is not violated. If the boons are proved wrong, then no one will worship the devatas and there will not be any room for people to advance on the path of theism. So when the Lord incarnates and fights with the evil forces, He always does it respecting the cosmic laws and the boons conferred by the devatas. In this case, Indrajit got the nagastra from praying to Lord Brahma and nagastra is capable of binding any human being. Since the Lord descended in human form, as a mark of respect to Lord Brahma, He allowed Himself to be bound by the nāgastra and He wanted Indrajit to enjoy the benefits of his penance to Lord Brahma. Lord Rama Himself states it to the monkeys who were attacked by Indrajit, "This Indrajit is tormenting all the worlds on the strength of boons given by Brahmaji. And since time is in his favour, he will win over us now. To honour the boons of Lord Brahma, I need to tolerate this for sometime."

Same is the case when both of them were stuck by brahmāstra of Indrajit. Lord Rama explicitly said to Lakshmana, " Let us get hit by this brahmāstra which is the weapon of Lord Brahma who is the creator and inconceivable. If we do that Indrajit will think that he has won and leave the battle field and all the monkeys will be protected." This is confirmed by Vibhishana also who said as follows. (Ramayanan 6.74.3,4) mā bhaiṣṭa nāsty atra viṣādakālo yad āryaputrāv avaśau viṣaṇṇau svayambhuvo vākyam athodvahantau yat sāditāv indrajidastrajālaiḥ tasmai tu dattaṃ paramāstram etat svayambhuvā brāhmam amoghavegam tan mānayantau yadi rājaputrau nipātitau ko 'tra viṣādakālaḥ

Honouring the weapon of Brahmaji, the two sons of the venerable Dasaratha have allowed themselves to be knocked down by the missiles of Indrajit. Hence do not be afraid. There is no occasion for despondency now. This excellent missile, presided over by Brahma the creator, with never-failing strength, was given to Indrajit by Brahma. Honouring it, Rama and Lakshmana the princes fell down in battle. So this not a time for despondency here.

Krishna willing, let us meditate on the other reasons in the subsequent offerings.

Hare Krishna. Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva, Narahari Krishna das Chennai. Understanding the Lord's Actions - Part 9

Date: 2016-04-12 Author: Narahari Krishna das

Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva.

This is in continuation of the previous offering titled, "Understanding the Lord's Actions". We will continue to meditate on the Lord Rama's strength and valour and the other wonderful reasons why Lord Rama and Lakshmana allowed themselves to be bound by the nāgastras of Indrajit. We saw that the first reason was to make the boons of Lord Brahma true.

2. To bring out the glory of His devotees:- Garuda and Hanuman are special devotees of the Lord and compared to the Lord's lotus feet in some Vaishnava traditions. This is because they never the allow the Lord to walk and they always carry the Lord on their shoulders (they serve the Lord's lotus feet). Garuda is famous for carrying the Lord on his shoulders and one of the Lord's names is Garudadhvaja. To acknowledge this great service the Lord wanted to bring out Garuda's glory. Also in the Rama lila, all the devatas and associates of the Lord were given a role to serve the Lord. But Garuda was not given any service to render Lord Rama and He did not participate in the Rama lila anywhere else. So in order to give Garuda an opportunity to serve Him in Rama lila, Lord Rama allowed Himself to be stuck by Indrajit's nā-astra and was saved by Garuda.

In Ramayana we find that before meeting Hanuman, Lord Rama walked in the forests and city. But after He met Hanuman, He seldom walked as Hanumanji always carried Him on his shoulders. During the war in Lanka also, Hanumanji carried Lord Rama on his shoulders when Rama did not have a chariot. Also Hanumanji served Lord Rama in an unparalleled way. To bring out the glory of Hanumanji, the Lord allowed Himself to be hit by Brahmastra of Indrajit and gave a chance to Hanuman to save Him. Also in this section the full glory of Hanuman is brought out. When the entire army was struck by Brahmastra and everyone was wounded, Jambavan asked Vibheeshana, "Is Hanuman the son of doing fine?" Vibheeshana was shocked by this and asked Jambavan, "Why you're not asking about the welfare of Lord Rama and Lakshmana. Why you ask if Hanuman is fine?" To this Jambavan replied, " If Hanuman is fine, then he can recover all of us and the entire army. But if he is hurt and even all of us are fine, there is no use. We are just living dead." By these statements and pastime the Lord wanted to show that His devotee is more glorious than Himself and greatness of His dear devotee Hanuman.

This pastime shows that the Lord is even willing to be defeated by the demons and hit by the them to make His devotees glorious. Generally people pray to God for protection considering Him to be the All protector. But an advanced devotee thinks that He should always protect the Lord and the Lord puts Himself in the mercy of His devotees. This pastime exemplifies this fact.

3. To teach lessons to the people:- In this lila though Rama and Lakshmana were stuck by the weapons and appeared to be defeated, finally they were saved. Though Indrajit appeared to win in these situations, finally he was destroyed. By this, the Lord taught the lesson that when one is engaged in devotional service, he may face lot of troubles due to various reasons. But if one persistently engages in the spiritual path, he will be helped by the Lord's devotees who will protect him for all downfalls and help him achieve the desired success which is pure love of God. At the same time, a person with no tinge of devotional service may appear to be successful in this world due to his previous good karma for some time, but he will not be able to cross over the ocean of birth and death and will be defeated by time.

Krishna willing, let us meditate further in the subsequent offering.

Hare Krishna. Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva, Narahari Krishna das Chennai. Understanding the Lord's Actions - Part 10

Date: 2016-04-13 Author: Narahari Krishna das

Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva.

This is in continuation of the previous offering titled, "Understanding the Lord's Actions". We will continue to meditate on the Lord Rama's strength and valour.

While fighting with Ravana, Lord Rama fought with him for 7 days and nights. Finally when Ravana was about to be killed, Lord Rama continuously showered arrows and cut off the heads of Ravana. But when head was cut off, a new head appeared and in this way, the Lord severed his head 101 times and still the heads were appearing. Lord Rama thought to Himself, "These were the arrows which killed demons like Khara, Dushana, Maricha etc. These arrows have never let Me down in the war. But now against Ravana these arrows are proving ineffective." Finally, Lord Rama's charioteer Mathali advised Lord Rama, "Oh Lord, you are just counteracting the arrows shot by Ravana without killing him. You are behaving as if you do not know the glory of Brahmastra. Please shoot the brahmastra on his heart and this is the only way to kill him." Then the Lord then shot the brahmastra and Ravana was finally killed.

Now a question may arise, "Why Lord Rama did not hit Ravana on his chest in the beginning and why He needs to cut off the heads and then get advice from Mathali?" The acharyas explain that the Lord did this to honour the boon of Lord Brahma and also to give him glory and to allow Ravana to enjoy the boon he has acquired from Brahmaji.

From the Ramayana Uttara Khanda, we learn that Ravana did great penance to Lord Brahma for 10000 years and every thousand years, he used to cut one of his ten heads and offer it in fire to have darshan of Lord Brahma. In this way, he cut each head and when he was about to cut his final head, Lord Brahma appeared before him and asked for boon. Ravana asked for a boon that he should not be killed by demons, devas, and all kinds of species, but he neglected to ask exemption from human beings and monkeys as he thought them to be insignificant. Brahmaji granted the boon and also in addition granted the boon that whenever his heads are cut by any weapon, they will grow again and Ravana will not die because of this. To honour this boon of Brahmaji, Lord Rama exactly fought like kshatriya who does not know about Ravana's secret. Also He wanted Ravana to enjoy the benefit of his boon and see his heads growing even after they are cut off. By this, the Lord also proved to the world that Brahmaji's benedictions are true and never futile.

Also He choose brahmastra to kill Ravana, so that the glory of Lord Brahma and his divine weapon becomes famous. Lord Rama also taught valuable lessons for all the kshatriyas as to how to fight in an ideal way. The incarnation of Lord Rama was mainly to teach humanity how an ideal king, ideal son, ideal husband should behave. Killing of Ravana was not the main purpose. The Bhagavata purana verse (5.19.5) confirms this as follows.

martyāvatāras tv iha martya-śikṣaṇaṁ rakṣo-vadhāyaiva na kevalaṁ vibhoḥ kuto ’nyathā syād ramataḥ sva ātmanaḥ sītā-kṛtāni vyasanānīśvarasya It was ordained that Ravana, chief of the , could not be killed by anyone but a man, and for this reason Lord Ramacandra, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, appeared in the form of a human being. Lord Ramacandra's mission, however, was not only to kill Ravana but also to teach mortal beings that material happiness centered around sex life or centered around one's wife is the cause of many miseries. He is the self-sufficient Supreme Personality of Godhead, and nothing is lamentable for Him. Therefore why else could He be subjected to tribulations by the kidnapping of mother Sita.

The Lord taught that one should not use divine weapons like brahmāstra, unless absolutely necessary, because they can harm the entire world and rather one should depend on the dexterity only in handling the weapons. This is sharp contrast to the way Indrajit fought. Indrajit recklessly used brahmastra and other divine weapons in the war. Also Lord Rama taught the lesson that if there is good advice from the charioteer, one should honor that advice and accept it. We can see the exact opposite behaviour by Karna in Mahabharata war. Shalya was Karna's charioteer and while Karna aimed to shoot nāgastra in Arjuna, he aimed the weapon on Arjuna's head. Shalya advised Karna to aim at Arjuna's chest and Karna refused to do it. Because of this, when the weapon was shot, Lord Krishna pressed the chariot into the ground and saved Arjuna and Karna was defeated finally.

Apart from honouring the boons of devatas, teaching lessons to humanity etc., there is one more very important reason why the Lord exhibits human behaviour and performs pastimes. We will see that reason in the next offering Krishna willing.

Hare Krishna. Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva, Narahari Krishna das Chennai. Understanding the Lord's Actions - Part 11

Date: 2016-04-14 Author: Narahari Krishna das

Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva.

This is in continuation of the previous offering titled, "Understanding the Lord's Actions". We will continue to meditate on the Lord Rama's strength and valour.

Lord Rama fought with Ravana for 7 continuous days and nights. Lord Rama fought with Ravana in the capacity of a kshatriya so that the war will be relished by His pure devotees and glorified by them. If He kills Ravana without any effort in a second, then there will not be any subject matter for His pure devotees to discuss and relish. So the Lord fought in such a way that we have many slokas glorifying this and also all the devatas, sages and watching it from the sky and glorifying it. The great sage Valmiki glorifies the war as follows. Ramayana Yuddha Khanda.110.23:

gaganam gaganākāram sāgaram sāgaropamā rāma rāvanayor yuddham rāma rāvanayor iva

Just as sky can be compared with sky alone and ocean can be compared with ocean alone, the Rama- Ravana war can be compared with Rama-Ravana war alone (no other comparison is possible).

So the Lord's fighting for a long time with Ravana was just to make it exciting for his pure devotees. Not only the devotees who witnessed the battle relished it, but devotees who even heard the battle fought by Lord Rama with various demons such as Khara, Dushana, Ravana even after thousands of years of Ramayana, relished and became absorbed in the Lord's pastimes. So to benefit all the devotees, the Lord made the entire war exciting and Ramayana also describes the war as "sughoram roma harṣanam" (It was deadly war and can make hairs stand on end). Just to enhance the pleasure and to create subject matter for their discussion, the Lord exhibited only a fraction of His valor and fought with Ravana exactly like a human king. Not only for devotees, the Lord did this to enhance the thrill of Ravana in fighting with Him. He wanted Ravana to feel joyful by exhibiting his valour. Lord Rama Himself makes this statement as follows during the war with Ravana. (Ramayana, Yuddha Khanda 100.56,57)

adya rāmasya rāmatvaṃ paśyantu mama saṃyuge trayo lokāḥ sagandharvāḥ sadevāḥ sarṣicāraṇāḥ adya karma kariṣyāmi yal lokāḥ sacarācarāḥ sadevāḥ kathayiṣyanti yāvad bhūmir dhariṣyati

Let the three worlds (viz. the earth, heaven and the intermediate region) including Gandharvas the celestial musicians, the gods, the sages and the celestial poets see today the Ramahood of Rama during the course of my battle. I shall perform today a feat, which people in the world including all living beings both mobile and immobile, as also gods, will narrate together forever, describing how the battle proceeded, as long as this world exists.

Srila Prabhupada explains in the commentary of the Srimad Bhagavatam verse 9.11.20, "The Lord has nothing to do (na tasya kāryam karanam ca vidyate); whatever He does is His pastime. The Lord has no duty to perform to oblige anyone. Nonetheless, He appears to act to protect His devotees or kill His enemies. Of course, no one can be the Lord's enemy, since who could be more powerful than the Lord? There is actually no question of anyone's being His enemy, but when the Lord wants to take pleasure in pastimes, He comes down to this material world and acts like a human being, thus showing His wonderful, glorious activities to please the devotees. His devotees always want to see the Lord victorious in varied activities, and therefore, to please Himself and them, the Lord sometimes agrees to act as a human being and perform wonderful, uncommon pastimes for the satisfaction of the devotees ."

We will see how these pastimes of the Lord invoke spiritual emotions in His pure devotees and how these pastimes help aspiring devotees like us in the next offering, Lord Rama willing.

Hare Krishna. Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva, Narahari Krishna das Chennai. Understanding the Lord's Actions - Part 12

Date: 2016-04-15 Author: Narahari Krishna das

Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Gurudeva.

This is in conclusion of the previous topic tiltled, "Understanding the Lord's Actions", wherein we have been meditating on how the Lord acts/fights like a human being in His various human like incarnations. One important purpose is to give pleasure to His pure devotees. SB 10.50.29:

sthity-udbhavāntaṁ bhuvana-trayasya yaḥ samīhite ’nanta-guṇaḥ sva-līlayā na tasya citraṁ para-pakṣa-nigrahas tathāpi martyānuvidhasya varṇyate

For Him who orchestrates the creation, maintenance and destruction of the three worlds and who possesses unlimited spiritual qualities, it is hardly amazing that He subdues an opposing party. Still, when the Lord does so, imitating human behavior, sages glorify His acts.

In the purport to the above verse it is beautifully mentioned, "The Lord plays the part of a human being and, expanding His pleasure potency, creates thrilling transcendental pastimes full of suspense and dynamic action. By the Lord's Yogamaya potency, He appears exactly like a human being, and thus we may enjoy the spectacle of the Supreme Person acting on the earthly stage… In fact, Krishna executes His pastimes not for a mundane egotistical purpose but for our pleasure.Thus the presentation of spiritual pastimes is itself an act of love that Krishna performs for the infinite spiritual happiness of pure-hearted souls who have transcended material envy of the Godhead."

Such pastimes of the Lord invoke spiritual emotions in the hearts of pure devotees who are completely free from envy. In South India, a great devotee king of Lord Rama named Kulasekaran alwar lived in the beginning of yuga. Every day he used to listen Ramayana discourse by a great devotee scholar. While listening, the alwar used to go into ecstasy and become a character in the Ramayana as if he is personally involved in the lila. Understanding his mood, the pandit, will very much tone down the emotional aspects in Ramayana so that the King does not lose himself in the story. One day the pundit was busy and hence sent his son to give the discourse to the king. The son was not aware of the alwar's devotional nature. That day the topic was Lord Rama fighting with 14000 demons headed by Khara and Dushana after Surpanaka was punished. This fight was witnessed by all sages, gandharvas, caranas and devatas who spoke amongst themselves, "The rakshasas are 14000 in number and Rama who is dharma personified is alone. How the result will be?"

When this sloka came, the pandit's son felt that he should explain so emotionally that the king will be pleased and give him good rewards. So explained the pastime so elaborately and alwar went to complete raptures, forgot himself and cried. "Yes how Lord Rama can fight alone? We need to help him." He ordered the entire army to be ready and he started running outside the palace with his sword to help Lord Rama. On his way was the ocean and without knowing anything, the alwar entered the ocean and all the ministers were worried by this. The pandit came to know about this and came running and stopped the king and said, "No need to worry. Now all the demons are killed and Ravana is also killed. Now Lord Rama is crowned as the king of Ayodhya with Mother Sita." Still the alwar was not pacified. Then Lord Rama and Sita appeared in the sky and said, "You need not worry Kulasekara. We have won the war and united now. Please go back."

For aspiring devotees like us who are not fully cured of envy, the Lord enacts these pastimes to cure us of our envy and enable us to become pure devotees. The Bhagavata purana verse 9.11.23 states this as follows:

puruṣo rāma-caritaṁ śravaṇair upadhārayan ānṛśaṁsya-paro rājan karma-bandhair vimucyate

O King Parikshit, anyone who aurally receives the narrations concerning the characteristics of Lord Ramacandra's pastimes will ultimately be freed from the disease of envy and thus be liberated from the bondage of fruitive activities.

Srila Prabhupada states in the purport, "A devotee must therefore be completely free from envy, especially of other devotees. To envy other devotees is a great offense, a Vaiśnava-aparādha. A devotee who constantly engages in hearing and chanting (śravana-kirtana) is certainly freed from the disease of envy, and thus he becomes eligible to go back home, back to Godhead."

On this auspicious day of Sri Rama Navami, let us all pray to Lord Rama, Srila Prabhupada and our beloved Gurudeva so that we get attraction for hearing His glories, chanting His holy names and hence become free from envy.

Hare Krishna. Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva, Narahari Krishna das Chennai.