Krishna is Inevitable Time - Part 1
Date: 2012-02-18 Author: Uma Prathap
Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev.
When some unfavourable events happen in life, our tendency is to ponder over that incident again and again. We try to find out the cause of problem and waste our time and energy by meditating on it. We also go and discuss it with whomever we meet and waste their time also. We fail to see the hand of Krishna in such incidents. Few days ago, I was listening to one of the powerful instructive class of HH Mahavishnu Goswami Maharaja's lecture on Srimad Bhagavatam verses 1.9.14 and 1.9.15 in this regard and following is an humble effort to transcribe the same,
sarvaṁ kāla-kṛtaṁ manye bhavatāṁ ca yad-apriyam sapālo yad-vaśe loko vāyor iva ghanāvaliḥ yatra dharma-suto rājā gadā-pāṇir vṛkodaraḥ kṛṣṇo ’strī gāṇḍivaṁ cāpaṁ suhṛt kṛṣṇas tato vipatat
In my opinion, this is all due to inevitable time, under whose control everyone in every planet is carried, just as the clouds are carried by the wind. O how wonderful is the influence of inevitable time. It is irreversible-otherwise, how can there be reverses in the presence of King Yudhishthira, the son of the demigod controlling religion; Bhima, the great fighter with a club; the great bowman Arjuna with his mighty weapon Gaandiva; and above all, the Lord, the direct well-wisher of the Pandavas.
1. Probing about past is waste of time: Time is the manifestation of Krishna, there is no difference between time and Krishna, so all the objects of this world are under the control of time. We are all under the control of Krishna. And the representation of Krishna in this world is time. That is why we cannot catch time. The example given is very popular. The whole mass of clouds is just carried by the wind. But the clouds think they are moving. Our position also is like the clouds. We go on with our lives because of Him, because everyone is under His control. It is very difficult to understand this because we have so much material advancement. Probing about what has happened is a sheer waste of time. (Referring to space-craft crash that had occured that time Maharaj said the following.) Yesterday we saw that the space craft has crashed. Nothing is in our hands. And we may find out some reason. Now there will be a committee to find out how it happened. Man, it has happened. Why to waste our time about how it happened. You just take your beads and chant, that's it. What is the use? Now again they will spend millions of dollars just to find out and they cannot find out. Nobody knows what happened there, it is 63 km high, even his great, great grandfather will not understand. And how much time? And how many minutes the media people are spoiling? Every minute they charge thousands of rupees here for the television advertisement. They caught hold of person who had no idea and there was a meeting and he did not know what to say. He did not even know there is a space, there is craft and it crashed. They caught hold of him and brought him to the television and one foolish man was asking the other foolish man. What can you get from the foolish? All folly, isn't it? This is sheer waste of time.
2. Spacecraft cannot give us chappatis: Discussion on mundane topics will not fill our stomach. Verse 2.1.2 of Srimad Bhagavatam is very good,
śrotavyādīni rājendra nṛṇāṁ santi sahasraśaḥ apaśyatām ātma-tattvaṁ gṛheṣu gṛha-medhināmm
Those persons who are materially engrossed, being blind to the knowledge of ultimate truth, have many subject matters for hearing in human society, O Emperor. The ordinary people have thousands and thousands of topics to be discussed. They take any tail and head and they go on grinding, grinding, grinding. Now the leaders are blind and the followers are blind. So the leaders are grinding for nothing and the common man, he left everything and sits in front of the television because his friend has told him there is a space craft that has fallen down. "Oh yes? Where?" The leader is blind and the other one is also blind. He is officer rank man.(laughter) If the officer rank man has this idea, then what can a common man know? Without Prabhupada we will also not understand and we will also waste our time. Now thousands of pages of newspaper will be wasted. And millions of people will waste their time in reading it and nobody can do anything. And nothing touches to their lives. And 12 o' clock we want to have chapattis. Will this space craft give us chapattis? The whole mess is created and they do not know that, 'sarvaṁ kāla-kṛtaṁ manye' - "It is due to inevitable time".
3. Krishna has His own way: Death was there; those astronauts had to die. Krishna has His own ways to do everything. Because we forget this one buddhi, one intelligence, we have this many branched buddhi. One buddhi means, "Krishna is in control. He has done it." You have to see that is the main reason. He has carried out this. Everything is under His control. We waste so much time and why because we think that 'I am in control.' If we can have our own way, we will drag Krishna out of the altar, we will sit on the altar and we will ask Him to dance. 'We have danced, now enough of our dancing. Now it is Your turn.' We do not understand that He is the Supreme and He is in control. That is why Prabhupada was asking his disciples. After 10 to 15 years of their service he just called a meeting and he asked, 'Do you really believe there is Krishna?' Really we do not believe and He is the Supreme controller. This is our condition. So what to talk of the masses? They do not have any idea at all. All these are first rank officers (referring to space craft officials). They are so very proud and they are in their own world and they have created their own atmosphere because of pride. They are paid high salary. The whole bunch should be arrested and put into jail to till the land.
Krishna willing we will continue with Maharaj's explanation to the above verses in the forth-coming days.
Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev, Uma Prathap Abu Dhabi. Krishna is Inevitable Time - Part 2
Date: 2012-02-19 Author: Uma Prathap
Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev.
This is in continuation of the transcription of Gurudev HH Mahavishnu Goswami Maharaj's lecture on verses 1.9.14 and 1.9.15 of Srimad Bhagavatam. Maharaj tells us that probing into what happened in the past is a sheer waste of time and Krishna has His own plan behind everything. Now let us continue to see what more lessons we can get from this lecture.
4. Krishna becomes visible when we depend on Him alone: In Seattle, there is a small temple and we had been there. There it is written on the big board, "Whatever we grow we eat". We were surprised and thought we won't get rice today. We went inside and asked about the board and asked whether the board is for themselves only or for everyone (laughter). They said, "We grow spinach and so we eat only spinach." We are not ready for this penance; really we are not ready at all. We want this and that, all conditions have got to be fulfilled and then Bhagavatam. Frankly speaking, it becomes very difficult for us to believe Krishna because we are surrounded by all these motors run by electricity. Unless the motors run, we will not get water. So we are just dependent upon these things. That is why Krishna is invisible. Krishna is not visible. And we cannot see time. Time is representative of Krishna. Krishna is invisible and time is also invisible and unknowingly it passes away. It is said in scriptures that in everybody's life, Krishna comes in front of us three times and if we are not awake, if we insult others, unknowingly we may be insulting Him. Apart from that, the shastric injunctions are that everywhere we have to see Him, so no insults. And again we come to the pages of Bhagavatam which says that time is not under our control, so every second of our existence should be utilized in a very nice way.
5. Patience helps to tide over unfavorable times: In Srimad Bhagavatam 8.6.24, we see that agitation and anger will achieve nothing,
yūyaṁ tad anumodadhvaṁ yad icchanty asurāḥ surāḥ na saṁrambheṇa sidhyanti sarvārthāḥ sāntvayā yathā
My dear demigods, with patience and peace everything can be done, but if one is agitated by anger, the goal is not achieved. Therefore, whatever the demons ask, agree to their proposal.
This is Bhagavatam. It is the universal truth. That is the speciality of Bhagavatam. It will once and for all eradicate all our inebrieties. Only one line. Krishna is suggesting to the demigods. Once there was a great fight between the demigods and demons. It was so very hard that the demigods had to disappear, had to become invisible. If the demons see the demigods, they will kill them. The demigods were forced to be invisible. To that extent they were defeated. So the demigods went to Vishnu and prayed, "Lord, what is our mistake we are defeated like this?" So Krishna advised them that, "Time is not favorable to you at the moment." In our lives also times are not favorable many times. Vishnu advised them that, "Because time is not favorable to you, so you please agree to the proposal put forward by Danava. you should agree." 'yūyaṁ tad anumodadhvaṁ' means 'time is not favorable for you'. 'yad icchanty asurāḥ surāḥ - 'Therefore you should accept.' It is the order of Krishna. 'You accept.' It is not please accept. No, no please. That is the practical way.
When the time is not favorable, we should have to be lower than opposing party. And whatever they say we agree. The Jews were fighting from the beginning with the Muslims. Once they conquered Mecca. Mecca and Madina are their pilgrim places. So they were under the control of the Jews. The Muslims requested them, "Please just give us the two places so that we can carry out our religiosity, and the rest of it you can have." Somehow they agreed - "Alright. These two villages you take." So they had to accept that and the whole of Arabia was under the control of the Jews. Because at that time, time was not favorable. So they had to agree to the proposal of the other party. This is very practical. Otherwise you are wiped off.
In our lives also the time goes on changing. Many times it is favorable and many times it is not favorable. Unfavorable time is longer than favorable. Non-favorable is the truth. If time is the representation of Krishna, then we do not have any other way but to go to Krishna to make the time favorable. He can make it, we cannot do anything about it. So it is His weapon. So we have to go to Him. That is why the awareness of Krishna consciousness is required. Otherwise we need not worry about this consciousness. This is the meaning of this verse. Even the most pious man has to suffer the conditions of material nature. But pious man is faithful to the Lord, for he is guided by the bonafide brahmana and vaishnava following the religious principles. This is the important thing.
6. Do not waste time: We do not feel the control of time because there is no burden on us. But it is definitely working. We had a two year body. Where is it now? A four year old body. Where is it? Twenty year body and the body which we have today. If we are lucky to see each other after five years, we may not be able to recognize also. The photograph catches the past and the mirror catches the present. So the mirror should be our friend. But we enjoy the photograph. 'I was twenty years old; it looks so nice you know.' And now the face has become like a dog. Even the dog is more beautiful than us. And then we have to adjust. I stand in front of the mirror. I see all the lines in the face and I do not like it. So I move this way that way. By changing the face, you can't improve the condition of the body. Because it is under the control of the time, we should not waste the time in these things.
Krishna willing, we will see the example of how we are influenced by inevitable time in the concluding part of this class by Maharaj.
Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev, Uma Prathap Abu Dhabi. Krishna is Inevitable Time - Part 3
Date: 2012-02-21 Author: Uma Prathap
Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev.
This is in continuation of the transcription of Srimad Bhagavatam class given by HH Mahavishnu Goswami Maharaj's on verses 1.9.14 and 1.9.15. Maharaj explained in the previous parts about the futility of probing into the past and wasting our time. He went on to reiterate the fact that Krishna has His own way to work out everything and the more and more we depend upon Him, we are able to experience Him in our day to day life. With patience we can tide over unfavourable times in our lives. Unfavourable times are more in our lives than favourable times and there is no other solution to overcome unfavourable times other than simply accepting them and being patient, knowing fully well that even this has to pass. We should never waste time on petty matters.
Now let us see what more instructions Maharaj has for us in this concluding part and the wonderful example we can find in the pages of Bhagavatam on how great men like the Pandavas also had to face reverses in their lives inspite of having Lord Sri Krishna personally as their friend.
Krishna is the only cause: Duryodhana will not agree to any proposal. Krishna Himself went to pacify him to please give five villages. And He Himself was in Duryodhana's heart suggesting not to agree. He wanted to have the war, so general killing was there. That is why He tells Arjuna, "Whether you kill or not does not matter, they are already killed. It does not matter at all." So we may have some immediate reason to be killed. May be some man comes and shoots us. But it is not him, it is Krishna and that is why the great devotee Parikshit Maharaj saw Krishna in that boy Sringi. Otherwise he would have harmed him so much. But he did not do it. Because he was Vishnurata, he was protected by Krishna. We are also all protected by Krishna in the womb of the mother and somehow or other, after our birth, we forget everything and then again we are consumed by the illusory presentations. Simply by the introduction of the electronics, things are going from bad to worse. How much time we are wasting, how much money? Just to buy the sim card for the mobile, we pay the rent Rs 335 or something. Please this is all waste of time. And we have to learn the hard way. If we are awake regarding these things then nothing disturbs us.
Everything is done by inevitable time: We are always conscious of the time. In Srimad Bhagavatam verse 1.9.15, Bhishmadev says,
yatra dharma-suto rājā gadā-pāṇir vṛkodaraḥ kṛṣṇo ’strī gāṇḍivaṁ cāpaṁ suhṛt kṛṣṇas tato vipat
O how wonderful is the influence of inevitable time. It is irreversible-otherwise, how can there be reverses in the presence of King Yudhishthira, the son of the demigod controlling religion; Bhima, the great fighter with a club; the great bowman Arjuna with his mighty weapon Gaandiva; and above all, the Lord, the direct well-wisher of the Pandavas.
Here Bhishmadev gives an example. Among the Pandavas, Dharmaraja Yudhisthira was there. The wielder of the mace, Bhima was there. Bhima was very expert in wielding the mace and Duryodhana was also taught the wielding of mace by Balaram. Krishna loved Pandavas. Balarama loved Duryodhana also. Balaram did not like the idea of Kurukshetra war but Krishna wanted to finish all of them. 'yadā yadā hi dharmasya' - When religiosity is in danger, Krishna appears and in kaliyuga He empowers the living entities. That is how He must have empowered Prabhupada. Otherwise single handed how he will start such a big movement. But here he gives the example that you have the best person Yudhisthira, the dharmaraja, the best fighter with the mace, Bhima, so strong, then Arjuna who knows how to throw arrows with Gandiva and Krishna suhrt, He is their friend and even then they had difficulties. But the thing is, when the devotees are put into difficulties, it is not their karmic reactions, it is Krishna's plans. In the first verse, he gives the importance of the time, inevitable time and in the second verse he gives the example. Such big personalities are there, Krishna is their friend, why should they have difficulties? We are also under the control of inevitable time. So keep quiet and go on, be with Srimad Bhagavad Gita, Bhagavatam and chanting and these things will go on according to their own way and we try to patch up here and there.
Thus Maharaj advises us that all that happens in our lives are actually Krishna's plans and so we should accept them and continue with our devotional service unperturbed. For this, we should have strong faith in Guru and Krishna. I pray to Lord Sri Krishna that acaryas like Maharaj and Srila Prabhupada will continue to guide us from within and without through their vani, thus helping us to tide over the unfavourable times in our lives, times when we think this is really the end, we cannot go any further. It is at such times we realize the value of instructions of such exalted Vaishnavas.
Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev, Uma Prathap Abu Dhabi.