Glories of Purushottama - Part 1 Date: 2018-07-12 Author: Narahari Krishna das Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva. This year we had the Purushottama month which comes once in 3 years and which is very dear to the Supreme Lord. The name Purushottama or uttama puruṣa is primarily used to designated the Supreme Lord and this very special name is explained by the acharyas and devotees in many ways as follows. 1. He is superior to all puruṣas (living entities) - Puruṣebhyaḥ uttamaḥ 2. He is the Supreme among all sentient beings - puruṣānam uttamaḥ 3. He is the best among men/humans- puruṣeṣu uttama 4. The Supreme Protector - piparti pṛnāti pālayati pūrayati iti vā puruṣaḥ 5. One who always works for benefit of others even by lowering His own position. 6. One who is beyond darkness (udgata tamaḥ yasmāt puruṣottama). 7. One who is the creator, destroyer and maintainer of everything. The glory of the Supreme Person (Purushottama) is explained in detail in the 15th Chapter of the Bhagavad Gita which is titled as "Purushottama Yoga". In the last 5 slokas of this chapter (verse 16 to 20), Lord Krishna explains the meaning of Purushottama and establishes Himself as the Purushottama. All the great acharyas have glorified this chapter because of this explanation and glorified these 5 verses in particular and provided illuminating commentary on these verses. In the last verse the Lord states that this chapter glorifying Him as the Purushottama forms a separate scripture by itself and the most confidential part of the vedas (iti guhya-tamaṁ śāstram). Sripada Sankaracharya while commenting on the last verse of the 15th chapter states that these 5 verses summarizes the teaching of entire Vedic scriptures. Sankara Gita Bhashya 15.20 yady api gitaakhyaṃ samastam shaastram ucyate, tathaapy ayam evaadhyaaya iha shaastram ity ucyate stuty-artham prakaranaat sarvo hi gitaa-shaastraartho 'smin adhyaaye samaasena uktah na kevalam gitaa-shaastraartha eva, kimtu sarvash ca vedaartha iha parisamaaptah Though the entire Gita is held to be a sacred scripture, this chapter by itself is a separate scripture by means of glorification. This is because the entire essence of the Gita has been briefly stated here in this chapter. Not only the purport of the Gita, but also the entire import of the Vedas has been given in this chapter in summary. Whoever knows it, is the knower of the Vedas. So it is said by the great acharyas that one who recites and understands the last 5 verses (which is essence of the 15th chapter), gets the benefit of reading/understanding the entire 15th chapter(which is the essence of Bhagavad Gita). This in turn fetches the merit of reading and understanding the entire Bhagavad Gita which in turn gives the benefit of reading and understanding the entire Mahabharata. This in turn gives the benefit of reading/understanding the entire Vedic literature. Hence devotees all the world celebrated the Purushottama month by daily recitation of the 15th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita. In the subsequent offerings we will meditate on the meaning of the word Purushottama based on the Bhagavad Gita and other scriptures and what result is attained by the worship of the Supreme Person, Krishna willing. Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva, Narahari Krishna das Chennai. Glories of Purushottama - Part 2 Date: 2018-07-13 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 topic "Glories of Purushottama" wherein we began to meditate on the meanings of the word "Purushottama" as described in the scriptures. Now we shall continue further. 1. Puruṣebhyaḥ uttama - One who is superior to all kinds of puruṣās (living entities): This is stated by Lord Krishna Himself in the following slokas Bhagavad-Gita 15.16 and 17, dvāv imau puruṣau loke kṣaraś cākṣara eva ca kṣaraḥ sarvāṇi bhūtāni kūṭa-stho ’kṣara ucyate There are two classes of beings, the fallible and the infallible. In the material world every living entity is fallible, and in the spiritual world every living entity is called infallible. uttamaḥ puruṣas tv anyaḥ paramātmety udāhṛtaḥ yo loka-trayam āviśya bibharty avyaya īśvaraḥ Besides these two, there is the greatest living personality, the Supreme Soul, the imperishable Lord Himself, who has entered the three worlds and is maintaining them. Srila Prabhupada explains in the purport of these verses, "According to the statement of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Krishna, there are two classes of living entities. The living entities who are struggling in this world with the mind and five senses have their material bodies, which are changing… But in the spiritual world the body is not made of matter; therefore there is no change. In the material world the living entity undergoes six changes – birth, growth, duration, reproduction, then dwindling and vanishing. These are the changes of the material body. But in the spiritual world the body does not change; there is no old age, there is no birth, there is no death... Above the innumerable living entities, some of whom are conditioned and some of whom are liberated, there is the Supreme Personality, who is Paramatma”. Here the Supreme Person (Uttama Purusha) also called as Paramatma is declared as quite different (anyaḥ) from both kṣaraḥ and akṣara living entities. He is the category by Himself. He does not belong to either of these groups. None can be grouped with Him. And His qualities are unique. He is different from both conditioned ones (kṣara) and liberated ones (akṣara) because He alone enters all the three worlds and supports/maintains them (loka trayam āviśya bibharti). In spite of supporting all the worlds, His power never diminishes as His powers are infinite. Also His form is spiritual unlike the living beings in this material world. So He is avyayaḥ. And He is different from the living entities in the spiritual world (akṣara) because He is īśvaraḥ - He is the Lord and supporter of all in the spiritual world as well. In the Vedas (Taittriya Aranyaka) there is a nice story which illustrates that the Lord is the maintainer and supporter of material world with all its living entities. Once all the great sages were discussing on one important question, "keneme vidhrite ubhe?" – "Who is supporting and maintaining both the higher and lower worlds?" The aim was to get an answer for this question and meditate on that Supreme supporter. Different sages put forth different answers and no one was satisfied with the answers that came up in the discussion. At that time a great sage named Vatsa entered the assembly and gave the answer as, "Viṣṇunā vidhrite bhūmi; iti vatsasya vetana" – "Vishnu is the One who is supporting them with His Shakti; this is the finding of Sage Vatsa." When the sages heard this answer, they felt great satisfaction in their hearts and they were able to meditate very peacefully on Lord Vishnu. Krishna willing, in the next offering, we will see how the Supreme Lord Purushottama is the supporter of living entities in the spiritual world as well. Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva, Narahari Krishna das Chennai. Glories of Purushottama - Part 3 Date: 2018-07-14 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 topic "Glories of Purushottama" wherein we began to meditate on the meanings of the word "Purushottama" as described in the scriptures. In the previous offering, we saw how the Lord is the supporter of all living entities in the material world. We will continue to meditate on the meaning of word Purushottama as one who is superior to all living entities - (Puruṣebhyaḥ uttama). There is a wonderful pastime described in chapter 105 of the Udyoga Parva of Mahabharata, enacted by Lord Vishnu and Garuda to explain how the Lord is the supporter of all liberated souls in the spiritual world also. Once Indra's charioteer and friend Mathali was in the search of a right match for his daughter Gunakesi. So he searched all the 3 worlds along with Narada Maharishi and finally decided upon Sumukha, the prince of snakes as the bridegroom. On enquiring Aryaka, the grandfather of Sumukhan, Mathali came to know that Garuda has killed and eaten Sumukha's father and has vowed to eat Sumukha within a month. So if Sumukha marries Gunakesi, Gunakesi has to become widow when Sumukha is eaten by Garuda. Mathali delivered this message to Lord Indra in the presence of Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu advised Indra to give nectar (amrita) to Sumukha and make him immortal like the Devas and hence be saved from Garuda. But Indra afraid of Garuda, didn't give him the amrita and just blessed Sumukha with long life which made him very happy. Then, Mathali wedded his daughter to Sumukha. Garuda became infuriated on knowing this and chased Sumukha who found refuge under the feet of Lord Vishnu who was sitting in Indra's palace. Garuda started abusing Lord Indra for blessing Sumukha and told, "I'm the strongest in all the three worlds and I'm carrying your younger brother Lord Vishnu. But still you have interfered with my food Sumukha." Garuda then turned towards Lord Vishnu and said, "You're the strongest of all and still I carry you without any fatigue. I can carry you just with one of my feathers.