Glorification of Lord Sri - Part 9

Date: 2010-03-23 Author: Anuradha dasi

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

This is the transcription based on the wonderful class given by HG Vaijayantimala Mathaji on S.B.5.19.3:

In Ramayan, Valmiki muni inquired Narada muni whether there is any personality who possesses 16 qualities. Narada muni said it is Lord Rama. In the previous mails we have seen the first 13 qualities of Lord Sri Rama. In this mail we will see the next quality.

Valmiki Ramayan 1.1.4 says,

ātmavān ko jita krodho dyutimān kaḥ anasūyakaḥ kasya bibhyati devāḥ ca jāta roṣasya saṃyuge

Who is that courageous one, who controlled His ire, who is brilliant, non-jealous and even whom do the gods fear, when provoked to war.

14.dyutimān - Brilliant When Lord Rama was ruling Ayodhya, He made it a point to make a lot of sacrifices. Treta 's prescribed yuga is sacrifices. Only when the leader follows the yuga dharma, citizens will follow. BG 3.21 says "Whatever action a great man performs, common men follow. And whatever standards he sets by exemplary acts, all the world pursues." The children always follow the parents and teachers because for the children, the parents and the teachers are their leaders. In Treta yuga, the kings were showing the yuga dharma by doing astonishing number of sacrifices. Now in yuga, the yuga dharma is chanting of the Mahamantra. But unfortunate situation is that our leaders, our Chief ministers, Prime ministers are not chanting to show this yuga dharma to other living entities. That is why Srila Prabhupada was trying to approach the National Leaders and Prime ministers. Once the leaders become Krishna Conscious, everything becomes auspicious for the citizens. Recently His Holiness Radhanath Swami Maharaj met the President of Mrs.Prathiba Patil and presented the book "The Journey Home" he had written. He met the Chief Minister of Maharashtra also. Because, the innate desire in him is to make the leaders Krishna Conscious, exactly following the footsteps of Srila Prabhupada.

It is mentioned in Srimad Bhagavatam, a sacrifice is immediately followed by charity. It is mentioned in Chapter 17, a sacrifice which is performed without dakshina is considered to be in the mode of ignorance. So when Lord Rama performed the sacrifice, He gave the entire area of all the four directions to the four . He gave away everything. Srimad Bhagavatam says that Rama was left only with his own personal garments and ornaments. And was left only with her nose ring. To that extent He gave the dakshina. But nowadays, when we perform marriages, we spend so much for reception, garments, ornaments, beauty parlors, decorations, etc. But when it comes for giving dakshina to brahmanas, we shrink. We feel that they are demanding too much. We have to learn, when the brahmanas come to perform sacrifices, we have to liberally give them the dakshina. Whatever is within our ability and reach, we must definitely give to them. brahmanas are not perfect, cannot be a reason for us to shrink. Because if the brahmanas are not given proper remuneration to maintain themselves, they will leave the vaidic dharma and take to kali yuga jobs. As a result brahminical (vedic) culture will become extinct. Nobody will come forward to study the vedic scriptures and perform the samskaras. Then the human civilization will degrade further.

At the same time we should understand the real qualifications of a . When Lord Rama gave all the areas of all the four directions, the brahmanas were very much pleased by His generosity. They said that they don't want this material donation. This is the quality of brahmanas. So we must give like Rama, and brahmanas should be satisfied with the minimum things required to maintain their body and together. This must be the quality of brahmanas. Another important quality of the brahmanas is to give back the dhana to other living entities in charity (daana). So the brahmanas gave back the dhana to Lord Rama. After giving back the dhana the brahmanas spoke the following beautiful words. It is given in Srimad Bhagavatam 9.11.6. The Brahmanas said to Lord Rama, "O Lord, You are the master of the master of the entire universe. What have You not given to us? You have entered the core of our hearts and dissipated the darkness of our ignorance by Your effulgence. This is the supreme gift. We do not need a material donation". The brahmanas should never be greedy. We must understand that at the end of our life we are not going to carry anything.

Our body is the temple of Lord because Sri Krsna Himself is situated in our heart. When we apply tilak, it represents the lotus feet of the Lord. And one more thing is tilak is a mud. When we apply tilak all over our body, we must understand that at the end we are going back to the mud. Lord Rama, being situated as the Supersoul in our heart, is giving the brilliance of knowledge. We are in ignorance because we are thinking "I am the body". Ignorance is actually madness. Mad people think something which they are not and act like that. As one psychiatrist/lawyer put it, "Actually each and every one of us in this material world are mad, It is only the degree of madness differs from person to person ." We are acting like something which we are not and we are very adept at this.

Actually, we forget that we are servants of Sri Krsna. We are acting and behaving completely opposite to this mood. So we are all mad. We cannot claim that the person in mental hospital is only mad and we are normal. But Lord Sri Krsna is situated in our heart to clear our madness. To get rid of this madness, we have to get connected with the Supreme Personality of Godhead by persistent chanting and preaching.

The soul is carrying the mind, intelligence and ego to millions of janmas. Only the body is changing. That is why even in this human form, we sometimes behave like animals. We shout at others, we bark like dogs. These impressions are always carried in the mind. We are trying to get rid of all these impressions. Just like if we keep oil in a vessel for so many years, and try to remove the oil, still the oil will be there in the form of a thick dark layer. We have to put more effort to remove it. Similarly we are carrying the impressions for innumerous janmas of life. We have to clear all these impressions. It takes more time and effort. That is why, to remove these impressions, Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu gave a very easy means of chanting Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. Immediately the brilliance shines. Lord Rama clears all the contamination within us. The only thing we have to do is to chant sincerely and hear Hari katha. This is the brilliance of the Lord.

We will see the rest of the qualities of Lord Sri Rama in the subsequent mails, Krishna willing.

Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva, Anuradha devi dasi, Abu Dhabi.