Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.5.1-2

bhaktir bhavati na ištiki Hare Krishna So we will read today verse 1 and 2 from the 5th chapter of the 10th kanto meeting of Nandamaraj with Vasudev Shishukavacah Nandaha Tu Atmaja Utpane Atmaje Jata Ahladaha Mahamanaha Ahoyah Vipran Devajyan Snathaha Shuchihi Alankritaha Vachaitva Swasthyayanam Jatakarmat Majjasya Vai Karayam Asa Vidhivat Pitri Deva Archanam Tathā Shri Sukuvācha Nandastvatma jautpanne Nandastvatma jautpanne Jatahladamahamanah Jatahladamahamanah Ahuya vipranvedagyan Ahuya vipran vedagyan Snathak su chiralankritaha Snathak su chiralankritaha Sishuku vacha Nandastvatma jautpanne Jatah lada maha manaha Ahuya vipran vedagyan Snathah sucir alankritaha Shishukhu vacham Shishukhu vacham Shishukhu vacham Shishukhu vacham Nandaha, Nanda, to, indeed, Atmaje, his son, Utpanne, having been born, Jata, overwhelmed, Ahladaha in great jubilation. Mahamanaha who was great-minded. Ahuya invited. Vipran the Brahmanas Vedagyan who were fully conversant in Vedic knowledge. taking a full bath, purifying himself, being dressed very nicely with ornaments and fresh garments. The next verse. Vacaitva Svastyayanam Jatakarmat majasyavai Karayan Asha Vidivat Pitridevarcanam Tatham Shri Kriya Jaya Nandita Vata. Translation. Sukadeva Gosvami said, Nandamaraj was naturally very magnanimous. And when Lord Sri Krishna appeared as His son, He was overwhelmed by jubilation. Therefore, after bathing and purifying Himself and dressing Himself properly, he invited Brahmanas who knew how to recite Vedic mantras. After having this qualified Brahmanas recite auspicious Vedic hymns, he arranged to have the Vedic birth ceremony celebrated for his newborn child according to the rules and regulations. And he also arranged for the worship of the demigods and forefathers. purport. Śrīla Visvānatya Kravartī Takur has discussed the significance of the word Nandas Tu. The word Tu, he says, is not used to fulfill the sentence because without Tu the sentence is complete. Therefore the word Tu is used for a different purpose. Although Krishna appeared as the son of Devaki and Vasudeva did not enjoy the Jata Karma, the festival of the birth ceremony. Instead, this ceremony was enjoyed by Nandamaraja, as stated here. Nandas-tvatma-ja-ut-pan-ne-jata-hvah-da-maha-manaha. When Nandamaraj met Vasudeva, Vasudeva could not disclose, your son Krishna is actually my son. You are his father in a different way spiritually. Because of fear of Kamsa, Vasudeva could not observe the festival for Krishna's birth. Nandamaraj, however, took full advantage of this opportunity. The jata karma ceremony can take place when the umbilical cord connecting the child to the placenta is cut. However, since Krishna was brought by Vasudeva to the house of Nandamaraj, there was no chance for this to happen. In this regard, Vishwanath Chakravartita Kuru describes to prove, desires to prove with evidence from many shastras that Krishna actually took birth as the son of Yaśodha before the birth of Yogamaya, who is therefore described as the Lord's younger sister. Even though there may be doubts about the cutting of the umbilical cord, and even though it is possible that this was not done when the Supreme Personality of God appeared, such events are regarded as factual. Krishna appeared as Varahadev from the nostril of Brahma, and therefore Brahma is described as the father of Varahadev. Although significant are the words, Karayan Asha Vidhivat, being overwhelmed with jubilation over the birth of his son, Nandamaraja did not see whether the cord was cut or not. Thus he performed the ceremony very gorgeously according to the opinion of some authorities. Krishna was actually born as the son of Yaśodā. In any case, without regard for material understanding, we can accept that Nanda Maharaja's celebration for the ceremony of Krishna's birth was proper. This ceremony is therefore well known everywhere as Nandotsava. Shri Matai Bhaktivedanta Svāmīniti nāmi ne namaste sarasvati devī gaura vāni pracārināe nirviśeśa śūndyavādi paścatiādeśa tārināe vāñca kalpataru vyaścā kripa sindhu bhevacā patitanam pavane bhyo vaiśnavi bhyo namonumah jai śri kriṣṇā chaitanya prabhūnitanandā śyadvaita ghadātāra śīvasadī gaura bhaktavrinda Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama, Hare Hare. vajatā tadauksha ce, areśyata mnomadī at piahaituki. Hare Kṛṣṇa. So, Janmashtani is approaching, and therefore I have chosen this verse, which actually, according to our acaryas, disclose who was the real father of Krishna. It is well known from Puranas, even from Srimad Bhagavatam itself, and from Harivamsa Purana, that Krishna is the son of Vasudev. And if you ask any other Vaishnava, they will say yes Krishna is the son of Devaki and Vasudeva but our Acharya say no Krishna is not the son of Devaki Vasudeva Vasudeva Krishna who was born in Madhura he is son of Vasudeva no problem but Krishna who was born in Vrindavan is the son of Nandamaraj and Yeshoda. And he really took birth from Nandamaraj and Yeshoda. So this is a very important point of our philosophy. Because according to our philosophy God can be born only to somebody who loves him. and because Nanda and Yeshoda loved Krishna so much, much more than Devaki and Vasudev how he could not be born to them in fact he was not born to Vasudev he appeared in his four-armed form I only have two arms so it's very difficult for me to show how it happened but he didn't really born he appeared he manifested himself he manifested himself because Vasudeva and Devaki were performing austerities they were praying to God they were doing all kinds of rituals to obtain God as his son but in Vrindavan Krishna didn't appear in his forearm forms in fact his shoulder would be very worried if he had four arms you know it would be abnormal she probably would call some vaidias to cut the extra arms or do some drastic action because he was a normal baby as a reciprocation for their love they had such a strong love that Krishna became a real child. And this is a very important point of our philosophy, which Krishna himself explains in Bhagavad Gita. In which verse of Bhagavad Gita he explains this? Ye yatha. Yes, very good. So, Krishna says that I reciprocate, that I do something according to the condition of the heart of a person. sometimes we also think why Krishna doesn't appear in front of me it's simple we don't want it to the extent that Krishna would fulfill our desire he gives us whatever we want whatever we get it's according to our desire ultimately and therefore because Nandamaraj had a complete concentration, because Nandamaraj was completely fixed, he wanted to have Krishna as his son. Krishna appeared as his son, as his little baby, and he was crying. And here the commentators, they say, the umbilical cord may be there, may not be there. But actually it was there. otherwise it would be a matter of great concern how the baby could be born without umbilical cord so therefore it is said here very clearly Krishna's too but Krishna Krishna's too what does this too mean Tu means but, right? You know that, right? Yes, okay. So, this is the first verse of the fifth chapter. And in the first verse of the fifth chapter, Shukadeva Goswami says, tu. Tu, usually, what does tu or but mean? When you say but, what do you mean when you say but? Yes, please tell. Is there an exception or something? Exception, yeah. You want to say that, you want to say something different from what was said before, right? You know, I want to chant 16 rounds, but I cannot. It's a good example or not? So when you say but, you want to say something different from what was said before. So when Sukadeva Goswami says in the first verse of the fifth chapter, of Tanskanta of Simad Bhagavatam but he wants to say something different according to what he said before and in the previous chapter it was described how Krishna appeared in the prison cell of Madhura and how he appeared in his four-armed form in front of Vasudeva and Devaki so here she said but something completely different happened in Vrindavan Krishna appeared but not in forearm form Krishna was born from the womb of his shoulder Krishna appeared in Vrindavan but he didn't appear in a mysterious way he appeared in a very normal way being the child. And actually, our Acharyas, they describe the story which is behind the appearance of Lord Krishna in Vrindavan. How this attachment to Lord Krishna was growing in the heart of Devaki and Vapama, sorry, in Nandaya's children. So I will tell this little story according to Gopal Champu. I only have how many minutes more? Okay. It's enough. So it is explained in the ninth kanto of Srimad Bhagavatam that the grandfather of Krishna was Maharaja Devamida. He was a great king and he was ruling in Madhura. And he had two wives. One of his wives was Kshatriya. And from his Kshatriya wife, he begot a son which he called Shurasen. and another wife of Maharaja Devamida was Vaishi woman and from this wife another son was born and his name was Parjanya and Parjanya became the grandfather of Krishna so when two sons of Maharaja Devamida grew that Kshatriya's son became the king. And Vaishya's son, he became nobody because he was not entitled to get the part of his ancestry kingdom. So he went on another side of Yamuna in Gakula. He settled in Gakula, Parjani Maraj. And when he settled in Gokula, he basically had nothing. But one thing he had, he had a very generous heart. And because he had a very generous heart, he obtained everything. What he started doing, because of having this generous heart, he started serving Brahmanas. Sometimes people, when they have nothing, they become very stingy. They become very crippling. They become very greedy. But Parjani Maharaj, even though he had nothing, he had maybe two cows and one bull or whatever. He had very little, but he started serving Brahmanas and he was ready to give everything. And that's the reason why he was called Parjaniya. Do you know what Parjaniya means? in Sanskrit. Yeah. No, parjanya means rain cloud. Parjanya means this cloud which gives rain. So he was acting as the rain cloud. Rain cloud doesn't, you know, depend on anyone to beg. You know, you never go to rain cloud and say, rain cloud, please give me the rain. The rain cloud gives the rain on its own, right? You don't ask. And a rain cloud just gives because that's the nature of the rain cloud. The nature of Parjanya was to give. And because he was so eager to give, Krishna gave him so much. His wealth was growing and growing and growing because he was ready to give. That's a very important lesson which we all have to understand. If we want to get, we first have to give. Unless we give, we will never get. Even if we get something, without giving, whatever we get will not remain with us. It will not remain stable with us. So Parjanya was giving and giving and giving and because he was giving Krishna was giving him more, more and more. It is actually said that this is a very subtle law of nature. When you give some vacuum appears. You know what vacuum is? Vacuum, what is it? It pulls stuff into a little container. Yeah. So vacuum is emptiness, right? When you pump out the air, then it becomes vacuum, right? So when you give, also some emptiness appears. And when the vacuum appears and you open this pot in which vacuum happened, What will happen with this pot? Yeah, the air will rush in. So in the same way, when we give, some vacuum appears. And because vacuum appears, it attracts, it kind of, yeah, it attracts something. So that's the law of nature. if you give then something naturally comes to you and Parjanya Maraj was like this, he was giving and giving and giving and brahmanas were giving him blessings and blessings of the brahmanas are very powerful you're all future brahmanas you have to know that your blessings will be very powerful if you become real brahmanas if Brahmanas says something Tataas Tu let it be like this it will happen for sure so you should become powerful Brahmanas whose words will come true in any circumstances so Brahmanas would say to Parjanya Maraj Tataas Tu let you become wealthy let you become healthy let you become very prosperous. And Parjani Maraj was growing and growing and growing so much so that all the cowherds who were living on the other side of Yamuna in this Gokula area, they became so happy with him and they unanimously elected him as a leader. Sometimes it is said that democracy is bad. Actually, proper democracy is good because even in Vedic times there was democracy. You know, all the cohorts, they... But actually it's not democracy because in democracy the worst people become the rulers. This is meritocracy. When the best people become the rulers. All the good people elect the best out of them. So they elected Parjanyamaraj as their ruler as their king and Parjani Mahara started ruling very justly. Actually there is a very important ceremony, Vedic ceremony. When somebody becomes the king there is this Raja Abhishek special Abhishek ceremony to annoy somebody, annoy somebody as a king. And during this ceremony the king, the future king he gives the vow that's the most important part of the whole ceremony actually any ceremony which is performed the most important part is sankalpa sankalpa the ceremony is actually only is garnished to the sankalpa only the ritual which helps to perform the sankalpa sankalpa is the most important when vivaha ceremony is being performed then the sankalpa is the most important when the future husband and future wife say you know we will devote ourselves to each other we will serve each other and we will do it till the end of our life so during the rajay bishev the ceremony of anointing somebody as a king the most important part is when the king gives sankalpa, the future king. He says, my sankalpa here, I solemnly vow that I will not act for my own self. From now on, I will only act for the sake of my subjects, for the sake of those people who are with me. So, Parjani Maraj gave this vow and he was true to his vow. why this Vedic culture is so great because people were giving the proper vows and they're following their vows once they said like they said that Lord Ramachandra was ekavachinam ekavachinam means he would say one word and he would never deviate from this word that would make him so strong so Parjani Maraj he became the king and he was ruling nicely and he had a wife Who knows what was the name of Parjani Maharaja's wife? Her name was Gariyasi Devi. And Parjani Maharaja and Gariyasi Devi gave birth to five sons. Who knows who were their five sons? Yes, please. Nanda. Sunanda? Sunanda? Upananda? Upananda? Mahananda? No. They were all Mahanandas, but... Adinanda and Nandana. And Nanda, what does Nanda mean? Happy. No, not what does it mean? No. What does it mean? No. Nanda means joy, but Nanda also means the one who gives joy. Yes, it's happiness and it's somebody who gives joy. So it is said when these five Nandas appear in the house of Parjanya, he became very joyful because there are five manifestations of joy personified that appears as his son. And he became so joyful and everyone was so joyful. And he was loving them so much. See, this is also a very great and very important secret of the whole story, which we will see very soon. You know, Parjanya was loving his children, his sons, so much. that they didn't have any competition with themselves. There was no sense of rivalry. If we study history, if a king has five sons, it means that there will be at least five causes for fight. There will be five quarrels. and sometimes when the kings rule, you know, their sons kill each other. The brothers kill the brothers. Why? Because they want the kingdom. Yeah, because they want the kingdom. Natural. But in case of Nandamaraj, his sons didn't hate each other. Didn't fight with each other. Why? yes you're very correct thank you I think you should sit here because you know the philosophy because they had so much love they felt so much protected and because they were protected they didn't have any envy within the heart envy is actually the result of lack of love. When we feel that there is not enough love in our life, then we become envious. And we want to inflict some pain to other people. So they had so much love with each other. And ultimately, after some time, Parjanyamaraj wanted to leave. And that's actually the secret of the appearance of Krishna. Krishna appears to whom? Nanda. Why he appears to Nanda? Yes. Because they had so much love. Yes. Because they had so much love and because they didn't have envy in the heart. What is said in the second verse of Srimad Bhagavatam in the very beginning? Dharma Projita Matsaranam Satam Very good. Nirmatsaranam satam. Krishna appears to somebody who doesn't have envy, matsarya. Who doesn't have rivalry. Who doesn't have this bad feeling within the heart. So, you know, when Parjani Maharaj became old, he decided to go to the forest. Even though they were living in the forest, still he wanted to go to the forest. To which forest he wanted to go? Yes. Vrindavan. You are absolutely correct. I think you should also sit here. Thank you. Anyway, so he wanted to go to Vrindavan because he knew that Vrindavan is a special forest. It's a very special forest. It's as special as Mayapur forest. So, because Vrindavan gives love. And Vrindavan, do you know what Vrindavan means? yes Vrinda means what? Tulsi yes that's one meaning of Vrindavan but there is another meaning of Vrindavan Vrinda Avana Vrinda Avana Vrinda means what? Vrinda means Tulsi but Vrinda also means Samuha Vrinda means group of people bhaktavrinda ki jaya vrinda vrinda means group of people vrindavana means the place which nourishes these groups of people yes vrindavana is the place where people are very friendly to each other vrindavana is the place where people laugh each other that's the inner meaning of Vrindavana. Because in Vrindavana there is a common center. People are very friendly with each other and friendly with other living entities. That's why it is called Vrindavana. And Parjanya even though he was very friendly from the beginning, still he wanted to purify his heart by going to Vrindavana. But before going to Vrindavan, he wanted to appoint somebody as a king and naturally according to the rules of Manu, who was supposed to be the king? Eldest. Absolutely right. I just confirmed that you should sit here. So the eldest son was supposed to be the king, the next king. And who was the eldest son of Nandamarachi? Yes? No. exactly right Upananda very good I'm very happy to be with you anyway so Upananda was supposed to be anointed and Parjanya Maraj he called all the great personalities he called Maharajah Shura Sen he called his brother his step brother he called all the great priests and saints to be present in this ceremony in this Rajabhishek for Upananda and everything was ready to make Upananda the king and the Parjanya Maraj approached Upananda and he wanted to put Rajatilak on his forehead. And Rajatilak, it's again a very elaborate ceremony. He would put crown on his head and everything else. And Upananda, he gratefully accepted from his father all the insignia of royal family, of royal power. And all of a sudden he approached Nandamaraj and he put the crown on his head and he said he will be the next king and everyone was amazed and then he said because it's very unusual you are about to be anointed as somebody as the Guru Kul principle and all of a sudden you say no, no, no there is somebody who is more deserving he said actually Nanda He has more love in his heart than any one of us. He is the middle son. Nandamaraj was the third son, so he was in the middle, like Arjuna, was the third son among five brothers of Pandava brothers. So he was the best of all of them. And actually, the Parjanya Maraj and his five, Gariyasi, he loved Nandamaraj the most. and all other brothers also loved him. And he, Upananda, said that, look, first of all, already before Nandamaraj became the king, the providence decided that he would be the king. How is that? he said because I was called by the will of providence as Upananda and Upananda means what? Upananda means? yeah, under Nanda the younger brother of Nanda or the follower of Nanda he said I am the natural follower of Nanda even though I am the jester I am the elder son actually I am the follower of Nanda and he will be the son this is the first reason and the second reason look, all the people and you know all the people there were many people in the assembly thousands of people were there and they were all looking at Nanda Nanda was sitting there he was very shy and he was very embarrassed by the whole thing and Upananda said look, at whom do you look now? and everyone said we look at Nanda, he said, this is the proof that he should be the king. Because the king is someone who attracts the attention of everyone. And everyone is looking at him and, you know, seeing him, how he behaves. So this is the very amazing story how Nandamaraj became the real king and the real successor of Parjanya. and because our time is very short I will definitely not tell the whole story but I want to tell one very important part of this whole story when Parjani Marac after this ceremony when the ceremony was over and he was ready to go to Brindavan to the other side of Yamuna all his subjects were crying and were saying please, please don't go stay with us a little more but he was determined and then all his sons and his relatives they gathered together around Parjani Marathi and they told him before you leave please tell us the most important essence of all the shastras please tell us what you have learned please tell us in a very short way what we should understand in this life what do you think what did Parjani Marashi told them yes love for God you are 100% right love each other you are also right somebody else has some other ideas he actually said he himself asked the four questions and he himself answered these four questions first question which he said and this is the essence in these four questions and four answers is the essence of the whole Shastra the whole Vedic wisdom the first question what is the cause of fear because we are all fearful everyone who lives in this world is very very fearful are you fearful also? whom do you fear? it says a very important thing what is the cause of fear? what do you think? what is the cause of fear? yes? Death. Why the death comes to you? Death is definitely a very strong cause of fear. But what is the cause of death? Yes? Exactly. You know, I'm ready to step down and to put you, and to put crown on your head. Maybe garland. Well, I don't have garland. So in any case, you're exactly right. Karma is the cause of fear. Because we all committed some blunders, some mistakes, some bad things. And we know, according to the law of karma, the reactions will come for sure. And therefore, the karma is the root cause of all fear. But then the next question, how to get rid of fear? how to get rid of fear yes do good stuff still you did bad stuff still you will be fearful and still you may commit mistakes even while doing something good you may commit mistakes like this Maharaja who was, what was his name who was giving cows to the Brahmanas and you know No one? Yeah. Yeah, Nriga. Nriga Maraj. He was doing good stuff. Still he became a lizard. It was not good. When he at one point became a lizard, he didn't like it. Yes? Think of Krishna. Think of Krishna. Yeah, it's a good solution to this. But how you will think of Krishna? You know, it's very difficult to think of Krishna on your own. You know, sometimes we try to think of Krishna when we chant Japa. And for a couple of seconds we think of Krishna and then we think about something else. Isn't it? So, you know, it's a good solution but it's not perfect solution. Okay. By surrendering to Krishna. That's even better solution. By surrendering to Krishna you get rid of karma but there is a better solution. Because surrender means, you know, there is something which is easier. Yes, we will listen to everyone. Accept it. No, that's not a good solution. Chanjapa. That's not bad. Practical. Serve the devotees. Yes. You almost hit the point. You almost right. Give your ideas. Listen. Yes. like just think that it's my karma and Krishna will take care of it yeah but still you will have fear you may think like this but still you will have some anxiety yes surrender to the devotees yeah he was oh Maya Purvasi's answer okay again service to Krishna you give your that's also practical but you may not know you offended so many people you may not remember all of those whom you offended yeah so you're right the solution which Nandamaraj gave is that be with somebody who have love to Krishna. And that includes everything. If you are together with somebody who has very pure love, then you become fearless. Like all those people who were with Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada was called Abhaycaran. He was fearless. And he was giving fearlessness because of his love. And he was making them surrender to Krishna. All the solutions which he gave are true, including the Ganga Baas solution. Because he ultimately brought all his disciples to Ganga and made them take Baas. So, but that's the ultimate solution to all the karmic problems. To have association of somebody who has love of God, then the karma vanishes and the fear vanishes and our time also vanished and there are two more questions and two more answers which I give and the rest of the story I will tell next time when I come to Mayapur so the two more questions is what should we pray to God what should we ask of God when we pray to Him Yes, many. So, please give your answer. For eternal service to Jesus de Bhakti. Yes, okay. For life to Godhead. Yes, okay. To help commit defenses. Okay. Bhakti. Bhakti. Yes, you are right. So, the object of our prayers has to be love, because it includes everything. If love of God is there, everything else is there. if love of God is not there nothing is there so yes and then the last question how you can become happy in this world this is the most important question yes yes yes together all together serving devotees thank you very much yes love of Krishna ultimately gives you happiness while serving others while befriending with others by doing something good we become happy and ultimately if Krishna is pleased we also become happy I guess that's it I was trying to prove that Nandamaraj is the real father of Krishna and I started proving it a little bit next time I will do something more thank you very much Hare Krishna Bhaktivikyam Goswami Ki Jai