“While carrying the form of Supreme Personality of Godhead within the core of his heart, vasudev wore the Lord’s transcendentally illuminating effulgence and thus he became as bright as the sun. He was therefore very difficult to see or approach through sensory perception. Indeed he was unapproachable and unperceivable even for such formidable man such as kamsa and not only for Kamsa but for all living entities”. Purport by His Divine Grace A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prahupad.
The word ‘DHAM’ is significant. Dham refers to the place where the Supreme Personality of Godhead resides. In the beginning of Srimad Bhagvatam it is said
.In the abode of the Supreme Personality Of Godhead there is no influence of material energy.In any place where the Supreme Personality of Godhead is present by his name, form, qualities or paraphernalia, immediately becomes a Dham. For example :-when we speak of Vrindavan Dham, Dwaraka Dham and Mathura Dham, because in these places the name, fame , qualities and paraphernalia of the Supreme Godhead is always present. Similarly if one is empowered by the Supreme Personality of Godhead to do something, the core of his heart becomes the Dham and thus he becomes so extraordinarily powerful that not his enemies but also people in general are astonished to observe his activities . Because he is unapproachable, his enemies cannot, his enemies are simply struck with wonder as explained here by the words. The words ‘purusham dham’ have been explained by various acharyas, Sri says that these words refer to the effulgence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. says that they signify  and sukhdev says ‘bhagvad swarup’. The vaishnav  says that these words indicate the influence of the Supreme Lord’s effulgence and Vishwanath Chakravarti Thakur says that they signify the appearance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
 

Translation
“ While carrying the form of Supreme Personality of Godhead within the core of his heart, vasudev wore the Lord’s transcendentally illuminating effulgence and thus he became as bright as the sun. He was therefore very difficult to see or approach through sensory perception. Indeed he was unapproachable and unperceivable even for such formidable man such as kamsa and not only for Kamsa but for all living entities”.
Bhagavad Gita – 4th chapter ,Lord Krishna instructs,
“ Janma karma ca me divyam evam yo vetti tattvatah
tyaktva deham punar janma naiti mam eti so’rjuna”
 

One who understands the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities, never attains another birth in this material world but attains my supreme abode.
How to understand the transcendental nature of Krishna’s appearance and activities is the first and most essential question in this human form of life. From the moment they rise in the early morning to the time they take rest in the night, all living entities are involved in the process of asking many questions. Primarily, where will I get my food? How will I arrange nice place for sleeping? Where is there some nice pleasure for sex life and expansion of my family and how can I defend myself and defend what is near and dear to me? In this way practically from the entire day one’s mind is occupied in trying to answer these questions and according to Brahma Sutra ‘Athato brahma jigyasa’ that when one takes this rare human birth it is meant for one purpose alone, to enquire into the absolute truth. People are going to college, inquisitive. The child, the first thing he does when he starts to gain more and more consciousness is he begins to enquire. Throughout life it is simply a series of moment to moment to moment enquiries. That is the nature of the soul. To want to know God more and more.To want to love God more and more. But when the subject matter is perverted and Krishna is no longer the centre. No longer the object of our enquiries, then we are cast into the illusory energy or maya.
 

Krishna’s birth has been explained here in the Srimad Bhagvatam, is divyam. It is divine ,it is thoroughly transcendental by nature. In this material world birth is not a very glorious thing. Lord Kapila Dev has said,  which means that according to one’s previous karma or sinful impious activities one is forced to take birth in a particular living beings womb in a particular specie of life. Therefore birth is something that is forced upon us by our own previous choices that we have made and what is the glory of birth. We were discussing this the other night. People make nice celebrations for someone’s birthday HAPPY BIRTHDAY!. You have heard. Birthday means to celebrate the moment you were born, that is what birthday means. Birthday doesn’t come once a year. Birthday comes once a life. That’s the time, the moment you came out of the womb of your mother. That’s your birthday and actually what people celebrate is the anniversary of that birthday and we are trying to remember how glorious and wonderful that day of birth was. But what a great illusion, what was glorious and wonderful, what was happy about that birthday. At the time of your birth, before, during and after, the mother is in the worst tragic pain and anxiety in her entire life. Practically every women while she is giving birth she just prays to God, “ I’ll never go through this again. I’ll never do this again. God help me”. Ofcourse she forgets after some years . It’s terribly painful and when the child, it is described in Bhagvatam how this child that has developed for 10 months, is pushed through this very small opening. It’s body is been crushed, practically suffocated and smothering. It’s so painful. What does he do when he comes out, does he laughs and says ‘HARIBOL! I am here’ .It cries. First thing the child does when he comes out of the womb is cries. What does crying means. It’s in pain, it’s in anxiety, in suffering…The mother is going through terrible suffering, the child is going through the most unbelievable terrible suffering possible. Of all the pains that you may endure in life nothing can compare to the pain of taking birth. It’s so painful, that the shastra says, “You become by that pain that you forget all your previous lives . Have you ever experienced the pain during this life that’s so much, that you have forgotten everything else you have ever done. That’s the pain of birth. So the mother is suffering, the child is suffering, the father; he is suffering more than anybody because his is mental suffering.
 
Prabhupad used to say of all illnesses whether it be cancer, aids, tuberculosis, leprosy, the most painful illness that causes the greatest suffering is mental illness. But a father, he is so attached, he doesn’t know whether it’s going to be dead or alive. Here in India he is worried whether it’s going to be a boy or a girl, he is thinking about…what about dowry if it’s a girl. In this way he is in complete anxiety. It’s a terribly tensed situation. Everybody is suffering like anything. And then, out of this great illusion we want to just celebrate this day ‘ HAPPY BIRTHDAY!’. Was it a happy birthday? It’s miserable birthday(laughs). So because we forget what birth really is, we want to celebrate it and the greatest illusion if we want to take words literally ,is only one birthday and that’s the day you are born…and people say to one another out of love, so called love these are the kinds of friends we want to “HAPPY BIRTHDAY ! May you have many more [laughter]. haan ‘May you have many many many more birthdays. May you take birth again and again in this material world’. That’s essentially what they are saying….. In this way the illusion goes on [laughs] ….Nobody desires to escape the repetition of birth and death….Amongst devotees we say “ May you never take birth in this material world”. Of course Lord chaitanya… “ Mama janmani janmanishvare ,for your service Krishna I am willing to suffer the repetition of birth and death millions and millions of times.
 
I am your servant unconditionally”. So actually for a devotee birth is glorious. As Narottam Das Thakur is praying, “Now that I have attained this rare human birth …..My lord I am such a miserly unfortunate person that I have not served your Lordship Radha and Krishna. This human birth is meant for the purpose of worshipping the lord and enquiring into the truth of life and therefore one who utilizes this valuable human birth for this purpose is most fortunate and his birthday we can consider worth celebrating…….Because what is this human form of life. It is the ultimate gift of god to anyone in this material world. It is described in the Bhagvatam that this human form of life is like a boat that can carry us across this ocean. So this human form of life is such a rare privilege. For millions of species of life we have simply been drowning in this ocean, birth and death, old age, disease the three fold miseries and finally we are awarded a boat which is perfectly suitable to take us across the ocean. But now that you have the boat, you must find a proper captain-Spiritual Master. And that Spiritual Master he teaches us how to properly take advantage of the favorable breezes whichever way it is. To have a boat ,even if you have all favorable breezes can actually do more harm than good….They could actually make your boat capsize and go under if you are not very expert or those favorable breezes can make you go the wrong direction…… Similarly to directly study, to directly enquire into the absolute truth by studying the Vedas which is the word of the absolute truth. Without help of a spiritual guide authorized by God, it could actually do more harm than good…..It can take us further away from understanding the absolute truth……It can increase our material desires….Therefore this rare-rare blessing of the gift of God we must take very seriously. By understanding the transcendental nature of the appearance and activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, that is our first consideration. Not how much money we could make, how many children we can have, not how popular we are in the eyes of society….These things are not very important, not how much we learn and how much we study. How much we understand the appearance and activities of Krishna….That is the first and foremost consideration of this human form of life and everything else is only meant to be utilized in pursuance of that. So here we are reading about the divine appearance of Lord Shri Krishna. He is not coming into this world the way the ordinary living being is coming. Krishna says in Gita “Fools deride me, they think me to be like them.
 
They do not know my transcendental nature and my supreme dominion over all the things”. When a man and a woman want a child what they have to go through but Krishna is not like that. It is being described here how Vasudev and Devaki in their previous birth, they performed…..great tapasya…It was their name .They performed great great tapasya. But try to understand they were not just ordinarily living beings performing tapasya for their purification. They are nitya siddhas. They are the eternal associates of the Lord, who descend especially for the purpose of bringing the, in which Lord takes birth in this material world ….When they performed their great tapasya the lord appeared to them and explained that previously as Kashyapa and Aditi, I took birth as Vamana Dev. Also I took birth as Prishnigarbh through your womb. In this way Vasudev and Devaki are simply representatives of the spiritual world to assist the Lord in this divine lila….And here it is being explained how the conception came about…..Vasudev he was in the prison cell, with his wife Devaki, being persecuted terribly and unjustly by the  King Kamsa. Kamsa’s mentality was simply how I can enjoy power ,control in this world…..Different type of people according to their particular mode of nature that  enjoy different type of sense gratification…..Some people they just like to eat, some people they just like to have sex, some people they just like to make money, some people they just like to become popular and nice to everybody.
 
Some people like to give in charity and think, “YES! I am the supporter, maintainer, preserver of all these dependent souls who are all looking toward me”. And some people their enjoyment is to have power and influence over other’s control, “ In my hand you either live or die”. Haan…..that is another type of sense gratification. So Kamsa, he was very demoniac……he simply wanted control over all direction. He was not satisfied with anything less. The more you have the more you want. We have seen so many kings. They have huge kingdoms. For their own practical purposes why do they need to conquer others….hoon? There is no reason…Whether they conquer the whole world or whether they have one little town, all they can eat is six or seven chapaties…haan? It is not that you conquer the world, that you can eat a million chapaties and if you have only one time you can eat three or four….They can only enjoy their senses to a certain limit. What is the difference just as mental, perverted pleasure of being the controller, the conquerer, very demoniac. This is Kamsa’s mentality and he has imprisoned his own father-Ugrasena and his own sister – Devaki and his brother-in-law. So in this condition we find that sometimes the Lord allows the demons who are so aggressive for power to overcome devotees atleast temporarily. We find this again and again throughout religious history that the demons are  apparently to the external vision overcoming and conquering the devotees. In the Christian religion Jesus was captured, he was put in prison. He was tortured, he was killed, he was crucified. So from all standard of vision externally he was conquered, defeated.
 
The demon just…….extinguished him……BUT by the arrangement of God, in his death he became victorious and similarly we find the pandavas. They were defeated. In every level they were defeated. But their defeat made them glorious. Their so called defeat made their victory infinitely sweeter when it was Krishna’s arrangement and similarly here Vasudev and Devaki……,how much they are glorified as being great devotees of Lord. How much they were willing to endure……all they had to do is stop having children and Kamsa would have, never put them in prison ….He was not afraid of them. He was afraid of their children. As long as they were having children he had to keep them in prison. But it was Vasudev’s preaching to have children. Actually he came to this world as a preacher. What is the duty of the preacher? To reveal God to the world. Preaching means simply to reveal God’s mercy to the world and different preachers may have different techniques, different styles and they may be on a slightly different type of missions but they are all doing the same thing if they are preaching. They are simply selflessly, compassionately trying to reveal God to the world……What a glorious preaching mission he had …..That through him and his wife God was going to reveal his original transcendental form to the world…..Of course God is non-different than his holy name. And one who is broadcasting the name of God is also revealing God to the world
 

So just as Vasudev was persecuted and apparently defeated. Similarly we find throughout history so many great souls who are trying to reveal God to the world, either through his form…, Vasudev is trying to reveal the God through his form. Others are trying to reveal God through his name. There is no difference between the name and the form. They are imprisoned. WHY? Because the demoniac class of men, they do not want God to be revealed to the world. They are threatened ….Because those who are too much attached to sense gratification, they do not want to surrender to Krishna. They understand that if Krishna takes birth….He will destroy me, he will destroy everything my life stands for.
 

When Srila Prabhupad came to America he said,“ If they knew what I was coming to do, they would have killed me….because I looked like a helpless poor old man, they didn’t know…It was in disguise”. Krishna disguised Prabhupad….Just a very simple when I was speaking to Professor Larsen  some years ago. He said, “NO! NO! I cannot believe that your Gurudev has launched such a very very widespread powerful movement and written all these books. He met  Prabhupad in 1965 . He said,“ He was just a simple old man. He was so simple. He was just asking me what kind of tree is this?....and the apples in America are better that the apples in India[laughter] and….Does that tree bear fruit? He was telling me the whole conversation he had with Prabhupad. Prabhupad was just so simple he said. And most of the time he was very quiet. He would just sit together on a bench and he had his hand in that bag and he was just praying…….very simple, very modest, very very humble….. He said,“ can imagine that he was a manager or that he could give big lectures. He was just the simple man and he was very old. I was thinking, “ Swamiji you have come all this way at this age. What will you do? But he was very intelligent . So I can imagine may be…..He gave Professor Larsen three books. The first three volumes of Bhagvatam which were printed in India. And Professor Larsen said to me, “I thought that these were the only three books he ever wrote, I was thinking he is so old how will he ever continue this Bhagvatam. And when he was told there are 150 centres, tens and thousands of devotees, tens and millions of books distributed in over 30 languages. When he was told this he said,“ I don’t believe it. Not that little old man”. So he came in disguise by Krishna’s grace. But what was his mission? The same as Vasudev’s: To reveal Krishna through his through his name and through his form.
One of Srila Prabhupad’s greatest aspiration was to have beautiful Ratha Yatra ceremonies in the streets of every city worldwide. What does ratha yatra mean? Ratha yatra means revealing Lord Jagannath, the Lord of the universe, to the universe. It’s a day when when God will be revealed to everyone. Prabhupad considered this to be one of the top most auspicious of all festivals of the year. Because more than any other festival it is the day when God reveals his causeless mercy the most indiscriminately to everyone in a larger scale. Janmashtami , Ramanavmi , these days the devotees come to the temple to celebrate. But on Ratha Yatra even people who are completely immersed in worldly life , just going to work ,even the prostitutes in the streets, even the drug dealers on the streets they are all having darshan of the lord. They are all taking the Prasad of the Lord . They are all hearing the holy name of the Lord. And when Prabhupad came to America he realized that the only hope for these fallen souls is Lord Jagannath [ laughs]. “A few people will be attracted to the holy name but the masses will have the darshan of Lord Jagannath.
 
Let us have Ratha Yatra”. So in this way the great devotees..,this is their life’s meditation, their life’s aspiration , simply to reveal Krishna to the world and whatever happens in the process they don’t mind. It may be different, Krishna may empower different devotees with a different method of revealing Krishna to the world. Prahlad Maharaj was a good devotee and Hiranyakashipu really didn’t mind him being a good devotee. What he couldn’t tolerate is he was revealing that devotion to others. It was a great embarrassment to him. It was a great threat. But the more cruel Hiranyakashipu was the more glorious Prahlad became in the eyes of all. So really although from the external point of view the persecution of great devotees is an expression of the envy of the demoniac and their fear of God but in the internal level we can understand that it is Krishna’s arrangement to glorify those who are so surrendered that they are willing to endure anything for his sake. So Vasudev just kept having children. Doesn’t make sense. He knew that he ever had a child. As long as he would be having children he would be in prison and the child would be slaughtered right before his eyes. Do you know how painful that is for a mother and father?. After nursing the child for 9 months in your womb and then he comes out to be part of you…..and after all that you know inevitably that Kamsa is going to come and just beat him bloody against a rock right before your eyes…Very difficult ! But they kept having children and therefore they had to stay in prison . WHY? Because they knew that the eighth son would be Krishna and they somehow or the other go through other seven in order for Krishna to come. Whatever happens, whatever happens to these seven, that’s beyond our control but we have to have these seven inorder for the eighth to be born that’s Krishna….That was their TOTAL SURRENDER, their total sacrifice….and….here is the culmination of their austerities , that the Supreme God had himself is in his most wonderful way, simply appearing in the mind of Vasudev. And from his mind he is been transferred to the heart and here it is explained that the heart of Vasudev is the Holy Dham. Srila Prabhupad in his purport has explained what is the meaning of the Holy Dham.
 
It’s the place where the Lord resides….Vrindavan, Dwaraka, Jagannath Puri. These places are holy because the Lord has revealed himself and enacted his divine pastimes there. But factually, wherever the Lord is being remembered with devotion….his..his the sound vibration of his pastimes are non-different than those pastimes themselves. If you remember Krishna’s lila in your heart. Your heart becomes the Holy Dham literally not figuratively,literally. Krishna is non different than his name. if you are simply remembering the Holy name. your mind and your heart becomes the Holy Dham. Krishna is there….That is why Sri Advaita Acharya , he has spoken this way to Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He said wherever are the lotus feet of pure devotees that is the Holy Dham, that is where Krishna is most revealed in this world…
 

It is explained by Yudhisthir Maharaj to Vidura that  of your caliber are worshippable Holy Places because the Lord is always within your heart and mind and you are always revealing the lord through, whatever you do .You are Holy Places personified . And it is described that all the Holy rivers and all the Holy places are contained in full at the lotus feet of one who is surrendered to Krishna….and it also described that going to a Holy place without seeking the shelter of the lotus feet of such a person is the symptom of kalyuga. You will never understand the Holy place without the help of the Sadhu. They are the ones who are specifically petitioned by Sri Krishna and empowered to reveal him to the world ….So therefore it is our greatest aspiration of a devotee, by taking shelter of the holy dham of the lotus feet of a great soul. That the Holy Dham is revealed within our own lives, within our own hearts. So it is described that when Krishna appeared within Vasudev he became effulgent like more than the Sun. Even Kamsa could not look at him. He didn’t change his. Probably it made it worse actually [laughs]. But Kamsa could not even look at Vasudev.
 
He was so brilliant, so beautiful ,so effulgent . And it describes what to speak of Kamsa , nobody could look at him. He was just bright with the grace of God……..And this is the reciprocation of Lord and his devotees. Because Vasudev and Devaki were willing to go through terrible tribulations on behalf of Krishna . Krishna was so benevolently giving himself to them in such a beautiful and wonderful way…..But that’s not the end of the story. We are about to read how Krishna is about to appear in his beautiful form to Vasudev and Devaki and they are going to fall at his lotus feet and offer beautiful prayers and then upon their request, Krishna is going to transform his form into the most beautiful of all the babies that have ever appeared in all the creation. Can you imagine this is an important point . We see how mother when a child is born. I mean…..If we want to be unbias how many children when they are just born are beautiful….They are creatures….They just look like little creatures , right! Terrible looking …haan…[ laughs]…people go and say,“ Oh ! How beautiful your little baby just born, BEAUTIFUL! It’s all crunched up like a resin and yet the mother and the father and all the relatives are so attached to this creature that have just somehow or other manifested….affection is so much! IMMENSE.
 
Could you imagine KRISHNA became your child at birth. He wasn’t crunched up like a resin [ laughs]. He was absolutely beautiful. He had the most bluish complexion, lotus eyes,every limb was perfectly placed. He was the embodiment of Supreme beauty….Could you imagine having a baby like that. How much you would become attached to it. This is how much Devaki and Vasudev were attached to Krishna and yet they were told on that very night,“Take me to someone else’s house.Exchange me for the daughter of Nanda and Yashoda in Gokula …..and what did Vasudev say ?, what did Devaki say?Did they say,“NO! NO! Not after all this trouble . Not after all these years of seeing children killed just to bring you into this world. What we have done for you and now we have a few moments of your association, you are going to leave us. You are going to leave us to stay in the jail and you are going to go out and herd cows or whatever in Gokul”. They didn’t complain. This is surrender. This is the great great exalted SURRENDER of Lord’s pure devotees. But just as we were recently in Vrindavan. We went to a very famous place called . It is the hill Krishna killed Kasmsa and after he killed Kamsa, he was only I believe twelve years and eight months old when he left Vrindavan came to Mathura, went to the Rangbhumi , the wrestling arena and there he went to where Kamsa was sitting on a dias and he dragged him out of the dias and beat him with his fist and killed him and then what did he do? From twelve years and eight months to when he left this world approximately around 125,that means almost 112 years, 111 years and some months he lived with Vasudev and Devaki…… In Mathura he lived with them. In dwaraka he lived with them and exchanged such beautiful loving affection with them throughout the rest of his lila.
 

fulfilled their desire to the ultimate extreme and beyond. Just to make them glorious throughout the history and just to give them the chance of rendering such special unparalleled service the Lord put them through great test and tribulations in the process and through them Krishna was revealed to the world. Therefore we all have a great debt to such great personalities and how can we repay our debt. Simply by hearing and chanting the glories of their Lord whom they revealed to the world. By watering the root of the tree we pay all our debt. Vasudev and Devaki didn’t want anything for themselves. They simply wanted the world to follow the feet of Kishna, their beloved son.
 

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE
HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE
 

As Krishna is within his name ……By taking shelter of the holy name of the Lord we are more than in any other way expressing our appreciation and gratitude for all the great devotees of the Lord, throughout all of history who have sacrificed so much just to give Krishna to us. When we would ask prabhupad how can we repay you for all you have done just to bring us krishna conscious. What would he say,“ Chant Hare Krishna”. All the previous acharyas, all the previous avataras can all be fully repaid? Well! We can never fully repay. But according to our capacity we can fully satisfy them. Simply by taking shelter of the glorification of the holy name.
 

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE
HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE
 

Is there any questions?

Question:
This was the same question Arjuna was asking Lord Krishna, “That if all I have to do is think of you, why should I fight this battle. It is difficult to think of you while doing that [ laughs] right? Therefore the question is simply how we can best serve. The quality of our thinking of Krishna is to the extent we are pleasing Krishna through our mood of service. We don’t want to think of Krishna to enjoy Krishna. We want to think of Krishna to be enjoyed by Krishna. So how could we best serve and that is why we need a spiritual master and that is why we need advanced vaishnavas to give us guidance because really we do not know how we can best serve. Raghunath Das Goswami, he was a big businessman. He made all the in a very small time. He was very big. His father and grandfather, they were pious, religious. His father and uncle they were very pious , they were supporting most of the vaishnavas…. haan…they were dovetailing and utilizing so much of their money in the service of the vaishnavas and in the service of Krishna and they were very  and Raghunath was just according to their calculation he was just the perfection of somebody who was perfectly competent to take over the business and expand it beyond their capacity and not only that he was their only son . I mean what if your parent work so hard for what ? so that they can enjoy. But then they know that, they have to die. So their solace is, “ I can give it all to my son”. But here their only son, he wanted to give everything up and when he approached Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, “You just pretend to be a good grahastha now”. He was also married. A beautiful chaste wife . “ that you pretend to be a good husband now. But when Krishna’s mercy is on you and it would be revealed, leave it all !” and then he left it and he went to Jagannath Puri and became the assistant of Sri Chitanya Mahaprabhu’s personel secretary Swarup Damodar and when he came Lord Chaitanya didn’t send him back home. He said,“Oh! You are lucky. You are  to the deep dark well of family life, people go to pass stool”. [ laughs].
 
He stayed with him for so many years in Puri and then he went to Vrindavan. But what was the capacity of his service? He inspired hundreds and millions of people throughout history to surrender to Krishna …… haan…By his example ,by his writings, by his teachings.
 
 
Sanatana goswami was a prime minister of the whole of Bengal and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said , “ Get out of this position, go to Vrindavan”. But how many prime ministers Bengal had…..Who remembers any of them. But Sanatana Goswami we all remember because he revealed the treasure of prem bhakti to the world. So this is how they could best serve. But in the case Kurma brahmana in South India. He was just attached……When Chiatanya Mahaprabhu went to kurma kshetra. He stayed with him for some days and the Kurma brahmana became a pure devotee. He became so attached to Sri Chitanya Mahaprabhu. When the Lord left , he went with him and Lord Gauranga said to him,“Where are you going”. He said,“I am going with you”. He said,“Why?”. He said,“ Because this family is such disturbing, so many complications, so many problems”. He could have said just like a  he is explaining I think you feel the same way….haan? He is practically repeating everything you are saying and saying, therefore forget it. It’s all bondage. It’s all suffering. I am just following you . No problem. I am surrendering at your lotus feet. And Chaitanya Mahaprahu said,“Oh! you are surrendered to my lotus feet”. “ yes ”. “then go home, take care of your family. Do your job but whoever you meet tell them about Krishna and always chant the holy name and whatever you are doing. Do it . whatever you are doing for Krishna’s glory”.
And king Prataprudra was a king and when he found out because he was a king he could not have the association of Sri Chitanya Mahaprabhu. He made a vow that he was going to become a beggar and give up his whole Kingdom……Did you know that?
 
He was put on an which is the sign of like in those days it was sign of total renunciates who give up everything . He said, “ if this is what it takes to please Lord Chitanya I am going to do it”. And he was so determined. He vowed to do it. But he was a good king. He was a Krishna conscious king. He was creating all facilities for the devotees. He was humbly worshipping Jagannath like a street sweeper. Therefore Sri Chaitabya Mahaprabhu gave him very special mercy that in such a way that he never gave anyone mercy before. Very unique how he gave king Prataprudra his mercy. Just to keep him as king and to satisfy all of his aspirations for Krishna consciousness because Mahaprabhu wanted him to remain king. All Mahaprabhu would have had to do is tell Sarvabhauma , “ O he want to quit everything and become a sannyasi ”. Let him. NO! he wanted him as king. So what’s the difference between Rupa Goswami who gave up the whole Kingdom on the order of the Lord and what is the difference that King Prataprudra maintained all of his responsibilities to family, home and kingdom for the lord. There is no difference. They are both simply doing whatever pleases Krishna most. Arjuna also he was ready to take sannyas in the first chapter of the Gita. He was the perfect candidate for the sannyas ashram in the first chapter of Gita. But lord Krishna told him, “ NO, you tolerate all these difficulties. You fight with all these worldly people for my sake”. Well! Therefore we must have spiritual guidance. grahastha, brahmachari, vanaprastha, sannyasi is not important, what is important is we are simply trying to please Krishna in whatever we do…hoon…whatever ashram we are in we should not be coward . we should not be afraid to face complexities, difficulties and problems. We should be willing to tolerate them for Krishna’s sake….haan .
 
Sometimes grahastha think that this life is so many complications. Sannyasis have it so easy. But it’s not so easy ,when you become a sannyasi then everybody’s problem become your problems….haan…[laughs] look at Prabhupad what they had to go through. But they did it because Krishna wanted it. Bhaktisiddhanta ordered Prabhupad, “Spread this message of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in English language all over the world, that’s what my Guru wants”. He was sitting in Vrindavan at the feet Rupa Goswami…..But he accepted so many complications, so many hardships , so many false accusations against him because it pleased Krishna…But [what] Prabhupad went through when he had to organize and manage, is millions of times more than any of our business and he was a sannyasi. He adopted a family of thousands. He had all kinds of problems and he had to nourish all of them on every level….So a devotee is not concerned with going from one ashram or from one position to another to avoid the complications in the problems of life. In a spirit of Arjuna, devotees  withstand anything and accept any kind of difficulty, if it’s the best way we can serve Krishna and it’s in pleasing Krishna that we make spiritual advancement. We have to give up our own conception of spiritual advancement and understand that the only spiritual advancement. In the school of bhakti is by pleasing Krishna….Any other questions? Yes .
 

Answer: He was being directed by Krishna. Yes he was conscious that the Lord was going to take birth and it was going to be the eighth. So whatever happens to first seven that’s in his hands but I have to prepare the way for him. And his great great great great great great great grandfather whose name is Yadu. He was son of King Yayati. King Yayati had many children . it’s a long story but by the curse of Sukracharya he was made into an impotent , invalid and Sukracharya said,“ I’ll give you back your youth and power only if you give your invalidity to one of your children and they are willing to accept it. Now according to the vedic principles, son must obey his father and if the son doesn’t obey his father he is disgrace to his family’s name. He is an offender……..So King Yayati approached  and they said,“ Forget it , am not going to give up my youth and my happiness, to be an invalid like you , just because you want to have sex with somebody. Forget it”. And they were condemned because they broke all the vedic principle. Because for their own sense enjoyment they disobeyed the command of the father ……..And finally one of the children. I think his name was Puru. He said,“Yes”. He was the youngest of the children. He was the youngest. He said, “ Yes my father, the will of the father is the will of the God I must accept”….and he accepted invalidity and he is glorious. He is glorious to this day because in the name of dharma , to follow the principle of obedience to father , he was willing to accept old age and invalidity and give his youth to his father. But who is the most glorious of all his children- Yadu. Yadu broke the principle of following the father. He said, “ No! my father I’ll not give you my youth.” But he was different than his other brothers who refused. They are condemned but he is the most glorified because he knew that it was Krishna’s plan to take birth in his dynasty and he knew that by surrendering to his father which is a principle of dharma he would begin to interfere with Supreme dharma of surrendering to Krishna. Therefore he very much aggravated and disturbed his father and broke the moral principles of Vedas for the highest principle of surrendering to Krishna.
 

“ Sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja
Aham tvam sarva-papebhyo moksayisyami ma sucah
 

He was following that highest principle of abandoning all other varities of religion and surrendering to me. Some of his other brothers they were abandoning all varities of religion for the purpose of sense gratification and they were condemned. Puru was accepting all varities of religion but he was not going to surrender to Krishna. Ofcourse he did not had that facility. Neither was his order. Puru did what was perfect for him to do. But Yadu did the most perfect, because he surrendered to Krishna……He broke the principle. He became infamous, temporarily,for disobeying his father but he didn’t care about his own  .He was only concerned with the will of God being executed through him….So these great souls. They were willing to endure or go through anything for Krishna’s sake. They knew that Krishna was coming and they knew their mission…hoon….any other questions? We must also know our mission.