Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya We are reading from the 7th canto of Shrimad Bhagavatam Chapter 7, entitled What Prahlad Lured in the Womb, Nishamya, nishamya karmani gunaana thulyaana Viryani neela tanubhi kritaani Yad ati harsho tpula kashroog Translation and purport by His Divine Grace A.C.

1 who is situated in devotional service is certainly the controller of his senses and thus he is a liberated person.

When such a liberated person, the pure devotee hears the transcendental qualities and activities of Lord's incarnations for performance of various pastimes, his hair stands on end of his body.

Tears fall from his eyes and in spiritual realization his voice falters.

Sometimes he very openly dances, sometimes he sings loudly and sometimes he cries.

Thus he expresses his transcendental jubilation.

For example, when he appeared as Lord Ramchandra, he performed uncommon activities like bridging the ocean.

Similarly, when Lord Krishna appeared, he raised the Govardhan Hill when he was only 7 years of age.

Fools and rascals who are not in the transcendental position consider this uncommon activities of the Lord to be mythological.

But when a pure devotee, the liberated person, hears about such uncommon activities of the Lord, he immediately becomes ecstatic and exhibits the symptoms of chanting, dancing, crying very loudly and jubilantly.

This is the difference between a devotee and a non-devotee.

1 who is situated in devotional service is certainly the controller of his senses.

Actually this is not the part of the verse.

In this whole chapter, only text number 34 and text number 35 are the verses where Prahlad Maharaj is explaining or kind of extending the knowledge given to his classmates to a higher level where he actually is showing some esoteric symptoms or ecstatic symptoms of pure devotees.

Now all the students, it is very interesting to understand the theme of this chapter, how the verses, the flow of the verses.

All the classmates are just newcomers in Krishna Consciousness that way.

And they are, this is the first time where the students have inquired to Prahlad, how come you have learned all these things?

Please, can you explain from when you learned it?

So Prahlad Maharaj, so far, he was giving tits and bits of information, and not a systematic way of how he learned things like that.

So now when his classmates are asking, then he starts speaking how he actually learned all these things right from the womb and he explains all basic philosophy throughout the chapter about the futility of this material world and how remembrance of the Lord helps us to get out of such entanglement.

Only in this verse suddenly, last verse he's speaking about how by, he says, by these activities 1 is able to cut down the influence of enemies like lust, greed, illusion, etc.

And suddenly he says, when liberated personalities hear the pastimes of the Lord, they jump and dance in ecstasy.

There is no connection as such, 1 verse to another.

Therefore Prabhupada is actually just connecting it that who is a liberated person.

The previous verse says 1 who follows the process he becomes fixed in devotional service.

Therefore Prabhupada says 1 who is situated in devotional service he is controller of senses and therefore he is a liberated person.

And therefore this verse begins, that when a liberated person hears.

But we see that all the children, all the classmates who are assembled, they are very new to the process and yet Prahlad Maharaj is explaining some esoteric symptoms of pure devotees or his or the symptoms of persons who are almost perfected their lives.

And these 2 verses he has kind of sandwiched.

He has given the taste, what is the actual taste of performing Krishna Consciousness.

This he gives in verse number 34, 35 and rest all he is just explaining, not just, he is explaining the futility of the material world.

So it is very interesting to know how, why Prahlad Maharaj, I was wondering that why would Prahlad Maharaj when he is speaking to people who don't know anything about Krishna consciousness or the path of spiritual life and he is explaining about esoteric system right in just few verses.

So Prabhupada in the parpat he says, he mentions that when pure devotees, when they hear these pastimes, they get into ecstasy.

And when fools they hear, they start either deriding what as Bhagavad Gita explains, avajan nanti mamuda, Krishna says.

Fools and rascals when they see me performing as Bhagavata in the first canto, Shukadeva Goswami explains that Krishna and Balram, Krittavan Kila Karmani, Guda Kapata Manusha, They perform pastimes, they hide themselves in the human aspect, in the human form and they perform pastimes which then seem to be very ordinary.

Like Prabhupada here, he is explaining the pastime of Lord Ramachandra building an ocean.

Normally we can understand that somebody can build a bridge, that is okay.

But with monkeys, it's impossible to comprehend.

And therefore, to understand these pastimes, with normal conscience or normal intelligence it is not possible.

Therefore Pravalad Maharaj is explaining the processes how 1 can be freed or 1 can revive his higher intelligence in the form of unearth and everything.

In fact, when people they are, they use their contaminated intelligence to try to understand the Lord, then they are bereft of the higher science or the higher understanding or the higher ecstasy which they can actually access.

And although by all common sense they will try to deny the existence of God, still when a person proclaims something, he is… it is meant to… suppose I speak something which I am convinced of, that should give me some pleasure and satisfaction that I have established some truth.

That is not in the case of atheism or when 1 tries to derive the personality of Godhead.

That even though they try to establish that by hearing such pastimes or such ecstasies which they cannot understand, they try to deride the personality and yet there is no satisfaction or happiness which they derive by that.

As I read a saying which said that it is, an atheist is impossible.

Because conscience and guilt are actually the function of the soul.

So which is the soul has 1 of the functions of the chit feature to be knowledge, which is the true knowledge about absolute personality.

And when 1 tries to deny that, he can never be satisfied.

And therefore, in such a condition, 1 needs to actually purify his mind and intelligence so that he can understand such pastimes.

And when 1 tries to understand these pastimes with material intelligence, then there are 2 kinds of deviations which we can broadly categorize.

First is that you become, people become outright atheists and they develop profound atheistic philosophies.

And secondly, although they have belief in God, they have this concept of impersonalism or mayavad or rather even if they have personalism they don't have a proper understanding by the form of sahajiyas or upper sampradayas which… so the right mood of understanding the pastimes has to be understood.

Otherwise, these kind of statements, hair standing on end, tears falling from eyes, it's very difficult to comprehend, unless a proper mood is set.

Therefore, the purification involves 2 aspects When we want to understand this pastime, I cannot speak on the verse as such, but I'll try to speak something which gives a reference to how to understand these pastimes.

The first aspect of purification is Anartha Nivritti, which Prahlad Maharaj actually speaks throughout, in the beginning and the end.

34 and 35 only refer to some esoteric pastimes, some ecstatic symptoms.

Rest all is analysis of the material world, mind and intelligence.

So in Anartha Nivritti, if it was possible, basically Prahlad Maharaj further he says that all the processes, all the philosophies, all what he is explaining throughout is supposed to purify the mind and intelligence.

But why he speaks such symptoms in between and he speaks about glorification specifically of the Lord because he says, Anartha Nivritti on its own is incomplete.

It's not possible to get purified by just by anartha nivritti.

If it was possible then there was no need to glorify the supreme personality of Godhead.

In fact when we say anartha nivritti to a sadhaka when he begins practicing spiritual life he tries to purify himself by taking vows, rigid vows so that in front of the spiritual master.

Taking vows is not actually that a very great thing as such.

We are actually submitting ourselves that we are so conditioned that we are naturally we can fall into temptation.

That is why we take a vow, the 4 regulative principles.

It is just 1 kind of negation of the material energy, the negative part.

Therefore, Prabhupada apart from following the 4 regulative principles he said 1 should chant.

1 should chant the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra.

Because without that there will be no substantial purification.

Anartha Nivrithi on its own, the whole process.

See any kind of vows which are explained in the Vedic scriptures, the vows of marriage, the vows of celibacy or whatever.

They mean that we are actually, it is very natural for us to commit the mistakes.

People may feel proud of performing some kind of thing but Wow means it's a burden and unnatural condition which we are putting, it's a stress which we put, we accept, we try to constrain ourselves for our own purification.

So whole, the whole process of anartha nivritti is like that.

So just on the basis of anartha and nivritti 1 cannot be just purified.

Therefore at various places Krishna also explains in the Bhagavatam.

In fact in the 11th canto he speaks to Uddhava very nicely that whatever amount of vows you do, whatever practice you do, it will never bring the essence or purify you until it is dedicated, engaged, doted in loving service unto me.

He says dharma satya daya peto vidya vata pasanvita.

Even by dharma, by following religious duties, by satya, truthfulness, daya, by mercy, tapasya or vidya, even by studying all the Vedic scriptures.

Mad bhaktya petam atmanam, without rendering devotional service unto me, na samyak prapunati hi.

It is not possible to get rid of this contamination by any kind of process.

And therefore we see that even Vyasadeva, when he tried to establish these truths, he glorified the Supreme Personality of Godhead throughout in the form of Vedic literatures and Upanishads.

But they were more or less kind of an impersonal way of glorifying the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

And therefore Narad Muni told, vishwakshena katasuya, unless you actually glorify the Supreme Personality of Godhead, It will be just almost like shramaya vahikevalam, just mere labor.

Some futile or some kind of intellectual satisfaction may be achieved, but there will not be a genuine joy which 1 can experience.

And therefore in fact Bhaktisiddhāna Sarasvādhi Ṭhākura, in 1 of the article I was reading, he writes very nicely.

He says to some of his devotees who have already spent some years in Krishna consciousness, he is telling that just merely focusing on anartha nivritti will not get you anywhere.

He says it is just another form of impersonalism.

When a person just focuses on anartha nivritti, on trying to purify, the main focus is to trying to purify one's existence.

When it is just that, it is just another form of impersonalism.

And even 1 if he is purified he will be lost, he will be confused.

And therefore he says anartha nivrithi is okay, but there has to be artha pravrithi or doing something positive which will actually gain, which will help you to relish the process.

That's why we see that sometimes even after chanting for few years or many years or whatever, sometimes devotees fall in such situations where they experience faithlessness in Krishna when such sometimes some trying situations come.

They are confused even after chanting for few years and following the process.

That itself shows that the focus on anartha nivritti was there but there was not sufficient artha pravritti or a positive engagement which actually helps to mature the understanding of the process.

There were Bhaktisiddhants, Rasoji Thakur used to tell that 1 must hear the pastimes of Krishna with his pure devotees, with the gopas and the gopis and the cowherd boys and other pastimes of Vrindavan.

If 1 does not hear, he will never be able to continue the process of practicing sadhana bhakti.

We can relate, Prabhupada at various places he says that even Mayavadis, they are supposedly more pure.

But yet, even after being so-called pure and disciplined, they don't, they fall down after millions of years.

That they were freed from so called lust, greed, anger, pride, envy, illusion.

But because there was not a actual positive thing in the process of Krishna consciousness or devotion to Krishna, therefore they fall down because of lack of fulfillment in the heart.

Therefore actually Prahlad Maharaj when he's speaking the basic philosophies, he's introducing these 2 verses where he's indicating the ecstatic symptoms of pure devotees, which manifest when 1 understands the pastimes of the Lord.

He is trying to make his, to introduce positive concepts to his classmates by these verses.

There is, this is, then another aspect of, then there is a trap in Artha pravrutti, another aspect of purification, Artha pravrutti, which people try to do when they hear such pastimes, they try to imitate artificially, which we call as sahajiyas or the upper sampradayas.

The, actually the real difference between whether this pastime, whether these symptoms are genuine or not, we can understand.

Where pure devotees, they always restrict themselves in exhibition of this kind of symptoms to normal condition souls.

In at least few, at least I remember 2 or 3 lectures where Prabhupada is trying, is speaking about some personalities like once he is speaking about Bhaktisiddhāna Sarasvāya Thakur, another time he is speaking about Bhīṣmadeva.

He chokes up and you can actually see he is almost broken down into tears, but then he immediately changes the topics or he ends the discussion.

He could very easily exhibit these symptoms and prove himself to be a greater personality than what he actually is by if he wanted to do that.

But pure devotees restrict and Sahajiyas are those people who don't restrict.

I remember when I was young in Nairobi, that time there was a lady who we went to that place and all our, my parents told, a great Krishna devotee is going to come today and very special duty, very special duty.

So I did not know but I thought some mystic magic and something is going to happen.

So when she came, then there was a bhajan sandhya, not bhajan sandhya, bhajan session And in the bhajan session suddenly she started jumping and rotating and dancing and performing all type of steps.

Now I understood like how the gopis may be doing.

And then people's, the entire focus on the photographs and the DTs were shifted to this personality.

That was so-called, that was known to be an exhibition of pure devotion.

And then they called me and told see, see, see this, this is a great, this is the greatness of this personality.

But later it happened on many couple of such occasions that whenever there was bhajan, she would suddenly start, stand up and start dancing and all the people used to give way and they used to start, they used to fold their hands as if symptoms of pure devotees.

But then, Later after many years, I never understood what it was.

But when after coming to the movement, after I read about such symptoms and sahajiyas, that time I came to know.

There was 1 very specific thing which was seen in her.

At 1 particular such instant, there was a bhajan going on and she was disallowed to dance.

Basically she danced and people said, oh, we are just, you cannot dance here because some big dignitaries have come.

They will, you know, when big people come, they have a sophisticated way of doing worship.

You just clap this much, smile this much, everything.

So they felt that by behaving this way, it will cause disturbance to the environment.

And when she was told, she felt so offended.

And then the next day, there was bhajan at someone's place.

She again tried to dance but they abruptly ended the bhajan in a minute.

And then she felt so offended she also actually quarreled with some of the people that, what are you trying to do?

You are forcing me not to worship the Supreme Personality.

So this, if 1 is actually a pure devotee, First of all, he naturally wants to curtail the symptoms.

This later I came to know that, oh, that means there's nothing really substantial.

There is an attempt to jump over by hearing such pastimes or ecstasies.

These symptoms which are explained, they are naturally obtained by 1 who is advancing in Krishna Consciousness.

Not that by doing such things 1 advances.

And therefore Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur so specifically he was particular about also explaining what is artha pravritti in specific connection to the sahajiyas and the upper sampradayas he explained.

He said, anartha nivritti is certainly essential for everyone that 1 must do.

But the focus should be actually glorifying the Supreme Personality of Godhead and he said, Artha Prabhupada specifically means hearing the pastimes of, hearing the loving pastimes of Krishna with his pure devotees.

He says including the gopis and the cowherd boys, Mother Yashoda, et cetera.

He says, unless we hear such pastimes, natural affection and attraction for the thing will not develop.

But at the same time when some of Prabhupada disciples when they wanted to, when they tried to understand this thing by their intelligence, Prabhupada discouraged them.

He said because it is not your level sometimes you may land up becoming like Sahajiyas or behaving in an unnatural way.

But yet at the same time, it was not that Prabhupada wanted that people should not at all ever come across or read anything about Krishna with his pure devotees and such pastimes.

Otherwise why would they… in fact says the… Prabhupada says the very fact that it has been given to… in this world, that means it is for the conditioned people.

But not to be imitated and not to be understood without guidance and proper authority, without proper siddhanta.

But immediately after that, he explains the basic philosophy.

So Prahlad Maharaj is also setting the right mood.

The main thing is the middle part or in a burger the main tastiest thing is the middle part but unless those fillers are there that also does not give taste.

So similarly when we hear any pastimes or when we try to read or understand any pastimes of Krishna with his pure devotees, whether they are gopis or gopas or anything, unless they are understood with proper siddhanta, there will be deviation.

Then those pastimes will be taken cheaply.

That is what Prabhupada and our Acharyas were always so careful that every living entity that… that's why they actually restricted.

In fact Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur said that throughout my entire life in his final days he was saying that throughout my entire life I spent to establish proper philosophical principles and cutting down the jungles of mayavad and impersonalism.

Unless those jungles were removed, how could actually bhakti come up?

How could the seed and the plant of bhakti be sown?

He said, my entire life I have spent on these things.

But he said, this does not mean that this itself on its own is Krishna Consciousness.

That is why when sometimes, of course I am speaking something beyond my experience, but of course it is to my knowledge since almost a decade or so.

That there are many other organizations which are trying to take advantage by minimizing Prabhupada saying that the movement has only the basic philosophy, you are not this body, the soul.

And there are so many such organizations and so many devotees leave the process or the movement thinking that there is something higher being given there.

Even our own Acharyas and Prabhupada they never wanted that the focus should only be this.

Therefore throughout in the Shrimad Bhagavatam we see that everywhere the devotees are focusing on Krishna, what is this 9 processes which are explained.

They are nothing but higher science, the 9 processes.

And in fact, Prabhupada also, he goes even 1 step ahead, he says in the Krishna book where he says that even if the pastimes of these gopis are for, appear to be mundane and lusty, But if a conditioned soul provided his in reads literature from bona fide and authoritative sources with proper direction and guidance, then it will produce purification.

So that's, that way we can understand that it was not that the mood of the Gaudiya Vaishnava or specifically Bhaktisiddhanta Sarvajit Thakura and Prabhupada, not that the mood was just focusing on anartha nivritti all the time, but it was a positive aspect of devotional service of rendering service to Krishna.

Somebody had asked a question to Janani Vasuprabhu that how come do we, how do we actually understand that we are getting purified and how many years it takes, how do we know that unearth and nivrith is being, we are actually getting purified so that we can focus on higher truths.

So Janani Aspuru gave a fantastic answer.

He said, I don't even know whether I'm being purified or not.

My simply focus is my service, doing the service in the most, in the best way.

So that is actually what is called Bhakti Zan Sarvasya Thakur, refers as Artha Prabhavati.

Rather than the focus being on the self and improvement, a positive focus on how we can actually serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead constantly all the time, how we can remember.

That's why Prabhupada actually established all these principles of service and engagement.

If that was not there, this actually shows just like in the nectar of devotion it explained.

The very fact that you see the dusk, that means the sun is there.

You see dawn means sun is there, the twilight in the morning, that means there is sun.

It explains the very fact you see that there is sadhana bhakti or the processes of purifying oneself.

That means there is also a dynamic, super-excellent, pure, ecstatic existence also.

That is what is actually the process of Artha Pravrutti.

And this is what our Acharyas always wanted.

That rather than, therefore whenever we read any bhajans or say we, many of the bhajans, you see they are on lalasamai or like greed about Lord, about the ecstatic things.

But they are not actually, our acharyas have not taught any of the processes independently, that we just focus on that and don't focus on the basic.

It is never that it does not, any of them is taken independently.

Unless it is understood this way, then there will be big confusion in understanding.

Therefore, in fact, Krishna further, Prahlad Maharaj explains, it is not that only when 1 becomes purified, when the anarthas are removed that such symptoms manifest.

Of course this is he… in fact they say that by… when 1 is becoming pure, the more and more 1 is absorbed in devotional service, then by the power of the fire of the devotion, all the anurthas are vanquished.

In text number 33, very interesting, the translation, the devotee is then freed from material contamination because he constantly thinks of Lord's pastimes.

So this means that because of constantly thinking of the Lord's pastimes or completely absorbed, then a devotee is freed.

Otherwise, sometimes we feel that it's not possible, why should we read something sometimes Krishna book or Krishna pastimes are not very palatable to the material mind because we cannot simply understand the loving service.

We cannot understand the aspect of loving God.

And then we feel that because we are impure we cannot understand.

And therefore let's first purify ourselves so that we can understand.

But Krishna in the 11th canto he speaks to Uddhava, he says that even if my, even if with all imperfections, sorry he says even if the great saintly people, They are continuously absorbed in the pastimes of the Lord, always meditating on me.

But he says, but because they are not completely relieved or completely purified, therefore the material desires keep hankering them, keep disturbing them.

But because they are determined, they have this, they have courage and determination, these 2 qualities.

Because of that, and because of constant engagement and remembrance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

So it is not that we become purified, then only there will be constant engagement and remembrance.

In fact, it has to be adapted in our lives and in a way, it's a process actually.

Vishwanath Chakravarti Thakur says that, in the same parpat, he says that, he gives this example, just as a warrior in a battlefield, he's fighting, he may get wounds, he may get hurt, he may fall down.

But if he has courage, he will again stand up and keep fighting.

So he says, similarly it's… this is kind of a… this is of a devotee.

That these are… Anartha's you are keeping on fighting but because the courage and determination is there and 1 keeps on, keeps trying to understand the pastimes of Lord and keeps reading them, tries to keep himself engaged.

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