BENGALURU: Srila Prabhupada recalling her childhood, mentioned that, in their childhood the maximum speed of the bicycle they would ride would be 25 km/hr. With the help of truck, they could also move up to 45 - 50 km/hr. Prabhupada says, “Similarly we too have to catch hold of Krishna or in other words manifestations of Krishna in the form of the holy name or the Srimad Bhagavatam and then all the potencies - parasya saktir vividhaiva - which Krishna has will be at our command.
We also have to implement the messages we read in the Bhagavatam. A person who stops pedaling while riding the bicycle will fall down after a while. Similarly, if we don’t hold on to the Bhagavatam, we will fall down. Parikshit Maharaj explains if we hold on, we will have Krishna manifested in our heart within a short time.
Reading or hearing Srimad Bhagavatam is part of the morning sadhana. If we don’t hear Bhagavatam there is danger that slowly all the devotional activities will become very mechanical. It will even become a burden.
Prabhupada says there is no use of reading it for one hour and then forgetting everything. It’s better to read it once and and remember it throughout the day. What we hear from the Srimad Bhagavatam has to be applied in our day to day life. There is no standard technique or method to apply, it all starts with chesta, desire.
If that burning desire is there, Krishna will guide you, the Paramatma within the heart who is watching everything. One of the things which we can do in the Srimad Bhagavatam class is to take down some notes, it helps us focus our mind.
When the Bhagavatam says nityam bhagavata sevaya or chant the holy names, kirtaniyah sada harih we may not be able to follow that, but the disciple should always have that lingering dissatisfaction. He doesn’t have to look for who is the Supreme Lord, who is the bona fide spiritual master, we are all fortunate those answers are there.
Bhagavatam is culturing of spiritual knowledge. Prabhupada says it should not be that you hear Bhagavatam for seven days and forget it. It has to be heard and applied, mistakes will happen because of our uncontrolled senses. We will get tempted and if we hear Bhagavatam again, realise the mistakes, and keep moving ahead.
Devotee and Demon
Prabhupada says Prahlada Maharaj was devata, in the sense he was a divine personality, he was a Mahajana, he was a pure devotee of Krishna. And his father was Hiranyakashipu, a demon. Prabhupada explains that demons and demonic personality is not their looks, it is not the family in which they have taken birth, it is the question of consciousness. Although Prahlada took birth in a family of demons, he was a great devotee because of his consciousness.
A devata is the one who wants to serve Krishna. Asura can be made sura by change of mentality and vice versa also is true.
We are not born great devotees. So what makes us a devotee is change in our consciousness, our mentality. When we hear Bhagavatam, our mentality changes, our consciousness changes. Krishna comes in our consciousness and hence we become devatas, we become devotees. Devata means one who is a devotee of Krishna or Vishnu and if we stop hearing Srimad Bhagavatam, stop serving Krishna, again we will fall back just like disease relapse happens, it’s not that we have become fully pure.