Confessions of Love: June 2016

Monday, June 27, 2016

GENEALOGICAL TABLE FOR KRISHNA IN DVARKA

Sunday, June 26, 2016

KRISHNA AND RUKMINI CONVERSING

Rukmini is in relationship with Krishna as Laksmi Narayana.
But she has petitioned Krishna to kidnap and marry her as Krishna, the brother of Balarama.

Rukmini is the chief Queen of Krishna... His favorite Queen... and He spends the most time with her. He simultaneously expanded for each and every Queen but His time with Rukmini is intense and unbroken. She is the most attractive to him of all the Queens although He enjoys each and everyone of them simultaneously.

Sukadeva goswami explains that Rukmini became a little proud and that Krishna likes to curb any pride a devotee may develop due to their receiving His favor.. Hence the famous conversation between Krishna and Rukmini where Krishna explains how he is not really qualified to be Rukmini's husband. He wants to curb her pride and also to see her become agitated. Such a delightful conversation. Unfortunately Rukmini takes Him seriously and just the thought of separation from Krishna sends into her into a panic, loss of consciousness and collapse.

It is interesting. Krishna is joking with Rukmini in a way that He might have joked with Radharani. Krishna would joke with Radharani... by not answering in a straight forward way or saying unusual things to her. Radharani would become angry with Krishna and chastise Him.

But this is not Rukmini's mood since she is Radharani expanded as the Goddess of Fortune. Krishna soothes her by explaining He was only joking. He admits He was speaking to her in a way that was not consistent with her character. Krishna apologizes for His rough behavior with Rukmini and blames it on His upbringing as a cowherd boy. In order to reassure Rukmini that He was only playing He assumes His four-armed Vishnu form.

Rukmini is then able to recuperate and counter all of Krishna's statements about His stated "disqualifications" which would only really apply if He were an ordinary human being showing how they are all actually wonderful qualifications when applied to the Supreme person.

Rukmini is never separated from Krishna not even for a moment.

I pray for the mercy of Srimati Rukmini devi.
Krishna Book 2.5

BEAUTY AND ALL-ATTRACTIVE

Krishna the All-Attractive Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Amara Das Wilhelm Beauty is said to be the foremost of all the six opulences. [beauty, fame, strength, wealth, knowledge, renunciation]
Meena Devi Dasi Beauty definition: the quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind, whether arising from sensory manifestations (as shape, color, sound, etc.), a meaningful design or pattern, or something else (as a personality in which high spiritual qualities are manifest).

FIVE OPULENCES

Interesting...The earth personified is offering prayers to Lord Krishna after He has killed...liberated...her demonic son Bhaumasura. We usually see the list of five opulences of the Supreme Personality as: strength, fame, beauty, knowledge and renunciation. But here the earth personified identifies the five opulences as....

"You possess all kinds of religions, fame, property, knowledge and
renunciation; You are the shelter of all five opulences..." KB 2.4

Religions appear to correspond to strength. So it is not simply physical bodily strength, although there is certainly a display of that by the Lord in incarnation as an human being... but the strength of religion... piety.

And beauty corresponding to "property." Again not so much simply physical bodily beauty although there is certainly that to an unlimited degree in the Supreme Personality of Godhead incarnated as an human being....

The definition of "property" may be of some help in seeing an expanded understanding.

Property: an attribute, quality, or characteristic of something.

So beauty is not limited to a "visual' experience..
Sometimes when there is an especially delightful or profound event we say... "Ah, the beauty of it."

Reference to this expanded understanding of beauty can be found in KB 2.5. Krishna has tried to provoke Rukmini to argue with him by suggesting she made a mistake in desiring Him to become her husband. He is glorifying the princes who were suitors for her in marriage. They were all demons, so it is quite amusing but Rukmini does not appreciate the joke. Just the thought of living without her intimate service to Lord Krishna is enough to catapult her into an extreme mood of separation and she loses consciousness, collapsing.

But here is a line from Krishna's suggestions about the qualifications of the princes where beauty is expanded to include personal properties as well as visual appearance.

"...they were well-behaved, learned, famous among kings, beautiful in their bodily features and personal qualifications..." KB 2.5

Saturday, June 25, 2016

BUMPY RIDE FOR SOME OF US

Not everyone is going to have a "hunky-dory" life. Peaceful, Happy-Thanksgiving-Merry-Christmas family life. For some of us it is going to be a bit of a rough ride. That's me. Fractured Flickers. Lots of reactions from past lives catching up with me obviously.

But that is alright. Happy family life is neither the goal nor the prerequisite for Krishna consciousness. Thank you, Lord. Like varnashrama dharma that can be very helpful for the peaceful and smooth running of society. That is a plus for cultivating Krishna consciousness. Happy family life can be a great help. Senses peaceful and gratified allowing for practical service to be offered to the Lord. Of course it is a double-edged sword and devotees can become too attached to the comforts and gratifications of family life. But in general it is the path most people will want to take. Can be very helpful. But it is not necessary.

It is not necessary to change anything. I can't change anything anyway. If we simply live our lives, wherever we find ourselves, living out the reactions of our past sinful activities and practicing Krishna consciousness we will be doing the very best we can do. The rest is up to Krishna.

For those of us riding the roller coaster...chant Hare Krishna and practice devotional life as best we can...especially "hearing" Krishna katha. That is where I find myself now. Thank you, Srila Prabhupada, for these wonderful books. Thank you very, very, very much. Thank you Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati. Thank you very, very, very much. The whole world thanks you.

So this morning it was the Killing of Bhaumasura. This pastime did not take place on this planet. Krishna was in Dvarka and King Indra and the demigods were have problems with Bhaumasura who happened to be the son of the earth planet personified. Seems like the appearance of a bad son is possible for almost anyone. Indra approached Krishna in Dvarka to please do something. Bhaumasura was occupying part of Mount Meru and had stolen the umbrella of Varuna and Aditi's, the mother of the demigods, earrings. He also had kidnapped 16,100 daughters of various kings and was holding them captive.

Wonder what his plan there was? Ransom from their fathers or "something" else. 16,100 ladies is a lot. Only Krishna can personally accommodate 16,100 young ladies. They were all expansions of the goddess Laksmi so it is possible Bhaumasura was thinking more in terms of ransom...rather than violation. He was a demon so there could have been a combination of both in his desires.

Why he was holding them isn't discussed here. But simply by being kidnapped like that the ladies were not acceptable back into the culture. Helpless unfortunate situation for them. They prayed to become wives of Krishna and He accepted them. He brought them back to Dvarka from Bhaumasura's palaces in Mount Meru.

"By expanding Himself in 16,100 forms, He simultaneously married them all in different palaces in one auspicious moment. He thus established the truth that Krishna and no one else is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There is nothing impossible, for Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead; He is all-powerful, omnipresent and imperishable, and as such there is nothing wonderful in this pastime. All the palaces of the more than 16,000 queens of Krishna were full with suitable gardens, furniture and other paraphernalia, of which there is no parallel in this world. There is no exaggeration in this story from Srimad Bhagavatam. The queens of Krishna were all expansions of the goddess of fortune, Laksmiji. Krishna used to live with them in different palaces, and He treated them in exactly the same way as an ordinary man treats his wife." KB 2.4

Nothing at all unusual about this! It's not even wonderful! Srila Prabhupada comments like that. Krishna can do anything and does do everything. Remember who we are hearing about... The creator of everyone and everything. The Supreme Being.

We know when Krishna appears He pleases his devotees and kills the demons. In that order of priority. So we can understand that Krishna fighting with Bhaumasura was first of all to free the ladies who all took shelter of Krishna as Queens and then to kill the demons. He even took Satyabhama with him to Mount Meru for the fight and then later to Amaravati, Indra's capital city where he would return Aditi's stolen earrings, in order to please His Queen so that she would be able to bring a parijata plant back to Dvarka. His first business is always to please His devotee.

"When Krishna and Satyabhama were returning from the capital city of Indra, Satyabhama remembered Krishna's promise to give her the plant of the parijata flower. Taking the opportunity of having come to the heavenly kingdom, she plucked a parijata plant and kept it on the back of Garuda. Once Narada took a parijata flower and presented it to Krishna's senior Wife, Sri Rukminidevi. On account of this, Satyabhama developed an inferiority complex; she also wanted a flower from Krishna. Krishna could understand the competitive womanly nature of His co-wives, and He smiled. He immediately asked Satyabhama, "Why are you asking for only one flower? I would like to give you a whole tree of parijata flowers. Actually, Krishna had purposely taken His wife Satyabhama with Him so she could collect the parijata with her own hand." KB 2.4

UNEDUCATED VOTERS

If a population is uneducated there are two adverse outcomes...
Either the leaders just sit and do nothing (or steal) or
the leaders even if they want to do something cannot because they do not have a vote of public support. In either case an educated population is essential.

This is how it works. I saw it first hand last night.
We have local government here. It is a gated community and we have elected members of a board of directors...they are volunteers, no payment....who are to see to the maintenance of the community... ..roads, security systems, tree trimming, storm drains, etc. The city or county is not responsible, Our home owners association is responsible.

The roads have not been resurfaced in 30 years and are crumbling. The board of directors has been meeting for months to fine tune the details of what will be involved in new roads. Exactly what is to be done and how much it will cost. I have attended several of the meetings. It will cost $350,000. They have figured out how to take from one fund and put into another, shifting things around and coming up with a need for $120,000. This would come from an assessment of property values and 120 home owners to supply the funds over 8 months. They have put a lot of time and effort in this and done a great job of coming up with this proposal and I am in favor of it. The roads need to be redone.

But no one ever comes to the board meetings. Maybe five people... and three of them come just to argue about everything and don't seem to even understand the topic under discussion and start off arguing about something else altogether. The community is uneducated about the issues.

In order to go ahead there needs to be majority vote. The meeting to vote was last night. Last week a newsletter went out to everyone. But I could see from the newsletter that it did not going into enough depth of why the proposal was up for vote. the research that went into it. All the people saw was $350,000 and we owe out $120,000 of it. It was defeated by a huge majority.

Before the vote I asked the people around me, "What do you think?" Their answers were really off the wall. They had no idea all the serious preparations that had gone into the proposal and how it really was the best possible course of action. Someone simply brought up old grievances against one of the board members, and some else simply said, "That's too much money." They had no clear idea of the research that went into it. It was voted down. 67 to 31. And everyone was angry at the board for even bringing it up. One woman used foul language at the top her voice and suggested voting them all out. And this is an affluent community!

That is the challenge for a democratic type government. The people must be educated and have some integrity. But even for a monarchy we have accounts of how the king is very sensitive to what the citizens think of him and his rule. Even Lord Ramachandra (I think it is was Lord Rama) would sometimes go out among the people in disguise to hear what they were saying.

TANK OF OIL

Krishna Book Volume Two chapter Two..

Boy is there a lot of palace intrigue going on in this chapter. Not so much amazing feats that defy the laws of material nature like jumping from the peak of a burning mountain eighty-eight miles to the ground or a baby found inside a fish that grows to maturity in a matter of weeks and marries the woman who had been taking care of him like a mother. But here there is intrigue, plots and.... conspiracies.

Krishna and Balarama receive news that the Pandavas and Kunti devi have been killed in a fire. That is part of a conspiracy by Duryodhana to kill the Pandavas. The fire was arranged by Duryodhana. They were not actually killed in the fire but everyone thinks they were and everyone is mourning the tragedy. Krishna and Balarama leave Dvarka and go to Hastinapura to join in the bereavement.

While they are in Hastinapura there is a plot to kill Satrajit and take the Syamantaka jewel. Satadhanva, obviously a very foolish person who was well known as a criminal in Dvarka due to his sinful behavior seeks revenge. Satadhanva wanted a chance to win Satyabhama. Satrajit had promise Satyabhama to the various princes to win but changed his mind and handed her over to Krishna along with the Syamantaka jewel. With just a little prodding from Akrura and Krtavarma and others Satadhanva is incited and emboldened to kill Satrajit.

Satrajit is Krishna's father-in-law. The father of His Queen Satyabhama. Who in their right mind would think to try to do something like that and think they could somehow get away with it? Even if Krishna wasn't the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He was still the King of Dvarka and Satyabhama was His Queen. Satrajit was the father of the Queen. But it is said that Satadhanva knew he didn't have much longer to live and went ahead and killed Satrajit while he was sleeping.

Satadhanva realizes he is in big trouble and that Krishna and Balarama are returning from Hastinapura with Satyabhama and will be hunting him down. It is amusing how his "friends" Akrura and Krtavarma react to Satadhanva's pleas for help. These are the friends who instigated him to commit the crime, enlivening him to do it, and then when he does it and now he is in trouble they say, "Oh we cannot help help you. Krishna is the supreme Personality of Godhead. What can we do?" So in effect they set Satadhanva up for Krishna's mercy. They wanted the jewel for Krishna and understood that Satrajit had not surrendered it properly.

Satrajit was so ill-fated. Because of his attachment to a material thing he met such an unfortunate end. It seems very harsh. After all he did give his daughter to Krishna and he even handed the jewel over to Krishna also. But Krishna knew that Satrajit within his heart had not surrendered the jewel. So Krishna refused to accept it. Satrajit made a show of surrendering the jewel but was still very attached to it.

Lesson here for us... Making a show will not really help in the long run. The real surrender has to come from the heart.
"If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit a water, I will accept it." BG 9.26
Evidently that goes for offering a jewel too.

Satadhanva on the other hand was killed directly by Krishna who after a high speed chase cut his head off with His disk. Anyone who is killed directly by Krishna gets liberation. So we know Satadhanva was better off for being killed by Krishna. But what happened to poor Satrajit killed in his sleep by a dacoit?

There is a gruesome scene just after Satrajit is butchered. That is the description... butchered like an animal in a slaughter house... The women are all crying and Satyabhama wants to leave immediately for Hastinapura to find Krishna and Balarama. Evidently Satybhama was staying in her father's house while Krishna was away. She had the dead, butchered, bloody mess that is left of her father's body put in a tank of oil to preserve it so that Krishna can "see" it and become angry and chase down Satadhanva. That's a pretty gruesome scene. The dead body in a tank of oil.

"The dead body of Satrajit was not immediately removed for cremation because Satyabhama wanted to go to Krishna in Hastinapura. Therefore the body was preserved in a tank of oil so that Krishna could come back and see the dead body of Satrajit and take real action against Satadhanva." KB 2.2

There is funny exchange between Krishna and Balarama just after Killing Satadhanva. It wasn't completely due to Satadhanva's stealing the jewel that Krishna chased him and killed him. He was angry about the killing of his Queen's father. But just after cutting his head off with the disk Krishna rummages through Satadhanva's clothing and doesn't find the jewel.

"He then returned to Balarama and said, 'We have killed this
person uselessly because the jewel is not to be found on his body.' " KB 2.2

As if it was due to stealing the jewel that Satadhanva was killed.
Previously it is explained, "Because Satadhanva had killed His father-in-law, Krishna was determined to kill him by any means." KB 2.2

Not just because Satrajit was Krishna's father-in-law but because Satadhanva had rebelled against a superior. In Vedic culture this is punishable according to severity of the act. So Krishna saying like that to Balarama seems funny. Almost humorous... He doesn't have the jewel, oops... But he was killed for another reason.

Akrura is to keep the Syamantaka jewel for safe keeping until Satyabhama's son is born. According to the law of inheritance her son would inherit the property of his grandfather since Satyabhama did not want the jewel herself. She had Krishna as her husband what would she want with a material thing like that? Satyabhamas's first son is Bhanu.

Bhanu left the planet in the fratricidal war of the Yadus. So one wonders what happened to the jewel. It produces 170 pounds of gold every day for whoever owns it. That should be easy enough to spot. Maybe it left the planet when Bhanu left. Such a powerful thing would not be an advantage for an ordinary person. We see the problems it caused for Satrajit and Satadhanva.

SYAMANTAKA JEWEL

King Satrajit has received a gift from the sun-god. A wonderful jewel. The Syamantaka jewel which can produce gold and keep diseases and pestilence away. Anyone who wore it became as effulgent as the sun-god and was unrecognizable. He would appear exactly as the sun-god. Satrajit was accustomed to parade around the city of Dvarka wearing the jewel. How funny is that... Really!

On one of these demonstration by Satrajit a prominent citizen of Dvarka approached Krishna to announce the sun-god had come to see Him. It is interesting to note how the citizen of Dvarka approaches Krishna...in all awe and reverence and yet with knowledge of Krishna's Vrndavan pastimes. His relationship to Krishna does not allow him to enter the Vrndavan mood but he glorifies the Vrndavan pastimes of Krishna.

"Once, mistaking him to be the sun-god, some of the important citizens of Dvaraka immediately went to Krishna to inform Him that the sun-god had arrived to see Him. At that time, Krishna was playing chess. One of the important residents of Dvaraka spoke thus; 'My dear Lord Narayana, You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In Your plenary portion of Narayana or Vishnu, You have four hands with different symbols-the conchshell, disc, club and lotus flower. You are actually the owner of everything, but in spite of Your being the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Narayana, You have descended in Vrndavana to act as the child of Yasodamata, who sometimes used to tie You up with her ropes, and You are celebrated, therefore, by the name Damodara.' " KB 2.1

JAMBHAVATI, THE DAUGHTER OF THE GORILLA KING

It requires serious mental adjustments to enter into "understanding" the pastimes of Krishna. This account of Satrajit, the Syamantaka jewel and Jambavan is one of the "mind bogglers." Actually anything to do with Krishna is a great challenge to the mind because He is beyond the limitations of gross and subtle energy and being the source of both He can do anything. When He appears as an ordinary human and does incredible things that no ordinary human could ever do the mind has to admit its limitations.

At least a couple of specific things here. First is how Krishna can speak the language of and communicate with all living entities. Jambavan is a devotee in the form of a gorilla. Krishna engages Jambavan in fighting with Him over retrieving the Syamantaka jewel.

Evidently Jambavan was the most powerful of all the jungle animals. Even the lion could not defeat Jambavan. Krishna addresses him as King Jambavan. He is a king. He is also a devotee of the Lord.

Jambavan offers his daughter, the princess of the King of the jungle to Krishna for marriage. This is so extraordinary. This is where the mind has to do a double take over and over again. If Jambavan is a Gorilla King then his daughter is a gorilla princess. How amazing is that?

No wonder only those who aspire for devotion to Krishna would ever even consider approaching Bhagavatam. How to deal with that? Are these myths? Are they codes where animals are given human characteristics in order to teach moral lessons? No. The devotee accepts that Krishna is not an ordinary human being. He can do anything and is in fact is doing everything. If He can lift Govardhana Hill on the little finger of His left and hold it there for seven days and nights with all the inhabitants of Vrndavana taking shelter under it from the incessant downpours of Indra and they do not see anything unbelievable we have to know something very, very unusual took place on this planet five thousand years ago when Krishna manifested personally.

"Lord Krishna then addressed him as King Jambavan, because he and not the lion was actually the king of the forest with his naked hand, without a weapon, Jambavan had killed the lion. Krishna informed Jambavan that He had come to him to ask for the Syamantaka jewel because since the Syamantaka jewel had been stolen His name had been defamed by the less intelligent. Krishna plainly informed him that he had come there to ask him for the jewel in order to be free from this defamation. Jambavan understood the whole situation, and to satisfy the Lord he not only immediately delivered the Syamantaka jewel, but he also brought his daughter Jambavati, who was of marriageable age, and presented her to Lord Krishna." KB 2.1

I NEVER TIRE OF BHAGAVAD GITA

I never tire of Bhagavad Gita. So sweet.
"Bhagavad Gita" is absolutely necessary.
Without grasping the essentials of Gita
it is not be possible to progress further to Bhagavatam
and eventually Chaitanya lila.

Because of the mercy of Srila Prabupada
even if someone does not proceed step by step
they can be carried along... floating in the transcendental
ocean of love of Godhead.

He has written the books in that way. Wherever someone opens one of the books the flood of the waves of love Godhead comes pouring out.
This is His great mercy.

If someone is fortunate enough to go deeper,
to progress step by step... building a solid footing in Gita
they will be able to swim in the ocean of love of Godhead
dive and surface, as well as float.

They may even willingly drown.

BHAGAVAD GITA AS IT IS

TO TRY TO GO DIRECTLY, NOT A GOOD IDEA

To try to go directly to Krishna is not a good idea. In our present condition we cannot even look at the sun for a few moments without going blind. Krishna's brilliance is millions and millions of times greater than the sun.

If our attitude of service is not pure He does not have to accept it.
He can reject it. But His pure devotees are very eager that our service is accepted, knowing it is Krishna's desire that we reconnect with Him in love. It is by their mercy that Krishna accepts our attempts at service. The Pure devotee appeals to the Lord on our behalf.

" I am taking special care of this one. He is like my child. He loves me and trusts me and I love him. Please forgive his offenses. He is still very much in ignorance of Your glories but I see he is making progress. His desire for You is growing stronger and gradually he is becoming detached from his material situation. I am preparing this offering for you.

Like a cow that doesn't give much milk right now only recently being rescued. But with good grass and gentle loving care she will give so much. Her heart will sing your glories with love."

DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD

Double edged sword.
One way it kills
Another way it protects.

Fire
One way it destroys
Another way it warms

Rattlesnake venom
One way it poisons
Another way it heals.

We know one way
Gurudeva gives another way.

Drink the poison of the Holy Name
And be cured of the disease of material life.

Why does she say "poison of the Holy Name?"
For the same reason Gurudeva has said,
"If you knew who the Deities really are you would faint."