Appointment with Krishna 10/12

(Compiled from notes on lectures of H. H. Mahavishnu Goswami)

Srila Prabhupada writes in CC Madhya Lila 20.117 that we have forgotten our relationship with the Lord from time immemorial ("anaadi bahir mukha") because of the influence of material nature for so many years and it is really very difficult to revive our eternal relationship with Him. But this revival is easily possible just by keeping in touch with this great Mahapuraan, Srimad Bhagavatam.

Srimad Bhagavatam 2.8.4 confirms the way to establish our relationship with Lord in a very short amount of time.

srnvatah sraddhayaa nityam
grnatas ca sva-cestitam
kaalena naatidirghena
bhagavaan visate hrdi

"Persons who hear Srimad-Bhagavatam regularly and are always taking the matter very seriously will have the Personality of Godhead Sri Krishna, manifested in their hearts within a short time."

Maharaja said, 'granatas ca sva cestitam, on their own endeavor is very important. Many times, we have to go through word to word equivalents for the verse very carefully. This point has to be insisted. On our own endeavor we don't hear, read or study Bhagavatam alone. This point must be stressed. We have to make some endeavor to do that. Otherwise, our way is that general public may attend Bhaagavata saptaah. Half the time they are not attentive. This qualification has got to be removed from the mind. We are really professionally reciter minded. We go for 8 days. After 8 days the place becomes a funeral place. Srila Prabhupad hates this way. That is the reason he has introduced Srimad Bhagavatam every day- "nityam bhagavatha sevayaa”, more so because our lives are very short. 18000 verses are there. When are you going to study? Please try to study Srila Prabhupada's purports. Nowadays our Bhagavatam classes are just for 45 minutes. It’s because there is no endeavor on our own to study seriously. 20 minutes for Jaya radha madhava and 10 minutes recitation and fifteen minutes of discussion. What we can gain by hearing or discussing 15 minutes of Srimad Bhagavatam? '

Srila Prabhupada confirms this point very emphatically in purport Bhagavad gita 15.15 as to why He presents the Vedic knowledge for understanding. It’s because a living entity individually needs to understand Krishna. Maharaj's statements are so true. We don't study Srimad Bhagavatam when we are alone. When some likeminded devotees are there then we tend to sit with them. But even then our mind and body is elsewhere. It is because we presume that Srimad Bhagavatam is not my cup of tea and I will restrict only to Bhagavad gita. These verses are difficult to recite and therefore I will not able to remember the verses. But as Maharaja says, we remember every fixed deposit in each every bank and its expiry we do not forget. Unless 'sva cestitam', on our own endeavor we try to understand with little intelligence, we may not be able to relish or study on our own. There is one point that we simply read and we do not study. Contemplation is completely absent.

It does not require super intelligence. We can see so many foreign devotees recite the verses very nicely but we do not want to do it. Every word of Srimad Bhagavatam is non different from the Lord and in fact it is stated that 5.18.26 "adrshta rupo vicarasi urusvanah". He is wandering in these verses of Srimad Bhagavatam and Bhagavad gita and other Vedic literatures and we do not want to put even a little endeavor to capture the Lord at all. Recently in a class on the Srimad Bhagavatam Sri Rangarajan prabhuji made a very important statement that, "We are reading three verses every week which means for 18000 verses we require to live for 115 years to complete this Srimad Bhagavatam which is completely impossible. We have to read on our own as much as possible or otherwise we will never study this Mahaapuran."

We think that we will finish Srimad Bhagavad gita and then go to Srimad Bhagavatam and then to Caitanya Caritamrta Which will never happen. As the time is ticking (abhidaavato brsham - Endless chaser) and also there is no guarantee that we will live the next second. So it has become very much imperative that we should try to utilize every second of our existence in the scriptures. If we do this then we will not have any time to find fault with other living entities. Out of envy we tend to minimize other living entities. We will not waste our time as well as others time. Our tolerance level in listening Bhagavatam also is very limited because we are time conscious, but when it comes to sense gratification or going to mall there is no time restriction. This is the real case of misfortune. Srila Prabhupad books are very simple to understand with lot of examples. How much more the Lord and His pure devotee Srila Prabhupad can be merciful? It is up to us to put this endeavor or not.

Chant,

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna

Krishna Krishna

Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama

Rama Rama

Hare Hare

and be happy.