Krtajna vs Krtaghna

Dear Prabhujis and Mathajis,

Hare Krishna! Please accept my humble obeisances! All Glories to Srila Prabhupada and Gurudev!

In Srimad Bhagavatam Maharaj Pariksit after inquiring about so many things from Sukadev Goswami, concludes his questions with the following verse 2.8.24:

sarvam etac ca bhagavan / prcchato me ’nupurvashah
tattvato ’rhasy udaahartum / prapannaaya mahaa-mune
"O great sage, representative of the Lord, kindly satisfy my inquisitiveness in all that I have inquired from you and all that I may not have inquired from you from the very beginning of my questionings. Since I am a soul surrendered unto you, please impart full knowledge in this connection."

We can see that the bonafide spiritual masters are always ready to impart knowledge to the disciples and enlighten them even on subject matters not inquired specifically, if that is for the supreme benefit of the disciple.

We can see that in Srimad Bhagavad Gita 2.7, Arjuna who was completely confused about his duties, surrendered to Krishna and asked Krishna to tell what is best for him. yac chreyah syaan nishcitam bruhi tan me sishyas te’ham shaadi maam tvaam prapannam. Lord Krishna could have immediately told Arjuna that the best thing for him is to fight and thus closed the whole issue. If Krishna had told like that then we will all be unfortunate because we will not be having the Bhagavad Gita for our guidance. Thus Lord Krishna out of His unlimited compassion for all the conditioned souls gave so many verses of transcendental instruction.

We find that any conversation between great souls is always for the eternal benefit of the living entities. Never was it for their personal gain or profit. In our case, we will never open our mouth to a person if we are not getting some personal benefit out of it. In Mahabharata also we find that Maharaja Yudhistira approached Sri Bhishmadev who was lying on the bed of arrows and posed to him the following question:

kim-ekam daivatam loke / kim-vaapyekam paraayanam
stuvantah-kam kamarchantah / praapnuyur maanavaah shubham
ko dharmah sarvadharmaanaam / bhavatah paramo matah
kim japan muchyate jantur / janma samsaara bandhanaat
"Who is the one and only deity in the world? What is also the sole supreme ultimate goal? By praising and worshiping whom will we achieve all that is auspicious? Which is the dharma that is considered by you as the highest? By repeating which, one can obtain relief from the bondage of birth and worldly ties?"

In reply to this inquiry Bhishmadev replied:

jagatprabhum devadevam anantam purushottamam
stuvan naamasahasrena purushah satatotthitah
tameva caarcayan nityam bhaktyaa purusham avyayam
dhyaayan stuvan namasyamshca yajamaanastameva ca
anaadininidhanam vishnum sarva loka maheshwaram
lokaadhyaksham stuvan nityam sarvadukhaatigo bhavet
"The one who is ever engaged in meditating, worshipping and praising with the thousand names the Lord of the universe, the God of Gods, the endless Supreme Personality Of Godhead, transcends all grief."

Considering the precarious position in which Bhishmadev was lying on the bed of arrows, he could have just stopped with this answer. We also find that Yudhishtira never asked Bhishma to list out all the transcendental names with which we have to glorify the Lord. Even though this was not asked for, Bhishmadeva considered it necessary to recite the Vishnu sahasranaamam so that even today so many living entities are chanting these names ad getting eternal benefit.

Just like Bhishmadeva, Srila Prabhupada during his final days in the material world, wanted to give the transcendental knowledge of Srimad Bhagavatam for the benefit of all the souls rotting here and he dictated the transcendental purports even during the last days. We see our beloved Guru maharaj travelling even today in his ripe old age and preaching loudly the message of Srila Prabhupada.

Srila Prabhupada in his purport to Srimad Bhagavatam 1.4.17, describes the nature of the these transcendentalists very wonderfully:

"And all such transcendentalists, who are naturally devotees of the Lord, are always eager to render welfare service to the people in general. They are the real friends of the people in general, not the so-called public leaders who are unable to see what is going to happen five minutes ahead. In this age the people in general as well as their so-called leaders are all unlucky fellows, faithless in spiritual knowledge and influenced by the age of Kali. They are always disturbed by various diseases. The unfortunate men of this age are always reluctant to give a reception to the transcendentalists who are representatives of Srila Vyasadeva and selfless workers always busy in planning something which may help everyone in all statuses and orders of life. The greatest philanthropists are those transcendentalists who represent the mission of Vyaasa, Naarada, Madhva, Caitanya, Rupa, Sarasvati, etc. They are all one and the same. The personalities may be different, but the all of the mission is one and the same, namely, to deliver the fallen souls back home, back to Godhead."

I remember that eleven years back, when we came to Abudhabi, H G Svayam Sphruti Prabhu used to call us for the Bhagavad Gita classes. I, in all my foolishness used to think why is he again and again calling us for the program? What does he want from us? Still Prabhuji used to call us tirelessly and HG Radha charan maathaji, single handedly made prasadam for all of us. With so much of persistent efforts he has given us the treasure of Srila prabhupada's literature even though we never asked for it or infact trying to runaway from it. How can we repay our gratitude to them?

The great souls who give this knowledge do not want to be worshiped. They will be happy if we ourselves can study, take advantage of this literature and preach and pass on the message to other living entities. That is the only way we can repay them. If we do that, then we can be called 'krta-jna' meaning a grateful person who remembers the service that has been done to us. Otherwise we will become krta-ghna ungrateful - those who have forgotten the service done to us. The difference between krta-jna and krta-gna is a single letter only. Hence we should be very careful to become krta-jna and not krta-ghna which depends upon one single thing that is to pass on the message by preaching it to others so that generations can be saved from getting entangled in the material mire.

Thank you very much.
Yours in the service of Srila Prabhupada and Gurudev,
Vaijayanthimala devi dasi
Abudhabi.

Chant,

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna

Krishna Krishna

Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama

Rama Rama

Hare Hare

and be happy.