madhu pandit - krishna voice 2009 11(nov)

Nov 2009Vol 10, No. 11

Rs.15

DEEPOTSAVA - Karthik 2009DEEPOTSAVA - Karthik 2009

His Divine Grace A. C. BhaktivedantaSwami Prabhupada, Founder-Acharya of the International Societyfor Krishna Consciousness, came toAmerica in 1965, at age 69, to fulfillhis spiritual master’s request that heteach the science of Krishnaconsciousness throughout the English-speaking world. In a dozen years hepublished some seventy volumes oftranslation and commentary on India’sVedic literature, and these are nowstandard in universities worldwide.Meanwhile, travelling almost nonstop,Srila Prabhupada moulded hisinternational society into a world wideconfederation of ashramas, schools,temples and farm communities. Hepassed away in 1977, in Vrindavana,the place most sacred to Lord Krishna.His disciples and followers are carryingforward the movement he started.

Nov 2009Vol 10, No.11

CONTENTS

Bhakti is only for Krishna 4

Srila Prabhupada Speaks Out 8

How free are we? 14

Waking from the dream 18

Krishna's Kind Solution:Train Calves, Don't Eat Them! 21

Maharaja Prataparudra:Humble Servant in Kingly Dress 23

Published and owned by Sankirtana Seva Trust,editing by Chamari Devi Dasi.Layout, design and graphics by ISKCON DesignGroup, Bangalore.For all information contact: Editor, KrishnaVoice, SST, Hare Krishna Hill, Chord Road,Bangalore - 560 010 INDIA Phone: 91-80-23471956, 91-80-2357 8346 Fax: 91-80-2357 8625.© 2009 Sankirtana Seva Trust, Bangalore. AllKrishna art and the works of Srila Prabhupadaare © BBT International.All rights reserved throughout the world.Reproduction in any manner is strictlyprohibited.Printed for ISKCON, Bangalore, at ManipalPrinters (P) Ltd., Manipal.

Please chant...

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare HareHare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

...and be happy!

Krishna Voice, Nov 2009 3

Cover pages-4 Text pages-24


Bhakti Is Only For KrishnaReal devotees are not after rewards

A lecture given in Bombay, April 1, 1974

by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami PrabhupadaFounder-Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness

kanksantah karmanam siddhimyajanta iha devatah

ksipram hi manuse lokesiddhir bhavati karma-ja

"Men in this world desire success in fruitive activities, and therefore they worship the demigods. Quickly, of course,men get results from fruitive work in this world."—Bhagavad-gita 4.12

Last night we were discussing the previous verse:ye yatha mam prapadyante

tams tathaiva bhajamy ahammama vartmanuvartante

manusyah partha sarvasah

"As all surrender unto Me, I reward them accordingly. Everyone follows My path in all respects, O son of Prtha."

Everyone is seeking the Absolute Truth in different ways. Worship of the demigods is one way of searching afterthe Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore demigod worship is recommended in theVedas, in the upasana-kanda.

The Vedas are divided into three kandas, or divisions: karma-kanda, for fruitive work; jnana-kanda, for philosophicalspeculation; and upasana-kanda, for demigod worship. Therefore one name for the Vedas is trayi, "three."

The Srimad-Bhagavatam states, stri-sudra-dvijabandhunam trayi na sruti-gocara: "Women, the laboring class, andfriends of the twice-born cannot understand the Vedas." Dvija-bandhu—"friends of the twiceborn"—refers to thosewho are born in families of brahmanas [intellectuals], kshatriyas [administrators], or vaishyas [farmers and merchants]but who do not possess the qualities of these higher classes.

A brahmana's qualifications are given in the Bhagavad-gita (18.41):samo damas tapah saucam

ksantir arjavam eva cajnanam vijnanam astikyam

brahma-karma svabhava-jam

"Peacefulness, self-control, austerity, purity, tolerance, honesty, knowledge, wisdom, and religiousness—theseare the natural qualities by which the brahmanas work."

The kshatriyas' qualities are also given (18.42):sauryam tejo dhrtir daksyam

yuddhe capy apalayanamdanam isvara-bhavas ca

ksatram karma svabhava-jam

"Heroism, power, determination, resourcefulness, courage in battle, generosity, and leadership are the naturalqualities of work for the kshatriyas."

The duties of the vaishyas are given (18.44):krsi-go-raksya-vanijyam

vaisya-karma svabhava-jam

"Farming, cow protection, and business are the natural work for the vaishyas."

And, finally, the duties of the shudras are given (18.44):

Krishna Voice, Nov 20096

paricaryatmakam karmasudrasyapi svabhava-jam

"For shudras there is labor and service to others."

A shudra is satisfied by serving somebody, just as a dog is satisfied to have a nice master.

To get success in a particular type of occupational duty, people sometimes worship the demigods. That is describedhere. Like us, demigods are also living entities, and all living entities are part and parcel of Krishna. Mamaivamsojiva-loke jiva-bhutah sanatanah. There is no difference between the demigods and us, but they are more fortunateto have gotten the post of Chandra [the moon-god], Surya [the sun-god], Indra [the king of the heavenly planets],Brahma [the chief demigod], and so on.

To get success in material activities, people sometimes worship demigods. But in the Bhagavad-gita Lord Krishnaexplains that although in one sense demigod worship is worship of Him—because the demigods are part of Him—demigod worship is avidhi-purvakam, done "in a wrong way." The vidhi, or "rule," is to worship the SupremePersonality of Godhead. Demigod worship is something like bribing a doorman to enter the room of a great officer.

By demigod worship one can get results very quickly. But the results are antavat, "limited." Bhakti, however, isunlimited. The less intelligent worship the demigods instead of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In Indiaespecially we will find many devotees of the demigods. These devotees are not actually devotees. Devotion canonly be in connection with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Those who worship the demigods are not devotees,because they want to get a reward from the demigods. But bhakti is not like that. The bhaktas, devotees, are notafter any reward from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is the difference between bhakti and demigodworship.

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu teaches us bhakti. He says, na dhanam na janam na sundarim kavitam va jagad-isakamaye: "My Lord, I do not wish to ask from You opulence, riches, a nice wife, or many followers." These arematerial opulences. So Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says, "I do not want all these things." Mama janmani janmanisvarebhavatad bhaktir ahaituki tvayi: "I only want Your causeless devotional service birth after birth." That is the desireof a devotee. He doesn't want liberation. He wants to serve the lotus feet of the Lord birth after birth—janmanijanmani. That is his aspiration.

The karma-kandiya, those on the platform of fruitive activities, are generally attracted by demigod worship. Butthose detached from material happiness become attached to Krishna. We have to choose whether for temporarybenefit we shall worship demigods or for permanent benefit we shall worship Krishna. That is our choice. Butpeople generally choose the immediate result (ksipram hi manuse loke siddhir bhavati). That immediate resultmay be palatable in the beginning, but it will produce bitter results at the end. But that we do not consider.

The immediate result and the remote result are described by the Sanskrit words sreyas and preyas. Preyas means"immediate benefit," and sreyas means "ultimate benefit." Those interested in the ultimate benefit go back home,back to Godhead. For them, worshiping the Supreme Lord is most beneficial. And those interested in temporarybenefit worship demigods. They may pray to goddess Durga, dhanam dehi, rupam dehi, yaso dehi: "Give mewealth. Give me beauty. Give me fame." They forget that whatever material benefit they get will be lost with theend of the material body, when everything is lost. In the Bhagavad-gita Lord Krishna says, mrtyuh sarva-harascaham: "At the end, I, as death, take away all your material possessions."

So to desire temporary benefits is not good. Because we are eternal—nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam—weshould be after eternal happiness, eternal benefit. That should be our business. Therefore we should not be karmis,fruitive workers. Neither should we become jnanis, mental speculators. We should become yogis. And what kindof yogi? Bhakti-yogi.

There are different types of yoga practice. Out of them, bhakti-yoga is the topmost. Krishna says, bhaktya mamabhijanati yavan yas casmi tattvatah: "I can be understood only through bhakti." Without being in bhakti-yoga onecannot be happy or understand Krishna or one's relationship with Krishna. Evam prasanna-manaso bhagavad-bhakti-yogatah.

We hold this class for the benefit of human society. The Krishna consciousness movement is meant to allow usto constantly hear about Krishna, talk about Krishna, chant about Krishna, eat about Krishna, work for Krishna,sleep for Krishna, walk for Krishna. Anything we do in relationship to Krishna is pious. Punya-sravana-kirtanah.Srila Rupa Gosvami recommends, nirbandhah Krishna-sambandhe yuktam vairagyam ucyate: dovetail everythingwith Krishna activities, Krishna consciousness. Then our life will be successful.


Krishna is sitting within your heart. When He sees that you are very serious about Him, then He helps you. Wehave many dirty things within our heart, but as soon as we begin to hear about Krishna they become washed away.Now we are hearing from Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita. Krishna is speaking about Himself. Krishna is speakingabout the situation of the material world. He'll speak about the spiritual world. Everything is there in the Bhagavad-gita. So if you regularly hear, that is the beginning of your success in life.

The Vedas are called shruti, "hearing." One has to hear the Vedas from the right person. That is the recommendationof Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Sthane sthitah sruti-gatam tanu-van-manobhih. To achieve success in self-realizationor God realization, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu recommends, sthane sthitah: "Just stay in your present position,as a grhastha [householder] or as a brahmana or as a sannyasi [renunciant] or as a businessman or professionalman—it doesn't matter." But, sruti-gatam tanu-van-manobhih: "Just try to hear about Krishna." Sruti-gatam means"aural reception." Tanu-van-manobhih: "And try to employ your body, words, and mind in Krishna's service."

Ye prayaso 'jita jito 'py asi. One of Krishna's names is Ajita, "He who is never conquered." But anyone who, withoutspeculation, humbly and meekly hears about Krishna from the realized soul will one day will be able to conquerthe unconquerable.

The Krishna consciousness movement is meant to give everyone the chance to hear about Krishna. That hearingis the first process—sravanam. And when one has heard very nicely about Krishna, then one can speak aboutKrishna. And one must speak. One who has heard nicely about Krishna cannot remain without speaking aboutKrishna. He must speak or preach. Hear and preach about whom? Vishnu, or Krishna.

sravanam kirtanam visnohsmaranam pada-sevanam

arcanam vandanam dasyamsakhyam atma-nivedanam

"Hearing and chanting about Vishnu, remembering Him, serving His lotus feet, worshiping Him, offering Himprayers, becoming His servant, becoming His friend, and offering everything to Him." These nine processes ofKrishna consciousness are being pushed forward by the members of the Krishna consciousness movement allover the world. We have opened a center here in Bombay, the most important city of India. So we request youall to come every day and try to understand the philosophy of Krishna consciousness, based on Bhagavad-gita,Srimad-Bhagavatam, Vedanta-sutra, Ramayana, Mahabharata—all authentic scriptures. We are not concoctingor giving false interpretations. We are presenting Bhagavad-gita as it is, without any deviation.

So if we take advantage of this process of understanding—srnvatam sva-kathah Krishnah punya-sravana-kirtanah—then gradually we shall be free from the results of all our past sinful activities. Hrdy antah-stho hy abhadrani.Abhadrani means "inauspicious things accumulated within our heart." By Krishna-kirtana—chanting about Krishna—our heart will be cleansed. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu recommends ceto-darpana-marjanam: The heart is like amirror, and it can be cleansed by the chanting of Hare Krishna. As soon as the heart is cleansed we can understandwhat is Krishna, what I am, what my relationship is with Krishna, and how I should act in relation to Krishna.Understanding these things is the perfection of life.

Thank you very much.

Jesus and Christ Are Perfect—But You Follow DarwinHere we conclude an exchange that took place in Perth, Australia, on May 9, 1975, between His Divine Grace

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and Carol Cameron, then a doctoral candidate in anthropology.

SRILA PRABHUPADA SPEAKS OUT

Srila Prabhupada: We live for seventy or eighty years,but the followers of Darwin's theory are calculating aspan of millions or even billions of years. They arecalculating a span of millions, even billions, of years—and yet they will live for just seventy or eighty years. Sohow are they making such an incredibly vast calculation?Simply mental speculation. Simply misleading the people.An honest man should not mislead others. He shouldunderstand that his knowledge is limited. How can I putforward something that is merely my theorizing? Thatis not very good business.

These scientists, these so-called cultural leaders—theyare misleading the people. Just imagine. "I have noperfect knowledge. I am merely theorizing. Actually, Ihave nothing to offer but my unsubstantiated theories.But that's all right. I'll mislead the people." A big bluff—that is going on. An honest man should abstain frombig bluffs. "But not a great scientist like me. I am theorizingand misleading the people with my big bluffs."

First of all, you must have accurate knowledge; thenyou bring knowledge to others. That is our proposition.First of all, make your lifeperfect; then you try to giveknowledge. If you have no

knowledge—or simply vague, indefinite knowledge—then why should you try to give knowledge to others?

Carol: Your Divine Grace, can you have perfectknowledge? Can knowledge be truly perfect?

Srila Prabhupada: Yes.

Carol: I mean, as far as I understand, ultimately I mightbe able to have perfect knowledge, but somehow it allseems a bit doubtful. How could you ever be sure yourknowledge is perfect?

Srila Prabhupada: Perfect knowledge you can haveimmediately—provided you take knowledge from theperfect. If you receive knowledge from a bogus person,then how can you have perfect knowledge?

Knowledge has to be received from some person. WhenI go to a school or college or to a yoga society, actuallyI am going to a teacher or guru. So if your teacher orguru is perfect, then you get perfect knowledge. But ifyour teacher is a bogus person, then you get bogusknowledge.

Carol: So, again, if your teacher is perfect, the knowledgeyou receive is perfect?

Srila Prabhupada: Yes.

Carol: And do you receive this perfect knowledgeimmediately?

Srila Prabhupada: Yes. For instance, we are givingknowledge from Bhagavad-gita. This is perfectknowledge. You take it; you become perfect.

Carol: And your actions become perfect actions?

Srila Prabhupada: Oh, yes. Have you readBhagavad-gita?

Carol: Not as yet.

Srila Prabhupada: In Bhagavad-gita you'll find that theLord instructs us, man-mana bhava mad-bhakto. "Alwaysthink of Me." So we are doing this. "Hare Krishna, HareKrishna, Krishna Krishna"—we are thinking of Krishna.The direction is there, and we are doing that. Therefore,our actions are perfect. If my physician says, "You takethis medicine in such-and-such doses, and don't do this,but do do that," then, if I follow, I'm cured. Perfect.

Carol: Does a man, then, still have to judge and agonizeover his actions?

Srila Prabhupada: No. If you know that the knowledgeyou are receiving is perfect—because the person givingyou the knowledge is perfect—then there is no questionof judging. You simply follow.

Carol: So it's a matter of complete faith.

Srila Prabhupada: Just like a child. A child assumes,"My father is perfect." And actually, a father should beperfect, at least for the child. In that way, whatever thefather or mother presents to him as knowledge, that isperfect. For instance, the father says, "My dear child,this is called a table."

Now, the child does not know what a table is, but heunderstands from his father. The child says, "This is atable."

So when the child says, "This is a table," it is a fact. Hisknowledge is perfect. On the whole, the child may beimperfect, but because he is repeating the perfectknowledge of his father, whatever he is speaking isperfect.

Actually, the child makes all sorts of inquiries from thefather. "Father, what is this?"

The father smiles. "This is called a bell. To make the

bell ring, you press your finger on the button in this way."

This is how the child gets perfect knowledge.Submissively, he tries what his father has told him, andhe sees, "Oh, the bell is ringing."

So perfect knowledge is available. The child may beimperfect, but the knowledge he has received—that isperfect. This is ordinary knowledge. And in the sameway, if you get higher knowledge from a person who isperfect, then your higher knowledge is perfect.

But if you receive your knowledge—just like thisanthropology business—from an imperfect person likeDarwin, then the whole thing is imperfect. So why shouldwe waste our time on imperfect knowledge?

Carol: Perhaps because we seem to have low standardsfor what we consider a perfect person, we find scarcelyanyone we could call a perfect person.

Srila Prabhupada: So then, if people want to be cheated,then I shall be a perfect cheater. [Laughter.] That isanother thing. I'll take my doctorate title and be a perfectcheater.

Carol: But it is true that even if you look very sincerelyfor someone who is perfect, you don't find anyone.

Srila Prabhupada: Therefore, we are giving thisinformation: "Here is Krishna. Here is the perfect person.You take this." But you don't follow Him. Or, as I saidto begin with, Jesus Christ is perfect. But you don'tfollow him.

Carol: Mm.

Srila Prabhupada: You don't like to follow him. Youfollow Darwin. Whose fault is it? The perfect person'sfault? Or your fault? You don't like to hear from theperfect person. You want to hear from a humbug, bogusperson. That is the defect.

9Krishna Voice, Nov 2009


Above & left: A massive cake replica ofGovardhana Hill was made and offered tothe Lord by the devotees at the temple onthe occasion of Govardhana Puja.Below: Devotees worship Mother Cow andfeed her prasadam fruits on Go Puja whichwas celebrated at the temple on the sameday as Govardhana Puja.

Bangalore...GOVARDHANA PUJA


Bellary...

Right: Sri Krishna and Balarama,Bellary.Below: The Govardhana Cakewhich was offered to Them by thedevotees.


..and Hubli

Giridhari alankara on Govardhana Puja

The huge replica of Govardhana made from cake, offered to the Lord on Govardhana Puja


Vrindavan Karthik Utsav 2009at Sri Radha Vrindavan Chandra Mandir, Vrindavan

Above: Devotees offered a replica of Govardhana Hill madefrom halwa as annakoota to the Lord on the occasion ofGovardhana Puja, at the Sri Radha Vrindavan Chandra templein Vrindavan.

Above: A grand ratha carries the utsavavigraha of Their Lordships during theRatha Yatra which was part of the KarthikUtsava celebrations at Vrindavan.

Below: Devotees row the ceremonialboat or nauka in the temple pond, takingTheir Lordships on a cool evening cruiseto the accompaniment of kirtana andmuch jubilation.

Above: Special Giridhari alankara of theutsava vigraha of Their Lordships onGovardhana Puja. Lord Krishna holds upGovardhana Hill with Radharani and Rohinito His left and His parents Yashoda andNanda to His right.


Sam Surya goes to his city’s orphanage one day andmakes a large donation. Elsewhere in town, AndyAndhakara robs a bank. What led these two to makesuch drastically different choices? Was it their own volition,or the force of some other factor? In other words, weretheir actions predetermined, or did Sam and Andy havefree will?

These questions concern one of the pivotal debates inWestern philosophy. Are human beings destined to followa set course? Are we like children on an amusement parkride that lets them steer right and left but inevitably takesthem along a fixed track? Or are we free to desire anddo as we like, our lives a blank slate upon which we maywrite anything and everything?

In this article we’ll take a brief look at how Westernphilosophy has addressed the problem of determinismversus free will, and then suggest how the Vedic literaturecan offer additional insight into this most elusive yetimportant issue.

Before we begin, let’s be clear about the term “will”. Froma philosophical perspective, it is a nuanced concept thathas undergone shifts in meaning over the years.Nevertheless, for all practical purposes it can be takenas synonymous with “action.” Hence the debate overdeterminism versus free will is essentially a quest toidentify the cause of human behavior. Keeping this inmind should help keep you from getting lost in what mightotherwise become a hazy jungle of abstract philosophicaljargon.

Strict Determinism

One perspective on this debate is to say that Sam Suryawas destined to donate and Andy Andhakara was destinedto steal, and neither ever really had a say in the matter.This is the theory known as strict determinism. It holdsthat all human actions are the direct results of a sequenceof causes and effects such that they are predeterminedand can unfold in one and only one way. Thus, we donot actually play any part in determining our actions.Rather, they are caused by something beyond us. Westernphilosophers have generally been loath to embrace thisview, and with good reason: strict determinism is contraryto both common experience and the norms of civilization.(The doctrine of the predestination of souls, espousedby St. Augustine in the fifth century and championed bythe leaders of the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenthcentury, is one major exception.) Far from feeling forcedinto every action we take, we instinctively feel we canmake choices in our lives. Therefore, the thought that wehave no control whatsoever over what we do is repulsive.And the laws that govern society have meaning only ifcitizens can decide to follow them or not. For example,we would perhaps support punishing Andy Andhakara tosend a message to the community that stealing is badand others should not follow his example. But if citizens

don’t have the power to decide to steal or not, then what’sthe use of sending such a message? Therefore, strictdeterminism can be rejected as counterintuitive and highlyimpractical.

Categorical Free Will

Having rejected this extreme, let’s test out the other. Asstrict determinism tells us that Sam and Andy each hadto act in a particular way, the opposite perspective tellsus they could have acted in absolutely any way. This isthe theory known as categorical free will. It holds thathuman actions are in theory completely unconstrainedand can unfold in an infinite number of ways. Our behavioris not the preset product of any grand universal scheme,but is fluid and flexible. It essentially has no cause, forthat would limit its course.

Unlike the theory of strict determinism, which has hadfew adherents among Western philosophers, the theoryof categorical free will has been embraced by many,including the French philosopher Rene Descartes in theearly seventeenth century and the German philosopherImmanuel Kant in the late eighteenth century. Indeed, itis a welcome relief from the stifling rigidity of determinism,and it resonates with Western notions of liberty andindependence. But as other philosophers have pointedout (including those named in the next section), it goestoo far. They argue that a phenomenon either has a cause(or causes) or is completely random; there is no thirdoption. Therefore to say that human actions have nocause is to say that they are random. But observation ofthe world around us shows that this is clearly not thecase. We don’t see mothers hugging their dirty laundryand throwing their babies into the washing machine.Rather, in place of such inexplicable chaos (the logicalconsequence of this theory) we observe order andmeaning in human behavior. Hence, categorical free willmust also be rejected as illogical and unrealistic.

Soft Determinism

So while strict determinism leaves us with no room tobreathe, it turns out categorical free will opens the doorfar too wide. Neither theory allows for us to have aconscious influence on our actions. What of the middleground, something between these two extremes? Sucha perspective would allow Sam and Andy to cause theiractions in some way that reconciles determinism and freewill. Human behavior could then be understood as neithercapricious nor automatically enacted irrespective ofindividual wishes.

Countless persons have endorsed some suchcompromise—including the English philosophers ThomasHobbes, John Locke, and John Stuart Mill—and it moreor less represents the consensus of contemporary Westernphilosophy. Among these, the mid–eighteenth-centuryScottish philosopher David Hume made what is arguablythe chief presentation.His theory has beenreferred to as softdeterminism because ittakes strict determinismand alters it in a waythat allows for personalfreedom and moralaccountability. He startswith the notion thatevery human actionhas a cause thatdetermines how it willunfold. If this cause issomething external tothe individual, he refersto the resultant actionas involuntary. If thiscause is an internaldesire of the individual,he re fers to theresultant action asvoluntary. Whereas instrict determinism allactions are caused byexternal forces and aretherefore what Humewould call involuntary,his soft determinismallows for both externaland internal causes.Indeed, he emphasizesthe latter by explainingthat human beings willalways act according totheir strongest internaldesire unless forciblyconstrained by someexternal factor.

Hume concludes byd e e m i n g s u c hvoluntary action “free”and therefore liable to

moral scrutiny. Thus, under Hume’s theory, Sam’s donationis considered to be causally determined by his desire todonate, and yet is also considered free because it is donewillingly. Andy’s act of robbery is caused by his desire toacquire money, but he remains morally culpable becausehe was not forced to act against his wishes.

Although with Hume’s soft determinism we finally havea theory that connects individuals with their behavior,whether it does so in a way that gives them actual freedomis questionable. Granting that it avoids the oppressiveimpersonalism of strict determinism and the chaos ofcategorical free will, does it actually bestow on humansthe power of conscious choice? Critics have said no.

How Free Are We?Navin Jani

15


They have noted that although under Hume’s theoryindividuals act voluntarily, they do not act freely. This isbecause the internal desires that cause their actionsare not under their conscious control. For example, Samvoluntarily acts in accordance with his desire to givecharity (and so feels like he is acting freely), but wheredoes this desire come from? Did he choose to have thekind of personality that is inclined to give?

No. We could either trace its development through hisexperiences, education, and parenting, or resignourselves to a simple, “He was born that way.” In eithercase, we must acknowledge that the very factors thatresulted in Sam’s wanting to help out the orphanageare clearly not subject to his conscious control. Rather,his desire is the deterministic product of his background,and it compels him to act accordingly. He is not free toact otherwise. Thus, we are not justified in calling Sam’sand Andy’s respective actions free, and praising orcensuring them accordingly. In fact, soft determinismultimately leads us to the same dead end as strictdeterminism, albeit with a little more scenery on theway.

Although strict determinism and categorical free willproved easy to dismiss (both in this article and in theannals of Western philosophy), you will likely agree thatsoft determinism seemed more promising. But it still leftus short of what we are searching for: a viable explanationof the cause of human action. Certainly the answerdoes lie in some sort of synthesis of determinism andfree will, but Western philosophy can take us no furtherin this direction. We therefore now consider thephilosophy of ancient India. Within the Vedic scriptureswe find a perspective that genuinely reconcilesdeterminism and free will in a way that makes sense toour heads and is agreeable to our hearts.

The Soul’s Free Will

We begin by reviewing the deterministic side of theequation. Krishna explains in the Bhagavad-gita that allliving beings have eternal spiritual forms of which thephysical bodies we see are only temporary coverings.The root cause of this encasement is known in Sanskritas ahankara. Though this term is usually translated asfalse ego, it literally means “I am the doer.” Becausewe are made of spirit, not matter, we have no ability toindependently manipulate matter, and to think we do isthe ultimate binding delusion. Far from being a controller,by inhabiting a physical body we come under the controlof nature, because the body, being matter, acts accordingto the laws of nature. The real agent behind themovements of the material world is the energy of Godin the form of the three material principles, or modes:maintenance (goodness), creation (passion), anddestruction (ignorance). Krishna sums up this wholedynamic by observing, “The spirit soul bewildered bythe influence of false ego thinks himself the doer of

activities that are in actuality carried out by the threemodes of material nature.” Thus, our freedom does notlie in the tangible realm of physical matter.

To some people the implication of such evidence is thatfree will is simply illusory and that enlightenment involvesaccepting that we are the powerless pawns of adeterministic world. Historically, Western philosophershave even been led to clump the Vedic worldviewtogether with other Eastern philosophies and dismissthem all under the condescending label of “Asiaticfatalism.” But this is only half the Vedic equation. Equallycompelling (and arguably even more important) is theVedic evidence of freedom and the power of consciouschoice.

For example, the Vedic literature contains a plethora ofrules, regulations, and rituals. Many prominent Vaishnavaphilosophers have used the same logic we cited earlierin defeating strict determinism to claim that such scripturalprescriptions (and their associated rewards andpunishments) can have meaning only if the living entityhas some degree of factual independence. Indeed, “TheSupreme Personality of Godhead has so dexterouslyformulated and applied the laws of material naturegoverning punishment and reward for human behaviorthat the living being is discouraged from sin andencouraged toward goodness without suffering anysignificant interference with his free will as an eternalsoul.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.24.14, Purport byPrabhupada’s disciples)

It is important to note here, however, that as the mindis considered material in the Vedic understanding, it issubject to the same rigid control that was attributed tothe body above. So just as the free will of the livingbeing cannot extend to the actions of the physical bodyand senses, so too it cannot extend to the actions ofthe mind or intelligence. Thus, the free will Prabhupadaspeaks of must be restricted to the domain of the spiritsoul proper, and it must be the actions of this soul thatmerit the various punishments and rewards he speaksof. But how does the soul act? Prabhupada explainsthat it is through desire. Not only that, he goes one stepfurther to reveal that the desire whether “to surrenderto God or not is the essential expression of our freewill.”

And there, at last, is our answer and the Vedic resolutionof the problem of determinism versus free will. As humanbeings, our freedom is limited to desiring to come closerto God or to move farther away from Him. Materialnature, under the supervision of God, takes care of therest. According to our past desires, we are provided atbirth with a suitable body through which the modes ofmaterial nature help us perform actions appropriate tothose desires. Within the constraints of this body, whichrange from our mental disposition to the karmic resultsdue to us while in it, we have the opportunity to form


new desires. These desires may take many forms, butthey will always be reducible to one of two broadcategories: desires to be closer to God, or desires tobe farther away from Him. Our new desires then createkarmic reactions that in turn determine our next body.

No Deterministic Dead End

This Vedic understanding of free will thus saves usfrom the dead end that soft determinism led us to. Wecan trace the manifold desires that cause a person toact back from the upbringing of his present life to hisnature at birth, to the desires of his previous lives, and,underlying it all, to his progressive desire to surrenderto or rebel against God. Freedom reigns at this final,primary level, while determinism dominates allsubsequent links in the chain. We could thus call theVedic model a sort of binary free will.

For example, Sam Surya, in his previous birth, musthave had godly desires (e.g., selfless desires to foregopleasures for a higher purpose). As a result, he wasprobably born with an innate generosity and receivedgood training from his parents and early teachers, bothof which allowed him to progress towards God. AndyAndhakara, on the other hand, must have had ungodlydesires (e.g., selfish desires that focused on his ownwell-being at the cost of others), which led him to beborn in a degraded situation favorable for expressingand acting upon such desires. The key to understandinghow this works is in realizing that karma applies on asubtle, as well as a gross, level. Good actions don’tjust create good circumstances; they also create thedesire to do further good actions. And vice versa.

Unlike the blank slate of free will or the fixed track ofdeterminism, this blend of the two might be likened toan interactive movie that lets you make choices at keymoments and then unfolds automatically until the nextdecision. If we make choices favorable to reestablishingour relationship with God, like Sam Surya, we’ll getmore and better options of this kind the next time. Ifwe make choices that hamper our connection with God,like Andy Andhakara, the godly options will diminish inscope and quantity. Either way, what happens inbetween the decision points is the preset product ofinnumerable past choices.

When we finally evolve to the point where weunreservedly and uninterruptedly desire only to becloser to God, then we break the chain of successivephysical bodies and can return to the divine abode.There, having revived our original spiritual bodies, wewill be completely independent of the laws of naturethat so rigidly control us in this world. Thus we cometo the ultimate paradox of free will. When we are atevery moment lovingly offering our free will at the feetof God for His pleasure rather than ours, then and onlythen are we the most free.


We souls inhabiting the material world are under theinfluence of Krishna’s illusory potency, Maya Devi. Justas one forgets his life during a dream at night, we wholive in the material world live in ignorance of our realidentity and are considered to be asleep. The “reality”to which we have become so accustomed is a dream.Our spiritual existence, the one we have forgotten—oureternal existence in the spiritual realm—is the reality.How can we distinguish between reality and illusion?In a dream, everything seems quite real. We go throughthe same register of emotions and impressions as whenwe are awake. Dreams seem real enough. What, then,makes a dream unreal? In the Bhagavad-gita LordKrishna has given the answer by pointing out that realityis that which exists without cessation, that whichcontinues and is everlasting. A dream, therefore, sinceit has a beginning and an end, cannot be real. Realexistence is continuous.“Those who are seers of the truth have concluded thatof the nonexistent [the material body] there is noendurance and of the eternal [the soul] there is nochange. This they have concluded by studying the natureof both.” (Bhagavad-gita 2.16)When Lord Krishna speaks of the material body as“nonexistent,” He is referring to its being temporary; itsexistence is not a permanent fact. “Nonexistent” doesnot mean that the material body and the material worldare simply not there at all, or that they are “false,” assome impersonalists say.In contrast to eternal time, our current temporaryexistence is fleeting and insubstantial—a short flash,like a dream. Even a long dreamlike life will come to anend, and in the realm of eternity our lifespan of sixty oreighty years is such a miniscule glimpse in the vastnessof eternity that it doesn’t even register. The same is trueof the computer I am writing on. Even if I left it sittingalone on my desk and never touched it, time wouldeventually destroy it, its identity or form ceasing to exist.However long that would take is immaterial. To us athousand or a million years may seem like a substantialamount of time. But from the point of view of, say, LordBrahma, the first created living being in the universe(who lives for the unimaginable length of time of 311.04trillion years), surely my computer, the desk my computersits on, as well as the house that surrounds the desk,cannot be said to exist. Before Lord Brahma even hastime to finish his morning ablutions, we would have diedand been born thousands of times.Lord Brahma’s lifespan is the same as the lifespan ofthe universe we live in. That is, he lives as long as the

universe continues. So in relation to Lord Brahma’sperception of time, our lives are so short and insignificantthat for all practical purposes they might as well neverhave been. Similarly, in the eternal time of the spiritualrealm, Lord Brahma and the universe we live in are asinsignificant and nonexistent as we are in relation to theuniverse. Krishna explains this in the Bhagavad-gita(8.17-20):By human calculation, a thousand ages taken togetherform the duration of Brahma’s one day. And such alsois the duration of his night.At the beginning of Brahma’s day, all living entitiesbecome manifest from the unmanifest state, andthereafter, when the night falls, they are merged intothe unmanifest again.Again and again, when Brahma’s day arrives, all livingentities come into being, and with the arrival of Brahma’snight they are helplessly annihilated.Yet there is another unmanifest nature, which is eternaland is transcendental to this manifested andunmanifested matter. It is supreme and is neverannihilated. When all in this world is annihilated, thatpart remains as it is.Another PlaneKrishna says that there is an eternal realm of existencebeyond this manifested, temporary world. Here on thisplane all our experiences and activities are dreamlikebecause they will be reduced to fleeting memories; thenthey will evaporate in time as if they had never takenplace. And finally we will go to sleep at death. But onthe spiritual plane we will possess a continuousexperience of eternality. We will have woken up to ourreal life.That’s why our present existence in a body that changesfrom childhood to youth to old age is unreal anddreamlike. Our life in this particular body has a beginningand an end, and for that reason it is a dream. Our lifeis not unreal in the sense that it does not take place.Obviously it does. If I bash my head against a wall, itwill hurt, and that pain is real enough. So the unrealfactor about the body is that it ends. And it can neverfulfill its promise of the happiness we are always hopingfor.That’s the real illusion of material life. One may considerenjoyment in the material world substantial. What’swrong with enjoying? What’s wrong with seeking somehappiness? The answer is that the pleasure of life alwaysends. That’s what’s wrong. Such pleasure can neversatisfy the self, because the self is eternal and therefore

Waking from the DreamBy Jahundvipa Dasa


Nov 13 EkadashiNov 14 break fast

Nov 28 EkadashiNov 29 break fast

Nov 28 Gita JayantiDec 5 Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura

Disappearance dayFasting till noon

Fasting Festivals

hungers for lasting pleasure.“An intelligent person does not take part in the sourcesof misery, which are due to contact with the materialsenses. O son of Kunti, such pleasures have a beginningand an end, and so the wise man does not delight inthem.” (Bhagavad-gita 5.22)As we can see from Krishna’s words here, not only canwe not find satisfaction in temporary pleasures, but thesame pleasures will also cause us suffering. Miseryalways follows material happiness. Because the soul iseternal by constitution, we cannot find satisfaction inthe temporary. Life in the material world can never satisfyus, no matter how much sense gratification we get. Itis exactly like in a dream. We may experience somesense of happiness as we engage in pleasurableactivities, but we always have to wake up to the realityof misery and lamentation. In a dream we wake up toour daily life, and in life we wake up to disease, old age,death, or some other calamity.Fading MemoriesIn life the activities we engage in become memories,and these memories are like dreams. All the good andbad experiences we have been through in life are nowjust memories—fleeting and without substance—like adream we may have had. We forget them as if theynever happened. There is in essence no differencebetween a dream we once had and an experience thatactually happened to us. When an old man sits outsidethe mall wearily eyeing the young ladies hurrying by, itis of little comfort to him to think about all the pleasureshe once had with women.Sometimes people say that they have lived a full life,that they have nice memories to fall back on. But thefact is that the memories of past pleasures are notenough to satisfy us. The memories of enjoyment wehad in the past or hope to have in the future cannotsatisfy the deep longings for fulfillment that live in ourhearts. Our senses and mind can find some temporaryrelief in relationships, or even in possessions, but thenit is over. Even if we love the same person faithfullythroughout our whole life and that person loves us back,the happiness cannot last—there is bound to beseparation, and then misery sets in. There is no way toavoid it: material life is headed for lamentation.Krishna says, “From the highest planet in the materialworld down to the lowest, all are places of misery whereinrepeated birth and death take place. But one who attainsto My abode, O son of Kunti, never takes birth again.”

(Bhagavad-gita 8.16)Now, if there weren’t any alternative to such a materiallife, existence would be bleak indeed. Many people whohave no knowledge of the positive alternative of Krishnaconsciousness find the truth about the material worlda depressing message. But just as a dream denotessomething real, so our temporary material life is nothingbut a distorted reflection of our real, eternal life.The screen of material perception now covers ourconsciousness and mentality. That’s why we think it ispossible to find happiness in the material world throughthe material body. The soul has stepped outside its realenvironment of eternality and entered the temporaryworld of matter. Srila Prabhupada compared this to afish on dry land. Outside its natural element, the fishcannot enjoy and soon withers and dies. No matter howmuch pleasure the fish is offered, it will not be able toenjoy it because it is out of its natural element. Similarly,we have to wither and die again and again, patheticallyflapping for a few inconsequential moments on theshores of time. This cycle will continue endlessly, untilwe wake up to our real existence.We have come to the material world because we desiredto imitate Krishna’s position as the supreme enjoyerand controller. Since we can never usurp Krishna’sposition, He has kindly put us to sleep in material lifeso that we can dream that we are the enjoyers andcontrollers.The genuine spiritual process of Krishna consciousnesshelps the soul sleeping in the lap of Maya to wake upto reality—the reality of spiritual life. In reality, we areeternally full of knowledge and bliss. But being asleep,we cannot see that. Instead we try to find happiness inour dreams—be they the pursuit of love, family, success,wealth, or any number of temporary solutions. We seekhappiness outside ourselves, when the happiness isthere all the time within. We are like a deer that neglectsa nearby brook and runs into the desert to find water.The sages tell us that the solution to this pitiful condition,the means to get out of this existential ignorance, is tochant the Hare Krishna mantra. Therefore the membersof the Hare Krishna movement are very eager to geteveryone to chant Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, KrishnaKrishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, RamaRama, Hare Hare. The Kali-santarana Upanishad saysof the maha-mantra, “It is the only means by which tocounteract the evils of Kali-yuga. After having searchedthrough all the Vedas, one will find no more sublimeform of religion.”


KRISHNA'S KIND SOLUTION:Train Calves, Don't Eat Them!

By Suresvara Dasa

Bir Krishna the calf loves coconut fudge, and Sita the teamstress knows it. Her pockets bulge with the sweet asshe and Bir walk to the training ring. Today the calf will learn his first call: "Get up!"

The earth is soft from the recent rain. Sita carries a lash and leads Bir with a rope tied to a blue halter. The calfbounds through a cluster of gnats, then slows as they come to the ring. What's this?

The gate opens, and Bir walks in to explore. He treads the edge and sniffs the white hardwood boards. The ringis twenty-four feet in diameter. Hoofprints stud the grass and mud, the signatures of oxen training. The calf's eyesblink and widen at his new surroundings. Sita wants to reassure her charge. She strokes his head behind the ears."Good boy, Bir."

Time to teach the call. Sita walks to the center of the ring and lets the rope slacken. She raises the lash and tapsBir on the rump ("Get up!"), goading him forward. She follows him closely, indicating with her body he should keepgoing. When he stops, another tap. "Get up!"

A few times and Bir has made the connection between the tap and the call. "Good boy, Bir. Come here ..." Thecalf walks over to Sita, who kneels and holds up a piece of fudge. A crumb falls on the kerchief crowning her hair,flaxen from the sun. A flick and a lick and Bir has it, his lotus eyes beaming. They are making a pact, animal andhuman, sealed in mud and trust.

At three months, Bir is the youngest calf at Gita-nagari, the Hare Krishna farm community in central Pennsylvania.Unlike his brethren in modern "factory farms," Bir will never suffer the "veal-crate fate." Every year, more than onemillion male calves are born into darkness, and kept there, chained round the neck in a stall so tiny they can neitherstand up nor turn around. To keep their flesh pale and tender, they are denied sunlight, exercise, and even solidfood. Their liquid diet of growth stimulators, antibiotics, powdered skim milk, and mold inhibitors gives them aniron deficiency that satisfies the consumer's demand for light meat, sold as "premium" or "milk-fed" veal.

After three months of living in diarrhea, at an age when they could be trained to work, they are butchered.

Bir is learning remarkably fast. Sita doesn't have to follow him so closely anymore. Just the call and a tap and hemoves forward. Has he learned his lesson well enough to move without the lash?

Sita looks Bir in the eyes and raises the lash. "Bir ... get up!"

The calf takes a few steps forward, then stops.

"Get up!"

A swat on the rump and off he goes at the end of the rope, now circling behind her. Out of eye contact, he startsto slow, then speeds up again at the sound of the call. Sita beams. "Broke to the word" on the first lesson! Outcomes the rest of the fudge. "Good boy, Bir. Very good boy."

To the modern farmer, Sita and Bir are an anachronism, a picture in a history book. The caption reads: "Here'show our farmers used to raise bulls—for work!"

But has it been a good deal, the ox for the tractor? His muscle for the engines that roar and pollute and suck upgasoline at soaring prices? His legs for the giant wheels that crush and compact? His enriching manure for chemicalfertilizers that exhaust the earth and contaminate the water table? His labor for his meat, whose industry signalsthe decline of our health? Such is the progress of science without religion.

Factory farming finds its antithesis in the animal liberation movement. Disgusted by man's exploitative dominionover animals, many animal rights advocates hold that animals should not have to work for humans and that humanshave no right to use animal products.

The genuine advocate is often a vegan. Appalled by the dairy industry's collusion with the slaughterhouse, heshuns the cow's milk as well as her meat. There is an irony here. A cow produces an average of ten times moremilk than a calf can consume. To deny humanity her milk is really to deny that she is our mother. And hence the


possibility that we might treather as such.

The same with the bull. Todeprive humanity of his laboris to obscure his naturalrelation to us as a father, whotills the ground to provide food.This is the grave error ofreligion without science, for assoon as man stops workingthe ox, he wants to kill him. Itis no accident that thetechnology that produced thetractor also produced theslaughterhouse.

The vegan rightly challengesexploitation and murderousabuse. Yet decades, evencenturies, of abuse do notpreclude the possibility ofkindly use. And that is whatKrishna's cowherds have tooffer.

In a field near Sita and Bir,Rasala Dasa, Sita's husband,works a team of oxen teddinghay. After hay is cut, it istedded, or fluffed up, so aircan circulate through it forfaster drying. Frequent rainshave made the cutt ingespecially thick. The oxen pulla long-fingered device thatgrabs the hay and throws it upin the air. Rasala walks on theirleft side, calling commands so

they go straight over the rows. Rasala rests the oxen periodically as the sun nears the meridian. They will finishthe field before it sets.

Sure a tractor can do more—more harm than good! In a couple of years Bir will join the oxen, spared the vealcrate and the steer market. To work him in devotional service is to synthesize science and religion.

"The Vedic way is to farm with the ox," writes ISKCON farm historian Hare Krishna Dasi, "as humanity has donefor thousands of years, and as much of the world is still doing—small-scale, personal, noncapitalistic, nonexploitivefarming. We don't have to ruin the world to produce food. We can live a simple, sweet agricultural life, as KrishnaHimself demonstrated.

"This doesn't mean we have to be primitive, either. There is a large role for developing appropriate technology—like ox-powered energy generators and methane digesters—beyond strictly agricultural applications."

Granted, the golden calf of historical progress is a tough idol to topple. Yet listen to the Vedic view of the earthwhen Krishna visited some fifty centuries ago. "The clouds showered all the water that people needed, and theearth produced all the necessities of man in profusion. Due to its fatty milk bag and cheerful attitude, the cow usedto moisten the grazing ground with milk" (Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.10.4).

"The years like great black oxen tread the world," wrote the poet W. B. Yeats, "And God the herdsman goads themon behind." Time will tell if our modern world can recover the good life Krishna gave us. But doers like Rasala andSita can't wait for the world. Working oxen is too rewarding.

"There's a new moon coming," says Sita with a twinkle. "Get up!"


MAHARAJA PRATAPARUDRA:Humble Servant in Kingly Dress

By Satyaraja Dasa

Maharaja Prataparudra, a king who played a central role in Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s life, is mentioned in allof Lord Chaitanya’s sacred biographies as well as in secular historical records. For example, Prabhat Mukherjee,a scholar of Orissan history, has written several books on the Chaitanya tradition, touching on Maharaja Prataparudra’sgenealogy and political career. Such historical accounts tell us that the wise king Purushottam Deva ruled Orissauntil 1497, when he was succeeded by Prataparudra, who ruled until 1540, about seven years after Sri ChaitanyaMahaprabhu returned to His eternal abode. Following the tradition of kings in his line, Prataparudra accepted thetitles Gajapati and Gaudeshwar. His empire extended from the Ganges in Bengal to Karnataka, with his capitalcity in Cuttack, Orissa.

Though his capital was in Cuttack, like Gajapati kings before him he is also associated with Puri, the holy city inOrissa on the Bay of Bengal. Puri is the home of the Jagannatha temple and has been a pilgrimage site forcenturies.

Historical documents tell of Prataparudra’s battles with both Hussein Shah, the ruler of Bengal, and King KrishnadevaRaya of Vijayanagar, a South Indian kingdom. Hussein Shah played a role in the history of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu:Rupa Gosvami and Sanatana Gosvami, leading disciples of Lord Chaitanya, were ministers in the Shah’s governmentbefore retiring to join Lord Chaitanya’s mission.

Despite recurring battles during his rule, King Prataparudra led a disciplined and religious life. This is evident fromthe following account, given to the Vijayanagar emperor by a spy in his court:

[The Gajapati king] gets up from bed early in the morning two hours before sunrise and salutes two Brahminsbefore looking at any other person. Then accompanied by the Sixteen Patras [the Brahminical council], he goeson a ride of about twenty or thirty miles before returning to the palace. After taking his bath, he engages himselfin the daily worship of Lord Jagannath, after which he takes his midday meal. After food, he recites the Ramayana.Then, putting on official robes bedecked with jewels, he sits in the court and transacts his daily business.

—From Dr. R. Subrahmanyam, The Suryavamsi Gajapatis of Orissa

A book called Sarasvati-vilasa, accepted as authoritative by Orissan historians, says that King Prataparudra hadfour queens, named Padma, Padmalaya, Ila, and Mahila. It is also written that by the time of his death, Prataparudrahad thirty-two sons and several daughters. Among his many children, Sarasvati-vilasa highlights the life of oneson, Purushottam. Chaitanya-charitamrita (Antya 3.9.99) and Bhakti-ratnakara (6.65) also speak of Purushottam,confirming information from secular texts.

Documents of the Jagannatha temple inform us that even before meeting Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Prataparudrafollowed the custom of sweeping the road before Lord Jagannatha’s chariot. They also tell us that he was welleducated and a patron of learning and brahminical culture. He had already acquired knowledge of the Srimad-Bhagavatam and discussed truths about Krishna with Ramananda Raya, one of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s mostimportant associates and the governor, under the king, of Rajamahendri in the south.

Ramananda Raya dedicates the prefatory verse of every song in his devotional play Jagannatha-Vallabha-Natakamto King Prataparudra, indicating the extent of the king’s attraction for hearing the pastimes of Radha and Krishna.

The king’s soft, devotional heart is perhaps most clearly evident in the story behind a painting he commissioned.After many of the Lord’s intimate associates had passed on, the king wanted to “immortalize” them for the pleasureof the remaining Vaishnavas, particularly for Srinivasa, a greatly respected second-generation devotee of SriChaitanya Mahaprabhu. As the story goes, when Srinivasa arrived in Puri he hoped to study the Bhagavatamunder Gadadhara Pandita. But Gadadhara’s manuscript had been irreparably damaged by his tears of spiritualecstasy. So he sent Srinivasa back to Bengal to get another copy. But by the time he returned, Gadadhara hadpassed away, leaving Srinivasa disconsolate. To assuage Srinivasa’s grief, Maharaja Prataparudra gave him thepainting, so that he could regularly meditate on the Lord and His devotees. The grandson of Srinivasa later gave


it to a devotee named Nanda Kumar, which is how it arrived in Kunja-ghat, Kumar’s ancestral home.

The authenticity of this painting has come into question. Did King Prataparudra actually commission? This doubthas been exacerbated by the fact that there are several modern renditions of the original work, all with variations.Gopal Gosh, of the Vrindavan Research Institute (UP, India)—where such things are thoroughly analyzed andcatalogued—states after extensive study, “There is no doubt about the authenticity of the painting.” Still, noteveryone agrees. But it is certain that the painting has been part of the tradition for several centuries.

Though there is compelling historical evidence for Pratapuradra’s existence and his reign in sixteenth-centuryIndia, as we have seen, his importance as a monarch is overshadowed by his spiritual significance in the pastimesof Lord Chaitanya. The book Gaura-ganoddesha-dipika, by Kavi Karnapura, is accepted by spiritual masters inLord Chaitanya’s line as the authority on identifying the associates of Lord Chaitanya. In Gaura-ganoddesha-dipika(118) the author writes, “Maharaja Prataparudra, who was as powerful as Lord Indra, had formerly been MaharajaIndradyumna, who began the worship of Lord Jagannatha.” It is no wonder, therefore, that as Prataparudra thissoul is intimately connected to Jagannatha yet again, but this time through the grace of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

On a Quest to Meet the Lord

The blessings that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu showered on King Prataparudra have been documented in most ofLord Chaitanya’s biographies: Murari Gupta’s Kadaca, Vrindavana Dasa Thakura’s Chaitanya-Bhagavata, KaviKarnapura’s Chaitanya-charitamrita-maha-kavya and Chaitanya-candrodaya-nataka, Locana Dasa’s Chaitanya-mangala, and Krishnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami’s Chaitanya-charitamrita. They tell essentially the same story:

King Prataparudra, though a monarch, was a great devotee of Lord Krishna. Naturally, when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu,Krishna Himself, came to Puri, the king wanted to see Him. But Mahaprabhu told His associates, “I cannot givehim what he wants. Because he is a king, he is like a black serpent.” Chaitanya Mahaprabhu then made Hisposition clearer. “For a renunciant like Me,” He said, “it is risky to associate with two kinds of people: women, andpersons involved in worldly matters.”

Although this particular king was a very advanced devotee, Mahaprabhu, on principle, still denied him His association.Lord Chaitanya was very strict, setting an example for others who would take up the life of renunciation. WhenNityananda Prabhu, Advaita Acharya, Ramananda Raya, and Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya—all beloved associatesof Lord Chaitanya—requested Him to see the king, He told them, “I’ll leave Puri and going to Alalanatha, orsomewhere else. I will not remain here. You can remain here with him. But I will not.” This is how strongly He feltabout avoiding the association of men involved in money and power.

Disappointed, Prataparudra was ready to renounce the world himself. If Lord Chaitanya would not see him becauseof his royal position, then why not give it up? Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya, Ramananda Raya, and the others toldLord Chaitanya of the king’s determination, and Lord Chaitanya was pleased. Still, He stood by His vow ofrenunciation and again asserted that He would avoid the king, despite the king’s devotion.

Nityananda Prabhu then suggested that Lord Chaitanya, out of His mercy, send the king a piece of His outergarment to appease him. Lord Chaitanya did so, and Prataparudra worshiped that garment as if it were LordChaitanya Himself.

Ultimately, the great devotee Ramananda Raya interceded on the king’s behalf, and by his prodding, Lord Chaitanyaagreed to see the king’s son. After all, Lord Chaitanya reasoned, “a son is one’s own self born again,” as the sayinggoes. And the young prince was naturally not as ensconced in worldly matters as his father. So Lord Chaitanya’sassociates brought the boy to Him.

The prince was dark-hued and handsome, reminding Lord Chaitanya of Krishna Himself. Lord Chaitanya showedhim special mercy. Upon seeing the boy, Mahaprabhu embraced him, and the young prince swooned in ecstaticlove for Krishna. Later, he went to his father, Prataparudra, who naturally embraced his son as well and receivedthat same intense love.

Sarvabhauma’s Plan

Feeling Lord Chaitanya’s ecstatic love for Krishna, the king now wanted to be in Mahaprabhu’s presence morethan ever. Sarvabhauma then devised a plan: The Rathayatra festival would soon be held in Puri, and in spiritualbliss Mahaprabhu would no doubt dance like a madman before the cart of Lord Jagannatha. After a while, LordChaitanya would want to rest and would retire to a nearby garden. At that point, the king could, in the dress of acommoner, approach Lord Chaitanya while reciting intimate passages from the Tenth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam.

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These sweet verses never failed to move Lord Chaitanya into ecstatic trance. Mahaprabhu would then embracethe king under the assumption that he was a simple Vaishnava.

The day of the festival finally came, and it was marked by the king’s humble act of sweeping the road before LordJagannatha. When Mahaprabhu saw this, He was inclined to the king more than ever, and He bore this in mindas He ecstatically sang and danced before the majestic cart. At one point, His mystic reverie reaching a crescendo,He nearly pass out. By His divine arrangement He allowed Prataparudra to be right at His side to catch Him inhis arms. The touch of the king, however, restored Mahaprabhu to His senses, and He chided Himself for havingtouched a worldly person. The Chaitanya-charitamrita tells us something deeper: Lord Chaitanya inwardly relishedHis association with the king but needed to set an example for others in the renounced order of life.

Sarvabhauma’s plan, too, was enacted later on in the festival, and the king indeed received the embrace of LordChaitanya.

It is said that Prataparudra turned over the kingdom to his son even while Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was presentin this world. Soon after Lord Chaitanya’s passing, he was so grief-stricken that he left Puri. According to Bhakti-ratnakara (3.217-221), “When the king heard that Lord Chaitanya had departed, he fell to the ground and lamented.Hitting his head again and again, he fell unconscious, and only the company of Ramananda Raya kept him alive.The king was unable to bear the absence of Lord Chaitanya, and so he left Puri, staying elsewhere for the restof his days.”

Historian N. N. Vasu writes in his Archeological Report of Mayurbhanj that Maharaja Prataparudra started forVrindavana but didn’t make it there. While en route, he passed away in the village of Ramachandrapur in theMayurbhanj district of Orissa. The name of the village was then changed to Pratappur in his honour, and it is knownby that name today.

Krishna Voice Monthly Magazine, November 2009 Vol10, No.11 Price Rs 15/-Posted on 5th or 10th of the Month at MBC, Manipal, License to post without prepayment No. WPP(CO-8), Reg No. KA/BGGPO2521/ 2009-11, Registered with Registrar of Newspapers for India under No. RNI 71022/99, Posted at MBC, Manipal, 576104.

In some of the worst hit areasduring the recent floods inKarnataka and AndhraPradesh, the Akshaya PatraFoundation supplied food forthousands of hapless victims.Mantralaya, Shiraguppa taluk( B e l l a r y d i s t r i c t ) ,Ch i kamancha l l i t a l uk(Raichur district), Kustagitaluk (Koppal distr ict),

Lingsugur taluk (Raichurdistrict) are some of thelocations where the AkshayaPatra volunteers distributedcooked food to flood victims.Many of these people havelost their houses and werestranded without any of their

possessions. Those whomanaged to hold onto someof their things could not lightfires to cook as they did nothave firewood or any otherfuel. Wherever the AkshayaPatra vans went, handsreached out to grab whateverfood they could. The AkshayaPatra kitchen in Bellaryreaches nutritious mealseveryday to over 1 lakh underprivileged school children,mostly in the rural areas.

AKSHAYA PATRA HELPS FLOOD VICTIMS

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Puliyogare is packed for distribution to victims at the Bellary Akshaya Patra kitchen

Food is airlifted from the Bellarykitchen as part of flood reliefoperations

The Akshaya Patra van brings hope to hungry flood victims

madhu pandit - krishna voice 2009 11(nov)

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