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Chapter Twenty-two
Beauty in Krsnas Presence
O Gadadhara [Krsna], our kingdom is now being marked by the impressions of Your feet, and therefore it appears beautiful. But when You leave, it will no longer be so.
Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.8.39
There are certain particular marks on the feet of the Lord which distinguish the Lord from others. The marks of a flag, thunderbolt, and instrument to drive an elephant, and also an umbrella, lotus, disc, etc., are on the bottom of the Lords feet. These marks are impressed upon the soft dust of the land where the Lord traverses. The land of Hastinapura was thus marked while Lord Sri Krsna was there with the Pandavas, and the kingdom of the Pandavas thus flourished by such auspicious signs. Kuntidevi points out these distinguished features and is afraid of ill luck in the absence of the Lord.
In the Canakya-sloka, the instructions of the great moralist Canakya Pandita, there is this very nice verse:
Everything looks beautiful when one is intimately related with it. The sky, for example, becomes beautiful in relationship with the moon. The sky is always present, but on the full-moon night, when the moon and stars shine brilliantly, it looks very nice. Similarly, the state looks very well if there is a good government, with a good king or president. Then everyone is happy, and everything goes on well. Also, although girls are naturally beautiful, a girl looks especially beautiful when she has a husband. Vidya sarvasya bhusanam: but if a person, however ugly, is a learned scholar, that is his beauty. Similarly, everything will look beautiful when Krsna is present.
Therefore Kuntidevi thinks, As long as Krsna is with us, everything in our kingdom and our capital, Hastinapura, is beautiful. But when Krsna is absent our kingdom will not be beautiful. She says, Krsna, You are now walking in our kingdom, and the impressions of Your footprints are making everything beautiful. There is sufficient water and fruit, and everything looks beautiful, but when You leave us it will not look beautiful.
It is not that this applied only when Krsna was present and Kunti was speaking. Rather, the truth is always the same. Despite the advancement of our civilization, if we cannot bring Krsna and Krsna consciousness into the center of everything, our civilization will never become beautiful. Those who have joined the Krsna consciousness movement were beautiful before they joined, but now that they have become Krsna conscious they look especially beautiful. Therefore the newspapers often describe the devotees as bright-faced. Their countrymen remark, How joyful and beautiful these boys and girls have become. At the present time in America, many of the younger generation are confused and hopeless, and therefore they appear morose and black-faced. Why? Because they are missing the point; they have no aim in life. But the devotees, the Krsnaites, look very beautiful because of the presence of Krsna.
Therefore, what was a fact five thousand years ago, during the time of the Pandavas, is still a fact now. With Krsna in the center, everything becomes beautiful, and Krsna can become the center at any time. Krsna is always present, and we simply have to invite Him, My Lord, please come and be in the center. Thats all. To give the same example I have given before, zero has no value, but if we bring the number one and place it by the side of zero, the zero becomes ten. So one need not stop whatever one is doing. We never say, Stop everything material. One simply has to add Krsna.
Of course, we have to give up anything which is against Krsna consciousness. It is not that because we do not stop material duties, we should not stop meat-eating. We must stop it, for this is contrary to advancement in Krsna consciousness. One cannot commit sinful activities and at the same time advance in Krsna consciousness. But Krsna says, aham tvam sarva-papebhyo moksayisyami: Surrender unto Me, and I shall rescue you by giving you liberation from all kinds of sinful reactions.
Every one of us, life after life, is knowingly or unknowingly committing sinful activities. I may knowingly kill an animal, and that is certainly sinful, but even if I do it unknowingly, it is also sinful. While walking on the street we unknowingly kill so many ants, and in the course of our other ordinary dealingswhile cooking, while taking water, while using a mortar and pestle to crush spiceswe kill so many living beings. Unless we remain Krsna conscious, we are liable to be punished for all these unknowingly committed sinful acts.
If a child unknowingly touches fire, does it mean that the fire will excuse the child and not burn? No. Natures law is so strict, so stringent, that there is no question of an excuse. Even in ordinary law, ignorance is no excuse. If we go to court and say, I did not know that this action was criminal, this plea does not mean that we shall be excused. Similarly, ignorance is no excuse for transgressing natures laws. Therefore, if we actually want to be free from the reactions of sinful life, we must be Krsna conscious, for then Krsna will free us from all sinful reactions. It is therefore recommended, kirtaniyah sada harih [Cc. adi 17.31]one should always chant Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, so that Krsna will save us.
We should always keep Krsna within our minds, for Krsna is like the sun. This is the motto of our Back to Godhead magazine:
Krsna is just like the brilliant sun, and maya, ignorance, is just like darkness. When the sun is present, there cannot be darkness. So if we keep ourselves in Krsna consciousness always, we cannot be influenced by the darkness of ignorance; rather, we shall always walk very freely in the bright sunshine of Krsna. Kuntidevi therefore prays that Krsna continue to be present with her and the Pandavas.
In fact, however, Krsna was not leaving the Pandavas, just as He never left Vrndavana. In the sastra, the Vedic literature, it is said, vrndavanam parityajya no padam ekam gacchati: Krsna never goes even one step from Vrndavana. He is so much attached to Vrndavana. How is it, then, that we see that Krsna left Vrndavana and went to Mathura and then far away to Hastinapura and did not return for many years? Actually, Krsna did not leave, for all the inhabitants of Vrndavana, after Krsna left, were always thinking of Him and crying. The only engagement of mother Yasoda, Nanda Maharaja, Radharani, and all the gopis, cows, calves, and cowherd boys was to think of Krsna and cry, and in this way they felt Krsna to be present, because Krsnas presence can be felt more strongly in separation from Him. That is Caitanya Mahaprabhus teaching: to love Krsna in separation. Sunyayitam jagat sarvam govinda-virahena me. Caitanya Mahaprabhu thought, Everything is vacant without Govinda, without Krsna. Everything was vacant, but Krsna consciousness was there.
When we see everything as nothing, but have only Krsna consciousness, we shall have attained the highest perfection. Therefore the gopis are so exalted. Having attained this perfection, they could not forget Krsna even for a single moment. When Krsna went to the forest with His cows and calves, the minds of the gopis at home were disturbed. Oh, Krsna is walking barefoot, they thought. There are so many stones and nails on the path, and they must be pricking Krsnas lotus feet, which are so soft that we think our breasts hard when Krsna puts His lotus feet upon them. Thus they would cry, absorbed in these thoughts. The gopis were so anxious to see Krsna back home in the evening that they would stand on the path, looking to see Krsna returning with His calves and cows. This is Krsna consciousness.
Krsna cannot be absent from a devotee when the devotee is intensely absorbed in Krsna thought. Here Kuntidevi is very much anxious, thinking that Krsna will be absent, but the actual effect of Krsnas physical absence is that He becomes more intensely present within the mind of the devotee. Therefore Caitanya Mahaprabhu, by the example of His actual life, taught vipralambha-seva, service of Krsna in separation. Tears would come from His eyes like torrents of rain, for He would feel everything to be vacant for want of Krsna.
There are two stages of meeting Krsna. Being personally present with Krsna, personally meeting Him, personally talking with Him, and personally embracing Him is called sambhoga, but there is another way to be with Krsnain separation from Himand this is called vipralambha. A devotee can benefit from Krsnas association in both ways.
Because we are now in the material world, we do not see Krsna directly. Nonetheless, we can see Him indirectly. For example, if one sees the Pacific Ocean one can remember Krsna immediately, if one is advanced in spiritual life. This is called meditation. One may think, The Pacific Ocean is such a vast mass of water, with many large waves, but although I am standing only a few yards from it, I am confident that I am safe, however powerful this ocean may be and however fearful its waves. I am sure that it will not go beyond its limits. How is this happening? By the order of Krsna. Krsna orders, My dear Pacific Ocean, you may be very big and powerful, but you cannot come beyond this line. In this way one can immediately remember Krsna, or God, who is so powerful that even the Pacific Ocean abides by His order. In this way one can think of Krsna, and that is Krsna consciousness.
Similarly, when one sees the sunrise one can immediately remember Krsna, for Krsna says in Bhagavad-gita (7.8), prabhasmi sasi-suryayoh: I am the shining of the sun and the moon. If one has learned how to see Krsna, one can see Him in the sunshine. Our scientists have not created the sun, and although they may juggle words, it is beyond their ability to know what the sun actually is. But the Vedanta-sutra (1.1.3) says, sastra-yonitvat: one can know everything through the sastra, the Vedic literature. For example, if one studies the Vedic literature one can know what the sun is, for the sun is described in the Brahma-samhita (5.52):
yac-caksur esa savita sakala-grahanam
raja samasta-sura-murtir asesa-tejah yasyajnaya bhramati sambhrta-kala-cakro govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami This verse describes the sun as the eye of all the planets, and if one meditates upon this one can understand that this is a fact, for at night, before the sun rises, one cannot see. The sun is also described as the eye of the Lord. The sun is one of His eyes, and the moon is the other. In the Upanisads, therefore, it is said that only when Krsna sees can we see. The sun is also described as asesa-tejah, unlimitedly hot. And what is its function? Yasyajnaya bhramati sambhrta-kala-cakrah. The sun has its orbit. God has ordered the sun, You just travel within this orbit, and not anywhere else. The scientists say that if the sun were to move a little to one side the whole universe would be ablaze, and if it moved to the other side the whole universe would freeze. But by the order of the Supreme it does not move even one ten-thousandth of an inch from where it should be. It always rises exactly at the correct time. Why? There must be some discipline, some obedience, some order. The Brahma-samhita therefore says, yasyajnaya bhramati sambhrta-kala-cakro govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami **: I worship that original person, by whose order the sun moves in its orbit. It is He who gives direction even to the sun, the ocean, and the moon. Everything takes place under His order.
So where is the difficulty in understanding God? There is no difficulty. If one is actually sane, if one has a brain that is not made of stool, one can understand God at every step. The Lord says:
O son of Kunti [Arjuna], I am the taste of water, the light of the sun and the moon, the syllable om in the Vedic mantras; I am the sound in ether and ability in man. (Bg. 7.8) Why then do people say, I have not seen God? Why dont they see God as God directs them to see Him? Why do they manufacture their own way? One cannot see God by ones own way. That is not possible. If one tries to do so, one will always remain blind. At the present moment so-called philosophers and scientists are trying to see God in their own way, but that is not possible. One has to see God by Gods way. Then one can see Him. If I want to see the President of the United States, can I see him in my own way? If not, then how can I expect to see God in my own way? Is it not rascaldom? I cannot see even an ordinary man in an important position in my own way; I have to make an appointment with his secretary and make the other appropriate arrangements. But although God is so much greater than ordinary men, rascals support the view that one can see God in ones own way. As many ways as you invent, they say, they are all bona fide. This is rascaldom. The world is full of rascals and fools, and therefore God consciousness, Krsna consciousness, has become a vague idea. Otherwise, if one wants to see God, if one wants Him to be always present, as Kuntidevi is requesting that He be, one can keep God always within one s heart.
We simply have to apply our mind and senses in Krsna consciousness, as done by Maharaja Ambarisa. Sa vai manah krsna-padaravindayor vacamsi vaikuntha-gunanuvarnane (Bhag. 9.4.18). First we must fix our minds on the lotus feet of Krsna, for the mind is the center of all sensory activities. If the mind were absent, in spite of having eyes we could not see, and in spite of having ears we could not hear. Therefore the mind is considered the eleventh sense. There are ten sensesfive working senses and five knowledge-acquiring senses, and the center of the senses is the mind. The Bhagavad-gita (3.42) says:
In this verse Krsna explains that although we consider the senses to be very prominent, beyond the senses is something superiorthe mindbeyond the mind is the intelligence, and beyond the intelligence is the soul.
How can we appreciate the existence of the soul if we cannot understand even the psychological movements of the mind? Beyond the mind is the intelligence, and by speculation one can at the utmost approach the intellectual platform. But to understand the soul and God, one must go beyond the intellectual platform. It is possible to understand everything, but we must gain understanding through the right channel. Therefore the Vedic injunction is:
If one is actually serious about understanding supernatural, transcendental subject matters, one must approach a bona fide spiritual master. (Mundaka Upanisad 1.2.12)
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