Every Householder Must Offer Food to the Lord – You Can Thus Satisfy All Your Guests

By His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Srimad Bhagavatam

Canto 1 – Chapter 15 – Verse 11

TRANSLATION

During our exile, Durvasa Muni, who eats with his ten thousand disciples, intrigued with our enemies to put us in dangerous trouble. At that time He [Lord Krishna], simply by accepting the remnants of food, saved us. By His accepting food thus, the assembly of munis, while bathing in the river, felt sumptuously fed. And all the three worlds were also satisfied.

PURPORT

Durvasa Muni, a powerful mystic brahmana, had about ten thousand disciples, and wherever he visited and became a guest of the great kshatriya kings, he used to be accompanied by a number of followers. Once he visited the house of Duryodhana, the enemy cousin of Maharaja Yudhisthira. Duryodhana was intelligent enough to satisfy the brahmana by all means, and the great rsi wanted to give some benediction to Duryodhana. Duryodhana knew his mystic powers, and he knew also that the mystic brahmana, if dissatisfied, could cause some havoc, and thus he designed to engage the brahmana to show his wrath upon his enemy cousins, the Pandavas. When the rsi wanted to award some benediction to Duryodhana, the latter wished that he should visit the house of Maharaja Yudhisthira, who was the eldest and chief among all his cousins. But by his request he would go to him after he had finished his meals with his Queen, Draupadi. Duryodhana knew that after Draupadi’s dinner it would be impossible for Maharaja Yudhisthira to receive such a large number of brahmana guests, and thus the rsi would be annoyed and would create some trouble for his cousin Maharaja Yudhisthira. That was the plan of Duryodhana. Durvasa Muni agreed to this proposal, and he approached the King in exile, according to the plan of Duryodhana, after the King and Draupadi had finished their meals.

Bill Clinton serving prasadam at the Hare Krishna Movement’s Akshay Patra Foundation

On his arrival at the door of Maharaja Yudhisthira, he was at once well received, and the King requested him to finish his noontime religious rites in the river, for by that time the foodstuff would be prepared. Durvasa Muni, along with his large number of disciples, went to take a bath in the river, and Maharaja Yudhisthira was in great anxiety about the guests. As long as Draupadi had not taken her meals, food could be served to any number of guests, but the rsi, by the plan of Duryodhana, reached there after Draupadi had finished her meals.

When the devotees are put into difficulty, they have an opportunity to recollect the Lord with rapt attention. So Draupadi was thinking of Lord Krishna in that dangerous position, and the all-pervading Lord could at once know the dangerous position of His devotees. He therefore came there on the scene and asked Draupadi to give whatever food she might have in her stock. On her being so requested by the Lord, Draupadi was sorrowful because the Supreme Lord asked her for some food and she was unable to supply it at that time. She said to the Lord that the mysterious dish which she had received from the sun-god could supply any amount of food if she herself had not eaten. But on that day she had already taken her meals, and thus they were in danger.

DEVOTEES CAN BECOME ANGRY FOR KRISHNA’S SAKE

By His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedānta Swami Prabhupāda

Vimanyavah means that devotee does not generally become angry. But that does not mean that he has lost his power of becoming angry. No. He can become angry at any time, when it is required.  krodha bhakta-dvesi jane: He’ll be angry against those who are against God and God’s devotee. As soon as one says and blasphemes that “I am God. There is no God,” the devotee should immediately bcome very angry because the blasphemer is preaching false things. He’s blaspheming against the Supreme Lord and making God very cheap.

Just like our student Govinda dasi in Hawaii. In a meeting she became very angry when the so-called incarnation of God… Perhaps you know this incident. She became very angry, that “These rascals…” and so many things she spoke. So she did right, just like a heroine. I very much liked it. So we should be very much angry when there is anything against God and God’s devotee. But generally, for my personal interest, I should not be angry. “All right, if you like to call me by ill names, I don’t mind. You go on with your business.” I do not become angry. Just like Hanumanji, Bajrangaji, who set fire in the kingdom of Ravana. The kingdom of Ravana was very beautiful, made of gold, but he set fire in that capital of Lanka. He became very angry. But why did he become angry? He did not become angry for his personal interest but for the interest of Lord Rama, Whose wife Sita, the Laksmi, was kidnapped by this man Ravana. And he was very angry that “He has kidnapped my Lord’s spiritual energy, Sita. I shall set fire to his very valuable capital.” So this anger, this demonstration of anger and setting of fire was accepted as service.

KRISHNA SPOKE THE BHAGAVAD-GITA TO AROUSE ANGER IN ARJUNA

So we should know when to be angry. We should not be angry for our personal interest. Generally, those who are devotees, they are not angry. Just see the example of Arjuna, who was so much harassed. All the five brothers were harassed by the opposite party, their cousin-brothers. They insulted their wife Draupadi, whom they wanted to make naked because she was lost in gambling. Therefore gambling is so sinful. The ksatriyas are allowed to gamble. So the bet was… They made a trick: “Now bet your wife.” So if a ksatriya is challenged to bet something, he cannot

Dharma vs Adharma

By Uma Rajaram (B.Com, MBA, M.Phil)

Krishna attacks Bhisma in order to protect His dear devotee Arjuna

paritranaya sadhunam vinasaya ca duskrtam

dharma samsthapan arthaya sambhavami yuge yuge [Bg. 4.8]

In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna, the Supreme Lord, says, “I appear every millennium to protect the virtuous and to annihilate the evildoers and to establish dharma.”

In complete alignment of the Lord’s promise in the Bhagavad Gita to take care of His devotees at all times (ananyas chintayanto mam…yoga ksemam vahamy aham, Bg 9.22) we see that the Supreme lord was deeply concerned and protective of Arjuna at all times during the war. Later Bhishma’s (on Duryodhana’s insistence) near fatal attack on Arjuna draws the Lord’s ire provoking His anger, thus leading Him to attack Bhishma. In the process, He forgot His own vow to not to lift any weapons during the war and to only serve as a charioteer to Arjuna. It was again His dear devotee Arjuna’s timely intervention which calmed Him down. Thus we see that the Lord, at all times, protected the gentle Arjuna, His dear devotee and friend, His cousin, His brother in law (by marriage to His sister Subhadra) and His disciple (the Bhagavad Gita).

In complete contrast to this, three illustrious warriors, Bhisma, Dronacharya and Karna, who were far more talented and chivalrous in comparison to Arjuna, were killed at the end of the fratricidal war because they had sided with adharma. The military prowess and competency of these three warriors was far greater than that of Arjuna’s, a fact which was acknowledged by both Krishna and Arjuna. All three of them were the illustrious pupils of Lord Parasurama, the sixth avatara of Krishna and having learnt martial arts from such a great guru, were invincible by dint of their vast military skills. These three illustrious pupils of Parasurama namely Pitamah Bhisma, Guru Drona and Angaraj Karna, surprisingly at

COOL SHOWERS OF COSMIC GRACE

By Uma Rajaram (B.Com ,MBA ,M.Phil)

“Vedais ca  sarvair aham eva vedyah” [Bhagavad Gita 15.15]

“It is me the Vedas seek to know”, declares the smiling Lord Supreme, the exalted Lord Sri Krishna the embodiment of Supreme Truth, Knowledge and Bliss in the Gitopanishad to Arjuna, His quivering disciple in the midst of the battlefield in the Mahabharata war.

Arjuna, in spite of all his competencies, was a reluctant warrior owing to his mental state of confusion and fear. His extreme nearness to the Lord made him the fortunate recipient of this ancient knowledge.

Arjuna, who later emerged as the hero of the Mahabharata war, was a prince of a mighty lineage and a competent warrior. He was the Lord’s dear friend who was related to him by birth and by betrothal to His dear sister Subhadra .

Who is this Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krishna, Who has survived in the collective minds of people, the world over for over 5000 years like no one else?