Surrendered Souls' Sustenance

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Caracas, Venezuela
18 September 2009

Krishna always tells us, "If somebody worships Me, but keeps on asking Me for something (Ama bhaje, mage visaya-sukha), I do not stay with them; but if somebody only serves Me without asking Me for anything, I always stay with them."

অন্যাভিলাষিতা-শূন্যং জ্ঞান-কর্ম্মাদ্যনাবৃতম্ ।
আনুকূল্যেন কৃষ্ণানুশীলনং ভক্তিরুত্তমা ॥

anyabhilasita sunyam jnana-karmady anavrtam
anukulyena krsnanusilanam bhaktir uttama

"The highest devotion is that which satisfies Lord Krsna, free from the coverings of any pursuits such as action, knowledge."

(Sri Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhuh, 1.1.11)

অনন্যাশ্চিন্তয়ন্তো মাং যে জনাঃ পর্য্যুপাসতে ।
তেষাং নিত্যাভিযুক্তানাং যোগক্ষেমং বহাম্যহম্ ॥

ananyas chintayanto mam, ye janah paryupasate
tesam nityabhiyuktanam, yoga-ksemam vahamy aham

"I bear the responsibility of acquiring and protecting the necessities of My fully dependent devotees who are always absorbed in thought of Me, and who worship Me in every way."

This is written in Srimad Bhagavad-gita, chapter 9, sloka number 22. The meaning of this sloka is the following. The Lord says, "When a devotee does not think about himself, but only thinks about Me, it is not necessary for them to go anywhere, I Myself will carry (supply) food for them!"

Once there was a devotee couple, only a husband and a wife, they did not have any other family. They lived together and worshipped Radha-Madhav Deities. What was the daily duty of the husband devotee? He would wake up early in the morning, bathe, read Srimad Bhagavad-gita and go begging to collect the bhog for the Deities. He did not have to go to many houses—he would go to one-two houses and what he collected was sufficient for one day. The next day he would go collecting again. This is how they ran their lives.

Every day he read Srimad Bhagavad-gita, and once when he read that "Vahamy aham" sloka where the Lord says, "Those who are surrendered to Me (to the Lord), I personally supply their food," he could not believe it, he thought, "What? We are also surrendered to the Lord, but we have to do everything ourselves. Krishna says He will get food for them, but Krishna is not doing—I am doing it..." He had some ego like that, and he tore the page of Gita where that sloka was.

Sometimes you may hear a husband say, "I go to work, I do the job," and the wife says, "You work, you earn money, but I cook! If I do not cook, you will not be able to eat." Everybody's ego is like this...

When that brahman tore Srimad Bhagavad-gita, Lord Narayan, Krishna, was sitting at that time with Srimati Laksmi Devi in Vaikuntha. Suddenly Krishna told Laksmi Devi, "Oh, one of My devotees is suffering so much, please give Me permission to go to his loka (planet)." (Krishna says in Gita, "Gita is My heart," "Gita is a part of My body," that is why when the brahman tore Gita, it hurt Krishna's body.) So, taking permission from Laksmi Devi, Krishna Himself came to earth as a ten-year-old boy.

Krishna came to the house of that brahman, and He brought so much food on His shoulders—rice, dal, vegetables, etc. That devotee brahman had gone begging, and the wife was alone at home, but she could not recognise that Krishna Himself came. When she came out, the boy said, "O brahmani! Ma! Please come, please come, it is very heavy. I cannot carry so many things!" The brahman's wife was surprised, "Why are You, a little boy, carrying all this?" The boy replied, "The brahman told Me to carry it, I told him I could not do it, but he gave Me a slap..." He turned and showed her a mark on his back (the brahman tore Gita and that Gita cut made a mark on His body). The brahman's wife was even more surprised, she thought, "What has happened today? He is a brahman and also a devotee, he is not angry, but why would he beat such a small boy?"

In the meantime, the brahman was doing collection, but this time he went house to house, and at some house the father died, at another house the mother died, some houses were locked, and at other houses the people said they were busy—he could not get anything that day. His wife thought, "It is already past noon... Every day he comes in one hour, but today it is already past noon and he is not here... Why is not coming?" When the time came, she cooked the bhog, made the offering—did everything herself.

It was already evening when the brahman come back home, crying. The wife asked him,

"Why are you crying?"

"Today I could not collect anything—there is no rice, no dal... Our Radha-Madhav will have to fast today!" he said.

"No, no, you sent a boy in the morning with so much food, and you also beat Him... The boy brought so much bhog, you will not have to go begging for the next seven days."

"What are you saying? I did not send anybody, I did not beat anybody! What has happened?

"Come, come, I will show you." She took her husband and showed him the bhog and the cooked prasadam. The brahman was surprised.

Then, he went to the Deity room and prayed to the Deity, "Radha-Madhav, I do not know what happened today..." then suddenly he saw Srimad Bhagavad-gita lying open at his vyasasan. Every day when he finished reading it, he kept the book in his almirah, so he asked his wife, "Were you reading Bhagavad-gita today? Why is it here?" Then he saw that sloka. Krishna Himself came and wrote, "You do not do anything. I do everything."

So, we think we do everything, but without Him we cannot do anything. Even the sun, the moon, the air—no one can do anything without His permission, without His sanction. Many worship demigods—Durga, Kali, Ganesh, and so on. Do you know how many demigods there are in this world? There are thirty-three crores (million), demigods in this world. So, today you do Laksmi puja, tomorrow you will do Ganesh puja, the day after that you will do Kartik puja, and so on, but still you cannot make everyone happy. If you put water under the tree, it is not necessary to put water on the branches and leaves or anywhere else.

ঈশ্বরঃ পরমঃ কৃষ্ণঃ সচ্চিদানন্দবিগ্রহঃ ।
অনাদিরাদির্গোবিন্দঃ সর্ব্বকারণকারণম্ ॥

isvarah paramah krsnah sach-chid-ananda-vigrahah
anadir adir govindah sarva-karana-karanam

"Krishna, who is known as Govinda, is the supreme controller. He has an eternal, blissful, spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin, for He is the prime cause of all causes."

(Sri Brahma-samhita, 5.1)

Brahma-samhita says, "Krishna is the cause of all causes. He is everything." Even when somebody asks Mother Durga or Lord Brahma for something, they must first ask Krishna for permission, "Can I give him these things?" When Hiranyakasipu came to Brahma and asked, "O Brahma, I do not want to die, can you give me this boon that I will not die?" Brahma told him, "I cannot do that. This is not my zone. My lifetime is so much longer than yours, but even I have to die one day." You know also that Indra had so much ego—he is the king of heaven, but he once even got a pig body, and another time he and all the demigods (Kali, Durga, Laksmi, Ganesh and others) had to ran away from heaven when they were chastised a lot...

Then you can understand the value of service to the Lord... People do some good karma and want to go to heaven, but they will again have to come back. If, on the other hand, we serve the Lord, we can go to our own house.

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