(1/5) Appearance of Lord Baladev

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Baladev Purnima
Kolkata-Worldwide, 3 August 2020, part 1

Jay Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay
Visva-varenya Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay
Om Vishnupad Paramahamsa-kula-churamani Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay
Om Vishnupad Bhagavan Sri Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur Prabhupad ki jay
Rupanuga-guru-varga ki jay
Namacharya Haridas Thakur ki jay
Vrinda Devi, Tulasi Devi, Sri Bhakti Devi ki jay
Sri Shyama Kunda, Radha Kunda, Sri Giri Govardhan ki jay
Sri Mayapur Dham, Sri Nabadwip Dham, Sri Vrindavan, Mathura ki jay
Sri Purusottam Ksetra ki jay
Baladev Subhadra Jagannathjiu ki jay
Akar Math-raj Sri Chaitanya Math ki jay
Mayapur Yogapith ki jay
Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math ki jay
Tadiya sakha-math-samuha ki jay
Sri Mather sevak-vrinda, bhakta-vrinda ki jay
Ananta-koti Vaishnav-vrinda ki jay
Sri Gaudiya Acharya-vrinda ki jay
Tridandi-pad-gan ki jay
Samagata Sri Gaura bhakta-vrinda ki jay
All the sannyasi-, brahmachari-vrinda ki jay
All the assembled devotees ki jay
All the worldwide devotees ki jay
Harinam sankirtan ki jay
Nitai Gaura premanande Hari bol

It is a very auspicious day today. First, I am giving my full obeisance at the lotus feet of my Gurudev, Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj. After that, I am giving my full obeisance to all the guru-varga, all my well-wishers, godbrothers and friends. It is a very happy day today because it is Balaram's appearance day (Baladev Purnima, or Jhulan Purnima).

Baladev Purnima is a very auspicious day. In Bengal and all over India, local devotees celebrate this day as Rakhi Purnima. On this day, all sisters give some asirbad (blessing) to their brothers: they come to their brothers' houses and give them some love and affection. This is called Rakhi Purnima. But we do not follow Hinduism. We are followers of Vaishnavism and Mahaprabhu's line, Rupa Goswami's line, that is why we are celebrating Baladev Purnima on this day.

We are very happy to hear and see all the devotees. Everybody is here, and I am very happy. First, I will sing (only two songs), and then I will try, by the mercy of Gurudev, to describe and explain some glorification of Sri Balaram.

[His Divine Grace chants 'Sri Guru-charana-padma', 'Hari hari! viphale janama gonainu' and the Hare Krishna maha-mantra.]

হরি হরি ! বিফলে জনম গোঙাইনু ।
মনুষ্যজনম পাইয়া, রাধাকৃষ্ণ না ভজিয়া,
জানিয়া শুনিয়া বিষ খাইনু ॥১॥

hari hari! viphale janama gonainu
manusya-janama paiya radha-krsna na bhajiya
janiya suniya visa khainu [1]

'O Lord! O Lord! My life has passed uselessly. I have attained a human birth, but I have not been serving Radha-Krishna. I have been consciously drinking poison.'

গোলোকের প্রেমধন, হরিনাম-সঙ্কীর্ত্তন,
রতি না জন্মিল কেন তায় ।
সংসার-বিষানলে, দিবানিশি হিয়া জ্বলে,
জুড়াইতে না কৈনু উপায় ॥২॥

golokera prema-dhana hari-nama-sankirtana
rati na janmila kena taya
samsara-visanale diva-nisi hiya jvale
judaite na kainu upaya [2]

'The chanting of the Holy Name is the wealth of divine love coming from Goloka, but I do not have any taste, any attachment to that... I am always burning in the fire of poisonous material family life. I do not find any relief or solution.'

ব্রজেন্দ্রনন্দন যেই, শচীসুত হৈল সেই,
বলরাম হইল নিতাই ।
দীনহীন যত ছিল, হরিনামে উদ্ধারিল,
তার সাক্ষী জগাই মাধাই ॥৩॥

vrajendra-nandana yei sachi-suta haila sei
balarama ha-ila nitai
dina-hina yata chhila hari-name uddharila
tara saksi jagai madhai [3]

'He who is known as Vrajendra-nandan (son of the King of Vraja) has come as the son of Mother Sachi (Gauranga Mahaprabhu), and Balaram became Nitai. They rescued through the Holy Name whoever was destitute and bereft. Jagai and Madhai bear witness to that.'

হাহা প্রভু নন্দসুত, বৃষভানুসুতাযুত,
করুণা করহ এইবার ।
নরোত্তমদাস কয়, না ঠেলিহ রাঙ্গা পায়,
তোমা বিনে কে আছে আমার ॥৪॥

ha ha prabhu nanda-suta vrsabhanu-suta-yuta
karuna karaha ei-bara
narottama-dasa kaya na theliha ranga paya
toma bine ke achhe amara? [4]

'O Master! O Son of Nanda! O Daughter of Vrisabhanu! Please bestow Your mercy on me this one time. Narottam Das is saying, "Please do not push me away from Your reddish feet. Who do I have except for You?"'

মূকং করোতি বাচালং পঙ্গুং লঙ্ঘয়তে গিরিম্ ।
যৎকৃপা তমহং বন্দে শ্রীগুরুং দীনতারণম্ ॥

mukam karoti vachalam pangum langhayate girim
yat krpa tam aham vande sri-gurum dina-taranam

'The dumb can speak, the lame can climb a hill—all it takes is mercy from Gurudev."

(Bhavartha Dipika)

So, it is a very auspicious day today. It is Baladev's appearance day. On this day, I am praying for the mercy of the holy lotus feet of our most worshippable Gurudev and our guru-varga. We are going to hear transcendental topics about the holy appearance of Lord Sri Sri Baladev Prabhu who appears to bestow auspiciousness in this world on the holy festival day of Sri Sri Krishna's jhulan-yatra.

Sri Baladev is also called Balaram, Balabhadra and other names. Saṅkarsan, Karanatoyasayi-, Garbhodasayi-, Payobdhisayi- and Sesa-Vishnu are Balabhadra Prabhu's parts and particles. Srila Kaviraj Goswamipad takes shelter at the holy lotus feet of this Nityanandakhya-Rama and offers prayers to Him. Offering obeisance to Sri Baladev-tattva, he praised Him in this way:

halayudha namo stu te namas te musalayudha
namas te revati-kanta namas te bhakta-vatsala
balinam srestha namas te dharani-dhara
pralambare namo stu te trahi mam krsna-purvaja

'Obeisances to You, O holder of the plough! Obeisances to You, O wielder of the mace! Obeisances to You, O beloved of Revati! Obeisances to You, who are very kind to Your devotees! Lord Balarama, the best of the strong and the support of the earth. Obeisances unto You, O enemy of Pralamba! Please deliver me, O elder brother of Krishna!'

Although Sri Baladev is Sri Krishna's alter ego, He is an embodiment of Krishna's service (seva-vigraha).

His Name is Halayudha, He does not hold a conch, a disc, a club and a lotus; He holds a plough (Haladhara), a mace (Musaladhara). He is the killer of Pralambasura. He is Krishna-Jagannath-Jagadisa. He is both Jagannath and Balabhadra. He resides in Sri Ksetra (Puri Dham) side by side in both forms. 'Kesavadhrta-haladhara-rupa jaya jagadisa hare': O Hari! O Kesava! O Lord of the universe! You have assumed the form of Balaram! All glory to You! Krishna is Kesava, and Kesava is Baladev. He is the second form of Krishna, His alter ego. He does not belong to demigods or jiva souls. He is prakasa-vigraha and vilasa-vigraha of Krishna (He embodies Krishna and His pleasure pastimes). And there is also one amusing thing – He is seva-vigraha (embodiment of service to His Lord), but He also does His own service. He is an object of service and a servant; that is, the object of service and a servant are one personality – just as you can be massaging your own head. Although He is the alter ego of Krishna (He is His non-different form), He also assumes the form of seva-vigraha of Krishna (embodiment of service to Krishna). Such are the amazing pastimes of Lord Krishna. Krishna Himself assumes another form. To nourish His pastimes, He extends Himself into a separate form of Baladev. Therefore, Baladev is non-different from Krishna. Krishna enjoys through this extension of His body. He is also seva-vigraha of Lord Krishna – He renders the highest service.

In the Age of Dvapara, He appears as Baladev in Krishna-lila, and in the Age of Treta, He appears as Laksman in Sri Rama-lila. When Sri Ramachandra appeared in Treta-yuga, Laksman also came as His younger brother. Laksman is the alter ego of Lord Sri Ramachandra, and, just like Baladev Prabhu, He is not a jiva soul (a particle of the Lord), He comes from Vishnu (He is an expansion of the Lord). Both Baladev and Laksman are seva-vigrahas (embodiments of service, i.e. servants). Laksman is an embodiment of servitude to Sri Ramachandra – a younger brother who dedicates His life to the service of His elder brother. However, when He wanted to serve Sri Ramachandra, sometimes His service was obstructed therefore His service did not manifest fully. Actually, the object of the service gets the result of the service – the purpose of service is to bring happiness to the object of service and to satisfy the senses of the object of service. If a servant cannot do his service, he feels deep pain in his mind. Because the servant's serving propensity is not completely satisfied, he feels discontent in his heart. He wants to please the Lord with all his being – with his actions, mind, and speech – but he cannot do it, then he faces a great difficulty. So, here Laksman is younger, and a younger brother has to always follow the order of his elder brother – according to the moral rules, a younger brother cannot disobey his elder brother's order.

Some of the purposes of Rama-lila are to follow impeccable moral behaviour and to preserve moral rules and obligations. The Lord's moral obligation is to be truthful and protect His subjects. He can never violate the righteous rules of conduct. For the sake of following the ethical principles and morality properly, the secret purpose of Rama-lila is to set an example of these moral principles. Wherever Sri Ramachandra performed His pastimes – be it in Ayodhya, in Lanka, Dandakaranya or when slaying demoness Tadaka – He never broke the moral etiquette. He descended to this world to establish the necessity to follow moral rules – it is necessary to follow them for the benefit of the jiva souls. To nourish these pastimes, Laksman also had to yield to the moral principles. In this way, even if there were obstacles or obstructions in His service, even if He was dissatisfied with His service, to carry out the main moral obligations, He too had to follow severe rules and regulations otherwise the pastimes of Lord Sri Ramachandra would not be complete and satisfactory. If Laksman had acted in another way, He would not be able to serve his Lord. Trying to carry out the order of Sri Ramachandra, Laksman had to cross His own heart. He had to do many things against His wish. If the younger brother does not obey whatever order his elder brother gives him, then morality is not maintained – his service could be beautiful, it could show more love, but it did not support morality. Rama-lila's purpose is not to increase love – even when Laksman saw that His love for the Lord was obstructed at the time when He was doing His service, He still gave priority to morality. Sita Devi is innocent, her character is faultless and unblemished, but still, to satisfy His subjects, Sri Ramachandra abandoned her and sent her to the forest, and it was Laksman's duty to take her to the forest and leave her there. In terms of love, this separation or sacrifice was wrong; in terms of love, there is no justification of such action; but in terms of morality, it was the right thing to do because Ramachandra is the king – His subjects look up to Him and would look askance at Him or take up a wrong path; this could not be allowed. Disregarding His love, Sri Ramachandra had to give up Sita Devi to maintain His righteousness, although He knew she was innocent. Neither did Sita Devi show any revolt. She could have said to Sri Ramachandra, 'You have already made me step into fire to test my purity and have got the proof of it, why must I now live in the forest?' But she did not say it.

Sita Devi knew it all, Laksman also knew it, and Sri Ramachandra knew it better than anyone else. Still, even knowing everything, He sent her to live in the forest. He came to perform particular pastimes, so from this standpoint it was right. Laksman served Ramachandra shedding His blood. When the time came to appoint Ramachandra the king, Kaikeyi decided that she wanted Him to live in the forest for fourteen years. Dasarath could not say 'no' because then his morality, or promise, would be broken. Sita Devi also went to live in the forest with Ramachandra, but Kaikeyi never wanted Laksman to go with them too – Laksman went with Ramachandra voluntarily, to serve His worshippable Lord. The fact that Ramachandra and Sita Devi had to go to live in the forest pierced Laksman's heart like an arrow, and the greatest pain was in the heart of Dasarath. Not being able to tolerate this terrible pain, Dasarath left his body, but he did not leave his adherence to morality. Ramachandra rejected His throne, but He did cross His father's word.

Sometimes, morality disrupts one's service life. Morality belongs to a much lower plane. What is the value of ethical principles or morality when there is love? Where there is loving service, moral principles have no value. Why did then Sita Devi have to go to the forest following the order of Rama? She had to do it to show support to ethical principles. Ramachandra called His younger brother and said, 'You know why I have appeared, so You must take Sita Devi to the forest.' This extremely difficult order of His elder brother broke Laksman's heart. A flood of tears fell from His eyes. Still, He carried out His elder brother's order – He took Sita Devi to Tapovan, the ashram of Valmiki. Laksman did not go against His brother's righteousness, but He could not forget the pain that He felt at that time.

The younger brother Laksman in Treta becomes the elder brother Baladev in Dvapara.

'When You become Krishna in the Age of Dvapara, I will also come. O Lord! But this time I am not going to be Your younger brother. I will become Your elder brother. It is too difficult to be a younger brother – I became Your younger brother in Treta and could not disobey Your moral rules. You have given me so much pain, it is OK, I do not care about it, but You made me follow Your order and do so much wrong to Sita Devi! This time You will have to listen to Me, You will have to do what I tell You!' Therefore, in Dvapara, Laksman comes as an elder brother. Vraja-basis affectionately call Him 'Dauji' ('elder brother'). This time, He is everyone's elder brother, and the younger brother has to follow His elder brother.

Three Lords ride in chariots – Jagannath, Baladev and Subhadra; but Balaram says, 'I will go first, You two wait.' What kind of service is this? Why must the servant go first and why must the master go behind him? 'Because if there are any thorns on the way, if any danger comes in the way, I will take care of it.' That is why Baladev always goes first at Ratha-yatra time. In this way, Balaram becomes elder and gives orders to Krishna. 'I will go before You. Whether You like it or not, You have to obey Me.' What order He gives, its purpose is to make Krishna's happy – not to establish His mastery over Him. When Krishna later kidnaps Rukmini, then Baladev came forward and said, 'You take her, I will stay and take care of everything.' Then the fighting began. When there is a wedding procession they usually blow clarinets, but this time there were sounds of trumpeters. Baladev stopped the fighting. Another time, Kamsa called Krishna to join a wrestling tournament. Who can stop Balai? Baladev said, 'Whether Kamsa likes it or not, I will come too.' Balai removed all obstacles (thorns) on the way when Krishna set off to kill Kamsa. He is within every service – being an embodiment of service, He nourishes the pastimes of Lord Sri Krishna.

— : • : —

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READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Appearance of Lord Baladev
2) Understanding Baladev's Glory
3) Sticking with Pure Life
4) Spiritual Balance and Maturity
5) Understanding Gurudev