Beauty of Lord's Incarnation

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Rama Navami: appearance of Lord Rama
Siliguri, 21 April 2021, part 1
Translated from Bengali

[His Divine Grace chants 'Sri Krsna Chaitanya prabhu daya kara more', 'Ohe vaisnava thakura dayara', 'Parama karuna pahu dui jana', 'Emana durmati samsara bhitare', 'Dasavatara Stotram', '(Jaya) Radha-Madhava (jaya) Kunja-Bihari' and the Hare Krishna maha-mantra.]

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)

First, I am offering my full obeisance at the lotus feet of my Divine Master Om Vishnupad Jagad-guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj, begging him for his causeless mercy and aspiring to serve him; after that, I am offering my full obeisance to all the assembled guru-varga, all my godbrothers, to all the listeners, to all the motherly lady devotees and all the devotees. I am offering my obeisance at your holy feet and praying for your mercy to this lowly soul.

Today is Sri Rama Navami (the holy appearance day of Lord Ramachandra). It is a very good day. When we chanted the 'Dasa Avatara' kirtan just now, we sang that Lord Sri Krishna incarnates in ten forms (dasa-avatara). He has already come in nine forms, and only one, Kalki's incarnation, is left (Kalki will come later in this Age of Kali). So, assuming various forms, the Lord appears in this world to protect His devotees, and it is also said in the scriptures that when the Lord cannot come personally, He sends somebody else instead of Him.

যদা যদা হি ধর্ম্মস্য গ্লানির্ভবতি ভারত ।
অভ্যুত্থানমধর্ম্মস্য তদাত্মানং সৃজাম্যহম্ ॥

yada yada hi dharmasya, glanir bhavati bharata
abhyutthanam adharmasya, tadatmanam srjamy aham

'O Bharata, whenever there is a decline of religion and an uprising of irreligion, I personally make My advent.'

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 4.7)

When religion diminishes and irreligion comes into prominence, the Lord personally comes to this world, and when He cannot come, He sends somebody else. When the Lord comes, He assumes different forms, such as fish (Minasarira, Matsya-avatar), tortoise (Kurma-avatar), boar (Varahadev-avatar), half-man half-lion (Nrisinghadev), dwarf (Vaman-avatar), Bhrigupati (Lord Parasurama), Buddha, Haladhar (Baladev; He is non-different from Krishna: They are one but manifest Themselves in two forms to perform one pastime), Rama (His appearance is today) and Kalki (He will come in Kali-yuga). You must remember all incarnations by heart.

Lord Rama appeared in Ayodhya, on the bank of the Sarayu river. He is Lila-Purusottam, or Maryada-Purushottam. 'Maryada-purusottam' means that He follows rules and regulations – He does not do anything that is not sanctioned by moral obligations. As His father, He ruled the kingdom following all rules of proper conduct. But we worship Sarveshwar Krishna:

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 origin, for He is the prime cause of all causes.'

(Sri Brahma-samhita, 5.1)

In His pastimes, Lord Ramachandra had to take very difficult decisions just to follow moral rules. But for Krishna, moral rules and obligations have no value. It is said in the scriptures that Srimati Radharani has twenty-five more qualities than Krishna. Krishna can captivate the whole world, but who did Krishna see and become captured by? Srimati Radharani. She is sarva-aradhya: She worships Krishna most of all.

On the other hand, there is also Laksman. He appears in Treta-yuga, Dvapar-yuga and Kali-yuga. In Treta-yuga, He was born as Laksman, Lord Rama's younger brother. In Dvapar-yuga, He came as Baladev, Krishna's elder brother. And in Kali-yuga, He came as Nityananda Prabhu.

It is said in the scriptures:

যে যথা মাং প্রপদ্যন্তে তাংস্তথৈব ভজাম্যহম্ ।
মম বর্ত্মানুবর্ত্তন্তে মনুষ্যাঃ পার্থ সর্ব্বশঃ ॥

ye yatha mam prapadyante, tams tathaiva bhajamy aham
mama vartmanuvartante, manusyah partha sarvasah

'Howsoever people surrender to Me, I accordingly reward them. Being the ultimate goal of all paths, I am the objective to be attained by all. O Partha, all men follow My various paths.'

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 4.11)

There are five spiritual relationships one can have with the Lord: santa-rasa (neutrality), dasya-rasa (servitude), sakhya-rasa (friendship), vatsalya-rasa (parenthood) and madhura-rasa (consorthood). Our Gurudev always kept in his room a murti (picture) of Hanuman soaring up in the sky (he is the son of Pavandev, Son of Wind, so he could fly). Why did Gurudev keep his picture? Hanuman represents dasya-rasa, and even more. Whatever service Hanuman wanted to do, he did it, and Gurudev wanted to have this kind of service mood, too. He thought, 'I am my Guru Maharaj's Hanuman.' When Ramachandra sent Hanuman to the forest hill to bring a medicinal herb called visalyakarani (বিশল্যকরণী), Hanuman came there, but he did not know what that herb looked like, so he took the whole mountain with him. This is how he served. He could not come back without making sure that he had got what the Lord wanted – he could not but please his master. The word 'cannot' was missing in his vocabulary. He only knew, 'I have to do it.' One time, somebody gave a necklace to Hanuman. Hanuman asked, 'Is there Rama's Name written on it?' 'No. Do you have Rama's Name written anywhere?' In reply to that, Hanuman tore open his chest and showed that there was Lord Rama's and Sita Devi's Names written inside it. This is dasya-rasa. I was going to tell you about Lord Ramachandra but ended up speaking about Hanuman. Anyhow, it is necessary to say these things, too.

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