In2-MeC

Prague, Czech Republic
24 June 2004

From the Anubhasya commentary of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura
to Sri-Caitanya-caritamrta Adi-lila 11. 25
translated by Punya-palaka dasa (ISKCON Prague)

Lord Nityananda

Translation:

Suryadasa Sarakhela and his younger brother Krsnadasa Sarakhela both possessed firm faith in Nityananda Prabhu. They were a reservoir of love of Godhead.

Srila Prabhupada's Purport:

In the Bhakti-ratnakara, Chapter Twelve, it is stated that a few miles from Navadvipa is a place called Saligrama that was the residence of Suryadasa Sarakhela. He was employed as a secretary of the Mohammedan government of that time, and thus he amassed a good fortune. Suryadasa had four brothers, all of whom were pure Vaisnavas. Vasudha and Jahnava were two daughters of Suryadasa Sarakhela.

Additionally, from the Anubhasya commentary:

Gaura-ganoddesa-dipika (65): "Lord Balarama's two wives, Srimati Varuni-devi and Srimati Revati-devi, appeared during Lord Caitanya's pastimes as Srimati Vasudha-devi and Srimati Jahnavi-devi, the two dear wives of Lord Nityananda, and the daughters of the great personality Sri Suryadasa. Their father, Suryadasa, had previously been Maharaja Kakudmi. His bodily luster made him as effulgent as the sun. "

Change of situation does not free us

In the Srimad-Bhagavatam, Mahajana Brahma speaks a famous verse that contains the phrase sthane sthitah sruti-gatam tanu-van- manobhir. Explaining this, Srila Prabhupada said:

You, whatever you are, have no need of change. It is very difficult to change position. Better remain in your position, but hear about Krsna.

Persons entrapped by difficulty naturally want freedom. It is the mission of every human being to liberate himself. But if in his obsession for freedom, a man exchanges one material situation for another, he'll find new difficulty. Shifting a heavy weight from one shoulder to another may bring temporary relief, but it does not free him from the burden.

It is not a "matter" of whether our material fortune is good or bad, nor whether our position is high or low. We must become free of the burden of matter. In the pure sound of Krsna's names and narrations, we experience the intensification of our very being as liberated persons in the association of the Supreme Liberated Person and his liberated associates.

Krsna effortlessly supports countless material worlds while enjoying His own divine bliss. He is so eager to share His own bliss with souls who approach Him in loving devotion that He assumes responsibility for their material welfare, preserving what they have and carrying what they lack. There are many pure devotees who serve within the matrix of a material body and mind. But they know no difficulty in this position--indeed, they wear their bodies as lightly as the Lord wears the universe. Kapiladeva compares them to drunken men who do not know whether they are wearing clothes or not. Internally they drink the nectar of bhakti-rasa, and externally they are maintained by the supreme controller of matter, time and the demigods.

Narada, in chapter six of the first canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, explains that as a pure devotee meditates upon the Lord in ecstatic love, His spiritual form emerges from the core of consciousness deep within the heart. Each of the devotee's senses is electrified by the Lord's presence, and with lives of their own, hearing, touch, vision, taste and smell rush to render Him service. Thus a devotee surpasses even the mode of goodness. His senses, intoxicated by direct contact with the personal form of Krsna, are never agitated in the proximity of material sense objects. His mind, completely satisfied in devotional service, has no interest in speculations about the spinning wheel of material fortune. As Narada points out, the Lord takes charge of the devotee's karmic destiny.

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