NBS#215

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Issue no: 215

29th July 2023

Yogamaya Prayers To Yoga-maya

Krishna Rescues Nanda Maharaja From The Abode Of Varuna Srila Sukadev Gosvami

Yoga-maya And Maha-maya

Yoga-maya Assists The Living Entity Srila Vrindavana Das Thakura

Disciples of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Who Is Yoga-maya?

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura

Yoga-maya Is Not Maha-maya

His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura

Service Of Yoga-maya

Srila Krishnadas Kaviraja Gosvami

Issue no 215, Page — 2

Krishna Rescues Nanda Maharaja From The Abode Of Varuna Srila Sukadev Gosvami

Sri Badarayani said: Having worshiped Lord Janardana and fasted on the Ekadasi day, Nanda Maharaja entered the water of the Kalindi on the Dvadasi to take his bath. Because Nanda Maharaja entered the water in the dark of night, disregarding that the time was inauspicious, a demoniac servant of Varuna seized him and brought him to his master. O King, not seeing Nanda Maharaja, the cowherd men loudly cried out, "O Krishna!

O Rama!" Lord Krishna heard their cries and understood that His father had been captured

by Varuna. Therefore, the Almighty Lord, who makes His devotees fearless, went to the court of Varunadeva. Seeing that the Lord, Hrishikesha, had arrived, the demigod Varuna worshiped Him with elaborate offerings. Varuna was in a state of great jubilation upon seeing the Lord, and he spoke as follows.

[Sri Varuna said:] Now my body has fulfilled its function. Indeed, now the goal of my life is achieved, O Lord. Those who accept Your lotus feet, O Personality of Godhead, can transcend the path of material existence. My obeisances unto You, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Soul, within whom

nityaà bhägavata-sevayä there is no trace of the illusory energy, which orchestrates the creation of this world. Your father, who is sitting here, was brought to me by a foolish, ignorant servant of mine who did not understand his proper duty. Therefore, please forgive us. O Krishna, O seer of everything, please give Your mercy even to me. O Govinda, You are most affectionate to Your father. Please take him home.

Sukadeva Gosvami said: Thus satisfied by Lord Varuna, Sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord of lords, took His father and returned home, where their relatives were overjoyed to see them. Nanda Maharaja had been astonished to see for the first time the great opulence of Varuna, the ruler of the ocean planet, and also to see how Varuna and his servants had offered such humble respect to Krishna. Nanda described all this to his fellow cowherd men.

[Hearing about Krishna's pastimes with Varuna,] the cowherd men considered that Krishna must be the Supreme Lord, and their minds, O King, were filled with eagerness. They thought, "Will the Supreme Lord bestow upon us His transcendental abode?" Because He sees everything, Lord Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, automatically understood what the cowherd men were conjecturing. Wanting to show His compassion to them by fulfilling their desires, the Lord thought as follows.

[Lord Krishna thought:] Certainly people in this world are wandering among higher and lower destinations, which they achieve through activities performed according to their desires and without full knowledge. Thus, people do not know their real destination.

Thus deeply considering the situation, the all-merciful Supreme Personality of Godhead Hari revealed to the cowherd men His abode, which is beyond material darkness. Lord Krishna revealed the indestructible spiritual effulgence, which is unlimited, conscious and eternal. Sages see that spiritual existence in trance, when their consciousness is free of the modes of material nature. The cowherd men were brought by Lord Krishna to the Brahmahrada, made to submerge in the water, and then lifted up. From the same vantage point that Akrura saw the spiritual world, the cowherd men saw the planet of the Absolute

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nityaà bhägavata-sevayä Truth. Nanda Maharaja and the other cowherd men felt the greatest happiness when they saw that transcendental abode. They were especially amazed to see Krishna Himself there, surrounded by the personified Vedas, who were offering Him prayers.

— Çrémad-Bhägavatam (Bhägavata Puräëa) » Canto 10: The Summum Bonum » Chapter Twenty Eight » Verses 1–17 » Translations by Disciples of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

Yoga-mäyä And Mahä-mäyä

Disciples of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

jano vai loka etasminn avidyä-käma-karmabhiù uccävacäsu gatiñu na veda sväà gatià bhraman [Lord Kåñëa thought:] Certainly people in this world are wandering among higher and lower destinations, which they achieve through activities performed according to their desires and without full knowledge. Thus people do not know their real destination. destination Srila Jiva Gosvami has elaborately explained how this verse applies to the eternally liberated residents of Sri Vrindavan, the Lord's abode. One of the fundamental philosophical principles of Çrémad-Bhägavatam is the distinction between two types of illusion, Yoga-mäyä and Mahä-mäyä, the spiritual and material states of existence, respectively. Although Krishna is God, the omnipotent, omniscient Supreme Being, His intimate associates in the spiritual world love Him so much that they see Him as their beloved child, friend, lover and so on. So that their ecstatic love can transcend the boundaries of mere reverence, they forget that Krishna is the Supreme God of all the universes, and thus their pure, intimate love expands unlimitedly. One may consider their activities of treating Krishna as a helpless child, a handsome boyfriend, or a playmate to be a manifestation of avidyä, ignorance of Lord Krishna's position as God, but the residents of Vrindavan are in fact ignoring the secondary majesty of Krishna and focusing intensely on His infinite beauty, which is the essence of His existence. www.ibmedu.org

Issue no 215, Page—3 In fact, describing Lord Krishna as the supreme controller and God is almost a type of political analysis, referring as it does to a hierarchy of power and control. Such analysis of levels of power and hierarchies of rule is significant in a context in which one entity is not fully surrendered, in love, to a higher entity. In other words, control becomes visible, or is consciously felt as control, when there is resistance to that control. To cite a simple example: A pious, law-abiding citizen sees a policeman as a friend and well-wisher, whereas a criminal sees him as a threatening symbol of punishment. Those who are enthusiastic about government policies feel not that the government is controlling them but rather that it is helping them.

Thus Lord Krishna is seen as a "controller," and hence as "the Supreme God," by those who are not fully enchanted by His beauty and pastimes.

Those fully in love with Lord Krishna focus on His sublime, attractive features and, because of the nature of their relationship with Him, do not much notice His controlling power.

A simple proof that the residents of Vraja have transcended lower states of God consciousness rather than failed to attain them is the fact that throughout the pastimes of the Lord they often "remember" that Krishna is God. Usually they are astonished at this remembrance, having been fully absorbed in seeing Krishna as their friend, lover and so on.

The word käma is conventionally used to indicate a material desire, or else a spiritual desire so intense that it becomes somehow analogous to intense material desires. Still, the fundamental distinction remains: material desire is selfish and self-gratificatory; spiritual desire is free of selfishness, being wholly for the pleasure of the other, the Lord. Thus the residents of Vrindavan executed their daily activities solely for the pleasure of their beloved Krishna.

It should be remembered that the entire purpose of Krishna's descent into this world is to attract living beings back home, back to Godhead. Two things are required for this: that His pastimes display the beauty of spiritual perfection, and that they somehow seem relevant and hence interesting to the conditioned souls of this world. The Bhägavatam often states that Lord Krishna plays just like a youthful actor, and He undoubtedly engages His Bhāgavata Mahāvidyālaya

Issue no 215, Page — 4

nityaà bhägavata-sevayä

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eternal devotees in the dramatic presentation.

Thus, Lord Krishna here muses to Himself that people in this world certainly do not know their ultimate destination, and with an obvious touch of the facetious He also thinks in this way about His own eternally liberated associates, who were playing in this world like ordinary members of a cowherd village.

Apart from the double meaning obviously present in this verse when it is applied to Krishna's liberated associates, Krishna here makes an entirely direct and pointedly critical observation about ordinary people. When applied to conditioned souls who are actually wandering throughout the universe, His statement that people are acting out of ignorance and lust is not mitigated by any deeper, spiritual meaning. People in general are simply ignorant, and they do not seriously consider their ultimate destination.

As usual, Lord Sri Krishna is able to say many profound and complex things in a few simple

words. How fortunate we are that God is not a dry field of energy, a transcendent, effulgent blob, or nothing at all—as various people would have it.

In fact, He is the most wonderful Personality of Godhead, full of absolute personal qualities, and certainly whatever we can do, He can do better, as evidenced by His brilliant way of speaking.

— Çrémad-Bhägavatam (Bhägavata Puräëa) » Canto 10: The Summum Bonum » Chapter 28 » Verse 13 » Purport by Disciples of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

Who Is Yoga-maya?

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura

"Yoga-maya, an expansion of the cit-çakti, is the fountainhead of the transformations of the various transcendental potencies. When she is in the spiritual world, she asserts her position as non-different from the svarüpa-çakti. However, when she expands down to the material world she becomes Mayadevi, the embodiment of the

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nityaà bhägavata-sevayä mäyä-çakti of the mundane sphere. Therefore, the mäyä-çakti of the material world is but a transformation of the yogamäyä-çakti of the spiritual world. And Mayadevi, also known as Durga in the material sphere, is an expanded maidservant of Durgadevi, the Yoga-maya of Gokula.

"As Yoga-maya in the transcendental realm, she is the support and enhancer of the transcendental pastimes of Sri Krishna, thereby she is known as kåñëa-lélä-poñaëa-çakti. In the spiritual abode, the pärakiya-bhäva, the mood of paramourship, exhibited by the gopis in order to fuel the transcendental desire of Sri Krishna for amorous dalliance is actually composed by Yoga-maya. It is important to understand Çrémad Bhägavatam, 10.29.1, which describes the räsa-lélä pastimes of Sri Krishna: çré-bädaräyaëir uväca kåñëabhagavän api tä rätåéù çäradotphulla-mallikäù vékñya rantuà manaç cakre yoga-mäyäm upäçritaù "Sri Badarayani said, 'Sri Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, full in all opulences, yet upon seeing those autumn nights scented with blossoming jasmine flowers, He turned His mind toward loving affairs. To fulfil His purposes, He employed His internal potency, Yoga-maya.'

"This verse indicates that Sri Krishna decided to enact the rasa-lélä pastimes under the supervision of His Yoga-maya potency. The svarüpa-çakti undertakes many activities in the arena of cid-viläsa, transcendental pastimes, which ostensibly are performed unknowingly in äjïäna, ignorance, but really are not. In order to nurture the rasa-lélä pastimes these seemingly unwitting acts are instigated

by Yoga-maya."

— Jaiva-dharma » Translated by Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, Int. & Sarvabhavana Das.

What Is Yoga-maya's Work?

Another name of spiritual energy is yogamäyä.

She manifests the pastimes of Krishna in such a way that they appear ordinary to the eyes of the materialists.

Issue no 215, Page—5 Which Gäyatré Mantra And Other Mantra Are Used In The Worship Of Krishna?

The Käma-gäyatré mantra, consisting of twenty-four and a half syllables, is derived from Vedic tantras. This and the müla-mantra, also known as the käma-béja, are used for the worship of Krishna.

(Caitanya-caritämåta » Madhya 8.137-138 commentary)

What is Käma-gäyatré?

Gayatri, the mother of the Vedas, became a gopi, attained the shelter of Krishna, and thus became known as Kama-gayatri. By the will of Krishna, yogamäyä, the Lord's spiritual potency, has arranged the Vraja pastimes. These pastimes are totally faultless, because they are arranged by yogamäyä, not the Lord's illusory energy. In these pastimes Krishna's eternally perfect maidservants enjoy with Him. Demigoddesses and the personifications of the Upaniñads and Gäyatré, after attaining the association of Krishna's eternally liberated maidservants, serve Krishna in parakéyä-bhäva (paramour relationship).

(Caitanya-çikñämåta 7.7)

Prayers To Yoga-maya

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura

ämära samäna héna nähi e soàsäre asthira ha’yechi poòi’ bhaba päräbäre In this world no one is fallen like me. Drowning in the ocean of birth and death, I am very anxious. kuladebé jogamäyä more kåpä kori' äbaraëa sambaribe kabe biçwodaré O Goddess Yoga-maya, O the mother of the worlds, when will you be merciful to me and remove this veil of illusions? çunechi ägame bede mahimä tomära çré-kåñëa-bimukhe bändhi karäo soàsära

(Jaiva Dharma » Chapter 32)

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Bhāgavata Mahāvidyālaya

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In the Vedas and Agamas I have heard your glories. The souls who have turned away from Lord Krishna you imprison in the world of birth and death. çré-kåñëa-sämmukhya jä'ra bhägya-krame hoya tä're mukti diyä koro' açoka abhoya To the fortunate souls who try to turn toward Lord Krishna you give liberation. You free them from fear and grief. e däse janani kori' akaitaba doyä båndäbane deha' sthäna tumi jogamäyä O mother, please be merciful to this servant.

Please don't cheat him. O Yoga-maya, please give him a place in Vrindavan. tomäke laëghiyä kothä jébe kåñëa päya kåñëa-rasa prakaöilo tomära kåpäya

nityaà bhägavata-sevayä

How can a person who neglects you find Lord Krishna? It is by your mercy that the nectar of Lord Krishna is openly visible. tumi kåñëa-sahacaré jagata-janané tumi dekhäile more kåñëa-cintämaëi You are Lord Krishna's companion. You are the mother of the worlds. You showed me the cintämaëi jewel that is Lord Krishna. niñkapaöa ho'ye mätä cäo mora päne baiñëaba biçwäsa båddhi ha'ka prati-khaëe O mother, I sincerely desire that my faith in the Vaishnavas will grow moment after moment. baiñëaba-caraëa binä bhaba-paräbära bhakatibinoda näre hoibäre pära Without taking shelter of the Vaishnavas' feet, Bhaktivinoda has no power to cross to the

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nityaà bhägavata-sevayä farther shore of the ocean of birth and death.

— Kalyäëa Kalpataru ('The Auspicious Desire Tree') »

by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura » Translated by Dasaratha-suta Das.

Yoga-maya Assists The Living Entity Srila Vrindavana Das Thakura

lakñmé-sarasvaté-ädi yata yogamäyä ananta-brahmäëòa mohe' yäì'sabära chäyä Unlimited universes are bewildered by mäyä, the shadow of Lakshmi, Sarasvati, and other internal potencies of the Lord.

Yoga-maya removes the covered and thrown conditions born from the conditioned souls' enjoying propensity and assists the conditioned souls in achieving the unalloyed service of Krishna.

And when this same Yoga-maya is accepted as the object of enjoyment by persons who are averse to the Lord, she immediately bewilders, punishes, and sends them to the prison house, this material world. The conditioned souls in the material sky, which is their field of enjoyment, are eligible for being covered by ignorance due to their propensity for temporary enjoyment.

Since the principles of ignorance, abomination, and interruption are absent in the eternal abode of the spiritual sky, even though Yoga-maya has the propensity for favorable service to the Lord, due to the enjoying spirit of the conditioned souls, who are averse to the Lord, she bewilders them by creating illusions that are unfavorable for the service of the Lord. Maya and her opulences, who are like shadows of the Lord's spiritual energies such as Lakshmi and Sarasvati, spread a network of nescience, which is converse to spiritual knowledge, by awarding mundane knowledge to the averse conditioned souls who are wandering throughout the universe.

Maya, the external energy, and her opulences, who are the shadows of Maha-Lakshmi, the internal potency of the Lord in the spiritual sky, and who bewilder the averse conditioned souls, are also bewildered on seeing the Lord's supreme opulences as they constantly engage in the service of the Lord while considering themselves the fully dependent maidservants of the Lord. In the mood www.ibmedu.org

Issue no 215, Page—7 of maidservants, they serve the Lord for His ultimate satisfaction. And to create further illusion for the living entities who are averse to the Lord, she is seen from the material point of view as Maya, the bestower of the fruits of work.

It is stated in Çrémad Bhägavatam (1.7.4-6): "He saw the Absolute Personality of Godhead along with His external energy, which was under full control. Due to this external energy, the living entity, although transcendental to the three modes of material nature, thinks of himself as a material product and thus undergoes the reactions of material miseries. The material miseries of the living entity, which are superfluous to him, can be directly mitigated by the linking process of devotional service.

— Caitanya Bhägavata » Ädi-khaëòa » Chapter 13 » Verse 104.

Yoga-mäyä Is Not Mahä-mäyä

His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

The difference between ordinary religious activities and devotional service is very great. By executing religious rituals one can achieve economic development, sense gratification or liberation (merging into the existence of the Supreme), but the results of transcendental devotional service are completely different from such temporary benefits.

Devotional service of the Lord is ever green, and it is increasingly transcendentally pleasing. Thus, there is a gulf of difference between the results derived from devotional service and those derived from religious rituals.

The great divine energy known as Jadadhisthatri, or Mahamaya, the superintendent of the material world, and the material departmental directors, the demigods, as well as the products of the external energy of the Supreme Lord, are but perverted reflections of the opulence of the Supreme Lord.

The demigods are actually order carriers of the Supreme Lord, and they help manage the material creation. In the Brahma-saàhitä (5.44, 49, 52) it is stated that the workings of the supremely powerful superintendent, Durga, are but shadows of the workings of the Supreme Lord, that the sun works just like the eye of the Supreme Lord, and that Brahma works just like a jewel reflecting the light Bhāgavata Mahāvidyālaya

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nityaà bhägavata-sevayä one should not mistakenly equate Yoga-maya with Mahamaya.

— Excerpt from the book "Teachings of Lord Chaitanya" by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

Service Of Yoga-maya

Srila Krishnadas Kaviraja Goswami

mo-viñaye gopé-gaëera upapati-bhäve yoga-mäyä karibeka äpana-prabhäve "The influence of yoga-mäyä will inspire the gopis with the sentiment that I am their paramour."

of the Supreme Lord. Thus, in the material world all the demigods, as well as the external energy herself, Durgadevi, and all the different departmental directors are but servants of the Supreme Lord.

In the spiritual world there is another energy: the superior, spiritual energy, or internal energy, known as Yoga-maya. She also works under the Lord's direction, but in the spiritual world. When the living entity puts himself under the direction of Yoga-maya, instead of Mahamaya, he gradually becomes a devotee of Krishna. On the other hand, those who are after material opulence and material happiness place themselves under the care of the material energy, Mahamaya, or under the care of material demigods like Lord Shiva. In Çrémad-Bhägavatam it is found that when the gopis of Vrindavan desired Krishna as their husband, they prayed to the spiritual energy, Yoga-maya, for the fulfillment of their desire. In the Sapta-çaté it is found that King Suratha and a merchant named Samadhi, being under the modes of material nature, worshiped Mahamaya for material opulence. Thus,

Yoga-maya is the name of the internal potency that makes the Lord forget Himself and become an object of love for His pure devotee in different transcendental mellows. This yoga-mäyä potency creates a spiritual sentiment in the minds of the damsels of Vraja by which they think of Lord Krishna as their paramour. This sentiment is never to be compared to mundane illicit sexual love. It has nothing to do with sexual psychology, although the pure love of such devotees seems to be sexual. One should know for certain that nothing can exist in this cosmic manifestation that has no real counterpart in the spiritual field.

All material manifestations are emanations of the Transcendence. The erotic principles of amorous love reflected in mixed material values are perverted reflections of the reality of spirit, but one cannot understand the reality unless one is sufficiently educated in the spiritual science.

— Çré Caitanya-caritämåta » Ädi-lélä » Chapter four » Verse 30 » Purport by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

!! Sri Sri Nitai Gaurchandra Jayati !!

ISKCON Bhäägavata Mahä Bh Mahävidyalaya is a Educational Unit of International Society for Krishna Consciousness Founder-Acarya: His Divine Grace A.C. BhaktiVedanta Swami Prabhupada Quotations from the books, letters, and lectures of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada ©Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. ©All the paintings are copyrights of their respective artists.

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