Sri Rama Ekädaçé Issue no:148 11th November 2020

The Welfare Of Others

Lord Siva Saves The Universe The Welfare Of Others
By Drinking Poison His Divine Grace
Srila Sukadeva Goswami A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Two Defects Of Welfare Work The Highest Kind Of Welfare Activities

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura

Circulaton 30,280
 Issue no 148, Page — 2
Lord Siva Saves The Universe
By Drinking Poison
Srila Sukadeva Goswami
Sukadeva Goswami said: O best of the Kurus
Maharaja Pariksit, the demigods and demons
summoned Vasuki, king of the serpents, request-
ing him to come by promising to give him a share
of the nectar they apired to obtain. They coiled
Vasuki around Mandara Mountain as a churning
rope, and with great pleasure they endeavoured
to produce nectar by churning the Ocean of Milk.
The Personality of Godhead, Ajita, grasped the
front portion of the snake, and then the demigods
followed. The leaders of the demons thought
it unwise to hold the tail, the inauspicious rear
section of the snake. Instead, they wanted to hold
the front, which had been taken by the Personality
of Godhead and the demigods, considering that
section was auspicious and glorious. Thus the
demons, on the plea that they were all highly ad-
vanced students of Vedic knowledge and were all
famous for their birth and activities, protested, de-
manding that hold the front of the snake. Thus the
demons remained unmoving and silent, opposing
the desire of the demigods. Seeing the demons
and understanding their mentality, the Person-
ality of Godhead smiled. Without discussion, He
immediately accepted their proposal by grasping
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the tail of the snake, and the demigods followed
Him. After thus adjusting how the snake was to
be held, the sons of Kasyapa, both demigods and
demons, began their endeavour of churning the
Milk Ocean with the intention of deriving nectar.
O son of the Pandu dynasty, when Mandara
Mountain was thus being used as a churning
rod in the Ocean of Milk, it had no support, and
therefore although held by the strong hands of
the demigods and demons, it sank. Because the
mountain had been sunk by juggernautian prov-
idence, the demigods and demons were disap-
pointed, and their faces seemed to shrivel. Seeing
the situation that had been created despite the best
efforts of the powerful demons and demigods, the
unlimitedly powerful Lord, whose determination
is infallible, took the wonderful shape of a tortoise,
entered the water, and lifted the great Mandara
Mountain. When the supra-human demigods
and demons saw that Mandara Mountain had
been lifted, they were enlivened and encouraged
to resume the churning. The mountain rested on
the back of the great tortoise, which extended for
eight hundred thousand miles like a large island.
O King, when by the strength of their arms the
demigods and demons, rotated Mandara Moun-
tain on the back of the extraordinary tortoise, He
accepted the pivoting of the mountain as a means
of scratching His body, and thus He experienced
a pleasing sensation. Thereafter, Lord Visnu en-
tered the demons as the quality of passion, the
demigods as the quality of goodness, and Vasuki
as the quality of ignorance to encourage them
and increase their various types of strength and
energy. Manifesting Himself with thousands of
hands, the Lord then appeared on the summit of
Mandara Mountain, like another great mountain,
and steadied the stone mass with one hand. In
the upper planetary systems, Lord Brahma and
Lord Siva, along with Indra, the King of heaven,
and other demigods, offered prayers to the Lord
and showered flowers upon Him. The demigods
and demons worked strenuously to generate
the nectar, encouraged by the Lord, who was
above and below the mountain and who had
entered the demigods, the demons, Vasuki and
the mountain itself. Because of the strength of
the demigods and demons, the Ocean of Milk
was so powerfully agitated that all the alligators
 nityaà bhägavata-sevayä
in the water were very perturbed. Nonetheless,
the churning of the ocean continued. Vasuki had
thousands of eyes and mouths. From his mouths
he breathed smoke and blazing fire, which scalded
the demons, headed by Pauloma, Kaleya, Bali and
Ilvala. Thus the demons appearing like sarala trees
burned by a forest fire, gradually became power-
less. Because the demigods were also affected by
the blazing breath of Vasuki, their bodily luster
diminished, and their garments, garlands, weapons
and faces were blackened by smoke. However, by
the grace of the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
clouds appeared on the sea, pouring torrents of
rain, and breezes blew, carrying particles of water
from the sea waves, to give the demigods relief.
When nectar did not come from the Ocean of
Milk, despite so much endeavour by the best of the
demigods and demons, the Supreme Personality
of Godhead, Ajita, personally began to churn the
ocean. The Lord appeared like a blackish cloud.
He was dressed with yellow garments, His ear-
rings shone on His ears like lightning, and His
hair spread over His broad shoulders. He wore a
garland of colourful flowers, and His eyes were
pinkish. With His strong, glorious arms, which
award fearlessness to all throughout the universe,
He took hold of Vasuki and began churning the
ocean, using Mandara Mountain as a churning
rod. When engaged in this way, the Lord appeared
like the beautiful mountain named Indranila. The
fish, sharks, tortoises and snakes were very agitat-
ed and distraught with fright. The entire ocean
became turbulent, and even the large aquatic
animals like whales, water elephants, crocodiles,
whales and timingila fish came to the surface.
While the ocean was being churned in this way,
it first produced a fiercely dangerous poison called
hälahala. O King, when that uncontrollable poi-
son was uncheckably spreading in all directions,
the host of demigods, along with the Lord Him-
self, approached Lord Siva [Sada Siva]. Feeling
unsheltered and very apprehensive, they sought
his shelter. The demigods observed Lord Siva sit-
ting on the summit of Kailasa Hill with his wife,
Bhavani, for the auspicious progress of the three
worlds. He was being worshiped by great saintly
persons desiring liberation. The demigods offered
him their obeisance and prayers with great respect.
The prajäpati recognised him as representing
the Supreme Lord and thus prayed: O greatest
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of all demigods, Mahadeva, O Supersoul of all
living entities and cause of their happiness and
prosperity, we have come to the shelter of your
lotus feet. Please save us from this fiery poison,
which is spreading all over the three worlds. O
lord, you are the cause of bondage and liberation
of the entire universe because you are its ruler.
Those who are advanced in spiritual conscious-
ness surrender unto you, and therefore you are
the cause of mitigating their distresses. You are
also the cause of their liberation. We therefore
worship Your Lordship. O lord, you are self-ef-
fulgent and supreme. You create this material
world by your personal energy, and you assume
the names Brahma, Visnu and Mahesvara when
you act in creation, maintenance and annihilation.
You are the cause of all causes, the self-effulgent,
inconceivable, impersonal Brahman, which is
originally Parabrahman. You manifest various
potencies in this cosmic manifestation. O lord,
you are the original source of all Vedic literature.
You are the original cause of material creation, the
life force, the senses, the five elements, the three
modes of nature and the primordial mahat-tattva.
You are eternal time, determination and the two
religious systems called truth [satya] and truthful-
ness [åta]. You are the shelter of the syllable Om,
which consists of three letters a-u-m. O father of
all planets, learned scholars know that fire is your
mouth, the surface of the globe is your lotus feet,
eternal time is your movement, all the directions
are your ears, and Varuna, master of the waters,
is your tongue. O lord, the sky is your navel, the
air is your breathing, the sun is your eyes, and
the water is your semen. You are the shelter of all
kinds of living entities, high and low. The god of
the moon is your mind, and the upper planetary
system is your head. O lord, you are the three Vedas
personified. The seven seas are your abdomen, and
the mountains are your bones. All shrubs, creep-
ers and vegetables are the hairs on your body, the
Vedic mantras like Gäyatré are the seven layers of
your body, and the Vedic religious system is the
core of your heart. O lord, the five important Vedic
mantras are represented by your five faces, from
which the thirty-eight most celebrated Vedic man-
tras have been generated. Your Lordship, being
celebrated as Lord Siva, is self-illuminated. You are
directly situated as the supreme truth, known as
Paramatma. O lord, your shadow is seen in irre-
Bhāgavata Mahāvidyālaya
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ligion, which brings about varieties of irreligious
creations. The three modes of nature -- goodness,
passion and ignorance are your three eyes. All the
Vedic literatures, which are full of verse, are ema-
nations from you because their compilers wrote
the various scriptures after receiving your glance.
O Lord Girisa, since the impersonal Brahman ef-
fulgence is transcendental to the material modes
of goodness, passion and ignorance, the various
directors of this material world certainly cannot
appreciate it or even know it’s location. It is not
understandable even to Lord Brahma, Lord Visnu
or the King of heaven, Mahendra. When anni-
hilation is performed by the flames and sparks
emanating from your eyes, the entire creation is
burned to ashes. Nonetheless, you remain bliss-
fully unaware f this devastation. What then is to
be said of your destroying the Dakña-yajïa, Tri-
purasura and the kälaküöa poison? Such activities
cannot be subject matters for prayers offered to
you. Exalted, self-satisfied persons who teach the
entire world, think of your lotus feet constantly
within their hearts. However, when persons who
do not know your austerity see you moving with
Uma, they misunderstand you to be hen pecked,
or when they see you wandering in the cremato-
rium they mistakenly think that you are ferocious
and envious. Certainly they are shameless. They
cannot understand your activities. Even person-
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alities like Lord Brahma and other demigods
cannot easily understand your position, for you
are beyond the moving and non-moving cre-
ation. Since no one can understand you in truth,
how can one offer you prayers? It is impossible.
As far as we are concerned, we are creatures
of Lord Brahma’s creation. Under the circum-
stances, therefore, we cannot offer you adequate
prayers, but as far as our ability allows, we
have expressed our feelings. O greatest of all
rulers, your actual identity is impossible for us
to understand. As far as we can see, your pres-
ence brings flourishing happiness to everyone.
Beyond this, no one can appreciate your activ-
ities. We can see this much, and nothing more.
Srila Sukadeva Goswami continued: Lord
Siva is always benevolent toward all living
entities. When he saw that the living enti-
ties were very distressed by the formidable
poison which was spreading everywhere, he
became immensely compassionate. Thus he
spoke to his eternal consort, Sati, as follows.
Lord Siva said: My dear Bhavani, just see how
all these living entities have been placed in dan-
ger because of the poison produced from the
churning of the Ocean of Milk. It is my duty to
give protection and safety to all living entities
struggling for existence. It is certainly the duty of
the master to protect his suffering dependents.
 nityaà bhägavata-sevayä
People in general, due to the bewilderment of the
Supreme Personality of Godhead’s illusory energy,
are always feeling animosity toward one another.
But devotees, even at the risk of their own tem-
porary lives, try to save the unfortunate masses.
My dear gentle wife Bhavani, when one performs
benevolent activities for others, the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, Hari, is very pleased.
And when the Lord is pleased, I am also pleased
-- as are all other living creatures. Therefore, let
me take in this poison, for all the living entities
may thus become free from distress and happy.
Srila Sukadeva Goswami continued: After in-
forming Bhavani in this way, Lord Siva began to
imbibe the poison, and Bhavani, who knew per-
fectly well the capabilities of Lord Siva, gave him
her permission to do so. Thereafter, Lord Siva,
who is dedicated to auspicious, benevolent work
for humanity, compassionately took the whole
quantity of poison in his palm and swallowed it. As
if tarnishng him, the poison born from the Ocean of
Milk manifested its potency by marking Lord Siva’s
neck with a bluish line. That line, however, is now
accepted as an ornament of the Lord. It is said that
great personalities almost always voluntarily accept
penance to counter the suffering of people in gen-
eral. This is considered the highest method of wor-
shiping the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who
is present in everyone’s heart as their well wisher.
Upon hearing of this act, everyone, beginning
with his wife Bhavani , Lord Brahma, Lord Visnu,
and the people in general, greatly praised this deed
peformed by Lord Siva, who is worshiped even by
the demigods and who bestows benedictions upon
all. Scorpions, cobras, toxic chemicals and other an-
imals whose bites are poisonous took the opportu-
nity to absorb whatever droplets of poison that had
fallen from Lord Siva’s hand while he was drinking.
— Srimad-Bhägavatam (Bhägavata Puräëa) » Canto 8: Withdrawal of the
Cosmic Creations » Chapter Seven » Verses: 1-46.
. paramo nirmatsaräëäà satäà
Two Defects of Welfare Work
Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakura
Material welfare work is good, but it has two
defects: it directly or indirectly encourages godless-
ness, and it supports violence to animals and other
living entities. Whatever attempts we make to help
others while neglecting the Absolute are useless.
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Issue no 148, Page—5
Neither are we in favour of habitually practicing
devotion in order to use the sädhus for our own ends.
Those who want to accomplish something mun-
dane through the agency of the sädhus prove that
they have no respect whatsoever for saintly persons.
Ordinary altruism is not the goal of life. There is a
much more important duty while one is in the hu-
man form of life; and that is to serve God. Serving
God can permanently liberate people from their
material distress and allow them to taste eternal
happiness. It is our personal intention to convert the
entire human population to practitioners of bhakti.
Serving God is the soul’s supreme
and eternal religion. Hearing Sri Caitanya-
deva’s teachings on this point will forev-
er help everyone. Sri Caitanyadeva said:
bhärata-bhümite haila manuñya janma yära
janma särthaka kari’ kara para-upakära
One who has taken his birth as a human being
in the land of India [Bhärata-varña] should make
his life successful and work for the benefit of all
other people. (Caitanya-caritämåta Ädi 9.41)
Sri Caitanyadeva preached throughout the world
for the welfare of all jévas. The welfare work He pro-
posed however, was not of the temporary, insignif-
icant, narrow-minded, changeable, or imaginary
type—not pie in the sky— unlike the welfare work
proposed by so-called social reformers and mun-
dane philanthropists. The welfare work He pro-
posed is of the highest calibre and is neither tempo-
rary nor insignificant. The ways to uplift others as
invented, being invented, and about to be invented
by ordinary human beings, according to their
narrow considerations, will in no way truly benefit
anyone because they are all temporary. Sri Ma-
haprabhu revealed the actual way to uplift others:
dharmaù projjhita-kaitavo ’tra
vedyaà västavam atra vastu
çivadaà täpa-trayonmülanam
Srimad-bhägavate mahä-muni-
kåte kià vä parair éçvaraù
sadyo hådy avarudhyate ’tra
kåtibhiùçuçrüñubhis tat-kñaëät
Completely rejecting all religious activities which
are materially motivated, this Bhägavata Puräëa
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propounds the highest truth, which is under-
standable by those devotees who are fully pure
in heart. The highest truth is reality distinguished
from illusion for the welfare of all. Such truth
uproots the threefold miseries. This beautiful
Bhägavatam, compiled by the great sage Vyasa-
deva in his maturity, is sufficient in itself for God
realisation. What is the need of any other scrip-
ture? As soon as one attentively and submissively
hears the message of Bhägavatam, by this culture
of knowledge, the Supreme Lord is established
within his heart. (Srimad Bhägavatam 1.1.2)
The process of doing good for others described
by the Bhägavatam was discovered and refined by
Sri Caitanyadeva. This process destroys the three-
fold miseries, whereas the usual forms of mundane
welfare work imagined by this world’s thoughtful
people are neither beneficial nor do they deliver
the ultimate goal of life. They cannot even effec-
tively remedy the ever-recurring material miseries.
Miseries are the effect of a particular cause. Un-
til the cause is destroyed, the effect will remain.
Until the root of a banyan tree is destroyed, it will
again sprout even if one cuts down its trunk and
branches thousands of times. The thousands of
man-made proposals for social welfare remind
us of the attempt to empty the ocean with one’s
bare hands. Even if thousands of people engage
continuously in such an endeavour for thousands
of ages, they will never be successful. At best, one
may see that their work has caused a vast body of
water to accumulate in some other place. Similarly,
we cannot empty the ocean of material misery by
our own strength. At most we will simply suc-
ceed in transferring the misery somewhere else
or upon someone else. Of course, by doing that
we can certainly deceive others and even our-
selves, but the truth is that it is a zero sum game.
The threefold miseries cannot be vanquished
without following the Bhägavatam’s instructions.
There are unlimited varieties of misery. We cannot
concoct a way to destroy even one of them. They
are caused by nescience in the form of forgetfulness
of the Supreme Lord. This nescience both covers
the living entities and throws them into further
pain. Until we destroy this root cause we will never
destroy its miserable effect. We must propagate
devotional service if we truly wish to help others.
Bhāgavata Mahāvidyālaya www.ibmedu.org
nityaà bhägavata-sevayä
If the Lord’s message is earnestly preached around
the world, then all the countries and all their peo-
ple will achieve the greatest success of all time.
— Amåta Väëé: Nectar of Instructions of Immortality; His Divine Grace
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada; Compiled by Sripada Bhakti
Mayukha Bhagavat Maharaja; Adapted and Published by Isvaradasa; Translated
from Bengali by Bhumipati dasa.
The Welfare Of Others
His Divine Grace
A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Here is an explanation of how the magnani-
mous souls engaged in activities for the spiritual
welfare of others are very quickly recognized by
the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Lord
Himself says in Bhagavad-gétä (18.68-69), ya idaà
paramaà guhyaà mad-bhakteñv abhidhäsyati. .. na
ca tasmän manuñyeñu kaçcin me priya-kåttamaù:
"One who preaches the message of Bhagavad-gétä
to My devotees is most dear to Me. No one can
excel him in satisfying Me by any other method
of worship." There are different kinds of welfare
activities in this material world, but the supreme
welfare activity is the spreading of Krishna con-
sciousness. Other welfare activities cannot be
effective, for by them no one can check the laws
of nature and the results of karma. It is by destiny
— the laws of karma — that one must suffer or
enjoy. For instance, if one is given a court order,
he must accept it, whether it brings suffering or
profit Similarly, everyone is under obligations
to karma and it reactions. No one can change
 nityaà bhägavata-sevayä
this simply by applying materially based compas-
sion. Therefore the scriptures (Bhäg 1.5.18) say:
tasyaiva hetoù prayateta kovido
na labhyate yad bhramatäm upary adhaù
One should endeavour for that which is never ob-
tained by wandering throughout the universe as a
result of the reactions to his karma. What is referred
to here? It means that the truly wise will endeavour
to become Krishna conscious. If one tries to further
that end by propogating Krishna consciousness
all over the world, he should be understood to be
performing the best welfare activity. The Lord is
automatically very pleased with him. If the Lord
is pleased with him, what then is left for him to
achieve? If one has been recognized by the Lord,
even if he does not ask Him for anything, the Lord,
who is within everyone’s heart, automatically pro-
vides that blessed person with whatever he wants.
This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gétä (teñäà nityäbhi-
yuktänäà yoga-kñemaà vahämy aham [Gétä 9.22]).
Again, as stated here, tapyante loka-täpena
sädhavaù präyaço janäù. The best welfare activi-
ty is bringing people to the platform of Krishna
consciousness, since the conditioned souls are
suffering only for the want of the awakening to
Krishna consciousness. The Lord Himself also
comes to mitigate the suffering of humanity.
yadä yadä hi dharmasya
glänir bhavati bhärata
abhyutthänam adharmasya
tadätmänaà såjämy aham
pariträëäya sädhünäà
vinäçäya ca duñkåtäm
dharma-saàsthäpanärthäya
sambhavämi yuge yuge
"Whenever and wherever there is a decline in reli-
gious practice, and a predominant rise of irreligion,
O descendant of Bharata, at that time I descend
Myself. To deliver the pious and to annihilate the
miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of
religion, I advent Myself millennium after millen-
nium." (Gétä 4.7-8) The Vedic scriptures conclude,
therefore, that spreading the Krishna conscious-
ness movement is the best welfare activity in the
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Issue no 148, Page—7
world. Because of the ultimate benefit this bestows
upon people in general, the Lord very quickly
recognizes such service performed by a devotee.
— Çrémad-Bhägavatam (Bhägavata Puräëa) » Canto 8: Withdrawal of the
Cosmic Creations » Chapter Seven » Verses :45, Purport
The Highest Kind Of Welfare Activities
Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura
“Exhibiting compassion towards living entities
is of three kinds. Display of compassion in regard
to the body of the living entities is the first of the
three kinds of pious activities. Gratuitous distri-
bution offood to the hungry people, medicine
to the diseased persons, distributing water to the
thirsty people and distributing clothes to persons
who are afflicted with cold are all born from the
compassion in regard to the body. Giving educa-
tion is borne from the compassion in regard to the
mind of the living entities. However, the highest
kind of compassion is in regard to the soul of the
living entities. The desire to deliver the fallen souls
from the miseries of material existence by award-
ing them devotional service to Krishna, is born
from this topmost compassionate propensity.”
— (SajjanaToñaëé Magazine 9/9, published by the author)
!! Sri Sri Nitai Gaurchandra Jayati !!
ISKCON
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is a branch of
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Founder-Acarya: His Divine Grace
A.C. BhaktiVedanta Swami Prabhupada
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Quotations from the books, letters, and lectures of
His Divine Grace A.C. Bhakti Vedanta Swami Prabhupada
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