All Glories to Guru & Gauranga!!!

SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM CANTO 4 CHAPTER 14 – THE STORY OF KING VENA

Text 12

TaiÜÜiÙrSad(v*taae veNaae_ SMaai>a" k* Taae Na*Pa" )

SaaiNTvTaae Yaid Naae vac& Na Ga]h qZYaTYaDaMaRk * Ta( )
l aek iDa¡ arSaNdGDa& dihZYaaMa" SvTaeJ aSaa )) 12 ))

tad-vidvadbhir asad-våtto
veno 'smäbhiù kåto nåpaù
säntvito yadi no väcaà
na grahéñyaty adharma-kåt
loka-dhikkära-sandagdhaà
dahiñyämaù sva-tejasä

SYNONYMS
tat—his mischievous nature; vidvadbhiù—aware of; asat-våttaù—impious; venaù—Vena;
asmäbhiù—by us; kåtaù—was made; nåpaù—king; säntvitaù—(in spite of) being pacified; yadi—
if; naù—our; väcam—words; na—not; grahéñyati—he will accept; adharma-kåt—the most
mischievous; loka-dhik-kära—by public condemnation; sandagdham—burned; dahiñyämaù—we
shall burn; sva-tejasä—by our prowess.
TRANSLATION
The saintly sages continued thinking: Of course we are completely aware of his mischievous
nature. Yet nevertheless we enthroned Vena. If we cannot persuade King Vena to accept our
advice, he will be condemned by the public, and we will join them. Thus by our prowess we shall
burn him to ashes.
PURPORT
Saintly persons are not interested in political matters, yet they are always thinking of the welfare of
the people in general. Consequently they sometimes have to come down to the political field and
take steps to correct the misguided government or royalty. However, in Kali-yuga, saintly persons
are not as powerful as they previously were. They used to be able to burn any sinful man to ashes
by virtue of their spiritual prowess. Now saintly persons have no such power due to the influence
of the age of Kali. Indeed, the brähmaëas do not even have the power to perform sacrifices in
which animals are put into a fire to attain a new life. Under these circumstances, instead of
actively taking part in politics, saintly persons should engage in chanting the mahä-mantra, Hare
Kåñëa. By the grace of Lord Caitanya, by simply chanting this Hare Kåñëa mahä-mantra, the
general populace can derive all benefits without political implications.

LECTURE
Thus ends the bhaktivedanta purports of the Srimad Bhagavatam, maha purana, 4th canto, 14th
chapter, 12th text in the matter of “The story of King Vena”, spoken today 23rd ’08 , 2008 of the
Hare Krishna Radha MadanMohan temple, Nampalli station road, Hyderabad, Andhara Pradesh,
India, Bharataloka, in the universe of four headed Brahma.
Text 13 has no purport

WvMaDYavSaaYaENa& MauNaYaae GaU!MaNYav" )

oPav]JYaab]uvNa( veNa& SaaNTviYaTva c SaaMai>a" )) 13 ))
evam adhyavasäyainaà
 munayo güòha-manyavaù
upavrajyäbruvan venaà
säntvayitvä ca sämabhiù

SYNONYMS
evam—thus; adhyavasäya—having decided; enam—him; munayaù—the great sages; güòha-
manyavaù—concealing their anger; upavrajya—having approached; abruvan—spoke; venam—to
King Vena; säntvayitvä—after pacifying; ca—also; sämabhiù—with sweet words.

TRANSLATION
The great sages, having thus decided, approached King Vena. Concealing their real anger, they
pacified him with sweet words and then spoke as follows.

Here is King Vena was a tyrant, he didn’t follow the kshatriya concept of protecting the citizens,
he was causing lot of difficulties misusing his powers, so first the saintly people thought let us
convince him to act properly, and if we can’t do that then with our mystical powers we will burn
him to ashes.

Srila Prabhupada explains that previously the sages had so much power they could correct the
things in material world when needed to make everything work nicely, but now they are
prohibited to do many of these sacrifices and they are not able to do it effectively. So they can do
as they can purify the world by chanting

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

This brings peaceful loving atmosphere into the world, it is recommended that we chant the holy
name .When we observe the Janmastami, one of the things we do is we chant. Just like when we
go to Balaji temple in trimala, when everyone goes before Srnivas, they chant

GOVINDA! GOVINDA! GOVINDA!

Go means the lands, the cows, the senses, - one who gives happiness to the country to all the land
farmers, to the cows to the senses he is known as govinda

GOVINDA!

So whether you chant govinda or hare Krishna, there is no difference. We should chant the holy
name of the Lord especially in Kaliyuga is recommended we chant maha mantra

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

iti ñoòaçakaà nämnäà

kali-kalmaña-näçanam
nätaù parataropäyaù

Kali-santaraëa Upaniñad, says when we chant these 16 names, all the evil effects of kali yuga, any
quality or suffering, hatred, prejudice, terrorism, all these things are destroyed. Whatever the
problems that are in kali yuga.

Are there any problems in kali yuga(ha! Ha!) Today you find any? NO PROBLEM
News papers, television, they have any problems to report--- so many problems
But here this the solution, having the janmastami festival, chanting hare Krishna, this can
gradually remove the problems of the society, so all of you can help by purifying the society by
chanting

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

someone may say but there are other ways, but this verse says nätaù parataropäyaù nätaù
parataropäyaù. In th evedas you cannot find anyway other than chanting

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

so in the back beautiful picture of Lord Caitanya dancing with the tigers, deers, boars and so many
jungle animals because when Lord Caitanya chants hare Krishna even the wild animals lose the
hatred, lose their anger and they become loving, the tiger and deer are dancing together, kissing
each other,

I LOVE YOU MY DEAR TIGER!

I LOVE YOU MY DEAR DEER !

No fear. Srila Prabhupada said that Lord Caitanya, he could get the animals in the Jungle to dance
and love each other we may not have that capacity. Atleast we can make the humanbeings sing
and dance and love each other chanting

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

that will fulfill Lord caitanya’s mission. This is the mandate, get everyone to chant hare Krishna
and love Krishna and love each other and the whole world will be a peaceful place loving and
beautiful place. Now people are putting bombs on their body and going into some big assembly of
people blowing themselves up, so they can blow up many other people. What is the sense of that?
Better to dedicate themselves in the service of Supreme Personality of Godhead, Bhagavan Sri
Krishna, Chant his holy names and get everyone allow bomb, no destructive bomb, it is explosion
of love by chanting

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

so somehow in the previous yuga King Vena, he thought he was God, he was so crazy, sometimes
in kali yuga we find people who say that I am God, worship me , I am Bhagavan, give me a few
lakhs of rupees donation i will give you big ashirvad. Not so cheap it is not that anybody acan
become bhagavan, Bhagavan is bhagavan, you don’t have to pay him he can give blessings. So this
problem is there. Some people are claiming to be God. But now there is nobody to take action
against them, but in the time of Vena when he was claiming to be bhagavan, that he is the king
everyone should worship him, then the sages first said that let us first try to let him over, if that
doesn’t work we will take more serious steps… telling you know what the Bhagavad Gita says,
Srimad Bhagavatam say, then they were being protected by misled by false spiritual masters, false
gurus, false avatars, so that’s why we read in telgu, in English in Hindi and in many different
languages we have srimad bhagavtam granthraj , bhagavt puran translated so that everybody can
know what is the purpose of life , what is the real quality of Personalty of godhead.
In Bhagavad gita Krishna says sambhavämi yuge yuge – in every yuga He comes , similarly in Kali
yuga He come in disguise. There 12th canto Srimad Bhagavtam says

kåñëa-varëaà tviñäkåñëaà
säìgopäìgästra-pärñadam
yajïaiù saìkértana-präyair
yajanti hi su-medhasaù

That Krishna come in a non Krishna, non-blackish colour, all the ither color he has taken and
only the golden colour is left. He come in a golden color with his eternal associates, his expansios
and his spiritual weapon of love like this mrdanga,

what is the mrdanga? What sound it makes? Dhum dham

And kartals – ching ching – sound of kartal

So these are the loved weapons, chant

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

these symbols and drums they awaken the love in our hearts chanting the holy name. Lord
Caitanya came to establish the sankirtan yajne. This sankirtan yajna means sacrifice of chanting
the holy names together. We chant one by one that is good for ourself, but when we chat together,
it has more collective help for the society, chanting

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

So Krishna said I come every yuga, this kali yuga is meant for Caitanya Mahaprabhu ki jai!

Now we got people every century they are claiming to be God, every year they are coming, every
month, every week, every day some new bhagavan is coming, but they can’t even bring the rain.
(laugh!)

They want to make irrigation project, so bhagavan is bhagavan. Nobody can become bhagavan and
he comes only when he is predicted, people may be sadhus but being a sadhu is not same. Kali
yuga sadhus are not so powerful previous yugas the sadhus do so much, In asvamedha yajna they
can take an old cow or horse offer in the fire bring out of the fire a new cow or asva – horse, these
asvamedha and gomedha are prohibited in kali yuga. Also sannyasa is forbidden. Some take
karmas and giving up all the works living in some jungle very difficult in kali yuga to follow even
if somebody takes sannyas they do line in an ashram and they some public work to uplift the
people and help the people. In our Krishna Consious movement we have got millions of followers
but we have got only hundred sannyasis and they are not giving up work, they are doing so much
service so we have also many grhastas they are doing lotsof service, here our temple president in
Hyderabad Vedanta caitanya das, he is a grhasta. Lord Caitanya said

gåhe thäko, vane thäko, sadä 'hari' bole' òäko,

Whether you are grhasta, or you ae brahmacari whatever your order, everyone should chant the
hare Krishna maha mantra
 Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

and they should do service to Krishna. So we need some brahmanical minded grhastas also to do
some seva, to help the society to more spiritualize, few may do like full time activities like Vedanta
Caitanya das or you may work outside maintain your family but do bhakti vriksha, do some house
programs that has also a good effect. People see that like me he is married he has children, he is
working but he is peaceful he is happy, he is chanting the holy names of Krishna so why don’t we
also chant husband and wife together, how many ladies who have married once they have
husbands will be chanting with them and those who are unmarried when you get married, you
want devotee husband raise your hands, both together, so thi show to have a peaceful Krishna
conscious house, peaceful society, peaceful world, when people are oriented in pleasing God.
Mordern society people don’t even know the difference between the body and the atma. In Vedas
we know that the body dies, atma is nitya it is eternal, sanatana so the body dies the atma goes on
takes rebirth so do we want to take rebirth as an animal, as an human, as a deva or you want to go
straight back to god to Krishna, these are the options more or less. There was scientist psychology
who took somebody back by hypnotism, he said what is your sammhon, hypnotism what is your
previous life, normally everyone previous life they also being human being, but this person said
that “I am a butterfly, so how is it , from human to butterfly to human what happened, so there
was very tall building with a big dome an d I flew in that door there was some statue there
standing, someone playing a flute and there was some fruit, being a butterfly I like fruit that is my
main diet so I landed on the tree and I was eating the fruit, then some man came out shouting an d
killed me” so that psychiatrist what is this he must have gone to some Krishna temple and pujari
would have seen the insect on the prasadam pov! Smashed him. But by taking prasadam he went
all the way in reincarnation, from an insect to human being, then he came to temple and he
became devotee, Krishna kept his word but he became afull believer of the Lord, which you can go
from insect to human by eating Krishna Prasadam, then how powerful is Krishna. You know one
of the austerities you must perform tomorrow, after fasting you have do a breakfast and you have
to eat prasadam. Are you prepared to take this austerity? Hari bol!!!!

By taking prasadam you also being elevated, we chant hare Krishna, we feast on prasadam, we
dance and hear some Srimad Bhagavtam, Srimad Bhagavad-gita, what is difficult about this process,
any difficult and do some cleaning, if we clean the temple we clean the heart.

How many of you have ever cleaned the hall, vow! See all their hearts are clean, I hope u didn’t
put nay dirt into it after cleaning so your son is also going to take prasadam. So today we having
a special ceremony on this hall and this is a Bhaktivedanta vedic samskar hall. We going to
perform different samskars here today, we performed arati, puja, sankirtanam and now anna
prasannam, Vedanta Caitanya and Revati’s son is in the 6th month recommended to take grains.
Mean time any questions:

Q. Hare Krishna Maharaj, Thank you for making Your presence

A. I didn’t make my presence, Krishna made my presence, I only made my appearance here

Q. Your Presence itself makes us so much Happy, for us You travelled and made your presence
here, we are thankful to You, before asking some questions I pray to You and seek blessings so
that I can ask You questions in a submissive way as you believe.
1. Can you please tell us what homework one should do to get desire to please Krishna

A: In Caitanya Caritamrta, Lord caitanya explains

 nitya-siddha kåñëa-prema ‘sädhya’ kabhu naya
çravaëädi-çuddha-citte karaye udaya

you understand, Krishna prema is within our heart , we don’t have to do something that to lord it
it is there naturally , simply by pure mind if we do çravaëädi-çuddha-citte karaye udaya, sravanam
means hearing, sravana kirtan.. the nine process of bhati yoga, if we perform that in asimple heart,
you awaken up naturally that loving desire, what is LOVE? You want desire to please Krishna,
what is LOVE? Buisness means I want you to give something to me money may be, that is
business, but love i want to give you, someone loves someone, they want to serve them, they want
please them , they want to give them something , so what you want is Love for Krishna, that is
already in your heart but it is lying dormant, but if you hear the message of Krishna and if you
chant

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

That love will awaken, “We want to serve Krishna”

Q.2 Since day after tomorrow is Srila Prabhupada’s appearance day, I am very curious to how
many foreign devotees and even Indians dedicated their life to Prabhupada fulfilling his mission, if
You desire so , can you please tell me what made You feel sheltered in Srila Prabhupada’s presence,
A: how many devotees took shelter all over the world, we have over 500 branches, over 5000
bhakti vrikshas and namhattas and counselor’s groups, we have got so many people and millions
and millions of books being distributed so there must be millions of people who have dedicated
themselves in taking the shelter of srila Prabhupada’s teachings. As far as when i was with
prabhupada’s physical direct spiritual presence, i felt so much sheltered because he was so caring
and loving, selflessly giving Krishna to everyone. We could see that… i could at least feel that He
was the happiest person in the whole world, not happy like in Bangalore there was a sign “COME
TO THE CENTRAL MALL, 60% discount Happiness festival, so if you get 60% off, you are happy,
you can get your shirt for 60% off that will fully satisfy you, even if you get a free shirt you may
not be permanently happy, how long will a shirt last, so this is not a kind of superficial happiness,
this is very…, sometimes you look close, sometimes Prabhupada looks very grave, you look closer
in His eyes, you may pick out tears in His eyes, tears of love, that he is in ecstasy, but he is just
covering His ecstasy , it is profound and deep, there is little waves on the top of the ocean when
the tsunami comes goes the whole depth of the ocean and it goes and it floods.

Hari BOl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GAURANGA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NITYANANADA!!!!

GOVINDA!!!!!

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

They had me given a lecture in Berlin, Germany and I talked about Krishna Consciousness is the
art of being happy, there are many art going around. This is an art of being eternally, spiritually
fully happy and blissful.

Hare Krishna