First Fire Sacrifice and Janmashtami – Remembering Srila Prabhupada

September 8, 1966. Janmastami. Lord Krishna, we learn, is not born like an ordinary child. He appears. Five thousand years ago, in Mathura, India, He appeared as four-armed Narayana, attired in His transcendental garments. At His mother’s request, He assumed a two-armed form, like an ordinary child. Sri Krishna is most obliging to His devotees.

"Today we will fast," Swamiji tells us. "Normally we do not fast all day. Krishna consciousness is not for one who eats too much or too little. Gandhi fasted many days for political reasons, but we don’t. In Bhagavad-gita, that kind of fasting is considered rajasic, or passionate. We fast according to regulations: Ekadasi, the eleventh day of the full moon, we take no grains. That is a partial fast. And Janmastami, there is complete fast all day until midnight. So today we will fast and chant, and tomorrow there will be initiation."

"In Kali-yuga, people think they will be beautiful just by wearing long hair," Swamiji says. "That is the verdict of Srimad-Bhagavatam. "

We deliberate on this. Mercifully, Swamiji does not insist on our shaving, nor on the wearing of robes. When, in the late afternoon, some of us become restless and hungry from fasting, Swamiji tells us that there’s fruit in the refrigerator.

"If you are feeling weak, take," he says.

We don’t, but allow ourselves some water instead. For most of us, fasting until midnight is the most severe austerity we have ever undertaken.

After evening kirtan, we request Swamiji to read from his new manuscript, and he sends Roy upstairs to bring down his translation of Bhagavad-gita. This, we feel, is a special event. At last we won’t have to hear the impersonalist Radhakrishnan translation! As in the First Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, the translations are supplemented with Swamiji’s elaborate purports explaining all aspects of the verse in the Vaishnava personalist tradition.

After the reading, Swamiji relates the story of Lord Krishna’s appearance some five thousand years ago.

"Those who can understand the nature of Krishna’s advent are not born again," he says, "but attain the abode of Krishna. That is Sri Krishna’s promise to Arjuna in the battlefield."

He then tells of the midnight birth of Lord Krishna in the prison of His demonic uncle, King Kamsa.

"The Lord’s appearance can be likened to the rising of the full moon in the sky," he tells us. "He appeared to His devotee-parents, Vasudeva and Devaki, fully decorated, dressed in yellow silks, holding in His four hands the conch shell, club, disc, and lotus flower, and wearing beautiful ornaments. Since the evil King Kamsa was killing all of Devaki’s children, Vasudeva took Krishna to Vrindaban, where He was raised as the son of Nanda Maharaj, a wealthy owner of many cowherds."

After describing the birth of Lord Krishna, Swamiji begins to talk of tomorrow’s initiation, telling us that there are four basic restrictions for all initiates: No meat eating (including eggs and fish), no gambling, no illicit sex, and no intoxicants (including alcohol, cigarets, LSD, marijuana, tea, and coffee).

"For spiritual advancement, purification is necessary," he says. "Some so-called devotees smoke and drink and talk about Krishna, but this is a mockery. To really understand Krishna, we must be pure inside and out. Only pure chanting can bring real spiritual advancement. Beginners may tend to relax their efforts, but to advance, we must constantly increase our efforts and devotion. It is difficult for a beginner to follow these regulative principles and keep his mind on Krishna if he associates with skeptics; therefore we’ve established this society.

"Years ago, when one of my God-brothers went to England, one certain aristocrat asked, ‘What can I do to become a brahmin?’ My God-brother told him that first of all he must refrain from meat eating, intoxication, gambling, and illicit sex. ‘Impossible!’ the aristocrat replied." Swamiji laughs heartily. "He was thinking that this is impossible because material life revolves around these four sinful activities. People are working hard day and night just to enjoy these four pillars of Kali-yuga. Kali-yuga is the most degraded age, and Maharaj Pariksit restricted the personality Kali to live in places where these four sinful activities take place. So you must very carefully avoid them. By chanting regularly and maintaining these regulative principles, you can make progress. There’s no doubt.

—

All the rules set us pondering, but no one says anything. What are we to do? Object? Complain? How will it be possible to change overnight the habits of a lifetime, or several lifetimes? If we truly desired to change our lives, we would throw ourselves at the feet of Lord Krishna and rely on His protection. But what do we know of Krishna? We can only look toward Swamiji. "Whatever impedes Krishna consciousness should be rejected, he says, "and whatever helps should be accepted." Before his purity, sex, meat eating, intoxication, and gambling seem nasty indeed. They are anarthas, unwanted things.

"Your sinful karma is like a revolving fan," Swamiji explains. "By chanting Hare Krishna, you turn it off. The fan may still revolve for a while after being turned off, but since it is getting no more juice, it will soon stop."

"When it stops, does it stop for good?" someone asks.

"You know where the switch is," Swamiji says. "You can always turn it back on."

Despite reservations and anticipated difficulties, we place our budding faith in Swamiji. By chanting and hearing him discuss Bhagavad-gita, we trust that the rest will follow. if not, what’s there to lose in trying?

"In this effort there is no loss or diminution," Krishna tells Arjuna, "and a little advancement on this path can protect one from the most dangerous type of fear."

"We are all trying to squeeze some enjoyment out of these material bodies," Swamiji says. "But instead of enjoying, we’re suffering. Have I told you of the camel? Sometimes the camel eats thorny branches, and his mouth bleeds. Tasting his own blood, he thinks that the thorns are very savory, and so he just keeps on chewing. Material pleasure is like that. We think we are enjoying, but actually we’re drinking our own blood. This is due to ignorance."

—

We continue chanting on our new beads all evening. None of us has ever before chanted for such a long time, and, despite fasting all day, we feel mysteriously energized. As midnight approaches, we hungrily envision the great birthday feast of Lord Krishna, mountains of succulent prasadam: cake and kachoris, halava and puris, sabji, sweet rice, samosas and gulabjamuns. Just a few minutes before midnight, Swamiji finally descends from his kitchen with the prasadam. But our faces drop. There is only a platter of cut fruit.

"Oh no!" I whisper to Wally. "Is this all we get after starving all day?"

The expression on everyone’s face reflects the general disappointment. Without saying anything, Swarmji gives the plate to Roy, who passes it around.

"We’ll never make it," Wally says, taking a slice of apple and half a banana.

But to our surprise, the small serving of fruit satisfies us perfectly.

Whether fasting or feasting, when we are with Swamiji, we are having fun — that’s all we know. For us, he is a sage, grandfather, spiritual master, and favorite uncle all rolled into one. Sitting on the dais, eating a little fruit with us, he chats about seemingly mundane topics, and laughs.

"Chanting, dancing, eating prasadam, philosophizing," he says. "That is our process. Who would not like it?"

Yes, who would not like it, eternally, in Swamiji’s company? Though we do not say it, we feel in our hearts that he is our only link to Krishna in a dark and lonely world.

From the "The Hare Krishna Explosion" by HG Hayagriva dasa

Disclaimer: The article is posted in the Yahoo Groups – Govindadwipa. All credits goes to the group and their services. Hare Krishna.