During this month of Keśava-vrata, the demigods present in Svarga-loka, Brahmā-loka, and the other abodes worship Keśavadeva and His ten incarnations as described in the Daśāvatāra-stotram.
Indra, Varuṇa, Candra, and the rest of the thirty-three million demigods, as well as the ṛṣis, were frightened of māyā. Hence, they arranged many meetings and discussed how to counteract Māyā-devī’s influence. They began performing many austerities and penances, but they saw it was not possible for them to conquer māyā. Everyone has accepted material bodies, which are made of the five material elements. As long as one possesses a material body one will be in contact with the material energy. There is no guarantee what Māyā-devī will do to one who is bound by these elements.
Liberated souls have no problems. They are not attached to any creation of māyā. They don’t look at anything with a desire to enjoy it. They are sthita-prajña; their consciousness is firmly fixed in Kṛṣṇa. Vāsudeva-Kṛṣṇa is always present in their hearts, therefore, they have no worries and are never disturbed.
The demigods prayed to their guru, Bṛhaspati. Bṛhaspati prayed to Brahmā, because he was his guru. A bona fide guru is never proud. He is always humble and respects everybody.
Owing to his being opposed to Kṛṣṇa, the conditioned soul suffers from the threefold miseries, brought about by the body and mind, other living entities, and natural disturbances. The conditioned soul becomes the servant of lusty desires, and when these are not fulfilled, he becomes a servant of anger and continues to be kicked by the external energy, māyā.
Wandering and wandering throughout the universe, he may by chance get the association of a devotee physician, whose instructions make the witch of external energy flee. The conditioned soul thus gets into touch with the devotional service of Kṛṣṇa, and in this way he can approach nearer and nearer to the Lord.
How can a person afflicted by the fire of lust and anger help others? Therefore, Bṛhaspati humbly approached Brahmā. His heart was full of respect for the Guru-varga and for Lord Vāsudeva Himself.
Brahmā told Bṛhaspati, “I also want to be free of māyā. I don’t want to be attached to anything material.”
Bṛhaspati and Brahmā then prayed to the Lord. When they went to the Kṣīra-sāgara (milk ocean), they were received by Nārada Ṛṣi.
Nārada Ṛṣi is never far from Kṛṣṇa; he is always remembering, serving, and offering prayers to Kṛṣṇa. He is always chanting His holy names and he has relation with all the devotees of the Lord. He is not attached to anything. He is undisturbed even if everyone else is disturbed because he is always with Kṛṣṇa.
Nārada Ṛṣi was asked, “How can everyone free themselves from the shackles of this material existence? How can everyone be eternally happy?”
Nārada Ṛṣi replied, “Kṛṣṇa’s māyā is very strong. But if anyone unconditionally takes shelter of Kṛṣṇa, he will conquer māyā.”
In the Bhagavad-gītā (7.14), Śrī Kṛṣṇa has stated:
daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī
mama māyā duratyayā
mām eva ye prapadyante
māyām etāṁ taranti te
This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is extremely difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.
Nārada Ṛṣi said, “Once, when I was chanting harināma, I was surrounded by Menakā, Urvaśī, and many other heavenly damsels. I was married to 49 celestial damsels because of your (Brahmā’s) curse. Although I was surrounded by these damsels, I was never attached to them.”
Brahmā had previously ordered his son, Nārada Ṛṣi, to marry and create progeny, but Nārada refused, desiring only to be engaged in transcendental life. Brahmā then cursed him to be married to 49 heavenly damsels. One day, Brahmā called Nārada Ṛṣi to attend his yajña and do kīrtana with his gandharva wives. When he started kīrtana, he became naked and made all the damsels naked as well, to spite Brahmā.
Enraged, Brahmā told Nārada, “You have no etiquette! Nonsense! Śūdra! You will now take birth in the family of a śūdra!”
Nārada was then born to a śūdra mother. But he chanted harināma by the mercy of the ṛṣis and maharṣis. The ṛṣis gave him a mantra. Chanting the mantra repeatedly, Nārada Ṛṣi conquered māyā and became an eternal associate of the Lord.
Nārada Ṛṣi told Bṛhaspati and Brahmā, “Yet, like I said earlier, when I was chanting, all the heavenly damsels surrounded me. I smiled and made the heavenly damsels run far away from me. I proudly thought, ‘I have conquered māyā now. I am no longer susceptible to her influence and charms.’
“I came to Brahmā and said, ‘My dear father and guru, I have conquered māyā. I smiled and the soldiers of Māyā-devī ran in fear.’ Brahmā told me, ‘Don’t speak of this to anyone.’
“But I did not heed his words. I went to Śiva and said, ‘Śiva, you are always angry. You did not conquer māyā—but I conquered the powerful force of māyā.’
“Śiva told me, ‘Don’t say anything to Viṣṇu. You should keep this to yourself.’ But I was afflicted by pride. I ran to Viṣṇu in great happiness.
“Seeing me as such, Viṣṇu said, ‘Nārada, you are very happy today.’
‘Yes. By Your mercy, I am very happy.’
‘What happened?’
‘I conquered Your māyā.’
‘Very good. You have conquered māyā!’
“When I left Vaikuṇṭha and reached the material world, I came across a very beautiful kingdom. There was a wonderful palace amidst this kingdom where a beautiful woman was on the verge of choosing her husband in a svayaṁvara-sabhā. I saw many princes eagerly looking at a princess who had a garland in her hand. She gracefully moved from one side to another while each of the princes desired to be garlanded by her.
“When I came across this woman, I was completely overcome by her beauty. It seemed she was the Goddess of fortune herself. Her long, artistic fingers, lotus-eyes, red lips and round hips only added to my bewilderment.
“I ran to Śrī Hari and said, ‘Prabhu, I have never asked anything from You. But I desire something now.’
‘What do you want?’
‘I want Your beauty—especially the beauty of Your face. I desire Your beauty and charm for only a day.’
‘Why do you desire this?’ ”
In the purport to this pastime, our ācāryas have said that if a person is an enjoyer, he will repeatedly beseech God to have Him enhance his enjoyment. This is the mentality of a bhogī. There are four types of men—the bhogī, yogī, rogī, and the bhakta. The rogī is always diseased and sad. The bhogī is a great enjoyer with unfulfilled desires and is even sadder. And the yogī is suffering because he is always trying to control himself. But the bhakta is never disturbed. Why? He is very happy and pleased because of his serving disposition. All forms of anxiety engulf a person who doesn’t serve Śrī Hari, because he has no tendency for spiritual advancement.
Nārada Ṛṣi continued to tell Brahmā, Bṛhaspati, and the demigods about the later turn of events. He told them, “I forgot my service. Consequently, I lost my heart. All of you will never be distanced from Śrī Hari if you are always engaged in His service. None of you will ever be an orphan because your Master will always protect you. I am always chanting Śrī Hari’s holy names. Therefore, He is always protecting me. So, Hari didn’t give me His svarūpa. He told me, ‘I am your well-wisher. I will give whatever is good for you.’
“Without me knowing, He gave me the face of a monkey. He also gave me two servants. They followed me from behind and repeatedly told me, ‘You are so handsome!’
“After entering the royal assembly, I tried winning the hand of the lady by employing all means. I followed her from behind and tried to have her look at me. But she was repulsed by my presence. Finally I was told to look at my face in the reflection of a pool, and I saw that I had the face of a monkey. I ran to Nārāyaṇa in great anger and told Him, ‘I have served You my complete life. Is this the result of Your service? You have given me the face of a monkey! Nobody has punished You. But I will punish You today!’
“Is this shelter and surrender? Because of association with Māyā-devī, I dared to have Nārāyaṇa-Sri Hari Himself punished.
“I cursed Him and said, ‘Just as I have suffered, You will also suffer for a hundred years in separation from Your beloved, and You will have to seek the help of monkeys to find Your beloved. Nobody else will help You.’
“As soon as I spoke these words, Lord Śrī Hari withdrew His curtain of māyā. The scenic kingdom and everything around it disappeared. I became very shy when I realized what I had done.
“So, when are overcome by māyā? By pride. Pride comes when, although you have been empowered by the Lord, you think, ‘Everything is my property. I am doer. All this is by my strength.’ Don’t think like this.”
Therefore, how will the conditioned souls ever emerge from the quagmire of māyā? You should use all your intelligence, power, time, and life in Śrī Hari’s service. You will then find yourself being empowered by Hari’s śakti.
A conditioned soul is attacked by māyā from all ten directions. Her soldiers relentlessly attack the conditioned soul. Māyā-devī has many soldiers. Fear, disease, and anger born from the four types of base desires are some of her soldiers. The conditioned soul is terrified of these soldiers. He tries to hide himself—but to no avail.
Who will protect the conditioned souls from the ten directions? Nārada Ṛṣi told Brahmā, Bṛhaspati, and the demigods, “I go everywhere. I go to Vaikuṇṭha and I go to hell as well. Everywhere I go, I see Śrī Hari present as Paramātmā. I also see how He is present in His ten forms. As daśāvatāra He is always protecting the devotees from all directions. Therefore, all of you should worship the daśāvatāra. By assuming the forms of a fish, tortoise, and boar, He has shown how He is never bound by the elements—water, land, or air. He has also appeared in the form of Nṛsiṁha. He is always protecting everyone in these ten forms.”
Although people want to follow rāgānuga-bhakti, they have no idea about the principles followed by Rūpa Gosvāmī and our Guru-varga. They don’t have the intelligence to understand our Guru-varga’s form of worship.
They think, “We will avoid and neglect everything. There is no need to follow anything. We will only drink rasa.”
It is not so easy to receive vraja-rasa. We are in this world, so we need a foundation to stand on. Who will protect us?
Therefore, we chant the mantras––Oṁ keśavāya namaḥ, Oṁ nārāyaṇāya namaḥ, Oṁ mādhavāya namaḥ and so on, while applying tilaka to the limbs of our body.
A devotee may say, “Rather than chanting these names, I will only chant ‘Rādhe Rādhe’ and the names of sakhīs like Lalitā and Viśākhā.”
You should not think that you will receive vraja-rasa by acting according to your whims. The Lord and His names are our protectors. Protection is necessary at every moment.
The sādhus are always humble, neutral, silent, and peaceful. They are never proud. As soon as the mood of being a doer enters a devotee’s heart, the devotee will become very restless. The devotee will not be able to control himself.
Therefore, you must be careful. Pride is a very bad thing. Hence, your moods of devotion should always be hidden. You should pray to be protected at all times, “O Deva! You are transcendental. O Hare! Please protect me. Please steal all my anarthas away.” By praying like this, it is possible for you to be safe.
When you become proud, you will fall down. Your knowledge will no longer work. Everything will be finished. So, where does this śakti come from? This śakti comes from everywhere. God Himself gives this śakti. If you think, “This is my śakti; this is my understanding,” then you will be finished. You will be lost.
Therefore, Nārada Ṛṣi told the demigods, “You should recite prayers to the Daśāvatāra of Lord Keśavadeva early in the morning. Indeed, you should always supplicate the Lord for His mercy by offering this prayer at His lotus feet. Then the Lord and His incarnations will always protect you.”
[CC-by-NDNC Bhakta Bandhav]