Sri Krishna Kathamrita

Tav k QaaMa*Ta& TaJaqvNaMa(

tava kathmta tapta-jvanam

Fortnightly email mini-magazine from Gopal Jiu Publications

Issue No. 263 r Utthna Ekda 6 November 2011

Bindu

Circulation 5,050

Take Care of your HealTH

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Highlights

SHorT by Two fingerS

Srila Vishwanath Chakravarti Thakur

radHa bindS damodara

Srila Jiva Goswami

i mediTaTe on radHa-damodara
Bhaviyottara Pura

Take Care of your HealTH

His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
You have no sufficient warm cloth, so you are affected by the cold. You must arrange for warm clothes. You must take care of your health. yukthra-vihrasya yogo bhavati dukha-h. In the Bhagavad-gt it is said that you should take food just to maintain your health nicely. Similarly, other necessities of the body must be taken care of. If you become diseased, then how can you execute Krishna consciousness? Just like this devotee could not go out today. So we must be careful. We should not eat more or less. Better eat less than eat more. Youll not die by eating less, but you may die by eating more. (Lecture, Los Angeles, 29 April 1973.) Sanatan Goswamis body was all covered with wet itches. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was embracing him and the wetness was sticking to the Lords body. Sanatan Goswami felt very ashamed, I am suffering from itches, and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is embracing me, and the wetness is smearing all over his body. How unfortunate I am! So he decided, Tomorrow I shall commit suicide instead of allowing myself to be embraced by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. The next day, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu inquired, You have decided to commit suicide. Do you think this body is yours? Sanatan Goswami
next column

page one top collumn two

His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

was silent. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, You have already dedicated this body to me. How you can kill it? From that day, the itches were cured. Those who are Krishna conscious, who are working for Krishna, they should not think that the body belongs to themselves. It is already dedicated to Krishna. It must be kept very carefully, without any neglect. Just like you are taking care of the

Issue Two Hundred Sixty-three, Page 2

temple because it is Krishnas place, similarly you should also take care of the body. We should not overly care for it, but some care we should take so that we may not fall ill. (Lecture, Los Angeles, 29 April 1973.) If you do it very carefully then youll never become diseased. Take simple food, stay neat and clean, and then youll not catch any disease. Everything depends on eating simply to keep proper health. But these things can be simplified when life is simple. If you go to work in office at an odd time, then so many things become topsyturvy. But if you depend on yourself, either as a brhmaa or katriya, you havent got to depend on others, and then you can do all your activities in a timely manner. Now you have to go fifty miles at least to attend the office. In your country, this is the system. In New York I have seen. They are coming from Long Island. Three or four hours to go to work, and again three or four hours to return home. And at work they spend eight hours. Then what is the value of his life? He is shattered. He has no other solace than wine, and he has no other culture. (Room Conversation, New Mayapur, 2 August 1976.) Regarding sleeping, there is no need of confusion on this subject. At this stage, if we do not take sufficient rest we shall fall ill. There is no need of forcing the matter. One should take rest enough to keep in good health. Sleeping two hours out of 24 is a later, natural development. For the present, take six hours sleep at night. That is enough. And if necessary, take another hour during the day. If chanting rounds at night is not a disturbance to your daily schedule, then it is all right. But by perseverance and rigid following of devotional service your demands for extra hours sleeping will automatically diminish. (Letter to Rudra, 9 March 1970.) In the beginning, because we are accustomed to eating voraciously, we dont try to eat less artificially. We eat, but we try to minimize it gradually. Therefore, there are prescriptions for fasting at least twice in a month. And there are some other fasting days as well. The more you can reduce your sleeping and eating, the more you can keep good health, especially for spiritual purposes. But it is not to be

Top right 2

[q k* Z<ak QaaMa*Ta ibNdu

Sri Krishna-kathamrita Bindu

Top left 3

top right 3 Two Hundred Sixty-three, Page 3 Issue

SHorT by Two fingerS

Srila Vishwanath Chakravarti Thakur
Srrtha Darin commentary on rmad Bhgavatam 10.9.18
tata cho maimayn atidrgha-kikiveitvalagnasysya gha-sthita-sarva-dmabhir api yad bandhana na nipadyate, tad asya ubham. yat blakasya lala-patre vidhtr bandhana na likhitam ity anumyate tad ita udyamt priya-sakhi yaode viramyatm iti purandhr-jana-prabodhitaypi yaodaydya sandhy-paryantam apy etad-grma-sthair api dmabhir grathitair etad udarasyvadhir adhijigamiaya iti prauha-vdavaty putrbhimaty paramevarabandhanodyame hy aparityakte sati bhaktabhagavator madhye bhakta-haha eva tihed ity ato mtu ramam lakya mt-vatsalo bhagavn eva sva-haha tatjjety hasa iti. svamtur iti ca pha. kpayeti sarva-akticakravartin parama-bhsvat kp-aktir eva bhagavac-citta navantam iva vidrutiktya tatra svaya prdurbhya prvodbhte satya-sakalpat vibhut-akt tatra sahasaivntardhpaymsety artha. atra pariramam iti kpayety bhy dvy-agula-nynat samhit bhakta-nih bhajanotth rntis tad-daranotth sva-nih kp ceti dvbhym eva bhagavn baddho bhavet. te dve yvan nbht tvad dvy-agulanynat st. tayor udbhtayos tu baddhobhd iti premn sva-baddhena prakra sva-mtari svayam udhto bhagavateti jeyam. (When Mother Yashoda was unable to tie up Krishna due to the rope being short by two fingers, the gops said): As you cannot bind Krishna even with all the ropes in the house, it must be concluded that it is his good fortune that it should not be. Listen Yashoda, give up this attempt! Though the village women advised in this way, Yashoda was determined, Even if evening comes and I tie together all the ropes in the entire village, I must find out just once the extent of my sons waist.

Unkown artist. Provincial Mughal, possibly Murshidabad.

done artificially. When you advance, naturally youll feel detached, just like Raghunath Das Goswami. (Lecture, Los Angeles, 17 February 1969.)

radHa bindS damodara

Srila Jiva Goswamis
r Rdh-krcana-dpik 119-127
blye pi bhagavn kas tarua rpam rita reme vihrair vividhai priyay saha rdhay ekad krttike msi pauramsy mahotsava sn nanda-ghe. ity dau tasmin dine ca bhagavn rtrau rdh-gha yayau s ca kruddh tam udare kc-dmn babandha ha kas tu sarvam vedya nija-geha-mahotsavam priy prasdaymsa tata s tam avocayat ida covca t ka preyas prta-mnasa kc-dma tvay tanvi udare yan mayrpitam dmodareti me nma priya tena ubhnane nta prtikara nma mama lokeu vidyate
Breaking the twin Arjuna trees

nityam etat prajpaty sarva-siddhir bhaviyati bhakti ca durlabh prpya mama loke mahyate ulkhale yad mtr baddho ha bhavit priye udare dmabhir loke tad vyakta bhaviyati anena nma-mantrea yo smin msi tvay saha mm arcayed vidhnena sa labhet sarva-vchitam

Yashoda wanted to teach a lesson to her son. In her persistence, she would not give up her attempt to bind the Lord. In the competition between Krishna and his devotee, the devotees determination always prevails. Thus, seeing his mothers fatigue, Lord Krishna gave up his own persistence, became merciful, and allowed himself to be tied. Krishnas mercy, which reigns as the king of all his potencies and illuminates all others, melts the heart of the Lord and turns it into butter. The appearance of Krishnas mercy made his satya-sakalpa-akti, potency of transcendental conviction, and vibhti-akt, potency of grandeur and magnificence, immediately disappear. The distance of two fingers was filled up by the devotees effort, pariramam, and the Lords causeless mercy, ka-kp. It is the bhakta-nih, firm faith of the devotee seen in his tireless endeavors to worship the Lord, and the sva-nih, steadiness of the Lord in bestowing his mercy upon seeing the devotees effort and fatigue, that caused Krishna to be bound. In the absence of these two, the rope would have remained two fingers too short. But when bhakta-nih and sva-nih are present, the Lord can be bound. In this pastime, Krishna showed Yashoda and the whole world that only love can bind the Supreme Lord.
Translated by Bhanu Swami. Edited and Published by Mahanidhi Swami. 2004. Sanskrit taken from http://www. granthamandira.com

In Goloka Vrindavan, Lord Krishna eternally assumes a youthful form. In this form, he enjoys in various ways along with his beloved Srimati Radhika. Once during the Krttika month, he stayed home to celebrate the festival arranged by Paurnamasi. Due to the festivities that day, he arrived late at night to meet Srimati Radhika. In a state of anger, she tied him up using her waistband as a rope. Krishna then narrated everything that had taken place at his home that caused the delay. This story appeased her, after which Krishna said to her, O slenderwaisted Radhika! I am most satisfied by this action of you in binding me lovingly by your waistband. O beautiful lady, this name of mine, Damodara, has now become dearer to me. In this world of mine, no other name is as dear to me as this name. By chanting this name, one will always have children and will attain all perfection along with the rarest forms of devotional service. One will also be able to stay eternally in my abode by chanting these names. In the near future, when Mother Yashoda will bind me to the mortar, this name of mine will be manifest in the material world. In this

Issueleft 4 Hundred Sixty-three, Page 4 Top Two

i mediTaTe on radHa-damodara
Bhaviyottara Pura
Illustration from a Mewari Gita Govinda. Rajasthan, c. 1720.

Top right 4

[q k* Z<ak QaaMa*Ta ibNd

saketvasare cyute praayata sarabdhay rdhay prrabhya bhr-kui hiraya-raan-dmn nibaddhodaram krttiky janan-ktotsava-vara-prastvanprvaka cni prathayantam tma-pulaka dhyyema dmodaram

Radha was angry with Krishna for coming late

Having missed a rendezvous with Srimati Radhika, he was passionately frowned upon by her and was subsequently bound up by her golden waistband. He then proceeded to offer the explanation that his delay was due to the great festival of the Krttika month that was being celebrated by his mother. I meditate on him, who thus became known as Damodara, who in this bound condition offered many excellent words of flattery with erect goose bumps on his body.
Cited in the commentary on Ka-Karmta by Srila Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami, verse 110. Translated by Hari Parshad Das from the Sanskrit available at http://www. granthamandira.com

month of Krttika, one who worships me with you according to the rules of the scriptures will attain the fulfillment of all desires.
Translated by Hari Parshad Das from the Sanskrit available at http://www.granthamandira.com

Sri KriShna Kathamrita Bindu

A free bi-monthly service provided by: Gopal Jiu Publications c/o Sri Krishna Balarama Mandir National Highway No. 5, IRC Village Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India, 751015
Unkown artist. c. 1765-70.

Phone: (0674) 2553250, 2557026 Email: katha@gopaljiu.org Website: www.gopaljiu.org Subscriptions: minimag@gopaljiu.org
Gopal Jiu Publications is a branch of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, FounderAcharya: 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 other materials, unless specified, ISKCON Bhubaneswar/Gopal Jiu Publications. All rights reserved. Blanket permission is given to redistribute Bindu in electronic or print form provided no changes are made to the contents.

Radha captures Krishna to bind him