(12/12) Cherish the Day

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Krishna Janmastami, Tarakeswar
23 August 2019, evening, part 12
Translated from Bengali

This day comes only once a year. Once a year we must fast until midnight (twelve o'clock), we must chant Krishna-kirtan and do other services. None of us knows if we will ever see this day again in the future – none of us knows whether we will be alive next year on this day. So, if we miss the opportunity to observe this day now, what will become of us in the future?

The Lord is the Deity of Love, He is the Master of Goloka. When we worship Him (offer flowers at His feet, feed Him and so on), He becomes enamoured through such service. He is the highest Lord, worshipped by Lord Brahma and the masters of all planets.

One day, Narad came and told Brahma, 'Brahma did you know that Supreme Lord Sri Krishna, the Master of Goloka, appeared in a human form in this age in Gokula Vrindavan, at the house of Mother Yasoda and Nanda Maharaj?' Brahma was surprised, 'My Lord? In my world?' First, Lord Krishna creates Lord Brahma, and then Lord Brahma creates the entire universe by Lord Krishna's will – when Kali-yuga finishes and Kalki comes, everything is destroyed, and then Lord Krishna creates Lord Brahma again, and Lord Brahma creates the whole universe again. So, when Brahma heard about Krishna's incarnation in the world, he could not believe it, 'What? I created this world, so how could I not know if my Lord appeared in it?' So, he came to Vrindavan to check it.

Brahma came to Vrindavan and started looking for Krishna. There, he found a young boy wearing a turban with a peacock feather. And His bodily colour was different from everybody else's. Krishna was of blackish complexion (the hue of a dark rainy cloud). Balaram had white complexion. He saw that the dark boy behaved as the chief among the other boys, so he figured that it had to be Krishna. Then, Brahma thought, 'Let me see what He is like! Is He really my Lord?' He took all the cows Krishna was herding and hid them in a cave.

All the boys started looking for their cows but could not find them. Then, Krishna told them, 'Wait here, I will go and see.' He went to look for them. After some searching, He could not find them and came back to His friends, but when He came back, He saw that now His friends had disappeared too! Both the cows and His friends were gone now. Krishna wondered, 'Can this be Kamsa's doing?' He sat down and started meditating, and in His meditation He saw that it was not Kamsa – it was Brahma who had created some illusion, Brahma had stolen all the cows and His friends. Krishna said, 'All right, so Brahma decided to test Me? I will show him!' What did He do? He recreated all the cows and His friends from His own body. (That is also why it is said that cows are part of the Lord's body – they were created from the Lord's body.) So, all the cows and boys went to their homes as if nothing had happened.

When Brahma saw it, he was perplexed, 'What is this? I have hidden everybody away – where did they all come from??' Gradually, he came to realise, 'I have made a mistake...' Then, he came to Lord Krishna and asked His forgiveness, 'Prabhu, please forgive me, I have done wrong.'

Indra also was like that. He sent so much rain to Vrindavan to flood Govardhan, but, in the end, when his pride was crushed, he turned for help to Brahma. Brahma told him, 'How are you going to atone for your sin? You tried to harm Vraja-basis with your rain – you have made a grave offence.' Then, Indra approached the heavenly cow Surabhi and with her milk he worshipped Lord Krishna's Deity in heaven. Surabhi is a very special cow – there is always milk flowing from her udder. After that abhisekh (bathing), there appeared Govinda Kunda...

ময়ূর-মুকুট পীতাম্বরধারী ।
মুরলীধর গোবর্দ্ধনধারী ॥

mayura-mukuta pitambara-dhari
murali-dhara govardhana-dhari

'He wears a peacock-feather crown and yellow garments. He holds the flute and lifts the Govardhan Hill!''

This is the glory of Lord Krishna.

We can chant now the '120 Names of Lord Sri Krishna'. After that, we will take a short break, and I will come down again for the midnight programme.

[His Divine Grace chants 'Nagare nagare Gora gaya' (120 Names of Lord Sri Krishna).]

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