Devka – Gujarat Bhagavat Katha 7th Day

On day 7 of the katha, Shri Narendra Modi, the chief minister Gujarat made his honorable presence for the opening ceremony of Devka Vidyapeeth and also gave a speech during the katha.

Pujya Bhaishri said, “Today, we will celebrate Shri Krishna’s wedding. This is just not Shri Krishna’s marriage but also our marriage. If you are ready, Shri Krishna is also ready. Getting married with Shri Krishna will give us divine bliss. This is our time to surrender to God. God takes us as his own, but do we consider God as ours? A marriage only happens if there is agreement from both parties. Shri Krishna ran away with Shri Rukmini only because of Shri Rukmini’s desire.

A lady may have the desire but she has her restrictions. How do we get to Dwarka? So Shri Rukmini Ji writes a letter to Lord Shri Krishna. She says that God you are the most capable and powerful. Please come and marry me. Hence we only need to stay here. God will come. We will know he is coming as we will hear the sound of a band.

Listening to katha causes love in God. Rukmini developed love for God after listening to God’s katha from Naradji. The first step to devotion is listening. Once we develop love for someone we will surrender to that person. Surrendering is the nature of love. Love is unconditional. Let us all listen to the katha today with these feelings in mind.

Shri Krishna stopped the yagya of Indra and began the yagya and pooja of Shri Goverdhan, cows and brahmins who are devtas we can see. Even this society and this world are a Guru. We learn plenty from them. A Jagatguru does not mean this world’s guru. A jagatguru is one whose thoughts are irrespective of cast, colour and creed, for example, a teacher like Shri Vallabhacharya.

The Bhagavad Geeta sung by Shri Krishna is for the whole world. If you see the word Hindu even once in this scripture, then you can throw it away. We can all become jagatgurus by considering this world as Guru. Dutta Bhagavan has 24 gurus as he has learnt something from all these gurus. If you want to learn, you can do so from everyone and everything.

Shri Goverdhan yagya is the pooja of the environment. Shri krishna asked the people of Vraj, why do you perform Indra yagya? The people of Vraj replied that Indra is the king of rain. When we perform his yagya he is pleased and gives rain, which makes our plants grow through which we can feed ourselves. Shri Krishna said that very well, but remembers that the rain can grow our plants, but also drown someone. This means that no one kills or makes another live. We all live and die according to our deeds. We are the cause of our happiness and sorrows.

Pujya Bhaishri explained that the attitude that we are doing something is pointless ego. The issue is that we expect more good results than the deeds wee perform. We do not perform our deeds with full dedication. This is adharma. Not providing a worker less salary than what he works for is also adharma. Dharma is not just a subject to talk about; nor is it just pooja and prayers; it should be practiced. Shri Ramji and Gandhiji practiced Dharma. Nobody will be able to harm you if you practice dharma.

There are two types of people: god fearing and god loving. There are a higher proportion of God fearing people than God loving people. In addition, there are three types of fear: fear of God, society and police. It is necessary to have fear that will prevent us from taking the wrong path. If we commit sins we will go to hell. The 5th chapter of Shrimad Bhagavat describes hell in detail. Have a read – it is terrifying. We will reap what we sow. Even God’d father is not free from this rule. Shri Dashrathji killed Shravan’s parents by mistake and was cursed. Hence he passed away in the sorrow of his son’s separation. When Dashrathji was cursed, he was happy as this proved to him that he will have children. This is called positive thinking.

Pujya Bhaishri further elaborated on the meaning of the shloka:

People interpret this shloka wrongly. The correct meaning of this shloka is: you are free to perform the deeds you desire. You are responsible for your own deeds, and you will be paid according to your deeds. You are not free to choose your results. The problem is that people do not want to perform good deeds but want good results, while they do not want to go face the results of the bad deeds. Also, it is not right to perform your deeds with your focus only on the results. Your deeds will naturally lead to the right results. Focus on the results will not let you perform your deeds properly, because when you don’t get the desired result, you get angry; anger leads to further failure and this vicious cycle continues. In addition, you should not insist in not doing any actions especially when you do not like that deed. This is the nature of those with a small heart.

Pujya Bhaishri diverted here to talk about how he studied in only one room which collapsed in an earthquake. Another school with 7 classrooms was then developed. Villagers in Devka asked me what they could contribute and I recommended encouraging girls to study. However girls were only getting educated until the 7th standard as parents were not willing to send them away. Hence the use of Devka Vidyapeeth which will enable girls to educate until college. This year girls for the first time in Devka sat for their exams for the 11th standard. I am proud to see that two girls from here were ranked in the top 10 in a very well known school in Bhavnagar. This proves that Devka has a high potential and only needs a means to show this potential. Pujya Bhaishri summoned each and every person present to plant 5 plants as a gift to God on his wedding today.

As soon as Indra found out that his yagya had been stopped, he commanded his men to drown Vraj. There was heavy rain. The people of Vraj took refuge of Shri Krishna. Shri Krishna lifted the Goverdhan mountain on the nail of his little finger of the left hand for 7 days. After seven days on being asked by Indra, his workers said that there is no water left. Indra was disconnected from God due to his ego. God destroyed his ego. Indra apologized to Lord Shri Krishna and performed his stuti. The elephant Airavat performed abhishek of Shri Krishna; this water which is present even now in Vraj is called Manasi Ganga. Shri Surabhi cow performed abhishek with milk. This is now known as Govind Kund in Vraj.

This leela signifies that our soul is Shri Krishna in this body, Goverdhan. Shri Krishna alone carries this body 7 days a week. The day he decides to leave this body, four people will carry it.

Pujya Bhaishri briefly explained the leela of winning over Varun, the people of Vraj doing darshan of Vaikunth and then raas leela. Raas is the soul of Shrimad Bhagavat. Raas signifies the unity between man and God. It is not a lustful gathering or dance. Think, why would someone like Pariksheet hear a lustful story when he is facing death? Hence, it is a divine and spiritual oneness between the gopis and Shri Krishna.

During the Raas, the gopis became egoistic that Shri Krishna was only with them. Hence Shri Krishna and Shri Radha vanished. The gopis began to look for God and considered Shri Radhaji very lucky. Once they realised their mistake, Radhaji appeared again. The Gopis then sung Gopi Geet in pain of Shri Krishna’s separation and Shri Krishna came back in the middle of the gopis.

Thereafter, Pujya Bhaishri narrated the katha of Akrurji bringing Shri Krishna and Balram to Mathura to kill Kans and release his mother, father and Shri Ugrasenji from jail. He sent Udhavji, a great scholar, to Gokul to attain teachings of devotion from the gopis.

Shri Krishna then resided in Dwarka made of gold. Here, Shri Balramji was married to the daughter of Raivat, known as Revati. This opened the doors to Shri Krishna’s marriage. When Rukmini ji was a little older, her father, Shri Bhishmak ji wanted to marry her but Shri Rukminiji refused. Her father asked her why and Shri Rukminiji hesitantly said that she was in love with Shri Dwarkadheesh. Shri Bhishmak ji was happy to hear this. However, Shri Rukminiji’s brother, Rukmi, was against this. He insisted to his sister that he has arranged her marriage with Shishupal. Pujya Bhaishri laughed and said that Shishupal means baby sitter.

Shri Rukminiji cried and her friends suggested that she write a letter to Shri Krishna. Shri Rukminiji sent a letter via a bhramin called Sudev to Shri Dwarkadheesh. On Shri Krishna’s request, Shri Sudevji read the letter to Shri Krishna, requesting God to take her and marry her. This letter contains 7 shlokas. Shrimad Bhagavat even teaches us how to write a love letter. Even today, this letter is read to Shri Dwarkadheesh before he rests. The letter is then put under his pillow while he sleeps.

Shri Dwarkadheesh reached Vidarbh in one night. When Shri Rukmini had gone to pray to Maa Bhavani, her friends came and told her that Shri Dwarkadheesh was outside the temple. Shri Rukminiji excitedly ran outside and put her hand into Shri Krishna’s. He then defeated the people who came to fight him including Rukmi and reached Dwarka. At Dwarka, Shri Krishna and Shri Rukmini were married with great celebrations.

Jai Shri Dwarkadheesh!