Re: Bhishma's death

Dear Mihir,

       Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna! Please accept my humble obeisances!

       Yes, please feel free to ask any doubts you may have so that these misconceptions may be cleared as soon as possible. Whenever I get a doubt, the sangha has been merciful to me by clearing it up. And by doing so I realise a little more about the infinitely wonderful nature of the Lord and it makes my attitude more favourable to devotion.

       Sometimes if these little demons of doubt aren't cleared, they can sometimes lead to major problems later on and I have seen many people leave the path thanks to insufficient guidance and improper attitude on their part. However, I see your qualifications and you humility to surrender to the guru and accept his instructions and therefore I am fully confident that you will stick to the devotional path and will become a saint in no time.

       The sangha exists only for this purpose and it is the opinion of our acaryas that if they can make just one person a pure devotee, then the whole mission is a success. So you see how rare it is for people to attain pure devotional service.

        By asking your doubts you have helped me to get a little insight into this and so I am very grateful to you for having brought me closer to the Lord. So we serve each other, you see?

        Oh, yes, Guruji was so merciful to have cleared that doubt about Lord Balarama. Actually Lord Balarama never accepted Duryodhana at all, he was just making a fool of Duryodhana, just like Lord Shiva supporting Ravana or Banasura. Actually Lord Nityananda Balarama never tolerates offenses to his master Lord Gauranga Krishna and those dear to him and the whole thing was only to bewilder the demons. That is a big thing I got while listening to Chaitanya Bhagavata.

        When Lord Gauranga's sannyasa danda was broken by Nitaai, the Lord left the devotees and went alone. Somewhere in that chapter it was mentioned that Lord Gauranga internally loves his devotees, but externally manifests anger or sometimes doesn't support them, but when he has made up his mind to finish off a person, he externally gives him special honour and glorifies him. So there we know the reason for Lord Balarama's behaviour. But that's all I was eligible to know.

         Do you know why Lord Balarama killed Romaharshana with just one blade of grass? Some people think it was just for not getting up and offering respects. But really Romaharshana was actually impersonalist at heart, a mayavadi. His knowledge of the Puranas was just bookish and at the time Lord Balarama appeared, he was actually lecturing on Srimad Bhagavatam. Just see! He was discussing all the Lord's pastimes, but yet he couldn't so much as recognise the Lord!

           Its the same with all the impersonalists too. Romaharshana was acting like a guru, and yet by being a mayavadi, his explanations of Srimad Bhagavatam was only a thunderbolt on Lord Krishna's body (see Chaitanya bhagavata, about Prakasananada). Srimad Bhagavatam is purely devotional and anyone who approaches it with the attitude of a mayavadi is simply a mischief maker and he simply beats the Lord left and right with a stick. As if that was not enough, the mayavadis also commit great Vaisnava aparadha because they potray all the Vaisnavas as impersonalists through their cloud of misconception. They may accept everything like love, devotion, prema, nama sankirtana, etc... but in the end they believe impersonal is the ultimate end. That way they commit Vaisnava aparadha too.

            Srimad Bhagavatam is Lord Krishna in book form. Plus Srimad Bhagavatam is also the devotee in the form of a book. Anyone who twists the purely devotional statements simply commits a big Vaisnava aparadha against Srimad Bhagavatam. The Srimad Bhagavatam is very dear to Lord Nityananda, who recities it eternally with his thousand mouths and who had originally narrated it as Ananta Sesha to the four Kumaras and Narada. He can never tolerate such hurting offenses to his beloved Gauranga Krishna and his devotees and the Bhagavatam.  Romaharshana was actually opening the door for impersonalists to enter to Srimad Bhagavatam by acting like a guru without having the qualification to do so. He actually posed a risk to the sampradaya itself and if you know how the 13 apasampradayas came about, you'll know why.

             So Lord Nityananda, he is the adi guru. When he arrives he must be given the vyasa-asana. Who was this upstart who claimed the position of guru for himself? To show the world how insignificant Romaharshana was the Lord only took a blade of grass and killed him then and there. By killing him, he saved him from going to hell for his offenses as anyone who is killed by the Lord is liberated. Its a message to everyone including the impersonalists, that they are so tiny and they talk all they want only as long as the Lord gives room for it. But if the Lord has decided enough, then the mighty mayavadi with all his yogic power, long life, erudtion etc etc can be trashed by a mere blade of grass. That's how small they really are.

             Many other things involved in a blade of grass. Sita showed Ravana a blade of grass and the azhwars have revealed more than 20 different reasons for that one activity, showing how many layers there are to just one simple act by the Lord. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta has written that if a guru thinks himself to be a guru, then he is only guru - the u == gur (which means 'cow'). He becomes as dull as a buffalo in qualification if he thinks himself to be greater than Lord Balarama, the adi guru. So the only food fit for a buffalo is grass, so Lord Nityananda said, "Eat grass!". That is one reason.

             Yet another reason is that since Romaharshana was at an elevated position he should be killed like a cheap piece of dirt. So when a king comes, he is offered a seat of honour and so the kusa grass is symbolic of a seat of honour and so it was equivalent to "killing with honour".  A seat of Kusa grass is used for all spiritual activities like yagnas, and penances, meditiation, etc..... And there are many more, but I can't recall them all.

              So from this we can just see how offensive the mayavadis who openly slander Srimad Bhagavatam are. Their explanations are so offensive that listening to them will ruin everything. "mayavada bhashya sune haya sarva nasa". We humbly appeal to the Lord that we never fall down into such a predicament where we become mayavadis and commit such offenses to Him and His dear devotees. Therefore I always pray that we are never subjected to these offenses even unknowingly and we always remain fixed on the path of pure devotion always.

Daaso'smi,
Srinath

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