The causeless mercy of the Srimad Bhagavatam
Whose home does Srimad-Bhagavatam choose?
The home of one who's been raised through and through in the Bhagavata culture? Or one who outright rejects the Vedas' authority and blasphemes the tenets of Bhagatava?
Can't say.
Bhagavatam, like its subject, Krishna, is svarat, or independent, and out of causeless mercy descends in the lives of readers by using sankirtan warriors as its humble, menial instruments. This is the enlightened view of the sastras.
Our experiences today further strengthened this profound realization.
*. . . for then why else does one Ramanam, who quotes Sanskrit aphorisms from Kena Upanisad, and juggles with the atypical inquiries such as “Is our faith the result of brainwashing and illusion created by saints?”, “Can you point out someone who was unbiased and became Krsna conscious, for every organized religion has a preprogrammed biasedness to it?”, appearing to be interested only in answers and not in the Bhagavata, suddenly succumb to the arguments of Srila Jiva Gosvami in Tattva Sandarbha that depict the topmost glories of Bhagavatam and the very premise of Bhagavatam of ahaituki apratihata bhakti, and invite Bhagavatam in his house?
*. . . for then why else does Hamza Yusuf, PhD in comparative religion, and a faculty member in various capacities of Islamic studies at Stanford and Berkeley, ranked recently as “the Western world's most influential Islamic scholar,” living in a traditional Muslim way, invite the devotees into his house, express his knowledge about Krishna consciousness, depict his deep compassion for the suffering humanity in Kali-yuga in a heart-melting way, and invite Bhagavatam into the Zaytuna College library?
*. . . for then why else does one Bhubanesh, a simple Nepali pediatrician, caught unaware while gardening in his backyard, feel convinced of the potency of Bhagavatam within minutes, allow devotees to invoke auspiciousness through harinama kirtan, and invite Bhagavatam into his new house?
*. . . for then why else does the no-to-every-argument-person Venkat Krsna suddenly become convinced of the profundity of the culture and message of Bhagavata and invite Bhagavatam into his three-week-old house?
*. . . for then why else do devotees take a chance and knock on one last door (past the scheduled time for sankirtan, when they were supposed to return), and find a couple named Vijay and Laxmi expecting a baby (Sthita Prajna), who glorify Narsimha Deva and the contents of Bhagavatam, and with blissful smiles, overwhelmed with the blessings of the sankirtan warriors for their expected child, invite Bhagavatam into their house?
And the list is just beginning.
But there is a personality, who in Kali-yuga, acts as the catalyst to this process of deliverance of those in ignorance to the light of Bhagavata. He is Sannyas siromani Gauranga Mahaprabhu, who through his surrendered servants at ISKCON Silicon Valley, at the right time, right place and in the right circumstances, inspires the busy Bay Area folks with the jeweled detachment from the workings of the mundane world and the real attachment to loving devotional service to invite Bhagavatam into their lives. For what is difficult for Him?
kathancana smrte yasmin
duskaram sukaram bhavet
vismrte viparitam syat
sri-caitanyam namami tam
“Things that are very difficult to do become easy to execute if one somehow or other simply remembers Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. But if one does not remember Him, even easy things become very difficult. To this Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu I offer my respectful obeisances. (Cc. Adi 14.1)
