ardha-matra

The sacred syllable OM consists of three letters: A, U and M. Balarama, the son of Rohini, is the letter A. Splendid Pradyumna is the letter U. Intelligent Aniruddha is letter M.

Lord Krishna, in whom the entire universe rests, is the ardha-matra letter, which completes the syllable OM.

--- Sri Gopal Tapani Upanishad ---

Distressed people of the world

Devarshi Narada

Aho devashir dhanya ayam yah kiritm sharan gadhanwanah
Gayan madyan idam tantrya ramayati aturam

ENGLISH SYNONYMS

Aho — all glory to; Devarṣhị — the sage of the gods; Dhanyạ — all success; Yah — one who; Kirtim — glories; Sharanghadhanwanah — of the Personality of Godhead; Gayan — singing; mādyan — taking pleasure in; Idam — this; Tantrya — by means of the instrument; Ramayati — enlivens; Aturam — distressed; Jagat — world.

TRANSLATION

All glory and success to Srila Narada Muni because he glorifies the activities of the Personality of Godhead and so doing he himself takes pleasure in it and also enlivens all the distressed people of the universe.

PURPORT

Sri Narada Muni plays on his instrument for glorify the transcendental activities of the Lord for giving relief to all miserable living entities of the universe. No one is happy here within the universe and what is felt as happiness by mistake is Maya. The illusory energy of the Lord is so strong that even the hog who lives on filthy stool feels happy in the material world. Nobody can be happy within the material world and Srila Narada Muni in order to enlighten the miserable inhabitants wanders everywhere to get them back home back to Godhead. That is the mission of Srila Narada Muni and all genuine devotees of the Lord following in the foot prints of the great sage.

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta Purports of the first Canto-Sixth Chapter of Srimad-Bhagavatam, in the matter of Srila Narada's instruction on Srimad Bhagwatam to Vyasadev.

A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami's original Bhagawatam 1.6.38
Printed in 1962

Brahma saw it and said "it is built with spiritual gems"

Sri Brahma Samhita

TEXT 29
cintamani-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vrksa-
laksavrtesu surabhir abhipalayantam
laksmi-sahasra-sata-sambhrama-sevyamanam
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami

SYNONYMS

cintamani--touchstone; prakara--groups made of; sadmasu--in abodes; kalpa-vrksa--of desire trees; laksa--by millions; avrtesu--surrounded; surabhih--surabhi cows; abhipalayantam--tending; laksmi--of goddesses of fortune; sahasra--of thousands; sata--by hundreds; sambhrama--with great respect; sevyamanam--being served; govindam--Govinda; adi-purusam--the original person; tam--Him; aham--I; bhajami--worship.

TRANSLATION

I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, the first progenitor who is tending the cows, yielding all desire, in abodes , surrounded by millions of purpose trees, always served with great reverence and affection by hundreds of thousands of laksmis or gopis.

PURPORT

"I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is the cause of all causes. He is in the cintāmani-dhāma." Cintāmani-dhāma means the place which is not made of earth and stone, but they are made of touchstone. Most probably you have heard the name of touchstone. Touchstone can turn iron into gold. So the Lord's abode is made of touchstone, cintāmani. There are houses... As we have got our experience here in this world that houses are made of bricks, there, in the transcendental world, the houses are made of this cintāmani stone, touchstone.

Cintāmani-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vrkṣa. There are also trees, but those trees are not like this tree. The trees are kalpa-vrkṣa. Here you can take one kind of fruit from one tree, but there, from the trees you can ask anything, and you get it because those trees are all spiritual. That is the difference between matter and spirit. Cintāmani-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vrkṣa lakṣā-vrteṣu. Such kind of trees, there are many, not one or two. All the places are covered by all those trees.

Cintāmani-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vrkṣa-lakṣāvrteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam. And the Lord is very much fond of cowherding. And the cows there, they are called surabhīs. Surabhī cow means you can milk as many times and as much as you like. Surabhīr abhipālayantam.

And lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānaṁ. And the Lord is always surrounded by the goddesses of fortune, lakṣmī-sahasra-śata, not one or two, but hundreds and thousands, hundreds and thousands of goddesses of fortune, they are always serving the Lord. And in this way, eternally, blissfully, the Lord is staying in His abode, which is called cintāmani-dhāma. - ACBSP

not interested

My dear Lord Nrsimhadeva, I see that there are many saintly persons indeed, but they are interested only in their own deliverance. Not caring for the big cities and towns, they go to the Himalayas or the forest to meditate with vows of silence [mauna-vrata]. They are not interested in delivering others.

As for me, however, I do not wish to be liberated alone, leaving aside all these poor fools and rascals. I know that without pure devotion, and not taking shelter of Your lotus feet, one cannot be happy. Therefore I wish to bring them back to shelter at Your lotus feet. - Prahlad maharaj.

more about:
Prahlad maharaj
Nrsimhadeva

See Lord Nrsimhadev and Prahlad in a flash

Persons possessed

Sankarshana Kunda, Talavana
This is where Shri Balarama killed Dhenukasura
********

The demon Dhenukasura in the form of an ass, tries to prevent the palm fruits, which he is himself unable to taste, from being enjoyed by others. The principles of Vaishnavism require for their due appreciation the most penetrating judgment. Persons possessed of a blunted understanding are exposed to this grave plight. The Vaishnava religion is indivisible. There is no scope in it for sectarian narrownesses. It is the blunt-headed fool who is liable to misconceive the true nature of the Vaishnava community by supposing it to be a sect distinct from other sects of this world. As a matter of fact thick-headed persons are themselves unable to understand the teaching of the spiritual works that have been penned by the former Acaryas of the community and they are also apt to actively prevent others from having access to those works.

This is specially the case with those devotees possessed of a stunted judgment who, being mechanically addicted to the regulations, have no inclination to strive for the attainment of the status. But the Vaishnava religion holds within itself the prospect of infinite progressive advance. Those muddy-headed persons, who choose to remain confined within the literal meaning of the narrow limits of the Scriptural regulations, being thereby led to neglect the unconventional path of spontaneous love for Godhead, soon become indistinguishable from persons who are wedded to the cult of fruitive mundane activities. It is, therefore, never possible to make any progress in the Vaishnava religion till Dhenukasura in the form of the ass has been killed.

Commentary by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Goswami Maharaja
More on Dhenukasura

Gadadhar Pandit supplied the wine

"On the shore of the broad blue ocean, Gadadhar Pandit used to read Srimad Bhagavatam to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who was suffering from the great internal pain of separation from Himself (Krishna). Gadadhar Pandit supplied the wine of Krishna-lila to intoxicate his afflicted friend and give Him relief. As he read, tears would fall from his eyes like flower offerings, onto the pages of Srimad Bhagavatam. "

further echoing

1895-1988

In 1926, Srila Sridhar Maharaj joined the Sri Gaudiya Math, and became an initiated disciple of its founder, the illustrious Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur Goswami Prabhupad (1874-1937). He later accepted the holy order of sannyasa [monkhood] in 1930. Recognizing him as a faithful stalwart preacher of the perfect precepts of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Prabhupad conferred upon him the name "Sri Bhakti Rakshak," which means "Guardian of Devotion." And further echoing the statement of the great Vaishnava Preceptor, Srila Jiva Goswami -- who referred in his Sanskrit writings to the renowned Srimad Bhagavatam commentator, Sri Sridhar Swami, as bhakti eka raksaka [Supreme Guardian of Devotion] -- Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Prabhupad gave him the Tridandi-Sannyasa title of "Sridhar." Thus, he became Srila Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar Maharaj.