With the help of Sri Balarama

[Paramananda das]

With the help of Sri Balarama

Pandavas pranams
Please accept the blessings of my Gurudeva and Srila Prabhupada

this sannyasi a disciple of my Gurudeva has written something very important:
With the help of Sri Balarama Swami BV Parivrajak
Balarama helps us to purify our hearts (Vrindavan) by killing two demons: Dhenuka and Pralamba. He killed many other demons such as Dvivida Gorilla, Balvala, the wrestlers in the arena of Kansa, and others, but Dhenuka and Pralamba are particularly important for the sadhakas. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur explains in Sri Chaitanya Shikshamrita that the contaminations they represent have to be removed by dint of the devotee’s own endeavors. When a devotee tries with enthusiasm to remove these impurities, then, by the mercy of Lord Balarama, they are cast far away.
The killer of Dhenuka in Vrindavan Lila is very sweet and reassuring. Whenever any obstacle comes to disrupt the normal flow of life, Krishna and Balarama intervene with Their formidable prowess. The residents of Vrindavan have nothing to fear because Krishna and Balarama are always with them, assuring them all kinds of protection. The killing of Dhenukasura occurred right after the banishment of the Kaliya serpent from the Yamuna river. Once the cowherd boys had heard of a large grove where there were palmyras bearing delicious fruit but dared not go there because it was guarded by Dhenuka, a demon in the form of an ass. The demon charged at Balarama when He began to gather the fruit. Balarama killed Dhenuka hurling him against one of the palmyras. The demon fell dead together with the tree’s fruits. Thereafter the boys and cattle were able to frequent the grove. Dhenuka is the ass demon. He represents the bad mentality of overburdened load-carrying. If we are influenced by the Dhenuka mentality, we are spiritually unaware, and totally ignorant of our nature as servants of the Lord. Dhenuka is the misleading mentality that causes delusion about what and who is actually worshipable. It also stimulates foolish interpretations of the divine nature of the holy name of the Lord. In short, Dhenuka represents the ignorance of knowledge of the soul through gross materialistic intelligence. Dhenuka is ass-like foolishness. One has to be very determined not to remain under the spell of Dhenukasura if he/she is interested in spiritual advancement. The Garga Samhita reveals why Balarama killed Dhenuka during His Braj Lila. In his previous life, Dhenuka was Sahasika, a son of Bali Maharaj. Sahasika offended the sage Durvasa by disturbing him when the muni was meditating. Sahasika was enjoying themself with ten thousand women on Mount Gandhamadana and making a lot of noise. The sage Durvasa became very irritated and cursed him to become an ass. Durvasa said, “You fool! Ass-like! Become an ass! After 400,000 years, you will attain liberation by the hand of Lord Balarama, in the transcendental circle of Mathura, in the sacred forest of Talavan.” Dhenuka could not be killed by Krishna for two reasons. Firstly, Krishna was bound to make true the words of Durvasa Muni. The second reason was that Krishna had given His word to Prahlad Maharaj that He would not kill anybody in his dynasty.

The killer of Pralamba According to the Brahma-vaivarta Purana, Pralamba was Sudarshana in his previous life. Sudarshan was one of the brothers of Suhotra, who became Bakasura in Braj lila. According to the Garga Samhita, Pralamba was Vijay, the son of a Gandharva king named Huhu. He was cursed by Kuvera to become a demon for stealing some from one of his gardens. The killing of Pralamba occured during the rainy season, just after Krishna swallowed the two forest fires. The demon approached Krishna and Balarama when They were playing with all the other boys of Braj. Pralamba joined them in their games with a view to killing them and passed unnoticed. The boys then new game called ‘game of the deer’ (harinakridanam nama). They formed two teams and raced in pairs, skipping like deer, up to the Bhandira tree. The Bhandira was a gigantic banyan tree. It reached up to the sky and provided shade for Krishna and Balarama when they were out grazing the cattle. The boys enjoyed very much the game of the deer. The boy who was last to reach the Bhandira tree had to carry his rival back to the starting point on his shoulders. Krishna competed against Shridama and Balarama against Pralamba. Balarama won as He reached the banyan tree first. The winners had to be carried on the back of the losers. So, Balarama climbed on the shoulders of the false gopa, the intruder Pralamba, who reverted to his huge demonic form and raced away with Him. Balarama, however, killed him by pounding the head of the demon with His formidable fists.
Pralamba represents lust for the company of the opposite sex, as well as desire for profit, adoration and distinction. These are all very strong obstacles. It is very difficult to overcome lust for the opposite sex, greed for money, the desire for sense gratification and the inclination to increase one’s honour and be worshipped by others. Pralamba represents also duplicity. He entered the group of the boys in disguise and passed unnoticed for a while. Similarly, when one lives with others with duplicitous motives, he may be successful for a while, but ultimately he will be exposed by Balarama’expert investigation. Pralamba is the emblem of dishonesty in the guise of innocence and purity. We should be very careful to avoid the effect of Pralamba in our mind. Honest people are very rare, which means that Pralamba is an effective agent of Kansa and the age of Kali. Pralamba is synonymous with double-dealing, diplomacy, cheating, fraud, kali-chela and so forth. A Pralamba type of person cannot thrive in any walk of life. Sooner or later, his dishonesty will be found out. He will be hated by all men of his society. He will fail in all his ventures. To cover up an untruth, he will tell a hundred lies.
If one understands that the Pralamba tendencies are very detrimental for one’s development in Krishna consciousness, he/she will try to cast them out. If one tries with humility, Krishna will be pleased and bestow His mercy. The devotee must petition the Lord for the strength to vanquish all the miseries which comes along with the Pralamba mood. One should pray and cry sincerely before the Lord on a daily basis. As soon as Balarama awakens in the devotee’s heart, these contaminations will be instantly removed.
Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura remarks that the methods of the process of purification are very deep and mysterious and that it is necessary to learn about them directly from a genuine spiritual master. Since Balarama is the original guru, a bonafide master is empowered by Him. When the aspiring devotee takes shelter of the spiritual master, he/she receives some of that transcendental shakti and is thereby able to overcome the influence of Pralamba. Balarama promotes the process of purification by killing Dhenuka and Pralamba in our heart. Gurudeva slays the same demons in the heart of his disciples by the strength of his personal conduct and relevant instructions. Under the shelter of the spiritual master, one becomes interested in discharging devotional service and develops a taste for hearing and chanting about Krishna. The more one is interested in hearing and chanting, the more he/she is purified from the worldly contamination.
My humble attempt to praise the mighty Sri Balarama ends with a verse from the Balarama Kavacha. This armor (kavacha) was given to the gopis of Vrindavan by Garga Muni. Later on, it was repeated to Duryodhan, who was a favorite of Balarama during the holocaust of Kurukshetra.
kamat sada raksha tu dhenukarih krodhat sada mam dvivida prahari lobhat sada raksha tu balvalarir mohat sada mam kil magadharih
O Dhenukari, killer of the ass-like demon, kindly protect me from lust. O Dvivida Prahari, killer of the gorilla demon, kindly protect me from anger. O Balvalari, killer of Balvala, kindly protect me from greed. O Magadhari, kindly protect me against illusion.
Let us always remember Sri Balarama hurling the ass-demon on top of the palmyras of the Talvan forest! Let us always remember Sri Balaram while He smote down the Pralamba demon, the duplicitous nature hidden in the heart! The pastimes of Sri Balarama are endless and the source of truthfulness and beauty for the whole world. May the mercy of Sri Balarama flood the earth and sweep away the hearts of all from all undesirable contamination. May He enable us to distinguish truth from illusion for the benefit of everyone!
May Sri Balarama be pleased! All glories, all glories to Sri Balarama!
Comment by Paramananda das :
My dear Gurudeva ,Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja told me in 1989 that please carefully study Sri Chaitanya Shikshamrita by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura and daily recite the Manah siksa by Srila Raghunath das Goswami and carefully chant one lahk of the Maha mantra daily .
Caitanya Siksamrta containes a very important part about the demons Krsna and Balarama kill in Vraja:
these are the sacred words of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura:
Part Six
Description of the 8 fold pastimes
Not everyone is qualified to read the daily pastimes of Radha and Krishna.It is esoteric knowledge of great wonder which must be kept secret.The devotee should not let those who are not qualifiedhear these topics.As long as the soul has not attained greed for the spiritual world on the path of raga, the description of these pastimes must be kept hidden from him.As long as the person has no realization of the pure spiritual nature of the transcendental name, form, qualities and pastimes of Krishna, he has no qualification for hearing these pastimes.
Hearing these pastimes, the unqualified person will simply meditate on material relationships of male and female,under the influence of maya, and by this he will become degraded.The reader, with great care should attain initiation into the srngara rasalike Narada, and then he can enter the pastimes. Otherwise material logic will cast the heart into darkness.Those who are qualified should read and meditate on the descriptions of the pastimes daily.This will remove all sin and bestow the spiritual mood. The pastimes are human-like, but though they appear worldly, they are amazingly spiritual for the person possessing all power and all good qualities.
Using these pastimes, Govinda Lilamrta and many other works have been written.The qualified person, on reading them, experiences bliss. By understanding the srngara rasa which is discussed in the next chapter the raganugadevotee, meditating on the excellent pastimes, performs his eternal service to the Lord. This constitutes his daily worship.Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has instructed that the devotee should consider carefully the following verse from five chapters on rasa Lila from the Bhagavatam. The word faith here means faith in non-material objects.
Anyone who faithfully hears or describes the Lord's playful affairs with the young gopis of Vrndavana will attain the Lord's pure devotional service. Thus he will quickly become sober and conquer lust, the disease of the heart.
S.B.10.10.33
Krishna's activities are of two types: daily and occasional.In Goloka all the eightfold pastimes unfold daily. In the earthly pastimes, occasional pastimes are joined to the eightfold pastimes. Krishna's coming to and going from Vraja and his killing of the demons are occasional pastimes.They are unavoidable for the devotee still living in the material world. Those occasional pastimes are present in Goloka in an indirect way, but are actually present only in the material world. These occasional pastimes, which are unfavorable for the practice of meditating on the daily pastimes, are given a symbolic significance. By remembering those pastimes the devotee aspires to destroy his own sinful conduct.
Putana represents the fake guru who teaches bhukti and mukti, material enjoyment and liberation. Devotees attached to bhukti and mukti are like Putana. Being merciful to the pure devotees, Krishna as a baby, killed Putana to protect the devotees' newly appearing affection for him.
The cart represents the load produced by old and recently acquired bad habits, by laxity and by pride. The mood created by thinking of baby Krishna breaks the cart, or removes this evil.
The whirlwind demon represents pride in being learned, and the consequent use of faulty arguments and dry logic, the quest for liberation, and association with such people. This includes all types of atheists believing in material causality. Being merciful on seeing the affection for the devotee to Him baby Krishna kills that whirlwind and removes the obstacles to worship.
Pride stemming from intoxication with wealth, which breeds violence, illicit sex, and addiction to wine, and finally loose speaking and shameless brutality to other living beings, is represented by the Yamala Arjuna trees. Krishna, being merciful, removes this sin in breaking the Yamala Arjuna trees.
Being controlled by greed and the sinful activities caused by it are represented by Vatsasura.By Krishna's mercy, this fault is vanquished.
False dealing due to deceit and cheating are represented by Bakasura. Without eliminating this, pure bhakti does not appear.
The sinful mentality to do violence to others is represented by Aghasura. This tendency must be removed.It is one of the offenses.
Skepticism due to practicing jnana and karma and disregard for the sweetness of Krishna from attachment to the Lord's majestic aspect are presented by Brahma when he was put into illusion by Krishna.
Complete ignorance of spiritual truth, originating from material intelligence, lack of spiritual intuition and foolishness, which is contrary to spiritual knowledge, is represented by Dhenuka.
Pride, deceit, harming others, and cruelty, represented by Kaliya must be given up by the devotee.
Any type of conflict such as argument, disagreement with other sampradayas, malice to devatas, fighting are represented by the forest fire.
Pralambasura represents lust for women, greed, desire for worship and position. These must also be given up.
The forest fire which Krishna swallowed represents the obstacles that atheists create against dharma and preachers of dharma.
The Brahmanas performing yajna represent indifference to Krishna caused by identity with varnasrama or absorption in karma khanda.
Worship of Indra signifies the worship of many gods or worship of self as God.
Varuna symbolizes intoxicants. Some people mistakenly think that liquor will increase spiritual bliss. Such thinking must be given up.
The snake which attempted to swallow NandaMaharaja represents Mayavada and similar philosophies that try to swallow up the real nature of bhakti. Mayavada association must be avoided.
Sankhacuda symbolizes the desire for fame and desire for women.
Aristasura the bull demon symbolizes disregard for bhakti and attraction for cheating religion.
The illusion of being a great devotee or acarya, is represented by Kesi. Lording it over others and material pride must be given up.
Vyomasura represents thieves and fake devotees.
In the Eighth Chapter of Shri Krishna Samhita from the thirteenth verse to the end of the chapter, the eighteen anarthas which are obstacles to Vraja bhajan have been mentioned. Adding to this the pride of wealth represented by the Yamala arjuna trees and the pride of performance of karma represented by the Brahmanas, it become twenty obstacles. These twenty are unfavorable for Vraja bhajan. The serious chanter should first address the Lord and pray to him for the power to give up these unfavorable items. By doing this the heart becomes purified. If the devotee prays humbly to Krishna to remove all the obstacles in the heart which are represented by the demons He killed, He will certainly do so.All the obstacles represented by the demons whom Balarama killed can be removed by the efforts of the devotee himself.
Here is the secret of Vraja bhajan. Dhenukasura represents the bad mentality that carries heavy loads. Pralamba represents lust for women, greed, and desire for worship and position. The devotee must remove these obstacles by his own efforts with the mercy of Krishna. Dhenukasura means ignorance of one's own spiritual identity (svarupa), the identity of the Name, and the identity of Krishna. With great endeavor, the devotee himself removes these obstacles. Pralamba represents lust for man or woman, greed for material objects, endeavor for material enjoyment, pride, and desire for worship and position. Understanding these to be very detrimental to progress, the devotee should make a great effort to remove them.If his humility is true, certainly Krishna will be merciful. Then Baladeva will make his appearance, and all the obstacles will be destroyed in a second. Then, step by step, progress in the cultivation of bhakti will take place. As this process is by nature very esoteric, the devotee, being spotless in character, should learn it from a qualified guru.
Vaisnava das anu das
Paramananda das