"Since the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna is all-perfect, His transcendental pastimes with His pure devotees never lack anything in any respect, either as a friend, son or lover. The Lord relishes the reproaches of friends, parents or fiancees more than the Vedic hymns offered to Him by great learned scholars and religionists in an official fashion."

The words 'mama maadhavasya' in the above verse meaning 'my Madhava' very nicely shows the loving relationship which Arjuna had with his dear most friend, Krishna. Krishna being Supreme Lord, plays His role in a perfect manner - be it parent-child relationship, brother, nephew, husband or lover or friend. While any relationship with Lord is definitely sweet, the relationship of friend is one in which we don't have any formalities.

The Kaurava army killed Abhimanyu by unfair means. If Krishna's protection was not there, Kauravas might not have hesitated to kill Arjuna also by unfair means. But by grace of Lord Krishna, when Arjuna got down from the chariot to get water for his thirsty horses, Krishna so arranged, that they did not take notice of Arjuna. So this is one more instance as to how Krishna protected Arjuna in the battlefield of Kurukshetra.

In Kurukshetra war, there were so many dangerous situations faced by Arjuna when he had to fight against great generals like Bhishma, Drona, Karna etc. who had many powerful weapons which when released on Arjuna would have definitely caused death. But in every instance Krishna protected him.

Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis,
Please accept my humble obeisances! All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev! 

This is in continuation of the previous offerings titled, "Always Remember Krishna" wherein we were meditating on Arjuna's experiences once Krishna returned to Goloka. In previous offerings we meditated on the 8 blessings recollected by Arjuna. Now we shall continue to hear further.  

d. Blessing 8:  In Srimad Bhagavatam verse 1.15.15 Arjuna says,

After 12 years of exile in the forest, the Pandavas had to spend the 13th year incognito without being identified by anyone else. If even one of them was found out, then as per the conditions laid by Kauravas, they would have to spend another 12 years in the forest. So Pandavas along with Draupadi chose to enter the kingdom of Virata and engage themselves in various odd services for the king for 1 year.

Heavenly demigods are definitely more powerful than mortals. So how was it that even the demigods had to take shelter of Arjuna to kill the demons Nivatakavaca? In his purport to the above verse Srila Prabhupada clarifies our doubts - "The heavenly demigods are certainly more intelligent, powerful and beautiful, and yet they had to take help from Arjuna because of his Gandiva bow, which was empowered by the grace of Lord Sri Krishna."

In Bhagavad Gita verse 7.10 Lord Krishna says tejas tejasvinaam aham - "I am the prowess of all powerful men". Normally it is not easy to please the demigods. But here we find that Arjuna was able to not only please, but even astonish Lord Shiva and Mother Parvati by his power. Arjuna knew that the prowess which he exhibited before Lord Shiva was only due to the influence of Krishna.

In Srimad Bhagavatam verse 1.15.10 Arjuna says to Maharaja Yudhishtira how Lord Krishna had helped Draupadi in the asat sabha when Dushasana tried to disrobe her. Lord provided her sarees and saved her from a great embarrassment. He did not stop with this alone. Since Dushasana insulted Draupadi by loosening her hair, Lord Krishna ensured that in the battle of Kurukshetra all the wives of Kauravas had their hair loosened, due to the death of their husbands.

Expanding the influence by devotional service" based on the verse 3.14.48 in Srimad Bhagavatam wherein Kashyapa Muni describes to Diti about the transcendental nature of Prahlad Maharaj. Due to this potency of Prahlad Maharaj he was able to expand his influence on his demoniac colleagues in devotional service. The expanded intelligence manifested in him because of his expanded intelligence and matured devotional service.

We can never imitate the Lord, but one nice lesson which we can learn from this pastime is that whenever we help someone, we should do so silently and always remain in the background.

Devotees are therefore more merciful than the Lord, and in devotional service the mercy of a devotee is more valuable than the mercy of the Lord.

When we think we are tolerating others our head grows big. When we know that we need to tolerate ourselves our heart becomes big

A preacher is known as parivrajakacaarya—an acarya, or teacher, who always travels for the benefit of human society

Life of Arjuna is a nice lesson for us. He is teaching us how one should constantly remember the glories of spiritual master even after their apparent physical disappearance.

Pracetas show one of the great qualities of the devotees of the Lord Sri Krishna which is humility. They consider themselves as suffering conditioned souls

Each one of us will have some Krishna-given talent, which we will be using in His service. For example some might sing nicely, ability to dance, ability to cook, make garlands, stitch dresses etc for the pleasure of the Lord.

Since our human existence and service opportunity is itself a great blessing of the Lord, we should be thankful to Him for whatever situations He has placed us and simply pray to Guru and Krishna to give us the strength and sanity to carry on the service in the right mood.

Please avoid this and be Krishna conscious 24 hours a day. And if your consciousness is clear in every field of your activity, then you are Krishna conscious, then you are a devotee.

This is Bhagavatam and this is the aim of Bhagavatam - to establish the supremacy of Krishna and guide all living entities to go to Krishna.

Those who don't approach Krishna, they are like people who want to cross the sea by catching the tail of a dog.

Prabhupada says back home, back to Godhead. So those who don't approach Krishna are fools.

This is how Krishna will give you anything and everything, whichever you ask - yathaa tathe arthaan vidadhaat shaasvatam abhyaasa abhyah - For many millions of years, He has been supplying for all the desires to us.

Free from all material conceptions of existence and never wonder-struck by anything, the Lord is always jubilant and fully satisfied by His own spiritual perfection.

"Sons ought to render service to their father exactly to this extent. One should obey the command of his father or spiritual master with due deference, saying, "Yes, sir.""

One is sure to get free from the reactions of sins provided one is very careful about not committing sins willingly.

Therefore, unity or friendship is the bottom line. Once, this is done, half the battle is won

"O Krishna, those who continuously hear, chant and repeat Your transcendental activities, or take pleasure in others' doing so, certainly see Your lotus feet, which alone can stop the repetition of birth and death."

"My dear mother, when I saw that all forty-nine sons were alive, I was certainly struck with wonder. I decided that this was a secondary result of your having regularly executed devotional service in worship of Lord Vishnu".

The condition in the womb is so horrible that either child should die or mother should die or both should die. But somehow we are all born. It is only because of Krishna's mercy.