Today we are present at the “Mountain Temple Center” in Phoenix. I have heard from the devotees that someone here is a magician. Is there a magician here? (The owner of the center acknowledges that he is a magician). You are the magician? Oh! You see, everything is done by the will of the Supreme Lord. Without His will, nothing can be done. If anybody says, “Yes, I can do something against the will of the Supreme Lord, then the Supreme Lord will lose His absolute position. Even a leaf cannot move without His approval. So, why have I been brought here to this Mountain Temple Center, where the owner is a magician? For what reason has God sent us here? There is some purpose to it. By this, the Supreme Lord is teaching us that wherever we are staying in this world is the result of the magic of the Supreme Lord. We are already seeing magic. Whatever we are seeing around us is jugglery. Is it not true? And, within this world, a tiny, godlike being is also displaying magic. Is that not also true? Who, however, is the Greatest Magician? The Supreme Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Everything we are seeing here is His magic. When you see magic, you take it to be real. But, actually, it is illusion—false.

Many years ago, when I first came to Śrī Caitanya Maṭh in Śrī Māyāpura, Navadvīpa-dhāma, India, I heard a story about a famous magician who had come to Māyāpura to perform his magic. The Maṭh was packed with visitors, not only from Śrī Māyāpura, but from other places as well. Arrangements were made for the seating of all the visitors. The magician arrived at the full house, accompanied by two or three assistants. Before he began his first feat of magic, he told the audience, “You should not be frightened by what you are about to witness. I am going to take this saw and cut someone from the audience in half. By the grace of the Lord, no mishap will come to him. He will be fine.” He brought out a box and a volunteer from the audience came up to lie down inside it. “Don’t be frightened,” he repeated, “everything will be okay.” Then, two of the assistants picked up a huge saw, placed it over the middle of the box and began to saw through it. After some time, they had sawn through the box. The box was in two halves. There was blood spilling onto the floor and the audience became alarmed. It appeared that the person inside the box had been killed. Many expressed fear that the police would come and arrest them. Many people began to flee.

“Don’t go! Don’t be afraid!” the magician cried to them. “Why are you afraid? You are sādhus. By your grace, this man will be all right. Have no fear.”

But many of the audience still thought, “This man has been killed—we should not remain here. How can we remain here when the man’s blood is pouring out?”

Ultimately, the magician exclaimed, “Come!” He uttered some incantation and then, shouting, commanded the dead man, “Rise up!” The crowd was astounded to see the man rise up, completely well.

Of course, it was all an illusion. The magician appeared to be sawing the person in half, but there was some sort of trick going on. In actuality, he did not even touch the man. Outside persons could not see the trick. Even the sādhus had become frightened upon seeing this illusion of the magician. What to speak of this magician and his audience, Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa performs His own great magical display of infinite planets, and all are enchanted by His magic.

Recently, when we were in Singapore, the person hosting our trip wanted to show us the island of Sentosa. We were to cross the ocean by boat to the island and then return later that day in order to go to a program somewhere else that evening. He told us that there were various things to be seen there. Visitors from all over the world come to visit that island. I agreed to go on the condition that we should return well before that evening’s function. “If we travel very far,” I said, “we will be too tired when we return, having had no time to take rest.” Our friend assured us not to worry and that there would be plenty of time. So, we left for Sentosa. We were brought to various places and saw many sights. Ultimately, we were taken to a cinema. When I was a young person living at my parents’ house, it was my principle that I would never go to any cinema. In all my years in Calcutta, even when I was young at University, I had never once entered a cinema, on principle. In Calcutta, there are the very famous Zoological Gardens, and many people said I should go there. “Oh, the whole world goes to see these gardens,” people would tell me. “For what reason should I go?” I thought. Nowadays, people come to our Maṭh, and the first thing they go to see is the Zoological Gardens, but I have never seen them. I have always been this type of person. But now our host had brought us to this cinema house.

(The wind gets very strong at this point and starts to blow over the candles and pictures. Mahārāja says, “This is one kind of magic.”)

This cinema house was like a stadium. We sat there and someone came and fastened a seatbelt around my waist. This was strange. I asked, “You are showing a film. Why are you fastening a seatbelt around my waist?” “You might fall down,” I was told. “Why?” I asked. Then they switched off the lights to that grand stadium. Everything became dark and the film began.

I thought to myself, “What am I doing here? I have renounced household life to worship the Supreme Lord. Is this some form of worship?”

As I sat, they were showing the film. There were trucks running very fast along the road. In front of them, there was a motorcycle speeding along in such a way that there could have been an accident at any moment. “Why are they showing this?” I wondered. After some time, the motorcycle and one of the trucks moved in such a way that it seemed as if there would surely be a collision. At this point, as we were sitting there, the whole stadium started to rumble. We looked at each other. “Are we moving?” we wondered. We thought, “We are moving so fast along the roads and through the countryside! There will definitely be an accident. This is why they fastened our waists! We are moving so fast, but where are we going?”

Eventually, in front of us, we saw some gasoline tanks. “Oh,” we thought, “this time we will surely crash!”

But the stadium continued to move at high speed. Running at this rate, it felt to us that perhaps, by now, we had left Singapore for some distant destination. If this were so, then it would not be possible for us to attend the evening program.

Ultimately, we were brought to the seashore. I thought, “Definitely we will be unable to attend the program tonight!”

Then, the lights to the stadium were switched on and we could see that we were in the stadium. What had we seen? This was the magic of human beings. Actually, we had not been moving at all, but they had made it appear so. At the time it was going on, we could not understand this. Then the manager of the theatre announced that they would be starting another show wherein a person would be lifted up and then he would fall down from a great height. Everyone cried, “No! We don’t want to see this lest we be killed by having a heart attack!”

Ha! The human being’s jugglery! Magic! We are infatuated upon seeing this. But Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is performing His great magic of the creation of infinite planets and all are enchanted by His magic. Even in our scriptures you will find evidence of this. Mārkeṇḍeya Ṛṣi performed immense penance and received boons from Mahādeva (Śiva) and from Badarinārāyaṇa Viṣṇu. The demigods along with their king, Indra, tried to break Mārkeṇḍeya’s penance by alluring him with various temptations. But Mārkeṇḍeya Ṛṣi always remained very calm and serene. They had never seen such a person before. They were unable to create any restlessness of mind in him. All the demigods, including Mahādeva, were astounded. Mahādeva, along with Nārāyaṇa, appeared before him. Badarinārāyaṇa said to him, “I am satisfied by your austerities. Tell me what it is you wish.”

“I want to see Your māyā!” Mārkeṇḍeya Ṛṣi said.

“All right, then you shall see it!” said Nārāyaṇa affirmatively.

That muni had been performing meditation in front of his cottage. All of a sudden, he saw a storm. The air started to blow, increasing and increasing. The whole sky became consumed with clouds. Soon, the rains began. The land became completely inundated with water. Continuously there was rain, rain, rain, and his cottage was also soon covered with water. He watched as he saw everything of this world become immersed in a vast sea. He might have drowned in this sea, but he had previously received a boon from Brahmā that he would survive for seven kalpas. One kalpa is one day of Brahmā. So, his boon was to live for seven days of Brahmā, not seven earth days as we know them today. You cannot mentally fathom the mathematical calculation of such a high figure.

Presently, we are in this black age of Kali-yuga. The span of time for this Kali-yuga is 432,000 years. Double of this (864,000 years) is the duration of the Dvāpara-yuga. Triple of the Kali-yuga (1,296,000 years) is the duration of the Tretā-yuga and quadruple it (1,728,000 years) is the length of the Satya-yuga, the “Golden Age”. If you add the total time of these four yugas together, the sum is 4,320,000 years. If the span of time covered by these four ages is multiplied by seventy-one (306,720,000), then that is the span of life of one Manu. The fourteen Manus are sons of Brahmā, and are called “Manu” because they were created by the mind of Brahmā. The total number of years in which the lives of fourteen Manus have passed (14 X 306,720,000 = 4,294,080,000 years) equals one day of Brahmā. Such seven days (30,058,560,000 years) would be the lifespan of Mārkeṇḍeya Ṛṣi. How did he get such a boon?

Mṛkaṇḍa had learned from an astrologer that his son, Mārkeṇḍeya, would die at the age of ten. So, he was in a very melancholy state. He could find no peace of mind. “Here is my only son,” he thought, “and that son will die at the age of ten?” He went to his son and instructed him, “Whenever any elder person comes to see you, you should bow down to him. You should make prostrated obeisances to him.” As per the instruction of his father, whenever an elder person of respectable stature came to their house, Mārkeṇḍeya made prostrated obeisances to him.

By chance, the Saptārṣis (the seven ṛṣis), also the sons of Brahmā, set their holy footprints in the house of the descendents of Bhṛgu, and the boy, Mārkeṇḍeya, fell flat at their feet.

The ṛṣis blessed him. “May he live eternally!” they exclaimed.

The boy’s father was astonished. He approached the ṛṣis and said, “But my son is destined to die at the age of ten. Now you have given him a boon, but will this boon be effective?”

“Oh, is that true?” the ṛṣis asked. They were perturbed because they wanted to award the child some sort of boon. They took the boy to Satya-loka, the planet of Brahmā. They told their father, “We went to this boy’s house only to set our holy footprints there and this boy, out of affection, fell flat at our feet. He is unfortunately destined to live ten years only.”

“No!” cried Brahmā. “His span of life is seven days—of mine!” Thus, Brahmā gave him this boon.

We should never ignore our superiors. We are learning this lesson from the son of Mṛkaṇḍa, Mārkeṇḍeya Ṛṣi. If we bow down to parents, elders, Vaiṣṇavas and sādhus, then, by their grace, we shall be able to get things we cannot imagine. Mārkeṇḍeya is one such example.

So, when Mārkeṇḍeya requested to see māyā, the illusion of the Supreme Lord, clouds, followed by heavy rainfall, suddenly surrounded his cottage. The whole area had become inundated and had become a sea, an ocean. But, due to his boon, he did not die. There were whales, sharks and other creatures swimming in the water, attacking and wounding him, but he did not die. At that time, he thought, “Why have I obtained this span of life? It would be better if I were to die!”

He drifted in this way through this vast ocean for one thousand years. After that, he drifted to Puruṣottama-dhāma (Purī, Orissa). There, he saw a banyan tree. A leaf of the banyan tree was floating on the waters of the great sea. A small boy—very attractive—was seated on that leaf. He thought, “Where has this boy come from? He is so attractive!” He came closer. Mārkeṇḍeya, seeking shelter from the aquatic animals that were attacking him, approached the beautiful boy.

This very wonderful boy was inhaling and exhaling. When Mārkeṇḍeya came close to the nostrils of the boy, he entered into one of the nostrils as the boy inhaled, thereby entering into the body of the boy. Within the body of the boy, he saw mountains, hills, birds and all created beings. He saw houses and human beings. For one thousand years, he passed the time in this fashion. The boy then exhaled. Mārkeṇḍeya was expelled from the boy’s nostril and he again felt as though he were drowning in the devastating ocean. Again, for many years, he underwent great suffering, all the while thinking, “Oh! Why have I obtained this span of life? It would be better if I were to die!”

Again, he saw the beautiful boy and felt attracted to him. Mārkeṇḍeya swam near him, intending to embrace the boy. But, the moment he went to embrace the boy, the boy disappeared and Mārkeṇḍeya found himself sitting in front of his cottage, meditating, just as he had been before.

This is magic—the magic of the Supreme Lord. We are also seeing this magic. Presently, we see all the created beings. During the day of Brahmā, everything is created. During the night of Brahmā, everything dissolves. Actually, our real self does not die. It always remains. But we are seeing this creation and destruction—this is the illusion of the Supreme Lord.

Whenever we forget the Supreme Lord, this illusion will envelop us. Even Nārada Gosvāmī was enchanted and infatuated by seeing Kṛṣṇa’s māyā. We revere Nārada as an ācārya in our preceptorial channel. By his grace, we can cross over this ocean of births and deaths. But once, Śrī Nārada himself requested Kṛṣṇa to show him His māyā.

Nārada said, “I have heard that all the living beings of this world are experiencing immense miseries due to Your māyā—Your illusion—the external potency. I want to see that illusion and know what kind of afflictions they are undergoing.”

“You do not want this,” Kṛṣṇa told him. “You will become charmed, enchanted. Why do you want to see this illusion? You are singing My glories. You are chanting My Holy Name. You are rescuing all the fallen souls. What benefit will you get by seeing My illusion? You will become infatuated!”

Nārada implored Kṛṣṇa, “If You think that I have the slightest drop of devotion for You, please show me Your māyā.” Nārada was very obstinate and stubborn about it. You will find this story in Brahma-Vaivarta Purāṇa.

Immediately, Kṛṣṇa turned Himself into a brāhmaṇa. Nārada also became a brāhmaṇa, and his vina, which he always carried, disappeared. No one was able to recognize that this brāhmaṇa was Nārada and that the other was Kṛṣṇa.

In Śvetadvīpa, there are many planets. Kṛṣṇa and Nārada were traveling throughout these planets. After many travels, they came to the house of a vaiśya. In order that they may obtain devotion, this mercantile class of people serves the brāhmaṇas. They utilize their money and other assets to serve the brāhmaṇas and the demigods. When Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Nārada Gosvāmī set Their holy footprints in his house, the businessman paid respect to Them. He bowed down and worshipped Them, serving Them very nicely. Kṛṣṇa, in the form of a brāhmaṇa, blessed him, saying, “May your wealth increase!” The vaiśya was pleased, believing that a brāhmaṇa had blessed him. He did not realize that this brāhmaṇa was Kṛṣṇa, Himself. Nārada observed Kṛṣṇa’s actions with interest.

Kṛṣṇa and Nārada left the house and continued to roam. After many travels, They became the guests of a brāhmaṇa. That brāhmaṇa also adored Them and served Them nicely. But, at the time of leaving his house, Kṛṣṇa, still in the form of a brāhmaṇa, cursed Their host, saying, “May all your wealth be destroyed!” Nārada was perplexed. He wondered, “This man has also served us well. Is Kṛṣṇa showing His magic to me? He has given a boon to the businessman, while He is cursing this brāhmaṇa. Why has He done this, when this brāhmaṇa served us so well?”

After they left the house, Nārada complained to Kṛṣṇa. “What are you doing?” he asked. “What is Your reason for this sort of behavior? You should be equal to all! Why have You cursed this man?”

Then Kṛṣṇa replied, “In spite of being a brāhmaṇa, this man is engaged in the cultivation of crops—the work of a farmer. He should be engaged in the worship of God only. He should read the Vedas, etc. He should help others to get devotion. He should not have the desire to increase his wealth. If a brāhmaṇa ploughs the land for one day, the same degree of sin is incurred as when a fisherman kills fish for an entire year! This brāhmaṇa should not be engaged in farming. He should not have this sort of aptitude. I have cursed him for the sake of his eternal welfare.”

They traveled onward and Kṛṣṇa thought to Himself, “No matter whether I appear in the form of a brāhmaṇa, a vaiśya or any other form, Nārada’s devotion to Me is always there. If he does not forget Me, how can I show him My magic? In order to accomplish this, he will need to forget Me.”

Then, immediately, by His desire, the Supreme Lord, within Whom all the planets reside, transported Himself and Nārada to this world. No airplane is required. No Sputnik is required. That is magic. When They arrived in this world, They saw a very beautiful lake. The fragrance of lotus flowers was emanating from it and there were numerous varieties of fish swimming in its waters. Birds were flying overhead and swans were swimming about. The water was very clean and clear. Nārada suggested that They perform their ablutions there in the sweet, pure waters of that lake. They had been traveling such a long time and this would refresh them.

Kṛṣṇa told Nārada to go on ahead and take his bath and that He would wait on the shore in the meantime. Nārada entered the water and started to bathe. When he raised his head out of the water, Kṛṣṇa had disappeared. The lake had now become a sea. Nārada’s body had transformed into the body of a very beautiful woman. He stayed afloat on the surface by catching hold of a piece of timber. He looked about in all directions. “Oh, everything is water, water!” he lamented. “Who will rescue me? Who will rescue me?” Nārada had forgotten Kṛṣṇa.

Now, the magic of Kṛṣṇa began.

So long as Nārada remembered Kṛṣṇa, there was no magic. But now he was crying, “Who will rescue me? Who will rescue me?” Kṛṣṇa is the only Protector. We should take absolute shelter at the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa will rescue us. But Nārada had forgotten. So, when we also forget this, then the magic will start! We are presently seeing Kṛṣṇa’s magic.

Then, by the desire of Kṛṣṇa, a king named Tāladhvaja appeared. It is said in the scriptures that our birth, death and marriage are all pre-ordained. Everything is done by the will of the Supreme Lord. Therefore, this king had come and Nārada, in the form of a beautiful woman, was beckoning him, signaling him to come and rescue her.

The king thought, “This woman is so beautiful! What has happened to her? Perhaps her boat capsized and all of her traveling companions died.” He sent his own boat to her and brought her back to shore.

“Tell me,” he asked her, “where do you live? I have never seen such a beautiful woman. Wherever it is that you live, I shall bring you home.”

“I do not know where I am from,” said Nārada.

“What about your parents?” the king asked.

“I do not know,” said Nārada, “please give me shelter.”

The king was astounded. He thought, “Perhaps all of her relatives have perished at sea and she is now in a state of shock. Let me take her to my palace.”

He brought her to his palace, but she could not regain any memory of her home or family. The king, by watching her beautiful, charming form, eventually desired to marry the woman. Nārada now became queen of a wealthy kingdom. So much land, so many houses, so many elephants, horses, servants, maidservants and ornaments! The queen was always busy serving her husband, and became engrossed in all the matters of family life. There were also many temples, and many people were engaged in arranging religious events. They would come to the queen and request her to please attend.

“No, I have no time!” she would say. “I am engaged.”

In the form of that woman, what was Nārada Muni saying? “I’m engaged. I’ve got no time to go to the temple of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. You may make my offerings of flowers to the lotus feet of the Lord on my behalf.”

After ten years, he begat (or, rather, she begat) fifty very beautiful children. Initially, she had love only for her husband, but now the husband and children were sharing her love. When the children reached adulthood, the queen requested that her husband give them some sort of work so that they could increase their wealth.

“My sons?” asked the king, “What will they do? Why do they require money? They will only sit idle. Let them become minor kings instead. I shall divide this property into fifty portions and each son will be a subordinate king.”

Originally, all the sons lived with their parents, but now some lived nearby while others lived some distance away. Now, the mother desired that her sons take wives. So, very soon, in a grand way, all fifty sons were married. It was a pompous affair, and millions and millions of dollars were spent. Shortly after the wives went to live with their husbands, quarrels between the brothers started to arise. The wives would say to their husbands, “Your elder brother has been given more property than you. Go to your father and ask him to give you more.” At first, the sons would say, “Be silent. You should not speak this way. We should be satisfied with whatever our father gives us.” But every day the young wives would continue to press this issue with their husbands. In this way, after some time, the sons began to think, “My wife is actually right.” Eventually, one of the brothers went to his father and said, “Why have you given my elder brother more land than me?”

The king implored, “You can see that all that was once mine now belongs to all of you. Why are you quarreling? It is impossible to divide the land of this kingdom into precisely equal portions.”

But, in spite of this, the sons went to war among themselves. As a result of their fighting, all fifty sons were killed.

The queen went mad. She had great affection for her children. One after another, she saw her sons die. It was so shocking. The queen, in her grief, now started to blame Kṛṣṇa for this disaster.

“Kṛṣṇa is unkind to the living beings of the world!” she cried. “He is always cruel! He finds His satisfaction in giving afflictions to the living beings! I don’t believe Kṛṣṇa is all-good—He is cruel!”

She continued, “He has no knowledge in His brain! We are old men and women but, instead of taking our lives, he is taking the lives of our children! So, now there is no one left to beget children! There will be no children and all creation will be stopped. There is no wisdom in the head of this Creator! He is a dunderhead!”

She wept, due to her separation grief for her sons.

At that time, Kṛṣṇa, in the form of a brāhmaṇa, came to her house. “Are you all quite well?” He inquired.

“No!” she wailed. “We have lost all our children! We are in great misery!”

Kṛṣṇa asked her, “Wherefrom have you gotten these children? All living beings are born by the will of the Supreme Lord. They remain here for some time and, when the Supreme Lord desires, He will take them from this world. They do not belong to you. If any of these children had actually belonged to you, then you could have kept that child with you, but everything is coming from the Supreme Lord:

jātasya hi dhruvo mṛtyur
dhruvaṁ janma mṛtasya ca
tasmād aparihārye ’rthe
na tvaṁ śocitum arhasi
(Bhagavad-gītā, 2.27)

Why are you mourning? One who has been born will die. It is inevitable. We should not be distressed by this.” In this way, Kṛṣṇa advised the queen.

Hearing the words of the brāhmaṇa, the queen became calmed for a while and stopped weeping. But, after some time, when she would happen to see some garment or other article belonging to one of her sons, she would begin to cry again.

Kṛṣṇa then said to her, “You cannot bring back your children. Please go to the lake and perform ablutions and then come back here to Me. I shall make some arrangements to assure that the departed souls of your sons will find peace.”

“I don’t want to live in this world!” the queen wailed. “You are a brāhmaṇa, so I will abide by your order. But actually, I request that you bless me so that I shall die!”

Nārada, in the form of the queen, followed the instructions of Kṛṣṇa, in the form of a brāhmaṇa. He went to the lake to perform ablutions. As he emerged from the water, his eyes fell upon Śrī Kṛṣṇa.

“What are You doing here?” Nārada asked Kṛṣṇa.

“Why don’t you tell Me what you have seen?” Kṛṣṇa asked.

“What I have seen,” Nārada said, “is very shameful! My body was changed. I became a woman. A king came along and I became his queen. I had a great kingdom with every kind of wealth—servants, elephants, horses, and property. After some time, I had fifty children. I was engrossed in their upbringing. Later, they married. When the wives went to live with them, all the sons began to quarrel among themselves. Then, they fought one another and all the sons were killed. I then rebuked You, saying, ‘You are cruel! You have no compassion for me! You are a fool! You are stupid!’ Please, tell me, what is this that I have seen?”

“This is My māyā!” Kṛṣṇa replied. “Do you want to see more?”

“No! No!” Nārada cried.

So long as we remember the Supreme Lord and chant His Name, no māyā will come. When we forget Him, then this māyā will come. If you see that this person is crying, this person is laughing, this person is doing something else, all these things are illusion. They have no actual existence.

In order to get this knowledge, Kṛṣṇa has brought us to this place—the house of a magician. Can we perform such magic?

So, let us chant the Holy Name—Kṛṣṇa’s Name. The Name and the Named are the same. If we chant the Holy Name, the Supreme Lord, Who is All-Existence, All-Knowledge and All-Bliss, will appear and all māyā will go. Here, in the company of the sādhus, we should remember that whenever we forget Kṛṣṇa, māyā will come. So we should take a vow never to forget Him. In this way, we will be rescued from māyā.