Simply Negating Is No Good
Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.4.2
Los Angeles, June 25, 1972
download flash player
Take a testLos Angeles, June 25, 1972
download flash player
Pradyumna: (leads
chanting)
atma-jaya-sutagara-
pasu-dravina-bandhusu
rajye cavikale nityam
virudham mamatam jahau
Prabhupada: (interrupts a devotee chanting sloka) Purport of the last sloka was done? Yesterday?
Pradyumna: Uh, part of it.
Prabhupada: The balance, first of all read.
Pradyumna: On page 170. "To become a pure devotee of Lord Krsna, two things are very much essential, namely having a chance of being born in the family of a devotee and having the blessings of a bona fide spiritual master. By the grace of Lord Krsna, Pariksit Maharaja had both opportunities. He was born in a family of such devotees as the Pandavas, and just to continue the dynasty of the Pandavas and show them special favor, the Lord specifically saved Maharaja Pariksit, who later on, by the arrangement of the Lord, was cursed by the boy of a brahmana and was able to get the association of such a spiritual master as Sukadeva Gosvami. In the Caitanya-caritamrta it is said that a fortunate person, by the mercy of the spiritual master and Lord Krsna, achieves the path of devotional service. This was perfectly applicable in the case of Maharaja Pariksit. By way of being born in a family of devotees, he automatically came in touch with Krsna, and after being so contacted he constantly remembered Him.
Consequently Lord Krsna gave the King a further chance for development in devotional service by introducing him to Sukadeva Gosvami, a stalwart devotee of the Lord with perfect knowledge in self-realization. And by hearing from a bona fide spiritual master, he was perfectly able to concentrate his chaste mind further upon Lord Krsna, as a matter of course."
Prabhupada: So superficially, Maharaja Pariksit, king, the emperor of the world, he was cursed to death. A brahmana boy cursed him that "You will die within seven days." And as a result of this, he left his home, his kingdom, and here, next verse, it is said, atma-jaya. Jaya means his one wife. He was young man. Suta, children; agara, agara means residence, house. Atma-jaya-sutagara. Pasu, animals. He was king. So he had many animals: horses, elephants, cows, bulls. These are household animals, domestic animals. And dravina. Dravina means wealth, riches. And bandhu, bandhusu, friendship. So our... These are our material assets: wife, children, nice house, nice bank balance, and some pasus, animals. Here of course, you keep only one animals, dog. "The best friend." But in India they keep many animals. Those who are rich, they keep elephants, horses, bulls, cows. Dogs are also there, but dogs are not so important there. Asses also. These are domestic...
And cats also. These are domestic animals. These animals, they like to live with human beings... They do not go to the forest. So superficially, Pariksit Maharaja... Upadharya matim krsne. For becoming Krsna conscious... Matim. Mati means consciousness; krsne, in Krsna. Practically he was bereft of everything. Just try to understand. He was cursed to death, and because he was preparing for next life, so he had to leave everything. And so..., what people will think? "Oh by Krsna consciousness, one has to lose all, everything? His kingdom, his everything." Therefore people are afraid to take to Krsna consciousness. "Oh, we shall be lost of everything. Even up to life." This is the example of Pariksit Maharaja. Pariksit Maharaja... (reads purport) "To become a pure devotee of Lord Krsna, two things are very much essential, namely having a chance of being born in the family of a devotee and having the blessings of a bona fide spiritual master. So Pariksit Maharaja had both blessings.
He, from the very childhood, from the womb of his mother, he was Krsna conscious. And he had the opportunity of taking birth in a family where every member was Krsna conscious, especially his grandfather Arjuna. So that chance was there. From the very beginning of his life, he was given the chance of worshiping Krsna Deity. Not only that. He was king. Sucinam srimatam gehe yoga-bhrasto 'bhijayate. Yoga-bhrasta means one who falls down from the path of spiritual advancement. For them, the facility is that they are given another chance to take birth in the human society. Not only in human society... Sucinam srimatam gehe, in very rich family and very pure family. Sucinam means pure, brahmana. So in India still, if one is born in a very nice, rich and pure family, he is considered to be very pious in his past life. That's a fact. Janmaisvarya-sruta-sri. These four things, janma, high grade birth; aisvarya, riches. Janmaisvarya... sruta, education; and sri, means beauty.
These four things are obtained by pious activities in one's past life. So Pariksit Maharaja had all these assets. That means in his previous life he was also a great devotee. So now, in this life, he's bereft of everything. After executing spiritual life so strenuously, life after life, in this life we see that he's bereft of his kingdom, he's going to die within seven days, and he had to leave his beautiful wife, children, home, kingdom, his animals. Everything we keep, there is affection. It is not that animals are meant for killing. They are also treated like children. (aside:) Don't move your leg like that. So anything you associate, you get affection. That's a fact. Therefore here it is stated, rajye cavikale nityam virudham mamatam jahau. And his kingdom was very safe kingdom. It was not that there was disturbance in his kingdom. Somebody has attacked, so he was bereft... No. Cavikale, without any disturbance. Very nice kingdom. So what people will think?
That "To become Krsna conscious means to lose everything, up to life? Does it mean?" Sometimes, superficially, they take it like that, but actually that is not the fact. There is another story in which one saintly person came in an assembly. So he blessed... A saintly person, they, everyone expects some blessings. So there was a king's son. So he blessed him, raja-putra raja-putra ciram jiva. "My dear king's son, you live forever." And there was another's son, he was muni's son, saintly person's son, and he blessed him, muni-putra muni-putra ma jiva. "You muni-putra, son of a saintly person, you don't live. You die." Raja-putra raja-putra ciram jiva. "The king's son, you live forever," and muni-putra, ma jiva, "You don't live." Muni-putra muni-putra ma jiva. And there was a hunter also, and there was a saintly person also. The saintly person he blessed, ma jiva, jiva va mara va. "Either you die or live, it is all the same." And there was a hunter.
He blessed him, ma jiva ma mara, "Don't die don't live." This is very instructive. "You don't die, you don't live." One was blessed that "You don't die," the raja-putra, "Don't die." And the muni-putra, he was blessed, "You die." And the saintly person was blessed, "Either you die or you live." And the hunter was blessed, "You don't live, don't die." So this was a puzzle. So the king, he invited his ministers, that "What is the meaning of this?" The ministers were very intelligent, so he explained that "Your son has been blessed"ciram jiva " Because your son is so licentious that as soon as he dies he is going to hell. So therefore he has blessed ‘You better live forever; otherwise you are going to hell. (laughter) Your life is so sinful that next life is hellish. So better you live forever.' " Then, the next, muni-putra. Muni-putra means... Just like our disciples. They have to undergo austerities: no meat-eating, no illicit sex, no intoxication, so many no's.
But similarly, muni-putra, he is also execute all these functions, and there is no comfortable life. A muni-putra lives in a cottage. There is no good bedstead, and eating simple fruits and flowers. So from materialistic point of view, this is a miserable condition of life. So he was blessed that "You have sufficiently undergone austerities. Now your next life is in Vaikuntha. So better you die and go to Vaikuntha. Why you should suffer any more?" So therefore he was blessed that muni-putra muni-putra ma jiva. And the saintly person, he was blessed by the words jiva va mara va. "Either you die or live, the same thing." Because, a saintly person is engaged in the service of the Lord so his life is so blissful. So either he lives or when he dies, he goes back to home, back to Godhead. He'll do the same business. So there is no difference. Just like you are engaged in Krsna's service. You are getting the same service, eternally. This is a progressional period only.
Janma karma me divyam yo janati tattvatah, tyaktva deham punar janma naiti mam eti kaun... [Bg. 4.9]. Krsna says, anyone who can understand Krsna as He is, then after leaving this body he comes to home, back to home, back to Godhead. Mam eva. So saintly persons, their life is so pure that in this living condition, they are in Vaikuntha, and after leaving this body, they are going to Vaikuntha. So jiva va mara va. Both ways they are benefited. And the hunter was said, ma jiva ma mara, "You don't live, don't die." What is that? "Now you are hunter, butcher. So nasty life you are living. It was better death. Better for you to death, die. But if you die, then you go to hell. Therefore don't die, don't live." So... (aside:) Don't close your eyes. So Pariksit Maharaja's... This was blessing. Pariksit Maharaja... Don't think that Pariksit Maharaja lost everything. Because he has understood Krsna, so according to the statement of Bhagavad-gita, it is fact that he is going back to home, back to Godhead.
Therefore Pariksit Maharaja... What is the value of this kingdom, of the wealth of this material world? They are temporary. Even if you have got very good kingdom, very nice wife, very nice society, very... How long? And if there is any mistake, next life you can get something else. But so Pariksit Maharaja's life... Because he's born devotee. From the childhood, he's a devotee of Krsna. Now, when he was cursed, it was blessings for him and for all others because he was cursed, there was necessity of the recitation of this Srimad-Bhagavatam. And after hearing this Srimad-Bhagavatam... Sri-visnoh sravane pariksit. Pariksit Maharaja simply by hearing Srimad-Bhagavatam, he got salvation. So this superficial awkward position that he lost his life, lost his kingdom, he had to leave his wife and children and everything, don't take in that "By Krsna consciousness, he became bereft of all assets. No. He was going to be rewarded very highly, going back to home, back to Godhead.
So another instruction is, in this connection, that one should be ready. If one is serious to become Krsna conscious, then one should be ready to give up all sorts of material enjoyment. That is the fact. If you become Krsna conscious for your material improvement... You can get it. Krsna is all powerful. But that is not the desirable thing. To become Krsna consciousness means to make our materialistic way of life nil. That is the... That is the purpose. Anyabhilasita-sunyam [BRS 1.1.11]. If you want from Krsna that "Give me material happiness..." As you have studied,
akamah sarva-kamo va
moksa-kama udara-dhih
tivrena bhakti-yogena
yajeta purusam param
[SB 2.3.10]
Either you are materially desirous, anxious to get so many things, karmi... Akama means devotee. Sarva-kama means karmi. Karmis, they are simply wanting, "Give me this, give me that, give me this, give me that." So many things. There is no end of their demands. That is called karmi. And jnanis means they also want...
They want salvation, to merge into the impersonal Brahman effulgence of the Lord. And yogis, they also want some mystic power. So karmi, jnani, yogi -- everyone wants something, but a devotee does not want anything. That is devotion. They know, "What shall I do with all these things?" They have no attraction for anything material. These are all material. Some, a better position, and in some lower position. That's all. Karmis are entangled in this materialistic way of life, and the jnanis, they are also some or less entangled. Because they have no idea what is God, they think God is impersonal. God is impersonal means there is no God. So if they have no idea of God, how to go back to kingdom of God? So they are also materialistic. Negation of material, negation. Because they are very much frustrated. Just like in your country, the hippies. The hippies means negation of a positive materialistic life. That's all. Negation. They are simply denying that "I, we don't want the way of life as our father and grandfathers are going on."
That's a negation, but there is no positive gain. So negation is no good. You must have some positive gain. So our, this Krsna consciousness movement is negation of the materialistic way of life and regain the blissful eternal life of spiritual understanding. So simply negation is no gain. With something, if you are disgusted, "I don't want it," but... Just like sometimes a man commits suicide, "I don't want this life." So what is the gain? And that is ignorance. He does not know that committing suicide... He's eternal. He's eternal. Living entity is eternal. He thinks that "By killing this body, I am free from this bodily miserable condition of life." No. He's immediately..., either he has to accept a next abominable body or he'll have to become a ghost. One who commits suicide. Ghost means no material gross life, but the mental, material subtle life is there. A ghost is carried by the subtle body: mind, intelligence and false ego. And one who gets a body, gross body...
Upon this mind, intelligence and ego, one develops a gross body of five elements: earth, water, air, fire. This is the two kinds of body, a condition. And when he's actually Krsna conscious, he's transcendental to this gross and subtle body. He attains a spiritual body which is never to be finished, eternal, blissful life. So sometimes, when Krsna, He's especially kind to a person who thinks that "By... I shall execute Krsna consciousness; at the same time, I shall enjoy this material life," this is foolishness. This is foolishness. If you want Krsna, go to home, back to home, back to Godhead, then you have to finish your material desires. Because Krsna is so kind that even if you have a pinch of material desire to enjoy in this material world, He will give you a chance, "All right, you do it." That means we become entangled. Therefore, those who are executing Krsna consciousness, they should try to become free from all material desires. Anyabhilasita-sunyam jnana-karmady-anavrtam [BRS 1.1.11].
Jnana means knowledge. Or the jnanis, they also want to be become one with the Supreme. And karma. Karma means karmis, those who want to enjoy. So one should be uncovered, to covered by this jnana, by karma or by any material desires. Anyabhilasita-sunyam jnana-karmady-anavrtam, anukulyena krsnanusilanam [Madhya 19.167]. Simply favorably serving Krsna. Favorably, not unfavorably. Consciousness favorably. Just like Kamsa. Kamsa was also Krsna conscious, but he was simply planning how to kill Krsna. That kind of Krsna consciousness is not good. Of course, Krsna is so kind, so any way one becomes Krsna conscious, he gets the benefit, at least, of liberation. Just like Kamsa was liberated. Although he was unfavorably Krsna conscious, but he was thinking of Krsna. Hiranyakasipu, he was also thinking of Krsna. But unfavorably. So that is not bhakti. We must think of Krsna favorably. And that is bhakti. Anukulyena krsnanusilanam. Culture of Krsna consciousness favorably.
Bhaktir uttama, that is pure bhakti. So a person who is thinking of Krsna haphazardly, namely that "By executing Krsna consciousness, I'll be materially happy," He can be materially happy because... As Sukadeva Gosvami says, akamah sarva-kamo va moksa-kama udara-dhih [SB 2.3.10]. His desire will be fulfilled. Just like Dhruva Maharaja. He went to worship Krsna in the forest with material desires, that "I may get the kingdom of my father or better kingdom." That was his determination. So he got it. But when he got it... By executing Krsna consciousness, he was intelligent. He was very sorry that "What I have asked? This material happiness I have asked..." So when he actually saw Krsna, Visnu, he was offered, "Now you take benediction as you desire." He was very sorry. He said, "My Lord, I have no other desire now. I have finished all my desires." Svamin krtartho 'smi varam na yace. "I don't want any this, any kind of benediction. I have got You. I have no more necessity of any benediction."
But Krsna is so kind, He gave him both, that "Dhruva, you desired for some material prosperity, a kingdom. So I have created one kingdom, Dhruvaloka, for you, which is so many times bigger than your father's kingdom. So you will... So that is especially for you. That is Vaikuntha. You will go there. But you wanted your father's kingdom. So you take your father's kingdom also." So he enjoyed his father's kingdom for 35,000 years. In those days, a man used to live for 100,000's of years. Satya-yuga. So Krsna is so kind that whatever desires you have got within, He'll give you all facilities. Akamah sarva-kamo va moksa-kama udara-dhih [SB 2.3.10]. But intelligent persons, they will not ask anything from Krsna. Just like a dependent child, he's fully dependent on the father. So father knows how to raise him to be a perfect man. He knows what is his necessities. Similarly, we have to give up to the care of Krsna, without any condition. That is perfection of life. That is perfection of life.
So sometimes Krsna favors a devotee when He is in doubts, "Whether this or that? This or that?" So sometimes He takes away the sources of his material opulence and gives him shelter under His own lotus feet. So you can read the word meaning?
Pradyumna: (reads synonyms) Translation: "Maharaja Pariksit, as a result of wholehearted attraction for Lord Krsna, was able to give up all deep-rooted affection for his personal body, wife, children, palace, animals, horses, and elephants, treasury house, friends and relatives, and his undisputed kingdom."
Prabhupada: So this is Krsna consciousness. Upadharya matim krsne. So it is a great sacrifice. It is not like that, dharmartha-kama-moksa. No. It is above. People are generally become religious to get some material benefit. Dharma artha. And as soon as he gets material benefit, he enjoys his senses, kama. Dharma artha kama. And when he fails to satisfy his senses, then he wants to become one with the supreme. That's moksa. So Krsna consciousness is above these four principles, dharma, artha, kama, moksa. Krsna consciousness is transcendental. Therefore one can give up, immediately. Just like sometimes Bharata Maharaja, under whose name India is called Bharata-varsa. He also gave up. He gave up is kingdom at the age of twenty-four years. Young wife, young, nice children, big, whole empire. And it is said that he gave up everything just like one gives up his stool, evacuates. Immediately goes away. So he gave up. So this is actually Krsna consciousness, that we become completely free from any material possession, any material possession.
It is very difficult. But just see, here Pariksit Maharaja, due to his association with his spiritual master, Sukadeva Gosvami, he understood... He, according to his instruction, he gave his mind and everything to Krsna and he gave up the idea of enjoying his wife, children, palace, kingdom, or animals, and so many things. So it is little difficult also. But by Krsna's grace, if we continue regularly these Krsna consciousness rules and regulations, then automatically we shall be disinterested. Bhaktih paresanubhavo viraktir anyatra syat [SB 11.2.42]. These are not to be artificially attained. You cannot give up your wife, children, kingdom, artificially. Artificially, if you give up, then you will again fall down. Artificially, I give up my wife, and then I seek another's wife. This is nonsense. This is nonsense. This is falldown. When you are actually mature, then you give up. So Pariksit Maharaja was mature. From the very childhood, he was Krsna conscious. So when he was cursed by a brahmana, he took it as an opportunity, "Now give up everything. Let me go back to home, back to Godhead." This is the philosophy. Thank you. (end)
© 2001 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International.
No comments:
Post a Comment