Date: February 17, 2008
Verse: Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.23.57
Speaker: Prabhavisnu Swami

saham bhagavato nunam vancita mayaya drudham
yat tvam vimuktidam prapya na mumukseya bandhanat

TRANSLATION

My lord, surely I have been solidly cheated by the insurmountable illusory energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, for in spite of having obtained your association, which gives liberation from material bondage, I did not seek such liberation.

PURPORT

An intelligent man should utilize good opportunities. The first opportunity is the human form of life, and the second opportunity is to take birth in a suitable family where there is cultivation of spiritual knowledge; this is rarely obtained. The greatest opportunity is to have the association of a saintly person. Devahuti was conscious that she was born as the daughter of an emperor. She was sufficiently educated and cultured, and at last she got Kardama Muni, a saintly person and a great yogi, as her husband. Still, if she did not get liberation from the entanglement of material energy, then certainly she would be cheated by the insurmountable illusory energy. Actually, the illusory, material energy is cheating everyone. People do not know what they are doing when they worship the material energy in the form of goddess Kali or Durga for material boons. They ask, “Mother, give me great riches, give me a good wife, give me fame, give me victory.” But such devotees of the goddess Maya, or Durga, do not know that they are being cheated by that goddess. Material achievement is actually no achievement because as soon as one is illusioned by the material gifts, he becomes more and more entangled, and there is no question of liberation. One should be intelligent enough to know how to utilize material assets for the purpose of spiritual realization. That is called karma-yoga or jnana-yoga. Whatever we have we should use as service to the Supreme Person. It is advised in Bhagavad-gita sva-karmana tam abhyarcya: [Bg. 18.46] one should try to worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead by one’s assets. There are many forms of service to the Supreme Lord, and anyone can render service unto Him according to the best of his ability.

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Prabhavisnu Swami

Here Devahuti is speaking to Kardama Muni. So as Srila Prabhupada explains here in the purport, Devahuti was born in a very exalted family. She is one of daughters of Svayambhuva Manu. And of course, since he was emperor of the universe, he was very highly connected and he and his family members had always had interaction with the most elevated saintly persons. Even in some cases with the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

One of Svayambhuva Manu’s sons is Priyavrata and Priyavrata was the disciple of Narada Muni. Narada Muni encouraged him to go to the forest and practice austerities, to live as a brahmacari but his father was growing old and was very concerned He wanted his son to take over the management of the Kingdom which in this case was the universe. So He appealed to Lord Brahma. Lord Brahma personally came and told Priyavrata in the presence of Narada Muni told him that he should accept his fate as the being the son of an emperor. Therefore he should marry and take up the responsibility of becoming the emperor of the universe. So this very highly connected to Brahma, Narada.

The other son was Uttanapada. His son was Dhruva who personally got association of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and got His benedictions, blessings. So that was the kind of family Devahuti was born into and further more, she got a great sage as a husband.

Prabhupada says here in the purport that, human form of life is a great opportunity. Actually it is very rare, durlabha manava-janama sat-sange taraha e bhava-sindhu re. So human life is very rare. And even rare is the association of saintly persons. Lord Caitanya said:

‘sadhu-sanga’, ‘sadhu-sanga’ — sarva-sastre kaya
lava-matra sadhu-sange sarva-siddhi haya — (Cc. Madhya 22.54)

Just through a moment’s association with a saintly person one can attain perfection. Prahladananda Maharaj quoted also the other day:

bhavad vidha bhagavatas tirtha bhutah svayam vibho

A verse spoken by Yudhisthira Maharaj to Vidura, “Saints of your caliber are verily places of pilgrimage personified because you carry Supreme Personality of Godhead within your heart so you turn all places into the places of pilgrimage.

So if a person can get even a short association of few minutes of association or occasional association with a great saintly person, he is considered to be highly fortunate. Off course he should take advantage of the association and hear the instructions of the saintly person and follow those instructions and then you will get the real benefit.

Even if the association is very short, the personal association, still if he constantly remembers the instruction and applies the instructions that the real association. Ultimately as Srila Prabhupada pointed out, the spiritual master has two kinds of presence, vani and vapu and of the two, vani is most important. The personal association is of course is very wonderful.

But to accept the instructions and follow instructions of the saintly devotees, this is the real gain, real objective of the association of such personalities and if one always follows such instructions, one will always have their association.

Srila Prabhupada always stressed that point that because he himself did not have so much close association of his spiritual master, he was living as a householder. A lot of the time during Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur’s presence, He was living in Allahabad, Prayag. Whereas Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur’s head quarters were here in Mayapur or he was also frequently in Calcutta where He had the printing press at the Bagh Bazaar Mandir. And he traveled through out India constantly preaching.

If anyone reads the biography of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur, they will see how he was constantly traveling here and there by train. Often they would book several wagons on the train or even the whole train and sometimes train when they would stop at certain stations there would be program arranged on the platform, kirtan and vyasasana where he would sit and give lecture, and prasadam distribution and he would get on the train and move on. So he was a very enthusiastic and active and vigorous preacher.

Srila Prabhupada living in Allahabad and would not get that much of his association. He traveled also for his business and whenever possible he would meet his spiritual master and of course, Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Sarasvati Thakur eventually came to Allahabad to lay the corner stone for the Srila Rupa Goswami Gaudiya Matha. And that time Srila Prabhupada was initiated in 1933. It was 11 years after he first met Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur and as we know Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Sarasvati Thakur departed from this world, was it January 1st 1937? I believe that was the day.

So just few years after, Srila Prabhupada was initiated by him! So he did not get so much personal association. But he did get considerable association. But compared to those sanyasis and brahmcaris who were serving here in Mayapur or Calcutta it was considerably less. But still he always remembered instructions of spiritual master. He meditated on those instructions. Therefore he said I am always with my spiritual master. So he always gave the credit to his spiritual master of course. I remember him once say, “I have no qualification. But my only qualification is I tried to follow orders of my spiritual master.”

And certainly he followed those orders very accurately, very expertly, very faithfully and therefore his spiritual master, previous acaryas, Lord Caitanya, Sri Sri Radha Krishna, They empowered him to spread Krishna consciousness all over the world.

So Devahuti, she was highly fortunate because she got the association of a highly advanced sage and the devotee as her husband. Kardama Muni himself had personal association with the Lord prior to his marriage. When He was in meditation, the Lord personally came and appeared before him. And that is the so far as I understand, that is the incarnation of the Lord that appeared in Satya yuga. He appeared before Kardama Muni and He told him that, “Later I will appear as your son. So twice he met the Lord personally then and as Lord advised him that soon Svayambhuva Manu will come here and offer his daughter to you in marriage and you should accept.

And He got that instruction and the Lord said, “Later I will appear as your son.” So sure enough in future, so latter the Lord appeared as Kapila, Kapiladeva.So such a great saintly person. So she was highly fortunate to have such a husband. But here is she lamenting that she has such a husband but she is more interested in family affairs rather than seeking liberation from material bondage from the illusory energy. Rather she should be using every moment for progress in spiritual life.

But anyway of course, she is speaking very humbly. She herself is a great devotee. Surely she was in many ways taking advantage of spiritual association of Kardama Muni and certainly she performed many, many years of austerities with him in his association in the forest after they were married. Although she was an emperor’s daughter, she adopted the vows of her husband and lived with him in simple kutir. They didn’t dress opulently and in this way she would certainly have made a great spiritual advancement. But any ways taking the humble position she is expressing that she could have taken more advantage. She could have become more advanced in spiritual life.

So in the purport here Prabhupada, he is criticizing those who are too much attached to worship of Kali or Durga for material boons. This is very common especially here in Bengal. The biggest festival of the year is perhaps in the West Bengal are Kali puja and Durga puja. People are very attached to them and they are always asking them for various kinds of material benedictions. But as Prabhupada says they are actually being cheated because this causes a person to become more and more entangled in material existence. And he gives up any kind of real genuine spiritual practice or he never takes to it. Just so absorbed in material life and meditation on these particular demigods. So as a result when the time of death comes, one’s consciousness is full of material desires and again he has to take birth in material world.

So what Prabhupada is saying is that one should be intelligent enough to know how to utilize material asset for the purpose of spiritual realization. Everyone has some material assets, even the sadhu who is living austere life; he also has some simple assets. And of course, people may give him things as well, give him various kinds of donations and he should utilize those things in service of the Lord then he will not become attached to material assets or he will not become bewildered by them. So not only a sadhu but anybody, this instruction is for everyone including those who are householders, those who are vaisyas, ksatriyas who generally have considerable material wealth, they have to use those assets in the service of the Lord.

Prabhupada said this is called karma yoga or jnana yoga. Jnana yoga is for those who are very intellectual. Yesterday or the day before in the GBC meeting there was a discussion about intellectual property, the real estate, material assets and intellectual assets. So people have material assets and they also have intellectual assets. But they should use everything in the service of the Lord.

When one begins to offer the result of ones activities to Krishna, that is called karma yoga and if he goes on following that process, gradually, gradually he takes to the practice of sadhana then that karma yoga becomes bhakti yoga. Initially it may be karma mishra bhakti but gradually when he goes on practicing he becomes purified and come to the platform of pure bhakti. And similarly someone who has got a very active mind, who is always inquiring about different topics, he should use that propensity to try to understand spiritual life and that is called jnana yoga and more he focuses that propensity on understanding the Supreme Personality of Godhead and he practices sadhana then that jnana yoga becomes jnana-mishra bhakti and eventually can become pure bhakti also.

As Srila Rupa Gosvami said:

anyabhilasita-sunyam
jnana-karmady-anavrtam
anukulyena krsnanu-
silanam bhaktir uttama — (BRS 1.1.11)

When first class devotion develops then it is free from any tinge of karma or jnana. It is said, karma and jnana are like two witches, which are haunting the living entity. He is constantly bewildered and perplexed due to the influence of karma and jnana. Therefore one has to learn, these karma and jnana are ever present in the world. The vast majority of persons are the deeply entangled in karma and jnana so we cannot run away like Mayavadis are trying to do but rather we have to utilize karma and jnana in the proper way, in the Lord’s service. Then those propensities and tendencies will become purified and person becomes properly situated in his eternal constitutional position as servant of Krishna.

Right now in the material world, the living entities are forgetful of Krishna therefore they are disconnected from their relationship with the Lord, even though Lord is in every one’s heart, the Lord is sustaining all of us. We cannot exist outside the Lord, at least outside of his creation.

So He is watching over what we are doing but never the less the illusory energy is such that it makes one forgetful ones relation with Lord. Therefore living entities is suffering in material existence due to this estrangement from Krishna. But Krishna Himself seeing this predicament of living entities, He comes here personally as is original form and his various incarnations. He also sends his exalted devotees here to educate the conditioned souls, to show them how to re-establish their eternal relationship with Him. Thus even while living with material world one can rise to the platform of pure Krishna consciousness. Thus one’s being transferred to the spiritual world after living his body is more or less automatic. It is simply a question of state of consciousness.

In different places, we can hear Srila Prabhupada say things such as I heard once him say personally that material means forgetfulness of Krishna. Spiritual means remembrance of Krishna. So even you are in the material world if you remember Krishna and use everything in service of Krishna, you are on spiritual platform.

Another lecture he was saying, “If one has jealousy in his heart he is on material platform. If one is free of jealousy then he is on spiritual platform.” So it is a question of consciousness. Even in material world one can become pure devotee of Krishna so that is the goal, Krishna prema, to be a pure devotee of Krishna. That is the goal of ones existence.

Caitanya Mahaprabhu stated it very clearly when He was in Udupi. He met with one tattva vadi acarya and He asked him very humbly, “What is the goal of life and how does one attain it?” The tattva vadi acarya responded that the goal of life is to attain liberation and the means to attain is by following varnasram dhama.

By liberation of course he especially meant one of the different kinds of liberation to Vaikuntha. There are five kinds of liberations but four of those kinds of liberations are in Vaikuntha and one kind is merging or sayujya mukti. That is rejected by Vaisnavas. The tattva vadi acaryas are vaisnavas. They are followers of Madhavacarya. Caitanya Mahaprabhu said that, “That is nice but actually the real goal of life is to attain the pure love of Krishna and means to attain it is devotional service bhakti yoga.”

Of course, attaining pure love of Krishna usually means that person will go to spiritual world and practicing bhakti yoga includes following varnasram dharma at least to the considerable extent. But still Caitanya Mahaprabhu was clearly enunciating what is the primary goal and primary means to attain it. So that is the same in ISKCON. We are followers of Caitanya Mahaprabhu and therefore He has set the goal very clearly and means to attain the goal.

So we simply have to follow those instructions. How do we know how to do that? Prabhupada says here, “Whatever we have we should use as service to Supreme Lord.” How do we know? To hear from advanced devotees, we have to hear from acaryas. We have to hear from the Lord, guru, sadhu, shastra. And apply those instructions and then we will be properly situated on the right path. And we can have hope that we will attain the desired goal. We should always have strong hope and firm conviction within the hearta nd execute our duties in Krishna consciousness very faithfully and as accurately as possible and always keep association of sincere and enthusiastic followers of Srila Prabhupada, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and this will inspire us, help us and give us strength to always be fixed in the service of the Lord and not to be distracted by the illusory energy.

The illusory energy is very, very powerful has many, many means to attract and bewilder the living entities so one has to be constantly vigilant and constantly seeking the proper association, constantly chanting the holy name of Krishna.

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA
KRISHNA HARE HARE
HARE RAMA HARE RAMA
RAMA RAMA HARE HARE !

Kirtaniya Sada hari !!!

Gaura-premanande, Hari Hari Bol!
Grantharaja Srimad-Bhagavatam ki Jay!
Srila Prabhupada ki Jay!
Sri Sri Radha Madhava ki Jay! Sama-veta Gaura Bhakta Vrinda ki Jay! Nitai-Gaura Premanande Hari Hari Bol!

(Applause)