Srimad Bhagavatam 5.13.20 – HH Danavir Goswami

(Kindly transcribed by Mataji Swetha Ganeshan)

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From: Sri Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir!
Date: March 8h, 2014
Speaker: HH Danavir Goswami
Subject: S.B. 5.13.20

HH Danavir Goswami:

Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya, Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya. Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya.

S.B. 5th Canto, Chapter 13, Rahugana converses with Jada Bharatha, text 20.

rahugaṇa tvam api hy adhvano ‘sya sannyasta-daṇḍaḥ kṛta-bhuta-maitraḥ asaj-jitatma hari-sevaya sitam jñanasim adaya tarati-param

(Word to word meaning is read)

TRANSLATION:

My dear King Rahugaṇa, you are also a victim of the external energy, being situated on the path of attraction to material pleasure. So that you may become an equal friend to all living entities, I now advise you to give up your kingly position and the rod by which you punish criminals. Give up attraction to the sense objects and take up the sword of knowledge sharpened by devotional service. Then you will be able to cut the hard knot of illusory energy and cross to the other side of the ocean of nescience.

PURPORT:

In Bhagavad Gita Lord Kṛṣṇa compares the material world to a tree of illusion from which one must cut oneself free:

na rūpam asyeha tathopalabhyate nānto na cādir na ca sampratiṣṭhā aśvattham enaḿ suvirūḍha-mūlam asańga-śastreṇa dṛḍhena chittvā tataḥ padaḿ tat parimārgitavyaḿ yasmin gatā na nivartanti bhūyaḥ tam eva cādyaḿ puruṣaḿ prapadye yataḥ pravṛttiḥ prasṛtā purāṇī

“The real form of this tree cannot be perceived in this world. No one can understand where it ends, where it begins, or where its foundation is. But with determination, one must cut down this tree with the weapon of detachment. So doing, one must seek that place from which, having once gone, one never returns, and there surrender to that Supreme Personality of Godhead from whom everything has begun and in whom everything is abiding since time immemorial.” (Bg. 15.3-4)

HH Danavir Goswami:

rahugaṇa tvam api hy adhvano ‘sya sannyasta-daṇḍaḥ kṛta-bhuta-maitraḥ asaj-jitatma hari-sevaya sitam jñanasim adaya tarati-param

So Rahugana is the example of materialistic persons and Jada Bharatha is taking the position as Guru. Guru comes by the mercy of the Lord:

brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva guru-krishna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija

It is by the grace of Krishna that one gets Guru. In this case, King Rahugana was certainly not expecting to get instructed from his palanquin carrier. The last thing he expected was to be instructed, especially instructed about the Absolute Truth, the temporary nature of this material existence and that he should give up being the king and that he should take up the path of pure devotional service, go back to home-back to godhead. Not expected. Sometimes persons are looking for the Absolute Truth, they’re looking for a Guru and sometimes they’re not. But it’s considered to be the most fortunate thing in life, to obtain the lotus feet of a pure devotee-Spiritual Master. Because then the eyes are opened:

om ajnana-timirandhasya jnananjana-salakaya caksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri-gurave namah

For one who is born in the darkness of ignorance, Spiritual Master comes with a torch light of knowledge and opens his eyes, gives him the opportunity to achieve the perfection of all existence, of all life. Without the Spiritual Master, no one ever has gotten out of the material world or out of material consciousness without the grace of the Spiritual Master. Sometimes Krishna may personally act as the Spiritual Master. He is always acting as the Spiritual Master. But He may sometimes personally act as the direct guru and sometimes He sends His representatives. And then everything, the door is open. The opportunity to get out of this material world is open. Therefore the real beginning of Bhagavad Gita instruction began when Arjuna requested Krishna to act as his Spiritual Master and instruct him. And he took-because he knew, he was from a very exalted family, he knew what it meant to become the sisya.

siṣyas te ‘ham sadhi mam tvam prapannam

Now I am your disciple and a soul surrendered unto you. Therefore please instruct me. That’s what it means to be a sisya, to be a disciple, means to be a soul surrendered unto the Spiritual Master. Therefore, one has to have complete confidence that this person can take me across the ocean of material existence. This person has gone to the other side of the material world. He has the knowledge required to enlighten me, so that I can cross over this material world. Then the instructions begin. They become very powerful. Guru means heavy. And then the instructions can be, if the Spiritual Master feels that he can point out the flaws in the disciple or the candidate then things become wonderful! If he feels that he cannot point them out, because the person may balk, may run away, may become angry, may become offended, whatever, so many reasons, then he can still instruct and he will use his expertise to instruct gradually. But the more the disciple has faith in the Spiritual Master, then the more the Spiritual Master can really get to the crux and solve the problem very quickly. Just like an expert surgeon. If you go to a surgeon and you say, I’ve got some problems, I feel this and that, all kinds of pains. And the surgeon says can I do an investigation of your body, can I do a complete; no no just do this part. This part, check the arm. But there may be some deeper problem than just the arm, it may be the heart, it may be the blood, it may be this. No, no just the arm. So, then he is restricting. Makes it difficult to get to the source of the problem.

So, one lesson we can learn from this is that we should be the humble servant and also that the Spiritual Master may chastise us. Even Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, after He took initiation, Isvarapuri, He said that Isvarapuri considered him a great fool and told him that He was not fit to study Vedanta and therefore He should just chant the maha mantra. Lord Caitanya took it, He took it very seriously. He didn’t say I am Nimai Pandit. I defeated Keshava Kashmiri when I was a mere boy. I can study Vedanta. No he didn’t object. He took it. Well at least that’s how He presents it, that His Spiritual Master gave Him the maha mantra.

So, the instructions of the Spiritual Master are to be taken as one’s life and soul. Even if they don’t appear to some to be appropriate. For example, Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, on his first meeting with Srila Prabhupada, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, as Abhay Charan Dey, at 25 years old. The first meeting Abhay Charan had offered his dandavats as is customary amongst cultured family, when they see a sadhu. And as he was getting up, Bhaktisiddhanta said, “You should take up this message of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu and preach it all over the world. You are educated. It’ll be good for you and good for everyone”. So, how would he know that this person would be able to spread? How would he know that this person could accept the teachings of Lord Caitanya? It didn’t seem plausible. And even Abhay Charan questioned, how can? But who would take Lord Caitanyas message? We are a country subjugated by foreign rulers. Didn’t seem like a very plausible instruction. But the Spiritual Master is able to give such instructions because they are not coming from the material mind or the material intelligence or logic. They’re coming from Krishna. Krishna is giving him the instructions, the intelligence, how to perform his service and he gives the disciple the intelligence how to perform his service.

So, Bharatha Maharaja, Jada Bharatha is advising him to give up the path of material life, completely. Even to the extent of giving up, apparently his position as a king. At least he is instructing him to give up the concept of ‘I am a king’ and ‘I am the ruler’, because Rahugana definitely displayed that sign that ‘I am the king. And I am meant to instruct others’. Even if one remains in the Varnashrama system, still he should not think that he is a brahmana or kshatriya or a vaishya or a brahmachari or a grihastha or a vanaprastha or a sannyasi. He should understand that his constitutional position: Gopi-bhartur pada-kamalayor dasa-dasa-dasanudasah: servant of the servant of the servant of Krishna. That’s our real position. These other positions that we are taking as man, as woman, or American or Indian, these are all illusion. Because who’s American? Is it the body an American? Yes, because the body was born. We know that from Bhagavad Gita, the soul is never born.

ajo nityah sasvato ‘yam purano na hanyate hanyamane sarire

So the soul never takes birth. So, it’s not that the soul takes birth in America. It’s the body comes out, where the body comes out of the womb that’s considered to be one’s country, home country. But what is the body? The body is made of earth, water, fire, air and ether. But the cells, the atoms that make up the body, they are coming from these five elements. Five gross elements and then the three subtle elements. They’re not necessarily atoms. The mental; the mind, intelligence and false ego. But, if you say the body is made up of these things and the cells of the body are changing at every instant, that means I have a different body at every instant. We don’t have to wait seven years till all the cells change. Because even the tiniest change, changes the whole body. It’s a different body. So I have a different body. And the body is made of matter and the matter is always changing, new matter is coming in, old matter is going out. So what is American? Is it the food that my mother ate and that was transformed into blood and comprised my body? But I have a different body now? So if we analyze it carefully, which we should do, everyone should do this, analyze things. Thread bare. So that we really firmly understand that I’m not this body, in any way possible! Then we can give up. This knowledge will help us to become free from material attraction. This knowledge is not just ordinary knowledge. It’s transcendental knowledge. And therefore being transcendental knowledge is non-different than Krishna. Krishna is the ultimate.

vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyo vedanta-krid veda-vid eva caham

By all the Vedas, I am to be known. In other words, when your knowledge reaches the ultimate then you can know Krishna. The knowledge that Krishna gives in Bhagavad Gita and the other scriptures it’s as important as Krishna Himself. Shouldn’t think that it is less important. It is important because if I understand I am not this body, then I can understand Krishna. If I think I am this body, how will I be able to understand Krishna? I am in illusion. The whole point of spiritual life means to get free from illusion. To get out of the entanglement. Therefore, if that were not the case then Krishna would have begun his discussion, with Arjuna, by showing his form playing the flute with Radharani. This is the ultimate. But that’s not what He did. Bhagavad Gita is considered by the Acharyas to be infant education; it’s the beginning not the end. We need to understand. It’s like an infant. We want to train our infants, educate our infants, but we don’t begin with some very high, difficult thing. We start with simple things. But those simple things are just as important as the other things. It’s part of the same education process.

So, one should not discriminate against what appears to be elementary or the beginning education of the Vedas, such as the Upanishads or whatever. It’s part of the same instruction. The Vedas are seamless. There’s no contradictions between them. Those who are less learned, those who are not well versed they may think that there are contradictions for example between the Puranas and the Jyothisha shastras or between this scripture and that scripture-contradictions, no, no contradictions. Everything is perfectly in accord. And therefore it is said,

tarko ‘pratiṣṭhaḥ śrutayo vibhinna nasav ṛṣir yasya mataḿ na bhinnam dharmasya tattvaḿ nihitaḿ guhayaḿ mahajano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ

That in order to understand the Vedas and philosophy, we’ll need the mahajana, we’ll have to follow in his footsteps, otherwise we’ll be confused by apparent contradictions, by apparent discrepancies between scriptures, by different arguments, by charismatic presentations, what have you. But the mahajan, he’ll be able to give us the perfect instructions according to time and circumstance. It has to be according to time and circumstance as long as we are in this material world. Instructions have to be appropriate. Although they are eternal instructions, the mahajan knows how to adjust them to apply to every circumstance. There may be a little adjustment required and he has the power to do that because he understands, dharmasya tattva, the truth of dharma is in his heart. Therefore we want to hear from him. We don’t want to try to study the Vedas by ourselves. We can study the Vedas by ourselves, but we won’t be able to understand them. We’ve seen that so many scholars have tried to study the Vedas but they didn’t get it. They failed. Even some great personalities, very learned and pious persons they won’t be able to get it. It can only be achieved, it is said:

yasya deve parā bhaktir yathā deve tathā gurau tasyaite kathitā hy arthāḥ prakāśante mahātmanaḥ

When one has implicit faith in both Guru and Krishna then all the imports of the Vedic knowledge can be revealed. And if one has perfect knowledge, then he could surrender to Krishna. Or the other way is, if he surrenders to Krishna then he gets perfect knowledge.

One who knows Krishna, knows everything. Because Krishna is the ultimate knowledge and He is everything, vasudevah sarvam iti. And one who surrenders to Krishna, he’s come to the correct conclusion. There is nothing further to be known. That is the knowledge.

But generally speaking, there is this system, this process of bhakti yoga, which includes all the aspects. It includes some acts of just surrender, for example, we are taught when we first come to Krishna consciousness to pay our obeisances to the deity. So a person who is acting only on the platform of knowledge he would say, well, I don’t know why, I don’t what the deity is, I don’t know what bowing down is going to do. He could come up with so many reasons not to do it. Sometimes those who are very analytical, they’ll do that. Students, things like that, they want to be convinced before they take up any practice. That’s alright. We have enough knowledge and philosophy to convince them, certainly, if they’re reasonable, they will be convinced and eventually they will take up those practices. But it moves a lot faster if one has enough faith to follow along what the other devotees are doing. And he very swiftly moves. The others are paying obeisances, they seem to be very happy, to be very learned, to be wonderful persons, let me follow what they’re doing. By doing that it makes the process very fast. Because he is showing, his faith and by bowing down before the Lord his faith increases. Why? Because Krishna is real. Krishna is a real person and He really sees that this person is bowing down before Me. And he’s showing some devotion and therefore let Me shower My blessings. Because He is full of blessings. He’s full of mercy. He wants to save all the conditioned souls, therefore He loves to shower His blessings on anyone who makes any effort.

So, in our process we have everything. We have the acts of surrender and we have the philosophy. We have knowledge. Sometimes Prabhupada would say, if you just chant Hare Krishna that’s sufficient. And if you want to understand from a philosophical point of view, we have so many books to convince you. Either way. It’s not that everybody is necessarily philosophical minded. Although at least those who take initiation they should try to be, even if they are not necessarily philosophically inclined, they should try to become that way. And so they’ll read Prabhupadas books. That will help them tremendously.

Because the more we fill up our minds and our intelligence with this transcendental knowledge, then whatever doubts we have, these doubts are like demons, they’re destroying our spiritual life. They have to be removed. And so Arjuna said, there’s no one who can destroy these doubts that I have except You. So only Krishna or Krishnas authorised representatives can destroy these doubts and it will be confirmed by sastra. He will not make up something; add his own opinion that’s different from the sastra. It will always be completely sastric. That is the special contribution of the Vaishnava guru. He doesn’t speculate. No speculation.

Thank you very much. If there are any questions?

Devotee: You talked about two things. Talked about conviction, talked about faith. You said that people, if they can be convinced, we have sufficient books, knowledge, knowledge base by which we can convince the person and get them to follow. And the process becomes very fast if the person already has faith and he follows and side-by-side he gets the conviction. My question is which starts first? How does a person come to the level of faith without conviction? How to determine that the person has got faith or he has not?

HH Danavir Goswami: Yes. He’s fortunate that he has somehow or other by ajiata sukriti, or pious activities in the past or somehow or other or even just the mercy of the Vaishnava, it may not even be his own credit. It may be the causeless mercy. Just like we say that word ‘causeless mercy’ of the Vaishanvas of the Spiritual Master that gives him faith. Guru krpa, Krishna krpa, that’s possible too.

Kusha Das: Jada Bharatha is telling Rahugana to give up the rod by which he punishes criminals. Then we also know that if the king is weak, thieves and rogues flourish. So what is he advocating by telling the king not to punish criminals?

HH Danavir Goswami: The question was, we touched on it, that he’s telling him to give up the rod of punishment, of being a king. Even if he’s advising him to get out of the grihastha or grihamedi ashram, not ashram, get out of materialistic household life. As Prahlad told his father “vanam gato yad dharim asrayeta, go to Vrindavan. In other words don’t try to be a king anymore”. He didn’t say, “My dear father why don’t you rule the world in this way and do it piously”. No. he said give it up and go to Vrindavan. That’s one way of giving it up. Or the other way is, give up the false conception of thinking that you’re the king and that you hold the rod, because, Naradeva, the duty of a king, is to represent Krishna. So one can remain in his position, but not think that he is the doer. Even if he is a king, like Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, he took sannyasa. But He said that “I am not a sannyasi. I am the servant of the servant”. So give up the false conception. The misconception of thinking that you are this body. We could take that as the essence. Either way it can be appropriate.

{The audio is unclear from here on due to the audio interference from the Parikram broadcast}

Srimad Bhagavatam ki jai! Srila Prabhupada ki jai!

Tags: spiritual master