19791027 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.15.49

The following is a lecture given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami on October 27, 1979, at the holy site of Vṛndāvana, India. The lecture begins with a reading from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1^st canto, chapter 15, text 49.

Translation by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda: Vidura, while on pilgrimage, left his body at Prabhāsa. Because he was absorbed in thought of Lord Kṛṣṇa, he was received by the denizens of the Pitṛloka planet, where he returned to his original post.

Purport: The difference between the Pāṇḍavas and Vidura is that the Pāṇḍavas are eternal associates of the Lord, the Personality of Godhead, whereas Vidura is one of the administrative demigods in charge of the Pitṛloka planet and is known as Yamarāja. Men are afraid of Yamarāja because it is he only who awards punishment to the miscreants of the material world, but those who are devotees of the Lord have nothing to fear from him. To the devotees he is a cordial friend, but to the nondevotees he is fear personified. As we have already discussed, it is understood that Yamarāja was cursed by Maṇḍūka Muni to be degraded as a śūdra, and therefore Vidura was an incarnation of Yamarāja. As an eternal servitor of the Lord, he displayed his devotional activities very ardently and lived a life of a pious man, so much so that a materialistic man like Dhṛtarāṣṭra also got salvation by his instruction. So by his pious activities in the devotional service of the Lord he was able to always remember the lotus feet of the Lord, and thus he became washed of all contamination of a śūdra-born life. At the end he was again received by the denizens of Pitṛloka and posted in his original position. The demigods are also associates of the Lord without personal touch, whereas the direct associates of the Lord are in constant personal touch with Him. The Lord and His personal associates incarnate in many universes without cessation. The Lord remembers all these appearances, whereas the associates forget due to their being very minute parts and parcels of the Lord; they are apt to forget such incidents due to being infinitesimal. This is corroborated in the Bhagavad-gītā (4.5).

Jayapatākā Swami: Thus end a purport by Śrīla Prabhupāda. Vidura while on pilgrimage left his body at Prabhāsa, because he was absorbed in thought of Kṛṣṇa, he was received by the denizens of Pitṛloka planet where he returned to his original post.

So here we see that as Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa wound up His pastimes on this planet so also once Kṛṣṇa left His devotees also all retired and left this planet to their respective places. The Lord’s associates only come down to serve the Lord. They have no other purpose. Once the Lord’s pastimes or requirement of their service is finished, those devotees don’t delay to return back to the kingdom from whence they came.

So we know that when Mother Bhūmi in the form of a cow Mother Earth approached Lord Brahmā that Viṣṇu inform Brahmā that the Original Personality of Godhead is coming down to this world and that all the demigods should take their appearance in the family of the Yadus in order to assist the Lord in His pastimes.

Yamarāja, he came down as the uncle of Kṛṣṇa. And his story of course Yamarāja is actually Lord of the punishment of the sinful living beings. So this Maṇḍūka Muni the story behind him, Maṇḍūka Muni, he was in his āśrama and there were some thieves who were escaping from the king’s police force and they hid inside of the Muni’s āśrama without the Muni knowing. When the king’s men came and saw found them in the āśrama they also arrested Maṇḍūka Muni. They arrested him and they put him on the firing squad for harboring criminals. And all the people were ready simply to strike him with their projectiles, arrows and spear. Just as they are ready to throw the spear the king’s messenger came and said, “Stop, he is innocent.” King says, “Don’t kill the brahmāṇa.” So Maṇḍūka Muni, he was very upset that he was put in such a predicament. So he meditated and he tried to understand why from Yamarāja he was put in that position. So Yamarāja explained that when he was a small child he was taking the piece of grass and poking an insect causing it great distress. Therefore, because he almost killed the insect by poking, he was almost completely killed on the firing squad by this king’s soldiers.

So when Maṇḍūka Muni heard he was very angry that, “I was just a boy, I didn’t know right or wrong anything. And for that I was put in this predicament. I curse you to become a śūdra. You don’t know what is to be done and what is not to be done. So you should be take birth as a śūdra.” And he cursed Yamarāja. Of course, this is a law of karma. Even we are a small child, we may not know what is the result but for every activity we are performing we have to suffer or enjoy. The children being engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness even they don’t know what is the extent of the good benefit still they benefit; similarly, children who may not know that it is wrong to kill but who are eating meat or who are hurting kicking dogs, poking insects they are forced to suffer, the law of karma is very strict, nobody can escape it. So even a great devotee like Yamarāja he was cursed by brāhmaṇa and was forced into what appeared to be a difficult position from the post of the great demigod, which even the other demigods fear he was demoted to the post of a śūdra or a fourth-class human being.

But we can see that the Lord’s devotee never perishes, he is never defeated, the Lord always protects him so although Yamarāja had to become a śūdra he became so, when Kṛṣṇa appeared on this world as Kṛṣṇa’s half uncle. So these are all very wonderful things to observe we can be confident that even if we are thrown even if a devotee is thrown into a difficult position that by Kṛṣṇa’s mercy this will also bring him closer to Kṛṣṇa. It is said that for a devotee, vipade sampade, jīvane-maraṇe (Śaraṇāgati) – whether one has got good fortune or misfortune whether he is living or whether he dies in any situation he simply depends upon Kṛṣṇa. He sees good fortune as Kṛṣṇa, he sees bad fortune as Kṛṣṇa coming to benedict him.

Kuntī Devī, when Kṛṣṇa was leaving Hastināpur for Dvārakā and she offered her prayers, famous as the “Prayers of Queen Kuntī”. There she prayed to Kṛṣṇa that when were put into danger at that time You would always come and save us. Therefore, from danger to danger there were so many dangers but every time you came and gave us Your mercy. Now we have become victorious from the battle of Kurukṣetra, we have received the āsana, the seat of the emperorship of the world, but You my Lord are leaving Hastināpur, leaving us alone. Therefore, what is the use of this so-called good fortune whereby we are losing Your association? Whether we are in danger, let there be danger whereby we can again and again see Your lotus feet.

So we can see that for a devotee to accept danger or accept pleasure has no bearing except in relationship to Kṛṣṇa. Neither devotee is sad to be in danger, neither he is happy to be in material pleasure, simply he wants the service of the lotus feet of the Lord. This is a transcendental position of a devotee.

Bhagavad-gītā describes a devotee in the transcendental position:

brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā
na śocati na kāṅkṣati
samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu
mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām
(Bg. 18.54)

Na śocati na kāṅkṣati – No anxiety, no misery, no lamentation – this is the symptom of a devotee. So this is very wonderful. So we can see practically in the lives of Vidura, in the lives of the Pāṇḍavas, we can see the devotees. Sometimes when it becomes difficult, devotees think about terminating their devotional service. These are not devotees, these are neophytes. They are called prākṛta-bhakta, meaning prākṛta means materialistic devotees. They think that devotional service is very nice to lead an easy life, to be happy. As soon as a little bit of material stress comes, they want to terminate the devotional service. So such people – manā rathena – they are always dragged about by their minds, and they are never satisfied. Because in this material world, śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ āgamāpāyino ’nityās tāṁs titikṣasva [Bg. 2.14], that there is always the change of happiness and distress, just like winter and summer are changing. So such people who cannot tolerate a little bit of distress or happiness and who either become infatuated by happiness or become despondent by the distress, they are always suffering, their position is unfixed. So devotee, his position is unique.

Look at Haridāsa Ṭhākura, he was simply chanting three lakhs of Harināma for which the Rāmacandra Khān arrested him and ordered that he should be whipped in 21 marketplaces. So he was taken from marketplace to marketplace and they’re whipping him, beating him. And he is saying, “I am so sinful. I have committed so many aparādhas so many offenses against Kṛṣṇa. I should beaten much worse. This is nothing but what I deserve. Kṛṣṇa is so kind. He should actually beat more”. So as he was going from each market. Normally a man after 2 to 3 marketplaces beating, he dies. After 21 marketplaces, Haridāsa Ṭhākura is not even feeling any pain. Kṛṣṇa is absorbing all those beatings on Himself. Haridāsa, he is taking it simply as mercy that he is being beaten. So when the beating of 21 marketplaces was finished, he was still not dead. Then the two men caring for him, the beaters they requested, “My dear sir, please kindly do one favor for us.” “What is that?” “Kindly please die”. “Why?” “Because if you do not die, the king will kill us. We were supposed to beat you to death in 21 marketplaces. You are still living. That means he will have our head. So we request you, please die.” So Haridāsa Ṭhākura said, “Alright!” And immediately he went into samādhi, whereby they thought that he was dead. Because, his breathing, everything heart, pulse had all stopped. So then they took him after they was examined by the physicians, and he was thrown into the… The king said, “Don’t burn him, don’t bury him. Because if you burn him or bury him, his soul may find peace. Throw him in the Ganges…”

So that all the on the boat party in Bengal you will see that in the Ganges, sometimes the people, when in the poor family, they may hire someone. Or if the person is not very well loved by the family members, they hire professional carriers to carry the men mount on a wooden palanquin to the Ganges River. And when they get down the river, they have about five mounds or 200 kilos of firewood worth seven rupees a mound or 35 rupees. So they look around, they don’t see anybody. They say, all right, they throw them in the river, and they take and sell the firewood. Tell the people back home, “We burned him!” This is the trouble with professional cremators. So on the boat party, when we were in the Ganges. It’s not unusual to see a human body float down by, on the river. And the human body, when it’s dead in the river, it starts to fill up like a big balloon with the gases from the rodent intestines, blood, meat, stools, urine and other things which make up this body. So it pops up like a big balloon. And sometimes it seems that the crows and the vultures, they land on top of the body, and they start pecking at it and they bust the body, and all the rotten flesh pops out and they eat away at the body as it’s floating down the river.

So Rāmacandra Khān, he said, “I want that Haridāsa Ṭhākura should be thus eaten by the creatures, the fish and the vultures and the crows, so that his soul will never get any rest. He may suffer perpetually as a ghost. So they took Haridāsa Ṭhākura and they threw him into the Ganges.

Of course they threw him into Ganges. After Haridāsa Ṭhākura was in the water, then he started to swim after a while and shout, “Haribol! Haribo!” and they saw this and they were completely astonished and became very afraid that they had underestimated the position of Haridāsa Ṭhākura. So Haridāsa Ṭhākura, he floated, and he came to the point of Phuliyā, and he climbed out of the Ganges, and there was a cave. In the cave Haridāsa Ṭhākura took his home and he known as a gophā and he started to chant his three lakhs names in the gophā. So in that cave the local villagers came. But there was in the cave, a huge 30-foot-long python about so thick. And the people requested Haridāsa Ṭhākura that you should leave because the python may eat you. He said, “No harm, let him stay.” But they kept becoming very frightened. So finally, Haridāsa Ṭhākura thought, “Well, if everyone, they can’t come to hear the holy name, because of the snake, so then I will get up and leave.” When he thought that immediately the snake got up and crawled out of the hole and went away. Because Kṛṣṇa is present in everyone’s heart is Super soul. So when Haridāsa Ṭhākura was going to leave, then Kṛṣṇa’s Super soul made the snake leave. So on this way Kṛṣṇa protects the great devotees and we should depend on Kṛṣṇa.

But apratihatā, pure devotional service is unbroken. One moment we cannot claim that we are mahā-Bhāgavata and next moment we are bhogī and expect that Kṛṣṇa will protect us. Just like someone may run off with another man’s wife, completely materialistic consciousness. And then when the husband comes to shoot him, then he prays that, “Kṛṣṇa will protect me!” That is not to be expected, Kṛṣṇa will protect the person who is getting the results of his sinful activity. But if one is performing his devotional service and in the midst of that something happens, then the soul of that person is protected by Kṛṣṇa. So this is the promise that Kṛṣṇa makes that, “My devotee shall never perish.”

Let this be known, so much so that Kṛṣṇa, when He promised that He would not take up any arms in the battle of Kurukṣetra, when Bhīṣmadeva fought against Kṛṣṇa, he had promised that he would fight so hard that he would make he would either kill Arjuna or make Kṛṣṇa take up arms. So he fought so hard against Arjuna, he came down and he was just about ready to kill Arjuna, when Kṛṣṇa picked up the wheel of the chariot which was broken, ran towards Bhīṣma just like a lion. In fact, He was so furious that even His outer dhoti fell and He was simply in His kaupīna and He ran ready to smash Bhīṣma. And when Bhīṣma saw his Lord in that mood, that he just bowed down ready to be killed by the Lord, taking it as a greatest blessing. And at that time the battle ended for the day. So, although Kṛṣṇa had given His word, His standing promise is that he will never let His devotee perish. So that is a much greater promise. So His own personal promise in the battlefield He sacrificed for the glory of His devotee.

Of course, Bhīṣmadeva was serving Kṛṣṇa in the mood of chivalry. And so for him to see the Lord take this ferocious or this chivalrous mood was the greatest blessings. As Bhīṣma was leaving his body, he prayed to Kṛṣṇa that he may see him once more. And that aspect where he saw Him on the battlefield, covered with the dust of the horse’s hooves, with His hair scattered. So each devotee has His eternal relationship with Kṛṣṇa. Those who have realized their relationship with Kṛṣṇa, they are called eternal associates like the Pāṇḍavas. Others who have not realized their eternal relationship, they are like demigods, they are godly people. But they have not yet been reinstated in their eternal relationship.

So Vidura, Yamarāja, he is such a devotee of the Lord. He comes and serves the Lord in this material world to judge the results of the activities of all the living entities. What a thankless task. Just, day before yesterday, one nice devotee was… in effect. He has to arrest all these sinful people and drag them. Have his messengers come and drag them and judge them what they have done sinful in their life. So everybody is afraid of Yama. Even the great demons, they are afraid of death. So Yamarāja is the Lord of death. He judges them and he sends his messenger to drag them away when their time is up. But Prabhupāda said that for the devotee we have no fear that the significance of wearing these neck beads. That this is just like Yamarāja is like the dog catcher. In Calcutta, they have the big vans, they have big steel trucks with hundreds cages in them. And the people are seen running down the street with a big net chasing after the stray dogs. But those dogs who have the leather collar with the name tag on it owned by so and so, they are not caught by the dog catcher. So like that we have tulasī-mālā. This means we are property of Kṛṣṇa. We are vaiṣṇavera-kukura. We are the dog of the Vaiṣṇavas. We are simply to serve the lotus feet of the Vaiṣṇavas. Therefore, the Yamadūtas, when they see this collar, they stay far away. In Bengal it’s very popular to wear the collar and for businessmen to wear this mālā. But because tulasī-mālā means one has to be devotee, he should only eat kṛṣṇa-prasāda. And he should only speak the truth in Kṛṣṇa’s service. So if you try to buy tulasī-mālā, you will not find in all these stores, they sell bael-mālā, nīma-mālā, looks just like tulasī. But they feel that if I wear bael then everybody thinks I am a Vaiṣṇava, they will believe me in my shop. But I can speak all nonsense, because it’s not tulasī. But the Yamadūtas, they are not fools. When they see those people, they know that, ‘this is not a tulasī-mālā’, and they drag them away.

You see, there is a story about.... In Bengal, there is a very popular story about the jewelry brothers. There is a famous jewelry shop and the three brothers are all wearing bael-mālā and they were wearing false earth tilaka. Although, in India they could have gotten gopīcandana. So these three brothers, when you walk in the shop, the first one is saying, “Keśava! Keśava! Keśava!” name of Kṛṣṇa. And the one who is behind, just behind that, the counter in the storeroom, he is saying, “Gopāla! Gopāla! Gopāla!” and the man who is in the back who is making the jewelry, mixing the metal, he is saying, “Hara! Hara! Hara!” Hara is the name for Lord Śiva. Vaiṣṇavānāṁ yathā śambhuḥ: So everybody thinks that this is a real devotee shop. But actually, there is a rahasya. There is a transcendental or material humor that keśava in Hindi or Bengali, “kyā sāhiba” or “ke sāhiba” – Who is this guy? What type of person is he? Ke sāhiba? So the guy behind, he is saying, “gopāla!” He is a fool. He is a gopa. He is a simple man, like a cowherder, Gopāla. And the man behind is saying, “Hara! Hara! Hari! Hari!” He is saying, “Steal everything!” ‘Hara’ means to steal. ‘Hari’ means he who steals away our mind from material nature. So he is saying, ‘Hara!” take everything he’s got, pick him to the bone. So in this way they are doing kīrtana. But it is rasābhāsa. Their kīrtana is not hari-kīrtana. It is haram-kīrtana – simply cheating kīrtana.

So we cannot fool Kṛṣṇa or Yamarāja, His great devotee. He knows our heart. If we want to be protected, then we have to simply take shelter of Kṛṣṇa’s devotees. Become their dog, serve their lotus feet just like a menial servant. Then we are protected. And then we think that, “No, I am the controller, I am the Lord.” Then we are responsible. And Yamarāja, he will drag us away putting a rope around our neck and we will get just what we deserve. So therefore, it is said:

‘sādhu-saṅga’, ‘sādhu-saṅga’—sarva-śāstre kaya
lava-mātra sādhu-saṅge sarva-siddhi haya
(Cc. Madhya 22.54)

That even if we get a moment’s association with a pure devotee, that can save us from the greatest danger. If we take the mercy of the pure devotees, then we are saved from all these dangers. But if we act independently – svatantra, if we do our own thing as we please, then we cannot be confident that we have any shelter. Only if we simply follow the instruction of the spiritual master of the scriptures, then we are protected, not if we act independently. So therefore, we should learn to depend upon the mercy of the spiritual master, the mercy of Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise Yamarāja is waiting. If you depend on the mercy of Māyā,

jīva jāgo, jīva jāgo, gorācaṅda bole
kota nidrā jāo māyā-pīśāccīra kole
(Aruṇodaya-kīrtana II)

How long will you remain asleep on the lap of the witch Māyā? Then again and again one must be kicked by Māyā. This is her blessing to kick us.

So we realize that there is no shelter except Kṛṣṇa. So we shall give up the demonic mentality, take the mood of the devotees of the Lord, and even like the Pāṇḍavas in the same body we can go back to Godhead. Of course, what is the use of this body? It’s better to get the spiritual body. But that is what happens. These associates like Arjuna, they have… their body is actually spiritual. They are only coming for the service of Kṛṣṇa. So therefore, they go back in the same body. So whether one leaves the body or takes the same body, he gets a spiritual body and he eternally serves Kṛṣṇa either in this world or in the spiritual sky. Wherever Kṛṣṇa wants him to serve. That is devotional service. That is the goal of life. Not to be kicked and again and again be dragged away by the Yamadūtas and get the results of all of our independent activities.

So Prabhupāda, the disciplic succession has brought this mercy to all of us. To save us from these dangers we should take advantage. We are here in the holy dhāma Vṛndāvana to develop our spontaneous attraction to the Lord by simply talking about His pastimes, engaging in His service with our body, with our words and with our mind, not allowing materialistic thoughts and activities to creep into our lives, then that will be a shame. That will be a great loss. So the way we can always keep our mind purified is by chanting the mahā-mantra, the Mahā-auṣadhi, enechi auṣadhi māyā nāśibāra lāgi’ – “I have brought this medicine” says Gaurāṅga, you apply it and be blessed.

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/
Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare

Any questions?

Everyone that comes here to this temple, this temple actually is a trap to save all the people from Yamarāja. So everyone that comes here, they should get a book about Kṛṣṇa. They should hear about Kṛṣṇa. They should become convinced, what is this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement? Just as the businessmen are expert in taking cheating the people for their materialistic purposes, we should be expert in giving them Kṛṣṇa. We have set up the transcendental shop. We are selling the Harināma, the prices is faith, price is devotional service. So thousands of people are coming here. When they come here, they should be getting Kṛṣṇa. If they simply come, take a darśana, go out and then hear about what’s Kṛṣṇa consciousness from the rickshaw-walas. What is the use?

I have seen in Salt Lake City that the Mohammedan, they have a huge complex one hour tour where they take the people, they show them different pictures, they show them slideshow, they take them in a room and preach to them. And after it’s finished, the people, they are forced to think that, what should I do in my life? We should be so expert that everyone who comes he is forced to think, “What am I doing with my life? I am wasting my life not serving Kṛṣṇa!” That will be our success. They should be encouraged to take literature home and read and to start practicing Kṛṣṇa consciousness or to come here and stay and join the community. Otherwise simply seeing the Deity, there are so many 5,000 people temples in Vṛndāvana then this will simply be one more temple to have a darśana and throw a few paisa at the Deity. The difference with ISKCON is that we are preaching. “No, you are not to simply throw a paisa at the Deity. You are to surrender and serve the Deity for your whole life. Serve Rādhe Śyāma! Serve Kṛṣṇa Balarāma! serve Guru Gauranga Nitāi Gaura! Everything belongs to Them. Nothing belongs to you. Throw paisa at your family and give everything to Kṛṣṇa. Don’t throw paisa to Kṛṣṇa and give everything to your family.” So this is our great challenge that all of the thousands of people coming to Vṛndāvana should start to know who is Prabhupāda, what is Lord Caitanya’s message and start to take it in their life. Every devotee who is part of the community, his success will be how he is able to give the people this taste. Otherwise, of course, just to see foreign devotees serve that is also a great preaching, it gives them great faith. But we should use this advantage. Prabhupāda told us at Māyāpur that when we go out and preach and make life members, we go out in the cities. Sometimes we have to be a bit careful what we say because we are going and approaching them. He gave an example that when a man goes door-to-door selling his dadhi, so then a dadhi salesman, a yogurt salesman, he will have his pots of dadhi on his bag, and he will go. They will say, “How much? He will say, “5 rupees.” They will say, “No! 4!” “No, 4.75!” “No, 4.25!” “No, 4.50!” “All right!” There is a bargain. But when you go to the shop in Loi Bazaar and you say, “I want a kilo of rabdi.” And he says, “10 rupees!” “No, 9!” “Fixed price!” So Prabhupāda said in the same way, they are coming to us. We name the price. We don’t compromise. They come here. You have come to Vṛndāvana. You should surrender to Kṛṣṇa. You should give your life to Kṛṣṇa. You should chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. You should make your home a Vrndavana. We don’t have to compromise. They are coming to us. We are not going to them. We should give them the sauce. Everyone who comes. Otherwise, if they simply come to the holy dhāma and don’t hear from the sādhus, then the śāstra says, sa eva go-kharaḥ [SB 10.84.13] – it’s like the bathing of an ass or a cow in the river. It’s no use. So they may come here, and they may be ready to hear from the sādhus. But then the sādhus also have to speak. We are not building these big buildings simply so people can come and get a little shade from the sun but to engage them in devotional service. Chanting, hearing, remembering, serving, surrendering everything to the Lord. The more we are able to engage the people in devotional service. If they come in for one minute and leave. If we are able to keep them for half an hour or for one hour that much they will benefit. Thank you.