19821125 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.2.14-15

The following is a lecture, given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Svāmī on November 25, 1982 in Śrīdhāma Māyāpur. The class begins with a reading from the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, 4th Canto, Chapter 2, Verse 14 through 15.

Jayapatākā Svāmī: (Leads the Verse twice with devotees repeat) (Reads Translation and Purport)

pretāvāseṣu ghoreṣu
pretair bhūta-gaṇair vṛtaḥ
aṭaty unmattavan nagno
vyupta-keśo hasan rudan
citā-bhasma-kṛta-snānaḥ
preta-sraṅ-nrasthi-bhūṣaṇaḥ
śivāpadeśo hy aśivo
matto matta-jana-priyaḥ
patiḥ pramatha-nāthānāṁ
tamo-mātrātmakātmanām
[SB 4.2.14-15]

Translation:

He lives in filthy places like crematoriums, and his companions are the ghosts and demons. Naked like a madman, sometimes laughing and sometimes crying, he smears crematorium ashes all over his body. He does not bathe regularly, and he ornaments his body with a garland of skulls and bones. Therefore only in name is he śiva, or auspicious; actually, he is the most mad and inauspicious creature. Thus he is very dear to crazy beings in the gross mode of ignorance, and he is their leader.

Purport by Srila Prabhupāda:

Those who do not regularly bathe are supposed to be in association with ghosts and crazy creatures. Lord Śiva appeared to be like that, but his name, Śiva, is actually fitting, for he is very kind to persons who are in the darkness of the mode of ignorance, such as unclean drunkards who do not regularly bathe. Lord Śiva is so kind that he gives shelter to such creatures and gradually elevates them to spiritual consciousness. Although it is very difficult to raise such creatures to spiritual understanding, Lord Śiva takes charge of them, and therefore, as stated in the Vedas, Lord Śiva is all-auspicious. Thus by his association even such fallen souls can be elevated. Sometimes it is seen that great personalities meet with fallen souls, not for any personal interest but for the benefit of those souls. In the creation of the Lord there are different kinds of living creatures. Some of them are in the mode of goodness, some are in the mode of passion, and some are in the mode of ignorance. Lord Viṣṇu takes charge of persons who are advanced Kṛṣṇa conscious Vaiṣṇavas, and Lord Brahmā takes charge of persons who are very much attached to material activities, but Lord Śiva is so kind that he takes charge of persons who are in gross ignorance and whose behavior is lower than that of the animals. Therefore Lord Śiva is especially called auspicious.

Thus end the purport to Text 14 and 15 of the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam by His Divine Grace Śrīla A.C. Bhaktivedanta Svāmī Prabhupāda, in the matter of Dakṣa Curses Lord Śiva.

Jayapatākā Svāmī: So here, we are reading part of the curse given by Dakṣa to Lord Śiva. Actually, this is very painful for any advanced Vaiṣṇava to hear, that such an all-auspicious soul as Lord Śiva is being cursed by Dakṣa. Actually, Lord Śiva is a pure Vaiṣṇava. He is a partial expansion of Viṣṇu also, and He should never be cursed by anyone, and doing so simply reduces one’s own life duration, stature, good fortune, everything.

Actually, Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He advised us that the offense against the Vaiṣṇava, or Vaiṣṇava-aparādha is the most dangerous thing.

yadi vaiṣṇava-aparādha uṭhe hātī mātā
upāḍe vā chiṇḍe, tāra śukhi’ yāya pātā
[CC Madhya 19.156]

That, this offensing or giving an offense to a pure Vaiṣṇava is a mad elephant offense. If one commits a mad elephant offense, then that mad elephant goes into the garden of one’s devotional life and pulls out the devotional creeper, right from the root.

When you pull a plant out by the root, it may stay green for a few days, but in no time at all, the leaves will dry and fall off. So, śukhi’ yāya pātā means that once this Vaiṣṇava-aparādha has been created, even though for a short time, they may be existing apparently in some spiritual life, very soon all of their spiritual assets will be dried up, and they’ll be completely spiritually bankrupt, you see. So, one should avoid very particularly this offense against a Vaiṣṇava, the pure devotee of the Lord.

So, Lord Śiva is accepted as a pure devotee of the Lord. Therefore, the advanced Vaiṣṇavas will never support any offense against Lord Śiva, or any other pure devotee of the Lord. This offense to the Vaiṣṇavas has been described in the pastime of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu was forgiving everyone for their various offenses. He was giving everyone pure love for Kṛṣṇa. Even, He gave Jagāi Mādhāi, pure love for Kṛṣṇa.

But, one day all the devotees requested Him that, “You should kindly have Your mercy upon Mother Yaśodā[Śacī]. Give her pure love for Lord Kṛṣṇa.” So, then Lord Caitanya said, “No. I cannot give Mother Yaśodā[Śacī] the benediction of pure love for Kṛṣṇa because she is not qualified.”

“No! No! No! How can that be? Mother Yaśodā[Śacī] is not qualified?” They all became furious. They all became exci… Mother Yaśodā[Śacī] was su…” I mean Śacī. Mother Śacī, excuse me. “Mother Śacī is a reincarnation of Yaso…, mother Yaśodā. She is so dedicated. She is so pure. She is always serving You. She is always performing so much uh, pure devotional service. How can she not be qualified?”

They wouldn’t leave Lord Caitanya alone until finally He said, “She is not qualified, because she has committed a grave offense at the lotus feet of a pure devotee.”

“What?! How can she be an offender?” A big question came up that, “What is this offense that Mother Yaśodā[Śacī] had committed?”

[Aside: I’ll just explain a little bit in Bengali. (laugh)]

(Bengali)

So, all the devotees were completely upset that, “How mother Śacī was not getting pure love for Kṛṣṇa?” This was inconceivable. Some were fasting. Some were crying. They requested Lord Caitanya to explain to them what was the aparādha, the great offense that she had committed?

So, finally Lord Caitanya explained that one time, Viśvarūpa, His elder brother was sitting listening to the Bhāgavatam class of Lord Advaita. And Mother Śacī sent Lord Caitanya also to go and to get Viśvarūpa to come back to the house. Instead, when Lord Caitanya got there as a small boy, Nimāi, He sat down and listened to the Bhāgavatam class. Thus, He was late. So, Mother Śacī became afraid that by the preaching of Advaita, Nimāi would become a sannyāsī. And so she made some bad comment that, “By this preaching, they may ruin my son, and make Him into a sannyāsī or something.” And this, Lord Caitanya said was a great Vaiṣṇava-aparādha, and for that Mother Śacī could not get love for God.

You see, to understand this, one has to know something about what is the holy name? Actually, the holy name of Kṛṣṇa is so powerful that it can destroy any amount of sinful reactions. Any amount, you see. Ajāmila was a great sinner. He had been a brāhmaṇa in his youth. He had done Viṣṇu-pūjā, but he gave up his family. He gave up his se… his position in society. Instead, he married a prostitute and he became a thief, and he was robbing and murdering people. He was a great sinner. He had ten children, however and his youngest child’s name was Nārāyaṇa. So, he was always calling out on his son, “Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa, come here.” When he would eat, Nārāyaṇa would eat with him. When he would drink, he would call Nārāyaṇa to sit down and drink with him. In this way, unconsciously, by repeating the name, “Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa”, he was becoming purified.

Finally, when he was dying, his son was playing nearby, small boy. And the three Yamadūtas came. He saw three people with ugly faces and black bodies and muscles all over and teeth, with ropes in their hand, and they were coming to drag him away to Yamarāja, the lord of death. When he saw that, he became so afraid. He started to call on his son, “Nārāyaṇa Nārāyaṇa Nārāyaṇa!”

When he called like that so loudly in complete anxiety, there was no aparādha, there was no offense to Nārāyaṇa. Immediately, three, four Viṣṇudūtas came, messengers of Viṣṇu, and they protected him from these Yamadūtas. Why? Because he had chanted the name of Nārāyaṇa without any offense, you see.

So, this offense… there are ten offenses to the holy name. It says if one chants without offense, then one immediately gets freed from all the sinful reactions, but one should be very careful not to chant the holy name in order to enjoy sense gratification, in order to perform more sinful activities. If one chants to facilitate more sinful activities, then that chanting will be delayed. Chanting must act, but it will be delayed very far in the future.

So, this chanting takes immediate effect when there is no offense, or when there is very little offense. But with offense, the action is delayed. So, offense means to offend a pure devotee, to disobey the guru, to offend the scriptures, to put material conceptions on the chanting, to be inattentive while chanting, and especially to chant so that one can do more sinful activities. If one thinks that, “Well by chanting I get purified from sin, and then later I can do more sin.” All these types of mentalities are called aparādha or offense. So especially the offense to the pure devotee completely pulls out one’s devotional asset.

So, this what happened to Dakṣa; He committed a Vaiṣṇava-aparādha. This is what happened to Śacī-mātā that Lord Caitanya said, used her as an example, that she had committed an offense against a Vaiṣṇava, therefore she could not get love of God. The demons who go to kill Kṛṣṇa, they get mokṣa, they get liberation by merging into the Lord’s effulgence, or into His body, so this merging is considered to not be obviously very important because even the asuras are getting. From that we can understand that only when the pure devotees are getting prema, that this must be so much higher than the ordinary understanding of mokṣa.

Five types of mokṣa are there: sārūpya, sāmīpya, sāyujya, sālokya and What’s the other one?

Devotee: sārṣṭi

Jayapatākā Svāmī: sarsti. So, those four types sometimes accepted by Vaiṣṇava, but the pure Vaiṣṇava goes beyond liberation and also gets pure love for Kṛṣṇa. It is said that Kṛṣṇa gives liberation very easily, but He gives pure Kṛṣṇa prema or love with great difficulty, very rarely because when He gives love or Kṛṣṇa prema, He becomes bound up. This is mentioned in many puranas, that Kṛṣṇa easily gives mukti or liberation, but He very rarely gives bhakti or prema.

Just like if a person accepts someone as a child, or a disciple, then naturally one is always thinking about how to develop that person, how to protect that person, and that person has got some hold, because of some relationship of love. It’s said Kṛṣṇa gives love to any devotee, then actually He becomes bound in a certain way, by various loving sentiments. Of course, He is always independent. We should never think that Kṛṣṇa becomes completely under the control of His devotee. But sometimes He allows Himself to come under the control of His devotee on account of love. But He is never under the control of just a liberated soul or muktātmā, but only by the pure devotee.

Because Mother Śacī had committed… the mother of Lord Caitanya had committed a Vaiṣṇava-aparādha,

[Aside: turn it down a little.]

Because she had committed a Vaiṣṇava-aparādha, therefore she was not eligible to get pure love for Kṛṣṇa. She could get liberation, but not pure love for Kṛṣṇa. So therefore, all the devotees were lamenting. So, then there was a scheme made up, how Mother Śacī could get forgiven for the offense she had committed against Advaita Gosai. So, all of the devotees, they went, and they approached Advaita Gosai to try to convince Him to forgive mother Śacī for her offense. And Mother Śacī and Lord Caitanya also came along, and that was a most amazing meeting. It was wonderful what happened when the devotees asked Advaita Gosai to forgive Mother Śacī for her offense.

I’ll just explain a little bit in Bengali. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

(Bengali)

[25:20] So when Advaita Gosai heard that they said that, “Please forgive Mother Śacī for her offenses. You’re a great Vaiṣṇava. She is the great offender. Please forgive her.”

Then, Advaita said, “What? I forgive Mother Śacī? Who am I? I am nothing. I am not even a devotee. I am the lowest. How can I forgive? She is such a great Vaiṣṇava… Vaiṣṇavī. She is always worshiping. She is always serving. She is always doing Deity worship. She is always serving Lord Caitanya. She is always chanting the …” and he became ecstatic singing out the glories of Mother Yaśodā. He started to jump up and dance in ecstasy, “Mother Yas…” excuse me. “Mother Śacī! How wonderful devotee she is!” and He was just going on, eulogizing all of her great qualities, dancing in ecstasy, and then he became so ecstatic thinking about how low He was and how great Mothe Śacī was, that He fainted and became unconscious.

At that moment, Lord Caitanya told Mother Śacī, “Now, go quick, grab his feet! Then you’ll be forgiven for the offense.” So, Mother Śacī, when He was unconscious… He wouldn’t ever let her touch his feet, his lotus feet. You see, willingly, he was taking the humble position. At that moment, she could run over and touch His lotus feet, and get forgiven for the so-called offense that she had committed. In this way, Lord Caitanya used His devotee as an example.

It is said in the Bha… in the Gītā that the Lord uses His devotee. In the Gītā Purport, that the Lord uses His devotee to teach the world about spiritual life. Arjuna was put into Maya just so that we could hear the Bhagavad-gītā. In this way, Mother Śacī was deprived of getting pure love for Kṛṣṇa just so that we could get the instruction from her activity never to commit any offense against the pure Vaiṣṇavas, and to avoid very strictly the offenses against the holy name.

To commit an offense against the holy name is in our worst self-interest. Once we start to chant the holy name, then we should try to do everything to please Kṛṣṇa, you see. Whatever we have to do to maintain our body and mind together in a healthy condition, of course Kṛṣṇa does not begrudge, but at the same time, we should be very careful not to simply try to use the holy name for some uh, material sense gratificatory purpose. Then, the effect of that chanting will be delayed. Still, we should chant, even if we are committing some offense, because even with offense, there will be effect, but it will be later.

The only one offense that we should completely avoid because that can completely stop our progress in spiritual life, that is the offending of a pure devotee of the Lord. So, in this way, in this pastime with Dakṣa and Lord Śiva, we can also see, in the future verses how Dakṣa loses his own position and is punished simply because of seeing the great devotees of the Lord with a material vision.

Actually, why devotee is so exalted is because he is heart and soul dedicated to the Lord. In the lila with Ambarīṣa, Viṣṇu explained to Durvāsā that, “My heart is My devotee, and My devotee’s heart is Me.” Because a devotee is always thinking of the Lord, the Lord is living in the heart of the devotee, and because the devotee is thinking of the Lord, the Lord thinks of His devotee; therefore, His heart is the devotee. So, He told Durvāsā, “You commit offense to devotee, you have to get his forgiveness. I can do nothing.”

So the devotee is so exalted, even a great sage like Durvāsā Muni could travel in outer space, had to go back to the humble gṛhastha Ambarīṣa, who was a great King, who was the Emperor of the world, because he was ruling the world in order to please Kṛṣṇa. He was ruling the world that the people could gradually come back to spiritual life. Even Ambarīṣa sometimes worshiped demigods like Śiva, like Durgā and others just to give the example to the people in general about how to do various Vedic rites. But in his mind, and in his discussion, he would always explain how the demigods were the part of Viṣṇu and he would not think them as independent, but he would worship them as the various angams or parts of the body of the universal form of the Lord.

In this way, in his royal activities, in his private life, throughout his various uh, stages, he was always engaged in the service of Viṣṇu, of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, even a great mystic yogi like Durvāsā, when tried to offend him was chastised by the Sudarśana cakra, and he had to personally beg forgiveness from that great King, Mahārāja Ambarīṣa.

He said, “I thought you were a gṛhastha. I thought you were ordinary householder. Now I can see you are great mystic. You are a greater mystic than I am. You are a pure devotee of the Lord.” So, this bhakti-yoga gives the greatest mystic power, even greater than the mystic power achieved by the ordinary yogis who perform the mystic yoga process. So, in this way, we should understand that this secret of bhakti-yoga is the most hidden secret and the king of education, rāja-guhyaṁ, rāja-vidyā.

It’s also the rahasyahyeta uttamam. In so many verses it’s explained how great this process of devotional service is, so we should take it very seriously, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, avoid offenses, do our service to Kṛṣṇa, do our ordinary activities in such a way that they’re ultimately leading us closer and closer to Kṛṣṇa. Whatever we may be, grhe thako vane thako, sada hari bole dako - Whether a gṛhastha, whether a brahmacārī, or whether a sannyāsī, or a vānaprasthi, whether a man or whether a woman, we should do our service in such a way to please the Lord, you see. In this way, we can achieve the highest benediction offered by Caitanya Mahāprabhu, by Kṛṣṇa Himself, that is pure love for Kṛṣṇa, which is the perfection of all liberation and which gives complete satisfaction to the self.

sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo
yato bhaktir adhokṣaje
ahaituky apratihatā
yayātmā suprasīdati
[SB 1.2.6]

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Just to give it in Bengali.

(Bengali)

hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa
kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare
hare rāma hare rāma
rāma rāma hare hare

(Bengali)

Are there any questions? Yes.

Question: (Bengali)

[37:28] Jayapatākā Svāmī: Because he cursed Lord Śiva, he was killed later. But by the mercy of Lord Śiva, he was… He had his head chopped off and he was killed. But by the mercy of Lord Śiva, his head was replaced by the head of a goat, and he was given back his life. So, so far, we know, he is still living as Dakṣa with the head of a goat. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

And at… with the head of a goat, then he could understand that he had committed a great offense against the Vaiṣṇavas. When he was taken back to life, he offered his prayers to Lord Śiva. That you will be reading later on, all these details in the Bhāgavatam.

It’s a very great history. It takes about two volumes, like this to complete or at least one full volume and a little to complete the whole history, how Dakṣa curses Śiva, how Sati retaliates, and then finally how she gives up her body, then how Śiva attacks the uh, arena, the sacrifice of Dakṣa, and how Dakṣa is uh… in all the different brāhmaṇas who had committed different aparādhas are punished — These things are described. And ultimately how Lord Śiva forgave them all, and then brought them back into their original position.

Main thing, this type of cursing is only done by the very neophyte person. Because Dakṣa is a very attached grh… very attached gṛhamedhi, even though he is very exalted, but he is very attached to his material position, therefore, he does not see the quality of Śiva. So, we should be very careful not to be too attached to our material position, material fame, material uh, wealth, or power, or beauty, or education. Because this can make us falsely proud, and then if we get some little neglect, then we may start to become offensive to the Vaiṣṇavas, and this is very dangerous.

Dakṣa, because of his material position, as being a son of Brahmā, being a Prajāpati, being the father-in-law of Śiva, actually Śiva, he was in dhyāna. He was in samādhi. He didn’t know that Dakṣa was there or not. Why would… He was… He is so great person. He can stand up for Dakṣa. What is the harm? Even though actually he is much greater than Dakṣa, but out of his own greatness, he could do such thing, but he was in dhyāna. He was in samādhi, so he didn’t know Dakṣa was there.

Lord Śiva is the greatest devotee, the greatest mystic. He was in complete samādhi. He wasn’t conscious of the outside world. He didn’t know these things were happening until after he came out of samādhi, he heard all the things that happened. And he saw that his… Dakṣa was cursing, and his… uh, the brāhmaṇas were cursing, and then Nandisvara and other uh, of his pārṣadāś were cursing, and then he said, “No no.” And He got up and left. But he didn’t know all these things were going. He was in samādhi. And Dakṣa, because he wasn’t saying anything, he became angry and he started cursing.

So, we should be very careful about being falsely proud about some material position, material possession or quality. Because that false pride can lead us to offend a devotee, which can harm our spiritual progress to no end. Hare Kṛṣṇa.