19960621 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 6.17.28

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 6.17.28

Book:

Srimad Bhagavatam (SB)

Date:

Friday, June 21, 1996

Collection:

Enlightenment 7

Audio player:

19960621_Srimad_Bhagavatam.6.17.28_New_Goloka The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayaptaka Swami on June 21st, 1996 in New Goloka. The class begins with a reading from the Srimad Bhagavatam, 6th Canto, Chapter 17, verse 28. SB 6.17.28 nārāyaṇa-parāḥ sarve  na kutaścana bibhyati svargāpavarga-narakeṣv  api tulyārtha-darśinaḥ

Translation by His divine grace A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada: Devotees solely engaged in the devotional service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Nārāyaṇa, never fear any condition of life. For them the heavenly planets, liberation and the hellish planets are all the same, for such devotees are interested only in the service of the Lord. Purport His divine grace A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada: Pārvatī might naturally have inquired how devotees become so exalted. Therefore this verse explains that they are nārāyaṇa-para, simply dependent on Nārāyaṇa. They do not mind reverses in life because in the service of Nārāyaṇa they have learned to tolerate whatever hardships there may be. They do not care whether they are in heaven or in hell: they simply engage in the service of the Lord. This is their excellence. Ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanam: they are liberally engaged in the service of the Lord, and therefore they are excellent. By using the word bhṛtya-bhṛtyānām, Lord Śiva pointed out that although Citraketu provided one example of tolerance and excellence, all the devotees who have taken shelter of the Lord as eternal servants are glorious. They have no eagerness to be happy by being placed in the heavenly planets, becoming liberated or becoming one with Brahman, the supreme effulgence. These benefits do not appeal to their minds. They are simply interested in giving direct service to the Lord. Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta Swami translation purport of the 6th canto, 17th chapter, 28th text. You repeat the translation: Gurumaharaj: Devotees solely engaged Devotees: Devotees solely engaged Gurumaharaj: in the devotional service of the Devotees: in the devotional service of the Gurumaharaj: Supreme Personality of Godhead, Nārāyaṇa, Devotees: Supreme Personality of Godhead, Nārāyaṇa, Gurumaharaj: never fear any condition of life. Devotees: never fear any condition of life. Gurumaharaj: For them the heavenly planets, Devotees: For them the heavenly planets, Gurumaharaj: liberation Devotees: liberation Gurumaharaj: and the hellish planets Devotees: and the hellish planets Gurumaharaj: are all the same, Devotees: are all the same, Gurumaharaj: for such devotees Devotees: for such devotees Gurumaharaj: are interested only in the service of the Lord. Devotees: are interested only in the service of the Lord. Gururmaharaj: Hare Krishna Purport: Pārvatī might naturally have inquired how devotees became...become so exalted. Therefore this verse explains.... already did that, so ok... Hare Krishna This past time of the Lord Siva, Parvati and Chitraketu is really an example in tolerance whether we would be able to tolerate if somebody curse anyone of you, but you had to take birth as a demon again in the next life, just take it like that or would you request some... making you know some kind of adjustment you know... that’s the, you heard the pastime about the ah... that devotee that...Deva Kumar that was cursed to become a crocodile, that in the Prema Vivarta by Jagananda Pandit...it mentions many... a few pastimes that when they were child ... youth’s together, they were going to the school together, he would be with Lord Caitanya all of the time and one day coming back from... he was with the sankirtan party of Lord Gauranga and the kirtan party has gone over to the ah...third... second island of Godrup dwip and there in the Godrup dwip they were... they were doing kirtan. One cowherd boy approached Lord Caitanya, and the coheard boy requested that, “You are my brother, so how is that I became your brother?” “Because my mother was working in the house of mother Sachi, she is a cowheard lady and she is working there, was voluntarily doing some service there, your mother called her as her little sister, so if my mother is your mother’s little sister, he is your cousin brother, so my mother’s name is Malini and she requested me to come over and have...she has made from the milk products various kinds of milk sweets, and they wanted you to come and take this prasadam after your long kirtan.” So then the kirtan party was heading towards Malini’s house and on the way they went by a lake which was... and there were many cows you know... umh... umh...umh... it was just like you know staying away from the water and mowing and Lord Caitanya said, “What’s wrong with them? Why don’t they drink the water?” So they are afraid of the crocodile. What do you mean? He said, “There is a crocodile in this lake and there is a very big one that’s been there for a very long time and so all of the cows are afraid to take water, maybe the crocodile will bite them...eat them” So then, Lord Caitanya started a kirtan with His associates and then they saw the crocodile surfaced and the crocodile came out and it was gigantic... gigantic crocodile, something like 15 feet long and ah or more, they have very... like the crocodiles in the Ganges are very long, they are not like the alligators, very long, very think choppers, he came out and he walked...gradually was crawling towards Lord Caitanya... like the devotees getting, “what’s going on here?” He went forward and fell down at the feet of Lord Caitanya and touched with his head or feet the lotus feet of Lord Caitanya and immediately he was transformed from a crocodile to a small deva kumar, a kind of celestial boy, and... so that was quite a curiosity and ah... Lord Caitanya asked, “you know, how did you...who are you? And how did you get here?” And he said, “Well, I was very naughty boy, and in the celestial planets there are very big gardens and forests and I was playing in the forest and I came across Durvasa Muni who was sleeping. Being mischievous I saw that he had a big bunch of matted hair, I cut it off...playful kind of cut off his hair and then I ran away and then when Durvasa muni came up he said, what happened to my hair?, and he said whoever cut off my hair, the person has to become a crocodile, so then I came out and said, no I am sorry, please forgive me, I didn’t mean it, I am just a little naughty boy, I didn’t know that I will become a crocodile, can’t you do something?” He said, “Well I am sorry, once I give a curse that’s retractable, but since you are a so repentant and it was just a small ah... so alright I will just reduce it from being a crocodile for billions of years you can just be one for a few yugas and wait until in this kali yuga, first part Lord Gauranga will appear in Nabadwip, you can be a crocodile in Nabadwip and when Lord Gauranga comes you touch His lotus feet, you will be freed from this curse.” Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Gauranga! Of course for the devas a couple of yugas is not a long time, once you are on this planet it’s quite a long time. So the deva kumar, you know the parents were keeping tabs and as soon as they saw he was freed from the curse, they had come down, they had sent ah.. an avian viman, a kind of a aircraft to get in and then ah... this boy circumambulated Lord Gauranga several times and payed his obeisances and the he went back to his celestial planet. He begged for the blessings of devotional service. Here you see a situation where the boy had begged Durvasa muni for clemency and he got his sentence reduced. The brahmanas who were giving instant justice to people did certain offences, that they had so much power, they were keeping ...10.15-10.20....they feared the brahmanas because of their power to curse if someone really did a big mistake. Then Lord Gauranga, He went on with that cowherd boy and went to the house of Malini and they were served out various kinds of....they were offered bhoga of sandesh, rasagulla and various kinds of rabris and nice milk sweets, then they offered that to the whole sankirtan party, harinam sankitan ki? Jay Mahaprasadam ki Jay So there was like one day in the life of Lord Gauranga’s Harinam party you know, liberating a few extra terrestrials.... here meeting you know Chand Kazi over there, whatever... just something new happened everyday...was always exciting or even just chanting throughout Nabadwip Dham, was...chanting everyone, bringing all the people to the lotus feet of Lord Krishna, they also showed even in the higher planets they knew that Gauranga was coming, they knew that He was scheduled incarnation, they were even sending naughty people to get liberated just like Narada Muni had gotten the twin brothers.... the twin brothers of kuvera, who were those? Very good And what kind of trees they were standing as? So just like they were pulled down by Lord Damodar in the month of Damodar, and liberated from their curse. So in this way they had become freed, they could get the opportunity to see the childhood pastimes of Lord Gauranga in the form.. in the avatar of Krishna, in the form of these trees. Of course I don’t how much the crocodile could see Lord Gauranga’s pastimes because he was under water, he wasn’t as fortunate and he was a little bit off on one side of Nabadwip dham for Lord Gauranga didn’t go all...everyday... would go off and on, still somehow or other He was in Nabadwip Dham and He did get the darshan and to get to touch the lotus feet of Lord Gauranga. So even in the higher planets, they did Gauranga was coming, they already sending people to get liberated by Him and His devotees. So being a child, if he got cursed like that by Durvasa muni. Here Citraketu, he came up to parvat...he got cursed by Parvati, he didn’t... just took it as a blessing...whatever Krishna wants, just depend on Krishna, he didn’t even ask for clemency... he didn’t.. Jay-Vijay, they were really worried about being cursed, to go to the material world and they wanted to get back as quick as they could, so they took the option of three births, come back as quicker, and three births as demons, rather than seven births as devotees. But Citraketu, he didn’t ask for clemeny, he didn’t...didn’t bat an eyelash practically, just came and offered his respects to Parvati, he glorified her... maybe sometimes you see, you get closer to a spiritual master or an exalted Vaisnava and one feels that they have a right to start to make value judgements or to give advice. So Citraketu was after all so much more junior and inferior and just insignificant compared to Lord Siva but he thought that he could give him some advice from his perspective which was not appreciated by Parvati and so she cursed. Lord Siva understood that it was well meant and just a little impetuous, it wasn’t a big deal but Parvati took it very, took it otherwise. In the previous verse Lord Siva also addresses Parvati as Susroni which is by my beautiful Goddess and you see that throughout this discourses in the Purana between Lord Siva and his wife just like there is other verse where Parvati asked her, “What is the best kind of worship?” Then he said, “ārādhanānāṁ sarveṣāṁ viṣṇor ārādhanaṁ param tasmāt parataraṁ devi tadīyānāṁ samarcanam” That among all kinds of worship there is one kind of worship which is supreme and that is the worship of Lord Visnu. One exception, devi- beautiful goddess, tadīyānāṁ samarcanam...worship the...those who are in connection, who are in relation with Visnu. So here we get ... again here in this verse Lord Siva is a... Vritya Vritanam... Vritya Vritya, servant of the servant, like Lord Caitanya said dasaanu dasa and in the other verse before, in that verse...lot of discussion with Parvati, He says that tadīyānāṁ samarcanam, but then also he is addressing very affectionately and praising her as devi which means that she is the goddess, she is divine personality. When she...he was discussing with the devi about the holy name, “Rama, Rama, Rama Nama sahasresu rama nama varadave 15.34”.. that you chant thousand names of Rama...of Visnu and that...sahasra nama tula... this ek nama varadeve, that compared to a thousand names of Visnu you chant one name of Rama is equal...but then he is vardave....15.47... varadeve means to get my beautiful face...goddess.. now here it’s like one of the...when we do then.. just did it in the marriage ceremony a few days ago and one of the ceremony, when you tie the... when you have them tie the knot, I mean sometimes in South America, they don’t have brahmanas, the grihastas they have to do it themselves, even as a sanyasi... I know in this days, otherwise in America we have enough householders usually. Then then they had to tie...when you tie the knot of the bride and the bridegroom and then you put a little auspicious article inside the knot which is supposed to be tied for so many days, then there is mantra you chant, this are like couples that would make it ideal... couples that never broke their knots of matrimonial vows and so there is a whole list of ah... special of couples who were fixed...different parts of the universe. So of course amongst them the supreme couple Radha- Krishna, Laxmi-Narayan, Sit-Ram are mentioned, then... there is also Parvati and Siva, one of the other ideal couples that are always together. And you see Siva...here Lord Siva is always praising, is always speaking to his wife affectionately and is talking, is praising her and she is the most exalted woman beyond... not a material, just human but you can say female of this universe ... not universe, whole creation and the whole material world. She is the supreme female within the material existence... however beyond you can say there is Laxmi and other divine...other divine energies but within this material area she is the supreme divine energy ... material energy, maha maya. Lord Siva is always praising her, always calling her- my beautiful face, my tender, my love, my ...17.35...,. what an example right, I mean here...what to speak of what ah... ah... ah..in the material world for husbands how to deal with their wives, it just caught me, it’s maybe it’s just like a small but however sometimes we take relationships for granted and you always... I... I have to deal with one of the things we deal with now in Kaliyuga as a spiritual master seeing our disciples marriages go through these situations. I think if we follow you know this little kind of...maybe they don’t notice it but if we follow it in the Bhagavatam, probably get everything from there and if we see little things like how to just treat your wife with respect... even if you are joking with her, instead of just saying, “you are really heavy on him you know in order to get...”, you just said, “my beautiful face ah...(laughter) goddess, the way you... you know you just got defeated you know by this ah... devotee of Narayana because he didn’t bat an eyelash when ah... when you cursed him...when you gave him broad 18.30 just like, “you are going to become a demon!” You know It’s like the supreme you know...where else can you curse someone, it’s just like your hair is flying in the aircraft given by anantadev... he is going all over the three worlds and beyond, even upto Kailash, he suddenly gets it out of the airplane down to... “you are a demon.”, and he bows , “my dear goddess forgive me for any offence”... you know just like didn’t even face him, so Lord Siva kind of said, “Oh! my beutiful consort!” But he treats her very kind, it’s like how he deals with her, you know you...this devotee of Narayana is really ah... very exalted...very you know tactful, and at the same time you know very loving, at the same time is like instructing you, “was that really the right thing to do for just a little comment?”, and ah... after al ah... with all your show of power it didn’t really effect him very much and ah... and infact in the next life we read that how he got liberated even though he had to be a demon . It was just a small detour for him on his eternal journey. So lot of things... you can pick up unlimited different things. In one verse one time somebody complained to.... Bhaktisiddhantha Saraswait Thakur was giving a whole week on one verse, now why the same verse everyday. He got so angry, you don’t know this that there is unlimited knowledge in each of this verses, for the next month I should lecture on this verse... everyday, and each day different you know angle or different perspective. So Lord Siva, he talks with his wife very carefully, very affectionately and praising her all the time for being beautiful and so many other things, you can get some advise from that angle to develop that relationship both ways. The other things we have here is about how rare parayana is. Is...there is another verse in the Vedas, “Narayana, parayana, that sahasresu tula.... “Narayana parayana koṭiṣv api mahā-mune Siddhanam api muktanam koṭiṣv api mahā-mune Nayrayana parayana,.... out of millions of liberated souls, perfected souls, siddhas, the narayana parayana is the best, he stands out among everyone because he is peaceful, he is situated under the shelter of the Lord, therefore he is peaceful, he is not disturbed by the different situations. Lord Caitanya said a little different one, He said that “Krishna bhakta niskam, ataeb shanta.” “mukti, bhukti, siddhi, kami sakale asanta, Krishna bhakta niskam ataeb shanta.” That amongst all the people desiring liberation, material benefits, they are all anxious to get whatever they are wanting, they are not fulfilled yet, they are like ...21.24-21.27... The devotee of Krishna, he is fixed in his devotion, he is going to do devotional service for ever whether in this life, this birth or wherever it is, he is fixed, he want to do devotional service and he is... she is so satisfied. In this way the devotee is peaceful and that is what we are trying to achieve, is be fixed in devotional service, sometimes you say, “well I am not a pure devotee.” Why? You should want to be a pure devotee if you are not one, because that is the only way you are going to be peaceful. It’s totally foolish to say, “I am not a pure devotee”, and therefore let me try to be something else. That’s what we are supposed to say, “I am not a pure devotee, I want to be a pure devotee, therefore I am trying to be a pure devotee, therefore I am following regulative principles and doing sadhana bhakti and I am doing everything to become a pure devotee.” That’s what is the commitment when we take initiated. It’s not like that now I am initiated, “I am a pure devotee”, you know... it’s not our, that’s never been the line, the line even for the greatest devotee’s... even for Narada times... “there is no one more fallen than me, I need...need your mercy. I am very fallen, I don’t have any qualification, this is... but I want to even though I am not qualified, I want to be a pure devotee and please have your mercy so that I can get rid of... even Kunti devi is praying to Krishna, “I am very insignificant person, I have all this attachments, please have your mercy that I can become niskinchana because you are niskinchana gochara.” We need to have to proper consciousness and this is one thing that Citraketu has really showed how to tolerate all kinds of reverses and just be fixed in his devotional service. Maybe wasn’t necessary for him to make the comments, he did it, that was the hiccup, he apologised and might have been gracious for Parvati to reconsider or adjust her curse but anyway whatever happened happened, he just took it and depended on Krishna and Krishna protected him, this other thing you said, there is no fear even of curses, Krishna always protects his devotee, even he got cursed... so what? We should avoid doing things to get cursed by a brahmana, but even something happened because he just kept his dependence on Krishna, he was protected and that’s what we should learn, that we always keep our dependence on Krishna whatever happen. So someone says, “I am not a pure devotee, I am not going to keep dependence on Krishna anymore than...than we are finished.”, for what they are going to depend on... material world?, on what?....then there is nothing...then it’s a very hopeless situation, the only thing we can do is try to depend on Krishna the best thing we can do and try to overcome whatever obstacles there are in your path, then although we are not qualified...we make so many stumbles and mistakes but if we keep trying to depend on Krishna then eventually He will see that we get to Him, and that’s what happened to Citraketu. He had faced so many reverses....but after getting instructions from Narada Muni, he progressively advanced and straight went back to home back to Godhead. Hare Krishna. Any questions or comments? May be not feeling fallen but Narada.... but Radharani is always thinking that her service could improve. Wanting to improve her service, wanting to please Krishna more, that desire is there because you read in Antya Lila that she explains her mood, should do anything to please Krishna. So she is a perfection, she is achieving perfection, in the search of perfection, she is ... So even though...that’s... in other words that is the perfection to be in that consciousness, that always trying to improve her devotional service, desire to always want to improve. Here we actually have contamination. But she has no contamination, Radharani...but she wants to improve anyway, not that any kind of fallen nature, possibility or hint but rather just always...even then trying to do something to please Krishna more just like the goddess of fortune sweeping the touchstone, there is no dirt there practically but still they are trying to please the Lord through their devotion. So in that way they are striving for further excellence. So it shows that we... now we have some real dirt’s to clean up, and even when we don’t have any we still want to improve on our service and please Krishna more. So how much you can please someone, again it’s a very very dynamic thing, there is no limit to how much you can try to please someone, how much you can try to show your love for someone.

Transcribed by Sadananda Krishnaprem Das on 18-01-2016