19960621 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 6.17.28

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami on June 21^st, 1996 in New Goloka. The class begins with a reading from the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, 6^th Canto, Chapter 17, verse 28.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 6.17.28

nārāyaṇa-parāḥ sarve
na kutaścana bibhyati
 svargāpavarga-narakeṣv
api tulyārtha-darśinaḥ

Translation (by His divine grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda): 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 (by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Śrīla Prabhupāda): 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: (Cc. Madhya 19.167) 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.

*repetition of translation*

Jayapatākā Swami: Hare Kṛṣṇa! This pastime of the Lord Śiva, Pārvatī and Citraketu is really an example in tolerance, whether we would be able to tolerate if somebody would curse any of you, if you had to take birth as a demon again in the next life. Just take it like that or would you request making some kind of adjustment. You heard the pastime about that devotee? That deva-kumāra that was cursed to become a crocodile, that in the Prema-Vivarta by Jayānada Paṇḍita it mentions a few pastimes that when they were youth together, they were going to the school together, he would be with Lord Caitanya all of the time. And one day coming back, he was with the saṅkīrtana party of Lord Gaurāṅga and the kīrtana party has gone over to the second island of Godrumadvīpa and there, in the Godrumadvīpa, they were doing kīrtana and one cowherd boy approached Lord Caitanya, and the cowherd 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 Śacī. She is a cowherd lady and she is working there, voluntarily doing some service there and your mother called her as her little sister. So if my mother is your mother’s little sister, that means we are cousin brothers. So my mother’s name is Mālinī and she requested me to invite you to come over. And she has made from the milk products various kinds of milk sweets, and they wanted you to come and take this prasādam after your long kīrtana.”

So then the kīrtana party was heading towards Mālinī’s house, and on the way they went by a lake and there were many cows “Moo! Moooo! Mooooo!” They were just like staying away from the water and mooing and Lord Caitanya said, “What’s wrong with them? Why don’t they drink the water?”

“They are afraid of the crocodile.”

“What do you mean?”

“There is a crocodile in this lake and there is a very big one that’s been there for a very long time. So all of the cows are afraid to take water. Maybe the crocodile will bite them and eat them”

So then, Lord Caitanya started a kīrtana with His associates and then they saw the crocodile surfaced. The crocodile came out and it was gigantic. Gigantic crocodile, something like 15 feet long or more. The crocodiles in the Ganges are very long. They are not like the alligators. Very long, very thin choppers. He came out and he was gradually crawling towards Lord Caitanya. The devotees are getting, “What’s going on here?” He went forward and fell down at the feet of Lord Caitanya and touched with his head the lotus feet of Lord Caitanya. And immediately he was transformed from a crocodile to a small deva-kūmara, a kind of celestial boy. So that was quite a curiosity and Lord Caitanya asked, “Who are you? And how did you get here?”

And he said, “Well, I was a very naughty boy. In the celestial planets there are very big gardens and forests. I was playing in the forest and I came across Durvāsā Muni who was sleeping. Being mischievous, I saw that he had a big bunch of matted hair, I cut it off. Playfully kind of cut off his hair and then I ran away. And then when Durvāsā 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, “(*crying*) 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 irretractable. But since you are so repentant and you are just a small boy, 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 Gaurāṅga will appear in Navadvīpa. You can be a crocodile in Navadvīpa and when Lord Gaurāṅga comes, you touch His lotus feet and you will be freed from this curse.”

Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga!!

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-kūmara, the parents were keeping tabs. And as soon as they saw he was freed from the curse, they had sent a vimāna, a kind of an aircraft to get him. And then this boy circumambulated Lord Gaurāṅga several times, and paid 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 Durvāsā Muni for clemency and he got his sentence reduced. The brāhmaṇas were giving instant justice to people who did certain offences. They had so much power. They feared the brāhmaṇas because of their power to curse if someone really did a big mistake.

Then Lord Gaurāṅga, He went on with that cowherd boy and went to the house of Mālinī and they were served out various kinds of... they offered bhoga of sandeśa, rasagulla and various kinds of rabris and nice milk sweets. Then they offered that to the whole saṅkīrtana party. Harināma-saṅkīrtana kī Jaya! Mahāprasādam ki Jaya! So that was like one day in the life of Lord Gaurāṅga’s Harināma party; liberating a few extra-terrestrials here (laughter), meeting Chand Kazi over there, whatever... just something new happened every day. It was always exciting. Or even just chanting throughout Navadvīpa-dhāma was enchanting everyone, bringing all the people to the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa. That also showed, even in the higher planets they knew that Gaurāṅga was coming. They knew that He was a scheduled incarnation. They were even sending naughty people to get liberated, just like Nārada Muni had gotten the twin brothers. The two sons of Kuvera.

So just like they were pulled down by Lord Dāmodara in the month of Dāmodara, 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 Gaurāṅga in the avatāra of Kṛṣṇa, in the form of these trees. Of course, I don’t how much the crocodile could see Lord Gaurāṅga’s pastimes because he was under water. He wasn’t as fortunate and he was a little bit off on one side of Navadvīpa. Lord Gaurāṅga didn’t go everyday. He would go off and on. Still somehow or other He was in Navadvīpa-dhāma and He did get the darśana and to get to touch the lotus feet of Lord Gaurāṅga. So even in the higher planets, they knew Gaurāṅga was coming. They’re already sending people to get liberated by Him and His devotees. So being a child, he got cursed like that by Durvāsa Muni. 

Here Citraketu, he came up to Pārvatī. He got cursed by Pārvatī. He just took it as a blessing that whatever Kṛṣṇa wants, just depend on Kṛṣṇa. He didn’t even ask for clemency. Even Jaya-Vijaya, 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, three births as demons, rather than seven births as devotees. But Citraketu, he didn’t ask for clemency. He didn’t bat an eyelash practically. Just came and offered his respects to Pārvatī, he glorified her. Maybe sometimes you see, you get closer to a spiritual master or an exalted Vaiṣṇava, 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 Śiva, but he thought that he could give him some advice from his perspective, which was not appreciated by Pārvatī and so she cursed. Lord Śiva understood that it was well meant and just a little impetuous, it wasn’t a big deal. But Pārvatī took it took it otherwise. In the previous verse Lord Śiva also addresses Pārvatī as suśroṇi, which means my beautiful goddess. And you see that throughout these discourses in the Purāṇa between Lord Śiva and his wife, there is other verse where Pārvatī 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 Viṣṇu. One exception, devi – my beautiful goddess, tadīyānāṁ samarcanam, worship those who are in relation with Viṣṇu. Again here in this verse (6.17.27), Lord Sīva says, bhṛtya-bhṛtyānāṁ, servant of the servant. Like Lord Caitanya said dāsānudāsa. And in the other verse before, in that verse lot of discussion with Pārvatī, He says that tadīyānāṁ samarcanam. But then also he is addressing her very affectionately and praising her as devi, which means that she is a goddess, she is a divine personality. When he was discussing with the devi about the holy name, “rāma nāma… sahasreṣu rāma nāma varānane”, that you chant thousand names of Viṣṇu, and sahasra nāma tulyaṁ, rāma nāma varānane, that compared to a thousand names of Viṣṇu you chant one name of Rāma, its equal. But then he said varānane. Means “My beautiful faced goddess.”

Now here it’s like I did a marriage ceremony a few days ago and one of the ceremony, when you have them tie the knot, I mean sometimes in South America, they don’t have brāhmaṇa gṛhasthas. I have to do it myself, even as a sannyāsī. Otherwise in America we have enough householders usually. So 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 the mantra you chant. There are like ideal couples that never broke their knots of matrimonial vows. And so there is a whole list of couples who were fixed in different parts of the universe. So of course, amongst them the supreme couple Rādha-Kṛṣṇa, Lakṣmī–Nārāyaṇa, Sītā-Rāma are mentioned. Then there is also Pārvatī and Śiva. One of the other ideal couples that are always together. And here you see Śiva. Here Lord Śiva is always praising. He is always speaking to his wife affectionately and is praising her and she is the most exalted woman, female, in this universe. Not universe, the whole creation. And the whole material world, she is the supreme female within the material existence. However beyond, you can say there is Lakṣmī and other divine energies. But within this material area, she is the supreme divine energy. Material energy, Mahā-māyā. Lord Śiva is always praising her. Always calling her, “My beautiful faced.”, “My tender.” “My love.” What an example right? I mean in the material world for husbands, how to deal with their wives. It just caught me. Sometimes we take relationships for granted.

One of the things we deal with now in Kali-yuga as a spiritual master is seeing our disciples marriages go through these situations. Maybe they don’t notice it but if we follow it in the Bhāgavatam, probably we get everything from there. Little things like how to just treat your wife with respect. Even when he is joking with her. Instead of just saying, “You are really heavy on him in order to get...”, he just said, “My beautiful faced (laughter) goddess.” You just got defeated by this devotee of Nārāyaṇa because he didn’t bat an eyelash when you cursed him. when you gave him (?), “You are going to become a demon!”  (laughter) It’s like What worse could you curse someone? It’s like your hair is flying in the aircraft given by Anantadeva. He is going all over the three worlds and beyond, even upto Kailāsa. He suddenly gets it, out of the airplane down to “You are a demon!” (laughter) and he bows, “My dear goddess, forgive me for any offence.” Just like didn’t even phase him. So Lord Sīva kind of said, “Oh! my beautiful consort!” But he treats her very kind. It’s like how he deals with her. This devotee of Nārāyaṇa is really very exalted, very tactful, and at the same time  very loving. At the same time he is like instructing you, “Was that really the right thing to do for just a little comment?  And after all with all your show of power, it didn’t really affect him very much.” In fact 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. One time somebody complained. Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura was giving a lecture for a whole week on one verse. “Why the same verse everyday?”

He (BSST) got so angry, “You don’t know there is unlimited knowledge in each of these verses!” For the next month he lectured on this verse, everyday. And each day different angle or different perspective.

So Lord Śiva, 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 advice from that angle to develop that relationship. It goes both ways. The other things we have here is about how rare parāyaṇa is. There is another verse in the Vedas,

muktānām api siddhānāṁ
nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇaḥ
sudurlabhaḥ praśāntātmā
koṭiṣv api mahā-mune

Out of millions of liberated souls, perfected souls, siddhas, the Nārāyaṇa parāyaṇa 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

kṛṣṇa-bhakta—niṣkāma, ataeva ‘śānta’
bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kāmī—sakali ‘aśānta’
(Cc. Madhya 19.149)

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 got some agenda. But the devotee of Kṛṣṇa, he is fixed in his devotion. He is going to do devotional service forever, whether in this life, in 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. To be fixed in devotional service.

Sometimes we say, “Well I am not a pure devotee.” Well you should really 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 sādhana-bhakti and I am doing everything, to become a pure devotee.” That’s what is the commitment when we take initiation. It’s not that now I am initiated, “I am a pure devotee!” That’s never been the line. The line even for the greatest devotees, even for Narottama was that “There is no one more fallen than me. I need your mercy. I am very fallen; I don’t have any qualification. But I want to, even though I am not qualified. I want to be a pure devotee and please have your mercy.” Even Kuntī Devi is praying to Kṛṣṇa, “I am very insignificant person, I have all these attachments. Please have your mercy that I can become niṣkiñcana because you are niṣkiñcana-gocarā.” We need to have to proper consciousness and this is one thing that Citraketu has really shown: 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. He apologized. And might have been gracious for Pārvatī to reconsider or to adjust her curse, but anyway whatever happened, happened. He just took it and depended on Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa protected him. The other thing is that there is no fear even of curses. Kṛṣṇa always protects his devotee. Even he got cursed, so what? We should avoid doing things to get cursed by a brāhmaṇa, but even something happened, because he just kept his dependence on Kṛṣṇa, he was protected. And that’s what we should learn, that we always keep our dependence on Kṛṣṇa whatever happens.

So someone says, “I am not a pure devotee, I am not going to keep dependence on Kṛṣṇa anymore.” Then we are finished. For what they are going to depend on, the material world? There is nothing. It’s a very hopeless situation. The only thing we can do is try to depend on Kṛṣṇa the best we can and try to overcome whatever obstacles there are in our path. Although we are not qualified, we make so many stumbles and mistakes, but if we keep trying to depend on Kṛṣṇa 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 Nārada Muni, he progressively advanced and straight went back to home, back to Godhead. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Any questions or comments?

Maybe not feeling fallen but Rādhārāṇī is always thinking that Her service could improve. Wanting to improve Her service, wanting to please Kṛṣṇa more, that desire is there because you read in Antya-līlā that She explains Her mood, She would do anything to please Kṛṣṇa. So She is the perfection. In other words that is the perfection to be in that consciousness of always trying to improve Her devotional service. Desire to always want to improve. Here we actually have contamination. But She has no contamination, Rādhārāṇī. But She wants to improve anyway. Not any kind of fallen nature, possibility, or hint, but rather just always, even then, trying to do something to please Kṛṣṇa 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 now we have some real dirts to clean up, and even when we don’t have any we still want to improve on our service and please Kṛṣṇa more. So how much you can please someone, again it’s a 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.