20100313 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 5.15.7

Nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale

śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine

namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe

nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe

śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda

śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

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

Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

nārāyaṇaṁ namaskṛtya

naraṁ caiva narottamam

devīṁ sarasvatīṁ vyāsaṁ

tato jayam udīrayet

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ
 paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande
 paramānanda-mādhavam
śrī caitanya īśvaram

Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.15.7

sa vai sva-dharmeṇa prajā-pālana-poṣaṇa-prīṇanopalālanānuśāsana-lakṣaṇenejyādinā ca bhagavati mahā-puruṣe parāvare brahmaṇi sarvātmanārpita-paramārtha-lakṣaṇena brahmavic-caraṇānusevayāpādita-bhagavad-bhakti-yogena cābhīkṣṇaśaḥ paribhāvitāti-śuddha-matir uparatānātmya ātmani svayam upalabhyamāna-brahmātmānubhavo 'pi nirabhimāna evāvanim ajūgupat.

saḥ—that King Gaya; vai—indeed; sva-dharmeṇa—by his own duty; prajā-pālana—of protecting the subjects; poṣaṇa—of maintaining them; prīṇana—of making them happy in all respects; upalālana—of treating them as sons; anuśāsana—of sometimes chastising them for their mistakes; lakṣaṇena—by the symptoms of a king; ijyā-ādinā—by performing the ritualistic ceremonies as recommended in the Vedas; ca—also; bhagavati—unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu; mahā-puruṣe—the chief of all living entities; para-avare—the source of all living entities, from the highest, Lord Brahmā, to the lowest, like the insignificant ants; brahmaṇi—unto Para-brahman, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vāsudeva; sarva-ātmanā—in all respects; arpita—of being surrendered; parama-artha-lakṣaṇena—with spiritual symptoms; brahma-vit—of self-realized, saintly devotees; caraṇa-anusevayā—by the service of the lotus feet; āpādita—achieved; bhagavat-bhakti-yogena—by the practice of devotional service to the Lord; ca—also; abhīkṣṇaśaḥ—continuously; paribhāvita—saturated; ati-śuddha-matiḥ—whose completely pure consciousness (full realization that the body and mind are separate from the soul); uparata-anātmye—wherein identification with material things was stopped; ātmani—in his own self; svayam—personally; upalabhyamāna—being realized; brahma-ātma-anubhavaḥ—perception of his own position as the Supreme Spirit; api—although; nirabhimānaḥ—without false prestige; eva—in this way; avanim—the whole world; ajūgupat—ruled strictly according to the Vedic principles.

TRANSLATION

King Gaya gave full protection and security to the citizens so that their personal property would not be disturbed by undesirable elements. He also saw that there was sufficient food to feed all the citizens. [This is called poṣaṇa.] He would sometimes distribute gifts to the citizens to satisfy them. [This is called prīṇana.] He would sometimes call meetings and satisfy the citizens with sweet words. [This is called upalālana.] He would also give them good instructions on how to become first-class citizens. [This is called anuśāsana.] Such were the characteristics of King Gaya's royal order. Besides all this, King Gaya was a householder who strictly observed the rules and regulations of household life. He performed sacrifices and was an unalloyed pure devotee of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He was called Mahāpuruṣa because as a king he gave the citizens all facilities, and as a householder he executed all his duties so that at the end he became a strict devotee of the Supreme Lord. As a devotee, he was always ready to give respect to other devotees and to engage in the devotional service of the Lord. This is the bhakti-yoga process. Due to all these transcendental activities, King Gaya was always free from the bodily conception. He was full in Brahman realization, and consequently he was always jubilant. He did not experience material lamentation. Although he was perfect in all respects, he was not proud, nor was he anxious to rule the kingdom.

PURPORT

As Lord Kṛṣṇa states in Bhagavad-gītā, when He descends to earth, He has two types of business—to give protection to the faithful and annihilate the demons (paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām [Bg. 4.8]). Since the king is the representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he is sometimes called nara-deva, that is, the Lord as a human being. According to the Vedic injunctions, he is worshiped as God on the material platform. As a representative of the Supreme Lord, the king had the duty to protect the citizens in a perfect way so that they would not be anxious for food and protection and so that they would be jubilant. The king would supply everything for their benefit, and because of this he would levy taxes. If the king or government otherwise levies taxes on the citizens, he becomes responsible for the sinful activities of the citizens. In Kali-yuga, monarchy is abolished because the kings themselves are subjected to the influence of Kali-yuga. It is understood from the Rāmāyaṇa that when Bibhīṣaṇa became friends with Lord Rāmacandra, he promised that if by chance or will he broke the laws of friendship with Lord Rāmacandra, he would become a brāhmaṇa or a king in Kali-yuga. In this age, as Bibhīṣaṇa indicated, both brāhmaṇas and kings are in a wretched condition. Actually there are no kings or brāhmaṇas in this age, and due to their absence the whole world is in a chaotic condition and is always in distress. Compared to present standards, Mahārāja Gaya was a true representative of Lord Viṣṇu; therefore he was known as Mahāpuruṣa.

Jayapatākā Swami: There were, of course said, that he did and he would sit there. There is a Sanskrit word for that, but I couldn’t hear the Sanskrit word.

Devotee: He also saw there was sufficient food to feed all the citizens. This is called poṣaṇa.

Jayapatākā Swami: poṣaṇa ok.

Devotee: Distributing food to the citizens to satisfy them, this is called prīṇana.

Jayapatākā Swami: What is it called? prīṇana.

Devotee: He would sometimes call meetings and satisfy the citizens with sweet words, upalālana.

Jayapatākā Swami: upalālana.

Devotee: And he would also give them instructions on how to become first class citizens. This is called anuśāsana.

Jayapatākā Swami: Thank you.

So, the king of Gaya or King Gaya. His names is Gaya or he was the king of Gaya?

Devotee: King Gaya.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, lot of instructions in this verse about how to. How the kings were in the Vedic times. We could appreciate, although today we have today democracy in most parts of the world. Its and only the servants of the royal family, they don’t have usually don’t have much power. We can appreciate that. With a qualified king like this, like King Gaya, things were quite well managed, and why doesn’t work in Kali-yuga? That’s also understandable, but why previously, at least we can appreciate.

Monarchy was not a bad thing, it was a good thing, it worked, because there was a qualified king who was God-realized, he was self-realized, he followed the rules, he managed his kingdom with great affection, and we see that in some places of the world like in Thailand, the people love their Monarch, although he is not the there is no democracy and Prime Minister. And sometimes he has to step in and take some action, and somehow, he is really appreciated by the citizens.

I don’t know just Brunei and Muara. I haven’t visited Brunei and other places. So, I don’t know what they are like, but there I saw that the people like him to a large extent, because they saw him as a neutral person who cared about the citizens and, although he was not directly involved in the affairs of the kingdom I mean he was not like. he didn’t manage them, but the management was done by the Prime Ministers, but he would go and see the citizens, see the, he would get some idea, but nobody is qualified like Gaya. But it was interesting. I read this verse before that.

Vibhīṣaṇa said, what I heard was that he said if I don’t follow all the brāhmaṇa in the Kali-yuga, here is the brāhmaṇa or a king.

Ok, it is so heavy ok. He is going to follow. Anyone who sits like that, that’s a real serious thing. So, that means that at that time in the Tretā-yuga, they knew that in the Kali-yuga, the brāhmaṇas, the kings, they were not… they were respected or they were worthy of respect. So, that was taken as such a serious vow. He said, “Let me be cursed to be a brāhmaṇa in the Kali-yuga.”

Ok, ok. So, you take him serious.

That is like the worst thing you can think of.

So, it was interesting, and that convinced Lakṣmaṇa, he was doubting Vibhīṣaṇa, maybe he is a spy from Rāvaṇa. But when he took this vow, ok ok, he is alright. No one will take such a vow unless they really mean it. So, that shows us how lousy it is to be born as a brāhmaṇa or a king in the Kali-yuga. So, interesting, how he managed the kingdom, how he was personally Kṛṣṇa conscious, and he was self-realized, he followed the rules.

We don’t have examples like that. We don’t have like such examples as he was, that we can go on. We know that the kings and tantrum have illicit affairs, and then he would do all kinds of sinful things. But he was glorified as a Mahāpuruṣa, as a great soul amongst the king. He was a great self-realized personality, and the way that he managed the kingdom was also very exemplary, you know.

So, like Lord Caitanya, he said, “Well, I can meet anyone, but I don’t meet a king, because the king in Kali-yuga, they are sense gratifiers, and I am a sannyāsī, and so I don’t want to meet Pratāparudra.” So, Pratāparudra, he was feeling, “Everyone in the kingdom can meet Lord Caitanya except me. I am the only one. That is the only thing I want, is, I want to be able to see Lord Caitanya.” So, he was feeling so bad. He thought, “What is the use of living? If I am living, I am the only one who cannot see Lord Caitanya. Oh!” So, he was thinking of suicide. So, Rāmānanda Rāya came and told Lord Caitanya, “See, this king is actually a devotee. He is a good guy, and so somehow show him some mercy.” So, he called the prince, his son, and gave him a caddar and some stuff. So, like this the king was a little encouraged. He told, don’t commit suicide. So, when the king came, and they have this tradition in Jagannātha Purī that the king would sweep the road before the Jagannātha Deities, what you call that? I forget what you call it.

I heard someone speaking, but I didn’t hear what you said.

So, Lord Caitanya saw him, normally like we have the Lord, the Mayor of Birmingham to sweep the road. So, he had his coat of arms, he has a big sash, he had a golden medal, he was the number one citizen of the city, the Lord Mayor. I don’t think in America… in India they don’t… mayor… mayor ok, but there Lord Mayor. So, he had all the time he said, “Normally I don’t have to sweep the road. I’ve got public servants to do this, but out of respect for your tradition I will do that.” So, he swept the road. In fact, one time he sent one counsellor to represent him, the deputy Mayor, so, he liked so much, he swept the road the whole way. Like forty, fifty minutes he was sweeping. Intention. But normally the king would just sweep the road for a few minutes.

So, Lord Caitanya, saw the king sweeping. He because he was doing a service, a humble service for the lord, so he was very moved. So, by service to Jagannātha, you get the mercy of Lord Caitanya. That was the purport.

Lord Caitanya, then he gave divine vision to the king. So, the king can see seven Lord Caitanya’s in the seven saṅkīrtanaparties from his roof top. So, there the king had a tradition that they don’t make their palace higher than the Jagannātha temple. That is pretty hard because the Jagannātha temple is very high, but in any case that is the rule. So, he would, his house looks like his palace in Purī, looks like any other house. It is not higher, it is like two-storied high, but everyone knows that this is the kings house.

So, he would, five hundred years ago, he would look from the roof of his house, and he would see the Ratha-yātrā go by. So, he saw Lord Caitanya, he told Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya and others, how come I am seeing seven Lord Caitanya’s? So, they said, You got the special mercy of Lord Caitanya, that’s why you are seeing seven.

So, like this he had certain mercies. So, he was told by Rāmānanda Rāya, that he should go in a ordinary dress like a Vaiṣṇava, tilaka and caddar and no shirt. No one knew like what the king looked like without his big turban and his royal dress. So, only a few people knew him close up. So, the devotees didn’t recognize who was this Vaiṣṇava. He came and Lord Caitanya was taking rest. The kirtan there was rest, the deity was offered bhoga at vipra-āsana. So, there the system is that. People lay out some free clothe, and lay their bhoga and the pūjārī offers hundreds of bhogas, maybe thousands to the deity at one time.

It is interesting that we could do it in Ratha-yātrā there is at least the devotees who are following. they can offer their food to the deity at the place where they arrive or something. So, at that time Lord Caitanya, He layed down, and He was taking rest on one stone slab. So, the king dressed as a ordinary Vaiṣṇava, he asked the permission of all the devotees, can I rub his lotus legs? And they said, sure, why not. So, he started rubbing the legs of Lord Caitanya, he was messaging, and he gave, he started singing the verses from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. He had memorized the verses of the Gopī-gīta, the songs of the gopis. So, at one point Lord Caitanya was so pleased to hear these verses. One particularly verse he was very pleased, “you have given me this jewels of verses. So, I want to pay you, but I have nothing, I am just a sannyāsī, I have nothing to give you, all I can give you is my embrace, my hug. So, he hugged the king.” So, you can imagine the king was hugged by Lord Caitanya. He was like. I don’t know who you are, but I have nothing that I can give you, so I will just give you a hug. So, he hugged him. The king was. Then Lord Caitanya lied down again.

So, he had all his desires fulfilled because he did sevā for Jagannātha. So, we want to promote that people should do this sevā for the deities, they should do the sevā. By doing the sevā they will get their mercy. This is the secret how to get mercy. You get mercy by doing sevā. Even this great king like Ambarīṣa, it is said, when he would come to the temple, he would clean the temple, he would mop it, he would sweep it. Now being a king you don’t have to do that ordinary service. But he would do it because he wants to get the mercy of the Lord.

It said in the Brahma-saṁhitā that the goddess of fortune would sweep the touchstones to get the mercy of the Lord. There is no much dust. I think in the spiritual world there are touch stones. But just to show the Lord, we are cleaning, we want your mercy. So, like that they were doing a very humble service. So, if we want to get the mercy, what should we do? Yes, so that is the secret.

So, this king Gaya, it showed how he very, in a very exemplary way, he managed his kingdom, that he was a gṛhastha. Of course kings have to be gṛhasthas. That part of the example of a king. He is supposed to be a gṛhastha, and he is supposed to be very exemplary. So, it said, he did this with his wife, he did various sacrifices for the pleasure of Viṣṇu. So, as a gṛhastha they are considered as half. The wife is considered the other half. In fact, she is called the ardhaṅginī, or the better half. I never had a husband, how did you say it was true? They all say, “wife is better.” Anyone wants to deny it.

So, this is the system, and there was the Lord Brahmā, he is also a gṛhastha. So, he was doing a yajna. So, Sāvitrī was not showing up in the time and so he said, “What should I do, without my wife I cannot finish the yajna. And so they said, “Well, we will give you another wife.” And not seeing any other way, so, he accepted that solution. So, they passed one maiden through a cow, and I don’t know how they did? So, that’s why the cow is also known as Gaya. So, she is known as Gāyatrī. So, he was married to brahmā real quick, and he can do the… finish the yajna, and then Sāvitrī came, and she saw, “what is this? How the wife has replace me?” So, she cursed Brahmā, “you will only be worshipped in this one place of Puṣkara, where your deity is found. Rest of the place you will not be worshipped.” So, well, so, they tell this story at Puṣkara tirtha, that one lotus was thrown from the Satya-loka. It fell down on the earth in Puṣkara, and there is where he got his temple. Of course, a few other place, I guess they don’t know, they make the deity of Brahmā. In Thailand, Malaysia, but technically you are not supposed to.

I guess. I don’t know what happens to them if you do.

But just to show that as a gṛhastha to do the yajna, you need the cooperation of both halves. There is some, we can understand Gaya, King Gaya, he did all this things, very much according to the rules and regulations. Lord Caitanya, when he was Nimāi Paṇḍita, he felt, I am earning money and I am maintaining my mother, I am living in a house. So, I should be a householder. I should I have everything but I don’t have a wife. So, then he got married, because he thought that, and that is the kind of standard that is if someone is working and not living in the brahmacārī ashram, they should get married. Otherwise, they are living like a gṛhastha, they have their own flat, their own apartments, their own house, they have their money, but they don’t have a wife. So, they are not following the dharma properly.

If one is a brahmacārī, they live in the ashram, they don’t make any personal money, they work for the temple. That’s one way of life. The other life is working as a gṛhastha or vānaprastha. So, there are some people, they work outside, they make money, but they don’t live as gṛhasthas. So, this is not the proper example.

When Lord Caitanya took sannyāsa, then he didn’t depend on. He rather depended on Kṛṣṇa totally. He didn’t do the gṛhastha dharma. When he was a gṛhastha, he followed very strictly the gṛhastha dharma. So, this king, he followed very strictly the grshastha dharma. While he was a king, he followed the kingly dharma. At the same time, he was detached, and he was actually a devotee. So, he was a self-realized soul. So, this is the example. So, we don’t have examples like that much, at least kings so, is she the example given in the śāstra? So, this gives us some idea that how things happened in the past. So, we can appreciate.

So, it’s very hard to follow Lord Caitanya’s example of sannyasa. When he was a sanyasi, he was very austere. When he was a gṛhastha, he was very pakka in his gṛhastha dharma. So, it’s hard to follow such examples. But he was exemplary. So, we can get some inspiration in, here is the king Gaya in the place known as Gaya. That’s actually the Gayāsura, he was a demon. So, he is a different person. He fought against Viṣṇu, and Viṣṇu defeated him, and stepped on his chest. So, he said, the gaya said, “I surrender. But I want two blessings. one is that I want your footprint to worship. If it is not worshipped everyday, then I will come back.” So, the second blessing he said that, people should do their ancestor worship and sun should come every day. One you worship the footprint, and the other was that everyday that will be worshipped. If one day goes by and nobody comes to do their ancestor worship, then you can come back.

So, this is the big hill, and this is known as the Viṣṇu Gaya. And there is the lotus footprint of Viṣṇu. So, they say that that hill which is yugas and yugas old is actually the Gayāsura, and if one day goes by and nobody comes there to do piṇḍī, he will rise up ah and there he will arrest everybody. So, I went there, and there is a lot of gayas. There is Viṣṇu Gaya, there is the Bodh Gaya, there are lot of different gayas. Well, in this Viṣṇu Gaya, they have a book, and they have Prabhupada’s name, that eleven, in 1971 Prabhupada had gone there with a group of people. So, they have all the names of the devotees in Prabhupada’s party. So, I was one of the devotees in the party.

Wow, they have got everybody’s name, they have Prabhupada’s name. The Paṇḍās were very expert. So, they were presenting a silver footprint of Lord Viṣṇu. So, since they gave me a silver footprint, I felt indebted. So, I gave a, By rupee standard a very big donation. But they keep a record. I don’t know if we keep a record of all the people who visit. But they have a record of everybody who visits the temple every day. So, they have a record of Prabhupada’s visit. At least they have Prabhupada’s record. I didn’t check their book who else’s record they have.

Srila Prabhupada ki Jaya

I don’t know what the history is, why they. I knew this history of Gayāsura. But why they have eleven gaya’s, this is named after this king Gaya or not, I don’t know. Of course, Buddha Gaya is where the Lord Buddha, he meditated, and there he realized his realizations. And Nirvana so, there are other nine gaya’s. I don’t know what they are exactly. I didn’t look into it. Maybe a coincidence that the same name as this king Gaya, or maybe they followed some tradition, I don’t know. They say that Sītā Devi was very angry with the river there. So, she cursed the river, that you will be dry, but on the surface of the sand you will, water will flow.

So, you know, in India what this people do to rivers when they are dry. If you don’t know, you don’t want to know, but they answer, “The Nature’s call.” So, everybody since time, since Tretā-yuga, they are passing on top of that river. You dig in the sand, and foot or two deep, enough water. So, you go there and dig the water, and you start to worship Viṣṇu. But the non-devotees, they make their mess on top of the river bed. So, that is called the Phalgu river. So, that’s why Lord Caitanya said, we should not be a Phalgu-vairāgi. Phalgu-vairāgi means that it looks very dry on the surface. It looks like someone is very renounced, but you dig a little under the sand, you will find water. So, some looks like he is renounced, but he actually so many material desires. So, that’s where the Phalgu-vairāgya comes from. The Phalgu river – where under the surface there is enough water, or on the surface is dry.

So, I was told to end it at 8.20, because everyone wants to take their prasāda, head out to Laguna beach for the regional festival. Haribol.

So, I know, it come from our beloved and other Prabhupada disciples, Achyuta.

Devotee: Thank you very much.

We have to be a little careful with the Sanskrit pronunciation. This is when we run into trouble. The word G-A-Y-A in Sanskrit, you can have G long A, Y short A. You can have G short A, Y short A, or you can have G short A, Y long A. So the place where we go to offer the oblations to Pinda is Gaya with the long A. This King is Gaya, G-A-Y-A, no long. G short A, Y short A, King Gaya. And then there’s Uttama Gaya, which is the name of the Lord, G long A, Y short A. So, the place where we go to offer the forefathers Gaya, and this King is Gaya. There’s really no connection.

Jayapatākā Swami: Thank you Thank you very much.

So, this is king Gaya, and the place is Gaya.

Any other comment?

Devotee: Yeah, actually, Gaya, in the My tradition, it means mother of the whole world. It’s the mother of the whole world.

Jayapatākā Swami: Mother Earth Ok, thank you, Hare Kṛṣṇa.