20211127 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.13.9

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on november 26th, 2021 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur, India. The class begins with a reading from the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.13.9. 

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī caitanya iśvaram

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

Jayapatākā Swami: So Vidura Prabhu, he came back and everybody in the palace was very happy. And it was as if life came back to the dead body. And then Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja, he asked Vidura his news. And everybody was anxious to hear the news from Vidura. Of course, we follow Vidura and we know what he did. But Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja and the other residents of Hastināpura did not know what he was doing. So now to hear about Vidura is very purifying, very holy. Because hearing about the Supreme Lord and His devotee is on the same level. That by hearing about Vidura, naturally the remembrance of Kṛṣṇa will come back. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam there are many histories of the lives of different devotees. Like, Pṛthu Mahārāja, Dhruva Mahārāja, their histories, how they went back to Vaikuṇṭha-dhāma, those histories are there. And how Dhruva Mahārāja’s mother Sunīti, returned back to Vaikuṇṭha, to Godhead. How Arci, Pṛthu Mahārāja’s queen had returned back to Vaikuṇṭha, to Godhead. Men or women, they both have the opportunity to go back to Godhead. Śrīla A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda had travelled around the world 14 times. And he had established in different countries many different temples. He said that the ladies who were Kṛṣṇa conscious were not ordinary ladies. In the Bhagavad-gītā generally the women, vaiśyas, śūdras, they are considered as sabhā of bad karma. But if they take shelter of Kṛṣṇa, then they can reach the highest destination. See, technically because Vidura was the son of a śūdrāṇī, but he is always a pure devotee of Kṛṣṇa. And Duryodhana was criticizing him calling him a śūdra. But we see that how Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira and others they are so eager to hear about his pilgrimage. And in the next verse it is mentioned that because Vidura carries Lord Kṛṣṇa in his heart therefore he has the ability to purify all the holy places. So to think of a Vaiṣṇava as from this caste or that caste is prohibited by the śāstras. We should see Vidura not by his any material relation but as a Vaiṣṇava. So this kind of instruction that we are getting from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, so we should take this very seriously. Of course Vidura went, and it was seen in previous cantos he got instructions from Maitreya Ṛṣi. So this history of how he heard the different pastimes of Kṛṣṇa and dealings of Kṛṣṇa with His pure devotees he heard all these topics.

But he is always a pure devotee of Kṛṣṇa. And Duryodhana was criticizing him calling him a śūdra. But we see that how Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira and others they are so eager to hear about his pilgrimage. And in the next verse it is mentioned that because Vidura carries Lord Kṛṣṇa in his heart therefore he has the ability to purify all the holy places. So to think of a Vaiṣṇava as from this caste or that caste is prohibited by the śāstras. We should see Vidura not by his any material relation but as a Vaiṣṇava. So this kind of instruction that we are getting from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, so we should take this very seriously. Of course Vidura went, and it was seen in previous cantos he got instructions from Maitreya Ṛṣi. So this history of how he heard the different pastimes of Kṛṣṇa and dealings of Kṛṣṇa with His pure devotees he heard all these topics.

So in the beginning of our kalpa there are different histories that happened. Dhruva Mahārāja was the grandson of Svāyambhuva Manu. Svāyambhuva Manu was the son of Lord Brahmā. So this history of the universe is very old and very ancient. Now, the present day scientists are telling that everything came into being through a Big Bang. Śrīla Prabhupāda questioned, who caused the Big Bang? Śrīla Prabhupāda said we are not criticizing science, but those scientists that say there is no God, that everything happened accidentally, they are rascals. Is there any example that you take all the elements and shake them up and somehow life comes? A Physics Nobel prize winner came to one of our symposiums on science and religion. This was arranged by Śrīla Svarūpa Dāmodara Mahārāja. I was a guest there. That scientist said that twenty years ago if you would have told me that you are being with a religionist, I would say you are crazy. But here I am now! Because in Physics we have reached the hard rock, and we are being questioned, what is consciousness? So that is why we are coming to the religionists because this is your field. So Bhagavad-gītā Kṛṣṇa said that there is material energy and there is a higher spiritual energy. The gross energy of earth, water, fire, air and ether. And subtle energy of mind, intelligence and false ego. And beyond this is the spiritual energy or superior energy of the Lord. We are the spiritual energies, we are the jīva-śakti. This is the higher science. Once the ātmā leaves the body, the body is dead. But the body has no consciousness, the consciousness is within the soul. The consciousness is spread throughout the body by different nerves, blood and things. I had a stroke in 2008 and therefore the right side of the body is suffering paresis. Paralysis means completely dead. But I have some functions but I have less feelings. So that is called paresis. So this way we understand that I cannot feel consciousness much on my right side. And this body the Bhagavad-gītā describes yantrārūḍhāni māyayā – a machine made by material elements. So, like that, this is a higher science. Because we get the knowledge directly from Lord Kṛṣṇa. Modern science can only perceive a very limited scope. What they observe is alright, but they speculate a lot. They have no scientific facts to say that there is no ātmā, there is no God.

Vidura, he went to the different holy places and he met different saints. He wanted to get knowledge from Uddhava. But Uddhava was embarrassed because he was an uncle and therefore, he requested him to go to Maitreya Ṛṣi for knowledge. Because Maitreya Ṛṣi was also present when Kṛṣṇa spoke to Uddhava. So then Vidura asked different questions to Maitreya Ṛṣi. Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja wanted to know this way from Vidura how he traveled and what food he ate, etc. When sādhus come to Māyāpur, we should feed them. Any sādhu, any Vaiṣṇava, we should serve them, give them prasāda. Just like Vidura he went to different holy places he got prasāda, like that we should give prasāda to the visiting saints and Vaiṣṇavas. We should ask the devotees who are in the pilgrim facilitation booths that they should see for any sādhus, Vaiṣṇavas. Just like we have the annadāna program, we should feed the different sādhus and Vaiṣṇavas. In Vṛndāvana, it is done by the Kṛṣṇa Balarāma Mandir and other temples. In Tirupati, Tirumala we have a free prasāda. They are giving out onions, I told them they should not give onions, they should give prasāda. They said that people like onions. Whatever, we distribute prasāda is not for the satisfaction of the public, we want to give them prasāda for their spiritual uplifting. So now like this, they give prasāda, no onions. They say that some sannyāsī told us. So like this in all the Uḍupī and other holy places, they have prasāda offered. So now we were giving two days a week free prasāda but then the Sulabha Kitchen, they give at a discounted rate. In the annadāna, they give free prasāda. So we should follow that and we should have it available. Prasāda should be simple but they should be able to fill their stomachs. Haribol!

So who knows someone like Vidura will walk through the door! I had gone to Citrakūṭa, the place of pilgrimage for Lord Rāmacandra. There I went to a temple there and there was a sādhu-bābā who was complaining that he had gone to Māyāpur but he was not given prasāda. It was very embarrassing, I felt very ashamed. He offered prasāda to all of us devotees. So we don’t know who is coming through our door. So Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted that we should have prasāda for all the guests. Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja is asking Vidura, “How and what did you eat?” So we want to encourage people to visit the holy places. So we have different levels of prasāda. So, we have free prasāda, we have different paid prasāda. Some people want opulent prasāda. Some people want a low-priced prasāda. Anyway, we can see how Vidura, he was offered so much respect and so much love from the Pāṇḍavas. So, this is an example how we should be so happy when a Vaiṣṇava visits Māyāpur. So I will take one or two questions.

Akhila Bandhu Gopāla Dāsa [Indore]: Guru Mahārāja As we can see that when Vidurajī was insulted by Duryodhana then Vidurajī converted this adverse situation into an opportunity to visit holy places, to associate with saintly people. Guru Mahārāja, how we can also use such adversities in our life life too because when such problems or adversities come, we become morose and disturbed and these adversities only become unfavorable in absorption in our spiritual activities.

Jayapatākā Swami: So your question is being answered by Vidura. He did not get upset, he saw that, he took it as an opportunity to increase his Kṛṣṇa consciousness. You should not become morose, maybe by this you get rid of bad karma. And in the material world there is this kind of false criticism. That is why we want to transfer you to the spiritual world. You are coming from Madhya Pradesh. Nice to hear how people are hearing the class from Madhya Pradesh.

Sumitra Gauracandra Dāsa [Bengali]: Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the topmost yoga system. In order to very scientifically present Kṛṣṇa consciousness to the scientific world can we be engaged in any kind of service in this subject matter?

Jayapatākā Swami: The TOVP, the Temple of Vedic Planetarium is trying to destroy the false understanding or wrong understanding about the universe and things like this and therefore they are trying to establish the proper science as per the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Vedas. Now if you wish you could get in touch with the Bhaktivedanta Institute or you can also contact the TOVP and be engaged in this service as they are doing the same activity.

Oṁ Tat Sat!