20220108 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.13.51-53

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on January 8th, 2022 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur, India. The class begins with a reading from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.13.51.

Translation: O King, your uncle Dhṛtarāṣṭra, his other Vidura and his wife Gāndhārī have gone to the southern side of the Himalaya Mountains, where there are shelters of the great sages.

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.13.52

Translation: The place is called Saptasrota [divided by seven] because there the waters of the sacred Ganges were divided into seven branches. This was done for the satisfaction of the seven great ṛṣis.

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.13.53

Translation: On the banks at Saptasrota, Dhṛtarāṣṭra is now engaged in beginning aṣṭāṅga-yoga by bathing three times daily, in the morning, noon and evening, by performing the Agni-hotra sacrifice with fire and by drinking only water. This helps one control the mind and the senses and frees one completely from thoughts of familial affection.

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

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

Jayapatākā Swami: So Yudhiṣṭhira was worried because he could not find Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Gāndhārī or Vidura. And at first he, Nārada Muni, gave a philosophical reasoning, now he is giving practical information because he is trikāla-jñānī. So first he said why Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja should not be worried because everything is in the hands of Kṛṣṇa. Now he is giving practical information where his uncle and aunt have gone. And he came to know that Dhṛtarāṣṭra was performing aṣṭāṅga-yoga on the southern side of the Himalayas. There the Saptasrota place of pilgrimage was there. Ganges divided into seven different parts for the pleasure of the seven ṛṣis. That is also interesting how the seven ṛṣis they wanted their own specific Ganges. So it shows even though one may be transcendental like the seven ṛṣis, but they each had their own separate Ganges. So, Śrīla Prabhupāda said that the spiritual world variety but because everyone loves Kṛṣṇa, there is no division. But in the material world there is variety but then there is controversy and quarrel as well for that. So, Nārada Muni was explaining how Dhṛtarāṣṭra was engaging in this aṣṭāṅga-yoga. However, we normally recommend bhakti-yoga, but in Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s case aṣṭāṅga-yoga was the best option. Because throughout his entire life along with his children he always stood against the Pāṇḍavas. So he was not suitable for bhakti-yoga to Lord Kṛṣṇa. By following aṣṭāṅga-yoga he had to concentrate on the Paramātmā. That Paramātmā is an expansion of Kṛṣṇa which Dhṛtarāṣṭra was not aware of.

Here the process of yoga is glorified by Śrīla Prabhupāda. I remember that when Śrīla Prabhupāda first came to India with the Western devotees, that time some politicians were saying that the devotees from the West are CIAs. One time, Śrīla Prabhupāda saw Indira Gandhi when she was prime minister. Indira Gandhi asked him, “How do you know that your followers are not CIA?” He said, “The CIA stay in five-star hotels, drink alcohol, have meat, and our devotees they are vegetarian, they live in the temple and wake up at 4 in the morning.” Then Indira Gandhi said, “Alright, I will give your followers special visa.” So, like this, Śrīla Prabhupāda had to deal with various problems from time to time. So, how Dhṛtarāṣṭra was very attached to his family, but he was preached to very heavily by his younger brother Vidura and he could take up this spiritual path. So he was staying in the sacred bank of the Ganges, bathing three times, having only water. So, the yoga path is completely different from the bhoga path. The bhoga path is to enjoy the senses and the yoga path is to control the mind and senses. In the path of bhakti-yoga we change our perspective and try to please the senses of Kṛṣṇa. But in the path of bhoga, which most people do, they only are thinking about satisfying their own senses. So who is your friend? someone who helps you enjoy or senses, or your enemy is someone who obstructs you? Like that Prahlāda Mahārāja he became the enemy of his father. Because Hiraṇyakaśipu thought he is interfering with my sense gratification. That is why he was very, very abusive to his son who was only five-years of age and even tried to kill him. Lord Narasiṁhadeva protected Prahlāda Mahārāja. Therefore, another name of the Lord is Patita-pāvana or Bhakta-vatsala. A friend of His devotee. Protector of His devotee. So the devotee has to depend on the mercy of the Lord.

Somehow or another in this material world, Śrīla Prabhupāda said, we are at war with māyā. Māyā wants us to serve our senses. And we want to serve Kṛṣṇa. Māyā is very strong. But if we are surrendered to Kṛṣṇa, by His help, we can overcome māyā. Our devotees have to be very fixed up to fight this war against māyā. So, wherever we are stronger we can fight māyā. Some people are stronger as vairāgīs, some are stronger as gṛhasthīs. But whatever āśrama we are in, our purpose is to fight against māyā. Either we work together as a team, husband and wife, or we work as an individual, but even as a single vairāgī we can associate with devotees. Being with other devotees we should be very caring and loving with their peers. We should be very careful how we speak, how we act. Because in this material world even in general you cannot trust anyone. But in the spiritual world we should behave in such a way that everybody feels connected, related. Now especially we have a very difficult time with the corona virus pandemic. Like now in India there is the third wave going on. It had reduced to 5,000 a day two weeks ago but yesterday it was 1,17,000. So it increased about 22 times! So it is very dangerous. Many of our senior devotees are affected. So we need to care for them, pray for them. Of course, we pray to Kṛṣṇa if it so pleases You. Like that we are trying to be very sensitive to the pain of others. Someone is slightly mildly sick, someone is heavily sick. Lord Caitanya, He came to this material world to help everyone go back to the spiritual sky. He Himself displayed how much bliss there is in loving Kṛṣṇa. How being in devotional service, in loving service of Kṛṣṇa how much intense, how much unlimited pleasure there is. When the body is young maybe we don’t feel so many difficulties. I asked Śrīla Prabhupāda shall I hope to live a long time? He replied, why? Old age brings many problems. So, we see that in the material world there are some things that are guaranteed. Death, disease, and old age. Those who get old, they will die and take birth again. So then, someone was questioning can one inherit the karma into another body? Śrīla Prabhupāda replied, because we have two bodies. We have the gross body which dies and the subtle body which goes with our soul. Our desires, our karma is with the subtle body. So if one thinks of his wife at the time of his death he may become a woman. If wife thinks of the husband, then she becomes a man. But if the husband and wife think of Kṛṣṇa at the time of death, then they go to Goloka. Haribol! So we have to help each other to always remember Kṛṣṇa and never forget Him.

In this way, Vidura is really kind to his brother to help him to be spiritually conscious. Sometimes, we think that the things of this life are very important. But because these things are temporary, we should not think that. Because they are temporary, therefore we do not consider them to be eternal. So I thank everyone being present today. And I hope you are all being very careful so that you don’t get affected by this wave. May you always think of Kṛṣṇa and never forget Him.

We have set up a JPS Care office to try to keep contact with all the disciples. But only a certain percentage of disciples, they have valid telephone numbers, WhatsApp numbers, email, etc. So those of my disciples who are aspiring or sheltered or initiated, if they wish to keep contact with me, they can keep in touch with JPS Care. I also said the śikṣā disciples and others who want to keep in touch. Just like Bhakti Tīrtha Swami asked me to help his disciples when they want. And although Bhakti Cāru Swami he suddenly left before I could speak to him personally, I feel responsible for all his disciples. And like that many gurus left and their disciples are there.