Shrimad-Bhagavatam 1.8.46. God is Merciful to Everyone
Bhakti Vijnana Goswami · London · 2019
Chapters
Recitation and translation of verse 1.8.46
Umnamo Bhagavate vasudeva bhavate vasudevaya, Omna mo Bhagavate vasudeva sudeva Omna Mo Bhagavatem Narayanamas kritya, narod, naramcheva, naruta ma Devi Sara Swatiamu Dira Nachtray Shwa Drišu Nitam Bhagavat Swaam, Bhagavatam Slowke, Bhakti Bhati Nastiki, Npra Djan Damanute, Dwaipalna, Putri Tammaya Tayota Rao Vinedus Tam Sarva Bhutha Hridayamuni Mana Tosri Varedi Sima Bhapatam Khant one chapter eight prayers by Kn Kunti text forty six Vyasa Vyasa Ishwara Ishwara Krishna Krishna Advuta Karmana. Prabodhitaha itiha saihe, sarebbe n. Abudhyata, sucharpita, Vyasadhyar ishware, Yasadhya ishware, Krishnad Buda Karmana, Vishnu, Krishnad Buda Karmana, Krishna, Prabodito. Prabodito viti hassare, prabodito piti hass, nabuddhy ta such arpita, nabdya ta su charpita, vyasadja, Krishnad, Bhutta Karman Krishnam, Prabo Pitiha S nabudya sucharpita. Vyasa agya by great sages headed by Vyasa. Ishwara the Almighty God by the By the will of Gyay by the learned Krishna by Krishna himself selfish karmana karmana by one who performs all superhuman workitaha being solac happy although hitihasay by evidences from histories. Na not Abuddhyata satisfied sucha arpitaha distressed translation. King Yudishtira, who was much grieved, could not be convinced despite instructions by great sages headed by Vyasa and the Lord Krishna Himself, the performance of superhuman feats, and despite all historical evidence, purported by his divine grace, I see Bhaktivinanda Swami Prabhupada.
The pious King Yudhishtira was mortified because of the mass massacre of human beings in the battle of Kurukshetra, especially on his account.
Duryodhana was there on the throne and he was doing well in his administration. And in one sense, there was no need of fighting.
But on the principle of justice, Yudhiṣṭhira was to replace him. The whole clique of politics centered around this point, and all the kings and residents of the whole world became involved in this fight between the rival brothers.
Lord Krishna was also there on the side of King Yudhiṣṭhira. It is said that in the Mahābhārata Ādi-parva that 640 million men were killed in the 18 days of the
Battle of Kurukṣetra, and some hundreds of thousands were missing. Practically, this was the greatest battle in the world within the 5,000 years.
This mass killing simply to enthrone Maharaja Yudhiṣṭhira was too mortifying, so he tried to be convinced with evidence
from histories by the great sages like Vyāsadeva and the Lord himself that the fight was just because the cause was just.
But Maharaja Yudhiṣṭhira would not be convinced, would not be satisfied, even though he was instructed by the greatest personalities of the time. Krishna is designated herein as the performing of superhuman actions.
But in this particular instance, neither he nor Vyasa could convince King Yudhiṣṭhira. Does it mean that he failed to be a superhuman actor? No, certainly not.
The interpretation is that the Lord as Īśvara or the Supersoul in the hearts of both King Yudhiṣṭhira and Vyāsadeva performed still more superhuman action because the Lord desired it.
As Supersoul, the King Yudhiṣṭhira, he didn't of King Yudhiṣṭhira, he did not allow the king to be convinced by the words of Vyāsa and others, including himself, because he desired that the king hear instructions from the dying Bhīṣmadeva, who was another great devotee of the Lord.
The Lord wanted that at the last stage of his material
existence, the great warrior Bhīṣmadeva, see him personally and see his beloved grandchildren, King Yudhiṣṭhira, etc. Now situated on the throne and thus pass away very peacefully.
Bhīṣmadeva was not at all satisfied to fight against the Pandavas, who were his beloved fatherless grandchildren.
But the kṣatriyas are also very stern people, and therefore he was obliged to take the side of Duryodhana because he was maintained
at the expense of the Duryodhana. Besides this, the Lord also desired that King Yudhiṣṭhira be pacified by the words of Bhīṣmadeva so that the world could see that Bhīṣmadeva excelled all in knowledge, including the Lord Himself.
Sila Prabhupada. Vyasadhyaris Varehadhy, Krishna Buddha Karmana, Prabodhito, Piti Hasar Nabuddhyata
Sucharpita Kingitistira who was much agrieved, could not be convinced despite instructions by great sages headed by Vyasa and the Lord Krishna himself.
The performer of superhuman feats and despite all historical evidence. Namovishnibadaya Krishna Krishna Buddha Srimade Bhakti Danta Swami Nitinamini, Namaste Saraswati, Goramani Pracharini,
Virvisas chatadis taripadharvichakripassidur vicha patitana pawyoga sriona ja sri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhupada Nanda Sriadware Tavadatara Sivasadora
Bhakta Vrinda Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Mandai
Qualifications needed to hear Srimad-Bhagavatam
jagatriya karbaku prasupam sandrivayata yvashakti drakswana nyamshahasti chavana savanatwa nana So I reading this first cant of Srimad Bhagavatam. And the whole first cant of Srimad Bhagavatam is describing
the Adikar Tafa, the qualification for For hearing, speaking, and understanding Shrimad Bhagavatam. Because to understand Shrimad Bhagavatam, one has to have certain qualifications.
And if we analyze very thoroughly the stories which are there in the first canto of Shimad Bhagavatam, we will see that they all fit into this plot.
From the very beginning, the qualification of Shauna Karish as the main hearer of Srimad Bhagavatam and Sutta Gaswani was described. Then Narada Muni and Vyasadev, there is another Shima-Bhagan between them was described.
In the meantime, their qualification is defined. And ultimately, the highest possible hearer and speaker of Srimad Bhagavatam, Sukadev Gaswani and Maharaja Pariksha, their qualification is being described.
So in this part of the first canto, basically
this whole last section of many many chapters from starting from the eighth chapter or even the seventh chapter of the first canton of Shimad Bhagavatam till the end, the qualification of the hearer Maharaja Pariksha is Pariksha is being described.
Through the his uh ancestries through his lineage and through his own personal qualifications through his life. It's interesting that qualification of Shukadev Gaswami is described very briefly.
Even though it is mentioned that he was very renounced and he was completely absorbed in the bliss of Rahman, still he was attached to the The Krishna Kathana to hearing about Krishna.
But then the qualification of hearer, Maharaja Parikshet, is much more elaborately described in Srimad Bhagavatam. Why? Because for us it's more important to understand how we should hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
What should be our qualification to hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam so that the ultimate success of hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam will come to our life. Because the ultimate success of hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is love of Godhead.
And it's not that easy. You know, love of Godhead is a very high achievement. But if we hear properly, if the hearing is done in a proper way and in a proper mood, with the proper qualification,
then definitely there is no doubt about it, love of God, it will come to our heart.
Lessons from Kunti and Bhishmadeva's prayers
And here in this particular chapter, and in the next chapter, it's very interesting before describing the life of Maharaja Pariksit and his qualifications, his lineage is described.
And this side stories, so to speak, side stories, they contribute very much to understand this subject matter.
Because basically, if we see the prayers of Lord Kuntī, of Queen Kuntī, the prayers of Queen Kuntī describe how one should live in this world and how one should pray during his life.
And then the next chapter, prayers of Bhishmadev or passing away of Bhishmadev describe how one should die in this world and what about one should pray during his death. But in the beginning, of course we should know how one should live.
Queen Kuntī in her prayers illustrates this. How the life should be, you know, all the difficult events of our life, and everyone's life is difficult. Maybe not as difficult as Queen Kuntī's life, but still.
Sometimes people, they being very enthusiastic neophyte devotees, they say, you know, they pray with Queen Kuntī, oh my Lord, send difficulties in my life, please, so that I could remember about you. No need to pray.
They will come anyways. Don't worry. The point is not difficult. The point is not difficulties, the point is to remember about the Lord in difficulties, which is not guaranteed when the difficulties come.
And of course, and she describes very beautifully her prayer. The prayer of her heart is that in these difficulties, please remember, please help me to remember about you.
Please let my consciousness always flow towards you without any cessation. And that's the perfection of the life because we know that there are so many distractions in life.
You know, when we have stressful situations, or when we have happy situations, we forget about the world. Very easily. You know, there is so much stress there. And we have to remember about so many things.
You know, and there is hardly any time to remember about the Lord. Even when we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantras, somehow or other we conveniently forget about the Lord.
We chant his name, but we don't remember about him. There is no consciousness invested into this chanting. And that's the biggest problem which we have. So she's explaining to us what should be the desire of our heart.
Usually we pray to the Lord, give us this, give us that, improve this situation, make me healthy, make me wealthy, make me, you know, bring me husband or wife and then help me to divorce them and so many prayers are there all the time.
It's good to at least we we have some excuses to remember about him but in reality the prayer should be help me to remember about you all the time help my consciousness to flow towards you without any break or cessation.
That should be the prayer, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. And then of course uh if we do this, then uh the glorious death is awaiting for us.
Usually death is not a very glorious event. It's a very sad event because still there are so many attachments and it's so difficult. And first and foremost the attachment towards the body. It's so strong.
But we can see this in the next chapter the description of glorious death of Bhīṣmadeva, who was absolutely not attached. And actually, to describe his glory,
Lord Krishna Himself wanted to stress or to announce to the whole world the glory of Bhishmadev through this pastime with Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira. So this whole arrangement of the Lord is very interesting.
Vyasadeva's attempt to console King Yudhisthira
There are many elements of this story which are quite interesting. First of all, it is said that Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira could not be pacified by anyone. Vyāsadeva was there, and Vyāsadeva was telling him different stories.
And Narada Muni was there. And Narada Muni was trying to cite different examples. And then Krishna himself was trying to pacify Mahārāja. In Mahabharata, this whole context is being described more elaborately.
Maharaja Yudhishthira was very much aggrieved while remembering the whole history of the whole of the Mahabharata war and he was saying, "Because of me Abhimanyu was killed.
Because of me, the five sons of Draupadi were killed. And because of me, because of my greed, so many other people were killed. And Dronacharya was killed. And how he was killed.
He was killed because I said that Ashvatthama is dead. And of course, I said the elephant Ashvatthama, but I did say it in a very low voice.
You know, why all of a sudden would I say to Dronacharya, Ashvatthama the elephant is killed?" Definitely there was a crookedness in this war, and he was so remorseful. And then he says that even Bhishma was killed.
He was remembering this again and again and again. And this is all because of me. And then Vyasadeva started pacifying him and saying, "You know, please don't be so aggrieved, because it's the destiny.
Don't attribute too much importance to your own actions. Because everyone, Vyasadeva was saying that everyone was born with certain destiny. And they just, you know, it's not you. You didn't kill them.
And then they have started telling some ancient history. It's actually very interesting because usually when we read Mahabharata, they never tell you instructions directly.
They start telling that, you know, some time ago Janaka Maharaja was there and he was also aggrieved. And then his minister started pacifying. In this way of instructing people, we are circumventing their ego.
You know, if we start telling somebody directly some instructions, the ego will revolt. Because ego is not very eager to hear some direct instructions.
But if you describe the instructions which were given to King Janaka, then you can hear it without the resistance of false ego. It's much easier to understand.
You know, you hear, and at the same time you hear the instruction and you understand the instruction.
So Vyasadeva started telling this story about King Janaka and his minister, how his minister was trying to pacify King Janaka. And basically King Janaka asked, you know, what to do if we lose our near and dear ones.
And you know his minister started saying, his name was Asta, started saying, you know, don't worry, you know, it just happens. The only problem which we have is not grief. The only problem which we have is not happiness.
The only problem which we have is our reaction to grief and happiness. Our emotions which we attribute to something to the causes of grief and happiness. And basically the instruction of Vyāsadeva was don't grieve.
And don't get into much happiness when we're happy, we think, you know, oh, I'm so powerful. And when something bad comes, we think, oh, I'm so useless. But it's not this.
It's actually very interesting what Vyāsadeva told him. Vyāsadeva told him that either in grief or in happiness, the only thing which you should ask yourself, who I am. You shouldn't ask why this happens to me.
Why did it happen to me? You should ask, who am I? Where am I? Just coming back to this point, I'm the Spirit Soul. I'm the Soul. Because we shouldn't allow our consciousness to be absorbed in all these events of our life.
Too much. We should always remember, I am the spirit soul. And my prime relationship, foremost relationship is with Krishna. Not just allow this turmoil of the events of our life to completely carry away our mind.
And he said, just, you know, the life is completely mysterious. Vyāsadeva said to Mahārāja, you're grieving, you know, but the life is mysterious. You know, the Ayurvedic physicians, they also have disease.
Even though they follow very carefully all the diet and everything they eat very properly, they still get disease. And all their relatives get disease and die. And then rich people they also die.
And they also and sometimes rich people they don't have children and poor people they have so many children and you know the life is so topsy-turvy. It's always, you know, something is wrong in this life. Don't grieve.
There is no need to grieve. The only thing which you should ask again and again and again. Where am I going? So that was the attempt. And then Narada Muni was telling some strange story to Maharaj. Still, he was not pacified.
Then ultimately Arjuna Arjuna kind of, you know, said to Krishna, Krishna, you try.
It didn't work, you know, Vyasadeva tried, didn't work, Nārada Muni tried, didn't work and Krishna very diligently started saying, you know, why are you grieving? Everyone is dying. So many kings died.
So many kings, everyone is dying. Why are you grieving? Stop grieving. And didn't work.
Confrontation with the rakshasa Carvaka
So what happened next?
Ultimately, Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, he agreed to ascend to the throne and you know there was a royal procession, and Krishna was there, and all the Pāṇḍavas were there, and it was a very glorious procession. They entered Hastināpura.
And at that time, among all the citizens who were greeting Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, there was one rākṣasa. His name, the name of this rākṣasa was Cārvāka, and he was dressed in sannyāsī clothes and he had his daṇḍa.
And when Mahārāja was proceeding there, you know, after being victorious in the war and to be ascended to the throne, all of a sudden this Cārvāka stepped forward and
he looked very sternly at Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, and he said, on behalf of all these brāhmaṇas which are there, I'm speaking not on myself, I'm speaking on behalf of all these brāhmaṇas, and I curse you, you wretched Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, because you killed all your relatives and you think you will be happy by killing all your relatives.
And Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira was completely shocked. And he said, Oh, please don't curse me. You know, and then all of a, there was a great turmoil. Sishi Radagupunanda Gita, Sid Ramba Swanama, Sishi Golita Maharaja
this was completely, you know, because he was thinking about this and now you know that some sannyāsī is coming forward and saying, I am speaking on behalf of all the brāhmaṇas, I am cursing you on behalf of all the brāhmaṇas.
And then all brāhmaṇas started, you know, there was a great uproar, and they said, We didn't empower this guy to curse you. Don't listen to him.
He's a rākṣasa, he is a demon, he's a friend of Duryodhana. And they all cursed the rākṣasa, and the rākṣasa fell dead right there. But you know, it's definitely not a very auspicious event, you know, during your coronation ceremony. So that added some emotional that was had
some emotional impact on Maharaj Yudhiṣṭhira. So he was he actually he wanted to die. He said, I will starve to death. I will sit down and I will emaciate myself till I die, and this is the only way.
And he even said, Bhima will be the next emperor. When I die, let Bhima rule. So and what happens then, it's very interesting
because one morning when Maharaj Yudhiṣṭhira was determined he actually he started fasting because Vyāsadeva told him if you want to you know eradicate your sins, if you want to wash away the sins, you just fast. Just fast for a few days, and then all the sins will be gone.
Krishna's meditation on the dying Bhishmadeva
So Maharaj started fasting, and one morning he came to Krishna and he saw Krishna and he started greeting Krishna and he said, Krishna, how are you? How was your night?
And you are the Lord of the universe. What are you doing? And Krishna was sitting there in his sofa, redecked with jewels and gold. And he didn't react.
For a long time, Maharaj was asking him some questions, and Krishna was still silent, and his eyes were closed. And ultimately, Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira realized that he is in the meditation.
And then, after a long time, Krishna opened his eyes. And at that moment, Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira asked, can I please know what you were meditating about?
The whole universe is meditating upon you. What you were meditating about, there must be something really serious happening somewhere in the universe. You must be, you were so absorbed.
And he said to him, I saw that your hairs were standing on end and tears were flowing from your eyes. What was happening? If I'm allowed to know what was happening within your heart? What was there?
Please reveal me this secret. And Krishna said, I was meditating about Bhīṣmadeva. How this old man is lying on the bed of arrows, and how he is thinking about me.
Because I was reciprocating with his thoughts, he's thinking about me, how I cannot think about him. Because he's thinking about me, I am constantly thinking about him.
I cannot I cannot finish thinking about him because he's so intensely thinking about me. And of course, there is a great lesson in this particular episode because you know who would like that God would think about him?
Does anyone would like that God would sometimes think about us? It would be nice, isn't it? To be sure.
And here, of course, it is being explained the way if we see our own psychology in life, we always want other people to think about us.
You know, wife always wants that husband would think about her. And husband wants, well sometimes he doesn't want that wife to think about him.
But definitely wife always wants that husband and there is there is this game of life that we want others to think about us. Somehow or other we want that we would be in the center of other people's consciousness.
All these people who are, you know, all the stars and everyone, they somehow or other they feel great enjoyment. They force others to think about them. But here is the secret being revealed by Krishna himself.
If we want others to think about us, we should think about them. We should care about them.
And especially here, this is a very dramatic Episode and occurrence, you know, Bhīṣmadev is laying in the bed of arrows and when you're so pained and when you're so,
you know in, the last moment of your life, you probably have a lot of self-pity. You know, when we get little disease, we have this self-pity. Why did it happen to me?
I was changing Krishna's name sometimes. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna. Why did it happen to me? Why did this disease come to me? Why did it happen to me?
You know, out of all, Bhisma had probably more rights to think like this. Why did it happen to me? You know, how did I deserve such an end? Laying on the bed of arrows at the end of such a pure life. I'm a Mahajan.
Bhishma could have thought like this. I'm Mahajan. Why did it happen to me?
No, he was this grateful heart was thinking about Krishna. How great Krishna is. And therefore, he didn't even feel pain. His consciousness was completely absorbed in Krishna.
And Krishna in this episode he's saying he's thinking about me. You know, how can I not think about him?
Reciprocation between the devotee and Krishna
There is a very interesting part of this or the purport of this. In Jaiva-dharma of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura,
towards the end, the question is asked among the devotee and God who should take the initiative? Who should start loving whom first?
The question, the particular question which was asked about pūrva-rāga. Pūrva-rāga is the love and separation before meeting. And the question was asked: who should experience pūrva-rāga or the longing for meeting first?
Is it God or the devotee? And the answer was given that in normal relationship, in man and woman relationship. The initiative usually comes from the man. The man he initiates relationship.
Basically, the question, very important question which is asked, who initiates the relationship?
And Bhaktivinoda Thakur he writes there that in normal relationship usually it's men who initiate relationship because men are very aggressive and, they, you know, they look at somebody and say, okay, she's nice, okay. Let me think about her.
But he said, but in a spiritual relationship, it's woman who initiates the relationship, or it's the devotee who initiates the relationship. Actually, the initiative should come from us and Krishna will reciprocate.
There is no doubt about it. We should start first thinking about him. He will reciprocate to the thinking about him.
And here we see this this is being depicted in this story how Bhishmadev is thinking about Krishna and how Krishna is saying to Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, you know, he's always thinking about me and I cannot I cannot stop thinking about him.
And Krishna himself says, let's go see him. Let's go see him. And Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira says, oh, that's a great idea. Let's go see him.
So here we see a very interesting dynamic as Śrīla Prabhupāda describes here is that Krishna actually has this plan and idea from the very beginning. Because he is Īśvara, He is the Supersoul in the hearts of everyone.
He didn't allow Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira to be pacified by all these endeavors which were there. And as Prabhupāda says, Kṛṣṇa is called here Adbhuta-karmaṇa, the somebody who performs unbelievable, very wonderful feats.
And the wonderful feat which he performed in this particular episode is that he didn't allow Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira to be pacified, to be free from grief.
Despite Him speaking, despite Vyāsadeva speaking, despite Nārada Muni was speaking, he didn't allow to be pacified from grief, to be relieved from grief,
again he wanted Bhīṣmadeva to do this particular thing to to glorify Bhishma Dev. And of course, the main idea here is that how magnanimous Krishna is, how kind he is and how how his reciprocation is overwhelming.
He just here wants to glorify Bhīṣmadeva so that everyone in the world would read this and would glorify Bhīṣmadeva, how he was able to pacify Mahārāja with his street and how great devotee he was.
There is always, we know, this competition among and between the Lord and the devotee. Devotee wants to glorify the Lord sincerely from the heart. He wants to glorify the Lord. And the Lord wants to glorify the devotee.
There is no need to try to, you know, glorify yourself or whatever, do anything yourself. Everything is being done, is being accomplished just by thinking about Krishna.
The only thing which we should do, which we should learn in this life, there is the only thing which we should learn: how to think about Kṛṣṇa with gratitude and ultimately with love.
You know, the first the gratitude should be there. We by nature, we are by nature very ungrateful. By nature we always dissatisfied and we always demand
and we always come to God and say, you know, I don't have this and this and this. Why you didn't give it to me? Why? Why you're so cruel? Why you didn't? Perhaps you don't exist. It's actually the greatest offense.
You know, there is no more offense than to say somebody you don't exist. You know, when somebody when we want to offend somebody, we just don't look at him as if he doesn't exist.
You know, somebody is there and he's just not there. So when people are not satisfied, ungrateful people are not satisfied, they just come to God and say, I think you don't exist. No, no. Cannot be.
You know, it's unbelievable how people can maintain this attitude. How they, especially scientists. Scientists the most intelligent people. And scientists they study life and they study all this mechanism of the universe.
And then after studying all these intricacies of life and everything the end uh conclusion is that it all happened by chance you know somehow or other it all happened by chance this is this is this ungrateful nature of human being.
God doesn't exist. No way God doesn't exist. So the main point, of course, of the whole Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam is how to remember about the Lord, in which mood, with gratitude how to remember about the Lord.
Developing gratitude by observing divine mercy
And for that we should always, you know, Bhīṣmadev, he shows how to remember about the Lord. How he remembers about the Lord. We may not understand how the Lord is merciful to us.
But when Bhīṣmadev is remembering about the Lord, he remembers how the Lord is merciful towards Arjuna. How much love Krishna had to Arjuna because for the sake of Arjuna he was ready to break his own word.
For the sake of Arjuna, because of his love to Arjuna and because of his love to Bhishma, he was ready to break his word.
So basically, the main lesson of this is that we should always try to remember how the Lord was kind toward others by reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, by reading other stories, by meditating, how his kindness manifested towards others. And then ultimately we will be able to understand how the Lord is kind to us.
Because again, you know, due to our nature, due to our psychology, it's sometimes difficult to understand first of all, it's difficult to understand how the mercy of the Lord manifests in sometimes very cruel events of our life and very difficult events of our life.
So, but this meditation is there and it should start. This is how Bhagavatam explains this. It should start from meditating how Lord is extremely kind and merciful towards others.
And then when this program is there, when this lens is there, when we see the mercy of the Lord,
how it's overwhelming mercy of the Lord, then we may have a glimpse, you know, actually He is also merciful to me too. And whatever I thought maybe not mercy is actually mercy. That's what we learn. You know, here what we see, Krishna, even though externally,
you know, what he did to Bhīṣma, and ultimately that's what he did to Bhīṣma, was very cruel. But internally, he just the idea behind this was just to glorify Bhishma. That even in this condition he's thinking about me.
And he's taking everyone, uh, you know, he's taking Maharaj here, he's arranging this whole intricate and difficult story, including the Rākṣasa Cārvāka. You know, this whole story. Only for this reason.
He's only waiting when Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira tells him, let's go to Bhīṣmadev and let's see Bhīṣmadev, to glorify his devotee before the end of his life.
So, but again, the idea is to think and meditate how God is merciful towards others, towards whatever little devotion others have, and then apply it to our own life. For sure God is merciful. Towards me too.
He will be merciful. Somehow or other anyway I I thought about him for maybe two minutes without no stop, you know, without breaking. At least I tried.
Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma, Rāma, Hare Hare, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma, Rāma, Hare Hare.
Anyway, that's the whole idea about this. We should try to think about the Lord. The onus is on us, the initiative should come from us. He will think about us, no doubt about it. Proportionately.
As much as we think about him, he will think about us. So there is no loss in these attempts.
Again and again, try to think about him and try to think how how merciful he is, how kind he is, how magnanimous he is in his dealings and you know avoid self-pity, self-pity, and all these other feelings which actually distract us from thinking about the Lord with love are very unproductive.
So don't get into this weakness of self-pity and grief and this and that. Lord is there.
Remembering Krishna's presence in daily life
It is said, uh Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī, he says that the first thing which we should do in the morning while waking up, we should chant
the verse from the Tenth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. darbhoru-rāśi-nadhaḥ-śaya-śīla-cāra- Stiracharavrijinaasus Mitham Sri Nukeda Puravanikanam Vardayankamadev.
And the whole meaning of this verse is that Krishna is present now. The pastimes of Krishna are going on, and you are part of these pastimes.
The pastimes of Krishna are not something in the past; it's not some stories, some histories. Krishna is there in your life. This is the reminder which we should have. Every day of our life and every minute of our life.
Krishna is alive, and He is reciprocating with us. Jayati Janani Vasodari Janavada. He is there, Jayati is in present tense.
Let this Krishna who is known as the son of Devaki be glorious because he is always establishing Dharma through his devotees. He is always enlivening both moving and non-moving living entities.
And he is always ready to give the love and Vardayanka Madhvero is always ready to increase the love. It all depends on you, on your mood. Krishna will reciprocate.
So if you remind this and you remember that Lord is there and His re- reciprocation is guaranteed according to our mood and relationship to Him, then ultimately there will be success.
And then ultimately we will be able to properly hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Because again, this whole canto is describing to us in which mood or frame of mind we should hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
So if this is the mood or understanding — how merciful is the Lord, how extremely merciful He is towards me, how personal He is towards me, as much as towards everyone else, and how grateful I should be towards Him.
Then we will be able to hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Vardayan Kamadevam, ultimately the love of God will take over our heart, will overwhelm our heart. Instead of being Sucharpita overwhelmed by grief, we will be premarpida.
We will be overwhelmed by love. So that's it, thank you.
Questions on devotional meditation and chanting
There are any questions? Yes. Very interesting. Thank you very much. Um I was just wondering, I've also heard that as much as you think of Prabhupada he thinks of us.
So is it best to try and meditate on Prabhupada or Krishna? Uh it's non-different.
Whoever is connected with Krishna, it is explained by Srila Jiva Goswami in his commentary to this verse, definition verse of anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānu-śīlanam when uh Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī is commenting on this verse he says ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānu-śīlanam we should try to serve or to do something favorable or be favorable towards Krishna.
When when we say Krishna it includes his pure devotees, his entourage. So there's no difference. There is absolutely no difference. Because while thinking about Prabhupada we will think about Krishna.
And while thinking about Krishna, we will think about Prabhupada. Because how did we get Krishna? We got it because of him. Not if it's all right.
It's a question you've probably you've been asked many times, as I have many times you would be asked, uh how actually to meditate in the future.
I said during chanting, I tried to make it on some fall, but you should take me away from hearing. I just imagine some fall. I mean, I just focus on hearing and it's kind of personal,
but chant me on and they say for the meditation in bhakti yoga very much depends on the emotion which you experience.
We don't engage ourselves in this sort of neutral impersonal meditation when we just concentrate the mind. Our means or our lens for concentrating the mind on Krishna is emotion.
And the different verses of Srimad Bhagavatam, they have certain emotional content.
And by reading these verses or remembering these verses, we may, if if we have the key towards these verses, we can unlock these verses and understand what emotion is being expressed in these verses.
And by having this emotion and chanting Krishna's holy name, we meditate on him uh with this emotion Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare this is what is being described
in Bhajana-rahasya by Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura is starting from the third chapter of Bhajana-rahasya. First, well even second chapter is there, but mostly third chapter onwards.
He gives different verses from Srimad Bhagavatam and other scriptures, mostly from Shrimad Bhagavatam, which are the help or aid for meditating while chanting Hare Krishna because this whole bhajana-rahasya is his guide how to chant Hare Krishna.
And the idea behind this that you chant Hare Krishna, not while remembering these verses, but coming into the mood of these verses.
Every verse is containing certain ideas, and this idea is like a tuner. It tunes up your mind in a certain way.
And when the mind is tuned in this spiritual way by the means of this verse, then you chant Hare Krishna and your mind is tuned properly, and then your chanting will reach God.
And then after some time, or you know the radio of our mind is a little strange and it becomes again untuned and there is some noise there. Shh. So tune it again, the proper wavelength.
And then again Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare. Rama Ramani Hare. This is at least how it is explained.
And it is very nicely explained about who has to be the initial relationship according to jiva-tattva. I remember in one class you were explaining that guru is the feminine aspect and disciple
I remember in one classes, you were explaining that guru is the feminine aspect and disciples the masculine. So how how does this be related to that?
Well, it's in this relationship between guru and disciple definitely the initiative should come from the disciple, there is no doubt about it. Guru will reciprocate.
And if he sees the endeavors of the disciple, he will definitely reciprocate with his endeavors. That's when I was telling about this, that's from a different angle of view.
But if we take the you know uh ordinary uh description uh Disciple is the servant, Guru is the master, so Guru is the masculine aspect, no doubt about it. And therefore the initiative should come from the disciple.
The initiative should come from there. The reciprocation will come.
Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura explains why initiative in this in the spiritual relationship should come from the feminine aspect because he said because the the women they're more capable of love, their love is more strong, therefore the initiative comes from there.
And we can see when the relationship between the guru and disciple, sometimes the feelings of disciple are more strong than the feelings of the guru. Guru is definitely feels obliged to reciprocate with the feelings of the disciple.
But the initiative should come from the disciple, not otherwise.
Contrast between material and spiritual intelligence
Thank you, Maharaj. One question.
Uh you mention uh intelligent and uh that uh scientists are intelligent people and uh we Intelligent but but ungrateful. I'm sorry. But from time to time we hear this that um I hear this that scientists are and these people are intelligent.
And so I'm wondering uh you have spiritual intelligence and you have material intelligence. Is there um are these things distinctly distinctly different?
Because I understand that with material intelligence, like scientists are, they have this intelligence but they reject God, notion of God. So does material intelligence does it really matter?
Is it up you know um No it doesn't matter. Okay, so it doesn't matter. So it doesn't matter. So therefore so therefore real intelligence then is not material intelligence. Please can you explain this so I can understand?
Because I understand that spiritual intelligence is the real intelligence because the understanding things of the screw also the things of matter.
So this is actually explained by uh Śrīla Prabhupāda in the in his comment to the prayer of Queen Kuntī. Tatha Paramaham Sanam Muni namalatmanam Bhakti Yoga Vidhan Artham Katham Pashema Histrija.
Queen Kuntī says that in this verse that your cunning to give bhakti yoga to all this great people, very pure people, you know what can we poor women can do?
And Srila Prabhupada says there that you know supposedly women are less intelligent, or sometimes he says this, but he actually turns the whole uh whole uh explanation of whole verse 180 degrees, and he says it's actually those who have humble intelligence or like women, they are actually more intelligent than those who sing or who think that they are very intelligent.
Prabhupada says that all these so-called pure people, they are actually mental speculator, and those who have humble heart, they have real intelligence.
So the spiritual intelligence and material intelligence are indeed different entities. And from material point of view, sometimes behavior of spiritually intelligent people is totally unintelligible.
They cannot even understand why uh spiritually inclined people are uh because material intelligence means material calculation, how you calculate, you know, how to adopt or adjust the material circumstances. And spiritual intelligence, you understand there is the higher power, and you surrender to the higher power.
Material intelligence is the means to lord it over material nature. That's how scientists use it. And it's a brilliant tool given to them by God, how to reject God and deny God and try to adjust this life.
Spiritual intelligence is the means or intelligence which helps you to surrender to God. Thank you.
Background history of the rakshasa Carvaka
Okay. Um, the Cārvāka Muni that you mentioned, is that Rākṣasa Cārvāka, it's not Cārvāka Muni. It's just it's just his his friend. They both happen to be charvakas.
Actually Krishna he tells uh to uh he's trying to pacify Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira when this episode happens when Cārvāka Rākṣasa Cārvāka curses Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira. Krishna tells his story.
He says this Cārvāka Rākṣasa was doing austerities in Badrinath. And while doing austerities, he ultimately was successful and Lord Shiva came to him and he has the benediction.
And he has the benediction: let me be invincible. And Lord Shiva said, okay, you will be invincible, nobody will be able to kill you.
There is only one exception: if you will offend brāhmaṇas, then by the curse of brāhmaṇas you will be killed. And this rākṣasa Cārvāka, he started doing this.
And uh yeah, and actually it was said by Lord Śiva, you will be killed because you will offend brāhmaṇas, and you will offend brāhmaṇas because you will become a friend of Duryodhana. So he became a friend of Duryodhana.
He was so offended by Mahārāja, he couldn't contain himself. So he lied openly and he uh you know invoked the curse of brāhmaṇas. It's a different process. But similar mentality. Okay, thank you very much.
Śrīla Prabhupāda ki