Srimad-Bhagavatam 9.18.22
Бхакти Вигьяна Госвами · Вриндаван · 2020
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Invocation and verses recitation
Om namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, Om namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, Om namo bhagavate. Nārāyaṇaṁ namaskṛtya naraṁ caiva narottamam, devīṁ sarasvatīṁ vyāsaṁ tato jayam udīrayet.
Naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu nityaṁ bhāgavat-sevayā, bhagavaty uttama-śloke bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī. Tutama Shloque Bhakti
Stiki, Jamprajanta Manapetama Peta Kritjam Dwaipayanavirahatara Juhava, Utre Titan Mayatayota, buthridayamima tos m. Krishna.
So today we're reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto 9, Chapter 18, King Yayāti Regains His Youth, text number twenty-two:
Yad idaṁ kūpa-magnasya bhavato darśanaṁ bhavet hasta-grāha mahā-bujo kacasya bārhaspatyasya śāpāt puram aśāpam aśāpam puraṁ yad idaṁ kūpa-magnasya bhavato darśanam. Na brahmaṇo me bhavitā, no me bhavitā,
hasta-grāha mahā-bhuja, mahā-bhujam āḥ, kacasya bārhaspatyasya, sāpatyam-pura, pā-ampura, yad idaṁ kūpa magnasya, yad idaṁ kūpa magnasya, bhavato darśanam a, bhavato darśanam a, na brahano me bhavitā, me bhavitā,
hasta-grāha mahā-bhuja, mahā-bhuja, kacasya bārhaspatyasya, śāpatyam aśāpam-puram asyat
because of, because of, idam, this, kupa, magnaha, magnaha, fallen in the well, bhavataha, of, of your good self, of your good self, darsanam, meeting, meeting, mama, with me, na, not, brahmana, brahmana, a qualified brahmana, qualified brahmana, me bhavita, bhavita, will become, hasta-graha, husband, mahabuja, buja, o great, mighty-armed one, kacasya, of Kacha, barhapatasya, the son of the learned brahmana, the son of the learned brahmana and celestial priest Brihaspati.
Śāpāt. Because of the curse. Because of the curse. Yam Hum. Ashapam Ashapam. I cursed. I cursed. Pura in the past. Translation. Because of falling in the well I met you. Indeed, this has been arranged by Providence.
After I cursed Kacha, the son of a learned scholar Brihaspati, he cursed me by saying that I would not have a Brahmana for a husband.
Background on Kacha and Shukracharya
Therefore, Almighty Armed One, there is no possibility of my becoming the wife of a Brahmana.
Kacha, the son of the learned celestial priest Brihaspati had been a student of Sukracharya, from whom he had learned the art of reviving a man who has died untimely. This art is called Mṛta-sañjīvanī. Sanjavani.
Was especially used during warfare, warfare, wartime. When there was a war, soldiers would certainly die untimely, but if a soldier's body was intact, he could be brought to life again by this art of Mṛta-sañjīvanī.
This art was known to Sukracharya and many others, and Kachar, the son of Brihaspati, became Sukracharya's student to learn it.
Devayani desired to have Kacha as her husband, but Kacha, out of regard for Shukracharya, looked upon the Guru's daughter as the respectable superior and therefore refused to marry her.
Devayani angrily cursed Kacha by saying that although he had learned the art of Mr Sanjeevani from her father, it would be useless.
When cursed in this way, Kacha retaliated by cursing Devayani never to have a husband who was a Brahman.
Because Devayani liked Yayati, who was a Kshatriya, she requested him to accept her as his bona fide wife, although this would be Pratilomavi Vaha, a marriage between the daughter of a high family and the son of a lower family.
She explained that this arrangement was made by providence. Śrīla Prabhupāda kī jaya! Yadidam kupa magnaya bavato darsana maana brahmanomi bhavita hastagra mahabuja, kachasya barhapattyasya sapat yam Ashapampura.
Because of falling in the well I met you. Indeed, this was this has been arranged by providence.
After I cursed Kacheda, son of a learned scholar Brihaspati, he cursed me by saying that I would not have a Brahmana for a husband.
Therefore, Almighty Armed One, there is no possibility of my becoming the wife of a Brahman. Namau Vishnu Padaya Krishna Prishtay Ghotare Srimate Bhaktividanta Swami Namaste Saraswati Devi Burani
Pracharini, nirvisse, Sunyawali, Paschatari, Vanchakalfa tarovishakripa, Sindudevacha, Pachitana, pawanebywaisna ve, na moha.
Sri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhundithananda, Dvaita Gaddha, Sivasa de Guru Bhakta Vrinda Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama
Rama Hare Hare Ajanu Wam with Buddhoka na Kava Data Sankirtana, Pitarokama Lai Taksa, Vishwambarod Vja Varu, Gudarma, Palu Vandai, Javriya Karu Padma, Dantah Pishi Mamavachi Mamampra Suptam Sanjivaya da Kila Shakti Darah Swad Hare
Krishna Krishna So we're reading Shrimad Bhagavatam Mahapuranam and we are approaching the 10th candle, which will describe the Krishna's pastimes.
But before that, Sukadev Gaswani is explaining to ask what are the relatives of Krishna and from which lineage Krishna took place.
This sort of consideration, this genealogy, was very important in Vericulture. Because everyone in Vericulture Was feeling a great pride of being a descendant of a very famous and noble lineage, no matter who they were.
This part of Edic culture is called Kula Gaurava. When somebody belonging to a very great family was Was entitled to the heritage of the family in the shape of the noble qualities which his ancestors would possess.
And therefore, it was very important for Maharaja Parikshi to understand from which lineage Lord Krishna has come.
And therefore, this whole narration about King Yaiti is there in Shimad Bhagavatam and all the details because besides being a very instructive story, King Yaiiti is the direct ancestor of Lord Krishna because Lord Krishna is from the Yadavas clan, and Yadavas were descendants of King Yaya.
So, and being of utmost importance, this lineage consideration and so on and so forth, especially for people in the ancient time when Varnashama was still quite prominent, and it's definitely very prominent during the time of Mahabharata's narration by Shukadev Gasw Maharaja
Parikswit asks, how come there is this completely despicable Pratiloma marriage took place because King Yayati took as his good wife Devayani and Devayani was from Brahmana caste and King Yayati was a very powerful kshatri.
And that was completely, totally, absolutely prohibited in Vedic culture. That was practically unheard of, especially among very noble people.
Noble people would not allow this sort of pratiloma marriages to take place because of very important reasons. And I will touch these reasons a little later, but now
Story of Kacha and Devayani
the story which is behind this is being described by Śrīla Prabhupāda, and we will describe it in little more details. Śukadeva Gosvāmī explains this story why this took place.
And this took place because of a very unfortunate event that once uh during the war between demons and demigods uh the demigods
were suffered too much because Bṛhaspati didn't know this art of Mṛta-sañjīvanī. He didn't know the special secret mantras which would help to revive the dead bodies of the wars killed in the war. And on the contrary the
teacher or the preceptor of the demons, Śukrācārya knew this art very well. Therefore, demons would kill demigods left and right, and demigods would definitely kill demons, but demons were revived.
So therefore, demigods they were in a very precarious condition, and therefore, ultimately, they approached the elder son of Bṛhaspati.
And they said to the elder son of Bṛhaspati, you please go to Śukrācārya, and somehow or other learn this art.
You're a great brāhmaṇa and demigods they worshiped Kaca, the elder son of Bṛhaspati, made a special pūjā, and also promised to him.
If you do this, then we will give you the sacrificial share. You will be entitled to get the sacrificial share. In any sacrifice which would be performed, you will get something.
So Kaca being a very selfless brāhmaṇa, he kind of was a little seduced by this lucrative offering. And it was indeed very very generous offering.
Then you got said for the rest of you know the existence of the universe you will get some soma and Kaca thought it's it's a it's a good deal.
So he went to Śukrācārya and he said, I will become your disciple, and it basically means I will become your servant.
Because when somebody comes to you, at least this is implied, I don't know how much it is in the mind of modern people, but if uh somebody comes to a guru and says, I want to become your disciple, it's uh it's uh it's good because you know you get another servant.
And Sukracharya, even though he definitely perfectly knew the intentions of Kachi, he readily agreed to have a good Brahmacārī servant. Because brahmacārī means a servant, means menial servant.
Basically means that you know you're nobody. And you will have to do whatever your guru tells you. And Kaca said, I will be your brahmacārī disciple for 1,000 years.
So Shukracharya thought a little bit, and you know, thousand years is a long time, and he thought, yeah, it's a good deal. You know. Whenever he gets it, it's okay, but for thousand years I have a good servant in my house.
And he had his household, he had his favorite daughter, Devayani,
who was his pet daughter, and Kaca started serving very diligently and very conscientiously to his spiritual master and basically uh it would mean that he would uh tend his cows, it would mean that he would bring firewood from the uh forest, it would mean that he would uh tend the sacrificial fire every morning. Every morning he would be the first one to get up to lead the sacrificial fire and to help in all the activities of Shukracharya, cook the breakfast.
And not only this, it is specifically said in Matsya Puranam and Mahabharata, where the story is described in all details. He was very strict brahmacārī.
But despite being very strict brahmacārī, he would follow the orders of his spiritual master, and that would mean that he would dance in front of Devayani. That was his special service.
He would dance for Devayani and sing for Devayani, being alone with her.
So somebody may ask, you know, how is that perfect brahmacarya? It's a perfect brahmacarya because he was following strictly the orders of his spiritual master.
So for a long time he would dance and sing for her pleasure and Devayani sure enough she fell in love with Kaca.
And for 500 years Devayani was still young, so she was very because it was happening on the higher planes of existence for 500 years that was going on.
Before one day, Kaca saw half of uh his allotted uh time which he was supposed to serve his guru passed. But demons, uh you know, slow as they are and dull-witted as
they are, after 500 years they figured out why Kaca is there and they didn't like this arrangement.
So once while Kaca was with the cows, tending the cows and he was sitting under the tree. Danavas approached him and asked him, Who are you?
And Kacha said, Very honestly, I am the son of Brihaspati, great guru of the demigods, and they said, Oh, you are one of them." And they killed him. They mercilessly killed him.
Not only did they kill him, because they knew that Sukracharya knows this art of Mṛta-sañjīvanī. So they not only killed him, they cut his body into pieces.
And by cutting his body just quite thoroughly into pieces, they gave this body to the jackals and to the wolves. And the body of Kacha was eaten by the jackals and the wolves in the higher planes of existence.
So in the higher planets there are jackals and wolves. Anyways, the body of Kacha was mercilessly killed and Kacha himself watched everything because he knew what's going on. He will tell this later to Devayani.
And when the cows came back from the pastures they came back without the cowherd. And the time was already very late. There was a time for evening sacrifice, and Shukracharya
started evening sacrifice, but Devayani said, my father, something is wrong. He said, what is wrong? You know, Kacha is not back. Don't you notice it? And he said, yeah, sometimes something happens, you know.
Śukrācārya knew what happened actually. He was a powerful brāhmaṇa, but he didn't want to, you know, kind of stand in the way of the demons. He said, you know, whatever happened, happened. No problem.
But it was not so for Devayani, because for 500 years Kacha was dancing for her, so it was long enough to enter deep into her heart.
He was right there in her heart, and uh despite uh you know the very detached attitude of her father Devayani started insisting you should do something about it.
You should call by your mystic power, you should call Kacha, and I know how powerful you are. If you call Kacha with all your brāhmaṇical power, Kacha will come.
And you know Śukrācārya had to obey the order of his daughter and he called, Hey Kacha, come here, Kacha, come here. And sure enough, all the bellies of the wolves and uh uh jackals burst and uh all of a sudden kaccia like uh logo you know he he was assembled
again the body of kaccia was assembled again. Prabhupāda writes that you know this Mṛta-sañjīvanī art was only for the uh for those soldiers whose bodies were intact.
But actually this Mṛta-sañjīvanī art was all also for the bodies uh which were chopped to the small pieces. Anyway, so uh that happened and Kachia came back and uh Devayani asked what happened.
And he said, yeah, something happened, you know, the demons didn't like me serving you. And Kacha, you know, Devayani was very pleased and they killed me and they chopped my body and uh wolves ate
me and Devayani said okay so please be careful next time. So again a few hundred years passed by. And but demons were very insistent.
They they wanted by all means to stop this vicious plan of of Bṛhaspati or demigods. They want to completely destroy this plan. And therefore, next time Next
time they decided to make sure that Kacha will not survive, will not be the object of this Mṛta-sañjīvanī art.
Therefore, they killed Kacha, they burned his body, and moreover, they very cleverly put the ashes of Kacha's body into the nice wine which Śukrācārya drank for his for his lunch.
So it was quite a quite a clever arrangement. Probably took them some time to figure out what to do.
Because they knew if he if he calls him back a catch a come back then you know something wrong happens with his body, and there will be nobody to revive Śukrācārya.
So this happened and again Kacha came back without Kacha. And again Devayani became hysterical. Devayani started telling his father, you know, please do something about it. Kacha has to come back. Kacha has to come back.
And her father, he started in meditation trying to find out where is Kacha and sure enough he found out that Kacha is in his belly and he very you know gently asked Kacha Kacha how come you are in my belly?
And Kacha in his subtle form being attached to the body of uh Śukrācārya, he said, yes. Somehow or other I probably I wanted to become your son, therefore I'm your body now.
And you drank my you know my ashes with your little wine which you took after lunch for better digestion. So, and um, Śukrācārya wasn't in a fix. He thought what to do, what to do now. And he started preaching to Devayani.
Devayani, be detached, you know, whoever is born, he will die, no problem. You know, so what's the big deal? Kacha. Kacha is dead now. And Devayani said, no, by all means you have to revive Kacha.
And you know, Sukracharya said, but I will have to die for this. And Devayani said, I don't care. It's better for you to die than I will make hell for you every day of your life.
So that, and Śukrācārya, he thought a little bit and he said, okay.
And he figured out a plan, he said, okay, Kacha, now I will teach you this Mṛta-sañjīvanī art. And the deal is that yes, I will revive you, I will be dead, but you will revive me. And in this way we will solve the problem.
And so the whole purpose of Kacha was actually achieved by this quite a dramatic event which took place in his life.
But Kacha was very happy. Kacha said, okay, just teach me this sañjīvanī vidyā, sañjīvanī, and I will definitely revive you. And moreover, I, not only I revive you, I will become your son now. I will be twice born in the real sense of the word. I will become your son.
Not only the son of my father, I will also become your son because I will be born from your body.
So Śukrācārya, he chanted the very secret mantra, and sure enough, his stomach burst, and Kacha happily jumped out of his stomach, and Devayani said, Oh Kacha, I'm very happy to see you.
And uh uh and Kacha diligently performed this Mṛta- sañjīvanī and uh revived Śukrācārya.
So basically the whole purpose was achieved, and for a thousand years again very dutifully Kacha served his guru, but when the thousand years was over, he approached his guru and took his permission to go back to the heavenly planets, to the planets of demigods.
And his guru, being very pleased with him, he said, Yes, you may go, no problem. You made your part of the deal, so please go back.
Curses between Devayani and Kacha
And when he was about to depart, Devayani said, wait a second, wait a second. You know, you're very powerful, brāhmaṇa, and you know that you owe your life to me, aren't you?
You know, it's because of me you are still you know alive and because of me you're still, uh, you know, this art of Mṛt-sañjīvanī and everything, so why don't you take me as your wife? And it's a good match.
You brāhmaṇa, I am a brāhmaṇī. We will have a good life together. And she said, no, I cannot do this. Because you are the daughter of my preceptor, my guru. And I always looked at you, you know, looked up at you.
This is an amazing thing, because she got attached to Kacha. And he didn't get attached to Kacha, uh, to to Devayani. Why?
Even though you know they were associating quite intimately, he was dancing with her, but she was uh a worshipable object for him. And therefore the attachment didn't take place. Lust didn't enter his mind and his heart.
Because when you worship somebody, then there is no question of lust. You know, the lust only takes place if you look down at somebody, if you want to exploit somebody.
So never it it basically means this very beautiful story actually teaches us how to be free from lust. If you looked at everyone as the object of your worship, if you
to you, then the lust will not enter, then the lust thoughts will not come to you. Therefore, Chanakya Pandit says that you know you should look at every woman besides your wife as your mother.
And not only you know as your mother, because you know modern people they will look at every woman as mother and then they will still have the source of incest basically because this is the crazy minds of Western people or uh degraded
people of Kali Yuga, not only Western people, everywhere in India as well. But looking to every woman as the mother means looking at them as the worshipable objects, as the objects of one's worship.
Then only the lust will not develop. So Kacha said, I cannot do this.
In the same way, like Arjuna, he also refused to, uh, cohabit with Urvashi in heavenly places because she said, no, you're you're my mother, you're wife of Pururava, one of my ancestors. How can I, how can I do this? I, I cannot do this, it's unimaginable.
So, uh, Kacha said no, and, uh, Devayani, she became very impassioned and she said, if you don't marry me, then all the art of Sanjuini will be wasted. You will never be able to use it. I am cursing you.
And Kacha was very calm. And she said, "Okay, I'm taking your curse with gratitude." But because your curse is against dharma, please listen;
it's very important part of this whole story because uh you know, the curse of Devayani was effective, uh, because she was a powerful lady. But still, it was against dharma.
There was no reason for her to curse Kacha, because Kacha gave a very solid reason why he could not marry her. But still, because of the anger, she cursed him, and
he said, "Okay, you know, I accept gratefully your curse, and I have to curse you back because this is according to dharma.
You did something wrong, and therefore I will also curse you, but because you did something wrong, not because of my enmity, not because of my envy, but because you did something wrong, you have to meet the consequences of it.
You have to really, you know, because if you do something wrong, you have to understand that you're responsible for this. So Kacha says, "You have to be more responsible next time."
Therefore, I also curse you, and you will not get a good husband; you will not get a brāhmaṇa as your husband. So that's the, uh, reason behind this story.
And then he said, "Uh, as far as I'm concerned, there's no problem. You cursed me that I will not be able to use this Mṛta-sañjīvanī. No problem. I will teach somebody else to use it. So there are plenty of brāhmaṇas there.
They have my brothers and everyone else. They will, they will use Mṛta-sañjīvanī, and I'm, I'm happy anyway.
So this is the, this is the story which is there in Mahābhārata and, uh, Matsya Purāṇa, uh, describing this, uh, whole event. And by the way, uh, Śukrācārya said, "From now on, brāhmaṇas should not take wine.
Before that, brāhmaṇas could take some sacrificial wine, but from now on, brāhmaṇas unfortunately cannot take wine—too bad for us, otherwise we're all brāhmaṇas anyway."
So, but again, coming back to the whole idea which is behind this question of Mahārāja Parīkṣit, and why?
Genetic principles in Vedic culture
Because, uh, it's a very powerful also part of this story and the powerful message which is there. You know, in Vedic culture, the science of genetics was very well known.
You know, modern people proudly say that genetics started with Mendel, you know, who was cross-breeding different, you know, different plants in his monastery.
But actually, even before Mendel, long before Mendel, in Manu-saṁhitā, the whole genetics is being described very carefully applicable to the human species.
Because it's very important for the human beings to follow this science.
Because both father and mother contribute to the qualities of the progeny of their sons and daughters, and because Vedic ancient Vedic sages they knew perfectly well that the whole atmosphere and the human society very much depends on the quality of the people.
They were extremely careful how to cross-breed and how to arrange these marriages. This caste system, even though we sometimes condemn caste system, but it was very scientific. It was extremely scientific.
And therefore, the only recommended marriages were among the same caste or among the same varṇa. Brāhmaṇas are supposed to take brāhmaṇas as the wife, kṣatriyas, kṣatriyas as the wife, because the natures are compatible.
And Śrīla Prabhupāda, in the next purport, he says that ultimately this is to make boy and the girl happy together.
Because when you have people with incompatible natures living together, they just make hell to each other. And therefore, one consideration was to make marriages very stable. Nowadays nobody cares.
In fact, there is no brāhmaṇas, there is now of course, you know, everyone is a śūdra, so no problem. So you can marry, marry anyone.
But the idea is to have somebody who is compatible with you, who has compatible nature and therefore having compatible nature uh you have a nice relationship. But not only this.
Another very important consideration is that if you have a compatible nature, then the son or specifically the son, but also daughters, they will also have very strongly developed nature.
Whereas, if you have different variegated mixtures of different qualities, then the people will be confused. The idea behind this varṇāśrama is to make people very clear in the mind what they are supposed to do.
And in Kali Yuga, everyone is confused. Nobody knows his nature. Why? Because there is so much mixture, because we all varṇa-śaṅkara.
You know like in in America Indians they they have a joke that the Indians the children of the Indians who live in America, they're called ABC. Why they're called ABCD?
Because they are American-born, uh, confused desis. They are completely confused. Desis means Indians, you know, the locals. They're completely confused because again, because of this mixture, this Kali Yuga,
everyone is just mixed. Fusion. Like, you know, people proudly say there is a fusion of culture. Fusion of cultures means no culture. Basically. That's what it means.
People completely confused, people don't know their nature, and therefore people do all kinds of abominable acts because their minds are not engaged.
If you're very clear in your mind what you're supposed to do, what you're not supposed to do, if you're clear in the mind, what is your nature, then your mind will be very peacefully engaged according to your nature, and you will not have time to do all kinds of sinful activities.
But if you are confused, then all these idle thoughts come to you, and you you you just you just don't know what to do. You cannot concentrate your mind. That's the science behind it.
If you are very clear in your mind who you are, you will have a very focused mind and your whole life will be very focused.
Whereas if you have confused nature, if you have mixture of the nature, then you will just you will have completely different contradictory tendencies.
And one tendency, you know, like sometimes, sometimes modern people, you know, you look in the charts of modern people and you see completely incompatible nature in one person.
He has brāhmaṇa inclination and he has śūdra inclination.
And because these two incompatible natures, totally incompatible nature, śūdra inclination and brāhmaṇical inclination are totally incompatible. So this person, what he will do?
He will just, he will have little brāhmaṇical tendency, little śūdra tendency, and ultimately he will just lay down on the, he will not do neither. He will not do either. He will not be engaged as a brāhmaṇa.
He will not be engaged as a śūdra.
At least if somebody has very pronounced śūdra nature, he will just work hard as a Shudra and he will be happy. And if you have these contradictory natures which are there fighting inside your heart, you don't know what to do, and you prefer just to do all kinds of sinful activities and you know just enjoy yourself because you cannot really do something productive.
That's why Arjuna was so horrified. He said, what will happen if this Varna Shankara will take place? You know, everyone will be sinful because of the idle minds, the minds which are not focused.
And therefore, in Vedic culture, pratiloma marriages were completely prohibited. Anuloma marriage is to a certain extent, to a certain extent, very loud.
Anuloma marriage means that the father is of the higher caste and the mother is of a lower caste. It was acceptable especially if the difference between father and mother was just one step down.
If mother was just one step down, then the father, then even though the progeny, the son would not be happy, because still of the contradictory tendencies, but he would be accepted as the father's caste. He would not be ostracized from the Vedic society.
But you know, if the difference would be already two steps down, that's already not so good. That's already. And if it's pratiloma, it was totally prohibited.
So much so that the chandalas, we sometimes hear this very denigrating comments of Vedic scriptures about chandalas. Chandalas are supposed to be the lowest of the human beings.
Because it's a specific nature, who is Chandala? Chandala is a result of pratiloma marriage when the father is śūdra and mother is brāhmaṇī.
Because of so much difference, and because the father is higher, oh sorry, lower than the mother, and because of this, you know uh uh or for example if if the father was shudra and mother was uh kshatriya then the son would be would become ugra.
Ugra means ugra. Ugra means very cruel. Ugram means also very rough. You know, the whole actually the whole society which we have we're dealing now, they're just ugras and chandalas and lower than this.
Just because of this, not understanding the science behind varṇāśrama system.
And we see here that therefore Maharaja Pariksit was so surprised and so unpleasantly surprised that Krishna is coming actually from this pratiloma marriage. Even though Devayani was one step higher, still she was one step higher.
And people, people, uh, who were born from these marriages, they were sūtas. They were not the brāhmaṇas, not the kṣatriyas.
Of course, they had some brahminical engagement, they were chariot drivers, and they were telling Puranas. But still they were quite. I mean they were. They were looked down in the society.
Therefore, Karṇa was looked down. And I wanted to say something, but I I have to finish now so can I say something more a little more quickly?
Lineage of Krishna and Yayati
Basically it's uh actually very amazing because it's not without a reason that Mahārāja Parīkṣit asked this question. He asked this question because he understands
that Yayāti Mahārāja, he is a result of this pratiloma marriage.
Technically speaking, Yayāti Mahārāja, from where Kṛṣṇa is taking his birth, the whole clan of Yādavas, they are not even kṣatriyas, they're sūtas technically speaking because Devayānī was from brāhmaṇa family and the powerful Yayāti was from kṣatriya. So there's sūtas and therefore they are lower kings.
Sometimes when Arjuna in the Eleventh Canto of Bhagavad-gītā he was calling begging forgiveness from Kṛṣṇa. I call you Yādava. Basically, he means that I called you Yādava saying that you are from this lower caste.
Basically. That's why Arjuna is begging forgiveness. Kurus were very high in the hierarchy. But Yādavas were basically, according to Vedic standards, they're not very high in the hierarchy because of this reason.
And you know, Kṛṣṇa took place from Yadu Mahārāja, who was the result of this marriage.
And moreover, he went to Nanda Mahārāja, and Nanda Mahārāja was also of a mixed caste. Because of course, he technically, he was a kṣatriya because he was the son of Mahārāja Śūrasena and his vaiśya wife.
But still, you know, or sorry, anyway, so he was from this mixture, and uh Yaśodā uh was also uh from the mixed caste.
So Kṛṣṇa from both sides, he was from mixed caste and there is a very powerful message which Kṛṣṇa can is giving to us.
You know, even though varṇāśrama considerations are very important, Kṛṣṇa still decided to take place to take birth from all this mixed caste. Why?
Because there is much more important consideration. That is the level of bhakti. So that's the message behind it. Yes, we have to respect Varnashama culture.
Yes, we have to uh as much as possible in our you know context to follow Varnasama culture even though it's uh not possible completely.
Prominence of devotion over social caste
But still we have to give prominence to bhakti. We have to understand that bhakti is a much more important consideration. And this is the difficulty.
Because to judge people according to their externals is simple. It's very clear. You know, somebody is more senior, somebody is a sannyāsī. Sure enough, you have to respect him.
Because he is senior according to our national consideration, this and that. You know, somebody has Brahminical initiation, sure enough you have to respect him.
But if we want to create the real society of the devotees, we also have to learn how to appreciate devotion, which is much more difficult. Which is because it's not external, it's internal.
But still, this art of learning, appreciating the devotion of other people, no matter who they are, they may be they may be women, they may be you know very new bhaktas. If they have greater devotion, they have to be given respect.
That's That's the powerful message which is behind this story. Yes, we have to be very careful as far as all this science is concerned. Sure enough. Yes, we have to respect culture.
It's very scientific and we have to follow very culture as much as possible. But above everything, we have to respect devotion. We have to respect bhakti.
And bhakti is beyond all these considerations. It's completely beyond all these considerations. And anyone can become a great devotee. It's just a question of his sincerity.
And that's a very powerful message which Krishna sends to us and which is there implied by this question of Maharaja Pariksit and the answer which is given by Sukha Dev Gaswan and I will not continue any longer.
Thank you very much.
Why I wanted to say this because in our society we have now conflict among this uh staunch followers of varnation system konservative followers of the varnation system who are trying and those liberals who are trying to make... But you know Bhakti actually reconciles all the differences.
If we understand this, yes, we have to respect uh the considerations of Varnashama, but we at the same time have to understand the inner message of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam which is about bhakti, then there will be no problem.
Yes, external respect should be according to the considerations of Varnashima. Internal respect should be uh entirely according to development of one's bhakti.
That's that's a very powerful thing which we have to remember all the time. Then there will be no conflict because Bhakti reconciles all the differences, synthesizes all the differences.
Only if we are blind to this synthesizing power of bhakti we will enter into these arguments between each other and it will ultimately destroy our society. Okay, thank you very much. So I guess we should stop now.
Somebody will guide me. Shall I ask some questions?
Question on bhakti transforming human nature
Yes. Thank you very much for any enlightened class.
My question is, as you said, somebody might have wished majors and does bhakti influence our nature does uh prolong the bhakti for some time does it make the nature clear and how does it influence a person's nature?
Bhakti will have uh uh will help one to understand one's nature more clearly, one's tendency more clearly, and moreover, bhakti being this synthesizing power will help also to reconcile these tendencies and to help you to engage productively.
Why you know the scientific system of our national was there? Because people who have very clear nature would be very productive and will be doing very constructive work. So bhakti will do this internally.
If you practice bhakti, then it will help you to reconcile these tendencies and to engage this tendency productively. No doubt about it. No idea.