731202 - Lecture SB 01.15.22-23 - Los Angeles

Lectures by Date, 1973

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

731202SB-LOS ANGELES - December 02, 1973 - 40:09 Minutes

Prabhupāda: (leads singing of Jaya Rādhā-Mādhava) (prema-dvani prayers) Thank you very much.

Devotees: All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda. (break)

Pradyumna: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. (leads chanting of verse) (Prabhupāda and devotees repeat)

rājaṁs tvayānupṛṣṭānāṁ

suhṛdāṁ naḥ suhṛt-pure

vipra-śāpa-vimūḍhānāṁ

nighnatāṁ muṣṭibhir mithaḥ

vāruṇīṁ madirāṁ pītvā

madonmathita-cetasām

ajānatām ivānyonyaṁ

catuḥ-pañcāvaśeṣitāḥ

(SB 1.15.22-23)

(break)

Prabhupāda: That's all. Word meaning.

Pradyumna: rājan—O King; tvayā—by you; anupṛṣṭānām—as you inquired; suhṛdām—of friends and relatives; naḥ—our; suhṛt-pure—in the city of Dvārakā; vipra—the brāhmaṇas; śāpa—by the curse of; vimūḍhānām—of the befooled; nighnatām—of the killed; muṣṭibhiḥ—with bunches of sticks; mithaḥ—among themselves; vāruṇīm—fermented rice; madirām—wine; pītvā—having drunk; mada-unmathita—being intoxicated; cetasām—of that mental situation; ajānatām—of the unrecognized; iva—like; anyonyam—one another; catuḥ—four; pañca—five; avaśeṣitāḥ—now remaining. (break)

Translation: "O King, since you have asked me about our friends and relatives in the city of Dvārakā, I will inform you that all of them were cursed by the brāhmaṇas, and as a result they all became intoxicated with wine made of purified rice and fought among themselves with sticks, not even recognizing one another. Now all but four or five of them are dead and gone."

Prabhupāda: I think this editing was wrong, "purified rice." What is called? Fermented, petrified? Putrefied. So instead of "putrefied" it has been "purified." Editing.

Yes, rice . . . they, in India still . . . because in India still, no gentleman, brāhmaṇa, at least brāhmaṇas, those who are strictly following brāhmaṇa principles, they do not drink. Neither the kṣatriyas. Kṣatriyas, they are allowed to drink in some particular function. That is also very rarely. And vaiśyas, they do not drink. Śūdras, some of them. Those who are less than śūdras, they drink, and they make their own liquor at home. They boil the rice, and with water, they keep it for few days, it becomes fermented, putrefied, and it becomes intoxicating, homemade liquor. And if you distill it, then it becomes first-class brandy. So it is not that liquor drinking was not existing. There was. But who drunk, that is stated here, that vipra-śāpa-vimūḍhānām, those who were cursed, vimūḍhānām. And being cursed, they were bewildered. Vipra-śāpa.

The story is that Yadu-vaṁśa, the dynasty of Kṛṣṇa . . . Kṛṣṇa had 16,108 wives, and each wife had ten sons, and each son had another ten sons. In this way the whole family was composed of hundreds and thousands of men, Yadu dynasty. And when Kṛṣṇa came, so to assist Him, all these demigods, they came to help Him, līlā. Just like if you play something dramatic, you require so many assistants, so when Kṛṣṇa comes, those who are devotees of Kṛṣṇa, they also come to assist Him. Somebody becomes His father, somebody His mother, somebody His friend, somebody His wife, somebody His son, some grandson, like that. So when Kṛṣṇa wanted to depart from this planet, He wanted to take away all others also along with Him. So these are simply material, external causes. Actual fact is Kṛṣṇa, as He went away, He wanted to take all the associates under different pleas.

So it is explained in the Bhāgavatam that queens, they were not actually . . . nobody can touch them. Just like Sītā. Sītā was kidnapped by Rāvaṇa. How it is possible that Sītā can be kidnapped by a demon? No. That is stated in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, that Lord Caitanya, He was a guest of a brāhmaṇa in South India. So He took His bath and came to the house of that brāhmaṇa, but the brāhmaṇa did not arrange for any cooking even. There was no food. He was very sorry. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu inquired, "Brāhmaṇa, you invited Me, but I don't see even you have cooked. What is the reason?" "Oh, yes, I am going to cook immediately. The thing is, I am very sorry that Rāvaṇa, the demon, has taken away Sītā, and I could not rescue her still. So why shall I eat? I shall die." He was in the ecstasy of Hanumān, a devotee. He was thinking like Hanumān. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu very much liked that he is, in devotion and in ecstasy of Hanumān, he is thinking like that. So at that time Caitanya Mahāprabhu said: "So don't be sorry. Sītā, Lakṣmījī, she cannot be touched by Rāvaṇa. It was māyā Sītā. Māyā Sītā. I will tell you. I will give you evidence from the śāstra." So brāhmaṇa believed Him, because Caitanya . . . "Oh, she is there? Sītā was not taken? A māyā Sītā was taken?" "Yes." Then he become encouraged. He cooked, and sufficiently gave Him food.

So by chance, when Caitanya Mahāprabhu was touring in South India . . . the Purāṇa, Śiva Purāṇa or something like that, it is stated there. And He brought the evidence again that, "Here you see, in the Purāṇa it is said that when Rāvaṇa came to kidnap Sītā, immediately a false Sītā was given to him, and the real Sītā disappeared. Then again, when Lord Rāmacandra, after killing Rāvaṇa, He was accepting Sītā back to home, He tested with fire that, 'Sītā, you should enter the fire, and if you are not burned, then you are chaste. Otherwise you are not chaste.' Yes. So the false Sītā which was taken by Rāvaṇa, she entered the fire, and the real Sītā came out." This is the statement in the śāstra.

So things take place like that. The queens of Kṛṣṇa, they could not be touched. But it is a play only. Similarly, Yadu dynasty, the descendants of Kṛṣṇa, they also could not be killed. But . . . just like Kṛṣṇa was killed by the arrow of a hunter. How Kṛṣṇa can be killed? But it is for the person . . . for the demons, to demonstrate like that, who thinks Kṛṣṇa as ordinary human being. So for them it is a jugglery. They will still know that "Here your Kṛṣṇa is killed." Yes. They will say like that. So tān ahaṁ dviṣataḥ krūrān kṣipāmy ajasram asura-yoniṣu (BG 16.19).

The demons, as they want to forget Kṛṣṇa, or they do not like to understand Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa plays something like that so that they will be more convinced that Kṛṣṇa is not God, Kṛṣṇa is ordinary human being. Tān ahaṁ dviṣataḥ krūrān. They will remain in darkness forever. Kṛṣṇa gives chance to everyone. If you want to forget Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa will give you such intelligence, you will talk so intelligently that, "Kṛṣṇa is not God." Ye yathā māṁ prapadyante (BG 4.11). And if you want to know Kṛṣṇa, then He will give you such intelligence you will know that, "Here is Supreme Personality of Godhead." This is Kṛṣṇa's busin . . . if you want to forget Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa will give you chance to forget Him forever. And you suffer. Because forgetting Kṛṣṇa, one is not benefited. By knowing Kṛṣṇa is one benefited. But the demons, rākṣasas, they suffer, and still they want to forget Kṛṣṇa. This is their business.

So now the most important thing is that Kṛṣṇa made this plan to kill His descendants. He did not like that they should . . . but who will kill them? That is the problem. They are descendants of Kṛṣṇa. Who will kill them? Therefore it was Kṛṣṇa's plan that they will kill themselves. If others come to kill Kṛṣṇa's descendant, then what is the value of Kṛṣṇa's descendant? Nobody could kill, because in Kṛṣṇa's presence, whenever there was fight, all the descendants they came out. And who will conquer them? Nobody. That is not possible. But Kṛṣṇa wanted that before His going away, all these demigods, they must also return. "Return" means this body must be killed. But who will kill them? That was the plan of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is . . . īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). He is planning. He made this plan.

So what is that? One of them made a false pregnancy with a stone on the belly wrapped with cloth, and another boy or another man, he went to a ṛṣi that, "Sir, can you tell what is the womb of this . . . what is the child in the womb of this woman?" She is not woman, she is man. So the saintly person could understand that, "These people have come to joke me." So he immediately cursed—vipra—that, "Yes, what is there in the womb, that will be the cause of destroying your whole family." So when they were cursed, they came to their senses, "What you have done?" So actually, it was a stone. So they began to rub the stone so that there will be no existence of the stone. Rubbing, rubbing, rubbing, rubbing—that pulp and water, that was distributed, and all of them became sticks. So then, after that, they became intoxicated, and they could not understand amongst themselves who is friend, who is enemy, and took those sticks and began to beat one another. In this way they died. This is the story. You know. It is stated in the Kṛṣṇa book.

So our point is to know this is a play only—background. Actually, Kṛṣṇa wanted to take them away. And nobody could kill them. Therefore He planned a killing plan amongst themselves. This is the fact. But we should know that vipra-śāpa-vimūḍhānām: if any person is cursed by vipra, brāhmaṇa, Vaiṣṇava, then they are finished. Therefore according to the Vedic civilization, brāhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇavas are always honored, so that they may not be dissatisfied. This is the rule. Brāhmaṇa and Vaiṣṇava, the devotees and the brāhmaṇas. Veda-pāṭhād bhaved vipro brahma jānātīti brāhmaṇaḥ. Those who are spiritually advanced, such persons should not be offended. Then you are finished in . . . according to our philosophy, vaiṣṇava-aparādha. Just we were talking in our walking that a great yogī . . . what is the name?

Devotee: Durvāsā.

Prabhupāda: Durvāsā. Durvāsā Muni offended Vaiṣṇava, and immediately sudarśana-cakra came to kill Durvāsā. Vaiṣṇava-aparādha is never tolerated by Kṛṣṇa. Just like the Pāṇḍavas, they were Vaiṣṇavas, and the Duryodhana and company, they were so-called Vaiṣṇava. Actually they were not Vaiṣṇava. So they insulted. They put to trouble so many ways. They banished them in the jungle. They insulted their wife and so many ways by clique. So Kṛṣṇa could not tolerate that. So therefore the Battle of Kurukṣetra.

So Vaiṣṇava is kind. Arjuna, he said: "My dear Kṛṣṇa, whatever they have done, that doesn't matter. I cannot kill my family men. Please excuse." So just see. Arjuna is kind because he is Vaiṣṇava. But Kṛṣṇa cannot tolerate. Kṛṣṇa said: "You must kill them. That is My order. You must kill them." Then he argued with Kṛṣṇa in so many ways, "There will be so much sin. There will be this, there will be that." Then He preached Bhagavad-gītā, and at last He said that, "Arjuna, you are thinking that you shall, by not fighting, you shall be able to save your family men, kinsmen. That is not possible. That is not possible. They are already killed. It is all My plan. They will never return home. If you kill them, then you take the credit. But otherwise, they are already killed. And if you think that you will not kill them, they will be saved, that is not possible. That is not possible." Then Arjuna understood that, "It is the determination of Kṛṣṇa that they must be killed. Then why shall I disobey His order? It is my business to serve Him. Yes, then I shall kill, if You have so decided."

So this is the fact, that Kṛṣṇa will never tolerate insult on a devotee. He will never tolerate. The devotee may excuse, tṛṇād api sunīcena taror api sahiṣṇunā. He may suffer. Just like Prahlāda Mahārāja, he was suffering. His father was torturing him. He was suffering, "All right." But Kṛṣṇa never tolerated. "Oh, you have done so much. Now it is your time to kill him." This is the process. Kṛṣṇa will tolerate . . . even you insult Kṛṣṇa, He will tolerate.

But if you insult His devotee, He will never tolerate. Then you are finished. Then you are finished. Just like a big man. If you insult him, he may think, "All right, let him." But if you insult or do something harm to his child, he will never tolerate. He will never tolerate. Similarly, a devotee who is dependent on Kṛṣṇa in everything, and if somebody does harm to him, insults him, Kṛṣṇa will never tolerate. That is explained in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, vaiṣṇava-aparādha. Tāra madhye vaiṣṇava-aparādha hāti matta. So we should be very careful not to offend Vaiṣṇava devotees. Not to offend. This is greatest offense. Therefore it is said, vipra-śāpa-vimūḍhānām. Vimūḍhānām. Those who are rascal, fools, they will want to try to insult real brāhmaṇa, Vaiṣṇava. Then they are finished. Of course, a Vaiṣṇava never curses. Tolerates. Tṛṇād api sunīcena taror . . . Vaiṣṇava tolerates, but Viṣṇu never tolerates.

So vipra-śāpa-vimūḍhānāṁ nighnatāṁ muṣṭibhir mithaḥ. Being intoxicated. Another point is intoxication. We are already intoxicated. Being under the influence of māyā, the material energy, we are already forgotten of ourself. Everybody. Nobody knows that he's not this body. This is another intoxication. He is not this body, this is a fact, but go to the outside of this temple, ask anybody, "What you are?" "Yes, I am this body." They are already intoxication. So again if you drink, then how much intoxicated you become, just try to understand. Vāruṇīṁ madirāṁ pītvā madonmathita-cetasām.

Everyone who is in this material world, forgotten God, or Kṛṣṇa, he is already intoxicated. Just like intoxicated man, he cannot recognize even his father, mother, or even his sister or mother. It has been practical. One father intoxicated—there are so many instances—raped the daughter. Daughter is crying, "My dear father, I am, I am . . ." Who cares for that? Intoxicated. You see? This is going on. So intoxication is so sinful. Intoxication is so sinful that . . . just like the hog is intoxicated by this material world, eating stool. Is stool a food? But he is tasting, "Very nice." And he's deriving benefit, sexually very strong, never cares whether mother, sister or daughter. Every example is there in front.

So by intoxication . . . we are already . . . we have to get out of this intoxicated condition of life, which is called māyā. Instead of getting out of this intoxicated life, if we more increase our intoxication—big, big signboard, "Beefeaters" and this, "Whiskey," this—then how much we are degrading the whole population, we have to imagine. You see? People are already in forgetfulness. And the government, the society, they are still giving impetus, "You forget more, you forget more, you . . ." And he doesn't know.

Viśatāṁ tamisram. Adānta-gobhir viśatāṁ tamisram (SB 7.5.30). And they do not know that, "I will have to take next birth, and according to my mentality, because I am infecting a certain type of material qualities, in that way I am creating my next body." That he does not know. This is due to intoxication. He is thinking that, "My enjoyment life, in this way forever." But he does not know that he is creating the mentality, and according to the mentality, hog's mentality, he will become next life a pig, and he will eat . . . he has to by force. Not by force; he will relish it. Māyā . . . this is called āvaraṇātmika-śakti, covering influence. The pig is eating stool, but he is very much satisfied: "Such a nice food." He is having intercourse with his daughter or sister or mother, he is enjoying. So the hellish condition.

So we create our hellish condition. Wherefrom the hog comes? The hog comes also . . . he is also living entity. By process of transmigration of the soul, one is accepting sometimes as a hog, sometimes a dog, sometimes a demigod, sometimes rich man, sometimes poor man, sometimes tree. That they do not know. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva (CC Madhya 19.151). We are spoiling our time in this way, transmigrating from one type of body to another, and there are 8,400,000 types of body. So in the human form of life, if one is actually fortunate, then guru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpāya pāya bhakti-latā-bīja (CC Madhya 19.151). By the mercy of guru and by the mercy of Kṛṣṇa one gets the opportunity of understanding Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Otherwise, they are entrapped by māyā, intoxication, and wandering throughout the whole universe in different types of body.

So this is called vāruṇīṁ madirāṁ pītvā madonmathita-cetasām, ajānatām. Ajānatām: without any knowledge. We are fighting one another without any knowledge. Why the Americans were fighting with Arabians and the Arabians are fighting? The fighting is going on. The United Nation means fighting settlement arena. That's all. But the fighting is going on. So unless we are self-realized, unless we know that "We are all sons of God. This outward dress is māyā. I am not American, I am not Indian." Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, nāhaṁ vipro na ca nara-patir na yatir vā (Padyāvalī 63). He said like that, that . . . He is taking the varṇāśrama-dharma: brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra; brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha . . . so Caitanya Mahāprabhu denied all these, "No, I am a not brāhmaṇa, nor I am a śūdra, nor am I gṛhastha, nor I am kṣatriya." "Then what You are?" Gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ (CC Madhya 13.80): "I am the servant of the servant of the servant of Kṛṣṇa, who provides the gopīs." This is our real identification.

So without understanding our real identification, if we remain intoxicated and wander within this wonderful universe . . . you cannot live. It is not that because you have settled up, "Now I am an American" or "Indian." "Let me live here comfortably. I have got very good arrangement." But you will not be allowed to live, sir. You must have to change. You may make very good arrangement, but who is allowing to stay here? You will not be allowed to stay here. But they do not know. Intoxicated. Because intoxicated. Everyone is thinking that, "I shall stay forever. Let there be very big iron skyscraper building. I will be able to stay." But because intoxicated, he cannot understand that he will not be allowed to stay. You may simply spoil your energy. That's all. The energy which was given to you to understand God, you are spoiling that energy in skyscraper building, but you will not be allowed to stay here. This is nature's law. But the rascals, they do not know, because they are intoxicated already by the nature's law, māyā, and they are still being intoxicated, more drink liquor, more drink liquor, and go to hell.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Haribol. Jaya . . . (cut) (end)