760913 - Lecture SB 01.07.15 - Vrndavana

Lectures by Date, 1976

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

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760913SB-VRNDAVAN - September 13, 1976 - 28.21 Minutes

Pradyumna: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. (devotees repeat) (Chants verse)

mātā śiśūnāṁ nidhanaṁ sutānāṁ

niśamya ghoraṁ paritapyamānā

tadārudad vāṣpa-kalākulākṣī

tāṁ sāntvayann āha kirīṭamālī

(SB 1.7.15)

Translation: (03:31) "Draupadī, the mother of the five children of the Pāṇḍavas, after hearing of the massacre of her sons, began to cry in distress with eyes full of tears. Trying to pacify her in her great loss, Arjuna spoke to her thus."

Prabhupāda:

mātā śiśūnāṁ nidhanaṁ sutānāṁ

niśamya ghoraṁ paritapyamānā

tadārudad vāṣpa-kalākulākṣī

tāṁ sāntvayann āha kirīṭamālī

(SB 1.7.15)

So Draupadī's five sons were killed—five sons by five husbands. You know the history of Draupadī. She had five husbands, which is forbidden nowadays. Although in some hilly districts still this system is current, that one woman has got five or six husbands. This practice was there even in high circle—that is now forbidden. Devareṇa sutotpattiṁ kalau pañca vivarjayet. Don't try to imitate Draupadī. That is not allowed in this age.

aśvamedhaṁ gavālambhaṁ

pala-paitṛkam

devareṇa sutotpattiṁ

kalau pañca vivarjayet

(CC Adi 17.164)

So when Draupadī was gained by Arjuna, the five Pāṇḍavas were in the forest incognito. So when they came to their mother in jubilation, they exclaimed, "Mother, we have got a very nice jewel." So mother said, "All right, my dear sons, enjoy it, all of you, five." So on the order of mother they accepted Draupadī as a common wife. But that does not mean she had many sons. Only five sons. By the five husbands, one son. That is also another system. Not competition that each husband will produce dozens of children. No.

So when the mother understood that her sons were killed, certainly she was very, very unhappy. Mātā śiśūnāṁ nidhanaṁ sutānāṁ niśamya ghoraṁ paritapyamānā. Lamenting. That is natural. So tadārudad vāṣpa-kalākulākṣī. With tears, she was crying, and tāṁ sāntvayan, pacifying, āha kirīṭamālī. Kirīṭamālī is Arjuna. So they were directly connected with Kṛṣṇa. Draupadī's another name is Kṛṣṇā. And still they had to suffer the material pangs. Not that because one is Kṛṣṇa conscious there will be no material suffering. Actually, those who are Kṛṣṇa conscious, they have no material suffering. Although it appears that they are suffering, they are not suffering. They can accept any so-called suffering and accept it as mercy of Kṛṣṇa. They never take it as suffering. Tat te 'nukampāṁ su-samīkṣamāṇo bhuñjāna evātma-kṛtaṁ vipākam (SB 10.14.8). A devotee, when he's in suffering, so-called suffering, he accepts it as the mercy of Kṛṣṇa. Tat te 'nukampām. And he rather thanks Kṛṣṇa, that "I had to suffer many more times, but You have minimized it, giving me little suffering. So it is Your mercy." And if anyone lives on that attitude, everything taken as Kṛṣṇa's mercy, then he is guaranteed to go back home, back to Godhead. Mukti-pade sa dāya-bhāk (SB 10.14.8). Dāya-bhāk means his going back to home, back to Godhead, is exactly like the inheritance of property by the son. Mukti-pade sa dāya-bhāk. So we should learn from the Pāṇḍavas that Kṛṣṇa was always present with them, still they had to suffer so much material tribulations. So they were never unhappy, neither they requested Kṛṣṇa that "My dear friend Kṛṣṇa, You are always with us. Still we had to suffer." Never expressed that. That is pure devotion. Never try to take any benefit from Kṛṣṇa. Simply try to give benefit to Kṛṣṇa. Do not take any benefit from Kṛṣṇa. This is pure devotion.

Perhaps you know that once upon a time Rūpa Gosvāmī desired that "If I would get some nice foodstuff, I would have invited Sanātana Gosvāmī and cook some nice food." He desired like that. They were living in Vṛndāvana here and there, under the shade of a tree. They had no stock, nothing. So one very beautiful girl came and offered rice, ḍāl, ghee. She said, "Bābā, we have got some festival." In this country they address saintly person as Bābā. So she offered so many things, and he immediately invited Sanātana Gosvāmī—they were living separately. And Rūpa Gosvāmī was very good cook also, so he prepared very nice preparation and offered to Sanātana Gosvāmī prasādam. So Sanātana Gosvāmī astonishingly inquired that "Where you got all these nice things in this forest?" So he told the whole story, that "In the morning I desired, and in just a few hour time, little time, one very beautiful girl came and offered this ingredients." So after hearing the description of the beautiful girl, Sanātana Gosvāmī could understand that She was Rādhārāṇī. So immediately he chastised Rūpa Gosvāmī, that "You have taken service from Rādhārāṇī. This is not good. We are trying to give service to Rādhārāṇī, and you have taken service from Rādhārāṇī."

So this is Vaiṣṇava consideration. They are firmly determined not to bother Kṛṣṇa with anything. Simply to serve Him. Ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanam (CC Madhya 19.167). Similarly, Kṛṣṇa also finds opportunity when to serve His devotee. This is the reciprocation. The devotee wants to serve Kṛṣṇa without any return, and Kṛṣṇa also wants to serve devotee whenever there is opportunity. This is the transaction of love: not to take anything return.

āśliṣya vā pāda-ratāṁ pinaṣṭu mām

marma-hatāṁ karotu vā adarśanān

yathā tathā vā vidadhātu lampaṭo

mat-prāṇa-nāthas tu . . .

(CC Antya 20.47)

This is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's teaching, that "From Kṛṣṇa's side, He may do whatever He likes"—that is full surrender—"still, He is my master. He's nobody else. He is still my worshipable master." Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has sung,

mānasa deho geho jo kichu mor

arpiluṅ tuwā pade nanda-kiśor

Nanda-kiśora is Kṛṣṇa. So this is full surrender. "My dear Nanda-kiśora, whatever I have got, now I am offering everything to You." What I have got? Mānasa deho geho: "I have got my body, I have got my mind, and a so-called home or a wife or a few children. What I have got? So everything is offered to You." Mānasa deho geho jo kichu mor. This is full surrender. Now he says, mārobi rākhobi jo icchā tohārā: "I am surrendering to You everything. Now if You like You can save me, or if You like You can kill me." This is full surrender.

So these Pāṇḍavas are the best example, and better than the Pāṇḍavas, there are other devotees. And the topmost surrendered devotee are the gopīs. There is no more higher exalted devotees than the gopīs. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu recommended that the gopīs, ramyā kācid upāsanā vraja-vadhū-vargeṇa yā kalpitā (Caitanya-mata-mañjuṣā, quoted in Gauḍīya-kaṇṭhahāra 4.41). There is no better type of worshiping Kṛṣṇa than the method by which gopīs worship Kṛṣṇa. They, their love was so intense that they did not care for any family, any honor or any prestige—nothing. That is the highest, topmost loving stage of Kṛṣṇa. And Kṛṣṇa also loved the gopīs, so much so that Kṛṣṇa asked them that "You cannot expect any return from Me for your ecstatic love. I cannot give you. It is beyond My power." So they purchased Kṛṣṇa. And the topmost gopī is Rādhārāṇī. So we should not consider these gopīs' dealings with Kṛṣṇa as ordinary, material dealings. It is not that. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis tābhir ya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ (BS 5.37). The gopīs are expansion of Kṛṣṇa's pleasure potency. That is described by Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī. Rādhā kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtir hlādinī-śaktir asmāt (CC Adi 1.5). Hlādinī-śakti. Kṛṣṇa has got the pleasure potency. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (CC Madhya 13.65, purport). He has got multi-energies. In the Viṣṇu Purāṇa it is also said, parasya brahmaṇaḥ śaktis tathedam akhilaṁ jagat. Whatever we see, that is display of the potencies, different potencies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Just like the sun is ninety-three millions of miles away from this earthly planet. Still, we are getting heat and light, energy of the sun. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa is in the Goloka planet. Goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ (BS 5.37). That is Kṛṣṇa's energy. Although He is in the Goloka planet, which is the topmost planet in the spiritual world . . . you cannot estimate the how far the spiritual world is from this material world. From material calculation they say it takes about some forty thousands of years to go to the limit of this universe. Then beyond that universe there is the spiritual world. Paras tasmāt tu bhāvo 'nyaḥ (BG 8.20), another nature, avyakto 'vyaktāt sanātanaḥ. Then you pass through the spiritual world, brahma-jyotir. There are innumerable, unlimited number of Vaikuṇṭha planets. Then, above all of them, there is the planet Goloka Vṛndāvana, where Kṛṣṇa resides.

It is said in the Brahma-saṁhitā, goloka-nāmni nija-dhāmni tale ca tasya (BS 5.43). Goloka-nāmni nija-dhāmni. That is Kṛṣṇa's personal planet, Goloka Vṛndāvana. Goloka-nāmni nija-dhāmni tale ca tasya devī-maheśa-hari-dhāmasu teṣu teṣu. There are other planetary system—Hari-dhāma, Vaikuṇṭha-dhāma. Then, this is, this material world, is called Devī-dhāma, and between the Goloka . . . between the spiritual world and material world there is . . . goloka-nāmni nija-dhāmni tale ca tasya devī-maheśa-dhāma (BS 5.43). So there are so many status of planetary system. Each planet is full with living entities. The spiritual planets, they are full of living entities: they are all liberated, nitya-mukta. And those who are within this material world, planets, they are nitya-baddha. Nitya-baddha, nitya-mukta. There are two kinds of living entities. The nitya-baddhas are only few, but the nitya-muktas are many, many. This material world is only one-fourth energy of the creation. The three-fourths energy is in the spiritual world. And here in the one-fourth energy there are innumerable universes, and each universe is full with different types of planets, and each planet is full of living entities. But these rascals, they say it is . . . there is no living entity; it is sand and rocks. So this is not the fact. You have to understand from the Vedic literature about the planets, where which planet is existing, where is spiritual world, where is material world. All informations are there. Don't speculate and simply think that this planet is full of living entities, all other planets are vacant. This is most unusual argument. There is no meaning. But we are not concerned with that. We have got our own information from the Vedas.

So Kṛṣṇa's pastimes is going on. Somewhere, or elsewhere it is going on. Therefore His pastimes are called nitya-līlā, nitya-līlā-prakāśa. This vṛndāvana-līlā is nitya-līlā: it is going on continuously somewhere or other within this material world. And the spiritual world, it is permanently there. So the Pāṇḍavas, they are associates of the nitya-līlā. They are not ordinary human beings. Wherever there is kṛṣṇa-līlā, they go. Therefore Arjuna asked Kṛṣṇa that "How can I believe that You, first of all, many millions of years ago You spoke this philosophy to the sun god?" Kṛṣṇa replied, bahūni me janmāni . . . what is that verse?

Devotees: Bahūni me vyatītāni.

Prabhupāda: Ah, bahūni me vyatītāni janmāni tava cārjuna (BG 4.5): "Arjuna, both you and Me were together, and we have passed through many different līlās. But you have forgotten; I remember." That is the difference between God and the living entities. They cannot be equal. We forget . . . the Māyāvādīs philosopher, they put this argument that "Because we have forgotten. Now, in māyā, we have forgotten that we are God." So what kind of God he is if he forgets? God never says, "I have forgotten." Kṛṣṇa says, vedāhaṁ samatītāni (BG 7.26): "I know past, present, future." So where is the question of forgetting? So if somebody forgets, that God is different from the God who does not forget. Therefore we have to accept two. Immediately you have to accept dvaita-vāda: one forgetting God and one not-forgetting God. You cannot accept one. That is not possible.

And that is the fact. Just like Kṛṣṇa says that "I remember when I spoke to sun god. You have forgotten." So there are two. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa's another name is Acyuta. He never falls down from His position. And if we fall down from the position . . . therefore we are not on the same level. We may have some power, and we can claim that "I am God"—that you can claim—but not that God, like Kṛṣṇa. Therefore two words are there: īśvara, parameśvara. In the Brahma-saṁhitā therefore it is described that īśvaras, there may be many, but not parameśvara. Parameśvara is one. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (BS 5.1). So these Māyāvādīs, they forget this, that īśvara, parameśvara, there are two words. Ātmā and paramātmā, there are two words. So they are not equal. And Kṛṣṇa says, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat (BG 7.7). He is the supermost īśvara. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). Although both of us are nitya, eternal, and living entities, still, there is difference. He is supreme living entity; we are subordinate. Prabhu and aṇu. Vibhu and aṇu.

So this philosophy is perfect, and anyone who accepts this Māyāvāda philosophy, that God and living entity are on the same level, they have got poor fund of knowledge.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda. (end)