Krsna Book Audio Dictation - Chapter 84
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Next, Chapter Eighty-four: "Sacrificial Ceremonies Done by Vasudeva."
Amongst the women there were Kuntī, Gāndhārī, Draupadī, Subhadrā and the queens of many other kings, as well as the gopīs from Vṛndāvana. When the different queens of Lord Kṛṣṇa were submitting their statement how they were married and how they were accepted by Lord Kṛṣṇa as His wives, all the female members of Kuru dynasty became struck with wonder how all the queens of Kṛṣṇa were attached to Him by love and affection. When they understood about the intensity of love and affection for Kṛṣṇa of the queens, they could not check their eyes being filled up with tears.
In this way, when the female members were engaged in conversation amongst themselves and the male members were also engaged in conversation, at that moment almost all important sages and ascetics from all direction came to see Lord Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma on the spot. Chief amongst them were Kṛṣṇa-dvaipāyana Vyāsa, the great sage Nārada, Cyavana, Devala, Asita, Viśvāmitra, Śatānanda, Bharadvāja, Gautama and Lord Paraśurāma along with his disciples; Vasiṣṭha, Gālava, Bhṛgu, Pulastya, Kaśyapa, Atri, Mārkaṇḍeya, Bṛhaspati, Dvita, Trita, Ekata, and the sons of Brahmā, namely Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanātana, Sanat-kumāra; Aṅgirā, Agastya, Yājṣavalkya and Vāmadeva.
As soon as the sages and ascetics arrived on the spot, all the kings like Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, the Pāṇḍavas, including Lord Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, after seeing the sages present, immediately they got up from their seat and they offered their respect by bowing down to the universally respected sages. After this, the sages were properly welcomed by offering them seats, water for washing feet, eatable fruits, garlands of flower, incense, sandalwood pulp, and all the kings, led by Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, worshiped the sages according to the Vedic rules and regulations. In this way, when all the sages were seated comfortably, at that time Lord Kṛṣṇa, who descended for the protection of religion, began to address them on behalf of all other kings. When Kṛṣṇa was speaking, there was pin-drop silence to hear and understand Lord Kṛṣṇa’s speech in welcoming the sages.
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Lord Kṛṣṇa began to say as follows: (within quotation) "All glories to the assembled sages and ascetics! Today all of us, feeling lives to have become successful, think today we have achieved the desired goal of life because we are seeing now face to face all exalted, liberated sages and ascetics before us, who are desired to be seen even by great demigods in the heaven. Persons who are neophyte in religious life or devotional service, who simply try to offer their respectful obeisances to the Deity in the temple but cannot realize that the Lord is situated in everyone's heart, or those who are simply worshipers of different demigods for fulfilling their lusty desires, such persons are unable to understand the importance of all these sages. They cannot take advantage of receiving these sages by seeing them with their eyes, by touching their lotus feet, by inquiring about their welfare or by worshiping them diligently." (quotation close)
Neophyte devotees or religionists cannot understand the importance of great mahātmās. They go to the temple as a matter of formality and concentrate their respectful obeisances unto the Deities. Such status of mind is for the neophytes. When one is still promoted to the next platform of advanced consciousness, one can understand the importance of mahātmās and devotees. In that stage, a neophyte devotee tries to please them. Therefore, Lord Kṛṣṇa said that a neophyte cannot understand the importance of great sages, devotees or ascetics.
Lord Kṛṣṇa continued to say, (within quotation) "One cannot purify himself by traveling in holy places of pilgrimages and taking bath there or seeing the deities in the temples. But if one happens to meet a great devotee and mahātmā who is representative of the Personality of Godhead, one becomes immediately purified. In order to become purified, there is injunction to worship fire, the sun, the moon, the earth, the water, the air, the sky, the mind and their predominating deities. By worshiping all these elements and the predominating deities, one can become free from the differentiation of envy. But all kinds of sins of such envious persons can be nullified immediately by service of a great soul.
"My revered sages and respectful kings present here, you can take it from Me that a person who accepts this material body made of three elements—mucus, bile and air—as one's own self, who considers his family and relatives as his own men and accepts material things as worshipable, and visits holy places of pilgrimage just to take bath only but never associates with great personalities, sages and mahatmas, such person, even in the form of a human being, is nothing but an animal like an ass."
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When the supreme authority, Lord Kṛṣṇa, was speaking with great gravity, at that time all the sages, ascetics remained dead silent. Practically they became bewildered by hearing Him speaking the philosophy of life in such shortcut way. Unless one is very much advanced in knowledge, one thinks this body as self and the family members as an kith and kin and the land of birth as worshipable. From this concept of life, the modern ideology of nationalism has sprung up. Lord Kṛṣṇa condemned such idea, and He also condemned such persons who go to holy places of pilgrimage without taking an advantage of great devotees and mahātmā living there; simply takes the trouble of taking bath and come back. Such persons are compared with animals—not only animals, but the most foolish animal, the ass.
So all of them considered the speech of Lord Kṛṣṇa for some time, and then they concluded that the Lord, although the Supreme Personality of Godhead, yet He was playing the role of an ordinary human being who is forced to take a certain type of body as resultant reaction of his past deeds. Such pastime for the Lord was simply to teach the people in general how they should live for perfection of human mission.
When they concluded like this, all of them began to address Lord Kṛṣṇa and say as follows: (within quotation) "My dear Lord, we, all the leaders of the human society and supposed to have possessed the philosophy of life, still we are becoming bewildered by the spell of Your external energy. We are simply surprised to see Your behavior, just like an ordinary human being. And concealing Your real identity as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, You are engaged in activities like an ordinary human being. We consider, therefore, my Lord, Your pastimes are all-wonderful.
"My dear Lord, You are by Your own energy creating, maintaining and annihilating the whole cosmic manifestation of different names and forms, exactly like the earth which, after creating so many forms of stone, trees and parts of varieties of names and forms, still the earth remains the same one. Although You are creating in such a way varieties of manifestation through Your energy, You are unaffected by all those actions. My dear Lord, we simply remain stunted by seeing Your wonderful actions in that way.
"My dear Lord, although You are transcendental to all this material creation, the Supreme Lord and Supersoul of all living entities, still, for the protection of Your devotees and destruction of the miscreants, You appear on this earth by Your internal potency, and by such appearance You reestablish the principles of eternal religion, which the human society forgets by long association of material energy. My dear Lord, You are the creator of the social order and spiritual status of the human society according to quality and work, and when they are misplaced or misguided by unscrupulous person, You appear and set them right in order.
"My dear Lord, the Vedic knowledge is representation of Your pure heart. Austerities, studies of Vedas, meditation just to remain in trance are different process of realization of Your features of manifested and nonmanifested aspects. The phenomenal material world is manifestation of Your impersonal energy, and Your Personality of Godhead is not manifested there. You are the Supreme Soul, the Supreme Brahma. Persons who are situated in brahminical culture can therefore understand about Your transcendental form. As such, You always hold in respect such brāhmaṇas, and thus You are considered to be the topmost of all followers of brahminical culture. You are therefore known as brahmaṇya-deva. My dear Lord, You are the last word of all auspicious things and the last resort of all saintly persons. Therefore by meeting You, all of us consider to achieved perfection of our life, education, austerity and acquisition of transcendental knowledge. Factually, You are the ultimate goal of all such transcendental achievements.
"My dear Lord, there is no end of Your unlimited knowledge. Your form is transcendental, eternally existing in full bliss and knowledge. You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Supreme Brahma, the Supreme Soul. For the time being You are concealing Your unlimited potencies, being covered by the spell of yogamāyā, Your internal potency. But still we can understand what is Your exalted position; therefore, all of us offer You our respectful obeisances.
"My dear Lord, You are enjoying Your pastimes in the role of a human being, concealing Your real character of transcendental opulence. Therefore, what to speak of all the kings who are present here, even the members of Yadu dynasty, who are constantly intermingling with You, eating with You, sitting with You, they also cannot understand You are the original cause of all causes, You are the soul of everyone, You are the original cause of all creation. You are...
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"When a person dreams at night, the false hallucinative figures created by dream is accepted by the dreamer as true, and the imaginary body created during dream is accepted as real body. For the time being, he forgets that besides the body created in hallucination, there is another, real body of awakening stage. Similarly, in the awakening stage also, illusioned by the influence of māyā, the conditioned soul is bewildered and thus considers sense enjoyment as real happiness.
"By the process of sense enjoyment of the material body, the spirit soul becomes covered, and his consciousness becomes contaminated materially. And by that material consciousness one cannot understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise, all great mystic yogīs are trying to revive their Kṛṣṇa consciousness by mature practice of yoga system just in order to understand Your lotus feet and to meditate upon Your transcendental form so that the accumulated resultant action of sinful activities might be counteracted by such endeavor.
"It is said that the water of the Ganges can vanquish volumes of sinful action of a person. But the glories of Ganges water is due to Your lotus feet. The Ganges water is flowing as perspiration from the lotus feet of Your Lordship, or the source of Ganges water is your lotus feet. And all of us, we are so fortunate that we have been able to see directly Your lotus feet today. My dear Lord, we are all surrendered souls, devotee of Your Lordship; therefore, be kind enough toward us and bestow Your causeless mercy upon us. We know it well that persons who have become liberated, being constantly engaged in Your devotional service, are no more contaminated by the material modes of nature and thus have become eligible to be promoted to the kingdom of God, in the spiritual world."
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After this, all the sages assembled there first of all offering prayers to Lord Kṛṣṇa, they wanted to take permission from King Dhṛtarāṣṭra as well as King Yudhiṣṭhira and thus depart from that place for their respective āśrama. At that time, Vasudeva, the father of Lord Kṛṣṇa, the most celebrated of all pious men, approached the sages and with great humility offered his respect to the sages by falling down on their feet. Thus he submitted his statement as follows: (within quotation) "My dear great sages, you are more respectful than the demigods. I therefore offer my respectful obeisances unto you. I wish that you may accept my one request, if you so desire. I shall consider it a great mercy upon me if you kindly explain what is that supreme fruitive activity by which one can counteract the resultant action of all other activities." (quotation close)
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The great sage Nārada was the leader of all the sages present there. Therefore, he began to say, following the inquiries of Vasudeva. He said as follows: "My dear sages, it is not very wonderful to understand how Vasudeva, who is the father of Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead, has accepted Kṛṣṇa as his son only, and thus out of his great goodness and simplicity is inclined to ask from us about his auspicity. It is said that familiarity breeds contempt. As such, Vasudeva, having Kṛṣṇa as his son, does not feel about Kṛṣṇa with awe and veneration. Sometimes it is seen that persons who are living on the bank of Ganges does not consider the importance of the Ganges very much, but in order to take bath in the pilgrimage they go far, far away.
"When Lord Kṛṣṇa is personally present, there was no need of Vasudeva asking us for instruction in this connection because Lord Kṛṣṇa's knowledge is never second in any circumstances. Influenced by the process of creation, maintenance and annihilation, His knowledge is never influenced by any other second exigency beyond Himself, neither He is agitated by the interaction of the material qualities or it becomes changed in course of time. His very transcendental form is full of knowledge which never becomes agitated by ignorance, pride, attachment, envy or sense enjoyment. His knowledge is never subjected to the fruitive action of pious or impious activities, neither it is influenced by the three modes of material energy. Nobody is greater than Him or equal to Him because He is the supreme authority, Personality of Godhead.
"Ordinary conditioned human being may think of Him as equal to a conditioned soul who is covered by his materialistic senses, mind, intelligence. But Lord Kṛṣṇa is just like the sun, who is never covered by the cloud, snow, fog, or any other planet as it takes place during the time of eclipse. Less intelligent class of men, when his eyes are covered by such extra influences and think of the sun as invisible, similarly, persons influenced by the senses addicted to material enjoyment cannot have a clear vision of the Supreme Personality of Godhead."
After this, all the sages present there began to address Vasudeva in the presence of Lord Kṛṣṇa, Balarāma and many other kings, and as requested by him, they instructed him as follows: (within quotation) "To counteract the reaction of karma—fruitive activities or such desires impelling to fruitive activities—is to execute the prescribed sacrifices which are meant for worshiping Lord Viṣṇu with faith and devotion. Lord Viṣṇu is the beneficiary to the result of all sacrificial performances. Great personalities and sages who are sufficiently experienced to vision the three phases of time element, namely past, present and future, and those who are able to see everything clearly through the eyes of the revealed scriptures have unanimously recommended this, that to purify the dirty accumulated dust of material contamination over the heart and to clear the path of liberation and thereby achieve the transcendental bliss, one must please Lord Viṣṇu. For everyone in different social orders as the brāhmaṇas, the kṣatriyas or the vaiśyas who are living as householder, for them this worship of Lord Viṣṇu the Supreme Personality of Godhead known as Puruṣottama, or the original person, is recommended as the only path of auspicity.
"All conditioned souls within this material world have deep-rooted desires to lord it over the resources of material nature. As such, everyone wants to accumulate riches, everyone wants to enjoy life to the greatest extent, everyone wants a wife, home, children, to become happy in this world, and everyone wants to be elevated to the heavenly planets in the next life. But these desires are the causes of one's material bondage. Therefore, to get liberation from this bondage, one has to sacrifice his honestly earned riches expended for the satisfaction of Lord Viṣṇu.
"The only process of counteracting all sorts of material desires is to engage oneself in devotional service of Lord Viṣṇu. In this way, a self-controlled person, even while remaining in householder’s life, should give up the three kinds of material desires, namely to acquire material opulences, to enjoy wife and children and to desire to be elevated to higher planets. He gives up the situation in householder’s life and accepts the renounced order of life for engaging oneself completely in devotional service of the Lord. Everyone, even born in higher status of life as brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya or vaiśya, is certainly indebted to the demigods, to the sages, to the forefathers, to the living entities and so on. And in order to liquidate all these debts, one has to perform sacrifices, study the Vedic literature and, by religious householder’s life, to produce generation. Anyone without discharging this indebtedness, if somehow one accepts the renounced order of life, certainly he falls down from such position.
"Today you have already liquidated the debts of forefathers and the sages. Now, by performing sacrifices, you can get yourself freed from the indebtedness to the demigods and thus take complete shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. My dear Vasudeva, certainly you have had already performed such many pious activities in your previous life. Otherwise, how you could be the father of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, the Supreme Personality of Godhead?" (quotation close)
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Saintly Vasudeva, after hearing all the sages, offered his respectful obeisances unto their lotus feet. In this way, he pleased all the sages and elected them as the performer of yajṣa. When the sages were elected as priests of such sacrifices, they also in their turn induced Vasudeva to collect required paraphernalia for executing the yajṣas in that pilgrimage. Thus, when Vasudeva became initiated to perform the yajṣas, all the members of the Yadu dynasty took their bath, dressed them very nicely and were garlanded with lotus flowers, and all of them were very beautifully decorated. Vasudeva also, along with his wives, dressed themselves with nice garments, ornaments, specifically with golden necklace on their necks, and all of them approached the arena of sacrifice with required articles in their hands, as it is necessary to offer in the sacrifice.
When everything was complete at that time, there were beatings of mṛdaṅga drums, conchshell, kettledrums and other musical instruments. The professional dancers, both male and female, began to dance. The sūtas and the māgadhas, who were professional singers, began to offer prayers by singing. The Gandharvas, along with their wives, whose voice were very sweet, began to sing many auspicious songs. Vasudeva first of all anointed with collyrium on his eyes and smeared butter over the body. Then, along with his eighteen wives headed by Devakī, and all of them sat down before the priest to be purified by the abhiṣeka ceremony.
When all such ceremonies were observed strictly according to the principle of scriptures as they were done formally in the case of the moon along with the stars, Vasudeva, because of being initiated for the sacrifice, was dressed by deerskin, but all his wives were dressed with a very nice sārī, bangles, necklace, ankle bells, earrings and many other ornaments fully decorated. Vasudeva was looking very beautiful surrounded by his wives. All of them looked exactly like the king of heaven when he performs such sacrifices.
At that time, when Lord Kṛṣṇa, Lord Balarāma, along with Their wives, children and relatives, sat down in that great sacrificial arena, it appeared that the Supreme Personality of Godhead was present now, along with His all part-and-parcel living entities and multi-energies. In other words, we have heard that Lord Kṛṣṇa has multi-energies and parts and parcels in the śāstras, but now, in that sacrificial arena, it was practically experienced how the Supreme Personality of Godhead eternally exists along with His different energies. At that time, Lord Kṛṣṇa appeared as Lord Nārāyaṇa, and Lord Balarāma appeared as Saṅkarṣaṇa, the reservoir of all living entities.
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In this way, Vasudeva satisfied Lord Viṣṇu by performing different kinds of sacrifices, such as Jyotiṣṭoma and Darśa-pūrṇamāsa. Some of these yajṣas were called prākṛta, and some of them were known as śaurya-satra or vaikṛta. Thereafter, the other sacrifices known as agnihotra were also performed, offering due the prescribed articles with full knowledge and action, and in this way Lord Viṣṇu became pacified.
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We can note in this connection that the ultimate purpose of offering oblations in the sacrifice is to please Lord Viṣṇu. But in this age of Kali, it is very difficult to collect all such articles for offering sacrifices. People have neither means to collect them, nor they have necessary knowledge or tendency to offer such sacrifices. Therefore, in this age of Kali, when people are mostly unfortunate, full of anxiety and disturbed by various kinds of calamities, the only sacrifice recommended is to perform saṅkīrtana-yajṣa. Worship Lord Caitanya by this saṅkīrtana-yajṣa is the only recommended process in this age.
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After this performances of the sacrifices, Vasudeva offered ample riches, clothing, ornaments, cows, land and maidservants to the priests. Thereafter, all the wives of Vasudeva took their bath, avabhṛtha-śnāna, and performed part of the sacrificial duties known as patnī-saṁyāja. Then after finishing all the required paraphernalia of the sacrifice, all of them together took bath in the lakes constructed by Paraśurāma. They are known as the Rāma-hrada. After taking bath, all the garments and ornaments which they wore they distributed to the subordinate persons who were engaged in singing, dancing and similar other activities. In this connection, we may note that to perform sacrifice means to distribute riches profusely. The priests and the brāhmaṇas are offered such charities in the beginning, and other subordinate assistants are offered charities after the performance of sacrifice by offering them used garments and ornaments.
Thus Vasudeva and his wives, after offering the used articles to the singers and the reciters, again they dressed themselves with new ornaments and dresses, and then they fed, beginning from the brāhmaṇas down to the dogs, very sumptuously. After this, all his friends, family members, wives, childrens and all the kings of Vidarbha, Kośala, Kuru, Kāśī, Kekaya and Sṛṣjaya, all the members assembled there—the priests, the demigods, the general people, the forefathers, the ghosts, the Cāraṇas—everyone were sufficiently remunerated by offering them ample articles and respectful honor. Then all the person assembled there took permission from Lord Kṛṣṇa, the husband of the goddess of fortune, and every one of them, glorifying the perfection of yajṣa sacrifice made by Vasudeva, thus they departed to their respective homes.
At that time, when King Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Vidura, Yudhiṣṭhira, Bhīma, Arjuna, Bhīṣmadeva, Droṇācārya, Kuntī, Nakula, Sahadeva, Nārada and Lord Vyāsadeva and many other relatives, kinsmen were taking part from the members of the Yadu dynasty, they felt very much of the separation, and therefore they embraced each and every member of the Yadu dynasty with a great feeling. Many others who were assembled in that sacrificial arena, they also departed. After this, Lord Kṛṣṇa, Lord Balarāma, along with King Ugrasena, satisfied the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana, headed by Mahārāja Nanda, and the cowherds men were offered profusely all kinds of articles in order to worship them and to please them. Out of their great feelings of friendship, the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana remained there for a considerable time along with the members of the Yadu dynasty.
After performing this sacrifice, Vasudeva was feeling very much satisfied. There was no limit of his happiness. All the members of his family were with him, and in the presence of all of them he caught hold of the hands of Nanda Baba and began to address him as follows: "My dear brother, the Supreme Personality of Godhead has created a great string of bondage, which is known as affection, or the bondage of love. I think it is very difficult job even for the great sages and saintly persons to cut up such string of affection, or the bondage of love.
"My dear brother, you have exhibited such bondage of love upon me, but I was not able to return such feelings. I think, therefore, that I am ungrateful. You have exactly performed as the characteristic of saintly person, but I shall never be able to repay you. I have no means to repay your friendly dealings. But still I am confident that our bondage of love will never break. Our friendship and relationship must continue as ever, in spite of my inability to repay you. I hope you will excuse me for my this inability.
"My dear brother, in the beginning, on account of my being imprisoned, I could never act as a friend to do you something good. And at the present moment, although I am very much opulent, I have become blind on account of my material prosperity. I therefore could not satisfy you properly even at this time. My dear brother, you are so nice and gentle that you offer all respects to others but you don't care for any respect for your person. A person, therefore, seeking for auspicious progress of life may not possess too much material opulences so that he may not be blind and puffed up and to take care of his friends and relatives."
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When Vasudeva was speaking to Nanda Mahārāja in this way, at that time he was influenced by too much feeling for the friendship of Nanda Mahārāja and the beneficial activities executed by him in favor of Vasudeva. As such, his eyes became filled up with tears and he began to cry. Nanda Mahārāja also, just to please his friend Vasudeva, and being too much affectionately bound up with the love of Lord Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, passed three months along with their association in this way. All the members of Yadu dynasty tried to please the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana to their hearts’ content.
After this, the members of Yadu dynasty tried to satisfy Nanda Baba and his associates, the cowherds men, by offering them valuable dress, ornaments and many other valuable articles, and all of them became fully satisfied. Nanda Baba and his associates were given gifts separately by Vasudeva, Ugrasena, Lord Kṛṣṇa, Lord Balarāma, Uddhava and all other members of the Yadu dynasty. When Nanda Baba received all these farewell presentation, he then, along with his associates, began to start for Vrajabhūmi, Vṛndāvana. The minds of the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana were, however, kept with Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, and therefore all of them started for Mathurā without their minds.
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The members of the Vṛṣṇi family, when they saw all friends and visitors departed, they saw that the rainy season was approaching, and thus they decided to return back to Dvārakā and were fully satisfied with Kṛṣṇa as their everything. When all of them returned to Dvārakā, with great satisfaction they began to describe about the sacrifice performed by Vasudeva, their meeting with various kinds of friends and well-wishers, and various incidences occurred during their travel in the pilgrimages.
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Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of Chapter Eighty-four describing "Sacrificial Ceremonies Done by Vasudeva."