Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare,
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare,
Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare,
And now, Chapter
25 / Meeting of Lord Krsna with Sudama Brahmana
King Pariksit was hearing the narrations of the pastimes of Lord Krsna and
Lord Balarama from Sukadeva Gosvami. These pastimes are all
transcendentally pleasurable to hear, and Maharaja Pariksit addressed
Sukadeva Gosvami as follows: "My dear lord, the Supreme Personality of
Godhead Krsna is the bestower of both liberation and love of God
simultaneously. Anyone who becomes a devotee of the Lord automatically
attains liberation without having to make a separate attempt. The Lord is
unlimited, and as such, His pastimes and activities for creating,
maintaining and destroying the whole cosmic manifestation are unlimited. I
therefore wish to hear about His other pastimes of which you may not have
spoken as yet. My dear master, the conditioned souls within this material
world have been frustrated by searching out the pleasure of happiness
derived from sense gratification. Such desires for material enjoyment are
always piercing the heart of conditioned souls. But I am actually
experiencing how the transcendental topics of Lord Krsna's pastimes can
relieve one from the state of being affected by such sense gratificatory
material activities. I think that no intelligent person can reject this
method of hearing the transcendental pastimes of the Lord again and again;
simply by hearing, one can remain always steeped in transcendental
pleasure. Thus one will not be attracted by material sense gratification."
In this statement, Maharaja Pariksit has used two important words: visannah
and visesajnah: visannah means "morose." The materialistic persons are
inventing many ways and means to become fully satisfied, but actually they
remain morose. The point may be raised that sometimes those who are
transcendentalists also remain morose. Pariksit Maharaja has used,
however, the word visesajnah. There are two kinds of transcendentalists,
namely the impersonalists and the personalists. Visesajnah refers to the
personalists, who are interested in transcendental variegatedness. The
devotees become jubilant by hearing the descriptions of the personal
activities of the Supreme Lord, whereas the impersonalists, who are
actually more attracted by the impersonal feature of the Lord, are only
superficially attracted by the personal activities of the Lord. As such,
in spite of coming in contact with the pastimes of the Lord, the
impersonalists do not fully realize the benefit to be derived, and thus
they remain in exactly the same morose position, due to fruitive activity,
with the materialists.
King Pariksit continued: "The capacity for talking can be perfected only by
describing the transcendental qualities of the Lord. The capacity for
working with one's hands can be successful only when one engages himself
in the service of the Lord with those hands. Similarly, one's mind can be
pacified only when he simply thinks of Krsna in full Krsna consciousness.
This does not mean that one has to be very thoughtful, but one simply has
to understand that Krsna, the Absolute Truth, is all-pervasive, by His
localized aspect as Paramatma. If only one can think that Krsna, as
Paramatma, is everywhere, even within the atom, then one can perfect the
thinking, feeling and willing function of his mind. The perfect devotee
does not see the material world as it appears to material eyes, but he
sees everywhere the presence of his worshipable Lord in His Paramatma
feature."
Maharaja Pariksit continued to say that the function of the ear can be
perfected simply by engagement in hearing the transcendental activities of
the Lord. He said further that the function of the head can be fully
utilized when the head is engaged in bowing down before the Lord and His
representative. That the Lord is represented in everyone's heart is a
fact, and therefore the highly advanced devotee offers his respects to
every living entity, considering that the body is the temple of the Lord.
But it is not possible for all men to come to that stage of life
immediately, because that stage is for the first-class devotee. The
second-class devotee can consider the Vaisnavas, or the devotees of the
Lord, to be representatives of Krsna, and the devotee who is just
beginning, the neophyte or third-class devotee, can bow his head before
the Deity in the temple and before the spiritual master, who is the direct
manifestation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In the neophyte
stage, in the intermediate stage, or in the fully advanced perfected
stage, one can make the function of the head perfect by bowing down before
the Lord or His representative. Similarly, he can perfect the function of
the eyes by seeing the Lord and His representative. In this way, everyone
can elevate the functions of the different parts of his body to the
highest perfectional stage simply by engaging them in the service of the
Lord or His representative. If one is able to do nothing more, he can
simply bow down before the Lord and His representative and drink the
caranamrta, the water which has washed the lotus feet of the Lord or His
devotee.
On hearing these statements of Maharaja Pariksit, Sukadeva Gosvami became
overwhelmed with devotional ecstasy because of King Pariksit's advanced
understanding of the Vaisnava philosophy. Sukadeva Gosvami was already
engaged in describing the activities of the Lord, and when he was asked by
Maharaja Pariksit to describe them further, he continued with great
pleasure to narrate Srimad-Bhagavatam.
There was a very nice brahmana friend of Lord Krsna. As a perfect brahmana,
he was very elevated in transcendental knowledge, and because of his
advanced knowledge, he was not at all attached to material enjoyment.
Therefore he was very peaceful and had achieved supreme control over his
senses. This means that the brahmana was a perfect devotee because unless
one is a perfect devotee, he cannot achieve the highest standard of
knowledge. It is stated in the Bhagavad-gita that a person who has come to
the point of perfection of knowledge surrenders unto the Supreme
Personality of Godhead. In other words, any person who has surrendered his
life for the service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead has come to the
point of perfect knowledge. The result of perfect knowledge is that one
becomes detached from the materialistic way of life. This detachment means
complete control of the senses, which are always attracted by material
enjoyment. The senses of the devotee become purified, and in that stage
the senses are engaged in the service of the Lord. That is the complete
field of devotional service.
Although the brahmana friend of Lord Krsna was a householder, he was not
busy accumulating wealth for very comfortable living; therefore he was
satisfied by the income which automatically came to him according to his
destiny. This is the sign of perfect knowledge. A man who is in perfect
knowledge knows that one cannot be happier than he is destined to be. In
this material world, everyone is destined to suffer a certain amount of
distress and to enjoy a certain amount of happiness. The amount of
happiness and distress is already predestined for every living entity. No
one can increase or decrease the happiness of the materialistic way of
life. The brahmana, therefore, did not exert himself for more material
happiness, but he used his time for advancement of Krsna consciousness.
Externally he appeared to be very poor because he had no rich dress and
could not provide a very rich dress for his wife, and because their
material condition was not very opulent they were not even eating
sufficiently, and thus both he and his wife appeared to be very thin. The
wife was not very anxious for her personal comfort, but she felt very
concerned for her husband, who was such a pious brahmana. She was
trembling due to her weak health, and although she did not like to dictate
to her husband, she spoke as follows:
"My dear lord, I know that Lord Krsna, who is the husband of the goddess of
fortune, is your personal friend. You are also a devotee of Lord Krsna,
and He is always ready to help His devotee. Even if you think that you are
not rendering any devotional service to the Lord, still you are
surrendered to Him, and the Lord is the protector of the surrendered soul.
Moreover, I know that Lord Krsna is the ideal personality of Vedic
culture. He is always in favor of brahminical culture and is very kind to
the qualified brahmanas. You are the most fortunate person because you
have as your friend the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Lord Krsna is the
only shelter for personalities like you because you are fully surrendered
unto Him. You are saintly, learned and fully in control of your senses.
Under the circumstances, Lord Krsna is your only shelter. Please,
therefore, go to Him. I am sure that He will immediately understand your
impoverished position. You are a householder; therefore without any money
you are in a distressed condition. But as soon as He understands your
position, He will certainly give you sufficient riches so that you can
live very comfortably. Lord Krsna is now the King of the Bhoja, Vrsni and
Andhaka dynasties, and I have heard that He never leaves His capital city,
Dvaraka. He is living there without outside engagements. He is so kind and
liberal that He immediately gives everything, even His personal self, to
any person who surrenders unto Him. When He is prepared to give Himself
personally to His devotee, then there is nothing wonderful in giving some
material riches. Of course, He does not give much material wealth to His
devotee if the devotee is not very fixed, but I think in your case He
knows perfectly well how much you are fixed in devotional service.
Therefore He will not hesitate to award you some material benefit for the
bare necessities of life."
In this way, the wife of the brahmana again and again requested, in great
humility and submission, that he go to Lord Krsna. The brahmana thought
that there was no need to ask any material benefit from Lord Sri Krsna,
but he was induced by the repeated requests of his wife. Moreover, he
thought, "If I go there I shall be able to see the Lord personally. That
will be a great opportunity, even if I don't ask any material benefit from
Him." When he had decided to go to Krsna, he asked his wife if she had
anything in the home that he could offer to Krsna, because he must take
some presentation for his friend. The wife immediately collected four
palmsful of chipped rice from her neighboring friends and tied it in a
small cloth, like a handkerchief, and gave it to her husband to present to
Krsna. Without waiting any longer, the brahmana took the presentation and
began to proceed toward Dvaraka to see his Lord. While he was proceeding
toward Dvaraka He was absorbed in the thought of how he could be able to
see Lord Krsna. He had no thought within his heart other than Krsna.
It was of course very difficult to reach the palaces of the kings of the
Yadu dynasty, but brahmanas were allowed to visit, and when the brahmana
friend of Lord Krsna went there, he, along with other brahmanas, had to
pass through three military encampments. In each camp there were very big
gates, and he also had to pass through them. After the gates and the
camps, there were sixteen thousand big palaces, the residential quarters
of the sixteen thousand queens of Lord Krsna. The brahmana entered one
palace which was very gorgeously decorated. When he entered this beautiful
palace, he felt that he was swimming in the ocean of transcendental
pleasure. He felt himself constantly diving and surfacing in that
transcendental ocean.
At that time, Lord Krsna was sitting on the bedstead of Queen Rukmini. Even
from a considerable distance He could see the brahmana coming to His home,
and He could recognize him as His friend. Lord Krsna immediately left His
seat and came forward to receive His brahmana friend and, upon reaching
him, embraced the brahmana with His two arms. Lord Krsna is the reservoir
of all transcendental pleasure, and yet He Himself felt great pleasure
upon embracing the poor brahmana because He was meeting His very dear
friend. Lord Krsna had him seated on His own bedstead and personally
brought him all kinds of fruits and drinks to offer him, as is proper in
receiving a worshipable guest. Lord Sri Krsna is the supreme pure, but
because He was playing the role of an ordinary human being, He immediately
washed the brahmana's feet and, for His own purification, sprinkled the
water onto His head. After this the Lord smeared the body of the brahmana
with different kinds of scented pulp, such as sandalwood, aguru and
saffron. He immediately burned several kinds of scented incense, and, as
is usual, He offered him aratrika with burning lamps. After thus offering
him an adequate welcome and after the brahmana had taken food and drink,
Lord Krsna said, "My dear friend, it is a great fortune that you have come
here."
The brahmana, being very poor, was not dressed nicely; his clothing was
torn and dirty, and his body was also very lean and thin. He appeared not
to be very clean, and because of his weak body, his bones were distinctly
visible. The goddess of fortune, Rukminidevi personally began to fan him
with the camara fan, but the other women in the palace became astonished
at Lord Krsna's behavior in receiving the brahmana in that way. They were
surprised to see how eager Lord Krsna was to welcome this particular
brahmana. They began to wonder how Lord Krsna could personally receive a
brahmana who was poor, not very neat or clean, and poorly dressed; but at
the same time they could realize that the brahmana was not an ordinary
living being. They knew that he must have performed great pious
activities; otherwise why was Lord Krsna, the husband of the goddess of
fortune, taking so much care for him? They were still more surprised to
see that the brahmana was seated on the bedstead of Lord Krsna. They were
especially surprised to see that Lord Krsna had embraced him exactly as He
embraced His elder brother, Balaramaji, because Lord Krsna used to embrace
only Rukmini or Balarama, and no one else.
After receiving the brahmana nicely, and seating him on His own cushioned
bed, Lord Krsna said, "My dear brahmana friend, you are a most intelligent
personality, and you know very well the principles of religious life. I
believe that after you finished your education at the house of our teacher
and after you sufficiently remunerated him, you must have gone back to
your home and accepted a suitable wife. I know very well that from the
beginning you were not at all attached to the materialistic way of life,
nor did you desire to be very opulent materially, and therefore you are in
need of money. In this material world, persons who are not attached to
material opulence are very rarely found. Such unattached persons haven't
the least desire to accumulate wealth and prosperity for sense
gratification, but sometimes they are found to collect money just to
exhibit the exemplary life of a householder. They show how by proper
distribution of wealth one can become an ideal householder and at the same
time become a great devotee. Such ideal householders are to be considered
followers of My footsteps. I hope, My dear brahmana friend, you remember
all those days of our school life when both you and I were living together
at the boarding house. Actually, whatever knowledge both you and I
received in our life was accumulated in our student life.
"If a man is sufficiently educated in student life under the guidance of a
proper teacher, then his life becomes successful in the future. He can
very easily cross over the ocean of nescience, and he is not subjected to
the influence of illusory energy. My dear friend, everyone should consider
his father to be his first teacher because by the mercy of one's father
one gets this body. The father is therefore the natural spiritual master.
Our next spiritual master is he who initiates us into transcendental kn
owledge, and he is to be worshiped as much as I am. The spiritual master
may be more than one. The spiritual master who instructs the disciples
about spiritual matters is called siksa-guru, and the spiritual master who
initiates the disciple is called diksa-guru. Both of them are My
representatives. There may be many spiritual masters who instruct, but the
initiator spiritual master is one. A human being who takes advantage of
these spiritual masters and, receiving proper knowledge from them, crosses
the ocean of material existence, is to be understood as having properly
utilized his human form of life. He has practical knowledge that the
ultimate interest of life, which is to be gained only in this human form,
is to achieve spiritual perfection and thus be transferred back home, back
to Godhead.
"My dear friend, I am Paramatma, the Supersoul present in everyone's heart,
and it is My direct order that human society must follow the principles of
varna and asrama. As I have stated in the Bhagavad-gita, the human society
should be divided, according to quality and action, into four varnas.
Similarly, everyone should divide his life into four parts. One should
utilize the first part of life in becoming a bona fide student, receiving
adequate knowledge and keeping oneself in the vow of brahmacarya, so that
one may completely devote his life for the service of the spiritual master
without indulging in sense gratification. A brahmacari is meant to lead a
life of austerities and penance. The householder is meant to live a
regulated life of sense gratification, but no one should remain a
householder for the third stage of life. In that stage, one has to return
to the austerities and penances formerly practiced in brahmacari life and
thus relieve himself of the attachment to household life. After being
relieved of his attachments to the materialistic way of life, one may
accept the order of sannyasa.
"As the Supersoul of the living entities, sitting in everyone's heart, I
observe everyone's activity in every stage and order of life. Regardless
of which stage one is in, when I see that one is engaged seriously and
sincerely in discharging the duties ordered by the spiritual master, and
is thus dedicating his life to the service of the spiritual master, that
person becomes most dear to Me. As far as the life of brahmacarya is
concerned, if one can continue the life of a brahmacari under the
direction of a spiritual master, that is extremely good; but if in
brahmacari life one feels sex impulses, then he should take leave of his
spiritual master, satisfying him according to the guru's desire. According
to the Vedic system, a gift is offered to the spiritual master, which is
called guru-daksina. Then the disciple should take to householder life and
accept a wife according to religious rites."
These instructions given by Lord Krsna while talking with His friend the
learned brahmana are very good for the guidance of human society. A system
of human civilization that does not promote varna and asrama is nothing
but polished animal society. Indulgence in sex life by a man or woman
living single is never acceptable in human society. A man should either
strictly follow the principles of brahmacari life or, with the permission
of the spiritual master, should get married. Single life with illicit sex
is animal life. For the animals there is no marriage institution.
Modern society does not aim at fulfilling the mission of human life. The
mission of human life is to go back home, back to Godhead. To fulfill this
mission, the system of varna and asrama must be followed. When the system
is followed rigidly and consciously, it fulfills this mission of life.
When it is followed indirectly, without guidance of superior order, it
simply creates a disturbing condition in human society, and there is no
peace and prosperity.
Krsna continued to talk with His brahmana friend: "My dear friend, I think
you remember our activities during the days when we were living as
students. You may remember that once we went to collect fuel from the
forest on the order of the guru's wife. While we were collecting the dried
wood, we by chance entered the dense forest and became lost. There was an
unexpected dust storm and then clouds and lightning in the sky and the
explosive sound of thunder. Then sunset came, and we were lost in the dark
jungle. After this, there was severe rainfall; the whole ground was
overflooded with water, and we could not trace out the way to return to
our guru's asrama. You may remember that the heavy rainfall -- it was not
actually rainfall but a sort of devastation. On account of the dust storm
and the heavy rain, we began to feel greatly pained, and in whichever
direction we turned we were bewildered. In that distressed condition, we
took each other's hand and tried to find our way out. We passed the whole
night in that way, and early in the morning when our absence became known
to our gurudeva, he sent his other disciples to search us out. He also
came with them, and when they reached us in the jungle they found us to be
very distressed.
"With great compassion our gurudeva said, 'My dear boys, it is very
wonderful that you have suffered so much trouble for me. Everyone likes to
take care of his body as the first consideration, but you are so good and
faithful to your guru that without caring for bodily comforts you have
taken so much trouble for me. I am also glad to see that bona fide
students like you will undergo any kind of trouble for the satisfaction of
the spiritual master. That is the way for a bona fide disciple to become
free from his debt to the spiritual master. It is the duty of the disciple
to dedicate his life to the service of the spiritual master. My dear best
of the twice-born, I am greatly pleased by your action, and I bless you:
May all your desires and ambitions be fulfilled. May the understanding of
the Vedas which you have learned from me always continue to remain within
your memory, so that at every moment you can remember the teachings of the
Vedas and quote their instructions without difficulty. Thus you will never
be disappointed in this life or in the next.'"
Krsna continued: "My dear friend, you may remember that many such incidents
occurred while we were in the asrama of our spiritual master. Both of us
can realize that without the blessings of the spiritual master no one can
be happy. By the mercy of the spiritual master and by his blessings, one
can achieve peace and prosperity and be able to fulfill the mission of
human life."
On hearing this, the learned brahmana replied, "My dear Krsna, You are the
Supreme Lord and the supreme spiritual master of everyone, and since I was
fortunate enough to live with You in the house of our guru, I think I have
nothing more to do in the matter of prescribed Vedic duties. My dear Lord,
the Vedic hymns, ritualistic ceremonies, religious activities and all
other necessities for the perfection of human life, including economic
development, sense gratification and liberation, are all derived from one
source: Your supreme personality. All the different processes of life are
ultimately meant for the understanding of Your personality. In other
words, they are the different parts of Your transcendental form. And yet
You played the role of a student and lived with us in the house of the
guru. This means that You adopted all these pastimes for Your pleasure
only; otherwise there was no need for Your playing the role of a human
being."
Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Second Volume, Twenty-fifth
Chapter, of Krsna, "The Meeting of Lord Krsna with Sudama Brahmana."