SPD12-06 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.8.33, April 25, 1973, Los Angeles
SPD12-06
Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.8.33,
April 25, 1973, Los Angeles
Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.8.33,
April 25, 1973, Los Angeles
[00:32] [Pradyumna:] [leads chanting of synonyms] ...asya-of him;
[00:33] ksemaya-for the good;
[00:37] vadhaya-for the purpose of killing;
[00:43] ca-and;
[00:45] sura-dvisam-of those who are envious of the demigods.
[00:53] Translation: "Others say that since both Vasudeva and Devaki prayed for You, You have taken
[01:00] Your birth as their son. Undoubtedly You are unborn, yet You take Your birth for
[01:05] their welfare and to kill those who are envious of the demigods."
[01:14] [Prabhupada:] So there are two purposes of incarnation. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gita:
[01:26] yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati bharata,
[01:39] The Lord says that whenever there is irregularities, dharmasya, of religion,
[01:53] irregularities... Glaniḥ. Glaniḥ means irregularities. Just like you are executing some service.
[02:04] There may be irregularities, then it becomes polluted. So, ada yada hi dharmasya
[02:12] glanir bhavati... Dharmasya glanir bhavati means development of irreligiosity.
[02:23] That means if your wealth is diminished, then your poverty is increased.
[02:30] Balance. If you increase this side, the other side will go up, and if you increase that side,
[02:39] the other side... But you have to keep balance. That is required.
[02:48] So in the human society, they are meant for keeping balance. What is that balance?
[03:01] They do not know that... It is just like balance: one side spirit, another side matter.
[03:12] We are now, actually, we are spirit soul. Somehow or other we have been encaged
[03:21] within this body, material body. For that purpose, so long we have got this body,
[03:32] we have got necessities of the body-eating, sleeping, mating, defending.
[03:40] These are the necessities of the body. Soul does not require all these things.
[03:47] Soul has nothing to eat. That we do not know. Whatever we are eating, that is...,
[03:57] that is for keeping of this body. So the bodily necessities are there, but if you simply
[04:10] look after the bodily necessities and do not care to look after the necessity of the soul,
[04:17] that is foolish civilization. No balance. They do not know.
[04:24] Just like a rascal. He's simply washing the coat, but does not take care of the body.
[04:38] Or a bird is in the cage, and if you take care of the cage and don't take care of the bird
[04:46] within the cage... The bird is crying: "Keh-keh. Give me food, give me food." But you are
[04:54] taking care of the cage. This is foolishness. So why we are unhappy? Why,
[05:07] in your country especially... You are supposed to be the richest country in the world.
[05:13] You have no scarcity-no scarcity of food, no scarcity of motorcar, no scarcity of bank balance,
[05:22] no scarcity of sex. Everything is there, complete, in full abundance. And still why
[05:31] a section of people are frustrated and confused, like the hippies? They are not satisfied.
[05:40] Why? That is the defect. Because there is no balance. You are taking care of the bodily
[05:50] necessities of life, but you have no information of the soul. And there is necessity
[06:00] of the soul also. Because soul is the real subject matter. Body is the covering only.
[06:14] So it is said that... No, I'm explaining that verse: dharmasya glanir bhavati. This is dharmasya glaniḥ:
[06:30] pollution of duty. Dharma means duty. Dharma is not a kind of faith.
[06:40] In English dictionary it is said, "religion means a faith." No, no. It is not.
[06:47] Dharma means the actual constitutional duty. That is dharma. So if you have no information
[07:00] of the soul, if you do not know what is the need of the soul, simply you are busy
[07:07] on the bodily necessities of life, bodily comfort... So bodily comfort will not save you.
[07:17] Suppose a man is very comfortably situated. Does it mean that he will not die?
[07:25] He'll die. So simply by bodily comforts you cannot exist. Survival of the fittest.
[07:37] Struggle for existence. So when we simply take care of the body, that is called dharmasya glaniḥ,
[07:48] polluted. One must know what is the necessity of the body and what is the necessity of the soul.
[08:00] The real necessity of life is to supply the comforts of the soul.
[08:11] And the soul can be comforted not by material adjustment.
[08:18] Because soul is a different identity, the soul must be given spiritual food.
[08:29] That spiritual food is this Krsna consciousness. If you give the soul the spiritual food...
[08:40] Food, there are, when one is diseased, you have to give him diet and medicine.
[08:50] Two things required. If you simply give medicine, no diet, that will be not very successful.
[08:57] Both things. So this Krsna consciousness movement is meant for giving food-
[09:08] means diet and medicine-to the soul. The medicine is this Hare Krsna maha-mantra.
[09:17] Bhavausadhac chrotra-mano-'bhiramat ka uttamasloka-gunanuvadat virajyeta
[09:37] "This Bhagavata discussion which you are prepared to give me, it is not ordinary thing."
[09:49] Nivrtta-tarsair upagiyamanat. This Bhagavata discussion is relishable by persons
[09:59] who are nivrtta-trsna. Trsna. Trsna means hankering. Everyone in this material world
[10:10] is hankering. Hankering. So one who is freed from this hankering, he can taste the Bhagavata,
[10:26] how palatable it is. It is such a thing. Nivrtta-tarsaiḥ... Similarly, bhagavata means also...,
[10:32] the Hare Krsna mantra is also bhagavata. Bhagavata means anything in relationship
[10:38] with the Supreme Lord. That is called bhagavata. The Supreme Lord is called Bhagavan.
[10:45] Bhagavata-sabda. And in relationship with Him, anything, that bhagavata-sabda turns into bhagavata-sabda.
[10:57] So Pariksit Maharaja said that the taste of Bhagavata can be relished by a person
[11:06] who has finished his hankering of material desires. Nivrtta-tarsair upagiyamanat.
[11:16] And what is..., why such thing should be tasted? Bhavausadhi. Bhavausadhi, medicine
[11:25] for our disease of birth and death. Bhava means "become." Our... At the present moment,
[11:34] we are in diseased condition. They do not know what is the diseased condition,
[11:39] what is the healthy condition, these rascals. They do not know anything. Still
[11:45] they are passing on as great scientists, philosophers. They do not enquire that
[11:53] "I do not want to die. Why death is enforced upon me?" There is no such enquiry;
[12:00] neither is there any solution. And still they are scientist. What kind of scientist? If you can...
[12:08] Science means that you advance in knowledge so that your miserable condition of life
[12:15] can be reduced, minimized. That is science. Otherwise, what is this science?
[12:26] They are simply promising, "In future." "But what you are delivering just now, sir?"
[12:33] "Now just now you suffer as you are suffering, go on suffering.
[12:38] In future we shall find out some chemicals." No. Actually, atyantika-duḥkha-nivrtti.
[12:50] Atyantika, ultimate. Atyantika means ultimate. Duḥkha means sufferings.
[12:58] That should be the aim of human life. So they do not know what is atyantika-duḥkha.
[13:07] Duḥkha means suffering. So atyantika-duḥkha is pointed out in the Bhagavad-gita:
[13:22] birth, death, old age and disease. So what you have done for vanishing or making,
[13:33] or nullifying this duḥkha, these sufferings? So there is no such thing in the material world.
[13:43] Atyantika-duḥkha-nivrtti, ultimate relinquishment from all kinds of suffering,
[13:53] is stated in the Bhagavad-gita. What is that?
[13:58] Mam upetya kaunteya duḥkhalayam asasvatam,
[14:09] So you should read all this. You have got Bhagavata, everything explanation.
[14:13] This is atyantika-duḥkha-nivrtti, ultimate relinquishment from all sufferings.
[14:23] What is that? Mam upetya: "One who approaches Me or one who comes to Me,
[14:31] back to home, back to Godhead." So they have no knowledge what is God and
[14:36] whether one can go back to home, back to Godhead, it is a practical thing or not.
[14:43] No knowledge. Simply like animals. That's all. No knowledge. They pray,
[14:53] "O God, give us our daily bread." Now ask him, "What is God?" Can he explain?
[15:00] No. Then whom we are asking? In the air? If I ask, if I submit some petition,
[15:09] there must be some person. So I do not know what is that person, where to submit this
[15:15] petition. Simply... They say that He's in the sky. The sky, there are so many birds also,
[15:23] but that is not God. You see? So no knowledge. No knowledge. Imperfect knowledge, all.
[15:33] And they're passing on as scientists, philosophers, great thinkers, writers, and...
[15:40] All rubbish. All rubbish. The only book is Srimad-Bhagavatam, Bhagavad-gita.
[15:49] All rubbish. In the Bhagavata it is said,
[15:59] tad-vag-visargo janatagha-viplavo yasmin prati-slokam abaddhavaty api,
[16:18] And on the other side, na tad vacas citra-padam harer yaso...,
[16:35] Any literature which has no connection with the knowledge of God, tad, tad vayasam tirtham,
[16:46] that is just like the place where the crows take enjoyment. Where the crows take enjoyment.
[16:55] In the filthy place. And the swans, the white swans, they take pleasure in a nice,
[17:04] clear water where there is garden, there is birds.
[17:08] So there are, even in the animals, there are divisions: swan class and crow class.
[17:16] Natural division. The crow will not go to the swan. The swan will not go to the crow.
[17:26] Similarly, in the human society, there are crow class men and swan class men.
[17:36] The swan class men will come here because here everything is clear, nice-good philosophy,
[17:47] good food, good education, good dress, good mind-everything good.
[17:55] And crow class men will go to such-and-such club, such-and-such party, naked dance,
[18:06] so many things. You see. So this Krsna consciousness movement is meant for the swan
[18:15] class of men, not for the crow class of men. No. But we can convert the crows into swans.
[18:27] That is our philosophy. One who was crow is now swimming like swan. That we can do.
[18:38] That is the benefit of Krsna consciousness. So when the swans become crows,
[18:48] that is material world. That is, Krsna says, yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati.
[18:56] The living entity is encaged in this material body, and he's trying to gratify the senses,
[19:06] one body after another, one body after another, one body after another. This is the position.
[19:14] And dharma means to gradually turn the crows into swans. That is dharma.
[19:25] Just like one man may be..., may remain, may be very illiterate, uncultured, but he can be
[19:34] converted into educated, cultured man, by education, by training. So that
[19:43] possibility is there in the human form of life. I cannot train a dog to become a devotee.
[19:51] That is difficult. It can be done also. But I may not be so powerful.
[19:58] Just like Caitanya Mahaprabhu did. When He was passing through the jungle,
[20:06] Jharikhanḍa, the tigers, the snakes, the deers, all the animals, they became devotee.
[20:13] They became devotee. So what was possible for me..., uh, Caitanya Mahaprabhu...
[20:21] Because He's God Himself. He can do anything. We cannot do that. But we can
[20:27] work in the human society. It doesn't matter, however fallen a man is,
[20:35] if he follows our instruction then he can be turned.
[20:40] That is called dharma. Dharma means to bring one to his original position. That is dharma.
[20:51] So there may be degrees. But the original position is that we are part and parcel of God,
[21:00] and, when we understand that we are part and parcel of God, that is our real position of life.
[21:11] That is called brahma-bhūta stage, understanding his Brahman realization, identification.
[21:19] So Krsna comes... This explanation...
[21:24] Just like Kunti says that apare vasudevasya devakyam yacito 'bhyagat.
[21:34] Vasudeva and Devaki prayed to the Supreme Personality of Godhead that
[21:41] "We want a son like You. That is our desire." Although they were married, they were...,
[21:51] they did not beget any child. They engaged themselves in tapasya, severe tapasya.
[22:00] So Krsna came before them: "What do you want?" "Now, we want a child like You."
[22:08] Therefore here it is said, vasudevasya devakyam yacitaḥ. Yacitaḥ. "Sir, we want a son like You."
[22:19] Now what..., where there is possibility of another God? Krsna is God. God cannot be two.
[22:27] God is one. So how there can be another God to become the son of Vasudeva and Devaki?
[22:39] Therefore God agreed that "It is not possible to find out another God. Then I shall become your son."
[22:48] So people say that because Vasudeva and Devaki wanted Krsna as their son, He appeared.
[22:59] Kecit. Somebody says. Vasudevasya devakyam yacitaḥ. Being requested, being prayed for,
[23:09] abhyagat, He appeared. Ajas tvam asya ksemaya vadhaya ca sura-dvisam. Others says
[23:31] Actually, Krsna comes to pacify His devotee. Just like He appeared to pacify, to satisfy
[23:43] His devotee Vasudeva and Devaki. But when He comes, He does the other business.
[23:50] What is that? Vadhaya ca sura-dvisam. Vadhaya means killing. Sura-dvisam.
[24:01] There is a class of men, they are called asuras. They are sura-dvisam.
[24:09] They are always envious of the devotees. They are called demons.
[24:14] Just like Prahlada Maharaja and his father, Hiranyakasipu. Hiranyakasipu is the father
[24:21] of Prahlada Maharaja, but because Prahlada Maharaja was a devotee, he became envious.
[24:28] That is the nature of the demons. So much so envious that he was prepared to kill his own son.
[24:36] The only fault is that little boy, he was chanting Hare Krsna. That is his fault.
[24:44] The father could not. Therefore they are called sura-dvisam, always envious of the devotees.
[24:53] Demon means always envious of the devotees. This material world is so nuisance place that...
[25:04] Just you have got a very nice example. Just like Jesus Christ, Lord Christ. So what was his fault?
[25:15] But the sura-dvisam, the envious person, killed him. And if we find, if we analyze
[25:23] what is the fault of Jesus Christ, there is no fault. The only fault-he was preaching
[25:30] about God. And still we find so many enemies. He was cruelly crucified.
[25:40] So you'll always find this sura-dvisam. So Krsna comes to kill these sura-dvisam.
[25:50] Therefore vadhaya ca sura-dvisam. These envious persons are killed.
[25:58] But this killing business can be done without the presence of Krsna.
[26:05] Because there are so many natural forces-war, pestilence, famine, anything-
[26:12] just set on working. Millions of people can be killed. So Krsna does not require to come
[26:22] here to kill these rascals. They can be killed simply by Krsna's direction, nature's law.
[26:38] The nature has got so much power that it can create, it can maintain, it can annihilate,
[26:47] dissolute, everything. Nature is so powerful. Srsti-sthiti-pralaya. Srsti means creation,
[26:54] and sthiti means maintenance, and pralaya means destruction. These three things
[27:00] nature can do. Just like this creation, material creation, is natural, nature, cosmic manifestation.
[27:11] It is being maintained. By nature's mercy, we are getting sunlight, we are getting air,
[27:20] we are getting rains, and thereby we are growing our food, eating nicely, growing nicely.
[27:28] This maintenance also being done by nature. But at any time everything can be finished
[27:36] simply by one strong wind. Nature is so powerful. So for killing these demons,
[27:46] nature is already there. Of course, nature is working under the direction of Krsna.
[28:00] So if Krsna says that these demons may be killed, then nature's one blast, one strong wind
[28:08] will..., can kill millions of them. So for that purpose Krsna does not require to come.
[28:17] But Krsna comes, as it is stated here, that yacita. Krsna comes when He is requested
[28:28] by His devotees like Vasudeva and Devaki. That is His coming. That is the cause of His coming.
[28:36] And simultaneously, when He comes He also shows this, that "Anyone who is envious
[28:44] of My devotees, I kill them. I kill them." Of course, His killing and maintaining, the same thing.
[28:52] He's absolute. Those who are killed by Krsna, they immediately get salvation,
[28:58] which requires millions of years to get. So people say like that, that Krsna came for this
[29:07] purpose or that purpose, but actually Krsna comes for the benefit of the devotees,
[29:17] ksemaya. What is the meaning of ksemaya? For maintenance?
[29:23] [Pradyumna:] "For the good."
[29:25] [Prabhupada:] For the good. For the good of the devotees. He's always after seeing good of the devotees.
[29:34] Therefore from this instruction of Kunti, our business should be always how to become devotee.
[29:45] Then all good qualities will come upon us. Yasyasti bhaktir bhagavaty akincana
[29:52] sarvair gunais tatra samasate suraḥ. If you simply develop your devotion,
[29:59] dormant devotion, natural devotion... We have got natural devotion.
[30:04] Just like father and son, there is natural affection. And the son has got natural devotion
[30:12] to the father, for father, for mother. Similarly, we have got our natural devotion.
[30:20] When we are actually in danger, even the scientists, they also pray to God.
[30:26] But when they are not in danger, they defy God. So therefore danger is required
[30:33] in order to teach these rascals that there is God. So that is natural.
[30:44] Artificially we are trying to banish God. "God is dead," "There is no God," "I am God," "This God," "That God."
[30:51] This rascaldom we shall give up. Then we shall be given all protection by Krsna.
[30:57] Thank you very much.
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