SB 3.13.9 – Cleansing the Heart

Giriraj Swami: 

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

Reading from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Three, Chapter Thirteen, “Lord Varaha,” 

TEXT 9

brahmovāca
prītas tubhyam ahaṁ tāta
svasti stād vāṁ kṣitīśvara
yan nirvyalīkena hṛdā
śādhi mety ātmanārpitam

TRANSLATION

Lord Brahmā said: My dear son, O lord of the world, I am very pleased with you, and I desire all blessings for both you and your wife. You have without reservation surrendered yourself unto me with your heart for my instructions.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

The relationship between the father and the son is always sublime. The father is naturally disposed with good will towards the son, and he is always ready to help the son in his progress in life. But in spite of the father’s good will, the son is sometimes misguided because of his misuse of personal independence. Every living entity, however small or big he may be, has the choice of independence. If the son is unreservedly willing to be guided by the father, the father is ten times more eager to instruct and guide him by all means. The father-and-son relationship as exhibited here in the dealings of Brahmā and Manu is excellent. Both the father and the son are well qualified, and their example should be followed by all humankind. Manu, the son, unreservedly asked the father, Brahmā, to instruct him, and the father, who was full of Vedic wisdom, was very glad to instruct. The example of the father of mankind may be rigidly followed by mankind, and that will advance the cause of the relationship of fathers and sons.

COMMENT

So, the obedience of the son in relation to the father is appreciated because the father is full of transcendental knowledge, and therefore, the relationship has meaning. The Lord Ṛṣabhadeva in the Fifth Canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam states that no one should become a father, or mother, or husband, or guru, or a superior relative in any way unless one can deliver one’s dependent from the repetition of birth and death. No one can be delivered from the repetition of birth and death unless he is a pure devotee. Therefore, the duty of the father or the superior relative is to become a pure devotee and to train the dependent relatives also to become pure devotees. Otherwise, if one neglects one’s responsibility, one will be punished, and at the same time, he cannot really demand obedience from the dependent relatives. The original commentator on the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Srila Śrīdhara Swami, has given several examples to illustrate the point that unless the guru, or father, or mother, or husband is a pure devotee, he is not considered a real guru, or father, or mother, or husband. It begins with guru because the verse begins with guru. gurur na sa syāt, that it is the duty of the disciple to follow the order of the guru. But Bali Maharaja disobeyed the order of his spiritual master. Bali Maharaja was not considered to be at fault because his spiritual master was not a real spiritual master because he was not directing him how to be delivered from the repeated cycle of birth and death.

Next, it is the duty of the son to defend the father if the father is being attacked. But when Hiraṇyakaśipu was being attacked by Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva, Prahlada did not make any attempt to defend him. That is not considered a fault because Hiraṇyakaśipu was not a real father because he wasn’t helping to deliver Prahlada from repeated birth and death. Then it is the duty of the son to follow the instructions of the mother. But when Kaikeyi ordered Bharat to sit on the throne and rule the kingdom as king, he refused to obey her order. He did not deviate from the religious principles because Kaikeyi was not a real mother because she wasn’t helping him to be free from the cycle of birth and death. Similarly, it is the duty of the wife to obey the husband. But when the brahmans were performing sacrifices in Vrindavan and forbade their wives to bring prasāda to Krishna and Balarama and the other cowherd boys, they disobeyed their husbands. They were not guilty of any violation of religious principle because they were not considered real husbands because they were not devotees.

When we talk about the relationship between the father and son, we mean the relationship between a real father and son. A real father means a devotee of the Lord who instructs the son to become a devotee. Otherwise, we are not talking about a real father, and there is no need to obey such a person. Fortunately, Lord Brahma is a real father, and therefore, Manu’s obedience to him is much appreciated by Lord Brahma and by all great authorities. Therefore, the example of the relationship between Brahma and Manu is included in the pages of the Bhāgavatam as an example for us. When the guru, father, mother, or husband acts to deliver the dependent from the repetition of birth and death, he or she is executing the same mission as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who descends on earth to deliver the fallen souls. Therefore, the guru, father, mother, and husband are considered representatives of the Supreme Lord because they are executing the mission of the Lord and repeating the instructions of the Lord. When the Lord comes and demands our surrender, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja, the spiritual master and other representatives of the Lord can make the same demand.

Although as we discussed the other day, because there may be some material feature to the relationship between the material father and son, or the material mother and child, or the material husband and wife, there may be some consideration of a higher principle than to serve even the devotee father. We have the example of the Four-Kumaras because Lord Brahma instructed them to marry and procreate, but they refused. They didn’t refuse for any material reason because one is not allowed to disobey the father on material grounds, but they disobeyed him for a higher cause, which was devotional service. Because Lord Brahma is engaged in devotional service, creating the universe and populating the universe, Manu’s obedience was not completely material either because he was trying to please his father, who is trying to please the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Lord Brahma very much appreciated the surrender of Manu and blessed him. Srila Prabhupada says that the spiritual master or the pure devotee can bless the disciple because the spiritual master is engaged in the confidential service of the Lord. Therefore, he can bless the disciple with genuine spiritual understanding when he sees that the disciple is ready to execute his order, whatever his order may be or whatever the circumstances may be. That is surrendering.

Srila Prabhupada says that one must pass the test of the spiritual master, and when the spiritual master is pleased with the surrender of the disciple, he can bless the disciple with genuine spiritual understanding. Because the spiritual master is naturally very kind to the disciple, and the father is naturally very kind to the son. When the son or the disciple satisfies the father or the spiritual master with surrender, service, and inquiry, then the reciprocation becomes perfect or complete. Therefore, the spiritual master or the father showers his blessings upon the son or the disciple.

The same principle is explained in the Second Canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam by Suta Gosvami.

naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu
nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā
bhagavaty uttama-śloke
bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī

By hearing the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or by rendering service to the pure devotee, one gets the same result. One becomes fixed in devotional service. In other words, if one hears the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, he can become fixed in transcendental knowledge. But even if one doesn’t have time to read the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, if he is unreservedly engaged in the service of the pure devotee, then the same knowledge will be revealed to him. This could be called the blessing of the spiritual master or the blessings of the devotee father, that even without reading the Bhāgavatam, the same truths are revealed within the heart of the sincere soul who renders service without reservation.

Practically, we saw that in some circumstances, Srila Prabhupada encouraged the disciples to work very laboriously to serve him and help him in his mission. Even though they complained that they didn’t have time to study his books, he still encouraged them to serve. He sometimes quoted the same verse that by reading the book-Bhāgavata or serving the person bhāgavata, one gets the same result. Another important word in the verse is, yan nirvyalīkena hṛdā śādhi mety, that he surrendered himself with his heart to Brahma’s instructions. In other words, he had no reservation and therefore, he surrendered himself with his heart. Not that he officially surrendered himself with his body, but his heart was somewhere else. His surrender was complete, not just externally, but internally also he surrendered himself, and therefore, because he surrendered himself with his heart, Lord Brahma reciprocated from his heart and blessed him.

The heart should be very pure to receive the instructions of the Lord through the father, or mother, or husband, or guru. If the heart is not properly cleansed, there will be disturbance within the heart, which will interfere with the reception of the transcendental instructions from the authorized person. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, we have the Lord’s pastime of the cleansing of the Gundica temple. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura compares the Gundica temple to the heart, just as the Gundica temple had to be cleansed to be made fit for the Lord to come there, because when Lord Jagannatha leaves the temple on Ratha-yatra, he goes to another temple, which is the Gundica temple. Before the Lord arrives, the devotees cleanse the temple so that it becomes a fit place for Lord Jagannatha to reside. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati compares the temple to the heart and says that just as the temple has to be cleaned to become a fit place for the Lord to sit, similarly, the heart also has to be made a fit place by being thoroughly cleansed.

Lord Chaitanya and his associates cleanse the Gundica temple not only once, but after completing the cleansing, they cleaned it again. Srila Prabhupada says that the reason they cleansed the temple again was just to make sure that no little grains of sand or dust were left and that none could enter again. The desire for sense gratification or the tendency towards mental speculation are compared to grains of dust or sand in the heart. They cause irritation in the heart, and because of the irritation or the disturbance caused within the heart by such desires, the heart is disturbed. The heart is not at peace, and therefore the devotee cannot really receive the transcendental Lord in the form of transcendental sound in particular, without the disturbance caused by the irritation. Therefore, we should feel that these desires for economic development, sense gratification, or impersonal liberation are actually grains within the heart that cause irritation. We should want to get them out so that the irritation stops.

Of course, the method for cleansing is hearing, and as the hearing takes effect, the dirt gets removed. As the dirt is removed, the hearing improves, and as the hearing improves, the effect of hearing increases. The process of purification accelerates. However, as we have just discussed, hearing is not the only process, serving the pure devotee can have the same type of effect of uprooting material desires or impersonal desires and making the heart free for the Lord to enter. Hare Krishna.

Are there any questions or comments?