SB 3.16.11 – Accept a Curse with a Smile

Giriraj Swami: Reading from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Three, Chapter Sixteen, “Jaya and Vijaya, Cursed by the Sages.”

TEXT 11

ye brāhmaṇān mayi dhiyā kṣipato ‘rcayantas
tuṣyad-dhṛdaḥ smita-sudhokṣita-padma-vaktrāḥ
vāṇyānurāga-kalayātmajavad gṛṇantaḥ
sambodhayanty aham ivāham upāhṛtas taiḥ

TRANSLATION

On the other hand, they captivate My heart who are gladdened in heart and who, their lotus faces enlightened by nectarean smiles, respect the brāhmaṇas, even though the brāhmaṇas utter harsh words. They look upon the brāhmaṇas as My own Self and pacify them by praising them in loving words, even as a son would appease an angry father or as I am pacifying you.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

It has been observed in many instances in the Vedic scriptures that when the brāhmaṇas or Vaiṣṇavas curse someone in an angry mood, the person who is cursed does not take it upon himself to treat the brāhmaṇas or Vaiṣṇavas in the same way. There are many examples of this. For instance, the sons of Kuvera, when cursed by the great sage Nārada, did not seek revenge in the same harsh way, but submitted. Here also, when Jaya and Vijaya were cursed by the four Kumāras, they did not become harsh towards them; rather, they submitted. That should be the way of treating brāhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇavas. One may sometimes be faced with a grievous situation created by a brāhmaṇa, but instead of meeting him with a similar mood, one should try to pacify him with a smiling face and mild treatment. Brāhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇavas should be accepted as earthly representatives of Nārāyaṇa. Nowadays some foolish persons have manufactured the term daridra-nārāyaṇa, indicating that the poor man should be accepted as the representative of Nārāyaṇa. But in Vedic literature we do not find that poor men should be treated as representatives of Nārāyaṇa. Of course, “those who are unprotected” are mentioned here, but the definition of this phrase is clear from the śāstras. The poor man should not be unprotected, but the brāhmaṇa should especially be treated as the representative of Nārāyaṇa and should be worshiped like Him. It is specifically said that to pacify the brāhmaṇas, one’s face should be lotuslike. A lotuslike face is exhibited when one is adorned with love and affection. In this respect, the example of the father’s being angry at the son and the son’s trying to pacify the father with smiling and sweet words is very appropriate.

Actually, the four Kumaras and the gate keepers were in the same category. Therefore, the Lord’s instructions to devotees are meant for brahmans. The Lord tells the gate keeper that they should not retaliate against the curse of Kumaras. The Lord tells the Kumaras that they should not that they should not take seriously the harsh treatment of the gate keepers or return of the harsh treatment because brahmans or Vaishnavas are the representative of the Lord. If the Lord becomes angry with us, we should not become angry on the Lord. If Lord chastises us, we should not try to chastise the Lord. The brahmans and the Vaishnavas are the representative of the Lord, so if the brahmans and the Vaishnavas chastise us or treat us harshly, we should not retaliate. We should treat it as the mercy of the Lord.

Here Srila Prabhupada gives the example of Nalakuvara and Manigriva. They were sons of Kubera, and were the great devotee of Lord Shiva. They were so favored by Lord Shiva that they could enjoy in the garden of Indra. One day, they were actually enjoying in one pond filled with lotus flower, naked with two young ladies, who were also naked. And they came out of the water without any cloths and they were walking by naked. The great sage Narada appeared there at the same moment and although the ladies covered themselves, the boys were so intoxicated and so blinded by material opulence, so they could not even understand that they were standing naked before the great stage Narada. The great sage Narada apparently became angry with them and cursed them to take the birth as trees. But actually, the curse of Narada was the blessing of Narada. The Vaishnava is an expert physician and he knows what kind of medicine to give to these conditioned souls. Narada thought that they have become so blinded by opulence and so intoxicated by liquor, they should be deprived of their opulence, and when they are deprived of their opulence, they may come to their senses and engage in the service of the Lord. So, the actual purpose of Narada was to make them devotee. But the apparent action of Narada look different because they take birth as tree. Why as tree? Because trees also stand naked like them nor they have consciousness. Trees also not conscious whether they are standing naked or not, or whether any saintly persons are standing before them or not. They have no consciousness. So, because the two boys were similarly unconscious and naked, he cursed them to become trees. But his actual purpose was not to push them down. His actual purpose was to bring them up. Therefore, he cursed them to take birth as trees in the courtyard of Nanda Maharaja in Gokula.

We know the story how Mother Yasoda was feeding Krishna her breast milk and then set Him aside to take care of the boiling milk on fire. Baby Krishna became upset and broke pot of butter and yogurt. Then Mother Yasoda bound Krishna with rope, and tied Krishna to a wooden grinding mortar. After the bound by the rope of Yasoda, it actually means bound by love of Mother Yasoda, baby Krishna crawled between two Arjuna trees in the courtyard of Nanda Maharaja and pulled down the two tree and immediately Nalakuvara and Manigriva appeared from tree. They showed their original forms as demigods. So, they got the darshan of Lord Krishna and they understood the value of Narada’s curse. They did not protest the curse and actually the curse was the blessing. So, they actually thanked Narada and prayed that they should always engage in service of Narada and the Vaishnavas. Lord Krishna also after delivering Nalakuvara and Manigriva addressed them and told them that just as one who comes face to face with the sun cannot remain in darkness, similarly one who comes face to face with the sadhu, he cannot remain in material existence. He is bound to be liberated by the devotional service.

‘sādhu-saṅga’, ‘sādhu-saṅga’ — sarva-śāstre kaya
lava-mātra sādhu-saṅge sarva-siddhi haya

Just by a moment’s association with a pure devotee, one can attain all perfection. So Narada appeared on the scene at the right moment for the benefit of Nalakuvara and Manigriva. He cursed them but by His curse, He blessed them. He gave them seed of devotional service. And by the seed of devotional service, they get freed from all miseries, they get liberated from material existence, they get ultimately love of Krishna. The opportunity to serve Krishna directly in the pastime of Krishna. So, material opulence and pride are often causes of bewilderment and when the conditioned soul becomes bewildered by pride and material opulence, you may commit offenses and have to be punished. So, just as the Lord is all good and everything the Lord does is also good, similarly the pure devotee is always good. Whatever he does is all good, whether it be cursing or blessing, both are the same. Both are meant for the benefit of the conditioned soul. So although, someone may deal with a sadhu nicely or harshly, aggressively, still the sadhu remains the same. He only thinks of how to give benefit to the person. But how to give benefit, it varies person to person. Just like the physician wants to give benefits to the patient to embellish the patients but he will give different medicine to different patient according to the disease.

So here, Nalakuvara and Manigriva, they were suffering from too much pride and opulence, and therefore Narada thought that the fit medicine would be can deprive them of opulence which was the source of pride. So he did it. Actually, out of wealth, beauty, high birth, and good education, nothing bewilders the conditioned soul as much as they are. Someone may be uneducated from a poor family and unattractive, but if he gets them, he can become so bewildered, he can treat others in a very rough way, in a very harsh way, and thus commit offenses. Therefore, being a poor is an advantage in a spiritual life because a poor person is not so proud. If you tell a poor person that material opulence is temporary and he should not seek material opulence, he can understand this more easily than a rich person. A rich person will think that I am rich, I am powerful, I am famous, and I will remain so happy. It is also easier for a sadhu to meet a poor person. A rich person often has mansion and they have big dogs and gate. They have sign ‘Do not enter, Beware of dogs.’ So although sadhu is equal to all and he wants to give mercy to the rich man and the poor man a right but he can give mercy to the poor man more easily because the poor man is more easy to approach and the poor man is more receptive. So therefore, if a rich man becomes bewildered by material opulence and false prestige, the best remedy or the best medicine for him is maybe to deprive him of this. And therefore, Narada did it for Nalakuvara and Manigriva. Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura gave an example that the parent wants to give some medicine to the child but the child is asleep. Therefore, the parent will pinch the child to wake the child up and give the child medicine. So, in the same way Narada pinched the Nalakuvara and Manigriva by his curse, to wake them up so that he could give them the of devotional service.

So, there are many many examples. Even Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was cursed by a brahman that “You should not have any material happiness.” When Lord Chaitanya received the curse, he was happy. He thought that actually I don’t want material happiness, I only want krishna-bhakti. If I am deprived from material happiness, it will be very good. Therefore, Lord Chaitanya accepted the curse of brahman without complaint and without protest. So, we should also see the brahmans as extensions of the Lord and accept their curses the same as their blessings very cheerfully and very gratefully. Even Maharaja Parīkṣit sitting in the assembly of Śukadeva Gosvami and he was cursed by a young immature brahman boy but he took the curse as the mercy of the Lord to make him detach from material opulence and to free him for devotional service. So, he went to the bank of the Ganges to hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from Śukadeva Gosvami. Maharaja Parīkṣit was a mahā-bhāgavata, he was more than mahā-bhāgavata, still he accepted the curse of brahman boy as Krishna’s mercy, because Krishna wanted Maharaja Parīkṣit to go back home back to Godhead. Punishment is meant to make devotee more detached, because when the devotee is more detached, he can more fully take to the service of the Lord and get the real benefit of life. So therefore, devotees always see the action of the Lord as the mercy, meant for the devotee’s benefit and somehow or other make him detached form material world and bring him back to the spiritual world.

Hare Krishna.

Are there any questions or comments?

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:31:30]

Giriraj Swami: True. The life of Gosvamis was very opulent materially but they gave up every thing for the service of the Lord, tyaktvā tūrṇam aśeṣa-maṇḍala-pati-śreṇīṁ sadā tucchavat. They kicked off all association of aristocracy as insignificant and became like medicants to show compassion to fallen souls. So, it is true that somehow or other, one must accept some austerity for service of the Lord. But if one voluntarily accepts austerity then he doesn’t have to forcefully accept the austerity. The six Gosvamis were very aristocratic, very learned, very powerful, but voluntarily they gave up their position to become mendicant for the benefit of the Lord. But if someone is not ready to give up his opulence voluntarily, then Krishna may take away his opulence forcefully so that he does accept the necessary austerity for service than getting deviate by material opulence. But of course, the main thing is bhakti and another thing is just ritual.

Generally, we become the rich man, then we have more opportunities to deviate from service the Lord. [Unintelligible 00:35:30]. Therefore, Krishna takes away the opulence just like in the story of punar mūṣiko bhava. The mouse is harassed by the cat, so he approached a yogi and said, “I want to become cat.” So, yogi said, “Alright, you become a cat.” Then cat is harassed by a dog, so cat approached the yogi and he said, “Okay, become a dog.” Then dog asked yogi to make him a tiger. The yogi made him a tiger but he start looking at yogi and yogi said, “What do you want now?” Tiger said, “I want to eat you.” Then the yogi said, “punar mūṣiko bhava. Become mouse again” So, by the mercy of Krishna, by the mercy of the spiritual master, one may get more opulence, but if he turns against Krishna, use the opulence against the will of Krishna, then Krishna may take everything away.