SB 5.10.10 – Not Fat, Not Thin

Giriraj Swami: 

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

Reading from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Five, Chapter Ten, “Maharaja Rahugana Meets Jada Bharata,” 

TEXT 10

sthaulyaṁ kārśyaṁ vyādhaya ādhayaś ca
kṣut tṛḍ bhayaṁ kalir icchā jarā ca
nidrā ratir manyur ahaṁ madaḥ śuco
dehena jātasya hi me na santi

TRANSLATION

Fatness, thinness, bodily and mental distress, thirst, hunger, fear, disagreement, desires for material happiness, old age, sleep, attachment for material possessions, anger, lamentation, illusion, and identification of the body with the self are all transformations of the material covering of the spirit soul. A person absorbed in the material bodily conception is affected by these things, but I am free from all bodily conceptions. Consequently I am neither fat nor skinny nor anything else you have mentioned.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura has sung: deha-smṛti nāhi yāra, saṁsāra-bandhana kāhāṅ tāra. One who is spiritually advanced has no connection with the body or with the bodily actions and reactions. When one comes to understand that he is not the body and therefore is neither fat nor skinny, one attains the topmost form of spiritual realization. When one is not spiritually realized, the bodily conception entangles one in the material world. At the present moment all human society is laboring under the bodily conception; therefore in the śāstras people in this age are referred to as dvipada-paśu, two-legged animals. No one can be happy in a civilization conducted by such animals. Our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is trying to raise fallen human society to the status of spiritual understanding. It is not possible for everyone to become immediately self-realized like Jaḍa Bharata. However, as stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.2.18): naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā. By spreading the Bhāgavata principles, we can raise human society to the platform of perfection. When one is not affected by the bodily conceptions, one can advance to the Lord’s devotional service.

naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu
nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā
bhagavaty uttamaśloke
bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī

The more we advance our freedom from the bodily conception, the more we are fixed in devotional service, and the more we are happy and peaceful. In this regard, Śrīla Madhvācārya says that those who are too materially affected continue the bodily conception. Such persons are concerned with different bodily symptoms, whereas one freed from bodily conceptions lives without the body even in the material condition.

COMMENT

So the verse describes some material conceptions or bodily conceptions with which we are very well acquainted. In fact, if we examine our thoughts during the day, we may find that our thoughts go to the things mentioned in the verse. The background of the verse is that Jada Bharata, although a greatly advanced realized soul, was afraid of becoming entangled in material activities and material relationships. So he pretended to be deaf and dumb just so that he could avoid worldly conversation and worldly attachments, because previously, he had been the great King Bharata, and he had become attached to a deer and had fallen from his position in spiritual life due to his attachment, so now he was being very cautious and very careful that he should not again become entangled in any type of material relationship and thus fall down from spiritual life. But although externally he appeared like a deaf and dumb brute, internally he was highly advanced in spiritual consciousness.

The King of Sindh, Maharaja Rahugana wanted someone to carry his palanquin. He had three carriers, but somehow they needed a fourth, and somehow they saw Jada Bharata. He looked very stout and strong, so they forced him to become the carrier of the king’s palanquin, although actually he was not fit for such work, being so advanced in Krishna consciousness. But they forced him, and he did not protest. Even in spite of the fact that he was forced to do some work which he should not have been forced to do and was in a very miserable position, in a very awkward position, he retained his sympathy for other living entities.

Sometimes, if we are in a difficult situation, we become upset, we become angry, and we take it out on others. In the West, they have the typical idea that the boss is agitated, so he takes it out on the worker. Then the worker goes home, he takes it out on his wife. Then his wife gets upset, she takes it out on the children, and then the children become disturbed and take it out on the dog. But Jada Bharata was completely equipoised. He was not at all disturbed and therefore he remained friendly and sympathetic even to the ants, even to the insects on the road. He didn’t have any hostile feelings or aggressive feelings towards them, but actually, he didn’t want them to suffer at all. Therefore, if he saw some insects crossing in front of his path, he would stop and let them cross.

In the meantime, the king inside the palanquin would feel that the palanquin had suddenly stopped abruptly, and he got a shock inside. He became very agitated that the palanquin carriers were not doing their work properly and that the king was becoming disturbed. So he started to abuse them, saying, “What is the matter? Can’t you carry the palanquin properly?” Then the other three said, “We are doing properly; it is the new fellow who’s causing all the trouble.” So then the king began to abuse the new one, and he saw that he was very stout and strong, so he spoke very sarcastically, “Oh, you appear to be very lean and thin,” and he saw that actually he was only carrying one-fourth of the load. So very sarcastically, he said, “Oh, I see you must be tired because you are carrying such a heavy burden all by yourself without anyone to help you.” He made so many sarcastic and abusive remarks against Jada Bharata, but Jada Bharata was not disturbed because he didn’t identify with the body.

If someone were to sarcastically say, “You are fat,” we wouldn’t like it, or even if sincerely they said, “You are fat,” we wouldn’t like it, or if they said, “You are whatever it is,” we wouldn’t like it if we identify with the body. But Jada Bharata didn’t identify with the body, so he was not disturbed at all. Again, he carried the palanquin in the same way, giving respect to the ants in the way, not causing them any harm, not stepping on them, not hurting them. The king became very disturbed and said, “Don’t you know who I am? I am your master, you are my servant, you must obey me, but you don’t care for my orders, you do as you like.”

Then Jada Bharata didn’t just tolerate and listen; he began to preach to the king. In one sense, you could say that he chastised the king because he was defying the king and actually correcting the king. But Jada Bharata was a pure devotee, and the pure devotee is merciful to everyone, whether he chastises them or blesses them, both are blessings because he has only the interest of every living entity in mind. He had even the interest of the insects in mind, and in the same way, he had the interest of the king in mind. This is the symptom of a bhāgavata, a pure devotee. Jada Bharata was actually in a superior position to Maharaja Rahugana because Maharaja Rahugana, in spite of being the king and having all facilities and servants, the king was agitated, and Jada Bharata, having nothing, was completely peaceful. By his Krishna consciousness, he defeated the king, and he began to preach. Jada Bharata had given instructions thousands of years ago, but his instructions are relevant to us even now.

In the purport, Srila Prabhupada explains how. Srila Prabhupada says that at the present moment, almost everyone is in the bodily conception of life and therefore absorbed in all these things: fatness, thinness, bodily and mental distress, thirst, hunger, fear, disagreement, and so on. Now, as devotees, we might think that we are not in the bodily conception of life, and certainly, we are not to some extent, but then again, there is a difference between theoretical knowledge and realized knowledge. Srila Prabhupada gave the example of one māyāvādī yogī who was giving a demonstration and sitting on the stage in front of hundreds or thousands of persons and saying, “I am moving.” This was his meditation: “I am moving the sun, I am moving the moon, I am moving the stars.” This was his meditation or his demonstration. Then, in the middle of the demonstration, he got a toothache and immediately, he got out of his meditation and ran off the stage. The whole program ended, and he demanded to be rushed to the dentist. So he was thinking ahaṁ brahmāsmi—"I am God"—but when he got a toothache, he went running to the dentist. He couldn’t tolerate the pain because actually, he identified with his body in spite of the show of meditation and so on.

So, we become disturbed. We may have theoretical knowledge, but to the extent that the knowledge is not realized, we may become disturbed by the pangs of the body or mind. Now, people who identify with the body, they don’t even have theoretical knowledge. At least devotees have theoretical knowledge, so with the higher self, they try to control the lower self. With the intelligence, they try to control the mind and the senses. They try not to surrender to the demands of the senses and the mind. They try to control vāco vegaṁ manasaḥ krodha-vegaṁ jihvā-vegaṁ udaropastha-vegaṁ, and so on—the six urges. But ordinary people don’t even know theoretically, “I am not the body.” They think, “I am the body. I am Russian, I am Chinese, I am American, I am Indian,” and so on. And therefore, they’re fully immersed in the miseries of material existence. I should say they are drowning in the ocean of material miseries.

Srila Prabhupada, like Jada Bharata, like Śukadeva Gosvami who is speaking Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, feel sorry when they see the suffering of others, para-dukha-dukhī. Sanatana Gosvami was described by Raghunatha dasa Gosvami as para-dukha-dukhī. He felt sorry in the sorrow of others; he felt unhappy in the unhappiness of others. So when a great soul like Śukadeva Gosvami or Jada Bharata or Srila Prabhupada chastises us or criticizes us, it is only to free us from illusion. It is out of compassion to free us from ignorance so that we become released from the miseries of material existence. We should not misunderstand the sadhu. Sometimes the sadhu cuts, and we may think that the cutting is very painful. We might even think that the cutting is cruel, but he is cutting our illusions, cutting our attachments, and he is actually trying to help us to free us from material miseries.

Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura has compared the sadhu who cuts with his instructions to a man who cuts with his knife. We keep inside about so many animals which are like anarthas—lust, anger, greed—all the things mentioned in the verse. So if we keep everything inside, we cannot get the real benefit of the association of the bhāgavata. But in the presence of the sadhu, if we open our hearts and let everything out, however ugly it may be or however bad it may be, then the sadhu standing there with a knife will cut the necks of all of these creatures and free us from them. Therefore, we should be very open with the sadhu or the bhāgavata.

I will just tell one story briefly about how one should not try to hide anything from a sadhu. Once, Lord Shiva with his wife Sati went to Dandakaranya Forest to have darshan of Lord Ramachandra. They saw Lord Ramachandra was in the mood of separation from Sita, and he was weeping, “Oh Sita, O Sita, where are you? Where are you, oh my dear Sita?” Materialistic people see everything as material; they can’t distinguish between spiritual and material. So Sati thought that Ramachandra was under the influence of maya, that he was like an ordinary man. He was attached to his wife, he was feeling separation from his wife, and he was in ignorance. He didn’t know where she was; he didn’t know who had stolen her. So many doubts came to her mind, and Lord Shiva could understand that she was full of doubts.

Anyway, Lord Shiva did not want to disturb the Lord in his pastime, so he offered obeisances in the distance. Sati was very confused because Lord Shiva was offering full obeisances to Lord Rama, and Lord Shiva accepted him as his worshipable Lord. But she was saying he is an ordinary man. In other words, Lord Shiva was her husband and her guru, so she had some doubt in her guru and in her husband and in God also. Anyway, she wanted to test Rama, so Lord Shiva said, “Okay, I am staying here in the shade of the banyan tree. You go and do what you like.” So Sati changed herself into the form of Sita. She wanted to test Rama, so she came in front of Rama in the form of Sita, but Rama did not pay any attention to her. He continued in his mood, “Oh Sita, where are you? Where are you?” Then she thought, “What is the matter? Why is he not seeing me?” Then Lord Rama offered obeisances to her there because he was playing the part of a human being. So playing the part of a human being, he said, “Oh Sati, you are here. You are my mother. I offer my obeisances to you. Where is your husband Shiva?” So Sati thought, “What is happening? Am I in the form of Sita or not?” So she looked, and she saw that she was in the form of Sita, but he is not seeing Sita. Then she thought, “Maybe I have made a mistake.”

Then she thought, I should offer obeisances to Rama. I think I have made a mistake.” So she offered obeisances, and as she was offering obeisances, Lord Rama showed her some mercy. When she got up, she saw Sita, Rama, and Lakshman all together giving darshan. Then she thought, Oh no, I have definitely made a blunder. I have committed an offense. So she started to look around, and everywhere she looked, everywhere her eyes went, she saw Sita, Rama, Lakshman— Sita, Rama, Lakshman. So she thought, I have committed a horrible offense, and she offered obeisances and went back to her husband and spiritual master. Then she thought, I have committed such a mistake. What will I tell my spiritual master and husband? So Lord Shiva said, “You have seen Rama?” She said, “Yes.” “And have you tested him?” She was too ashamed; she didn’t want to admit it. She said, “No, I have not tested him. I have only taken his darshan and offered obeisances.” Then, within his inner vision, Lord Shiva saw that actually, she had tested Rama by assuming the form of Sita. Then, to correct her or to chastise her—not only for that; it wasn’t the point that she tested Rama, of course, it was wrong—but the point was that she wasn’t open with her spiritual master and husband. She tried to hide something from him.

So Lord Shiva said, “Oh, I am seeing that you are Sita. You are my mother. I offer my obeisances to you. From today onwards, you are not my wife. I have no connection with you as a wife. You are my mother, you are Sita, I worship you.” So from that day onwards, Lord Shiva had no relationship of husband and wife with Sati. Only later, when she entered the fire and gave up her body as Sati, she appeared again as Parvati and then she was married to Shiva and was reinstated in her original position. So whatever we do, how big a blunder, how great a calamity, or how horrible an offense, or whatever anarthas we have, we should not try to hide them from our spiritual master or from any pure devotee because he will act as a sadhu and cut. He will cut our illusions, cut our attachments, and free us. He will make us free so that we can engage fully in devotional service and realize transcendental happiness.

So here Srila Prabhupada gives the clue in the purport that anyone who thinks, “I am the body, he is an animal.” In the Tenth Canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Lord Krishna himself says that one who identifies with the body, sa eva go-kharaḥ, is like a cow or an ass. In other words, he is an animal. So, anyone who identifies with the body is an animal. Today, almost all so-called humans identify with the body, so they are actually animals. But instead of being four-legged animals, they’re dvipada-paśu—they are two-legged animals. Because they’re animals, they fight like cats and dogs and create chaos in society. What is the solution? The solution is nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā. By associating with the Bhāgavatās, naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu, all the inauspicious things in the heart become cleansed, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ. One young man once asked Srila Prabhupada, “What are the dirty things in the heart?” Srila Prabhupada replied that thinking “I am this body” is the dirt in the heart. That becomes cleansed. naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu means almost cleansed—not completely immediately, but almost cleansed. Cleansed to the extent that bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī—one becomes fixed in devotional service. Even if there is some trace of material contamination, it cannot disturb the devotee to the extent that he will deviate from the principles of Krishna consciousness. So, he is fixed.

The verse here actually describes three stages in devotional service, or indicates three stages in devotional service. One serves the bhāgavata, that is bhajana-kriyā which means serving the spiritual master and studying the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, because there is the book Bhāgavata and the person bhāgavata, and both are on the same level. In bhajana-kriyā, one serves the spiritual master and also studies the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Then the anarthas become cleansed, anartha-nivṛtti and after the anarthas become cleansed, one becomes fixed or steady, and that is called niṣṭhā. Then one doesn’t fall down, even if there is some trace or disturbance from material contamination. It is not enough to make the person deviate from the principles of transcendental knowledge.

Here is the solution to all the problems of society: association with the bhāgavatas and service to the bhāgavatas. We distribute the knowledge of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, distribute Srila Prabhupada’s books, and at the same time give our association to others—give others the association of devotees. The person bhāgavata has lived his life according to the book Bhāgavata. In other words, if we study Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and live our lives according to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, then we are also bhāgavatas. By associating with us, people will become enlightened in transcendental knowledge and fixed in devotional service. We actually have a very great responsibility for the whole human society. We should study Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, follow Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and then distribute the knowledge of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. We can see here that Jada Bharata, as a bhāgavata, was able to deliver the king. The king was delivered just by the association of the bhāgavata and hearing the knowledge of the body itself. So, everything is included.

One last note that sometimes we have so much practical devotional service that we hardly have time to read. When we were serving Srila Prabhupada, when Srila Prabhupada first came back to India from America, we had no time to read, really. We hardly had time to do anything; he gave us so much service. One time, Srila Prabhupada detected that I may have been in a little anxiety because I wasn’t reading. I didn’t even say anything, but it was in my mind that I wasn’t reading, and I was feeling some anxiety. On his own, Srila Prabhupada quoted the verse naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā and said that by serving the person bhāgavata or by reading the book Bhāgavata, one gets the same result. He encouraged me that if you are very busy, fully engaged in serving the person bhāgavata, and you don’t have time to read the book Bhāgavata, still you will get the same result. All the truths of the book Bhāgavata will be revealed to the person who serves the person bhāgavata.

So, Srila Prabhupada have mercy on all of us. Sometimes we may have so much service that we don’t have time to read, but if we are fully engaged in service without any ulterior motive and sincerely trying to serve the person bhāgavata, we will get all the results of studying book Bhāgavata.

Hare Krishna.

Srila Prabhupada kī jaya!
Nitai-Gaura premānande Hari Haribol!