SB 4.12.7 – He Who Surrenders Totally Is Not the Loser but the Gainer

Giriraj Swami:

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

Reading from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Canto Four, Chapter Twelve. “Dhruva Mahārāja Goes Back to Godhead.”

TEXT 7

vṛṇīhi kāmaṁ nṛpa yan mano-gataṁ

mattas tvam auttānapade ‘viśaṅkitaḥ

varaṁ varārho ‘mbuja-nābha-pādayor

anantaraṁ tvāṁ vayam aṅga śuśruma

TRANSLATION

My dear Dhruva Mahārāja, son of Mahārāja Uttānapāda, we have heard that you are constantly engaged in transcendental loving service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is known for His lotus navel. You are therefore worthy to take all benedictions from us. Please, therefore, ask without hesitation whatever benediction you want from me.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Dhruva Mahārāja, the son of King Uttānapāda, was already known throughout the universe as a great devotee of the Lord, constantly thinking of His lotus feet. Such a pure, uncontaminated devotee of the Lord is worthy to have all the benedictions that can be offered by the demigods. He does not have to worship the demigods separately for such benedictions. Kuvera is the treasurer of the demigods, and he is personally offering whatever benediction Dhruva Mahārāja would like to have from him. Śrīla Bilvamaṅgala Ṭhākura stated, therefore, that for persons who engage in the devotional service of the Lord, all material benedictions wait like maidservants. Mukti-devī is just waiting at the door of the devotee to offer liberation, or more than that, at any time. To be a devotee is therefore an exalted position. Simply by rendering transcendental loving service unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one can have all the benedictions of the world without separate endeavor. Lord Kuvera said to Dhruva Mahārāja that he had heard that Dhruva was always in samādhi, or thinking of the lotus feet of the Lord. In other words, he knew that for Dhruva Mahārāja there was nothing desirable within the three material worlds. He knew that Dhruva would ask for nothing but to remember the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord constantly.

COMMENT

So, when Lord Chaitanya was discussing with Ramananda Raya, who is the most famous person? The answer was given that one who is famous for being a devotee of the Lord is the most famous person. Here Dhruva Maharaja was discussed even amongst the demigods, and the demigods like Kuvera knew about his pure devotional service unto the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Not only was he known to them, but they were anxious to bestow upon him whatever benediction he might like. Therefore one who is the devotee of the Lord has no need to worship the demigods. Because the devotee of the Lord is fit to take any benediction from any demigod.

Srila Bilvamaṅgala Thakura has prayed that since he has become a devotee of the ord, Muktidevi is standing at his doorstep waiting to serve him just like a queen. And just like a queen is followed by her attendance, Muktidevi is also followed by her attendance in the form of dharma, artha, and kāma. So whatever the devotee may want dharma, artha, kāma, or even moksha or mukti are readily available to him. He does not need to make any separate endeavor to get them. So one who has faith, that simply by engaging in devotional service he will accomplish anything, and everything that he might desire from performing any other process, he can take to pure devotional service. But if we have no such faith we cannot take to pure devotional service. Maybe mixed devotional services, because we don’t have full faith in the process of Krishna consciousness. So we may think that we have to add something to it, some karma, jnana, or yoga; some fruitive work, mental speculation or mystic performance. And if we add such processes to devotional service we do not have pure devotional service, but we have mixed devotional service. Devotional service mixed with some other activity, and the other processes are actually weaker than devotional service. So when we mix them with devotional service the whole combination becomes weaker.

Sometimes Srila Prabhupada would talk about unalloyed devotional service. Once when Srila Prabhupada was walking in Boston, he saw a sign on the side of a building, “unalloyed steel,” and Srila Prabhupada commented that they are advertising unalloyed steel, and we are advertising unalloyed devotional service. What is an alloy? Well, an alloy is something that is added to the original metal or the pure metal. So there is pure steel and alloyed steel. Alloyed steel means that some inferior metal is added to the pure steel. So unalloyed devotional service means pure devotional service without any inferior process being added to it. But if we add some inferior process like karma or jnana it becomes mixed devotional service.

So Dhruva Maharaja engaged in pure devotional services and he had full faith in the process of devotional service. He had full faith in the instructions that he received from his spiritual master and he executed them and thus he achieved the audience of the Lord. Now as we have often heard, when Krishna is pleased everyone else is pleased. And here, we see that the demigods are also pleased with Dhruva Maharaja to the point that Kuvera was ready to offer him any benediction. So although a devotee has no need or desire for anything except devotional service, the demigods become anxious to serve the devotee and offer him any benediction that he might want, but because Dhruva Maharaja was a pure devotee, Kuvera knew that he would not want any other benediction except pure devotional service or constant remembrance of the Supreme Lord.

So we don’t have to try to please the demigods or anyone else separately. You just have to please the Supreme Personality of Godhead and automatically everyone else will be satisfied. And even if someone is envious of the Supreme Lord, it doesn’t matter because if we surrender fully to the Lord, He will protect us and no one can harm us. Just like Nanda Maharaja and the residents of Vrindavan were ready to offer a sacrifice to King Indra. Lord Krishna intervened. He said, “Why are you offering a sacrifice to Lord Indra? Rather you should offer worship to Govardhana Hill and the cows, and the brahmans.” So because the residents of Vrindavan had so much affection for Krishna they accepted the instructions and they stopped the Indra yajña and arranged for Govardhana-puja.

Now, Indra was puffed up and he did not like the fact that the residents of Vrindavan had stopped his worship. So he wanted to punish them by sending devastating rainfall, but actually he could not harm them at all, but rather the residents of Vrindavan got the greatest benediction of coming under the umbrella of Govardhana Hill and having the constant association of Lord Krishna for seven days. Otherwise as long as they were in Vrindavan they were always separated from Krishna. Krishna’s parents, they were with Krishna from the evening when He returned home until the morning when He left for the pasturing grounds. When He was at the pasturing grounds during the day they were separated from Him. Similarly, the cowherd boys could enjoy the association of Krishna during the day, but at night when Krishna was at home, they were in separation. So all the residents of Vrindavan had to bear the separation of Lord Krishna at least for many hours every day. But when Krishna lifted Govardhana Hill and the residents of Vrindavan took shelter under the umbrella of Govardhana Hill, they had Lord Krishna’s constant association. So one who surrenders to Krishna does not lose but he gains by millions of times.

Srila Prabhupada used to give his own example as well, that he was in grihastha ashram, but he was dreaming that his guru Maharaja was calling him to leave home and take sannyasa and follow him. So Srila Prabhupada used to say that he would wake up from the dream, and be disturbed that, “Oh guru Maharaja is calling me to leave my family. How can I leave my family?” But eventually Srila Prabhupada did take the order of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura to preach. He accepted sannyasa and took the order to preach, And Krishna gave Srila Prabhupada everything. Srila Prabhupada commented that when he was in household life he had five children and there were always so many problems, but since he surrendered everything to Krishna, and came to preach, he had five hundred children. Of course it later became five thousand and there were no problems, and they all loved him, and he loved them. So Srila Prabhupada was saying that one who surrenders to Krishna is not the loser, but he is the gainer by millions and trillions of times.

There are many examples in the Kṛṣṇa book itself, how one who surrenders to Lord Krishna does not lose, but gains. One time a fruit vendor came near the house of Nanda Maharaja, and Lord Krishna was in the mood to get some fruit. So in those days the system of trade was barter, and Krishna had seen the elders barter one commodity for another. So He filled up His little hands with some grains of rice and He went to the fruit vendor to exchange the grains of rice for the fruit, but because His hands were so small and He wasn’t practiced to keeping them shut tight, by the time He reached the fruit vendor almost all the grains of rice had come out of His hands. And when He reached the vendor, there was nothing left in His hands, but still the vendor was attracted by the beauty of Krishna, so she filled up Krishna’s arms with as much fruit as He could hold without taking any price in exchange. And then, when she looked back at her basket, or her cart, she saw that in place of all the fruit that she had given to Lord Krishna there were so many precious gems, and jewels. So again the same lesson, that one who surrenders to Krishna is not the loser, but he is the gainer by millions of times.

We also have the example of Sudāmā Brahman. Sudāmā Brahman practically had nothing to give the Lord, but he wanted to offer him something. So, he actually went into debt to be able to offer some little chipped rice to the Lord. And as you know, when he returned to his little hut it wasn’t there anymore. When Sudāmā Vipra visited Lord Krishna, Lord Krishna was so pleased to see him that He personally got down to receive him. He made Sudāmā Vipra sit on His bedstead. He personally washed Sudāmā’s feet, and served him. And Rukmini devi, who is the goddess of fortune herself, she was also engaged in the service of Sudāmā Vipra. So Sudāmā was so ashamed that he didn’t have any proper offering for the Lord, he was ready to leave without giving Him the chipped rice. But the omniscient Lord said, “Sudāmā, what are you keeping tight in your cloth? Have you not brought anything for Me?” So then Sudāmā came out with the chipped rice. So Lord Krishna took a morsel of chipped rice. He said, “Oh, this is very nice.” And He was just about to take another morsel when queen Rukmini intervened and said, “Stop my Lord. Just by eating the one grain of chipped rice you have become so indebted to Sudāmā Brahman that we cannot repay him with all of our wealth. So if you take another morsel what will we do? We will be completely incapable of repaying your gratitude to him.”

So the meeting was concluded and Sudāmā Vipra went back to his little hut. Lord Krishna didn’t offer him any benediction, and he didn’t ask for any benediction. But when he got back to his place, he couldn’t find his hut. Instead there was a huge palace with so many servants, and his wife came out to receive him dressed in very opulent attire. So even if we offer something little to Krishna with pure love, He will accept it, and He will feel so indebted that all the wealth of the Goddess of Fortune herself will not be able to repay the devotee.

There is one story, of course I have heard two versions of it, but the basic idea is that Emperor Akbar came to Vrindavan to meet Rupa Gosvami, in one version it is Rupa Gosvami, and he felt so obliged to Srila Rupa Gosvami that he wanted to offer some service to him. And Rupa Gosvami said, “Actually there is nothing you can do for me.” But Emperor Akbar was insistent that he wanted to offer some service to Rupa Gosvami and Rupa Gosvami kept insisting that there is nothing he could do for him. Anyway he insisted so much that Rupa Gosvami said, “All right. You come with me to the banks of the Yamuna.” So there were some steps leading into the Yamuna river which needed to be repaired. So Rupa Gosvami said, “Well if you want to offer some service, you can repair these steps.” So Emperor Akbar became very indignant, “I am the emperor of the world, I could do so much for you and you are just asking me to repair some steps?” So Rupa Gosvami said, “Well put your head in the water and see the steps and after you assess the work to be done, you can let me know.” So he looked in the water, and by the mercy of Srila Rupa Gosvami, he got the vision to see spiritual Vrindavan. He saw that the banks of the Yamuna were lined with touchstones more valuable than the most precious diamonds of the material world. Then when the king got up from the water he looked at Rupa Gosvami and said that, “I cannot repair these steps with all the wealth of my kingdom. You have asked me to do something which is beyond my capacity.”

So, one who is surrendered to the Lord, he gets everything by the grace of the Lord, and the Lord gives Himself personally to the devotee who fully surrenders to Him. One of the best examples is Bali Maharaja. Bali Maharaja had attained immense opulence by the grace of the brahmans. Because he had pleased the brahmans and his spiritual master, so the brahmans and his spiritual master had endowed him with extraordinary power by which he was able to conquer the whole universe including the heavenly planet. So the demigods became very disturbed, because their positions had been taken away. So the demigods prayed to the Lord Vamanadeva, and knowing the mood of Bali Maharaja, his mood was to be very charitable especially to brahmans. He came to Bali Maharaja as a brahman to beg charity, and Bali Maharaja knew that he was successful only by the blessings of the brahmans. Although Lord Krishna could have demanded Bali Maharaja’s property or forcibly taken it, but He didn’t, and Srila Prabhupada comments that even if one is an authority he cannot take the property of another. So the Lord also wanted to honor the blessings of the brahmans. He did not want to take away anything that had been gained by the blessings of the brahmans. So he adopted the suitable means and approached Bali Maharaja himself as a brahman to ask for a benediction from him, and you know the story.

Bali Maharaja said, “Yes I will give you whatever you ask”, and He asked for three steps of land. And with the first two steps, Vamanadeva expanded Himself, and covered the whole universe, and then He said to Bali Maharaja that, ”You promised Me three steps of land, but you have only given two, so how will you keep your promise?” So Bali Maharaja said that, “You can keep your third step on my head,” and thus he surrendered himself fully to the Lord. And what was the result? In the end the Lord gave him his own planet, and the Lord personally came to be his gatekeeper. So Bali Maharaja got the great benefit after surrendering to the Lord that the Lord gave Himself to Bali Maharaja. And there is a nice verse in the Eleventh Canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that says that “The spiritual master trains the disciple in pure devotional service in such a way that the Lord becomes so pleased with the disciple that He gives Himself to the disciple.”

So, that is the result of pure devotional service, what to speak of the benefits of dharma, artha, kāma, and mokṣha, or any benediction of any demigod, one gets Krishna Himself. Krishna gives Himself to the devotee, and thus the devotee is always satisfied in any condition. He has no want or desire. Prahlada Maharaja told Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva that, “Wherever I am I can immerse myself in the ocean of nectar of hearing and chanting about Your Lordship and relish transcendental ecstasy.” He says, “For myself I have no problem at all.” And it is true, a devotee has no want, he has no desire, so he has no problem in any situation. As Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu prayed,

na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ
kavitāṁ vā jagad-īśa kāmaye
mama janmani janmanīśvare
bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī tvayi

na dhanaṁ, I don’t want wealth. Everyone in the material world wants wealth. The householders are busy day and night how to get wealth. “Where is money, where is money?” na janaṁ, janaṁ means followers, family members, workers, everyone in the material world wants followers. The politicians, the scientists, they all want hundreds and thousands of followers; and the industrialists, the capitalists they want workers, so many employees, but Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says, na janaṁ, He doesn’t want and na sundarīṁ, everyone wants to have a beautiful, faithful, obedient wife but Lord Chaitanya says, na sundarīṁ, He doesn’t want. So just the opposite. Whatever the materialists want, everyone wants, but Lord Chaitanya has shown the example that He doesn’t want. So, what does He want? bhaktir ahaitukī, causeless, unmotivated, pure devotional service. So Dhruva Maharaja was also a pure devotee. He had no want or need and therefore, his only prayer was, “Please give me pure devotional service.”

Hare Krishna.

Are there any questions or comments?

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: But he left them for the sake of delivering the fallen conditioned souls.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: I said that whatever one can get from karma or jnana, one can get from devotional service. And if one has faith that he can get the results of the other processes from devotional service, he won’t mix the other processes with devotional service, and he will just engage in pure devotional service. But if someone engages in devotional service for the sake of some material gain as people perform fruitive activities, they are not engaging in pure devotional service. Because part of the definition of pure devotional services anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ, one should not have any other desire except to serve Krishna and please Krishna. So if one performs activities which may be pure devotional service, in the case of a pure devotee, with the motive to get something in return then it is not pure devotional service. Just like we pray to the deity. A devotee prays to the deity and a karmi prays to the deity. So the devotee prays for service and the karmi prays for some material gain. So certainly prayer is one of the nine items of devotional service but it is not necessarily devotional service if it is done by a karmi. It is devotional service if it is done by a devotee.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: But if the reason for doing it is to make advancement in Krishna consciousness and to please Srila Prabhupada, then it is pure devotional service. But if we think that, I don’t want to do it, but I will do it anyway to please the president, and if he is pleased with me, he will increase my allowance, and then I can use the money to go to the movies. Then it is not pure devotional service.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: No.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: You are saying that if a devotee had engaged in pure devotional service while in the temple, then the taste that he would have relished from the service would be so much greater than anything else, he would never leave.

Not necessarily, because there are different stages of maturity in pure devotional service, and someone may sincerely begin the process purely, and have some taste, and definitely not want anything else. But one can fall from the platform, and usually devotees leave for one of two reasons. One is they become slack in their spiritual practices, and the other is they commit offenses against devotees. And obviously if they become slack in their spiritual practices they won’t get the same taste. Or if they commit offenses to other devotees they will lose some taste, and then they go away. But it doesn’t mean that for some time they were not engaged in pure devotional service, but in an immature stage.

When one engages in pure devotional service in a mature state then he will never leave. But even then there are statements that even if one is a mahā-bhāgavata, and if he offends a pure devotee he can also lose his position. That is an exceptional case. Srila Prabhupada had said that simply by reading the Kṛṣṇa book, one is liberated but, so many people read the Kṛṣṇa book, and then they do some other nonsense. So Srila Prabhupada explained that as long as you are reading the Kṛṣṇa book you are liberated. But if you set aside the Kṛṣṇa book and do something else, you may fall from the liberated platform.

māṁ ca yo ‘vyabhicāreṇa
bhakti-yogena sevate
sa guṇān samatītyaitān
brahma-bhūyāya kalpate

That as long as one is engaged in devotional service without deviation, he rises above the three modes of material nature and comes to the spiritual platform. So Srila Prabhupada said that he was always trying to keep us engaged in devotional service, so that we wouldn’t be affected by the material modes and we would maintain our positions on the spiritual platform. But if we become slack, and don’t always stay engaged in devotional service, we fall from the spiritual platform, and come under the influence of the material modes again. So it is a constant effort. In the stage of sadhana, it is a constant effort.

Of course as we advance we relish more and more. It is an effort, but we still relish it. But even if we don’t relish it at first, we still do it, and by doing it we develop the taste. We may not relish chanting that much. We may not relish hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, but we do it as a matter of duty, or as a matter of practice, and by doing it we develop the taste. It is like the diseased person cannot appreciate the sweet taste of sugar candy, but the cure for the disease is to take sugar candy, and by taking the sugar candy under the physician’s directions he gradually becomes cured of the disease, and as he becomes cured of the disease he is able to appreciate the taste of sugar candy. And when he is completely cured he can taste the sugar candy as it is, which is sweet like nectar. But in the meantime he has to take it. Even if it seems bitter to him still he has to take it, and that is the way to get cured, and actually awaken one’s natural relish or taste.

Any other questions?

Krishna dasa would you like to say something?