BG 1.11 – The Divine Power Is Always Superior

Giriraj Swami: Chapter 1: “Observing the Armies”

TEXT 11

ayaneṣu ca sarveṣu
yathā-bhāgam avasthitāḥ
bhīṣmam evābhirakṣantu
bhavantaḥ sarva eva hi

TRANSLATION

All of you must now give full support to Grandfather Bhīṣma, as you stand at your respective strategic points of entrance into the phalanx of the army.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada 

Duryodhana, after praising the prowess of Bhīṣma, further considered that others might think that they had been considered less important, so in his usual diplomatic way, he tried to adjust the situation in the above words. He emphasized that Bhīṣmadeva was undoubtedly the greatest hero, but he was an old man, so everyone must especially think of his protection from all sides. He might become engaged in the fight, and the enemy might take advantage of his full engagement on one side. Therefore, it was important that other heroes not leave their strategic positions and allow the enemy to break the phalanx. Duryodhana clearly felt that the victory of the Kurus depended on the presence of Bhīṣmadeva. He was confident of the full support of Bhīṣmadeva and Droṇācārya in the battle because he well knew that they did not even speak a word when Arjuna’s wife Draupadī, in her helpless condition, had appealed to them for justice while she was being forced to appear naked in the presence of all the great generals in the assembly. Although he knew that the two generals had some sort of affection for the Pāṇḍavas, he hoped that these generals would now completely give it up, as they had done during the gambling performances.

COMMENT

Duryodhana weighed the strength of the Pandavas against the strength of the Kauravas and he concluded that the strength of the kurus is immeasurable, whereas the strength of the Pandavas is limited. So, he expects victory to be on the side of the Kauravas. However, he failed to take into consideration the most important factor, which is Lord Krishna. You may know the story that before the battle began, Krishna offered Arjuna and Duryodhana that “I will give one side my entire army, and I will give the other side myself. So, whoever I see first when I wake up in the morning will get the first choice.” So, the next morning, Duryodhana reached first and he positioned himself at the head of Krishna. Arjuna arrived later and he took his place at the feet of Krishna. So, when Krishna woke up, he bent his head forward and He saw Arjuna first. So he said, “Arjuna gets the first choice.” And what did Arjuna choose? He chose Krishna.

Duryodhana was very upset that Krishna had looked at Arjuna first because Duryodhana had come there first and positioned Himself at the head of Krishna. So, he was disturbed. He felt that Krishna was partial to Arjuna. But when he heard Arjuna’s choice, he was elated because he actually wanted Krishna’s army. He thought, “What is Krishna will do? I want Krishna’s army.” And he thought that Arjuna is so sentimental. He could have had the whole army of Krishna but instead, He took the person Krishna. He thought Arjuna was so sentimental about his friend Krishna, and He was very satisfied. Both were satisfied.

Now, the Kauravas’ military strength was far greater than the Pandavas’ military strength, and they had been preparing for a very long time. And the Pandavas had been in exile; they had no chance to prepare for the war. So, materially, the Kauravas were much more powerful than the Pandavas. But the Pandavas had Lord Krishna, and as stated in the last verse of the Bhagavad-gītā, yatra yogeśvaraḥ kṛṣṇo—"That wherever there is Krishna, the master of all mystic powers, and wherever there is Arjuna, the mighty bowman, there will automatically be all success, morality, extraordinary strength, and victory.” So, the Mahābhārata war proved the fact that if the whole world is for you, but if Krishna is against you, you will fail. And if the whole world is against you, and Krishna is for you, you will succeed. And that was proven practically on the battlefield of Kurukshetra.

Sri Sri Radha-Gopinatha ki jaya!
Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

We find a similar incident described in the Ninth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, where Rama and His army confronted Rāvaṇa and his army. The army of Lord Rama consisted mainly of the monkeys that He found in the jungle, and maybe some bears. And the army of Rāvaṇa consisted of very powerful warriors. The weapons in the army of Lord Rama consisted of stones, rocks, and maybe some uprooted trees, whereas the weapons possessed by the army of Rāvaṇa were very modern and sophisticated armaments. So, from the material point of view, Rāvaṇa’s army was much more powerful than Rama’s army. But in the end, Rama’s army was successful. So Srila Prabhupada explained that there are two types of strength. One strength is derived from one’s own intelligence or power, and the other is derived from the mercy of the Lord. So, of the two, personal power and divine power, divine power is always superior. So, even though Rāvaṇa and his army, and their weapons, were more powerful, but because the monkeys and bears, with their rocks and trees, because they were endowed with divine power from Lord Sri Rama, they were successful. So, our main consideration should be whether Krishna is on our side or not. Because we may wage a terrific battle, but if Krishna is not on our side, we will lose. So, that is the real question. If we find that we are losing in some battle, we may question, “Is Krishna on my side or not? Maybe I am doing something wrong.”

Once, Srila Prabhupada was sitting on the terrace of one of the buildings in the back of Juhu. And one devotee named Haridasa Prabhu was fanning him. So, at seven o’clock, Srila Prabhupada asked, “Did you hear that?” Haridasa said, “No, no, I didn’t hear anything.” Prabhupada said, “Listen, did you hear that?” And Haridasa listened and said, “No, I didn’t hear anything.” Srila Prabhupada said, “That is the problem. It is seven o’clock in the evening, and there is no kirtan in the temple. Where are the devotees?” So, Haridasa replied, “Well, Srila Prabhupada, they must be out preaching and collecting, and they haven’t come back yet.” Srila Prabhupada replied, “This was not my idea at all, that the devotees should go out morning and night collecting.” And then he said, “Do you know why we have been successful here? Mr. Nair was much more powerful than we were. He was the sheriff of Bombay, and he owned one very big daily newspaper in Bombay, and he had so many influential friends in the government, and in the municipality, and in the police. But even though he was much more powerful than we were, still we were successful. Do you know why?”

And then Srila Prabhupada gave the answer, “That Krishna was on our side, or we were on Krishna’s side.” So, he said, “We shouldn’t think that we can succeed by our own endeavors or our own intelligence. We are successful by the mercy of Krishna alone, and therefore we should act in such a way to get Krishna’s mercy.” So, Srila Prabhupada said that the devotees should return in the evening and perform kirtan during the ārati for the pleasure of Lord Krishna, and that will make us successful. So, here we always try to please Lord Krishna and depend on the mercy of the Lord, not to succeed by our own independent endeavors or by our mental concocted plans, but simply following the process of Krishna consciousness. As Srila Prabhupada gave it, Srila Prabhupada has given all the instructions we need and if we follow the instructions given by Srila Prabhupada, we can be successful in our own spiritual lives and in our attempts to preach. We don’t have to manufacture anything or speculate anything or invent anything. We just have to follow the simple method that Srila Prabhupada gave.

Now, here in the purport, it is mentioned that because Duryodhana was making material calculations, what is the strength of his army, and what is the strength of the other army? And he is saying that his army has Bhīṣmadeva, who is the greatest general, and Dronacharya. On the other side, he has only Bhima and Arjuna, who are nothing compared to Bhīṣma and Dronacharya. But there was one defect, from Duryodhana’s point of view, in Bhīṣma and Dronacharya, which was that they had some affection for the Pandavas. So, there could have been some chance that they would not fight to their full capacity because of their affection for Arjuna and the others. But still, Duryodhana was hopeful because when Draupadi was being stripped naked in the assembly of the Kauravas, she appealed for justice to the elders like Bhīṣmadeva and Dronacharya, but they were completely silent. They did not intervene to help her. So, Duryodhana was hopeful that just as they did not do anything to help Draupadi, they won’t do anything to help the Pandavas now. So, he was quite confident of success.

But here again, we find the same principle that initially when Draupadi was trying to protect herself by her own efforts to hold on to her sari, she was failing. Because definitely, the strength of the heroes in the assembly was much greater than her little strength. But when she gave up trying to protect herself by her own strength and just surrendered to Krishna, that “Oh Govinda, Oh Krishna, please save me,” then, when she gave up her own independent efforts and just depended on the mercy of Krishna, Krishna responded. And He provided her unlimited lengths of sari, and thus she was saved. She was protected by Krishna. So again, one who, if Krishna is for someone, even though the whole world is against him, he will be saved. Krsna mare rākhe ke rākhe kṛṣṇa mare ke; that if Krishna wants to save someone, no one can kill Him, and if Krishna wants to kill someone, no one can save Him, because Krishna is the supreme.

You all know that when Lord Rama went to South India, He prayed to Lord Shiva. So sometimes, people try to use the incident to say that actually Lord Shiva is superior to Lord Rama, Lord Shiva is supreme. Of course, Srila Prabhupada explains that the Lord, out of affection and out of mercy, likes to worship the devotee. Just like sometimes Nanda Maharaja would order baby Krishna, “Bring my shoes,” and baby Krishna would put Nanda Maharaja’s shoes on His head and carry them. So, doesn’t mean that Nanda Maharaja is greater than Lord Krishna or Nanda Maharaja is supreme. But the Lord likes to serve the devotees.

Similarly, Krishna took the position of chariot driver for Arjuna, and Arjuna ordered Krishna bring my chariot between the two armies, and Krishna did it. But it doesn’t mean that Arjuna is greater than Krishna or Arjuna is supreme. And similarly, when Sudama Vipra visited the palace of Lord Krishna at Dvaraka, Lord Krishna washed his feet and worshiped him. It doesn’t mean that Sudama Vipra is the supreme or he is greater than Krishna. So, Lord Rama wanted to worship His devotee. It doesn’t mean that Lord Shiva is greater than Lord Rama, that Lord Shiva is supreme. And the proof is that later on, when Rama was getting ready to kill Rāvaṇa, Parvati said to Lord Shiva, “My dear Lord Shiva, Rāvaṇa is your great devotee, and he is in trouble now. Why don’t you do something to help him?” And Lord Shiva replied, “When Lord Rama wants to kill Rāvaṇa, what can I do?” Kṛṣṇa mare rākhe ke, rākhe kṛṣṇa mare ke When Krishna wants to kill someone, no one can save him, not even Lord Shiva. And if Krishna wants to save someone, no one can kill him. So, although Krishna saved Draupadi by His mercy, still, learned scholars and devotees do not very much appreciate the silence of Bhīṣma when he should have done something on behalf of Draupadi.

In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, it is described, how Maharaja Yudhisthira accompanied by the other Pandavas, Draupadi and Lord Krishna went to visit Grandfather Bhīṣma when he was lying on the bed of arrows, and they asked Grandfather Bhīṣma to speak on religious principles. So, when Maharaja Yudhisthira requested grandfather Bhīṣma to speak on religious principles, Draupadi in the back started to giggle. So, Grandfather Bhīṣma said, “My dear Draupadi, why are you laughing?” Draupadi replied, “Now you are going to speak about religious principles, but where were those religious principles when I was being stripped naked in the assembly of the Kauravas? Why didn’t you speak about religious principles then?”

So, Grandfather Bhīṣma replied, “Yes, I can tell you why. Because then I was living in the house of the Kauravas, I was being maintained by them, and eating their food, and my blood was contaminated by eating their food. And because I was contaminated by eating their food, I could not speak about religious principles. But now I am lying on the bed of arrows, I have no blood left, so now I can speak about religious principles.” So, association is so subtle and so influential; we can very easily become contaminated by the wrong association and, of course, we can be elevated by the right association. So therefore, we have to be very careful about association. (SB 5.5.2:)

mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimuktes
tamo-dvāraṁ yoṣitāṁ saṅgi-saṅgam

That by associating with great souls and rendering service to great souls, the door to liberation opens. And that by associating with materialistic persons who are interested in sense gratification, especially with women, the gateway to hell is open. So, we have to be careful. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu also has said (Cc Madhya 22.87):

asat-saṅga-tyāga, — ei vaiṣṇava-ācāra

‘strī-saṅgī’ — eka asādhu, ‘kṛṣṇābhakta’ āra

That one should avoid unholy association. That is the principal feature of Vaishnava behavior. asat-saṅga-tyāga, — ei vaiṣṇava-ācāra‘strī-saṅgī’ — eka asādhu One category of unholy association is ‘strī-saṅgī’ a man who is attached to women for sense gratification, strī-saṅgī’ — eka asādhu, ‘kṛṣṇābhakta’ āra and the other is someone who is not a devotee of Krishna. So, we have to be careful of both. On the other hand, if so, on the negative side, association with persons who are interested in sense gratification, and on the positive side, association with persons who are interested in spiritual elevation. So, we have to choose to associate with devotees who are not interested in sense gratification, then the path to liberation is open. Therefore, Prabhupada has established the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, so people can associate with devotees who are interested in Krishna and Krishna consciousness. Because man is a social animal, he cannot live without association. So, we have to associate with people who will help us to advance in Krishna consciousness and not associate with people who will drag us down into sense gratification. Then the door to liberation is open. Hare Krishna.

Are there any questions or comments?

Devotee 1: [Unintelligible 00:28:52]

Giriraj Swami: Purandara Prabhu says that in many temples, devotees go out for preaching programs in the evening, but they may go for book distribution in the evening. So, is it necessary that they should be in the temple for kirtan in the evening?

Well, the idea is generally to chant and hear in the morning, engage in practical work during the day, and meet again in the evening to chant and hear. But having a preaching program is the same as chanting and hearing. In fact, the preaching program is better in the sense that more people are engaged in hearing and chanting. So, it is a clear policy that if we have a bonafide preaching program in the evening, we can go out. But even then, I mean, I don’t think that these warnings would apply much to you, but even then, Srila Prabhupada was concerned about the type of programs we accepted in the evening, and he wanted there to be some results. So, he said either the people, first of all, he said there should be a number of people who gather for the program. But then the people either should chant Hare Krishna, and become Krishna conscious, or they should give some contribution to help Krishna consciousness. He said not that it is a mutual praising society. Then we go to some rich man’s house, and he says, “Oh Swamiji, you are so nice,” and you say, “You are so nice, your wife is so nice, your house is so nice, and your dog is so nice.”

He Said, “Not like that. It should be genuine preaching. Then we could accept.” Suppose there is kirtan in class in the evening in the temple. So, what is the expected code of conduct for the temple residents? Do you have any idea? Well, we should have a good dose of hearing and chanting every day. Say if we take the morning from 4:30 to 8:30; that is four hours, and we take the evening 7:00 to 9:00. That would be six hours altogether. At least five or six hours. So, if we have that much, end of it. I don’t know, it really depends on what the devotee’s other engagement is. But if he doesn’t have some important service to do, which could even include personal reading—I don’t exclude personal reading from important service—but if he doesn’t have any other important service to do, then he should better attend the kirtan and the class. Yes.

Devotee 2: [Unintelligible 00:33:00]

Giriraj Swami: Srila Prabhupada had a specific vision for Juhu, and he wanted the leaders of Bombay, the leaders of India, the leaders of the world to come there. And in one letter in particular, he said that our program for Bombay is to present Krishna consciousness in the English medium to the higher class and to distribute prasādam, profusely to the masses. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura instructed Srila Prabhupada to preach in English because English is the language of the world; it is the language of the educated. And Krishna consciousness is not really meant just for Hindus.

I have been in predominantly Hindu areas where Christians and Parsi have complained that if the program is in Hindi, they won’t understand the language. But, I would say that we should speak to the audience. Of course, if there are people in the audience who only know English, if possible, they should get some translation. But it is interesting because in one purport in Caitanya-caritāmṛta, where Srila Prabhupada praises the religious tendency of the Indian people, he says that sometimes we hold big pandal programs and preach in English, and many of the people don’t understand the language, but still, they sit and listen.

He was saying how pious they are, that even though they don’t understand the language, they sit and listen, and they benefit from the sound. So again, we have to adjust. It is true that usually when Srila Prabhupada spoke in the temple, he spoke in English. In the pandal in Bombay, he would speak in Hindi in the morning and in English in the evening. And many pious people used to come for the morning program. I mean, not as many as in the evening, but many used to come. And in those days, they used to wear nice white khadi kurta, pajamas, and hats. quite nice. And Prabhupada will speak in Hindi. Once we arranged a pandal for Srila Prabhupada in south Calcutta and most of the people who came didn’t know English. And although Srila Prabhupada had originally planned to speak in English, when he saw the audience, he changed to Bengali. So, the main thing is to communicate with the audience. But even though all souls are equal, still, yad yad ācarati śreṣṭhaḥ if the leaders of society take to Krishna consciousness, then the others will automatically take more easily. So, it is not that we are partial to the leaders, but we are equal to everyone. But if the leaders take it, it will become easier for the followers also.

Devotee 3: [Unintelligible 00:37:40]

Giriraj Swami: The soul is spiritual. Yes, and how can it have material desires? For the soul has minute independence, which—and true will implies that it can choose the right thing or choose the wrong thing. So, if it chooses Krishna, then it develops Krishna consciousness, and if it chooses maya, it develops material consciousness. But the soul has free will, and free will implies that it can make the wrong choice or the wrong decision. It is said that the soul really only has one choice: to choose Krishna or to choose maya. And if it chooses maya, then it comes under the influence of the modes of nature. More and more, it becomes entangled more and more in the modes of nature and suffers. He says God does not need to meditate, but when we see the picture of Lord Buddha, He is in meditation. The Lord Buddha is a very special incarnation. First of all, he is not in the category of Vishnu; he is in the category of jiva. But he is empowered for a specific purpose. And he taught an impersonal type of meditation, not that he needs to meditate. And if he did want to meditate, it wouldn’t be in some impersonal void, but he did it for a special purpose because he wanted to stop the so-called followers of the Vedas from killing animals in the name of Vedic sacrifice.

So, He is an incarnation of God, but He is not acting as God. He is acting in another way for a specific purpose. But that is a very good point because Srila Prabhupada had told the story of some German scientist who came to India to find God, and He visited so many temples. And then finally, when he came to Srila Prabhupada temple, he announced, “Now I have found God.” So, the devotee said, “Why do you say that now you have found God here?” So, the man replied that in every other temple, the deity was engaged in some work, either in meditation or killing some demon or doing some work. But I see here, God is not doing any work; He is just playing on His flute and He is enjoying it with His consort. So, He must be God.

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!