SB 1.7.28

Giriraj Swami: Reading from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto One, Chapter Seven: “The Son of Droṇa Punished,”

TEXT 28

na hy asyānyatamaṁ kiñcid

astraṁ pratyavakarśanam

jahy astra-teja unnaddham

astra-jño hy astra-tejasā

TRANSLATION

O Arjuna, only another brahmāstra can counteract this weapon. Since you are expert in the military science, subdue this weapon’s glare with the power of your own weapon.

PURPORT BY Srila Prabhupada

For the atomic bombs there is no counterweapon to neutralize the effects. But by subtle science the action of a brahmāstra can be counteracted, and those who were expert in the military science in those days could counteract the brahmāstra. The son of Droṇācārya did not know the art of counteracting the weapon, and therefore Arjuna was asked to counteract it by the power of his own weapon.

COMMENT

So we have been reading how Asvatthama, the son of Dronacharya, released the brahmāstra weapon under fear of imminent death. Just to recap, the Vedic Military Science is more subtle and exact than the present warfare. The most powerful weapons were based on mantra. Mantra, of course, is subtle sound and from the subtle elements come the grosser elements. The brahmāstra weapon, in particular, is extremely powerful and it acts similar to modern nuclear weapons. The brahmāstra unleashes a tremendous amount of heat and radiation. But the atom bombs of the present day are very crude because the atom bomb is dropped on a general location like a city. And it kills anyone and anything in its range including innocent citizens, old people, women, children, sick people, even animals, and plants. Whereas the brahmāstra could be directed towards a particular individual and it would not kill innocent creatures.

Similarly, the brahmāstra could be withdrawn by the person who released it, if he knew the science. And anyone who was given the knowledge of how to release the brahmāstra was also given the knowledge of how to retract it. But Asvatthama was not a proper student and although in his state of anxiety, he released the weapon, he had no knowledge of how to retract it. Even the gross physical weapons like bows and arrows that we read about in the Vedic literatures are empowered by mantras. It is not that the Vedic warriors were some primitive people, like the image of the hunter who lives in the forest with bow and arrow. Although they did use bow and arrow, but they would imbue the arrow with the power of mantras. And the arrow actually just carried, the power of the mantra which was really more powerful than the arrow itself.

So, the whole military science developed around the use of mantras. And one weapon or mantra could be counteracted by another weapon or mantra. So for example, a weapon, generally, they were carried by arrows but they could be carried by other means. But say, one could release a weapon that created intense heat. So the warrior on the other side could release a weapon that created intense cold, and that would counteract the heat. Or, one could release a weapon that would cause a great downpour of rain for example, and so the other warrior could release a weapon that would dry up the rain instantly. So there is so many weapons with whose action could be counteracted. But the brahmāstra which was considered the supreme of all weapons, the atomic weapon, could be counteracted only by another brahmāstra. And because Arjuna had the knowledge of the brahmāstra, he could counteract it. Now, we conditioned souls in the material world, are conditioned by maya. So what is the counteraction for maya or illusion? The Vedic literatures explain that the only complete counteraction for maya is bhakti-yoga. There are other types of yoga, but they cannot be successful without some touch of bhakti-yoga.

So, we find throughout the Vedic literatures, for example, in the Bhagavad-gītā, daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī, mama māyā duratyayā. (SBG 7.14,) That the material nature which consists of the three modes is very difficult to overcome. But mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te. (SBG 7.14), One who surrenders to Krishna can easily cross over maya.

And similarly, in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.14.58.

samāśritā ye pada-pallava-plavaṁ

mahat-padaṁ puṇya-yaśo murāreḥ

bhavāmbudhir vatsa-padaṁ paraṁ padaṁ

padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadāṁ na teṣām

That the material world is just like an ocean. But for one who takes shelter of the lotus feet of Krishna, the vast ocean of material existence shrinks, and becomes just like a puddle contained in the hoof-print of a calf. Although, in the material world, there is danger at every step, the devotee doesn’t care for it, and he crosses right over it.

And, Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya 22.31—kṛṣṇa—sūrya-sama; māyā haya andhakāra

Krishna is like sunlight and maya is like darkness. Wherever there is Krishna, there can be no darkness.

So karmis, jnanis, and yogis are all trying to counteract the influence of material nature, become free from the miseries of material existence, become free from the bondage of material life. But they cannot be successful without some touch of bhakti. The other processes, karma-yoga, jnana-yoga, and ashtanga-yoga are too weak to carry a person beyond the material existence. In and of themselves, they are too weak. So Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Caitanya-caritāmṛta explain that only if some practice of bhakti is added to the practice of karma-yoga, jnana-yoga, or ashtanga-yoga, can one actually achieve success. Whereas, bhakti is powerful enough to be successful on its own. And in fact, if bhakti is mixed with any other process, it becomes weaker, not stronger. Srila Prabhupada used the term, unalloyed devotional service. Do you know, what an alloy is? Can anyone say what an alloy is? 

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:19:46–00:20:02].

Giriraj Swami: Yes. Once Srila Prabhupada took a morning walk with some disciples in Boston, and on the side of a building was a big sign, ‘Unalloyed Steel.’ So Srila Prabhupada commented that they are advertising Unalloyed Steel, and we are advertising Unalloyed Devotional Service. Unalloyed steel means it is pure steel. It is not mixed with any inferior metal. Of course, steel mixed with inferior metals will be cheaper, but it won’t be as strong. So unalloyed devotional service means, bhakti without being mixed with any inferior process like, karma, jnana, or yoga. And that practice of pure devotional service can carry us beyond material existence, or can counteract the influence of material nature. So we do not have to fight maya directly, but we take shelter of Krishna and Krishna consciousness and automatically, we escape the influence of maya.

Now, Srila Prabhupada has explained an apparent paradox that sometimes, when a person begins to practice devotional service, the person is attacked by maya. And Srila Prabhupada explains that maya is also a servant of Krishna. And part of her service is to test the new person, say, to test the candidate to make sure that the candidate is sincere and will not cause trouble to Krishna. So sometimes, when an aspirant begins the practice of devotional service, maya seems to attack the candidate with more force than before the person began. But maya here is acting as the servant of Krishna, to test the candidate, to see whether the candidate is really sincere to serve Krishna or whether the candidate has come to bother Krishna. And here, ‘bother Krishna’ may mean bother Krishna for material things.

So, maya comes and disturbs the new person, and then the new person may think, this is the test. The new person may think, well, I came to Krishna to be happy, I came to Krishna to get relief, or I came to Krishna to get this facility or that benefit, and I am not getting it. So let me go somewhere else, where I can get it. But if one is sincere, even in spite of all the attacks of maya or the tricks of maya, one will tolerate the disturbances and continue with the process of chanting, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

And then, when one passes the test, maya will relent. ”Oh, this person is sincere. This person chants whether the person is in material happiness or in material distress, in material opulence or in material poverty. This person is sincere.” And Srila Prabhupada said that when one passes a test, then maya will not give the person, the same test. So we can continue, but the tests are important, they help us to advance. Sometimes there are modern theories of education that say that you should just bring out the child’s spontaneous desire to learn, and not give any tests. But the actual result of such schools is that the children learn less. In the schools where there are tests, the children actually learn more.

So we also need tests. If we didn’t have test. . .It would be nice to think that our spontaneous devotional service would carry us on and on. But the reality is that we need tests. The tests sort of force us to learn our lessons. And then, when we learn the particular lesson we are meant to learn, then we can go on to the next lesson. And the final test is the time of death. In one sense, all of the tests are variations of the same test and that is, are we going to remember Krishna or forget Him? Are we going to take shelter of Krishna or look for some other shelter? And sometimes, maya will tempt us to forget Krishna by giving us so much misery, we want to run away, or she may tempt us by offering us such material opulence that we think, Oh! leave Krishna. Let’s grab the chance for the opulence. Srila Prabhupada even said of himself that in the beginning, when he was in New York, no shelter, living in the bowery with all sorts of people. So Srila Prabhupada said, “In the beginning, Krishna tested me by taking away everything. And later, Krishna tested me by giving me everything.” So we have to be prepared for both tests. If Krishna takes something away, are we going to chase after it and forget Krishna or Krishna offers us everything for service, but given the opportunity to enjoy the facility which is meant for service, are we going to forget Krishna and try to enjoy it? And if we do that, Krishna may take it away from us.

So, maya also has her function in Krishna’s service, to test the candidates for devotional service, but she acts only under the direction of Krishna. And the way to overcome the influence of maya is, of course, to surrender to Krishna. And therefore, as Srila Prabhupada said, we don’t try to fight maya directly. How could we fight maya? She is so powerful. We would have no chance if we tried to fight maya directly. So, Srila Prabhupada said, we don’t fight maya directly. But we fight maya indirectly by taking shelter of Krishna. And Srila Prabhupada himself showed the perfect example. Of course, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura has also sung very beautifully, mānasa, deho, geho, jo kichu mor. He surrenders everything unto the lotus-feet of Nanda Kishore. And in happiness or distress, poverty or riches, health or sickness, he has no other shelter than the lotus feet of Nanda Kishore.

Sometimes, when we engage in devotional service, especially to preach and spread the mission of Krishna consciousness, we have to deal with the material nature. And a strong devotee will deal with the material nature for the sake of Krishna’s service. Here, I think of His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami in India. Well actually, yes, we were based in Bombay, and part of the struggle in Juhu was to get the permission from the Municipal Corporation to build the temple there. And there was a big conspiracy to deny us the permission, and ultimately, to take away the land from us. So, once Tamal Krishna Goswami complained to Srila Prabhupada that we know the codes of the Bombay Municipal Corporation better than we know the verses of Bhagavad-gītā. This is very instructive. Once His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami said to Srila Prabhupada that, “I am so disturbed by this fight with Mr. Nair that I have trouble chanting my rounds. I chant my rounds but my mind is so disturbed with the fight.” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “I know how you feel because I feel the same way.” And then Srila Prabhupada said that, when one does accept such difficulties in the course of Krishna’s service, one gets special mercy from Krishna. And Tamal Krishna Goswami said, “Well, I always used to try to avoid such situations where I would become entangled and disturbed, but based on what you just said, I should welcome them as chances to get more mercy from Krishna.” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “Yes.” So, the preacher who voluntarily accepts so much difficulty, dealing with the material world to spread Krishna consciousness, does get special mercy from Krishna and guru. And therefore, the devotee tolerates the onslaughts of maya or the upheavals of maya, and remains fixed in his or her determination to serve Krishna, and spread Krishna consciousness.

Once our godbrother, Ravindra Svarupa Prabhu, told one story. Some of you may know the history but there was one community that was part of ISKCON which deviated. And the leader of the community, at the time, had some henchmen that could go to any extreme, to protect their leader, defend their leader, even to the point where conceivably, they could kill someone. So, the time came that the governing body of ISKCON had to make a decision, how to deal with the community because the community had deviated, not just from the principles of Krishna consciousness as Srila Prabhupada taught them, but from the legal requirements of the United States of America. And so, the whole movement stood to be implicated in the misdeeds of the community. But at the same time, if ISKCON took any action against the community, the leaders who are involved in the act, could be subjected to some sort of retaliation or vindictive act to eliminate the leader. 

So, Ravindra Svarupa Prabhu, because for various reasons, he was the leader. He was the right person for various reasons. He was the right person to take the action against the community. And he knew very well, the risk that was involved. But he felt, how can we just let down Srila Prabhupada, let down the movement because we are afraid of the retaliation? So first, he spoke to his wife, to see what she thought about him taking the risk. And she was very positive. She said, we must do it. We just cannot let things continue, the way they are. We must act. And then, he came across a beautiful verse and purport from the Second Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam which I actually mentioned the other night. And the verse says that the husband may travel in mountains, valleys, and different places looking to get some wealth for the sake of the family, but he willingly accepts all such tribulations because at the end, he knows that he will be returning to his family. And then, all the miseries that he endured along the way, will be forgotten. And the idea is that the devotee accepts all sorts of trials and tribulations in the material world to serve Krishna. But he knows that in the end, he will be going back home, back to Godhead. And then, all the miseries he suffered along the way, will be forgotten. And in fact, the thought of pleasing Krishna, and meeting Krishna make all the difficulties seem worthwhile.

So in the purport, Srila Prabhupada writes that, the devotees of the Lord take up the mission, most seriously because the order comes from Superior Authority, from Nityananda Prabhu and the spiritual master. And therefore, devotees take up the order with all seriousness. And they do not mind what comes of the future of their lives. So, when Ravindra Svarupa Prabhu read that statement, that they do not mind what comes to the future of their lives. He thought, he must take up the order. And then, he told a story that comes from another culture but it illustrates the same principle that we have in Krishna consciousness. And in the story, there was a rich man. I believe this story comes from a Persian literature. Anyway, there is one rich man, and he sent his servant into the market in Baghdad. When the servant was in the marketplace, he bumped into death, personified. And he looked up and death looked like it was scowling at him, looking at him in a very menacing way. And so, the servant panicked, and he ran back home to the master and he told him what happened in the bazaar.

So then the master, he was very concerned for his servant who was under his protection. So the servant wanted to flee so he decided he would go to Samara. And in the meantime, the master went back into the marketplace to find death, personified there, and challenge him for having terrorized his servant. So he went into the marketplace, and he found death personified. And he said, “Why did you look in such a menacing way towards my servant? Now, my servant is completely distraught.” And death said, “I wasn’t looking at him in a threatening way. I was just surprised to find him here in Baghdad this morning because I have an appointment to meet him in Samara in the afternoon.” [laughter]

So the idea is that, whatever we are destined to face, whenever we are destined to die, by our own efforts, by our own intelligence, we can’t escape it anyway. We may try to escape it, but the very act of trying to escape it, may lead us right into it. So, taking into consideration all these factors, Ravindra Svarupa Prabhu decided to go ahead, and he did his service well. It was difficult but he did it. And he had to do it, we had to do it. So yes, Srila Prabhupada sometimes said that our problem is that we are not enough afraid of maya. And that is also a fact that we should be very careful about maya. But when we have to deal with maya, when we have to take risks to preach, we get special mercy from the spiritual master, and from Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai. But we should not take foolish risks. Now, Srila Prabhupada said that being a devotee doesn’t mean we challenge the laws of nature. “Okay, I am a devotee, so I will put my head in the mouth of the tiger because I am a devotee.” We should be careful and cautious in the material world. We should be respectful of the material nature. But if it comes to the point that we have to choose, are we going to do our duty for Krishna or are we going to flee from our duty because we think that there will be some unfavorable personal consequences in the material world. Then, we may take a calculated risk for the sake of Krishna’s service.

Anyway again, I think of our dear godbrother our spiritual master, Tamal Krishna Goswami, how he was ready to take any risk to do Srila Prabhupada’s bidding. There was another time, I know I thought of this, but in Calcutta, His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami was GBC for Calcutta. At the time, he was just not able to get the devotees to do what he wanted them to do. And he became so frustrated that he went to Srila Prabhupada, and he began to cry. And Srila Prabhupada said, “Don’t worry, Arjuna also cried.” And Prabhupada consoled him and encouraged him. So, it is a struggle, it is a fight to preach Krishna consciousness. But the devotees who take up the challenge like, His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami, get the greatest mercy.

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

Srila Gurudeva ki jaya!

Are there any questions or comments? Yes. 

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: What was my most difficult experience in devotional service?

Well probably, externally the struggle in Bombay was the most difficult. Because we had so many enemies, big powerful enemies and it was difficult. I remember once, right when we were in the height of the fight, His Holiness Satsvarupa dasa Gosvami passed through Bombay for a couple of days. And I was very attracted to him. He was very humble and simple. I had joined in Boston and he was my first temple president. So, I was very attracted and I felt I wanted to be like him. So, just few days later. . .I will just repeat a little of the story so you get the context. Srila Prabhupada had entered an agreement to buy the land in Juhu, and then the owner canceled the agreement. But then somehow, Srila Prabhupada reinstated the agreement. But anyway, after the landlord died as we learned later, his widow used the money that she collected from the life insurance to bribe the Municipality and the police to come and demolish the semi-permanent temple, we had constructed for Radha-Rasabihari there. Because as long as the temple was there, and the deities were there, our position was very strong. And in fact, from the very beginning, Srila Prabhupada had some apprehension that there may be trouble later. And therefore, the first thing he wanted to do was to install the deities on the land.

So anyway, the Municipality came and they demolished most of the structure. Although, by Krishna’s grace, the deity room itself was kept intact but the kirtan hall was completely demolished. And it was the beginning of the rainy season. I remember, we would go out, we would have maṅgala-ārati in the rain. There we would be holding umbrellas because there was no roof. So, we were trying to get support in the Municipal Corporation, to get permission to rebuild the temple. And somehow, we had the realization that we didn’t really need permission to rebuild the temple because we already had permission. They came and broke it, but we had the permission. So we decided we would just rebuild it without getting their permission to rebuild it.

So meanwhile, Mrs. Nair heard that we were planning to rebuild the temple. So on Friday, she went to the court to get an injunction, to stop us from rebuilding the temple. It was late Friday afternoon, and the judge said that he cannot take a decision without hearing the other side. So then, we knew that we had until Monday morning to rebuild the temple because no one could stop us in between. So as it is, it was very hard to get construction materials. Everything was under quota; cement, you had to get a permit to get cement. So it is very difficult. But some of our life member friends, especially, Mr. Setthi and [Unintelligible 00:54:317–00:54:2039], they said, “We have cement here and there for our own purposes. You can use the cement. And you we got all the ingredients. And then, Mr. Mhatre, there are many intricacies but, Mr. Mhatre who was the local Municipal Counselor, who was an accomplice in the whole conspiracy with Mrs. Nair, he came and he said, “If you rebuild the temple, we are going to come in the middle of the night with guṇḍās, and break it again.” Oh yes, he said, “We will come with thirty guṇḍās to destroy the temple again.” So Mr. Setthi was like a real kshatriya and a great devotee. So Mr. Setthi said, “You come with thirty guṇḍās, I will have two hundred guṇḍās waiting for you.” And his son was there, Brij Mohan, and he was serious. He said, “Brij Mohan, bring my revolver.” He was serious. And then Brij Mohan went home to get the revolver.

So all this was going on and meanwhile, I was thinking of Satsvarupa Maharaja. He is so humble. And so then, we had to stay up all night because we didn’t have much time. So we had to stay up all night, partly to work and partly to safeguard the temple from any attack. So Tamal Krishna Goswami wanted me to stay up all night at the site. And I told him that “I wanted to be humble like Satsvarupa Maharaja.” [laughter] So Tamal Krishna Goswami said, “Your humility will be to stay up all night and make sure that the temple is safe.” And I thought about it, and I agreed that yes, he is right. Humble means to be the humble servant without any conditions. And that was the most important service at the time. So yes, that is true. So we did it.

So I would say that was difficult; the external circumstances were difficult. And then in a way, I guess, I was forced to act against my conditioning, having to act against my condition that was also difficult in another way, but it was worth it. When I look back on that period, I have no doubt that it is worth it. I would do it again.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:58:13–00:58:19]

Giriraj Swami: What was your most difficult experience?

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:58:30–00:59:28]

Giriraj Swami: I cannot repeat everything she said. But basically, she said that she can distribute books, but the most difficult time is when there are difficulties among the devotees. And that is true. Yes, my answer from my side was from during Srila Prabhupada’s time but probably afterwards, the most difficulties has been the fighting among the devotees, conflicts among the devotees. I pray that we can develop better relationships to cooperate more.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:00:24–01:01:51]

Giriraj Swami: So are there any questions more related to the topic or class?

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:01:04–01:02:43]

Giriraj Swami: Well again, the premise of the question has some fault in it. You said that Srila Prabhupada said that nothing happens without the will of the Lord. And therefore, it must have been the will of the Lord that the son of Drona slaughtered the five sons of Draupadi. So why then was Drona punished when he just did the will of the Lord? It is a good question. But there is a defect in the premise of the question. Because I think the proper word is sanction. Nothing happens without the sanction of the Lord. And Srila Prabhupada has explained that sometimes, the Lord gives His sanction unwillingly. Because he is the Super soul within the heart, and He gives good advice to the individual soul. But if the individual soul insists, then reluctantly, He will give sanction. In a broader sense, the son wants to run away from home. So the parents will encourage him, “Please don’t run away from home, stay with us, continue your education.” But if the child insists and insists, then the parents will say, “Okay then you can go. What can you say?” So they give their sanction but reluctantly.

So many horrible things happen in the world, it is not the will of Krishna that human beings are slaughtering cows, and so many other things. But because they insist, they are determined, then eventually Krishna gives up and says, “All right! Go ahead and do it, but you have to suffer the consequences.” So, I think that is more accurate. That yes, we can say nothing happens without the sanction of Krishna. But sometimes, He gives His sanction willingly. Someone wants to do devotional service to encourage them. But sometimes, He will also give His sanction unwillingly. If somebody wants to go against His actual will but is so determined and insistent, then unwillingly, He give His sanction. But He is not responsible. He says in Bhagavad-gītā, nādatte kasyacit pāpaṁ. (BG 5.15) “I am not responsible for the pious and sinful activities of the living entities.” In the end, He just sanctions what they are intent on doing. But He is not responsible. 

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:06:27–01:06:39]

Giriraj Swami: What was my most difficult internal struggle, and how I overcame it? 

I haven’t overcome it yet. When I do, I will let you know.

Okay, thank you very much.

Srila Prabhupada, ki jaya!

Nitai-Gaura premānande Hari Haribol!

Devotee: Giriraj Swami Maharaja ki jaya!

Giriraj Swami: Actually, on a little more serious note, I am struggling with Srila Gurudev’s departure. There are many but that is one that has been troubling me here. And I haven’t completely come to grips with it.

Hare Krishna.