SB 1.18.16

Giriraj Swami:

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

Reading from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto One Chapter Eighteen: “Parīkṣit Cursed by Brāhmaṇa Boy,”

TEXT 16

sa vai mahā-bhāgavataḥ parīkṣid

yenāpavargākhyam adabhra-buddhiḥ

jñānena vaiyāsaki-śabditena

bheje khagendra-dhvaja-pāda-mūlam

TRANSLATION

O Sūta Gosvāmī, please describe those topics of the Lord by which Mahārāja Parīkṣit, whose intelligence was fixed on liberation, attained the lotus feet of the Lord, who is the shelter of Garuḍa, the king of birds. Those topics were vibrated by the son of Vyāsa [Śrīla Śukadeva].

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

There is some controversy amongst the students on the path of liberation. Such transcendental students are known as impersonalists and devotees of the Lord. The devotee of the Lord worships the transcendental form of the Lord, whereas the impersonalist meditates upon the glaring effulgence, or the bodily rays of the Lord, known as the brahmajyoti. Here in this verse it is said that Mahārāja Parīkṣit attained the lotus feet of the Lord by instructions in knowledge delivered by the son of Vyāsadeva, Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī. Śukadeva Gosvāmī was also an impersonalist in the beginning, as he himself has admitted in the Bhāgavatam (2.1.9), but later on he was attracted by the transcendental pastimes of the Lord and thus became a devotee. Such devotees with perfect knowledge are called mahā-bhāgavatas, or first-class devotees. There are three classes of devotees, namely the prākṛta, madhyama and mahā-bhāgavata. The prākṛta, or third-class devotees, are temple worshipers without specific knowledge of the Lord and the Lord’s devotees. The madhyama, or the second-class devotee, knows well the Lord, the Lord’s devotees, the neophytes and the nondevotees also. But the mahā-bhāgavata, or the first-class devotee, sees everything in relation with the Lord and the Lord present in everyone’s relation. The mahā-bhāgavata, therefore, does not make any distinction, particularly between a devotee and nondevotee. Mahārāja Parīkṣit was such a mahā-bhāgavata devotee because he was initiated by a mahā-bhāgavata devotee, Śukadeva Gosvāmī. He was equally kind, even to the personality of Kali, and what to speak of others.

So there are many instances in the transcendental histories of the world of an impersonalist who has later become a devotee. But a devotee has never become an impersonalist. This very fact proves that on the transcendental steps, the step occupied by a devotee is higher than the step occupied by an impersonalist. It is also stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (12.5) that persons stuck on the impersonal step undergo more sufferings than achievement of reality. Therefore knowledge imparted by Śukadeva Gosvāmī unto Mahārāja Parīkṣit helped him attain the service of the Lord. And this stage of perfection is called apavarga, or the perfect stage of liberation. Simple knowledge of liberation is material knowledge. Actual freedom from material bondage is called liberation, but attainment of the transcendental service of the Lord is called the perfect stage of liberation. Such a stage is attained by knowledge and renunciation, as we have already explained (Bhāg. 1.2.12), and perfect knowledge, as delivered by Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī, results in the attainment of the transcendental service of the Lord.

COMMENT

So everyone in the material world is suffering. And some people think that the solution to the suffering is to give up their individual identity and merge into the effulgence of the Lord or the brahmajyoti, or impersonal brahman. The material condition is like a high fever, and a diseased person would want to get relief from the fever. So when the fever is reduced to nil, that is called liberation. Now suppose someone is suffering from a fever, and lying in bed, and by following the proper treatment he or she become free from the fever. So in one sense, we could say that the person is cured, because the fever is gone. But still the person is lying in the bed, so in one sense the person is cured, but in another sense we can’t really say that the person is healthy. When the person gets out of the bed, and engages in normal activities, then we can say that the person is healthy. So the impersonalist is like the person whose cured of the fever of material activity, but because the impersonalist remains inactive like the patient who remains in bed, that cure is only partial. But when the liberated soul goes further and engages in the service of the Lord, then that person is like the patient who gets out of bed, and engages in normal activities. Of course sometimes, Srila Prabhupada would take the example a step further and say that, “Suppose a person is suffering from a disease, and if I offer that I will kill, then you will be free from the disease, will you agree?” Of course, no normal person would say yes. So in one sense the goal of the impersonalist to give up their individual identity and merge into the impersonal brahman is like suicide. In fact Srila Prabhupada called is spiritual suicide. And superficially suicide in a way to escape suffering, but it is not an actual escape. 

We find in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta the story of Srila Sanatana Gosvami, who came to Jagannatha Puri to get the association of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. But while, passing by foot through the jungle he contracted a disease and his body became covered with sores that oozed some foul, smelly liquid. So when Sanatana Gosvami arrived in Jagannatha Puri, the Lord came forward to embrace him, but Sanatana Gosvami shied away because he did not want his horrible liquid, that were oozing from his source to go on the body of the Lord. But Lord Chaitanya forcibly embraced him, and Sanatana Gosvami felt very terrible. So, the same type of interaction between Sanatana Gosvami and the Lord continued, and Sanatana Gosvami felt more and more terrible, because he felt he was contaminated and yet he was being brought into contact with the Lord. So finally he decided that he would give up his body. He thought, I have come here to Jagannatha Puri to find happiness but actually I found the opposite. So better I give up this body, which is the cause of so much distress. So he planned to give up his body under the wheels of the chariot of Lord Jagannatha in Ratha-yatra. Of course the wheels are huge, and the chariots are huge, and he would have been crushed under the wheels of the chariot. So Lord Chaitanya as the omniscient Lord understood the mind of Sanatana Gosvami. So one day he asked Sanatana Gosvami that, “If you give some property to someone, is it correct to take that property back, or to destroy that property?” Of course the answer is no, once you have given something you can’t take it back, or destroy it. So Lord Chaitanya said that, “You have surrendered your body for my service. Now how can you take it back, or destroy it?” So then Sanatana Gosvami understood that ‘Lord Chaitanya has perceived my desire to give up my body, and he does not approve of it.’ Then Lord Chaitanya said to Sanatana Gosvami that measures like suicide are product of the mode of ignorance. And he said, “If I could attain Krishna by giving up my body, I would give up thousands and millions of body, without any hesitation but one cannot attain Krishna by such means. One can attain Krishna only by devotional service, so you should stay in your body, and use your body in my service, and associate with the devotees, and by the process of devotional service, you develop love for Krishna. And love for Krishna is the only way by which we can attain Krishna.”

So Sanatana Gosvami, of course, accepted the instruction of Lord Chaitanya. Well the rest is history. So suicide either in the physical sense of giving up one’s body, or in the so called spiritual sense of giving up one’s individual identity, are not approved by the Lord, and they are certainly not the goal of devotees. The goal of devotees is to engage in the transcendental service of the Lord, and ultimately develop love for the Lord. So there is a Sanskrit word siddhi, which means perfections. In the Bhagavad-gītā Krishna says, manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye, that of many thousands of persons one will seek perfection, and then out of many thousands of perfected beings, one will know Krishna in truth. So what is the meaning of perfection? Here the meaning of perfection is ordinary liberation. That out of so many thousands of people, hardly one will seek liberation, and out of many liberated soul, hardly one will know Krishna. So that means that there is a stage beyond ordinary liberation, and that is the stage at which one knows Krishna. And how do we know Krishna, we know Krishna by devotional service, bhaktyā mām abhijānāti. Lord Krishna says, “Only by devotional service can I be known, and only in that way you can enter into the mysteries of my understanding.” So ordinary liberation is a certain step, but beyond the step of ordinary liberation, is special liberation, vimukti. And in such special liberation, one knows Krishna and one enters into direct service to Krishna, and that is the goal of pure devotees. Saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam, siddhi by attaining liberation, one is considered siddha. But saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam, complete perfection, means to please the Lord and that is the goal of devotees. So devotees will never entertain the thought of impersonal liberation, because in impersonal liberation there is no service of the Lord, there is no glorification of the Lord, there is no happiness. It is just the negation of material miseries, but there is no positive happiness. And therefore, great devotes spit at the thought of liberation. Like Srila Prabhupada said, “They spite on the thought of liberation.” Kaivalyaṁ narakāyate—for them the thought of liberation is hellish. Prabodhananda Sarasvati, kaivalyaṁ narakāyate, the thought of kaivalya impersonal merging is like Naraka hell. And in fact devotees, pure devotees prefer to live in hell than to be in impersonal brahman, because at least in hell they can serve the Lord, they can glorify the Lord. Whereas in impersonal liberation, there is no service, there is no hearing, there is no chanting, there is no remembering of the pastime of the Lord, and therefore they actually prefer hell to impersonal liberation. 

So there are many examples of impersonalists who have become devotees, one is Śukadeva Gosvami himself. Śukadeva Gosvami was an impersonalist, within the womb of his mother, and he refused to come out of the womb, because he was afraid that he would become enamored of the material world, and fall into maya, fall into illusion. And it is said that for sixteen years, he remained within the womb, and he wouldn’t come out. Then finally Lord Krishna came to him and promised him that, “You can come out of the womb, and you will not fall into maya. Please, your father and your mother waiting, so please come out and I assure you, you will not fall into maya.” So Śukadeva came out of the womb and immediately left home. He without undergoing any of the purificatory processes, he left home. He walked into the forest, and he did not turn back. And his father Vyasadeva was calling for him, “Please come back, please come back my son.” And all Vyasadeva heard was the echo of his cries. So finally Vyasadeva had an idea. And he sent two of his disciples to search out for Śukadeva Gosvami in the forest. And eventually they found him, and he was determined, he was just walking, and they recited two verses from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The first begins aho baki, that is spoken by Uddhava, in glorification of Lord Krishna, that how merciful is Lord Krishna, that even though the she demon Pūtanā came to poison him, he did not take the bad side, that she came to kill him. But he took the good side, that she fed me her breast milk, and therefore she is my mother. And he elevated her to the position of his mother in the spiritual world. So he praised who could be more merciful than Lord Krishna, very beautiful verse. So that is one verse, glorifying Krishna’s mercy and the second verse from the Tenth Canto, [Unintelligible 00:33:35] and that describes the transcendental beauty of Krishna with his three-fold bended form, and his flute to his lips, and his peacock feather in his hair. So when Śukadeva Gosvami heard these two beautiful verses in glorification of Lord Krishna, he was stunned because this was not any material sound vibration. This is not any ordinary description, of any ordinary man. And he became attracted, and he wanted to hear more. So then Vyasadeva’s disciple said, “Okay, you come back and your father will teach you Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.” And then he came back.

So there is one verse, famous verse in the First Canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam—ātmārāmāś ca munayo, that even impersonalists who are self- satisfied, they become attracted to the transcendental qualities of the Lord, the descriptions of the transcendental qualities of the Lord, because they are not mundane vibrations. They are not ordinary descriptions. It is described in the scriptures, and quoted in The Nectar of Devotion, that there were many sages that were absorbed in impersonal mediation on brahman, in the caves during the time of Lord Krishna. But when Lord Krishna sounded His transcendental conch shell, panchajanya, their meditation broke. No material sound vibration could have broken their meditation. They were fixed in brahman realization. But the transcendental sound of Lord Krishna’s conch shell broke their meditation, and they wondered what is this? what could possibly have penetrated our meditation? And then they came out of their caves, they came down the mountains to see what is this. And then they found Lord Krishna. So on the transcendental ladder, the position of devotees that are attracted to the transcendental features of the Lord, and who are relishing transcendental ecstasy in the service of the Lord, they are higher than the impersonalist. The ones that have theoretical knowledge of liberation, they are on material platform. They just have knowledge any ordinary person, there are so many in India, there are probably many here, they talk about liberation. Like Prabhupada said, “They sit in their parlors, and drink tea, smoke cigarettes, and speak about liberation.” So anyone can do that, but to actually be liberated, is very rare. But even the liberated souls, if they come in touch with the devotees of the Lord, and the transcendental qualities, the pastimes of the Lord, they become attracted, and they leave behind their impersonal monistic meditation, and engage in hearing, and glorifying the Lord, and ultimately they engage in direct service to the Lord. 

So we are very blessed as it is described here, that because Maharaja Parīkṣit was initiated by Śukadeva Gosvami, who was a mahā-bhāgavata, he became a mahā-bhāgavata. So if we come in contact with, and of course here the initiation does not mean the formality, here it means the knowledge. Srila Jiva Gosvami has given a definition of initiation in sandarvas, ‘that which eradicates sinful reaction, and bestows transcendental knowledge.’ So this is our paramparā, guru-paramparā. This is the line of mahā-bhāgavatas and that supreme knowledge of the Lord, of the transcendental nature of the Lord’s name, form, qualities, activities, entourage, and paraphernalia, that is coming to us through the guru-paramparā. And therefore we have the same knowledge, the same knowledge that Śukadeva Gosvami passed on to Maharaja Parīkṣit. But we may not have the realization. And therefore we have to practice sadhana, chant our sixteen rounds, follow the regulative principles, avoid the sinful activities. And by practicing with this knowledge we will gradually come to the stage of pure love of Godhead, where we will know Krishna in truth, and serve Him with love.

Hare Krishna.

Any questions or comments.

Devotee: What happened after Lord Chaitanya spoke to the devotee that wanted to give up his body, and because of the foul smell and the perspiration [Unintelligible 00:40:56–59] what happened after Lord Chaitanya came to know? He gave up the idea of giving up the body, but was his body healed or made all right? 

Giriraj Swami: That is a good question. Well you see this is sort of a test of Sanatana Gosvami by Lord Chaitanya. So in due course, Lord Chaitanya embraced Sanatana Gosvami one more time, and all his itching, sores, and oozing went away. They were cured by Lord Chaitanya’s embrace. And then Srila Sanatana Gosvami said that, “My Lord you, you make those sores appeared to test me, and then you made them disappear.” So sometimes we get tested by the Lord. We are put into some difficulty and then when we pass the test, if he likes, the Lord can remove the difficulty.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:42:24–26]

Giriraj Swami: What was the test?

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:42:29–34]

Giriraj Swami: How to deal with his disease. Tests take various forms, and shapes, but the ultimate test is, are we going to surrender to Krishna more, or are we going to go away from Krishna. So when Sanatana Gosvami decided he was going to give up his body, you can say he was going away from Krishna. Sometimes it is like that with us too. We have some problem in the temple with some devotee, or with the management, “I am leaving, I am not going to go back there. I can chant hare Krishna at home.” So these are tests. So how are we going to deal with the tests? Are we going to take more shelter of Krishna, more shelter of Krishna’s devotees, or we going to go away? And the final test is at the time of death. At the last moment, are we going to take more shelter of Krishna, are we going to, at the last minute, try to take shelter of some material support like Ajamila. At the time of death he called for his son. Fortunately, his son was named Narayana, so in the end he took shelter of Narayana. But he was fortunate. So tests are good. They help us to learn. There are some modern schools of educational theory, they don’t believe in tests. They just want to bring out the children natural, spontaneous desire to learn. But research has shown, or examinations has shown, that the children that don’t have tests, don’t learn as much. So Krishna gives us tests, so that we learn something. And Srila Prabhupada said that when we pass the test, Krishna won’t give us the same test again. He will give another test, but we don’t have to repeat the same test. And then the final test is at the time of death, when we pass that, we go back to Godhead. 

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

Nitai-Gaura premānande,Haribol!

Giriraj Swami Maharaja ki jaya!