SB 6.9.2–11 – Bhakti Is beyond the Body

Giriraj Swami: 

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

We read from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Six, Chapter Nine, “The Appearance of the Demon Vṛtrāsura,”

TEXT 2

sa vai barhiṣi devebhyo

bhāgaṁ pratyakṣam uccakaiḥ

adadad yasya pitaro

devāḥ sapraśrayaṁ nṛpa

TRANSLATION

O Mahārāja Parīkṣit, the demigods were related to Viśvarūpa from his father’s side, and therefore he visibly offered clarified butter in the fire while chanting mantras such as indrāya idaṁ svāhā [“this is meant for King Indra”] and idam agnaye [“this is for the demigod of fire”]. He loudly chanted these mantras and offered each of the demigods his proper share.

COMMENT

So, there is no purport given by Srila Prabhupada to this verse, and there are a number of verses without purports, or very scant purports. So, the manager of the class has suggested that I can read through the verses until we get to one with a more substantial purport. But even then, this is a very dramatic pastime that we are reading about, filled with mystery, suspense, revelations, unexpected turns of events, and so on. So I will give my own little purport in terms of the story here. Viśvarūpa was related to the demigods on his father’s side, but he was related to the asuras on his mother’s side. So, it is mentioned here that he was speaking very loudly, offering shares of the sacrifice to different demigods such as Indra, of course, the king of the demigods and Agni. But behind this loud chanting of mantras for the demigods, something else was going on, which we will find out about in due course.

TEXT 3

Although offering clarified butter in the sacrificial fire in the name of the demigods, without the knowledge of the demigods he also offered oblations to the demons because they were his relatives through his mother.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Because of Viśvarūpa’s affection for the families of both the demigods and the demons, he appeased the Supreme Lord on behalf of both dynasties. When he offered oblations in the fire on behalf of the asuras, he did so secretly, without the knowledge of the demigods.

COMMENT

So, this is a very delicate situation, where someone is apparently engaged in the service of one party, but secretly has other interests. Here, Viśvarūpa was engaged as the priest of the demigods, so it was expected that he should do the yajña for the benefit of the demigods, but he also had some familial relationship with the asuras, so secretly he was making offerings to the asuras. It reminds me of something we had to be vigilant about in Juhu, and I am sure every manager has to be vigilant. We had an accountant, every organization in India has to have an accountant, and he was employed by us, by ISKCON, it was expected that he would be doing his work for the benefit of ISKCON, but he had his own family interest. And so, outwardly, yes, he is ISKCON’s accountant doing everything for ISKCON, but secretly, he was doing some manipulation so he could take out funds for his family. So, on a larger, cosmic scale, it appears that Viśvarūpa was doing something similar, unknown to the demigods. I don’t want to commit any offenses here to Viśvarūpa or to our former accountant in Juhu, it is nothing personal, just a philosophical point.

TEXT 4

Once upon a time, however, the King of heaven, Indra, understood that Viśvarūpa was secretly cheating the demigods by offering oblations on behalf of the demons. He became extremely afraid of being defeated by the demons, and in great anger at Viśvarūpa he cut Viśvarūpa’s three heads from his shoulders.

COMMENT

Now, this gives us some insight into the fears of King Indra. Again, we are dealing with conditioned souls, on a higher level, dealing on a cosmic magnitude. But still, Indra is a conditioned soul, he is pious; without being pious he could not have been given the post of King of heaven. But he is a conditioned soul, which means to some extent he identifies with the body, and is influenced by conceptions such as, “I” and “mine.” And there is always a rivalry between the demigods and the demons for control. In fact, the demigods and demons or suras and asuras are descended from the same parentage, and on a cosmic level, it is like a family quarrel between two branches of the same family, who Is going to dominate. So, when Indra found out that Viśvarūpa had been cheating the demigods and making offerings for the benefit of the demons who were his enemies and rivals, he became very fearful that they would become powerful and defeat him. And so, he became very angry at Viśvarūpa and cut off his three heads. It is described at the beginning of the chapter that Viśvarūpa had three heads. With one he drank soma-rasa, with another he drank wine, (but I am sure the wine up there is different from the wine we have down here), and with the third he ate food. And Indra became very worried and angry, and he cut off all three heads.

Now, of course, this sounds very fantastic, someone with three heads. But in the purport to the first verse of the chapter, Srila Prabhupada explains that we do not have access to the heavenly planets. We try to go places with our spaceships, but we have no access to the heavenly planets, and we do not know what the people there are like, what they do there, and so on. Indirectly he is saying, “Don’t conclude that what we are reading is mythological or imaginary because we haven’t been there, we haven’t seen the place, we haven’t seen the people, we don’t know, so we take it on the authority of scripture.” On the way down, somehow, I was thinking of that issue of faith and the. . . Oh, yes! Yes, I was thinking about my body. Of course, that is nothing new, always thinking of my body. But this time, I was thinking of it in a little more philosophical way, how amazing a creation it is. There are so many different systems in the body, the circulatory system, but an amazing creation, the heart, the blood circulating, going through the arteries, delivering oxygen, and then coming back through the veins. It is an amazing, amazing creation. The digestive system; actually, the digestion begins from the fingertips, that is why we eat with our fingers sometimes. Generally, we don’t use these crude steel or plastic devices, we have these God-given hands with fingers and fingertips, and the whole process begins with that, mushing around with the food like our mothers told us not to do when we were little, but now it is authorized so we can do it. And then we chew it, the saliva, it begins to be digested there, the enzymes in the saliva, and then, goes to the stomach and nutrients are absorbed into the system, and then there is waste left and that gets moved along through the intestines. It is a very sophisticated, complicated, subtle process.

And then the senses; the eye, what an amazing creation, the ear, these are incredible creations. Even the skin, that is also a system. So, I was thinking, “What an amazing creation.” We could never do anything that comes close to even one of the systems; circulatory, digestive, so many muscles, muscular system. And then I was thinking, “How could anyone believe that this all happened by chance?” I mean, what a totally absurd idea to think that something so finely engineered, conceived and engineered, could just arise by chance. And then I thought, It comes down to faith. As Prabhupada said, it comes down to faith. We have faith in Krishna, and they have faith in chance. You cannot absolutely rule out chance. There is always a chance, that chance could be the cause. But it is a very remote chance. So anyway, such an amazing creation, and it is all contained within our skin, and it is all going on, we are not even conscious of it, we are busy in our different affairs, and it is all going on, and we don’t even notice it until something goes wrong. But when it is all working well, we don’t even notice it, and it is completely amazing.

So, it reminds me of the story of the brahman and the cobbler, which I won’t repeat, but yes, it is a matter of faith. Well, we have never been to the heavenly planets, but this is what we are hearing takes place there. Now, this next portion is very interesting.

TEXT 5

Thereafter, the head meant for drinking soma-rasa was transformed into a kapiñjala [francolin partridge]. Similarly, the head meant for drinking wine was transformed into a kalaviṅka [sparrow], and the head meant for eating food became a tittiri [common partridge].

TEXT 6

Although Indra was so powerful that he could neutralize the sinful reactions for killing a brāhmaṇa, he repentantly accepted the burden of these reactions with folded hands. He suffered for one year, and then to purify himself he distributed the reactions for this sinful killing among the earth, water, trees and women.

COMMENT

So, although Indra reacted when he found out that he and the demigods were being cheated and he became fearful and angry and killed the brahman priest, he later repented. And this is the symptom of a devotee. A devotee may for some time be influenced by fear, or anger, or hatred, but then later he repents. And this difference between devotees and demons is very significant. Srila Prabhupada describes the same contrast on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, that the Pandavas had been so wronged by the Kurus led by Duryodhana, but when they met on the battlefield, it was Arjuna who was having second thoughts, Maybe we shouldn’t fight. Although he was actually the victim, he and his brothers were the victims, but he was thinking, It is better to let them just enjoy. But Duryodhana was not thinking like that. He was thinking, Let the battle begin, let us slaughter these brothers, and let us rule without impediment.” And Srila Prabhupada explains that is the difference in thinking between a devotee and a non-devotee. Although Arjuna had every reason to be angry and to want to fight and to take revenge, but he wasn’t thinking like that. And Duryodhana, who was the aggressor, he was the envious one, he was just ready to go ahead without any second thoughts. So, this is a difference in mentality that we often encounter.

TEXT 7

In return for King Indra’s benediction that ditches in the earth would be filled automatically, the land accepted one fourth of the sinful reactions for killing a brāhmaṇa. Because of those sinful reactions, we find many deserts on the surface of the earth.

PURPORT

Because deserts are manifestations of the earth’s diseased condition, no auspicious ritualistic ceremony can be performed in a desert. Persons destined to live in deserts are understood to be sharing the reactions for the sin of brahma-hatyā, the killing of a brāhmaṇa.

TEXT 8

In return for Indra’s benediction that their branches and twigs would grow back when trimmed, the trees accepted one fourth of the reactions for killing a brāhmaṇa. These reactions are visible in the flowing of sap from trees. [Therefore one is forbidden to drink this sap.]

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:26:12]

Giriraj Swami: Yes, this topic has come up, and Srila Prabhupada said, “Yes, that is true, it is the sap of a tree, and it should not be eaten, but it tastes so good.” [laughter] This is the definitive answer from the founder acharya.

TEXT 9

In return for Lord Indra’s benediction that they would be able to enjoy lusty desires continuously, even during pregnancy for as long as sex is not injurious to the embryo, women accepted one fourth of the sinful reactions. As a result of those reactions, women manifest the signs of menstruation every month.

PURPORT

Women as a class are very lusty, and apparently their continuous lusty desires are never satisfied. In return for Lord Indra’s benediction that there would be no cessation to their lusty desires, women accepted one fourth of the sinful reactions for killing a brāhmaṇa.

COMMENT

This itself could lead to a discussion, but I think that would take us from the main topic. But let us just say that these statements apply in a general sense. It is very complicated because the statements take their place in a particular context, and the context then and there is very different from the context now and here. It is major topic here; I guess I should speak a little more.

In the system of varnashrama-dharma. . . We know there are different classifications; brahmans, kshatriyas, vaishyas, and sudras. And brahmans are more in the mode of goodness, kshatriyas more in the mode of passion, vaishyas passion and ignorance, and śūdras ignorance. And in the Vedic system, in principle, the husband and wife should be of similar character and qualification and culture and education. And a brahman man would marry a brahman woman, kshatriya man would marry a kshatriya woman, and so on. And relatively, the brahman man would be stronger, or more intelligent, than the woman. And in that way, the relationship between the husband and wife could be proper. And this is very complicated and intricate, but in simple terms. Of course, there is great mutual respect, nothing like the man dominating the woman, or exploiting the woman, but the complete perversion of the real mood of Vedic culture. Now, apart from the modes of nature, there is intelligence, there is faith. As Prabhupada said, a brahman has most faith in God, and kshatriyas less, and vaiśyas and śūdras less. But it doesn’t mean that a brahman woman is more lusty than a sudra man, or a brahman woman is less intelligent than a sudra man. It is just so contrary to common experience. In whatever vestige it is left of Vedic culture in India, the lady of the house definitely commands the male servants in different categories, as a general rule.

So, now in Kali-yuga, these distinctions are very blurred. Kalau śūdra-sambhavaḥ everyone is basically born sudra, you don’t know who is who. And therefore, the idea, “I am a man, and this is a woman. So, I am more intelligent than she is because I am a man,” cannot really be applied so easily because you, foolish man, may be a sudra man, and she might be a brahman lady, and she might be more intelligent than you are. And as far as lust goes, this is also a delicate point, and it is also one that we see in everyday life. Sometimes it happens in a marriage between devotees that the man is the one who is more eager for that, and it may be that the woman is the one who wants to follow strictly. And so, it is not so easy. And when Srila Prabhupada was asked about that, what does it mean that women are more lusty than men, he said it doesn’t mean in the gross sense, but it means in general. They like to have security, they like to have a nice house and comfortable amenities, and in a more expanded or subtle form.

But I think in terms of our practical association, generally, especially as devotees, we should respect everyone — man, woman, child, young, old — as devotees. Because once someone surrenders to Krishna, he or she comes in a different category. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam. Bhakti begins when we are free from these designations. Then we can actually act on the spiritual platform. So, when we are absorbed in these designations — man, woman — it means we are not really on the platform of bhakti. Bhakti really is performed on the liberated platform. We are still on the material platform. We may be engaging in practices that are meant to purify us so that we can actually engage in pure devotional service, but it means we are still on the material platform, absorbed in these designations, man, woman, and so on. But people in general are on the material platform. And for the sake of society, there needs to be some regulation and organization.

But in Kali-yuga, things are so disturbed and different. Things are so different, although Prabhupada wanted to introduce it, to create a better situation in society so people could more easily take to Krishna consciousness, he said it is not really possible. And Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura said that we should not think that varnashrama-dharma is a perfect system. It is not a perfect system; it deals with conditioned souls in the material world. The whole situation is imperfect. And it is not a perfect system, but it is something to help us get along in an imperfect situation. But real perfection is pure devotional service. And somehow, we have to get along in the material world, but the real purpose is to engage in pure devotional service to Krishna and come to the spiritual platform.

TEXT 10

And in return for King Indra’s benediction that water would increase the volume of other substances with which it was mixed, water accepted one fourth of the sinful reactions. Therefore there are bubbles and foam in water. When one collects water, these should be avoided.

PURPORT

If water is mixed with milk, fruit juice or other similar substances, it increases their volume, and no one can understand which has increased. In return for this benediction, water accepted one fourth of Indra’s sinful reactions. These sinful reactions are visible in foam and bubbles. Therefore one should avoid foam and bubbles while collecting drinking water.

TEXT 11

After Viśvarūpa was killed, his father, Tvaṣṭā, performed ritualistic ceremonies to kill Indra. He offered oblations in the sacrificial fire, saying, “O enemy of Indra, flourish to kill your enemy without delay.”

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

There was some defect in Tvaṣṭā’s chanting of the mantra because he chanted it long instead of short, and therefore the meaning changed. Tvaṣṭā intended to chant the word indra-śatro, meaning, “O enemy of Indra.” In this mantra, the word indra is in the possessive case (ṣaṣṭhī), and the word indra-śatro is called a tat-puruṣa compound (tatpuruṣa-samāsa). Unfortunately, instead of chanting the mantra short, Tvaṣṭā chanted it long, and its meaning changed from “the enemy of Indra” to “Indra, who is an enemy.” Consequently instead of an enemy of Indra’s, there emerged the body of Vṛtrāsura, of whom Indra was the enemy.

COMMENT

In other words, Tvaṣṭā wanted to perform a sacrifice that would bring forth an enemy of Indra because he wanted to avenge his son’s death at Indra’s hand. But because he mispronounced the syllable, instead of getting an enemy of Indra, he got someone who Indra was an enemy of. And as we will read later, the whole dramatic pastime was enacted because Vṛtrāsura, who came out of the sacrificial performance, was not actually Indra’s enemy. Indra was his enemy, but he was not Indra’s enemy. And even though he could have killed Indra in battle if he wanted, he actually encouraged Indra, “Don’t give up hope, keep fighting,” and he actually instructed him how he could kill Vṛtrāsura because Vṛtrāsura was actually not a demon. He had the body of a demon, but he was not actually a demon, he was actually a great devotee. So, he wasn’t actually Indra’s enemy, although Indra considered himself to be the enemy of Vṛtrāsura.

So now, this whole incident took place, this whole situation took place when Indra offended his spiritual master, the spiritual master of the demigods. And Indra was enjoying, he was intoxicated by his opulence, and therefore, when his guru came into the assembly, he didn’t recognize him, he just continued, and his guru became offended and left. And then the demigods became very weak, and the demons were able to conquer them, and there were very serious reactions. And I was thinking of our spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, how merciful he was and how patient he was with us. Because we made many mistakes, we continue to make mistakes, we made many mistakes. But unless someone was extremely offensive, very, very, rare cases, Srila Prabhupada never rejected a disciple, never gave up on a disciple. And, we are all here because of Srila Prabhupada. Just sitting in this temple room, every inch, every molecule, every atom is Srila Prabhupada’s mercy. He gave us the deities, he gave us the method of deity worship, he gave us the holy names, he gave us the books, the scriptures, he gave us the morning program. The morning program itself is such a gift. There is so much in it, so much potency in it, so much benefit.

And, I was looking at the paintings; every one of these paintings was done while Srila Prabhupada was present, out of devotion for him, out of love for him. There is no other reason why the artists did the paintings. They did it because Prabhupada wanted them, and they wanted to please Prabhupada. So, everything we have, and everything we are, is a result of Srila Prabhupada’s mercy, there is no other explanation. And yes, even people not directly following Prabhupada and ISKCON, whatever they are doing is really ultimately. . . I think they are making their own efforts, but they couldn’t be doing what they are doing if it weren’t for Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada was the one who came, and he created something from nothing, a miracle. So, to go against Srila Prabhupada would be a terrible offense, because they say, “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.” He has fed us in every way. Sometimes people might quibble over some point of philosophy that Srila Prabhupada presented, or some point. But Srila Prabhupada, yes he gave us the philosophy of Krishna consciousness perfectly, but he gave us much more than philosophy. He gave us a society in which we can live and function as devotees and have relationships. He gave us everything; he gave us a whole way of life; he gave us everything. So, to turn our back on that is a very grave offense and mistake, and that is something we should not do at any cost, in my humble opinion.

And then, the other important point in the story, which relates to us, is the chanting of the mantra. Because Tvaṣṭā had chanted the mantra improperly, it brought a result that was very different from the result he wanted. And again, I think of Srila Prabhupada’s and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s mercy in giving us the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, which is not subject to the same types of strict rules and definitions as other mantras. Like Chaitanya Mahaprabhu prays in the Śikṣāṣṭakam, Niyamitaḥ smaraṇe na kālaḥ, there are no hard and fast rules for chanting the holy name. And in one talk in New Vrindavan, the point came up many times, but in one talk in New Vrindavan, Srila Prabhupada spoke about his own disciples’ mispronunciation. He mentioned specifically the phrase in the Gurv-aṣṭaka, that we chant every morning. Instead of vande guroḥ, sometimes they say vande garu, which means “cow.” So literally, they are saying, “I offer my obeisances to the cow.” But Srila Prabhupada said that Krishna is bhāva-grāhī janārdana, He accepts the mood of the devotee, or the worshiper. So, even though his disciples might mispronounce and change the word “guru” to “cow,” Krishna understood their mood, their bhāva, their intention. And that is what He accepted, not the technical defect.

So, we are the recipients of such tremendous mercy, both in terms of our spiritual master Srila Prabhupada being so merciful, and in the process that he has given us, or Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has given us and he has presented in a way that is most suitable for us. And it is only by Srila Prabhupada’s mercy and the mercy of the disciplic succession and the holy name, that we are anything. We can’t even imagine where we would be, or what we would be like, if Srila Prabhupada hadn’t come. So, we should always be aware of the mercy that we have received, aware of the tremendous effort that Srila Prabhupada made to give us the mercy that we have, in the form of his books, the holy name, the deities, the whole International Society for Krishna consciousness, and never offend him. There is one incident; Srila Prabhupada had a disciple, one of his very early disciples, who came to India some years later, and he became very weak, and he started to smoke ganja, I guess marijuana, hashish. And so, the temple president in Calcutta phoned Srila Prabhupada, he was staying in Bombay at Kartikeya Mahadevia’s home and we were with him, and the temple president asked, “What should we do?” It is very awkward; he was such a senior devotee. And so, the secretary informed Srila Prabhupada, and Srila Prabhupada said to tell him that, “If he doesn’t stop, I will reject him.” And then later, Tamal Krishna Goswami asked, “Is it true that that you would reject him?” And Srila Prabhupada said, “No, no, I cannot reject anyone.” And Tamal Krishna Goswami said, “Well, don’t you have to draw the line somewhere?” And Srila Prabhupada said, “No, the mercy of Lord Nityananda has no limit.” So, that was his mood and is his mood.

And so, there is always hope. But at the same time, we shouldn’t do anything, we should try our best not to do anything that would cause us to, even temporarily disturb our relationship with Srila Prabhupada and with the holy name. And, the main things that can cause that disturbance is aparādha, guru-aparādha and vaiṣṇava-aparādha. We should avoid those like the plague. And again, this whole pastime is very instructive, although the context is different, but it is very instructive. And the two main features of this pastime are, Indra’s offense against his spiritual master that caused him to suffer a major setback, and Tvaṣṭā’s mistake in reciting the mantra that caused him, in a way, to suffer a reversal. But by Srila Prabhupada’s mercy and the mercy of the paramparā coming from Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, our efforts are not fraught with so many dangers. There are dangers but not like in previous ages. And yes, we should just appreciate the mercy that we have received and spread it. That is a very important part of the mercy that Srila Prabhupada gave us, and that is the instruction to share the mercy with others.

Recently, we observed Pandava Nirjala-Ekādaśī, and chanted so many rounds. And you think, Well, do we really need to eat? Do we really need to drink? Is it just in our minds that we think we need to? And yes, “We are chanting sixty-four rounds or more, what if we chanted sixty-four rounds every day? What would our life be like if we chanted sixty-four rounds every day?” So, I have these thoughts, and then the next day came, Dvādaśī, and I don’t know, it didn’t seem like I could go another day without eating or drinking, and it didn’t seem that practical either, at the rate that I chant, to chant sixty-four rounds every day. And then I thought of the whole way Prabhupada trained us and established ISKCON and engaged us, and I thought, Well, whether we are not able to do it or whether we are just not meant to do it, but definitely, Srila Prabhupada had a different emphasis. He wanted us to work to spread the mission of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and get the mercy of Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai. And he had that faith, I think Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura had the same faith, that if we do that, if we work, of course, to spread Krishna consciousness, you have to be Krishna conscious. You have to follow the basic regulative principles, chanting the holy name. But all those other hours during the day, are meant to be filled with that effort to share Krishna consciousness with others, and that will get us the mercy of Gaura-Nitai and our whole guru-paramparā, and that will enable us to, of course, there are so many variables, but that will enable us to advance very nicely, that mood of selfless service. And if one chants in a selfish mood, you chant sixty-four rounds or whatever in a selfish mood of one’s own advancement, he will not advance so well.

And Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura said that, “Without the service attitude, your chanting of Hare Krishna will not bring the desired result,” sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ, the holy name, ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ, will reveal Himself to one who is imbued with the mood of service. So, having a selfish mood, chanting for my own benefit, will not bring the result. But we should have that mood of service, and in the context of the mood of service, then our personal chanting will have great benefit, and we will see that the benefit of that chanting, that spiritual inspiration we get from offenseless chanting, that will help us in our service to the mission. Like Vaisesika Prabhu says, “Our book distribution should be the overflow of the bliss we feel we get from our sadhana.” And here, right in New Dvaraka, we have our own example of Srivasa Prabhu who generally gets up at two in the morning and chants sixteen rounds with great care and attention and focus, and then he is imbued with so much energy to serve Srila Prabhupada and the mission. So, we need both, we definitely need both. And that combination will bring us the results. And that is the package that Srila Prabhupada gave us. And so, we should open the package and enjoy the gift that he has given us.

Hare Krishna.

Devotees: Hare Krishna.