Sadhus

[Guest guest]

Nanda Maharaja, the father of the Supreme Personality of Godhead

Krsna, once received Garga Muni in his home with these words:

 

"Dear sir, because you are a devotee, you are full in everything.

Yet my duty is to serve you. Kindly order me. What can I do for you? O

my lord, O great devotee, persons like you move from one place to another

not for their own interests but for the sake of poor-hearted grhasthas

[householders]. Otherwise they have no interest in going from one place to

another."

 

Srila Prabhupada comments (Bhagavata 10.8.4):

 

"As factually stated by Nanda Maharaja, Gargamuni, being a devotee, had no

needs. Similarly, when Krsna comes He has no needs, for He is purna,

atmarama. Nonetheless, He descends to this material world to protect the

devotees and vanquish miscreants (paritranaya sadhunam vinasaya ca duskrtam).

This is the mission of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and devotees also

have the same mission. One who executes this mission of para-upakara,

performing welfare activities for people in general, is recognized by

Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as being very, very dear to Him

(na ca tasman manusyesu kascin me priya-krttamah). Similarly, Caitanya

Mahaprabhu has advised this para-upakara, and He has especially advised

the inhabitants of India:

bharata-bhumite haila manusya-janma yara

janma sarthaka kari kara para-upakara

One who has taken his birth as a human being in the land of India

[bharata-varsa] should make his life successful and work for the benefit

of all other people. (Cc. Adi 9.41) On the whole, the duty of a pure

Vaisnava devotee is to act for the welfare of others. Nanda Maharaja

could understand that Gargamuni had come for this purpose and that his own

duty now was to act according to Gargamuni's advice. Thus he said, 'Please

tell me what is my duty.' This should be the attitude of everyone, especially

the householder. The varnasrama society is organized into eight divisions:

brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya, sudra, brahmacarya, grhastha, vanaprastha and

sannyasa. Nanda Maharaja represented himself as grhinam, a householder. A

brahmacari factually has no needs, but grhi, householders, are engaged in

sense gratification. As stated in Bhagavad-gita (2.44), bhogaisvarya

prasaktanam tayapahrta-cetasam. Everyone has come to this material

world for sense gratification, and the position of those who are too

attached to sense gratification and who therefore accept the grhastha-asrama

is very precarious. Since everyone in this material world is searching for

sense gratification, grhasthas are required to be trained as mahat, great

mahatmas. Therefore Nanda Maharaja specifically used the word mahad-vicalanam.

Gargamuni had no interest to serve by going to Nanda Maharaja, but Nanda

Maharaja, as a grhastha, was always perfectly ready to receive instructions

from a mahatma to gain the real benefit in life. Thus he was ready to execute

Gargamuni's order."

 

MDd