HH Devamrta Swami

[Guest guest]

Live from Sri Mayapur Candrodaya Mandir:

 

March 9, 2005

Verse: Srimad Bhagavatam 1.13.12-13

Speaker: HH Devamrta Swami

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Thus being questioned by Maharaja Yudhisthira, Mahatma Vidura gradually

described everything he had personally experienced, except news of the

annihilation of the Yadu dynasty. (12)

 

nanv apriyam durvisaham nrnam svayam upasthitam

navedayat sakaruno duhkhitan drastum aksamah

 

TRANSLATION: Compassionate Mahatma Vidura could not stand to see the

Pandavas distressed at any time. Therefore he did not disclose this

unpalatable and unbearable incident because calamities come of their own

accord.

 

PURPORT: According to Niti-sastra (civic laws) one should not speak an

unpalatable truth to cause distress to others. Distress comes upon us in its

own way by the laws of nature, so one should not aggravate it by propaganda.

For a compassionate soul like Vidura, especially in his dealings with the

beloved Pandavas, it was almost impossible to disclose an unpalatable piece

of news like the annihilation of the Yadu dynasty. Therefore he purposely

refrained from it.

 

(invocatory prayers)

 

For those who lack the vision to understand what is reality in this world it

is difficult to understand that why should you try for happiness, when just

like distress comes of it's own accord, similarly happiness will enter your

life in the same way. Therefore, Narada Muni instructs in the same First

Canto "tasyava hetoh prayateta kovido", if you're actually a kavi, a wise

learned person, you understand the basic fact of material existence that

there is no point in putting your amounts of energy to endeavour for

anything available from the lowest planet to the highest planets. Now why is

that? Because by the force of time your happiness is going to come exactly

as you should get it. Just as by the force of time your distress comes

according to what you are supposed to get.

 

Now for someone who is infused with rajo-guna, the mode of passion, this is

a difficult point to understand, especially in the current climate in the

world today when everything is measured in terms of economic development.

Your individual might, the might of your nation, of your ethnic group, of

whatever society you identify with-the might is measured in terms of

economic prowess. And to have economic development you must endeavour. It's

all on your shoulders. You must push forward with great intelligence, great

ability, and then you will be happy. This is the dream that's disseminated

throughout the world today.

 

Actually, every year or so the United Nations and some associates do a world

analysis of who are the happy people according to the material standards

that they determined. And in their survey, year after year, they find out

that the so-called happiest countries in the world, from their material

point of view, are the poorest nations. A few years ago the number one happy

country in the world was Bangladesh. Places like USA, England, Germany were

down to 15, 16, 17, 18. This year I think it is Mexico. So the very facts as

determined by these people throw out their conceptions that in order to be

happy you must struggle very much with expertise, economic, political

connections, and then your life will be happy.

 

The message of Srimad Bhagavatam is very clear. Use your common sense. No

one prays for distress yet it comes; similarly you should understand that

your happiness will come automatically in the same way. In other words, you

cannot be, from the material point of veiw, one drop more happy than you are

destined to be, nor can you have one drop less of distress than you are

destined to get. Now people will critize that this is very fatalistic,

anyone who accepts this notion will simply lay around and do nothing while

the whole world marches by with mighty progress. Srila Prabhupada himself

entered this challenge saying, "No. Just because you understand that

happiness and distress comes into your life automatically does not mean you

just sit around and do nothing. No." The whole point of Narada Muni's

provocation is that use your very valuable form of human life with its

valuable time to become Krsna conscious that is not predetermined. By

practicing bhakti-yoga you are actually being the most efficient when it

comes to using your time, because you are not struggling for things you

would have gotten anyway. You are struggling to please to Krsna's senses.

That is the essence of bhakti.

 

Now we are hearing about Mahatma Vidura. He has been in some entangling

situations which, from the material point of view, you could say he had a

bad deal. He had circumstances thrust upon him that were very unpalatable.

Vidura is attached to his older brother Dhrtasrastra. But we are going to

see the nature of that attachment. His attachment is always for the good of

Dhrtarastra in spite of Dhrtasrastra always being partial to his nonsense

son Duryodhana. Still Vidura had an attachment. He was always trying to warn

Dhrtarastra, "Don't let you son overpower you, he is going to destroy

everything."

 

Now Vidura left to go on pilgrimage. The circumstances can seem to be very

much against Vidura's happiness, against his well-being. He was tossed out

of the palace by Duryodhana. "Get this son of of a lowly women, get him out

of here, why do we have to listen to him?" These words, the Bhagavatam

describes, they pierced Vidura's heart. You see, even though one is a

devotee it doesn't mean that your heart cannot be wounded, but Vidura took

advantage of that wounded heart to increase his Krsna consciousness and left

the palace to go on pilgrimage. In effect, he went out on vanaprastha and in

this way an activity or a circumstance that seems unfavourable like being

tossed out of a royal palace. . . because Dhrtasrastra took such good care

of Vidura. He was living in such majestic palatial circumstances-still he

left taking the impulse from the sharp words of Duryodhana. This incidence

shows the combined activity of yogamaya and mahamaya. For Duryodhana, he is

interacting with mahamaya, the illusory energy, causing him to insult such a

great soul as Vidura. For Vidura, he is feeling the activity of the Lord's

internal potency, "Let me increase my Krsna consciousness". So he left.

 

Now he has returned again and the Pandavas are overwhelmed with the

happiness that is unimaginable by anyone with material senses; how can

anyone be so happy to see Vidura? This is the nature of relationships

between Vaisnavas. Because Krsna's service is in the centre, something

extraordinarily and inconceivably powerful manifests itself between

devotees. Kaviraj Goswami in Caitanya Caritamrita describes that love of

Krsna is like a pool of ecstasy in which the Lord and devotee dive into

together. So there is always something extraordinarily poweful going on

between devoteees because service to Krsna is in the centre. So when you

read about Vidura's reception with the Pandavas when he returned from

pilgrimage you are reading about something extraordinary. The sastra

describes that the Pandavas, Yudhisthira, Kunti-all the members of the

palace-felt like it was life returning to their body. They were crying tears

of ecstasy just to see Vidura return.

 

Through devotional service to the Lord we become so close that sometimes we

don't understand that, and indeed we become familiar with each other, and,

not remembering all the time the enormous power that is packed into devotee

relationships because of the presence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead,

we sometimes can joust each other and elbow each other. We can always

meditate on this section of the Bhagavatam, Vidura is returning and the

Pandavas and their entourage are beyond happiness. They are not

sentimentalists, so many of them are warriors and yet they feel like the

life has returned to their bodies. And then we hear the very sensitive and

personal greeting given by Yudhisthira Maharaja, who is Dharmaraja, he is

expert in how to do everything according to the best religious principles.

First, he stirs the pot of remembrance. Remembrance is very important in

everyones life. Even materialists love to cherish memories. They love to

remind each other of the good moments, the flickering happiness that

appeared in their life at some point like a shooting star in the sky and

then disappeared. Everyone likes to remember when you meet old friends, when

you meet family members, always there is this reminiscing, this remembrance.

That's a part of being a human being. So Yudhisthira, being expert in

personal relationships, especially personal relationships with devotees, he

immediately brings out to Vidura, "Do you remember how you protected us?"

 

He is teaching us how to deal with devotees. You can see in every devotee

that there has been some sacrifice and if you can point that out: "Do you

remember when you served Krsna in such and such a way?" then that devotee's

heart become melted, relieved, and in fact even better, that devotee becomes

encouraged to do more for Krsna. So Yudhisthira is demonstrating how to do

this. "Do you remember you were partial to us. Your partiality was like the

wings of a bird, you protected us, do you remember?" Of course, it's not

that Vidura was negligent of Duryodhana and company. He was also in a sense

partial to them by giving Duryodhana a good instruction, "Don't act like

that, you are going to ruin yourself, you will ruin your whole family." So

that is also showing favour. Once Vidura could see that Duryodhana was not

going to listen and that he and Dhrtarastra continued on their course of

doing everthing possible to disturb the Pandavas and even kill them, then

Vidura showed his partiality to the Pandavas, as you know, by warning them

of danger.

 

After Yudhisthira stirs the pot of memories, then he inquires about the

well-being of Vidura: "I know you have been on pilgrimage, how did you

maintain yourself, how did you keep body and soul together so to speak; how

were you fed?" This is Yudhisthira teaching us that we should consider all

aspects of a devotee's life because a devotee is the rarest thing in the

material world. Nowadays in the materialistic society so much fuss is made

in preserving rare species of plant and animal life. But the rarest thing in

this world is a devotee. So much more effort should be made to preserve

devotees and recognize that the exclusiveness of devotional service makes

anyone who approaches devotional service the rarest of persons. So then

Yudhisthira Maharaja gives his famous declaration:

"tirtha kurvanti tirthani", "Persons like you are the holy places

personified. In other words, you don't really need to go on tour to holy

places. Wherever you go is a holy place because you are a tirtha."

 

Now it is interesting that Vidura has wandered here and there, and

Yudhisthira and the Pandavas are at home in the palace. They are on,

generally speaking, an equal level of spiritual advancement. In other words,

its not so much that one has left home and one has stayed at home. That is

not the determining factor in Krsna consciousness. The determining factor is

the level of intensity in the engagement of the senses in the service of the

Lord. This is a very important point to understand. But nevertheless,

Yudhisthira is thinking that, "You, Vidura, you are going to bring us life,

you are going to enlighten us". Although Yudhisthira is krsna-devata, he is

rapt in the attention on Krsna's lotus feet. So then naturally Yudhisthira

is going to ask him about Krsna, about the devotees in Dvaraka, and this is

a very delicate situation in which Vidura is going to handle very tactfully.

Even with dealing with devotees you have to use your intelligence. You just

can't be like whatever, you are dealing with Krsna's dear objects, devotees.

So you have to pray to the Lord, "I don't have the ability to deal with

devotees without giving me intelligence. Left on my own, I will just cause

so many disturbances, I will cause so many offences. I am begging my dear

Lord, please give me the spiritual intelligence how to interact with your

dear devotees, whats the best thing to say at a particular moment, what's

the best thing to do."

 

Vidura was expert because he was rapt in attention on Krsna's lotus feet. He

knew that it was better to not talk about the annihilation of the Yadu

dynasty. He knew too much. . . it's not the time. It's not the best thing to

do for Krsna right now. That news will come on its own accord. In this way,

the Bhagavatam describes him as compassionate. Not only in his dealings with

everyone, but especially in his close personal relationships with other

devotees, he judged that this is not an appropriate thing to say. Now one

can question, "But what could be more major in a discussion than news of

Lord Krsna in Dvaraka? How could Vidura overlook this?" He did it out of

compassion. He understood these devotees, these Pandavas, are so attached to

Krsna that I can not bear to say this right now. This news will come on its

own accord and we'll deal with it at that time."

 

In this way we can learn so much from Vidura in terms of how to become

sensitive. Now it's not that Vidura is sentimental. No. Why is he there in

the palace at Hastinapur? He is there to deliver Dhrtarastra. That is his

main purpose. As far as Vidura is concerned the Pandavas and company are

already saved, they are Krsna-devatas, but what about this Drtasrastra. This

is the nature of Vidura's attachment for his older brother. Again he is

going to try and he is going to point out as you are going to hear that "You

are making a mistake again, you made a mistake before the battle of

Kuruksetra and now here you are after the battle, you lost one hundred sons,

you lost everything, and here you are making a mistake again. And here I am,

Vidura, once again pointing this out."

 

And you might say "What's the big mistake? Dhrtastrastra is defeated, he

lost everything, he's living with the Pandavas, they are taking care of him.

Hey, you've got to get what you can get, you've got to do the best you can,

try to be comfortable in some kind of way." That is the modern

understanding. So what if Dhrtasrastra did everything he could to kill King

Yudhisthira and family but now Yudhisthira is giving him a good deal, so why

not take it? Why all this unnecessary moralism? If there is comfort--and

especially if there is money--you take it. Why does it matter if this and

that happened before, just take it. Comfort and facility. So Vidura doesn't

accept that. . . Vidura is going to point out very strongly to Dhrtarastra,

"How can you live like this, especially when 80% of your life has been

wasted, now you waste the precious last years of your life like a dog in the

house of those who you did everything to kill? And in fact they killed your

100 sons. Here you are just resting in comfort waiting for death to come.

You have better things to do. You must leave immediately and proceed with

your spiritual dedication."

 

Now from Yudhisthira's side, he didn't think there was anything wrong with

Dhrtarastra and his wife staying in his palace. In fact Yudhisthira, and the

way he is, he was thinking, "I have cause so many offences, I have killed

his 100 sons, I have done all this, let us take care of them." Yudhisthira

is not a naïve sentimentalistm but he is overlooking completely that

Dhrtarastra and company put the Pandavas through hell. It doesn't register

with Yudhisthira. And when the comes time, when that morning comes when

Yudhisthira is making his rounds in the palace and going around and seeing

all the persons and greeting them, when he finds out that Dhrtarastra and

his wife have left along with Vidura he is going to be devasted in his

heart, accusing himself of what did he do that was wrong, how did he fail in

giving proper hospitality to Dhrtarastra? He left so suddenly so he must not

have taken very good care of him. But Narada Muni comes and relieves the

situation by pointing out that there is nothing you can do about this, you

don't need to lament. Dhrtarastra has gone off into the forest for his

spiritual advancement."

 

This is the way for devotees to learn how to receive devotees and be

sensitive to their needs. Indeed this inspires us to beg the Supreme Lord to

give me the intelligence on how to swim in the ocean of devotee sanga. Don't

try to do it by your material ablities, you will be baffled. Often this will

happen to us by our interactions with Vaisnavas in our society. If we try to

do it all with our material intelligence. . . "I got you figured out, I know

where you are at. I have been in the temple with you for 15 years. I can

read you like a book. (chuckles) Before you even do something I know what

you are going to want, and I'll block it." No. In fact the longer you have

been around a devotee the more it is an opportunity to pray to Krsna: "I

need help on how to see the inconceivable glories of this devotee, how to

interact with this devotee for Your pleasure my Lord, how I can be of

service to this devotee." One actually has to beg. And when Krsna hears that

prayer He will equip you more and more with those abilities how to swim in

the ocean of devotee sanga. Even if it's with a devotee you have been around

for thirty years together and you think you know that devotee inside and

out, Krsna will show you newer and newer things. You can take inspiration

from Yudhisthira and Vidura and aspire to come into that mentality, that

delightful mentality of sporting, splashing, and diving into that

association, devotee association.

 

Of course, Yudhisthira is so so expert, not only with devotees, but also

with the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself. Therefore he wanted to

perfom the Rajasuya-yajna and have a grand reception for Bhagavan. For

Vidura you are hearing how they let him bathe, they fed him sumptuously, let

him rest, and then they asked him questions. This all an art to make the

person feel at ease so that the good feelings can flow. And also so that

knowledge can flow. Yudhisthira knows how to do that with the Supreme

Personality of Godhead also. Therefore, in the Tenth Canto, Yudhisthira

presents a proposition to Lord Krsna: "We Pandavas have nothing to ask from

You because we have Your personal association, we have Your two lotus feet,

but I want to benefit others." Therefore, the Rajasuya-yajna was performed.

How can this yajna benefit others? Yudhisthira's idea was, "I will show that

by worshipping you, O Lord, that everyone will be happy and everyone will

prosper. I want to make that dramatic presentation."

 

This is the thinking of a genuine government leader. I want to use all the

opulences of my kingdom to establish Krsna as the Supreme Personality of

Godhead. This is very important for us today because you will find that

throughout the world people know so many things about reincarnation,

vegetarianism, the subtle body, this that and the other so-called mystical

things. They are much more familiar with these things now than when the

Krsna consciousness movement was first started in the early 70's when we had

the unique monopoly on anything that had to do with reincarnation,

vegetarianism, anything not gross. And everyone knew that you go to the Hare

Krsnas and they know these kind of spiritual things. And now we don't have

that kind of monopoly anymore in the Western countries. There are many

speakers who can give their interpretations on astro this and psychic that,

and subtle this, and it goes on and on and on. It's not an exotic thing

anymore. Reincarnation is no longer exotic. It used to be in the 70's that

the argument would be given, "Why should be become Krsna conscious? You have

only one life, so enjoy all you can cause death will come and its all over."

 

But now some people say, "Yes there is reincarnation and you will get

another body, and since you don't know what body you will get next you might

as well enjoy while you have this one." So the conclusion is still the same

whether you know something about reincarnation or don't, without

understanding Krsna what is the use? And this is the greatest need today. To

teach knowledge of Bhagavan Sri Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Just like Yudhisthira out of love had that desire "I want to establish

Krsna. I want the whole world to see the difference between the bhaktas and

those who are not bhaktas. I want to make it plain for everyone. I even want

to demonstrate to the demigods what is their proper place. So Krsna listened

to that and said "Yes, this is a very good idea, this will enhance your

fame, the fame of your dynasty."

 

The Lord is always thinking about His devotees. So He did not respond that

"Yes, this would be good for Me," but "This would be good for you." So in

that way Yudhisthira took his plans for the Rajasuya-yajna, put those plans

into action and of course after the liberation of Jarasandha, when

Yudhisthira heard that account when the other Pandavas returned, he was

stunned in ecstasy hearing the glories of the Lord and then he began his

yajna, and as you know, there was a big interruption in that yajna, because

Sisupala became very disturbed. That is a very interesting pastime. We don't

have time for that now, but for today, enter into this mood of reception of

a devotee for another devotee, of a devotee for the Supreme Personality of

Godhead. And then we'll get more intelligence how to enrichen our lives.

 

All devotees are expert at reception. The gopis in Vrndavana, in the middle

of the night, in the forest, the autumn season, the full moon. . . after

Krsna disappeared suddenly the Lord appears. His dearest devotees had been

crying out and talking impulsively based on pure love and playing the best

music with perfect rhythm and melody, and suddenly Krsna appeared again. And

they gave a wondrous reception for the Lord, spreading their shawls on the

back of the Yamuna River. Their shawls were scented with their perfume and

kumkuma powder. The Yamuna River also contributed to the reception by piling

up soft sand on the bank of the Yamuna River. So then the shawls were laid

on top of the sand and Krsna sat on the shawls and Sukadeva Goswami points

out "Look at this, that Lord who is acquired in the heart of a yogi with

such great difficulty, he's so easily seated outside the heart on the shawls

of the simple cowherd women. How glorious is this."

 

This is reception. Even some of them were a little angry at Krsna, yet they

made such a gorgeous reception. And the cool breezes of the night forest

were blowing. The bees were humming. Everything was perfect for this darsan

of the Supreme Lord. And Krsna reciprocated perfectly by expanding Himself

to sit on so many shawls so everyone had a face to face personal contact

with the Lord. So this is sensitivity. Krsna's yogamaya energy inspired Him

"Let everyone of these dearest devotees have Me sitting on the shawl." So

Krsna did that. In this way we can see how to be sensitive, how to be

responsive, how to arrange a proper setting for receiving a devotee as well

as the Supreme Lord. This is the real joy in life.

 

On this point we'll stop and ask if you have any questions. (applause)

 

Question by Badrinarayan Prabhu. . . .

 

Maharaja: . . .His question was "It's quite obvious--you make money by

working hard, you bring home the money and then there's enjoyment for

yourself, your family, going on vacations." Yes, that's a fair presentation?

OK.

 

This is the great Western hallucination that's spreading all over the world,

and you're getting it in India now too: money autmatically equals happiness.

Now I quoted this UN survey which shows that there's no correlation--the

poorest country in the world, a couple of years ago, got the number one

rating for happiness. This year I think it's Mexico. So where is USA, where

is Germany, where is England? What is the Vedic answer to this? Your money

is one thing, and happiness is another thing. Just because you are having

money, that doesn't mean material happiness. But these people make that

mistake-that cash automatically means happiness. It is not so.

 

And anyone who wanders around in India to the poorest villages knows this.

You go to Ekacakra, you see people, their faces are smiling, they're

relaxed, they're not taking stress courses. (laughter) So this is the big

hallucination: money equals happiness. You may work hard to increase your

money, but you cannot increase the stock of happiness that is due to you

from your past life. So what if you make a big business deal and make

another million dollars. That doesn't affect the happiness that you are due

from your past life. So this is a difficult point for people to understand

today because of this propaganda that's covering the world. And it is really

tearing apart India now: get money, get luxury, get conveniences and you'll

be happy like the other people. This is the big problem.

 

Yes? Narada Muni says our happiness and distress are pre-determined.

Prahlada Maharaja also says that

 

Question by Ekalavya Das: Just like we here in astrology. . . like the

lines of the hand, they change, the karma changes just by clappoing before

the Deities, so similarly by the performance of devotional service is our

allotment, our quota of happiness also changed by devotional service?

 

Maharaja: A devotee is not interested in material happiness or distress. A

devotee is simply interested in Krsna's pleasure. So whether or not a

devotee's happiness or distress is increasing or decreasing he is not paying

so much attention to that. The devotee is paying attention to Krsna's

pleasure.

 

Now Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakur, in the lila of Kubja, Trivakra, points out

that if, in the process of your simply worrying about Krsna's pleasure, you

become happy, that's not a fault. So don't feel bad if you're happy in Krsna

consciousness. (laughter) It's OK. If while your simply focussed on "How

can I please Krsna's senses", you become happy, it's OK. But the warning

given by Sukadeva Goswami is "Don't actually be like Kubja who wanted to use

the Lord to satisfy her senses, don't actually do that." And that warning is

especially given by Sukadeva Goswami to those devotees who are attached to

Krsna in intimate relationships, "Don't do like this".

 

Kaviraja Goswami points out that the paradoxical nature of the relationship

between Krsna and the gopis is that although the gopis never desired their

own pleasure, Krsna forced it upon them. These of course are very high

things which are there in Prabhupada's books, but it requires some deep

thought and a lifetime of service. Yes?

 

Question by Sankirtana Das: You explained about the dealings with devotees,

the relations with devotees. I wonder if on the liberated platform, we know

that Krsna is the source of all rasas and He's essentially the vibhu and the

anu (?) of the flow of rasa or emotions. Now in the liberated platform, is

there rasa between the jivas, the liberated living entitites?

 

Maharaja: Any kind of emotional flavour in relationship can be called rasa.

Even in the material world that perverted rasa is there. And certainly the

relationships in the spiritual world have their flavours. Because Krsna is

in the centre of the devotee relationships, that is what makes the rasa

exchanges between devotees in terms of the emotions, the personal dealings,

that is what makes such dealings an ocean of pleasure and increased Krsna

consciousness because the service of the Lord is in the centre. That is

enough. Thank you very much, all glories to Srila Prabhupada.