HH Bhaktivaibhava Swami

[Guest guest]

>From Sri Mayapur Candrodaya Mandir!

 

March 13, 2006

Verse: Srimad Bhagavatam 2.3.1

Speaker: HH Bhaktivaibhava Swami

__

 

sri-suka uvaca

evam etan nigaditam

prstavan yad bhavan mama

nrnam yan mriyamananam

manusyesu manisinam

 

TRANSLATION: Sri Sukadeva Gosvami said: Maharaja Pariksit, as you have

inquired from me as to the duty of the intelligent man who is on the

threshold of death, so I have answered you.

 

PURPORT: In human society all over the world there are millions and billions

of men and women, and almost all of them are less intelligent because they

have very little knowledge of spirit soul. Almost all of them have a wrong

conception of life, for they identify themselves with the gross and subtle

material bodies, which they are not, in fact. They may be situated in

different high and low positions in the estimation of human society, but one

should know definitely that unless one inquires about his own self beyond

the body and the mind, all his activities in human life are total failures.

Therefore out of thousands and thousands of men, one may inquire about his

spirit self and thus consult the revealed scriptures like Vedanta-sutras,

Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam. But in spite of reading and hearing

such scriptures, unless one is in touch with a realized spiritual master, he

cannot actually realize the real nature of self, etc. And out of thousands

and hundreds of thousands of men, someone may know what Lord Krsna is in

fact. In the Caitanya-caritamrta (Madhya 20.122-123) it is said that Lord

Krsna, out of His causeless mercy, prepared the Vedic literatures in the

incarnation of Vyasadeva for reading by the intelligent class of men in a

human society which is almost totally forgetful of the genuine relation with

Krsna. Even such an intelligent class of men may be forgetful in their

relation with the Lord. The whole bhakti-yoga process is therefore a revival

of the lost relation. This revival is possible in the human form of life,

which is obtained only out of the evolutionary cycle of 8,400,000 species of

life. The intelligent class of human being must take a serious note of this

opportunity. Not all human beings are intelligent, so the importance of

human life is not always understood. Therefore manisinam, meaning

"thoughtful," is particularly used here. A manisinam person, like Maharaja

Pariksit, must therefore take to the lotus feet of Lord Krsna and fully

engage himself in devotional service, hearing, chanting, etc., of the holy

name and pastimes of the Lord, which are all hari-kathamrta. This action is

especially recommended when one is preparing for death. [end of purport]

 

__________________________

 

 

We are very fortunate that Srila Prabhupada himself lectured on this

particular verse in nineteen hundred seventy-two in Los Angeles. I would

like to refer to the notes of that lecture.

 

First of all, Srila Prabhupada explained that the important part to this

verse is related to that person who is at the threshold of death. That is

the important element of that verse. Prabhupada says that who can say I am

not on the threshold of death? Because if we hear in this verse "at the

edge, at the point of death", we always tend to think that will happen in

the future, but Srila Prabhupada makes the point that who can say right now

at this moment I am not at the threshold of death? Where is the guarantee

that I will somehow continue to live?

 

That everybody thinks. Everybody thinks I will continue to live at least for

some more years, if not many more years, but then how come so many people

are dying all the time? Everybody, all together, whole world, all human

beings should continue to live - every second someone is dying. That is a

statistical fact. Every moment someone is dying, and not only human beings,

any species of life. Mrtyu-loka, this whole material existence is being

defined, designated as a place of death.

 

Then of course, Srila Prabhupada, in a very important point related to the

next verse in the purport, Srila Prabhupada states that no one wants to

change his birth right. No one wants to meet death. No one wants to be old

or invalid and no one wants disease, but these problems have to be solved.

This cannot be solved by the grace of the demigods because in the next

verses we will hear about the various material benedictions these demigods

are giving. Also it cannot be solved by so-called advancement of material

science. All these material arrangements will not help us at the time of

death.

 

Then Prabhupada, in another class he gave sometimes funny stories of Gopal

Bhan and King Krsnacandra. So Gopal Bhan, he was very, very clever, very

intelligent. He was the personal advisor of the king. Also by so-called

cleverness, mundane intelligence we cannot escape death, either. One time he

stepped a little bit over the borderline and Gopal Bhan actually offended

the king. Then the king said, "Gopal Bhan, for this you have to lose your

head."

 

There was silence of course. Everybody was quiet. Gopal Bhan, he was

staring, looking at the floor. And the king felt some compassion. Gopal

Bhan, he has a very special position. He is the joker, but still very, very

intelligent. In his own way, he gave so many valuable instructions to the

king. He felt compassion actually. He gave Gopal Bhan the option: "Anyway,

at least you can decide yourself how you want to die."

 

Gopal Bhan replied, "I am very grateful, my Lord, that you asked me how I

want to die, so I want to die of old age." [laughter]

 

Then the king and everybody was laughing. King Krsnacandra said "Just get

out of here!"

 

So he was saved by using his intelligence. He is smart, but what will Gopal

Bhan do if actual death is approaching him? What will he say? Even he, by

cleverness, smartness, whatever, cannot escape death.

 

So then Prabhupada again points out in his class, that manusyesu manisinam,

not ordinary man. Ordinary man cannot understand this science of Krsna

consciousness. It is not possible. Manisi means thoughtful. A person who is

very thoughtful, that is the meaning of manisi, very thoughtful, very sober,

very intelligent. So they might question, Prabhupada continues, what is to

be done now before death comes. That is really intelligence.

 

I am quite sure most of you, if not all of you, had before you came to Krsna

consciousness that thought - I am going to die. After death, do I forever

cease to exist? I'm sure you all thought this. What will happen after death?

My individual existence just ceases. I just live for a few years and then I

disappear from the surface of eternal existence eternally. What's the

purpose of life, these few years?

 

Srila Prabhupada sometimes gave the example of material existence simply

means like a fish standing on the beach and then he is flapping for a few

more moments and then he dies. That is whole material existence. We are

flapping for a few years and then we are gone, finished. So what is the

purpose of that?

 

To enquire into those subject matters, that is called manisi, very

thoughtful, very intelligent. Maharaja Pariksit is the prime example of such

intelligence. He knew he was cursed to die in seven days. In one sense, it

is a curse, but at the same time, it is a blessing also. Who can guarantee

that we will have notice of seven days? We might die even before before

having that chance to properly prepare. Maharaja Pariksit, he properly

prepared.

 

Srila Prabhupada explained in his class to this verse that we should take

the example of Maharaja Pariksit. What a wonderful example. He was being

cursed to death and he immediately renounced everything. He sat down. He

even renounced eating and drinking also, did not even drink. He just

absorbed himself in Srimad-Bhagavatam and krsna-katha. That is the example

to be followed.

 

So better we have seven days left or seven years or seventy years, what is

ultimately the difference. We all have the notice, but the problem is most

of us don't even know how long, seven years, seven hundred, no idea how long

we are going to live. That is why we absorb ourselves in this Krsna

consciousness movement everyday, on a daily basis, morning and evening, we

absorb ourselves in Srimad-Bhagavatam, Bhagavad-gita, then we are on the

safe side.

 

Srila Prabhupada continues to explain, he quotes the verse:

 

ahany ahani bhutani gacchantiha yamalayam

sesah sthavaram icchanti kim ascaryam atah param

 

That verse was spoken in a conversation between Yamaraja and Yudhisthira

Maharaja. The question was, what is the most wonderful thing in this world?

That is the answer that everyone can see that so many living entities around

me are dying at every moment, but still I think I am going to live, I will

not die. That is the most amazing, most wonderful thing in this world.

 

So Srila Prabhupada quotes the verse. Then he explains that intelligence

therefore means to properly prepare for death. He quotes the verse from

Bhagavad-gita pravrttim ca nivrttim ca, that verse, that of course, to

properly prepare indicates that we have to carefully consider what

activities I performed throughout my life are considered to be proper

activities and which activities are improper because this life is nothing

but a preparation for the next life or our existence after death. It is

simply a preparation. So Srila Prabhupada quotes that verse.

 

Then he explains that modern civilization is completely unaware of these

principles, these most important principles of life that what is to be done,

what is not to be done. Of course moral principles do exist in society, but

if we look deeper into the matter, still there is a profound ignorance in

modern civilization related to what really has to be done, that are in a

deeper sense proper activities.

 

Of course we know whatever the Vedas describe, those activities are proper

and any activities which go against the Vedic injunctions, the instructions

of the Supreme Lord, then these are improper activities. That will also be

more and more discussed in our meetings and seminars, what does Vedic or

Veda really mean. There are so many different opinions.

 

Sometimes devotees receive the notice from another devotee: "Is this really

Vedic what you are doing? Are you leading a Vedic married life? Are you

leading a Vedic marriage? Did you marry in a Vedic way?" So we often hear

this term Vedic, Vedas. What does it really mean? But it is important

because Veda is simply translation for us, really, Veda means nothing else

but Krsna consciousness. This is what Vedic, Veda means. And that's the

truth - there's nothing beyond Krsna consciousness. That is the truth. We

just have to translate that term Veda into Krsna consciousness. So let us

see whether my activities are Krsna conscious or not. That's all. We don't

have to get too much entangled in terminology. Veda really means for us

Krsna consciousness. Whatever we do in Krsna consciousness, that is Vedic

and then we are being properly situtated.

 

Srila Prabhupada further explains, therefore this particular word is

mentioned, manisinam and he quotes from the Caitanya-caritamrta: krsna ye

bhaje se bada catura. Catura in Sanksrit means intelligent, very

intelligent.

 

In a Sanskrit class, they always tell one story, catura kaka. Kaka means the

crow, black crow, the bird, then catura, very intelligent. It is a very

simple story about the black crow who was very thirsty. It noticed a water

pot. Then it was landing on the water pot, but the water was too deep down.

With the neck it could not reach the water, but the crow used his

intelligence. He flew away, picked up some small stones, pebbles from the

ground, and carried it in his beak and then dropped it into the water pot

one after the other, one after the other. By that, the water was steadily

rising, gradually rising, rising, rising and then at one point the crow

could drink the water. That is intelligence.

 

Similarly we also have to use our intelligence in Krsna consciousness. There

might be so many obstacles on the path of our devotional service, but we

should not be discouraged. We should not give up or become morose. Srila

Prabhupada said once to feel morose is maya. In Krsna consciousness there is

no question of feeling morose. We have never seen Srila Prabhupada morose.

Although Srila Prabhupada also he had to deal with so many obstacles in his

attempt to spread Krsna consciousness all over the world. Srila Prabhupada

was never morose.

 

Once when he heard about Germany, I am originally from Germany. Germany is

an amazing yatra, so many ups and downs. The first down was that the

government somehow confiscated a lot of money and all our activities

stopped. The press published very, very extremely negative articles. We

could not even go on harinama anymore. People would just spit at us and

scream at us, very difficult situation. Srila Prabhupada was being informed

about it and of course he was concerned.

 

But later on, the situation gradually changed, improved. We could happily

dance on the street again. People sometimes even came from the flower shops

and right on the harinama they gave us flowers: "Here, this is for you for

your worship."

 

I even remember once in harinama, 1974. We were young brahmacaris, a little

bit fanatic. I was not wearing any socks and most likely I had blue legs. It

was very cold outside. And no underwear, underwear was maya. Just thin dhoti

and went on harinama. Then one owner of, a or person from a shoe shop, came

out and gave me very, very nice shoes. So these were the days. It was very

nice. Then Srila Prabhupada heard, he was being informed how the situation

so positively improved. Then Srila Prabhupada just commented, "Just see you

all thought Germany was finished, but Krsna thought let Germany increase."

 

That optimism is so important in our practice of Krsna consciousness. Yes

there are many problems. We are not blind, we can also see, but we should

never lose our optimism, enthusiasm. Despite all these problems, we should

be convinced of the bright side or the bright future of this Krsna

consciousness movement.

 

This is being predicted in so many different ways. Just like there was one

conversation between Maharaja Pariksit and Uddhava. It's a long story about

the Srimad-Bhagavatam, the glories of Srimad-Bhagavatam. You find that story

in the Srimad-Bhagavatam Mahatmya. In so many wonderful ways the glories of

Srimad-Bhagavatam was being told to Maharaja Pariksit. Eventually Maharaja

Pariksit begged Uddhava to teach him the Srimad-Bhagavatam. But he said,

"No, no, it is more important that you travel all over the earth and subdue

Kali because the influence of Kali is spreading gradually more and more. So

it is your foremost duty to travel all over the earth and subdue the

influence of kali. And your time," then he instructed, "your time will come.

The great sage Sukadeva Goswami will instruct you. You are the most suitable

candidate to hear the Srimad-Bhagavatam." Then after he revealed this truth

to Maharaja Pariksit, he also commented, "Then after that, after you hear

the Srimad-Bhagavatam from Sukadeva Goswami, then the same Srimad-Bhagavatam

in the future will be spread all over the world." Srila Prabhupada ki jai!

 

There are so many predictions we find in sastra. We should not lose our

faith, our hope, our optimism that Krsna consciousness, in the true sense of

the term, will spread in every town and village. It is already happening,

but still so much work has to be done.

 

Sometimes devotees are asking, "I don't know what service to do in Krsna

consciousness." These questions appear when we are sitting too much. The

idle mind is the devil's workshop. So many ideas come up.

 

As soon as we get up and go out and try to deliver Krsna consciousness to

whomever we meet, these questions will never come up: what should I do? Then

you will know exactly what to do. Actually the people, they will tell us

what to do: "I need this, I want this, I want to surrender to Krsna, what

should I do?"

 

Then you'll say, "Help, help." Just assist them to surrender to Krsna more

and more. So much work to be done.

 

Srila Prabhupada continues by quoting another verse:

 

yo va etad aksaram gargy aviditvasmal lokat praiti sa krpanah

 

Srila Prabhupada stresses the point in his class, "krpana", krpana means

miser. Those who do not utilize properly the human form of life they are

being described in the sastras as misers.

 

There's one story of a miser, a maha-miser. He was drowning in a lake, just

about to drown. And a by-passing person reached out his hand and told the

miser, "Give me your hand, give me your hand!" And he was such a miser just

by hearing "Give me," he said, "No, no!" [laughter] He refused to give his

hand though he wanted to pull him out. "Give me your hand.No." So another

person came and said "What is this?" And then he was intelligent, he

instructed the by-passer, "No, no, no, tell him 'Take my hand.' [laughter]

"Take my hand," and then he took his hand. This is a good example of a

miser.

 

So material nature has given us this valuable human form of life but we are

- not we - but the materialists are such misers. Of course we can think in

our own ways how we could do more service to Srila Prabhupada, for Krsna,

for this movement. These are some good thoughts. But specifically for those

who refuse to accept Krsna consciousness, they have been given this valuable

human form of life. . . . This was also one thing which really convinced me

about Krsna consciousness that Srila Prabhupada so many times he repeated

that point, this quotation that of the 8,400,000 species of life there are

only 400,000 human species and even among the human species we can see that

even many, many humans nowadays don't have much opportunity to practice

Krsna consciousness, to even consider to practice Krsna consciousness. They

do not have the facility. So how fortunate we are.

 

That example that to meet the bona fide spiritual master is so extremely

rare like a tortoise swimming in the ocean. And on the surface of the ocean

there's one small piece of wood with a hole inside. And the water tortoise

sometimes comes up to the surface and it so happens that exactly at that

time this piece of wood is above his head and the tortoise sticks his head

through that hole. Impossible, in mathematics it is impossible to calculate

the chance of that. It must be, whatever, .00000. . . impossible to

calculate.

 

And this is exactly what happened to us. We stuck our head through that hole

in that piece of wood. We met the bona fide spiritual master, Srila

Prabhupada. And Srila Prabhupada was so kind, we would never have met, most

probably, Srila Prabhupada. Maybe just a few fortunate souls. Srila

Prabhupada was so kind that he travelled all over the world to make himself

available. He met us. We did not know how to meet Srila Prabhupada, he met

us. In this way he created our great fortune.

 

So then Prabhupada quotes that verse, that is in also Bhagavad-gita,

karpanya doso pahatah svabhava. Karpanya also has the same root, meaning

miser, out of miserly weakness, Arjuna he states, "I don't want to accept

the instructions of Lord Krsna."

 

And then there's a story related to that krpana that once Janaka Maharaja

arranged an assembly of great, great sages, of the maharsis and brahmarsis,

self-realized souls, enlightened souls. They all came, it was a big

gathering of great, great sages. Then the king arranged thousands of

beautiful cows and calves. Their horns were decorated with gold, their

hooves were decorated with silver and with beautiful blankets placed on

their backs. Then with folded hands he addressed the assembly of sages. He

said, 'Whoever is a brahma-vid, whoever knows the Absolute Truth, the

spiritual nature, please come forward and accept all these gifts as

daksina."

 

So then there was a silence. Who wants to claim, "I have the knowledge, come

on, please give everything to me." There was silence, nobody dared to step

forward and claim I have the knowledge, give everything to me. Except one:

Yajnavalkya. He stood up - and this is very important for us to notice how

to behave in such a situation. Because before nobody wanted to make that

claim, there was silence. But then one stood up and immediately all the

other sages: "Do you know the truth? Are you claiming that you are

brahma-vit?"

 

And then how did he reply? He was folding his hands and said, "I offer my

humble obeisances and all my respects to those who are brahma-vits." A very

nice reply. So we don't have to run into that problem of answering yes or

no. This is a very nice way to answer.

 

"Are you a pure devotee?"

 

How can you say yes and how can you say no? It's also difficult. . .? I mean

materialists sometimes challenge this. But we can just reply that, "I offer

my humble obeisances to all the pure devotees."

 

Then he said, "If you want to examine me, if you have any questions, please

feel free to do so." Then they asked so many different questions and he

replied all of them to the greatest satisfaction of these brahmarsis and

great sages. They were all very, very pleased, very, very satisfied. Then

eventually at the end, one sage, Gargi, he stood up and he had the last

question. He said, "My dear Yajnavalkya, please answer two questions. What

is really a krpana and what is a brahmana. What is a brahmana, a

self-realized soul, someone who knows Brahman, the Supreme. And who is a

krpana, miser."

 

Then he answered, gave these two quotations:

 

yo va etad aksaram gargy aviditvasmal lokat praiti sa krpanah

 

On the contrary, the second quotation, that is:

 

ya etad aksaram gargi viditvasmal lokat praiti sa brahmanah

 

Just the opposite. One who misuses his human form of life, who is leaving

this world just like cats and dogs without properly understanding the

Supreme Personality of Godhead, he is krpana, he is a miser. And he who

properly, on the contrary, uses his human form of life properly, inquires

into the Absolute Truth, he is a brahmana." He gave that. Srila Prabhupada

is quoting that verse.

 

It is also mentioned in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, in the Sixth Canto,

 

na veda krpanah sreya atmano guna-vastu-drk

 

Also a very nice quotation that those who think that their material assets

are everything, their material possessions, that this is everything. This is

my whole shelter, this is all I have, then they are misers, krpanas. They do

not know the ultimate necessity of the soul. Then that verse also states,

moreover, if anyone awards that which is desired by such fools, he is also

krpana, he is also miser. Therefore the foremost duty of a brahmana, of a

preacher, is simply to deliver Krsna consciousness to others and nothing

else. That's the most important and that's the true activity of a brahmana.

We have nothing to do to facilitate material desires. Of course Krsna is

very kind, he can give whatever. He states that also in Bhagavad-gita:

"Those who are completely surrendered unto me, I will give them what they

need, I will supply what they are lacking."

 

Krsna is very kind. Materially or spiritually we will never lose if we

surrender to Krsna, but if Krsna doesn't give sometimes, that also has a

purpose. We cannot digest Krsna's mercy properly that is why sometimes he is

not giving. Otherwise if we engage everything cent percent in Krsna's

service, then Krsna will give more.

 

Srila Prabhupada so often gave his own example, "I renounced family, my

children, wife, everything, but now just see how many children Krsna gave

me, thousands and thousands and thousands of children. I renounced my home.

.. . ." Just see, now wherever Srila Prabhupada went, wherever Srila

Prabhupada travelled, immediately there was a home.

 

I remember in the old days when it was announced Srila Prabhupada is coming

to our temple, to someone's temple, in one week, two weeks, whoa, what a

marathon. I still remember what marathons we did to decorate Srila

Prabhupada's room. In Germany one time, there was no room for Srila

Prabhupada. Everything was completely occupied and dirty like anything. And

we practically built the room for Srila Prabhupada in two weeks. [chuckles]

Everything, we put the floor in, the walls in, the whole thing. Two week

marathon, no sleep. Some of the brahmacaris at that time two-three days, no

sleep. No problem, but when you get older and you miss your little rest

during the day you're in trouble.

 

Lord Krsna gave Srila Prabhupada so many things and more. Factually Lord

Krsna gave Srila Prabhupada the entire world. So when we engage everything

in Krsna's service cent percent, of course Krsna will give so many

facilities, more than we can even imagine, dream of.

 

I would like to end the class, it is nine o'clock. Perhaps if someone has

one or two questions I will try to answer. Yes, Maharaja? Microphone,

please.

 

Danavir Goswami: You should said that we should think that we can die at any

time. Suppose I went to an astrologer and in my chart it says I'm supposed

to live to be eighty. I am thirty now, means I have fifty more years to

live. . . .

 

Maharaja: You understood the question? If we are very young, we go to the

astrologer, he tells us we have fifty more years to live, then what to do

with this information. Then how can we think at any moment I can die, at any

second I can die? If I leave this room, anything can happen: some madman

runs amuck, shoots me in the head; dog can bite me in the leg, get some

infection, die in three days. Anything can happen. On the roof, a brick

might get loose, fall on my head with a sharp edge. [mild laughter] Anything

can happen. So how can I continue to think like this for the next fifty

years. [laughter] It will not be easy.

 

Yes, but astrologers are interesting. We might believe the astrologer or

not, that's the first choice. But even if the astrological chart might be

true, still Krsna can change whatever he wants. Lord Krsna has the veto

right. Something might be predestined, but if Krsna wants, he can change

that destiny also if he desires, if he wants. Krsna can take any of us to

our next destination at any point in time. It's according to Krsna's desire,

especially in the case of a devotee. A devotee is strictly speaking not

governed by astrology. His life is not controlled by the movements of the

stars. His life, as he more surrenders to Krsna, his life is personally

being controlled by Krsna.

 

Visuddha Sattva Das: Srila Prabhupada says that Krsna consciousness is not

controlled by astrology. On another side we get the sloka that death may

come at any moment, that's not the important thing, [unclear] that Maharaja

Pariksit is explaining to Sukadeva Goswami, mrtyu samsara vartmani. So Srila

Prabhupada says that when we see the Deity we should say, "O my dear Krsna

protect me because I'm in the mouth of death." That should be remembered all

the time.

 

Maharaja: Yes, padam padam yad vipadam na tesam. It is healthy for our Krsna

consciousness to be afraid of material nature. Who knows what might happen?

I might see some astrological chart, but that's not a 100% security for my

future. Still anything might happen. In any case it's more safe to be

afraid, in that sense, of the future. But of course if we're very advanced

in Krsna consciousness, then even that doesn't matter. An advanced devotee

he wants to serve Krsna in any condition of life, but if he's being

informed, "You will die tomorrow," again, he's not devastated, he's not

disturbed.

 

I mean it's easy to say. At the end I would like to give you a small

message. That it happened so that I had the great fortune to be with

Bhakti-tirtha Maharaja in his last days and at one point he mentioned to us

that, "Don't think it is easy to die." He said that it is very, very

difficult.

 

It's easy to say, "When a devotee dies, what's the problem? He will step

with his foot on the head of death personified and he takes it as an

opportunity, as a staircase, to step into the Vaikuntha airplane. What's the

problem."

 

It's easy to say, but if death is really approaching that's another story.

But still, in a deeper sense, a devotee is not ultimately devastated or

destroyed if he receives such information he will die. He looks forward,

"Yes, let me take it in a positive way and return home, back to Godhead.

What was that we read. . . ?

 

In any case, my point was, yes, this last message that is easy to say what

is the problem with death for a devotee, but it is not that easy. It will

not be easy. And how to translate this information into our practice of

Krsna consciousness? That we should become more serious in our Krsna

consciousness so that ultimately we will be successful when we have to leave

this body.

 

So thank you very much for your patience. Srimad-Bhagavatam ki jai! Srila

Prabhupada ki jai! Gaura-premanande!

 

[Applause]

 

END