Todays Lecture-----Independence--More Dependence

[Guest guest]

"Independence--More Dependence"

Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.10.7

Mayapura, June 22, 1973

 

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Pradyumna: (leads chanting, etc.):

 

usitva hastinapure

masan katipayan harih

suhrdam ca visokaya

svasus ca priya-kamyaya

 

Translation: "Sri Hari, Lord Sri Krsna, resided at Hastinapura for a few

months to pacify His relatives and please His own sister, Subhadra"

 

Prabhupada: So read the purport also.

 

Pradyumna: Purport: "Krsna was to start for Dvaraka, His own kingdom,

after the Battle of Kuruksetra and Yudhisthira's being enthroned, but to oblige

the request of Maharaja Yudhisthira and to show special mercy to Bhismadeva,

Lord Krsna stopped at Hastinapura, the capital of the Pandavas. The Lord decided

to stay especially to pacify the aggrieved King as well as to please Subhadra,

sister of Lord Sri Krsna. Subhadra was especially pacified because she lost her

only son, Abhimanyu, who was just married. The boy left his wife, Uttara, mother

of Maharaja Pariksit. The Lord is always pleased to satisfy His devotees in any

capacity. Only His devotees can play the part of His relatives. The Lord is

absolute."

 

Prabhupada: So we are personalists. We believe... Not believe, not the

question of believe, but actually the ultimate truth of Absolute is a person.

That is the statement of Vyasadeva.

 

vadanti tat tattva-vidas

tattvam yaj jnanam advayam

brahmeti paramatmeti

bhagavan iti sabdyate

[sB 1.2.11]

 

Tattva-vit, those who are in knowledge of the tattva or the Absolute

Truth, they know that ultimately the Absolute Truth is manifested as a person

like you, like me. Not exactly like you, like me, but so far personality is

concerned, individuality is concerned, He is like us. In the Bible it is said,

"Man is made after God." Because God is person, therefore we are person.

Otherwise, where from our personality comes? God is the origin of everything.

Therefore He is the origin of personality, individuality, otherwise how we are

persons? How we are individuals? Wherefrom we get this personality,

individuality?

 

So the foremost feature of the Absolute Truth is a person. And as a

person, He has got the same feelings as we have got. As we have got feelings for

our relatives, for our brothers, for our sisters, for our friends, for our

enemies, the same thing there is also. If you study your personality or your

friend's personality, you can get a rough idea of the Supreme Personality

because our personality is dependent on the Supreme Personality. Mamaivamsah. We

are simply fragmental personalities just like the sparks and the fire, or the

drop of ocean water and the ocean. The difference is in quantity. A drop of

ocean water or a fragmental spark of the fire is of the same quality like the

fire or the ocean. But in magnitude it is very, very small. God is vibhu, the

greatest, and we are the smallest. God is infinite, we are finite,

infinitesimal. That is the difference. Otherwise everything is there, as we have

got.

 

Just like the son inherits the quality of the father, similarly... We are

supposed to be sons of the Supreme Person. Therefore, in minute quantity we have

got all the qualities of God. Not all. Seventy-eight percent. In very minute

quantity. That is our perfection. If we revive godly qualities seventy-eight

percent, in minute quantity, that is our perfection. That is there, already

there. Simply it is covered by this material energy. Otherwise everything is

there. So the feelings of affection, there is also in Krsna.

 

So Krsna expands. Ekam bahu syam. Expands.

Ananda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhavitabhis tabhir ya eva nija-rupataya kalabhih. Krsna

expands His energy, ananda-cinmaya-rasa. Rasa, humor, mellows, to enjoy, He

expands Himself. Just like Sri Svarupa Damodara Gosvami has given us the

definition, Radha-Krsna and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

 

radha krsna-pranaya-vikrtir hladini saktir asmad

ekatmanav api bhuvi pura deha-bhedam gatau tau

caitanyakhyam prakatam adhuna tad-dvayam caikyam aptam

radha-bhava-dyuti-suvalitam naumi krsna-svarupam

[Cc. Adi 1.5]

 

Radha and Krsna, the same Absolute, but Radharani is the expansion of the

pleasure potency of Krsna. We have got potency as Krsna has got. Parasya saktir

vividhaiva sruyate. This is the Vedic injunction. Para, they say. Absolute Truth

has many potencies, innumerable, vividhaiva sruyate. One of the potencies is the

pleasure potency. Just like we want some pleasure. Pleasure is the

constitutional position of spirit soul, or the Absolute Truth. Anandamayo

'bhyasat. God and we, being of the same quality, we are by nature always joyful.

So our joyfulness is checked when we are in material condition. Therefore there

is struggle. We are hankering after, to revive that joyfulness, but this

contamination of material energy, sattva-guna, rajo-guna, tamo-guna, they are

checking, obstacles.

 

Therefore we have to get free from obstacles. Sattva-guna, we have to go

above the sattva-guna, suddha-sattva. Then again we revive our original position

of joyfulness. Brahma-bhutah prasannatma na socati na kanksati [bg. 18.54]. This

is the joyfulness: no lamentation, no hankering. We hanker after something which

we want, and we lament for something which we lose. Here there are two business:

something gaining and something losing. Just like businessmen. They have got two

businesses: either to make profit or to lose. At the end of the year they

calculate, "Whether we are loser or gainer?" But in the spiritual world there is

no such thing as to gain or as to lose. There is nothing... Absolute. That is

Absolute. That idea we haven't got just now. But that is the nature of the

spiritual world. There is no question of loss, nor there is any question of

gain. Simply ananda, ananda, pleasure. Pleasure means because there is no loss.

Anandambudhi-vardhanam. There is ananda, and ananda ambudhi. Ambudhi means the

ocean. Here the ocean does not increase. If the ocean increases, then whatever

small land we have got, it would have been finished. No. Ocean does not

increase. We have seen that Los Angeles on the beach, the big Pacific Ocean, but

just about three yards or four yards off from the ocean we are walking. We are

confident that "Although the Pacific Ocean is so big, powerful, it cannot come

here." Only a few yards off we are walking, confident.

 

So everyone is working under the direction of the Supreme Lord. Ocean,

although very powerful, very big, still, by the order of Krsna, it cannot go

beyond the limit. It cannot go. So the... Everything... Yasyajnaya bhramati

kala-cakrah. Yac caksur esa savita sakala-grahanam raja samasta-sura-murtir

asesa-tejah. Now, this sun, the sun, unlimited heat, asesa-tejah, heat. But it

is also limited. It cannot expand so much heat so that we may burn into ashes.

The sun can do that. As the big ocean can overpower all your cities and towns in

a second, similarly, the sun also can burn the whole universe within a second.

It has got so much potency, temperature. But yasyajnaya bhramati

sambhrta-kala-cakrah. No. The kala-cakra... I think the scientists also say that

the sun from the orbit, if it comes this side one inch or that side one inch,

one side coming this side, the whole universe will be frozen, and the other

side, whole universe will be burned. I do not know whether there is any

scientists who say. But it cannot go this side or that side.

Sambhrta-kala-cakrah. The orbit which is given by Krsna, that "You shall travel

within this orbit..." Govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami **.

 

So everything... And what to speak of ourselves, we want to become

independent. What is the meaning of independence? Even the sun, moon, or the

sea, ocean, nobody is independent. And how we can be independent? We are teeny,

very small. There is no question of independence. The so-called independence, as

we fight for independence, that is maya. There is no question of independence.

When I first met my Guru Maharaja, on the first meeting, he said that "You go to

preach in the Western countries." I was surprised. There was no acquaintance. So

"Caitanya Mahaprabhu's message, you are all educated young men, you should go

and preach." I replied that "We are dependent nation, Indians. Who will hear us?

Nobody will hear." So at that time he explained dependence and independence --

temporary, it has no meaning. Actually, at that time I could not realize the

independence. We were waiting for independence. What independence we have got?

Independence means you go for one kilo of rice and stand there for two hours.

(laughter) This is our independence. Everything is controlled. You cannot get.

And the price... Before independence the price of rice was two annas or five

rupees, six rupees per mound, two annas per kilo. Now it is more than two

rupees. Everything. Practically we have increased our dependence. Not

independence. In the name of independence, we have increased our dependence. So

actually there is no independence. But we manufacture so-called independence.

Nobody is independent. I thought, "We are so much dependent on the state rules

and regulation. America is independent." When I went to America I saw they are

so dependent, that any young man could be called for military service without

any objection. So the whole nation is dependent on the whims of the military

board. So dependent.

 

So we are dependent. So long we are under the control of maya, we are

dependent. We are depend... Our constitutional position is dependence,

servitude. So by false declaration we think that "We are now going to be

independent. We shall not service Krsna. We shall become independent. I shall

become Krsna." As the Mayavadi thinks that he shall become Krsna, "I shall

become God," that is another dependence. You cannot be independent. That is not

possible. And to remain dependent, that is our happiness. That we do not know.

Instead of declaring independence, if we remain dependent, that is our

happiness. Just like children, women, sudras, dogs. Their happiness is when they

are dependent. Artificially... Now in India also, the women are imitating

independence. But I have seen in the Western countries, in your country, the

independence, declaration of independence by the woman class, is not their

happiness. They are unhappy. Better to become dependent upon father, upon

husband and upon elderly children. That is their happiness.

 

Just like Kunti. Kunti, so much qualified lady, she can call any demigod.

She got one benediction from Durvasa Muni. When she was young girl, she served

Durvasa Muni. Maharaja Kuntibhoja used to invite so many saintly persons. That

is the system in India still. So once Durvasa Muni became a guest of Maharaja

Kuntibhoja, and Kunti served the Durvasa Muni. He was very pleased, and he gave

her one benediction, that "You can call any demigod by your sweet will. As soon

as you desire, the demigod will..." So Kunti, she was a girl; she made an

experiment, immediately called the Surya, the sun-god, and he came. So Surya

asked him (her) that "You have called me. You take some benediction. Take a son

from me." She refused. "No, I am unmarried. I cannot.No, there is no harm.

Your son will be born from the ear." Generally, the son is born from the vagina,

but Kunti's son was born from the ear. Therefore Karna. The first son was Karna.

Unmarried. Therefore Karna was, I mean to say, given away, because she could not

show, and when Karna was floating on the water, that one carpenter picked up and

he raised him. So Karna was known as the carpenter's son, sudra's son. Actually,

he is Kunti's son. So when Karna was killed, Kunti began to cry. And Yudhisthira

Maharaja inquired, "Mother, why you are crying?" At that time she admitted,

"Karna was my son.Oh? Such a secret you did not disclose? We treated Karna as

our enemy. We could have taken..." There are so many incidences like that.

 

So there are so many things in the Mahabharata, in the Srimad-Bhagavatam.

You can learn social, political, economical, philosophical, religious, anything.

Veda, veda means knowledge. So these are Vedic literatures. Pancama-veda.

Mahabharata is pancama-veda. And Srimad-Bhagavatam is the essence of Vedic

knowledge. Nigama-kalpa-taror galitam phalam idam [sB 1.1.3]. Nigama. Nigama

means Vedic literature. And it is kalpa-taru. Kalpa-taru means desire tree.

Whatever knowledge you want, you will get it. Veda means knowledge. Vetti veda

vida jnana(?). So Veda means jnana, knowledge. Any type of knowledge you want,

there is in the Vedic literature. So it is meant, Veda, jnane, knowledge is

meant for the human society. It is not meant for the animals. Animals cannot

study Veda. And what is the purpose of Veda? The purpose of Veda is to

understand Krsna. Vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyah [bg. 15.15]. This is Veda.

If you try to understand, or if you understand very little... You cannot

understand Krsna fully. Krsna Himself cannot understand Himself. So it is not

possible. But whatever Krsna is speaking about Himself in the Bhagavad-gita, if

one hundredth part, one percent you can understand, then your life is

successful. Vedic knowledge. That is Vedic knowledge. Vedais ca sarvair aham eva

vedyah [bg. 15.15].

 

So all these relatives of Krsna, the Pandavas, His sister Subhadra --

Krsna, Balarama, Subhadra. Subhadra was sister of Krsna. So Baladeva wanted to

hand over the sister to Duryodhana, and Krsna wanted to hand over the sister to

Arjuna. Two brothers, difference of opinion. But elder brother's order cannot be

disregarded. Therefore Krsna planned that Arjuna may kidnap His sister. So

Subhadra was kidnapped by Arjuna in the dress of a sannyasi. Don't learn this

business, sannyasis. (laughing) But Krsna planned it, that "You come..." Because

he was known, if he comes as ordinary Arjuna, then he will be recognized because

he is the cousin-brother. Therefore he covered himself as a sannyasi just like

Ravana. Ravana also kidnapped Sitadevi as a sannyasi.

 

So in former days also, the sannyasis were very expert in kidnapping. Yes.

Therefore in the Kali-yuga sannyasa is forbidden, because they'll not be able to

follow the rules and regulations. But Caitanya Mahaprabhu inaugurated. He

Himself became sannyasa. Therefore we are trying to follow His footsteps, to

accept sannyasa. But we should not become a sannyasi like Ravana. No. We should

try to follow the footsteps of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He was very strict. No woman

could approach Him. They were allowed to offer obeisances from distant place.

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was very strict about asso... Even in His grhastha life

He was very strict. He would not play any joke with any woman except His wife.

And that also, once He joked with His wife, not with any other woman. So He was

so strict. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's opinion is that sandarsanam visayinam atha

yositam ca ha hanta hanta visa-bhaksanato 'py asadhu. Visayinam sandarsanam, to

mix very intimately with the visayis. Visayi means those who are very much fond

of eating, sleeping, mating and defending. They are called visayi. They have no

other business.

 

So practically, at the present moment, the whole world is visayi. But this

line, Krsna consciousness line, is so transcendental that one has to give up

this visayi idea. Visaya chariya se rase majiya mukhe bolo hari hari. We chant

"Hari, Hari," but actually, "Hari, Hari," we can chant "Hari, Hari" only when we

give up visaya. Visaya chariya se rase majiya. Otherwise "Hari, Hari" is not

purely chanted. Therefore there are ten kinds of offenses we have to give up.

Suddha-nama. When we chant pure Hare Krsna maha-mantra, then we are elevated to

the platform of transcendental love. Otherwise we can attain up to liberation.

Not on the platform of loving. So Caitanya Mahaprabhu was very strict about

visayi and stri-sangi. Caitanya Mahaprabhu was asked how to, what is the

business of a Vaisnava. He summarized in two lines: asat-sanga tyaga, ei

vaisnava acara. Asat-sanga tyaga, to give up the association of asat. Asat means

materialistic. So who is asat? Now, asat eka stri-sangi and krsna-abhakta. Those

who are too much attached for material enjoyment, they are asat. And one who is

not devotee of Krsna, he is also asat. So we have to give up the company of

these kind of people, who are too much materially attached and is not devotee of

Krsna. If we can avoid these two persons, then we can be fixed up in devotional

service.

 

So,

 

usitva hastinapure

masan katipayan harih

suhrdam ca visokaya

svasus ca priya-kamyaya

 

Svasu means sister, and the relative... So although Krsna is unattached,

still He observed the social obligation. There was great fight. All of them lost

their relatives. Not only the Kauravas lost everything, but the Pandavas also.

Just like Subhadra's son Abhimanyu. He was only sixteen years old. His wife,

Uttara, she was once taught by Arjuna. She was disciple, student. Arjuna was

teaching her dancing. Virataraja, King Virata's daughter, Uttara. So they were

in disguise. Ajnata-vasa. So the Virataraja did not know that Arjuna was living

in his house. So this daughter of Virata, Uttara, when Arjuna was known that he

is Arjuna, he requested that "You marry my daughter." So Arjuna said, "No, how

can I marry? She is my disciple. She is my student. She is just like my

daughter. How can I marry?" Then he promised that "I shall get her married with

my son, although he is not very grown up."

 

So Abhimanyu was Krsna's (Arjuna's) son from the womb of Subhadra. So he

was married. Only sixteen years. Almost the same age. Fortunately Uttara became

pregnant. So Abhimanyu went to fight in the Battlefield of Kuruksetra and never

returned. So Pariksit Maharaja was posthumous child. He took his birth after the

death of his father. He did not see. Not only father, many. Because it was after

the battle. He was the only survivor of the whole Kuru dynasty. So he was also

attempted to be killed by Asvatthama by brahmastra. Krsna saved. So Pariksit

Maharaja was born after the death of his father. The grandfathers took care of

him, and as soon as the child was grown up, all the grandfathers, Pandavas,

entrusted the kingdom to Pariksit Maharaja, and they left home.

 

Thank you very much. Hare Krsna. (end)