Srimad Bhagavatam – 1.14.31 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | ISKCON Chennai | May 16, 2025 |
Om Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya
Om Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya
Om Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya
nama om vishnu-padaya krishna-preshthaya bhu-tale
srimate bhaktivedanta-svamin iti namine
namas te sarasvate deve gaura-vani-pracharine
nirvishesha-shunyavadi-pashchatya-desha-tarine
jaya sri-krishna-chaitanya
prabhu nityananda
sri-adwaita gadadhara
shrivasadi-gaura-bhakta-vrinda
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Reading from Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 1 Chapter 14 Verse 31.
ŚB 1.14.31
सुषेणश्चारुदेष्णश्च साम्बो जाम्बवतीसुत: ।
अन्ये च कार्ष्णिप्रवरा: सपुत्रा ऋषभादय: ॥ ३१ ॥
suṣeṇaś cārudeṣṇaś ca
sāmbo jāmbavatī-sutaḥ
anye ca kārṣṇi-pravarāḥ
saputrā ṛṣabhādayaḥ
Synonyms
suṣeṇaḥ — Suṣeṇa; cārudeṣṇaḥ — Cārudeṣṇa; ca — and; sāmbaḥ — Sāmba; jāmbavatī-sutaḥ — the son of Jāmbavatī; anye — others; ca — also; kārṣṇi — the sons of Lord Kṛṣṇa; pravarāḥ — all chieftains; sa-putrāḥ — along with their sons; ṛṣabha — Ṛṣabha; ādayaḥ — etc.
Translation
Are all the chieftain sons of Lord Kṛṣṇa, such as Suṣeṇa, Cārudeṣṇa, Sāmba the son of Jāmbavatī, and Ṛṣabha, along with their sons, all doing well?
Purport
As already mentioned, Lord Kṛṣṇa married 16,108 wives, and each of them had ten sons. Therefore 16,108 × 10 = 161,080 sons. They all grew up, and each of them had as many sons as their father, and the whole aggregate was something near 1,610,800 family members of the Lord. The Lord is the father of all living beings, who are countless in number; therefore only a few of them are called to associate with the Lord in His transcendental pastimes as the Lord of Dvārakā on this earth. It is not astonishing that the Lord maintained a visible family consisting of so many members. It is better to refrain from comparing the Lord’s position to ours, and it becomes a simple truth as soon as we understand at least a partial calculation of the Lord’s transcendental position. King Yudhiṣṭhira, while inquiring about the Lord’s sons and grandsons at Dvārakā, mentioned only the chieftains amongst them, for it was impossible for him to remember all the names of the Lord’s family members.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
So this is a whole series of verses, this inquiring about the different family members of the Lord in Dvaraka. Since they’re all relatives of Krishna and also devotees, it is proper that we give them respect. So just as the Lord is respected, all of His devotees are also respected. And just as we wonder about the safety and well-being of the Lord, the devotee also wonders about the well-being of all the devotees. Of course, as Prabhupada mentions in the purport and also in the verse that says ‘kārṣṇi-pravarāḥ’, he’s mentioning here only the chief persons. And that is because there are so many, we can never count the numbers and all the names of all of the followers.
Of course, since there are so many and we respect them all, still there are grades of respect. So when we mention Krishna, then those who are closest to him, such as the queens, particularly the eight principal queens, they always get mentioned because they’re at the very top. And of course, when we mention Krishna, usually we mention Radha and Krishna, because Radha is the topmost devotee. So we respect all of these devotees, nevertheless, we give the most respect to Radha and the queens of Dvaraka, and then we give respect to everyone else. In other words, we’re respecting many persons. Of course, ultimately, we give most respect to Krishna. And then we give respect to all of His other devotees. And we never simply respect one person like Krishna and ignore everybody else, we give respect to all.
Similarly, in this material world, the devotees respect other devotees. Of course, the devotee gives respect to all living entities. Among all living entities, he gives more respect to the human beings. Among the human beings, he gives greater respect to the brahmanas. But he gives even greater respect to the devotees of the Lord. But then we have different grades of devotees. So we respect them all, nevertheless, we give various grades of respect.
So to those who are very Kanishtha, very junior, may not be practicing even pure bhakti, but have some sentiments for Krishna, we give mental respect. To those persons who have practicing serious bhakti, of course in a bonafide sampradaya, we give more respect. Not just mental respect. So we respect them using our words and our actions. But if the devotees are even more advanced, then we give them more respect. So in this way, the devotee gives varied respects to different living entities, and among devotees, he also gives various types of respect.
And then there’s another category of respect. So this is very famous in the scriptures. So the devotee has to give great respect to guru. Obviously, he’s a devotee. And because he’s guru, then he’s at a certain higher level. So that means higher in practice, higher in devotional knowledge. So then we respect them as guru. Guru means teacher. So though we respect all devotees, and the higher devotees, etc., still we give great respect to guru.
Of course, we have two types: shiksha guru and diksha guru. But if they’re on the same level, then we give equal respect. So we give great respect to guru, because he is a teacher. And of course, we’re respecting by words and actions, etc. But we can have many gurus. That is one diksha guru, many shiksha gurus. So we have to give respect to all of them. And then there may be another devotee who is very advanced. So then we have to give greater respect to him.
So in this way, the devotee also is giving respect to many devotees and many gurus. So when we have the instruction of scripture, you have to worship guru, it does not mean respect one guru and no one else. So yes, why do we respect? – One, because of course, we respect all devotees. In the case of guru, we give greater respect, because they are teachers. Without teachings, we cannot advance in bhakti. And therefore, if we don’t give respect to the teacher, we won’t get teachings of bhakti. So in this way, the scriptures tell us that you have to respect guru. Of course, we can say, well, Krishna is the greatest guru, so I’ll worship Krishna. But then scripture and Krishna himself says, you have to give respect to the devotees. So by the mercy of the devotees, we get the mercy of Krishna. So in this way, we get a hierarchy of respect.
So, we respect, why? Because of the teaching. Whoever gives us the greatest teaching, becomes the greatest guru. Therefore, we give them the greatest respect. So this is the principle of respect. And by following this principle, then we can advance in devotional service. How do we advance? By learning and following the instructions. So in other words, simply accepting a guru does not give you automatic advancement. The purpose of accepting a guru is to get the knowledge so we can practice. So therefore, each devotee has a responsibility. He has the responsibility of performing bhakti yoga. And he does that in accordance with the instruction of his gurus.
So accepting a guru does not exempt us from practicing. Many devotees accept guru because then they expect to be saved. But being saved involves the activities of the devotee. So there’s a man drowning in a well. And he calls out for help. So a person hears that, and he comes with a rope, and he lowers the rope into the water. So in one sense, yes, he is the saviour. Without his lowering the rope, the person cannot get out of the well, and he will drown. So he lowers the rope into the well, and the man in the well says, ‘I’m drowning, I’m drowning, I’m drowning, save me’. So the man was surprised why he’s still yelling. And then he sees the man who’s in the well screaming and screaming, so he says, hold on to the rope. The man is there yelling and screaming, I can’t. You have to save me. So yes, help can be given, but unless we carry out the activities, nothing’s going to happen. So therefore, a devotee or guru can give you the means, but if you don’t follow the instructions, you don’t get saved.
Of course, in works like Caitanya Caritamrita, it says, even, a second association with the devotee is so wonderful. And there is examples of extraordinary mercy. This is what we call Kripa Siddhi. We don’t do anything, we get mercy, and we advance to Prema. But this is rare. It’s rare, because the devotees who have such power are very rare. So Jiva Goswami gives the example of Narada Muni. So not all gurus are Narada Muni. And even Narada Muni doesn’t give Kripa Siddhi all the time, sometimes he just gives instructions. He gave instructions to Prahlada. He gave instructions to Dhruva. So we cannot depend on simply the mercy of guru, we do have to do the sadhana. And by doing that, then we get our perfection.
Hare Krsna!
Q & A:
1. Thank you, Maharaj. Maharaj, while we understand the guru tattva is same, there is no distinction between different gurus. A disciple may have a special relationship with a particular guru, because of his fortune to serve him or follow his instructions being close to him. So in that regard, he may have a high regard for that particular guru and may not be the same with the other gurus while he equally respects everybody. So is there any difference in that? Is there any offense in that, Maharaj?
So we give respect to all devotees, we give greater respect to gurus. Hopefully, the gurus are at a certain level of advancement and they have some knowledge. So whoever we accept as a guru, of course, then we give some special respect. But as I said that we can have not just one guru, we have many gurus. And of course, this respect is quite similar, may not be equal, but similar.
If there’s a devotee who’s much greater, then we give more respect. So the respect is not just upon the fact that we accept him as a Dīkṣā Guru, therefore I worship Dīkṣā Guru more than anybody else. If that Dīkṣā Guru gives a very significant, inspiring teaching, it’s fine, then he accepts him as a great śikṣā Guru as well. But that does also not exclude any other devotees who could be gurus. So we are generally discussing about teaching. The teaching between one guru or another is not going to be significantly different, we all have the same Bhagavad Gita, we have the same Bhagavatam, we’re not going to give completely weird interpretations [Laughs]. So that guru who could give us the best explanations when we have trouble understanding, that would be the better guru. And then we give more respect to that guru.
2. A spiritual master may accept a lot of disciples, and some of the disciples may not be to the standard, and they may not even follow the guidelines, directions, instructions. And how much the spiritual master is responsible for all the such activities of a disciple?
Well, this is one reason why the scripture also says, don’t accept many disciples. Because we do have responsibility to raise them up in bhakti. And if we can’t do so, then we’re not carrying out our responsibility properly. It’s like a university or a college. So some of these colleges and universities have high standards. Not many people can get in because the entrance exams are there and the prices are much or whatever. So then someone starts a university. Okay, I’ll make a university also. No, free [Laughs]. No exams [Laughs]. So you may get many people, but if he doesn’t have proper teaching, then what is the use of that degree?
So it is said that if after initiation, then the disciple doesn’t follow, then the responsibility lies with the guru. And if he commits sinful activity, part of the effect goes to the guru. Just as if one takes responsibility for another person, then the other person commits a crime, then you get in trouble [Laughs]. So if you sponsor another person, this happens not in India, but other countries, they sponsor a person to come to the country with a visa and all this and stuff, they commit a problem [Laughs], then they’re going to put the other person who sponsored in problem [Laughs].
Of course, this is not only a special thing that happens to a Dīkṣā Guru, or a śikṣā Guru, whatever, it could happen to any teacher, a purohit who has disciples teaching Bhakti. It could happen to a husband, for the wife, and his children. It can happen for the king for his citizens, same responsibility is there and therefore, they have to get some other result.
3. Hare Krishna Maharaj. Maharaj, so we understand that we have to respect the śikṣā Guru and the Dīkṣā Guru. Now in ISKCON, because the śikṣā Guru process to accept the śikṣā Guru is not so well defined. So in such a case, what happens? The Guru may not even know, the śikṣā Guru may not even know that he is the śikṣā Guru. And somebody is taking śikṣā from that person. So what would happen in such a case?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj : In what? terms of responsibility or what?
Devotee : Yes, Maharaj.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj : So in that case, it’s slightly different, because since it’s not so much recognized, his decision to follow him as a śikṣā disciple is not based upon material reasons. In other words, he is accepting that person as a Guru because he is very serious in his devotional life not some frivolous type of thing. So that problem is much less likely to occur.
So in modern age, of course, we have this phenomena where a person gives teachings and it’s recorded and spread all over the world, that didn’t happen in ancient times. If you want to get the Guru, you have to go to him because there’s no [Laughs] communication going to him, so he would know [Laughs]. So in the modern world if that particular devotee gives a consent that his teaching is going to be spread, so therefore he is one sense still responsible.
4. Maharaj we were talking about respecting other living entities and respecting devotees and then respecting guru and grades of respect. Some devotees who become very very popular who are outside ISKCON, like in Vrindavan there are certain Babaji’s who have become very powerful and very popular and they are basically preaching the bhakti principles but then like I have seen even ISKCON devotees follow them but then the problem is the contradictory things which they preach in that, so do we still respect them because they are preaching and propagating bhakti principles or what should be our outlook towards such people Maharaj?
So we always give great respect to those who are following bhakti according to scripture and according to some recognized sampradaya. So I said previously that those we respect mentally those who may not be following same standards, same principles, same teachings etc. Those who are teaching some principles which are contrary to bhakti completely then of course we don’t have to respect those persons at all.
5. We see in ISKCON we have few Dīkṣā guru and maximum are taking the role of śikṣā guru. So in the case because normally ISKCON devotees getting maximum śikṣā from the local devotees than the Dīkṣā guru. So in the sense that because he is getting the knowledge from the śikṣā guru then that respect should be given more to the śikṣā guru than the Dīkṣā guru is it not ?
Then of course this is a general principle. Of course while the local devotees are devotees who have been in the movement for two years or something [Laughs] giving instruction and the Dīkṣā guru may be a devotee of 25 years in the movement, then instruction is going to be a little bit different and despite of the fact he gives less instruction. But nevertheless if he’s on a higher level then we have to consider that also. The point is that, we just don’t give respect to one person and ignore everybody else.
6. Is it mandatory to wear Kanti Mala and take initiation to progress in Bhakti ?
Well the only thing ultimately to advance in Bhakti is to chant Krishna’s name. So all other things may or may not be done according to different circumstances. Of course wearing Tulsi beads is also an anga of Bhakti, wearing tilak is an anga Bhakti and so they all help us advance in Bhakti. But the name is such that, even if we don’t do anything else, but we simply concentrate on the name we can still get perfection. We do everything else, and we don’t chant the name, very difficult to advance.
7. Is it possible to follow prescribed duties of Varnashrama Dharma in this age of Kali ?
Well, we cannot follow the same standards that we were doing thousands of years ago or 5000 years ago, very difficult. A lot of it depends upon the king and there is no king at present. Though it is described in the Bhagavatam that the last two descendants of Manu are not there and they only appear in Satya Yuga, so we are without the line of kings. So all one can do is, practice those parts of Varnashrama which are favorable for one’s Bhakti. And the main emphasis is upon Bhakti and chanting the name of Krishna.
8. This Varnashrama Dharma system is for throughout the world or only for Bharata Varsha ?
Of course at one time Bharata Varsha was the whole world. But it also mentions the people who were not practicing they were the malecchas, the chandalas and others. But that type of Varnashrama, again depended on the king and don’t have the king.
9. Will the attitude of desiring everyone’s progress in Bhakti help get rid of quarrels ?
So of course quarrels in the material world arise from ignorance. If we destroy the ignorance we are free of quarrel. So of course the process of Bhakti will destroy ignorance. However because we are in the process of sadhana we go through many stages, the destruction of that ignorance and all the anarthas it produces will be gradual. But if one is more advanced, then we would expect that the tendency to quarrel would reduce. If it does not, then we have to assume the person is not practicing Bhakti properly.
10. In which stage is karma destroyed ?
In the case of Ajamila one second. Of course there was one qualification he had not committed any aparadhas. If we commit aparadhas then process will be slower. More aparadhas will take longer.
11. What is the ranking of queens of Krishna in Dwaraka. After Sathyabama is it Rukmini or Jambavati, because we see in the pastime of Syamantaka jewel, the Lord directly goes and meets Jambavati?
Well, of course Krishna married Rukmini first it looks like. In terms of who is who, Radharani’s expansion is Satyabhama and Chandravali’s expansion is Rukmini [Laughs].