Srimad Bhagavatam – 1.13.45 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | ISKCON Chennai | April 7, 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 Bhagavatham Canto 1 Chapter 13 Verse 45.
ŚB 1.13.45
तस्माज्जह्यङ्ग वैक्लव्यमज्ञानकृतमात्मन: ।
कथं त्वनाथा: कृपणा वर्तेरंस्ते च मां विना ॥ ४५ ॥
tasmāj jahy aṅga vaiklavyam
ajñāna-kṛtam ātmanaḥ
kathaṁ tv anāthāḥ kṛpaṇā
varteraṁs te ca māṁ vinā
Translation
Therefore give up your anxiety due to ignorance of the self. You are now thinking of how they, who are helpless poor creatures, will exist without you.
Purport
When we think of our kith and kin as being helpless and dependent on us, it is all due to ignorance. Every living creature is allowed all protection by the order of the Supreme Lord in terms of each one’s acquired position in the world. The Lord is known as bhūta-bhṛt, one who gives protection to all living beings. One should discharge his duties only, for no one but the Supreme Lord can give protection to anyone else. This is explained more clearly in the following verse.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
So, this is Narada Muni speaking to Yudhishthira to console him. This is because Dhritarashtra and his wife had disappeared. And Yudhishthira was worried and full of grief. So that’s expressed here by Narada Muni saying or thinking of their helpless, what will they do now? You are their protector.
This of course is very common in the material world. We develop attachment to certain other living beings. And we may feel they cannot exist without me. What will happen to them if I’m not there? Now of course within human society, we have rules. So, the king protects the citizens. And we cannot use this argument. Well, it doesn’t matter what happens to the citizens. Let them take care of themselves. It’s not the king’s responsibility [Laughs]. Or we have a family, and the father is supposed to take care of the children and take care of his wife. So, he cannot think, well, it’s not my responsibility to care for my family. So, within human society, people accept responsibilities and then they have to fulfil those responsibilities. So, the responsibilities are outlined in the scripture. And if we’re following Dharma, then we cannot reject those rules.
However, there’s also overextension of the rules. At a certain point, we have to be detached. For instance, if a person dies, we cannot simply lament forever. We have to become detached at that point. However, if we’re too attached, we may lament that loss for the rest of our life. And we have plenty of examples of that throughout the Srimad Bhagavatam. So, people, and even in Bhagavad Gita, Krishna tells Arjuna, do not lament. So as long as we’re in family life and following the system of Dharma, then we have responsibilities and attachments. But there’s a limit to those attachments. So, in the Varnashrama system, that limit of attachment is stated very nicely. In the Grihastha Ashram, you should care for your wife and children. But what happens when they grow up? So, the husband is supposed to become detached. So, he takes vanaprastha and leaves the family. And of course, his responsibility is done. The children are grown up and they’re leading their own life. So, he should not continue for another 20 years to think, I have to protect my children. Responsibility is finished, then he can become detached.
However, if one is in Grhastha life, one is bound to develop attachments. So, some safeguard is arranged in the system. Before the person enters the Grihastha Ashram, he’s trained up as a Brahmachari. And in the Brahmachari Ashram, he is trained up to be detached. So that training will carry over into his Grihastha life. And even though he is attached, it is limited because of his previous training. And thus, it is not too difficult to enter into the Vanaprastha Ashram. This is also the example set by many kings in the Srimad Bhagavatam. So, we see Bharata ruled the world, but then he handed over the kingdom to his sons, and he took vanaprastha. So there has to be a certain amount of detachment, even if we’re living in the Grihastha Ashram. So, as I mentioned, that training takes place in Brahmachari life. So, at that time, as a Brahmachari, one begins to study the Vedas.
What do the Vedas teach? Same as Bhagavad Gita, you’re not the body, you’re atma. Same as Bhagavad Gita, you’re not the body, you’re atma. So don’t be attached to the body. So that type of knowledge will carry over into later life. However, even then, we tend to forget. So here we have Narada Muni reminding Yudhisthira. This attachment is due to ignorance. You’re thinking in terms of bodies. They are related to me, so I have to protect them. But at a certain point, we should not think of bodies at all. We should simply think of atma. And we see in this particular example, that Dhritarashtra left. Why? Because he got knowledge that he should not be attached to the house and the body. So, he was ready to give up the body. Previously, Dhritarashtra was attached and therefore he was living in the Pandavas’ house very attached. But then Vidura came and gave him instructions. So, he told him, no, this is not proper. You should not be thinking of your body. You should be thinking of Atma. So, they become more detached. Dhritarashtra went off to the forest. And he was only doing what is prescribed by scripture. So, when any Grihastha takes Vanaprastha and goes off to the forest, naturally the children will keep worrying, oh, what’s going to happen to my parents now they’re in the forest? But the whole point of the Vanaprastha Ashram is to make the person detached from the material body, understand he is the Atma [Laughs]. So therefore, we cannot extend our attachment too far. And we also have to see, what is the spiritual benefit of that person. So, if they’re going off to practice spiritual life, that’s very good. We don’t worry about their body. They’re practicing spiritual life. So, that’s very very wonderful. So that is the proper attitude to take.
Unfortunately, everybody tends to get covered by ignorance. So, we need constant reminders that we’re not the body. So, we have scripture and then we have devotees. And here we find Narada Muni, giving instruction to Yudhisthira. We see Krishna giving instruction to Arjuna. We even find Hiranyakashipu giving instructions to the wives of Hiranyakasha [Laughs], because the husband died [Laughs]. So therefore, the procedure followed here is proper. One should not overly lament.
In the Purport, Prabhupada also gives another conclusion. Ultimately, we can’t worry too much because everything is under the control of the Supreme Lord. And if he wants to save them, he will save them. So, at a certain point, we cannot worry too much. We have to leave it up to Krishna. Of course, we do have things like karma. So normally, people are acting and getting results according to karma. Even that is the mercy of the Lord. But in the case of people who are practicing spiritual life, then the Lord personally makes some arrangement. So that is exactly what the vanaprastha does in the forest. He lives in the forest, and he survives on the roots and fruits that he digs up. And he’s not worried, where is my food coming from? If the Lord doesn’t want to supply me food, he will accept that. If he gets some food, yes, he takes that as an arrangement of the Lord also. So the vanaprastha learns detachment from his body and from family members and he also learns reliance on the Supreme Lord.
However, even without taking vanaprastha and just living in the house, etc., we should also, as devotees, have the same attitude. We cannot make any perfect arrangements. So, we try our best to fulfil our duties according to the scripture. But then, other things we leave up to the Lord. So, we make effort at the same time, we accept the Lord’s arrangements. So, in this way, the grihastha or the vanaprastha or the sanyasi or the brahmachari can live very peacefully.
Hare Krishna.
Q & A
1) Maharaj how do we see this principle… you at the… towards the end of the class, you said that, how devotees can also apply. But we see then most of the devotees have this understanding, we’re not this body. But then vanaprastha and how does that get applied in modern context? That parents move out to some distant location and not stay with the family. Because these days the families have become nuclear.
There is only one husband, one wife and they have a child, and they have jobs, and they look forward to their parents to take care of their offspring. I mean so, the context has changed from what was earlier, the familial context. So, these two questions Maharaj.
Of course, it is very difficult to practice the principles of Varnashrama system when it’s not really functioning as it should [Laughs]. So as devotees, at least we take certain principles. We try to cultivate a sense of detachment. Naturally, we cannot be completely detached. But through philosophy and scripture, etc. We understand that over attachment also is not favourable for bhakti. But we do not cultivate that detachment by jnana or yoga or other process. Bhakti itself should create that detachment. So, the more we are attached to Krishna, the less attached we are to our body. So of course, it’s a natural progression of detachment.
So, as you mentioned, in the modern world, the parents may not go away because the children are dependent on them to raise the grandchildren. So, that’s a type of sacrifice. Of course, it’s a sacrifice of their spiritual life because they can’t become detached [Laughs] and its inconvenience for yourself because you don’t want to spend extra money to hire maids or whatever to take care of the children or work harder to get the money [Laughs].
So, in any case, it becomes difficult to really follow those principles. But the main principle is to develop a detachment through Bhakti. So even if they don’t take Vanaprastha or whatever, still, everyone practices Bhakti, they can become detached anyway [Laughs]. So in that way, the purpose is fulfilled.
2) Hare Krishna Maharaj. Maharaj, what is the difference in the nature of detachment which arises from Bhakti and which arises otherwise?
So the detachment in Bhakti arises because of attachment to Krishna. So it does not arise independent of the Bhakti. And it acts favourable for the Bhakti. If we develop detachment in Karma Yoga or Jnana Yoga or Ashtanga Yoga, that is independent of development of Bhakti. It is also difficult. Because you have to control the mind and you have to control the senses. And if you are working in the world, that is going to be very difficult. So therefore in Karma Yoga, what do they do? They separate themselves and they do Vratas.
And the Jnanis and the Yogis, they separate themselves from society completely. So through a prolonged process, they become detached. For the Jnani and the Yogi, the only attachment is ātmā. So through that detachment, ultimately they can reach liberation.
Of course in Nectar Devotion, Rupa Goswami says this practice of Vairagya will lead to drying up of the hearts. Which means, increasing attachment to Krishna destroys detachment to Krishna. And that is because, we simply concentrate on rejection and understanding atma, and we reject everything about the Supreme Lord. So such detachment is favourable for Mukti, but that detachment is not favourable for Bhakti.
Devotee : So Maharaj, can we say that as a Sadhaka, we need not cultivate detachment, we just cultivate attachment to Krishna and that detachment would automatically come?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: That is generally true, but we also have the 10th aparadh. And so, in spite of all the knowledge and practice to remain stubbornly attached [Laughs] to the material world. So qualification of Bhakti in Bhagavatam is of course attracted to hearing the pastimes of the Lord and not too much attachment to the material world. You can have [Laughs], but not too much. So what this means is, we cannot say, well, Bhakti produces detachment, so anyway, I’ll just practice Bhakti. Meanwhile, I’ll enjoy as much as I can in the material world. So, we have some minimum rules, minimum controls, which means some vairagya which is favourable for Bhakti. Like following 4 regulative principles.
3) Body is an instrument to execute devotional service for a Sadhaka. So we have to take care of the body as well for proper execution of Sadhanas. So how do we understand the detachment of the body in this context?
Well, as the Nectar of Devotion gives some principles or Angas of Bhakti, one of those Angas is that we maintain our body, but we don’t over-maintain it [Laughs]. We maintain the body as much as it is useful for us practicing devotional service.
Devotee: Thank you so much, Maharaj.
4) We are having attachment to devotees and Guru and Krishna. How can we understand that we have to be connected with only Krishna?
So actually, in the definition of Bhakti, it’s ‘Krishna Anusilanam’. But then the commentary says, that means cultivating an attachment or relationship with Krishna or devotees of Krishna [Laughs]. So therefore, no problem if that attachment is not based on material things but on spiritual things.
Devotees: Grantharaj Sri Srimad Bhagavatam Ki.. Jai !! HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj Ki.. Jai !!