Srimad Bhagavatam – 1.13.8 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | 12 Feb 2025
ŚB 1.13.8
yudhiṣṭhira uvāca
api smaratha no yuṣmat-
pakṣa-cchāyā-samedhitān
vipad-gaṇād viṣāgnyāder
mocitā yat samātṛkāḥ
Translation
Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira said: My uncle, do you remember how you always protected us, along with our mother, from all sorts of calamities? Your partiality, like the wings of a bird, saved us from poisoning and arson.
Purport
Due to Pāṇḍu’s death at an early age, his minor children and widow were the object of special care by all the elderly members of the family, especially Bhīṣmadeva and Mahātmā Vidura. Vidura was more or less partial to the Pāṇḍavas due to their political position. Although Dhṛtarāṣṭra was equally careful for the minor children of Mahārāja Pāṇḍu, he was one of the intriguing parties who wanted to wash away the descendants of Pāṇḍu and replace them by raising his own sons to become the rulers of the kingdom. Mahātmā Vidura could follow this intrigue of Dhṛtarāṣṭra and company, and therefore, even though he was a faithful servitor of his eldest brother, Dhṛtarāṣṭra, he did not like his political ambition for the sake of his own sons. He was therefore very careful about the protection of the Pāṇḍavas and their widow mother. Thus he was, so to speak, partial to the Pāṇḍavas, preferring them to the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, although both of them were equally affectionate in his ordinary eyes. He was equally affectionate to both the camps of nephews in the sense that he always chastised Duryodhana for his intriguing policy against his cousins. He always criticized his elder brother for his policy of encouragement to his sons, and at the same time he was always alert in giving special protection to the Pāṇḍavas. All these different activities of Vidura within the palace politics made him well known as partial to the Pāṇḍavas. Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira has referred to the past history of Vidura before his going away from home for a prolonged pilgrim’s journey. Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira reminded him that he was equally kind and partial to his grown-up nephews, even after the Battle of Kurukṣetra, a great family disaster.
Before the Battle of Kurukṣetra, Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s policy was peaceful annihilation of his nephews, and therefore he ordered Purocana to build a house of lac at Vāraṇāvata, and when the building was finished Dhṛtarāṣṭra desired that his brother’s family live there for some time. When the Pāṇḍavas were going there in the presence of all the members of the royal family, Vidura tactfully gave instructions to the Pāṇḍavas about the future plan of Dhṛtarāṣṭra. This is specifically described in the Mahābhārata (Ādi-parva 144). He indirectly hinted, “Even a weapon not made of steel or any other material element can be more than sharp enough to kill an enemy, and he who knows this is never killed.” That is to say, he hinted that the party of the Pāṇḍavas was being sent to Vāraṇāvata to be killed, and thus he warned Yudhiṣṭhira to be very careful in their new residential palace. He also gave indications of fire and said that fire cannot extinguish the soul but can annihilate the material body. But one who protects the soul can live. Kuntī could not follow such indirect conversations between Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira and Vidura, and thus when she inquired from her son about the purport of the conversation, Yudhiṣṭhira replied that from the talks of Vidura it was understood that there was a hint of fire in the house where they were proceeding. Later on, Vidura came in disguise to the Pāṇḍavas and informed them that the housekeeper was going to set fire to the house on the fourteenth night of the waning moon. It was an intrigue of Dhṛtarāṣṭra that the Pāṇḍavas might die all together with their mother. And by his warning the Pāṇḍavas escaped through a tunnel underneath the earth so that their escape was also unknown to Dhṛtarāṣṭra, so much so that after setting the fire, the Kauravas were so certain of the death of the Pāṇḍavas that Dhṛtarāṣṭra performed the last rites of death with great cheerfulness. And during the mourning period all the members of the palace became overwhelmed with lamentation, but Vidura did not become so, because of his knowledge that the Pāṇḍavas were alive somewhere. There are many such instances of calamities, and in each of them Vidura gave protection to the Pāṇḍavas on one hand, and on the other he tried to restrain his brother Dhṛtarāṣṭra from such intriguing policies. Therefore, he was always partial to the Pāṇḍavas, just as a bird protects its eggs by its wing.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
So this is Yudhisthira speaking and describing the good quality of Vidura. So he compares Vidura to a mother bird. And he compares the Pandavas to small birds. And he says that the wings of the mother bird protect the small birds. So that is what ‘Paksa’, Paksa of course means a wing. So the Pandavas were raised under the shadow of the wing of the mother bird who was Vidura. And of course, the other meaning of ‘Paksa’ is to take sides. So Vidura took the side of the Pandavas. And due to the efforts of Vidura, they got protection from poison, from fire etc. And all these dangers were arranged by Dhrtarashtra and Duryodhana.
So Vidura was quite brave, because he opposed Dhrtarashtra who was his elder brother. And it’s because of this, that ultimately he left the palace.
So the quality of Vidura was that he recognized devotees. And Vidura himself was a great devotee. So it’s the quality of a devotee that he recognizes other devotees. Later in the Bhagavatam, it describes there are different types of devotees. But the Kanistha does not recognize devotees. Just I am a devotee, I am worshipping the deity of the Lord. But the more advanced devotee, he recognizes association of devotees. So he associates in a friendly way with equal devotees. He respectfully serves and follows the orders of the superior devotees. And he gives instructions to the inferior devotees. And he avoids those who are not devotees. And he worships the Lord. So the Kanistha worships the Lord but doesn’t associate with the devotees. This means he is probably associating with non-devotees [Laughs].
So the common element is, they both worship the Lord. But the difference is the devotee does not associate with materialists, he associates with devotees. So this is the cause of the devotee advancing. If he is in the Kanistha category and doesn’t associate with devotees, not much hope of advancing at all. But those devotees who associate with other devotees in these three different ways, then he can steadily advance towards Bhava and Prema. So the quality of a real devotee is, he recognizes other devotees. And thus, we call the Kanistha a devotee of sorts, he is also called Vaishnava Praya, almost a devotee but not quite [Laughs]. So the real Vaishnava is this Madhyama devotee. And he is distinguished by this association of devotees. So it is an important element for advancement. It is also a quality of a real devotee.
So we see here in the case of Vidura, he recognized other devotees. He very clearly distinguished between the Pandavas and Dhrtarashtra and Duryodhana. Of course, because Dhrtarashtra was his elder brother, Duryodhana was his like cousin or whatever, No, nephew I guess, he tried to give them advice. But his real interest was the devotees, the Pandavas. And the Pandavas were also great devotees. So, it is natural there would be this type of attraction between them. So why devotees are attracted to devotees? The main interest of the devotee is, to please Krishna. And other devotees have the same interest. And thus, the devotees are very similar to each other. They have a common goal. So therefore, the devotees are always attracted to other devotees. So this type of attraction to the devotees does not disappear as one advances.
As one gets into Bhava and Prema, still the devotee is attracted to devotees. And of course, he avoids the non-devotees. And thus, we see the very advanced devotees also are associating with other devotees. So Vidura is very advanced devotee, Pandavas are very advanced devotees, so they long for each other’s association. When Vidura left the palace, he went on pilgrimage, what did he do? He also associated with devotees. He had prolonged discussions with Maitreya.
So the devotees are naturally attracted to other devotees on whatever level they are on. Of course it is also said, if one is very advanced in Bhava or Prema, generally the person no longer makes distinctions. So he doesn’t distinguish between devotee and non-devotee. And he doesn’t distinguish higher and lower devotees. Why? because he sees everybody as a great devotee [Laughs]. However, even at that stage, sometimes, they make distinctions. We see Narada Muni of course, a great devotee but he makes distinctions. And we see here that Vidura, a great devotee but then he began to preach to Dhrtarashtra. So in some cases, even the exalted devotees, they start making distinctions and they begin to preach.
So, the example of Vidura is very inspiring. He shows all the wonderful qualities of a devotee. He was very tolerant. He was well spoken, he spoke very nicely to everyone. But of course, his most important quality is, he was great devotee of the Lord! And because of that devotion, all of his other qualities began to manifest nicely. So though Yudhishthira is praising him for protecting them, it was nothing special, because it is the quality of a great devotee that he would naturally do this. The devotees are naturally compassionate towards all living entities. But of course, they have special attraction to those who are devotees. So it was natural that he would try to protect the Pandavas and their mother in all circumstances. So though it was something praiseworthy, it was a natural quality of Vidura. But even that natural quality itself was dependent on his great devotion to Krishna.
We see of course that Krishna is ultimately the most merciful. And He is merciful even to the demons. So one who is a devotee, who has the association of Krishna, naturally develops qualities like Krishna. Just as if we put an iron into the fire then the iron becomes hot like fire. So if we worship Krishna and have respect for Krishna and then we finally associate with Krishna, we will also manifest similar qualities. So as I said the quality of the Lord is to be merciful. So he bestows this quality upon the devotees. And thus the devotees become merciful. In other words, the devotees are channels or mediums for Krishna’s mercy. And then the devotees take that mercy and they distribute it to people in this world. So by this arrangement though the Lord does not appear in the world all the time, His mercy is available through the devotees. And that is why the devotees get respected and worshipped. It is through the devotee that one gets the mercy of Krishna.
So it is like electricity. So electricity is in the generator, but it doesn’t manifest everywhere. It comes to the house by wires. If somebody cuts the wire, you don’t have any electricity. Of course, now we have generator also may stop, and then we don’t get electricity. But Krishna never stops, He is the eternal generator of mercy. But that mercy has to get distributed somehow or other. So as electricity comes through the wires from the generator to the house, so the mercy of the Lord comes via the devotees to the material world. Why devotees? Because devotees are like the Lord. Just as electricity goes through the wire, not any wire, it has to be copper wire. Copper wire is favourable to the electricity, Iron wire is not. So the devotees are like copper wire, they are good conductors of Krishna’s mercy.
Of course, we can also have more refined wires better and better copper or we can have silver wires even better. Then the electricity will go even quicker. So, the more advanced the devotee, more capacity to deliver mercy in this world. And thus, we have great devotees like Srila Prabhupada like gold wires and they give great mercy. But also, very rare. Nevertheless, the ordinary devotees also like the copper wire can deliver the mercy to the material world. And thus, all devotees are respected. The Lord himself respects those devotees. And it is by respecting those devotees that we can actually receive their mercy.
Okay. Hare Krsna!
Q&A
1) Maharaj, Yamaraj took birth as Vidura?
HH Bhanu swami Maharaj: Yamaraj, Yeah!
Devotee: Then when Vidura left the body, he had to leave the body and become Yamaraj again or how is it?
HH Bhanu swami Maharaj : Yes. It is said that Yamaraja was not there I think Aryama took up the post for some time and then when he gave up his body as Vidura he went back and took his post as Yamaraja again.
2) Hare Krishna Maharaj, Maharaj you have mentioned that Kanishtha bhaktas will not take association, they worship deities only. So in our society the devotees chant and they take association as well as doing devotional service. So how we can categorize them Maharaj?
So I said that the devotees that worship the deity, but don’t associate with others these are I said not even devotees. So they don’t even come within the category of real devotees. So everybody who is joining ISKCON they are actually in the category of devotees! Because they associate with devotees, they have sufficient knowledge, they read the scripture, they also worship the deity etc., So they are on the Madhyama platform!
3) Maharaj, we see that following the instructions of the Guru is the most important thing. But also we see that, only one who directly receive the knowledge from Guru, he will receive thorough knowledge. So in the case if the sadhakas is trying to follow the instructions but he is not able to directly associate with the guru how will he receive thorough knowledge?
So if we don’t directly associate how do we get mercy or whatever?? Well, we have many examples to show how the mercy is manifested. And the association may not be a long time. The association must be some instructions.
So, Narada Muni gave instructions to Dhruva. He gave a mantra, worship the deity, make out of clay, worship in the forest that’s the instructions. Fine, then he disappeared [Laughs].
We see Srila Prabhupada actually didn’t associate directly with Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur talked to him many times. Maybe he met him about 5 times even, but even then, was maybe 10 minutes’ association or something like that. 5 times in his life. But through that, he got enough instructions to get inspiration. So therefore, not in all cases we need prolonged association.
Of course, if we do have prolonged association then we can also learn a lot. And we can get more thorough knowledge of many things. So, both types of association are there.
4) Maharaj, today Narottama Das Thakur appearance day, a few words about it?
So after Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, there were some very important preachers. One was Narottama Das another was Srinivas Acharya. So, of course, they were in association with Goswamis of Vrindavan. And through them, they also got the mercy of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. It is said by some that Narottama Das Thakur was a reincarnation of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu [Laughs]. Because he was a very vigorous preacher.
He is most famous for his songs. Through those songs, he also conveys the Gaudiya philosophy. So, very renowned figure for preaching. He studied in Vrindavan and then later on, he went back to Bengal to preach. He got great number of followers. So, he became very very famous. At the same time, technically he did not come from a Brahmin family. So some people would criticize, he was not from a Brahmin family but initiating Brahmanas so they were criticizing him for that [Laughs]. But, he was also beyond all sorts of Varna, ashrama etc. So he lived a very exemplary life as a devotee, always absorbed in preaching the message of Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
Devotees: Grantharaj Srimad Bhagavatham ki jai!!! HH Bhanu Swami maharaj ki Jai!!!