Srimad Bhagavatam – 1.14.3 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | ISKCON Chennai | April 26, 2025 !
ŚB 1.14.3
कालस्य च गतिं रौद्रां विपर्यस्तर्तुधर्मिण: ।
पापीयसीं नृणां वार्तां क्रोधलोभानृतात्मनाम् ॥ ३ ॥
kālasya ca gatiṁ raudrāṁ
viparyastartu-dharmiṇaḥ
pāpīyasīṁ nṛṇāṁ vārtāṁ
krodha-lobhānṛtātmanām
Synonyms
kālasya — of eternal time; ca — also; gatim — direction; raudrām — fearful; viparyasta — reversed; ṛtu — seasonal; dharmiṇaḥ — regularities; pāpīyasīm — sinful; nṛṇām — of the human being; vārtām — means of livelihood; krodha — anger; lobha — greed; anṛta — falsehood; ātmanām — of the people.
Translation
He saw that the direction of eternal time had changed, and this was very fearful. There were disruptions in the seasonal regularities. The people in general had become very greedy, angry and deceitful. And he saw that they were adopting foul means of livelihood.
Purport
When civilization is disconnected from the loving relation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, symptoms like changes of seasonal regulations, foul means of livelihood, greed, anger and fraudulence become rampant. The change of seasonal regulations refers to one season’s atmosphere becoming manifest in another season — for example the rainy season’s being transferred to autumn, or the fructification of fruits and flowers from one season in another season. A godless man is invariably greedy, angry and fraudulent. Such a man can earn his livelihood by any means, black or white. During the reign of Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, all the above symptoms were conspicuous by their absence. But Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira was astonished to experience even a slight change in the godly atmosphere of his kingdom, and at once he suspected the disappearance of the Lord. Foul means of livelihood implies deviation from one’s occupational duty. There are prescribed duties for everyone, such as the brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya and śūdra, but anyone who deviates from his prescribed duty and declares another’s duty to be his own is following a foul and improper duty. A man becomes too greedy for wealth and power when he has no higher objective in life and when he thinks that this earthly life of a few years is all in all. Ignorance is the cause for all these anomalies in human society, and to remove this ignorance, especially in this age of degradation, the powerful sun is there to distribute light in the shape of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
This verse describes the general symptoms that Yudhishthira saw, which were inauspicious. So, there were seasons that were not in proper order. People started having sinful occupations. And they were filled with anger, greed, and lying. So as for the people, this means they’re not following dharma properly. If the seasons are out of place and whatever, this indicates also that dharma is not being followed properly. So, there’s a relationship between the world and the human being.
If the human being follows dharma, then the world also has proper seasons, proper weather, and gives proper grains, etc. So during Satya Yuga, or during the reign of Yudhishthira, then everything was going properly. People were happy, seasons were coming in the proper place. In spite of that, when Krishna disappeared, then we see some irregularity taking place. Of course, Krishna is the source of all dharma. So, if he leaves, obviously there’s going to be some weakness.
However, we do see that Yudhishthira was there, and then he gave the Kingdom to Pariksit. So as long as, dharma was intact, everything was normal. But when Pariksit inspected the kingdom then he saw something was wrong. There was a Sudra dressed up like a king, and he was beating a bull. Of course, right there it says it’s the wrong occupation. He was not a king, but he was dressed like a king. So this story is symbolic. The bull represents dharma. And this imposter was attacking dharma. So the imposter was Kali Yuga. And the bull has four legs. So the four legs represent 100% dharma. If the bull is standing on three legs, it means 75% dharma. If the two legs are gone, it’s 50% dharma. If only one leg is left, it’s 25% dharma. So, this imposter had broken three of the legs of dharma. So only 25% dharma left. So, this is how Kali Yuga begins. Only 25% dharma left.
So, the king protects dharma. And thus, Pariksit chastised and prevented the imposter from beating the bull any further. So in other words, Pariksit was a responsible king, and in his kingdom, adharma could not flourish. Along with the bull was the cow. And the cow was in suffering, great pain, seeing the bull attack. And the cow represents the earth. So when dharma is attacked, then the earth suffers. In other words, the human being, if he is full of lust, anger, greed, etc., and these are rampant in society, the earth suffers. So, why is the earth suffer from the bull? The bull gives milk. The earth gives nourishment for the human being – food.
So, there is a relationship between the cow and the bull. If the bull suffers, the cow suffers, and when the cow suffers, it does not give milk. So there is a relationship between human beings following dharma and the earth. When the human being does not follow dharma, the earth suffers. The earth does not give its proper products. So therefore, it is essential that the human being follow dharma in order to survive. So there is a very intimate relationship between the human being and the earth. Human being depends on earth to survive. But the condition is that, the human being has to follow dharma, in order that the earth will support him. A simple way of explaining it is that if human beings have unrestricted lust, anger and greed, etc., they destroy the earth and consequently it does not give anything to us [Laughs]. So the balance between the human being and the earth is very delicate.
What about animals? They don’t have laws of dharma like the human being. So animals survive, the world goes on. Why human beings have to have dharma? The reason is, the human being is not like other animals. Of course, we say human beings are more intelligent. That intelligence gives the human beings higher status than animals. But if the human being uses his intelligence in the wrong way, he destroys himself and destroy the world. Therefore Lord has made dharma to restrict the human being. Animals have their sense control.
Human beings have to follow the laws of dharma to control their senses. So as long as a human being follows dharma, then he can live comfortably on the earth and the earth does not refuse to give any products. So in this way there is a very interesting relationship between the human being and the earth. It is very different from the animals and the plants on the earth. The human beings have the power to destroy everything. And therefore, the human being has to use his intelligence properly. So this is one of the messages of Srimad Bhagavatam.
So one level, of course is the human being has to follow dharma. But then we also say, well dharma, varnashram is fine, but Lord Chaitanya rejects that as lower. We have to do something higher, we have to do bhakti. So, the reason for that is, it is actually very difficult in Kali Yuga to institute dharma. So what do we do? The earth will get destroyed. But if we do bhakti, it includes all the positive results of dharma also. We know that by performing bhakti, a person develops all good qualities. So the devotee naturally follows all of the laws of dharma, there don’t have to any laws, it is natural. So by following the principles of bhakti we develop all good qualities and consequently we surpass all the rules of dharma. And if everyone is a devotee on earth, we get same result – earth cooperates nicely. Of course in the case of Yudhishthira and Pariksit, they were ensuring dharma, also great devotees. But if we don’t have the dharma, if we have the bhakti, it’s fine. So therefore, by following the process of bhakti, dharma is preserved automatically. And human being can survive.
Hare Krsna !
Q & A:
1) Hari bol Maharaj, Is the concept of dharma – is it common for other religions?
Well, all religions have some rules, which means, they restrict the senses to some degree. We can say, even the same exists within dharma – sudras have less rules, brahmanas have more rules. So, we cannot really condemn other religions for having inferior rules [Laughs], because we see even the varnashram has inferior rules also for vaisyas and sudras[Laughs].
Of course, in the system of dharma, the rules are more precisely defined. So there’s common rules for everybody, and then more detailed rules for each varna. In other societies, generally is one rule for everybody [Laughs].
Devotee: For example, in the case of Grahastha life – in terms of Islams, they can have five wives and all, but in christianity, something different, we are different. But it varies even according to the christian, islam like that.. how many wives they can have, then there is no brahmachari concept in islam, only we have like that.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yeah what’s the point there?
Devotee: Difference is there in each dharmas..
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yes, somewhat different. So there’ll be some details which will always be different. Different types of worship, different rules for family etc, those are going to be there. But at the same time, we should look at the the main principles. And by examining all the rules and all the principles we can see which are the best principles to follow. So that’s why, we can even take the varnashram system and then we can see which are the better rules which are the ones we’re not going to follow [Laughs].
2) Hare Krsna, Maharaj i am reading one sloka from Bhagavatam, I have a question in this regard. This is from, 11th canto 18th chapter verse number 14. So Krishna is describing to Uddhava, the different varna and ashrams and all this, so in this chapter particularly describes about the duties of the person in vanaprastha and sannyas. So the shloka is like this..
SB_11.18.14:
viprasya vai sannyasato
devā dārādi-rūpiṇaḥ
vighnān kurvanty ayaṁ hy asmān
ākramya samiyāt param
Translation:
“This man taking sannyāsa is going to surpass us and go back home, back to Godhead.” Thus thinking, the demigods create stumbling blocks on the path of the sannyāsī by appearing before him in the shape of his former wife or other women and attractive objects. But the sannyāsī should pay the demigods and their manifestations no heed.
The point which Krishna is saying here is that, if someone has become sannyasi here and later when he goes back home back to godhead, the demigods actually feels envious, that this person is surpassing us and they produce some allurements. So this is one shloka. In other places, we hear Maharaj that when a person performs bhakti the demigods and the people in upper planets like Brahmaji is very happy that someone has started bhakti and they always are helping also, so how do we see the balance in these two understandings ?
Of course we have to see, there’s also a difference between sannyas and being a devotee. We think of sannyas in terms of a devotee. But in the varanashram system 90% of them are not devotees. So the devadas will not have such respect for that type of sannyasi, as he will have for a devotee. Of course we also see even Indra gets envious of Krishna [Laughs], so devadas are also devotees, but they may also have faults.
3) Hare Krsna Maharaj, so Maharaj, with respect to today’s class, the one fourth leg of dharma that is one of the four legs of dharma, that are present, so it is truthfulness. So can it be considered that if somebody is more truthful, at least he’s somewhat dharmic ?
Well truthfulness is one quality in dharma, then we have other ones as well, we have four legs of dharma, but we have other things as well. So we have many qualities. So, if we have some of the other qualities, very good. Ultimately very difficult to have all the qualities. So a better principle is, become a devotee. That one quality, covers all the other qualities [Laughs].
4) In continuation Maharaj, here we saw that in that particular past time, that kali personified had dressed itself as the king, so can that be also extended to the present times, where the administrators are not actually qualified administrators, but they are low-class people, who by various means acquire power and because they’re unqualified they in general destroy the pillars of dharma or principles of dharma in the society ? Can that be drawn also to the present age?
In the 9th canto and also the 12th canto, describes the decline of the kings, as kali yuga comes. So we see that, the various people compete and then finally somebody assassinates the king and then sudra becomes the king. And of course, the last descendant of Manu’s dynasty has also disappeared, so therefore definitely there is nobody qualified to be a leader. So, therefore we will get mostly impostors. And they will destroy the earth.
5) Maharaj, one last question for me, you explained that, how there’s a very delicate balance between man and earth and how if man follows dharma, then earth reciprocates ? So, for devotees they follow the eternal dharma and therefore earth should reciprocate, but we also see in our case Maharaj, there’s a lot of struggle, in terms of expansion, in terms of resources, there’s almost a constant struggle, so how do we understand? Is it Lord’s arrangement, is it for our purification or we are doing something… the point is that devotees are performing devotional service, the essence of all religion and the earth’s reciprocation is there, otherwise if all the resources are made available, then how quickly this movement can expand ?
It’s good to have resources, but we know as Kali Yuga progresses, there’s less and less resources. However, the good quality of bhakti, does not just depend on resources. So therefore, whether one is rich or poor, has lots of things or nothing, he can perform bhakti and completely successful [Laughs]. So we cannot judge success in bhakti, simply by assets. If we do so, we materialize bhakti. So therefore, the bhakti is independent of everything else, and it develops independent of resources – having resources or having no resources and thus we can spread bhakti in many countries, that don’t have resources.
6) Hare Krishna Maharaj, Maharaj suppose if there is a person who’s like a personification of lot of bad qualities and then he comes to the path of devotional service, so what we understand is, that he becomes a devotee and all good qualities manifest. But Maharaj this person may be carrying these impressions these samskaras from so many lifetimes, so what is that process that he becomes like the good qualities develop in him ? How does that happen ? How do we logically understand that ?
So at the beginning of Nectar of devotion, Rupa Goswami describes, the first quality of bhakti in kleshagini – destruction of suffering. And then he analyzes suffering into three things. Karmas – where we do activities, sinful activities we get – some bad results, that’s one stage. And then, bhija – paba bhija – this is desires, vasanas etc. And the cause of that is avidya – ignorance. So all of these are causes of suffering, they’re all destroyed by the process of bhakti.
So by bhakti, we start destroying the karmas, and therefore it is said that once who performs bhakti, then immediately he’s free of all prarabda karmas. And i said, by the stage of bhava, then the devotee destroys the knot of ignorance – that is ahankara. So in the process of bhakti, going all the way through sadhana on the different stages or gradually destroying not only the karmas, but the bhija as well as finally the avidya – ignorance.
7) A person is following other religions, which is low dharma, but it affects the higher dharma then that person is following dharma or not ?
Well as i said, each religion has some aspects of dharma in it and they will never say you can steal and kill everybody, no religion will say that. So there is some dharma, there. So they’re following some aspects of dharma, but not all dharma, that’s the whole point.
8) What’s the relation between karma and dharma ?
According to karma, within dharma you become a sudra, vaisya, kshatriya, brahmana and then act according to those rules and you improve your karma.
9) Maharaj, in the purport, Srila Prabhupad explained that, seasonal change – like when someone doesn’t follow the dharma or some places, does seasonal.. . So in India, we see there are different places, where normally supposed to get six seasons, it doesn’t happen. Like in bengal, we can get six seasons, in south we get only two seasons, and other places although there are some change of seasons, is because of the dharma according to Prabhupad purport ?
Yeah, the place with the best dharma, will have the best balance of the seasons. Some places have more rain and less whatever other things so, that means their dharma is not so good.
Devotee: Again in 11th canto, there is a tradition about south indian people are more dharmic, they’ll follow so much dharma, but it is happening opposite way right ? Only two seasons we get right, not six seasons ?
Well, you get the spring, you get summer, you get monsoon, you get winter. You get at least five out of six seasons.
8) Can we establish dharma by establishing bhakti ?
Well, the highest dharma is bhakti. If we practice bhakti, we fulfill all the purposes of all dharmas.
Hare Krsna, today we are releasing the book (Hari bhakti Vilas), so online questions will be continued tomorrow. Forgive us for inconvenience.
Devotees: Grantharaj Srimad Bhagavatam Ki.. Jai !! HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj Ki.. Jai !!