Srimad Bhagavatam – 1.15.11 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | ISKCON Chennai | June 6, 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 15 Verse 11.
ŚB 1.15.11
यो नो जुगोप वन एत्य दुरन्तकृच्छ्राद्
दुर्वाससोऽरिरचितादयुताग्रभुग् य: ।
शाकान्नशिष्टमुपयुज्य यतस्त्रिलोकीं
तृप्ताममंस्त सलिले विनिमग्नसङ्घ: ॥ ११ ॥
yo no jugopa vana etya duranta-kṛcchrād
durvāsaso ’ri-racitād ayutāgra-bhug yaḥ
śākānna-śiṣṭam upayujya yatas tri-lokīṁ
tṛptām amaṁsta salile vinimagna-saṅghaḥ
Synonyms
yaḥ — one who; naḥ — us; jugopa — gave protection; vane — forest; etya — getting in; duranta — dangerously; kṛcchrāt — trouble; durvāsasaḥ — of Durvāsā Muni; ari — enemy; racitāt — fabricated by; ayuta — ten thousand; agra-bhuk — one who eats before; yaḥ — that person; śāka-anna-śiṣṭam — remnants of foodstuff; upayujya — having accepted; yataḥ — because; tri-lokīm — all the three worlds; tṛptām — satisfied; amaṁsta — thought within the mind; salile — while in the water; vinimagna-saṅghaḥ — all merged into the water.
Translation
During our exile, Durvāsā Muni, who eats with his ten thousand disciples, intrigued with our enemies to put us in dangerous trouble. At that time He [Lord Kṛṣṇa], simply by accepting the remnants of food, saved us. By His accepting food thus, the assembly of munis, while bathing in the river, felt sumptuously fed. And all the three worlds were also satisfied.
Purport
Durvāsā Muni: A powerful mystic brāhmaṇa determined to observe the principles of religion with great vows and under strict austerities. His name is associated with many historical events, and it appears that the great mystic could be both easily satisfied and easily annoyed, like Lord Śiva. When he was satisfied, he could do tremendous good to the servitor, but if he was dissatisfied he could bring about the greatest calamity. Kumārī Kuntī, at her father’s house, used to minister all kinds of services to all great brāhmaṇas, and being satisfied with her good reception Durvāsā Muni benedicted her with a power to call any demigod she desired. It is understood that he was a plenary incarnation of Lord Śiva, and thus he could be either easily satisfied or annoyed. He was a great devotee of Lord Śiva, and by Lord Śiva’s order he accepted the priesthood of King Śvetaketu because of the King’s performance of sacrifice for one hundred years. Sometimes he used to visit the parliamentary assembly of the heavenly kingdom of Indradeva. He could travel in space by his great mystic powers, and it is understood that he traveled a great distance through space, even up to the Vaikuṇṭha planets beyond material space. He traveled all these long distances within one year, during his quarrel with King Ambarīṣa, the great devotee and Emperor of the world.
He had about ten thousand disciples, and wherever he visited and became a guest of the great kṣatriya kings, he used to be accompanied by a number of followers. Once he visited the house of Duryodhana, the enemy cousin of Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira. Duryodhana was intelligent enough to satisfy the brāhmaṇa by all means, and the great ṛṣi wanted to give some benediction to Duryodhana. Duryodhana knew his mystic powers, and he knew also that the mystic brāhmaṇa, if dissatisfied, could cause some havoc, and thus he designed to engage the brāhmaṇa to show his wrath upon his enemy cousins, the Pāṇḍavas. When the ṛṣi wanted to award some benediction to Duryodhana, the latter wished that he should visit the house of Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, who was the eldest and chief among all his cousins. But by his request he would go to him after he had finished his meals with his Queen, Draupadī. Duryodhana knew that after Draupadī’s dinner it would be impossible for Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira to receive such a large number of brāhmaṇa guests, and thus the ṛṣi would be annoyed and would create some trouble for his cousin Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira. That was the plan of Duryodhana. Durvāsā Muni agreed to this proposal, and he approached the King in exile, according to the plan of Duryodhana, after the King and Draupadī had finished their meals.
On his arrival at the door of Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, he was at once well received, and the King requested him to finish his noontime religious rites in the river, for by that time the foodstuff would be prepared. Durvāsā Muni, along with his large number of disciples, went to take a bath in the river, and Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira was in great anxiety about the guests. As long as Draupadī had not taken her meals, food could be served to any number of guests, but the ṛṣi, by the plan of Duryodhana, reached there after Draupadī had finished her meals.
When the devotees are put into difficulty, they have an opportunity to recollect the Lord with rapt attention. So Draupadī was thinking of Lord Kṛṣṇa in that dangerous position, and the all-pervading Lord could at once know the dangerous position of His devotees. He therefore came there on the scene and asked Draupadī to give whatever food she might have in her stock. On her being so requested by the Lord, Draupadī was sorrowful because the Supreme Lord asked her for some food and she was unable to supply it at that time. She said to the Lord that the mysterious dish which she had received from the sun-god could supply any amount of food if she herself had not eaten. But on that day she had already taken her meals, and thus they were in danger. By expressing her difficulties she began to cry before the Lord as only a woman would do in such a position. The Lord, however, asked Draupadī to bring up the cooking pots to see if there was any particle of foodstuff left, and on Draupadī’s doing so, the Lord found some particle of vegetable sticking to the pot. The Lord at once picked it up and ate it. After doing so, the Lord asked Draupadī to call for her guests, the company of Durvāsā.
Bhīma was sent to call them from the river. Bhīma said, “Why are you delaying, sirs? Come on, the food is ready for you.” But the brāhmaṇas, because of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s accepting a little particle of food, felt sumptuously fed, even while they were in the water. They thought that since Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira must have prepared many valuable dishes for them and since they were not hungry and could not eat, the King would feel very sorry, so it was better not to go there. Thus they decided to go away.
This incident proves that the Lord is the greatest mystic, and therefore He is known as Yogeśvara. Another instruction is that every householder must offer food to the Lord, and the result will be that everyone, even a company of guests numbering ten thousand, will be satisfied because of the Lord’s being satisfied. That is the way of devotional service.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
So, this is another memory of how the Lord helped the Pandavas. So, there are of course many incidences mentioned here. Some have to do with battles. So, this particular incident has nothing to do with fighting. Nevertheless, it was also an arrangement of Duryodhana to put the Pandavas into difficulty. But we know that the devotees are always protected by the Lord.
So, in this case, there’s also a certain principle illustrated. And that is, if the Lord is satisfied, everybody is satisfied. So elsewhere in the Bhagavatam it is stated that if you put food in the stomach, all the senses are nourished. If you put water on the root of the tree, all of the branches and leaves get nourished. So, if you worship the Lord, all the Devatas are satisfied.
Devatas are in charge of all living entities and their senses. And thus, by worship of the Lord, everybody is satisfied. So that is illustrated in this particular example. Krishna ate a morsel of food. And then all of the sages and they all felt satisfied, no hunger. So, in this way, the Pandavas were escaped from a difficult situation with Durvasa Muni.
So ultimately, what this means is, in all cases, we should worship the Lord. In this case, there was a difficult situation. But we should not wait for difficult situations to worship the Lord, we should worship the Lord in any case. Of course, people often argue. So they say, well, the Pandavas are worshipping the Lord, they got put into so many difficulties. But in each case, they were also saved by the Lord.
Now, in the material world, devotees and non-devotees, they have difficult situations. So the non-devotees do not worship the Lord and therefore they simply have to suffer their conditions, their karma. The devotees worship the Lord and the process of bhakti destroys all karmas. So, in this way, devotees in the material world, who are not even perfect, they can be relieved of their difficulties by their worship of the Lord.
So there are two types of devotees. So one type of devotee, in difficulty, he will worship the Lord. If he’s not in difficulty, he doesn’t worship the Lord. The other devotee, whether he’s in difficulty or no difficulty, he worships the Lord. Of the two, the latter is superior.
So in Bhagavad Gita, Krishna describes four types of devotees. The first is the one who is suffering, so he worships the Lord. So this is not classed as pure bhakti. Later on, Krishna describes a fifth type of devotee, he worships the Lord in all cases. But that devotee is considered to be the highest. So he has no motive of getting out of his difficult positions in worshiping the Lord.
So of course, here in these illustrations, the Lord saves the devotees, that is the Pandavas, from difficulties. When they’re in difficulty, they remember the Lord. But when they’re not in difficulties, they also remember the Lord. So, we see Yudhisthira became the king. So, no more difficulty, he performed Rajasuya sacrifice, no difficulties. But he did everything as worship of the Lord. In the case of the Pandavas, they say, well, the Pandavas are put into difficulty, looks like they also have karma. Of course, bhakti in scriptures, it says, bhakti destroys karma even for sadhakas, so then how can a Siddha devotee like Pandavas, how can they have karma at all? And the answer is, all of these different arrangements by which Pandavas are put into difficulty is not karma, it’s part of the Lord’s arrangement. And even the Pandavas admit, all of these are opportunities for us to remember the Lord. And because they’re always remembering the Lord, the Lord always helps them.
In this particular verse, the word is used, ‘jugopa’, He protected them. So this protection is a natural quality of the Lord in relation to the devotee. So, devotion involves surrender. And one of the qualities of surrender is to keep the Lord as one’s protector. And of course, the Lord always responds. So this idea of protection of the Lord is illustrated through all of these different recollections. So the Lord always responds to the devotee. And the devotee naturally thinks of the Lord as his protector.
So we may think, well, the devotee is there and he’s saying, Lord, please save me, so then it looks like it is mixed bhakti. However, no, this is actually a symptom of a great devotee. They always think of the Lord as their protector. So Draupadi is calling out to the Lord to save her from being disrobed. Or she cries out to the Lord to help us because we don’t have any food, it is all because of this feeling of protection of the Lord. So therefore, it is not a sign of impurity in their bhakti when they ask for the Lord’s help, it’s rather a symptom of their complete surrender.
So, devotees doing sadhana may not have such full surrender. So, they may also call out to the Lord for protection. Such was the case of Gajendra. Of course, even Dhruva called out to the Lord for material reasons. So even then, even if it is mixed bhakti, the Lord responds. And even in pure bhakti, in sadhana, if the devotee also calls out for the Lord, the Lord also tolerates that and He doesn’t in any way think, you’re not doing pure bhakti anymore, so I’m not going to respond, so He accepts that as part of his pure bhakti.
Of course, the difference between a mixed bhakta asking for protection is that the idea of getting protection is very prominent. In the case of a devotee doing sadhana bhakti and pure bhakti, it is not a constant or prominent feature, it is something that happens occasionally only. In the case of Siddha devotees, if they’re asking for protection, then there’s no fault at all, it is simply a sign of their surrender.
Hare Krsna!
Q & A
1) Sometimes we say that those who are great sages, they are Trikala jnanis they know past, present and future, so Dhurvasa muni is partial expansion of Shiva, so he is supposed to know the plan of Duryodhana as what Duryodhana is trying to achieve by sending Durvasa Muni to Pandavas. But here we see Durvasa Muni agreed to whatever Duryodhana requested. So how to understand this? Whatever Duryodhana requested to go to the Pandavas. Duryodhana knows that if Durvasa becomes unhappy, he will give curse and it will create havoc to the Pandavas.
But here Duryodhana’s mentality, Durvasa Muni is supposed to understand but didn’t understand it. Didn’t understand the mentality of Duryodhana. Normally he’s supposed to understand it, as the great sage.
Whether he understood or not, he was obligated to Duryodhana. So, whatever you do, I will do. So, he got stuck into that situation. He is like Shiva. Shiva gives blessings and then he gets stuck into it.
2) Krishna helped Draupadi in two cases. One is during disroping and another one in this case, this verse. But apparently it seems that whenever there is a difficulty, they are calling Krishna for help.
It seems that their bhakti is not spontaneous. Spontaneous bhakti they are not doing. It seems that bhakti is not spontaneous. It seems that whenever there is a difficulty, whenever there is a need of Krishna, they are calling Krishna. So how to understand this?
Well, it is the quality of those who are in the highest-level Bhakti to always call out for the Lord for protection. So, when the vrajavasis were afflicted by Indra’s water, then they went to Krishna “save us”. When the cowherd boys were surrounded by forest fire, they said Krishna please help us. So, there it is spontaneous asking for help. But we know that they don’t have any identification with the material body, and therefore they are eternal.
So why should they call out for help? In a sense, they don’t fear for a material body. They are beyond the idea of fearing death. So, for them, the fear is something else. That is separation from Krishna’s service. So, if we are flooded with water, or in other cases by demons or whatever, then the forest fire or whatever, this is interruption to their service. So, their plea for protection, getting saved, is linked to the idea of their service to the Lord. Serving the Lord is their life, not serving the Lord is their death. So they’re calling out for protection is quite different from person in the material world calling out for protection.
3) Maharaj, “smartavyaḥ satataṁ viṣṇur vismartavyo na jātucit sarve vidhi-niṣedhāḥ syur
etayor eva kiṅkarāḥ”, if we apply that principle remembering Lord and service how to go to our co-related rememberment Lord always and not forgetting Lord and service because service will not be different from the Lord both are same how both are interrelated memory and service?
Yeah, so, on the level of sadhana bhakti, we have many different activities, and we know the mind in the material world is very restless. By doing all these activities then the mind is concentrating on remembering the Lord. So this helps in the performance of bhakti so of course smaranam itself is an anga bhakti.
In Srimad Bhagavatham, there is a little debate which is better smaranam or kirtan and the sages in tapaloka say smaranam is better meditation is better, and they quote this verse yes all the angles of bhakti ultimately to remember the Lord but then of course many devotees say no kirtan is better. By doing kirtan automatically we have remembering also. So siddhanta is that both are necessary and each reinforces the other. So by doing kirtan we have better smaranam, by doing smaranam we have better kirtan.So, in other words the two processes are not really separate. In fact, we can say that you do one you’re doing the other also.
4) In this material world whether Nitya siddhas like gopis would appear only in the spiritual body or do they appear in material body?
Well, if we have associates of the Lord in the spiritual world the bodies are spiritual if the Lord appears in the material world and they come they’ll be in their spiritual bodies.So, they never take a material body and in fact in the material world if they’re associating with krishna they cannot associate in a material body.
5) By practicing pure bhakti whether sadhaka gets the opportunity to remember his original spiritual identity?
At the stage of bhava then that identity becomes manifests. At the stage of bhava one realizes the form of Krishna, that also means that one has established a relationship or Sthayibhava with krishna it could be Dasya, Sakya, Madhurya whatever and along with that in order to develop that sthayibhava, you need a spiritual body.
So, therefore that body will begin to develop through the process of bhakti and it becomes manifests in bhava. So therefore, at the stage of bhava we experience a particular relationship we also have a particular form.
How does that manifest it will manifest? It will according to our sadhana. So, if we worship Krishna let’s say in uh Sakya rasa then we will realize Sakya rasa in bhava stage, if we are practicing and realizing krishna as a friend in sadhana and then in bhava we become a gopi that would look very strange. And then you would look at Krishna say, ‘well why you gave me the wrong body?’, so our form develops according to our worship and absorption.
6) How can we differentiate between Draupadi’s request during disrobing and the case this Dhurvasa Muni’s pastime?
Well, they involve different people of course Draupadi is the same but the other people were different one we have Durvasa the other we have this Dhusana and in the case of the Dhusana and the Kauravas it was very directly the asuras afflicting Pandavas.In this case it was indirect because they sent another person Durvasa was not actually a demon
7) We see that parikshit maharaj didn’t ask for krishna’s help when he was cursed how do we understand this maharaj? Why didn’t he ask?
In the case of Parikshit, his say surrender to the curse of the brahmana was a sign of his surrender to krishna and it also showed his responsibility for his fault. So, of course he had a responsibility to protect the kingdom at the same time he had also raised his son so they could take over the kingdom. So in that sense he had no need of continuing to protect the kingdom but ultimately the whole incident itself cannot be blamed upon Parikshit. Because it was very out of character that he would put a snake around the brahmana’s neck. So, the whole incident was an arrangement of the Lord so that bhagavatam could be spoken.
8) This is in relation to the answer which you gave about gopi’s body what is our body when we practice devotion and want to associate with krishna how do we understand our body in comparison to the clarification you gave for gopi’s body?
If we’re worshiping other forms of the Lord like Ram chandra or Vishnu or other forms then there’s no choice anyway we simply become dasa. You can also cultivate that relationship with krishna and therefore we get a form as a servant in spiritual world. But you can also choose sakya, vatsalya or madhurya if you don’t choose fine you become dasa and if you choose the others then you cultivate that particular relationship .
9) A shadhaka, after surrender can he ask krishna to save him from difficulties if he asks is it a mixed bhakti?
If he asks continually and it becomes very prominent in his bhakti then it becomes mixed if it happens only in very rare circumstances then it’s tolerated by the Lord.
10) For sadhakas Lord krishna removes the karma does he differentiate between initiated and non-initiated devotees?
Yeah, well even if they’re not devotees at all as in the case of Ajamil they can destroy all the karmas so destroying karmas is not very significant.
Devotees: Grantharaj Srimad Bhagavatham Ki Jai!!! HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj Ki Jai!!!