Srimad Bhagavatam – 1.15.22-24 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | ISKCON Chennai | June 24, 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 22.
ŚB 1.15.22-23
राजंस्त्वयानुपृष्टानां सुहृदां न: सुहृत्पुरे ।
विप्रशापविमूढानां निघ्नतां मुष्टिभिर्मिथ: ॥ २२ ॥
वारुणीं मदिरां पीत्वा मदोन्मथितचेतसाम् ।
अजानतामिवान्योन्यं चतु:पञ्चावशेषिता: ॥ २३ ॥
rājaṁs tvayānupṛṣṭānāṁ
suhṛdāṁ naḥ suhṛt-pure
vipra-śāpa-vimūḍhānāṁ
nighnatāṁ muṣṭibhir mithaḥ
vāruṇīṁ madirāṁ pītvā
madonmathita-cetasām
ajānatām ivānyonyaṁ
catuḥ-pañcāvaśeṣitāḥ
Synonyms
rājan — O King; tvayā — by you; anupṛṣṭānām — as you inquired; suhṛdām — of friends and relatives; naḥ — our; suhṛt-pure — in the city of Dvārakā; vipra — the brāhmaṇas; śāpa — by the curse of; vimūḍhānām — of the befooled; nighnatām — of the killed; muṣṭibhiḥ — with bunches of sticks; mithaḥ — among themselves; vāruṇīm — fermented rice; madirām — wine; pītvā — having drunk; mada-unmathita — being intoxicated; cetasām — of that mental situation; ajānatām — of the unrecognized; iva — like; anyonyam — one another; catuḥ — four; pañca — five; avaśeṣitāḥ — now remaining.
Translation
O King, since you have asked me about our friends and relatives in the city of Dvārakā, I will inform you that all of them were cursed by the brāhmaṇas, and as a result they all became intoxicated with wine made of putrefied rice and fought among themselves with sticks, not even recognizing one another. Now all but four or five of them are dead and gone.
ŚB 1.15.24
प्रायेणैतद् भगवत ईश्वरस्य विचेष्टितम् ।
मिथो निघ्नन्ति भूतानि भावयन्ति च यन्मिथ: ॥ २४ ॥
prāyeṇaitad bhagavata
īśvarasya viceṣṭitam
mitho nighnanti bhūtāni
bhāvayanti ca yan mithaḥ
Synonyms
prāyeṇa etat — it is almost by; bhagavataḥ — of the Personality of Godhead; īśvarasya — of the Lord; viceṣṭitam — by the will of; mithaḥ — one another; nighnanti — do kill; bhūtāni — the living beings; bhāvayanti — as also protect; ca — also; yat — of whom; mithaḥ — one another.
Translation
Factually this is all due to the supreme will of the Lord, the Personality of Godhead. Sometimes people kill one another, and at other times they protect one another.
Purport
According to the anthropologists, there is nature’s law of struggle for existence and survival of the fittest. But they do not know that behind the law of nature is the supreme direction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is confirmed that the law of nature is executed under the direction of the Lord. Whenever, therefore, there is peace in the world, it must be known that it is due to the good will of the Lord. And whenever there is upheaval in the world, it is also due to the supreme will of the Lord. Not a blade of grass moves without the will of the Lord. Whenever, therefore, there is disobedience of the established rules enacted by the Lord, there is war between men and nations. The surest way to the path of peace, therefore, is dovetailing everything to the established rule of the Lord. The established rule is that whatever we do, whatever we eat, whatever we sacrifice or whatever we give in charity must be done to the full satisfaction of the Lord. No one should do anything, eat anything, sacrifice anything or give anything in charity against the will of the Lord. Discretion is the better part of valor, and one must learn how to discriminate between actions which may be pleasing to the Lord and those which may not be pleasing to the Lord. An action is thus judged by the Lord’s pleasure or displeasure. There is no room for personal whims; we must always be guided by the pleasure of the Lord. Such action is called yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam, or actions performed which are linked with the Supreme Lord. That is the art of doing a thing perfectly.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
So here Arjuna is describing to Yudhishthira that what happened in Dvaraka. And in these two verses it is said, everything was destroyed. And then Arjuna explains, well, it’s all the will of the Supreme Lord. Of course, Arjuna explains this in a material way. He talks about people killing each other or protecting each other, all under the will of the Lord.
In the material world, material bodies live and die. So, there is some arrangement for that, it is not whimsical. A lot of the activity is under the control of the law of karma. But that is how the will of the Lord operates. Of course, this gives room for the individual will as well. Karmas act beyond the will of the individual, but the karmas are there because of the individual will or desire of the individual. I desire a certain object, I do actions to get the object. As a result of the action, I get karma, and then I suffer. So, the reaction to my actions, that is the suffering, is according to the law of karma and the will of the Lord.
My individual desire to get an object and consequently my action to get it, that’s not the will of the Lord, that’s my will. Of course, my actions to get an object that I like, to some degree also, is under the will of the Lord. My capacity to get the object is limited by my previous karma. So everybody or most people can walk or run. So, you’re a caveman and you want to catch a deer. So what do you have to do? You have to run after the deer and catch him. Some people by the law of karma cannot run, so therefore they don’t catch the deer. However, though there are limits even in our action, the choice to actually chase the deer, that is my free will. So whether one is in prison, where there are many limitations, or whether one is not in prison, where there’s less limitations, our free will is still operating. If we say, my desire to get a certain object is also under the law of karma, in other words, the law of karma determines my desire, then why should I get punished and get pain from the law of karma? Its karma should get punished, not me. So the purpose of the law of karma is to help the Jiva make good choices.
So first choice is actions or getting objects according to dharma, rather than adharma. So if we follow those laws properly, we minimize bad karma. That means, life after life, we can live comfortably. But if we follow those laws of dharma, we actually restrict ourselves. You can eat, but you cannot eat everything. And even if you eat meat, there are restrictions on what you could eat.
So, through this series of rules and regulations of dharma, gradually the Jiva becomes habituated to control the senses. When the Jiva gets to a certain level, that is sattva, then he has even greater ability to choose. At that point, he can also make another great choice. Instead of choosing dharma over adharma, he chooses to get out of the material world, get knowledge, learn you are not the body, you are the soul. So, a person chooses to destroy all karmas, and get liberation. So, this is choice of the individual. So, Supreme Lord has arranged dharma for the human being to get to that point, to choose. Of course, some Jivas may not choose. So we have asuras, they may also follow the laws of dharma, but they don’t choose to get out of the material world.
Of course, we have another choice also. Rather than choose liberation, one can choose Prema. That, however, does not depend on coming to the level of sattva. It depends only on a person, a human being, getting mercy of a devotee. And when he associates, he gets mercy of the devotee, then he can choose Prema over dharma or liberation. So Supreme Lord is controlling in the material world, indirectly through the law of karma.
But still, people have their free will, by which they may kill people or not kill people. But if they kill a person, then they are subject to a certain law of karma. So this is how the Lord supervises the material world. He controls the violent activity, at the same time, he allows for free will. And the Lord also allows the Jiva to choose to get out of the material world. So, that rule applies to people in the material world with material bodies who are conditioned.
This does not apply to the devotees of the Lord. It does not apply to Arjuna, Pandavas or the residents of Dvaraka. Of course, they are also under the will of the Lord. But they eternally choose to serve the Lord. So there is no question of karma acting on them. So yes, the Lord’s will is involved, but it does not involve the law of karma. So in this case, of course, there may be a question. So the Lord arranges for the devotee, the devotee has no material identification, no material body, then why do they kill each other? So the answer is, there is no killing, because they don’t have material bodies. Nor are they subject to anger, greed, hatred, etc. of material bodies. So, the whole incident and the mentality of the Yadus in fighting with each other is not under their control, it’s an arrangement of the Lord. So there is no fault on the part of these devotees.
Of course, from the material point of view, one can find fault. They committed offense against the sages, thus they got cursed, thus they got drunk, thus they killed each other. It appears they suffered because they committed an offense. But the Lord made this arrangement. And why? To have the Yadus disappear. They could not be defeated by any demon. So the way in which He arranges, they could only be defeated by themselves. So this is only a method by which the Yadus would disappear from this world.
Similarly, the Lord arranged for His own disappearance by being shot in the foot by an arrow. And from the material point of view, it looks like Krishna also is suffering from karma. So the question will be asked, well the Lord can make arrangement for His disappearance and He disappears as Ramachandra in a certain way and other avatars in a certain way, why in this particular way, unusual way, in which there is so much violence? So the answer is explained by the Acharyas. Bhagavatam itself has several layers of meaning. And there is a, we call superficial meaning. Such as the Yadus are getting drunk and killing each other and in this way, they died. But it is explained that the Bhagavatam also has a superficial meaning but it has a hidden meaning. So not everything, but sometimes the meaning of the pastimes is not immediately apparent.
So, why would Vyasadeva and Sukadeva do that? So that is explained in the Bhagavatam itself. It is explained that Bhagavatam is like Mohini Avatar. And just as Mohini Avatar bewildered the demons and stole the nectar and gave it to the Devatas, so Bhagavatam hides the real truth from the materialists and demons and gives it to the devotees. So, to do that, certain things, certain facts are hidden. The materialists want to see Krishna as a material being. So, Bhagavatam and the pastimes in, give the materialists a chance to say, Oh, Krishna is only material. So, this whole description of Krishna’s disappearance and the Yadus’ disappearance is on the surface for the materialists. In this way, the real nectar of the Bhagavatam is hidden from the materialists.
The devotee however, understands that the superficial meaning is not the real meaning. Because they understand that Krishna’s body is eternal, the Yadus’ bodies are eternal. So, therefore, the Bhagavatam can bewilder those who have materialistic minds. And in this case, the Lord actually arranges a pastime so that the materialists can keep his materialistic opinions. So apart from that, of course, this is an arrangement by which the Lord disappears from this world. Just as the Lord makes arrangements for His appearance, He also makes arrangements for His disappearance.
So, when the Lord makes this arrangement, here we have all these devotees in Dvaraka involved, they cannot control the situation, it’s the will of the Supreme Lord. But by the will of the Lord, when this takes place, the Yadus in their spiritual body join Krishna. And they continue pastimes eternally in Dvaraka. So, this is the arrangement of the Lord for Himself and for His devotees.
Q & A
1) Thank You Maharaj. Maharaj made a point that devotees don’t live with themselves with a superficial meaning, but they get the real deeper incites of the Bhagavatham Maharaj. The question is, not all devotees are fortunate to get the deeper meanings. They are also devotees, but not all of them are fortunate to get association of advanced vaishnavas and get such meaning. Why is it, Maharaj, some of them get the deeper meaning by the mercy, but some of them may not get the meaning?
So, Krishna responds to everyone according to their desires. If they want to worship Devatas, the Lord gives them faith in the Devatas so they can read certain scriptures. If they desire to serve Krishna, the Lord makes arrangements by which they can worship Krishna.
But some of those worshippers of Krishna have mixed devotion, some will have pure devotion. So, if they have mixed devotion, Krishna makes arrangements so they can continue that. Of course, if they have this mixed devotion, there is great likelihood that they can also begin to practice pure bhakti. But that also requires the mercy of a person practicing pure bhakti. So, if some persons are somehow worshipping but it’s not pure, then the only way they can advance is by getting mercy from those who practice pure bhakti.
So, it is said that the Madhyam devotee preaches to the Kanistha. Kanistha is called a devotee because he worships the Lord, but he doesn’t have any scriptural knowledge. So, if he does not get the mercy of devotees practicing pure bhakti, he will never get that knowledge, he will continue in his ignorant way to worship the Lord. If he gets the mercy of a Madhyama who has that knowledge, then of course he can start practicing pure bhakti. So, when Lord Chaitanya gives the order to preach everywhere, he is actually instructing those who are Madhyamas to give mercy to Kanisthas.
2) Thank you, Maharaj. Maharaj, when a Sadhaka faces some reactions, sometimes it’s compared to a switched off fan, while the rotation still takes place, even though the switch is off, or it’s compared to a fang removed snake, Maharaj. Requesting you to elaborate.
So, for the devotee, of course, bhakti destroys karmas. We see that even without bhakti, just chanting the name of Narayan, Ajamila destroyed all of his karmas. However, that was because he had committed no aparads.
If a person has committed some aparads in this life or previous lifetimes, the process of destruction of karma will be slower. And then we will distinguish different stages, Bhajana kriya, Anartha nivrtti, Nishta, etc. So, in that period, gradually karmas get destroyed. And it’s said by the end of Ashakti, all the karmas should be gone. Before that, gradual destruction.
Devotees: Grantharaj Srimad Bhagavatham Ki Jai!! HH Bhanu swami Maharaj Ki Jai!!!