Srimad Bhagavatam – 1.15.8 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | ISKCON Chennai | June 2, 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 8.
ŚB 1.15.8
यत्सन्निधावहमु खांडवमग्नयेऽदा-
मिन्द्रं च सामरगणं तरसा विजित्य ।
लब्धा सभा मयकृताद्भुतशिल्पमाया
दिग्भ्योऽहरन्नृपतयो बलिमध्वरे ते ॥ ८ ॥
yat-sannidhāv aham u khāṇḍavam agnaye ’dām
indraṁ ca sāmara-gaṇaṁ tarasā vijitya
labdhā sabhā maya-kṛtādbhuta-śilpa-māyā
digbhyo ’haran nṛpatayo balim adhvare te
Synonyms
yat — whose; sannidhau — being nearby; aham — myself; u — note of astonishment; khāṇḍavam — the protected forest of Indra, King of heaven; agnaye — unto the fire-god; adām — delivered; indram — Indra; ca — also; sa — along with; amara-gaṇam — the demigods; tarasā — with all dexterity; vijitya — having conquered; labdhā — having obtained; sabhā — assembly house; maya-kṛtā — built by Maya; adbhuta — very wonderful; śilpa — art and workmanship; māyā — potency; digbhyaḥ — from all directions; aharan — collected; nṛpatayaḥ — all princes; balim — presentations; adhvare — brought; te — your.
Translation
Because He was near me, it was possible for me to conquer with great dexterity the powerful King of heaven, Indradeva, along with his demigod associates and thus enable the fire-god to devastate the Khāṇḍava Forest. And only by His grace was the demon named Maya saved from the blazing Khāṇḍava Forest, and thus we could build our assembly house of wonderful architectural workmanship, where all the princes assembled during the performance of Rājasūya-yajña and paid you tributes.
Purport
The demon Maya Dānava was an inhabitant of the forest Khāṇḍava, and when the Khāṇḍava Forest was set on fire, he asked protection from Arjuna. Arjuna saved his life, and as a result of this the demon felt obliged. He reciprocated by building a wonderful assembly house for the Pāṇḍavas, which attracted the extraordinary attention of all state princes. They felt the supernatural power of the Pāṇḍavas, and thus without grudge all of them submitted and paid tributes to the Emperor. The demons possess wonderful and supernatural powers to create material wonders. But they are always disturbing elements of the society. The modern demons are the harmful material scientists who create some material wonders for disturbance in the society. For example, the creation of nuclear weapons has caused some panic in human society. Maya was also a materialist like that, and he knew the art of creating such wonderful things. And yet Lord Kṛṣṇa wanted to kill him. When he was chased both by the fire and by the wheel of Lord Kṛṣṇa, he took shelter of such a devotee as Arjuna, who saved him from the wrath of the fire of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Devotees are therefore more merciful than the Lord, and in devotional service the mercy of a devotee is more valuable than the mercy of the Lord. Both the fire and the Lord ceased from chasing the demon as soon as both of them saw that the demon was given shelter by such a devotee as Arjuna. This demon, feeling obliged to Arjuna, wanted to do him some service to show his gratefulness, but Arjuna declined to accept anything from him in exchange. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, however, being pleased with Maya for his taking shelter of a devotee, asked him to render service unto King Yudhiṣṭhira by building a wonderful assembly house. The process is that by the grace of the devotee the mercy of the Lord is obtained, and by the mercy of the Lord a chance to serve the Lord’s devotee is obtained. The club of Bhīmasena was also a gift of Maya Dānava.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
So, in these verses, Arjuna is recollecting the great power and influence of Krishna. In this particular verse, he is glorifying Krishna for arranging the assembly hall. Of course, it was actually made by the Maya Dānava. But as Prabhupada explains in this purport, everything ultimately is mercy of the Lord and mercy of the devotee. So, Arjuna is praising Krishna. But actually, Arjuna was the one who was merciful to the demon. And then Krishna was admiring the mercy of Arjuna, so He is willing to give a gift to him. So, the giving of a material gift is not so important. And in fact, the intelligent devotees avoid asking for material benedictions.
Often, a devotee worships the Lord, the Lord appears, and then the Lord says, I will give you a benediction. And then the devotee says, no, I don’t want any benedictions. So ultimately, what the devotee wants is, service to the Supreme Lord. He doesn’t want material benedictions, because material benedictions are temporary. And material things also create obstacles. And even if we go for yoga siddhis, they also create obstacles. Of course, liberation is not material, but even they don’t desire liberation. Liberation is a different type of obstacle. It doesn’t create material problems, but it also blocks service to the Lord.
So one of the qualities, special qualities of bhakti that distinguish it from karma, jnana and yoga is that the devotee derides liberation. Even though liberation is glorified in the jnana kanda of the Vedas, the Upanishads, still the devotee rejects it. The jnanis reject Svargaloka and Brahmaloka, but they desire liberation. The devotees reject Svargaloka and Brahmaloka, but they also reject liberation. So they are completely different from jnanis, yogis and karmis. So because they reject all of this, they never ask for material benedictions or for liberation, from the Lord. Rather, they only ask for service. By that service, they hope to please the Lord. Of course, with material benedictions, one could also please the Lord. But material benedictions are also obstacles to pleasing the Lord. So therefore, the devotee avoids them.
So it is described that Maya Devi and liberation are following the devotee and pleading, ‘Please engage me in your service.’ But the devotee kicks them away. Because they will create obstacles for his devotion. So this, of course, is pure bhakti. If a devotee has mixed bhakti, then he may ask for these things. And we have such devotees. Gajendra asks, ‘Please save me from the crocodile.’ So that’s a material desire. Dhruva was asking the Lord for a kingdom greater than his grandfather’s kingdom. Of course, once Dhruva saw the Lord, then he decided to change his mind. And he saw the Lord and he said, ‘Oh, this is so foolish, desiring material things, it is all like broken glass, it is nothing, it is cheap’. Nevertheless, his initial motive was material. In both cases, whether you have mixed bhakti or pure bhakti, the Lord is pleased. The Lord responded to Gajendra, the Lord responded to Dhruva. The Lord even responds to demons. But the Lord responds to different degrees. So He responds a 100% to the persons who practice pure bhakti. And that is why the intelligent devotees give up all desires and they simply want to serve the Lord with pure bhakti.
The Lord is pleased with any bhakti, but He is most pleased with pure bhakti. And because the Lord is most pleased, the devotee becomes most pleased. So in other words, we get the most intense rasas between the devotee practicing pure bhakti and the Supreme Lord. And consequently, the Lord and the devotee experience the highest bliss. So, in pursuit of the response of the Lord, He will do anything for the devotee. So we see that Krishna became the charioteer of Arjuna. Krishna was willing to break His promise of not fighting for Arjuna. So Krishna becomes most cooperative with the devotee practicing pure bhakti.
So at the beginning of Nectar of Devotion, there is a definition of pure bhakti. It is this pure bhakti in sadhana which will lead to pure bhakti in bhava and pure bhakti in prema. And if we have that prema, then we experience the ‘Bhakti Rasamrta Sindhu’. So, it’s like the fish, the makaras, the devotees are like makaras. And these makaras, which are the king of the fish, the devotees, they are able to dive deeply into the ocean of bhakti rasa. So these devotees practice pure bhakti. What about those who practice mixed bhakti? They do not swim in the ocean, they swim in the rivers. What are the rivers? Sayujya, Salokya, Sarsti, Samipya, Sarupya, the five liberations.
So, therefore, in the beginning of Nectar of Devotion, the definition of pure bhakti is given. Most devotees, or many devotees at least, they assume that, well, pure bhakti means prema. And when we say pure devotee, we mean a person in prema. But according to this definition of pure bhakti given in Nectar of Devotion, pure bhakti is sadhana, bhava and prema. If one practices pure bhakti in sadhana, and he is a pure devotee in that sense, then he progresses to bhava and prema. If he practices mixed bhakti, he doesn’t proceed to bhava and prema. At least he doesn’t get into the ocean. So therefore, a person who wants prema has to practice pure bhakti in sadhana. So such a person is also called pure devotee. So that definition has to be well understood by a devotee doing sadhana. And that is why the devotee also needs some knowledge.
Of course, people will say, well look at the people of Vrindavan, they’re not studying scriptures. But they’re also not doing sadhana, they’re in prema. So if we’re doing sadhana to get prema, the goal; we have to practice in a certain way. Karma yoga gives svargaloka, the goal. Jnana yoga gives mukti, liberation, as the goal. Pure bhakti in sadhana gives prema, as the goal. And if we do karma misra bhakti instead of pure bhakti in sadhana, we may get salokya, sarasti, sarupya, samipya. So, the devotee needs some knowledge. He has to determine the goal. And then he has to practice the proper sadhana. Just like if you want to be a doctor, then you have to take certain courses. If you study law, don’t expect to be a medical doctor. Now, of course, then you practice, ok we practice, we go to medical school and we become a doctor. But then we have different grades of doctors, we have a regular doctor and we have a very good doctor. So, how do we get different results? They took different courses, maybe they went to different colleges. So, according to the practice, we get a certain result. On our own, we don’t know. We don’t know the goal.
In the modern world, of course, people don’t even want to go to scripture. So, they say, I will be spiritual. I don’t like material world, I will be spiritual. But then, what is spiritual? Then they’ll say, well, I’ll figure out something. So, as a result, we call what is called spirituality in the modern world, it could be anything, it could be driving a car, that’s spirituality. So, we do need some authoritative knowledge to understand what is our goal, what is spiritual life. So, we get that knowledge from the bhakti scriptures.
So, Nectar of Devotion is a condensation of the essence of the bhakti scriptures. So, in that work, then we have very clear definition, what is the goal and what is the process to get to the goal? So, we should utilize that knowledge in our practice of bhakti.
Hare Krsna.
Q&A
1) Hare Krishna. Thank you, Maharaj. In this particular case, where Arjuna gives protection to a demon Maya, it apparently looks not Anukul, Pratikul, going against the will of the Lord. How do you have a proper understanding, Maharaj?
Well, we should understand that the Lord is not trying to afflict any living entity. He is most merciful to all beings. But that may be expressed in different ways. In this case, it is expressed through his devotee. So it is said, Lord is very merciful, devotee is more merciful. So this is a chance for the Lord to illustrate that. So, therefore, what may appear to us to be contradictory in the sense that Arjuna is doing something that Krishna didn’t want to do. No, ultimately, it is all arrangement of the Lord.
Of course, in the larger context we see here, in this story, the Lord has disappeared. And Arjuna is lamenting. Ultimately, of course, this is another arrangement of the Lord. And therefore we see, ultimately, this was also a sign for the Pandavas. We should also disappear. So, ultimately, Arjuna gave up his lamentation.
2) Maharaj, typically a sadhaka in the beginning stage would always think that for me to do pure devotional service is difficult. So, he may like to have or he will have some material desires along with pure devotional service. But the effort is the same. And because of this mixture, there seems to be a great danger of a delay. Because he is also practicing mixer. To come out of mixing, a mixer devotional service is also very difficult.
If we have no knowledge, we may worship the Lord. But when we worship the Lord, 99.9% of the time we are worshipping and we are asking the Lord for some material benedictions. So, millions of people pride themselves on being devotees of Balaji. And they go and they ask for something. And they don’t consider that wrong. Of course, on one level, it’s not wrong. Krishna says, I accept all these people. Those who have material desires, those who want to get rid of their miseries, I accept them also. So, they don’t really have a goal.
So, if we have the goal of Prema, then we have to practice pure bhakti. But that requires some knowledge. So, if we decide to accept the teachings of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, then we are also accepting that goal of Prema. And though we do have material desires, we should also understand that the real goal is Prema and the real practice is pure bhakti. And so, when doing Kirtan or Japa or worshipping the Lord, we refrain from asking for material benedictions.
Because we are not pure, it’s a practice only. But if we don’t do this practice, we will not get to Prema. So, in practice, we are not perfect. Our bhakti is not the purest. But we have to strive for that purity.
3) Hare Krishna Maharaj. Maharaj, in this case, the mercy Arjuna showed to Maya Dhanav, it appeared to be more driven by a Kshatriya code. Although it bore fruit, Krishna also did not attack him and Agni also left him. But it appears that the intent behind giving shelter was more of a Kshatriya code, which Arjuna was following because Maya Dhanav had taken shelter of Arjuna.
Of course, the Kshatriya should be merciful to one who surrenders. But all Varanas, Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Sudra are supposed to be merciful to all living entities. So within Dharma, which is Karma Yoga, there is a principle of respect for all living entities. It becomes a little more obvious with Kshatriya, because he has so much power.
So though these are principles of Dharma, we say is material, still they are non-contradictory to the principles of Bhakti. In Nectar of devotion, one of the qualities in Subhadha is that a person respects all living entities. Of course, we can say the motive is a little different. In Dharma, there is a rule, so we follow it. It becomes a punya. We get material results, nice material results. In Bhakti, we respect all living entities, not because we are getting a material result. We respect all living entities because they also represent the Supreme Lord.
4) One more thing Maharaj, in this case, the palace built by Maya Dhanav, although it is a material palace, but we see the expertise of Pandavas to use it in service of Krishna because the palace was so impressive and so the other kings could come and surrender that way to Yudhishthira Maharaj and in that Rajasuya Yajna, Krishna was the main object of worship. So, because that gift came to devotees, they used it in Krishna’s service and in his glorification.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: What’s the question?
Devotee: Audio not clear
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Well, the thing is that Yudhishthira, he wanted to have a Rajasuya sacrifice so he becomes ruler of the whole world. On the one hand, it’s material.
But Yudhishthira says the only purpose of this is to show the supremacy of Krishna. So everything the Pandavas had, may look like material wealth, conquering the world etc., having the palace, ultimately it was all for glorifying Krishna.
5) Why Salokya and Sarupya are considered to be inferior to Prema?
If you only want Salokya to go to the spiritual world, but you don’t want to serve the Lord, then it’s considered inferior. If you want to go to the spiritual world and serve the Lord, but you say, I have to have this, this, this in the spiritual world, then again it’s a little bit of a mixture.
So a person practicing pure bhakti only desires to serve the Lord, whether it is in the spiritual world, whether it’s the material world, whether it’s in hell, he doesn’t ask and he has to be a certain place. Of course, the Supreme Lord makes arrangements for the devotee so that his service can be perfect and naturally it would be in the spiritual world with the spiritual body. So it is said in Bhagavatam that the devotee will not accept these five types of liberation if it’s devoid of service to the Lord.
Devotee: Being the case, if a Jiva practicing Prema in Vaikuntha and if it’s enjoying Salokya and Sarupya, how do we understand that Maharaj?
Well, he doesn’t enjoy them. They are employed in his service to the Lord. He doesn’t depend on them. So, therefore nothing wrong with them as long as they don’t interfere with his pure Bhakti.
6) What is the origin of Jivatma to come to this material world? How did the Jiva fall into this material world?
Jivas have no origin. They are eternal and in Bhagavatham, Caitanya-caritāmṛta, it’s described that, Jiva is in the material world without beginning, conditioned by material energy. So we may say that the Lord is very cruel how the Lord can keep us here for beginning less time. So, the Lord gives us a little holiday. After a hundred years of Brahma, he destroys your gross body and your subtle body. And then you can sleep nicely in Mahavishnu. However, your karmas are not destroyed and therefore, when you have rested enough, the Lord puts you back in the material world and you continue your karma.
And in each lifetime of Brahma, then the Lord gives plenty of opportunities to get out of the material world. In thousand yugas, He comes as a yuga avatar. Four times in four yugas, four thousand times and one day a Brahma the Lord comes. Plus, He also comes as Lila avatars. So He gives plenty of opportunity to Jiva in each lifetime of Brahma for Jiva to take to devotional service.
So, actually in the introduction of Bhagavad Gita, Prabhupada talks about five topics of discussion as time and karma and Jiva and Prakriti and Supreme Lord. So there he says they are all eternal. No beginning, no end. Except karma. No beginning but can have an end. So it has an end when we take to devotional service.
7) In this material world we see common people sometimes expressing their love to Krishna as a friend or a lover or a parent but without doing any sadhana bhakti. How do we understand this?
If they have no idea who is the Supreme Lord, what is a Jiva, what is the process of bhakti then it is just sentiment. Most likely they have a very material conception of the Supreme Lord.
8) Aishwarya Goloka whether it is within Vaikuntha or is it the anga of Goloka Vrindavana and who does stay there?
Vishwanath Chakravarti describes it as an area just outside of Goloka. So there the inhabitants worship Krishna in a cowherd boy form. But they also accept Him as Supreme Lord. So their Prema is mixed with aishwarya. So it is something like worship in Dwarka. But in Dwarka Krishna is no longer a cowherd boy. So it is a little different from Dwarka. But it is also different from Goloka because in Goloka there is no aishwarya at all.
Devotees: Grantharaj Srimad Bhagavatham Ki Jai!!! HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj Ki Jai!!!