Srimad Bhagavatam : 10.52.33 – by HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj on Dec 6, 2024 @ ISKCON Japan

ŚB 10.52.33
viprān sva-lābha-santuṣṭān
sādhūn bhūta-suhṛttamān
nirahaṅkāriṇaḥ śāntān
namasye śirasāsakṛt

Translation

I repeatedly bow My head in respect to those brāhmaṇas who are satisfied with their lot. Saintly, prideless and peaceful, they are the best well-wishers of all living beings.

Purport

Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī explains that sva-lābha also means “achieving one’s self,” or, in other words, self-realization. Thus an advanced brāhmaṇa is always satisfied with his spiritual understanding, never depending on material formalities or facilities.

HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj :

So here Krishna is offering respects to Brahmanas who are satisfied. The people are satisfied in different ways. And some people are never satisfied. But when we talk about the Brahmanas being satisfied, they cannot be satisfied with material things because they are detached. So, in terms of material things, they are satisfied with very little. But the other satisfaction will come from, as it was mentioned previously, their practice, their conduct.

They are satisfied if no one interferes with their daily practices. And those daily practices of course are the practices outlined in scriptures for what a brahmana should do. If we look externally we will consider many of these rules to be too ritualistic. And we sometimes criticize such brahmanas because he is a Samarth brahmana. So his life is regulated by scriptural rules. When he wakes up in the morning, he has to wake up and put the right foot on the ground first. So anyway the whole morning is governed by rules. Certain things he can see, certain things he cannot see in the morning. He has to bathe in a certain way. Even the water has to be particular type of water. There is a whole gradation of water which is better water than other. You can bathe in the well water or water from a pond or water from a river.

So that of course is, if there are bubbles in the water, you cannot use that water. So everything throughout life is governed by rules but they have a purpose. So that goal is purification. Some of it is physical purification. But that physical purification is also related to mental purification. And both are necessary in order to concentrate the mind. And then you want to do with the concentrated mind is, you utter the Gayatri mantra. So this is worship and meditation. And then you recite the Vedas. The whole purpose of purification of body and mind is to meditate and praise the Lord. Of course, on a lesser level, it would be worship devatas and then may be understand Atma and Brahman.

So all of this should be undisturbed, if he’s undisturbed, the brahmana is satisfied, he is happy. So the king’s responsibility is to keep the brahmana undisturbed. And in this way they practice nicely, the spiritual cultivation is present within society. Now the only problem is that, the brahmanas get all the respect etc., they can also misuse that. So in modern times, let’s say in the last few centuries, this has been the main criticism of the varnashrama system, the brahmanas are the privilege class and they got all the power and they don’t do any work.

So there is a very careful balance between brahmanas’ position and power etc., and it has to be maintained properly. When the society becomes too rigid and strict in its classification of people, people get frustrated, they want to reject the system. And this becomes particular problem when the lower people in the society get exploited by the people on the top, then they get too frustrated and then they destroy the system. So it is the responsibility of the king to see that this doesn’t happen and that everybody is not exploited and everybody gets their sustenance etc. so they are all satisfied. So the varnas are there to divide up people for effective engagement of everybody for production and for satisfaction of everybody. But when the upper classes exploit the lower classes then we get problems.

And we will see that around the world, all these political systems, when exploitation gets too much then everybody revolts and they drop off the system. So it all depends on the leadership. And if the leadership is intelligent, wise whatever they find the proper balance.

So in the Vedic system, the leadership problem is solved by putting an empowered representative of the Supreme Lord and that is the descendent of Manu. Being empowered by Manu, he has proper knowledge, he has sense control, he follow scripture, follows the brahmanas, he also is a devotee. So it is a very difficult position to maintain and thus the Lord actually has to empower people to do this.

We will see throughout the Bhagavatam from third canto onwards, actually tracing the descendants of Svayambhuva Manu onwards and then there are the other Manus, all the descendants and how they produce the dynasties. Inspite of that there are still problems.

So within the dynasty, we get bad kings like King Vena. And some of the people, they don’t want to rule, they decide, I don’t like, I don’t want to be king. So now we’re in Vaivasvata Manu, his rule was actually Satyavrata, his dynasty is ruling at the moment. His dynasty will rule for 71 yuga cycles. And now we’re in the 28th cycle. And suddenly the descendant of Manu disappeared, he didn’t want to rule. So our particular Kali Yuga is in a big problem, no Manu’s descendants. But apparently he gets persuaded, and when Satya Yuga comes again, then he decides to rule.

The Supreme Lord makes arrangements in this material world for human civilization by supplying these Manus and their descendants to rule and keep the balance. So when the balance is lost and we get all sorts of problems, then what do we do? Sometimes the Lord comes as avatar, Krishna came when Kamsa was disturbing everybody, so Krishna came and killed him. But the Lord does not come all the time, he may come after thousands of years. So somehow or other, the human beings have to tolerate the situation. However, the point is that in all of these situations, we still continue our spiritual life. And with the strength of the spiritual life, we can survive.

So that is why Caitanya Mahaprabhu came to give us Nama Sankirtana as the Yuga Dharma for everybody to practice. And by that, whatever is lacking in society is compensated for by the Holy Name.

Okay.

Any Questions ?

Q & A:

1) I was surprised that this cycle compared to other cycles is very bad?

HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj : This one is better. Because we get Lord Chaitanya. Once in a day of Brahma!!

Translator devotee: In other cycles, still Manu is there, even in the Kali Yuga?

HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Hmm, Seems so. So they don’t need Lord Chaitanya. They don’t get Krishna prema also!

2) If Manu run away, not performing his duty, he will get punishment / karma or something?

Well, no body prevented him from doing that. Like the Lord didn’t come or Brahma didn’t come. Sometimes Brahma comes and tries to persuade the descendants, like Priya vartha or some one to take up the role etc. In this case, no body did anything. Seems like, Lord tolerates the situation.

3) Thank you very much, Maharaj. Nice class every day. In today’s verse, (it is said) Brahmana’s are satisfied with their own destiny ?

HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: It means they are satisfied with whatever is there. Whatever they get, they are satisfied with that.

Translator devotee: Then he asked, this is applied for us also?

HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Devotees, you mean?

Translator devotee: Yes. We sometimes suffer by karma or sinful activities. It seems like we should be satisfied by that?

HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: So, we see that Lord Chaitanya in the Shikshashtaka, he says that the devotee is very tolerant. So, like the tree is tolerant, because the wind comes, the rain comes, the sun comes, it stands there. And it doesn’t complain. So, the devotee as explained in Bhagavatam, he may get various sufferings, but he does not blame the Lord for it. So, he says, it is self-created suffering due to karma. So, the only way to get rid of it is to tolerate it.  And at the same time, continue with bhakti, serve the Lord. And by that continuation of bhakti, in spite of all of his problems, then he gets the mercy of the Lord.  And in fact, he takes the suffering as also the mercy of the Lord.

4) How to tolerate? Because if we tolerate more, then we become frustrated and angry etc. So, how much we have to tolerate?

Well, we tolerate like the tree!! [Laughing] Of course, the tree really can’t do anything anyway. It has to tolerate the wind and the sun, everything.

Of course, we have to use our intelligence also. Some of our suffering may be due to our foolish choices! So, we correct the choices, then we get rid of the suffering. So, we should not continue to make bad choices and get more suffering. We should rather try to correct that.

So, there’s always an endeavour to stop our suffering. We don’t like suffering. It’s just natural. We don’t like suffering, so we try to stop it. If you are burning in a fire, you run out of it, and you don’t burn yourself, that’s there. But there are certain things, no matter what you do, you cannot stop it. So, there you tolerate it.

5) Maharaj, there is a shloka from our Goswami’s, – “sruti-smrti-puranadi-pancaratra-vidhim vina, aikantiki harer bhaktir utpatayaiva kalpate” – BRS 1.2.101. So, when we discuss even in our Sanatana Dharma, there are so many literatures, but I feel all the literatures are not invoking the bhakti. Something, I feel it’s like a history and there is no use in my devotional life. So, would you kind of suggest like, what literature, will a Vaishnava should concentrate? and not be going out / disturbed by the other literatures, because it feels like it is disturbing something. Shiva did this, Shiva did that, Manu did this, Manu did that. So, what should be our focus? We don’t need this so much of information if we want to perform this pure devotion.

So, there are so many scriptures and so many rules. But, we should understand which are the rules for us! But, we should be able to see which are the rules that the Lord is instructing us! So there are rules for some people qualified for Karma Yoga, there’s other rules for people qualified for Jnana Yoga, there’s other rules for people qualified for Bhakti Yoga.

So in Bhagavatam, which is all about Bhakti, it says that if you surrender yourself to the Lord, then you’re not obligated to follow the other rules. However, if those rules are favourable to Bhakti, then we follow them. But Bhakti itself has its own rules, so we have to follow those rules which are in scripture and not reject those. But if we reject the rules for Karma or Jnana, then that is not a problem for an obstruction for our Bhakti.

6) Means we have to individually do Bhakti?

Of course that’s there, but then there are general things. I think, this probably we have to emphasize, because when we say Bhakti, [people think] “Okay, Bhakti means no rules. We do anything. Just worship Krishna.” But that’s not true. [Laughing]. We do have rules. [Laughing].

7) So Maharaj, Prabhupad always emphasized that devotees should not try to be a scholar, rather they should try to be a good devotee. So my particular point was like, is it sufficient to study only the books compiled by Srila Prabhupad ? Because Srila Prabhupad has given us Krishna, we don’t need anything else. So what do you think on that, Maharaj?

So, in one sense, yes. But then, actually what we’re reading now wasn’t written by Prabhupad [Laughing]. He didn’t finish the Bhagavatam, but we’re reading it. So we shouldn’t read it? No, we read it because it’s Bhagavatam and it completes the Bhagavatam, so we take it. So it’s a good rule, but it’s not a fanatical rule also [Laughing].

So, there are other works like Mahabaratha, Ramayana or whatever,

Sometimes people may be curious about that knowledge because people also discuss these things, so we may want to get knowledge from those books also. So it’s not forbidden. But, of course, the main emphasis is on Bhagavatam.

And sometimes, like in Caitanya-caritamrta, there Prabhupad says, and if you want to know more about this, you consult Bhakti-sandarbha, you consult this work, you consult that work, and then you’ll get some more knowledge.

For instance, we have a discussion about Diksha. What is Diksha? And then we look for Diksha, we’ll find a little bit of information in Bhagavatam, we’ll find some more information in Chaitanya-caritamrta, and then Prabhupad starts quoting from Bhakti-sandarbha. But even after reading that, still devotees get confused.

So therefore we have more discussions, and we have to consult more works to go to Bhakti-sandarbha and look at the text there.

8) Even for the discussion, if Bhakti-sandarbha is unclear, we sometimes need other sandarbha also?

Also, possibly, yeah. Other works.

The problem there is, in the particular purport I’m talking about is, the text itself says, Harinam, chanting the holy name, does not depend on Diksha. You chant the holy name, you get perfection, you get prema, etc.

Then in the purport, it starts out like that, okay, we don’t need Diksha, we just chant Hare Krishna. Then in the middle it says, you have to take Diksha. If you don’t take Diksha, your life is finished! And at the end of the game, the Prabhupada says, you don’t need Diksha! So what does this mean? We get a contradiction there. So devotees are puzzled by this.

Translator devotee:  In Caitanya caritamrta / Bhakti sandharbha Maharaj ?

HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj : He’s quoting from Bhakti-sandarbha, but this is how it looks like. He’s saying both things in Caitanya-caritamrta.

So actually, one solution is, to go to Bhakti-siddhanta’s Bengali commentary on that thing, and then we find a more complete explanation. But even then, we may have questions. And so then we go back to the original Bhakti-sandarbha, and look at that. And then we can understand why it looks like there’s contradiction.

So the verse is saying, you have to take Diksha are there, because it’s quoting from Pancharatra! And in Pancharatra, there is no Harinama, there’s only deity worship. So in order to do Bhakti, you have to do deity worship. You have to take Diksha. If you don’t take Diksha, you can’t do Bhakti. Life is finished!

So this is explained by Jiva Goswami in Bhakti-sandarbha, that basically Diksha is a ceremony for qualification for deity worship! But, Lord Caitanya’s main process is Harinama! This is how we get prema, not through deity worship. So therefore, the emphasis on Harinama is there for Lord Caitanya! In other words, Harinama surpasses Pancharatra Diksha!

9) Maharaj, can you explain about Shridhar Swami ?

So Shridhar Swami is.., he wrote a commentary on the full Bhagavatam. And he’s said to be the first commentator on Srimad Bhagavatam. So we have a compilation of many commentators on Bhagavatam. It’s a publication, I think it’s printed somewhere in Gujarat or somewhere there. And the first commentary is Shridhara Swami’s commentary.

And then following that we’ll have other commentators. Someone from Madhva Sampradaya, someone from Shri Sampradaya. In Vallabha Sampradaya we get Vishnavatha Chakravarty’s commentary. We’ll get Jiva Goswami’s commentary and we get some other commentaries as well. But the first one is Shridhar Swami’s commentary.

Translator devotee:  Ramanuja Acharya commentary also?

HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Not by him, but there are disciples. Someone in that line does certain commentary.

10) [A comment from a devotee about Bengali Bhagavatam] : Maharaj, Mahaprabhu certify that Raghunath Das Bhagavata Acharya. Mahaprabhu  said, I never, never heard from anybody. There is a text in Chaitanya Bhagavad. Mahaprabhu was passing through a place in Kolkata called Barahanagar. So, translation is like this, that while Mahaprabhu heard that Bhagavad Acharya, that he was explaining and giving all conclusion in the right way. So, Mahaprabhu was so satisfied. So, he said, you don’t do other than this anything. So, then he said, Mahaprabhu, I am a Grahasta, I have a wife, children and I have to maintain the whole family. How come I will be engaged only in this? But it is more than sufficient if you will engage yourself. Then since then he started and that book called the “Krishna Prema Tarangani”.

HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yeah, yeah. I translated. That is the Bengali version of Bhagavatam.

Devotee: I translated also. So, so wonderful.

11) Maharaj, you were saying something there.. [about Sridahar Swami] ?

So, yeah, this is the first commentary and Lord Chaitanya gave respect, because it’s the first commentary. However, Jiva Goswami in sandharbas said, well, we follow Sridhar Swami in general, but sometimes we don’t follow also! It looks a little impersonal. So, we don’t follow in some cases.

So, Sridhar Swami in general just translates or explains literally. He doesn’t try to start interpreting if it says Brahman and Atma and start doing anything. He just takes it like that, okay, Brahman, Paramatma, like that. Whereas Vishwanath Chakravarti will say, okay, Atma means Paramatma, Brahman means Krishna, whatever. So, in other words, he just takes a more literal approach to the meaning.

But it seems in general, ultimately he says – Bhagavan is Supreme and Holy name is supreme.

12) Sridhar Swami came before Lord Chaitanya?

Yeah, sometime before.

Okay, fine.

Devotees: Grantharaj Srimad Bhagavatam Ki.. Jai ! Srila Prabhupad Ki.. Jai !!