Srimad Bhagavatam – 11.10.19 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | ISKCON Chennai | April 7, 2021
“Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya”
“Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya”
“Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya”
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
śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda
śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
SB 11.10.19
yadi prāptiṁ vighātaṁ ca
jānanti sukha-duḥkhayoḥ
te ’py addhā na vidur yogaṁ
mṛtyur na prabhaved yathā
Translation:
Even if people know how to achieve happiness and avoid unhappiness, they still do not know the process by which death will not be able to exert its power over them.
Purport:
If the so-called intelligent materialists know the means of achieving happiness and destroying unhappiness, then they should deliver people from inevitable death. The scientists are busily working to solve this problem, but since they have completely failed, it is understood that they are not actually intelligent and that they do not know the means of achieving happiness and eliminating misery. It is most foolish to think that one can be happy with an axe hanging over one’s neck. Lord Kṛiṣhṇa says in Bhagavad-gītā, mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś cāham: “I Myself come before you as death and take everything away.” We should not blindly ignore the disaster of material life, but should instead accept the Lord’s causeless mercy, which He so magnanimously offers in His incarnation as Chaitanya Mahāprabhu. We should surrender to the lotus feet of Lord Chaitanya, who offers the real means for achieving unqualified happiness: the chanting of the holy names of the Lord. This is the Lord’s desire, and it is in our own self-interest to take up this process.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
So the statement here is that, even if you know how to avoid the extreme happiness and distress, that is, avoid the unhappiness and get the happiness, still one cannot prevent death. Of course, death itself is a cause of suffering. So, technically, even if we are to avoid unhappiness and get happiness in life, we have death to confront or we cannot really be happy. This is an obvious fact. In spite of that, people ignore. So, this is a question which the Yaksha asked Yudhishthira. So, the Yaksha asked Yudhishthira, what is the most astonishing thing in this world? So, Yudhishthira replied, the most astonishing thing is that even though people see everybody else dying, they think, I will not die.
So, this is related to the fact that we may see many things, unless we experience it ourself, we don’t really believe in them. So, a person sees other people go to prison for stealing or cheating or whatever, but he will go out and steal anyway. Then, when he goes to prison, then he realizes, oh, this was not so good, because now I’m really suffering. So, seeing is not enough. We often have to experience. The problem is that even after we experience, still we do not learn. A person goes to prison and suffers, then he comes out, then he thinks, oh, that was not so bad after all. Then he commits another crime, then he goes to prison again. This, of course, is foolish, but this is the nature of the human being. Sometimes, it takes us a long time to learn something, and only after many experiences then we will learn.
So, of course, we see that people are in the material world without beginning. This means they’ve been trying to learn for a long, long time. And each time they experience happiness and distress, they also experience death, but then they live another life, and they experience the same things again, and another death, and another death, and they still don’t. So, when Yudhishtira says, it’s very astonishing, it’s not just astonishing that they don’t believe they’re going to die. Throughout life also, they don’t believe that they’re going to suffer, but they think somehow I can be happy. This happens life after life.
So, it is a very slow process to learn. And, of course, it also takes some intelligence. The more one is in ignorance, the less likely it is to learn anything. So, therefore, the lower species of life, they don’t learn anything, they just automatically progress. But the human being, because he has higher intelligence, can progress upwards and he can upgrade himself. And he should learn to progress. So, that first step is the Varnashram system and Karma Yoga, where one learns how to get a higher planets, a higher degree of happiness and less suffering. And one does that by avoiding sinful activities. So, just to come to that stage of learning takes a long time. And as it goes to the Varnashram system, from tamo guna to rajo guna to sattva guna, which means from ignorance to knowledge, then gradually our intelligence becomes more. It becomes more possible to learn from our experiences as we progress through the gunas. So, this is the process and it is very, very long. And that is because the Jiva is very attached to his enjoyment in this world. So, though we have this gradual system of elevation, because the Jivas are very slow learners, Krishna also makes a little exception. Of course, when the Lord comes and kills demons, then they get real quick advancement.
But the other process is the process of Bhakti. So, this allows the Jiva to progress very, very rapidly. Of course, because we start with a lot of material influence, there will be some struggle in the beginning. In other words, we still have the slow learning tendency in the beginning. But as the devotee advances, then the process of learning becomes very quick. Therefore, Krishna in Bhagavad Gita says that, even if the devotee makes a mistake and falls, if he continues to do the Bhakti, then the Lord doesn’t prescribe any purification. So, Krishna expects that the devotee, through his experience, will learn something and not make the same mistake. So, this, we can say, is the mercy of the Supreme Lord and the process of Bhakti. Similarly, we have the government and they have laws and if you commit crimes, you go to jail. But at the same time, we know that the judge, if he knows the person has a good character or whatever, then the punishment is much less. So, the process of Bhakti is a manifestation of Krishna’s mercy.
Unfortunately, some people are not qualified to accept that mercy. So in the story of Nalakuvera, they get cursed by Narada Muni and there he states that pride and wealth is the cause of so many other faults. Due to that intoxication with wealth we become blind and we have no interest at all in anything spiritual. And for that reason, the two sons of Kubera, they disrespected Narada Muni. So, if one is covered up so much by ignorance, then one cannot appreciate Bhakti or the devotee. Nevertheless, we also see that there is a remedy. So, Narada Muni says, well, if you take away the wealth, then they will lose their pride. When they have no wealth and they are suffering then they understand how everybody else is suffering and therefore they give-up violence to other living entity. Therefore, the solution for people who are proud of their wealth is to take all their wealth away.
So, Narada Muni took all the wealth of the sons of Kubera away and they became trees. But he gave them a blessing. One is they retained their memory. So, with that memory, they had a very great advantage. So, Narada Muni arranged that after a hundred devata years, they would meet Krishna. And when they met Krishna, then they offered respects, they understood the value of Bhakti. At first they were unqualified for any sort of mercy, but later on, by the mercy of Narada Muni and their continued memory, they got some intelligence. And then they were able to respect Krishna and devotees. So, for those who are unqualified for Bhakti, then they will have to continue to stay in the material world and after that time hopefully by some continual mercy of devotees eventually they will develop faith. Unfortunately, the Lord does not appear at all times therefore the Kuberas had to wait for a hundred devata years. It was a long time. So Krishna appeared 5,000 years ago. He won’t appear until another day of Brahma.
So we cannot wait until that time to get saved. So Krishna provides another way, besides taking away people’s wealth. The other way is association with devotees. By that association those people who have pride can very quickly advance. So the Lord provides another advantage as well. And that is, in Kali Yuga Caitanya Mahaprabhu manifests Nama Sankirtan. So this is another way in which Krishna manifests His presence. The devotees are considered to be the best tirtha, because within them the Lord is residing. If we can’t directly meet the Lord, at least we meet devotees.
The other way we meet Krishna is through chanting the name. So it is said that the Lord does not appear in Kali Yuga, but He appears in the form of Nama. So by chanting the name of Krishna we can realize the form. So this is not only a method of contacting the Lord, it is also the easiest method of contacting the Lord. Of all different processes, chanting the name is the most powerful. It is available for everybody. And it is even available for the lower species of life. So Haridas Thakur explained that loud chanting is very good, because all living entities get the advantage of hearing the name. But of course, the effect on the human being is much greater. If it falls on the ears of an ignorant person, even then it has great power. If it falls on the ears of a person who has faith then it has more power. In any case it is available for all people. And this is unlike other processes. But for that reason it is also the Yuga Dharma.
So of course, in previous Yugas, they had a Varnashram system in effect. So the process of meditation and sacrifices and deity worship were all for people within the Varnashram. In Kali Yuga that system is destroyed. We see that in Bhagavatam in the 9th Canto and then after in the 12th Canto, there is the Yadu dynasty and how in Kali Yuga the family of Swayambhuva Manu dwindled away. So the Holy Name has influenced in spite of the disappearance of the Varnashram. Therefore it is recommended in Kali Yuga. Because it is available, everyone does not need a lesser form. Actually it is more powerful. And it not only is powerful, but it can elevate one to the highest position. That is the reason sometimes the Devatas pray to be born in Kali Yuga because they can get something that people don’t attain in other Yugas.
Therefore, ultimately chanting the name is the way in which you can overcome the problem mentioned in this verse. What is described here is very typical of the people in Kali Yuga. They have less intelligence. Therefore, it is very difficult for them to escape from the suffering. So chanting the name of Krishna not only destroys the suffering, but it takes one to the highest levels of spiritual happiness.
Hare Krishna !
Q & A:
1.) Thank you Maharaj. Maharaj, you said in the case of Nalakuvera and Manigriva, the memory of their past sins helped them to overcome and of course it took a longer time. But we see Krishna also gives all the living entities forgetfulness by which they don’t remember their past. So in one sense, one perspective is it’s better to have the memory of the past sins so that one can correct themselves which has been going on for millions of lifetimes Maharaj. How to appreciate that?
People know their whole life and they go to prison once and they come out of prison. In spite of the memory, they don’t learn anything. Some people can take advantage of their memory. Others don’t. So the arrangement according to body to body is in general, the previous memories are not there. The influence is still there. One may not remember particular incidents from previous lifetimes, but nevertheless certain impressions are there which stay with you and influence your life. Some of those influences are kept with you so that in this lifetime you can make some improvements.
If all of the memories and everything were all available, then it would be useless. We would not be able to concentrate on this lifetime. We would be constantly afflicted by all the many thousands and thousands of lifetimes and experiences.
2.) Maharaj, you mentioned that chanting the holy name is the most powerful. On the other hand, we know that the association of the devotee is also very very powerful, so, how is it in comparison or in relation to each other ?
Association of the devotees means, ultimately the teaching. Ultimate teaching should be to chant the holy name.
3.) Maharaj, in relation to the holy name, I was just reading a verse from Chaitanya Bhagavata. Lord Caitanya says this verse, “sarva-ksana bala’ ithe vidhi nahi ara”(CB – 2.23.78). There is no other rules but to chant the holy name at all times. Which means, is that a rule Maharaj, at all times one should chant the holy name?
Of course, we have other processes as well. But we give a prominence to the chanting of the name. For instance, though chanting is the main process, we have hearing and we have deity worship. But these act as a assistant to chanting.
Devotee: Thank you Maharaj.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Hare Krishna !
Devotees : Granthraj Sri Srimad Bhagavatham ki Jai !! HH Banu Swami Maharaj ki Jai !! His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupad ki Jai !!