Srimad Bhagavatam 11.10.20 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | ISKCON Chennai | 8 April 2021
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale
śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine
namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe
nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe
jaya śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda
śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda
Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare
Reading from Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 11 Chapter 10 Verse 20.
ŚB 11.10.20
ko ’nv arthaḥ sukhayaty enaṁ
kāmo vā mṛtyur antike
āghātaṁ nīyamānasya
vadhyasyeva na tuṣṭi-daḥ
Synonyms
kaḥ — what; nu — certainly; arthaḥ — material object; sukhayati — gives happiness; enam — to a person; kāmaḥ — sense gratification derived from material things; vā — or; mṛtyuḥ — death; antike — standing nearby; āghātam — to the place of execution; nīyamānasya — of one who is being led; vadhyasya — of one who is to be killed; iva — like; na — not at all; tuṣṭi-daḥ — gives satisfaction.
Translation
Death is not at all pleasing, and since everyone is exactly like a condemned man being led to the place of execution, what possible happiness can people derive from material objects or the gratification they provide?
Purport
It is customary throughout the world that a condemned man is offered a sumptuous last meal. For the condemned man, however, such a feast is a chilling reminder of his imminent death, and therefore he cannot enjoy it. Similarly, no sane human being can be satisfied in material life, because death is standing near and may strike at any moment. If one is sitting in one’s living room with a deadly snake at one’s side, knowing that at any moment the poisonous fangs might pierce the flesh, how can one sit peacefully and watch television or read a book? Similarly, unless one is more or less crazy, one cannot be enthusiastic or even peaceful in material life. Knowledge of the inevitability of death should encourage one to become determined in spiritual life.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: In the Bhagavatam, we see how that the people of Vrindavan were attracted to Krishna. They were not attracted to Krishna to get anything from Him. They were attracted to Him simply to please Him more. So, the form of Krishna itself invokes that attraction. All forms of the Lord are very attractive. But of all the forms, Krishna is most attractive. And therefore, one of His four special characteristics which distinguish Him from Vishnu is His rupa madhuryam, sweet form. So, of course, attraction to form of the [Not clear] Lord is absolute. In the material world, we become attracted to someone’s form, that is very superficial. Also very temporary. We all know the story of liquid beauty. The beauty of the woman was turned into all waste products and that was not beautiful anymore. And of course, the beauty is one thing, but then, if we find that the person’s qualities are bad, we are no longer attracted. Sometimes we see people are attracted to great personalities because they look very nice. Maybe politician or maybe a movie actor, actress. But then, they show very bad qualities. And everyone loses their attraction for them. And their wives or husbands would divorce them [Laughs]. So, that beauty is very superficial in the material world.
Beauty in the spiritual form is eternal. It’s part of the swarupa of the Lord. So, it is completely blissful. However, apart from that beauty of the Lord, He manifests also perfect qualities. This makes Him very very attractive. So, how are those qualities manifested? Those qualities are manifested in His activity. So, the Lord has many many wonderful qualities. One of His greatest qualities is Bhakta Vatsala, great affection for His devotees. So, showing mercy and affection is one of the primary qualities of Lord. But in Krishna, these qualities become extraordinary. So, He does exceptional things for His devotee So, it’s described in Bhagavatam how Krishna became the messenger of the Pandavas, the minister of the Pandavas, the night guard for the Pandavas. He became the charioteer of Arjuna. So, He does many things that normally God doesn’t do. And then in Vrindavan, He does, He expresses His affection for His devotee even more intensely. So, as the son of Mother Yasoda, He agrees to get tied up. So, He is completely under the control of His devotees. So, the qualities of the Supreme Lord manifest very very wonderfully in Krishna. They manifest in His wonderful relationships with His devotees. So, for some, He acts as a friend. For some, He acts as a child. For some, He acts as a lover.
So, Krishna establishes very intimate relationships with the devotees [Not clear] they manifest all wonderfully. And in all of these relationships, Krishna responds in the best possible way. So, He does this more than in any other form of Supreme Lord. He does this in the form of Krishna more than in other forms of the Lord. So, then, He manifests remarkable activities or pastimes. And these become astonishing for everyone. Even the devatas are astonished. So, Krishna has most remarkable pastimes.
And of course, the fourth quality of Krishna is His flute. So, simply by playing His flute with that sound, He stimulates very, very sweet prema. So, in this way, Krishna is most attractive. So, by hearing about the wonderful form, qualities and activities of Krishna, then we can concentrate on Supreme Lord.
So, one of the angas of bhakti, principal anga, is sravanam. That’s not hearing anything, it’s hearing scripture. But when our Acharyas comment on this, it doesn’t mean hearing anything, any scripture, it means hearing Bhagavatam. And we hear Bhagavatam in order to develop attraction for Krishna. So, this is the main activity of the devotee. And this becomes the main interest of the devotee and our Acharyas. So, we see that our Acharyas most intently concentrate on making commentaries on the 10th canto. Vishwanath Chakravarti wrote commentary on whole Bhagavatam, but others like Sanatana Goswami, he only wrote on the 10th canto. And of course, we see outside our sampradaya, others also became attracted to commenting on Krishna’s pastimes. So, we have many, many commentaries on the 10th canto. So, therefore the devotee should concentrate on hearing about Krishna.
Of course, our main anga is Nama Sankirtan, chanting Krishna’s name. But the hearing process accompanies that chanting. We can’t chant suddha nama unless we have proper knowledge. One type of knowledge, of course, is to understand the philosophy. The other type of knowledge, of course, is to know about Krishna. When we hear the name Krishna, we associate that name with a wonderful form, qualities and activities of Krishna. So, that knowledge will help us manifest Krishna’s form, qualities and activities in the name. So, in this way, the hearing process aids the chanting.
Hare Krishna.
Q & A:
1.) Maharaj you mentioned that Krishna by His flute is stimulating prema in the bhaktas. But what are the possibilities or chances for sadhakas to get this opportunity Maharaj?
Of course, even the form or the qualities and activities, we don’t directly realize. But we appreciate this is in bhava and prema. So, what do we do before that? So, in sadhana, we prepare to see and appreciate name, form, qualities and activities of Krishna directly. So, that preparation is to hear about name, form, qualities, activities and flute in Bhagavatam. Then, devotees would say, where we have the deity? So, when seeing the deity, we can also think of the wonderful descriptions in Bhagavatam. But we have not developed our spiritual vision even if we are looking at the deity. But eventually, we will develop the spiritual vision. And we will develop the spiritual beauty or [Not clear] the flute.
2.) How to understand in bhakti yoga, the terms detachment and vairagya?
Well, these are automatic manifestations along with bhakti. Now, they may also be favourable at the beginning of bhakti to some degree. But if they are too strong, they are unfavourable. So, therefore, in Nectar of Devotion, it is described that cultivation of vairagya and jnana is a little favourable at the beginning. But if we continue those processes, they dry up the heart. We will begin to appreciate impersonal Brahman more than the wonderful form, qualities and activities of Krishna. So, if we concentrate on hearing about the temporary nature of the material body and how we are atma and we are indifferent to the material world [Laughs], this type of cultivation of renunciation can, and that’s all we do, then we are headed towards jnana and liberation rather than bhakti.
3.) Maharaj when a pure devotee is in this world and what is his consciousness about death, particularly when he is about to leave his body and leave this pastimes here.
Which, which devotee are you speaking of?
Devotee: Generally, I’m just speaking about general pure devotees of the Lord Maharaj.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Well, it doesn’t really matter because what is most important is the activities they do throughout their life. Those who are more advanced are less attached to their bodies and they’re not so concerned about giving up that body. And if they are very advanced, then, they become unaware that they are even leaving their body [Laughs]. And that is because they are actually living in their spiritual body.
4.) Maharaj when Haridasa Thakur wanted to leave his body before Mahaprabhu, he didn’t want to see the final pastimes of the Lord. Similarly, Kuresh wanted to leave before his spiritual master Ramanujacharya left his body and go to the spiritual world. What should be the right understanding?
So, these are the activities of great devotees in direct association with the Lord and His devotee. And we can never try to imitate that. Ultimately, the devotee simply accepts the will of the Lord, whatever He wants to do.
5.) Maharaj when Bhishma was about to leave his body, he said, please wait, my dear Krishna, please don’t leave this place until I give up my breath. That’s one point. Though he was seeing Krishna personally, he was also desiring to see the four handed form. How to appreciate? He has been living with Krishna, not really with Narayana, but he wanted to see the four-handed of Krishna? How to understand that Maharaj?
For the devotees of Krishna outside of Vrindavan, Krishna manifests two arms or four-arms. And they accept Krishna as the Supreme Lord. So most of these devotees are in dasya bhava. And they also have aishwarya, they see Krishna as Supreme Lord. So, seeing Him with four arms is an aspect of that aishwarya mood.
6.) Maharaj you mentioned Krishna is all-attractive, even sometimes demons get attracted. But those who are grossly materialistic are not so much attracted. How to understand that Maharaj?
So, of course, for a person in the material world, his main attraction is sense gratification. So it’s very difficult to get him to develop any spiritual interest. So, if the Lord appears, even then it will take some time. In the case of Sisupala, he concentrated on the Lord, but it took him a long time before he got purified. And finally got purified, then the Lord popped up his head [Laughs]. And then he got a spiritual form. So in the case of the demons, it takes longer in general for them to advance, even if Krishna is attractive.
7.) Maharaj can we say not only smaranam, all angas of pure bhakti depends on sravana from a pure devotee. So, can we say sravana is the chief among all angas of bhakti?
Well, for the devotees of Lord Caitanya, Kirtana is the main anga. And then after that we have sravanam and smaranam. They are all intimately related together.
8.) Maharaj mentioned about the importance of Srimad Bhagavatam, particularly the 10th canto for Gaudiya Vaishnavas. However, we still find even within ISKCON, there are lot of discourses on Ramayana or to say so, with regard to Mahabharata and all that. How do we understand that Maharaj?
Yes, it involves topics of the Supreme Lord. There is nothing wrong with that. But as explained in the Bhagavatam itself, Mahabharata is often involved with other types of stories. So it encourages people to do karma yoga. So, on the other hand, of course Ramayana also is about Rama. But then again, it also has many stories about many things. So we can always listen to these things. But our main interest is Bhagavatam.
Devotees: Grantharaj Srimad Bhagavatam ki jai!!! HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj ki jai!!! Srila Prabhupada ki jai!!! Nitai Gaura premanande Hari Haribol!!!