Srimad Bhagavatam – 11.10.33 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | ISKCON Chennai | April 16, 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-advaitha gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
ŚB 11.10.33
यावदस्यास्वतन्त्रत्वं तावदीश्वरतो भयम् ।
य एतत् समुपासीरंस्ते मुह्यन्ति शुचार्पिता: ॥ ३३ ॥
yāvad asyāsvatantratvaṁ
tāvad īśvarato bhayam
ya etat samupāsīraṁs
te muhyanti śucārpitāḥ
Synonyms
yāvat — as long as; asya — of the living being; asvatantratvam — there is no freedom from dependence on the modes of nature; tāvat — then there will be; īśvarataḥ — from the supreme controller; bhayam — fear; ye — those who; etat — to this material concept of life; samupāsīran — devote themselves; te — they; muhyanti — are bewildered; śucā — in lamentation; arpitāḥ — always absorbed.
Translation
The conditioned soul who remains dependent on fruitive activities under the material modes of nature will continue to fear Me, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, since I impose the results of one’s fruitive activities. Those who accept the material concept of life, taking the variegatedness of the modes of nature to be factual, devote themselves to material enjoyment and are therefore always absorbed in lamentation and grief.
Purport
The living entity is bound in the network of illusion, but although he can understand that he is dependent upon superior powers, he does not want to serve the Supreme Lord. He thus becomes filled with fear of life itself. Desiring material sense gratification, the living entity, like the demon Kaṁsa, always fears destruction of his material arrangement. Remaining addicted to the flavors of material nature, one gradually sinks down into an irrational form of life.
Māyā has two potencies — the first covers the living entity, and the second throws him down into a hellish condition of life. When one is covered by māyā, one loses all power of discrimination, and māyā then throws such a fool into the darkness of ignorance. When one wrongly considers oneself to be independent of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Kṛṣṇa, one becomes a worshiper of temporary material objects, hoping to enjoy material sense gratification, and as one grows older, one’s life becomes filled with fear and anxiety. A conditioned soul considers himself to be in control of his life, but since he does not have any actual controlling potency, his situation is contradictory and not at all pleasing. As all of one’s material possessions are taken away by time, one becomes filled with lamentation. All in all, material life is truly abominable, and it is only because of dense illusion that we accept it as satisfactory.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
This verse explains more or less the same ideas – bewilderment by material energy. Of course, the added element here is fear. So the materialist is not in control. He wants to live forever, but he must die. He wants to be healthy, but he gets sick. So the result of this is that, the living entity is fearful.
Ofcourse, this is something, which is characteristic of the human being. Certainly, animals also have fear. Usually, the fear is temporary. They don’t think that I have to die in 10 years or 20 years or whatever or maybe I’ll get sick next year. If there is a immediate threat, then there is fear and they fight or run away. Human beings may also do the same thing. However, in addition, the human being has an ability to think of the future. Therefore, the possibilities of fear are much more. We don’t know what is going to happen in the future. So this gives rise to fear.
We see in the story of Kamsa, that he was always fearing that Krishna would come and kill him. How did he know that? Actually, he didn’t [Laughs]. But a voice came in the sky and said, ‘oh, the eighth child of Devaki is going to kill you’. So because of that prediction, then he had fear. And of course, the threat was not immediate, it would be some time in the future. Kamsa was filled with fear for a long, long time. After Krishna was born, he even had more fear. So it’s described that, well eating and sleeping and conversing and walking and whatever, he was always in fear of Krishna. So in this case, Kamsa had fear of Krishna, who was death for Kamsa. And finally, when Krishna went to the arena of Kamsa, and then he actually killed Kamsa.
So there, in the description of the arena, the wrestling arena, Sukadeva Goswami describes the emotions of the different people and how they thought of Krishna. So Krishna’s friends thought of him as a friend and they joked with him. They were not at all worried because they had seen he had killed so many demons in Vrindavan. Nanda, Yashoda, Vasudeva and Devaki, they saw Krishna as their child. And they worried about him. How could he fight with such big wrestlers? The young women of Mathura, they thought of Krishna as cupid, in other words, they fell in love with Krishna. The Yadus thought of Krishna as a Supreme Lord. The Yogis thought of him as Brahman. The ordinary people were amazed by Krishna and they thought of him as astonishment. And Kamsa thought of Krishna. And then of course Krishna was like death itself and he killed Kamsa. So of course in Bhagavad Gita, Krishna also says, I am time and time is equal to death. So the only way that materialists will see the Supreme Lord is as death. That’s how Kamsa appreciated Krishna. Only in fear.
So the materialists spoken of in this verse, they fear the Supreme Lord even though they don’t recognize the Lord. So they are in fear, because they cannot control their situation in life. So what do they do with this situation? It is not very comfortable to live in fear all the time. So they counteract this with enjoyment. So they become completely involved in material enjoyment and in this way they forget about death. So as Yudhisthira says the most surprising thing about human beings is, even though they know they are going to die, they don’t act as if they are going to die.
So the intelligent person also knows that, he will have to die. But his response is different. He does not have to fear. Why? Because he knows he is not the body anyway. He doesn’t really die. And of course the inquisitive person, intelligent person will inquire, we all know that death is going to come, so what is the best activity to do, to prepare for death. If we are sick, then we will ask, what is the best medicine to take? So if we are going to die, what is the best action to do?
Parikshit set a good example for everybody. When he learned that he would die in seven days, then he asked all the great sages, what should I do now that I am going to die? Of course he already knew. From birth, he was already a great devotee of the Lord. However for teaching people he asked this question. So the first answer given to that question is what to do. Of course other sages gave some suggestions, but he was not satisfied. So Sukadeva, then gave the answer. So he said you hear about the activities of Krishna and you chant the glories of Krishna. So this is the counter action to death. So this does not prevent the body from disappearing. But it qualifies the Jiva for not taking birth in the material world and getting highest happiness. So this is the best solution to the problem.
However we know that most people do the opposite. Instead of getting an answer to the question, they cover up the fear of death by involving themselves in material activities. So this is utter ignorance. This is of course condemned in the scripture. But it is encouraged in the material world. So we see that, in the material world people are encouraged to enjoy. Everyone is given plenty of opportunities to get their enjoyment.
So the Vedas do not deny that the living entity and the human being should get some enjoyment. However it should be regulated. We see that animals are regulated. They don’t have scriptures, they don’t have much intelligence, they don’t have governments. But they follow certain rules. However the human being is a little different. And he can act without regulation of his senses. And he can act in very extreme ways with his senses. So therefore, these scriptures give us restrictions. They do not deny use of the senses. There is some restriction. So in this way, by that restriction, then the human being learns to use his intelligence properly. And eventually the human being can realize that material nature and body are different from the soul. However, to get to that stage takes a lot of time.
So they say it is fortunate to be born as a human being, because before that you can’t even think about dharma or restriction or anything. But better to be born as a human being to be born within the varnashrama system. In that system we have a very ordered way of controlling the senses. And eventually we can come to the level of sattva. So therefore it is said that the most fortunate person in the varnashrama system is the brahmana. So the brahmana accepts the scriptures. He accepts the control of the senses. So therefore he is put in a very high position. However higher than that is the Vaishnava. The Vaishnava is in a higher position because he accepts the scriptures. And it is through this acceptance of the Supreme Lord that the Jiva can easily get out of the material world and experience the highest happiness.
So the human being has to at least get this understanding of the hopeless position of struggling in the material world. So to help us we have these descriptions here. And by reading these descriptions, we can understand the hopeless nature of material existence.
Hare Krsna !
Q & A :
1.) Thank you Maharaj. Maharak, Devotees who have taken shelter of the Lord are supposed to be fearless of material existence. However in one sense in situations like this pandemic devotees also seem to have fear. Is it that they are not sufficiently surrendered? or How do we understand that?
In one sense, we should be fearless, in another sense, we should also understand that the material world is a dangerous place. Therefore, we have to take precautions. We don’t simply walk on the street and walk across the street with the red light thinking that Krishna is going to protect. We don’t drive the car with blind folded. We also have to use our intelligence while living in the material world. In fact the devotee should be more intelligent. So we take precautions.
2.) Maharaj, in truth, the devotees are supposed to be fearful of no more material birth or material existence then that should be the real fear. But that seems to be in one sense, not so prevalent.
Well a fear of material existence is okay to give it up, but that’s not necessarily bhakti, that will lead to liberation. So the other point of Bhagavatam is to become attracted to Krishna. So we have to balance the two factors.
Thank you so much Maharaj.
Okay, Hare Krishna !
Devotee: Granthraj Sri Srimad Bhagavatham ki Jai !! His Holiness Banu Swami Maharaj ki Jai !! His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupad ki Jai. !! Nitai Gaura Premanande Hari Hari bol !!