Bhakticharu swami Maharaj

The Indicator Of Devotion

2012-01-22T03:51:00.000-08:00

THE FOLLOWING LECTURE ON SRIMAD-BHAGAVATAM, CANTO 3, CHAPTER 1, QUESTIONS BY VIDURA, TEXT 25, WAS GIVEN BY HIS HOLINESS BHAKTI CHARU SWAMI ON 6 APRIL 2008 IN ISKCON UJJAIN, INDIA.

Transcription : Her Grace Ranga Radhika Dasi

Editing : Ramananda Raya Dasa

Audio reference: click here

Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya
Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya
Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya

Srimad Bhagavatam, third Canto, chapter one ‘Questions By Vidura’, text twenty five.
sa vasudevanucaram prasantam
brihaspateh prak tanayam pratitam
alingya gadham pranayena bhadram
svanam apricchad bhagavat-prajanam

Synonyms:
sah — he, Vidura; vasudeva — Lord Krishna; anucaram — constant companion; prasantam — very sober and gentle; brihaspateh — of Brihaspati, the learned spiritual master of the demigods; prak — formerly; tanayam — son or disciple; pratitam — acknowledged; alingya — embracing; gadham — very feelingly; pranayena — in love; bhadram — auspicious; svanam — his own; apricchat — asked; bhagavat — of the Personality of Godhead; prajanam — family.

Translation:
Then, due to his great love and feeling, Vidura embraced him [Uddhava], who was a constant companion of Lord Krishna and formerly a great student of Brihaspati’s. Vidura then asked him for news of the family of Lord Krishna, the Personality of Godhead.

Purport:
Vidura was older than Uddhava, like a father, and therefore when the two met, Uddhava bowed down before Vidura, and Vidura embraced him because Uddhava was younger, like a son. Vidura’s brother Pandu was Lord Krishna’s uncle, and Uddhava was a cousin to Lord Krishna. According to social custom, therefore, Vidura was to be respected by Uddhava on the level of his father. Uddhava was a great scholar in logic, and he was known to be a son or disciple of Brihaspati, the greatly learned priest and spiritual master of the demigods. Vidura asked Uddhava about the welfare of his relatives, although he already knew that they were no longer in the world. This inquiry appears to be very queer, but Srila Jiva Gosvami states that the news was shocking to Vidura, who therefore inquired again due to great curiosity. Thus his inquiry was psychological and not practical.
[End of Purport]
sa vasudevanucaram prasantam
brihaspateh prak tanayam pratitam
alingya gadham pranayena bhadram
svanam apricchad bhagavat-prajanam

Then, due to his great love and feeling, Vidura embraced him [Uddhava], who was a constant companion of Lord Krishna and formerly a great student of Brihaspati’s. Vidura then asked him for news of the family of Lord Krishna, the Personality of Godhead. Vidura, in his travel came near the Yamuna. So we have to understand that he met Uddhava in the region of Mathura or Vrindavana, while Vidura was travelling. It has been described that how he travelled all over, all the holy places and then he came to Western India and he travelled through Saurashtra which is known as Surat now, and Sauvira, Matsya and Kurujangala. This province, Kurujangala, is the western side of Hastinapura. And in this way while travelling he arrived on the bank of the Yamuna where he met Uddhava, a great devotee of Lord Sri Krishna.

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Envy Makes One Blind

2012-01-08T01:26:00.000-08:00

THE FOLLOWING LECTURE ON SRIMAD-BHAGAVATAM, CANTO 3, CHAPTER 1, QUESTIONS BY VIDURA, TEXT 14, WAS GIVEN BY HIS HOLINESS BHAKTI CARU SWAMI ON 25 MARCH 2008 IN ISKCON UJJAIN, INDIA.

Transcription : Her Grace Ranga Radhika Dasi

Editing : Ramananda Raya Dasa
Audio reference: click here

Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya
Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya
Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya

Srimad Bhagavatam, third Canto, first chapter, text fourteen. This chapter is entitled as ‘Questions By Vidura.’

ity ucivams tatra suyodhanena
pravriddha-kopa-sphuritadharena
asat-kritah sat-sprihaniya-silah
kshatta sakarnanuja-saubalena

Synonyms:
iti — thus; ucivan — while speaking; tatra — there; suyodhanena — by Duryodhana; pravriddha — swollen with; kopa — anger; sphurita — flapping; adharena — lips; asat-kritah — insulted; sat — respectable; sprihaniya-silah — desirable qualities; kshatta — Vidura; sa — with; karna — Karna; anuja — younger brothers; saubalena — with Shakuni.

Translation:
While speaking thus, Vidura, whose personal character was esteemed by respectable persons, was insulted by Duryodhana, who was swollen with anger and whose lips were trembling. Duryodhana was in company with Karna, his younger brothers and his maternal uncle Shakuni.

Purport:
It is said that giving good counsel to a foolish person causes the fool to become angry, just as feeding milk to a snake only increases its venomous poison. Saint Vidura was so honorable that his character was looked up to by all respectable persons. But Duryodhana was so foolish that he dared to insult Vidura. This was due to his bad association with Shakuni, his maternal uncle, as well as with his friend Karna, who always encouraged Duryodhana in his nefarious acts.
[End of Purport]

ity ucivams tatra suyodhanena
pravriddha-kopa-sphuritadharena
asat-kritah sat-sprihaniya-silah
kshatta sakarnanuja-saubalena

While speaking thus, Vidura, whose personal character was esteemed by respectable persons, was insulted by Duryodhana, who was swollen with anger and whose lips were trembling. Duryodhana was in company with Karna, his younger brothers and his maternal uncle Shakuni.

So, Sukadeva Gosvami is describing what happened just before the battle of Kurukshetra. Everyone tried to stop this battle, including even Krishna, but Duryodhana did not listen to those good advices. Duryodhana was evil personified. It has been described that Duryodhana is the incarnation of Kali, and who is Kali? Kali Yuga, the leader or the controller of the age of Kali is the personality of Kali. He is actually quarrel personified. Another meaning of the word Kali is quarrel, kalaha, and Kali is the son of Envy and Anger, himsa and krodha. Kali is the son of these two personalities: personified envy and personified anger. And we can see where is quarrel? Quarrel is a result of envy and anger. When people become envious and become angry then they fight, then they quarrel. So Mahabharata is depicting that very beautifully.

So what lesson do we learn from that? Mahabharata is giving a very, very vivid description of what happened between Kauravas and Pandavas, although they are the two branches of the same family, a very illustrious family, Kuru dynasty. Many illustrious kings adorned that dynasty but now these two branches of the same family started to fight with each other. We can see how the root of this fight goes even further back. It goes to Dhritarashtra. Dhritarashtra was also an illustrious personality, born out of an illustrious parentage. Although he hailed from this family, not only hailed from this illustrious Kuru family but he was actually the son of Vyasadeva. And his mother Ambika is an incarnation of Devi Durga. Such an illustrious personality: the son of Durga Devi, an incarnation of Durga Devi, and of Vyasadeva. But we see that he was blind from his childhood. From his birth he was blind. He was born blind. Although he is the elder brother, although he is the eldest of that family line, but he is blind.

And here also we see yet another wonderful lesson that how the child becomes affected by the nature of the mother, the mood of the mother. Vyasadeva came to procreate in order to maintain the family line. The family line would have otherwise been lost. Both Vicitravirya and Citrangada died. Vicitravirya died out of tuberculosis and Citrangada died fighting with the Yaksa’s. Now we can even go back, we can see, anyway let us make this point first: Vicitravirya and Citrangada both died at a young age, and although…

[Altar curtain close] Jaya Sri Sri Krishna Balarama ki jaya! Jaya Sri Sri Radha Madana Mohana ki jaya! Jaya Sri Sri Gaura Nitai ki jaya!

He died at a young age and there was no one in the family to continue the line. Now the royal heritage, the royal line must continue with a successor. That’s why in the Vedic culture there is so much importance given to the male children because the male child actually carries the family line. The male child not only carries the family line, he also delivers the father and the forefathers of the family. Pindokakriya, this activity is pinda and offering water to the forefathers, causes deliverance to the departed souls. In the previous verse also it has been pointed out, Duryodhana has been pointed out that, although he is an ‘apatya’, the word apatya means one who delivers from falling down. The son delivers the father, protects the father from falling down, ‘patan.’ Therefore these two expressions in Sanskrit for son, one is apatya and the other is putra. Putra means one who delivers the father from a hell called ‘Puna.’ That’s why he is punat trayate iti putra, he delivers the father from falling down to the Puna Narakha. That’s why he is putra. And apatya: one who protects the father from falling down to the hellish planets. So the son actually delivers, and the son actually maintains the family line.

So, it was important that they have a son, they have someone to continue the family line and this is the illustrious family of royal lineage; rulers who had been hailing, the dynasty that has been hailing from the Candra Vamsha, from the Moon God himself, Somadeva. Mahabharata describes all that in details, how the line started from the Moon God and it continued through Pururava, Urvashi, Yayati, Dushyanta, Shakuntala, king Bharata was born. So it is a history actually, history of India.

Now the line is about to be destroyed. The line is about to come to an end. Both the members of the family died. Vicitravirya, Citrangada, both have died, two sons of king Shantanu. The only person who is alive is Bhishma. Now Bhishma has taken a vow of not getting married. Bhishma had taken a vow of a lifelong celibacy, akumara brahmacarya. He has taken a vow of celibacy and that also in order to enable his stepmother to get married to his father. And the stepmother’s father had a condition that her son should become the king. So this is how we can see the irony of destiny. We want something but destiny arranges things to happen in some other way.

His father, Shantanu, became attracted to this extremely beautiful daughter, who was the daughter of a Dhivara Raja, the king of the fishermen. When Shantanu approached the king of the fishermen in order to marry his daughter, Satyavati, the king of the fishermen said, “Well, it’s my great good fortune that an illustrious king like yourself wants to become my son-in-law, wants to marry my daughter. But you see, I have a desire that my daughter’s son should become the king.” And Shantanu said that, “Look, I already have a son and he is already coronated as the crown prince. He is the eldest of the family, eldest in the line so he is the natural successor to the throne.” But then this leader of the fishermen said, “Then I am sorry. You can’t get married to this daughter of mine.” So Shantanu went back. Now Bhishma could recognize that something happened. At that time his name was not Bhishma as yet. He was Satyavrata. He inquired what happened and then he found out that his father wanted to marry this girl but he couldn’t because her father had a condition. So he asked what was the condition and he was told by the chariot driver who was present there that this is what happened, that he wanted that her son should become the king. But your father declined saying that you are the successor to the throne, so he can’t marry her with the condition that her son would become the king. So Bhishma then went and he met this Dhivara Raja, the king of the fishermen, and Bhishma told that, “Look, I am relinquishing my claim over the throne.” But this person, Satyavati’s father, was a very crafty person. So he said, “Fine, you may relinquish your claim over the throne but what about your children? There will be a family fight because your children will fight with my grandchildren.” Then Bhishma said, “Okay, if that is your anxiety then I am taking a vow that I will never get married.” And it was such a terrible vow to maintain, lifelong celibacy, especially for a kshatriya. Kshatriyas’ bodies are very passionate. For a person who is in the mode of goodness to maintain celibacy is not that difficult but for a kshatriya who is in the mode of passion, for him to maintain celibacy is very difficult. So it was such a terrible vow that being a kshatriya and such a powerful personality he has taken a vow of lifelong celibacy. The demigods started to exclaim, express their astonishment by this exclamation: “What a terrible vow he has taken! Bhishma! Bhishma!” And that’s how he actually got the name Bhishma.

Now we can see, this father of this lady, Satyavati, wanted so much that his grandson should become the king and with that condition he got his daughter married to Shantanu, and he made Bhishma to take this vow that he would maintain a lifelong celibacy, but what happened in the course of destiny? Both the grandchildren, Citrangada and Vicitravirya, both are dead! And his wife, Vicitravirya was married to two girls, Ambika and Ambalika, the two daughters of Kashi Raja, the king of Kashi, but now they are widowed without any children. And now the whole dynasty is about to come to an end. No successor to the throne. Satyavati appealed to Bhishma that, “Please, you get married.” The first proposal was that, “You get married.” Bhishma said, “I have taken a vow not to get married.” Then she said, “Okay, then you procreate in the field of these two sisters-in-law.” Because in the Vedic culture in other ages it was authorized that if the brother died without having children then the brother-in-law could procreate in the womb of the wife of the brother, ‘devarena sutotpatti.’ That custom is called, devarena means brother-in-law, the husband’s brother, and sutotpatti, procreation, producing children when the husband dies by the brother-in-law is authorized according to the Vedic culture. But that has been forbidden in the age of Kali.

Five things have been forbidden in the age of Kali:
asvamedham gavalambham
sannyasam pala-paitrikam
devarena sutotpattim
kalau panca vivarjayet
[CC Adi 17.164]

These five things have been vivarjayet, forbidden. What are those? Asvamedha sacrifice, asvamedham. Gavalambham: gomedha. Sannyasa, often when I say that, sometimes they ask: “But, Maharaja, how come you are a sannyasi?” [laughs] Prabhupada has introduced sannyasa. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura introduced sannyasa in our sampradaya. But this sannyasa is tri-dandi sannyasa. What has been forbidden is eka-dandi sannyasa. Eka-danda sannyasa has been forbidden, the kind of sannyasa through which one tries to attain liberation. But tri-danda sannyasa is a sannyasa of offering body, mind and words, these three aspects in the service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So that is not forbidden.

So sannyasa, pala-paitrikam. Pala means meat, offering meat in the Shraddha of the forefathers. That was also authorized in other ages because by sacrifice the meat used to be sanctified and that meat was offered to the forefathers, but in the age of Kali that has been forbidden. Sannyasa and pala-paitrikam, and devarena sutotpattim, the procreation through the devara, brother-in-law, has been forbidden.

But in Dvapara Yuga it was authorized and that’s why Satyavati requested Bhishma that he should procreate children in the womb of his sisters-in-law, Ambika and Ambalika. Bhishma declined. He said, “No, I can’t break my vow.” Satyavati insisted that, “Look, it is for my sake that you have taken the vow and now I am requesting you. And it is for the sake of maintaining the family line.” But Bhishma declined. Then Satyavati told about her other son, Vyasadeva. Then Bhishma agreed and said, “Then call him.” And Vyasadeva told Satyavati that whenever she wanted, whenever she remembered, he would just appear there. So Satyavati invited Vyasa to come and as a result of that Vyasa appeared there and Satyavati requested.

So Vyasa agreed but when he met with Ambika, Ambika was frightened to see the fierce appearance of Vyasadeva. He was an extremely powerful personality. His complexion was like a monsoon cloud. His head was filled with matted hair and he was a radiant personality with his spiritual prowess. She, out of fear, closed her eyes. So when Vyasadeva came out of the room Satyavati very eagerly asked, “Is everything alright?” Vyasadeva said, “Yes, it’s alright. A son will be born with the strength of ten thousand elephants, but he’ll be blind because she closed her eyes.” Then Satyavati requested that, “Please, have another son.” So Ambalika was asked to meet with Vyasadeva and she didn’t close her eyes out of fear, but her face became pale out of fear. Vyasadeva declared that, “This son will be extremely powerful; extremely virtuous but his bodily complexion will be pale.” Then she requested him to have another son and this time Ambika and Ambalika were afraid to face him so they sent a maidservant, a beautiful young maidservant. And as a result of that Vidura was born. So these were the three sons of Vyasadeva to maintain the family line of the Kuru dynasty.

Pandu was an extremely powerful personality, extremely virtuous, extremely noble. He was ruling the kingdom with the expertise of Indra. He was powerful as Indra, wise as Brihaspati and he was expert in everything. But unfortunately he was cursed that when he would embrace his wife, he would die. So Pandu retired. He didn’t come home, come back to the palace. He just went to the Himayalan Mountains, Badarika ashrama, Badrinatha, high up in the Himalayas. He already took vanaprastha, sort of, and he was residing with the sages in that holy place in the Himalayas. He could not procreate children, so Kunti told him that she could invite the demigods and have children through them. So first they got Dharmaraja, Yamaraja, to come and as a result of that Yudhisthira was born.

[Altar curtains open] Jaya Sri Sri Krishna Balarama ki jaya! Jaya Sri Sri Radha Madana Mohana ki jaya! Jaya Sri Sri Gaura Nitai ki jaya!

Then Pavanadeva was invited and as a result of that Bhima was born. Then Indra was invited and Arjuna was born. And the other wife, Madri, Kunti gave her that mantra also that she received from Durvasa when she was a little girl. Madri invited the Ashvini Kumaras, the twin, and as a result of that she gave birth to Nakula and Sahadeva. So in this way five Pandavas were born, but when they were young, one day Pandu lost his resolve due to the influence of the spring time, when the whole nature becomes so beautiful. The gentle breeze blows carrying the fragrance of flowers and that season actually has a very strong influence on the living entities, especially human beings. Pandu lost control over himself. He completely forgot about the curse and when he embraced Madri he died. So Madri entered into the fire, the funeral fire and became sahamvrita: she also left her body to accompany Pandu. Kunti remained to take care of these five children and Kunti and the children were brought to the palace of Hastinapura. The sages brought them and introduced them as the children of Pandu.

Now, Dhrtarashtra, although he was the elder of the two brothers, but he was blind, therefore he couldn’t become a king. He had the desire, he had a burning desire to become a king. He couldn’t become a king. He had a hope that maybe his son would become the king but before Duryodhana was born, Yudhisthira Maharaja was born. So as a result of that Yudhisthira became the natural successor to the throne. So that was another disappointment for Dhrtarashtra. The name also is very significant here. Dhrta-rashtra: rashtra means kingdom and dhrta means one who tries to hold on to his kingdom. He is blind but he is so passionate, he is so eager to become the king. Therefore, when the Pandavas were brought Dhrtarashtra became extremely disappointed. He thought that okay, Pandu has left and now his son will become the king, but unfortunately for him Pandu’s son was older than his son. So he became the natural successor to the throne, Yudhisthira Maharaja. But he didn’t mind it, as long as they were away but when they were brought to the palace, although externally Dhrtarashtra showed so much affection for them and he lamented, he repented, he grieved for his brother’s demise, but internally he was burning with envy.

Once Dhrtarashtra was complaining that, “Look, I can’t sleep. Vidura do something. I can’t sleep.” And Vidura told him that one cannot sleep because of five factors, and he said, “Not that you cannot sleep now, you cannot sleep since the Pandavas were brought to the palace. The day the Pandavas, the five sons of Pandu, were brought to the palace, since that time you cannot sleep. Due to your anxiety, due to your intense desire that your son would become the king you haven’t been able to sleep. Your mental peace has been stolen.” And Dhrtarashtra always supported Duryodhana in his evil plots. He tried to poison Bhima. He tried to burn them, along with Kunti in a house of shellac and Dhrtarashtra approved. He is the one who actually supported that and he made that happen.

Everybody could understand that the Pandavas were actually being sent out in exile when Dhrtarashtra actually being provoked by Duryodhana that, “These Pandavas should go to Varnavata. Father, please tell them that it is such a nice place, Varnavata. There even the demigods like to come and stay there, so you go and have a good time there. Have a break, have a nice time there.” And Yudhisthira Maharaja knew that they were being sent out in exile but he couldn’t do anything because they were in power and the evil-minded Duryodhana was behind all that. So Yudhisthira accepted that, “Okay, fine. We will go.” Dhrtarashtra, in a hypocritical way, expressed his good wishes but internally he had this evil plan. And Yudhisthira Maharaja also understood that it was a plot to actually get rid of them but he didn’t say anything. But the people, especially wise people, they knew what was happening and they were cursing Dhrtarashtra that, “This blind, envious person, instead of protecting the children of his dead brother, look how he is behaving with them, sending them out in exile.”

And at that time Vidura actually told Yudhisthira Maharaja in an indirect way, using the language of the Mlechas, so that this is what’s going to happen. He pointed out that when there is fire, to protect oneself if one is in a hole and if it burns on top, then the fire will not affect them. In this way he indicated. He gave some other indications also and Yudhisthira Maharaja could understand what was being told. And Vidura asked, “So did you understand?” And Yudhisthira Maharaja said, “Yes, I did understand.” So he indicated that, “This house that has been built there for your residence is made of inflammable objects, shellac. The way to protect yourself, you dig a hole, a tunnel out of that place, and that is how you should escape.” And then Vidura sent a person who could dig a tunnel, an expert tunnel digger, and the Pandavas, during the day they used to be awake as if everything is normal and at night they used to dig the tunnel out of that place. And when the tunnel was complete they set the house on fire themselves and ran away from there. Everyone thought that the Pandavas died along with Kunti. Actually, that night a Nishada woman came to the house and her children ate so much and drank so much that they fell asleep. So when the Pandavas escaped, they got burned along with the minister of Duryodhana, Purocana, who was actually the person who made all these treacherous arrangements. He also got burned.

So in this way they tried to kill the Pandavas but Krishna always protected the Pandavas. And Vidura always had been giving the good counsel to Dhrtarashtra that, “Do not become affected, do not become influenced by your evil-minded son, Duryodhana. Come to your senses. Be on the path of virtue and righteousness. The Pandavas, they are actually situated on the path of dharma and your children are on the path of adharma. So get rid of your children. Don’t side with this evil-minded Duryodhana. Don’t support him but rather support the Pandavas.” And when he advised Dhrtarashtra then Duryodhana became angry and he started to insult and that is what has been pointed out. And Prabhupada in his purport is saying that an evil-minded person cannot listen to good advice. A fool cannot listen to good counsel, because he is a fool. A fool is a person who doesn’t understand what is good for him and what is bad for him. And Duryodhana is a perfect example of a fool. He didn’t know what was for his real benefit. Time and time again he had been told that, “If you side with the Pandavas then you’ll become so powerful that you can easily rule over the world without any obstacle. So why not make truce with them? Why not join hands with them? Give them half of the kingdom that belongs to them and you will remain a king, they will remain a king and together you can become so powerful.” But Duryodhana was so envious that he did not want to give them even five villages. That was the ultimate condition. Yudhisthira Maharaja said, “Look, give us five villages.” Because a kshatriya has to be independent. A brahmana maintains himself by ‘pathana paathana, yajana yaajana’: by teaching and by worshipping the Deities, performing different types of religious activities. That’s how a brahmana maintains himself. A kshatriya maintains himself by ruling over a piece of land. A vaishya maintains himself by trading and a sudra maintains himself by accepting the job from somebody else. So that’s why as a kshatriya their dharma demanded that they have some land. They didn’t want half of the kingdom. They said, “Give us just five villages.” But Duryodhana refused to even give that and the result was the battle became imminent and here he is insulting Vidura. The next verse will describe how he started to insult Vidura and Vidura left the palace and he went on a pilgrimage. So, a very wise thing to do. Vidura didn’t want to be there to see the family being destroyed, the slaughter of so many illustrious members of the family. Actually, all the kings of this world were slaughtered in that battle by Krishna’s arrangement. In order to establish dharma when adharma became prevalent, Krishna had to make this arrangement. He came to get rid of these demoniac rulers. So He came, He personally took care of Kamsa and his associates and then finally He made this arrangement. All the impious, sinful rulers were brought together and in one go they all were slaughtered. In eighteen days the earth practically became bereft of kshatriya kings.

Always Side With Krishna And Win

2012-01-08T00:35:00.000-08:00

THE FOLLOWING LECTURE ON SRIMAD-BHAGAVATAM, CANTO 3, CHAPTER 1, QUESTIONS BY VIDURA, TEXT 13, WAS GIVEN BY HIS HOLINESS BHAKTI CARU SWAMI MARCH 2008 IN ISKCON UJJAIN, INDIA.

(Click on the pictures to discover the Treasure House Of India’s Spiritual Wisdom as presented by ISKCON Founder Acharya Srila A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada)

Transcription : Her Grace Ranga Radhika Dasi
Editing : Ramananda Raya Dasa

Audio : click here

Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya
Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya
Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya
Srimad Bhagavatam, third Canto, chapter, text eleven, twelve and thirteen. Text eleven and twelve don’t have any purport, so text thirteen has been written on the board.

[Text eleven:]
ajata-satroh pratiyaccha dayam
titikshato durvishaham tavagah
sahanujo yatra vrikodarahih
svasan rusha yat tvam alam bibheshi
[Vidura said:] You must now return the legitimate share to Yudhishthira, who has no enemies and who has been forbearing through untold sufferings due to your offenses. He is waiting with his younger brothers, among who is the revengeful Bhima, breathing heavily like a snake. Surely you are afraid of him. Which verse was done yesterday? [Devotees: eleven and twelve] Eleven and twelve. Oh, I see, twelve has a purport. Okay, since I am reading I’ll just read it through for my benefit.
[Text twelve:]
parthams tu devo bhagavan mukundo
grihitavan sakshiti-deva-devah
aste sva-puryam yadu-deva-devo
vinirjitasesha-nrideva-devah
Lord Krishna, the Personality of Godhead, has accepted the sons of Pritha as His kinsmen, and all the kings of the world are with Lord Sri Krishna. He is present in His home with all His family members, the kings and princes of the Yadu dynasty, who have conquered an unlimited number of rulers, and He is their Lord.
[Text thirteen:]
sa esha doshah purusha-dvid aste
grihan pravishto yam apatya-matya
pushnasi krishnad vimukho gata-sris
tyajasv asaivam kula-kausalaya
Synonyms:
sah — he; eshah — this; doshah — offense personified; purusha-dvit — envious of Lord Krishna; aste — exists; grihan — household; pravishtah — entered; yam — whom; apatya-matya — thinking to be your son; pushnasi — maintaining; krishnat — from Krishna; vimukhah — in opposition; gata-srih — devoid of everything auspicious; tyaja — give up; asu — as soon as possible; asaivam — inauspicious; kula — family; kausalaya — for the sake of.
Translation:
You are maintaining offense personified, Duryodhana, as your infallible son, but he is envious of Lord Krishna. And because you are thus maintaining a non-devotee of Krishna, you are devoid of all auspicious qualities. Relieve yourself of this ill fortune as soon as possible and do good to the whole family!

Purport:
A good son is called apatya, one who does not allow his father to fall down. The son can protect the father’s soul when the father is dead by offering sacrifices to please the Supreme Lord, Vishnu. This system is still prevalent in India. After the death of his father, a son goes to offer sacrifices at the lotus feet of Vishnu at Gaya and thus delivers the father’s soul if the father is fallen. But if the son is already an enemy of Vishnu, how, in such an inimical mood, can he offer sacrifice unto Lord Vishnu’s lotus feet? Lord Krishna is directly the Personality of Godhead, Vishnu, and Duryodhana was inimical to Him. He would therefore be unable to protect his father, Dhrtarashtra, after his death. He himself was to fall down because of his faithlessness towards Vishnu. How, then, could he protect his father? Vidura advised Dhrtarashtra to get rid of such an unworthy son as Duryodhana as soon as possible if he was at all anxious to see to the good of his family.
According to the moral instructions of Canakya Pandita, “What is the use of a son who is neither a learned man nor a devotee of the Lord?” If a son is not a devotee of the Supreme Lord, he is just like blind eyes – a source of trouble. A physician may sometimes advise the extrication of such useless eyes from their sockets so that one can be relieved of the constant trouble. Duryodhana was exactly like blind, troubling eyes; he would be a source of great trouble to the family of Dhrtarashtra, as foreseen by Vidura. Vidura therefore rightly advised his eldest brother to get rid of this source of trouble. Dhrtarashtra was wrongly maintaining such personified offense under the mistaken impression that Duryodhana was a good son, able to liberate his father.
[End of Purport]

So, Dhrtarashtra became very worried when his messenger came back from Yudhisthira Maharaja. Dhrtarashtra actually made an absolutely unreasonable proposal to Yudhisthira Maharaja. Yudhisthira Maharaja was very humble, very submissive, very honest and because of his honesty he actually suffered. Unscrupulous people like Duryodhana took advantage of him in so many ways. He tried to kill them, he tried to burn them in a house of shellac and then finally he arranged to put them in an exile for twelve years. These are some very, very heinous activities.

The sastra actually says that some people can be killed and that would not involve any sin, and one of those sins is that if somebody puts fire in his house. If somebody tries to burn him, if somebody burns his house, then he can be killed. Especially for a kshatriya, their business is killing. Kshatriyas are expert in killing but at the same time a kshatriya would see what are the justified reasons to kill somebody. And because Duryodhana set their house on fire they were eligible to kill Duryodhana, but they didn’t do that. Yudhisthira Maharaja was so generous that he accepted it as his misfortune. Okay, it happened. They tried to kill us, so what do?
Another reason one can kill somebody is if somebody insults one’s wife. He can be killed. If somebody violates one’s wife, that person can be killed. And they did that. They publicly insulted Draupadi in the royal assembly. That was another reason why the Pandavas could have killed Duryodhana.

[Altar curtains close] Jaya Sri Sri Krishna Balarama ki jaya! Jaya Sri Sri Radha Madana Mohana ki jaya! Jaya Sri Sri Gaura Nitai ki jaya!

But what to speak of killing, when the Pandavas were sent into exile by the treacherous Duryodhana’s very, very heinous arrangement, at that time they simply accepted that as their misfortune. And at that time the Gandharva king attacked Duryodhana with his army. Duryodhana went there with his entire army. Not only his entire army, he took his whole entourage. The Kauravas took their wives, they took the dancing girls, they took the musicians, just they simply wanted to harass the Pandavas who were in exile in the forest. They wanted to go and show them their opulence and try to create envy in their hearts. But when they were coming to the forest, Dvaita Vana, then Duryodhana and his army got attacked by the Gandharvas. The Gandharvas were so powerful that Karna with his army was defeated and Karna ran away. And Duryodhana along with his brothers was taken into captivity, along with their wives. And at that time some of the soldiers who could escape they went and reported to Yudhisthira Maharaja that, “Look, Duryodhana has been taken into captivity by the Gandharvas.” So what to speak of killing his enemy who tried to… Another reason one can kill is if somebody gives poison. If somebody gives poison, if somebody sets house on fire, if somebody violates one’s wife, these persons can be killed. But Yudhisthira Maharaja, he told Bhima and Arjuna, “Just go and rescue them.”

Bhima was always burning with anger. When they were in exile Bhima sometimes would get into a big fight with Yudhisthira Maharaja and accuse him, “It is because of you that we are in this condition!” But at the same time Bhima is very submissive to his elder brother, although he would accuse him. But at the same time he would just accept: okay, my brother said it, so I must follow. So Yudhisthira Maharaja then advised. Bhima and Arjuna were happy that they got a final lesson. They have been captured by the Gandharvas and they will take them to Gandharvaloka and keep them in prison. But Yudhisthira Maharaja said, “No, you go. It will be disgrace to our family. After all, they are our family members. When they are put into captivity it will be a disgrace to the Kuru dynasty, Kuru family. If their wives, the queens are insulted and violated, that will be a disgrace to our family. So, go and rescue them.” So this is how generous Yudhisthira Maharaja was.

But Dhrtarashtra sent his messenger, and who was the messenger? The messenger was Sanjaya himself, his secretary. Sanjaya didn’t like it but because his master told him to go he went and made that proposal. The proposal was: “Yudhisthira, you have been so nice. At that time, in the assembly, when they treacherously defeated you in the game of dice and insulted Draupadi, you could have gotten into a war with my sons but you didn’t do that. You tolerated that. You tolerated them time and time again. You have forgiven them for all their sins, all their insults and all their mischief. So please continue to tolerate them. [laughs] Please continue to tolerate them and let them enjoy the kingdom and you stay in the forest. After all, this is just one life. What is the loss?” So, so shamelessly Dhrtarashtra actually sent this message. By that time everyone was there. Krishna was there. They all came because the war was inevitable. The war was imminent. So there was no way the war could have been avoided. So that’s why they came. Krishna came with His Yadus. Satyaki came with his soldiers. Then Drupada came with Dristadyumna and Shikhandi. And Virata came with his army. In this way they were all there, and Sanjaya came to carry this message and they were just burning with anger when they heard this.

At that time it became quite clear that in this battle, no matter how powerful Duryodhana thinks himself to, in this battle he is going to lose. He is going to lose the battle. And a thing that had been pointed out that, “Look, these are the soldiers, these are the warriors on our side. And you consider, you are thinking that Bhishma is so powerful that you will win with Bhishma’s strength, but look, here is Shikhandi. Shikhandi has appeared to kill Bhishma, so Bhishma has been destined to die by Shikhandi. And here is Dristadyumna, who appeared from the sacrificial fire to kill Drona. And here are all the other soldiers. Look at all these warriors with their soldiers. You are thinking that you will win with the strength of Karna but Karna is completely insignificant in front of Arjuna, and now that Krishna has become Arjuna’s charioteer what chance does your Karna stand? Karna will be killed.”

In this way Sanjaya was informed that, “Look, this war Duryodhana is not going to win. And on top of everything so many times Duryodhana has been defeated by Arjuna. His whole army has been defeated, and remember that when the Gandharvas defeated Duryodhana and his army along with Karna, then who actually saved them from the Gandharvas? It is Arjuna. So you think that you have any chance of winning this battle? So many times you have already been defeated, without this army, without the support of Virata, without the support of Drupada, without the support of Satyaki, without the support of so many other kings. So what is your possibility of winning this battle?”

And then two more important points have also been pointed out that, “Look, everybody knows that Yudhisthira Maharaja is dharma personified and Duryodhana is sin personified, adharma personified. So victory will be where dharma is. Ultimately victory will be where dharma is, so how can you hope, how can you expect that Duryodhana is going to win? And on top of everything when Krishna is siding with the Pandavas, what is your chance of winning this battle?” So the ultimate consideration of victory is Krishna. You side with Krishna, you will win. Time and time again that has been pointed out. Hiranyakasipu, Hiranyaksa were so powerful but Varahadeva killed Hiranyaksa. Hiranyakasipu became almost immortal. The Lord came as Narasimhadeva and killed him. Ravana was so powerful but Ramacandra killed him. Just with a bunch of monkeys He defeated Ravana. So it has been pointed out that wherever there is Vishnu, wherever there is Krishna, there is bound to be victory. So how do you expect to win?

Sanjaya also didn’t like to go as Dhrtarashtra’s messenger to the court of the Pandavas. When he came back he just told Dhrtarashtra that, “You make me sick! I didn’t like to go. I didn’t want to go but because you asked me I had to go because I am duty bound. But look, what are you? You are just supporting adharma personified. So why are you getting into this war? Rather get rid of your son or the whole family will be destroyed. The writing is on the wall. Nothing can change the situation.” And he didn’t tell him what Yudhisthira Maharaja said. He said, “I’ll tell that to the assembly. Please allow me to go home now.” Saying that Sanjaya left, and when Sanjaya left Dhrtarashtra became very, very worried. He became very worried so he called for Vidura. And then Vidura came and Dhrtarashtra told him that, “Vidura, you are my only friend. You are my only well wisher, so please tell me, what should I do? I can’t sleep. Please tell me how can I get some sleep?”

Then Vidura informed how five kinds of people cannot sleep. One who is lusting after somebody else’s wife, he cannot sleep. One who is impious he cannot sleep. One who expects ill of others he cannot sleep. A thief cannot sleep. One who has lost his wealth or about to lose his wealth cannot sleep. In this way he gave five reasons why one cannot sleep. And he said that, “Anyway, you are not guilty of any of these five, so why shouldn’t you able to sleep? Go to sleep!” And Dhrtarashtra was used to the insults of Vidura, sarcasms of Vidura. Vidura told him so many times. So Vidura told that, “Look, give the kingdom back. Give the kingdom back and you will feel so peaceful. You’ll sleep like an innocent child.”

And here also Vidura is now saying, telling him, telling Dhrtarashtra that, “You are maintaining offense personified, Duryodhana.” [translation SB 3.1.13] Duryodhana is offence personified. Doshah purusha-dvid aste. Esa doshah, offence personified, and he is also purusha-dvid aste, he is envious of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna. Parama Purusha Krishna. He is envious of Krishna. “And because you are thus maintaining a non-devotee of Krishna, you are devoid of all auspicious qualities.”

Because you are supporting Duryodhana who is envious of Krishna you lost all good qualities, devoid of all auspicious qualities. “Relieve yourself of this ill fortune as soon as possible and do good to the whole family!” In this way just get rid of Duryodhana. Actually, from the time Duryodhana was born Vidura had been telling Dhrtarashtra. When he was born there were inauspicious signs, and seeing the signs he told that, “Look, get rid of this one child of yours. It is just one child. You will have ninety nine other children, ninety nine other sons.” But Dhrtarashtra didn’t listen so that’s what Vidura pointed out also, he said, “You are saying that you can’t sleep now? You actually couldn’t sleep since the time the Pandavas came. The sages from Badarika Ashrama brought these five children of Pandu to the royal court. From that time you couldn’t sleep. You became envious of them. You have been in such anxiety. You are so blind! You are not only blind due to your eyes, you are blind internally also. You are spiritually blind. You couldn’t see where dharma is. Rather you sided with adharma and the result is your miserable condition. Your heart is constantly burning with envy.” So in this way Vidura gave the good advice to Dhrtarashtra, but did Dhrtarashtra listen to the advice of Vidura? No. And the result was the battle of Kurukshetra was inevitable.

So, in this way from the scriptures we learn some lessons. What lesson do we learn? The most important lesson that we learn is always side with Krishna and never go against Krishna. Become a devotee of Krishna, always side with Krishna. If somebody is going against Krishna never support him, never side with him. Because if you side with Krishna, then all auspiciousness will be there. If you don’t side with Krishna, rather you side with those who are envious of Krishna then no matter how opulent you are you will lose all your good fortune. You’ll lose all your wealth. You’ll lose everything.

We can see, Ravana went against Ramacandra and what was the result of that? He lost everything, although he was so powerful, although he had such opulence. Lanka, Ravana’s capital, was made of solid gold! It was made of gold. Like the houses were made of gold, and not just gold plating, gold leaving. They were made with bricks of gold. They were plastered with gold. Can you imagine how opulent he must have been? But he lost everything. One after another he lost his brothers. He lost his brother very dear to him, he lost. His sons, he lost one after another. Everyone who was dear to him he lost, and then finally he was killed. All these powerful demons, Kamsa and his followers, although so powerful but what happened? All his accomplices, all his associates were killed one after another and then finally Kamsa was killed. Now do you want a destiny like that? Lose everything and become miserable? No. So if we do not want such a misfortune, what should we do? We should follow one simple policy: always side with Krishna and never go against Him. You’ll always become fortunate. It’s a very simple lesson. Or will you leave Krishna and go away? How many of you want to side with Krishna? Raise your hands. Okay, very good. How many of you didn’t understand what I said? [laughter] Raise your hand. Don’t feel shy.

[Altar curtains open] Jaya Sri Sri Radha Madana Mohana ki jaya! Jaya Sri Sri Krishna Balarama ki jaya! Jaya Sri Sri Gaura Nitai ki jaya! Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!
[Maharaja explains the background of the verse and points of the class in Bengali language]

Thank you! Hare Krishna!

Does anybody have any question?
Yes, Nitai Candra? Get the mike, or you can say. Okay, he is bringing the mike.

Devotee: [inaudible]
BCS: Yeah, right. I could remember only three. Do you remember the other three?

Devotee: [inaudible]
BCS: Yeah, right. I mentioned three: one who gives poison, one who sets house on fire, one who violates one’s wife.

Devotee: one who captures one’s land.
BCS: That is kingdom. One who takes away the kingdom. You said, attacks with the weapon. And what’s the fifth one, sixth one? Anyway, we found five. Good. Yeah, there are six.

Devotee: It is said that the Kauravas were more in number.
BCS: Yeah, in total there were eighteen akshauhinis. The Pandavas had seven. They had eleven, the Kauravas had eleven akshauhinis, so almost double the strength. But still, the Pandavas won because Krishna alone, what to speak of eleven, Krishna alone is good enough for eleven zillion akshauhinis.

Devotee: [inaudible]
BCS: Because that shows that Arjuna was empowered by Krishna so when Krishna left all the power was gone. Of course another thing is that empowerment, here also we can see, how does that empowerment take place? It takes place out of love. His deep love for Krishna, deep dependence on Krishna actually empowered him. But when Krishna left Arjuna felt as if he lost his connection to Krishna and as a result of that he felt that he doesn’t have any more power left.

Devotee: [paraphrased] Why couldn’t Dhrtarashtra give up his attachment to the kingdom despite the good advice of Vidura who was also a devotee of the Lord and with whom he was related also?
BCS: He could not give up his attachment: Maya! That’s what Maya is. Although the good advices are there, but one can’t accept the good advices and act accordingly. And the advantage of good association, devotee association, is that although all his life he did not listen to Vidura but at the end of his life when he listened to Vidura, his life became successful. So even though you may go against devotees all your life, but at least at the final moment surrender yourself to the devotees. That’s the lesson we get.
Any other question?
Okay, thank you very much. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!