Srimad Bhagavatam: Srimad Bhagvatam 3.1.13 | His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami Archives

Verse: Srimad Bhagvatam 3.1.13

Date: February 1st, 2012

Place: Mayapur, India

Transcription: Bhakta Sumeet Gupta

Edited: Hemavati Radhika dasi

[SB 3.1.13]

sa esha doshah purusha-dvid āste

grihān pravishto yam apatya-matyā

pushnāsi krishnād vimukho gata-śrīs

tyajāśv aśaivam kula-kauśalāya

TRANSLATION BY HIS DIVINE GRACE SRILA PRABHUPADA

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 BY SRILA PRABHUPADA

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 Gayā 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, Dhritarāshtra, after his death. He himself was to fall down because of his faithlessness towards Vishnu. How, then, could he protect his father? Vidura advised Dhritarāshtra 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 Chānakya 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 Dhritarāshtra, as foreseen by Vidura. Vidura therefore rightly advised his eldest brother to get rid of this source of trouble. Dhritarāshtra was wrongly maintaining such personified offense under the mistaken impression that Duryodhana was a good son, able to liberate his father.

[SB 3.1.13]

sa esha doshah purusha-dvid āste

grihān pravishto yam apatya-matyā

pushnāsi krishnād vimukho gata-śrīs

tyajāśv aśaivam kula-kauśalāya

TRANSLATION

Vidura is instructing his elder brother Dhritrashtra. Vidura was the advisor, minister of Dhritrashtra although he was the younger brother. But he was very wise; he was dharma personified; he was incarnation of Dharmaraja. So, he was perfectly situated on the platform of Dharma. Whereas Duryodhana is the incarnation of Kali and his business is to establish Adharma, defeat Dharma. Therefore, time and time again, Vidura instructed Dhritrashta to get rid of Duryodhana. As a matter of fact, right after his birth he told him to get rid of his son, kill him. And he gave valid reasons why Duryodhana should be killed right after his birth because he saw all inauspicious omens manifesting right after his birth. A personality like Vidura is Trikaalagya-he can see time in three aspects; not only in present, they can see past, present as well as the future. And he could see that this person is going to be not only the cause of destruction of the entire family but he will be the cause of the destruction of entire Kshatriya lineage.

And he will be the cause of destruction of the earth planet. (Jai Sri Sri Radha Madhava SachiVrinda ki Jai. Sri Sri Nama Chaitanya Mahaprabhu ki Jai. Sri Sri Panchatattva ki Jai). But Dhritrashtra could not accept the wise advice of Vidura. He was so much affected by his affection for his son. Prabhupada mentions that Dhritrashtra was not only materially blind but he was also spiritually blind. He was not only blind with his physical eyes but he was also devoid of spiritual visions. Therefore, he could not see what was right and what was wrong. What should be done and what should not be done. And Dhritrashtra did not accept Vidura’s advise at that time. And then time and time again Vidura continued to give the same advice when they tried to kill the Pandavas along with Kunti, Vidura was instructing Dhritrashtra “Get rid of his son, he is evil personified.”

When Draupadi was insulted along with Pandavas in the destructive game of dice and everything was taken away from Pandavas and Draupadi was dragged into the assembly and insulted infront of everybody. Then Vidura told him “Get rid of your son.” No one actually stood up in protest. Draupadi was appealing to everyone. All the senior members, elderly members of Kuru dynasty were there; Bhishmadeva himself was present and Dronacharya was present there. Of course, Dhritrashtra was there. No one said anything in protest of this heinous and inhuman act. But Vidura stood up and Vidura warned Dritrashtra right there “Please still now you time to save this Earth from this disgraceful destruction. Get rid of your son.” Dhritrashtra didn’t listen. Then just before battle of Kurukshetra, again Vidura advised: Dhritrashtra “please get rid of your son. He is no good; he is like a blind eye. He doesn’t serve the purpose rather causes distress to you. And not only to you, he is going to cause destruction of the entire family. He is a Kulangarh, he is the fire which is going to burn the entire family. So please get rid of him.” Dhritrashtra didn’t listen. Rather Duryodhana came and insulted him in very harsh words and Vidura then left. He saw that inevitable could not be avoided.

So, he left. And it is not only Vidura who was giving this advice to Dhritrashtra, even Gandhari, Dhuryodhana’s own mother was advising Dhritrashtra to get rid of Duryodhana. She became furious when she saw how Draupadi was humiliated, Draupadi was insulted. She was not in the assembly but when she heard Draupadi is crying, she ran to the window. Actually, women don’t go to the assembly usually, the women in the Vedic culture don’t go to the royal assembly but there are some small windows through that they can actually see what is happening, if it’s necessary. So, when she heard the cry of Draupadi, she just ran there, ran out there; she was blindfolded, she didn’t see but she could hear what was going on and she became furious. She immediately ran after the assembly was over, she ran to Dhritrashtra and she appealed that “I have come here with a request” and Dhritrashtra replied “Tell me, I am not going to refuse your request; I don’t refuse your request.” The she said “Get rid of him”. Dhritrashtra said “who”, then she said “Dhuryodhana”. Dhritrashtra didn’t expect that, that the mother would expect her son should be banished in this way.

And then when she saw Dhritrashtra was hesitating, she asked “You are a King, if one of your citizens molests a woman, what will you do” and just spilt out he said “I will banish him”. She said “your son has done that so banish him.” But Dhritrashtra could not do it so he reasoned “that after all, it was not what you are thinking.” Then also Gandhari said that “I am the mother, I carried him just below my heart for such a long time, I fed him with my own breast milk, my heart was filled with parental affection, motherly affection when his tiny little hands used to caress me and I am requesting you this. Don’t you see the need for that.” Still Dhritrashtra did not listen. So that is how a blind man acts; a spiritually blind man act. He is devoid of clarity of his perception; clarity of his intelligence. Mahabharata for that matter is a very wonderful eye opener for all of us; Mahabharata actually gives in a very elaborate way the understanding of what should be done and what should not be done. And in this way, ultimately it comes to the point of surrendering to Krishna.

What’s the benefit when we surrender to Krishna? What’s the disadvantage when we go against Krishna? If one goes against Krishna, the ultimate result is going to be inauspicious. No matter how noble, how righteous the person may be; but the ultimate consideration is surrender to Krishna. That’s why within Mahabharata, Bhagvad Gita has been placed as the crest jewel of this wonderful scripture. Vidura is advising Dhritrashtra but here also we see Dhritrashtra is not willing to listen. He is so overpowered by his attachment to his son and the history also can reveal the fact “why.” Dhritrashtra is a very unfortunate soul. He was the eldest brother born in the royal family, a very illustrious royal family: the moon dynasty; Chandravamsa. The eldest of the family naturally becomes the King but he could not become the King because he was blind from his birth. But he had a faint hope, not a faint hope but a deep conviction actually that he wouldn’t become King but his son would become the King and he harboured that hope and he was living with that expectation that his son would become King but in course of time before his son was born, Pandu’s son was born.

Dhiritrashtra was again disappointed. Although Pandu was a younger brother but his son came before. Therefore, it is again another Vedic custom that the eldest in the family becomes the King. So Yudhisthar Maharaja became the natural successor of the throne. And that’s why Duryodhana became so envious, he became so envious from his childhood that he won’t become the King and not only that, the Pandavas, especially Bhima was far superior to him in strength and in other qualities. All the Pandavas were illustrious. Everyone used to just adore them, especially Bhishma and Drona and Duryodhana could not tolerate because these two were the most important personalities at that time in his life. Bhishmadeva was the grandfather and Dronacharya their Master and Siksha Guru and Arjuna excelled him in all respects. Bhima excelled him in strength. So, he became extremely envious.

Although Duryodhana otherwise was a very noble character; he was a very noble person, he had many good qualities but all his good qualities were destroyed just because of one defect, his envy and Duryodhana is the incarnation of Kali and who is Kali, Kali is the son of envy and anger. So Duryodhana is actually a product of envy and anger. He was extremely envious especially of Pandavas; otherwise, he had many good qualities he was very noble, he was very generous that’s why he had so many people lined up with him; they would give up their lives; when Ashwathama, Dronacharya’s son was brought, Dronacharya introduced him to both Pandavas and Kaurvas, Dronacharya expected that Ashwathama would naturally be attracted towards Pandavas but Ashwathama developed natural affinity towards Duryodhana. So much so that he committed so many heinous acts, the worst of all heinous acts that one can ever commit is killing the sleeping individuals, especially the five sons of Draupadi when they were sleeping. But he did that just to please Duryodhana.

His whole mission, the whole purpose of his existence, Ashwathama’s existence was to please Duryodhana. Similarly, Karna was sold out to Duryodhana because the kind of generous gesture Duryodhana has displayed towards him. Karna actually in that arena, where the Kuru princes were displaying their military power, not military power, their expertise in using weapons; Dronacharya after the course, instructing them on using weapons for many years and finally he was actually displaying what he taught them. In that assembly Karna just appeared and Dronacharya expected trouble. He could see that extremely powerful and extremely talented individual, just from his appearance he could recognize that. And Dronacharya just asked him “What is your identity? Who are you?” And Karna had to admit that he was a son of lower class; he is belonging to lower caste, he is a Sudra.

And then Dronacharya told him “You can’t contest with the princes; you have to be equal to contest with them. How dare you come here and challenge this prince?” Right at that time Duryodhana announced that he is giving him the Kingdom of Anga, a province to him and elevated him to the platform of Kshatriya. So, we can see Duryodhana had many good qualities that way and as a result of that many people became completely, became absolutely loyal to him like Karna. Although, Karna was also an extremely noble person but he didn’t hesitate to stoop down to a very very degraded level just for the sake of Duryodhan’s pleasure. That’s what Prabhupada pointed out that we should be very careful about what kind of association we keep. We should be very careful of our association. If we remain in bad association, no matter how good we may be, we will be affected by that bad association.

Therefore association is very very important and Duryodhana, in this way won Karna and what to speak of Karna, Shalya, Madri’s brother; the uncle of the Pandavas, he was coming to join the battle of Kuruskshetra, on the side of Pandavas but Karna actually had a problem; Karna when he found out that Krishna is going to become Arjuna’s charioteer then he told Duryodhana “Look Duryodhana, I won’t be able to contest with Arjuna when he has a charioteer like Krishna.” So, he asked: “Then who can he get as his charioteer?” He says the most expert charioteer is Shalya, the King of Madras. But he is the uncle of Pandavas, how to get them. So Duryodhana made arrangements to meet with Shalya when he was coming and he treated him in such a wonderful way that Shalya was forced to join him and go against his own nephews. And he fought against them. So, this is how in one way one can say that Duryodhana is actually very crafty. And he was very scheming and he made this plan in such a way that there was always some motivation or intention behind his actions. But still on the superficial way, we have to admit that Duryodhana was a nice guy, nice person.

And so many people actually joined, one of the nice points in that respective: when the battle of Kurukshetra was arranged, Pandavas had seven akshonis, whereas Kauravas had eleven and the Pandavas side was just blood relations, relatives like Drupad and the others joined the Pandavas. They are all relatives of Pandavas: Drishtadyumna and Uttara’s father Virat whereas the Kauravas side, the others actually joined Kauravas because they were enamored by Duryodhana, dealings with them. So, in this way we can see that in spite of having all good qualities, all these nice qualities, Duryodhana is evil personified, just because of one thing: envy; envy leads to anger. Therefore, we should be very very careful to defeat these two adverse influences; not only spiritual progress but even for our proper sustenance. And that’s why Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu came. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu actually came to counteract the influence of Kali. The Kali’s influence is quarrel, generated by envy and anger. This is another name of Kali. Kali is quarrel personified.

Karalavadana krurah kalishchah kalah

Kali has been described as very vicious looking: Karalavadanah and very wicked, cruel, very wicked and he always generates quarrel. By spreading quarrel, by causing quarrel, he spreads his influence. Divide through quarrel. When Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came to counteract influence of Kali and his way of doing it is by unifying us with love. Quarrel is generated out of hatred. Now how do we counteract hatred? Through love. Quarrel is caused by envy and anger. How do we counteract envy and anger? By being humble and by being tolerant. There are so often we encountered reasons to be angry, especially when someone tries to correct you and you immediately think who are you to correct? And you get angry. But if you take humble position, may be yes, maybe I was wrong and he was right. If you take a humble position, then immediately we can avoid the possibility of quarrel.

We become envious, why do you become envious? We become envious by seeing how the others are excelling, the others are becoming greater, others are becoming so progressing, they are becoming glorified, they are becoming so qualified and we become envious; why not me? The heart becomes so much afflicted and become tormented; why the whole world is glorifying you, why not me? Why don’t they see me, how great I am? Just be patient; Be tolerant. In course of time Krishna will glorify you also. Krishna is glorifying him or her today, tomorrow Krishna will glorify you so don’t be impatient. Be tolerant. Everyone will have his heyday.

So, in this way if we just maintain this mood of humble disposition and tolerant attitude, everything will become perfect and this will generate a wonderful strength of Krishna Consciousness, Krishna Prema and this Krishna prema will unify the whole world. Kali will try to divide; Kali will try to create friction among the devotees and that’s how Kali will enter into the movement. In the past, we have seen so many times kali has entered into Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s sankirtan movement in the form of quarrel. Among the devotees, so many times Prabhupada warned us that this movement cannot be destroyed from outside, only from within that this movement can be destroyed. Because if there are attacks from outside, that will actually strengthen our movement. Attack will come from outside and we will counteract that attack, we will overpower that attack and then we will become stronger. Because who can defeat Krishna and his devotees? Who can defeat Krishna’s and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s movement? Nobody.

But if the devotees start to fight amongst themselves that will be the cause of destruction. Only that can destroy the progress of Mahaprabhu’s sankirtan movement. Nothing can destroy Mahaprabhu’s sankirtan movement; what they can do is stifle the progress of Mahaprabhu’s sankirtan movement. Therefore, we should be very careful that among ourselves we do not fight; we remain, we maintain spirit of unity, generated out of our love and friendship for each other. Now that the GBC meeting is going on, as a member of the GBC body, I can assure you, I can tell you that our movement is progressing in a very wonderful way. All the auspicious signs are there. The way things are happening, the way GBC is leading and guiding this movement is very very positive, very auspicious. In a few days, our GBC chairman along with the GBC body will present the results of our GBC meetings, you will get to know that in time. In short, I can tell you, there are many wonderful things that are happening in our movement. And the progress of this movement is assured.

This movement, ISKCON movement though, the association of devotees worldwide that has been created by Srila Prabhupada, this movement, this institution is being very nicely protected by the senior leading members of this movement. And they are paving the way for its wonderful progress. In course of time, progress means Krishna Consciousness will spread; the Glory of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu will spread; the teachings of Srila Prabhupada will spread and as a result of that innumerable individuals all over the world will receive inconceivable spiritual benefit. And Kali’s influence will be thwarted and Krishna Consciousness will prevail, Dharma will be re-established and the golden age will appear again, once again in the middle of the age of Kali.

Thank you very much. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.