Verse: Srimad Bhagvatam 10.69.16
Date: September 27th, 2015
Place: ISKCON CHOWPATTY, India
Transcription: Alaka Radha Devi Dasi
Editing: Bh. Bhavisha Naran
sampūjya deva-ṛṣi-varyam ṛṣiḥ purāṇo
nārāyaṇo nara-sakho vidhinoditena
vāṇyābhibhāṣya mitayāmṛta-miṣṭayā taṁ
prāha prabho bhagavate karavāma he kim
Translation:
After fully worshiping the great sage of the demigods according to Vedic injunctions, Lord Kṛṣṇa, who is Himself the original sage — Nārāyaṇa, the friend of Nara — conversed with Nārada, and the Lord’s measured speech was as sweet as nectar. Finally the Lord asked Nārada, “What may we do for you, Our lord and master?”
Purport:
In this verse the words nārāyaṇo nara-sakhaḥ indicate that Kṛṣṇa is Himself the Supreme Lord, Nārāyaṇa, who appeared as the friend of the sage Nara. In other words, Lord Kṛṣṇa is ṛṣiḥ purāṇaḥ, the original and supreme spiritual master. Nevertheless, following the Vedic injunctions (vidhinoditena) that a kṣatriya should worship the brāhmaṇas, Lord Kṛṣṇa happily worshiped His pure devotee Nārada Muni.
Lecture:
Naradamuni baffled upon seeing Lord Krishna’s 16,000 Palaces
So this chapter is describing Narada Muni’s visit to Krishna’s palaces in Dwaraka. Krishna just killed Narakasura and released the sixteen thousand princesses that were kept in captivity by Narakasura. So all those sixteen thousand girls approached Krishna after they were freed from imprisonment. They said that look we had been imprisoned by Narakasura so no one is going to marry us, so please marry us. You are our only hope you rescued us so now you save us from this ultimate calamity. So Krishna said fine. So that is how Krishna got married to sixteen thousand queens.
There’s another aspect of this incident. When Krishna expands, along with Krishna, Krishna’s eternal consort Radharani also expands. So when Krishna expanded into Vaasudev, when Brajendra Nandana Krishna expanded into Vaasudev, i.e. Krishna of Dwaraka then Radharani expanded as Satyabhama and Chandravali expanded as Rukmini and all the sixteen thousand Gopis of Vrindavan they expanded as the queens. In Vrindavan they were not married but in Dwaraka they got duly married.
So when Narada Muni got the news he was curious how Krishna is dealing with sixteen thousand queens. So he became curious to know and he came to Dwaraka and this is the description how Krishna received him. This was the first palace that Narada Muni went to. This was the palace of Rukmini. Krishna greeted Narada Muni and in this context another aspect of Krishna’s pastime coming that here Krishna has been addressed as “Narasakhe”. The original rishi who is friend of Nara that is Nara and Narayana. The Lord Himself and His devotee as one.
Nara-Narayana Rishi and the History of Mankind
They appeared as the sons of Dharma. Dharma that is Dharmaraj, Yamaraj got married to Murti the daughter of Daksha and so actually at that time there was a terrible demon who was causing a lot of distress to the people. We notice that Krishna’s pastime are like a great drama and drama must have conflict. Better the conflict better the drama. So in order to create the conflict there is a villain. So Krishna comes to deal with the villains. So Lord Krishna came as Lord Nrsimhadev when He had to deal with Hiranyakashipu, the villain. These villains cause a lot of distress to the people and at that time Krishna comes - “paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām.” This duṣkṛtām, these villains, these demons, they torment, they trouble the devotees, so to get rid of them and to protect his devotees Krishna comes “sambhavāmi yuge yuge”. I come from time to time. So there was a big demon this was actually a long time ago during the time of Swayambhuva Manu. At a time when creation just began in the universe. In a day of Brahma there are fourteen Manus and the first Manu is Swayambhuva Manu. The Manu who is the son of Swayambhu, Lord Brahma.
The first Manu came from Brahma. From Brahma’s right hand side came Svayambhuva Manu and from his left hand side came Shatarupa. So Manu and Shatarupa are the first male and female. The first man and woman. And from Manu and Shatarupa the human beings came, manava. Manu’s offsprings are called Manavas, just like Danus are offsprings of Danavas. The human beings are Manu’s offspring.
Prior to that all the personalities in universe came from Brahma directly. Mainly from his mind and from different aspects of his body. Just like Manu and Shatarupa came from Brahma’s body. And so in this way different personalities are coming from Brahma. This is how the procreation was taking place. The procreation through couple/copulation started from Manu and Shatarupa. Prior to that it was all Manasa Putra or other different aspects of Brahma like from Brahma’s shadow came Kardama Muni. Anyway so it happened right at that time.
Sahasra Kavacha – Pride Personified
There was a very powerful king. His name was Dambhutbhava. Dambha – udbhava, who appeared from pride. So you can say pride personified. So pride personified. Is it a divine aspect or is it a demoniac aspect? So he was a demon. And what do the demons actually want? The demons want to become immortal. Like Hiranyakashipu, he wanted to become immortal. And in order to become immortal he went to Mandara mountain and performed such severe austerities to please Brahma and become immortal, but did he succeed? So demons try to become immortal and therefore they perform great austerity and penances just to become immortal but when they don’t succeed they try other means to become immortal. So this demon was performing severe austerity to please Sun God, Suryadev. So being pleased by his austerity Suryadev came to him and said: “So what do you want?.” He said I want to be immortal. He said look how can I give you that boon even I am not immortal – “jatasya hi dhruvo mrtyur.” One who is born is bound to die. Whoever comes to this material nature must die because he comes here because he comes here by taking birth. Everyone who comes here comes here by taking birth and he has to die except The Supreme Personality of Godhead.
So he thought that fine let me get that boon that will make me immortal. So this description is in Vishnu Purana. So he said ok then give me the boon. Give me thousand armours/Kavachas. Kavacha means armours and to penetrate through the armour one has to perform thousand years of austerity and then he will have to fight with me for thousand years and then only he will be able to penetrate through one armour and then as he does that he will die. So he thought in this way he will become immortal. So Suryadev could see that this guy is a demon but they still get kind of duty bound when somebody performs great austerity and they become one of the condition is whatever they want, they have to give that if it is within his means. So Suryadev said: “Ok fine- tathastu, let it be.” So he became so powerful and what do demons do when they get such power almost becoming immortal they simply torment people create disturbance in the arrangement of The Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore the demons are identified as Indraari- Indrasya ari- Indra’s enemy.
Demigods as Departmental Heads- Krishna’s Arrangement
You see that demigods are actually Krishna’s arrangement, Vishnu’s arrangement. Like there are different departments in the universe and they are appointed by the Lord Himself. They are His appointment like organization are structured giving different responsibilities to different individuals. So there are different departments and the demigods are in charge of the different departments. Like fire department- Agnidev wind department- Pavandev Water department- Varundev education department- Saraswatidevi. So these devas and devis they are actually appointed by the Lord to take care of the different departments of the universe. And head of those devas and devis is Indra the King of the demigods, Devaraj.
So they simply create disturbances in this arrangement, they want to take over the control and that is wrong because Lord’s arrangement is that they are going to be in charge and when somebody tries to take away that power from them he simply creates a disturbance in the society. So seeing that condition, Murti she desired that someone should take care of this so she prayed to the Lord and as a result of that the Lord came and asked what you want and she said look this demon SahasraKavacha, he had another name- the one with thousand armours. He is causing so much distress to the demigods and to the arrangements that you have made so please do something.
Sahasra Kavacha Smashed – One Kavacha at a time
So the Lord said: “Ok I will come as your son.” And as a result of that the Lord appeared as a twin Nara and Narayan as a son of Murti from Dharma. And in due course of time there was a conflict like he was plundering everybody and destroying everything. So in this way he came to Badarikashram where these two personalities were residing. Nara-Narayana rishis are still there at Badarikashram. So Nara then came out and the demon was just outraged to see him standing right in front of him kind of a challenging mood telling him to stop what he was doing and he responded that no one ever dared to tell me to stop what I want to do he said maybe but I am telling you to stop. He said: “You insignificant human being what can you do to me.” He said: “Ok, so let’s see what an insignificant human being can do. So he said you know that I have boon from Lord Suryadev that these thousand armours that I am wearing. Each armour will fall when one performs thousand years of austerity. Have you done that? He said: “No I am not doing it but my brother is doing it.” Then he said fine but you will have to fight with me for a thousand years. He said ok and he said then he will die. He said that is fine. I am prepared for that. And so in this way the conflict actually took place. Nara was fighting Narayan was performing austerity. Thousand years of fight went on. And then one armour was destroyed but as soon as the armour was destroyed he became unconscious apparently died. So at that time this demon SahasraKavacha, he saw that again that personality is coming. He saw that one person is dead and the other person is walking towards him. Then he saw that the other Nara did not really go to him but went to Nara’s dead body and he chanted some mantra and he came back to life.
So he said now you go and perform austerity and I will deal with the demon. So this is how again the fight ensued while this time Narayan was fighting and Nara was performing austerities. What happened after thousand years - the second armour fell, apparently this is Lord’s pastime, Narayan died and Nara came and chanted the mrityur sanjeevani mantra and revived him. So this time Narayan performed austerity and Nara fought. So this way for nine hundred and ninety nine times it went on and when he was left with just one armour he ran away he felt that well I am in trouble.
Suryadev Cursed, An Amazing Encounter Ensues
He took shelter of his worshippable deity Suryadev. So Narayan went chasing him and told Suryadev look this is an imposter so let him lose. He is hiding behind you. So Suryadev said look he is my devotee and it is my duty to protect my devotee. So Narayan Rishi became so upset and he said since you are protecting a person who is so sinful and disregarding my order you will be born as a human being along with your devotee.
And now you know who is that personality? Karna. And he was born with a Kavacha. And this time Nara and Narayan according to Mahabharata Nara and Narayana came as Krishna and Arjun. Nara became Arjun and Narayan became Krishna. This is one aspect- like Krishna performs his pastimes and many wonderful things happen at the same time. But Krishna is not just incarnation of Nara and Narayan.
Krishna, in this incarnation is Svayam Bhagavan. “Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam”[SB 1.318]. So this Krishna is the Svayam Bhagavan Krishna who resides in Vrindavan. Anyway, so Nara Narayan also one aspect of Krishna. All the incarnations are in Krishna’s body so Narayan became Krishna and Nara became Arjun. And in this incarnation one problem was that Arjun is meant to kill Karna but Indra was worried that when he would kill him then he would die so that’s why Indra went in disguise as a Brahmana and asked for his armour. That’s why Karna has a split personality. In one hand he is very generous but on the other hand he is extremely demoniac.
That noble aspect of Karna is Surya, Surya’s incarnation. And the other aspect is the Dambudhbhava aspect. So that’s why Indra actually took away his Kavacha. And he gave that Kavacha back to Suryadev and that is why Arjun could kill Karna without being affected. So in this way we can see how all the descriptions of Lord’s pastimes are so well connected so that’s why we can see that they are not just some fairy tales or as they say mythology.
Myth vs The Absolute Reality(Truth)
It is a pity that these Vedic descriptions are considered as mythology. The word mythology comes from the root word myth. What is the definition of myth. Definition of myth is commonly believed falsity. This is not real but people believe that it happened, like fairy tales. It is commonly believed falsity. It’s not real but unreal. But the Vedic narrations are not only but they are absolutely true they are real. Vedas are dealing with absolute truth. There is no room for falsity. It is only after coming to Iskcon being taught by Srila Prabhupada teachings we get to know what the Vedas are presenting. Otherwise everybody in India thinks this is mythology. Mahabharata, Ramayana, Puranas, Upanishads- they all are mythical.
And that is the unfortunate state of affairs in India. The British left India but completely crippled India’s thinking process. What is considered to be the greatest spiritual wealth of this world. Indians are totally disregarding that. That is the most unfortunate aspect of India today. Fortunately Srila Prabhupada is reminding us what is what. And as a result of that we are getting to know what is what.
So Nara Narayan Rishi are still there in Badrikashram. Badrikashram - we know has been considered since time immemorial to be one of the holiest places. It’s not today that it is being recognized as one of the holy places but since time immemorial it is considered as one of the holiest places and it is still being worshipped, still being recognized as one of the holiest of places. They go to visit, in millions they are visiting Badarikashram but they think that it is mythology. And this is the unfortunate state of affairs.
The Need to Preach this Vedic Culture
That is why there is such a need to preach this message. Meaning- educating people about the actual knowledge. Don’t consider that Vedic culture is some primitive, obsolete, superstitious activities. Vedic culture is the highest spiritual culture that the world has seen. This is THE real spiritual culture that was given by Krishna Himself to Lord Brahma at the time of creation and that has been cultivated by the saintly persons since time immemorial and it is covering all different aspects of life. Not only the spiritual culture but how to fulfill our desires by performing different activities or different yagyas sacrifices but it is dealing with the practical aspects like astrology- jyotir vidya, jyotish, AyurVeda, YajurVeda, even military art, DhanurVeda. So all different aspects of knowledge is covered.
The Real Purposes of the Vedas
Initially they are covering only the materialistic aspect of the knowledge. But then it is leading us to Jnana kand from Jnanakanda to Karmakanda materialistic aspect it is leading to knowledge aspect enjoyment aspect to knowledge aspect and this knowledge aspect is leading to liberation and beyond liberation the final concept of the Vedas is loving relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead which has been covered by Uttara Vimamsa the final conclusion Vedanta sutra and the Bhashya Yaang Brahma Sutranam- the natural commentary of the Brahma Sutra is Srimad Bhagavatam. Ttherefore the ultimate culmination of the Vedic wisdom is Srimad Bhagavatam. Transcending the Karmakand section, Jnana kanda section it is coming to Bhagavad Bhakti. And Krishna Himself is saying “Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva Vedyo”- In all the Vedas I alone am to be known. So what is the purpose of the Vedas.
Vedānta-kṛd Veda-vid eva cāham- Krishna is the ultimate object of the Vedas and when we get to know Krishna then what is the natural consequence. The natural consequence is to fall in love with Him because He is all attractive. When someone is all attractive what happens- don’t we naturally fall in love with that all attractive so Krishna is all attractive so can somebody help not falling in love with Krishna. So it’s only a matter of becoming aware of who He is. Becoming aware of His quality, becoming aware of his activity. That’s why it is so important to listen to Krishna’s activity. Because He is the greatest of the heroes and it is the natural affinity, natural tendency of a living entity to worship the heroes. Living beings are hero worshippers and the greatest of all heroes is Krishna. Therefore the ultimate object of worship is Krishna. So from whichever way we approach it will come to that. The ultimate goal of life is to worship Krishna.
Thank you all very much.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Gaur premanande Hari Hari Bol !
Does anybody have any question or comment
Devotee : Hare Krishna ! So nicely you have described about the Nara Narayan Rishi. And the mythology, the spiritual - when one leads to materialistic life to Jnana aspect and from there to liberation and then Uttara Vimamsa so I was just thinking that in this Purva Vimamsa and Uttara Vimasa there are different Rishis which we are Vyasa Dev finally gives the different parts of the Vedas to different Rishis, so we see that Uttara Vimamsa to Ashtavakra and then Purva Vimamsa to Jaymini Rishi and Prabhupada in his books mentions that how these different Rishis they accept the Vedanta and other Rishis how they are misguiding but I also see that Sanatana Goswami in his Brhad Bhagwatamrta is conveying how Jaymini Rishi is to Janmajeya and there he mentions this devotional aspect and even Janmajeya says that this devotional aspect given by Jaymini Rishi is much better in fact he says that supplementary Mahabharata which was given by Vyasadev he says that Jaymini what he has given us is much devotional aspect and we go through all this. So how do we understand the position of Jaymini Rishi?
HHBCS : Well he is a devotee, but the thing is that Mahabharat is dealing with the karmakand aspect of the Vedas. Mahabharat is not directly leading to devotion. Actually to understand Mahabharat we have to come to Srimad Bhagavatam ‘artho ayan brahma sutraram, bharatartha vinimayo’ The meaning of Mahabharat is being established by Shrimad Bhagavatam. So until and unless we come to Srimad Bhagavatam the understanding of the Vedas will remain incomplete and we have to consider that all these different aspects like say for example these six branches of Shad Darshan they are different rungs of a ladder. Different processes or different rungs of the ladder. What is the purpose of the ladder? Are the rungs of the ladder the goal? Or the purpose of the ladder is to reach the top ? So the purpose of all these different aspects of philosophy and different rituals and so forth is simply to bring one to the ultimate point. Then only we find the real purpose of the ladder.
Devotee : Hare Krishna, So are the authors of the Shad Darshan aware of the final goal or just like Shankaracharya was informed by Krishna Himself that you preach this theory of impersonalism…
HHBCS : That was different. Shankaracharya’s mission was different from these Rishis. We can say that they may know or may not know but from the presentation it is difficult to make out because they are like a teacher when he goes to the primary school what does he teach? He is giving it to the primary school children according to their ability to understand, accept. He may be a Phd but he is giving it according to their ability to grasp. So it is not really important for us whether they know or do not know. Like even our Vyasadeva - Vyasa veti na vetivah. Vyasadeva may know or he may not know. But our business is to accept the presentation when it is perfectly understandable and acceptable. That’s why our goal is to accept it the way Sukhadev Goswami presented.
Do you have a question?
Devotee : Hare Krishna Maharaj. Thank you. Maharaj, we are seeing here how Lord Krishna He is The Supreme Lord but he appears as a twin brother of a jiva, Arjun just for helping kill SahasraKavacha otherwise SahasraKavacha would have continued. So many times we see how Krishna’s compassion makes Him forget his position as actually The Supreme Lord The Fountainhead of all incarnations and He extends Himself again and again in different incarnations so that the human beings can live a life of dharma and then go back home back to Godhead. So Krishna is so much into helping us but somehow I feel that I have not developed the necessary gratitude for what He has given us He is still giving me and will continue to give so can you tell me Maharaj how to develop gratitude for whatever I have received or from Krishna’s representatives I have received so much but I always fall short of proper gratitude. So how to understand and how to develop gratitude for those who are helping me?
HHBCS : Ok. Thank you. Very nice question. How to develop the attitude of gratitude. Like you see these are the cultivation of certain qualities. Like to be grateful when somebody does something to you. And if you are an honest person what will be your natural reaction? So your natural reaction will be that you will feel indebted to him - oh you have done so much for me. So these are the divine qualities that are there and these divine qualities will develop by practicing Krishna consciousness. ‘Yasyasti bhaktir bhagavaty akincana sarvair gunais tatra samasate surah [SB 5.18.12]. When one develops Krishna consciousness when one develops bhakti shast bhakti bhavati akinchana. So unmotivated, undeviated devotion to the Lord then all the divine qualities of The Lord, the demigods will automatically begin to manifest in you.
So again the way is to practice devotional service and the way to practice devotional service is to simply chant the Holy Name of The Lord offenselessly and automatically it will happen. Like Prabhupada used to give the example the disease is there the medicine is there. Take the medicine the disease will disappear. So our medicine is Harinaam, chanting Hare Krishna. Practicing the navadha bhakti and the result will be there. Not only gratitude aspect will develop all divine qualities of the demigods will become manifest. Thank you.
Devotee : I heard the Manushya Yoni is the highest yoni eighty four lakhs and we all are lucky to get the manushya yoni so I want to know what is the highest state of yoni that we have to give a test everyday up and down like a sea everyday up and down. But what is the highest state that my mind is always in peace and never under stress.
HHBCS: Ok, very good point. So the human form of life is highest “labdhvā sudurlabhaṁ idam bahu-sambhavante”[11.09.29] - Srimad Bhagavatam is describing that after many many possibilities ‘Bahu sambhavante, labdvha- achieving this human form of life - labdvha sudurlabham, bahusambhavante this life which is very meaningful, purposeful comes with an inconceivable opportunity but at the same time it is unpredictable. There is no way of knowing when we may die- anityam, temporary.
So you got an inconceivable opportunity you got an inconceivable good fortune but there is no guarantee for how long this fortune will last. So what should be done? Must accept it immediately. And what is that we have to accept immediately is to surrender unto Lord. Surrender unto Krishna and develop loving relationship with Him. And as a result of that loving relationship what will happen - not only will all your material distresses, material difficulties will disappear but you will be submerged in an ocean of joy.
So as you said peace, no peace is not the ultimate goal of life. Anandam is the ultimate goal of life joy. Joy is way beyond peace. When you are alone you may be peaceful but when you want to enjoy you want to invite all your friends and relatives. Isn’t it so what do you prefer to be alone or be surrounded by your friends and relatives. To enjoy, right so that joy is the ultimate goal. And that ultimate joy can be experienced only when we develop our loving relationship with Krishna. So you have got the human form of life and you have come to the right place- Radha Gopinath temple so take full advantage of it.
Is there any other question ? Yes.
Devotee : Hare Krishna Maharaj. Quite often devotes misquote Goddess Saraswati as Lord Brahma’s wife which in my understanding is his daughter. Gayatri devi is wife . So would you please avtually clarify this?
HHBCS : Yes. Same personality. Saraswati is- both are actually Brahma’s wife. Saraswati is Bhagdevi like you can say Sarawati is in that way Gayatri’s expansion. Same personality.
Devotee: Hare Krishna Maharaj. Dandavat Pranam. Like we have volumes of books written by Prabhupada - Bhagavatam. Chaitanya Caritamrita, Prabhupada Lilamrita then books written by Prabhupada disciples. We find very interesting to read books like Lilamrita, Prabhupada pastimes. But we find difficult to understand Bhagavatam or philosophical books . So should we concentrate on reading books of Prabhupada Lilamrita because it is very interesting…
HHBCS : Well there are two Bhagavads - Granth Bhagavat and the person Bhagavat. So reading about the person Bhagavad is also Bhagavad. So reading Prabhupada Lilamrit or Radhanath Maharaj’s Journey Home they are non different but the thing is for Bhagavatam you have to attend the class but the other books you can read it on your own it will be easier to understand because they are life story or their activities are giving clarification of Sri Bhagavatam like Chaitanya Caritamrita. After Bhagavad is coming Chaitanya Caritamrita. Why Chaitanya Caritamrita is so important because Chaitanya Caritamrita is revealing the life of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and the teachings of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu which is clarification of Srimad Bhagavatam. Ok. So in your leisurely time you can read other books but nityam Bhagavad sevaya. So you come to the temple and listen to the devotees explaining the verses and Srila Prabhupada’s purports to the verses.
Ok thank you all very much.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!