CONTENTS:
- SB 3.1.15 (PART - 1)
- SRILA PRABHUPADA'S APPRECIATION
- GURU MAHARAJA’S INSTRUCTIONS
1. SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM 3.1.15 (PART - 1)
SB 3.1.15
ka enam atropajuhava jihmam
dasyah sutam yad-balinaiva pustah
tasmin pratipah parakrtya aste
nirvasyatam asu purac chvasanah
TRANSLATION
Who asked him to come here, this son of a kept mistress? He is so crooked that he spies in the interest of the enemy against those on whose support he has grown up. Toss him out of the palace immediately and leave him only with his breath.
PURPORT
When getting married, the ksatriya kings would take on several other youthful girls along with the married princess. These girl attendants of the king were known as dasis, or attendant mistresses. By intimate association with the king, the dasis would get sons. Such sons were called dasi-putras. They had no claim to royal position, but they would get maintenance and other facilities just like the princes. Vidura was the son of such a dasi, and he was thus not counted amongst the ksatriyas. King Dhrtarastra was very affectionate toward his younger asi-putra brother, Vidura and Vidura was a great friend and philosophical advisor to Dhrtarastra. Duryodhana knew very well that Vidura was a great soul and well-wisher but unfortunately, he used strong words to hurt his innocent uncle. Duryodhana not only attacked Vidura's birth, but also called him an infidel because he seemed to support the cause of Yudhisthira, whom Duryodhana considered his enemy.
He desired that Vidura be immediately put out of the palace and deprived of all his possessions. If possible, he would have liked him caned until he was left with nothing but his breath. He charged that Vidura was a spy of the Pandavas because he advised King Dhrtarastra in their favor. Such is the situation of palace life and the intricacies of diplomacy that even a faultless person like Vidura could be charged with something abominable and punished. Vidura was struck with wonder at such unexpected behavior from his nephew Duryodhana, and before anything actually happened, he decided to leave the palace for good. Does everybody remember Vidura's instruction to Dhrtarastra in this context? I'll read the last few verses because that will give us the background.
SB 3.1.11
Vidura said, "You must now return the legitimate share to Yudhisthira, who has no enemies and who has been forbearing through untold sufferings due to your offenses. He is waiting with his younger brothers, among whom is the revengeful Bhima, breathing heavily like a snake. Surely you are afraid of him.
SB 3.1.12
Lord Krishna, the Personality of Godhead, has accepted the sons of Prtha as His kinsmen, and all the kings of the world are with Lord Krishna. He is present in His home with all His family members, the kings and princes of the Yadu dynasty, who have conquered and unlimited number of rulers, and He is their Lord.
SB 3.1.13
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!
SB 3.1.14
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 Sakuni.
So, in this verse of today what did Duryodhana say? He said, "Who asked him to come here, this son of a kept mistress? He is so crooked that he spies in the interest of the enemy against those on whose support he has grown up. Toss him out of the palace immediately and leave him only with his breath."
As we have been discussing for the last few days how the evil-minded people, no matter how many good advises are given to them they cannot see the reality. The reality of this material nature is that good actions will lead to real happiness and bad actions will lead to suffering. Duryodhana and the other sons of Dhrtarastra and their friends and followers are all evil. Duryodhana is actually evil personified and the evil-minded people are following Duryodhana. They are siding with Duryodhana. They maybe of glorious birth but due to bad association they have also lost all their good qualities. Even personalities like Bhisma were affected by that.
When the battle was about to begin Yudhisthira Maharaja was very much against the battle and he said, "Look, I can't fight against Bhisma and Drona, how can I shoot arrows at them?" That was also the same dilemma that Arjuna faced." How can I shoot arrows towards Bhisma and Drona, they are worship able? Hey, Madhusudhana, how can I shoot arrows and fight with them?" Krishna pointed out, " When I went to the court with a proposal of peace, the only person who was actually against the war was Vidura. Even Bhisma and Drona did not protest and now Bhisma has become the general so why should you have any compassion for him? It is not that you wanted the war, it is they who have decided to fight against you."
In this way we can see how bad association can affect the mind of a noble and great personality. Bhisma although he is a devotee of Krishna but still, he is standing against Krishna. Why? This has also been pointed out in Mahabharata that the ultimate consideration should be Krishna. But Bhisma's ultimate consideration was not Krishna, Bhisma's ultimate consideration was morality. What is moral and what is immoral? I am a ksatriya, I am being maintained by the king therefore I must side with the king. So, this is a moral consideration. In this situation the ultimate consideration of good and bad is not considered. Although he gave good advice to Dhrtarastra, he tried to dissuade Duryodhana many times but ultimately, he considered that these are my maintainers. This is a sense of morality, it is the side of the king you will have to follow the king, you cannot judge the king.
A citizen of the king cannot judge the king if he does that and goes against the king then he will be considered to be a rebel. That was the consideration but what is the ultimate consideration? These are all relative considerations: good and bad, piety and sin, virtue and impiety and morality and immorality. This is just a mental speculation, the material consideration of good and bad. A duality. What is the absolute consideration? Absolute, ultimate spiritual consideration? Wherever Krishna is, is right and going against Krishna is wrong. As I mentioned the other day, what was the fault of Yudhisthira Maharaja? It was not that he lied, he actually did not lie the elephant called Ashvatama was killed and Yudhisthira Maharaja did say the elephant called Ashvatama was killed so where is the lie? What was the defect in Yudhisthira Maharaja? It is that Krishna told him to say something and he did not do that. That is the ultimate consideration.
In Bhagavad Gita, Krishna gives the ultimate instruction also, sarva dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja Just surrender unto Me because that is the ultimate dharma. All that what goes on besides surrendering to Krishna no matter how virtuous, noble and pious it may appear it is not dharma; it is relative dharma! Therefore, Krishna is saying give up all that relative dharma and surrender unto Me because that is the ultimate dharma, responsibility and duty. The point I am making here is how unfortunate bad association can be. Even good and noble persons can become affected by bad association. Here, we are seeing Bhisma is affected by bad association because he had stayed with the Kauravas he had been affected by their association.
Another personality is Karna, such an illustrious personality, the son of the Sun-God Vivasvan and the son of Kunti herself, a brother of the Pandavas. But we are seeing that Karna was so low although he is a very noble person. There was no one who could match him in charity. Karna was famous for his charitable nature. He was born with natural armor that would protect him from any kind of onslaught of war but when Indra came and asked for it, he cut it out and just gave it to him. It was part of his body this armor and earrings. On one hand we can see he is such a noble person but again we can see what happened to him due to bad association.
Time and time again it has been pointed out, "AVOID BAD ASSOCIATION." Always try to remain in good association even though you may not be a very exalted personality. You will derive the benefit of good association. If you are in bad association no matter how exalted you maybe, all your good qualities will be lost.
2. SRILA PRABHUPADA'S APPRECIATION
Then fortunately Srila Prabhupada came, our Srila Prabhupada came. Prabhupada was actually an insignificant personality during that time, it is not that he was lacking in his brilliance by any chance. But nobody could see that. I discovered some early writings of Srila Prabhupada from 1948, 1940 onwards of the Gaudiya Math magazines and I could see they were such brilliant writings. But Srila Prabhupada was not really recognized. Because they saw him as a householder so there was no exposure to his brilliance, although it was there. It was not that all of a sudden, he became saktyavesar avatar, as some less intelligent persons think. They think that Srila Prabhupada was a nobody and then suddenly he became a saktyavesar avatar. But that is not the case. Srila Prabhupada has always been that great personality. From his writing and his actions, we saw Srila Prabhupada’s surrender and sacrifice.
(Excerpt from Prabhupada Realizations)
3. GURU MAHARAJA’S INSTRUCTIONS
- What is the absolute consideration? Absolute, ultimate spiritual consideration? Wherever Krishna is right and going against Krishna is wrong;
- All that what goes on besides surrendering to Krishna no matter how virtuous, noble and pious it may appear it is not dharma; it is relative dharma! Therefore, Krishna is saying give up all that relative dharma and surrender unto Me because that is the ultimate dharma, responsibility and duty;
- The point I am making here is how unfortunate bad association can be. Even good and noble persons can become affected by bad association; and
- Time and time again it has been pointed out, "AVOID BAD ASSOCIATION." Always try to remain in good association even though you may not be a very exalted personality. You will derive the benefit of good association. If you are in bad association no matter how exalted you maybe, all your good qualities will be lost.
(The content of this E-magazine is based on a lecture given by His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami in ISKCON Ujjain on 26 March 2008)
(Compiled and Edited by Hemavati Radhika Devi Dasi)