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Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis,
Please accept my humble obeisances! All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev!

The following is a humble effort to transcribe the class by HG Devakinandan prabhuji in Rajkot on Srimad Bhagavatam verse 1.17.18

na vayam klesha-beejaani / yatah syuh purusharshabha
purusham tam vijaanimo / vaakya-bheda-vimohitaah

"O greatest among human beings, it is very difficult to ascertain the particular miscreant who has caused our sufferings, because we are bewildered by all the different opinions of theoretical philosophers."

This is a very practical verse which tells how Vaishnavas actually handle their sufferings. Nobody can say that we are not suffering. Frankly speaking, everyone suffers. The question is how to cope with the sufferings. Maharaj always said that when the living entities cannot cope with the sufferings in the world, they become mental because they do not have the proper consciousness to understand the suffering. This verse makes it very clear how we should handle the suffering. So once and for all one should be very clear why we are in difficulty and how to handle it.

1.The cow and the bull being beaten by Kali: Here the background is very important. We know that Parikshit Maharaj is a very great king and during his reign, it is said in Srimad Bhagavatam there was no possibility of any injustice. But as he continued to rule, the king heard about a personality moving around causing disturbances and difficulties. The king came to understand that this personality is known as Kali. Wherever he goes, he is bringing quarrel and hypocrisy. So immediately Parikshit Maharaj decided that, "Now I must go around looking out for where this Kali is." Srimad Bhagavatam tells us he was travelling around the world and at one point he came across a terrible sight. He saw that there was a cow and a bull. The cow was pure white, the bull was very grave but something terrible was happening to them. There was a man looking just like a king, but his actions were not of a king. He was taking a club and he was beating the cow and the bull mercilessly. Maharaj said that when we beat cow and bull, it is a horrible sight because the sound of the club beating the flesh of the bull and the cow is very painful to hear. So Parikshit Maharaj heard that and he saw that this man was mercilessly beating the cow and the bull and they were terrified. The bull was only standing on one leg. So much the bull was beaten that instead of being brownish in color, the bull had turned white. It was trembling, shivering and urinating. The cow was helpless. She had no milk and when cows have no milk they are not happy. She had no calf with her. She looked distressed and weak. Parikshit Maharaj got down from the chariot and asked the man, "Who are you? How dare you beat the cow and the bull? You are dressed like a Vaishnava King. You have all the qualities externally of a Vaishnava but your behavior is completely anti-vaishnava."

2.Behaviour is more important than externalities: Srila Prabhupada writes in the purport that this is the symptom of the age of Kali that sometimes we dress as devotees, we may wear dhoti, kurta, tilak everything but the behavior is not that of a devotee. Then what is the point of the dress? The real quality of a Vaishnava is not how much he is reading, but how much he is behaving based on what he is reading. This is the key. Bhagavatam equals to behaviour. If after all the philosophy we have, after all the service we do, if we cannot behave ourselves, or if we cannot change our lives to become pleasing to Krishna, pleasing to the devotees, then whatever we do is of no value. This is what Kali was doing. Srila Prabhupada writes that in this age, there are so many people dressed as devotees, dressed as kings but factually speaking, the actions are not fitting. We are not so much interested in the form. We are interested in the substance in the form. That does not mean tomorrow we do not wear dhoti. But we should wear it with pride, not pride as ego, but pride that we are representing our beloved spiritual master, we are representing Srila Prabhupada. Just like how their behaviour was pucca, our behavior must become pucca.

3.When the Vaishnavas meet, they discuss the glories of Krishna: Why and when the situation happened? Before Parikshit Maharaj came and before Kali came, the cow and bull who were wandering around came across each other. The bull saw the cow crying and asked, "My dear cow, why are you crying?" The cow is none other than Mother Earth. Bull is none other than Yamaraj. The bull asked the cow the reason for crying and the cow told that everything is alright. But one thing is not alright and that is with the absence of Krishna, all the good Vedic behaviour is gone and the personality of Kali is going around and beating and harassing. Then she starts remembering Krishna with the bull, instead of blaming anyone or complaining. When two people meet, normally in Kali yuga, we complain and talk about the third person. Or when we meet each other, we are always morose, always complaining. We are competing to see who is suffering more. This is madness. But here the cow was suffering. The bull was walking with one leg. How much suffering there must be? But when the met each other, they did not discuss the suffering. When two Vaishnavas meet, they do not discuss their suffering. They discuss the glory of Krishna. So the cow said, "How much we are missing Krishna?" Then she remembers the many qualities of Krishna and like that they are remembering Krishna when Kali comes and beats them. In the remembrance of Krishna, they are getting beaten.

At that point of time, Parikshit Maharaj comes. He stops the Kali. Now he tells the bull and the cow like a police officer, that he has seen some crime and now he has to file the report to take the case. He asks them to identify the criminal. But the cow and the bull gave the most amazing answer. They felt that because outwardly it looks like it is Kali, but factually Kali cannot do this if Krishna does not want. So whom to blame? Should we put down in the report Krishna or Kali? Just see the example of these two personalities. After being beaten like this, out of frustration we will definitely point out the person and say he is the cause of our suffering. This makes us learn one thing. 

Here we shall see how the cow and the bull respond when being asked to identify the criminal. They did not put the blame the personality of Kali. Here we learn an important lesson.

4. Devotee Accepts Demon Expects: Srimad Bhagavatam 11.7.37

bhutair aakramyamaano 'pi / dhiro daiva-vashaanugaih
tad vidvaan na calen maargaad / anvashiksham kshiter vratam

"A sober person, even when harassed by other living beings, should understand that his aggressors are acting helplessly under the control of God, and thus he should never be distracted from progress on his own path. This rule I have learned from the earth."

Mother earth teaches us the most important quality of a devotee. All the living entities are always harassing each other. It is the nature of the world, samsaara dharma. We should not be bewildered or disturbed - avimuhyamaanah. Factually speaking, if one living entity does not cause suffering to the others, then it is surprising. That is how we must live in this world. Those who live that way, they become avimuhyamaanah. They are not bewildered. Otherwise what happens is we expect. This expectation kills our devotional service. Maharaj says instead of expectation E, better we put acceptance A. Devotee accepts, demon expects. When expectation is there, then there is grabbing mentality. 'I want this. I should be getting this.' But a devotee does not say this. He says whatever is given I am alright. Who is more peaceful? Devotee is more peaceful. Something comes it is a bonus. Something does not come, it is alright. Anyway we are nothing. In the first place, what do we have? Many times we will be so much pressurized about money for temple construction and when we sit down with Maharaj, he would tell us, "Devaki, as it is what do we have? Frankly speaking we had nothing. In the beginning we had no land. Now we have something. So why to worry? In the beginning we did not have it. In the end also we won't have it. Can we carry the land to our grave? We cannot. This is the royal way Maharaj taught us. When problems come we should think this way. First of all what did we have? This is the way the cow and the bull were thinking. As it is, the nature of the world is to cause suffering. Why should we believe that it should be anything else?" Actually Maharaj had this idea always. Every time I called Maharaj and told him somebody is very sick, Maharaj would tell he is going to die. So I used to think why Maharaj is saying that. Every time problem was there, Maharaj would tell the extreme thing. We always used to think why to think this way. Then Maharaj told us, "If I tell you he is going to die, tomorrow you tell me he is alive, I will be very happy. Because in my mind I had accepted that he must die. Vaishnava expects the worst but he expects it because it is the nature of the world. Once you hit bottom, you go right down to the ground. After that anything else that happens is going up only. Even one step is still better."

Now the cow and the bull having hit the bottom say what can be worse? All of us are harassed by each other. But Mother earth teaches us one thing. Those who are harassed, they do not see other people as the cause of harassment. They see daiva vashaanuagih - they say it is Krishna who is behind the people. If Krishna does not allow these people to cause these problems, then they cannot cause us the problem. Ravana might be a great demon in Ramayana. But Lord Rama says very nicely that he is a great demon because of My sanction. So even to become first class demon, we have to get the sanction of Krishna. So way the devotee is thinking.  

5. A devotee is dhira – sober: Thus the devotee becomes dhira – sober. Dhira means in any difficulty we do not meditate on the difficulty but we meditate on Krishna who is the cause of all causes instead of thinking and meditating on that person who harassed us. When we are dying we do not want to go to his loka. So when there is a problem, instead of thinking of the person, better we think of the person who has given sanction to the problem and that is Krishna. Because the cow and the bull were dhira, Krishna gave them full intelligence and blessing to remember that Krishna is the ultimate cause of everything. Usually in suffering situation we cannot remember Krishna. We are only thinking of that person whom we think is the immediate cause of the problem. That is our consciousness. But the cow and the bull are teaching us, 'Do not think that way because if you do that, you do not become dhirah. You must see the hand of Krishna."

6. We just become instruments and become peaceful: Bhishma deva pacified Yudhisthira by saying that the Mahabharat war was daiva tantram - it is all made by Krishna. Krishna confirms this in Bhagavad gita. He says mayaivaite nihataah purvam eva. "It is My arrangement that Duryodhana is going to die. It is by My arrangement that Karna is going to die. You just become instrument." Once we know we are instrument, we become dhirah. Peaceful. We may ask can instrument get any benefit. Maharaj answered this very nicely. "Whatever benefit you get in this material world, you also get on the other side, losses. Are you prepared to get losses? Very often we want to grab the benefit and we do not want the losses. But it is the nature of the material world that where there is material happiness, there is an equal amount of sadness just waiting for you. You become happy and next moment maya slaps you. This is life. We do not want that. When there is a murder, murderer takes the knife and kills somebody. Who is going to be hanged? The murderer or the knife? It is the murderer. The police would say knife was just an instrument. So even if you do not get benefit, at least you do not get losses. You do not lose." It is unique. Nobody has told us this before except Maharaj. Maharaj said, "you are always looking for gain but if something bad happens, the knife is not going to be prosecuted. So if something happens you put the whole blame on Krishna. That is all. Once you put the blame on Krishna, you are Krishna conscious because you are thinking of Krishna. At least you remember Krishna. Otherwise you think I am the doer, who will you remember? You will never remember Krishna. We become "I" conscious and not "Krishna" conscious. Bull and the cow did not waste time remembering Kali. Instead they discussed Krishna Katha.

7. Krishna protects the consciousness: So after getting beaten, externally the cow and the bull were in pain but Krishna took care of their consciousness 100% because the answer they gave shows that they were completely in control of their senses despite going through the suffering of beating. How many times Maharaj showed us this in all the difficulties of the body, the disturbances from authorities. Maharaj's consciousness was very clear. He always reminded us that it is not this person or that person but it is Krishna. Krishna does not want. We must follow only what Krishna wants. The moment we see Krishna does not want it, we drop it. This is the mood of dhiro daiva vashaanugaih. In that mood, what could the cow and bull achieve? tad vidvaan na alen maargaat. They had full knowledge. This knowledge is not gained in a material level but transcendentally, why? Because the qualification of the cow and the bull before they were beaten was that of discussing the glories of Krishna. Because of that, Krishna protected their consciousness. So even though they were beaten externally, internally their consciousness was completely intact. This is the import of the verse. Krishna gave the bull and the cow the understanding and knowledge to see the hand of Krishna even in this situation.

8. Devotee tolerates the sufferings: Maharaj said that we can only be conscious of Krishna if we have tolerance. There is no end to the sufferings and so there should not be any end to tolerance of sufferings. Srimad Bhagavatam is only about one behaviour - tolerance. Parikshit Maharaj tolerated the curse. Cow and the bull tolerated Kali. Indradyumna Maharaj tolerated the curse of Agastya muni. Citraketu Maharaj tolerated the curse of Parvati Mata. Narada Muni tolerated the curse of Daksha. Ambarisha Maharaj tolerated the harassment of Durvasa muni. Gajendra tolerated the clutches of the crocodile for 1000 years and chanted prayers on top of that. Every personality in Bhagavatam has tolerated and because they tolerated, they became so strong in their saadhana that their consciousness is intact. They cannot see anything but the hand of Krishna. Maharaj says tree is another example. The man sits under the tree and gets the shade. Afterwards he cuts the tee and takes the wood. Does the tree say that from now on, no more shade? No. It immediately grows and it gives the shade because the tree accepts that this is Krishna. Tree is a better devotee than we are because the tree accepts and we expect. When we expect, we are suffering. When we accept we are tolerating. This is the science. This is what the cow and the bull did and because they did this, they became peaceful. Srila Prabhupada writes, "Even if the devotees see the mischief-mongers, they do not accuse them for the sufferings inflicted. They take it for granted that the mischief-monger is made to act by some indirect cause, and therefore they tolerate the sufferings, thinking them to be God-given in small doses, for otherwise the sufferings should have been greater."

9. Behaviour attracts blessings and Actions attract sanctions: Blessing and sanction are different. You may go to pub now and drink. Krishna sanctions that but that does not mean that He has given blessings. Behaviour attracts blessings but actions attract sanctions. It is a big difference. So we cannot become demoniac in mentality and say everything is Krishna and do whatever we want. A devotee says everything is done by the hand of Krishna. That is mood of devotee. Even the devotees see mischief mongers, they do not see them as the cause of suffering. They take it for granted that the present trouble is because of their own sins. They do not blame others. Srila Prabhupada writes that, "According to the Padma Purana, our present trouble is due to the fructifying of seedling sins, but even those seedling sins also gradually fade away by execution of pure devotional service."

10. Pure Devotional Service can uproot the weeds of sinful action: Maharaj says that even if you go to the moon, your karma will follow you. Only one remedy can stop the results of the sin and that is pure devotional service. Where two devotees sit to read Bhagavatam, where two devotees put Krishna in the centre, that is pure devotional service. The moment we start the blame game then we are not devotees. Then we become disturbed. Then we give so many excuses why we cannot come for Bhagavatam. Maharaj likes the following verse very much.

dvija uvaaca
naayam jano me sukha-duhkha-hetur
na devataatmaa graha-karma-kaalaah
manah param kaaranam aamananti
samsaara-cakram parivartayed yat

The brahmana said: "These people are not the cause of my happiness and distress. Neither are the demigods, my own body, the planets, my past work, or time. Rather, it is the mind alone that causes happiness and distress and perpetuates the rotation of material life." (SB 11.23.42)

Srimad Bhagavatam smashes all the reasons we give. It is all the attitude. The success of the devotee depends upon the attitude. The mind never wants to be in the present. Mind always wants to look into the past or the future. But the cow and the bull were only discussing Krishna. They never looked into the past or future. Those who discuss Krishna, when they are in trouble, for them the seedlings of sin die. That is the meaning of pure devotional service. SB 6.1.15

kecit kevalayaa bhaktyaa / vaasudeva-paraayanaah
agham dhunvanti kaartsnyena / nihaaram iva bhaaskarah

"Only a rare person who has adopted complete, unalloyed devotional service to Krishna can uproot the weeds of sinful actions with no possibility that they will revive. He can do this simply by discharging devotional service, just as the sun can immediately dissipate fog by its rays."

Here Sukadev Goswami gives the real way to stop the sins once and for all. We underestimate the power of bhakti. We become so familiar with bhakti that we take it for granted. We do not realize how powerful bhakti is, because our shraddha as the years go by, instead of growing becomes weaker and weaker. Sadhana is absent. Constant sparshanam is absent. After a while it becomes diluted. It is mixed with so many other things. We start wearing rings for our problems, we say time is not right, wife is not right, husband is not right, we start going to astrologers. Everything we blame but we do not see what does Krishna want me to learn in this situation? What should I do now that difficulty is there? I should remember Krishna. This is what the cow and the bull did. So when they were asked about the accused, they said, "I think it is Krishna", and in doing so they immediately thought of Krishna. They became peaceful. When the Pandavas were in difficulty did they blame the Kauravas? They said that Krishna wanted it and they accepted. When you accept your suffering, you tolerate. When you expect your suffering to stop, you die because the sufferings never stop. They just take different forms and they come in different ways, but they will always be there as long as you are in the material world. So the secret for the devotee is, vaasudeva paraayanaah. We read the word to word equivalent of paraayanaah - Completely attached (only to such service, without dependence on austerity, penance, cultivation of knowledge or pious activities). It defines how we should perform the devotional service. It should be performed in such a way that we are not attached to the austerity, we are not attached to the knowledge we are getting, we are not attached to the tejas we are getting or pooja or pratishta. Otherwise when a devotee performs nice devotional service, everyone comes and says, "Prabhu! you are doing nice." Then that becomes the motivation for us to do the devotional service. So we come to the program because everyone says, "Prabhu you sing very nice." We sing because we think we sing very nice. We forget that we have to sing for the glorification of Krishna. That is not vaasudeva paraayanaa. Supposing somebody becomes pucca in austerity, but in Mangala arati he is not remembering Krishna. He is just remembering, "Today I woke up for Mangala arati". Then he becomes pucca yogi. But what is the point of yogi when he is actually bhogi? He just wants to enjoy his austerity. We go around saying that, "my austerity no one can beat."

The conclusion to the verse which Maharaj gave is very important. The cow and the bull are teaching us two very important things.

A. The royal road out of sufferings is acceptance and tolerance: Whatever sufferings come to you, the royal road to free yourself is to accept, tolerate. Maharaj says become like sponge. The quality of sponge is very nice. Quality of rock is opposite to that of sponge. How much water you pour on the rock, it just flows away but how much water you pour on the sponge, the sponge absorbs.This is the nature of the sponge. The rock will erode after a number of years with flowing water. Because it does not absorb, it gets washed away. But sponge never gets washed away. It absorbs and it retains its quality. A devotee retains the quality of devotional service while tolerating the difficulties of the material world and seeing the hand of Krishna. The devotee remembers that it is Krishna Prasad. The person is not to be blamed. I do not want to think of that person day and night. Better I think of Krishna. Then I become peaceful. This is the royal road.

B. The value of devotees association: The concluding point which Maharaj gave is very nice. Maharaj asked the question why the cow and the bull have so much strength and faith in devotional service. Because they were in sadhu sanga. They were two not one. Because they were together, they were discussing Krishna and at the point they were discussing Krishna, Kali came there, but they derived spiritual strength from each other because they were discussing the glories of Krishna. They could accept the suffering better because they were in sadhu sanga. That is why the Vaishnavas, they serve each other in suffering times. That is why when we suffered, Maharaj was with us throughout our suffering. Every moment of our difficulty, Maharaj never said it is maya. Maharaj said, "Come sit down. Let us chant. Let us read. Let us see whether Krishna gives us intelligence to solve the problem. We try." That way we did not realize that Maharaj was giving us sanga, he was propping us up. Just like the bull was propping the cow and the cow was propping the bull and because they were in sadhu sanga, they were very powerful. They did not lose anything. They could tolerate their sufferings. That is why Maharaj said that if you really want to advance in devotional service, you please do sadhu sanga. In Srimad Bhagavatam 4.9.11 Dhruva Maharaj prays,

bhaktim muhuh pravahataam tvayi me prasango
bhuyaad ananta mahataam amalaashayaanaam
yenaanjasolbanam uru-vyasanam bhavaabdhim
neshye bhavad-guna-kathaamrta-paana-mattah

Dhruva Maharaja continued: "O unlimited Lord, kindly bless me so that I may associate with great devotees who engage in Your transcendental loving service constantly, as the waves of a river constantly flow. Such transcendental devotees are completely situated in an uncontaminated state of life. By the process of devotional service I shall surely be able to cross the nescient ocean of material existence, which is filled with the waves of blazing, firelike dangers. It will be very easy for me, for I am becoming mad to hear about Your transcendental qualities and pastimes, which are eternally existent."

Here the significant point is that Dhruva Maharaj wanted the association of pure devotees. Srila Prabhupada writes, "Transcendental devotional service cannot be complete and cannot be relishable without the association of devotees. We have therefore established the International Society for Krishna Consciousness". We asked Maharaj who is pure devotee. Maharaj answered what Srila Prabhupada said that, "except for you everyone else is a pure devotee." Maharaj underlined the words in the purport, "Anyone who is trying to be aloof from this Krishna Consciousness Society and yet engage in Krishna consciousness is living in a great hallucination, for this is not possible. From this statement by Dhruva Maharaja it is clear that unless one is associated with devotees, his devotional service does not mature; it does not become distinct from material activities."

If we perform devotional service thinking that we can be at home and not come for the programs and we can come once in a while come for the programs, we are in hallucination. Whenever we do not want to go the programs we should read this. It is all sense gratification and not for the glorification of Maharaj or Srila Prabhupada. Service purifies the consciousness. Kali cannot touch us. Kali can beat us, but it cannot touch our consciousness. Kali can hit our bodies, can give so much pain. Maharaj had many bodily problems but Kali could not touch his consciousness. Why? Because he was constantly in sadhu sanga with Bhagavatam and constantly Maharaj wanted association of devotees. Maharaj was shouting at us why don't you come and see me? One time Maharaj was in Singapore. Maharaj was very tired. He was downstairs and my flat was upstairs. All the devotees were coming and talking and talking and talking and Maharaj was talking Bhagavatam. I came two three times and I said, "Maharaj it is late. You must take rest." That time he said , "You get out. Do not come and disturb us. I want sadhu sanga. Why are you stopping me from having sadhu sanga?" I said, "Maharaj you are very tired." Maharaj said, "I am tired when I go upstairs. I am not tired now. If you do not want to have sadhu sanga you go upstairs." Then I came to understand how much Maharaj valued the association of devotees and how much we must value the association of devotees.

Association with Spiritual Master is eternal: Maharaj said that for those who are on the strength of Bhagavatam, who are really attached to Srimad Bhagavatam and devotional service, the transmission between the spiritual master and the disciple is instant. Infact Maharaj said that, "Without my material covering I will become even more accessible to all of you. This material covering is stopping me." In London he said the same thing. Before I left, I asked Maharaj, "Will I see you again?" Maharaj said, "Do not worry about seeing. Most important is bhakti. This body is troublesome. It stops me. But frankly speaking without the body I am more available. I can see more persons. I can spend more time with the devotees." This is what Maharaj said. In one dairy Maharaj writes spiritual master is like television. It is a medium. But the antenna is getting the waves from the sky and so many televisions are there. And everyone can give transmission. Spiritual master is a transmitter but the real energy is not in the television. It is in the waves. That you cannot see. So if you do not have television then you get the direct waves which are very powerful. In the same way, when spiritual master leaves the body, the actual teachings we follow they give us the strength. In another diary Maharaj has written that under samaadhi even the bones or flesh of a spiritual master is completely transcendental. So anyone who sits at the samadhi of the spiritual master can get the effect of the bone the effects of the flesh. That bhakti is flowing in samaadhi.

Our heartfelt thanks to HG Devakinandan prabhuji for sharing these valuable realizations.

Thank you very much
Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev,
Vaijayanti mala devi dasi,
Abu Dhabi