It was raining early this morning so Prabhupada simply made half a circuit of the temple parikrama path and then went in for darsana of the Deities and to give his class on Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.7.8.
Pradyumna prabhu lead the devotees in responsively chanting the sloka and then he read out the English. The verse stated that Srila Vyasadeva first compiled the Srimad-Bhagavatam and then after revising it, spoke it to his son, Sukadeva Gosvami.
Srila Prabhupada opened his half-hour lecture with a warning about the dangers of hearing from Mayavadis. He condemned their idea that the Bhagavatam was written by Bopadeva, and said that even Sankaracarya could not comment on the holy text. "He wrote comments on Bhagavad-gita, but he could not touch Srimad-Bhagavatam because in the Srimad-Bhagavatam the things are so nicely set up, krtvanukramya, that it is not possible by the Mayavadis to prove that God is impersonal. They cannot do it. Nowadays they are doing, reading Bhagavatam in their own way. But that does not appeal to any sane man. Sometimes I have seen a big Mayavadi is explaining one verse from Srimad-Bhagavatam, that 'Because you are God, therefore if you are pleased, then God is pleased.' This is their philosophy. 'You do not require to please God separately. So if you are pleased by drinking wine, then God is pleased.' This is their explanation. Therefore Caitanya Mahaprabhu has condemned this Mayavadi commentary."
He went on to say, "They're very, very envious to Krsna. Krsna is dvi-bhuja-muralidhara, Syamasundara, and the Mayavadi explains that 'Krsna has no hand, no leg. This is all imagination.' How much offensive it is they do not know. But to warn people like us, Caitanya Mahaprabhu has plainly warned that 'Don't go to Mayavadis.'"
He said that the Mayavadis are to be found even here in Vrndavana, but they may not appear obvious to the untrained eye. "So you should be very, very careful. Don't go to hear any Mayavadi. There are many Mayavadis in the dress of Vaisnavas. Sri Bhaktivinoda Thakura has explained about them, that ei 'ta eka kali-cela nake tilaka gale mala, that 'Here is a follower of Kali. Although he has got a tilaka on the nose and neck beads, but he's a kali-cela.' You have come to Vrndavana. Be careful, very careful, mayavadi-bhasya sunile. There are many Mayavadis here, many so-called tilaka-mala, but you do not know what is there inside. But great acaryas, they can find out. They create disturbance only. Therefore we have to follow the Gosvamis, Gosvami literature, especially Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, which we have translated in The Nectar Of Devotion; every one of you should very carefully read and make progress. Don't be victimized by the Mayavadi so-called Vaisnava; it is very dangerous."
Therefore, he said, because of the confidential nature of the subject, it was taught by Vyasadeva to his son Sukadeva. "Atma-jam. Like father, like son. There is no difference between son and disciple. Canakya Pandita has equalized. That is the Vedic system -- to teach the son and teach the disciple. If one cannot teach the son, the son is disobedient, he should give up his family life."
He said the qualification of Sukadeva Gosvami was his attraction to the path of renunciation, nivrtti-marga. If one follows the opposite path, pravrtti-marga, that of sense enjoyment, then he is called dvi-pada pasu, a two-legged animal. "But if anyone can control by training, by education, these things -- vyavayamisa-madya-seva: sex life, intoxication and meat-eating -- then he's called niratam; he becomes qualified. Vyasadeva preferred to teach Srimad-Bhagavatam to his son Sukadeva Gosvami because he was nivrtti-niratan It is said for sixteen years within the womb of his mother he did not come out purposefully so that he may not be materially attached. Because a small child, within the womb, when he's in suffering, he prays to God, 'This time kindly release me. Now I shall begin bhagavad-bhajana' -- one who is little advanced in his previous life. Because it is very, very terrible condition within the womb of the mother. We have forgotten; but we can imagine, if you are packed up in a bag and put hand and legs tightly knotted, just imagine. You cannot live even for three minutes. They say if you are airtight packed-up like that, we cannot exist more than three minutes. But we existed by the mercy of Krsna, only by the mercy. That is also nowadays very dangerous. In that packed-up condition, he's there, he's already suffering, and the mother is planning to go to the doctor and kill the child. Just imagine how precarious condition in the womb of the mother. And if we do not try in this life that 'I shall not again enter into the womb of the mother,' then what is the value of this life? We have to learn it from the sastra."
He explained that being uneducated or even illiterate was not a hinderance to solving the problems of life. One need simply hear the Srimad-Bhagavatam from the acarya. Sukadeva himself never went to school. "Our real point is that Sukadeva Gosvami was not a grammarian, but he learned everything from his father by hearing. Therefore it is called sruyamanayam. If you hear from the right person, properly, then you become perfect. There is no need of literary education. Therefore Vedas are called sruti. Formerly the students, their memory was so nice and sharp that simply by hearing from guru's mouth they would learn. In the Kali-yuga, because the memory is not so strong Vyasadeva recorded this in writing.
"So unless we come to the parampara system, acarya after acarya, there is no right education. Therefore Caitanya Mahaprabhu's private secretary, personal secretary, Svarupa Damodara, he advised bhagavat para giya bhagavat sthane: if you want to learn Srimad-Bhagavatam, you go to a person whose life is Bhagavatam. Grantha-bhagavata and person bhagavata -- both of them bhagavatas. One whose life is Bhagavatam and nothing else, you should learn Bhagavatam from him, not from the professional person who are earning livelihood by reading or reciting Srimad-Bhagavatam That will not be effective. You have to find out like Sukadeva Gosvami, then this study of Srimad-Bhagavatam will be effective."
- From "A Transcendental Diary Vol 4" by HG Hari Sauri Prabhu
Comments