Potency of Devotional Service - Part 2

Date: 2014-08-29 Author: Sudarshana dasi

Hare Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva.

This is in continuation of the previous topic titled, "Potency of Devotional Service", wherein we saw that devotional service is so potent that those who are engaged in or freed of all sinful reactions.

Diti the wife of Muni was very upset over the death of her sons Hiranyaksha and . Since Lord had killed her sons to help , she was very angry with Indra and decided to beget a son to kill Indra. So she served her husband Kashyapa Muni with devotion and care and having captivated his mind, she got the benediction from him that he would fulfill her desires. When expressed her desire to beget a son to kill Indra, Kashyapa Muni was very aggrieved. Apart from the fact that Indra was his son, Kashyapa Muni knew that it was not correct for Diti to have a revengeful attitude towards Indra. He knew that since he had promised to give her the benediction, it could not be revoked. So he decided to find a suitable win-win solution which will prove to be good for Diti as well as Indra.

In purport to Srimad Bhagavatam verse 6.18.43, Srila Prabhupada very nicely explains the mood of Kashyapa Muni. ' Kashyapa Muni concluded, "Diti is eager to have a son who can kill Indra, since she is a woman, after all, and is not very intelligent. I shall train her in such a way that instead of always thinking of how to kill Indra, she will become a Vaishnava, a devotee of Krishna. If she agrees to follow the rules and regulations of the Vaishnava principles, the unclean core of her heart will certainly be cleansed." Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ [Cc. Antya 20.12]. This is the process of devotional service. Anyone can be purified by following the principles of devotional service in Krishna consciousness, for Krishna consciousness is so powerful that it can purify even the dirtiest class of men and transform them into the topmost Vaishnavas.'

In Srimad Bhagavatam verse 6.18.45 Kashyapa Muni gives the following advice to Diti.

śrī-kaśyapa uvāca putras te bhavitā bhadre indra-hādeva-bāndhavaḥ saṁvatsaraṁ vratam idaṁ yady añjo dhārayiṣyasi

Kaśyapa Muni said: My dear gentle wife, if you follow my instructions regarding this vow for at least one year, you will surely get a son who will be able to kill Indra. However, if you deviate from this vow of following the Vaiṣṇava principles, you will get a son who will be favorable to Indra.

One of the quality of Vaishnava is daksha and here we can see how Kashyapa Muni, being a great devotee of the Lord, tackled this difficult situation very expertly. If Diti follows the instructions sincerely for the whole year - then she will get a son, but by then both the consciousness of Diti and the child in the womb would be changed due to her following the Vaishnava principles and so the child will not kill Indra. And if for some reason she breaks the vow, then she will get a son favourable to Indra. By giving the above instruction, he ensured that Indra would not be killed in either case.

Krishna willing we shall try to see the details of the vow given by Kashyapa Muni to Diti and how Diti followed them in the subsequent offering.

Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva, Sudarshana devi dasi.