Living the Bhagavatam Way - Part 8

Date: 2012-12-08 Author: Kalacakra Krsna das

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

We shall continue with the lessons we are learning from the episode of, "Parikshit Maharaj Cursed by the Boy".

In the Part 6 of this series we saw the point, 'The source of our detachment is always auspicious'. We saw how Parikshit Maharaj took the curse as an auspicious sign instead of detesting it as injustice. The general way we perceive the incidents in our life is that if our material life is prospering, then Krishna is merciful to us, whereas if there is any disturbance in any form, then we wonder why He is so cruel. This especially becomes a big question mark when we start performing activities in . We take it for granted that, "Now I have become a devotee, Krishna will give me all the wealth, name, fame, position, prosperity etc in abundance and protect all that I have." We mistake the statement He makes in Gita, -kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham - I carry what you lack and I preserve what you have ". He 'carries' and 'preserves' only those paraphernalias which He thinks as required for continuing our devotional service and only when we are ananyāś cintayantas (one-pointed worship) and nityābhiyuktānāṁ (always fixed in devotion).

When the Lord sees that something is blocking our devotional service, as a kind father, mercifully He removes that hurdle from our life. However, externally for others it appears very frustrating and depressing, but the devotees see it otherwise. While for everyone else in the world, the ordeal which Parikshit Maharaj had to go through appears to be injustice, Parikshit Maharaj himself did not see it that way. He took full accountability for his mistake, however at the same time he realized that without the sanction of the Lord the brahmana boy would not have cursed him and hence took it as an auspicious sign. It is not only that he took it as auspicious, but he saw Krishna Himself coming in the form of that curse! He says beautifully in SB 1.19.14,

tasyaiva me ’ghasya parāvareśo vyāsakta-cittasya gṛheṣv abhīkṣṇam nirveda-mūlo dvija-śāpa-rūpo yatra prasakto bhayam āśu dhatte

The Supreme Personality of Godhead, the controller of both the transcendental and mundane worlds, has graciously overtaken me in the form of a brahmana's curse. Due to my being too much attached to family life, the Lord, in order to save me, has appeared before me in such a way that only out of fear I will detach myself from the world.

There are few important points we can meditate upon from this beautiful realization of Parikshit Maharaj:

1. Parikshit Maharaj says nirveda-mūlo dvija-śāpa-rūpo - "Krishna has graciously overtaken me in the form of brahmana's curse so that I will be detached from everything." The source of detachment is always Krishna, in whatever form it may appear. Since the curse became the source of detachment for Parikshit Maharaj from everything, he saw that as another form of Krishna. Just like we sing, "keśava dhṛta-narahari-rūpa..., keśava dhṛta-vāmana-rūpa etc", Parikshit Maharaj saw the curse as another incarnation of the Lord - keśava dhṛta dvija-śāpa rūpa, the incarnation who has come to cut off all his attachments.

2. Even though the 'source of our detachment' is very painful, it is actually the 'spiritual energy'of the Lord as beautifully explained by Srila Prabhupada in his purport to SB 6.4.27-28, "In the material world, the spiritual energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is manifested as tāpa-karī, which means, "Causing miseries." Everyone hankers for happiness, but although happiness originally comes from the pleasure potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, in the material world, because of material activities, the pleasure potency of the Lord becomes a source of miseries (hlāda-tāpa-karī)". This is a great revelation to all of us who question why we are in distress in spite of doing devotional service. It is our activities in material modes, our material tendencies, our expectation of material results as an output of our devotional activities, that is creating miseries in our life. In other words, we are utilizing the pleasure potency of the Lord in a wrong way for our own pleasure and hence we are in trouble. If we utilize it for the pleasure of Krishna, then we will experience eternal bliss.

3. More often that not, we identify people, situations etc as the source of our pains and blame them, but we fail to understand that unless and until Krishna sanctions, that so and so person cannot harm us. Our spiritual master H H Mahavishnu Goswami Maharaj quotes from a beautiful Gujarati , "vibhu tārā hukam vinā, bane na koī paṇa bīnā - Oh Supreme Lord, without your order, nothing can happen in this world." Whenever devotees went to Maharaj complaining about somebody causing difficulties, Maharaj would give the most sober advice, "Don't see the person as the cause of your trouble. It is actually Krishna who is doing it. Krishna is our Supreme father and whatever He does is always good." By reminding us that Krishna is the ultimate cause of everything, Maharaj removed all the hindrances like blaming others for our trouble, complaining about bad situations, maintaining negative thoughts etc from the path of our bhakti. Once these hurdles are removed, our bhakti will then flow freely like a river.

4. In another similar incident when Mother curses Citraketu, Srila Prabhupada reveals this amazing point in his purport to SB 6.17.17, "Acting through the heart of Parvati, the Lord, who is situated in everyone's heart, cursed Citraketu in order to end all his material reactions. Thus Citraketu became Vrtrasura in his next life and returned home, back to Godhead." So it was not Parvati who cursed Citraketu but it was actually the Lord who did it. He did so because He wanted to end all the material reactions of Citraketu quickly and make him an eternal associate in the spiritual world. Similarly Srila Prabhupada says about Parikshit Maharaj also that, Krishna wanted his association in the spiritual world soon and hence arranged for this awkward situation to end his material existence. One point to note here though: Neither Parikshit Maharaj nor Citraketu thought, "Oh Krishna wants my association, that is why He has appeared in the form of this curse." No. They genuinely accepted and repented their mistake and saw the curse as another form of Krishna coming as a reaction to their offence. If we fail to understand this point, then we will suffer from what is called, "Pure Devotee Syndrome", consider ourselves as pure devotees and instead of repenting for our mistakes, will become proud assuming that we have become so important for Krishna.

5. Since Parikshit Maharaj realized that it is Krishna only who came in the form of the boy's curse he saw no point in blaming the boy. There is no point in blaming Krishna also, because He is beyond all blames and judgements. He is also suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ as Srila Prabhupada says beautifully in SB 1.9.35 purport, "The Lord is all good, and whatever He does is for everyone's good." Hence Parikshit Maharaj thanked Krishna for being merciful to him, by saying, "The Supreme Lord has graciously overtaken me in the form of the brahmana's curse for the great sin I committed and relieved me from all attachments." Being pleased with his attitude, Krishna appeared to him as endless nectar in the form of Srimad Bhagavatam. If we also thank Krishna whole-heartedly for all the adversities in our life, He will appear in our lives too.

Krishna willing, we will see further revelations from the glorious character of Parikshit Maharaj.

Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev, Kalacakra Krsna das.