Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.8.41

Pradyumna: Translation: "O Lord of the universe, soul of the universe, O Personality of the form of the universe, please, therefore, sever my tie of affection for my kinsmen, the Pāṅḍavas and the Vṛṣṅis." [SB 1.8.41]

Prabhupāda: So, Pāṅḍava and Vṛṣṅi dynasty, Kuntī belongs to both families. She is the daughter of the Vṛṣṅi family and the wife and mother of the Pāṅḍava family. So generally a woman has got affection both for the father's family and husband's family. So he is..., she is asking Kṛṣṅa that "I am woman. Generally, I am attached to my family. So kindly cut off my this attachment so that thoroughly I can be attached unto You. This is the purpose. Because without You, either my this family or that family, opulence, everything, that is all zero. So falsely I am attached to these families. My business is to be attached unto You."

This is bhakti. Bhakti means to be free from the attachment of this material world and to become attached to Kṛṣṅa. Because you have to attach to something. You cannot become unattached. That is not possible. So, in order to become attached to Kṛṣṅa or to enter into the devotional service of the Lord, one has to become detached from this material affection. That is wanted. Ordinarily, they go to Kṛṣṅa for maintaining the attachment with this material world.

Just like, "O God, give us our daily bread." That means I have got attachment of this material world, and to live in this material world, I must have supplies of material things so that I can maintain my status quo. This is called material attachment. People go to God for securing the material position. That is, one sense, it is good; but that is not wanted. To become free from material attachment, that is required. Not that I worship God to increase my opulence in the material world. That is not wanted.

So bhakti means detachment. Vairāgya-vidyā-nija-bhakti-yogam [Cc Madhya 6.254]. Bhakti-yogam means detachment. Our suffering is due to our attachment. Because we are materially attached, I am desiring so many things materially. Therefore, Kṛṣṅa is giving me opportunity to enjoy that material facility. Whatever I want, whatever I desire... Of course, I must deserve. "First deserve, then desire." Suppose if I want to become king. So I must have pious activities behind me so that I can become king. But Kṛṣṅa can fulfill.

Whatever you want, Kṛṣṅa can give you. Kṛṣṅa can give you even mukti, liberation, the Māyāvādīs' mukti. But He does not give very easily bhakti. That He does not give. Kṛṣṅa can give you all material gifts, even up to mukti if you want. But when He gives bhakti, oh, that is special consideration. Because when He gives somebody bhakti, He becomes purchased by the bhakta. So therefore He considers. Considers. Become... Kṛṣṅa become a tool in the hands of bhakta. Although He's so..., the supreme powerful. Just like Rādhārāṅī, the symbol of the topmost bhakti, Rādhārāṅī. So She has purchased Kṛṣṅa. She has purchased Kṛṣṅa, She's so powerful. Therefore Vaiṣṅavas, they take shelter of the lotus feet of Rādhārāṅī so that if She recommends, "Oh, here is a nice devotee," Kṛṣṅa has to accept.

So to become a devotee of the Lord, we have to be completely cleansed of all material attachment. That is the qualification. Vairāgya. That is... Sarvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya wrote one hundred verses praising Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu when he became a student of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So out of that, one or two verses are mentioned in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta. One of them is..., this is the statement:

vairāgya-vidyā-nija-bhakti-yoga- śikṣārtham ekaḥ puruṣaḥ purāṅaḥ śrī-kṛṣṅa-caitanya-śarīra-dhārī kṛpāmbudhir yas tam ahaṁ prapadye [Cc Madhya 6.254]

Sarvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya is offering his prayer to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who has now assumed the form of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, vairāgya-vidyā-nija-bhakti-yoga-śikṣārtham [Cc Madhya 6.254], just to teach people how to become a pure devotee of Kṛṣṅa. A pure devotee of Kṛṣṅa. So vairāgya-vidyā.

Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He was only twenty-five..., twenty-four years old. His lovable wife, beautiful wife, very serving; mother, so affectionate mother; but He gave up everything, took sannyāsa. So much honor... Caitanya Mahāprabhu, when He was gṛhastha, He was so much honored that by His only direction of His finger, lakhs of people would immediately join Him as He started the civil disobedience movement against Kazi. So His position was very respectable in Nadia.

Young man, beautiful, His body. Nobody can compare with His beautiful body. Young wife, faithful wife, beautiful wife; mother, affectionate; position; everything. But He gave up everything. Vairāgya. This is called vairāgya, renouncement. If somebody has nothing to possess, if he says, "I have renounced everything," what is the meaning of renouncement? If you have something then you renounce, then there is meaning.

So Caitanya Mahāprabhu's renouncement is unique. Nobody can give up such happy home, his honor, his position, his affection from mother, wife, friends, students, everywhere. Advaita Prabhu, although He was His father's age, He was honoring Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So still He gave up everything. Why? Just to teach us. Āpani ācari prabhu jīvere śikṣāya. He is teaching the whole world how one has to become detached. That is His personal teaching. How, how one can become devotee of Kṛṣṅa, He's personally teaching. That, that was detected by Rūpa Gosvāmī. Therefore when he first saw Caitanya Mahāprabhu... Not first; second time. After resigning his post as minister, when he met Caitanya Mahāprabhu at Prayāga, so he offered his obeisances, falling flat: namo mahā-vadānyāya. He first addressed, "Most magnanimous." Most magnanimous. Namo mahā-vadānyāya kṛṣṅa-prema-pradāya te [Cc Madhya 19.53]:

[O most munificent incarnation! You are Kṛṣṅa Himself appearing as Śrī Kṛṣṅa Caitanya Mahāprabhu. You have assumed the golden color of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṅī, and You are widely distributing pure love of Kṛṣṅa. We offer our respectful obeisances unto You.]

"Oh, You are distributing love of Kṛṣṅa," kṛṣṅa-prema-pradāya te.

Love of Kṛṣṅa is not very easy thing. By love, you can purchase Kṛṣṅa. So love of Kṛṣṅa is not any easy thing obtainable, but Caitanya Mahāprabhu distributed this love of Kṛṣṅa to anyone, to everyone, even to Jagāi-Mādhāi. So Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura therefore has sung in his song, pāpī tāpī jata chilo, hari-nāme uddhārilo, tāra sākṣī jagāi and mādhāi. Caitanya Mahāprabhu is so magnanimous that He delivered all kinds of sinful men. Jata chilo. And simply allowing them to chant Hare Kṛṣṅa mantra, delivered. Tāra sākṣī jagāi and mādhāi.

Now, at that time, there was two Jagāi-Mādhāis. But at the present moment, by the grace of Caitanya Mahāprabhu and His process of teaching, how many Jagāi-Mādhāis are being delivered. You see? So it is possible. If Caitanya Mahāprabhu is pleased, then He can give kṛṣṅa-prema, love of Kṛṣṅa, to anyone, doesn't matter what is his qualification. He gives. If a person who is giving in charity, he can select any man: "You take." That is power of Śrī Caitanya Mahā... Otherwise, kṛṣṅa-prema, to understand Kṛṣṅa, is very, very difficult job.

Manuṣyāṅāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye [Bg 7.3].

[Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth.]

Out of many millions of people, they are trying to make life successful. Nobody knows. They are simply working like animals. They do not know how to make the human life successful. The human life is successful when he understands Kṛṣṅa. Otherwise he remains an animal. That's all. Anyone who is not Kṛṣṅa conscious, one who does not know what is Kṛṣṅa, he's no better than animal. He's animal. So this is going on.

So Caitanya Mahāprabhu gave this concession to the fallen souls of this age, that "You simply chant Hare Kṛṣṅa mahā-mantra, you'll be delivered." Kīrtanād eva kṛṣṅasya mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet [SB 12.3.51].

[My dear King, although Kali-yuga is an ocean of faults, there is still one good quality about this age: Simply by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṅa mahā-mantra, one can become free from material bondage and be promoted to the transcendental kingdom.]

That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's special concession. Otherwise, a devotee... Kuntī is not ordinary devotee. She has become one of the relative of Kṛṣṅa, and Kṛṣṅa has come to offer her respect. So Kuntī's not an ordinary devotee. Still, she says that "Kṛṣṅa, kindly help me to become detached from my this family attachment. I am attached to two families: my father's family and my husband's family, vṛṣṅiṣu and pāṅḍuṣu."

So the purpose is that one has to become detached from this so-called society, friendship, love. This will entangle us. One has to become free from this attachment. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam [Cc Madhya 19.170].

[Bhakti, or devotional service, means engaging all our senses in the service of the Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the master of all the senses. When the spirit soul renders service unto the Supreme, there are two side effects. One is freed from all material designations, and one’s senses are purified simply by being employed in the service of the Lord.]

So long I shall think that "I belong to this family, I belong to this nation, I belong to this religion, I belong to this color, I belong to..." So many things we have created, there is no possibility of become Kṛṣṅa conscious. No. So long I shall think, "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am African," then we are attached. So long I am thinking that "I belong to this family, that family," then I'm attached. So long I'm thinking, "I'm father of this, mother of this, husband of this, wife of this," that is attachment.

So we have... These are designations. Because I am spirit soul. All these attachment, they belong to the body. But I am not this body. That is the essence of understanding. If I am not this body, then I am whose father? If I am not this body, then I am whose mother? The supreme father, mother is Kṛṣṅa. We are simply playing the part of father, mother, sister, this, that. They're on the stage. The māyā, the material nature, is causing to dance like this, that "You are father of this," "You are mother of this," "You are member of this family, member of this nation." This is our dancing, monkey's dancing. Yes.

prakṛteḥ kriyamāṅāni guṅaiḥ karmāṅi sarvaśaḥ ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā kartāham iti manyate [Bg 3.27]

[The bewildered spirit soul, under the influence of the three modes of material nature, thinks himself to be the doer of activities, which are in actuality carried out by nature.]

In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said prakṛti, the nature, because that living entity has associated with this certain quality of nature, the nature is making him dance in that quality. I am thinking, "I am this, I am that, I am that, I am that." This is the basic principle of understanding. One should know... That is freedom, that "I do not belong to anything of this bodily connection." Because to conceive in the bodily concept of life, sa eva go-kharaḥ. Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṅape tri-dhātuke [SB 10.84.13].

[One who identifies his self as the inert body composed of mucus, bile and air, who assumes his wife and family are permanently his own, who thinks an earthen image or the land of his birth is worshipable, or who sees a place of pilgrimage as merely the water there, but who never identifies himself with, feels kinship with, worships or even visits those who are wise in spiritual truth—such a person is no better than a cow or an ass.]

I am not this.

This is most essential education. Unfortunately, the so-called scientists are making more and more attached to this body. How much misleading they are. Therefore I am speaking to our scientist friend that "Now it is the time for making propaganda amongst the so-called scientist, philosophers, leaders, politicians." Because they are misleading the whole people of the world under the bodily concept of life. They are fighting. So the opportunity of becoming Kṛṣṅa conscious—this is the human life—they are checking that, stopping that. Greatest enemy of the human civilization, these rascals. These rascals who is checking Kṛṣṅa consciousness, or God consciousness, and alluring them in different concept of life by designation, they're the greatest enemy of the human society. They are checking the progress of human life. If we accept evolutionary theory, by evolution we have come to... Actually, we have come from aquatics to plants and trees and then insect, then beast, birds. In this way we have come to this human form of life. Now what is next evolution? That they do not know.

Next evolution is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. You read carefully. What is that evolution? Yānti deva-vratā devān [Bg 9.25].

[Those who worship the demigods will take birth among the demigods; those who worship ghosts and spirits will take birth among such beings; those who worship ancestors go to the ancestors; and those who worship Me will live with Me.]

Now the next evolution is, if you want to go to the higher planetary system, you can go. But they cannot know, they do not know what are these higher planetary systems. They, we see, every night, there are so many planets, stars, but from the śāstra we can understand that the higher planetary system means the material comforts available there, many, many times more than in this planet. You live in this planet utmost for one hundred years. But in the higher planetary system you can live which you cannot calculate. Just like Brahmā's life, as stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: sahasra-yuga-paryantam ahar yad brahmaṅo viduḥ [Bg 8.17].

[By human calculation, a thousand ages taken together is the duration of Brahmā's one day. And such also is the duration of his night.]

Brahmā's twelve hours even you cannot calculate with your mathematical figures. But one has to die. Nobody can live permanently within this..., even if you have got a long duration of life.

So these facilities you can get in higher planetary system, if you prepare yourself. Yānti deva-vratā devān pitṝn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ [Bg 9.25].

[Those who worship the demigods will take birth among the demigods; those who worship ghosts and spirits will take birth among such beings; those who worship ancestors go to the ancestors; and those who worship Me will live with Me.]

Similarly, you can go to the Pitṛlokas. You can meet there your forefathers if they are, of course, eligible. And bhūtejyā... If you want, you can remain here. And mad-yājino 'pi mām: "And if you become a devotee of Me, then you can come to Me." This is the position. If you like, you can go to hell, you can go to the heaven, you can go to back to home, back to Godhead. This is your position. Therefore intelligent person should think over that "If I am..., I have to prepare for my next life, why not prepare for going back to home, back to Godhead?" This is intelligence. "If I have to work to go to the higher planetary system or lower planetary system..." Because this body will be finished; next body I'll have to accept.

So what kind of body I shall accept, that is stated in the śāstras. Ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthāḥ [Bg 14.18].

[Those situated in the mode of goodness gradually go upward to the higher planets; those in the mode of passion live on the earthly planets; and those in the mode of ignorance go down to the hellish worlds.]

Read Bhagavad-gītā. These things are there. Those who are in the modes of goodness... Goodness means avoiding these four principles of sinful life. Even if you do not become a pure devotee of the Lord, if you follow the principles, the regulative principles, then you remain in goodness. And if you remain in goodness, then your next life is in the higher planetary system, even not going back to home, back to... You'll get that opportunity. So everything is there. We have to utilize our intelligence. Then... This life is meant for that. But if we waste our life, misuse this opportunity of human life just to live like the cats and dogs, āhāra-nidrā, eating, sleeping, mating and defending, then we are spoiling.

But these rascals, they do not know. They do not believe that there is next life. As I have told you many times, that Professor Kotovsky in Russia, he said, "Swāmījī, after this body's finished, everything's finished." Just see. He's a big professor. He's saying like that. Our scientists also... They have no knowledge. Still, they're passing as scientists, philosophers, and misleading persons. This is our greatest grief. Therefore I am requesting you all: just make a plan to face these rascals and defeat them. They are misleading the whole human society. Now the Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement should take this turn. They may not think that these boys and girls, so-called Kṛṣṅas, they are sentimentalists, chanting and dancing. That is, of course, the ultimate goal. But they do not understand. They think that we are simply sentimental. We are the greatest scientist. We are the greatest philosopher. We are the greatest humanitarian. They should know that.

[aside:] Who is standing there? Hmm.

So Kṛṣṅa, as Kṛṣṅa has got two businesses, paritrāṅāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām... [Bg 4.8].

[In order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium after millennium.]

Two business. He is giving protection to the sādhus, to the devotees. Just like Kṛṣṅa is giving protection to the Pāṅḍavas, to the Vṛṣṅis, because they are devotees. And similarly He's killing Kaṁsa, Aghāsura, Bakāsura. I think His killing business was a major business than protection. From the life of Kṛṣṅa we see in the Kṛṣṅa book... So if you take in statistics how much time He devoted for killing and how much time He devoted for protecting, we shall see He devoted more time for killing. You see? So that is also Kṛṣṅa's business.

So those who are Kṛṣṅa conscious... Killing, we don't mean that you take weapon. That is not possible in this age. Neither you have got the strength. If you kill, then you will be killed also. Not that. But there are two kinds of victory. By logic, by reason, by education you can kill their demonic propensities. That is also killing. If one is demon, and if you can turn into a devotee by your logic, by your arguments, then that is also, he's killed, his demonic principle is killed—now he's a saintly person. That is also killing. Not that... Kali-yuga, they're already very poverty-stricken, poor. So this physical killing is too much for them. They should be killed by argument, reason, scientific proposition.

This should be one of the propaganda of Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement. Because these people, the so-called scientist and philosopher, is misleading—misleading in this sense: that they have no information that everything is coming out from life. They are proposing that everything is coming from matter. Their basic principle, the original cause, original cause, they are find out some material adjustment.

The other day our..., in the California University, one big man came. He's proposing same thing. So our Svarūpa Dāmodara proposed that "If we supply you all the ingredients, can you produce life?" He said, "I do not know." You see? He, in the category of "I do not know," and he's still a professor, he's a scientist. How he can be scientist if he do not know? If he's in the list of "I do not know," how he can be teacher? This is cheating. A teacher can be in the list of teacher if he does know: "Yes, I know." That is teacher. If he says, "I do not know," then what kind of teacher he is? He's a rascal, cheater. One must teach on the seat of a teacher if he knows things as they are. So that is going... One does not know things as they are; still, they have become teacher. That is the defect of the modern civilization.

So by... Here, Kuntī's addressing Kṛṣṅa: viśveśa. Viśva means the universe. Īśa, īśa means the Lord, the controller. So viśveśa, He is controlling. He's controlling. So nicely the universal affairs are going on. The sun is rising just in due time. Everything is going on nicely. There is no mismanagement. Everyone can understand. The seasons are changing; the seasonal fruits and flowers, they are coming out. Everything is going nicely. But how things are going nicely if there is no controller? But they have no common sense. If we see any establishment very nicely going on, we immediately understand the manager or the director or the controller of this institution is very nice. Similarly, if we see things of these universal affairs are going on very nicely, then we must know that there is a good controller. Who is that controller? That controller is Kṛṣṅa. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: mayādhyakṣeṅa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram [Bg 9.10].

[This material nature is working under My direction, O son of Kuntī, and it is producing all moving and unmoving beings. By its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again.]

Therefore He is addressed, "Viśveśa, O the controller of the universe."

So a devotee should know what is Kṛṣṅa. They picture simply Kṛṣṅa as if simply embracing Rādhārāṅī. That's all. That is also very, in a obnoxious way. These rascal, they take it, the dealings of Rādhā and Kṛṣṅa as ordinary boys' and girls' dealing. They don't understand anything. Such pictures should be avoided. Kṛṣṅa is the controller. Let there be one picture how Kṛṣṅa is controlling the whole universe. That picture wanted, not these cheap pictures, imitating our rubbish behavior with boys and girls. These pictures we do not want. We want picture how Kṛṣṅa is controller, how He is controlling the universal affairs. Viśveśa. Viśveśa viśvātman.

Ātman, the living force. The living force must be there. Unless there is living force within this body, as this body cannot move, cannot work nicely, similarly, within this universe, cosmic manifestation, there is the living force, Viṣṅu, Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṅu, or Paramātmā. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati [Bg 18.61].

[The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone's heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine, made of the material energy.]

Therefore He's viśvātman. We should know that, how this world is moving, how this universe is acting. But these rascals, they do not know. They should learn from this Bhāgavata. Viśvātman viśveśa, viśva-mūrte. And His manifestation, universal form. Just like Kṛṣṅa's exhibited before Arjuna. Arjuna wanted to see His universal form, and Kṛṣṅa immediately showed him.

So this viśvātman, viśveśa, these are Kṛṣṅa's opulences, vibhūti. But in His original form, He is Kṛṣṅa, two hands, playing on the flute. That is His original form. The universal form is causal, because Arjuna wanted to see. Arjuna was a devotee, so He showed him. That is not actual form. Just like a person, he..., he may dress himself as a king or something, but that is not his real appearance, his appearance at home. So Kṛṣṅa's real form is Vṛndāvana, at home. That is real form. And all other forms are expansion of His plenary portions. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam [Bs 5.33],

[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is inaccessible to the Vedas, but obtainable by pure unalloyed devotion of the soul, who is without a second, who is not subject to decay, is without a beginning, whose form is endless, who is the beginning, and the eternal puruṣa; yet He is a person possessing the beauty of blooming youth.]

in the Brahma-saṁhitā. Ananta-rūpam. He can expand Himself in millions and millions of forms, ananta-rūpam. But advaita, but He's one. Advaita, acyuta. Acyuta means who never falls. Infallible.

So Kṛṣṅa's infallible... Not infallible, Kṛṣṅa's real form... In any form, He's not fallible. He's acyuta. But His real form is the dvi-bhuja-muralīdhara. Dvi-bhuja, two hands, having a flute in the hand. That is real form. Therefore Kuntīdevī's addressing that "You are..., You have got universal form. But the form in which You are standing before me, that is Your real form."

So atha viśveśa viśvātman viśva-mūrte sva-keṣu me. Sva-ka. Sva-ka means kinsmen, own. We are thinking, "This is my own, this is my own." Ato gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittair janasya moho 'yam [SB 5.5.8]. This is moha, illusion. How this illusion come into existence? The illusion comes... First of all, there is natural affinity, attraction, for man and woman. A man is seeking after woman, woman is seeking after man. That is in human society, in bird society, beast society, everywhere. Even flies, insects, you'll see that one female is attached to the male; male is attached. So this is beginning of material attachment. Then by attachment, when one male finds out another woman, or one finds out another man, they unite. So this attachment becomes fixed up again. Already there is attachment, and as soon as they are united, that attachment becomes more firm. Tayor mitho hṛdaya-granthim āhuḥ [SB 5.5.8]. I have already got attachment, but when I am again united actually, that attachment increases.

Now, after the attachment increases to some degree, then next degree is find out nice apartment to live together. That is another increase of attachment. Then we have got an apartment. Find out some means of earning money. Formerly, they were earning..., there was no factories. Everyone has to earn his livelihood by agriculture, kṣetra. Ato gṛha-kṣetra. First of all, apartment must be maintained by working, by earning something, gṛha-kṣetra. Then when we..., everything is settled up, "Now we must have a son, children." Yes. Ato gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta. "Then we shall..., we must have some friends, who will come and eulogize me, 'Oh, you have such nice apartment, nice wife.' " Ato gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittaiḥ [SB 5.5.8]. Then to maintain all this, we must have money. Money, money, money, money, sweeter than honey. [laughter] In this way, our attachment increase. Attachment increases.

Therefore the first education is, the students, to teach them brahmacarya. Brahmacārī means don't be attached. If you can, you avoid all this nonsense. That is brahmacārī. Try to avoid, better. If not, enter. Then after some times, vānaprastha: "Now I have enjoyed so much the..., to this attachment. Now leave the home." That is called vānaprastha. At that time, the wife goes as assistant, and the man travels all over the pilgrimages to become detached.

Then after two months, three months, he again comes home, sees the children are doing nice, again go away. This is called beginning of detachment. When the detachment is complete, then the man asks his wife, "Now you go, live with your children. I am..., I am taking sannyāsa." This is final detachment.

So the whole thing is for detachment. Therefore Kuntī is asking, "Kindly help me to detach from this family attraction." This is the instruction of Kuntīdevī.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Prabhupāda. [end]