Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.7.15

Pradyumna: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [devotees repeat] [Chants verse]

mātā śiśūnāṁ nidhanaṁ sutānāṁ niśamya ghoraṁ paritapyamānā tadārudad vāṣpa-kalākulākṣī tāṁ sāntvayann āha kirīṭamālī [SB 1.7.15]

[03:31]

Translation: "Draupadī, the mother of the five children of the Pāṅḍavas, after hearing of the massacre of her sons, began to cry in distress with eyes full of tears. Trying to pacify her in her great loss, Arjuna spoke to her thus."

Prabhupāda:

mātā śiśūnāṁ nidhanaṁ sutānāṁ niśamya ghoraṁ paritapyamānā tadārudad vāṣpa-kalākulākṣī tāṁ sāntvayann āha kirīṭamālī [SB 1.7.15]

So Draupadī's five sons were killed—five sons by five husbands. You know the history of Draupadī. She had five husbands, which is forbidden nowadays. Although in some hilly districts still this system is current, that one woman has got five or six husbands—this practice was there even in high circle—that is now forbidden. Devareṅa sutotpattiṁ kalau pañca vivarjayet. Don't try to imitate Draupadī. That is not allowed in this age.

aśvamedhaṁ gavālambhaṁ pala-paitṛkam devareṅa sutotpattiṁ kalau pañca vivarjayet [Cc Ādi 17.164]

[In this Age of Kali, five acts are forbidden: the offering of a horse in sacrifice, the offering of a cow in sacrifice, the acceptance of the order of sannyāsa, the offering of oblations of flesh to the forefathers, and a man’s begetting children in his brother’s wife.]

So when Draupadī was gained by Arjuna, the five Pāṅḍavas were in the forest incognito. So when they came to their mother in jubilation, they exclaimed, "Mother, we have got a very nice jewel." So mother said, "All right, my dear sons, enjoy it, all of you, five." So on the order of mother they accepted Draupadī as a common wife. But that does not mean she had many sons. Only five sons. By the five husbands, one son. That is also another system. Not competition that each husband will produce dozens of children. No.

So when the mother understood that her sons were killed, certainly she was very, very unhappy. Mātā śiśūnāṁ nidhanaṁ sutānāṁ niśamya ghoraṁ paritapyamānā. Lamenting. That is natural. So tadārudad vāṣpa-kalākulākṣī. With tears, she was crying, and tāṁ sāntvayan, pacifying, āha kirīṭamālī. Kirīṭamālī is Arjuna. So they were directly connected with Kṛṣṅa. Draupadī's another name is Kṛṣṅā. And still they had to suffer the material pangs. Not that because one is Kṛṣṅa conscious there will be no material suffering. Actually, those who are Kṛṣṅa conscious, they have no material suffering. Although it appears that they are suffering, they are not suffering. They can accept any so-called suffering and accept it as mercy of Kṛṣṅa. They never take it as suffering. Tat te 'nukampāṁ su-samīkṣamāṅo bhuñjāna evātma-kṛtaṁ vipākam [SB 10.14.8]. A devotee, when he's in suffering, so-called suffering, he accepts it as the mercy of Kṛṣṅa. Tat te 'nukampām. And he rather thanks Kṛṣṅa, that "I had to suffer many more times, but You have minimized it, giving me little suffering. So it is Your mercy." And if anyone lives on that attitude, everything taken as Kṛṣṅa's mercy, then he is guaranteed to go back home, back to Godhead. Mukti-pade sa dāya-bhāk [SB 10.14.8]. Dāya-bhāk means his going back to home, back to Godhead, is exactly like the inheritance of property by the son. Mukti-pade sa dāya-bhāk. So we should learn from the Pāṅḍavas that Kṛṣṅa was always present with them, still they had to suffer so much material tribulations. So they were never unhappy, neither they requested Kṛṣṅa that "My dear friend Kṛṣṅa, You were always with us. Still we had to suffer." Never expressed that. That is pure devotion. Never try to take any benefit from Kṛṣṅa. Simply try to give benefit to Kṛṣṅa. Do not take any benefit from Kṛṣṅa. This is pure devotion.

Perhaps you know that once upon a time Rūpa Gosvāmī desired that "If I would get some nice foodstuff, I would have invited Sanātana Gosvāmī and cook some nice food." He desired like that. They were living in Vṛndāvana here and there, under the shade of a tree. They had no stock, nothing. So one very beautiful girl came and offered rice, dāl, ghee. She said, "Bābā, we have got some festival." In this country they address saintly person as Bābā. So she offered so many things, and he immediately invited Sanātana Gosvāmī—they were living separately. And Rūpa Gosvāmī was very good cook also, so he prepared very nice preparation and offered to Sanātana Gosvāmī prasādam. So Sanātana Gosvāmī astonishingly inquired that "Where you got all these nice things in this forest?" So he told the whole story, that "In the morning I desired, and in just a few hour time, little time, one very beautiful girl came and offered this ingredients." So after hearing the description of the beautiful girl, Sanātana Gosvāmī could understand that She was Rādhārāṅī. So immediately he chastised Rūpa Gosvāmī, that "You have taken service from Rādhārāṅī. This is not good. We are trying to give service to Rādhārāṅī, and you have taken service from Rādhārāṅī."

So this is Vaiṣṅava consideration. They are firmly determined not to bother Kṛṣṅa with anything. Simply to serve Him. Ānukūlyena kṛṣṅānuśīlanam [Cc Madhya 19.167].

[When first-class devotional service develops, one must be devoid of all material desires, knowledge obtained by monistic philosophy, and fruitive action. The devotee must constantly serve Kṛṣṅa favorably, as Kṛṣṅa desires.]

Similarly, Kṛṣṅa also finds opportunity when to serve His devotee. This is the reciprocation. The devotee wants to serve Kṛṣṅa without any return, and Kṛṣṅa also wants to serve devotee whenever there is opportunity. This is the transaction of love: not to take anything return.

āśliṣya vā pāda-ratāṁ pinaṣṭu mām marma-hatāṁ karotu vā adarśanān yathā tathā vā vidadhātu lampaṭo mat-prāṅa-nāthas tu... [Cc Antya 20.47]

[Let Kṛṣṅa tightly embrace this maidservant who has fallen at His lotus feet, or let Him trample Me or break My heart by never being visible to Me. He is a debauchee, after all, and can do whatever He likes, but still He alone, and no one else, is the worshipable Lord of My heart.]

This is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's teaching, that "From Kṛṣṅa's side, He may do whatever He likes"—that is full surrender—"still, He is my master. He's nobody else. He is still my worshipable master." Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has sung,

mānasa deho geho jo kichu mor arpiluṅ tuwā pade nanda-kiśor [from Śaraṅāgati]

[Mind, body, and family, whatever may be mine, I have surrendered at Your lotus feet, O youthful son of Nanda!]

Nanda-kiśora is Kṛṣṅa. So this is full surrender. "My dear Nanda-kiśora, whatever I have got, now I am offering everything to You." What I have got? Mānasa deho geho: "I have got my body, I have got my mind, and a so-called home or a wife or a few children. What I have got? So everything is offered to You." Mānasa deho geho jo kichu mor. This is full surrender. Now he says, mārobi rākhobi jo icchā tohārā: "I am surrendering to You everything. Now if You like You can save me, or if You like You can kill me." This is full surrender.

So these Pāṅḍavas are the best example, and better than the Pāṅḍavas, there are other devotees. And the topmost surrendered devotee are the gopīs. There is no more higher exalted devotees than the gopīs. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu recommended that the gopīs, ramyā kācid upāsanā vraja-vadhū-vargeṅa yā kalpitā [Caitanya-mata-mañjuṣā, quoted in Gauḍīya-kaṅṭhahāra 4.41]. There is no better type of worshiping Kṛṣṅa than the method by which gopīs worship Kṛṣṅa. They, their love was so intense that they did not care for any family, any honor or any prestige—nothing. That is the highest, topmost loving stage of Kṛṣṅa. And Kṛṣṅa also loved the gopīs, so much so that Kṛṣṅa asked them that "You cannot expect any return from Me for your ecstatic love. I cannot give you. It is beyond My power." So they purchased Kṛṣṅa. And the topmost gopī is Rādhārāṅī. So we should not consider these gopīs' dealings with Kṛṣṅa as ordinary, material dealings. It is not that. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis tābhir ya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ [Bs 5.37].

[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, residing in His own realm, Goloka, with Rādhā, resembling His own spiritual figure, the embodiment of the ecstatic potency possessed of the sixty-four artistic activities, in the company of Her confidantes [sakhīs], embodiments of the extensions of Her bodily form, permeated and vitalized by His ever-blissful spiritual rasa.]

The gopīs are expansion of Kṛṣṅa's pleasure potency. That is described by Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī. Rādhā kṛṣṅa-praṅaya-vikṛtir hlādinī-śaktir asmāt [Cc Ādi 1.5]. Hlādinī-śakti. Kṛṣṅa has got the pleasure potency. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate [Cc Madhya 13.65, purport]. He has got multi-energies. In the Viṣṅu Purāṅa it is also said, parasya brahmaṅaḥ śaktis tathedam akhilaṁ jagat. Whatever we see, that is display of the potencies, different potencies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Just like the sun is ninety-three millions of miles away from this earthly planet. Still, we are getting heat and light, energy of the sun. Similarly, Kṛṣṅa is in the Goloka planet. Goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ [Bs 5.37]. That is Kṛṣṅa's energy. Although He is in the Goloka planet, which is the topmost planet in the spiritual world... You cannot estimate the how far the spiritual world is from this material world. From material calculation they say it takes about some forty thousands of years to go to the limit of this universe. Then beyond that universe there is the spiritual world. Paras tasmāt tu bhāvo 'nyaḥ [Bg 8.20], another nature, avyakto 'vyaktāt sanātanaḥ. Then you pass through the spiritual world, brahma-jyoti. There are innumerable, unlimited number of Vaikuṅṭha planets. Then, above all of them, there is the planet Goloka Vṛndāvana, where Kṛṣṅa resides.

It is said in the Brahma-saṁhitā, goloka-nāmni nija-dhāmni tale ca tasya [Bs 5.43]. Goloka-nāmni nija-dhāmni. That is Kṛṣṅa's personal planet, Goloka Vṛndāvana. Goloka-nāmni nija-dhāmni tale ca tasya devī-maheśa-hari-dhāmasu teṣu teṣu. There are other planetary system—Hari-dhāma, Vaikuṅṭha-dhāma. Then, this is, this material world, is called Devī-dhāma, and between the Goloka..., between the spiritual world and material world there is... Goloka-nāmni nija-dhāmni tale ca tasya devī-maheśa-dhāma [Bs 5.43]. So there are so many status of planetary system. Each planet is full with living entities. The spiritual planets, they are full of living entities: they are all liberated, nitya-mukta. And those who are within this material world, planets, they are nitya-baddha. Nitya-baddha, nitya-mukta. There are two kinds of living entities. The nitya-baddhas are only few, but the nitya-muktas are many, many. This material world is only one-fourth energy of the creation. The three-fourths energy is in the spiritual world. And here in the one-fourth energy there are innumerable universes, and each universe is full with different types of planets, and each planet is full of living entities. But these rascals, they say it is..., there is no living entity; it is sand and rocks. So this is not the fact. You have to understand from the Vedic literature about the planets, where which planet is existing, where is spiritual world, where is material world. All informations are there. Don't speculate and simply think that this planet is full of living entities, all other planets are vacant. This is most unusual argument. There is no meaning. But we are not concerned with that. We have got our own information from the Vedas.

So Kṛṣṅa's pastimes is going on. Somewhere, or elsewhere it is going on. Therefore His pastimes are called nitya-līlā, nitya-līlā-prakāśa. This vṛndāvana-līlā is nitya-līlā: it is going on continuously somewhere or other within this material world. And the spiritual world, it is permanently there. So the Pāṅḍavas, they are associates of the nitya-līlā. They are not ordinary human beings. Wherever there is kṛṣṅa-līlā, they go. Therefore Arjuna asked Kṛṣṅa that "How can I believe that You, first of all, many millions of years ago You spoke this philosophy to the sun-god?" Kṛṣṅa replied, bahūni me janmāni... What is that verse?

Devotees: Bahūni me vyatītāni.

Prabhupāda: Ah, bahūni me vyatītāni janmāni tava cārjuna [Bg 4.5]: "Arjuna, both you and Me were together, and we have passed through many different līlās. But you have forgotten; I remember." That is the difference between God and the living entities. They cannot be equal. We forget... The Māyāvādīs philosopher, they put this argument that "Because we have forgotten. Now, in māyā, we have forgotten that we are God." So what kind of God he is if he forgets? God never says, "I have forgotten." Kṛṣṅa says, vedāhaṁ samatītāni [Bg 7.26]: "I know past, present, future." So where is the question of forgetting? So if somebody forgets, that God is different from the God who does not forget. Therefore we have to accept two. Immediately you have to accept dvaita-vāda: one forgetting God and one not-forgetting God. You cannot accept one. That is not possible.

And that is the fact. Just like Kṛṣṅa says that "I remember when I spoke to sun-god. You have forgotten." So there are two. Similarly, Kṛṣṅa's another name is Acyuta. He never falls down from His position. And if we fall down from the position... Therefore we are not on the same level. We may have some power, and we can claim that "I am God"—that you can claim—but not that God, like Kṛṣṅa. Therefore two words are there: īśvara, parameśvara. In the Brahma-saṁhitā therefore it is described that īśvaras, there may be many, but not parameśvara. Parameśvara is one. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṅaḥ [Bs 5.1].

[Kṛṣṅa who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes.]

So these Māyāvādīs, they forget this, that īśvara, parameśvara, there are two words. Ātmā and paramātmā, there are two words. So they are not equal. And Kṛṣṅa says, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat [Bg 7.7].

[O conqueror of wealth [Arjuna], there is no Truth superior to Me. Everything rests upon Me, as pearls are strung on a thread.]

He is the supermost īśvara. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām [Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13].

[The Supreme Lord is eternal and the living beings are eternal. The Supreme Lord is cognizant and the living beings are cognizant. The difference is that the Supreme Lord is supplying all the necessities of life for the many other living entities.]

Although both of us are nitya, eternal, and living entities, still, there is difference. He is supreme living entity; we are subordinate. Prabhu and aṅu. Vibhu and aṅu.

So this philosophy is perfect, and anyone who accepts this Māyāvāda philosophy, that God and living entity are on the same level, they have got poor fund of knowledge.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda. [end]