Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 5.5.29

Yaśodānandana: [leads chanting of verse]

jaḍāndha-mūka-badhira-piśāconmādakavad-avadhūta-veṣo 'bhibhāṣyamāṅo 'pi janānāṁ gṛhīta-mauna-vratas tūṣṅīṁ babhūva. [SB 5.5.29]

[00:27]

Pradyumna: Translation: "After accepting the feature of avadhūta, a great saintly person without material cares, Lord Ṛṣabhadeva passed through human society like a blind, deaf and dumb man, an idle stone, a ghost or a madman. Although people called Him such names, He remained silent and did not speak to anyone." [break]

Prabhupāda:

jaḍāndha-mūka-badhira-piśāca unmādaka...

What is that other word?

...avadhūta-veṣo abhibhāśyamāṅo 'pi janānāṁ gṛhīta-mauna-vratas tūṣṅīṁ babhūva. [SB 5.5.29]

So Ṛṣabhadeva, after giving charge of the government to Bharata Mahārāja, He... Paraṁ bhāgavata. That we have explained yesterday, that the king should be paraṁ bhāgavata, not a debauch. That was the system in Vedic age, the ideal king, ideal person. If one person is educated sufficiently he can..., being the executive head of the state, he can take care of the whole population, because his order is supreme. That was the duty of the king: to see that things are going on nicely in order. The order is that everyone should be educated to the final goal of understanding Kṛṣṅa. That is education. Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyam [Bg 15.15].

[I am seated in everyone's heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness. By all the Vedas am I to be known; indeed I am the compiler of Vedānta, and I am the knower of the Vedas.]

This is education. Veda means knowledge.

So there may be different types of sources of knowledge, but the means are justified by the end. What is the end of life? The end of life is to understand Kṛṣṅa. If you don't like to say "Kṛṣṅa"—God. That is end of life. But these rascals, they do not know it. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṅum [SB 7.5.31].

[Persons who are strongly entrapped by the consciousness of enjoying material life, and who have therefore accepted as their leader or guru a similar blind man attached to external sense objects, cannot understand that the goal of life is to return home, back to Godhead, and engage in the service of Lord Viṣṅu. As blind men guided by another blind man miss the right path and fall into a ditch, materially attached men led by another materially attached man are bound by the ropes of fruitive labor, which are made of very strong cords, and they continue again and again in materialistic life, suffering the threefold miseries.]

The general population, they do not know because they are not educated in that way. At the present moment, Kali-yuga, they are educating people atheism, no God, "God is dead." In Europe, America, when I went there, the education was "God is dead." Here also, so many rascals, they have appeared as God. They are also saying, "Now, Kṛṣṅa was God, but He is now dead. I am now God." Yes. They are saying publicly. And they are being accepted.

So this is going on. Therefore Kṛṣṅa has defined these rascals as rascals, mūḍha. Na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ [Bg 7.15].

[Those miscreants who are grossly foolish, lowest among mankind, whose knowledge is stolen by illusion, and who partake of the atheistic nature of demons, do not surrender unto Me.]

Anyone who is not Kṛṣṅa conscious or does not surrender to Kṛṣṅa, you can blindly classify him in four groups: duṣkṛtina, means most sinful; mūḍhāḥ—rascals; narādhamāḥ—lowest of the mankind. "No, he is M.A., Ph.D." Māyayāpahṛta-jñānā. "What is the fault?" Because he does not accept Kṛṣṅa—finish. So we are also like other fools and rascals, but we accept this Kṛṣṅa's word as final, that's all. Kṛṣṅa says that these are... Those who have not surrendered to Kṛṣṅa, they are four classes, means most sinful, and rascal, lowest of the mankind, and although he has got university degrees, his knowledge is taken away by māyā. Āsuriṁ bhāvam āśritāḥ. This is āsuriṁ bhāvam. And there are two classes of men—the āsura and the deva. So deva means who accepts the authority of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is deva. Devata. Viṣṅu-bhaktaḥ bhaved daiva āsuras tad-viparyayaḥ [Padma Purāṅa].

Even those who are devotees of other demigods, they are also āsuras, what to speak of atheist. Even... Just like Rāvaṅa. He was a great devotee of Lord Śiva—everyone knows—but he was called a rākṣasa. Rākṣasa and āsura, the same thing. Hiraṅyakaśipu, he was a great devotee of Lord Brahmā. He is also called rākṣasa.

So one may be very educated, very good scholar in Vedic knowledge, but if he does not accept Viṣṅu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, or Kṛṣṅa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead... Viṣṅu and Kṛṣṅa the same. Viṣṅu-tattva. Viṣṅu-tattva means the category of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ [SB 7.5.31]. Out of false hopes, they are trying to become successful. That is not possible. Durāśayā. Such kind of hope is useless hope. It will never be... Moghāśā mogha-karmāṅaḥ. Leaving aside Viṣṅu, and simply they are trying to become very highly learned, mogha-jñāna vicetasaḥ. So they are mogha, means their hopes will never be successful. They may go on.

So this unsuccessful life, mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani [Bg 9.3],

[Those who are not faithful in this devotional service cannot attain Me, O conqueror of enemies. Therefore they return to the path of birth and death in this material world.]

life after life, when one actually comes on the platform of knowledge—bahūṅāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate [Bg 7.19],

[After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.]

that is the sign that here is a jñānavān. Because he has surrendered to Kṛṣṅa, he has accepted Kṛṣṅa, Vāsudeva—vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā suḍurlabhaḥ [Bg 7.19]—he is mahātmā. Mahātmā does not mean that to dress like me or having a big beard and... No. Vāsudevaḥ sarvam. One who has accepted Kṛṣṅa as the Supreme—paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān [Bg 10.12]—he is mahātmā.

[Arjuna said: You are the Supreme Brahman, the ultimate, the supreme abode and purifier, the Absolute Truth and the eternal divine person. You are the primal God, transcendental and original, and You are the unborn and all-pervading beauty. All the great sages such as Nārada, Asita, Devala, and Vyāsa proclaim this of You, and now You Yourself are declaring it to me.]

Mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ, bhajanty ananya manaso [Bg 9.13].

[O son of Pṛthā, those who are not deluded, the great souls, are under the protection of the divine nature. They are fully engaged in devotional service because they know Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, original and inexhaustible.]

He is mahātmā, not mahātmā by stamping or by changing the dress. No. Mahātmā means who is surrendered to the... Mahat-padaṁ puṅya-yaśo-murāreḥ [SB 10.14.58].

[For those who have accepted the boat of the lotus feet of the Lord, who is the shelter of the cosmic manifestation and is famous as Murāri, the enemy of the Mura demon, the ocean of the material world is like the water contained in a calf's hoof-print. Their goal is paraṁ padam, Vaikuṅṭha, the place where there are no material miseries, not the place where there is danger at every step.]

Murāri, Kṛṣṅa's name is mahat-padam. He is mahātmā.

So in this way, here is... Ṛṣabhadeva is teaching us how we should select, now it is the time for democracy. So Lord Ṛṣabhadeva is teaching us that how you shall select the president or the king, Bharata Mahārāja, the ideal king, parama-bhāgavatam. And vairāgya-lakṣaṅaṁ pāramahaṁsya-dharmam, and bhagavaj-jana-parāyaṅam. These are. So democracy... Sometimes I say to my American students that "Your country is opulent in every respect." Janmaiśvarya-śruta-śrī [SB 1.8.26],

[My Lord, Your Lordship can easily be approached, but only by those who are materially exhausted, because one who is on the path of [material] progress, trying to improve himself with respectable parentage, great opulence, high education and bodily beauty, cannot address You with sincere feeling.]

four kinds of opulences, everyone is trying for. Now everyone is trying for money, because if you get money, then, although you are born in the lowest family, cāmāra, bhangi, if you have got money, you'll be respectful, everything. Now there is no question of caste because everyone is lost. Kalau śūdra-sambhavāḥ. So you cannot find out who is brāhmaṅa, who is kṣatriya, who is vaiśya, who is śūdra. Everyone is the same. Now they are trying for classless society. Classless society means śūdra. So how a śūdra can be equal to the brāhmaṅa, kṣatriya? But if you earn money, then you are more than brāhmaṅa, you are more than a sannyāsī. This is Kali-yuga. So therefore people are after money only.

So we are being educated in that way, foolish education. And we shall select. When we come to the election, we select a person like me. That has been described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that śva-viḍ-varāhoṣṭra-kharaiḥ saṁstutaḥ puruṣaḥ paśuḥ [SB 2.3.19]. This election, we are selecting another person; he is also like me. I am a paśu. How can I select a person who is not paśu? Therefore if you want good government, then—this is democratic age—then you must be good. You must know who is good. Then you can elect: "Here is good man." Otherwise, śva-viḍ-varāhoṣṭra-kharaiḥ saṁstutaḥ puruṣaḥ paśuḥ. Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī has said that these so-called leaders, they are big paśu. I am paśu, and he's a big paśu. What can I select? I cannot find out Bharata Mahārāja, parama-bhāgavatam, bhagavaj-jana-priya. Hmm? Bhagavaj-jana-parāyaṅam. Nobody likes bhagavaj-jana. "These people are always speaking of God. It is brainwash." This is the modern: "It is brainwash." In Europe and America they are now combining to oppose this Hare Kṛṣṅa movement, that we are brainwashing, controlling the mind by hypnotism. That is the charge against us. We are placed in the court also in many cases. So this is, "What is this nonsense, bhagavaj-jana-parāyaṅam, Bhagavān, Kṛṣṅa? This is simply sophistry," they say. Even a big scholar says. When Kṛṣṅa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṅaṁ vraja [Bg 18.66], a big scholar, he has remarked, "This is sophistry."

So this is the age. So everyone is trying to be happy. That happiness is not possible. That peace is not possible unless you have got a leader or king like Bharata Mahārāja, after whose name this planet is called Bhārata-varṣa, this Bharata Mahārāja. So we have to find out such leader. Then everything will be adjusted. It is the... Now we are speaking of secular state. Secular state does not mean people will become godless. No. Secular state means that no religious preference. "Because you are Hindu, therefore we shall give you more preference than the Muhammadan"—no. Secular state means that the state should see that everyone is strictly following his religious principle. That is secular state. If you are Hindu or varṅāśramī, then you must follow the principles of how one is a brāhmaṅa, how one is a kṣatriya. "Hinduism," this is a foreign word. Real principle is varṅāśrama-dharma. Varnāśramācāravatā puruṣeṅa paraḥ pumān viṣṅur arādhyate [Cc Madhya 8.58].

[The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Viṣṅu, is worshiped by the proper execution of prescribed duties in the system of varṅa and āśrama. There is no other way to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One must be situated in the institution of the four varṅas and āśramas.’]

This is the aim of life: how to worship Viṣṅu. That is explained, and that is the training of this varṅāśrama-dharma.

Śrī Rāmānanda Rāya quoted this when Caitanya Mahāprabhu inquired from him what is sādhya-sādhana. "What is the business of the human society and what is the aim of human society?" This was the question put forward by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He first of all quoted varṅāśrama. The human society begins when there is varṅāśrama-dharma. Otherwise it is animal society. There is no human society. That is beginning of human society—brāhmaṅa, kṣatriya, vaiśya. Kṛṣṅa says, cātur-varṅyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭam [Bg 4.13].

[According to the three modes of material nature and the work ascribed to them, the four divisions of human society were created by Me. And, although I am the creator of this system, you should know that I am yet the non-doer, being unchangeable.]

My Guru Mahārāja also wanted to establish daiva-varṅāśrama. Yes. There must be the human society, not this; daiva-varṅāśrama, not this āsuric varṅāśrama. Āsuric varṅāśrama... Just like Rāvaṅa. He was also son of a brāhmaṅa, but he was rejected, that "You are not brāhmaṅa; you are rākṣasa because you do not care for Bhagavān Rāmacandra." So this is the verdict of the śāstra. So therefore daiva-varṅāśrama. Varnāśrama should be established on the principles of devata, to make people devata. Devata means viṣṅu bhaktaḥ bhaved daiva āsuras tad-viparyayaḥ [Padma Purāṅa]. Unless one is not a Vaiṣṅava, he cannot be a devata. He cannot be a civilized man.

It is said in the śāstra that ṣaṭ-karma-nipuṅo vipro mantra-tantra-viśāradaḥ [Padma Purāṅa]. The brāhmaṅa, he knows the brahminical business, sat-karma, means paṭhana pāṭhana yajana yājana dāna pratigraha. A brāhmaṅa must be very learned scholar, pathana, and he shall make others also good scholar. The brāhmaṅa is the teacher. That is brāhmaṅa's business. Paṭhana pāṭhana yajana yājana. He must be a good worshiper of the Supreme Lord, and he must teach others how to become brāhmaṅa, how to worship, yajana yājana. And dāna pratigraha. Brāhmaṅa, Vaiṣṅava... Still the world is going on. At least in India the brāhmaṅa Vaiṣṅavas, they are given charities without any hesitation. Because that mentality is still existing in India, so somebody is taking advantage of it. Unnecessarily they are changing dress and begging and making money. No. So dāna pratigraha. Therefore a brāhmaṅa, as soon as there is excess money, he would immediately spend it for Kṛṣṅa. Dāna pratigraha. He will charity. He'll make charity. He'll distribute prasādam. He'll not keep money for future. No. Dāna pratigraha. So even one is perfect brāhmaṅa like that, yajana yājana paṭhana pāṭhana dāna pratigraha, and mantra-tantra-viśāradaḥ... So if he is actually learned scholar, he must be very expert in quoting, chanting the Vedic mantra, Vedic hymns. That is the sign that he has read something, he has studied Vedas. So mantra-tantra-viśāradaḥ.

So avaiṣṅavo gurur na sa syāt. One disqualification: if he is not a Vaiṣṅava, then he cannot become guru. Forgive him, immediately. Ṣaḍ vaiṣṅavaḥ śva-paco guruḥ. Śvapaca means dog-eaters. If one is coming from the family of dog-eaters... In India the dog-eaters are considered the lowest of the society, caṅḍāla. But if he is a Vaiṣṅava, then he can become guru. It doesn't matter. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu also supports this:

yei bhaje sei baḍa, abhakta-hīna, chāra kṛṣṅa-bhajane nāhi jati-kulādi-vicāra [Cc Antya 4.67]

This is Caitanya Mahāprabhu said to begin.

So here are the examples in the śāstras, that Bharata Mahārāja, elected, or selected, nominated by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Ṛṣabhadeva... And He retired, avadhūta-veṣa. Avadhūta-veṣa means He is no more within the social community. Just like the word nirgranthā... Kurvanty ahaitukīṁ bhaktim ittham-bhūta-guṅo hariḥ [SB 1.7.10]. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has explained this word nirgranthā. Nirgranthā means one who has no granthi, no tight knot with this material world. And the another meaning: one who has no connection with granthā. Nirgranthā. So there are two classes of men. One is foolish rascal, no education, he is called also nirgranthā. And another person, who has no connection with this material world, he is also nirgranthā. So here the sign of Ṛṣabhadeva, He became just like a madman, a deaf and dumb, a rascal, a fool, a ghost. But He is not madman; He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is... Apparently it may look like that, but He is Supreme Personality of Godhead. He has no connection, either you call Him deaf and dumb, fool, rascal, whatever you call. You can call. Tṛṅād api sunīcena [Cc Ādi 17.31].

[One who thinks himself lower than the grass, who is more tolerant than a tree, and who does not expect personal honor yet is always prepared to give all respect to others can very easily always chant the holy name of the Lord.]

He has no connection with this body. This is avadhūta-veṣa. When one, no more he has got any connection with this material body, he is avadhūta-veṣa.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Prabhupāda.