Srimad Bhagavatam 08.16.15-19 - How Krishna Protected The Pandavas (download mp3)
by Baladeva Prabhu at ISKCON Chowpatty
www.iskcondesiretree.net
SB 8.16.15
tasmad isa bhajantya me
sreyas cintaya suvrata
hrta-sriyo hrta-sthanan
sapatnaih pahi nah prabho
Translation:
Therefore, most gentle lord, kindly favor your maidservant. We have now been deprived of our opulence and residence by our competitors, the demons. Kindly give us protection.
Purport:
Aditi, the mother of the demigods, appealed to Kasyapa Muni to give the demigods protection. When we speak of the demigods, this also includes their mother.
SB 8.16.16
parair vivasita saham
magna vyasana-sagare
aisvaryam srir yasah sthanam
hrtani prabalair mama
Translation:
The demons, our formidably powerful enemies, have taken away our opulence, our beauty, our fame and even our residence. Indeed, we have now been exiled, and we are drowning in an ocean of trouble.
SB 8.16.17
yatha tani punah sadho
prapadyeran mamatmajah
tatha vidhehi kalyanam
dhiya kalyana-krttama
Translation:
O best of sages, best of all those who grant auspicious benedictions, please consider our situation and bestow upon my sons the benedictions by which they can regain what they have lost.
SB 8.16.18
sri-suka uvaca
evam abhyarthito 'ditya
kas tam aha smayann iva
aho maya-balam visnoh
sneha-baddham idam jagat
Translation:
Sukadeva Gosvami continued: When Kasyapa Muni was thus requested by Aditi, he slightly smiled. "Alas," he said, "how powerful is the illusory energy of Lord Visnu, by which the entire world is bound by affection for children!"
Purport:
Kasyapa Muni was surely sympathetic to his wife's affliction, yet he was surprised at how the whole world is influenced by affection.
SB 8.16.19
kva deho bhautiko 'natma
kva catma prakrteh parah
kasya ke pati-putradya
moha eva hi karanam
Translation:
Kasyapa Muni continued: What is this material body, made of five elements? It is different from the spirit soul. Indeed, the spirit soul is completely different from the material elements from which the body is made. But because of bodily attachment, one is regarded as a husband or son. These illusory relationships are caused by misunderstanding.
Purport:
The spirit soul (atma or jiva) is certainly different from the body, which is a combination of five material elements. This is a simple fact, but it is not understood unless one is spiritually educated. Kasyapa Muni met his wife, Aditi, in the heavenly planets, but the same misconception extends throughout the entire universe and is also here on earth. There are different grades of living entities, but all of them are more or less under the impression of the bodily conception of life. In other words, all living entities in this material world are more or less devoid of spiritual education. The Vedic civilization, however, is based on spiritual education, and spiritual education is the special basis on which Bhagavad-gita was spoken to Arjuna. In the beginning of Bhagavad-gita, Krsna instructed Arjuna to understand that the spirit soul is different from the body.
dehino 'smin yatha dehe
kaumaram yauvanam jara
tatha dehantara-praptir
dhiras tatra na muhyati
"As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change." (Bg. 2.13) Unfortunately, this spiritual education is completely absent from modern human civilization. No one understands his real self-interest, which lies with the spirit soul, not with the material body. Education means spiritual education. To work hard in the bodily conception of life, without spiritual education, is to live like an animal. Nayam deho deha-bhajam nr-loke kastan kaman arhate vid-bhujam ye (SB 5.5.1). People are working so hard simply for bodily comforts, without education regarding the spirit soul. Thus they are living in a very risky civilization, for it is a fact that the spirit soul has to transmigrate from one body to another (tatha dehantara-praptih [Bg. 2.13]). Without spiritual education, people are kept in dark ignorance and do not know what will happen to them after the annihilation of the present body. They are working blindly, and blind leaders are directing them. Andha yathandhair upaniyamanas te 'pisa-tantryam uru-damni baddhah (SB 7.5.31). A foolish person does not know that he is completely under the bondage of material nature and that after death material nature will impose upon him a certain type of body, which he will have to accept. He does not know that although in his present body he may be a very important man, he may next get the body of an animal or tree because of his ignorant activities in the modes of material nature. Therefore the Krsna consciousness movement is trying to give the true light of spiritual existence to all living entities. This movement is not very difficult to understand, and people must take advantage of it, for it will save them from the risky life of irresponsibility.
