Srimad Bhagavatam 10.86.55-59 - Feeling Need to Cultivate Relationship with Devotees (download mp3)
by Nanda Dulal Prabhu at ISKCON Chowpatty
www.iskcondesiretree.com
SB 10.86.55
dusprajña aviditvaivam
avajananty asuyavah
gurum mam vipram atmanam
arcadav ijya-drstayah
Translation:
Ignorant of this truth, foolish people neglect and enviously offend a learned brahmana, who, being nondifferent from Me, is their spiritual master and very self. They consider worshipable only such obvious manifestations of divinity as My Deity form.
SB 10.86.56
caracaram idam visvam
bhava ye casya hetavah
mad-rupaniti cetasy
adhatte vipro mad-iksaya
Translation:
Because he has realized Me, a brahmana is firmly fixed in the knowledge that everything moving and nonmoving in the universe, and also the primary elements of its creation, are all manifest forms expanded from Me.
SB 10.86.57
tasmad brahma-rsin etan
brahman mac-chraddhayarcaya
evam ced arcito ’smy addha
nanyatha bhuri-bhutibhih
Translation:
Therefore you should worship these brahmana sages, O brahmana, with the same faith you have in Me. If you do so, you will worship Me directly, which you cannot do otherwise, even with offerings of vast riches.
SB 10.86.58
sri-suka uvaca
sa ittham prabhunadistah
saha-krsnan dvijottaman
aradhyaikatma-bhavena
maithilas capa sad-gatim
Translation:
Sri Suka said: So instructed by his Lord, with single-minded devotion Srutadeva worshiped Sri Krsna and the topmost brahmanas accompanying Him, and King Bahulasva did the same. Thus both Srutadeva and the King attained the ultimate transcendental destination.
SB 10.86.59
evam sva-bhaktayo rajan
bhagavan bhakta-bhaktiman
usitvadisya san-margam
punar dvaravatim agat
Translation:
O King, thus the Personality of Godhead, who is devoted to His own devotees, stayed for some time with His two great devotees Srutadeva and Bahulasva, teaching them the behavior of perfect saints. Then the Lord returned to Dvaraka.
Purport:
In his narration of this pastime in Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada concludes: “The instruction we receive from this incident is that King Bahulasva and Srutadeva the brahmana were accepted by the Lord on the same level because both were pure devotees. This is the real qualification for being recognized by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Because it has become the fashion of this age to become falsely proud of having taken birth in the family of a ksatriya or a brahmana, we see persons without any qualification claiming to be brahmana or ksatriya or vaisya. But as it is stated in the scriptures, kalau sudra-sambhava: ‘In this Age of Kali, everyone is born a sudra.’ This is because there is no performance of the purificatory process known as samskaras, which begin from the time of the mother’s pregnancy and continue up to the point of the individual’s death. No one can be classified as a member of a particular caste, especially of a higher caste — brahmana, ksatriya or vaisya — simply by birthright. If one is not purified by the process of the seed-giving ceremony, or garbhadhana-samskara, he is immediately classified among the sudras because only the sudras do not undergo this purificatory process. Sex life without the purificatory process of Krsna consciousness is merely the seed-giving process of the sudras or the animals. But Krsna consciousness is the highest perfection, by which everyone can come to the platform of a Vaisnava. This includes having all the qualifications of a brahmana. The Vaisnavas are trained to become freed from the four kinds of sinful activities — illicit sex, indulgence in intoxicants, gambling and eating animal foodstuffs. No one can be on the brahminical platform without having these preliminary qualifications, and without becoming a qualified brahmana, one cannot become a pure devotee.”
Thus end the purports of the humble servants of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada to the Tenth Canto, Eighty-sixth Chapter, of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, entitled “Arjuna Kidnaps Subhadra, and Krsna Blesses His Devotees.”
