Srimad Bhagavatam 11.01.24 - Do Not See Faults In Devotees (download mp3)
by Vraja Bihari Prabhu at ISKCON Chowpatty
www.iskcondesietree.com
SB 11.1.24
bhagavan jñata-sarvartha
isvaro ’pi tad-anyatha
kartum naicchad vipra-sapam
kala-rupy anvamodata
Translation:
Knowing fully the significance of all these events, the Supreme Lord, though capable of reversing the brahmanas’ curse, did not wish to do so. Rather, in His form of time, He gladly sanctioned the events.
Purport:
Ordinary persons may be surprised or bewildered that the Lord gladly sanctioned the cursing and destruction of His own dynasty. The word anvamodata used here indicates taking pleasure in something, or giving sanction or approval. It is also mentioned, kala-rupi: Krsna gladly gave His sanction to the brahmanas’ curse in the form of time. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada has commented that the Supreme Lord, Krsnacandra, decided to maintain the curse intact in order to protect the actual principles of religion and destroy the unbecoming offense of the deceitful members of the Karsna dynasty. It is clearly explained in Bhagavad-gita that the whole purpose of the Lord’s descent into the material world is to reestablish the authentic principles of religion by which the conditioned souls who are suffering intensely under the laws of material nature can regain their original existential status as eternally liberated servants of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna. The living entity comes to this material world with a desire to lord it over material nature, although the living entity is in fact not a lord but an eternal servant. Due to this perverted tendency to exploit the entire world for his sense gratification, the living entity is also prone to try to pervert the principles of spiritual life so that the eternal religious principles become appropriate to his own material sense gratification. Religion, however, is meant for pleasing the Supreme Lord by obeying His laws. And therefore Lord Krsna Himself personally comes from time to time to revive and enliven the correct method of devotional service to His lotus feet. In the Eleventh Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam it is clearly stated that Lord Krsna had completed the vast majority of His pastimes on the earth and was now making the final arrangements for His departure. Therefore, He wished to leave behind a vivid lesson for the living entities of this age that any so-called religious person, even if he is so exalted as to take birth in the Lord’s personal family, cannot violate the respect and reverence which is due to the pure devotees of the Lord, such as Narada Muni. The principle of serving the pure devotee of Krsna is so essential for spiritual advancement that the Lord exhibited the inconceivable pastime of causing the destruction of His entire dynasty just to impress this point upon the conditioned souls of Kali-yuga.
Srimad-Bhagavatam hints at the great misfortunes that would come after the disappearance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Such misfortunes also occurred after the disappearance of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who is accepted by Gaudiya Vaisnavas as Krsna Himself. Through various instructions, the Bhagavatam provides for eliminating the cheating pseudoreligion that comes forth in human society after the departure of the Lord.
Lord Caitanya, exhibiting His magnanimous pastimes, drove away from South India all the false doctrines of the apasampradayas, or so-called disciplic traditions of pseudodevotees, who had gained great influence by resorting to the atheistic theories of the Buddhists and Jains. Thus He turned all of India toward the devotional service of Lord Krsna, so that due to the extensive preaching of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His followers there remained no topic of discussion in the world other than devotional service to the Supreme Lord. Tridandipada Prabodhananda Sarasvati has elaborated on this in his verse stri-putradi-katham jahur visayinah.
Sri Narahari Sarakara Thakura, in his book Krsna-bhajanamrta, has corrected the improper statements of the gauranga-nagari-vadis, sakhibheka-vadis, and others of the eleven pseudodisciplic chains that claim to follow Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. These unauthorized persons present cheating in the guise of religion and advertise their duplicity as katha, or pure worship of the Lord. Just as Krsna brought about a furious quarrel to destroy His own family, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu arranged for the world to be flooded by varieties of Mayavada and karma-vada philosophies just after His disappearance. He did this to destroy persons who belonged to the eleven apasampradayas, or unauthorized disciplic traditions, as well as the many other apasampradayas that would appear in the future and presume to call themselves devotees of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu or pretend to be descendants in His family line. At the same time, Caitanya Mahaprabhu arranged for His own men to be kept away from the pseudodevotion of these cheaters. The devotees of Lord Gaurasundara, Caitanya Mahaprabhu, can discern the mysteries of His pastimes that manifest in the pastimes of Lord Krsna. The activities of the transcendental body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead cannot be understood in any ordinary mundane way. That is the essential meaning of this chapter.
Thus end the purports of the humble servants of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada to the Eleventh Canto, First Chapter, of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, entitled “The Curse Upon the Yadu Dynasty.”
