Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 1: “Creation”
by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Chapter Twelve

SB1.12.22

TEXT 22

mrgendra iva vikranto

nisevyo himavan iva

titiksur vasudhevasau

sahisnuh pitarav iva

SYNONYMS

mrgendrah—the lion; iva—like; vikrantah—powerful; nisevyah—worthy of taking shelter; himavan—the Himalaya Mountains; iva—like; titiksuh—forbearance; vasudha iva—like the earth; asau—the child; sahisnuh—tolerant; pitarau—parents; iva—like.

TRANSLATION

This child will be as strong as a lion, and as worthy a shelter as the Himalaya Mountains. He will be forbearing like the earth, and as tolerant as his parents.

PURPORT

One is compared to the lion when one is very strong in chasing an enemy. One should be a lamb at home and a lion in the chase. The lion never fails in the chase of an animal; similarly, the head of the state should never fail in chasing an enemy. The Himalaya Mountains are famous for all richness. There are innumerable caves to live in, numberless trees of good fruits to eat, good springs to drink water from and profuse drugs and minerals to cure diseases. Any man who is not materially prosperous can take shelter of these great mountains, and he will be provided with everything required. Both the materialist and the spiritualist can take advantage of the great shelter of the Himalayas. On the surface of the earth there are so many disturbances caused by the inhabitants. In the modern age the people have begun to detonate atomic weapons on the surface of the earth, and still the earth is forbearing to the inhabitants, like a mother who excuses a little child. Parents are always tolerant to children for all sorts of mischievous acts. An ideal king may be possessed of all these good qualities, and the child Pariksit is foretold to have all these qualities in perfection.

SB1.12.23

TEXT 23

pitamaha-samah samye

prasade girisopamah

asrayah sarva-bhutanam

yatha devo ramasrayah

SYNONYMS

pitamaha—the grandfather, or Brahma; samah—equally good; samye—in the matter; prasade—in charity or in munificence; girisa—Lord Siva; upamah—comparison of equilibrium; asrayah—resort; sarva—all; bhutanam—of the living beings; yatha—as; devah—the Supreme Lord; rama-asrayah—the Personality of Godhead.

TRANSLATION

This child will be like his grandfather Yudhisthira or Brahma in equanimity of mind. He will be munificent like the lord of the Kailasa Hill, Siva. And he will be the resort of everyone, like the Supreme Personality of Godhead Narayana, who is even the shelter of the goddess of fortune.

PURPORT

Mental equanimity refers both to Maharaja Yudhisthira and to Brahma, the grandfather of all living beings. According to Sridhara Svami, the grandfather referred to is Brahma, but according to Visvanatha Cakravarti, the grandfather is Maharaja Yudhisthira himself. But in both cases the comparison is equally good because both of them are recognized representatives of the Supreme Lord, and thus both of them have to maintain mental equanimity, being engaged in welfare work for the living being. Any responsible executive agent at the top of administration has to tolerate different types of onslaughts from the very persons for whom he works. Brahmaji was criticized even by the gopis, the highest perfectional devotees of the Lord. The gopis were dissatisfied with the work of Brahmaji because Lord Brahma, as creator of this particular universe, created eyelids which obstructed their seeing Lord Krsna. They could not tolerate a moment’s blinking of the eyes, for it kept them from seeing their beloved Lord Krsna. So what to speak of others, who are naturally very critical of every action of a responsible man? Similarly, Maharaja Yudhisthira had to cross over many difficult situations created by his enemies, and he proved to be the most perfect maintainer of mental equanimity in all critical circumstances. Therefore the example of both grandfathers for maintaining equanimity of mind is quite fitting.

Lord Siva is a celebrated demigod who awards gifts to beggars. His name is therefore Asutosa, or one who is pleased very easily. He is also called the Bhutanatha, or the lord of the common folk, who are mainly attached to him because of his munificent gifts, even without consideration of the aftereffects. Ravana was very attached to Lord Siva, and by easily pleasing him, Ravana became so powerful that he wanted to challenge the authority of Lord Rama. Of course, Ravana was never helped by Lord Siva when he fought with Rama, the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the Lord of Lord Siva. To Vrkasura, Lord Siva awarded a benediction which was not only awkward, but also disturbing. Vrkasura became empowered, by the grace of Lord Siva, to vanish anyone’s head simply by touching it. Although this was awarded by Lord Siva, the cunning fellow wanted to make an experiment of the power by touching the head of Lord Siva. Thus the lord had to take shelter of Visnu to save himself from trouble, and the Lord Visnu, by His illusory potency, asked Vrkasura to make an experiment with his own head. The fellow did it and was finished himself, and so the world was saved from all sorts of trouble by such a cunning beggar of the demigods. The excellent point is that Lord Siva never denies anyone any sort of gift. He is therefore the most generous, although sometimes some kind of a mistake is made.

Rama means the goddess of fortune. And her shelter is Lord Visnu. Lord Visnu is the maintainer of all living beings. There are innumerable living beings, not only on the surface of this planet but also in all other hundreds of thousands of planets. All of them are provided with all necessities of life for the progressive march towards the end of self-realization, but on the path of sense gratification they are put into difficulty by the agency of maya, the illusory energy, and so travel the path of a false plan of economic development. Such economic development is never successful because it is illusory. These men are always after the mercy of the illusory goddess of fortune, but they do not know that the goddess of fortune can live only under the protection of Visnu. Without Visnu, the goddess of fortune is an illusion. We should therefore seek the protection of Visnu instead of directly seeking the protection of the goddess of fortune. Only Visnu and the devotees of Visnu can give protection to all, and because Maharaja Pariksit was himself protected by Visnu, it was quite possible for him to give complete protection to all who wanted to live under his rule.

SB1.12.24

TEXT 24

sarva-sad-guna-mahatmye

esa krsnam anuvratah

rantideva ivodaro

yayatir iva dharmikah

SYNONYMS

sarva-sat-guna-mahatmye—glorified by all godly attributes; esah—this child; krsnam—like Lord Krsna; anuvratah—a follower in His footsteps; rantidevah—Rantideva; iva—like; udarah—in the matter of magnanimity; yayatih—Yayati; iva—like; dharmikah—concerning religion.

TRANSLATION

This child will be almost as good as Lord Sri Krsna by following in His footsteps. In magnanimity he will become as great as King Rantideva. And in religion he will be like Maharaja Yayati.

PURPORT

The last instruction of Lord Sri Krsna in the Bhagavad-gita is that one should give up everything and should follow in the footsteps of the Lord alone. Less intelligent persons do not agree to this great instruction of the Lord, as ill luck would have it, but one who is actually intelligent catches up this sublime instruction and is immensely benefited. Foolish people do not know that association is the cause of acquiring qualities. Association with fire makes an object hot, even in the material sense. Therefore, association with the Supreme Personality of Godhead makes one qualified like the Lord. As we have discussed previously, one can achieve seventy-eight percent of the godly qualities by the Lord’s intimate association. To follow the instructions of the Lord is to associate with the Lord. The Lord is not a material object whose presence one has to feel for such association. The Lord is present everywhere and at all times. It is quite possible to have His association simply by following His instruction because the Lord and His instruction and the Lord and His name, fame, attributes and paraphernalia are all identical with Him, being absolute knowledge. Maharaja Pariksit associated with the Lord even from the womb of his mother up to the last day of his valuable life, and thus he acquired all the essential good qualities of the Lord in all perfection.

Rantideva: An ancient king prior to the Mahabharata period, referred to by Narada Muni while instructing Sanjaya, as mentioned in Mahabharata (Drona-parva 67). He was a great king, liberal for hospitality and distribution of foodstuff. Even Lord Sri Krsna praised his acts of charity and hospitality. He was blessed by the great Vasistha Muni for supplying him cold water, and thus he achieved the heavenly planet. He used to supply fruits, roots and leaves to the rsis, and thus he was blessed by them with fulfillment of his desires. Although a ksatriya by birth, he never ate flesh in his life. He was especially hospitable to Vasistha Muni, and by his blessings only he attained the higher planetary residence. He is one of those pious kings whose names are remembered in the morning and evening.

Yayati: The great emperor of the world and the original forefather of all great nations of the world who belong to the Aryan and Indo-European stock. He is the son of Maharaja Nabusa, and he became the emperor of the world due to his elder brother’s becoming a great and liberated saintly mystic. He ruled over the world for several thousands of years and performed many sacrifices and pious activities recorded in history, although his early youth was very lustful and full of romantic stories. He fell in love with Devayani, the most beloved daughter of Sukracarya. Devayani wished to marry him, but at first he refused to accept her because of her being a daughter of a brahmana. According to sastras, a brahmana could marry the daughter of a ksatriya but a ksatriya could not marry the daughter of a brahmana. They were very much cautious about varna-sankara population in the world. Sukracarya amended this law of forbidden marriage and induced Emperor Yayati to accept Devayani. Devayani had a girl friend named Sarmistha, who also fell in love with the emperor and thus went with her friend Devayani. Sukracarya forbade Emperor Yayati to call Sarmistha into his bedroom, but Yayati could not strictly follow his instruction. He secretly married Sarmistha also and begot sons by her. When this was known by Devayani, she went to her father and lodged a complaint. Yayati was much attached to Devayani, and when he went to his father-in-law’s place to call her, Sukracarya was angry with him and cursed him to become impotent. Yayati begged his father-in-law to withdraw his curse, but the sage asked Yayati to ask youthfulness from his sons and let them become old as the condition of his becoming potent. He had five sons, two from Devayani and three from Sarmistha. From his five sons, namely (1) Yadu, (2) Turvasu, (3) Druhyu, (4) Anu and (5) Puru, five famous dynasties, namely (1) the Yadu dynasty, (2) the Yavana (Turk) dynasty, (3) the Bhoja dynasty, (4) the Mleccha dynasty (Greek) and (5) the Paurava dynasty, all emanated to spread all over the world. He reached the heavenly planets by dint of his pious acts, but he fell down from there because of his self-advertisement and criticizing other great souls. After his fall, his daughter and grandson bestowed upon him their accumulated virtues, and by the help of his grandson and friend Sibi, he was again promoted to the heavenly kingdom, becoming one of the assembly members of Yamaraja, with whom he is staying as a devotee. He performed more than one thousand different sacrifices, gave in charity very liberally and was a very influential king. His majestic power was felt all over the world. His youngest son agreed to award him his youthfulness when he was troubled with lustful desires, even for one thousand years. Finally he became detached from worldly life and returned the youthfulness again to his son Puru. He wanted to hand over the kingdom to Puru, but his noblemen and the subjects did not agree. But when he explained to his subjects the greatness of Puru, they agreed to accept Puru as the King, and thus Emperor Yayati retired from family life and left home for the forest.

SB1.12.25

TEXT 25

dhrtya bali-samah krsne

prahrada iva sad-grahah

ahartaiso ’svamedhanam

vrddhanam paryupasakah

SYNONYMS

dhrtya—by patience; bali-samah—like Bali Maharaja; krsne—unto Lord Sri Krsna; prahrada—Prahlada Maharaja; iva—like; sat-grahah—devotee of; aharta—performer; esah—this child; asvamedhanam—of Asvamedha sacrifices; vrddhanam—of the old and experienced men; paryupasakah—follower.

TRANSLATION

This child will be like Bali Maharaja in patience, a staunch devotee of Lord Krsna like Prahlada Maharaja, a performer of many Asvamedha [horse] sacrifices and a follower of the old and experienced men.

PURPORT

Bali Maharaja: One of the twelve authorities in the devotional service of the Lord. Bali Maharaja is a great authority in devotional service because he sacrificed everything to please the Lord and relinquished the connection of his so-called spiritual master who obstructed him on the path of risking everything for the service of the Lord. The highest perfection of religious life is to attain to the stage of unqualified devotional service of the Lord without any cause or without being obstructed by any kind of worldly obligation. Bali Maharaja was determined to give up everything for the satisfaction of the Lord, and he did not care for any obstruction whatsoever. He is the grandson of Prahlada Maharaja, another authority in the devotional service of the Lord. Bali Maharaja and the history of his dealings with Visnu Vamanadeva are described in the Eighth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam (Chapter 11–24).

Prahlada Maharaja: A perfect devotee of Lord Krsna (Visnu). His father, Hiranyakasipu, chastised him severely when he was only five years old for his becoming an unalloyed devotee of the Lord. He was the first son of Hiranyakasipu, and his mother’s name was Kayadhu. Prahlada Maharaja was an authority in the devotional service of the Lord because he had his father killed by Lord Nrsimhadeva, setting the example that even a father should be removed from the path of devotional service if such a father happens to be an obstacle. He had four sons, and the eldest son, Virocana, is the father of Bali Maharaja, mentioned above. The history of Prahlada Maharaja’s activities is described in the Seventh Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam.

SB1.12.26

TEXT 26

rajarsinam janayita

sasta cotpatha-gaminam

nigrahita kaler esa

bhuvo dharmasya karanat

SYNONYMS

raja-rsinam—of kings as good as sages; janayita—producer; sasta—chastiser; ca—and; utpatha-gaminam—of the upstarts; nigrahita—molester; kaleh—of the quarrelsome; esah—this; bhuvah—of the world; dharmasya—of religion; karanat—on account of.

TRANSLATION

This child will be the father of kings who will be like sages. For world peace and for the sake of religion, he will be the chastiser of the upstarts and the quarrelsome.

PURPORT

The wisest man in the world is a devotee of the Lord. The sages are called wise men, and there are different types of wise men for different branches of knowledge. Unless, therefore, the king or the head of the state is the wisest man, he cannot control all types of wise men in the state. In the line of royal succession in the family of Maharaja Yudhisthira, all the kings, without exception, were the wisest men of their times, and so also it is foretold about Maharaja Pariksit and his son Maharaja Janamejaya, who was yet to be born. Such wise kings can become chastisers of upstarts and uprooters of Kali, or quarrelsome elements. As will be clear in the chapters ahead, Maharaja Pariksit wanted to kill the personified Kali, who was attempting to kill a cow, the emblem of peace and religion. The symptoms of Kali are (1) wine, (2) women, (3) gambling and (4) slaughterhouses. Wise rulers of all states should take lessons from Maharaja Pariksit in how to maintain peace and morality by subduing the upstarts and quarrelsome people who indulge in wine, illicit connection with women, gambling and meat-eating supplied by regularly maintained slaughterhouses. In this age of Kali, regular license is issued for maintaining all of these different departments of quarrel. So how can they expect peace and morality in the state? The state fathers, therefore, must follow the principles of becoming wiser by devotion to the Lord, by chastising the breaker of discipline and by uprooting the symptoms of quarrel, as mentioned above. If we want blazing fire, we must use dry fuel. Blazing fire and moist fuel go ill together. Peace and morality can prosper only by the principles of Maharaja Pariksit and his followers.

SB1.12.27

TEXT 27

taksakad atmano mrtyum

dvija-putropasarjitat

prapatsyata upasrutya

mukta-sangah padam hareh

SYNONYMS

taksakat—by the snake-bird; atmanah—of his personal self; mrtyum—death; dvija-putra—the son of a brahmana; upasarjitat—being sent by; prapatsyate—having taken shelter of; upasrutya—after hearing; mukta-sangah—freed from all attachment; padam—position; hareh—of the Lord.

TRANSLATION

After hearing about his death, which will be caused by the bite of a snake-bird sent by a son of a brahmana, he will get himself freed from all material attachment and surrender unto the Personality of Godhead, taking shelter of Him.

PURPORT

Material attachment and taking shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord go ill together. Material attachment means ignorance of transcendental happiness under the shelter of the Lord. Devotional service to the Lord, while existing in the material world, is a way to practice one’s transcendental relation with the Lord, and when it is matured, one gets completely free from all material attachment and becomes competent to go back home, back to Godhead. Maharaja Pariksit, being especially attached to the Lord from the beginning of his body in the womb of his mother, was continuously under the shelter of the Lord, and the so-called warning of his death within seven days from the date of the curse by the brahmana’s son was a boon to him to enable him to prepare himself to go back home, back to Godhead. Since he was always protected by the Lord, he could have avoided the effect of such a curse by the grace of the Lord, but he did not take such undue advantage for nothing. Rather, he made the best use of a bad bargain. For seven days continuously he heard Srimad-Bhagavatam from the right source, and thus he got shelter at the lotus feet of the Lord by that opportunity.

SB1.12.28

TEXT 28

jijnasitatma-yatharthyo

muner vyasa-sutad asau

hitvedam nrpa gangayam

yasyaty addhakutobhayam

SYNONYMS

jijnasita—having inquired of; atma-yatharthyah—right knowledge of one’s own self; muneh—from the learned philosopher; vyasa-sutat—the son of Vyasa; asau—he; hitva—quitting; idam—this material attachment; nrpa—O King; gangayam—on the bank of the Ganges; yasyati—will go; addha—directly; akutah-bhayam—the life of fearlessness.

TRANSLATION

After inquiring about proper self-knowledge from the son of Vyasadeva, who will be a great philosopher, he will renounce all material attachment and achieve a life of fearlessness.

PURPORT

Material knowledge means ignorance of the knowledge of one’s own self. Philosophy means to seek after the right knowledge of one’s own self, or the knowledge of self-realization. Without self-realization, philosophy is dry speculation or a waste of time and energy. Srimad-Bhagavatam gives the right knowledge of one’s own self, and by hearing Srimad-Bhagavatam one can get free from material attachment and enter into the kingdom of fearlessness. This material world is fearfulness. Its prisoners are always fearful as within a prison house. In the prison house no one can violate the jail rules and regulations, and violating the rules means another term for extension of prison life. Similarly, we in this material existence are always fearful. This fearfulness is called anxiety. Everyone in the material life, in all species and varieties of life, is full of anxieties, either by breaking or without breaking the laws of nature. Liberation, or mukti, means getting relief from these constant anxieties. This is possible only when the anxiety is changed to the devotional service of the Lord. Srimad-Bhagavatam gives us the chance to change the quality of anxiety from matter to spirit. This is done in the association of a learned philosopher like the self-realized Sukadeva Gosvami, the great son of Sri Vyasadeva. Maharaja Pariksit, after receiving warning of his death, took advantage of this opportunity by association with Sukadeva Gosvami and achieved the desired result.

There is a sort of imitation of this reciting and hearing of Srimad-Bhagavatam by professional men, and their foolish audience thinks that they will get free from the clutches of material attachment and attain the life of fearlessness. Such imitative hearing of Srimad-Bhagavatam is a caricature only, and one should not be misled by such a performance of bhagavatam saptaha undertaken by ridiculous greedy fellows to maintain an establishment of material enjoyment.

SB1.12.29

TEXT 29

iti rajna upadisya

vipra jataka-kovidah

labdhapacitayah sarve

pratijagmuh svakan grhan

SYNONYMS

iti—thus; rajne—unto the King; upadisya—having advised; viprah—persons well versed in the Vedas; jataka-kovidah—persons expert in astrology and in the performance of birth ceremonies; labdha-apacitayah—those who had received sumptuously as remuneration; sarve—all of them; pratijagmuh—went back; svakan—their own; grhan—houses.

TRANSLATION

Thus those who were expert in astrological knowledge and in performance of the birth ceremony instructed King Yudhisthira about the future history of his child. Then, being sumptuously remunerated, they all returned to their respective homes.

PURPORT

The Vedas are the storehouse of knowledge, both material and spiritual. But such knowledge aims at perfection of self-realization. In other words, the Vedas are the guides for the civilized man in every respect. Since human life is the opportunity to get free from all material miseries, it is properly guided by the knowledge of the Vedas, in the matters of both material needs and spiritual salvation. The specific intelligent class of men who were devoted particularly to the knowledge of the Vedas were called the vipras, or the graduates of the Vedic knowledge. There are different branches of knowledge in the Vedas, of which astrology and pathology are two important branches necessary for the common man. So the intelligent men, generally known as the brahmanas, took up all the different branches of Vedic knowledge to guide society. Even the department of military education (Dhanur-veda) was also taken up by such intelligent men, and the vipras were also teachers of this section of knowledge, as were Dronacarya, Krpacarya, etc.

The word vipra mentioned herein is significant. There is a little difference between the vipras and the brahmanas. The vipras are those who are expert in karma-kanda, or fruitive activities, guiding the society towards fulfilling the material necessities of life, whereas the brahmanas are expert in spiritual knowledge of transcendence. This department of knowledge is called jnana-kanda, and above this there is the upasana-kanda. The culmination of upasana-kanda is the devotional service of the Lord Visnu, and when the brahmanas achieve perfection, they are called Vaisnavas. Visnu worship is the highest of the modes of worship. Elevated brahmanas are Vaisnavas engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord, and thus Srimad-Bhagavatam, which is the science of devotional service, is very dear to the Vaisnavas. And as explained in the beginning of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, it is the mature fruit of Vedic knowledge and is superior subject matter, above the three kandas, namely karma, jnana and upasana.

Amongst the karma-kanda experts, the jataka expert vipras were good astrologers who could tell all the future history of a born child simply by the astral calculations of the time (lagna). Such expert jataka-vipras were present during the birth of Maharaja Pariksit, and his grandfather, Maharaja Yudhisthira, awarded the vipras sufficiently with gold, land, villages, grains and other valuable necessaries of life, which also include cows. There is a need of such vipras in the social structure, and it is the duty of the state to maintain them comfortably, as designed in the Vedic procedure. Such expert vipras, being sufficiently paid by the state, could give free service to the people in general, and thus this department of Vedic knowledge could be available for all.

SB1.12.30

TEXT 30

sa esa loke vikhyatah

pariksid iti yat prabhuh

purvam drstam anudhyayan

parikseta naresv iha

SYNONYMS

sah—he; esah—in this; loke—world; vikhyatah—famous; pariksit—one who examines; iti—thus; yat—what; prabhuh—O my King; purvam—before; drstam—seen; anudhyayan—constantly contemplating; parikseta—shall examine; naresu—unto every man; iha—here.

TRANSLATION

So his son would become famous in the world as Pariksit [examiner] because he would come to examine all human beings in his search after that personality whom he saw before his birth. Thus he would come to constantly contemplate Him.

PURPORT

Maharaja Pariksit, fortunate as he was, got the impression of the Lord even in the womb of his mother, and thus his contemplation on the Lord was constantly with him. Once the impression of the transcendental form of the Lord is fixed in one’s mind, one can never forget Him in any circumstance. Child Pariksit, after coming out of the womb, was in the habit of examining everyone to see whether he was the same personality whom he first saw in the womb. But no one could be equal to or more attractive than the Lord, and therefore he never accepted anyone. But the Lord was constantly with him by such examination, and thus Maharaja Pariksit was always engaged in the devotional service of the Lord by remembrance.

Srila Jiva Gosvami remarks in this connection that every child, if given an impression of the Lord from his very childhood, certainly becomes a great devotee of the Lord like Maharaja Pariksit. One may not be as fortunate as Maharaja Pariksit to have the opportunity to see the Lord in the womb of his mother, but even if he is not so fortunate, he can be made so if the parents of the child desire him to be so. There is a practical example in my personal life in this connection. My father was a pure devotee of the Lord, and when I was only four or five years old, my father gave me a couple of forms of Radha and Krsna. In a playful manner, I used to worship these Deities along with my sister, and I used to imitate the performances of a neighboring temple of Radha-Govinda. By constantly visiting this neighboring temple and copying the ceremonies in connection with my own Deities of play, I developed a natural affinity for the Lord. My father used to observe all the ceremonies befitting my position. Later on, these activities were suspended due to my association in the schools and colleges, and I became completely out of practice. But in my youthful days, when I met my spiritual master, Sri Srimad Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Maharaja, again I revived my old habit, and the same playful Deities became my worshipful Deities in proper regulation. This was followed up until I left the family connection, and I am pleased that my generous father gave the first impression which was developed later into regulative devotional service by His Divine Grace. Maharaja Prahlada also advised that such impressions of a godly relation must be impregnated from the beginning of childhood, otherwise one may miss the opportunity of the human form of life, which is very valuable although it is temporary like others.

SB1.12.31

TEXT 31

sa raja-putro vavrdhe

asu sukla ivodupah

apuryamanah pitrbhih

kasthabhir iva so ’nvaham

SYNONYMS

sah—that; raja-putrah—the royal prince; vavrdhe—grew up; asu—very soon; sukle—waxing moon; iva—like; udupah—the moon; apuryamanah—luxuriantly; pitrbhih—by the parental guardians; kasthabhih—plenary development; iva—like; sah—he; anvaham—day after day.

TRANSLATION

As the moon, in its waxing fortnight, develops day after day, so the royal prince [Pariksit] very soon developed luxuriantly under the care and full facilities of his guardian grandfathers.

SB1.12.32

TEXT 32

yaksyamano ’svamedhena

jnati-droha-jihasaya

raja labdha-dhano dadhyau

nanyatra kara-dandayoh

SYNONYMS

yaksyamanah—desiring to perform; asvamedhena—by the horse sacrifice ceremony; jnati-droha—fighting with kinsmen; jihasaya—for getting free; raja—King Yudhisthira; labdha-dhanah—for getting some wealth; dadhyau—thought about it; na anyatra—not otherwise; kara-dandayoh—taxes and fines.

TRANSLATION

Just at this time, King Yudhisthira was considering performing a horse sacrifice to get freed from sins incurred from fighting with kinsmen. But he became anxious to get some wealth, for there were no surplus funds outside of fines and tax collection.

PURPORT

As the brahmanas and vipras had a right to be subsidized by the state, the state executive head had the right to collect taxes and fines from the citizens. After the Battle of Kuruksetra the state treasury was exhausted, and therefore there was no surplus fund except the fund from tax collection and fines. Such funds were sufficient only for the state budget, and having no excess fund, the King was anxious to get more wealth in some other way in order to perform the horse sacrifice. Maharaja Yudhisthira wanted to perform this sacrifice under the instruction of Bhismadeva.

SB1.12.33

TEXT 33

tad abhipretam alaksya

bhrataro ’cyuta-coditah

dhanam prahinam ajahrur

udicyam disi bhurisah

SYNONYMS

tat—his; abhipretam—wishes of the mind; alaksya—observing; bhratarah—his brothers; acyuta—the infallible (Lord Sri Krsna); coditah—being advised by; dhanam—riches; prahinam—to collect; ajahruh—brought about; udicyam—northern; disi—direction; bhurisah—sufficient.

TRANSLATION

Understanding the hearty wishes of the King, his brothers, as advised by the infallible Lord Krsna, collected sufficient riches from the North [left by King Marutta].

PURPORT

Maharaja Marutta: one of the great emperors of the world. He reigned over the world long before the reign of Maharaja Yudhisthira. He was the son of Maharaja Aviksit and was a great devotee of the son of the sun-god, known as Yamaraja. His brother Samvarta was a rival priest of the great Brhaspati, the learned priest of the demigods. He conducted one sacrifice called Sankara-yajna by which the Lord was so satisfied that He was pleased to hand over to him the charge of a mountain peak of gold. This peak of gold is somewhere in the Himalaya Mountains, and modern adventurers may try to find it there. He was so powerful an emperor that at the day’s end of sacrifice, the demigods from the other planets like Indra, Candra and Brhaspati used to visit his palace. And because he had the gold peak at his disposal, he had sufficient gold in his possession. The canopy of the sacrificial altar was completely made of gold. in his daily performances of the sacrificial ceremonies, some of the inhabitants of the Vayuloka (airy planets) were invited to expedite the cooking work of the ceremony. And the assembly of the demigods in the ceremony was led by Visvadeva.

By his constant pious work he was able to drive out all kinds of diseases from the jurisdiction of his kingdom. All the inhabitants of higher planets like Devaloka and Pitrloka were pleased with him for his great sacrificial ceremonies. Every day he used to give in charity to the learned brahmanas such things as beddings, seats, conveyances and sufficient quantities of gold. Because of munificent charities and performances of innumerable sacrifices, the King of heaven, Indradeva, was fully satisfied with him and always wished for his welfare. Due to his pious activities, he remained a young man throughout his life and reigned over the world for one thousand years, surrounded by his satisfied subjects, ministers, legitimate wife, sons and brothers. Even Lord Sri Krsna praised his spirit of pious activities. He handed over his only daughter to Maharsi Angira, and by his good blessings, he was elevated to the kingdom of heaven. First of all, he wanted to offer the priesthood of his sacrifices to learned Brhaspati, but the demigod refused to accept the post because of the King’s being a human being, a man of this earth. He was very sorry for this, but on the advice of Narada Muni he appointed Samvarta to the post, and he was successful in his mission.

The success of a particular type of sacrifice completely depends on the priest in charge. In this age, all kinds of sacrifice are forbidden because there is no learned priest amongst the so-called brahmanas, who go by the false notion of becoming sons of brahmanas without brahminical qualifications. In this age of Kali, therefore, only one kind of sacrifice is recommended, sankirtana-yajna, as inaugurated by Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

SB1.12.34

TEXT 34

tena sambhrta-sambharo

dharma-putro yudhisthirah

vajimedhais tribhir bhito

yajnaih samayajad dharim

SYNONYMS

tena—with that wealth; sambhrta—collected; sambharah—ingredients; dharma-putrah—the pious king; yudhisthirah—Yudhisthira; vajimedhaih—by horse sacrifices; tribhih—three times; bhitah—being greatly afraid after the Battle of Kuruksetra; yajnaih—sacrifices; samayajat—perfectly worshiped; harim—the Personality of Godhead.

TRANSLATION

By those riches, the King could procure the ingredients for three horse sacrifices. Thus the pious King Yudhisthira, who was very fearful after the Battle of Kuruksetra, pleased Lord Hari, the Personality of Godhead.

PURPORT

Maharaja Yudhisthira was the ideal and celebrated pious King of the world, and still he was greatly afraid after the execution of the Battle of Kuruksetra because of the mass killing in the fight, all of which was done only to install him on the throne. He therefore took all the responsibility for sins committed in the warfare, and to get rid of all these sins, he wanted to perform three sacrifices in which horses are offered at the altar. Such a sacrifice is very costly. Even Maharaja Yudhisthira had to collect the necessary heaps of gold left by Maharaja Marutta and the brahmanas who were given gold in charity by King Marutta. The learned brahmanas could not take away all the loads of gold given by Maharaja Marutta, and therefore they left behind the major portion of the gift. And Maharaja Marutta also did not again collect such heaps of gold given away in charity. Besides that, all the golden plates and utensils which were used in the sacrifice were also thrown in the dustbins, and all such heaps of gold remained unclaimed property for a long time, till Maharaja Yudhisthira collected them for his own purposes. Lord Sri Krsna advised the brothers of Maharaja Yudhisthira to collect the unclaimed property because it belonged to the King. The more astonishing thing is that no subject of the state also collected such unclaimed gold for industrial enterprise or anything like that. This means that the state citizens were completely satisfied with all necessities of life and therefore not inclined to accept unnecessary productive enterprises for sense gratification. Maharaja Yudhisthira also requisitioned the heaps of gold for performing sacrifices and for pleasing the Supreme Hari Personality of Godhead. Otherwise he had no desire to collect them for the state treasury.

One should take lessons from the acts of Maharaja Yudhisthira. He was afraid of sins committed on the battlefield, and therefore he wanted to satisfy the supreme authority. This indicates that unintentional sins are also committed in our daily occupational discharge of duties, and to counteract even such unintentional crimes, one must perform sacrifices as they are recommended in the revealed scriptures. The Lord says in Bhagavad-gita (yajnarthat karmano ’nyatra loko ’yam karma-bandhanah  [Bg. 3.9]) that one must perform sacrifices recommended in the scriptures in order to get rid of commitments of all unauthorized work, or even unintentional crimes which we are apt to commit. By doing so, one shall be freed from all kinds of sins. And those who do not do so but work for self-interest or sense gratification have to undergo all tribulations accrued from committed sins. Therefore, the main purpose of performing sacrifices is to satisfy the Supreme Personality Hari. The process of performing sacrifices may be different in terms of different times, places and persons, but the aim of such sacrifices is one and the same at all times and in all circumstances, viz. , satisfaction of the Supreme Lord Hari. That is the way of pious life, and that is the way of peace and prosperity in the world at large. Maharaja Yudhisthira did all these as the ideal pious king in the world.

If Maharaja Yudhisthira is a sinner in his daily discharge of duties, in royal administration of state affairs, wherein killing of man and animals is a recognized art, then we can just imagine the amount of sins committed consciously or unconsciously by the untrained population of the Kali-yuga who have no way to perform sacrifice to please the Supreme Lord. The Bhagavatam says, therefore, that the prime duty of the human being is to satisfy the Supreme Lord by the performance of one’s occupational duty (Bhag. 1.2.13).

Let any man of any place or community, caste or creed be engaged in any sort of occupational duty, but he must agree to perform sacrifices as it is recommended in the scriptures for the particular place, time and person. In the Vedic literatures it is recommended that in Kali-yuga people engage in glorifying the Lord by chanting the holy name of Krsna (kirtanad eva krsnasya mukta-sangah param vrajet) without offense. By doing so one can be freed from all sins and thus can attain the highest perfection of life by returning home, back to Godhead. We have already discussed this more than once in this great literature in different places, especially in the introductory portion by sketching the life of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and still we are repeating the same with a view to bring about peace and prosperity in society.

The Lord has declared openly in Bhagavad-gita how He becomes pleased with us, and the same process is practically demonstrated in the life and preaching work of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. The perfect process of performing yajnas, or sacrifice, to please the Supreme Lord Hari (the Personality of Godhead, who gets us free from all miseries of existence) is to follow the ways of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in this dark age of quarrel and dissension.

Maharaja Yudhisthira had to collect heaps of gold to secure the paraphernalia for the horse sacrifice yajnas in days of sufficiency, so we can hardly think of such performance of yajnas in these days of insufficiency and complete scarcity of gold. At the present moment we have heaps of papers and promises of their being converted into gold by economic development of modern civilization, and still there is no possibility of spending riches like Maharaja Yudhisthira, either individually or collectively or by state patronization. Just suitable, therefore, for the age, is the method recommended by Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in terms of the sastra. Such a method requires no expenditure at all and yet can award more benefit than other expensive methods of yajna performances.

The horse sacrifice yajna or cow sacrifice yajna performed by the Vedic regulations shouldn’t be misunderstood as a process of killing animals. On the contrary, animals offered for the yajna were rejuvenated to a new span of life by the transcendental power of chanting the Vedic hymns, which, if properly chanted, are different from what is understood by the common layman. The Veda-mantras are all practical, and the proof is rejuvenation of the sacrificed animal.

There is no possibility of such methodical chanting of the Vedic hymns by the so-called brahmanas or priests of the present age. The untrained descendants of the twice-born families are no more like their forefathers, and thus they are counted amongst the sudras, or once-born men. The once-born man is unfit to chant the Vedic hymns, and therefore there is no practical utility of chanting the original hymns.

And to save them all, Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu propounded the sankirtana movement or yajna for all practical purposes, and the people of the present age are strongly recommended to follow this sure and recognized path.

SB1.12.35

TEXT 35

ahuto bhagavan rajna

yajayitva dvijair nrpam

uvasa katicin masan

suhrdam priya-kamyaya

SYNONYMS

ahutah—being called by; bhagavan—Lord Krsna, the Personality of Godhead; rajna—by the King; yajayitva—causing to be performed; dvijaih—by the learned brahmanas; nrpam—on behalf of the King; uvasa—resided; katicit—a few; masan—months; suhrdam—for the sake of the relatives; priya-kamyaya—for the pleasure.

TRANSLATION

Lord Sri Krsna, the Personality of Godhead, being invited to the sacrifices by Maharaja Yudhisthira, saw to it that they were performed by qualified [twice-born] brahmanas. After that, for the pleasure of the relatives, the Lord remained a few months.

PURPORT

Lord Sri Krsna was invited by Maharaja Yudhisthira to look into the supervision of the performances of yajna, and the Lord, to abide by the orders of His elderly cousin, caused the performance of yajnas by learned twice-born brahmanas. Simply taking birth in the family of a brahmana does not make one qualified to perform yajnas. One must be twice-born by proper training and initiation from the bona fide acarya. The once-born scions of brahmana families are equal with the once-born sudras, and such brahma-bandhus, or unqualified once-born scions, must be rejected for any purpose of religious or Vedic function. Lord Sri Krsna was entrusted to look after this arrangement, and perfect as He is, He caused the yajnas to be performed by the bona fide twice-born brahmanas for successful execution.

SB1.12.36

TEXT 36

tato rajnabhyanujnatah

krsnaya saha-bandhubhih

yayau dvaravatim brahman

sarjuno yadubhir vrtah

SYNONYMS

tatah—thereafter; rajna—by the King; abhyanujnatah—being permitted; krsnaya—as well as by Draupadi; saha—along with; bandhubhih—other relatives; yayau—went to; dvaravatim—Dvarakadhama; brahman—O brahmanas; sa-arjunah—along with Arjuna; yadubhih—by the members of the Yadu dynasty; vrtah—surrounded.

TRANSLATION

O Saunaka, thereafter the Lord, having bade farewell to King Yudhisthira, Draupadi and other relatives, started for the city of Dvaraka, accompanied by Arjuna and other members of the Yadu dynasty.

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta purports of the First Canto, Twelfth Chapter, of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, entitled “Birth of Emperor Pariksit.”

Next chapter (SB 1.13)