Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 2: “The Cosmic Manifestation”
by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Chapter Seven

Scheduled Incarnations with Specific Functions

SB2.7.1

TEXT 1

brahmovaca

yatrodyatah ksiti-taloddharanaya bibhrat

kraudim tanum sakala-yajna-mayim anantah

antar-maharnava upagatam adi-daityam

tam damstrayadrim iva vajra-dharo dadara

SYNONYMS

brahma uvaca—Lord Brahma said; yatra—at that time (when); udyatah—attempted; ksiti-tala—the planet earth; uddharanaya—for the matter of lifting; bibhrat—assumed; kraudim—pastimes; tanum—form; sakala—total; yajna-mayim—all-inclusive sacrifices; anantah—the Unlimited; antar—within the universe; maha-arnave—the great Garbha Ocean; upagatam—having arrived at; adi—the first; daityam—demon; tam—him; damstraya—by the tusk; adrim—the flying mountains; iva—like; vajra-dharah—the controller of the thunderbolts; dadara—pierced.

TRANSLATION

Lord Brahma said: When the unlimitedly powerful Lord assumed the form of a boar as a pastime, just to lift the planet earth, which was drowned in the great ocean of the universe called the Garbhodaka, the first demon [Hiranyaksa] appeared, and the Lord pierced him with His tusk.

PURPORT

Since the beginning of creation, the demons and the demigods, or the Vaisnavas, are always the two classes of living beings to dominate the planets of the universes. Lord Brahma is the first demigod, and Hiranyaksa is the first demon in this universe. Only under certain conditions do the planets float as weightless balls in the air, and as soon as these conditions are disturbed, the planets may fall down in the Garbhodaka Ocean, which covers half the universe. The other half is the spherical dome within which the innumerable planetary systems exist. The floating of the planets in the weightless air is due to the inner constitution of the globes, and the modernized drilling of the earth to exploit oil from within is a sort of disturbance by the modern demons and can result in a greatly harmful reaction to the floating condition of the earth. A similar disturbance was created formerly by the demons headed by Hiranyaksa (the great exploiter of the gold rush), and the earth was detached from its weightless condition and fell down into the Garbhodaka Ocean. The Lord, as maintainer of the whole creation of the material world, therefore assumed the gigantic form of a boar with a proportionate snout and picked up the earth from within the water of Garbhodaka. Sri Jayadeva Gosvami, the great Vaisnava poet, sang as follows:

vasati dasana-sikhare dharani tava lagna
sasini kalanka-kaleva nimagna
kesava dhrta-sukara-rupa
jaya jagadisa hare

“O Kesava! O Supreme Lord who have assumed the form of a boar! O Lord! The planet earth rested on Your tusks, and it appeared like the moon engraved with spots.”

Such is the symptom of an incarnation of the Lord. The incarnation of the Lord is not the concocted idea of fanciful men who create an incarnation out of imagination. The incarnation of the Lord appears under certain extraordinary circumstances like the above-mentioned occasion, and the incarnation performs a task which is not even imaginable by the tiny brain of mankind. The modern creators of the many cheap incarnations may take note of the factual incarnation of God as the gigantic boar with a suitable snout to carry the planet earth.

When the Lord appeared to pick up the earth, the demon of the name Hiranyaksa tried to create a disturbance in the methodical functions of the Lord, and therefore he was killed by being pierced by the Lord’s tusk. According to Srila Jiva Gosvami, the demon Hiranyaksa was killed by the hand of the Lord. Therefore his version is that after being killed by the hand of the Lord, the demon was pierced by the tusk. Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura confirms this version.

SB2.7.2

TEXT 2

jato rucer ajanayat suyaman suyajna

akuti-sunur amaran atha daksinayam

loka-trayasya mahatim aharad yad artim

svayambhuvena manuna harir ity anuktah

SYNONYMS

jatah—was born; ruceh—of the wife of Prajapati; ajanayat—gave birth; suyaman—headed by Suyama; suyajnah—Suyajna; akuti-sunuh—of the son of Akuti; amaran—the demigods; atha—thus; daksinayam—unto the wife of the name Daksina; loka—the planetary systems; trayasya—of the three; mahatim—very great; aharat—diminished; yat—all those; artim—distresses; svayambhuvena—by the Manu named Svayambhuva; manuna—by the father of mankind; harih—Hari; iti—thus; anuktah—named.

TRANSLATION

The Prajapati first begot Suyajna, in the womb of his wife Akuti, and then Suyajna begot demigods, headed by Suyama, in the womb of his wife Daksina. Suyajna, as the Indradeva, diminished very great miseries in the three planetary systems [upper, lower and intermediate], and because he so diminished the miseries of the universe, he was later called Hari by the great father of mankind, namely Svayambhuva Manu.

PURPORT

In order to guard against the invention of unauthorized incarnations of God by the fanciful, less intelligent persons, the name of the father of the bona fide incarnation is also mentioned in the authorized revealed scriptures. No one, therefore, can be accepted as an incarnation of the Lord if his father’s name, as well as the name of the village or place in which he appears, is not mentioned by the authorized scriptures. In the Bhagavata Purana the name of the Kalki incarnation, which is to take place in almost four hundred thousand years, is mentioned along with the name of His father and the name of the village in which He will appear. A sane man, therefore, does not accept any cheap edition of an incarnation without reference to the authorized scriptures.

SB2.7.3

TEXT 3

jajne ca kardama-grhe dvija devahutyam

stribhih samam navabhir atma-gatim sva-matre

uce yayatma-samalam guna-sanga-pankam

asmin vidhuya kapilasya gatim prapede

SYNONYMS

jajne—took birth; ca—also; kardama—the Prajapati named Kardama; grhe—in the house of; dvija—O brahmana; devahutyam—in the womb of Devahuti; stribhih—by women; samam—accompanied by; navabhih—by nine; atma-gatim—spiritual realization; sva-matre—unto His own mother; uce—uttered; yaya—by which; atma-samalam—coverings of the spirit soul; guna-sanga—associated with the modes of nature; pankam—mud; asmin—this very life; vidhuya—being washed off; kapilasya—of Lord Kapila; gatim—liberation; prapede—achieved.

TRANSLATION

The Lord then appeared as the Kapila incarnation, being the son of the prajapati brahmana Kardama and his wife, Devahuti, along with nine other women [sisters]. He spoke to His mother about self-realization, by which, in that very lifetime, she became fully cleansed of the mud of the material modes and thereby achieved liberation, the path of Kapila.

PURPORT

The instructions of Lord Kapila to His mother Devahuti are fully described in the Third Canto (Chapters 25–32) of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, and anyone who follows the instructions can achieve the same liberation obtained by Devahuti. The Lord spoke Bhagavad-gita, and thereby Arjuna achieved self-realization, and even today anyone who follows the path of Arjuna can also attain the same benefit as Sri Arjuna. The scriptures are meant for this purpose. Foolish, unintelligent persons make their own interpretations by imagination and thus mislead their followers, causing them to remain in the dungeon of material existence. However, simply by following the instructions imparted by Lord Krsna or Lord Kapila, one can obtain the highest benefit, even today.

The word atma-gatim is significant in the sense of perfect knowledge of the Supreme. One should not be satisfied simply by knowing the qualitative equality of the Lord and the living being. One should know the Lord as much as can be known by our limited knowledge. It is impossible for the Lord to be known perfectly as He is, even by such liberated persons as Siva or Brahma, so what to speak of other demigods or men in this world. Still, by following the principles of the great devotees and the instructions available in the scriptures, one can know to a considerable extent the features of the Lord. His Lordship Kapila, the incarnation of the Lord, instructed His mother fully about the personal form of the Lord, and thereby she realized the personal form of the Lord and was able to achieve a place in the Vaikunthaloka where, Lord Kapila predominates. Every incarnation of the Lord has His own abode in the spiritual sky. Therefore Lord Kapila also has His separate Vaikuntha planet. The spiritual sky is not void. There are innumerable Vaikuntha planets, and in each of them the Lord, by His innumerable expansions, predominates, and the pure devotees who are there also live in the same style as the Lord and His eternal associates.

When the Lord descends personally or by His personal plenary expansions, such incarnations are called amsa, kala, guna, yuga and manvantara incarnations, and when the Lord’s associates descend by the order of the Lord, such incarnations are called saktyavesa incarnations. But in all cases all the incarnations are supported by the invulnerable statements of the authorized scriptures, and not by any imagination of some self-interested propagandist. Such incarnations of the Lord, in either of the above categories, always declare the Supreme Personality of Godhead to be the ultimate truth. The impersonal conception of the supreme truth is just a process of negation of the form of the Lord from the mundane conception of the supreme truth.

The living entities, by their very constitution, are spiritually as good as the Lord, and the only difference between them is that the Lord is always supreme and pure, without contamination by the modes of material nature, whereas the living entities are apt to be contaminated by association with the material modes of goodness, passion and ignorance. This contamination by the material modes can be washed off completely by knowledge, renunciation and devotional service. Devotional service to the Lord is the ultimate issue, and therefore those who are directly engaged in the devotional service of the Lord not only acquire the necessary knowledge in spiritual science, but also attain detachment from material connection and are thus promoted to the kingdom of God by complete liberation, as stated in the Bhagavad-gita (14.26):

mam ca yo ’vyabhicarena
bhakti-yogena sevate
sa gunan samatityaitan
brahma-bhuyaya kalpate

Even in the nonliberated stage, a living entity can be directly engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Personality of Godhead Lord Krsna or His plenary expansions like Rama and Narasimha. Thus, with the proportionate improvement of such transcendental devotional service, the devotee makes definite progress toward brahma-gatim or atma-gatim, and ultimately attains kapilasya gatim, or the abode of the Lord, without difficulty. The antiseptic potency of devotional service to the Lord is so great that it can neutralize the material infection even in the present life of a devotee. A devotee does not need to wait for his next birth for complete liberation.

SB2.7.4

TEXT 4

atrer apatyam abhikanksata aha tusto

datto mayaham iti yad bhagavan sa dattah

yat-pada-pankaja-paraga-pavitra-deha

yogarddhim apur ubhayim yadu-haihayadyah

SYNONYMS

atreh—of the sage Atri; apatyam—issue; abhikanksatah—having prayed for; aha—said it; tustah—being satisfied; dattah—given over; maya—by me; aham—myself; iti—thus; yat—because; bhagavan—the Personality of Godhead; sah—He; dattah—Dattatreya; yat-pada—one whose feet; pankaja—lotus; paraga—dust; pavitra—purified; dehah—body; yoga—mystic; rddhim—opulence; apuh—got; ubhayim—for both the worlds; yadu—the father of the Yadu dynasty; haihaya-adyah—and others, like King Haihaya.

TRANSLATION

The great sage Atri prayed for offspring, and the Lord, being satisfied with him, promised to incarnate as Atri’s son, Dattatreya [Datta, the son of Atri]. And by the grace of the lotus feet of the Lord, many Yadus, Haihayas, etc., became so purified that they obtained both material and spiritual blessings.

PURPORT

Transcendental relations between the Personality of Godhead and the living entities are eternally established in five different affectionate humors, which are known as santa, dasya, sakhya, vatsalya and madhurya. The sage Atri was related with the Lord in the affectionate vatsalya humor, and therefore, as a result of his devotional perfection, he was inclined to have the Personality of Godhead as his son. The Lord accepted his prayer, and He gave Himself as the son of Atri. Such a relation of sonhood between the Lord and His pure devotees can be cited in many instances. And because the Lord is unlimited, He has an unlimited number of father-devotees. Factually the Lord is the father of all living entities, but out of transcendental affection and love between the Lord and His devotees, the Lord takes more pleasure in becoming the son of a devotee than in becoming one’s father. The father actually serves the son, whereas the son only demands all sorts of services from the father; therefore a pure devotee who is always inclined to serve the Lord wants Him as the son, and not as the father. The Lord also accepts such service from the devotee, and thus the devotee becomes more than the Lord. The impersonalists desire to become one with the Supreme, but the devotee becomes more than the Lord, surpassing the desire of the greatest monist. Parents and other relatives of the Lord achieve all mystic opulences automatically because of their intimate relationship with the Lord. Such opulences include all details of material enjoyment, salvation and mystic powers. Therefore, the devotee of the Lord does not seek them separately, wasting his valuable time in life. The valuable time of one’s life must therefore be fully engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. Then other desirable achievements are automatically gained. But even after obtaining such achievements, one should be on guard against the pitfall of offenses at the feet of the devotees. The vivid example is Haihaya, who achieved all such perfection in devotional service but, because of his offense at the feet of a devotee, was killed by Lord Parasurama. The Lord became the son of the great sage Atri and became known as Dattatreya.

SB2.7.5

TEXT 5

taptam tapo vividha-loka-sisrksaya me

adau sanat sva-tapasah sa catuh-sano ’bhut

prak-kalpa-samplava-vinastam ihatma-tattvam

samyag jagada munayo yad acaksatatman

SYNONYMS

taptam—having undergone austerities; tapah—penance; vividha-loka—different planetary systems; sisrksaya—desiring to create; me—of mine; adau—at first; sanat—from the Personality of Godhead; sva-tapasah—by dint of my own penances; sah—He (the Lord); catuh-sanah—the four bachelors named Sanat-kumara, Sanaka, Sanandana and Sanatana; abhut—appeared; prak—previous; kalpa—creation; samplava—in the inundation; vinastam—devastated; iha—in this material world; atma—the spirit; tattvam—truth; samyak—in complete; jagada—became manifested; munayah—sages; yat—that which; acaksata—saw clearly; atman—the spirit.

TRANSLATION

To create different planetary systems I had to undergo austerities and penance, and the Lord, thus being pleased with me, incarnated in four sanas [Sanaka, Sanat-kumara, Sanandana and Sanatana]. In the previous creation the spiritual truth was devastated, but the four sanas explained it so nicely that the truth at once became clearly perceived by the sages.

PURPORT

The Visnu-sahasra-nama prayers mention the Lord’s name as sanat and sanatanatama. The Lord and the living entities are both qualitatively sanatana, or eternal, but the Lord is sanatana-tama or the eternal in the superlative degree. The living entities are positively sanatana, but not superlatively, because the living entities are apt to fall to the atmosphere of noneternity. Therefore, the living entities are quantitatively different from the superlative sanatana, the Lord.

The word san is also used in the sense of charity; therefore when everything is given up in charity unto the Lord, the Lord reciprocates by giving Himself unto the devotee. This is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita (4.11): ye yatha mam prapadyante. Brahmaji wanted to create the whole cosmic situation as it was in the previous millennium, and because, in the last devastation, knowledge of the Absolute Truth was altogether erased from the universe, he desired that the same knowledge again be renovated; otherwise there would be no meaning in the creation. Because transcendental knowledge is a prime necessity, the ever-conditioned souls are given a chance for liberation in every millennium of creation. This mission of Brahmaji was fulfilled by the grace of the Lord when the four sanas, namely Sanaka, Sanat-kumara, Sanandana and Sanatana, appeared as his four sons. These four sanas were incarnations of the knowledge of the Supreme Lord, and as such they explained transcendental knowledge so explicitly that all the sages could at once assimilate this knowledge without the least difficulty. By following in the footsteps of the four Kumaras, one can at once see the Supreme Personality of Godhead within oneself.

SB2.7.6

TEXT 6

dharmasya daksa-duhitary ajanista murtyam

narayano nara iti sva-tapah-prabhavah

drstvatmano bhagavato niyamavalopam

devyas tv ananga-prtana ghatitum na sekuh

SYNONYMS

dharmasya—of Dharma (the controller of religious principles); daksa—Daksa, one of the Prajapatis; duhitari—unto the daughter; ajanista—took birth; murtyam—of the name Murti; narayanah—Narayana; narah—Nara; iti—thus; sva-tapah—personal penances; prabhavah—strength; drstva—by seeing; atmanah—of His own; bhagavatah—of the Personality of Godhead; niyama-avalopam—breaking the vow; devyah—celestial beauties; tu—but; ananga-prtanah—companion of Cupid; ghatitum—to happen; na—never; sekuh—made possible.

TRANSLATION

To exhibit His personal way of austerity and penance, He appeared in twin forms as Narayana and Nara in the womb of Murti, the wife of Dharma and the daughter of Daksa. Celestial beauties, the companions of Cupid, went to try to break His vows, but they were unsuccessful, for they saw that many beauties like them were emanating from Him, the Personality of Godhead.

PURPORT

The Lord, being the source of everything that be, is the origin of all austerities and penances also. Great vows of austerity are undertaken by sages to achieve success in self-realization. Human life is meant for such tapasya, with the great vow of celibacy, or brahmacarya. In the rigid life of tapasya, there is no place for the association of women. And because human life is meant for tapasya, for self-realization, factual human civilization, as conceived by the system of sanatana-dharma or the school of four castes and four orders of life, prescribes rigid dissociation from woman in three stages of life. In the order of gradual cultural development, one’s life may be divided into four divisions: celibacy, household life, retirement, and renunciation. During the first stage of life, up to twenty-five years of age, a man may be trained as a brahmacari under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master just to understand that woman is the real binding force in material existence. If one wants to get freedom from the material bondage of conditional life, he must get free from the attraction for the form of woman. Woman, or the fair sex, is the enchanting principle for the living entities, and the male form, especially in the human being, is meant for self-realization. The whole world is moving under the spell of womanly attraction, and as soon as a man becomes united with a woman, he at once becomes a victim of material bondage under a tight knot. The desires for lording it over the material world, under the intoxication of a false sense of lordship, specifically begin just after the man’s unification with a woman. The desires for acquiring a house, possessing land, having children and becoming prominent in society, the affection for community and the place of birth, and the hankering for wealth, which are all like phantasmagoria or illusory dreams, encumber a human being, and he is thus impeded in his progress toward self-realization, the real aim of life. The brahmacari, or a boy from the age of five years, especially from the higher castes, namely from the scholarly parents (the brahmanas), the administrative parents (the ksatriyas), or the mercantile or productive parents (the vaisyas), is trained until twenty-five years of age under the care of a bona fide guru or teacher, and under strict observance of discipline he comes to understand the values of life along with taking specific training for a livelihood. The brahmacari is then allowed to go home and enter householder life and get married to a suitable woman. But there are many brahmacaris who do not go home to become householders but continue the life of naisthika-brahmacaris, without any connection with women. They accept the order of sannyasa, or the renounced order of life, knowing well that combination with women is an unnecessary burden that checks self-realization. Since sex desire is very strong at a certain stage of life, the guru may allow the brahmacari to marry; this license is given to a brahmacari who is unable to continue the way of naisthika-brahmacarya, and such discriminations are possible for the bona fide guru. A program of so-called family planning is needed. The householder who associates with woman under scriptural restrictions, after a thorough training of brahmacarya, cannot be a householder like cats and dogs. Such a householder, after fifty years of age, would retire from the association of woman as a vanaprastha to be trained to live alone without the association of woman. When the practice is complete, the same retired householder becomes a sannyasi, strictly separate from woman, even from his married wife. Studying the whole scheme of disassociation from women, it appears that a woman is a stumbling block for self-realization, and the Lord appeared as Narayana to teach the principle of womanly disassociation with a vow in life. The demigods, being envious of the austere life of the rigid brahmacaris, would try to cause them to break their vows by dispatching soldiers of Cupid. But in the case of the Lord, it became an unsuccessful attempt when the celestial beauties saw that the Lord can produce innumerable such beauties by His mystic internal potency and that there was consequently no need to be attracted by others externally. There is a common proverb that a confectioner is never attracted by sweetmeats. The confectioner, who is always manufacturing sweetmeats, has very little desire to eat them; similarly, the Lord, by His pleasure potential powers, can produce innumerable spiritual beauties and not be the least attracted by the false beauties of material creation. One who does not know alleges foolishly that Lord Krsna enjoyed women in His rasa-lila in Vrndavana, or with His sixteen thousand married wives at Dvaraka.

SB2.7.7

TEXT 7

kamam dahanti krtino nanu rosa-drstya

rosam dahantam uta te na dahanty asahyam

so ’yam yad antaram alam pravisan bibheti

kamah katham nu punar asya manah srayeta

SYNONYMS

kamam—lust; dahanti—chastise; krtinah—great stalwarts; nanu—but; rosa-drstya—by wrathful glance; rosam—wrath; dahantam—being overwhelmed; uta—although; te—they; na—cannot; dahanti—subjugate; asahyam—intolerable; sah—that; ayam—Him; yat—because; antaram—within; alam—however; pravisan—entering; bibheti—is afraid of; kamah—lust; katham—how; nu—as a matter of fact; punah—again; asya—His; manah—mind; srayeta—take shelter of.

TRANSLATION

Great stalwarts like Lord Siva can, by their wrathful glances, overcome lust and vanquish him, yet they cannot be free from the overwhelming effects of their own wrath. Such wrath can never enter into the heart of Him [the Lord], who is above all this. So how can lust take shelter in His mind?

PURPORT

When Lord Siva was engaged in severely austere meditation, Cupid, the demigod of lust, threw his arrow of sex desire. Lord Siva, thus being angry at him, glanced at Cupid in great wrath, and at once the body of Cupid was annihilated. Although Lord Siva was so powerful, he was unable to get free from the effects of such wrath. But in the behavior of Lord Visnu there is no incident of such wrath at any time. On the contrary, Bhrgu Muni tested the tolerance of the Lord by purposely kicking His chest, but instead of being angry at Bhrgu Muni the Lord begged his pardon, saying that Bhrgu Muni’s leg might have been badly hurt because His chest is too hard. The Lord has the sign of the foot of bhrgupada as the mark of tolerance. The Lord, therefore, is never affected by any kind of wrath, so how can there be any place for lust, which is less strong than wrath? When lust or desire is not fulfilled, there is the appearance of wrath, but in the absence of wrath how can there be any place for lust? The Lord is known as apta-kama, or one who can fulfill His desires by Himself. He does not require anyone’s help to satisfy His desires. The Lord is unlimited, and therefore His desires are also unlimited. All living entities but the Lord are limited in every respect; how then can the limited satisfy the desires of the unlimited? The conclusion is that the Absolute Personality of Godhead has neither lust nor anger, and even if there is sometimes a show of lust and anger by the Absolute, it should be considered an absolute benediction.

SB2.7.8

TEXT 8

viddhah sapatny-udita-patribhir anti rajno

balo ’pi sann upagatas tapase vanani

tasma adad dhruva-gatim grnate prasanno

divyah stuvanti munayo yad upary-adhastat

SYNONYMS

viddhah—pinched by; sapatni—a co-wife; udita—uttered by; patribhih—by sharp words; anti—just before; rajnah—of the king; balah—a boy; api—although; san—being so; upagatah—took to; tapase—severe penances; vanani—in a great forest; tasmai—therefore; adat—gave as a reward; dhruva-gatim—a path to the Dhruva planet; grnate—on being prayed for; prasannah—being satisfied; divyah—denizens of higher planets; stuvanti—do pray; munayah—great sages; yat—thereupon; upari—up; adhastat—down.

TRANSLATION

Being insulted by sharp words spoken by the co-wife of the king, even in his presence, Prince Dhruva, though only a boy, took to severe penances in the forest. And the Lord, being satisfied by his prayer, awarded him the Dhruva planet, which is worshiped by great sages, both upward and downward.

PURPORT

When he was only five years old, Prince Dhruva, a great devotee and the son of Maharaja Uttanapada, was sitting on the lap of his father. His stepmother did not like the King’s patting her stepson, so she dragged him out, saying that he could not claim to sit on the lap of the King because he was not born out of her womb. The little boy felt insulted by this act of his stepmother. Nor did his father make any protest, for he was too attached to his second wife. After this incident, Prince Dhruva went to his own mother and complained. His real mother also could not take any step against this insulting behavior, and so she wept. The boy inquired from his mother how he could sit on the royal throne of his father, and the poor queen replied that only the Lord could help him. The boy inquired where the Lord could be seen, and the queen replied that it is said that the Lord is sometimes seen by great sages in the dense forest. The child prince decided to go into the forest to perform severe penances in order to achieve his objective.

Prince Dhruva performed a stringent type of penance under the instruction of his spiritual master, Sri Narada Muni, who was specifically deputed for this purpose by the Personality of Godhead. Prince Dhruva was initiated by Narada into chanting the hymn composed of eighteen letters, namely om namo bhagavate vasudevaya, and Lord Vasudeva incarnated Himself as Prsnigarbha, the Personality of Godhead with four hands, and awarded the prince a specific planet above the seven stars. Prince Dhruva, after achieving success in his undertakings, saw the Lord face to face, and he was satisfied that all his needs were fulfilled.

The planet awarded to Prince Dhruva Maharaja is a fixed Vaikuntha planet, installed in the material atmosphere by the will of the Supreme Lord, Vasudeva. This planet, although within the material world, will not be annihilated at the time of devastation, but will remain fixed in its place. And because it is a Vaikuntha planet never to be annihilated, it is worshiped even by the denizens of the seven stars situated below the Dhruva planet, as well as by the planets which are even above the Dhruva planet. Maharsi Bhrgu’s planet is situated above the Dhruva planet.

So the Lord incarnated Himself as Prsnigarbha just to satisfy a pure devotee of the Lord. And Prince Dhruva achieved this perfection simply by chanting the hymn mentioned above, after being initiated by another pure devotee, Narada. A serious personality can thus achieve the highest perfection of meeting the Lord and attain his objective simply by being guided by a pure devotee, who automatically approaches by dint of one’s serious determination to meet the Lord by all means.

The description of Prince Dhruva’s activities can be read in detail in the Fourth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam.

SB2.7.9

TEXT 9

yad venam utpatha-gatam dvija-vakya-vajra-

nisplusta-paurusa-bhagam niraye patantam

tratvarthito jagati putra-padam ca lebhe

dugdha vasuni vasudha sakalani yena

SYNONYMS

yat—when; venam—unto King Vena; utpatha-gatam—going astray from the righteous path; dvija—of the brahmanas; vakya—words of cursing; vajra—thunderbolt; nisplusta—being burnt by; paurusa—great deeds; bhagam—opulence; niraye—into hell; patantam—going down; tratva—by delivering; arthitah—so being prayed for; jagati—on the world; putra-padam—the position of the son; ca—as well as; lebhe—achieved; dugdha—exploited; vasuni—produce; vasudha—the earth; sakalani—all kinds of; yena—by whom.

TRANSLATION

Maharaja Vena went astray from the path of righteousness, and the brahmanas chastised him by the thunderbolt curse. By this King Vena was burnt with his good deeds and opulence and was en route to hell. The Lord, by His causeless mercy, descended as his son, by the name of Prthu, delivered the condemned King Vena from hell, and exploited the earth by drawing all kinds of crops as produce.

PURPORT

According to the system of varnasrama-dharma, the pious and learned brahmanas were the natural guardians of society. The brahmanas, by their learned labor of love, would instruct the administrator-kings how to rule the country in complete righteousness, and thus the process would go on as a perfect welfare state. The kings or the ksatriya administrators would always consult the council of learned brahmanas. They were never autocratic monarchs. The scriptures like Manu-samhita and other authorized books of the great sages were guiding principles for ruling the subjects, and there was no need for less intelligent persons to manufacture a code of law in the name of democracy. The less intelligent mass of people have very little knowledge of their own welfare, as a child has very little knowledge of its future well-being. The experienced father guides the innocent child towards the path of progress, and the childlike mass of people need similar guidance. The standard welfare codes are already there in the Manu-samhita and other Vedic literatures. The learned brahmanas would advise the king in terms of those standard books of knowledge and with reference to the particular situation of time and place. Such brahmanas were not paid servants of the king, and therefore they had the strength to dictate to the king on the principles of scriptures. This system continued even up to the time of Maharaja Candragupta, and the brahmana Canakya was his unpaid prime minister.

Maharaja Vena did not adhere to this principle of ruling, and he disobeyed the learned brahmanas. The broad-minded brahmanas were not self-interested, but looked to the interest of complete welfare for all the subjects. They wanted to chastise King Vena for his misconduct and so prayed to the Almighty Lord as well as cursed the king.

Long life, obedience, good reputation, righteousness, prospects of being promoted to higher planets, and blessings of great personalities are all vanquished simply by disobedience to a great soul. One should strictly try to follow in the footsteps of great souls. Maharaja Vena became a king, undoubtedly due to his past deeds of righteousness, but because he willfully neglected the great souls, he was punished by the loss of all the above-mentioned acquisitions. In the Vamana Purana the history of Maharaja Vena and his degradation are fully described. When Maharaja Prthu heard about the hellish condition of his father, Vena, who was suffering from leprosy in the family of a mleccha, he at once brought the former king to Kuruksetra for his purification and relieved him of all sufferings.

Maharaja Prthu, the incarnation of God, descended by the prayer of the brahmanas to rectify the disorders on earth. He produced all kinds of crops. But, at the same time, he performed the duty of a son who delivers his father from hellish conditions. The word putra means one who delivers from hell, called put. That is a worthy son.

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