BY: ROCANA DASA
Jan 17, CANADA (SUN) — Studying Srila Prabhupada's conversations with ISKCON leaders.
Today's Talks is inspired by Srila Prabhupada's lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.1.39, June 5, 1976, Los Angeles. You can listen to the audio or read the text here.
Unlike previous classes that I've commented on, this particular Bhagavatam class was chosen at random by someone. In studying it, I found it to be so relevant to our focus over the last few weeks here in the Sun. So many of the questions that are being asked and pondered upon in regards to the situation with Satsvarupa are capsulized in this particular verse, wherein the Yamadutas are asking Yamaraja about the whole process of punishing others.
A few days ago, since publishing my latest "Obeisances to Dandavats", I received a reply from Brahmatirtha dasa. He claims that I am not qualified to make some of the statements I made in that article, because I don't have "four arms". As such, I couldn't know what is in Satsvarupa's heart or head. Here in this verse, however, Srila Prabhupada explains exactly how one can ascertain what is the truth, without having four arms. In other words, by sastra, and sastra one is getting instruction from the great devotees on various subjects and difficult issues. One such difficult subject is what the Yamadutas are in a quandary about.
As a representative of the Sampradaya, Srila Prabhupada explains very expertly how one perceives these difficult situations through the formula of Guru, Sastra and Sadhu. But as we'll find out in this lecture, "guru" is not just a generic term. As Srila Prabhupada explains:
"Just like to study a subject matter, it takes some time, takes little endeavor to associate with person who knows the thing rightly. In this way we can understand God also. [ ] We have to learn everything through the spiritual master. You cannot understand directly. That is not possible. [ ] If you want to learn that transcendental science, you must go through the bona fide guru."
And a bonafide Spiritual Master, Srila Prabhupada says, is one who has actually seen God. The discussion at hand is focused on whether or not Satsvarupa is a bonafide spiritual master. Has he seen God? Considering all the evidence put before us, it seems more than apparent that he is not a bonafide guru.
In this lecture, Srila Prabhupada says we have evidence, and our evidence is the Vedas. The scientists and the materialists don’t even have this. They just have imagination. He compares their system to "imaginology". And while they say we have "mythology", our position is at least supported by sastra, whereas imaginology has no basis at all. Therefore it is simply the useless speculations of the materialists.
Really, what the GBC has done by forming a committee to handle Satsvarupa is that they've encouraged the leaders to just imagine so many things. What we don't hear about from them is what Srila Prabhupada explains here: dharma. He describes what dharma is: "And the duty ascertained for such occupation, that is dharma."
So each one of us has an occupational duty within society. A sannyasi obviously has a very defined job description or duty. It's a very clear what a sannyasi's occupational position in society is, and it's their duty to follow this occupation. They duty is to serve Krsna and the Spiritual Master.
Srila Prabhupada explains that dharma means a characteristic… that everything has a characteristic, and the ultimate characteristic is to serve. Everyone has a service attitude or propensity, but service means that the inferior must serve the superior. So in the case of Srila Prabhupada's disciples and the devotees in ISKCON -- especially sannyasis -- their duty is to serve Srila Prabhupada as the representative of the Sampradaya. And if one is not serving Srila Prabhupada, then they're not acting according to dharma.
So who can argue the fact that Srila Prabhupada was not being served under the circumstances created by Satsvarupa? He has obviously forgotten about Srila Prabhupada, forgotten about his service, and therefore is not in dharma. And because he wasn't serving Srila Prabhupada, he had to serve someone -- in this case, he had to serve a woman. Srila Prabhupada gives the classic example of serving a dog, because here in the west everyone has pets that they serve. If people don't get any reciprocation in a loving relationship with their family, their country, or some other human being, they will end up serving animals. This is a clear characteristic of the fallen conditioned soul.
It's very easy to see who someone is serving, and this indicates how close they are to dharma. If you're serving Lord Krsna under the direction of a pure devotee, which is really what the Krsna consciousness movement is all about, then you are rightly situated, and that is real dharma.
Srila Prabhupada gives the example that you have to be very careful to understand according to the instructions or the direction of a pure devotee. He tells the story of Bhismadeva, who had great affection for Krsna. Bhisma was challenged by Dhuryodhana, who said that you have so much affection for your favourite grandchild, Arjuna, therefore you're not fighting him properly and trying to kill him. So Bhisma said OK, I'll fight him and I'll kill him unless Krsna breaks his promise not to fight and saves His devotee. We know, of course, that Krsna did break his promise, and we're all familiar with the famous picture depicting this event on the battlefield of Kurukshetra.
Unless it's explained by someone like Srila Prabhupada, it's very difficult to understand why Krsna would break His promise, why Bhisma would shoot arrows at Krsna, and why Bhisma would fight so ferociously with his grandson who he loves so much.
It's also interesting that Srila Prabhupada gives the story of Gladstone, who was the Prime Minister under Queen Victoria. He tells the story so we can see how Krsna is always seeking pleasure. Even though Mother Yasoda is chastising Krsna, this is giving Him great pleasure, whereas normally anyone who's being chastised isn't enjoying it. But in Krsna's case, He enjoyed this activity, just as He enjoyed Bhismadeva shooting arrows at him.
Now Gladstone, as the story is told by Srila Prabhupada, made an important person wait a long time to see him. When that person became curious as to why he was kept waiting, he peaked in to see what was keeping Gladstone. The visitor saw that Gladstone was playing with his grandchildren, who were riding him like a horse. So Srila Prabhupada uses this humorous example to show that very important people - and especially God -- have these pastimes with the ones they love. Unless these pastimes are explained by pure devotees, they're easily misinterpreted, therefore it's so important that we hear from someone of Srila Prabhupada's qualifications. And that's really what it means to be a Spiritual Master - that you're able to give the proper explanation and perspective, not only of what Krsna's doing, or of what's explained in sastra, but also explaining what's going on in the lives of one's followers and disciples in a relevant and real way. This is the reason Srila Prabhupada made so much commentary on what was going on here in the west, with the heroes of the west - the scientists, politicians, and so on, showing us that they're all mudhas, fools and rascals.
So by using sastra, by hearing from Srila Prabhupada as we do in this Srimad-Bhagavatam lecture, it's very easy to understand situations such as Satsvarupa's. The most bewildering thing, ultimately, is not what Satsvarupa did, but how our authorities and leaders on the GBC -- those who are sannyasis and gurus -- cannot see through the eyes of sastra, and don't explain to us through the eyes of sastra. Ultimately, they don't act in the proper way.
So it doesn't take four hands in order for one to recognize such characteristics. There are symptoms, there is evidence, there are statements from the pure devotee, there's sastric evidence, and in the end you have your own common sense. This lecture, as with all of Srila Prabhupada's lectures, can answer all our questions.
