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EDITORIAL March 14, 2000 VNN5680 Comment on this story Could You Imagine If...? BY MAHAVEGAVATI DASI EDITORIAL, Mar 14 (VNN) — Dear Assembled Vaisnavas, Hare Krsna. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. Please accept my fallen obeisances. I would like to submit the following from the Srimad Bhagavatam in Chapter 19 for the consideration of the assembled Vaisnavas: Verse 1
Sri Suta Goswami said: While returning home, the King [Maharaj Pariksit] felt that the act he had committed against the faultless and powerful brahmana was heinous and uncivilized. Consequently he was distressed. >From Srila Prabhupada's purport: The pious King regretted his accidental improper treatment of the powerful brahmana, who was faultless. Such repentance is natural for a good man like the King, and such repentance delivers a devotee from all kinds of sins accidentally committed. The devotees are naturally faultless. Accidental sins committed by a devotee are sincerely regretted, and by the grace of the Lord all sins unwillingly committed by a devotee are burnt in the fire of repentance. Verse 2 King Pariksit thought: Due to my neglecting the injunctions of the Supreme Lord I must certainly expect some difficulty to overcome me in the near future. I now desire without reservation that the calamity come now, for in this way I may be freed of the sinful action and not commit such an offense again. Purport The Supreme Lord enjoins that br?hma?as and cows must be given all protection. The Lord is Himself very much inclined to do good to brahmanas and cows (go-brahmana-hitaya ca). Maharaj Pariksit knew all this, and thus he concluded that his insulting a powerful brahmana was certainly to be punished by the laws of the Lord, and he was expecting something very difficult in the very near future. He therefore desired the imminent calamity to fall on him and not on his family members. A man?s personal misconduct affects all his family members. Therefore Maharaj Pariksit desired the calamity to fall on him alone. By suffering personally he would be restrained from future sins, and at the same time the sin which he had committed would be counteracted so that his descendants would not suffer. That is the way a responsible devotee thinks. The family members of a devotee also share the effects of a devotee?s service unto the Lord. Maharaj Prahlad saved his demon father by his personal devotional service. A devotee son in the family is the greatest boon or blessing of the Lord. Verse 3 I am uncivilized and sinful due to my neglect of brahminical culture, God consciousness and cow protection. Therefore I wish that my kingdom, strength and riches burn up immediately by the fire of the br?hma?a?s wrath so that in the future I may not be guided by such inauspicious attitudes. Purport Progressive human civilization is based on brahminical culture, God consciousness and protection of cows... Maharaj Pariksit lamented the accidental incident, and he desired that all his kingdom, strength and accumulation of wealth would be burned up for not being engaged in brahminical culture, etc. Where wealth and strength are not engaged in the advancement of brahminical culture, God consciousness and cow protection, the state and home are surely doomed by Providence. If we want peace and prosperity in the world, we should take lessons from this verse; every state and every home must endeavor to advance the cause of brahminical culture for self-purification, God consciousness for self-realization and cow protection for getting sufficient milk and the best food to continue a perfect civilization. Verse 4 While the King was thus repenting, he received news of his imminent death, which would be due to the bite of a snake-bird, occasioned by the curse spoken by the sage?s son. The King accepted this as good news, for it would be the cause of his indifference toward worldly things. PURPORT Real happiness is achieved by spiritual existence or by cessation of the repetition of birth and death. One can stop the repetition of birth and death only by going back to Godhead. In the material world, even by attaining the topmost planet (Brahmaloka), one cannot get rid of the conditions of repeated birth and death, but still we do not accept the path of attaining perfection. The path of perfection frees one from all material attachments, and thus one becomes fit to enter into the spiritual kingdom. Therefore, those who are materially poverty-stricken are better candidates than those who are materially prosperous...The life of a human being is a chance to prepare oneself to go back to Godhead, or to get rid of the material existence, the repetition of birth and death. Thus in the system of varnasrama-dharma every man and woman is trained for this purpose. In other words, the system of varnasrama-dharma is known also as sanatana-dharma, or the eternal occupation... Maharaj Pariksit was fortunate to get a seven-day notice to meet his inevitable death. But for the common man there is no definite notice, although death is inevitable for all. Foolish men forget this sure fact of death and neglect the duty of preparing themselves for going back to Godhead. They spoil their lives in animal propensities to eat, drink, be merry and enjoy. Such an irresponsible life is adopted by the people in the age of Kali because of a sinful desire to condemn brahminical culture, God consciousness and cow protection, for which the state is responsible. The state must employ revenue to advance these three items and thus educate the populace to prepare for death. The state which does so is the real welfare state... Just see the consciousness of such a great devotee king and leader like Maharaj Pariksit. Taking to heart what he considered to be an offense on his part, one see how he reflects on his actions and feels such a sence of regret, to the point that he desires and welcomes a reaction, even desiring that that reaction come to him immediately. Could you imagine if our GBC men had such a consciousness within their hearts. WHAT A WONEDRFUL ISKCON WE WOULD HAVE! A little more from Srimad Bhagavatam: 6.2.5,6 People in general are not very advanced in knowledge by which to discriminate between religion and irreligion. The innocent, unenlightened citizen is like an ignorant animal sleeping in peace with its head on the lap of its master, faithfully believing in the master?s protection. If a leader is actually kindhearted and deserves to be the object of a living entity?s faith, how can he punish or kill a foolish person who has fully surrendered in good faith and friendship? Srila Prabhupada's purport The Sanskrit word visvasta-ghata refers to one who breaks faith or causes a breach of trust. The mass of people should always feel security because of the government?s protection. Therefore, how regrettable it is for the government itself to cause a breach of trust and put the citizens in difficulty for political reasons. We actually saw during the partition days in India that although Hindus and Muslims were living together peacefully, manipulation by politicians suddenly aroused feelings of hatred between them, and thus the Hindus and Muslims killed one another over politics. This is a sign of Kali-yuga. In this age, animals are kept nicely sheltered, completely confident that their masters will protect them, but unfortunately as soon as the animals are fat, they are immediately sent for slaughter. Such cruelty is condemned by Vaisnavas like the Visnudutas. Indeed, the hellish conditions already described await the sinful men responsible for such suffering. One who betrays the confidence of a living entity who takes shelter of him in good faith, whether that living entity be a human being or an animal, is extremely sinful. Because such betrayals now go unpunished by the government, all of human society is terribly contaminated. The people of this age are therefore described as mandah sumanda-matayo manda-bhagya hy upadrutah. As a consequence of such sinfulness, men are condemned (mandah), their intelligence is unclear (sumanda-matayah), they are unfortunate (manda-bhagyah), and therefore they are always disturbed by many problems (upadrutah). This is their situation in this life, and after death they are punished in hellish conditions. Here is a little something more from a lecture from His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada on Srimad Bhagavatam 1.13.15 in Geneva on June 4, 1974: "So Vidura was Yamaraja. Not only he was Yamaraja, but he is one of the great authorities. There are twelve authorities mentioned in the sastra. One of them is Yamaraja. Balir vaiyasakir vayam. This is stated in the Srimad-Bhagavatam. Yamaraja is one of the GBC of Krsna. Yes. As we have got twelve GBC's, similarly Krsna has got GBC's... That twelve men are authorized to preach Krsna consciousness. So we have to follow. Mahajano yena gata sa panthau. Therefore we have created these GBC. So they should be very responsible men. Otherwise, they will be punished. They will be punished to become a sudra. Although Yamaraja is a GBC, but he made a little mistake. He was punished to become a sudra. So those who are GBC's, they should be very, very careful to administer the business of ISKCON. Otherwise they will be punished. As the post is very great, similarly, the punishment is also very great. That is the difficulty. You can see from this example, Vidura. He was immediately punished. He did little mistake..." Submitted for the consideration of the assembled Vaisnavas. I remain your servant, Mahavegavati Dasi Hare Krsna About the Author  Other Stories by this AuthorComment on this story Contact VNN about this storySend this story to a friend
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