Service to the wise
I have started making videos in French. The devotional community here in Quebec is very small and very fragmented. Furthermore, I am treated by everyone with great suspicion. Madhuri has a generally poor opinion of most of them, in no small part because their suspicion of me spills over to them. But I am of the opinion that my first responsibility is serving the devotees, which is why I chose today's title. I have been experimenting as my French is not all that great. But still, it seems that it would be better to try this first.
Anyway. I am feeling a bit isolated and in need of bhakta-sanga, otherwise my spiritual life is going to deteriorate. This is of course the test. Many people said to me that Vrindavan is everywhere and so on, but I always opposed them because though they are right, I know they are wrong. The solution is only in sādhu-sanga.
Facebook memories, July13.
2015
[A reaction to this video of Aindra Das, ISKCON's legendary kirtaniya in Vrindavan, who died in 2010.]
He is so American! Straight off the ranch. I remember when I first came to Mayapur and saw Bhavananda and Jayapataka in their sannyasi clothes, they reminded me of those heroic figures in Russian communist art, pioneers in a strange land. Cowboys. He reminds me a bit of George Carlin.
2017
The importance of service to the wise is indirectly expressed by recognition of the deficiency of those who fail to do so, as in this statement of Śrī Kṛṣṇa to the sages:
Commentary by Satyanarayana Dasa (Bhakti Sandarbha Anuccheda 245):
In the previous Anuccheda Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī explained the result of service to a great devotee of Bhagavān. In the present he explains the same by negation, vyatireka: A person who does not execute service to a great devotee is no better than an animal.
According to the prime verse of this Anuccheda, such people have four objects of identification—the body, relatives, earthen images of gods, and sacred water. It also describes four corresponding life attitudes: ātma-buddhiḥ, the sense of self; sva-dhīḥ, the sense of kinship or relatedness; ijya-dhīḥ, the sense of divinity; and finally, tīrtha-buddhiḥ, the sense of the sacred. These four attitudes become limitations when chained to the objects with which one identifies. The verse describes a person whose sense of self is limited to the body, whose sense of kinship is limited to his relatives, whose sense of the divine is limited to earthen images, and whose sense of the sacred is limited to a physical locality. Such a person does not give respect to devotees. He is therefore called a gokhara.
The compound word go-khara is made from the nouns go and khara. Go means a cow and khara means a donkey. Thus gokhara could mean a worse type of animal, such as a special type of donkey found in Afghanistan. Or it refers to a specific clan of mlecchas, outcastes. The indeclinable eva “only” in this verse signifies that such people really deserve the name go-khara and not any other creature. This is intended as a very strong criticism of such people.
Pran Gopal Goswami’s comment on the same verse:
ব্যতিরেকমুখে অর্থাৎ মহাভাগবতের সেবা না করিলে যে মহান্ দোষ ঘটে, তাহাই ১০.৮৪ অধ্যায়ে শ্রীভগবান্ কুরুক্ষেত্রে মিলিত মুনিবৃন্দের নিকট বলিয়াছিলেন—
হে মুনিবৃন্দ ! যে দেহ জড় বা অচেতন বলিয়া কূণপ অর্থাৎ স্বয়ং মৃততুল্য, যদ্যপি এই দেহে চৈতন্যের সংযোগ আছে, তথাপি বাত-পিত্ত-কফ—
এই তিন দোষে দূষিত এবম্ভূত শরীরে যে জন আত্মবুদ্ধি করিতে পারিয়াছে, যাহার স্ত্রী-পুত্র প্রভৃতিতে নিজজন বুদ্ধি আছে, ভূমিবিকার মৃণ্ময় সাধারণ দেবতা-প্রতিমাদিতে আরাধ্যবুদ্ধি পোষণ করে, সাধারণ জলাদিতে তীর্থ বুদ্ধি করে, কিন্তু কখনও ভগবত্তত্ত্ৱবিজ্ঞ ভক্তজনে সেই প্রকার পরমপ্রীত্যাস্পদবুদ্ধি কিংবা নিজজনতাবুদ্ধি অথবা পূজ্যবুদ্ধি কিংবা তীর্থবুদ্ধি করে না, অর্থাৎ ভগবদ্ভক্তই প্রীতি করিবার উপযুক্ত পাত্র, ভগবদ্ভক্তের মত আত্যন্তিক হিতকারী নিজ জন আর কেহই নাই, ভগবদ্ভক্তের মত পূজ্য শ্রীভগবানও নহেন, ভগবদ্ভক্তের মত পবিত্র করিতে অন্য কোনও তীর্থই সমর্থ নহে – এই প্রকার বুদ্ধি যে মানবের হৃদয় নাই, সেই মানবই গোখর অর্থাৎ গো-জাতির মধ্যে নিকৃষ্ট বলিয়া কথিত হয় কিংবা সিন্ধু সৌবীরদেশে প্রসিদ্ধ বন্য গর্দ্দভ জাতি বিশেষ অথবা ম্লেচ্ছজাতিবিশেষ.
2011
Vishwanath Chakravarti is the one who interprets this as Shyamala's own statement referring to herself in the third person. Vishnudas sees this verse as Vrinda Devi speaking to Lalita. Both envision this taking place in the midst of a debate among the Braj gopis about the relative merits of the yūtheśvarīs.
2015
Love is the fulfilment of consciousness.
सङ्गो यः संसृतेर्हेतुरसत्सु विहितोऽधिया ।
स एव साधुषु कृतो निःसङ्गत्वाय कल्पते ॥
saṅgo yaḥ saṁsṛter hetur asatsu vihito'dhiyā |
sa eva sādhuṣu kṛto niḥsaṅgatvāya kalpate ||
When one, out of a lack of awareness, associates with those gripped in a dream-like existence, that association becomes the cause of material bondage. Yet the very same association, when taken up with the wise, offers release from bondage. (SB 3.23.55)
The importance of service to the wise is indirectly expressed by recognition of the deficiency of those who fail to do so, as in this statement of Śrī Kṛṣṇa to the sages:
yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tridhātuke
sva-dhīḥ kalatrādiṣu bhauma ijyadhīḥ |
yat tīrtha-buddhiḥ salile na karhicij
janeṣv abhijñeṣu sa eva gokharaḥ ||
One who believes this corpse-like body, which is comprised of the three elements, mucus, bile, and air, to be one’s self; who thinks his wife, children, and others to be his very own; who regards earthen images as objects of worship; or who accepts the water of a river to be a place of pilgrimage, but who never considers those who have realized the Absolute to be as dear as the self, as intimate relations, as worshipable, or as purifying places of pilgrimage, is to be considered as an ass among animals. (SB 10.84.13)
Commentary by Satyanarayana Dasa (Bhakti Sandarbha Anuccheda 245):
In the previous Anuccheda Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī explained the result of service to a great devotee of Bhagavān. In the present he explains the same by negation, vyatireka: A person who does not execute service to a great devotee is no better than an animal.
According to the prime verse of this Anuccheda, such people have four objects of identification—the body, relatives, earthen images of gods, and sacred water. It also describes four corresponding life attitudes: ātma-buddhiḥ, the sense of self; sva-dhīḥ, the sense of kinship or relatedness; ijya-dhīḥ, the sense of divinity; and finally, tīrtha-buddhiḥ, the sense of the sacred. These four attitudes become limitations when chained to the objects with which one identifies. The verse describes a person whose sense of self is limited to the body, whose sense of kinship is limited to his relatives, whose sense of the divine is limited to earthen images, and whose sense of the sacred is limited to a physical locality. Such a person does not give respect to devotees. He is therefore called a gokhara.
The compound word go-khara is made from the nouns go and khara. Go means a cow and khara means a donkey. Thus gokhara could mean a worse type of animal, such as a special type of donkey found in Afghanistan. Or it refers to a specific clan of mlecchas, outcastes. The indeclinable eva “only” in this verse signifies that such people really deserve the name go-khara and not any other creature. This is intended as a very strong criticism of such people.
Pran Gopal Goswami’s comment on the same verse:
ব্যতিরেকমুখে অর্থাৎ মহাভাগবতের সেবা না করিলে যে মহান্ দোষ ঘটে, তাহাই ১০.৮৪ অধ্যায়ে শ্রীভগবান্ কুরুক্ষেত্রে মিলিত মুনিবৃন্দের নিকট বলিয়াছিলেন—
হে মুনিবৃন্দ ! যে দেহ জড় বা অচেতন বলিয়া কূণপ অর্থাৎ স্বয়ং মৃততুল্য, যদ্যপি এই দেহে চৈতন্যের সংযোগ আছে, তথাপি বাত-পিত্ত-কফ—
এই তিন দোষে দূষিত এবম্ভূত শরীরে যে জন আত্মবুদ্ধি করিতে পারিয়াছে, যাহার স্ত্রী-পুত্র প্রভৃতিতে নিজজন বুদ্ধি আছে, ভূমিবিকার মৃণ্ময় সাধারণ দেবতা-প্রতিমাদিতে আরাধ্যবুদ্ধি পোষণ করে, সাধারণ জলাদিতে তীর্থ বুদ্ধি করে, কিন্তু কখনও ভগবত্তত্ত্ৱবিজ্ঞ ভক্তজনে সেই প্রকার পরমপ্রীত্যাস্পদবুদ্ধি কিংবা নিজজনতাবুদ্ধি অথবা পূজ্যবুদ্ধি কিংবা তীর্থবুদ্ধি করে না, অর্থাৎ ভগবদ্ভক্তই প্রীতি করিবার উপযুক্ত পাত্র, ভগবদ্ভক্তের মত আত্যন্তিক হিতকারী নিজ জন আর কেহই নাই, ভগবদ্ভক্তের মত পূজ্য শ্রীভগবানও নহেন, ভগবদ্ভক্তের মত পবিত্র করিতে অন্য কোনও তীর্থই সমর্থ নহে – এই প্রকার বুদ্ধি যে মানবের হৃদয় নাই, সেই মানবই গোখর অর্থাৎ গো-জাতির মধ্যে নিকৃষ্ট বলিয়া কথিত হয় কিংবা সিন্ধু সৌবীরদেশে প্রসিদ্ধ বন্য গর্দ্দভ জাতি বিশেষ অথবা ম্লেচ্ছজাতিবিশেষ.
2011
tāvad bhadrā vadati caṭulaṁ phullatām eti pālīśālīnatvaṁ tyajati vimalā śyāmalāhaṅkaroti |svairaṁ candrāvalir api calaty unnamayyottamāṅgaṁyāvat karṇe na hi niviśate hanta rādheti mantraḥ ||
Shyamala herself says, “Alas, it is only for as long as the mantra made up of Radha’s name does not enter their ears that Bhadra can flatter herself, or that Pali can remain puffed up [in her own achievements and virtues], that Vimala can reject modest behavior, or that I, Shyamala, can be proud. And Chandravali can only proudly walk with her head held high until she hears the name of Radha." (UN 6.7)
Vishwanath Chakravarti is the one who interprets this as Shyamala's own statement referring to herself in the third person. Vishnudas sees this verse as Vrinda Devi speaking to Lalita. Both envision this taking place in the midst of a debate among the Braj gopis about the relative merits of the yūtheśvarīs.
2015
Love is the fulfilment of consciousness.
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