Bhagavatam-daily 249 – 11.12.06 – Association benedicts not just the elevated but also the degraded

Thank you 11 12 Sugreevo Hanuman riksho gajo grudho vanik pataha Vyadha kubjavraje gopyo yajnopatnyas tathapare here Krishna is giving various examples to demonstrate the potency of bhakti especially as it is manifested through devotees and specifically through people who have been elevated by the association of devotees and when Krishna gives examples over here he is speaking to Uddhava who already knows Puranic genealogy, Puranic history and therefore he just states the examples, he doesn’t give any footnote to describe who they are just like in today’s culture if you want to say that democracy is so good that even a person who was a democracy is so inclusive that even a person who was a tea seller that person can become the head of the state and then we just mentioned say the current Prime Minister of India, Modi there is no need to further describe who Modi was where he was born, which caste he was in whatever other details because it is assumed in today’s culture that people will have that much general knowledge so similarly Krishna is speaking to Uddhava and in that cultural context when he speaks he assumes that his audience that is Uddhava knows these people so we often need to do extensive research to know who is who over here and what was their context, how exactly was their association of devotees in their lives and how they were elevated by the association of devotees so Sugreeva is mentioned very interestingly the previous text said that it is stated that even animals and birds have been liberated by the potency of Bhakti now when we say the potency of Bhakti we cannot divorce it from the potency of Bhagwan because it is Bhagwan’s potency that manifests through Bhaktasangha through Bhakti’s potency and that same potency manifests through Bhaktasangha so when we give the example of Sugreeva Sugreeva associated with Hanuman, Hanuman himself was a great devotee and Hanuman he is a manifestation of Shiva and Vayu they are both exalted devotees and Hanuman in his childhood associated with great sages who were also great devotees Nikshara is Jambavan Jambavan was also in the company of Hanuman and Sugreeva especially Hanuman and he was a great he was a great person he was very old and he had lived through the ages and by living through the ages he had associated with various sages and he had thus got relished that association and thus he was elevated by that. Gajendra of course this story will come in the has come in the 8th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam and Gajendra is especially elevated he was quite elevated in his previous life as Maharaj Indra Dhyumna and he was a cultured king who used to associate with sages and devotees in his previous life so these are all examples of people who were elevated by the association of devotees and the people when we say over here we are referring to those who are in non-human species and now Jiva Goswami states that Krishna is giving here examples of Mrugaha and he is giving examples of of Vaishya and Teja examples of women also in the next line but he doesn’t give much examples here of Gandharvas and others why because he says that is not very important in the sense that the Gandharvas and others who are in heavenly level of existence that they are already quite pious and for them to become elevated for them to become advanced by the association of devotees that to some extent is natural because they live in a cultured setting wherein association is normal so it’s like if a coaching class states that we took in a student if a IITJ coaching class takes in students who are all merit holders in the 10th standard and then it says that oh we got so many people who cleared JEE now if you took in a top class then to elevate them there is nothing all that great in that but if a coaching class says these students were all mediocre performers in the 6th standard, in the 10th standard but then by our coaching they became outstanding performers in JEE and that is something special. We would like to know these kind of examples to know that yes this coaching class really does something great so like that every soul is precious for Krishna and every soul’s elevation and liberation is a matter of celebration at the same time when there is communication to be made and a point to be conveyed then it needs to be conveyed in the most effective way so that’s why Krishna doesn’t go about giving examples of Gandharvas and others who are elevated by association he focuses on those who are at the other spectrum other end of the spectrum that means not those who are considered already elevated or high born but those who are considered degraded and low born how they are elevated and liberated that Krishna demonstrates so Vanikpatha it’s mentioned over here so he is Vaishya and it is mentioned how he actually when there is a Mahabharata mentioned that there is a Jajali Muni who was quite proud and how his pride was humbled by the by Vanikpatha and how he was a person who was wise and devoted that is explained in the Mahabharata and further of course Dharmavyadha is an extraordinary person who is mentioned in the Mahabharata that although he was a hunter and although he was engaged in a profession that many would consider low level that is killing but still he was a elevated person so elevated that he could even give instructions of wisdom to people who considered themselves sages and it is mentioned that he previously now he was a hunter in this life but that was a result of some misdeeds from previous lives but before that he had been associated he had got the association of a Vaishnava sage, a Vaishnava king Rajyoshi named Vasu now interestingly he says that example of Kubja so after reading the example of Vaishyas and others like that those were low born further it is mentioned that Kubja got the association of the lord she got the association of Krishna herself and further Krishna himself and she also got the association of Narada Muni in a previous life Narada Muni is practically all pervasive in scripture and he elevates many people and now the Gopis of Vrindavan many of them were sages and they had associated saintly devotees in their previous lives this of course refers to not the Gopis who are eternal associates of Krishna who are eternally liberated but this refers to other Gopis who are sadhana siddha and the Yagyik Brahmana Patnis they associated with the Gopis of Vrindavan this Yagyik Brahmana Patnis were staying in Mathura and they associated with the Gopis who were flower sellers and fruit vendors these Gopis were devotees and these Gopis when they travelled around like that they spoke the glories of Krishna and through that glorification of Krishna they gave their association and in that way they facilitated the liberation so Grudhaha of course refers to Jatayu he was a bird the example for bird is given as Jatayu Jatayu is a friend of Dashrath Maharaj Dashrath Maharaj himself was a devotee and Jatayu of course got the association of the Lord Lord Ram himself so in this way and there are many others also all these have been benedicted and elevated and liberated by the association of devotees