Bhagavatam study 107 1.19.19-24 Knowledge comes alive thorugh those live that knowledge

Bhagavatam 1.19.19 महर्षयोवई सम्पागताये प्रशस्यसाद्व इति अनुमोदमानः उचुप्रजानु ग्रहशीलसारा इरित्तमश्लोक गुणाभिरूपम् महर्षयोवई सम्पागताये So, when those great sages… Now, Parikshit Maharaj in the previous verse has described that he resolved to fast to death and he requested the sages to गायंति विश्णु गाथा, to keep glorifying Lord Vishnu.
So, what happens over here? महर्षयोवई सम्पागताये Maharaj, the great sages, who had assembled there, सम्पागताये प्रशस्य, they also praised साद्व इति अनुमोदमानः साद्व, this is very good, this is auspicious, this is excellent अनुमोदमानः They expressed their appreciation for this उचुप्रजानु ग्रहशीलसारा उचुप्रजानु ग्रहशीलसारा So, प्रजानु ग्रह means that the sages are generally the well-wishers of everyone They want to give mercy to people, प्रजानु ग्रह, that’s what they want to do प्रजानु ग्रहशीलसारा And they are very, by their culture, by their disposition, they are very powerful उत्तमः श्लोक गुणा भिरूपम् उत्तमः श्लोक गुणा भिरूपम् So, they उचु, they spoke to this devotee who had qualities like the qualities of उत्तमः श्लोक So, the whole point over here is that the sages appreciated Parikshit Maharaj’s decision And they appreciated his devotion They saw that he had qualities just like God Godly qualities means, you know, we can never become God but we can surely become godly And Parikshit Maharaj was exhibiting his godliness over here पशस्यसाद्वैति अनुमोदमानः अनुमोदमानः, they actually praised that decision So, it’s interesting, there are The sadhus are described as प्रजानुग्रह शीलसारः That these sages are capable or they are inclined to प्रजानुग्रह They have the शीलसारः So, शीलसारः means they have the quality and the ability Which is very interesting Normally, when we want to do good to others, it is not enough just to want to do good We also have to have the qualification to do good Without that qualification, we cannot move forwards अनुमोदमानः शीलसारः So, when we understand that actually, there is a lot to do in life And lot to do not just for our own self-realization but to help others in self-realization आत्मोपम्येन सर्वत्र समंपश्यतियो अर्जुन सुखंबयदिवा दुखं सयोगी परमोमतः That when by comparison with ourselves, we understand that actually Everybody is in need of spiritual wisdom That nobody in this world can live without spiritual wisdom and thus Thus, we all are meant to grow towards doing good for ourselves by doing good to others Because when we serve others, especially when we help others spiritually We help ourselves spiritually also Because in sharing Krishna’s mercy, we get Krishna’s mercy In sharing spiritual wisdom, that spiritual wisdom flows through us, it flows deeper into us And thus, it’s all meant for us to move onwards towards Krishna So, the sages praise Parikshit Maharaj, you have godly qualities and you will manifest even more godly qualities Text 14 नवाइदं राजरशिवर्यचित्रं भवत्सुक्रिष्णं समनूव्रतेषु ये अध्यासनं राजकिरीत जुष्टं सध्यो जहूर् भगवत पार्श्वकामः भगवत पार्श्वकामः That, actually, the sages were speaking now भगवत पार्श्वकामः means those who want to achieve the association of the lord, पार्श्व पार्श्व is read as पार्शत, one who is associate So, those who wish to get the association of the supreme lord नवाइदं राजरशिवर्यचित्रं नवाइदं And, actually, चित्रं, this is not astonishing for the राजरशिवर्य Actually, when it is said it is not astonishing means Yes, normally it is astonishing, but for him it is not astonishing So, it is a way of actually expressing appreciation नवाइदं राजरशिवर्यचित्रं भवत्सु कृष्णं समनुव्रतेषु So, he is, and to all of you, they are strictly in line with Krishna You are in a lustrous lineage where you are very close to Krishna Your ancestors have lived close to Krishna ये अध्यासनम् राजकिरीत जुष्टम् ये अध्यासनम् राजकिरीत जुष्टम् And there, those great souls, they had the royal thrones ये अध्यासनम् राजकिरीत जुष्टम् But ये अध्यासनम् राजकिरीत जुष्टम् They just give it up immediately to gain the association of the Lord So, now here they are talking about how Yudhisthira Maharaj As soon as he heard about the news that Krishna had departed from the world Then he immediately decided to himself give up the world So, they are remembering this and he is saying that your resolution is not wonderful That means it is something which is wonderful in the sense that it is special, it is glorious But it is not unique because it is something which your ancestors have also done And we would expect nothing less from you Though they had the emperorship of the world But the moment they heard that Krishna had departed They renounced the world so that they wanted association of the Lord And when the Lord was not here, they felt let us leave this world Go to the other world and there you will get the association of the Lord So, Bhagwatparshu, desiring the association of the Lord They were ready to immediately give up whatever they had in this world Sadyo jahur bhagwatparshvaka maha So, similarly you are also desiring the association of the Lord And because of that glorious desire, you are ready to give up everything And we profoundly appreciate you for doing this So, actually this we have various ways in which we can serve the Lord And sometimes we serve the Lord through engagement in this world And sometimes we serve Him by retreating from the world By withdrawing from the world, by renouncing the world So, we have to see what is our situation and accordingly moderate our service Because when it is the time to take up responsibility at that time We should not exhibit detachment and not take it up And when there is a time to exhibit detachment, we should not hold on to responsibility Thinking that that is our service to Krishna So, there are many ways in which we can serve Krishna And we have to find the right way So, each one of us has to find the right way to serve Krishna And the right way for you, for me, for everyone will vary depending on how we situate ourselves So, here it is said that He situated Himself on the path of transcendence Text 21 This is a word or a phrase that has come a few times over here Those that you… The Bhagavad Pradhanam means the foremost among the devotees So, you are the foremost among the devotees of Parikshit The kind of devotion you have exhibited in making this decision is extraordinary So, as long as you are here We will be here to support you As long as you don’t give up your body You are free from contamination, free from lamentation And you return to Lokamparam, you attain that supreme abode Till that time, we will be with you This is an enormous statement of support When a person is on sick and on the verge of death At that time, generally people don’t want to talk about death People don’t want to think about death They feel it’s very gloomy, it’s very depressing And thus, when somebody is about to die People may just go as a courtesy to visit for a few minutes But after that they leave And what we need to do is, we need to move forward We have to actually take it very very carefully That we can’t just get carried away by whatever thoughts come in our mind We have to keep our resolve towards the supreme And especially when we are there with somebody as long as they need us That means we are conveying to that person, you are so important for me That you are so important for me, that everything else can wait It’s a tremendous statement of support Normally when a devotee is about to depart from the world Sometimes some other devotees take turns Speaking about Krishna Katha to that devotee And by speaking Krishna Katha, thus they all help that devotee to move towards transcendence To remember Krishna at that time But in this case, the sages are not saying we will take turns We will all be with you here, by your side So what a statement of support that is And when such a statement of support comes, we get so much encouragement We get so much confidence We get so much enlivenment And we feel inspired to move onwards in our journey Towards life’s ultimate goal In text 22 So the sages are speaking over here And Actually speaking, when Parikshit Maharaj heard this, he felt very very encouraged All the sages spoke this And Parikshit felt very It was It was equally poised and gentle It was as if like a dropping of honey It was as sweet as a flow of honey That it was true It was grave So the subject of death is never a frivolous subject Especially when we are dealing with someone who is about to die Actually it is very very important for us To treat the subject of death with gravity But gravity does not have to lead to moroseness We can be grave and still we can be cheerful We can still be enlivened We can still be optimistic We can still be upbeat So that’s what happens when we can turn towards Krishna With the support of others With the love of others With the blessings of others That’s what Parikshit has got over here And that’s what we seek over here So he accepted their words with great joy And he expressed his gratitude for them He expressed his He expressed his He expressed his gratitude His respect for them And then he spoke to them again With a desire to hear He desired to hear the glory of Vishnu The character of Vishnu In learned circles The kind of exchanges that go on They are often so deep, so rich That those who are not at a similar level They may not even appreciate what is happening The sages gave Parikshit A tremendous statement of support And Parikshit is very very appreciative and grateful for that And now he is again expressing his desire He is saying that their statement of support is an indication that They have supported his decision And he is now again saying that I desire to hear About the glorious character of Lord Vishnu Please speak about it So text 23 is समागतः सर्वतएव सर्वे वेदायथा मूर्थिधरास्त्रिपुष्ठे नेहातनामुत्रचकष्चनार्थ उतेपरानुग्रहमात्मशीलम् So, समागतः सर्वतएव सर्वे All of you have assembled from various directions वेदायथा मूर्थिधरास्त्रिपेष्ठे All of you are personified knowledge त्रिपेष्ठे That knowledge which resides in the various worlds Which resides in the planet of Brahma Above the three worlds You are that वेदायथा मूर्थिधरास्त्रिपुष्ठे You are as if that supreme knowledge personified Has descended to enlighten me नेहातनामुत्रनकश्चनार्थ That You have no interest Either in this world or in another world In this life or another life उतेपरानुग्रहमात्मशीलम् Except for परानुग्रहम Except for doing good to others You have no other interest आत्मशीलम् And such compassion, such benevolence Is the essence of who we are Who you are actually So Parikshit Maharaj Appreciation is also very learned appreciation He says See what all he is saying You have come from various directions You are the supreme knowledge personified And you are selfless You have no desire Other than the desire to benedict others That’s why you have come here परानुग्रहम Earlier also this theme of Wanting to do benefit to others was spoken And that theme is being repeated over here रितेपनापरानुग्रहमात्मशीलम् So the idea is That those who are very spiritually advanced Those who are very spiritually renounced They see that This world is ultimately meant for nothing Except spiritual growth And they want to share that spiritual growth with others And it’s interesting मूर्तिधरः वेदायथा मूर्तिधरः So मूर्तिधरः means That which has come in a form Which has assumed a form वेडूधरः We could say one who is playing a flute One who is holding a flute One who has taken up a flute So मूर्तिधरः is one who has taken this form So it is as if Knowledge itself has taken a form In order to bless me And I am so blessed to have this knowledge Blessed to have all of you Knowledge It is Especially spiritual knowledge Or we could say in general behavioral knowledge It is more caught than taught That means It is something which every one of us Has to learn According to our capacity And For us to learn that It is vital that We take things forward In a reasonably mature way In a way that is For us and for them A way that is realistic So परानुग्रहम doesn’t mean that we just download All the knowledge we have In one huge attempt at transfer Which is overburdened and overwhelms people No, we want to do good to others But we want to do good in a way that actually benefits them And thus Parikshit Maharaj You will see how The sages discuss, deliberate and arrive at the conclusion That glorifying Lord Hari Is the best course of action for him So the compassionate sages They The knowledge that is available in books Anywhere and everywhere Nowadays with online access We can get knowledge of any subject almost anywhere But if you want to live that knowledge If you want to apply that knowledge If you want to benefit from that knowledge It has to be presented to us At a level that we can understand At a level that is Appreciable for us That does मूर्ति धरा So when we Associate with those who are living Certain principles of behavior Those who are Living according to certain principles of spirituality Then They can move towards Krishna thereby And they can grow spiritually thus So that’s what we all should seek And that’s what we all should do So here That’s why we need Not just the books of knowledge but we need the People who are Living that knowledge And Parikshit Maharaj is expressing his appreciation for having Got that kind of association here Text 24 ततश्चवः पृच्चमिमं पृच्चे विश्रभे विप्राइति कृत् ततायाम सर्वात्मनाम् रियमानैश्च कृत्यम् शुद्धम् चितत्राम् दुशताभिम्युक्तः ततश्चवः पृच्चमिमं पृच्चे So now I ask you पृच्चम् विप्रुच्चे That which is the most pertinent question to be asked at this time विश्रभे विप्राइति कृत् You are the विश्रभे विप्राइति कृत् Means you are trustworthy brahmanas कृत्यतायाम् कृत्यतायाम् कृत्य is duty which is to be done कृत्यतायाम् means that there are various duties which can be done among them which duty should I do सर्वात्मनाम् रियमानैश्च कृत्यम् सर्वात्मनाम् What is the duty for a person who is about to die? Shuddham cha tatra, shuddham, that which is the purest duty, that which is the best duty. Tatra vishat abhyukta, abhyukta, what is the most fitting duty which can be understood by perfect deliberation, by due deliberation, by complete deliberation? Please tell me what is… So, for those who are about to die, I ask for you, the question that is more fore motion in my mind, that is which is to be asked, and I ask you because I consider you trustworthy. So, what is it that I ask? Krityatayam, that there are many duties which could be done.
Sarvaatmanam vimanishtha krityam, so which is the duty which a person who is about to die should wholeheartedly do. Shuddham cha tatra, with a pure heart, with due deliberation. Amrushita abhyukta, please let us know what is the duty that can be done, what is it that should be done.
So, please guide me. And it is this question which will lead to a deliberation and which will lead to an answer. But before that question can be answered, then there is a discussion, what happens is Shukadeva Goswami comes over there.
So, his Shukadeva Goswami’s entry will be described in the next verse which we will discuss in our next session. Thank you.