​Bhagavatam study 38 1.8.23-25 Material adversity makes spiritual opportunity a necessity

Thank you bhagavatam 1 8 23 this is kunti maharani’s prayers going on in the eighth chapter of the first canto of shimla bhagavatam and till now kunti maharani has described how krishna has appeared in this world in extraordinary ways and now she continues that theme by describing further how it is that krishna is manifested here that how krishna has her prayers moved from the philosophical to the personal with respect to the concept of the absolute truth to the personal manifestation of the absolute truth as krishna and she is also moving from the philosophical appreciation of the absolute truth to the way that absolute truth has intervened and acted in her life so just as you oh lord is one who is one who is evil so by by by deceit by evil attitude by enviousness that’s still a proper translates with it pita rudha so rudha rudha means rudha and she was in by kamsa devaki was imprisoned for quite a long time now for even for ordinary citizens you know if say because of some drunken driving or something like that if say in a family a teenage teenage son is put in the locker now for the mother to have her child in the locker for even one night is intolerable even for one hour she think oh what will she just can’t it’s a horrendous thought and not just because it’s a social disgrace but it’s just because the nature of love is that one doesn’t want the one whom we love to be in any kind of suffering and so from that and this is even for ordinary citizens they wouldn’t nobody would like to be in the jail what to speak of for somebody who’s like a king who is is a king you know who is in brought in royalty so for kamsa to put devaki and vasudev in jail like that it’s a horrible thing for those who have lived in royal luxury and especially for a princess like devaki so and she didn’t just have to live in prison for some time but it was for a woman perhaps one of the most difficult things in life when she needs the maximum support is her pregnancy and then she delivers a child at that time so much support is sometimes needed so that the delivery happens properly now for a woman to go through old pregnancy in prison is like a nightmare and not just one but to go through multiple pregnancies like that to eight pregnancies and then to after doing it all to see one’s one’s children those whom she has actually nurtured in her womb and dreamt about and prayed about and longed for and then the child is born in front of her eyes the child is killed this is worse than probably the worst nightmare that people can have the mother can have and so for her the period of it was almost a decade that she was in jail and it was a nightmarishly long time so rudha atichiram atichiram for a fairly long time she was distressed afflicted to have to go through all that in the prison so kunti is a woman and a woman can understand a woman very easily so she is recognising she is glorifying krishna by stating the magnitude of the problems from which krishna has released others like her in one sense kunti’s position and devaki’s position is similar devaki and kunti both were royal ladies and yet both were in big trouble at that time how were they in big trouble they’re in big trouble because they had extremely dangerous enemies so there is a purport further that actually kunti’s position was worse than devaki’s because they kunti did not even have a husband to comfort her and to protect her whereas devaki at least had a husband now of course we could say that her husband couldn’t protect her from imprisonment but at the very least her husband was there with her and he he was there for so that he could comfort her help her and even when they were in prison and kunti did not have that now of course kunti was not in prison but was never imprisoned but she was exiled which is also and not she was and she had to live in forest they’re not officially exiled but when they were sent to varnavarth as will be mentioned in the next verses at that time they had to flee from the burning house and they had to live in the forest and when they lived in the forest at that time it was a nightmarish experience so it was a nightmarish experience she too had been afflicted so she’s telling just as oh lord just as you freed devaki from her prolonged distress by killing kamsa similarly similarly you have protected me also and not just me my own children also me along with my children now when kunti man and pandavas went to forest twice and the first time they went there was one lady with them and that was the mother kunti the second time they went one lady there was one lady with them that was draupadi so now the thing here is that when the pandavas went to forest you know kunti vidura had told her that you should not go to the vidura had told yudhishthira that kunti is now become aged she will not be able to survive the austerities of forest life so let her stay with me and yudhishthira that had relieved a burden from yudhishthira’s heart and he had said so be it so kunti marani had agreed to stay and she also recognised the truth of vidura’s words but at the same time her heart was afflicted mortified thinking that her beloved sons were going far away and they were suffering the austerities of forest life so what could she do in such a situation she could not do much actually therefore we see that the important thing to recognise is the principle that we are all in trouble in different ways and krishna helps us in different ways at different times so kunti maharani for her for her she’s saying not only that you have protected me you have protected my children again and again i got danger and distress for draupadi there were for devaki there was one long long distress of being in the forest for us she say for me there were a series of troubles series of nightmarish troubles and what those troubles were will be mentioned now here vipadganad so vipadganad is the word that leads forward to the next words from here so text 1824 now so visham vima was poisoned let me just contemplate the horrendousness of the situation that somebody like that they were just children at that time now for one child maybe they are just coming into their teens not even teens actually they are just children at that time vima tried to poison vima was poisoned by duryodhana so we can just imagine the magnitude of the maliciousness that was there over there that not just maliciousness that somebody wants to a child wants to kill another child but along with the maliciousness there is also the devilishness devilishness in terms of you know for a child to be able to know and scheme something like that to whole organise a conspiracy and to ensure that only one person is poisoned that was often the action is not as scary as the mentality that is conveyed by the action so so visham that that incident of vima being poisoned that put the pandavas on the edge constantly because and especially their mother because they knew that there could be any time a murderous conspiracy that might be that might be sprung up upon them and they had very little to do to protect themselves from it maha agni maha agni agni is fire now we have fire in a fireplace which illumines sometimes a room of sometimes in a you know in today’s times we meet there’s a we are using some petroleum gas or something like that some lpg or we might be using a stove then a gas might then a fire might break out if fire breaks some area in the kitchen might catch fire but maha agni means a huge fire now suppose a house burns down that is a fire you know if a if a if a row house is not just one flat but a row house burns out that’s a big fire but if a huge palace burns down that is a that is a scary horrendous fire and this was the kind of that was set in varna but maha agni that fire actually destroyed everything over there maha agni and that fire was actually meant to burn all the pandavas alive of course the pandavas survived but the fact was that they did suffer horrendously over there maha agni purushad darshanad purushad darshanad means that there was the man-eating rakshasa after so this is more or less a chronological description there was and the pandavas were in the forest they made several first when they were in the forest they made several rakshasas one of them was purushad darshanad so they went to one place where they met bakasur and before that they had hidimbasur so both of them were man-eaters now we may have various kinds of dangers in our life but can we imagine the danger of cannibals now having our body eaten up oh it is one thing to die but it is another quite another thing it is a far more ghastly idea to think that they will be butchered and slaughtered alive so vishan maha agni purushad darshanad so there were these terrible demons and bhima fought them and he defeated them he destroyed them but still it is a danger and in a fight bhishma tells later durdhana that in the fight that there is never any guarantee of victory till the fight is actually fought and the result has come out so when there is no guarantee at that time one has to keep fighting so purushad darshanad asatsabhaya means that the the assembly where they gambled and they were cheated they cheated and they lost everything and the pandavas were mocked and draupadi was dishonoured it was asat is a very it seemed to be like a very gentle word to describe it but sath can mean truthful people can also mean virtuous sath can also mean virtuous so asat refers to that it is vicious so it is not just here it is not temporary it is vicious so the vicious assembly although there were virtuous people in the assembly it was the vicious people who had their way in the assembly who held control and therefore vicious acts were performed over there means suffering in the vanavas there was a lot of suffering that came upon the pandavas and all that suffering was mortifying was agonising and then after that that in the war eventually that took place but there were many great warriors and there were many dangers and through it all just now in that whole series of of the series of adversities he is talking about the latest was just when they thought that now everything is over now we are safe now we are secure they found that you know the defeated enemy is often the most dangerous enemy the defeated enemy is not a person who lets go very easily and the defeated enemy may still want to fight on and somehow hit back and now because they are defeated they are they are nothing to lose and when somebody has nothing to lose often they are the most dangerous so Ashutama had thrown all scruples in the winds and had tried viciously to kill a embryo in the womb so that is what had happened here and he threw it all oh lord you protected us or protected us now it is interesting if we look at these incidents we may say that Krishna was not there in most of these incidents when Bhima was poisoned Krishna was not there when the vanamit fire was set Krishna was not there even in the Pandavas when the Rakshasas were being killed Rakshasas killed sorry Rakshasas attacked Bhima at that time so Krishna was not there even in the forest Krishna was not there frequently so then then what is he saying actually I have a full class on this topic where I talk about an acronym called PROTECT where it is described about that Krishna can protect in different ways so one form of protection is personal protection that is be personal that protection can happen say as he came to offer Draupadi asari it can also be protection to his representatives where he gives wisdom and guidance as happened when Vidura guided Yudhishthira about how to escape from the palace made of lac or it can be his omnipotence Krishna can not just personally be there but he can manifest his omnipotence and he can he can do miraculous things say as he did when so when when he he by he by eating a morsel of grass morsel of grain he satisfied the full he satisfied the hunger of all the sages Durvasa and his disciples tea is teachings sometimes our greatest danger is that we just do not know what to do and at that time we do not know what to do if we focus on serving Krishna at that time we can actually move onwards closer and closer to Krishna and attain him by his mercy so we can be at least we make the right choices and his teachings help us to make the right choices so Arjuna was overcome by illusion on the battlefield of Kurukshetra and Krishna protected him at that time so that is protection through his teachings he is empowerment that means sometimes a person may fight and they may themselves win but that capacity to fight and win that comes from Krishna that empowerment that Krishna provides for example Arjuna was able to fight against a whole Kshatriya army filled with formidable warriors he was able to fight against them when he was in the war field and Kurukshetra and later on he couldn’t fight against some infeasible cowherd men also how was that because Krishna had empowered him see is a combination of the above sometimes Krishna works in various ways his teachings guide us his representatives guide us he had just some incidents in his life and he he so through combination there can be sometimes Krishna protects through time a last he is time that means Krishna may allow some problems to continue on for some time and through the continuation of the problems we learn to raise our vision higher not just for hell but for for rising up that means sometimes we raise our vision asking God to help us down here but sometimes we need to raise our vision and we need to raise our aspiration itself that means rather than thinking that problem should be solved at the material level of reality we can consider that actually the material level of reality is going to be problem filled so let me raise my consciousness to the spiritual level and thus let me become free from the miseries of material existence so that is how Krishna can protect some Krishna may let some times go problem go away and that protection through time helps us gain realisation and to raise our aspiration on the material level to the spiritual level so in this way Krishna protects in various ways and put an expertise of a devotee is that they can see in the hand of Krishna in all situations so even when Krishna was not directly involved still Krishna was involved and that is what Kunti Maharani is appreciating over here by listing all these incidents and now comes the verse which is which defines the mood of Kunti Maharani s prayers and which in one sense defines the mood also so extraordinary prayer 1825 so all those so the 23rd text ended with Vipad and Vipadganad and 25th text begins with Vipad and those Vipad those adversities were described in text 24.
so Vipad has sent to let there be that all these calamities come again and again again and again Krishna you are the instructor of the whole universe and now Kunti Maharani is recognising that even adversities act as opportunities what is the now this may seem like a cliche or a platitude that look for the opportunity the adversity but Kunti Maharani is speaking this not from the sense of a pep talk but from the perspective of a enlightened soul for you who are the spiritual master of the world bhavato darshanam yatsyad apunar bhav darshanam bhavato darshanam yatsyad if we have darshan of you oh lord then having darshan of you means apunar bhav darshanam we won’t have to take darshan of this material existence ever again apunar bhav darshanam apunar bhav darshanam so it’s sometimes we may say that if we if we are craving for one thing and then we get something better then we don’t feel the need for the thing which we were craving for earlier so like that once we get to see krishna bhavato darshanam yatsyad then the darshan of krishna bhavato darshanam yatsyad apunar bhav darshanam is so attractive it’s so fulfilling it’s so elevating that we feel that i don’t need anything else apart from this why do i need anything else bhavato darshanam yatsyad apunar bhav darshanam apunar bhav darshanam that now oh lord i do not feel the need for anything else apunar bhav darshanam how does it work like that that actually normally anytime we can go to temple and take darshan of krishna anytime we can chant his holy names anytime we can study scripture but quite often when we do these things under those under normal circumstances often we may do them lackadaisically we may do them without feeling an urgent need for doing those things and when that happens when we do those things without feeling the need for them then we don’t really connect with krishna we don’t really experience krishna and because we don’t experience krishna so we still stay on craving for worldly experiences and thus we don’t we do not really get out of material existence we come back to material existence but when there is adversity when we realise that oh things in the material level of reality are going to crumble they’re going to collapse that actually nothing is going to work out right and there doesn’t seem to be light anywhere at that time when we turn towards krishna we turn to him with a sense of desperation and urgency and fervency that connects our heart that opens our heart to krishna and connects our heart with him and thereby enables us to experience the sublime shelter of remembering him and when we taste the sweetness of remembering him the when we taste the restfulness of sheltering in him at that time we realise oh whatever else i was craving for it’s all temporary i don’t need these other things and thus we turn towards krishna wholeheartedly and attain him hmm then when we get that param drishtva nivartate as krishna says in the bhagavad gita in 2.59 and we get the higher test then we become peaceful so like that so amidst adversities so adversities provide us not just the opportunity to take shelter of krishna adversities make taking shelter of krishna a necessity that we realise that without krishna i will not survive it’s only by the grace of krishna that i can tolerate or transcend this particular circumstance otherwise i would not be able to do so once we understand this then we become desperately earnestly fervently desirous of taking shelter of krishna and thus we march onwards in our journey towards without getting distracted by anything at all by anything so that is krishna’s great mercy on us so rather than seeing adversities as negative we can see them as positive by seeing them as as things which make darshan of krishna essential it’s like suppose if we had a medicine that also doubled as a as a health food and now we may be lax in taking that health food because okay we are we are attracted to other kinds of food but suppose we become sick and for that sickness that particular medicine is what we need to take and then once we start taking that medicine we start realising oh this really makes me feel good this really makes me healthy this really helps me to to actually do well this helps me to correct my to to feel and become healthier so then we start taking that medicine once we start taking that medicine become health food and if over a period of time we find that health food tastes good also in fact as our tastes change we realise that this this tastes better than whatever i have tasted earlier this tastes so good i would like to have this more and more and thus we actually become free from the temptation for the unhealthy foods and we free from all the diseases that come because of eating unhealthy foods so that is something similakundi maharani is telling over here that that oh krishna i want these adversities to come again and again it is a actually a it is a scarily courageous prayer scarily courageous prayer because people go to god to ask please free me from my problems but to go to god and tell please give me problems it is it is kundi maharani is no no masochist somebody who likes to inflict pain on oneself she is enlightened soul and when we understand what the the purpose for which she is praying she wants to be absorbed in the remembrance of krishna and she realises therein lies the greatest shelter so it makes sense what she is saying but still it requires courage to make this kind of prayer so courage is not just required in going and fighting a war in amidst soldiers where somebody might be killed but you know going in front of god and praying to god and offering this kind of prayer this requires a stupendous level of courage and kunti sometimes you may think of her as just an elderly stately lady yes she was elderly stately dignified but she had a spine of steel and she was as i said here stunningly courageous in making this kind of prayers normally when a person is courageous what is it that makes them courageous actually they understand that there is something more valuable than the preservation of life and that higher that recognition of something of a higher value that inspires them to risk what they do not have risk even their life for getting that so similarly kunti maharaj recognises that comfort or freedom from problems is fine but the shelter of krishna is something far greater far more valuable and that is what i want to have and to have that if the way to have that is by having problems then i am ready for problems so this is the mood in which kunti maharani offers this extraordinary prayer so in the last three verses we just discuss three verses because these are really profound verses with a lot of impact and a lot of import over there so we discuss in 23rd text how kunti maharani starts from devaki and comes to herself that the lord protected both of us and then vipadgana how we discussed the various kind of problems in which draupadi kunti found herself and how she attributes their protection to krishna even when krishna was not directly involved and we discuss the protect acronym for that and lastly we discussed how the opportunity to take shelter of krishna is always there but adversity transforms that opportunity into a necessity and thus impels us material adversity impel us to take shelter of krishna and thus we move forward in our life in our spiritual journey towards him and kunti maharani here is