Bhagavatam study 91 1.17.13-17 Act honorably to protect the honor of those whom we represent

Srimad Bhagavatam 117.13 Punishment and Reward of Kali Here Parichit Maharaj is speaking to Shukdev Goswami. Shukdev Goswami is to the bull over here and he is asking that what is the problem? So, he is asking here Parthanaam Keerthi Dushanam Akhyahi Bhadrambha Akhyahi, I am asking you, oh bull, Bhadrambha, may there be auspiciousness to you.
Atma Vairuppe Kartaram, that actually speaking, the soul is saying that you have never done anything wrong and yet your form, Vairuppe Kartaram, you have become deformed and that thing has happened to you. Parthanaam Keerthi Dushanam, this will spoil the good reputation of the followers of Partha, of the descendants of Partha. So, therefore, he is asking here, what exactly is happening? So, as I mentioned earlier also, the point was that Parichit Maharaj is not acting in an egoistic way, thinking that I have to get things right for my own good name.
He is thinking of the good name of those whom, of where he belongs to. Earlier it was the Kauravas that he belongs, the Kaurava dynasty that he belongs to and then earlier it was Krishna Anuvartiya. There also he talked about the followers of Krishna, how the followers of Krishna are, should not be subjected to such misery.
So, here he is asking now that Atma Vairuppe Kartaram. So, who has mutilated you like this? Please tell me. It’s interesting that this question can seem itself very odd.
Parichit Maharaj came to the scene when he could see that the offender was Kali dressed as a king and he saw him attacking and he also was about to, he had also said, I am going to punish you. In fact, I am going to kill you for the grievous crime that you have committed. So, if he has already decided that he is culpable, Kali is culpable, then why is he going through all this and asking Parichit, asking the bull, who has afflicted you like this? Who is responsible for the situation? The point here is that actually, we could look at it three different ways.
One is that usually, if you look at it from a very legalistic perspective, for the police to take action in some particular situation, there has to be some complaint that has to be registered. So, he wants Dharma to register this complaint by which he will take action, that Dharma is the bull. Second way we can look at this is that actually, he wants to get more background to the whole situation.
He could obviously see that this crime has been committed, but the question is to get more context, why did this person do like this? It’s an outrageous thing to do. Suppose some police go to a place where one person is beating up another person. Now, the person who is beating up is obviously an aggressor, the person who is victimized is obviously a victim and the crime is itself obvious overall.
But then the context of the crime needs to be understood, why is this thing happening? So, what is the background for this? So, that could be a second way of understanding it. Third way could be that actually here, the king Parichit is trying to understand who is this bull? And we will see that this third understanding is what is vital in this context, because it will reveal that this bull is no ordinary person. The answer to the question of Parichit reveals who will actually be telling what has happened.
So, by pointing out who is responsible or who is not responsible, the philosophical level of understanding of this bull will become clarified. So, he continues asking the question. You know, whoever causes jane anagasya, anagasya means those who are offenseless, those who have not done anything wrong, if somebody hurts that person, agham, yunjan, one who does this, sarvato sicha madbhayam, wherever such a person goes, they will be afraid of me.
Anybody who commits a crime anywhere, they will be punished by me, they will have to live in fear of me. It’s interesting, one does good to the sadhus by suppressing, by crushing the asadhus. So, if you see Krishna’s mission, he gives a threefold mission whenever he descends to the world.
4.8 in the Bhagavad Gita, he says that his primary purpose is to deliver the sadhus and the sadhus are afflicted by whom? By the asadhus. The godly people are afflicted by the ungodly people, the demoniac people. So, the demoniac people are brought under control, if they are punished, if they are disempowered, then the godly people, they are automatically relieved.
In this world, distresses come from various sources. We have, especially a large number of distress comes from our body and mind itself. Because the body-mind complex, it afflicts us with unnecessary anxieties and it afflicts us with unnecessary desires.
I want that, I want that, I want that and these desires trouble us. And they, although they promise pleasure, after some time they simply torment us. When will you get this, when will you get this, get this, get this, get this.
So, it is like, the Bhagavatam uses the word that, it’s like an elephant is goaded by an elephant goad, like that, we feel goaded by our desires. So, the desires torment us and of course, anxieties also torment us. Now, these two primary factors which madden the mind, which torment us at the mental level, that torment goes down substantially for those who take shelter of Krishna.
So, that’s why I said that, if you consider the Adhyatmik, Adhibhautik and Adhidaivik kleshas, the Adhyatmik klesh, if somebody is firmly devoted to Krishna, especially the problems from the mind go down significantly. Now, the problems from the people, a devotee develops a tough skin to tolerate them, but still there are some people who are outright troublesome, and if that trouble is removed, then naturally, a devotee can pursue life more peacefully, a devotee can focus more energy on serving Krishna. So, here it is said that, if the sadhus are neutralized, then the sadhus are naturally delivered.
And Parikshit is saying that, that is what he is going to do. In fact, he is saying that, while I am talking with you, don’t think that this Kali can flee from here. Parikshit Maharaj is talking with the cow in the bull, but he also has an eye on Kali, and he is not going to give an opportunity to Kali to flee.
And he is also, in case Kali has an idea of fleeing, Parikshit Maharaj is also saying that, wherever he goes, such a person, he will, sarvato bhaya, he will be fearful of me everywhere, because I will chase that person, catch them and punish them. So, it is indirectly conveying to Kali, don’t try to escape, you can’t escape from me. You have committed a crime and you are going to be punished for it.
So, now, text 15, anagha means sin, anagha means sinless. So, one who is sinless, one who is offenseless, one who actually commits crime against those who are crimeless, those who are faultless, one who hurts those who have not done anything wrong, such a upstart, such a criminal, such an outlaw. So, my arms will, that person, my arms will be uprooted.
My arms are competent enough to destroy such a person. So, martya means those who are going to, meant to die. So, in the scriptural context, the word martya is used specifically for people who live on the earth.
This world, earth is called the martyaloka. As compared to that, the residents of swarga are called amaras. So, those who are immortal.
And now, there are multiple levels of beings. There is martya, there is amara, there is chiranjiva and there is nitya. So, sometimes we use the word amara to refer to eternal.
Yes, this conception of eternity is relative. That means that the heavenly residents live for so long that from the earth’s perspective, they appear to be eternal. But actually, they are not eternal.
They have long lifespans, but eventually they also die. So, amara refers to those who live for a very long time. It appears as if it is eternal for us.
Then chiranjiva refers to one who lives in different contexts, either for a whole day of Brahma. Even the devatas don’t live for a whole day of Brahma. They usually live at the most for one manvantara.
But those who live for a whole day of Brahma or sometimes even for a whole lifetime of Brahma, they are considered chiranjiva. But even the chiranjivis are actually not nitya. Only the souls in the spiritual world are nitya.
Only those who have a spiritual body, they are nitya. So, here he is saying that even if somebody is amara, that somebody is not belonging to the martya loka and even if somebody is saangadam. Saangadam means such a person is decorated, that person has decoration, that person has armor.
That means, not just somebody is a king, but somebody who is a god and even a god with godly decoration and weapons, even that person will be punished by me. My arms are powerful enough to punish a criminal even if that criminal happens to be from the heavenly planets. So, all this is being spoken so that the bull need not be fearful in speaking out.
Many times, governments, if they want to pursue, if they want to prosecute somebody who is a big criminal, somebody who is underworld don or something like that, then they need witnesses. And usually the witnesses themselves come under a lot of risk. Then they need a witness protection program because for taking revenge against them, they may actually, the associates, the other gangsters of that underworld don may kill this witness even before they actually give witness, they stand in court to give testimony or after that also.
So, sometimes those who are in the witness protection program, they have to completely disappear. They have to take on a false identity and they have to leave their old life and start a new life as a different person. So, if the government is not competent enough to protect its witnesses, witnesses who are giving testimony against powerful wrongdoers, then the citizens become afraid to give that witness because they will feel we will be threatened.
So, here he is assuring, Vishwachandra Thakur in his commentary raises the point that the bull may ask this question that what if that upstart is stronger than you? Now, he says, I’m strong enough to punish somebody even if that person is a resident of the gods, is a resident of the heavens. Even if that person is as strong as a god, I can punish them. So, you should have no fear.
Generally, when somebody is a victim, especially in a hierarchical society, in a hierarchical society means there are the whole power structure and somebody who is lower in the hierarchy, they find it very difficult to voice their grievances against somebody who is higher up in the hierarchy because the person who is higher up can get back at them in so many ways. So, if there are genuine issues and hierarchical structure and fear created by the superiors towards the junior that makes them apprehensive about speaking out, then that will make that because of that serious issues may stay unaddressed. So, here he is making sure that such a thing should not be happening.
I’m speaking to you and assuring you, you should have no fear. Then he goes on and says, text 16 over here, राज्यों ही परमो धर्मा स्वधर्मस्थानु पालनम् शासतो अन्यान्यथा शास्त्रम् अनापद्य उत्पतान् इह So, राज्यों ही परमो धर्मो, for the king is greatest duty. स्वधर्मस्थानु पालनम् So, those who are following their own dharma, the king has a dharma and the citizens have their dharma.
The raja and the praja both have their dharma. So, the raja’s dharma is that if the praja is following their own dharma, स्वधर्मस्थानु पालनम् So, शासतो अन्यान्यथा शास्त्रम् अनापद्य उत्पतान् इह शासतो अन्यान् So, actually, शासतो means, the king has two kinds of duties over here. One duty is that those who are following the regulations, the king is meant to protect them.
अनुपालनम् While अनुपालनम् means those who are following their dharma, the king is meant to protect them. And those who defy शास्त्रम् So, शास्त्रम् उत्पतान् Those who, उत्पतान् means those who create disruption. And then अनापद्य It’s an interesting point over here that अनापद्य means आपद्य is emergency.
So, in general, everybody is meant to follow their dharma. But sometimes there is आपद्य and even the आपद्य one may not be able to follow one’s dharma. So, at that time there is आपद्य to be followed.
आपद्य means something which is not normally to be done, but that can be done in abnormal situations. So, actually, we see that the broad body of Vedic literature, it is not idealistic. It talks about ideals, but it is also realistic.
So, there is a whole provision for आपद्य and Bhishma when he instructs Maharaj Yudhishtir just before his departure in राजधर्म. He talks quite, has a significant section about आपद्य. So, for example, to give an example of आपद्य in our context, Prabhupada generally told us that one of the regulative principles is don’t eat meat.
But then one of his disciples, I think it was Harikesh Maharaj who was told, deputed by Prabhupada to go to the Soviet bloc to preach. And then he said, Prabhupada, there you don’t get any food except meat. So, Prabhupada then told him, eat meat but preach.
Prabhupada also said that if we are in a situation where to survive there is no option except eating meat, then it is okay to eat meat because on the evolutionary hierarchy, a human body has greater spiritual potential than a non-human body or sub-human body. So, normally we don’t eat meat but in emergency, that is what is required for protecting one’s life, then one can eat. So, there is a provision of आपद्धर्म.
So, sometimes in आपद्धर्म, some abnormal situation may have to be done, abnormal actions may have to be done. But if there is no emergency and even such a time somebody is afflicting somebody else, then they need to be punished. So, in this context, of course, even in आपत्ति, it’s not at all recommended that one eat the meat, eat the flesh of a cow or a bull.
But the point here is that in this context, Parikshit Maharaj is assuring the bull that actually only there is आपद्धर्म, then one person might have to do something which is going to afflict another person and that might be allowed. But otherwise, the person who is the offender needs to be punished. And he says, this is my duty as a king.
So, my duty as a king is to protect those who are dharmic and to punish those who are adharmic. It’s interesting, this theme comes in the Bhagavad Gita also that Krishna, in one sense, he tells that I came to give this in the fourth chapter, the same section where we discussed the earlier verse, धर्मसाम्स्थापनार्थायसंभवामियुगेयुगे, where he talks about how every one of us has to follow our dharma, where he comes to establish dharma and he punishes adharmic. So, then the preceding verse, that is 4.2 and 4.1 and 4.2 talk about how this knowledge is given to the kings.
इबं विवस्वते योगं प्रोक्तवान हमावेयं विवस्वान मनवेई प्राह मनुरिक्ष्वा कवेब्रवेज। So, I give this knowledge to Vivaswan and then he gave it to Manushwaku like that. So, then the point here is that the kings are normally meant to establish dharma and punish the adharmic. But somehow if the kings are not able to do their duty, then Krishna descends and takes up that duty.
And in the case of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna actually doesn’t himself kill the enemies. He empowers the enemies. He empowers Arjuna to kill the enemies.
So, स्वयिदोर्भैर् अस्यन धर्मम् In the Bhagavatam towards the end of the 12th canto it is said that the Lord destroys the demons sometimes by his own arms and sometimes by others arms. So, Krishna basically comes to establish dharma. And that is the theme over here.
Now, dharma will start speaking. In this way after Pariksit has given various assurances to dharma. युक्तम् आर्ता भयम् वचह The words that he has spoken are definitely befitting somebody who is in the Pandava dynasty.
युक्तम् आर्ता भयम् वचह He has spoken the words which will आर्ता अभयम् those who are distressed. Those words will bring fearlessness to those who are depressed, those who are distressed like that. येशाम् गुणगणई कृष्णो Those who, now it is interesting, he goes on to say that what is the glory of the Pandavas? पाण्डवेया नाम That actually the Pandavas are so glorious.
येशाम् गुणगणई कृष्णो Because of their attractive qualities, तो त्यादो भगवान् कृतः That the Lord became the messenger for the Pandavas. Such was the glory of the Pandavas. In the previous chapter, 16th chapter earlier, it was stated how Parikshit Maharaj was very pleased while he was travelling the earth.
At that time when he saw that people, citizens were glorifying him as the descendant of those Pandavas whom the Lord served. So even though there is a distressful situation over here in which the bull is, the bull first appreciates Maharaj Parikshit for the way he has spoken. It’s a, in general, there is, culture is there, etiquette is there, you know, in normal situations to follow the culture or the etiquette is good, but in difficult situations if somebody can follow that, that is wonderful.
So here, even then, he’s just been, he’s been mortally afflicted, but we’ll see that the bull’s consciousness is not affected. In fact, all the future verses in which the bull will speak, the bull will speak profound wisdom wherein he will not at all see, his bodily affliction does not affect his spiritual consciousness, his spiritual insight. And that is a theme which comes again and again in the Bhagavatam, that actually, it is very difficult for us to, normally when pain comes, it is very difficult to tolerate it.
But many characters like Bishu Pitamah, even in the midst of great pain, maintained his composure and spoke profound spiritual wisdom. Parikshit Maharaj himself later, even amidst affliction, will speak profound spiritual wisdom, will rather hear profound spiritual wisdom without being afflicted by anything.