Bhagavatam study 96 1.17.43-18.3 The recent past is just like the present

And thus he is setting up the rule of Dharma. So in this way, he was ruling over in that king just as it was appropriate. That means who was this Pitamaha? Now for, it’s interesting, normally in the Mahabharata context, whenever we refer to the word Pitamaha, we think of Bheeshu Pitamaha.
But for Parishit, his Pitamaha was Yudhishthira. So nestam, upanestam that he had been handed over the kingdom by his grandsire Yudhishthira and he took up that responsibility and he ruled in a responsible and competent way. So when Parishit Maharaj took up the kingdom after Yudhishthira Maharaj decided to go to the forest, so Parishit Maharaj took up the kingdom in a very responsible way.
So he is present right now, that kingdom is right now present, it’s present there. That chief among the Kurus, that actually he is spreading the glories. Another name by Shastinapur is being referred to, Mahabhagash.
It’s extremely fortunate. Chakravarti Bruhashrava, who is a very famous king. So here, Suta Goswami is, you could say, becoming nostalgic.
That glorious Parishit is now ruling the throne which is given to him by Yudhishthira Maharaj and he is fortunate, he is famous, he is a ruling, he is a worthy king of the Kuru dynasty. Now, Vishwanath Chakravarthy explains in his commentary that the present tense is used over here to refer to something which is in the recent past. Chronology in the Bhagavatam can sometimes be confusing because there are multiple levels of nested conversations in the Bhagavatam.
There is one section in the Bhagavatam, there is sixth level nesting. Sixth level nesting means that, I think this comes in the seventh canto, where there is a king who is killed and then to instruct that king, the king’s relatives are lamenting and Yamaraj comes as a boy and Yamaraj instructs. So Yamaraj tells the story over there.
So Yamaraj telling the relatives of that king is one level narrative. And this story is being told by Hiranyakashipu to his family members, to Hiranyak’s children and wife and that story is being told, this narrative of Hiranyakashipurahlad is being told by Yudhishthira Maharaj to Narada Muni and that story of Yudhishthira Maharaj to Narada Muni that is being told by Parishad Maharaj, by Shukadeva Goswami to Parishad Maharaj and that story of Parishad Maharaj and Shukadeva Goswami is being told by Suta Goswami to the sages of Naimisharanya and that story we are hearing now. So there can be multiple levels of nesting in the Bhagavatam.
So exactly what is happening over here, we have to understand carefully. So actually speaking, although in the first canto of the Bhagavatam, if we go forward linearly, it may appear as the first canto happens first and the second canto happens later. So in the first canto, the narration of Suta Goswami to Naimisharanya and the sages that is going on and towards the end of the first canto, Parishad Maharaj being cursed and Parishad Maharaj going to the banks of the Ganga where Shukadeva Goswami comes and then Shukadeva Goswami’s first words are spoken in the second canto.
So it may appear as if linearly, is it that Parishad Maharaj’s conversation with Shukadeva Goswami happens after the conversation of Suta Goswami with Naimisharanya and the sages? No, not at all. Actually, Suta Goswami is present during the full seven day narration which Parishad Maharaj hears from Shukadeva Goswami. Suta Goswami is also one of the students who hears and Suta Goswami becomes enriched with that wisdom and then later when he is travelling across the world, he by the law of the arrangement comes to the place where the sages of Naimisharanya are performing the sacrifice.
So chronologically, what comes first in the Bhagavatam, chronologically that is happening later. So in that sense, the Bhagavatam is not like a, at least it’s not always like a linear history book. If we have a book on history, we may have so ancient history first, medieval history later and modern history after that linearly but it’s not like that.
So when here Suta Goswami is saying that Parishad is now ruling the earth in an illustrious way, that’s actually Parishad is not ruling over here because Parishad had already been cursed and Parishad had gone to the forest and the narration of the Bhagavatam is over. Parishad has already departed from the world. All that has already happened.
But the stress of the Bhagavatam is that this epoch making event is so recent. And this event where the Lord was there, the Lord’s great devotees were there, such great events happened. So recent it appears as if it is just a few years ago that we may talk of it in terms of the present.
So the present tense is used in a nostalgic sense that it is not that far away. That king is sitting on the throne. So now again let’s see here we see that again from the narrative mode there is an inferential mode or there is a conclusion mode over here.
The narrative mode means the incident is being described and from that instruction, now the incident that is not being described now, incident description is over, narration is over but some inference from the narration is being given here. He is saying that just see that great king, he is sitting on the throne. So now, this is text 45 in the Srimad Bhagavatam.
So it is said, what is happening to this great king? He is so carefully, he anubhav is experience. Now experience makes a person very mature. We say somebody is a doctor, they have 25 years of experience and we understand that they must, they don’t just have theoretical knowledge, they have actually ground level knowledge of how to do things.
So itthambhoota, that is Parishad Maharaj was very experienced in dealing with all kinds of difficult situations. Abhimanyu Sutondrupaha. So this person who was the son of Abhimanyu, Abhimanyu Sutondrupaha, he is not an ordinary person.
He is a great person. Yasyapalayatak shaunim. Yasyapalayataha.
He is protecting, he is ruling. Shaunim is the earth. Yuvyam satraya dikshitaha.
And it is by his expertise that you are performing the sacrifice. In general, whenever we hear a story, while talking about a story, we have to understand the relevance of the story. Sometimes the story is relevant when we write, we just write in the beginning.
Or sometimes we may just get caught in the story. So if some story, something happened thousands of years ago, if we hear about say how Julius Caesar conquered a kingdom and then how he was betrayed and how he was killed or whatever. If we are reading a history book or we are reading a novel, which is historical fiction, then we may understand that story is being talked about.
But if suddenly, if in a newspaper today we see something about Julius Caesar or something like that, we wonder, hey, what is going on? What is the context over here? Why is this being talked about? So when we read some information or we come to know some information, the context for that information is very important. So the relevance of that information, how is it connected with us? Unless we give that, then people just, what we are saying, people can’t connect with it. It doesn’t register for people.
So similarly here, Suta Goswami is telling that, O kings, you are able to sit and perform the sacrifice over here because Parikshit Maharaj ruled so competently that he drove away the influence of Kali. And it is only because the influence of Kali has been checked by him that you are able to perform the sacrifice. So he is bringing home the relevance of this narration to them.
Parikshit is not just some remote historical king who did something, but he is a king who is right now doing something for your protection. When we get some information, the information, how actionable it is, how relevant it is important. Say if you are living in India and the Indian government makes a particular policy change, it affects us immediately.
If it decides to demonetize a particular currency or if you are living in America and they decide that we are not going to give visa to a particular kind of people or if you are staying in a particular city and they decide to ban plastic from now on. So then these are rules which affect us immediately. So whenever we give some knowledge, sometimes we just get so caught in giving the knowledge, we may not, and we may feel this knowledge is so important, but people may not understand why that knowledge is important.
So in the Bhagavad Gita, several times in the Bhagavad Gita, in Krishna, say for example, he speaks about the three modes of material nature in the 14th chapter. Before he speaks that, the first two verses, he is talking about the importance of that knowledge. He says, by this knowledge, that I am going to speak again to you this knowledge by which the great sages have attained the supreme liberation, supreme perfection.
That on understanding this knowledge, you can attain perfection and you can go beyond the cycle of birth and death. You can attain liberation. And therefore, you should hear this knowledge, you should understand this knowledge.
So we sometimes give important knowledge, but we also have to tell the importance of that knowledge. We don’t just tell important knowledge, we tell the importance of that knowledge also so that people can connect with it. That is what in conclusion, Parikshit Maharaj, Suta Goswami is doing.
And it is because of that king that dharma is being maintained. Now, of course, Parikshit Maharaj has departed from the world, but that doesn’t mean that dharma is entirely disrupted. Still there is some dharmic rule is there.
And because some dharmic rule is there, that’s why the kings are able to perform, the sages are able to perform the sacrifice. If there had been no dharmic rule, no sacrifice was possible to perform also. And thus the whole idea is to help them appreciate what is being given to them and how it is of great value.
So we go to chapter 18 now, text chapter 18, text 1. Chapter 18 is Maharaj Parikshit cursed by a Brahmana boy. So now Suta is going to now describe a very distressing incident, where Parikshit Maharaj apparently loses his life. So that may make us think that oh, did the Lord protect him at all? Why did the Lord not protect him? But it’s not that the Lord did not protect him.
So just to assure us that that Lord is always there and he always protects, just the way he protects is different for different people. Right in the beginning of this chapter, he’s reminding us that this boy, this king, he was meant to die right in his mother’s womb. Because of the weapon of Drona, the son of Drona, that is Ashwatthama, he was actually burned and he could not even have come out alive from his mother’s womb.
He had met his mother over there. But he had special mercy. He was given special mercy by which that Lord who can perform adbhut karmana, who can do extraordinary karma, that Lord came and delivered him.
So adbhut karmana, sometimes Krishna’s wonderful work is such that we all can perceive it and we all can relish it. And sometimes Krishna’s wonderful work is such that we may not be able to relish it. We may not be able to even understand why is this being done.
So, sometimes Krishna’s protection is in such a way that we can see it to be protection. And right now, at the beginning itself, Parishad Maharaj is, we are being reminded, Suta Goswami is reminding, Sri Yosanai Mishra Aranya is reminding all of us that this is actually, he has been protected. So don’t think that the Lord has abandoned him.
In our own lives also, we have to look at the whole picture. Sometimes in one particular incident, things don’t go as per our plan. And we pray to Krishna for protection and don’t get protection.
And then we start feeling, what is Krishna doing for me? Is Krishna doing anything at all? Does Krishna even exist? Does Krishna even care? And in that way, we start doubting Krishna’s protection. But if we understand that Krishna always protects, but the way he protects varies from person to situation to situation. So rather than demanding his protection on our terms, we look back at the times when he has protected us.
And based on those times, we focus on seeking his protection. We focus on being open-minded and expectant. Obviously open-minded.
Let me see what Krishna is going to do. He is adbhut karmana. The way he works is inconceivable.
So let me not become judgmental about not protecting me because a particular thing is happening. Let me focus on trying to serve him. Because of the anger of a brahmana, by that, the snake bird Taksha came and prana vipalavat means he actually caused the vipalava, vipalava is destruction.
Prana vipalava means he caused the death of Parikshit. So, na sammamoho roop bhayad, but even in that situation, na sammamoho, he was not overwhelmed by illusion or by fear, bhagvatya arpitashaya, he had offered his consciousness to the Lord. So in a summary, the incident is being described over here.
It is interesting that normally, whenever astrologers do some prediction, they do not talk about the death of the person. If some astrologers have a reasonable, good hold on grasp of astrology, then they will be able to understand what is going to happen to a particular person. And they can even know when a person is going to die.
But usually, they do not tell that. But we see in the case of Parikshit Maharaj, it was told right in the beginning. When Parikshit Maharaj, before he was born, after he was conceived, or just when he was born, when the astrologers were doing the horoscope, at that time, they told, oh, he will be as glorious as this, as this, as this, as this.
There is a whole series of his glory described. But then in one verse, it is described that he will die because of a curse. So, Yudhishthira Maharaj does not get obsessed over that, oh, he is going to die.
No, he says, everybody is born at some time, everyone lives for some time, everybody dies at some time. So, there is nothing to get unduly worked up about that. So, saying this, Bhagavatam has referred to the death of Parikshit already once before, and here also, his death is being talked about in quite a nonchalant way.
He says, he was protected at the time of birth. But what was the protection? He was protected at the time of death also. That protection was that he was not overwhelmed, he was not fearful, he was not, he did not go into illusion.
Why? Because his consciousness was offered to Bhagavat Arpitashaya. His consciousness he had fully offered to the Supreme Lord and that is ultimately what matters. Actually speaking, we all have to make choices in our life that when distresses come, do we take shelter of Krishna or do we become disheartened and go away from Krishna.
So, Krishna’s protection can sometimes come in the form of relief from problems, sometimes it may come in the form of relief amidst the problems. The problem continues, but our consciousness rises above the problem and that is how we get relief. So, the first verse talks about release from problems, that Drona, the only astra, the weapon of Ashwathama, Parikshit was protected from that.
But Brahmakopa, he was not protected at a material level from that, but his consciousness was elevated above spiritually and thus he was protected also. So, sometimes Krishna may protect through relief, release from problems, sometimes he may protect by giving us relief amidst the problems. So, we just have to focus on whatever way we can get the best protection and move on.
Text 3, Utsrutya Sarvatah Sangam, Vijnata Jit Samstiti, Vaiyya Sakhir Jahun Shishyo, Gangayam Swam Kalevaram. Now, this is basically like a summary of what is going to come later in this scripture. Utsrutya Sarvatah Sangam, he gave up all bad association or all material association, all attachment to material things.
Vijnata Jit Samstiti, Vijnata Ajita Samstiti, he understood that beyond all this world is the position of Lord Hari and therefore, it is that Lord with whom we should connect. It is that Lord with whom we should, with whom we should, whose shelter we should seek and by seeking shelter of that Lord, we can attain life’s perfection and thus we can go forwards. So, it is interesting.
Vaiyya Sakhir Jahun Shishyo, he actually gave, he went and took shelter of, he became a disciple of Vaiyya Sakhir. Vaiyya Sakhir is son of Vyasa, that is Sukadeva Goswami. Gangayam Swam Kalevaram and there he gave up his body, Swam Kalevaram.
So, the signifying point is that when there is disruption in this world, he knew beyond that there is no disruption in the position of the Lord. Just because there is disruption in our position does not mean that there is disruption in Krishna’s position. So, we need to seek shelter and security in Krishna’s position, not in our position.
Yes, we all, we all need a particular position. We have particular roles, responsibilities, services and accordingly we need some position in this world. But that should not be the sole basis of our security.
Our security has to come from Krishna’s position. Krishna’s position means that we understand that it is Krishna who is the supreme and it is he who is our Lord and his position is never going to change. So, no matter whether floods happen, cancer happens, heartbreak happens, people cheat us, people betray us, no matter what happens, still Krishna is playing his flute in the spiritual world and still Krishna reigns supreme beyond whatever terrible things happen in this world.
So, when we lose our position, instead of obsessing on the loss of that position, we have to fix our consciousness on Krishna’s position. That is what Parishad Maharaj does always, vijnat ajita samsthiti. That means he knew ajita samsthiti, he knew the supreme position of Lord Ajita.
That is unshakable and if I fix my consciousness on him, then even my position will become unshakable. So, he, when his position in this world was disrupted, we could say not just disrupted but terminated by this brahma kopa, by this curse of a brahmana, Parishad did not get agitated, Parishad did not get disheartened. Instead, he focused on wholeheartedly taking shelter of Lord Hari by going to a devotee of Lord Hari and hearing from him and there he gave up his body.
Now, the body needs some position in this world for some security, for doing certain things in this world but the sole security is in Krishna and to the extent we rise to spiritual consciousness, to that extent we all can relish that spiritual security. So, how Parishad Maharaj gets the spiritual security is the overall narrative of the Srimad Bhagavatam and that