Transcendental Nectar of Sadhu-Sanga

by

Sushen Krishna Das, Ph.D.

Bhaktivedanta Institute

www.mahaprabhu.net/harmonizer

jaga.suresh@gmail.com

Mob: +91-9748906907 

This is a reply to this message in the group.

Dear Dr. Diwakar Sukul:

Here is a link for an interesting video where Harvard-educated neurosurgeon Allan J. Hamilton talking about the miraculous and unexplainable things he has witnessed in the surgery room in “The Scalpel and the Soul”.

In Bhagavad-gita 2.13 Lord Sri Krishna says that: dehino 'smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara tatha dehantara-praptir dhiras tatra na muhyati, “As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.” We have also mentioned in our previous post (see Rebirth and Subjective Evolution) that subtle body (mind (mana), intelligence (buddhi) and false ego (ahamkara)) carries the soul from one body to another body in the same way as it carries the soul from a child body to young body and from a young body to the old body.

The Vedas tells us that we should try to come out of this repeated cycles of birth and death by elevating our consciousness from bodily (both gross and subtle body) plane to the plane of Krishna consciousness. India is also known as Bharata-varsha and this name is given on the name of a great pious king Bharat Maharaja who was the emperor of the whole world in his time. The story of Bharat Maharaja which is elaborated in Srimad Bhagavatam will be very much helpful to understand this subject matter. Below is a summery of the story about Bharat Maharaja by Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

 

Bharata Maharaja performed various ritualistic ceremonies (Vedic yajnas) and satisfied the Supreme Lord by his different modes of worship. In due course of time, he left home and resided in forest and passed his days in devotional activities. Although Bharata Maharaja was very elevated, he fell down due to his attachment to a young deer. One day after Bharata Maharaja had taken his bath as usual in the River Gandaki and was chanting his mantra, he saw a pregnant deer come to the river to drink water. Suddenly there could be heard the thundering roar of a lion, and the deer was so frightened that it immediately gave birth to its calf. It then crossed the river, but died immediately thereafter.

 

Maharaja Bharata took compassion upon the motherless calf, rescued it from the water, took it to his asrama and cared for it affectionately. He gradually became attached to this young deer and always thought of it affectionately. As it grew up, it became Maharaja Bharata's constant companion, and he always took care of it. Gradually he became so absorbed in thinking of this deer that his mind became agitated. As he became more attached to the deer, his devotional service slackened. Although he was able to give up his opulent kingdom, he became attached to the deer. Thus he fell down from his mystic yoga practice. Once when the deer was absent, Maharaja Bharata was so disturbed that he began to search for it. While searching and lamenting the deer's absence, Maharaja Bharata fell down and died.

 

Because his mind was fully absorbed thinking of the deer, he naturally took his next birth from the womb of a deer. However, because he was considerably advanced spiritually, he did not forget his past activities, even though he was in the body of a deer. He could understand how he had fallen down from his exalted position, and remembering this, he left his mother deer and again went to Pulaha-asrama. He finally ended his fruitive activities in the form of a deer, and when he died he was released from the deer's body and attained a body of a brahmana. After having given up the body of a deer, he took birth in the womb of the youngest wife of a brahmana and his name became known as Jada Bharata.

 

In this life he could also remember the activities of his past life, and in order to avoid the influence of society, he remained like a deaf and dumb person. He was very careful not to fall down again. He did not mix with anyone who was not a devotee. This process should be adopted by every devotee. As advised by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu: asat-sanga-tyaga -- ei vaishnava-acara. One should strictly avoid the company of nondevotees, even though they may be family members. When Bharata Maharaja was in the body of a brahmana, the people in the neighborhood thought of him as a crazy, dull fellow, but within he was always chanting and remembering Vasudeva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

 

Although his father wanted to give him an education and purify him as a brahmana by offering him the sacred thread, he remained in such a way that his father and mother could understand that he was crazy and not interested in the reformatory method. Nonetheless, he remained fully Krishna conscious, even without undergoing such official ceremonies. Due to his silence, some people who were no better than animals began to tease him in many ways, but he tolerated this. After the death of his father and mother, his stepmother and stepbrothers began to treat him very poorly. They would give him the most condemned food, but still he did not mind; he remained completely absorbed in Krishna consciousness.

 

He was ordered by his stepbrothers and mother to guard a paddy field one night, and at that time the leader of a dacoit party took him away and tried to kill him by offering him as a sacrifice before Bhadra Kali. When the dacoits brought Bharata Maharaja before the goddess Kali and raised a chopper to kill him, the goddess Kali became immediately alarmed due to the mistreatment of her Master’s (Lord Sri Krishna) devotee. She came out of the deity and, taking the chopper in her own hands, killed all the dacoits there. Thus a pure devotee of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Lord Sri Krishna can remain silent despite the mistreatment of nondevotees. Rogues and dacoits who misbehave toward a devotee are punished at last by the arrangement of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

 

Then once King Rahugana (ruler of the states known as Sindhu and Sauvira) forced Jada Bharata to carry his palanquin and chastised him because he did not carry it properly. A carrier of King Rahugana's palanquin was needed, and to fulfill this need the chief carriers found Jada Bharata as the most likely person to do the work. He was therefore forced to carry the palanquin. Jada Bharata, however, did not protest this proud order, but humbly accepted the job and carried the palanquin. While carrying it, however, he was very careful to see that he did not step on an ant, and whenever he saw one, he would stop until the ant had passed. Because of this, he could not keep pace with the other carriers. The King within the palanquin became very disturbed and chastised Jada Bharata with filthy language, but Jada Bharata, being completely freed from the bodily conception, did not protest; he proceeded carrying the palanquin.

 

When he continued as before, the King threatened him with punishment, and being threatened by the King, Jada Bharata began to talk. He protested against the filthy language used by the King when the King chastised him, and the King, hearing the instructions of Jada Bharata, was awakened to his real knowledge. When he came to his consciousness, he understood that he had offended a great, learned and saintly person. At that time he very humbly and respectfully prayed to Jada Bharata. He now wanted to understand the deep meaning of the philosophical words used by Jada Bharata, and with great sincerity, he begged his pardon. He admitted that if one offends the lotus feet of a pure devotee of Lord Krishna, he is certainly punished by the trident of Lord Siva.

 

The brahmana Jada Bharata instructs Maharaja Rahugana in detail. He told to the King: "You are not very experienced, yet you pose yourself as a learned person because you are very proud of your knowledge. Actually a person who is on the transcendental platform does not care for social behavior that sacrifices spiritual advancement. Social behavior comes within the jurisdiction of karma-kanda, material benefit. No one can spiritually advance by such activities. The conditioned soul is always overpowered by the modes of material nature and consequently he is simply concerned with material benefits and auspicious and inauspicious material things.

 

In other words, the mind, which is the leader of the senses, is absorbed in material activities life after life. Thus he continuously gets different types of bodies and suffers miserable material conditions. On the basis of mental concoction, social behavior has been formulated. If one's mind is absorbed in these activities, he certainly remains conditioned within the material world. According to different opinions, there are eleven or twelve mental activities, which can be transformed into hundreds and thousands. A person who is not Krishna conscious is subjected to all these mental concoctions and is thus governed by the material energy.

 

The living entity who is free from mental concoctions attains the platform of pure spirit soul, devoid of material contamination. There are two types of living entities -- jivatma and Paramatma, the individual soul and the Supreme Soul. That Supreme Soul in His ultimate realization is Lord Vasudeva, Krishna. He enters into everyone's heart and controls the living entity in his different activities. He is therefore the supreme shelter of all living entities. One can understand the Supreme Soul and one's position in relationship with Him when one is completely freed from the unwanted association of ordinary men. In this way one can become fit to cross the ocean of nescience. The cause of conditional Life is attachment to the external energy. One has to conquer these mental concoctions: unless one does so, he will never be freed from material anxieties.

 

Although mental concoctions have no value, their influence is still very formidable. No one should neglect to control the mind. If one does, the mind becomes so powerful that one immediately forgets his real position. Forgetting that he is an eternal servant of Krishna and that service to Krishna is his only business, one is doomed by material nature to serve the objects of the senses. One should kill mental concoctions by the sword of service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead Lord Sri Krishna and His devotee [guru-krishna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija]"

 

Maharaja Rahugana offers his respectful obeisances to Jada Bharata, who was concealing his real position. The King could understand by his speech how exalted and advanced he was in spiritual knowledge. He very much regretted his offense against him. Maharaja Rahugana was bitten by the serpent of ignorance, but was cured by the nectarean words of Jada Bharata. Later, because he was doubtful about the subjects discussed, he made further inquiries, one question after another. First he wanted to be released from the offense he had committed at the lotus feet of Jada Bharata.

 

Maharaja Rahugana was somewhat unhappy at not being able to grasp Jada Bharata's instructions, which were full of meaning that could not be understood by a materialistic person. Therefore Jada Bharata repeated his instructions more clearly. He said that on the surface of the globe all living entities, moving and unmoving, were but transformations of the earth in different ways. The King was very proud of his king's body, but that body was simply another transformation of the earth. Out of his false prestige, the King was misbehaving toward the palanquin carrier. As a master toward a servant, and he was actually very unkind to other living entities. Consequently King Rahugana was unfit to give protection to the citizens, and because he was ignorant, he was unfit to be counted among advanced philosophers.

 

Everything in the material world is but a transformation of the earth, although things have different names according to their transformations. Actually the varieties are one and the same, and ultimately all these varieties are vanquished into atoms. Nothing is permanent in this material world. The variety of things and their distinctions are simply mental concoctions. The Absolute Truth is beyond illusion and is manifest in three features -- impersonal Brahman, localized Paramatma and the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Ultimate realization of the Absolute Truth is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, called Vasudeva by His devotees. Unless one is blessed with the dust from the feet of a pure devotee on his head, one cannot possibly become a devotee of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

 

Jada Bharata also told about his own previous birth and informed the King that by the grace of the Lord he still remembered all the incidents of his past life. Due to the activities of his past life, Jada Bharata was being very cautious and was therefore assuming the characteristics of a deaf and dumb man to avoid mingling with the material world. Association with the material modes of nature is very powerful. The bad association of materialistic men can be avoided only in the association of devotees. In the association of devotees, one is given an opportunity to render devotional service in nine different ways -- sravanam kirtanam vishnoh smaranam pada-sevanam arcanam vandanam dasyam sakhyam atma-nivedanam [Simad Bhagavatam 7.5.23]. In this way, in the association of devotees, one can pass over material association, cross over the ocean of nescience and return home, back to Godhead.

Sincerely,

Sushen Krishna das