Entourage

Here's another excerpt from the book

"Sri Guru and His Grace," 

by
Srila Bhakti Rakshak Shridhara deva 
Goswami Maharaja

 

 compiled, edited and published by 

His Holiness Bhakti Sudhir Goswami 

and B. V.  Mahayogi, Editor-in-Chief at Guardian of Devotion Press, 1984.

Kṛṣṇa is Not Alone

Kṛṣṇa is not alone. A king is always present with his entourage, his great establishment. If one is really to approach the king, it must be done through the proper channel. 

Kṛṣṇa is always surrounded by a big hierarchy, a big bureaucracy, and one cannot approach Kṛṣṇa directly. 

Krishna and associates, artist's depiction.

He whose approach is real must select a proper channel. He cannot but praise those devotees and revere them for their magnanimity. 

Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura, parikrama, braja-mandal, 1932

It is only by their help that we can get the nearness of Kṛṣṇa. Should we think it possible that one can take a jump across the whole system and approach the king? It is unreal.

Royal guard, China, terracotta soldiers of Chu 200 B.C.

Someone may be externally engaged in such a way that apparently he is a great devotee of Kṛṣṇa, but if he eliminates the devotees, that devotion has not taken real shape; it is a vague thing. 

Mirabai

He is far away from Kṛṣṇa. Suppose we take as an example the highest peak in the Himalayas, Mount Everest. 

We can see Mount Everest from far off. But to approach Mount Everest, we must pass through so many closer mountain peaks. 

When our approach to Mount Everest is genuine, we cannot avoid discovering the name and characteristic of other peaks surrounding Mount Everest. But from far off we can see only Mount Everest and not the other peaks surrounding it. 

So, when we say that our connection is with Kṛṣṇa alone, then we are far off. 

Mirabai

If we are to actually approach the king, we must approach him through his entourage. If we are actually to approach Everest, we cannot but have a connection with the nearer peaks surrounding that highest peak. So, if we are practically engaged in approaching Kṛṣṇa, our approach will be realistic only when we are engaged with the many devotees in different departments of service to Kṛṣṇa.

The real test of devotion

I noted when we were preaching in South India, that whenever any gentleman who was a renowned devotee in a particular place approached our Guru Mahārāj, Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākur Prabhupād, he used to ask such men, “Under whose guidance does your devotional service to Kṛṣṇa go on?” Generally they used to say, “No, no, I am directly concerned with Lord Kṛṣṇa and Lord Rāma.” Then, when they went away, we heard our Guru Mahārāj say, “He has no devotion.” 

That person was dismissed as an imitation devotee. That is a vague kind of devotion. It has not taken any particular shape because he is ignoring the āśraya, the shelter-giving devotees in the positions surrounding the Lord. That is the great test of devotion.

Otherwise, without taking shelter of a devotee, if one shows great devotion, what is his motive? Generally they think, “We want liberation, not the service of Kṛṣṇa. To earn liberation, we are accepting the devotion of Kṛṣṇa.” That is a lower form of worship—worldly worship—not real worship in the transcendental plane. That is not eternal, but temporary. 

"to earn liberation is a lower form of worship"

Devotion to the Lord must not be subservient to any other aim of life. The desire for liberation is one criterion of an imitation devotee, and another criterion is the neglect of elevated devotees. When the Lord alone is being worshipped, that is also false. These two kinds of apparent devotional practices which are generally seen in the world may be dismissed. But the world does not get any news of all these things.

Just as in the beginning one sees the forest from a distance, but in the end he enters the inner circle of the forest, so from far off Kṛṣṇa alone appears to be the āśraya, the giver of shelter,

 but when we approach Kṛṣṇa more closely, we will find our shelter among his devotees. Our real shelter is found within His inner circle of servitors, not with Kṛṣṇa directly.

Inner circle of servitors, artist's conception

We are of a vitiated nature, but there are those who under no circumstances deviate from Kṛṣṇa. 

They are the eternal paraphernalia of the Lord. They are not like us; they are eternally connected with Kṛṣṇa, but we are sometimes coming and going away; we are unreliable servitors. That is our position, so we cannot claim the same position as the absolute servitors of the Lord. 

Under their guidance we can be given the chance of service, so we must accept that position. 

We are recruits, we are not amongst the permanent servitors of Kṛṣṇa. We must perform our service under a bona fide superior. 

The new followers must be gradually accommodated under some bona fide, permanent servitors in the land of Kṛṣṇa.

Origins

Birth of the Pandavas

Yudhisthira replied, "Forgive me, my dear mother, if I spoke harshly of you. Perhaps the fog of war has clouded my judgement. But what you have told me astonishes the mind. Karna was my brother, begot in secret by the sungod himself. And what of us? What secrets have you withheld about our own births? I have heard strange stories about Arjuna. Some say he is the son of Indra, god of thunder? What of our origins?"

King Yudhisthira, seated, Bhima, left, and Arjuna, right

Kunti lowered her eyes. "As you have ordered me to divulge family secrets, I shall now tell you of your origins and the birth and origins of your brothers, the warriors men call the Pandavas. Some time passed after the birth of Karna. And as I reached the age when women marry, my adoptive father Kuntibhoja held a great swayamvara ceremony. As you know, at this ceremony a girl can pick her suitor from a number of gallant princes who test their strength at arms. 

 Your grandfather Bhishma invited your father Paṇḍu to attend. Your father was a very handsome man in those days and as soon as I saw him I knew he was right for me. When the contests at arms were settled he emerged the champion.  I awarded him the nuptial garland and chose him as my husband. Soon thereafter the wedding was celebrated with great pomp.

Now, Paṇḍu was a great warrior. Almost as soon as he had assumed the throne, he began widely conquering other kingdoms and bringing them under the sway of the great kingdom of the Kurus, Kurujangala. In this way, he advanced the fame of Hastinapura. Now Bhishmadeva was concerned about ensuring the the survival of the dynasty of his father.  He felt that the king would have a greater chance of a healthy succession if he had two wives. And so it was that Bhishmadev looked for another wife for your father. Soon after we were married he a suitable second wife for the great Pandu. He found Madri, the daughter of the great king Madra to be a suitable match. After negotiating the match with the king of Madra, they too were married.

Kunti, Madri, and Pandu

Married to great princesses and ready to rule the throne of all the Indias, the mighty Paṇḍu, your father, was crowned King of Hastinapura. There was a grand coronation ceremony and all the kings and princes of the surrounding provinces came to pay their tribute to the lord of Kurujangala, Hastinapura and the throne of all the Indias, the great Pandu.

After all the celebration, your father wanted to retire to the forest to enjoy the great natural scenery of the woods, to live a simple life, and to hunt the great tigers that maraud the elephants.

Tiger-hunting

Our adventure in the woods led Pandu to the  great curse that would bring misfortune upon our family. 

In those days the kshatriyas could hunt as practice for the work of a warrior. As it is the dharma of a warrior to fight, he must sometimes practice, taking the life of an animal in the hunt. But your father's passion for hunting would lead us all to disaster. We would soon rue the day that your father Paṇḍu drew his arrow against some harmless deer in the woods.

I have never told you this my son, but, since you have cursed me to tell my secretes, now I will describe this terrible curse. 

It so happened that one day when Paṇḍu was hunting he came upon a stag and a doe in the act of mating. The warlike Paṇḍu, your father, drew his arrow and fixed his bow. With one shot he killed the stag. As the stag lay dying, it was transformed into a brahmana. The wounded doe, was transformed into a fine woman of the brahmaṇa class. It seems that these two brahmanas were mystic forest sages who roamed the woods and lived humbly, meditating and seeking the truth, liberating themselves from their material existence by means of yoga.

“She and her husband had taken the form of a deer and a stag in the act of mating - out of shame, that none might see them in the sexual act. As her husband lie dying, the doe looked at the noble Paṇḍu, and cursed him, saying, "Just as you have killed my husband in the sexual act, so you will die when you approach your wife for begetting children. So I curse you. And thus saying, that woman disappered by mystic power."

Grief-stricken by the curse, your father the great king arrived at our camp, his face pallied and ashen. When Madri and I asked him what was the matter, he told us the news of this terrible curse of the brahmanas. We who had so much to celebrate were now heart-broken.

"We who had so much to celebrate, were now heartbroken"