It is understood from this statement that the opulence of household life were exhibited in valuable jewels, ivory, first-class marble, and furniture made of gold and jewels. The clothes are also mentioned as being decorated with golden filigree. Everything actually had some value. It was not like the furniture of the present day, which is cast in valueless plastic or base metal. The way of Vedic civilization is that whatever was used in household affairs had to be valuable. In case of need, such items of value could be exchanged immediately. Thus one’s broken and unwanted furniture and paraphernalia would never be without value. This system is still followed by Indians in household affairs. They keep metal utensils and golden ornaments or silver plates and valuable silk garments with gold embroidery, and in case of need, they can have some money in exchange immediately. There are exchanges for the moneylenders and the householders.
Within today’s sloka, there is a description being given of the most wonderful celestial mansion that was created by the mystic power of kardama muni for the pleasure and comforts of his wife devahuti. It has been explained that devahuti was the daughter of svayambhuva manu who was the leader of all humanity like a king. And he lived with such royalty and opulences. But he was a great devotee of the Lord and everything he had he utilized in the loving service of the Lord. And when it came time to marry his daughter, he understood that the purpose of this human life is only for self realization. It is never meant for sense gratification. And that a proper husband, a proper father, a proper guru, a proper teacher is one who teaches by example and by words the way of self realization for ones dependence.
gurur na sa syät sva-jano na sa syät
pitä na sa syäj janané na sä syät
So of all the great kings and princes, even demigods who would have loved to have married devahuti, he had to make a choice. It is explained that this devahuti was so pious; she was so pure in heart, so gentle and so beautiful, she was so chaste and so humble. It is explained that even when the demigods of the higher planets would see the beauty of devahuti from their flower airplanes, they would faint and fall to the ground. So certainly svayambhuva manu could have selected anyone he so desired to be the husband of his daughter. But of everyone he chose kardama muni who was a great rishi. He had no money, he had no home, he was living in the forest performing severe tapasya; he would be fasting, always meditating on the supreme Lord’s lotus feet. It is explained that he performed such tapasya in devotional service to Lord Vishnu that Vishnu seeing His devotee enduring so much hardship for His sake, He began to cry tears and the tears of Vishnu filled the lake where kardama muni was residing in the forest. And that began to known as bindu sarovar. So by the arrangement of the supreme Lord, devahuti was married to kardama muni. And svayambhuva manu, the emperor of all humanity, gave his blessings to his daughter to assist her husband in every way possible.
Radhanath swami on Real wealth .
And assisting her husband meant living in the forest, wearing practically nothing but the barks of trees and doing tapasya. And sometime her husband would not eat or drink anything for days and weeks because he was so absorbed in his Samadhi. And devahuti being a chaste and faithful wife, she would never take any food or drink until after her husband. So soon her beautiful, beautiful body which was full of light and full of such inconceivable opulences, it became very thin immatiated0.9.4.0. Her wonderful silken hair became matted. Her beautiful eyes lost their luster, because she was willing to sacrifice anything, because she considered her husband to be the representative in her life of the supreme Lord Sri Krishna. But it was her natural inclination as a young lady that she wanted a child. And kardama muni seeing so many years she endured so many hardships living in the jungles for him that he decided that “I should bestow upon her a beautiful son.” But the condition of living in the forest was so pious and so austere that the particular function that is required to have a son simply was not possible under those circumstances. So by his tremendous powers what he did is he created a fantastic mansion. In this mansion there was no wood or plastic or cement or plaster. It was all made of gold and silver and beautiful, beautiful jewels, diamonds and rubies and emeralds, lapaslazuli, everything was only this. And there were wonderful parks with all auspicious flower bearing and fruit bearing trees and only auspicious birds like swans and peacocks and parrots. And he also created by his mystic power thousands and thousands of beautiful maid servants and attendants who were all wearing the most luxurious silken garments and wonderful jewelleries and who all had such young and beautiful features. And they were all completely obedient to lovingly execute any order asked to them. It was like a heavenly planet. But there was something was unique about this heavenly abode. Is, it was like an airplane. It flew. No one can do like this today. It’s like we are at this beautiful temple and if we want to go somewhere sometimes we don’t want to leave the temple. Wouldn’t it be nice if we want to go to Delhi and we can just take all the gardens and all the devotees and whole temple and everything and just within seconds arrive in Delhi? So called modern technology, they have created airplanes. And the best airplane is Boeing 727. They are big. They not made of gold or silver, jewels. They are made out of base metals. And as you are flying in these airplanes, you don’t hear the sweet chirping of peacocks and parrots and swans and you don’t hear celestial maidens singing Vedic hymns. You just hear the terrible obnoxious roar of engines. And you are not surrounded by beautiful lakes and flowers and wonderful, wonderful spacious facilities. But you are crammed into a little seat. And all around you are people just waiting to get out. And then there are all sorts of warnings that if this plane falls in the water, there is a life raft under your seat. In the middle of the ocean you be floating around in a life raft and there is the whistle that you can call the sharks to come and eat you. Who is going to hear you in the middle of the ocean? And also in case there are turbulences and you become nauseas and sick to your stomach there is a bag that you can vomit in. and also somehow or other plane catches on fire and you have to get out there is an exit ramp and this is where the exit ramps are you just break the window and jump out onto the ramp. And in case this airplane loses all oxygen and you are suffocating to death, then oxygen mask would fall and put it on yourself before your children. And hopefully you will survive long enough to save your child. And also in case we crash, there is a seat belt that you should fasten right now. And for your convenience if you need anyone to come and help you just press this button. They are telling you before you start that this is the demoniac situation in which you may suffer or die. Which is actually good because when a devotee hears these things he is not concerned with seat belts or life rafts or vomit bags or exit ramps? He just begins to chant very attentively the holy names of Krishna.
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
But even if it’s a good flight, when you come out after so many hours you have jet lag, you just want to go to sleep, your ears are clogged from all the noise, drained of all energy. Like this. And plus you have to pay so much just to suffer like this because you want to get to one place to another
Radhanath Swami on True Relation
But Sri Kardama muniji because of his great mystic perfections and his devotion to God, such an airplane he created and it went so fast that it could go from one planet to another in a matter of minutes and yet it never appeared to even be moving, because everything was so comfortably situated and he didn’t need a pilot. Just wherever he desired he would just chant the mantra and then he would just enjoy with his wife and it go to one heavenly planet to another. So in this atmosphere because devahuti was such a great devotee of the Lord and kardama muni was also such a surrendered soul, the Supreme Personality of Godhead incarnated from their divine relationship. And He appeared as Lord Kapiladev. Now after Kardama muniji created such wonderful, wonderful facilities for comforts. After the son was born he felt that “now I have done my work. Now my wife, she will be protected by son.” And after Kapila dev grew up a little, kardama muni left back into the jungles into the forest to simply fix his mind in the loving service of Sri Krishna. And as far as devahuti, she raised her child with great love and affection. And Kapiladev, when he became slightly older, He began to preach to His mother transcendental knowledge. And it is explained that Lord Kapila dev was the incarnation of the supreme opulence of knowledge. As parasara muni has said,
aiçvaryasya samägrasya
véryasya yaçasaù çriyaù
jïäna-vairägyayoç caiva
ñaëëaà bhäga itiìgaëa
That bhagvan, Supreme Personality of Godhead possesses six opulences in full. He has all beauty, all knowledge, all strength, all wealth, all fame and all renunciation. And the Lord in His original form of Sri Krishna possesses all of these six opulences to its supreme most degree. But in His various incarnations into this world, He manifests particular opulences to such excellent degree according to the purpose of that particular incarnation. Just like narnarayan rishi exhibited the supreme opulence of renunciation. Such tapasya He did no one ever could or will be able to duplicate as He was living in badrikashram. And Lord Vamandev also exhibited renunciation as well as the opulence of beauty. And Lord Parasuram and Lord Narsimha dev, the opulence of strength. Sri Ramchandra exhibited especially His opulence of divine beauty and fame. And such incarnations as prthu maharaj revealed the dive opulences of great wealth and administrative power. Kapiladev revealed to the world the opulence of the Lord’s supreme knowledge. And He spoke this Sankhya philosophy. And the combination of all of His incredible explanations was pure devotional service. Lord Kapiladev explains systematically all of the elements of material nature, how they were created? How they are interrelating with one another? What each one’s particular function is? The twenty four material elements are explained in full, the nature of the mind, the nature of the intelligence, the nature of the ego. There is no other explanation of material creation that is so precise, conclusive and accurate as that of Lord Kapiladev. The scientist today, they are speculating in so many ways trying to discover how this material existence is operating. But if they want to truly understand all they have to do is read the teachings of Lord Kapiladev. He is speaking as the authority because He is the actual creator of this material creation. If you want to understand a particular product you have to understand from the person who has created it. Just like if you buy a maruti automobile, you do not go to get an instruction manual from the Hindustani motor company. The manufactures of maruti knows how the maruti runs, what its function is and what they have utilized? So similarly if we want to understand the nature of this material existence, we can only understand it properly from God who has created it and He has given in the scriptures his instruction manual. And Vedvyas has recorded the words that Lord Kapiladev spoke to His beloved mother. And as I has explained the combination of everything that He has explained is that we must associate with devotees of the Lord, we must hear the glories of the Lord, chant the names of the Lord and develop pure unalloying devotion. Because that is the purpose of this entire creation to bring independent rebellious souls again back to their same consciousness of becoming the loving surrendered servants of Lord Sri Krishna. He explicitly describes the process of devotional service and how it is to be executed. And after He tells His beloved mother devahuti “now I have given you all knowledge. I have done my service as a son, now I will go. Now I will live the life of renounciation.” Some people, they have forgotten the essence of the principle of life which is revealed in the Vedas.
The Principle Essene By Radhanath Swami
The duty of the son, who is putra, is to deliver the parents from hellish conditions. The duty of the son is not simply like is popular believe today, to maintain the parents body until they die. That may be a social duty in many cases. But the real purpose of a son is to deliver the parents from the repetition of birth and death. So Kapiladev after giving His mother the understanding of the goal of life, He said “now dear mother with your blessings and permission I will leave. You will not see Me again.” And devahuti although she loved Him more than she loved her own life, she naturally gave her permission and blessings because she knew it was His mission to leave. And after Kapila dev left, devahuti began to follow His instructions. She utilized every moment of her day in the process of bhakti. Always thinking of Krishna, worshipping His form as a deity, hearing His glories, associating with His devotees, chanting His names and it is described here the beautiful, beautiful household atmosphere that devahuti was living in, today’s verse explain that the walls of the house was made of first class marble, decorated with valuable jewels, there was no need of light, for the house was illuminated by the rays of these jewels, the female members of the household were all amply decorated with jewellery. But yet for devahuti, she did not see any enjoyment in any of her circumstances. Because, from one point of view, her real attachments in this world were naturally for her husband kardama muni and her son Kapiladev. And they had both left her alone. So although see was in rapture in intense separation from her son especially, who was so beautiful, who was such an object to put all your affection and love Him. Can you imagine having the Supreme Personality of Godhead as your own child and then He leaves you? This happens. Just as Ram left koushalya to live in the forest for so many long years. And Krishna, He left yashoda to live in Mathura and dwarka. In a similar way Kapiladev, He left His mother. But in living within her heart, He was more intensely present and reciprocating with her affection. So completely immersed in thinking of the supreme Lord in the form of her own son, she lost all attraction for even most heavenly opulences. That can’t be imagined. It is explained here that although there was the most wonderful foods, the most wonderful everything, she didn’t even cared to put on her luxurious clothes or jewellery. She just started wearing old clothes. And she was bathing three times a day and for performing so much tapasya, that soon her hair started turning grey. She didn’t care anything anymore for her own beauty or all the beauty around her. Why?
paraà dåñövä nivartate
because she was experiencing the beauty of Krishna. And all this so called beautiful things in this world they turn pale and unattractive in the presence of the beauty of Krishna. Srila Rupa Goswami has prayed in his prayer, he has warned us, that if you want to remain attached to your wealth, to your prestige, to your society, to your home and all of this other things then please do not go to the bank of jamuna where Krishna is standing playing upon His flute standing in His most wonderful three form bending form. Because once you see that divine form, you will have no more attraction for anything of these things of the world. Because Krishna is the source of all beauty. As our guru maharaj used to say “if you have one lakh of rupees you are not in need of one paisa or two paisa or one rupee or two rupees. If you have a lakh of rupees you are not in need of anything.” Similarly when we have Krishna who is full of all pleasure, who is full of all opulences and what is our need? What is the requirement for the objects of affection in this material world? Of course a devotee, who develops affection for Krishna, becomes the most affectionate person to all living beings, but not in the basis of illusion. Not in the basis of selfish attachment. But he becomes affectionate on the basis of truth. The affection is for the spiritual soul within everything the substance of existence. And his affection is no longer based on a selfish desire to exploit. But it is based on the selfless desire to serve. So this was devahuti’s divine realization by following the path of bhakti. People of this world are striving so much to get some jewelry, to get some nice clothes, nice food, to get a nice house and decorate it. Devahuti had all this things and to her all just look like a desert.
WHY?
Why? Because when you see the sun all the little candles around do not have much significance. In the pitch dark of night sometimes fireflies make nice displays of light. They think that they are very powerful, how they are lighting the little directions around them? But when sun rises, the fire fly is insignificant. In the same way all the manifestations of beautiful charm in this world are insignificant in the face of Krishna who is the source of all charm, of all sweetness and of all beauty. And who is the natural recipient of all affection and all love. So devahuti, she lived in constant remembrance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead .and even while living under such wonderful, wonderful conditions of life, she didn’t leave it, she used it for Krishna’s service. It was meant for that purpose only to be utilized in Krishna’s service not for her own enjoyment. And this is actually the perfection of life. To see everything of this world as a facility to be used in Krishna’s service, to see nothing for our own selfish exploitative desires. and that is the divine consciousness of a bhakta. The karma kandis who follow the path of performance of yajna and worship of devatas, they feel that the goal of life is to enjoy to maximum degree. And of course we should be pious, we shouldn’t hurt anyone and by living in this way and working hard and doing proper yajna, we can get beautiful home, beautiful family, nice health and in the future we can be elevated to heavenly abodes where we can live for millions and millions of years with no problems, no sufferings. In the heavenly planets there is no earthquakes, there is no bubonic plagues, there is no other countries pointing nuclear bomb at you, there is communal riots, there is no old age and disease, there is no mosquitoes and snakes, there is no bosses and employers who demand so much of you, there is no in submissive wife’s, there is no showanistic husbands, everything very nice there. We could live very peacefully for millions and millions of years and great luxury. And for those who are on the path of the yogic principles they want to achieve great, great mystic powers, various siddhis by which you can read people’s minds, control people, create planets, take anything from anywhere, become smaller than the smallest, heavier than the heaviest and Vedic process of Gyan kanda by discriminating very carefully naiti, naiti, naiti; what is matter? What is spirit? And ultimately coming to the conclusion aham brahmasmi, that I am spirit; I am nothing of these material elements. Through this various processes of the yogic paths revealed in the Vedas, we are either enjoying or renouncing but we never really understand the things real value. The karma kandis they are worshipping God because they want more and more enjoyment for themselves. And the vairagis they want to give it all up. They want nothing to do with it. But a devotee, a bhakta sees how everything has being created by God, for the service of God. Therefore devahuti she utilized all this facilities in Krishna’s service, Not at all for her own enjoyment. And this is the perfection of life. Because to the degree we want to enjoy something we become attached and we become bound by that attachment and that bondage is the cause of all suffering. But when we become attached to Krishna, then we learn the art of real living. Then we use everything for Krishna, It’s like this beautiful temple. It is for Krishna’s pleasure. We come here because by coming when Krishna sees that we are hearing Srimad Bhagvatam attentively, He becomes very pleased. When He sees that we are joyfully dancing in kirtan and chanting the holy names, He becomes very pleased. When He sees that we are joyfully dancing in kirtan and chanting the holy names, He becomes very pleased. When He sees that we are working hard to make arrangements, to invite and make this place attractive for other condition souls, to come and learn the process of bhakti; He is pleased. So everything here is meant simply for pleasure of Krishna. When He sees devotees co-operating, respecting one another; He is pleased. So this is our goal and this is our perfection of life, simply to please Krishna. Also in this verse Srila Prabhupada has written in the purport how the westernized conception of civilization is both spiritually and materially without substance. It’s void. In the sense that the real culture of humanity ,which actually to this very day, is most preserved in this great land of Bharatavarsha, India. Everything has a meaning and a value, materially and spiritually. Spiritually as we explained, whatever we do, whatever we say, whatever we have should be seen for the pleasure of God. And if you actually making your arrangements for the pleasure of God, then you want to offer God the best. Not the worst. You want to give Him that which is the most pure, the most valuable, the most precious. Some people think that “when I am young I should simply study. And when I became graduate from my university, then I should simply work hard and develop a occupation and a family. And when I get in my middle ages, I should start making all sorts of last minute preparations, not last minute, but last preparation working harder than ever so I can turn everything to my children.” We have seen. And in this way people think religion, “I don’t have time now. It’s for another time.”
Time to become krsna conscious by Radhanath Swami.
The students they say “after I complete my study then I will take seriously this Krishna consciousness. I don’t have time.” And then when they finish their study they realize they have to make it in the world, they have to survive. So they start working and working and working, “after I make it, after I establish myself then I will take to Krishna consciousness.” And after they are established they realize that now they have a wife, they have children or they have husband and a children and so many competitors trying to destroy whatever they have already established. So now they have to somehow or other get promotions and increase their prestige because after all the society and family members around them “I have to give the respect to our caste. So I have to work even harder.” And then when they started getting old, their hair starts turning grey, they start having to wear eye glasses and their limbs just don’t function properly any more then they realize “my children they are grown up now and now I have to work even harder than ever because I have to make all the last arrangements to give everything to my children in a wonderful way.” And by the time they finish with that, they usually about sixty or seventy years old and they are conditioned, they have all bad habits and their consciousness is all flickering to all material things throughout their lives. Then they think well “now, now I will give fag end, the most useless part of my life to Krishna.” You are supposed to give the best you have to Krishna. But this whole philosophy of wait till you retire then become God consciousness, this mentality of “I will give the worst part of my life to Krishna and I will keep the best part for my own sense gratification and sense gratification of others.”
Bhagvatam iha
Durlabhaà mänuñaà janma tad apy adhruvam arthadam.
This is the time to become Krishna consciousness, to become very serious. It cannot late for anything. We have our own responsibilities, we may be bramacharis, sannyasis, grahasthas, vanaprasthas; it doesn’t matter. We may have occupation, we may have studies. But the first priority of our life must be our offering of consciousness to God. By chanting His name, by hearing His glories, by learning how to live, we should give the best we have to Krishna. The best of our life. And when we start arranging a home for ourselves we should understand that this home is a temple of God because in this home I am going to be worshipping God. And I am going to raising my family in the service of God. And all food will be Prasad to be offered to God. So what’s in the home should be the best for Krishna. It could be simple. But it should have value. And Srila Prabhupada is explaining here that even we have seen, sometimes we do harinaam sankirtan and we go into very, very poor areas. Very, very poor, people who have houses just one tiny little room and sometimes it is almost like a shack with tin cans flattened out on top. And you look inside and there is all sorts of brass and silver utensils in this little tiny place. The idea is when they get some money however they, somehow or other, they get some brass or silver, even this poor people often times they have jewellery hidden somewhere in case of dire emergency they can use it. But now even the wealthiest people everything is made out of plastic and fiber glass and all sorts of contaminated refined oil products. And they really has no value. It has no substance. So Srila Prabhupada is explaining that if you have furniture made of plastic or wood when it becomes old and broken it is simply useless. But when you have furniture made of brass or silver or gold or jewels even if it’s completely broken and old, it still has the same value, even more value then you first purchased it or acquired it. So this is actual civilization that things are created of ingredients that do not lose their value. And the fact that we have a civilization where we just keep creating these cheap things that have no value after sometime it’s creating a terrible ecological problem. What to do with all the waste? People eating on plastic plates and then what do you do you just eat, eat, eat and It’s plastic not biodegradable. If you burn it, it pollutes the atmosphere and disturbs the ozone. Otherwise you have to bury it just contaminating the earth. Otherwise everything is in just big huge garbage heaps. And everyone in the world nobody knows what to do with all the garbage? And it’s not nice garbage like banana peels and skins from egg plants. This is nice garbage. The cows can eat and give you milk after they eat it. Or even if goes into the earth it fertilizes the ground. But we are creating all this unnatural ingredients which when they grow old they become useless. And after they become useless we don’t know what to do with it. It just contaminates the earth, contaminates the air, contaminates the water and there is a huge problem of waste. It is one of the biggest problem of the earth. What to do with all the waste that is being created by the unendurable products that human beings are creating. But in Vedic civilization there was simply no waste. Because people were civilized, whatever they made, even poor people, whatever they made, it was made out of valuable ingredients and however old it was its still had its same value. And if you don’t have gold and silver; you make your house out of mud and cow dung. And then it’s nice when it starts falling apart you just put some more mud on it. You don’t have to worry about getting an extra job to renovate your house. It was simple living high thinking. So in every way she performed the civilization that is being given to us by the great rishis and by God Himself this Vedic civilization is superior materially, spiritually, on every level. And these westernized conceptions of civilization are simply ruining the earth, internally and externally. And of course we are importing. Importing is one thing but the problem is in India we are substituting our own heritage of such a superior culture for such an inferior culture. We are bringing in all sorts of plastics; we are bringing in all sorts of technology which only creates ecological disasters. And worst than that we are bringing in a whole way of life, way of looking at life that is full of immorality, sinful activities. Srila Prabhupada he had a different idea. His idea was to export the great value of Vedic the culture. By teaching people how to live their lives properly; spiritually and materially in the service of the Lord, which begins by chanting of His holy names;
HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA, KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE
HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE
