Krishna Book 1.50
Jaya Srila Prabhupada. How beautifully you have presented this summary study of the Tenth Canto of "Srimad Bhagavatam" wherein we find the smiling face of the Lord.
Jaya Srila Prabhupada. How beautifully you have presented this summary study of the Tenth Canto of "Srimad Bhagavatam" wherein we find the smiling face of the Lord.
It always jumps out at me that so many of the devotees we hear about are King this and King that..the royal order. My dear King so and so. Here in this section it becomes more clear the significance of that. First of all we know from Bhagavad gita, "Whatever action is performed by a great man, common men follow in his footsteps. And whatever standards he sets by exemplary acts, all the world pursues." BG 3.21
The king is certainly considered a great man due to the enormous influence he has over everyone and everything else. His policies affect the entire planet. In that sense he is expected to be the representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
But each man is also a king. Just with less magnitude of influence over others. There is an English law from 1868 that rules, "A man's home is his castle." But also every living entity is like a king at least in the sense of being the ruler of his own body. When we hear about the surrendering process from someone like King Mucukunda we can understand how it also applies to us.
"It is therefore very difficult to get out of the material entanglement,
but somehow or other if one is favored by You, by Your mercy only he is given the opportunity to associate with a pure devotee. That is the beginning point of liberation from the entanglement of material conditional life. My dear Lord, only by the association of pure devotees is one entrapped by Your Lordship, who is the controller of both the material and spiritual existences. You are the supreme goal of all pure devotees, and by association with pure devotees one can develop his dormant love for You Therefore, development of Krishna consciousness in the association of pure devotees is the cause of liberation from this material entanglement." KB 1.50
but somehow or other if one is favored by You, by Your mercy only he is given the opportunity to associate with a pure devotee. That is the beginning point of liberation from the entanglement of material conditional life. My dear Lord, only by the association of pure devotees is one entrapped by Your Lordship, who is the controller of both the material and spiritual existences. You are the supreme goal of all pure devotees, and by association with pure devotees one can develop his dormant love for You Therefore, development of Krishna consciousness in the association of pure devotees is the cause of liberation from this material entanglement." KB 1.50
For thousands of years King Mucukunda was simply engaged in fighting the demons in behalf of the demigods. In doing so he became bereft of all his material possessions, family, wealth, kingdom, etc, which was quite extensive and opulent. But this is not what attracted Lord Krishna.
"My dear Lord, You are so merciful that in spite of my being reluctant to associate with Your great devotees You have shown Your extreme mercy upon me as a result of my slight contact with a pure devotee like Gargamuni. By Your causeless mercy only have I lost all my material opulence, my kingdom and my family. I do not think that I could have gotten rid of all these entanglements without Your causeless mercy. Kings and emperors accept the life of austerity to forget the royal condition of life, but by Your special causeless mercy I have already been bereft of the royal condition. Other kings exert themselves to get out of the attachment of kingdom and family by acceptance of the hardships of renunciation,
but by Your mercy I do not need to become a mendicant or to practice renunciation."
but by Your mercy I do not need to become a mendicant or to practice renunciation."
How valuable is even a momentary association with a pure devotee of the Lord?
It is interesting to note that King Mucukunda was instructed by Krishna Himself in His Vishnu form to practice bhakti yoga and in his next birth he would take birth as a great Vaishnava and engage simply in pure devotional service. Mucukunda is already a pure devotee. He is in direct audience with Lord Vishnu, not paramatma and not impersonal brahman but actually Bhagavan, Sri Vishnu. It is to increase his desire for Krishna consciousness that Mucukunda is to take birth as a Vaishnava.
"The Lord then assured King Mucukunda, "In your next life you will
take your birth as a first-class Vaishnava, the best of brahmanas, and in that life your only business will be to engage yourself in My transcendental service." The Vaishnava is the first-class brahmana, because one who has not acquired the qualification of a bonafide brahmana cannot come to the platform of a Vaishnava. When one comes to the platform of a Vaishnava, he is completely engaged in welfare activities for all living entities. The highest welfare activity for living entities is the preaching of Krishna consciousness." KB 1.50
take your birth as a first-class Vaishnava, the best of brahmanas, and in that life your only business will be to engage yourself in My transcendental service." The Vaishnava is the first-class brahmana, because one who has not acquired the qualification of a bonafide brahmana cannot come to the platform of a Vaishnava. When one comes to the platform of a Vaishnava, he is completely engaged in welfare activities for all living entities. The highest welfare activity for living entities is the preaching of Krishna consciousness." KB 1.50
King Mucukunda had a lot going for him. We can see how there is a progression in our approach to Krishna consciousness our activities are cumulative. "In this endeavor there is no loss or diminution, and a little advancement on this path can protect one from the most dangerous type of fear." BG 2.40 Or Krishna consciousness is like a bank account. One penny... one penny... eventually $100.
In a previous birth Mucukunda had engaged in devotional service and prayed to the Lord to seek His mercy. He then took birth as King Mucukunda in a glorious dynasty coming from King Iksvaku. The same dynasty as Lord Ramachandra. He fought the demons with all his strength and in this birth was able to hear about the appearance of Lord Krishna from a Pure Devotee spiritual master, Gargamuni.
The Lord appears and disappears. His disappearance acts to increase the the desire of the devotee. This is also described in the Lord's appearance before the child Narada being pleased with Narada's eagerness to find him and performance of austerities. The Lord appeared in His Vishnu form before Narada assuring him of His acceptance of Narada as his pure devotee eligible to enter into pure devotional service. But in order to increase Narada's desire for Him, he then disappeared. Explaining to Narada that he would not have darshan again in that lifetime but that He would be able to think of Him always by glorifying Him.
It is like a child learning to walk. A few steps in the right direction being held gently by the parent and then the parent lets go and moves a little distance away beckoning the child to walk towards them. The child may stumble a little and need assistance again getting back on their feet. But then..again...the parent lets go of the child and beckons to walk towards them. The parent is there and the child is learning to walk. Krishna disappearing from the devotee is like that. But there will be more than walking... there will be jumping and skipping....singing and dancing. He makes even the lame to walk.
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