Copyright © r The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
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Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.4.3-4
papraccha cemam evārtham
krishnānubhāva-śravane
SYNONYMS
papraccha — asked; ca — also; imam — this; eva — exactly like; artham — purpose; yat — that; mām — unto me; pricchatha — you are asking; sattamāh — O great sages; krishna-anubhāva — rapt in thought of Krishna; śravane — in hearing; śraddadhānah — full of faith; mahā-manāh — the great soul; samsthām — death; vijñāya — being informed; sannyasya — renouncing; karma — fruitive activities; trai-vargikam — the three principles religion, economic development and sense gratification; ca — also; yat — what it may be; vāsudeve — unto Lord Krishna; bhagavati — the Personality of Godhead; ātma-bhāvam — attraction of love; dridham — firmly fixed; gatah — achieved.
TRANSLATION
O great sages, the great soul Mahārāja Parīkshit, constantly rapt in thought of Lord Krishna, knowing well of his imminent death, renounced all sorts of fruitive activities, namely acts of religion, economic development and sense gratification, and thus fixed himself firmly in his natural love for Krishna and asked all these questions, exactly as you are asking me.
PURPORT
The three activities of religion, economic development and sense gratification are generally attractive for conditioned souls struggling for existence in the material world. Such regulated activities prescribed in the Vedas are called the karma-kāndīya conception of life, and householders are generally recommended to follow the rules just to enjoy material prosperity both in this life and in the next. Most people are attracted by such activities. Even in the activities of their modern godless civilization, people are more concerned with economic development and sense gratification without any religious sentiments. As a great emperor of the world, Mahārāja Parīkshit had to observe such regulations of the Vedic karma-kāndīya section, but by his slight association with Śukadeva Gosvāmī he could perfectly understand that Lord Krishna, the Absolute Personality of Godhead (Vāsudeva), for whom he had a natural love since his birth, is everything, and thus he fixed his mind firmly upon Him, renouncing all modes of Vedic karma-kāndīya activities. This perfectional stage is attained by a jñānī after many, many births. The jñānīs, or the empiric philosophers endeavoring for liberation, are thousands of times better than the fruitive workers, and out of hundreds of thousands of such jñānīs one is liberated factually. And out of hundreds of thousands of such liberated persons, even one person is rarely found who can firmly fix his mind unto the lotus feet of Lord Śrī Krishna, as declared by the Lord Himself in the Bhagavad-gītā (7.19). Mahārāja Parīkshit is specially qualified with the word mahā-manāh, which puts him on an equal level with the mahātmās described in the Bhagavad-gītā. In the later age also there have been many mahātmās of this type, and they also gave up all karma-kāndīya conceptions of life' solely and wholly depending on the Supreme Personality of Godhead Krishna. Lord Caitanya, who is Lord Krishna Himself, taught us in His Śikshāshtaka (8):
āślishya vā pāda-ratām pinashtu mām
adarśanān marma-hatām karotu vā
yathā tathā vā vidadhātu lampato
mat-prāna-nāthas tu sa eva nāparah
"Lord Krishna, who is the lover of many devotees (women), may embrace this fully surrendered maidservant or may trample me with His feet, or He may render me brokenhearted by not being present before me for a long duration of time, but still He is nothing less than the Absolute Lord of my heart."
Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī spoke thus:
viracaya mayi dandam dīna-bandho dayāmī vā
gatir iha na bhavattah kācid anyā mamāsti
nipatatu śata-koti-nirbharam vā navāmbhah
tad api kila-payodah stūyate cātakena
"O Lord of the poor, do what you like with me, give me either mercy or punishment, but in this world I have none to look to except Your Lordship. The cātaka bird always prays for the cloud, regardless of whether it showers rains or throws a thunderbolt."
Śrīla Mādhavendra Purī, the grand-spiritual master of Lord Caitanya, took leave of all karma-kāndīya obligations in the following words:
sandhyā-vandana bhadram astu bhavato bhoh snāna tubhyam namo
bho devāh pitaraś ca tarpana-vidhau nāham kshamah kshamyatām
yatra kvāpi nishadya yādava-kulottamasya kamsa-dvishah
smāram smāram agham harāmi tad alam manye kim anyena me
"O my evening prayer, all good unto you. O my morning bath, I bid you good-bye. O demigods and forefathers, please excuse me. I am unable to perform any more offerings for your pleasure. Now I have decided to free myself from all reactions to sins simply by remembering anywhere and everywhere the great descendant of Yadu and the great enemy of Kamsa [Lord Krishna]. I think that this is sufficient for me. So what is the use of further endeavors?"
Śrīla Mādhavendra Purī said further:
mugdham mām nigadantu nīti-nipunā bhrāntam muhur vaidikāh
mandam bāndhava-sañcayā jada-dhiyam muktādarāh sodarāh
unmattam dhanino viveka-caturāh kāmam mahā-dāmbhikam
moktum na kshāmate manāg api mano govinda-pāda-sprihām
"Let the sharp moralist accuse me of being illusioned; I do not mind. Experts in Vedic activities may slander me as being misled, friends and relatives may call me frustrated, my brothers may call me a fool, the wealthy mammonites may point me out as mad, and the learned philosophers may assert that I am much too proud; still my mind does not budge an inch from the determination to serve the lotus feet of Govinda, though I be unable to do it."
And also Prahlāda Mahārāja said:
dharmārtha-kāma iti yo 'bhihitas trivarga
īkshā trayī naya-damau vividhā ca vārtā
manye tad etad akhilam nigamasya satyam
svātmārpanam sva-suhridah paramasya pumsah
"Religion, economic development and sense gratification are celebrated as three means of attaining the path of salvation. Of these, īkshā trayī especially, i.e., knowledge of the self, knowledge of fruitive acts and logic and also politics and economics, are different means of livelihood. All these are different subjects of Vedic education, and therefore I consider them temporary engagements. On the other hand, surrendering unto the Supreme Lord Vishnu is a factual gain in life, and I consider it the ultimate truth." (Bhāg. 7.6.26)
The whole matter is concluded in the Bhagavad-gītā (2.41) as vyavasāyātmikā buddhih, or the absolute path of perfection. Śrī Baladeva Vidyābhūshana, a great Vaishnava scholar, defines this as bhagavad-arcanā-rūpaika-nishkāma-karmabhir viśuddha-cittah — accepting transcendental loving service to the Lord as the prime duty, free from fruitive reaction.
So Mahārāja Parīkshit was perfectly right when he firmly accepted the lotus feet of Lord Krishna, renouncing all karma-kāndīya conceptions of life.
Copyright © r The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness