Srimad Bhagvatam - SB 4.21.2-4 - Kolkata SB 4.21.

prajs ta dpa-balibhi sambhtea-magalai abhyur ma-kany ca ma-kuala-mait

TRANSLATION As the King entered the gate of the city, all the citizens received him with many auspicious articles like lamps, flowers and yogurt. The King was also received by many beautiful unmarried girls whose bodies were bedecked with various ornaments, especially with earrings which collided with one another.

PURPORT Offerings of natural products such as betel nuts, bananas, newly grown wheat, paddy, yogurt and vermillion, carried by the citizens and scattered throughout the city, are all auspicious paraphernalia, according to Vedic civilization, for receiving a prominent guest like a bridegroom, king or spiritual master. Similarly, a welcome offered by unmarried girls who are internally and externally clean and are dressed in nice garments and ornaments is also auspicious. Kumr, or unmarried girls untouched by the hand of any member of the opposite sex, are auspicious members of society. Even today in Hindu society the most conservative families do not allow unmarried girls to go out freely or mix with boys. They are very carefully protected by their parents while unmarried, after marriage they are protected by their young husbands, and when elderly they are protected by their children. When thus protected, women as a class remain an always auspicious source of energy to man.

Lecture begins PURPOSE OF PERFORMING SACRIFICES Prthu Maharaj, previous to this chapter was performing very awesome Ashvamedha Yajnas. To perform one you have to be undisputed ruler of the

entire world with such immense wealth, with such qualified brahmins, if there was even a single mistake in the execution of such yajna, which was something that lasted for not just a few minutes very extended, it could be disaster. No one but an extremely qualified person who had such power over the world could even attempt such a yajna.

Why would someone do it? For a noble king like Prthu Maharaj it was to invoke auspiciousness and prosperity to all the citizens of the world. Bhagvad Gita explains that everyone exists by eating food grains, food grains come from rain, rain comes from performance of yajna. So materially, spiritually, emotionally everything prospers when the king is leading the citizens by his example in invoking the presence of the Lord in every aspect of life.

But we read that Indra, he had the universal record of performing such yajnas and Prthu Maharaj is about to break that record. He was going to tie it and break it, nothing could stop him. Now for Prthu Maharaj, he didn't care about being a champion, he was concerned with doing everything he possible could for the welfare of all of the citizens and for the world. Praja - citizens means not only every type of human being but every animal, every reptile, every fish, every tree, every plant, every insect; it is the duty of the king on behalf of God to elevate and enlighten everyone towards pure devotional service and to protect them physically, emotionally and spiritually. So he was performing these yajnas for this purpose.

Ultimately the purpose of yajna is to please Krishna. When Krishna is pleased, when you water the root of the tree every part of the tree is naturally satisfied; Krishna is the root - janmdy asya yato. So by satisfying Krishna through the conscious intentions of these yajnas, these sacrifices; Krishna, the devatas everyone bestows good fortune upon the world. This is a previous yuga.

SANKIRTANA YAJNA FOR KALIYUGA In Kaliyuga there is so much strife, drought, earthquakes, famine, floods, epidemics, disease, war, racial discrimination, caste discrimination, egoism, drug addiction, alcoholism we can speak for days just with the list of the problems of Kali Yuga. Why Satya Yuga and Treta Yuga were different? It was like similar to a heavenly planet, things were so nice, every now and then demons would come to disturb things but in those yugas God came right there and make sure that demons didn't bother any more. It was because these

yajnas were being performed. Because people were being exposed to such a pure environment, sinful people were rare, no body wanted to be sinful. Being pious was fun. And the mother earth was providing everything abundantly.

We see because of king Vena mother earth was withdrawing because he wasn't pleasing God, he was competing with God, he was spreading irreligion, this is a small gap. But when Prthu Maharaj came he had such power that he induced mother earth to provide all prosperity to everyone. And how is that done; by pleasing Krishna. When Visnu is pleased then everything else has to be auspicious.

In the age of Kali the only sacrifice that people could properly perform is the chanting of the holy names. If people sincerely take to it with proper consciousness then the world could be like that even in the age of Kali, but its very difficult. Kali's benediction is its so bad that when people do take to the chanting of the holy names they take shelter. You can be complacent but when Kali starts getting at you then you understand that its desperate necessity to find the shelter of the Lord.

MAYAS TRICK So here we find two people, there is Prthu Maharaj who selflessly the servant of all of the citizens, who is trying to please God so that the Lord would bestow auspiciousness for everyone's enlightenment and you have Indra the universal champion who has the record of the most yajnas of this type and who is very proud because he worked very hard. Its very difficult to do these yajnas and he worked hard all his life to get that record and Prthu Maharaj was about to surpass him.

Many people thought that Indra was doing it for the welfare of everyone, and he is a devotee, he was; certainly. Indra was not doing these yajnas because he would be the champion; he was doing these yajnas for the welfare of the universe. He is also a king. But karma misra bhakti means that along with your service to the Lord, he wanted to please Visnu, he wanted to help the citizens but the tendency is when you start getting results and you start getting power and you start getting influence and fame and all of these other things maya's trick is you become attached to that, you start identifying with that position that you have, rather than being the servant of the servant of the servant which is all we ever are and all that we ever could be, everything else is an

illusion.

KRISHNAS MERCY So Indra somehow or other, devotee very empowered devotee. Indra is very dear to Krishna; there is no doubt about it. Krishna goes through great efforts to save him whenever he goes off. When you become egoistic and offensive does Krishna come and lift Govardhan hill for seven days with the little finger of His left hand just to curb your false pride. That's how special Indra is. Krishna did all that, Krishna could have killed him like He killed Aristasura throwing him down on the ground or could have sent Sudarshan chakra and severed Indra's head but He did all that to clean Indra's heart because Indra is a devotee.

But still we find that Indra is somehow or other caught up in the passion of the false ego. He is doing things for the pleasure of Krishna; he is doing things for the welfare of his subjects but somewhere mixed is also some selfish pride. And the more you get and the more you get and the more you get if you are not very careful that selfish pride grows with your success which is actually just the opposite of bhakti.

WHAT IS BHAKTI? Bhakti means as we are making spiritual advancement our false pride diminishes and ultimately disappears. amanina mandena- a devotee's joy, this is how we can tell we are making advancement, deep advancement. In the beginning stages we can tell we are making advancement because we are getting our rounds done and because we are following the regulative principles. But on a more subtle and higher level, these things are always there, we can understand our advancement by how we are actually taking joy in giving respect and honor to others and how we are not taking joy in being respected and honored ourselves, even if it comes. If it comes we don't take it, we accept it on behalf of Guru and Krishna, we give it to them, we know its not for me that's a Vaishnava. But its a temptation.

PRATISTHA SUBTLE SEX Just like sex attraction is very strong, for a man and a woman to be alone together if they are not meant to have such a relationship then its a very strong inclination to enjoy that. Pratistha - the desire for distinction and

adoration is considered to be subtle sex life and when you are being glorified and you have fame and people are honoring you its a very very difficult temptation to not enjoy. Very difficult because we are so vulnerable, we are so addicted to it. Ramananda Raya, for him massaging young ladies was not a problem because he had no desires but for anyone else it would have been disastrous because some desire is there. So as long we have some desire for adoration and distinction, when we get it its a very very craving temptation to enjoy it and hold on to it. Because once you start enjoying you have to hold on to it. This is a test. When something is taken away from you, if you are not attached to it, it doesn't matter. But when its not given to you and it hurts or its agitating or disturbing that means you were enjoying it you were attached to it. So this is a very critical lesson for all devotees that Krishna is once again showing through 'His holiness Indra'.

INDRAS SABOTAGING ACTIVITIES Indra was attached; he worked so hard, he had the record. Today's sportsman break records cricket players, football players they break records and its a great thing and its in the news. But comparatively this type of record is very awesome. So Indra started to sabotage Prthu's yajnas by stealing the horses. In every possible way he could he was trying to sabotage so that he would not break his record. And he came in such a fever of doing it, he lost so much. Bhagvad Gita explains "dhyayato visayan pumsa..." that when there is this attraction eventually you lose your intelligence. He was so addicted to this pratistha that he lost his intelligence and although he is a religious man he started to spread all kinds of irreligion. He was beginning irreligious bogus sampradayas, just to somehow or other fulfill his aim. And Prthu Maharaj, his son kept saving the scene but Indra kept doing it again and again and ultimately Prthu decided that, I am going to take this upon myself. And he was about to punish Indra and Indra deserved the punishment.

KRISHNA PLEASED BY COOPERATION But then there was an intervention, Prthu Maharaj was told by a superior authority that let Indra have the record otherwise he is creating too much problem. So Prthu Maharaj accepted it and because he accepted it, he didn't do the yajna, Visnu came. Visnu was more pleased that he didn't do the yajna then if he did. Because not doing the yajna was a higher yajna than doing

yajna because the purpose of yajna is to please Krishna and ultimately Krishna wants cooperation. The guru and Krishna would rather see the devotees cooperating, he is more pleased with you if you cooperate because its creating a scene that's best for everything and everyone. He is more pleased with that, then if you excel. And in your attempt to excel, become famous and become great you bring out the worst in others. You bring out a selfish competitive environment where instead of trying to lift each other up you are trying to push each other down, you are hoping the worst for each other or may be not the worst you are hoping not the best for each other. You may not be hoping that your competitor falls down and goes to hell but you are hoping that he doesn't do as good as me. Very dangerous, this is a very powerful story. Krishna came down and He didn't praise Indra who had the record, He praised Prthu for not breaking the record because Prthu exhibited detachment, Prthu Maharaj exhibited focus on the higher principle of what please Krishna and in this sense what pleased Krishna was cooperation.

PRTHU MAHARAJS DETACHMENT Now what we like to see in cooperation is that both sides cooperate. Both sides take a humble position. Last night, this is on another level, we were at a program and I was speaking to Radheshyam and Radheshyam in the presence of Radheshyam (devotees laugh). And the older Radheshyams they were saying that the way they have got along so well is both of them are always trying to give credit to the other one. One is giving credit and glory to him and he is giving credit to you and its mutual there is no competition - Jai Jai Sri Radheshyam. That's the way there is love and unity. And they said about each other that, "he is more than a brother to me, I have so many brothers but he is more than a brother for me." Now in this particular story cooperation is being challenged, Indra doesn't want to cooperate, he doesn't want to give anything, he is willing to give any type of glory and respect to Prthu as long as it doesn't infringe upon his superior position. And knowing that his superior position was inevitably going to be defeated, he started doing all sorts of sabotaging activities. But how was cooperation in this. Prthu Maharaj took the humble detached position even though Indra didn't and it created a cooperative atmosphere. Indra has this ego, Ok that's Krishna's business to lift Govardhan hill later on and smash his ego, it's not my business to smash his ego. And Prthu Maharaj is not taking the role of God, He is saktyavesha avatar. He is thinking of the whole picture, it's not good for him to make these aparadhs, it's not good for the world that all this irreligion is being spread, so ok let him have his egoistic position. I was going to punish him, I defeated him so many times but he won't give up so I'll

take the humble position, for cooperation sake. And Visnu comes and glorifies, blesses and empowers Prthu Maharaj. And He is quite ashamed of Indra, the great record holder.

CHARACTER IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN ACCOMPLISHMENTS This is a long time after that some million of years later. When we think about it, now Indra was thinking that, "Yes I am holding the title", he still holds the title but who do we love, who do we honor and respect as the greater of the two - Prthu Maharaj. Because ultimately its character that makes a person great, it's not accomplishments. In Kaliyuga accomplishments are considered which makes a man or a woman great. In a cultured society, yes accomplishments are respected and honored if they are done properly but what actually invokes the love and respect of the heart. A person's accomplishments induces respect and adoration from another person's mind, doesn't go beyond that, but a person's character induces respect and love from other people's hearts. Character is all important and that is very much the essence of this story. Sukadeva Goswami wants to teach that very strongly; ultimately Visnu or Krishna is pleased with our character not just with our accomplishments. We should try to accomplish the best we possibly can but not at the cost of our character or everything becomes empty, spiritually, in the eyes of God. So here is Prthu, coming back to his kingdom and what a grand celebration. Amazing thing is that its a grand celebration when he didn't do what he was going to do. They are welcoming him with such love and devotion. Visnu was so happy with him. Visnu is giving so many instructions to him.

CITIZENS WELCOME PRTHU MAHARAJ When Prthu Maharaj comes into the city all the citizens out of love, not just a formality, they are putting all kinds of auspicious articles everywhere. There is a whole list of the articles. They are spreading them in their houses and the streets; they are offering them to him just to invoke this auspiciousness. And of one of the most auspicious ways that they welcome the king is they had young virgin girls who are never touched by a man, beautifully decorated, to come and greet him. Srila Prabhupada writes in purport, "Even today in Hindu society the most conservative families do not allow unmarried girls to go out freely or mix with

boys. They are very carefully protected by their parents while unmarried, after marriage they are protected by their young husbands, and when elderly they are protected by their children. When thus protected, women as a class remain an always auspicious source of energy to man."

PROTECTION BASED ON RESPECT What we find here and what Prabhupada calls Vedic civilization is a mood of respect, its a mood of honoring, amanina mandena, we offer all respect and honor to others and not expect for oneself. So within the Vedic civilization, as Prabhupada is explaining, they are protected with the spirit of honoring them and respecting them. Not pushing them down to some sort of a lower class, not exploiting them, that's not the spirit it's for the purpose of giving proper honor and when that is done then both the men and the women are peaceful, happy and enlightened. But what happens is that people take the form of the teaching without understanding its substance, the form is all important because we can't express the spirit of the substance without a form and we cannot attain realization of the essence of that substance without practicing the form. So they are both integrally essential, the form and the spirit. If you have the spirit and you do not follow the proper form then spirit becomes corrupted. And if you follow the form without understanding the spirit then the form becomes corrupted. They are both very much interdependent. I'll repeat, if you follow the form without the spirit the form is corrupted and the spirit is corrupted, if you follow the spirit without the form then the form and the spirit both are corrupted. So the form here is to protect the female class out of honor and respect but what people have done all over the world, in India as well, is exploit that form, exploit women, see them as an object of sense gratification, see them as an object of my own material enjoyment, see them as something inferior, nothing wrong with beating them or just pushing them down, they are just an object just a material object to be enjoyed. That is such an offense to God, to see His daughter as nothing more than an object for you to enjoy or to exploit. But that's what has happened.

EXPLOITATION OF WOMEN Just as the caste system has so much been degraded. The whole purpose of the caste system is every single citizen is protected, encouraged, become spiritually enlightened and happy that's the whole purpose of Varnasrama

dharma. But when exploitation comes in, "I'm a ksatriya you are a sudra, I am better than you", where is this amanina mandena - honor everyone and don't expect honor for oneself. So because the people who are born in the so called lower castes have been exploited, have not been respected, Communism, they revolt they want to take over, they want rights. The problem is not necessarily that the lower classes in this sense wants rights and powers, the problem is that the higher didn't give them the honor and protection they needed. So this is the reaction. So today because the male class, in India too, has misconceived the spirit of the Vedic civilization. So much exploitation of women and the reality is internationally around the world today the greatest criticism of India is how men exploit women, how women are beaten down and just seen as objects of work and objects of sensual pleasure. Documentary after documentary, book after book is coming about, all over the world, about India. Its horrendous how people think the Indian culture is when they read these books. And the problem is that all these documentaries and books are based on true stories, its not propaganda. I know some of my godbrothers and godsisters children they went to college and that's what they wanted to study because they wanted to study sociology, professor did their thesis, PhD thesis on abuse of women in India, with all sorts of documentation. Protecting women doesn't put them in a subordinate position in that sense, it's a way of honoring them, it's a way of respecting them, it's a way of preserving the integrity of their sacredness. And in doing so, men also protect their sacredness. If we don't honor each other we are offending God, this is as simple as that. We see in Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu's lila, there was such a culture, there wasn't free mixing but everyone was happy not mixing because that was done with honor and respect and integrity. But if you try to push people down and make them feel that they are something inferior then they are going to be dissatisfied and free mixing becomes, it's due to unsatisfied hearts.

HANDLING THE SEX IMPULSE The sex drive is the most powerful single energy in creation and the Vedic civilization teaches us how to deal with it so we become enlightened rather then degraded. It's like fire, we need fire we can't digest food unless we have the fire of digestion, we can't cook without fire. In the winter in the Himalayas, where people are living in snow, they can not survive without fire. Fire is very powerful but it is only beneficial when it's under control. If you let fire do its

own thing, if you let fire be free unrestricted it's going to destroy you, your family, your home. I am from Chicago, in the 1800's there was the great Chicago fire, there are still remnants of that, except for a water tower it burned the entire city down to the ground, single fire and according to whether its a fact or a legend I'm not sure but its really symbolic, the fire started in goshala. There was a lady named Oliere and she had a little lantern, do you know what a lantern is? a flame about this big (hand gesture) that gives light in the dark, and she brought it to the goshala and put it down and her cow kicked over the lantern and it went over to the hay and it started a fire and she wasn't there she left. She wasn't there to put it off immediately and it burned her barn and it spread to the next barn and then it burned her house and the next house and the next house and the next house and it was flaming and soaring and the flames were so high in the sky and it burned down the second largest city in America. And I don't know how it is in Calcutta but in any other city in the west at least, if you want to build a temple or if you want to build a building of any sort there are such hard line technical rules that you have to have for fire protection. Only a certain amount of people could be in a particular area for fire protection, you have to have a certain particular type of electrical insulation, you have to have certain types of exits in particular places. Very serious because fire can happen anywhere at anytime and so many places burned down. If you go to the big Cathedrals in Italy and any other parts of Europe and its a beautiful Cathedral but almost everyone of them, when you read the history it's like the third building of these Cathedrals because of fire. Massive beautiful Cathedrals and over the centuries, its common, that they burn down and you have to rebuild it and then they burn down and you have to rebuild it. So here is fire, the reason it burns down is because you need it, you need it but if it's not controlled properly it's destructive, if it's controlled properly it's beneficial.

pusa striy mithun-bhvam eta ..SB(5.5.8). the basic principle of material existence is this attraction between male and female, the sex drive. We have to learn to honor it because we can't get rid of it. We have to learn to honor it and respect it and control it properly and this not mixing it's not a question of discrimination or putting someone in an inferior position, it's a matter of honoring.

CULTIVATING MOOD OF RESPECT To the degree we have sexual attraction for each other we can't honor and

respect each other. Why because our mood is to exploit, to enjoy whether it's mentally or emotionally or physically that's not respect. Service attitude is to give. So society is set up in such a way that people can actually learn to honor and respect each other, people could learn to control, so the atmosphere is conducive to control this fire. And grihasthas, the husband honors the wife and the wife honors the husband they serve together and the husband protects the wife and the wife assists the husband and both are fully blissful and they become God conscious when they put Krishna in the centre. And for the brahmacharis and sannyasis or for those in the renounced order of life they deal with that fire by, the fire is there, they deal with that fire by redirecting it and energizing it towards something else, its an energy. Not giving in to allowing it to make you sensual. We chant our rounds intensely, we study Srimad Bhagvatam intensely, we discipline ourselves in such a way that we are not exposing ourselves to these temptations unnecessarily. We understand the principle nanv agni pramad nma...SB (7.12.9), Narada muni says women is like fire and men is like a pot of butter. Again here it is fire, you put the two too close the butter is going to melt even if it's frozen, even if you take the butter and take it to Arctic Ocean put it right on the north pole for ten years and its hard as rock, if you put it near fire it's just matter of time till it melts. So we understand this principle and we are very careful, not in an egoistic way. One of the reasons why those in the renounced order keep such sanctified distances so that we can, amanina manadena, we can honor all living beings and not think in terms of exploitation and enjoyment. See every woman as your mother, you don't want to exploit your mother, you honor your mother. Every woman except wife a man should honor like mother. And this Vedic civilization is set up to monitor and control that fire energy that is so powerful in this world in such a way that we can actually honor each other and we won't be burned, we won't be scorched or consumed. When one person allows that fire to be unrestricted in his or her heart, not only does that burn their spiritual lives but it can create massive social destruction. So these forms of rules are not something old fashioned. We are talking about a science, a spiritual science, that's actually most modern of all things - Why? Because it's eternal. If something is eternal that means it is older than the oldest and it is also more modern than anything modern. Because its a principle, it's a principle of honoring and respecting all living beings and how to do that it's a principle of taking this very very powerful energy which is like fire - the sexual impulse and monitoring it and controlling according to our particular asram in such a way that it's beneficial. Krishna says that if you have sex according to religious principles and bring beautiful children into this world on behalf of God, Krishna says," I am that sex", it's sacred. For one in the renounced order to restrict it, to monitor it, to say no and to keep their mind

and body so much engrossed in spiritual activities that that fire cannot harm anyone rather its transformed into detachment and devotional service. Transformation - renunciates are meant to transform that energy into something very positive and pure. And grihasthas are also meant to transform that energy into something very pure, that's an eternal principle. It's a basis of every religion in the world, if we look back to the origins. It's not something old fashioned. The Vedic civilization has developed it in such a philosophical scientific way because it's all explained so thoroughly by the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself. This is the beauty of Krishna Consciousness.

CHAMPION OF CHARACTER So we have discussed today the fire. In Indra's case it was the fire of false ego. Of course another story is the other fire was also burning him a lot too, that's why he has all those eyes on his body. Either fire, either the gross fire of sexual desire or subtle fire of adoration distinction - pratistha. Kamini, pratistha very very dangerous unless handled very properly. Wealth, sexual urges and distinction these are three things we have to keep very very monitored and controlled if we want to make advancement and give a positive input to society - very important. So here we have Indra, that fire of pratistha that fire of subtle sex, the desire for honor and distinction caused him to do crazy things. He was going crazy, he was dressing up as all these sadhus to steal the horse and then he is chased somehow or other trying to save himself. The fire of ego pratistha was just out of control. And because Prthu Maharaj, fire of ego, humility and service is the only way to deal with it. He said, "Let Indra be the champion, this is what my superiors are telling." Because he has done that, he is the champion of character and everyone loves him because he gave up something which he could have had for a higher principle. It's detachment. And as far as that gross fire we have discussed that how that can make a person crazy too to act in so many ways to spread irreligion.

EXTINGUISHING THE FIRE So material world, sasra-dvnala-lha-loka, its a blazing fire, its a blazing forest fire - material existence. And we are discussing today some of the forms of this fire. When we talk about the material world as blazing forest fire it doesn't mean that the whole world is on fire, like this kind of fire because we see that why it is said that the whole world is on fire, I don't see any fire here. The fire is here (hand gesture). sasra-dvnala-lha-loka means fire within the heart. The fire for pratistha, the fire for sex life kamini - that's the blazing fire. And the spiritual master teaches us, for the brahmacharis this is the way you do it, grihasthas this is the way you do it. Guru comes with the rain of his

instructions and the rain of divine grace of Krishna to put out these fires. It begins by learning how to deal with them in a constructive positive way. Putting off the fire means transforming it into pure spiritual energy by chanting the holy names - Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Ram Hare Ram Ram Ram Hare Hare.

Srila Prabhupada ki Jai!