Devotee:

yada mrdhe kaurava-srñjayanaṁ
vireṣv atho vira-gatiṁ gateṣu
vrkodaraviddha-gadabhimarsa-
bhagnoru-daṇḍe dhrtaraṣṭra-putre
bhartuḥ; priyaṁ drauṇir iti sma pasyan
krṣṇa-sutanaṁ svapataṁ siraṁsi
upaharad vipriyam eva tasya
jugupsitaṁ karma vigarhayanti
[SB 1.7.13-14]

"When the respective warriors of both camps, namely the Kauravas and the Paṇḍavas, were killed on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra, and the dead warriors obtained their deserved destinations, and when the son of Dhrtaraṣṭra fell down lamenting, his spine broken, being beaten by the club of Bhimasena, the son of Droṇacarya (Asvatthama) beheaded the five sleeping sons of Draupadi and delivered them as a prize to his master, foolishly thinking that he would be pleased. Duryodhana, however, disapproved of the heinous act, and he was not pleased in the least."

Prabhupada:

yada mrdhe kaurava-srñjayanaṁ
vireṣv atho vira-gatiṁ gateṣu
vrkodaraviddha-gadabhimarsa-
bhagnoru-daṇḍe dhrtaraṣṭra-putre

bhartuḥ; priyaṁ drauṇir iti sma pasyan
krṣṇa-sutanaṁ svapataṁ siraṁsi
upaharad vipriyam eva tasya
jugupsitaṁ karma vigarhayanti

So Drauṇi, Droṇacarya's son, a brahmaṇa, but he took the profession of a kṣatriya. That is degradation. When a brahmaṇa takes the occupation of a kṣatriya, it is degradation. So this Drauṇi, although he belonged to the brahmaṇa family and he accepted the profession of a kṣatriya, he degraded so much that he cut off the heads of five sons of Draupadi while they were sleeping. So much degradation. A kṣatriya never slains anybody who is sleeping. Kṣatriya's business is to challenge, and if the other party has no weapon, he supplies weapon. Then there is fight, then it is decided. One must die. That decision is there. When there is fight between two kṣatriyas, the decision is that one must die. Unless one dies, the business, the fighting, will never stop. That is called vira-gatim. Vira-gatim. If a kṣatriya dies in fight, he gets the promotion of vira-gatim, means he goes to the heavenly planet. This was advised by Krṣṇa to Arjuna, that "You fight. If you are victorious, then you will enjoy this kingdom, and if you are killed, then you'll go to the heavenly planets. Then where is your loss? Both ways you shall gain. Why shall you not fight?" This advice was given by Krṣṇa.

So here it is said yada mrdhe kaurava-srñjayanam. In the fight all the parties who died, they all obtained vira-gatim. And most of them they achieved svarupa. That is described in a different place. Svarupa means his original, spiritual form. All the soldiers or the kings who died, and at the time of death who were seeing Krṣṇa—Krṣṇa was there in the battlefield—all of them achieved their original, spiritual form. Svarupam. And those who did not see Krṣṇa, they got promoted vira-gatim, in the heavenly planet. So fight is not always bad. If it is dharma-yuddha, according to the prescribed rules, not whimsical fight, dharma-yuddha, then there is gain. This science is lost. There is no such thing. Now fighting means hooliganism, vandalism, guṇḍa-ism. That is not fight. Here is fight: vira-gatim gate. They are all promoted.

Then at last the fighting was between Dhrtaraṣṭra and Bhima. This vrkodara... Vrkodaraviddha-gadabhimarsa. Both of them, Duryodhana and Bhima, they were very expert in fighting with gada. So when they were fighting, Balarama... Balarama... Krṣṇa was neutral, but He was taking the side of Arjuna. He was driving the chariot. That means He was on the side of the Paṇḍavas. But actually He was not fighting. So Balarama also did not fight, and in order to avoid any parties, He went to holy places at that time. He was traveling all over India from different holy places, one place to another. So when He returned, He had some sympathy with Duryodhana. Because Duryodhana was His disciple to learn how to fight with this gada, club, naturally He was sympathetic, Balarama was sympathetic. So when He came, they were..., fighting was going on. So just to show Him respect, they stopped fighting and everyone was silent. Because the Paṇḍavas knew that Balarama was sympathetic with Duryodhana, and if He takes the side of Duryodhana, then everything will be spoiled, because He is the Supreme Person. But He did not do so. He advised them, "My dear Duryodhana, I know you are a great fighter. You have got strength. You have learned, you know the art of fighting. But you are not so strong as Bhima." And He advised Bhima, "My dear Bhima, you have got the strength of ten thousand elephants. Naturally you are superiorally stronger. So he knows the art better than you, and you are bodily stronger than him. So there will be no decision. The fighting will go on. Can you not stop? Because there will not be decision. The fighting will go on. Unless one is dead, the fighting will go on. So what is the use? Nobody will be victorious. The fighting will go on. Better stop."

But they remained silent. Silent means they did not like the idea. Because Bhima had many old grudges against Duryodhana, because when Draupadi was being insulted, they had to sit down silent, no protest. There were so many incidences-rivalry, insult and counterinsult. So they took the opportunity of feeding the old grudge by fighting. Everyone was determined, "I must kill." Duryodhana was determined to kill Bhima, and Bhima was determined to kill. So when they did not listen to the instruction of Baladeva, then Baladeva left the place. He went to Dvaraka, back. Of course, Krṣṇa was there, because Krṣṇa was to give hint to Bhima how to kill Duryodhana. So Duryodhana, by the blessings of his mother, his whole body became iron-like solid. So by beating by the Bhima, it was not easy. So the story is that Gandhari, the mother of Duryodhana, she was great chaste woman. Because her husband was blind, she used to remain as blind woman covering the eyes. But she had some power. Chaste woman, anyone who sticks to the regulative principles, he gets a power, spiritual or material. He gets power. A brahmacari gets power if he follows brahmacarya. Everyone, if we follow the prescribed rules and regulations, automatically you become powerful.

So Gandhari had some power. So her eldest son, Duryodhana, was advised to see the mother naked. She advised, "My dear son, tomorrow morning when you come to offer your obeisances to me, you come naked. I shall see you and you will be solidified just like iron." So he was going naked and Krṣṇa saw. So He asked him, "Where you are going?" "I am going to see my mother." "How is that? You are going naked? At least you have some langota(?). This is not good." So he took the instruction of Krṣṇa and covered the private part with a langota. And when Gandhari saw, she saw that he was not fully naked, so she regretted, "O my dear son, I asked you to come before me naked. Why you have got this...?" "No, Krṣṇa advised." Then she began to smile, that "My attempt is failure." So Krṣṇa knew it, that part which was covered, that was not turned iron. The other parts turned into iron on account of seeing by Gandhari. So in this fight Krṣṇa hinted Bhima that "You strike here. That part is not ironized." Although it is against the regulative principle to strike the opponent party below this waist, Krṣṇa advised that "Unless you transgress this law, you cannot kill him." So he was stroken below the waist, and he was not killed, but his waist was broken. Therefore it is said vrkodaraviddha-gadabhimarsa. Then he died. This is mentioned here.

So bhagnoru-daṇḍe. Bhagna uru. Uru-daṇḍa was broken. Bhagnoru-daṇḍe dhrtaraṣṭra-putre. Dhrtaraṣṭra-putra, Duryodhana was dhrtaraṣṭra-putra. At that time, Drauṇi, his master was Duryodhana. A brahmaṇa became a servant of kṣatriya, that is degradation. A brahmaṇa cannot become servant. Nobody can become servant. Only the sudras can become servant. Brahmaṇa never becomes servant. They are instructed, satyaṁ samo damas titikṣa arjavaṁ jñanaṁ vijñanam astikyaṁ brahma-karma svabhava-jam [Bg. 18.42]. This is brahmaṇa's qualification. They will train the brahmacaris and the grhasthas how to become perfect, discipline. First discipline is truthfulness. A brahmaṇa will never speak lies. That is the first qualification. So who is going to take training in that way? Nobody is interested. This is Kali-yuga. We are trying to train people "No illicit sex, no meat-eating, no gambling, no intoxication." Still, there are some failures. And if we teach in our institution, "Please do not speak lies," people will laugh: "What is this nonsense? Nowadays is it possible to remain in this society without speaking lies?" This is the position. This is called Kali-yuga. Nobody is interested to be trained up as a brahmaṇa. Nobody is interested to be trained up as a kṣatriya, neither as a vaisya. They are all sudras. Therefore it is said, kalau sudra-sambhavaḥ;. There is no training. It is very very difficult to train them to become purified by training. These statuses of life were different status of training so that ultimately one can become brahmaṇa, and when he's fully trained up as a brahmaṇa then he transcends the brahmaṇa's position, and he becomes a Vaiṣṇava.

So to become Vaiṣṇava is not so easy thing. One has to become brahmaṇa, then when he surpasses the stages of becoming brahmaṇa then he becomes a Vaiṣṇava. Suddha-sattva. Sattvaṁ visuddhaṁ vasudeva-sabditam. Then Krṣṇa is born. When one comes to the Vaiṣṇava stage, then he can understand what is Krṣṇa. Just like Krṣṇa was born of Vasudeva. Similarly, when one comes to the stage of Vasudeva... Vasudeva means perfect Vaiṣṇava. Do you think Krṣṇa accepts somebody as father, an ordinary man? No. He is perfect Vaiṣṇava. Krṣṇa accepts somebody as mother... Who is His mother, father? Nobody can be. He is the adi-puruṣa. He's original person. Who can become His father, mother? But He accepts, when He descends to exhibit His lila... Yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati bharata tadatmanam [Bg. 4.7] [break] ...janma karma ca me divyam [Bg. 4.9]. Don't take ordinarily: "Oh, Krṣṇa is born of a father, Vasudeva, and of a mother, Devaki. That's all. We know He was born." No. One has to learn who is His father, who is His mother, how He accepts His devotee as father. That is called yo janati tattvataḥ;. This is tattvataḥ;.

manuṣyaṇaṁ sahasreṣu
kascid yatati siddhaye
yatatam api siddhanaṁ
kascin maṁ vetti tattvataḥ;
[Bg. 7.3]

To understand Krṣṇa tattvataḥ;, in truth, that is not so easy. It is possible for a man out of many millions of men. Manuṣyaṇaṁ sahasreṣu kascid yatati.

So that tattvataḥ; one can understand simply by pure devotional service. If you become a pure devotee, without any contamination-unalloyed devotee—then Krṣṇa reveals: "This is I am. I am like this." You cannot speculate upon Krṣṇa. That is not possible. Nayam atma pravacanena labhyo na bahuna srutena na medhaya. You cannot understand Krṣṇa simply because you are a learned Sanskrit scholar. You are a rascal. Krṣṇa is not so easy to be understood by scholarship or Sanskrit language. Don't commit this mistake. Krṣṇa is understood by a person to whom Krṣṇa reveals. That is understanding. Nayam atma. This is completely said: Nayam atma, nayam atma pravacanena labhyo na medhaya. Because you have got a fertile brain, therefore you'll be able to understand Krṣṇa? No. Na bahuna srutena. Oh, because you are very good scholar, you have studied so much... No. If Krṣṇa reveals to you, then you'll be able. That revelation is possible when you are a devotee. Otherwise, it is not possible. Nayam atma pravacanena labhyaḥ;.

So we have to wait for that opportunity when Krṣṇa reveals. How that revelation is possible? Ataḥ; sri-krṣṇa-namadi na bhaved grahyam indriyaiḥ; [Cc. Madhya 17.136]. By sense perception or sense speculation you cannot. Namadi. Even the chanting of Hare Krṣṇa mantra you cannot understand. Ataḥ; sri-krṣṇa-namadi. Nama, rupa, lila, parikara, vaisiṣṭya..., everything. You cannot understand with these blunt senses. Then how? Sevonmukhe hi jihvadau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ;. When you engage your senses, purified senses. Sevonmukhe. Purified senses means when the senses are engaged in the service of the Lord—everything—then you can understand Krṣṇa. Sevonmukhe hi jihvadau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ;. Krṣṇa is not your servant: "Krṣṇa, I want to see You." No. That you cannot see. Svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ;. When He's pleased, when He sees that "Here is a pure devotee," then He reveals.

So the Paṇḍavas were pure devotees; therefore Krṣṇa took his side and they became victorious in the fight. And Krṣṇa is always ready to give protection to His devotees. Kaunteya pratijanihi na me bhaktaḥ; praṇasyati [Bg. 9.31]. His sudarsana-cakra always protects His devotees. That is the position of devotee.

Thank you very much. (end)

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