Pradyumna:

mata sisunaṁ nidhanaṁ sutanaṁ
nisamya ghoraṁ paritapyamana
tadarudad vaṣpa-kalakulakṣi
taṁ santvayann aha kiriṭamali
[SB 1.7.15]

"Draupadi, the mother of the five children of the Paṇḍavas, after hearing of the massacre of her sons, began to cry in distress with eyes full of tears. Trying to pacify her in her great loss, Arjuna spoke to her thus."

Prabhupada:

mata sisunaṁ nidhanaṁ sutanaṁ
nisamya ghoraṁ paritapyamana
tadarudad vaṣpa-kalakulakṣi
taṁ santvayann aha kiriṭamali
[SB 1.7.15]

So Draupadi's five sons were killed—five sons by five husbands. You know the history of Draupadi. She had five husbands, which is forbidden nowadays. Although in some hilly districts still this system is current, that one woman has got five or six husbands—this practice was there even in high circle—that is now forbidden. Devareṇa sutotpattiṁ kalau pañca vivarjayet. Don't try to imitate Draupadi. That is not allowed in this age.

asvamedhaṁ gavalambhaṁ
sannyasaṁ pala-paitrkam
devareṇa sutotpattiṁ
kalau pañca vivarjayet
[Cc. Adi 17.164]

So when Draupadi was gained by Arjuna, the five Paṇḍavas were in the forest incognito. So when they came to their mother in jubilation, they exclaimed, "Mother, we have got a very nice jewel." So mother said, "All right, my dear sons, enjoy it, all of you, five." So on the order of mother they accepted Draupadi as a common wife. But that does not mean she had many sons. Only five sons. By the five husbands, one son. That is also another system. Not competition that each husband will produce dozens of children. No.

So when the mother understood that her sons were killed, certainly she was very, very unhappy. Mata sisunaṁ nidhanaṁ sutanaṁ nisamya ghoraṁ paritapyamana. Lamenting. That is natural. So tadarudad vaṣpa-kalakulakṣi. With tears, she was crying, and taṁ santvayan, pacifying, aha kiriṭamali. Kiriṭamali is Arjuna. So they were directly connected with Krṣṇa. Draupadi's another name is Krṣṇa. And still they had to suffer the material pangs. Not that because one is Krṣṇa conscious there will be no material suffering. Actually, those who are Krṣṇa conscious, they have no material suffering. Although it appears that they are suffering, they are not suffering. They can accept any so-called suffering and accept it as mercy of Krṣṇa. They never take it as suffering. Tat te 'nukampaṁ su-samikṣamaṇo bhuñjana evatma-krtaṁ vipakam [SB 10.14.8]. A devotee, when he's in suffering, so-called suffering, he accepts it as the mercy of Krṣṇa. Tat te 'nukampam. And he rather thanks Krṣṇa, that "I had to suffer many more times, but You have minimized it, giving me little suffering. So it is Your mercy." And if anyone lives on that attitude, everything taken as Krṣṇa's mercy, then he is guaranteed to go back home, back to Godhead. Mukti-pade sa daya-bhak. Daya-bhak means his going back to home, back to Godhead, is exactly like the inheritance of property by the son. Mukti-pade sa daya-bhak. So we should learn from the Paṇḍavas that Krṣṇa was always present with them, still they had to suffer so much material tribulations. So they were never unhappy, neither they requested Krṣṇa that "My dear friend Krṣṇa, You were always with us. Still we had to suffer." Never expressed that. That is pure devotion. Never try to take any benefit from Krṣṇa. Simply try to give benefit to Krṣṇa. Do not take any benefit from Krṣṇa. This is pure devotion.

Perhaps you know that once upon a time Rupa Gosvami desired that "If I would get some nice foodstuff, I would have invited Sanatana Gosvami and cook some nice food." He desired like that. They were living in Vrndavana here and there, under the shade of a tree. They had no stock, nothing. So one very beautiful girl came and offered rice, ḍal, ghee. She said, "Baba, we have got some festival." In this country they address saintly person as Baba. So she offered so many things, and he immediately invited Sanatana Gosvami—they were living separately. And Rupa Gosvami was very good cook also. So he prepared very nice preparation and offered to Sanatana Gosvami prasadam. So Sanatana Gosvami astonishingly inquired that "Where you got all these nice things in this forest?" So he told the whole story, that "In the morning I desired, and in just a few hour, time, little time, one very beautiful girl came and offered this ingredients." So after hearing the description of the beautiful girl, Sanatana Gosvami could understand that she was Radharaṇi. So immediately he chastised Rupa Gosvami, that "You have taken service from Radharaṇi. This is not good. We are trying to give service to Radharaṇi, and you have taken service from Radharaṇi."

So this is Vaiṣṇava consideration. They are firmly determined not to bother Krṣṇa with anything. Simply to serve Him. Anukulyena krṣṇanusilanam [Cc. Madhya 19.167]. Similarly, Krṣṇa also finds opportunity when to serve His devotee. This is the reciprocation. The devotee wants to serve Krṣṇa without any return, and Krṣṇa also wants to serve devotee whenever there is opportunity. This is the transaction of love: not to take anything return.

asliṣya va pada-rataṁ pinaṣṭu mam
adarsanan marma-hataṁ karotu va
yatha tatha va vidadhatu lampaṭo
mat-praṇa-nathas tu sa eva naparaḥ;
[Cc. Antya 20.47]

This is Caitanya Mahaprabhu's teaching, that "From Krṣṇa's side, He may do whatever He likes"—that is full surrender—"still, He is my master. He's nobody else. He is still my worshipable master." Bhaktivinoda Ṭhakura has sung,

manasa deho geho jo kichu mor
arpiluṅ tuwa pade nanda-kisor

Nanda-kisora is Krṣṇa. So this is full surrender. "My dear Nanda-kisora, whatever I have got, now I am offering everything to You." What I have got? Manasa deho geho: "I have got my body, I have got my mind, and a so-called home or a wife or a few children. What I have got? So everything is offered to You." Manasa deho geho jo kichu mor. This is full surrender. Now he says, marobi rakhobi jo iccha tohara: "I am surrendering to You everything. Now if You like You can save me, or if You like You can kill me." This is full surrender.

So these Paṇḍavas are the best example, and better than the Paṇḍavas, there are other devotees. And the topmost surrendered devotees are the gopis. There is no more higher exalted devotees than the gopis. Therefore Caitanya Mahaprabhu recommended that the gopis, ramya kacid upasana vraja-vadhu-vargeṇa ya kalpita. There is no better type of worshiping Krṣṇa than the method by which gopis worship Krṣṇa. They, their love was so intense that they did not care for any family, any honor, or any prestige—nothing. That is the highest, topmost loving stage of Krṣṇa. And Krṣṇa also loved the gopis, so much so that Krṣṇa asked them that "You cannot expect any return from Me for your ecstatic love. I cannot give you. It is beyond My power." So they purchased Krṣṇa. And the topmost gopi is Radharaṇi. So we should not consider these gopis' dealings with Krṣṇa as ordinary material dealings. It is not that. Ananda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhavitabhis tabhir ya eva nija-rupataya kalabhiḥ; [Bs. 5.37]. The gopis are expansion of Krṣṇa's pleasure potency. That is described by Srila Jiva Gosvami. Radha krṣṇa-praṇaya-vikrtir hladini-saktir asmat. Hladini-sakti. Krṣṇa has got the pleasure potency. Parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate [Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport]. He has got multi-energies. In the Viṣṇu Puraṇa it is also said, parasya brahmaṇaḥ; saktis tathedam akhilaṁ jagat. Whatever we see, that is display of the potencies, different potencies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Just like the sun is ninety-three millions of miles away from this earthly planet. Still we are getting heat and light energy of the sun. Goloka eva nivasaty akhilatma-bhutaḥ; [Bs. 5.37]. That is Krṣṇa's energy. Although He is in the Goloka planet, which is the topmost planet in the spiritual world... You cannot estimate the how far the spiritual world is from this material world. From material calculation they say it takes about some forty thousands of years to go to the limit of this universe. Then beyond that universe there is the spiritual world. Paras tasmat tu bhavo 'nyaḥ; [Bg. 8.20], another nature, avyakto 'vyaktat sanatanaḥ;. Then you pass through the spiritual world, brahmajyoti. There are innumerable, unlimited number of Vaikuṇṭha planets. Then, above all of them, there is the planet Goloka Vrndavana, where Krṣṇa resides.

It is said in the Brahma-saṁhita, goloka-namni nija-dhamni tale ca tasya [Bs. 5.43]. Goloka-namni nija-dhamni. That is Krṣṇa's personal planet, Goloka Vrndavana. Goloka-namni nija-dhamni tale ca tasya devi-mahesa-hari-dhamasu teṣu teṣu [Bs. 5.43]. There are other planetary system, Hari-dhama, Vaikuṇṭha-dhama. Then, this is, this material world is called Devi-dhama, and between the Goloka, between the spiritual world and material world there is...Goloka-namni nija-dhamni tale ca tasya devi-mahesa-hari-dhamasu [Bs. 5.43]. So there are so many status (?) of planetary system. Each planet is full with living entities. The spiritual planet, they are full of living entities: they are all liberated, nitya-mukta. And those who are within this material world, planets, they are nitya-baddha. Nitya-baddha, nitya-mukta. There are two kinds of living entities. The nitya-baddhas are only few, but the nitya-muktas are many, many. This material world is only one fourth energy of the creation. The three-fourths energy is in the spiritual world. And here in the one-fourth energy there are innumerable universes, and each universe is full with different types of planets, and each planet is full of living entities. But these rascals, they say it is..., there is no living entity; it is sand and rocks. So this is not the fact. You have to understand from the Vedic literature about the planets, where which planet is existing, where is spiritual world, where is material world. All informations are there. Don't speculate and simply think that this planet is full of living entities, all other planets are vacant. This is most unusual argument. There is no meaning. But we are not concerned with that. We have got our own information from the Vedas.

So Krṣṇa's pastimes is going on. Somewhere, or elsewhere it is going on. Therefore His pastimes are called nitya-lila, nitya-lila-prakasa. This vrndavana-lila is nitya-lila: it is going on continuously somewhere or other within this material world. And the spiritual world, it is permanently there. So the Paṇḍavas, they are associates of the nitya-lila. They are not ordinary human beings. Wherever there is krṣṇa-lila, they go. Therefore Arjuna asked Krṣṇa that "How can I believe that You, first of all, many millions of years ago You spoke this philosophy to the sun-god?" Krṣṇa replied, bahuni me janmani... What is that verse? Ah, bahuni me vyatitani janmani tava carjuna. "Arjuna, both you and Me were together, and we have passed through many different lilas. But you have forgotten; I remember." That is the difference between God and the living entities. They cannot be equal. We forget... The Mayavadi's philosopher, they put this argument that "Because we have forgotten. Now in maya we have forgotten that we are God." So what kind of God he is if he forgets? God never says "I have forgotten." Krṣṇa says, vedahaṁ samatitani: [Bg. 7.26] "I know past, present, future." So where is the question of forgetting? So if somebody forgets, that God is different from the God who does not forget. Therefore we have to accept two. Immediately you have to accept dvaita-vada: one forgetting-God and one not-forgetting-God. You cannot accept one. That is not possible.

And that is the fact. Just like Krṣṇa says that "I remember when I spoke to sun-god. You have forgotten." So there are two. Similarly, Krṣṇa's another name is Acyuta. He never falls down from His position. And if we fall down from the position... Therefore we are not on the same level. We may have some power, and we can claim that "I am God"—that you can claim—but not that God, like Krṣṇa. Therefore two words are there: isvara, paramesvara. In the Brahma-saṁhita therefore it is described that isvaras, there may be many, but not paramesvara. Paramesvara is one. Isvaraḥ; paramaḥ; krṣṇaḥ; [Bs. 5.1]. So these Mayavadis, they forget this, that isvara, paramesvara, there are two words. Atma and paramatma, there are two words. So they are not equal. And Krṣṇa says mattaḥ; parataraṁ nanyat [Bg. 7.7]. He is the supermost isvara. Nityo nityanaṁ cetanas cetananam (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). Although both of us are nitya, eternal, and living entities, still, there is difference. He is supreme living entity, we are subordinate. Prabhu and aṇu. Vibhu and aṇu.

So this philosophy is perfect, and anyone who accepts this Mayavada philosophy, that God and living entity are on the same level, they have got poor fund of knowledge.

Thank you very much. (end)

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