Tag: yudhisthir

Did Arjuna always know that Krishna is actually the Supreme Personality of Godhead?

Arjuna addressed Krishna as Madhusudana in BG 1.35, before Krishan revealed Himself as The Supreme Personality of Godhead. So how did Arjuna know that Krishna was Hayagriva before?

Brajanath Das, 01 March 2016

Hare Krishna Dear Devotees!

Please accept my humble obeisances!

All glories to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu!

All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

While reading Bhagavad-Gita 1.34 where in Arjuna calls Krishna as Madhusudana, “the killer of the Madhu demon,” I got the following doubt –

Madhu was killed by the avatar of Hayagriva, who came before the Krishna avatar. Since Arjuna did not know that Krishna was the Supreme Personality of Godhead at that time, so how did he know that Madhusudana was Krishna? Did Arjuna know that Hayagriva and Krishna are the same? If so, how?

your servant,

Brajanath Das

Mahabhagavat Das SDA, 02 March 2016

Dear Sriman Rao,

Hare Krishna!

Please accept my humble obeisances.

All glories to Srila Gurudeva.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Arjuna knows Krishna’s identity very well, his apparent “illusion” was a device by Krishna to make Arjuna the recipient of knowledge intended for us.

In the Mahabharata, for example, in the assembly of Kurus where great sages like Narada Muni were present, during the Rajasuya Yajna performed by Maharaja Yudhisthira, Krishna was unanimously (except for Shishupala who was then delivered by Krishna) chosen as the head of the assembly in the presence of so many exalted personalities.

See https://vedabase.io/en/library/kb/74/

It is best if we all read the entire chapter, as the Krishna Book of Srila Prabhupada is the 10th Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam.

There are many other indications, for example Arjuna’s choice of Krishna over Krishna’s army which went to Duryodhana… from Srila Prabhupada’s lecture “Arjuna was satisfied with Kṛṣṇa. That’s all. Kṛṣṇa also divided Himself. Because it is family quarrel. So He said, “I cannot take part with anyone and even if I take part, side, of any of you, I shall not fight. Directly I shall not fight. I may be on your side or that side, but I’ll not fight.” Still, Arjuna was satisfied. So Kṛṣṇa, in order to satisfy Arjuna, that “I shall not fight, but I shall become your charioteer. I shall drive your chariot.”” Source http://vanisource.org/wiki/Lecture_on_BG_1.2-3_–_London,_July_9,_1973

Actually it was an openly known fact that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but still, many people did not choose to accept Him as such.

“So here, Dhṛtarāṣṭra, he is jealous. He cannot give any good government. Kṛṣṇa knew it. Kṛṣṇa sent a messenger, Akrura. You have read in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Before this Battle of Kurukṣetra from Dvārakā, He sent His uncle Akrūra: “Just go to Hastināpura, New Delhi, and see what is the situation.” So Akrūra understood that Dhṛtarāṣṭra was planning something. So he talked with him that “Why you are implicated in such planning? Kṛṣṇa does not want it.” Although Dhṛtarāṣṭra knew that Kṛṣṇa was the Supreme Personality of Godhead… So Dhṛtarāṣṭra said that “I know that what I am planning, that is not good. I know Kṛṣṇa—the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And He has requested me. But I tell you frankly, I cannot do without it. So when Kṛṣṇa will be pleased upon me, I may be.”

So this is the position of the materialistic person. A materialistic person knows that he is sinful. A materialistic person knows that whatever he is doing is wrong, but he cannot check. Just like the thief. A thief knows that if he commits stealing, he will be arrested, he will be punished. He knows. Because he heard from law books, from other sources, and he has also seen that a thief is arrested and he is taken by the police for being punished. So we have got two kinds of experiences: by hearing and by seeing directly. In Bengali it is called dekhā-śunā. In India it is called. The two kinds of experience: one by seeing, practically experiencing, hand to hand; another by hearing. So one who is intelligent, he gets his experience simply by hearing from the right source.” Source http://vanisource.org/wiki/730707_-_Lecture_BG_01.01_-_London

By corollary, the devotee can recognize Krishna as He is always.

Sincerely,

Mahabhagavat Das

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Is Vedic geography and Cosmology limited to India alone?

Do the Vedic texts only refer to India? Is the Vedic view that the earth is flat? What is the truth here?

Manoj Tripathi, 19 May 2016

Hare Krishna dear devotees.

Please accept my humble obeisances.

I was reading the Mahabharata translation by Krsna Dharma prabhu, wherein there are references to several places on this earth. The most interesting ones are mentioned in the portions describing the Rajasuya and Ashwamedha yagyas which Maharaja Yudhishthira performed.

All the places mentioned in these parts of the text seem to be in or around India. Also, it is never mentioned that they crossed the ocean to go to some other place like present Australia or the USA. 

The questions that arise are following:

a. Were there no powerful kingdoms in other parts of the world; or were the capitals of all the kingdoms located in and around India?

b. Are many of the routes and places which were accessible to people in those times not visible to us now?

I reconcile the present and past with these two arguments. Is there anything else that should be understood while reading about the past?

Sorry if I have posted something irrelevant.

Thank you.

Manoj

Mahabhagavat Das SDA, 19 May 2016

Dear Manoj,

Hare Krishna!

Please accept my humble obeisances.

All glories to Srila Gurudeva.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Yes, Krishna Dharma Prabhu is in disciplic succession from Srila Prabhupada and his translation is relied upon by many devotees within ISKCON.

What is missing in that edition of the Mahabharata is purports as found in Srila Prabhupada’s books to give us full context of the verses (our context is very different today)… but then the work would become really massive because with Srila Prabhupada’s Srimad Bhagavatam purports, with 18,000 verses it comes to 18 volumes of books… the Mahabharata has 100,000 verses! 🙂 How many of us have read even Srila Prabhupada’s books thoroughly?

On this topic of reconciling things as they appear today vs. Vedic history, a great reference is Devamrita Swami Maharaja’s “Searching for Vedic India“.

The main point is that human civilization is a devolution from Vedic civilization, things were not more primitive 5000 years as claimed by modern historians and scientists ago but actually more advanced. This cannot be accepted by a person who is proud.

In one lecture by Srila Prabhupada, on the verse BG 1.5, Srila Prabhupada says this:

“Practically in the Battle of Kuruksetra great personalities, warriors, from all parts of the world they came and joined. Some of them joined with this party and others joined with the other party. So far we have studied… just like Saibya, he belonged to Sibya. So all these personalities, we did not get their full description, it would enhance the pages. But these big personalities, we have got their information. There is a book, The Personalities of Mahabharata. Bhagavad-gita is part of Mahabharata. Mahabharata means greater India. Maha means greater, and bharata means India. So this whole planet was Bharata-varsa. There was only one flag. The whole planet was being ruled by one king. That is the king of this Hastinapura. The fight is that, that who would be the king, Maharaja Yudhisthira or Duryodhana. But a king… It is not a democratic; it is monarchy. So Krsna is deciding, “No, Duryodhana is unfit. Maharaja Yudhisthira is fit.” This is Krsna’s desire. Therefore this fight is there. Kuruksetra. Krsna wanted to wipe out all unwanted demons from the face of the world and enthrone Maharaja Yudhisthira because he is the exact representative of Krsna.” (Srila Prabhupada Lecture, “Everything (Even Dictatorship) Can Be Utilized for Krishna” 73/07/10 London, Bhagavad-gita 1.4-5)

So, the situation was that there were kings all over the world, but there were greater kings and lesser kings. And this was a war of the advanced Kshatriya races, the tribals, low-class humans, and animal-like-humans were not involved in it. In the Ashwamedha yajna, or declaration of supremacy, it was only necessary to get allegiance from the greater kings, the subordinates were naturally bound to follow suit. And of course, less advanced humans didn’t even figure in the equation.

Even in more modern times, it was like that with the Greek or Roman empire, if someone destroyed Athens or Rome, then the entire empire was practically gone.

Also, travel was not necessarily done as it is done today – for example, in the Mahabharata it is mentioned that Arjuna travelled to the heavenly planets. Where is the transportation means today that can take someone to the heavenly planets? So yes, the means of transportation as it existed then is not known today.

The secret is mantra yoga, by proper chanting of a mantra, one can achieve any desired success, whether material or spiritual, it is not necessary to make a tunnel to go through a mountain, it is not necessary to construct a floating ship to go over water, and it is not necessary to construct a metal tube with Bernoulli’s principle to fly in the air. The mantra is very powerful.

However, in the Krishna consciousness movement, we are not interested in discovering processes of material accomplishments, we simply want to chant

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna

Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama

Rama Rama Hare Hare

The Hare Krishna Maha Mantra

and become pure servants of the servants of the devotees of Krishna.

So therefore, we don’t always focus so much on the exact reconciliation of modern understanding with what is mentioned in the Vedic literature, we are going for the highest success, we don’t care to fly in a celestial flying craft or manufacture gold from chanting mantras etc.

Does this make sense?

Sincerely,

Mahabhagvat das

Manoj Tripathi, 19 May 2016

Thank you Mahabhagvata Prabhu for such a lucid answer.

These kinds of questions automatically come to mind, however upon thinking a little more I realize that there is no end to such inquiries.

Thank you so much for bringing me back.

Hare Krishna!

Sincerely,

Manoj

Kaspars, 02 June 2016

Hare Krishna!

Please accept my humble obeisances.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Is the planet Earth considered circular or flat in Vedic literature? One local devotee answered to me like this. Advanced people see more dimensions, not our three… It is length, width, height. So we cannot even imagine how Earth looks in other dimensions. Still I am curious whether the Earth was considered flat by ancient people. And how then we get the circular globe.

Kaspars

Mahabhagavat Das SDA, 2 June 2016

Dear Kaspars,

Hare Krishna!

The 5th Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam gives a good idea of the structure of the Universe. See https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/5/, especially SB 5.16 onwards.

The Vedic cosmology goes beyond our insignificant planet. The “earth” is actually a large collection of “earthly” planets (islands) that are arranged to form something that looks like a disc. So yes, the “earth” is flat, but only when you consider that “earth” means “earthly planetary system with many many planets such as ours”.

Also, this is a video especially for you, this is a simulation of the  chandelier that will be inside the TOVP dome, it gives a good idea of Vedic cosmology according to Srimad Bhagavatam 5th Canto… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdX5lffC2IQ

All these things are difficult to fully understand, imagine an ant trying to understand the plan of a big city, it is practically impossible.

Sincerely,

Mahabhagavat Das

Please subscribe to daily inspirational emails from His Grace Sriman Sankarshan Das Adhikari (Writings and lectures archived at www.ecstaticmedia.com ), written fresh every day from his travels around the world sharing the highest spiritual knowledge with everyone. Sign up now at www.joincourse.com