Saturday, December 6, 2014

TEACHINGS OF QUEEN KUNTI
Chapter 21: 

Srimad Bhagavatam 1.8.38
ke vayaṁ nāma-rūpābhyāṁ
yadubhiḥ saha pāṇḍavāḥ
bhavato ’darśanaṁ yarhi
hṛṣīkāṇām iveśituḥ

ke — who are; vayam — we; nāma-rūpābhyām — without fame and ability; yadubhiḥ — with the Yadus; saha — along with; pāṇḍavāḥ — and the Pāṇḍavas; bhavataḥ — Your; adarśanam — absence; yarhi — as if; hṛṣīkāṇām — of the senses; iva — like; īśituḥ — of the living being.

Translation

As the name and fame of a particular body is finished with the disappearance of the living spirit, similarly if You do not look upon us, all our fame and activities, along with the Pāṇḍavas and Yadus, will end at once.

JOURNAL:

Srila Prabhupada gives us some beautiful illustrations of how things work and our absoulte need for Krishna in this chapter;

While the energy works, the energetic remains aloof, just as the sunshine spreads everywhere while the sun itself remains apart. Similarly, there is energy working throughout the cosmic manifestation. The cosmic manifestation consists of earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence, and false ego. These eight material elements are separated material energies (me bhinna prakrtir astadha), and we can understand that behind these energies there must be an energetic source. For example, we are using electric power, but behind this power are the powerhouse and the engineer. Rascals do not understand this. They simply see the power of this cosmic manifestation, but they do not understand that behind this power is the powermaker, the source of power. Therefore Krsna comes and says, "I am the powermaker. I am behind this power."

God exists, and God's energy also exists, so if we cannot see God we can at least see His energy. We may not see the electric powerhouse and the engineer within it generating power, but we use electricity in so many ways. Therefore we should inquire where this electricity comes from. This is intelligence, and if one inquires in this way he will eventually find the powerhouse itself. Similarly, if one studies further to find out who is running the powerhouse, one will find a human being. Although the electricity is impersonal and even the powerhouse is impersonal, the man behind everything is a person. Similarly, God is a person. This is a logical conclusion. How can He be impersonal? That which is impersonal has no intelligence. We have invented so many very wonderful machines, but the machines are not intelligent. The intelligence belongs to the operator. Therefore Krsna says, mayadhyaksena prakrtih suyate sa-caracaram: "You are seeing the energy displayed in the wonderful actions and reactions of this material cosmic manifestation, but don't think that they are working independently. No, I am behind them."

He closes with this description of bhakti;

Hrsikena hrsikesa-sevanam bhaktir ucyate: bhakti means to use hrsika, the senses, in the service of Hrsikesa, Krsna, the master of the senses (tvaya hrsikesena hrdi sthitasya yatha karomi). Because I wanted some sense gratification, forgetting that everything actually belongs to Krsna, I have been given this body, which is a facility for sense gratification. But the senses have no value without Krsna, and therefore the natural conclusion is that the senses belong to Krsna. Therefore, since I have these senses, why not use them for Krsna's satisfaction? This is bhakti.

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