It is described here that in the beginning, from the pure state of Krishna consciousness, the first contamination manifests. And Prabhupada says this is called false ego, or identification of the body as self. So this is the cause of all problems in this world: false ego. Ego is real. We are part and parcel of the Supreme Lord, but when we are covered by false ego, we think we are something which we are not, and there will always be bewilderment, confusion, and a lot of suffering. One cannot avoid it. Rupa Goswami says:
sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ
tat-paratvena nirmalam
hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-
sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate
That bhakti means to, by hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ, engage our senses in the service of the Master of the senses. And by so doing, there are two side effects: sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ, one becomes free from all material designations, bodily designations, and one's senses become purified. So Prabhupada, he speaks here about... He says in the Upaniṣad it is stated that the path of spiritual realization is just like the sharp edge of a razor. And he says this example is very appropriate. So it's like walking on a razor's edge. That means one has to always be very alert, very conscious, very careful. And at any moment, one might deviate from the proper path. I was thinking about Mahārāja Parīkṣit, who was situated so nicely. But one day he was hunting in the forest, and then suddenly he became extremely fatigued, he became extremely hungry and thirsty in a way that he normally didn't experience. And not only that he was overwhelmed by this fatigue and hunger and thirst, but he also became agitated and disturbed. So he was searching after water, and in this way he was entering the hermitage of Śamīka Ṛṣi. And he was just sitting there, silently meditating. Parīkṣit Mahārāja, normally he was so balanced, so sober, so controlled, so Krishna conscious always. But now he was disturbed. So I always think about this as walking on the razor's edge. I think we all experience sometimes we are overwhelmed by being disturbed, being unbalanced, and so on. Śamīka Ṛṣi was just sitting there meditating. Actually, this was, of course, a higher arrangement of the Lord, that he should become disturbed so that Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam could be spoken. Just like his grandfather Arjuna, he was put into illusion by the higher arrangement of the Lord, and in this way Bhagavad-gītā was spoken. So also this was a higher arrangement that Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam was going to be spoken. But still, it's an interesting example how he was so nicely situated, and just a little, like walking on the razor's edge, just becoming a little unbalanced, and then out of false ego, he became disturbed. Śamīka Ṛṣi, it's explained, he was dressed in skin of stag, had long hair scattered all over his body. And Mahārāja Parīkṣit, he asked for water, "Can you please give me water?" And there was no response, no response at all. He expected, due to false ego, he was thinking he wanted some welcome, he wanted that he should offer him a seat, that he should offer some sweet words. So he was expecting that out of false ego. Like we also sometimes expect that we should be treated in a certain way, and when it's not taking place, we might become a little disturbed or agitated like that. What he felt, he felt neglected, and he became angry. That was his reaction due to false ego and walking on this razor's edge. So suddenly he was in a very disturbed situation. Usually, he never did such a silly action that he was going to do. Because when he was angry, he was just leaving. And when he was leaving, he saw a dead snake outside the hermitage. And then his impulse was, "I want to show him. He treated me with such cold treatment." So he took with his bow, he took up the snake, and he thought, "Okay, I put it around his neck." So he did that. So it all happens by the Lord's will, as we said. But while returning home, he started to reflect on what happened. First he was so angry, but by just walking home towards the palace, he started to reflect as a pure devotee. In his mind, due to false ego, he thought he was faking he was in meditation. That's what he speculated: "He's just faking because he doesn't want to receive me as a kṣatriya. He thinks that I'm lower than him." And that's why he became disturbed and angry. But now, on the way home, he was reflecting on it, and he was thinking, "Maybe he was not faking. Maybe it was real. Maybe he was in real meditation."
So he was, in different ways, arguing with himself back and forth. And we know so many consequences came out of that. So when we walk on the path of devotional service, as Prabhupada said, it's like a razor's edge, so we can just learn from... If you just make a little wrong move, there might be so many consequences, so many reactions because of this. So this was a higher arrangement, but still it's interesting to see that sometimes people make just a little mistake and there is... I remember there was one Swedish man, I think in Malaysia or somewhere, who had a very high post in some big company in Sweden. And he was just in the airport, and he was going to buy something. And then, due to some bad habit, he just hid... that he didn't pay for it, the particular thing. I think it was something stupid like chocolate or something like that. And he was caught. And it became a big thing. They were very strict in that particular country about being a thief.
Q: Shoplifting.
A: Yes. So, and because he had that high position, then you are in the spotlight, so to say. So the reaction was that it came out and he had to quit his job. So this is an example of walking on a razor's edge. Just a little mistake. He could have paid, he had money, no problem. But just by some bad habit he took it, and so many reactions because of that. So here Pariksit Maharaja, just because of putting into this illusion, false ego, and garlanded the sage, so so many consequences. And his son, a powerful brahmana's son, Srngi, he heard about it, and he was very immature. So he was there with some friends, and when he heard about it, he became also very angry and disturbed. So then he wanted to show his power for his friends, so it's described there in Bhagavatam that his eyes were red-hot with anger, and he cursed the king. So that was also, when we speak about walking on a razor's edge, such consequences. That he touched water and he was declaring to his friends that within seven days a snake-bird will bite this most, he said, wretched king of the dynasty, because he has broken the etiquette and he has insulted my father. And then Srngi returned home, and he saw the snake which was described to him, and then he cried. He started to cry loudly. And I heard that also he started to cry because he knew deep inside he did something really wrong. He was also completely out of balance after performing this act. And then when he cried, the father slowly opened his eyes, and he saw this snake, and he didn't take it very seriously, he just put it aside like that. And when he saw his son was crying, he was asking, "What happened? Why are you crying?" And he told what he had done. He cursed the king to die within seven days. And Samika was shocked over that action. "My son, what have you done? He's the king, he's a rajarsi, the most qualified saintly king. And such a heavy punishment for such an insignificant insult, offense."
He said, "Your intelligence is very, very immature." He said that the king is as good as God, he's supposed to be as good as God, as naradevata. He should be representative of the Lord, the leader, the president, the prime minister, the king, they should be actually representative of the Lord. So nowadays they are not, but Pariksit Maharaja, he really was a first-class devotee. So Samika was praying to Krsna that he should be forgiven for doing this great offense. And Samika, as we said, he didn't take this insult seriously, not at all. So in Krsna consciousness, it's very subtle, like when we speak of walking on a razor's edge. I was listening to one Prabhupada memory, it was Laksminrsingha Prabhu from America, who told one interesting story that he himself observed, he was present. And there was one devotee who had a kirtana group at this time. They were very good musicians, and they were performing very nice kirtanas, but they had become a little proud. So again, walking on a razor's edge, you can easily slip when you do something special, that you become a little proud. So now it was guru-puja for Srila Prabhupada, and they really had prepared for that. And he had a real band of devotees around him. He was a very good singer. And kartala players, mrdanga players were around him. And Prabhupada was sitting down on the vyasasana. And Prabhupada usually was in a very meditative mode when they were singing guru-puja. So then this devotee walked up to the microphone, and he started to sing:
śrī-guru-caraṇa-padma
with a very, very sweet voice, beautiful voice. And Prabhupada, in his meditative mode, opened his eyes, and then he just said, "Stop!" And everyone froze: the singer, the band around him, and all the devotees. And it sat like that for a long time.
And they were just everything froze. And then Prabhupada, he asked another devotee, "You sing." And then he started to sing. So I was just thinking about this. It's very subtle. Prabhupada, he was very sensitive, of course. Immediately he felt, what is the mood behind it? If there was some pride, "I want to be in the center, I want to, somehow or other, be recognized, admired for my sweet voice, or we are such a nice band here, and we are advanced, we should be respected," and so on. So it can just enter in a very subtle way. I think we are all struggling with that in different degrees, and it can be in these different situations, manifest in different ways. So this is in a very practical way. Or when we are chanting japa, that's also like walking on the razor's edge. The mind is suddenly somewhere else. And we have to show our sincerity by just again drag the mind back just here, hearing the holy name. So it's a challenge. And Prabhupada said when we try to be Krsna conscious, it's like declaring war against the illusory energy. And so we should be very conscious like that, and in this way we can overcome the false ego, because the process of hearing and chanting, it's so powerful. Prabhupada, he says in regards to false ego, in Nectar of Devotion, he's quoting from the Fourth Canto, it's Sanat-kumara who speaks. So in regards to false ego: "My dear King, the false ego of a human being is so strong that it keeps him in material existence as if tied up by strong ropes. Only the devotee can cut off the knot of this strong rope very easily by engaging himself in Krsna consciousness."
So the process of just being engaged in Krsna consciousness, we should not forget, it's so powerful. And false ego, these strong, strong ropes, compared to strong, strong ropes, it's not possible to be free from those ropes. Like example, if you are well bound up by ropes, hands and feet, and you cannot free yourself, but if someone who is free passes by and have mercy on you, he can also free you. So that's compared to the devotees, to the spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada. So I continue: "Others who are not in Krsna consciousness, but who are trying to become great mystics, a great ritual performer, cannot advance like the devotees. A devotee, if one takes seriously the process, can advance very quickly." We can see when Prabhupada was present, then those who took instructions from Prabhupada seriously, how quickly they became advanced. Some of them, like in one year, Prabhupada sent them to another part of the world to open a center and spreading Krsna consciousness. So very quickly one can advance. And I continue here just with this quote from Nectar of Devotion: "Therefore, it is the duty of everyone to engage himself in the activities of Krsna consciousness in order to be freed from the tight knot of false ego and engagement in material activities."
So I end here. Thank you very much. Any questions, comments, anything we can discuss?
Q: Do we know how old he is, the son who is cursing Maharaja Pariksit, which age he is?
A: I cannot remember if it's stated how old, but it said he was immature. Trained as a brahmana, but not mature. He know a lot, but in this example he was also influenced by being in the association of other friends, and he wanted to impress on them that he was powerful and that he was going to put the king in the right place, he thought.
Q: He was supposed to be a young boy, as I understand. A young boy, so that would be less than, I would say, 15, less than 14.
A: Yeah, maybe 12.
Q: Maybe 13, maybe 7. Because I'm thinking, in the reaction, he realized something was wrong, he started crying, like a child would do that.
A: Yeah, he really felt he did something very wrong.
Q: It was Krsna's plan anyway.
A: Yes, it was. And we can say Maharaja Pariksit, seemingly to have that character at this point, but it was arranged by the Lord. And that we saw when he was walking towards the palace, walking home, how he immediately started to reflect. He came to his senses, and then he immediately became critical of himself and actually completely humble when he came to his senses. So he just came back to his normal consciousness, but he was put into that situation by the Lord. And we can see how also his character, how he has detached himself. When he got the news, soon after this, he got the news about that you have one more week to live, and how did he respond to that? It just showed he was not attached. Although being so popular, so qualified, he was loved by everyone, he had a nice family, and he was so intelligent and powerful, but he saw it as good news. Just imagine. He saw it as good news. "It's an opportunity that I can detach myself." And immediately he has made arrangement that his son Janamejaya was going to take over. He just gave him some instructions and he was the king, and he has detached himself. So that showed his real character, his detachment, and so he was put into this illusion.
Q: It's also described that later on he could sit and fast and not eat anything for seven days. So that proves that he was perfectly capable to control hunger and thirst, actually. Very high level, so it was simply the Lord's arrangement.
A: Yeah. That's a very nice point. He could control his hunger and thirst after this for seven days. So he was just overwhelmed in such a way he never experienced before and he became disturbed and angry, but that was the arrangement of the Lord. Just imagine, seven days, just completely with rapt attention, just listening and drinking in the nectar from Sukadeva Gosvami's mouth and just being... no fear, just great inspiration, meeting death like that. That's the power of Srimad-Bhagavatam, hearing from Sukadeva Gosvami, if one hears with rapt attention. I remember Srila Prabhupada in... once on Janmastami in Vrindavan after midnight, everyone was just waiting for prasadam and after the midnight arati, and then Prabhupada said we should read the Krsna book. And so it started and devotees were so tired and so hungry and then after one chapter everyone thought, "Now prasadam." But then Prabhupada said, "Next chapter." And Prabhupada, he was just sitting with completely rapt attention, drinking in the Krsna book, reading, hearing the reading. And after the second chapter, long chapter, the prayers I think of the demigods, so then they thought, "Now it must be prasadam." And then Prabhupada said again, "Next chapter." And at this time it's described how devotees, they were just falling asleep and they were just completely out of it. And Prabhupada, he saw that and then he said, "Okay, we stop here." And everyone, "Jaya Prabhupada!" So that's when you can hear with rapt attention like Pariksit Maharaj.
Q: It's interesting that Pariksit Maharaj, he didn't speculate what he thought in what was going on, but he was making speculations. And that's kind of a thing that is so easily done by conditioned souls because of course we bring everything and everyone into our concepts. We think we know what's the motivation, why he's doing that, and it's just speculation. That's what Bhaktisiddhanta Maharaj and after him Madhava Puri Maharaj always stresses this point that we are not to see. We don't see. We're not used to see. But still we don't see, we still speculate. We think we see, we think we know, we think we understand. And even when we chant, we bring Krsna into our conceptual [world]. Instead of... we have to go into Krsna's. What is His world? How He's chanting? How He... So even when we're chanting, just bringing Krsna into our concepts.
A: That's very nice points and it's how when we are influenced and controlled by the false ego, we become crazy, actually. And we think, as you said, we think we see things clearly as they are. That's our speculation. But actually it's like, for instance, if someone is looking the wrong way in our direction and we immediately interpret that, "Oh, because of this and that," and we start to speculate and it can become like a big thing out of it. So that's why we should hear from guru, sadhu, and sastra. Otherwise we will always be confused. In the guna of goodness, you see more things as they are, but it's not suddha-sattva, it's not pure goodness, it's tinged with also some passion and ignorance, sattva-guna. But you see more things as they are, but still you are influenced by the false ego. But you are more balanced, more sober. There is one verse in Bhagavad-gita which says that those who neglect the sastra-vidhi, the scriptural injunctions, and kama-karatah, and act according to his own whims, na sa siddhim avapnoti na sukham na param gatim, can attain neither perfection, nor happiness, nor the supreme destination. You have to have faith in sastra, faith in Srimad-Bhagavatam, and it's beyond the confusion of this world, or Bhagavad-gita. It's five past nine. Thank you very much. Srimad-Bhagavatam ki jaya! Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!