VedaVyasa
Praneetha
The Mad Bhagavatam
Chapter 8
What One Learns from Nature and the Story of Pingalâ
Lord Kṛṣṇa told Uddhava how the
avadhūta brāhmaṇa explained to Mahārāja Yadu the instructions he had received from nine of his gurus, beginning with the python.
The instruction the avadhūta brāhmaṇa received from the python is that an intelligent person should cultivate a mentality of detachment and should maintain his body by accepting whatever comes of its own accord or is easily obtained. In this way, he should remain always engaged in the worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Even if no food is available, the person who wants to engage fully in the Lord's worship should not beg; rather, he should understand this to be the arrangement of providence, thinking, "Whatever enjoyment is destined for me will automatically come, and thus I should not uselessly waste the remaining duration of my life in worrying about such things." If he does not get any food, he should simply remain lying like the python and patiently fix his mind in meditation upon the Supreme Lord.
The instruction the avadhūta brāhmaṇa received from the ocean is that the mind of the sage who is devoted to the Personality of Godhead appears very clear and grave, just like the still ocean waters. The ocean does not overflow during the rainy season, when all the flooded rivers discharge their waters into it, nor does it dry up during the hot season, when the rivers fail to supply it. Similarly, the sage does not become elated when he achieves desirable things, nor does he become distressed in their absence.
The instruction of the moth is that just as he becomes enticed by the fire and gives up his life, the fool who cannot control his senses becomes enchanted by the forms of women decorated with gold ornaments and fine clothing. Chasing after these embodiments of the divine illusory energy of the Lord, he loses his life untimely and falls down into the most horrible hell.
There are two kinds of bees, the bumblebee and the honeybee. The instruction learned from the bumblebee is that a sage should collect only small amounts of food from many different households and thus day after day practice the occupation of mādhukarī for maintaining his existence. A sage should also collect the essential truths from all scriptures, be they great or insignificant. The instruction received from the second insect, the honeybee, is that a mendicant sannyāsī should not save the food he begs for the sake of having it later that night or the next day, because if he does so, then just like the greedy honeybee he will be destroyed along with his hoard.
From the elephant the avadhūta brāhmaṇa received the following instruction. Male elephants are tricked by hunters into moving toward captive female elephants, whereupon they fall into the hunters' ditch and are captured. Similarly, the man who becomes attached to the form of woman falls down into the deep well of material life and is destroyed.
The instruction received from the honey thief is that just as he steals the honey collected with great effort by the honeybee, a person in the renounced order of life has the privilege of enjoying before anyone else the food and other valuable things purchased by the hard-earned money of the householders.
The instruction from the deer is that just as he becomes confused upon hearing the song of the hunter's flute and loses his life, so also does any person who becomes attracted to mundane music and song uselessly waste his life.
The instruction learned from the fish is that because he comes under the sway of attachment to the sense of taste, he is caught on the baited fishhook and must die. Similarly, an unintelligent person who is victimized by his insatiable tongue will also end up losing his life.
There was once a prostitute named Pińgalā in the city of Videha, and from her the avadhūta learned another lesson. One day she dressed herself in very attractive clothing and ornaments and was waiting from sunset until midnight for a customer. She waited in great anticipation, but as the time passed her mind became very uneasy. No man came to see her, and in disgust she finally became renounced, giving up her hankering for the arrival of a suitor. Thereafter she engaged herself in thinking only of the Supreme Lord, Hari, and her mind achieved the supreme platform of peace. The instruction received from her is that hopes for sense gratification are the root cause of all suffering. Therefore, only one who has given up such hankering can fix himself in meditation upon the Personality of Godhead and achieve transcendental peace.
11.8.1
(1) The honorable brahmin said: 'Since there is sensual happiness for as well those in heaven as for those in hell o King, and because there for all the embodied beings is also the unhappiness [as a logical consequence, reaction or shadow], should an intelligent person not desire such happiness [see B.G. 16: 16].
Unrefined fruitive workers foolishly worry only about the present life, whereas more pious karmīs imprudently make elaborate arrangements for future material sense gratification, unaware that all such enjoyment is temporary. The real solution, however, is to understand that by pleasing the Personality of Godhead, who is the master of all senses and all desires, one can attain permanent happiness. Such knowledge easily solves the problems of life.
11.8.2
yadṛcchayaivāpatitaḿ
grased ājagaro 'kriyaḥ
(2) As inactive as a python should one eat what is acquired accidentally, whether it is much or little, tasteless or pure and delicious food [7.13: 37-38].
11.8.3
śayītāhāni bhūrīṇi
nirāhāro 'nupakramaḥ
yadi nopanayed grāso
(3) Fasting for many days should one keep one's peace and patiently wait when no food comes one's way, just like the python that eats what providence provides [7.15: 15].
11.8.4
nehetendriyavān api
(4) When one as well physically as mentally being strong maintains the body without much effort, is one peaceful and not sleepy. Even though one is capable of anything, should one [in that situation refrain] from endeavoring.
11.8.5
durvigāhyo duratyayaḥ
ananta-pāro hy akṣobhyaḥ
stimitoda ivārṇavaḥ
(5) A sage pleasing and grave, unfathomable, unlimited and unsurpassable [in his knowing] most surely is never disturbed like the calm waters of the ocean [see also B.G. 12: 15].
11.8.6
(6) Destitute or flourishing with the desirable, does someone wise, with Nârâyana as the One Supreme, swell nor dry up, just like the ocean with the rivers [B.G. 2: 70].
11.8.7
tad-bhāvair ajitendriyaḥ
pralobhitaḥ pataty andhe
(7) Seeing a woman does he who didn't conquer his senses, tempted by that seductive illusory energy of God, blindly fall down into the darkness, just like a moth falls into the fire.
11.8.8
yoṣid-dhiraṇyābharaṇāmbarādi-
(8) Upon seeing the clothing, golden ornaments and so on of the women the way it is arranged by mâyâ, will a person lacking in discrimination with his desire for sense-gratification feel aroused by lusty desires and no doubt, the way a moth is destroyed, loose his spiritual insight [B.G. 2: 62-63].
11.8.9
gṛhān ahiḿsann ātiṣṭhed
(9) Eating little bits of food, just enough to keep the body alive, should one being wise practice [social] security [being of nonviolence] with the householders and thus be of the occupation of a honeybee [5.5: 3, 7.2: 11-13, 7.12: 6. 7.14: 5, 7.15: 15 and B.G. 4: 21].
11.8.10
śāstrebhyaḥ kuśalo naraḥ
puṣpebhya iva ṣaṭpadaḥ
(10) An intelligent human being should from the smallest as well as the biggest religious scriptures extract the essence, just like a honey bee does with all the flowers big and small [11.7: 23, B.G. 15: 15].
11.8.11
pāṇi-pātrodarāmatro
(11) Not being a collector like a honeybee is, should one with the belly as one's container and the hand as one's plate accept food in charity and not keep it for the night or the next day.
11.8.12
(12) A mendicant should not store things for the night or the following day, because he otherwise like a honeybee collecting more and more will be lost.
Bhramara refers to that honeybee who wanders about from flower to flower, and makṣikā is the honeybee who accumulates more and more honey in the beehive with great attachment. A saintly mendicant should be like the bhramara bee because if he imitates the makṣikā bee his spiritual consciousness will be ruined. This point is so important that it is repeated in this verse.
11.8.13
padāpi yuvatīḿ bhikṣur
(13) A mendicant must not touch a girl, not even one of wood or with his foot, because he otherwise, like an elephant is captured by a she-elephant, will be captured by the physical contact.
Elephants are captured in the jungle in the following way. A large hole is dug and then covered over with grass, leaves, mud and so on. Then a she-elephant is exhibited in front of the male elephant, who chases after her with lusty desire, falls into the hole and is captured. The lesson to be learned from the elephant is that the desire to relish the touch sensation is certainly the cause of ruining one's life. An intelligent person, noting the elephant's great propensity to sport with the she-elephant, will take this excellent example to heart. Therefore, somehow or other one should avoid being cheated by allurement to the sensuous form of woman. One should not allow one's mind to be lost in lusty dreams of sex pleasure. There are various types of sense gratification to be enjoyed between men and women, including speaking, contemplating, touching, sexual intercourse, etc., and all of these constitute the network of illusion by which one is helplessly bound like an animal. Somehow or other one should remain aloof from sense gratification in the form of sex pleasure; otherwise, there is no possibility of understanding the spiritual world.
11.8.14
gajair anyair gajo yathā
(14) Not to find death, should a man of wisdom never chase a woman, because he otherwise will find destruction the way an elephant is defeated by others superior in strength.
Just as one is enchanted by the beautiful form of a woman, many other men will also be enchanted, and there is danger that they will be stronger than oneself and may even jealously kill one. Crimes of passion are extremely common. This is another disadvantage of material life.
11.8.15
(15) Riches by a greedy person accumulated with great difficulty are neither enjoyed personally nor given away to others; they are rather enjoyed by someone else who stumbles across the wealth and steals it the way one steals the honey from a beehive [see also 5.13: 10].
11.8.16
su-duḥkhopārjitair vittair
āśāsānāḿ gṛhāśiṣaḥ
(16) Just as a honey thief is the first one to enjoy the honey that painstakingly was collected, is also the ascetic the first one to enjoy the eagerly desired blessings of the wealth that with a lot of trouble was acquired by householders [see e.g. 1.19: 39 and 7.14: 17].
The scriptures state, "Saintly mendicants in the sannyāsa order of life and brahmacārīs have first right to enjoy the sumptuous foodstuffs produced by the householders. If the householders enjoy such foodstuffs without first offering them in charity to the mendicants, such neglectful householders must undergo the lunar fast called cāndrāyaṇam." In family life one must overcome the natural tendency toward selfishness by giving abundant charity. Modern society foolishly does not observe such Vedic injunctions, and as a result the world has become overrun by envious gṛha-medhīs, or persons wholly and solely dedicated to personal gratification in family life. Therefore, the whole world is seized in an uncontrollable spasm of violence and suffering. If one wants to live peacefully one must follow the Vedic injunctions regulating family life. Although the householders work very hard to accumulate money, the saintly sannyāsīs and brahmacārīs have the right to first enjoy the fruits of such labor. The conclusion is that one should give first priority to spiritual advancement in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and thus perfect one's life. Then even without personal endeavor, one will be supplied all of one's necessities by the mercy of the Personality of Godhead
11.8.17
(17) A devotee living in the forest should never listen to worldly songs and music; one should learn that by the example of the deer that was captured being bewildered by the hunter's call [see the bhajans].
11.8.18
(18) Taking pleasure in vulgar dancing, musical entertainment and such songs, fell Rishyas'ringa, the son of Mrigî, because he like a plaything was fully controlled by women [see *, 5.8 and 5.25: 11].
11.8.19
jihvayāti-pramāthinyā
jano rasa-vimohitaḥ
mṛtyum ṛcchaty asad-buddhir
(19) The way a fish following its taste with no intelligence is hooked and finds its death, can also a person, disturbed by what the tongue dictates, against his better knowledge waste his life.
11.8.20
indriyāṇi jayanty āśu
nirāhārā manīṣiṇaḥ
(20) The learned who are of selfrestraint quickly conquer the material senses, except however for the tongue, of which the taste for food increases with the fasting [see prasâdam prayer].
In South America there is a saying that when the belly is full the heart is content. Thus, one who is eating sumptuously is jolly, and if one is deprived of proper food one's appetite becomes even more voracious. An intelligent person, however, does not fall under the control of the tongue, but rather tries to make progress in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. By accepting the remnants of food offered to the Lord (prasādam), one gradually purifies the heart and automatically becomes simple and austere.
11.8.21
tāvaj jitendriyo na syād
vijitānyendriyaḥ pumān
(21) As long as the tongue is not conquered can of a human being, despite of having conquered all the other senses, still not be said that he's of self-control; but he who has conquered the tongue, has conquered all [see also 8: 16 and B.G. 2: 59].
11.8.22
tasyā me śikṣitaḿ kiñcin
(22) In the city of Videha there used to be a prostitute called Pingalâ. Now learn from me o son of kings, what I learned from her.
11.8.23
(23) She as a prostitute stood one night, to get a customer into her house, outside in the doorway to display her beautiful figure.
11.8.24
puruṣān puruṣarṣabha
(24) O best among men, motivated for the money regarded she all the men who passed by in the street as customers willing to pay the price.
11.8.25-26
āgateṣv apayāteṣu
sā sańketopajīvinī
nidrā dvāry avalambatī
(25-26) As they came and went thought she, this way subsisting on selling her love: 'Maybe will some guy carrying plenty approach me for love and give me a lot'. With this vain hope not sleeping and leaning in the doorway, walking down the street and turning back to the house, it became midnight.
11.8.27
tasyā vittāśayā śuṣyad-
(27) Morose in her desire for money dropping her face, awakened in her anxiety that moment a supreme detachment which brought her happiness.
11.8.28
puruṣasya yathā hy asiḥ
(28) Detachment works like a sword cutting through the binding network of hopes and desires. Please listen to the song she sang after this change of heart.
The network of material desires is created when one falsely thinks that he can establish himself permanently in the material world. This binding network should be cut by the sword of detachment; otherwise one will be forced to wander in the illusory network of māyā with no understanding of liberated life on the spiritual platform.
11.8.29
na hy ańgājāta-nirvedo
(29) Dear King, evidently a person who doesn't know how to turn away from the world will not be willing to give up what binds physically, just as a human being lacking in wisdom never desires to give up his sense of ownership.
11.8.30
pińgalovāca
paśyatāvijitātmanaḥ
(30) Pingalâ said: 'See how illusioned I am! I must be out of my mind imagining all this in my lust with a fake lover.
11.8.31
(31) Having given up on the pleasure that belongs to Him, the One That is Most Near and Dear, was I, this ignoramus, most insignificantly of a service that, never taming the desire, brings misery, fear, distress, grief and illusion.
Pińgalā laments that she chose to serve most sinful, useless men. She falsely thought they would bring her happiness and neglected to serve the actual Lord of the heart, Kṛṣṇa. She could understand how foolishly she had struggled for money, not knowing that the Supreme Lord is always inclined to award prosperity to His sincere devotee. The prostitute was proud of her ability to please men, but she now laments that she did not try to please the Supreme Lord by loving service. The Supreme Lord is completely aloof from the transactions of the material world. Lord Kṛṣṇa is the actual enjoyer of everyone and everything, but one must learn how to please the Lord by pure spiritual service.
11.8.32
straiṇān narād yārtha-tṛṣo 'nuśocyāt
(32) Oh how uselessly subjecting my soul to torture have I, busy as a prostitute - the most reprehensible of occupations - with my body desiring money and sexual pleasure, been selling out to womanizers who, lusting for my body, are lamentable themselves.
11.8.33
(33) What other woman would devote herself this much to this house with nine doors which, constructed with the support of the bones of a spine, the ribs, the hands and legs and covered by a skin, hair and nails, is full of stool and drips urine [compare B.G. 5: 13 and 4.25-28]?
The nine doors leading into and out of the body are the two eyes, the two nostrils, the mouth, the two ears, the genital and the anus. Vaḿśa, or "spine," also means "bamboo," and indeed the skeleton appears to resemble a bamboo construction. Just as bamboo can be immediately burned to ashes or chopped into pieces, similarly, the material body, which is constantly deteriorating, may at any moment be crushed into powder, cut into pieces, drowned, burned, suffocated, and so on. Eventually the body must disintegrate, and therefore there is certainly no one as unfortunate as one who has dedicated himself heart and soul to this flimsy body, which is filled with unpleasant elements.
11.8.34
videhānāḿ pure hy asminn
yānyam icchanty asaty asmād
(34) Among the residents of Videha am I the one of an intelligence that is really perplexed, for I am the one who most unchaste desires to please her senses with another man different from Him who gives us Soul, Acyuta.
11.8.35
ātmā cāyaḿ śarīriṇām
taḿ vikrīyātmanaivāhaḿ
(35) By paying the price of giving myself to Him, the well-wisher that's absolutely the one most dear, the Lord and Soul of all who are embodied; I will for certain enjoy like Ramâ.
11.8.36
ādy-antavanto bhāryāyā
(36) How much real happiness have the sensual pleasure and the men who satisfied my senses provided? To have an eye on a wife or the gods [even] has all, spread over time, a beginning and an end.
11.8.37
(37) The person of me so desperate must therefore somehow have pleased the Supreme Lord Vishnu who brings the happiness that I now experience with my having forsaken the sense gratification!
11.8.38
maivaḿ syur manda-bhāgyāyāḥ
yenānubandhaḿ nirhṛtya
(38) A woman who is really unfortunate wouldn't have to face this kind of hindrances on the path of selfrealization, because they lead a person to shake off the detachment and find [real] peace.
11.8.39
tenopakṛtam ādāya
(39) Now that I refrain from cherishing false hope in relation to sexual intercourse, do I, with accepting upon my head the great help He offers, seek Him the Original Controller for my refuge.
11.8.40
santuṣṭā śraddadhaty etad
viharāmy amunaivāham
(40) Happily convinced without reservation that I thus will be able to cope with whatever comes my way, I will manage to appreciate it to live with only the One, the Self of Love and the Happiness free from doubt.
11.8.41
viṣayair muṣitekṣaṇam
grastaḿ kālāhinātmānaḿ
ko 'nyas trātum adhīśvaraḥ
(41) Who else but the Original Controller, who is capable of delivering the living being that is seized by the timeserpent, would there be when one like me in pleasing the senses is bereft of all insight and fell down in the dark well of the material ocean [see also 10.34]?
Pińgalā stated in a previous verse that even the demigods are unable to give actual happiness to a woman. One may question who has authorized this lady to reject even such exalted personalities as Brahmā, Śiva and the other demigods. The answer given here is that if one actually wants to solve all the problems of life and go back home, back to Godhead, then the only solution is to take shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord. It is well known that the demigods themselves are subject to birth and death. As stated by Lord Śiva himself, mukti-pradātā sarveṣāḿ viṣṇur eva na saḿśayaḥ: "There is no doubt that Viṣṇu is the deliverer of liberation for everyone."
11.8.42
ātmaiva hy ātmano goptā
nirvidyeta yadākhilāt
(42) When the self thus can behold the universe as being seized by the timeserpent, becomes he, attentively detached from all that is material, for sure his own protector.'
11.8.43
chittvopaśamam āsthāya
(43) The honorable brahmin said: 'Thus having decided to cut with the desperation that was caused by her desire for lovers, sat she down on her bed having found inner peace.
11.8.44
(44) With the insight that the greatest unhappiness consists of a constant desire and that being free from expectations is of the contrary, slept Pingalâ happily now that she had given up to hanker for lovers.'
Thus end of the Eleventh Canto, Eighth Chapter, of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, entitled "The Story of Pińgalā."
Footnote:
*: Rishyas'ringa, meaning 'deer-horn' to the deer that is musically attracted, was the young son of the sage Mrigî, intentionally brought up by his father in an atmosphere of complete innocence. Mrigî Rishi thought that if his son were never exposed to the sight of women he would always remain a perfect brahmacârî. But by chance the inhabitants of the neighboring kingdom, who were suffering from a long-term drought, received divine advice that rain would return to their kingdom only after the brâhmana named Rishyas'ringa stepped foot in it. Therefore they sent beautiful women to the hermitage of Mrigî to entice Rishyas'ringa and bring him back with them. Since Rishyas'ringa had never even heard about women, he easily fell for their trap [quoted from pp 11.8: 18].
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