VedaVyasa
Praneetha
The Mad Bhagavatam
Chapter 9
Detachment from All that is Material
The avadhūta brāhmaṇa describes his seven remaining gurus, beginning with the kurara bird. He also describes an additional guru, one's own body.
The instruction received from the kurara bird is that attachment creates misery, but the person who is unattached and has no material possessions is qualified to achieve unlimited happiness.
The avadhūta brāhmaṇa learned from the foolish, lazy child that by becoming free from anxiety a person becomes capable of worshiping the Supreme Personality of Godhead and experiencing supreme ecstasy.
The instruction received from the young girl who kept just one conchshell bracelet on each wrist is that one should remain alone and thus steady one's mind. Then only will it be possible for one to fix one's mind completely on the Personality of Godhead. Once several men arrived to ask for the hand of the young girl, whose relatives had coincidentally left the house. She went inside and began to prepare food for the unexpected guests by beating rice. At that time her conchshell bracelets were making a loud noise, rattling against each other, and in order to stop this sound she broke off the bracelets one by one until at last only one remained on each arm. Just as two or more bracelets make noise, if even two people reside in the same place, what to speak of many, there is every chance of mutual quarrel and useless gossip.
The avadhūta brāhmaṇa also received instruction from the arrow maker, who was so absorbed in constructing an arrow that he did not even notice that the king was passing right by him on the road. In the same way, one must strictly control one's mind, concentrating it in the worship of Lord Śrī Hari.
The avadhūta brāhmaṇa learned from the serpent that a sage should wander alone, should not live in any prearranged place, should be always careful and grave, should not reveal his movements, should take assistance from no one and should speak little.
The instruction obtained from the spider, who spins his web from his mouth and then withdraws it, is that the Supreme Personality of Godhead similarly creates from out of Himself the whole universe and then winds it up into Himself.
From the weak insect who assumed the same form as the peśaskṛt wasp, the avadhūta brāhmaṇa learned that the living entity, under the sway of affection, hatred and fear, attains in his next life the identity of that object upon which he fixes his intelligence.
Seeing that the fragile material body is subject to birth and death, one who is sober should become devoid of material attachment to this body and should properly utilize the rare gift of human life in the pursuit of knowledge, endeavoring always for the achievement of the highest goal.
11.9.1
tad vidvān yas tv akiñcanaḥ
(1) The honorable brahmin said: 'Attachment to whatever of the possessions held so very dear by man [house, wife, car etc.], sure leads to misery; whoever knows that will, when he frees himself from such attachment, thereupon achieve unlimited happiness.
11.9.2
sāmiṣaḿ kuraraḿ jaghnur
balino 'nye nirāmiṣāḥ
tadāmiṣaḿ parityajya
(2) Having meat a large hawk [the osprey] was attacked by others who were very strong and without prey; at that time giving up the meat he achieved happiness.
11.9.3
na me mānāpamānau sto
(3) I myself, who like a child enjoys in the soul only, wander about out here. In me one finds no honor or dishonor. Living with the true self I do not know the anxiety of the one who has a home and children.
11.9.4
yo vimugdho jaḍo bālo
(4) Of the ones free from anxiety there are two types: the one retarded who ignorant as a child has merged in great happiness and the one who has achieved the One Supreme above the Modes of Nature.
Those who fervently seek material sense gratification are gradually pushed down into a miserable condition of life because as soon as one even slightly violates the laws of nature, one must suffer sinful reactions. Thus even materially alert and ambitious persons are constantly in anxiety, and from time to time they are plunged into great misery. Those who are nonsensical and retarded, however, live in a fool's paradise, and those who have surrendered to Lord Kṛṣṇa are filled with transcendental bliss. Therefore both the fool and the devotee may be said to be peaceful, in the sense that they are free from the ordinary anxiety of the materially ambitious person. However, this does not mean that the devotee and the retarded fool are on the same platform. A fool's peace is like that of a dead stone, whereas a devotee's satisfaction is based on perfect knowledge.
11.9.5
(5) At the house of a young girl who wished she was a wife and of whom all the relatives were gone to another place, once arrived a couple of men whom she received with great hospitality.
11.9.6
teṣām abhyavahārārthaḿ
avaghnantyāḥ prakoṣṭha-sthāś
(6) Being alone she beated the rice so that her guests could eat, and doing so made the conchshell bracelets on her forearms a lot of noise.
11.9.7
sā taj jugupsitaḿ matvā
babhañjaikaikaśaḥ śańkhān
(7) In her shyness ashamed about that [servant-] noise, broke she, intelligent as she was, one by one the shell bracelets from her arms, leaving but two on each wrist.
11.9.8
ubhayor apy abhūd ghoṣo
tatrāpy ekaḿ nirabhidad
ekasmān nābhavad dhvaniḥ
(8) Still there was of the two, as she was husking the rice, the noise of course. But after she removed one from each of the two remained only one and could no sound be heard anymore.
11.9.9
(9) O subduer of the enemy, I, wandering around in all regions searching for the truth about the world, personally witnessed the lesson taught by this girl.
The brāhmaṇa sage here explains to King Yadu that he is not presenting theoretical knowledge. Rather, by wandering throughout the world the observant and thoughtful brāhmaṇa has personally experienced the lessons learned from all of the above-mentioned gurus. Thus, instead of posing himself to be omniscient like God, he humbly explains that he has faithfully learned these lessons in his travels.
11.9.10
kumāryā iva kańkaṇaḥ
(10) In a place where many people are quarrels will rise, even among two people who converse alone. Therefore one should live like the young girl's bracelet.
As stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (3.25.34):
naikātmatāḿ me spṛhayanti kecin
ye 'nyonyato bhāgavatāḥ prasajya
"A pure devotee, who is attached to the activities of devotional service and who always engages in the service of My lotus feet, never desires to become one with Me. Such a devotee, who is unflinchingly engaged, always glorifies My pastimes and activities."11.9.11
jita-śvāso jitāsanaḥ
vairāgyābhyāsa-yogena
(11) The mind should be steadied by detachment and a regulated practice [vairâgya and abhyâsa] in which one conquers one's breathing in sitting postures and carefully concentrates on one point [the true self, see also B.G. 6: 10-15 and 6: 46-47].
11.9.12
vidhūya nirvāṇam upaity anindhanam
(12) Having obtained permanence in that position one achieves with that very mind, step by step having given up the contamination of karma, nirvâna because one grew strong in sattva no longer fueling rajas and tamas [see also B.G. 6: 26 and 14: 6-8].
11.9.13
tadaivam ātmany avaruddha-citto
(13) When one thus is anchored to the soul is one unconcerned about whatever outside or inside oneself, just as when the arrowmaker being absorbed in the arrow didn't notice the king passing nearby [see B.G. 7: 27-28].
11.9.14
apramatto guhāśayaḥ
alakṣyamāṇa ācārair
munir eko 'lpa-bhāṣaṇaḥ
(14) Moving alone without a fixed residence [or temple] and exercising restraint not being recognized in his actions a sage, being without companions, will speak only little.
11.9.15
viphalaś cādhruvātmanaḥ
(15) Building a home but failing to accomplish [a spiritual life, see B.G. 4: 18] is a miserable thing; just think of the snake that lives happily occupying a hole that was built by others.
11.9.16
eka evādvitīyo 'bhūd
ātmādhāro 'khilāśrayaḥ
(16) The one Self, the one Supreme Controller without a second, who became the Foundation and Reservoir of All, is Nârâyana, the Godhead who in the beginning by His own potency created the universe and by His potency of Time at the end of the kalpa withdraws His creation within Himself.
11.9.17-18
kālenātmānubhāvena
pradhāna-puruṣeśvaraḥ
parāvarāṇāḿ parama
kevalānubhavānanda-
sandoho nirupādhikaḥ
(17-18) When by His potency of the time factor the material powers of sattva and so on have been balanced, exists the Original Personality, the purusha of the primary nature [pradhâna], who is the worshipable Controller of the gods and normal souls, in the purest experience of revelation that one describes as kaivalya [beatitude], the fulness of the blissful state free from material association [see also B.G. 7: 5 and *]
11.9.19
kevalātmānubhāvena
sańkṣobhayan sṛjaty ādau
(19) By means of the pure potency of His Self, His own energy composed of the three modes, manifests He the plan of matter [constitutes He the sûtra, the thread, provides He the rule or direction of the mahat-tattva]. He achieves that [in the form of Time] by agitation at the onset of creation [see also 3.26: 19].
11.9.20
sṛjantīḿ viśvato-mukham
(20) To that [thread] that turns out to be the cause of the three modes that create the different categories of the manifestation, so one says, is this universe, by which the living being undergoes its existence, strung and bound [see also B.G. 7: 7].
11.9.21
yathorṇanābhir hṛdayād
grasaty evaḿ maheśvaraḥ
(21) Just as the spider, expanding the thread from within himself, by his mouth with that thread enjoys [his meal] and eventually swallows that thread, the Supreme Controller operates the same way.
11.9.22
snehād dveṣād bhayād vāpi
(22) On whatever the conditioned soul fixes his mind out of love, hate or fear, that particular state he will, because of the full concentration of his intelligence, reach thus [see B.G. 8: 6].
11.9.23
pūrva-rūpam asantyajan(23) O King, a wasp larva meditating on the fully grown wasp that has put him in the hive, keeping to its own body, reaches the same state of being fully grown.
11.9.24
evaḿ gurubhya etebhya
svātmopaśikṣitāḿ buddhiḿ
(24) This is what I know from taking instruction from all these gurus. Now please o King, hear from me what I have to say about the knowledge I acquired learning from my own body.
11.9.25
pārakyam ity avasito vicarāmy asańgaḥ(25) With one's body one always has to suffer because of the inevitable burden of its maintenance and future destruction. I contemplate the truths of the world with it and thus is the body, even though it is there for the service of others, to me a teacher of renunciation and discrimination who convinces me to wander about in detachment.
11.9.26
(26) The body is bound to the mission of pleasing all the categories of the wife, the children, the animals, the servants, the home and the relatives. Before it has to die it has expanded by begetting a likewise body and for that purpose it went at lengths to achieve a favorable financial position. In that sense the body is like a tree that before it dies produces its seeds
The words yathā tathāpi are significant in this verse. Although the body bestows great benefit by enabling one to learn about this world, one should always remember its unhappy, inevitable future. If cremated, the body is burned to ashes by fire; if lost in a lonely place, it is consumed by jackals and vultures; and if buried in a luxurious coffin, it decomposes and is consumed by insignificant insects and worms. Thus it is described as pārakyam, "ultimately to be consumed by others." One should, however, carefully maintain bodily health to execute Kṛṣṇa consciousness, but without undue affection or attachment. By studying the body's birth and death, one can acquire virakti-viveka, the intelligence to detach oneself from useless things. The word avasita indicates conviction. One should be convinced of all the truths of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
11.9.27
jihvaikato 'mum apakarṣati karhi tarṣā
śiśno 'nyatas tvag udaraḿ śravaṇaḿ kutaścit
. (27) From one side the tongue distracts thirsty the cherished body at times, from the other side the genitals do so, the sense of touch acts thus, the belly demands attention, the ears lead elsewhere, the smell goes or the fickle eyes are leading elsewhere; and so all parts of the body like co-wives pull the head of the household in many directions.
11.9.28
brahmāvaloka-dhiṣaṇaḿ mudam āpa devaḥ
(28) After the Supreme Lord had created the trees, venomous insects, mammals, birds, snakes and all other sorts of material bodies by means of His bewildering potency, created the Lord, not satisfied with it, the human being He endowed with an intelligence fit for envisioning the Absolute Truth and achieved He thus happiness.
11.9.29
(29) After many births having attained this human form that is so difficult to attain and which, even though it is not eternal, awards great value, should a sober person as long as he, subject to death, has not fallen [in his grave], without delay in this world endeavor for the ultimate liberation that is always within reach in all conditions of sense-gratification.
11.9.30
vijñānāloka ātmani
mukta-sańgo 'nahańkṛtaḥ
(30) Thus [from all these twenty-four plus one masters] seeing it in the Soul I wander, fully having developed renunciation and wisdom, the earth being freed from attachment and false ego.
11.9.31
brahmaitad advitīyaḿ vai
gīyate bahudharṣibhiḥ
(31) Assuredly can the knowledge of a single teacher not be very solid or complete [see 11.3: 21]; the Absolute Truth without a second is by the sages thus defended from many perspectives.'
11.9.32
yayau prīto yathāgatam
(32) The Supreme Lord said: 'The so very wise brahmin [who in fact was Lord Dattâtreya, see 2.7: 4 and **] after he thus had spoken to king Yadu and properly was honored by the king offering his obeisances, bid farewell and went away, just as contented as he had come.
11.9.33
(33) Having heard the words of the avadhûta found Yadu, the forefather of our ancestors, liberation in a consciousness equal to all.'
Here the Lord praises His own dynasty, called Yadu-vaḿśa, because there appeared in that dynasty many great self-realized kings. King Yadu was enlightened by Dattātreya in the form of an avadhūta brāhmaṇa who taught the King to fix his consciousness on the spiritual platform of detachment by simply observing the creation of God.
Thus end of the Eleventh Canto, Ninth Chapter, of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, entitled "Detachment from All that Is Material."
Footnotes:
*: Considering verse 3.25: 34 stating that devotees do seek company to associate for Krishna, do the âcâryas after this verse say that that single mindedness for the Lord, not speculating as jnânis, is the same as being alone not to land in quarrels [see pp. 11.9: 10].
**: The paramparâ [pp. 11.9: 32] confirms: 'This verse [2.7: 4] mentions that Yadu was purified by contact with the lotus feet of Dattâtreya, and similarly the present verse states, vandito sv-arcito râjñâ - King Yadu worshiped the lotus feet of the brâhmana. Thus, according to S'rîla S'rîdhara Svâmî, the avadhûta brâhmana is the Personality of Godhead Himself, and this is confirmed by S'rîla Vis'vanâtha Cakravartî Thhâkura.'
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