In2-MeC

IBSA (ISKCON Bhaktivedanta Sadhana Asrama), Govardhana, India
29 January 2004

About Bhavisya-Purana

I was in the Bhaktivedanta Hospital near Mumbai in 2002. A Sanskrit-knowing member of the Chowpatti ISKCON congregation named Kartik (radhey_govinda@hotmail. com) came to see me there. This intelligent young man presented me with a paper that was the fruit of his study of Bhavisya Purana. Over the next several days Kartik Prabhu and I discussed his work on that purana. I am very thankful to him for sharing the fruit of his research with me. For the next few days I will write about some of the points Kartik and I discussed; today it is useful to publish Kartik's introduction to his paper.

BHAVISHYA PURANA is Eleventh among the puranas, and is considered amongst the eighteen principal puranas. It contains five parts. The first part contains a description of the genesis, greatness of the. . . worship of Lord Vishnu, Shiva and Surya. Second, third and fourth parts describe about the greatness of Shiva, Vishnu and Surya respectively. The fifth part contains a description of the heaven. Like other puranas, Bhavishya Purana also contains a description of the ancient kings and Chandra and Surya dynasties. The predominant deity of the purana is Lord Brahma.

The Bhavishya Purana is an ancient scripture compiled by Srila Vyasadeva, the literary incarnation of Krishna. It is listed among the eighteen major puranas. Bhavishya means "future" and purana means "that which happens (history)", so the text's name would translate literally as "The history of the future. "

Though the purana was written five thousands of years before the recorded events took place. By the power of his mystic vision, Srila Vyasadeva was able to accurately predict the happenings of the modern times.

Modern mundane scholars reject the contents of Bhavishya Purana mostly on grounds that its information is too accurate.

In the opinion of some mundane scholars the Bhavishya Purana is interpolated. However, if be an interpolation, it is the burden of these so called scholars to prove what they say; and in their inability to prove so, the Bhavishya Purana stands authentic.

As far as the Vaishnavas are concerned they can rely on the three evidences of Guru, Sadhu and Shastra.

Proving the authenticity of the scriptures based on Guru, Sadhu and Shastra:

(1) and (2) Proof from Guru and Sadhu:

Jagadguru H. D. G Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the foremost Vedic scholar of the modern age had this to say about Bhavishya Purana:

In a Room Conversation on April 2, 1977, Bombay

Tamala Krsna: He says he read a passage of the Bhavishya Maha-Purana written by Vyasadeva three thousands years before Christ foretelling Jesus Christ's presence in the himalayas in 78 of the Christian era, and his meeting with King Shalivahan. Are there any other prophecies in the Bhavishya Maha-Purana or in any other scriptures telling more accurately Jesus Christ`s birthday?

Prabhupada: Everything is accurate there.

So, Srila Prabhupada`s statement was: "Everything is accurate there (in the Bhavishya Purana)".

(3) Proof from Srimad Bhagavatam, the amala (spotless) purana:

The following Sanskrit verse is taken directly from the Srimad-Bhagavatam of Srila Vyasadeva, the compiler of the Vedas, which states that the Bhavishya Purana is an authorized scripture. (Compiled by Srila Vyasadeva, 5000 years ago)

Srimad-Bhagavatam (12. 7. 23-24)

brahmam padmam vaishnavam ca shaivam laingam sa-garudam
naaradiyam bhaagavatam agneyam skanda-samhitam (23)
bhavishyam brahma-vaivartam markandeyam sa-vaamanam
varaaham matsyam kaurmam ca brahmanadakhyam iti tri-sat (24)

The Purana's are according to the three modes of material nature, their names are: Brahma, Padma, Vaishnava, Shaiva, Linga, Garuda, Naradiya, Bhagavata, Agni, Skanda, Bhavishya, Brahma-Vaivarta, Markandeya, Vamana, Varaha, Matsya, Kurma and Brahmanda.

Srila Jiva Goswami has quoted from the Varaha Purana and Matsya Purana in confirmation of the above two verses.

Except for the devotees of Lord Vishnu nobody can know the real purport of the Vedas or the essence of the Universe. There are two verses in this regard, found in the last section of Bhavishya Purana, also known as the Bhavishya-Uttara-Purana (Chapter 16):

ye tu vai vishnubhaktaasca te hi jaananti vishvagam (31)
yathaiva nrpatedrasaah svaraagyah kaaryagauravam
jaanaati naapare vipre tahaa daasaa hareh svayam (32)

Only those who the devotees of the Supreme Lord Vishnu know the Universal creation in Truth. Just as those ministers in the court of the king who are always near to the king, only know the real glories and acts of the king. Oh Brahma! In the same way others do not understand these secrets as do the servants of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Hari.

 

Today I read a chapter in a book of very valuable teachings called Trnad api Sunicena--Lower than the Straw in the Street. It is written by that great disciple of Srila Prabhupada, HH Gour Govinda Maharaja. In this chapter, Maharaja discusses the following verse.

asuranam sudha-danam
sarpanam iva durnayam
matva jati-nrsamsanam
na tam vyabhajad acyutah

Demons are by nature crooked like snakes. Therefore, to distribute a share of the nectar to them was not at all feasible, since this would be as dangerous as supplying milk to a snake. Considering this, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who never falls down, did not deliver a share of nectar to the demons. (Bhag. 8. 9. 19)

Srila Prabhupada remarks in his purport:

It is said, sarpah krurah khalah krurah sarpat kruratarah khalah: "The snake is very crooked and envious, and so also is a person like a demon. " Mantrausadhi-vasah sarpah khalah kena nivaryate: "One can bring a snake under control with mantras, herbs and drugs, but an envious and crooked person cannot be brought under control by any means. "

While considering his translation of the above verse, I was struck at how Srila Prabhupada uses the word "crooked" to describe the demons. I think here Prabhupada is preaching to his readers. I don't find a word for "crooked" in the word-for-word translation. When there are words or phrases that Prabhupada seems to have introduced into a translation--which do not seem to literally match up to the Sanskrit--I conclude that Srila Prabhupada is preaching for our benefit.

Anyway, elsewhere in Srila Prabhupada's books we do find a Sanskrit word, kapata, which means duplicity or crookedness. It is explained in Prabhupada's purport to Srimad-Bhagavatam 3. 27. 6:

In this connection Svami Sridhara comments that satyena means niskapa-tena, "without duplicity. " The impersonalists are full of duplicity. Sometimes they pretend to execute devotional service, but their ultimate idea is to become one with the Supreme. This is duplicity, kapata. The Bhagavatam does not allow this duplicity. In the beginning of Srimad-Bhagavatam it is clearly stated, paramo nirmatsaranam: "This treatise Srimad-Bhagavatam is meant for those who are completely free from envy. "

The Brahmananda Purana has this to say about impersonalists and demons:

siddha-lokas tu tamasah
pare yatra vasanti hi
siddha brahma-sukhe magna
daityas ca harina hatah

In Siddhaloka [the realm of impersonal Brahman] there live two kinds of living entities--those who are killed by the Supreme Personality of Godhead due to their having been demons in their previous lives and those who are very fond of enjoying the impersonal effulgence of the Lord.

Kaivalya narakayate, Srila Prabodhananda Sarasvati has written: "oneness in impersonal Brahman is hellish. " A Vaisnava does not accept impersonal liberation because it is incompatible with devotional service. The impersonalists aspire for it because they are very envious of Krsna, as are the demons. Their envy moves them to crookedness. They approach Krsna in the way the Putana demoness approached Him. Apparently she came to serve the Lord, but her intention was to kill Him. Impersonalists likewise render apparent service to Krsna but their goal is to destroy His personal form by their negationist (nirakara) meditations.

Some Buddhists even have a slogan: "If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him. " This is their way of saying that a Buddhist must rid his spiritual life of personal relationship, even relationship to the Buddha himself. This is envy. This is demonic. Out of His causeless mercy, Krsna absorbs the greatest of the impersonalists and demons into the brahmajyoti, the rays of His impersonal effulgence. Here they can think they have become God at last. Of course, they are never God in any condition. But in the brahmajyoti they can do no harm to others.

As we see in the Bhagavatam verse quoted above, the Lord considers it best for all concerned that the demons be thwarted in their endeavors. That they do not attain their goals is even the best for the demons themselves. In fact it is a curious feature of demonic mentality that, at the end of the day, demons like to be defeated. They feel, "At last I've been relieved of all the anxiety of trying to maintain my artificial power and prestige. "

In Chapter Sixty-One of Krsna, Srila Prabhupada explains this very nicely.

It appears that foolish, demoniac human beings, when unnecessarily overpowered with material opulences, want to exhibit these opulences, and such foolish people feel satisfaction when these opulences are exhausted. The idea is that they do not know how to expend their energy for right causes, being unaware of the benefit of Krsna consciousness. Actually, there are two classes of men--one is Krsna conscious, the other is non-Krsna conscious. The non-Krsna conscious men are generally devoted to the demigods, whereas the Krsna conscious men are devoted to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Krsna conscious persons utilize everything for the service of the Lord. The non-Krsna conscious persons utilize everything for sense gratification, and Banasura is a perfect example of such a person. He was very anxious to utilize for his own satisfaction his extraordinary power to fight. Not finding any combatant, he struck his powerful hands against the mountains, breaking them to pieces. In contrast to this, Arjuna also possessed extraordinary powers for fighting, but he utilized them only for Krsna.

The above paragraph offers acute insight into the mind of a demon.

The devotee, on the other hand, is niskapa-tena, without duplicity. This is because he is without envy of the Lord and His parts and parcels. A synonym for niskapa-tena is saralata. Srila Prabhupada explains this word in his purport to Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Antya 2. 117.

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura comments that saralata, or simplicity, is the first qualification of a Vaisnava, whereas duplicity or cunning behavior is a great offense against the principles of devotional service. As one advances in Krsna consciousness, one must gradually become disgusted with material attachment and thus become more and more attached to the service of the Lord. If one is not factually detached from material activities but still proclaims himself advanced in devotional service, he is cheating. No one will be happy to see such behavior.

Now, in the book Trnad api Sunicena, HH Gour Govinda Maharaja says that Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura taught saralata vaisnava atva--"Simplicity is Vaisnavism. " Simplicity means to be honest about the level on which one is situated. Maharaja gives an example: if one is taking prasadam in an assembly of devotees and eats enough to satisfy his hunger, even though it may seem to others that he is eating quite a lot, that is saralata. But if one thinks, "I have to show these people I am advanced, that I do not indulge my tongue and belly," and so eats less and leaves the assembly secretly unsatisfied, he is not saralata.

There is an English rhyme that nicely sums up the opposite of saralata.

"Oh what a tangled web we weave, when we practice to deceive. "

Deception is maya, pure and simple. By practicing to deceive, one becomes a devotee of maya. Thus one is entangled in a web of little lies, then big lies, diplomatic behavior, and worse. And the point of all this maya is to garner prestige.

Gour Govinda Maharaja cites Manah-siksa by Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami to prove this connection between crookedness and false prestige. Dasa Gosvami has used the phrase svapaca-ramani to indicate pratistha, the desire for name, fame and position. Svapaca-ramani means "a dog-eating woman," in other words a most degraded, though externally very beautiful, young girl. Such a woman is a most powerful agent of maya. To desire prestige is to consort with such a Maya-devi. And the method of consorting with her is deception. This crookedness, in turn, has its root in envy.

The result of this train--envy, crookedness, and false prestige--is that the heart is flooded with lusty desires. Such a polluted heart sets one on the path of material life.

My dear friends, O sons of the demons, it is certain that no one bereft of knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead has been able to liberate himself from material bondage at any time or in any country. Rather, those bereft of knowledge of the Lord are bound by the material laws. They are factually addicted to sense gratification, and their target is woman. Indeed, they are actually playthings in the hands of attractive women. Victimized by such a conception of life, they become surrounded by children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and thus they are shackled to material bondage. Those who are very much addicted to this conception of life are called demons. Therefore, although you are sons of demons, keep aloof from such persons and take shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Narayana, the origin of all the demigods, because the ultimate goal for the devotees of Narayana is liberation from the bondage of material existence. (Bhag. 7. 6. 17-18)

Having read what I've written here up to this point, one may conclude, "Yes, such is the condition of the fallen souls. But Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Lord Nityananda Prabhu, Sri Advaita Acarya, Sri Gadadhara Pandita, Srivasa Thakura, and the great assembly of pure devtees of the Panca-tattva, have come to deliver such patita persons. "

However, there is a difference between patita (fallen) and kapatya (crooked). In his book Gour Govinda Maharaja offers us this line of wisdom: sadhu guru mahajana patita-pavana kapata-pavana moi, that while Sri-Sri Gaura-Nitai and Their associates are certainly the deliverers of the fallen and degraded souls, they are not the deliverers of the crooked souls. The reason is simple. The kapatya person puts unnecessary obstacles in the way of his path back home, Back to Godhead. As Srila Prabhupada said in an initiation lecture in 1970,

You keep to Krsna consciousness. Then your life is sublime. Very simple thing. Very simple thing. But it is simple for the simple, but it is very hard for the crooked.

Suppose one has somehow reached a position as "a senior devotee. " It is harder for him to get advice, because everyone thinks, "Oh, no, it is not my position to advise him. He is supposed to advise me only. " If he is not very careful to practice the trnadapi sunicena verse, the person in that "senior position" tends to think the same way also. "What can anyone tell me? I know the books. I've been a devotee for so many years. And these people are just neophytes. " So in his seeming advanced state, if he secretly practices sinful life, how can he be delivered? If he presumes to relish lila-katha while at the same time retaining a taste for mundane activities, how can he be delivered? All that his "bhajan" consists of is the weaving of a cloak of deceit around himself. Another English saying:

Religion is the best armor and the worst cloak.

Saralata vaisnava atva means that real religion--Vaisnavism--is simplicity. If one is truly humble and simple, even though very fallen, then by the delivering mercy of sadhu guru mahajana one is armored against maya. We see in Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura's prayers, in Gopinatha for example, this rarest quality of saralata. See how his prayers stand in glorious opposition to false prestige, cheating, and envy of the Lord.

O Gopinatha, Lord of the gopis, please hear my request. I am a wicked materialist, always addicted to worldly desires, and no good qualities do I possess. 0 Gopinatha, You are my only hope, and therefore I have taken shelter at Your lotus feet. I am now Your eternal servant. 0 Gopinatha, how will You purify me? I do not know what devotion is, and my materialistic mind is absorbed in fruitive work. I have fallen into this dark and perilous worldly existence. 0 Gopinatha, everything here is Your illusory energy. I have no strength or transcendental knowledge, and this body of mine is not independent and free from the control of material nature. 0 Gopinatha, this sinner, who is weeping and weeping, begs for an eternal place at Your divine feet. Please give him Your mercy. 0 Gopinatha, You are able to do anything, and therefore You have the power to deliver all sinners. Who is there that is more of a sinner than myself? 0 Gopinatha, You are the ocean of mercy. Having come into this phenomenal world, You expand Your divine pastimes for the sake of the fallen souls. 0 Gopinatha, I am so sinful that although all the demons attained Your lotus feet, Bhaktivinoda has remained in worldly existence.

But if one cloaks oneself in Vaisnavism for the purpose of sense enjoyment, he becomes worse than fallen. He becomes corrupt. Jnana-lava-durvidagdhastra-acikitsya-atva-dupeksa, writes Srila Jiva Gosvami. There are offenders to the holy names who are acikitsya, incurable. These is because the acititsya-namaparadhi does not like to acknowledge his offenses. Thus we come back to the example of the snake drinking the milk. Milk is liquid dharma, but when the serpent touches it with his tongue, two things happen. The serpent's poison increases. Poison is introduced into the milk.

The effect is only hurtful. But the serpent lives to hurt. That's the root of it all--envy and cruelty. The serpent simply cannot consider the welfare of others. Plus his conception of his own welfare is reversed. He is just being cruel to himself. He doesn't understand that it is only due to his being a dangerous creature that he invites the blows of death to rain down upon his head. All he can understand is, "They are my enemies," that's all. "They are against me and so deserve to be bitten. "

He is my enemy, and I have killed him, and my other enemies will also be killed. I am the lord of everything. I am the enjoyer. I am perfect, powerful and happy.

Detecting the difference in oneself between the fallen state and the crooked state seems to be a most difficult crossroads in spiritual life. Who is going to help me? In the society of Vaisnavas, nobody likes to point out faults. . . especially if it means telling another point-blank, "I see demonic qualities in you, Prabhu. " Even the spiritual master does not like to have to say such things to his disciples. Srila Prabhupada used to tell us, "I am ninety percent lenient. "

So this is a challenge that, in a sense, each devotee has to meet individually. The challenge is facing and defeating one's own propensity for crookedness; as much as crookedness is there in the heart, that much one's anarthas are incurable. Yet again, it is not a lonely struggle. The association of devotees is there. One must be determined to stay a part of that association. That requires individual determination; at the same time, Vaisnava association purifies from the outside. If one really values that association, one will find a way by the grace of sadhu guru mahajana to cure the disease of crookedness.

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