Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.9.48

Pradyumna: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [leads chanting of verse] [Prabhupāda and devotees repeat]

tato yudhiṣṭhiro gatvā saha-kṛṣṅo gajāhvayam pitaraṁ sāntvayām āsa gāndhārīṁ ca tapasvinīm [SB 1.9.48]

[Thereafter, Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira at once went to his capital, Hastināpura, accompanied by Lord Śrī Kṛṣṅa, and there he consoled his uncle and his aunt Gāndhārī, who was an ascetic.]

[break]

[02:30]

Prabhupāda: [indistinct] ...this class, when it is held in Los Angeles, this full hall would have been compact. This is the difference between India and foreign countries. They are receiving this message of Kṛṣṅa consciousness very seriously.

Here they are rejecting. The Indians, they're rejecting. There is a proverb: āpanār dhana bilāye diye bhikṣā māge parer khache[?]. They have lost their own culture, and they are now beggars. They are going to beg from door to door in the foreign countries. When I was speaking in Berkeley University sometimes in the year 1966, one Indian student stood up, and he said, "Swāmījī, what this Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement will do?

We require now technology." So I replied, "Yes. You are after technology. So you are a beggar. I am not a beggar. I have come here to give something. That is the difference. I have come here to give some culture, and you have come to imitate the Western civilization by technology. That is the difference. You'll remain a beggar, I shall remain a giver. That is the difference."

So still I am maintaining that position of giving, not taking. Before me, so many svāmījīs went there. They did not give, but they took something and came here and advertised themselves as foreign-returned sannyāsī and exploited the people. They lost even their original dress. Everyone knows, I have never changed my dress. Rather, I have given the dress to the foreigners, and they have taken it. The Ramakrishna Mission people came to request me that I dress myself in coat, pant, hat. Because they are doing. Their so-called svāmī, they are dressed in coat, pant, hat.

So this is a culture. This culture is meant for the human society. Fortunately, this culture developed on this land of Bhārata-varṣa. Unfortunately, people are so much bewildered that they are giving up this culture. That is the most regrettable portion of..., of our movement. Anyway, my mission was that I shall go to America, and if some of the American boys and girls, younger section, would accept it, then I'll bring them here to show these rascals that how great this culture is. So portion of the population, they are realizing now.

Now here is a word, gāndhārīṁ ca tapasvinīm. Gāndhārī, the wife of Dhṛtarāṣṭra. He [she] is qualified herewith as tapasvinīm. Tapasvinīm. She was a householder, wife, having children. Not only one children; she had one hundred sons. But still she is addressed here as tapasvinī. Tapasvinī means one who undergoes austerity. Because this human life is meant for practicing austerity. Human life is not meant for extravagancy. Tapasya. Tapo divyaṁ yena śuddhyet sattvam [SB 5.5.1].

[Lord Ṛṣabhadeva told His sons: My dear boys, of all the living entities who have accepted material bodies in this world, one who has been awarded this human form should not work hard day and night simply for sense gratification, which is available even for dogs and hogs that eat stool. One should engage in penance and austerity to attain the divine position of devotional service. By such activity, one's heart is purified, and when one attains this position, he attains eternal, blissful life, which is transcendental to material happiness and which continues forever.]

This is the principle of human civilization. Śuddhyet sattvam, existence. Our existence... We are eternal. Every living entity is eternal, but we are subjected to birth and death. Why? Because we are not pure. Just like when you are impure, some disease infects. If you are pure, follow the hygienic principle, you'll not be infected.

Similarly, this existence, material existence, we, every one of us, part and parcel of Kṛṣṅa originally, the same purity qualitatively... So Kṛṣṅa is the supreme pure. We are also pure, because we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṅa. Just like a small particle of gold is also gold. The value is gold. It is not iron or something low-grade metal. The same. Similarly, as Kṛṣṅa... Ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā [Bg 4.6].

[Although I am unborn and My transcendental body never deteriorates, and although I am the Lord of all sentient beings, I still appear in every millennium in My original transcendental form.]

In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said Kṛṣṅa is aja. He never takes birth. Bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san. Although He is the Lord of all living entities, still, by His desire, He appears. Our appearance in this material world is also the same desire, but that is not independent. Our desire...

[aside:] Who is talking there? He must stop.

That portion is simply talking-camp. Just like these frogs or toads, they're talking whole day and night, ka-kara ka, ka-kara ka. Actually we have got tongues, and these frogs, they have got also tongue. So they are using their tongue, ka-kara ka, inviting snakes: "Please come here and eat me." That is their business. Nature's way. So if we simply talk like the frogs, without any kṛṣṅa-kathā, then we are inviting death very soon. So don't waste your time, ka-kara ka. That is my request. It is our habit because we are no better than frogs also. We are also living entity, but we have got the chance to stop this ka-kara ka and chant Hare Kṛṣṅa. This chance we have got. The frogs, they haven't got that chance. They cannot chant Hare Kṛṣṅa. That is the difference between the frog and myself. So similarly, if we waste our time in that ka-kara ka, then we are no better than the frogs. We are no better than the frogs.

So don't make ka-kara ka when you assemble together. That is my request. If you have got time, spare time, simply chant Hare Kṛṣṅa, Hare Kṛṣṅa, Kṛṣṅa Kṛṣṅa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma... That should be your business. This is tapasya. Tendency is to crow, to make vibration like these frogs. That is our tendency. Because we are also conditioned soul, and the frogs, or any animal, they are also conditioned soul, conditioned by the material nature. Therefore tapasya, austerity, is required to nullify, to counteract this conditional state of living. Now we are conditioned. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam [Bg 13.9].

[Humility, pridelessness, nonviolence, tolerance, simplicity, approaching a bona fide spiritual master, cleanliness, steadiness and self-control; renunciation of the objects of sense gratification, absence of false ego, the perception of the evil of birth, death, old age and disease; nonattachment to children, wife, home and the rest, and evenmindedness amid pleasant and unpleasant events; constant and unalloyed devotion to Me, resorting to solitary places, detachment from the general mass of people; accepting the importance of self-realization, and philosophical search for the Absolute Truth—all these I thus declare to be knowledge, and what is contrary to these is ignorance.]

We are conditioned by these four principles: birth, death, old age and disease. This is our condition. The scientist rascals, they are trying to improve the condition of living, but what is the improvement? There is death, there is birth, there is old age and there is disease. No improvement. If you want to improve your condition, if you want to come back to original constitutional position, then tapasya. Then you require to undergo austerity.

Tapo divyaṁ yena śuddhyet sattvaṁ yato brahma-saukhyam anantam [SB 5.5.1]. If you undergo tapasya... Therefore we prescribe this tapasya: no illicit sex. Our tendency is to have illicit sex. That is the condition of this material nature. But we have to deny it. That is tapasya. Tendency's there. Tapasya means I have got some tendency, but voluntarily I have to check it. That is called control, tapasya. My tongue is dictating, "Oh, let us go to some place and eat such-and-such thing." But if you can control the tongue, "No," that is tapasya. "No, you cannot eat this. You cannot be allowed to eat anything except Kṛṣṅa prasādam." That is tapasya. Not that "My tongue has dried up. I must drink a cup of tea," and I take it. "No. It is intoxication, prohibited. So I shall not take it." That is tapasya.

And that tapasya, what for? Tapasya divyam, tapo divyam [SB 5.5.1].

[Lord Ṛṣabhadeva told His sons: My dear boys, of all the living entities who have accepted material bodies in this world, one who has been awarded this human form should not work hard day and night simply for sense gratification, which is available even for dogs and hogs that eat stool. One should engage in penance and austerity to attain the divine position of devotional service. By such activity, one's heart is purified, and when one attains this position, he attains eternal, blissful life, which is transcendental to material happiness and which continues forever.]

Otherwise, there are many men, they're also undergoing austerities for some material purpose. There are many men who wants to accumulate some money, begins business from low standard, works very hard day and night. In your country, there are many examples. Just like Mr. Henry Ford. So that is also tapasya. They underwent severe conditions of life to accumulate some money. After death, or at the end of life, they'll be called: "Oh, here is a millionaire. He started his business with a farthing. Now he's millionaire." He wants that credit. No. Not that kind of tapasya. Because that accumulation of wealth, millions of dollar, will be finished after this body is finished. After death, he cannot take away the millions of dollars with him next life.

But they do not know that there is next life. Next life he may become a dog, and what this millions of dollars will help him? That he does not know. Therefore tapo divyam [SB 5.5.1]. Take austerity, penances, for reviving your original consciousness, Kṛṣṅa consciousness. For that purpose, you undergo austerity. Otherwise, if you simply undergo austerities, penances, hardship for some material gain, then it is waste of time, defeat, parābhava. Parābhavas tāvad abodha-jātaḥ. Because he's a fool, rascal, he does not know what for hardship should be taken.

Just like Hiraṅyakaśipu. He also underwent tapasya. The whole universe become trembled. Brahmā came: "Why you are undergoing such severe tapasya?" On one finger he stood up, and undergoing tapasya. Brahmā came: "What is your purpose of this tapasya?" "Sir, I want to be immortal." "So that is not possible. You cannot become immortal." Then in so many ways he wanted to become immortal. What is the purpose of becoming immortal? There are many trees standing for ten thousands of years. That is very successful life, to stand in a place for ten thousands of years without any movement? Or prolonging life for many thousands of years? Brahmā lives also for many millions of years. Huh?

So people are misled in this way. They undergo hardship for some temporary gain, which is condemned. Śāstra says that if you take hardship, if you go..., undergo tapasya, it must be for realization of God. Tapo divyam [SB 5.5.1]. That will give you permanent happiness. And if you accept hardship for anything material, it may give you temporary, so-called happiness, but with the end of your body, everything will be finished.

Therefore this tapasvinī, this Gāndhārī... Tapasvinī. She has been described as tapasvinī. She wanted to be a faithful, chaste wife. What is the result? If a woman becomes faithful, chaste wife, then the next life there is chance of her becoming a male. Because according to Vedic literature, to take birth as woman is low grade. Striyaḥ śūdrās tathā vaiśyā ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ [Bg 9.32],

[O son of Pṛthā, those who take shelter in Me, though they be of lower birth—women, vaiśyas [merchants], as well as śūdras [workers]—can approach the supreme destination.]

in the Bhagavad-gītā. The... As there are higher-grade and lower-grade births, so according to Vedic understanding, the woman, the body of woman is lower-grade birth. Therefore if she's fortunate to have a good husband, devotee, and if she becomes faithful to that husband, then her life is successful. That is called tapasya.

So Gāndhārī did it. Gāndhārī... In India still, marriage does not take by canvassing all of a sudden. The father, mother, especially in aristocratic family, royal family, even in Western countries, the father, mother selects the husband or wife. Even in England, the king Edward VIII, he was intimately in friendship with a common girl. So the state would not allow him that "You can marry a common girl." So at that time the prime minister, one Mr. Baldwin, he said to him that "Either you have to give up the company of that common girl or you have to give up this empire." So out of sentiment, he gave up the empire. Later on he was very sorry. And his second brother, George VI, he... George VI means the father of the present Queen, Elizabeth. So still this is current in aristocratic family, that the husband and wife should be selected by the parents.

So Gāndhārī, she was the daughter of Afghanistan, Ghandahar. Still, the name is there Gandahar. Gandhar. Formerly the name was Gandhar. So Gāndhārī means the daughter of Gandhar country. So when she was informed that her would-be husband is a blind man—Dhṛtarāṣṭra was blind from birth—so immediately she practiced austerity. Voluntarily she closed her eyes with cloth, that she would also live as blind. "My husband would be blind. So, although I'm not blind, I must live also as blind." This is the beginning of austerity, Gāndhārī.

So Gāndhārī was so faithful, one of the most exalted, chaste wife mentioned in the śāstras, Gāndhārī, that in all condition she followed the husband. At last, when everything was finished in the Battle of Kurukṣetra—no Kaurava, none of the sons or grandsons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra was living, neither of the Pāṅḍavas—still, Gāndhārī was faithfully serving her husband. And Dhṛtarāṣṭra was living with the nephews, Yudhiṣṭhira and his brothers. They were keeping the uncle very comfortably as elder uncle, all respect. But Vidura came there, and he criticized him, that "You have no shame. You all along remained enemy to your nephews. Now your nephews have killed all your descendants, and you are living here just like a dog. They are giving you some morsel of bread and you are eating and living here. You have no shame. You have become old."

So he became very sorry: "My dear brother, what shall I do?" "Please come immediately along with me, and come to the forest." So Dhṛtarāṣṭra went, according to the instruction of Vidura. Gāndhārī followed. Gāndhārī never said that "I am now old. I have lost my children. These nephews, they're taking care of me. Why shall I go with my husband?" No. She also went. So there are many good qualities in Mahābhārata about Gāndhārī. Therefore she is described here as tapasvinī. Tapasvinī. Very chaste, faithful wife. Ideal wife. Gāndhārī. Tapasvinī.

So what is the purport? Read it.

Pradyumna: "Dhṛtarāṣṭra and Gāndhārī, the father and mother of Duryodhana and his brothers, were the elder uncle and aunt of Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira. After the Battle of Kurukṣetra, the celebrated couple, having lost all their sons and grandsons, were under the care of Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira. They were passing their days in great agony over such heavy loss of life and were practically living the life of ascetics. The death..."

Prabhupāda: Yes. The... Because he was elder uncle, Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja was coming in the morning to offer obeisances, and one morning, when he came, he saw there is no Dhṛtarāṣṭra and aunt. So he became very much disappointed, because he was conscious that they were living in very aggrieved condition. "So might be I have offended them. So therefore they have left my home." That is also, you'll find. Then Nārada came, that "Don't bother. They have gone to the forest to live as ascetic. Don't try to bring them back." Go on.

Pradyumna: "The death news of Bhīṣmadeva, uncle of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, was another great shock for the king and the queen, and therefore they required solace from Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira. Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira was conscious of his duty, and he at once hurried to the spot with Lord Kṛṣṅa and satisfied the begrieved Dhṛtarāṣṭra with kinds words both from himself and the Lord also. Gāndhārī was a powerful ascetic, although she was living the life of a faithful wife and kind mother.

It is said that Gāndhārī also voluntarily closed her eyes because of the blindness of her husband. A wife's duty is to follow the husband cent per cent, and Gāndhārī was so true to her husband that she followed him even in his perpetual blindness. Therefore in her actions she was a great ascetic. Besides that, the shock which she suffered because of the wholesale killing of her one hundred sons and her grandsons also was certainly too much for a woman. But she suffered all this just like an ascetic. Gāndhārī, although a woman, is no less..."

Prabhupāda: Ascetic means who voluntarily suffers all kinds of suffering. Titikṣavaḥ, the exact word.

titikṣavaḥ kāruṅikāḥ suhṛdaḥ sarva-bhutānam ajāta-śatravaḥ śāntāḥ sādhavaḥ sādhu-bhūṣaṅāḥ [SB 3.25.21]

[The symptoms of a sādhu are that he is tolerant, merciful and friendly to all living entities. He has no enemies, he is peaceful, he abides by the scriptures, and all his characteristics are sublime.]

Sādhu means that he must be tolerant. Just like Haridāsa Ṭhākura. You know how much tolerant he was. So titikṣavaḥ. So titikṣā, titikṣā is the qualification of a brāhmaṅa. Śamo damas titikṣā. Tolerant. You cannot expect any peaceful life in this material world. That is not possible. Therefore in all conditions, in order to execute Kṛṣṅa consciousness, you must be tolerant. Tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata. Kṛṣṅa advised Arjuna that there will be some material pleasures and... Not pleasure, displeasures. So pleasure is also here, displeasure. They do not know.

So Kṛṣṅa advised: tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata. Āgamāpāyino 'nityās tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata. "These, such things, come and go. Don't bother much. Try to become tolerant and execute your own business." Similarly, we live together. There may be some inconvenience. You are brought up in a different standard in Europe and America, and in India it may be difficult because you haven't got all the facilities. But you learn tolerance; execute Kṛṣṅa consciousness. That should be our business. Tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata.

mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya śītoṣṅa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ āgamāpāyino 'nityās tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata [Bg 2.14]

So for life of austerity... Kṛṣṅa consciousness life means the life of austerity, tapasya. It is not extravagancy. So we have to learn titikṣā. That is one of the qualification of the brāhmaṅa. Then?

Pradyumna: "Gāndhārī, although a woman, is no less than Bhīṣmadeva in character. They are both remarkable personalities in the Mahābhārata."

Prabhupāda: That's all. Hare Kṛṣṅa.

Devotees: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda. [end]