Yamaraja
"…Yamarāja is a GBC, but he made a little mistake. He was punished to become a śūdra. So those who are GBC's, they should be very, very careful to administer the business of ISKCON. Otherwise they will be punished. As the post is very great, similarly, the punishment is also very great."
Bhaktivedanta Book Trust Jun 18, 2019
[PADA: Correct. Various mundane police, media folks, scholars, and just sometimes the average USA "Joe six pack" guy walking down the street asks PADA, "It seems to us that these ISKCON leaders have no actual belief in God, or they would never act with so much disregard for others, or for God's rules and laws. Are we correct to assume, they appear to be atheists?"
Right, no kidding!
This is something that is self-evident to the mass of people who have read so many scandalous if not criminal complaints about the GBC's "gurus" in the news papers, or they saw bad media on TV, or in books etc. including their horrific treatment of the society's children. How could pious people act with such wanton disregard for others, and for the laws of the Supreme, unless they are rogues posing as saints? That is a question we get on a regular basis.]
PART FORTY-FOUR: New Age "Spiritual Practices" and "Motivational Guru" Videos are Shudra Pastimes. The following class by Shrila Prabhupada discusses how the supposedly brahminical body of GBC members could become shudras. It is ironic that the demigod in charge of punishing sinners himself became punished by the curse of a sage he had wronged.
Has it already happened that the GBC has courted punishment? Well, just see the track record of past members of dozens of GBC who deviated because they were puffed and thought of themselves as being above the law. When GBC members and their clones are making motivational videos that have strictly shudra appeal—like "get out and vote" it is quite obvious that the GBC organization is slipping into shudra consciousness.
"The Journey Home" book is another stunning and shocking example of GBC's shudra consciousness. That is because The Journey Home publicizes shudra exploiters dressed as swamis. Its pages indiscriminately mix the photos of such vile shudras with those of the revered acharyas of the Gaudiya sampradaya, including Shrila Prabhupada himself.
So this is their shudra mentality and the proof that the GBC has become shudra. Shudras are generally known as very dull and crass individuals who listen only when they are threatened. And that is the basis of Shrila Prabhupada's class that is presented in his article. The words of His Divine Grace are like the danda of Yamaraja over the GBC body—and if they know what is good for them they will listen to the voice of reason.
[PADA: The GBC -- as an overall group -- have an apparent secret hidden rule, we really don't listen to reason. Their group has ALREADY experienced: various police raids; huge public mass media scandals; huge court cases; bankrupting the society; alienating the seniors and the second generation -- creating empty ghost town temples; and so many other inauspicious omens. Yet they still plod onwards claiming they are some sort of divine gurus, acharyas, parampara members, and Krishna's living spokesmen on earth etc. That means they cannot be reasoned with and simply need to be exposed.]
Here is another example of the shudra mentality that is coming down from the GBC and permeating ISKCON like a poisonous gas. A very elder disciple of Shrila Prabhupada, Kisori dasi who used to cook for His Divine Grace, has been banned from the New Mayapura Hare Krishna temple in France for speaking about the tragic suicide of a woman devotee there. While 76-year old Mother Kisori dasi is no longer allowed at the temple, despite her volumes and volumes of past service to Shrila Prabhupada, the temple authorized a typically New Age (read: shudra) healing session to counteract the effects of this poor lady devotee's violent suicide.
[PADA: So many devotees have died already from drugs, alcohol poisoning, suicides, and of course the cancer epidemic. The reactions the GBC will get for creating this mayhem and suffering cannot be counteracted by some new age healing sessions. Of course many of these GBC are themselves suffering from taking the sins of others without authority. As one devotee said, "Everyone suffers in their scheme, even themselves."]
During this assembly the devotees sat in a circle and gazed into each other's eyes while holding hands. Listen to the memories of Shrimati Mother Kisori dasi and consider whether this is the sort of person the GBC should be banning from the Hare Krishna Movement.
Kisori dasi: banned from ISKCON New Mayapura. When brahminical truth is banned,
shudra ideas in the form of New Age rush in.
Such is the blatant evidence of ISKCON turning to shudra practices while chasing away the brahminical bearers of the Supreme Absolute Truth. Learn about the tragic saga of Shrimati Kishori's in her struggle to serve the lotus feet of her spiritual master Shrila Prabhupada. And see what ISKCON's so-called "leaders," who have sold out to shudra practices, have responded with ... Just listen to the plight of this worshipable elder, and decide for yourselves, Prabhus, who is the shudra and who is the brahmana. Now here is the lecture we promised you:
"GBCs Will Be Punished to become Shudras"
Lecture Delivered by Shrila Prabhupada, June 4, 1974, Geneva)
Nitāi: "As long as Vidura played the part of a śūdra, being cursed by Maṇḍūka Muni, Aryamā officiated at the post of Yamarāja to punish those who committed sinful acts."
Srila Prabhupāda: abibhrad aryamā daṇḍaṁ yathāvad agha-kāriṣu / yāvad dadhāra śūdratvaṁ śāpād varṣa-śataṁ yamaḥ / (SB 1.13.15)
So Vidura is Yamarāja, the superintendent of death. After our death, we are brought before the justice Yamarāja, what kind of next birth I may have. So Yamarāja is not śūdra. He is devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa, although he has the duty to punish the criminals. Just like a magistrate is always punishing the criminals. That is his business, but he is not criminal. He is giving judgment to the criminals. Similarly, Yamarāja is the appointed magistrate, superintendent. After death, one has to go before him and take the judgment of his next life. This is the process.
So Vidura was cursed by Maṇḍūka Muni, Maṇḍūka Muni. He was a great sage, but sometimes in his āśrama, some thieves were caught, so police arrested both Maṇḍūka Muni and the thieves, and later on Maṇḍūka Muni was chastised to be punished by śūla. There was a system of punishment. I do not whether (it is) still existing. The śūla means one lance, lancer. Lancer, it is called?
Devotee: Yes.
Shula punishment of Manduka Muni
Prabhupāda: It was to be pierced through the rectum and it will go through the head and the man will die. The pierce was standing, and he was to sit down. What is this punishment? Is there any mention?
Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: I never heard of anything.
Guru-gaurāṅga: Arabians have this. It is called pala(?).
Prabhupāda: Śūla punishment. So when he was condemned to the śūla punishment, then the king heard that "Maṇḍūka Muni, the great sage, he is punished like that?" Immediately he stopped. "What is this nonsense that Maṇḍūka Muni has been punished? He is a great sage." So the king stopped the punishment and immediately came to see what has happened. Then he was immediately released. But he was very sorry, that "Why the judge Yamarāja punished him like that?" So he asked Yamarāja, "Why you have punished me like this?" "Now, in your childhood you pierced the rectum of an ant with a...," what is called?
Devotees: Pin, straw.
Prabhupāda: No, not straw. Prick, pricking?
Devotee: Pin.
Prabhupāda: Kāṇṭā, kāṇṭā. We say kāṇṭā, that pricks. What is called?
Devotees: Thorn.
Prabhupāda: Ah, thorn, yes. So therefore he was punished. Now just see. In his childhood he was playing with an ant, piercing the rectum with a thorn. That is also taken account, "All right. You will be punished." Just see how finer laws are there in nature. So the Maṇḍūka Muni did that. Therefore it was recorded he should be punished like that.
This is our position. Anything... If you are walking on the street, if you kill an ant by walking, you will be punished. This is nature's law. We are in such a dangerous position. In every movement there is punishment. Now, if you believe the śāstras, that is different thing.
If you don't believe, then do anything you like. But from śāstra we can understand the laws of nature, or God, is very, very strict, very, very strict. So Maṇḍūka Muni also chastised Yamarāja, that "In my childhood, without any knowledge I did something and for which you have given me so great punishment. So you are not fit for becoming a brāhmaṇa or kṣatriya. You become śūdra." So he was cursed to become śūdra. Therefore Yamarāja took his birth as Vidura and was born in the womb of a śūdra mother.
This is the history of Vidura's birth.
So in his absence, Aryamā, one of the demigods, he officiated Yamarāja. Therefore it is said, abibhrad aryamā daṇḍam. The office must go on, the magistrate post cannot be vacant. Somebody must come and act. So Aryamā was acting. Yathāvad agha-kāriṣu. Agha-kāriṣu. Agha-kāri means... Agha means sinful activities, and kāriṣu.
Kāriṣu means those who commit sinful acts. And yathāvat. Yathāvat means exactly to the point, how he should be punished. Yathāvad agha-kāriṣu. Yāvad dadhāra śūdratvam. So long Yamarāja continued as a śūdra, Aryamā was officiating in his place as Yamarāja.
This is the purport. (reads purport:) "Vidura, born in the womb of a śūdra mother, was forbidden even to be a party of royal heritage along with his brothers Dhṛtarāṣṭra and Pāṇḍu. Then how could he occupy the post of a preacher to instruct such learned...?
Answer is that even though it is accepted that he was a śūdra by birth, because he renounced the world for spiritual enlightenment by the authority of Ṛṣi Maitreya and was thoroughly educated by him in transcendental knowledge, he was quite competent to occupy the post of an ācārya or spiritual preceptor." Vidura was a śūdra, born śūdra. Then how he became a preacher?
So the reason is... "According to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, anyone who is conversant in the transcendental knowledge or the science of Godhead, be he a brāhmaṇa or śūdra, a householder or a sannyāsī, is eligible to become a spiritual master." Not that because he was born a śūdra, he cannot preach, he cannot take the post of ācārya or spiritual master. That is not Caitanya philosophy. Caitanya philosophy has nothing to do with this body, external body. Caitanya philosophy is concerned with the soul. This movement is the movement of elevating the soul, saving the soul from degradation. Therefore people sometimes are surprised. The bodily concept of life, the same activities will be karma. And on the platform of spiritual life, the same karma will be bhakti. Same karma will be bhakti. So bhakti is not inactivity. Bhakti is all active. Yat karoṣi yaj juhoṣi yad aśnāsi yat tapasyasi kuruṣva tad mad-arpaṇam (Bg. 9.27. This is bhakti, bhakti-yoga. Kṛṣṇa says to everyone, "If you cannot give up your karma, then that's all right. But the result of your karma, give to Me. Then it will be bhakti."
"As the post is very great, similarly, the punishment is also very great"
So Vidura was Yamarāja. Not only he was Yamarāja, ordinary, but he is one of the great authorities. There are twelve authorities mentioned in the śāstra. One of them is Yamarāja. Balir vaiyāsakir vayam. This is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Yamarāja is one of the GBC of Kṛṣṇa. Yes. As we have got twelve GBC's, similarly Kṛṣṇa has got GBC's. Now,
svayambhūr nāradaḥ śambhuḥ kumāraḥ kapilo manuḥ
prahlādo janako bhīṣmo balir vaiyāsakir vayam (SB 6.3.20)
That twelve men are authorized to preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So we have to follow. Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ (Cc. Madhya 17.186. Therefore we have created these GBC. So they should be very responsible men. Otherwise, they will be punished. They will be punished to become a śūdra. Although Yamarāja is a GBC, but he made a little mistake. He was punished to become a śūdra. So those who are GBC's, they should be very, very careful to administer the business of ISKCON.
Otherwise they will be punished.
As the post is very great, similarly, the punishment is also very great. That is the difficulty. You can see from this example, Vidura. He was immediately punished. He did little mistake at Maṇḍūka... Because the ṛṣis, the munis, they will curse. Dealing is very... Even Yamarāja is not taking.
(reads:) "He was to play the part of so-called śūdra for years, being cursed by Maṇḍūka Muni. He was the incarnation of Yamarāja, one of the twelve mahājanas, on the level with such exalted personalities as Bhīṣma, Nārada, Brahmā, Nārada, Śiva, Kapila, Bhīṣma, Prahlāda, etc. Being a mahājana, it is the duty of Yamarāja to preach the cult of devotion to the people of the world as Nārada, Brahmā and other mahājanas do. But Yamarāja is always busy in his plutonic kingdom, punishing the doers of sinful acts.
Yamarāja is deputed by the Lord to a particular planet some hundreds of thousands of miles away from this planet." That is mentioned. He has got a different planet, where the criminals are taken away after death, and he gives the judgment, what kind of body he will have. And not like the theosophists' thinking, "Now I have got human body. It is permanent settlement." No, that is not permanent settlement. According to one's work... Work means all sinful acts.
Without Kṛṣṇa consciousness, anyone who acts, he acts sinfully. There is no doubt of it. Because he is acting for sense gratification, and sense gratification means almost 99.9% all sinful activities. Duṣkṛtinaḥ. It is very risky job. Unless you act in Kṛṣṇa consciousness... Yajñārthe karmaṇo 'nyatra loko 'yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ (Bg. 3.9. This is the stringent law of the nature, that you have to act only for Yajña, for satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa or Viṣṇu. Otherwise, you will be entangled. And who is serving Kṛṣṇa? Nobody is serving Kṛṣṇa. So everyone is being entangled. This is the material world.
(reads:) "Yamarāja is deputed by the Lord to a particular planet, some hundreds of thousands of miles away from the planet of earth, to take away the corrupt souls after death and convict them in accordance with their respective sinful activities. Thus, Yamarāja has very little time to take leave from his responsible office of punishing the wrongdoers. There are more wrongdoers than righteous men. Therefore Yamarāja has to do (more) work than other demigods who are also authorized agents of the Supreme Lord. But he wanted to preach the glories of the Lord, and therefore, by the will of the Lord, he was cursed by Maṇḍūka Muni to come into the world in the incarnation of Vidura and work very hard as a great devotee."
The punishment was also reward. Those who are servants of Kṛṣṇa, even they are so-called punished, there is some motive behind this. Just like Jaya and Vijaya. They were also punished to come down and..., just to become enemy of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa, when they were very much perturbed that "We are going to the material world from Vaikuṇṭha. So what will be our fate, Sir? There is some little mistake on our part. What we shall do?" So Kṛṣṇa gave him that "If you become My enemy, then you will be relieved in three births, and if you become My friend, then seven births."
So Jaya and Vijaya agreed, "Sir, we shall become Your enemy." So what is the purport? Kṛṣṇa wanted some enemy to fight. Just like we sometimes want to fight. So this desire is there, Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise, where we get this desire? So actually, it was Kṛṣṇa's service, this Jaya and Vijaya. Kṛṣṇa wanted to have some fight. In the spiritual world there cannot be fight. There is no fight. There is only service. Therefore some of His devotees, this Jaya and Vijaya, agreed to become His enemy, come to this material world and to..., Kṛṣṇa fought with the Jaya and Vijaya. As Rāmacandra, He fought with Rāvaṇa, and as Nṛsiṁhadeva, He fought with Hiraṇyakaśipu, and as Kṛṣṇa, He fought with Yamarā..., er, Kaṁsa.
So similarly, Vidura also, he thought that "I am always busy in this magisterial work, simply to punish. I have no chance to preach." So Kṛṣṇa is very kind to His devotee. So He gave the chance to preach. So this was the arrangement, that he was cursed by Maṇḍūka Muni, came down to this material world. That is also material. Yamarāja's planet is also in the material world. Therefore he was given the chance of preaching. (reads:) "He is transcendental to such divisions of mundane society, just as the Personality of Godhead assumes His incarnation as a hog, but He is not hog." If somebody thinks that He has come as a hog, playing the part of a hog, that is not the fact. Even though assumes the...
(reads:) "The Lord and His different authorized devotees sometimes have to play the role of many lower creatures to claim the conditioned souls, but both the Lord and His pure devotees are always in the transcendental position." Etad īśanam īśasya. That is the authority of God, that even though He accepts some lower position, He is never in the lower position. He is always in the transcendental position. I have given the example yesterday. Just like the sun is sometimes evaporating the urine. This is not very good business. But still, sun is sun. He is never polluted. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa or His devotee, if sometimes apparently does something which is not befitting their position, still, they are in their position. This is the conclusion. Kṛṣṇa has given this concession to His devotee.
It is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (Bg. 9.30)
api cet su-durācāro bhajate mām ananya-bhāk
sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥsamyag vyavasito hi saḥ
Even sometimes, not by willing, sometimes accidentally, a devotee... Just like the other day in the meeting, somebody was giving the example, "Lord Christ, he ate fish." So he can do that. There was some necessity. But you cannot do that. So even though it is sometimes done, abominable, but still they are in exalted position. This is to be understood. Tejīyasāṁ na doṣāya (SB 10.33.29. Tejīyasām, those who are very, very powerful, anything abominable done by them, it does not contaminate. This is to be understood. But you cannot do that. You cannot imitate.
(reads:) "When Yamarāja thus incarnated himself as Vidura, his post was officiated by Aryamā, one of the many sons of Kaśyapa and Aditi, the Ādityas, or sons of Aditi, and there are twelve Ādityas. Aryamā is one of the twelve Ādityas, and therefore it was quite possible for him to take charge of the office of Yamarāja during his one hundred years' absence in the form of Vidura. The conclusion is that Vidura was never a śūdra, but was greater than the purest type of brāhmaṇa."
Now, have kīrtana. (end)
[PADA: Yes, no question about it, the GBC's policies of orchestrated banning, beating, molesting, lawsuits and assassinations are extremely sinful and they will have to answer to Yamaraja for all these crimes. Of course the shudras worship someone who is pure as their messiah, they do not worship illicit sex deviants nor promote that agenda. In sum, the GBC are less than shudras. ys pd]
