And the two kinds of devotional service—namely devotional service through regulative principles and through spontaneous love—were discussed. Within the stage of the regulative principles of devotional service there are two divisions—namely executive and effective. This effective portion of devotional service is called bhāva, or ecstasy. In this connection, there is a statement in the tantras that ecstasy is the first symptom of pure love for the Personality of Godhead, and in that stage one is sometimes found shedding tears or shivering. Not always are these symptoms manifest, but occasionally. When King Ambarīṣa was put into difficulty by Durvāsā, he began to think of the lotus feet of the Lord, and thus there were some changes in his body, and tears were falling from his eyes. These symptoms are activities of ecstasy. They are visible in the shivering of the body and the shedding of tears. After the outward appearance of these ecstatic symptoms, they stay within the mind, and continuation of the ecstasy is called samādhi. This stage of appreciation becomes the cause of future exchanges of loving affairs with Kṛṣṇa.
Executive (CC and Other Books)
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Adi-lila
In the verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam cited above (SB 1.2.11), the principal word, bhagavān, indicates the Personality of Godhead, and Brahman and Paramātmā are concomitants deduced from the Absolute Personality, as a government and its ministers are deductions from the supreme executive head. In other words, the principal truth is exhibited in three different phases. The Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa (Bhagavān), is also known as Brahman and Paramātmā, although all these features are identical.
Lord Kṛṣṇa is accepted as the Supreme Personality of Godhead by these authentic scriptures, not simply by vox populi. In the modern age a certain class of fools think that they can vote anyone into the position of God, as they can vote a man into the position of a political executive head. But the transcendental Supreme Personality of Godhead is perfectly described in the authentic scriptures. In the Bhagavad-gītā the Lord says that only fools deride Him, thinking that anyone can speak like Kṛṣṇa.
Even according to historical references, Kṛṣṇa's activities are most uncommon. Kṛṣṇa has affirmed, "I am God," and He has acted accordingly. Māyāvādīs think that everyone can claim to be God, but that is their illusion, for no one else can perform such extraordinary activities as Kṛṣṇa. When He was a child on the lap of His mother, He killed the demon Pūtanā. Then He killed the demons Tṛṇāvarta, Vatsāsura and Baka. When He was a little more grown up, He killed the demons Aghāsura and Ṛṣabhāsura. Therefore God is God from the very beginning.
In the Vaikuṇṭhas there are airplanes, but they make no tumultuous sounds. Material airplanes are not at all safe: they can fall down and crash at any time, for matter is imperfect in every respect. In the spiritual sky, however, the airplanes are also spiritual, and they are spiritually brilliant and bright. These airplanes do not fly business executives, politicians or planning commissions as passengers, nor do they carry cargo or postal bags, for these are all unknown there. These planes are for pleasure trips only, and the residents of Vaikuṇṭha fly in them with their heavenly, beautiful, fairylike consorts. Therefore these airplanes, full of residents of Vaikuṇṭha, both male and female, increase the beauty of the spiritual sky. We cannot imagine how beautiful they are, but their beauty may be compared to the clouds in the sky accompanied by silver branches of electric lightning. The spiritual sky of Vaikuṇṭhaloka is always decorated in this way.
There are also a Rādhā-Govinda mūrti and a śālagrāma-śilā, and below the throne is a picture of Śrī Uddhāraṇa Datta Ṭhākura. In front of the temple there is now a big hall, and in front of the hall is a Mādhavī-latā plant. The temple is in a very shady, cool and nicely situated location. When we returned from America in 1967, the executive committee members of this temple invited us to visit it, and thus we had the opportunity to visit this temple with some American students. Formerly, in our childhood, we visited this temple with our parents because all the members of the suvarṇa-vaṇik community enthusiastically take interest in this temple of Uddhāraṇa Datta Ṭhākura.
Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura adds in his Anubhāṣya: “In the Bengali year 1283 (A.D. 1876) a bābājī of the name Nitāi dāsa arranged for a donation of twelve bighās of land (about four acres) for the temple where Uddhāraṇa Datta Ṭhākura worshiped. The management of the temple later deteriorated, but then in 1306 (A.D. 1899), through the cooperation of the famous Balarāma Mullik of Hugli, who was a subjudge, and many rich suvarṇa-vaṇik community members, the management of the temple improved greatly.
Just as a condemned person can be relieved by a special favor of the chief executive head, the president or king, so the condemned people of this Kali-yuga can be delivered only by the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself or a person especially empowered for this purpose. Śrīla Advaita Ācārya Prabhu desired that the Supreme Personality of Godhead advent Himself to deliver the fallen souls of this age.
CC Madhya-lila
A monarch is certainly a representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, sarva-loka-maheśvaram: (BG 5.29) the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the proprietor of all planetary systems. In each and every planet there must be some king, governmental head or executive. Such a person is supposed to be the representative of Lord Viṣṇu. On behalf of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he must see to the interests of all the people. Therefore Lord Viṣṇu, as Paramātmā, gives the king all intelligence to execute governmental affairs. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī therefore asked the King what was in his mind concerning Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and indicated that whatever the King thought about Him was correct.
By deprecating the principles of Vedic civilization and supporting cow-killing, they are immediately degraded to the platform of mlecchas and yavanas. A mleccha is a meat-eater, and a yavana is one who has deviated from Vedic culture. Unfortunately, such mlecchas and yavanas are in executive power. How, then, can there be peace and prosperity in the state? The king or the president must be the representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira accepted the rule of Bhārata-varṣa (formerly this entire planet, including all the seas and land), he took sanction from authorities like Bhīṣmadeva and Lord Kṛṣṇa. He thus ruled the entire world according to religious principles. At the present moment, however, heads of state do not care for religious principles. If irreligious people vote on an issue, even though it be against the principles of the śāstras, the bills will be passed. The president and heads of state become sinful by agreeing to such abominable activities. Sanātana and Rūpa Gosvāmīs pleaded guilty to such activities; they therefore classified themselves among the mlecchas, although they had been born in a brāhmaṇa family.
Although Nawab Hussain Shah was a mleccha-yavana, he was nonetheless the governor of the country, and the learned scholars and Sanātana Gosvāmī offered him all the respect due a king or a governor. When a person occupies an exalted executive post, one should consider that he has acquired the grace of the Lord. In the Bhagavad-gītā (10.41) Lord Kṛṣṇa says:
- yad yad vibhūtimat sattvaṁ śrīmad ūrjitam eva vā
- tat tad evāvagaccha tvaṁ mama tejo-‘ṁśa-sambhavam
"Know that all opulent, beautiful and glorious creations spring from but a spark of My splendor."
Whenever we see something exalted, we must consider it part of the power of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. A powerful man (vibhūtimat sattvam) is one who has obtained the grace of the Lord or has derived some power from Him. In the Bhagavad-gītā (7.10) Kṛṣṇa says, tejas tejasvinām aham: "I am the power of the powerful."
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Nectar of Devotion
When one is substantially convinced that he is always protected by Kṛṣṇa in all circumstances, that feeling is called reverential devotion. Reverential devotion is executed in relation with the Supreme Personality of Godhead and with His other protected devotees.
When Kṛṣṇa was residing in Dvārakā, some of the elderly members of the Yadu family would occasionally put some important matter before Him. At such a time, Kṛṣṇa would carefully give attention to those matters. And if there were some humorous topics mentioned, Kṛṣṇa would immediately respond with a smiling face. Sometimes when Kṛṣṇa was executing His duties in the assembly known as Sudharmā, He would ask the elderly members for good advice. By such activities He is manifest as the supreme spiritual master, the supreme executive head, the superior intelligence and the supreme power, protector and maintainer.
Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead
“My Lord, Your appearance, existence and disappearance are beyond the influence of the material qualities. Because Your Lordship is the Supreme Brahman and the controller of everything, there is nothing inconceivable or contradictory in You. As You have said, material nature works under Your superintendence, just like a government officer working under the orders of the chief executive. The influence of subordinate activities cannot affect You. Since You are the Supreme Brahman, everything is existing within You, and since all the activities of material nature are controlled by Your Lordship, none of these activities affect You.
“You are called śuklam. Śuklam, or "whiteness," is the symbolic representation of the Absolute Truth because it is unaffected by the material qualities. Lord Brahmā is called rakta, or red, because Brahmā represents the quality of passion for creation. Darkness is entrusted to Lord Śiva because he annihilates the cosmos. The creation, annihilation and maintenance of this cosmic manifestation are conducted by Your potencies, yet You are always unaffected by those qualities.
“My dear Lord, You are the supreme father, the supreme spiritual master and the supreme king. Therefore, You have the right to chastise all living entities whenever there is any discrepancy in their behavior. The father, the spiritual master and the supreme executive officer of the state are always well-wishers of their sons, their students and their citizens respectively. As such, the well-wishers have the right to chastise their dependents. By Your own desire You appear auspiciously on the earth in Your eternal varieties of forms; You come to glorify the earthly planet and specifically to chastise persons who are falsely claiming to be God. In the material world there is regular competition between different types of living entities to become supreme leaders of society, and after being frustrated in achieving the supreme positions of leadership, foolish persons claim to be God, the Supreme Personality. There are many such foolish personalities in this world, like me, but in due course of time, when they come to their senses, they surrender unto You and again engage themselves properly by rendering service unto You. And that is the purpose of Your chastising persons envious of You.
After Akrūra was thus properly received and seated, Nanda Mahārāja, the foster father of Kṛṣṇa, said, "My dear Akrūra, what shall I inquire from you? I know that you are being protected by Kaṁsa, who is most cruel and demoniac. His protection is just like the slaughterhouse keeper's protection of animals he will kill in the future. Kaṁsa is so selfish that he has killed the sons of his own sister, so how can I honestly believe that he is protecting the citizens of Mathurā?" This statement is most significant. If the political or executive heads of the state are simply interested in themselves, they can never look after the welfare of the citizens.
As Nanda Mahārāja spoke to Akrūra with pleasing words, Akrūra forgot all the fatigue of his day's journey from Mathurā to Vṛndāvana.
The various kings had reserved thrones, and others had arranged seats also. Kaṁsa finally arrived, accompanied by various ministers and secretaries, and he sat on the raised platform especially meant for him. Unfortunately, although he was sitting in the center of all his governing executive heads, his heart was palpitating in fear of death. Cruel death evidently does not care even for a person as powerful as Kaṁsa. When death comes, it does not care for anyone's exalted position.
When everything was complete, the wrestlers who were to exhibit their skills before the assembly walked into the arena. They were decorated with nice ornaments and dress. Some of the famous wrestlers were Cāṇūra, Muṣṭika, Śala, Kūṭa and Tośala. Being enlivened by the musical concert, they passed through with great alacrity. All the respectable cowherd men who came from Vṛndāvana, headed by Nanda, were also welcomed by Kaṁsa. After presenting Kaṁsa with the milk products they had brought with them, the cowherd men also took their respective seats by the side of the King, on a platform especially meant for them.
The princely guests from many kingdoms, like Sṛñjaya, Kāmboja, Kuru, Kekaya and Kośala, were present with their different flags and gorgeously decorated elephants, chariots, horses and soldiers. All of them passed in a procession, with King Yudhiṣṭhira in the forefront. The executive members who had performed the sacrifice—the priests, religious ministers and brāhmaṇas—all loudly chanted the Vedic hymns. The demigods and the inhabitants of Pitṛloka and Gandharvaloka, as well as many sages, showered flowers from the sky. The men and women of Hastināpura, or Indraprastha, their bodies smeared with scents and floral oils, were nicely dressed in colorful garments and decorated with garlands, jewels and ornaments. Enjoying the ceremony, they threw on one another liquid substances like water, oil, milk, butter and yogurt. Some even smeared these on each other's bodies. In this way, they enjoyed the occasion. The professional prostitutes jubilantly smeared these liquid substances on the bodies of the men, and the men reciprocated in the same way.
The Vedic injunctions state that every living entity lives by eating the remnants of food offered to the Personality of Godhead. In great sacrifices the injunction is that Nārāyaṇa should be present as the supreme predominating Deity of the sacrifice and that after the sacrifice is performed the remnants of food should be distributed among the demigods. This is called yajña-bhāga. Every demigod has an allotment of yajña-bhāga, which he accepts as prasādam. The conclusion is that the demigods are not independently powerful: they are posted as different executives under the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and they eat prasādam, or the remnants of sacrifices. They execute the order of the Supreme Lord exactly according to His plan. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is in the background, and because His orders are carried out by others, it appears that He is impersonal. In our grossly materialistic way, we cannot conceive how the Supreme Person is above the impersonal activities of material nature.
"The present King, Ugrasena, is envious of the brāhmaṇas!" The exact word used in this connection is brahma-dviṣaḥ. One who is envious of the Vedas, of a qualified brāhmaṇa or of the brāhmaṇa caste is called brahma-dviṣ. So the King was accused of being brahma-dviṣ. He was also accused of being śaṭha-dhī, falsely intelligent. The executive head of a state must be very intelligent to see to the comforts of the citizens, but according to the brāhmaṇa the King was not at all intelligent, although he was occupying the royal throne. Therefore the brāhmaṇa also called him lubdha, which means "greedy." In other words, a king or an executive head of state should not occupy the exalted post of president or king if he is greedy and self-interested. But it is natural that an executive head becomes self-interested when he is attached to material enjoyment. Therefore, another word used here is viṣayātmanaḥ.
The brāhmaṇa also accused the King of being kṣatra-bandhu, which refers to a person born in the family of kṣatriyas, or the royal order, but lacking the qualifications of a royal personality.
If such a king is worshiped or honored by the citizens, the citizens will never be happy. They will always remain poor, full of anxieties and aggrievement, and always unhappy.” In modern politics the post of monarch has been abolished, and the president is not held responsible for the comforts of the citizens. In this Age of Kali, the executive head of a state somehow or other gets votes and is elected to an exalted post, but the condition of the citizens continues to be full of anxiety, distress, unhappiness and dissatisfaction.
The brāhmaṇa's second child also died at birth, and the third also. He had nine children, who all died at birth, and each time he came to the gate of the palace to accuse the King. When the brāhmaṇa came to accuse the King of Dvārakā for the ninth time, Arjuna happened to be present with Kṛṣṇa. On hearing that a brāhmaṇa was accusing the King of not properly protecting him, Arjuna became inquisitive and approached the brāhmaṇa. He said, “My dear brāhmaṇa, why do you say that there are no proper kṣatriyas to protect the citizens of your country? Is there not even someone who can pretend to be a kṣatriya, who can carry a bow and arrow at least to make a show of protection?
"If the brāhmaṇas feel unwanted separation from their wives and children," Arjuna continued, "and the kṣatriya kings do not take care of them, then such kṣatriyas are to be considered no more than stage players. In dramatic performances in the theater, an actor may play the part of a king, but no one expects any benefits from such a make-believe king. Similarly, if the king or the executive head of a state cannot give protection to the head of the social structure, he is considered merely a bluffer. Such executive heads simply live for their own livelihood while occupying exalted posts as chiefs of state. My lord, I promise that I shall give protection to your children, and if I am unable to do so, then I shall enter into blazing fire so that the sinful contamination which has infected me will be counteracted."
Upon hearing Arjuna speak in this way, the brāhmaṇa replied, "My dear Arjuna, Lord Balarāma is present, but He could not give protection to my children. Lord Kṛṣṇa is also present, but He also could not give them protection. There are also many other heroes, such as Pradyumna and Aniruddha, carrying bows and arrows, but they could not protect my children." The brāhmaṇa directly hinted that Arjuna could not do that which was impossible for the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Message of Godhead
The brāhmaṇas are the highest social order, and they imbibe the modes of goodness and are engaged in the activities of equality, restraint, and forgiveness. The kṣatriyas are the second-highest social order, and they imbibe the qualities of creative passion and are engaged in the activities of public leadership as executive heads of different political and social bodies. The vaiśyas are the third social order. They imbibe mixed qualities, namely creative passion as well as the darkness of ignorance, and generally they are engaged as farmers and merchants. The śūdras are the lowest social order, inasmuch as they imbibe the modes of darkness, or ignorance, and generally take up the service of the other three social orders. As a class, the śūdras are servitors of the whole mundane social body. In the present age of darkness, which is known as the Kali-yuga, the age of quarrel, hypocrisy, and ignorance, virtually everyone is born a śūdra.
Light of the Bhagavata
In a monarchy, one man sufficiently trained was competent enough to conduct alone the business of the state. But in a democracy no one is trained like a prince; instead, politicians are voted to responsible posts of administration by diplomatic arrangements. In place of one king or supreme executive officer, in a democracy there are so many quasi-kings: the president, the ministers, the deputy ministers, the secretaries, the assistant secretaries, the private secretaries, and the undersecretaries. There are a number of parties—political, social, and communal—and there are party whips, party whims, and so on. But no one is well enough trained to look after the factual interests of the governed. In a so-called democratic government, corruption is even more rampant than in an autocracy or monarchy.
| Page Title: | Executive (CC and Other Books) |
| Compiler: | Mayapur, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 23 of Sep, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=8, OB=13, Lec=0, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 21 |