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Filial

Srimad-Bhagavatam

SB Canto 1

SB 1.8.31, Purport:

Therefore Yaśodā's position was more exalted than Kuntī's. Mother Yaśodā got the Lord as her child, and the Lord made her forget altogether that her child was the Lord Himself. If Mother Yaśodā had been conscious of the exalted position of the Lord, she would certainly have hesitated to punish the Lord. But she was made to forget this situation because the Lord wanted to make a complete gesture of childishness before the affectionate Yaśodā. This exchange of love between the mother and the son was performed in a natural way, and Kuntī, remembering the scene, was bewildered, and she could do nothing but praise the transcendental filial love. Indirectly Mother Yaśodā is praised for her unique position of love, for she could control even the all-powerful Lord as her beloved child.

SB 1.9.34, Purport:

The Lord is the absolute form of eternity, bliss and knowledge. As such, transcendental loving service to the Lord in one of the five principal relations, namely śānta, dāsya, sakhya, vātsalya and mādhurya, i.e., neutrality, servitorship, fraternity, filial affection and conjugal love, is graciously accepted by the Lord when offered to the Lord in genuine love and affection. Śrī Bhīṣmadeva is a great devotee of the Lord in the relation of servitorship. Thus his throwing of sharp arrows at the transcendental body of the Lord is as good as the worship of another devotee who throws soft roses upon Him.

It appears that Bhīṣmadeva is repenting the actions he committed against the person of the Lord. But factually the Lord's body was not at all pained, due to His transcendental existence. His body is not matter. Both He Himself and His body are complete spiritual identity. Spirit is never pierced, burnt, dried, moistened, etc. This is vividly explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. So also it is stated in the Skanda Purāṇa. It is said there that spirit is always uncontaminated and indestructible. It cannot be distressed, nor can it be dried up. When Lord Viṣṇu in His incarnation appears before us, He seems to be like one of the conditioned souls, materially encaged, just to bewilder the asuras, or the nonbelievers, who are always alert to kill the Lord, even from the very beginning of His appearance.

SB 1.11.4-5, Purport:

Anything fiery and illuminating is but an emanation of the energy of the sun, and yet to worship the sun-god it is necessary to offer him a lamp. In the worship of the sun, there is some sort of demand made by the worshiper, but in the case of devotional service to the Lord, there is no question of demand from either side. It is all a sign of pure love and affection between the Lord and the devotee.

The Lord is the Supreme Father of all living beings, and therefore those who are conscious of this vital relation with God can make filial demands from the Father, and the Father is pleased to supply the demands of such obedient sons without bargaining. The Lord is just like the desire tree, and from Him everyone can have everything by the causeless mercy of the Lord. As the Supreme Father, the Lord, however, does not supply to a pure devotee what is considered to be a barrier to the discharge of devotional service. Those who are engaged in the devotional service of the Lord can rise to the position of unalloyed devotional service by His transcendental attraction.

SB Canto 2

SB 2.7.27, Purport:

So it was not very difficult for Kṛṣṇa to perform a miracle by extending His bodily feature, but He had no desire to do it because of His deep filial love for His mother, Yaśodā. If Yaśodā had seen Kṛṣṇa in her lap extending six miles to cope with the she-demon Pūtanā, then the natural filial love of Yaśodā would have been hurt because in that way Yaśodā would have come to know that her so-called son, Kṛṣṇa, was God Himself. And with the knowledge of the Godhood of Kṛṣṇa, Yaśodāmayī would have lost the temper of her love for Kṛṣṇa as a natural mother. But as far as Lord Kṛṣṇa is concerned, He is God always, either as a child on the lap of His mother, or as the coverer of the universe, Vāmanadeva. He does not require to become God by undergoing severe penances, although some men think of becoming God in that way. By undergoing severe austerities and penances, one cannot become one or equal with God, but one can attain most of the godly qualities. A living being can attain godly qualities to a large extent, but he cannot become God, whereas Kṛṣṇa, without undergoing any type of penance, is God always, either in the lap of His mother or growing up or at any stage of growth.

SB Canto 7

SB 7.4.40, Purport:

The first realization is impersonal Brahman, but one must go still further to realize Paramātmā and eventually the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is worshiped by the transcendental feelings of a devotee in a relationship of śānta, dāsya, sakhya, vātsalya or mādhurya. Here the feelings of Prahlāda Mahārāja were in the mellow of vātsalya, filial love and affection. As a child cries when left by his mother, when Prahlāda Mahārāja felt that the Lord was away from him he began to cry (nadati). Again, a devotee like Prahlāda sometimes sees that the Lord is coming from a long distance to pacify him, like a mother responding to a child, saying, "My dear child, do not cry. I am coming." Then the devotee, without being ashamed due to his surroundings and circumstances, begins to dance, thinking, "Here is my Lord! My Lord is coming!" Thus the devotee, in full ecstasy, sometimes imitates the pastimes of the Lord, just as the cowherd boys used to imitate the behavior of the jungle animals. However, he does not actually become the Lord.

Other Books by Srila Prabhupada

Nectar of Devotion

Nectar of Devotion 32:

Due to the different types of attraction for Kṛṣṇa, there are different varieties of devotees. Their symptoms are manifested transparently, just like jewels. It is said that a great devotee brāhmaṇa would sometimes address the Supreme Personality of Godhead as master and sometimes joke with the Lord, using different kinds of familiar words. Sometimes he would protect the Lord with a filial affection, sometimes he would cry out to the Lord, addressing the Lord as his beloved, and sometimes he would meditate on the Lord as the Supersoul. This means that the brāhmaṇa expressed his ecstatic loving symptoms in different ways at different times. But in each instance, because of ecstatic love, the brāhmaṇa merged himself in the ocean of happiness and became situated in pure love. Thus he was a transparent medium, like a jewel that shows reality in varying colors according to its own nature.

Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead

Krsna Book 48:

“My dear Akrūra, in spite of your submissiveness, I consider you My superior, on the level with My father and teacher and most well-wishing friend. You are therefore to be worshiped by Me, and since you are My uncle I am always to be protected by you. I desire you to maintain Me, for I am one of your own children. Apart from this filial relationship, an exalted devotee like you is always to be worshiped by everyone. Anyone who desires good fortune must offer his respectful obeisances unto personalities like you, who are greater than the demigods. People worship the demigods when in need of some sense gratification, and the demigods offer benedictions to their devotees after being worshiped. But a devotee like you, Akrūra, is always ready to offer people the greatest benediction. A saintly person or devotee is free to offer benedictions to everyone, whereas the demigods can offer benedictions only after being worshiped.

Mukunda-mala-stotra (mantras 1 to 6 only)

Mukunda-mala-stotra mantra 4, Purport:

This is something like a son's committing suicide instead of living with his father according to the rules the father sets down. By committing suicide, the son thus sacrifices the happiness he could have enjoyed by engaging in a filial loving relationship with his father and enjoying his father's estate. A pure devotee persistently avoids such a criminal policy, and King Kulaśekhara is guiding us to avoid this pitfall.

The king also says that the reason he is praying to the Lord is not to be saved from the Kumbhīpāka hell. Laborers in gigantic iron and steel mills suffer tribulations similar to those in the Kumbhīpāka hell. Kumbhī means "pot," and pāka means "boiling." So if a person were put into a pot of oil and the pot were set to boiling, he would have some idea of the suffering in Kumbhīpāka hell.

Lectures

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 7, 1973:

Kṛṣṇa is the reservoir of all rasas. Rasa is a very peculiar word. Rasa, it may be translated into English as "taste," as "mellow," or as "humor." So our relationship with Kṛṣṇa, there is some taste. Without taste, we cannot continue our relationship with anyone. There must be some taste. So these rasas, or tastes, are twelve kinds. Primary rasa is the relationship between inert things and our... Just like I am sitting on this chair. So the comfort I am feeling, that is the rasa, taste. We want very nice cushion, sitting position. So that tasting, that "I am now comfortably seated," this is called śānta-rasa. Then above the śānta-rasa, there is dāsya-rasa. Dāsya-rasa... Just like my students, my disciples, they want to serve me, and I want to take service from them. This is also an exchange of rasa, a taste. Śānta, dāsya. Similarly, next advanced stage is sakhya-rasa. Sakhya means friendship. Just like one is serving somebody, but if that service is very intimate, then there is the rasa of friendship, dāsa, sakhya-rasa. And when that is advanced... (feedback) (aside:) What is this sound? When that is advanced, it becomes vātsalya-rasa. Vātsalya-rasa means the taste of relationship between parents and the children. These are advanced. Śānta-rasa, dāsya-rasa, sakhya-rasa, and then vātsalya-rasa, parenthood, filial love. And above this, there is mādhurya-rasa. Mādhurya-rasa means the taste between husband and wife, lover and the beloved. That is called mādhurya-rasa. Similarly... These are the primary rasas. (aside:) The draft is coming this side, or...? It is open.

General Lectures

Lecture -- Jakarta, February 28, 1973:

The son was a great devotee and the father was a great atheist. The father did not like that his son should be devotee, and father..., son did not like that his father should remain an atheist. So there was misunderstanding. The son was right, but the father will not change his atheistic view. So anyway, after all, father and son, the relation is very affectionate, filial affection. So father asked that whether his son has changed his views. "My dear son, will you kindly explain what you have learned best." So he said, tat sādhu manye-asura-varya. He's addressing his father, asura-varya. Asura means demon, and varya means the top, varyam, the first-class asura. He did not address his father as "father." Asura-varya: "My dear first-class demon, I think you are asking me what is the best thing. So, in my opinion, everyone is very, very anxious." Tat sādhu manye 'sura-varya dehinām. Dehinām. Dehinām means one who has accepted this material body. He's called dehī. Practically we do not require this material body, but we have accepted this material body for enjoying in this material world.

Correspondence

1947 to 1965 Correspondence

Letter to Govinda Maharaja -- New Delhi 16 September, 1955:

They will like to read such articles as written by you with greater relish. In this article I can find out that you have really some parts and in time you can become a great transcendental humorist in the art of journalism. You have complete mercy of your Divine master and you can depend on his blessings for your future improvement. I sincerely wish you all success—Undoubtedly you are now in the highest order of Varnasrama Dharma but we cannot forget that you belong to the category of our affectionate sons. We cannot forget all such filial love for you and when we see that you are improving in all respects it gladdens our heart. I have just written a letter to Sripada Gosvami Maharaja and in that letter the following statements have been carried to him him. The wordings are as follows:-

"This day we have received two copies of Gaudiya Darsana from Sripada Sridhara Maharaja's Math at Navadvipa. The starting is very good and I have quite appreciated the endeavour of Sripada Maharaja although very late. It is better late than never. He has a very good assistant in the person of young Govinda Maharaja and I think it is a good attempt."

Page Title:Filial
Compiler:Mihir, RupaManjari
Created:07 of Sep, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=5, CC=0, OB=3, Lec=2, Con=0, Let=1
No. of Quotes:11