Most householders desire material gain. Nowadays especially, everyone is feeling the pinch of poverty. The ordinary man thirsts for money solely to enjoy his senses. Once a person falls into the useless company of sense gratifiers, he spends his wealth on fineries, gold, and women. With more wealth, he seeks adoration and distinction, and along with these he gets mansions, cars, and so on. There is only one interest in this endeavor, and that is to enjoy the senses. Persons whose only goal in life is to gratify the senses were referred to earlier as the less intelligent fruitive workers, or karmīs. If any among them happen to have some piety, then this select group will not merely fritter away all their time in titillating their senses, but will spend some time worshiping the Supreme Lord. Although these elite karmīs do not associate with the pure devotees of the Lord, they call themselves spiritualists. Actually, they harbor the desire to gratify their carnal desires. They fail to comprehend that the Supreme Lord is known as Hṛsīkeśa, "the supreme master of the senses." Sometimes a jñānī (a seeker of knowledge) or a practitioner of mystic yoga will also worship the Lord, but they also are merely interested ultimately in sensual pleasures. The only way these adulterated devotees can become pure devotees is if they read Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī's Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu. This book is an authority on the science of devotional service.
Mansion
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 3
Ominous planets such as Mars and Saturn shone brighter and surpassed the auspicious ones such as Mercury, Jupiter and Venus as well as a number of lunar mansions. Taking seemingly retrograde courses, the planets came in conflict with one another.
The entire universe is moving under the three modes of material nature. Those living entities who are in goodness are called the pious species—pious lands, pious trees, etc. It is similar with the planets also; many planets are considered pious, and others are considered impious. Saturn and Mars are considered impious. When the pious planets shine very brightly, it is an auspicious sign, but when the inauspicious planets shine very brightly, this is not a very good sign.
Maitreya continued: O Vidura, seeking to please his beloved wife, the sage Kardama exercised his yogic power and instantly produced an aerial mansion that could travel at his will.
Here the words yogam āsthitaḥ are significant. The sage Kardama was completely perfect in yoga. As the result of real yoga practice there are eight kinds of perfection: the yogī can become smaller than the smallest, greater than the greatest or lighter than the lightest, he can achieve anything he likes, he can create even a planet, he can establish influence over anyone, etc. In this way yogic perfection is achieved, and after this one can achieve the perfection of spiritual life. Thus it was not very wonderful for Kardama Muni to create a mansion in the air, according to his own desire, to fulfill the desire of his beloved wife. He at once created the palace, which is described in the following verses.
The sage could see that Devahūti had washed herself clean and was shining forth as though no longer his former wife. She had regained her own original beauty as the daughter of a prince. Dressed in excellent robes, her charming breasts duly girded, she was waited upon by a thousand Gandharva girls. O destroyer of the enemy, his fondness for her grew, and he placed her on the aerial mansion.
Though seemingly attached to his beloved consort while served by the Gandharva girls, the sage did not lose his glory, which was mastery over his self. In the aerial mansion Kardama Muni with his consort shone as charmingly as the moon in the midst of the stars in the sky, which causes rows of lilies to open in ponds at night.
The mansion was in the sky, and therefore the comparison to the full moon and stars is very beautifully composed in this verse. Kardama Muni looked like the full moon, and the girls who surrounded his wife, Devahūti, seemed just like the stars. On a full-moon night the stars and the moon together form a beautiful constellation; similarly, in that aerial mansion in the sky, Kardama Muni with his beautiful wife and the damsels surrounding them appeared like the moon and stars on a full-moon night.
In that aerial mansion he traveled to the pleasure valleys of Mount Meru, which were rendered all the more beautiful by cool, gentle, fragrant breezes that stimulated passion. In these valleys, the treasurer of the gods, Kuvera, surrounded by beautiful women and praised by the Siddhas, generally enjoys pleasure. Kardama Muni also, surrounded by the beautiful damsels and his wife, went there and enjoyed for many, many years.
Kuvera is one of the eight demigods who are in charge of different directions of the universe. It is said that Indra is in charge of the eastern side of the universe, where the heavenly planet, or paradise, is situated. Similarly, Agni is in charge of the southeastern portion of the universe; Yama, the demigod who punishes sinners, is in charge of the southern portion; Nirṛti is in charge of the southwestern part of the universe; Varuṇa, the demigod in charge of the waters, is in charge of the western portion; Vāyu, who controls the air and who has wings to travel in the air, is in charge of the northwestern part of the universe; and Kuvera, the treasurer of the demigods, is in charge of the northern part of the universe. All these demigods take pleasure in the valleys of Mount Meru, which is situated somewhere between the sun and the earth. In the aerial mansion, Kardama Muni traveled throughout the eight directions controlled by the different demigods described above, and as the demigods go to Mount Meru, he also went there to enjoy life. When one is surrounded by young, beautiful girls, sex stimulation naturally becomes prominent. Kardama Muni was sexually stimulated, and he enjoyed his wife for many, many years in that part of Mount Meru. But his sex indulgence was praised by many, many Siddhas, beings who have attained perfection, because it was intended to produce good progeny for the good of universal affairs.
Satisfied by his wife, he enjoyed in that aerial mansion not only on Mount Meru but in different gardens known as Vaiśrambhaka, Surasana, Nandana, Puṣpabhadraka and Caitrarathya, and by the Mānasa-sarovara Lake.
He traveled in that way through the various planets, as the air passes uncontrolled in every direction. Coursing through the air in that great and splendid aerial mansion, which could fly at his will, he surpassed even the demigods.
In that aerial mansion, Devahūti, in the company of her handsome husband, situated on an excellent bed that increased sexual desires, could not realize how much time was passing.
Human life is not meant to be wasted, like that of the animals, in sense gratificatory activities. Animals always engage in sense gratification-eating, sleeping, fearing and mating—but that is not the engagement of the human being, although, because of the material body, there is need of sense gratification according to a regulative principle. So, in effect, Devahūti said to her husband: "So far we have these daughters, and we have enjoyed material life in the aerial mansion, traveling all over the universe. These boons have come by your grace, but they have all been for sense gratification. Now there must be something for my spiritual advancement."
SB Canto 4
To achieve Viṣṇuloka is very difficult, but by your austerity you have conquered. Even the great ṛṣis and demigods cannot achieve this position. Simply to see the supreme abode (the Viṣṇu planet), the sun and moon and all the other planets, stars, lunar mansions and solar systems are circumambulating it. Now please come; you are welcome to go there.
The pārijāta tree is not commonly found within this material world. The pārijāta tree is also known as kalpa-vṛkṣa, or the wish-fulfilling tree. One can get anything he desires from such a tree. In the material world, one can get oranges from an orange tree or mangoes from a mango tree, but there is no possibility of getting oranges from a mango tree or vice versa. However, one can get whatever he wants from the pārijāta tree—oranges, mangoes, bananas and so on. This tree is found in the spiritual world. Cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-lakṣāvṛteṣu (Bs. 5.29). The spiritual world, cintāmaṇi-dhāma, is surrounded by these kalpa-vṛkṣa trees, but the pārijāta tree is also found in the kingdom of Indra, that is, on Indra's heavenly planet. This pārijāta tree was brought by Kṛṣṇa to please Satyabhāmā, one of His queens, and this tree was implanted in the Dvārakā mansions constructed for the queens. The lotus feet of the Lord are exactly like the pārijāta trees, or wish-fulfilling trees, and the devotees are like bumblebees. They are always attracted by the lotus feet of the Lord.
SB Canto 8
On the day of Śravaṇa-dvādaśī (the twelfth day of the bright fortnight in the month of Bhādra), when the moon came into the lunar mansion Śravaṇa, at the auspicious moment of Abhijit, the Lord appeared in this universe. Considering the Lord's appearance very auspicious, all the stars and planets, from the sun to Saturn, were munificently charitable.
SB Cantos 10.14 to 12 (Translations Only)
The Lord saw Mathurā, with its tall gates and household entrances made of crystal, its immense archways and main doors of gold, its granaries and other storehouses of copper and brass, and its impregnable moats. Beautifying the city were pleasant gardens and parks. The main intersections were fashioned of gold, and there were mansions with private pleasure gardens, along with guildhalls and many other buildings. Mathurā resounded with the calls of peacocks and pet turtledoves, who sat in the small openings of the lattice windows and on the gem-studded floors, and also on the columned balconies and on the ornate rafters in front of the houses. These balconies and rafters were adorned with vaidūrya stones, diamonds, crystal quartz, sapphires, coral, pearls and emeralds. All the royal avenues and commercial streets were sprinkled with water, as were the side roads and courtyards, and flower garlands, newly grown sprouts, parched grains and rice had been scattered about everywhere. Gracing the houses' doorways were elaborately decorated pots filled with water, which were bedecked with mango leaves, smeared with yogurt and sandalwood paste, and encircled by flower petals and ribbons. Near the pots were flags, rows of lamps, bunches of flowers and the trunks of banana and betel-nut trees.
Their lotus faces blooming with affection, the ladies who had climbed to the roofs of the mansions rained down showers of flowers upon Lord Balarāma and Lord Kṛṣṇa.
I am known as Kālindī, and I live in a mansion my father built for me within the water of the Yamunā. There I will stay until I meet Lord Acyuta.
Śālva besieged the city with a large army, O best of the Bharatas, decimating the outlying parks and gardens, the mansions along with their observatories, towering gateways and surrounding walls, and also the public recreational areas. From his excellent airship he threw down a torrent of weapons, including stones, tree trunks, thunderbolts, snakes and hailstones. A fierce whirlwind arose and blanketed all directions with dust.
When the moon, the sun and Bṛhaspatī are together in the constellation Karkaṭa, and all three enter simultaneously into the lunar mansion Puṣyā—at that exact moment the age of Satya, or Kṛta, will begin.
Of the seven stars forming the constellation of the seven sages, Pulaha and Kratu are the first to rise in the night sky. If a line running north and south were drawn through their midpoint, whichever of the lunar mansions this line passes through is said to be the ruling asterism of the constellation for that time. The Seven Sages will remain connected with that particular lunar mansion for one hundred human years. Currently, during your lifetime, they are situated in the nakṣatra called Maghā.
When the constellation of the seven sages is passing through the lunar mansion Maghā, the age of Kali begins. It comprises twelve hundred years of the demigods.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Adi-lila
The explanation of the horoscope given by Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura is that at the time of the birth of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu the planets were situated as follows: Śukra (Venus) was in Meṣa-rāśi (Aries) and the nakṣatra (lunar mansion) of Aśvinī; Ketu (the ninth planet) was in Siṁha-rāśi (Leo) and Uttaraphalgunī; Candra (the moon) was in Pūrvaphalgunī (the eleventh lunar mansion); Śani (Saturn) was in Vṛścika-rāśi (Scorpio) and Jyeṣthā; Bṛhaspati (Jupiter) was in Dhanu-rāśi (Sagittarius) and Pūrvāṣāḍhā; Maṅgala (Mars) was in Makara-rāśi (Capricorn) and Śravaṇā; Ravi (the sun) was in Kumbha-rāśi (Aquarius) and Pūrvabhādrapāda; Rāhu was in Pūrvabhādrapāda; and Budha (Mercury) was in Mīna-rāśi (Pisces) and Uttarabhādrapāda. The lagna was Siṁha.
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Renunciation Through Wisdom
Conversations and Morning Walks
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Guest: Yes. And if I can't understand what this is the end of the... So yes, it's the same. I think this is right.
Prabhupāda: God is fact. But if somebody cannot understand, it is his misfortune.
Guest: Yes. And another time, another place.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Guest: As you say, there are many oceans. The Christians say, "In my father's house are many mansions." A Chair. (indistinct) Good enough?
Prabhupāda: No, you can sit down.
Guest: This has come a long way from the Barrier Reef, the Pacific. These shells. The shells.
Prabhupāda: Oh yes.
Guest: From the Pacific. From the Barrier Reef, Australia. You know the Barrier Reef?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Guest: Yes, that's where they come from, the Barrier Reef.
Prabhupāda: I have seen the reef.
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Professor La Combe: Many times, yes.
Prabhupāda: Where did you stay generally?
Professor La Combe: In several places, but mainly in Calcutta. But in many other places too.
Prabhupāda: Calcutta where?
Professor La Combe: Park Mansions, Park St., near Asiatic Society.
Prabhupāda: Park St. Asiatic Society. Yes, I know that. It is just on the junction of Park St. and Chowringhee. Calcutta is my birthplace.
Professor La Combe: You were born in Calcutta.
Prabhupāda: Yes. All our former relatives, they are in Calcutta.
Professor La Combe: Even now.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Professor La Combe: I think the situation is better now in Calcutta, improving.
Prabhupāda: Yes, little better.
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Three castle?
Jesuit: Mm. In her book, Interior Mansions. But the real mystic prayer, well, is not given to everybody. Do you have... Do these men get trained in mystic prayer, contemplation?
Prabhupāda: Mystic prayer means to think of God's activities. So that is smaraṇam.
Jesuit: Smaraṇam. Not so much thinking of them as just being really in His presence and open to receive love and to be active. Do you know what I mean?
Prabhupāda: Well, but bhakti is activity. Bhakti is not passive. Active. Just like hearing. It is activity. Similarly glorifying, this is activity. Smaraṇam, remembering, memorizing, that is activity.
Jesuit: That is true. I see that. I think I sort of see a higher form of activity, where the senses really have taken over...
Prabhupāda: Sense means activity.
Jesuit: Intuition. Something higher than...
Prabhupāda: Sense, when you use your sense, just like śravaṇam, hearing. So you use your sense. So this is activity.
Prabhupāda: Prosperous. The business is slaughterhouse. All butchers. (laughs)
Brahmānanda: The butcher community.
Jagadīśa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, we were recently looking at a very big house in Detroit. It's a mansion. It's got much already onyx, marble. They say to build it again today would cost six million dollars. They are just asking for 350,000 dollars. It has...
Prabhupāda: Why?
Jagadīśa: Why? Because it's such a huge place and it's not in a very exclusive neighborhood. It's surrounded by a six foot high stone wall. It's on four acres of land. And in the room that...
Prabhupāda: Six million?
Jagadīśa: To rebuild it because of all the onyx, marble. There is $100,000 worth of gold leafing work throughout the house.
Brahmānanda: What was it used as?
Jagadīśa: It was the Fisher Mansion. Fisher, you know, "Body by Fisher." And the man was a little eccentric. It's a Moorish style.
Prabhupāda: Now it is not raining. We can go.
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Jayādvaita: To start this center, it was not at all like Vṛndāvana. (break)
Mādhavānanda: It's a channel, actually. It comes in from Lake St. Clair and then it goes around, and there's a bridge there, and just past, one hundred yards, it goes out again. All of this property is owned by one man. His name is Harris. He owns this whole island and all of the land up here also. And up this way there are also many large mansions. Fisher mansions. The same man who built this house built many other mansions up here. But this is the nicest.
Prabhupāda: Oh. What for he did it?
Mādhavānanda: His family members. And then on this island, at the very end, on the lake there is a very, very large mansion called the Garwood Mansion, but it was completely destroyed.
Prabhupāda: Why?
Mādhavānanda: Ah, this man Harris, he wanted to get all the people off of this land that he owned. So he let the hippies and Hell's Angels move into this Garwood Mansion, and they destroyed it. And they raised commotion and disturbance all along. He was trying to get them all to leave. He's a very strange person. Now he's trying to sell everything. They are thinking to make some housing complex. It's a very big business venture. That is why we want to buy this land in front, to protect this side of the house in case anyone else wants to build there.
Prabhupāda: They drink this water? No.
Jayatīrtha: Heavy place.
Prabhupāda: That house was constructed fifty years ago at the cost of six million dollars, and we have got it very cheap. Three hundred thousand dollars.
George Harrison: Was it a big house?
Hari-śauri: A very big mansion on the riverside.
George Harrison: Colonial house?
Prabhupāda: Not as big-four acres of land—but the building is very costly. One room will cost now three hundred thousand dollars. So nicely made.
Hari-śauri: They estimated it would cost about fifteen million to build such a house now.
George Harrison: Yes, they probably wouldn't even bother or be able to, at least. Is it an old house?
Hari-śauri: Fifty years old. It's very solid, though, very good condition as well.
Prabhupāda: And on the house on bottom, there is river. Not directly, but an offshoot of river. People come, rowing. A very nice situation, and because it is black quarter, nobody was purchasing. So I said that "For us, what is black or white? Purchase it." So we got very cheap. At that time I paid them hundred and fifty thousand, and (indistinct). So we purchased.
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Mount Abu between Jaipur and Delhi?
Guru dāsa: Between Jaipur and Ahmedabad.
Prabhupāda: Ahmedabad. Yes, yes.
Guru dāsa: It is a very high hill station, very clean air. And the house is sixty-three rooms. It's a mansion. And one hundred acres.
Prabhupāda: Hmm.
Guru dāsa: And full of trees and jasmine flowers.
Prabhupāda: It will make nice scenery.
Guru dāsa: Beautiful. Heavenly scenery.
Prabhupāda: Hm.
Guru dāsa: It's a little bit hard to get to, but there is no place like it. When you go to that...
Prabhupāda: How to go up there?
Guru dāsa: Well, Ahmedabad...
Prabhupāda: No, to...
Guru dāsa: There's car...
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Zig-zag road.
Prabhupāda: Zig-zag. How long it takes?
Guru dāsa: By car, from Ahmedabad, because you can take the plane to Ahmedabad.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Not much preaching there.
Prabhupāda: Is there any Deities?
Guru dāsa: No. Actually, my opinion is that it would be a great endeavor to take it, because the house needs also some repair. Although it is in good structural condition, it needs cleaning. But the only advantage is that there is no place left in Kali-yuga like it. Because it is such a beautiful mansion. And one hundred acres and a lake and in a hill, that's the advantage.
Prabhupāda: And what price does he want?
Guru dāsa: The price he didn't say yet. That we would have to negotiate.
Prabhupāda: Not only you, others also, you can see first of all. If we can utilize, otherwise...
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: How would we utilize such a thing?
Prabhupāda: That you consider. Otherwise, why you should unnecessarily...?
Guru dāsa: In other words, some other devotees should also...
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Put all the women there.
Prabhupāda: Where are so much women? (laughter)
Correspondence
1970 Correspondence
I have read over the presidential agenda and have noted the pertinence of all the items. Now let us see the results of the conference and the practical outcomes of the subjects under discussion. The list of 108 feast preparations is also approved by me. Thank you very much.
Regarding our new temple, continue your efforts to secure a suitable place and when Krishna desires we shall find out a nice place. Already you have got one prospect in this large mansion.
Yes, it is our only prayer that we are always asking the Lord for further opportunities of service. We do not care to ask for anything else, so this is our only prayer. Our life is service to Krishna and how we may serve Him more and more that is our only desire.
| Page Title: | Mansion |
| Compiler: | MadhuGopaldas, Mayapur |
| Created: | 13 of Apr, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=20, CC=1, OB=1, Lec=0, Con=8, Let=1 |
| No. of Quotes: | 31 |