SB 01.03.13 astame merudevyam tu... cited

Expressions researched:
"astame merudevyam tu" |"darsayan vartma dhiranam" |"nabher jata urukramah" |"sarvasrama-namaskrtam"

SB Canto 1

SB 1.3.13, Translation and Purport:

The eighth incarnation was King Ṛṣabha, son of King Nābhi and his wife Merudevī. In this incarnation the Lord showed the path of perfection, which is followed by those who have fully controlled their senses and who are honored by all orders of life.

The society of human being is naturally divided into eight by orders and statuses of life—the four divisions of occupation and four divisions of cultural advancement. The intelligent class, the administrative class, the productive class and the laborer class are the four divisions of occupation. And the student life, the householder's life, retired life and renounced life are the four statuses of cultural advancement towards the path of spiritual realization. Out of these, the renounced order of life, or the order of sannyāsa, is considered the highest of all, and a sannyāsī is constitutionally the spiritual master for all the orders and divisions. In the sannyāsa order also there are four stages of upliftment toward perfection. These stages are called kuṭīcaka, bahūdaka, parivrājakācārya, and paramahaṁsa. The paramahaṁsa stage of life is the highest stage of perfection. This order of life is respected by all others. Mahārāja Ṛṣabha, the son of King Nābhi and Merudevī, was an incarnation of the Lord, and He instructed His sons to follow the path of perfection by tapasya, which sanctifies one's existence and enables one to attain the stage of spiritual happiness which is eternal and ever increasing. Every living being is searching after happiness, but no one knows where eternal and unlimited happiness is obtainable. Foolish men seek after material sense pleasure as a substitute for real happiness, but such foolish men forget that temporary so-called happiness derived from sense pleasures is also enjoyed by the dogs and hogs. No animal, bird or beast is bereft of this sense pleasure. In every species of life, including the human form of life, such happiness is immensely obtainable. The human form of life, however, is not meant for such cheap happiness. The human life is meant for attaining eternal and unlimited happiness by spiritual realization. This spiritual realization is obtained by tapasya, or undergoing voluntarily the path of penance and abstinence from material pleasure. Those who have been trained for abstinence in material pleasures are called dhīra, or men undisturbed by the senses. Only these dhīras can accept the orders of sannyāsa, and they can gradually rise to the status of the paramahaṁsa, which is adored by all members of society. King Ṛṣabha propagated this mission, and at the last stage He became completely aloof from the material bodily needs, which is a rare stage not to be imitated by foolish men, but to be worshiped by all.

SB Canto 5

SB 5.26.40, Purport:

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta purports of the Fifth Canto, Twenty-sixth Chapter, of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, entitled "A Description of the Hellish Planets."

There is a supplementary note written by His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Mahārāja Prabhupāda in his Gauḍīya-bhāṣya. Its translation is as follows. Learned scholars who have full knowledge of all the Vedic scriptures agree that the incarnations of the Supreme Personality of Godhead are innumerable. These incarnations are classified into two divisions, called prābhava and vaibhava. According to the scriptures, prābhava incarnations are also classified in two divisions—those which are called eternal and those which are not vividly described. In this Fifth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, in Chapters Three through Six, there is a description of Ṛṣabhadeva, but there is not an expanded description of His spiritual activities. Therefore He is considered to belong to the second group of prābhava incarnations. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, First Canto, Chapter Three, verse 13. it is said:

aṣṭame merudevyāṁ tu

nābher jāta urukramaḥ

darśayan vartma dhīrāṇāṁ

sarvāśrama-namaskṛtam

"Lord Viṣṇu appeared in the eighth incarnation as the son of Mahārāja Nābhi (the son of Āgnīdhra) and his wife Merudevī. He showed the path of perfection, the paramahaṁsa stage of life, which is worshiped by all the followers of varṇāśrama-dharma. "Ṛṣabhadeva is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and His body is spiritual (sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1)). Therefore one might ask how it might be possible that he passed stool and urine. The Gauḍīya vedānta ācārya Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa has replied to this question in his book known as Siddhānta-ratna (First Portion, texts 65-68). Imperfect men call attention to Ṛṣabhadeva's passing stool and urine as a subject matter for the study of nondevotees, who do not understand the spiritual position of a transcendental body. In this Fifth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (5.6.11) the illusioned and bewildered state of the materialists of this age is fully described. Elsewhere in Fifth Canto (5.5.19) Ṛṣabhadeva stated, idaṁ śarīram mama durvibhāvyam: "This body of Mine is inconceivable for materialists." This is also confirmed by Lord Kṛṣṇa in Bhagavad-gītā (9.11):

avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā

mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam

paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto

mama bhūta-maheśvaram

"Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form. They do not know My transcendental nature and My supreme dominion over all that be." The human form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is extremely difficult to understand, and, in fact, for a common man it is inconceivable. Therefore Ṛṣabhadeva has directly explained that His own body belongs to the spiritual platform. This being so. Ṛṣabhadeva did not actually pass stool and urine. Even though He superficially seemed to pass stool and urine, that was also transcendental and cannot be imitated by any common man. It is also stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that the stool and urine of Ṛṣabhadeva were full of transcendental fragrance. One may imitate Ṛṣabhadeva, but he cannot imitate Him by passing stool that is fragrant.

The activities of Ṛṣabhadeva, therefore, do not support the claims of a certain class of men known as arhat, who sometimes advertise that they are followers of Ṛṣabhadeva. How can they be followers of Ṛṣabhadeva while they act against the Vedic principles? Śukadeva Gosvāmī has related that after hearing about the characteristics of Lord Ṛṣabhadeva, the King of Koṅka, Veṅka and Kuṭaka initiated a system of religious principles known as arhat. These principles were not in accord with Vedic principles, and therefore they are called pāṣaṇḍa-dharma. The members of the arhat community considered Ṛṣabhadeva's activities material. However, Ṛṣabhadeva is an incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore He is on the transcendental platform, and no one can compare to Him.

Ṛṣabhadeva personally exhibited the activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (5.6.8), dāvānalas tad vanam ālelihānaḥ saha tena dadāha: at the conclusion of Ṛṣabhadeva's pastimes, an entire forest and the Lord's body were burned to ashes in a great forest fire. In the same way, Ṛṣabhadeva burned people's ignorance to ashes. He exhibited the characteristics of a paramahaṁsa in His instructions to His sons. The principles of the arhat community, however, do not correspond to the teachings of Ṛṣabhadeva.

Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa remarks that in the Eighth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam there is another description of Ṛṣabhadeva, but that Ṛṣabhadeva is different from the one described in this canto.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.3.13 -- Los Angeles, September 18, 1972:

Pradyumna: (leads chanting, etc.)

aṣṭame merudevyāṁ tu

nābher jāta urukramaḥ

darśayan vartma dhīrāṇāṁ

sarvāśrama-namaskṛtam

(SB 1.3.13)

Translation: "The eighth incarnation was King Ṛṣabha, son of King Nābhi and his wife Merudevī. In this incarnation the Lord showed the path of perfection, which is followed by those who have fully controlled their senses and who are honored by all orders of life."

Prabhupāda: So there are some important words in this verse. The first thing is dhīrāṇām. Dhīrāṇām mean sober, gentle. There are two ways, because there are two kinds of people in this world. One is called dhīra, and the other is called adhīra. Adhīra means almost animal. They cannot control their senses. The dhīra, one who can control sense. He is called dhīra. In the Rūpa Gosvāmī's obeisances we find, kṛṣṇotkīrtana-gāna-nartana-parau premāmṛtāmbho-nidhī dhīrādhīra-jana-priyau priya-karau. Kṛṣṇotkīrtana, the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is appreciable by the both classes, dhīra and adhīra. Those who are advanced by austerities, controlling the senses, and those who are not so, very fallen, both of them, Dhīrādhīra-jana-priyau priya-karau nirmatsarau.

Another example of dhīra is there in Kumāra Sambhava. Kumāra Sambhava is a Sanskrit book, which I think we read in our college I.A. class, by Kālidāsa, poet Kālidāsa. So this theme of that book is that the demigods, they wanted to fight with the demons, and it was necessary that a son should be begotten by Lord Śiva. So Lord Śiva at that time lost his wife in the dakṣa-yajña. She gave up his (her) life. There was some misunderstanding between Mahārāja Dakṣa, father of Pārvatī, or Durgā. So she gave up her life because her father was against Lord Śiva. He was repudiating Lord Śiva, and she could not tolerate that "My father, you are so proud that you are blaspheming Lord Śiva because you think I am your daughter and your son-in-law is subordinate. So I am returning this body to you." So (s)he immediately gave up her body. So Lord Śiva, having lost his wife, he was on the Himalayas executing severe tapasya. So the demigods, they planned to break the tapasya meditation of Lord Śiva by sending Pārvatī, daughter of Himalaya. Lord Śiva's wife then took birth as daughter of Himalaya. So when she was young, grown-up, sixteen years old, so she was engaged to break the meditation of Lord Śiva. So Lord Śiva was in meditation, naked, and Pārvatī was induced to worship Lord Śiva and touch the genital. But Lord Śiva still was undisturbed. So at that time, Kālidāsa Kavi, that "Here is the example of dhīra. He is so much absorbed in meditation that a young girl, touching the genital, still, he is undisturbed. He is so self-controlled."

So this is dhīra. Dhīra means even there is cause of disturbance he will not be disturbed. That is dhīra. And one who is disturbed by the slight agitation, he is not dhīra. He is adhīra. So mostly, people are adhīra. They are agitated by a slight disturbance, because they have not been trained in such a way. Otherwise... Just like Kṛṣṇa. When Kṛṣṇa was being elected as president in the rājasūya-yajña assembly of Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, so somebody remarked that "This man..." Because those who were blind, they would see Kṛṣṇa as ordinary man... So "He is woman-hunter from the very beginning. So how He can be elected?" So at that time Bhīṣma, the most celebrated brahmacārī... He never accepted any wife or he had no connection with any woman. He immediately stood up. He said that "I am celebrated throughout the whole world as brahmacārī, but if I would have been in the position of Kṛṣṇa... He was dancing with young girls, but He was not agitated. But I would have been agitated. I admit. Therefore He is dhīra. He should be elected."

You'll find rāsa-līlā, Kṛṣṇa was dancing with so many young girls, but you won't find there was any sex relation. There was nothing like that. So that is dhīra. They were devotees, gopīs. They used to come to Kṛṣṇa. But there is no such thing written, as pregnancy and abortion. No, nothing of the sort. That is called dhīra, that in spite of presence of the cause of disturbance... The gopīs came to Kṛṣṇa because He was very beautiful young boy. Actually they were attracted by His beauty. That is stated, kāmāt. They came as a lust. But when they came to Kṛṣṇa, they became purified. That is dhīra. Kṛṣṇa was kind enough. The gopīs, they wanted Kṛṣṇa, to associate with Him. So Kṛṣṇa gave them chance, "Yes, come on." The gopīs wanted Kṛṣṇa as husband. They made tapasya, austerity, to have Kṛṣṇa as husband. But at that time Kṛṣṇa was... The gopīs and Kṛṣṇa were of the same age. Just like boys and girls play together. But girls become at the age of twelve, thirteen years, their sex desires become strong. But boys, they do not become sex desire so strong, unless they are badly associated. So neither it was possible that Kṛṣṇa would marry so many girlfriends. But they wanted Kṛṣṇa as husband, all of them. Therefore Kṛṣṇa fulfilled their desire in the vastra-haraṇa. Because a woman can become naked only before husband. That is Vedic. So Kṛṣṇa somehow or other made them naked so that... He declared that "You wanted Me as husband. So much, that's all." So people misunderstand Kṛṣṇa. Unless understood through authoritative sources, Kṛṣṇa is misunderstood. But He is the dhīra. He is not adhīra. He is not like ordinary man. Dhīra.

So here it is said that urukramaḥ. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is described here as urukrama. Urukrama means one who acts very wonderful things which is not possible for ordinary human being. So He wanted to show the real path of life. Mahārāja Ṛṣabhadeva, He was king, emperor of the world. So His instruction are there in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. (tapping sound) He instructed... (aside:) What is this sound? He instructed His sons, "My dear boys, this human form of life is not meant for sense enjoyment, which is available in the life of dogs and hogs." It was His instruction. He instructed that human society should be dhīra, self-controlled. That is ideal human society. That is Vedic civilization.

Here it is also stated, sarvāśrama-namaskṛtam. Āśrama. Sarva-āśrama. Āśrama. I have several times described that the brahmacārī-āśrama, gṛhastha-āśrama, vānaprastha-āśrama, sannyāsa-āśrama. Sarvāśrama, all orders of life. Varṇāśrama. The Vedic civilization is based on four varṇas: brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra; and four āśramas: brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, and sannyāsa. So Lord Ṛṣabhadeva planned in such a way to teach His sons—He had one hundred sons—that it will be honored by all the āśramas. Out of His one hundred sons, nine became sannyāsī. Nava Yogendra, very highly elevated spiritually, nine sons. And eighty-one sons... Out of hundred, nine gone, ninety-one sons? So out of them, eleven became kṣatriyas, and others became brāhmaṇas, like that. So this proves that not that by birth one becomes brāhmaṇa or kṣatriya or vaiśya or śūdra, but it is by different qualification. Otherwise how Ṛṣabhadeva's son... He was kṣatriya, supposed to be kṣatriya. So His sons are also kṣatriya. How they became brāhmaṇa? No. That was the Vedic culture. Janmanā jāyate śūdraḥ. As soon as one is born, he is accepted as śūdra. Neither brāhmaṇa nor kṣatriya nor... Raw. By training, either he becomes a brāhmaṇa or a kṣatriya.

Just like a man has got several sons, but all of them, in the beginning, they are illiterate. Now, in their grown-up age, by accepting different departmental knowledge, one becomes a medical practitioner, one becomes engineer, one becomes lawyer, or one becomes vagabond. So not by birth, one becomes engineer or medical man or this or... No. Everything by culture, by education. Similarly, the Vedic culture means everyone is given the chance to become first-class brāhmaṇa. That is called brahminical culture. Everyone is given. Because without becoming a brāhmaṇa, nobody can understand what is God. And the human life is meant for understanding God. That is the only business of human form of life. Not like cats and dogs—how to eat, how to sleep, how to have sexual intercourse, and how to defend. These the animals know. The birds, bees, they know how to do it.

Lecture on SB 1.3.13 -- Los Angeles, September 18, 1972:

So senses are so strong. Balavān indriya-grāmaḥ. It is prohibited. What to speak of others. Therefore, the common moral teachings and the Vedic civilization is to accept any woman except his own wife as mother. Mātṛvat para-dāreṣu. Para-dāreṣu. Everyone is supposed to be married. Dāra means wife. Para-dāreṣu, other's wife. It doesn't matter if she is younger or older, but she should be treated as mother. Therefore it is the system in Vedic culture, as soon as one sees another woman, she (he) addresses her, "mother," Mātājī. Immediately, "mother." That makes the relationship. The woman treats the unknown man as son, and the unknown man treats the unknown woman as mother. This is Vedic civilization. So we should be very careful. In our society, you are all Godbrothers, Godsisters. Or those who are married, they are like mothers. So you should be very careful. Then you will remain dhīra, sober. That is brahminical qualification, brahminical culture. Not that "Because I have got facilities to intermingle with nice girls, so I shall take advantage and exploit them." Or the girls should take... No. Therefore our restriction: no illicit sex.

One has to become dhīra. Then the question of God consciousness. Animals cannot have God consciousness. Therefore it is specially mentioned dhīrāṇām. Vartma. The path which He showed, that is meant for the dhīra, not for the adhīra. Dhīrāṇām. And it is so nice that sarvāśrama-namaskṛtam. All āśramas will appreciate and offer obeisances. All āśrama means brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, and sannyāsa. So dealing with woman... Especially instruction are given to men. All literatures, all Vedic literatures, they are especially meant for instruction to the men. Woman is to follow the husband. That's all. The husband will give instruction to the wife. There is no such thing as the girl should go to school to take brahmacārī-āśrama or go to spiritual master to take instruction. That is not Vedic system. Vedic system is a man is fully instructed, and woman, girl, must be married to a man. Even the man may have many wives, polygamy, still, every woman should be married. And she would get instruction from the husband. This is Vedic system. Woman is not allowed to go to school, college, or to the spiritual master. But husband and wife, they can be initiated. That is Vedic system.

So dhīrāṇāṁ vartma. Because people must be first of all gentle. Then talk of Kṛṣṇa and God consciousness. If he is animal, what he can understand? This is Vedic system. Dhīrāṇām. Dhīra means must be gentle, perfectly gentle. Must address all woman as "mother." Mātṛvat para-dāreṣu para-dravyeṣu loṣṭravat. This is the training, that one should consider other's wife as mother, and others' money as like garbage in the street. Nobody cares for it. Similarly, one's other's money should not be touched. Even it is somebody has forgotten his purse, moneybag on the street, nobody will touch it. Let the man come back and take it. That is civilization. Para-dravyeṣu loṣṭravat, ātmavat sarva-bhūteṣu. And treating all other living entities as oneself. If somebody pinches me, I feel pain. Why shall I pinch other? If somebody cuts my throat, I become so sorry or so aggrieved. Why shall I cut the throat of other animals? This is civilization. This is Vedic civilization. And not that go on killing animals like anything and hunt upon the woman, topless woman, make business. This is not civilization. This is not human civilization.

Therefore it is called dhīrāṇām. Those who are sober, for them. Those who are rascals, not for them. The brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha sarvāśrama, āśrama, this is meant for the gentle class, not for the rascals. First of all, training period as brahmacārī. This brahmacārī, he is taught. He is taught to address all women as "mother." The brahmacārī goes to collect alms from door to door. Small boys. So how do they address? "Mother, kindly give us some alms." So immediately the household wife should come and give them. They will collect like that, for spiritual master. So if a boy is taught... Just like our these children are being taught chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. They are chanting. They cannot forget throughout life. Similarly, if a brahmacārī is taught from childhood, from boyhood address all woman as "mother," he cannot see otherwise. "S(he) is my mother." I remember, it is an example. Long ago, say, in 1925, long ago, so we were in a cinema house. So my eldest son, as soon as he would see one woman in the picture, "Here is another mother! Here is another mother!" (laughter) he would cry. Because a small child, he does not know any woman except mother. He knows everyone as "my mother." So if we train from the childhood that "You should treat all woman as mother," then where is the question of anomalies? No. There is no question.