SB 01.08.47 aha raja dharma-sutas... cited

Expressions researched:
"aha raja dharma-sutas" |"cintayan suhrdam vadham" |"prakrtenatmana viprah" |"sneha-moha-vasam gatah"

SB Canto 1

SB 1.8.47, Translation and Purport:

King Yudhiṣṭhira, son of Dharma, overwhelmed by the death of his friends, was aggrieved just like a common, materialistic man. O sages, thus deluded by affection, he began to speak.

King Yudhiṣṭhira, though he was not expected to become aggrieved like a common man, became deluded by worldly affection by the will of the Lord (just as Arjuna was apparently deluded). A man who sees knows well that the living entity is neither the body nor the mind, but is transcendental to the material conception of life. The common man thinks of violence and nonviolence in terms of the body, but that is a kind of delusion. Everyone is duty-bound according to one's occupational duties. A kṣatriya is bound to fight for the right cause, regardless of the opposite party. In such discharge of duty, one should not be disturbed by annihilation of the material body, which is only an external dress of the living soul. All this was perfectly known to Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, but by the will of the Lord he became just like a common man because there was another great idea behind this delusion: the King would be instructed by Bhīṣma as Arjuna was instructed by the Lord Himself.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.8.47 -- Los Angeles, May 9, 1973:

Pradyumna: (leads chanting, etc.)

āha rājā dharma-sutaś

cintayan suhṛdāṁ vadham

prākṛtenātmanā viprāḥ

sneha-moha-vaśaṁ gataḥ

(SB 1.8.47)

Translation: "King Yudhiṣṭhira, son of Dharma, overwhelmed by the death of his friends, was aggrieved just like a common, materialistic man. O sages, thus deluded by affection, he began to speak."

Prabhupāda: So when friends die, family members die, we talk of that we are not this body. Theo... Not theory; this is actually the fact. I say, you say, everyone says. At least, we have understood from Bhagavad-gītā, dehino 'smin yathā dehe (BG 2.13), the body is different from the soul. And it is also clearly said, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). After the destruction of the body, the soul is not destroyed. He remains. He gets another body. Arjuna was also consoled by Kṛṣṇa that "Why you are so much anxious about your grandfather? He will get another body, new body. What is the use of this old body?" So actually that is the fact. But still, why a man becomes aggrieved when the body is lost? That is explained here, that sneha-moha, illusion of affection. Actually, there is nothing to be aggrieved. Tathā dehāntara-prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati (BG 2.13). Dhīra, those who are sober, they are not bewildered. Sober man knows that "My, this relative, my father or my brother, my grandfather, his death means he is changing this body. He is going to another body. He is not dead."

Lecture on SB 1.8.47 -- Mayapura, October 27, 1974:

Pradyumna: Translation: "King Yudhiṣṭhira, son of Dharma, overwhelmed by the death of his friends, was aggrieved just like a common, materialistic man. O sages, thus deluded by affection, he began to speak."

Prabhupāda:

āha rājā dharma-sutaś

cintayan suhṛdāṁ vadham

prākṛtenātmanā viprāḥ

sneha-moha-vaśaṁ gataḥ

(SB 1.8.47)

Sneha, love, affection, and moha, illusion. So, prākṛtena. Prākṛtena means on the bodily conception of life. Actually, sneha is different. There are affection in different stages. This morning I was reading the statement of a fisherman who caught Caitanya Mahāprabhu in His trance, and by touching Caitanya Mahāprabhu he became spiritually ecstatic, but he thought that he has become ghostly haunted: "Here is a ghost." And he was thinking, "I am ghostly haunted, so if I become mad, who will take care of my wife and children?" This is the position. The fisherman was actually, spiritually, by the grace of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, simply by touching Him, he was so much spiritually advanced that he was chanting, dancing, crying—means all the symptoms of spiritual ecstatic transformation was visible in his body—but he thought that he had gone mad on account of touching the body, ghost. He was thinking like that. And the man thinking was that "If I become mad like this, then who will take care of my wife and children?"

Lecture on SB 1.8.47 -- Mayapura, October 27, 1974:

Therefore it is said, prākṛtena ātmanā. Prākṛtena, by worldly relationship, prākṛtena ātmanā viprāḥ sneha-moha-vaśaṁ gataḥ. Sneha, affection; moha, illusion. Just like Arjuna, the same thing: out of affection he was denying. He was denying, "No, no, Kṛṣṇa, I shall not fight. There, on the other side, there are my brothers, my nephews, my grandfather, and my teacher, Droṇācārya, all my object of affection and obeisances, and I will have to kill them. You are inducing me. No, no, don't do it." That is prākṛtena. He did not know the spiritual necessities. Sometimes we take sannyāsa. I have seen. One of our Godbrother, big Godbrother, he took sannyāsa. So his son was crying, and he was also crying. Then, if you have got affection for your family, society, then why you are taking sannyāsa? That is prākṛtena. We should not be carried away by this material affection, no. That is not good. You must do your duty. That is the instruction of Bhagavad-gītā, that "Arjuna, you are being carried away by your material affection, and you are hesitating to execute your duty. This is not good." Anārya-juṣṭam: "This is befitting for the anārya, non-Āryan." Non-Āryan means not civilized, and Āryan means civilized. This is the distinction. Now people are very much fond of calling themselves as civilized, Āryan, belonging to the Āryan family. Where is the Āryan civilization? Āryan civilization means this Vedic civilization. Just like Arjuna, a kṣatriya, belonged to the Āryan civilization, and because he was denying to fight, Kṛṣṇa accused him, "Oh, this is just like non-Āryans." Anārya-juṣṭam, non-Āryans

Lecture on SB 1.8.47 -- Mayapura, October 27, 1974:

So Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja was thinking—it is natural—that on account of his position, to become the emperor of the world, suhṛdāṁ vadham, so many friends have been killed. Āha rājā dharma-sutaś cintayan suhṛdāṁ vadham. This is natural. But duty is duty. When Kṛṣṇa says that, as He did to Arjuna, that "You must fight. You must kill them," that is duty. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness—no consideration of my affection. That is duty, and Arjuna did it. This is the duty of the devotee. Ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā (CC Madhya 19.167). First-class devotion is to serve Kṛṣṇa just to please Him. If He is pleased, if He says that "You kill your son," then we should be prepared to do that. That is called vairāgya-vidyā. Of course, never Kṛṣṇa says like that, but actually, in the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra, Arjuna was ordered, if not the son but the nephew. But his sons were also killed. So this is duty. So many people inquire, "Kṛṣṇa was inducing people to fight." But this fight by the order of Kṛṣṇa and the fight or war declared for the satisfaction of the politicians, they are not the same. We must always remember. They are not the same.