Hare Krishna. Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva.
The incidents narrated in Srimad Bhagavatam are very practical and the lessons even though at times very tough and harsh to hear, if practiced will give so much peace and solace in our lives.
We always like soft dealings in our material way of life. We want people around us to treat us nicely, talk to us sweetly etc etc. Right from the childhood when the child comes crying to the mother after a fight with its friend, the mother immediately consoles him, assuming by default that her child is always right and goes on to complain to the mother of the other child that she should correct her child's behavior. This way, right from childhood the children are always trained to think that they are right even if they are actually wrong. As a result the children assume that they can never go wrong and build a false notion about themselves. As they grow, the world shows its cruel face and the child is faced with challenges and psychically get affected. These days when the children do some mistake, it is so difficult to get the word 'sorry' out of their mouth. Even in such young age they think uttering the word 'sorry' is a big loss of prestige for them.
However in Bhagavatam we see the ideal teachings in the pastime of Dhruva Maharaj. When Dhruva Maharaj went to get on to the lap of his father alongside his brother Uttama, he was dealt with the harshest of words by his step mother Suruci. Dhruva Maharaj comes crying to his mother looking for consolation but to his surprise and to all our surprise, Suniti tells him that everything his step mother said even though harsh to hear, are actually correct. Not only that, she infact tells Dhruva Maharaj to give up the envious attitude towards his step brother. She says in SB 4.8.19:
aatishta tat taata vimatsaras tvam
uktam samaatraapi yad avyalikam
aaraadhayaadhokshaja paada padmam
yadicchase 'dhyaasanam uttamo yathaa
"My dear boy, whatever has been spoken by Suruci, your stepmother, although very harsh to hear, is factual. Therefore, if you desire at all to sit on the same throne as your stepbrother, Uttama, then give up your envious attitude and immediately try to execute the instructions of your stepmother. Without further delay, you must engage yourself in worshiping the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead."
This is an astonishing statement by Suniti. Everyone of us will agree that there is nothing wrong with Dhruva, a small innocent child trying to get onto the lap of his father. Why is she telling him that he should not be envious? Why is Suniti so harsh upon her own son? Is desiring for anything in this world means we are envious? No. Desiring for anything does not mean that we are envious, but desiring for something 'because another person posesses it' will make us envious. Whenever and wherever there is competition there is always the concomitant factors - pride and envy. If I achieve something, then I am proud of my own achievement and if I cannot achieve it then I become envious of the one who achieved it. Here Suruci was definitely proud of her closeness with the king and that led to her speaking harsh words to Dhruva. Whereas Dhruva, not able to receive the same treatment as Uttama, was very disturbed and somehow or other wanted to obtain that. Here is where Suniti, as a perfect mother teaches us the perfect Bhagavatam way. She was pretty straight-forward with Dhruva. Infact she tells that the words spoken by Suruci are avyalikam - without any duplicity or diplomacy, and there is truth in it. Whatever harsh words Suruci might have spoken, but she spoke the eternal truth that if you want to achieve anything you should worship adhokshaja, Lord Sri Krishna. So just follow that and forget the rest. This is the Bhagavatam way - taking only good from everywhere.
So from Suniti advice and behavior we can learn at least 3 lessons:
1. Even if others speak harshly with us, let us take the good lessons from that and forget about the rest of the thing. No counteraction is the best counteraction.
2. Don't try to achieve something because others have achieved it. Achieve it, if it will be helpful in our devotional service and if it will please Krishna. Otherwise it is a symptom of envy.
3. Always show the way to Krishna to our children whenever they are in trouble.
We will conclude with an extremely beautiful and moral boosting statement by Srila Prabhupada in his purport to SB 4.8.22 wherein he sums up the advice of Suniti to her son Dhruva: [She (Suniti) said, "You came to me crying, having been insulted by your stepmother, but I am unable to do any good for you. But Krishna is so kind to His devotees that if you go to Him, then the combined kindness of millions of mothers like me will be surpassed by His affectionate and tender dealings. When everyone else fails to mitigate one's misery, Krishna is able to help the devotee."]
Srila Prabhupada wrote these purports almost half-a-century ago and even now they are like the light-house showing the way to perfect devotional service. They give so much courage! Let us pray to His Divine Grace to shower his mercy upon us so that we will mould our life in the Bhagavatam way as he taught us.
Thank you very much.
Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva,
Kalacakra Krsna das
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