H.G. Rohini Priya Prabhu – 31/03/09 – SB 6.14.21-22 – Bhaktivedanta Manor
Text 21: atmanah priyate natma… Angira Rsi “It seems you have not achieved your desired goal”
Text 22: Citraketu bent his head down in humility and spoke to the sage.
Purport: The face is the index of the mind. A saintly person can study the face and understand the contents of the person’s mind.
Class (paraphrased):
I grew up in India and the general concept we had about saintly people was that they are very grave – this is called the “santi santi santi” concept. But when I came to Krishna consciousness and studied Prabhupada’s books I realized that the great souls express their emotions in a variety of ways. Angira Rsi is a great sage who has performed much tapas (austerity) in the forest, but upon understanding Citraketu’s mind, he doesn’t ask him to join him in the forest.
Rather he is sensitive to what Citraketu’s needs are at the moment in time. In other words he has sensitivity. In India we generally think of a saintly person as a grave baba sitting in the forest with crossed legs and the more insensitive he is, the more he is regarded as saintly. But we see that great souls like Angira try to empathize with the situation of others. This is the real way the practice of religion should be understood.
Krishna says in Bhagavad-gita that the greatest of all yogis is he who meditates on Me, (BG 6.47) mad-gaten-antaratmana – he is always situated in Me. Sraddhavan – With faith he engages in devotional service. Prabhupada states that the greatest of all yogis are the devotees. The impersonalist philosopher sees a devotee engaging in acts which they categorize as materialism. But actually those who sit and perform mauna-vrata, a vow of silence, they only care about their own prosperity.
The greatest of yogis however engages in bhajana (devotional service). I remember reading that the sanatana living entity engages in sanatana activity in the sanatana sky and this is what constitutes sanatana dharma. So there are so many clauses. Vedic psychology is different from modern psychology. Modern psychology focuses on looking at the past – what happened in the past which is blocking you now? This is of course definitely helpful and true in one sense.
But Vedic psychology gives some slight hint towards eternal happiness, without which one can never be truly happy. Angira Rsi is actually a good psychologist. After understanding King Citraketu’s mind, he proposes some means by which the King can offer his views in response. He shows his empathy, he says “Your pale face reveals some anxiety” He asks a very leading question and assures him that “I’m there to render a helping hand.”
So Prabhupada says in this purport that the face is the index of the mind. Just as the cover of a book suggests the contents of the book, so the face indicates the contents of the mind. Srimad Bhagavatam contains various instances where this analysis has been done by various saintly persons at different times. How can a person read another’s face and understand his mind? In IT industry, there is a glove with computer chips inside called a data glove and the data glove indicates the activities of the hand. Similarly, the face is like a data glove indicating the activities of the mind.
In Bhagavatam 4th Canto, Maharaja Uttanapada, the son of Svayambhuva Manu, is sitting on his throne with his youngest son, Uttama, on his lap. Dhruva, another of Uttanapada’s sons, expresses his desire to also sit on the lap of his father, but he is rebuked by the mother of Uttama. She rebukes him in harsh words: “You have to be born from my womb to sit on the lap of the king. If you act piously in this life, then in your next birth you can be born from my womb.”
There are many cases where this kind of understanding based on the philosophy of the soul is given in Srimad Bhagavatam. People can misuse the Vedic philosophy for their own means. “Don’t worry, the soul is eternal, so you can sit on your father’s lap in your next life! Only those born from my womb can sit on the throne.” So Dhruva although he is only five years old, and you expect him to be attached to playthings, he felt extremely grief-stricken at his stepmother’s comments.
With tears of anger and pain, and in broken words he explains to his mother what happened. Sukadeva Maharaja then describes wonderfully how the face is the index of the mind, he describes that when Dhruva’s mother, Suniti, hears his comments, her face which is like a beautiful lotus, just withers away. But Sunitidevi is a very, very great lady. She controls her emotions and in a jubilant mood says “Actually, your stepmother is correct. You have to be born from her womb if you want to sit on the throne. If you want to achieve any desire, you have to worship Narayana, so you worship Narayana.”
Akama sarva kamo va, moksa kama udara dhih… A very intelligent, broadminded person always worships the Supreme Personality of Godhead whether he has desires or not. My main point is that the saintly Sukadeva Maharaja analyses the face of Sunitidevi wonderfully “Her lotus-like face withered away.”
A similar thing has been expressed by Sukadeva Maharaja elsewhere in the tenth canto of Srimad Bhagavatam. The kingdom of Vidarbha is ruled by King Bhismaka. His eldest son was very prominent, of the name Rukmi. His daughter was Rukmini. The tenth canto explains the physical features of Rukmini, the princess of Vidarbha, indicating that she had come of age and was ready to get married. Although many powerful, great warriors wanted Rukmini in marriage, Bhismaka in his mind wanted that the suitor for Rukmini should be Krishna, the prince of Dvaraka.
But Rukmi had other ideas. He was the friend of Sisupala. Now Sisupala is hate for Krishna personified. So much so, that the first words he uttered were “enemy Krishna”! In fact he first said the word “enemy” because if he had said Krishna first he might have been purified! Right from birth he had envy for Krishna. He saw Krishna as his lower cousin. He considered “Krishna is so lowborn, that He didn’t even have the facility of being raised in the palace by His father.
“Rather, He has been raised in the cowherd villages, and His name-giving ceremony was performed in a Goshalla!” Maybe we should perform the name-giving ceremonies in our Goshalla here! That way we would be following in the footsteps of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. For Sisupala didn’t even speak of this cousin, poor cousin. The more Krishna’s glories spread, the more Sisupala became envious and would think “I’m better than Him. In fact, I have insulted Him so many times, yet He calls Himself a ksatriya, but He doesn’t even have the courage to defend Himself. Rather He just tolerates all my insults.” So that was the kind of nourishment Sisupala grew up with and by association, Rukmi had a similar mentality.
One day Bhismaka is taking counsel from his ministers. He says “We must be very, very careful to find the best husband for Rukmini. I think the best would be Krishna the Prince of Dvaraka.” Upon hearing this everyone is saying “Haribol!” or whatever they say “Jaya! This is a very good choice.” But Rukmi could not tolerate this, he said “No, the son of Damaghosa, Sisupala, shall get her hand in marriage.”
Bhismaka had no idea that Krishna’s glories had spread even to his daughter Rukmini, and she had already accepted Krishna as her husband in her mind. When she was told “You have been chosen to be the bride of Sisupala” she was devastated. She thought “How can my father do this to me?” But then Rukmini was a princess, and she knew the ways of diplomacy of kings.
She asked a brahmana “Kindly can you carry a letter for me to Dvaraka? Can you deliver this letter to Krishna? You are a brahmana, a storehouse of compassion, can you do this for me without delay?” Now Krishna is namo brahmanya devaya, the brahmanas are very dear to Him and He is very dear to the brahmanas. So the brahmana was immediately ready to go and see Krishna. Of course, the brahmanas constantly meditate on Krishna within their hearts, but to get saksat-darsana of Krishna is very attractive.
So the brahmana walks as fast as he can day and night and approaches the palace of Krishna in Dvaraka. Krishna knows that the brahmana is coming, and in order to welcome him, He runs out of His palace, His upper cloth falling down, but He doesn’t care because a brahmana has come. He welcomes the brahmana and then asks the brahmana to first take rest because he has been walking for such a long time.
The nature of a brahmana is very interesting. They do lots of austerity but activities in the material world naturally make them very tired. Krishna knew that this brahmana was feeling like this, so He insisted that the brahmana take rest. The brahmana then took rest for a few moments and then got up. He immediately went to Krishna and said “I have this very important letter for you from the Princess of Vidarbha, Rukmini.”
Krishna said “Oh, I get plenty of fanmail!” But the brahmana insisted “She begged of me that I personally hand this letter to You.” So Krishna read the letter and realized this was an invitation to kidnap her. Krishna was thinking, “I’ve already finished killing Kamsa, my maternal uncle, and now I am expected to kidnap a princess? What will the tabloids say?!” But because the letter had been worded with so much love and emotion, He immediately called for Daruka to get everything ready so He could go to Vidarbha.
Krishna was trying to make the horses stand up but their legs are very thin, so somehow, by speaking very sweet words in their ears, He cajoles them into standing up. These very beautiful white horses seem so weak, but once they start running they fly like the wind. Appearances are sometimes deceptive and the descriptions are there that their legs are very thin. But in one night, Krishna covers thousands of miles from Dvaraka to Vidarbha. Krishna says to Daruka, “There’s this one girl that’s calling Me, so everything is in your hands” So Daruka is trying his very best to take Krishna as fast as he can.
Meanwhile in the palace of King Bhismaka, Rukmini is in great anxiety, thinking “Why isn’t Krishna coming?” Just like the devotees sometimes feel great anxiety when the curtains haven’t opened! So she’s having fever, her breath is hot, her beautiful face is going red, she’s pacing up and down and her hands are sweating. She keeps asking her girlfriends, “Do you hear anything? Is the brahmana coming?”
At this point the dawn is slowly coming in. Generally in India it is a custom that the girl worships Goddess Durga before marriage, because Durga has the best of all hubsbands, Lord Siva, who is the best of all Vaisnavas. All girls want the best Vaisnavas as their husband. So she went to the temple of Durga and was constantly thinking “Why isn’t Krishna here? Krishna is bhakta-vatsala. Before a devotee can even say ‘Krishna please come’, Krishna is already here. So there is no fault in Krishna. Maybe there is some fault in me.” So she is going in front of Durga and in her heart praying that Krishna will come.
She thinks of various causes that could be there. “Durbhagaya vidhata - maybe the creator Brahma is not happy with me, so he has created obstacles to stop Krishna from coming? But then maybe Brahma is not concerned, why would he be concerned with an insignificant living entity like me? So maybe Siva is not please with me. But Lord Siva is such a great personality, he is Mahesvara. What has such a great personality got to do with me?
“Maybe Krishna has not come because Gauri (Durga) is not happy with me? Why isn’t Gauri pleased with me? Generally one has to worship Gauri very nicely to get her mercy. Maybe I should be much better with my prayers. Durga is also known as Rudrani, which means she makes people cry, so maybe she wants me to cry, so that’s why she’s stopping Krishna from coming. Her name is Girija, because she is born of a mountain, not of a natural father. I am born of a natural father. Maybe she hates anyone who has a natural father and thus she is not happy with me. Her name is Sati, because she gave up her body, maybe she also wants me to give up my body waiting for Krishna.”
While Rukmini is praying like this, Krishna has in the meantime come to the outskirts of Vidarbha with Daruka. All the famous personalities who are rivals of Krishna, such as Sisupala, Dantavakra, Jarasandha and Rukmi are in Vidarbha, and so Balarama out of great affection for His brother Krishna is concerned that they may attack Krishna. So Balarama gathers the entire Yadu force and orders “let’s make haste for Vidarbha.”
Krishna tells the brahmana, “Rukmini is in the temple and she can’t hear Me, you go ahead and tell her that I have come.” So the brahmana, who is allowed to go places that are not accessible for normal people, enters the inner chambers of Bhismaka’s palace and Rukmini is there. How does Sukadeva Gosvami describe the reaction of Rukmini? Sati also means a very, very chaste lady. She sees that the brahmana is is prahasta vadhunam - his face is expressing great happiness.
Laksana abhijna - although she is a young girl, she has been well educated in sastra. Seeing the demeanour of the brahmana, she understands that he has good news. When the brahmana tells her that Krishna has come, Rukmini is overjoyed and wants to please the brahmana, but she has nothing to give him so all she does is bow down her head in great humility and receives his blessings. So these are the great descriptions of Sukadeva Gosvami, a saintly person who describes the faces of these personalities and shows how they are the index of the mind.
I’d like to end with a pastime from Servant of the Servant by Tamal Krishna Gosvami. The first time Tamal Krishna Maharaja goes to the temple as a young boy, Prabhupada is giving class. Maharaja asks a question, “What is the nature of the soul? How did the soul get caught up in all this distress?” Prabhupada answers the question. Tamal Krishna Maharaja writes that on Prabhupada’s way home, he tells his servant “On meeting that boy, I can say that he will become a devotee.”
In other words, Maharaja explains that just by hearing his few questions, Prabhupada could tell that he had a sincere attitude and so would become a devotee. So great saints are finely tuned and sensitive personalities that have the capability to understand the mind of someone just by observing their attitude. And history is proof to the statement of Prabhupada - “He will become a devotee.”
