When Dhruva Maharaj was going BTG and had got a spiritual body, how could he remember a material relationship such as that with his mother?
Transcribed by: Shalini Ahluwalia
Question: This is based on the Bhagavatam 4.12.13. It is said that when Dhruv Maharaj was going back to the spiritual world at that time his body became like molten gold illuminating and Prabhupada says the body became transformed into spiritual and yet after that it is said that Dhruv Maharaj remembered his mother and enquired whether she was going back to Godhead or not. So how can a spiritual body remember a material connection or material relationship.
Answer: Its not necessary that one’s revival of spiritual consciousness necessarily has to lead to a blackout of one’s material connections. What is blacked out is one’s material attachements because param drishtva nivartate – when one gets a higher taste then one loses the lower taste. In the Bhakti rasamrit sindhu Rupa Goswami describes that if one becomes swaroopsiddha – one realises one’s swaroop and the spiritual world then even at that time he says that one should continue – seva sadhak roopena siddh roopena – he says we should do seva both in the siddh roop and sadhak roop. In siddh roop at the level of the mind, internally if a devotee understands that I am a gopi in the spiritual world or a manjari in the spiritual world one serves ??missing word not clear?? Krishna accordingly but externally if one is a sanyaasi, a renunciate, then one should serve in that way. So the soul has the capacity to do both also. So as long as if one is spiritually aroused in the material world then one will act spiritually internally but externally one will act according to what is appropriate. So same way its not necessary that just because a devotee has become spiritual that everything material is necessarily forgotten. One understands that it is not important, one should not take is very seriously. Its just like if I wake up from a dream its not that I necessarily have to forget the dream. This metaphor is used in the 4th Canto itself later – that material existence is like a dream – this most secret among all secrets in the scriptures that material existence is like a dream. But as I said when you wake up from a dream we understand that the dream is not very important but that does not mean that I have to necessarily forget the dream and the important point is with respect to material existence there are four states – swapna, sushupti, jagruti and Samadhi. In one sense all the three states are illusory, only in Samadhi – turiya is the real state. But then there is a difference between jagruti and swapna and sushupti. In swapna and sushupti we cannot use our free will to do sadhana, only in jagruti we can use our free will to do sadhana. So in that sense, jagruti is very important as compared to others. So in jagruti state we can move towards Krishna and if somebody has come to the turiya stage then one can still be aware of what is happening in jagruti just as one who is in jagruti may still be aware of what happened in swapna but one is not entangled in it. Especially because we have an opportunity and the responsibility to liberate ourselves and liberate others from material existence, so naturally Dhruv Maharaj remembered his mother. He did not remember his mother for her material well-being, he remembered his mother for her spiritual well-being. That kind of recollection is not in any way indicative of illusion. It indicates compassion not illusion, that he is ready to, that he is so considerate, so compassionate, so loving that whatever benefit he is getting he wants that person who set him on the spiritual path also to get that benefit. So we don’t necessarily have to forget whatever ??unclear word?? in material life just because we are spiritually awakened, its just that we are no longer attached to those things.
Thank you, Hare Krishna!