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KB 1970-2-26 / The Brahmana Sudama Benedicted by Lord Krsna
26 / The Brahmana Sudama Benedicted by Lord Krsna
Lord Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Supersoul
of all living entities, knows very well everyone's heart
. He is especially inclined to the brahmana devotees. Lord
Krsna is also called brahmanyadeva, which means that He is
worshiped by the brahmanas. Therefore it is understood that a
devotee who is fully surrendered unto the Supreme Personality
of Godhead has already acquired the position of a brahmana.
Without becoming a brahmana, one cannot approach the Supreme
Brahman, Lord Krsna. Krsna is especially concerned with
vanquishing the distress of His devotees, and He is the only
shelter of pure devotees.
Lord Krsna was engaged for a long time in talking with Sudama
Vipra about their past association. Then, just to enjoy the
company of an old friend, Lord Krsna began to smile, and asked,
"My dear friend, what have you brought for Me? Has your wife
given you some nice eatable for Me?" While He was addressing
His friend, Lord Krsna was looking upon him and smiling with
great love. He continued, "My dear friend, you must have
brought some presentation for Me from your home."
Lord Krsna knew that Sudama was hesitating to present Him
the paltry chipped rice which was actually unfit for His
eating, and understanding the mind of Sudama Vipra the Lord
said, "My dear friend, certainly I am not in need of
anything, but if My devotee gives Me something as an offering
of love, even though it may be very insignificant, I accept it
with great pleasure. On the other hand, if a person is not a
devotee, even though he may offer Me very valuable things, I do
not like to accept them. I actually accept only things which
are offered to Me in devotion and love; otherwise, however
valuable the thing may be, I do not accept it. If My pure
devotee offers Me even the most insignificant things -- a
little flower, a little piece of leaf, a little water -- but
saturates the offering in devotional love, then I not only
gladly accept such an offering, but I eat it with great
pleasure."
Lord Krsna assured Sudama Vipra that He would be very glad to
accept the chipped rice which he had brought from home, yet out
of great shyness, Sudama Vipra hesitated to present it to the
Lord. He was thinking, "How can I offer such insignificant
things to Krsna?" and he simply bowed his head.
Lord Krsna, the Supersoul, knows everything in everyone's heart.
He knows everyone's determination and everyone's want. He knew,
therefore, the reason for Sudama Vipra's coming to Him. He
knew that, driven by extreme poverty, he had come there at the
request of his wife. Thinking of Sudama as His very dear class
friend, He knew that Sudama's love for Him as a friend was
never tainted by any desire for material benefit. Krsna thought,
"Sudama has not come asking anything from Me, but being
obliged by the request of his wife, he has come to see Me just
to please her." Lord Krsna therefore decided that He would give
more material opulence to Sudama Vipra than could be imagined
even by the King of heaven.
He then snatched the bundle of chipped rice which was hanging
on the shoulder of the poor brahmana, packed in one corner of
his wrapper, and said, "What is this? My dear friend, you have
brought Me nice, palatable chipped rice!" He encouraged Sudama
Vipra, saying, "I consider that this quantity of chipped rice
will not only satisfy Me, but will satisfy the whole
creation." It is understood from this statement that Krsna,
being the original source of everything, is the root of the
entire creation. As watering the root of a tree immediately
distributes water to every part of the tree, so an offering
made to Krsna, or any action done for Krsna, is to be
considered the highest welfare work for everyone, because the
benefit of such an offering is distributed throughout the
creation. Love for Krsna becomes distributed to all living
entities.
While Lord Krsna was speaking to Sudama Vipra, He ate one
morsel of chipped rice from his bundle, and when He attempted
to eat a second morsel, Rukminidevi, who is the goddess of
fortune herself, checked the Lord by catching hold of His hand.
After touching the hand of Krsna, Rukmini said, "My dear Lord,
this one morsel of chipped rice is sufficient to cause him who
offered it to become very opulent in this life and to continue
his opulence in the next life. My Lord, You are so kind to Your
devotee that even this one morsel of chipped rice pleases You
very greatly, and Your pleasure assures the devotee opulence
both in this life and in the next." This indicates that
when food is offered to Lord Krsna with love and devotion and
He is pleased and accepts it from the devotee, Rukminidevi, the
goddess of fortune, becomes so greatly obliged to the devotee
that she has to personally go to the devotee's home
to turn it into the most opulent home in the world. If one
feeds Narayana sumptuously, the goddess of fortune, Laksmi,
automatically becomes a guest in one's house, which means that
one's home becomes opulent. The learned brahmana Sudama passed
that night at the house of Lord Krsna, and while he was there
he felt as if he were living in a Vaikuntha planet. Actually he
was living in Vaikuntha, because wherever Lord Krsna, the
original Narayana, and Rukminidevi, the goddess of fortune,
live is not different from the spiritual planet, Vaikunthaloka.
The learned brahmana Sudama did not appear to have received
anything substantial from Lord Krsna while he was at His place,
and yet he did not ask anything from the Lord. The next
morning he started for his home, thinking always about his
reception by Krsna, and thus he became merged in transcendental
bliss. All the way home he was simply remembering the dealings
of Lord Krsna, and he was feeling very happy to have seen the
Lord.
The brahmana began to think as follows, "It is most
pleasurable to see Lord Krsna, who is most devoted to the
brahmanas. How great a lover He is of the brahminical culture!
He is the Supreme Brahman Himself, yet He reciprocates with the
brahmanas. He also respects the brahmanas so much that He
embraced to His chest a poor brahmana like me, although He
never embraces anyone to His chest except the goddess of
fortune. How can there be any comparison between me, a poor,
sinful brahmana, and the Supreme Lord Krsna, who is the only
shelter of the goddess of fortune? And yet, considering me as a
brahmana, He embraced me with heartfelt pleasure
in His two transcendental arms. Lord Krsna was so kind to me
that He allowed me to sit down on the same bedstead where the
goddess of fortune lies down. He considered me to be His real
brother. How can I appreciate my obligation to Him? When I was
tired, Srimati Rukminidevi, the goddess of fortune, began to
fan me, holding the camara whisk in her own hand. She never
considered her exalted position as the first queen of Lord
Krsna. I was rendered service by the Supreme Personality of
Godhead because of His high regard for the brahmanas, and by
massaging my legs and feeding me with His own hand, He
practically worshiped me! Aspiring for elevation to the
heavenly planets, or liberation or all kinds of material
opulences, or perfection in the mystic yoga powers,
everyone throughout the universe worships the lotus feet of
Lord Krsna. Yet the Lord was so kind to me that He did not give
me even a farthing, knowing very well that I am a poverty-
stricken man who, if I got some money, might become puffed up
and mad after material opulence and so forget Him."
The statement of the brahmana Sudama is correct. An ordinary
man who is very poor and prays to the Lord for benediction in
material opulence, and who somehow or other becomes richer in
material opulence, immediately forgets his obligation to the
Lord. Therefore, the Lord does not offer opulences to His
devotee unless the devotee is thoroughly destitute. Rather, if
a neophyte devotee serves the Lord very sincerely and at the
same time wants material opulence, the Lord keeps him from
obtaining it.
Thinking in this way, the learned brahmana gradually reached
his own home. But on reaching there he saw that everything was
wonderfully changed. He saw that in place of his cottage there
were big palaces made of valuable stones and jewels, glittering
like the sun, moon and rays of fire. Not only were there big
palaces, but at intervals there were beautifully decorated
parks, in which many beautiful men and women were strolling. In
those parks there were nice lakes full of lotus flowers and
beautiful lilies, and there were flocks of multicolored birds.
Seeing the wonderful conversion of his native place, the
brahmana began to think to himself, "How am I seeing all these
changes? Does this place belong to me, or to someone else? If
it is the same place where I used to live, then how has it so
wonderfully changed?"
While the learned brahmana was considering this, a group of
beautiful men and women with features resembling those of the
demigods, accompanied by musical chanters, approached to
welcome him. All were singing auspicious songs. The wife of the
brahmana became very glad on hearing the tidings of her husband'
s arrival, and with great haste she also came out of the palace.
The brahmana's wife appeared so beautiful that it seemed as if
the goddess of fortune herself had come to receive him. As soon
as she saw her husband present before her, tears of joy began
to fall from her eyes, and her voice became so choked up that
she could not even address her husband. She simply closed her
eyes in ecstasy. But with great love and affection she bowed
down before her husband, and within herself she thought of
embracing him. She was fully decorated with a gold necklace and
ornaments, and while standing among the maidservants she
appeared like the wife of a demigod just alighting from
an airplane. The brahmana was surprised to see his wife so
beautiful, and in great affection and without saying a word he
entered the palace with his wife.
When the brahmana entered his personal apartment in the palace,
he saw that it was not an apartment, but the residence of the
King of heaven. The palace was surrounded by many columns of
jewels. The couches and the bedsteads were made of ivory,
bedecked with gold and jewels, and the bedding was as white as
the foam of milk and as soft as a lotus flower. There were many
whisks hanging from golden rods, and many golden thrones with
sitting cushions as soft as the lotus flower. In various
places there were velvet and silken canopies with laces of
pearls hanging all around. The structure of the building was
standing on first-class transparent marble, with engravings
made of emerald stones. All the women in the palace were
carrying lamps made of valuable jewels. The flames and the
jewels combined to produce a wonderfully brilliant light. When
the brahmana saw his position suddenly changed to one of
opulence, and when he could not determine the cause for such a
sudden change, he began to consider very gravely how it had
happened.
He thus began to think, "From the beginning of my life I have
been extremely poverty-stricken, so what could be the cause of
such great and sudden opulence? I do not find any cause other
than the all-merciful glance of my friend Lord Krsna, the chief
of the Yadu dynasty. Certainly these are gifts of Lord Krsna's
causeless mercy. The Lord is self-sufficient, the husband of
the goddess of fortune, and thus He is always full with six
opulences. He can understand the mind of His devotee, and He
sumptuously fulfills the devotee's desires. All these are acts
of my friend, Lord Krsna. My beautiful dark friend Krsna is far
more liberal than the cloud which can fill up the great ocean
with water. Without disturbing the cultivator with rain during
the day, the cloud brings liberal rain at night just to satisfy
him. And yet when the cultivator wakes up in the morning, he
considers that it has not rained enough. Similarly, the Lord
fulfills the desire of everyone according to his position, and
yet one who is not in Krsna consciousness considers all the
gifts of the Lord to be less than his desire. On the other hand,
when the Lord receives a little thing in love and affection
from His devotee, He considers it a great and valuable gift.
The vivid example is myself. I simply offered Him a morsel
of chipped rice, and in exchange He has given me opulences
greater than the opulence of the King of heaven."
What the devotee actually offers the Lord is not needed by the
Lord. He is self-sufficient. If the devotee offers
something to the Lord, it acts for his own interest because
whatever a devotee offers the Lord comes back in a quantity a
million times greater than what was offered. One does not
become a loser by giving to the Lord, but he becomes a gainer
by millions of times.
The brahmana, feeling great obligation to Krsna, thought, "I
pray to have the friendship of Lord Krsna and to engage in His
service, and to surrender fully unto Him in love and affection,
life after life. I do not want any opulence. I only desire not
to forget His service. I simply wish to be associated with His
pure devotees. May my mind and activities be always engaged in
His service. The unborn Supreme Personality of Godhead Krsna
knows that many great personalities have fallen from their
positions because of extravagant opulence. Therefore, even when
His devotee asks for some opulence from Him, the Lord sometimes
does not give it. He is very cautious about His devotees.
Because a devotee in an immature position of devotional service
may, if offered great opulence, fall from his position due to
being in the material world, the Lord does not offer opulence
to him. This is another manifestation of the causeless mercy of
the Lord upon His devotee. His first interest is that the
devotee may not fall. He is exactly like a well-wishing father
who does not give much wealth into the hand of his immature son,
but who, when the son is grown up and knows how to spend money,
gives him the whole treasury house."
The learned brahmana thus concluded that whatever opulences he
had received from the Lord should not be used for his
extravagant sense gratification, but for the service of the
Lord. The brahmana accepted his newly-acquired opulence, but he
did so in a spirit of renunciation, unattached to
sense gratification, and thus he lived very peacefully with his
wife, enjoying all the facilities of opulence as prasadam
of the Lord. He enjoyed varieties of foodstuff by offering it
to the Lord and then taking it as prasadam. Similarly, if by
the grace of the Lord we get such opulences as material wealth,
fame, power, education and beauty, it is our duty to consider
that they are all gifts of the Lord and must be used for His
service, not for our sense enjoyment. The learned brahmana
remained in that position, and instead of deterioating due to
great opulence, his love and affection for Lord Krsna increased
day after day.
Material opulence can be the cause of degradation and also the
cause of elevation, according to the purposes for which it is
used. If opulence is used for sense gratification, it is the
cause of degradation, and if it is used for the service of the
Lord, it is the cause of elevation.
It is evident from Lord Krsna's dealings with Sudama Vipra that
the Supreme Personality of Godhead is very, very pleased
with a person is possessed of brahminical qualities. A
qualified brahmana like Sudama Vipra is naturally a devotee of
Lord Krsna. Therefore it is said, brahmano vaisnavah: a
brahmana is a Vaisnava. Or sometimes it is said, brahmanah
panditah. Pandita means a highly learned person. A brahmana
cannot be foolish or uneducated. Therefore there are two
divisions of brahmanas, namely Vaisnavas and panditas. Those
who are simply learned are panditas, but not yet devotees of
the Lord, or Vaisnavas. Lord Krsna is not especially pleased
with them. Simply the qualification of being a learned brahmana
is not sufficient to attract the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
A brahmana must not only be well qualified according to
the requirements stated in scriptures such as Srimad Bhagavad-
gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam, but at the same time he must be a
devotee of Lord Krsna. The vivid example is Sudama Vipra. He
was a qualified brahmana, unattached to all sorts of material
sense enjoyment, and at the same time a great devotee of
Lord Krsna. Lord Krsna, the enjoyer of all sacrifices and
penances, is very fond of a brahmana like Sudama Vipra, and we
have seen by the actual behavior of Lord Krsna how much He
adores such a brahmana. Therefore, the ideal stage of human
perfection is to become a brahmana-vaisnava like Sudama Vipra.
Sudama Vipra realized that although Lord Krsna is unconquerable,
He nevertheless agrees to be conquered by His devotees. He
realized how kind Lord Krsna was to him, and he was always in
trance, constantly thinking of Krsna. By such constant
association with Lord Krsna, whatever darkness of material
contamination was remaining within his heart was
completely cleared away, and very shortly he was transferred to
the spiritual kingdom, which is the goal of all saintly persons
in the perfectional stage of life.
Sukadeva Gosvami has stated that all persons who hear this
history of Sudama Vipra and Lord Krsna will know how
affectionate Lord Krsna is to the brahmana devotees like Sudama.
Therefore anyone who hears this history gradually becomes as
qualified as Sudama Vipra, and he is thus transferred to the
spiritual kingdom of Lord Krsna.
Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Second Volume,
Twenty-sixth Chapter, of Krsna, "The Brahmana Sudama Benedicted
by Lord Krsna".
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KB 81: The Brahmana Sudama Blessed by Lord Krsna
CHAPTER EIGHTY–ONE
The Brahmana Sudama Blessed by Lord Krsna
Lord Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Supersoul
of all living entities, knows everyone's heart very
well. He is especially inclined to the brahmana devotees. Lord
Krsna is also called brahmanya-deva, which means that He is
worshiped by the brahmanas. Therefore it is understood that a
devotee who is fully surrendered unto the Supreme Personality
of Godhead has already acquired the position of a brahmana.
Without becoming a brahmana, one cannot approach the Supreme
Brahman, Lord Krsna. Krsna is especially concerned with
vanquishing the distress of His devotees, and He is the only
shelter of pure devotees.
Lord Krsna engaged for a long time in talking with Sudama
Vipra about their past association. Then, just to enjoy the
company of an old friend, Lord Krsna began to smile and asked,
"My dear friend, what have you brought for Me? Has your wife
given you some nice eatable for Me?" While addressing
His friend, Lord Krsna looked upon him and smiled with
great love. He continued: "My dear friend, you must have
brought some presentation for Me from your home."
Lord Krsna knew that Sudama was hesitating to present Him with
the paltry chipped rice, which was actually unfit for His
eating. Understanding the mind of Sudama Vipra, the Lord
said, "My dear friend, I am certainly not in need of
anything, but if My devotee gives Me something as an offering
of love, even though it may be very insignificant, I accept it
with great pleasure. On the other hand, if a person is not a
devotee, even though he may offer Me very valuable things, I do
not like to accept them. I actually accept only things
offered to Me in devotion and love; otherwise, however
valuable a thing may be, I do not accept it. If My pure
devotee offers Me even the most insignificant things -- a
little flower, a little piece of leaf, a little water -- but
saturates the offering in devotional love, then not only do I
gladly accept such an offering, but I eat it with great
pleasure."
Lord Krsna assured Sudama Vipra that He would be very glad to
accept the chipped rice he had brought from home, yet out
of great shyness Sudama Vipra hesitated to present it to the
Lord. He was thinking, "How can I offer such an insignificant
thing to Krsna?" and he simply bowed his head.
Lord Krsna, the Supersoul, knows everything in everyone's heart.
He knows everyone's determination and everyone's want. He knew,
therefore, the reason for Sudama Vipra's coming to Him. He
knew that, driven by extreme poverty, he had come there at the
request of his wife. Thinking of Sudama as His very dear class
friend, He knew that Sudama's love for Him as a friend was
never tainted by any desire for material benefit. Krsna thought,
"Sudama has not come asking anything from Me; being
obliged by the request of his wife, he has come to see Me just
to please her." Lord Krsna therefore decided that He would give
more material opulence to Sudama Vipra than could be imagined
even by the King of heaven.
He then snatched the bundle of chipped rice which was hanging
on the shoulder of the poor brahmana, packed in one corner of
his wrapper, and said, "What is this? My dear friend, you have
brought Me nice, palatable chipped rice!" He encouraged Sudama
Vipra, saying, "I consider that this quantity of chipped rice
will satisfy not only Me but the whole
creation." It is understood from this statement that Krsna,
being the original source of everything, is the root of the
entire creation. As watering the root of a tree immediately
distributes water to every part of the tree, so an offering
made to Krsna, or any action done for Krsna, is to be
considered the highest welfare work for everyone, because the
benefit of such an offering is distributed throughout the
creation. Love for Krsna is distributed to all living
entities.
While Lord Krsna was speaking to Sudama Vipra, He ate one
morsel of chipped rice from his bundle, and when He attempted
to eat a second morsel, Rukminidevi, the goddess of
fortune herself, checked the Lord by catching hold of His hand.
After touching the hand of Krsna, Rukmini said, "My dear Lord,
this one morsel of chipped rice is sufficient to cause him who
offered it to become very opulent in this life and to continue
his opulence in the next life. My Lord, You are so kind to Your
devotee that even this one morsel of chipped rice pleases You
very greatly, and Your pleasure assures the devotee opulence
in both this life and the next." This indicates that
when food is offered to Lord Krsna with love and devotion and
He is pleased and accepts it from the devotee, Rukminidevi, the
goddess of fortune, becomes so greatly obliged to the devotee
that she has to go personally to the devotee's home
to turn it into the most opulent home in the world. If one
feeds Narayana sumptuously, the goddess of fortune, Laksmi,
automatically becomes a guest in one's house, which means that
one's home becomes opulent. The learned brahmana Sudama passed
that night at the house of Lord Krsna, and while there
he felt as if he were living on a Vaikuntha planet. Actually he
was living in Vaikuntha, because wherever Lord Krsna, the
original Narayana, and Rukminidevi, the goddess of fortune,
live is not different from the spiritual planets, Vaikunthaloka.
The learned brahmana Sudama did not appear to have received
anything substantial from Lord Krsna while at His palace,
yet he did not ask anything from the Lord. The next
morning he started for his home, thinking always about his
reception by Krsna, and thus he merged in transcendental
bliss. All the way home he simply remembered the dealings
of Lord Krsna, and he felt very happy to have seen the
Lord.
The brahmana thought, "It is most
pleasurable to see Lord Krsna, who is most devoted to the
brahmanas. How great a lover He is of the brahminical culture!
He is the Supreme Brahman Himself, yet He reciprocates with the
brahmanas. He also respects the brahmanas so much that He
embraced to His chest such a poor brahmana as me, although He
never embraces anyone to His chest except the goddess of
fortune. How can there be any comparison between me, a poor,
sinful brahmana, and the Supreme Lord Krsna, who is the only
shelter of the goddess of fortune? And yet, considering me a
brahmana, with heartfelt pleasure He embraced me
in His two transcendental arms. Lord Krsna was so kind to me
that He allowed me to sit on the same bedstead where the
goddess of fortune lies down. He considered me His real
brother. How can I appreciate my obligation to Him? When I was
tired, Srimati Rukminidevi, the goddess of fortune, began to
fan me, holding the camara whisk in her own hand. She never
considered her exalted position as the first queen of Lord
Krsna. I was rendered service by the Supreme Personality of
Godhead because of His high regard for the brahmanas, and by
massaging my legs and feeding me with His own hand, He
practically worshiped me! Aspiring for elevation to the
heavenly planets, liberation, all kinds of material
opulence, or perfection in the powers of mystic yoga,
everyone throughout the universe worships the lotus feet of
Lord Krsna. Yet the Lord was so kind to me that He did not give
me even a farthing, knowing very well that I am a poverty-
stricken man who, if I got some money, might become puffed up
and mad after material opulence and so forget Him."
The statement of the brahmana Sudama is correct. An ordinary
man who is very poor and prays to the Lord for benediction in
material opulence, and who somehow or other becomes richer in
material opulence, immediately forgets his obligation to the
Lord. Therefore, the Lord does not offer opulences to His
devotee unless the devotee is thoroughly tested. Rather, if
a neophyte devotee serves the Lord very sincerely and at the
same time wants material opulence, the Lord keeps him from
obtaining it.
Thinking in this way, the learned brahmana gradually reached
his own home. But there he saw that everything was
wonderfully changed. He saw that in place of his cottage there
were big palaces made of valuable stones and jewels, glittering
like the sun, moon and rays of fire. Not only were there big
palaces, but at intervals there were beautifully decorated
parks, in which many beautiful men and women were strolling. In
those parks there were nice lakes full of lotus flowers and
beautiful lilies, and there were flocks of multicolored birds.
Seeing the wonderful conversion of his native place, the
brahmana began to think to himself, "How am I seeing all these
changes? Does this place belong to me or to someone else? If
it is the same place where I used to live, then how has it so
wonderfully changed?"
While the learned brahmana was considering this, a group of
beautiful men and women with features resembling those of the
demigods, accompanied by musical chanters, approached to
welcome him. All were singing auspicious songs. The wife of the
brahmana was very glad on hearing the tidings of her husband'
s arrival, and with great haste she came out of the palace.
The brahmana's wife appeared so beautiful that it seemed as if
the goddess of fortune herself had come to receive him. As soon
as she saw her husband present before her, tears of joy fell
from her eyes, and her voice became so choked up that
she could not even address her husband. She simply closed her
eyes in ecstasy. But with great love and affection she bowed
down before her husband, and within herself she thought of
embracing him. She was fully decorated with a gold necklace and
ornaments, and while standing among the maidservants she
appeared like a demigod's wife just alighting from
an airplane. The brahmana was surprised to see his wife so
beautiful, and in great affection and without saying a word he
entered the palace with her.
When the brahmana entered his personal apartment in the palace,
he saw that it was not an apartment but the residence of the
King of heaven. The palace was surrounded by many columns of
jewels. The couches and the bedsteads were made of ivory and
bedecked with gold and jewels, and the bedding was as white as
the foam of milk and as soft as a lotus. There were many
whisks hanging from golden rods, and many golden thrones with
sitting cushions as soft as lotus flowers. In various
places there were velvet and silken canopies with laces of
pearls hanging all around. The structure of the building stood
on excellent transparent marble, with engravings
made of emerald stones. All the women in the palace carried
lamps made of valuable jewels. The flames and the
jewels combined to produce a wonderfully brilliant light. When
the brahmana saw his position suddenly changed to one of
opulence, and when he could not determine the cause for such a
sudden change, he began to consider very gravely how it had
happened.
He thus began to think, "From the beginning of my life I have
been extremely poverty-stricken, so what could be the cause of
such great and sudden opulence? I do not find any cause other
than the all-merciful glance of my friend Lord Krsna, the chief
of the Yadu dynasty. Certainly these are gifts of Lord Krsna's
causeless mercy. The Lord is self-sufficient, the husband of
the goddess of fortune, and thus He is always full with six
opulences. He can understand the mind of His devotee, and He
sumptuously fulfills the devotee's desires. All these are acts
of my friend Lord Krsna. My beautiful dark friend Krsna is far
more liberal than the cloud, which can fill the great ocean
with water. Without disturbing the cultivator with rain during
the day, the cloud brings liberal rain at night just to satisfy
him. And yet when the cultivator wakes up in the morning, he
thinks that it has not rained enough. Similarly, the Lord
fulfills the desire of everyone according to his position,
yet one who is not in Krsna consciousness considers all the
gifts of the Lord to be less than his desire. On the other hand,
when the Lord receives a little thing in love and affection
from His devotee, He considers it a great and valuable gift.
I am a vivid example of this: I simply offered Him a morsel
of chipped rice, and in exchange He has given me opulences
greater than those of the King of heaven."
What the devotee actually offers the Lord is not needed by the
Lord, for He is self-sufficient. If the devotee offers
something to the Lord, it acts for his own interest because
whatever a devotee offers the Lord comes back in a quantity a
million times greater than what was offered. One does not
become a loser by giving to the Lord; one becomes a gainer
by millions of times.
The brahmana, feeling great obligation to Krsna, thought, "I
pray to have the friendship of Lord Krsna and to engage in His
service, and to surrender fully unto Him in love and affection,
life after life. I do not want any opulence. I only desire not
to forget His service. I simply wish to be associated with His
pure devotees. May my mind and activities be always engaged in
His service. The unborn Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna,
knows that many great personalities have fallen from their
positions because of extravagant opulence. Therefore, even when
His devotee asks for some opulence from Him, the Lord sometimes
does not give it. He is very cautious about His devotees.
Because a devotee in an immature position of devotional service
may, if offered great opulence, fall from his position due to
being in the material world, the Lord does not offer opulence
to him. This is another manifestation of the causeless mercy of
the Lord upon His devotee. His first interest is that the
devotee not fall. He is exactly like a well-wishing father
who does not give much wealth into the hand of his immature son,
but who, when the son is grown up and knows how to spend money,
gives him the whole treasury house."
The learned brahmana thus concluded that whatever opulences he
had received from the Lord should be used not for his
extravagant sense gratification but for the service of the
Lord. The brahmana accepted his newly acquired opulence, but he
did so in a spirit of renunciation, remaining unattached to
sense gratification, and thus he lived very peacefully with his
wife, enjoying all the facilities of opulence as the prasadam
of the Lord. He enjoyed varieties of food by offering it
to the Lord and then taking it as prasadam. Similarly, if by
the grace of the Lord we get such opulences as material wealth,
fame, power, education and beauty, it is our duty to consider
that they are all gifts of the Lord and must be used for His
service, not for our sense enjoyment. The learned brahmana
remained in that position, and thus
his love and affection for Lord Krsna increased
day after day; it did not deteriorate due to great opulence.
Material opulence can be the cause of degradation and also the
cause of elevation, according to the purposes for which it is
used. If opulence is used for sense gratification it is the
cause of degradation, and if used for the service of the
Lord it is the cause of elevation.
It is evident from Lord Krsna's dealings with Sudama Vipra that
the Supreme Personality of Godhead is very, very much pleased
with a person who possesses brahminical qualities. A
qualified brahmana like Sudama Vipra is naturally a devotee of
Lord Krsna. Therefore it is said, brahmano vaisnavah: a
brahmana is a Vaisnava. Or sometimes it is said, brahmanah
panditah. Pandita means a highly learned person. A brahmana
cannot be foolish or uneducated. Therefore there are two
divisions of brahmanas, namely Vaisnavas and panditas. Those
who are simply learned are panditas but not yet devotees of
the Lord, or Vaisnavas. Lord Krsna is not especially pleased
with them. Simply the qualification of being a learned brahmana
is not sufficient to attract the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Not only must a brahmana be well qualified according to
the requirements stated in scriptures such as Srimad Bhagavad-
gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam, but at the same time he must be a
devotee of Lord Krsna. The vivid example is Sudama Vipra. He
was a qualified brahmana, unattached to all sorts of material
sense enjoyment, and at the same time he was a great devotee of
Lord Krsna. Lord Krsna, the enjoyer of all sacrifices and
penances, is very fond of a brahmana like Sudama Vipra, and we
have seen by the actual behavior of Lord Krsna how much He
adores such a brahmana. Therefore, the ideal stage of human
perfection is to become a brahmana-vaisnava like Sudama Vipra.
Sudama Vipra realized that although Lord Krsna is unconquerable,
He nevertheless agrees to be conquered by His devotees. He
realized how kind Lord Krsna was to him, and he was always in
trance, constantly thinking of Krsna. By such constant
association with Lord Krsna, whatever darkness of material
contamination remained within his heart was
completely cleared away, and very shortly he was transferred to
the spiritual kingdom, which is the goal of all saintly persons
in the perfectional stage of life.
Sukadeva Gosvami has stated that all persons who hear this
history of Sudama Vipra and Lord Krsna will know how
affectionate Lord Krsna is to brahmana devotees like Sudama.
Therefore anyone who hears this history gradually becomes as
qualified as Sudama Vipra, and he is thus transferred to the
spiritual kingdom of Lord Krsna.
Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Eighty
-first chapter of Krsna, "The Brahmana Sudama Blessed
by Lord Krsna".
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