Canto Nine / CHAPTER TWENTY

The Dynasty of Pūru

There are many historical instances by which we can understand that from kshatriyas many brāhmanas have been born and that from brāhmanas many kshatriyas have been born. The Lord Himself says in Bhagavad-gītā (4.13), cātur-varnyam mayā srishtam guna-karma-vibhāgaśah: “According to the three modes of material nature and the work ascribed to them, the four divisions of human society were created by Me.” Therefore, regardless of the family in which one takes birth, when one is qualified with the symptoms of a particular section, he is to be described accordingly. Yal-lakshanam proktam. One’s place in the varna divisions of society is determined according to one’s symptoms or qualities. This is maintained everywhere in the śāstra. Birth is a secondary consideration; the first consideration is one’s qualities and activities.

Mahārāja Dushmanta indirectly expressed his desire to marry Śakuntalā, for she appeared to his mind to be the daughter of some kshatriya king.

Śakuntalā informed Mahārāja Dushmanta that although she never saw or knew her father or mother, Kanva Muni knew everything about her, and she had heard from him that she was the daughter of Viśvāmitra and that her mother was Menakā, who had left her in the forest.

In her reception of Mahārāja Dushmanta, Śakuntalā clearly said, “Your Majesty may stay here, and you may accept whatever reception I can offer.” Thus she indicated that she wanted Mahārāja Dushmanta as her husband. As far as Mahārāja Dushmanta was concerned, he desired Śakuntalā as his wife from the very beginning, as soon as he saw her, so the agreement to unite as husband and wife was natural. To induce Śakuntalā to accept the marriage, Mahārāja Dushmanta reminded her that as the daughter of a king she could select her husband in an open assembly. In the history of Āryan civilization there have been many instances in which famous princesses have selected their husbands in open competitions. For example, it was in such a competition that Sītādevī accepted Lord Rāmacandra as her husband and that Draupadī accepted Arjuna, and there are many other instances. So marriage by agreement or by selecting one’s own husband in an open competition is allowed. There are eight kinds of marriage, of which marriage by agreement is called gāndharva marriage. Generally the parents select the husband or wife for their daughter or son, but gāndharva marriage takes place by personal selection. Still, although marriage by personal selection or by agreement took place in the past, we find no such thing as divorce by disagreement. Of course, divorce by disagreement took place among low-class men, but marriage by agreement was found even in the very highest classes, especially in the royal kshatriya families. Mahārāja Dushmanta’s acceptance of Śakuntalā as his wife was sanctioned by Vedic culture. How the marriage took place is described in the next verse.

The omkāra, pranava, is the Supreme Personality of Godhead represented by letters. Bhagavad-gītā says that the letters a-u-m, combined together as om, represent the Supreme Lord. Religious principles are meant to invoke the blessings and mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, who says in Bhagavad-gītā that He is personally present in sexual desires that are not contrary to religious principles. The word vidhinā means, “according to religious principles.” The association of men and women according to religious principles is allowed in the Vedic culture. In our Krishna consciousness movement we allow marriage on the basis of religious principles, but the sexual combination of men and women as friends is irreligious and is not allowed.

Mahārāja Dushmanta knew that Śakuntalā and the boy were his own wife and son, but because they came from outside and were unknown to the citizens, he at first declined to accept them. Śakuntalā, however, was so chaste that an omen from the sky declared the truth so that others could hear. When everyone heard from the omen that Śakuntalā and her child were truly the King’s wife and son, the King gladly accepted them.

According to the Vedic injunction ātmā vai putra-nāmāsi, the father becomes the son. The mother is simply like a storekeeper, because the seed of the child is placed in her womb, but it is the father who is responsible for maintaining the son. In Bhagavad-gītā the Lord says that He is the seed-giving father of all living entities (aham bīja-pradah pitā), and therefore He is responsible for maintaining them. This is also confirmed in the Vedas. Eko bahūnām yo vidadhāti kāmān: although God is one, He maintains all living entities with their necessities for life. The living entities in different forms are sons of the Lord, and therefore the father, the Supreme Lord, supplies them food according to their different bodies. The small ant is supplied a grain of sugar, and the elephant is supplied tons of food, but everyone is able to eat. Therefore there is no question of overpopulation. Because the father, Krishna, is fully opulent, there is no scarcity of food, and because there is no scarcity, the propaganda of overpopulation is only a myth. Actually one suffers for want of food when material nature, under the order of the father, refuses to supply him food. It is the living entity’s position that determines whether food will be supplied or not. When a diseased person is forbidden to eat, this does not mean that there is a scarcity of food; rather, the diseased person requires the treatment of not being supplied with food. In Bhagavad-gītā (7.10) the Lord also says, bījam mām sarva-bhūtānām: “I am the seed of all living entities.” A particular type of seed is sown within the earth, and then a particular type of tree or plant comes out. The mother resembles the earth, and when a particular type of seed is sown by the father, a particular type of body takes birth.

Upon hearing the omen, Mahārāja Dushmanta accepted his wife and child. According to Vedic smriti:

Because a son delivers his father from punishment in the hell called put, the son is called putra. According to this principle, when there is a disagreement between the father and mother, it is the father, not the mother, who is delivered by the son. But if the wife is faithful and firmly adherent to her husband, when the father is delivered the mother is also delivered. Consequently, there is no such thing as divorce in the Vedic literature. A wife is always trained to be chaste and faithful to her husband, for this helps her achieve deliverance from any abominable material condition. This verse clearly says, putro nayati naradeva yama-kshayāt: “The son saves his father from the custody of Yamarāja.” It never says, putro nayati mātaram: “The son saves his mother.” The seed-giving father is delivered, not the storekeeper mother. Consequently, husband and wife should not separate under any condition, for if they have a child whom they raise to be a Vaishnava, he can save both the father and mother from the custody of Yamarāja and punishment in hellish life.

In Bhagavad-gītā (10.41) it is said:

Anyone extraordinarily powerful must be considered a partial representation of the opulence of the Supreme Godhead. Therefore when the son of Mahārāja Dushmanta became the emperor of the entire world, he was celebrated in this way.

As indicated here by the words daushmanter agnih sācī-gune citah, Bharata, the son of Mahārāja Dushmanta, arranged for many ritualistic ceremonies all over the world, especially all over India on the banks of the Ganges and Yamunā, from the mouth to the source, and all such sacrifices were performed in very distinguished places. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (3.9), yajñārthāt karmano ’nyatra loko ’yam karma-bandhanah: “Work done as a sacrifice for Vishnu has to be performed; otherwise work binds one to this material world.” Everyone should engage in the performance of yajña, and the sacrificial fire should be ignited everywhere, the entire purpose being to make people happy, prosperous and progressive in spiritual life. Of course, these things were possible before the beginning of Kali-yuga because there were qualified brāhmanas who could perform such yajñas. For the present, however, the Brahma-vaivarta Purāna enjoins:

“In this Age of Kali, five acts are forbidden: offering a horse in sacrifice, offering a cow in sacrifice, accepting the order of sannyāsa, offering oblations of flesh to the forefathers, and begetting children in the wife of one’s brother.” In this age, such yajñas as the aśvamedha-yajña and gomedha-yajña are impossible to perform because there are neither sufficient riches nor qualified brāhmanas. This verse says, māmateyam purodhāya: Mahārāja Bharata engaged the son of Mamatā, Bhrigu Muni, to take charge of performing this yajña. Now, however, such brāhmanas are impossible to find. Therefore the śāstras recommend, yajñaih sankīrtana-prāyair yajanti hi sumedhasah: those who are intelligent should perform the sankīrtana-yajña inaugurated by Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

“In this Age of Kali, people endowed with sufficient intelligence will worship the Lord, who is accompanied by His associates, by performance of sankīrtana-yajña.” (Bhāg. 11.5.32) Yajña must be performed, for otherwise people will be entangled in sinful activities and will suffer immensely. Therefore the Krishna consciousness movement has taken charge of introducing the chanting of Hare Krishna all over the world. This Hare Krishna movement is also yajña, but without the difficulties involved in securing paraphernalia and qualified brāhmanas. This congregational chanting can be performed anywhere and everywhere. If people somehow or other assemble together and are induced to chant Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare, all the purposes of yajña will be fulfilled. The first purpose is that there must be sufficient rain, for without rain there cannot be any produce (annād bhavanti bhūtāni parjanyād anna-sambhavah). All our necessities can be produced simply by rainfall (kāmam vavarsha parjanyah), and the earth is the original source of all necessities (sarva-kāma-dughā mahī). In conclusion, therefore, in this Age of Kali people all over the world should refrain from the four principles of sinful life — illicit sex, meat-eating, intoxication and gambling — and in a pure state of existence should perform the simple yajña of chanting the Hare Krishna mahā-mantra. Then the earth will certainly produce all the necessities for life, and people will be happy economically, politically, socially, religiously and culturally. Everything will be in proper order.

One who achieves the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead certainly surpasses all material wealth, even that of the demigods in the heavenly planets. Yam labdhvā cāparam lābham manyate nādhikam tatah. The achievement of the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the most exalted achievement in life.

Mahārāja Bharata had incomparable opulence in sovereignty, soldiers, sons, daughters and everything for material enjoyment, but when he realized that all such material opulences were useless for spiritual advancement, he retired from material enjoyment. The Vedic civilization enjoins that after a certain age, following in the footsteps of Mahārāja Bharata, one should cease to enjoy material opulences and should take the order of vānaprastha.

The sex impulse is so strong in this material world that even Brihaspati, who is supposed to be the priest of the demigods and a very learned scholar, wanted to have a sexual relationship with his brother’s pregnant wife. This can happen even in the society of the higher demigods, so what to speak of human society? The sex impulse is so strong that it can agitate even a learned personality like Brihaspati.

According to Vedic scripture, whenever a child is born there are some ceremonies known as jāta-karma and nāma-karana, in which learned brāhmanas, immediately after the birth of the child, make a horoscope according to astrological calculations. But the child to which Mamatā gave birth was begotten by Brihaspati irreligiously, for although Mamatā was the wife of Utathya, Brihaspati made her pregnant by force. Therefore Brihaspati became bhartā. According to Vedic culture, a wife is considered the property of her husband, and a son born by illicit sex is called dvāja. The common word still current in Hindu society for such a son is doglā, which refers to a son not begotten by the husband of his mother. In such a situation, it is difficult to give the child a name according to proper regulative principles. Mamatā, therefore, was perplexed, but the demigods gave the child the appropriate name Bharadvāja, which indicated that the child born illegitimately should be maintained by both Mamatā and Brihaspati.

From this verse it is understood that those who are rejected from the higher planetary system are given a chance to take birth in the most exalted families on this planet earth.