Skip to main content

bahvarambhe laghu kriya: Chanakya Niti explanation by Srila Prabhupada

In this blog I am going to present some Chanakya niti and I was thinking about explaining them. Then I thought who could be a better person to explain than Srila Prabhupada. So I searched for Srila Prabhupada’s explanations of Chanakya niti. There are many wonderful explanations of Srila Prabhupada in his lectures and books. I chose one such to present in this blog. When you hear the explanations from Srila Prabhupada they are very very sweet; giving his own personal experiences into it. We will be able to appreciate the subject in a much better way. I am going to present one sloka of Chanakya niti quoted by Srila Prabhupada which I really laughed to myself when I read the explanation of Prabhupada on it. 

rsi sraddha aja yuddhe
prabhate megha garjane
dampatya kalahe caiva
bahvarambhe laghu kriya

TRANSLATION
“The funeral ceremony of a sage who died in the forest, a fight between two goats, a thunder clap in the morning, a quarrel between husband and wife-all begin in grand style but the outcome is insignificant.”

Below is an excerpt from a lecture transcript of Srila Prabhupada. I am highlighting those sentences which are the “Prabhupada touch”.
…………………………………….
What is the use of keeping big, big paraphernalia? bahvarambhe laghu kriya. Arambha, arrangement is very big, but work is no, no work. What is the use of keeping useless machine? So that is going on. In the material world, everything is bahvarambhe laghu kriya. That has been spoken by Chanakya Pandita. Aja yuddhe muni sraddhe. Ajah means goats. You have seen goat fighting? As if, though, two big, big heroes are fighting. But as soon as somebody comes: "Hut!" they'll go away. Have you seen, experienced? Goats and lambs, they'll fight: (makes sound:) "Onh, onnh." Like this. But, as soon somebody comes: "Hut!" So this is one of the example of bahvarambhe laghu kriya. 

Arambha, as if something very serious is going to happen. But actually it is non-significant. Aja yuddhe muni shraddhe. In the forest, there are munis. So they are arranging for some festivals to offer oblations to the forefathers, shraddha. So what they have got? They have got some fruits and leaves. That's all. So the arrangement may be that "Tomorrow, we are going to have this festival." But the festival means some leaves and some water. That's all. No utensils, no gold, no jewels, nothing of the sort. So this is another bahvarambhe laghu kriya. Arrangement is very big, but fact is nothing. 

And dampatya kalahe caiva. And fight between or quarrel between husband and wife. In India, there is no question of divorce. So nobody takes very serious care when there is fight between husband and wife. So there also: "I'm going to immediately leave you, going to kill you..." and so many things. But after an hour, everything is finished. No more quarrel. prabhate megha-garjane. And in the morning, if you see big cloud assembly and thundering sound, but you rest assured. There will be no rain in the morning. So these things are bahvarambhe laghu kriya. Arambha, beginning is very gorgeous. But end is nothing. 
…………………………………………..
Srila Prabhupada says at another place that whenever there is a fight between husband and wife it should be neglected. If you understand that in front of the door two goats are fighting, you don’t care for it. And muni is performing the sraddha ceremony of his dead father in the forest. The expenditure is nothing. Just some flowers and fruits and in the forest you haven’t got to pay anything for flowers and fruits. It is not to be taken seriously. And in the morning if there is a thundering sound in the cloud you should know it will not rain. That means you can neglect it. 

Similarly, whenever there is fight between husband and wife, you should take like that. Don't take it seriously. Let them fight for some time. They will stop it automatically. But in the modern civilization, the husband and wife quarrel is taken so seriously that immediately they go to the court and there is filing of divorce, and the combination, the married life, dissolved, and both are unhappy. And the lawyers give encouragement. “Yes, let us go to the divorce court.” This is going on. 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My learnings from Chanakya's Niti-sastra

The other day being interested to read, I downloaded a copy of Chanakya-niti-sastra from ISKCON desire tree. It is a very nice translation by one of ISKCON devotees, a disciple of Srila Prabhupada. The reason I wanted to learn Chanakya niti is because firstly Srila Prabhupada used to quote Chanakya pandit many times in his lectures. We know the most quoted ones are matravat para daresu paradravesu lostravat…, ayusah ksana ekopi na labhyah svarna-kotibhih..,putra hinam grham sunyam etc. In Srila Prabhupada lectures and books we can see numerous places where Prabhupada quotes moral principles mentioning Chanakya pandit. The author of this translation also mentions in the introduction that Srila Prabhupada had expressed a desire that Sri Chanakya Niti-Sastra be properly translated into English. Secondly why I wanted to read this book is that devotees are expected to be intelligent even in worldly dealings. We see even our acharyas like Srila Rupa gosvami, Sanatana gosvami, Jiva g...
2 comments
Read more

How they'll be able to accept the great philosophy? It requires cool brain

Prabhupada: So one side, there is no rain; one side, there is no rice, especially in India; and one side, heavy tax. So they'll be all confused. They have already become confused. So in the confusion state it will be very difficult to make them Krishna conscious. Therefore preliminary help should be given. Visnujana: Preliminary. Prabhupada: Yes. That they should not be in chaos and confusion. Otherwise, how the brain will work? Visnujana: Yes. No one can give rapt attention without peace of mind. Prabhupada: Yes, yes. Our main aim is how to give them Krishna consciousness. But if they are already disturbed in every respect, then how they'll take it? Therefore we are taking these subjects, to help him to come to the Krishna consciousness. And this is the method-varnasrama. Visnujana: ...This is the most auspicious work for now, is this remedial measure to stop the chaos in the world? Prabhupada: Yes. Visnujana: That's most auspicious. Prabhupada: Most auspicious. Because...
Post a Comment
Read more