Dhenukasur's Fate

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata, 6 December 2020, part 3

Question: There are many stories in Krishna Book where Krishna and Balaram fight against various enemies and demons. I wanted to ask if you could tell about Dhenukasura and the meaning of this pastime?

There was one forest called Talvan were so many tal trees grew. One day, Krishna and Baladev went there and started shaking all the trees like mad elephants, as a result of which all the fruits fell down from the trees on the ground. When Dhenukasur, who lived in that forest, saw it, he became very upset—shouting madly, he kicked Baladev in the chest. Then, Baladev caught Dhenukasur's two hind legs with His one hand, swirled him very hard and then smashed him to death against a tree. Dhenukasur represents envy, matsaryata. It is written in Srimad Bhagavatam also that nobody went to that forest because all the trees bore a curse from a previous life (it means, those tree had a human body before, but because they did not use their body for the service of the Lord, they were cursed and born in that forest as trees).

This is an example for all of us. Somebody has a capacity to do arati with ghee, somebody does not have that capacity and uses oil. If you have the means, you must make arati with ghee—if you have the means (the capacity) to spend money for the Lord, you must do it. Otherwise, Srimad Bhagavatam says, you will reap the fate of those trees that were cursed and had to be born in a forest where not even birds or beasts entered, only some demon donkey lived there. When Krishna entered that forest, He rescued those trees by taking their fruit.

...We also make different things from tal (tal bara, etc.), and we have two tal trees in our temple—one in front of the nat mandir, and another one in front of Gurudev's house.

গর্দ্দভের মত আমি করি পরিশ্রম ।
কার লাগি' এত করি না ঘুচিল ভ্রম ॥

gardabhera mata ami kari parisrama
kara lagi' eta kari, na ghuchila bhrama

I toil laboriously like a donkey. For whom am I doing this? Still my illusion has not been dispelled.

We chant this in one of the songs. It says that we always work for our family, for our children, for our own things, we work the whole day and night, but what for do we need so many things? What for do we do that? Only to eat well, to sleep well—for that? That is why it is said we work like a donkey (gadha), it means a lack of knowledge.

জড়বিদ্যা যয়, মায়ার বৈভব,
তোমার ভজনে বাধা ।
মোহ জনমিয়া অনিত্য সংসারে,
জীবকে করিয়ে গাধা ॥

jada-vidya yata, mayara vaibhava,
tomara bhajane badha
moha janamiya, anitya samsare,
jivake karaye gadha

"All mundane learning is a manifestation of illusion (maya) and an obstacle to Your service. It brings about infatuation with the temporary world and turns the soul into an ass."

(Saranagati, 3.3)

These are Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur's words. No matter how much intelligence you may have, if you do not follow Krishna consciousness, then all your education has no value. It is zero value. You can be highly educated, you can be a great scholar, lecturer, teacher, or a professor, but all this has no value if you do not bow down your head at the lotus feet of the Lord or the Lord's devotees. If you do not follow Krishna consciousness, then all your great intelligence, all your great education has no value—you will be like a gadha (donkey). Again, these are Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur's words—if I say "gadha" to anybody, they will not accept it. Srila Gurudev said that Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad, because he was an old man, he could always say, "Gadha (donkey)! Mudha (fool)!" Srila Prabhupad always used the word "rascal" in front of his disciples ("You are rascals!").

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