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Family of devotees

Srimad-Bhagavatam

SB Canto 1

SB 1.8.11, Translation and Purport:

Sūta Gosvāmī said: Having patiently heard her words, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is always very affectionate to His devotees, could at once understand that Aśvatthāmā, the son of Droṇācārya, had thrown the brahmāstra to finish the last life in the Pāṇḍava family.

The Lord is impartial in every respect, but still He is inclined towards His devotees because there is a great necessity of this for everyone's wellbeing. The Pāṇḍava family was a family of devotees, and therefore the Lord wanted them to rule the world. That was the reason He vanquished the rule of the company of Duryodhana and established the rule of Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira. Therefore, He also wanted to protect Mahārāja Parīkṣit, who was lying in embryo. He did not like the idea that the world should be without the Pāṇḍavas, the ideal family of devotees.

SB 1.19.5, Purport:

All these planets are eternally situated in the spiritual sky, the paravyoma, which is on the other side of the Causal Ocean within the mahat-tattva. Mahārāja Parīkṣit was already aware of all this information due to his accumulated piety and birth in a high family of devotees, Vaiṣṇavas, and thus he was not at all interested in the material planets. Modern scientists are very eager to reach the moon by material arrangements, but they cannot conceive of the highest planet of this universe. But a devotee like Mahārāja Parīkṣit does not care a fig for the moon or, for that matter, any of the material planets. So when he was assured of his death on a fixed date, he became more determined in the transcendental loving service of Lord Kṛṣṇa by complete fasting on the bank of the transcendental River Yamunā, which flows down by the capital of Hastināpura (in the Delhi state).

SB 1.19.14, Purport:

Mahārāja Parīkṣit, although born in a family of great devotees, the Pāṇḍavas, and although securely trained in transcendental attachment for the association of the Lord, still found the allurement of mundane family life so strong that he had to be detached by a plan of the Lord. Such direct action is taken by the Lord in the case of a special devotee. Mahārāja Parīkṣit could understand this by the presence of the topmost transcendentalists in the universe. The Lord resides with His devotees, and therefore the presence of the great saints indicated the presence of the Lord. The King therefore welcomed the presence of the great ṛṣis as a mark of favor of the Supreme Lord.

SB Canto 2

SB 2.4.1, Purport:

To become a pure devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa, two things are very much essential, namely having a chance to be born in the family of a devotee and having the blessings of a bona fide spiritual master. By the grace of Lord Kṛṣṇa, Parīkṣit Mahārāja had both opportunities. He was born in a family of such devotees as the Pāṇḍavas, and just to continue the dynasty of the Pāṇḍavas and show them special favor, the Lord specifically saved Mahārāja Parīkṣit, who later on, by the arrangement of the Lord, was cursed by the boy of a brāhmaṇa and was able to get the association of such a spiritual master as Śukadeva Gosvāmī. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is said that a fortunate person, by the mercy of the spiritual master and Lord Kṛṣṇa, achieves the path of devotional service.

SB 2.4.1, Purport:

This was perfectly applicable in the case of Mahārāja Parīkṣit. By way of being born in a family of devotees, he automatically came in touch with Kṛṣṇa, and after being so contacted he constantly remembered Him. Consequently Lord Kṛṣṇa gave the King a further chance for development in devotional service by introducing him to Śukadeva Gosvāmī, a stalwart devotee of the Lord with perfect knowledge in self-realization. And by hearing from a bona fide spiritual master, he was perfectly able to concentrate his chaste mind further upon Lord Kṛṣṇa, as a matter of course.

SB 2.7.49, Purport:

The Lord is so kind that even if a devotee of the Lord cannot fulfill the complete course of devotional service unalloyed and uncontaminated by material association, he is given another chance in the next life by being awarded a birth in the family of a devotee or rich man so that without being engaged in the struggle for material existence the devotee can finish the remaining purification of his existence and thus immediately, after relinquishing the present body, go back home, back to Godhead. This is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā.

In this connection detailed information is available in the Bhagavat-sandarbha of Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī Prabhupāda. Once achieving the spiritual existence, the devotee is eternally situated there, as already discussed in the previous verse.

SB Canto 3

SB 3.2.2, Purport:

An eternally liberated soul is a devotee of the Lord who never forgets Him. Human life is meant for reviving one's eternal relation with the Lord, and all religious injunctions are meant for awakening this dormant instinct of the living entity. The sooner this awakening is brought about, the quicker the mission of human life is fulfilled. In a good family of devotees, the child gets the opportunity to serve the Lord in many ways. A soul who is already advanced in devotional service has the opportunity to take birth in such an enlightened family. This is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā (6.41). Śucīnāṁ śrīmatāṁ gehe yoga-bhraṣṭo 'bhijāyate: even the fallen devotee gets the opportunity to take his birth in the family of a well-situated brāhmaṇa or in a rich, well-to-do mercantile family. In both these families there is a good opportunity to revive one's sense of God consciousness automatically because particularly in these families the worship of Lord Kṛṣṇa is regularly performed and the child gets the opportunity to imitate the process of worship called arcanā.

SB Canto 4

SB 4.24.56, Purport:

Such an opportunity is not given to the karmīs and jñānīs, whose achievements are destroyed. The bhakta's achievement is never destroyed, for it goes on perpetually, be it complete or incomplete. This is the verdict of all Vedic literatures. Śucīnāṁ śrīmatāṁ gehe yoga-bhraṣṭo'bhijāyate (BG 6.41). If one is unable to complete the process of bhakti-yoga, he is given a chance in his next life to take birth in a pure family of devotees or in a rich family. In such families a person can have a good opportunity to further progress in devotional service.

Other Books by Srila Prabhupada

Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead

Krsna Book 88:

That is the difference between the demons and the devotees, or the worshipers of Lord Śiva and the worshipers of Lord Viṣṇu.

While Śukadeva Gosvāmī was narrating the history of Vṛkāsura, he addressed Mahārāja Parīkṣit as Bhārata, referring to King Parīkṣit's birth in a family of devotees. Mahārāja Parīkṣit was saved by Lord Kṛṣṇa while in his mother's womb. Later, he could have asked Lord Kṛṣṇa to save him again, from the curse of a brāhmaṇa, but he did not do so. The demon, however, wanted to become immortal by killing everyone with the touch of his hand. Lord Śiva could understand this, but because he had promised, he gave him the benediction.

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 6.40-42 -- New York, September 16, 1966:

Athavā yoginām eva kule bhavati dhīmatām (BG 6.42). He's given the chance of being born in such good family. Etaddhi durlabhataram. Now this kind of birth, in a family of devotee and yogi, is very, I mean to say, rare, and it is far better than the other two lives, to have birth in rich family or in pious family. Actually, they are acting. Just like when a boy is born of a father who is a medical man... We have seen it. So naturally he becomes a medical man. Because he sees his father and the inclination inherits. In that way, in the Indian caste system, originally it was a division. But because the son imitated the father, in this way, it has come to be a caste system by birth. So anyway, these chances are given. The purport is that we, everyone, every man should begin spiritual life.

Lecture on BG 6.41 -- Detroit, July 17, 1971:

Not only your human form of life is guaranteed, but also in a better house, in a better family.

So these children who are born in our Kṛṣṇa consciousness Society, they are those children, those who could not finish Kṛṣṇa consciousness last life. They have been given to take birth in the family of devotee husband and wife; therefore he's playing karatāla. Otherwise it is not possible. He had practice in his last life; therefore he's quickly... He had got the chance. Again he's remembering and playing. This is the fact. So we have to study from the śāstric vision. Śāstra-cakṣuṣāt. How you'll see? You'll see through the authority, scriptures. So these are the statements of authoritative scriptures. Śucīnāṁ śrīmatāṁ gehe. So this child is born of a devotee father and devotee mother. Now he'll again begin from the point where he lost last life. Suppose Kṛṣṇa consciousness he executed fifty percent. So he'll begin from this life fifty-one percent. That fifty percent was in his stock. But ordinary karmīs—cent percent lost.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 2.4.2 -- Los Angeles, June 25, 1972:

On page 170. "To become a pure devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa, two things are very much essential, namely having a chance of being born in the family of a devotee and having the blessings of a bona fide spiritual master. By the grace of Lord Kṛṣṇa, Parīkṣit Mahārāja had both opportunities. He was born in a family of such devotees as the Pāṇḍavas, and just to continue the dynasty of the Pāṇḍavas and show them special favor, the Lord specifically saved Mahārāja Parīkṣit, who later on, by the arrangement of the Lord, was cursed by the boy of a brāhmaṇa and was able to get the association of such a spiritual master as Śukadeva Gosvāmī. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is said that a fortunate person, by the mercy of the spiritual master and Lord Kṛṣṇa, achieves the path of devotional service. This was perfectly applicable in the case of Mahārāja Parīkṣit. By way of being born in a family of devotees, he automatically came in touch with Kṛṣṇa, and after being so contacted he constantly remembered Him.

Lecture on SB 2.4.2 -- Los Angeles, June 25, 1972:

His kingdom, his everything." Therefore people are afraid to take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. "Oh, we shall be lost of everything. Even up to life." This is the example of Parīkṣit Mahārāja. Parīkṣit Mahārāja... (reads purport) "To become a pure devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa, two things are very much essential, namely having a chance of being born in the family of a devotee and having the blessings of a bona fide spiritual master." So Parīkṣit Mahārāja had both blessings.

He, from the very childhood, from the womb of his mother, he was Kṛṣṇa conscious. And he had the opportunity of taking birth in a family where every member was Kṛṣṇa conscious, especially his grandfather Arjuna. So that chance was there. From the very beginning of his life, he was given the chance of worshiping Kṛṣṇa Deity. Not only that. He was king. Śucīnāṁ śrīmatāṁ gehe yoga-bhraṣṭo 'bhijāyate (BG 6.41). Yoga-bhraṣṭa means one who falls down from the path of spiritual advancement.

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, December 28, 1972:

That you have to prepare in this life. If you prepare yourself in this life to go back to home, back to Godhead, you go back to home, back to Godhead. If you prepare your, this life as a crocodile, then you become a crocodile. So God is very kind. Ye yathā māṁ prapadyante (BG 4.11). So it is your business to what kind of body you are going to get next. Just like the example I was giving last night. That we are staying in this room, and suppose after a month we have to give it up. So we must find out another apartment. It may be better or it may be lower. There is no guarantee. But if we can arrange, we can better apartment than this. And if we cannot, we may go to hellish apartment. This is the way. But for the devotee, at least it is guaranteed that he gets next life as a human being. Not only human being, but in the family of a devotee, or in the family of rich man. These alternatives are there. Then?

Conversations and Morning Walks

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- June 8, 1976, Los Angeles:

Duryodhana-guru: Śrīla Prabhupāda, in Bhagavad-gītā it is said śucīnāṁ śrīmatāṁ gehe yoga-bhraṣṭo 'bhijāyate (BG 6.41). So, for somebody who is now a disciple of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, are we to understand if he is not born in a family of devotees and if he is not born in an aristocratic family, that he was not a yogi in his past life?

Prabhupāda: Eh? Past life, they had some good deeds. Therefore they have come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. It is called ajñāta-sukṛti. Besides that, whatever he may be in the past life, the movement is there, it is open for everyone. Everyone can come and take advantage, despite whatever he did in his past life. It doesn't matter. If he comes and if he is fortunate, if he chants, then he becomes advanced.

Correspondence

1969 Correspondence

Letter to Balai -- Los Angeles 21 July, 1969:

In this way both the husband and wife are true benefactors for one another and there is no question of any serious conflicts or separation. So I am sure that to have such nice parents who are devotees of Lord Krishna, your child Nandini is very, very fortunate. In Bhagavad-gita Krishna instructs us that for one to be born in the family of devotees means that such person was the most pious of all living entities. So raise Nandini very carefully in Krishna Consciousness, and surely Krishna will bestow all blessings upon you and your family. Regarding your question about the ceremony of offering Srimad-Bhagavatam and some coins to your child, yes, this may be done. Several months ago this same ceremony was performed with Visnu Arti, the daughter of Krishna Devi and Dinesh Candra, and Visnu Arti chose the Bhagavatam.

Page Title:Family of devotees
Compiler:Visnu Murti, RupaManjari
Created:15 of Jan, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=8, CC=0, OB=1, Lec=5, Con=1, Let=1
No. of Quotes:16