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Mahendra means

Lectures

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Mahendra means the king of heaven.
Lecture on SB 1.5.8-9 -- New Vrindaban, May 24, 1969:

Just like our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, it is improving. Kṛṣṇa giving us all facilities. We have no power. But we are trying to discharge the duty sincerely. Then it is everything. There is no problem. Viśvaṁ pūrṇa-sukhāyate. And vidhi-mahendrādiś ca kīṭāyate. And when a person is fully Kṛṣṇa conscious, he knows what is what. He knows what this learned scholar is. He knows what is this. Vidhi-mahendra. What to speak of ordinary scholars and big men. Vidhi, vidhi means Lord Brahmā, and mahendra means the king of heaven. So they are also treated as ordinary human being or ordinary living entities. They are not given any importance. "Well, as..." Ābrahma-bhuvana-stham. Ābrahma. For a devotee, as Brahmā is also living entity, a small ant is also living entity, all Kṛṣṇa's parts and parcels. They have no quarrel with anybody. As Kṛṣṇa's part and parcel, we offer respect to everyone. So not that they are amazed with the greatness of a living entity. He thinks that his greatness is due to Kṛṣṇa's favor. Because Kṛṣṇa said in the Bhagavad-gītā, yad yad vibhūtimat sattvaṁ tat tad eva mama tejo 'ṁśa-sambhavam. Nobody can become great unless... Just like the sunshine. The sunshine, what is the sunshine? It is simply a partial reflection of Kṛṣṇa's brahma-jyotir. Similarly anyone who is great in the estimation of this material world, there is some Kṛṣṇa's favor. That's all. Yad yad vibhūtimat sattvaṁ tat tad eva mama tejo 'ṁśa-sambhavam.

Mahendra means the king of heaven, Indradeva.
Lecture on SB 1.8.31 -- Mayapura, October 11, 1974:

And what is the other? Now, vidhi-mahendrādiś ca kīṭāyate. I was going to come to this point. Vidhi-mahendrādiś ca kīṭāyate. Vidhi means Brahmā, and mahendra means the king of heaven, Indradeva. Such, such, big, big men, what to speak of these Churchill or Subhash Bose or... These big, big, they're kīṭāyate. Kīṭāyate means a devotee thinks this Brahmā and Indra exactly like these insect. That is the conception. So that is actually the fact. Everyone... It is the relative world. Relatively, it looks very gorgeous, but the actually... Just like proportionate. You put five upon ten, and five millions upon ten millions. The ratio is the same, half. Similarly, these big, big men, these big, big politicians, they are struggling exactly like the insect. The whole life, they struggle. And in the morning, at a certain time, they're heap, heaps of dead body. That's all. We have seen it in Calcutta. When there was Hindu-Muslim riot, they fought, and in Bhag Bazaar there were heaps of dead bodies. And when it is dead body, nobody could understand who is Hindu and who is Muslim. Simply it was to be cleared from the road. So our position is like that.

Mahendra means this maghavat—here it is said—means Indra.
Lecture on SB 5.5.21-22 -- Vrndavana, November 9, 1976:

So in this way, varieties of life, beginning from the insects and the aquatics, animal, up to the point of Lord Brahmā. But they are all within this material world. It does not mean because the Gandharvas, Siddhas, they have got higher standard of life and power hundreds and thousands times more than our power, do not think that they are liberated persons. They are not liberated person. They are all conditioned soul. Ā-brahma-bhuvanāl lokān punar āvartino arjuna. All these conditioned soul, according to karma, they are getting different types of body. One has got the body of an ant, and one has got the body of Brahmā, Lord Brahmā. But that is not our aim. Our aim is how to avoid this material body. For that purpose, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Not that "I have got now the body of an ant. Let me get the body of Brahmā or Indra or in a Siddhaloka." This is not gain.

Therefore those who are devotees, they do not care either for Brahmā or for the ant. They do not care. Kaivalyaṁ narakāyate tridaśa-pūr ākāśa puṣpāyate, vidhi-mahendrādiś ca kīṭāyate. For a devotee... Vidhi means Lord Brahmā, and Mahendra means this maghavat—here it is said—means Indra. So for a devotee they treat equally either Brahmā or Indra kīṭāvat, just like an ant, because they know that he may be Brahmā, he may be Indra, but he has got this material body; one small insect, it has got material body.

kaivalyaṁ narakāyate tridaśa-pūr ākāśa puṣpāyate
durdāntendriya kāla-sarpa-paṭalī proṭkhāta-daṁstrāyate
vidhi-mahendrādiś ca kīṭāyate viśvaṁ pūrnaṁ-sukhāyate
yat kārunya-katākṣa vaibhavavātaṁ gauram eva stumaḥ

This is a verse by Prabodānanda Sarasvatī. He gives his opinion that if one is favored by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, yat katākṣa vaibhavavātaṁ gauram eva stumaḥ: "I am offering my respectful obeisances to Lord Caitanya because little glance of His mercy creates this situation." What is that? Kaivalyaṁ narakāyate. The people are very anxious to merge into kaivalya, brahma-jyotir, only spirit. So for them that kaivalya is naraka, hell. Kaivalyaṁ narakāyate. And tridaśa-pūr ākāśa puṣpāyate. Tridaśa-pūr means the heavenly planets, where the demigods, as it is described, the Gandharvas, Kinnaras, Siddhas, they live.

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

Mahendra means Lord Indra.
The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 6, 1973:

A slight attachment for this material world will oblige him to take another birth. If the mind is absorbed in karma or material comfort, then Kṛṣṇa will give you, "All right. You take this work again." Even great yogis, because they think of material comforts, they are called bhraṣṭa. Yoga-bhraṣṭaḥ sañjāyate. Śucīnāṁ śrīmatām. Although the facility is given to take birth in the family of high brāhmaṇa or high, rich man, but it is material. It is material life. And one who becomes perfectly Kṛṣṇa conscious, he hasn't got to. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti (BG 4.9). He is immediately transferred to Kṛṣṇa.

But people are enamored by this material life to have high parentage, janmaiśvarya-śruta-śrī (SB 1.8.26). They are enamored by these things. "I must have birth in high family, in brāhmaṇa family, in king's family, in heavenly planet, in demigod's family." They think this is life. But a devotee knows, "No, this is not life." For devotee... Vidhi-mahendrādiś ca kīṭāyate. What to speak of this rich family or that family or brāhmaṇa family? Vidhi-mahendrādiś ca kīṭāyate. Even vidhi... Vidhi means Lord Brahma, and mahendra means Lord Indra. They are also considered, "What? They are insects, a pāpa living entity, just like ordinary insects." That is the position. The devotee is richest. Just like somebody... We were discussing. Somebody was speaking about me that "You are richest." Yes, I am richest. Why not richest? Because a devotee does not care liberation. Kaivalyaṁ narakāyate. The jñānīs are after merging into the Brahman effulgence. A devotee thinks, "What is this Brahman effulgence?" Narakāyate tri-daśa-pūr ākāśa-puṣpāyate. And the heavenly planet, that is phantasmagoria. What is this? Durdāntendriya-kāla-sarpa-paṭalī protkhāta-daṁṣṭrāyate. And the yogis, they are trying to subjugate the indriyas. But for devotees, although the indriyas are just like serpent, the poison teeth have been taken away. Because the devotees' indriyas-hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanam (CC Madhya 19.170)—that is now differently engaged.

Initiation Lectures

Mahendra means the greatest king within this universe.
Initiations -- New York, July 26, 1971:

Prabhupāda: Viṣṇugadā. You know Viṣṇu has got the club? Śaṅkha cakra gadā padma. Gadā, the club. So you are that. You have to punish all the demons.

Aravinda: Mahendra.

Prabhupāda: Mahendra. Mahā-indra. Mahā-indra is the heavenly king. Yas tu indra-gopa-mahā indra. There are two kinds of indra. One is a small insect which is called indra-gopa, and beginning from this indra up to the mahā-indra, the king of heaven, they are all under the reaction of fruitive activities. Yas tv indra-gopa-mahendra-mahā-sva-karma-phala-bhājanam āta... Everyone is enjoying and suffering the result of his fruitive activities. Karmāṇi nirdahati kintu ca bhakti-bhājām (Bs. 5.54). But those who are in devotional service, they have no reaction of their work because they do not work for themselves. They are for Kṛṣṇa. Therefore there is no reaction. So Mahendra means the greatest king within this universe. So because he is representative of Kṛṣṇa, therefore we accept him as one of the devotees. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Philosophy Discussions

Mahendra means the king of heaven, Indra.
Philosophy Discussion on Henri Bergson:

Hayagrīva: But that's not the purpose of the universe.

Prabhupāda: Everything is the... I am human being, you are human being, but you are in better position. So demigods, they are, on account of their higher qualities, they are in sattva-guṇa, and here raja-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. So..., but as soon we are not subjected to any guṇa, either sattva-guṇa, raja-guṇa, tamo-guṇa, we are transcendental. So if we keep ourselves in that transcendental position, that is engaged in devotional service, then we are above this all, sattva-guṇa, raja-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. That is wanted. Then that is called mukti, muktir hitvānyathā rūpam. We are contaminated or conditioned on account of association with these three modes of material nature, and if we keep ourself aloof from the association of three modes then we are mukta, we are liberated. That is devotional service.

Hayagrīva: Higher, higher than the demigods?

Prabhupāda: Yes. What is the demigods? They are also rotting in this material world. So devotees are not concerned how to become a demigod. They do not care. That is said by Prabodānanda Sarasvatī: vidhi-mahendrādiś ca kīṭāyate. Vidhi means Lord Brahmā, and mahendra means the king of heaven, Indra. So he says, "I think this Brahmā and Indra, Candra, the demigods just like as good as the germs and small insects." He says that. Vidhi-mahendrādiś. You have to attain such a position that you think this Brahmā and Indra and demigods, they are as good as the insects. Vidhi-mahendrādiś ca kīṭa. Kīṭa means a small insect. So actually that is the position. Everyone has got a different type of body according to his karma, either Brahmā's body or ant's body, so he is under material laws. So that is not the position of freedom. One has to become above these material laws. That is brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā (BG 18.54). So anyone who has actually attained that position, what is the importance of Brahmā's body or Indra's body? He is not concerned with the body, just, therefore devotees are not interested to be elevated to the higher planetary system in the heaven. They are not interested.

Page Title:Mahendra means
Compiler:Visnu Murti
Created:03 of Nov, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=6, Con=0, Let=0
No. of Quotes:6