Canto 1 Chapter 15 Flashcards
- List some ways the Lord perfected His mood of friendship with Arjuna (4)
Lord’s dealings with Arjuna are displays of friendship of the highest perfect order. He was not only a well-wisher of Arjuna but actually a benefactor, and to make it still more perfect the Lord tied him into a family relationship by arranging Subhadrā’s marriage with him. And above all, the Lord agreed to become a chariot driver of Arjuna in order to protect His friend from warfare risks, and the Lord became actually happy when He established the Pāṇḍavas to rule over the world.
- Why did the Lord withdraw Arjuna’s special powers? (5)
The power and energy which were bestowed upon Arjuna were required for fulfillment of the mission of the Lord, but when His mission was fulfilled, the emergency powers were withdrawn from Arjuna because the astounding powers of Arjuna, which were astonishing even to the denizens of heaven, were no longer required, and they were not meant for going back home, back to Godhead
- List examples of the Lord’s showing favor to Arjuna and the Päëòavas (7-18)
- Explain how the cowherd men were able to defeat Arjuna. (20)
it was due to a curse by a muni, the Lord Himself kidnapped His wives from the protection of Arjuna, otherwise they would have at once vanished from the scene as soon as they were touched by the rogues.
- What is one consequence of disobedience to rules enacted by the Lord? (24)
Whenever, therefore, there is disobedience of the established rules enacted by the Lord, there is war between men and nations.
- How was Arjuna’s mind pacified? (28)
Arjuna began to think of the Lord’s instructions to him on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra. Only those instructions began to eliminate the tinges of material contamination in the mind of Arjuna. The Lord is like the sun; the sun’s appearance means immediate dissipation of darkness, or ignorance, and the Lord’s appearance within the mind of the devotee can at once drive away the miserable material effects.
- How did Süta Gosvämé give relief to the sages of Naimiñäraëya regarding the disappearance of the Yadu dynasty? (34)
To give them relief from this mental agony, Sūta Gosvāmī assured them that the Lord caused the members of the Yadu dynasty to relinquish their bodies by which they had to take away the burden of the world. The Lord and His eternal associates appeared on earth to help the administrative demigods in eradicating the burden of the world. He therefore called for some of the confidential demigods to appear in the Yadu family and serve Him in His great mission. After the mission was fulfilled, the demigods, by the will of the Lord, relinquished their corporeal bodies by fighting amongst themselves in the madness of intoxication.
- In what way is the Lord like a magician? (35)
The magician shows by his tricks that he is cut to pieces, burnt to ashes or made unconscious by hypnotic influences, but all are false shows only. Factually the magician himself is neither burnt to ashes nor cut to pieces, nor is he dead or unconscious at any stage of his magical demonstration. Similarly, the Lord has His eternal forms of unlimited variety, of which the fish incarnation, as was exhibited within this universe, is also one.
- How can one neutralize the effects of Kali? (36)
One can neutralize the effects of Kali by keeping oneself fully under the supreme care of the Personality of Godhead. The Age of Kali ensued just after the Battle of Kurukṣetra, but it could not exert its influence because of the presence of the Lord.
- Explain what lessons can be drawn from Mahäräja Yudhiñöhira’s retirement (37-44)
- Why was the king of Hastinäpura accepted as the emperor of the world? (38)
The only reason is that the people of the world were happy because of the good administration of the emperor. The happiness of the citizens was due to the ample production of natural produce such as grains, fruits, milk, herbs, valuable stones, minerals and everything that the people needed. They were even free from all bodily miseries, anxieties of mind, and disturbances caused by natural phenomena and other living beings. Because everyone was happy in all respects, there was no resentment, although there were sometimes battles between the state kings for political reasons and supremacy. Everyone was trained to attain the highest goal of life, and therefore the people were also enlightened enough not to quarrel over trivialities.
- Explain the difference between the Päëòavas and Vidura (49)
The difference between the Pāṇḍavas and Vidura is that the Pāṇḍavas are eternal associates of the Lord, the Personality of Godhead, whereas Vidura is one of the administrative demigods in charge of the Pitṛloka planet and is known as Yamarāja.
