God Is Lord Ṛṣabhadeva - The Supreme Teacher of Austerity
Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that the Supreme Personality of Godhead descends to teach human society by His own personal example. Appearing as Lord Ṛṣabhadeva, the Lord demonstrated both the perfection of royal householder life and the ultimate extreme of spiritual renunciation, teaching that human life is meant exclusively for austerity and self-realization.
The Transcendental Incarnation
The Lord's appearances are not ordinary historical events. Śrīla Prabhupāda confirms that Lord Ṛṣabhadeva is a direct incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, possessing a fully spiritual body that is completely beyond material conception.
- Being an incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Rsabhadeva was fully independent because His form was spiritual, eternal and full of transcendental bliss.
- Being the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Rsabhadeva possessed a transcendental, spiritual body. Since the general public could not appreciate His behavior and mystic yoga practice, they began to disturb Him. To cheat them, He behaved like crows, cows and deer.
- We can easily understand the material body, but we cannot understand the spiritual body. Therefore Rsabhadeva says: idam sariram mama durvibhavyam.
- Lord Rsabhadeva's body is completely spiritual; therefore for a materialistic person, it is very difficult to understand.
The Ideal King and Householder
Before teaching renunciation, the Lord established the standard for worldly duties. Śrīla Prabhupāda describes how Lord Ṛṣabhadeva acted as the perfect monarch, ensuring that His citizens were completely satisfied and lacked nothing.
- The Supreme Lord, Rsabhadeva, understood that His kingdom was His field of activities. He therefore showed Himself as an example and taught the duties of a householder by first accepting brahmacarya under the direction of spiritual masters.
- Lord Rsabhadeva entered householder life and lived according to the principles of Vedic knowledge - sruti and smrti.
- During the reign of Maharaja Rsabhadeva, people were so well equipped that they did not want to ask for anything. They were immensely supplied with all necessities for life.
- They (people) were immensely supplied with all necessities for life due to King Rsabhadeva's good government. Consequently everyone felt full satisfaction and did not want anything. This is the perfection of government.
Instructing His Sons
To guide human society, the Lord left behind immortal teachings. Śrīla Prabhupāda highlights that Lord Ṛṣabhadeva gathered His one hundred highly qualified sons, headed by Bharata Mahārāja, to instruct them on the true purpose of human life.
- In this verse (SB 5.5.1) Lord Rsabhadeva tells His sons about the importance of human life. The word deha-bhak refers to anyone who accepts a material body, but the living entity who is awarded the human form must act differently from animals.
- Rsabhadeva clearly states that human life is not meant for this kind of existence, which is enjoyed even by dogs and hogs.
- Rsabhadeva tells His sons how they can be freed from the false identification arising from false ego and material conditional life.
- We are hankering after perpetual happiness, continued happiness. So Rsabhadeva advised, "My dear boys, you take to austerity." Tapo divyam yena suddhyet sattvam. - After you are purified, then brahma-saukhyam anantam, then you get unlimited happiness.
The Master of Mystic Power
The Supreme Lord possesses all perfections naturally. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that while ordinary yogīs struggle to attain minor mystic powers, Lord Ṛṣabhadeva completely rejected them, proving His absolute spiritual supremacy.
- King Rsabhadeva is an incarnation of the Supreme Lord, and therefore He was the original Bhagavan. Consequently He is described herein (SB 5.4.3) as yogesvara, which indicates that He has the most powerful spiritual potency.
- So-called yogis are therefore allured by the superficial material perfections of anima, laghima, prapti and so forth. Consequently ordinary yogis cannot compare to Lord Rsabhadeva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
- Lord Rsabhadeva refused to manifest mystic yogic perfections, and Maharaja Pariksit asked why He did not accept them, since, for a devotee, they are not at all disturbing.
- When the body becomes old, a perfect yogi can find a young, able body. Giving up his old body, the yogi can enter into the young body and act as he pleases. Being a plenary expansion of Lord Vasudeva, Lord Rsabhadeva possessed all these mystic yoga powers.
The Behavior of an Avadhūta
To completely sever ties with materialistic society, the Lord adopted a radical lifestyle. Śrīla Prabhupāda notes that Lord Ṛṣabhadeva wandered naked with disheveled hair, acting like a deaf and dumb madman so that the worldly public would leave Him alone.
- Lord Rsabhadeva was the head of all kings and emperors within this universe, but assuming the dress and language of an avadhuta, He acted as if dull and materially bound.
- Rsabhadeva, He became just like a madman, a deaf and dumb, a rascal, a fool, a ghost. But He is not madman. He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
- When Lord Rsabhadeva saw that the general populace was very antagonistic to His execution of mystic yoga, He accepted the behavior of a python in order to counteract their opposition.
- When Rsabhadeva saw that He was simply being disturbed by traveling throughout the world, He decided to lie down in one place like a python. Thus He ate, drank, and He passed stool and urine and smeared His body with them so that people would not disturb Him.
Aromatic Stool and Urine
Even when appearing dirty, the Lord's spiritual nature could not be hidden. Śrīla Prabhupāda points out that despite His unkempt behavior, Lord Ṛṣabhadeva's bodily waste was not material, but rather wonderfully aromatic, scenting the entire countryside.
- Lord Rsabhadeva was transcendentally blissful. His stool and urine were so completely different from material stool and urine that they were aromatic.
- We can take it for granted that in the spiritual world, stool and urine are also pleasantly scented. Indeed, the entire atmosphere became very pleasant due to Lord Rsabhadeva's stool and urine.
- King Arhat did not care for the fact that although Lord Rsabhadeva acted like a madman, His stool and urine were nonetheless aromatic, so much so that they nicely scented the countryside for miles around.
Unaffected by Insults and Fire
The Supreme Lord is entirely transcendental to material suffering. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that Lord Ṛṣabhadeva tolerated the insults of the public without disturbance, and ultimately allowed His apparent body to be consumed in a forest fire to demonstrate absolute detachment.
- He (Rsabhadeva) could tolerate people's throwing stool and dust upon Him and beating Him. His body was transcendental and consequently did not at all suffer pain. He was always situated in His spiritual bliss.
- Although Lord Rsabhadeva was maltreated by the bad elements of the world. He was not at all affected. Therefore it is stated here (SB 5.5.30). sva-mahima-avasthanena: "He was situated in His own glory." He was never saddened due to being insulted.
- While He (Rsabhadeva) was wandering about, a wild forest fire began. This fire was caused by the friction of bamboos, which were being blown by the wind. In that fire, the entire forest near Kutakacala and the body of Lord Rsabhadeva were burnt to ashes.
- A forest fire can burn the external bodies of animals, but Lord Rsabhadeva was not burned, although He apparently seemed so.
Attaining Perfection
The ultimate goal of studying the Lord's pastimes is to achieve liberation. Śrīla Prabhupāda concludes that by carefully hearing the instructions of Lord Ṛṣabhadeva and following His path of austerity, the conditioned soul can easily return back to Godhead.
- If one strictly follows the instructions of Rsabhadeva, he will certainly be liberated. Lord Rsabhadeva incarnated specifically to deliver these fallen souls.
- If one actually follows Rsabhadeva, he will certainly be delivered from the clutches of maya and return home, back to Godhead.
- The teachings of Lord Rsabhadeva are for the people of all yugas-Satya-yuga, Treta-yuga, Dvapara-yuga and especially Kali-yuga. These instructions are so powerful that even in this age of Kali one can attain perfection simply by explaining the instructions.
- This narration of Lord Rsabhadeva's pastimes is the reservoir of all auspicious things. Whoever attentively hears or speaks of them, following in the footsteps of the acaryas, will certainly attain unalloyed devotional service at the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Conclusion
To escape the miseries of material existence, one must thoroughly understand the teachings of the Supreme Lord. Śrīla Prabhupāda concludes that Lord Ṛṣabhadeva mercifully descended to establish the standard of human life, emphatically rejecting the path of sense gratification in favor of strict austerity (tapasya). By demonstrating the perfect execution of worldly duties as a king, and then the absolute detachment of an avadhūta mystic, Lord Ṛṣabhadeva proves that the ultimate goal of life is to completely spiritualize one's existence and attain the eternal, unalloyed bliss of serving the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Dive Deeper into Śrīla Prabhupāda's Vani
Śrīla Prabhupāda lives within his instructions. This article is a summary of the profound truths found in the Vaniquotes category God Is Lord Rsabhadeva. We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings in their direct, verbatim form.