KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.7.20
- Everything emanates from the ultimate source of the Personality of Godhead; it is understood in this verse that medical science was also inaugurated by the Personality of Godhead in His incarnation Dhanvantari, and thus this knowledge is recorded in the Vedas.
- The Vedas are the source of all knowledge, and thus knowledge in medical science is also there for the perfect cure of the diseases of the living entity.
- The embodied living entity is diseased by the very construction of his body. The body is the symbol of diseases.
- The disease may differ from one variety to another, but disease must be there just as there is birth and death for everyone.
- So, by the grace of the Personality of Godhead, not only are diseases of the body and mind cured, but also the soul is relieved of the constant repetition of birth and death.
- Therefore, the name of the Lord is also called bhavauṣadhi, or the source of curing the disease of material existence.
- Ayurveda is so powerful if you practice it properly it can even bring a dead person to life and an old man to become a young man. One example is in Canto 9 – story of Cyavana muni.. and the Aśvinī-kumāra brothers, the heavenly physicians. Cyavana muni requested them to give him youthful life, for they were able to do so. The Chyavanprash that we get in India is named after Cyavana muni.
- SB 9.3.9 – King Śaryāti, being very contemplative and thus understanding Cyavana Muni’s purpose, gave his daughter in charity to the sage.
- SB 9.3.10 – Cyavana Muni was very irritable, but since Sukanyā had gotten him as her husband, she dealt with him carefully, according to his mood. Knowing his mind, she performed service to him without being bewildered.
- This is an indication of the relationship between husband and wife. If any wife wants to be happy with her husband, she must try to understand her husband’s temperament and please him. This is victory for a woman.
- However great a woman may be, she must place herself before her husband in this way; that is to say, she must be ready to carry out her husband’s orders and please him in all circumstances. Then her life will be successful. When the wife becomes as irritable as the husband, their life at home is sure to be disturbed or ultimately completely broken.
- According to the Vedic law – there is no such thing as divorce, a woman must be trained to be submissive to the will of her husband. Westerners contend that this is a slave mentality for the wife, but factually it is not; it is the tactic by which a woman can conquer the heart of her husband, however irritable or cruel he may be.
- In this case we clearly see that although Cyavana Muni was not young but indeed old enough to be Sukanyā’s grandfather and was also very irritable, Sukanyā, the beautiful young daughter of a king, submitted herself to her old husband and tried to please him in all respects. Thus she was a faithful and chaste wife.
- A chaste woman will never accept any man other than her husband, even if there be someone equally as handsome and qualified.
SB 2.7.21 TRANSLATION:
The Lord in His incarnation of Dhanvantari very quickly cures the diseases of the ever-diseased living entities simply by His fame personified, and only because of Him do the demigods achieve long lives. Thus the Personality of Godhead becomes ever glorified. He also exacted a share from the sacrifices, and it is he only who inaugurated the medical science or the knowledge of medicine in the universe.
Purport
As stated in the beginning of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, everything emanates from the ultimate source of the Personality of Godhead; it is therefore understood in this verse that medical science or knowledge in medicine was also inaugurated by the Personality of Godhead in His incarnation Dhanvantari, and thus the knowledge is recorded in the Vedas. The Vedas are the source of all knowledge, and thus knowledge in medical science is also there for the perfect cure of the diseases of the living entity. The embodied living entity is diseased by the very construction of his body. The body is the symbol of diseases. The disease may differ from one variety to another, but disease must be there just as there is birth and death for everyone. So, by the grace of the Personality of Godhead, not only are diseases of the body and mind cured, but also the soul is relieved of the constant repetition of birth and death. The name of the Lord is also called bhavauṣadhi, or the source of curing the disease of material existence.
Dhanvantari appeared when the ocean of milk was churned by demigods and demons using the snake Vasuki as rope and the manmantara mountain as the axle.. And the lord as Kurma became the base on which the mountain stayed.. Many things came out of the churning of the milk ocean. Dhanvantarti came out as the celestial doctor. He treated everything with herbs and metals. He came out of the ocean with a kamandalu of nectar which was stolen by demons and the mohono murti took the nectar from the demons on the plea of equally distributing it to demons and demigods. She tricked and gave it only to demigods and not demons. What is interesting is the science of Ayurveda which was given by Dhanvantari.. Due to Dhanvantari, science is still prevalent today.. It is available in the book dhanvantari nighantu… Vedas are the source of all knowledge.. Even medical science is part of the vedas. Having Body itself is a state of disease. Ayurveda is so powerful if you practice it properly it can even bring a dead person to life and an old man to become a young man. One example is in Canto 9 – story of chayavana muni..
He is meditating in the forest and a king with his family goes on a pilgrimage and they go to the ashram.. King’s daughter sees a big mound and sees two glowing objects.. She pierces it with a thorn… blood comes out of it and she becomes scared and runs away.. As soon as the king’s daughter pierces the glowing object in the mound…every one who came there along with the king becomes constipated..
SB 9.3.4
As if induced by providence, the girl ignorantly pierced those two glowworms with a thorn, and when they were pierced, blood began to ooze out of them.
SB 9.3.5
Thereupon, all the soldiers of Śaryāti were immediately obstructed from passing urine and stool. Upon perceiving this, Śaryāti spoke to his associates in surprise.
SB 9.3.6
How strange it is that one of us has attempted to do something wrong to Cyavana Muni, the son of Bhṛgu. It certainly appears that someone among us has polluted this āśrama.
SB 9.3.7
Being very much afraid, the girl Sukanyā said to her father: I have done something wrong, for I have ignorantly pierced these two luminous substances with a thorn.
SB 9.3.8
After hearing this statement by his daughter, King Śaryāti was very much afraid. In various ways, he tried to appease Cyavana Muni, for it was he who sat within the hole of the earthworm.
SB 9.3.9
King Śaryāti, being very contemplative and thus understanding Cyavana Muni’s purpose, gave his daughter in charity to the sage. Thus released from danger with great difficulty, he took permission from Cyavana Muni and returned home
The King, after hearing the statement of his daughter, certainly told the great sage Cyavana Muni everything about how his daughter had ignorantly committed such an offense. The muni, however, inquired from the King whether the daughter was married. In this way, the King, understanding the purpose of the great sage Cyavana Muni (tad-abhiprāyam ājñāya), immediately gave the muni his daughter in charity and escaped the danger of being cursed. Thus with the permission of the great sage the King returned home.
SB 9.3.10
Cyavana Muni was very irritable, but since Sukanyā had gotten him as her husband, she dealt with him carefully, according to his mood. Knowing his mind, she performed service to him without being bewildered.
This is an indication of the relationship between husband and wife. A great personality like Cyavana Muni has the temperament of always wanting to be in a superior position. Such a person cannot submit to anyone. Therefore, Cyavana Muni had an irritable temperament. His wife, Sukanyā, could understand his attitude, and under the circumstances she treated him accordingly. If any wife wants to be happy with her husband, she must try to understand her husband’s temperament and please him. This is victory for a woman. Even in the dealings of Lord Kṛṣṇa with His different queens, it has been seen that although the queens were the daughters of great kings, they placed themselves before Lord Kṛṣṇa as His maidservants. However great a woman may be, she must place herself before her husband in this way; that is to say, she must be ready to carry out her husband’s orders and please him in all circumstances. Then her life will be successful. When the wife becomes as irritable as the husband, their life at home is sure to be disturbed or ultimately completely broken. In the modern day, the wife is never submissive, and therefore home life is broken even by slight incidents. Either the wife or the husband may take advantage of the divorce laws. According to the Vedic law, however, there is no such thing as divorce laws, and a woman must be trained to be submissive to the will of her husband. Westerners contend that this is a slave mentality for the wife, but factually it is not; it is the tactic by which a woman can conquer the heart of her husband, however irritable or cruel he may be. In this case we clearly see that although Cyavana Muni was not young but indeed old enough to be Sukanyā’s grandfather and was also very irritable, Sukanyā, the beautiful young daughter of a king, submitted herself to her old husband and tried to please him in all respects. Thus she was a faithful and chaste wife.
This is a lot of information that completely goes against the craw of the modern woman who wants to be equal, not submissive, quickly irritated, complaining and so forth and here we have an example of a really chaste woman who has an old husband who is irritable.. In this way she is victorious.
SB 9.3.11
Thereafter, some time having passed, the Aśvinī-kumāra brothers, the heavenly physicians, happened to come to Cyavana Muni’s āśrama. After offering them respectful obeisances, Cyavana Muni requested them to give him youthful life, for they were able to do so.
Ashwini kumaras are also ayurvedic doctors like Dhanvantari. They are lower in scale of powers and position. They are doctors of DemiGods.
The heavenly physicians like the Aśvinī-kumāras could give youthful life even to one who was advanced in age. Indeed, great yogīs, with their mystic powers, can even bring a dead body back to life if the structure of the body is in order. We have already discussed this in connection with Bali Mahārāja’s soldiers and their treatment by Śukrācārya. Modern medical science has not yet discovered how to bring a dead body back to life or bring youthful energy to an old body, but from these verses we can understand that such treatment is possible if one is able to take knowledge from the Vedic information. The Aśvinī-kumāras were expert in Āyur-veda, as was Dhanvantari. In every department of material science, there is a perfection to be achieved, and to achieve it one must consult the Vedic literature. The highest perfection is to become a devotee of the Lord. To attain this perfection, one must consult Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which is understood to be the ripe fruit of the Vedic desire tree (nigama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalam).
So some people want to read Vedas.. Ayurveda is explained in Atharva veda they want to read to learn how to heal people. But the real healing is SB.
SB 9.3.12
Cyavana Muni said: Although you are ineligible to drink soma-rasa in sacrifices, I promise to give you a full pot of it. Kindly arrange beauty and youth for me, because they are attractive to young women.
SB 9.3.13
The great physicians, the Aśvinī-kumāras, very gladly accepted Cyavana Muni’s proposal. Thus they told the brāhmaṇa, “Just dive into this lake of successful life.” [One who bathes in this lake has his desires fulfilled.]
There are certain waters elixirs for prolonging life. Have you heard of Chyavanprash? It was names after Chayavanamuni.. Ashwini kumaras gave chayvanprash to Chayavana muni.. Dabur claims to make real one.. Most of it is amla, ghee, gold.. That is why dhanvantaris nighantu gives a while list of herbs and metals and mantras to heal things. There are 3 levels of healings –
- Poisons – allopathic medicine.. Dosed in lighter versions to kill the diseases. This is asuric medicine
- Herbs – Ayurveda based on herbs – deva medicine
- Mantras – Transcendental medicine
SB 9.3.14
After saying this, the Aśvinī-kumāras caught hold of Cyavana Muni, who was an old, diseased invalid with loose skin, white hair, and veins visible all over his body, and all three of them entered the lake.
Cyavana Muni was so old that he could not enter the lake alone. Thus the Aśvinī-kumāras caught hold of his body, and the three of them entered the lake.
He is so old that he cannot even walk.. Grey hair,.loose skin…. He was a mess..
SB 9.3.15
Thereafter, three men with very beautiful bodily features emerged from the lake. They were nicely dressed and decorated with earrings and garlands of lotuses. All of them were of the same standard of beauty.
SB 9.3.16
The chaste and very beautiful Sukanyā could not distinguish her husband from the two Aśvinī-kumāras, for they were equally beautiful. Not understanding who her real husband was, she took shelter of the Aśvinī-kumāras.
Sukanyā could have selected any one of them as her husband, for one could not distinguish among them, but because she was chaste, she took shelter of the Aśvinī-kumāras so that they could inform her who her actual husband was. A chaste woman will never accept any man other than her husband, even if there be someone equally as handsome and qualified.
SB 9.8.17
The Aśvinī-kumāras were very pleased to see Sukanyā’s chastity and faithfulness. Thus they showed her Cyavana Muni, her husband, and after taking permission from him, they returned to the heavenly planets in their plane.
SB 9.8.18
Thereafter, King Śaryāti, desiring to perform a sacrifice, went to the residence of Cyavana Muni. There he saw by the side of his daughter a very beautiful young man, as bright as the sun.
SB 9.8.19
After receiving obeisances from his daughter, the King, instead of offering blessings to her, appeared very displeased and spoke as follows.
SB 9.8.20
O unchaste girl, what is this that you have desired to do? You have cheated the most respectable husband, who is honored by everyone, for I see that because he was old, diseased and therefore unattractive, you have left his company to accept as your husband this young man, who appears to be a beggar from the street.
This shows the values of Vedic culture. According to the circumstances, Sukanyā had been given a husband who was too old to be compatible with her. Because Cyavana Muni was diseased and very old, he was certainly unfit for the beautiful daughter of King Śaryāti. Nonetheless, her father expected her to be faithful to her husband. When he suddenly saw that his daughter had accepted someone else, even though the man was young and handsome, he immediately chastised her as asatī, unchaste, because he assumed that she had accepted another man in the presence of her husband. According to Vedic culture, even if a young woman is given an old husband, she must respectfully serve him. This is chastity. It is not that because she dislikes her husband she may give him up and accept another. This is against Vedic culture. According to Vedic culture, a woman must accept the husband given to her by her parents and remain chaste and faithful to him. Therefore King Śaryāti was surprised to see a young man by the side of Sukanyā.
Of Course in the Taliban they misuse the tradition and they marry young brides to old men and they kill any woman who is not chaste to her husband, they mutilate the genitals of the woman so she cannot experience any pleasure.. All these things are happening in muslims in Africa and the Taliban..