Assignment| Satsang | Life Lessons from King Vena

Quarter 1 | Week 2,3 and 4 (9th June-29th June)

King Aṅga’s Detachment (SB 4.13.43-47)

Text 43: The King thought to himself: Persons who have no son are certainly fortunate.
They must have worshiped the Lord in their previous lives so that they would not have to
suffer the unbearable unhappiness caused by a bad son.

Text 44: A sinful son causes a person’s reputation to vanish. His irreligious activities at
home cause irreligion and quarrel among everyone, and this creates only endless anxiety.

Text 45: Who, if he is considerate and intelligent, would desire such a worthless son?
Such a son is nothing but a bond of illusion for the living entity, and he makes one’s home
miserable.

Text 46: Then the King thought: A bad son is better than a good son because a good son
creates an attachment for home, whereas a bad son does not. A bad son creates a hellish
home from which an intelligent man naturally becomes very easily detached.

Text 47: Thinking like that, King Aṅga could not sleep at night. He became completely
indifferent to household life. Once, therefore, in the dead of night, he got up from bed and
left Vena’s mother [his wife], who was sleeping deeply. He gave up all attraction for his
greatly opulent kingdom, and, unseen by anyone, he very silently gave up his home and
opulence and proceeded towards the forest.

King Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Detachment (SB 1.13.18-29)

Text 18: Mahātmā Vidura knew all this, and therefore he addressed Dhṛtarāṣṭra, saying:
My dear King, please get out of here immediately. Do not delay. Just see how fear has
overtaken you.

Text 19: This frightful situation cannot be remedied by any person in this material world.
My lord, it is the Supreme Personality of Godhead as eternal time [kāla] that has
approached us all.

Text 20: Whoever is under the influence of supreme kāla [eternal time] must surrender
his most dear life, and what to speak of other things, such as wealth, honor, children, land
and home.

Text 21: Your father, brother, well-wishers and sons are all dead and passed away. You
yourself have expended the major portion of your life, your body is now overtaken by
invalidity, and you are living in the home of another.

Text 22: You have been blind from your very birth, and recently you have become hard of
hearing. Your memory is shortened, and your intelligence is disturbed. Your teeth are
loose, your liver is defective, and you are coughing up mucus.
Text 23: Alas, how powerful are the hopes of a living being to continue his life. Verily, you
are living just like a household dog and are eating remnants of food given by Bhīma.

Text 24: There is no need to live a degraded life and subsist on the charity of those whom
you tried to kill by arson and poisoning. You also insulted their married wife and usurped
their kingdom and wealth.

Text 25: Despite your unwillingness to die and your desire to live even at the cost of honor
and prestige, your miserly body will certainly dwindle and deteriorate like an old garment.

Text 26: He is called undisturbed who goes to an unknown, remote place and, freed from
all obligations, quits his material body when it has become useless.

Text 27: He is certainly a first-class man who awakens and understands, either by himself
or from others, the falsity and misery of this material world and thus leaves home and
depends fully on the Personality of Godhead residing within his heart.

Text 28: Please, therefore, leave for the North immediately, without letting your relatives
know, for soon that time will approach which will diminish the good qualities of men.

Text 29: Thus Mahārāja Dhṛtarāṣṭra, the scion of the family of Ajamīḍha, firmly convinced
by introspective knowledge [prajñā], broke at once the strong network of familial affection
by his resolute determination. Thus he immediately left home to set out on the path of
liberation, as directed by his younger brother Vidura.

King Yudhiṣṭhira’s Detachment (SB 1.15.32-40)

Text 32: Upon hearing of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s returning to His abode, and upon understanding the
end of the Yadu dynasty’s earthly manifestation, Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira decided to go back
home, back to Godhead.

Text 33: Kuntī, after overhearing Arjuna’s telling of the end of the Yadu dynasty and
disappearance of Lord Kṛṣṇa, engaged in the devotional service of the transcendental
Personality of Godhead with full attention and thus gained release from the course of
material existence.

Text 34: The supreme unborn, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, caused the members of the Yadu dynasty to
relinquish their bodies, and thus He relieved the burden of the world. This action was like
picking out a thorn with a thorn, though both are the same to the controller.

Text 35: The Supreme Lord relinquished the body which He manifested to diminish the
burden of the earth. Just like a magician, He relinquishes one body to accept different
ones, like the fish incarnation and others.

Text 36: When the Personality of Godhead, Lord Kṛṣṇa, left this earthly planet in His
selfsame form, from that very day Kali, who had already partially appeared, became fully
manifest to create inauspicious conditions for those who are endowed with a poor fund
of knowledge.
Text 37: Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira was intelligent enough to understand the influence of the
Age of Kali, characterized by increasing avarice, falsehood, cheating and violence
throughout the capital, state, home and among individuals. So he wisely prepared
himself to leave home, and he dressed accordingly.

Text 38: Thereafter, in the capital of Hastināpura, he enthroned his grandson, who was
trained and equally qualified, as the emperor and master of all land bordered by the seas.

Text 39: Then he posted Vajra, the son of Aniruddha [grandson of Lord Kṛṣṇa], at Mathurā
as the King of Śūrasena. Afterwards Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira performed a Prājāpatya
sacrifice and placed in himself the fire for quitting household life.

Text 40: Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira at once relinquished all his garments, belt and ornaments
of the royal order and became completely disinterested and unattached to everything.

Questions:

1. Philosophy: What are the striking differences between detachments of all the
above three Kings? List down in a table the differences concerning varieties of
factors like cause of detachment, characteristics of detachment, etc.
2. Philosophy: Read the Purports of SB 1.15.37 and SB 1.13.26 and then answer.
a. If you are asked to put the detachment in descending order in terms of their
quality, how would you order them? Write reasons for your opinions.
b. What can be a possible future problem in King Anga’s detachment? How to
avoid that?
3. Philosophy: Some people when they see Sanyasis, Sadhus and detached
persons, they say that it was already written in their destiny. Read the Purport SB
4.13.47 and then answer.
a. Is detachment written in destiny? Were these kings’ detachments written
in their destiny? What is the role of destiny in performing one’s duties and
renouncing them?
b. What is the role of endeavor in getting detached from this material realm if
everyone is simply controlled by one’s destiny?
c. What is the reason for people citing destiny role’s for detachment?
4. Preaching Application: Read the Purports of SB 1.15.39 and SB 1.15.40 and
then answer.
a. To be frank and honest, no one in modern times believes in such
detachment. Modern Man believes in working for the betterment of the
society and doing one’s duties till death. They say, that if God has blessed
me with some material qualifications it is my duty to utilize that for others.
Why one has to retire if one can contribute significantly even during old
age? Detachment seems like voluntarily making oneself redundant.
b. How is detachment not running away from one’s duties?
5. Practical Application: Read the Purport of SB 1.13.27 and then answer.
a. Is it practically possible now in modern times to be detached like the three
Kings mentioned in the texts above. What makes us detachment difficult?
 b. There is Detachment in Practice and Detachment in Principle. One can
just follow detachment by Practice as a Ritual and not understand its true
principle. What is the actual principle behind Detachment to family life?
c. What practical steps can be carried out that at least modern society who
cannot follow Detachment by Practice but at least follow it in principle in
their life?
6. Positive Alternative: What other alternatives one can offer to workaholic
individuals who are passionate to perform their duties even in their old age and
not ready to live a life of detachment? Quote verse reference from Bhagavad Gita.
7. Personal Application:
a. What action plans can you personally make in current stage of your life so
that you can retire from family life in future?
8. Pitfalls: Read the Purport SB 1.13.29 and then answer.
a. What can be possible pitfalls in following these plans in current scenario?
b. What possible pitfalls can arise if you retire from family life in future? How
to avoid such pitfalls?
9. Pastime: Enlist Sastric Examples where people faced pitfalls after detachment
from worldly life.