View source for This Vidura was Yamaraja. So he was cursed by one muni to go down and take birth in sudra family. Yamaraja was very exalted post

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[[Category:Vidura]]
[[Category:Yamaraja]]
[[Category:Curse]]
[[Category:One (as in someone)]]
[[Category:Muni]]
[[Category:Go Down]]
[[Category:Taking Birth in a Sudra Family]]
[[Category:Very]]
[[Category:Exalted Post]]
[[Category:Pages Needing Audio - SHARMISTHA]]
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<h2>Lectures</h2>
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<h3>Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures</h3>
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Vidura was Yamarāja. So he was cursed by one muni to go down and take birth in śūdra family. Yamarāja was very exalted post, but still . . . Yamarāja means the superintendent of death. There is Pitṛloka, Yamaloka, different planets. And where each planet is situated, how many miles, yojana . . . the Sanskrit is called yojana. Yojana means eight miles. So how many yojana is one planet is situated from the another planet, that is all described in the Bhāgavata, Fifth Canto.
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[[Vanisource:731226 - Lecture SB 01.15.49 - Los Angeles|731226 - Lecture SB 01.15.49 - Los Angeles]]
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Pradyumna: viduraḥ—Vidura (the uncle of Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira); api—also; parityajya—after quitting the body; prabhāse—in the place of pilgrimage at Prabhāsa; deham ātmanaḥ—his body; kṛṣṇa—the Personality of Godhead; āveśena—being absorbed in that thought; tat—his; cittaḥ—thoughts and actions; pitṛbhiḥ—along with the residents of Pitṛloka; sva-kṣayam—his own abode; yayau—departed. (break)

Translation: "Vidura, while on pilgrimage, left his body at Prabhāsa. Because he was absorbed in thought of Lord Kṛṣṇa, he was received by the denizens of the Pitṛloka, where he returned to his original post."

Prabhupāda: Hm. This Vidura was Yamarāja. So he was cursed by one muni to go down and take birth in śūdra family. Yamarāja was very exalted post, but still . . . Yamarāja means the superintendent of death. There is Pitṛloka, Yamaloka, different planets. And where each planet is situated, how many miles, yojana . . . the Sanskrit is called yojana. Yojana means eight miles. So how many yojana is one planet is situated from the another planet, that is all described in the Bhāgavata, Fifth Canto.

So there is a Pitṛloka, Yamaloka. Just like the moon planet, we are trying to go there, but there are different lokas, planets, and you can go—not by the sputnik, by force. No. You'll have to qualify yourself. Just like to come to your country, to take the permanent visa, I had to qualify in so many ways the immigration department, not by force. Even in this planet, you cannot enter any country without being permitted. How you can enter other planets? Simply by force? No, that is not possible. You have to qualify yourself.

That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: yānti deva-vratā devān ([[Vanisource:BG 9.25 (1972)|BG 9.25]]). A person can go to the planets of the demigods, devān. There are many demigods: Indra, Candra, Varuṇa, Vāyu. Brahmaloka, Prajāpatiloka, Siddhaloka—they are in the higher planetary system. This is . . . we are now situated in the middle, Bhūloka. It is called Bhūloka. Above this, there is Bhuvarloka. Above that, Svarloka, Janaloka, Maharloka, Satyaloka, like that, ūrdhvaloka. They are higher planetary . . . then middle. And then lower planetary system.

Ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthāḥ. If you develop sattva-guṇa, the quality of goodness, then according to your degree of goodness, you get promoted to the higher planets. Ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthā madhye tiṣṭhanti rājasāḥ ([[Vanisource:BG 14.18 (1972)|BG 14.18]]). If you are in the passion modes, then you stay here in this middle planetary system. And jaghanya-guṇa-vṛtti-sthā adho gacchanti tāmasāḥ: those who are in the most abominable condition of life, adho gacchanti, they go down, (coughs) not only the down planetary system, but even to the animal kingdom, the beasts, birds, trees, plants, aquatics. You have to go.

After all, you have to change this body. Change . . . this is . . . Bhagavad-gītā says, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ ([[Vanisource:BG 2.13 (1972)|BG 2.13]]). As we are changing this body from childhood, from babyhood to childhood, childhood to boyhood, boyhood to youthhood . . . this is practical. You are not the same body as you had your body in the womb of your mother. That body is gone. Now daily changing; every moment we are changing body. Advancing age means I am changing body, you are changing body. So it is very easy to understood that we are changing our body. But I know, you know, every one of us that, "I had such-and-such body." You remember that you had a child's body. You were playing like that. When you see another child, you say: "Oh, I was also a child like him, and I was doing like this." But where is that body? That is gone. Now you have got another body. This example is given in the Bhagavad-gītā. So as you are changing body, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ, similarly, after giving up this body, you have to accept another body. This is the logic, and any sane man can understand.

So we have become so rascal that we do not believe in the transmigration of the soul. Actually, I am . . . presently I can understand that, "I had such-and-such body; now I have transmigrated to this body." How I have done, that is not known to you or me. That is called acintya, perceptive. Just like the child is changing body, and you saw one child on the lap of his mother. Say after few years, you come. You cannot recognize the same child who has grown up, "Oh." The mother says that, "This is such and such." "Oh, you have become so grown up." So things have taken imperceptibly. That is going on by the subtle laws of nature. It is a great science, but there is no discussion of this science in any university of the whole world. And they are advancement of knowledge. They are claiming advancement of knowledge. What knowledge you have got? You do not know what you are, and you are advancement in knowledge.
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