Pop Quiz answers
February 25, 2019 in Articles by Damaghosa dasa
1. Who is in charge of the fire element in this Universe??
SB 4.1.60-The predominating deity of fire begot in his wife, Svāhā, three children, named Pāvaka, Pavamāna and Śuci, who exist by eating the oblations offered to the fire of sacrifice.
PURPORT-After describing the descendants of the thirteen wives of Dharma, who were all daughters of Dakṣa, Maitreya now describes the fourteenth daughter of Dakṣa, Svāhā, and her three sons. Oblations offered in the sacrificial fire are meant for the demigods, and on behalf of the demigods the three sons of Agni and Svāhā, namely Pāvaka, Pavamāna and Śuci, accept the oblations.
SB 4.1.61-From those three sons another forty-five descendants were generated, who are also fire-gods. The total number of fire-gods is therefore forty-nine, including the fathers and the grandfather.
PURPORT-The grandfather is Agni, and the sons are Pāvaka, Pavamāna and Śuci. Counting these four, plus forty-five grandsons, there are altogether forty-nine different fire-gods.
2. How did Srila Prabhupada want us to clean in Sri Radha’s the kitchen?
April 22 1976Melbourne
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: I remember when I first went to Vṛndāvana and I saw in the villages how they were using dirt and charcoal to clean their pots and pans…
Prabhupāda: Yes, they use it.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: I thought the…. It was my condition…. I have never seen before. I thought, “What is this? They are making their pots and pans dirty?” Because, you know, we’re so accustomed to detergents and soaps, and you have to have so many things to clean.
Prabhupāda: That is not also properly clean.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: No.
Prabhupāda: The down side of the pan remains black. But if you take some dirt and rub it nicely, it become glisten.
Hari-śauri: Dirt is very first-class for cleaning.
Prabhupāda: Utensils for cooking purpose must be very, very clean. The…. If the black portion remains, in India they will not touch.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Even on the bottom?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: On the outside?
Prabhupāda: They’ll not touch: “Oh, it is still dirty.” But our going on. What can be done?Where there is no cleanliness, little rubbed with soap, that is sufficient. What can be done? But that is not cleanliness. If there is a black spot on the…, it has to…. It will immediately be cleaned. My mother used to see every utensil, whether there is any spot. The maidservant had to surrender. Examine. Then it is no spot. Then it is finished. Otherwise she has to do again.Everything should be neat and clean. The kitchen should be very neat and clean, washed twice daily, opened nicely and smeared with water and gobar. And if you see the kitchen, immediately you’ll feel comfortable. It is very cleanly prepared, then offered to the Deity. Then you take. Automatically your mind becomes cleansed. [break]
3. Who can actually deliver us from this material world?
August 5 1966 NY-
Just like a person who is, I mean, tightly bound-up, hands and feet. Suppose we are sitting here, some people, twenty-five gentlemen, ladies, and all our hands are tightly bound-up by some rope, and if I want to make you free, although my hand is also tightly bound-up, is it possible? No. At least my hand should be free. Then I can open, I can untie, your bindings by the rope. So unless one is free man… And what is that freedom? One who is Kṛṣṇa conscious, he is free man. And nobody is free man.
daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī mama māyā duratyayā mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te [Bg. 7.14]
Everyone is under the spell of material influence. Nobody’s free.
And one who is, who has surrendered unto Kṛṣṇa, one who has taken Kṛṣṇa consciousness, māyā has nothing to do. Māyā cannot touch.
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