Sriya Suka

If you have been attending extensive hari-katha in recent years then you may have heard or read the story of Radha’s parrot generally known as Sriya Suka. The story is paraphrased as follows:
One day Lord Siva was speaking the Bhagavatam for his wife Parvati to hear. As Siva spoke in deep rapture, Parvati herself was not so attentive and began to slumber. A parrot however was sitting nearby and he appeared to be listening to Lord Siva as he spoke. Suddenly Siva could see that Parvati had not been listening. Then he understood that the parrot had seemed to have taken it all in. Siva began to reflect that this ignorant bird had heard the Bhagavatam but would simply repeat it, as parrots are prone to do and thus make a mockery of the great message of Bhagavatam. Siva thus decided to terminate the parrot, at which time the bird took flight in great fear with Siva in hasty pursuit. The chase was on and the parrot soon reached the asrama of Vyasadeva where he flew into the mouth of Vatika, Vyasadeva’s wife, entering her womb. The parrot was now safe. For sixteen years the parrot stayed within the womb of Vatika before taking birth, becoming known as Sukadeva, the son of Vyasa, and eventually as the speaker of the Bhagavatam to Maharaja Pariksit.
Yet we are told that the original identity of Sukadeva was that of Srimati Radharani’s pet parrot. The story goes thus:
“Radha’s pet parrot (suka) used to sit on Her left hand while She would affectionately feed him the seeds from pomegranate fruit. She would pet him affectionately telling him “Bolo Krsna! Bolo Krsna!” This parrot would then sweetly utter the Names of Krsna. “One day that suka flew away to Nandagrama to Krsna who was sitting within a kunja (Garden) with His friend Madhumangala and others. The suka sat on a branch of a pomegranate tree and very sweetly began to utter Krsna’s Name, “Krsna, Krsna.” Krsna looked toward the suka and was moved. The parrot spoke again, “Oh, I am very wretched and unfortunate. I am krtaghna, ungrateful, and don’t recognize the good qualities of anyone. For I have left my mistress and have come here.” He uttered this in such a pitiable manner that Krsna was both astonished and impressed. He at once took the parrot, who was Srimati Radhika’s own, in His hand and began to fondle him.
“After Krsna’s manifest lila ended, by the order of Krsna, the parrot, to manifest Bhagavatam, remained in this world. Later, he entered into the mouth of Vyasadeva’s wife and remained for 16 years. This Sukadeva is “ sriya suka,” the suka of Srimati Radharani.”
The first part of this story involving the parrot flying into the mouth of Vatika and taking shelter in her womb is confirmed in the Moksa-dharma Parva of Mahabharata, Brahma-vaivarta Purana and the Skanda Purana. Once Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura was asked by a noted pandita from Assam as to what was the origin of Sukadeva Gosvami. Sarasvati Thakura replied as follows:
In the Puranas we find two conclusions regarding the appearance of Sukadeva. One story says that he took the form of Suka from the arani wood after Vyasa saw the naked apsara, Ghrtaci. The other story says that he was born from the womb of the wife of Vyasa. (Conversation with Sri Atmarama Sastri, Assam, October 25th 1928, The Gaudiya)
These two very different accounts for an origin of Sukadeva can be understood according to different kalpas (kalpa-bheda). In one kalpa Sukadeva appeared from the arani wood and from another kalpa (our kalpa) he appeared from the womb of Vatika. This has also been collaborated by Srila B.R. Sridhara Maharaja as follows:
When Mahadeva was talking about Krsna to his wife Durga (Parvati), then Durga-devi slept while attending the talk of Mahadeva. And one bird, suka-paksi (parrot), he was hearing also, listening. And Mahadeva was regularly, now and then, asking Parvati, “Do you hear?”
“Yes!” And the bird was continuing the answer, “Yes!”
Though Durga slept, Mahadeva was continuing. But at last Siva found out that Durga was sleeping and the bird was answering – then he chased the bird and the bird went. Suddenly somehow he managed to enter within the womb of a woman (Vatika). And then, by any function (vidhata), he came out as a man. Suka was his name. (Conversation, July 10th 1982)
Part two of the story, wherein the pet parrot of Radharani flew to Nandagrama and entered the kunja where Krsna was seated, is cited in the eighth stavaka of Ananda Vrndavana Campu by Sri Kavi Karnapura – a very sweet and charming narration.
Part three of the story, however, wherein Krsna orders the parrot to remain in this world and manifest the Bhagavatam is not cited in any sastra or by any previous acarya. Part three, it seems, is a conjecture. In other words, there is no evidence in literature or in the commentaries of previous acaryas that Sukadeva Gosvami in krsna-lila was the pet parrot of Radharani. In this regard we find a very interesting statement by Srila Sridhara Maharaja:
Vyaso vetti na vetti va – whatever Krsna wants to do, that is done. Sukadeva was the great exponent of Bhagavatam, but it is not found that he is in the highest position of krsna-lila. What he is delivering through his mouth, through tongue - so many high things have been transmitted through his tongue, but he may not have his stand in that plane. We don't find that Sukadeva has got his permanent position in Radha-Krsna’s lila, or in the madhurya-rasa as a particular sakhi also.
But that what Sukadeva has given to us through his mouth, that is unfathomable…he is delivering – akuntha-medhasa. He is going on. These things were coming through him flowing in a natural way. What he has delivered through his nectarine tongue has no comparison in the world ever, anywhere. But still he is considered in that way – from the general position of his previous consideration (a brahmavadi). Jagama bhiksubhih sakam – after giving delivery to all these things, he went away along with the beggars to nowhere. He did not care to meet Vyasadeva, his father and guru, nor his father’s guru Narada, there in the meeting. He did not care for that. He chose to be unseen. He came from the unseen and entered into it again...an untraceable, solitary life. But there was his guru, parama-guru – he did not care. Hare Krsna!
So he was selected as some machine, loudspeaker…something like that. The inspiration came only to help – that Bhagavata is above Vedanta, above jnana. The jnanis and yogis formed the major portion of the audience, so Sukadeva was necessary. Suka-mukhad amrta-drava-samyutam. To the audience at large, it was proved that Bhagavata is more than this non-differentiatedness - the nirvisesavada. Sukadeva was necessary. That must come from him, Then those fellows will have some regard. At least they won't say, "Oh, we know all these things, from Padma Purana, from Brahma-vaivarta Purana, we have seen all those things – what is there more?" But when colored by the brahma-jnana of Sukadeva Gosvami it was received with rapt attention…he gave to their ears Bhagavata. (Conversation, August 20th 1982)
Sridhara Maharaja says above that:
1) Sukadeva Gosvami is not found to be in the highest position of krsna-lila.
2) That Sukadeva may not have his stand in that plane.
3) That we don't find that Sukadeva has got his permanent position in Radha-Krsna’s lila.
4) That Sukadeva came from the unseen and entered into it again.
5) That his delivery of Bhagavatam was as some machine, “a loudspeaker…something like that.”
What Sridhara Maharaja has said about Sukadeva is so much deeper than what the shallow thinkers are able to appreciate.
In other words, Sukadeva Gosvami did not come down from krsna-lila from a previous position as a parrot to speak Bhagavatam as some persons have suggested. Rather, Sukadeva’s previous position was that of Brahman realization and his ability to speak Bhagavatam was due to the causeless mercy of Krsna and nothing else.
In Chapter 22 of Jaiva Dharma, Thakura Bhaktivinoda confirms that Sukadeva was the recipient of the causeless mercy of Krsna:
The mercy of Krsna is of three types – vacika, alokadana and hardda. Instances where Krsna rewards all three types of mercy are found in the scriptures. In vacika, Krsna simply promises His devotee by word of mouth, and immediately that all-benedicting crest-jewel embodiment of divine bliss and transcendentally willful bhakti that seeks only Krsna to serve, awakens as bhava within his heart. An example of alokodana-krpa are the sages of Dandakaranya forest, who had never directly seen the Supreme Lord. But as soon as they beheld the Lord, their hearts were flooded with bhava and bhakti, simply by the mercy of the Lord. Bhava which spontaneously sprouts within the heart, as in the case of Srila Sukadeva Gosvami, is due only to the causeless mercy of the Lord, or hardda-krpa.
So the story of Sriya Suka seems to be a compendium of the actual story of the birth of Sukadeva, having first entered the womb of Vatika as a parrot, from the Puranas; then combined with a completely different story of Radha’s pet parrot from Ananda Vrndavana Campu and concluded with a ‘rasika’ style twist.
Strangely enough, no one has been able to put forward any evidence, either sastric or from previous acaryas, to prove that Sukadeva Gosvami’s identity in krsna-lila was that of Radha’s pet parrot or that Sukadeva has any standing in krsna-lila. To the contrary, we found that in more than 75% of the cases where we approached the heads of various Sahajiya communities in Vrndavana for verification of the third part of the story, they replied that it was conjecture by someone trying to stand out as a rasika. This was strange indeed coming from the Sahajiyas.
As it turns out, many members of today’s Gaudiya Vaisnava sampradaya (particularly among western branches) are the most prone to tell the story of “Sriya Suka/Radha’s Parrot” in their hari-katha. This is especially true among those who are sentimentalists and gate-crashers of the highest lila of Krsna. True and sad as it may be, such are the attempts of the ignorant spurred on by ignoble leaders claiming to be Vaisnavas of the highest order. Some persons have deviated even further and gone so far as to conjecture that Sukadeva Gosvami was actually a manjari in krsna-lila, surpassing even the position of Radha’s parrot. But such conjectures are a shabby substitute for sastric truth.
Someone may ask, “What difference does it make even if some of the story is conjecture? It is still sweet anyway!” The answer is that such conjectures are bitter and distasteful like neemboli (the fruit of the Neem tree) to those whose hearts are truly filled with the nectar of krsna-prema. Even a little conjecture of the truth spoils the whole thing. It becomes rasabhasa – rasa with artificial sweetener.
Some contemporary Vaisnavas are so confused regarding higher and lower topics, that they prefer the devotion of Sukadeva over that of great personalities such as Prahlada Maharaja and Advaita Acarya, saying that such personalities cannot give krsna-prema. They speak of krsna-prema as though it were a handout from the public welfare services and all one need do is just take it (take initiation from the rasika). This understanding is indeed pitiful. Such a mentality springs from the deepest ignorance born of “amara guru jagat-guru” and smacks of pigheadedness and false egotism.
Mahaprabhu Himself became very angry when Srivasa Pandita tried to compare Advaita Acarya with Sukadeva. Mahaprabhu rebuked Srivasa with a slap and told him that Sukadeva was a mere infant compared to Advaita who had the deepest connection with caitanya-lila. The story appears in Caitanya-bhagavata, Antya-khanda 9.282-296 as follows:
The Lord said, “O Srivasa, tell Me what type of Vaisnava do you think Advaita Prabhu is.”
Srivasa Pandita thought for a while and finally said, “I consider Him to be similar to Sukadeva or Prahlada.”
Upon hearing the comparison of Advaita with Prahlada and Sukadeva, the Lord became angry and hit Srivasa.
Just as an affectionate father beats his son in order to teach him, similarly the Lord gave a slap to Srivasa.
“What did you say? What did you say, Pandita Srivasa? You are comparing My Nada (Advaita) with Sukadeva or Prahlada!
“You may claim that Sukadeva is fully liberated, but compared to Nada, he is like a child.
“How dare you say such a thing about My Nada? O Srivasa, today you have put Me in great distress.”
Saying this, the Lord in an angry mood grabbed a stick in His hand and ran after Srivasa to hit him. Sri Advaita Acarya then stood up and gently caught hold of the Lord's hand.
“O Lord, a father teaches his sons out of compassion. So who in the three worlds is a suitable candidate for Your anger?”
“Hearing the words of Advaita Acarya, the Lord gave up His anger and in ecstasy began to profusely glorify Advaita.
The Lord said, “Since all of you are just like My children, My anger has now dissipated.
“Who can understand the glories of Nada? It was He who awakened Me from sleep and called Me here.
The Lord said, “O Srivasa, is this how you show respect to My Nada?
“Suka and others are like His children. You should know that they are all junior to Nada.”
Our conclusion is as Srila Sridhara Maharaja and others have stated – that Sukadeva Gosvami has no permanent position in krsna-lila and that he was empowered by the causeless mercy of Krsna to speak Srimad Bhagavatam.
I am writing this essay on Sriya Suka to set straight the record because I too have told this conjectured story in the past as though it were true thru and thru. To err is human, but to admit one’s mistakes and to be rectified with the proper understanding is to make real advancement. To remain in ignorance – even if one thinks that such ignorance is bliss – is to continue on the path of doom!

Faith confirms the Absolute

In his illumination on the eighth verse of Sri Upadesamrta, Srila Sridhara Maharaja discusses faith in relation to what faith is and what it is not. This is the Vedic process of learning. When you learn about something you must also understand what it is not. Take gold for example – when you learn what are the qualities of gold, you must also learn what is not gold. Learning what is not gold is sometimes more important than learning what gold is, because you must also be able to identify imitation gold.
The same goes for silk – what are the qualities of silk? It is smooth and it has a certain shine to it. In the market a shopkeeper may say that a sari is silk but actually it may be nylon, orlon, dacron – anything but silk! How do you identify silk? If you have a very keen eye you can identify silk. You must pull a small thread from the sari, burn it and then smell it. If it has a very organic and natural smell then it is silk. If it smells like burning plastic it is not silk. Similarly, you cannot know sandalwood by smelling it. You have to taste it. Therefore you should know what a thing is not, otherwise you will be cheated.
In the book The Loving Search For The Lost Servant, Srila Sridhara Maharaja discusses faith in a very complete way. The Loving Search For The Lost Servant is actually a thesis on faith, the subtlest thing in our experience. Srila Sridhara Maharaja explains what is faith (sraddha), what is not faith and how valuable it is to us in our search for Krsna. Faith is the most valuable thing we have. But in his commentary it is mentioned that faith is not a product of the mind. When you believe in something, usually that is a product of the mind. Generally sraddha is translated as belief. Somebody may ask, “Do you believe in Krsna?” We may reply that we believe in Krsna, but belief is in the brain – it is a mental process of accepting and rejecting. Sraddha is on a subtler plane than that and it takes place as a confirmation in the heart or the soul that reality exists and that reality is Krsna. It is a confirmation of that which is beyond matter and that which itself is not material. Matter cannot confirm what is beyond matter. Only spiritual substance can confirm Krsna.
Srila Sridhara Maharaja was once offered LSD, and he was told the glories of LSD and how it is supposed to uplift one’s consciousness. The people who were telling him this were so foolish that they offered him some hallucinogenic drugs. He had been telling them that no amount of maya could produce Krsna; no amount of matter produces a spiritual substance.
In other words, life does not come from matter. Matter is dead, and no amount of matter gives birth to life. Life is living force. Matter never comes to life. Life is an independent subject. It is an independent entity, an independent spiritual substance. Sridhara Maharaja said that no amount of darkness produces light and no amount of ignorance produces knowledge.
He used to laugh at the idea that you can get eleven ignorant fellows in a room and have a vote on something and come up with the right solution. That is impossible. And it is not that if you add just one more ignorant fellow then you will get it right. That is what is wrong with the world today – ignorant people, who don’t understand what is the goal of life, run everything. Sometimes there are people who know what the goal of life is, but they are not experts in the science of Krsna Consciousness.
People gather to make resolutions. Prabhupada used to say, “Resolution, revolution, dissolution, no solution.” This is the problem. Look around the world! They have meetings, they resolve, pass laws and after a while people are shouting in the streets with placards, then some of them go up into the hills and start shooting at people. This is going on all over the world, because they don’t know what is the purpose of life and how to achieve it.
No amount of ignorance produces light – even great thinkers like Einstein died in ignorance because their knowledge was only on the mental plane. Real knowledge is described as that which explains the difference between matter and spirit. It doesn’t matter how advanced one is in any particular field of modern science or cultural science if you don’t know the difference between the body and the soul. That is where knowledge begins. Einstein did not clearly understand this. Through some of the statements that he made we may assume that he had some intuition towards it, but he had no clear definitive understanding and therefore one of the greatest brains of the modern world died in ignorance.
When Einstein died, the secret service locked down his house and confiscated everything in it. Gradually they released everything and returned it to his family, but they kept all his papers because he may have been working on some cutting edge theory. At that time, a friend of my father was in the FBI and he went to Einstein’s house. He had a camera and he took a picture of his desk and somehow or other, this photograph came to my father. About 15 years ago I went to pay him a visit and he showed me this picture and told me that this was a photo of Einstein’s desk just after he died. There were pens, papers and different things on it and there was something else lying there on the right-hand corner of Einstein’s desk. It was a book but with the naked eye I couldn’t see the title. I took a magnifying glass and found that the book was called The Philosophies of India. So he didn’t die in total ignorance, but he was on the path. On the other hand, as you know, Einstein was not sane. He was a womanizer and a heavy smoker, but he had a hyper brain.
Einstein’s knowledge was on the physical plane, that which is actually just a minute aspect of life. Powerful knowledge is spiritual knowledge. The body grows around the soul, not the soul around the body. This ‘thing’ that cannot be traced is smaller than an atom but has managed to produce something the size of an elephants body, a dinosaurs body, a whales body or a timingila’s body. Yet the soul cannot be found with any material instrument. Its presence is understood by its symptoms and life is one of them.
Here, Srila Sridhara Maharaja says, “Imitation is not success, rather imitation degrades.” For example, a lawyer of a certain status will have the respect of the law board, but if he imitates a judge he will lose his status as a lawyer also. He will be degraded and will be removed from the bar. Imitation is a type of a fraud. Fraud produces some gain but that is all in the cheating business. When that fraud is discovered, it degrades. Sridhara Maharaja is saying that in the philosophy of life, in spiritual life, imitation degrades.
Then he says, “Mind is another thing, but the mind is not faith or sraddha. Faith, sraddha, is connected to the soul and the mind is connected to matter.” The mind and this table in front of me are the same because they belong to the eight material elements – earth, water, fire air, ether, mind, intelligence, and false ego. These are material elements and our body is comprised of them. We accept that water is a part of our body. There is also fire in the body – if your temperature goes beyond 107 you die and if it goes below 95 you die. There are stories of some people who have spontaneously combusted.
These may just be rumors, but we find in the Bhagavatam that Sati sat down in meditation and her body exploded into fire because of Daksa’s insults to her husband, Siva. She couldn’t tolerate it so she sat down and burned herself in the fire of mystic yoga. Fire is in the body and as we know fire is a material element. “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” Dust to dust means that the body is made of dust – ashes if you cremate it, dust if it is buried and stool if it is eaten by the animals. That is what happens to every physical human body in the world. This is the ultimate fate of the body. It comes from material nature and it goes back into the material nature.
But the soul is something different and sraddha comes to help the soul. Knowledge comes to help the mind. Bhakti-jnana is spiritual knowledge. Where does it enter? It enters into the mind and it enables us to control the mind, control the senses and then surrender the material elements of this body into the process of devotional service to Krsna. At a point, knowledge says, “I have done my job” and bhakti goes on and doesn’t require any knowledge. Knowledge retires.
In the beginning knowledge is very important. You can’t simply say, “I am going to perform bhakti based solely on my faith.” You have to have a proper understanding. Proper understanding means that first you don’t have any misunderstanding. Some devotees don’t have any standing on a particular understanding. That is tolerable. There are many things that I have talked about for years, but because of the language barrier some of our devotees don’t understand. They don’t have any misunderstandings, therefore they have proper knowledge. Vidya means knowledge and avidya means ignorance.
A hundred years ago a man that could fix a car had the same social status as an I.T. student in India today, because at that time the car was a very advanced machine. That is material knowledge. Material knowledge itself is actually avidya. Real knowledge is spiritual. That is real jnana and it is identified as bhakti-jnana, atma-jnana and tattva-jnana. These are all Sanskrit words referring to knowledge that is beyond matter. This type of knowledge can save us from misconceptions, because if misconceptions are there then bhakti goes on in the wrong way. We may go on performing bhakti for a long time, but in the end it doesn’t produce the fruit of love. Knowledge is there to eliminate misconceptions and guide us on the right path so that our sraddha increases.
Sraddha is the investment of Radharani in the jiva. That is true because Her name is Sraddha Devi. She is Bhakti-devi and she is Sraddha-devi. Faith comes from Radharani. She has the most complete faith in Krsna, more so than any other entity in existence. She is the ultimate. Anyone who has faith in Krsna should know that it comes from Radharani. But if someone says, “I believe in Jehovah” or “I believe in Allah” – that ‘faith’ doesn’t come from Radharani. That is on the mental plane. That is not sraddha. Sraddha doesn’t go anywhere except to Krsna. Sraddha comes from the spiritual world. It transcends matter and it is an experience that confirms reality and ultimately encourages us towards surrendering to Krsna.
Faith in these other religions is based upon the modes of material nature. These religions are known as the religions of the Yavanas and Mlecchas. The Mlecchas were originally performers of human sacrifice and the Yavanas were degraded ksatriyas of the Vedic civilization. These religions are not transcendental. They may carry some information – some plane of well-being and goodness in them – but they don’t cross over the material world into the transcendental world.
In fact, the initial understanding amongst the Jews was that they will inherit the earth. The earth was the prize – not heaven. Christians created Heaven hundreds of years later. Jews don’t go to heaven, Jews inherit the earth and even some Christians thought the same way for hundreds of years. These religions are not about transcending the material world and ascending to some other plane of existence. That idea entered through Gnosticism, a religion that had connections with ancient India and Persia. The basis of the Abrahamic religions is that God made the earth and that is what we get – not some other place.
But Krsna consciousness has always seen the earth as a temporary home, like a transit lounge in an airport. Don’t try to get too comfortable! Take advantage of the facilities, but don’t try to live here. The world has many advantages and many wonderful things – but be careful! Behind that wonder lurks a danger. Jivo jivasya jivanam.
We go to a forest, sit on a mound and we think, “This is so peaceful!” But if you take a camera and put it in the grass, you will see spiders chewing the heads off grasshoppers, frogs sticking out their tongues and eating bugs. Everything is screaming! Even the grass is crying, “I want light, I want water!” Everything is screaming but you can’t hear it. You think that it is so peaceful and so much better than the big cities, but that is relative to your plane of suffering. It seems peaceful, but there is no peace in the jungle. There is not a moment’s peace. There is no peace anywhere in this world. There is only anxiety, but relatively we think, “Oh! This is nice!”
These other religions don’t cross over the world of matter into the transcendental realm. Transcendence is unidentifiable by the mind or even the intelligence. Although you can get very close with the intelligence, ultimately intelligence is only matter. Transcendence is purely spiritual. Intelligence can suggest something is there. Your intelligence may say that there is intelligence behind this universe, but intelligence cannot understand transcendence, because intelligence is a material element.
That which confirms transcendence is faith. Transcendence is beyond the physical, mental, and intellectual experience, and faith confirms its reality. The mind and intelligence only suspect its reality. They cannot verify this reality. Now, my faith can’t verify Krsna to somebody else. That is not what faith is for. Faith verifies reality for you. Initially, the strongest proof you have is that it says so in the Vedas – but it says something else in the Bible and in the Koran. What it says in a book is not final. Ultimately, knowing is an inner reality of realization and it is the realizations of sages that is written in the books. The books explain the experience of the sages in the plane of faith and they try to direct us towards that experience through faith.
The Bhagavad-gita describes faith in the modes of nature and then describes the transcendental plane of visuddha-sattva. That is where real sraddha is found. Faith transcends mundane reality – faith confirms the Absolute.