148 TEACHINGS OF QUEEN KUNTI
The whole material world is moving on this false attempt at becoming in-
dependent of the laws of nature. Beginning from Ravana, who wanted to
prepare a direct staircase to the planets of heaven, down to the present
age, they are trying to overcome the laws of nature. They are trying now
to approach distant planetary systems by electronic mechanical power.
But the highest goal of human civilization is to work hard under the guid-
ance of the Lord and become completely dependent on Him. The highest
achievement of perfect civilization is to work with valor but at the same
time depend completely on the Lord. The Pandavas were the ideal exe-
cutors of this standard of civilization. Undoubtedly they were completely
dependent on the good will of Lord Sri Krsna, but they were not idle
parasites of the Lord. They were all highly qualified both by personal
character and by physical activities. Still they always looked for the mercy
of the Lord because they knew that every living being is dependent by
constitutional position. The perfection of life is, therefore, to become
dependent on the will of the Lord, instead of becoming falsely indepen-
dent in the material world. Those who try to become falsely independent
of the Lord are called andatha, or without any guardian, whereas those
who are completely dependent on the will of the Lord are called sanatha,
or those having someone to protect them. Therefore we must try to be
sanatha, so that we can always be protected from the unfavorable condi-
tion of material existence. By the deluding power of the external, ma-
terial nature we forget that the material condition of life is the most
undesirable perplexity. The Bhagavad-gitd (7.19) therefore directs us
that after many, many births one fortunate person becomes aware of the
fact that Vasudeva, Krsna, is all in all and that the best way of leading
one’s life is to surrender unto Him completely. That is the sign of a
mahatma. All the members of the Pandava family were mahdtmas in
household life. Maharaja Yudhisthira was the head of these mahatmas,
and Queen Kuntidevi was the mother. The lessons of the Bhagavad-gita
and all the Purdnas, specifically the Bhagavata Purana, are therefore in-
evitably connected with the history of the Pandava mahatmas. For them,
separation from the Lord was just like the separation of a fish from water.
Srimati Kuntidevi, therefore, felt such separation like a thunderbolt, and
the whole prayer of the Queen is to try to persuade the Lord to stay with
them. After the Battle of Kuruksetra, although the inimical kings were
killed, their sons and grandsons were still there to deal with the Pan-
davas. It is not only the Pandavas who were put into the condition of en-
mity; all of us are always in such a condition, and the best way of living is
, to become completely dependent on the will of the Lord and thereby
