The Devotee Shukadeva and the Impersonalist Shuka

Respected Swamiji and Vaisnavas,

  Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna!

Jaya Visnupada Srila Prabhupada!

Jaya Swami Gaurangpada!

All glories to the guru parampara!

All glories to the Vaisnavas!

       It is often claimed by many over here that Suka's disciple was Gaudapada (Sankaracharya's parama guru) and so a big offence is committed by thinking Vyasadeva to be Mayawadi in gross ignorance.

    Srila Prabhupada writes in Srimad Bhagavatam 9.21.25

sa krtvyam suka-kanyayam

brahmadattam ajijanat

yogi sa gavi bharyayam

visvaksenam adhat sutam

SYNONYMS

sah -- he (King Nipa); krtvyam -- in his wife, Krtvi; suka-kanyayam -- who was the daughter of Suka; brahmadattam -- a son named Brahmadatta; ajijanat -- begot; yogi -- a mystic yogi; sah -- that Brahmadatta; gavi -- by the name Gau or Sarasvati; bharyayam -- in the womb of his wife; visvaksenam -- Visvaksena; adhat -- begot; sutam -- a son.

TRANSLATION

King Nipa begot a son named Brahmadatta through the womb of his wife, Krtvi, who was the daughter of Suka. And Brahmadatta, who was a great yogi, begot a son named Visvaksena through the womb of his wife, Sarasvati.

PURPORT

The Suka mentioned here is different from the Sukadeva Gosvami who spoke Srimad-Bhagavatam. Sukadeva Gosvami, the son of Vyasadeva, is described in great detail in the Brahma-vaivarta Purana. There it is said that Vyasadeva maintained the daughter of Jabali as his wife and that after they performed penances together for many years, he placed his seed in her womb. The child remained in the womb of his mother for twelve years, and when the father asked the son to come out, the son replied that he would not come out unless he were completely liberated from the influence of maya. Vyasadeva then assured the child that he would not be influenced by maya, but the child did not believe his father, for the father was still attached to his wife and children. Vyasadeva then went to Dvaraka and informed the Personality of Godhead about his problem, and the Personality of Godhead, at Vyasadeva's request, went to Vyasadeva's cottage, where He assured the child in the womb that he would not be influenced by maya. Thus assured, the child came out, but he immediately went away as a parivrajakacarya. When the father, very much aggrieved, began to follow his saintly boy, Sukadeva Gosvami, the boy created a duplicate Sukadeva, who later entered family life. Therefore, the suka-kanya, or daughter of Sukadeva, mentioned in this verse is the daughter of the duplicate or imitation Sukadeva. The original Sukadeva was a lifelong brahmacari.

   Bhakta Prajnana Kesava Maharaja confirms from the Hari Vamsa that there were two Sukas. Since the text is full of diacritics I find it impossible to paste it here. If someone can find a way to remove them out and convert into normal font I can paste it in a subsequent post

Aspiring to be your servant,

Srinath

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