Question: How does one reconcile to the ‘strange’ behavior of Lord Rsabhadeva (he used to walk around naked, lay in his stool and urine etc.) to Sri Krishna’s injunction in the Bhagavad Gita (3.21) stating that as great men do, general masses follow. Lord Rsabhadeva was a great king, an ideal upholder of dharma, yet why did he then set such a bewildering example?
Answer by Romapada Swami: Lord Rsabhadeva was an incarnation of the Supreme Lord and He exhibited the symptoms of one who has reached the paramahamsa stage, where one is completely beyond all bodily conception. The condition of his final lila was that of an avadhuta, or one who totally neglected his external body and all social conventions; by mundane standards, it appears to the world that an avadhuta is a madman. These pastimes can be appreciated by us, but are certainly not to be imitated. Our duty, rather, is to simply follow the instructions of the acaryas and become gradually purified.
