Bhagavatam tenth canto study 18 – 10.3.32-38 How past life connections make sense of present-life situations

Thank you Canto 10 chapter 3 Entitled the birth of lord krishna text 32 onwards so here krishna has Actually spoken Krishna is now going to speak krishna has appeared and First vasudev and then devaki Have offered prayers to krishna He was offered prayers While he was in the yuki’s womb by the devatas that was described in the second chapter in this chapter till now First how everything became auspicious on his appearance There was jubilee signs of jubilation at the at the terrestrial celestial and the psychological levels as I described in the first section of the chapter then Vasudev’s prayers are described and then devaki’s prayers are described And devaki’s prayers center on That krishna should hide his form so that he will no longer be threatened by kamsa so Let’s look from 32 onwards So krishna is now telling the His parents vasudev and devaki That actually they are that actually they are Transcendental that they Do not belong to this material level of reality that they have actually transcendent material existence by Their own original consciousness as well as by their austerities in previous life thus he says that actually You are you have to understand that you have had Appearance in previous lives and in previous lives you were exalted beings You were the prajapati Named Sutapa and you sutapa and You he tells his mother devaki that you are the wife krishna so often that the bhagavatam Speaks things at the highest level And sometimes it doesn’t speak things at entirely the highest level so the level at which you speak varies depending on the intent For which the speech is going on So that means that when the bhagavatam speaks Its purpose is to Elevate our consciousness There are hints given Just like shukadeva swami doesn’t necessarily mention that Radharani is the topmost associate of krishna because he’s in such ecstasy talking about radharani will Make him So ecstatic that he will not be able to function properly So therefore he doesn’t speak about that But there are indications to point to radharani and to her greatness whenever It is required that when there are hints towards the vaishno acharas thereafter have actually Unraveled those hints so Let’s look at this now swayam bhuvah manu krishna says that in the yuga of swayam bhuvah this happened You you so text 33 now Yuvaam vayi brahmana dishtau praja sarge taata taha sanyamendriya graamam te paathe paramam tapaha Yuvaam vayi yuvaam is a Plural form of addressing you In english we might we don’t have a direct plural second person address So we may say all of you if you are referring to more than one person you but in English there is Yuvaam is in sanskrit yuvaam is a like plural Second person reference. So yuvaam vayi Brahmana dishtau Brahmana dishtau That all of you Are Transcendental beings that all of you are, uh that you are transcendental beings and you have Actually You have actually transcended material existence And in a previous life, so the bhagavatam doesn’t talk at the highest level Sometimes it talks at the level that is suited for the audience So although at one level vasudeva and devaki are eternal associates of krishna That will be hinted at at some points the bhagavatam but here because the bhagavatam Is talking about krishna’s descent And in this context in terms of he faithfully responding to the faithful appeals of his devotees the devatas So this section starts with how the devatas are in distress and they go Along with earth, which is especially in distress to Brahma and through brahma they appeal to vishnu and a devata’s first prayer is That’s when they see krishna is satyavratam that you That you oh lord are the supreme being You oh lord Have now kept truthfully your word so here The direct transcendental reality of goloka is not talked about in this narrative so much the focus is on talking about the immediate narrative wherein We have this earthly realm the celestial realm and the transcendental realm not necessarily the highest transcendental realm So vishnu belongs to the transcendental realm and in that transcendental realm They are talking about how vishnu can provide shelter how vishnu can How vishnu grants protection so therefore they are talking primarily about Helping the About how the devatas how krishna and vasudeva vasudeva and devaki also belong to the celestial realm and in that celestial realm they Have from that celestial realm they have descended To help them become elevated to serve krishna So they in that celestial realm they prayed that krishna appeared to them and krishna has appeared to them and He appeared in that life also and now in this life also there is a krishna has appeared so the focus here is on Not necessarily speaking the whole truth speaking the truth that is enough to be in harmony with the context and also to reassure Vasudeva Vasudeva and devaki that they are a part of something much bigger than themselves And although they have seen they have gone through great dangers, but they need not be fearful because Their lord is with them That their lord is with them and that lord will enable them to transcend material consciousness That lord will enable them to rise to the spiritual level of reality if they could just persevere in staying connected with him so the whole idea is That we can all focus on connecting with transcendence And if you just connect with transcendence everything else follows in due course So that is the stress over here that When at a material level we see difficulty At that time we need to see beyond the material level to the transcendental level and therein perceive life’s Higher dimensions When you just perceive life’s higher dimensions Then whatever is happening at the immediate level at our circumstantial level starts making greater sense now for us Krishna might not be immediately available to Guide us about what our past life and antecedents were and What? situation We are in right now Because of which we are facing whatever we are facing right now So rather than getting too worked up by our inability To know what is happening and why? We can have faith that whatever is happening Is by Krishna’s plan and it is for a higher purpose To the extent we understand this to that extent We can move forwards in our life towards Krishna so the past life explanations often help us to make sense of present life situations and Krishna here Gives an understanding from past life To not so much to a context to say that why you’re suffering but to assure them That they are a part of something Something much much bigger than themselves so You possess that you were very dharmic people at that time And you performed austerities युवाम् वै ब्राम्भणादिष्टो When the when Brahmaji Asked you to perform austerities At that time ब्राम्भणादिष्टो प्रजा सर्गे यदा तपः तथा so They asked he asked you to Beget children And at that time युवाम् वै ब्राम्भणादिष्टो प्रजा सर्गे यदा तपः तथा You regulated your senses ते पाथे परमंतपः ते पाथे You performed great austerity Now normally nowadays people think of Think of Begetting children simply as a man and a woman uniting together But in the Vedic context it was understood that actually the con that the con that Begetting children is a dharmic activity and thus it is important that The Both of them both the mother and the father being proper consciousness By which they can attract a soul who is of the similarly Elevated consciousness and thus they can help people to become elevated सन्यमेंज्य ग्रामं ते पाथे परमंतपः So here he is assuring them that Actually, you have performed great austerities in your past and that you perform to do or to get me as a son Indicate indirectly what is being said over here is that you also and this life you have to perform austerity of a different kind It was not that you have to go into a forest and fast or do something like that But you had to perform the austerity of being betrayed by your own family member and of seeing the death of your own children That is also a great great Suffering which you went through and just as the mood of in saying this is and just as your past suffering Did not go in vain just as your past suffering led to a Constructive purpose Similarly, this suffering will also lead to a constructive purpose. Do not fear.
Do not lament So that understanding is vital and that understanding is being provided here by Krishna so that they can actually Don’t not get too fearful or too overwhelmed by whatever is happening to them right now So Krishna now further described what are the nature of the austerity that they performed? So For worshipping me you worshipped me and what did you all you do for worshipping me? Varsha, Vata, Atap, Hima So what these are all various inclement environmental conditions Varsha is rain Vata is wind especially strong fierce wind. Atapa Tapa refers to heat. So Atapa means the heat that which is which is comes with heat That is the sunlight excessive sunlight Hima cold that is Cold.
Gharma kaal gunanano. So similarly cold heat Kaal now According to Kaal gunanano means as the seasons change there were different kinds of environmental Troubles that you faced. Sahamanau, shvasarodha, sahamanau.
You endured all of it Shvasarodha Shvasarodha means here that you regulated your breath. That means that’s the kind of yoga they practiced and in the Bhagavatam repeatedly even devotees are depicted as practicing some amount of breath regulation and Devotees often take the path of yogic meditation To gain even devotional realization So it’s a we have to understand that the purpose is what is important and if people are fit enough To do yoga and thus they can achieve transcendental reality Then there is nothing intrinsically wrong in it, but often yoga nowadays is practiced with the Impersonal conception if at all if it is practiced with some spiritual understanding otherwise yoga is practiced mostly for material well-being So vinirdhuta manomalau So when you practice yoga in this way vinirdhuta manomalau In this way your whatever contamination was there in the mind that became cleansed that became removed shirna parananil aharav So then what did you eat? Actually parana is leaves Rejected leaves that means not even Leaves are plucked from that tree are considered or at least there’s some amount of freshness in it But trees that have fallen on the ground they are Actually in having no freshness in it shirna parana anil aharav anil refers to air So your meal was basically leaves and air which is extreme austerity and Kshatriyas are used to living in luxury, but Kshatriyas are also characterized by immense determination So that immense determination can enable them to perform austerities at a huge scale Whenever it is necessary for them to do so So shirna parana anil aharav upashantena cetasa In this way by eating very simply Krishna has talked also about laghvashi in the laghvashi one who eats very little as characterizing those on the path of renunciation upashantena cetasa In this way their consciousness became peaceful matthakamana abhyasantavam matthakamana abhyasantavam So in the you what did you want you wanted abhyasantavam means you wanted some Benediction from me desiring from me you performed these austerities you were for worship me mad-aradhanam ihatu So it’s interesting that When devotees seek benedictions from Krishna also, it is not that benedictions can come Automatically Even devotees recognize that for gaining benedictions. They do need to perform austerities and Now of course the mode of austerity may be different in different situations Shri Prabhupada lived in Vrindavan in Spartan simplicity That was an austerity.
He had not had a training in the renounced order. He had lived in home Throughout his life, but so in general To take the term in our take to the renounced mode of life in old age is not easy But Prabhupada did that and more importantly Prabhupada, for him the austerity was actually coming to the West and therein meeting all kinds of people even people with no Understanding of spirituality and often a culture that was quite opposed to spiritual culture and tolerating them and training them So For a great purpose often great Trouble has to be accepted This principle applies even material life if somebody wants to become a record-breaking Athlete they have to work extremely hard and if somebody wants to Wants to please the Lord and get something from the Lord then also austerities have to be performed in our times The austerities that we may have to perform We may vary From situation to situation so that we may not have to perform the same austerities that others are performing In terms of that people in the past years performed, but still we do have to perform austerities So for example sadhana bhakti itself Involves the performance of some austerities and when we do these then That is the way we are conveying the seriousness of our intent to worship Krishna Text 36 evam vāptapyato sthÄ«vram tapah param duá¹£karaṁ divya-varÅ›a-sahasrāṇi dvādeÅ›e yÅ«rma-dātmanoham evam vāptapyato sthÄ«vram tapah param duá¹£karaṁ divya-varÅ›a-sahasrāṇi In this way when you performed both of you perform severe austerity tapthÄ«vram tapah param duá¹£karaṁ evam vāptapyato sthÄ«vram Indeed the austerity that you performed is very difficult to perform for anyone divya-varÅ›a-sahasrāṇi sahasrāṇi sahasrāṇi for 1000 and not just 1000 dvādeÅ›e yÅ«rma-dātmanoham 12000 years you performed austerity like this and not just human years but celestial years divya-varÅ›a-krishna so there is a phenomenal amount of determination being exhibited here for the performance of austerities that they performed austerity with great great zeal so that they could attract the supreme so that they could please the supreme divya-varÅ›a-sahasrāṇi so now they normally people think nowadays of begetting children in simple way find a mate unite with the mate and then have a child but such is not the conception for having a child kind of austerity that they performed is incredible so just as we may say Hiranyakashipu performed austerity to get the blessing of immortality get some blessing like that similarly here they are performing the austerity so that they can get a child who will be special who will be glorious and we will see that they get such a child and that is how Krishna appears to them so wherever there is austerity especially in the mood of bhakti there is a great fruit that comes from austerity so text 37 and 38 tadāvāṁ parituṣṭhoham amunāvapuśānaghe tapasā Å›raddhaya nityaṁ bhaktyācārya-debhāvitah prādhurāsaṁ varadrāda yuvayokāma-diÅ›hya dicayā vriyatāṁ varaityukte mādhruÅ›o vāṁ vratahasutah tadāvāṁ parituṣṭhoham at that time I was greatly satisfied by the austerity that you had performed parituṣṭhoham amunāvapuśānaghe and thus in this form of Krishna tapasā Å›raddhaya nityaṁ because of your faithful austerity faithful engagement in austerity bhaktyācārya-debhāvitah with devotion strongly situated in your heart so I became pleased with you, tadā means after that much time after you performed austerities for that much time with devotion with faith with determination when you performed the austerity consistently prādhurāsaṁ varadrāda prādhurāsaṁ varadrāda so I am known as varada is one who gives benediction rāta means one who is absorbed in giving benedictions one who is the best of one who is giving benedictions so prādhurāsada I appeared before you yuvayokāma-diÅ›hya in order to fulfill your desire I appeared before you vriyatāṁ varityukte vriyatāṁ varityukte then I asked you what blessing do you want mādhruá¹£o vām vá¹›tah sutaḥ and that time you said mādhruá¹£o mām you said that you wanted a son you wanted me as your son or a son exactly like me here the principle of reciprocation between the lord and the devotee is talked about as Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita 4.11 yathā mām prapadyante tāṁsathaiva bhajāmyaham mām uvartamānu vartante manuá¹£yaḥ pārtha sarvaÅ›aḥ so he says that as people surrender unto me I reward them accordingly so here Krishna is describing the reward that Vasudev and Devaki got for their faithful service to him their service was in the form of the immense austerity that they performed to please him and his reciprocation was in terms of how he appeared before them at that time and then he rewarded them so actually speaking we have to understand that Krishna is not very easy to attain and the Bhagavatam does say that we have to perform austerities in a persistent way for a long time if we are to attain Krishna if we don’t perform austerity consistently we just cannot attain him and now by the mercy of devotees the magnitude of the austerity that we may have to perform may decrease substantially and thus we may be able to please him and attain him without that much difficulty but still whatever difficulty we need to go through rather than resenting it we can see it as a part of the purificatory process for attaining Krishna normally we think of austerities in terms of I’ll pass so much I’ll go and do this we think of physical austerities as major austerities but sometimes other kinds of austerity relational austerity just learning to live with difficult people and cope with those difficult people Prabhupada had to do that and that was austerity by which he was able to train people to become devotees and sometimes there can be austerities of various kinds so rather than thinking of austerity in terms of simply going to a forest and doing physical fast we can see austerity as doing whatever it takes to serve the Lord so austerity for Krishna’s sake is not just is not just renouncing bodily needs it can also be taking up the responsibility for doing the Lord’s will as did Arjuna when he fought on behalf of Krishna that was also an austerity life-threatening austerity so thus if you understand that Krishna has a bigger plan based on our past that we may be facing some difficult situations right now but if our life is oriented for the service of Krishna then even if we face those difficult situations if we persevere through them Krishna’s bigger plan will manifest and our ultimate good will be promoted through that plan