Bhagavatam tenth canto study 33 – 10.6.15-23 The Vrajavasis invoke God for the protection of God

When she comes into Vrindavan, we’ll discuss in our next session. Thank you.
This is describing the fearsome form of this demoness who has fallen to her death now. So, Putana’s form is being described. And sit over here.
How was she looking? She had fallen in the pasturing ground outside of Vrindavan and had fallen dead in a very terrible way. Isha Matrogra Damshtasyam. Isha Matrogra Damshtasyam.
So, her teeth were like dangerous, but they looked like the ploughs, they were so large. And her mouth, Girikandara, her mouth was like a mountain cave. Her mouth, which was mouth full of teeth, they resembled the plough actually.
Her nostrils were like a cave of mountain. It was so large. Girikandara Nasikam Gandashailasthanam Raudram.
So, Gandashaila. So, her breast which had earlier been so gentle, now in this particular huge form, in her original form, they were like big slabs of stone. Gandashailasthanam Raudram.
They were looking very, very fierce. And Prakirna Arunamurdhajam, Prakirna Arunamurdhajam, Prakirna. So, her hair was the colour of copper.
Her hair was dishevelled and it looked just like like copper, you know, red hair. Normally, people have black hair. Some people who have blonde hair are considered attractive, but red hair is considered ghastly.
She looks scary, the colour of copper. The sockets of her eyes, Baddhasetu Bhujorvangri Shunyatoyaradodaram. So, her eyes appear like deep blind wells.
Some people, we look in their eyes and there is so much warmth in them. Some people, just their eyes look cold, as if they have no emotion at all. Just, just so unfeeling.
In some cases, some people have, they look in such a way as if they are, they are lifeless. So, her eyes, of course, she was dead, so the eyes were closed, but still the eyes were so huge that they appeared to be like, like blind wells, huge, deep. And her thighs were so large that they appeared like the banks of a river.
Baddhasetu Bhujorvangri and her arms, thighs and feet were strongly built bridges. Shunyatoyaradodaram and her abdomen was like a lake. So, her navel was like a lake with, without any water.
Santatrasusma. And just seeing her, everybody became fearful. Santatrasusma, they became tormented, they became horrified.
Tadvikshagopahagopyah kalevaram. On seeing this huge form, the Gopas and the Gopis became scared. Poorvam to tad nishvanita bhinnarad karanamastakaha.
And they had already been shocked by her loud screaming, and now when they saw her huge form, they were even more alarmed. Ritkaranamastakaha, their hearts, ears and heads, everything was shaken. So, it’s, you know, one horror after another being unleashed.
Suppose an earthquake occurs, you’re scared. But sometimes after an earthquake, there are multiple smaller quakes that keep coming. And that makes things even worse.
So, ritkaranamastakaha. You saw that and everybody was just horrified on seeing this. Ritkaranamastakaha.
And while there was devastation like this, while everything was destroyed, but while she looked so destructive and the one who looked so destructive had been destroyed, but what happened is a tender boy was playing on her breast. Now, Krishna, when she charged out in fear trying to get free from this boy, that baby Krishna, Krishna still held on to her. Because he held on to her, balam chitasya urasi, that boy was still playing on her breast.
Kridantam akutobhayam, without any fear. The word akutobhaya is often used to describe the result of devotion. If somebody becomes devoted, then the devotion frees them from fear.
Similarly, here it is said that the boy himself was free from fear. Kridantam akutobhayam. Gopyas turanam samabhitya, jagrur jata sambramaha.
Gopyas turanam samabhitya. So, the Gopas, they immediately came closer and when they saw that boy, initially they were horrified to see this huge demon, but when she saw, they saw the tender boy, they immediately came forward to think, is he in danger? Do we need to rescue him? Jagrur jata sambramaha, and jata sambramaha. So, their affection for that boy and jubilation on seeing that boy, that is Krishna, that immediately awakened and they started rushing there to try to take care of that boy.
Normally, whenever there is a small boy, small child anywhere, it’s a natural affection that is felt. Small children, especially babies, they often activate, awaken the protector within us. Whoever we may be, we often, there is a side within us which wants to protect, which wants to take care, which wants to cherish and that need to nourish and cherish and protect, that is there within everyone and that part was activated within the Vrajavasis and immediately they came forward to protect this child.
Now, actually he had protected them and he protected himself from a far greater danger, but still seeing him playing as if nothing has happened, Krishna, when he performs his pastimes, sometimes he acts in a very deceptively sweet way, wherein at one level he is acting as a child one moment, and next moment he does something fearsome, and next moment again he is acting like a child. A fearsome means fearsome for the demons who are trying to threaten him, kill him. So, Yashoda and Rohini Bhyam.
So, now all the Vrajavasis, because they had become alarmed on hearing that huge sound, now among them Yashoda and Rohini were also there, remember, and then, they were leading, but everybody there was concerned, and they took care of the child and they, so they moved the switch of a cow, they waved the tail, they did certain rituals, certain practices, which were meant to grant auspiciousness and protection to the child. Now, we’ll remember here that Krishna was with Yashoda and Rohini when the demoness came and took him right from under their nose and tried to assault and kill him. But beyond that, the important principle is that Nanda Maharaj was also not there.
So, one set of protectors were shocked to see what had happened. Another set of protectors, his child has mother and father, so his father was not there, and his mother, he in this case had two mothers, the mother of his brother also. So, they had, in their presence, this demoness had come.
Now, of course, the demoness was so powerful that even if Nanda Maharaj had been there, he would not have been able to do much. But the important point is that at this level, at this point, they did what they could to protect the child, and they did it with their full energy and enthusiasm because they recognized that what kind of terrible thing is this that has happened. How could this have happened to a just sweet little child? So, in their own way, whatever they could do to protect that innocent child, they were ready to do.
And the thing that they immediately did was, they actually did some rituals to remove inauspiciousness and to bring auspiciousness. And one such ritual that they did was, they started moving the switch of a cow to protect. So, generally, whenever something is very important for us, we do everything that is in our power to protect that.
And if something is, and if we fear that this force should be far more powerful than us, then we try to invoke some higher power also to aid in the protection. That is what the Vrajvasis are doing. Vrajvasis want with all their life to protect Krishna.
And thus, whatever they can do, they are doing. Gopucha brahmanadi bhi. And they picked up the child.
Although the child had been saved from one danger, but still they were fearful there might be some other danger coming. And so, they did what they could to protect that child. Gomutren snapayitva punar gora vajasarbhakam raksham chakrushcha shaktriya dwadashange shunam bhi.
So, this, he was protected. How was he protected? Three steps are described over here. Gomutren snapayitva.
He was bathed with cow urine. That is a traditional way in which auspiciousness is sought whenever there is some inauspiciousness happening. And then punar go vajasarbhakam.
And he was covered with the dust of the cows. Cows are considered very gentle animals and cows are considered very auspicious animals. So, bathing with, so contact with the cow is considered auspicious.
So, bathing in cow urine, being dusted with cow dust. And then after being dusted, a tilak was applied, raksham chakrushcha shaktriya chakruta. So, chakruta, that with the cow dung, the various protection rituals were executed.
And dwadashange shunam bhi, that they were rituals done, tilak was applied on his different parts of the body, invoking different manifestations of the Lord for his protection. And the mood of the vrajavasis is that of pure devotion in a context of great piety. That, what does it mean, pure devotion in the context of great piety, that the vrajavasis are actually pure devotees.
They have no interest other than the Lord. At the same time, at a day-to-day practical level, they focus not so much on their pure, they are living in a pious setting. And in that pious setting, they focus on their relationship with the Lord in a mode of spontaneous service to Him.
And they don’t consider Krishna to be Krishna. Their pure devotion, the purity of their devotion is that they are not concerned about anything other than Krishna. But it is pure devotion in a pious setting.
That means, in order to protect Krishna, they are ready to invoke auspiciousness through every possible means. And they will pray to Vishnu, although Krishna and Vishnu are the same person. They will pray to the various devatas, as later we will see the vrajavasis, the gopis praying to Katyayani to get Krishna as their husband.
So, it is pure devotion in the context of piety. Text 21. The gopis did ācman.
Normally, the gopis touch some water. On their hands, they chanted mantras to purify themselves and then they applied the mantra on the body of the child. So, this is standard way in which Deity is worshipped.
It’s also standard way in which anything sacred is invoked and executed. So, they were trying to bring auspiciousness on Krishna in every possible way. So, sanctity was integral part of their lives and sanctity indicated that they were doing various rituals.
So, Prabhupada explains in the Parpot, there is anganyasa and karanyasa. So, these are mantras which are drunk, you drink a little sip of water and chant the mantras. So, there are mantras which are chanted by which actually we all can become purified.
Then they started invoking after purification. Generally, to invoke the pure, we ourselves have to be pure. So, that invocation of the pure, how it happens, that’s described now.
So, may Lord Ajah protect his feet, Angri, Manimaan. May Lord Manimaan protect his knees. Athor, Yajnachuta.
May his thighs be protected by Yajna. May Lord Achuta protect the upper part of his waist. Kattitatam, Jatharam, Hayasya.
May Hayagriva protect his abdomen. May Keshava protect his heart. So, Ritkeshava, Tadur, Ishas.
So, Inastukantam, they are saying that, may Isha protect the chest and may the Sun God protect the neck. Vishnurbhujam, Vishnurbhujam Mukham Urukrama Ishwarakam. May Lord Vishnu protect his arms.
Urukrama, the face and Ishwar, the head. May Chakri protect him from the front. May Shri protect, who is the Shri Hari Gadadhar, who carries the Gada, the club, protect from the back.
May the Lord, who is Dhanvi, who carries the weapon, the Nasi, he protect from behind. Madhuha Janasya. May, he who killed Madhu, protect him, protect him from the two sides.
Ajanna, they protect him. May Lord Urugaya, the carrier of the conscience, protect him from all corners. May Upendra protect him from above.
May Gauravda protect him on the ground. May Haladhar protect him on all sides. So, the whole idea here is that there is protection required in every situation in life.
And this protection, naturally, our body is the only tool we have for functioning in life. And we need the body very much. So, if our natural concern for the body could be channeled as a meditation on the Lord, then that brings supreme auspiciousness.
There is a well-known Rasimhaka Vach Mantra, where different, where the Lord is invoked to, when we meditate on different limbs of our body, we meditate on different limbs of the Lord, and invoke the Lord to protect different limbs of the body. So, how bodily consciousness can be invoked to cultivate Krishna consciousness, that is conveyed through such mantras. There is a vision in which we divorce the material from the spiritual.
There is another vision in which we infuse the material with the spiritual. Bhakti involves both transcending the world and transmuting the world. So, transcending the world means, we just, okay, this body, the material, just give it up and focus on Krishna.
But then we have to serve Krishna while we are in this world with this body. So, naturally, we can’t just wish away the body that we have. We have to serve effectively with this body itself.
And therefore, the Bhagavatam describes that, so the Bhagavatam here depicts this theme, that when we strive to be absorbed in Krishna, then that striving can be done in various ways. The Vrajvasis, because of their love for the Lord, they think of Krishna as their child who is to be protected. And they invoke the various forms of Vishnu to protect the various Gods, in fact, to protect various limbs of Krishna.
So, the zealousness of their concern and the extraordinary devotion by which God is invoked for the protection of God, that is the unique flavor of the love of the Vrajvasis for Krishna, that God is invoked for the protection of God. The Vrajvasis think of Krishna as their lovable child. They don’t think of him as Krishna, as God, as the Supreme, but they do accept the existence of the Supreme.
And they think that that Supreme, they need to invoke so that they will be, that their lovable child Krishna will be protected by that. So, for us, when we chant some Kavacha mantras, which involve correlating various limbs of the body with various forms of the Lord who can protect those limbs or various limbs of the body of the Lord, that is basically to bring about a connection between our default bodily consciousness and our aspiration for devotional consciousness. But for Krishna, the Vrajvasis, because they are directly with Krishna, their invoking these mantras indicate something higher.
It indicates their