Bhagavatam tenth canto study 65 – 10.11.50-59 Huge demons become like moths on coming before the Krishna-fire

In our next session, thank you chanting chanting chanting chanting chanting chanting chanting so Krishna has been swallowed by the castle while all of them were playing in the forest and all the Gopas and even Balram had been petrified almost to the point of losing their life because of this terrible reversal and at that time their reaction, the subsequent narrative is being described here chanting chanting so when Krishna was followed by Bakasura who entered into his throat but as he was going into his throat chanting suddenly started burning like fire sometimes we drink some liquid or sometimes we eat some food and we think it will be at normal temperature but if it turns out to be burning hot then we, because of the unbearable pain and the desperate need to protect ourselves from that pain, we immediately spit it out that’s what Bakasura also did he was so desperate he couldn’t understand what had happened and what he could do about it just chanting chanting so that Gopalasura, the son of Sunda Maharaj he was the father of even Brahma Jagadguru so it was just a leela that he was acting like an ordinary person but he was a supreme person chanting chanting chanting chanting he just spit him out of his mouth immediately and he saw that Krishna Krishna had not only come out he had wanted to hurt Krishna, he wanted to kill Krishna, chew Krishna but Krishna had hurt him inside his throat and Krishna had emerged entirely unhurt and this infuriated Bakasura his plan was to kill Krishna but Krishna had emerged unhurt and he had been hurt in the very throat which had been which was supposed to have been the tool with which the weapon with which he was going to kill Krishna so Baka was infuriated by being baffled thus and Krishna is extraordinarily humble that he let himself be spit out he let himself be consumed and spit out but this is his playfulness that he allows demons sometimes to think that they are winning and then at the last moment he just turns the tables around so totally that they are utterly baffled so chanting so he tried to kill him again, now with his beak with his sharp beak chanting then text 30-51 we go to chanting chanting chanting chanting chanting chanting chanting as he was trying to attack again Bakasura was trying to attack chanting so now this time again Krishna turned Bakasura’s attack on Bakasura itself so when he tried to attack with his beaks, Krishna caught those beaks and Dorbhyam those two sides of the beak, he caught him with his two arms chanting although he was very powerful being a friend of Kamsa Krishna was the protector of the devotees and right in the vision of all the Gopas friends chanting he just ripped apart, bifurcated as a play chanting just playfully, joyfully giving pleasure to the Gopas chanting chanting so he just ripped it apart as if it was just a blade of grass such is the power of Krishna and Dibhaukasam, the heavenly beings were delighted this is earlier they had been delighted when Krishna brought down Vatsasura now again they are delighted when he has ended the reign of terror of Bakasura so Krishna is effortless and not only is he effortless, he is actually flawless in turning what the Gopas, whatever weapons the demons use on them itself and this is how Krishna’s expertise is manifested chanting chanting chanting chanting chanting chanting chanting unto the person who was the enemy of Bakasura chanting chanting those who resided in the heavenly planet, that is the Devatas what did they do? they offered chanting they showered down flowers chanting so Nandana Kanan gardens are there in heaven and they are filled with celebrated flowers such as the Mallika flowers and they showered the best of the flowers with them on this extraordinary child who had accomplished something which would have otherwise been considered impossible and he did it not only was it possible for him but Krishna had done it effortlessly which was his brilliance and seeing the celestial Anant Shankh Samsthavai Anak Shankh Samsthavai seeing that the celestial denizens were showering flowers and congratulating Krishna and they were offering praises and prayers to him he was amazed so then chanting so seeing this chanting so it seems that the Gopas were astonished and Gopas were obviously they have seen the wonderful activity that Krishna is doing but directly perceiving the lavish appreciation of the celestials is something which is not commonly seen it is the terrestrials those who praise the celestials not the celestials who praise the terrestrials those on earth who pray and praise pray to and praise those who are in heaven not the other way around when that happens it clearly indicates something very special something extraordinary is happening and seeing this the cowherd boys were struck with wonder as it is said so now if we consider when Putana is killed or Trunavarth is killed or Shaktasura is killed there is no direct explicit perception that the celestials are showering flowers at that time now when previously Vatsasura was killed at that time the celestials also they showered flowers but here it seems that the Vrajavasis, Vajagopas saw it also and thus they were astounded of course we could say that they have seen when Malakua and Manigrihu came out and they told stories and they saw that the celestial beings were offering prayers to Krishna so even if it has been pursued earlier still it is a matter of great wonder to see such a inversion of the cosmic hierarchy that terrestrials are being praised by the celestials of course Krishna is not terrestrial he is transcendental but in ordinary perception he does appear like a terrestrial text 53 NIRVRTAHA PRANIYA VATSAN VRAJAME TAJYAGUHUM MUKTAM BAKASYAD UPALABHYABALAKAH so Muktam Bakasyad so on thus being saved from the mouth of Bakasura UPALABHYABALAKAH when Krishna came back to or that Krishna has come back was seen by the cowherd boys and by Rama and by Ramaji then what happened PRANAM IVENDRIYO GANAH it seemed as if life had entered back into the senses had come back to life basically STHANAGATAM TAM PARIRABHI NIRVRTAHA they all rushed to Krishna and embraced him and seen that he was freed from this great danger PRANIYA VATSAN VRAJAME TAJYAGUHUM and they declared the incident loudly how amazing it is, how wonderful it is that Krishna has been saved it’s just too astonishing to see this is unbelievable normally whenever we see something astonishing we naturally want to proclaim it to others because it’s just so amazing it applies to anything say if you are watching a sports match and if some player makes an amazing move in that sports match then naturally we are struck with amazement and want to move on thereby want to share that with everyone I want to move the news onwards to as many people as we can the same principle applies all the more so because the Vrajavasis deeply love Krishna and their glorious glories and they want to share those glories with as many people as possible SHRUTVATAD VISMITHA GOPA GOPYASCHATI PRIYADRITAH PRETYAGATAM EVOT SUKYAD AIKSHANT TRUSHIT EKSHANAH SHRUTVATAD VISMITHA GOPA Now in the past time of Krishna dealing with these fearsome demons was narrated by the Gopas to the Vrajavasis, other Vrajavasis, that means the elderly Gopas and Gopis then they were also astounded how could Krishna have done something like this who is this Krishna this marvelous child is one among us but is he one among us or is he someone else such questions started naturally going through their entire being and they started wondering what is happening GOPYASCHATI PRIYADRITAH so they were delighted and also astounded PRETYAGATAM EVA they also thought that Krishna has gone to the jaws of death and come back in one sense the purpose of their great effort in moving from Gokul to Vrindavan has been foiled it has not been successful but still they are not exactly totally disheartened or deeply alarmed by that they are just awestruck to consider that Krishna has turned out to be destructive to those who came with a destructive intention toward him AIKSHAN TRISHTIK AIKSHAN so what happened was they were so filled with joy that they began to look at Krishna especially and other boys with him and they didn’t want to look at anything else how wonderful, how marvellous is this Krishna what is he doing how is he able to do it such thoughts and questions filled their consciousness and filled them with the greatest joy text 55 now AHO BATASYA BALASYA BAHO AMRTAYO BHAVAN APYASI VIPRIYAM TESYAM KRUTAM PURVAM YATO BHAYAM AHO BATASYA BALASYA AHO BATASYA BALASYA this child it’s astonishing that this child has BAHO AMRTAYO BHAVAN although in various ways death the causes of death came upon him but through them all he has survived APYASI VIPRIYAM TESYAM but KRUTAM PURVAM YATO BHAYAM those who caused fear became baffled by him those who came to destroy him were destroyed by him how wonderful is this now it’s interesting earlier they have attributed we saw in what Upananda spoke that they attributed what Krishna has done to the grace of Hari of Achyuta of Vishnu, of Narayana of Sureshwara various names they have used so here now they are seeing that Krishna is doing it and they are thinking that it is Krishna who has been empowered to do this and that’s how he is able to do it it’s not just Krishna who is doing it but it is Krishna who is deeply empowered who is able to do it KRUTAM PURVAM YATO BHAYAM text 56 ATHAPYA ABHIVAVANTE NAM NAIVATE GHOHRA DHARSHANAH KIGHAM SAYAYINAM ASADHYA NASYANTYA AGNAV PATANGAVAT ATHAPYA ABHIVAVANTE NAM although all these came to attack him they came to kill him NAIVATE GHOHRA DHARSHANAH they were very fierce looking, horrifying KIGHAM SAYAYINAM ASADHYA and they came out of envy towards him NASYANTYA AGNAV PATANGAVAT but they were destroyed by him exactly like flies attacking a fire so not only those who come to destroy Krishna were destroyed by Krishna but also it’s not only the fate that was reversed but the odds were also reversed now Krishna is just a small tender boy and before that he was a tiny tender baby and these demons were fierce looking so it would seem that they would easily destroy Krishna but what happened was they got destroyed and they were destroyed as effortlessly by Krishna as if they were like moths entering into fire now a fire doesn’t have to exert any effort to destroy moths the only effort the fire exerts is that it exists the only effort that the fire exerts is that it exists similarly Krishna did practically nothing that’s yet the demons were destroyed so such a dramatic inversion of odds is even more astonishing how is Krishna able to do something like this who indeed is this Krishna so such a astonishment such sense of marvelousness of awe is filling the Brajwasis text 57 aho brahmavidam vacho na satya santikarhi chet gargo yad ah bhagavan anvabhavi tatha evav tath aho brahmavidam vacho that how amazing are the words of those who are aware of Brahman na satya santikarhi chet that they never turn out to be untrue they are always true gargo yad ah bhagavan that Gargamuni is Bhagavan he is a person who possesses great opulence and he had said anvabhavit tatha evav tath as he had prophesied so it is happening so at the time of his Krishna’s birth Gargamuni had said that this boy will do extraordinary things this boy will protect you from great dangers and this boy is blessed by Narayan this boy is almost like Narayan so on seeing this wonderful Krishna’s wonderful actions they are seeing the unfolding of the destiny that is there for him they are seeing the unfolding of the trajectory that has been charted out for him by Gargamuni and they are delighting in seeing this glorious destiny unfolding right before their eyes and thus they are feeling delighted text 58 iti nanda dayo gopaha krishna rama katha mudha kurvanto rama manascha na vindan bhava vedanam so iti nanda dayo gopaha beautiful verse which describes how transcendence protects us from turbulence that nanda and other gopa nanda iti nanda dayo gopaha krishna rama katha mudha in the joyful pastimes of Krishna kurvanto rama manascha they were absorbed they were delighting in that and na vindan bhava vedanam they did not experience bhava vedana at all any distress of material existence ultimately tribulation will visit all of us sooner or later we just can’t avoid that the only protection that we have is absorption if we are absorbed then that absorption raises us to a higher level of experience to a higher level of reality our consciousness is raised and it is such absorption that we get so much joy that we don’t feel the tribulations of the world afflicting us so we need to take steps progressively to try to cultivate such absorption indeed hearing Krishna’s pastimes and speaking those pastimes is itself a way to cultivate such absorption and the more we cultivate such absorption the more we will be able to move forward in our life journey and move closer to Krishna and attain Krishna so the Bhagavatam is narrated by Shukadeva Goswami not just to help Parikshit Maharaj gain absorption but to help all of us gain absorption also and to the extent we treasure the Bhagavatam to that extent we can also relish this joy this joy that passeth all understanding the Bible talks about the peace that passeth all understanding God can give us that peace the Bhagavatam talks about how God can give us not just peace but joy the joy that passeth all understanding the Vrajvasis were simple cowherd people but Krishna gave them a joy that passeth all understanding a joy that sheltered them in transcendence beyond all turbulence and it is that joy we also aspire to gain by hearing and relishing Krishna’s pastimes the last verse text 59 in this way Krishna performed his Vihara, his pastimes, Kaumara his childhood pastimes performed his childhood pastimes he passed his time in childhood so he played some other games also such as hide and seek he built a bridge across an ocean of course there were only brooks and ponds and rivulets and rivers so they built bridges across that and they dreamt that they are building a bridge across the ocean as Ram had built earlier they jumped here and there like monkeys so here it’s interesting that the extraordinary activities of Krishna just killing those two demons Vatsasa and Vakasa now the Bhagavatam concludes with describing an utterly ordinary singing activity playing hide and seek making an imaginary bridge or jumping about like monkeys so for Krishna for the absolute truth doing the ordinary things is also extraordinary and while doing the ordinary things when he does something extraordinary that seems extraordinary to us but when the being is extraordinary then everything that the being does is also extraordinary and that is the message that we have to carry from the Bhagavatam that all of Krishna’s activities are relishable of course we have our individuality and we may find some activities more relishable than others and if we find particularly attracted to certain activities we can see that as a fortune, as a blessing as a means Krishna has provided us to become absorbed in him and taking shelter of that we can dive deep into absorption we’ll continue the discussion of Krishna’s pastimes in the next chapter in our future talks thank you Hare Krishna