Bhagavatam-daily 188 – 11.10.30 – Krishna as time impels us to turn towards Krishna as Bhagavan

Bhagavatam 11.10.30 lokanam lokapalanam madbhayam kalpajivinam brahmanopibhayam mattom viparaparardhaparayushah see here Krishna is continuing his analysis of how the aspiration for heavenly planets is ultimately futile lokanam loka refers to the various planet resistance the lokas where people live lokapalanam so in all the planets even the leaders of those planets such as the palana the protectors, lokapalanam the demigods madbhayam kalpajivinam madbhayam there is always fear madbhayam kalpajivinam of those who live for a kalpa or a day of brahma and what to speak of them even brahmanopibhayam mattom brahmana brahmano here refers to brahmaji bhayam mattom brahmaji is fearful of me viparardhaparayushah viparardha so brahmaji lives for viparardha is as we know 311 trillion years parayushaha that is his enormously long life span now madbhayam that is the central point of this verse where it is stated that everyone is afraid of Krishna now it’s not explicitly mentioned here that this is referring to the time manifestation but that is actually evident from the context because it’s clear that what is being talked about here is the time manifestation so the idea is the discussion was centered on how ultimately there is destruction of everything in this world how there is even in the heavens because death is inevitable so there is fear so now Krishna is continuing that analysis by saying that actually even the residents of the heavenly planet are afraid of God now when God manifests as time then that is a manifestation which is not easy to reconcile with the goodness that is normally associated with God in the Bhagavad Gita when Krishna reveals his Vishwaroopa Arjuna is astonished but when Krishna reveals his Kaalaroopa at that time Arjuna is horrified so I am not able to maintain my peace of mind I am overwhelmed by anxiety and fear so the Kaalaroopa is terrifying wherein it is shown how everybody is being devoured by the so so horrifying mouth with teeth protruding out fangs like teeth so and everybody is being devoured by that as the warriors are entering into it their heads are smashing against the fangs and are cracking apart that the Vishwaroopa is licking the blood that is coming out Arjuna says I am horrified so that particular vision of how how the how that particular form is destroying everyone is horrifying in fact it is so horrifying that Arjuna is not able to recognize it and that’s why he asks I am asking you so who are you? who are you? you are so fierce of form so although Arjuna knows that it is Krishna who is showing his Vishwaroopa but suddenly the Kaalaroopa comes up he is not able to identify and that’s why then at that time Krishna tells I am I have come here to destroy all the worlds I am going to destroy all the people and the people and their planets they are both going to be destroyed so this is Arjuna who is a devotee actually quite a close devotee of the lord he becomes horrified on seeing the Kaalaroopa and he requests Krishna please show me the Saumya Roopa so the Kaalaroopa is the form of destruction and naturally when we see the destructive aspect of the lord we cannot but be fearful now in this particular context what does that imply now it’s not that the people in the heavenly planets are able to see the Kaalaroopa specifically but they have philosophical understanding to know that actually it is time which is attacking us it is time which is destroying us and the time is not different from the lord time is a manifestation of the lord and in that sense they are afraid of the lord now there are other places also where it is said in third canto in the teachings of Kapilathu it is out of fear of me that the sun moves the wind moves, the rain showers and death takes its toll that fear is not exactly fear of the manifestation of time that is respectful obedience knowing that the supreme lord is far greater than us and that he is our master and we need to obey him whereas this fear which is talked about is by recognizing the inexorable destructiveness of the manifestation of the lord as time so now if god is good why does he destroy everything and does he want to cause fear in us actually krishna’s manifestation as time is meant to impel us to start on the journey that will take us beyond time by the destructiveness of everything by observing it by pondering it we start seriously exploring what is beyond this destruction and how can that be attained and that journey gradually takes us towards the spiritual realm wherein we by practicing yoga especially bhakti yoga we raise our spiritual consciousness and thus transcend death’s brutal toll so this fear of the time manifestation is healthy because it impels us to take the shelter of the lord who’s shelter takes us beyond time so krishna comes as time so that by becoming fearful of him we will turn towards krishna manifesting in his two handed shamsundar form krishna manifesting in his sweet form which we can realize and relish when we approach him with urgent and fervent devotion and that urgent and fervent devotion often doesn’t manifest unless we are disillusioned about the material world and its promises of pleasure to the extent we realize the temporariness and the futility of worldly pleasures to that extent we turn wholeheartedly towards krishna and thus fear of krishna as time stimulates love of krishna as shamsundar thank you