Bhagavatam-daily 250 – 11.12.07 – Association of devotees is equivalent to the association of Krishna
Srimad Bhagavatam 11.12.7 Srimad Bhagavatam 11.12.7 They have, they refers here to these people, the list of people who are mentioned in the previous text. Krishna is mentioned, Sugriva, Bali, so living beings from various species, from various parts of the universe.
Those who are not normally considered very pious or very spiritually advanced or even spiritually inclined, so demons, non-humans and such lower varnas. And yet, they stated here that they became elevated. And Krishna said, they did not do the various rituals that are normally expected of those who are spiritually advanced.
That means that those who are, or those who are even spiritually inclined. So these are people who are not, if we go to the example of say academic performance, these are students who are not toppers, and they don’t have a track record of high academic performance. And yet, and they have not done anything special, which is normally, which is conventionally considered as religious, such as studying scripture extensively or or the doing rituals, avrata, they have not done, they have not followed vrata, they have not followed tapas.
So Krishna is actually here giving in one sense a converse of what he had stated earlier in the first text. So he says, those activities such as vrata, shastra, adhyana and all that, that does not lead to attaining me as much as bhakti does, as associate of my devotees does. And now Krishna says over here that these people, he has given an example and now he’s giving a summary here that these people, they did not do all these activities.
They just simply, what did they have? They had my association. It’s interesting Krishna is not using the word bhakta-sangena, it is my association. So this equalization that Krishna does is significant because what Krishna implies is that the context is clearly the association of devotees.
And yet Krishna here uses bhakta-sangena. So the implication is that Krishna is saying that my association and my devotees association is not different. What does it mean? In the 10th canto also when Nalakavarmani grave are offering prayers to Krishna after Krishna has delivered them from their tree forms, so as Yamalarga trees, so at that time in one of the prayers so there when they say how we aspire to serve you, Drishti, they say that Bhavatanona, they say that seeing your devotees is non-different from seeing you.
Getting the darshan of your devotees is getting your darshan. What that means is essentially as souls who are devoted to Krishna, Krishna manifests through his devotees and because he manifests through his devotees, so their association is extremely special, extremely potent and and it is non-different from the association of Krishna. In fact, the more advanced a devotee, the greater is the association, the greater is the association of Krishna that we can get through that devotee.
How is that? Because Krishna says that as all people surrender unto me, I reciprocate accordingly. That is 4.11 in the Bhagavad Gita and then extending that point further. In 9.29, he states those who worship me with devotion Krishna says I am in them and they are in me.
So, this is a very vivid expression of intimacy when Krishna says I am in them and they are in me. At a philosophical level, Krishna is present in the hearts of all living beings but Krishna is not talking about that which he mentioned in 15.15. Here Krishna is referring to how for those who are very intensely devoted to him, his presence is not just latent but it is evident. That means that Krishna just like the sun when it is set or when it is not yet risen, the sun is there in the sky but it is not to be seen.
Whereas, when the sun has risen, then it can be clearly seen. So, when the sun is not yet risen, it is there, it is latent, it is we could say dormant in terms of its presence and its action as manifest to us. But when the sun has risen and we can see and feel its light and heat, light and warmth, then its presence is evident, it’s apparent, it’s clear.
So, like that Krishna is present in the hearts of all living beings but his presence is dormant over there. It is not apparent to even those living beings what to speak of those who associate with those living beings. But in the case of Krishna’s advanced devotees, those who worship him with devotion, he says, I am present in them and they are present in me.
They are present in me. This is clearly not referring to ontological fact. It is not that all living beings are within the form of Krishna.
Of course, we could say that Krishna is universal form and all living beings are in that universal form. But if you look at the context of this verse, it’s clearly talking about bhakti from patram, pushpam, phalam, tovim onwards, 22nd verse, onwards till 26th verse, till 34th verse. These nine verses are clearly talking about bhakti.
And so, given that context, this verse is not talking about the virata rupa. It is talking about the personal form of Krishna. And Krishna says, maite, that, maite, they are in me and I am in them.
And here Krishna is clearly referring to the, Krishna is referring here to the sweetness of love wherein one person, when the beloved is always in the lover’s heart, and the lover is always in the beloved’s heart. Krishna talks about this further also in the gita, in the bhagavatam, sadhavam hrudayam mahiyam, sadhunam hrudayam taham, madanyatena janati naham tebhyo managapi. Krishna says, I am in the heart of the sadhus and the sadhus are in my heart.
I don’t know anyone apart from them and they don’t know anyone apart from me. So, this is again a, the point which is being made here is that this is a, this is the expression of intimate love, where by affection, by recollection, by emotional connection, the beloved is always present in one’s heart. And in that sense, for the devotees, Krishna is always present in their heart in an evident way.
And that is evident not only to them, but also to others who associate with them. And by associating with other, by associating with such saintly devotees, one actually associates with Krishna. And Krishna states here that mad-sangena, that actually these people, this can refer, it can possibly refer to the list of Vibhishan Hanuman, but it can also refer to the later list where various Vaishyas and others are described who are not expected to have performed various rituals, various activities of piety, such as see a scriptural study or performance of austerities or whatever.
And yet, they are elevated, they are highly elevated to the level where they, because of the, because of getting Krishna’s association, through the association of Krishna’s devotees, they attain the highest destination. So, in this way, Krishna speaks in this verse that his association, his devotees association is equivalent to his association and that is singularly, singularly means alone. It is single-handedly potent enough for elevating people who are normally considered unqualified towards liberation.
Thank you.
Disclaimer: This transcript was generated using AI and may contain occasional errors or inaccuracies.
Srimad Bhagavatam 11.12.7 te nādhita-śruti-gaṇānopāsita-mahat-tamaḥ avratā-tapta-tapasah mat-saṅgān mām upāgataḥ te nādhita-śruti-gaṇān they have they refers here to these people the list of people who are mentioned in the previous text Krishna is stating here so they mentioned Subhriya Bali so living beings from various species from various parts of the universe those who are not normally considered very pious or very spiritually advanced or even spiritually inclined so demons, non-humans and such lower varnas and yet they stated here that they became elevated and Krishna is stating te nādhita-śruti-gaṇān they did not do the various rituals that are normally expected of those who are spiritually advanced that means that those who are or those who are even spiritually inclined so these are people who are not, if we go to the example of say academic performance, these are students who are not toppers and they don't have a track record of high academic performance and yet and they have not done anything special which is normally, which is conventionally considered as religious such as studying scripture extensively or or the doing rituals avrata-tapa, it is said that they have not done they have not followed vrata, they have not followed tapas so Krishna is actually here giving in one sense a converse of what he had stated earlier in the first text so he says those activities such as vrata, shastra, adhyayana and all that that does not lead to attaining me as much as bhakti does, as an association of my devotees does and now Krishna says over here that these people, he has given an example and now he is giving a summary here that these people, they did not do all these activities they just simply wanted to have they had my association it's interesting Krishna is not using the word madh-bhakta-sangena, it is my association so this equalization that Krishna does is significant because what Krishna implies is that the context is clearly the association of devotees and yet Krishna here uses madh-sangena so the implication is that Krishna is saying that my association and my devotees association is not different what does it mean? in the 10th canto also when Nalakoram and Manigreev are offering prayers to Krishna after Krishna has delivered them from their tree forms so as yamalarga trees so at that time in one of the prayers so there they say how we aspire to serve you they say that they say that seeing your devotees is non-different from seeing you getting a darshan of your devotees is getting your darshan what that means is essentially as souls who are devoted to Krishna Krishna manifests through his devotees and because he manifests through his devotees so their association is extremely special extremely potent and it is non-different from the association of Krishna infact the more advanced a devotee the greater is the association the greater is the association of Krishna that we can get through that devotee how is that because Krishna says that as all people surrender unto me I reciprocate accordingly that is 4.11 in the Bhagavad Gita and then extending that point in 9.29 he states those who worship me with devotion Krishna says I am in them and they are in me so this is this is a very very vivid expression of intimacy Krishna says I am in them and they are in me at a philosophical level Krishna is present in the heart of all hearts of all living beings but Krishna is not talking about that Sarvasya Chaham Rizhan Nivishto which he mentions in 15.15 here Krishna is referring to how for those who are very intensely devoted to him his presence is not just latent but it is evident that means that in the case of Krishna's advanced devotees those who worship him with devotion he says I am present in them and they are present in me they are present in me this is clearly not referring to an ontological fact it is not that all living beings are within the form of Krishna of course we could say that Krishna is a universal form and all living beings are in that universal form but if you look at the context of this verse it's clearly talking about bhakti from onwards 22nd verse onwards till 26th verse till 34th verse these 9 verses are clearly talking about bhakti and so given that context this verse is not talking about the personal form of Krishna and Krishna says that they are in me and I am in them and here Krishna is clearly referring to the Krishna is referring here to the sweetness of love wherein one person when the beloved is always in the lover's heart and the lover is always in the beloved's heart Krishna talks about this further also in the Bhagavatam Krishna says I am in the heart of the sadhus and the sadhus are in my heart I don't know anyone apart from them and they don't know anyone apart from me so this is again a the point which is being made here is that this is the expression of intimate love where by affection by recollection by emotional connection the beloved is always present in one's heart and in that sense for the devotees Krishna is always present in their heart in a evident way and that is evident not only to them but also to others who associate with them and by associating with other by associating with such saintly devotees one actually associates with Krishna and Krishna states here that that actually these people this can refer it can possibly refer to the list of Vibhishan Hanuman but it can also refer to the later list where various Vaishyas and others are described who are not expected to have performed various rituals various activities of piety such as serious scriptural study or performance of austerities or whatever and yet they are elevated they are highly elevated to the level where they because of the because of getting Krishna association through the association of Krishna's devotees they attain the highest destination so in this way Krishna speaks in this verse that that his association devotees association is equivalent to his association and that is singularly singularly means alone it is single handedly potent enough for elevating people who are normally considered unqualified towards liberation thank you.