Bhagavatam-daily 251 – 11.12.08 – Even the unqualified become liberated by bhakti

Bhagavatam 11.12.8 Krishna is continuing here to describe the glory of bhakti, especially as manifested through bhaktasangha. With kevalabha, with sincere devotion, with pure devotion, kevala is unalloyed, not contaminated by anything else.
The gopis, the cows, Naga refers to the unmoving entities, such as the trees, Yama-Larjun trees. The animals, such as the deer and the peacock. Those who were having less intelligence, those who were like foolish animals, they were fools, basically.
So, the residents of Vrindavan suggest the snake Kaliya. They attained the perfection of life by kevalabha and thus they attained me, Anjasa, easily. Krishna is continuing to demonstrate through examples, the potency of devotion.
So, here he is stating that, kevalenatbhavena. That means, here kevalabhav refers to pure devotion and the pure devotion refers here, as Sri Prabhupada translated as unalloyed devotion. So, it means not necessarily that devotion that is not contaminated by any selfish desires.
That can also be a meaning, but here what it means is, in the context where the path of bhakti is being compared to other paths. In that context, this means that, Krishna is saying that, these people, these living beings, practice only bhakti. They did not follow any other path, kevalenatbhavena.
Just by the practice of bhakti, they became elevated. And, Krishna is giving intriguing examples here. So, at one level, he is giving examples of Vrajavasis, who we consider as eternal associates.
Gopis. Now, of course, not all Gopis are eternal associates. The important point to recognize is that, women who are usually considered to be spiritually less qualified or rather less qualified for spiritual life, here they are depicted as having attained perfection, supreme perfection.
In fact, Bhagavatam’s narrative depicts the Gopis as the topmost devotees. So, the whole 10th canto, with its many pastimes and with its substantial length, it centers on describing the exalted love of the Gopis for Krishna. So, here, Krishna speaks that, when there is love for him, then whatever else may be there or not there, doesn’t matter.
Just by following the path of love, all these living beings, they have attained the highest perfection. They have attained Krishna. So, at one level, Krishna talks about Gopis, some of whom, many of whom are eternal associates.
Now, he is also talking about others, such as the Nalakur, Manigraha or Kaliya. Now, we will see that, among the non-vrajvasis, who were present in Vrindavan, Kaliya was practically the only one who was directly inimical. And he was also the one whom Krishna did not kill.
There were, say, demons like Dhenukasura, who were owning and ruling the Talavan forest. And they were destroyed and delivered by Krishna through Balarama. Specifically, Dhenukasura was delivered by Balarama.
Now, Kaliya significantly was not killed. And Kaliya attained the supreme blessing of getting the Lord’s lotus feet on his head. And that was such an extraordinary blessing, that the Nagapatnis wondered, how could these Gopis, how could this Kaliya, normally a snake’s body, is considered a low body, and a soul occupies a snake’s body because of being envious.
So, a snake is considered to be a relatively low-level being. And yet, it is stated over here that, and it is demonstrated in the Kaliya pastime, that such a snake got the supreme blessing of having the Lord’s lotus feet touch his head. Yes, we may say that the Lord was touching, not in benediction, the Lord was touching in confrontation, that Krishna was dancing on his hooves in order to dominate and defeat him.
Yes, but still, whatever be the context in which there is a contact with the Lord, the contact is auspicious. Practically, no other demon got such a blessing of having the Lord put his head on the demon’s, the Lord put his head on the demon’s, Lord put his feet on the demon’s head. So, Kaliya got such a great blessing.
Now, we may wonder, did Kaliya have bhakti? Actually, he was envious. Initially, when he saw Krishna, although first he appreciated Krishna’s beauty, but then he wanted to destroy Krishna, considering that Krishna was an upstart who had challenged his authority in his own territory. At least, he considered the kund to be his kund, and Krishna had audaciously jumped into that.
So, yes, Kaliya initially had animosity, but the touch of Krishna’s lotus feet humbled and purified him, humbled because he was overpowered and purified because Krishna is all-purifying, and further, he also had associated with his wives, and those wives were devotionally inclined. So, by their association, by Krishna’s thunderous benediction in the form of his irresistibly heavy feet dancing on his hooves, and of course, by his attempts to do what his wives were doing, and by the attempts to offer prayers, Kaliya also developed devotion, and although his devotion might not have been pure at that time, here the context is Kevalabhav refers primarily to the point that he strove to be. He did not choose any other path.
He focused on the path of bhakti alone. Similarly, on the Kuvarmani group, they were like spoiled sons of a wealthy father, and then they were reduced to the hapless and helpless state of being trees, and then, by Narada’s mercy, they remembered their past life, they remembered their mistake, and they remembered Krishna’s position, and seeing Krishna’s endearing childhood pastimes, babyhood and childhood pastimes being played out in Nanda Maharaj’s courtyard, they became further purified and attracted to Krishna, and Krishna eventually fell and delivered them from their three bodies. They offered great, greatly devotional and sincere prayers.
So, again, these devatas did not practice any other process. Earlier, they were so spoiled that in their previous life, they had no inclination to follow any dharmic process, and in this life, they were trees. What process could they follow in a tree body? And yet, they were elevated and liberated from illusion just by the devotion that they had got by the blessing of Narada and the blessing of Krishna.
So, in this way, by the practice of devotion, without needing to practice any other paths,