Bhagavatam-daily 287 – 11.13.20 – Devotees want to know the identity of not just God but also his specific manifestations

Disclaimer: This transcript was generated using AI and may contain occasional errors or inaccuracies.

Thank you so here the question by the kumaras, the supreme lord is being described so it is stated that when the kumaras asked brahma a question about the ultimate purpose of yoga and the ultimate purpose of life, brahma was unable to answer and he meditated on the supreme lord and in response to that meditation the lord appeared in front of him in the hamsa rupa now the hamsa is a manifestation of the lord that had not been seen earlier and therefore on seeing him both brahma and the sages were intrigued and they understood om is a very special personality but they wanted to know who he is specifically and bhavan in a very respectful way bhavan, who are you the word bhavan tuam is also used for referring the second person and bhavan is also used to refer the second person but bhavan is a more respectful second person so like in hindi we have tu and aap so it is more respectful and in english there is no exactly like that equivalent to that although in some cases the royal v is used for example when kings would refer to themselves they would refer to themselves in the plural instead of the singular so now the royal v is often a object of caricature and if somebody starts referring to oneself by v it often, usually, frequently is made the butt of jokes but sanskrit has that facility to refer to the second person in a respectful way so bhavan now asking who are you, we see a similar question by arjuna when he asked krishna to reveal the vishwaroopa he said he said that if you think it is possible my lord, 11.4 he asked that if it is possible please show me your roopa ishwariya, your great opulence has manifested in a majestic form and then krishna revealed the vishwaroopa to him krishna, arjuna was outstruck by the manifestation that he saw and he identified that as i am seeing you you are the vishweshwar and you are revealing your vishwaroopa to me but as he kept beholding that majestic manifestation his eyes went to various features of that manifestation and due course of time it struck him that actually this manifestation was not just awe inspiring it was awesome it also seemed awful now the word awe refers to the feeling that comes within us when we see something great and majestic awe inspiring and awesome are positive attributes something which is majestic, something which is gigantic but something which is attractive is impressive but awful is a negative describer where what is seen is scary it makes one it may make one blood curdle, it may make one feel afraid and krishna while revealing the vishwaroopa also revealed his kaalaroopa arjuna could not identify what is this and so he asked immediately to be asked i am asking you bhavan oh great one oh one who is fierce of form i offer my obeisances to you oh great one you are the giver of benedictions i want to know i cannot understand what is your purpose so one says arjuna knew that this was the vishwaroopa but what was this feature of vishwaroopa he was not able to identify the vishwaroopa was of course going to show the roopaishwarya the opulence of the majesty of the lord as manifested in his form which pervaded and contained the universe but then this was something else which he could not identify and therefore he asked bhavan oh great one who are you now at this point krishna answers time i am the destroyer of the world i am the destroyer of the world so he says that time i am and i have come here to destroy everyone except for you the pandavas everyone else below the battlefield will destroy you so now the question that comes here is that here the kumaras are asking who are you there also in the bhagavad gita we see a similar question who oh lord are you now the kumaras they are offering respect and when they ask the question to brahma and brahma started meditating they also understood that brahma is invoking the presence of someone greater than us so they could intuitively perceive that this being who has appeared must be a manifestation of the supreme but they had not seen or heard of that manifestation and therefore they asked brahma who are you they offered obeisances recognizing that this is a respectable exalted person but wanting to know the specific identity of that person they asked him who are you and accordingly there has to be a basic introduction done before we can have a further discussion so the kumaras wanted that basic introduction and thus they asked him ask the lord who are you oh lord please tell us so we will see in our future classes how this pastime