Bhagavatam study 32 01.7.30-37 The protector from provocation tests by provoking

Shri madbhagavatam 1 730 samhatyanyonyam ubhayos tejashi sarasamvrte avrtyarodasi khamcha bhavruddhate arkavahnivats so here the action on the war field of on the war field in the confrontation between ashwathama and arjuna is being described by suta goswami to the sages at nimesharanya on the instruction of krishna arjuna has just countered ashwathama’s brahmastra with his own brahmastra samhatya when there is combination of the two brahmastras anyonyam the two combined together ubhayos both of them tejasi sarasamvrte the glare of those two sarasamvrte those two weapons it covered practically all of the horizon avrtyarodasi khamcha it covered the whole sky and the outer space far out bhavruddhate arkavahnivats and it created a blazing fire like the sun globe normally the sun is out there in the sky and especially if it is summer then the sun is blazing hot but if the sun is just overhead we know that the sun is far away but if the sun comes very close to us in the sky then its heat would become unbearable for us similarly if the or if by the sun was there in the sky suddenly another sun like thing appeared very close to us sometimes in science fiction movies they show some spacecraft belonging to aliens belonging to some aliens there is some sort of alien invasion on the earth and it can be just the sight of a spacecraft even if it is not immediately shoring weapons but if it is some sort of alien object that creates concern even fear or terror but what to speak of sometimes when something is there up in the sky which is which is pervading the whole of the sky and is actually creating such an creating a blazing effulgence blazing heat that gets appears to be about to scorch everyone quite often when a bomb explodes there is not just huge noise the noise is the initial thing but after that its like when the new atom bomb exploded at Hiroshima and Nagasaki first there was a terrible noise but what came after the noise was even worse, a toxic gas it spread in the sky and spread everywhere so here the terrible heat is spreading all over and that its just like the fire caused by the sun being very close to us how that would scorch all the directions that kind of scorching effect is happening over here, text 31 texts so on seeing blazing effulgence of this weapon how actually it was burning all the 3 worlds on seeing this the people everywhere just rushed out and they were horrified, petrified. Samvartakam Amamastha. They thought this is the Samvartak.
So Samvartak is the force that is released at the time of destruction of the universe. There can be Samvartak clouds which were, for example, hurled upon Vraja by Indra. But Samvartak can also be a fire.
At the time of the cosmic annihilation, various things are discharged, various things fall on the earth. And they start acting on the earth, destroying the earth, devastating things over here. And one of those things is the fire of destruction, Samvartakam.
Normally people go about their lives, but when some sudden destruction starts happening, devastation, destruction starts happening, then people just can’t go on with their lives. It’s like when the twin towers were attacked at that time. What happened is that wherever people were, they heard this devastating news and they just rushed out of their houses.
Now, of course, people may not rush out of their houses. They may have to turn on their mobiles or their computers and see if something is broadcast on the net. But if they can see, devastation is scary to watch and it is reverting, even if it is not about to happen to oneself.
Even if some terrible scenes of devastation are seen on movie, people just get glued to it with a sickening sense of fascination. But what to speak when there is devastation that is happening just around us and it may envelop us also. So people started thinking, is this the time of cosmic destruction suddenly come prematurely? Is this the fire of cosmic annihilation that has come? Like that people started thinking and this destruction, the Brahmastra is itself extremely powerful and the collision of two Brahmastras is even more powerful.
So this threat was felt not just by the residents of the earth, but by residents of all the three planetary systems, all the three levels of planetary systems, all over the three worlds this threat was felt and people became concerned, horrified. And seeing this, Arjuna immediately took emergency action to curb the flames. That is mentioned in this next text, text 32.
प्रजो पद्रवं आलक्ष लोक वितिकरं चतं मतं चवासु देवस्य संजहार्जुनो द्वयं Sanjaha, sanjaha means to counter. So on seeing प्रजो उपद्रवं आलक्ष, upadrava is disturbance, agitation, terror of the praja. When he saw that people in general were agitated, were devastated, आलक्ष, on seeing this, लोक वितिकरं चतं, it was not just that people were disturbed, but he saw that actually the worlds may be destroyed if something is not checked.
When a fire is set, a lot matters on the timing. Those who are firefighters, they know that it is vital to reach near a fire on time. Even a matter of few moments can be fatal.
If firefighters reach a few minutes, few moments late, the fire might just have consumed one more big item and by that it might have become so big that it would be impossible to counter it. So time is of enormous essence. It can be, what can be a minor fire can become a major fire, can become a devastating fire if it is not curbed in time.
So लोक वितिकरं चतं, Arjuna saw that not only were people disturbed, but actually there was a big threat of devastation and मतम्च वासु देवस्य, and he remembered what Krishna had said that he should discharge his own weapon first to counter it, but then he should retract both the weapons, संजाहर आर्जुन द्वयं. So द्वयं, both of them, both means he had two weapons. संजः, संजः is संजःर अर्जुनो.
So here आर, आर sound is alliteration. संजःर अर्जुनो द्वयं. So Arjuna withdrew both the weapons and thus he saved the world from the devastation which could have resulted if the two weapons had collided and continued to battle against each other.
Text 23, तत आसाद्य तरसा दारुनं गवतमीसु तम् बबंदमार्ष तामराक्षः पशुन् रशनयायतार् So तम, आसाद्य, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत, तत कुरुक्षेत्र वार was going on. The war was fought not near the civilian territory. The war was fought far from the civilian territory, at कुरुक्षेत्र.
So now when the two armies had to stay, they had their camp and Yudhishthira was waiting at the camp. So Arjuna decided to take Ashwathama to Shibira. At that time when he was taking him, निशंतम् रज्वा बद्भा रिपुंबला, he was bound by ropes and he was being taken forcibly towards that destination.
So प्राहा अर्जुनम् प्रकुपितो, unto Arjuna, प्राहा was spoke, प्रकुपितो, while Krishna too was furious, भगवान अंभुजेक्षण, Krishna was furious. At the same time, Krishna is referred to here as अंभुजेक्षण. अंभुजेक्षण is that he was lotus eyed person.
So this अंभुजेक्षण is compared by the commentators with तामराक्ष, which was used in text 33, the previous text to refer to Arjuna. So Arjuna was angry, Krishna was angry, both of them are mentioned as प्रकुपितो or they are referring, here the word प्रकुपितो is used to refer to Krishna and अमरिष्य is used, बबन्ध आमरिष्य, the अमरिष्य is also used to describe the anger of Arjuna. But the difference is, although both of them are angry, the point is conveyed that Krishna still remains transcendental.
He is still the lotus eyed lord. Even when he is angry, he still, he still looks beautiful. He still looks charming.
And he still remains transcendental. When we say Krishna remains transcendental, even while experiencing anger, that does not mean that his anger is artificial. Rather, it means that the anger doesn’t overwhelm him.
It is he who voluntarily chooses various emotions. And those emotions, they enhance his pastimes, they flavour his pastimes and yet he always remains transcendental. So the nature of the supreme is that he is superior to everything, even to the force of emotions.
And here Krishna is angry and he will speak cautionary words that can seem angry to Arjuna. And here Krishna is speaking all this, he remains transcendental. So the Ambujaksha, the description of the lotus eyed lord that conveys that even when he is angry, he is beautiful and just as lotus, even while living in a dirty water, it remains clean and rises above the dirt.
So like that, when Krishna is in a provocative situation, which naturally triggers justified anger, still Krishna doesn’t get controlled by that anger, but instead remains in control and uses the emotions for the right purposes. So text 35 now, there is no Shri Bhagwan watch explicitly, there was the word Praha in the previous text itself, in the body of the text. So text 35, mainam partharha sitratum brahma bandham imam yahi yo asav anagasah suptan avadhim nishibalakam.
So mainam, ma enam, not unto this person, partharha sitratum, do not deliver this person, this person does not deserve to be given any mercy. Tratum means to be released, to be delivered, this person doesn’t deserve to be delivered. Brahma bandham imam yahi, he’s not a brahmana, he’s a brahma bandhu, he’s a degraded, a fallen associate of a brahmana.
Yo asav anagasah. So yo asav, what has he done? This person has anagasah, those who had no faults, suptan avadhim nishibalakam. So balakam, those who had children, he should not have killed them at all.
But he killed them and not only, what were his faults? Not only did he kill them, he killed them at night and at too when they were sleeping. So the war codes were normally that equals should fight with equals. So Ashwatthama was a trained warrior in the generation of Arjuna and his sons were of a younger generation.
There should not have been a fight between them at all, but even if the fight is there, it should have been a fair fight. Normally, when night time would come, the warriors would stop fighting. That was the normal Kshatriya code.
Of course, sometimes in the heat of the war, they would keep fighting. Occasionally it happened especially towards the later days of the war. But still, even when that happened, at least the warriors were alert to kill someone when that person was sleeping.
That is brutal. That is horrible. That is despicable.
It is such that even words can’t describe what they are doing. So mainam partha rasitratum. Krishna is telling Arjuna here that Ashwatthama does not deserve, does not deserve to be released.
So here normally, when a person is present, to talk about that person without taking that person into account, that is considered disrespectful. So for example, somebody, two people are talking about a third person. That third person is present.
That third person says, I am present here. If you are talking about me, take my opinion also into consideration. But now here Ashwatthama has been arrested.
And as he has been arrested, it’s clear enough that he is a prisoner and he is not going to have much of a say. We will see that in this whole pastime, Ashwatthama does not speak one word. He knows to a fair extent that he has spoken brutally, he has acted in a despicable way and his actions are indefensible.
So he doesn’t speak and nor is he asked to speak. The whole scene is taken by discussion and consultation among various people and then due justice will be administered. Now, if there is a doubt about the crime, then there can be a hearing and there can be a court case and things like that.
But when there is a, and the crime is very clear and the crime is not even being denied and it’s not even deniable because it’s so clear what has happened and how it has been done, then it is primarily a discussion between the jury to decide what should be done. So in this whole pastime, although it is the fate of Ashwatthama that is going to be decided, Ashwatthama has sealed his fate by his own actions and thus he has no say left for changing it in any way. Just like if a person chooses to jump from a 10-storey building, after that, it is that person’s fate that has been sealed, but that person has very little choice afterwards about what can be done.
That person is simply going to fall. So like that, Ashwatthama will have practically no role in this pastime till now. Now, Krishna is making, underscoring the point which Prabhupada also makes in the Purport that Ashwatthama should not be treated like a Brahmana because he is a Brahma Bandhu.
A Brahmana would never commit so horrible a crime as killing sleeping children. That is despicable and person ultimately is defined not by one’s position but by one’s actions. So if a Brahmana does not act Brahmanically, then that person is considered not to be a Brahmana but to be a Brahma Bandhu and a person should be treated as a Brahma Bandhu accordingly.
So Brahmanas are not to be punished but Brahma Bandhus can and should be dealt with appropriately according to the principles of justice and they should be given the appropriate penalty. So Krishna is stressing that he does not deserve any mercy as might be given to a Brahmana because this person is not a Brahmana. He has acted in a horrendous way and Krishna after stressing that Ashwatthama does not deserve any mercy, he quotes a general principle in the next verse.
That is the text 36. mattam pramattam unmattam suktam balam striyam jadam prapannam viratam bheetam naripam hanti dharmavet. So dharmavet, one who knows the principles of dharma, Krishna says that there are these 10 kinds of people whom one should not be, one should not attack or kill.
mattam pramattam unmattam. Mattam is one who has become, one who has become, all of these refer to, we could say it refers to intoxication but there is a difference the way Srila Prabhupada explains it. Mattam pramattam unmattam means that one who is careless for whatever reason, maybe it is complacency or whatever, if a person is careless, pramattam, if one has become intoxicated or unmattam, that means one has become insane.
Sometimes one will become insane because of grief or one might just lose one’s mental balance and one might have a bout of insanity or one might be suffering regularly from insanity. Whatever it is in such situation, mattam pramattam unmattam, in such situations one cannot be targeted, one should not be targeted. Suktam balam striyam jadam, further when one is sleeping, this is the case that is most relevant to the situation of Ashwathama, when one is sleeping one should not be attacked.
Suktam balam striyam jadam, so if somebody is a child, somebody is a woman, somebody is jadam, that means somebody is foolish, that person is not capable of fighting at all. It’s like basically the war, although there was desire to win, but the war was also seen as a test of skills and just like if a bowler is bowling to a batsman, the bowler has to, the bowler should bowl when the batsman has taken the proper stance. If one over is over and the bowler without any warning just suddenly comes in and starts bowling and the batsman is not on guard, at that time the batsman is bowled, the umpire will not consider that to be a wicket because the batsman was not on guard and in fact if the batsman is not on guard and the bowler bowls, it is the bowler who will be considered blameworthy.
It will be, so for cricket to be a fair test of skills between the bowler and the batsman, they both have to be alert. So, if the batsman is looking somewhere else, of course, after the bowler has started his run up and when the bowler is in the run up, if at that time the batsman gets distracted, even then sometimes if the batsman is distracted, the batsman will just move away from the crease. So, for example, behind the bowler, if there is something that somebody moves on the side screen behind, so usually then the batsman has a right to just move away and then the bowler stops in the run up or the bowler may just throw the ball, but that’s considered a dead ball.
So, the point is that although the bowler wants to get the batsman out, how the bowler gets the batsman out is also important. It is not that by hook or crook that can be done. It is because the bowler should outwit or outplay the batsman and that is where the test of skill comes in and that is where it becomes a sport.
Otherwise, there is no fun in it left. If unfair means somebody kills, somebody gets the batsman out, then there is no fun in that. Then they say that, okay, you may win, but the sportsmanly spirit is not there and the rules are violated and the whole purpose of sports is lost.
So, war was also fought with certain codes. Of course, war is far more serious than a sports, any sports for that matter. There is a matter of life or death, but still the war is to be fought with certain codes.
So, for one who is suptambalam sriyam jadam, for one who is not fighting, they should not be attacked. Prapandam viratham bhitam. Prapandam, if somebody surrenders, that person also should not be attacked.
Viratham, if a person has come off his chariot, that person should not be attacked. Bhitam, if a person is fearful, not ready to fight, that person also should not be attacked. So, narupam naripam hantidharmavet.
So, it is being reminded here by Krishna that, actually, these are all the conditions in which a warrior is not meant to attack. When a warrior attacks, then that warrior has violated the codes of Kshatriya conduct. And here there is a grievous violation that has happened.
And therefore, Ashwatthama does not deserve any mercy.