​Bhagavatam study 39 1.8.26-31 Krishna-lila can be understood through love

Stupendously courageous in offering this kind of prayer thank you so here it is being kunti maharani is continuing her extraordinary prayer where in the previous verse she said let the obstacles come more and more again and again because in dealing with the obstacles we take shelter of you and then taking shelter of you we become free from we become free from material existence so now she is taking the converse of that and she is saying as compared to adversity when there is comfort when there is prosperity at that time the impetus for taking shelter of krishna is taken away and that she specifies in this verse when she says now janmaiswarya shuddha shrubheer that these are four sources of of power in this world one is born in a high family janmaiswarya one has wealth shruddha shruddha is one who is learned shrubheer one who is good looking so now if we see it is interesting this this list of four begins with janma so in the past a person’s first identity came from his his or her birth so if somebody was born in a higher varna or a higher caste it’s not just in india with where we had varna ashram but even in the west when in if we consider europe there was aristocracy if you consider england in the middle mediaeval time there were the lords and those lords they would often focus on certain things that means that they usually they would somebody was born in the in the family of that you know you know and the aristocracy then they would have a life of privilege if somebody was born in the gentry as they would call it the common people then they would not have any kind of privilege like that so therefore the importance thing is to recognise that janma was a very important thing today we may not have so much that sort of birth distinction might not be there today people may be proud in terms of say that we are we live in a world where it’s mostly meritocracy that people are given facilities according to their merit but it’s not always true that it’s not always that everything happens only by meritocracy even in today’s world okay now moving forwards here so prabhupada talks about prabhupada is quite dynamic and how should we put it resourceful or dynamic and pragmatic in his characterisation of janma so in today’s world say birth in america is considered a privileged thing many people may dream and long to be born in america something similar now here it’s mentioned here that prabhupada says that americans while talking to his american audiences in the 1960s he said that you are all fortunate you are born in a wealthy and prosperous country and now don’t waste your life he says you have got the good janma use it for and use it for it properly and serve krishna with it so interesting that prabhupada classifies american janma as fortunate so the point is that actually it’s not necessary that janma has to be classified only in terms of traditional uh traditional birth lines of what janma was considered high janma is basically a social marker of privilege and birth and today in today’s world today’s change your political reality socio-cultural scenario it is birth in america that is fortunate so now prabhupada says prabhupada acknowledges that so this so this what is a high birth what is fortune by birth that may vary according to place to place but yeah janmaiswarashrutashribhir we born in a wealthy family to be born with a good memory or a sharp intelligence or to born with great looks all this is a matter of fortune and those who have that they can actually do a lot so now they often get life easy janmaiswarashrutashribhir edhaman madaha puman but kunti warns over here that actually these can also lead to mother mother is intoxication edhaman madaha puman that although these can lead to good but actually they can also lead to harm you oh lord when one feels satisfied and complacent with what one has then one doesn’t feel the need for krishna and if one doesn’t feel the need for krishna then one doesn’t go towards krishna and when one doesn’t go towards krishna one doesn’t attain krishna so actually to attain krishna one needs to actually call out wholeheartedly and if one’s heart is filled with the conception of how happy i am how comfortable i am how great i am then one doesn’t feel any great need for the greatest being and then one cannot attain krishna therefore for those who do not have anything they can call you wholeheartedly now we don’t have to give up these things if we have them but we can recognise that we can use our philosophically guided intelligence scripturally intelligence to understand how these things cannot provide a lasting shelter and thus we can move beyond our infatuation with these things towards krishna and take shelter of krishna but this can so oh so prosperity can be a obstacle on the spiritual path that’s the point that is being made by this verse hmm the adversity can be an opportunity and prosperity can be a step stumbling block and nakadutti mahan continues in 27th text he says namo kinjana vittaya oh lord you are akinjana vitta you are the wealth of the impoverished you are the wealth of those who are nothing and guna is the mode nirutta is retired from detached from means the modes modes direct our mind and intelligence in certain directions but those who have become retired from this that means those who no longer give in to the cravings of the senses those who no longer give in to the in pushings of the modes recognising that i am spiritual and i am different from this body and the modes that that that that we are beyond these modes when we understand our spiritual identity then we become detached from these modes that there is nothing apart from the modes acting and we as souls are different from the modes when we understand this then such people are also fortunate atma ramaya shantaya so just as the great souls are detached from the modes similarly krishna who is the greatest soul is also detached from the modes he is transcendental you oh lord are self-satisfied you are peaceful so atmarama and shanta is a further elaboration of nirutta guna vittaya that you are the lord of those who are aspiring kaivalya and you are the lord of liberation also it is you who grant liberation kaivalya nirvana is the conception of liberation in conception of ultimate destination in buddhism and kaivalya was considered often the ultimate aspiration in jainism but that whatever is offered is available in kaivalya all that we know is available through you oh lord because you are the master of kaivalya so here in this verse kunti maharani first says that krishna you are so powerful that you can appear in various ways to different people and you can attract different people to come to you at the same time you can be wholeheartedly approached by those who are who have detached themselves from this material world and things associated with this material world and that oh lord is what you are doing here that oh lord is what you are kindly enabling us to do by allowing us to take shelter of you and to attain you thus so she continues this theme that how is it that people look for material prosperity but how is it that krishna can be approached by those who do not have material prosperity because he is beyond the realm of matter that is the point made over here then 28th text sarvatra i consider you my dear lord i consider you to be time you are yourself time no beginning and no end you are equal towards all that whatever conflict is there among people in this world that conflict comes because of because of their own mutual differences so here kunti maharani makes the point and very strongly she makes the point that hmm krishna you remain transcendental so in the previous verse she has said that how krishna is approached he is beyond the modes then somebody may get the question but then as krishna has not krishna has sided with the pandavas and is part of the side of the pandavas so how is it so samam jarantam sarvatra krishna is equal to them all and in the mahabharata one theme that comes frequently is the theme that kala is the cause of the great kalaha the kala is that this whole catastrophic war that took place between the pandavas and the kauravas that catastrophic war took place because of the influence of time and that war was simply a result of something which could not have something of course individuals could have done something to minimise the effect of that war but overall the war took place and krishna is samam jarantam he said that time is krishna krishna also says in the bhagavad gita that that he is himself time so the point is that krishna is time and kunti recognises that krishna is time and she takes this point forward by stating that krishna i consider you to be equal to all you are beginningless you are endless and at different times sometimes people come together sometimes people get separated so sometimes people fight sometimes people unite all such things happen this is because of their own mutual interactions time is itself not the cause time is in one sense the facilitator okay this is what you want to do okay this is what you can do that is what you want to do that’s what you can do so time facilitates people in doing what they want to do and in that way kunti maharani goes on over here and states that actually my lord you are the supreme it is people who fight among themselves now in the next text you will go on 29th text 29th text is that he is saying my dear lord we cannot know when you come to this world when you act in this world it is very difficult it is almost impossible to know you your activities your past times that is difficult to know for you oh lord it is when you appear in this world when you act in this world it is very complex it is very difficult to understand that for you there is no one dear there is no one dear to you nor is there anyone of whom you are envious oh lord actually you are equal to all you are impartial that point is stressed over here in this verse by kunti maharani and the again the point of this was to stress how there is nothing that can get the soul in trouble in this world if the soul takes shelter of krishna and that krishna manifests in this world to equally bestow his mercy so in the previous verse that you are equal to all that same theme is reiterated over here and that there is no one to whom you are dear nor to anyone to whom you are envious so in this way you actually benefit everyone you benefit everyone so if we move onwards and contemplate the connection over here kunti maharani is now moving onwards toward the personal past times of krishna and while moving onwards towards the past times the point that she stresses is krishna you are so wonderful krishna you are so glorious that if some people say that in the mahabharata you acted in partial in some kind of partiality that is not true you did not act with partiality you acted with equanimity towards all and for that we are grateful to you now text 30 so now janma karma cha vishwaatman vishwaatman you are the soul of the universe this verse will come this theme of vishwaatman the same word will come again later in the kunti’s parents prayers in 1841 but here for the time being you are unborn you are the non-doer atmanaham although you yourself in your essence oh lord are a non-doer and a non you could say non you do not take birth non-born or there is no word like that but but still you appear not only do you take not only do you appear in this world but you appear in various species there is a enduring tension that interplays between god’s transcendence and god’s immanence you appear as a animal as a human being as a sage as in the water that refers to Matsya avatar we could say and as an animal can refer to varaha dev as a human being of course krishna himself appeared ram has appeared rishishu can refer to naranarayan rishi so there’s a as i said there’s an enduring tension between god’s transcendence and god’s immanence so as the transcendent being god is the absolute truth is considered to be so complete in himself that he doesn’t need anything that he doesn’t desire anything that he doesn’t he is fully complete in himself and that is a understood conception but in his completeness he wants to share his completeness and for sharing is not out of a need for for moving from an incomplete state to a complete state but for moving from for sharing relishing and sharing is savouring and sharing his completeness he acts and he interrelates he appears in this world he performs pastimes the souls in this world who are disconnected from krishna are incomplete and when their souls become connected with krishna they become complete so here gupti maharaj says that if we look at it from a external material vision how can that one supreme being who is transcendental appear who is who is supposed to be the non-doer suppose one who is supposed to never take birth how can that person appear in this world this is bewildering and this was a 29 30 31 they repeat the theme which was earlier mentioned that the foolish observer cannot understand you so what exactly can you not understand it is not just about krishna’s position as god but also when krishna manifests in this world how can that absolute truth manifest in this world there is also something which is not easy to understand and then text 31 so here it is stated gopya the day in fact in the bhagavatam this is the first direct reference to abrajalila that of course have been covered or indirect references but a full verse devoted to the abrajalila comes over here and this is one of krishna’s most celebrated pastimes the damodar lila gopya the day so that gopi she took up is referring to yashodamayi unto you that when you create a disturbance you did disturbance she took up a stick to chastise you and then she took a rope to tie you in that situation when she had taken up a rope to tie you after she had caught you so at that time so your eyes they were they were agitated they were moving here and there restlessly you are fearful and ashru kalila means they are over flooded with tears your mascara the anjan which you had worn on your eyes the decorative ornament that had actually slid over the face and it had caused disruption so you are looking down means you are fearful at that time when you are situated like this fearfully at that time and seeing this you felt look fearful and actually fear personified is fearful of you so how o lord could you be fearful that is astonishing you were never afraid of anything you were fearful and such is your wonderful pastimes so in the previous verse here use the word that people cannot unweigh the kashyad or vidambanam that is bewildering so what exactly is bewildering she is giving an illustration of how the lord’s pastimes are bewildering she says that actually you o lord are the supreme being and people come to you to become free from fear abhayacharana ravindare that when they take shelter of you they become free from fear but you o lord are such that you although you can free people from fear but here we see that it is you who by it is you who are fearful so how can this be happen this is astonishing o lord please this is incredible how can such a thing happen so kunti maharani here is highlighting highlighting for us the extraordinariness of what has transpired in this past time and in the previous verse she said janma karma cha vishwa atman that your janma and your karma are very difficult to understand so in this verse she first mentions about karma 31 word and this is only one text which will talk about his karma and then after that from 32 to 35 she talks about his janma how he appears in this world and the mysteries around his new appearance vidambanam why it is bewildering that how different people try to get through this bewilderment whenever we face something which we cannot understand at that time we try to figure out things we try to find a way ahead in our life and that way ahead is what is being talked about over here so she is giving one example of how we cannot understand what krishna is doing in the damodar lila krishna acts the way he acts out of his great love for yashodamayi and his desire to intensify her love for him and accordingly he desires that there be a fabulous level of affectionate reciprocation between him and her and thus he acts in ways that intensifies his affection for her and her affection for him and as when he commits mischief and bheer bheeti when he is fearful he is not just doing a nakara he is not just doing a natak just like a very good actor enters into the role and experiences emotions of the character that is being depicted so similarly krishna is a consummate actor and when he acts fearful it is not just that he is acting fearful he is actually deeply fearful he is deeply he is experiencing an emotion of fear oh for an infant a mother for even a small boy mother is like the greatest shelter the person through whom one gets one gets everything protection love guidance affection and when the mother is angry and the mother is about to punish child becomes fearful so here the point is being made that krishna is our lord and as our lord he is our he is beyond our intelligence to comprehend and still we can use our intelligence to try to understand him in a mood of serving him so from the 26th verse onwards the flow here went on that first kundipan said that if we are materially filled with ourselves then we cannot cannot fill our heart with krishna so material opulences can actually be obstacles then 27th text said that krishna can be krishna is beyond material everything material and thus he is the master of those who are beyond material things and thus to approach him one has to go beyond material things so it is not that we reject material things in the sense of we are craving for them but we do not have them rather we rise above them and 28th was talked about and why is krishna here in this world taking sides and material conflicts no he is equal to all whatever conflicts happen that happen because of their own mutual mutual interactions and the mutual animosities or whatever and then 29th was said that actually when krishna seems to act in particular ways when he descends in this world his whole it’s his his descent is itself a great mystery but one thing is for sure that he’s not partial to anyone he’s equal to all then 30th was said that actually if you want to take the element of mystery ahead then we should see that it’s not just his his activity thus in his descent as krishna are mysterious even his very descent in numerous in various forms just those of animals or those of aquatics all that is itself mysterious and he says that how and then and in this particular pastime itself in this particular manifestation descent as krishna what is mysterious is that krishna has actually krishna is his fear he is fear runs away from him but now he is filled with fear and thus the the mystery is actually very deep and it can be understood only through love and it is because of love that krishna subordinates his supremacy to his to his intimacy and thus he can have intense loving reciprocations with yashodamaya and with other devotees thank you