Bhagavatam study 40 1.8.32-37 The unborn takes birth to end our rebirth

Thank you shreemad bhagavatam 1 832 continuing with Kunti’s prayers kechitahurajam jatam unyashlokasya kirtaye yadopriya syangavaye malayasyavachandanam here Kunti Maharani Kunti Maharani is describing this in the next three verses the various explanations for Krishna’s appearance he started this started her prayers by saying how Krishna cannot be understood that is 18th verse people don’t understand him although he is visible everywhere inside and outside and how imaya jamanika chennam is covered by a curtain of illusion specifically in the 29th text she stated how 29th and 38th text she stated that his activities are difficult to understand especially his janma and karma so in 31st text she is given one example of his karma now now she analyzes the janma and tries to come up with explanations about the janma now come up means not in our own in any speculative way but she is a part of a learned culture and that culture she has heard different people give different explanations for the appearance for why the unborn takes birth why the transcendental non-doer becomes a doer in this world so here is given the first reason ke chid ahur on some occasions it is said some people say ahur ajam jatam ajam jatam here we see something which is an ox which is like an oxymoron oxymoron is a literary device in which words with opposite meanings are put together just like we have a courageous coward so ajam jatam is like that in a rough sense that that which is unborn he took birth ke chid ahur ajam jatam punya shlokas se kheer kheer ta ye punya shlokas se kheer ta ye he appears in this world punya shlokas se to glorify the pious kheer ta ye and punya shloka at one level uttam shloka is the name of the supreme lord punya shloka can also be a name of the supreme lord although uttam shloka is more formally used here it is said that he came to increase the glories of the pious kings so now what does this pious king refer to in principle it refers to those kings who are devoted krishna says the purpose of his descent is paritranaya sadhunam vinasaya chidushkrtam dharma samsthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge in 4.8 in the Gita he says that he descends to elevate people to the highest level of existence the highest level of reality now for such elevation what does krishna do he focuses on empowering the devotees krishna comes here and he departs from here and even when he is here he does not always act as if he is god so when he appears here he descends to enable people to have the rule of law, rule of dharma and that rule of dharma comes by his empowering his devotees to become dharmic rulers that he comes to spread the glories of virtuous kings by establishing them as rulers by ensuring that they become glorified as dharmic kings and that the supreme lord himself also either assisted them or enthroned them or glorified them in this way they become glorious yudhishthira maharaj was still a king and he glorifies and when krishna himself assisted and approved and assisted yudhishthira maharaj in quest for the world imperial ship when he performed the rajasuya yajna then krishna does by establishing the glory of his devotees demonstrated yadopriyasanvavay he demonstrated yadopriyasanvavay yadopriyasanvavay that means that he descends to yadopriyasanvavay he descended in the yadu dynasty priyasanvavay because he considered the yadus dear to him so just by descending in that dynasty he glorified the dynasty and krishna does not belong to any dynasty all dynasties belong to him this can be understood this is conveyed by the example here malayaseva chandanam malayaseva chandanam means that chandana sandalwood can appear in various parts of the world now specifically here it is found in malaya and that is wonderful malaya area is considered especially celebrated for chandan and we have even in tamrath we have madhavendra puri travelling long long distances all the way from davandhu puri just to get chandan so the thing for us to understand is that malaya that actually chandan can appear anywhere chandan does not have to appear only in malaya of course we could say that certain environmental circumstances certain environment is essential for chandan to appear that is fine but the essential point is that wherever chandan appears it is so the lord could have chosen to appear in any dynasty but he chose to appear here and that is his that is his mercy on the yadus so the standard example for this is how the sun does not belong to any particular dynasty so the sun does not belong to any particular direction but it chooses to appear in in the east similarly the lord appears from the lord appears in the yadu dynasty and thus the yadu dynasty also becomes glorified text 33 apare vasudevasya devakyam yachito abhyagad ajas tomasya kshemaya padhaya cha suradvisham apare vasudevasya others apare vasudevasya devakyam that they say because devaki and vasudev yachito abhyagad because they appeal to you you appear in this world ajas tomasya kshemaya you appear in this world for kshemaya for delivering for protecting for doing good to padhaya cha suradvisham and for benefiting the suradvisham for not benefiting for for destroying the suradvisham that refers to kamsa so this verse is like a specific is a specified is a specific restatement of the gita verse that Krishna comes to destroy the impious and to deliver the pious and to establish dharma so here it is described that Krishna came to deliver the pious who had prayed for him that is devaki and vasudeva and he came to destroy the impious that is that is suradvisham that is that is kamsa the adjective suradvisham is interesting over here is sura refers to the pious visham refers to those who are those who are envious sura refers to devatas so those who are envious of the devatas so kamsa wanted to overthrow the devatas and that is how he he was that is how he is classified as a demon and Krishna came to destroy him now text 34 bhara avatarnaya anye bhuvonavivodadhau sidhantyabhuribharen jato yatmabhuvarthitaha so bhara avatarnaya anye bhara avatar bhara avatar is removing the burden so here to cast away to remove anye some other people say that to remove the burden of the earth bhuvonavivodadhau the earth was like a boat and to free the earth from this burden bhuvonavivodadhau just like if a boat is heavily burdened then only when that heavy burden can sometimes sink the boat and to protect the boat from being sunk at that time it may be necessary to throw off some of its ballast to throw off some of its excess weight and similarly when the earth gets burdened then the burden needs to be removed sidhantyabhuribharen sidhantyabhuribharen the earth was aggrieved bhuribharen the extreme burden so actually the burden of the earth is not physical it is it is not literal it is metaphorical that chanakya says and so does shakespeare that a bad there is no pain like a bad child a bad child is like a sore eye you can’t see properly and it causes pain also so similarly for earth those inhabitants who are like burdens those who are demoniac they are burdens for her and they make it difficult for her to supply her needs for those who are good children also so then such burden needs to be removed and for that purpose jato ya atma bhuvarth taham so when the earth is distressed the earth along with the devatas they go to brahmaji and brahmaji prays to vishnu to come and to restore order and then the lord descends so the metaphor of a boat for the earth conveys the danger of excessive luggage and drives home the point of removing that burden so krishna so the demoniac are the burden on the earth and they are removed by krishna whenever he descends to this world here of course we need to know that the soul is eternal and in that sense it’s not that the demons are just cast away but the demons just like in a kingdom also the law breakers are put into prison so that general citizens can be protected similarly in the cosmic order also the demons should not get too much power and the earth is a strategic point at a juncture between the devatas and the asuras and if the asuras are on the earth and they burden the earth they take over the earth and that disrupts the cosmic order so when it is said that the burden of the earth is removed that means that the souls are eternal the souls are not destroyed but the demons they are cast off this earth to other places where they may indulge in their demoniac tendencies or get the consequences in the heliplanet and eventually return back to the earth text 35 bhavesmin krishyamananam avidyakamakarmabhi shravan smaranarhani karishyam itike chana ke chana some other people say this the maharani is describing bhava asmin krishyamananam bhava asmin in this world krishyamananam krishyamananam means there is great distress avidya kama karma bhi that in this world where there is great distress so the distress has come because of avidya because of ignorance there is kama because we don’t know how to where to find happiness we turn towards we turn towards worldly desires because worldly objects are so much glamorized in today’s world and we pursue worldly objects for our pleasure and the result of that is karma we indulge in karmically binding activities so avidya kama karma bhi Prabhupada called this as minimum words maximum wisdom the whole material existence is summarized these three words ignorance leads to desire desire leads to work that causes bondage and thus we suffer bhava asmin krishyamananam so in this when we are trapped thus in material existence shravana smaran arhani shravana when we hear and then we remember about krishna arhani then when we hear we remember him and then we understand how glorious is we start worshiping him then krishna descends to this world is enduring legacy now whenever he establishes order then he removes the disorder creators the disruptors so you may say that is just okay he has helped the people at that time at that place but what about me i still have my problems how am i helped by krishna so it is described here that krishna is that we are helped by krishna leaves an enduring legacy of memory so that means by remembering him we can move closer to him we can attain him shravana smaran arhani krishan itike chana so he by performing past tense here he gives us opportunities to remember him he gives us opportunities to come closer to him he gives us opportunities to attain him and thus we we attain him shravana smaran arhani and thus we move closer and closer to krishna so when we hear about krishna when we become attracted to krishna we understand that we are his parts then the avidya gets countered and when especially when we get attracted to him in the kama the self-centered desire that kama goes away and prema the spiritual desire centered is awakened is activated and thus we move closer and closer to him and we attain him so krishan itike chana this is what some other people say that we are meant to move close to krishna and krishna’s pastimes hearing remembering worshiping then we move closer and closer to him thus krishna comes not only to deliver the people at that time but he comes to deliver people at he leaves a legacy that enables people to be delivered at all times indeed now we are hearing bhagavatam and are having a fortune to become purified this is krishna’s legacy that we are we are relishing now text 36 so in text 36 she continues the theme from the previous verse explaining how shravana smaran leads to the freedom from bondage that she has talked about the klishya mananam the klishya that distress that is there how does it go away so shunvanti gayanti grananti abhikshna shaha shunvanti gayanti hearing chanting grananti accepting taking in abhikshna shaha continuously that means the more we hear about krishna the more we become attracted to him smaranti nandanti tave hitam janaha smaranti nandanti we hear him and we delight in nandanti tave hitam janaha for his so tava ihitam ihitam means activities so hitam is different from ihitam hitam means benefit ihita is activity of course activities can be done for activities can be done beneficially so that is a relation but here the point is that when we absorb ourselves in hearing about him remembering him accepting within our heart chanting and delighting over all his activities then janaha such people so there are five things talked about here in relationship with krishna’s activities so grananti and svaranti and nandanti are related grananti means taking in just like a cow takes in and chews and churns it does assimilate so like that we take in deeply into not just our ears but our head and our heart and then not just we keep it in some corner of the heart but we remember it regularly and as our love for krishna increases and we just do not just remember it we delight in remembering so nandanti tave hitam janaha janaha those people who do like this they see soon without much delay achirena pavakam they can see your what can they say yours your lotus feet kunti maharaj has talked earlier about how they should have about how krishna lotus feet krishna’s feet are like lotuses in 1822 now he is repeating that thing he is a lotus and what do they do when one can see your lotus feet soon achirena then that leads to uparam means to end so bhavapravaha means the flow of material existence translates in the current of rebirth so by dwelling on krishna’s pastimes we become attracted to him and it is actually um the misdirection of desire that powers the ocean of material the ocean of material existence as long as in ocean there is that the waves when the waves are there the water keeps moving you know waves and wind is there suppose there were no wind the water would not move so in the bhavapravaha in the ocean of material existence what keeps us moving deeper and deeper into the ocean and away from the land of immortality is the misdirection of desire to the misdirection of our desire from krishna towards instead of krishna we are directed towards attracted towards material things worldly things but when you become attracted to krishna then we attain krishna so the flow of desire toward worldly objects stops when we install krishna as the lord of our heart and we see krishna within then we do not have to see rebirth without thus krishna provides the opportunity for souls to become liberated from material existence so here kunti marani concludes the description of why he appears in this world and so the reasons are that he appears to glorify the devote glorify the pious kings to glorify the yadu dynasty to to respond to the prayers of devaki vasudev and to free the whole world of the demoniac kamsa to remove the burden of the earth so it is like from more from especially 32nd 33rd 34 35 33 34 35 are going from more specific to more universal 33rd is talking about a specific of devaki vasudev situation 34 is talking about radar principle of the earth being burdened and 35 talks about okay that the the souls themselves can become demoniac or at least godless by misdirection of desire and that is countered by krishna by his by his sincere and fervent by by by those souls who practice sincere and fervent bhakti by hearing about him so now here after saying that krishna you deliver people at different places at different times throughout history now she says makes a petition krishna are you abandon you deliver everyone but will you abandon us now you create an enduring legacy for delivering people even after you are not here but right now you are here and are you going to abandon us text 37 apyadhyanastam svakrtehita prabho so apyadhyanastam svakrtehita prabho if today my dear lord nastam svakrtehita prabho svakrta itihita itihita means activity or duty my dear lord svakrta itihita you always do your duties you never fail in your duties but today nastam jeeha sasi are you giving it up my lord how is it possible that you who always do your duties how can you abandon your duty and that too in relationship to surdha those who are very close to you ananjeevina not only they close to you they are also dependent on you their life depends on you when in our case we do not have any other person as a shelter we do not have any other shelter apart from you apart from your lotus feet we do not have any other shelter and then you can conclude the verse by saying what is the danger from me when you deliver this there are so many kings who are enemies amhasam is enmity they are engaged in enmity with us so essentially the maharani is stating here that oh lord please guide us so that we can we will be protected so kunti maharani is not she will address the issue that she has such powerful sons won’t they be enough to protect that issue will address in the next two hours but here suffice it to say that the point she is making is that yojitamasam in one sense conflicts especially between dynasties never end so the powerful if one dynasty is destroyed if the rulers or the kings in one dynasty are destroyed often their descendants they come and they attack again and so similarly the pandavas had destroyed kauravas and their allies but there many kings who were still who had who there may be the sons or the brothers or other relatives of the kings who had been killed they were still hostile and although they did not right now have the power to attack but still as has been illustrated through the sudden and fine dish attack by ashwathama that they could attack at any time and when they would attack thus the pandavas would be in huge trouble not knowing how to deal with such a situation therefore kunti maharani says that we are in danger and when we are thus in danger my dear lord how can you are you who always do your duty of protecting those who are in danger will you now abandon us and go away oh lord please don’t go away please stay please help please bless us oh lord for only by your mercy can we be protected we do not have any shelter apart from you it’s in this way kunti maharani seamlessly connects the eternal descent the eternal purpose of the lord’s descent with the present context she says you come you come to protect the devoted oh dear lord we are devoted to you we have no other shelter apart from you and we are in danger so please oh lord protect us just as you protect the pious you please protect us so kunti maharani has spoken this prayer when krishna is about to depart and here she makes a request to krishna to please not go but to stay and how this request will be further contemplated on and refined and we will conclude in a in a heart-rending expression of surrender that we will see in our next talk thank you