Bhagavatam study 59 1.12.1-11 Parikshit had magnificent darshan even before birth

Hare Krishna.
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.12.1, Chapter 12 of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam entitled Birth of Emperor Parīkṣit. We begin with the first text. चनकवाच अश्वत्थामानु ओपसुष्टेना ब्रह्मशिर्ष्णोरुतेजस उत्तरायाहतो गर्भ ईशने ईशेना जीवितः पुनहा So, right in the first verse itself, Śrī Nakarishi highlights the extraordinariness of Parīkṣit Mahārāja’s birth by summarising the incident अश्वत्थामा अश्वत्थाम नो ओपसुष्टेना उपसुष्टेना means that which is released by him ब्रह्मशिर्ष्णोरुतेजस ब्रह्मशिर्षना was the weapon that he used उरुतेजस, ferocious heat it had उत्तरायाहतो गर्भ अश्वत्थामा अश्वत्थामा नो ओपसुष्टेना was the weapon that he used तस्य जन्म महा बुद्धे कर्मानी चे महा तस्य जन्म महा बुद्धे कर्मानी चे महा तस्य जन्म महा बुद्धे कर्मानी चे महा तस्य जन्म महा बुद्धे कर्मानी चे महा तस्य जन्म महा बुद्धे कर्मानी चे महा तस्य जन्म महा बुद्धे कर्मानी चे महा तस्य जन्म महा बुद्धे कर्मानी चे महा तस्य जन्म महा बुद्धे कर्मानी चे महा तस्य जन्म महा बुद्धे कर्मानी चे महा तस्य जन्म महा बुद्धे कर्मानी चे महा तस्य जन्म महा बुद्धे कर्मानी चे महा तस्य जन्म महा बुद्धे कर्मानी चे महा तस्य जन्म महा बुद्धे कर्मानी चे महा तस्य जन्म महा बुद्धे कर्मानी चे महा तस्य जन्म महा बुद्धे कर्मानी चे महा तस्य जन्म महा बुद्धे कर्मानी चे महा तस्य जन्म महा बुद्धे कर्मानी चे महा तस्य जन्म महा बुद्धे कर्मानी चे महा तस्य जन्म महा ब बुद्धे कर्मानी चे महा तस्य जन्म महा बुद्धे कर्मानी चे महा तस्य जन्म महा बुद्धे कर्मानी चे महा तस्य जन्म महा बुद्धे कर्मानी चे महा तस्य जन्म महा बुद्धे कर्मानी चे महा तस्य जन्म महा बुद्धे कर्मानी चे महा बुद्धे कर्मानी बुद्धे कर्मानी चे महा तस्य जन्म महा बुद्धे कर्मानी चे महा बुद्धे कर्मानी चे महा तस्य जन्म महा बुद्धे कर्मानी चे महा बुद्धे कर्मानी चे महा तस्य जन्म महा बुद्धे कर्मानी चे महा बुद्धे कर्मानी चे महा बुद्धे कर्मानी चे म Otherwise, we don’t talk so much about their death, but for Parikshit Maharaj, his birth and death, both were extraordinary and ultimately, the life in this world is a preparation for a otherworldly destination.
So, he asks, what is the otherworldly destination that Parikshit achieved? Text 3 गदिदं श्रोतुं इच्छामो गदितुं यदि मन्यसे रुहिन श्रद्धानानां यस्य ज्ञानम अदाच्छुकहां शृतदिदं श्रोतुं इच्छामो So, that we all desire to hear, श्रोतुं इच्छामो गदितुं यदि मन्यसे And we request you to narrate it. If you think it appropriate, गदितुं, please narrate it. That’s what we desire.
रुहिन श्रद्धानानां It is, we are respectful, we are faithful. Prabhupada translates here शद्धा as respect. शद्धा is normally translated as faith.
But we really can’t have faith without having respect. So, faith, so Prabhupada focusses on the fact that they are respectful. Respectful to the subject, respectful to the teacher of the subject.
They are respectful of Parishad Maharaj and of Suta Goswami. So, यस्य ज्ञानम अदाच्छुकहां Now, यस्य ज्ञानम, we want to hear about that subject, that person, who was चुकहा, चुकहा means Shukadeva Goswami gave knowledge to that person. So, the broad contours of Parishad’s life are summarised in the question which Parishad Maharaj asks, which, sorry, Shana Krishna asks and from the fourth text onwards Suta Goswami responds चूतवाच अपिपलद्धर्मराजः पित्रुवद् रञ्जयन्प्रजः निस्पुर्ह सर्वकामेभ्य कृष्णपादानुसेवया अपिपलद्धर्मराजः, धर्मराजः refers to Yudhishthira Maharaj, who was a very virtuous ruler.
He is frequently referred in scripture as धर्मराजः. अपिपलद्धर्मराजः, so this धर्मराजः, what happened to him? He ruled and brought about abundant prosperity for his citizens. पित्रुवद् रञ्जयन्प्रजः पित्रुवद् and he dealt with the citizens like a father.
So father means that he was affectionate, he was caring, he was protective. Father and children relationship is actually a very close relationship and similar is the relationship here between the king and the citizens. So he did not just provide for their needs, but he also pleased them.
Care has to be offered, but care has to be offered in a way that is also pleasing to the people whom we are caring for. Sometimes the caregivers, the guardians may have to do something which the wards may not be pleased with. But overall, the giving of care is not just provision of physical necessities, it also involves the provision of emotional necessities.
And one emotional necessity is that we want pleasing reciprocations, we all want that. So here it is described that Yudhishthira Maharaj pleased the citizens. रञ्जयन्प्रजः पित्रुवद् रञ्जयन्प्रजः He took प्रजः, so those who were citizens, those who had taken birth in his kingdom, निस्प्रुह सर्वकामेभ्या Now, while doing all this, Yudhishthira Maharaj was not motivated by any selfish desire.
निस्प्रुह, he had no desire. सर्वकामेभ्यो, he was free from selfish desires. How was he free from that desire? कृष्णपादानु सेवया He was devoted to the service of Krishna’s lotus feet.
He was tasting the nectar of Krishna’s lotus feet and thus he did not feel the need for anything else. He was satisfied in कृष्णपादानु सेवया Bhaktivinoda Thakur also says that अशोका भयाम्रुता पुर्ण सर्वखाना एको नभुजीनु प्रभू तमारे चरणा He says that my dear lord, your lotus feet are like an imperishable storehouse of nectar and it is this nectar that I am now relishing. अशोका भयाम्रुता It’s a nectar which is immortal nectar.
It makes one fearless, it makes one joyful. So here it is said that by serving Krishna’s lotus feet, Yudhishthira Maharaj had no cravings. Although he had royal prosperity, although he distributed, he cared for the citizens and satisfied them and pleased them and made his kingdom prosperous, but he was not in any way materially attached or materially desirous.
Such was his spiritual exaltedness. Text 5 संपदः कृतवो लोका महीशी भ्रातरो मही जंबुद्वीपाधि पत्यम्च यशष्यत्रिविदम् त्रिदिवं गतम् संपदः So he had tremendous opulences and with his opulences, कृतवो लोका, कृतवो means he was able to perform phenomenal sacrifices and he had, his future destination was also guaranteed, लोका. He had huge लोका, huge kingdom in this world and his future destination was also quite auspicious.
महीशी भ्रातरो मही, महीशी. So he had a beautiful queen that refers to Draupadi. Then भ्रातरो, he had his brothers who were also glorious warriors.
मही, he ruled on the earth and जंबुद्वीपाधि पत्यम्च, जंबुद्वीपाधि पत्यम्च. जंबुद्वीपाधि पत्यम्च, जंबुद्वीपाधि पत्यम्च, जंबुद्वीपाधि पत्यम्च, जंबुद्वीपाधि पत्यम्च. And thus his glory is यश्यस्च तृदिवं गतम्.
His glory is, the news of his glory is spread throughout the three worlds. Normally, if a person is wealthy, a person is virtuous, if a person is having lots of the markers of success, then they become famous. And still the fame of people spreads.
How far it spreads depends on how famous or how successful or how wealthy or how prosperous they are. So here, Yudhishthira Maharaj was so prosperous that, now for the heavenly planets, the earth is not a particularly prosperous place. Now for example, if we consider a country like America as a very prosperous country, and say as compared to Somalia, that’s not a particularly prosperous country.
But if somebody is ruling Somalia and by ruling Somalia, that person achieves phenomenal prosperity and makes the country also prosperous, and then America comes to know about it. Then that’s amazing. So like that, the earth is usually considered inferior.
And it is the earth, it is the glories of the gods that the people of earth talk about. But it is very rarely that, it is not so common that, the glory of the residents of earth, the heavenly residents talk about. That this inversion of the normal hierarchy happened because of the extraordinariness of the opulence that Yudhishthira Maharaj had.
Text 6, Text 6, So he had such, such, such kamaha. So kama is desire, kamaha is the objects of desires. He had such extraordinary objects of desire available for him.
But how extraordinary were they? Surasparha. Ruha is desire. Sparha means that which is desired by suras, the devatas.
So even the heavenly residents desired the kind of objects of opulence that he had. His palace was phenomenal. So normally say, as is given in the example, American fashions may be emulated by the rest of the world.
But say, if somebody makes such a magnificent palace in Somalia, that Americans decide, oh we would like to have a palace like this. Again that is extraordinary. So normally in the earth people perform sacrifices because they feel in heavens there are much better objects to enjoy.
But here Yudhishthira Maharaj had such objects to enjoy, that the heavenly residents desired it. And the point of this is twofold, of this description. First it is to show that a devotee does not, a devotee especially if they are blessed by the Lord, then the Lord can bless them with even fabulous material prosperity.
So Yudhishthira Maharaj had to go through a long long trouble during the course of the exile and before that the persecution by the Kauravas. But now through it all he had always been faithful to the Lord and now he is being rewarded and rewarded abundantly. And what is the reward he has got? He has got fantastic material opulence.
But he is not captivated by the material opulence. Mukunda manaso dvijaha O dvija, O brahmanas, Suta Goswami is addressing Shravanakali Rishikari Singh. Mukunda manaso, Yudhishthira Maharaj’s mind was absorbed in Mukunda, that store of liberation.
Adi jaharur mudam rajah So nothing of this world could satisfy him. Mudam, it did not give him pleasure, it did not give him joy. That King, just like a hungry person is looking for something else.
So he was hungry. What was he hungry for? He was hungry for the Lord. He was not hungry for worldly opulence.
Normally when we have hunger, we are not satisfied till we get food. So like that, it’s not that Yudhishthira Maharaj was consuming the Lord, but rather hunger indicates a state of incompleteness. And the heart longs for love and love is fulfilled in relationship with Krishna.
So his heart was longing for Krishna. And although he had the kind of phenomenal thing which people in this world long for, but still he was not satisfied. And it is that he was satisfied only when, he was satisfied only in devotion to Krishna.
He had got a higher taste. He did not seek anything else. So here, it’s interesting that the question that the Sona Krishna had asked was about Parikshit Maharaj.
And when Suta Goswami starts the answer, he doesn’t talk about Parikshit Maharaj directly. He talks about Yudhishthira Maharaj and his phenomenal rule. So what is the reason? That is given the setting.
And so Parikshit Maharaj, how he was born amidst both material and spiritual opulence, that is being talked about. He was going to inherit a kingdom that was very prosperous materially because he was going to be the heir of Yudhishthira eventually. The grandson, they did not have any sons in that generation to become heirs.
And further, he also got the samskaras of immense devotion. So the exalted devotion of Yudhishthira Maharaj is also underscored. So that was Yudhishthira Maharaj’s spiritual prosperity.
And it was in this atmosphere of material and spiritual prosperity that Parikshit was born. So that is talked about, that is conveyed by talking about Yudhishthira before talking about Parikshit. And from this verse onwards, Suta Goswami talks about Parikshit and he says, So while he was situated in his mother’s womb, he had, this child himself was heroic and he had seen a great hero also.
At that time, this hero, what he had seen? He had seen the Purusha, he had seen the person. So while he was being, while he was suffering from the heat of the Kurukshetra, of Ashwathama’s astra, he had seen this mysterious person appear and he had seen this person come and rescue him. And now, even now medical science knows that actually the embryo is conscious in the womb and the level of consciousness may vary.
But especially, say, if a child, they attempt to abort the child and they send some device into the mother’s womb in order to crush the child. At that time, the embryo moves to the far extreme, away from that object and then it tries desperately to escape that object. Of course, that is a, it’s quite a disturbing image to consider how in the womb the child is killed.
But the point here is, the relevant point is that the child is conscious, that is known to us also, to modern science also. Now the level of consciousness, they may not be able to appreciate right now, but especially in the case of great souls and in the case of near-death situations, the consciousness can get heightened. And so described here that Parikshit beheld the Supreme Lord who had rescued him from death.
So, text 8 goes on to describe this. Angushta matram amalam, surat puratama olinam, apivya darshanam shamam, tadir vasasam achutham. So the description, what had Parikshit seen at that time, that is described in this verse.
Angushta matram amalam. Angushta matram, it is the size of a thumb. Amalam, spotless.
Normally the spots are the spots of material contamination and there were no spots here. Surat puratama olinam. So, his blazing of gold.
He was wearing a golden helmet. And apivya darshanam shamam. It was very beautiful, astonishingly beautiful to look at.
Shamam, his bluish blackened complexion. Tadir vasasam achutham. And his clothes were like lightning.
Achutham, this was the infallible law. Normally when we see people, what do we see? We see their complexion, we see their dress. We see what they are, especially what all they are wearing.
We see their size. So now Parikshit himself was very small. The womb is a small place.
So the Lord has also appeared in a small form. Angushta matram. And three features of it are described.
So the Prabhupada often translates the crown as a helmet. So maulinam. So a helmet is more like a protective gear.
Whereas crown is more like a decorative gear, decorative object. Obviously the Lord doesn’t need a helmet. But either way, the point is, there is something which is worn on the head.
And here it is described that the Lord wore a shining golden crown. And then he had a dark complexion. And he was wearing a dress like shining lightning.
And thus he was overall extraordinarily beautiful. And such was the vision that Parikshit had when he saw the Lord. So further that description is given now.
śrīmad dīrgha-caturvāhuṁ tapta-kāñcana-kundalaṁ śita-jākṣaṁ gada-pāṇiṁ ātman-sarva-todiṣaṁ pari-brahmantaṁ ulkābhāṁ brāhmaṇyantaṁ gadaṁ muhū śrīmad dīrgha-caturvāhuṁ This Lord, it is Krishna, but Krishna is manifested in this Vishnu form. He has come to fight and defend and he is manifested here in Vishnu form. śrīmad dīrgha-caturvāhuṁ So he has four arms, dīrgha, long four arms.
tapta-kāñcana-kundalaṁ And he is wearing earrings which are of the colour of molten gold, shining. śita-jākṣaṁ gada-pāṇiṁ śita-jākṣaṁ Normally, the Lord is described as Padmanetra. Or lotus eyes is described.
But here, there is a small infant being killed brutally. And this is an occasion for concern and even fury. And the fury of the Lord is conveyed through śita-jākṣaṁ.
His eyes are red with fury. gada-pāṇiṁ And he has come to defend the infant. So he has his weapon.
So the weapon he has brought here is gada in his hands. pāṇiṁ ātmana-sarvato diśhāṁ ātmana-sarvato So now, normally, a mace is considered to be a very powerful weapon. And if it is moved round and round and round, then no one can approach the person who is equipped with such a mace which is moving so forcefully.
So like that, ātmana-sarvato diśhāṁ It’s moving round and round and he is in this way warding off the Brahmastra. paribhramantam ulkā paribhramantam It is moving round and round like a ulkā, like a shooting star. It’s moving so fast.
So, bhrāmyantam gada-mohaṁ Rapidly moving the gada. So, the lord is using his weapon, his gada to protect him. So here the vision continues and this is what Parīkṣit has seen.
How wonderful it is to, we all long to have darshan of the lord and how wonderful it is to have darshan of the lord right in the womb itself. What can be more special, more fortunate? We are practising the first object that the eyes have seen are the form of the lord. And it is a matter of great fortune.
So, text 10 astrate jahasva gadayā nihāraṁ ivagopatihi vidhamantam sannikarśe pariyekṣataṁ kaityasau So, astrate jahasva gadayā So, the effulgence of that formidable weapon. Now, that weapon was actually hurting and burning and threatening Parīkṣit with its effulgence. It was threatening to scorch him.
So, astrate jahasva gadayā So, in his own mace, the lord was checking and driving away that formidable weapon. nihāraṁ ivagopatihi Now, gopatihi, gopati refers to the sun. Now, the lord pushed back that effulgence with his own prowess.
And the example is given that dew drops, just as they are evaporated by the sun. So, actually there was not much of a fight. Once the lord came on the scene and once he started acting, the opponents were no match for him.
So, he just pushed it off effortlessly in one sense. He had put in effort, but the effort was in resisting and there was no big fight over there. They were all just viddhimantam sannikarśe.
So, at that time, as this formidable, unstoppable weapon was so easily checked and routed by this mysterious person, sannikarśe parīkṣitam So, nearby, so close to the infant, all this was happening. sannikarśe parīkṣitam, īkṣita is with the eyes. So, he is observing.
kaitya sau Who is this? So, this child, he observed. Oh, who is this wonderfully beautiful person? And this person is not just beautiful also, but also powerful. That this is so easily countered and pushed away, this formidable weapon.
So, he pondered the identity of this extraordinary person. X-11 vidhūya tad ame ātmā bhagavān dharma gubh vibhū miṣṭod daśyam āśasya traivān tarda-dheharihi vidhūya tad So, in this way, completely dissipating, destroying, removing thoroughly any danger that was there of that weapon. X-11 tad ame ātmā That Lord, who is ame ātmā, who is all-pervading.
bhagavān dharma gubh vibhū Bhagavān, the Supreme Lord, is dharma gubh, who is the protector of righteousness. vibhū, who is great, who is all-powerful. miṣṭod daśyam āśasya miṣṭod daśyam āśasya While observing, one who is…actually, that child, he observed and traivān tarda-dheharihi At that time, he actually pervades all the directions.
You know, in one sense, sometimes the word, one who is dressed by the direction refers to one who is undressed. So, small children undressed by the direction it is said. Chaitanya Bhagavata especially uses this phrase.
Here, what it refers to is that the Lord is all-pervading. And in one sense, so the directions extend infinitely. And similarly, the Lord’s form and His dress also extends infinitely.
That Lord, all-pervading Lord had manifested here. And after manifesting here, He was acting so wonderfully. And then antarda-dhe, He disappeared.
Harihi, that Supreme Lord, He just disappeared from there. Such is the wonderful nature of that Lord. And who is this Lord? That Parikshit Maharaj had the question.
And how He moved forward from there, not just from that moment, but in His life, based on this question, trying to seek the answer to this question, that will be discussed in the future classes.