Bhagavatam study 75 1.15.1-6 When we lose everything we gain the Lord of everything

Srimad Bhagavatam 115.1 Suta Vaca evam krishna sakha krishno prathara agyamikalpita nana shankas padam rupam krishna vishlesha karishitaha this is the chapter entitled The Pandavas Retired Timely and here Maharaj Yudhishthir statements are being responded to by Arjuna so the previous chapter described how Yudhishthir asked various questions on seeing the distressed, even devastated condition of Arjuna and as Yudhishthir asked for various causes about it vikalpita those various alternatives is this the problem? is this the problem? and shankas padam he had these doubts what has caused this? so amidst all those doubts as Arjuna heard a lot of them krishna sakha so Krishna is the name of God and Arjuna is the name of his associate so here Raghya Rathra that Raghya is the king Rathra is his brother so the brother of the lord brother of Arjuna had asked him various questions and as he was trying to answer them he became overwhelmed by remembrance of Krishna especially remembrance of Krishna in separation so to speak about a subject we need to think about that subject and while thinking we can get caught in our thoughts even lost in our thoughts and this is all the more so when that subject is one in which we are very strongly emotionally invested emotions are a very powerful propeller of thoughts in particular directions so for Arjuna when he wanted to ask answer Krishna’s question at that time that led to his naturally thinking about Krishna and he started thinking about Krishna he became overwhelmed as we will see in future verses how Arjuna is utterly mortified by the prospect of separation from Krishna that’s why sometimes when people are in grief it has to be very carefully discerned what is the best way to act sometimes the best way may be to let them and sometimes it may not be sometimes the best way may be just to be silent and let them know that we are there with them that we are there for them if they want to speak but is not a compulsion for them so what who requires for healing is something which is not so easy to discern of course in this particular situation it was Arjuna’s duty that he had to inform because Yudhishthir was enquiring and he was enquiring because he did not know so Arjuna would have the double pain now first of all he is in immense pain because his beloved lord Krishna has departed and now to convey that devastating you to one’s loved ones and to see them also get crushed to see their devastation can often increase our devastation also so as Arjuna is deeply absorbed in thoughts of Krishna he is feeling much more overwhelmed and in his overwhelmed condition we will see in future verses that he will speak a flurry of memories of Krishna and through those memories he will convey his profound devotion and his profound appreciation for what Krishna has done for him this verse is describing Arjuna’s condition as he is trying to reply to Yudhishtira’s questions about the well-being of everyone in Dwaraka Shokin, Shushir Vadan adheres his face has dried up because of grief normally when the face is bright or smooth soft or we could say there is a certain liquidity in it it looks attractive but when they are grieving a lot the face at one level sinks in and it looks dried it causes alarm in those who are watching Rutsaroji Hath Prabha he had lost his bodily lustre he looked very pale sometimes when people are very distressed their face blatch their face loses all its colour and even if they have a natural aura to them that disappears so he remembered that lord normally remembrance of Krishna infuses us with peace and joy but here the remembrance of Krishna is taking away the peace and joy because he is remembering that that lord has gone away that he is no longer here that he who was the life of his life is now no longer here normally whenever we remember the person whom we love we brighten up when we are talking with someone and then they start talking about someone else and suddenly they become animated their face turns into a smile and their eyes become lit then we understand oh they are talking about this person they really care for this person they really love this person they are excited about this person but if that same person whom we are talking about whom we are whom we have a lot of affection for if that person has gone away forever from our lives then talking about them is accompanied by an aching burning sense of deprivation because that wonderful person is no longer with us and is never going to come back with us so similarly here whereas normally the remembrance of Krishna will bring great joy here Arjuna remembering Krishna becomes overwhelmed with distress so much so that he is no longer able to speak he has lost his ability to speech to speak such is the effect of having a forceful attraction to someone and then losing that person so Arjuna had a duty to perform that he had to speak about Krishna and yet he just could not perform his duty you see that Yudhishthira doesn’t push him come on speak I am waiting to hear from you Yudhishthira respects Arjuna’s emotions and gives him the time to recover just like if we have a aching leg if we have a weak leg and we stand on that leg that causes some pain to us now we may be able to walk but we will need a little more time to accustom ourselves to walking with that weak leg similarly just as physical wounds are real and they need to be accommodated those who are physically wounded need to be given their space so that they can while having that wound do what needs to be done may be at a slower space or whatever but similarly those with emotional wounds also need to be given their space so if somebody is in great distress then we need to give them a few moments to recover from that distress we may need to give them some time to express that distress whatever is appropriate in a mood of service to them at that particular time so here Arjuna is overwhelmed and for a few moments he is not able to speak and then as he starts speaking there is a rush of memories of Krishna’s magnificence and benevolence that will flood out of his heart come out through his tongue and inundate all hearers both those present there and those of us hearing now with waves of devotional separation that Arjuna is feeling from Krishna Bhagavatam 115.3 parokshe ne sammunadha pranayukant kaata raha this is describing the condition of Arjuna on remembering Krishna and trying to respond to Yudhishthira’s questions about the cause of his distress kuchre ne samsthabhya shuchaha so the previous verse said that on remembering Krishna from whom he had now been separated Arjuna was overwhelmed with grief and this verse says that with great effort he tried to stop the tears that were flowing from his eyes and paani naam rujya netrayo so the eyes were brimming with tears so parokshe ne sammunadha parokshe ne Akshay’s eyes one who is out of sight adhokshaja is one who can never be seen paroksha is one who is beyond sight who has gone out of sight so he was increasingly overwhelmed with affection kaata raha pranayukant kaata raha normally it is contemplation or the concentration of thoughts on a particular object that leads to the generation of emotion if you are looking around in a room and we don’t say catch sight of a of a bottle of alcohol that is kept there and we don’t want any alcohol in our house we have a relative who is struggling against alcohol and is trying to give it up and now that alcohol bottle is there and if we see it there that means that person has relapsed or at least made the arrangements to relapse so that will cause irritation fear frustration anger to us but if we don’t notice it no emotion will come so emotion comes when there is concentration if the object is external or recollection if the object is appearing in our mind in the case of Arjuna Krishna was not there with him directly so naturally for him the concentration was on the memories that he had of Krishna and as his memory is recollection intensified along with that the emotion also intensified kadara so prana is affection autkanta is eagerness kadara is distressed Bhagavatam 115.4 Krishna is speaking here to rather the Bhagavatam is describing the condition of Arjuna and Arjuna is also going to start speaking on the next verse so he had a very intimate relationship with Krishna Krishna had related to him as a friend as a equal as a well-wisher related with him as a saarthi as a charioteer and Arjuna remembered him in all these positions he understood that he came in front of his king his eldest brother his eyes were filled with tears the Bhagavatam is again depicting Arjuna in a situation similar to what was depicted in the Bhagavad Gita at the start in 2.1 in the Gita it is described that Arjuna’s eyes were brimming with tears here also there were tears in his eyes and his voice was choked he was unable to speak properly there of course the situation was different there Arjuna was confused about what to do and contemplating the death of his loved ones he was unable to function here the situation is different here he has lost his lord he is not contemplating the prospect of death he is actually digesting struggling to digest the fact of death not exactly death but departure of his beloved lord the lord who has protected him time and again from death the lord who has been the life of his life that lord has departed and Arjuna has to not only digest that inconceivable unbearable reality and convey it to his brothers and family but he also has to deal with his own situation with another predicament that he will reveal later that actually he was unable to protect the queens of Krishna so at this point Arjuna is remembering what an intimate relationship he had with Krishna and the closer a person is to us the greater is the loss we feel when we lose that person so Arjuna is feeling that loss in unbearable way and is trying to verbalise his emotions and his situation to Krishna so this is Krishna has departed from the world Arjuna has now returned from Dwarka to Yudhishthira in Hastinapur and he’s expressing his heart’s grief so he’s saying Vanchito Ham Maharaja O King I have been deprived now Harina Bandhu Roopina that Lord Hari he was my he acted as my friend Yename Apahritam Tejo when he has departed now my Tejo my power my effulgence as Yename Apahritam it has all gone away Deva Vishmapanam Mahat and what was that Tejo that prowess was such that even the Devas the Gods were Vishmapanam astounded they were astounded by that so here Arjuna is talking about how we there are human level that the celestial level the Gods live there and then the spiritual level where the Supreme Lord lives so now in this hierarchy the Gods are normally much more powerful than us and the Gods actions can stun humans how the Gods can create thunderbolt rains everything so we adore humans normally adore and worship the Devas but if Krishna’s mercy comes then a human being can do something which can astound even the Gods so the normal hierarchy is there but the normal hierarchy can be inverted by Krishna that is Krishna’s prowess so normally when we human beings are in trouble we pray to the Gods for help but we see that there were some demons in the Mahabharat and others those demons they had defeated even Indra and then Indra asked Arjuna to fight and Arjuna overpowered those demons so that which the Gods could not do a human was able to do by the grace of Krishna such is the extraordinary power that Krishna can give even to an ordinary soul so Arjuna is saying over here this was my power which actually astounded even the Gods but that was actually not my power it was the power given to me by Krishna he is saying that I am deprived I am bereaved Harina Bandhu Rupina so normally my Lord who is my friend he has left me and gone away so normally we get security in this world from two things our relations and our possessions we have oh I have my family members my friends through that they will help me when I am in trouble and I have possessions I have my wealth I have my bank balance I have this I have that Krishna is Arjuna is telling here in one moment for me both have gone so Harina the Lord has gone that is the most important relation has gone and with him my power also has gone so my archery has also gone so actually the whole mood of the Bhagavatam is that if we when we have nothing left then Krishna is left with us because this same mood will come again and again Parikshit Maharaj who is the ruler of the world at one moment and next moment he is trying to die nothing left with him and the Kunti Maharani says in her prayer that my dear Lord you are the wealth of the impoverished so the Bhagavatam will depict how when we lose everything then we gain the Lord of everything so Arjuna lost everything and he will be in great agony and future verses will describe how he is in enormous enormous distress because of agony because of separation from the Lord but then in that separation he will remember the message of the Bhagavad Gita and by remembering the message of the Bhagavad Gita Krishna is always in my heart with me and he will become pacified so actually often we have external material and spiritual facilities which we need for our spiritual advancement and for our material living but if we see them as separate from Krishna then when they go away we will be overwhelmed we will be very distressed but if we see that actually it is Krishna who is blessing me through all these things it is not that my money is my power it is Krishna who is giving me this money it is Krishna who is giving me shelter through this money so knowledge I travelled place to place and earned a lot of money so he says there that actually even the vidya is like a possession we have and then that is also a possession but he is saying you are that so even my knowledge is actually that knowledge is given to me by Krishna Krishna says gyanam gyanam gyanavatam aham I am the knowledge of the I am the knowledge of those who are knowledgeable and similarly I am the wealth of the wealthy so if we see these as separate from Krishna and while we have them we will become infatuated with them and while we lose if we lose them we will become devastated but if we see them as coming from Krishna and that it is Krishna who is giving shelter through money it is Krishna who is giving shelter to knowledge so tomorrow somehow that is not there Krishna is still there so there are channels by which we can take shelter of Krishna and if sometimes those channels get blocked that doesn’t mean the shelter of Krishna has to be blocked and I will give you a list over here if nothing whatever gives me shelter my dear lord it is you who are giving me shelter through that so Arjuna’s heartbreaking bereavement over here will gradually point the way to his realisation of the lord in the heart of course he is a devotee and he always has realised Krishna in the heart but in the routine course of life sometimes that goes into the background so he is feeling very bereaved at the start but then as his consciousness turns inwards he becomes again enriched by Krishna’s indwelling presence thank you Krishna is indirectly helping him yes Bhagavatam 115.6 यस्यक्षणवियोगेन लोकोयः प्रियधर्शिनः उक्थेन रहितोय एश वृतकः प्रोच्यते यथा यस्यक्षणवियोगेन लोकोयः लोकोयः प्रियधर्शिनः लोकोयः प्रियधर्शिनः लोकोयः प्रियधर्शिनः लोकोयः प्रियधर्शिनः लोकोयः प्रियधर्शिनः लोकोयः प्रियधर्शिनः लोकोयः प्रियधर्शिनः लोकोयः उतका प्रोचते यथा which is our longing too but we can’t experience it right now because of our conditionings that is expressed here in the pure devotees longing for the Lord and that we get some glimpse and we can pray that we can also develop the intensity of devotion of such intense separation from our Lord this separation although it seems like agony because it is an intensified remembrance of Krishna it is also ecstasy at one level Thank you