Bhagavatam study 78 1.15.19-24 Krishna takes away everything that covers us before him

Arjuna will continue his remembrances over here. Text 19 शय्यासनातनविकत्थनभोजिनाधिष्वाइक्याद्वयस्यर्तवान् इतिविप्रलब्धः सक्याउसक्षेवपित्रवत्तनयस्वसर्वं से एमाहान्महितयाकुमतेरघन्मे Here he is speaking and he is telling more about his personal dealings.
Not just about how Krishna helped him in extraordinary achievements, but also in one-to-one dealings. Now suppose the soldiers fight heroically on a war field. Now the moments when they fight heroically, they save each other, those are moments of intense remembrance.
But also the time when they are in the barracks together, how they talk with each other, how they get along with each other, those are also moments when bonding happens. So Krishna and Arjuna, they will be together in their palaces and शय्यासनातनविकत्थनभोजिनाधिष्वाइक्याद्वयस्यर्तवान्महितयाकुमतेरघन्मे So we would sometimes relax on the bed. We would sit together.
We would walk together, अटन, विकटन, we would dress and decorate together, भोजिनाधिष्वा, we would eat, take food together, आईक्याद्वयस्यर्तवानितेवेप्रलब्ध And in this way, we achieved a state of great intimacy, even oneness. And sometimes we would speak, sometimes if one of us would speak something false, we would speak sarcastically. Oh, what you are saying is very true.
It is so, you are so truthful. Sometimes words which are spoken in an ironical way, where words are spoken the opposite of what is the reality, that also conveys something, that also conveys affection. So, if somebody does something very foolish and somebody says that is brilliant.
Now, that can be sarcastic and if it is meant to hurt, it will hurt very badly. But if it is just meant as an expression of affection, then it just brings laughter on everyone’s faces. इतेवेप्रलब्ध So, when we misbehaved, we made fun of each other.
सक्यु सखेव पित्रवत्तनयस्यसर्वम् So now, he is talking about when I taunted him sometimes like this. But just as a friend forgives a friend. सक्यु सखेव पित्रवत्तनयस्यसर्वम् Or a father forgives a son.
Similarly, सेहे महान महितया कुमतेर अघम्मे So, all these offenses which I would commit. सेहे, he tolerated. सहन करना, to tolerate.
महान, अघम्, great offenses which I commit. महितया, that glorious being, कुमतेर Such was my misdirected consciousness, my misdirected intelligence because of which I committed such terrible mistakes. But, actually the Lord was so glorious that He forgave them all and He continued to reciprocate with me.
सेहे महान महितया कुमतेर अघम्मे सेहे महान Actually, there is a paradoxical focus on both closeness as well as greatness. When the devotee is with the Lord, the devotee delights in the closeness to the Lord. At the same time, the devotee is also concerned that I should not offend my Lord.
And in that sense, there is also fear. So, here, now that Krishna has departed, Arjuna is remembering how great was Krishna, how many great things He did for me and how foolish I was that I took that Krishna so cheaply. This is the mood of service with which Krishna is now being appreciated in His absence by Arjuna.
Now, after these wonderful memories about Krishna’s extraordinary intervention in His life, now Arjuna will speak about His present condition. This whole sequence of memories was spoken by Arjuna to explain His plight. When Arjuna came back from Dwaraka, His effulgence was lost and His distress was unprecedented.
And seeing the distress, Arjuna was asked by his brother, what has happened? And those various questions, giving various possible causes, we discussed in the previous chapter. In this chapter, Arjuna, Vanchito Maharaja, Balina Bandharupina, he started his reply by telling, Oh, I have been deprived of that Lord, who was my close friend, Harina Bandharupina, and therefore my whole life has become like null and void now. So, that same theme, that first verse he spoke, that my whole life has become empty now, the whole world seems null and void to me.
So, after giving a whole series of memories about how the Lord was so dear to him, how the Lord had done so many wonderful things for him, now he’s coming back and how his heart is empty. सोहं नुरुपेंद्र रहितो पुरुशोत्तमेन सक्याप्रियेन सुरुधारुदयेन शुन्या अध्वन्यवुरुक्रमपरिग्रहन अंगरक्षन गोपयिरसद्धिरबलेवविनिर्जितो स्मी सोहं नुरुपेंद्र रहितो पुरुशोत्तमेन सक्याप्रियेन सुरुधारुदयेन शुन्या अध्वन्यवुरुक्रमपरिग्रहन अंगरक्षन गोपयिरसद्धिरबलेवविनिर्जितो सर्वंख्षनेन तदभूद असद ईशुरिक्तम। सर्वंख्षनेन तदभूद असद ईशुरिक्तम। It is taken away because the Lord has gone away. ईशुरिक्तम। रिक्तम means without.
ईशु means without the Lord. Because the Lord was there, everything is there. When the Lord is gone, everything is gone.
And to illustrate this, He used three examples. भस्मम्हुतम् कोहुकराद्धं इवोप्तमुष्याम् भस्मम्हुतम् भस्मम्हुतम् refers to the fact that just as we put butter on fire, it’s of no use. कोहुकराद्धं If somebody creates money by magical feats, that doesn’t help much.
कोहुकराद्धं इवोप्तमुष्याम् इवोप्तमुष्याम् means that actually, if somebody sows seeds on a barren land, again this is of no use. So, there are three examples here, which indicate the futility of everything without the Lord. Now, Vishnachiketa could explain that each of these examples conveys something specific.
भस्मम्हुतम् that actually the butter itself may be good, but if instead of fire there is ashes, then that butter is of no use. A magician produces money, that money is actually not there really at all. So, इवोप्तमुष्याम् that actually if somebody has good seeds, but they are put in the bad soil, then again they will not grow.
In all these ways, the point is being made that actually Arjuna is now ईशरिक्तम् without the Lord, all of Arjuna’s prowess has become useless now. Now, we continue with text 22. राजाम्स्त्वयानुपृष्टानाम् सुहरुदंन सुर्वत्पुरे विप्रशापन्मूधानाम् निग्नतां मुष्टिभेर्मिथः text 23 वारुनिम्मधीराम् पित्वा मदोन्मत्तितचेतसां आजानतां इवान्योन्यम् चतुपञ्चावशेषितः So here, he is telling what happened.
राजाम्स्त्वयानुपृष्टानाम् He is not telling the story. What exactly happened? He is telling that the disaster has happened. But what exactly happened when you say the disaster happened? So he is explaining over here.
अनुपृष्टानाम् So as you have asked me, अनुपृष्टानाम् I will tell you. सुरुदंन सुर्वत्पुरे I asked about the well-being of our well-wishers. सुरुदंन सुर्वत्पुरे In Dwarka, विप्रशाप विमोधानाम् So what happened? Because of the curse of the Brahmanas, विप्रशाप विमोधानाम् They became deluded.
निगनतां मुष्टिभेर मिथः And then, they actually killed each other with bunches of sticks. मिथः After fighting among themselves. मुष्टिभेर They attacked themselves.
वारुनिम्मदिराम् पित्वा They drank wine, which is made of fermented rice. Prabhupada writes. In the word-to-word translation, मदोन्मत्थितचेतसाम् And their consciousness became completely maddened because of intoxication.
अजानतां इवान्योन्यम् And they acted as if they don’t know each other. चतुपंचावशेषितः And they just destroyed each other except for अवशेषितः Only four or five of them are remaining. Everybody else is killed.
Everybody is dead. Such a devastating thing to hear for Yudhishthira and even for Arjuna to speak. But he has to speak it.
Now, of course, the Acharya has explained that this is all ultimately an arrangement of the Lord. That he wanted to take his Dwarkavasis back with him. And he realized that nobody else could defeat them.
So to delude the atheistic people, he arranged for them to fight among each other and thereby kill themselves. And even Vishwamitra explains that the cowherd boys who came and attacked the women, the Krishna’s queens, they were actually Krishna himself came and expanded himself as the cowherd boys. And he defeated Arjuna.
So it was not that the Krishna’s queens were violated but rather just for Arjuna’s perspective, he was defeated. And that was meant to get Arjuna to take shelter of Krishna. As I mentioned earlier, Krishna sometimes brings the naked soul in front of him.
So like that, Krishna brings us right in front of him without any capacity to have any shelter other than him. We may take shelter of Krishna through many things but sometimes Krishna may take away those things so that we have to take shelter of him directly. And that is the situation Krishna has brought Arjuna to.
And Arjuna now tries to philosophically make sense of what happens. प्रायेन अई तद्भग्वता ईश्वरस्यविचेष्टितम् मिथो निग्नन्ति भूतानी भावयंति च यन्मिथः प्रायेन आई तद्भग्वता That it is almost by, almost all of it is by the will of the Supreme. ईश्वरस्यविचेष्टितम् It is by His will, by His plan.
मिथो निग्नन्ति भूतानी One, it is by His will that sometimes living beings fight with each other. निग्नन्ति And भावयंति च यन्मिथः And other times they protect each other. So, sometimes when we can’t deal with specific issues We look at the issues in terms of their immediate causes.
But sometimes When we just can’t deal with specific issues Because the issues have just gone beyond our control At that time, we have to ultimately see that there is some higher plan of the Lord. And that higher plan Is what Krishna is focusing, what Arjuna is focusing on when he says that He is trying to make sense of how could this happen? Now Arjuna is not only trying to make sense of it himself He is also trying to help Yudhishthira to process this. Arjuna has been grieving for many days all alone Months have passed And he tried to come back from Dwarka And he tried to get Krishna’s queens But Yudhishthira is hearing it And he is helping Yudhishthira to process this.
So, when Abhimanyu is killed brutally, unfairly Viciously by the Kauravas That time the Asdev consoles Yudhishthira by saying That the inscrutable will of the Lord is surely for the welfare of all living beings. So, the Lord’s will is benevolent but it is also inscrutable. And if we just do his will and a new course We will understand how his will was for our good.
So, at this stage There doesn’t seem to be any good at all. But the only good is that the Lord has some plan. So, when everything at the material level seems to be dark Then we have to see things on the spiritual level.
At the material track everything seems dark But the spiritual track when we understand that it is by the Lord’s plan Then we can get some solace and strength. So, now in the future verses Arjuna will remember the message of the Bhagavad Gita and that will solace him. So, that we will discuss in our future talks.