Bhagavatam study 86 1.16.19-24 Understanding what all things cause distress to the earth

Dharma, the cow, he asks questions.
So let’s see what the questions that are asked. धर्मवाच कच्चिद्भद्रे अनामयं आत्मनस्ते मिच्चायसिम् लायतेशामुखेन आलक्षभवतिम् अन्तराधिम् दूरेबन्धम् शोचसिकंचणाम्ब So, धर्मवाच So the Bhagavatam is right away telling that these cow and calf are not ordinary. First it’s made very clear, धर्मवाच means this is actually not just a bull this is actually a cow in the form of a bull.
It is धर्मवाच in the form of a bull. So, धर्मवाच in the form of a bull means that actually it is not an ordinary cow and bull. Now, how can धर्मवाच come in the form of a bull? See, the Bhagavatam describes an interconnected cosmos in which there are multiple levels or layers of reality and there is traffic between these various levels of reality.
So, we, for example, perceive the earth as an object, as an insentient object almost we could say. There is the Gaya hypothesis in which some thinkers have said that we can conceive the earth as an organism. That’s one way of looking at it.
But more importantly, the overall picture to understand is that this is only one perception. This is within a mechanistic perception cultivated by science. We see the earth as simply a terrestrial object in the sky, in the vastness of space.
But, the Bhagavatam describes it a vision which is different from the mechanistic vision. There is a higher reality and there is a personal reality. The personal reality means that the earth is ruled there is a predominating, there is the personified earth who is actually often shown in the form of a cow.
Of course, sometimes she is also shown in the form of a woman like we have Bhudevi. She is seen in the form of a goddess. Sometimes Bhudevi is considered to be consort of Vishnu, especially in the form of Varaha.
When Varaha lifted her up, when she had fallen, that contact, that touch of Varaha Dev to Bhumi, that led to an offspring, that is Naraka. So, like that, there can be multiple layers in which we can understand things. So, the key thing for us to perceive is that there is a higher reality and there are multiple levels of realities and these realities can interface.
So, there is traffic among these various levels of realities. They are not like parallel universes which some theories in science talk about, which are just unknown and unknowable. What is another parallel universe? We just can’t know.
It’s not like that. There is middle planet, there are lower planets and there are higher planets and similarly what we call as middle planets also can be perceived in different ways at different levels of consciousness. So, cow is here representing mother earth and then Dharma is represented here as a bull.
Now, what does it mean? Dharma can refer to the Lord of Dharma. The Mahabharata describes that the Lord of Dharma is in some ways similar to Yamaraja. That, so now, when his, his Yamaraja, we could say Yamaraja is the person who specifically punishes those who are sinful and that is the jurisdiction of Yamaraja.
Dharma, the Lord of Dharma is the person who actually oversees the management of Dharma and that is, we could say a broader jurisdiction. Punishing the adharmic is a smaller jurisdiction in the broader jurisdiction of maintaining Dharma. It’s like within the legal system or in the governmental system of maintaining law and order, the police do much more than punish the criminals.
The police maintain the law and order. So, when the function of specifically punishing the wrongdoers is to be talked about, then the personality in charge is referred to by the name Yama. But when the more positive function of establishing Dharma is to be talked about, at that time the personality is referred to be by the name Dharma.
So, Dharma is the father of Yudhishtira. Dharma is the person who is in charge of establishing Dharma and that Dharma manifests here as a bull. There is a close relationship between Dharma and Bhoomi.
Bhoomi is the source of Artha also, of wealth. sarva-kama-dugha-mahi Bhagavatam says earlier that when virtues kings are ruling, at that time actually there is a profound amount of, a profuse amount of wealth and prosperity that is provided by the earth. So, here just as the how is the earth protected? Nowadays people may envision that the earth may be destroyed by some environmental pollution or some people may think that there may be some cosmic projectiles, some asteroids may come and hit the earth, some comets may come and hit the earth and we need to protect the earth.
But the protection of the earth primarily happens by the protection of Dharma. If Dharma is maintained on earth, the earth will automatically be protected. So, Dharma is like the protector.
So, Dharma personified is like the protector of the earth personified. And naturally Dharma is asking, what is the matter? So, although Dharma is on ekapadena, he is standing on one foot and Bhoomidevi will mention about that status of Dharma being on one foot, but that will come later. Here, Dharma first inquires in a very concerned way, what is the matter? So, Dharma watch, he says, kachchidbhadre aobhadre So, bhadre refers to a respected way of addressing a female.
So, Prabhupada translates this as madam. So, he says that, are you not well? anamayam atmanaste anamayam Anamaya is disease. Anamaya is the state of being free from disease.
Atmanaste, are you hale and hearty? Are you hale and hearty? Are you okay? vichayasi mulayatesham mukhena So, vichayasi, you appear to, the word earlier came also vichayasi, that you appear to be covered mulayatesham that mulayatesham, you appear to be covered by the darkness of grief, mukhena So, just when we look at a person, Prabhupada says the face is the index of the mind. If somebody is grieving a lot, naturally their emotions will come up. They can be seen.
Some people wear their emotions on their sleeves, it’s said. That means their emotions just come out. Their tears come out, they try to wipe out the tears and their sleeves get filled with the tears.
So, especially men try to conceal their emotions, whereas women express their emotions. Of course, any kind of statement like this cannot be absolutized. There will always be exceptions, but there can also be broad trends.
So, here, seeing her distressed, he’s concerned. So, when I look at yourself, I can see that there’s something wrong. You, so, Bhavan refers to a masculine, second person, respectfully.
Feminine, second person, Bhavatim, Antar, Adhim. So, Adhim refers to disease. Have you got some disease inside your body because of which your face is dark like this? Or, is it that you have some relative who has gone far away, because of which you are distressed? So, normally, when we are distressed, what could be the cause? There could be some problem in the disease in the body.
There could be a problem in the relationships, in some close one has gone far away or whatever. There is Adhyatmik, Adhibhautik and Adhidaivik. There is no Adhidaivik klesh because they are right now there.
There is no storm or hurricane or something like that happening. So, he primarily asks about the two kleshas. Is there something wrong with you at the level of the body? Is there some disease inside you? Or are you lamenting the loss of a loved one? पादैर्णुनम् शोचसि मैंक पादम् आत्मानाम् वाव्रुषलैर् भोक्षमानम् आहो सुरदिन्रत यङ्यभागान् प्रजा उत्स्विन्म घवत्यवरशति So, he says, पादैर्णुनम् शोचसि मैंक पादम् पादैर्णुनम् शोचसि that now, because the two of them are related, two of them are well known to each other, so he is asking, is it that because my three feet have been cut off and I am only on one foot, are you lamenting that? Normally, if we have seen someone in a very healthy condition, say we met an old friend, maybe 10-15 years ago or we met them sometime ago and that time they were very healthy and now suddenly we find them initiated suddenly if we find a healthy person walking on crutches or limping, what happened? That may cause us distress, what happened to you? शोचसि मैंक पदम् Are you lamenting because of this? Or आत्मानां बवृशलैर् भख्षमानम् Is it that because there are भख्षमानम् भृषलैर्, there are people who are actually eating meat, they are slaughtering your children, they are slaughtering ultimately we could say all of us are the children of Bhoomi Devi, she is like our mother and she doesn’t like it at all when the humans who are meant to live for a higher purpose they actually start slaughtering animals for their selfish purpose, आहो सुरादिन रुदया भागान Or is it that सुरादिन Is it that you are feeling sorry because the demigods are bereft of their share of sacrificial offerings भागान, सुरादिन रुदया भागान they are not being provided this प्रजा उत्तस्विन् मघवत्य वर्षति Or is it that there is some famine or drought somewhere and that’s what’s causing you distress So first, the cause of distress is asked for in terms of is anything wrong with her and then is anything wrong with those whom she cares for Normally, sometimes we may become burdened by grief if we are very emotionally connected with someone, when they go through trouble, we feel troubled So here that same point is being talked about Are you lamenting that those whom you care for, they are in trouble Is that the cause of your grief? It’s interesting, we see in the Bhagavatam again and again that when somebody is in grief, at that time, the person who sees them in grief, they actually ask what is the cause of your grief? Is it this or that or that? Now we may wonder, and sometimes this goes on for verses and so many verses it goes on, like when Arjuna comes back from Dwarka after Krishna has departed and the Kurus have also left the planet in a very distressing way, at that time Yudhishthira goes on and on Is this the cause of your grief? Or is this the cause of your grief? And we wonder, why is he speaking so much? Why doesn’t he let Arjuna speak? But actually Arjuna is so overwhelmed by grief at that time that Arjuna may not even be in a condition to speak So in order to get the other person to start speaking we give some indication that we understand Sometimes when people are in grief they may be so withdrawn that they don’t want to talk also and yet if we want to offer them some relief from their grief, we need to get them to talk So if we tell them, if we express our emotions to them and we express our possible understandings of why they may be in grief, then maybe one of those options will connect with them and when that option connects with them, they feel, oh you understand me, and they might open up at that time Of course we have to see sometimes just being silent and waiting for them to speak might also help We have to see what helps a person who is in grief to come out of the grief Whatever helps we do that But the key thing is that we work towards connecting with them We work towards getting them to open Sometimes just being emotionally available to them is what is required for them to open up Physical availability is one thing but much more important is emotional availability Emotional availability means that our emotions are not caught in other things If our emotions are caught in other things, then no matter what we do we just can’t connect, people can’t connect with us, because our emotions are elsewhere Emotions are very subtle but at the same time their absence is very apparent If you are talking with someone and that person is just not interested They talk, we talk, and suddenly the subject changes, oh what’s happening? What’s that happening? And in that way when the subject changes We realize we may be pouring out our heart and the other person is not even hearing Often many conversations stay at the superficial level, we just make small talk because both people don’t feel that the other person is emotionally available to us that the other person is just lost in their own world in their own thoughts and they are just making small talk for the sake of socializing but when people sense that this person is emotionally available to me this person is ready to hear me and they feel that way that itself causes them to open and as they open then the hearts connect and then some healing can happen if they are hurt So there is long conversations where there is a long series of possible explanations that the characters in the Bhagavatam give when they see somebody in grief that is primarily to show their heart’s concern and thereby to indicate their emotional availability I can sense the gamut of emotions that you might be going through I can sense the various causes of your distress and now which one is right you tell me So here the Dharma the bull in the form of Dharma is expressing his concern and that concern is what is being described over here … … … … … … … So is it that is it that you are distressed because there are many women and children on the earth who are unprotected … … … or is it that you are lamenting that there are many Rakshasas … those people who eat humans they are cannibals … So is it that the earth is being dominated by Rakshasas that’s why because of their atrocities you are lamenting … … Is it that because the brahmanas are actually, they are performing kukarmanya, they are performing grievous activities and this way Vachambali, the goddess of learning is being mishandled.
Learning is often personified and just as a responsible father would not hand his daughter over to a responsible man. Similarly, the goddess of learning is meant to be handed, entrusted to only those who are responsible enough to use the learning properly. They don’t use that learning properly, then it will lead to a great abuse.
So Vachamdevim Brahma Kule Kukarmanya, Abrahmanya Raj Kule Kulagriyan, or is it, you see that the brahmanas have taken shelter of the family Raj Kule, of those Kshatriyas who actually do not respect brahmanical principles. So either the brahmanas themselves are not doing brahmanical activities or is it the brahmanas are becoming dependent on those who do not support brahmanical activities and thus the brahmanas lose their character by that bad association. So what is happening? Why are you so distressed like this? He is deeply concerned.
He understands that Bhoomidevi, her distress is not simply her distress. Her distress is probably rising from the distress of those whom she cares for and that is causing her distress. So he is looking at that distress from that perspective.
Now, text 22, kimshatrabandhun kalinopsustan rastranivatair avaropitani itastato vasantanavasah So here, kimshatrabandhun kalinopsustan. Is it that the kings themselves have become unworthy because of the influence of Kali and that is causing lamentation? kalinopsustan and rastranivatair avaropitani. The state affairs have been put in disorder thus, itastato vasantanavasah or is it that people have become unregulated and in their sleeping, eating, drinking, bathing, vyavayanmukha jeevalokam and being inclined to perform such activities anywhere and everywhere.
Are you unhappy because of this? See, the earth has a particular purpose and if that purpose is not being fulfilled then naturally mother earth will be distressed by that. So the purpose of the earth is to enable people to raise themselves to spiritual consciousness and if that doesn’t happen, then what is the point of it all? So she is distressed. Somebody provides us a lavish facility and they find that that facility is being abused and naturally they will be distressed.
So are you distressed because of that? Asking various questions like this. yadvambate bhuribha bharavatara trutavatarasya harer dharitri antarhitasya smarati visrushta karmani nirvana vilambitani So, now he comes to another vital conclusion. Why may you be distressed? yadvambate bhuribha bharavatara That that Lord who had come to decrease the heavy burden of the earth, trutavatarasya harer dharitri, or that Lord Hari had descended to this earth to remove your burden.
antarhitasya smarati visrushta Now antarhitasya, now that Lord has become invisible. smarati visrushta Are you thinking of all that wonderful activities he performed? karmani nirvana vilambitani The activities that he performs, they lead to liberation, they lead to elevation, they lead to supreme satisfaction in life. The same theme as in 4.9 in the Bhagavad Gita, that actually the Lord’s activities lead us to liberation.
janma karma chamey divyam evam yo vetti tattvataha tyaktva deham punar janma naiti mameti so arjuna naiti mameti That people don’t go away, but people come to me. Don’t come to this world again, they come to me. So that Lord had performed such wonderful pastimes.
But now he has become antarhitasya. So not only does he destroy the disruptors of dharma in this world, but he also actually provides people the path by which they can elevate themselves towards spiritual liberation. So is it that because he is no longer there, you have become distressed? So next twenty-fourth verse now.
idam mama chakshvatavadhimulam asundhare yena vikarshitasi kalenvate balimam baliyasa surarchitam kimrutam ambasaubhagam This is the last word that he will speak. He has given his various explanations and now he is begging, please tell me, idam mama chakshvatavadhimulam I have asked you now, please inform me, what is the root cause of your distress? asundhare yena vikarshitasi So visandhare, oh earth who is the reservoir of riches, vikarshitasi, you have become weakened. kalenvate balimam baliyasa Time is extremely powerful, more powerful than anything in this world.
kalenvate balimam baliyasa More powerful than anything in this world is time. surarchitam kimrutam ambasaubhagam surarchitam So, your fortune, surarchitam, which is adored, which is actually admired even by the higher, by the devatas, suras, the ruta ambasaubhagam, somehow by the inconceivable power of time, your great fortune seems to have been stolen. And that is the cause of your distress.
Please tell me, what is the cause of your distress? This theme of time being extremely powerful is very often talked about in the Bhagavatam. Vishwapitam also says, skala is one factor which determines what happens to us. And we need to recognize that and act accordingly.
So that theme is being talked over here. And in the next sessions, in our future sessions, we will discuss about what would Mother Earth’s response and how that response takes the storyline of the Bhagavatam ahead. Thank you very much.
Hare Krishna