Bhagavatam tenth canto study 22 – 10.4.10-16 Kamsa’s self-recrimination is self-serving

Srimad Bhagavatam, Canto 10, Chapter 4, entitled Atrocities of Kim Khamsa, text 10 onwards, text 10 and 11. Background here is that Khamsa tried to kill the child of Devaki despite her pleas that this child is a female, is no threat to him, that she will become his daughter-in-law. But he was heartlessly killed by Khamsa.
And now, or at least he heartlessly attempted to kill her. But she slipped out of his hand and she manifested as the goddess. And that vision is now being described.
This goddess has manifested in full opulence. This is a divine, she was in a divine form, where her dress, her four garlands, her sandalwood pulp adornment, all this was visible. She had jeweled ornaments on her, was decorated with them.
Now, she was a combination of, this form was of the goddess, especially when she’s alone, it’s a combination of the divine and the martial. So, she had ornaments, and even the Vishwaroop also is described as having some decoration, some ornaments. Vishnu also has Kaustubha jewel, as was described, Krishna would have displayed in the previous chapter when he appeared.
So, she is not described here in terms of her feminine beauty. She is described in terms of her fierce appearance. And usually, the goddess, when she’s alone, she is seen as a protector and a destroyer.
So, here is described Dhanu, Shule, Shucharamasi. She had a Dhanu and Shula, that is, she had a bow, she had a bow, and then she had a Trishula, a trident for piercing each shula, arrows also she had. Charma, and she had a Shield Asi, that is, she had a sword.
So, basically, she was well-equipped to fight, that is the theme over there. Shankhachakra Kadadhara, and then she had the aberrants of Vishnu also, the Ayodhya, the conch, the disc, the mace. So, basically, the goddess is manifested here in her full opulence, and then not only is her personal opulence there, but her associates are also there.
She is a great goddess. So, as soon as she has appeared, many divine beings appear over there, and those divine beings are offering her praises. So, who are those divine beings? This is almost like the standard list of the elite from the cosmos.
Siddhacharana, Gandharva, Apsara, Kinnara, Urgai. So, Siddhacharanas, Gandharvas, Apsaras, the Kinnaras, all of them, Urgas, all of them are there. And Upahruto, Balibhi, they have brought to her, they have gifted her all kinds of presentations.
And Stuyamanedam, and they were offering praises to her. So, whenever a great person appears, especially a worshipable person like the goddess, at that time, there are praises that are offered because that’s what their position is truly worth of. So, Stuyamanedam, Abravit, and as she was being praised, as she had manifested her full opulence, so she spoke certain words, Abravit.
So, all this is happening in Kamsa’s kingdom, where he has put Devaki and Vasudeva under arrest. And that same chamber, suddenly the goddess has manifested in her personal form, which can be seen by everyone as she is speaking. So, Kamsa is astounded to see how that girl has changed into this goddess.
Let us see what this goddess speaks. So, she is telling him now, O fool, O less intelligent person, O dimwitted person, why are you trying to kill me? O fool, O less intelligent person, why are you trying to kill me? Has been born certainly, one who is going to be your killer. So, he wanted to kill Devaki’s children so that you would not have to die, and he wanted to ensure that your enemy would not be born, but your enemy has already been born.
Certainly, he has been born. The celestial voice which is saying this, that is the voice of a goddess who is right in front of him, Yatra Kova Purva Shatrur. Yatra Kova, that born somewhere else, Purva Shatrur.
Now, she is hinting to him that he has also been an enemy for you from your previous life. Since the scribe at Kamsa was Kalanemi in an earlier life, at that time he was killed by Vishnu. So, your killer from this previous life has also been born and is born somewhere else, Purva Shatrur.
Therefore, do not kill the helpless now in vain. Those who are helpless, you could refer to other poor children. So, it’s interesting, the goddess is exhibiting knowledge here of both the past and the future, saying past is indicated by Purva Shatrur.
Vishnu was your enemy in the past and he has been killed. He has appeared again now. And Maahimsi Kripananrtha, he’s telling that don’t unnecessarily kill poor children, helpless children.
So, it’s indicated that for some, here in it there’s indication that when Kamsa hears that his enemy is already born, that he will go on a rampage to kill his enemies, to kill anyone who he suspects as enemy and thus he will start killing all small children, which is a very brutal thing to do. And Maah starts killing children. So, he starts doing this because he feels that somehow or the other he has to protect his life.
So, when he thinks in this way that somehow or the other I have to protect myself, at that time the goddess is telling him don’t do your sinful activity, don’t kill in the future. The goddess is also in a sense warning him about doing anything wrong, grievously wrong in the future. Of course, this will not have much effect on Kamsa who is bound by his own evil ideas.
Now, after that goddess spoke in this way, that goddess who appeared thus was Maya, Durga, Kripanrtha and Kripananrtha. She manifested as the goddess Bhagwati Bhuvi on the earth at various places, she manifested Bahunam Niketeshu. So, at her abodes, we are at various places, Bahunam Babhuvaha, she manifested in various places with different names.
So, goddess has different names, Annapurna, Durga, Kali, Bhadra and these names indicate her various places where she has appeared and the activities that she is doing. So, all such things. Generally, there are Puranas and there is also something called as Thala Puranas.
So, the Thala Puranas are basically places where the particular sacred places and they have their particular divine pastimes of some higher being associated with them. And in such pastimes, the standard is that there are Devatas or some higher beings associated with that place. So, in that same mood, it’s said over here that this goddess who appeared thus after the appearance of Krishna, this was, it was not just the appearance of Krishna but is also the appearance in this world of the goddess and that goddess who appeared, she appeared there and then her worship also spread.
So, we see over here that Krishna has an extraordinary plan and earlier it was described how the Devatas also participate in his plan and then the Devatas also participate in his plan and they also manifest accordingly. So, we know that for example, Vali and Sugriva and Ramlila are manifestations of Indra and Surya. So, many of the Devatas have earlier appeared also in this pastime when they have offered prayers extensively to Krishna in the womb.
But similarly, here the goddess has manifested and according to some stories, this same goddess later also manifests as Subhadra with Jagannath and Baldev. So, dayābhītam ākaraṇyā, kamsaḥ parama-viṣṭhitaḥ, deva-kīmba-sudeva-ca vimṛtto-praśruta-bhravīt, dayābhītam ākaraṇyā. When what she spoke, what was spoken by her, ākaraṇyā, when he heard, it came in his ears, he heard it and kamsaḥ parama-viṣṭhitaḥ, he was astounded.
And there are some people who are predictable. Now, if we have been with them for a good amount of time, we understand how they think and how they act. Therefore, we can predict what they will do when.
And in general, in the mode of goodness, people who are, they act according to certain principles and thus their actions are predictable. But people in the modes of passion and ignorance, their mind can work in wild and unpredictable ways and therefore how they will act, that is just not predictable. So, here it’s interesting that kamsa initially has a transformation for the positive, although it’s only superficially positive.
See, in the mode of passion, we look at reality only selectively. And by looking at reality selectively, we come to certain understanding or we focus on certain things within reality. And by that focus on certain things, whatever registers for us, we do that and other things we just neglect.
So, in this case, what will happen is, what the goddess has spoken, he doesn’t focus so much on that because the words are spoken, but there is also sight. The sight of the goddess and this is, that sight is stunning for him. Normally, if we consider the among the various senses, the inputs from the eyes and the ears are the most forceful for us.
And among the two also, the eyes are even more forceful. Sometimes, you know, if we see two people from a distance, say they are across a glass wall or they’re across a house, another house, and we can’t hear what they’re speaking. But if we see them, say fighting against each other or hugging each other or whatever, we arrive at strong inferences about what they are doing.
And sometimes people may consider visual evidence as a conclusive evidence also. So, sometimes, what we see, especially if we are in the mode of passion and ignorance, what we see has a tremendous effect on our consciousness. So, that is what happened to Kamsa over here.
He will later contemplate what the goddess has said and there also he’ll contemplate selectively that he is already born elsewhere. So, right now, his focus, you know, that Devaki from whom the goddess appeared and Prabhupada explains his purports that actually Kamsa himself was, he was at one level a demoniac person. But in the Vedic culture, it is described that even the demons were worshippers.
They also knew that power cannot be got by entirely independent means. So, they would seek to get power by appeasing some higher beings in the heavens, in the higher realms. So, we have Ravana would worship Shiva and even Brahma at times.
Hiranyakashipu tried to appease Brahma. So, Kamsa was also a worshipper of the goddess. He worshipped Shiva also.
But overall, for him, the goddess was a venerable being and he started feeling that if this goddess has appeared from the womb of Devaki, then Devaki is also a special person. So, his attitude towards Devaki and Vasudev changed. Devaki, Vasudev, Vamcha, Vimucha, Prashruta, Bravid, Vimucha, he released them and Prashruta with great humility, he spoke to them.
Till now, he had been very arrogant. Just a few moments ago, when Devaki had practically been begging him, please spare the life of my child, he had derisively, dismissively, heartlessly neglected her plea and pulled the baby, ripped the baby out of her grasp. So, we see this dynamic that now his behavior has changed so much that Prashruta, with great humility, he is approaching her.
Sometimes, some people are habitually arrogant. When they see someone, they just say, who are you? But then, if they come to know that person is a big person, that that person is more influential than them or is connected with someone who is more influential than them, then that person suddenly becomes respectful, suddenly becomes deferential. So, like that, Kamsa is thinking, Kamsa suddenly becomes very humble and respectful towards Vasudev and Devaki.
He has already released them and he is going to speak to them now. So, what does he speak? Aho bhaginya, aho bhama, mayavam batapapmana, bushad ivapatyam, bahavo himsitah sutaha. So, he said, oh sister, bhaginya, aho bhaginya, aho bhama, oh brother-in-law, he is addressing Vasudev and Devaki and he is not addressing them by names, he is addressing them here by his relationship.
The idea is he is trying to make amends or at least speak words of conciliatory, hoping to make some amends. So, aho bhaginya, aho bhama, mayavam batapapmana, that I am so sinful, batapapmana, that how sinful am I? So, purushad ivapatyam, purushad ivapatyam. So, I like a rakshasa who kills his own child.
Like that, I have killed someone who is just like my own child, because my sister’s child is just like my own child and I killed him. So, here Vaishnav Toshani explains that in the past rakshasas would have the habit of eating their children and when Durga saw a rakshasi woman eating her own child, at that time she said that henceforth, the rakshasa children will also grow up and they will soon become so powerful that no one will be able to eat them. So, this idea, of course, we see that Ravana had great attachment to Indrajeet, great pride in Indrajeet’s accomplishments.
And similarly, we see other rakshasas also, also had very great affection for their children. So, that way, the point here is that this was long, long time ago this would happen and at that time the goddess Swaraj had intervened and had got the rakshasas to stop eating their children. Similarly, he said, I, like a rakshasa, had acted before, but now the goddess Swaraj had changed my heart and now I am not going to do it.
How sinful am I? Now, we may say, we may think, is Kamsa a rakshasa? He is saying purushad iva patyam, like a rakshasa, I have killed your children. So, is he not already a rakshasa? No, not exactly, because he is primarily a human being. Rakshasas are a different race of people.
Sometimes some people may have a demonic mentality, but they don’t necessarily have a demonic body, they don’t belong to the demonic race. So, for example, in the Mahabharata, in the Ramayana, the significant difference is that it’s a war between humans and rakshasas, demons, whereas the war in the Ramayana, in the Mahabharata, is between humans and humans. Both the Pandavas and the Kauravas were human beings and interestingly, they had rakshasas on both the sides.
There was Alambush, who was a rakshasa, on the side of the Kauravas, and there was Ghatotkach, who was a rakshasa, this son of Bhima through Hidimbi, who was on the side of the Pandavas. So, there were rakshasas on both sides. And so, rakshasas are basically a race and sometimes rakshasa can also be a mentality.
Rakshasimhaasurim chaiva prakritim mohinim shritaha. Krishna uses the word rakshasa in the sense of a mentality. In the 9th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, it talks about how those who deride him lose all auspiciousness and get that mentality.
But rakshasa in general refers to a particular species which is cannibalistic, which eats men. And certainly there is no indication that the Kauravas, however brutal they were, they were not man-eaters. And Kamsa was also very much a human being.
That’s how he is related to another human being, Devaki, as her cousin-sister. So, but he is saying that although I am a human being, I have acted like a demon and such behavior is verily reproachable. How could I have acted like this? So, now demons are actually, they will, they sometimes have change of heart, but the change of heart doesn’t last for long.
So, we’ll see that in text 16. sathaham tyakta-karuṇyas tyakta-jñāti-suhá¹›t-khalaḥ kānlokān vaigyam-iÅ›yāmi brahma-heva-má¹›ta-Å›hva-vaṁśasaṁ sattvaham tyakta-kāruṇyas. Therefore, tyakta-kāruṇyas.
So, however I acted, I have given up all compassion, all mercy. tyakta-jñāti-suhṛt-khalaḥ. I have given up all human emotions of compassion and kindness.
I have abandoned my relatives and in this they have abandoned me. jñāti-suhṛt-khalaḥ. I have become such an envious person, such a demoniac person.
I have become kānlokān vaigyam-iśyāmi. Who knows what destination I will go to. What destination will I go to? kānlokān aham gaṁiṣyam.
Kānlokān, where will I go? Sometimes this is a rhetorical way of acknowledging one’s culpability. You know, what I have done, it is grievous and I am going to get a very terrible result for this. So, what result am I going to get? Where I am going to go because of this kānlokān vaigyam-iÅ›yāmi.
Who knows about that? I do not know. brahma-heva-mṛta-śvasan. In fact, brahma-heva, the killing of a child, especially a helpless, defenseless child, is like the killing of a brāhmaṇa.
So, generally, bhrunuhatya and brahma-hatya are considered to be equal. Bhrunuhatya is killing of the womb. So, even Kaṁsa, he had his limits and he wanted to kill the children of Devaki, but he waited till the child was born.
He did not kill the child in the womb. That was an unconscionable activity for them. We see similarly, that in general, so, bhrunuhatya is killing of a child in the womb is considered to be a very, very grievous crime.
It is worse than brahma-hatya. Now, this child is born, even that child is also helpless, defenseless and ká¹£atriyas are meant to protect. So, when those who are meant to be protectors, they become predators and those who are meant, to whom they are meant to protect, they kill them.
It is a very, very grievous crime. So, I have committed such a grievous crime. I am like dead while living.
I am already like a corpse. I am doomed. So, the idea over here is, he is very seriously, very grievously acknowledging his culpability.
This theme also comes repeatedly in the Bhāgavatam, dead while living. What it means is that some people, their life is not serving any purpose. If you see, life is meant for, from the spiritual perspective, at least it is meant for spiritual evolution, for raising our consciousness to the higher spiritual level and thereby attain an auspicious destination.
But here, if somebody is not fulfilling that purpose at all, is not doing anything for that purpose, then it is almost like they are living dead. So, I am like a dead body, I am like a walking corpse. So, what it means is that my life is worthless, my life is useless.
So, a dead person can’t do anything. Similarly, a person who is living but not doing anything constructive with their life, that person is almost like a dead person. And if we see, it is like if somebody is in coma for a long time and there is very little prospect of that person coming back to life, then some people may say that, that person is just like living dead.
It is on the border of life and death and they are just not doing anything, they are living like vegetables. Similarly, actually it refers to, that I am just breathing, but what is the use of such breathing? I am not fulfilling the purpose of life and I have condemned, the way I have acted, I am condemned for that. Now, he reproaches himself very strongly and yet he will also rationalize, which will appear in future verses.