Bhagavatam tenth canto study 24 – 10.4.25-37 Kamsa’s change of heart doesn’t last for long

Srimad Bhagavatam, Canto 10, Chapter 4, entitled The Atrocities of King Kamsa, text 25. Till here, Kamsa on seeing Devaki, giving birth to, on seeing that Devaki’s child has turned out to be the goddess, he feels remorseful that he has killed her children and seeks forgiveness from her. So, here, it’s being spoken now.
So, text 25, Pratho Samanu, Samanu Taptasya, Shanta Roshach Devaki, Vishrujjit Vasudevashya, Prahasyatam Uvachaha, Pratho Samanu Taptasya, Samanu Taptasya, when she saw that her brother was remorseful, Shanta Roshach Devaki, she gave up her anger. Now, this is her saintliness, that she is able to give up her anger based on seeing his change of heart. So, she sees this and she feels that, what is the point in holding something against him now? It’s children are dead, they are dead.
So, Shanta Roshach Devaki, Vishrujjit Vasudevashya, they gave up their anger and they also become Prahasyatam Uvachaha. They spoke with a smile to him. Here, we see the extraordinary saintliness of this great couple who will eventually beget the child as Krishna, so Vasudev spoke.
Now, he’d actually apologised to Devaki and then to Vasudev also, but when Devaki and Vasudev were together, at that time Vasudev spoke to him. So, text 26, evam etan mahabhaga yathavadasi dehinam agyana prabhavaham dhi swapareti bhidayatah evam etan mahabhaga evam etan mahabhaga. So, it’s interesting, mahabhaga seems to be a general form of reference which people use in respect for each other.
So, here, Kamsa is being referred to as a greatly fortunate one. Now, of course, in the Vaishnava Tosha, it is explained that this word can also mean mahabhaga, that mahabhaga means that you are greatly unfortunate. Now, it said Vasudev was smiling, prahasya tamavach.
Now, why would he be smiling? Because he is thinking that what a change in Kamsa. Vasudev himself had spoken the same philosophy to Kamsa earlier, but Kamsa had not listened to it. Kamsa had not desisted from his terrible act of killing Devaki despite having heard that philosophy.
But now, he is speaking the same philosophy to us. So, it said walk your talk, your actions speak so loudly that your words, that I can’t hear your words. Similarly, here it has happened that Vasudev is thinking that you are telling us this big big philosophy, but what happened to you? You never lived this philosophy and now you are expecting us to live this philosophy and act accordingly.
Evam etan mahabhaga, as you have spoken, as you rightly say, that agyana prabhavaham dhi, that because of agyana, because of the knowledge, because of the dhi, the intelligence being covered by ignorance, svapareti vidhaya taha, one accepts the body as oneself, yatha avadasi dehinah, and one thinks this is mine and this is someone else’s, svapareti vidhaya taha. So, Kamsa’s philosophy, or it is not Kamsa’s philosophy, but Kamsa has spoken this philosophy. It is being countered.
He is saying that philosophy is true, but the context in which you are speaking it, the purpose for which you are speaking it, that is wrong. So, maharaja, mahabhaga is sometimes seen as maharaja, and it can be maharaja also, one who is ruling in a very grievous way. So, he continues, and that actually bhavam pratham drsah, those whose vision is separatist, those who do not see the reality, those who actually, their vision is unconnected or disconnected from reality.
So, for them what happens, chokaharsabhaya dvesham, and all these negative qualities come in them. chokaharsabhaya dvesham, lobhamohamadanvitah, lobhamohamadanvitah, and all these negative qualities which come in them. So, chokaharsha, sometimes happiness, sometimes lamentation, sometimes jubilation, sometimes lamentations, fear, envy, greed, illusion, madness, and they do not know the truth about the truth about killing.
Who is killing? Who is actually being killed? They don’t know any of these. So, basically, Vasudeva echoes what is being spoken. vishtishukavacha, kamsaevam prasannabhyam, vishuddham pratibhashitaha, devaki vasudevabhyam, anugyatavishadgraham.
So, kamsaevam prasannabhyam. So, because Vasudeva and Devaki appeared cheerful, so vishuddham pratibhashitaha, when they had replied cheerfully to him, then he, Vasudeva, Devaki, Vasudevabhyam, he took permission from them, anugyatavishadgraham, and he went to his home. He entered into his quarters.
It’s interesting that anugyatavishad, he took permission from them. So, the dynamics of their relation seems to have changed, but that change would only be temporary. He was arresting, he had arrested them, he had assassinated their children, but now he’s thinking that he’s taking permission from them.
So, we see that his heart changes, but it doesn’t stay changed for long, unfortunately. So, all this now had happened at night. He had, when he had heard that the child has been born, he woke up from sleep.
It is described how his hair were disheveled, and he still came out, and all this had transpired in the night. So, the next morning, then what happened? I’ll describe now, text 29. tasyam ratryam viti tayam kamsa ahuya mantrinah tebhya achistha tatsarvam yad uktam yoga nidrahyam So, tasyam ratryam viti tayam, and after the night got over, kamsa ahuya mantrinah, kamsa ahuya, he called, summoned his ministers, tebhya achistha tatsarvam, and he informed them all, yad uktam yoga nidrahyam.
Yoga nidrahyam, he refers to what yoga maya, what that particular goddess, what she had spoken, he told it all to them, and he spoke it all to them, uktam yoga nidrahyam. So, at this particular point, the storyline is that he is now consulting his associates. Now, a bad person with bad associates is extremely dangerous.
Kamsa himself is a bad person, but he’s somewhat fickle, and his associates are even more demoniac than him, and we’ll see how they ruin him with their bad advice. Text 30, aakaranya bhartur gaditam tam uchur deva shatravah, devan prati kutamarsha daiteya nathikovidah. aakaranya bhartur gaditam, aakaranya, they heard with their ears, bhartur gaditam, the words spoken by their master.
They were the ministers, kamsa was the king, so kamsa was their master. Tam uchur deva shatravah, they spoke to him, the words, and who were these people who were speaking? They were deva shatravah, they were enemies of the gods, devan prati kutamarsha. So, they were enemies, and not just passive enemies, they had active enmity towards the gods, they held anger in their heart for the gods.
Sometimes, you know, we have negative feelings towards someone, but what is the use of those negative feelings? Actually speaking, we may not act on them, just hold them and then leave them over a period of time, but here in this case, they had negative feelings and they acted on those negative feelings. That is, they were actually, devan prati kutamarsha, they wanted, they had anger and wanted to act anemically. Daiteya naatiko vidaha, they were the demons, the daityas, and they were naatiko vidaha, they were not at all expert.
So, they were not expert means, so here, they will give very faulty advice to kamsa. Advice that will only make things worse. Normally, advice is to be given by experts, and if we are sick, and if we know very little about medical science, and we take advice from someone who knows nothing about medical science, then that will make things worse.
It’s only when we go to some expert and take advice, then it’s helpful. So, naatiko vidaha, but kamsa’s associates were not expert and thus, they made a mess of things further. Text 31, if this is so, they hooked on, they focused on that the goddess has said that you are, the person who is going to kill you is born elsewhere.
So, if that is so, then what should you do? Bhojendra, hooking of the bhojas, puragram vrajadisu vrajadi, so that whatever cities, villages are there nearby, anirdasham, anirdasham nirdashamscha. So, for up to the last 10 days or less, whoever is born, chhanishyamavadya vaisishun, that all the children who are born there, kill all of them. So, cities, towns, villages, pastoral grounds, wherever they might be born, immediately kill them.
So, it’s such a brutal course of action being recommended here. The idea is, there is one ant that is infected in a house, somebody says, let’s bring a machine gun and destroy the whole house, let’s bring a nuclear weapon and destroy the whole house to kill that one infected ant. How much would be the consequence, catastrophically, of that nuclear weapon? Similarly, chhanishyamavadya vaisishun, this is the kind of advice they are giving, they are telling kill everyone now.
Text 32, somebody may say that actually, this can be seen in two ways, that actually, if Vishnu is the aid of the gods, and if the gods have desired or requested him to come, and if you try to kill him, will the devtas not fight back? Will the devtas not try to attack? Will they not try to intervene? Actually, he says, they are powerless. So, he glorifies him. So, basically, those who are demoniac, at one level, they have a big ego, but another level, they have big insecurity issues also.
So, because of the insecurity issue, what happens is, when they are glorified, they take their glorification too seriously. So, what can the devtas do to you? Devas samarbhairavah, viravah, they actually become, although they are supposedly called amartha, they become fearful. They cannot face you.
Nityam udvijnamanaso, they are always fearful in mind. Yaghosevdhanushastava, as soon as they hear the twinging of your bowstring, that twinging of the bowstring itself signifies your victory. It’s like a proclamation, when they hear it, they become fearful.
They just can’t do anything. They won’t be able to fight at all. And then, they further flatter him by giving them, by giving their own version of the history.
So, it’s asyataste sharavratair, hanyamanasamantatah, jeevishavudhsrujya, palayanparayayuhum, asyataste sharavratair. So, you don’t just strangle your bow, you actually shoot arrows with your bow, and when they are pierced by your arrows, so, hanyamanasamantatah, hanyamana, they are completely defeated. Many were injured, but those who desired to live, jeevishavudhsrujya, they actually, out of their longing to live, palayanparayayuhum, they fled away from the battlefield.
So, the Vishnu Purana describes that, actually, he defeated devatas, and how? He says that Indra comes up, brags that, actually, Indra was injured by me, and not on his back, not on his chest, but on his back. That means, this could mean that I shot him when he was running away from me, which would be considered unheroic, but it would also mean that, when I started shooting arrows at him, he became so overwhelmed that he refused to fight with me, and he turned and fled, and thus my arrows hit him on the back. Now, being hit by arrows on the back simply means that, that person is a coward, that person has fled from me.
So, here their flattery comes up. Now, of course, out of the flattery, you may say that, actually, it’s the truth, he has defeated them. That is true, but the conclusion that they are trying, see, flattery does not have to necessarily involve falsity.
Flattery can involve speaking of truth for a false purpose. So, if somebody is to be goaded to do something which is stupid, something which is self-destructive, something which is terrible, sinful, and for that purpose, if somebody starts speaking words to them, then they are being flattered, but they are being flattered. How are they being flattered? They are actually being made to do something which is unwanted for them.
So, those who could not flee, if you chased after them, you caught them, they saw that you cannot escape from your arrows. They folded their hands, and they actually surrendered, because they put their hands on their heads. You had knocked their weapons out of their hands.
They were helpless. They loosened their garments, loosened their hood, and that means they had lost all dignity. bhītāsma iti vādinahā bhītāsmahā In fear, iti vādinahā, they spoke to him.
So, he is saying, how you have thoroughly defeated devatās. Actually, if they had been bereft of their weapons, when they forgot, when they were off their chariots, vīratān. So, when they are fearful, when they are chariotless, when they have forgotten that they have weapons, and they went to fight with weapons.
Sometimes people become so terrified on seeing something that just can’t function. So, they just lost all capacity to fight. bhagnacāpāna yudhyatahā Their bows were broken.
They were not wanting to fight at all. They were caught in some other alternative. Can we flee? What can we do? So, at that time, you are so gracious, O King, that you did not kill them.
So, he says, basically, they are glorifying in multiple ways. You know, you crushed the devatās. Devatās fled like cowards from you, and some of them came and begged forgiveness, begged mercy from you, and you actually granted them mercy.
You did not punish them. You did not kill them when they were actually trying to flee. So, now, he further minimized the devatās.
kim kṣe maśhurair vibhūdair asamyukha-vikathanai raho jushā kim harina sambhunāvāva naukasa kim indre nālpavīriyena brahmaṇāvā tapasya tā So, here, now, they start minimizing all the devatās. kim kṣe So, somebody may say that, actually, now, they have spared the devatās. They will, because they are alive, they did not die, this time if there is a fight, they will show their courage, they will show their heroism.
So then, Asai Nyoga Vikantita, so they say actually, he says, they speak about, they brag about their glories, about their prowess, only when they are away from the battlefield, only when they are with women, at that time, in order to gain the admiration of the women, they speak about how great they are. But actually, Asai Nyoga Vikantita, when the war happens, they cannot show any power. Raho, Jusha, Kim, Harina.
So he says, now what about, he starts talking about the leading of the gods, he says, what can they do? He says, actually, Vishnu is living in seclusion in the hearts of the yogis. He is not going to come out to fight. It is said that, that the yogis, in their hearts, they see Vishnu, and it is said that Vishnu resides in the hearts of the yogis.
They are saying that he is there in seclusion. He is not going to come to fight. And Shambhu has gone to the forest.
Lord Shiva has no possessive mentality and he lives in the forest. Or he lives on top of Kailash mountain. He is not going to fight.
So Indra, he has no strength. His prowess is meager. Brahma is concerned, he is engaged in austerity.
So none of them will fight. So none of them are capable of standing against you. The whole idea is that they are trying to justify him, they are trying to goad him and tell him that, that’s fine, just destroy the devatas.
And don’t fear them, because they cannot oppose you. At the same time, don’t be over confident. That’s the next point they will say.
But he says that, actually, still all the devatas, you have overpowered them, still you are enemies. So don’t neglect them. Somebody, the enemy, said that we always have to keep an eye out on our enemies, because at any moment they may attack us.
And if they attack us, they can destroy us. Therefore, uproot them from the moon. And if you want to uproot them, you just give us the orders, we will do that.
We have seen a similar dynamic in the 7th canto, when actually Hiranyakashipu tells his associates that let us uproot Dharma. There he instructs them, he is the active villain. So here it is the associates of Kamsa who instigate him.
So what their scheme is, and how Kamsa gets influenced by it, and what kind of atrocities he does, that we will discuss in the next session. Thank you.