Bhagavatam tenth canto study 30 – 10.5.26-32 Relationships are the foundational wealth that is essential for anything to be enjoyable

Thank you. We will continue in the next class. One way you can cast apart sticks that have come together.
Similarly, all of us people, all of us and our loved ones can be cast apart in one moment. So then after making this philosophical point, now Nanda Maharaj, Vasudev will make practical inquiries about Nanda Maharaj. Vasudev has come with great eagerness to know about Krishna.
But at the same time, he does not want to give away the secret that Krishna is his son. So he talks philosophical points. Now although Nanda Maharaj is older in age to Vasudev, Vasudev is higher in the social hierarchy because Vasudev is a Kshatriya.
Also Vasudev has gone through great troubles. Now Nanda Maharaj also had distress because he did not have a son. But Vasudev’s troubles were far greater because he had to go to jail despite being a king and he had to see so many of his children being killed in front of his eyes.
So normally distress deepens our understanding of life. Distress sharpens our focus on our priorities and thus distress can help us become more philosophical. So here it is said that in text 26, Vasudev has spoken philosophically in the previous verses and he continues.
So he is asking about Vrindavan and he is asking about the well-being and the first thing he asks are all the cows well? Are they having difficulties? There are no difficulties or diseases among them. Is there sufficient water? Is there grass for grazing for them, water to drink? Are there plants there? So the great forest is there nearby in Vrindavan that is also a resource for the cows to graze and in that forest you are living with your well-wisher. So for a Vaishya, the source of well-being is the cows and we see earlier also in this chapter, the Bhagavatam began this description of the celebration in Vrindavan with the beautification of the cows and then the beautification of the Gopas, the beautification, the decoration which the Gopas did for themselves and the Gopis did for themselves.
So here when Vasudev is inquiring about the well-being of Vrindavan, the first thing he inquires is the well-being of the Prajavarsis. यत्रासे तम्सः रद्वतः That place where you are living, is nature smiling over there? Or with the gifts of nature, your precious resources, the cows, are they doing well? So, ब्रातर्मं सुतः कच्छिन् मात्रासः भवद्व्रजे तातं भवन्तं मन्वानो भवद्व्याम् उपलालितः So, ब्रातर्मं सुतः कच्छिन् Now he is going to ask, oh my brother, this form of address brother comes repeatedly because they are related as such and they are that close. Sometimes friends may be closer than brothers, but if a brother is as close as a closest friend, then that is a very very intimate relationship.
ब्रातर्मं सुतः कच्छिन् ब्रातर्मं सुतः कच्छिन् So, actually speaking, is my son, is he doing well? मात्रासः भवद्व्रजे Along with his mother, is she staying? भवद्व्रजे In your house, is she staying? Is she doing well? तातं भवन्तं मन्वानो तातं भवन्तं And does he consider you to be like a father? मन्वानो Considering you to be a father? भवद्व्व्रजे उपलालित अह And is he being raised properly over there? So, actually, the whole situation over here is quite peculiar. A father is in Mathura, a wife and a son are at somebody else’s house and our child needs father figures in life. Sometimes, even when a child has a father, a god, somebody is named as a godfather.
So, that godfather is someone who also takes the responsibility of caring for that child. So, here he is saying that now he doesn’t have me as his father to be there to raise him. उपलालित अह So, is he being raised properly? Does he treat you like his father? And does he respect you? Does he relate with you nicely? So, is he and his mother living happily over there? For a husband, it is a natural concern and responsibility to take care of the wife and children.
And if a husband is put in a situation where he is not able to do that, that is very painful. And still, if one is not able to do it, then one needs to hand over the responsibility to someone else who can do it. So, Vasudev had that maturity and that detachment by which he recognized that he could not take care of Rohini and her to be son.
And therefore, he sent her to Vasudev and to Indra and Yashoda. But he did not have much news of how they were doing. So, therefore, of course, he had got the news that he got a son, Balram.
So, he asked, how is she doing? That is a natural concern which he has. And is he living peacefully? Is he growing up nicely? Text 28, पुम्सस्त्रिवर्गो विहितः सुरुधोय अनुभावितः नतेशु क्लिष्यमानेशु त्रिवर्गो अर्थाय कल्पते So, पुम्सस्त्रिवर्गो विहितः So, a person is त्रिवर्ग. त्रिवर्ग is धर्म, अर्था, and काम.
Religion, Economy, Development, and Sanskarification, as Prabhupada translated it, पुम्सस्त्रिवर्गो विहितः These are enjoined according to the Vedas. सुरुधोय अनुभावितः सुरुधोय अनुभावितः When one’s relatives and loved ones, well-wishers, they are well-situated, then these can give unhappiness. नतेशु क्लिष्यमानेशु But if they are in distress, त्रिवर्गो अर्थाय कल्पते So, त्रिवर्गो, these three goals of life, they do not give any pleasure.
They actually, we just experience the stress. They cannot, न अर्थाय कल्पते So, actually here, Vasudev is telling that relationships are a foundational wealth. And when we say a relationship is good, means that those whom we love, they are also doing well.
If we have a lot of money, but if a loved one has a serious disease, then what pleasure can that money provide to us? After all, we cannot be happy if our loved ones are in distress. So, धर्मा अर्था काम त्रिवर्ग, we do pious rituals and we celebrate in a pious way. अर्था, we gain wealth and then we fulfill our life’s desires for various kinds of pleasures.
But if we do this, if while doing this our relationships are crumbling, our loved ones are in distress, then none of these help. So here, Vasudev is speaking a truth which is of great importance in today’s world. Today’s world, actually it makes our conception or definition of success lopsided, where people are expected to be fabulous achievers in their work and grow phenomenally in their career and that is considered to be success and happiness.
But while doing so, if their family crumbles apart, people are not encouraged to spend a lot of time to take care of the family, but somehow it’s expected that your family should be fine. If your family is not fine, that is also a failure on your part. So you should take the responsibility of taking care of the family, but give all your time to your work.
So success in one area of life cannot compensate for failure in another area. So here, taking this principle that success in dharma, artha, kama cannot actually give happiness if there is failure in one’s relationships. If one’s loved ones are in distress, if one’s relationships are poor, then what is the happiness that we will experience through it all? Not much of happiness.
So trivarga, these three are considered to be the important pleasures to be experienced or relished in our day-to-day life. But these pleasures cannot be relished if we do not have good relationships. Although these three are talked about in scripture, but even what is talked in scripture, there is something which is foundational.
So something is just implied and something is specified. So we have to take care of what is implied. And suppose we go to a doctor and the doctor, we have a particular disease, and the doctor uses medicines to heal for the disease.
Now we have to take the medicines that is specified. But along with that, there is something that is implied. We need to have a proper diet.
We need to have proper rest. We need to have some basic level of exercise. Without these, we cannot actually do much in life.
We cannot move forwards because we will find that our life will stay very unstable. Our life will not stay steady if we are not well connected. In our, if we take the medicine, but if the basic health factors are not taken care of, how much can medicine do? So when dharma artha and kama are called the purusha arthas, the foundation for them is good relationships.
And that relationship with, if the relationships are healthy, our loved ones are doing well, then all other pleasures in life can be enjoyed. So here he is implying that for me, I am not able to take care of my wife and child. So although right now, I have got relatively speaking, comparatively speaking, some amount of comfort.
I was in jail, now I am out of the jail. So in that sense, I have some comfort. But still, actually, there is distress.
And he will build up to this, to a further point. He is saying that, I hope that they are doing well. If they are not doing well, then how can I be happy? So he is inquiring.
And now Nanda Maharaj will respond. So Nanda speaks, and he empathizes. First thing he does is, before answering the question, he empathizes with Vasudeva.
Relationships are based not just, the essence of relationship is the sharing of emotions. We come close to each other, not just by sharing the living things, or by spending time together, which is important. But relationships are matters of the heart.
And it is sharing of emotions that brings hearts together. Sharing of emotions means that we convey our emotions to others. At the same time, we take time to sensitize ourselves to others’ emotions.
And express our understanding, at least to some extent, of their emotions. So herein, in that context, Nanda Maharaj, first thing he speaks is that, how tragic that this happened to you. Your sons through Devaki, many of them were killed by Kamsa.
And the one, Eka Avasishta, the one child that remained, Avraja, who was youngest of them all, but she disappeared and went to the heavenly planets. The incidents that happen among political leaders, generally, they don’t stay hidden. They get known.
Political conspiracies and political intrigues, these have been a part of human history always. And people come to know about them. So here he is saying that, he knows that what has transpired in Raja, in Mathura, and he expresses his grief that you lost so many of your sons first, and then one child, she disappeared into the heavens.
This happened in the prison cell, and this happened relatively recently. But the news of that has also spread. And through this, oh, alas, alas, how sad it is.
Sometimes, our speaking the distressful events of other people’s lives may increase their distress, because it again brings back their bad memories. But at the same time, that’s not always what may happen. What can also happen is that when we speak to them, then we show them that we understand, that we are aware, that we care, and that we are with them in their sorrows.
So it is in this mood that Vasudev is speaking. अहो ते देव की पुद्रा, alas, so many of them have been killed. Text 30.
नूनम्य अद्रुष्ट निष्ठोयम् अद्रुष्ट परमोजनः अद्रुष्टम् आत्मनस्तत्त्वं योवेदनसमुहियति नूनम्य अद्रुष्ट निष्ठोयम् Certainly, अद्रुष्ट निष्ठोयम् So there is something which is invisible which moves us. अद्रुष्ट परमोजनः And that unknown, unseen destiny, परमोजनः is ultimate, is supreme. अद्रुष्टम् आत्मनस्तत्तवं योवेदनसमुहियति That destiny is the ultimate controller.
योवेद, one who understands this, नसमुहियति Such a person is never bewildered. That actually by the will of destiny sometimes one person has a child and by the will of destiny another person loses a child. So destiny is supreme.
One who understands this does not get overwhelmed, does not get bewildered. Why is this happening to me? And why is that happening to that person? There is a power beyond us which controls the way things happen in the world. And recognizing this is the beginning of wisdom.
To the extent we recognize that there is much more to life than what we can see with our eyes. Or there are many more factors which are going forwards in determining the results of whatever we face. That it’s not just that our efforts alone determine the results.
There is far more things that are happening beyond our perception which shape the results. And then we don’t unnecessarily blame ourselves when things beyond our control cause things within our control to get disrupted. By thus perceiving the larger picture we can stay calmer.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu also speaks something similar where he does not use the word destiny but he uses the word Krishna specifically. He says that by Krishna’s will I got the association of Haridas Thakur and now by Krishna’s will I have lost that association. So Vasudev is not claiming any personal greatness.
Oh I got a child, see I am so happy. No, he is saying that it is all destiny supreme and Vasudev be patient. That by destiny sometimes good may come, sometimes bad may come.
Just keep moving onwards. Don’t get overwhelmed by this. So Vasudev spoke that after paying your annual tax now that you have seen me also you have paid the taxes don’t stay here for very long.
It is because in Gokula there might be some disturbance. Better go back there. So you are the protector of Gokula and you have appointed other people to take care of Gokula during this time but still no one knows what kind of things can happen over there.
So please go back. So it might seem a little rude if some person has come as a guest. You tell them you go back to your place now.
You are done. Your work is finished. No, it is not being rude.
Vasudev is a politician and Prabhupada says in a lecture that in Krishna book also he says that Vasudev had the shrewdness to understand the ways of politicians, of kings and he anticipated that some danger would come to some people. But for Krishna some danger might come and therefore it would be best if Krishna, if Vasudev went back, if Yanda went back. So Prabhupada writes that as compared to Vasudev, Nanda Maharaj was relatively simple.
He was not that sophisticated. He was not that beyond going further. Let us see what happens.
In this, on hearing this, Nanda and other Gopas as advised by Shouri, that is Vasudev, they departed from that place. They had their bullock carts. They had their oxen.
They yoked their oxen. They took permission from Vasudev and departed. This chapter is appropriately titled as the meeting of Nanda Maharaj and Vasudev and the first half of it describes the celebration of Krishna’s birth.
The second half describes the title and the chapter ends with the ending of the meeting between the two and thereafter Nanda Maharaj is going back to Gokula. What happens thereafter, we will discuss in future sessions. Thank you very much.