Bhagavatam tenth canto study 32 – 10.6.7-14 Putana deceived the Vrajavasis, but Krishna deceived her

And thus their destination is going to be disastrously doomed. Bhagavatam canto 1, canto 10, chapter the killing of the demon Putana, text 7, balagrahastatra vichinvati shishun yadruchchayanandagrahe sadantakam balakapatichannanijorutejasam darshatalpeyagnimimahatimbhasee, so balagrahastatra vichinvati shishun, balagrah, those whose business was to consume kids, that woman, vichinvati shishun, vichinvati, as she was thinking of searching for, shishun, more children to kill, now that was her mission in life, yadruchchayanandagrahe sadantakam, so yadruchchaya, by her arrangement, she entered the house of Nanda Maharaj, asantakam, she was entering into the abode of the one who is the destroyer of those who are impious, asantakam, so she had thought that she will do the anta of Krishna, but Krishna is the asantakam, she graciously underestimated the power of Krishna, balapatichannanijorutejasam, so balam, that Lord was sadantakam, who is the destroyer of everyone, that Lord was patichannanijorutejasam, so his greatness, his immense power, urutejasam, that was covered, patichanna, channa means covered, chaitanya mahaprabhu is known as the channa avatar, so patichannanijorutejasam, the darshatalpe, agnim ihavatimbhasivahatimbhasi, the darshatalpe, so darshatalpe means that she saw him lying on the bed as if agnim ihavatimbhasi, as if fire is covered by ashes, like embers which are burning, so Krishna is always all-powerful, but his power is not always perceived, so to perceive the power of Krishna, we need something higher, what is that higher thing we need? We need to understand how great he is, we need knowledge of his greatness, without that Krishna can expertly conceal his greatness from us, and Krishna was in a baby form, but still he was the supreme being, this was something which this demoness couldn’t understand, she thought that this is a small child, but even while seeing the small child, there is a some inkling of doubt within her, who is this boy, what is this boy? She had some second thoughts, but she continued with her evil determination, despite having those second thoughts, so Krishna is normally, we don’t consider of a small boy to be like a fire, children are compared to maybe like sweet and soft and gentle, which of course Krishna is, but Krishna also follows the principle of so if somebody comes to them with a demonic, with a demonic intent, Krishna is always powerful enough to counter and destroy them, he is the destroyer of the demonic, and that lord was waiting, so normally the police have to go to catch criminals, but if the criminals themselves come to the police, then relatively speaking if the police are powerful enough, then they can catch the criminals very easily, so in Krishna’s case in Vrindavan, Krishna didn’t have to go chasing for any demons, the demons themselves came to him, one after another, and one after another, he sent them all to the abode of death. So text 8 now, what happens when that demon is, she’s here and she comes along, and when she sees Krishna, so when she saw this boy, she immediately understood, this child is not ordinary, that demoness was expert in killing small babies, now warriors over a period of time, they also gain some understanding of the strengths of their opponents, fighters, and even if thieves are there, even if criminals are there, when they also want to victimise someone, they have to size up the strength of the victim, so and she saw this small child, what happened, she understood, so Atma is the indwelling soul, it can refer either to the individual soul or it can also refer to the supreme soul, because even the supreme soul is also indwelling within us, so chara charatma, so chara charatma means, that lord who is present in the heart of all living beings, moving and non-moving, so Bhagavad Gita also Krishna says, aham atma gudakesha, so I am situated as the soul in all living beings, so this refers not to the jiva atma, which is individual, but to the paramatma, who is supreme, so chara charatma, that lord had covered his eyes, so Krishna, when he does his leela, leela is like a drama, a drama not in the sense that it is false, but drama in the sense that it is actually going to convey something ideal, and leela is just as in drama, some realities are conveyed and some realities are subordinated for that purpose, so similarly for the purpose of Krishna’s leela, the reality that he is God is concealed and the reality of whatever role he is playing is highlighted, now this does not mean that he still does not remain God, he always remains God, but that is not the prominent flavour of the relationship in which he functions, and thus, he was, just like a child may cry, it is very small, babies are there, they basically do two, three things, now they cry, they play and they sleep, and especially when they are very, very young, the amount of things that they can do are also very limited, so this person who is actually the soul of all living beings was lying with closed eyes, that Lord was unlimited, she picked him up and placed him on her lap, she did not know that she was picking up her own death, so sadantakam was the word used in the previous verse, and this thing is repeated here, antakam, he is going to be her death, just as a person picks up a sleeping snake, thinking it to be a rope, a person has no intelligence, so the appearance of things is often deceptive, and we have to see beyond the appearance to substance, and in fact, seeing beyond the appearance to substance is the essence of knowledge, we might, a trained forest tracker, if they see something which looks like a rope, lying on the ground, they will be very careful, is this a rope or actually is this a snake, he is sleeping and so he is motionless, so the concept of mistaking a rope for a snake or a snake is an illusion that is talked about in our scriptures, so usually for the Mayavadis or for people in the material world, who think of the worldly forms to be pleasurable, they are like those who mistake a rope to be a snake, or they think that the worldly pleasures are distressing, they are thinking that actually the worldly distress, sorry, worldly distresses are troubling, they think that, they don’t understand that actually these distresses don’t happen to the soul, they happen only to the body, so to think of a snake to be a rope is an illusion, but to think of a rope to be a snake is also an illusion, so here it’s interesting, Krishna is compared to a snake, normally Krishna is God and snake is considered to be a Tamasic creature, a creature in the mode of ignorance, but the point is that here for this person, for the demon is Putana, because her attitude towards Krishna is unhealthy, therefore it is natural that this is the reaction that this is the way Krishna will appear to her, in the Bhagavat, in the Ramayana is described how Sita is compared to a snake for Ravana, that Sita’s smile is like the poison fang of the snake, poison of the snake, and the more he contemplates on the beauty and her smile, the more the poison enters into his consciousness and the more it ensures his death, so sometimes the positive may even be compared to the negative, but because that positive is going to act in a negative way on someone, because that person has approached the positive in a negative way, so Krishna is all auspicious, but for somebody who approaches Krishna with a negative intention, then for them Krishna acts in a way that will seem negative for them, will turn out to be negative for them, so then this is a metaphor rich section, there was a metaphor in the previous verse as well as in this verse, the previous verse has a metaphor of fire covered by ashes, now here a sleeping snake be mistaken for a rope, so text 9 now, ताम् तीक्षण चित्ताम् अतिवाम् अचेष्ठिताम् विक्षान्तराकोष्य परिछदासिवत् वरस्त्रियं तत् प्रभयाच धरिष्टे निरिक्षमाने जननीय अतिष्ठताम् ताम् तीक्षण चित्ताम् now her appearance was very attractive, the previous verses have described how the woman thought her to be like the goddess of fortune herself, but ताम् तीक्षण चित्ताम् her inner consciousness was very sharp, she was brutal, she was ruthless, अतिवाम् चेष्ठिताम् so अतिवाम् चेष्ठिताम् वाम means gentle, so here the contrast is made between चित्त and चेष्ठ, so चेष्ठिताम् her actions were gentle but her intentions were brutal and again just as she mistook Krishna to be an ordinary child similarly the ब्रजवासी’s mistook her to be just a benevolent motherly woman विक्षान्तरा कोश परिचदाविषत आसिवत so कोश परिचदाविषत आसिवत, the third metaphor comes in this section it’s all metaphors connected with concealing and not understanding things properly just as somebody who is carrying a sword but the sword is within a soft sheath then somebody will say oh this is just a nice object over it feels so soft they may not understand that it’s a sword in there so similarly the ब्रजवासी’s didn’t understand that she was a demoness and she had come there to brutalise and kill Krishna and therefore what happened was that she ended up they didn’t understand what she was doing and they ended up actually because she was so beautiful the blessed woman best among women she looked so beautiful her beauty was captivating तत्प्रभया चधरिष्ट धरिषिते so they were overwhelmed by her influence they were seeing as a while without doing anything now who was seeing she had come into the inner chambers and naturally there was a small child a small child always needs many attention at any moment so the mothers are always close by so here there were two children and there were two mothers Balram and Krishna were there and and Yashoda and Rohini were there so Yashoda and Rohini also watched all the ब्रजवासी’s watched and Yashoda and Rohini also watched and while watching none of them could understand that she had a malevolent intention they just watched without reacting just observed so if we get carried away by external looks alone then we may be misled a person with beautiful external looks may have terrible internal intentions we don’t know text in so on her now she picked up the baby and she was going to feed the baby breastfeed but on her breast what she had done was she had put on an extremely powerful poison a poison which was very difficult to counter that demoness she was looking very attractive but she was terrible demoness आदाय शिषो ददावत she placed that breast which was poison poison smeared into the mouth of शिषो ददावत so now actually Krishna now when a baby is small the baby just suckles the breast but when the baby is a little bigger the baby may catch hold of the breast also and try to hold it try to squeeze it for the baby is just another object but it’s an object which gives food so with both hands he caught hold of the breast he caught her caught the breast and squeezed it प्राणि समं रोषि समन्वितो अपिबात and रोषि समन्वितो he was angry with her अपिबात he sucked the breast and he actually took not only the milk but the life from there so this is a very grave situation to be in wherein somebody doesn’t know what could be less unsuspecting than what could be a what could be more innocent than a woman who comes to look for a look at a newborn baby and not only that a woman who comes look at a newborn baby and on top of that a woman who is who normally people may conceal weapons at different places sometimes some people may when we go through security at that time at that time it may be that it may happen that sometimes people may not realise people may conceal weapons at very different places but to poison to conceal poison on the breast that is ghastly thing to do and here she has done that but Krishna is even more potent Krishna knows what is happening and he’s so sharp so alert that immediately he does something else what does he do immediately turns around and he actually sucks her breasts and sucks her life with it Krishna knows what is to be done in what way nobody can outwit Krishna and in this verse in just one verse so Krishna was angry Krishna’s anger is transcendental his anger is not material like ours he was angry because she was acting in such a grievous and brutal way for somebody to take on the garb of a mother and then to kill someone that is grievous she was doing that so now as she was as her life hair was being sucked what happened so text 11 so that demon started crying loudly let me go let me go give up give up let me go don’t stuck this breast, let this go.
Iti, Prabhashini started crying out. When Krishna, when somebody uses something very tender to do something brutal, then they need to be paid back in a similar way. So she was going to abuse the tender breasts which are meant to nourish babies, to kill a baby.
And Krishna used those tender breasts itself to end her life. Iti, Prabhashini, she started screaming, crying, Nishpidyamana akhilajivamarmani. So, akhilajivamarmani.
Now, where actually that was a tender part of her body and Krishna squeezed her. He actually sucked her breast with such force that nishpidya, she just couldn’t bear it any longer. The pain was so great, jivamarmani.
She felt a choking sensation in every vital point of her body. From the breast, it spread everywhere. Her eyes went wide open.
Normally, with this great danger, we get alarm. Her hands and legs, she spread them apart and she desperately tried to pull the child away. But she couldn’t do anything.
Pasvinagatra, her whole body broke out in perspiration. But it was all to no avail. Next, 12th ashyas.
Svane, svane nāti gabhīra ramhasā, sādhrir mahīdhyauścacāla-sagrahā, rasādiśhyaśca-pratine dhīrejanah, petukṣita-vajra-nipāta-śaṅkayā, nipāta-śaṅkayā. Śaṅka, the people had the fear that thunderbolts were falling. Vajra-nipāta.
So, when the demoness started screaming and flaming and falling, what happened? Tasyāsvane, svane nāti gabhÄ«ra ramhasā. So, when she started screaming, the vibration of the sound from her mouth, she was a powerful demoness, and the vibration of the sound from her mouth, sādhrir mahÄ«dhyauÅ›cacāla-sagrahā. So, even the mountains, the surface of the earth, the outer space, it’s all her trembling, because her screams were so loud, it appeared as if even the stars, rasādiÅ›hyaÅ›ca-pratine dhÄ«rejanah, that even the higher planets, the earth seemed to be vibrating, petuká¹£itau, petuká¹£itau.
People who heard the sound just fell down. So, normally when we hear something which resembles a gunshot, we will immediately jump down for cover. Sometimes a sound will be so large, so loud, that we just feel overwhelmed by that sound.
We feel that there’s nothing more we can do. We are just totally overwhelmed by that particular sound. And that is what happened to the demoness here, because she just couldn’t figure out what exactly was happening.
And when she started screaming, people couldn’t figure out what was happening. What was this sound? It was a ghastly, ghastly sound, which was unlike what anyone had heard before. And thus, they all became overwhelmed seeing this, hearing this sound.
So, people fell to the ground. Just as when we hear unfamiliar sounds, which is a bullet sound, we will seek cover under the ground. Similarly, they all sought cover under the ground.
Petukṣitau bhajur nipāta śaṅkayā. Oh, thunderbolts are falling. Go for cover, go for cover, go for cover.
That’s how it happened that she fell. Now, nishāyaccharitam yathÄ«tastanābhyasur vyādāyakeshāṁ Å›araṇaṁ bhujāvapi prasārya gauṣṭhe nija-rÅ«pa-māsthita bhajrāhato vá¹›ttra-ivāpatamdrupā Just as bhajrāhato vá¹›ttra-ivāpatamdrupā. Just as when Indra, using his thunderbolt, Vá¹›ttra killed the demon, the demon fell to the ground.
The fight between Indra and Vá¹›ttra is considered to be one of the greatest fights. And generally, later action is conveyed by comparison to earlier action. See, in a cricket match, this match was as exciting as that match.
This player played as well as that player. So, the unfamiliar is made familiar by comparing with the familiar. So, for the audience who are hearing the bhāgavatam from Śukadeva Goswami, the fight between Indra and Vṛttra is well known.
And Vá¹›ttra was a huge demon and when he fell to the ground, it was a dramatic end to a deadly fight. So, similarly, the demon is fell. So, the demon is fell like Vá¹›ttra fell by the attack of Indra.
Nishācāritaṁ. So, Nishācārī. Nishācārī is one who moves at night.
Earlier, the word used for her was Khechari, one who moves through the air. That was her specific ability as a witch. But Nishācārī is a generic attribute, generic word describing all demoniac beings who become more active at night.
Rāvaṇa in the Rāmāyaṇa is also referred to as Nishācārī. Nishācārītaṁ iti tastanābhyasur. So, because her breast was being sucked and squeezed in such an unbearable way, gessu, āsu, the fly fair just left.
Vyādāya keśaṁs. So, as the fly fair was leaving, her eye, her mouth opened wide. Charanābhujāvapi, she was flapping.
Her hair became dishevelled. Her hands and legs, she was flapping them on wildly, trying to protect herself. Prasāra-gauṣṭe njarūpaṁ āsthita.
She ran out of the house. Now, Krishna could have squeezed her breast and killed her there itself, in the house itself. But Krishna allowed her to run a little bit.
Didn’t suck off her life immediately. Because generally, when demons lose their life, they lose their guise also. That means, whatever disguise they have assumed, they cannot maintain that disguise.
So, because of that, Krishna knew if she fell there itself, she would cause a lot of damage in Vrindavan. So, Krishna allowed her to run a little bit, so that she went out of Vrindavan to the forest. And then to the pasturing grounds, where there were no inhabitations directly, there were no houses.
And Prasāra-gauṣṭe njarÅ«paṁ āsthita. So, when she resumed her huge form and she fell, at that time, she fell as if Vajra, by Indra’s Vajra, it says, Vitra had fallen long, long ago. So, similarly, she also fell.
Such was the formidable power of the Lord, who had effortlessly ended the life of Pūtanā. So, her form became so great that it was extraordinary. It was something which practically no one had seen before.
Atamanopita-dehas. That body, even when it had fallen down, it was no ordinary body. Trigravyutya-antaradramam.
Trigravyutya. So, it had spread for 12 miles. It was a huge, huge form.
And we wonder, was this her original form? So, if it was that big, then how could she ever function in society? How could she always have to have that form alone as her form? No. She didn’t have that form alone all the time. But the form, generally, if somebody has some ability, and they are more or less sure to die, and they have determination to resolve, they have determination to resolve to keep persevering, to keep doing what is right, even amidst difficulties, then they will be guided by higher powers to come to their rescue.
So, basically, if we can keep this broad perspective in mind, that actually whatever is described in the scripture is meant to convey the Leela. And thus, Putana’s huge dimension is described to highlight the contrast between the form that she had assembled and the form she had manifested at that time. So, we’ll continue this discussion in a future session.