Bhagavatam tenth canto study 41 – 10.7.31-37 Krishna’s first revelation of the universe in his mouth

7.32, chapter killing of the demon Trunavartam. 7.32, chapter killing of the demon Trunavartam. So the vrajvasis start wondering, how has this happened? So Nanda Maharaj starts speaking, the vrajvasi Nanda Maharaj says, kim nastapan, you know how normally we say that, it is said that good actions lead to good reactions, bad actions lead to bad reactions.
But now, so they were saying they attribute what has happened that Krishna is protected and Trunavartam is killed to the law of karma, the laws of nature. But still, in terms of the immediate cause, Krishna they feel is no match to Trunavartam. So how was he protected? So they attribute it to some past good that Krishna must have done.
The past good that those associated with Krishna must have done. kim nastapashchirnam adhoksha dharchanam So what kind of, so now they attribute that those who are connected with Krishna means they themselves must have done something good by which our child has been saved from us. So kim nastapashchirnam, maybe we did some austerity for a long time.
adhoksha dharchanam, you worship the adhoksha, the transcendental lord. poortheishta datham, poortheishta datham, so activities for doing public benefit, ishta datham, doing charity or it’s interesting, Prabhupada translates poortha as constructing public roads and wells. So actually, in general, travel is not very easy.
And while traveling, along the way facilities are provided, then that is considered to be a special act of charity. Why? Because normally when we give charity, we expect benefit, we expect returns. We expect at least that person should thank us.
If we give food to a beggar, then we see the smile on that beggar’s face, we feel some joy. And then the beggar thanks us profusely. Then we also feel good.
Oh, I was able to benefit someone. But suppose we give charity in a way that we don’t see who is going to benefit from that charity. That actually requires a greater level of compassion and a greater ability to persevere in good, even when there is no reciprocation.
So somebody builds a public well or a public road, it actually requires a far, far greater effort than is required for, say, giving some food to some poor person. If I just have some extra food, let me give it. And not only does it require greater effort to build a public well or a public road, but also there is no immediate reciprocation.
Even if somebody takes that road, somebody drinks water from that well, now that may be a big, big help for them. They might have been extremely afflicted because of thirst. To walk without a proper road through the forest or through the rocky mountains or whatever is difficult, to have a path makes walking easier.
But all those who avail from the benefit, use that particular resource, they may not even know that it was we who did it for them. And we may not be there when they are passing by and there will be no thanks coming from them to us directly. So do charity in such a way that the recipients of the charity are not directly seen and they are not easily there for us to connect with and reciprocate with.
That is actually a special kind of charity. So, pūrteṣu dattaṁ uttabhūta-sauradham pūrta-sauradham. So, it is not just out of love for one particular person, but love for people in general.
Bhūta, bhūta is all living beings, people in general. Sauradham, because of affection for them. Yath samparetha punareva bālako.
And because of, we must have done some good like this in the past. Yath samparetha punareva bālako. That’s how this child, our child has come back to us.
Samparetha. So, he has gone to the abode of death, but from there he has come back. Diṣṭhya svabandhan pranayan upasthitah.
Diṣṭhya. Diṣṭhya refers to destiny, fortune, daiva. So, by destiny this child, svabandhan, he has come back to his all relatives.
Pranayan upasthitah, to please them, to relieve them from anxiety, to give them joy, he has come back. Upasthitah. That’s the Vrajavasis here, are appreciating that punya, now in this particular situation, they cannot see any immediate explanation how could Krishna have been protected.
They say it must be law of karma, but what is the karma? They say actually he is our child and probably we must have done some good karma in the past because of which he is protected. Now, is this a matter of self-congratulation, thinking that, oh, I must have done some good karma? No, it is actually a matter of simply recognizing good fortune. Not so much in terms of claiming credit for a good fortune.
It’s not that they are going before God and telling, you see, I have done this, this is good karma, therefore you have to give me these results. They are saying that, okay, something good has happened, we don’t know why it has happened. So, it’s simply a way for, it’s not a claiming of a right based on some unknown good that we have done in the past.
It is simply explanation for some good that has happened to them which is otherwise inexplicable. Thus, they appreciate their good fortune. So, this kind of contemplation brings humility, not pride, not pride in our piety.
But humility in our fortune. It’s not that I am so great, because here they couldn’t do anything to protect Krishna. The things were far beyond their capacity to do anything.
So, if they are protected, they are protected because it is something beyond them that has protected them. So, text 33, Dhrishtva Adbhutani Bahusho Nanda Gopa Bruhadhwane Vasudev Vachobhuyo Maanaya Maasavismitaha Dhrishtva Adbhutani Bahusho In this way, when he is seeing, Nanda Maharaj is seeing many wonderful incidents happening, Bahusho, not just one, but many, many times. Nanda Gopa Bruhadhwane Nanda Gopa, he, now all this has happened in Bruhadhwane.
Now, Vrindavan is a word which refers to various different things and different contexts. It can refer to one particular forest in Vrindavan, it can refer to the whole area of Vrindavan, just 12 forests, it can refer not just the 12 forests, but the broad area, which is the Vraja Mandal, which you do Parikrama. So, this particular pastime had happened in Bruhadhwane.
So, as he was in Bruhadhwane, Nanda Gopa Bruhadhwane Vasudeva Vachho Bhuyo He started thinking of the words of Vasudev. Manaya Masa Vismitaha Thinking in this way, he became astonished. Oh! Vasudev had told me that some danger might be there.
Go back. So, he thinks, how does Vasudev know the danger is going to be there like this? Now, you may say, doesn’t he understand that it is actually Krishna is Kamsa’s enemy or Kamsa sees Krishna as his enemy and actually Kamsa will come arranged to have Krishna killed. Now, the thing is that the Vrajavasis don’t know that Krishna is Vasudev’s son.
They think that he is their own son. Now, Vasudev knows that Krishna is his son and Vasudev knows that Kamsa will send various agents to try to kill Krishna. So, Vasudev has a understanding based on knowledge which Nanda Maharaj does not have.
What is magic for one person is simply a particular cause-effect connection for another person. When magicians do some magic, at that time, they move their hands like this, like this, like that and suddenly, say, a hat appears in their hands. Now, when we don’t see the cause-effect connection, that is what we call as magic.
Hey, how did this hat appear? But somebody else who is also a magician will actually, when he did like this, like this and this was the time when when he did like this, the hat came from here. So, when we don’t know the cause-effect connection as is happening in the case of Nanda Maharaj, we say, no, why are such astonishing things happening with my child? Why is he facing some dangers and how is he being protected from those dangers? So, he is not able to understand but he remembers Vasudev’s words. And when he remembers Vasudev’s words, he is astonished.
So, Vasudev has knowledge because of which he can foresee certain dangers. This is Krishna, who is Kamsa’s enemy. Now, the word Brahadwani is significant over here because in the near future, the Vrajvasis will decide to change where they stay.
So, right now, this pastime is happening in Brahadwani but see many dangers happening, the Vrajvasis will decide to relocate. Not at this time but this reference to place is indicative of a change of place in the future. It’s an allusion to a future change of place.
In writing, it is said that if an author is writing a novel and the author says that there is a gun in this room, now if a gun is described on page 1, then within the next 20-30 pages somewhere, that gun should be shot. What is the point in describing that there is a gun? When we tell a story, in every incident, there could be hundreds and thousands of details. Generally, while telling a story, we tell those details about the story that are relevant and if you start telling irrelevant details, then we get caught in details and people’s attentions get distracted from the narrative.
So, if some detail is given which doesn’t seem to be immediately connected to the narrative, then that simply indicates that detail is going to be significant later. The detail is going to come into play and the location is going to come into play because soon there is going to be relocation. So, now, further the pastime goes on.
This is text 34. Not this pastime, but the pastimes of Krishna go on. ekadārabhakam ādāya svāṅkam āropya bhāmini prasnutam pāyayām āsa stanam sneha pariplutā ekadārabhakam ādāya On one occasion, Arbhakam, her child, she had picked up ādāya, taking up svāṅkam āropya bhāmini svāṅkam she put him on her lap.
āropya bhāmini refers to the mother, that is Yashoda. prasnutam pāyayām āsa And from her breast, the milk that was oozing out, pāyayām āsa she offered this to Krishna. stanam sneha pariplutā And as she was beholding Krishna, affection was flowing from her heart.
A mother, when she sees a child, her own child, it’s natural that affection overflows through her heart. And it’s not just the milk that the mother is giving, but actually, the mother’s affection is coming out in the form of milk. So just as love was overflowing from her heart, so similarly, milk was overflowing from her breast.
And she was nourishing the child with such milk. And as she was nourishing the child, then something special happened. So actually, this chapter is titled as Killing of the Demon Trināvarata.
But in this chapter, there are three distinct incidents that happen. One is that first is the shakat, the card gets broken, and the shaktasura demon is killed by Krishna. Then the main is the narrative about the particular demon Trināvarata who comes.
Then it just goes over. And now, another pastime is being briefly narrated. Normally, when somebody writes a novel, or somebody writes a biography or autobiography, giving titles to chapters is not very easy.
Because, when we describe life events, life doesn’t happen discreetly. Life flows on continuously. So we might highlight a particular incident in life and describe that in a particular, or make the description of that into a particular chapter.
But then, there might be some other incident that might also be noteworthy. And that we want to explain. But that is not so big or so elaborate that it reserves a whole chapter on its own.
So that’s why, if we look at narrative books, that means books which contain narration of incidents that happened in a person’s life, whether a memoir or a biography, autobiography, or even a historical fiction, or simply a fiction, then sometimes people just don’t give chapter titles at all. In many novels, there are no chapter titles because it’s very difficult to condense the variety of incidents that have happened in a particular chapter into one title. So just have one, two, three, four, five, like that.
But sometimes, when the titles are given, the titles, it’s not like an essay that is being written, in which one theme is going to be focused on. It is the narrative of life that is being described. And life doesn’t present as just one incident alone, which is significant, others are not significant.
Sometimes, because there is a flow going on, so a cluster of incidents may be put together in one chapter, and the most significant incident among that cluster of incidents, the chapter title is given accordingly. So here, there are three different incidents that are happening, but the chapter title is given based on one incident. So Mother Yashoda was feeding Krishna breast milk with great affection.
At that time, what happened? We have 35 and 36. Pita, Pita, Piita, So Pita, It’s not Pita, it’s Father. Pita is to drink.
Very different words. Pita, As he was drinking the milk from his mother, and as while drinking, she was almost satisfied. And seeing her child being satisfied.
Normally, when a child is hungry, the child may be crying or at least his face may be twisted, uncomfortably. But as the child drinks and the child feels satisfied, a smile starts appearing on the face of the child. Oh, I’m contented.
Children, especially infants, they cannot speak with words like we can. So that’s why for them to communicate, it’s only the expressions. It’s the facial language, the body language.
And of course, they can’t speak. So the one language, if they have to communicate through sound, it is primarily through crying. But children’s faces are often very expressive.
And parents behold great joy in, especially the small infants, looking at the faces. And a small child with big bright eyes, looking out in wonder at the world, seeing what they’re seeing. It gives great joy to the parents.
So, as Mother Yashoda sees Krishna drinking milk and becoming contented, ruchi rasmitam, he’s feeling satisfied. mukham lalayati rajan. So, she’s patting his hand with, patting his face and she is satisfied, contented.
And now after eating, babies don’t do much. Babies just flap their hands and legs a little bit, move around and then they go to sleep. So now, jrumbato dadrishe idam.
So he opened his mouth to yawn. Now yawning is often a precursor to sleeping. So child has eaten, he’s contented.
And normally when we are in a little cultured society, we may not, so, we may not express the yawn immediately because we are, so we may not express our yawn. But children, they do not have like that. Especially infants, if they feel angry, they will cry.
If they feel bad, they will cry. If they’re tired, they will yawn. So Krishna very innocently yawned over here.
But when he yawned, something special happened. Normally when we yawn, the mother is bound to see, okay, has the child developed a tooth? Has one tooth come, two tooth come? Or at least a seed of a tooth is appearing somewhere. But suddenly she saw something astonishing.
Khamrodasi Jyotirani Kamaashaha Ashaha Suryendu Vahani Shashnambudhimshcha Dvipam Nagam Tadduhitravanani Vanani Bhutaniyani Sthirajangamani So Khamrodasi, she saw the sky over there. Rodasi, the higher goddess, Jyotirani Kamaashaha Jyotirani Those which give out illumination, that is the luminaries in the sky. The luminous objects in the sky.
Ashaha So she saw the various directions. Suryendu Vahani Surya Indu The sun and the moon. Vahani She saw the fire.
Shwasana Shwasa refers to breath. Shwasana means the air which we breathe in. Ambudhi She saw the water, the seas.
So she basically saw the whole expanse of the universe. She saw Budhimshcha also. Not just that much.
Dvipam Nagam Tadduhitravanani Dvipam Nagams She saw the islands, the mountains. And the daughters of the mountains. What does that mean? Actually because rivers flow out from the mountains so they are called as the daughters of the mountains.
Like Parvati. She is considered the daughter of a parvat, of a mountain. So there is always a poetic imagery with which nature is infused in the scriptural understanding.
And not just imagery in the sense of imagination but it is a depiction which is meant to help us see life and vitality everywhere in the cosmos. So even as a casual reference instead of seeing rivers, it is a Tadduhitra the daughters of the mountains, that is the rivers. They are here and along with that what else is there? There is so much more.
Tadduhitra vanani and also the forest she sees. Bhutaniyaani Sthirajangamani So she sees living beings, all kinds of living beings moving and non-moving. So in the last part of this verse there is a beautiful alliteration vanani, bhutani, jangamani that there is forest, there are living beings and there are moving, non-moving among those living beings.
So she sees the whole universe. So in fact she sees the universal form of Krishna. Now it’s interesting the Bhagavatam depicts the universal form revelation once and in a sense this is a precursor that the next chapter is actually called as Krishna shows the universal form.
So now he’s already shown the universal form then how is that he shows again? So actually this is we could say incidental. Krishna just is sleeping and about to sleep he opens his mouth to yawn and she sees the form. But the next time when it happens it’s much more elaborate.
It’s a whole incident which centers on the holding of the universal form. So Krishna reveals the universal form on many different occasions and here is one occasion where there’s a baby lying on the mother’s lap he is able to display the magnificent universal form. So even when Krishna is inside the universe the universe is inside him.
Even when Krishna is just a small baby lying on the lap of his mother but still actually Krishna, the whole universe is lying inside him and incidentally just like by yawning he shows this amazing vision to mother Yashoda. What the universal form signifies that we’ll discuss in the next chapter when Krishna again shows the universal form. Here let us complete this chapter the last verse now text 37 साविक्ष विश्वं सहसा राजन् संजात वेपतो समील्य मृगशावाक्षी नेत्रे आसीत सुविस्मिता नेत्रे आसीत सुविस्मिता So now she was so astonished सुविस्मिता astonished, vismai that she wanted to close her eyes.
साविक्ष विश्वं सहसा When she suddenly saw the whole universe inside her baby सहसा suddenly राजन् संजात वेपतो Okay Shubhdev Goswami speaking to Parikshit Maharaj संजात वेपतो You know Her heart beat started increasing She became apprehensive She became alarmed She became concerned What is this? So her heart began to throb in astonishment and समिल्य मृगशा वाक्षी So actually First her eyes became wide open like the eyes of a fawn in astonishment But then she just couldn’t bear this sight What is this astonishing sight? Suddenly she wanted to close the eyes If we are walking through a narrow forested lane with like arcade all around us trees covering and then suddenly the arcade ends and we see a huge valley with with the mountain on the opposite side extending as far as the eyes can see the sky extending the river extending If suddenly from a small place we encounter a huge place eyes can’t process it and then we may close our eyes momentarily so that we can our eyes can get used to that sudden change of scope So now multiply this thousands and thousands of times and then Mother Yashoda is just at one moment beholding the form of Krishna the next moment she sees the universe within this small baby just can’t process it she closes her eyes So at this point she closes her eyes and when she opens her eyes at that time she finds that the universal form has disappeared So she is just astonished the effect of the beholding the form is not described here much because just incidental and it is momentary that Krishna shows that form So Krishna is just he is why does Krishna show a form like this while he is yawning So Krishna is actually time and time again even while doing his pastime he simply has fun and as a part of his having fun he sometimes reveals his divinity and he creates more and more astonishment among his devotees while also reminding others that this is not just an ordinary child this is the supreme person Thus ends this seventh chapter about the killing of Trunavarta