Bhagavatam tenth canto study 60 – 10.11.10-18 By giving to Krishna, even if we appear to be losers, we are still gainers

Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna. One day when Krishna was just playing in His home, at that time, He heard this.
He heard this expression which said that, He heard a sound, कृणिधी भो, O all of you, O neighbors, please come, approach me, come here, purchase, फलानीती, फलानीती, please purchase these ripe fruits, शुत्वा सत्वरमचुतः, शुत्वा here, सत्वरमचुतः. So when Krishna heard this, अच्छुतः, the infallible Lord, it’s significant that the word अच्छुतः will be used because He will be unfailing in His reciprocation even with this aboriginal woman with whom it seems as if initially that there was some kind of misunderstanding that He did not give her adequately but He reciprocated with her more than adequately. फलार्थी धान्यमादाय, फलार्थी, अर्थ refers to the purpose, फलार्थी means wanting, धान्यमादाय, he was desiring to get wealth, धान्यमादाय, so he took, he desiring to, sorry, desiring some foods, he took, picked up, he, in his tiny hands, some grains, ययू सर्वफलप्रदः, and he went to her, and who is this Lord who is going to her? सर्वफलप्रदः, so here, there is a beautiful alliteration involved in the words फल, that, फलानीती, फलार्थी, and सर्वफलप्रदः, so, so words can have literal meanings, and words can have broader meanings also, so we say we work with our hands, and we can also say we have, we have 25 hands to work on this, what does that mean is that, that means we have 25 people who can work on this, so, so फल can refer to fruits literally, and in the metonymic sense, it can also refer to the broad results of anything, so metonymy is the figure of speech in which, literary device in which an attribute is used to convey an object or a thing, so, you can say use the word suit, to refer to a business executive who is well-heeled, and use the word track for horse racing, so like that, so the word फल is used in a very broad sense, at the end, the lord who is the giver of all fruits, it is, we may want some specific fruits, and we may seek them and we may get them, but beyond seeking such fruits, specifically, the lord is the giver of all fruits, so that lord who is the giver of all phala, of all fruits, that means, the word fruit is used here to refer to the results of the actions that we do, so whatever actions we do, we don’t immediately or necessarily get the results of those actions, to get those results, we need to move forwards in our loving reciprocation with the lord, and that is how we will get the results, so सर्वःफलप्रदः, that lord who is the provider of the results of all fruits, it is that lord who is, now come here to seek some fruit from the Vrajavasis, from not just generally Vrajavasis, but from one who is not even a, who is you could say a semi-Vrajavasi, this is aboriginal woman who lives in the nearby forest of Vrindavan, and she comes to Vrindavan to sell the fruits, so Krishna is picking up some grains, because he has seen earlier that actually his mother does that, that they give some grains and they get some fruits a little, this is the barter system of exchange, and this barter system is what is being stressed, so फलार्थिधान्यमादाय, so he picked up some grains and went there, text 11, फलविक्रईणी तस्य, चुतधान्य करद्वयं, फलेर अपूरयद्रत्नै, फलभाण्डम अपूरिच, फलविक्रईणी तस्य, so that who is, the woman who was the seller of the fruits, फलविक्रईणी, she was the seller, now she was a middle aged or elderly woman, she had come there, चुतधान्य करद्वयं, so earlier the word was used अच्चुत, to refer to the lord, but now it is चुत, चुत means to fall down, so while the अच्चुत lord was taking the grains, what happened, the grains fell down, चुतधान्य करद्वयं, found that from his two hands, the grains which were being carried fell down, in our developmental stages, physical developmental stages, our physical abilities improve as we grow, children sometimes walk, but while walking they fall down, because then they may not have learned, very small children, infant, not infant, very small children, they have not learned to proper body coordination, and then they fall, so similarly if you have to hold something, if we are not very experienced, then we may not know how best to hold something, and children may be so eager, so like a child, Krishna is so eager to get the fruits, that while taking the grains, he doesn’t pay much attention to how he is carrying the grains with him, and because of not paying attention like this, he ends up causing most of the grains to get spilled out, if we don’t keep our fingers closely touching each other, so that we block out any space in between them, if we don’t do that then the fruits will fall away, and the grains will fall away in between, and that’s what happened, falaiyar apuraya datnai, so although she did not get much grains, still what happened, falamapuraya, although he could not give her much grains, but still she gave him lots of fruits, and the return was that, ratnai phalabhandam apuricha, that her phalabhanda, the basket that was meant to contain fruits, became filled with ratnai, with jewels, so when she accepted what Krishna was offering, although from the material perspective, what Krishna offered was of very little value, and she gave something to Krishna which was of a far greater material value, but the result of that offering was, that she got something much more, she got jewels which are of a far far greater value, so then anything else, phalabhandam apuricha, apuricha, filled with jewels, so when we give something to Krishna, even if we appear to be losers, we are not losers, we are the gainers, because Krishna when he accepts from us, he doesn’t just accept a particular object that we are giving, he accepts the intention with which we are giving that object, and when he is pleased with our intention, he reciprocates by giving us lavishly, by giving us so much, that we feel that there is nothing more that I need.
So when we give to Krishna, even if we seem to get less, we will actually get more. That is the significant lesson that Krishna demonstrates through this endearing pastime. sarit tirgatam krishnam bhagnarjunam athavayat ramam chirohini devi kridantam balakair vrisham text 12 is here now sarit tirgatam krishnam so sarit tir she went to the banks of the river, river was Yamuna, and Krishna had gone there, bhagnarjunam athavayat after Krishna had broken the two trees, bhagnarjunam athavayat what happened? ramam chirohini devi ramam chirohini devi seeing this, she went to see Rohini, the mother of Balaram, she went to call Krishna and Balaram, kridantam balakair vrisham at that time, the children were very much busy playing, and because they were so busy playing, they could not, they were absorbed in playing, and just like whatever we do, if we like it very much, we get absorbed in it, sometimes, we may be watching a movie or a cricket or a sports match, and then others see us watching and they just can’t and they want us to come to do something but we say later, we say yes but we don’t turn, or we don’t even respond to them, sometimes we may do it with respect to our work also, that means that when we are doing work, at that time, if the work turns out to be very engaging, and somebody calls us, come on, it’s lunch time, come and take lunch, just we don’t pay attention, so this is for, just as we may say, work cannot be compared to say watching movies or kids, children playing, work is far more important, yes, work may put food on our table, and in that sense work is extremely important, but the point here is that sometimes when we get absorbed in something, we lose perspective of other things, and we don’t feel, we lose our sense of perspective and we don’t pay attention to other things, so, you know what happens, when this scribe Rohini went and called Krishna and Valram, but she was not successful as 13th text is, नोपेयाताम् यदाहुतव् क्रीडासंगेन पुत्रकव् यशोधाम् प्रेशयामास रोहिनी पुत्रवत्सलाम् नोपेयाताम् यदाहुतव् न उपेयाताम् that she could not get the children to come, न उपेयाताम् यदाहुतव् although she called them, they were called from playing, आहुतव् her call fell on almost like deaf ears, children were so engrossed in playing that they did not return, क्रीडासंगेन पुत्रकव् क्रीडासंगेन, because they were so attached to playing, for children, their playing is the most important thing in the world, even if from the big perspective, there are far more in the big picture, there are other things which are far more important, but for the children this appears to be the most important, पुत्रकव् यशोधाम् प्रेशयाम् आस, Rohini came back and she told, oh, they are not coming, she told this to Yashoda, and then Yashoda came out to call, प्रेशयाम् आस, she came to call out and then, रोहिनी पुत्रवच्चलाम् because रोहिनी पुत्रवच्चलाम्, her devotion was much greater.
Although, both of them loved, there are degrees of love even within the topmost devotees and such degrees in love are not meant to focus on discrimination, but they are meant to highlight the point that there is a beautiful level of loving reciprocation and there is personality within these loving reciprocations, that the personal aspect of love cannot be neglected in the name of simply talking about some higher realities. So, when she was not able to go, Yashoda went there and Yashoda was, Yashoda had greater affection for Krishna and Balaram, both of them. Although Krishna was her son and Balaram was Rohini’s son, but now in terms of the intensity of devotion, Yashoda’s affection was much much greater at an operational level, we could say that Yashoda had got a child after a very long time, after striving for a very long time, finally she had got Krishna as her son and thus she felt great joy in reciprocating love with Krishna, but at the same time, it is also understood that she was, that her love is not just operational, her greater love is not just operational or circumstantial, that after having a long, much longing for a child and getting a child naturally, you feel great love for the child, but it was not just like that.
There is a transcendental element to it. Text 14, kridantam sa sutambalair ativelam sahagrajam yashoda johavit krishnam putrasnehas nutas taniye kridantam sa sutambalair She saw that her children were busy playing, kridantam sa, absorbed in playing, ativelam sahagrajam, ativelam saw that it was late, now that is the time for taking food and children may lose sense of perspective in terms of putting in the time necessary for doing what is required or doing what is required at the right time. Even if children lose perspective, that doesn’t mean the adults have to lose perspective.
The adults have to recognize that that actually there is no way they can just let the children do what they want to do. So ativelam sahagrajam, with his elder child when he was playing, yashoda johavit krishnam, so when yashoda went there, johavit, she called him, you, at that time, milk started flowing from her breasts. It’s interesting that the lunch was two ways, the lunch could be, now they are old enough to play outside, that means they are not just babies, still, so that means they can eat proper, they can eat food, not just their mother’s breast milk, but along with that, their mother still wants to offer them breast milk.
So now what does mother Yashoda pray? Call out to Krishna. How does she call out? krishna krishna arvindaksh tatah ehistha nampiba alam vihari kshantaha krida shranthosi putraka krishna krishna arvindaksh O lotus-eyed Krishna, she refers to him twice, krishna krishna, tatah ehistha nampiba O darling, tatah, O loved one, the word tatah is used in Sanskrit, in a gender-inclusive, age-inclusive sense, to refer to anyone affectionately, thus, Krishna refers to Arjuna as tatah, and we also have here, mother Yashoda referring to Krishna as tatah, ehistha nampiba, please come and drink milk from my breast, alam vihari kshantaha alam vihari enough now, you have played enough, kshantaha you must be tired because of hunger, must be exhausted, krida shranthosi putraka by continuously playing, you must be tired, you must be hungry, putraka, O my son, please come back, you played enough, then, although Ram is the older, she refers to Krishna first, because Krishna is her son, and in the next, she says, hey, ramagaccha tatashu, sanuja kulanandana, pratar eva kutaharas, tad bhavan bhokta marhati, hey, Ramagaccha, please come, tatashu, you also, my darling, please come along, and she knows that if, that Krishna is always respectful of Balaram, he is deferential to Balaram, so sanuja kulanandana, so please get your younger brother also with you, O kulanandana, O who is the, who is the bringer of joy, to, who is the bringer of joy to, his family member, to his dynasty, pratar eva kutaharas, pratar eva, so, you have taken your breakfast, aahar, early in the morning, and now, tad bhavan bhokta marhati, now a lot of time has passed, now it is lunch time, so tad bhavan, therefore, it behooves you, it befits you, that now you should come and take food, so Krishna, Mother Yashoda is not just dominating Krishna, she is also persuading Krishna, when, when a mother has to get a child to do something, at that time, even in traditional cultures, where there is, there is an understanding of being deferential to authority, that does not mean still that, automatically, the authority will be obeyed, the mothers also have to be intelligent and resourceful, to get their children to do what they need to do, so here Mother Yashoda is using different forms of reasoning to get Krishna and Balaram to come, what reasoning specifically she uses, that we will discuss in our next session, thank you.