Bhagavatam tenth canto study 75 – 10.13.39-49 – The content of metaphors may be opposing, but their intent is concurring

Canto 10, Chapter 13, The Stealing of the Boys and Cows by Brahma, text 39 onwards.
Here Balram is contemplating after realizing that all these Gopas are actually expansions of Krishna. All these people, all these boys are not Sureshas, they are not Devatas. Roshayon chait chaite, nor are they great Rishis.
And who are they? Tam eva bhashish vidhashraye pi. Tam eva bhashish. You yourself are manifesting or supreme controller.
Vidhashraye te. Vidh is separate, in separate manifestations. Svayam prathakam nigamat katham vaditya.
How did you manifest in these forms, O Lord? Svayam prathakam. Katham vaditya. Please explain it to me.
How? Iti uktena vittam prabhuna balo vaid. Then when he asked this, Krishna explained the situation and then Balram understood. So the discussion itself is summarized here in one verse.
And the point is that Balram got some perception. These are expansions of Krishna. But how did Krishna come about there? That’s the question.
And Krishna answered about how Brahma had stolen the cows and how he had expanded. But now it’s interesting that he says, Suresha rishayo. These are not devatas or rishis.
At one level, it must be understood that anybody who associates with Krishna has to have some special ability, some special potency. Otherwise, how will they get to be with him? That is straightforward enough to understand that it is primarily by the grace of Krishna that anybody can get to associate with him. But they also, Krishna’s case is not entirely arbitrary.
Krishna is personal and he has his personal choices. But those who are sages or devatas, they are likely to have the fortune of getting the association of Krishna. So that is the sense of the statement which Balramji is making.
But actually they are not. 10.13.14 kāvad etyātma-bhūtātmā mānena pitta-anehasā puro vad āpdaṁ vidantam pradṛśe sakalam harim Thereafter, kāvad, that time, etyātma-bhūtātmā ātma-bhūt That Lord Brahmā, when he returned, ātma-bhūt, Lord Brahmā is not directly born from any father. He is born on a lotus petal.
ātma-mānena So that Brahmā, he came, according to his time, pitta-anehasā He came in a few moments. puro vad āpdaṁ And he saw that during that time, which was a few moments for him, one year had passed from the earth and after that one year, as if earlier everybody was playing, puro vad āpdaṁ vidantam They were all playing. pradṛśe sakalam harim All of them were playing with Hari His associates were playing with him.
He saw that. The cows and the bulls were still there. So now Brahmāji had decided to try to see Krishna’s power.
He wanted demonstration. And accordingly he decided to do something. Specifically what did he do? He chose to get along by taking the cows and the cowherd boys away.
But in not taking them away, everything remained as it is. So this is Krishna’s mystic power. Oṁ pūrṇam adhā pūrṇam idaṁ pūrṇāt pūrṇam udhicchate pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādhāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate Even if many complete units are taken from the whole, still the whole remains as it is.
So here something similar happened. The gopās and the cows were taken away from Krishna and still they remain as it is. Because Krishna is complete and nobody can make him incomplete.
Whenever Krishna connects with his devotees, that is out of his love. That is not because of a sense of incompleteness, although it might appear like that. Of course here, Krishna arranged everything so that there was no sense of incompleteness also.
There was nothing except the continuation of the God’s pastimes as if nothing had happened. And everybody was astounded by that. See this.
Bāla savasya sarva eva hi mārāśeṣayā na me nādhyāpī-pūrṇu-uddhitaḥ This is text 41, 10.30.41. So, yāvanto… He saw, when Brahmāji saw that the gopās were still there as it is, he started thinking, what is happening? nādhyāpī-pūrṇu-uddhitaḥ So, the gopās were taken, yāvanto gopule bāla So, whatever gopās and cows I had taken, they are still lying over there. māyāśeṣayā na me They are still lying in that mayic sleep. I put them to mystic sleep.
They are still lying there. But still, they are not got up. If they are not got up, then who are all these? Where have they come from? What is going on? He couldn’t but be confused in seeing this.
So, this is a straight mathematical puzzle, that if you try to change something and it doesn’t change, then naturally the question comes up, what is going on? How can there be no change after such a major upheaval has been done? And he is trying to figure it out and he is not able to figure it out. So, this is the essential point of the bewilderment of Brahmāji. His whole pastime is how Brahmā gets bewildered by Krishna and is bewildered by Krishna instead.
So, let’s continue. iti eta ete atrakutratyā manmāyā mōnite tare tāvanta eva katrābdham kīranto viṣṇu nāsamam iti eta atrakutratyā So, if on the Gopā that Kāla was sleeping, those who are here, who are they? Where did they come from? They should not be here. manmāyā mōnite tare These are they different from those who have been deluded by my māyā? So, here māyā doesn’t necessarily refer to the illusory energy person.
Only māyādevī is Krishna’s illusory energy. But manmāyā means by the illusion that I have created, by which I put them to sleep, they all went to deep sleep. tāvanta eva katrābdham So, whatever I had put to sleep, that exact same number, all of them, are still here.
And for one year, all of them, they have been playing and doing various things. In fact, when Brahmāji came back, the scene was exactly the same when he had left. So, it was as if nothing had changed.
Everything was going on in the same way. viṣṇu nā samam It was as if everybody was with Krishna and everybody was identical. It takes 43 lines.
evaṁ eteṣhu hīde viṣṇu ciraṁ dhātvā sa ātmabhū satyā ke kathare neti khyātum neshte kathanchana nesthit neshte kathanchana evaṁ eteṣhu bhīdeṣu This way the boys were existing separately for a long time. ciraṁ dhātvā sa ātmabhū He was looking at them, staring at them, thinking about them. What is this? Who are these? He was thinking like this.
satyā ke kathare nete Not understanding who they were, khyātum neshte kathanchana He was bewildered. He could not understand at all. So, because these gopās were identical, and the cows were also identical, normally, when we start seeing the double, we start becoming suspicious about what exactly is going on.
Where did the doubles come from? How are the doubles to be dealt with? What is the point of the doubles being present? Normally, if there is some big famous hero, and some stunts have to be done. If the hero doesn’t do the stunts, somebody else does the stunts for them. Then the person who does the stunts might look a little bit like the hero.
So, in that case, the question comes up, who is the real hero and who is the look-alike? So, we might try to identify that. And if the look-alike is very, very identical, then it is difficult to differentiate between the two. So, here, they are not very identical, but totally identical.
And Brahmaji could not identify, he was not able to understand what was going on. Who is real and who is not? It was almost impossible for him to understand that. Instead, he did a text 44.
In this way, that person who had tried to delude Vishnu, but who can, who is beyond Mohan, who cannot be deluded, and who is the person who deludes all of existence. He himself went into illusion. By his own illusion, he became bewildered.
So, the illusion which he had created ended up putting him in illusion. This verse, 10.13.44, has beautiful play with the word. Alliterative sound V and Moh both, Mohan or Mohamaya.
Vishnu is Vimoham and Vishwamohanam. He cannot be deluded, but he can put the whole world under delusion. His own Maya, he was put under.
Maya and Mohitaha. So, in this way, Brahma was put under illusion by his own illusion. So, the illusion that he had tried to create backfired against him badly.
Text 45. Mayai, Mayai, Shyam. Nihantyatmani unjitaha.
Tamyam, Tamovan, Naiharam. Tamyam, sorry. So, Tamyam, the darkness.
Tamovam, the death. It’s complete darkness. Naiharam, if there is… So, here metaphors are being given to explain what happens when there is a darkness of snow on a dark night.
Tamovam, Naiharam. So, now, if snow is falling or snow is obscuring our sight, it was already a dark night, everything is obscured. The presence of the snow does not create any further obscurity.
Because already the obscurity is there. So, similarly, in this case, it is said that, Tamyam, Tamovan, Naiharam. Kadyotarchi, Ivahani.
Kadyot. Similarly, if a Guru Navam is present in front of sunlight, Mahati, Itarmaya, Shyam, the ability of an inferior person in front of a greater person becomes insignificant. Atmani unjitaha.
So, when a weaker person tries to use their power against a stronger person, they are rendered… their attempts backfire. Whatever they do is rendered powerless. So, that’s what has happened over here.
So, if snow is falling, it can blind us. But if the night is already blind, the blinding potential of the snow becomes very less. So, the two metaphors given here are opposite in content, but similar in intent.
One is dark night, one is… one is centered on darkness, another is centered on light. But the point here is not darkness or light, but the point is a comparison of quantity. So, darkness of snow on a dark night versus the light of a glow-morn in daylight.
So, if we focus on the intent of the metaphor, then we will see the common point. Otherwise, we will have confusion. So, kadyotarchivahani.
He was completely bewildered, not knowing what he should do and how he should move forward in that situation. Text 46. All of them… When he saw the cows and the cowherd boys… So, while he was observing, in a certain moment, something happened.
They all became transformed. They all transformed and they appeared to be having… having a complexion like bluish rain clouds. And they were dressed in yellow silken garments.
And in this way, what happened was that everything changed. He realized that what he had been seeing was wrong. And now what he was seeing, what he was about, what he was seeing, now was completely different.
He couldn’t understand which is real, which is false. And then that vision was changed because he saw something else at that time. He saw something else, that was the fact that everybody was exactly similar to Vishnu.
In fact, they were manifesting the form of Vishnu over there. Pita, Kaushaya, Vashishtha… the complexion and dress, they were all Vishnu. And not only the dress, but other things also.
Text 47 and 48 describes that. Nupurai, Katakai, Bhataha, Kati, Sutranguli, Ekaha, So, Chaturbhuja, Shankha, Chakra… So they had four arms and they were carrying Shankha and Chakra with them. Gadha, Rajiva, Paneha… Gadha, Rajiva… There was a club and lotus and all those were there.
Pane, Kirti… They were having crowns on their heads. Kundali, Naha… They were, of course, wearing earrings. Pearl necklace, Hare, Naha… Hare was there.
Vandamani, Naha… On top of that there was Hare, Naha, Vandamani, Naha… There was a beautiful poet. Alliteration of sound was along with that. Alliteration is also an instrument.
Both also refer to ornamentation around the neck. And then Sri Vatsanga, Do Ratna… There was the Sri Vatsa sign, the emblem of the god of fortune. Then there were… Do Ratna, Kampo, Kanapa, Ayanaha… So, what happened was, that has a typical sign, the Kaustubha Jaya was on their necks, their armlets were there on their arms.
The… bracelets which were there on their hands. And in that way they were decorated exquisitely. Vishnumukurai… There were ornaments on their feet.
And then… Katakai… The ankles had ankle bells. Bhataha… They looked very beautiful. Kirti… And there were bells around their waist.
And rings on their… Sutra… Anguliyakai… They had also… finger rings on their fingers. So, they were basically, you could say, fully ornamented, in full regal opulence. So, not just forearms and crowns, but there are earrings, pearl necklaces, flower garlands, armlets, at the hands, also some rings.
Then there were… ankle bells, food ornaments, waist bands, rings and finger rings. So, fully ornamented rings. So, there is no doubt left by such full ornamentation, that these were really, these were for real, they were Vishnu itself.
There was something very special was going on, which he just couldn’t figure out, at that particular point at least. And I was wondering, what is happening. Text 49… Āṅgari-vastakam āpūras Tulasī-navan-dāma-bhī Komalai-sarva-gātre Shubhuri-punya-vadarpitai So, every part of his body, āṅgari-vastakam āpūras, the body from the top of the head to the bottom, was decorated with Tulasī garlands, and it was offered by devotees who were worshipping him.
Komalai-sarva-gātre Shubhuri-punya-vadarpitai So, those who were pious souls, those who were devoted, they had offered those garlands out of devotion, and then worshipped us. So, this was the magnificence of what he saw. His sight was something truly to behold, and it left them all stunned, left Brahmaji all stunned, and not only did he see the opulence of the Viṣṇudūtas, of these expansions of Viṣṇu, in terms of their, what they were wearing, but also, who they were accompanying, how all the opulence of the universe was with them, will be mentioned in future verses, which we will discuss in due course.