Bhagavatam tenth canto study 78 – 10.14.1-6 Krishna is known by devotional hearing, not by intellectual probing

Shrimad Bhagavatam Canto 10 chapter 14 Brahma’s prayers to lord Krishna text 1 Shri Brahma Vacham Navamityate Bravapushar Tadid Ambaraya Gunja Vatamsha Paripuchala Sanmukhaya Vanya Sraje Kavalavetra Vishan Aavenu Lakshma Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Shri Gunja Vatamsha Paripuchala Now in your ears are flowers which are like small berries and Paripuchala you have peacock feather Lasan Mukhaya your face is a fulgent Vanya Sraje Kavalavetra Vishan Aavenu Vanya Sraje you are wearing a garland of forest flowers Kavalavetra you are having a morsel of food in your hand as well as a stick for taking care of animals Vishan a buffalo horn bugle which he uses for signaling various things when he is going out with his cowherd boys Venu and of course Krishna has his quintessential symbol that is his flute Lakshma Sriye Mridupade his beauty is characterized thus by all these features and whose feet are soft and tender Pashupanga Jaya so Pashupanga Krishna is the word was used earlier also to refer to the cowherd boys Ang Jaya one who is born from them Pashupanga Jaya so here the point being made is that Krishna in his Krishna’s beauty as a cowherd boy is being described by Brahma it was this position of Krishna as a cowherd boy that had disarmed and deceived Brahma into doubting his supreme position so whereas Vishnu has regal opulence of Shankha Chakra Kadha Padma here what Krishna has is a bugle buffalo horn bugle a flute a stick a morsel of food a forest berry ear ornament just the flowers are put in his ears a garland of flowers in the forest peacock feather so it’s a image of rustic beauty not royal opulence and that had deceived Brahma but now he is recognizing that even in this rustic beauty there is magnificent opulence and thus the first thing that he offers as a first prayer first thought that he expresses when offering prayers is my dear lord in this form also in this form of rustic beauty you remain the worshipable lord although you appeared as Pashupa Angaja at the son of a cowherd boy still you are now me dear you are worthy of my worship and obeisance and that indeed is what he is going to do now so the whole pastime all the pastimes of Krishna and Vrindavan tell us not to get deluded by Krishna’s seemingly simple appearance how demons may underestimate him and even devatas may underestimate him and how despite his simplicity he has the prowess that can bewilder that even the most intelligent so text 2 now asya api deva vapusho madhanu grahasya svechha mayasana tubhuta mayasya kopi neshe mahitve avasitum manasanta rena sakshata vaiva kim utatma sukha nabhute asya api deva vapusho madhanu grahasya asya api of this vapusha of this form oh lord madhanu grahasya through this form you have shown mercy to me now what is that mercy the lord has revealed the mercy of this form the magnitude of this the power of this form by showing from how all this form has been shown despite being brahma I was neshe mahitve avasitum manasanta rena that despite being brahma your potency I cannot estimate with my mind my mind cannot extend for understanding your potency the spread of your potency cannot be understood by me sakshat that you yourself within you what is the what is the happiness the that you experience within yourself so that manasanta rena although his brahmaji said although my mind is withdrawn from material affairs still I cannot understand your form then what can I understand the happiness you derive within yourself by assuming this form and reciprocating love with your devotees now whenever we go through any difficulties if we see our difficulties through a spiritual perspective then along with the universal aspect of looking at our difficulties along with the universal truths about the lord’s glories become also personalized to some extent because of the experiences that we have gone through so here that the fact that the lord is inconceivable above this that his glories are inexhaustible and unfathomable that is stressed by brahmaji by relating with his own personal experience and although he’s detached from material affairs still even he can’t understand it’s understood that those whose minds are complete are obsessed with material affairs cannot understand the lord but even those who are detached like brahma also cannot understand the lord text 3 this is one of the detached from material text 3 this is one of the celebrated verses from the bhagavatam which stresses that detachment from material affairs and cultivation of knowledge although considered glorious on the spiritual path is not glorious enough to be able to reveal the glory of the supreme lord so gyane prayasam the endeavor to cultivate knowledge udapasya one has to give it up completely namantye namanta eva one has to offer obeisances to the lord jivanti sanmukharitam bhavadiya vartam and live jivanti sanmukharitam one lives chanting by the pure devotees bhavadiya vartam topics related to your lord sthane sthitah shruti gatham tanuvan mano bher sthane sthitah thus becoming situated in their own place shruti gatham tanuvan mano bher wherever they are situated with one’s body or speech and mind ye prayasam ajito pisi tristrilokyam that even the unconquerable lord can be conquered if one hears about his glory shruti gatham tristrilokyam that lord who cannot be conquered by anyone within three words the unconquerable lord becomes conquered by submissive hearing of his glories not by speculation so the theme here is very significant that what will take us to the lord is reception not speculation so those who have some comprehension some inkling of his glories if they speak and then we hear submissively and we mould our lives accordingly and the lord reveals himself so brahmaji’s point is here that i was not submissive that instead i tried to speculate i tried to test you lord and that was my folly and thus i need to submit to you and he is here as we move forward in the verses later he will appeal to submit to the lord giving up his speculative endeavor this verse has been used by chaitanya mahaprabhu to talk about to outline the best way of attaining the lord that bhakti centered on hearing can appear very simple but this process can take us beyond even the process of jnana the process of metaphysical speculation can help us progress to some extent but not as much as what the process of spirituality centered on hearing can it is by hearing that we learn and when we learn thus through hearing that is when we grow that is the theme which is being stressed here so in the conversation with ramanandraya chaitanya mahaprabhu rejects various levels of the practice of dharma till he comes to this level of practice till ramanandraya recommends that this process wherever we are situated be there but hear and offer one’s life to krishna and that is how one will ultimately attain the lord right in this way the unconquerable lord can be conquered so the point is that brahmaji has just been conquered by the lord and he is saying that i cannot conquer you but just because i was conquered by you so now he says that still people conventionally think that the path of bhakti the path of gyan is higher than the path of bhakti because that path of gyan is sometimes can seem as very spiritually exalted whereas the path of bhakti can seem as if it is just ordinary like the prajvasis are ordinary cowherd men and they are practicing this path of bhakti so he says that but those who give up this path of bhakti shreyah shrutim bhaktim udasyate vibho those who give up this path which brings supreme benefit udasyate vibho oh almighty lord krishanti keval bodha labdhye so those who they will get simply krishanti they will not get spiritual advancement they will not get spiritual knowledge they think they will get knowledge but the knowledge the bodha that they will get will not lead them to knowledge of the supreme lord they will get some superficial knowledge which will keep them stuck teshamasau kleshal e vashishyate all that they get is kleshal he gives the example nanyam yatha sthul tusha bhaghati naam just as those who beat empty husks get nothing except the endeavour of the beating this is a classic example to illustrate the futility of speculative endeavours just as if there are grains inside the husk and we beat the grains there is some use of that beating but if there are no grains at all inside something and then still we keep beating we get nothing by that so sthul tusha bhaghati naam so those who take a beating that way so just as their endeavour is pointless the endeavour to speculate about the lord is pointless so there seems to be a lot of effort and from the exertion point of view one might give credit how hard somebody is working to try to gain knowledge but results are proportionate not just simply to the effort of an endeavour but also the appropriateness of an endeavour just like if somebody has got sickness say they are coughing their effort needs to be constructively directed in terms of taking the proper medication to control the food it’s not enough to simply just let it let what that simply try to repress the cough cough cough so similarly here the point being made is that simply speculating is futile and then it goes on to text 5 PUREHA in the past O Bhumano almighty lord of yoginess in the past in this world those who are practitioners of the path of yoga so people offer to you all their endeavours the work which they did with their endeavours they offered that work and its fruits to you and they understood in this way the devotional service they achieved cultivated through hearing and chanting topics about you they achieved how has the same root as they achieved these are words which indicate surrender O infallible lord they achieved the imperishable destination the supreme destination was achieved O imperishable lord by the process of taking of hearing about you and of so two fold activities are recommended here that one is hear and chant but also do their prescribed duties and offer the fruits to the lord by this O Bhuman O Achyuta O Paramgatin you were achieved in the past by yogis and indirectly by this he is saying that even now who can achieve only those who act similarly can achieve chanting chanting chanting chanting chanting chanting chanting chanting chanting chanting chanting chanting chanting chanting chanting chanting chanting chanting chanting who is fit to understand who deserves to understand him is Amala Antaratmabhi one whose heart has become completely purified Amala Antaratmabhi Antaratma is the innermost core so the word Antaratma is interesting Atma is soul and soul by nature is inside us but Antaratma refers not just to the soul but refers to our innermost core the soul can refer literally to the non material spark which is the source of consciousness soul can metaphorically refer to the core of our being so Antaratma refers to the innermost core of our being and that which is entirely pure Amala Antaratmabhi so those whose innermost core is pure Abhikriyat Svanubhava Darupato so Abhikriyat so Abhikriyat refers to the activities of the mind material differentiation caused by the mind and senses and beyond these mind and senses when one goes beyond all material differentiations Svanubhavad so one directly experiences the Lord who who has no material form and who can be known by those who have no attachments to material forms Ananya Bodha Atmataya so then the Lord becomes self manifested so those who essentially the verse is saying that that your impersonal feature can be realized by inner observation and perception if one gives up material attachment and strives to cultivate an inner search with detachment from matter and the search and the intense seeking of inner perception so that Lord who is Ananya Bodha Atmataya Bodhya Atmataya one who is not perceived by anything else can thus be perceived so this is the overall theme of the prayers of Brahma so till now in the six prayers which he has spoken he his summary we could say is that first prayer he says my dear Lord despite your simple form you remain the omnipotent Lord and how this simplicity reconciles with your omnipotence that can’t be understood even by can be understood only by those of your devotees not even by me who is detached from material affairs so because this form is manifested for devotees only devotees can understand the form not others and then he talks about how to understand you we need to cultivate a life centered on you centered on you through hearing and chanting without mental speculation and through submissive reception oral reception and only then the unconquerable Lord who has conquered even me can be conquered then he says that but if somebody gives up devotion then all that they get is endeavor which is of no fruit like beating empty husk then he says in the 5th text that my dear Lord that the yogis who devote themselves to you by hearing and chanting and by doing prescribed work can come to know you ultimately and your non personal manifestation can be known by those who are pure hearted and those who try to perceive the super soul in their hearts so basically Brahma is talking about various modes of perception of the supreme thank you we will continue in our