Bhagavatam tenth canto study 93 – 10.16.1-7 Krishna’s mode of entry into Kaliya’s lake reflects his playful confidence

Srimad Bhagavatam 10.16.1 Shri Shukavacha Vilokyadushitam Krishnam Krishna Krishna Hinavibhu Tasyavishuddhim Anvichan Sarpamtam Udavasayet Shukadeva Swami is speaking here. It’s the start of a new pastime wherein Shukadeva Swami narrating one of the most visually dramatic and visually attractive aesthetically brilliant and devotionally enriched pastimes of Krishna. So Vilokyadushitam Krishnam Vilokyadushitam Krishnam And Krishna saw that Krishnam here refers to the river Yamuna.
The water of Yamuna is of a dark complexion. Thus, she is referred here to as Krishnamdushitam. The word Krishna is also used for Draupadi.
Shri Krishna Krishna Sakha Krishna Vrishabhavani Dhruga It’s used there also and it’s used here also. Vilokyadushitam Krishnam Krishna Krishna Hinavibhu Krishna Krishna Hinavibhu So Krishna, what he did? The dark complexion Ahina, the snake that was there. Vibhu, the almighty lord Tasyavishuddhim Anvichan So he brought about, desiring the purification of Yamuna which had become contaminated, Dushitam, by the serpent Sarpantam Udavasayat Udavasayat Send him away.
So this is like a one sentence summary of that pastime. Sometimes summaries, they cannot convey the drama, the emotion, the excitement, the thrill of a particular event. It’s like if somebody is watching a movie and then somebody reads a review of the movie or a summary of the movie or of the plot that can’t convey the emotion, the drama within it.
But if say the movie director has written a particular summary then we can understand from that summary the thrust of what is spoken. We can understand what it is that is essentially being directed over there. What is the essential point being made over there? What was the purpose in making this movie? What is the essential storyline or theme from the perspective of the director? That we can understand from a one sentence summary.
So, here we see from Shukla Goswami’s summary the essence here is that Miloke Dushitam Krishnam that actually there is no Yamuna which is contaminated by Kaliya and Krishna purified Yamuna by sending Kaliya away. So, the essence is the purification of Yamuna from the contamination by Kaliya which we will see that Krishna does because Yamuna herself is Krishna’s devotee and he wants to protect her and the waters of the Yamuna are also parts of, are also used by the other Vrajivasis, by all the Vrajivasis in fact. And Krishna wanted to protect them also.
Now there is a Kaliya kund that means there is a particular part of the Yamuna in which Kaliya was living and we will see how Krishna deals with Yamuna in the subsequent verses. Verse 2 So, now immediately Shukla Goswami’s one line summary, one word summary is not something which will satisfy Parikshit Maharaj and thus what does he do? He asks questions and in answer to those questions the expansion will happen. Expansion will happen in terms of the story will be described.
So, how exactly did Krishna subdue Kaliya? The waters of Yamuna are deep and Krishna the snake is for the water snake for a serpent. Water is like the home territory for Krishna to go there. So, how did Krishna subdue him in the water? Now it’s interesting that the question also indicates the level of knowledge of the questioner.
So, it is at Bahuyuga Avastham for a long long time that it seems that Kaliya was living there for a very long time and how come he was living there? So, it’s not that the story of Kaliya was unknown to Parikshit Maharaj. This is an important point to understand that many of these stories are obviously known to Parikshit Maharaj because this is all Krishna’s pastime and Krishna is God. Krishna is the supreme being and Krishna is very closely related to Parikshit Maharaj’s grandparents and his stories are obviously spoken of widely.
So, we have Parikshit Maharaj’s curiosity which is also based in knowledge. He knows about the pastime but he would like to relish it and he would also like to know certain more details about it and that’s how the pastime is being summarized. So, now of course we know that Krishna, that this pastime is also described in the previous chapter and let’s go ahead and discuss it now.
In the river Kaliya was situated in Yamuna. There was a lake in which he was living and he was almost like a fire. Because of that fire, the water was getting boiled.
It didn’t boil. And it was to such an extent that the birds would fly from above they would actually fall down just completely overwhelmed by the heat. It was such a powerful burning heat that it was just no use.
They just couldn’t resist it. It was so overwhelming. Viprush, text 5 Viprushmata vishadormi.
So, actually I missed the third text before that. Brahman bhagavata sthasya bhumna svachanda vartinaha Gopalodhar charitam kastrupeta amritam jushan So, O Brahmana, please speak about Bhagawan. svachanda vartinaha, that lord who acts according to his own desires Gopalodharo charitam that cowherd boy who had a very magnanimous disposition kastrupeta amritam jushan who can be satisfied by the nectar of his pastime So this is a theme that comes repeatedly in the Bhagavatam and it indicates that Parishit Maharaj is relishing Krishna’s pastime and he is eager that those pastimes be narrated more and more and that is what is being done over here.
That is what Shukadeva Goswami precisely do. So, text 5 Viprushmata vishadormi Marutena bhimarshita Viprushmata vishadormi So the water which was sometimes, winds would flow in Yamuna and drops of water would flow out flow from the Yamuna to the banks and whatever was there, vegetation was there in the banks it was all blown apart Marutena bhimarshita So it would just die because of those drops of water. Tirgahasya, whatever was in the court Praninas tirjanama, everything would just dry and die There can be different degrees of poison Here we can just imagine what must be the magnitude of the poison that even a distant contact not a direct contact, a distant contact could have disastrous results.
That is the nature of or the magnitude of Kaliya’s poison that is being mentioned over here So two examples are given, the birds flying overhead would get evaporate, would fall down and ostensibly they would die because it would fall into the Kaliya kund because of the vapors and even the drops of water, they would also poison the vegetation and creatures on the shore Text 6 When his strength was his poison and his strength was of course, he was not a small tiny snake, he was big, but he poisoned the snake he was seeing. Dushtam nadim chakhala samyama na avataraha. So dushtam, he saw he was wicked, he was contaminated, he was nadim, he had contaminated the dushit, he had made the river contaminated.
Chakhala samyama, so to restrain, to subdue those who are demoniac, avataraha, he had descended to the world. Krishna kadambam adhiruyo tatoti atithungam. Krishna kadambam.
That Krishna jumped from the kadamba tree, adhiruyo, he climbed it up and then he jumped down from the tree, tatoti thungam. Now it was a tall tree, it was a high tree, atithungam, and then asphotya gada rashano nepatad vishode, asphotya. So he slapped his arms, gada rashanaha, his belt he tied it, and nepatad vishode, that he jumped into the poison waters.
So essentially here the action of Krishna in confronting Kaliya is being described. And it is stated that Krishna challenged Kaliya and Krishna jumped off from a height, from a tall tree into the river. So Krishna had clearly an intention to confront Kaliya and that is what he is doing, confronting here by taking him on, by making sure that whatever is to be done is to be done.
That he just that Kaliya, whose waters were so poisonous, Krishna jumped into those waters and Krishna knew that this is not going to be, it is going to be a battle. So like a warrior, he asphotya gada, he tied his belt, asphotya, he slapped his arms, gada rashanaha, he is preparing for a fight over here. And the enemy was indeed formidable.
There was no mediocre or ordinary enemy, it was an extremely dangerous enemy. And Krishna was ready to fight him. And Krishna did fight him.
Gada rashanaha, nepatad vishode, vishode, into the poison vishode, vishode is water, water. So he jumped into the water with great, with great confidence that he climbed up to a height. So now Krishna we see is not sneaking up on Kaliya.
Krishna is actually jumping into Kaliya kunda. So there is an enemy with whom he is fighting and Krishna is heading, is confronting that enemy head on. It is like announcing, proclaiming his power by directly jumping into the Kaliya kunda.
So the mode of entry often reflects one’s confidence or lack of confidence thereof. Sometimes it is that guerrilla warfare may need to be used. If the enemy is extremely powerful, then one may need to use certain tactics which were not, which are not the best, which are not really involving, which are not involving the head-on confrontation but a side confrontation.
So that is what Krishna is not doing over here. Krishna is having a head-on confrontation with Kaliya. Text 7, sarparadha purushasara nipatavega, samsobhito sarparadha vishochavasitambhurasi paryakluto vishakashayabhibhishanormer dhavan dhanushatamanantabalasya kimtad.
Sarparadha purushasara nipatavega. Sarparadha, that in the lake of the serpent, purushasara, that supreme person, who is the best of all persons, who is the essence of all persons, nipatavega. So vega is force, so he just jumped in the path, just to fall.
So by the force of the jump, by the force of the leap, the fall, samsobhito sarparadha vishochavasitambhurasi paryakluto vishakashayabhibhishanormer dhanushatamanantabalasya The Brahmins elsewhere also, in the prayer about the Kumaras, they became agitated from their impersonal conception, because of seeing the supreme air, because of smelling the lotus which had come from the lotus feet of the lord. So, that’s interesting, it’s mentioned that Kalia was the king’s snake. Now a king wants to reign supreme, but the king also needs someone on whom to reign supreme.
So Kalia was not the only snake over there, there were other snakes also, and those snakes became agitated, and as they started breathing heavily, more poison came out of their mouths, more poison came out of them broadly, and then it started polluting the air, vishochavisha uchavishta, as they breathed up the poison, rashihi ambu, so the water was contaminated with poison and became even more poisonous, paryakluto vishakashaya, so on all sides, it’s flooding, because of the contamination of the poison, bhibhishanurmi, so bhishan is fearsome, so urmi, the waves flooded, and the waves were also of poison, dhavan dhanushatam ananta balasakintad dhavam dhanushatam, so dhanushatam, so 100 bolens, that means a significant distance, the water overflows, so krishna’s fall, krishna was a small child, normally the magnitude of disruption of a water body depends on the mass of the object falling into it, and of course the force with which it is falling, so a small stone falling into a bucket will cause a little splash, a huge stone falling will cause a huge splash, but here dhanushatam, this guy for 100 bolens, water overflowed, and the water was permeated with poison, it overflowed, ananta balasakintad, so krishna’s fall was hugely impactful, and it just disrupted, it devastated the environment, the setting around him, vishasaranipatavega, samsovidauragam, that’s what we have to be careful that we do not reduce krishna to any material dimension, krishna is transcendental, and being transcendental, he can act, whatever be his size, he can act in a transcendental way, so ananta balasakintad, so for one who has unlimited power, for him by his fall to make the water go a certain distance, what is such a great deal about it, what is this, it’s nothing special, it is he can do it, and he did do it, that is the theme, that is the mood that is spoken over here, with which this verse is spoken,