Daily-Bhagavatam 67 – 11.07.57 – Let horizontal love remind us of vertical love
Shrimad Bhagavatam 11.7.57 Kapoti Prathamam Garbham Grunanti Kala Gate Andani Shushuve Nunde Tapatyur Sannidhau Sati So here the Brahmana is continuing instruction to Maharaja Yadu using the anecdote of the Kapoti couple, of the pigeon couple. So as they were living together happily the pigeon becomes, she pigeon becomes pregnant. Kapoti Prathamam Garbham, her first pregnancy.
So Grunanti Kala Gate, Kala Gate, when the right time came she delivered several eggs. Andani Shushuve Nude, Nude in the nest, Shushuve delivered, so she delivered the eggs. Tapatyur Sannidhau Sati So actually her husband was also there at that time, Sannidhau in the presence of Sati, that chaste pigeon.
Now the Bhagavatam is describing the life cycle of a human being through the description of the life cycle of the pigeons, a life cycle that was abruptly cut short. Now normally a woman becomes pregnant, generally it is a midwife who takes care of it. Traditionally now of course there are doctors, often it is done as natural delivery, there is often, there are various medical ways to facilitate the delivery.
And often the husband is not usually present when the actual delivery takes place. But in some cases where the husband is very concerned or the wife is in a critical condition or whatever, at that time the husband may occasionally be present. Now here Tapatyur Sannidhau said that she delivered the eggs, Andani Shushuve Nude, delivered them in the presence of her husband.
So the husband is said to be affectionate and his affection is indicated to the point that he was present at the time of the pregnancy. And Sati, the word Sati means one who is chaste. So they said the pigeon was chaste.
Now although there is no conception of marriage as a formal ritual that is there in the non-human world, sub-human world, like animals and birds, but still animals also have mating rituals and they have their mating standards. So mating rituals means a bird may do a particular thing to try to court another bird. And then once say a male bird courts a female bird and that female bird accepts the male's proposal, then the male bird often becomes quite territorial, quite possessive.
And she is mine. The principle of chastity here is not so much restricted to marital fidelity because there is no formal marriage in the animal kingdom. But it is to the point of the reciprocation of the bird with the bird's affection.
And that she was faithful to him in that sense, although they may not have any formal vows. But still they were as mates, they were both affectionate to each other. Now the problem as we will see in the Bhagavatam later verses in this chapter, that even when there is a satisfactory horizontal relationship, still there is no real protection and no real guarantee of things sustaining themselves.
So in terms of the normal romantic story, they were a happily adjusted couple. They were living together as mates and then they also had children. So the eggs of course are the stage before the birdlets will actually appear.
But still the point remains that their household life was progressing along what many might consider a dream chart. A man loves a woman, a woman loves a man, they join together, have a steady relationship, they get married and then they have children. Is there getting comfort from the presence of the husband while she is delivering? And this way their story would be expected to move on to a happy ending.
And they live happily ever after. Most romantic novels, they are actually happily ever after. But Bhagavatam while tracing this dream chart trajectory will feature a rude and devastating not just interruption but termination.
And that indicates that we should not let present comforts lull us into ignorance, into an awareness, forgetfulness of future dangers. So even if everything is going along like a dream, now it is not that we create misery at the material level but it is also not that we want misery. But the fact is that misery is inescapable, unavoidable to the very fabric of material existence.
And that is why rather than denying the misery and expecting that in future no more misery will come to us, we need to recognize the intrinsic unavoidable nature of misery and know that it is going to come sooner or later. So rather than letting it catch us napping, catch us unprepared and make us devastated as happened to the pigeons, we can be prepared. What is the preparation? That is actually developing our vertical relationship with Krishna.
Whatever shelter, whatever satisfaction we negate in our horizontal relationship. That is no doubt important but along with that and foundational to that is our vertical relationship with Krishna. Because that relationship is eternal and the whole purpose of the Bhagavatam is to emphasize that vertical relationship.
And in this particular incident, the theme that will be illustrated is that how even the dream horizontal relationship cannot fulfill our dreams for happiness in a sustained way. What is the source of satisfaction, great satisfaction at one moment can become the subject, the target of termination at another moment. Because of the terrible unpredictability of life in this world.
And that is why to shelter from the unpredictability of material existence, we need to shelter in the predictable, guaranteed, supreme shelter giving remembrance of Krishna, devotion to Krishna. When we are trying to absorb ourselves in Krishna as he manifests through his holy name, then remembering that our horizontal relationships, whether they are comforting or agitating, there is a time when we need to just put them aside and focus on Krishna. And that steady focus on Krishna is the message that the Bhagavatam is conveying to us through this Kapot Kapoti Vijay Shree Vijay incident.
Thank you.