Damodarashtakam Verse 08 – The Lord’s pastimes offer us the supreme spiritual opportunity

Sri Krishna. Damodarashtakam, verse 8. So in this last text of Damodarashtakam, Sathyavart Muni is talking about the glory of the Lord in a general sense.

And he talks about this particular pastime first, its extraordinariness, and then he generalizes to the other pastimes of the Lord also. So he says, namo sthes tu dhamne sphurat dipti dhamne. So I offer my obeisances.

To what? He says, I offer my obeisances to the rope. It's so extraordinary to offer obeisances to a rope. Normally, if there is some rope lying on the ground, we may step our foot on it, or we just kick it away with our foot.

A rope is not something which we consider very special. And if we are doing some service which requires a rope, we will use the rope. But who would consider offering obeisances to a rope? Why is he offering obeisances? This rope is so special and so fortunate that it is special, it is touching the body of the Lord.

It is fortunate because it is participating in intimate pastime of the Lord. And this rope is not ordinary. This rope is not just participating in this one pastime, but actually when Yashodamayi was binding Krishna, at that time she got the ropes which were used in her household.

So she got the ropes which were used by cowherds to tie the legs of the cows while they would be milked sometimes. So she had got so many ropes. All the ropes were from the household of Yashodamayi.

And when they were not enough, the other ladies also came to see and they also offered some ropes. And those ropes were also there. And the Acharya described that actually, eventually Radharani also came there.

And then Radharani offered her ribbon to the rope. And when she offered the ribbon and that ribbon was tied to the rope, at that time Krishna consented to let himself be tied up. So this rope is an integral part of the Lord's pastimes, not just in this particular pastime, but by being, its constituents are a part of the eternal paraphernalia of the Lord and even of the Lord's topmost devotee.

So it's a very special rope. So namaste sthudhamne sphuradipthidhamne. It's effulgent.

Sphuradipthidhamne. So actually it is dipthidhamne. So dipthidham, the abode of effulgence.

What is that? Saratanga Swami says this refers to the Brahman. So just as the rope is surrounding the Lord like that, the Brahman surrounds the Lord. The Brahman is the effulgence that comes out from the Lord.

So that Brahman which surrounds the Lord, I offer obeisances to that also. Namaste sthudhamne sphuradipthidhamne. And then I offer obeisances to your belly.

So as he's meditating on this pastime, he's also thinking of the glory of the Lord. And what is that glory? This belly which appears to be like a small belly of a small child. Actually there's nothing small about it.

It is great and glorious. It is great and glorious because it is the belly of the Supreme Lord. And this same Krishna in one of his expansions of his expansions of his expansions.

Krishna's expansion is Balram. From Balram comes the Chaturveya Vasudeva Sankarshan Pradyumna Nruddha. From Sankarshan comes Narayan.

From Narayan comes the second Chakra Viva Vasudeva Sankarshan Pradyumna Nruddha. And then from second Sankarshan comes Mahavishnu. From Mahavishnu comes Garbhodakshaya Vishnu.

And from that Garbhodakshaya Vishnu's belly, the lotus comes out from around which the whole universe manifests. So it is that an expansion of an expansion like that so many times. From there that Lord is the same person ultimately.

So from that Lord's belly this universe is manifested. The universe is so great, so majestic, so unlimited, so glorious. As compared to that the belly seems to be so small.

But that belly is the shelter of the whole universe. So the Lord is greater than the greatest and the smallest. So as Mahavishnu from whose pores the universe has come out is greater than the greatest.

As Garbhodakshaya Vishnu who is present as the Supersoul in the hearts of everyone, He is smaller than the smallest. He is present inside even the microscopic loving beings. He is present everywhere.

Andantarastha Paramanu. Paramanu is present even in the atoms. So He is greater than the greatest, smaller than the smallest.

But here in this particular analysis He is not just greater than the greatest and smaller than the smallest. That which is so great is sheltered in something which is so small. You know that the whole universe, its residence is something so small.

The belly of the Lord, how extraordinary it is. And then He says, So in this way, this Lord who performs so many pastimes, one of His most intimate pastimes, associate is, not one of His, the greatest, the most intimate of His all pastime associates is Radharani. So, offer obeisances to Radharani who is very dear to you.

This can also mean another way as, I offer obeisances to you who are very dear to Radharani. So it can mean both ways, offer obeisances to Radharani who is dear to you or you who are very dear to Radharani. But either way is offering obeisances to the divine couple.

So often the question comes up, in the primary, the pastime of Damodar is with Yashodamayi. So why is it that when we sing about it, we see Radha singing Radha Damodar, not Yashoda Damodar? Actually, there are several reasons for that. In the Bhavishya Purana, there is a description of a pastime where Krishna is supposed to meet Radharani at a particular time.

And Krishna arrives late and Radharani is waiting and waiting and waiting and finally when she sees Krishna, she is so upset with him that she ties him up with ropes. She ties him, she is angry and she ties up with a rope and Krishna is trying to speak and explain but she is not ready to listen at all. And finally when she has tied up and punished Krishna, then she becomes, calms down and then Krishna tells, actually he said, I wanted to come earlier but Yashodamayi had arranged an autumn festival for me and I was caught in that autumn festival.

I couldn't, I didn't have the heart to say no to Yashodamayi entirely. So I tried to, I was in the festival but I tried to slip away as quickly as possible and come there. So then when Radharani heard this, she unbound him, being pleased that in spite of the festival, he still managed to come.

He didn't turn away. So actually that means, it is described in our Gaudiya literature in Chaitanya Charita Amrita and other places, Radharani is not just one of Krishna's devotees. She is Ladini Shakti.

She is the source of the devotion of everyone. She is the source of the devotion of all her other Sakhis and she is the source of the devotion of even of Yashodamayi. So Damodar pastime represents not just Yashodamayi or binding Krishna, it represents the Lord of love being bound by love and that love is manifest to the supreme degree in Radharani and that's why Radha Damodar.

So Damodar pastime represents the Lord being bound by love and that love is manifest in the supremest degree in Srimati Radharani. That's why Radha Damodar comes. So you, the beloved of Radharani, you are already part of the divine couple and this is one pastime that I meditated on but Namo Ananta Leelaya Devaya Tubhyam.

Ananta Leelaya. My dear Lord, you perform unlimited pastimes and this one pastime itself one meditates that can give so much ecstasy. So there are unlimited pastimes to meditate on.

Actually this is also a unique legacy of the Vedic tradition. In the world's religions, there's not much talk about God and there's not much talk about what God does but the Vedic tradition is so rich in terms of so many incarnations and so many pastimes of the Lord and so many incarnations that when we have to turn our mind away from this world towards Krishna, actually it is not very difficult. It is relishable and it is wonderful if we just absorb ourselves in the pastimes of Krishna.

Krishna has so many pastimes and one pastime itself can absorb ourselves eternally and then there is so much. There's not just a one pastime but there is variety in the spiritual world and all this variety is a manifestation of Krishna's mercy. Somehow or the think of me.

Redirect your heart from the world towards me. Just offer your love to me and think about me. I will make myself so accessible and available for you if you want to think about me.

I will reveal my pastimes not just in the spiritual world where those who love me can relish those pastimes but I come in this material world and reveal these pastimes to those who have not yet developed their love for me and by that they can develop their love for me and come back to me. So whenever we meditate on the Lord's pastimes, we can pray that it's not just for information. It's not just for entertainment but it is for that we will hear those pastimes, those pastimes increase our attraction to Krishna.

Let our devotion to Krishna increase and then we will become attracted to him and attain life's supreme benediction that is Krishna Prema. So we can pray to Satyavrat Mani, to Lord Damodar, to Yashoda Mai, to Srimati Radharani that they who have revealed such sweet pastimes and many such sweet pastimes, may they bless us so that our heart can be attracted back to the Supreme Lord and to his wonderful pastimes. Thank you very much.

Hare Krishna.