When Yamadutas know that Narayana is supreme (SB 6.1.41) why do they later (6.3) ask Yamaraja if there is anyone above him?

From: SCCD

When yamadutas are talking with Vishnudutas they are telling Lord Narayana is supreme(SB 6.1.41) but later when they went to Yamaraj they are asking is there anyone above to you.

why they are asking even they know?

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Question from Sri Chaitanya Chandra Prabhu. When the Yamadūtas are talking with Vishnudūtā they are telling Lord Nārāyaṇa is supreme 6.1.41 but later when they went to Yamarāja they are asking if there is anyone above to you.
Why are they asking this even though they know it already? Answer, the Yamadūtas know about Nārāyaṇa but they do not have a clear understanding of his supremacy. They know that there is a powerful being by the name Nārāyaṇa and they know that he is the source of all the Vedas as they have said vedapraṇḍita-dharma and Vedā-Nārāyaṇa-sākṣāt two verses before what you have quoted 6.1.39 talks about this. So in that sense they do know about Nārāyaṇa.
Now we may think that because they know that he is the source of all the Vedic literature that would mean that he is supreme but that is not exactly the understanding of the Yamadūtas. If you see later when they ask the question specifically their question is that we thought that there was one judge for the decision about the pious and sinful activities of all living beings and we thought you were the judge and that you had jurisdiction over the living world also. So Navedapraṇḍita-dharma which is one verse before what you have quoted 6.1.40 that basically indicates Nārāyaṇa is the source of the living worlds, the source of the Vedas.
So the Yamadūtas conception is that there are different controllers for different departments and Nārāyaṇa is also one departmental controller and as far as this department is concerned of judging and punishing the sinful Yamarāja is an independent autonomous controller whose order cannot be violated. So it is that understanding which makes them think that how is it possible that his order could be violated. So the very fact that they mention Nārāyaṇa indicates that they are not ignorant about the existence of Nārāyaṇa.
They do know that Nārāyaṇa exists but they are not aware of his supremacy. So the very fact that they mention demigods indicates that they know about the existence of the demigods too. So they also will be knowing to some extent that demigods have some control, some jurisdiction.
So they know that basically different powerful persons have different jurisdictions and they are not exactly considered Yamarāja to be absolutely supreme over everyone. They may have, if we look at all the verses, that could be a possible inference. Generally speaking, in these sort of delicate issues, you will have to look at the original Sanskrit, the various means, various translations of the original Sanskrit that are possible from the literal vishnani point of view.
Then look at these translations that the various ācāryas have given and then see what fits best to the context. Śrīla Prabhupāda generally gives us a translation that makes the devotional conclusions absolutely clear. Certainly such a translation is philosophically defensible because that is what the scriptures are aiming towards.
But that may not be the literal translation of that verse. Just like Śrīla Prabhupāda translates Karma Yoga as Bhakti Yoga because Bhakti Yoga is the ultimate message of Bhagavad Gita and Karma Yoga culminates, attains its best manifestation in Bhakti Yoga. So in that sense, Śrīla Prabhupāda gives us a translation that is not just the literal translation, but is also the conclusion of the philosophy and generally the pastime also.
So this gives us a clear understanding of the conclusion, but that may not help us understanding the subtleties of the flow. So now Śrīla Prabhupāda translates Yena as the supreme cause of all causes. Now that is not exactly indicated.
The word Yena simply means by whom. Now from the context we could say that if the modes of goodness, passion, ignorance are emanating from him, if the names, qualities, forms are emanated from him, then that would indicate that he is the supreme controller. Now for the same verse, Viṣṇācārīra Prabhupāda gives a slightly different translation, not substantially different.
He gives a translation that, By the will of Nārāyaṇa, who is situated in his own abode, these living metis, composed of Rajas, Sattva and Tamas, make their appearance very precisely with qualities, names and actions. So Nārāyaṇa is understood to be a very powerful being. Very powerful being.
And in general, the demigods go and pray to Nārāyaṇa for help. So they do understand that Nārāyaṇa is superior to them. But whether he is absolutely supreme, Śrīla Prabhupāda explains in an Īśopaniṣad purport that even the demigods are confused about it.
And then he says that they think that maybe Nārāyaṇa is powerful, he is more powerful than us, but maybe he is a more powerful manifestation and beyond him is the impersonal light. So because the demigods are not pure devotees, they do not have a clear understanding of the philosophy. And even we shouldn’t think that their understanding is always the same.
It may change. So another thing that seems to be inferable from the past time is that the Yamadūtas have never seen Viṣṇudūtas also. So they are not able to connect what they talked about Nārāyaṇa with the four people who came to stop them.
So they ask who are those beings? They don’t say that the Viṣṇudūtas came and stopped us. Why did they stop us? So who are those four beings who stopped us? So basically this is a question of different people having different jurisdictions as per the notion of the Yamadūtas. And they felt at least with respect to the jurisdiction over judging the sinful and punishing them, Yamadūtas, being the servants of Yamarāja, have an authority which is according to them inviolable.
So rather than sticking to the nitty-gritties, we need to understand the broad understanding that the Yamadūtas evince. They know that Nārāyaṇa is the source of the Vedas. They understand that Nārāyaṇa is the creator of all living beings.
And they understand that he has appointed the various demigods, various witnesses. By his arrangement all the witnesses are there. So in that sense they understand Nārāyaṇa’s superior position.
Significant position, not necessarily superior position. Significant position. But with respect to the jurisdiction over punishing the sinful, they think Yamarāja’s authority is supreme.
And moreover, they have not connected in their mind these four persons who stopped them with the fact that they are servants of that being Nārāyaṇa whom they have referred to. So it is, their knowledge of Nārāyaṇa is general knowledge which they have. But it is not a clear understanding of the supremacy of Nārāyaṇa and certainly not the knowledge of the superiority of Nārāyaṇa over Yamarāja with respect to the area of judging and punishing the sinful.