19841001 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.12.42-43

The following is a lecture given by His Holiness Jayapataka Swami on October 1, 1984 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The class begins with a reading from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10th Canto, Chapter 12, Verse 41 and 42.

śrī-rājovāca

brahman kālāntara-kṛtaṁ
tat-kālīnaṁ kathaṁ bhavet
yat kaumāre hari-kṛtaṁ
jaguḥ paugaṇḍake ’rbhakāḥ 

—(ŚB 10.12.41)

Mahārāja Parīkṣit inquired: O great sage, how could things done in the past have been described as being done at the present? Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa performed this pastime of killing Aghāsura during His kaumāra age. How then, during His paugaṇḍa age, could the boys have described this incident as having happened recently?

Jayapataka Swami: Kaumāra age is up to five and paugaṇḍa age is six, up.

Text 42:

tad brūhi me mahā-yogin
paraṁ kautūhalaṁ guro
nūnam etad dharer eva
māyā bhavati nānyathā

—(ŚB 10.12.42)

*repetition*

Translation: O greatest yogi, my spiritual master, kindly describe why this happened. I am very much curious to know about it. I think that it was nothing but another illusion due to Krsna.

*repetition*

Purport: Kṛṣṇa has many potencies: parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.8). The description of Aghāsura was disclosed after one year. Some act of Kṛṣṇa’s potency must have been involved. Therefore Mahārāja Parīkṣit was very curious to know about this, and he requested Śukadeva Gosvāmī to explain it.

Jayapataka Swami: So, this is an example of an attentive disciple. Sukadeva Gosvami, he just went on explaining. Aghāsura almost killed the devotees, but the cowherd boys were brought back to life. Then they are going back to their home. But they didn’t tell their parents for one year, and when they told, they said that as if it just happened yesterday.

So, it is said that… as if, he just said that. Well, when they came back, and a year later they explained it to their friends and parents. But Pariksit Maharaja is so sharp, he is listening so attentively. Immediately he picked up that there’s some discrepancy, there’s something unusual there. If a big thing happens today, I don’t tell somebody a year later as if it had happened the day before. But and especially when it has to do with Krsna. Then it means that there must be something mysterious, something wonderful, by His own spiritual potencies, which has taken place. Otherwise why this curious situation, you see.

Normally when we speak in the Bhāgavatam, there are many subtle points which come up, which if one doesn’t have the proper broad understanding, it may even appear like a contradiction. And the very sharp disciples, you see, who are listening attentively, they may be able to pick up some of these curious situations, and they are supposed to ask questions. So that later if someone else asks, “How is this possible? or “What is this?”, then they will be able to answer effectively.

So, Pariksit Maharaja, he was very attentive, and whatever he heard, he tried to digest. Śrīla Prabhupāda said that, “We should take in the knowledge just like eating. Then we should digest it. If it doesn’t digest, then we should bring it up again by asking questions, and then when it is thoroughly understood, digested, then we can assimilate it. Then we should give it to others. No one should leave a half digested.”

Just like you don’t leave a half-digested food in your stomach, you shouldn’t leave a half-understood knowledge in your brain. Because that can cause some confusion in the future. One should be very careful to try to understand whatever is being said and then to clear it up. If there’s any doubt, or misgiving, or misunderstanding, or unclarity, then that should be cleared up through proper submissive inquiry.

This also shows the etiquette: "O greatest yogi, my spiritual master.” Before one speaks to the spiritual master, it is a regulative principle that one should glorify the spiritual master; one should offer praise to the spiritual master, not some kind of false praise, but praise which is real praise, which is valid praise. And then after, one presents one’s own point.

Just as when we pray to the Deity, first we offer our respects to the Deity, then we praise the Deity for His transcendental qualities, you see. Just like Sri Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Prabhu is worshiped by the ācāryas. They first offer in a humble way their obeisances to Lord Chaitanya; they glorify Lord Chaitanya, then in the end, they pray for His mercy. So Pariksit Maharaja, he is very perfect in everything that he does. So, it’s a very good example.

Kṛṣṇa’s going through these different ages; they add different flavors to the pastimes. Naturally a small child is completely dependent on the parent. Then they get little bigger, they start crawling around. Then once they get up to five years of age - up to that point they are very, very innocent in one sense; I mean maybe some mischievous, but they are very much dependent upon the parents. But after five, when they say five to ten, then they start becoming you know, developing other certain different qualities or different type of activities. Their speech starts to become more articulate. Their… So many different programs are there. Their play becomes more involved. So, in this way, now Kṛṣṇa is going into this paugaṇḍa stage.

So paugaṇḍa… Like this there are so many different stages of Kṛṣṇa’s childhood. And the different pastimes are glorified by the devotees, especially the kaumāra. The very baby kaumāra and paugaṇḍa stages are very much, they are very appreciated. They’re very much appreciated by the parents - those in the parental humor. While the kaiśora age, or the youthful age, say around 16 or so, this is very appreciate… there this… well, deeply appreciated by those in the mādhurya-rasa. For the friends, well diff… cowherd boys - they probably like this paugaṇḍa age very much. Because that’s the age where Kṛṣṇa has so many different types of play. So, in any case Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes offer variety for everyone.

And these different changes of form, they’re not under the ordinary, they’re not under any material law that He is changing. As we in the material world, there is the growth and a change under the dictation of the material world. Here in the purport we should always remember that - parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate - that the Lord has got many energies. These energies are all under His control. And through the agencies of these energies, He is changing His appearance, and He is having various pastimes. While the difference is that we are under the control of one of His energies - the material energy in this material world. And we can... When we surrender unto Him, come under the shelter of the spiritual energy and be protected from this material energy.

So, but in one… We are always under one energy or another. We’re never independent. We may have some minute independence. That means that within the purview of that energy’s control. There may be some room for movement, some room for going little this way, or a little that way, but that is very limited.

Śrīla Prabhupāda said that, “Even a person in the material world, they have some slight independence to move up to the sattva-guṇa, or move down to the tamo-guṇa.” Within the three modes, they have some crossroads where they have a choice, but this is very miniscule alternative which is offered, because of the conditioning of the fallen souls; on the other hand, the liberated soul, under the shelter of the spiritual energy is actually much more free. He is quite free to move and to do various types of service for Kṛṣṇa. Being free from the laws of karma, they’re not under that strict limitation of the material energy. Still, there is not complete independence, because the living entity has got limitations.

We are minute particles of Kṛṣṇa. Even in the liberated state, we’re not at the same level as Kṛṣṇa in terms of our potency, and our ability to do things. But we are at an equal qualitative level, we can relate with Kṛṣṇa just as the parents and the cowherd boys, they’re relating with Kṛṣṇa. Many of them are individual living entities who have taken birth in Vṛndāvana just to get this opportunity to serve Kṛṣṇa. This is the spiritual perfection.

When we finish in this life, and we think of Kṛṣṇa and we are perfectly Kṛṣṇa conscious, then when we leave this body, we can go to that universe wherever Kṛṣṇa is situated. And there we participate in His pastimes. And then from that material universe, we go back to home, back to Godhead. So, Kṛṣṇa is actually coming to redeem His devotees.

Some of the pa… associates are His own internal potencies. Some are individual jīva, individual souls. There is different types of energies. Basically, there’s the external energy, the marginal energy, and the internal energy: bahirangā-śakti, taṭasthā-śakti, and the antarangā-śakti. That taṭasthā-śakti is also known as madhyastha-śakti, because it’s in the middle.

Actually, we are this madhyastha-śakti, or the energy, marginal energy. That means that we are non-different from the spiritual energy in our basic nature. But our quantity being minute, infinitesimal. We have a tendency to come under the sway of the external energy, which is this material world.

So the material world, living entities, and then the higher spiritual energy. The spiritual energy is never under the control of the material energy, rather the material energy is considered to be a shadow expansion of the spiritual energy. This was revealed in the pastimes of Lord Caitanya.

One point, Mother Durga, Pārvati, she did tapasyā, worshipping Lord Caitanya in one of the islands of Navadvipa - chanting His holy name, “Gaurāṇga! Gaurāṇga! Gaurāṇga! Gaurāṇga!” Just chanting and chanting until finally Lord Caitanya appeared to her, you see. Then at that time, she fell at Lord Caitanya’s lotus feet and begged Him that, “You’re giving Your mercy to all the fallen souls. You’re delivering everyone, and everyone, they’re all chastising me. Calling me by derogatory names, ‘māyā,’ ‘the witch’. So many different criticisms are there, and in this way, I’m not getting any association with Your devotees. They won’t associate with me, and also, I’m not getting Your mercy. So, in this way, I’m suffering like anything. So therefore, I’m begging You to please have Your mercy upon me. Will You deliver the whole world, and only I will be without Kṛṣṇa prema? Even my husband Lord Śiva has kṛṣṇa-prema, but not me!”

So then, Lord Caitanya benedicted her that, “Here in Navadvipa, you can realize that you are actually the partial expansion of Rādhārāṇī. And therefore here in Navadvīpa-dhāma, you can experience your relationship with Rādhārāṇī, and you can experience that, that pure devotional mood which is emanating from Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī.”

So in this way, then Parvati devi took the dust of Lord Caitanya’s lotus feet and put just in the part of her hair where the ladies put the kuṁkuma, her sīmanta. And from that day, that island in Navadvipa has been known as Simantadvīpa, or the island where Mother Pārvatī has taken the dust of Lord Caitanya, and put on the crown of her head, her sīmanta.

So… But normally it’s a fact that devotees, they’re not very interested in Māya-devī. Ofcourse she is working on behalf of Lord Kṛṣṇa, but she doesn’t get to come before Lord Kṛṣṇa. She has to stay off on the side, on the back. And at best, when Kṛṣṇa looks at His internal potency, the reflection of that glance manifests as Lord Śiva, and the reflection of that glance agitates the material world. And that material energy, then starts to create. The whole creation is set in motion.

So... Actually, Kṛṣṇa has nothing to do directly with… in His Viṣṇu form with His external energy, but she is a faithful servant. And so, Kṛṣṇa expands as a partial expansion as Lord Śiva - as partial expansion of Viṣṇu. And through Lord Śiva directly, Pārvatī gets some association. But directly, she got that benediction from Lord Caitanya in Navadvīpa-dhāma. And she also got that benediction at other times - in Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes she got to appear in different forms.

So, the Lord, or His different energies, they’re actually all under His control. If we think that Kṛṣṇa is somehow under the control, or He is bound by the same laws and restrictions as we are, that is considered to be very offensive, you see. He is always transcendental to all these energies. And if we therefore take shelter of Kṛṣṇa, chant His holy name, remain connected with Him through service, through surrender, then we also become transcendental to His material energy, and we get His direct spiritual shelter.

There would be no meaning to bhakti-yoga, and to taking shelter of Kṛṣṇa, if Kṛṣṇa Himself were subject to the control of the three modes of material nature, you see. The great sages like Lord… even Lord Brahmā the creator, and Narada Muni, and Vyāsadeva, and Lord Caitanya and all of the ācāryas in the disciplic succession, and other successions as well - they have all taken shelter of Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet through bhakti, through devotional service, and easily transcended the three modes of material nature.

Even Śankarācārya admits that Nārāyaṇa is above the three modes, is above the material nature: Nārāyaṇa paro ‘vyaktat. So, because Kṛṣṇa is above, because God is almighty, He is above, you see, from that, using those nomenclatures, the whole material world. Because Kṛṣṇa is transcendental, therefore, if we take shelter of Kṛṣṇa, then we also are able to transcend this material nature, which is causing us so much trouble, as long as we maintain our rebellious attitude.

Once a devotee surrenders to Kṛṣṇa, crosses over the threshold of māyā - the ocean of birth and death - the material energy with folded hands congratulates the devotee for his victory. So, people say the material world is a game and so on. But what the real game is? what the real competition is? - is to conquer the material energy; you can never conquer it. She is far more powerful than any living entity.

The direct way, you cannot conquer her, you see. Just like trying to fight the tar baby, the proverbial here, southern USA tar baby. You’ll get more and more entangled. In fact, there’s an Asian story that just to show that the tar baby story actually comes from India. There’s an Indian story where one prince, he went into the… he heard… He was a very valiant prince, and he would conquer and do so many things. He heard that there was a big demon who had a sticky beard, so much hair, long hair, which was all matted, the beard, and that he was in the forest. But he didn’t care, he was very brave and chivalrous. So, he went into the forest, and then there he saw this demon.

The demon had hair everywhere, was just like spread all over the trees, on the ground and everything, according to the proverb. This is not like a scriptural story or something. This is just like a folktale. I don’t know the exact origin, but this is a very popular folktale of India. So then this prince… It’s been used by the Buddhists actually as… to show something, also in their teachings.

So, he took his spear and threw it in the… at the demon. But it got tangled in his hair, and it didn’t stick. So then he took his sword, and went and chopped, but that also got stuck. His whole hair was all sticky, matty, some substance. Then finally, he hit the demon, and he got stuck and hit again. And finally, he was completely entangled, and he couldn’t get out, you see.

So… The same kind of situation: if you try to directly fight the material nature, then you get defeated. But that prince, also he, outsmarted that demon. Then he said that, “Listen.” Something that, “I’m very hard. If you eat me, you’ll get indigestion.” So, he made some deal, and he got out somehow.

So that thing is like that. The way we can escape māyā is we have to become very, very humble. We have to approach māyā that, “Māyā , you are so powerful. You are so great. I’m just an insignificant living entity. I simply, I just want to serve Kṛṣṇa. I’m not qualified to enjoy.”

And by going deep into the ocean of Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes, Kṛṣṇa’s service, devotional service, it’s like a deep fish going down the nets of māyā . They get all the little fish up on top, jumping up like the fisherman. But if you just stay deep down on the bottom, no net, no line, no sinker, they can’t go that far, you see. They… not the ocean depths, you see. Not in the shallow pools, you may get fishermen. But in the depths of the ocean, 5, 6-7,000, 20,000, I think even in some places feet deep, 5 miles I think it goes actually in some places, but don’t quote me. I’m not exactly sure.

But anyway, the point is that this ocean of Kṛṣṇa bhakti is practically unlimitedly deep; you go in that ocean. It is unlimitedly deep, then you are safe from māyā. But if you want to come up to the top, and if you are optimistic that there is a hope to enjoy in the material world, then you’ll get caught by māyā.

We should be material pessimists. We should be spiritual optimists. We should be very optimistic, very hopeful to get Kṛṣṇa’s mercy by serving Him. And we should be complete pessimists that there’s no hope to be happy in this material world. That this material world is a hopeless place of birth, death, old age, disease. That whatever happiness is here, is flickering. It is insignificant. It is not our real happiness that we are hankering for.

The optimism we should have is that the only real happiness is in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, is in serving the Lord, is in spiritual love for Godhead. That this material world’s happiness is not at all anything worth thinking about. It’s simply a trap to get us more and more entangled.

And if we can absorb ourselves in this way in Kṛṣṇa’s devotional service, then māyā will admit her defeat. And she’ll be very glad to offer her respects to you as you go back to the spiritual world, or as you enter into Kṛṣṇa’s eternal pastimes somewhere in this universe, or in any of the universes in the material world.

jaya śrī kṛṣṇa caitanya prabhu nityānanda
śrī advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādī gaura bhakta vṛṇda

[Aside: So I’ll… Today we’re having a preaching program at LSU, Baton Rouge, and therefore, we all have to go quickly. It’s actually a little late.]