VedaVyasa
Praneetha
The Mad Bhagavatam
11.1.13-15
upasańgṛhya papracchur
antarvatny asitekṣaṇā
prabrūtāmogha-darśanāḥ
(13-15) There were they by the young boys of the Yadu dynasty in a game approached in which Sâmba the son of Jâmbavatî [see also 10.68] had dressed up in woman's clothes. Taking hold of their feet asked they, feigning humility, impudently: 'This black-eyed pregnant woman would like to have a son, o learned ones. But she is too embarrassed to ask it herself. Therefore we ask you whether you, with your vision that is never clouded, can tell whether she'll give birth to a son or not?'
"The impudent behavior of the young Yadus toward the sages headed by Nārada, who were all brāhmaṇas and devotees of the Lord, was a display of deviation from the path of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Similarly, although the prākṛta-sahajiyās think of themselves as intimate associates of Kṛṣṇa, the supremely merciful Lord's determination is perfectly correct in working to finish such false devotees. Such impostors actually never accept real service to Kṛṣṇa. The yadu-kumāras' deception is termed 'seemingly humble,' meaning that in fact they were anything but humble. Therefore, the ridiculing of Vaiṣṇavas by the Lord's family resulted in a great offense against the devotees of the Lord."
A similar incident occurred during the pastimes of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu when His own mother offended Śrī Advaita Ācārya. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu personally rectified this offense against a great Vaiṣṇava, and thus the Lord showed His magnanimity. Lord Kṛṣṇa's pastime of destroying the Yadu dynasty is also a demonstration of His mercy to His devotees.
Believing the brāhmaṇas, Vaiṣṇavas and ṛṣis to be foolishly lacking knowledge in material affairs of sense gratification, the yadu-kumāras dressed Sāmba, the son of Jāmbavatī, as a woman and tried to mock the saintly assembly. Lord Kṛṣṇa wanted to teach that such an offense committed against great devotees by His associate Sāmba would be the cause of the Yadu dynasty's destruction, all as part of His līlā.
In modern times such misbehavior has also manifested itself within the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava community. Unauthorized persons have initiated the process of deceitfully bestowing a woman's dress on their followers. This process is to be counted as a variety of aparādha, or offense against Kṛṣṇa. Such an attempt to cheapen and ridicule devotional service to Kṛṣṇa is certainly caused by envy toward the real Vaiṣṇavas, who are faithfully engaged in devotional service according to the rules and regulations of the Vedic literature. Thus Rūpa Gosvāmī has said:
śruti-smṛti-purāṇādi-
aikāntikī harer bhaktir
utpātāyaiva kalpate
[BRS 1.2.101]
"If one wants to demonstrate his great devotion to the Supreme Lord but his process of devotional service violates the standard rules of revealed scriptures such as śruti, smṛti, Purāṇas and Nārada-pañcarātra, then his alleged love of Godhead will simply disturb society by misleading people from the auspicious path of spiritual advancement." (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.101) The taking of a woman's clothing by a man in kṛṣṇa-līlā was intended to point out this fact. Such an act amounts to cheating and ridicule of the devotees of Kṛṣṇa. Sāmba is a personal associate of the Lord, but acting as a harbinger of the future misfortune to be created in Kali-yuga by bogus followers of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Sāmba displayed this didactic pastime to help the living entities be blessed on the correct path of devotional service.The boys said to the sages, "O ṛṣis, O brāhmaṇas, O Nārada and other great personalities, can you tell us whether it will be a son or a daughter that will be born from this pregnant woman's womb?" By addressing pure Vaiṣṇavas in this way, they anticipated the fraudulent sampradāyas of the modern age in their practice of sakhī-bheka, or dressing men as female associates of the gopīs. This unauthorized activity constitutes contempt and mockery of the pure devotees of the Lord.
Many false yogīs, imagining they are distributing first-class devotion on the liberated platform, attempt to award the status of "pure devotee" to candidates totally ignorant of the transcendental tastes of madhura-rati, or the Lord's conjugal love in the spiritual world. Even though they know that the general populace is unfit to imitate the liberated associates of the Lord, they artificially decorate ordinary persons with the ornaments of spiritual perfection, such as tears, a melted heart, and the standing on end of the bodily hairs. Thus these bogus yogīs introduce a process that misleads the world. Because Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu understood that the great misfortune caused by such false yogīs, or kuyogīs, was impossible to forestall in the Kali-yuga, He infected them with insane desires for material objects of lust so that ordinary persons can easily identify such false yogīs as deviated from the path of pure devotional service.
The mockery of the brāhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇavas by the young boys of the Yadu dynasty who dressed Sāmba in woman's garb, and the resultant destruction of the Yadu dynasty, conclusively demonstrate the uselessness of the sahajiyā-sampradāyas.
11.1.16
evaḿ pralabdhā munayas
(16) o King, the sages thus being tricked said angered to the boys: 'She will bear you, o fools, a mace which will destroy the dynasty!'
The four defects of the conditioned soul, namely the tendency to commit mistakes (bhrama), illusion (pramāda), imperfect senses (karaṇāpāṭava) and the tendency to cheat (vipralipsā), are not found in pure devotees of the Lord. Lord Kṛṣṇa, however, arranged for the young members of His own family, the Yadu dynasty, to exhibit the dangerous lower propensities of mankind. Thus the Yādava boys imitated the activities of the followers of a pseudodevotional cult.
Just before His disappearance, Kṛṣṇa desired that the sages become angry at the young members of the Yadu dynasty, in order to teach that Vaiṣṇavas cannot be thought of as foolish, ignorant or mundane and to reduce the false pride of His own family members. Sometimes misguided persons assume the roles of pseudodevotees and blaspheme the actual process of pure devotional service and the pure devotees who are surrendered to preaching the mission of the Lord. Such foolish pseudodevotees think that their hatred or envy of the actual preaching mission of the Lord constitutes bhakti, but in fact it constitutes the cause of all trouble both for them and for the unfortunate people who follow them. The preachers of pure devotional service expose the pernicious attempts of pseudodevotees, and similarly the sages headed by Nārada, who were all exalted devotees of the Lord, addressed the young boys of the Yadu dynasty as bewildered fools and told them, "Within this false womb or false dress of a sādhu, a club will take birth that will be the source of your dynasty's destruction."
Especially in India, but now also in the Western countries, there is a class of polluted sense enjoyers who also call themselves Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas and pretend to exhibit the highest state of prema-bhakti. They declare that they are on the highest stage of devotion and therefore concerned only with the most intimate affairs of mādhurya-līlā, as exhibited in Vṛndāvana. Sometimes they even dress as gopīs, making a false show of entering into the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa without actually following the standard regulations. In the name of prema-bhakti, they sometimes commit grievous offenses against the pure devotees of Kṛṣṇa. By this incident concerning the iron club from the so-called womb of Sāmba, Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself taught the dangerous results of such pseudodevotion.
11.1.17
vimucya sahasodaram
muṣalaḿ khalv ayasmayam
(17) They, most terrified to hear that, hastily uncovered the belly of Sâmba wherein they indeed found a club made of iron.
Upon hearing the words of the Vaiṣṇavas, headed by Nārada, the Yadu boys lifted the garment covering Sāmba's abdomen and saw the fruit of the offense they had committed against Vaiṣṇavas by their deceit: an actual club was there to destroy their dynasty. This example shows that in a polluted society the club of duplicity can never bring the peace found in the society of devotees. Rather, such duplicity smashes all the nondevotional activities and whimsical doctrines of the pseudodevotees. The Yadu boys were wary about jeopardizing their advanced position and indeed had been thinking that as long as they kept their trickery concealed, others would never be able to detect such sophisticated cheating. Nonetheless, they were unable to protect their family from the reaction of their grievous offense against the devotees of the Lord.
11.1.18
(18) 'What have we done, what will the family say of us? What a bad luck!' Thus being overwhelmed speaking took they the club and went they home.
11.1.19
tac copanīya sadasi
(19) With the beauty of their faces faded, brought they the club to the king [Ugrasena] during a meeting of all the Yadus and told they what had happened.
11.1.20
babhūvur dvārakaukasaḥ
(20) When they saw the club and heard about the infallible curse of the learned, o King, were the inhabitants of Dvârakâ amazed and distraught with fear.
11.1.21
tac cūrṇayitvā muṣalaḿ
lohaḿ cāsyāvaśeṣitam
(21) Having that club ground to bits threw Âhuka [Ugrasena], the Yadu king, the bits together with the remaining iron of the club into the water of the ocean.
King Ugrasena thought, "Sāmba and the others should not feel any shame or fear," and thus without even consulting Śrī Kṛṣṇa he ordered the club ground to bits and thrown into the water, along with a small iron lump that remained, which he considered insignificant.
11.1.22
kaścin matsyo 'grasīl lohaḿ
lagnāny āsan kilairakāḥ
(22) The lump was swallowed by some fish. The bits were from that place by the waves carried away and washed ashore where they grew into sharp canes [called eraka].
11.1.23
matsyo gṛhīto matsya-ghnair
jālenānyaiḥ sahārṇave
(23) The fish in the ocean was together with others caught in a net by a fisherman. The piece of iron contained in the fish's stomach was fixed by a hunter [called Jarâ] on an arrow [as an arrowhead].
11.1.24
kāla-rūpy anvamodata
(24) The Supreme Lord very well knowing the meaning of all that happened, didn't want to undo what had passed though and accepted, exhibiting His form of Time, the curse of the brahmins.'
Ordinary persons may be surprised or bewildered that the Lord gladly sanctioned the cursing and destruction of His own dynasty. The word anvamodata used here indicates taking pleasure in something, or giving sanction or approval. It is also mentioned, kāla-rūpī: Kṛṣṇa gladly gave His sanction to the brāhmaṇas' curse in the form of time. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Prabhupāda has commented that the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇacandra, decided to maintain the curse intact in order to protect the actual principles of religion and destroy the unbecoming offense of the deceitful members of the Kārṣṇa dynasty. It is clearly explained in Bhagavad-gītā that the whole purpose of the Lord's descent into the material world is to reestablish the authentic principles of religion by which the conditioned souls who are suffering intensely under the laws of material nature can regain their original existential status as eternally liberated servants of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. The living entity comes to this material world with a desire to lord it over material nature, although the living entity is in fact not a lord but an eternal servant. Due to this perverted tendency to exploit the entire world for his sense gratification, the living entity is also prone to try to pervert the principles of spiritual life so that the eternal religious principles become appropriate to his own material sense gratification. Religion, however, is meant for pleasing the Supreme Lord by obeying His laws. And therefore Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself personally comes from time to time to revive and enliven the correct method of devotional service to His lotus feet. In the Eleventh Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is clearly stated that Lord Kṛṣṇa had completed the vast majority of His pastimes on the earth and was now making the final arrangements for His departure. Therefore, He wished to leave behind a vivid lesson for the living entities of this age that any so-called religious person, even if he is so exalted as to take birth in the Lord's personal family, cannot violate the respect and reverence which is due to the pure devotees of the Lord, such as Nārada Muni. The principle of serving the pure devotee of Kṛṣṇa is so essential for spiritual advancement that the Lord exhibited the inconceivable pastime of causing the destruction of His entire dynasty just to impress this point upon the conditioned souls of Kali-yuga.
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam hints at the great misfortunes that would come after the disappearance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Such misfortunes also occurred after the disappearance of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who is accepted by Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas as Kṛṣṇa Himself. Through various instructions, the Bhāgavatam provides for eliminating the cheating pseudoreligion that comes forth in human society after the departure of the Lord.
Lord Caitanya, exhibiting His magnanimous pastimes, drove away from South India all the false doctrines of the apasampradāyas, or so-called disciplic traditions of pseudodevotees, who had gained great influence by resorting to the atheistic theories of the Buddhists and Jains. Thus He turned all of India toward the devotional service of Lord Kṛṣṇa, so that due to the extensive preaching of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu and His followers there remained no topic of discussion in the world other than devotional service to the Supreme Lord. Tridaṇḍipāda Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī has elaborated on this in his verse strī-putrādi-kathāḿ jahur viṣayiṇaḥ.
Śrī Narahari Sarakāra Ṭhākura, in his book Kṛṣṇa-bhajanāmṛta, has corrected the improper statements of the gaurāńga-nāgarī-vādīs, sakhībheka-vādīs, and others of the eleven pseudodisciplic chains that claim to follow Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. These unauthorized persons present cheating in the guise of religion and advertise their duplicity as kathā, or pure worship of the Lord. Just as Kṛṣṇa brought about a furious quarrel to destroy His own family, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu arranged for the world to be flooded by varieties of Māyāvāda and karma-vāda philosophies just after His disappearance. He did this to destroy persons who belonged to the eleven apasampradāyas, or unauthorized disciplic traditions, as well as the many other apasampradāyas that would appear in the future and presume to call themselves devotees of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu or pretend to be descendants in His family line. At the same time, Caitanya Mahāprabhu arranged for His own men to be kept away from the pseudodevotion of these cheaters. The devotees of Lord Gaurasundara, Caitanya Mahāprabhu, can discern the mysteries of His pastimes that manifest in the pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa. The activities of the transcendental body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead cannot be understood in any ordinary mundane way. That is the essential meaning of this chapter.
Thus end of the Eleventh Canto, First Chapter, of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, entitled "The Curse Upon the Yadu Dynasty."
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