VedaVyasa
Praneetha
The Mad Bhagavatam
Chapter 14: Brahmā's Prayers to Lord Kṛṣṇa
This chapter describes the prayers Brahmā offered to Lord Kṛṣṇa, who is also known as Nanda-nandana.
For His satisfaction, Brahmā first praised the beauty of the Lord's transcendental limbs and then declared that His original identity of sweetness is even more difficult to comprehend than His opulence. Only by the devotional process of hearing and chanting transcendental sounds received from Vedic authorities can one realize the Personality of Godhead. It is fruitless to try to realize God through processes outside the scope of Vedic authority.
The mystery of the Personality of Godhead, who is the reservoir of unlimited spiritual qualities, is inconceivable; it is even more difficult to understand than the impersonal Supreme. Thus only by the mercy of God can one understand His glories. Finally realizing this, Brahmā repeatedly condemned his own actions and recognized that Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the ultimate shelter of the universe, is Brahmā's own father, the original Nārāyaṇa. In this way Brahmā begged the Lord's forgiveness.
Brahmā then glorified the inconceivable opulence of the Personality of Godhead and described the ways in which Brahmā and Śiva differ from Lord Viṣṇu, the reason for the Supreme Lord's appearance in various species of demigods, animals and so on, the eternal nature of the pastimes of the Personality of Godhead, and the temporality of the material world. By knowing the Supreme Personality in truth, the individual spirit soul can achieve liberation from bondage. In actuality, however, both liberation and bondage are unreal, for it is only from the living entity's conditioned outlook that his bondage and liberation are produced. Thinking the personal form of Lord Kṛṣṇa illusory, fools reject His lotus feet and look elsewhere to find the Supreme Self. But the futility of their search is the obvious proof of their foolishness. There is simply no way to understand the truth of the Personality of Godhead without His mercy.
Having established this conclusion, Lord Brahmā analyzed the great good fortune of the residents of Vraja and then personally prayed to be born there even as a blade of grass, a bush or a creeper. Indeed, the homes of the residents of Vṛndāvana are not prisons of material existence but rather abodes envied even by the jñānīs and yogīs. On the other hand, any home without a connection to Lord Kṛṣṇa is in fact a prison cell of material existence. Finally, Brahmā offered his whole self at the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord and, praising Him again and again, circumambulated Him and took his leave.
Lord Kṛṣṇa then gathered the animals Brahmā stole and led them to the place on the Yamunā's bank where the cowherd boys had been taking lunch. The same friends who had been present before were sitting there now. By the power of Kṛṣṇa's illusory energy, they were not at all aware of what had happened. Thus when Kṛṣṇa arrived with the calves, the boys told Him, "You've returned so quickly! Very good. As long as You were gone we couldn't take even a morsel of food, so come and eat."
Laughing at the words of the cowherd boys, Lord Kṛṣṇa began taking His meal in their company. While eating, Kṛṣṇa pointed out to His young friends the skin of the python, and the boys thought, "Kṛṣṇa has just now killed this terrible snake." Indeed, later they related to the residents of Vṛndāvana the incident of Kṛṣṇa's killing the Agha demon. In this way, the cowherd boys described pastimes that Lord Kṛṣṇa had performed in His bālya age (one to five), even though His paugaṇḍa age (six to ten) had begun.
Śukadeva Gosvāmī concludes this chapter by explaining how the gopīs loved Lord Kṛṣṇa even more than they loved their own sons.
10.14.1
śrī-brahmovāca
guñjāvataḿsa-paripiccha-lasan-mukhāya
SB 10.14.1: Lord Brahmā said: My dear Lord, You are the only worshipable Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and therefore I offer my humble obeisances and prayers just to please You. O son of the king of the cowherds, Your transcendental body is dark blue like a new cloud, Your garment is brilliant like lightning, and the beauty of Your face is enhanced by Your guñjā earrings and the peacock feather on Your head. Wearing garlands of various forest flowers and leaves, and equipped with a herding stick, a buffalo horn and a flute, You stand beautifully with a morsel of food in Your hand.
In the previous chapter Brahmā, the creator of the universe, tried to bewilder the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Kṛṣṇa, by stealing His cowherd boyfriends and calves. But by a slight exhibition of Kṛṣṇa's own mystic potency, Brahmā himself was completely bewildered, and now with great humility and devotion he offers his humble obeisances and prayers unto the Lord.The word kavala in this verse refers to a morsel of rice mixed with yogurt that Kṛṣṇa held in His left hand. According to Sanātana Gosvāmī, the Lord held a cowherding stick and a buffalo horn pressed under His left arm, and His flute was placed under His belt. Beautiful young Kṛṣṇa, decorated with multicolored forest minerals, exhibited opulences far greater than those of Vaikuṇṭha. Although Brahmā had seen innumerable four-armed forms of the Lord, he now surrendered unto the lotus feet of the two-armed form of Kṛṣṇa, who appeared as the son of Nanda Mahārāja. Brahmā offered his prayers to that form.
10.14.2
asyāpi deva vapuṣo mad-anugrahasya
SB 10.14.2: My dear Lord, neither I nor anyone else can estimate the potency of this transcendental body of Yours, which has shown such mercy to me and which appears just to fulfill the desires of Your pure devotees. Although my mind is completely withdrawn from material affairs, I cannot understand Your personal form. How, then, could I possibly understand the happiness You experience within Yourself?
In Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Volume One, Chapter Fourteen, Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that in the present verse Lord Brahmā expressed the following prayerful sentiment: "Your appearance as a cowherd child is for the benefit of the devotees, and although I have committed offenses at Your lotus feet by stealing away Your cows, boys and calves, I can understand that You are now showing me Your mercy. That is Your transcendental quality: You are very affectionate toward Your devotees. Yet in spite of Your affection for me, I cannot estimate the potency of Your bodily activities. It is to be understood that when I, Lord Brahmā, the supreme personality of this universe, cannot estimate the childlike body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then what to speak of others? And if I cannot estimate the spiritual potency of Your childlike body, then what can I understand about Your transcendental pastimes? Therefore, as it is said in the Bhagavad-gītā, anyone who can understand a little of the transcendental pastimes, appearance and disappearance of the Lord immediately becomes eligible to enter the kingdom of God after quitting the material body. This statement is confirmed in the Vedas, and it is stated simply: By understanding the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one can overcome the chain of repeated birth and death. I therefore recommend that people should not try to understand You by their speculative knowledge."When Brahmā disrespected the supreme status of the Personality of Godhead, Lord Kṛṣṇa first bewildered him by exhibiting the Lord's own transcendental power. Then, having humbled His devotee Brahmā, Kṛṣṇa gave him His personal audience.
According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, Lord Kṛṣṇa's transcendental body can also function through the agency of His plenary expansions, called viṣṇu-tattva. As stated by Brahmā himself in the Brahma-saḿhitā (5.32): ańgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛttimanti. This verse indicates not only that the Lord can perform any bodily function with any of His limbs but also that He can see through the eyes of His Viṣṇu expansions or, indeed, through the eyes of any living entity, and similarly that He can hear through the ears of any Viṣṇu or jīva expansion. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura points out that although the Lord can perform any function with any one of His senses, in His transcendental pastimes as Śrī Kṛṣṇa He generally sees with His eyes, touches with His hands, hears with His ears and so on. Thus He behaves like the most beautiful and charming young cowherd boy.
The Vedic knowledge expands from Lord Brahmā, who is described in the first verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as ādi-kavi, the primeval Vedic scholar. Yet Brahmā could not understand the transcendental body of Lord Kṛṣṇa, because it is beyond the reach of ordinary Vedic knowledge. Among all the transcendental forms of the Lord, the two-armed form of Govinda — Kṛṣṇa — is original and supreme. Thus Lord Govinda's pastimes of stealing butter, drinking the gopīs' breast-milk, tending the calves, playing His flute and playing childhood sports are extraordinary even in comparison with the activities of the Lord's Viṣṇu expansions.
10.14.3
SB 10.14.3: Those who, even while remaining situated in their established social positions, throw away the process of speculative knowledge and with their body, words and mind offer all respects to descriptions of Your personality and activities, dedicating their lives to these narrations, which are vibrated by You personally and by Your pure devotees, certainly conquer Your Lordship, although You are otherwise unconquerable by anyone within the three worlds.
Here the word udapāsya clearly indicates that one should not even slightly endeavor to understand the Absolute Truth by the process of mental speculation, for it invariably carries one to an imperfect, impersonal understanding of God. The word jīvanti indicates that a devotee who always hears about Lord Kṛṣṇa will go back home, back to Godhead, even if he can do nothing except maintain his existence and hear topics concerning the Lord.Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī has explained the words tanu-vāń-manobhiḥ ("by the body, words and mind") in three ways. In reference to devotees, through their body, words and mind they are able to conquer Lord Kṛṣṇa. Thus becoming perfect in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they can touch His lotus feet with their hands, call Him to come with their words, and attain His direct audience within their mind simply by thinking about Him.
In the case of nondevotees, the words tanu-vāń-manobhiḥ refer to the word ajita, "unconquered," and indicate that those not engaged in the loving service of Lord Kṛṣṇa cannot conquer the Absolute Truth by their bodily strength, verbal expertise or mental power. Despite all their endeavors, the ultimate truth remains beyond their reach.
In reference to the word jitaḥ, "conquered," the words tanu-vāń-manobhiḥ indicate that the pure devotees of Lord Kṛṣṇa conquer His body, words and mind. Lord Kṛṣṇa's body is conquered because He always remains by the side of His pure devotees; Lord Kṛṣṇa's words are conquered because He always chants the glories of His devotees; and Lord Kṛṣṇa's mind is conquered because He always thinks about His loving devotees.
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura has explained the words tanu-vāń-manobhiḥ in regard to the word namantaḥ, "offering obeisances." He explains that the devotees can take full advantage of the transcendental topics of the Lord by offering all respects to those topics with their body, words and mind. One should engage his body by touching the ground with his hands and head while offering obeisances to the topics of the Lord; one should engage his words by praising transcendental literatures such as Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, as well as the devotees who are preaching such literatures; and one should engage his mind by feeling great reverence and pleasure while hearing the transcendental topics of the Lord. In this way, a sincere devotee who has acquired even a small amount of transcendental knowledge about Lord Kṛṣṇa can conquer Him and thus go back home, back to Godhead, for eternal life at the Lord's side.
10.14.4
SB 10.14.4: My dear Lord, devotional service unto You is the best path for self-realization. If someone gives up that path and engages in the cultivation of speculative knowledge, he will simply undergo a troublesome process and will not achieve his desired result. As a person who beats an empty husk of wheat cannot get grain, one who simply speculates cannot achieve self-realization. His only gain is trouble.
Loving service to the Supreme Person is the natural and eternal function of every living entity. If a person renounces his own constitutional function and instead laboriously seeks so-called enlightenment through impersonal, speculative knowledge, his result is simply the trouble and bother that come from following an artificial process. A fool may beat an empty husk, not knowing that the grain has already been removed. Similarly foolish is the person who throws his mind again and again into the pursuit of knowledge without surrendering to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, for it is the Supreme Personality of Godhead who is the very substance and goal of knowledge, just as grain is the substance and goal of the entire agricultural effort. Vedic knowledge or, indeed, material science without the Personality of Godhead is exactly like an empty and useless husk of wheat.One may argue that by practicing yoga or cultivating impersonal knowledge one can acquire prestige, wealth, mystic powers or even impersonal liberation. But these so-called gains are actually useless, because they do not situate the living being in his constitutional position of loving service to the Supreme Lord. Therefore such results, being superfluous to the living being's essential nature, are impermanent. As stated in the Nṛsiḿha Purāṇa, patreṣu puṣpeṣu phaleṣu toyeṣv akrīta-labhyeṣu vadaiva satsu/ bhaktyā su-labhye puruṣe purāṇe muktyai kim arthaḿ kriyate prayatnaḥ: "Since the primeval Personality of Godhead is easily attained by offering Him such things as leaves, flowers, fruits and water, which are all found without difficulty, why does one need to endeavor for liberation separately?"
Although the process of devotional service to Lord Kṛṣṇa is very simple, it is extremely difficult for stubborn conditioned souls to completely humble themselves before the Supreme Personality of Godhead and absorb themselves twenty-four hours a day in His loving service. The mood of loving service is anathema to belligerent conditioned souls determined to defy God and enjoy. When such stubborn conditioned souls attempt to bypass surrendering to God through proud attempts at philosophical speculation, austerity, and yoga, they are turned back to the material platform by the powerful laws of God and violently merged into the heaving ocean of insignificance called the material world.
10.14.5
pureha bhūman bahavo 'pi yoginas
vibudhya bhaktyaiva kathopanītayā
SB 10.14.5: O almighty Lord, in the past many yogīs in this world achieved the platform of devotional service by offering all their endeavors unto You and faithfully carrying out their prescribed duties. Through such devotional service, perfected by the processes of hearing and chanting about You, they came to understand You, O infallible one, and could easily surrender to You and achieve Your supreme abode.
10.14.6
avikriyāt svānubhavād arūpato
SB 10.14.6: Nondevotees, however, cannot realize You in Your full personal feature. Nevertheless, it may be possible for them to realize Your expansion as the impersonal Supreme by cultivating direct perception of the Self within the heart. But they can do this only by purifying their mind and senses of all conceptions of material distinctions and all attachment to material sense objects. Only in this way will Your impersonal feature manifest itself to them.
10.14.7
bhū-pāḿśavaḥ khe mihikā dyu-bhāsaḥ
SB 10.14.7: In time, learned philosophers or scientists might be able to count all the atoms of the earth, the particles of snow, or perhaps even the shining molecules radiating from the sun, the stars and other luminaries. But among these learned men, who could possibly count the unlimited transcendental qualities possessed by You, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who have descended onto the surface of the earth for the benefit of all living entities?
that Lord Kṛṣṇa is guṇātmā, "the soul of all superior qualities," because He gives them life. For example, one may discuss in an abstract way such qualities as generosity, intelligence and mercy, but they come to life only when a living person exhibits them. Thus Lord Kṛṣṇa is guṇātmā because He descends to the material world and reestablishes religious principles by exhibiting all godly qualities Himself and inspiring them in others. A living entity who develops the transcendental qualities found in the Lord receives immeasurable benefit and eventually goes with the Lord back to His own abode, where all living beings are liberated and fully endowed with the transcendental nature.Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī further explains that the Lord manifests a specific spiritual quality for the benefit of each living entity. Since there are innumerable living entities within the confines of the material creation, the Lord manifests infinite qualities. Thus every conditioned soul can appreciate the Supreme Lord in a particular way.
The example is given here that even if the most learned scholars could someday count the particles of earth, snow and light, they would still fail to understand the qualities of the Lord. In this example earth, snow and light are progressively more subtle; thus it is to be understood that there is an increasing difficulty in counting their virtually infinite particles.
According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, great personalities like Lord Sańkarṣaṇa actually have counted the number of atoms on the earth, and even the molecules in the entire universe. Yet even such a personality as Sańkarṣaṇa, who has been continuously chanting the glories of the Lord since time immemorial, has not even approached a final count of those glories.
Lord Kṛṣṇa exhibits His most astonishing qualities during His childhood pastimes in Vṛndāvana, where He steals butter from the cowherd ladies, dances with His girlfriends, and plays with His cowherd boyfriends as their most dear companion. Although appearing like ordinary human activities, such sublime pastimes embody Lord Kṛṣṇa's immeasurable and innumerable beautiful transcendental qualities, which are the life and soul of the pure devotees.
10.14.8
SB 10.14.8: My dear Lord, one who earnestly waits for You to bestow Your causeless mercy upon him, all the while patiently suffering the reactions of his past misdeeds and offering You respectful obeisances with his heart, words and body, is surely eligible for liberation, for it has become his rightful claim.
in his commentary that just as a legitimate son has to simply remain alive to gain an inheritance from his father, one who simply remains alive in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, following the regulative principles of bhakti-yoga, automatically becomes eligible to receive the mercy of the Personality of Godhead. In other words, he will be promoted to the kingdom of God.The word su-samīkṣamāṇa indicates that a devotee earnestly awaits the mercy of the Supreme Lord even while suffering the painful effects of previous sinful activities. Lord Kṛṣṇa explains in the Bhagavad-gītā that a devotee who fully surrenders unto Him is no longer liable to suffer the reactions of his previous karma. However, because in his mind a devotee may still maintain the remnants of his previous sinful mentality, the Lord removes the last vestiges of the enjoying spirit by giving His devotee punishments that may sometimes resemble sinful reactions. The purpose of the entire creation of God is to rectify the living entity's tendency to enjoy without the Lord, and therefore the particular punishment given for a sinful activity is specifically designed to curtail the mentality that produced the activity. Although a devotee has surrendered to the Lord's devotional service, until he is completely perfect in Kṛṣṇa consciousness he may maintain a slight inclination to enjoy the false happiness of this world. The Lord therefore creates a particular situation to eradicate this remaining enjoying spirit. This unhappiness suffered by a sincere devotee is not technically a karmic reaction; it is rather the Lord's special mercy for inducing His devotee to completely let go of the material world and return home, back to Godhead.
A sincere devotee earnestly desires to go back to the Lord's abode. Therefore he willingly accepts the Lord's merciful punishment and continues offering respects and obeisances to the Lord with his heart, words and body. Such a bona fide servant of the Lord, considering all hardship a small price to pay for gaining the personal association of the Lord, certainly becomes a legitimate son of God, as indicated here by the words dāya-bhāk. Just as one cannot approach the sun without becoming fire, one cannot approach the supreme pure, Lord Kṛṣṇa, without undergoing a rigid purificatory process, which may appear like suffering but which is in fact a curative treatment administered by the personal hand of the Lord.
10.14.9
māyāḿ vitatyekṣitum ātma-vaibhavaḿ
SB 10.14.9: My Lord, just see my uncivilized impudence! To test Your power I tried to extend my illusory potency to cover You, the unlimited and primeval Supersoul, who bewilder even the masters of illusion. What am I compared to You? I am just like a small spark in the presence of a great fire.
A great fire produces many sparks, which are insignificant in comparison to it. Indeed, if one of the small sparks were to try to burn the original fire, the attempt would be simply ludicrous. Similarly, even the creator of the entire universe, Lord Brahmā, is an insignificant spark of the potency of God, and therefore Brahmā's attempt to bewilder the Supreme Lord was certainly ludicrous.Brahmā here addresses Lord Kṛṣṇa as īśa, which indicates that Kṛṣṇa is not only the supreme master of everyone but is also specifically the master of Brahmā, who creates the universe directly under the guidance of the Lord and who, indeed, is born directly from the Lord's own body.
Brahmā felt ashamed of his impudent attempt at deluding Lord Kṛṣṇa, and he was therefore perfectly willing to be punished or forgiven by the Lord, according to His decision. If Lord Kṛṣṇa does not mercifully punish His devotees when they act improperly, their foolishness will simply increase and gradually completely overwhelm their devotional sentiments. Therefore Lord Kṛṣṇa kindly disciplines His devotees and maintains them on the progressive path back home, back to Godhead.
10.14.10
ataḥ kṣamasvācyuta me rajo-bhuvo
ajāvalepāndha-tamo-'ndha-cakṣuṣa
SB 10.14.10: Therefore, O infallible Lord, kindly excuse my offenses. I have taken birth in the mode of passion and am therefore simply foolish, presuming myself a controller independent of Your Lordship. My eyes are blinded by the darkness of ignorance, which causes me to think of myself as the unborn creator of the universe. But please consider that I am Your servant and therefore worthy of Your compassion.
that Brahmā wanted to present the following argument to the Lord: "My dear Lord, because I have acted so badly I certainly deserve to be punished. On the other hand, because I am so ignorant You should consider me an innocent fool and be merciful to me. Thus, although I deserve both punishment and forgiveness, I humbly beg You to exercise tolerance in this matter and simply forgive me and show me Your mercy."The words nāthavān iti indicate that Lord Brahmā wanted to humbly remind Lord Kṛṣṇa that He was, after all, Brahmā's father and master and should therefore forgive the unfortunate transgressions of His humble servant. Every conditioned soul, whether he be Lord Brahmā or an insignificant ant, falsely identifies himself with the material world and in this way forgets his eternal relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Lord Brahmā, because of his prestigious position as the cosmic creator, also tends to identify himself as the lord of this world, and thus he sometimes forgets his position as an insignificant servant of the Supreme Lord. Now, by Lord Kṛṣṇa's mercy, this false identification is being rectified and Lord Brahmā is remembering his constitutional position as the eternal servant of God.
10.14.11
kvedṛg-vidhāvigaṇitāṇḍa-parāṇu-caryā-
SB 10.14.11: What am I, a small creature measuring seven spans of my own hand? I am enclosed in a potlike universe composed of material nature, the total material energy, false ego, ether, air, water and earth. And what is Your glory? Unlimited universes pass through the pores of Your body just as particles of dust pass through the openings of a screened window.
"Then Lord Brahmā, after having stolen all Kṛṣṇa's cows and cowherd boys, returned and saw that the cows and boys were still roaming with Kṛṣṇa, he offered this prayer in his defeat. A conditioned soul — even one so great as Brahmā, who manages the affairs of the entire universe — cannot compare to the Personality of Godhead, for He can produce numberless universes simply by the spiritual rays emanating from the pores of His body. Material scientists should take lessons from the utterances of Śrī Brahmā regarding our insignificance in comparison with God. In these prayers of Brahmā there is much to learn for those who are falsely puffed up by the accumulation of power."In Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Volume One, Chapter Fourteen, Śrīla Prabhupāda further comments on this verse: "Lord Brahmā realized his actual position. He is certainly the supreme teacher of this universe, in charge of the production of material nature, which consists of the complete material elements, false ego, sky, air, fire, water and earth. Such a universe may be gigantic, but it can be measured, just as we measure our body as seven spans. Generally, everyone's personal bodily measurement is calculated to be seven spans of his hand. This particular universe may appear to be a very gigantic body, but it is nothing but the measurement of seven spans for Lord Brahmā."
Aside from this universe, there are unlimited other universes outside the jurisdiction of this particular Lord Brahmā. Just as innumerable atomic infinitesimal fragments pass through the holes of a screened window, so millions and trillions of universes in their seedling form are coming out from the bodily pores of Mahā-Viṣṇu, and that Mahā-Viṣṇu is but a part of the plenary expansion of Kṛṣṇa. Under these circumstances, although Lord Brahmā is the supreme creature within this universe, what is his importance in the presence of Lord Kṛṣṇa?
10.14.12
kim asti-nāsti-vyapadeśa-bhūṣitaḿ
tavāsti kukṣeḥ kiyad apy anantaḥ
SB 10.14.12: O Lord Adhokṣaja, does a mother take offense when the child within her womb kicks with his legs? And is there anything in existence — whether designated by various philosophers as real or as unreal — that is actually outside Your abdomen?
in Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Volume One, Chapter Fourteen: "Lord Brahmā therefore compared himself to a little child within the womb of his mother. If the child within the womb plays with his hands and legs, and while playing touches the body of the mother, is the mother offended with this child? Of course she isn't. Similarly, Lord Brahmā may be a very great personality, and yet not only Brahmā but everything that exists is within the womb of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Lord's energy is all-pervading; there is no place in the creation where it is not acting. Everything is existing within the energy of the Lord, so the Brahmā of this universe or the Brahmās of the many other millions and trillions of universes are existing within the energy of the Lord. Therefore the Lord is considered to be the mother, and everything existing within the womb of the mother is considered to be the child. And the good mother is never offended with the child, even if he touches the body of the mother by kicking his legs."
10.14.13
jagat-trayāntodadhi-samplavode
SB 10.14.13: My dear Lord, it is said that when the three planetary systems are merged into the water at the time of dissolution, Your plenary portion, Nārāyaṇa, lies down on the water, gradually a lotus flower grows from His navel, and Brahmā takes birth upon that lotus flower. Certainly, these words are not false. Thus am I not born from You?
10.14.14
SB 10.14.14: Are You not the original Nārāyaṇa, O supreme controller, since You are the Soul of every embodied being and the eternal witness of all created realms? Indeed, Lord Nārāyaṇa is Your expansion, and He is called Nārāyaṇa because He is the generating source of the primeval water of the universe. He is real, not a product of Your illusory Māyā.
"This statement was spoken by Lord Brahmā in his prayers to Lord Kṛṣṇa after the Lord defeated him by displaying His mystic powers. Brahmā had tried to test Lord Kṛṣṇa to see if He was really the Supreme Personality of Godhead playing as a cowherd boy. Brahmā stole all the other boys and their cows from the pasturing grounds, but when he returned to the pastures he saw that all the boys and cows were still there, for Lord Kṛṣṇa had created them all again. When Brahmā saw this mystic power of Lord Kṛṣṇa, he admitted defeat and offered prayers to the Lord, addressing Him as the proprietor and seer of everything in the creation and as the Supersoul who is within each and every living entity and is dear to all. Lord Kṛṣṇa is Nārāyaṇa, the father of Brahmā, because Lord Kṛṣṇa's plenary expansion Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, after placing Himself on the Garbha Ocean, created Brahmā from His own body. Mahā-Viṣṇu in the Causal Ocean and Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, the Supersoul in everyone's heart, are also transcendental expansions of the Supreme Truth."In his commentary on this verse, Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī has elaborately explained the expansion of the Viṣṇu, or Nārāyaṇa, incarnations from the original form of Godhead, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. The essence is that although Lord Brahmā was born from Lord Nārāyaṇa, Brahmā now understands that Nārāyaṇa is Himself a mere expansion of the original Personality of Godhead, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
10.14.15
kiḿ me na dṛṣṭaḿ bhagavaḿs tadaiva
kiḿ vā su-dṛṣṭaḿ hṛdi me tadaiva
SB 10.14.15: My dear Lord, if Your transcendental body, which shelters the entire universe, is actually lying upon the water, then why were You not seen by me when I searched for You? And why, though I could not envision You properly within my heart, did You then suddenly reveal Yourself?
Lord Brahmā here refers to his experience at the dawn of cosmic creation. As described in the Second Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Lord Brahmā took birth on the seat of a giant lotus whose stem emanated from the navel of Nārāyaṇa. Brahmā was bewildered as to his whereabouts, function and identity, and therefore he tried to trace out the source of the lotus stem, searching for clear information. Unable to find the Personality of Godhead, he returned to his seat and engaged in severe austerities, having been ordered to do so by the transcendental voice of the Lord, who could be heard but not seen. After long meditation, Brahmā saw the Lord but then again lost sight of Him. Thus Brahmā concludes that the transcendental body of the Personality of Godhead is not material but rather an eternal, spiritual form endowed with inconceivable mystic potencies. In other words, Lord Brahmā should not have challenged the Personality of Godhead, the Lord of all mystic power.
10.14.16
atraiva māyā-dhamanāvatāre
kṛtsnasya cāntar jaṭhare jananyā
SB 10.14.16: My dear Lord, in this incarnation You have proved that You are the supreme controller of Māyā. Although You are now within this universe, the whole universal creation is within Your transcendental body — a fact You demonstrated by exhibiting the universe within Your abdomen before Your mother, Yaśodā.
Lord Brahmā here describes the inconceivable spiritual potency of the Lord. We may find a pot within a house, but we can hardly expect to find the house within the same pot. By the Lord's spiritual potency, however, He can appear within this universe and simultaneously exhibit all the universes within His body. One may argue that since the universes seen by mother Yaśodā within Lord Kṛṣṇa's abdomen were within the Lord's body, they are different from the illusory material universes manifest externally. Here Lord Brahmā refutes that argument, however. Lord Kṛṣṇa is māyā-dhamana, the supreme controller of illusion. By the Lord's own supreme mystic potency, He can bewilder even illusion herself, and thus the Lord actually exhibited all the material universes within His body. This is māyātvam, the supreme bewildering potency of the Personality of Godhead.
10.14.17
SB 10.14.17: Just as this entire universe, including You, was exhibited within Your abdomen, so it is now manifested here externally in the same exact form. How could such things happen unless arranged by Your inconceivable energy?
10.14.18
SB 10.14.18: Have You not shown me today that both You Yourself and everything within this creation are manifestations of Your inconceivable potency? First You appeared alone, and then You manifested Yourself as all of Vṛndāvana's calves and cowherd boys, Your friends. Next You appeared as an equal number of four-handed Viṣṇu forms, who were worshiped by all living beings, including me, and after that You appeared as an equal number of complete universes. Finally, You have now returned to Your unlimited form as the Supreme Absolute Truth, one without a second.
As stated in the Vedic literature, sarvaḿ khalv idaḿ brahma: everything that exists is an expansion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Thus everything is ultimately part and parcel of the Lord's spiritual existence. By Lord Kṛṣṇa's causeless mercy, Lord Brahmā personally experienced that all existence, being the potency of God, is nondifferent from Him.
10.14.19
sṛṣṭāv ivāhaḿ jagato vidhāna
SB 10.14.19: To persons ignorant of Your actual transcendental position, You appear as part of the material world, manifesting Yourself by the expansion of Your inconceivable energy. Thus for the creation of the universe You appear as me [Brahmā], for its maintenance You appear as Yourself [Viṣṇu], and for its annihilation You appear as Lord Trinetra [Śiva].
Although the impersonal Māyāvādī philosophers think that the demigods are illusory, Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva and Lord Viṣṇu are stated here to be expansions of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and are thus real. Indeed, they are the extraordinarily powerful controllers of the universe. The ultimate truth is a supreme and beautiful person, and thus throughout the creation of God we will always find the personal touch.
10.14.20
SB 10.14.20: O Lord, O supreme creator and master, You have no material birth, yet to defeat the false pride of the faithless demons and show mercy to Your saintly devotees, You take birth among the demigods, sages, human beings, animals and even the aquatics.
Among the demigods Lord Kṛṣṇa appears in such forms as Vāmanadeva, among the sages as Paraśurāma, among human beings as Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself and as Lord Rāmacandra, and among animals as the boar incarnation. Lord Kṛṣṇa appears among the aquatics as Matsya, the gigantic fish. Indeed, the plenary expansions of the Supreme Personality of Godhead are innumerable, as the Lord relentlessly comes down within the universes to smash the false pride of the atheists and show mercy to the saintly devotees.In another sense, the Lord never appears, since He exists eternally. His appearance is like that of the sun, which is always present in the sky but which periodically appears to our vision.
10.14.21
SB 10.14.21: O supreme great one! O Supreme Personality of Godhead! O Supersoul, master of all mystic power! Your pastimes are taking place continuously in these three worlds, but who can estimate where, how and when You are employing Your spiritual energy and performing these innumerable pastimes? No one can understand the mystery of how Your spiritual energy acts.
Brahmā previously stated that Lord Kṛṣṇa incarnates among the demigods, human beings, animals, fish and so on. This does not mean, however, that the Lord is degraded by His incarnations. As Brahmā clarifies here, no conditioned soul can understand the transcendental nature of the Lord's activities, which He enacts through His spiritual potency. Although the Lord is bhūman, the supremely great one, He is still Bhagavān, the supremely beautiful personality exhibiting pastimes of love in His own abode. At the same time He is Paramātmā, the all-pervading Supersoul, who witnesses and sanctions all the activities of conditioned souls. The Lord's multiple identity is explained by the term yogeśvara. The Absolute Truth is the master of all mystic potencies, and although He is one and supreme, He manifests His greatness and opulence in many different ways.Such elevated spiritual matters can hardly be understood by foolish persons primitively identifying themselves with the insignificant material body. These conditioned souls, such as atheistic scientists, consider their own puffed-up intelligence supreme. Gullibly placing their firm faith in material illusion, they are captured by the modes of nature and driven far away from knowledge of God.
10.14.22
svapnābham asta-dhiṣaṇaḿ puru-duḥkha-duḥkham
SB 10.14.22: Therefore this entire universe, which like a dream is by nature unreal, nevertheless appears real, and thus it covers one's consciousness and assails one with repeated miseries. This universe appears real because it is manifested by the potency of illusion emanating from You, whose unlimited transcendental forms are full of eternal happiness and knowledge.
As an object of enjoyment or a permanent residence for the conditioned souls, the material universe is certainly illusion, nothing more than a dream. One may give the analogy that the vision of abundant water in a desert is no more than a dream, although real water exists elsewhere. Similarly, the vision of home, happiness and reality within matter is certainly no better than a foolish dream in which repeated miseries appear.In another sense, however, the universe is real. In his commentary on Vedanta-sūtra, Śrīla Madhvācārya has confirmed this by quoting the following statement from the Vedic śruti-mantras: satyaḿ hy evedaḿ viśvam asṛjata. "This universe, created by the Lord, is real." The perfect authority of the Vedas thus certifies this universe to be real; nevertheless, because our knowledge is stolen by illusion (as indicated here by the words asta-dhiṣaṇam), we cannot properly understand this universe or the Supreme Lord who has created it. As the expansion of Lord Kṛṣṇa, the universe is real and is meant for being engaged in His service. One who accepts the kingdom of God as home, the Lord Himself as the object of love, and the material universe as paraphernalia for being engaged in the Lord's service dwells within eternal reality wherever he may go within the material and spiritual worlds.
10.14.23
nityo 'kṣaro 'jasra-sukho nirañjanaḥ
SB 10.14.23: You are the one Supreme Soul, the primeval Supreme Personality, the Absolute Truth — self-manifested, endless and beginningless. You are eternal and infallible, perfect and complete, without any rival and free from all material designations. Your happiness can never be obstructed, nor have You any connection with material contamination. Indeed, You are the indestructible nectar of immortality.
that the transcendental body of Lord Kṛṣṇa is free from the characteristics of material bodies. All material bodies go through six phases: birth, growth, maturity, reproduction, decline and destruction. But Lord Kṛṣṇa does not take material birth, since He is the original reality, a fact clearly indicated here by the word adya, "original." We take our material birth within a particular material atmosphere, in material bodies that are amalgamations of various material elements. Since Lord Kṛṣṇa existed long before the creation of any material atmosphere or element, there is no question of material birth for His transcendental body.Similarly, the word pūrṇa, meaning "full and complete," refutes the concept that Lord Kṛṣṇa could grow, since He is ever-existing in fullness. When one's material body becomes mature, one can no longer enjoy as in youth; but the words ajasra-sukha, "enjoying unobstructed happiness," indicate that Lord Kṛṣṇa's body never reaches so-called middle age, since it is always full of spiritual youthful bliss. The word akṣara, "undiminishing," refutes the possibility that Lord Kṛṣṇa's body grows old or declines, and the word amṛta, "immortal" negates the possibility of death.
In other words, Lord Kṛṣṇa's transcendental body is free from the transformations of material bodies. The Lord does, however, create innumerable worlds and expand Himself as innumerable living entities. But the Lord's so-called reproduction is completely spiritual and does not take place at a certain phase of bodily existence; rather, it constitutes the Lord's eternal proclivity to expand His spiritual bliss and glories.
As the Lord states in śruti, pūrvam evāham ihāsam: "I alone existed in the beginning." Therefore here the Lord is called puruṣaḥ purāṇaḥ, "the primeval enjoyer. "This original puruṣa expands Himself as the Supersoul and enters every living being. Still, He is ultimately the Absolute Truth, Kṛṣṇa, as stated in the Gopāla-tāpanī Upaniṣad: yaḥ sākṣāt para-brahmeti govindaḿ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḿ vṛndāvana-sura-bhūruha-talāsīnam. "The Absolute Truth Himself is Govinda, who has an eternal form of bliss and knowledge and who is sitting beneath the shady desire trees of Vṛndāvana." This Absolute Truth is beyond material ignorance and beyond even ordinary spiritual knowledge, as stated in the same Gopāla-tāpanī śruti: vidyāvidyābhyāḿ bhinnaḥ. Thus, in many ways the supremacy of Lord Kṛṣṇa has been established in the Vedic literature, and it is here confirmed by Lord Brahmā himself.
10.14.24
svātmānam ātmātmatayā vicakṣate
gurv-arka-labdhopaniṣat-sucakṣuṣā
SB 10.14.24: Those who have received the clear vision of knowledge from the sunlike spiritual master can see You in this way, as the very Soul of all souls, the Supersoul of everyone's own self. Thus understanding Your original personality, they are able to cross over the ocean of illusory material existence.
10.14.25
ātmānam evātmatayāvijānatāḿ
tenaiva jātaḿ nikhilaḿ prapañcitam
SB 10.14.25: A person who mistakes a rope for a snake becomes fearful, but he then gives up his fear upon realizing that the so-called snake does not exist. Similarly, for those who fail to recognize You as the Supreme Soul of all souls, the expansive illusory material existence arises, but knowledge of You at once causes it to subside.
Those submerged in illusion see material existence as infinite, just as one who is submerged in water sees only water all around him. For example, material scientists and philosophers, submerged deep within the ocean of material illusion, imagine that material nature extends infinitely in all directions. In fact, the material creation is a finite ocean of ignorance in which foolish living entities, such as material scientists, are unceremoniously dunked by the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.To be trapped in a world in which all things are born and die is certainly a fearful experience. Anyone trapped in a dark place naturally becomes fearful. Since material life is always covered by the darkness of ignorance, every conditioned soul is fearful. The material nature is not ultimate reality, and thus analysis of matter can never provide answers to ultimate questions. This dark, snakelike existence called material life immediately disappears as soon as one opens his eyes to the bright light of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
10.14.26
vicāryamāṇe taraṇāv ivāhanī
SB 10.14.26: The conception of material bondage and the conception of liberation are both manifestations of ignorance. Being outside the scope of true knowledge, they cease to exist when one correctly understands that the pure spirit soul is distinct from matter and always fully conscious. At that time bondage and liberation no longer have any significance, just as day and night have no significance from the perspective of the sun.
Since the darkness of night is caused by the absence of the sun, one would not experience night within the sun itself, nor would one experience individual days separated by nights. Similarly, within the pure living entity there is no material darkness and thus no experience of liberation from such darkness. When the conditioned soul comes to this platform of pure consciousness, he becomes fit to associate with the supreme pure, the Personality of Godhead Himself, in the Lord's own abode.
10.14.27
SB 10.14.27: Just see the foolishness of those ignorant persons who consider You to be some separated manifestation of illusion and who consider the self, which is actually You, to be something else, the material body. Such fools conclude that the supreme soul is to be searched for somewhere outside Your supreme personality.
Lord Brahmā is amazed at the gross ignorance of conditioned souls who consider Lord Kṛṣṇa's supreme spiritual body to be material. Ignorant of the spiritual form of the Lord, such persons also consider their own material bodies to be the self, and therefore they conclude that spiritual reality is to be found somewhere beyond the supreme personality of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Sometimes such fools consider Lord Kṛṣṇa to be one of many individual souls who together constitute a single impersonal spiritual entity. Unfortunately, such speculators are not inclined to hear from the Lord Himself or from the Lord's authorized representatives, such as Lord Brahmā. Because they whimsically speculate on the nature of the Supreme, their ultimate result is confusion and ignorance, which they euphemistically describe as "the mystery of life."
10.14.28
hy atat tyajanto mṛgayanti santaḥ
SB 10.14.28: O unlimited Lord, the saintly devotees seek You out within their own bodies by rejecting everything separate from You. Indeed, how can discriminating persons appreciate the real nature of a rope lying before them until they refute the illusion that it is a snake.
Those who are saintly and wise always cultivate Kṛṣṇa consciousness, spiritual knowledge, having transcended the foolish misidentification of the body as the self. Such Kṛṣṇa conscious persons go on to realize the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who dwells within the material body as the Supersoul — the witness and guide of every living entity. Realization of the Supersoul and the individual soul is so pleasing and satisfying that a self-realized person automatically gives up everything irrelevant to his spiritual advancement.
10.14.29
SB 10.14.29: My Lord, if one is favored by even a slight trace of the mercy of Your lotus feet, he can understand the greatness of Your personality. But those who speculate to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead are unable to know You, even though they continue to study the Vedas for many years.
10.14.30
SB 10.14.30: My dear Lord, I therefore pray to be so fortunate that in this life as Lord Brahmā or in another life, wherever I take my birth, I may be counted as one of Your devotees. I pray that wherever I may be, even among the animal species, I can engage in devotional service to Your lotus feet.
10.14.31
aho 'ti-dhanyā vraja-go-ramaṇyaḥ
SB 10.14.31: O almighty Lord, how greatly fortunate are the cows and ladies of Vṛndāvana, the nectar of whose breast-milk You have happily drunk to Your full satisfaction, taking the form of their calves and children! All the Vedic sacrifices performed from time immemorial up to the present day have not given You as much satisfaction.
10.14.32
SB 10.14.32: How greatly fortunate are Nanda Mahārāja, the cowherd men and all the other inhabitants of Vrajabhūmi! There is no limit to their good fortune, because the Absolute Truth, the source of transcendental bliss, the eternal Supreme Brahman, has become their friend.
10.14.33
SB 10.14.33: Yet even though the extent of the good fortune of these residents of Vṛndāvana is inconceivable, we eleven presiding deities of the various senses, headed by Lord Śiva, are also most fortunate, because the senses of these devotees of Vṛndāvana are the cups through which we repeatedly drink the nectarean, intoxicating beverage of the honey of Your lotus feet.
10.14.34
SB 10.14.34: My greatest possible good fortune would be to take any birth whatever in this forest of Gokula and have my head bathed by the dust falling from the lotus feet of any of its residents. Their entire life and soul is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Mukunda, the dust of whose lotus feet is still being searched for in the Vedic mantras.
This verse indicates that Lord Brahmā desires to take birth even as the smallest blade of grass in Vṛndāvana so that the holy residents of the Lord's abode may walk upon his head and bless him with the dust of their feet. Being realistic, Lord Brahmā does not aspire to directly achieve the dust of Lord Kṛṣṇa's feet; rather, he aspires for the mercy of the Lord's devotees. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura explains that Brahmā is willing to take birth even as a stone in a paved footpath in the Lord's abode. Since Brahmā is the creator of the entire universe, we can just imagine the glorious position of the residents of Vṛndāvana.The Lord's devotees achieve their exalted position by unalloyed devotion and love. One cannot achieve such spiritual opulence by any puffed-up material process of personal improvement. In Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrīla Prabhupāda reveals the mind of Brahmā as follows: "But if I am not so fortunate as to take birth within the forest of Vṛndāvana, I beg to be allowed to take birth outside the immediate area of Vṛndāvana so that when the devotees go out they will walk over me. Even that would be a great fortune for me. I am just aspiring for a birth in which I will be smeared by the dust of the devotees' feet."
10.14.35
SB 10.14.35: My mind becomes bewildered just trying to think of what reward other than You could be found anywhere. You are the embodiment of all benedictions, which You bestow upon these residents of the cowherd community of Vṛndāvana. You have already arranged to give Yourself to Pūtanā and her family members in exchange for her disguising herself as a devotee. So what is left for You to give these devotees of Vṛndāvana, whose homes, wealth, friends, dear relations, bodies, children and very lives and hearts are all dedicated only to You?
10.14.36
tāvad rāgādayaḥ stenās
tāvan moho 'ńghri-nigaḍo
SB 10.14.36: My dear Lord Kṛṣṇa, until people become Your devotees, their material attachments and desires remain thieves, their homes remain prisons, and their affectionate feelings for their family members remain foot-shackles.
Thus, one should not misunderstand the exalted position of the residents of Vṛndāvana, nor should one consider oneself highly religious simply because one performs ordinary domestic affairs very enthusiastically, but without Kṛṣṇa consciousness. By focusing our passionate attachment on our family and society, we are completely deviated from the progressive path of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Conversely, if we engage our family in the loving service of the Lord, our endeavors to maintain our family become part and parcel of our progressive spiritual duties.
In conclusion, by studying the extraordinary status of the residents of Vṛndāvana, we can see that the essential quality of their lives is pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness — the rendering of loving service to the Lord without a trace of material desire or mental speculation. Such loving service to the original Personality of Godhead immediately creates the atmosphere of Śrī Vṛndāvana-dhāma, the kingdom of God.
10.14.37
prapañcaḿ niṣprapañco 'pi
prapanna-janatānanda-
SB 10.14.37: My dear master, although You have nothing to do with material existence, You come to this earth and imitate material life just to expand the varieties of ecstatic enjoyment for Your surrendered devotees.
10.14.38
manaso vapuṣo vāco
vaibhavaḿ tava go-caraḥ
SB 10.14.38: There are people who say, "I know everything about Kṛṣṇa." Let them think that way. As far as I am concerned, I do not wish to speak very much about this matter. O my Lord, let me say this much: As far as Your opulences are concerned, they are all beyond the reach of my mind, body and words.
10.14.39
jagad etat tavārpitam
SB 10.14.39: My dear Kṛṣṇa, I now humbly request permission to leave. Actually, You are the knower and seer of all things. Indeed, You are the Lord of all the universes, and yet I offer this one universe unto You.
In his Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrīla Prabhupāda has quoted Lord Brahmā as follows: "My dear Lord, although You are the Supreme Lord of all creation, I sometimes falsely think that I am the master of this universe. I may be master of this universe, but there are innumerable universes, and there are also innumerable Brahmās who preside over these universes. But actually You are the master of them all. As the Supersoul in everyone's heart, You know everything. Please, therefore, accept me as Your surrendered servant. I hope that You will excuse me for disturbing You in Your pastimes with Your friends and calves. Now if You will kindly allow me, I will immediately leave so You can enjoy Your friends and calves without my presence."The words sarvaḿ tvaḿ vetsi sarva-dṛk are very significant here. Lord Kṛṣṇa knows everything and sees everything, and therefore Lord Brahmā did not need to remain in Vṛndāvana to maintain his personal loving contact with the Lord. In fact, as the creator of the universe, Lord Brahmā was somewhat out of place in the simple, blissful atmosphere of Vṛndāvana, where Lord Kṛṣṇa was exhibiting His supreme opulences in herding cows, enjoying picnics, playing games and so on.
Upon seeing the intense love the residents of Vṛndāvana had for Lord Kṛṣṇa, Brahmā felt unqualified to remain there. He was not eager to give up the Lord's association, but he felt it better to return to his personal devotional service in Brahmaloka. Somewhat embarrassed and unhappy over his foolish attempt at bewildering the Lord, Brahmā preferred to resume his transcendental loving service rather than try to enjoy the Lord's presence.
10.14.40
SB 10.14.40: My dear Śrī Kṛṣṇa, You bestow happiness upon the lotuslike Vṛṣṇi dynasty and expand the great oceans consisting of the earth, the demigods, the brāhmaṇas and the cows. You dispel the dense darkness of irreligion and oppose the demons who have appeared on this earth. O Supreme Personality of Godhead, as long as this universe exists and as long as the sun shines, I will offer my obeisances unto You.
Here Lord Brahmā indirectly states that Lord Kṛṣṇa should remove Brahmā's own subtle atheism, which had led him to try to exert illusory power over Lord Kṛṣṇa. According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, Lord Brahmā, in his shame, felt himself to be like a brahma-rākṣasa from Satyaloka who had come to the earth to disturb Lord Kṛṣṇa and His intimate friends and calves. Brahmā is lamenting that although Lord Kṛṣṇa is most exalted, the Lord of all lords, because He had appeared before Brahmā in such a simple and innocent feature — decorated with a stick, a conchshell, ornaments, red clay, a peacock feather and so on, and sporting with His cowherd boyfriends — Brahmā dared to challenge Him. Concerning Brahmā's prayers, of which this verse is the conclusion, Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura states, "May these prayers of Brahmā, which take away all doubts and broadcast all the definitive conclusions of devotional service, become the expert craftsmanship of the foundation of my consciousness."
10.14.41
ity abhiṣṭūya bhūmānaḿ
natvābhīṣṭaḿ jagad-dhātā
SB 10.14.41: Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: Having thus offered his prayers, Brahmā circumambulated his worshipable Lord, the unlimited Personality of Godhead, three times and then bowed down at His lotus feet. The appointed creator of the universe then returned to his own residence.
10.14.42
tato 'nujñāpya bhagavān
SB 10.14.42: After granting His son Brahmā permission to leave, the Supreme Personality of Godhead took the calves, who were still where they had been a year earlier, and brought them to the riverbank, where He had been taking His meal and where His cowherd boyfriends remained just as before.
Nothing is invisible to the Supreme Lord. Thus Lord Kṛṣṇa appeared to be searching for the calves and boys only to enact the dramatic pastime of bewildering Lord Brahmā. After Brahmā surrendered and offered prayers, Lord Kṛṣṇa returned to the original boys and calves, who appeared exactly as before, although their size had somewhat increased because of one year's growth.
According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, since Lord Kṛṣṇa was playing exactly like an innocent young cowherd boy in Vṛndāvana, after four-headed Brahmā offered his prayers the Lord maintained His role as a young cowherd boy and thus remained silent before Brahmā. Kṛṣṇa's silence indicates the following thoughts: "Where did this four-headed Brahmā come from? What is he doing? What are these words he keeps on speaking? I am busy looking for My calves. I am just a cowherd boy and do not understand all this." Lord Brahmā had considered Lord Kṛṣṇa an ordinary cowherd boy and had treated Him as such. After accepting Brahmā's prayers, Kṛṣṇa continued to play as a cowherd boy and thus did not answer the four-headed Brahmā. Rather, Kṛṣṇa was more interested in rejoining His cowherd boyfriends for the picnic lunch on the bank of the Yamunā River.
10.14.43
prāṇeśaḿ cāntarātmanaḥ
kṣaṇārdhaḿ menire 'rbhakāḥ
SB 10.14.43: O King, although the boys had passed an entire year apart from the Lord of their very lives, they had been covered by Lord Kṛṣṇa's illusory potency and thus considered that year merely half a moment.
10.14.44
abhīkṣṇaḿ vismṛtātmakam
SB 10.14.44: What indeed is not forgotten by those whose minds are bewildered by the Lord's illusory potency? By that power of Māyā, this entire universe remains in perpetual bewilderment, and in this atmosphere of forgetfulness no one can understand his own identity.
It is clearly stated here that the entire universe is bewildered. Thus even great demigods like Indra and Brahmā are not exempt from the principle of forgetfulness. Since Lord Kṛṣṇa exercised His internal illusory potency over His cowherd boyfriends and calves, it is not at all astonishing that for one year they could not remember their position. Indeed, by the Lord's external illusory potency the conditioned souls forget their existence not only for one year but for many billions and billions of years as they transmigrate throughout the kingdom of ignorance called the material world.
10.14.45
ūcuś ca suhṛdaḥ kṛṣṇaḿ
SB 10.14.45: The cowherd boyfriends said to Lord Kṛṣṇa: You have returned so quickly! We have not eaten even one morsel in Your absence. Please come here and take Your meal without distraction.
10.14.46
tato hasan hṛṣīkeśo
'bhyavahṛtya sahārbhakaiḥ
darśayaḿś carmājagaraḿ
nyavartata vanād vrajam
SB 10.14.46: Then Lord Hṛṣīkeśa, smiling, finished His lunch in the company of His cowherd friends. While they were returning from the forest to their homes in Vraja, Lord Kṛṣṇa showed the cowherd boys the skin of the dead serpent Aghāsura.
10.14.47
SB 10.14.47: Lord Kṛṣṇa's transcendental body was decorated with peacock feathers and flowers and painted with forest minerals, and His bamboo flute loudly and festively resounded. As He called out to His calves by name, His cowherd boyfriends purified the whole world by chanting His glories. Thus Lord Kṛṣṇa entered the cow pasture of His father, Nanda Mahārāja, and the sight of His beauty at once produced a great festival for the eyes of all the cowherd women.
10.14.48
adyānena mahā-vyālo
SB 10.14.48: As the cowherd boys reached the village of Vraja, they sang, "Today Kṛṣṇa saved us by killing a great serpent!" Some of the boys described Kṛṣṇa as the son of Yaśodā, and others as the son of Nanda Mahārāja.
10.14.49
śrī-rājovāca
SB 10.14.49: King Parīkṣit said: O brāhmaṇa, how could the cowherd women have developed for Kṛṣṇa, someone else's son, such unprecedented pure love — love they never felt even for their own children? Please explain this.
10.14.50
nṛpa svātmaiva vallabhaḥ
SB 10.14.50: Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: O King, for every created being the dearmost thing is certainly his own self. The dearness of everything else — children, wealth and so on — is due only to the dearness of the self.
Sometimes modern thinkers become puzzled when they study the psychology of moral behavior. Although every living entity is inclined toward self-preservation, as stated here, sometimes a person voluntarily sacrifices his own apparent interest through philanthropic or patriotic activities, such as giving his money for the benefit of others or giving his life for the national interest. Such so-called selfless behavior appears to contradict the principle of material self-centeredness and self-preservation.As explained in this verse, however, a living entity serves his society, nation, family and so on only because these objects of affection represent the expanded concept of false ego. A patriot sees himself as a great servitor of a great nation, and thus he sacrifices his life to gratify his sense of egotism. Similarly, it is common knowledge that a man feels great pleasure by thinking that he is sacrificing everything to please his dear wife and children. A man derives great egotistic pleasure by seeing himself as a selfless well-wisher of his so-called family and community. Thus, to gratify his proud sense of false ego, a man is prepared even to lay down his life. This apparently contradictory behavior is yet another demonstration of the bewilderment of material life, which has neither rhyme nor reason, being a manifestation of gross ignorance of the nonmaterial soul.
10.14.51
SB 10.14.51: For this reason, O best of kings, the embodied soul is self-centered: he is more attached to his own body and self than to his so-called possessions like children, wealth and home.
It is now common practice all over the world for a mother to kill her own child within the womb if the birth of that child represents any inconvenience for her. Similarly, grown children eagerly place their elderly parents in lonely institutions rather than be inconvenienced by their presence at home. These and innumerable other examples prove that people in general are more attached to their own body and self, which represent "I-ness," than to their family and other possessions, which represent "my-ness." Although conditioned souls are very proud of their so-called love for society, family and so forth, in reality every conditioned soul is acting on the platform of gross or subtle selfishness.
10.14.52
SB 10.14.52: Indeed, for persons who think the body is the self, O best of kings, those things whose importance lies only in their relationship to the body are never as dear as the body itself.
10.14.53
jīvitāśā balīyasī
SB 10.14.53: If a person comes to the stage of considering the body "mine" instead of "me," he will certainly not consider the body as dear as his own self. After all, even as the body is growing old and useless, one's desire to continue living remains strong.
As the body of an intelligent person becomes old and useless, he strongly desires to live, even when he knows that his body cannot live much longer. This indicates he is gradually becoming aware that his self is more important than his body. Thus simply the desire for life can indirectly bring one to a preliminary understanding of self-realization. And in this case as well, one's basic attachment is to one's own self and not to that which supposedly belongs to oneself.
It may be pointed out that the entire discussion between King Parīkṣit and Śukadeva Gosvāmī regarding the dearness of one's own self is ultimately meant for broaching the subject of why the cows and cowherd ladies of Vṛndāvana considered Kṛṣṇa more dear than their own selves and certainly more dear than their own offspring. The discussion proceeds as follows.
10.14.54
tasmāt priyatamaḥ svātmā
jagad etac carācaram
SB 10.14.54: Therefore it is his own self that is most dear to every embodied living being, and it is simply for the satisfaction of this self that the whole material creation of moving and nonmoving entities exists.
10.14.55
ātmānam akhilātmanām
jagad-dhitāya so 'py atra
dehīvābhāti māyayā
SB 10.14.55: You should know Kṛṣṇa to be the original Soul of all living entities. For the benefit of the whole universe, He has, out of His causeless mercy, appeared as an ordinary human being. He has done this by the strength of His internal potency.
"Parīkṣit Mahārāja asked Śukadeva Gosvāmī why Kṛṣṇa was so beloved by the residents of Vṛndāvana, who loved Him even more than their own offspring or life itself. At that time, Śukadeva Gosvāmī replied that everyone's ātmā, or soul, is very, very dear, especially to all living entities who have accepted material bodies. However, that ātmā, the spirit soul, is part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. For this reason, Kṛṣṇa is very dear to every living entity. Everyone's body is very dear to oneself, and one wants to protect the body by all means because within the body the soul is living. Due to the intimate relationship between the soul and the body, the body is important and dear to everyone. Similarly, the soul, being part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Lord, is very, very dear to all living entities. Unfortunately, the soul forgets his constitutional position and thinks he is only the body (dehātma-buddhi). Thus the soul is subjected to the rules and regulations of material nature. When a living entity, by his intelligence, reawakens his attraction for Kṛṣṇa, he can understand that he is not the body but part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Thus filled with knowledge, he no longer labors under attachment to the body and everything related to the body (janasya moho 'yam ahaḿ mameti [SB 5.5.8]). Material existence, wherein one thinks, 'I am the body, and this belongs to me,' is also illusory. One must redirect his attraction to Kṛṣṇa. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.2.7) states,vāsudeve bhagavati
janayaty āśu vairāgyaḿ
'By rendering devotional service unto the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, one immediately acquires causeless knowledge and detachment from the world.' "10.14.56
SB 10.14.56: Those in this world who understand Lord Kṛṣṇa as He is see all things, whether stationary or moving, as manifest forms of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Such enlightened persons recognize no reality apart from the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa.
In his Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrīla Prabhupāda comments on this verse as follows: "Without being an expansion of Kṛṣṇa, nothing can be attractive. Whatever is attractive within the cosmic manifestation is due to Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is therefore the reservoir of all pleasure. The active principle of everything is Kṛṣṇa, and highly elevated transcendentalists see everything in connection with Him. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is stated that a mahā-bhāgavata, a highly advanced devotee, sees Kṛṣṇa as the active principle in all movable and immovable living entities. Therefore he sees everything within this cosmic manifestation in relation to Kṛṣṇa."
10.14.57
tasyāpi bhagavān kṛṣṇaḥ
SB 10.14.57: The original, unmanifested form of material nature is the source of all material things, and the source of even that subtle material nature is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. What, then, could one ascertain to be separate from Him?
10.14.58
SB 10.14.58: For those who have accepted the boat of the lotus feet of the Lord, who is the shelter of the cosmic manifestation and is famous as Murāri, the enemy of the Mura demon, the ocean of the material world is like the water contained in a calf's hoof-print. Their goal is paraḿ padam, Vaikuṇṭha, the place where there are no material miseries, not the place where there is danger at every step.
10.14.59
SB 10.14.59: Since you inquired from me, I have fully described to you those activities of Lord Hari that were performed in His fifth year but not celebrated until His sixth.
10.14.60
vyaktetarad rūpam ajorv-abhiṣṭavaḿ
SB 10.14.60: Any person who hears or chants these pastimes Lord Murāri performed with His cowherd friends — the killing of Aghāsura, the taking of lunch on the forest grass, the Lord's manifestation of transcendental forms, and the wonderful prayers offered by Lord Brahmā — is sure to achieve all his spiritual desires.
10.14.61
nilāyanaiḥ setu-bandhair
markaṭotplavanādibhiḥ
SB 10.14.61: In this way the boys spent their childhood in the land of Vṛndāvana playing hide-and-go-seek, building play bridges, jumping about like monkeys and engaging in many other such games.
the word nilāyanaiḥ refers to games such as hide-and-go-seek or cops and robbers. Sometimes the boys would jump around like the monkeys in Lord Rāmacandra's army and then enact the building of the bridge to Śrī Lańkā by constructing play bridges in lakes or ponds. Sometimes the boys would imitate the pastime of churning the ocean of milk, and sometimes they would play catch with balls. We can find full pleasure in the spiritual world, with the simple condition that everything be performed in pure love of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa consciousness.Thus end of the Tenth Canto, Fourteenth Chapter of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, entitled "Brahmā's Prayers to Lord Kṛṣṇa."
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