VedaVyasa
Praneetha
The Mad Bhagavatam
Chapter 23
The Brahmin Wives Blessed
This chapter describes how Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, after inducing the cowherd boys to beg for food, showed mercy to the wives of some brāhmaṇas performing a sacrifice and made the brāhmaṇas themselves feel remorse.
When the cowherd boys became very hungry, they asked Śrī Kṛṣṇa about obtaining food, and He sent them to beg some from a group of brāhmaṇas who were performing a sacrifice nearby. But these brāhmaṇas ignored the boys, thinking Śrī Kṛṣṇa an ordinary human being. The boys returned disappointed, but the Lord sent them off again, advising them to ask the brāhmaṇas' wives for the food. These ladies had heard of Kṛṣṇa's transcendental qualities and were very much attached to Him. Thus as soon as they learned He was nearby, they went to Him in great haste, bringing all four varieties of food. In this way they offered themselves to Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
Kṛṣṇa told the women that while one can develop transcendental love for Him by seeing His Deity form in the temple, meditating upon Him and chanting His glories, one cannot achieve this result simply by being in His physical presence. He advised them that since they were housewives, their particular duty was to help their husbands perform sacrifices. He therefore instructed them to return to their homes.
When the ladies went back home, their brāhmaṇa husbands at once felt remorse, and they lamented, "For anyone inimical to Kṛṣṇa, his three births — seminal, brahminical and sacrificial — are all condemned. On the other hand, these womenfolk, who have not undergone the purificatory processes of the brahminical class or performed any austerity or pious rituals, have through devotion for Kṛṣṇa easily cut off the bondage of death.
"Since Lord Kṛṣṇa's every desire is completely fulfilled, His begging for food was simply an act of mercy toward us brāhmaṇas. All the fruits of Vedic sacrifice — and indeed all things on earth — are His opulences, yet out of ignorance we could not appreciate this fact."
Having spoken thus, all the brāhmaṇas offered their obeisances to Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, hoping to counteract their offense. Nonetheless, out of fear of King Kaḿsa they did not go to see the Lord in person.
10.23.1
(1) The gopas said: 'Râma, o Râma, o mighty-armed one, o Krishna, destroyer of the wicked, we're troubled by hunger, something should be done to appease it.'
10.23.2
iti vijñāpito gopair
(2) S'rî S'uka said: 'Thus informed by the gopas spoke the Supreme Lord, the son of Devakî, wishing to satisfy some brahmin wives devoted to Him, the following:
10.23.3
(3) 'Please go to the sacrificial arena of the brahmins who, desiring heaven, according the vedic injunctions are now performing a sacrifice named Ângirasa.
10.23.4
yācatāsmad-visarjitāḥ
kīrtayanto bhagavata
(4) Going there, dear gopas, ask for food telling them that you've been sent by the Supreme Lord My elder brother and also in My name.'
Lord Kṛṣṇa encouraged His boyfriends to request charity without being embarrassed. In case the boys felt they had no right to personally approach such respectable brāhmaṇas, the Lord told them to mention the names of Balarāma and Kṛṣṇa, the holy names of God.
10.23.5
(5) With this order of the Supreme Lord going there asked they as was told, petitioning with folded hands before the brahmins fallen down like sticks to the ground:
10.23.6
kṛṣṇasyādeśa-kāriṇaḥ
(6) 'O earthly gods, all good to you, please listen, we, sent by Râma, you must understand, have arrived here following the orders of Krishna.
The term bhūmi-devāḥ, "gods on earth," refers here to the brāhmaṇas, who are supposed to closely represent the will of the Supreme Lord. The philosophy of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is not a primitive polytheistic doctrine holding that human beings on the earth are gods. Rather, it is a science that traces the descent of authority from the Absolute Truth Himself, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. The authority and power of God naturally extend along with the extension of His creation, and on the earth the Lord's will and authority are represented by purified, enlightened men called brāhmaṇas.
This account will illustrate that the ritualistic brāhmaṇas approached by the cowherd boys were not at all properly enlightened and thus could not appreciate the position of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma or that of Their intimate associates. In fact, this pastime exposes the pretentious position of so-called brāhmaṇas who are not faithful devotees of the Supreme Lord.
10.23.7
gāś cārayantāv avidūra odanaḿ
rāmācyutau vo laṣato bubhukṣitau
(7) Râma and Acyuta graze Their cows not far from here and being hungry in want ask they you to supply Them with food, o twice-born; so if you have any faith, then please donate, o finest knowers of the religion.
The cowherd boys doubted the generosity of the brāhmaṇas, and thus they used the word bubhukṣitau, meaning that Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma were hungry. The boys expected the brāhmaṇas to know the Vedic injunction annasya kṣuditaḿ pātram: "Anyone who is hungry is a fit candidate for receiving food in charity." But if the brāhmaṇas would not recognize the authority of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, their title dvija would be taken to mean merely "born from two parents" (dvi — from two, ja — born) rather than "twice-born." When the brāhmaṇas did not respond to the cowherd boys' initial request, the boys addressed the brāhmaṇas, with a slight trace of sarcasm, as dharma-vit-tamāḥ, "O best of the knowers of religion."
10.23.8
anyatra dīkṣitasyāpi
(8) From the beginning of a sacrifice until the end of sacrificing the animal, o lovers of the truth, is it, except for when it is a [Sautrâmani] sacrifice to Indra [*], not even for an initiate an offense to enjoy [or hand out] food.'
The cowherd boys anticipated the possible objection from the brāhmaṇas that they couldn't give the boys any food because they themselves had not yet eaten, and that a priest initiated to perform a sacrifice should not eat. Therefore the boys humbly informed the brāhmaṇas about various technicalities of ritualistic sacrifice. The cowherd boys were not unaware of the formalities of Vedic culture, but their real intention was simply to render loving service to Lord Kṛṣṇa.
10.23.9
kṣudrāśā bhūri-karmāṇo
(9) Thus hearing of the Supreme Lord His supplication took they nevertheless no heed, in trivial pursuit foolishly thinking to know it better with their ritualistic activities.
These childish brāhmaṇas were full of petty desires, such as the desire to attain to material heaven, and therefore they could not recognize the golden transcendental opportunity offered them by the arrival of Kṛṣṇa's personal boyfriends. Presently, throughout the world, people are madly pursuing material advancement and thus cannot hear the message of the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa that is being broadcast through the missionary activities of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Times have hardly changed, and proud, materialistic priests are still prevalent on the earth.
10.23.10-11
mantra-tantrartvijo 'gnayaḥ
(10-11) Though place and time, the items used, the hymns, the rituals, the priests and the fire, the officiating God-conscious, the performer of the sacrifice, the performance and its dharmic result all make up the directly visible of the Absolute Truth of Him, the Supreme Lord beyond the senses, considered they Him in their borrowed intelligence an ordinary person.
The ritualistic brāhmaṇas could not understand why the sacrificial food should be offered to Lord Kṛṣṇa, whom they considered an ordinary human being. Just as a person with rose-colored glasses sees the entire world as rose-colored, a conditioned soul with mundane vision sees even God Himself as mundane and thus loses the opportunity to go back home, back to Godhead.
10.23.12
(12) With them not even giving them a yes or a no, did the gopas thus discouraged, o chastiser of the enemies, turn back to inform Krishna and Râma about it.
10.23.13
(13) Hearing that laughed the Supreme Lord, the Controller of the Universe, and addressed He again the cowherd boys in order to show them the ways of the world:
10.23.14
(14) 'Communicate to the wives that I together with Sankarshana have arrived; they will give you all the food desired, for they with their intelligence residing in Me are of affection toward Me.'
While physically the wives of the brāhmaṇas remained at home, within their minds they resided in the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa because of intense affection for Him. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura explains that the reason Lord Kṛṣṇa did not have the cowherd boys tell the brāhmaṇas' wives He was hungry is that He knew this would severely distress these devoted ladies. Simply out of affection for Lord Kṛṣṇa, however, the wives would be happy to give all the food requested of them. They would not heed their husbands' prohibitions, since they resided within the Lord through their transcendental intelligence.
10.23.15
dṛṣṭvāsīnāḥ sv-alańkṛtāḥ
(15) Going then to the house of the wives where they saw them sitting nicely ornamented, bowed the gopas with reverence before the chaste women of the twice-born and said they humbly:
10.23.16
kṛṣṇeneheṣitā vayam
(16) 'Salutations to you, o wives of the learned ones, please listen to what we have to say: not far from here are we roaming with Krishna by whom we've been sent here.
10.23.17
bubhukṣitasya tasyānnaḿ
sānugasya pradīyatām
(17) Tending the cows with the gopas and Râma He came a long way; He with His companions being hungry should be given food.'
10.23.18
śrutvācyutam upāyātaḿ
tat-kathākṣipta-manaso
babhūvur jāta-sambhramāḥ
(18) When they heard that Krishna was nearby whom they, with their minds enchanted by His stories, were always eager to see, got they very excited.
10.23.19
(19) Like rivers flowing towards the ocean were the four types of [chewed, sucked, licked and drunk] edibles in all tastes of food brought and taken out in vessels to their all beloved.
10.23.20-21
niṣidhyamānāḥ patibhir
bhrātṛbhir bandhubhiḥ sutaiḥ
yamunopavane 'śoka
(20-21) Even though their husbands, brothers, sons and other relatives tried to stop them, directed they themselves, for so long having heard and longed for Him, to the Supreme Lord Praised in the Scriptures. The ladies found Him wandering with the gopas and His elder brother in a grove near the Yamunâ that was beautiful with blooming as'okas.
10.23.22
(22) With His dark complexion, golden garment, garland of forest flowers, peacock feather, colored minerals, sprigs of buds, was He, dressed like a dancer on a stage, with His hand over a friend's shoulder and with the other twirling a lotus, smiling with His lotus face, His hair over His cheeks and lilies behind His ears.
10.23.23
(23) Over and over having heard of the glories of their dearmost, the gem to their ears in whom their minds were submerged, embraced they Him, now brought within their view, for a long time and gave they up the inner distress, o sovereign of the people, that had resulted from the fact that they identified themselves with their bodies.
10.23.24
vijñāyākhila-dṛg-draṣṭā
prāha prahasitānanaḥ
(24) As the overseer of the vision of all creatures understanding that they, getting there to see Him in person, in that state had broken with all worldly expectations, spoke He with a smile upon His face.
10.23.25
yan no didṛkṣayā prāptā
(25) 'You're most welcome o finest of grace, please sit down, what can I do for you; how becoming of you to come here to see Me!
Just as Śrī Kṛṣṇa welcomed the gopīs who came to dance with Him at night, He similarly welcomed the brāhmaṇas' wives, whose pure love for Him was proved by their overcoming many hindrances to see the Lord. The word upapannam indicates that although these ladies had rejected their husbands' orders, their behavior was not at all inappropriate, since their husbands had obviously tried to obstruct their loving service to Lord Kṛṣṇa
10.23.26
ahaituky avyavahitāḿ
(26) People of discrimination aware of what's good for them most certainly perform directly unto Me, their dearmost Self, in unrelenting devotional service that is proper without ulterior motives.
The Supreme Lord informed the brāhmaṇas' wives that not only they but all people who recognize their true self-interest take to the spiritual process of loving service to the Lord. Lord Kṛṣṇa is ātma-priya, the real object of love for everyone. Although each individual has his own taste and freedom, ultimately every living being is a spiritual spark of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; thus everyone's primary loving attraction is constitutionally meant for Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Loving service to the Lord should be ahaitukī, without personal motive, and avyavahitā, unobstructed by mental speculation, selfish desire or any quirk of time and circumstance.
10.23.27
dārāpatya-dhanādayaḥ
(27) What else indeed would be as dear as that object of love of which the contact engendered the dear of one's life force, intelligence, mind, relatives, body, wife, children, wealth and so forth?
The word yat-samparkāt in this verse refers to contact with the individual self and ultimately with the Supreme Self, the Lord, who is the origin of the individual living being. By developing Kṛṣṇa consciousness, one automatically becomes self-realized, and thus one's vital strength, intelligence, mind, relatives, body, family and wealth all become enhanced and brilliant by the central influence of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This happens because Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the optimum efficient conjunction of the individual self, who is pure consciousness, with the Supreme Self and supreme consciousness, Kṛṣṇa.
10.23.28
patayo vo dvijātayaḥ
(28) Therefore go to the sacrificial arena so that your brahmin husbands together with you as householders will be able to finish their sacrifices.'
10.23.29
keśair nivoḍhum atilańghya samasta-bandhūn
(29) The wives answered: 'Don't be so strict with us, o Almighty One, please be true to Your [scriptural] promise that having obtained the base of Your lotusfeet we, shunning all relations, may carry upon our hair the tulsî garland kicked away by Your foot.
Here the brāhmaṇas' wives are saying something similar to what the gopīs say at the beginning of the rāsa dance (Bhāg. 10.29.31), when Lord Kṛṣṇa tells them to go home as well. Like this verse, the gopīs' statement begins with the words maivaḿ vibho 'rhati bhavān gadituḿ nṛ-śaḿsam.
Nigama refers to the Vedic literature, which states that one who surrenders at the lotus feet of the Lord does not return to this material world. Thus the brāhmaṇas' wives appealed to the Lord that since they had surrendered to Him, it was unfair for Him to order them to return to their materialistic husbands.
According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, Lord Kṛṣṇa might have pointed out to the brāhmaṇas' wives, "You young ladies are members of the aristocratic brāhmaṇa community, so how can you surrender at the feet of a mere cowherd boy?"
To this the ladies might have replied, "Since we have already surrendered at Your lotus feet, and since we desire to become Your servants, we are obviously not maintaining a false identification as members of the so-called brāhmaṇa community. You can easily ascertain this from our words."
Lord Kṛṣṇa might have replied, "I am a cowherd boy, and My proper maidservants and girlfriends are the cowherd girls, the gopīs. "
The wives might have answered, "True, let them be so. Let them shine forth if You are embarrassed in front of Your relatives to make brāhmaṇa ladies Your maidservants. We certainly don't want to embarrass You. We will not go to Your village but will rather remain in Vṛndāvana, like presiding deities of the forest. We simply desire to perfect our lives by even a slight trace of connection with You."
Thus by the spiritual insight of Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, we learn that the brāhmaṇas' wives offered to remain at a distance and simply take the tulasī leaves that would fall from the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa or be crushed by the feet of His girlfriends when He would embrace them.
The ladies offered to carry these tulasī leaves upon their heads. Thus renouncing the desire to become Kṛṣṇa's intimate girlfriends or maidservants (a position they knew was difficult to achieve), the young brāhmaṇa ladies begged to remain in Vṛndāvana forest. If the Lord had then asked "Then what will your family members say?" they would have replied "We have already transcended our so-called relatives because we are seeing You, the Supreme Lord, face to face."
10.23.30
tasmād bhavat-prapadayoḥ patitātmanāḿ no
(30) Our husbands, fathers, sons and brothers, other relatives and friends won't take us back and how would other people then respond? Therefore can there for us, whose bodies have fallen at Your feet, be no other destination o Chastiser of the Enemies; please grant us that!'
"From their very youth the brāhmaṇas' wives had heard about Lord Kṛṣṇa's beauty, qualities and sweetness from the womenfolk of Vṛndāvana village, and also from the flower ladies, the betel-nut sellers and others. Consequently they always felt ecstatic love for Kṛṣṇa and were indifferent to their household duties. Their husbands, seeing them as deviant, doubted them and avoided dealing with them as far as possible. Now the wives of the brāhmaṇas were ready to formally reject their so-called families and neighbors, and out of great agitation they were crying and placing their heads upon Lord Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet, offering obeisances. In this way, with choking voices, they spoke the above verse. They begged that Lord Kṛṣṇa bestow upon them the benediction that He be their only destination, that He, the chastiser of enemies, subdue all their enemies — those difficulties obstructing them from attaining the Lord."
The wives of the brāhmaṇas simply wanted to serve Lord Kṛṣṇa, and this is pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness in ecstatic love of Godhead.
10.23.31
patayo nābhyasūyeran
lokāś ca vo mayopetā
devā apy anumanvate
10.23.32
acirān mām avāpsyatha
(31-32) The Supreme Lord said: 'Your husbands will not be bad of jealousy nor will your fathers, brothers, sons or other people; even the demigods will, on My word, regard you favorably.
The Lord pointed out that people in general would not appreciate a loving affair between Lord Kṛṣṇa, who superficially was appearing as a cowherd boy, and the wives from the brāhmaṇa community. Also, the brāhmaṇa ladies' own devotion and love would increase most efficiently in separation. In other words, it would be best all around if they continued to fix their minds on Lord Kṛṣṇa and thus went on with the process they had been practicing throughout their lives. The Lord and His bona fide representative, the spiritual master, expertly engage the Lord's devotees in different types of service so that all of them can quickly return to His lotus feet.
10.23.33
śravaṇād darśanād dhyānān
mayi bhāvo 'nukīrtanāt
(33) Hearing, attending [to the deity or the gathering of devotees];, meditating and singing about Me, you are of love for Me, not so much with being physically close to Me; therefore return to your homes.'
10.23.34
(34) S'rî S'uka said: 'Having said this to the wives of the twice-born went they back to the place of sacrifice where their husbands not being spiteful together with them completed the performance.
10.23.35
hṛḍopaguhya vijahau
dehaḿ karmānubandhanam
(35) One of them, held back with force by her husband, embraced, hearing from the others about the Supreme Lord, Him within her heart and gave up the body that was the basis of karmic bondage.
10.23.36
tenaivānnena gopakān
catur-vidhenāśayitvā
(36) The Supreme Lord, also known as Govinda, fed with that very same food in four types the gopas after which He, the Almighty Himself, took a share.
10.23.37
(37) And thus delighted He in His pastimes with His transcendental appearance following the cause of events of the human affair, to please the cows, the gopas and the gopîs with His beauty, words and actions.
10.23.38
athānusmṛtya viprās te
anvatapyan kṛtāgasaḥ
(38) Afterwards came the learned ones to their senses and felt great remorse in having been so offensive because of their conceit with the humble request of the Lords of the Universe who had appeared like human beings.
Lord Kṛṣṇa and Lord Balarāma did not try to deceive the brāhmaṇas: They straightforwardly requested food from them. Rather, the brāhmaṇas deceived themselves, as indicated by the Sanskrit word nṛ-viḍambayoḥ, which means that Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma are bewildering for an ordinary human being who considers Them also to be human. Still, because the wives of the brāhmaṇas were great devotees of the Lord, the foolish brāhmaṇas received spiritual benefit and finally came to their senses.
10.23.39
(39) Seeing in their wives toward Krishna, the Supreme Lord, the excellent flight of devotion that with them was totally lacking, condemned they themselves lamenting:
10.23.40
vimukhā ye tv adhokṣaje
(40) 'To hell with all of our threefold births [biological, brahminical and ritual], our vows, our extensive spiritual knowledge, our lineage and our expertise in the rituals, when we have turned against the One Beyond the Senses.
10.23.41
(41) Verily the Supreme Lord His mâyâ that even deludes the greatest yogis has been the cause that we the twiceborn, the spiritual teachers of society, have been bewildered concerning our own true interest.
10.23.42
(42) Just see how of even these women there for Krishna, the spiritual teacher of the universe, is an unlimited devotion which has broken the bond of death known as family-life.
10.23.43-44
kṛṣṇe yogeśvareśvare
saḿskārādimatām api
(43-44) On their part there were no purification rites of rebirth, they didn't stay with the guru or even executed austerities, nor were they of philosophical inquiry into the true nature of the self or of any special cleanliness or pious actions; nevertheless are they, contrary to us - however full of all that purification we are -, firm indeed in their devotional service for Krishna, the Lord Praised in the Verses and Master of all Masters of Yoga.
10.23.45
nanu svārtha-vimūḍhānāḿ
pramattānāḿ gṛhehayā
(45) Oh, how much has He not, through the words of the transcendental souls of those cowherd boys, reminded us of the ultimate destination which is there for us who indeed because of our infatuation with our household affairs were bewildered in our own true self interest.
10.23.46
īśitavyaiḥ kim asmābhir
īśasyaitad viḍambanam
(46) For what other reason would He, the Master of Liberation and all other benedictions who is satisfied in every respect, with us, the ones to be controlled, be of this pretense?
Although Lord Kṛṣṇa is the Absolute Truth, He humbly sent His cowherd boyfriends to beg food from the brāhmaṇas. In so doing, He exposed the brāhmaṇas' foolish arrogance and established the glories of His own transcendental beauty by attracting their very wives to surrender at His lotus feet.
10.23.47
pāda-sparśāśayāsakṛt
svātma-doṣāpavargeṇa
(47) With His request [for food] that bewilders the human beings, does, forgetting about others and putting an end to the faults [of pride and fickleness e.g.] in her own being, the goddess of fortune worship Him in a constant longing to touch His feet.
10.23.48-49
mantra-tantrartvijo 'gnayaḥ
viṣṇur yogeśvareśvaraḥ
jāto yaduṣv ity āśṛṇma
(48-49) Constituting the place and time, the items used, the hymns, the rituals, the priests and the fire, the officiating God-conscious, the performer of the sacrifice, the performance and its dharmic result, [see verse 10-11] has He, the Supreme Lord of Vishnu, the Master of the Yogamasters, indeed directly visible taken birth among the Yadus, but despite of having heard of this did we foolishly fail to understand.
10.23.50
kṛṣṇāyākuṇṭha-medhase
(50) Unto Him the Supreme Lord Krishna of unbounded intelligence, of whose illusory power we with bewildered minds are wandering along the paths of fruitive action, we offer our obeisances.
10.23.51
avijñatānubhāvānāḿ
(51) He indeed, our Original Personality of Godhead whose influence we with our minds bewildered of mâyâ cannot fathom, should forgive us our offense.'
10.23.52
iti svāgham anusmṛtya
(52) Thus musing on their own offense against Krishna wished they after their exercise of contrition it to meet Him in Vraja but, afraid of [drawing too much the attention of] Kamsa, decided they not to go.'
Realizing their offense against Lord Kṛṣṇa, and finally appreciating His almighty position, the brāhmaṇas naturally wanted to rush to Vraja and surrender at the lotus feet of the Lord. But they were afraid that Kaḿsa would certainly kill them when his spies reported that they had gone to Kṛṣṇa. The brāhmaṇas' wives were absorbed in ecstatic Kṛṣṇa consciousness and thus went to Kṛṣṇa anyway, just as the gopīs, simply to dance with the Lord, traveled in the dead of night through a forest inhabited by wild animals. But the brāhmaṇas were not on such an advanced platform of Kṛṣṇa consciousness and thus, overcome by fear of Kaḿsa, could not see the Lord face to face.
Thus end of the Tenth Canto, Twenty-third Chapter, of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, entitled "The Brāhmaṇas' Wives Blessed."
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