My dear King, then Vasudeva, the son of Śūrasena, arranged for a priest and other brāhmaṇas to perform his two sons’ second-birth initiation.

↑

▷ Содержание

⇐ ПредыдущаяСтр 951 из 2832Следующая ⇒

COMMENTARY

Nanda may say, “But, my dear Balabhadra, actually You are the legitimate son of my friend Vasudeva. How can he, now having attained release from his long-standing dangerous situation, give up his own son? Therefore You must immediately go to Your father’s house and stay there. The two of us will somehow carry on living by blocking up our hearts which will be torn apart by separation from You with the stone of discrimination. But I cannot bear to see the suffering of my friend Vasudeva. We, after all, are only Your foster parents.”

Balarāma replies in this verse: “Those who care for a child as their own son are the actual mother and father. The seminal father is not the real father, and she who bears the child in her womb is not the real mother. If the father and mother abandon a child and the child dies, can they be called the mother and father? The foster parents who raise the child are more worthy of respect by the discerning child. Therefore I will not be able to stay here. Even if Brahmā himself comes and orders Me, he will not be able to change My mind.”

“Alas! Alas! O father! Kṛṣṇa will go with you and happily play in Vraja, but I will stay in Mathurā burning in the forest fire of separation from Kṛṣṇa. That cannot be! Therefore I make this oath. If Kṛṣṇa leaves Me behind and goes off to Vraja, then My life will be finished.” This is the intention of Balarāma’s words in this verse.

|| 10.45.23 ||

yāta yūyaṁ vrajaṁn tāta vayaṁ ca sneha-duḥkhitān

jñātīn vo draṣṭum eṣyāmo vidhāya suhṛdāṁ sukham

TRANSLATION

Now you should all return to Vraja, dear Father. We shall come to see you, Our dear relatives who suffer in separation from Us, as soon as We have given some happiness to your well-wishing friends.

COMMENTARY

After hearing the words of Balarāma, Nanda Mahārāja thought, “Alas, alas, what can I do? If I take Baladeva back to Vraja, all will rejoice, but the Yādavas and especially Vasudeva will suffer great distress. It would be a great sin for me. Vasudeva will think, ‘Ah, ah! Kaṁsa killed all my sons, and the one son who was protected from his hands, Balabhadra, has been taken by Nanda to Vraja. Therefore Nanda is not my friend but rather a second Kaṁsa for me, who am being ruined by Providence.’ Thus thinking, Vasudeva will experience extreme pain and curse me thousands of times. Then how will I or indeed Kṛṣṇa enjoy any happiness at all?”

Seeing Nanda standing silent for several minutes lost in such anxious thoughts, Kṛṣṇa addressed him consolingly with logical reasoning in this verse: “O father, you should now go to Vraja. I, Baladeva and My friends like Madhumaṅgala will go to Vraja later in order to see you, but now We will stay in Mathurā for a few days.”

Anticipating that Nanda Mahārāja would ask when He would return to Vraja, Kṛṣṇa said, “After giving happiness to your friends headed by Vasudeva, so that no one will find fault with you, We will come home to Vraja. First we will unite Baladeva with His parents so that they can coddle Him and express their affection to their hearts’ content. Then upon completing all necessary work and making everyone happy, We will come back to Vraja.”

|| 10.45.24 ||

evaṁ sāntvayya bhagavān nandaṁ sa-vrajam acyutaḥ

vāso-’laṅkāra-kupyādyair arhayām āsa sādaram

TRANSLATION

Thus consoling Nanda Mahārāja and the other men of Vraja, the infallible Supreme Lord respectfully honored them with gifts of clothing, jewelry, household utensils and so on.

COMMENTARY

Kṛṣṇa consoled Nanda, “You should not worry about My staying in Mathurā a few days longer. My mind is always in Vraja, and I am only staying here by their desires.” Kṛṣṇa honored Nanda Mahārāja and gave the Vrajavāsīs bell metal (kupya) pots and other gifts.

|| 10.45.25 ||

ity uktas tau pariṣvajya nandaḥ praṇaya-vihvalaḥ

pūrayann aśrubhir netre saha gopair vrajaṁ yayau

TRANSLATION

Nanda Mahārāja was overwhelmed with affection upon hearing Kṛṣṇa’s words, and his eyes brimmed with tears as he embraced the two Lords. Then he went back to Vraja with the cowherd men.

COMMENTARY

Although Nanda Mahārāja was almost unconscious (praṇaya-vihvalaḥ) due to separation from his son, he somehow returned to Vraja. Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma went to Vasudeva’s house and lived there happily. Some experts in rasa, who cannot tolerate even a slight decrease in prema, object to this incident of Kṛṣṇa staying away from Vraja. Later on in this purport we will reconcile their objections with a novel interpretation. May it be accepted by those who appreciate it.

The objection is this: It is clear that the literal meaning of verses 21-25 is unfavorable to prema. Even in all the explanations given, prema is not established; for there is separation of Nanda and Kṛṣṇa. In this connection Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord, whose pastimes are inscrutable, so He may be able to abandon His father and stay in Mathurā. But how could Nanda abandon Kṛṣṇa and go back to Vraja alone? How could Nanda Mahārāja give up Kṛṣṇa, who is millions of times more dear to him than his own life, for the cows in Vraja? Why did he not take up residence on the outskirts of Mathurā instead?

Furthermore, the reasons given in the verses for Kṛṣṇa and Balarāmas’ staying in Mathurā are weak, only meant to pacify Nanda. Even Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma were not convinced in their minds of what They spoke. After all, the Tenth Canto only describes that Balarāma returned to Vraja (Ch. 65) and not Kṛṣṇa. However, the Padma Purāṇa, Uttara khaṇḍa states that after killing all the demons that He had to, up to Dantavakra, Kṛṣṇa returned to Vraja. There is also evidence in the Bhāgavatam (1.11.9):

yarhy ambujākṣāpasasāra bho bhavān, kurūn madhūn

vātha suhṛd-didṛkṣaya, tatrābda-koṭi-pratimaḥ kṣaṇo bhaved

“The residents of Dvārakā said, ‘O lotus-eyed Lord, when-ever You go away to Mathurā, Vṛndāvana or Hastināpura to meet Your friends and relatives, every moment of Your absence seems like a million years.’”

However these scriptural references do not clearly show the presence of their prema. Nevertheless, just consider the statement of Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (10.39.35):

tās tathā tapyatīr vīkṣya sva-prasthāṇe yadūttamaḥ

sāntvayām asa sa-premair āyāsya iti dautyakaiḥ

“As Kṛṣṇa departed, that best of the Yadus saw how the gopīs were lamenting, and thus He consoled them by sending a messenger with this loving promise: ‘I will return.’”

The word dautyakaiḥ (messenger) is in the plural to indicate that Kṛṣṇa sent many messengers, or one messenger who repeated the same message, “I will return, I will return, I will return.” What type of words did Kṛṣṇa use in His message? He used words full of love (sa premaiḥ). Kṛṣṇa said, “O gopīs ! I am leaving you today only because of King Kaṁsa’s invitation to the Dhanur-yajña, which is difficult to refuse. It is not at all by My own desire. After seeing the Dhanur-yajña, I will return the next day. If some other work comes, I will also finish that tomorrow and quickly return the next day.” If these words were really what Kṛṣṇa was thinking, then they can be called sa-premaiḥ, filled with love. But if they are not, then they are deceitful.

We may think that these statements to Nanda Mahārāja are similar in purpose to those Kṛṣṇa made to Vasudeva and Devakī in verse four of this chapter to bewilder them:

na labdho daiva-hatayor vāso nau bhavad-antike

yāṁ bālāḥ pitṛ-geha-sthā vindante lālitā mudam

“Deprived by fate, We could not live with you in Mathurā and enjoy the pampered happiness most children enjoy in their parents’ home.”

Perhaps Kṛṣṇa’s words to the gopīs are similar. But then why does Śukadeva Gosvāmī use the words “sa-premaiḥ” to describe Kṛṣṇa’s words to the gopīs? If Kṛṣṇa had returned to Vraja the day after killing Kaṁsa without considering all His other duties such as killing Jarāsandha, then one could understand that Kṛṣṇa was concerned with the gopīs’ love. But if He did otherwise, one can only conclude that He was indifferent to their love. Therefore the word sa-premaiḥ (with love) would be false.

The reconciliation of all these objections is as follows: Even though Vasudeva and Devakī are full of prema and cannot be neglected, the devotees in Vraja headed by Nanda Mahārāja have prema which is unequalled and unexcelled. Therefore, it would certainly be all the more improper to ignore them. The purpose of Kṛṣṇa’s appearance to kill the demons and protect the devotees must also be carried out. In addition, Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes in Dvārakā and other places must be exhibited, such as kidnapping Rukmiṇī, stealing the pārijāta tree, and associating with Yudhiṣṭhira. Kṛṣṇa must also fulfill His promise to the gopīs to return after seeing the Dhanur-yajña (bow sacrifice). Kṛṣṇa also had to reveal the super excellence of the gopīs’ love to the world by showing it to Uddhava, the most exalted of the entire retinue of the Lord’s devotees in Mathurā and Dvārakā and the crown jewel of the learned. Just as a man places his valuable gold within fire to reveal its purity, Kṛṣṇa placed His most beloved devotees, the Vraja-gopīs, in the fire of separation from Him in order to manifest the unprecedented quality of their Kṛṣṇa-prema.

Having all these activities to carry out, Kṛṣṇa resorted to His inconceivably powerful yogamāyā potency, and along with Balarāma came before Nanda. At that time Kṛṣṇa manifested two separate forms of Nanda and the other devotees present and Himself and Balarāma as well. Kṛṣṇa’s words to Nanda in verses 21-23, and the descriptions of the next two verses (24-25), presented by the first form have been explained.

But Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma in their second forms also speak, asking a question. “O father, we have been raised by you with great affection. But are We just your adopted sons and not your actual sons? Please tell Us factually. King Ugrasena and all the Yādavas in this place say that We are only your adopted sons. Therefore Vasudeva and Devakī, thinking Us to be their sons, are showing Us excessive affection and trying to keep Us here in Mathurā indefinitely. They don’t permit Us to come see you. Though you are their dear friend, they have not even invited you to dine with them tomorrow according to the rules of etiquette. All this time none of the Yādavas have come to pay you a visit. Being very disturbed, We have run away by force without their knowing to come to see you.” This is the meaning of verse twenty-one according to the second form of Kṛṣṇa.

In reply to this the second form of Nanda said, “But, my dear Kṛṣṇa! In a previous life You were Vasudeva’s son, as Garga Ṛsi told me at Your name-giving ceremony, prāg ayaṁ Vasudevasya kvacij jātas tavātmajaḥ (SB 10.8.14). I would assume that he also told this to Vasudeva. Therefore even in this lifetime Vasudeva is thinking of You, the ocean of all good qualities, as if You were His son and thus wants to keep You here. I understand, however, that Baladeva is his own proper son, whom he wants to take back home. Now I am asking You a question. Do You think that we, as these people of Mathurā say, are only Your foster parents? And are You only our foster sons?”

Kṛṣṇa answered this question (verse twenty-one) with tears in His eyes. “Parents have greater affection for the children born from themselves than they have even for their own bodies and souls. If I were merely your adopted son then how could I have become millions of times more dear to you than your own lives? Therefore I will never again even look upon the face of Vasudeva and these other enemies of yours!”

Then Nanda spoke to Baladeva, “But my darling son Baladeva! Please tell me what You think in this regard?” Baladeva said (verse twenty-two), “Those who raise the children are the real parents. Therefore I will not stay in Vasudeva’s house without you and Kṛṣṇa, even if Brahmā himself commands.” This verse has been previously explained in a similar way.

Nanda Mahārāja thought, “If I take Baladeva with Me back to Vraja, then Vasudeva and the other devotees in Mathurā will become extremely unhappy. The selfish persons in Mathurā like Kaṁsa and other demons have shown enmity to Me but why should I act inimi-cally?” While Nanda was pondering over this, Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma suddenly spoke (verse twenty-three): “O father, you should return to Vraja and We will come later. We will not stay here a moment more than necessary. You know the statement of the Nītī-śāstra, ‘If one has a relative what is the need of fire, and if there is a good friend, what is the necessity of medicine?’ If out of your compassion you cannot tolerate the Yādavas’ suffering, then listen. We will visit Vasudeva and your relatives (jñātin), and give happiness to your friends by letting them see Us.”

Thus addressed by Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, Nanda Mahārāja embraced them strongly with both arms just as a miser holds his wealth to his chest and does not let it fall away (verse twenty-five). Beside himself with loving affection (praṇaya vihvala), and his eyes filled with tears of ecstasy (pūrayann aśrubhir netre), Nanda Mahārāja mounted a golden chariot and went off to Vraja. By the power of yogamāyā, one Nanda Mahārāja separated from Kṛṣṇa and went to Vraja alone, while the other Nanda, invisible to the other, remained in Kṛṣṇa’s association in Vraja. In this same way, all the Vraja-gopīs, gopas, and their animals expanded into two separate manifestations. One set was immersed in an ocean of suffering with Nanda in separation from Kṛṣṇa, and the other set was immersed in an ocean of bliss along with Nanda in association with Kṛṣṇa. They existed simultaneously in Vraja without seeing or contacting each other.

This is similar to how Nārada Muni saw so many separate manifestations of Kṛṣṇa in Dvārakā. In one place Devakī was happily caring for Kṛṣṇa and feeding Him, and simultaneously at another place Devakī was suffering in separation from Kṛṣṇa, lamenting, “Alas, alas, why has my son, who went out to hunt, not returned yet? He must be pained by hunger and thirst.” This is stated in the Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta (5.512):

āścaryam ekadaikātra, vartamānāny api dhruvam,

parasparam asampṛkta, svarūpāṇy eva sarvathā

“How astonishing that though two forms were present in the same place at once, each form was unaware of the other form and did not contact it.”

Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta (1.20) further says: prakāśas tu na bhedesu, ganyate sa hi nau pṛthak, “Prakāśa-rūpas are the same form manifest in many places.” Although Kṛṣṇa’s prakāśa manifestations are not factually different from Him, still, by the influence of His līlā-śakti, a differentiation develops among His self-identities, activities and so on. This will become clear later on, in the chapter on the power of yogamāyā and in the story of Bahulāśva and Śrutadeva.

Thus the two separate manifestations have, respectively, two different purposes. Just as one subjects his precious gold to fire in order to reveal its true form, similarly it was in order to show to Uddhava, the chief among His personal associates situated in pure love of God, the supreme position of the Vraja-gopīs’ astonishing prema with its characteristics of divyonmāda (divine madness) and citra-jalpa (artful chatter), that Kṛṣṇa first of all manifested His particular manifestation in the mood of separation. Upon going to Vraja and witnessing the superiority of this mahā-prema, Uddhava would then announce to the world the supreme excellence of the gopīs’ love in such verses as this:

etāḥ paraṁ tanu-bhṛto bhuvi gopa-vadhvo

govinda eva nikhilātmani rūḍha-bhāvāḥ

vāñchanti yad bhava-bhiyo munayo vayaṁ ca

kiṁ brahma-janmabhir ananta-kathā-rasasya

“Among all persons on earth, these cowherd women alone have actually perfected their embodied lives, for they have achieved the perfection of unalloyed love for Lord Govinda. Their pure love is hankered after by those who fear material existence, by great sages, and by ourselves as well. For one who has tasted the narrations of the infinite Lord, what is the use of taking birth as a high-class brāhmaṇa, or even as Lord Brahmā himself?” (SB 10.47.58)

nāyaṁ śriyo ’ṅga u nitānta-rateḥ prasādaḥ

svar-yoṣitāṁ nalina-gandha-rucāṁ kuto ’nyāḥ

rāsotsave ’sya bhuja-daṇḍa-gṛhīta-kaṇṭha-

labdhāśiṣāṁ ya udagād vraja-vallabhīnām

“When Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa was dancing with the gopīs in the rāsa-līlā, the gopīs were embraced by the arms of the Lord. This transcendental favor was never bestowed upon the goddess of fortune or other consorts in the spiritual world. Indeed, never was such a thing even imagined by the most beautiful girls in the heavenly planets, whose bodily luster and aroma resemble the lotus flower. What to speak of worldly women who are very beautiful according to material estimation?” (SB 10.47.60)

āsām aho caraṇa-reṇu-juṣām ahaṁ syāṁ

vṛndāvane kim api gulma-latauṣadhīnām

yā dustyajaṁ sva-janam ārya-pathaṁ ca hitvā

bhejur mukunda-padavīṁ śrutibhir vimṛgyām

“The gopīs of Vṛndāvana have given up the association of their husbands, sons and other family members, who are very difficult to give up, and they have forsaken the path of chastity to take shelter of the lotus feet of Mukunda, Kṛṣṇa, which one should search for by Vedic knowledge. Oh, let me be fortunate enough to be one of the bushes, creepers or herbs in Vṛndāvana, because the gopīs trample them and bless them with the dust of their lotus feet.” (SB 10.47.61)

When these manifested forms of Kṛṣṇa’s devotees in separation later went to Kurukṣetra and showed themselves to Vasudeva, Devakī, Rukmiṇī and others, they made them also attain this wonder of mahā-prema. When Balarāma went to Vraja He also became astonished upon seeing the madness of pure love in the devotees manifesting separation from Kṛṣṇa.

In order to make it known that the prema of gopīs and the other Vrajavāsīs, which has Kṛṣṇa as its object, is permanent and unchanging, Kṛṣṇa shows the second manifestation of Himself with His devotees in the mood of direct association. Thus by the dual usage of the word ahanī (days and nights) in the verse viśokā ahanī ninyur gāyantyaḥ priya-ceṣṭitam (SB 10.39.37), the gopīs express that they were separated from Kṛṣṇa only for the duration of two days and not longer than that. It should be understood from this that after Kṛṣṇa left for Mathurā, the gopīs specifically attained Kṛṣṇa’s association by singing about His pastimes for two days. On going to Vraja, Uddhava as well uses the present tense in his statement to Nanda and Yaśodā:

hatvā kaṁsaṁ raṅga-madhye pratīpaṁ sarva-sātvatām

yad āha vaḥ samāgatya kṛṣṇaḥ satyaṁ karoti tat

“Having killed Kaṁsa, the enemy of all the Yadus, in the wrestling arena, Kṛṣṇa will now surely fulfill His promise to you by coming back.” (SB 10.46.35) And thus we find in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (10.46.9-13) when Uddhava first entered Vraja, he saw the forms of the devotees manifesting direct association with Kṛṣṇa. When Uddhava approached Nanda, the cows were mooing loudly with full milk bags and chasing their calves, and the bulls were mooing loudly as they engaged in fighting with each other for enjoying the cows. There was the sound of milking cows and the flute. The cowherd men and women appeared splendid with all their ornaments. As they pulled on the churning ropes with their arms, the women of Vraja shone with the splendor of their jingling bangles and their jewels, which reflected the lamps’ light. Their hips, breasts and necklaces moved about, and their faces, anointed with reddish kuṅkuma, glowed radiantly with the luster of their earrings reflecting from their cheeks (10.46.45). As the ladies of Vraja loudly sang the glories of lotus-eyed Kṛṣṇa, their songs blended with the sound of their churning, ascended to the sky and dissipated all inauspiciousness in every direction (10.46.46). By such statements as these, characterizing the ecstasy of direct association with Kṛṣṇa, we understand the purpose of the second manifestation of Kṛṣṇa and attain scriptural proof of this.

|| 10.45.26 ||

atha śūra-suto rājan putrayoḥ samakārayat

purodhasā brāhmaṇaiś ca yathāvad dvija-saṁskṛtim

TRANSLATION

Познавательные статьи:



Организация работы процедурного кабинета

Статус республик в составе РФ

Понятие финансов, их функции и особенности

Сущность демографической политии