Srimad Maha Bhagavatam : 6.1 - Swami Krishnananda

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Saturday, 19 Aug 2023 20:00.

Discourse 6: Sri Krishna's Vrindavana and Dwarka Lilas-1.

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In the Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana, the Eighth Skandha is devoted to the detailing of Gajendra Moksha, Amrita Manthana, and Sri Vamana avatara of Bhagavan Sri Vishnu, and in the Ninth Skandha we have the long history of the Solar and Lunar dynasties—Rama being a descendant of the Solar dynasty, and Krishna of the Lunar dynasty.

The most important theme, surpassing all other descriptions that we have in the Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana, is the principle objective of the whole text—namely, the life of Bhagavan Sri Krishna himself. In a wonderfully touching prayer, Kunti glorifies the great Master, as we have it recorded in the First Skandha of the Bhagavata: 

"Namasye purusam tvadyam Isvaram prakrteh param, alakshyam sarva-bhutanam antar bahir avasthitam; 

maya-javanikacchannam ajnadhoksajam avyayam, na laksyase mudha-draa nato natyadharo yatha" (S.B. 1.8.18-19); 

"Sri-krishna krishna-sakha vrisny-rsabhavani-dhrug-rajanya-vamsa-dahananapavarga-virya, 

govinda go-dvija surarti-haravatara yogesvarakhila-guro bhagavan namaste" (S.B. 1.8.43).

The play of God in the theatre of this world is the life of Bhagavan Sri Krishna. He behaved in the same way as God would behave in His creation. The avatara of Rama is regarded as a maryada that he kept in terms of the rules and regulations of human society. Bhagavan Sri Krishna is known not as Maryada Purushottama, but as Lila Purushottama. The demonstration of the perfection of human nature is the subject of the Ramayana, the life of Sri Ramachandra; and the demonstration of the perfection of God as He would operate Himself, independently, free from all accessories, is the theme of the life of Bhagavan Sri Krishna in the Srimad Bhagavata. Everything that Krishna did was the opposite of the world, while everything that Rama did was in consonance with the world.

The evolutionary process that is seen in the various avataras of Vishnu—such as Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Narasimha, Vamana, etc.—reaches a culmination in Rama and Krishna. From the lower levels of life through which God incarnates, as demonstrated in the earlier avataras, human perfection is reached in Rama's avatara. But that is not enough. God has to descend into the world in the full force and power of His Completeness. 

Ete camsa-kalah pumsah krishna tu bhagavan svayam (S.B. 1.3.28). 

As the entire energy of the sun may be concentrated on a lens through which this energy passes, and it has the capacity to work as the sun would work, so is the way in which we have to understand the nature of an incarnation, especially of the type of superman such as Bhagavan Sri Krishna. The universal forces congeal and concentrate themselves in one personality when it becomes purna avatara. It is as if the force of the ocean rushes through a single conduit pipe, and we can imagine the energy that is conducted through this pipe when the entire ocean is passing through it.

The Bhagavata also describes God as a threefold manifestation: Brahma, Paramatman and Bhagavan. 

Brahmeti paramatmeti bhagavan iti Sabdyate (S.B. 1.2.11). 

He is the transcendent Supreme Being, the Absolute, which is Brahman; He is the creative operative power, which is Paramatman; He is also the incarnation, which is Bhagavan. Three stages of the operation of God are here portrayed in the description of God being Brahman, Paramatman and Bhagavan.

The lilas, or the plays of God in the form of Sri Krishna, have been inscrutable right from the beginning. The very purpose of the play of God is to manifest those realities which are beyond human comprehension—to stultify human thought, paralyse all human action, stun the individual ego, and transform human nature into divine nature. Everything is a miracle right from the beginning of Sri Krishna's life—his birth in a prison, the prison doors opening automatically, the crossing of the Yamuna River, and the various fantastic scenes that are associated with him in the Vrindavana Lila. Boisterous, naughty and uncontrollable is the nature that Sri Krishna demonstrated right from childhood. He was not a simple, obedient, calm and quiet child. He was disobedient, boisterous, rebellious, independent in every way, and if anybody interfered with his independence, he would react with consternation, a wonder which surpasses human understanding.

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To be continued

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