Krsna Book Audio Dictation - Chapter 90
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Forty-four. Kṛṣṇa, Chapter Ninety continued.
Śukadeva Gosvāmī informed Mahārāja Parīkṣit that the austerities and penances performed by the queens at Dvārakā has no comparison for self-realization. The objective of self-realization is one: Kṛṣṇa. As such, the dealings of the queens with the Kṛṣṇa, although appears just like ordinary dealings between husband and wife, the principal point to be observed is their attachment for Kṛṣṇa. The whole process of austerities and penances are meant for detaching one's attachment to the material world and enhancing the attachment for Kṛṣṇa, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Kṛṣṇa is the shelter of all persons advancing in self-realization.
As an ideal householder, He was living with wife and performing the Vedic rituals just to show less intelligent persons that the Supreme Lord is never impersonal. Exactly like the ordinary conditioned soul, Kṛṣṇa was living with wife and children and all opulences just to set practical examples to the conditioned souls that he has to enter into the family circle of Kṛṣṇa, where He is the center, just like the Yadu descendants or the members of the Yadu family, they were living in the family of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is the center of the whole activities.
The platform of renouncement is not so important as it is important to enhance one's attachment to Kṛṣṇa. Our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is especially meant for this purpose. We are preaching this principle that it doesn't matter whether a man is a sannyāsī or a householder, gṛhastha, one has to increase his attachment for Kṛṣṇa, then the life is successful. Following the footsteps of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, anyone can live within the members of family, society or nation, but not to indulge in sense gratification but to realize Kṛṣṇa by advancing attachment for Him. There are four principles of elevation from conditional life to the life of liberation, which are technically known as dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa, or religion, economic development, sense gratification and liberation. So if anyone lives within the family life following the footsteps of Lord Kṛṣṇa, he can achieve all these four principles of success, simultaneously making Kṛṣṇa as the center of all activities.
It is already known to us that Kṛṣṇa had 16,108 wives. Of all the wives, who were all exalted liberated souls, Queen Rukmiṇī was the principal wife. After Rukmiṇī, there were other seven wives, and taking them altogether with Rukmiṇī, it is said that eight queens were principal, and the names of the sons of all these principal queens are also mentioned previously. Besides the principal eight queens, Lord Kṛṣṇa had ten sons from each and every other queens. Altogether Kṛṣṇa had 16,108 increased by ten times children. One should not be astonished to hear that Kṛṣṇa had so many sons. One should always remember that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead with unlimited potencies. All living entities are claimed to be His sons, so if there are 16,000,000 sons attached to Him personally, there is no cause of astonishment.
Amongst His great, powerful sons, eighteen sons were mahārathī. The mahārathīs could fight alone with many thousands of soldiers, charioteers, cavalry and elephants. The reputation of these eighteen sons are very well known, and they are described in almost all Vedic literatures. The eighteen mahārathī sons are listed herewith consecutively: Pradyumna, Aniruddha, Dīptimān, Bhānu, Sāmba, Madhu, Bṛhadbhānu, Citrabhānu, Vṛka, Aruṇa, Puṣkara, Vedabāhu, Śrutadeva, Sunandana, Citrabāhu, Virūpa, Kavi and Nyagrodha. Out of these eighteen mahārathī sons of Kṛṣṇa, Pradyumna is considered to be the foremost.
Pradyumna happened to be the eldest son of Queen Rukmiṇī. Pradyumna acquired all the qualities of his great father, Lord Kṛṣṇa. Pradyumna married the daughter of his maternal uncle, Rukmī, and Aniruddha, the son of Pradyumna, was born of the daughter of Rukmī. Aniruddha was so powerful that he could fight with ten thousands of elephants. Aniruddha also married the granddaughter of Rukmī, brother of Rukmiṇī. Because the family of Rukmī was different, therefore the marriage relationship between the cousin brother and sister was not very uncommon. Aniruddha's son was Vajra. When there was destruction of the whole dynasty of Yadus by the curse of the brāhmaṇas, this Vajra only survived. Vajra had one son, whose name was Pratibāhu. Pratibāhu’s son’s name was Subāhu. Subāhu’s son’s name: Śāntasena, and the son of Śāntasena was Śatasena.
It is stated by Śukadeva Gosvāmī that all the names mentioned in the Yadu dynasty had many, many children. Just like Kṛṣṇa had a good many sons and grandsons and great-grandsons, similarly, each one of the kings named herewith had also similar family extension. All of them had not only many children, but all of them were extraordinarily rich and opulent. None of them were less powerful nor of little duration of life, and above all, all the members of the Yadu dynasty, they are staunch devotees of the brahminical culture. It is the duty of the kṣatriya kings to maintain the brahminical culture and to protect the qualified brāhmaṇas, and all these kings discharged their duties very rightly.
The Yadu dynasty is so extensive and numerous that it is very difficult to describe all of them, even though one has got a duration of life for many thousands of years. Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī informed Mahārāja Parīkṣit that he heard from reliable sources that simply to teach the family members or children of the Yadu dynasty, there were (indistinct) tutors, or ācāryas, to the extent of 38,800,000’s of teachers. One can simply imagine that if for educating their children so many teachers were required, how many extensive was the number of the family members. So far their military strength, it is said that only King Ugrasena had ten quadrillion soldiers as personal bodyguards.
Next paragraph.
Before the advent of Lord Kṛṣṇa within this universe, there were many battles between the demons and the demigods, and as the result of which many demigods (demons) died in the fight, and all of them were given the chance of taking birth in high royal families within this earth. All these demons being situated on exalted posts of royalty became very much puffed, and their only business was to harass the subjects. Lord Kṛṣṇa appeared on this planet just by the end of Dvāpara-yuga in order to annihilate all these demoniac kings, as it is said in the Bhagavad-gītā, paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām (BG 4.8).
So as it is said in the beginning that some of the demigods were asked to appear on this earth to assist the transcendental pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa. When Kṛṣṇa appeared, He did so associated with His eternal servitors, but the demigods were requested to come down to assist Him. They all of them took their birth in the Yadu dynasty. In the Yadu dynasty, there were 101 clans in different parts of the country. All the members of these different clans of Yadu dynasty respected Lord Kṛṣṇa, befitting His divine position, and all of them were devotees of Lord Kṛṣṇa heart and soul.
On account of this, all the members of the Yadu dynasty were very much opulent, happy, prosperous and without any anxieties. On account of their implicit faith and devotion to Lord Kṛṣṇa, they were never defeated by any other kings. Their love of Kṛṣṇa was so intense that in their regular activities, namely in their acts of sitting, sleeping, traveling, talking, sporting, cleansing, bathing—they were simply absorbed in thought of Kṛṣṇa without any attention to the bodily necessity. That is the symptom of pure devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa.
In this connection, it may be remembered that when a man is fully absorbed in some particular thought, sometimes he forgets his other bodily activities. The members of Yadu dynasty similarly were acting automatically about their bodily necessities, but actual attention was always in Kṛṣṇa. Their bodily activities were being performed mechanically, but the mind was always absorbed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Next paragraph.
Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī has concluded the Ninetieth Chapter of the Tenth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, pointing out five particular excellences of Lord Kṛṣṇa. The first excellency is that before Lord Kṛṣṇa's appearance in the Yadu family, the river Ganges was known as the purest of all things. Even impure things could be purified simply by touching the water of Ganges. This superexcellent power of the water of Ganges was due to her being emanated from the toe of Lord Viṣṇu. But Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Viṣṇu, when He appeared in the family of the Yadu dynasty, He traveled personally in the kingdom of the Yadu dynasty, and thus by His intimate association with the Yadu dynasty the whole family not only became very famous but also more effective in purifying others than the water of the Ganges.
The next superexcellency of Lord Kṛṣṇa's appearance was that although apparently He gave protection to the devotees and annihilated the demons, but both of them achieved the same result. Lord Kṛṣṇa is the bestower of five kinds of liberation, of which sāyujya-mukti, or liberation of being one with the Supreme, was given to the demons like Kaṁsa, and the gopīs were given the chance of associating with Him personally. The gopīs kept their individuality to enjoy the company of Lord Kṛṣṇa, but Kaṁsa was accepted in His impersonal brahma-jyoti. In other words, both the demons and the gopīs were spiritually liberated, although the demons were enemies and gopīs were friends, or the demons were killed and the gopīs were protected.
The third superexcellence of Lord Kṛṣṇa's appearance was that the goddess of fortune, who is worshiped by demigods like Lord Brahmā, Indra, Candra, she remained always engaged in the service of the Lord, even though the Lord gave more preference to the gopīs. Lakṣmījī, the goddess of fortune, tried his (her) best to be on the equal level with gopīs, but she was not successful. Still, she remained faithful to Kṛṣṇa, although she does not remain at one place even worshiped by demigods like Lord Brahmā.
The fourth superexcellence of Lord Kṛṣṇa's appearance was about the glories of His name. It is stated in the Vedic literature that by chanting thousand times of different names of Lord Viṣṇu, one may be bestowed the benefits of chanting three times the holy name of Lord Rāma. But by chanting the holy name of Lord Kṛṣṇa, one is equally benefited as by chanting three names of Lord Rāma. In other words, all the holy names of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, namely Viṣṇu, Rāma, the holy name of Kṛṣṇa is very, very powerful. Specifically, stress is given therefore on chanting the holy name of Kṛṣṇa: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare, in the Vedic literature, and Lord Caitanya introduced this chanting of the holy name of Kṛṣṇa in this age, making liberation very, very easily obtainable than in other ages. In other words, Lord Kṛṣṇa is superexcellent than His other incarnations, although all of Them are equally the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
The fifth superexcellence of Lord Kṛṣṇa's appearance is that He established the superexcellence of all religious principle by His one statement in the Bhagavad-gītā that by simply surrendering unto Him one can discharge all the principles of religious rites. In the Vedic literature, there are twenty kinds of religious principles, and each of them are described in different śāstras. But Lord Kṛṣṇa is so kind to the fallen, conditioned souls of this age that He asked everyone to give up all kinds of religious rites and simply to surrender unto Him.
It is said that this age of Kali is devoid of three-fourths of religious principles, and hardly there is only one-fourth of religious principles existing in this age. But by the mercy of Lord Kṛṣṇa, this vacancy of the Kali-yuga was fulfilled not only to the fullest extent, but it was made so easy that simply by rendering transcendental loving service unto Lord Kṛṣṇa by chanting His holy name, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare, one can achieve the highest result of religiosity, namely, being transferred to the highest planet within the spiritual world, Goloka Vṛndāvana. One can thus immediately estimate the highest benefit of Lord Kṛṣṇa's appearance on this earth, and therefore to give relief to the people of the world by His appearance was not at all extraordinary.
Next paragraph.
Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī, thus concluding the supra-exalted position of Lord Kṛṣṇa, is glorifying Him in the following way: (within quotation) "Kṛṣṇa, all glories unto You. You are present in everyone's heart as Paramātmā, therefore You are known as Jananivāsa, one who lives in everyone's heart," as it is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā, īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61):
"The Supreme Lord in His Paramātmā feature lives within everyone's heart."
But that does not mean Kṛṣṇa has no separate existence as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Māyāvāda philosophers, they accept the all-pervading feature of Parabrahma, but when Parabrahma, or the Supreme Lord, appears, they think that He appears under the control of material nature. Because Lord Kṛṣṇa appeared as the son of Devakī, the Māyāvādī philosophers accept Kṛṣṇa as if one ordinary living entity takes birth within this material world. Therefore, Śukadeva Gosvāmī warns them that devakī-janma-vāda, which means that He is famous only as the son of Devakī, but actually He is the Supersoul, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead all-pervading.
The devotees, however, takes this word devakī-janma-vāda in a different way. The devotees say that actually Kṛṣṇa was son of mother Yaśodā. Although Kṛṣṇa first of all appeared as the son of Devakī, He Himself immediately transferred to the lap of mother Yaśodā, and His childhood pastimes was so blissfully enjoyed by mother Yaśodā and Nanda Mahārāja. This fact is also admitted by Vasudeva himself when he met Nanda Mahārāja and Yaśodā at Kurukṣetra. He admitted that Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma are actually the sons of mother Yaśodā and Nanda Mahārāja. Vasudeva and Devakī was only, so to say, official father and mother. Actual father and mother was Nanda and Yaśodā. Therefore, Śukadeva Gosvāmī addressed Lord Kṛṣṇa as devakī-janma-vāda.
Śukadeva Gosvāmī after this glorifies the Lord as served by the assembly house of the Yadu dynasty and the killer of different kinds of demons. Kṛṣṇa the Supreme Personality of Godhead could kill all the demons by employing His different material energies, but He wanted to kill them personally in order to give them salvation. There was no need of Kṛṣṇa's coming to this material world for killing the demons. Simply by His willing, many, many hundreds and thousands of demons could be killed without any personal endeavor. But actually He descended for His devotees, to play as a child with mother Yaśodā and Nanda Mahārāja and give pleasure to the inhabitants of Dvārakā, because all of them are pure devotees of the Lord.
By killing the demons and by giving protection to the devotees, Lord Kṛṣṇa established real religious principles, which is simply love of God. By following this factual religious principles, love of God, even the living entities known as sthira-cara were also delivered of all material contamination and transferred to the spiritual kingdom. Sthira means the trees and plants, who cannot move, and cara means the moving animals, specifically the cows. So while Kṛṣṇa was present, He delivered all the trees, plants and animals, monkeys who happened to see Him and serve Him both in Vṛndāvana and Dvārakā.
Lord Kṛṣṇa is a specifically glorified on account of His giving pleasure to the gopīs and the queens at Dvārakā. Śukadeva Gosvāmī glorifies Lord Kṛṣṇa for His enchanting smiling, by which He enchanted not only the gopīs at Vṛndāvana but also the queens at Dvārakā. The exact word used in this connection is kāmavardhayan. Kṛṣṇa in Vṛndāvana as boyfriend of so many gopīs and husband of so many queens at Dvārakā increased their lusty desire to enjoy with Kṛṣṇa. The fact is that for God realization or self-realization, one has to undergo severe austerities, penances for many, many thousands of years; then it may be possible to realize God. But the gopīs and the queens at Dvārakā, simply by enhancing their lusty desires to enjoy Kṛṣṇa as boyfriend or husband, got the highest type of salvation.
This behavior of Lord Kṛṣṇa with the gopīs and the queens is unique in the history of self-realization. Generally, people understand that for self-realization one has to go to the forest, to the mountain, and undergo severe type of austerities and penances. But the gopīs and the queens, simply being attached to Kṛṣṇa by conjugal love and enjoying His company in so-called sensuous life, full in luxury and opulence, got the highest salvation, impossible to be achieved by great sages and saintly person. Similarly, the demons who treated Kṛṣṇa as enemy, as represented by Kaṁsa, Dantavakra, Śiśupāla, etc., they also got the highest benefit of being transferred to the spiritual world.
Next paragraph.
In the beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Śrīla Vyāsadeva offered his respectful obeisances to the Supreme Truth, Vāsudeva, Kṛṣṇa. After that, he taught his son, Śukadeva Gosvāmī, to preach Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and in this connection Śukadeva Gosvāmī glorifies the Lord as jayati. Following the footsteps of Śrīla Vyāsadeva and Śukadeva Gosvāmī and all the ācāryas in disciplic succession, the whole population of the world should glorify Lord Kṛṣṇa, and for the best interest they should take to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, the process being so easy and helpful, by chanting the mahā-mantra, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.
Lord Caitanya has therefore recommended that one should be callous to the material ups and downs. The material life is nonpermanent, temporary. Similarly, the ups and downs of life may come and go. When they come, one should tolerate them like the trees, and becoming humble and meek like the straws in the street. But certainly he must engage oneself in Kṛṣṇa consciousness by chanting the simple method, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa...
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