Lecture on Srimad Bhagavatam, Canto 10, Chapter 2, Texts 7-8 titled “Getting to Krishna” given by Vishvambhar das.
Dallas, TX
2011-01-24
Text 7 TRANSLATION
The Lord ordered Yogamaya: O My potency, who are worshipable for the entire world and whose nature is to bestow good fortune upon all living entities, go to Vraja, where there live many cowherd men and their wives. In that very beautiful land, where many cows reside, Rohini, the wife of Vasudeva, is living at the home of Nanda Maharaja. Other wives of Vasudeva are also living there incognito because of fear of Kamsa. Please go there.
PURPORT
Nanda-gokula, the residence of King Nanda, was itself very beautiful, and when Yogamaya was ordered to go there and encourage the devotees with fearlessness, it became even more beautiful and safe. Because Yogamaya had the ability to create such an atmosphere, the Lord ordered her to go to Nanda-gokula.
Text 8 TRANSLATION
Within the womb of Devaki is My partial plenary expansion known as Sankarshana or Sesha. Without difficulty, transfer Him into the womb of Rohini.
PURPORT
The first plenary expansion of Krishna is Baladeva, also known as Sesha. The Sesha incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead supports the entire universe, and the eternal mother of this incarnation is mother Rohini. “Because I am going into the womb of Devaki,” the Lord told Yogamaya, “the Sesha incarnation has already gone there and made suitable arrangements so that I may live there. Now He should enter the womb of Rohini, His eternal mother.”
In this connection, one may ask how the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is always situated transcendentally, could enter the womb of Devaki, which had previously been entered by the six asuras, the shad-garbhas. Does this mean that the Shad-garbhasuras were equal to the transcendental body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead? The following answer is given by Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura.
The entire creation, as well as its individual parts, is an expansion of the energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore, even though the Lord enters the material world, He does not do so. This is explained by the Lord Himself in Bhagavad-gita (9.4-5):
“By Me, in My unmanifested form, this entire universe is pervaded. All beings are in Me, but I am not in them. And yet everything that is created does not rest in Me. Behold My mystic opulence! Although I am the maintainer of all living entities, and although I am everywhere, My Self is the very source of creation.” Sarvam khalv idam brahma. Everything is an expansion of Brahman, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, yet everything is not the Supreme Godhead, and He is not everywhere. Everything rests upon Him and yet does not rest upon Him. This can be explained only through the acintya-bhedabheda philosophy. Such truths cannot be understood, however, unless one is a pure devotee, for the Lord says in Bhagavad-gita (18.55), bhaktya mam abhijanati yavan yas casmi tattvatah: “One can understand the Supreme Personality as He is only by devotional service.” Even though the Lord cannot be understood by ordinary persons, this principle should be understood from the statement of the sastras.
A pure devotee is always transcendentally situated because of executing nine different processes of bhakti-yoga (sravanam kirtanam vishnoh smaranam pada-sevanam/ arcanam vandanam dasyam sakhyam atma-nivedanam [SB 7.5.23]). Thus situated in devotional service, a devotee, although in the material world, is not in the material world. Yet a devotee always fears, “Because I am associated with the material world, so many contaminations affect me.” Therefore he is always alert in fear, which gradually diminishes his material association.
Symbolically, mother Devaki’s constant fear of Kamsa was purifying her. A pure devotee should always fear material association, and in this way all the asuras of material association will be killed, as the shad-garbhasuras were killed by Kamsa. It is said that from the mind, Marici appears. In other words, Marici is an incarnation of the mind. Marici has six sons: Kama, Krodha, Lobha, Moha, Mada and Matsarya (lust, anger, greed, illusion, madness and envy). The Supreme Personality of Godhead appears in pure devotional service. This is confirmed in the Vedas: bhaktir evainam darsayati. Only bhakti can bring one in contact with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Supreme Personality of Godhead appeared from the womb of Devaki, and therefore Devaki symbolically represents bhakti, and Kamsa symbolically represents material fear. When a pure devotee always fears material association, his real position of bhakti is manifested, and he naturally becomes uninterested in material enjoyment. When the six sons of Marici are killed by such fear and one is freed from material contamination, within the womb of bhakti the Supreme Personality of Godhead appears. Thus the seventh pregnancy of Devaki signifies the appearance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. After the six sons Kama, Krodha, Lobha, Moha, Mada and Matsarya are killed, the Sesha incarnation creates a suitable situation for the appearance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In other words, when one awakens his natural Krishna consciousness, Lord Krishna appears. This is the explanation given by Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura.