Lecture – Tamohara Prabhu – SB 10.2.11-12 – Material Miseries

Lord Krishna blessed Mayadevi by saying: In different places on the surface of the earth, people will give you different names, such as Durga, Bhadrakali, Vijaya, Vaishnavi, Kumuda, Candika, Krishna, Madhavi, Kanyaka, Maya, Narayani, Isani, Sarada and Ambika.

Because Krishna and His energy appeared simultaneously, people have generally formed two groups — the saktas and the Vaishnavas — and sometimes there is rivalry between them. Essentially, those who are interested in material enjoyment are saktas, and those interested in spiritual salvation and attaining the spiritual kingdom are Vaishnavas. Because people are generally interested in material enjoyment, they are interested in worshiping Mayadevi, the energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Vaishnavas, however, are suddha-saktas, or pure bhaktas, because the Hare Krishna maha-mantra indicates worship of the Supreme Lord’s energy, Hara. A Vaishnava prays to the energy of the Lord for the opportunity to serve the Lord along with His spiritual energy. Thus Vaishnavas all worship such Deities as Radha-Krishna, Sita-Rama, Lakshmi-Narayana and Rukmini-Dvarakadhisa, whereas durga-saktas worship the material energy under different names.

The names by which Mayadevi is known in different places have been listed by Vallabhacarya as follows. In Varanasi she is known as Durga, in Avanti she is known as Bhadrakali, in Orissa she is known as Vijaya, and in Kulahapura she is known as Vaishnavi or Mahalakshmi. (The representatives of Mahalakshmi and Ambika are present in Bombay.) In the country known as Kamarupa she is known as Candika, in Northern India as Sarada, and in Cape Comorin as Kanyaka. Thus she is distributed according to various names in various places.

Srila Vijayadhvaja Tirthapada, in his pada-ratnavali-tika, has explained the meanings of the different representations. Maya is known as Durga because she is approached with great difficulty, as Bhadra because she is auspicious, and as Kali because she is deep blue. Because she is the most powerful energy, she is known as Vijaya; because she is one of the different energies of Vishnu, she is known as Vaishnavi; and because she enjoys in this material world and gives facilities for material enjoyment, she is known as Kumuda. Because she is very severe to her enemies, the asuras, she is known as Candika, and because she gives all sorts of material facilities, she is called Krishna. In this way the material energy is differently named and situated in different places on the surface of the globe.