Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.8.31

Nitāi: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [devotees repeat] [leads chanting of verse, etc.]

gopy ādade tvayi kṛtāgasi dāma tāvad yā te daśāśru-kalilāñjana-sambhramākṣam vaktraṁ ninīya bhaya-bhāvanayā sthitasya sā māṁ vimohayati bhīr api yad bibheti [SB 1.8.31]

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"My dear Kṛṣṅa, Yaśodā took up a rope to bind You when You committed an offense, and Your perturbed eyes overflooded with tears, which washed the mascara from Your eyes. And You were afraid, though fear personified is afraid of You. This sight is bewildering to me."

Prabhupāda:

gopy ādade tvayi kṛtāgasi dāma tāvad yā te daśāśru-kalilāñjana-sambhramākṣam vaktraṁ ninīya bhaya-bhāvanayā sthitasya sā māṁ vimohayati bhīr api yad bibheti [SB 1.8.31]

So this is the description of Kṛṣṅa's becoming Dāmodara. Kṛṣṅa's another name is Dāmodara. The Dāmodara temple, Rādhā-Dāmodara temple, is there in Vṛndāvana, and I was staying there. Still I have my two rooms. So this Dāmodara description... The Dāmodara month is coming, and it will begin on the 18th of this October. So from that day, we'll observe Dāmodara-vrata for one month, from 18th to 17th November. The duty will be that in the evening you'll offer candle, a small candle, all of you, just before the Deity; not within the room, outside the room; and chant the Dāmodarāṣṭaka, namāmīśvaram. That is already printed in our song book. So this will be Dāmodara-vrata. That Dāmodara is explained here.

Śrīmatī Kuntī is also motherly. So how Kṛṣṅa was afraid of His mother, Yaśodā, that is described here. Gopyā: "By Your mother, Yaśodā." The Vallabhācārya made a book of Kṛṣṅa's various names. And he came to Caitanya Mahāprabhu to request Him to hear that how he has described Kṛṣṅa's name. At that time, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said that "I know Kṛṣṅa's two name: Śyāmasundara and Yaśodā-stanamdanaya." Śyāmasundara, "beautiful Śyāma, Kṛṣṅa." Yaṁ śyāmasundaram acintya-guṅa-svarūpam. He's not śyāma—śyāma means blackish—but at the same time, the most beautiful. Here in this material world, if somebody is blackish, he cannot be called beautiful. But Kṛṣṅa, although He is blackish, He is sundaram, very, very beautiful. How much sundaram? Kandarpa-koṭi-kamanīya-viśeṣa-śobham [Bs 5.30].

[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is adept in playing on His flute, with blooming eyes like lotus petals with head decked with peacock's feather, with the figure of beauty tinged with the hue of blue clouds, and His unique loveliness charming millions of Cupids.]

Kandarpa-koṭi. If you keep one side millions of Cupids, still, Kṛṣṅa will appear more beautiful. Just like we sing, nitāi-pada-kamala, koṭi-candra-suśītala. Koṭi, millions of moons together, they cannot be so peaceful and cool as the lotus feet of Lord Nityānanda. These examples are given in the śāstra. They are not exaggeration but actual fact. And we have to take it in good faith. Then we'll make advance in spiritual life. Otherwise, if we think these things are exaggeration in the śāstras or by the devotees, that is aparādha, offense.

So here it is said that kṛtāgasi. What is that? Kṛtāgasi? So Kṛṣṅa was offender before His mother. The mother, Yaśodā, was taking care of the milk, and Kṛṣṅa wanted to suck his [her] breast. So mother was very busy. So when the milk was overflowing, he [she] immediately left Kṛṣṅa and went to take care of the milk. Kṛṣṅa became very much angry. So He went to the butter stock and broke the butter pot, spoiled it, and when Mother Yaśodā saw that the child is breaking the butter pot, he [she] immediately wanted to catch Him, and Kṛṣṅa fled away. And then, after all, He was a small child, and Mother Yaśodā caught Him and wanted to bind Him with a rope. This is the fact. Kṛtāgasi.

Then gopy ādade kṛtāgasi tvam: "Because You were offender, therefore he [she] wanted to bind You." Dāma. Dāma means rope. Tāvat. "And what was Your condition at that time? The condition was yā te daśā." Daśā means condition. So He was crying. Lord Kṛṣṅa, out of fear of His mother—"Now mother will bind Me"—so He was crying. And while crying, the tears washed the, what is called? Kajala? Mascara? So they were dropping, and He was fearful, crying, and He was..., His head was down, flapping. This condition. Ninīya. Vaktraṁ ninīya, face. He felt culprit, that "I have done wrong." Bhaya-bhāvana. He was so much afraid that "Mother will bind Me. My freedom will be lost." Sthitasya: "In this way, when You were situated..."

So Kuntīdevī is remembering that scene, and she became astonished. Why? Now, bhīr api yad bibheti. The... There is one thing, bhaya. Everyone is afraid of something. That is called bhaya. So there is the personified bhaya, bhīḥ. So he's also afraid of Kṛṣṅa. Because Kṛṣṅa is the supreme being, controller, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṅaḥ [Bs 5.1], so He can control...

[Kṛṣṅa who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes.]

Just like the superintendent of police. So everyone is afraid of the superintendent of police. Especially those criminals, they are very much afraid. But why the governor should be afraid of the police superintendent? As that is not possible, that is unnatural, similarly, if there is any director of the fear department in the kingdom of Kṛṣṅa, so he's afraid of Kṛṣṅa, because everyone is servant. Ekale īśvara kṛṣṅa āra saba bhṛtya [Cc Ādi 5.142].

[Lord Kṛṣṅa alone is the supreme controller, and all others are His servants. They dance as He makes them do so.]

Whoever may be... Just like Goddess Kālī. She is personified fear. Just see, just imagine the bodily feature of Goddess Kālī. She is killing all the asuras. So many asuras has been killed that all their heads have been made into a garland, and she is putting on the shoulder. And one asura killed, and she has taken the head in the left hand. And the other hand is engaged with the, what is called, chopper? Khaḍga. What is the English of khaḍga?

Devotee (1): Chopper.

Prabhupāda: Chopper?

Devotee (2): Sword?

Prabhupāda: Yes. And the..., she's standing, bhīḥ, bhīr api. Bhīḥ means personified, personified fearfulness. So those who are criminals, they worship Kālī, Goddess Kālī: "Mother, please excuse me. I, I am criminal. I'll give you one goat."

So these things are going on in the name of worshiping God. But that is not God worship. That is worshiping the fearful personified by the criminals. Just Durgā... Kālī is expansion of Durgā. Just like Viṣṅu is expansion of Kṛṣṅa, similarly, Kṛṣṅa's energy... Energy has also many expansion. Daśā mahā-vidyā. There are many expansion of Durgā because she has to look after... Just like police department. Police department is there, but there are many officers in that police department. Similarly, Durgā is the superintendent of police of this universe. Durgā. Durgā means the fort, durgā. Ga means going, and dur means difficulty. So where you cannot go unless you accept so many difficulties, that is called durgā, or fort.

So this universe, material world, is just like a durgā. You cannot escape. Conditioned souls, you cannot escape. It is very difficult. Daivī hy eṣā guṅamayī duratyayā [Bg 7.14].

[This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.]

There are rules and regulation. Just like immigration department, security department—same thing. These are simply reflection of the original function of the supreme government. So this is... Just like prison house. You cannot escape so easily. If you try to escape, then you'll be again punished. So the bhīḥ, the superintendent of police... The original superintendent is Durgā. Durgā means the protector of this durgā, where you cannot escape. So she is also servant of Kṛṣṅa. Therefore it is said, bhīr api yad bibheti. This Durgā is the fearful personified, but still, she cannot disobey Kṛṣṅa's order. That is her position, dāsī. Mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te [Bg 7.14]. The bhīḥ, the fearful feature of Kṛṣṅa's potency, can only excuse you when you are surrendered to Kṛṣṅa. Otherwise, you have to suffer these material pangs. We can understand how we are materially inconvenienced. We are... We have got such a nice house, and we are living on the third floor, so nicely decorated with marble. But the Durgā's agent, the flies, they can go there and disturb you so much so that you would like to go away from this house. This is our position. So the bhīḥ, the fearful personified agent, can punish you anywhere. You may think that "I am very comfortably situated," but that fearful agent can go anywhere.

So that fearful agent, Durgā, is also fearful of Kṛṣṅa. This is Kṛṣṅa's position. Because she is servant. Sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya-sādhana-śaktir ekā chāyeva yasya bhuvanāni bibharti durgā [Bs 5.44].

[The external potency Māyā who is of the nature of the shadow of the cit potency, is worshiped by all people as Durgā, the creating, preserving and destroying agency of this mundane world. I adore the primeval Lord Govinda in accordance with whose will Durgā conducts herself.]

She is so powerful, Durgā, that she can create one universe. Just like Kṛṣṅa can create, Kṛṣṅa also creates through her agent. As it is stated, na tasya kāryam karaṅaṁ ca vidyate [Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.8].

[The Supreme Lord has nothing to do. Nothing is equal to Him or greater than Him. He acts in different phases by manifesting His parts and parcels, which are all simultaneously differently situated by His unlimited, variegated potencies. Each potency acts quite naturally in sequences, providing Him full knowledge, power and pastimes.]

He does not do anything directly, but as soon as He desires, "Let there..." Sa aikṣata sa asṛjata. These are the statements of the Vedas. In the Bible also it is said, "God desired: Let there be creation." Is it not like that? "And there was creation." Yes. The modern man, they cannot understand. "Eh! What is this? If somebody says 'Let there be creation,' and immediately that is ready? And He hasn't got to do it? These things are simply exaggeration." But no, that is the fact. God does not do anything by Himself. He's so powerful. Simply by His will. There are so many agents, and they are so powerful that immediately they can do it. The foolish people, they cannot see the hands of God is working everywhere.

So sṛṣṭi-sthiti... Mayādhyakṣeṅa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram [Bg 9.10].

[This material nature is working under My direction, O son of Kuntī, and it is producing all moving and unmoving beings. By its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again.]

So prakṛti, this material nature, is working, and if one is criminal... Criminal means we are. Just see the flies, the insects, how much they are suffering. Whole night, they struggle to enjoy the lamp, and in the morning all dead. All dead. This is their life. So we are thinking that we are better situated. No, we are not better situated. Our the principle is the same, that you come here, you accept a certain type of body, and whole night, or whole life... Night means ignorance, darkness. So in ignorance you go on struggling whole life, and then you become dead, finished. The same thing. There is no difference between the life of the insect... Therefore Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī says that, that the..., these big, big demigods... Yat kāruṅya-katākṣa-vaibhavavatām. There is a verse; I just now forget it. Kaivalyaṁ narakāyate [Caitanya-candrāmṛta 5]. Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī says that kaivalya, the impersonalists' theory of becoming one, monist, with the Absolute... That is called kaivalya. So he says, kaivalyaṁ narakāyate: "For a devotee who has got little favor of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, for him, this kaivalya-sukha, happiness of becoming one with the Supreme, is as good as the hell." Kaivalyaṁ narakāyate. And tri-daśa-pūra ākāśa-puṣpāyate. Tri-daśa-pūra means where thirty-three millions of demigods live, heavenly planets, it is something like phantasmagoria, ākāśa-puṣpa, which has... Just like in Bengal they say, jokingly, ghoṛā ḍim. Ghoṛā ḍim means a ghoṛā, a horse, never gives eggs. It is fantastics. It is not possible. Similarly, these heavenly planets, for a Vaiṣṅava, is ghoṛā ḍim. They don't care for it. It is no fact.

So kaivalyaṁ narakāyate tri-daśa-pūra ākāśa-puṣpāyate. Karmīs, they want to go to the heavenly planet. This is the sarcastic remark upon the karmīs. And kaivalyaṁ narakāyate, a sarcastic remark upon the jñānīs. They want to become..., want to become one. Kaivalyaṁ narakāyate tri-daśa-pūra ākāśa-puṣpāyate, durdānta indriya-kāla-sarpa-paṭalī protkhāta-daṁṣṭrāyate [Caitanya-candrāmṛta 5]. Durdānta indriya. Our senses are very powerful, durdānta. We cannot control. Just like snake. A snakes..., if you get some snakes here, it is very difficult to control. If you go to control, immediately it will bite, and your life is finished. But mantrauṣadhi, those who know mantra and oṣadhi, they can control. But common man, they cannot control. But this Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī says that there is no control. There is no question of control. The snake is horrible, very fearful, so long it has got the poison teeth, viṣa-dānta. So sometimes the physicians, according to Āyurvedic system, they take out the poison from the teeth. They do not kill, but catch, and take out the poison. So if the poison teeth is taken away, the snake is no more fearful. So Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī says that durdāntendriya-kāla-sarpa-paṭalī protkhāta-daṁṣṭrāyate. Daṁṣṭrāyate. Just like the dentist take away the teeth, similarly, if one snake's poison teeth is taken away, so no, it is no more fearful. In Bengal it is said that viṣa nai kula pana cakra[?]. So one who knows that this snake's poison teeth is taken away, he's not afraid. But this snake is fearful to the boys, to the children, not to the elderly men.

So anyone who has become devotee, for them, these senses, which are compared with the snakes, are not fearful. Just like Haridāsa Ṭhākura. He was young man, he has got all the senses, and the young girl, beautiful girl, came before him. But he was not fearful, because the poison teeth is taken away of his senses. The senses, being engaged in Kṛṣṅa's service, it is no more controller of the sense proprietor. This is the system. Therefore Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī said that durdānta: "The senses are like the snakes; it is very difficult to control. But it can be controlled because the poison teeth is taken away." This is the position of devotee. Kaivalyaṁ narakāyate tri-daśa-pūrākāśa-puṣpāyate durdānta indriya-kāla-sarpa-paṭalī protkhāta-daṁṣṭrāyate.

And what is the other? Now, vidhi-mahendrādiś ca kīṭāyate. I was going to come to this point. Vidhi-mahendrādiś ca kīṭāyate. Vidhi means Brahmā, and mahendra means the king of heaven, Indradeva. Such, such big, big men, what to speak of these Churchill or Subhash Bose or... These big, big, they're kīṭāyate. Kīṭāyate means a devotee thinks this Brahmā and Indra exactly like these insect. That is the conception. So that is actually the fact. Everyone... It is the relative world. Relatively, it looks very gorgeous, but the actually... Just like proportionate. You put five upon ten, and five millions upon ten millions. The ratio is the same: half. Similarly, these big, big men, these big, big politicians, they are struggling exactly like the insect. The whole life, they struggle. And in the morning, at a certain time, they're heap, heaps of dead body, that's all. We have seen it in Calcutta. When there was Hindu-Muslim riot, they fought, and in Baghbazar there were heaps of dead bodies. And when it is dead body, nobody could understand who is Hindu and who is Muslim; simply it was to be cleared from the road. So our position is like that.

So we may be afraid of this fearful agent, but Kṛṣṅa is not fearful, afraid of fearful agent. We do... Because we should not. Therefore Kuntī is astonished, vimohayati, that "This is my astonishment, that how Kṛṣṅa is afraid of His mother? The... Everyone is afraid of Kṛṣṅa." That Kṛṣṅa, Kuntī admits that... Therefore it is called līlā. Everything, whatever Kṛṣṅa does, it is līlā. Līlā means He's enjoying that fearful attitude of Himself. Everyone prays Him as the Supreme Lord. He is adored, He's worshiped. Nobody can be fearful to Him. Nobody goes to Kṛṣṅa: "I have come to chastise You, Kṛṣṅa." That is not possible. Nobody goes to the temple with the attitude, with a stick—"Sir, I have come to chastise You." Everyone is praying. So when Kṛṣṅa thinks that "I wants to be chastised," at that time He become subordinate to His devotee to be chastised. This is Kṛṣṅa's līlā. Kṛṣṅa agrees that "Nobody comes to chastise Me, all My devotees. If some devotee comes to chastise Me, I would like it." So Kṛṣṅa accepts such great devotee as His mother and father, and they are able to chastise Kṛṣṅa.

So these people, these Māyāvādī people, they are trying to become one with the God. But a devotee doesn't like to be one with God but better than God or higher than God. That is devotee's position. Devotee's so powerful that Kṛṣṅa..., a devotee can claim to become higher than God. They can produce God. Just like Yaśodā-mātā, Devakī. He [she] produced God. And God agrees. These Devakī and Vasudeva, they underwent severe penances, austerities. Without any conjugal union, they undergone tapasya. And Kṛṣṅa came to them, that "What do you want?" "Now I..., we want a son like You." So Kṛṣṅa said, "Who can be equal to Me? That is not possible. I shall become your son." This is the reason that Kṛṣṅa took birth as the son of Devakī, because they become... Kṛṣṅa... Vasudeva and Devakī or Mother Yaśodā or Nanda, they became the father and mother of Kṛṣṅa, and now they are chastising Kṛṣṅa. It is not so easy thing. They had to undergo thousands of years in penances to take this position of chastising Kṛṣṅa. It is not... [break] [end]