Srimad Bhagavatam, Volume 3

Srimad Bhagawatam, First Canto, Volume Three
Sprisani—touching, Smartur—by remembering them, Luthanti—
overwhelmes, Hridayani—heart and soul, Mama—mine, Madhavasya—of
Madhava (Krishna)
Oh the King ! His conversation in jokes which he talked very frankly and
was so pleasing and beautiful decorated with smiles and His note of
addresses unto me as "oh the son of Pritha, oh friend, oh the son of Kuru
dynasty" and all such hearty dealings are now being remembered by me
and thus I am overwhelmed.
Sayya asana atana vikathyana bhojana adishu
Aikyad vayasya ritayan iti vipralabdhah.
Sakhyuh sakheva pitriyat tanayasya sarvam
Sehe mahan mahitaya kumater agham me.
Sayya—sleeping in one bed, Asana—sitting on one seat, Atana—walking
together, Vikatthyanam—self-adoration, Bhojana—dinning together,
Adishu—and in all such dealings, Aikyad—on account of oneness,
Vayasya—oh my friend, Ritavan—truthful, Vipralabdha—misbehaved,
Sakhyu—unto a friend, Sakheva—just like a friend, Pitrivat—just like the
father, Tanayasya—of the child, Sarvam—all, Sehe—tolerated, Mahan—
great, Mahitaya—by glories, Kumater—of one who is of low mentality, Me—
mine.
Generally both of us used to live together in the matter of sleeping,
sitting, loitering and at the time of advertising oneself for acts of chivalry.
Sometimes if there was any irregularity I used to reproach Him by saying
"my friend you are very truthful." Even in those hours of minimising His
value, the Supreme Soul as He is, He used to tolerate all those utterings of
mine excusing me exactly like a true friend does to a true friend or the
father does to his son.
The Supreme Lord Shri Krishna being all perfect His transcendental pastimes
with His pure devotees never lack in any respect either as a friend, son or
lover. The Lord relishes reproaches of friends, parents or fiancees more
palatably than the Vedic hymns which are offered to Him by great learned
scholar and religionists in an offficial fashion.
Sa aham nripendra rahitah purushottamena
Sakhya priyena suhrida hridayena sunyah.
Adhyanyurukrama parigraham anga rakshan
Gopair asdbhiravaleva vinirjitoshmi.
Sa—that, Aham—Myself, Nripendra—oh the emperor, Rahitam—bereft of,
Purushottamena—by the Supreme Lord, Sakhya—by my friend, Priyena—by
my dearmost, Suhrida—by the wellwisher, Hridayena—by the heart and soul,
Sunyah—vaccant, Adhuna—recently, Urukramaparigraham—the wives of the
All-powerful, Anga—body, Rakshan—while protecting, Gopair—by the
cowherds, Asdbhir—by the infidels, Avaleva—like the weak woman,
Vinirjitoshmi—I have been defeated.
Oh the emperor! thus I have been separated by my such friend,
wellwisher, the dearmost Supreme Personality of Godhead and therefore
my heart appears to be void of everything. In His absence I have been
defeated by a number of infidel cowherdsmen while I was guarding the
bodies of all the wives of Krishna.
The important point in this verse is how it was possible that Arjuna could be
defeated by a gang of ignoble cowherdsmen and how such mundane
cowherdsmen could touch the body of the wives of Lord Krishna who were
under the protection of Arjuna. Srila Viswanath Chakravarby Thakur has
justified the contradiction by research endeavour in the Vishnu Puranam and
Brahma Puranam. In these Puranas it is said that sometimes the fair denizens
of heaven pleased by their service to Astavakra Muni and the latter in return
blessed them that they would have the Supreme Lord as their husband.
Astavakra Muni was curved in eight joints of his bodily structure and thus he
used to move on in a peculiar curved manner. The daughters of the demigods
could not check their laughing by seeing the movements of the Muni and thus
the Muni being angry upon them cursed them also that they would be
kidnapped by rogues even they would get the Lord as their husband. Later on
the girls again satisfied the Muni by their prayers and the Muni blessed them
that they would regain their husband even after being robbed by the rogues.
So in order to keep the words of the great Muni, the Lord Himself kidnapped
His wives from the protection of Arjuna otherwise they would have at once
vanished from the scene in the very beginning of their being touched by the
rogues. Besides that some of the Gopis who prayed for becoming the better
halves of the Lord and after their desire being fulfilled they returned back to
their respective position. After departure of Lord Krishna He wanted all His
entourage back to Godhead and they were so called back under different
conditions only.
Tad vai dhanusta ishavah sa ratho hayaste
So'aham rathi nripatayo yata anamanti
sarvam kshanena tad abhut asad ishena riktam
Bhasmam hutam kuhakarabdham iva uptam ushyam.
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Tad—the same, Vai—certainly, Dhanusta—the same bow, Ishavah—arrows,
Sa—the very same, Ratho—the chariot, Hayaste—the very same horses,
So'aham—I am the same Arjuna, Nripataya—all the kings, Anamanti—
offered their respects, Sarvam—all, Kshanena—by a moment's notice, Tad—
all those, Abhut—became, Asad—useless, Ishena—on account of the Lord,
Riktam—being void, Bhasmam—ashes, Hutam—offering butter,
Kuhakarabdham—money created by magical feats, Iva—like that, Uptam—
seed, Ushyam—in the barren land.
I have got the very same Gandiba bow, the same arrows the same chariot
drawn by the same horses and I use them as the same Arjuna whom all
the kings offered their due respects. And in the absence of Lord Krishna
all of them have become null and void in a moment's notice. It is exactly
like offering clarified butter on the ashes, accumulating money by magic
wand and sowing seeds in the barren land.
As we have discussed more than once one should not be puffed up by
borrowed plumes. All energies and powers are derived from theSupreme
source Lord Krishna and they act as long as He desires and stop to function as
soon as He withdraws. As much as all electrical energies are received from
the power house and as soon as power house stops supplying energy there is
no more use of the bulbs and machine. In a moment's time such energies can
be generated or withdrawn by the Supereme Will of the Lord. Material
civilization without any connection with the blessing of the Lord is a childs
play only. So long the parents allow the child to play it is alright. As soon as
the parents withdraw the child has to stop it. Human civilization and all
activities thereof must be dovetailed with the supereme blessings of the Lord
and without this blessings all advancement of human civilization is like
decoration of the dead body. It is said here that dead civilization and its
activities are something like pouring clarified butter on the ashes,
accumulating money by the magic wand and sowing seed in sarren land.
Rajans taya anupristanam suhridam nah suhritpure
Vipra sapat vimudhanam nighnatam mustibhir mithah.
Varuni madiram pitwa madonmathita chetasam
Ajanatam iva anyonam chatuh panchavaseshitah.
Rajans—oh the king, Taya—by you. Anupristanam—as you enquired of,
Suhridam—of friends and relatives, Nah—our, Suhritpure—in the city of
Dwarka, Vipra—the Brahmins, Sapat—by the curse of, Vimudhanam—of the
befooled, Nighnatam—of the killed, Mustibhir—by bunch of sticks, Mitha—
between themselves, Varuni—purificd rice, Madira—wine, Pitwa—having
drunk up, Madonmathita—being intoxicated, Chetasam—of that mental
situation, Ajanantam—of the unrecognised, Iva—like, Anyonyam—one
another, Chatuh—four, Pancha—five, Avaseshitah—now remaining.
Oh the king! as you have enquired from me about our friends and
relatives in the city of Dwarka, I may inform you that all of them were
cursed by the Brahmins and as a result of that all of them became
intoxicated by drinking wine made of purified rice and fought between
one another with sticks and blows unrecognised by themselves. Except
four or five all of them are now dead and gone.
Prayenaitad bhagawata iswarasya vichestitam
Mitho nighnanti bhutani bhavayanti cha yam mithah.
Prayanaitad—it is almost by, Bhagawata—of the Personality of Godhead,
Iswarasya—of the Lord, Vichestitam—by the will of, Mitho—between one
another, Nighanti—do kill, Bhutani—the living beings, Bhavayanti—as also
protects, Cha—also, Yam—of whom, Mithah—one another.
In fact these are all under the supreme will of the Lord Personality of
Godhead that sometimes people kill one another as also protect one
another at another time.
According to the anthropologist there is the nature's law of struggle for
existence and survival of the fittest. But they do not know that behind the law
of nature there is the supreme direction of the Supreme Lord Personality of
Godhead. In the Bhagwat Geeta it is confirmed that the law of nature is
executed under the direction of the Lord. Whenever therefore there is peace in
the world it must be known that it is due to the good will of the Lord. And
whenever there is upheaval in the world it is also due to the Supreme will of
the Lord. Not a blade of glass moves without the will of the Lord. Whenever
therefore there is disobedience to the established rules enacted by the Lord
there is war between man to man nation to nation. The surest way to the path
of peace is therefore dovetailing everything with the established rule of the
Lord.
The established rule is that whatever we do, whatever we eat, whatever we
sacrifice or whatever we give in charity must be done to the full satisfaction of
the Lord. No body should do anything, eat anything, sacrifice anything or give
in charity anything against the will of the Lord. Discretion is the best part of
valour and one must learn how to discreminate between actions which may be
pleasing to the Lord or which may not be pleasing to the Lord. An action is
thus judged by the end in the matter of the Lord's pleasure or displeasure.
There is no room for personal whims we must always be guided by the