Krishna Instructs Vasudeva and Retieves Devaki's Sons

I know you two (vam) who (yat) are superior (parau) to the pradhana and purusa who are the causes of this universe (asya). Or I know you who are two chief purusas of the universe, Vasudeva and Sankarsana, producing the pradhana.

“You are this universe, as it is caused by you.” This verse is in the singular since the two act as one. “Wherever objects such as pot or cloth exist, by whatever cause they exist, from whatever they arise, whatever they belong to, to whomever the objects are given, whatever objects are given, in whatever manner they exist, in whatever time they exist, is the effect of you, the Lord, the lord of the pradhana and purusa.”

5.Morever you are the maintainer of this universe. O supersoul (atma), entering in the form of paramatma (atmana), as the sutra element made of kriya sakti (pranah) and buddhi element made of jnana sakti (jivah), you nourish the universe in the form of or prana and buddhi , or the action and knowledge gathering senses.

“But the prana and jiva are well known as the maintainers of the universe, not me.”

This verse answers that. Prana and other items (pranadi) is mentioned because prana consists of many subcategories.

“Not only are prana and jiva famous as the maintainers of the universe, but they are also famous as the creators (visva srjam). But their energy is from the Supreme Lord (parsya) because they are dependent in nature, just as the arrows power to pierce an object is actually the power of the person firing the arrow.”

“But the prana and jiva depend upon their presiding deities, so why should one conclude that they are dependent on the Lord?”

“Certainly (vai) there is similarity of the presiding deities with prana and jiva. As the prana and jiva (action and knowledge gathering senses) are material, so the presiding deities are also material. Therefore all these energies are under the Supreme Lord, because he is composed of consciousness. The prana and jiva as well as the presiding deities are material, and dull material is known to be dependent on consciousness.”

“But if prana and jiva do not have any power of their own, then how is it that they produce action?”

“The action is just the movement of prana and buddhi, the movement of the action and knowledge senses, but does not indicate that they have inherent power, just as the arrow moves not by its own power but by the power of the bowman.”

“Whatever sakti any object has is your energy.” That is shown in this verse.

The beauty or pleasantness (kantih) of moon, constellations and lightening is famous. It also applies to the sun and fire during cold times, and to the sun during rising and setting. Tejah has the quality of untouchability, exhibited in all items. Prabha means the ability to reveal itself at a great distance. All of these items have prabha and satta (luminosity). Factually these are all you. The sruti says, “There the sun moon and stars do not shine, nor lightening or fire. They shine after he appears. By his light they shine.” Smrti (Gita) says, “Know that the light of the sun, the mon and fire are all mine.”

Yat should be applied to all the items with appropriate change of gender. “Whatever (yat) steadiness is in the mountain, whatever (yat) power to support living entities (vrtti) and fragrance are in the earth are you. They are your energy.”

How much more can we say? You are all objects and their essential qualities. Four verses explain this. “O Lord (deva), the ability to satisfy in water, its ability to support life and water itself as well as its taste are all your energy. The oja, saha, bala, cesta and gati of the air element are all your energy.”

“You are the directions and the space created by the conditioning of ether. You are ether (kham) and its product sound (sphota) the sabda tanmatra , the subtlest manifestation of word called para. The pasyanti (nada) and madhyama stages of sound (omkara) are you. You are the meaningful words (krtih) denoting objects (akrtinam), the vyaikhari stage of sound.”

The sruti says, “The wise brahmanas know four stages of sound. Three forms of sound remain hidden in the heart and cannot be detected. The fourth, words, are spoken by man.”

You are the senses’ power to reveal objects, the presiding deities of the senses, their favor in revealing objects, the power of intention (avabodha), and the power of recollection concerning the soul.

You are the tamasika ahankara which causes the five gross elements, the rajasika ahankara which causes the senses, the sattvika ahankara which causes devatas (vikalpanam), and the cause of continued rebirth (pradhanam) of the jivas (anusayinam).

You are the indestructible pradhana among all the perishable states, just as earth and gold, though permanent take temporary forms like pots and earrings.

“If I am pradhana then I will be subject to change just as the pradhana transforms into objects of this world, as pradhana is the cause of the universe.” The counterargument is given in two verses.

“The three gunas which are also called pradhana, and which undergo transformations such as mahat tattva(vrttayah), all of these have been produced by your inconceivable spiritual energy yogamaya, within you, who are beyond the gunas (pare). They are not actually within you, they have been produced under your glance.”

“Therefore when at the time of final dissolution these states , by your yogamaya under your desire, become separated from your glance (vikalpita), they do not exist in you. And you do not exist in them. At the time of creation and maintenance (anyada), to carry out your work, you exit there for assisting them in their business. Actually you do not reside in them, but manifest there as your part, paramatma, so they can perform their actions. As it is said in the Gita, I pervade everything by my unmanifest form. All beings are in me but I am not in them. They are also not in me. See my power of yoga. Therefore you do not exist there in your svarupa, as the pradhana made of the gunas. Therefore you yourself undergo no transformations.”

Therefore by ignorance of the subtle movements described above of you, the soul of all, in this flow of repeated births (guna pravahe), they take birth repeatedly in this world by their actions.

He laments for he who, having the possibility to attain such knowledge by devotion to you in the human form of life, does not attain it. Having somehow attained the rare human form of life with sharp senses (sukalpam), if the person madly pursues his pleasure by your maya, his life is wasted.

“We are the proof of this, having attachment to sons, body and other things. You are not our sons. But thinking of you as our sons, we develop attachment to you. You have said (attha) when you were born that you appeared to destroy the ksatriyas who were burden to the earth.”

“Today I take shelter (aranam) of you.”

“You should enjoy these things. Where is the repeated birth from this?”

“By so much sense gratification, I think that my body is my self, and that you, the lord, are my son. I am really overcome with repeated birth, the root of ignorance.”

“I am the supreme Lord and I became your son. So how can this be entanglement or repeated birth for you?”

I”n the maternity room you told us ‘ have appeared from the pair of you two repeatedly (anuyugam), as Sutapa and Prsni, then as Kasyapa and Aditi, and now as Vasudeva and Devaki.’ Creating all those bodies for us, you become our son, but being unattached, like the sky, you give us up. You do not stop being born. Therefore, who can understand the powers (vibhuti mayam) of the supreme Lord (bhumnah)?”

Gently bending his head he smiled. This implied “ So that there will be no contradiction of rasa in your words directed to us two sons who worship you, I will wisely give those words another meaning.”

I consider your words highly consistent, for you are pointing out your son as the highest truth just to teach others. This is the case in the upanisads, as in “O svetaketu, you are the highest truth. Tattvam asi.”

“One should only consider one’s son such as me to be the paramatma. You should see everyone as such. Everyone should be sought out (vimrgyah) by his quality as the paramatma.” Alternate version has drastavyah in stead of vimrgyah. “We, having obtained teachings from you, should see everywhere, in persons such as Pradyumna, the paramatma.”

“How is it possible to consider everyone as paramatma when they have changing forms?”

“Paramatma is observed in all beings by the qualities of the byproducts created by paramatma.” This is explained using examples in two verses.

“The paramatma is manifested as many things by the qualities created by himself, in the bodies of the living entities (tat krtesu). Though he is self contained, he becomes visible, though he is eternal, he becomes temporary, though he is transcendent to matter, he joins with it, though he is without material quality, he takes up material qualities. Just as the five elements like ether, when manifesting in their products like a pot, have a beginning and end in that limited condition (yatha asayam), so the one paramatma (asau), though always one rasa, undergoes creation and destruction. Though spread everywhere he appears in small or large quantities; though one he appears as many objects.”

Having given up his concept of the existence of diverse entities (vinasta nana dhih), thinking “It is true all this universe is one Brahman. So in that way my two sons are also the Supreme, ” he attaining such knowledge, and became silent.

30.You two appeared in my womb (me) for destroying the kings whose sattva guna or good qualities have been destroyed by the influence of time (kala vidhvasta sattvanam).

Today I take shelter of you. By sattva, raja and tama, which are divisions of prakrti, which is a portion of mahapurusa visnu, who is a portion of the lord of vaikuntha, who is a portion of you, the universe is created maintained and destroyed.

You brought back the sons of Sandipani as a form of guru daksina from the abode of Yama (pitr sthanat).

Seeing Krsna and Balarama, who are the soul of the universe and worshipful as divine (visvatma deva), enter, the king of the daityas, Bali, offered respects. Divatma devam is singular to express that they are both one controlling agent of the universe.

With his followers Bali put the water on his head, which purifies everything up to Lord Brahma.

38.Bali (indrasena) then spoke in a choked voice.

I offer respects to the origin of Ananta (brhate anantaya), Balarama. I offer respects to Krsna, who is the very form of all causes (vedase). I offer respects to brahman, which is the distributor of the scriptures on jnana (sankhya vitanaya), and to paramatma, distributor of the scriptures on yoga.

Seeing you two, which is hard to attain has become easily attained (adurlabham), for us asuras, whose nature is raja and tama, because it has been attained by itself (not by our effort).

41-43.”How amazing it is! Even though we have natures of raja and tama, we have become more fortunate than the devatas in sattva.” This is expressed in three verses.

“The devatas endowed with sattva guna (sattva samrabdhah) have not attained such closeness to you, with body made of scriptures about devotion (sastra sarinini), with a body of sat cid ananda (visuddha sattva dhamni), as we have.” In the seventh canto of bhagavatam the lord is described as the form of satvata scripture.

“But you are my greatest devotees.”

“No, we, coming from the famous dynasty of Hiranyaksipu, your eternal sworn enemies, on the side of the daityas opposing you with sons like Bana, and others such as danavas and raksasas, and others having extreme envy, and others such as the Gandhavras with sakama bhati (kamatah bhatya), have been brought to you. By mercy you let me see you standing at the door, you give liberation to others by killing them, you hear and make the devotees hear the Gandharvas as they sing your glories, but you give the devatas only material enjoyment which makes them forget you.”

His ascribing demonic qualities to himself is a characteristic of most elevated devotion.

44.”Well why do I do that?”

“No one knows the truth about you.” That is expressed in this verse.

“The masters of yoga do not know your yogamaya, what it is (idam) or even how its parts (ittham) work, what to speak of us.”

45 “Please ask for a benediction.”

“Overcoming the well of household life, which is opposite of the shelter (dihisana) your lotu s feet, sought by even the atam rama s( nirapeksa), may I wander alone being peaceful in living (vrtti) having obtained fruit spontaneously dropping at the root of trees which act as a shelter for the universe. If you are more merciful then let me wander with the friends of all beings (sarva sakhaih), your devotees.”

“Now please inform me of the purpose of your appearing like this before me. Please give your order, O lord of those who are controlled, O master!”

“But what qualification do you have to follow my instruction?”

“Make me sinless: though I am incapable of doing so myself, by hearing that order I will become purified. Give that order which will free me from all the injunctions and prohibitions of scripture (codana), so that I am not merely a slave to the rules.”

In this verse Krsna explains his reason for coming in five verses. In the womb of Urna, the wife of Marici, during the manvantara of Svayambhuva Manu, his six sons seeing Brahma (kam) eager for relations with his daughter Sarasvati, laughed.

By that sinful act (tena avadya karmana) immediately (adhuna) they were put in the womb of the wife of an asura (asurim yonim agan). Hiranyakasipoh jatah, meaning “born of Hiranyakasipu” is used in this case to indicate closeness of relationship rather than as direct sons, since they were born as the son’s of the wife of Kalanemi. (The purport of jiva goswami to 10.2.4-5 makes this clear because it refers this verse. He gives an alternate explanation as well: that being born of hiranyapakasipu means they were born as his sons in another kalpa. He also mentions kalanemi as the son of Hiranyakasipu, but in the bhagavatam only four sons are mentioned and not him. The translator has put him as the son of Hiranyaksa. Vaisnava abhidana mentions him as son of Hiranyakasipu. I have further investigated and other texts say Kalanemi was the son of Virocana (son of Prahlada), who was the grandson of Hiranyakasipu. Who is right?????)

They were then taken by yogamaya to the womb of Devaki in order to kill Kamsa.

Devaki (sa) is lamenting for her sons. They, these (pointing with his forefinger), are with you. Brought by the supreme devotee Bali to see the Lord, they were there in front of the Lord.

Being freed of the curse of Hiranyakasipu that they would be killed by their father, and brought back by me, they then will go to deva loka.

He names the sons according to the names they had as sons of Marici.

54.Being bewildered by yogamaya of visnu (mayaya) by which the spiritual creation with the lord’s pastimes and associates takes place (not the maya by which the creation of Brahma takes place), she fed them her breast milk.

They drank the remnants of Krsna, holder of the club (gada bhrtah). When Krsna appeared from Devaki and turned into a child as described in bhagavatam (“in front of his parent’s eyes, he became an ordinary child. Pitroh sampasyatoh sadyo babhuva prakrtah sisuh”), when he was about to go to Nanda’s house, in order that his throat not become dry from the long journey, she fed him her breast milk. Though this is not mentioned there, it is understood from the present verse. By the touch of the body of Narayana, they realized that they were devas. They thus went to deva loka.

This verse speaks of the nectarean nature of Krsna, whose fame is nectar (amrta kirteh). Stories of Krsna destroy the sickness of repeated birth and death (jagad agha bhit). But for the devotees who have transcended birth and death, it is ornament in their ear.