Canto Ten / CHAPTER NINETY

Summary of Lord Krishna’s Glories

Lord Krishna was the sole beloved of His sixteen thousand wives. Expanding Himself into that many forms, He enjoyed with each of His queens in her own richly furnished residence. On the grounds of these palaces were clear ponds fragrant with the pollen of blooming utpala, kahlāra, kumuda and ambhoja lotuses and filled with flocks of cooing birds. The almighty Lord would enter those ponds, and also various rivers, and enjoy sporting in the water while His wives embraced Him, leaving the red kunkuma from their breasts smeared on His body..

One rule of poetic composition practiced by Vaishnava authors is madhurena samāpayet: “A literary work should conclude in a mood of special sweetness.” Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī, the most tasteful narrator of transcendental topics, has accordingly included in this last chapter of the Tenth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam a description of Lord Krishna’s water sports in the attractive setting of Dvārakā, followed by the rapturous prayers of the Lord’s queens.

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Thākura explains that this superficial appearance of insanity in Lord Krishna’s queens, as if they had become intoxicated by dhattūra or some other hallucinogenic drug, was in fact the manifestation of the sixth progressive stage of pure love of Godhead, technically known as prema-vaicitrya. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī refers to this variety of anurāga in his Ujjvala-nīlamani (15.134):

“When, as a natural by-product of one’s extreme love, one feels the distress of separation even in the direct presence of the beloved, this state is called prema-vaicitrya.”

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī explains that the transcendental madness (unmāda) of the queens filled them with such ecstasy that they saw their own mood reflected in everyone and everything else. Here they point out to the kurarī bird, whom they take to be sorrowing over separation from Lord Krishna, that if the Lord actually had any concern for her or themselves, He would not be sleeping comfortably at that moment. They warn the kurarī not to expect Krishna to hear her lamentation and show some mercy. In case the kurarī might think that Krishna is sleeping with His queens, they deny this by saying that He is gupta-bodha: His whereabouts are unknown to them. He is out in the world somewhere this night, but they have no idea where to go looking for Him. “Ah, dear bird,” they cry, “even though you are a simple creature, your heart has been deeply pierced, just like ours. You must have had some contact, then, with our Krishna. What keeps you from giving up your hopeless attachment to Him?”

Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī states that Lord Krishna’s queens here confuse the sea surrounding Dvārakā with the celestial Ocean of Milk, from which Lakshmī and the Kaustubha gem arose long ago. These were taken (apahrita) by Lord Vishnu, and they now reside on His chest. The queens presume that the ocean is anxious to see once again the mark of Lakshmī’s residence and the Kaustubha jewel on the Lord’s chest, and they express their sympathy by saying that they also want to see these marks. But the queens desire even more to see the kunkuma marks on the Lord’s chest, which He “took” from their breasts when they last embraced Him.

The ācāryas explain this verse as follows: The cloud acts as the friend of Lord Krishna by shielding Him from the scorching rays of the sun, and certainly such an earnest well-wisher of the Lord must constantly meditate on Him with concern for His welfare. Although the cloud shares the Lord’s blue complexion, it is Lord Krishna’s distinctive features, such as His Śrīvatsa mark, that especially attract him to this meditation. But what is the result? Simply unhappiness: the cloud is depressed and thus constantly sheds tears on the pretext of raining. “So,” the queens advise him, “it would be better for you not to take much interest in Krishna.”

As Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī explains, though the song of a cuckoo is very pleasant, Lord Krishna’s wives perceive it as painful because it reminds them of their beloved Krishna and exacerbates their pain of separation.

Here the word stanaih, “on your breasts,” refers to the mountain’s peaks.

During the summer the rivers do not receive downpours of water provided by their husband, the ocean, via the clouds. But the real reason for the rivers’ emaciation, as the queens see it, is that they have failed to obtain the loving glance of Lord Krishna, the reservoir of all happiness.

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī relates the following conversation between the queens and the swan:

The queens ask, “Is the unconquerable Lord doing well?”

The swan replies, “How can Lord Krishna be doing well without you, His beloved consorts?”

“But does He even remember what He once told one of us, Śrīmatī Rukminī? Does He recall that He said, ‘In all My palaces I see no other wife as dear as you’?”

“He does indeed remember this, and that is just why He sent me here. You should all go to Him and engage in His devotional service.”

“Why should we go worship Him if He refuses to come here to be with us?”

“But my dear oceans of compassion, He is suffering so much from your absence! How can He be saved from this distress?”

“Just listen, O servant of a petty master: tell Him to come here, as He should. If He is suffering from lusty desires, He has only Himself to blame, since He Himself is the creator of Cupid’s power. We self-respecting ladies are not going to yield to His demand that we go seek Him out.”

“So be it; then I will take my leave.”

“No, one minute, dear swan. Ask Him to come to us here, but without the goddess of fortune, who always cheats us by keeping Him all to herself.”

“Don’t you know that Goddess Lakshmī is devoted exclusively to the Lord? How could He give her up like that?”

“And is she the only woman in the world who is completely sold out to Him? What about us?”

According to Ācārya Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī, here Śukadeva Gosvāmī uses the present tense of the word kriyamānena to indicate that the Lord’s queens attained His eternal abode immediately, without delay. By this insight the ācārya helps refute the false notion that after Lord Krishna’s departure from this world, some primitive cowherds kidnapped His queens while they were under the protection of Arjuna. In fact, as the self-realized Vaishnava commentators elsewhere explain, Lord Krishna Himself appeared in the guise of the thieves who abducted the queens. For further information on this subject, see Śrīla Prabhupāda’s purport to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.15.20.

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī remarks that the supreme goal attained by these exalted women was not the liberation of the impersonal yogīs but the perfect state of prema-bhakti, pure loving devotion. Indeed, since they were already imbued with divine love of God from the very beginning, they possessed transcendental bodies of eternity, knowledge and bliss, in which they were fully able to relish the pleasure of reciprocating with the Supreme Lord in his most intimate, sweet pastimes. Specifically, in the opinion of Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī, their love of God matured into the ecstasy of madness in pure love (bhāvonmada), just as the gopīs’ love did when Krishna disappeared from their midst during the rāsa dance. At that time the gopīs experienced the full development of ecstatic madness, which they expressed in their inquiries from the various creatures of the forest and in such words as krishno ’ham paśyata gatim: “I am Krishna! Just see how gracefully I move!” (Bhāg. 10.30.19) Similarly, the vilāsa, or flourishing transformation, of the ecstatic love of Lord Dvārakādhīśa’s principal queens has produced the prema-vaicitrya symptoms they have exhibited here.

The total number of Lord Krishna’s sons was thus 161,080, and He also had a daughter by each wife.

In the opinion of Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī, the Aniruddha mentioned here is Lord Krishna’s son, not His well-known grandson through Pradyumna.

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī explains why specifically thirty trillion, rather than an indefinite number of tens of trillions, is stated here to be the number of King Ugrasena’s attendants. He does so by citing the interpretational rule of kapiñjalādhikarana, the logic of “referring to pigeons”: Somewhere in the Vedas is found the injunction that “one should sacrifice some pigeons.” This plural number should be taken to mean not an indiscriminate number of pigeons, but precisely three of them, since the Vedas never leave any matter vague. The rules of Mīmāmsā interpretation take three as the default number when no specific number is given.

From beginning to end, the Tenth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam has been exclusively dedicated to reciting the pastimes of Lord Krishna in Vrindāvana, Mathurā and Dvārakā. As Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī points out, this verse sums up the Tenth Canto by mentioning five special glories of Śrī Krishna that even His expansions, plenary portions and incarnations do not display.

First, Lord Krishna’s reputation eclipsed that of the holy Ganges when He descended into the Yadu dynasty. Previous to this, Mother Ganges was the most sacred of all tīrthas, being the water that had bathed Lord Vāmanadeva’s lotus feet. Another river, the Yamunā, became even greater than the Ganges by contacting the dust from Śrī Krishna’s feet in the districts of Vraja and Mathurā:

“The renowned Yamunā in My domain of Mathurā is hundreds of times greater than the Ganges. About this there can be no dispute, O goddess.” (Varāha Purāna)

Second, Lord Krishna gave liberation not only to His surrendered devotees but also to those who considered themselves His enemies. Devotees like the cowherd girls of Vraja and others attained His personal association by entering into His eternal pleasure pastimes in the spiritual world, while inimical demons killed by Him attained the sāyujya-mukti of merging into His divine form. When He was present on this earth, Lord Krishna’s compassion extended to His family, friends and servants, and also to His enemies and their families, friends and servants. Great authorities like Lord Brahmā have mentioned this fact: sad-veshād iva pūtanāpi sa-kulā tvām eva devāpitā. “My Lord, You have already given Yourself to Pūtanā and her family members simply because she dressed herself as a devotee.” (Bhāg. 10.14.35)

Third, Goddess Lakshmī, Lord Nārāyana’s constant companion, whom great demigods serve menially to win her slight favor, was unable to win the privilege of joining the intimate company of Lord Krishna’s devotees in Vraja. Despite her eagerness to participate in the rāsa dance and other pastimes enacted by Śrī Krishna, and despite the severe austerities she underwent to achieve that end, she could not transcend her natural mood of reverence. The sweetness and intimacy Lord Krishna manifested in Vrindāvana constitute a unique kind of opulence found nowhere else, even in Vaikuntha. As Śrī Uddhava says:

“To exhibit the strength of His spiritual potency, Lord Krishna manifested a form just suitable for His humanlike pastimes in the material world. This form was wonderful even for Him and was the supreme abode of the wealth of good fortune. Its limbs were so beautiful that they increased the beauty of the ornaments worn on different parts of His body.” (Bhāg. 3.2.12)

Fourth, the name Krishna is superior to the name Nārāyana and to those of all of Lord Krishna’s other expansions. These two syllables — krish and na — combine together to destroy all inauspiciousness and illusion. When recited, the name Krishna becomes śruta-matha; that is to say, the recitation of Krishna’s name totally crushes (mathnāti) the excellence of all other spiritual practices described in the revealed scriptures (śruta). In the words of the Brahmānda Purāna:

“By uttering the single name of Krishna just once, one attains the same benefit as that gained by reciting Lord Vishnu’s thousand names three times.”

Fifth, Lord Krishna solidly reinstated dharma, the bull of religion, on his four legs of compassion, austerity, cleanliness and truth. Thus dharma could once again become go-tra, the protector of the earth. Śrī Krishna also established the religious function of Govardhana-pūjā to honor His favorite hill, the cows and the brāhmanas. He also became the hill (gotra) Himself, assuming its form to accept the cowherds’ offerings. Moreover, He cultivated the dharma, or loving nature, of Vraja’s divine cowherds (gotras), whose love for Him has never been equaled.

These are just a few of the wonderful features of Lord Krishna’s unique personality.

The translation and word meanings for this verse are taken from Śrīla Prabhupāda’s English rendering of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmrita (Madhya 13.79). According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī, Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī has composed this beautiful verse to console those who lament the fact that Lord Krishna did not continue to manifest His intimate pastimes down to the present time. Here Śrī Śukadeva reminds his listeners that the Lord is eternally present in this world — in His holy abode, His name and the recitation of His glories. This idea is expressed by the word jayati (“He is victorious”), which is in the present tense rather than the past.

Śrīla Prabhupāda explains this verse as follows in Krishna: “Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī thus concludes his description of the superexalted position of Lord Krishna by glorifying Him in the following way: ‘O Lord Krishna, all glories unto You. You are present in everyone’s heart as Paramātmā. Therefore You are known as Jananivāsa, one who lives in everyone’s heart.’ As confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā, īśvarah sarva-bhūtānām hrid-deśe ’rjuna tishthati: ‘The Supreme Lord in His Paramātmā feature lives in everyone’s heart.’ This does not mean, however, that Krishna has no separate existence as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Māyāvādī philosophers accept the all-pervading feature of Parabrahman, but when Parabrahman, or the Supreme Lord, appears, they think that He appears under the control of material nature. Because Lord Krishna appeared as the son of Devakī, the Māyāvādī philosophers accept Krishna to be an ordinary living entity who takes birth within this material world. Therefore Śukadeva Gosvāmī warns them: devakī-janma-vādah, which means that although Krishna is famous as the son of Devakī, actually He is the Supersoul, or the all-pervading Supreme Personality of Godhead.

“The devotees, however, take this word devakī-janma-vāda in a different way. The devotees understand that actually Krishna was the son of mother Yaśodā. Although Krishna first of all appeared as the son of Devakī, He immediately transferred Himself to the lap of mother Yaśodā, and His childhood pastimes were blissfully enjoyed by mother Yaśodā and Nanda Mahārāja. This fact was also admitted by Vasudeva himself when he met Nanda Mahārāja and Yaśodā at Kurukshetra. He admitted that Krishna and Balarāma were actually the sons of mother Yaśodā and Nanda Mahārāja. Vasudeva and Devakī were only Their official father and mother. Their actual father and mother were Nanda and Yaśodā. Therefore Śukadeva Gosvāmī describes Lord Krishna as devakī-janma-vāda.

“Śukadeva Gosvāmī then glorifies the Lord as one who is honored by the yadu-vara-parishat, the assembly house of the Yadu dynasty, and as the killer of different kinds of demons. Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, could have killed all the demons by employing His different material energies, but He wanted to kill them personally in order to give them salvation. There was no need of Krishna’s coming to this material world to kill the demons. Simply by His willing, many hundreds and thousands of demons could have been killed without His personal endeavor. But actually He descended for His pure devotees, to play as a child with mother Yaśodā and Nanda Mahārāja and to give pleasure to the inhabitants of Dvārakā. By killing the demons and by giving protection to the devotees, Lord Krishna established the real religious principle, which is simply love of God. By following the factual religious principles of love of God, even the living entities known as sthira-cara were also delivered from all material contamination and were transferred to the spiritual kingdom. Sthira means the trees and plants, which cannot move, and cara means the moving animals, especially the cows. When Krishna was present, He delivered all the trees, monkeys and other plants and animals who happened to see Him and serve Him both in Vrindāvana and Dvārakā.

“Lord Krishna is especially glorified for giving pleasure to the gopīs and the queens of Dvārakā. Śukadeva Gosvāmī glorifies Lord Krishna for His enchanting smile, by which He enchanted not only the gopīs of Vrindāvana but also the queens at Dvārakā. The exact words used in this connection are vardhayan kāmadevam. In Vrindāvana, as the boyfriend of many gopīs, and in Dvārakā, as the husband of many queens, Krishna increased their lusty desires to enjoy with Him. For God realization or self-realization, one generally has to undergo severe austerities and penances for many, many thousands of years, and then it may be possible to realize God. But the gopīs and the queens of Dvārakā, simply by enhancing their lusty desires to enjoy Krishna as their boyfriend or husband, received the highest type of salvation.”

In this way Śrīla Prabhupāda wonderfully illuminates the meaning of this verse by Śukadeva Gosvāmī, which summarizes Lord Krishna’s pastimes.

For the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam’s Tenth Canto, this verse is the phala-śruti, the promise of success given to one who hears it. The process of devotional service begins with hearing topics about the Supreme Lord. When one has heard these topics properly, he can then proceed to chant them for others’ benefit and reflect on their significance. This leads to faithful adherence to the principles of devotional service, which culminates in absolute faith in Lord Krishna. Such perfect faith gives one the right to enter the Lord’s intimate service and, in due course of time, return to one’s eternal, spiritual life in one of the Lord’s personal domains.

Humbly offering his comments on the Tenth Canto at the lotus feet of his worshipable Lord, Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī prays:

“If Lord Gopāla mercifully accepts the cows of my words, then His dear devotees may enjoy the pleasure of drinking their milk — the nectar produced by hearing them.”

The Tenth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam was completed on December 27, 1988, the anniversary of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Thākura’s disappearance.