[ Spoken by Srila Gurudeva on December 4th, 1998, Malaysia, published as part of the Bhakta Bandhav Anthology, Volume 25]
So we see in the appearance of Krsna, that first this earth, in the form of a cow, went to the demigods and she was weeping, “I cannot tolerate the weight of all these sinful, bogus people. They are neglecting their svarupa-dharma and they are like demons. They don’t know the religion of the atma. They think that, ‘We are the monarch of all.’” Who were these personalities? Jarasandha, Duryodhana, especially Kamsa, Aghasura, Bakasura, Sisupala, Dantavakra, and all others. Only always eating, drinking, and mating. There was no aim and object of their life, only how to anyhow be happy by eating fish and meat, drinking wine, women, by any worldly thing.
They began to forget that, “We are the soul and we are part and parcel of God. We are the eternal servant of Krsna.” But all the general people, being attracted by these demons, they also became like that. So the earth went to the demigods and began to weep. But the demigods and goddesses could not do anything, so they all went with earth to Brahma and Sankara. But they also could not give any remedy. At last, Brahma went with them all to Ksira-sagara, the ocean of milk, and he began to meditate on Garbhodakasayi Visnu.
After some time in meditation, he heard something. Garbhodakasayi Visnu said to him, “I know everything that is going on and my Prabhu, that Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, has ordered me to tell you that Krsna is coming very soon and He will do all the things that Earth wants. All the bogus people, the demons who don’t believe in God and the Vedas and jiva-tattva, bhakti-tattva, they’ll be finished very soon. He is coming very soon in the Yadava dynasty and so you should all go and take birth in that dynasty, whether in Vraja or in Mathura. Your wives should also go and they should take birth in the Yadu dynasty, whether in the womb of a Vraja gopi or a Yadava, anywhere, and they will serve Srimati Radhika.”
Hearing this, Brahma told all the demigods and they all left that place. Jarasandha, Kamsa, Duryodhana, all the demons, their senses were only engaged in all these worldly things. They did not believe that they were the soul and were part and parcel of Krsna. They thought, “We can be happy only by collecting material things like woman, wealth, reputation and all these things. We will control all others by our powers and thus become happy.” So Krsna came to establish the yuga-dharma also. There are four yugas: Satya-yuga, Dvapara-yuga, Treta-yuga, and Kali-yuga. So there are also four yuga-dharmas. In Satya-yuga, all people were very religious minded, always meditating on the Supreme Brahma. But some people were also demons at that time, like in Satya-yuga there was Hiranyakasipu and Hiranyaksa. There were actually so many demons at that time. But also it was very rare that there were demons.
In Treta-yuga, they all used to do sacrifices for the welfare of the whole world, like Ramacandra did. Then in Dvapara-yuga, everyone was engaged in vigraha seva, arcana. What about in Kali-yuga? The yuga-dharma for this age is nama-sankirtana. So, Krsna came for so many reasons. He came to establish the yuga-dharma. What was the yuga-dharma at that time? Arcana. But what is the real dharma? He especially wanted to establish atma-dharma. By speaking the Bhagavad-Gita, He established atma-dharma. Also in Srimad-Bhagavatam, like in his conversation with Uddhava and others, He established the prema-dharma of the jiva. The Srimad-Bhagavatam is the gist of all the Vedas, Upanisads, Puranas, Ramayana, Mahabharata, everything. It is the essence of all scriptures.
So in Srimad-Bhagavatam it has been said that Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and He is our aradhya, our worshipable deity. Also Vrndavana is the same as Krsna and the way in which the gopis worship Krsna is the best. Caitanya Mahaprabhu has accepted this:
aradhyo bhagavan vrajesa-tanayas tad-dhama vrndavanam
ramya kacid upasana vraja-vadhu-vargena ya kalpita
srimad-bhagavatam pramanam-amalam prema pumartho mahan
sri-caitanya mahaprabhor-matam-idam tatradaro nah parah
-Caitanya-manjusa
[Bhagavan Vrajendra-nandana Sri Krsna is our only worshipful object. In the same way that He is worshipful, so is His transcendental abode, Sri Vrndavana Dhama. The mood in which the young brides of Vraja (the gopis, especially Srimati Radhika) worship Him is the highest perfectional form of love of God. Srimad Bhagavatam alone is the immaculate scriptural evidence of this and krsna-prema is the supreme objective of life. This is the teachings of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu (gaura-vani). We hold this conclusion in supreme regard and have no inclination or respect for any other conclusion or cheating opinions.]
So actually Krsna came to establish prema-dharma, and He established it. Uddhava realized by the association of the gopis that Krsna Himself is saying, “Na paraye ham, I cannot repay the gopis. I can never repay them. In lakhs and lakhs births, even having the long lifespan of those like Indra and all others, I cannot repay them.” So really, Srimad-Bhagavatam is preaching the prema-dharma of the gopis, especially of Radhika. The name of Radhika has not been mentioned anywhere, but really, the name of Radhika is everywhere in the Srimad-Bhagavatam.
Now we will again come to our topic. How was Krsna born? There is a Yadu dynasty that is still going on to this day. But at that before Krsna, in Yadu dynasty, there was king whose name was Devamidha. He had two wives; one was a ksatriya and another was from a vaisya family. Born from the womb of the gopi wife was Parjanya and from the ksatriya wife came Surasena. From Surasena came Vasudeva Maharaja and from Parjanya came Nanda Baba. So actually they are brothers. One is a gopa and the other is a ksatriya. But actually they are brothers.
Kamsa’s father Ugrasena also had a brother, Devaka, who had a daughter named Devaki. So there was Kamsa and Devaki, who were like brother and sister. When Devaki was matured, she was to be married to Vasudeva Maharaja. Kamsa became so happy to hear that his sister was going to be married. When the marriage party was finished, Kamsa gladly took his sister and his new brother-in-law in a golden chariot that he was driving himself with his own hands. His sword was there in his belt and he took the reins of the horses in his left hand and he had some whip in his right hand.
His sister and brother-in-law were both were decorated, the bride and bridegroom, but when they were traveling towards the home of Vasudeva Maharaja, at once a voice came from the sky and said, “Oh you nonsense Kamsa! You are ignorant! The eighth son of that Devaki whom you are carrying on the chariot will kill you.” Hearing this, Kamsa jumped from the chariot. He dropped the reins of the horses and that whip and at once took a sword in his left hand. Then by his right hand he grabbed the hair of Devaki and said, “Oh, I will kill you.”
He was thinking, “If she is killed and there will be no mother, then there will be no first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, or eighth son and anyone will not kill me, so I should kill her.” This is the symptom of an atheist, a nonbeliever of God. He knew that what this aerial voice was telling was true, but he thought, “I will make it false by killing Devaki.” He could not believe that the aerial voice was telling the truth. He only thought, “How can I stop it?” He could not kill his sister, but still he thought, “I will make what this voice is saying false.” Then he took his sword and became ready to kill Devaki.
So an atheist thinks that, “There is no God, no controller of this world. I am the controller of this world and I can do anything that I wish.” But really they cannot do anything. In the meantime, Krsna inspired something in the mind of Vasudeva, who told Kamsa, “Why are you killing Devaki? You are a coward. You are afraid of any lady? Any great personality does not kill any lady and yet you are killing your very dear, darling sister? You should not kill her.”
Kamsa replied, “But her eighth son will come and kill me.” Vasudeva believed in this and he believed that there must be an eighth son of Devaki. He had a strong belief that Kamsa could not make this false. So he thought, “I should be an instrument in this. Surely, the eighth son will come.” Vasudeva told Kamsa, “You know that a person who takes birth, he will have to die. If you are not killing Devaki, still, after a hundred years or more, she will die. So why are you killing her? Don’t you know you will also die? So why are fearing death? Secondly, I want to give you all my sons, not only my eighth son. When any son of mine will take birth, I will give him to you and you can put him to death. So now why are you killing your sister?”
He believed in the words of Vasudeva Maharaja because he knew that Vasudeva Maharaja was a very religious person and that he could not go back on his word. So Kamsa believed him and thus set Devaki free. But Kamsa was closely watching them. When a son first came, after some time, Vasudeva took it and gave it to Maharaja Kamsa. Kamsa told them, “I have no reason to fear this son, so I will set him free.” But Vasudeva Maharaja was not satisfied by this. He knew that these kinds of people may change their position very soon, at any moment. Sometimes they become so angry and sometimes they are piteous. Sometimes they are laughing and sometimes they are very furious, so there was no certainty about what Kamsa would do next.
In the meantime Narada came and told Kamsa, “My dear son Kamsa, you are a very foolish person. You know that eighth son will come and all other seven sons will be so much big and they will all help the eighth son to kill you. Also, Visnu is so tricky. Perhaps it will be that He will start counting from the eighth son. So then the seventh son will be the eighth or maybe he will start counting from the seventh son and so the sixth son will be the eighth, like this. So how can we know from which child He will start counting? That is why you should kill all of the boys.” Why was Narada speaking like this? Because he could not wait for the eighth son to be born. It would have taken at least ten years for this to happen, at least ten. So ten years is a very long time. In this time, Kamsa will have already destroyed the whole world. So Narada thought he should be killed very soon, before he can destroy everything.
Narada wanted that these sons should come very quickly, quickly and that Kamsa should destroy them all and then Krsna will come and He will kill Kamsa. So speaking like this, Narada left that place. Narada also said, “I have heard in a meeting between the demigods that they are all making a trick against you and that now all demigods are taking birth in the Yadava dynasty so that they can all help Krsna to kill you.”
Upon hearing this, Kamsa became furious. He had so much trust in Narada Gosvami. He used to think of him as his Guru and respect him so much. After that, Narada Rsi left and Kamsa immediately went and killed that son. He took that boy and smashed him onto a stone. Like this, he killed the next six sons of Vasudeva and Devaki.
Now we come to a very difficult topic. Some people say that Krsna is the son of Devaki and others say that Krsna is the son of Mother Yasoda. There is one thing to consider. Does Devaki have a womb or not? Does she have any womb or not? If she does, then who was in that womb? Was Krsna not in her womb? You should know all these things. Devaki has a womb. So after eight months, what happened? For general people in this world, any child comes in the womb any wife from her husband. But here, this was not the case. Vasudeva chanted any mantra, ‘om namo bhagavate vasudevaya,’ in the ear of Devaki and by this mantra, Krsna came in the womb of Devaki.
He chanted this in her ear as a Gurudeva gives a mantra to any disciple. So in the same way, Vasudeva Maharaja chanted this mantra in the ear of Devaki and Krsna came into her womb or heart. Krsna came there like sabda-brahma because transcendental sound and Krsna are the same. But who came into her womb? He was Narayana tattva because Narayana had given a benediction to Devaki and Vasudeva in their past life as Kasyapa and Aditi and also as Prsnigarbha and Sutapa. Kasyapa and Aditi had wanted a son like Narayana, like catur-bhuja, four-handed Narayana.
So Narayana came there and told them, “There is no one equal to Me, so I Myself will have to come in your womb like your son.” That very Narayana, the vaibhava prakasa of Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead Vrajendra-nandana, then came into the womb of Devaki and that is why from her womb, four-handed Vasudeva Krsna appeared there. Narayana is never born from any womb but He was in her heart, so from her heart, Krsna appeared in a four-handed form and He was Vasudeva, Narayana-tattva, the vaibhava prakasa of Krsna. He is the same in tattva as Krsna, but with some vaisistha, speciality.
So then who was in the womb of Mother Yasoda? Nanda and Yasoda were Drona and Dhara in their previous lives. They were doing austerities, they were doing worship of Brahma. Brahma is really a bhakta and he knew that Krsna is the eternal son of Nanda and Yasoda. He also saw in his trance that quickly He will be born from the womb of Yasoda. So he gave them a benediction that, “You will have so much love and affection for Him like your son and He will be born from your womb.” So Krsna Himself, the Supreme Personality of Godhead having all madhurya and aisvarya, opulence and sweetness, Krsna Himself entered the womb of Mother Yasoda and then Devaki and Yasoda both gave birth to a child at the same time, at midnight on astami during the month of Bhadra.
In Mathura, He appeared in a four-handed form and in Vrndavana, He appeared in the form of very normal, two-armed boy, like a normal baby with no hair, no ornaments, no weapons, nothing, nothing, like a very little baby. But in Mathura, He appeared like a sixteen year old boy with four hands, holding a Sudarsana cakra and everything. When Vasudeva took this boy to Vrndavana, He merged into two handed Krsna and that is why when Krsna appeared in the jail of Kamsa, there was no umbilical cord connecting Him with Devaki. There was nothing. But in Vrndavana, there was an umbilical cord link between Krsna and His mother that in the morning, some very expert lady came and cut.
So many priests and brahmanas came and began to recite mantras after the birth of Krsna. So many things were done there. When a female gives birth to a child, so many systematic things are done. But in Mathura, nothing was done for the birth of Krsna. Understand? So, Krsna, being the topmost Personality of Godhead, He was born from the womb of Yasoda. By tattva, both are the same. But in terms of rasa, by rasa-tattva and somewhat from the perspective of potency, Krsna is superior. How?
For example, any person is the son of any mother. He is born and is in the lap of his mother. But when he becomes older and matured, then he is married and he becomes the husband of any woman. The same person, when he was a little boy, he thought, “She is my mother, I am her son.” But when he is married, what does he think? “I am the husband of this wife.” The wife also thinks, “He is my beloved and husband.” So Krsna, when He is a little baby, He may be a son, but as a gradation of love, He can be the object of all the rasas. Vasudeva Krsna cannot be the object of all rasas, never.
There may only be a relation of dasya, sakhya, and only half of vatsalya, not of madhurya. So there are some little differences. Not differences, but some speciality. You should know that Krsna is partly the son of Vasudeva and Devaki, but fully the son of Nanda and Yasoda. This is also only in naimittika-lila, occasional lila. Krsna’s asta-kaliya-lila, go-carana (tending the cows), vatsalya-prema, sakhya, and Rasa lila, all of these lilas are nitya-lila. Janma-lila, His pastime of being born is also nitya-lila, but yet, there are two divisions in that lila. In Goloka Vrndavana, Krsna is never born from the womb of Mother Yasoda, but all think that, “Krsna was born from Yasoda.”
So the pastime of killing Kamsa, Aghasura, Bakasura, and all these lilas, these are periodical lila, not nitya-lila, not eternal. In the spiritual world, the mood of this is also there, Kamsa is there, but the lila is there as a mood, it does not actually happen. Kamsa can never be in that transcendental aprakata-lila. But a mood of Kamsa, the abhimana or ego of that may be there. So all the Vrajavasis think that, “Oh, Krsna has killed Kamsa and He has gone to Mathura and now He has returned from Mathura.” When Krsna descends to this world and leaves Vrndavana, kills Kamsa, and is born from the womb of Devaki and Vasudeva and from Yasoda, these are all only seen in prakata-lila, not there in Goloka Vrndavana.
But all the Vrajavasis think that, “Oh, Krsna has taken birth just one month, or two months, or six years, nine years ago. But this lila does not actually happen there. When you will do bhajana and when you will be matured in bhajana and you will cross this stage of kanistha adhikara and you will come to the stage of madhyama-adhikara, then you will realize something. Then when you will come to the platform of uttama-adhikara, then you will understand even more. Then when we will totally give up this body and you will go to the spiritual, transcendental world, then you can realize all these things. Otherwise, we should know all the siddhanta and you should try to believe in this. Gaura premanande.
[Devotees sing Yasomati-nandana]
Srila Gurudeva: All these kirtanas have a very good and deep meaning. We should chant them with so much love and affection. They have been translated in English and a very easy to understand meaning has been given in this book (Gaudiya Giti-Guccha). If you want to really know the meaning of these songs, you can collect this book. It is very useful for sadhana and bhajana. If you will know the meanings, the deep meanings of these songs, then a transcendental mood will come, and that will help you. Otherwise, these songs will not help so much. It will help because these are all transcendental words, but if you will know the meaning it will help so much more. Like Yasomati-nandana, vraja-vara najara. What is the meaning of vraja-vara-nagara?
Devotee: The topmost lover in Vraja.
Srila Gurudeva: But some more meaning is there, the topmost meaning. You know that by marriage, a person becomes the husband and a girl becomes the wife. It may be that she does not want to be with him, but by the order of her father and mother, they were married. Still to this day, any father and mother will give their daughters in marriage to any good boy. But most of the time the girl will not know who her husband is or not. Now a days they are doing something different, but in ancient days it was like this and that marriage was so solid. Nowadays, marriage is not so good. That is why so much divorce comes. In India, there is never divorce. But nowadays, it has begun and people are divorcing.
So, if a girl is married to any husband, it may be that she does not love him totally. It may be that when she was a girl she had so much love and affection for any other boy. If she had given her life and heart to that boy, then she cannot now love her husband so much. So the position of a beloved is more, more, more higher than a husband. So Krsna is the beloved of the gopis, He is not the husband of the gopis. He is the beloved of all the gopis and nagara (hero) is even more superior than a beloved. So He is the nagara of all the gopis and the gopis are nagari (heroine). Especially Srimati Radhika is topmost nagari.
If Krsna will tell any gopi, “You should obey Me because I am like your husband,” she will tell that, “You should obey me. You are not giving me food, lodging, or arranging any of these things. I am not dependent on You, but You are dependent on my love.” So Srimati Radhika will order anything and Krsna will follow that. This is called nagara and nagari.
In Dvaraka, in Ayodhya, nagari-bhava will certainly not come, it will never come. Only in Vraja will this nagari-bhava be there. If you want to know all these things, then you can take this book. All devotees should collect at least one of these books. It is very essential and very helpful in our practices of bhakti-yoga. In some places I have given an explanation of the songs myself. Gauranga bolite habe and some others. But it was very difficult for me to explain all these things because it may be put in the hands of so many unqualified people. So, you should try to take this book.
Also, we have ‘The Essence of All Advice,’ Upadesamrta. The explanation of Svamiji about Upadesamrta is so precious and so deep. You should also try to take this book and follow it. It will help you so much. You can take all the books. It will help you so much. Also we can distribute them everywhere so that people may be helped and then again we will try to print new, new ones. It is nothing for you to spend a little money for collecting this book, very little money. But yet it will help all devotees so much and also make new devotees. Gaura premanande.
[Devotee sings Rama Krsna Govinda Madhava Kesava bhajana solely glorifying Rama and Krsna]
Srila Gurudeva: This singing is very good and opulent, but here in this song, there is no name of Srimati Radhika. You may say that Caitanya Mahaprabhu used to chant ‘Hari haraye namah krsna,’ and that the name of Radha is also not here. But why is Radha’s name not mentioned? Why? So in this song, there is mention of Krsna, Nityananda, Gauracandra, everyone is there. But there is no Radhika. What is the harm? Oh, there is harm. Because, who was Caitanya Mahaprabhu? He was Krsna but now He has accepted the mood and beauty of Radhika. He is now Radhika, so He is now in the mood of Radhika and singing this song in this mood, “Hari.” Haraye is reffering to Krsna. Why Krsna? Because He takes the heart and mind of Radhika. Also, where has Hari come from? From Radhika, who takes and controls the mind of Krsna.
So here, Srimati Radhika is chanting this for Krsna, so it is all right. But when the sadhaka will utter the name of Krsna without Radhika, we can’t do this. So we must chant both of Their names together, like, ‘Hare Krsna’ or any song. Conjugal. We are not interested in only worshiping Krsna. Those who will only worship Krsna, they are like half. If anyone is not accepting the sun and also the sun rays and its heat and light, then he is not accepting the sun as a whole. We must accept the sun and also its heat, both. So Krsna is like the sun and Radhika is like te heat, They can never be separated. So when you will be a bhakta, then you will realize all these things. So much thanks to you for singing this song, but try to be a Vaisnava and realize all these things. Gaura premanande.