KRISHNA: THE PERFECT ATMARAMA– Shrimad Bhagavatam 1.11.36: Although the queens’ beautiful smiles and furtive glances were all spotless and exciting, and although they could conquer Cupid himself by making him give up his bow in frustration, and although even the tolerant Shiva could fall victim to them, still, despite all their magical feats and attractions, they could not agitate the senses of the Lord.
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Lord’s Relations with his Queens
Lord Krishna resided with 16108 queens in those many palaces. Lord was personally present with all the queens simultaneously. His routine with each queen was different. These queens were expansions of Lakshmi and so their beauty and feeling of seeking attraction for the lord led to their beautiful smiles and furtive glances but none of that could even slightly perturb the lord. Those gestures conquer even Kamadev or make even lord Shiva fall prey but since lord, Krishna has no tinge of desire for material sense gratification but rather he is always floating in transcendental bliss and that same bliss his devotees also experience in relation to him. So lord always revels internally.
Material world is based on the relationship between man and woman. To make the illusion further greater, a man builds a house and creates a bank balance. But all of this is false. The current pandemic has taken the lives of so many people and therefore we must brace ourselves continuously to give up our bodies at any time. But this understanding is not entering our consciousness. So Vedic system is that men and women must be separate. If they are brought together in intimate contact, lust arises which destroys devotional life. So men and women must perform bhajan separately.
In the material world, men and women want to enjoy their personal selves. But in Dwarka, all the queens wanted to serve the lord for his pleasure so also the lord wanted to give them transcendental bliss. So a spiritually situated person cannot relish the temporariness of this material world. As he knows that nothing belongs to him. This feeling of renunciation must be so strong that nothing must be able to obstruct our bhakti. And when one accepts the feeling of renunciation and performs Krishna bhajan, a day will come when he will be able to see the entire world as lord’s property.
A saint at Shrirangam wanted to build a temple for lord Ranganath but there was no money. But he had four competent disciples who were experts in robbing money and they cleverly brought a lot of money to their teacher such that no one could make out from where it came. The saint used the wealth in building lord’s temple and so even though the wealth had been robbed from the people of Shrirangam but when used in lord’s service purified all those from whose homes the wealth was taken. Otherwise, people would never have given so much wealth for building a temple. This is the unique history of Shrirangam temple, the largest temple in India. A mendicant building such a huge temple. Residents of Shrirangam know only tamil mostly (93%) and other than Ranganath temple visit Tirumala temple alone.
Lord Chaitanya’s Teaching
People feel that their feeling for marriage is natural and everyone’s birthright. But lord Chaitanya teaches ‘na dhanam na janam na sundarim, kavitam va jagadish kamaye’. That we should not hanker for wealth, followers or beautiful spouses. Shripad Shankaracharya says ‘na vai yache rajyam na cha kanaka manikya vibhavam, na yache aham ramyam sakala jana kamyam vara vadhum, sada kale kale pramatha patina gita charito, jagannathah swami nayana patha gami bhavatu me (Jagannathashtakam 7)’: Shripad Shankaracharya is praying that he doesn’t want a kingdom nor does he want gold, ruby or wealth nor even a beautiful woman as wife. Rather he wishes that the same lord Jagannath, whose glories lord Shiva always sings, be the constant object of his vision. When we pray like that then we will understand who is Krishna.
Shrila Prabhudeva Explains
Shrila Prabhupada says that all these queens were divine and had performed a lot of tapasya to achieve such an exalted position. Even in the spiritual world, a small fraction of the living entities gets the fortune to become lord’s consort. We are tiny spiritual sparks of the lord and so by lord’s mercy we can go anywhere. Like Narad muni who is present as Shrivas Pandit wherever divine sankirtana happens. So also the entire Panchatatva. And wherever lord’s pastimes happen, Narad muni goes there. So if we are liberated, we can travel anywhere we desire. But instead of liberating ourselves from the clutches of maya, we are making spacecraft to go to the moon and mars. Shrila Prabhupada says that scientists can never go to the moon.
Description of Neil Armstrong and his companions of the moon’s surface is covered with sand but moon’s surface is not covered with sand rather ice and that only makes the rays of moon cooling. Thus their description is all a big lie. Even if they reached moon let us assume, Shrila Prabhupada says, that they should not have come back but stayed back there as moon is heavenly planet and residents of moon planet drink somarasa and enjoy for thousands of years. Just like a rich man doesn’t have to harp about he being a billionaire. People will automatically be able to see his opulence by looking at him and his family. So phalena parichayate, scientists to prove that they reached moon, should bring some dust of the moon’s surface and show it to everyone.
SP says that let scientists go to moon or saturn or jupiter or any other planet, but they can never be eternally happy anywhere. Mahatmanas tu mam partha daivim prakritim ashritah (BG 9.13): only those who have accepted devotional service can liberate themselves from the material enchainment. And then we will have spiritual body, spiritual viman and spiritual mantras, using which we can go anywhere. Just like Gopakumar did and reached Golok Vrindavan finally.
Shrila Bhaktivinoda thakur when heard about lord Krishna marrying 16108 queens and that he had many damsels as girlfriends in Vraja, he rejected Krishna as an ordinary person.
But when he read about lord Chaitanya, who was a strict sannyasi, and about how he so beautifully and diligently described Krishna tattva amongst his most intimate associates, he realized who is Krishna. Even after reading Bhagavad gita, one might not understand who is Krishna unless he associates with devotees and hears about the lord from an authorized spiritual authority. Nivritta tarshair upagiyamanad, bhavaushadach chrotra manobhiramat, ka uttamashloka gunanuvadat, puman virajyeta vina pashughnat (SB 10.1.4): those who are free from material desires, like Shukadev Goswami, such souls when they describe the lord’s trascendental qualities and features, then we understand who is Krishna.
So this description of lord entering so many palaces simultaneously, that only Krishna can do. He is always divine. He is the best brahmachari and has no equal or superior nor can anyone compete or imitate his divinity.
Frequently Asked Questions
🤔Is Krishna self-satisfied from the material perspective only or spiritually also?
The matter is ignorance, it’s the illusory energy of the lord himself. It is Krishna who enters the material realm and makes the matter appear so attractive. Just like a hunter is not attached to his own net but to the deer whom he wants to trap. So Krishna is completely spiritual both inside and outside. Let us not drag Krishna within our perceptual world. He doesn’t reside in our perceptual world. Krishna is atmaram that doesn’t mean in the material sense, that understanding is not at all correct. Krishna is atmaram means he doesn’t require anything externally whatsoever to satisfy him. He is full of all five transcendental rasas and has his intimate devotees with whom he reciprocates. When he disappeared during the rasa dance, that is his transcendental pastime. Which devotees relish. Lord revels in his own opulence actually. For that matter, there is nothing outside of lord. He is the ultimate superset.
🤔The intellectual property right system is not scripturally correct, so how should a scholar devotee take it?
We must acknowledge ultimate IP right is only of Krishna. The inventor of electricity didn’t own the electricity and by usage of electricity in lord’s service by lord’s devotees, he might have been delivered from suffering and might have obtained devotee association after several births. As no one owns electricity, it belongs to Krishna alone and no one should wrongfully claim it. IP right is a western disease and an explicitly atheistic behavior. But as scholars we might be constrained to do it even if we don’t like.
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