The Pandavas Retire Timely
1.15.1
suta uvaca
evam krsna-sakhah krsno
bhratra rajna vikalpitah
nana-sankaspadam rupam
krsna-vislesa-karsitah
SYNONYMS
sutah uvaca—Suta Gosvami said; evam—thus; krsna-sakhah—the celebrated friend of Krsna; krsnah—Arjuna; bhratra—by his elder brother; rajna—King Yudhisthira; vikalpitah—speculated; nana—various; sanka-aspadam—based on many doubts; rupam—forms; krsna—Lord Sri Krsna; vislesa—feelings of separation; karsitah—became greatly bereaved.
TRANSLATION
Suta Gosvami said:
Arjuna, the celebrated friend of Lord Krsna, was grief-stricken because of his strong feeling of separation from Krsna, over and above all Maharaja Yudhisthira’s speculative inquiries.
PURPORT
Being too much aggrieved, Arjuna practically became choked up, and therefore it was not possible for him to reply properly to the various speculative inquiries of Maharaja Yudhisthira.
1.15.2
sokena susyad-vadana-
hrt-sarojo hata-prabhah
vibhum tam evanusmaran
nasaknot pratibhasitum
SYNONYMS
sokena—due to bereavement; susyat-vadana—drying up of the mouth; hrt-sarojah—lotuslike heart; hata—lost; prabhah—bodily luster; vibhum—the Supreme; tam—unto Lord Krsna; eva—certainly; anusmaran—thinking within; na—could not; asaknot—be able; pratibhasitum—properly replying.
TRANSLATION
Due to grief, Arjuna’s mouth and lotuslike heart had dried up.
Therefore his body lost all luster.
Now, remembering the Supreme Lord, he could hardly utter a word in reply.
1.15.3
krcchrena samstabhya sucah
paninamrjya netrayoh
paroksena samunnaddha-
pranayautkanthya-katarah
SYNONYMS
krcchrena—with great difficulty; samstabhya—by checking the force; sucah—of bereavement; panina—with his hands; amrjya—smearing; netrayoh—the eyes; paroksena—due to being out of sight; samunnaddha—increasingly; pranaya-autkanthya—eagerly thinking of the affection; katarah—distressed.
TRANSLATION
With great difficulty he checked the tears of grief that smeared his eyes.
He was very distressed because Lord Krsna was out of his sight, and he increasingly felt affection for Him.
1.15.4
sakhyam maitrim sauhrdam ca
sarathyadisu samsmaran
nrpam agrajam ity aha
baspa-gadgadaya gira
SYNONYMS
sakhyam—well-wishing; maitrim—benediction; sauhrdam—intimately related; ca—also; sarathya-adisu—in becoming the chariot driver; samsmaran—remembering all these; nrpam—unto the King; agrajam—the eldest brother; iti—thus; aha—said; baspa—heavily breathing; gadgadaya—overwhelmingly; gira—by speeches.
TRANSLATION
Remembering Lord Krsna and His well-wishes, benefactions, intimate familial relations and His chariot driving, Arjuna, overwhelmed and breathing very heavily, began to speak.
PURPORT
The Supreme Living Being is perfect in all relations with His pure devotee.
Sri Arjuna is one of the typical pure devotees of the Lord reciprocating in the fraternal relationship, and the Lord’s dealings with Arjuna are displays of friendship of the highest perfect order.
He was not only a well-wisher of Arjuna but actually a benefactor, and to make it still more perfect the Lord tied him into a family relationship by arranging Subhadra’s marriage with him.
And above all, the Lord agreed to become a chariot driver of Arjuna in order to protect His friend from warfare risks, and the Lord became actually happy when He established the Pandavas to rule over the world.
Arjuna remembered all these one after another, and thus he became overwhelmed with such thoughts.
1.15.5
arjuna uvaca
vancito ’ham maha-raja
harina bandhu-rupina
yena me ’pahrtam tejo
deva-vismapanam mahat
SYNONYMS
arjunah uvaca—Arjuna said; vancitah—left by Him; aham—myself; maha-raja—O King; harina—by the Personality of Godhead; bandhu-rupina—as if an intimate friend; yena—by whom; me—my; apahrtam—I have been bereft; tejah—power; deva—the demigods; vismapanam—astonishing; mahat—astounding.
TRANSLATION
Arjuna said:
O King! The Supreme Personality of Godhead Hari, who treated me exactly like an intimate friend, has left me alone.
Thus my astounding power, which astonished even the demigods, is no longer with me.
PURPORT
In the Bhagavad-gita (10.41) the Lord says, Anyone specifically powerful and opulent in wealth, strength, beauty, knowledge and all that is materially desirable is to be considered but a product of an insignificant portion of the complete whole of My energy No one, therefore, can be independently powerful in any measure without being endowed by the Lord.
When the Lord descends on the earth along with His eternal ever-liberated associates, He not only displays the divine energy possessed by Himself, but also empowers His associate devotees with the required energy to execute His mission of incarnation.
It is also stated in the Bhagavad-gita (4.5) that the Lord and His eternal associates descend on the earth many times, but the Lord remembers all the different roles of incarnations, whereas the associates, by His supreme will, forget them.
Similarly, the Lord takes away with Him all His associates when He disappears from the earth.
The power and energy which were bestowed upon Arjuna were required for fulfillment of the mission of the Lord, but when His mission was fulfilled, the emergency powers were withdrawn from Arjuna because the astounding powers of Arjuna, which were astonishing even to the denizens of heaven, were no longer required, and they were not meant for going back home, back to Godhead.
If endowment of powers and withdrawal of powers by the Lord are possible even for a great devotee like Arjuna, or even the demigods in heaven, then what to speak of the ordinary living beings who are but figs compared to such great souls.
The lesson is, therefore, that no one should be puffed up for his powers borrowed from the Lord.
The sane man should rather feel obliged to the Lord for such benefactions and must utilize such power for the service of the Lord.
Such power can be withdrawn at any time by the Lord, so the best use of such power and opulence is to engage them in the service of the Lord.
1.15.6
yasya ksana-viyogena
loko hy apriya-darsanah
ukthena rahito hy esa
mrtakah procyate yatha
SYNONYMS
yasya—whose; ksana—a moment; viyogena—by separation; lokah—all the universes; hi—certainly; apriya-darsanah—everything appears unfavorable; ukthena—by life; rahitah—being devoid of; hi—certainly; esah—all these bodies; mrtakah—dead bodies; procyate—are designated; yatha—as it were.
TRANSLATION
I have just lost Him whose separation for a moment would render all the universes unfavorable and void, like bodies without life.
PURPORT
Factually for a living being there is no one dearer than the Lord.
The Lord expands Himself by innumerable parts and parcels as svamsa and vibhinnamsa.
Paramatma is the svamsa part of the Lord, whereas the vibhinnamsa parts are the living beings.
As the living being is the important factor in the material body, for without the living being the material body has no value, similarly without Paramatma the living being has no status quo.
Similarly, Brahman or Paramatma has no locus standi without the Supreme Lord Krsna.
This is thoroughly explained in the Bhagavad-gita.
They are all interlinked with one another, or interdependent factors; thus in the ultimate issue the Lord is the summum bonum and therefore the vital principle of everything.
1.15.7
yat-samsrayad drupada-geham upagatanam
rajnam svayamvara-mukhe smara-durmadanam
tejo hrtam khalu mayabhihatas ca matsyah
sajjikrtena dhanusadhigata ca krsna
SYNONYMS
yat—by whose merciful; samsrayat—by strength; drupada-geham—in the palace of King Drupada; upagatanam—all those assembled; rajnam—of the princes; svayamvara-mukhe—on the occasion of the selection of the bridegroom; smara-durmadanam—all lusty in thought; tejah—power; hrtam—vanquished; khalu—as it were; maya—by me; abhihatah—pierced; ca—also; matsyah—the fish target; sajji-krtena—by equipping the bow; dhanusa—by that bow also; adhigata—gained; ca—also; krsna—Draupadi.
TRANSLATION
Only by His merciful strength was I able to vanquish all the lusty princes assembled at the palace of King Drupada for the selection of the bridegroom.
With my bow and arrow I could pierce the fish target and thereby gain the hand of Draupadi.
PURPORT
Draupadi was the most beautiful daughter of King Drupada, and when she was a young girl almost all the princes desired her hand.
But Drupada Maharaja decided to hand over his daughter to Arjuna only and therefore contrived a peculiar way.
There was a fish hanging on the inner roof of the house under the protection of a wheel.
The condition was that out of the princely order, one must be able to pierce the fish’s eyes through the wheel of protection, and no one would be allowed to look up at the target.
On the ground there was a waterpot in which the target and wheel were reflected, and one had to fix his aim towards the target by looking at the trembling water in the pot.
Maharaja Drupada well knew that only Arjuna or alternately Karna could successfully carry out the plan.
But still he wanted to hand his daughter to Arjuna.
And in the assembly of the princely order, when Dhrstadyumna, the brother of Draupadi, introduced all the princes to his grown-up sister, Karna was also present in the game.
But Draupadi tactfully avoided Karna as the rival of Arjuna, and she expressed her desires through her brother Dhrstadyumna that she was unable to accept anyone who was less than a ksatriya.
The vaisyas and the sudras are less important than the ksatriyas.
Karna was known as the son of a carpenter, a sudra.
So Draupadi avoided Karna by this plea.
When Arjuna, in the dress of a poor brahmana, pierced the difficult target, everyone was astonished, and all of them, especially Karna, offered a stiff fight to Arjuna, but as usual by the grace of Lord Krsna he was able to emerge very successful in the princely fight and thus gain the valuable hand of Krsna, or Draupadi.
Arjuna was lamentingly remembering the incident in the absence of the Lord, by whose strength only he was so powerful.
1.15.8
yat-sannidhav aham u khandavam agnaye ’dam
indram ca samara-ganam tarasa vijitya
labdha sabha maya-krtadbhuta-silpa-maya
digbhyo ’haran nrpatayo balim adhvare te
SYNONYMS
yat—whose; sannidhau—being nearby; aham—myself; u—note of astonishment; khandavam—the protected forest of Indra, King of heaven; agnaye—unto the fire-god; adam—delivered; indram—Indra; ca—also; sa—along with; amara-ganam—the demigods; tarasa—with all dexterity; vijitya—having conquered; labdha—having obtained; sabha—assembly house; maya-krta—built by Maya; adbhuta—very wonderful; silpa—art and workmanship; maya—potency; digbhyah—from all directions; aharan—collected; nrpatayah—all princes; balim—presentations; adhvare—brought; te—your.
TRANSLATION
Because He was near me, it was possible for me to conquer with great dexterity the powerful King of heaven, Indradeva, along with his demigod associates and thus enable the fire-god to devastate the Khandava Forest.
And only by His grace was the demon named Maya saved from the blazing Khandava Forest, and thus we could build our assembly house of wonderful architectural workmanship, where all the princes assembled during the performance of Rajasuya-yajna and paid you tributes.
PURPORT
The demon Maya Danava was an inhabitant of the forest Khandava, and when the Khandava Forest was set on fire, he asked protection from Arjuna.
Arjuna saved his life, and as a result of this the demon felt obliged.
He reciprocated by building a wonderful assembly house for the Pandavas, which attracted the extraordinary attention of all state princes.
They felt the supernatural power of the Pandavas, and thus without grudge all of them submitted and paid tributes to the Emperor.
The demons possess wonderful and supernatural powers to create material wonders.
But they are always disturbing elements of the society.
The modern demons are the harmful material scientists who create some material wonders for disturbance in the society.
For example, the creation of nuclear weapons has caused some panic in human society.
Maya was also a materialist like that, and he knew the art of creating such wonderful things.
And yet Lord Krsna wanted to kill him.
When he was chased both by the fire and by the wheel of Lord Krsna, he took shelter of such a devotee as Arjuna, who saved him from the wrath of the fire of Lord Sri Krsna.
Devotees are therefore more merciful than the Lord, and in devotional service the mercy of a devotee is more valuable than the mercy of the Lord.
Both the fire and the Lord ceased from chasing the demon as soon as both of them saw that the demon was given shelter by such a devotee as Arjuna.
This demon, feeling obliged to Arjuna, wanted to do him some service to show his gratefulness, but Arjuna declined to accept anything from him in exchange.
Lord Sri Krsna, however, being pleased with Maya for his taking shelter of a devotee, asked him to render service unto King Yudhisthira by building a wonderful assembly house.
The process is that by the grace of the devotee the mercy of the Lord is obtained, and by the mercy of the Lord a chance to serve the Lord’s devotee is obtained.
The club of Bhimasena was also a gift of Maya Danava.
1.15.9
yat-tejasa nrpa-siro-’nghrim ahan makhartham
aryo ’nujas tava gajayuta-sattva-viryah
tenahrtah pramatha-natha-makhaya bhupa
yan-mocitas tad-anayan balim adhvare te
SYNONYMS
yat—whose; tejasa—by influence; nrpa-sirah-anghrim—one whose feet are adored by the heads of kings; ahan—killed; makha-artham—for the sacrifice; aryah—respectable; anujah—younger brother; tava—your; gaja-ayuta—ten thousand elephants; sattva-viryah—powerful existence; tena—by him; ahrtah—collected; pramatha-natha—the lord of the ghosts (Mahabhairava); makhaya—for sacrifice; bhupah—kings; yat-mocitah—by whom they were released; tat-anayan—all of them brought; balim—taxes; adhvare—presented; te—your.
TRANSLATION
Your respectable younger brother, who possesses the strength of ten thousand elephants, killed, by His grace, Jarasandha, whose feet were worshiped by many kings.
These kings had been brought for sacrifice in Jarasandha’s Mahabhairava-yajna, but they were thus released.
Later they paid tribute to Your Majesty.
PURPORT
Jarasandha was a very powerful king of Magadha, and the history of his birth and activities is also very interesting.
His father, King Brhadratha, was also a very prosperous and powerful king of Magadha, but he had no son, although he married two daughters of the King of Kasi.
Being disappointed in not getting a son from either of the two queens, the King, along with his wives, left home to live in the forest for austerities, but in the forest he was blessed by one great rsi to have a son, and he gave him one mango to be eaten by the queens.
The queens did so and were very soon pregnant.
The King was very happy to see the queens bearing children, but when the ripe time approached, the queens delivered one child in two parts, one from each of the queens’ wombs.
The two parts were thrown in the forest, where a great she-demon used to live, and she was glad to have some delicate flesh and blood from the newly born child.
Out of curiosity she joined the two parts, and the child became complete and regained life.
The she-demon was known as Jara, and being compassionate on the childless King, she went to the King and presented him with the nice child, The King was very pleased with the she-demon and wanted to reward her according to her desire.
The she-demon expressed her desire that the child be named after her, and thus the child was surnamed Jarasandha, or one who was joined by Jara, the she-demon.
In fact, this Jarasandha was born as one of the parts and parcels of the demon Vipracitti.
The saint by whose benedictions the queens bore the child was called Candra Kausika, who foretold of the child before his father Brhadratha.
Since he possessed demoniac qualities from birth, naturally he became a great devotee of Lord Siva, who is the lord of all ghostly and demoniac men.
Ravana was a great devotee of Lord Siva, and so also King Jarasandha.
He used to sacrifice all arrested kings before Lord Mahabhairava (Siva) and by his military power he defeated many small kings and arrested them to butcher before Mahabhairava.
There are many devotees of Lord Mahabhairava, or Kalabhairava, in the province of Bihar, formerly called Magadha.
Jarasandha was a relative of Kamsa, the maternal uncle of Krsna, and therefore after Kamsa’s death King Jarasandha became a great enemy of Krsna, and there were many fights between Jarasandha and Krsna.
Lord Krsna wanted to kill him, but He also wanted that those who served as military men for Jarasandha might not be killed.
Therefore a plan was adopted to kill him.
Krsna, Bhima and Arjuna together went to Jarasandha in the dress of poor brahmanas and begged charity from King Jarasandha.
Jarasandha never refused charity to any brahmana, and he performed many sacrifices also, yet he was not on a par with devotional service.
Lord Krsna, Bhima and Arjuna asked Jarasandha for the facility of fighting him, and it was settled that Jarasandha would fight with Bhima only.
So all of them were both guests and combatants of Jarasandha, and Bhima and Jarasandha fought every day for several days.
Bhima became disappointed, but Krsna gave him hints about Jarasandha’s being joined together as an infant, and thus Bhima dissected him again and so killed him.
All the kings who were detained in the concentration camp to be killed before Mahabhairava were thus released by Bhima.
Feeling thus obliged to the Pandavas, they paid tribute to King Yudhisthira.
1.15.10
patnyas tavadhimakha-klpta-mahabhiseka-
slaghistha-caru-kabaram kitavaih sabhayam
sprstam vikirya padayoh patitasru-mukhya
yas tat-striyo ’krta-hatesa-vimukta-kesah
SYNONYMS
patnyah—of the wife; tava—your; adhimakha—during the great sacrificial ceremony; klpta—dressed; maha-abhiseka—greatly sanctified; slaghistha—thus glorified; caru—beautiful; kabaram—clustered hair; kitavaih—by the miscreants; sabhayam—in the great assembly; sprstam—being caught; vikirya—being loosened; padayoh—on the feet; patita-asru-mukhyah—of the one who fell down with tears in the eyes; yah—He; tat—their; striyah—wives; akrta—became; hata-isa—bereft of husbands; vimukta-kesah—loosened hair.
TRANSLATION
It was He only who loosened the hair of all the wives of the miscreants who dared open the cluster of your Queen’s hair, which had been nicely dressed and sanctified for the great Rajasuya sacrificial ceremony.
At that time she fell down at the feet of Lord Krsna with tears in her eyes.
PURPORT
Queen Draupadi had a beautiful bunch of hair which was sanctified in the ceremonial function of Rajasuya-yajna.
But when she was lost in a bet, Duhsasana touched her glorified hair to insult her.
Draupadi then fell down at the lotus feet of Lord Krsna, and Lord Krsna decided that all the wives of Duhsasana and company should have their hair loosened as a result of the Battle of Kuruksetra.
Thus after the Battle of Kuruksetra, after all the sons and grandsons of Dhrtarastra died in battle, all the wives of the family were obliged to loosen their hair as widows.
In other words, all the wives of the Kuru family became widows because of Duhsasana’s insulting a great devotee of the Lord.
The Lord can tolerate insults upon Himself by any miscreant because the father tolerates even insults from the son.
But He never tolerates insults upon His devotees.
By insulting a great soul, one has to forego all the results of pious acts and benedictions also.
1.15.11
yo no jugopa vana etya duranta-krcchrad
durvasaso ’ri-racitad ayutagra-bhug yah
sakanna-sistam upayujya yatas tri-lokim
trptam amamsta salile vinimagna-sanghah
SYNONYMS
yah—one who; nah—us; jugopa—gave protection; vane—forest; etya—getting in; duranta—dangerously; krcchrat—trouble; durvasasah—of Durvasa Muni; ari—enemy; racitat—fabricated by; ayuta—ten thousand; agra-bhuk—one who eats before; yah—that person; saka-anna-sistam—remnants of foodstuff; upayujya—having accepted; yatah—because; tri-lokim—all the three worlds; trptam—satisfied; amamsta—thought within the mind; salile—while in the water; vinimagna-sanghah—all merged into the water.
TRANSLATION
During our exile, Durvasa Muni, who eats with his ten thousand disciples, intrigued with our enemies to put us in dangerous trouble.
At that time He (Lord Krsna), simply by accepting the remnants of food, saved us.
By His accepting food thus, the assembly of munis, while bathing in the river, felt sumptuously fed.
And all the three worlds were also satisfied.
PURPORT
Durvasa Muni:
A powerful mystic brahmana determined to observe the principles of religion with great vows and under strict austerities.
His name is associated with many historical events, and it appears that the great mystic could be both easily satisfied and easily annoyed, like Lord Siva.
When he was satisfied, he could do tremendous good to the servitor, but if he was dissatisfied he could bring about the greatest calamity.
Kumari Kunti, at her father’s house, used to minister all kinds of services to all great brahmanas, and being satisfied with her good reception Durvasa Muni blessed her with a power to call any demigod she desired.
It is understood that he was a plenary incarnation of Lord Siva, and thus he could be either easily satisfied or annoyed.
He was a great devotee of Lord Siva, and by Lord Siva’s order he accepted the priesthood of King Svetaketu because of the King’s performance of sacrifice for one hundred years.
Sometimes he used to visit the parliamentary assembly of the heavenly kingdom of Indradeva.
He could travel in space by his great mystic powers, and it is understood that he traveled a great distance through space, even up to the Vaikuntha planes beyond material space.
He traveled all these long distances within one year, during his quarrel with King Ambarisa, the great devotee and Emperor of the world.
He had about ten thousand disciples, and wherever he visited and became a guest of the great ksatriya kings, he used to be accompanied by a number of followers.
Once he visited the house of Duryodhana, the enemy cousin of Maharaja Yudhisthira.
Duryodhana was intelligent enough to satisfy the brahmana by all means, and the great rsi wanted to give some benediction to Duryodhana.
Duryodhana knew his mystic powers, and he knew also that the mystic brahmana, if dissatisfied, could cause some havoc, and thus he designed to engage the brahmana to show his wrath upon his enemy cousins, the Pandavas.
When the rsi wanted to award some benediction to Duryodhana, the latter wished that he should visit the house of Maharaja Yudhisthira, who was the eldest and chief among all his cousins.
But by his request he would go to him after he had finished his meals with his Queen, Draupadi.
Duryodhana knew that after Draupadi’s dinner it would be impossible for Maharaja Yudhisthira to receive such a large number of brahmana guests, and thus the rsi would be annoyed and would create some trouble for his cousin Maharaja Yudhisthira.
That was the plan of Duryodhana.
Durvasa Muni agreed to this proposal, and he approached the King in exile, according to the plan of Duryodhana, after the King and Draupadi had finished their meals.
On his arrival at the door of Maharaja Yudhisthira, he was at once well received, and the King requested him to finish his noontime religious rites in the river, for by that time the foodstuff would be prepared.
Durvasa Muni, along with his large number of disciples, went to take a bath in the river, and Maharaja Yudhisthira was in great anxiety about the guests.
As long as Draupadi had not taken her meals, food could be served to any number of guests, but the rsi, by the plan of Duryodhana, reached there after Draupadi had finished her meals.
When the devotees are put into difficulty, they have an opportunity to recollect the Lord with rapt attention.
So Draupadi was thinking of Lord Krsna in that dangerous position, and the all-pervading Lord could at once know the dangerous position of His devotees.
He therefore came there on the scene and asked Draupadi to give whatever food she might have in her stock.
On her being so requested by the Lord, Draupadi was sorrowful because the Supreme Lord asked her for some food and she was unable to supply it at that time.
She said to the Lord that the mysterious dish which she had received from the sun-god could supply any amount of food if she herself had not eaten.
But on that day she had already taken her meals, and thus they were in danger.
By expressing her difficulties she began to cry before the Lord as only a woman would do in such a position.
The Lord, however, asked Draupadi to bring up the cooking pots to see if there was any particle of foodstuff left, and on Draupadi’s doing so, the Lord found some particle of vegetable sticking to the pot.
The Lord at once picked it up and ate it.
After doing so, the Lord asked Draupadi to call for her guests, the company of Durvasa.
Bhima was sent to call them from the river.
Bhima said, Why are you delaying, sirs? Come on, the food is ready for you But the brahmanas, because of Lord Krsna’s accepting a little particle of food, felt sumptuously fed, even while they were in the water.
They thought that since Maharaja Yudhisthira must have prepared many valuable dishes for them and since they were not hungry and could not eat, the King would feel very sorry, so it was better not to go there.
Thus they decided to go away.
This incident proves that the Lord is the greatest mystic, and therefore He is known as Yogesvara.
Another instruction is that every householder must offer food to the Lord, and the result will be that everyone, even a company of guests numbering ten thousand, will be satisfied because of the Lord’s being satisfied.
That is the way of devotional service.
1.15.12
yat-tejasatha bhagavan yudhi sula-panir
vismapitah sagirijo ’stram adan nijam me
anye ’pi caham amunaiva kalevarena
prapto mahendra-bhavane mahad-asanardham
SYNONYMS
yat—by whose; tejasa—by influence; atha—at one time; bhagavan—the personality of god (Lord Siva); yudhi—in the battle; sula-panih—one who has a trident in his hand; vismapitah—astonished; sa-girijah—along with the daughter of the Himalaya Mountains; astram—weapon; adat—awarded; nijam—of his own; me—unto me; anye api—so also others; ca—and; aham—myself; amuna—by this; eva—definitely; kalevarena—by the body; praptah—obtained; maha-indra-bhavane—in the house of Indradeva; mahat—great; asana-ardham—half-elevated seat.
TRANSLATION
It was by His influence only that in a fight I was able to astonish the personality of god Lord Siva and his wife, the daughter of Mount Himalaya.
Thus he (Lord Siva) became pleased with me and awarded me his own weapon.
Other demigods also delivered their respective weapons to me, and in addition I was able to reach the heavenly planes in this present body and was allowed a half-elevated seat.
PURPORT
By the grace of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krsna, all the demigods, including Lord Siva, were pleased with Arjuna.
The idea is that one who is favored by Lord Siva or any other demigod may not necessarily be favored by the Supreme Lord Sri Krsna.
Ravana was certainly a great devotee of Lord Siva, but he could not be saved from the wrath of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Lord Ramacandra.
And there are many instances like that in the histories of the Puranas.
But here is an instance where we can see that Lord Siva became pleased even in the fight with Arjuna.
The devotees of the Supreme Lord know how to respect the demigods, but the devotees of the demigods sometimes foolishly think that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is no greater than the demigods.
By such a conception, one becomes an offender and ultimately meets with the same end as Ravana and others.
The instances described by Arjuna during his friendly dealings with Lord Sri Krsna are instructive for all who may be convinced by the lessons that one can achieve all favors simply by pleasing the Supreme Lord Sri Krsna, whereas the devotees or worshipers of the demigods may achieve only partial benefits, which are also perishable, just as the demigods themselves are.
Another significance of the present verse is that Arjuna, by the grace of Lord Sri Krsna, was able to reach the heavenly plane even with the selfsame body and was honored by the heavenly demigod Indradeva, being seated with him half-elevated.
One can reach the heavenly planes by the pious acts recommended in the sastras in the category of fruitive activities.
And as stated in the Bhagavad-gita (9.21), when the reactions of such pious acts are spent, the enjoyer is again degraded to this earthly plane.
The moon is also on the level with the heavenly planes, and only persons who have performed virtues only—performing sacrifices, giving charity and undergoing severe austerities—can be allowed to enter into the heavenly planes after the duration of life of the body.
Arjuna was allowed to enter into the heavenly planes in the selfsame body simply by the grace of the Lord, otherwise it is not possible to do so.
The present attempts to enter into the heavenly planes by the modern scientists will certainly prove futile because such scientists are not on the level of Arjuna.
They are ordinary human beings, without any assets of sacrifice, charity or austerities.
The material body is influenced by the three modes of material nature, namely goodness, passion and ignorance.
The present population is more or less influenced by the modes of passion and ignorance, and the symptoms for such influence are exhibited in their becoming very lusty and greedy.
Such degraded fellows can hardly approach the higher planeary systems.
Above the heavenly planes there are many other planes also, which only those who are influenced by goodness can reach.
In heavenly and other planes within the universe, the inhabitants are all highly intelligent, many more times than the human beings, and they are all pious in the higher and highest mode of goodness.
They are all devotees of the Lord, and although their goodness is not unadulterated, still they are known as demigods possessing the maximum amount of good qualities possible within the material world.
1.15.13
tatraiva me viharato bhuja-danda-yugmam
gandiva-laksanam arati-vadhaya devah
sendrah srita yad-anubhavitam ajamidha
tenaham adya musitah purusena bhumna
SYNONYMS
tatra—in that heavenly plane; eva—certainly; me—myself; viharatah—while staying as a guest; bhuja-danda-yugmam—both of my arms; gandiva—the bow named Gandiva; laksanam—mark; arati—a demon named Nivatakavaca; vadhaya—for killing; devah—all the demigods; sa—along with; indrah—the heavenly King, Indra; sritah—taken shelter of; yat—by whose; anubhavitam—made it possible to be powerful; ajamidha—O descendant of King Ajamidha; tena—by Him; aham—myself; adya—at the present moment; musitah—bereft of; purusena—the personality; bhumna—supreme.
TRANSLATION
When I stayed for some days as a guest in the heavenly planes, all the heavenly demigods, including King Indradeva, took shelter of my arms, which were marked with the Gandiva bow, to kill the demon named Nivatakavaca.
O King, descendant of Ajamidha, at the present moment I am bereft of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, by whose influence I was so powerful.
PURPORT
The heavenly demigods are certainly more intelligent, powerful and beautiful, and yet they had to take help from Arjuna because of his Gandiva bow, which was empowered by the grace of Lord Sri Krsna.
The Lord is all-powerful, and by His grace His pure devotee can be as powerful as He may desire, and there is no limit to it.
And when the Lord withdraws His power from anyone, he is powerless by the will of the Lord.
1.15.14
yad-bandhavah kuru-balabdhim ananta-param
eko rathena tatare ’ham atirya-sattvam
pratyahrtam bahu dhanam ca maya paresam
tejas-padam manimayam ca hrtam sirobhyah
SYNONYMS
yat-bandhavah—by whose friendship only; kuru-bala-abdhim—the ocean of the military strength of the Kurus; ananta-param—which was insurmountable; ekah—alone; rathena—being seated on the chariot; tatare—was able to cross over; aham—myself; atirya—invincible; sattvam—existence; pratyahrtam—drew back; bahu—very large quantity; dhanam—wealth; ca—also; maya—by my; paresam—of the enemy; tejah-padam—source of brilliance; mani-mayam—bedecked with jewels; ca—also; hrtam—taken by force; sirobhyah—from their heads.
TRANSLATION
The military strength of the Kauravas was like an ocean in which there dwelled many invincible existences, and thus it was insurmountable.
But because of His friendship, I, seated on the chariot, was able to cross over it.
And only by His grace was I able to regain the cows and also collect by force many helmets of the kings which were bedecked with jewels that were sources of all brilliance.
PURPORT
On the Kaurava side there were many stalwart commanders like Bhisma, Drona, Krpa and Karna, and their military strength was as insurmountable as the great ocean.
And yet it was due to Lord Krsna’s grace that Arjuna alone, sitting on the chariot, could manage to vanquish them one after another without difficulty.
There were many changes of commanders on the other side, but on the Pandavas’ side Arjuna alone on the chariot driven by Lord Krsna could manage the whole responsibility of the great war.
Similarly, when the Pandavas were living at the palace of Virata incognito, the Kauravas picked a quarrel with King Virata and decided to take away his large number of cows.
While they were taking away the cows, Arjuna fought with them incognito and was able to regain the cows along with some booty taken by force—the jewels set on the turbans of the royal order.
Arjuna remembered that all this was possible by the grace of the Lord.
1.15.15
yo bhisma-karna-guru-salya-camusv adabhra-
rajanya-varya-ratha-mandala-manditasu
agrecaro mama vibho ratha-yuthapanam
ayur manamsi ca drsa saha oja arcchat
SYNONYMS
yah—it is He only; bhisma—Bhisma; karna—Karna; guru—Dronacarya; salya—Salya; camusu—in the midst of the military phalanx; adabhra—immense; rajanya-varya—great royal princes; ratha-mandala—chain of chariots; manditasu—being decorated with; agrecarah—going forward; mama—of mine; vibho—O great King; ratha-yutha-panam—all the charioteers; ayuh—duration of life or fruitive activities; manamsi—mental upsurges; ca—also; drsa—by glance; sahah—power; ojah—strength; arcchat—withdrew.
TRANSLATION
It was He only who withdrew the duration of life from everyone and who, in the battlefield, withdrew the speculative power and strength of enthusiasm from the great military phalanx made by the Kauravas, headed by Bhisma, Karna, Drona, Salya, etc.
Their arrangement was expert and more than adequate, but He (Lord Sri Krsna), while going forward, did all this.
PURPORT
The Absolute Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krsna, expands Himself by His plenary Paramatma portion in everyone s heart, and thus He directs everyone in the matter of recollection, forgetfulness, knowledge, the absence of intelligence and all psychological activities (Bg.15.15).
As the Supreme Lord, He can increase or decrease the duration of life of a living being.
Thus the Lord conducted the Battle of Kuruksetra according to His own plan.
He wanted that battle to establish Yudhisthira as the Emperor of this plane, and to facilitate this transcendental business He killed all who were on the opposite party by His omnipotent will.
The other party was equipped with all military strength supported by big generals like Bhisma, Drona and Salya and it would have been physically impossible for Arjuna to win the battle had the Lord not helped him by every kind of tactic.
Such tactics are generally followed by every statesman, even in modern warfare, but they are all done materially by powerful espionages, military tactics and diplomatic maneuvers.
But because Arjuna was the Lord’s affectionate devotee, the Lord did all this Himself without personal anxiety by Arjuna.
That is the way of the devotional service to the Lord.
1.15.16
yad-dohsu ma pranihitam guru-bhisma-karna-
naptr-trigarta-salya-saindhava-bahlikadyaih
astrany amogha-mahimani nirupitani
nopasprsur nrhari-dasam ivasurani
SYNONYMS
yat—under whose; dohsu—protection of arms; ma pranihitam—myself being situated; guru—Dronacarya; bhisma—Bhisma; karna—Karna; naptr—Bhurisrava; trigarta—King Susarma; salya—Salya; saindhava—King Jayadratha; bahlika—brother of Maharaja Santanu (Bhisma’s father); adyaih—etc.; astrani—weapons; amogha—invincible; mahimani—very powerful; nirupitani—applied; na—not; upasprsuh—touched; nrhari-dasam—servitor of Nrsimhadeva (Prahlada); iva—like; asurani—weapons employed by the demons.
TRANSLATION
Great generals like Bhisma, Drona, Karna, Bhurisrava, Susarma, Salya, Jayadratha, and Bahlika all directed their invincible weapons against me.
But by His (Lord Krsna’s) grace they could not even touch a hair on my head.
Similarly, Prahlada Maharaja, the supreme devotee of Lord Nrsimhadeva, was unaffected by the weapons the demons used against him.
PURPORT
The history of Prahlada Maharaja, the great devotee of Nrsimhadeva, is narrated in the Seventh Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam.
Prahlada Maharaja, a small child of only five years, became the object of envy for his great father, Hiranyakasipu, only because of his becoming a pure devotee of the Lord.
The demon father employed all his weapons to kill the devotee son, Prahlada, but by the grace of the Lord he was saved from all sorts of dangerous actions by his father.
He was thrown in a fire, in boiling oil, from the top of a hill, underneath the legs of an elephant, and he was administered poison.
At last the father himself took up a chopper to kill his son, and thus Nrsimhadeva appeared and killed the heinous father in the presence of the son.
Thus no one can kill the devotee of the Lord.
Similarly, Arjuna was also saved by the Lord, although all dangerous weapons were employed by his great opponents like Bhisma.
Karna:
Born of Kunti by the sun-god prior to her marriage with Maharaja Pandu, Karna took his birth with bangles and earrings, extraordinary signs for an undaunted hero.
In the beginning his name was Vasusena, but when he grew up he presented his natural bangles and earrings to Indradeva, and thenceforward he became known as Vaikartana.
After his birth from the maiden Kunti, he was thrown in the Ganges.
Later he was picked up by Adhiratha, and he and his wife Radha brought him up as their own offspring.
Karna was very charitable, especially toward the brahmanas.
There was nothing he could not spare for a brahmana.
In the same charitable spirit he gave in charity his natural bangles and earrings to Indradeva, who, being very much satisfied with him, gave him in return a great weapon called Sakti.
He was admitted as one of the students of Dronacarya, and from the very beginning there was some rivalry between him and Arjuna.
Seeing his constant rivalry with Arjuna, Duryodhana picked him up as his companion, and this gradually grew into greater intimacy.
He was also present in the great assembly of Draupadi’s svayamvara function, and when he attempted to exhibit his talent in that meeting, Draupadi’s brother declared that Karna could not take part in the competition because of his being the son of a sudra carpenter.
Although he was refused in the competition, still when Arjuna was successful in piercing the fish target on the ceiling and Draupadi bestowed her garland upon Arjuna, Karna and the other disappointed princes offered an unusual stumbling block to Arjuna while he was leaving with Draupadi.
Specifically, Karna fought with him very valiantly, but all of them were defeated by Arjuna.
Duryodhana was very much pleased with Karna because of his constant rivalry with Arjuna, and when he was in power he enthroned Karna in the state of Anga.
Being baffled in his attempt to win Draupadi, Karna advised Duryodhana to attack King Drupada, for after defeating him both Arjuna and Draupadi could be arrested.
But Dronacarya rebuked them for this conspiracy, and they refrained from the action.
Karna was defeated many times, not only by Arjuna but also by Bhimasena.
He was the king of the kingdom of Bengal, Orissa and Madras combined.
Later on he took an active part in the Rajasuya sacrifice of Maharaja Yudhisthira, and when there was gambling between the rival brothers, designed by Sakuni, Karna took part in the game, and he was very pleased when Draupadi was offered as a bet in the gambling.
This fed his old grudge.
When Draupadi was in the game he was very enthusiastic to declare the news, and it is he who ordered Duhsasana to take away the garments of both the Pandavas and Draupadi.
He asked Draupadi to select another husband because, being lost by the Pandavas, she was rendered a slave of the Kurus.
He was always an enemy of the Pandavas, and whenever there was an opportunity, he tried to curb them by all means.
During the Battle of Kuruksetra, he foresaw the conclusive result, and he expressed his opinion that due to Lord Krsna’s being the chariot driver of Arjuna, the battle should be won by Arjuna.
He always differed with Bhisma, and sometimes he was proud enough to say that within five days he could finish up the Pandavas, if Bhisma would not interfere with his plan of action.
But he was much mortified when Bhisma died.
He killed Ghatotkaca with the Sakti weapon obtained from Indradeva.
His son, Vrsasena, was killed by Arjuna.
He killed the largest number of Pandava soldiers.
At last there was a severe fight with Arjuna, and it was he only who was able to knock off the helmet of Arjuna.
But it so happened that the wheel of his chariot stuck in the battlefield mud, and when he got down to set the wheel right, Arjuna took the opportunity and killed him, although he requested Arjuna not to do so.
Napta, or Bhurisrava:
Bhurisrava was the son of Somadatta, a member of the Kuru family.
His other brother was Salya.
Both the brothers and the father attended the svayamvara ceremony of Draupadi.
All of them appreciated the wonderful strength of Arjuna due to his being the devotee friend of the Lord, and thus Bhurisrava advised the sons of Dhrtarastra not to pick any quarrel or fight with them.
All of them also attended the Rajasuya yajna of Maharaja Yudhisthira.
He possessed one aksauhini regiment of army, cavalry, elephants and chariots, and all these were employed in the Battle of Kuruksetra on behalf of Duryodhana’s party.
He was counted by Bhima as one of the yutha-patis.
In the Battle of Kuruksetra he was especially engaged in a fight with Satyaki, and he killed ten sons of Satyaki.
Later on, Arjuna cut off his hands, and he was ultimately killed by Satyaki.
After his death he merged into the existence of Visvadeva.
Trigarta, or Susarma:
Son of Maharaja Vrddhaksetra, he was the King of Trigartadesa, and he was also present in the svayamvara ceremony of Draupadi.
He was one of the allies of Duryodhana, and he advised Duryodhana to attack the Matsyadesa (Darbhanga).
During the time of cow-stealing in Virata-nagara, he was able to arrest Maharaja Virata, but later Maharaja Virata was released by Bhima.
In the Battle of Kuruksetra he also fought very valiantly, but at the end he was killed by Arjuna.
Jayadratha:
Another son of Maharaja Vrddhaksetra.
He was the King of Sindhudesa (modern Sind Pakistan).
His wife’s name was Duhsala.
He was also present in the svayamvara ceremony of Draupadi, and he desired very strongly to have her hand, but he failed in the competition.
But since then he always sought the opportunity to get in touch with Draupadi.
When he was going to marry in the Salyadesa, on the way to Kamyavana he happened to see Draupadi again and was too much attracted to her.
The Pandavas and Draupadi were then in exile, after losing their empire in gambling, and Jayadratha thought it wise to send news to Draupadi in an illicit manner through Kotisasya, one of his associates.
Draupadi at once refused vehemently the proposal of Jayadratha, but being so much attracted by the beauty of Draupadi, he tried again and again.
Every time he was refused by Draupadi.
He tried to take her away forcibly on his chariot, and at first Draupadi gave him a good dashing, and he fell like a cut-root tree.
But he was not discouraged, and he was able to force Draupadi to sit on the chariot.
This incident was seen by Dhaumya Muni, and he strongly protested the action of Jayadratha.
He also followed the chariot, and through Dhatreyika the matter was brought to the notice of Maharaja Yudhisthira.
The Pandavas then attacked the soldiers of Jayadratha and killed them all, and at last Bhima caught hold of Jayadratha and beat him very severely, almost dead.
Then all but five hairs were cut off his head and he was taken to all the kings and introduced as the slave of Maharaja Yudhisthira.
He was forced to admit himself to be the slave of Maharaja Yudhisthira before all the princely order, and in the same condition he was brought before Maharaja Yudhisthira.
Maharaja Yudhisthira was kind enough to order him released, and when he admitted to being a tributary prince under Maharaja Yudhisthira, Queen Draupadi also desired his release.
After this incident, he was allowed to return to his country.
Being so insulted, he went to Gangatri in the Himalayas and undertook a severe type of penance to please Lord Siva.
He asked his benediction to defeat all the Pandavas, at least one at a time.
Then the Battle of Kuruksetra began, and he took sides with Duryodhana.
In the first day’s fight he was engaged with Maharaja Drupada, then with Virata and then with Abhimanyu.
While Abhimanyu was being killed, mercilessly surrounded by seven great generals, the Pandavas came to his help, but Jayadratha, by the mercy of Lord Siva, repulsed them with great ability.
At this, Arjuna took a vow to kill him, and on hearing this, Jayadratha wanted to leave the warfield and asked permission from the Kauravas for this cowardly action.
But he was not allowed to do so.
On the contrary, he was obliged to fight with Arjuna, and while the fight was going on Lord Krsna reminded Arjuna that the benediction of Siva upon Jayadratha was that whoever would cause his head to fall on the ground would die at once.
He therefore advised Arjuna to throw the head of Jayadratha directly onto the lap of his father, who was engaged in penances at the Samanta-pancaka pilgrimage.
This was actually done by Arjuna.
Jayadratha’s father was surprised to see a severed head on his lap, and he at once threw it to the ground.
The father immediately died, his forehead being cracked in seven pieces.
1.15.17
sautye vrtah kumatinatmada isvaro me
yat-pada-padmam abhavaya bhajanti bhavyah
mam sranta-vaham arayo rathino bhuvi-stham
na praharan yad-anubhava-nirasta-cittah
SYNONYMS
sautye—regarding a chariot driver; vrtah—engaged; kumatina—by bad consciousness; atma-dah—one who delivers; isvarah—the Supreme Lord; me—my; yat—whose; pada-padmam—lotus feet; abhavaya—in the matter of salvation; bhajanti—do render service; bhavyah—the intelligent class of men; mam—unto me; sranta—thirsty; vaham—my horses; arayah—the enemies; rathinah—a great general; bhuvi-stham—while standing on the ground; na—did not; praharan—attack; yat—whose; anubhava—mercy; nirasta—being absent; cittah—mind.
TRANSLATION
It was by His mercy only that my enemies neglected to kill me when I descended from my chariot to get water for my thirsty horses.
And it was due to my lack of esteem for my Lord that I dared engage Him as my chariot driver, for He is worshiped and offered services by the best men to attain salvation.
PURPORT
The Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead Sri Krsna, is the object of worship both by impersonalists and by the devotees of the Lord.
The impersonalists worship His glowing effulgence, emanating from His transcendental body of eternal form, bliss and knowledge, and the devotees worship Him as the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Those who are below even the impersonalists consider Him to be one of the great historical personalities.
The Lord, however, descends to attract all by His specific transcendental pastimes, and thus He plays the part of the most perfect master, friend, son and lover.
His transcendental relation with Arjuna was in friendship, and the Lord therefore played the part perfectly, as He did with His parents, lovers and wives.
While playing in such a perfect transcendental relation, the devotee forgets, by the internal potency of the Lord, that his friend or son is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, although sometimes the devotee is bewildered by the acts of the Lord.
After the departure of the Lord, Arjuna was conscious of his great friend, but there was no mistake on the part of Arjuna, nor any ill estimation of the Lord.
Intelligent men are attracted by the transcendental acting of the Lord with a pure, unalloyed devotee like Arjuna.
In the warfield, scarcity of water is a well-known fact.
Water is very rare there, and both the animals and men, working strenuously on the warfield, constantly require water to quench their thirst.
Especially wounded soldiers and generals feel very thirsty at the time of death, and it sometimes so happens that simply for want of water one has to die unavoidably.
But such scarcity of water was solved in the Battle of Kuruksetra by means of boring the ground.
By God’s grace, water can be easily obtained from any place if there is facility for boring the ground.
The modern system works on the same principle of boring the ground, but modern engineers are still unable to dig immediately wherever necessary.
It appears, however, from the history as far back as the days of the Pandavas, that big generals like Arjuna could at once supply water even to the horses, and what to speak of men, by drawing water from underneath the hard ground simply by penetrating the stratum with a sharp arrow, a method still unknown to the modern scientists.
1.15.18
narmany udara-rucira-smita-sobhitani
he partha he ’rjuna sakhe kuru-nandaneti
sanjalpitani nara-deva hrdi-sprsani
smartur luthanti hrdayam mama madhavasya
SYNONYMS
narmani—conversation in jokes; udara—talked very frankly; rucira—pleasing; smita-sobhitani—decorated with a smiling face; he—note of address; partha—O son of Prtha; he—note of address; arjuna—Arjuna; sakhe—friend; kuru-nandana—son of the Kuru dynasty; iti—and so on; sanjalpitani—such conversation; nara-deva—O King; hrdi—heart; sprsani—touching; smartuh—by remembering them; luthanti—overwhelms; hrdayam—heart and soul; mama—my; madhavasya—of Madhava (Krsna).
TRANSLATION
O King! His jokings and frank talks were pleasing and beautifully decorated with smiles.
His addresses unto me as O son of Prtha, O friend, O son of the Kuru dynasty and all such heartiness are now remembered by me, and thus I am overwhelmed.
1.15.19
sayyasanatana-vikatthana-bhojanadisv
aikyad vayasya rtavan iti vipralabdhah
sakhyuh sakheva pitrvat tanayasya sarvam
sehe mahan mahitaya kumater agham me
SYNONYMS
sayya—sleeping on one bed; asana—sitting on one seat; atana—walking together; vikatthana—self-adoration; bhojana—dining together; adisu—and in all such dealings; aikyat—because of oneness; vayasya—O my friend; rtavan—truthful; iti—thus; vipralabdhah—misbehaved; sakhyuh—unto a friend; sakha iva—just like a friend; pitrvat—just like the father; tanayasya—of a child; sarvam—all; sehe—tolerated; mahan—great; mahitaya—by glories; kumateh—of one who is of low mentality; agham—offense; me—mine.
TRANSLATION
Generally both of us used to live together and sleep, sit and loiter together.
And at the time of advertising oneself for acts of chivalry, sometimes, if there were any irregularity, I used to reproach Him by saying, My friend, You are very truthful Even in those hours when His value was minimized, He, being the Supreme Soul, used to tolerate all those utterings of mine, excusing me exactly as a true friend excuses his true friend, or a father excuses his son.
PURPORT
Since the Supreme Lord Sri Krsna is all-perfect, His transcendental pastimes with His pure devotees never lack anything in any respect, either as a friend, son or lover.
The Lord relishes the reproaches of friends, parents or fiancees more than the Vedic hymns offered to Him by great learned scholars and religionists in an official fashion.
1.15.20
so ’ham nrpendra rahitah purusottamena
sakhya priyena suhrda hrdayena sunyah
adhvany urukrama-parigraham anga raksan
gopair asadbhir abaleva vinirjito ’smi
SYNONYMS
sah—that; aham—myself; nrpa-indra—O Emperor; rahitah—bereft of; purusa-uttamena—by the Supreme Lord; sakhya—by my friend; priyena—by my dearmost; suhrda—by the well-wisher; hrdayena—by the heart and soul; sunyah—vacant; adhvani—recently; urukrama-parigraham—the wives of the all-powerful; anga—bodies; raksan—while protecting; gopaih—by the cowherds; asadbhih—by the infidels; abala iva—like a weak woman; vinirjitah asmi—I have been defeated.
TRANSLATION
O Emperor, now I am separated from my friend and dearmost well-wisher, the 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 cowherd men while I was guarding the bodies of all the wives of Krsna.
PURPORT
The important point in this verse is how it was possible that Arjuna could be defeated by a gang of ignoble cowherd men and how such mundane cowherd men could touch the bodies of the wives of Lord Krsna, who were under the protection of Arjuna.
Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura has justified the contradiction by research in the Visnu Purana and Brahma Purana.
In these Puranas it is said that once the fair denizens of heaven pleased Astavakra Muni by their service and were blessed by the muni to have the Supreme Lord as their husband.
Astavakra Muni was curved in eight joints of his body, and thus he used to move in a peculiar curved manner.
The daughters of the demigods could not check their laughter upon seeing the movements of the muni, and the muni, being angry at them, cursed them that they would be kidnapped by rogues, even if 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 as soon as they were touched by the rogues.
Besides that, some of the gopis who prayed to become wives of the Lord returned to their respective positions after their desire was fulfilled.
After the departure of Lord Krsna, He wanted all His entourage back to Godhead, and they were called back under different conditions only.
1.15.21
tad vai dhanus ta isavah sa ratho hayas te
so ’ham rathi nrpatayo yata anamanti
sarvam ksanena tad abhud asad isa-riktam
bhasman hutam kuhaka-raddham ivoptam usyam
SYNONYMS
tat—the same; vai—certainly; dhanuh te—the same bow; isavah—arrows; sah—the very same; rathah—chariot; hayah te—the very same horses; sah aham—I am the same Arjuna; rathi—the chariot-fighter; nrpatayah—all the kings; yatah—whom; anamanti—offered their respects; sarvam—all; ksanena—at a moment’s notice; tat—all those; abhut—became; asat—useless; isa—because of the Lord; riktam—being void; bhasman—ashes; hutam—offering butter; kuhaka-raddham—money created by magical feats; iva—like that; uptam—sown; usyam—in barren land.
TRANSLATION
I have the very same Gandiva bow, the same arrows, the same chariot drawn by the same horses, and I use them as the same Arjuna to whom all the kings offered their due respects.
But in the absence of Lord Krsna, all of them, at a moment’s notice, have become null and void.
It is exactly like offering clarified butter on ashes, accumulating money with a magic wand or sowing seeds on barren land.
PURPORT
As we have discussed more than once, one should not be puffed up by borrowed plumes.
All energies and powers are derived from the supreme source, Lord Krsna, and they act as long as He desires and cease to function as soon as He withdraws.
All electrical energies are received from the powerhouse, and as soon as the powerhouse stops supplying energy, the bulbs are of no use.
In a moment’s time such energies can be generated or withdrawn by the supreme will of the Lord.
Material civilization without the blessing of the Lord is child’s play only.
As long as the parents allow the child to play, it is all right.
As soon as the parents withdraw, the child has to stop.
Human civilization and all activities thereof must be dovetailed with the supreme blessing of the Lord, and without this blessing all advancement of human civilization is like decoration on a dead body.
It is said here that a dead civilization and its activities are something like clarified butter on ashes, the accumulation of money by a magic wand and the sowing of seeds in a barren land.
1.15.22-23
rajams tvayanuprstanam
suhrdam nah suhrt-pure
vipra-sapa-vimudhanam
nighnatam mustibhir mithah
varunim madiram pitva
madonmathita-cetasam
ajanatam ivanyonyam
catuh-pancavasesitah
SYNONYMS
rajan—O King; tvaya—by you; anuprstanam—as you inquired; suhrdam—of friends and relatives; nah—our; suhrt-pure—in the city of Dvaraka; vipra—the brahmanas; sapa—by the curse of; vimudhanam—of the befooled; nighnatam—of the killed; mustibhih—with bunches of sticks; mithah—among themselves; varunim—fermented rice; madiram—wine; pitva—having drunk; mada-unmathita—being intoxicated; cetasam—of that mental situation; ajanatam—of the unrecognized; iva—like; anyonyam—one another; catuh—four; panca—five; avasesitah—now remaining.
TRANSLATION
O King, since you have asked me about our friends and relatives in the city of Dvaraka, I will inform you that all of them were cursed by the brahmanas, and as a result they all became intoxicated with wine made of putrefied rice and fought among themselves with sticks, not even recognizing one another.
Now all but four or five of them are dead and gone.
1.15.24
prayenaitad bhagavata
isvarasya vicestitam
mitho nighnanti bhutani
bhavayanti ca yan mithah
SYNONYMS
prayena etat—it is almost by; bhagavatah—of the Personality of Godhead; isvarasya—of the Lord; vicestitam—by the will of; mithah—one another; nighnanti—do kill; bhutani—the living beings; bhavayanti—as also protect; ca—also; yat—of whom; mithah—one another.
TRANSLATION
Factually this is all due to the supreme will of the Lord, the Personality of Godhead.
Sometimes people kill one another, and at other times they protect one another.
PURPORT
According to the anthropologists, there is nature’s law of struggle for existence and survival of the fittest.
But they do not know that behind the law of nature is the supreme direction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
In the Bhagavad-gita 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 grass moves without the will of the Lord.
Whenever, therefore, there is disobedience of the established rules enacted by the Lord, there is war between men and nations.
The surest way to the path of peace, therefore, is dovetailing everything to 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 one should do anything, eat anything, sacrifice anything or give anything in charity against the will of the Lord.
Discretion is the better part of valor, and one must learn how to discriminate between actions which may be pleasing to the Lord and those which may not be pleasing to the Lord.
An action is thus judged by the Lord’s pleasure or displeasure.
There is no room for personal whims; we must always be guided by the pleasure of the Lord.
Such action is called yogah karmasu kausalam, or actions performed which are linked with the Supreme Lord.
That is the art of doing a thing perfectly.
1.15.25-26
jalaukasam jale yadvan
mahanto ’danty aniyasah
durbalan balino rajan
mahanto balino mithah
evam balisthair yadubhir
mahadbhir itaran vibhuh
yadun yadubhir anyonyam
bhu-bharan sanjahara ha
SYNONYMS
jalaukasam—of the aquatics; jale—in the water; yadvat—as it is; mahantah—the larger one; adanti—swallows; aniyasah—smaller ones; durbalan—the weak; balinah—the stronger; rajan—O King; mahantah—the strongest; balinah—less strong; mithah—in a duel; evam—thus; balisthaih—by the strongest; yadubhih—by the descendants of Yadu; mahadbhih—one who has greater strength; itaran—the common ones; vibhuh—the Supreme Personality of Godhead; yadun—all the Yadus; yadubhih—by the Yadus; anyonyam—among one another; bhu-bharan—the burden of the world; sanjahara—has unloaded; ha—in the past.
TRANSLATION
O King, as in the ocean the bigger and stronger aquatics swallow up the smaller and weaker ones, so also the Supreme Personality of Godhead, to lighten the burden of the earth, has engaged the stronger Yadu to kill the weaker, and the bigger Yadu to kill the smaller.
PURPORT
In the material world the struggle for existence and survival of the fittest are laws because in the material world there is disparity between conditioned souls due to everyone’s desire to lord it over the material resources.
This very mentality of lording it over the material nature is the root cause of conditioned life.
And to give facility to such imitation lords, the illusory energy of the Lord has created a disparity between conditioned living beings by creating the stronger and the weaker in every species of life.
The mentality of lording it over the material nature and the creation has naturally created a disparity and therefore the law of struggle for existence.
In the spiritual world there is no such disparity, nor is there such a struggle for existence.
In the spiritual world there is no struggle for existence because everyone there exists eternally.
There is no disparity because everyone wants to render service to the Supreme Lord, and no one wants to imitate the Lord in becoming the beneficiary.
The Lord, being creator of everything, including the living beings, factually is the proprietor and enjoyer of everything that be, but in the material world, by the spell of maya, or illusion, this eternal relation with the Supreme Personality of Godhead is forgotten, and so the living being is conditioned under the law of struggle for existence and survival of the fittest.
1.15.27
desa-kalartha-yuktani
hrt-tapopasamani ca
haranti smaratas cittam
govindabhihitani me
SYNONYMS
desa—space; kala—time; artha—importance; yuktani—impregnated with; hrt—the heart; tapa—burning; upasamani—extinguishing; ca—and; haranti—are attracting; smaratah—by remembering; cittam—mind; govinda—the Supreme Personality of pleasure; abhihitani—narrated by; me—unto me.
TRANSLATION
Now I am attracted to those instructions imparted to me by the Personality of Godhead (Govinda) because they are impregnated with instructions for relieving the burning heart in all circumstances of time and space.
PURPORT
Herein Arjuna refers to the instruction of the Bhagavad-gita, which was imparted to him by the Lord on the Battlefield of Kuruksetra.
The Lord left behind Him the instructions of the Bhagavad-gita not for the benefit of Arjuna alone, but also for all time and in all lands.
The Bhagavad-gita, being spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the essence of all Vedic wisdom.
It is nicely presented by the Lord Himself for all who have very little time to go through the vast Vedic literatures like the Upanisads, Puranas and Vedanta-sutras.
It is put within the study of the great historical epic Mahabharata, which was especially prepared for the less intelligent class, namely the women, the laborers and those who are worthless descendants of the brahmanas, ksatriyas and higher sections of the vaisyas.
The problem which arose in the heart of Arjuna on the Battlefield of Kuruksetra was solved by the teachings of the Bhagavad-gita.
Again, after the departure of the Lord from the vision of earthly people, when Arjuna was face to face with being vanquished in his acquired power and prominence, he wanted again to remember the great teachings of the Bhagavad-gita just to teach all concerned that the Bhagavad-gita can be consulted in all critical times, not only for solace from all kinds of mental agonies, but also for the way out of great entanglements which may embarrass one in some critical hour.
The merciful Lord left behind Him the great teachings of the Bhagavad-gita so that one can take the instructions of the Lord even when He is not visible to material eyesight.
Material senses cannot have any estimation of the Supreme Lord, but by His inconceivable power the Lord can incarnate Himself to the sense perception of the conditioned souls in a suitable manner through the agency of matter, which is also another form of the Lord’s manifested energy.
Thus the Bhagavad-gita, or any authentic scriptural sound representation of the Lord, is also the incarnation of the Lord.
There is no difference between the sound representation of the Lord and the Lord Himself.
One can derive the same benefit from the Bhagavad-gita as Arjuna did in the personal presence of the Lord.
The faithful human being who is desirous of being liberated from the clutches of material existence can very easily take advantage of the Bhagavad-gita, and with this in view, the Lord instructed Arjuna as if Arjuna were in need of it.
In the Bhagavad-gita, five important factors of knowledge have been delineated pertaining to (1) the Supreme Lord, (2) the living being, (3) nature, (4) time and space and (5) the process of activity.
Out of these, the Supreme Lord and the living being are qualitatively one.
The difference between the two has been analyzed as the difference between the whole and the part and parcel.
Nature is inert matter displaying the interaction of three different modes, and eternal time and unlimited space are considered to be beyond the existence of the material nature.
Activities of the living being are different varieties of aptitudes which can entrap or liberate the living being within and without material nature.
All these subject matters are concisely discussed in the Bhagavad-gita, and later the subject matters are elaborated in the Srimad-Bhagavatam for further enlightenment.
Out of the five subjects, the Supreme Lord, the living entity, nature, and time and space are eternal, but the living entity, nature and time are under the direction of the Supreme Lord, who is absolute and completely independent of any other control.
The Supreme Lord is the supreme controller.
The material activity of the living being is beginningless, but it can be rectified by transferral into the spiritual quality.
Thus it can cease its material qualitative reactions.
Both the Lord and the living entity are cognizant, and both have the sense of identification, of being conscious as a living force.
But the living being under the condition of material nature, called mahat-tattva, misidentifies himself as being different from the Lord.
The whole scheme of Vedic wisdom is targeted to the aim of eradicating such a misconception and thus liberating the living being from the illusion of material identification.
When such an illusion is eradicated by knowledge and renunciation, the living beings are responsible actors and enjoyers also.
The sense of enjoyment in the Lord is real, but such a sense in the living being is a sort of wishful desire only.
This difference in consciousness is the distinction of the two identities, namely the Lord and the living being.
Otherwise there is no difference between the Lord and the living being.
The living being is therefore eternally one and different simultaneously.
The whole instruction of the Bhagavad-gita stands on this principle.
In the Bhagavad-gita the Lord and the living beings are both described as sanatana, or eternal, and the Lord’s abode, far beyond the material sky, is also described as sanatana.
The living being is invited to live in the sanatana existence of the Lord, and the process which can help a living being to approach the Lord’s abode, where the liberated activity of the soul is exhibited, is called sanatana-dharma.
One cannot, however, reach the eternal abode of the Lord without being free from the misconception of material identification, and the Bhagavad-gita gives us the clue how to achieve this stage of perfection.
The process of being liberated from the misconception of material identification is called, in different stages, fruitive activity, empiric philosophy and devotional service, up to transcendental realization.
Such transcendental realization is made possible by dovetailing all the above items in relation with the Lord.
Prescribed duties of the human being, as directed in the Vedas, can gradually purify the sinful mind of the conditioned soul and raise him to the stage of knowledge.
The purified stage of acquiring knowledge becomes the basis of devotional service to the Lord.
As long as one is engaged in researching the solution of the problems of life, his knowledge is called jnana, or purified knowledge, but on realizing the actual solution of life, one becomes situated in the devotional service of the Lord.
The Bhagavad-gita begins with the problems of life by discriminating the soul from the elements of matter and proves by all reason and argument that the soul is indestructible in all circumstances and that the outer covering of matter, the body and the mind, change for another term of material existence which is full of miseries.
The Bhagavad-gita is therefore meant for terminating all different types of miseries, and Arjuna took shelter of this great knowledge, which had been imparted to him during the Kuruksetra battle.
1.15.28
suta uvaca
evam cintayato jisnoh
krsna-pada-saroruham
sauhardenatigadhena
santasid vimala matih
SYNONYMS
sutah uvaca—Suta Gosvami said; evam—thus; cintayatah—while thinking of the instructions; jisnoh—of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; krsna-pada—the feet of Krsna; saroruham—resembling lotuses; sauhardena—by deep friendship; ati-gadhena—in great intimacy; santa—pacified; asit—it so became; vimala—without any tinge of material contamination; matih—mind.
TRANSLATION
Suta Gosvami said:
Thus being deeply absorbed in thinking of the instructions of the Lord, which were imparted in the great intimacy of friendship, and in thinking of His lotus feet, Arjuna’s mind became pacified and free from all material contamination.
PURPORT
Since the Lord is absolute, deep meditation upon Him is as good as yogic trance.
The Lord is nondifferent from His name, form, quality, pastimes, entourage and specific actions.
Arjuna began to think of the Lord’s instructions to him on the Battlefield of Kuruksetra.
Only those instructions began to eliminate the tinges of material contamination in the mind of Arjuna.
The Lord is like the sun; the sun’s appearance means immediate dissipation of darkness, or ignorance, and the Lord’s appearance within the mind of the devotee can at once drive away the miserable material effects.
Lord Caitanya has therefore recommended constant chanting of the name of the Lord for protection from all contamination of the material world.
The feeling of separation from the Lord is undoubtedly painful to the devotee, but because it is in connection with the Lord, it has a specific transcendental effect which pacifies the heart.
Feelings of separation are also sources of transcendental bliss, and they are never comparable to contaminated material feelings of separation.
1.15.29
vasudevanghry-anudhyana-
paribrmhita-ramhasa
bhaktya nirmathitasesa-
kasaya-dhisano ’rjunah
SYNONYMS
vasudeva-anghri—the lotus feet of the Lord; anudhyana—by constant remembrance; paribrmhita—expanded; ramhasa—with great velocity; bhaktya—in devotion; nirmathita—subsided; asesa—unlimited; kasaya—dint; dhisanah—conception; arjunah—Arjuna.
TRANSLATION
Arjuna’s constant remembrance of the lotus feet of Lord Sri Krsna rapidly increased his devotion, and as a result all the trash in his thoughts subsided.
PURPORT
Material desires in the mind are the trash of material contamination.
By such contamination, the living being is faced with so many compatible and incompatible things that discourage the very existence of spiritual identity.
Birth after birth the conditioned soul is entrapped with so many pleasing and displeasing elements, which are all false and temporary.
They accumulate due to our reactions to material desires, but when we get in touch with the transcendental Lord in His variegated energies by devotional service, the naked forms of all material desires become manifest, and the intelligence of the living being is pacified in its true color.
As soon as Arjuna turned his attention towards the instructions of the Lord, as they are inculcated in the Bhagavad-gita, his true color of eternal association with the Lord became manifest, and thus he felt freed from all material contaminations.
1.15.30
gitam bhagavata jnanam
yat tat sangrama-murdhani
kala-karma-tamo-ruddham
punar adhyagamat prabhuh
SYNONYMS
gitam—instructed; bhagavata—by the Personality of Godhead; jnanam—transcendental knowledge; yat—which; tat—that; sangrama-murdhani—in the midst of battle; kala-karma—time and actions; tamah-ruddham—enwrapped by such darkness; punah adhyagamat—revived them again; prabhuh—the lord of his senses.
TRANSLATION
Because of the Lord’s pastimes and activities and because of His absence, it appeared that Arjuna forgot the instructions left by the Personality of Godhead.
But factually this was not the case, and again he became lord of his senses.
PURPORT
A conditioned soul is enwrapped in his fruitive activities by the force of eternal time.
But the Supreme Lord, when He incarnates on the earth, is not influenced by kala, or the material conception of past, present and future.
The activities of the Lord are eternal, and they are manifestations of His atma-maya, or internal potency.
All pastimes or activities of the Lord are spiritual in nature, but to the laymen they appear to be on the same level with material activities.
It so appeared that Arjuna and the Lord were engaged in the Battle of Kuruksetra as the other party was also engaged, but factually the Lord was executing His mission of incarnation and association with His eternal friend Arjuna.
Therefore such apparently material activities of Arjuna did not drive him away from his transcendental position, but on the contrary revived his consciousness of the songs of the Lord, as He sang them personally.
This revival of consciousness is assured by the Lord in the Bhagavad-gita (18.65) as follows:
man-mana bhava mad-bhakto
mad-yaji mam namaskuru
mam evaisyasi satyam te
pratijane priyo ’si me
One should think of the Lord always; the mind should not forget Him.
One should become a devotee of the Lord and offer obeisances unto Him.
One who lives in that fashion becomes undoubtedly endowed with the blessing of the Lord by achieving the shelter of His lotus feet.
There is nothing to doubt about this eternal truth.
Because Arjuna was His confidential friend, the secret was disclosed to him.
Arjuna had no desire to fight with his relatives, but he fought for the mission of the Lord.
He was always engaged in the execution of His mission only, and therefore after the Lord’s departure he remained in the same transcendental position, even though it appeared that he forgot all the instructions of the Bhagavad-gita.
One should, therefore, adjust the activities of life in pace with the mission of the Lord, and by doing this one is sure to return back home, back to Godhead.
This is the highest perfection of life.
1.15.31
visoko brahma-sampattya
sanchinna-dvaita-samsayah
lina-prakrti-nairgunyad
alingatvad asambhavah
SYNONYMS
visokah—free from bereavement; brahma-sampattya—by possession of spiritual assets; sanchinna—being completely cut off; dvaita-samsayah—from the doubts of relativity; lina—merged in; prakrti—material nature; nairgunyat—due to being in transcendence; alingatvat—because of being devoid of a material body; asambhavah—free from birth and death.
TRANSLATION
Because of his possessing spiritual assets, the doubts of duality were completely cut off.
Thus he was freed from the three modes of material nature and placed in transcendence.
There was no longer any chance of his becoming entangled in birth and death, for he was freed from material form.
PURPORT
Doubts of duality begin from the misconception of the material body, which is accepted as the self by less intelligent persons.
The most foolish part of our ignorance is our identifying this material body with the self.
Everything in relation with the body is ignorantly accepted as our own.
Doubts due to misconceptions of mysel and min—in other words, my body my relatives my property my wife my children my wealth my country my community and hundreds and thousands of similar illusory contemplations—cause bewilderment for the conditioned soul.
By assimilating the instructions of the Bhagavad-gita, one is sure to be released from such bewilderment because real knowledge is knowledge that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vasudeva, Lord Krsna, is everything, including one’s self.
Everything is a manifestation of His potency as part and parcel.
The potency and the potent are nondifferent, so the conception of duality is at once mitigated by attainment of perfect knowledge.
As soon as Arjuna took up the instructions of the Bhagavad-gita, expert as he was, he could at once eradicate the material conception of Lord Krsna, his eternal friend.
He could realize that the Lord was still present before him by His instruction, by His form, by His pastimes, by His qualities and everything else related to Him.
He could realize that Lord Krsna, his friend, was still present before him by His transcendental presence in different nondual energies, and there was no question of attainment of the association of the Lord by another change of body under the influence of time and space.
By attainment of absolute knowledge, one can be in association with the Lord constantly, even in this present life, simply by hearing, chanting, thinking of and worshiping the Supreme Lord.
One can see Him, one can feel His presence even in this present life simply by understanding the advaya-jnana Lord, or the Absolute Lord, through the process of devotional service, which begins with hearing about Him.
Lord Caitanya says that simply by chanting the holy name of the Lord one can at once wash off the dust on the mirror of pure consciousness, and as soon as the dust is removed, one is at once freed from all material conditions.
To become free from material conditions means to liberate the soul.
As soon as one is, therefore, situated in absolute knowledge, his material conception of life is removed, or he emerges from a false conception of life.
Thus the function of the pure soul is revived in spiritual realization.
This practical realization of the living being is made possible due to his becoming free from the reaction of the three modes of material nature, namely goodness, passion and ignorance.
By the grace of the Lord, a pure devotee is at once raised to the place of the Absolute, and there is no chance of the devotee’s becoming materially entangled again in conditioned life.
One is not able to feel the presence of the Lord in all circumstances until one is endowed with the required transcendental vision made possible by devotional service prescribed in the revealed scriptures.
Arjuna had attained this stage long before on the Battlefield of Kuruksetra, and when he apparently felt the absence of the Lord, he at once took shelter of the instructions of the Bhagavad-gita, and thus again he was placed in his original position.
This is the position of visoka, or the stage of being freed from all grief and anxieties.
1.15.32
nisamya bhagavan-margam
samstham yadu-kulasya ca
svah-pathaya matim cakre
nibhrtatma yudhisthirah
SYNONYMS
nisamya—deliberating; bhagavat—regarding the Lord; margam—the ways of His appearance and disappearance; samstham—end; yadu-kulasya—of the dynasty of King Yadu; ca—also; svah—the abode of the Lord; pathaya—on the way of; matim—desire; cakre—gave attention; nibhrta-atma—lonely and alone; yudhisthirah—King Yudhisthira.
TRANSLATION
Upon hearing of Lord Krsna’s returning to His abode, and upon understanding the end of the Yadu dynasty’s earthly manifestation, Maharaja Yudhisthira decided to go back home, back to Godhead.
PURPORT
Maharaja Yudhisthira also turned his attention to the instructions of the Bhagavad-gita after hearing about the Lord’s departure from the vision of earthly people.
He began to deliberate on the Lord’s way of appearance and departure.
The mission of the Lord’s appearance and disappearance in the mortal universe is completely dependent on His supreme will.
He is not forced to appear or disappear by any superior energy, as the living beings appear and disappear, being forced by the laws of nature.
Whenever the Lord likes, He can appear Himself from anywhere and everywhere without disturbing His appearance and disappearance in any other place.
He is like the sun.
The sun appears and disappears on its own accord at any place without disturbing its presence in other places.
The sun appears in the morning in India without disappearing from the Western Hemisphere.
The sun is present everywhere and anywhere all over the solar system, but it so appears that in a particular place the sun appears in the morning and also disappears at some fixed time in the evening.
The time limitation even of the sun is of no concern, and so what to speak of the Supreme Lord who is the creator and controller of the sun.
Therefore, in the Bhagavad-gita it is stated that anyone who factually understands the transcendental appearance and disappearance of the Lord by His inconceivable energy becomes liberated from the laws of birth and death and is placed in the eternal spiritual sky where the Vaikuntha planes are.
There such liberated persons can eternally live without the pangs of birth, death, old age and disease.
In the spiritual sky the Lord and those who are eternally engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord are all eternally young because there is no old age and disease and there is no death.
Because there is no death there is no birth.
It is concluded, therefore, that simply by understanding the Lord’s appearance and disappearance in truth, one can attain the perfectional stage of eternal life.
Therefore, Maharaja Yudhisthira also began to consider going back to Godhead.
The Lord appears on the earth or any other mortal plane along with His associates who live with Him eternally, and the members of the Yadu family who were engaged in supplementing the pastimes of the Lord are no other than His eternal associates, and so also Maharaja Yudhisthira and his brothers and mother, etc.
Since the appearance and disappearance of the Lord and His eternal associates are transcendental, one should not be bewildered by the external features of appearance and disappearance.
1.15.33
prthapy anusrutya dhananjayoditam
nasam yadunam bhagavad-gatim ca tam
ekanta-bhaktya bhagavaty adhoksaje
nivesitatmopararama samsrteh
SYNONYMS
prtha—Kunti; api—also; anusrutya—overhearing; dhananjaya—Arjuna; uditam—uttered by; nasam—end; yadunam—of the Yadu dynasty; bhagavat—of the Personality of Godhead; gatim—disappearance; ca—also; tam—all those; eka-anta—unalloyed; bhaktya—devotion; bhagavati—unto the Supreme Lord, Sri Krsna; adhoksaje—transcendence; nivesita-atma—with full attention; upararama—became released from; samsrteh—material existence.
TRANSLATION
Kunti, after overhearing Arjuna’s telling of the end of the Yadu dynasty and disappearance of Lord Krsna, engaged in the devotional service of the transcendental Personality of Godhead with full attention and thus gained release from the course of material existence.
PURPORT
The setting of the sun does not mean the end of the sun.
It means that the sun is out of our sight.
Similarly, the end of the mission of the Lord on a particular plane or universe only means that He is out of our sight.
The end of the Yadu dynasty also does not mean that it is annihilated.
It disappears, along with the Lord, out of our sight.
As Maharaja Yudhisthira decided to prepare to go back to Godhead, so also Kunti decided, and thus she fully engaged herself in the transcendental devotional service of the Lord which guarantees one a passport for going back to Godhead after quitting this present material body.
The beginning of devotional service to the Lord is the beginning of spiritualizing the present body, and thus an unalloyed devotee of the Lord loses all material contact in the present body.
The abode of the Lord is not a myth, as is thought by the unbelievers or ignorant people, but one cannot reach there by any material means like a sputnik or space capsule.
But one can certainly reach there after leaving this present body, and one must prepare himself to go back to Godhead by practicing devotional service.
That guarantees a passport for going back to Godhead, and Kunti adopted it.
1.15.34
yayaharad bhuvo bharam
tam tanum vijahav ajah
kantakam kantakeneva
dvayam capisituh samam
SYNONYMS
yaya—that by which; aharat—took away; bhuvah—of the world; bharam—burden; tam—that; tanum—body; vijahau—relinquished; ajah—the unborn; kantakam—thorn; kantakena—by the thorn; iva—like that; dvayam—both; ca—also; api—although; isituh—controlling; samam—equal.
TRANSLATION
The supreme unborn, Lord Sri Krsna, caused the members of the Yadu dynasty to relinquish their bodies, and thus He relieved the burden of the world.
This action was like picking out a thorn with a thorn, though both are the same to the controller.
PURPORT
Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura suggests that the rsis like Saunaka and others who were hearing Srimad-Bhagavatam from Suta Gosvami at Naimisaranya were not happy to hear about the Yadu’s dying in the madness of intoxication.
To give them relief from this mental agony, Suta Gosvami assured them that the Lord caused the members of the Yadu dynasty to relinquish their bodies by which they had to take away the burden of the world.
The Lord and His eternal associates appeared on earth to help the administrative demigods in eradicating the burden of the world.
He therefore called for some of the confidential demigods to appear in the Yadu family and serve Him in His great mission.
After the mission was fulfilled, the demigods, by the will of the Lord, relinquished their corporeal bodies by fighting amongst themselves in the madness of intoxication.
The demigods are accustomed to drinking the soma-rasa beverage, and therefore the drinking of wine and intoxication are not unknown to them.
Sometimes they were put into trouble for indulging in intoxication.
Once the sons of Kuvera fell in the wrath of Narada for being intoxicated, but afterwards they regained their original forms by the grace of the Lord Sri Krsna.
We shall find this story in the Tenth Canto.
For the Supreme Lord, both the asuras and the demigods are equal, but the demigods are obedient to the Lord, whereas the asuras are not.
Therefore, the example of picking out a thorn by another thorn is quite befitting.
One thorn, which causes pinpricks on the leg of the Lord, is certainly disturbing to the Lord, and the other thorn, which takes out the disturbing elements, certainly gives service to the Lord.
So although every living being is a part and parcel of the Lord, still one who is a pinprick to the Lord is called an asura, and one who is a voluntary servitor of the Lord is called a devata, or demigod.
In the material world the devatas and asuras are always contending, and the devatas are always saved from the hands of the asuras by the Lord.
Both of them are under the control of the Lord.
The world is full of two kinds of living beings, and the Lord’s mission is always to protect the devatas and destroy the asuras, whenever there is such a need in the world, and to do good to both of them.
1.15.35
yatha matsyadi-rupani
dhatte jahyad yatha natah
bhu-bharah ksapito yena
jahau tac ca kalevaram
SYNONYMS
yatha—as much as; matsya-adi—incarnation as a fish, etc.; rupani—forms; dhatte—eternally accepts; jahyat—apparently relinquishes; yatha—exactly like; natah—magician; bhu-bharah—burden of the world; ksapitah—relieved; yena—by which; jahau—let go; tat—that; ca—also; kalevaram—body.
TRANSLATION
The Supreme Lord relinquished the body which He manifested to diminish the burden of the earth.
Just like a magician, He relinquishes one body to accept different ones, like the fish incarnation and others.
PURPORT
The Supreme Lord Personality of Godhead is neither impersonal nor formless, but His body is nondifferent from Him, and therefore He is known as the embodiment of eternity, knowledge and bliss.
In the Brhad-vaisnava Tantra it is clearly mentioned that anyone who considers the form of Lord Krsna to be made of material energy must be ostracized by all means.
And if by chance the face of such an infidel is seen, one must clean himself by jumping in the river with his clothing.
The Lord is described as amrta, or deathless, because He has no material body.
Under the circumstances, the Lord’s dying or quitting His body is like the jugglery of a magician.
The magician shows by his tricks that he is cut to pieces, burnt to ashes or made unconscious by hypnotic influences, but all are false shows only.
Factually the magician himself is neither burnt to ashes nor cut to pieces, nor is he dead or unconscious at any stage of his magical demonstration.
Similarly, the Lord has His eternal forms of unlimited variety, of which the fish incarnation, as was exhibited within this universe, is also one.
Because there are innumerable universes, somewhere or other the fish incarnation must be manifesting His pastimes without cessation.
In this verse, the particular word dhatte (eternally accepted and not the word dhitva, accepted for the occasio) is used.
The idea is that the Lord does not create the fish incarnation; He eternally has such a form, and the appearance and disappearance of such an incarnation serves particular purposes.
In the Bhagavad-gita (7.24–25) the Lord says, The impersonalists think that I have no form, that I am formless, but that at present I have accepted a form to serve a purpose, and now I am manifested.
But such speculators are factually without sharp intelligence.
Though they may be good scholars in the Vedic literatures, they are practically ignorant of My inconceivable energies and My eternal forms of personality.
The reason is that I reserve the power of not being exposed to the nondevotees by My mystic curtain.
The less intelligent fools are therefore unaware of My eternal form, which is never to be vanquished and is unborn In the Padma Purana it is said that those who are envious and always angry at the Lord are unfit to know the actual and eternal form of the Lord.
In the Bhagavatam also it is said that the Lord appeared like a thunderbolt to those who were wrestlers.
Sisupala, at the time of being killed by the Lord, could not see Him as Krsna, being dazzled by the glare of the brahmajyoti.
Therefore, the temporary manifestation of the Lord as a thunderbolt to the wrestlers appointed by Kamsa, or the glaring appearance of the Lord before Sisupala, was relinquished by the Lord, but the Lord as a magician is eternally existent and is never vanquished in any circumstance.
Such forms are temporarily shown to the asuras only, and when such exhibitions are withdrawn, the asuras think that the Lord is no more existent, just as the foolish audience thinks the magician to be burnt to ashes or cut to pieces.
The conclusion is that the Lord has no material body, and therefore He is never to be killed or changed by His transcendental body.
1.15.36
yada mukundo bhagavan imam mahim
jahau sva-tanva sravaniya-sat-kathah
tadahar evapratibuddha-cetasam
abhadra-hetuh kalir anvavartata
SYNONYMS
yada—when; mukundah—Lord Krsna; bhagavan—the Personality of Godhead; imam—this; mahim—earth; jahau—left; sva-tanva—with His selfsame body; sravaniya-sat-kathah—hearing about Him is worthwhile; tada—at that time; ahah eva—from the very day; aprati-buddha-cetasam—of those whose minds are not sufficiently developed; abhadra-hetuh—cause of all ill fortune; kalih anvavartata—Kali fully manifested.
TRANSLATION
When the Personality of Godhead, Lord Krsna, left this earthly plane in His selfsame form, from that very day Kali, who had already partially appeared, became fully manifest to create inauspicious conditions for those who are endowed with a poor fund of knowledge.
PURPORT
The influence of Kali can be enforced only upon those who are not fully developed in God consciousness.
One can neutralize the effects of Kali by keeping oneself fully under the supreme care of the Personality of Godhead.
The age of Kali ensued just after the Battle of Kuruksetra, but it could not exert its influence because of the presence of the Lord.
The Lord, however, left this earthly plane in His own transcendental body, and as soon as He left, the symptoms of the Kali-yuga, as were envisioned by Maharaja Yudhisthira prior to Arjuna’s arrival from Dvaraka, began to manifest, and Maharaja Yudhisthira rightly conjectured on the departure of the Lord from the earth.
As we have already explained, the Lord left our sight just as when the sun sets it is out of our sight.
1.15.37
yudhisthiras tat parisarpanam budhah
pure ca rastre ca grhe tathatmani
vibhavya lobhanrta-jihma-himsanady-
adharma-cakram gamanaya paryadhat
SYNONYMS
yudhisthirah—Maharaja Yudhisthira; tat—that; parisarpanam—expansion; budhah—thoroughly experienced; pure—in the capital; ca—as also; rastre—in the state; ca—and; grhe—at home; tatha—as also; atmani—in person; vibhavya—observing; lobha—avarice; anrta—untruth; jihma—diplomacy; himsana-adi—violence, envy; adharma—irreligion; cakram—a vicious circle; gamanaya—for departure; paryadhat—dressed himself accordingly.
TRANSLATION
Maharaja Yudhisthira was intelligent enough to understand the influence of the age of Kali, characterized by increasing avarice, falsehood, cheating and violence throughout the capital, state, home and among individuals.
So he wisely prepared himself to leave home, and he dressed accordingly.
PURPORT
The present age is influenced by the specific qualities of Kali.
Since the days of the Battle of Kuruksetra, about five thousand years ago, the influence of the age of Kali began manifesting, and from authentic scriptures it is learned that the age of Kali is still to run on for 427,000 years.
The symptoms of the Kali-yuga, as mentioned above, namely avarice, falsehood, diplomacy, cheating, nepotism, violence and all such things, are already in vogue, and no one can imagine what is going to happen gradually with further increase of the influence of Kali till the day of annihilation.
We have already come to know that the influence of the age of Kali is meant for godless so-called civilized man; those who are under the protection of the Lord have nothing to fear from this horrible age.
Maharaja Yudhisthira was a great devotee of the Lord, and there was no necessity of his being afraid of the age of Kali, but he preferred to retire from active household life and prepare himself to go back home, back to Godhead.
The Pandavas are eternal companions of the Lord, and therefore they are more interested in the company of the Lord than anything else.
Besides that, being an ideal king, Maharaja Yudhisthira wanted to retire just to set an example for others.
As soon as there is some young fellow to look after the household affairs, one should at once retire from family life to uplift oneself to spiritual realization.
One should not rot in the dark well of household life till one is dragged out by the will of Yamaraja.
Modern politicians should take lessons from Maharaja Yudhisthira about voluntary retirement from active life and should make room for the younger generation.
Also retired old gentlemen should take lessons from him and leave home for spiritual realization before forcefully dragged away to meet death.
1.15.38
sva-rat pautram vinayinam
atmanah susamam gunaih
toya-nivyah patim bhumer
abhyasincad gajahvaye
SYNONYMS
sva-rat—the emperor; pautram—unto the grandson; vinayinam—properly trained; atmanah—his own self; su-samam—equal in all respects; gunaih—by the qualities; toya-nivyah—bordered by the seas; patim—master; bhumeh—of the land; abhyasincat—enthroned; gajahvaye—in the capital of Hastinapura.
TRANSLATION
Thereafter, in the capital of Hastinapura, he enthroned his grandson, who was trained and equally qualified, as the emperor and master of all land bordered by the seas.
PURPORT
The total land on the earth bordered by the seas was under the subjugation of the King of Hastinapura.
Maharaja Yudhisthira trained his grandson, Maharaja Pariksit, who was equally qualified, in state administration in terms of the king’s obligation to the citizens.
Thus Pariksit was enthroned on the seat of Maharaja Yudhisthira prior to his departure back to Godhead.
Concerning Maharaja Pariksit, the specific word used, vinayinam, is significant.
Why was the King of Hastinapura, at least till the time of Maharaja Pariksit, accepted as the Emperor of the world? The only reason is that the people of the world were happy because of the good administration of the emperor.
The happiness of the citizens was due to the ample production of natural produce such as grains, fruits, milk, herbs, valuable stones, minerals and everything that the people needed.
They were even free from all bodily miseries, anxieties of mind, and disturbances caused by natural phenomena and other living beings.
Because everyone was happy in all respects, there was no resentment, although there were sometimes battles between the state kings for political reasons and supremacy.
Everyone was trained to attain the highest goal of life, and therefore the people were also enlightened enough not to quarrel over trivialities.
The influence of the age of Kali gradually infiltrated the good qualities of both the kings and the citizens, and therefore a tense situation developed between the ruler and the ruled, but still even in this age of disparity between the ruler and the ruled, there can be spiritual emolument and God consciousness.
That is a special prerogative.
1.15.39
mathurayam tatha vajram
surasena-patim tatah
prajapatyam nirupyestim
agnin apibad isvarah
SYNONYMS
mathurayam—at Mathura; tatha—also; vajram—Vajra; surasena-patim—King of the Surasenas; tatah—thereafter; prajapatyam—Prajapatya sacrifice; nirupya—having performed; istim—goal; agnin—fire; apibat—placed in himself; isvarah—capable.
TRANSLATION
Then he posted Vajra, the son of Aniruddha (grandson of Lord Krsna), at Mathura as the King of Surasena.
Afterwards Maharaja Yudhisthira performed a Prajapatya sacrifice and placed in himself the fire for quitting household life.
PURPORT
Maharaja Yudhisthira, after placing Maharaja Pariksit on the imperial throne of Hastinapura, and after posting Vajra, the great-grandson of Lord Krsna, as the King of Mathura, accepted the renounced order of life.
The system of four orders of life and four castes in terms of quality and work, known as varnasrama-dharma, is the beginning of real human life, and Maharaja Yudhisthira, as the protector of this system of human activities, timely retired from active life as a sannyasi, handing over the charge of the administration to a trained prince, Maharaja Pariksit.
The scientific system of varnasrama-dharma divides the human life into four divisions of occupation and four orders of life.
The four orders of life as brahmacari, grhastha, vanaprastha and sannyasi are to be followed by all, irrespective of the occupational division.
Modern politicians do not wish to retire from active life, even if they are old enough, but Yudhisthira Maharaja, as an ideal king, voluntarily retired from active administrative life to prepare himself for the next life.
Everyone’s life must be so arranged that the last stage of life, say at least the last fifteen to twenty years prior to death, can be absolutely devoted to the devotional service of the Lord to attain the highest perfection of life.
It is really foolishness to engage oneself all the days of one’s life in material enjoyment and fruitive activities, because as long as the mind remains absorbed in fruitive work for material enjoyment, there is no chance of getting out from conditioned life, or material bondage.
No one should follow the suicidal policy of neglecting one’s supreme task of attaining the highest perfection of life, namely going back home, back to Godhead.
1.15.40
visrjya tatra tat sarvam
dukula-valayadikam
nirmamo nirahankarah
sanchinnasesa-bandhanah
SYNONYMS
visrjya—relinquishing; tatra—all those; tat—that; sarvam—everything; dukula—belt; valaya-adikam—and bangles; nirmamah—uninterested; nirahankarah—unattached; sanchinna—perfectly cut off; asesa-bandhanah—unlimited attachment.
TRANSLATION
Maharaja Yudhisthira at once relinquished all his garments, belt and ornaments of the royal order and became completely disinterested and unattached to everything.
PURPORT
To become purified of material contamination is the necessary qualification for becoming one of the associates of the Lord.
No one can become an associate of the Lord or can go back to Godhead without such purification.
Maharaja Yudhisthira, therefore, to become spiritually pure, at once gave up his royal opulence, relinquishing his royal dress and garments.
The kasaya, or saffron loincloth of a sannyasi, indicates freedom from all attractive material garments, and thus he changed his dress accordingly.
He became disinterested in his kingdom and family and thus became free from all material contamination, or material designation.
People are generally attached to various kinds of designations—the designations of family, society, country, occupation, wealth, position and many others.
As long as one is attached to such designations, he is considered materially impure.
The so-called leaders of men in the modern age are attached by national consciousness, but they do not know that such false consciousness is also another designation of the materially conditioned soul; one has to relinquish such designations before one can become eligible to go back to Godhead.
Foolish people adore such men who die in national consciousness, but here is an example of Maharaja Yudhisthira, a royal king who prepared himself to leave this world without such national consciousness.
And yet he is remembered even today because he was a great pious king, almost on the same level with the Personality of Godhead Sri Rama.
And because people of the world were dominated by such pious kings, they were happy in all respects, and it was quite possible for such great emperors to rule the world.
1.15.41
vacam juhava manasi
tat prana itare ca tam
mrtyav apanam sotsargam
tam pancatve hy ajohavit
SYNONYMS
vacam—speeches; juhava—relinquished; manasi—into the mind; tat prane—mind into breathing; itare ca—other senses also; tam—into that; mrtyau—into death; apanam—breathing; sa-utsargam—with all dedication; tam—that; pancatve—into the body made of five elements; hi—certainly; ajohavit—amalgamated it.
TRANSLATION
Then he amalgamated all the sense organs into the mind, then the mind into life, life into breathing, his total existence into the embodiment of the five elements, and his body into death.
Then, as pure self, he became free from the material conception of life.
PURPORT
Maharaja Yudhisthira, like his brother Arjuna, began to concentrate and gradually became freed from all material bondage.
First he concentrated all the actions of the senses and amalgamated them into the mind, or in other words he turned his mind toward the transcendental service of the Lord.
He prayed that since all material activities are performed by the mind in terms of actions and reactions of the material senses, and since he was going back to Godhead, the mind would wind up its material activities and be turned towards the transcendental service to the Lord.
There was no longer a need for material activities.
Actually the activities of the mind cannot be stopped, for they are the reflection of the eternal soul, but the quality of the activities can be changed from matter to the transcendental service of the Lord.
The material color of the mind is changed when one washes it from contaminations of life-breathing and thereby frees it from the contamination of repeated births and deaths and situates it in pure spiritual life.
All is manifested by the temporary embodiment of the material body, which is a production of the mind at the time of death, and if the mind is purified by practice of transcendental loving service to the Lord and is constantly engaged in the service of the lotus feet of the Lord, there is no more chance of the mind’s producing another material body after death.
It will be freed from absorption in material contamination.
The pure soul will be able to return home, back to Godhead.
1.15.42
tritve hutva ca pancatvam
tac caikatve ’juhon munih
sarvam atmany ajuhavid
brahmany atmanam avyaye
SYNONYMS
tritve—into the three qualities; hutva—having offered; ca—also; pancatvam—five elements; tat—that; ca—also; ekatve—in one nescience; ajuhot—amalgamated; munih—the thoughtful; sarvam—the sum total; atmani—in the soul; ajuhavit—fixed; brahmani—unto the spirit; atmanam—the soul; avyaye—unto the inexhaustible.
TRANSLATION
Thus annihilating the gross body of five elements into the three qualitative modes of material nature, he merged them in one nescience and then absorbed that nescience in the self, Brahman, which is inexhaustible in all circumstances.
PURPORT
All that is manifested in the material world is the product of the mahat-tattva-avyakta, and things that are visible in our material vision are nothing but combinations and permutations of such variegated material products.
But the living entity is different from such material products.
It is due to the living entity’s forgetfulness of his eternal nature as eternal servitor of the Lord, and his false conception of being a so-called lord of the material nature, that he is obliged to enter into the existence of false sense enjoyment.
Thus a concomitant generation of material energies is the principal cause of the mind’s being materially affected.
Thus the gross body of five elements is produced.
Maharaja Yudhisthira reversed the action and merged the five elements of the body in the three modes of material nature.
The qualitative distinction of the body as being good, bad or mediocre is extinguished, and again the qualitative manifestations become merged in the material energy, which is produced from a false sense of the pure living being.
When one is thus inclined to become an associate of the Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead, in one of the innumerable planes of the spiritual sky, especially in Goloka Vrndavana, one has to think always that he is different from the material energy; he has nothing to do with it, and he has to realize himself as pure spirit, Brahman, qualitatively equal with the Supreme Brahman (Paramesvara).
Maharaja Yudhisthira, after distributing his kingdom to Pariksit and Vajra, did not think himself Emperor of the world or head of the Kuru dynasty.
This sense of freedom from material relations, as well as freedom from the material encagement of the gross and subtle encirclement, makes one free to act as the servitor of the Lord, even though one is in the material world.
This stage is called the jivan-mukta stage, or the liberated stage, even in the material world.
That is the process of ending material existence.
One must not only think that he is Brahman, but must act like Brahman.
One who only thinks himself Brahman is an impersonalist.
And one who acts like Brahman is the pure devotee.
1.15.43
cira-vasa niraharo
baddha-van mukta-murdhajah
darsayann atmano rupam
jadonmatta-pisacavat
anaveksamano niragad
asrnvan badhiro yatha
SYNONYMS
cira-vasah—accepted torn clothing; niraharah—gave up all solid foodstuff; baddha-vak—stopped talking; mukta-murdhajah—untied his hair; darsayan—began to show; atmanah—of himself; rupam—bodily features; jada—inert; unmatta—mad; pisaca-vat—just like an urchin; anaveksamanah—without waiting for; niragat—was situated; asrnvan—without hearing; badhirah—just like a deaf man; yatha—as if.
TRANSLATION
After that, Maharaja Yudhisthira dressed himself in torn clothing, gave up eating all solid foods, voluntarily became dumb and let his hair hang loose.
All this combined to make him look like an urchin or madman with no occupation.
He did not depend on his brothers for anything.
And, just like a deaf man, he heard nothing.
PURPORT
Thus being freed from all external affairs, he had nothing to do with imperial life or family prestige, and for all practical purposes he posed himself exactly like an inert mad urchin and did not speak of material affairs.
He had no dependence on his brothers, who had all along been helping him.
This stage of complete independence from everything is also called the purified stage of fearlessness.
1.15.44
udicim pravivesasam
gata-purvam mahatmabhih
hrdi brahma param dhyayan
navarteta yato gatah
SYNONYMS
udicim—the northern side; pravivesa-asam—those who wanted to enter there; gata-purvam—the path accepted by his forefathers; maha-atmabhih—by the broad-minded; hrdi—within the heart; brahma—the Supreme; param—Godhead; dhyayan—constantly thinking of; na avarteta—passed his days; yatah—wherever; gatah—went.
TRANSLATION
He then started towards the north, treading the path accepted by his forefathers and great men, to devote himself completely to the thought of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
And he lived in that way wherever he went.
PURPORT
It is understood from this verse that Maharaja Yudhisthira followed in the footsteps of his forefathers and the great devotees of the Lord.
We have discussed many times before that the system of varnasrama-dharma, as it was strictly followed by the inhabitants of the world, specifically by those who inhabited the Aryavarta province of the world, emphasizes the importance of leaving all household connections at a certain stage of life.
The training and education was so imparted, and thus a respectable person like Maharaja Yudhisthira had to leave all family connection for self-realization and going back to Godhead.
No king or respectable gentleman would continue family life till the end, because that was considered suicidal and against the interest of the perfection of human life.
In order to be free from all family encumbrances and devote oneself cent percent in the devotional service of Lord Krsna, this system is always recommended for everyone because it is the path of authority.
The Lord instructs in the Bhagavad-gita (18.62) that one must become a devotee of the Lord at least at the last stage of one’s life.
A sincere soul of the Lord like Maharaja Yudhisthira must abide by this instruction of the Lord for his own interest.
The specific words brahma param indicate Lord Sri Krsna.
This is corroborated in the Bhagavad-gita (10.13) by Arjuna with reference to great authorities like Asita, Devala, Narada and Vyasa.
Thus Maharaja Yudhisthira, while leaving home for the north, constantly remembered Lord Sri Krsna within himself, following in the footsteps of his forefathers as well as the great devotees of all times.
1.15.45
sarve tam anunirjagmur
bhratarah krta-niscayah
kalinadharma-mitrena
drstva sprstah praja bhuvi
SYNONYMS
sarve—all his younger brothers; tam—him; anunirjagmuh—left home by following the elder; bhratarah—brothers; krta-niscayah—decidedly; kalina—by the age of Kali; adharma—principle of irreligion; mitrena—by the friend; drstva—observing; sprstah—having overtaken; prajah—all citizens; bhuvi—on the earth.
TRANSLATION
The younger brothers of Maharaja Yudhisthira observed that the age of Kali had already arrived throughout the world and that the citizens of the kingdom were already affected by irreligious practice.
Therefore they decided to follow in the footsteps of their elder brother.
PURPORT
The younger brothers of Maharaja Yudhisthira were already obedient followers of the great Emperor, and they had sufficiently been trained to know the ultimate goal of life.
They therefore decidedly followed their eldest brother in rendering devotional service to Lord Sri Krsna.
According to the principles of sanatana-dharma, one must retire from family life after half the duration of life is finished and must engage himself in self-realization.
But the question of engaging oneself is not always decided.
Sometimes retired men are bewildered about how to engage themselves for the last days of life.
Here is a decision by authorities like the Pandavas.
All of them engaged themselves in favorably culturing the devotional service of the Lord Sri Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
According to Svami Sridhara, dharma, artha, kama and moksa, or fruitive activities, philosophical speculations and salvation, as conceived by several persons, are not the ultimate goal of life.
They are more or less practiced by persons who have no information of the ultimate goal of life.
The ultimate goal of life is already indicated by the Lord Himself in the Bhagavad-gita (18.64), and the Pandavas were intelligent enough to follow it without hesitation.
1.15.46
te sadhu-krta-sarvartha
jnatvatyantikam atmanah
manasa dharayam asur
vaikuntha-caranambujam
SYNONYMS
te—all of them; sadhu-krta—having performed everything worthy of a saint; sarva-arthah—that which includes everything worthy; jnatva—knowing it well; atyantikam—the ultimate; atmanah—of the living being; manasa—within the mind; dharayam asuh—sustained; vaikuntha—the Lord of the spiritual sky; carana-ambujam—the lotus feet.
TRANSLATION
They all had performed all the principles of religion and as a result rightly decided that the lotus feet of the Lord Sri Krsna are the supreme goal of all.
Therefore they meditated upon His feet without interruption.
PURPORT
In the Bhagavad-gita (7.28) the Lord says that only those who have done pious deeds in previous lives and have become freed from the results of all impious acts can concentrate upon the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord Sri Krsna.
The Pandavas, not only in this life but also in their previous lives, had always performed the supreme pious work, and thus they are ever free from all the reactions of impious work.
It is quite reasonable, therefore, that they concentrated their minds upon the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord Sri Krsna.
According to Sri Visvanatha Cakravarti, dharma, artha, kama and moksa principles are accepted by persons who are not free from the results of impious action.
Such persons affected with the contaminations of the above four principles cannot at once accept the lotus feet of the Lord in the spiritual sky.
The Vaikuntha world is situated far beyond the material sky.
The material sky is under the management of Durga Devi, or the material energy of the Lord, but the Vaikuntha world is managed by the personal energy of the Lord.
1.15.47-48
tad-dhyanodriktaya bhaktya
visuddha-dhisanah pare
tasmin narayana-pade
ekanta-matayo gatim
avapur duravapam te
asadbhir visayatmabhih
vidhuta-kalmasa sthanam
virajenatmanaiva hi
SYNONYMS
tat—that; dhyana—positive meditation; utriktaya—being freed from; bhaktya—by a devotional attitude; visuddha—purified; dhisanah—by intelligence; pare—unto the Transcendence; tasmin—in that; narayana—the Personality of Godhead Sri Krsna; pade—unto the lotus feet; ekanta-matayah—of those who are fixed in the Supreme, who is one; gatim—destination; avapuh—attained; duravapam—very difficult to obtain; te—by them; asadbhih—by the materialists; visaya-atmabhih—absorbed in material needs; vidhuta—washed off; kalmasah—material contaminations; sthanam—abode; virajena—without material passion; atmana eva—by the selfsame body; hi—certainly.
TRANSLATION
Thus by pure consciousness due to constant devotional remembrance, they attained the spiritual sky, which is ruled over by the Supreme Narayana, Lord Krsna.
This is attained only by those who meditate upon the one Supreme Lord without deviation.
This abode of the Lord Sri Krsna, known as Goloka Vrndavana, cannot be attained by persons who are absorbed in the material conception of life.
But the Pandavas, being completely washed of all material contamination, attained that abode in their very same bodies.
PURPORT
According to Srila Jiva Gosvami, a person freed from the three modes of material qualities, namely goodness, passion and ignorance, and situated in transcendence can reach the highest perfection of life without change of body.
Srila Sanatana Gosvami in his Hari-bhakti-vilasa says that a person, whatever he may be, can attain the perfection of a twice-born brahmana by undergoing the spiritual disciplinary actions under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master, exactly as a chemist can turn gun metal into gold by chemical manipulation.
It is therefore the actual guidance that matters in the process of becoming a brahmana, even without change of body, or in going back to Godhead without change of body.
Srila Jiva Gosvami remarks that the word hi used in this connection positively affirms this truth, and there is no doubt about this factual position.
The Bhagavad-gita (14.26) also affirms this statement of Srila Jiva Gosvami when the Lord says that anyone who executes devotional service systematically without deviation can attain the perfection of Brahman by surpassing the contamination of the three modes of material nature, and when the Brahman perfection is still more advanced by the selfsame execution of devotional service, there is no doubt at all that one can attain the supreme spiritual plane, Goloka Vrndavana, without change of body, as we have already discussed in connection with the Lord’s returning to His abode without a change of body.
1.15.49
viduro ’pi parityajya
prabhase deham atmanah
krsnavesena tac-cittah
pitrbhih sva-ksayam yayau
SYNONYMS
vidurah—Vidura (the uncle of Maharaja Yudhisthira); api—also; parityajya—after quitting the body; prabhase—in the place of pilgrimage at Prabhasa; deham atmanah—his body; krsna—the Personality of Godhead; avesena—being absorbed in that thought; tat—his; cittah—thoughts and actions; pitrbhih—along with the residents of Pitrloka; sva-ksayam—his own abode; yayau—departed.
TRANSLATION
Vidura, while on pilgrimage, left his body at Prabhasa.
Because he was absorbed in thought of Lord Krsna, he was received by the denizens of Pitrloka plane, where he returned to his original post.
PURPORT
The difference between the Pandavas and Vidura is that the Pandavas are eternal associates of the Lord, the Personality of Godhead, whereas Vidura is one of the administrative demigods in charge of the Pitrloka plane and is known as Yamaraja.
Men are afraid of Yamaraja because it is he only who awards punishment to the miscreants of the material world, but those who are devotees of the Lord have nothing to fear from him.
To the devotees he is a cordial friend, but to the nondevotees he is fear personified.
As we have already discussed, it is understood that Yamaraja was cursed by Manduka Muni to be degraded as a sudra, and therefore Vidura was an incarnation of Yamaraja.
As an eternal servitor of the Lord, he displayed his devotional activities very ardently and lived a life of a pious man, so much so that a materialistic man like Dhrtarastra also got salvation by his instruction.
So by his pious activities in the devotional service of the Lord he was able to always remember the lotus feet of the Lord, and thus he became washed of all contamination of a sudra-born life.
At the end he was again received by the denizens of Pitrloka and posted in his original position.
The demigods are also associates of the Lord without personal touch, whereas the direct associates of the Lord are in constant personal touch with Him.
The Lord and His personal associates incarnate in many universes without cessation.
The Lord remembers them all, whereas the associates forget due to their being very minute parts and parcels of the Lord; they are apt to forget such incidents due to being infinitesimal.
This is corroborated in the Bhagavad-gita (4.5).
1.15.50
draupadi ca tadajnaya
patinam anapeksatam
vasudeve bhagavati
hy ekanta-matir apa tam
SYNONYMS
draupadi—Draupadi (the wife of the Pandavas); ca—and; tada—at that time; ajnaya—knowing Lord Krsna fully well; patinam—of the husbands; anapeksatam—who did not care for her; vasudeve—unto Lord Vasudeva (Krsna); bhagavati—the personality of Godhead; hi—exactly; eka-anta—absolutely; matih—concentration; apa—got; tam—Him (the Lord).
TRANSLATION
Draupadi also saw that her husbands, without caring for her, were leaving home.
She knew well about Lord Vasudeva, Krsna, the Personality of Godhead.
Both she and Subhadra became absorbed in thoughts of Krsna and attained the same results as their husbands.
PURPORT
When flying an airplane, one cannot take care of other planes.
Everyone has to take care of his own plane, and if there is any danger, no other plane can help another in that condition.
Similarly, at the end of life, when one has to go back home, back to Godhead, everyone has to take care of himself without help rendered by another.
The help is, however, offered on the ground before flying in space.
Similarly, the spiritual master, the father, the mother, the relatives, the husband and others can all render help during one’s lifetime, but while crossing the sea one has to take care of himself and utilize the instructions formerly received.
Draupadi had five husbands, and no one asked Draupadi to come; Draupadi had to take care of herself without waiting for her great husbands.
And because she was already trained, she at once took to concentration upon the lotus feet of Lord Vasudeva, Krsna, the Personality of Godhead.
The wives also got the same result as their husbands, in the same manner; that is to say, without changing their bodies they reached the destination of Godhead.
Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura suggests that both Draupadi and Subhadra, although her name is not mentioned herein, got the same result.
None of them had to quit the body.
1.15.51
yah sraddhayaitad bhagavat-priyanam
pandoh sutanam iti samprayanam
srnoty alam svastyayanam pavitram
labdhva harau bhaktim upaiti siddhim
SYNONYMS
yah—anyone who; sraddhaya—with devotion; etat—this; bhagavat-priyanam—of those who are very dear to the Personality of Godhead; pandoh—of Pandu; sutanam—of the sons; iti—thus; samprayanam—departure for the ultimate goal; srnoti—hears; alam—only; svastyayanam—good fortune; pavitram—perfectly pure; labdhva—by obtaining; harau—unto the Supreme Lord; bhaktim—devotional service; upaiti—gains; siddhim—perfection.
TRANSLATION
The subject of the departure of the sons of Pandu for the ultimate goal of life, back to Godhead, is fully auspicious and is perfectly pure.
Therefore anyone who hears this narration with devotional faith certainly gains the devotional service of the Lord, the highest perfection of life.
PURPORT
Srimad-Bhagavatam is a narration about the Personality of Godhead and the devotees of the Lord like the Pandavas.
The narration of the Personality of Godhead and His devotees is absolute in itself, and thus to hear it with a devotional attitude is to associate with the Lord and constant companions of the Lord.
By the process of hearing Srimad-Bhagavatam one can attain the highest perfection of life, namely going back home, back to Godhead, without failure.