Srimad Bhagavatam 10.86.30-31 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | ISKCON Japan | 22 April 2026
jaya rādhā-mādhava kuñja-vihārī
gopījana-vallabha giri-vara-dhārī
yaśodā-nandana vraja-jana-rañjana
yamunā-tīra-vana-cārī
Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare
Jaya Prabhupāda Jaya Prabhupāda
Prabhupāda Jaya Prabhupāda
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale
śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine
namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe
nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe
jaya śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda
śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda
Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare
Reading from Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 10 Chapter 86 Verse 30.
ŚB 10.86.30
vācā madhurayā prīṇann
idam āhānna-tarpitān
pādāv aṅka-gatau viṣṇoḥ
saṁspṛśañ chanakair mudā
Synonyms
vācā — in a voice; madhurayā — gentle; prīṇan — trying to please them; idam — this; āha — he said; anna — with food; tarpitān — who had been gratified; pādau — the feet; aṅka — on his lap; gatau — situated; viṣṇoḥ — of Lord Kṛṣṇa; saṁspṛśan — massaging; śanakaiḥ — slowly; mudā — happily.
Translation
When they had eaten to their full satisfaction, for their further pleasure the King began to speak slowly and in a gentle voice as he held Lord Viṣṇu’s feet in his lap and happily massaged them.
Text 31
Translation
Śrī Bahulāśva said: O almighty Lord, You are the Soul of all created beings, their self-illumined witness, and now You are giving Your audience to us, who constantly meditate on Your lotus feet.
Purport
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī explains Bahulāśva’s inner thoughts as follows: Bahulāśva glorifies Lord Kṛṣṇa as the inspiring Soul of all life and consciousness, thinking that even an inert dullard like himself could be awakened to devotional awareness by His mercy. He glorifies the Lord as the witness of all pious and impious actions, confident that the Lord remembers whatever little devotional service he has ever done. And he glorifies Him as self-illumined, never needing to be enlightened or informed by any external source, with the knowledge that the Lord has always been aware of Bahulāśva’s long-cherished secret desire to see Him.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
So in this verse Bahulasva, the king is speaking. And he praises Krishna using three phrases. So the first one is sarva-bhūtānām ātmā, He is the soul or atma of all beings. And the second one is sākṣī, He is the witness of all beings. And then the third description is sva-dṛk, which means He sees everything by Himself with no assistance from others. So in the purport, Vishwanath Cakravarti is explaining these three phrases in terms of Bahulasva’s acceptance of mercy. So the first phrase was He is the atma of all beings, this means that He gives life to every single jiva and every single body. So whatever king Bahulasva does is ultimately to the credit of the Lord. He is the force that inspires Bahulasva to do everything. So whatever Bahulasva has accomplished materially and spiritually ultimately depends on the ultimate atma, Supreme Lord.
So there’s a famous statement in the Upanishads that the Lord is the eye of the eye, the nose of the nose, the hand of the hand etc, so everybody has senses but ultimately the person who inspires all of that to work is Supreme Lord. So Bahulasva is saying that whatever he has accomplished in his life is simply because of the inspiration of the Lord. Of course, if we take this to an extreme then we can say well, the jiva can do nothing, the Lord is doing everything. So that is true ultimately that jivas depend on the Lord. Nevertheless Krishna gives each jiva some independence to act as he wants.
So ultimately we cannot say I become a devotee simply because the Lord wills it and I’m not a devotee because the Lord wills it, we cannot say like that. However the devotee always gives credit to the Lord. So therefore, he says whatever I can accomplish as a devotee is ultimately because of the Lord’s mercy. So that is true. However then the Lord becomes merciful because He sees that the devotee or the jiva chooses the Lord and he chooses to serve Him.
So the second description here is that Krishna is the witness or sakshi. Which means He sees everything. It comes from aksha, aksha means the eye [Laughs]. So the Lord witnesses or sees everything. And this also implies that He is rather neutral. In other words He doesn’t make the jiva do certain things, He lets the jiva do it and He certainly looks at it [Laughs]. So often Paramatma is described as the witness. So He looks at the jiva but He does not interfere. So how does the Lord exert His power if He simply looks?
So another word used to describe Paramatma is He is the permitter. So if the jiva has a certain desire, Paramatma permits it and He allows it to happen. So this is the normal function of Paramatma. And the Paramatma witnesseses all of the jivas doing all of their sinful activities and their pious activities. However, when the jiva decides to do devotional activities, the Lord no longer acts as a neutral witness. Instead of being Paramatma, He acts as Bhagavan. And as we see in Bhagavad-Gita, Krishna says, I’m in my devotee, not my devotee is in me, so the Lord responds very very appropriately to all of the devotee’s desires. Still, as Bhagavan, the Lord is capable of seeing everything about each jiva. So He can see all the devotional activities of a devotee and He can respond.
So Bahulasva here is indicating that, as Supreme Lord, Krishna witnesses all of his devotional activities and He’s willing to be merciful to them because of that. Of course, without requesting anything, the Lord naturally responds to all the devotee’s endeavours.
Devotee: Without request?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yeah. Then the third phrase means sva-dṛk, He, which literally means He sees by Himself independently. This means that by Himself, He knows everything. He doesn’t require someone else to tell Him. So by His very nature, He knows everything. So in other words, Krishna can be aware of all of Bahulasva’s devotional activities and his desires to serve the Lord. He is the perfect knower. Without having to endeavour at all, He knows everything that the devotee desires. So Bahulasva has the desire to see the Lord and serve the Lord. So certainly Supreme Lord will fulfill that desire. So in other words, He will fulfill the desires of Bahulasva.
So by these phrases, he is praising the Supreme Lord and at the same time, asking Him to fulfill his desire to serve. And he recognizes that Krishna has come because of his full engagement in devotional service. So in the last two lines, he says that I’ve been able to see You or meet You because I’ve always been remembering Your lotus feet. So, a person who’s constantly engaged in devotional service, whose mind is completely absorbed in the Lord, he has to see the Lord. So in other words, the devotee has to put forth some effort in order to see the Lord.
Prabhupada often gives the example of materialists. So the materialist says, I will believe in the Lord if the Lord will show Himself to me. But the answer to that is, the person doesn’t deserve to see the Lord [Laughs] for the Lord will not reveal Himself. So the Lord reveals Himself to those who endeavour in devotional service. So through this simple verse, Bahulasva is expressing the nature of devotional service and the nature of the Supreme Lord. And though he is the king because he is a devotee, he also has great humility.
Okay, Hare Krishna.
Q & A :
1.) Devotee is always thinking of Krishna, meditates on Krishna, so that moment also was to be understood that in relation because he is thinking of Krishna, so already that moment the relation is there right?
Yeah.
Devotee: Thank you, that’s sweet.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: So devotional service invokes the presence of the Lord. So of course, it does not apply only to meditation, if you simply utter the name of the Lord, the Lord becomes present [Laughs]. And even if you utter the name without devotion, the Lord becomes present.
Devotee: Without devotion, He becomes present?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yes. And that is why when Ajamila named his son Narayana, suddenly all of his karmas were destroyed [Laughs]. So the name is non-different from Krishna, so even if you don’t remember the Lord but you utter His name, you get the same effect. So we see that yogis have to practice a lot in order to meditate. And it is difficult to control the mind. So it is said in scriptures that chanting the holy name is the best meditation. Why? Because it gives the same result but quicker. The result of meditation is to see the Lord. And by chanting the name of the Lord, the Lord also becomes present. So that is the special power of the holy name.
Devotee: So he is chanting everyday, an initiated devotee 16 rounds, someone forget to do chanting because he has no taste. What is the difference between both chanting. One person continues and other person cannot. So what is the difference?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: So chanting in any case, with endeavour or no endeavour, faith or no faith gives results. So therefore, Ajamila without doing anything except naming his son Narayana got rid of his karmas. However he was a special case also. So he was special because he had committed no aparadhas. Therefore, he got this very quick effect. But many people and even many people who start bhakti with faith have committed aparadhas. And thus, their destruction of karmas will be slower. In addition to destruction of karmas, of course, the main effect of bhakti is to produce prema. With that knowledge we are able to avoid aparadhas. And then we can concentrate on developing pure bhakti. So people who have committed more aparadhas will find some difficulty in the practices. So they have some faith in the Supreme Lord, some faith in the scriptures, so they can practice but it’s slow. Because it becomes slow, they also become impatient and frustrated. This means that they have not developed sufficient taste. And thus they may even give up the process. Other devotees have committed much less aparadhas, so their progress is much more steady. And even if there are obstacles, they persevere.
2.) Hare Krishna Maharaj, please accept my dandavat pranams. Thank you Maharaj
for glorifying the effect of holy name but in the last chapter when Krishna was in Kurukshetra and he was meeting with His relatives, we didn’t see that, their relatives, they were chanting Krishna’s name rather His even father Vasudeva who was interested in Brahman aspect of Krishna and he was thinking Krishna is Brahman. So [Laughs] why they couldn’t see that, the devotees there at that time, they are interested in nama rather they are interested more in Brahman and Paramatma aspect? Hare Krishna.
So we can ask the same question about Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, suddenly he becomes illusioned and he doesn’t want to fight. At the same time, we know that, Arjuna and Vasudeva and others, they are nitya siddhas, so they should have no ignorance. So the explanation is, this is not normal ignorance, this is yogamaya. So though generally we criticize ignorance as the cause of our suffering in this world, there is a type of ignorance in the spiritual world. But the ignorance in the spiritual world is not because of any fault in the jiva. So the Lord Himself produces ignorance or lack of awareness in the spiritual world for His pastimes. So if Arjuna or Vasudeva appear to be ignorant and they don’t know something, this is not because of their material ignorance, it’s because of the will of the Lord. In the case of Arjuna, the Lord created that ignorance or yogamaya so that He could speak Bhagavad Gita. So similarly with Vasudeva’s questions, then Krishna will give some answers.
3.) Thank you Maharaj. So Maharaj, in Mahabharata pastimes, we see that all His parshadas, they always chant Krishna’s name but in Krishna’s pastimes, we didn’t see to that extent. What would be the reason for that?
So it may appear like that. But if we examine closely, we do see that the people of Vrindavan or the Gopis are uttering Krishna’s names. And we do see, so many prayers like Kunti’s prayers, the names of the Lord are there. When Krishna disappeared in the Rasa-lila the Gopis searched for Krishna. And then, they searched for Krishna and then they found Radha. And they all searched for Krishna. But they couldn’t find Him. But they instead went to the bank of the Yamuna. And they were still longing for Krishna. So they began doing kirtan. And then suddenly Krishna appeared [Laughs].
4.) Ajamila has not commited any aparadha but he was doing all sinful activities to the jivas it means harmful to the jivas, so it doesn’t create the aparadha? That’s my question.
So normal sinful activities are related to normal jivas. Normal sinful activities are related to normal jivas, not devotees. When we talk about aparadhas, we can say these are sinful activities involving devotees. So you can commit a violence against ordinary living entity, that’s a sin, you commit violence against a devotee, it becomes aparadha. Of course, we can say that the violence against an ordinary jiva is an aparadha of sorts against a jiva but generally we use the aparadha term to involve devotees and the Supreme Lord.
Devotee: Can you say it again? Sorry.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yeah. So the aparadha involves devotees or Supreme Lord. So if we see the nama aparadhas, they all are concerned relationship with devotees or Supreme Lord. We criticize people who are spreading the holy name [Laughs], so that’s a Vaishnava aparadha. We criticize Guru, another Vaishnava aparadha. We criticize the holy name because we say it is like the name of devatas. So therefore, we think that Krishna is just like a material devata. Or we criticize bhakti, so we say the holy name is like a pious material activity. So offenses involve devotees, Supreme Lord or devotional service, so, they’re also sins but they give worse effects. Like normal sinful activities, they create bad karma. But in addition to that, they also destroy bhakti. Destroys bhakti. So sinful activities normally do not destroy bhakti. And thus in Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says, even if you commit the most sinful activity, you’re my devotee. He doesn’t say that about aparadhis, but about sinful people, sinful people [Laughs]. So the aparadhas are worse than the sins.
Devotee 1: Thank you so much. Yamuna Mataji has a question?
Devotee 2: Maharaj, thank you for coming.
5.) Does Paramatma not feel pain even if He’s watching that the jiva is suffering?
So of course, the Supreme Lord whether He’s Paramatma or Bhagavan is conscious and He has compassion. So we can give the example of a judge. So the judge distributes the punishments [Laughs]. And he does that without showing special compassion to one or the other. So it does not mean he has no compassion but as functioning as a judge, he doesn’t show special favors. So Paramatma supervises and sees that, all the jivas are giving justice according to their karmas.
Devotee: It means that He’s suffering [Laughs]?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: In one sense, He’s compassionate [Laughs].
6.) When Krishna sees the Gopis are very much suffering, by not able to see Krishna, then Krishna feels pain in His heart but in normal jiva, if they are suffering Krishna has compassion but Krishna Himself doesn’t get pain or still He has pain or what is the difference between the devotees like Gopis and normal jiva?
So Krishna’s relation with the Gopis or any devotees in the spiritual world involves what we call pain or whatever but this is all part of prema. So the Gopis’ suffering is all related to separation from Krishna. And Krishna’s feeling of pain is separation from the Gopis. So though we can call it pain or suffering or whatever, it is all related to Krishna and it’s all pure. It’s quite different from Krishna’s relationship with the jivas in the material world who do not have prema. The jivas in the material world do not suffer because of separation from Krishna, they suffer because of their karmas. So of course, Krishna is compassionate to the jivas who are suffering in the material world. But that is quite different from the suffering that Krishna experiences in relation to the Gopis which is because of relationship with Krishna [Laughs].
Devotee: [Not clear]
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Our suffering is related to our identity with a material body. And it’s all originates from ignorance. So suffering in the material world is just involving Krishna’s separating from devotees, devotees separting from Krishna. So it is completely different and there is no identity with the material bodies [Laughs]. So in prema, the jiva has no identity with the material body. In prema, the jiva doesn’t have any ignorance. Rather, that jiva is completely surrendered to Supreme Lord. So his identity is not with material body but being servant of Krishna. So that relationship with Krishna gives rise to bliss. Within that bliss, we get separation and that looks like suffering. But it’s part of the bliss. So we can say the suffering, Krishna is suffering with the Gopis is actually bliss [Laughs]. And in fact, it is said that’s the highest bliss. So this is quite different from material suffering [Laughs].
Hare Krishna. Haribol! Jai!
Devotees: Grantharaj Srimad Bhagavatam ki jai!!! HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj ki jai!!! Srila Prabhupada ki jai!!! Nitai Gaura Premanande Hari Haribol!!!