Srimad Bhagavatam – 1.13.49 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | ISKCON Chennai | April 12, 2025
ŚB 1.13.49
सोऽयमद्य महाराज भगवान् भूतभावन: ।
कालरूपोऽवतीर्णोऽस्यामभावाय सुरद्विषाम् ॥ ४९ ॥
so ’yam adya mahārāja
bhagavān bhūta-bhāvanaḥ
kāla-rūpo ’vatīrṇo ’syām
abhāvāya sura-dviṣām
Translation
That Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, in the guise of all-devouring time [kāla-rūpa] has now descended to the earth to eliminate the envious from the world.
Purport
There are two classes of human beings, namely the envious and the obedient. Since the Supreme Lord is one and the father of all living beings, the envious living beings are also His sons, but they are known as the asuras. But the living beings who are obedient to the supreme father are called devatās, or demigods, because they are not contaminated by the material conception of life. Not only are the asuras envious of the Lord in even denying the existence of the Lord, but they are also envious of all other living beings. The predominance of asuras in the world is occasionally rectified by the Lord when He eliminates them from the world and establishes a rule of devatās like the Pāṇḍavas. His designation as kāla in disguise is significant. He is not at all dangerous, but He is the transcendental form of eternity, knowledge and bliss. For the devotees His factual form is disclosed, and for the nondevotees He appears like kāla-rūpa, which is causal form. This causal form of the Lord is not at all pleasing to the asuras, and therefore they think of the Lord as formless in order to feel secure that they will not be vanquished by the Lord.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
This verse more or less summarizes the purpose of the Supreme Lord in appearing on earth. One of the purposes is to destroy the demons. And, of course, that’s expressed in the last line. He destroys the enemies of the devatas. But, He does not always do this personally. So here it says He does this in the form of time. Nevertheless, the demons they see Krishna killing one of their fellow demons. But they don’t think this is the Supreme Lord. Some human being is killing my friend, the demon. So when the Lord appears, some people will appreciate the Lord. Those are the devatas or the devotees. Others will deny the existence of the Lord. This, of course, is misfortune for the demons.
So we see the case of Hiranyakasipu. He fought with Narsimhadev. But he did not think Narsimhadev was Supreme Lord. He did not appreciate the qualities of the Supreme Lord and Narsimhadev. Why? So, of course, Hiranyakasipu understood, Oh, this is another form of Vishnu. But of course, Vishnu also, he thought, was just a regular human being who can be defeated. Of course, Narsimhadev killed Hiranyakasipu. And what was his reaction? He hated the Lord even more. So he became Ravana and then he saw Rama and he said, Oh, another form of Vishnu. And he hated him more. So again and again, he fought with the Lord, not thinking of him as Supreme Lord at all, thinking of him as simply another human being who he is going to kill. We see, the next birth, he became Sisupala. Again, he simply saw Krishna as a human being. And he would say, Oh, Krishna, he is a cheater, he is disguising himself as a Kshatriya, but he is just a cowherd boy, etc. So, in spite of Krishna showing so many pastimes in Vrindavan, in Mathura and Dwaraka, Sisupala could never appreciate him. So this is the nature of a demonic person. He can never appreciate the Lord, no matter how many wonderful qualities the Lord shows. And all of these pastimes of the Lord, though they are very sweet and heroic, they simply produce more hatred in the demons.
Of course, Bhagavatam makes a statement that you can approach the Lord out of hatred. Of course, this is not bhakti. So, the demons approach the Lord in hatred, but not all of them attain the Lord. But, we see in the case of Krishna, Sisupala got killed by Krishna and he went to Vaikuntha. So, it is not the hatred which qualifies a demon for the spiritual world. But, because of the hatred, a demon will become absorbed in the Lord. So, Hiranyakasipu and Ravana did not become absorbed in Narsimhadev or Ramachandra. But Sisupala was constantly thinking of Krishna throughout his life. And he would be uttering Krishna’s name all the time.
So, why the difference between Narsimhadev, Rama and Krishna? The same demon saw the Lord three times. But, only when he saw Krishna, he became absorbed in Him. So, what’s the reason? The reason is Krishna has attractive qualities. Of course, all of the Lord’s forms are attractive. But still, Hiranyakasipu could not see the attractiveness of Narsimhadev and Ravana could not see the attractiveness of Rama. But, as Sisupala, he became absorbed in Krishna because of his attractive nature. So, though his motive was hatred, his absorption purified him. And when he was pure, then Krishna cut off his head with his Sudarshan Chakra. But, by the touch of the Sudarshan Chakra, Sisupala, who was, of course, in his Atma form, attained Prema. So, he was qualified for the spiritual world. So, this is, of course, is very special nature of Krishna. Narsimhadev killed Hiranyakasipu, Rama killed Ravana, but they didn’t go to the spiritual world. So, the defining factor why Sisupala got to the spiritual world is because of Krishna’s attractive nature. Of course, we could also say Krishna is also more merciful. So, this points out the very special nature of Krishna.
So, in any case, the demons usually, when they see the Lord, they don’t appreciate him as Supreme Lord. Still, whatever contact those demons get with the Lord is beneficial for them. And, when the Lord kills a demon, he doesn’t go to hell. So, Hiranyakasipu didn’t go to hell in spite of the fact that he tormented his son Prahlad so much. He got birth as Ravana. And, though Ravana kidnapped Sita, still, when he was killed, he didn’t go to hell. He became Sisupala. So, the Lord never acts as the demon acts. The demon hates the Lord. The Lord does not hate the demon.
And, thus, one of the qualities of the Lord of Vishnu distinct from Shiva or Jiva’s of the 64 qualities of Krishna and 60 of Vishnu, one of the 60 qualities that distinguishes Vishnu from Shiva is that when he kills a demon, he doesn’t go to hell [Laughs]. So, somehow or other, the Lord gives benefit to everybody. However, because the demons cause big disturbance to the devotees and they interrupt Dharma, the Lord must somehow eliminate them. Usually, this job is given to Devatas and Manu’s descendants. But, sometimes, the demons become very strong and then, Devatas can do nothing, sometimes. So, at that time, the Lord will come. He will fulfill his purpose. He will get rid of all the demons as described in this verse.
Simultaneously, when he comes, not only he destroys the demons, but he gives inspiration to the devotees. By performing attractive pastimes, he inspires and pleases the devotees. This is actually main reason for the Lord coming. The Lord, by his will, he can get rid of the demons. He doesn’t have to come at all. But, he is very attractive to his devotees. He likes to inspire his devotees. And thus, we see repeatedly in Bhagavatam, through the different cantos, the astonishing attractive pastimes of the Lord in different avatars are described. But, in the tenth canto, we have a very, very detailed description of the pastimes of Krishna. So, these pastimes display the unique qualities of Krishna. This is Krishna with all of his rasas. And this acts as an attraction for all the devotees. So, though Krishna appeared over 5000 years ago, we can still get the benefit of that appearance in the modern day through Bhagavatam.
Caitanya Mahaprabhu came to the material world and he actually didn’t display himself as Supreme Lord at all. He is channa avatar – covered. So, he plays the role of a devotee. And one of his purposes, of course, is to save the people of Kali Yuga, etc. by Yuga Dharma. But, that is also explained, it’s not his ultimate purpose. We have 999 Kali Yuga avatars doing kirtan in the other yugas. So, he also comes in this yuga [Laughs]. But in this yuga, that avatar didn’t come, Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who is non-different from Krishna, came. So, his internal reason for coming is to experience the mood of Radha in relation to Krishna. But not only that, to preach this mood to the people of Kali Yuga. And thus, Lord Chaitanya proclaims that Radha and Krishna are the highest object of worship. And then he uses Nama Sankirtan to fulfill that purpose. In this way, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu fulfills that purpose of Yuga Dharma. And of course, in doing so, he also eliminates the demons by making them into devotees. And simultaneously, he fulfills the purpose of presenting Yuga Dharma.
Hare Krishna.
Q & A
1) Hare Krishna Maharaj. The Demigods is also killing demons. Just like Lord Shiva, Skanda and Kali. But all the Demigods are not equal in their power. Every Demigod has a different status and powers. When they kill the demon, next life, the demon goes to hell or they take birth in a demoniac family or they get a lower birth than human body.
So, in the Nectar of Devotion, describing the five qualities that distinguish Vishnu from Shiva and other living entities like Devatas, he gives this as one of the qualities. When he kills the demons, they don’t go to hell. So that means others kill, whether Devatas or Shiva, they could go to hell also [Laughs], or could get some miserable existence. Whereas, when Vishnu kills, they live very comfortably in their next life. So that’s the unique quality of Vishnu.
2) Maharaj, specifically in this case of Hiranyakashipu, Ravan and later Shishupal, it can also be said that, they did not go back to the spiritual world after being killed by the Lord because they had a curse. And.. inadvertently they had to stay back till Krishna came.
Yeah, that’s a good argument, but I think it is Jiva Goswami says, no, Vishwanath I think. In the case of this, Shishupal, etc., yes, special cases there. But this is only one time when the Lord came and killed Hiranyakashipu, etc., one day of Brahma. That’s the case, where there is a curse. But it’s not that every day, Jaya and Vijaya get cursed and fall from the spiritual world. It’s a one time affair. So in other Yugas, there is a demon who becomes Hiranyakashipu, whatever, Ravana and then Shishupal. So it’s a normal Jiva in that case.
3) Maharaj, we see for a sadhaka to get prema / spiritual body, he has to do sadahana. But in the case of Shishupal, we see that, you know, due to his absorptions, you know, you are saying that once he was killed by Sudarshan Chakra, he got the Prema. But Prema means definitely spiritual body. So how he developed the spiritual body without doing sadhana ?
Of course, the example is given of fear. The wasps catch the little insect and traps it and the insect is in fear, constantly meditating. When is that insect, the wasp going to come and bite me? And he’s in the trap and he’s thinking like that. Then later on, he becomes a wasp [Laughs].
So by thinking in fear, he became a similar form. So you get Sarupya or whatever even from thinking in fear or anger or hatred or whatever is possible [Laughs]. So he constantly thought of the Lord in hatred and by that constant thought, he got purified and then he developed a similar type of form.
4) Hiranyaksha also had a hatred towards the Vishnu. Hiranyaksha also had the same hatred and Hiranyakashipu also had the same hatred. But they didn’t develop that body also. Instead, they were killed by Varaha and Narsimha. They were killed but they didn’t get a body. If you take that example.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yeah, because they didn’t concentrate.
Devotee: The concentration was not there..?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yeah. There was no intense concentration [Laughs]. So, they didn’t get that form or purification also.
5) Lord is completely spiritual. If any non-devotee or demon also come in contact with the Lord, especially Lord’s body, definitely, because of the Lord’s body, they are supposed to get purified or spiritual. But that didn’t happen for Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu?
So normal nature of demons is that even they see the Lord, they cannot recognize the Lord because of their offense and hatred. Of course, they get some benefit obviously, but not a real benefit because they hate the Lord so much. But in the case of Krishna and Shishupala, because of Krishna’s attractive form and nature and name, he got purified because of the intense concentration. So the more intense hatred / anarthas, then less likely we are going to get any effect from the Lord other than get killed by the Lord and get some benefit that way.
Of course, the Lord cannot give the same mercy and same benefit that he gives devotees to the demons. Because the Lord says, according to your surrender to me, I respond. Of course, the Lord does not respond with hatred when the demons hate. But at the same time, he does not give the same results as he gives devotees. So whatever benefits the demons get from being killed by Krishna, the devotees get much more than that. The devotees do not even aspire for Svarupaya or Salokaya or Sharsti. So they attain continual service to the Lord in the spiritual world.
6) Maharaj, as Krishna resides in everyone’s heart as Paramatma, since he has been omnipotent and omniscient, so Krishna has to come externally, I mean descend externally to this world to kill the demons, why can’t he just leave off the body of the demon as Paramatma and then the demon would automatically die?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: ?
Another devotee (clarifying it) : So his question is that Paramatma is there in each and everyone’s heart also, so Paramatma leaves the demon’s heart, automatically the demon will die, so then why he has to kill again?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Paramatma accompanies all the Jivas, life after life after life, whether they are living or dead, so he never leaves them. He never leaves the demons, he never leaves the devotees or whatever, everybody, as long as you are in the material world, Paramatma is there.
7) Maharaj, Hiranyaksha, Hiranyakashipu and Shishupala, they came in different time period. But they all are killed by Lord. After Hiranyakshan was killed by Vishnu, then he took birth again after so long time, so in between where they were?
So it’s not described where they went. But in any case, as the Jiva, they maintained a subtle body with all the different hatred and memories and karmas attached to it.
Devotee: So then, according to Lord’s plan only they will again appear, right?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yeah.
8) Can you please help to understand about Dantavakra?
So, of course, Dantavakra was the other part of the Jaya and Vijaya team. So, like Hiranyaksha, Hiranyakashipu, like other demons, he got killed by the Supreme Lord. And of course, when he got killed, he assumed the position in the spiritual world. So, it’s not described in detail, but we would think it would be very similar, the description of his killing and then going to the spiritual world.
It’s explained that actually, he was near Mathura when he fought with Krishna. And he was apparently the last demon that Krishna killed. And after he killed the demon, then he retired from killing [Laughs]. His duties were finished.
But it’s described that he took that opportunity to return to Vrindavan, because he was at Mathura. Of course, Mathura was empty because the people of Mathura had gone to Dwaraka. But the people of Vrindavan were staying there, waiting for Krishna. So, Krishna returned there and then he remained there eternally. And another form went back to Dwaraka.
Thank you, Maharaj.
9) We see that Prahlad Maharaj requests Narsinghadev to forgive his father. But still, we also see that Hiranyakashipu takes birth as Ravana with even more animosity towards the Supreme Lord. How do we understand Lord’s forgiveness?
Well, just in this world, you can forgive a person, but the person may not change [Laughs]. Stays the same. Prahlad did not request that you take Hiranyakashipu, remove all his bad qualities and make him into a devotee suddenly. He didn’t request that. And the Lord usually does not do that. He simply lets persons do as they want in the material world.
Thank you, Maharaj.
10) Whether our activities are controlled by the Supreme Lord or by ourselves?
So, though the Lord is the Controller, Absolute Controller, ultimately, the Jiva has a slight independence. So, that is independence permitted by the Lord. Just as in a country, we have the leader. The leader makes all the laws. He is the controller. But the Jiva is there within them. They also have some free will.
So, how does the Lord exert His control? By the law of karma. But the law acts in such a way that the Jiva will hopefully improve himself. So, the Lord, through His expansion as Paramatma, acts as the witness and the permitter of the Jiva’s activities.
Thank you so much, Maharaj.
Devotees: Grantharaj Srimad Bhagavatam Ki.. Jai !! HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj Ki.. Jai !! HDG AC Bhakti Vedanta Swami Srila Prabhupad Ki.. Jai !!