Srimad Bhagavatam 1.8.33 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | ISKCON Damodaradesh (Dubai) | 20 October 2025
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
ŚB 1.8.33
apare vasudevasya
devakyāṁ yācito ’bhyagāt
ajas tvam asya kṣemāya
vadhāya ca sura-dviṣām
Synonyms
apare — others; vasudevasya — of Vasudeva; devakyām — of Devakī; yācitaḥ — being prayed for; abhyagāt — took birth; ajaḥ — unborn; tvam — You are; asya — of him; kṣemāya — for the good; vadhāya — for the purpose of killing; ca — and; sura-dviṣām — of those who are envious of the demigods.
Translation
Others say that since both Vasudeva and Devakī prayed for You, You have taken Your birth as their son. Undoubtedly You are unborn, yet You take Your birth for their welfare and to kill those who are envious of the demigods.
Purport
It is also said that Vasudeva and Devakī, in their previous birth as Sutapā and Pṛśni, underwent a severe type of penance to get the Lord as their son, and as a result of such austerities the Lord appeared as their son. It is already declared in the Bhagavad-gītā that the Lord appears for the welfare of all people of the world and to vanquish the asuras, or the materialistic atheists.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
So Supreme Lord is unborn, he has no birth and death. He has no karma. Nevertheless, he appears in this material world and he seems to be born. Sometimes the Lord is born in a remarkable way. When he appeared as Varaha, he came out of the nostril of Brahma. When he appeared as Narasimha Deva, he came out of the pillar. Sometimes, the Lord appears in a remarkable way but sometimes he appears as an ordinary person. For instance as Ramachandra, he has, looks like a normal mother and father. However, as Krishna, he has, he appeared with mother and father, but even this is extraordinary. He is born in the prison house even though he is Supreme Lord. It looks like he is not even raised by his mother and father. He is smuggled out of the prison house and he goes to Gokul. Then he is raised by Nanda and Yasoda and only later on he gets to see Vasudeva and Devaki again.
So therefore, Supreme Lord, as Krishna appears in a remarkable way also, a kind of, like a human being but also in a very strange way. So this is puzzling for people in the material world. And they may even doubt that Krishna is Supreme Lord because he appears in this world in a very mundane way. His disappearance also is very strange. In the other avatars, sometimes the Lord just ascends into the sky and disappears that way. In the other avatars, sometimes the Lord just ascends into the sky and disappears that way. But as Krishna, he gets shot in the foot by a hunter and then he seems to die. Though it is hard to explain the appearance of the Lord in material world, but when we come to Krishna, it is very puzzling because it looks very material. Nevertheless, this is also plan of Krishna.
Krishna is the highest form of God according to Srimad Bhagavatam but he is also not accessible to all people. In Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says that he is hidden from the materialists and they think he is just a material person. And that’s exactly what happens. Krishna appears and it looks like he is very material, born in a prison house, dying by getting shot by an arrow. Some materialists will think Krishna is just an ordinary person. Those who are devotees, who have understanding of the real nature of the Lord, will appreciate Krishna as the highest form of Lord. Therefore, if we read Srimad Bhagavatam carefully as a devotee, we can understand the truth. If we try to understand Bhagavatam from a material point of view with no bhakti, then we will get different conclusion.
So it is the nature of scripture itself, to hide the truth from unqualified people. Krishna says in Chapter 9 of Bhagavad Gita that this knowledge is the king of knowledge and the greatest secret. And at the end of Bhagavad Gita, in Chapter 7, he says, you discuss this Bhagavad Gita with devotees, but you do not teach it or reveal it to materialistic, envious people. So, one of the methods of doing this is to present the truth in an indirect fashion, that is, the truth is not plainly spoken. And this is so not only for Bhagavatam and Bhagavad Gita, but scripture in general. So it is available for people who are qualified, for people who have devotion. If materialists read, then they will think, oh yes, Krishna is born in the Yadu family, Krishna is born from Vasudeva and Devaki, but it’s a material person. Devotees will understand that Supreme Lord has no birth. But He arranges for birth in the material world out of affection for His devotees. Of course, here it is explained that the Lord appears for killing demons and killing, increasing the prosperity of the Earth. But that is an external reason.
The internal reason, the more important reason is that the Lord appears in the material world to give pleasure to His devotees. So in the Bhagavatam, it is explained that the Lord appeared as Vasudeva and Devaki’s son because they prayed, we want you as our son. And similarly, Nanda and Yasoda, they want Krishna as their son. So to fulfill the desire of the devotee, to express their Vatsalya rasa or parental rasa, the Lord appears as a small child. Vatsalya rasa is most intensely expressed when the child is very small. So when Krishna is born, up to five years old, this is called his Kaumara period. And Nanda and Yasoda express their Vatsalya most intensely in this period. In that period, up until five years old, child is completely protected by the parents and cannot protect himself. Although, Krishna needs no protection at all, because he is the protector of everyone [Laughs]. He kills the demon etc, nevertheless, he takes the role of needing protection from his devotees, so he takes the role of a small child and the devotees act as his parents.
It is said that in spiritual world, the Lord doesn’t grow. So Krishna is in Vrindavana with all the people there and he is Kaisora aged eternally. Though, Nanda and Yasoda do not see small child, there they see Kaisora Krishna instead. So when Krishna appears in material world, this gives great opportunity to his mother and father to care for him, when he is young child in Kaumara period. In this way he responds to his devotees. This is Damodara month and we meditate on the pastime of mother Yasoda tying up Krishna. So this pastime takes place when Krishna is in his Kaumara period. He is a small child and mother Yasoda has to feed him. And if she doesn’t feed him, Krishna becomes angry. And then mother Yasoda must run and feed Krishna to stop him from crying.
Devotee: Sorry Maharaj.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Mother Yasoda has to come and stop Krishna from crying by feeding him. She has to protect him, she has to feed him, she has to bathe him. In this particular rasa, Vatsalya rasa, the devotee is superior and bigger and Krishna is small, unprotected. And because parent is bigger, devotee is bigger, they also have to punish Krishna. So such an idea, and the devotee is, for other people, very strange, how can you punish God?
But if a devotee takes Krishna as their son, then it is natural that if child does mischief, parent will punish. So when Krishna is a small child, mother Yasoda is taking care of and sometimes she has to punish him, this is an expression of her Vatsalya rasa. If Krishna is bigger, then she cannot do this. Krishna becomes Kaisora age, he is bigger, then he goes to Dvaraka. Mother Yasoda sees Krishna in Dvaraka, she cannot take a stick and try to punish him [Laughs]. So this small form of the Lord who is born to mother and father and gets raised for some years, this is an opportunity for Yasoda and Nanda to express their Vatsalya rasa. Of course, Krishna also when he is a child, he kills demons. But his main interest is to experience the joy of his devotees serving him. So when he is small, mother and father serve Krishna with great joy in Vatsalya rasa.
So, Nanda and Yasoda experience great joy, but Krishna also experiences great joy. Of course it may appear though Krishna is not happy, he gets angry because mother Yasoda puts him down to take milk off the fire. When he sees mother Yasoda with a stick, Krishna becomes afraid. When she catches him, he begins to cry. So this does not look like joy, but actually Krishna gets great joy from acting in this way. Why? Because his devotees, for instance Yasoda, take great joy in acting as Krishna’s parent. So later on, mother Yasoda tried to tie up Krishna. She could not do so. But finally, Krishna got tied up. So, why? Because Krishna saw the great devotion of mother Yasoda in trying to tie him up. Of course, from material point of view, we can say, well, how is getting tied up an act of devotion?
But mother Yasoda is expressing her love for Krishna by disciplining him. And when Krishna sees the intensity of her resolve to act as parent, then Krishna was very pleased and he got tied up. So, in this way, Krishna comes into the material world and acts as a child in response to his devotees. And of course by doing this, then people in the material world can begin to understand the nature of bhakti, the nature of prema. And though Krishna has disappeared, all the devotees have disappeared, 5000 years later, we can still experience and understand that great love of Yasoda, Nanda for Krishna by reading Srimad Bhagavatam.
So Krishna is most skillful because he is the Supreme Lord. And thus he responds to his devotees like Nanda and Yasoda and the cowherd boys and the Gopis. And therefore he manifests different ages, he’s with the cowherd boys when he’s a little older, that’s Pauganda age, and then he’s with the Gopis when he’s in Kaisora age. Simultaneously, he also satisfies the devatas because devatas want the demons killed, so Krishna kills the demons. So Kamsa sent many demons to kill Krishna in Vrindavana, Krishna killed all the demons. So, in this way, he gave pleasure to the devatas. We see when Krishna killed Aghasura, then all the devatas came and they were praising and showering flowers.
Devotee: Maharaj, which demon?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Aghasura, snake. So, simultaneously, in responding to all of his devotees in Vrindavana, he was able to satisfy the devatas also. Devatas are also devotees. But their way of being satisfied is a little bit different from that of the people of Vrindavana. The devatas have a duty to maintain peace in the universe and if Krishna helps maintain it, then they are very satisfied with Krishna. What happened here? Hare Krishna.
So of course, in Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says I’m equal to everyone, but I favour my devotee. So, this is how Krishna favours the devotees. And he satisfies Nanda and Yasoda, satisfies the cowherd boys, satisfies the Gopis and satisfies the devatas. And even though he kills the demons to satisfy the devatas, he does not hate the demons. He is equal to everybody. He is equal to everyone, sama. And when he kills the demon, now the demon also gets benefits. When Krishna kills demons, they get liberation. Not only they get liberation, sometimes, they go to the spiritual world and get a spiritual body.
Now this is something very remarkable, the demon also gets, take reward for getting killed [Laughs]. So, of course, this is one special quality of Krishna. When other forms of the Lord, like Narasimha Deva and Ramachandra kills demons, they don’t get liberation and they don’t go to spiritual world. Nevertheless, they don’t go to hell also. The Lord never hates anyone in any form. So, when Narasimha Deva kills Hiranyakasipu, he does not go to hell. He is born again as a demon [Laughs], Ravana. When Rama kills Ravana, he doesn’t go to hell. He becomes Sisupala. So, when any demon becomes killed by a form of the Lord in any avatar form, they don’t go to hell. The Lord does not hate them. They get a body in the material world where they can enjoy some more. When Krishna kills demons, they get liberation or they go to spiritual world. So, this shows a special nature of Krishna.
So, this is one reason why Krishna is distinguished from everybody else, because he has these very special qualities of mercy. So, the Lord appears in material world as Krishna for many reasons. Mainly, he satisfies his devotees. And sometimes to satisfy them, he has to kill demons. And when he kills demons, he also favours them. So, he gives them liberation or a place in the spiritual world. So, Krishna comes in material world to maintain the stability of the world by killing demons. But more important is, he gives very great joy to his various devotees. And he gives opportunity for devotees in the future to also relish those pastimes through Srimad Bhagavatam. In all cases, Krishna is manifesting his great mercy. Hare Krishna.
Q & A:
1.) Hare Krishna. Maharaj, we have heard that, as Krishna has passed away. So somewhere I heard that he passes away when the arrow was hit on his toe that he left his body like a snake leaves his body, the extra skin. So how to understand when Krishna left his body, that he was having like, any extra form or how. This is little bewilder, difficult to understand. So can you please explain in a simple manner and what happened to the remnants of Krishna’s body at that time?
So the eternal form of the Lord is spiritual form. And when Krishna appears in the material world, he appears with that spiritual form. When the devotees see that form, they appreciate it. When demons see the form, they think it is material. He is the Supreme Lord, he is in control of all matter. If he wants, Krishna can show a material form also. He does that when he shows Arjuna the universal form that’s material, material elements. So definitely, no one else can show the form, only Krishna could show the form, it’s his form, but it is definitely material, so it’s called temporary form, not spiritual form. When Krishna was in the arena of Kamsa, different people saw Krishna differently. Yasoda and Nanda and Vasudeva and Devaki saw him as their child in Vatsalya rasa, Kamsa saw him in fear. And some people saw Krishna as a material being, universal form, Visvarupa [Laughs]. This means they saw Krishna as a material body, very disgusting.
So, when Krishna disappeared, in one form, it’s described in Bhagavatam. His chariot came down. He got on the chariot, then he ascended to the spiritual world [Laughs]. But he also left another body, a material body there. So, this is the body that looked like a, died from an arrow, then they cremate the body etc. So, this is easy for Krishna to do because he is in control of everything in the material world. He can make any material body he wants. So, why will Krishna do such a thing? So, he does so, so the material people can be convinced that Krishna is just a material body. So, he hides his real nature from the materialists but devotees can understand his spiritual form. So, in this way, Krishna hides his real form from the materialists.
2.) It says that Krishna left from Mathura and Vrindavana. And he left their parents. Then he never came back to Vrindavana and Mathura. Is this his proper behavior to his mother and father?
This appears contradictory because the people in Vrindavana are the greatest devotees. How can Krishna leave and not fulfill his promise to go back? If he didn’t, then Krishna is a liar. How can Krishna be a liar? How can he be a liar to the greatest devotees? So, therefore, the Acharyas explain how he actually fulfilled his promise. So, one is by quoting from Padma Purana to show that after killing Dantavakra, when he was in Dvaraka, he went to Mathura and killed Dantavakra, then Krishna returned to Vrindavana. In this way, he fulfilled his promise to finally return. And once he returned, he stayed there, then he expanded his form and in another form, he went back to Dvaraka [Laughs].
This is also described in Gopala Campu of Jiva Gosvami. However, objection is Krishna told everyone, I will return very soon. But if he returned after killing Dantavakra, that’s not soon. That was many, many, many years later [Laughs]. So, he is still breaking his promise [Laughs]. So, Visvanatha Chakravarti gives another explanation. That is, after three months of staying in Mathura, Krishna did return. Of course, when he returned, everybody was very happy. Simultaneously, he stayed in Mathura. He can expand himself in two forms. In that way, he fulfilled his promise to come back soon, only three months he was gone. However, problem is that in Bhagavatam, it’s described that Krishna did not come back after three months and they waited and waited and waited. He didn’t come back for many years and they were dying of separation.
So, Visvanatha Chakravarti explains Krishna actually expanded himself, went back to Vrindavana. Simultaneously, he stayed in Mathura and then in Dvaraka and the people of Vrindavana also had two forms. One form of all the people, including the Gopis, Nanda, Yasoda reunited with Krishna because he came back after three months. The other form, he didn’t come back at all and they waited for three months. They waited for years, he didn’t come back. So, two forms of the Vrajavasis were manifested by Krishna. One group in separation, where Krishna didn’t return for many years. The other form, three months afterwards, Krishna came back and everybody was joyful.
So, Visvanatha Chakravarti justifies his explanation by pointing out how Uddhava, when he returned with Krishna’s message for Nanda and Yasoda and the Gopis, he saw two different Vrindavanas. He describes when he came to Vrindavana, everybody was joyful. The cowherds were shouting at the cows and the bulls. Everybody was milking their cows. So, obviously, if they were in separation, they wouldn’t be doing this. Then he also describes complete lamentation in Vrindavana, Yasoda and Nanda were no longing cooking in their kitchens, they didn’t cook anything. They were not eating, they were lamenting, not sleeping etc. So he describes [Laughs] two different Vrindavanas simultaneously. So, in this way, two sets of Vrajavasis were there. One in separation and one with Krishna returning. So, in this way, Krishna fulfilled his vow to come back soon. Okay. Hare Krishna.
3.) Since demon have hostile to the Lord, then how from hatred they got prema to get into spiritual world while Krishna killing demons like Putana?
So, one answer of course, is great mercy. And the other explanation of course is, Krishna touches anybody, they become purified. So therefore, any contact with Krishna is very purifying. In relation to Sisupala, explanation is given that, of course Sisupala hated the Lord for three births. He hated the Lord. So, therefore, he wasn’t qualified to go to the spiritual world. However, Krishna’s form is most attractive. Krishna’s name is most attractive. So, in his hatred Sisupala got absorbed in the form of Krishna and the name of Krishna.
So, though he hated the Lord, simultaneously he could not help thinking of the beautiful form of the Lord or uttering Krishna’s name. So, continuous thoughts in hatred, even though hatred is not good, eventually purified Sisupala. So, by that continual thinking of Krishna, chanting his name in hatred, he got purified, finally Krishna touched him with the Sudarsana Chakra and he became spiritualized. So, he went and got a spiritual body [Laughs].
4.) How to develop taste in chanting?
Okay. The process of devotional service is such that we go through different stages. In the beginning we have very little attraction and we have lots of material attraction. But by regularly chanting with devotion, then gradually the material tendencies become destroyed and the bhakti begins to increase. And when we continue the bhakti and the bhakti is more and the material desires are less, at least we get to nishtha stage, steadiness. And when the bhakti is stronger and material desires are less, then we come to ruchi, we get a taste.
Devotees: Grantharaj Srimad Bhagavatam ki jai!!! HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj ki jai!!! Srila Prabhupada ki jai!!! Nitai Gaura Premanande Hari Haribol!!!