Srimad Bhagavatam : 10.52.42 by HH BhanuSwami Maharaj on Dec 11, 2024 @ ISKCON Japan
ŚB 10.52.42
antaḥ-purāntara-carīm anihatya bandhūn
tvām udvahe katham iti pravadāmy upāyam
pūrve-dyur asti mahatī kula-deva-yātrā
yasyāṁ bahir nava-vadhūr girijām upeyāt
Translation
Since I will be staying within the inner chambers of the palace, You may wonder, “How can I carry you away without killing some of your relatives?” But I shall tell You a way: On the day before the marriage there is a grand procession to honor the royal family’s deity, and in this procession the new bride goes outside the city to visit Goddess Girijā.
Purport by the disciples of Srila Prabhupada
Clever Rukmiṇī anticipated a possible objection on the part of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. He certainly would not object to subduing rascals like Śiśupāla and Jarāsandha, but He might be reluctant to injure or kill Rukmiṇī’s relatives, some of whom might block His way to the palace’s inner sanctum, where the women were protected. The procession to or from the temple of Girijā (Durgā) would provide the perfect opportunity for Kṛṣṇa to kidnap Rukmiṇī without harming her relatives.
HH BHANU SWAMI MAHARAJ:
So, Krishna comes in this material world and one of His purposes is to kill the demons. And He favours the devatas and the devotees. So, though He does this, He is very careful. He does not overkill. Whatever is necessary to preserve the balance in the universe, the Lord will do. Of course, there is always the objection “Why does the Lord have to favour one person over the other since the Lord should be equal to everybody.” So yes, the Lord is equal and generally He lets karma and time and prakriti do everything they want, but in certain cases He interferes.
So as Bhagavad Gita also explains, Lord is ‘Sama’, equal to everybody but He does favour the devotee. And thus, though He tends to be equal, if the devotee is in trouble, the Lord takes some action. The Lord always makes arrangements so that the devotee can continue his devotional service. But sometimes we can’t understand what is best for ourselves. And we may accuse the Lord, oh you are indifferent, why aren’t you helping me? I am in trouble. So, the Lord has a different way of perceiving everything. Ultimately, we cannot understand the Lord’s plan.
So, even Bhisma Dev mentions this, “I don’t understand how the Lord is doing everything. Why do You let the Pandavas suffer so long?” We see cases where the Lord interferes when Gajendra offers prayers, the Lord comes and He rescues Gajendra. But Pandavas were banned into the forest for 13 years, the Lord did nothing. So, even the devotees will ask, why? why the Lord does this? So, though the Lord helps the devotees, His help may be in a different way than we see. And Bhagavatam also says, sometimes the Lord may take everything away from a devotee.
Generally, we think the devotee should get everything, the Lord is merciful, but then sometimes He takes everything away. And the reason is that He sees that taking everything away is beneficial for that particular devotee. So we may not understand, but the Lord understands. And an advanced devotee can also understand. So that devotee is not disturbed by any circumstance. And in fact, by tolerating his circumstances in any case, and continuing his devotional service, the Lord shows His mercy.
So, we see the example in Prabhupada’s life. So he was doing business as a grihastha with pharmaceuticals like that, and then one day he got noticed that the person he hired took all the goods away and stole everything and disappeared, business finished. So, Prabhupada simply quoted the verse in Bhagavatam, the Lord takes everything away from the devotee to help him surrender, so he didn’t take anything seriously, he wasn’t upset by the whole thing. After that point, then he began to renounce everything, eventually left his family, stopped his business everything, went to Vrindavan and began writing books.
We see that Prahlada was persecuted by Hiraṇyakaśipu, his father. However, not one time but many times, Hiraṇyakaśipu tried to kill him. And Prahlada simply remembered Vishnu. So, we may ask, why didn’t Vishnu protect him the first time and simply come and kill Hiraṇyakaśipu? So, Prahlada had to endure poison, fire, Rakshasas, getting thrown off a cliff, being put on an island, so many different problems came. Finally, the Lord did interfere, he came as Narasimhadeva and He killed Hiraṇyakaśipu. But it was decision of the Lord when to come.
If we want to be critical of the Lord, we will say, well, He should have come the first time, the second time, third time, why did we have to wait for six, seven, eight times before He showed up? Is the Lord, who want to be critical, we say, oh! the Lord doesn’t know anything, the Lord is sleeping, the Lord is inattentive, He doesn’t care. But no, the Lord knows everything. So He decides when He’s going to come. And that is the best time. Best for the devotee, best for everybody else. So, we cannot speculate on the Lord. Sometimes, it looks like He takes time to decide to help the devotee, sometimes He comes immediately.
It is said that as soon as Gajendra began offering his prayers to the Lord, then immediately, Vishnu in Vaikuntha heard the call and He came immediately, He left Lakshmi, He left everybody there, everyone got surprised, what are you doing? And suddenly, He just got up, left everything, went to save Gajendra. So the Lord is capable of acting immediately if He wants to, sometimes He doesn’t do so. In any case, the Lord is doing what is most beneficial for the devotee. We don’t know, only the lord knows. So, the Lord will come when He wants to come. So, the Lord in any case helps the devotee.
In this case, Rukmini of course is eternal devotee, so definitely the Lord will respond to her request …He will respond to her request to come and rescue her. But, as mentioned here, He doesn’t want to kill too many people. In marrying, all these killing will be very inauspicious. So, therefore, fighting and even killing demons will be avoided as much as possible. So, Rukmini is suggesting a way in which all of the violence can be minimized.
So, the method is given here, when she goes out, the day before the marriage, to the temple of Durga Devi, at that time, when there is less protection, then Krishna can come and take her. So this will fulfil the purpose that is, Rukmini is saved from marrying the demon and Krishna gets to marry Rukmini. And it will defeat her brother’s plan to marry her off to Sisupala. And the Lord will be able to display His prowess, His bravery. In this way, He responds to satisfy Rukmini.
Okay. Hare Krishna.
Q & A
Devotee : Okay. Thank you very much, Hare Krishna. I have a question.
1)Kṛṣṇa never gives too much tapasya to the devotee. According to devotees tolerance he gives. So, how about Yaśodā, she cannot tolerate and she looses consciousness when demons try to kill Krishna? How can I understand?
So, we have a very great example of that in the Kāliya pastime. So, Kṛṣṇa jumped into the lake and then Kāliya put him in his coils and he was just there in the lake wrapped in the coils of the snake. And then the people of Vrindavan heard about this and they all came running there and they saw Kṛṣṇa in the snake’s coils and they were fainting and crying and trying to jump into the river or the lake.
And when mother Yaśodā saw that, she became so upset, she wanted to jump into the water. And even the cows were fainting. So, when Kṛṣṇa saw the great disturbance he was causing, then he decided okay this is enough and then he got out of the coils of the snake and defeated Kāliya .
For these devotees in Prema, such experiences are also part of Prema. Fainting is one of the Sāttvikā bhāvās, which is part of Rasa. And sometimes they may faint in joy, other times they may faint in fear or lamentation.
Ultimately, all of these symptoms are there to support and increase the bliss of the Rasa.
Devotee : Yes, thank you very much.
2)How about a practicing Kṛṣṇa consciousness devotee like me? So Kṛṣṇa doesn‘t give too much intolerable suffering?
So, as I said, we can’t understand Krishna’s plan, how he wants to give his mercy.
Hmm, so in the case of Srila Prabhupāda , why did Kṛṣṇa allow that servant to take away, steal all of his money?
And similarly, devotees have many problems and we can say well why isn’t Kṛṣṇa doing anything? Hmm, so in Bhāgavatam explains that when Kṛṣṇa sees that the devotee in all circumstances remains steady in his devotion, in spite of all of the difficulties, the Lord becomes very merciful.
Devotee : Thank you very much.
3) Hare Kṛṣṇa Mahārāj, as you mentioned about Srila Prabhupāda and this sloka, so Kṛṣṇa says in this sloka SB 10.88.8
yasyāham anugṛhṇāmi
hariṣye tad-dhanaṁ śanaiḥ
tato ’dhanaṁ tyajanty asya
svajanā duḥkha-duḥkhitam
So when Prabhupāda lost everything and Prabhupāda saw the sloka from Śrīmad Bhāgavatam , Prabhupāda was laughing. So I am thinking like if I want to get special mercy of Krishna, isn’t it the best policy for me to not work hard for material possession?
So we don’t know Krishna’s plan. Generally we know that too much material attachment is not so good, so the Lord doesn’t like us to be too wealthy.
Later in the 10th Canto, Parīkṣit asked the question, look, devotees of Shiva are all wealthy, and Shiva is so poor. Vishnu is so wealthy in Vaikuṇṭha , his devotees are poor. How strange ?
But then we see, in the case of Dhruva, Dhruva became a devotee, and the Lord showed himself, and then he said, you have to take the kingdom.
He had gone to the forest, renounced everything, was not eating, was not even breathing, and as a result he saw the Lord and then the Lord said, well, you have to go back to the kingdom, and you have to rule for thousands and thousands of years.
Similarly, Kṛṣṇa arranged the battle of Kurukṣetra. What was the result? To put Yudhiṣṭhira on the throne. So sometimes, yes, not having any wealth is very good for devotion, sometimes the opposite, the Lord gives everything. Of course, the general principle for the devotees doing sadhana is, we don’t over-endeavor for material acquisition. But if we do have some position or wealth or whatever, we don’t artificially renounce it also.
Devotee : Thank you, Mahārāj, it’s very clear to me. Thank you so much.
4) Devotee : For neophyte devotees, Kṛṣṇa immediately helps.
HH Bhānu Swami Mahārāj : In many cases, yes.
For more advanced devotees, Kṛṣṇa waits. (not audible)
HH Bhānu Swami Mahārāj : We see that, of course, in Bhagavad Gita, Kṛṣṇa says there are four types of devotees, those who want wealth, those who are suffering, etc. In those cases, the Lord responds that they are suffering, he will relieve the suffering. If they need money, he will give them money, and that increases their faith. And those who practice pure bhakti generally will try to avoid those things. Sometimes the Lord will give, sometimes he will not give. It depends on the Lord. We can’t predict what he will do.
5)If we have some problem, if we don’t understand Krishna’s plans, we will understand what we should do, some problems will come.
When we tolerate the situation, we should not be unduly overcome with lamentation, etc. In fact, this is one of the basic principles of bhakti. There are the first ten rules and the second ten rules. The second ten rules are things you shouldn’t do. So these twenty rules are called the door to bhakti. If we practice these twenty things, then we can actually practice hearing, chanting, deity worship, etc., the other forty-four rules.
HH Bhānu Swami Mahārāj repeats it again upon being asked by the devotee: If we follow these twenty rules, then we can do the other forty-four rules. But before that, we have to do the twenty rules. The other forty-four rules are the hearing, chanting, etc.
And among all rules one rule is don’t become overcome with lamentation or extreme emotions. So therefore in any situation we don’t become over agitated and we continue our devotional service.
6) Mahārāj when Indra and Brahma made a mistake but Kṛṣṇa can forgive and take away everything, and again they made a mistake and Kṛṣṇa forgave them. So in Brahma’s case also, Kṛṣṇa forgave them, although they made a mistake, Kṛṣṇa forgave them. So sometimes we can, like a devotee, we make mistakes, we don’t take responsibility. Kṛṣṇa forgives us. How do I understand this?
So, the Lord is very merciful, and generally he forgives all the different mistakes the devotees make. At the same time, when there is aparadha, the Lord does not forgive. The result of that will be that the devotee’s bhakti will also lessen.
Translator Devotee : Lessen?
HH Bhānu Swami Mahārāj : Decrease.
And thus, we can say spontaneously, he will do less and less devotional service. So, he will remove himself, so to speak.
Translator Devotee : By himself?
HH Bhānu Swami Mahārāj : Yeah, because his bhakti is less, he does less service, so therefore automatically he is removed in one sense.
Devotees: Grantharaj Srimad Bhagavatam Ki.. Jai ! Srila Prabhupad Ki.. Jai !!