Srimad Bhagavatam – 10.77.31 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | ISKCON Japan | November 5, 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 vāsudevaya
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 77 Verse 31.
ŚB 10.77.31
kva śoka-mohau sneho vā
bhayaṁ vā ye ’jña-sambhavāḥ
kva cākhaṇḍita-vijñāna-
jñānaiśvaryas tv akhaṇḍitaḥ
Synonyms
kva — where; śoka — lamentation; mohau — and bewilderment; snehaḥ — material affection; vā — or; bhayam — fear; vā — or; ye — those which; ajñā — out of ignorance; sambhavāḥ — born; kva ca — and where, on the other hand; astrakhan — infinite; vijñāna — whose perception; jñāna — knowledge; aiśvaryaḥ — and power; tu — but; akhaṇḍitaḥ — the infinite Supreme Lord.
Translation
How can lamentation, bewilderment, material affection or fear, all born out of ignorance, be ascribed to the infinite Supreme Lord, whose perception, knowledge and power are all similarly infinite?
Purport
Śrīla Prabhupāda writes: “Lamentation, aggrievement and bewilderment are characteristics of conditioned souls, but how can such things affect the person of the Supreme, who is full of knowledge, power and all opulence? Actually, it is not possible that Lord Kṛṣṇa was misled by the mystic jugglery of Śālva. He was displaying His pastime of playing the role of a human being.”
All the great Bhāgavatam commentators conclude that grief, illusion, attachment and fear, which arise out of ignorance of the soul, can never be present in the transcendental dramatic pastimes enacted by the Lord. Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī gives many examples from Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes to illustrate this point. For instance, when the cowherd boys entered the mouth of Aghāsura, Lord Kṛṣṇa was apparently astonished. Similarly, when Brahmā took away Lord Kṛṣṇa’s cowherd friends and calves, the Lord at first began to look for them as if He did not know where they were. Thus the Lord plays the part of an ordinary human being so as to relish transcendental pastimes with His devotees. One should never think the Personality of Godhead is an ordinary person, as Śukadeva Gosvāmī explains in this and the following verse.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
Yeah, so when we propose that God has a form, qualities, and activities, there are some logical problems. So, if we say God has a form, then the form is going to be a certain size, and it’s going to be limited. God should be unlimited, but forms are limited. If God has unlimited form, how can Krishna fit in Mother Yasoda’s arms? How can she tie Him up? So then the Supreme Lord shows qualities, and He has activities. And in showing activities and qualities, then again we have limitation. So if Krishna shows mercy, it’s not infinite mercy for everybody [Laughs]. If He performs activities, the activities take place in time, and time is a limitation. For this reason, it is much simpler to say that God has no form, qualities, and activities. He is simply Brahman, then there’s no problem [Laughs].
However, we can also answer those questions. So we can say God has a form, but it’s not a limited material form. So if He can fit in Mother Yasoda’s arms, simultaneously He’s bigger than the whole universe. And that was shown when Yasoda looked at Krishna’s mouth and saw the whole universe inside Him. So, Krishna can appear limited and He can appear unlimited simultaneously, because He has inconceivable power.
So, if the Lord shows wonderful qualities, not too much objection. But when He shows qualities that look like material qualities, then we become puzzled. So here, in this verse it mentions bhaya, fear. So if the Lord shows fear, how is it possible? If He laments like a material person, how is it possible? God should be all peaceful [Laughs]. So usually we associate these qualities like fear and lamentation with ignorance in the material world. Supreme Lord should have no ignorance. If He has ignorance, how can He be Supreme Lord? So that’s why some people prefer this impersonal Brahman [Laughs]. So Bhagavatam is very generous, and it doesn’t deny that you can worship and realize this impersonal Brahman, it’s one aspect of the Lord. It is one form of the Lord. But the Lord also has this form of Bhagavan. And it’s actually superior. So the impersonal Brahman is simply a by product of the Supreme Lord.
So still, we have to explain how these qualities are present, like fear and lamentation, etc. Of course, many forms of the Lord do not show fear and lamentation. So, Narasimha Dev does not show any fear or lamentation. Rama doesn’t show any fear, but He shows lamentation when Sita gets stolen. So some people will criticize, how can Rama lament? He looks like He is a material person, how can He be God? With Krishna, then there is more problem. He shows fear, He shows lamentation, He shows thievery. He cries. He plays around like a little boy. So Krishna appears more human-like than all the other forms of the Lord. And thus, people will criticize more. So nevertheless, the scriptures also say that Krishna also is not material, He is Supreme Lord. So how do we explain these qualities in Krishna that look so human-like? So, the answer is that Krishna shows these qualities, and through these qualities, the devotees develop a more intimate relationship with Krishna. So, if Mother Yasoda shows a stick, and Krishna does not react at all, does not show any fear, then, this is a big disappointment for Mother Yasoda. If Krishna can never get tied up by Mother Yasoda, Mother Yasoda will be very disappointed. She will have to conclude, Krishna is not my child at all, He is Supreme Lord. And thus, her affection will weaken. So Krishna’s display of all sorts of emotions and qualities that look material are only displays to increase Prema.
And we see, when Rupa Goswami analyzes rasa, within that rasa, we have lamentation, fear, anxiety, and so many other qualities, but it’s all part of Prema. So therefore, there is a lots of variety shown within the pastimes of Krishna. And more variety is shown in Krishna’s pastimes, than in the pastimes of other forms of the Lord. So because Krishna shows greater variety in the rasa, He is regarded as superior to the other forms of the Lord. And therefore, when we see these qualities, we cannot criticize Krishna for these qualities, these are actually good qualities, they should be praised.
So, impersonal Brahman has no qualities. Bhagavan has qualities like mercy. And we can never criticize such a quality. And of course, then we also say, well, Krishna is not equal in His mercy, He shows greater affection for His devotees, He is neutral to the demons. So, Krishna responds to each individual jiva and He responds differently. That is not a bad quality, that is a good quality. He does not respond according to the body, the jiva may have a demon body or a brahmana body or whatever, that’s not the consideration of the Lord, the Lord is considering how much devotion there is. So the Lord displays qualities, and these qualities are perfect. And if we look at it superficially, then we may think, oh, this is a fault, this is material. However, if we examine closely, then we see that these qualities are actually perfect, and there’s no fault in them.
So the lamentation, the illusion, and the fear are all related to rasa, not to any material ignorance. So, ignorance is generally a bad quality. And due to ignorance, jivas are in maya in the material world, they get karma, and they suffer. However, we have ignorance in the spiritual world also. But in the spiritual world, it’s not a bad quality, it’s a good quality. So this is what we call Yogamaya. This is one of the Lord’s spiritual shaktis. And because of this Yogamaya, then Yasoda is not aware that Krishna is having Rasa-lila every night. And due to this Yogamaya, Balaram also does not understand that Krishna expanded Himself into all the calves and cowherd boys for one year. So in other words, the ignorance in the spiritual world functions for pastimes only. And through those pastimes, there’s always increase of bliss.
So therefore, all these qualities that manifest in the spiritual world are all functions of bliss. And they cannot be criticized. They are similar to qualities like lamentation and fear that appear in the material world, but actually they are very different. So therefore, a materialist will not be able to understand this. And therefore, in these verses, Sukadeva Goswami is criticizing some of these sages because they misunderstand, they think, oh, Krishna is fooled by Salva and He is lamenting. However, the devotee can understand that, material lamentation and fear are contradictory to the nature of Krishna. And thus, the devotee has different explanation.
Hare Krishna !
Q & A:
1.) Does Yogamaya act in material world when Krishna is not there?
So of course, in Bhagavad Gita, Krishna mentions Yogamaya and it covers the demons [Laughs]. However, in most cases, this is not really that spiritual maya, this is the material maya. Of course, in some cases, there is Yogamaya, as in the case of Jaya and Vijaya becoming demons [Laughs]. So the Yogamaya in general is a function of spiritual pastimes, not material entities. And the Yogamaya functions in all these pastimes centered on Supreme Lord. Of course, Krishna may not be directly present and then still Yogamaya can function on Krishna’s orders. In any case, that Yogamaya is very useful for Krishna to implement His different pastimes.
The definition of Yogamaya given by Jiva Goswami is that, it’s Krishna’s power to either reveal or not reveal things to the devotees. So in other words, through that Yogamaya, the devotees’ knowledge becomes limited in the spiritual world. So the devotee doesn’t know everything about everything in the spiritual world, it’s limited by his own person and his own rasa. The question will come, can Yogamaya influence the Lord and put Him into limitation [Laughs]? So we see that Krishna puts Yogamaya over Balaram even, what to speak of other forms of the Lord [Laughs].
But then the question comes, can Yogamaya influence Krishna and cover Him also [Laughs]? And then we’ll think, well, if that’s the case, then Krishna is no longer the Supreme Lord because Yogamaya is more powerful [Laughs]. So because Yogamaya is a shakti, the shakti is automatically under Shaktiman, Supreme Lord. Yeah, sometimes Krishna allows His shakti to do all sorts of wonderful things and even He is surprised [Laughs]. So when Krishna swallowed the dirt and then Balaram and the cowherd boys said, Krishna has eaten dirt and Mother Yasoda came, then Krishna was in problem [Laughs]. So Mother Yasoda told Krishna, open your mouth! And Krishna thought, what should I do? Should I open my mouth and show, I got dirt in my mouth? What should I do [Laughs]? So He opened His mouth and then Aishwarya shakti automatically showed universe in Krishna’s mouth [Laughs]. So without Krishna even giving an order, the Aishwarya shakti simply spontaneously did something and that surprised even Krishna [Laughs].
Devotee: Your explanation is so much interesting to me because when Krishna opened his mouth, and that is automatically Aishwarya shakti came [Laughs]. That is very interesting [Laughs].
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: In other words, a good servant will understand the needs of the master without the master having to say anything [Laughs].
2.) Maharaj right now kali yuga right, when these cycles are running, is there any connection to this maya energy or Yogamaya?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: That’s all maya [Laughs]. That’s all maya, not Yogamaya [Laughs].
Devotee: So , Yogamaya will never act in kali yuga like that?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Well, Krishna comes then Yogamaya can act with Krishna in His pastimes. That’s all. Another example of Krishna’s shaktis acting is when Aghasura came and then the boys saw Aghasura and said, it looks like a snake, but anyway, let’s run into his mouth. And Krishna began shouting, don’t go in the mouth, this is a big demon, he’s gonna swallow you. But the boys didn’t hear Him. Of course, normally we know that anytime Krishna speaks, the cowherd boys are listening very carefully. And Krishna was saying, don’t go in the mouth, don’t run into the mouth of the big serpent, but they went anyway. So then Krishna thought, how is this possible? They’re not listening to me. And then He realized, oh, my Lila shakti is making an arrangement for another pastime [Laughs]. So Lila shakti is arranging, I should also go, and I should save the cowherd boys, and I should kill Aghasura, I should give him liberation [Laughs].
Hare Krishna.
Devotees: Grantharaj Srimad Bhagavatam ki jai!!! HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj ki jai!!! Srila Prabhupada ki jai!!!