Srimad Bhagavatam 10.78.5 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | ISKCON Japan | November 9, 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
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 78 Verse 5.
ŚB 10.78.5
tvaṁ mātuleyo naḥ kṛṣṇa
mitra-dhruṅ māṁ jighāṁsasi
atas tvāṁ gadayā manda
haniṣye vajra-kalpayā
Synonyms
tvam — You; mātuleyaḥ — maternal cousin; naḥ — our; kṛṣṇa — O Kṛṣṇa; mitra — to my friends; dhruk — who have committed violence; mām — me; jighāṁsasi — You wish to kill; ataḥ — therefore; tvām — You; gadayā — with my club; manda — O fool; haniṣye — I will kill; vajra-kalpayā — like a thunderbolt.
Translation
“You are our maternal cousin, Kṛṣṇa, but You committed violence against my friends, and now You want to kill me also. Therefore, fool, I will kill You with my thunderbolt club.
Purport
The ācāryas have given the following alternate grammatical division of the third line of this verse: atas tvāṁ gadayā amanda, in which case Dantavakra says, “My dear Lord Kṛṣṇa, You are amanda [not foolish], and therefore with Your powerful club You will now send me back home, back to Godhead.” This is the inner meaning of this verse.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
So, of course, the demons often criticize the Lord. Their intention is to insult the Lord. However, the nature of Sanskrit grammar is such, you can often get different meanings out of the same words. So sometimes you can get opposite meaning. Instead of criticizing the Lord, the demons are praising the Lord. Of course, it’s not the intention of the demons to praise the Lord, but the devotees cannot tolerate criticism of the Lord, so they will find this other meaning in the words. So, Saraswati is the goddess of learning. And she is in charge of speech. And she also is a servant of Krishna. So she also could not tolerate demons criticizing Krishna. So Acharyas, when they find another meaning in the demons’ words, they say, well, this is the external meaning, but Saraswati has given us another meaning [Laughs].
In this particular case, now we have in the third line, atas tvāṁ gadayā manda, so manda means foolish or slow [Laughs]. But it is preceded by the word gadayā. So you put the two words together, you have gadayā manda, and so you can have not just manda, but amanda, the opposite meaning [Laughs]. So instead of criticizing the Lord, then it becomes a praise, the Lord is most intelligent [Laughs]. So, of course, the demon’s intention is always to criticize the Lord. But their criticism also becomes praise by arrangement of words [Laughs].
Of course, may be the ultimate example of this, is when we say the word Krishna. When the demons are saying Krishna, they are identifying as a material person. So we see that Sisupala, in hatred, was always criticizing Krishna, calling out His name. Of course, the demons’ intention is always to insult the Lord. But Bhagavatam says that you can approach the Lord in hatred as well as in affection. Of course, this seems contradictory. The Lord should respond to devotees, because Lord is more affectionate to devotees than He is to demons [Laughs]. But in Bhagavatam, it says, the demons can very quickly approach the Lord in hatred. How is that possible [Laughs]? Of course, the Bhagavatam is never trying to praise demons for their hatred, because this is offensive. But the intensity of their hatred causes them to become completely absorbed in the Lord. And of course, they become more absorbed in Krishna, than any other form of the Lord. And they become more absorbed in uttering Krishna’s name, because it is most attractive. So this constant absorption in the Lord, even if it is in hatred, purifies the demons. And thus, a demon like Sisupala, completely absorbed in hatred of Krishna, he was killed by Krishna’s Sudarshan Chakra and he went to the spiritual world. So the reason is that, they are absorbed in the Lord, even if it is hatred, and therefore this purifies them. So inspite of their bad intentions to try to kill the Lord because they hate Him, they end up getting liberated by the Lord.
Of course, this quality of Krishna killing a demon and he gets liberation and goes to the spiritual world is not the quality of other forms of the Lord, only Krishna. So when Narasimha Dev kills Hiranyakasipu, he does not get liberation. When Rama kills Ravana, he doesn’t get liberation. When Krishna kills Sisupala, he gets spiritual world. Of course, we can say well, Krishna is more merciful [Laughs]. But Acharyas explain, the real reason is that with Narasimha Dev or Rama, the demons do not become absorbed in that form. However, with Krishna, they become completely absorbed in Krishna.
So, question is why? And the answer is because Krishna is more attractive. Even though Hiranyakasipu saw Narasimha Dev, even though Ravana saw Rama, they did not become absorbed. So, inspite of Sisupala being, hating Krishna, nevertheless, he became absorbed in Him, because of His such attractive qualities, and he was always chanting His name, because His name is most attractive. And so, eventually, by that absorption in Krishna and chanting His name, all of his anarthas [Laughs] and his hatred got destroyed. And when Krishna threw His Sudarshan Chakra and cut off the head of Sisupala, when it touched him, then he got Prema. And then he was qualified to enter into Vaikuntha. So this pastime shows how Krishna is distinguished from all the forms of the Lord, because He has more attractive qualities.
So, not only you can chant the name of the Lord accidentally, but you can chant the name of Krishna in hatred, and you can still get purified. So, therefore, previously I mentioned that the Lord does not hate demons. He is merciful even to demons. And of all the different forms of the Lord, Krishna is most merciful, most attractive, so therefore the demons get very good results, even if they get killed by Him. So, therefore, the Lord’s actions are always auspicious. In the case of Dantavakra and Sisupala, of course, they had been cursed because of the anger of the Kumaras, so they took three births, and then they returned to Vaikuntha.
So, in the previous verse, Dantavakra says, Oh, what good fortune I have to meet you, because then I can kill you. So the good fortune is that, he will get killed by Krishna and he will return to Vaikuntha. Rupa Goswami comments that this pastime where Jaya and Vijaya fall from Vaikuntha is not an event that happens in every day of Brahma. In other days of Brahma, they are actually demons. But when Krishna kills them, then they get to Vaikuntha.
Devotee: Even demons?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yeah.
Devotee: Not Jaya and Vijaya?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yeah, when they are regular demons, because they still get absorbed in Krishna [Laughs].
And thus, Aghasura also was a demon, he had no previous record of falling from Vaikuntha or anything, but he went to Vaikuntha also, killed by Krishna [Laughs]. Of course, other demons just may get impersonal liberation. This also, from the point of view of normal scripture, this also is something amazing, because Jnanis and yogis have to strive for thousands of years to get liberation, but Krishna kills a demon and he gets liberation [Laughs]. He gets the reward of all the tapasya of the Jnanis [Laughs].
However, for the devotees, we don’t consider liberation to be very good, so therefore, if the demons get liberation, fine [Laughs]. It’s considered hell for the devotees [Laughs] anyway. But if the demon can get to the spiritual world, get a spiritual body, that’s even surprising for the devotees. If a demon can get to Vaikuntha or [Laughs] spiritual world and get a spiritual body, even the devotees get surprised by that. So devotees may think, well, better to be a demon. I’ll become a demon and I don’t have to do anything [Laughs] because I hate the Lord and I get to Vaikuntha also [Laughs]. So, the devotees also understand that though the demons get to Vaikuntha and get a spiritual body, whatever they achieve is inferior to what a devotee achieves.
And thus, the rule of the Lord is that, according to his surrender, I respond, is always followed. It’s always followed, the principle. Krishna doesn’t break that principle. So, if the demons can get a spiritual world and get a spiritual body, the devotees must get much more than that. So it’s described that Putana, even though she was a demon, she got the spiritual world. And she got the form of a nurse. So in that way, because she had disguised herself as a Gopi and fed Krishna, she became a nurse in the spiritual world. But she cannot directly be the mother of Krishna [Laughs].
Okay, Hare Krishna.
Q & A:
1.) Hare Krishna Maharaj, thank you for the wonderful class. I got couple of questions. The first one Maharaj, you mentioned that, the demons, if they are killed by Krishna, so all the demons, they got the Vaikuntha planet or some of them also got the Sayujya mukti?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yeah. Many got Sayujya, a few get Vaikuntha.
Devotee: So what would be the reason for that?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Krishna’s will [Laughs].
Devotee: [Laughs] Understood Maharaj [Laughs].
2.) My second question is, you mentioned that when Hiranyakashipu was killed by Narasimha Dev, then he was not delivered. But in Canto 7, Chapter 10, I think Prahlada Maharaj asked Narasimha Dev to deliver his father and also his forefather. And then Narasimha Dev said that you are an exalted devotee, so all of your forefathers are delivered. So is it a power of Krishna’s mercy or power of pure devotee? Because it is mentioned that Narasimha Dev was saying that all of your forefathers are purified or delivered, something like that. So how to understand that? I am asking again. So the question is, Maharaj said that Hiranyakasipu, he was not delivered because he was not killed by Krishna, but Narasimha Dev. But Prahlada Maharaj, he requested Narasimha Dev that please deliver my father as well as my forefathers. Yeah, then Narasimha Dev said, because you are an exalted devotee, so your father as well as your forefathers, all are purified and delivered. So is it the power of a pure devotee or is it the mercy of Narasimha Dev? That’s the question.
Of course, we can never separate the two things, the mercy of the Lord and the power of the devotee. Whatever powers the devotee shows, is ultimately given by the Lord. And though, Narasimha Dev says that Hiranyakashipu and so many generations get delivered, he never says exactly when they get delivered. So just they are on the path of deliverance, but it may take several lifetimes. And of course, apart from the mercy of the devotee and the mercy of the Lord, it is the power of Bhakti itself. And due to the power of Bhakti, then we can get the highest purification.
Devotee: So Maharaj, they are the same, Jaya, Vijaya, right? The Hiranyakasipu and Hiranyaksha and Sisupala and Dantavakra, are they the same representation of Jaya and Vijaya?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yeah, the same jivas.
Devotee: Okay.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: In this particular day of Brahma.
Devotee: Okay understood Maharaj. Maharaj another question.This is my last question.
3.) You mentioned about Vaikuntha. So we studied about the Ekapada Vibhuti and Tripada Vibhuti. So this material world is Ekapada Vibhuti and this is also unlimited. So this spiritual world is Tripada Vibhuti. So would Your Divine Grace kindly give us an idea of Tripada Vibhuti, because it’s a huge, it’s a very infinite thing. So higher is Vaikuntha and higher is Krishnaloka, higher is Vrindavan, higher is Navadvipa. Would Your Divine Grace kindly give us a brief idea about Tripada Vibhuti?
[Devotees discussion aside]
So Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur said that, this world is just a mustard seed in a full bag of mustard seeds. So this world is very small. So, even though this Ekapada Vibhuti is unlimited, then how about the Tripada Vibhuti? It’s a huge spiritual world. So I would like to know a little more about this Tripada Vibhuti.
So these terms, of course, mentioned in the Bhagavatam and actually come from the Vedas. But we cannot assume, that therefore we have material world and we multiply it by three and we get spiritual world [Laughs] in terms of size. So the description is given, just to show that even though from our point of view material world is huge and we cannot even measure it, still it is, say infinitesimal in comparison to the spiritual world. I think in the Bhagavatam, Viswanath I believe, comments that, what this indicates is that, there are three qualities that exist in the spiritual world and one quality in the material world. So it’s not a matter of dimensions, it’s a matter of qualities [Laughs].
Devotees: Grantharaj Srimad Bhagavatam ki jai!!! HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj ki jai!!! Srila Prabhupada ki jai!!!