Srimad Bhagavatam – 10.9.6~8 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | ISKCON Chennai | Oct 30, 2026
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
Om Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya
Om Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya
Om Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya
nama om vishnu-padaya krishna-preshthaya bhu-tale
srimate bhaktivedanta-svamin iti namine
namas te sarasvate deve gaura-vani-pracharine
nirvishesha-shunyavadi-pashchatya-desha-tarine
jaya sri-krishna-chaitanya
prabhu nityananda
sri-adwaita gadadhara
shrivasadi-gaura-bhakta-vrinda
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Reading from Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 10 Chapter 9 Verse 6.
ŚB 10.9.6
सञ्जातकोप: स्फुरितारुणाधरं
सन्दश्य दद्भिर्दधिमन्थभाजनम् ।
भित्त्वा मृषाश्रुर्दृषदश्मना रहो
जघास हैयङ्गवमन्तरं गत: ॥ ६ ॥
sañjāta-kopaḥ sphuritāruṇādharaṁ
sandaśya dadbhir dadhi-mantha-bhājanam
bhittvā mṛṣāśrur dṛṣad-aśmanā raho
jaghāsa haiyaṅgavam antaraṁ gataḥ
Synonyms
sañjāta-kopaḥ — in this way, Kṛṣṇa being very angry; sphurita-aruṇa-adharam — swollen reddish lips; sandaśya — capturing; dadbhiḥ — by His teeth; dadhi-mantha-bhājanam — the pot in which yogurt was being churned; bhittvā — breaking; mṛṣā-aśruḥ — with false tears in the eyes; dṛṣat-aśmanā — with a piece of stone; rahaḥ — in a solitary place; jaghāsa — began to eat; haiyaṅgavam — the freshly churned butter; antaram — within the room; gataḥ — having gone.
Translation
Being very angry and biting His reddish lips with His teeth, Kṛṣṇa, with false tears in His eyes, broke the container of yogurt with a piece of stone. Then He entered a room and began to eat the freshly churned butter in a solitary place.
Purport
It is natural that when a child becomes angry he can begin crying with false tears in his eyes. So Kṛṣṇa did this, and biting His reddish lips with His teeth, He broke the pot with a stone, entered a room and began to eat the freshly churned butter.
ŚB 10.9.7
Translation
Mother Yaśodā, after taking down the hot milk from the oven, returned to the churning spot, and when she saw that the container of yogurt was broken and that Kṛṣṇa was not present, she concluded that the breaking of the pot was the work of Kṛṣṇa.
Purport
Seeing the pot broken and Kṛṣṇa not present, Yaśodā definitely concluded that the breaking of the pot was the work of Kṛṣṇa. There was no doubt about it.
ŚB 10.9.8
Translation
Kṛṣṇa, at that time, was sitting on an upside-down wooden mortar for grinding spices and was distributing milk preparations such as yogurt and butter to the monkeys as He liked. Because of having stolen, He was looking all around with great anxiety, suspecting that He might be chastised by His mother. Mother Yaśodā, upon seeing Him, very cautiously approached Him from behind.
Purport
Mother Yaśodā was able to trace Kṛṣṇa by following His butter-smeared footprints. She saw that Kṛṣṇa was stealing butter, and thus she smiled. Meanwhile, the crows also entered the room and came out in fear. Thus mother Yaśodā found Kṛṣṇa stealing butter and very anxiously looking here and there.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
So, here we have a description of Krishna in anger and fear. And of course, anger and fear are not expected to manifest in the Supreme Lord. In Bhagavad Gita, anger is said to manifest from lust and lust comes from mode of passion and anger from the mode of ignorance. If one becomes very sattvic, then he will not have anger and lust. The Supreme Lord is beyond the gunas completely, so how could He have anger and lust? Yet we see here, Krishna not only has anger, but He expresses that anger. And that is shown by the fact that His lip was swollen and He was biting His lip. As a result of His anger, then He took a stone and He broke the churning pot. So, this is of course the Lord showing anger, but it is not the same as material anger.
In the spiritual world, there are various emotions. And they appear to be very similar to material emotions. But they are completely different. All the emotions are directly or indirectly related to pleasing Krishna. And all the bad qualities that manifest in the material world with their emotions are due to material identity and attachment. So therefore, the emotions may look similar, but they are very different. So, not only the negative emotions have some similarity, but also difference, so the positive emotions also have similarity and difference.
So, mother Yasoda has attachment to Krishna as her son just as people in the material world show affection for their children. So, of course, this is more acceptable because in the material world, people will praise affection for a son. However, we also have to understand that they are very different. So, all of the affection and all the positive qualities that show in the material world are still based upon material identity. In the material world, there are many qualities and scriptures will praise those qualities, particularly sattvic qualities. But ultimately, they have to be rejected. And thus, in the Nectar of Devotion, Rupa Goswami mentions that cultivating good qualities is not a part of Bhakti. Of course, then we may think well, ok, so Nectar of Devotion is praising bad qualities in people. But as we know, in spiritual life, not just Tamo guna and Rajo guna get rejected, even Sattva guna gets rejected. And thus cultivating Sattvic qualities in Bhakti becomes an obstacle itself. However, that does not mean that the devotee doesn’t show good qualities.
Krishna shows all wonderful qualities. Devotees will also show all wonderful qualities. But these qualities are not material at all. They may look like they are material qualities, but they are not. They are transcendental, spiritual, much superior to Sattvic qualities. So thus, Mother Yasoda shows love, affection and love for her son, but this is spiritual, not material. However, because in the material world we can identify with motherly affection, we can also accept Mother Yasoda’s love for Krishna. But the difference is that Mother Yasoda’s love is not for any material being, it’s for Supreme Lord. And that love has no material identity, no self-interest at all.
So no matter what activities a human being may do in this world, including expressing affection and love, there’s always an element of material identity and material attachment involved. And this will act as an obstacle to attaining Prema. And thus, even attachment to family members gets rejected when you practice spiritual life. Of course, in the Karma Yoga scriptures, attachment to family is praised. But when we come to spiritual life, then it all gets criticized. And actually we have people like Rumini and others criticizing family life and attachment to husbands who are just like, you know, material bags of flesh, etc., so they are described with great disgust. So though this aspect of spiritual life appears to be very negative, on the other hand, we have great praise for spiritual attachment. So though material attachment is criticized and rejected, spiritual attachment to Krishna as a mother or a father or as a friend or as a lover is praised. And thus we see that spiritual life is not just completely negative, it has the more positive aspect.
So within the spiritual world, we have these positive emotions of affection and attachment, which are always praised because centre is Krishna. So, if everyone in the spiritual world is completely satisfied with worshipping Krishna, Krishna is also completely satisfied with the devotees, why would they show anger? So the answer is, it’s not material anger, it’s not arising from not having one’s material desires fulfilled. So, these negative emotions, what apparently negative emotions that appear in the spiritual world, only function as part of the positive emotions like affection and bliss. For instance, mother Yasoda’s anger when she sees Krishna breaking the pots, etc., that anger is part of her affection for Krishna. If she were completely neutral, unattached to Krishna, it wouldn’t matter if her yogurt pot was broken or not [Laughs], let Him do whatever He wants [Laughs]. So her anger arises because of her attachment to Krishna.
How did Krishna’s anger arise? He was attached to drinking mother Yasoda’s milk. And of course ultimately it’s not material milk at all, it is an aspect of Prema. So if that gets interrupted, naturally He would feel upset. So, all of these emotions are supporting their main positive emotion of Prema. Though they do exist as spiritual emotions, they do not manifest so explicitly in other parts of the spiritual world. Of course, we know that the Lord will show anger towards demons. But to devotees then, we won’t see Vishnu becoming angry at the devotees or whatever [Laughs]. But we see with Krishna, we have all of these different emotions manifest quite often.
So, at the beginning of the Nectar of Devotion, the first verse says, ‘akhila-rasāmṛta-mūrtiḥ’. Krishna is the very form of all rasas. So He manifests very wonderfully Dasya, Sakhya, Vatsalya, Madhurya. And these are not all manifested in other forms of the Lord. So we see with Vishnu, it is largely Santa and Dasya. But not only the primary five rasas, but also the seven secondary rasas manifest completely in Krishna. And one of those secondary rasas is Krodha, anger [Laughs]. So of course, Krishna also shows anger against demons, etc. This however is not even considered real rasa. So real anger rasa has to be expressed between devotees and Krishna. So that would sound very impossible, how can Krishna become angry at devotees? How can devotees be angry at Krishna [Laughs]? So, with other forms of the Lord, yeah, it doesn’t happen much at all. But here we see a case where Krishna is getting angry, the mother Yasoda gets angry. And in Madhurya Rasa, we see, Gopis becoming angry at Krishna, Krishna becomes angry at the Gopis [Laughs]. So therefore, even the secondary rasas manifest more fully with Krishna than with other forms. The reason for that is, the secondary rasas are dependent on the primary rasas. And with Krishna, primary rasas are more and more intense. And therefore, the secondary rasas will also be more frequent and more intense. So in this way, Krishna is considered to be the very form of all transcendental rasas, all twelve rasas.
So this verse describes that Krishna became angry, and it showed that He was biting His lip, and then He took a stone, and He broke the yogurt pot, and He went into the other room and began eating butter. And He showed some false tears. He feels neglected by His mother. So mother Yasoda took the milk off the fire, and she came back, and she saw the broken yogurt pot, and then she understood, oh, Krishna has done this. And then she saw the little footprints of Krishna, with the butter on them, going into the next room. And true, Krishna had gone into the next room and taken the butter which was stored there. But then, He didn’t even show hunger. He went and gave all the butter to the monkeys. So in other words, He’s actually wasting all the labour that was done to make all that butter, and He’s giving it off to the monkeys [Laughs]. And thus, His crime was much greater. And thus, He became frightened. He was looking around in great fright. And who was He frightened of? His mother. So again, we see an emotion, fright, and not just fright, but fright of His mother.
So the relationship between Krishna and Yasoda is one of affection, so then He’s showing opposite, fear. So this, of course, is another secondary rasa, bhayanaka rasa. So, of course, it is natural that the demons like Kamsa will show fear rasa. He is fearful of Krishna who represents death. But again, this is not real rasa, because it’s a relationship with demon and Krishna. Demons don’t have real rasa, obviously, not even secondary rasas. The rasa of fear, like the rasa of anger can only exist based upon a positive rasa with Krishna, whether it’s Vatsalya or Madhurya or Sakhya, etc. So, Kamsa and other demons do not have a positive rasa at all, so therefore they cannot have a secondary rasa [Laughs].
So, the fear rasa is based upon, in this case, this Vatsalya rasa. And in one sense, it is also natural to this rasa. And the reason for that is, in Vatsalya rasa, the devotee is superior and Krishna is unprotected and inferior. And therefore, the parent, like Yasoda, can punish Krishna. But this cannot exist unless first we have the Vatsalya rasa. So, that fear rasa or the anger rasa, the result, have nothing to do with anything material. They are by-products of the rasa, the positive rasa.
So, normally, of course, Krishna causes His fear in the demons or even the devotees. But here we find Krishna afraid of His devotees, that sounds very strange [Laughs]. But as I said, in Vatsalya rasa, this can happen likely because the mother and father are superior and Krishna is inferior. So, therefore, this fear is a secondary rasa and secondary rasa has the quality of being very temporary. The positive rasas are called sthayi, permanent. And the secondary rasas appear, but they will disappear again. So, Krishna becomes fearful, then that will disappear. So, and this fear adds a different flavour to the positive rasa. And it adds to the nourishment of the rasa.
So, later on we see that Mother Yasoda sees that Krishna is afraid. And when she sees that Krishna is afraid, then her heart melts and she no longer is angry [Laughs]. So, because Krishna is afraid, then suddenly her Vatsalya rasa manifests very nicely again [Laughs]. And Krishna actually loses His fear. And Mother Yasoda tries to tie Him up. So, when she is doing that, Krishna is no longer afraid. Rather opposite. And instead of being afraid of being tied up, Krishna thinks, I will not be tied up. So, He becomes very bold [Laughs]. So, instead of humbly submitting, He is actually competing with Mother Yasoda. And all of this is within this Vatsalya rasa. And all of these emotions and actions, they nourish that rasa and make it stronger.
Hare Krsna!
Q & A:
1.) Maharaj normally when we say that Supreme Lord, I think it is mentioned in Vishnu-sahasranama, shantakaram-bhujagashayanam, shantakaram (Santarupa) means He is peaceful. But here we see in the case of Krishna, it is a little bit contradictory. He is getting angry and he is getting fear. It is contradictory to his own quality, normally, the Supreme Lord. So, can we say that the quality of this fear, anger, is applied only to the rasa, only to some particular rasa. Not that when you say Supreme Lord, Supreme is the Lord. That is a little bit separate from the Supreme Lord. Like here, he is acting like a small child and he is getting angry and he is getting fear. But it doesn’t happen for the Vishnu and other lord.
So, Krishna is called Svayam-bhagavan because he manifestears rasas more excellently. But why do the rasas manifest more excellently? And that is because the devotees do not see Krishna as Supreme Lord. So, Mother Yasoda sees Krishna not as Supreme Lord, but simply as her child and therefore she can become angry, she can punish Krishna, etc. If she has that awe and reverence, she will not do that. So, because Krishna is acting like a human being and does not show his aspectears as Supreme Lord, the rasas can manifest very strongly. And the secondary rasas manifest in other forms of the Lord, but not so strongly. But in Krishna, they will become more strong also. So, because Krishna in his form in Vrindavan is very human-like, he can very freely become angry like a child, there is no restriction [Laughs]. And he can get hungry and eat uncontrollably [Laughs]. And he can steal from the neighbors [Laughs]. So, all of this is unrestricted because he is acting not like Supreme Lord [Laughs]. So, with Vishnu or Rama, etc., they will not do anything like this because they are acting as Supreme Lord.
2.) Regarding this false tears from Krishna, if tears are false because tears has a connection with the rasa, then the rasa also will be false. How can you understand this? Is that fear also false?
So tears usually are classed as Sattvika bhavas, involuntary expressions of strong internal Vyabhacari bhavas. So, sometimes the tears manifest because of joy. But then, they may also manifest because of lamentation or pain, etc. Of course, there is no real pain or lamentation, again these are Vyabhacari Bhava’s, aspects of their primary rasa. But then, we may get false tears. In other words, Krishna is falsely in pain and sorrow. So, this is not because actually He is Supreme Lord and therefore He is just putting on an act, not in that way. But, there are the false tears, like a child will show some false tears to get sympathy from a mother [Laughs]. So, they are part of His being a small child.
Devotee : Sometimes, a child really cries. That is not false.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yeah.
Devotee : Similarly, we can see that maybe because of Krishna’s Vatsalya, His relationship…
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yeah.
Devotee : He might also cry.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yeah, yeah. So, we see that when Krishna is small, then Mother Yasoda is very worried because Krishna is running around and, you know, the bulls may attack Him with the horns or some snake may bite Him or whatever like that. And if that happens, Krishna will start crying [Laughs].
3.) Hare Krishna Maharaj, Maharaj you have mentioned asuras or the demons don’t have any primary rasa, so that’s why they don’t exhibit secondary rasa. But we see Kamsa is fearing of Krishna because Krishna will kill Him. And then Sishupala is getting angry and envious. So, what kind of rasas are they?
So, because there is no positive rasa, therefore it is not a real secondary rasa. So, it is a rasabhas [Laughs]. False rasa [Laughs].
Devotee : Maharaj, we also see when in that verse mallānām aśanir nṛṇāṁ when Krishna comes to the arena of Kamsa Maharaj, everyone sees differently Krishna. So, what kind of rasa? That is also rasabhas?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yeah. So he is, Kamsa is showing fear rasa. So, it is rasabhas actually.
Devotee : All others are in those arenas they are seeing Krishna as their, I mean elderly people seeing Krishna as child and the person who is equal seeing Krishna as friend?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yeah, those are positive rasas, for devotees. But then we have fear rasa, anger rasa also expressed between the associates of Kamsa they see Krishna, there is raudra rasa. That is all secondary. It is rasabhas. The priests of Kamsa show Jugupsa rasa which is disgust or ghastliness. But what are they expressing it? To Krishna [Laughs]. But it is obvious they are disgusted with Krishna because he has blood on his body [Laughs].
So, this is completely not rasa [Laughs]. Its opposite [Laughs]. On the other hand the devotees will show disgust with the material world because of their great attachment to Krishna and the worthlessness of material rasas.
4.) Hare Krishna Maharaj. So Maharaj, from these sections of the Bhagavatam can we positively conclude that this is how God wans to be. Like this is the nature of God and the rest of his activities as Vishnu or whatever is just as a matter of duty. Like a person as a matter of duty he shows different faces outside but in his own house he is very casual, natural. So, this is the natural state or this is how God wants to be. Is that how we can conclude, Maharaj?
Because the Supreme Lord is absolute all of his forms are absolute. And why would they even have those forms is because some devotees prefer those forms. So, the Lord responds to the particular devotee according to his expectations and he assumes these different forms. And for those devotees those forms are perfect. If we are to look from an objective point of view then we can see some forms show more qualities, some show less qualities. But because actually they are all one, all forms possess all qualities [Laughs]. But due to the manifestation of qualities then the intensity of the rasa changes. And from an objective point of view the more intense the rasa the more bliss, so more preferable. So, therefore we put Krishna at the top. And we say that’s his full nature manifested. And the other forms are manifesting slightly less qualities but still it’s his nature.
5.) Hare Krishna Maharaj. Maharaj, let’s say someone is getting to know all the information about Bhava and everything but somehow he is attracted to let’s say the Damodara form of the Lord or he is getting attracted to the Sakhya aspect of the Lord but also theoretically he is getting to know that Madhurya Bhava is the topmost. So, how would he figure his path?
Well, as in the material world you may like idlis, for instance. Idlis [Laughs]. Well, you don’t like pizza, burger. So, what is the reason? It’s hard to explain. So, spiritually speaking then we will have some attraction for one rasa and less attraction for another rasa. Of course, we can develop a taste for something also. So, if somebody introduces you to Italian food then gradually you can develop a taste for pizza. So, a particular devotee has a taste for Sakhya rasa and he associates with you you can also develop a taste for Sakhya rasa. So, therefore it is said that quite often the cause for attraction to a particular rasa is due to association of certain devotees.
6.) What is the difference between sattvika bhava and vyabhachari bhava?
Sattvika bhavas are defined as involuntary responses to intense vyabhachari bhavas. And they manifest externally. So, it may be crying, fainting, shivering, perspiring, change of color, etc. So, they are physical actions, involuntary actions. Vyabhachari bhavas are internal feelings. So, one is external, the other is internal. So, when the internal Vyabhachari bhava becomes intense, then they may have a reaction, and then you manifest these external symptoms.
Devotee : Sometimes Anubhava and Vyabhachari bhava are almost like the same.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: So, Anubhavas are also external. And sometimes, sattvika bhavas are considered to be anubhavas, because they are also external [Laughs]. So, Mother Yasoda has an anubhava like cooking for Krishna, or bathing Krishna, or decorating Krishna. But the sattvika bhavas are involuntary. She may cry, she may faint, etc. But the vyabhachari bhavas are internal. She hears a sudden sound, so she gets terror [Not clear]. Maybe she thinks there is a demon coming, or something. She may lament, because Krishna has disappeared. So, there are 33 vyabhachari bhavas.
7.) Hare Krishna Maharaj. Thank you so much. You mentioned in the lecture about Krishna being akhila-rasa-amṛta-mūrtiḥ. So we understand there are different stages a devotee can be in terms of devotion towards Krishna I.e Ruchi, asakti, prema and then Mahabhava. And then, we also hear that Srimati Radharani experiences Mahabhava along with few other devotees. Other than Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, does Krishna experience this Mahabhava, or other like bhava you mentioned in the class?
Just as the devotees, usually we describe the devotees as sattvika bhavas, or anubhavas, etc., sthayi bhava, Krishna also has. So, thus, Krishna can faint, Krishna can worry, Krishna can lament, whatever.
8.) You told that only Krishna exhibits all rasas. What about Balarama? Whether He will exhibit only dasya rasa, or other rasa also?
Because Krishna is svayam bhagavan, then He is the most perfect manifestation of all rasas. But Balarama is considered His first expansion, so therefore very similar. So therefore, He will manifest sakhya rasa, dasya rasa, vatsalya rasa, madhurya rasa, etc. But will be slightly less intense than Krishna’s.
9.) You said that Yasoda matha didn’t see Krishna as supreme God, and rather saw Him as her child. So, she could express vatsalya rasa to its fullest. So, can we consider that the more we look at Him as a supreme, the less we can have vatsalya rasa?
Vasudeva and Devaki in Mathura and Dwaraka have vatsalya rasa for Krishna, but they also know Krishna as Supreme Lord, so therefore the vatsalya rasa is weaker. When Devaki saw Yasoda and Nanda greeting Krishna and Balarama in Kurukshetra, then she was astonished. She saw the intensity of Nanda and Yasoda’s love, and then she thought, well, I am the actual mother, how can they show more love than I [Laughs]?
10.) In our current situation as practicing sadhakas, should we aspire for any particular rasa with the Lord or stay focused in the mood of serving of the servant?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Is this a stage of sadhana?
Devotee : Sadhakas, as a sadhaka.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yeah. So, of course, it is said that unless one develops a greed to follow a particular inhabitant of Vrindavan in the spiritual world, then one should practice Vaidhi Bhakti. And, of course, generally in Vaidhi Bhakti, you have Dasya as the main rasa. However, with Krishna, one could also have the different rasas as in Dwaraka or Mathura, but there will always be this awe and reverence involved in it.
Devotee : Maharaj, when you say sadhaka, the sadhaka word applies to both Raganuga and Vaidhi also. It applies for both. The sadhaka is applied for both. Not only for vaidhi, it applies for Raganuga also. So, even sadhaka, if you are a sadhaka, even the vaidhi, that can turn to Raganuga if they practice continuously.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: It can turn to Raganuga.
Devotee : Yeah.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: So, yes, one practicing vaidhi Bhakti can turn into Raganuga, but it’s not inevitable that everybody, the performers of vaidhi Bhakti for Krishna also then practices Raganuga. So, in Nectar of devotion, Rupa Goswami says that one may have an attraction for Madhurya Rasa, but he practices pure vaidhi. So, he goes to Dwaraka. So, he doesn’t do Raganuga [Laughs]. He goes to Dwaraka instead [Laughs]. And if you do a kind of a mixture, you go to Madhura. And if you practice pure Raganuga, you go to Gokul.
11.) Maharaj In Iskcon, the devotees normally aspire to go to Gokula. But, they are following vaidhi Bhakti. So what will be the hope for them then?
So they go to Dwaraka then [Laughs].
Devotees: Grantharaj Srimad Bhagavatam ki jai!!! HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj ki jai!!! Srila Prabhupada ki jai!!! Nitai Gaura Premanande Hari Haribol!!!