Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.8.32
by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Mayapura, October 12, 1974

Nitai: “Some say that the Unborn is born for the glorification of pious kings, and others say that He is born to please King Yadu, one of Your dearest devotees. You appear in his family as sandalwood appears in the Malaya Hills.”

Prabhupada:

kecid ahur ajam jatam punya-slokasya kirtaye yadoh priyasyanvavaye malayasyeva candanam

So Krsna has nothing to do. He is the Supreme. Why He shall have some thing to do? Na tasya karyam karanam… This is the definition in the Vedas: “God has nothing to do. He is self-sufficient. Neither He has got any aspiration.” Just like we are thinking of purchasing this land, that land. Why Krsna will think like that? Because every land is belonging to Him. So He has nothing to purchase. Everything is there. So why He comes? That is the same way, as Krsna says personally. He comes for paritranaya sadhunam vinasaya ca duskrtam [Bg. 4.8]. He wants to give protection to the devotees, to glorify the devotees. That is His business. Otherwise He has no business. He has nothing to do. Just like a devotee has nothing to do except serving Krsna, except to see Krsna is pleased, similarly, Krsna has nothing to do, but He wants to glorify His devotee. This is reciprocation. Ye yatha mam prapadyante. If you… If you dedicate your life for glorifying the Supreme Lord, the Lord is also ready. His business is to glorify you. Otherwise, He has no business.

Therefore here it is said that priyasya, yadoh priyasya. King Yadu became very dear to Krsna by rendering service. Priyasya. The… As Krsna is very dear to the devotee, similarly, devotees are also very, very dear to Krsna. There is another verse, sva-pada-mulam bhajatah priyasya. Sva-pada-mulam bhajatah priyasya: “If one is engaged at the lotus feet of Krsna, he becomes very, very dear.” Sva-pada-mulam bhajatah priyasya. Bhajatah, one who is simply engaged for rendering service to the lotus feet of Krsna—he has no other business—he becomes priya. And as soon as you become priya, or dear to Krsna, then your all problems solved. Just like if you become a dear child of a very big, rich man, then where is your problem? Automatically he’s taken care of. Because he has become dear child of a very big man, so what is his problem? No problem. Similarly, we have to become very dear to Krsna. Then all our problems solved.

These rascals, karmis, they do not know. They want to become happy by their own endeavor. That is called karmi. They are working very hard—the same thing—to be very happy, and the devotee is also trying to become happy. Everyone is trying. Sukham atyantikam yat tad atindriya-grahyam. Everyone is trying to be, become happy, because to become happy is our natural tendency. Anandamayo ’bhyasat. Everyone is trying to become happy. But the karmis, the jnanis, the yogis, they do not know how to become perfectly happy. They’re making their own endeavor. Karmis are trying to work harder, hard, day and night, to get money. “Some way or other, never mind black and white. Bring money. I must have nice car, nice house, nice bank balance.” This is karmi. And jnani, when he is fed up with working, when he understands that “This working hard and bank balance could not make me anyway happy, so therefore this is false, all these activities, what I am…” The brahma satyam jagan mithya. So they become disgusted and take to Brahman. Brahma satyam.

But brahma satyam is fact, but because they are trying to understand Brahman by their speculative method, they cannot understand Brahman. Athapi te deva padambuja-dvaya-prasada-lesanugrhita eva hi, janati tattvam. You can understand the Supreme Brahman… Simply understanding Brahman will not give you satisfaction. Simply understanding aham brahmasmi, this will not… Suppose if you have got money, and you are aware that you are very rich man. So simply thinking that you are very rich man and you see your money in the treasury, you’ll be happy? No. When the money is utilized in so many ways for your gratification, then you are happy. Similarly, simple understanding, aham brahmasmi, this realization, will not make you happy. You have to utilize his Brahman’s position. That means bhakti. This is called santa-rasa, simply to understand aham brahmasmi. This is called santa-rasa. You must develop further. That is called dasya-rasa, to become the servant of the Supreme Brahman. Then further advance. Simply to understand that “I am Brahman” will not give you…

Just the same example… It is very easy, that, if you simply understand you have got much money… Just like we are trying to purchase land, but purchase land means I must have money. So money is there. So why I am not happy? Why I am trying to purchase land? To utilize the money. That is required. Every businessman has got money, enough money. But why they are active in the business circle? They are going to the market, share market, this market. Utilize the money. The same thing, simply to understand that aham brahmasmi… Therefore they fail. All these so-called sannyasis, simply understanding aham brahmasmi, “I have become now Narayana,” not giving them satisfaction, but because they have no information about rendering service to the Parabrahman, they come to again to this material field to render service, to open hospital, to open school, to feed the daridra-narayana, and in this way they imagine because they want activities.

So Brahman realization without activity of Brahman will not allow you to stay in the Brahman position. You’ll fall down. Aruhya krcchrena param padam tatah patanty adhah anadrta-yusmad-anghrayah [SB 10.2.32]. Patanty adhah. By great austerities and penance, they can rise up to the param padam, aham brahmasmi, brahma-pada. But aruhya krcchrena param padam tatah, from that place, patanty adhah, again falls down in this material world. Why? Anadrta-yusmad-anghrayah: “Because they did not learn how to honor Your lotus feet.” Because they are impersonalists, they are— “God, or the Brahman, has no leg.” So how they will take shelter of the leg or lotus feet? Impersonal. Therefore the very word is used, anadrta-yusmad-anghrayah. Anghrayah means this leg, or lotus feet. So because they have no information, or they, even they have got information, they are not inclined to render service, therefore they fall down. This is the position.

So our business is not to realize simply that “I… aham brahmasmi.” That is stated in the Bhagavad-gita, brahma-bhutah prasannatma [Bg. 18.54] When you understand that you are not this body but you are spirit soul, then, actually, if you realize, then, if I understand… Na jayate na mriyate va. The soul does not die. Then here the karmis are working very hard because he’s upset that “If I do not work hard, if I do not get money, then I shall die out of starvation.” But if you are actually Brahman realized, if you understand that “I’ll not die,” then where is your activities? You’ll not die. If somebody, some physician, gives you a tablet: “Now you take this tablet. You’ll not die,” then you’ll stop working immediately, because “I’ll not die.” So brahma-bhutah prasannatma. “That is all right. Now I am spirit soul. I understand I will never die.” That is prasannatma. Na socati na kanksati [Bg. 18.54]. There is no need of lamentation. Samah sarvesu bhutesu. But mad-bhaktim labhate param. If you do not take to devotional service, simply by realizing that you are Brahman will not help. And by devotional service, you can become dear.

Just like Arjuna is addressed by Krsna, bhakto ’si priyo ’si: “You are My devotee and very dear friend.” So our business is, somehow or other, to become very dear to Krsna, as a servant, as a friend, or as father, mother, or as lover. Some way or other, you become… Make Krsna your dear as master or as son or as father or… Father, they are taki…, doing, everyone. Even ordinary person, if he is God conscious, he takes Krsna as supreme father. Just like the Christians, they take that “O Father, give us our daily…” Father means to ask Him, “Give me, give me, give me, give me.” Nobody wants to give father, but wants to take from father. Sometimes our students, when they spend extravagantly and I point out, he says, “My father has sent money.” Sometimes. “My father has sent money.” Yes. “Why did you stay at Ashoka Hotel?” “My father sent money.” “Why not ask your father to send money? Why you are collecting by making life member?” So means idea of father… Father means that “Whenever I want to stay in Ashoka Hotel, he’ll send money,” not that “I will send money to father. He may stay at Ashoka Hotel.” Nobody thinks like that. “Father may send money, and I shall stay in Ashoka Hotel.” This is the idea of father. Father means to exploit him, to exploit.

So the father conception of God, mother conception of God, is not bad. Just like in Bengal especially, they have got mother conception. Mother conception means the same thing, to exploit, take from mother, or father. But the Vaisnava conception is not to accept God as father or mother but as son. Son means to give. Father means to take from him, and son means to take from the father. So if you become father of God, then your business will be to give, not to take. That is Vaisnava conception. From the very beginning of the son’s life, the mother is giving service to the son, the father is giving service. Therefore the service is there. Even Krsna is afraid of mother Yasoda. Why? Why mother Yasoda was trying to bind Krsna? Because He disrupted the process of service of mother Yasoda to Krsna. That is… Mother Yasoda tried that “You have broken the butter, and You have distributed to the monkeys, You rascal. Then how You will live? I kept the butter for You so that You will eat and You’ll become fatty. And You have broken that, and You have distributed the butter to the monkeys, so You must be punished.” So the aim is to serve Krsna, not that Yasoda is thinking, “My butter is spoiled by this child. Therefore He should be punished.” He (she) is anxious to see that “Krsna may not starve for want of butter. He’s child. He does not know. He has distributed the butter to the monkeys.” But Krsna knows that “These monkeys are not ordinary monkeys.” Those monkeys, they have taken birth in Vrndavana and come to Krsna. Do you think they’re ordinary monkeys? They’re devotees. They’re devotees. They’re playing as monkey for Krsna’s satisfaction. These are the intricate meanings of understanding Krsna’s lila. Therefore Krsna says, janma karma me divyam yo janati tattvatah.

So to understand krsna-lila… So therefore we have to understand Krsna-lila, Krsna, from these books, Bhagavata, Bhagavad-gita, but not directly. Therefore Caitanya Mahaprabhu recommends, bhagavata giya paro bhagavata sthane. Just try to understand Bhagavata or Bhagavan from the realized soul, not from the professional man. So here: kecid ahur ajam jatam. Ahuh ajam jatam. Contradiction. Now Krsna says, ajo ’pi: “Although I am birthless, I do not take birth,” ajo ’pi sann avyayatma bhutanam isvaro ’pi san… He is the Supreme Being, He’s the master of everyone, and He never takes birth. Still, He takes birth—contradiction. He never takes birth, aja; at the same time… Ajo ’pi… Here it is said, kecid ahur ajam. God, or Krsna, is aja. He never takes birth. But again he (she) says, jatam: “He has taken birth.” This contradiction should be understood. The Vedas, there are many such contradictions like that. Pasyaty acaksuh: “Krsna, or God, sees, but He has no eyes.” Similarly, God, Krsna, takes His birth although He never takes birth. These are contradictions. Pasyaty acaksuh. Apani-pado javano grahita: “He has no leg, but He goes so fast, nobody can compete Him.” These are Vedic statements. You’ll find in the Upanisads, apani-pada: “He has no leg, He has no hand,” but javano grahita, “but if you offer Him something, He takes.” Krsna says… It is not my word.

patram puspam phalam toyam yo me bhaktya prayacchati tad aham bhakty-upahrtam asnami prayatatmanah

Now, if the Supreme Lord, God, has no hand, no leg, then how He can walk? Just like Saksi-gopala. Saksi-gopala, He was Deity, apparently showing as made of stone, and the devotee’s asking, “My Lord, Gopala, You have to come to give witness.” So Gopala was smiling and said, “How you expect a Deity can walk that I shall go to give witness for you?” The bhakta said, “If the Deity can speak and smile, He can walk also.” That is the conviction of devotee. And the other party, they agreed that “If Gopala comes to give witness, my sister will be given to you.” He… Because he’s atheist, he is thinking that “How the Deity will come? He’ll never come. Then I shall not have to fulfill my promise.” He is… He was confident like that. That is the difference between a devotee and nondevotee. The nondevotee cannot understand. They will take it that “Once you say that God has no eyes, then how He can see? God has no leg. Then how can He walk? God has no hand. Then how can He accept your offering?” Therefore the conclusion should be that ajo ’pi, although Krsna never takes birth, and again He takes birth. He has taken birth. Therefore His birth is not like our birth. This is to be understood. He has no birth, but He has taken birth. Therefore, an intelligent man will conclude that His birth is not like our birth.

Therefore Krsna says, janma karma me divyam. It is all transcendental. It is not this ordinary birth. Ordinary birth means male and female union, then there is pregnancy, then the child comes out of the womb. It is not like that. It is… We can take this example. Just like the sunrise in the morning: udilo aruna puraba-bhage. Before the sunrise, the sky becomes reddish, and then the sun comes out. So if somebody says that “The eastern side is the birthplace of sun,” is it a fact? No. The sun is always there in the sky, but with your limited eyes you are seeing that now sun comes, sunrise. Sun does not rise nor set. Sun is already there. Your imperfect eyes—you see there is sunrise, there is sunset. Is it not a fact? Similarly, Krsna is always there, but because we do not know Krsna, therefore we understand that Krsna is taking birth from Devaki, or Krsna has taken birth in the family of the Yadus. Yes, He appears like that, that He has taken birth in the Yadu family. Because why? The purpose is to glorify the family because it belongs to the devotee, Maharaja Yadu. That is His purpose. His real purpose is that the Yadu dynasty… Maharaja Yadu was a great devotee. Here the yadoh priyasya. He appears to take birth in the family of Maharaja Yadu. Just like Lord Ramacandra. He took birth in the family of Maharaja Raghu. Therefore Lord Ramacandra is called Raghunatha, Dasarathi, as Krsna is called Vasudeva because He accepted Vasudeva as His father.

So actually, Krsna has no birth. Krsna doesn’t require. He can appear in any family. He… Just like Krsna appeared, matsya-avatara, in the family of fish. Kesava dhrta-mina-sarira, jaya jagadisa hare. Krsna took birth as a pig. Kesava dhrta-varaha-sarira, jaya jagadisa hare. Krsna is free. He can appear anywhere, everywhere. That is… Just like isvarah sarva-bhutanam hrd-dese arjuna tisthati [Bg. 18.61]. He’s situated in everyone’s heart. So He is with everyone’s… Every living being has got Krsna. So Krsna is already there in the heart. From the heart, if He appears in front… Just like Dhruva Maharaja. He was meditating that Visnu form of Krsna, and all of a sudden he saw that Visnu is not there. Then he opened his eyes. He saw Visnu is in his front. So what is the difficulty for Krsna? If He is within the heart and if He comes in your front, is it very difficult task for Him?

But the rascals, atheists, they cannot understand. Krsna everywhere. That is explained here, yadoh priyasya anvavaye. He can appear… How it is? Malayasyeva candanam. The sandalwood is famous as produced in Malaysia, or Malaya. I think formerly they used to grow sandalwood in Malaysia. What…? What is that capital?

Devotee: Kuala Lumpur.

Prabhupada: Kuala Lumpur. Yes. We had been in Kuala Lumpur. Now, instead of sandalwood, they are growing rubber, rubberwood. Yes. So formerly malaya-candana, Malaysia, Malayasian candana, sandalwood was very famous. Still it is famous. So this candana tree can grow anywhere, but it is famous as Malayan candana. Similarly, Krsna can appear from anywhere. He is independent. But He appeared as this descendant of the Yadu dynasty. Why? Yadoh priyasya, punya-slokasya kirtaye. Those who are devotee, they are punya-sloka. Or Krsna is also punya-sloka, uttama-sloka, Krsna’s another name… As Krsna is known as Uttama-sloka, similarly, the devotees are called punya-sloka. How they become punya-sloka? Simply by hearing about Krsna. Srnvatam sva-kathah krsnah punya-sloka-kirtanah [Bhag. 1.2.17]. Anyone who is always in contact with Krsna, he’s punya-sloka, and Krsna is Uttama-sloka. Uttama-sloke bhagavati bhaktir bhavati naisthiki.

So these are the terms used in the sastras. As Krsna is Uttama- sloka, similarly, a devotee is punya-sloka. As the devotee worships Krsna with selected poems, uttama-sloka… They are not ordinary poems. Cintamani-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vrksa-laksavrtesu surabhir abhipalayan… [Bs. 5.29]. These are not ordinary verse. These are transcendental verses: Govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami **. So Krsna is worshiped by transcendental verses, transcendental language, Vedic language. That is transcendental language. Therefore it is called uttama-sloka. So punya-sloka, when he’s advanced, he can worship the Uttama-sloka. Nasta-prayesu abhadresu nityam bhagavata-sevaya [SB 1.2.18]. Nityam, daily, regular. So as you are daily hearing Srimad-Bhagavatam, so if you go on, then nasta-praya, everything, all dirty things within your heart, ceto-darpana-marjanam [Cc. Antya 20.12], it will be all cleansed. Then you become punya-sloka. Punya-sloka. Nityam bhagavata-sevaya. Srnvatam sva-kathah krsnah nityam…, punya-sloka-kirtanah [Bhag. 1.2.17]. Simply by hearing…

So we are inviting everyone to become punya-sloka simply by hearing Srimad-Bhagavata. There is no… Come here. Take prasadam. Chant Hare Krsna. Dance in jubilation. Become punya-sloka, and Krsna…, you become very dear to Krsna. This is perfection of life.

Thank you very much. (end)