Prayers by the Demigods for Lord Kṛṣṇa in the Womb.

Second Chapter heading: "Prayers by the Demigods for Lord Krsna in the Womb."

King Kamsa not only occupied the kingdoms of the Yadu dynasty, Bhoja dynasty, Andhaka dynasty and the kingdom of Sūrasena, but he made alliances with all the demoniac other kings, known as the demon Pralamba, demon Baka, demon Cūrana [Canūra], demon Trnavarta, demon Aghasura, demon Mustika, demon Arista, demon Dvivida, demon Pūtana, demon Kesi, and demon Dhenuka. At that time Jarasandha was the king of Magadha province, at present known as Bihar state. Thus by diplomatic policy he become the most powerful king of his time under the protection of Jarasandha and made alliances with such kings as Banasura, Saumasura [Bhaumasura]. Thus making himself the strongest, Kamsa, he began to behave most inimically to the Yadu dynasty, where Krsna was to take His birth.

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Thus, being harassed by Kamsa, the kings of Yadu dynasty, Bhoja dynasty, Andhaka dynasty began to take shelter in different other states, such as the state of the Kurus, the state of the Pancala, the state known as Kekaya, the state known as Salya [Salva], the state known as Vidarbha, the state known as Nisad, the state known as Videha and the state known as Kosala. Thus he broke the solidarity of the kingdom of the Yadus and Bhoja as well as Andhaka. Practically he made his position as solid as anything within the vast tract of land known at that time as Bharata-varsa.

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When Kamsa killed six babies of Devaki and Vasudeva one after another, many friends and relatives of Kamsa approached him and requested him not to continue these heinous activities. Actually, all of them became worshiper of Kamsa.

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When Devaki became pregnant for the seventh time, at that time a plenary expansion of Krsna who is known as Ananta, He appeared within the womb of Devaki. At that time Devaki was overwhelmed both by jubilation and lamentation. She was joyful that she could understand that Lord Visnu has taken shelter within his…, within her womb, but at the same time she was sorry that as soon as her child will come out, Kamsa would kill Him. At that time the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, being compassionate with the fearful condition of the Yadus out of atrocities committed by Kamsa, He ordered the Yogamaya, or the internal potency of the Lord, because He is not only the Lord of the universe, but He is specifically the Lord of the Yadu dynasty.

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This Yogamaya is the chief of all potencies of the Personality of Godhead. In the Vedas it is stated that the Lord, Supreme Personality of Godhead, has got multipotencies. Parasya saktir vividhaiva srūyate [Svetasvatara Upanisad 6.8].

All those different potencies are acting externally and internally, and Yogamaya is the chief of all such potencies. He ordered her to appear in the land of Vrajabhūmi, Vrndavana, which is always decorated and full with beautiful cows. In Vrndavana, Rohini, one of the wives of Vasudeva, is residing at the house of King Nanda and Queen Yasoda. Not only Rohini but many other people of the Yadu dynasty, they were scattered all over the country on account of being afraid of the atrocities of Kamsa. Some of them were living in the caves of the mountain also.

The Lord also informed Yogamaya that "Under the imprisonment of Kamsa, Devaki and Vasudeva are there, and at the present moment within the womb of Devaki My plenary expansion Sesa is there. You can just arrange transfer of the Sesa womb from Devaki to the womb of Rohini. Just after this arrangement I am personally going to appear within the womb of Devaki with My full potencies, then I shall appear as the son of Devaki and Vasudeva, and you should appear as the daughter of Nanda and Yasoda in Vrndavana.

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"Sinc you will appear as My contemporary sister, people within the world will worship you with all kinds of valuable presentation: incense, candles, flowers, and sometimes offering sacrifice also before you, because you shall be quickly satisfy their desires of sense gratification. People who are after materialistic perfection would worship you under different forms of your expansion, and they would be named like Bhadrakali, Vijaya, Vaisnavi, Kumuda, Canḍrika, Krsna, Madhavi, Kanyaka, Maya, Narayani, Īsani, Sarada, Ambika."

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Since Krsna and Yogamaya appeared as contemporary brother and sister, or in other words the Supreme Powerful and the supreme power… Although there is no remarkable distinction between the powerful and the power, still, power is always subordinate to the powerful. Those who are materialistic, they are worshiper of the power, but those who are transcendentalist, they are worshiper of the powerful. Krsna is the Supreme Powerful, and Durga within this material world is the supreme power. Actually, people in the Vedic culture worship these powerful and the power. There are many hundreds and thousands of temples of Visnu and Devi. Sometimes it is also found that people worship both the powerful and the power simultaneously. The worshiper of the power, Durga, or external energy of Krsna, may achieve all kinds of material success very easily, but anyone who wants to be elevated transcendentally, he must engage himself in worshiping the Powerful in Krsna consciousness.

The Lord also declared to Yogamaya that "My plenary expansion Ananta Sesa, who is now lying in the womb of Devaki, and because you will transfer Him to the womb of Yasoda [sic], on account of thus being forcibly attracted, He would be known as Sahkarsana. On the other hand, because He would be the source of all spiritual power called bala, by which one will be able to attain the highest bliss of life which is called ramana, therefore My plenary portion Ananta after appearance will be known either as Sahkarsana or Balarama."

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In the Upanisad it is stated, nayam atma bala hinena labhya [Munḍaka Upanisad 3.2.4].

The purport is nobody can attain the supreme platform of self-realization without being sufficiently favored by Balarama. Bala. Bala means Balarama. It is not that bala means physical strength. Nobody can attain the spiritual perfection by his physical strength, but one must have spiritual strength which is infused by Balarama, or Sahkarsana. The Ananta Sesa-naga, He is the power which sustains all the planet in their different position. Materially this sustaining power is known as law of gravitation, but actually it is the display, the potency, of Sahkarsana. So Balarama, or Sahkarsana, is spiritual power, or the original spiritual master. Therefore, Lord Nityananda Prabhu, who is also incarnation of Balarama, is the original spiritual master. And the spiritual master is representative of Balarama, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead who supplies the spiritual strength. In the Caitanya-caritamrta it is confirmed that the spiritual master is the manifestation of mercy of Krsna.

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When Yogamaya was ordered by the Supreme Personality of Godhead in that way, she circumambulated the Lord and then appeared within this material world according to the direction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When the supreme power of the Supreme Powerful Personality of Godhead attracted Lord Sesa from the womb of Devaki to the womb of Rohini, both of them were under the spell of Yogamaya, which is called yoga-nidra. When this was done, then people understood that Devaki's seventh pregnancy was miscarriage. Thus Lord Balarama, although appeared as the son of Devaki, was transferred to the womb of Rohini to appear as her son.

After this arrangement, the Supreme Personality of Godhead Krsna, who is always ready to place His unalloyed devotees in His full potency, and as the Lord of the whole creation, entered within the mind of Vasudeva in full potency of inconceivable energy. It is however understood in this connection that Lord Krsna first of all took the situation in the unalloyed heart of Vasudeva, and then He was transferred to the heart of Devaki. Actually, He was not put into the womb of Devaki by seminal discharge. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, by His inconceivable potency, can appear in any way. It is not necessary that He has to appear in the ordinary way of giving birth through seminal injection within the womb of an woman.

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Thus when Vasudeva was sustaining the form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead within his heart, he appeared just like the glowing sun, whose shining rays are always unbearable and scorching to the common man. The form of the Lord situated in the pure unalloyed heart of Vasudeva is not different from the original form of Krsna. The appearance of Krsna's form anywhere, and specifically within the heart, is called dhama. Dhama means not only Krsna's form but His name, His form, His quality, His paraphernalia. Everything become manifest simultaneously.

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Thus the eternal form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead with full potencies was transferred from the mind of Vasudeva to the mind of Devaki, exactly like the sunshine transfers to the full moon rising from the eastern direction. Thus... [break]

17:25 Krsna, tape number four.

Thus Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, entered the body of Devaki from the body of Vasudeva without any condition of the ordinary living entity. When Krsna was there, it is to be understood that all His plenary expansions, such as Narayana and incarnations like Lord Nrsimha, Varaha, everyone was with Him without any condition of material existence. In this way, Devaki become the residence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is one without a second and the cause of all creation. Although Devaki become the residence of the Absolute Truth, still, on account of her being interned in the house of Kamsa, she was looking as if suppressed fire or misused education. When fire is covered by the walls of a pot, or in other words when fire is kept in some jug, actually the illuminating rays of the fire cannot be appreciated very much. Similarly, if knowledge is misused without doing any good to the people in general, such knowledge is not very much appreciated. Similarly, Devaki, who became the residence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, was kept within the prison walls of Kamsa. Therefore people could not see the transcendental beauty of Devaki on account of conceiving the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

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When Kamsa, however, saw the transcendental beauty of his sister Devaki, he concluded that "Certainly the Supreme Personality of Godhead has taken shelter now in the womb of Devaki, because she was not so wonderfully beautiful before." He could distinctly understand that there is something wonderful within the womb of Devaki; otherwise how she could become so much exceptionally beautiful which she was never before. In this way Kamsa became perturbed within his mind, because he became assured that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, [who] would kill him in future, must have already been there.

Kamsa thus began to think within himself, "What is to be done now with Devaki? Because surely, she has now Visnu, or Krsna, within her womb. It is sure and certain that Krsna has come to execute the mission of the demigods, so even if I kill Devaki immediately, His mission cannot be frustrated." Kamsa knew it very well that the purpose of Visnu nobody can frustrate. Any intelligent man can understand that the laws of God cannot be violated. His purpose must be served in spite of all impediments offered by the demons. "If I kill Devaki at present moment, Visnu will enforce His supreme will more vehemently because that if I kill Devaki just now, it would be the most abominable action on my part. Nobody desires to kill his reputation, even in awkward situation. So if I kill Devaki just now, all my reputation will be spoiled. Devaki is a woman, and she is under my shelter, she is pregnant, and if I kill her immediately all my reputation, result of pious activities and duration of life must be finished."

He also began to deliberate that "A person who is too much cruel, he lives even in his lifetime as dead. Because nobody likes a cruel person, and after the death of such cruel person, people curse such person. Because a cruel person, on account of his concept of self-identified with the body, must be degraded, being pushed into the darkest region of hell." Considering thus all the pros and cons of killing Devaki at that time, he finally decided not to kill Devaki at that time but to wait for the inevitable future. But his mind became absorbed in animosity with Personality of Godhead.

Thus, he patiently waited for the deliverance of the child, expecting to kill Him as he had done previously with other babies of Devaki. Thus, being merged in the ocean of animosity with the Personality of Godhead, he began to think of Krsna and Visnu while sitting, while sleeping, while walking, while eating, while working, or in all situation of his life. His mind become so much absorbed with the thought of the Supreme Personality of Godhead that indirectly he could see only all around him Krsna or Visnu. Unfortunately, although his mind was so much absorbed in the thought of Visnu, still he is not recognized as a devotee because he was thinking of Krsna as enemy.

The same status of mind is found in the person of a great devotee, but a devotee thinks of Krsna favorably, not unfavorably as Kamsa used to think of Him. To think of Krsna favorable is therefore Krsna consciousness. To think of Krsna unfavorable is not Krsna consciousness. At this time all the demigods, headed by Lord Brahma, Lord Siva and accompanied by great sages like Narada, followed by many other demigods, invisibly appeared in the house of Kamsa. They began to pray for the Supreme Personality of Godhead in very nice selected version, which are so much pleasing to the devotee and which can award fulfillment of the desire of the devotees.

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The demigods began to offer their prayers as follows. The first word they used, that "The Lord is true to His vow." As stated in the Bhagavad-gita, that Krsna descends in this material world just to protect the pious and to destroy the impious. That is His vow. So, the demigods could understand that "The Lord has now taken His residence within the womb of Devaki to fulfill this vow. He is appearing just to fulfill the same principle as stated in the Bhagavad-gita: to protect the pious and to annihilate the impious. " In other words, the demigods were very much engladdened that the Lord is appearing to fulfill His mission. Then they addressed Him as satyam param. Satyam param means the Supreme Absolute Truth. Everyone is searching after the truth. That is the philosophical way of thinking. So, the demigods giving us information that the Supreme Absolute Truth is Krsna. For one who becomes fully Krsna conscious, he can search out or attain the Absolute Truth. He is Absolute Truth because relative truth is not truth in all the three phases of eternal time. The time is divided into past, present and future. So Krsna is truth always, past, present and future.

In the material world everything is being controlled by the supreme time, in the course of past, present and future. Before the creation, Krsna was existing; when there is creation, everything is resting in Krsna; and when this creation will be finished, Krsna will remain. Therefore, He is Absolute Truth in all circumstances. If there is any truth within this material world, that is emanated from the Supreme Truth, Krsna. If there is any opulence within this material world, the cause of such opulence is Krsna. If there is any value of reputation within this material world, the cause of such reputation is Krsna. If there is any value of strength within this material world, the cause of such strength is Krsna. If there is any value of wisdom and education within this material world, the cause of such wisdom and education is Krsna. Therefore, Krsna is the source of all relative truths.

This material world is composed of five principal elements, namely earth, water, fire, air and sky, and all such elements are emanation from Krsna. The material scientists accept these primary five elements as the cause of material manifestation, but the elements in their gross and final stage are produced by Krsna. The living entities who are working within this material world, they are also production of His marginal potency. In the Seventh Chapter of the Bhagavad-gita, it is clearly stated that the whole manifestation is combination of two kinds of energies: the superior energy and inferior energy of Krsna. The living entities are the superior energy, whereas the dead material elements are inferior energy of Krsna. So everything remains in its dormant stage in Krsna.

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The demigods continued to offer their respectful prayers unto the supreme form of the Personality of Godhead, Krsna, by analytical study of the material manifestation. What is this material manifestation? It is just like a tree. As the tree stands on the ground, similarly, the material manifestation as tree is standing on the ground of material nature. This material manifestation is compared with a tree because a tree is ultimately cut off in due course of time. Because a tree is cut off in due course of time it is called vrksa. Vrksa means the thing which will be ultimately cut off. Therefore, this tree of material manifestation cannot be accepted as the Ultimate Truth, because on the material manifestation there is influence of time, but so far Krsna's body is concerned, He is eternal. That is already explained, that He existed before the material manifestation, He is existing while the material manifestation is continuing, and when the material manifestation will be dissolved, at that time Krsna will continue to exist. As such, this material world cannot be accepted as the Absolute Truth. Only Krsna can be accepted as the Absolute Truth.

So far the material manifestation is compared with a tree, it is standing on the material nature. This tree has got two kinds of fruits, namely distress and happiness. Those who are living on the tree, they are also just like two birds. So one bird is the localized aspect of Krsna known as Paramatma, and the other bird is the living entity. The living entity is eating the fruits of this material manifestation, namely, sometimes he is eating the fruit of distress and sometimes he is eating the fruit of happiness. But the other bird is not interested in eating the fruit of distress or happiness because He is self-satisfied. This is also confirmed in the Katha Upanisad that two birds are sitting in this tree of body. One bird is eating the fruits; another bird is simply witnessing.

And this tree has got its roots extended in three directions. That means the root of the tree is the three modes of material nature: goodness, passion and ignorance. As the root expands, similarly, by association of the root modes of material nature [goodness, passion and ignorance], one expands his duration of material existence. So far the fruits are concerned, their taste are four kinds. They are called religiosity, economic development, sense gratification and ultimately liberation. According to the different association of three modes of material nature the living entities are tasting different kinds of religiosity, different kinds of economic development, different kinds of sense gratification and different ideas of liberation. Practically in ignorance…

[break] …live in the material world, but because there are three qualities, sometimes the ignorance is covered by the quality of goodness or the quality of passion. As such, there are different kinds of religious principles, different kinds of economic development, different kinds of ideas of liberation. So, they are taken as four kinds of taste of the fruits of distress and happiness. The first taste of the material fruits are also accepted through five kinds of senses, the five kinds of sense organs. Knowledge acquired by such five kinds of sense organs are also subjected to six kinds of whips, namely lamentation, illusion, infirmity, death, hunger and thirst.

This material body, or the material manifestation, is covered by seven layers, namely skin, muscle, flesh, marrow, bone, fat and semina. The branches of the trees are eight, namely earth, water, fire, air, sky, mind, intelligence and ego. There are nine gates in this body, just like the two eyes, two nostrils, two ears, one mouth, one genital, one rectum. And there are ten kinds of internal air passing within the body, just like vyana, apana, udana, prana. The two birds seated in this tree, as explained above, is the living entity and the supreme localized Personality of Godhead, Paramatma.

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The root cause of all this descriptive material manifestation is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Supreme Personality of Godhead expands Himself to take charge of the three qualities of the material world, namely, Visnu takes charge of the modes of goodness and Brahma takes charge of the modes of passion and Lord Siva takes charge of the modes of ignorance. So, by Brahma, or by the modes of passion, creates this manifestation; Lord Visnu by the modes of goodness maintains this manifestation; and Lord Siva by the modes of ignorance annihilates the whole creation. Ultimately, the Supreme Lord is the cause of creation, maintenance and dissolution. And when the whole manifestation is dissolved, in its subtle form as energy of the Lord it rests within the body of the Supreme Lord.

"At the present, the Supreme Lord Krsna is appearing just for the matter of maintenance of this manifestation." Actually, the cause, Supreme Cause, is one, but being deluded by the three modes of material nature, less intelligent person sees that the material world is manifested by different causes. Actually, those who are intelligent persons, they can see that the cause is one: Krsna. As it is stated in the Brahma-samhita [Bs 5.1], sarva-karana-karanam. Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the cause of all causes. Brahma is the deputed agent for creation, Visnu is expansion of Krsna for maintenance, and Lord Siva is expansion of Krsna for dissolution.

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"My dear Lord, it is very difficult to understand Your eternal form of personality. Mostly people are unable to understand Your actual form. Therefore, You are personally descending to exhibit Your original, eternal form. Generally, people can understand somehow the different incarnations of Your Lordship, but they are puzzled to understand the eternal form of Krsna with two hands and moving amongst the human beings exactly like one of them. This eternal form of Your Lordship is ever-increasingly transcendental pleasure for the devotees, but for the nondevotees, this form is very, very dangerous." As stated in the Bhagavad-gita, Krsna is very pleasing to the sadhus, because in the Bhagavad-gita it is said, paritranaya sadhūnam [Bg 4.8].

But this form is very much dangerous for the demons, because Krsna descends also to kill the demons. He is therefore simultaneously pleasing to the devotees but dangerous to the demons.

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"My dear lotus-eyed Lord, You are the source of pure goodness, therefore there are many great sages who, simply by samadhi, or transcendentally meditating upon Your lotus feet, thus being absorbed in Your thought, they have easily transformed the great ocean of nescience created by the material nature as if a pit impressed by the hoof of a calf." The purpose of meditation is to focus concentration of mind upon the Personality of Godhead, beginning from His lotus feet. By doing so, simply by such meditation on the lotus feet of the Lord, great sages, they cross over this vast ocean of material existence without any difficulty.

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"O the self-illuminated, the great saintly persons who have crossed over the ocean of nescience by the help of the transcendental boat of Your lotus feet, they have not taken away such boat. There is still lying in this side." The idea is that if you take a boat to cross over a river, the boat also goes with you to the other side of the river. So, when one reaches the destination, so how the same boat can be available to others who are in this side? So, to answer this difficulty, the demigods say that the boat is not taken by them, but the boat is still lying in this side with us to cross over the ocean of material nature. The devotees do not require to take the boat with them to the other side. Simply by approaching the boat, the whole ocean of material nescience become reduced to the size of the pit caused by the hoof of a calf, and as such, without taking the boat the other side, they simply cross the ocean immediately. Because such great saintly persons are compassionate for all other conditioned soul, so the boat is still lying on the lotus feet of the Lord. One can meditate upon at any time, and by doing so, one can cross over the great ocean of material existence.

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So, editation means to meditate upon the lotus feet of the Lord. Lotus feet is indicating the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But those who are impersonalist, they do not recognize the lotus feet of the Lord; therefore, their object of meditation is something impersonal. So the demigods expressed their mature verdict that persons who are interested in the matter of meditating something void or impersonal, they cannot cross over the ocean of nescience. Such persons are simply concocting that they have become liberated. "Actually, O my Lord, the lotus-eyed, their intelligence is contaminated because they are missing to meditate upon the lotus feet of Your Lordship."

"As a result of this neglectful activities of such impersonalist, they fall down again on the material way of conditioned life, although they rise up to the point of impersonal realization. Impersonalists, however, undergo severe austerities and penances to merge themselves into the Brahma effulgence, or impersonal Brahma existence. But because their minds are not free from material contamination, simply they have tried to negativate the material ways of thinking, that does not mean that they have become liberated. So they fall down."

In the Bhagavad-gita it is stated that the impersonalist has to undergo great tribulation in realizing the ultimate goal. In the beginning of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, it is also stated that without devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, nobody can achieve liberation from the bondage of fruitive activities. In the Bhagavad-gita the statement of Lord Krsna is there, and in the Srimad-Bhagavatam the statement of great sage like Narada is there, and here also the demigods confirm it, that "Persons who have not taken to devotional service are supposed to have not reached the ultimate purpose of knowledge without being favored by Your grace." Impersonalists simply think that they are liberated, but actually they have no feeling for the Personality of Godhead, because they think that Krsna, when He comes to the material world, He accepts a material body. Therefore, they neglect the transcendental body of Krsna. This is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita: avajananti mammūḍhaḥ [Bg 9.11].

So in spite of conquering over the material lust, rising up to the point of liberation, such persons fall down. Without taking to the devotional service of the Lord, if somebody is engaged just to know things for the matter of knowledge, such person cannot achieve the desired result, but their only achievement is the trouble for knowing things. That's all. In the Bhagavad-gita it is clearly stated that to realize Brahma identification is not all. Brahma identification may help one to become joyful without any material attachment and detachment to achieve the platform of equilibrium, but one has to take to devotional service after this stage. When actually one takes to devotional service after being elevated to the Brahma realization platform, then only one is admitted into the spiritual kingdom for permanent residence in association with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is the result of devotional service.

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On the other hand, those who are devotees of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they never fall down like the impersonalist. The reason is that the devotees, even if they fall down, they remain in form affection with your Lordship. As such they can meet all kinds of obstacles on the path of devotional service and very freely, without any fear, can traverse on the head of the soldier of such obstacles. On account of their surrender, they are sure and certain that Krsna would always protect them, as promised by Krsna in the Bhagavad-gitathat His devotees are never vanquished.

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"My dear Lord, You have appeared in Your original, unalloyed, eternal form of goodness for the welfare of all living entities within this material world. Taking advantage of Your appearance, all of them can very easily understand what is the nature and form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Persons belonging to the four divisions of social order-namely the brahmacaris, the grhasthas, the vanaprasthas and the sannyasis-all of them can take advantage of Your appearance.

58:05 Tape number five, Krsna.

"My dear Lord, the husband of the goddess of fortune, it is sure, however, that Your devotees who are some way or other dovetailed in Your service do not fall down from high position like the impersonalist. As mentioned above, on account of their being protected by You, they are able to traverse over the heads of many commander-in-chiefs of maya, who can always put stumbling blocks on the path of liberation. My dear Lord, You appear in Your transcendental, eternal form for benefiting the living entities so that they can see You face to face and offer their worshipful sacrifices by ritualistic performance of the Vedas, mystic meditation and devotional service as they are recommended in the scriptures. My dear Lord, if You would not have appeared in Your eternal, transcendental form, full of bliss and knowledge-which can eradicate all kinds of speculative ignorance about Your position in truth-then all people would simply imagine about You according to their respective modes of material nature."

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The appearance of Krsna is the solution of all imaginative iconography of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Everyone imagines the form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead according to his mode of material nature. Just like in the Brahma-samhita it is said that the Lord is the oldest person. As such, some section of religionist imagine that God must be very old; therefore they depict a form of the Lord like a very old man. But in the same Brahma-samhita, it is contradicted that although He is the oldest of all living entities, He has His eternal form as a fresh, youthful person. The exact words used in this connection in the Srimad-Bhagavatam is vijnanam ajnana…, ajnana-bhidapamarjanam [SB 10.2.35], means transcendental knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead-vijnanam.

Transcendental knowledge has to be accepted by the descending process, or from disciplic succession. As Brahma presents the knowledge of Krsna in the Brahma-samhita, so this is vijnanam. As he realized by his transcendental experience, so he presented the form and the pastimes of Krsna in the transcendental abode. So this is called vijnanam. And this vijnanam…Actually vijnanam means ajnanabhida: which can smash all kinds of speculation. In ignorance, people are imagining about the form of the Lord: sometimes no form, sometimes form, according to their different imagination. But the presentation of Krsna in the Brahma-samhita is vijnanam-is scientific experienced knowledge given by Lord Brahma and accepted by Lord Caitanya. So there is no doubt about it. Sri Krsna's form, Krsna's flute, Krsna's color, everything is reality. Now here it is said that this vijnanam, this scientific experienced knowledge, is always defeating all kinds of speculative knowledge.

"Therefore, without Your presence, without Your appearance as Krsna as You are, this ajnana, nescience of speculative knowledge, and this vijnana, both of them would not be realized. Ajnana marjana apamarjanam: by Your appearance the speculative knowledge of ignorance will be vanquished, and by Your appearance the real knowledge, experienced knowledge of authorities like Lord Brahma, will be established. There are men influenced by three kinds of the modes of material nature, and they imagine their own God according to the modes of material nature, and in this way God is presented in various ways. But Your appearance will establish what is the real form of God."

The highest blunder committed by the impersonalist is that when God comes, when incarnation of God comes, He accepts the form of matter in goodness. But actually, the form of Krsna or Narayana, that is transcendental to any material ideas. Even the greatest impersonalist, Sahkaracarya, has admitted that narayanaḥ paro 'vyaktat: this material creation is caused by the avyakta, impersonal manifestation of matter, or nonphenomenal of total reservation of matter, but Krsna is transcendental to such material conception. That is expressed in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, suddha-sattva [SB 4.3.23].

Suddha-sattva, visuddha-sattva, that means transcendental. He does not belong to material modes of goodness, but He is above that position of material goodness. He belongs to the transcendental, eternal status of bliss and knowledge.

"My dear Lord, when You appear in Your different incarnations, such incarnations have different names and forms according to different situation. Just like Lord Krsna is Your name because You are all-attractive. You are called Syamasundara, but because…, on account of Your transcendental beauty, syama-blackish-and still it is said that You are more beautiful than thousands of Cupids. Kandarpa-koti-kamaniya [Bs 5.30].

In the material world nobody blackish in color can be beautiful. But because You are Transcendental Absolute, even You appear in a color which is compared with the blackish cloud, still Your beauty is many more times than the delicate body of Cupid. You are sometimes called Giridhari, on account of lifting the hill known as Govardhana.

[break] You are sometimes called Nandanandana or Vasudeva or Devakinandana, because You appear as the son of Maharaja Nanda or Devaki or Vasudeva.

"Impersonalists think that Your so many names or forms are according to the particular type of work and quality, because they accept You in such position as a material observer. But actually, simply by seeing Your form and activities one cannot study Your absolute nature by speculation of the mind or suggesting the name by words. But, my dear Lord, that is not the way of understanding You. One must engage himself in the devotional service. Then one can understand Your absolute nature, transcendental form, transcendental name, transcendental quality. Actually, a person who has got a little taste of Your lotus feet, he can understand Your transcendental nature of form and quality. Others may go on speculating for millions of years, still it is not possible to understand even a single part of Your actual position."

In other words, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, cannot be understood by the nondevotees, because by Yogamaya there is a curtain which covers Krsna's actual features before the nondevotees. As it is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita, naham prakasaḥ sarvasya [Bg 7.25].

Battlefield of Kuruksetra; everyone saw Him. But not that everyone could understand Him that He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Yet still, everyone who died in His presence, he attained complete liberation from material bondage and transferred to the spiritual world.

Next paragraph.

"My Lord, the impersonalists or nondevotees cannot understand that Your name and Your form is identical." The Lord being Absolute, there is no difference between His name and His actual form. In the material world there is difference between the form and the name. A fruit mango is different from the form of the mango. One cannot taste the mango fruit simply by chanting "mango, mango, mango." But the devotee, who knows that there is no difference between the name and the form of the Lord, they chant Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, and they realize actually that they are always in accompaniment with Krsna.

Persons who are not very much advanced in the absolute knowledge of the Supreme, for them Lord Krsna exhibits His transcendental pastimes so that they can simply think of the pastimes of the Lord. Still they get the same benefit, because as there is no difference between the transcendental name and form of the Lord, similarly, there is no difference between the transcendental pastimes and the form of the Lord. People who are less intelligent, just like the woman class, the laborer class or the mercantile class, for them the great sage Vyasadeva wrote Mahabharata. In the Mahabharata, Krsna is there in His different activities. So Mahabharata is the history.

So less-intelligent class of men, simply by studying the history of Mahabharata and hearing and memorizing the transcendental activities of Krsna, they also gradually come to the standard of pure devotee, what to speak of the pure devotees, who are always absorbed in the thought of transcendental lotus feet of Krsna and always are engaged in devotional service in full Krsna consciousness. Such persons are never to be supposed in the material world.

Srila Rūpa Gosvami has explained that those who are always in the business of Krsna consciousness by their body, mind and activities, they are supposed to be liberated even within this body. The same thing is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita: those who are engaged in devotional service of the Lord, they have already transcended the material position. The appearance of Krsna means giving chance both to the devotees and nondevotees for ultimate goal of life. The devotee gets direct chance of seeing Him and worshiping Him, and those who are not on that platform, they get the chance of memorizing His activities and thus elevated to the same position.

Next paragraph.

"My dear Lord, the supreme controller, we understand that just on Your appearance on this earth all the demons like Kamsa and Jarasandha will be vanquished. All auspiciosity will be ushered into this world on Your appearance, and because You shall walk on the globe by Your lotus feet, there will be impression of the marks on Your sole, namely the flag, the trident, the thunderbolt, et cetera. And by seeing those marks impressed on the surface of the globe, not only this earth will be considered as having been graced by You, but we who are in the heavenly planets, the upper space, we shall also be glorified by seeing such marks."

Next paragraph.

"My dear Lord, You are unborn; therefore we do not find any reason for Your appearance than Your pleasure pastimes." Although the reason of appearance of the Lord in the Bhagavad-gita is stated that He descends just to give protection to the devotee and to vanquish the nondevotee, but actually He descends for pleasure-meeting with devotees, not for vanquishing the nondevotees. The nondevotees can be vanquished simply by one fix of material nature.

"The action and reaction of the external energy, material nature, the creation of the material world and annihilation of it or maintenance of it are being carried on automatically, and simply by taking shelter of Your holy name-because Your holy name and Your personality is nondifferent-so if the devotee can take shelter of Your holy name, it is sufficient for their protection." In other words, the protection of the devotees and annihilation of the nondevotees actually is not the business of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but when He descends it is just for His pleasure transcendental. There cannot be any other reason for His appearance.

Next paragraph.

"My dear Lord, You are appearing as the best of the Yadu dynasty, and we are offering our respectful humble obeisances unto Your lotus feet. Before this appearance, You also appeared as the fish incarnation, as the horse incarnation, tortoise incarnation, as the lion-and-man combined incarnation, as boar incarnation, as swan incarnation, as the king Ramacandra incarnation, as Parasurama incarnation; similar many other incarnations You appeared, just to protect the devotees. Similarly, we request You about Your present appearance as the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself to give us similar protection all over the three worlds and remove the obstacles for peaceful execution of our life.

Next paragraph.

"My dear mother Devaki, within your womb is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, appearing along with His all plenary extensions. He is the original Personality of Godhead, appearing for our auspiciosity. Therefore you should not be afraid of your brother, the king of Bhoja. Your son Lord Krsna, who is the original Personality of Godhead, will appear for protection of the pious Yadu dynasty. The Lord is appearing not only alone but accompanied by His immediate plenary portion, Baladeva."

Next paragraph.

Actually, Devaki was very much afraid of his [her] brother Kamsa, because he had already killed so many children of her. So she used to remain very much anxious about Krsna. So there is a statement in the Visnu Purana that in order to pacify Devaki, all the demigods, along with their wives, used to visit always to encourage her not to be disappointed and afraid of her son being killed by Kamsa. Because Krsna, who was within his [her] womb, was to appear not only for diminishing the overburden of the world but specifically to protect the interest of the Yadu dynasty, and what to speak of Devaki and Vasudeva.

Next paragraph.

In the previous verse it is understood that from the mind of Vasudeva Krsna was transferred to the mind of Devaki, and from the mind, the Lord was within the womb of Devaki. Thus Devaki being the mother of Krsna, he was…, she was worshipable by all the demigods. Thus worshiping the transcendental form of the Lord, all the demigods departed from that place to their respective heavenly abodes, keeping Lord Brahma and Lord Siva in the front.

Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Second Chapter in the Tenth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam in the matter of "Prayers of the Demigods for Lord Krsna in the Womb."