Releasing Nanda Mahārāja from the Clutches of Varuṇa

Next, Twenty-eighth Chapter. Subject heading: "Releasing Nanda Maharaja from the Clutches of Varuna."

The Govardhana-pūja ceremony took place on the new moon day, and after this there was torrents of rain and hailstorm imposed by King Indra for seven days. So nine days of the waxing moon being passed, on the tenth day King Indra worshiped Lord Krsna, and the whole business was satisfactory settled up. After this, on the eleventh day of full moon, that is Ekadasi, Maharaja Nanda observed fasti ng the whole day, and just early in the morning of the Dvadasi, the next day after Ekadasi, he went to take bath in the river Yamuna.

He entered deep into the water of the river, and immediately he was arrested by one of the servant of Varunadeva, and he brought Nanda Maharaja before the demigod Varuna because Nanda Maharaja was taking bath in the river in odd time. According to astronomical calculation, that time is considered as demoniac. The fact is that Nanda Maharaja wanted to take bath in the river Yamuna early in the morning, before the sunrise. But somehow or other he was little earlier than the time and that time was not auspicious, and as such he was arrested by the servant of Varuna.

Nanda Maharaja thus being taken away by the servant of Varuna, his companion cowherds men began to call for Krsna and Balarama very loudly. Immediately Krsna and Balarama could understand that Nanda Maharaja was taken by the servant of Varuna. Thus They went to the place of Varuna because Lord Krsna and Balarama are pledged to give protection to Their men. The inhabitants of Vrndavana, the unalloyed devotees of the Lord, devotees having no other shelter than the Supreme Personality of Godhead, naturally they cried for help from the Supreme Personality of Godhead exactly like children, who do not know except the protection of their parents, cry for help whenever they are in danger.

Demigod Varuna immediately received Lord Krsna and Balarama with great respect and began to say, "My dear Lords, actually just now this day, on account of Your presence, my body known as the demigod Varuna has become successful. Although I was the proprietor of all the treasures in the water, they are not the causes of my successful life. But this moment, as soon as I see You, it is completely successful because by seeing You I will have no more to accept a material body even though it is of a demigod. Therefore, my Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Supreme Brahma and the Supersoul of everything, let me offer my respectful obeisances unto You. You are the supreme transcendental personality, and there is no possibility of imposing the influence of material nature unto You.

"I am very, very sorry that my men, being foolish and without any knowledge what to do and what not to do, have mistakenly arrested Your father, Maharaja Nanda. So I beg Your pardon on account of the offense of my servant. I think it was Your plan to show me Your mercy by Your personal presence here. My dear Lord Krsna, Govinda, be merciful upon me, and here is Your father. You can take him back immediately."

In this way Lord Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, took back His father and presented him before his friends with great jubilation. Nanda Maharaja, however, after visiting the place of the demigod Varuna, although he was so opulent, he offered so much respect to Krsna, that was very much astonishment to him, and he began to describe the incidence to his friends and relatives with great wonder.

The fact is that although Krsna was acting so wonderfully, Maharaja Nanda and mother Yasoda never could think of Him as Krsna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but they were always accepting Him as their beloved child; just as Nanda Maharaja did not accept the fact that Varuna worshiped Krsna because Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but he took it that Krsna, his wonderful child, was respected even by the Varuna also.

The friends of Nanda Maharaja, all the cowherds men, became too much eager to consult whether Krsna was actually the Supreme Personality of Godhead and whether He was going to give them salvation altogether. When all the cowherds men were thus consulting amongst themself, Krsna could understand their mind; and in order to assure them of their future destiny in the spiritual kingdom, He concluded to show them immediately the spiritual sky.

Generally, ordinary persons who are simply engaged in the business of working hard to elevate their position in the material world has no information that there is another kingdom, or another sky, which is known as spiritual sky, where life is eternal, blissful and full of knowledge. And as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gita, a person returning to that spiritual sky never comes back to this…

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Chapter Twenty-eight continued. Tape number twenty-eight, Krsna.

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Krsna, being the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He is always anxious to give information to the conditioned soul that there is another spiritual sky far, far beyond this material sky, transcendental to the innumerable universes created within the total material energy. Krsna is of course always very kind to every conditioned soul, but as stated in the Bhagavad-gita, He is especially inclined to such persons who are pure devotees. As such, Krsna immediately thought that His devotees in Vrndavana should be informed of the spiritual sky and the Vaikuntha planets therein immediately.

Within the material world, every conditioned soul is in the darkness of knowledge. Darkness of knowledge means all conditioned souls are under the concept of this bodily existence. Every one of the conditioned soul is under the impression that he is this material world, and with this concept of life they are working in ignorance in different forms of life. The activities of the particular type of body is called karma, or fruitive action. So all conditioned souls under the impression of bodily concept, they are working according to the particular type of body one has got. These activities are creating one's future conditional life. And because they have very little information of the spiritual world, they do not generally take to spiritual activities, which are called bhakti-yoga, so that one may, after giving up this present body, go directly to the spiritual world and be situated in one of the Vaikuntha planets therein. The inhabitants of Vrndavana, they are all pure devotees. Their destination after quitting the body was directly to the Krsnaloka, even transcending or surpassing the Vaikuntha-lokas.

The fact is, those who are engaged in Krsna consciousness, pure devotional service, when they are actually mature or fully always in Krsna consciousness, such persons after death are given to get the chance of Krsna's association in some of the universes within the material world. Krsna's pastimes are going on either in this universe or in other universe continually. Just like the sun globe is passing through many states of this earthly planet, similarly krsna-lila, or transcendental advent and pastimes of Krsna, is also going on continually, either in this universe or in other universe.

For the mature devotees, who have completely executed the business of Krsna consciousness, they are immediately transferred to the universe where Krsna is still there. In such universe, the devotees get the first opportunity of associating with Krsna personally and directly, and training goes on, as we see in the picture of Vrndavana lila of Krsna within this planet. Krsna therefore wanted to show the actual feature of the Vaikuntha planets so that the inhabitants of Vrndavana could know where is their destination.

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Thus Krsna showed them the eternal, ever-existing spiritual sky, which is unlimited and full of knowledge. Within this material world there are different grades of forms, and according to the grades of forms, the knowledge is also manifested proportionately. Just like the knowledge in the body of a child is not as perfect as the knowledge in the body of a grown-up man, similarly, although there are different grades of living entities-sometimes as in the aquatic animals, sometimes in the plants and trees, sometimes in the reptiles and insects and sometimes in birds and beasts, and later on in the human form of life, in different grades of civilization and noncivilization, and above the human form of life there are demigods, just like the Caranas, the Siddhas in higher planetary system, and up to the Brahmaloka, where Lord Brahma lives-they are of different grades of knowledge. But when one passes this material world and reaches the Vaikuntha sky, there everyone is in full knowledge, and because all of them are in full knowledge, all living entities are there engaged in devotional service of the Lord, either in the Vaikuntha planet or in the Krsnaloka planet.

In other words, it may be noted, as it is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita, full knowledge means to know Krsna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In the Vedas and Bhagavad-gita also it is stated that in the brahmajyoti, or in the spiritual sky, there is no need of sunlight or there is no need of moonlight or there is no need of electricity. All those planets are self-illuminating, and all of them are eternally situated. There is no question of creation and annihilation in the brahmajyoti, the spiritual sky. Bhagavad-gita also confirms this, that beyond this material sky there is another eternal spiritual sky where everything is eternally existing. Information of the spiritual sky can be had only by great sages and saintly persons who have already surpassed the influence of three material modes of nature. Unless one is constantly situated in that transcendental platform, it is not possible for anyone to understand what is that spiritual nature.

In the Bhagavad-gita we see that a person who is engaged in devotional service of Krsna consciousness, he immediately transcends the modes of material nature. Therefore it is recommended that one should take to bhakti-yoga and keep himself twenty-four hours engaged in Krsna consciousness, which means that he is already beyond the reach of the modes of material nature. Such persons can easily understand what is spiritual sky, what is Vaikuntha-loka and the inhabitants of Vrndavana on account of their being engaged always in Krsna consciousness-can therefore very easily understand the transcendental nature of Vaikuntha-lokas.

Thus Krsna led all the gopas, headed by Nanda Maharaja, to the lake where formerly Akrūra also was shown the Vaikuntha planetary system, and they took their bath immediately and saw the real nature of the Vaikuntha-lokas, exactly like Akrūra, as it was shown to him by Lord Krsna. After seeing the spiritual sky and Vaikuntha-lokas, all the gopas, headed by Maharaja Nanda, felt wonderfully blissful and, getting out of the river, immediately they also saw Krsna, who was being worshiped by excellent prayers.

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Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Twenty-eighth Chapter in the matter of "Releasing Nanda Maharaja from the Clutches of Varuna."