Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Dictation SB 10.13.62 – October 27, 1977, Vṛndāvana

When you fall down, just like a stick falls, before superior, that is called danḍavat

Pradyumna: Brahma... [break]

Prabhupada: They bow down like stick. This is called danḍavat. Danḍa means "stick"; vat means "like." When you fall down, just like a stick falls, before superior, that is called danḍavat. Not by simply saying danḍavat... Eh, one must fall down. So Brahma fell down, and his four heads touched the lotus feet of Krsna, and with ecstasy, and he was crying. It is to be taken as of his head..., of Krsna's lotus feet. Hmm.

[break] ...like a human child, Parabrahma: brahmeti paramatmeti bhagavan iti... . The Supreme Lord is narakrti: like human being. Not catur-bahu. Narayana is catur-bahu, but the Supreme Person is like human being. [coughs heavily] And why all the authorities said, "Made after God"?

Pradyumna: No, "Man is made in the image of God."

Prabhupada: Hmm.

Pradyumna: Then it says that Lord Brahma very hastily got down from his vahana, tvarena, tvareya, nija-dho... [break] ...and fell down with his body on the earth. So his iti... [break] ...so there's some..., there's that rule that the devas never touch the ground when they go. It says, iti niyamola... [break] ...This regulation, he went down..., he touched the earth because it was Krsna. So even of Brahma...

[break] The last verse we read was about how Brahma saw the..., er, Krsna was there, the Supreme Brahman, and then he got down from his carrier, his swan carrier, and he did obeisances, danḍavat, and he touched the lotus feet of Krsna. And he, he was crying, and so his tears were washing the feet of Krsna.

Prabhupada: Abhiseka.

Pradyumna: Abhiseka. So we just wanted... Two things that were mentioned in purport... [break] It says in the verse drstva, so he says iḍam evam... [break]

Prabhupada: ...cause of everything... [indistinct] ...there's a child loitering in Vrndavana, there's morsels of food. That's extraordinary.

Pradyumna: Root cause of everything. Point is that it says that he fell down on the ground.

Prabhupada: Yes.

Pradyumna: So?

Prabhupada: Danḍavats. Just like stick falls; similarly.

Pradyumna: You commented that there is a rule that the demigods never touch the ground.

Prabhupada: Yes.

Pradyumna: So it said Brahma's devatva abhimana[?] was upaguma[?]. It was gone away, removed, disappeared.

Prabhupada: Yes. [break]

Pradyumna: ...of being a demigod, or it was disappeared?

Prabhupada: Yes. [break] ...disappeared. He gave up voluntarily. They have no question. [break]

Pradyumna: Then, ah, he touched Krsna's feet with the tips, tip of his helmet or of his crown. So it said with his four tips of his helmets. So it's mentioned that Brahma has four heads, one head in each direction, so it's commented. He said catur-diks-titam[?] [break] So he put all his heads... [break]

Prabhupada: Although he has got his brain working all round, everything was surrendered to cowherd boy Krsna. [break]

Pradyumna: With an effort he put all his..., he put his forehead on the ground, touched his forehead, all his foreheads. [break] Commented, er, it is mentioned that he washed the feet of Krsna, with mud-asru…

Prabhupada: Yes.

Pradyumna: Mud-asru-su-jalaiḥ.

Prabhupada: Ah.

Pradyumna: So it says why is this word su used, su-jalaiḥ? It says asru nama bha... [break]

Prabhupada: ...purified. As soon as bhakti is there, it is purified, sarvopadhi-vinirmuktam [Cc Madhya 19.170].

[break]

Pradyumna: Form of bhakty-anubhava, or transformation of ecstatic love?

Prabhupada: Ah, yes. Transformation. That is the right word. [break]

Pradyumna: Next verse says that, er, then Lord Brahma again and again was rising up and falling down at the feet of Krsna, and remembering again and again the, er, opulence of Krsna which he had just seen... [break] ...teeny... [break]

Prabhupada: Yes. Falling down in ecstasy. [breaks]

Pradyumna: ...aste [break] ...rising up repeatedly. [break] Here there's a verb is used, aste, so patanaste is present tense, varta-manakal[?]. So Sukadeva Goswami is narrating it. It should be past tense. So why is... This question comes, why is this varta-manakal[?]? Why is this present tense? So it says patan... [break] ...Sukadeva Muni also. [break] ...making obeisances again and again at the feet of Krsna. Utthayotthaya krsnasya cirasya padayoḥ patanaste mahitvam... [break]

Prabhupada: The presence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead just like a human child. That made him astounding. Hmm. Aham ihasi nandam vande yasyalinde param brahma [Cc Madhya 19.96]. There is a verse. You know it?

Pradyumna: Yes. It is in the Sri Caitanya-caritamrta.

Prabhupada: Yes.

"Let others study Vedas, Smrti, Bharata, Mahabharata, Bhagavad-gita and praise all material existence, but I am going to worship Nanda Maharaja, whose courtyard is being crawled by the Supreme Brahman. Nanda Maharaja is so great that the Parabrahman is crawling there. So I'll worship." Aham ihasi nandam vande. Hmm. [break]

Pradyumna: Started to praise Lord Krsna. [break]

Prabhupada: Hmm. All the invite[?] offered prayers that "Here is the Supreme Person. Naturally you are astounded..." [break]

Pradyumna: He is wiping his two eyes with his two hands at the same time, and said gadgadaya... [SB 10.13.64]. [break] Faltering words. [break]

Prabhupada: That's right. Hmm. [breaks]

Pradyumna: He is describing Krsna. First of all he describes Krsna.

Prabhupada: Summaries chapter?

Pradyumna: Chapter summary? [break]

Prabhupada: Prayers by Brahma to Krsna is described... [break] Brahma, instead of glorifying the opulence of Krsna, how he arrived to the affection of Nanda Maharaja, Yasoda-mayi, that he has specificated many times. [break] And this appreciation cannot be achieved by Vedic knowledge but through the association of pure devotees. [break]

Pradyumna: Aroha-pantha. [break]

Prabhupada: Those who have not come from the disciplic succession, they are srama eva hi kevalam [SB 1.2.8]. Their endeavor to understand the supreme authority is simply waste of time, and tesam klesa eva vasisyate, their only result is that whatever klesa, labor for [indistinct]. Actually, they know that... [break] ...brahma-vada[?]... [break] ...but it is very difficult to understand Bhagavan by this speculation, because he is unaware of unlimited transcendental qualities. Hmm. [break] ...without master, Krsna, and nobody can understand Him. The speculative process is futile. [break] Sri Īsopanisad also, anyone who is favored by Krsna, he can only understand. [break] ...this is nonsense[?]. [break] Brahma tried to show his limited opulence. Now he came to the understanding that it is not possible. While offering prayer he tried to rectify the mistake... [break] ...I'm passing stool. [break] ...it says in Bhagavad-gita[?], what is mercy of Krsna, they think is imagination. [break] So Brahma verifier, the eternity of writing transcendental words and the nature of..., flickering nature of material world. [break] That is also compared in the Bhagavad-gita, yo me janati tattvataḥ...

Pradyumna: [whispers] janma karma ca me divyam [Bg 4.9].

Prabhupada: Ah, janma karma me divya yo janati tattvataḥ. He can be liberated; otherwise not.

[break] ...limited conception of the Absolute Truth is the platform of liberation and bondage. Conditioned soul on the limited platform, he is virtually bound up by the laws of liberation and bondage. Liberation means to understand Bhagavan, janma karma me divyam yo janati tattvataḥ...

[break] That liberation can be attained only by devotional service.

Otherwise it is not possible. [break] Actually, the speculative process is not sufficient; it is different from self-realization. [break] The Mayavadis, they think this is all imagination, so they give up the real path of progress and remain on this... [break] ...that is the sign of their ignorance. Bhakti udapasya and the path of bhakti they give up.

Kevala-bodhanam. Simply to understand the science, tesam, for them, that labor is only gain and nothing more. [break] ...Krsna's mercy, nobody can understand the Absolute Truth. [break] So Brahma desired, and he thought of living entities in Vrndavana, considering their fortune. [break] Hmm.

Pradyumna: [indistinct]

Prabhupada: Hmm. The jnanis and yogis are... The ordinary inhabitants of Vrndavana, they are better than the jnanis and yogis. Even ordinary householders are liberated... [break] ...jaya, jaya vrndavana-vasis... [break] ...there is no devotional service of Krsna. That is the prison house of material world. [break] And that... [break]

Pradyumna: Offered himself to the feet of Krsna [indistinct Sanskrit], praising Him, bhagavan ki pradakin koriya, circumbulated the Supreme Lord and then went away, prastan korile[?]. Then Krsna, brahma prahuta pashu gun ku hey[?]... [break] ...brought back all those calves and boys that had been taken by Brahma back to the bank, the sandy bank of the Yamuna.

Prabhupada: Nice. [break] I am feeling tired now. [break] [end]