Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Completion of 6th Canto Bhāgavata commentaries

This is the completion of the blogs about the comments on the 6th Canto Bhāgavat, the last installment of which was posted on December 6, 2010 -

6.9.9 - śaśvat kāma varenāṁhas turīyaṁ jagṛhuḥ striyaḥ
rajo-rupeṇa tāsvaṁho māsi māsi pradṛsyate 

"Women took a fourth part of Indra's sin of slaying a brahmin by accepting the reaction of their monthly unease. In return they received a boon of constant sexual capacity."

6.9.21 - "Anyone who tries to look for shelter in anyone else but the Lord is like a fool who tries to cross the ocean by holding on to the tail of a dog."

Śrī Jiva quotes Bhāgavat 8.24.49 in his ṭīkā:

na yat-prasādāyuta-bhāga-leśam
anye ca devā guravo janāḥ svayam 
kartuṁ sametāḥ prabhavanti puṁsas
tam īśvaraṁ vai śaraṇaṁ prapadye 

"No gods, gurus (mundane superiors, not the Sat Guru), or ordinary persons can give even minute shelter compared to the Supreme Controller. "

As well as the Mahābhārata -

yas tu viṣṇuṁ parityajya mohād anyam upāsate
sa hema-rāśim utsṛjya pāṁśu-rāśiṁ jighṛkṣati 

"Anyone so bewildered as to give up the worship of Viṣṇu for any other god, is like one giving up a heap of gold for a handful of dust."

Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda comments: taṁ vinā aparaṁ devatāntaraṁ karma-yogaṁ jñāna-yogam apara-yogaṁ vā śaraṇārthaṁ bāliśo mahā-mūrkha evopasarpati, na tu vijñaḥ - "A person who takes shelter of other gods, karma yoga, jñāna yoga or other yogas is a big fool, not a wise man." yathā śunaḥ pucchena sindhum atitartum icchati, sa śvā eva sindhuṁ tartuṁ na śaknoti, kim uta tat-puccha-grāhī ! "He is like someone trying to cross the ocean by holding on to the tail of a dog. The dog cannot even cross the ocean himself, let alone someone who holds on to its tail." pratyuta sva-puccha-grāhiṇaṁ sa śvā eva dṛṣṭvā prathamaṁ samudra-madhye kṣipati, paścāt svayam api nimajjatīti bhāvaḥ "The dog will first shake off the person who holds on to its tail and then drown himself too."

6.11.22 - According to Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda here Vṛtrāsura sticks up his nose against Indra, saying that although Indra may be wealthier than him, it is not a sign of the Lord's mercy. Wealth causes a lot of agitation due to envy which will disturb one's bhajan. It connects to Śrīmad Bhāgavat 10.88.8, which states that losing one's wealth is a sign of Kṛṣṇa's mercy.

6.11.24 - This verse is very famous. Vṛtrāsura saying 'Let me again be a devotee' refers to his previous birth, when he was a devotee named Citraketu. He wants to get out of his demon-body and return to a devotee-body. It does not mean that he fell down from the spiritual world due to envy of Kṛṣṇa and wants to return there. The whole story of Indra and Vṛtra also shows that mundane piety [Indra] is really inferior to a demon being a devotee. Often we see persons born in very low families, including foreigners [non-Indians] displaying much more purity, humility and integrity than born devotees or naturally pious people [like some Indian brahmins and even sādhus].

6.11.26 - Fearing owls and afflicted by hunger, baby-birds long to see their mother at every moment. In the same way the Lord will protect the devotees from deprivation and enemies. The calves bound up at home desire the milk from the mother cow, but they do not desire to serve the mother. Not satisfied with this example he gives another example. A wife whose husband has gone for a long journey is morose out of separation. The wife wants to serve her husband to please her and wants to please her own senses by relishing his beauty and sweetness, his qualities, actions and joking, so I will also serve You and You will satisfy me. The difference is however that the wife pleases the husband with dāsya [service], sakhya [friendship] and śṛṅgāra rasa [erotic love], whereas I only desire to serve You [dāsya].

6.15.4 - "Oh king, just as grains appear or do not appear from seeds, children appear or do not appear from fathers impelled by māyā."

The Bhāgavat says [3.31.1] karmanā daiva netrena jantur dehopapattaye - the jīva gets a body due to its karma and the decisions of Fate. So we see illicit relationships, conducted by vow-breaking sādhus or adulterous gṛhasthas, with the use of contraceptives, resulting into [unwanted] pregnancies and perfectly decent marriages, where contraceptives are taboo, still remain childless. Seed alone is not enough to fertilize a woman - the Lord must want a certain soul to be born from a certain couple, even if that may be an illicit couple. Some claim that each sperm cell of a man [a man releases an estimated 400,000,000 of them in each ejaculation] contains a soul and that an ejaculation thus is equal to the genocide of all of Europe or North America, but this is clearly not so, according to the above statements of the Bhāgavata. dhānā means roasted grains and a woman. Just as grain does not arise from roasted grains, children do not arise from those without the karma for having sons.

6.16.39 kāma-dhiyas tvayi racitā na parama rohanti yathā karambha-bījāni
jñānātmany aguṇamaye guṇa-gaṇato 'sya dvandva-jālāni

“Oh Lord! Desires for material pleasure, directed to you, who are composed of spiritual knowledge and are different from the material guṇas, do not produce further material bodies, just as roasted seeds do not grow.  The networks of duality causing rebirth arise from the material guṇas.”

Āśā-vāṇī – words of hope. If one conceives a Kṛṣṇa-conscious child, even with obvious lusty desires, or one takes prasāda with a desire to enjoy the tongue, still one does not take birth again in the material world.”

6.18.33-34 - The husband is the supreme object of worship for a woman as the representative of the Lord." Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda's ṭīkā:

"The husband is a jīva, so how can he be the Lord? The Lord Vāsudeva is the presiding deity of the citta and manasa is worshipped by karma yogīs by objects indicating the devatās, like Indra holding the thunderbolt and different other images, with utterances like indrāya svāhā and agnaye svāhā - women similarly worship the Lord in the form of their husband."

6.19.5 - Though the verse says that the Lord is fully endowed with compassion, fortune, glory, majesty, virility and other excellences, Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda makes the following lovely commentary:
"By your kṛpā śakti you wait for the Tulasī-leaf offered by the devotee, thus You are not independent. You ask the devotee 'Please give Me something to eat because I am hungry today" thus You are not fulfilled in desires. You say to a devotee in a dream "My house and garden are worn out, where will I play?" thus You are bereft of opulence. Though You have all yoga siddhis like aṇimā, bound by the ropes of prema of the devotee, You cannot go anywhere." Bhānu Swāmī translates this verse as 'You mercy is hiding" which is not in the BBT translation, nor in the Gita Press translation.

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