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sokena—due to bereavement; susyat-vadana—drying up of the mouth; hrt-sarojah—lotuslike heart; hata—lost; prabhah—bodily luster; vibhum—the Supreme; tam—unto Lord Krsna; eva—certainly; anusmaran—thinking within; na—could not; asaknot—be able; pratibhasitum—properly replying.

Due to grief, Arjuna’s mouth and lotuslike heart had dried up. Therefore his body lost all luster. Now, remembering the Supreme Lord, he could hardly utter a word in reply.

SB1.15.3

TEXT 3

krcchrena samstabhya sucah

paninamrjya netrayoh

paroksena samunnaddha-

pranayautkanthya-katarah

SYNONYMS

krcchrena—with great difficulty; samstabhya—by checking the force; sucah—of bereavement; panina—with his hands; amrjya—smearing; netrayoh—the eyes; paroksena—due to being out of sight; samunnaddha—increasingly; pranaya-autkanthya—eagerly thinking of the affection; katarah—distressed.

TRANSLATION

With great difficulty he checked the tears of grief that smeared his eyes. He was very distressed because Lord Krsna was out of his sight, and he increasingly felt affection for Him.

SB1.15.4

TEXT 4

sakhyam maitrim sauhrdam ca

sarathyadisu samsmaran

nrpam agrajam ity aha

baspa-gadgadaya gira

SYNONYMS

sakhyam—well-wishing; maitrim—benediction; sauhrdam—intimately related; ca—also; sarathya-adisu—in becoming the chariot driver; samsmaran—remembering all these; nrpam—unto the King; agrajam—the eldest brother; iti—thus; aha—said; baspa—heavily breathing; gadgadaya—overwhelmingly; gira—by speeches.

TRANSLATION

Remembering Lord Krsna and His well-wishes, benefactions, intimate familial relations and His chariot driving, Arjuna, overwhelmed and breathing very heavily, began to speak.

PURPORT

The Supreme Living Being is perfect in all relations with His pure devotee. Sri Arjuna is one of the typical pure devotees of the Lord reciprocating in the fraternal relationship, and the Lord’s dealings with Arjuna are displays of friendship of the highest perfect order. He was not only a well-wisher of Arjuna but actually a benefactor, and to make it still more perfect the Lord tied him into a family relationship by arranging Subhadra’s marriage with him. And above all, the Lord agreed to become a chariot driver of Arjuna in order to protect His friend from warfare risks, and the Lord became actually happy when He established the Pandavas to rule over the world. Arjuna remembered all these one after another, and thus he became overwhelmed with such thoughts.

SB1.15.5

TEXT 5

arjuna uvaca

vancito ’ham maha-raja

harina bandhu-rupina

yena me ’pahrtam tejo

deva-vismapanam mahat

arjunah uvaca—Arjuna said; vancitah—left by Him; aham—myself; maha-raja—O King; harina—by the Personality of Godhead; bandhu-rupina—as if an intimate friend; yena—by whom; me—my; apahrtam—I have been bereft; tejah—power; deva—the demigods; vismapanam—astonishing; mahat—astounding.

Arjuna said: O King! The Supreme Personality of Godhead Hari, who treated me exactly like an intimate friend, has left me alone. Thus my astounding power, which astonished even the demigods, is no longer with me.

In the Bhagavad-gita (10.41) the Lord says, “Anyone specifically powerful and opulent in wealth, strength, beauty, knowledge and all that is materially desirable is to be considered but a product of an insignificant portion of the complete whole of My energy.” No one, therefore, can be independently powerful in any measure without being endowed by the Lord. When the Lord descends on the earth along with His eternal ever-liberated associates, He not only displays the divine energy possessed by Himself, but also empowers His associate devotees with the required energy to execute His mission of incarnation. It is also stated in the Bhagavad-gita (4.5) that the Lord and His eternal associates descend on the earth many times, but the Lord remembers all the different roles of incarnations, whereas the associates, by His supreme will, forget them. Similarly, the Lord takes away with Him all His associates when He disappears from the earth. The power and energy which were bestowed upon Arjuna were required for fulfillment of the mission of the Lord, but when His mission was fulfilled, the emergency powers were withdrawn from Arjuna because the astounding powers of Arjuna, which were astonishing even to the denizens of heaven, were no longer required, and they were not meant for going back home, back to Godhead. If endowment of powers and withdrawal of powers by the Lord are possible even for a great devotee like Arjuna, or even the demigods in heaven, then what to speak of the ordinary living beings who are but figs compared to such great souls. The lesson is, therefore, that no one should be puffed up for his powers borrowed from the Lord. The sane man should rather feel obliged to the Lord for such benefactions and must utilize such power for the service of the Lord. Such power can be withdrawn at any time by the Lord, so the best use of such power and opulence is to engage them in the service of the Lord.

SB1.15.6

TEXT 6

yasya ksana-viyogena

loko hy apriya-darsanah

ukthena rahito hy esa

mrtakah procyate yatha

yasya—whose; ksana—a moment; viyogena—by separation; lokah—all the universes; hi—certainly; apriya-darsanah—everything appears unfavorable; ukthena—by life; rahitah—being devoid of; hi—certainly; esah—all these bodies; mrtakah—dead bodies; procyate—are designated; yatha—as it were.

I have just lost Him whose separation for a moment would render all the universes unfavorable and void, like bodies without life.

Factually for a living being there is no one dearer than the Lord. The Lord expands Himself by innumerable parts and parcels as svamsa and vibhinnamsa. Paramatma is the svamsa part of the Lord, whereas the vibhinnamsa parts are the living beings. As the living being is the important factor in the material body, for without the living being the material body has no value, similarly without Paramatma the living being has no status quo. Similarly, Brahman or Paramatma has no locus standi without the Supreme Lord Krsna. This is thoroughly explained in the Bhagavad-gita. They are all interlinked with one another, or interdependent factors; thus in the ultimate issue the Lord is the summum bonum and therefore the vital principle of everything.

SB1.15.7

TEXT 7

yat-samsrayad drupada-geham upagatanam

rajnam svayamvara-mukhe smara-durmadanam

tejo hrtam khalu mayabhihatas ca matsyah

sajjikrtena dhanusadhigata ca krsna

yat—by whose merciful; samsrayat—by strength; drupada-geham—in the palace of King Drupada; upagatanam—all those assembled; rajnam—of the princes; svayamvara-mukhe—on the occasion of the selection of the bridegroom; smara-durmadanam—all lusty in thought; tejah—power; hrtam—vanquished; khalu—as it were; maya—by me; abhihatah—pierced; ca—also; matsyah—the fish target; sajji-krtena—by equipping the bow; dhanusa—by that bow also; adhigata—gained; ca—also; krsna—Draupadi.

Only by His merciful strength was I able to vanquish all the lusty princes assembled at the palace of King Drupada for the selection of the bridegroom. With my bow and arrow I could pierce the fish target and thereby gain the hand of Draupadi.

Draupadi was the most beautiful daughter of King Drupada, and when she was a young girl almost all the princes desired her hand. But Drupada Maharaja decided to hand over his daughter to Arjuna only and therefore contrived a peculiar way. There was a fish hanging on the inner roof of the house under the protection of a wheel. The condition was that out of the princely order, one must be able to pierce the fish’s eyes through the wheel of protection, and no one would be allowed to look up at the target. On the ground there was a waterpot in which the target and wheel were reflected, and one had to fix his aim towards the target by looking at the trembling water in the pot. Maharaja Drupada well knew that only Arjuna or alternately Karna could successfully carry out the plan. But still he wanted to hand his daughter to Arjuna. And in the assembly of the princely order, when Dhrstadyumna, the brother of Draupadi, introduced all the princes to his grown-up sister, Karna was also present in the game. But Draupadi tactfully avoided Karna as the rival of Arjuna, and she expressed her desires through her brother Dhrstadyumna that she was unable to accept anyone who was less than a ksatriya. The vaisyas and the sudras are less important than the ksatriyas. Karna was known as the son of a carpenter, a sudra. So Draupadi avoided Karna by this plea. When Arjuna, in the dress of a poor brahmana, pierced the difficult target, everyone was astonished, and all of them, especially Karna, offered a stiff fight to Arjuna, but as usual by the grace of Lord Krsna he was able to emerge very successful in the princely fight and thus gain the valuable hand of Krsna, or Draupadi. Arjuna was lamentingly remembering the incident in the absence of the Lord, by whose strength only he was so powerful.

SB1.15.8

TEXT 8

yat-sannidhav aham u khandavam agnaye ’dam

indram ca samara-ganam tarasa vijitya

labdha sabha maya-krtadbhuta-silpa-maya

digbhyo ’haran nrpatayo balim adhvare te

yat—whose; sannidhau—being nearby; aham—myself; u—note of astonishment; khandavam—the protected forest of Indra, King of heaven; agnaye—unto the fire-god; adam—delivered; indram—Indra; ca—also; sa—along with; amara-ganam—the demigods; tarasa—with all dexterity; vijitya—having conquered; labdha—having obtained; sabha—assembly house; maya-krta—built by Maya; adbhuta—very wonderful; silpa—art and workmanship; maya—potency; digbhyah—from all directions; aharan—collected; nrpatayah—all princes; balim—presentations; adhvare—brought; te—your.

Because He was near me, it was possible for me to conquer with great dexterity the powerful King of heaven, Indradeva, along with his demigod associates and thus enable the fire-god to devastate the Khandava Forest. And only by His grace was the demon named Maya saved from the blazing Khandava Forest, and thus we could build our assembly house of wonderful architectural workmanship, where all the princes assembled during the performance of Rajasuya-yajna and paid you tributes.

The demon Maya Danava was an inhabitant of the forest Khandava, and when the Khandava Forest was set on fire, he asked protection from Arjuna. Arjuna saved his life, and as a result of this the demon felt obliged. He reciprocated by building a wonderful assembly house for the Pandavas, which attracted the extraordinary attention of all state princes. They felt the supernatural power of the Pandavas, and thus without grudge all of them submitted and paid tributes to the Emperor. The demons possess wonderful and supernatural powers to create material wonders. But they are always disturbing elements of the society. The modern demons are the harmful material scientists who create some material wonders for disturbance in the society. For example, the creation of nuclear weapons has caused some panic in human society. Maya was also a materialist like that, and he knew the art of creating such wonderful things. And yet Lord Krsna wanted to kill him. When he was chased both by the fire and by the wheel of Lord Krsna, he took shelter of such a devotee as Arjuna, who saved him from the wrath of the fire of Lord Sri Krsna. Devotees are therefore more merciful than the Lord, and in devotional service the mercy of a devotee is more valuable than the mercy of the Lord. Both the fire and the Lord ceased from chasing the demon as soon as both of them saw that the demon was given shelter by such a devotee as Arjuna. This demon, feeling obliged to Arjuna, wanted to do him some service to show his gratefulness, but Arjuna declined to accept anything from him in exchange. Lord Sri Krsna, however, being pleased with Maya for his taking shelter of a devotee, asked him to render service unto King Yudhisthira by building a wonderful assembly house. The process is that by the grace of the devotee the mercy of the Lord is obtained, and by the mercy of the Lord a chance to serve the Lord’s devotee is obtained. The club of Bhimasena was also a gift of Maya Danava.

SB1.15.9

TEXT 9

yat-tejasa nrpa-siro-’nghrim ahan makhartham

aryo ’nujas tava gajayuta-sattva-viryah

tenahrtah pramatha-natha-makhaya bhupa

yan-mocitas tad-anayan balim adhvare te

yat—whose; tejasa—by influence; nrpa-sirah-anghrim—one whose feet are adored by the heads of kings; ahan—killed; makha-artham—for the sacrifice; aryah—respectable; anujah—younger brother; tava—your; gaja-ayuta—ten thousand elephants; sattva-viryah—powerful existence; tena—by him; ahrtah—collected; pramatha-natha—the lord of the ghosts (Mahabhairava); makhaya—for sacrifice; bhupah—kings; yat-mocitah—by whom they were released; tat-anayan—all of them brought; balim—taxes; adhvare—presented; te—your.

Your respectable younger brother, who possesses the strength of ten thousand elephants, killed, by His grace, Jarasandha, whose feet were worshiped by many kings. These kings had been brought for sacrifice in Jarasandha’s Mahabhairava-yajna, but they were thus released. Later they paid tribute to Your Majesty.

Jarasandha was a very powerful king of Magadha, and the history of his birth and activities is also very interesting. His father, King Brhadratha, was also a very prosperous and powerful king of Magadha, but he had no son, although he married two daughters of the King of Kasi. Being disappointed in not getting a son from either of the two queens, the King, along with his wives, left home to live in the forest for austerities, but in the forest he was blessed by one great rsi to have a son, and he gave him one mango to be eaten by the queens. The queens did so and were very soon pregnant. The King was very happy to see the queens bearing children, but when the ripe time approached, the queens delivered one child in two parts, one from each of the queens’ wombs. The two parts were thrown in the forest, where a great she-demon used to live, and she was glad to have some delicate flesh and blood from the newly born child. Out of curiosity she joined the two parts, and the child became complete and regained life. The she-demon was known as Jara, and being compassionate on the childless King, she went to the King and presented him with the nice child, The King was very pleased with the she-demon and wanted to reward her according to her desire. The she-demon expressed her desire that the child be named after her, and thus the child was surnamed Jarasandha, or one who was joined by Jara, the she-demon. In fact, this Jarasandha was born as one of the parts and parcels of the demon Vipracitti. The saint by whose benedictions the queens bore the child was called Candra Kausika, who foretold of the child before his father Brhadratha.

Since he possessed demoniac qualities from birth, naturally he became a great devotee of Lord Siva, who is the lord of all ghostly and demoniac men. Ravana was a great devotee of Lord Siva, and so also King Jarasandha. He used to sacrifice all arrested kings before Lord Mahabhairava (Siva) and by his military power he defeated many small kings and arrested them to butcher before Mahabhairava. There are many devotees of Lord Mahabhairava, or Kalabhairava, in the province of Bihar, formerly called Magadha. Jarasandha was a relative of Kamsa, the maternal uncle of Krsna, and therefore after Kamsa’s death King Jarasandha became a great enemy of Krsna, and there were many fights between Jarasandha and Krsna. Lord Krsna wanted to kill him, but He also wanted that those who served as military men for Jarasandha might not be killed. Therefore a plan was adopted to kill him. Krsna, Bhima and Arjuna together went to Jarasandha in the dress of poor brahmanas and begged charity from King Jarasandha. Jarasandha never refused charity to any brahmana, and he performed many sacrifices also, yet he was not on a par with devotional service. Lord Krsna, Bhima and Arjuna asked Jarasandha for the facility of fighting him, and it was settled that Jarasandha would fight with Bhima only. So all of them were both guests and combatants of Jarasandha, and Bhima and Jarasandha fought every day for several days. Bhima became disappointed, but Krsna gave him hints about Jarasandha’s being joined together as an infant, and thus Bhima dissected him again and so killed him. All the kings who were detained in the concentration camp to be killed before Mahabhairava were thus released by Bhima. Feeling thus obliged to the Pandavas, they paid tribute to King Yudhisthira.

SB1.15.10

TEXT 10

patnyas tavadhimakha-klpta-mahabhiseka-

slaghistha-caru-kabaram kitavaih sabhayam

sprstam vikirya padayoh patitasru-mukhya

yas tat-striyo ’krta-hatesa-vimukta-kesah

patnyah—of the wife; tava—your; adhimakha—during the great sacrificial ceremony; klpta—dressed; maha-abhiseka—greatly sanctified; slaghistha—thus glorified; caru—beautiful; kabaram—clustered hair; kitavaih—by the miscreants; sabhayam—in the great assembly; sprstam—being caught; vikirya—being loosened; padayoh—on the feet; patita-asru-mukhyah—of the one who fell down with tears in the eyes; yah—He; tat—their; striyah—wives; akrta—became; hata-isa—bereft of husbands; vimukta-kesah—loosened hair.

It was He only who loosened the hair of all the wives of the miscreants who dared open the cluster of your Queen’s hair, which had been nicely dressed and sanctified for the great Rajasuya sacrificial ceremony. At that time she fell down at the feet of Lord Krsna with tears in her eyes.

Queen Draupadi had a beautiful bunch of hair which was sanctified in the ceremonial function of Rajasuya-yajna. But when she was lost in a bet, Duhsasana touched her glorified hair to insult her. Draupadi then fell down at the lotus feet of Lord Krsna, and Lord Krsna decided that all the wives of Duhsasana and company should have their hair loosened as a result of the Battle of Kuruksetra. Thus after the Battle of Kuruksetra, after all the sons and grandsons of Dhrtarastra died in battle, all the wives of the family were obliged to loosen their hair as widows. In other words, all the wives of the Kuru family became widows because of Duhsasana’s insulting a great devotee of the Lord. The Lord can tolerate insults upon Himself by any miscreant because the father tolerates even insults from the son. But He never tolerates insults upon His devotees. By insulting a great soul, one has to forego all the results of pious acts and benedictions also.

SB1.15.11

TEXT 11

yo no jugopa vana etya duranta-krcchrad

durvasaso ’ri-racitad ayutagra-bhug yah

sakanna-sistam upayujya yatas tri-lokim

trptam amamsta salile vinimagna-sanghah

yah—one who; nah—us; jugopa—gave protection; vane—forest; etya—getting in; duranta—dangerously; krcchrat—trouble; durvasasah—of Durvasa Muni; ari—enemy; racitat—fabricated by; ayuta—ten thousand; agra-bhuk—one who eats before; yah—that person; saka-anna-sistam—remnants of foodstuff; upayujya—having accepted; yatah—because; tri-lokim—all the three worlds; trptam—satisfied; amamsta—thought within the mind; salile—while in the water; vinimagna-sanghah—all merged into the water.

During our exile, Durvasa Muni, who eats with his ten thousand disciples, intrigued with our enemies to put us in dangerous trouble. At that time He [Lord Krsna], simply by accepting the remnants of food, saved us. By His accepting food thus, the assembly of munis, while bathing in the river, felt sumptuously fed. And all the three worlds were also satisfied.

Durvasa Muni: A powerful mystic brahmana determined to observe the principles of religion with great vows and under strict austerities. His name is associated with many historical events, and it appears that the great mystic could be both easily satisfied and easily annoyed, like Lord Siva. When he was satisfied, he could do tremendous good to the servitor, but if he was dissatisfied he could bring about the greatest calamity. Kumari Kunti, at her father’s house, used to minister all kinds of services to all great brahmanas, and being satisfied with her good reception Durvasa Muni blessed her with a power to call any demigod she desired. It is understood that he was a plenary incarnation of Lord Siva, and thus he could be either easily satisfied or annoyed. He was a great devotee of Lord Siva, and by Lord Siva’s order he accepted the priesthood of King Svetaketu because of the King’s performance of sacrifice for one hundred years. Sometimes he used to visit the parliamentary assembly of the heavenly kingdom of Indradeva. He could travel in space by his great mystic powers, and it is understood that he traveled a great distance through space, even up to the Vaikuntha planets beyond material space. He traveled all these long distances within one year, during his quarrel with King Ambarisa, the great devotee and Emperor of the world.

He had about ten thousand disciples, and wherever he visited and became a guest of the great ksatriya kings, he used to be accompanied by a number of followers. Once he visited the house of Duryodhana, the enemy cousin of Maharaja Yudhisthira. Duryodhana was intelligent enough to satisfy the brahmana by all means, and the great rsi wanted to give some benediction to Duryodhana. Duryodhana knew his mystic powers, and he knew also that the mystic brahmana, if dissatisfied, could cause some havoc, and thus he designed to engage the brahmana to show his wrath upon his enemy cousins, the Pandavas. When the rsi wanted to award some benediction to Duryodhana, the latter wished that he should visit the house of Maharaja Yudhisthira, who was the eldest and chief among all his cousins. But by his request he would go to him after he had finished his meals with his Queen, Draupadi. Duryodhana knew that after Draupadi’s dinner it would be impossible for Maharaja Yudhisthira to receive such a large number of brahmana guests, and thus the rsi would be annoyed and would create some trouble for his cousin Maharaja Yudhisthira. That was the plan of Duryodhana. Durvasa Muni agreed to this proposal, and he approached the King in exile, according to the plan of Duryodhana, after the King and Draupadi had finished their meals.

On his arrival at the door of Maharaja Yudhisthira, he was at once well received, and the King requested him to finish his noontime religious rites in the river, for by that time the foodstuff would be prepared. Durvasa Muni, along with his large number of disciples, went to take a bath in the river, and Maharaja Yudhisthira was in great anxiety about the guests. As long as Draupadi had not taken her meals, food could be served to any number of guests, but the rsi, by the plan of Duryodhana, reached there after Draupadi had finished her meals.

When the devotees are put into difficulty, they have an opportunity to recollect the Lord with rapt attention. So Draupadi was thinking of Lord Krsna in that dangerous position, and the all-pervading Lord could at once know the dangerous position of His devotees. He therefore came there on the scene and asked Draupadi to give whatever food she might have in her stock. On her being so requested by the Lord, Draupadi was sorrowful because the Supreme Lord asked her for some food and she was unable to supply it at that time. She said to the Lord that the mysterious dish which she had received from the sun-god could supply any amount of food if she herself had not eaten. But on that day she had already taken her meals, and thus they were in danger. By expressing her difficulties she began to cry before the Lord as only a woman would do in such a position. The Lord, however, asked Draupadi to bring up the cooking pots to see if there was any particle of foodstuff left, and on Draupadi’s doing so, the Lord found some particle of vegetable sticking to the pot. The Lord at once picked it up and ate it. After doing so, the Lord asked Draupadi to call for her guests, the company of Durvasa.

Bhima was sent to call them from the river. Bhima said, “Why are you delaying, sirs? Come on, the food is ready for you.” But the brahmanas, because of Lord Krsna’s accepting a little particle of food, felt sumptuously fed, even while they were in the water. They thought that since Maharaja Yudhisthira must have prepared many valuable dishes for them and since they were not hungry and could not eat, the King would feel very sorry, so it was better not to go there. Thus they decided to go away.

This incident proves that the Lord is the greatest mystic, and therefore He is known as Yogesvara. Another instruction is that every householder must offer food to the Lord, and the result will be that everyone, even a company of guests numbering ten thousand, will be satisfied because of the Lord’s being satisfied. That is the way of devotional service.

SB1.15.12

TEXT 12

yat-tejasatha bhagavan yudhi sula-panir

vismapitah sagirijo ’stram adan nijam me

anye ’pi caham amunaiva kalevarena

prapto mahendra-bhavane mahad-asanardham

yat—by whose; tejasa—by influence; atha—at one time; bhagavan—the personality of god (Lord Siva); yudhi—in the battle; sula-panih—one who has a trident in his hand; vismapitah—astonished; sa-girijah—along with the daughter of the Himalaya Mountains; astram—weapon; adat—awarded; nijam—of his own; me—unto me; anye api—so also others; ca—and; aham—myself; amuna—by this; eva—definitely; kalevarena—by the body; praptah—obtained; maha-indra-bhavane—in the house of Indradeva; mahat—great; asana-ardham—half-elevated seat.

It was by His influence only that in a fight I was able to astonish the personality of god Lord Siva and his wife, the daughter of Mount Himalaya. Thus he [Lord Siva] became pleased with me and awarded me his own weapon. Other demigods also delivered their respective weapons to me, and in addition I was able to reach the heavenly planets in this present body and was allowed a half-elevated seat.