Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 1: “Creation”
by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Chapter Sixteen
SB1.16.26-30
TEXTS 26–30
satyam saucam daya ksantis
tyagah santosa arjavam
samo damas tapah samyam
titiksoparatih srutam
jnanam viraktir aisvaryam
sauryam tejo balam smrtih
svatantryam kausalam kantir
dhairyam mardavam eva ca
pragalbhyam prasrayah silam
saha ojo balam bhagah
gambhiryam sthairyam astikyam
kirtir mano ’nahankrtih
ete canye ca bhagavan
nitya yatra maha-gunah
prarthya mahattvam icchadbhir
na viyanti sma karhicit
tenaham guna-patrena
sri-nivasena sampratam
socami rahitam lokam
papmana kalineksitam
SYNONYMS
satyam—truthfulness; saucam—cleanliness; daya—intolerance of others’ unhappiness; ksantih—self-control even if there is cause of anger; tyagah—magnanimity; santosah—self-satisfaction; arjavam—straightforwardness; samah—fixing of the mind; damah—control of the sense organs; tapah—trueness to one’s responsibility; samyam—indiscrimination between friend and foe; titiksa—tolerance of the offenses of others; uparatih—indifference to loss and gain; srutam—following scriptural injunctions; jnanam—knowledge (self-realization); viraktih—detachment from sense enjoyment; aisvaryam—leadership; sauryam—chivalry; tejah—influence; balam—to render possible that which is impossible; smrtih—to find one’s proper duty; svatantryam—not to depend on others; kausalam—dexterity in all activities; kantih—beauty; dhairyam—freedom from disturbance; mardavam—kindheartedness; eva—thus; ca—also; pragalbhyam—ingenuity; prasrayah—gentility; silam—mannerliness; sahah—determination; ojah—perfect knowledge; balam—proper execution; bhagah—object of enjoyment; gambhiryam—joyfulness; sthairyam—immovability; astikyam—faithfulness; kirtih—fame; manah—worthy of being worshiped; anahankrtih—pridelessness; ete—all these; ca anye—also many others; ca—and; bhagavan—the Personality of Godhead; nityah—everlasting; yatra—where; maha-gunah—great qualities; prarthyah—worthy to possess; mahattvam—greatness; icchadbhih—those who desire so; na—never; viyanti—deteriorates; sma—ever; karhicit—at any time; tena—by Him; aham—myself; guna-patrena—the reservoir of all qualities; sri—the goddess of fortune; nivasena—by the resting place; sampratam—very recently; socami—I am thinking of; rahitam—bereft of; lokam—planets; papmana—by the store of all sins; kalina—by Kali; iksitam—is seen.
TRANSLATION
In Him reside (1) truthfulness, (2) cleanliness, (3) intolerance of another’s unhappiness, (4) the power to control anger, (5) self-satisfaction, (6) straightforwardness, (7) steadiness of mind, (8) control of the sense organs, (9) responsibility, (10) equality, (11) tolerance, (12) equanimity, (13) faithfulness, (14) knowledge, (15) absence of sense enjoyment, (16) leadership, (17) chivalry, (18) influence, (19) the power to make everything possible, (20) the discharge of proper duty, (21) complete independence, (22) dexterity, (23) fullness of all beauty, (24) serenity, (25) kindheartedness, (26) ingenuity, (27) gentility, (28) magnanimity, (29) determination, (30) perfection in all knowledge, (31) proper execution, (32) possession of all objects of enjoyment, (33) joyfulness, (34) immovability, (35) fidelity, (36) fame, (37) worship, (38) pridelessness, (39) being (as the Personality of Godhead), (40) eternity, and many other transcendental qualities which are eternally present and never to be separated from Him. That Personality of Godhead, the reservoir of all goodness and beauty, Lord Sri Krsna, has now closed His transcendental pastimes on the face of the earth. In His absence the age of Kali has spread its influence everywhere, so I am sorry to see this condition of existence.
PURPORT
Even if it were possible to count the atoms after smashing the earth into powder, still it would not be possible to estimate the unfathomable transcendental qualities of the Lord. It is said that Lord Anantadeva has tried to expound the transcendental qualities of the Supreme Lord with His numberless tongues, and that for numberless years together it has been impossible to estimate the qualities of the Lord. The above statement of the qualities of the Lord is just to estimate His qualities as far as a human being is able to see Him. But even if it is so, the above qualities can be divided into many subheadings. According to Srila Jiva Gosvami, the third quality, intolerance of another’s unhappiness, can be subdivided into (1) protection of the surrendered souls and (2) well wishes for the devotees. In the Bhagavad-gita the Lord states that He wants every soul to surrender unto Him only, and He assures everyone that if one does so He will give protection from the reactions of all sins. Unsurrendered souls are not devotees of the Lord, and thus there is no particular protection for everyone in general. For the devotees He has all good wishes, and for those who are actually engaged in loving transcendental service of the Lord, He gives particular attention. He gives direction to such pure devotees to help them discharge their responsibilities on the path back to Godhead. By equality (10), the Lord is equally kind to everyone, as the sun is equal in distributing its rays over everyone. Yet there are many who are unable to take advantage of the sun’s rays. Similarly, the Lord says that surrendering unto Him is the guarantee for all protection from Him, but unfortunate persons are unable to accept this proposition, and therefore they suffer from all material miseries. So even though the Lord is equally well-wishing to everyone, the unfortunate living being, due to bad association only, is unable to accept His instructions in toto, and for this the Lord is never to be blamed. He is called the well-wisher for the devotees only. He appears to be partial to His devotees, but factually the matter rests on the living being to accept or reject equal treatment by the Lord.
The Lord never deviates from His word of honor. When He gives assurance for protection, the promise is executed in all circumstances. It is the duty of the pure devotee to be fixed in the discharge of the duty entrusted to him by the Lord or the Lord’s bona fide representative, the spiritual master. The rest is carried on by the Lord without a break.
The responsibility of the Lord is also unique. The Lord has no responsibility because all His work is done by His different appointed energies. But still He accepts voluntary responsibilities in displaying different roles in His transcendental pastimes. As a boy, He was playing the part of a cowboy. As the son of Nanda Maharaja, He discharged responsibility perfectly. Similarly, when He was playing the part of a ksatriya as the son of Maharaja Vasudeva, He displayed all the skill of a martially spirited ksatriya. In almost all cases, the ksatriya king has to secure a wife by fighting or kidnapping. This sort of behavior for a ksatriya is praiseworthy in the sense that a ksatriya must show his power of chivalry to his would-be wife so that the daughter of a ksatriya can see the valor of her would-be husband. Even the Personality of Godhead Sri Rama displayed such a spirit of chivalry during His marriage. He broke the strongest bow, called Haradhanur, and achieved the hand of Sitadevi, the mother of all opulence. The ksatriya spirit is displayed during marriage festivals, and there is nothing wrong in such fighting. Lord Sri Krsna discharged such responsibility fully because although He had more than sixteen thousand wives, in each and every case He fought like a chivalrous ksatriya and thus secured a wife. To fight sixteen thousand times to secure sixteen thousand wives is certainly possible only for the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Similarly, He displayed full responsibility in every action of His different transcendental pastimes.
The fourteenth quality, knowledge, can be further extended into five subheadings, namely (1) intelligence, (2) gratefulness, (3) power of understanding the circumstantial environments of place, object and time, (4) perfect knowledge of everything, and (5) knowledge of the self. Only fools are ungrateful to their benefactors. The Lord, however, does not require benefit from anyone besides Himself because He is full in Himself; still He feels benefited by the unalloyed services of His devotees. The Lord feels grateful to His devotees for such unsophisticated, unconditional service and tries to reciprocate it by rendering service, although the devotee also has no such desire in his heart. The transcendental service of the Lord is itself a transcendental benefit for the devotee, and therefore the devotee has nothing to expect from the Lord. On the assertion of the Vedic aphorism sarvam khalv idam brahma, we can understand that the Lord, by the omnipresent rays of His effulgence, called brahmajyoti, is all-pervading inside or outside of everything, like the omnipresent material sky, and thus He is also omniscient.
As far as the beauty of the Lord is concerned, He has some special features that distinguish Him from all other living beings, and over and above that He has some special attractive beautiful features by which He attracts the mind of even Radharani, the supermost beautiful creation of the Lord. He is known, therefore, as Madana-mohana, or one who attracts the mind of even Cupid. Srila Jiva Gosvami Prabhu has scrutinizingly analyzed other transcendental qualities of the Lord and affirms that Lord Sri Krsna is the Absolute Supreme Personality of Godhead (Parabrahman). He is omnipotent by His inconceivable energies, and therefore He is the Yogesvara, or the supreme master of all mystic powers. Being the Yogesvara, His eternal form is spiritual, a combination of eternity, bliss and knowledge. The nondevotee class cannot understand the dynamic nature of His knowledge because they are satisfied to reach up to His eternal form of knowledge. All great souls aspire to be equal in knowledge with Him. This means that all other knowledge is ever insufficient, flexible and measurable, whereas the knowledge of the Lord is ever fixed and unfathomable. Srila Suta Gosvami affirms in the Bhagavatam that although He was observed by the citizens of Dvaraka every day, they were ever increasingly anxious to see Him again and again. The living beings can appreciate the qualities of the Lord as the ultimate goal, but they cannot attain the status quo of such equality. This material world is a product of the mahat-tattva, which is a state of the Lord’s dreaming condition in His yoga-nidra mystic slumber in the Causal Ocean, and yet the whole creation appears to be a factual presentation of His creation. This means that the Lord’s dreaming conditions are also factual manifestations. He can therefore bring everything under His transcendental control, and thus whenever and wherever He does appear, He does so in His fullness.
The Lord, being all that is described above, maintains the affairs of the creation, and by His so doing He gives salvation even to His enemies who are killed by Him. He is attractive even to the topmost liberated soul, and thus He is worshipable even by Brahma and Siva, the greatest of all demigods. Even in His incarnation of purusa-avatara He is the Lord of the creative energy. The creative material energy is working under His direction, as confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita (9.10). He is the control switch of the material energy, and to control the material energy in the innumerable universes, He is the root cause of innumerable incarnations in all the universes. There are more than five hundred thousand incarnations of Manu in only one universe, besides other incarnations in different universes. In the spiritual world, however, beyond the mahat-tattva, there is no question of incarnations, but there are plenary expansions of the Lord in different Vaikunthas. The planets in the spiritual sky are at least three times the number of those within the innumerable universes in the mahat-tattva. And all the Narayana forms of the Lord are but expansions of His Vasudeva feature, and thus He is Vasudeva, Narayana and Krsna simultaneously. He is sri-krsna govinda hare murare, he natha narayana vasudeva, all in one. His qualities, therefore, cannot be counted by anyone, however great one may be. SB1.16.31 TEXT 31 atmanam canusocami bhavantam camarottamam devan pitrn rsin sadhun sarvan varnams tathasraman SYNONYMS atmanam—myself; ca—also; anusocami—lamenting; bhavantam—yourself; ca—as well as; amara-uttamam—the best amongst the demigods; devan—about the demigods; pitrn—about the denizens of the Pitrloka planet; rsin—about the sages; sadhun—about the devotees; sarvan—all of them; varnan—sections; tatha—as also; asraman—orders of human society. TRANSLATION I am thinking about myself and also, O best amongst the demigods, about you, as well as about all the demigods, sages, denizens of Pitrloka, devotees of the Lord and all men obedient to the system of varna and asrama in human society. PURPORT To effect the perfection of human life there is cooperation between men and demigods, sages, denizens of the Pitrloka, devotees of the Lord and the scientific system of varna and asrama orders of life. The distinction between human life and animal life therefore begins with the scientific system of varna and asrama, guided by the experience of the sages in relation with the demigods, gradually rising to the summit of reestablishing our eternal relation with the Supreme Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krsna. When God-made varnasrama-dharma, which is strictly meant for developing animal consciousness into human consciousness and human consciousness into godly consciousness, is broken by advancement of foolishness, the whole system of peaceful and progressive life is at once disturbed. In the age of Kali, the first attack of the venomous snake strikes against the God-made varnasrama-dharma, and thus a person properly qualified as a brahmana is called a sudra, and a sudra by qualification is passing as a brahmana, all on a false birthright claim. To become a brahmana by a birthright claim is not at all bona fide, although it may be a fulfillment of one of the conditions. But the real qualification of a brahmana is to control the mind and the senses, and to cultivate tolerance, simplicity, cleanliness, knowledge, truthfulness, devotion and faith in the Vedic wisdom. In the present age, consideration of the necessary qualification is being neglected, and the false birthright claim is being supported even by a popular, sophisticated poet, the author of Rama-carita-manasa. This is all due to the influence of the age of Kali. Thus mother earth, represented as a cow, was lamenting the regrettable condition. SB1.16.32-33 TEXTS 32–33 brahmadayo bahu-titham yad-apanga-moksa- kamas tapah samacaran bhagavat-prapannah sa srih sva-vasam aravinda-vanam vihaya yat-pada-saubhagam alam bhajate ’nurakta tasyaham abja-kulisankusa-ketu-ketaih srimat-padair bhagavatah samalankrtangi trin atyaroca upalabhya tato vibhutim lokan sa mam vyasrjad utsmayatim tad-ante SYNONYMS brahma-adayah—demigods such as Brahma; bahu-titham—for many days; yat—of Laksmi, the goddess of fortune; apanga-moksa—glance of grace; kamah—being desirous of; tapah—penances; samacaran—executing; bhagavat—unto the Personality of Godhead; prapannah—surrendered; sa—she (the goddess of fortune); srih—Laksmiji; sva-vasam—her own abode; aravinda-vanam—the forest of lotus flowers; vihaya—leaving aside; yat—whose; pada—feet; saubhagam—all-blissful; alam—without hesitation; bhajate—worships; anurakta—being attached; tasya—His; aham—myself; abja—lotus flower; kulisa—thunderbolt; ankusa—rod for driving elephants; ketu—flag; ketaih—impressions; srimat—the owner of all opulence; padaih—by the soles of the feet; bhagavatah—of the Personality of Godhead; samalankrta-angi—one whose body is so decorated; trin—three; ati—superseding; aroce—beautifully decorated; upalabhya—having obtained; tatah—thereafter; vibhutim—specific powers; lokan—planetary systems; sah—He; mam—me; vyasrjat—gave up; utsmayatim—while feeling proud; tat-ante—at the end. TRANSLATION Laksmiji, the goddess of fortune, whose glance of grace was sought by demigods like Brahma and for whom they surrendered many a day unto the Personality of Godhead, gave up her own abode in the forest of lotus flowers and engaged herself in the service of the lotus feet of the Lord. I was endowed with specific powers to supersede the fortune of all the three planetary systems by being decorated with the impressions of the flag, thunderbolt, elephant-driving rod and lotus flower, which are signs of the lotus feet of the Lord. But at the end, when I felt I was so fortunate, the Lord left me. PURPORT The beauty and opulence of the world can be enhanced by the grace of the Lord and not by any man-made planning. When the Lord Sri Krsna was present on this earth, the impressions of the special signs of His lotus feet were stamped on the dust, and as a result of this specific grace, the whole earth was made as perfect as possible. In other words, the rivers, the seas, the forests, the hills and the mines, which are the supplying agents for the necessities of men and animals, were fully discharging their respective duties. Therefore the riches of the world surpassed all the riches of all other planets in the three planetary systems of the universe. One should, therefore, ask that the grace of the Lord always be present on earth so that we may be favored with His causeless mercy and be happy, having all necessities of life. One may ask how we can detain the Supreme Lord on this earth after His mission is fulfilled and He has left this earth for His own abode. The answer is that there is no need to detain the Lord. The Lord, being omnipresent, can be present with us if we want Him at all. By His omnipresence, He can always be with us if we are attached to His devotional service by hearing, chanting, remembering, etc. There is nothing in the world with which the Lord is disconnected. The only thing we must learn is to excavate the source of connection and thus be linked with Him by offenseless service. We can be connected with Him by the transcendental sound representation of the Lord. The holy name of the Lord and the Lord Himself are identical, and one who chants the holy name of the Lord in an offenseless manner can at once realize that the Lord is present before him. Even by the vibration of radio sound, we can partially realize sound relativity, and by resounding the sound of transcendence we can verily feel the presence of the Lord. In this age, when everything is polluted by the contamination of Kali, it is instructed in the scriptures and preached by Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu that by chanting the holy name of the Lord, we can at once be free from contamination and gradually rise to the status of transcendence and go back to Godhead. The offenseless chanter of the holy name of the Lord is as auspicious as the Lord Himself, and the movement of pure devotees of the Lord all over the world can at once change the troublesome face of the world. Only by the propagation of the chanting of the holy name of the Lord can we be immune from all effects of the age of Kali. SB1.16.34 TEXT 34 yo vai mamatibharam asura-vamsa-rajnam aksauhini-satam apanudad atma-tantrah tvam duhstham una-padam atmani paurusena sampadayan yadusu ramyam abibhrad angam SYNONYMS yah—He who; vai—certainly; mama—mine; ati-bharam—too burdensome; asura-vamsa—unbelievers; rajnam—of the kings; aksauhini—one military division; satam—hundreds of such divisions; apanudat—extirpated; atma-tantrah—self-sufficient; tvam—unto you; duhstham—put into difficulty; una-padam—devoid of strength to stand; atmani—internal; paurusena—by dint of energy; sampadayan—for executing; yadusu—in the Yadu dynasty; ramyam—transcendentally beautiful; abibhrat—accepted; angam—body. TRANSLATION O personality of religion, I was greatly overburdened by the undue military phalanxes arranged by atheistic kings, and I was relieved by the grace of the Personality of Godhead. Similarly you were also in a distressed condition, weakened in your standing strength, and thus He also incarnated by His internal energy in the family of the Yadus to relieve you. PURPORT The asuras want to enjoy a life of sense gratification, even at the cost of others’ happiness. In order to fulfill this ambition, the asuras, especially atheistic kings or state executive heads, try to equip themselves with all kinds of deadly weapons to bring about a war in a peaceful society. They have no ambition other than personal aggrandizement, and thus mother earth feels overburdened by such undue increases of military strength. By increase of the asuric population, those who follow the principles of religion become unhappy, especially the devotees, or devas. In such a situation, the Personality of Godhead incarnates to vanquish the unwanted asuras and to reestablish the true principles of religion. This was the mission of Lord Sri Krsna, and He fulfilled it. SB1.16.35 TEXT 35 ka va saheta viraham purusottamasya premavaloka-rucira-smita-valgu-jalpaih sthairyam samanam aharan madhu-manininam romotsavo mama yad-anghri-vitankitayah SYNONYMS ka—who; va—either; saheta—can tolerate; viraham—separation; purusa-uttamasya—of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; prema—loving; avaloka—glancing; rucira-smita—pleasing smile; valgu-jalpaih—hearty appeals; sthairyam—gravity; sa-manam—along with passionate wrath; aharat—conquered; madhu—sweethearts; manininam—women such as Satyabhama; roma-utsavah—hair standing on end out of pleasure; mama—mine; yat—whose; anghri—feet; vitankitayah—imprinted with. TRANSLATION Who, therefore, can tolerate the pangs of separation from that Supreme Personality of Godhead? He could conquer the gravity and passionate wrath of His sweethearts like Satyabhama by His sweet smile of love, pleasing glance and hearty appeals. When He traversed my [earth’s] surface, I would be immersed in the dust of His lotus feet and thus would be sumptuously covered with grass which appeared like hairs standing on me out of pleasure. PURPORT There were chances of separation between the Lord and His thousands of queens because of the Lord’s being absent from home, but as far as His connection with earth was concerned, the Lord would traverse the earth with His lotus feet, and therefore there was no chance of separation. When the Lord left the surface of the earth to return to His spiritual abode, the earth’s feelings of separation were therefore more acute. SB1.16.36 TEXT 36 tayor evam kathayatoh prthivi-dharmayos tada pariksin nama rajarsih praptah pracim sarasvatim SYNONYMS tayoh—between them; evam—thus; kathayatoh—engaged in conversation; prthivi—earth; dharmayoh—and the personality of religion; tada—at that time; pariksit—King Pariksit; nama—of the name; raja-rsih—a saint amongst kings; praptah—arrived; pracim—flowing towards the east; sarasvatim—River Sarasvati. TRANSLATION While the earth and the personality of religion were thus engaged in conversation, the saintly King Pariksit reached the shore of the Sarasvati River, which flowed towards the east. Thus end the Bhaktivedanta purports of the First Canto, Sixteenth Chapter, of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, entitled “How Pariksit Received the Age of Kali.”