Srimad Bhagavatam 10.59.43 - Accepting Krishna's Mercy by Purity of Self Within (download mp3) and (download mp4)
by Dayananda Swami at ISKCON Chowpatty
www.iskcondesiretree.net
SB 10.59.43
grhesu tasam anapayy atarka-krn
nirasta-samyatisayesv avasthitah
reme ramabhir nija-kama-sampluto
yathetaro garhaka-medhikams caran
Translation:
The Lord, performer of the inconceivable, constantly remained in each of His queens’ palaces, which were unequaled and unexcelled by any other residence. There, although fully satisfied within Himself, He enjoyed with His pleasing wives, and like an ordinary husband He carried out His household duties.
Purport:
The word atarka-krt is significant here. Tarka means “logic,” and atarka means “that which is beyond logic.” The Lord can perform (krt) that which is beyond mundane logic and hence inconceivable. Still, the Lord’s activities can be appreciated and understood to a significant extent by those who surrender unto Him. This is the secret of bhakti, loving devotion to the Supreme Lord.
Srila Sridhara Svami comments that the Lord was always at home except for when He had to go out to do ordinary household duties. And Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti points out that since in the Vaikuntha planets Lord Narayana enjoys with only one goddess of fortune and in Dvaraka Krsna enjoys with thousands of queens, Dvaraka must be considered superior to Vaikuntha. In this regard Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti also quotes the following passage from the Skanda Purana:
sodasaiva sahasrani
gopyas tawra samagatah
hamsa eva matah krsnah
paramatma janardanah
tasyaitah saktayo devi
sodasaiva prakirtitah
candra-rupi matah krsnah
kala-rupas tu tah smrtah
sampurna-mandala tasam
malini sodasi kala
sodasaiva kala yasu
gopi-rupa varangane
ekaikasas tah sambhinnah
sahasrena prthak prthak
“At that place sixteen thousand gopis were assembled with Krsna, who is considered the Supreme, the Supersoul, the shelter of all living beings. These gopis are His renowned sixteen potencies, O goddess. Krsna is like the moon, the gopis are like its phases, and the full contingent of gopis is like the full sequence of the moon’s sixteen phases. Each of these sixteen divisions of gopis, my dear Varangana, is subdivided into one thousand parts.”
Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti further quotes the Karttika-mahatmya section of the Padma Purana: kaisore gopa-kanyas ta yauvane raja-kanyakah. “Those who were the daughters of cowherds in their early youth became royal princesses in their maturity.” The acarya adds, “Therefore just as the Lord of Dvaraka is a plenary expansion of the supremely complete Lord of Sri Vrndavana, so His principal queens are full expansions of His supremely complete pleasure potencies, the gopis.”
