mahāśano mahā-pāpmā viddhy enam iha vairiṇam

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Or even the materialists by service to you attain the highest auspiciousness. Because you have inconceivable greatness with your numerous avatāras and their pastimes, the world, false because it is composed of false planets, like a dream because it is temporary, without consciousness because of lack of knowledge of the Lord — all because it arises from māyā (māyātaḥ udyat), if used to attain you (tvayī, if used as service to you, then it becomes excellent (sad iva avabhāti). Iva here means perfectly so. Or the world shines like Vaikuṇṭha (sat iva avabhāti).

 

Text 23

ekas tvam ātmā puruṣaḥ purāṇaḥ

satyaḥ svayaṁ-jyotir ananta ādyaḥ

nityo ’kṣaro ’jasra-sukho nirañjanaḥ

pūrṇādvayo mukta upādhito ’mṛtaḥ

Translation

You are the one supreme soul, the supreme person, the oldest, the truth, self-manifested, unlimited, the beginning, eternal, indestructible, unlimited happiness, pure, full, without a second, free of upādhis and deathless.

 

Having stated the reality of the Lord, Brahmā now explains the nature of the Lord by showing the difference of the jīva. Though you are one, you are spread in all jīvas as antaryāmī (ātmā puruṣaḥ). Puri śayanāt puruṣaḥ: he is called the puruṣa because he dwells in the body. Though he existed previously by his powers (pura) he is the ever young (nava), the lord full of the highest powers. His powers are not illusory (satyaḥ). “If he is seen to have a form, how can he be real?” He is seen by his self-manifesting mercy (svayaṁjyotiḥ). Moreover he is without an end (anantaḥ). And he is without a beginning (ādyaḥ). He has one form always since he is without change. He is fixed (akṣaraḥ) or beyond matter. Kṣaraḥ sarvāni bhūtāni: the jīvas have temporary bodies. (BG 15.16) The Lord has eternal bliss (ajasra-sukhaḥ), a form of concentrated bliss. He is pure (nirañjanaḥ). He is complete, not depending on anything else. He is devoid of relationsohip with anything different from himself (advayaḥ). He is free of upādhis. He is always benefiting all the jīvas without selfish motives. Or he by nature is endowed with his qualities. He is indestructible (amṛtaḥ). Or he bestows deathlessness to his devotees.

 

Though having a form, the Lord is not like the jīva, who is controlled by others, limited, taking various forms by being born in a womb, being unfixed in form, having limited happiness, being impure, being related with things unlike himself, being subject to coverings (uādhis) and being subject to saṁsāra. These are related as causes of each other.

 

Text 24

evaṁ-vidhaṁ tvāṁ sakalātmanām api

svātmānam ātmātmatayā vicakṣate

gurv-arka-labdhopaniṣat-sucakṣuṣā

ye te tarantīva bhavānṛtāmbudhim

Translation

Those who realize you by obtaining clear vision of the Upaniṣads from the guru who is like the sun, and realize you as described previously, the highest person, as the soul of all souls, easily cross the false ocean of material existence.

 

By proper knowledge of you, by bhakti, they become liberated form saṁsāra easily.

 

They know positivitely (vicakṣate) you, though the controller of all jīvas (sakalātmānām svātmānam) as dearer (ātmatayā) than themselves (ātma). Or they know you though the paramātmā (the ātmā of me, svātmānam) of all jīvas, as dearer than the self. By bhakti to you they cross the uncrossable ocean of saṁsāra, which is false (anṛta). It is said to be false because it is is insignificant, or arises by ignorance. Because the knowledge of ātmā is include in knowledge of the Lord, by knowledge of the Lord one easily (iva) cross the ocean of saṁsāra (produced by ātmā-jñaṇa).

 

Text 25

ātmānam evātmatayāvijānatāṁ

tenaiva jātaṁ nikhilaṁ prapañcitam

jñānena bhūyo ’pi ca tat pralīyate

rajjvām aher bhoga-bhavābhavau yathā

Translation

A person who mistakes a rope for a snake becomes fearful, but he then gives up his fear upon realizing that the so-called snake does not exist. Similarly, for those who fail to recognize themselves as ātmā, the expansive illusory material existence is destroyed by knowledge of you.

 

This explains the ease of destroying saṁsāra. Some persons do not know (avijñānatām) that they (ātmānam) are Brahman, a svarūpa devoid of doing and experiencing (ātmatayā). For them the whole world is produced by this ignorance of ātma-jñāna alone (tena eva). This is because of coverings of matter on the ātmā. Or for those who do not know the Lord (ātmānam) as the dearest (ātmatayā), that ignorance produces samsāra. Or for those who think “I am the Lord, I am bhagavān,” that ignorance produces saṁsāra. By proper knowledge alone this world is definitely (pra) destroyed (līyate) in the most excellent way (bhuyo api). The word ca indicates that the desire for liberation is also destroyed, what to speak of the ocean of the temporary material world.

 

Text 26

ajñāna-saṁjñau bhava-bandha-mokṣau

dvau nāma nānyau sta ṛta-jña-bhāvāt

ajasra-city ātmani kevale pare

vicāryamāṇe taraṇāv ivāhanī

Translation

Bondage and liberation are different from knowledge of ātmā. When one reflects on ātmā, which is separate from matter, these states no longer exist, just as, when one considers the matter, day and night do not exist for the sun.

 

Realease from saṁsāra has been stated to be insignificant. This verse explains that liberation is not the goal of life. From true knowledge (ṛta-jñ-bhāvāt), bondage and liberation do not exist. Actually the two are based on falsity. When one reflects on ātmā (ātmani), the eternal form of knowledge (ajasra-citi), which is pure (kevale) and beyond matter (pare), liberation becomes false like bondage. For the sun there is no night, and by thinking that there is no night, there is no day. With no saṁsāra, liberaetion becomes insignificant. Thus it is not the goal of life.

 

Or when one thinks only (kevale) of the supreme Lord (pare) in the mind (ātmani) there is no bondage or liberation.

 

“How can both become false just by deliberation?” The Lord is condensed eternal knowledge (ajastra-citi). By thinking of the Lord, knowledge about the truth of both arises. It is like the sun in the day and night. By having no night, the division that creates day disappears.

 

Text 27

tvām ātmānaṁ paraṁ matvā param ātmānam eva ca

ātmāpunar bahir mṛgya aho ’jña-janatājñatā

Translation

Considering that you, Paramātmā to be an ordinary jīva, a person seeks you, not in Vṛndāvana, but internally, as merely the jīva.

 

Those who think of you, the ātmā of all ātmās, only as a jīva are fools. Those who think of you, Paramātmā, to be just a pure jīva (ātmanam param) will again become materialists. The word api means “and.” The Lord is called ātmā since he spreads everywhere and is like a mother. You are not sought externally, in Vṛndāvana (apunar bahir mṛgyaḥ). The syllable a in apunaḥ indicates a negative. They search internally for you as the pure jīva. Aho expresses surprise. What ignorance of ignorant people! They do not seek out the Lord with astounding qualities mentioned previously.

 

Or thinking you, the basis of all souls (ātmānam), to be other than ātmā (param), thinking that others are also like you, they search for the ātmā elsewhere, not at your lotus feet. This is the ignorance of ignorant people. Or, thinking that you are the pure form of the jīva, thinking of you only as antaryāmī, having achieved a special excellence, they do not search for you in Vṛndāvana. Ignorant people end up in this ignorance for they do not listen to the words of the Lord:

 

atha vā bahunaitena kiṁ jñātena tavārjuna
 viṣṭabhyāham idaṁ kṛtsnam ekāṁśena sthito jagat

 

But what is the use of all this knowledge for you, Arjuna? Please understand: by just one portion of myself, Paramātmā, I am firmly established in this universe. BG 10.42

 

That ātmā should be sought externally. With his two index fingers, Brahmā points to the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. If that were not so, I would have remained meditating on you in my mind in Brahmaloka. I would not have come here to Vṛndāvana again. One does not search in the forest for an object lost in the house. Or, those who think they are in knowledge are ignorant. Or those who know the nature of jīva and the Lord give up everything and search for the Lord in Vṛndāvana. The verse is praise for such people.

 

Or, first (param) thinking of you as the jīva by worship using Advaita philosophy, then realizing you as Paramātmā, they search for the real ātmā of all beings using the external senses. Oh! These people are knowledgeable among the knowledgeable (jña-janatā jñātā)! Or ajña can mean “having incomparable knowledge” just as anuttama can mean “incomparable.” The words mrgyaḥ and aho do not become mṛgyo ‘ho since first vowel of aho becomes long to indicate crying in a state of misery. Thus the rule ato roraplutād aplūte (Pāṇini 4.1.113) does not apply.

 

Text 28

antar-bhave ’nanta bhavantam eva

hy atat tyajanto mṛgayanti santaḥ

asantam apy anty ahim antareṇa

santaṁ guṇaṁ taṁ kim u yanti santaḥ

Translation

O unlimited Lord, the discriminating people seek you out within the universe by rejecting things other than you. How can discriminating persons appreciate the real nature of a rope lying before them until they refute the illusion that it is a snake?

 

The devotees seek you who exist, spreading inside and out. O unlimited lord (ananta)! You spread inside and outside everything. Do the devotees seek you only in their own bodies? No, not at all, but they also seek you outside. Why? They reject that which is false — ātma-tattva, known by non-devotees as asat.

 

If they do not reject it, pure knowledge will not arise. That is expressed in the second half of the verse. Without rejecting that atat object (antareṇa), how can one accept the real object? The devotees first reject the false knowledge of the Lord, and think, “I am not the Lord. I am his servant.” Then they attain the Lord.

 

Or atat can mean nirvāṇa. Without rejecting nirvāṇa which is atat one cannot attain the real object. Without rejecting the false snake, how can one realize the real snake?

 

Or how do those in knowledge search for the Lord? They search in the lotus of their hearts (antar-bhave). They reject everything unless it is related to you. “By remembering the Lord, that happens automatically. Why should one attempt rejection?” Without rejecting the poison of the snake, without rejecting karma and jñāna, how can one perfect remembering the Lord?

 

Text 29

athāpi te deva padāmbuja-dvaya-

prasāda-leśānugṛhīta eva hi

jānāti tattvaṁ bhagavan mahimno

na cānya eko ’pi ciraṁ vicinvan

Translation

O Lord, revealer of everything! O Lord endowed with all qualities! Such persons, receiving a particle of mercy from your lotus feet, realize to some degree your greatness. Others cannot understand even after reflecting for a long time.

 

Though your glory is clear, it can only be realized by your mercy. O revealer of everything or one who manifests everywhere (deva)! Or O lord who always plays in Vṛndāvana! Or deva can modify lotus feet in the verse. The person receive a particle of mercy or your pleasure (prasāda). Or he receives mahāprasāda such as tulasī leaves. This is certain (hi). O Lord, who reveals qualities like mercy (bhagavān)! This is the cause of the mercy. Others do not obtain this mercy.This person knows the truth about your glories.

 

Or commencing bhakti, giving up all speculation, by praying for bhakti continuously, one knows the truth about bhakti (mahimnaḥ). One knows what it is, its real nature. Another person, all alone, without association, contemplating by studying scriptures (vicinvan) and yoga practice, does not know the Lord.

 

Though one realizes the truth by getting full mercy, usually one only receives a particle (leśa). This indicates that the mercy is rare.

 

Text 30

tad astu me nātha sa bhūri-bhāgo

bhave ’tra vānyatra tu vā tiraścām

yenāham eko ’pi bhavaj-janānāṁ

bhūtvā niṣeve tava pāda-pallavam

Translation

Let that be, O Lord! My greatest fortunate, in this birth or born as an animal elsewhere, or preferably in Vraja, is to take birth as one among your devotees and serve your lotus feet with full devotion.

 

Your mercy results in becoming your servant. Brahmā prays to be a servant. O Lord who fulfills all desires (nātha)! By the fortune of attaining Brahmaloka there is no great fortune. By taking birth among your devotees there is the greatest fortune (bhūri-bhagaḥ). For me, the elderst son, that is the best placement. I should be born as one among your devotees and serve with full dedication (niṣeve) your lotus feet, being born as Brahmā (atra) or elsewhere (anyatra) or in Vraja. Or elsewhere can simply modify “in an animal body.” But that is not my interest. I should have bhakti. Or your mercy should produce service to your devotees. Let me be born as one among your (tava) new devotees (bhavat-janānām) and serve the lotus feet of your associates.

 

Text 31

              aho ’ti-dhanyā vraja-go-ramaṇyaḥ

stanyāmṛtaṁ pītam atīva te mudā

yāsāṁ vibho vatsatarātmajātmanā

yat-tṛptaye ’dyāpi na cālam adhvarāḥ

Translation

O almighty Lord, how greatly fortunate are the cows and ladies of Vṛndāvana, the nectar of whose breast-milk you have happily drunk to your full satisfaction, taking the form of their calves and children! All the Vedic sacrifices performed from time immemorial up to the present day have not given you as much satisfaction.

 

Brahām prays to have bhakti similar to that of the people of Vraja, or to serve their lotus feet. Since everything should end in sweetness, with the intention of praising the Lord by describing their greatness, he praises them in ten verses. How amazing (aho)! This is most auspicious. The cows and women have reached the highest success possible (atidhanyāḥ). They satisfied you by giving their breast milk (ramaṇyaḥ) to satisy you (yad-tṛptaye). O most perfect Lord (vibho)! And you drank the milk, and drank to the highest degree (atīva). And it gave you great joy (mudā). And you drank directly by being the calves and cowherd boys. Past tense is used to indicate that he covered his normal form. You did this from previously until today (adyāpi). Or you drank even today, with your form as a small child (adyāpi).

 

Text 32

aho bhāgyam aho bhāgyaṁ nanda-gopa-vrajaukasām

yan-mitraṁ paramānandaṁ pūrṇaṁ brahma sanātanam

Translation

How greatly fortunate are Nanda Mahārāja, the cowherd men and all the other inhabitants of Vrajabhūmi! There is no limit to their good fortune, because Kṛṣṇa gave them prema, which is the highest bliss, eternal and complete.

 

Not only were they fortunate in giving their milk. Nanda and others, everyone living in Vraja, was fortune. Aho is repeated out of great bliss or to indicate the greatest good fortune. Those who lived in the Vraja of Nanda, or the animals and birds as well as Nanda and the cowherds, were most fortune. Even the cowherds in general had good fortune. What can one say about Nanda’s fortune? This is use of kaimutya.

 

They had friendship with Kṛṣṇa from which there was the highest bliss. There was no decrease of happiness because of lamentation and suffering. It was perfect, in regards to gratitude and other qualities. It was spread everywhere (brahma), available everywhere. It was eternal (sanātanam), never unattainable.

 

Or they were eternal friends of you, the complete brahman. By the eternal freindship he was eternally present with them. Not only did he save them from dangers but bestowed the highest bliss. He was the very form of the highest bliss. Or he gave them pure (param) bliss (ānandam), as a friend, not as the Lord, since that would interfere with the intense prema.

 

Or though you are the complete Brahman, you have the people of Vraja as friends. There is agreement with the neuter of purṇam brahman since the words like mitram describe brahman.

 

Though the gopīs and Rādhā are the greatest, this is not described here out of shyness because he was acting as a son, or because of the confidential nature of the topic. And that rasa had not developed at this time.

 

Text 33

eṣāṁ tu bhāgya-mahimācyuta tāvad āstām

ekādaśaiva hi vayaṁ bata bhūri-bhāgāḥ

etad-dhṛṣīka-caṣakair asakṛt pibāmaḥ

śarvādayo ’ṅghry-udaja-madhv-amṛtāsavaṁ te

Translation

O infallible Lord! What can be said of the great fortune of the people of Vraja? We, the eleven deities of the directions, are also fortunate. Headed by Śiva, we constantly drink through the cups of our senses the nectar and liquor from your lotus feet.

 

Ah! How is it possible to describe the glory of the people of Vraja? We have become successful by having a relationship with them. The word tu indicates a different topic or is an ornament of speech.

 

The great fortune of your devotees is in all ways infallible (acyuta). Brahmā drinks the nectar of Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet (through the sense deities of the people of Vraja). This takes the form of hearing his topics and seeing his feet to fix his position as a servant in his mind. The liquor of Kṛṣṇa’s feet is nectar because of its great sweetness and because it gives life to the highest degree (āsavam).

 

Or the liquor is deathless (amṛta), intoxicating (āsavam) even for liberated persons. It gives greater happiness than liberation and makes one forget liberation. Drinking even once this honey shows the superiority of the people of Vraja over all other devotees.

 

There are ten deities according to SB 2.5.30 and the moon is the deity of the mind. That makes eleven deities. Vayam (we) indicates Brahma, the deity of the intelligence,and Śiva. Śiva is the deity of the ahaṅkāra. That plus the eleven makes thirteen deities. Or the genitals and rectum with Mitra and Prajapati as deities are omitted as unsuitable. Thus there are again eleven. Or Prajāpati can be admitted in the list since he is suitable for men and women for Vraja who worshipped Prajāpati to produce devotee offspring by direct worship of the Lord. But Upendra who is non-different from the Lord should be excluded. Then there are eleven deities again.

 

Though the people of Vraja with bodies of eternity, knowledge and bliss have devatās of the senses, they are not the material moon deity etc. These deities also have spiritual bodies and live in Vaikuṇṭha. Brahmā makes this statement by thinking of the senses deities as non-different from the Vaikuṇṭha forms, being shadow forms, or he merely takes an external view of the situation.

 

Padma Purāṇa states that the deities in Vaikuṇṭha are eternal:

 

nityāḥ sarve pare dhāmni ye cānye tridivaukasaḥ

 

te vai prākṛta-nāke ’smin na nityās tridiveśvarāḥ

 

The heavenly beings such as the Sādyas, Maruts, and Viśvadevas and their abodes are all eternal in the spiritual world. In the material world these same devatās are not eternal. Padma Purāṇa

 

Or experiencing the various types of sweetness in Kṛṣṇa, Brahmā praises the good fortune of his devatā associates on somehow at some time attaining that sweetness.

 

Or we, the deities of the ten directions, excluding Niṛṛti (nine) and including the sun and moon, drink the honey of your feet, which is sweet and intoxicating, using the cups of our senses.

 

Text 34

tad bhūri-bhāgyam iha janma kim apy aṭavyāṁ

yad gokule ’pi katamāṅghri-rajo-’bhiṣekam

yaj-jīvitaṁ tu nikhilaṁ bhagavān mukundas

tv adyāpi yat-pada-rajaḥ śruti-mṛgyam eva

Translation

My greatest possible good fortune would be to take any birth whatever in this forest of Gokula and have my head bathed by the dust falling from the lotus feet of any of its residents. Their entire life and soul is the Lord, Mukunda, the dust of whose lotus feet is sought even today by the Upaniṣads.

 

With a desire for bhakti like that of the people of Vraja or with a desire to serve their lotus feet, Brahmā now in five words rejects five items including liberation which are unfavorable for this type of bhakti. With the word janma (birth) he rejects liberation, with the word iha (here) he rejects Svarga. With the word kim api he rejects being a brāhmaṇa. With the word aṭavyām (in the forest) he rejects Mathurā. With the word gokule he rejects Tapovana and other forests. Kim api indicates he could be some low grass. That grass reaches perfection by being bathed in Kṛṣṇa’s foot dust — from head to foot. Or out of greed, bathing indicates that all his limbs should be successful. Or bathing in the dust only once is indicated. This dust is full of all holy places. Kṛṣṇa’s foot dust is sought –but not attained — by the śrutis at this time (adyāpi) when he appears in the world.

 

Brahman is praised as the feet of the Lord in the śrutis. Brahma pucchaṁ pratiṣṭhā: brahman is the base. (Taittirīya Uapnisad; 2.5.1) Tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padam: the wise see the supreme place of Viṣṇu. (Kaṭha Upanisād 1.3.9) However the śrutis recommend karma and jñāna. If the śrutis had actually attained Kṛṣṇa, which means giving up those sādhanas on attaining the goal, they should not have advised jñāna or karma by praising them.

 

The Lord gives persons like me rare bhakti (mukundaḥ). He reveals all his powers (bhagavān). He is the life all all beings in Gokula. They cannot live without him even for a moment. This indicates the highest prema.

 

“Why should one pray to be born as some being among the inhabitants of Vraja? Why not pray to be a cowherd directly?” He alone is the life of all of them. It is unsuitable for me to pray for the dust of your feet, which is rare for even the śrutis which give all knowledge and are most ancient like me. What to speak of praying for birth as a cowherd, who control your lotus feet by their great prema.

 

Text 35

eṣāṁ ghoṣa-nivāsinām uta bhavān kiṁ deva rāteti naś

ceto viśva-phalāt phalaṁ tvad-aparaṁ kutrāpy ayan muhyati

sad-veṣād iva pūtanāpi sa-kulā tvām eva devāpitā

yad-dhāmārtha-suhṛt-priyātma-tanaya-prāṇāśayās tvat-kṛte

Translation

O Lord! What can you give to the people of Vraja whose houses, possessions, friends, dear ones, bodies, sons, life airs and hearts are dedicated only to you, since there is nothing superior to you or Vraja (which you have already given)? Thinking of this, my mind becomes bewildered. You awarded yourself even to Pūtanā and her family members because she wore the disguise of a nurse.

 

My mind is bewildered. It cannot determine with certainty. Or controlled by debts to them, you give up persons like me, and remain in Gokula. Thus my mind is bewildered with extreme lamentation and sadness. Pūtanā, Baka and Agha attained the Lord. Baka and Agha attained the Lord by his touch. Api should be added after viśva-phalāt. Since you are

 

actually the embodiment of all results (viśva-phalāt), I do not know (ayan) what can be given to the cowherds other than yourself. Nowhere (kutra) is it possible, since being born in Mathurā or Vraja is perfection already. Or api can be connected with kutra. Ayan means “I do not know by any means at any time.”

 

Event though she hated the devotees (sad-dveṣāt), desiring to kill them, Pūtanā and even her family members, who were famous for killing children, attained you. The reason was that she gave her breast for feeding Kṛṣṇa. This was already explained. One can only attain the Lord by having a favorable attitude to the Lord. For that reason iva is used for emphasis with sad-dveṣāt. She was made to attain (āpita) Kṛṣṇa, by becoming non-different from him by developing a favorable attitude to him. Being friendly, she must attain you.

 

“Should I give myself to the people of Vraja along with my place and wealth?” They have given everything for serving you (tvat-kṛte). If you give similar things to them, then you are equal, showing gratitude. But this does not accomplish your special, famous compassion.

 

Text 36

tāvad rāgādayaḥ stenās tāvat kārā-gṛhaṁ gṛham

tāvan moho ’ṅghri-nigaḍo yāvat kṛṣṇa na te janāḥ