Devanagari
कामं क्रोधं भयं स्नेहमैक्यं सौहृदमेव च
नित्यं हरौ विदधतो यान्ति तन्मयतां हि ते ॥ १५ ॥
Verse text
kāmaṁ krodhaṁ bhayaṁ sneham
aikyaṁ sauhṛdam eva ca
nityaṁ harau vidadhato
yānti tan-mayatāṁ hi te
Synonyms
kāmam
—
lust
;
krodham
—
anger
;
bhayam
—
fear
;
sneham
—
loving affection
;
aikyam
—
unity
;
sauhṛdam
—
friendship
;
eva ca
—
also
;
nityam
—
always
;
harau
—
for Lord Hari
;
vidadhataḥ
—
exhibiting
;
yānti
—
they achieve
;
tat
—
mayatām — absorption in Him
;
hi
—
indeed
;
te
—
such persons .
Translation
Persons who constantly direct their lust, anger, fear, protective affection, feeling of impersonal oneness or friendship toward Lord Hari are sure to become absorbed in thought of Him.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Persons who constantly direct their lust, anger, fear, protective affection, feeling of impersonal oneness or friendship toward Lord Hari are sure to become absorbed in thought of Him.
KB 10.29.15
The conclusion is that if one somehow or other becomes attached to Kṛṣṇa or attracted to Him, either because of His qualities of beauty, opulence, fame, strength, renunciation or knowledge, through affection or friendship, or even through lust, anger or fear, then one’s salvation and freedom from material contamination are assured.
In the Bhagavad-gītā, Eighteenth Chapter, the Lord states that one who is engaged in preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness is very dear to Him. A preacher has to face many difficulties in his struggle to preach pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Sometimes he has to suffer bodily injuries, and sometimes he has to meet death also. All this is taken as a great austerity on behalf of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa therefore has said that such a preacher is very, very dear to Him. If Kṛṣṇa’s enemies can expect salvation simply by concentrating their minds on Him, then what to speak of persons who are so dear to Kṛṣṇa? The conclusion should be that the salvation of those who are engaged in preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness in the world is guaranteed in all circumstances. But such preachers never care for salvation, because factually one who is engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, devotional service, has already achieved salvation.
Purport
Lord Kṛṣṇa is pure spiritual existence, and those who somehow or other become attached to Him, absorbed in thoughts of Him, rise to the spiritual platform. This is the absolute nature of the Lord’s personal association.
With this verse Śukadeva Gosvāmī answers King Parīkṣit’s question about the
gopīs.
After all, Śukadeva has begun to narrate Kṛṣṇa’s most intimate pastime, the
rāsa
dance, and Parīkṣit is cooperating to remove the doubts of others who are hearing or who in the future may hear this astonishing story. Śrīla Madhvācārya has quoted a statement from the
Skanda Purāṇa
that emphatically declares persons like the
gopīs
to be liberated souls, beyond the pale of material illusion:
bhaktyā hi nitya-kāmitvaṁ
na tu muktiṁ vinā bhavet
ataḥ kāmitayā vāpi
muktir bhaktimatāṁ harau
“Eternal conjugal attraction to Kṛṣṇa, expressed in pure devotional service, cannot develop in one who is not already liberated. Thus those who are devoted to Lord Hari, even in conjugal attraction, are already liberated.
“Śrīla Madhvācārya then quotes from the
Padma Purāṇa
to clarify the essential point that one cannot be liberated simply by lusting after Lord Kṛṣṇa but rather only by possessing conjugal attraction in
pure devotional service:
sneha-bhaktāḥ sadā devāḥ
kāmitsenāpsara-striyaḥ
kāscit kāscin na kāmena
bhaktyā kevalayaiva tu
“The demigods are always affectionately devoted to the Lord, and the young ladies of heaven called Apsarās have lusty feelings toward Him, although some of them have pure devotion for Him untainted by material lust. Only these latter Apsarās are ready for liberation, because without bona fide devotional service one cannot possibly achieve liberation.”
Thus devotional service is not
yogyam,
or appropriate, unless free from material lust. One should not take cheaply the
gopīs’
achievement of personal association with Lord Kṛṣṇa in a conjugal relationship. To show the gravity of direct relationship with the Lord, Śrīla Madhvācārya has quoted the following verses from the
Varāha Purāṇa:
patitvena śriyopāsyo
brahmaṇā me piteti ca
pitāmahatayānyeṣāṁ
tridaśānāṁ janārdanaḥ
“The goddess Lakṣmī worships Lord Janārdana as her husband, Lord Brahmā worships Him as his father, and the other demigods worship Him as their grandfather.”
prapitāmaho me bhagavān
iti sarva-janasya tu
guruḥ śrī-brahmaṇo viṣṇuḥ
surāṇāṁ ca guror guruḥ
“Thus people in general should think, ‘The Supreme Lord is my great-grandfather.’ Lord Viṣṇu is the spiritual master of Brahmā and thus the
guru
of the
guru
of the demigods.”
gurur brahmāsya jagato
daivaṁ viṣṇuḥ sanātanaḥ
ity evopāsanaṁ kāryaṁ
nānyathā tu kathaṣcana
“Brahmā is the spiritual master of this universe, and Viṣṇu is the eternally worshipable Deity. With this understanding, and not otherwise, one should worship the Lord.”
The above injunctions apply to
sarva-jana,
“all people in general.” Thus one should follow these injunctions until one achieves the exalted platform of intimate relationship with the Supreme Lord. There is abundant evidence that the
gopīs
of Vṛndāvana were highly elevated, liberated souls, and thus their pastimes with Kṛṣṇa are pure, spiritual affairs. Keeping this in mind, we can truly understand this chapter of the
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
"Therefore Pariksit, you should understand the conclusion clearly. Through kama (gopis), through krodha (Sisupala and others), through sneha (Nanda and others), through aikya or oneness (the atma ramas), through friendship (Pandavas), in whichever mood they worship the Lord, they realize the respective eternal pastimes. Tan maya means "those greatly attached to Krsna such as the gopis" just as one attached to women is called strimaya. Others attained sayujya.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
This is not only the case when the Lord appears in this world, but occurs at all times. There are two types of kāma: the prema of the gopīs and the desire of Kubjā and others. Anger is exemplified in Śiśupāla and others. Fear is seen in Kaṁsa. Affection is seen in the Vṛṣṇis and the Pāṇḍavas or the people of Vraja. Oneness is seen in the ātmārāmas. Friendship is seen in Kratha, Kauśika and others. In this list, anger and fear are not accepted. The Lord produces auspiciousness even for the person who thinks of Kṛṣṇa, actually endowed with auspicious qualities, as a fearsome person, for a person who secretly hates the Lord or directly show animosity along with envy. How could such low persons fear or hate the Lord? Rather everyone should show affection or friendship.
katamo 'pi na venaḥ syāt pañcānāṁ puruṣaṁ prati
tasmāt kenāpy upāyena manaḥ kṛṣṇe niveśayet
Any of the five types of persons, but not King Vena, will attain their objectives in relation to the Lord. Therefore, one should somehow think of Kṛṣṇa, by one of the favorable methods. SB 7.1.32
Kenapi upayena means “by any favorable method.” It was also said:
yathā vairānubandhena martyas tan-mayatām iyāt
na tathā bhakti-yogena iti me niścitā matiḥ
One cannot achieve such intense absorption in thought of the Supreme Lord by devotional service as one can through enmity toward him. That is my opinion. SB 7.1.27
This verse indicates that one should surpass the path of worshipping the Lord with reverence according to scriptural knowledge and accept rāgānuga or bhāva-marga. From that point of view, the intensity of meditation in hatred is praised for its absorption in the Lord. That intensity should be maintained along with affection or friendship. In that sense, hatred is mentioned in the present verse. Oneness is also not accepted since the Lord’s qualities do not manifest in that realization. The word eva indicates success by the individual methods listed.
Another version has vidadhate instead of vidadhataḥ. The persons who practice affection etc. certainly (hi) realize the Lord according to their particular bhāva (tan-mayatām). The Lord himself says bhaktyāham ekayā grāhyaḥ śraddhayātmā priyaḥ satām: only by bhakti with full faith can the devotees obtain me, Paramātmā, the object of love. (SB 11.14.21) Padma Purāṇa says:
yogibhir dṛśyate bhaktyā nābhaktyā dṛśyate kvacit
draṣṭuṁ na śakyo roṣāc ca matsarāc ca janārdhanaḥ
The yogīs can see the Lord by devotion. The Lord cannot be seen without devotion. The Lord cannot be seen by anger or hatred.
And the Lord says “Covered by my potency I am not visible to all.” (BG 7.25) Though anger and hatred do not give a proper realization of the Lord, at a later time they can produce proper realization by the power of the Lord. Thus anger and hatred are included in the list. The gopīs, having affection for the Lord mentioned in verse 13, are the example of kāma and this is shown to be most excellent. Sometimes vā is seen instead of ca but the meaning is the same.
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
If people somehow direct themselves even with lust etc. (eva) to the Lord who attracts all hearts or who removes all faults (hareḥ), they attain realization of him. Or persons like the sages of Daṇḍakāraṇya by kāma and the Keśi and Kaṁṣa by hatred, attained the Lord. Te (your) can also modify harau: they direct themselves in hatred to your Lord. Another version has vidadhate.
Hi means certainly. They become fixed in the Lord (tan-māyatām) or they attain sārūpya. By practicing (nityam), they attain absorption in the Lord. If they only concentrate on the Lord occasionally, by that lack of absorption they would not quickly attain the Lord. There are two forms of sārūpya: one for the devotee and the other for the nondevotee. For the devotee sārūpya gives happiness and for the nondevotee it gives destruction of suffering only. The devotee attains Vaikuṇtha and the nondevotee attains siddhaloka (merging in Brahman).
Or the Lord appears in order to benefit humanity. This verse explains how he does this. Those who direct lust etc. to the Lord attain absorption in him. One version has vā with sauhrḍam. As with friendship, so by hatred etc. one can attain absorption in the lord.
kāmād dveṣād bhayāt snehād yathā bhaktyeśvare manaḥ
āveśya tad-aghaṁ hitvā bahavas tad-gatiṁ gatāḥ
Just as by vaidhi-bhakti one can attain one’s spiritual goals, many persons have attained suitable forms after asorbing their minds in the Lord out of lust, hatred, fear, and family relationships filled with affection, and after giving up absorption in enmity of the Lord (in the case of hatred and fear). SB 7.1.30
By external vision, the gopīs could be said to have kāma with Kṛṣṇa as an illicit lover.
Or all are grouped together simply to express absorption in the Lord, but there is a greatly different in the result for the different persons. This is described in Bhāgavatāmṛta and Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu. The great devotees also clearly describe the differences. This will be explained later in the appropriate place.