Devanagari
तदा वां परितुष्टोऽहममुना वपुषानघे ।
तपसा श्रद्धया नित्यं भक्त्या च हृदि भावित: ॥ ३७ ॥
प्रादुरासं वरदराड् युवयो: कामदित्सया ।
व्रियतां वर इत्युक्ते मादृशो वां वृत: सुत: ॥ ३८ ॥
Verse text
tadā vāṁ parituṣṭo ’ham
amunā vapuṣānaghe
tapasā śraddhayā nityaṁ
bhaktyā ca hṛdi bhāvitaḥ
prādurāsaṁ varada-rāḍ
yuvayoḥ kāma-ditsayā
vriyatāṁ vara ity ukte
mādṛśo vāṁ vṛtaḥ sutaḥ
Synonyms
tadā
—
then (after the expiry of twelve thousand celestial years)
;
vām
—
with both of you
;
parituṣṭaḥ aham
—
I was very much satisfied
;
amunā
—
by this
;
vapuṣā
—
in this form as Kṛṣṇa
;
anaghe
—
O My dear sinless mother
;
tapasā
—
by austerity
;
śraddhayā
—
by faith
;
nityam
—
constantly (engaged)
;
bhaktyā
—
by devotional service
;
ca
—
as well as
;
hṛdi
—
within the core of the heart
;
bhāvitaḥ
—
fixed (in determination)
;
prādurāsam
—
appeared before you (in the same way)
;
vara
—
da — rāṭ — the best of all who can bestow benedictions
;
yuvayoḥ
—
of both of you
;
kāma
—
ditsayā — wishing to fulfill the desire
;
vriyatām
—
asked you to open your minds
;
varaḥ
—
for a benediction
;
iti ukte
—
when you were requested in this way
;
mādṛśaḥ
—
exactly like Me
;
vām
—
of both of you
;
vṛtaḥ
—
was asked
;
sutaḥ
—
as Your son (you wanted a son exactly like Me) .
Translation
O sinless mother Devakī, after the expiry of twelve thousand celestial years, in which you constantly contemplated Me within the core of your heart with great faith, devotion and austerity, I was very much satisfied with you. Since I am the best of all bestowers of benediction, I appeared in this same form as Kṛṣṇa to ask you to take from Me the benediction you desired. You then expressed your desire to have a son exactly like Me.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
O sinless mother Devakī, after the expiry of twelve thousand celestial years, in which you constantly contemplated Me within the core of your heart with great faith, devotion and austerity, I was very much satisfied with you. Since I am the best of all bestowers of benediction, I appeared in this same form as Kṛṣṇa to ask you to take from Me the benediction you desired. You then expressed your desire to have a son exactly like Me.
KB 10.3.37-38
“When you were executing devotional service and always thinking of Me within your heart, I was very much pleased with you. O sinless mother, your heart is therefore always pure. At that time also I appeared before you in this form just to fulfill your desire, and I asked you to ask whatever you desired. At that time you wished to have Me born as your son.
Purport
Twelve thousand years on the celestial planets is not a very long time for those who live in the upper planetary system, although it may be very long for those who live on this planet. Sutapā was the son of Brahmā, and as we have already understood from
Bhagavad-gītā
(8.17)
, one day of Brahmā equals many millions of years according to our calculation (
sahasra-yuga-paryantam ahar yad brahmaṇo viduḥ
). We should be careful to understand that to get Kṛṣṇa as one’s son, one must undergo such great austerities. If we want to get the Supreme Personality of Godhead to become one of us in this material world, this requires great penance, but if we want to go back to Kṛṣṇa (
tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti so ’rjuna
), we need only understand Him and love Him. Through love only, we can very easily go back home, back to Godhead. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu therefore declared,
premā pum-artho mahān:
love of Godhead is the highest achievement for anyone.
As we have explained, in worship of the Lord there are three stages —
jṣāna, jṣānamayī
and
rati,
or love. Sutapā and his wife, Pṛśni, inaugurated their devotional activities on the basis of full knowledge. Gradually they developed love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and when this love was mature, the Lord appeared as Viṣṇu, although Devakī then requested Him to assume the form of Kṛṣṇa. To love the Supreme Personality of Godhead more, we want a form of the Lord like Kṛṣṇa or Rāma. We can engage in loving transactions with Kṛṣṇa especially.
In this age, we are all fallen, but the Supreme Personality of Godhead has appeared as Caitanya Mahāprabhu to bestow upon us love of Godhead directly. This was appreciated by the associates of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Rūpa Gosvāmī said:
namo mahā-vadānyāya
kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te
kṛṣṇāya kṛṣṇa-caitanya-
nāmne gaura-tviṣe namaḥ
In this verse, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is described as
mahā-vadānya,
the most munificent of charitable persons, because He gives Kṛṣṇa so easily that one can attain Kṛṣṇa simply by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa
mahā-mantra.
We should therefore take advantage of the benediction given by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and when by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa
mantra
we are cleansed of all dirty things (
ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam
), we shall be able to understand very easily that Kṛṣṇa is the only object of love (
kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet
).
Therefore, one need not undergo severe penances for many thousands of years; one need only learn how to love Kṛṣṇa and be always engaged in His service (
sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ
). Then one can very easily go back home, back to Godhead. Instead of bringing the Lord here for some material purpose, to have a son or whatever else, if we go back home, back to Godhead, our real relationship with the Lord is revealed, and we eternally engage in our eternal relationship. By chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa
mantra,
we gradually develop our eternal relationship with the Supreme Person and thus attain the perfection called
svarūpa-siddhi.
We should take advantage of this benediction and go back home, back to Godhead. Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura has therefore sung,
patita-pāvana-hetu tava avatāra:
Caitanya Mahāprabhu appeared as an incarnation to deliver all fallen souls like us and directly bestow upon us love of Godhead. We must take advantage of this great benediction of the great Personality of Godhead.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
"Because of your meditation on me, I am very pleased. I appeared in that form (four handed)." The austerity performed was constant meditation on the Lord with devotion and faith. The use of the three words, bhakti, sraddha and nitya indicate that the devotion was not merely an anga of yoga practice. Rather it was absorption in the Lord. That by itself leads to perfection; it is a cause of prema. Their bhakti was mixed however with jnana and aisvarya because of practice of yoga and austerity.
Some also reason that since nitya siddha Vasudeva and Devaki had nitya siddha aisvarya-jnana mixed bhakti, their amsas Prsni and Sutapa also had mixed bhakti. The tapa and yoga practice were therefore incidental.
In this verse the word bhavita is used instead of cintata. Their meditation was filled with bhava. In other words they had genuine bhakti for the Lord.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
O Devakī, devoid of aparādhas (anaghe)! This indicates her faultless austerity. Seeing you, I was satisfied. The affix pari denotes repeated action. I was satisfied with you, birth after birth. “But the Lord is satisfied with bhakti, not austerity.” That is true. Successive causes are shown. From austerity meant to please me faith in nine types of bhakti was produced. From faith came bhakti. By that bhakti, I was attained constantly in your hearts, with effort (bhāvitaḥ). The word ca indicates that then, by prema I was attained without effort. Their prema was filled with loving the Lord as their son. I was satisfied completely and have been obtained in your hearts. I, Kṛṣṇa (amunā vapuṣā), was the cause of this. Instrumental case expresses cause.
Varada-raṭ is explained by Śrīdhara Svāmī. I give great results for those who do austerities. I give greater results for those having faith. I give greatest results for those having bhakti and prema. I said you should ask for a benediction. You asked for a son like me. They did not ask for the Lord directly, out of shyness.