SB 10.47.17 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

मृगयुरिव कपीन्द्रं विव्यधे लुब्धधर्मा स्‍त्रियमकृत विरूपां स्‍त्रीजित: कामयानाम् । बलिमपि बलिमत्त्वावेष्टयद् ध्वाङ्‍क्षवद्- यस्तदलमसितसख्यैर्दुस्त्यजस्तत्कथार्थ: ॥ १७ ॥

Verse text

mṛgayur iva kapīndraṁ vivyadhe lubdha-dharmā striyam akṛta virūpāṁ strī-jitaḥ kāma-yānām balim api balim attvāveṣṭayad dhvāṅkṣa-vad yas tad alam asita-sakhyair dustyajas tat-kathārthaḥ

Synonyms

mṛgayuḥ — a hunter ; iva — like ; kapi — of the monkeys ; indram — the king ; vivyadhe — shot ; lubdha — dharmā — behaving like a cruel hunter ; striyam — a woman (namely, Śūrpaṇakhā) ; akṛta — made ; virūpām — disfigured ; strī — by a woman (Sītādevī) ; jitaḥ — conquered ; kāmayānām — who was impelled by lusty desire ; balim — King Bali ; api — also ; balim — his tribute ; attvā — consuming ; aveṣṭayat — bound up ; dhvāṅkṣavat — just like a crow ; yaḥ — who ; tat — therefore ; alam — enough ; asita — with black Kṛṣṇa ; sakhyaiḥ — of all kinds of friendship ; dustyajaḥ — impossible to give up ; tat — about Him ; kathā — of the topics ; arthaḥ — the elaboration .

Translation

Like a hunter, He cruelly shot the king of the monkeys with arrows. Because He was conquered by a woman, He disfigured another woman who came to Him with lusty desires. And even after consuming the gifts of Bali Mahārāja, He bound him up with ropes as if he were a crow. So let us give up all friendship with this dark-complexioned boy, even if we can’t give up talking about Him.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Like a hunter, He cruelly shot the king of the monkeys with arrows. Because He was conquered by a woman, He disfigured another woman who came to Him with lusty desires. And even after consuming the gifts of Bali Mahārāja, He bound him up with ropes as if he were a crow. So let us give up all friendship with this dark-complexioned boy, even if we can't give up talking about Him. KB 10.47.17 “You poor messenger, you are only a less intelligent servant. You do not know much about Kṛṣṇa, how ungrateful and hardhearted He has been, not only in this life but in His previous lives also. We have all heard this from our grandmother Paurṇamāsī. She has informed us that Kṛṣṇa was born in a kṣatriya family previous to this birth and was known as Rāmacandra. In that birth, instead of killing Vāli, an enemy of His friend, in the manner of a kṣatriya, He killed him just like a hunter. A hunter takes a secure hiding place and then kills an animal without facing it. So Lord Rāmacandra, as a kṣatriya, should have fought with Vāli face to face, but, instigated by His friend, He killed him from behind a tree. Thus He deviated from the religious principles of a kṣatriya. Also, He was so attracted by the beauty of Sītā that He converted Śūrpaṇakhā, the sister of Rāvaṇa, into an ugly woman by cutting off her nose and ears. Śūrpaṇakhā proposed an intimate relationship with Him, and as a kṣatriya He should have satisfied her. But He was so henpecked that He could not forget Sītā-devī and converted Śūrpaṇakhā into an ugly woman. Before that birth as a kṣatriya, He took His birth as a brāhmaṇa boy known as Vāmanadeva and asked charity from Bali Mahārāja. Bali Mahārāja was so magnanimous that he gave Him whatever he had, yet Kṛṣṇa as Vāmanadeva ungratefully arrested him just like a crow and pushed him down to the Pātāla kingdom. We know all about Kṛṣṇa and how ungrateful He is. But here is the difficulty: in spite of His being so cruel and hardhearted, it is very difficult for us to give up talking about Him. And it is not only we who are unable to give up this talk, but great sages and saintly persons also engage in talking about Him. We gopīs of Vṛndāvana do not want to make any more friendships with this blackish boy, but we do not know how we shall be able to give up remembering and talking about His activities.” Since Kṛṣṇa is absolute, His so-called unkind activities are as relishable as His kind activities. Therefore saintly persons and great devotees like the gopīs cannot give up Kṛṣṇa in any circumstances. Lord Caitanya therefore prayed, “Kṛṣṇa, You are free and independent in all respects. You can either embrace Me or crush Me under Your feet—whatever You like. You may make Me brokenhearted by not letting Me see You throughout My whole life, but You are My only object of love.”

Purport

In Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrīla Prabhupāda explains the meaning of this verse as follows: “[Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī said to the bee,] ‘You poor messenger, you are only a less intelligent servant. You do not know much about Kṛṣṇa — how ungrateful and hardhearted He has been, not only in this life but in His previous lives also. We have all heard this from our grandmother Paurṇamāsī. She has informed us that Kṛṣṇa was born in a kṣatriya family previous to this birth and was known as Rāmacandra. In that birth, instead of killing Vāli, an enemy of His friend, in the manner of a kṣatriya, He killed him just like a hunter. A hunter takes a secure hiding place and then kills an animal without facing it. So Lord Rāmacandra, as a kṣatriya, should have fought with Vāli face to face, but instigated by His friend, He killed him from behind a tree. Thus He deviated from the religious principles of a kṣatriya. Also, He was so attracted by the beauty of Sītā that He converted Śūrpaṇakhā, the sister of Rāvaṇa, into an ugly woman by cutting off her nose and ears. Śūrpaṇakhā proposed an intimate relationship with Him, and as a kṣatriya He should have satisfied her. But He was so henpecked that He could not forget Sītādevī and converted Śūrpaṇakhā into an ugly woman. Before that birth as a kṣatriya, He took birth as a brāhmaṇa boy known as Vāmanadeva and asked charity from Bali Mahārāja. Bali Mahārāja was so magnanimous that he gave Him whatever he had, yet Kṛṣṇa as Vāmanadeva ungratefully arrested him just like a crow and pushed him down to the Pātāla kingdom. We know all about Kṛṣṇa and how ungrateful He is. But here is the difficulty: in spite of His being so cruel and hardhearted, it is very difficult for us to give up talking about Him.’” Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī points out that this speech of Rādhārāṇī’s is called avajalpa, as described by Rūpa Gosvāmī in the following verse from the Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi (14.192): harau kāṭhinya-kāmitva- dhaurtyād āsakty-ayogyatā yatra serṣyā-bhiyevoktā so ’vajalpaḥ satāṁ mataḥ “Saintly persons have concluded that when a lover, impelled by jealousy and fear, declares that Lord Hari is unworthy of her attachment because of His harshness, lustiness and dishonesty, such speech is called avajalpa. ”

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

The bee seemed to say, "O Radha, tender hearted Krsna meditates on you in Mathura. I have seen it with my eyes." "You are new to Mathura, so you do not know the truth. Not only in this life has he been cruel hearted, but in previous lives also. I have heard this from Paurnamasi. When he appeared as a ksatriya in the form of Rama, he gave up ksatriya dharma and like a hunter kills a dear, he killed Vali, the king of the monkeys mercilessly, by hiding behind a tree. "In the events of this story there is more impiety, for he transgressed the rules of the hunter. The hunter does not kill monkeys because their flesh is inedible and cannot even be sold to anyone. Hear about some more of his impiety. The woman Surpanakha, overcome with lust, desired Rama, but Rama disfigured here by cutting off her nose, so that no one else would want to enjoy with her. That was simply because of his cruel nature. He did not do this cruel act because he was protecting his vow of celibacy while wearing matted locks and dress of a renunciate, because at that time he also was living with Sita, conquered by love for her (stri jitah). "Similarly, he appeared as Vamana, as a brahmana, he rejected the qualities of the brahama such as peacefulness and straightforwardness, and after enjoying the offerings made by the pious king Bali, threw him from his rulership of the three worlds (pisthapat aksipat), into a hole in the earth." Alternative reading is avesthayat dhvanksavat instead of pisthapat. In that case the meaning is: "He, like a crow, bound him up by trickery. Just as the crow, after devouring offerings meant for worship, calls other crows and surrounds a woman, Vamana called his own people who surrounded Bali, and tormented him. Enough with friendships with that black complexioned man! Not one of many types of friendship of us gold complexioned women with that black complexioned man has proved auspicious.And because he has impure heart (asita), one should be wary of him. What use have we of such a person?" "The bee seemed to say, "Do those who go around criticizing others constantly have pure hearts?" Radha said, "Talking about his activities in past lives is hard to give up, though it gives us sorrow. Though we should not be discussing about him, we cannot give up discussing, whether we criticize him or not." Another meaning: "Though we have given him up, we cannot stop talking about him." As the subject is not mentioned in this phrase dustyas tat katharthah, it infers the even for the best of munis it is difficult to give up speaking about Krsna. Killing Vali indicates his ruthless nature, being controlled by woman indicates his lust, accepting offerings indicates fraud, and friendships with the black fellow indicates fear, malice (irsya), and unsuitableness of attachment,. This is an example of avajalpa. "Statements which show that attachment to him is unadvisable because of his hard nature, his lust and cheating behavior, along with expressions of malice and fear is called avajalpa."

Purport (Jiva Goswami)

Not only do I fear such activities that he does, but also the nature of his color. Thinking of Kṛṣṇa as being non-different because of similar qualities, she shows faults in Rāma and others who are famous for qualities like dhīrodatta. If they have faults, what to speak of Kṛṣṇa. Like a hunter, without mercy, a person who was dark in complexion, filled with greed for meat etc. (lubdha-dharmā), or even without bad qualities, killed Bali, king of the monkeys. Monkeys should not be killed. Let that be. He disfigured the daughter of Viśrava, even though she was full of desire, and also cut off her ears and nose. Such cruel acts are possible since it is customary in the kṣatriya families. Another person with black complexion, brāhmaṇa by birth, who was suitable for maintaining qualities like peacefulness, tied up (āveṣṭayat) Bali, who had the highest sense of dharma, after having enjoyed Bali’s articles of worship. Or he removed (akṣipat) Bali from his position as master of the three worlds (pisṭapāt) and made him enter a lower world. He is like a crow which devours offerings meant of the devatās and surrounds people by calling other crows and surrounding the house. Killing others indicates his hard nature. Being controlled by women indicates his lust. Enjoying the gifts indicates his deceit. What is the use in establishing friendship with a dark complexioned person? “But why do the sages not stop speaking about him?” He is hard to give up. His nature is completely bewitching. These words express fear and hatred. Or another meaning is as follows. “One should not find fault in others.” One should not speak about him since it is forbidden. But it is not possible to give up speaking about his bad qualities because my anger is aroused by his most unjust actions. Discussing his faults is hard to give up.

Purport (Sanatana Goswami)

He shot the best of monkeys, who had no fault. He is called “conquered by a woman” because Sītā is their competitor as well as Lakṣmī. He is compared to a crow, which eats offerings meant for the devatās and injures people. Or he was cruel and insulting, binding Bali tightly as if Bali were a crow. This also shows his ingratitude. His friends become black like him. Let us give up friendship with that black person. The plural is used to indicate complete rejection of all types of friendship with him. Or “Just hear about the qualities of your friend.” She begins criticizing him. Like a hunter he shot the best bull (kapīndram—one who shakes the earth). atha tarhy āgato goṣṭham ariṣṭo vṛṣabhāsuraḥ mahīm mahā-kakut-kāyaḥ kampayan khura-vikṣatām The demon Ariṣṭa then came to the cowherd village. Appearing in the form of a bull with a large hump, he made the earth tremble as he tore it apart with his hooves. SB 10.36.1 Using the bull’s horn, like a hunter, not following dharma, he killed the huge bull. Being lusty, he desired deformed woman, Kubjā. He devoured the offerings given by the cowherds and rejected the worship of Indra. “Then why do you speak about him?” He is the goal of speech in Vraja (kathārthaḥ). Being absorbed in speaking of his activites in Vraja, we must speak of him. It is not by our will. And we cannot leave Vraja. What can we do? Or another meaning is as follows. “One should not find fault in others.” One should not speak about him since it is forbidden. But it is not possible to give up speaking about his bad qualities because my anger is aroused by his most unjust actions. Discussing his faults is hard to give up.