Devanagari
तस्माद्वैरानुबन्धेन निर्वैरेण भयेन वा ।
स्नेहात्कामेन वा युञ्ज्यात् कथञ्चिन्नेक्षते पृथक् ॥ २६ ॥
Verse text
tasmād vairānubandhena
nirvaireṇa bhayena vā
snehāt kāmena vā yuṣjyāt
kathaṣcin nekṣate pṛthak
Synonyms
tasmāt
—
therefore
;
vaira
—
anubandhena — by constant enmity
;
nirvaireṇa
—
by devotion
;
bhayena
—
by fear
;
vā
—
or
;
snehāt
—
from affection
;
kāmena
—
by lusty desires
;
vā
—
or
;
yuṣjyāt
—
one should concentrate
;
kathaṣcit
—
somehow or other
;
na
—
not
;
īkṣate
—
sees
;
pṛthak
—
something else .
Translation
Therefore by enmity or by devotional service, by fear, by affection or by lusty desire — by all of these or any one of them — if a conditioned soul somehow or other concentrates his mind upon the Lord, the result is the same, for the Lord, because of His blissful position, is never affected by enmity or friendship.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
By continuous enmity, by favorable relationships, or by conjugal feelings arising from strong spiritual affection out of fear of transgressing morality as an unmarried lover, or even as a married lover, the mind should concentrate on the Lord. One will realize a relationship with the Lord only according to the mode of practice.
“What is wrong with criticizing the Lord, since it does not affect the Lord in any way?” The criticizer will generate bad karma for himself. This stated through kaimutya.
nindāṁ bhagavataḥ śṛṇvaṁs tat-parasya janasya vā
tato nāpaiti yaḥ so 'pi yāty adhaḥ sukṛtāc cyutaḥ
One who hears blasphemy of the Supreme Lord or his devotees should immediately take action or should leave. Otherwise he will be put into hellish life.
This is true. There are two types of criticism: favorable and unfavorable. The favorable type of criticism is a transformation of prema.
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
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. SB 10.47.17
This is a spurt of light from the crest jewel of prema, not attained by anyone except the gopīs. Unfavorable criticism has two types: that arising from absorption in the Lord, and that which does not arise from absorption in the Lord. The first type takes place in Śiśupāla. The bad karma created by his criticism was destroyed immediately by his absorption in the Lord. By bhakti-yoga, he attained a neutral condition, and then attained qualification for vaidhi-bhakti. That is now described in seven verses.
The meaning of the first statement in this verse therefore is: since the Lord is not pained by criticism and the sins of the criticizer are destroyed by that absorption, the mind should concentrate on the Lord with absorption as an enemy. Nirvaireṇa means “without enmity, with bhakti-yoga.” It refers to parental or other relationships mentioned as sambandha in verse 31. Kāma means kāma generated by prema (snehāt). Sneha cannot be regarded as a separate sādhana, since all the other sādhanas are in the instrumental case. The result is described. One should not see the Lord differently at all, but should directly see him according to one’s own emotions. However, in the case of those who have enmity or fear, the words mean “Either of these persons, having hatred or fear, does not see himself different from the Lord.” By attaining sāyujya, they realize themselves non-different from him. One statement can have a different meaning according to a different person in question.
The word yuṣjyāt is in the potential mood. The mind should become absorbed in the Lord by continuous enmity, bhakti or conjugal feelings. This is a command. This however cannot apply to Śiśupāla and others, since they have no attraction for the Lord. One cannot also explain it as an order for others persons to have enmity towards the Lord seeing the example of Śiśupāla and others, since it is impossible to make a command to a devotee to do something unfavorable for the Lord. It is said ānukūlyasya grahaṇaṁ prātikūlyasya varjanam: those who surrender to the Lord accept what is favorable and reject what is unfavorable for the Lord. Nor does continuous enmity directed to other people by Śiśupāla generate absorption in the Lord, for this is contrary to thousands of contrary statements:
tān ahaṁ dviṣataḥ krūrān saṁsāreṣu narādhamān |
kṣipāmy ajasram aśubhān āsurīṣv eva yoniṣu ||
I cast those hateful, cruel, and lowest of humans, constantly doing evil, into repeated birth and death in the wombs of demons. BG 16.19
One should also not say that continuous enmity for the Lord, after producing genuine attraction for the Lord, will not produce hell, since such genuine attraction did not actually occur in Śiśupāla. One should also not say that this is an arrangement for persons other than Śiśupāla, since one cannot find actions directed with enmity to the Lord in all the rules of scripture.
His enmity certainly created absorption in the Lord. By understanding that the Lord would kill him, he heard, saw and respected the Lord, just as a person, understanding that a tiger or snake will kill him, becomes absorbed in that animal with fear, and not in any other object.
Therefore some persons explain the verse as follows. Since the Lord gives benefit even to those with animosity, the mind should become absorbed in the Lord with a mood opposite to animosity, since that animosity is not proper. The word “therefore” at the beginning of the verse thus has a negative implied in it, though not written explicitly. The meaning would be “Therefore, those with animosity, giving it up, with a mood other than enmity, should engage the mind in the Lord as friend, or parent etc.”
What type of enmity is necessary? Continuous enmity (anubandhena) should be there, and this produces complete absorption in the Lord. One who has continuous enmity has absorption in the Lord. Weak enmity is excluded.
Snehāt kāmena means “by lust caused only by affection.” This is further described by the word bhayena: by lust following after the young women of Vraja who had fear arising from rejecting the moral path of their elders.
Bhayena vā indicates that there is also lust without fear. This indicates persons following after devotees like Rukmiṇī who had conjugal feelings in marriage without fear. Scriptures indicate both unmarried and married conjugal relationships.
jārabhāvena susnehaṁ sudṛṭaṁ sarvato ’dhikam
Strong affection greater than anything else arises by thinking of the Lord as one’s unmarried lover. Bṛhad-vāmana Purāṇa
agni-putrā mahātmānas tapasā strītvam āpire
bhartāraṣ ca jagad-yoniṁ vāsudevam ajaṁ vibhum
The great sons of Agni by austerities became women. Their husband was the unborn Lord Kṛṣṇa, cause of the universe. Kurma Purāṇa
Purport
From this verse one should not conclude that because Kṛṣṇa is unaffected by favorable prayers or unfavorable blasphemy one should therefore blaspheme the Supreme Lord. This is not the regulative principle.
Bhakti-yoga
means
ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanam:
one should serve Kṛṣṇa very favorably. This is the real injunction. Here it is said that although an enemy thinks of Kṛṣṇa unfavorably, the Lord is unaffected by such antidevotional service. Thus He offers His benedictions even to Śiśupāla and similarly inimical conditioned souls. This does not mean, however, that one should be inimical toward the Lord. The stress is given to the favorable execution of devotional service, not purposeful blasphemy of the Lord. It is said:
nindāṁ bhagavataḥ śṛṇvaṁs
tat-parasya janasya vā
tato nāpaiti yaḥ so ’pi
yāty adhaḥ sukṛtāc cyutaḥ
One who hears blasphemy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead or His devotees should immediately take action or should leave. Otherwise he will be put into hellish life perpetually. There are many such injunctions. Therefore as a regulative principle one should not be unfavorable toward the Lord but always favorably inclined toward Him.
Śiśupāla’s achievement of oneness with the Supreme Lord was different because Jaya and Vijaya, from the very beginning of their material existence, were ordained to treat the Supreme Lord as an enemy for three lives and then return home, back to Godhead. Jaya and Vijaya inwardly knew that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but they purposely became His enemies to be delivered from material life. From the very beginning of their lives they thought of Lord Kṛṣṇa as an enemy, and even though blaspheming Lord Kṛṣṇa, they chanted the holy name of Kṛṣṇa constantly along with their inimical thoughts. Thus they were purified because of chanting the holy name of Kṛṣṇa. It is to be understood that even a blasphemer can be freed from sinful activities by chanting the holy name of the Lord. Certainly, therefore, freedom is assured for a devotee who is always favorable to the service of the Lord. This will be clear from the following verse. By rapt attention fixed upon Kṛṣṇa, one is purified, and thus one is delivered from material life.
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura has very nicely explained the word
bhayena,
which means “by fear.” When the
gopīs
went to Kṛṣṇa in the dead of night, they certainly feared chastisement by their relatives — their husbands, brothers and fathers — but nonetheless, not caring for their relatives, they went to Kṛṣṇa. There was certainly fear, but this fear could not check their devotional service to Kṛṣṇa.
One should not mistakenly think that Lord Kṛṣṇa must be worshiped by an inimical attitude like that of Śiśupāla. The injunction is
ānukūlyasya grahaṇaṁ prātikūlyasya varjanam:
one should give up unfavorable activities and accept only favorable conditions in devotional service. Generally, if one blasphemes the Supreme Personality of Godhead he is punished. As the Lord says in
Bhagavad-gītā
(16.19)
:
tān ahaṁ dviṣataḥ krūrān
saṁsāreṣu narādhamān
kṣipāmy ajasram aśubhān
āsurīṣv eva yoniṣu
There are many such injunctions. One should not try to worship Kṛṣṇa unfavorably; otherwise he must be punished, at least for one life, to be purified. As one should not try to be killed by embracing an enemy, a tiger or a snake, one should not blaspheme the Supreme Personality of Godhead and become His enemy in order to be put into hellish life.
The purpose of this verse is to emphasize that even the enemy of the Lord can be delivered, not to speak of His friend. Śrīla Madhvācārya also says in many ways that one should not blaspheme Lord Viṣṇu through one’s mind, words or actions, for a blasphemer will go to hellish life along with his forefathers.
karmaṇā manasā vācā
yo dviṣyād viṣṇum avyayam
majjanti pitaras tasya
narake śāśvatīḥ samāḥ
In
Bhagavad-gītā
(16.19-20) the Lord says:
tān ahaṁ dviṣataḥ krūrān
saṁsāreṣu narādhamān
kṣipāmy ajasram aśubhān
āsurīṣv eva yoniṣu
āsurīṁ yonim āpannā
mūḍhā janmani janmani
mām aprāpyaiva kaunteya
tato yānty adhamāṁ gatim
“Those who are envious and mischievous, who are the lowest among men, are cast by Me into the ocean of material existence, into various demoniac species of life. Attaining repeated birth amongst the species of demoniac life, such persons can never approach Me. Gradually they sink down to the most abominable type of existence.” One who blasphemes the Lord is put into a family of
asuras,
in which there is every chance of forgetting the service of the Lord. Lord Kṛṣṇa further states in
Bhagavad-gītā
(9.11-12):
avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā
mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam
paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto
mama bhūta-maheśvaram
Mūḍhas,
rascals, blaspheme the Supreme Lord because He appears exactly like a human being. They do not know the unlimited opulence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
moghāśā mogha-karmāṇo
mogha-jṣānā vicetasaḥ
rākṣasīm āsurīṁ caiva
prakṛtiṁ mohinīṁ śritāḥ
Anything done by those who have taken the attitude of enemies will be baffled (
moghāśāḥ
). If these enemies try to be liberated or to merge into the existence of Brahman, if they desire to be elevated to the higher planetary systems as
karmīs,
or even if they desire to return home, back to Godhead, they will certainly be baffled.
As for Hiraṇyakaśipu, although he was extremely inimical toward the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he always thought of his son, who was a great devotee. Therefore by the grace of his son, Prahlāda Mahārāja, Hiraṇyakaśipu was also delivered by the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
hiraṇyakaśipuś cāpi
bhagavan-nindayā tamaḥ
vivakṣur atyagāt sūnoḥ
prahlādasyānubhāvataḥ
The conclusion is that one should not give up pure devotional service. For one’s own benefit, one should not imitate Hiraṇyakaśipu or Śiśupāla. This is not the way to achieve success.