Devanagari
त्रय्या चोपनिषद्भिश्च साङ्ख्ययोगैश्च सात्वतै: ।
उपगीयमानमाहात्म्यं हरिं सामन्यतात्मजम् ॥ ४५ ॥
Verse text
trayyā copaniṣadbhiś ca
sāṅkhya-yogaiś ca sātvataiḥ
upagīyamāna-māhātmyaṁ
hariṁ sāmanyatātmajam
Synonyms
trayyā
—
by studying the three Vedas ( Sāma, Yajur and Atharva )
;
ca
—
also
;
upaniṣadbhiḥ ca
—
and by studying the Vedic knowledge of the Upaniṣads
;
sāṅkhya
—
yogaiḥ — by reading the literature of sāṅkhya-yoga
;
ca
—
and
;
sātvataiḥ
—
by the great sages and devotees, or by reading Vaiṣṇava-tantra, Paṣcarātras
;
upagīyamāna
—
māhātmyam — whose glories are worshiped (by all these Vedic literatures)
;
harim
—
unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead
;
sā
—
she
;
amanyata
—
considered (ordinary)
;
ātmajam
—
as her own son .
Translation
The glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead are studied through the three Vedas, the Upaniṣads, the literature of Sāṅkhya-yoga, and other Vaiṣṇava literature, yet mother Yaśodā considered that Supreme Person her ordinary child.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
The glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead are studied through the three Vedas, the Upaniṣads, the literature of Sāṅkhya-yoga, and other Vaiṣṇava literature, yet mother Yaśodā considered that Supreme Person her ordinary child.
KB 10.8.45
She thus began to think of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is understood through the processes of cultivating knowledge derived from the Upaniṣads and the Vedānta-sūtra, practicing mystic yoga and studying Sāṅkhya philosophy, as her own begotten child.
Purport
As stated in
Bhagavad-gītā
(15.15)
by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, the purpose of studying the
Vedas
is to understand Him (
vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ
). Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu explained to Sanātana Gosvāmī that there are three purposes in the
Vedas.
One is to understand our relationship with Kṛṣṇa (
sambandha
), another is to act according to that relationship (
abhidheya
), and the third is to reach the ultimate goal (
prayojana
). The word
prayojana
means “necessities,” and the ultimate necessity is explained by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
Premā pum-artho mahān:
the greatest necessity for a human being is the achievement of love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Here we see that mother Yaśodā is on the highest stage of necessity, for she is completely absorbed in love for Kṛṣṇa.
In the beginning, the Vedic purpose is pursued in three ways (
trayī
) — by
karma-kāṇḍa, jṣāna-kāṇḍa
and
upāsanā-kāṇḍa.
When one reaches the complete, perfect stage of
upāsanā-kāṇḍa,
one comes to worship Nārāyaṇa, or Lord Viṣṇu. When Pārvatī asked Lord Mahādeva, Lord Śiva, what is the best method of
upāsanā,
or worship, Lord Śiva answered,
ārādhanānāṁ sarveṣāṁ viṣṇor ārādhanaṁ param.
Viṣṇūpāsanā,
or
viṣṇv-ārādhana,
worship of Lord Viṣṇu, is the highest stage of perfection, as realized by Devakī. But here mother Yaśodā performs no
upāsanā,
for she has developed transcendental ecstatic love for Kṛṣṇa. Therefore her position is better than that of Devakī. In order to show this, Śrīla Vyāsadeva enunciates this verse,
trayyā copaniṣadbhiḥ
etc.
When a human being enters into the study of the
Vedas
to obtain
vidyā,
knowledge, he begins to take part in human civilization. Then he advances further to study the
Upaniṣads
and gain
brahma-jṣāna,
impersonal realization of the Absolute Truth, and then he advances still further, to
sāṅkhya-yoga,
in order to understand the supreme controller, who is indicated in
Bhagavad-gītā
(
paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān/ puruṣaṁ śāśvatam
). When one understands that
puruṣa,
the supreme controller, to be Paramātmā, one is engaged in the method of
yoga
(
dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yoginaḥ
). But mother Yaśodā has surpassed all these stages. She has come to the platform of loving Kṛṣṇa as her beloved child, and therefore she is accepted to be on the highest stage of spiritual realization. The Absolute Truth is realized in three features (
brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate
), but she is in such ecstasy that she does not care to understand what is Brahman, what is Paramātmā or what is Bhagavān. Bhagavān has personally descended to become her beloved child. Therefore there is no comparison to mother Yaśodā’s good fortune, as declared by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu (
ramyā kācid upāsanā vrajavadhū-vargeṇa yā kalpitā
). The Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, may be realized in different stages. As the Lord says in
Bhagavad-gītā
(4.11)
:
ye yathā māṁ prapadyante
tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham
mama vartmānuvartante
manuṣyāḥ pārtha sarvaśaḥ
“As men surrender unto Me, I reward them accordingly. Everyone follows My path in all respects, O son of Pṛthā.” One may be a
karmī,
a
jṣānī,
a
yogī
and then a
bhakta
or
prema-bhakta.
But the ultimate stage of realization is
prema-bhakti,
as actually demonstrated by mother Yaśodā.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
This verse shows how Yasoda’s maternal love , being unrestricted, in spite of seeing Krsna’s powers and hearing about the Lord’s powers from scripture, was superior to that of Devaki.
The Lord is praised by the three Vedas as the yajna purusa. In sankhya he is glorified as the purusa, in yoga as the paramatma and in pancaratra (satvata) as bhagavan. Without regard for place or time, Mother Yasoda regarded the powerful lord who is glorified directly and indirectly in the scriptures as her son. "By the power of my family deity by the mercy of Narayana, who has been satisfied with vrata, and worship executed by Nanda and myself, and who has been satisfied with the many austerities of Parjanya , I have been given this son, who the karmis glorify as the absolute truth propounded in the scriptures. That is because of the statement of Garga muni that he is equal in quality to Narayana, and the stories of his killing putana and other demons. So the karmis think he is Narayana. But actually he is just my child. If he does not see me for a moment, he becomes disturbed. And I also being separated from him a moment become disturbed. Our experience is our proof." In this way Mother Yasoda concluded about Krsna.
Just as karmis think of the Lord as yajna purusa according to the Vedas, so Yasoda though of the Lord as her son through vatsalya prema. Just as he gives results according to the worship of the karmis and others, so to Yasoda’s maternal affection he responded. But as he could not respond fully to the amount of affection offered by Yasoda , being a debtor, he was content to remain under her mercy, and control and cry for her milk. This will become clear in later chapters. One should take this verse as a paribhasa sutra of krsna lila. As a lamp from one place in a dark room lights up the whole room, so that statement in the scriptures which can reveal the meaning of all scriptures or regulates the meaning of the scriptures, is called a paribhasa. This verse remains as a regulator for all of the pastimes related to aisvarya during his kaumara and kaisora ages in mathura, kuruksetra and elsewhere.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Ah, Yaśodā is supremely fortunate! The Lord is praised in the three Vedas ultimately as the antaryāmī of karma and upāsana. He is praised in the Upaniṣads as the greatest (Brahman) by qualities and svarūpa. He is praised in theistic Sāṅkhya and yoga (meaning the Purāṇas) as Bhagavān. He is praised in the Pañcarātra āgama scriptures (sātvataiḥ) which are filled with worship of the Lord. The āgamas as well as the Purāṇas are included in this list because they are accepted as aṅgas of the Vedas. The Lord is glorified to some little extent (upa) in these works since the Lord is actually unlimited. She considered that Lord to be her son, caring for him affectionately as a mother. This is greatly astonishing.
The following should be considered: her greatness was not because of seeing the universe. This vision of the universe is rejected in the Second Canto:
yāvan na jāyeta parāvare ’smin
viśveśvare draṣṭari bhakti-yogaḥ |
tāvat sthavīyaḥ puruṣasya rūpaṁ
kriyāvasāne prayataḥ smareta ||
As long as meditation on the Lord and the witness of all beings, superior to even Brahmā, which has bhakti as an element, does not manifest, one should remember the gross universal form after performing necessary rites of karma-yoga. SB 2.2.14
taṁ satyam ānanda-nidhiṁ bhajeta
nānyatra sajjed yata ātma-pātaḥ ||
The yogī will worship the Lord, an ocean of bliss, eternal in time and space, and nothing else, since other things will cause degradation. SB 2.1.39
Nor does seeing the universe produce knowledge of the Supreme Lord as Kṛṣṇa. Of course she said that her child may have astonishing powers. She then defined the Lord who cannot be understood. She then stated that she thought of Kṛṣṇa as her son just as she thought of Nanda as her husband because of māyā. But this does not mean that she saw Kṛṣṇa as the Lord, for otherwise she would have praised him as Devakī did. The meaning of this episode is not that seeing Kṛṣṇa as the Lord is superior and seeing him as her son is inferior, since that meaning cannot be found in the verses. This meaning would also not agree with later questions and answers in the text. Parīkṣit praises her for rejecting knowledge of Kṛṣṇa as the Lord, and instead worrying about his protection and feeding Kṛṣṇa milk. He laments for Vasudeva and Devakī, who, though knowing Kṛṣṇa as the Lord, did not have affection for him as their son. The most knowledgeable of poets such as Vyāsadeva also state that Yaśodā’s realization of Kṛṣṇa as her son was the highest. Śukadeva establishes Yaśodā and Nanda as superior to Brahmā and Śiva, though they have great devotion and all knowledge. They are even superior to Lakṣmī. (SB 10.9.20) Those ordinary people who worship Kṛṣṇa as the son of Yaśodā are superior to all the jñānīs. (SB 10.9.21) Elsewhere the superiority of this love is mentioned. rājan patir gurur alaṁ bhavatāṁ yadūnām: My dear King, the Supreme Person, Mukunda, is actually the maintainer of all the members of the Pāṇḍava and Yadu dynasties. (SB 5.6.18)
itthaṁ satāṁ brahma-sukhānubhūtyā
dāsyaṁ gatānāṁ para-daivatena
māyāśritānāṁ nara-dārakeṇa
sākaṁ vijahruḥ kṛta-puṇya-puñjāḥ
In this way with an abundance of splendor caused by Kṛṣṇa, they played with him, though he is pure consciousness or happiness known as Brahman for the jñānīs, the Supreme Lord for the devotees with dāsya-bhāva and an ordinary human child for those covered by material illusion. SB 10.12.11
If this is so for the general devotees, what to speak of those like Yaśodā and Nanda? Thus the conclusion stated becomes even stronger.
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
Ah, Yaśodā is supremely fortunate! The Lord is praised in the three Vedas. This refers to mīmāṁsa scriptures. He is praised by the Vedānta scriptures (upaniṣadbhiḥ) and by Pañcarātra (sātvataiḥ), which are Vaiṣṇava sctitpures. Nyāya and Vaiṣeśika scriptures are not mentioned since they generally deal with speculative logic, and do not conclude in glorification of the Lord. The use of the word ca three times indicates that these scriptures generally glorify the Lord and that Pañcarātra with the word ca particularly glorifies the Lord. It is the best scripture. The scriptures listed are progressively more excellent. He is hari or attractive because he reveals the sweetness of his unlimited qualities. The Lord (harim) has greatness which is praised more profusely (upa) than or after that of the devatās.