Devanagari
एवं स्वभक्तयो राजन् भगवान् भक्तभक्तिमान् ।
उषित्वादिश्य सन्मार्गं पुनर्द्वारवतीमगात् ॥ ५९ ॥
Verse text
evaṁ sva-bhaktayo rājan
bhagavān bhakta-bhaktimān
uṣitvādiśya san-mārgaṁ
punar dvāravatīm agāt
Synonyms
evam
—
thus
;
sva
—
His
;
bhaktayoḥ
—
with the two devotees
;
rājan
—
O King (Parīkṣit)
;
bhagavān
—
the Supreme Lord
;
bhakta
—
to His devotees
;
bhakti
—
man — who is devoted
;
uṣitvā
—
staying
;
ādiśya
—
teaching
;
sat
—
of pure saints
;
mārgam
—
the path
;
punaḥ
—
again
;
dvāravatīm
—
to Dvārakā
;
agāt
—
He went .
Translation
O King, thus the Personality of Godhead, who is devoted to His own devotees, stayed for some time with His two great devotees Śrutadeva and Bahulāśva, teaching them the behavior of perfect saints. Then the Lord returned to Dvārakā.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
O King, thus the Personality of Godhead, who is devoted to His own devotees, stayed for some time with His two great devotees Śrutadeva and Bahulāśva, teaching them the behavior of perfect saints. Then the Lord returned to Dvārakā.
KB 10.86.59
The devotee does not know anyone except Lord Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa is most affectionate to His devotee. Lord Kṛṣṇa remained in Mithilā both at the house of the brāhmaṇa Śrutadeva and at the palace of King Bahulāśva. And after favoring them lavishly by His transcendental instructions, He went back to His capital city, Dvārakā.
The instruction we receive from this incident is that King Bahulāśva and Śrutadeva the brāhmaṇa were accepted by the Lord on the same level because both were pure devotees. This is the real qualification for being recognized by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Because it has become the fashion of this age to be falsely proud of having taken birth in the family of a kṣatriya or a brāhmaṇa, we see persons without any qualification other than birth claiming to be a brāhmaṇa or kṣatriya or vaiśya. But as stated in the scriptures, kalau śūdra-sambhavaḥ: “In this Age of Kali, everyone is born a śūdra.” This is because there is no performance of the purificatory processes known as saṁskāras, which begin from the time of the mother’s pregnancy and continue up to the point of the individual’s death. No one can be classified as a member of a particular caste, especially of a higher caste—brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya or vaiśya—simply by birthright. If one is not purified by the process of the seed-giving ceremony, or garbhādhāna-saṁskāra, he is immediately classified amongst the śūdras because only the śūdras do not undergo this purificatory process. Sex life without the purificatory process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is merely the seed-giving process of the śūdras or the animals. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is therefore the best process of purification. By this process everyone can come to the platform of a Vaiṣṇava, which includes having all the qualifications of a brāhmaṇa. The Vaiṣṇavas are trained to become freed from the four kinds of sinful activities—illicit sex, indulgence in intoxicants, gambling and eating animal foods. One cannot be on the brahminical platform without having these preliminary qualifications, and without becoming a qualified brāhmaṇa, one cannot become a pure devotee.
Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Eighty-sixth Chapter of Kṛṣṇa, “The Kidnapping of Subhadrā, and Lord Kṛṣṇa’s Visiting Śrutadeva and Bahulāśva.”
Purport
In his narration of this pastime in
Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda concludes: “The instruction we receive from this incident is that King Bahulāśva and Śrutadeva the
brāhmaṇa
were accepted by the Lord on the same level because both were pure devotees. This is the real qualification for being recognized by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Because it has become the fashion of this age to become falsely proud of having taken birth in the family of a
kṣatriya
or a
brāhmaṇa,
we see persons without any qualification claiming to be
brāhmaṇa
or
kṣatriya
or
vaiśya.
But as it is stated in the scriptures,
kalau śūdra-sambhava:
‘In this Age of Kali, everyone is born a
śūdra.
’ This is because there is no performance of the purificatory process known as
saṁskāras,
which begin from the time of the mother’s pregnancy and continue up to the point of the individual’s death. No one can be classified as a member of a particular caste, especially of a higher caste —
brāhmaṇa,
kṣatriya
or
vaiśya
— simply by birthright. If one is not purified by the process of the seed-giving ceremony, or
garbhādhāna-saṁskāra,
he is immediately classified among the
śūdras
because only the
śūdras
do not undergo this purificatory process. Sex life without the purificatory process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is merely the seed-giving process of the
śūdras
or the animals. But Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the highest perfection, by which everyone can come to the platform of a Vaiṣṇava. This includes having all the qualifications of a
brāhmaṇa.
The Vaiṣṇavas are trained to become freed from the four kinds of sinful activities — illicit sex, indulgence in intoxicants, gambling and eating animal foodstuffs. No one can be on the brahminical platform without having these preliminary qualifications, and without becoming a qualified
brāhmaṇa,
one cannot become a pure devotee.”
Thus end the purports of the humble servants of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda to the Tenth Canto, Eighty-sixth Chapter, of the
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam,
entitled “Arjuna Kidnaps Subhadrā, and Kṛṣṇa Blesses His Devotees.”
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Having resided at the homes of his two devotees and taught the process of devotion (margam) practiced by the devotees (sat), Krsna returned to Dvaraka.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Teaching them bhakti-yoga with devotion to the Lord and his devotees (san-maregam), he stayed for a long time with them in order to please them since he was attracted to the devotion of his devotees (bhakta-bhaktimān), or since he had prema for his devotees.
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
In the manner described (evam), teaching the highest path or the path of the saints--bhakti, to his two devotees, the brāhmaṇa and the king, he stayed there a long time, to teach or to please them because he had respect or prema (bhaktimān) for the devotees, since he was bhagavān. O king! You experienced how the Lord has devotion to the devotees. Or the Lord shone (rājan) with joy because of the two devotees or because of teaching them bhakti.
Thus end the purports of the humble servants of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda to the Tenth Canto, Eighty-sixth Chapter, of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, entitled "Arjuna Kidnaps Subhadrā, and Kṛṣṇa Blesses His Devotees."
10.87: The Prayers of the Personified Vedas
verses: Summary, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12-13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50
Chapter Summary
This chapter presents the prayers by the personified Vedas glorifying the personal and impersonal aspects of Lord Nārāyaṇa.
King Parīkṣit asked Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī how the Vedas can directly refer to the Supreme Absolute Truth, Brahman, since the Vedas deal with the material realm governed by the three modes of nature and Brahman is completely transcendental to these modes. In reply, Śukadeva Gosvāmī described an ancient encounter between Śrī Nārāyaṇa Ṛṣi and Nārada Muni at Badarikāśrama. Traveling to that sacred hermitage, Nārada found the Lord surrounded by exalted residents of the nearby village of Kalāpa. After bowing down to Nārāyaṇa Ṛṣi and His associates, Nārada submitted this same question to Him. In reply, Nārāyaṇa Ṛṣi related an account of how this very question had been discussed long ago among the great sages living on Janaloka. Once these sages, feeling inquisitive about the nature of the Absolute Truth, chose Sanandana Kumāra to speak on the subject. Sanandana told them how the numerous personified Vedas, appearing as the first emanations from the breathing of Lord Nārāyaṇa, recited prayers for His glorification just before the creation. Sanandana then proceeded to recite these elaborate prayers.
The residents of Janaloka were perfectly satisfied upon hearing Sanandana recite the prayers of the personified Vedas, which enlightened them about the true nature of the Supreme Absolute Truth, and they honored Sanandana with their worship. Nārada Muni was equally satisfied to hear this account from Śrī Nārāyaṇa Ṛṣi. Thus Nārada offered his obeisances to the Lord and then went to see his disciple Vedavyāsa, to whom he explained everything he had heard.