Canto 10 Chapter

1
The Advent of Lord Kåñëa:
Introduction
 Summary of Chapter 1
1-7 – Parikshit expresses Gratitude
8-11 – Questions by Parikshit Maharaj
12-13 – MP’s eagerness to hear about Krishna in detail
14-16 – Shukadev Goswami glorifies Parikshit Maharaja
17-20 – Demigods Approach the Supreme Lord
21-26 – Lord Brahma conveys the order of the Supreme Lord to the Demigods
27-33 – Marriage of Devaki and Vasudeva
34-35 – Unembodied voice speaks and Kamsa’s response
36-45 – Vasudeva tries to pacify King Kamsa
46 – Reaction of Kamsa to Vasudeva’s plea
47-52 – Thoughts of Vasudeva to save Devaki
53-55 – Vasudeva’s proposal to Kamsa and Kamsa’s response
56-61 – Vasudeva gives his first son to Kamsa and Kamsa returns the child
62-64 – Narada Muni visits Kamsa
65-69 – Kamsa’s atrocities
1-7 – Parikshit expresses
Gratitude
 Position of Lord Krishna

• Super-soul of all
• Supreme Personality of Godhead
• Cause of the cosmic manifestation
 Powerful shelter for krishna’s lotus
feet
• Protected grandfather
• Protected mother and himself
• Shelter of all living entities
Power of Glorification in Parampara

• Relished by purified souls

• Medicine for the conditioned soul
• Only pashu-ghnat will avoid such glorification
 8-11 – Questions by Parikshit
Maharaj
• Balarama’s transfer
• Krishna leaving the house of Vasudeva
• Krishna’s residence in Vrindavana
• Activities in Vrindavan and Mathura
• Why killed own uncle Kamsa
• How long lived in Dwarka / How many wives married etc.
 12-13 – MP’s eagerness to hear about
Krishna in detail

• Qualifications of SG to know everything

• Also MP eagerness to hear and full faith
• Answer in detail
• Assures that he is beyond the urges of hunger and thirst
(has taken a vow + higher taste)
 14-16 – Shukdev Goswami glorifies
Parikshit Maharaja
• Sukdeva Goswami – Son of Vyasa, and Bhagavata-Pradhana
• Vishnu-Raatam
• Posed the most pious questions (Sadhu-vaadam)
• Kali-kalmasha-ghnam
• best of all saintly kings
• Glorifies him for his firmly fixed intelligence in spiritual understanding (the true
goal of humanity)
• Exhibiting unceasing attraction to Vaasudeva
• Glorifies the potency of his questions – Purify the three varieties of men
• Analogy – Just like the Ganges
 17-20 – Demigods Approach the
Supreme Lord
• Unnecessary Burden – Conceited demons as kings
• Took shelter in appropriate form (of COW)
• Submitted with tears (piteous crying)
• Brahmaji heard distress, in right perspective
• Took whole team………… to the right shelter
• Worshiped + Mantras + right attitude (attention) + Knowledge
of supreme tattva
 21-26 – Lord Brahma conveys the order
of the Supreme Lord to the demigods
• Brahma heard in trance
• Relayed to all
• Told to execute without delay
• Lord was already aware
• Lord will personally descend , and act with His potency Time
Who All would be going to Material World for the expected Mission
• Expectation from the demigods – in Yadu family
• Supreme Lord Himself will appear and not just an incarnation – In the house of Vasudeva
• Demigods’ wives should also appear
• Foremost manifestation of Krsna, that is, Baladeva – for the pleasure of Krishna
• Potency of Lord, known as Vishnu Maya will also appear – As good as SPOG, therefore
known as bhagavati
• Brahmaji returened to his own abode
 27-33 – Marriage of Devaki and
Vasudeva
• Mathura has been capital of Yadus, plus
intimately related to Krishna’s pastimes
• Kamsa personally chariot drive and lot of dowry
by the father
• Lots of musical instrument
 34-35 – Unembodied voice speaks and
Kamsa’s response

• Demigods spoke up
• We note the sudden change in the happy hour
• Demoniac response to the unexpected declaration in the
sky
• Gives up all so called affection when selfish interest/life is at risk
and turns into enemy
• Challenging situation(posing a risk to the selfish
interest/life)exposed the sinful, cruel, envious and
shameless nature of Kamsa
 36-45 – Vasudeva tries to pacify
King Kamsa
• Vasudeva – Referred to as “Fortunate”; Because future
father of Krishna
• Vasudev had the fortune of having the qualities of sobriety,
equanimity, thoughtfulness and quality of forgiveness, even among
challenging situations
• Ways of pacifying Kamsa
 Ways of Pacifyinig kamsa
• Principles of säma, pacification with kind words invoking relationship and glorification of
qualities;
• çläghanéya guëah: one with praiseworthy qualities: glorifies Kaàsa’s qualities
(säma)
• bhoja yaçaù-karaù: a brilliant star in the Bhoja dynasty; invokes family relationship
(säma)
• Däna, personal gain and helping others
• hanyät striyam: “How can you kill?” indicates gain and helping others (däna).
“Though Devaké bears your killer, you will gain fame by not killing her since she is
a woman. Sparing her life, therefore, is helping others.”
• And bheda, creating dissension.
• . bhaginém: sister; by mentioning this word to invoke fear and doubt, Vasudeva
employs dissension or bheda
• udväha-parvaëi: “Afterall, Devaké is a defenseless woman, your sister, and it will
happen during her wedding.
• Presently you are a famous person, but killing her now will bring infamy in this life
and hell in the next life.”
Vasudeva indicates two types of bheda, problems in
this life and next – Let us discuss the second type
• Death is certain for every living entity – Two analogies
• Process of walking from one foot to another and
• Movements of worm from one leaf to another
• Strong role of one’s mental contemplations and concoctions
• Day dream and night dream
• Luminaries in the sky, such as the moon, the sun and the stars, are
reflected in liquids like oil or water, they appear to be of different
shapes—sometimes round, sometimes long, and so on—because of the
movements of the wind
• Avoid envious, impious activities
 46 – Reaction of Kamsa to
Vasudeva’s plea
• Cruel nature of Kamsa– Kaàsa was fiercely cruel and was
actually a follower of the Rakshasas (46)
• Kamsa could not be pacified/terrified by Vasudev’s
statements
 47-52 – Thoughts of Vasudeva to
save Devaki
• Vasudev’sprimary concern at this stage was about the
imminent danger to Devaki’s life
• What kept Vasudev motivated in his thoughts/planning, in
spite of his apparent failure
• At his birth the demigods had played drums and kettledrums
(Purport 47th)
• Knew intelligent person must endeavor to avoid death as long as the
intelligence and the bodily strength allows
• Jiva is eternal and Vedic culture is based on avoiding the
punishment in the form of death
• Link text 50 to 51 – “The work of unseen destiny cannot be
ascertained by practical experimental knowledge, and therefore
one must be satisfied by reasoning that everything is done by
supreme providence”
• Thought of the following analogy regarding the role of
inconceivable unseen providence
• Role of Providence during the “inconceivable movements of
fire in a forest/village” and also in “deciding the transmigration
of the soul” –
• “When a fire, for some unseen reason, leaps over one piece of wood and
sets fire to the next, the reason is destiny
• Similarly, when a living being accepts one kind of body and leaves aside
another, there is no other reason than unseen destiny”(PM to Dog)
 53-55 – Vasudeva’s proposal to Kamsa
and Kamsa’s response
• Need of Diplomacy in dangerous and complicated material world – Sometimes one
must act duplicitously in a dangerous position, as Vasudeva did to save his wife. The
material world is complicated, and to execute one's duties, one cannot avoid adopting
such diplomacy.
• Acting duplicitously especially for saving Krsna and His interests – Vasudeva did
everything possible to save his wife for the sake of begetting Krsna
• Devotee is not idle but acts with full capacity for Lord’s service although everything is
already prearranged by the Lord – Although all the events were prearranged by Krsna,
a devotee must try his best to serve the purpose of KrsnaKåñëa Himself is all-powerful,
but it is not that a devotee should therefore sit idly and leave everything to Him
• This instruction is also found in Bhagavad-gita. Although Krsna was doing everything for Arjuna,
Arjuna never sat down idly as a nonviolent gentleman
• Rather, he tried his best to fight the battle and be victorious
 56-61 – Vasudeva gives his first son to
Kamsa and Kamsa returns the child

• The character of a pure devotee like Vasudeva is such that even

so great a demon as Kamsa firmly believed in his words and was
satisfied.
• Vasudeva, a pure devotee of the Lord, was eager to see Krsna
appear as his child from the eighth pregnancy of Devaki.
Therefore he wanted to deliver all the children quickly so that
the eighth turn would come and Krsna would appear
• Vasudev did not have faith in the words of Kamsa – Because
Kamsa had no character and no self-control (61)
 Some lessons by Shukdev
Goswami
• What is painful for saintly persons who strictly adhere to
the truth?
• How could there not be independence for pure devotees
who know the Supreme Lord as the substance?
• What deeds are forbidden for persons of the lowest
character?
• And what cannot be given up for the sake of Lord Kåñëa
by those who have fully surrendered at His lotus feet?
 62-64 – Narada Muni placed Kamsa
in great fear and Doubt
• Informing him of how the demoniac persons who were a
great burden on the earth were going to be killed (64)
• Also agitated him by informing him that in his previous
birth, Kamsa had been a great demon named Kalanemi
and been killed by Vishnu
• Upon learning this information from Narada, Kamsa
became envious of everyone connected with the Yadu
dynasty
• “Kings greedy for sense gratification on this earth almost
always kill their enemies indiscriminately.

• To satisfy their own whims, they may kill anyone, even

their mothers, fathers, brothers or friends”

• Like Aurangzeb killed brothers and nephews

 65-69 – Kamsa’s atrocities

• Developed constant fear – “All the members of the Yadu dynasty

were demigods + Any of the 8 children might be Vishnu”
• Gave up all kindness to other’s under such fear
• Became fully self-centered, arrested his own sister and brother
in law
• Became atrocious and started killing his nephews
• Even imprisoned his own father Ugrasena, the King of the Yadu,
Bhoja and Andhaka dynasties
 Lesson from the Purport 39
• If in this life one is contaminated by the mode of
ignorance and sinful activities (duskriti), in the next life,
by the laws of nature, one will certainly get a body full of
suffering. The laws of nature are not subservient to the
whimsical desires of the conditioned soul. Our endeavor,
therefore, should be to associate always with sattva-guna
and not indulge in rajo-guna or tamo-guna (rajas-tamo-
bhävai [SB 1.2.19]). Lusty desires and greed keep the
living entity perpetually in ignorance and prevent him
from being elevated to the platform of sattva-guëa or
çuddha-sattva-guëa