Krishna Narayana

“The Brahmin men continued to grieve, ‘We had previously heard that the Lord of all the supreme Yogis and of Yoga in entirety i.e. the Supreme Lord Srihari himself had incarnated in the Yadava clan. Despite this, due to our foolishness we failed to recognize Him. Truly fortunate are we who have been blessed with such wives, who are exceptionally devoted to the Lord’.”

The men who until thus far were blaming themselves for their foolishness now concluded that they were fortunate to have obtained wonderful devoted ladies as their wives. They now thought- everything in this sacrificial hall is the Lord; these ingredients are manifestations of the Lord; these priests, the fire, the process of Yagna, the sacred pot filled with water- are nothing but the Lord. Now they applauded the devotion of their wives who had totally self-surrendered to the Lord. They thanked their stars for obtaining such ladies as their wives.

Each of us needs to cultivate such appreciation. When the wife has exceptional devotion towards the Lord, the man of the house should take pride in it. It is incorrect to blame her or accuse her. Never try to block her spiritual progress. ‘She has not abandoned me nor has she abandoned her duties towards me. Her devotion will ultimately cause good to me and to my family. While living with me and while taking care of all the household chores, she still maintains her devotion to the Lord. Am I not truly fortunate to get a wife like this?’- the man should consider himself lucky and should support her activities. He should create a conducive environment for her spiritual progress. Instead of being filled with envy, he should pray that he be blessed with such devotion.

He should not use his authority to stop her from visiting devotional places. She may out of fear and respect refrain from going to temples, but then, the sin of having stopped her will land on his head. More importantly, mentally she will be in the temple. You can stop her physically but can you stop her from mentally travelling there? This itself implies you have lost the battle with her. You can show your authority over her physical body but can you ever rule her mind wherein she has placed God? If you truly believe you have the power to rule her mind, try it once if you have the guts. Let me see if you can change her in any way.

Once a woman gives her heart to the Lord, even the Lord cannot cause her to change her thinking. He will fail. He cannot make her change her mind. In devotion, ladies have such supreme place. Such is their devotion. This incident is the single proof of this fact.

For this reason, when the lady of the house is devoted to the Lord and is engaged in vratas and other spiritual disciplines, the man should support her totally. If he grumbles or complains about it, the sins of her many past births keep transferring to him, while her mind becomes cleaner and purer by the day. She becomes even more steadfast in her devotion with each passing day. The more you scold, the more she will attach to the Lord. For this reason, the Brahmins now certified their wives and applauded their devotion.

“They continued, ‘We are truly fortunate. This is because their devotion will ensure that our intellect remains firmly upon Srikrishna’.”

It was their visit to Srikrishna that caused this realization to dawn in us. It is because of them that we are able to appreciate the wonders of that Lord who is in human form. It was because of them that we are able to repent for our misdeeds.

The men then prayed,

“Namaḥ tubhyam bhagavate kṛṣṇāyākuṇṭha-medhase

yan-māyā-mohita-dhiyo bhramāmaḥ karma-vartmasu

O Srikrishna! You are the Lord whose knowledge knows no obstruction. Your knowledge which is filed with bliss knows no sorrow nor obstruction. To You, we offer obeisance. We, who are deluded by your illusion, are rotating in the path of fruitive activities (karma marga). Blinded by arrogance we failed to recognize the truth which was before us”.

Blinded by delusion we are rotating in the path of fruitive activities believing them to be everything. ‘Only if we undertake penance we can see the Lord. Only meditation is the way by which one can see the Lord. Only when we sit with the rosary in our hand, when we sit motionless, when our Kundalini rises, we can say that we are on the path of God. But all through we failed to understand that these activities fail to give any proper result when unaccompanied by devotion. Only when these activities are coupled with devotion, they can take us to liberation.

“They continued, ‘You are the cause of the universe. Your illusion undoubtedly threw us into delusion. Hence, unable to recognize Your greatness, we have sinned. O compassionate Lord, please forgive us for our sins!’- in this way the Brahmin men prayed to the Lord”.

Believing our rituals to be everything, we, who were deluded by Your illusion, failed to recognize You. We failed to seek You even when You arrived in the adjoining forest. We neglected You due to arrogance. Nevertheless, we seek your forgiveness. As we lacked devotion we disregarded the request put forth by the Lord, our wives were filled with devotion and hence ran to Him with the food. It is our lack of devotion that caused this loss.

Maharishi Śuka continued, “In this way, the Brahmins realized their mistake and repented for it. They were now filled with the deep desire to see Balarama and Krishna. However, fearing the wrath of Kamsa, they hesitated to step out”.

With this the twenty third chapter of the tenth Canto comes to an end.

Narayana Narayana Krishna