SB 10 29 13 - Bhakti Vikas Swami - 2001-04-04.mp3	14.7 MB
SB 10 29 13 - Janananda Prabhu - ISKCON Melbourne 2006-05-30.mp3	10.0 MB
SB 10 29 13 - Romapada Swami - ISKCON Alachua 2013-12-10.mp3	21.3 MB

sri-suka uvaca

uktam purastad etat te

 caidyah siddhim yatha gatah

dvisann api hrsikesam

 kim utadhoksaja-priyah

 

Translation: 

 

Sukadeva Gosvami said: This point was explained to you previously. Since even Sisupala, who hated Krsna, achieved perfection, then what to speak of the Lord’s dear devotees.

 

Purport: 

 

Although the spiritual nature of conditioned souls may be covered by illusion, Lord Krsna’s spiritual nature is omnipotent and is never covered by any other power. In fact, all other powers are His energy and thus function according to His will. The Brahma-samhita (5.44) states, srsti sthiti-pralaya-sadhana-saktir eka/ chayeva yasya bhuvanani bibharti durga/ icchanurupam api yasya ca cestate sa: “The mighty Durga, who creates, maintains and annihilates the material worlds, is the potency ot the Supreme Lord, and she moves like His shadow, according to His desire.” Thus because the Lord’s spiritual influence does not depend on whether someone understands Him or not, the gopis’ spontaneous love for Krsna guaranteed their spiritual perfection.

 

The great Madhvacarya quotes the following relevant passages from the Skanda Purana:

 

krsna-kamas tada gopyas

 tyaktva deham divam gatah

samyak krsnam para-brahma

 jñatva kalat param yayuh

 

“At that time the gopis, who desired Krsna, gave up their bodies and went to the spiritual world. Because they properly understood Krsna to be the Supreme Absolute Truth, they transcended the influence of time.”

 

purvam ca jñana-samyuktas

 tatrapi prayasas tatha

atas tasam param brahma

 gatir asin na kamatah

 

“In their previous lives most of the gopis were already fully endowed with transcendental knowledge. It is because of this knowledge, not their lust, that they were able to attain the Supreme Brahman.”

 

na tu jñanam rte mokso

 nanyah pantheti hi srutih

kama-yukta tada bhaktir

 jñanam cato vimukti-gah

 

“The Vedas declare that without spiritual knowledge there is no valid path to liberation. Because these apparently lusty gopis possessed devotion and knowledge, they achieved liberation.”

 

ato mokse ’pi tasam ca

 kamo bhaktyanuvartate

mukti-sabdodito caidya-

 prabhrtau dvesa-bhaginah

 

“Thus even in their attainment of liberation, ‘lust’ followed as a manifestation of their pure devotion. After all, what we call liberation was experienced even by envious persons like Sisupala.”

 

bhakti-margi prthan muktim

 agad visnu-prasadatah

kamas tv asubha-krc capi

 bhaktya visnoh prasada-krt

 

“By the mercy of Lord Visnu, one who follows the path of devotional service gains liberation as a by-product, and such a person’s lusty desire, which would normally invoke misfortune, instead invokes the mercy of Visnu when exhibited in pure devotion.”

 

dvesi-jiva-yutam capi

 bhaktam visnur vimocayet

aho ’ti-karuna visnoh

 sisupalasya moksanat

 

“Lord Visnu will save even a devotee possessed of an envious life. Just see the extreme mercy of the Lord, as shown by His granting liberation to Sisupala!”

 

Sisupala was Lord Krsna’s cousin. He was mortified when the Lord stole the gorgeous young Rukmini, whom Sisupala himself was hell-bent on marrying. For various other reasons also, Sisupala was consumed with envy of Lord Krsna, and finally he insanely offended Him in a great assembly called the Rajasuya sacrifice. At that time Krsna nonchalantly cut off Sisupala’s head and gave him liberation. Everyone present saw the effulgent soul of Sisupala rise out of his dead body and merge into the existence of the Lord. The Seventh Canto explains that Sisupala was an incarnation of a gatekeeper in the spiritual world cursed to take birth on the earth as a demon. Since even Sisupala was liberated by the Lord, who took into consideration the whole situation, then what to speak of the gopis, who loved Krsna more than anything.