Mukunda-mala-stotra Verse 22

SYNONYMS

madana -- O Cupid; parihara -- give up; sthitim -- your residence; madiye -- my; manasi -- in the mind; mukunda -- of Lord Mukunda; pada-aravinda -- of the lotus feet; dhamni -- which is the abode; hara -- of Lord Siva; nayana -- from the eye; krsanuna -- by the fire; krsah -- decimated; asi -- you have become; smarasi na -- you do not remember; cakra -- of the disc weapon; parakramam -- the powerful capability; mura-areh -- of the enemy of Mura.

TRANSLATION

O Cupid, abandon your residence in my mind, which is now the home of Lord Mukunda's lotus feet. You have already been incinerated by Lord Siva's fiery glance, so why have you forgotten the power of Lord Murari's disc?

PURPORT

This is a bold challenge to Cupid, who can usually subdue everyone, including aspiring transcendentalists. As Lord Kapila says to His mother, "Just try to understand the mighty strength of My maya in the shape of a woman, who by the mere movement of her eyebrows can keep even the greatest conquerors of the world under her grip" (Bhag. 3.31.38).

A devotee can challenge Kamadeva (Cupid) in such a feisty way because devotees constantly meditate on Lord Krsna, who destroys Cupid's influence. Here King Kulasekhara is giving fair warning to Kamadeva to leave the king's mind or risk destruction for a second time. The reference here is to an incident in which Kamadeva tried to shoot his arrows at Lord Siva to arouse lust in him. Lord Siva retaliated by burning Kamadeva to ashes with his glance. Kamadeva should have learned his lesson from that incident. If not, King Kulasekhara warns that Lord Krsna will have no trouble destroying Kamadeva with His disc and freeing His devotee's mind of lust.

Kamadeva is also called Madana, a name that means "one who attracts." But Lord Krsna is known as Madana-mohana, "the bewilderer of Cupid." In other words, Krsna is so transcendentally attractive that anyone who absorbs his mind in Him will not be troubled by sex desire. Furthermore, Lord Krsna's consort, Srimati Radharani, is called Madana-mohana-mohini because She alone can captivate even Krsna.

In all the world's religions, ascetics have practiced renunciation, and Kamadeva always tests them and gives them trouble. Often, despite one's best attempts at purification, one thinks of the opposite sex at the time of death. Then one has to come back in the cycle of birth and death, to be again attracted and again suffer the miseries of material life. Even the powerful mystic Visvamitra became a victim of the beauty of Menaka, united with her, and begot Sakuntala.

But the bhaktas have discovered an infallible shelter from Cupid -- absorption in the beauty of Krsna. One who is captivated by the beauty of Krsna is not victimized by lust. As Sri Yamunacarya sings,

yad-avadhi mama cetah krsna-padaravinde

nava-nava-rasa-dhamany udyatam rantum asit

tad-avadhi bata nari-sangame smaryamane

bhavati mukha-vikarah susthu nisthivanam ca

"Since my mind has been engaged in the service of the lotus feet of Lord Krsna and I have been enjoying ever-new transcendental pleasure in that service, whenever I think of sex with a woman my face at once turns from it, and I spit at the thought."

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
Satsvarupa dasa Goswami
Gopiparanadhana dasa Adhikari