Mukunda-mala-stotra Verse 22

SYNONYMS

madana — O Cupid; parihara — give up; sthitim — your residence; madīye — my; manasi — in the mind; mukunda — of Lord Mukunda; pada-aravinda — of the lotus feet; dhāmni — which is the abode; hara — of Lord Śiva; nayana — from the eye; kriśānunā — by the fire; kriśah — decimated; asi — you have become; smarasi na — you do not remember; cakra — of the disc weapon; parākramam — 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 Śiva's fiery glance, so why have you forgotten the power of Lord Murāri'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 māyā 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" (Bhāg. 3.31.38).

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

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

In all the world's religions, ascetics have practiced renunciation, and Kāmadeva 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 Viśvāmitra became a victim of the beauty of Menakā, united with her, and begot Śakuntalā.

But the bhaktas have discovered an infallible shelter from Cupid — absorption in the beauty of Krishna. One who is captivated by the beauty of Krishna is not victimized by lust. As Śrī Yāmunācārya sings,

yad-avadhi mama cetah krishna-pādāravinde

nava-nava-rasa-dhāmany udyatam rantum āsīt

tad-avadhi bata nārī-sańgame smaryamāne

bhavati mukha-vikārah sushthu nishthīvanam ca

"Since my mind has been engaged in the service of the lotus feet of Lord Krishna 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 Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
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