| Canto 10: The Summum Bonum | Chapter 59: The Killing of the Demon Naraka |
Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Srimad Bhagavatam 10.59.43
griheshu tasam anapayy atarka-krin
nirasta-samyatisayeshv avasthitah
reme ramabhir nija-kama-sampluto
yathetaro garhaka-medhikams caran
SYNONYMS
griheshu -- in the residences; tasam -- their; anapayi -- never leaving; atarka -- inconceivable; krit -- performing deeds; nirasta -- which refuted; samya -- equality; atisayeshu -- and superiority; avasthitah -- remaining; reme -- He enjoyed; ramabhih -- with the pleasing women; nija -- His own; kama -- in the pleasure; samplutah -- absorbed; yatha -- as; itarah -- any other man; garhaka-medhikan -- the duties of household life; caran -- carrying out.
TRANSLATION
The Lord, performer of the inconceivable, constantly remained in each of His queens' palaces, which were unequaled and unexcelled by any other residence. There, although fully satisfied within Himself, He enjoyed with His pleasing wives, and like an ordinary husband He carried out His household duties.
PURPORT
The word atarka-krit is significant here. Tarka means "logic," and atarka means "that which is beyond logic." The Lord can perform (krit) that which is beyond mundane logic and hence inconceivable. Still, the Lord's activities can be appreciated and understood to a significant extent by those who surrender unto Him. This is the secret of bhakti, loving devotion to the Supreme Lord.
Srila Sridhara Svami comments that the Lord was always at home except for when He had to go out to do ordinary household duties. And Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti points out that since in the Vaikuntha planets Lord Narayana enjoys with only one goddess of fortune and in Dvaraka Krishna enjoys with thousands of queens, Dvaraka must be considered superior to Vaikuntha. In this regard Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti also quotes the following passage from the Skanda Purana:
shodasaiva sahasrani
gopyas tawra samagatah
tasyaitah saktayo devi
shodasaiva prakirititah
ekaikasas tah sambhinnah
"At that place sixteen thousand gopis were assembled with Krishna, who is considered the Supreme, the Supersoul, the shelter of all living beings. These gopis are His renowned sixteen potencies, O goddess. Krishna is like the moon, the gopis are like its phases, and the full contingent of gopis is like the full sequence of the moons sixteen phases. Each of these sixteen divisions of gopis, my dear Varangana, is subdivided into one thousand parts."
Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti further quotes the Karttika-mahatmya section of the Padma Purana: kaisore gopa-kanyas ta yauvane raja-kanyakah. "Those who were the daughters of cowherds in their early youth became royal princesses in their maturity." The acarya adds, "Therefore just as the Lord of Dvaraka is a plenary expansion of the supremely complete Lord of Sri Vrindavana, so His principal queens are full expansions of His supremely complete pleasure potencies, the gopis."
Copyright (c) The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
His Holiness Hrdayananda dasa Goswami
Gopiparanadhana dasa Adhikari
Dravida dasa Brahmacari