Canto 7, Chapter 1, Verse 3
śrī-rājovāca
iti naḥ sumahā-bhāga
nārāyaṇa-guṇān prati
saṁśayaḥ sumahāñ jātas
tad bhavāṁś chettum arhati
King Parikshit inquires, O greatly fortunate and learned brahmin, whether Lord Narayana is impartial or partial has become a subject of great doubt in my mind. Please dispel my doubt with evidence that Lord Narayana is always equal and neutral to everyone.
Here, King Parikshit has a doubt in his mind: is Narayana partial or impartial? So, He started wondering about the nature of Bhagavan and asks Sukadev, “Please, explain this to me, and dispel this doubt from my mind.” Human beings are bound by this duality, whether something is ‘good’ or ‘not good’. In this verse the king asks, “Is Bhagavan also bound by this duality? Can He be bound by this duality? Please tell me that He is impartial to all, that He is beyond this duality!” Very often, due to the importance we give to our limited minds, we think that God is also limited.
In the life of the Avatars of the Lord, like Krishna, Bhagavan manifests Himself in the form of a human body, and one sees Him doing everything like a normal human being: eating, sleeping, running, going to toilet. Then one may think, “But how can He be God?” For instance, Jesus was a carpenter, and therefore the Pharisees questioned Jesus’s wisdom and miraculous powers. As the human mind is limited, one perceives God being also limited. That’s why people may say that they love God, but they always expect God to be according to what they like.
We know that all scriptures say that God is impartial and loves everybody. His Love is the same to all people, whether they are ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Then, why do we say that we have to become ‘good’ in order to attain Him? Because we have to let go of the negative qualities, so that we can express the divine qualities.
Why doesn’t a ‘bad’ person attain God or get God-Realisation? Firstly, one must change, and then one gets Him. Why does one have to let go of the old things, and transform oneself in order to attain the Divine? If God is impartial, why should one do this? He should be equal to the ‘bad’ and the ‘good’, right?”
Canto 7, Chapter 1, Verse 4–5
śrī-ṛṣir uvāca
sādhu pṛṣṭaṁ mahārāja
hareś caritam adbhutam
yad bhāgavata-māhātmyaṁ
bhagavad-Bhakti-vardhanam
gīyate paramaṁ puṇyam
ṛṣibhir nāradādibhiḥ
natvā kṛṣṇāya munaye
kathayiṣye hareḥ kathām
The great sage Sukadev says, My dear king, you have asked me an excellent question. Stories concerning the activities of the Lord, in which the glories of His devotees are also found, are very pleasing to devotees. Such delightful topics always counteract the miseries of the materialistic way of life. Therefore, great sages like Narada always speak about the Shreemad Bhagavatam because it gives one the opportunity to chant and hear about the glorious activities of the Lord. Let me offer my respects to Sri Veda Vyasa, and then begin describing topics concerning the activities of Lord Narayana.
All the stories we have heard about the great devotees of the Lord, have shown us that the misery one finds in life is due to the importance that we give to the outside reality. Because when your mind is focused outwardly, you have expectations. When you have expectations, you are waiting for things to be the way you want. And when it’s not the way you want, you become unhappy.
Here Sukadev refers to Sage Narada saying that he always speaks about the Shreemad Bagavatam. Narada says, “If one wants to be free, the easiest and simplest way is to listen to the glory of the Lord, and serve the sages and the saints. One should also respect everybody, but do not expect others to respect oneself.”
Narada revealed to Veda Vyasa, “If you want to free everybody in a very easy and simple way, talk about the glory of the Lord, and about the glory of His bhaktas.” In the Uddhava Gita, Uddhava says to Bhagavan, “Lord, You are the Almighty Lord. You are Love personified. You are Prem, so it’s easy for You to give this Love to us.” At the flick of a finger Bhagavan can give this Love. However, Bhagavan replied to Uddhava, “Even if I am the personification of Prem, I will not give it! Why? One must be ready to receive it, and if one is not ready, why would I give it?” Then He says, “My bhaktas, My devotees, those who are surrendered to Me, they will give this Love to you.” Strange, huh? This is how humble God is. He doesn’t claim anything. He is not bound by pride. He is free. He can do it, but He says, “No! Go to my bhaktas! Learn from them. Learn from the saints and sages, and through them, I shall give you Prem!”
By going to the bhaktas of the Lord, what happens? One becomes humble. You can’t go there very proudly and say, “I want to learn something from you!” This is how you may address university professors when you want to learn something from them. But these professors will not care about you. Whether you pass the exam or you don’t pass your exam, do you think they care about it? They don’t care at all! If you fail, you will regret it, certainly, but they don’t care. They would say, “Good for you! Next year, learn better”. However, when you go to a Guru, it is different. The sages and the saints, they do care, and they will do anything for you to find God. Anything! They will go out of their way for your sake. Not for their sake. They are one with Bhagavan. God is dancing all the time in their hearts, in their minds. That’s why Bhagavan said, “Go to my devotees, they will give this Love to you.”
In the Sri Siksastakam, Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu wrote that, for one to be worthy of the Lord, one must be more humble than the dry grass, more flexible than a willow tree. But, such a quality doesn’t awaken in somebody who is prideful and arrogant. That’s why Bhagavan sent Uddhava to the gopis. Uddhava was very learned, and he was proud of himself. So, when he first saw the gopis, what did he think? “These gopis are crazy. They are weirdos”.
Yesterday we sang:
Bhaja Govindam, Bhaja Govindam,
Govindam Bhaja Mūdhamate
Samprāpte Sannihite Kāle
Nahi Nahi Rakshati Dukrinkarane
Sing the praises of Govinda! Sing the glory of Govinda! Worship Govinda, because He is the only one who will save you. Everything else you have learned will not save you. Only the worship of Govinda will save you.
What will the scriptures give you? It is good to have a certain knowledge, but bhakti is the most important thing! Many people read many books. You can read the Bhagavatam. But does it awaken bhakti? No. What awakens bhakti is when you go inside your heart. When your heart is opening with what you are hearing. When your heart is opening with what you are seeing. And when your heart is opening with what you are longing for. That’s what awakens bhakti.
So, Uddhava was very learned and when he first saw the gopis, he thought, “I have to teach them how to love God by concentrating on the formless God.” Then, he called them, “You gopis come here and sit down!” All the gopis looked at him, and as they did, all they could see their beloved Krishna. They enjoyed the sight, and in their minds there was only Krishna. It’s like they were looking at Krishna in front of them. Then, Uddhava opened his mouth and said, “You should concentrate on the formless God.”
At that moment, they stood up saying, “What are you talking about? Which formless God are you talking about? How would we concentrate on Him? Who is He? God is formless??” They nearly beat up this poor Uddhava, because he said that God is formless. They said, “How dare you tell us to concentrate on the formless God!? Who is that formless God? Do you know Him? If He is formless, how do you know Him? What is His Name? Can something formless have a name? You want us to concentrate on Him, but for that we need a mind. However, your friend Krishna has stolen our minds and He has gone. He has stolen our hearts and left. How can we concentrate on a formless God? We know only Him. We don’t know anybody else! We have only Him!” This was the relationship that they had with Bhagavan. They didn’t know anybody else. Then, they said, “Uddhava, pack your books and bug off!” They nearly chased him out. Uddhava looked at them in amazement as they were telling him off and fighting with him. He started to feel in his heart the joy that they had inside of them.
Uddhava, who always stood right next to Krishna, knew that Krishna was Narayana Himself, but he didn’t really appreciate it. Usually, when something comes too easily for you, or when you get everything given to you, do you appreciate it? No, you take it for granted. Know that the Lord gives today, but tomorrow He can take everything. Then you will realise what you have lost. Before meeting the gopis, Uddhava could not feel that Love. He had said, “Bhagavan, You talk about Love, You are that Love. I asked You for it, but You didn’t give it to me.” Instead Krishna had told him, “Go to my bhaktas, to my devotees. They are the carriers of that Love, and they can give it to you! I am that Love, but I can’t give it to you. Only the carriers of that Love, the ones who carry Me, can give Me to you.” Here, when Uddhava was with the gopis, he could feel this Love! These gopis breathed Krishna. They danced for Krishna. They cooked for Krishna. They did everything for Krishna. In their minds, there was only Krishna. Then, Uddhava could feel that Love inside him. It was the gopis that gave him that Love, not Krishna.
Sage Sukadev was very pleased with the question of King Parikshit and said, “Before I start revealing the glory of the Lord, first let me pay my respects to Veda Vyasa. If the Lord had not inspired him to compile the Bhagavatam, I would not be able to reveal His glory to you. It is through the Grace of the Guru, through the Grace of Veda Vyasa, that I am going to narrate to you the glory of the Lord, why He came on Earth, and how He manifested Himself in different forms.”
He is for everybody. If you want Him without form, He will come without form. Then, He may talk to you, but you will hear only His voice. However, if you love Him with a form, He will come in a form. He has many forms. If you call Him in His Shiva form, He will come as Shiva. If you call Him in the form of Durga, He will come as Durga. If you call Him in the form of Jesus, He will come as Jesus. If you call Him in the form of Allah, He will come as Allah. So whatever bhav you are experiencing, whatever is your feeling, He will take that aspect and come to you.
Canto 7, Chapter 1, Verse 6
nirguṇo ’pi hy ajo ’vyakto
bhagavān prakṛteḥ paraḥ
sva-māyā-guṇam āviśya
bādhya-bādhakatāṁ gataḥ
In His nirgun Brahman aspect, without qualities, the Supreme Lord Narayana, is always beyond material qualities. Because He is unborn, He does not have a physical body that is subject to hatred and attachment . Although the Lord is always above material existence, through His spiritual power, He appears and acts like an ordinary human being, accepting worldly duties and obligations, just like an embodied soul.
Bhagavan, Lord Narayana, is beyond the duality. He is beyond all qualities. Even when we say Bhagavan has 16 qualities or 16 attributes, these are related only to His aishwarya, His supernatural powers. This is only about what He gives, what He shines, what He shows. He is ‘Satyam Jyaanam Anantam Brahma’: truth, knowledge and ultimate bliss. He is Prem Himself. But, He is also nirgun Brahman.
In this verse, Sukadev explains that the Supreme Lord is unborn, and there is nothing beyond Him. Everything that is subjected to the laws of nature has a beginning and an end. But, He is not subjected to the laws of nature, like everything else. Even if we see Him in a material body which He manifested, He doesn’t have any attachment to it. He also doesn’t have any hatred inside of Him, because He is bliss.
Earlier, we saw that Bhagavan Krishna died. But this was just His Leela. He just withdrew Himself from His own play. It was like lowering the curtain at the end of that particular Leela. But He is eternally present! In His nirgun Brahman aspect, He is not bound by anything, not even by His own physical body.
When we talk about God, and when you listen to the Bhagavatam, you realise that you have to long for Him. But you don’t know Him until He reveals Himself, right? Nevertheless, He has given all the forms and all the Names to you. He has limited Himself so that you can find Him. However, He is not bound to that limitation. For instance, when we do abishekam and worship Him in the form of a deity, we do it just for the sake of the limited human mind. So, we dress Him nicely with beautiful clothes, to express our love for Him and to serve Him externally.
There are three ways of serving God. The first way of serving Him is to serve Him in the deity. When we perform puja externally, it is beautiful and easier. But, even if you can talk to God, you will not be able to hear Him. This is a prayer done externally, but it’s good.
The second way of serving the Lord is to serve Him in the form of the people, like helping the needy. This is expressed in the Hindu saying, ‘Manava Seva, Madhava Seva’, which means ‘Service to Man is service to God’.
The third way of serving the Lord is worshipping Him within your heart: Manasa Puja. Here ‘manas’ means ‘heart’ not ‘mind’. So you do internally whatever you used to do externally. However, not everybody can do Manasa Puja, because you are subjected to your emotions and your emotions make you feel miserable. As long as the mind is not calm or peaceful, one is always enslaved. That’s why first, you start by performing your puja externally. I have heard many people saying, “I don’t like to do all these pujas. I can find God inside of me!” But when you look at them, they are so troubled. Their mind is jumping left and right, because they think they know better. So, Manasa Puja is not that easy. You can do Manasa Puja only when your mind is fully calm; when there is no doubt, no pride, and no arrogance inside of you. That’s why Manasa Puja is considered to be the ultimate way of worshipping the Lord. But if your mind is not calm, it is better to avoid doing any offence.
Once I asked someone, “Where is your deity? Have you done puja to your deity?” The reason I asked that question is because when you have a saligram, you have to do puja every day. The person replied, “I do Manasa Puja.” Then I asked, “How do you do Manasa Puja? The person said, “I do it in my mind, visualising everything.” I would not say that it is not good to do that. It is good. Then, maybe one day this worship will drop from your mind to your heart. When the Lord reveals Himself inside of your heart, then you can worship Him there, and this is the highest way of worshipping the Lord.
Here Sukadev says that although the Lord is always above the material existence, through His Divine Shakti, through His power, through His Maya, He can appear like any other normal human being. He can appear even more ordinary than normal people. For instance, Krishna was even more humble than Uddhava, and seemed to be even more human than him. When we look at the Leela which Krishna performed with the gopas, some of them were very proud, but He would say, “Come! Let’s go and steal the butter!” He acted like a normal human being. He accepted every kind of duty, like a normal human being. He felt obliged to act in that way also. This is how humble He is. So He appeared like a Jiva, a conditioned soul. But this is just for the physical eyes. In the Kurukshetra War, he stood there in front of Arjuna, talking to him for hours and hours and hours. He could have just said, “Hey Arjuna, keep quiet, look at Me!” And then, all of a sudden he would appear in His cosmic form saying, “Here am I, the Ultimate! Don’t bother about thinking too much. Go and fight!” Easy.
However, Arjuna would have not appreciated it. In the same way, if you get something easily, you will not be grateful for it. Imagine, for example, that instantly you became a millionaire. You would be happy because money makes people happy. But would you be truly happy? Other problems, others worries would come with it. You would worry about how to keep it, and how to save it. You would start to want more money. You would not be free.
Whatever comes from the outer reality does not bring happiness. True happiness is not found in this outer reality. When you transcend this outer reality, then, and only then, you can find true happiness. Otherwise one is just pretending to be happy, pretending to be joyful, pretending to be friends, pretending to be husbands, pretending to be wives, pretending to be children. It’s all just pretending. Like that, Bhagavan Himself also took a human aspect. He pretended to be just a normal human being, because this is the nature of the human mind. People always pretend. So here Bhagavan also thought to Himself, “I will pretend. This is the language you understand? I will use that language to talk to you.” So He conditioned Himself and appeared in a human form. However, He is eternally free from Maya. Actually, Maya just plays His own game.
Canto 7, Chapter 1, Verse 25
yan-nibaddho ’bhimāno ’yaṁ
tad-vadhāt prāṇināṁ vadhaḥ
tathā na yasya kaivalyād
abhimāno ’khilātmanaḥ
parasya dama-kartur hi
hiṁsā kenāsya kalpyate
Because of the physical concept of life, the conditioned soul thinks that when the body is annihilated, the living being is annihilated. The Supreme Lord Maha Vishnu, the Supersoul, is the supreme controller of all living entities. Because He has no physical body, He has no false conception of “‘I’ and ‘mine’. It is wrong to think that He feels pain when blasphemed or pleasure when offered prayers. This is impossible for Him. He has no friend and no enemy. When He rebukes the demons it is for their good, and when He accepts the prayers of the devotees it is for their good. He is unaffected by either prayers or blasphemy.
Sukadev tells Parikshit of the conversation between Narada and Yudhishtir. He says, “Yudhisthir, the eldest brother of your grandfather also had this dilemma about God, whether He is partial or impartial.”
In this verse Narada explains that due to our conditioned body, mind, and life, the soul also conditions itself. As the conditioned soul, the Jivatma, is covered by the intellect and by the mind, one starts thinking, “I am this body”, “I am so and so.” Like this, one pretends to be so and so. Then, when people die and the body has been burned, the human mind tends to think that everything is finished. There is nothing else left. That’s why many people say, “Let’s enjoy life now, there is nothing after death.” They don’t know that, yes, you have a body here, but there is more after life!
This verse says, “The Supreme Lord Maha Vishnu is the controller, and the Soul of all the souls.” In His cosmic form, in His omnipresent form, He is the essence of all living entities. He takes a form to play the drama, but at the same time in His formless aspect, in His cosmic aspect, He is present in everything.
However, even when the Lord is manifested in a form, He doesn’t have any false conception of ‘I’, ‘my’ and ‘mine’. That’s why whenever Bhagavan incarnates, He usually doesn’t say, “I am doing this” or “I am doing that.” Krishna said that, though, while giving the Gita to Arjuna. He also said, “There is nothing beyond Me.” (Ch. 7, v. 7) But, He was not saying it out of pride and arrogance. He actually is the Supreme Soul and the supreme controller of everything. So, when He gave the knowledge of the Self to Arjuna, He said, “I am in you, you are in Me. There is only Me, there is no you.” (Ch. 9, v. 29). Despite giving this knowledge to Arjuna at that time, after the Mahabharat War, Krishna made Himself forget that He had taught that to Arjuna. That’s why when He was talking to Uddhava, He said, “I can’t give you what I gave to Arjuna, but I will give you part of it.” Therefore, in Bhagavan there is not this human conception of ‘I’ and ‘mine’.
This verse of the Bhagavatam also reveals, “Don’t think that the Lord feels pain, pleasure, or that He feels offended when blasphemed. Don’t think that He feels happy when you offer your prayers to Him either.”
No, He doesn’t. All these feelings, whether you feel happy or offended, are due to the conditioned mind. When you have an active mind, the ego is present. Here, you are listening to me very attentively, very humbled, because your mind is conditioned in a certain way. We are talking about the Love of God, so you are all very loving, right? But, how quickly one can forget about that Love of God? Very quickly indeed! Now, let’s say I left the room. You get up, and accidentally somebody hits you a little bit with their elbow. How would you react? Most probably you would immediately say, “Hey, you hit me! Be careful!” Or let’s say someone tells you, “You, fool!” What would you say? You would probably ask in an angry tone, “Why are you calling me a fool?” Like this, people get angry with one single word, and immediately forget all about God’s Love. And then you call yourselves intelligent, wise people. On the other hand, Bhagavan is not limited by these feelings and emotions. Whether people offend Him or love Him; whether people pray to Him or not pray to Him; whether people believe in Him or don’t believe in Him; it doesn’t affect Him. But everybody else is affected.
As the Lord is manifested in everything, He doesn’t have enemies nor friends. He simply enacts certain Leelas. When He fought with the demons and told them off, it was for their own good, not for His own sake. Even when He accepts the prayer of a devotee, who offers Him lots of things out of love, do you think He loves that devotee more than He loves that demon which He has just killed? No, He doesn’t! This kind of conditioned love is a human quality. You love somebody who gives you things, and you hate the one who hates you. However, God’s Love is not conditioned by the human mind. Whether you give Him something, or you don’t give Him anything, His Love is the same. Whether you are a saintly person or you are the worst criminal, His Love is the same. In the Bible, Christ also said that God’s Love is the same for all His children. He makes the sun shine on the ‘good’ and the ‘bad’. In the same way, He gives the rain equally to the ‘good’ and to the ‘bad’. Likewise, the tree also gives its shade equally to everybody.
Imagine that it’s a very hot day, and the sun is burning. You move to go under a tree, and since you are a ‘bad’ person, the tree says, “Oh my goodness, that’s a bad one!” and the tree uproots itself and starts running away. Have you ever seen that? Of course not, you have never seen such a thing. Or now, you go outside and it’s raining. The rain would never say, “Oh no, this one is coming out now! Let’s clear the clouds away!” Likewise, if a ‘bad’ person is coming out, the sun doesn’t disappear or get covered up for that particular person. So, God is also the same. Whatever He does in His Leela, it is for our own sake. As the ‘bad’ ones don’t know any other language, He will talk to them in that same language. On the other hand, as the ‘good’ ones speak the language of Love, He will also use the same language.
Like I said before, when you talk to a baby, you speak differently than when you talk to a grownup. You bring yourself to the level of the child, and you talk the language that the child understands. Bhagavan does the same. He acts accordingly to each one’s level of understanding, but He is not bound by the conditioning of the outside reality. He will speak a language which you understand, He will take a form which you feel close to, and He will reveal Himself accordingly. The demons could only understand the language of fighting, killing, murdering, and cheating. So of course, Krishna had also to take a similar aspect for them. If He had appeared to them as very friendly, they never would have understood anything. As human beings pretend, He also starts pretending. Like this, you can understand and learn, otherwise you would never learn anything, and you wouldn’t never attain your true aspect.
The Lord is not affected by your prayers, by your devotion, as He is not affected by any blasphemy, because He is not conditioned by the mind, He is not conditioned by Maya. On the contrary, Maya is under His control.
Many people believe that if they would just win the lottery, they would become very happy and joyful, don’t they? You might reach the point of saying, “I’m rich, I’m a millionaire!” You might even become as rich as Bill Gates. But would you be truly happy? No. You can be the king, the queen, the richest person in the world, you can even become Indra, yet you would not be truly happy, because all these are conditions. We may say to Bhagavan. “When I will become rich, then I will give You a golden diamond necklace. But now I can’t, because I am poor.” Do you think He needs your diamonds, your money or whatever? No, He doesn’t need that. Kubera, the lord of wealth works under His orders, so why would He need anything from anybody? What He accepts is just the love and devotion that we express towards Him. In a similar way, He accepts whatever a demon offers to Him, even the rage and the hatred.
Canto 7, Chapter 1, Verse 26
tasmād vairānubandhena
nirvaireṇa bhayena vā
snehāt kāmena vā yuñjyāt
kathañcin nekṣate pṛthak
Therefore, by hatred or by devotional service, by affection or by fear, by lusty desire or by any other means, if a conditioned soul somehow or other focuses his mind upon the Lord, the result is the same, for the Lord, because of His blissful position, is never affected by hatred or friendship.
This verse explains that when a conditioned soul concentrates the mind upon the Lord, it doesn’t matter whether you are ‘good’ or ‘bad’, whether you are rich or poor, whether you are black or white, whether you are up or down. The moment your mind is focused upon the Lord, the result will be the same.
When you transcend the mind, the heart, the intellect, the soul, then bliss awakens: Prem Ananda. Bhagavan Himself is that bliss. Bhagavan is Prem itself. I will not say that Bhagavan is in bliss. He is not in bliss, He is bliss. Whereas the conditioned souls, they are in bliss. So, as He is bliss, He is never affected by whether you are His friend or you are His enemy.
When we say that somebody is our friend or somebody is our enemy, how have we come up with that distinction? It all depends on what we expect from them. Parents look at their children and say that they love them dearly, but that love is bound by expectations. People always expect something. Do you love anybody for the sake of that person’s happiness? No one can love somebody else for the sake of somebody else’s happiness. Everybody loves for the sake of their own happiness! There is always an expectation. Everybody loves others for the sake of something, be it the parent, the child, the husband, the wife, the girlfriend, or the boyfriend.
There is self-interest in everything. And due to that self-interest you say, “I love that person.” But if the self-interest decreases, that love will also decrease. If that self-interest is finished, that love will also be finished. This is the human condition. But with God, it is completely different. The self-interest is not there. He doesn’t love you because you are beautiful, rich, or intelligent. He loves you because you are the personification of Himself. There is no condition in it. It is Himself inside of you: bliss. This is the difference between the conditioned soul and the Lord.
Canto 7, Chapter 1, Verse 36
śrī-nārada uvāca
ekadā brahmaṇaḥ putrā
viṣṇu-lokaṁ yadṛcchayā
sanandanādayo jagmuś
caranto bhuvana-trayam
Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatana and Sanatkumara, the four sons of Lord Brahma, were traveling throughout the three worlds, and they came upon Vishnu Loka.
In this verse, Sukadev recounts to King Parikshit what Narada Muni had revealed to Yudhishtir about the curse of Jaya and Vijaya by the four Kumaras. Yudhishtir was the eldest brother of the Pandavas.
These four sons of Brahma had come to visit the Lord in His abode. Like I said earlier, they are ever free, and aren’t bound by any limitation; they are free souls. As they were passing by Vaikunta they said, “Let’s go and offer our obeisances to Lord Maha Vishnu.” So with great enthusiasm they walked through all the seven gates leading to Vaikunta.
Canto 7, Chapter 1, Verse 37
pañca-ṣaḍḍhāyanārbhābhāḥ
pūrveṣām api pūrvajāḥ
dig-vāsasaḥ śiśūn matvā
dvāḥ-sthau tān pratyaṣedhatām
Although these four great sages were older than Brahma’s other sons like Marichi, they looked like small naked boys only five or six years old. When the two gatekeepers, Jaya and Vijaya, saw them trying to enter Vaikunta Loka, they thought they were ordinary children, and denied them entry.
These sages are the first sons created by Brahma. However, even if they were older than all the other sons of Brahma like Marichi, these four Kumaras always looked like little boys who were only five or six years old. They walked naked towards Maha Vishnu, Narayana.
When they arrived at the gate, before entering Vaikunta, there were two guards by the names of Jaya and Vijaya standing there, guarding the gate. When the gatekeepers saw the four Kumaras trying to enter Vaikunta Loka, they thought they were just ordinary boys, who were not dressed properly. So, they stopped them saying, “Where are you going like this?”
Canto 7, Chapter 1, Verse 38
aśapan kupitā evaṁ
yuvāṁ vāsaṁ na cārhathaḥ
rajas-tamobhyāṁ rahite
pāda-mūle madhudviṣaḥ
pāpiṣṭhām āsurīṁ yoniṁ
bāliśau yātam āśv ataḥ
Stopped by the doorkeepers Jaya and Vijaya, Sanandana and the other great sages very angrily cursed them. “You foolish guards,” they said. “Being stirred by the material qualities of passion and ignorance, you are not worthy to live at the shelter of Maha Vishnu’s Lotus Feet, which are free from such things. It would be better for you to go to the material world and be born into a family of sinful demons.”
Upon seeing these ‘children’ at the gate of Vaikunta, the gatekeepers Jaya and Vijaya tried to stop them. At that moment, the four sages got offended and became very angry. Here, you see that even if they had been created by Brahma as His first sons, yet they still had their individuality, they still had the mind, they still would see what is ‘good’ and what is ‘not good’. So out of anger they say to the two gatekeepers, “You don’t know who we are! You are foolish due to your passion and ignorance.” Jaya and Vijaya here symbolise these two qualities: passion and ignorance.
The sages continue, “You are proud of yourselves and due to your pride you could not recognise us. So we curse you! You are not fit to stand at the gate of Narayana if you are ignorant, arrogant, and have the quality of passion. What are you doing here? This place is only for souls who are free. With these qualities of pride and arrogance, you should be born in the world, not just as humans, but as demons. As these are the qualities of a demon, so be born as demons!”
Canto 7, Chapter 1, Verse 39
evaṁ śaptau sva-bhavanāt
patantau tau kṛpālubhiḥ
proktau punar janmabhir vāṁ
tribhir lokāya kalpatām
Then, as Jaya and Vijaya, thus cursed by the sages, fell down to the material world, they were addressed by the same sages, who were very kind to them. O guardians of the gate, after three births you will be able to return to your positions in Vaikunta, for by then the curse will be over.
So at that moment, Jaya and Vijaya realised their mistake. They were filled with remorse, and fell down at the feet of the sages to seek their forgiveness. Now, the sages say, “We can’t do anything. A curse is a curse. Once it is spoken out, we can’t take back what we have said.”
But upon seeing that they were sincerely regretting, the sages calmed down and said, “Well, let’s see what the Lord wants.” Thus, they all went to Maha Vishnu. The Lord smiled, knowing that His gatekeepers had made a mistake. He says, “Listen, I see that you truly regret what you’ve done, but a curse is a curse. They have already put a curse on you, but they can also give you a blessing. So I will tell you what can be done. I give you a choice: you can be born on Earth as my dearest devotee in a Brahmin family. There, you can pray to Me night and day, sing My glory, but you will have to take ten lives on Earth.” Jaya and Vijaya say immediately, “Ten births on Earth?! That’s a lot!” Then Bhagavan says, “As the sages have cursed you to be born as demons, you can be born three times on Earth as My enemies. But each time you take birth, I will come and kill you. I’ll come on Earth and release you from that birth.”
Here, you see how Bhagavan planned everything! That’s His Master plan. For Him to incarnate, He made the Kumaras come and curse His doorkeepers. It’s wonderful to see how He is fully in charge of everything. He has everything under control. However, here He is even pretending saying, “Okay, fine, you have been cursed. Now, it’s done. So let’s make a deal. Either you are born as My devotees for ten lives...” He knows that a bhakta who is surrendered to Him will never agree to be far away from Him. Who in that position would love to be far away? No one. If you are next to God, you don’t want to lose that position and be far away from Him. It’s easier to have three lives as demons, and have also the Grace that the Lord Himself will come to free you from that birth. It’s amazing! With a heavy heart, Vijaya and Jaya answer, “In that way, it’s better to have three lives as Your enemy than ten lives as Your devotee.” So Jaya and Vijaya descended on Earth.
They were born as the sons of Diti, named Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu. A few days ago we heard the story of Varaha Avatar. To kill Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu, the first incarnation of Jaya and Vijaya on Earth, the Lord manifested Himself as Varaha Avatar and Narasimha Avatar, respectively. The second incarnation of the Vaikunta gatekeepers, as Ravana and Kumbhakarna, was during the time of Rama Avatar, and both of them were killed by Him. Finally, their third incarnation as Shishupala and Dantavakra, the cousins of Krishna, was during the time of Krishna Avatar, and both of them were slain by Him.
Do you know the story of Shishupala, and how he was killed by Krishna? Shishupala was born to the aunt of Krishna. The astrologer saw that Krishna would kill Shishupala. However, the auntie asked Krishna, “Lord, You can’t do that! You have to be merciful.” Then Krishna said, “Fine, I will be merciful, I will forgive him one hundred offences. But, as soon as he has crossed over that, I shall kill him.” One hundred offences to the Lord is a lot. Nobody seems to do that. People can offend the Lord one time, two times, three times in a lifetime, but not a hundred times. So the auntie agreed, “Yes, it’s fine.”
During the coronation of Yudhishtir, they were conducting the Rajasuya Yagna. For them Krishna was Bhagavan, as well as their Guru. Everything was Krishna. So, before the beginning of the ceremonies, they did the puja to Bhagavan Krishna. Krishna was placed on the throne, and when they were about to offer the prayer, Shishupala came there. Very angrily he said, “How can you offer Krishna such a seat? He is a criminal!” Like that, he started offending Krishna, one offence after the other. Krishna said to him, “Shishupala, be careful what you are saying, because I am counting.” He is the indweller, He knows it, right? But Shishupala didn’t listen.
So when it reached one hundred offences, Krishna rose from His seat and cut the head off Shishupala with the Sudarshana Chakra. So simple! Everybody was in a panic. Krishna said, “Calm down, everything is fine.” So what happened when He cut off Shishupala’s head? A light left his body and entered the Feet of Krishna. So this is how Jaya was sent back again to Vaikunta.