SB 3.16.13–14 – Krishna’s Bewildering Words

Giriraj Swami:

[SB 3.16.13]

brahmovāca
atha tasyośatīṁ devīm
ṛṣi-kulyāṁ sarasvatīm
nāsvādya manyu-daṣṭānāṁ
teṣām ātmāpy atṛpyata

TRANSLATION

Brahmā continued: Even though the sages had been bitten by the serpent of anger, their souls were not satiated with hearing the Lord’s lovely and illuminating speech, which was like a series of Vedic hymns.

COMMENT

There is no purport so we will go to Text 14

TEXT 14

satīṁ vyādāya śṛṇvanto
laghvīṁ gurv-artha-gahvarām
vigāhyāgādha-gambhīrāṁ
na vidus tac-cikīrṣitam

TRANSLATION

The Lord’s excellent speech was difficult to comprehend because of its momentous import and its most profound significance. The sages heard it with wide-open ears and pondered it as well. But although hearing, they could not understand what He intended to do.

PURPORT by His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada

It should be understood that no one can surpass the Supreme Personality of Godhead in speaking. There is no difference between the Supreme Person and His speeches, for He stands on the absolute platform. The sages tried with wide-open ears to understand the words from the lips of the Supreme Lord, but although His speech was very concise and meaningful, the sages could not completely comprehend what He was saying. They could not even comprehend the purport of the speech or what the Supreme Lord wanted to do. Nor could they understand whether the Lord was angry or pleased with them.

COMMENT

So the Lord is supreme in all qualities and He is also supreme in speech. Although the sages were pleased by the speeches of the Lord and wanted to hear more, they could not understand what He meant to say or what He intended to do. But because of the beauty of the Lord’s speech and the beauty of the Lord’s heed, they wanted more and more and more.

Sometimes, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura spoke in such high language that devotees could not understand him. Srila Prabhupada admits that even he could not understand his Guru maharaja in many cases at first. But still, he wanted to hear from him. Whenever he got the opportunity, he would sit with him and hear. One time, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura was on Vrajamandala Parikramā and they came to sesha shahi. So at the time, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur was in the room. First he tackled what was in the room. Then some other disciples came and announced that the devotees can come and have darshan of the deity and many left but Srila Prabhupada did not leave. He remained behind to hear from his spiritual master. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura was pleased. He commented about Srila Prabhupada that he hears very nicely and he who hears nicely can preach nicely. So although even Srila Prabhupada could not understand the language of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati but he wanted to hear word by word.

In the beginning of ISKCON in America, Srila Prabhupada instructed devotees about Back to Godhead and he suggested that they could include one article by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura in each issue. The devotees argued that people will not be able to understand the language. Srila Prabhupada replied, even if they cannot understand the language, they will benefit by the vibration-transcendental sound vibration. So here the four Kumaras although they could not fully comprehend the import of the Lord’s words, they were enlivened by the Lord’s speeches and they wanted to hear more and more and more. The Lord spoke in such a way that they could not understand the intention. Although the Lord is the God of God and the worshipable deity for the brahminical class, He presented Himself as the servant. He presented Himself as the worshipper and He put forth the four Kumaras as representatives of the brahman class, saying that they were to be worshiped and they were to be served.

He wrote so many statements about offenses, that His servants were offenders and therefore He was also offended. The four Kumaras were offended by His servants, who represented him, but the Kumaras were thinking that actually we are the offenders because we had cursed the Lord’s servants. Actually, they were only trying to serve the Lord, but they had cursed the Lord’s servants and created so much difficulty. They thought, actually, we are the offenders. They could not understand the purpose of the Lord’s speeches. Was he actually feeling that He was the offender and they were offenders? Was He actually pleased with them? Or was He thinking that actually they are the offenders because they cursed the gatekeepers who are My servants? The same words worked both ways. The Kumaras were extensions of the Lord Himself, as the Lord stated, but the gatekeepers were also extensions of the Lord.

Although he was apparently chastising the gatekeepers and saying that by offending the brahmanas they had offended him, was he also instructing the Kumaras that by offending the gatekeepers they were offending Him? They were bewildered by the Lord’s speech. What was His actual intention? Although they heard the speeches with wide open ears, with tremendous eagerness, and although they pondered the meaning of the Lord’s words, they still could not understand. They could not reach any definite conclusion; they were bewildered. The Lord’s speech has the power to bewilder. We find in one verse in the Tenth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the gopīs say, madhurayā girā valgu-vākyayā budha-manojñayā puṣkarekṣaṇa SB.10.8.31 The sweet sound of your voice and the deep meaning of your words attract the mind of the intelligent and bewilder them.” Here also, the Kumaras were bewildered by the speeches of the Lord. Sometimes the Lord’s speeches are so confidential that no one can understand them except for some persons who are can understand. They are practically on the same level. Just like sometimes, Krishna and Balaram would speak in such an intimate way that although everyone was hearing them, nobody could understand them-what they were saying to each other. I thought to read two examples of the Lord’s speeches, whose meaning is difficult to understand. One is from Caitanya-caritāmṛta. Antya-līlā Chapter Nineteen; “The Lord’s Inconceivable Behavior.”

Every year the Lord would send Jagadananda Pandita to Navadvipa to bring prasāda and remnants to Lord’s mother and he would stay about a month then he return. Once Jagadananda Pandita was about to leave Navadvipa, he went to Advaita Acharya and Advaita Acharya gave him the message of Lord Chaitanya.

TEXT 17

ācāryera ṭhāñi giyā ājñā māgilā

ācārya-gosāñi prabhure sandeśa kahilā

When he went to Advaita Ācārya and also asked His permission to return, Advaita Prabhu gave him a message to deliver to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

TEXT 18

tarajā-prahelī ācārya kahena ṭhāre-ṭhore

prabhu mātra bujhena, keha bujhite nā pare

Advaita Ācārya had written a sonnet in equivocal language with an import that Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu could understand but others could not. (Advaita Acharya is also the Supreme Lord, Maha Visnu).

TEXT 19

prabhure kahiha āmāra koṭi namaskāra

ei nivedana tāṅra caraṇe āmāra

Advaita Prabhu first offered His obeisances hundreds and thousands of times unto the lotus feet of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He then submitted the following statement at His lotus feet.

TEXT 20

bāulake kahiha, — loka ha-ila bāula

bāulake kahiha, — hāṭe nā vikāya cāula

“Please inform Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who is acting like a madman, that everyone here has become mad like Him. Inform Him also that in the marketplace rice is no longer in demand.

TET 21

bāulake kahiha, — kāye nāhika āula

bāulake kahiha, — ihā kahiyāche bāula”

“Those now mad in ecstatic love are no longer interested in the material world. Also tell Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu that Advaita Prabhu who has also become a madman in ecstatic love has spoken these words.

TEXT 22

eta śuni’ jagadānanda hāsite lāgilā

nīlācale āsi’ tabe prabhure kahilā

When he heard Advaita Ācārya’s statement, Jagadānanda Paṇḍita began to laugh, and when he returned to Jagannātha Purī, Nīlācala, he informed Caitanya Mahāprabhu of everything.

TEXT 23

tarajā śuni’ mahāprabhu īṣat hāsilā

‘tāṅra yei ājñā’ — bali’ mauna dharilā

After hearing the equivocal sonnet by Advaita Ācārya, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu quietly smiled. “That is His order,” He said. Then He fell silent.

TEXT 24

jāniyāo svarūpa gosāñi prabhure puchila

‘ei tarajāra artha bujhite nārila’

Although he knew the secret, Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī inquired from the Lord, “What is the meaning of this sonnet? I could not understand it.”

TEXT 25

prabhu kahena, — ‘ācārya haya pūjaka prabala

āgama-śāstrera vidhi-vidhāne kuśala

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu replied, “Advaita Ācārya is a great worshiper of the Lord and is very expert in the regulative principles enjoined in the Vedic literatures.

TEXT 26

upāsanā lāgi’ devera karena āvāhana

pūjā lāgi’ kata kāla karena nirodhana

“Advaita Ācārya invites the Lord to come and be worshiped, and to perform the worship He keeps the Deity for some time.

TEXT 27

“After the worship is completed, He sends the Deity somewhere else. I do not know the meaning of this sonnet, nor do I know what is in Advaita Prabhu’s mind

TEXT 28

“Advaita Ācārya is a great mystic. No one can understand Him. He is expert in writing sonnets that even I Myself cannot understand.”

TEXT 29

Hearing this, all the devotees were astonished, especially Svarūpa Dāmodara, who became somewhat morose.

TEXT 30

From that day on, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s emotional state changed markedly; His feelings of separation from Kṛṣṇa doubled in intensity.

TEXT 31

As His feelings of separation in the ecstasy of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī increased at every moment, the Lord’s activities, both day and night, were now wild, insane performances.

TEXT 32

Suddenly there awoke within Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu the scene of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s departure to Mathurā, and He began exhibiting the symptom of ecstatic madness known as udghūrṇā.

COMMENT

So can any of you think what was the meaning of the message of Advaita Acharya to Lord Chaitanya? Advaita Prabhu cried loudly for the appearance of Lord Chaitanya. He wanted the Lord to appear, to deliver the fallen souls from material enjoyment and to bestow upon them kṛṣṇa-prema. So in the panic he said, “Now everyone has become mad with kṛṣṇa-prema and they are no longer interested in life or in material enjoyment. In other words, Lord Chaitanya had fulfilled His mission, and there was no demand for His services anymore. Then Lord Chaitanya also gave the reply that Advaita Acharya is a great worshipper. he keeps the deity for some time and worship Him then when he is finished with adoration, he sends the deity to some other place. Then the Lord’s inner feelings of separation increased. Can anyone think why?

As we discussed the other day, the Lord came with two purposes? The inner purpose was to experience the ecstasy of Srimati Radharani, and the external purpose was to preach, to deliver the fallen souls from material bondage and to give them kṛṣṇa-prema. So He had come upon the request of Advaita Acharya to deliver the fallen souls and give them prema. Now Advaita Acharya was telling Mahaprabhu that you have finished your external mission. Advaita Acharya also was one of the superior personalities accepted by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and He was pleading to Lord Chaitanya and telling him that now your mission is complete. So Lord Chaitanya became free to go more deep into his inner mood, and he did so.

Now we know that the scriptures are the words of the Lord, vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyo. The purpose of the Vedas is to know Krishna and the Vedas compiled by Krishna and Krishna is the knower of the Vedas. He is the compiler of the Vedas, of the Vedanta in the form of Vyasadeva. Vyasadeva is also the incarnation of Lord Krishna. So the Vedas are meant for us to know Krishna. Krishna knows the Vedas. Therefore, the knowledge in the Vedas is from Krishna and Krishna is the compiler of the Vedas and in the case of Bhagavad-gītā and Uddhava Gītā, Lord Krishna directly speaks also. And even thought Lord Krishna directly does not speak, His empowered devotees speak and His own incarnation, Vyasa dev writes. So everything in this scripture is Krishna, and especially Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which deals directly with the pastimes of the personality of Godhead in different incarnations.

Lord Chaitanya personally explains the ātmārāma verse in sixty-one different ways and when Sanatana Gosvami expressed astonishment that you have explained the same verse in sixty-one distinct ways, taking into consideration different meanings of each word and different relationships between the words- Only the Supreme Personality of Godhead could do so. Lord Chaitanya replied that why are you giving me so much credit? Actually, the credit should go to the Bhāgavatam because the Bhāgavatam is Himself Lord Krishna. Just as Krishna is unlimited, so the Bhāgavatam is also unlimited. But to speak of sixty-one different meanings, there are unlimited meanings to each and every verse of the Bhāgavatam. Not only each and every verse but each and every line. But sometimes Krishna deliberately speaks in such a way as to bewilder. So we will read some verses just to get an idea of how Krishna speaks in such a way that the same words can be construed to have one meaning and the same words can be construed to have the exact opposite meaning. When Krishna plays His flute on the full moon night of the sharad season to call the gopīs, they came and Krishna spoke in such a way as to bewilder them. We will read from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Canto Ten Chapter Twenty-nine; “Kṛṣṇa and the Gopīs Meet for the Rāsa Dance.”

TEXT 17

tā dṛṣṭvāntikam āyātā

bhagavān vraja-yoṣitaḥ

avadad vadatāṁ śreṣṭho

vācaḥ peśair vimohayan

Seeing that the girls of Vraja had arrived, Lord Kṛṣṇa, the best of speakers, greeted them with charming words that bewildered their minds.

TEXT 18

śrī-bhagavān uvāca

svāgataṁ vo mahā-bhāgāḥ

priyaṁ kiṁ karavāṇi vaḥ

vrajasyānāmayaṁ kaccid

brūtāgamana-kāraṇam

Lord Kṛṣṇa said: O most fortunate ladies, welcome. What may I do to please you? Is everything well in Vraja? Please tell Me the reason for your coming here.

COMMENT

So first, He greets them, svagatam, which is a very formal type of reception - oh swagatam. Then He thought, when they heard the sound of the flute, they became so anxious to meet Krishna that without considering if they were dressed properly or ornamented properly or decorated properly, they just went to meet Krishna. Some of them put their upper cloth on the bottom portion, some put the eye cosmetics on their lips, and some put their foot ornaments on their arms. So Krishna saw that they had come in a great haste so He says, vrajasyānāmayaṁ kaccid “Is everything all right in Vrindavan? Perhaps some demon has come, and you have all quickly fled away to take shelter of Me for protection. Or is anything wrong in Vraja? Or if nothing is wrong, then priyaṁ kiṁ karavāṇi vaḥ - what can I do for you? Like we go to meet some rich man to get some donation. Actually, he doesn’t really want to do anything, but as a formality, he says, “What can I do for you? Can I get you a glass of water? Or maybe you would like nimbu-pāni? 

TEXT 19

rajany eṣā ghora-rūpā

ghora-sattva-niṣevitā

pratiyāta vrajaṁ neha

stheyaṁ strībhiḥ su-madhyamāḥ

This night is quite frightening, and frightening creatures are lurking about. Return to Vraja, slender-waisted girls. This is not a proper place for women.

COMMENT

The gopīs think that, Krishna has shattered our attachments to our families, He has taken away our soberness and our shyness, and He has been enjoying with us day after day and now He is asking us why have you come. Seeing that the girls were looking in all directions, hearing the Lord’s equivocal words, he said, “Oh you must have come to enjoy the scenery in the forest.” And when they would look up at the moon, he said, “Oh, you must have come to see the moon.” And when they would look at the trees, He said, “Oh, you must have come to see the trees.” When they would look at Yamuna, he said, “Oh you must have come to see Yamuna.”

But there is another meaning.” You see, the Sanskrit comes with so many words joined together and according to how you divide the words, the words have different meanings. Like prajalpaḥ niyamāgraha, Srila Rupa Gosvami mentions six items that destroy devotion service. So in the verse comes prajalpaḥ niyamāgraha. Niyamāgraha can be divided in two ways niyaṁ āgraha and niyamā graha. One means to follow the rules and regulations, and the other means not to follow the rules and regulations. Of course, here it is to follow the rules and regulations means fanatically, without understanding the actual purpose. Therefore, following fanatically is against Bhakti, and acting independently and not following is also against bhakti. But according to how the words are divided, the meaning can be quite different, just the opposite.

So here, “The night is quite frightening, and frightening creatures like tigers, snakes, and scorpions are lurking about. So return to Vraja, this is not a proper place for women.” But the other meaning is that the night does not frighten me. There are no frightening creatures lurking about; there are only peaceful creatures like deers. Even if there are tigers, because we are in Vrindavan, in Vrindavan all creatures are naturally peaceful, so there is no need to fear. Therefore, do not return to Vrindavan; there is no need to be afraid of your relatives that they will come and search for you because the night is very frightening and frightening creatures are lurking about. So they won’t dare come out of their houses to look for you, you should not be afraid, and you should not return to Vrindavan; you should stay with Me.

TEXT 20

mātaraḥ pitaraḥ putrā

bhrātaraḥ patayaś ca vaḥ

vicinvanti hy apaśyanto

mā kṛḍhvaṁ bandhu-sādhvasam 

Not finding you at home, your mothers, fathers, sons, brothers and husbands are certainly searching for you. Don’t cause anxiety for your family members.

COMMENT

Again, the second meaning is that because the night is frightening and frightening creatures are lurking about, even if they come searching for you, they won’t find you. They will be afraid and they will return. So don’t be in anxiety; you can stay with Me.

TEXT 21-22

dṛṣṭaṁ vanaṁ kusumitaṁ

rākeśa-kara-rañjitam

yamunānila-līlaijat

taru-pallava-śobhitam

tad yāta mā ciraṁ goṣṭhaṁ

śuśrūṣadhvaṁ patīn satīḥ

krandanti vatsā bālāś ca

tān pāyayata duhyata

COMMENT

Because when he was speaking to them, they were looking all around. So He says, “Now you have seen this Vrindavan forest, full of flowers and resplendent with the light of the full moon. You have seen the beauty of the trees, with their leaves trembling in the gentle breeze coming from the Yamuna. So now go back to the cowherd village. Don’t delay. O chaste ladies, serve your husbands and give milk to your crying babies and calves.” But the other meaning is, because here is another point about Sanskrit that there are words like “na” which means not and na can be applied to so many words in the same way. He says, na here says"Don’t delay.” He says go back to the cowherd village and don’t delay. But the same don’t put into English, the same don’t can be applied to the word- go back. Saying now go back and don’t dalay. The same can be applied to don’t to go back but delay for some time more, at least for the rest of the night.” And then the same thing, “Serve your husbands and give your milk to your crying babies and calves,” So one na can be applied to so many ways. The same na can be don’t serve your husbands, don’t give milk to your crying babies and calves, don’t waste your time with such nonsense especially you are meant for better things than that.

TEXT 23

atha vā mad-abhisnehād

bhavatyo yantritāśayāḥ

āgatā hy upapannaṁ vaḥ

prīyante mayi jantavaḥ

On the other hand, because Krishna has exhausted every other possibility why they could have come because there were some demons in Vraja and they came running, there were some disturbances. Or they came to see the beautiful night, the moon, the trees, the flowers and so on. So the gopīs said, “No, no, no. not for this, not for this. So having had all the other reasons defeated, He would say, “On the other hand, perhaps you have come here out of your great love for Me, which has taken control of your hearts. This is of course quite commendable on your part, since all living entities possess natural affection for Me.”

Now here He is saying that every living entity possesses natural affection for Me, even the mothers, the fathers, the cowherd boys, the cows, the calves, the trees, the creepers they all have affection for me and you also have affection for Me. So now you have seen Me, now you can go back. Because affection is of two types, general as he is saying in the verse general and the other is specific as in mādhurya-rasa. So here He is saying the general meaning, which is the translation of the verse. So the general meaning is that all living entities have love for Me, so you also have love for me so now you have seen me, you can go back. But the hidden meaning or the alternative meaning is that you have come here out of your great love for Me, which has taken control of your heart but the hidden meaning is that you have come here out of your great love for me, not in the general sense but in your specific sense, and therefore you have taken control of My heart.

TEXT 24

bhartuḥ śuśrūṣaṇaṁ strīṇāṁ

paro dharmo hy amāyayā

tad-bandhūnāṁ ca kalyāṇaḥ

prajānāṁ cānupoṣaṇam

The highest religious duty for a woman is to sincerely serve her husband, behave well toward her husband’s family and take good care of her children.

COMMENT

So this is the meaning but the hidden meaning or other meaning is that is amāyayā without duplicity The first meaning is that there should be no duplicity in you. That you have been married to your husband, so there should be no duplicity, you should go back to your husband. You should not spend time with any other person. But the hidden meaning is that actually you love me from a very childhood. You love me, and we love you, so you should not be dip licit and serve your husband but you should be sincere and stay and serve Me because I am your supreme husband. They are not your husband. And another reference is parah dharma. Parah dharma is translated as the highest religious dharma. Dharma means religious duty and parah means highest. Sada purusham parah dharma yatho bhaktim avesyukti. . . Actually the highest religious duty is to awaken bhakti for Krishna but parah can also mean for others-para upkara. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has instructed (Cc. Ādi 9.41):

bhārata-bhūmite manuṣya-janma haila yāra

janma sārthaka kari’ kara para-upakāra

Anyone who has taken birth in –bharat varsha should make his life successful and do good for others. So para upkara means to do welfare for others. Para means others. So here other meaning of parah dharma is (not the highest religious duty) but parah dharma means the duty of another person. In other words, serving your husband and behaving well to your husband’s family and taking good care of your children is not your duty. That is someone else’s duty. That is parah dharma. That is someone else’s duty and you should not do someone else’s duty because if you do someone else’s dharma then it is adharma. So you should not do.

TEXT 25

duḥśīlo durbhago vṛddho

jaḍo rogy adhano ‘pi vā

patiḥ strībhir na hātavyo

lokepsubhir apātakī

Women who desire a good destination in the next life should never abandon a husband who has not fallen from his religious standards, even if he is obnoxious, unfortunate, old, unintelligent, sickly, or poor.

COMMENT

So the gopīs may say that, “Our dear Krishna, you are so qualified. We have fallen in love with you. How can we go back to our husbands?” But here the first meaning is that you must go back even if your husbands are dushila (bad character) you should go back. Durbhaga (unfortunate); vrddha (old); jada (retarded); rogi (sickly); adana (poor); even then you should go back. It doesn’t matter that you think they are not as good as Me but they are your husbands, it’s your duty to serve then so you should go back to them.

Then the other meaning is loka. In the first verse, loka means a good destination in the next life. It says that “Women who desire a good destination in the next life should never abandon a husband” but here loka he is saying to the gopīs, “You don’t care about any loka, this life or next life, we are not interested in this world at all.” That also means people, other people. We are not worried about reputation. Persons who are worried about their present life and their next life and their reputation, they should not abandon their husbands but we don’t care about such mundane things. So there no such harm or rule. Any ways there are few other words.

The point here is that no one can excel the Lord in speech, and when the Lord wants to bewilder anyone by His speech, He can easily defeat, even the gopīs. And after hearing the Lord’s words, just like the Kumaras, they couldn’t understand the purport of the Lord’s words. So the gopīs also could not understand the purport of the Lord’s words; whether He was just joking, whether He was actually telling them to go back home or whether He was actually telling them to stay with Him, they were bewildered. They couldn’t figure out what He was doing. So therefore in the verse from the Third Canto, one of the words means gambhīra; gambhīra means grave. One of Krishna’s qualities means grave. In The Nectar of Devotion, Srila Prabhupada gives the definition of grave. No one can understand His mind, no one can understand His thought. So here the Kumaras could not understand the thoughts of Lord Narayana. Was he pleased with them or was He displeased with them. And the gopīs also could not understand the thought of Krishna. Was He telling them to go back home, was he telling them to stay with Him or was He just making jokes without any. . . They could not understand. Are there any questions?

Devotee: [Unitelligable 58:00]

Giriraj Swami: What you said is true. Mundane anger comes under the influence of raja guna and tama guna and then someone is under the influence of raja guna and tama guna, he will be in the same angry mood like you said for the rest of the day and for the next day also. And not only in relation to the offender but in relation to anyone. And maybe there is no offender at all. Maybe he is just frustrated in his own material desires, and nobody has done anything. But in transcendental anger, the anger is directed towards a particular object with a particular person, and it doesn’t extend beyond the time required, and it doesn’t extend to other person. It only extends to the person involved, so you yourself have given the answer.

Devotee: [Unitelligable]

Giriraj Swami: By bhakti only, bhaktyā mām abhijānāti Only through bhakti can one understand Krishna. There are so many meanings for the verses. So how can we understand so many meanings, or how can anyone understand so many meanings? Only by bhakti. Lord Chaitanya Himself is Krishna, so He knows everyone. But if we take the commentaries of the Acharya, like generally in the Tenth Canto of course many have commented but especially Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, he has commented on the verses, especially the verses spoken between Krishna and the gopīs. He has explained the same meaning and the double meaning. It’s not only here in this conversation but throughout. There are so many double meanings. Here, Krishna is speaking, but in the Thirty-first Chapter in the songs of the gopīs in separation, there is a gopī speaking but again, the verses have two meanings, like, one of the most famous verses which was much appreciated by Lord Chaitanya when King Pratapuradra recited to Him in the time of Ratha-yatra; tava kathāmṛtaṁ tapta-jīvanaṁ - tava kathāmṛtaṁ that words, talks, are nectar, that is one meaning. Tava kathāmṛtaṁ whose talks are nectar. Because in the gopīs also there are different groups, especially there are two. One is dhakshina and the other is ramaiya. So dhakshina means, they openly expressed their eagerness to meet Krishna and serve Krishna. And ramaiya means that innerly there are eager to meet Krishna but outwardly they express contratioriness. In dhakshina bhava, they expressed tava kathāmṛtaṁ that your talks are nectar and in ramaiya bhava they say tava- kathā- nityam that your talks are death. Anyone who hears your talks will die. If you are present and you speak to us then it is nectar but if you are not present then your talks about you are death because anyone who is separation from you will be so miserable, he will be as good as dead or he would want to die.

So the same things in the song of the gopīs; tava kathāmṛtaṁ tapta-jīvanaṁ tapta-jīvanaṁ, tapta-jīvanaṁ any way this could also be another discussion but the general meaning your talks are nectar for those who are aggrieved in this world. Kavibhir īḍitaṁ there are broadcasted by transcendentalist, a great kavis and learned scholars that is for dhakshina bhava and ramaiya bhava the scriptures have many statements about the glory of your talks. But why? Because the scriptures are written by kavis by poets, and kavis can say anything. There is, for example, if a horse is galloping very quickly they will say the horse is flying. Actually, the horse is not flying, but as poets, they say the horse is flying, so because the poets have to give some exaggeration so they are saying about kṛṣṇa-kathā otherwise there is nothing in kṛṣṇa-kathā.

tava kathāmṛtaṁ tapta-jīvanaṁ 

kavibhir īḍitaṁ kalmaṣāpaham 

kalmaṣāpaham means that it destroys all sinful reactions.

So the first meaning kṛṣṇa-kathā is so auspicious, but just by hearing it, one becomes free of sinful reaction. But the other meaning is that by hearing kṛṣṇa-kathā and becoming attached to Krishna and then being separated from Krishna, one feels so much pain. Not all of his sinful reactions are being used up by his suffering. By suffering, all of the sinful reactions are getting moved up. So like that, the gopīs were. . . But now, coming to the point how can know the meaning, this comes from realization. This cannot come from scholarship or knowledge of Sanskrit rules and grammar. This comes from the realization. So, Srila Santana Gosvami, Srila Rupa Gosvami, Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, they have realization, and therefore they are able to explain the different moods of Krishna and the different use of the verses. They themselves are gopīs in kṛṣṇa-līlā and we also, when we approach the scriptures, we should not try to understand the intellect. We cannot actually understand by physical intellect, but by chanting, by hearing, by remembering, we can get through ideas, not by intellect, by bhajans.