20260124 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.23.50

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī caitanya iśvaram
hariḥ oṁ tat sat

Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.23.50

likhanty adho-mukhī bhūmiṁ
padā nakha-maṇi-śriyā
uvāca lalitāṁ vācaṁ
nirudhyāśru-kalāṁ śanaiḥ

Translation: She stood and scratched the ground with her foot, which was radiant with the luster of her gemlike nails. Her head bent down, she spoke in slow yet charming accents, suppressing her tears.

Purport: Devahūti was so beautiful that her toenails appeared just like pearls, and as she scratched the ground it appeared as if pearls had been thrown on the ground. When a woman scratches the ground with her foot, it is a sign that her mind is very disturbed. These signs were sometimes exhibited by the gopīs before Kṛṣṇa. When the gopīs came in the dead of night and Kṛṣṇa asked them to return to their homes, the gopīs also scratched the ground like this because their minds were very disturbed.

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Jayapatākā Swami: So, this verse, in the purport, Śrīla Prabhupāda is showing a very important aspect of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We assume all this happened probably in a higher planet in the Satya-yuga. Their lifespan cannot even be imagined by us! Kardama Muni as a brahmacārī was meditating for ten thousand or so years and he decided before taking sannyāsa, he would be a gṛhastha. Then Svāyambhuva Manu approached him with his daughter and he said if you want to marry, please take my daughter. Kardama Muni as a gṛhastha in the first phase was very austere. His saha-dharmiṇī, wife, Devahūti was also serving him very diligently and very austerely. Now, Kardama Muni was not an ordinary yogī, he was always thinking about the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So when he was ready to experience his gṛhastha life, he had his wife bathed and cleaned by some maids from the higher planets in the Bindu-sarovara lake so that she could be brought to her former beauty. So then Kardama Muni created a flying castle with all kinds of amenities for material sense-gratification. So it is stated that he flew all over the universe and enjoyed with his wife for many years. His wife had many types of sexual desires. So, he expanded himself into nine forms! And each form had sexual relationship with his wife, and she was impregnated with a sperm. It is said that Devahūti conceived nine children. But she was only pregnant for one day or so! And after one day all the children were born. But they were all girls. So, she was in great anxiety her husband was now to take sannyāsa. Now if they are given in marriage all the girls will go to their respective husbands. For a woman it is the custom that either her father takes care or her husband or her son in her old age. But she did not have a son. So she was in anxiety! We cannot imitate Kardama Muni and Devahūti. We are people of the Age of Kali, when we get pregnant our pregnancy remains for 9 to 10 months. We do not become pregnant for one day like Devahūti. We cannot make a flying castle like Kardama Muni! We cannot do the things that he did! So what can be learnt from this? We must think of Kṛṣṇa all the time. This is the one lesson here. In the material world there is sex life, how is that? How is it possible? You see, in the spiritual world there is also sex life! But it is not material. It is completely spiritual. Like in the material world some people enjoy sex life. But the pleasure is only momentary. And then one has gradually increase in desire and they need more sex. But then that happiness is there momentarily and then it is gone. Some people, they may be stronger by being in the gṛhastha-āśrama. We should also fight with māyā to be Kṛṣṇa conscious. You see in the spiritual world sex life, the attraction to Kṛṣṇa by the gopīs, the queens of Dvārakā it is not temporary, it is permanent. It is constant that the gopīs love Kṛṣṇa, in different kinds of rasa or ecstasy, always, it is not just comes and goes! It is continuously. So, we heard that how the gopīs were accusing Lord Brahmā the creator that he doesn’t know how to create and had created the blinking of the eyes. So, how much they love Kṛṣṇa, that even the blinking of the eyes is a disturbance for them because there are drinking the nectar of Kṛṣṇa’s form. So there is always sense gratification, but the difference is that one wants to enjoy her own senses or his own senses. When we want our own pleasure, that is called lust. Now, the gopīs, they want Kṛṣṇa to be happy! Maybe that time they want to hug Kṛṣṇa, kiss Kṛṣṇa, dance with Kṛṣṇa. But it is for Kṛṣṇa’s pleasure. And Rādhārāṇī says that even if Kṛṣṇa wants someone else I will go and serve her. So it is very difficult to understand, we cannot understand, that is why Śrīla Prabhupāda said how we can discuss these things because people will take it as material. Apparently one gṛhastha couple they brought the tenth canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to Śrīla Prabhupāda and said, please talk to us about Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. He said you are not qualified! No. no, they said we are qualified. Then Śrīla Prabhupāda said, well I am not qualified! Because we have a distorted reflection in the material world. If someone does not do the sādhana aspects of devotional service and gradually he advances in devotional service, he will not understand anything. That is why Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu discussed this confidential matter with a few of his very intimate associates and did not discuss in public with everyone. Because others will misunderstand this subject matter and will simply think of their experiences of these lusty affairs.

We were discussing the śānta, dāsya, sakhya, vātsalya in the evening classes. All these devotees are constantly thinking, singing, playing, all these things with Kṛṣṇa! Soon we will be discussing the mādhurya-rasa. What are the inspirations, the fixed relationships, the different transitory emotions. But they have actually reached the standard, and we should chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, purifying ourselves and chant the Gāyatrī mantra and further advance. We have to not only chant, we have to do service, we have to read Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Caitanya-caritāmṛta. I saw that Śrīla Prabhupāda, he gave us, I was reading the Hari-bhakti-vilāsa, where it says the 18-syllable Kṛṣṇa mantra, how great it is. Now this takes one, helps one to be detached from the material world and take you to the spiritual world. I saw that the 18-syllable Kṛṣṇa mantra is the 6^th mantra in our Gāyatrī, second last mantra. And the last mantra is the Kāma Gāyatrī. That has 24 and a half syllables and that is called the mantra form of Kṛṣṇa! So if we are not purified enough, we cannot chant this Gāyatrī mantra. This way, we promise our guru that we will chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare mahā-mantra, at least 16 rounds times 108. Now by chanting this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra all the ill-effects of Kali-yuga are destroyed. In the spiritual world there is Hari-dhāma, Goloka Dhāma. That is surrounded by the brahma-jyoti. So the enemies killed by Kṛṣṇa, the Māyāvādīs they go to the brahma-jyoti. It says if one worships Nārāyaṇa or Śrī Rāma or Nṛsiṁhadeva, they will go to Hari-dhāma. Now, Nārāyaṇa mantra is there, Nṛsiṁha mantra, Rāma mantra, by chanting these one can go back to Godhead. They are not Gāyatrī mantras but they are mantras – for example Nṛsiṁha mantra is a mahā-mantra. I don’t know where the devotees want to go to? If they are distressed that the material world is so bad, I want to have peace and they don’t have any relationship with Kṛṣṇa, they may land up in the brahma-jyoti. If there is a relationship with Kṛṣṇa or an avatāra of the Lord or just service attitude, they may attain Hari-dhāma. Then if one chants the Kṛṣṇa mantra, Hare Kṛṣṇa and Gāyatrī, and they are thinking about Kṛṣṇa, then they can go to Kṛṣṇaloka. We may start with sādhana-bhakti, we stay in the sādhana-bhakti but our consciousness gradually elevates. So we have to be patient, we have to be committed and have to be very sincere. So, this way, devotional service, bhakti-yoga is a gradual advancement. So you are yogīs, yoginīs, you have to all be very careful to practice your Kṛṣṇa consciousness! Many things are revealed in the scriptures so we should take advantage, study them and understand about Kṛṣṇa. Like this Kṛṣṇa consciousness is meant for everybody and Lord Caitanya has made it very easy! Devahūti and Kardama Muni’s life was very long. We have a very short life and in this life, we should be fully committed to practicing bhakti-yoga! Haribol! And in this short life we go back to Kṛṣṇa if we practice very sincerely!

Anyway, now the time is up. There is a question I heard.

Question: In this section of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam we are studying about the conception of Devahūti. I want to confess that some years ago my husband had asked me to abort the child and I am very guilty and I want to know what to do when one is under pressure to do such things. And will you forgive me. I promise not to do that again.

Jayapatākā Swami: This is a very great sin! This should not be done. Never, never! But what can I say? You have done it. Even the demigods, they were arresting the wife of Hiraṇyakaśipu to kill her baby!  But they won’t kill the baby in the womb. They wait for the baby to be born and then kill him. Now of course, Nārada Muni said about the son, don’t worry about him, he is going to be a great devotee. So, that is how the demigods, devas, they did not want to abort the child, they wanted to wait till the child was born. So, I can forgive you, but I am not sanctioning it. You have to pray to Kṛṣṇa because there is no better process of atonement than devotional service. So, do your devotional service, pray to the Deities and do the tulasī-pūjā and other things. And like this, maybe by Kṛṣṇa’s mercy, you may be forgiven. I don’t know why your husband asked you to do that and why he put pressure on you. We become gṛhasthas to have children. So, why should the husband want to kill a baby? We know maybe the government, the scientists say that life comes after a certain time, but we know that the embryo is growing because the jīvātmā is there. So anyway, now it is very late. I have to end here. Haribol!