Continuing the Bhāgavat-commentaries (mostly by Viśvanāth Cakravartīpāda) we now arrive at the seventh canto -
7.1.26 One should not criticize the Lord in a way that hurts Him. It will bring the critic in a bad situation, as it is said in Śrīmad Bhāgavat [10.74.40] ‘If after hearing criticism of the Lord or His devotee, one does not leave, one falls from one’s piety.’ There are two types of criticism - favorable and unfavorable. Favorable criticism is a transformation of prema, as in Śrīmad Bhāgavat 10.47.17 - "Like a hunter, He cruelly shot the king of the monkeys with arrows. Because He was conquered by a woman, He disfigured another woman who came to Him with lusty desires. And even after consuming the gifts of Bali Mahārāja, He bound him up with ropes as if he were a crow. So let us give up all friendship with this dark-complexioned boy, even if we cannot give up talking about Him."
This is a bud of light from the crest jewel of prema (puruṣārtha cūḍāmaṇi marīci mañjarīva), not attained by anyone except the gopīs. Unfavorable criticism is of two types - that which arises from absorption in the Lord and that which does not arise from absorption in the Lord. The first type takes place in Śiśupāla. The bad karma created by his criticism was destroyed immediately by his absorption in the Lord and created a neutral condition and qualification for vaidhi bhakti. This does not hurt the Lord and it destroys the sin of the critic [due to his absorption] .......one should see the Lord according to one's own emotions. By attaining sāyujya the demons who hate the Lord realize themselves as non-different from Him. One statement can have a different meaning according to the person in question. Of course a devotee cannot be advised to be absorbed in the Lord in enmity, as it is said one should accept favorable things to bhakti and reject unfavorable things. Absorption in fear is like that of the gopīs, in their anxious extra-marital affair with Kṛṣṇa, and without fear is like that of Rukmiṇī and the other wives of Kṛṣṇa, who could love Him openly.
7.1.28-29 - Just as the grassworm attains the form of his besieger the bee through absorption in hatred, Sisupala and other demons also attained sārūpya, the same form as Kṛṣṇa by their hateful meditation on Him. This meditation is still that purifying to bestow such an effect.
7.1.46 — yathā vahninā kanakasya mālinyam eva hanyate na tu kanakaṁ tathaiva jaya vijayor bāhya mālinyāvaraṇayor naṣṭayoḥ satoḥ jaya vijayāveva tejaḥ puñjākārau śrī kṛṣṇaṁ praviṣṭau janair dṛṣṭāviti bhāvaḥ - Just as fire destroys the impurity of gold but not the gold itself, similarly Jaya and Vijaya’s external contaminated covering was destroyed when they entered into the powerful form of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. All people could see that.
7.4.38 - Just as a one-year old child is always embraced by the parents, Prahlād was always embraced by the Lord during all his activities - eating, sleeping etc.
7.4.42 - Prahlād was a very powerful devotee - he was not contaminated by the bad association at school, though he was unable to convert his demoniac father himself.
7.5.5 - anyathā vanaṁ gato’pi gṛham andha-kūpam - "One can still fall in the blind well of household life even after having retired into the forest." One must be sure to be ready to live in a holy place fulltime. If one retires there with many material desires one will get into scandal after scandal there.
7.5.23 – This is the famous verse śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ, about the nine-fold process of bhakti which, in the next verse, is said to be for all puṁsaḥ. Normaly puṁ means man, but here Viśvanāth Cakravartīpāda comments: puṁ śabdasya jīva mātra vācakatvāt striyāpi. “The word puṁ means all living entities, also women.”
7.5.30- Prahlāda told Hiraṇyakaśipu – “For you Kṛṣṇa is false, Kṛṣṇa consciousness will never arise in persons like you. It will not come from you, nor from your Guru nor a combination of both. Factually you did not get the shower of footdust of the great souls."
Even Prahlāda's own great devotional influence could not save Hiraṇyakaśipu. punaḥ punaś carvita carvanānāṁ – chewing the chewd, wet stool, dry stool – Viśvanāth Cakravartīpāda asks a rhetorical question here - “but gṛhasthas should go to swarga [heaven] sometimes?” yeṣāṁ teṣāṁ veśyālayaḥ svargo vā tulya – “The brothel or heaven, it's all the same....”
7.6.1 – iha bhārata bhūmau. iha means India. nanu tān yauvanādāvapi kṛtvā kṛtārthībhavati tatrāha prājña iti. yadi kaumārānte mṛtyuḥ syāt tarhiḥ kiṁ bhaved iti prakṛṣṭa jñānavān. The wisest man will consider: Even by practicing sādhana in youth one can attain perfection - what if I die after my childhood? nanu tatra kā cintā janmāntaraṁ tu bhāvi tatraiva bhakti kāryeti. tatrāha durlabhaṁ mānuṣāṁ janma tad api bhāgyāllabdham apyadhruvaṁ adya vartamānatve’pi tasya śvaḥ sthitau niścayābhāvāt. [One could argue] "Why should we worry? We can do bhakti in the next life also!" To this it is said: "Human life is rare, and attained by good luck. It is also uncertain. Nothing is certain, even in the present." nanu tarhi tāvan mātra kālena kuto bhaktisiddhas tatrāha arthadaṁ muhūrta mātra vyāpi bhaktimatām api khaṭvāṅgādīnāṁ siddhi darśanāt. [One could argue] "How can bhakti siddhi be attained in this time?" To this it is said arthadaṁ, in just a moment one can become devoted, instant siddhi is seen in Khaṭvanga and others.
7.7.29 - Viśvanāth Cakravartīpāda comments: guroḥ śuśrūṣayā snapana saṁvāhanādikayā – “The word śuśrūṣā means bathing and massaging the Guru, etc.” (practical services)”.
7.7.33 - bhaktir īśvare vāsudeve bhagavati yayā samlabhyate ratiḥ – “By bhakti one attains (samlabhyate) rati (love or bhāva)”, another proof that prema is not dormant within the heart.
7.9.2 - Though Lakṣmī had seen Narasiṁha in the previous kalpa and He eternally resides in Vaikuṇṭha, she was still astonished due to the agency of the līlā śakti (playful potency), so that the rasa of adbhuta (wonder) could be created around Narasiṁha.
7.9.14 - Parents cannot always protect a child, often it is seen that children suffer despite their being well protected by the parents. It is also seen that parents abuse their children, like Ajigarta who sold his son Śūnaśepa as a human sacrifice. Medicine does not always protect a sick person, because even persons who take medicine still have to die. A boat does not protect persons from drowning, because boats also sink (like the 'unsinkable' Titanic, which sunk even on its maiden voyage, killing 1,500 passengers). Without you (Nrsiṁha) no remedy for suffering is successful.”
7.9.38 - (In Kali-yuga) You are covered because externally You show a different form and mood, later this conclusion will be explained [in 11.5.31-32, hinting at the avatāra of Śrīman Mahāprabhu]
7.9.40 - Prahlāda says here that his genitals are pulling him towards women, but how can a 5-year old feel like that? It seems clear that the Bhāgavat sometimes makes more moral statements than historical ones. In other words, the ācāryas want to teach something and so put such words into the mouth of an infant.
7.9.44 - Though this verse is sometimes quoted to criticize ‘bhajanānandī Vaiṣṇavas’ for being ‘selfish and only engaged for their own liberation’ this verse clearly speaks about munayo, munis of the Himālaya, yogīs and so, not rāgānuga bhaktas doing bhajan at Rādhākuṇḍa. Any type of bhakti is to be done for Kṛṣṇa's pleasure, and either bhajan or preaching can be done for either Kṛṣṇa’s pleasure or for lābha pūjā pratiṣṭhā (profit, adoration and distinction)
7.9.45 - This the famous verse about scratching an itch. Normally scratching an itching spot should solve the itching, but what is meant here is making matters worse by trying to solve them, like trying to satisfy lust by giving in to it.
This was the first of a three-part synopsis of the 7th canto Bhagavat.
7.1.26 One should not criticize the Lord in a way that hurts Him. It will bring the critic in a bad situation, as it is said in Śrīmad Bhāgavat [10.74.40] ‘If after hearing criticism of the Lord or His devotee, one does not leave, one falls from one’s piety.’ There are two types of criticism - favorable and unfavorable. Favorable criticism is a transformation of prema, as in Śrīmad Bhāgavat 10.47.17 - "Like a hunter, He cruelly shot the king of the monkeys with arrows. Because He was conquered by a woman, He disfigured another woman who came to Him with lusty desires. And even after consuming the gifts of Bali Mahārāja, He bound him up with ropes as if he were a crow. So let us give up all friendship with this dark-complexioned boy, even if we cannot give up talking about Him."
This is a bud of light from the crest jewel of prema (puruṣārtha cūḍāmaṇi marīci mañjarīva), not attained by anyone except the gopīs. Unfavorable criticism is of two types - that which arises from absorption in the Lord and that which does not arise from absorption in the Lord. The first type takes place in Śiśupāla. The bad karma created by his criticism was destroyed immediately by his absorption in the Lord and created a neutral condition and qualification for vaidhi bhakti. This does not hurt the Lord and it destroys the sin of the critic [due to his absorption] .......one should see the Lord according to one's own emotions. By attaining sāyujya the demons who hate the Lord realize themselves as non-different from Him. One statement can have a different meaning according to the person in question. Of course a devotee cannot be advised to be absorbed in the Lord in enmity, as it is said one should accept favorable things to bhakti and reject unfavorable things. Absorption in fear is like that of the gopīs, in their anxious extra-marital affair with Kṛṣṇa, and without fear is like that of Rukmiṇī and the other wives of Kṛṣṇa, who could love Him openly.
7.1.28-29 - Just as the grassworm attains the form of his besieger the bee through absorption in hatred, Sisupala and other demons also attained sārūpya, the same form as Kṛṣṇa by their hateful meditation on Him. This meditation is still that purifying to bestow such an effect.
7.1.46 — yathā vahninā kanakasya mālinyam eva hanyate na tu kanakaṁ tathaiva jaya vijayor bāhya mālinyāvaraṇayor naṣṭayoḥ satoḥ jaya vijayāveva tejaḥ puñjākārau śrī kṛṣṇaṁ praviṣṭau janair dṛṣṭāviti bhāvaḥ - Just as fire destroys the impurity of gold but not the gold itself, similarly Jaya and Vijaya’s external contaminated covering was destroyed when they entered into the powerful form of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. All people could see that.
7.4.38 - Just as a one-year old child is always embraced by the parents, Prahlād was always embraced by the Lord during all his activities - eating, sleeping etc.
7.4.42 - Prahlād was a very powerful devotee - he was not contaminated by the bad association at school, though he was unable to convert his demoniac father himself.
7.5.5 - anyathā vanaṁ gato’pi gṛham andha-kūpam - "One can still fall in the blind well of household life even after having retired into the forest." One must be sure to be ready to live in a holy place fulltime. If one retires there with many material desires one will get into scandal after scandal there.
7.5.23 – This is the famous verse śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ, about the nine-fold process of bhakti which, in the next verse, is said to be for all puṁsaḥ. Normaly puṁ means man, but here Viśvanāth Cakravartīpāda comments: puṁ śabdasya jīva mātra vācakatvāt striyāpi. “The word puṁ means all living entities, also women.”
7.5.30- Prahlāda told Hiraṇyakaśipu – “For you Kṛṣṇa is false, Kṛṣṇa consciousness will never arise in persons like you. It will not come from you, nor from your Guru nor a combination of both. Factually you did not get the shower of footdust of the great souls."
Even Prahlāda's own great devotional influence could not save Hiraṇyakaśipu. punaḥ punaś carvita carvanānāṁ – chewing the chewd, wet stool, dry stool – Viśvanāth Cakravartīpāda asks a rhetorical question here - “but gṛhasthas should go to swarga [heaven] sometimes?” yeṣāṁ teṣāṁ veśyālayaḥ svargo vā tulya – “The brothel or heaven, it's all the same....”
7.6.1 – iha bhārata bhūmau. iha means India. nanu tān yauvanādāvapi kṛtvā kṛtārthībhavati tatrāha prājña iti. yadi kaumārānte mṛtyuḥ syāt tarhiḥ kiṁ bhaved iti prakṛṣṭa jñānavān. The wisest man will consider: Even by practicing sādhana in youth one can attain perfection - what if I die after my childhood? nanu tatra kā cintā janmāntaraṁ tu bhāvi tatraiva bhakti kāryeti. tatrāha durlabhaṁ mānuṣāṁ janma tad api bhāgyāllabdham apyadhruvaṁ adya vartamānatve’pi tasya śvaḥ sthitau niścayābhāvāt. [One could argue] "Why should we worry? We can do bhakti in the next life also!" To this it is said: "Human life is rare, and attained by good luck. It is also uncertain. Nothing is certain, even in the present." nanu tarhi tāvan mātra kālena kuto bhaktisiddhas tatrāha arthadaṁ muhūrta mātra vyāpi bhaktimatām api khaṭvāṅgādīnāṁ siddhi darśanāt. [One could argue] "How can bhakti siddhi be attained in this time?" To this it is said arthadaṁ, in just a moment one can become devoted, instant siddhi is seen in Khaṭvanga and others.
7.7.29 - Viśvanāth Cakravartīpāda comments: guroḥ śuśrūṣayā snapana saṁvāhanādikayā – “The word śuśrūṣā means bathing and massaging the Guru, etc.” (practical services)”.
7.7.33 - bhaktir īśvare vāsudeve bhagavati yayā samlabhyate ratiḥ – “By bhakti one attains (samlabhyate) rati (love or bhāva)”, another proof that prema is not dormant within the heart.
7.9.2 - Though Lakṣmī had seen Narasiṁha in the previous kalpa and He eternally resides in Vaikuṇṭha, she was still astonished due to the agency of the līlā śakti (playful potency), so that the rasa of adbhuta (wonder) could be created around Narasiṁha.
7.9.14 - Parents cannot always protect a child, often it is seen that children suffer despite their being well protected by the parents. It is also seen that parents abuse their children, like Ajigarta who sold his son Śūnaśepa as a human sacrifice. Medicine does not always protect a sick person, because even persons who take medicine still have to die. A boat does not protect persons from drowning, because boats also sink (like the 'unsinkable' Titanic, which sunk even on its maiden voyage, killing 1,500 passengers). Without you (Nrsiṁha) no remedy for suffering is successful.”
7.9.38 - (In Kali-yuga) You are covered because externally You show a different form and mood, later this conclusion will be explained [in 11.5.31-32, hinting at the avatāra of Śrīman Mahāprabhu]
7.9.40 - Prahlāda says here that his genitals are pulling him towards women, but how can a 5-year old feel like that? It seems clear that the Bhāgavat sometimes makes more moral statements than historical ones. In other words, the ācāryas want to teach something and so put such words into the mouth of an infant.
7.9.44 - Though this verse is sometimes quoted to criticize ‘bhajanānandī Vaiṣṇavas’ for being ‘selfish and only engaged for their own liberation’ this verse clearly speaks about munayo, munis of the Himālaya, yogīs and so, not rāgānuga bhaktas doing bhajan at Rādhākuṇḍa. Any type of bhakti is to be done for Kṛṣṇa's pleasure, and either bhajan or preaching can be done for either Kṛṣṇa’s pleasure or for lābha pūjā pratiṣṭhā (profit, adoration and distinction)
7.9.45 - This the famous verse about scratching an itch. Normally scratching an itching spot should solve the itching, but what is meant here is making matters worse by trying to solve them, like trying to satisfy lust by giving in to it.
This was the first of a three-part synopsis of the 7th canto Bhagavat.
