asks His spiritual master Sukadeva Goswami a very interesting question:
(Where there are parenthesis they are my comments.)
"When he [Maharaja Pariksit] heard that some of the gopis, simply by concentrating on Krishna as their paramour, became freed from all contamination of material birth and death, he said,
"The gopis did not know that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. They accepted Him as a beautiful boy and considered Him to be their paramour. So how was it possible for them to get freed from the material condition just by thinking of a paramour?"
(The gopis did not think of Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There were no formalities or rituals or offerings of elaborate praise of His position as controller and maintainer
and source of all creation. There were no obeisances. There was no pomp and fanfare as we are accustomed to see in relation to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The gopis only saw Krishna appearing as a charming beautiful youth and were irresistibly drawn to him.)
Srila Prabhupada notes a little later on in this chapter:
"The gopis were not ordinary women. In essence they were on an equal level with Krishna. They are His eternal associates. As it is confirmed in the Brahma-samhita, they are expansions of the pleasure potency of Krishna, and as His potency they are non-different from Him."
(But to answer the question... "How was it possible for the gopis to become freed from the material condition just by thinking of Krishna as a paramour?" If the gopis are eternal associates, then they are not in the material condition of life. It is all pastime.
But as we learned earlier when Krishna appeared 5000 years ago there were two different types of devotees appearing with Him. One type is the eternal associates who are never contaminated by the material energy. The other type are those devotees coming from the material world on their way back home and who are appearing for further training and preparation to enter the eternal atmosphere as an eternal associate never to return to the material condition. Maharaja Pariksit's question concerns this second type of devotee. This was a wonderful question and opened up the dialogue on many levels for discussion.)
Another way to understand the question is as Srila Prabhupada points out:
"One should consider here that Krishna and ordinary living beings are qualitatively one.
The ordinary living beings, being part and parcel of Krishna, are also Brahman, but Krishna is the Supreme-Parabrahman. The question is, if it is possible for the devotee to get free from the material, contaminated stage simply by thinking of Krishna, then why not others who are also thinking of someone? If one is thinking of a husband or son, or if anyone at all is thinking of another living entity, since all living entities are also Brahman, then why are they not all freed from the contaminated stage of material nature?"
(If everyone is part of Krishna and everyone is a spiritual entity then why wouldn't the same result be there by meditating on anyone? Why does it have to be Krishna? Everyone is a spiritual entity. If I have an illicit affair with someone, anyone, why would it be different from an extra marital relationship with the Supreme Being? Everything is spiritual. Do we sense a touch of impersonalism here? It's all one.
Sukadeva goswami first of all chastises King Parksit for asking the question. Did he not understand the subject matter which had been discussed before. Krishna's incarnation as an apparently ordinary yet extra ordinary person? That Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead? Maharaja Pariksit is asking this question so that his spiritual master will establish authoritatively Krishna's unique position in order to expose any impostors or imitators..
The first answer given is that even someone inimical to Krishna gets liberation. Sukadeva Goswami gives the example of Sisupala. Where is it ever seen that by becoming an enemy of an ordinary conditioned soul someone receives liberation. What they receive is a karmic reaction that drags them lower in their next birth. Yet Sisupala received liberation from the material condition of life.)
Sukadeva Goswami explains:
"Sisupala was always envious of Krishna, and because of his envy Krishna killed him. Since Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sisupala gained salvation simply by seeing Him. If an envious person can get salvation simply by concentrating his mind on Krishna, then what to speak of the gopis who are so dear to Krishna and always thinking of Him in love?"
As further response to the Maharaja Pariksit's question:
"Sukadeva Gosvami also said that Krishna is Hrsikesa, the Supersoul, whereas an ordinary man is a conditioned soul covered by the material body. Krishna and Krishna's body are the same because He is Hrsikesa."
(Krishna and His body are the same. There is no difference as there is for a materially contaminated living entity. To come directly into contact with Krishna when He appears... however He may appear... is always purifying.
Srila Prabhupada comments:
"Just to show favor to the ordinary living entities, out of His causeless mercy, He appears as He is. Unfortunately, foolish persons mistake Him to be another ordinary person, and so they become eligible to go to hell. Sukadeva Gosvami reconfirmed that Krishna is the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, imperishable, immeasurable, and free from all material contamination."
(Here Srila Prabhupada is reaffirming Krishna's position. At first glance this seems contradictory. On the one hand we just heard from Sukadeva Goswami that Krishna is absolute and if He appears as an ordinary human being anyone who relates to Him is awarded transcendence...even if they become inimical to Him... but now Srila Prabhupada is saying anyone who thinks of him as an ordinary person as confirmed in Bhagavad gita goes to Hell.)
"Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form. They do not know My transcendental nature and My supreme dominion over all that be. Those who are thus bewildered are attracted by demonic and atheistic views. In that deluded condition, their hopes for liberation, their fruitive activities, and their culture of knowledge are all defeated." BG 9.11,12)
The other class of persons are those who are hearing about Krishna. Those who remain stubbornly attached to trying to enjoy the material energy and disregard messages of Godhead. But then again... Lord Chaitanya is so merciful that even they have been provided for. The Holy Name has all the potencies of Krishna Himself. Just by hearing the Holy Name a direct connection with the Lord has been established, however weak and frail the initial event. And then there is also prasadam distribution. We can hardly even begin to imagine the mercy of the Lord in His appearance as Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.)
Sukadeva Goswami further establishes Krishna's unique position beyond the material modes of nature:
"He appears in this material world out of His causeless mercy, and whenever He appears, He appears as He is without change. This is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita. There the Lord says that He appears in His spiritual potency. He does not appear under the control of this material potency. The material potency is under His control."
Krishna... The All-Attractive... Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Supreme Enjoyer.
"The conclusion is that if one somehow or other becomes attached to Krishna or attracted to Him, either because of His beauty, quality, opulence, fame, strength, renunciation or knowledge, or even through lust, anger or fear, or affection or friendship, then one's salvation and freedom from material contamination is assured"
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