I was
supposed to publish this earlier. But forgot! This is a follow up of 2 other
essays on this subject.
Book 10
Chapter 69 of Bhagavatha Puranam starts with Sage Narada wanting to see how
Krishna can marry 16,000 wives and live
with each one of them in their separate houses, doing different things, at the
same time. (yekena vapusha yugapath
pruthak gruheshu dvyashtasaahasram sthriya yeka udaavahat). Therefore, Narada
goes from house to house and sees Krishna in each house engaged in various
human activities.
Perplexed,
Narada asks Lord Krishna: “Is this your glory? Is this your maya?” Lord Krishna answers: Brahman dharmasya vakthaaham kartha thad
anumodhita, thad shichayam allokam imam aasthithah putra, maa kidhah, Which
translates as : “Do not be perplexed, my son. I am not only the teacher of
dharma, but I practice it myself and support those who practice it. I follow the path of dharma in order to teach
the world”.
In essence,
Krishna says that He is the One in the many.
But, there are two portions to this. Each and every Krishna seen by
Narada is the Lord Himself and the gopis
(the milkmaids) full of Bhakthi (devotion) know that He is fully with each one
of them. They are too intoxicated enjoying His presence to wonder whether He is
with any other “lover” of His! Also, the Lord as Krishna is performing
different duties in different houses to show the dharma of a householder (grahasta).
Those who do
not look into the metaphorical meaning will make fun of those who worship an
amorous and promiscuous God. But metaphorically, Lord Krishna represents, symbolizes the One
Supreme. The 16,000 wives are indicative of the thousands of lives (jiva) on this earth. The houses are the
physical bodies (sarira). He lives in
each and every live body all the time, responsible for all “we” do – all at the
same time.
That is the problem
with reading old texts. When do you read literal meaning of the words? When you
do, do you know what the meaning of that word was in olden days? When do you
look for metaphorical meaning?
Adi Sankara
has some answers. He says that correct comprehension (of Vedas and puranas)
lead to well-being and erroneous notions lead to evil (Brahma Sutra I-3-8).
When literal meaning is inappropriate, no authority can make you accept such a
meaning. But, when literal meaning makes no sense in the context or to the
purpose of the treatise, then metaphorical meaning is to be looked into (Bhashya
for Prasnopanishad).
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