Prayers by Queen Kunti Devi -1.8.22- See a Lotus- Remember Krishna

1.8.22

namaḥ pańkaja-nābhāya namaḥ pańkaja-māline

namaḥ pańkaja-netrāya namas te pańkajāńghraye

My respectful obeisances are unto You, O Lord, whose abdomen is marked with a depression like a lotus flower, who are always decorated with garlands of lotus flowers, whose glance is as cool as the lotus and whose feet are engraved with lotuses.

Here again Kunti Devi is further describing the Supreme Lord. that His abdomen is marked with a Lotus like depression, His garland is of lotus flowers, His glance is as cool as a Lotus and His feet are engraved with lotuses.

Seattle Sri Sri Radha Neela Madhav Balarama Jayanti 2012

Srila Prabhupada writes in the purport "The Pańkajanābhi Lord accepts the arcā-vigraha  (His transcendental form) in different elements, namely a form within the mind, a form made of wood, a form made of earth, a form made of metal, a form made of jewel, a form made of paint, a form drawn on sand, etc."

Thus women and other devotees can worship Him and see Him.(as she had mentioned in verses 1.8.20 that how can women perceive the Lord?)

From Srila Prabhupada's lecture(If You actually Love God):

pankaja maline

pankaja nabhaya

pankaja janghraya

pankaja netraya

"So this Krsna consciousness movement is so nice. Here Kuntidevi, a great devotee, is giving us opportunity to become Krsna conscious: simply concentrating your mind on lotus flower. That's all. Lotus flower. As soon as you see a lotus flower, you will immediately think of namah pankaja-nabhaya. "Oh, Krsna's navel is just like lotus flower. From the navel of Krsna there was a stem of lotus flower, and from that lotus flower, Brahma came out. And Brahma created this universe. This universe means so many planets, so many seas, mountains and cities, motorcars, everything. Within that lotus flower, the beginning is..." Namah pankaja-nabhaya. And namah pankaja-maline. So such wonderful lotus flower which contains the seedling of the whole universe... That is not only one. Pankaja-maline. Just like here is a garland. There are so many flowers. So Krsna is not so poor that simply producing one lotus flower, He's finished. No. There is a garland of lotus flowers, big garland. Or as many lotus flowers as you want."

"So if you simply think only one verse, as it is explained here, and the pankaja, lotus, in reference with Krsna's body, you can meditate the whole life how Krsna is beautiful, how Krsna is wise, how Krsna's creation, how... This is meditation. Thinking of Krsna. Dhyanavasthita-tad-gatena manasa pasyanti yam yoginah [SB 12.13.1]. Yoginah means... Yogi means he's always thinking of Krsna. Mat-parah. That is yogi. These rascals are not yogi, thinking something impersonal and being harassed. Kleso 'dhikataras tesam avyaktasakta-cetasam [Bg. 12.5]. They are simply, they are simply laboring, adhikatarah, more and more. They cannot get anything substantial. Therefore after meditation: "Come on, give me cigarette. Come on. My throat is now dried up. Give me cigarette." That is not meditation. Meditation means, this is: namah pankaja-netraya."

"You cannot approach Krsna impurified. But if you think of Krsna always, in this way, meditate upon Krsna, then you'll be purified. Punya-sravana-kirtanah [SB 1.2.17]. That meditation can be possible by hearing and chanting. Then thinking will automatically come. That is the process of Krsna consciousness. Sravanam kirtanam visnoh smaranam [SB 7.5.23]. Smarana means remember. If you chant and hear, then remembrance will automatically come. Sravanam kirtanam visnoh smaranam pada-sevanam. Then you will be engaged in worshiping His lotus feet. Arcanam. Then you'll be engaged in arcanam, the temple worship; vandanam, offering prayers; dasyam, you'll engage yourself as servant; sakhyam, you'll become friend of Krsna; atma-nivedanam, and surrender everything to Krsna. This is the process." 

Prayers by Queen Kunti- 1.8.21- Krishna has now appeared to be visible

1.8.21

kṛṣṇāya vāsudevāya devakī-nandanāya ca

nanda-gopa-kumārāya govindāya namo namah

Krishna is the son of Vasudeva

Let me therefore offer my respectful obeisances unto the Lord, who has become the son of Vasudeva, the pleasure of Devakī, the boy of Nanda and the other cowherd men of Vṛndāvana, and the enlivener of the cows and the senses.

• Kunti Devi in her first prayer addresses Krishna as purusam tvadyam isvareh prakritim param - means that He is the Supreme Person not a personality of the material realm but beyond it(prakrteh param)- she establishes that He is a supreme Person. By the grace of Kunti Devi we can understand that, that Krishna who is alaksya to the mudhas , He is invisible to us has now appeared to be visible:
• Krsnaya vasudevaya- 
• The Vasudeva conception , absolute Truth. Impersonalits think vasudeva conception means all pervading. 
• From Srila Prabhupada's lecture:" So Kuntidevi is pointing out, "That Vasudeva is Krsna, all-pervading." Krsna, by His Vasudeva feature, He is all-pervading. Isvarah sarva-bhutanam hrd-dese 'rjuna tisthati [Bg. 18.61]. This feature of Krsna... Krsna, the original person, has got three features: as the Supreme Personality of Godhead; as all-pervading Paramatma, Supersoul; and impersonal Brahman effulgence."



Krishna also known as Devakinandana

• "So, by the grace of devotees like Kuntidevi, we can understand that here is Vasudeva. The all-pervading Absolute Truth, Paramatma, Vasudeva, is here. Krsnaya vasudevaya. So this vasudeva realization is possible by the impersonalists after many, many births.(bahunam janmanamante)" 
• Devaki nandanaya ca
• "Although Krsna, the Supreme Person, is without and within, still, to the rascals and fools, He is invisible. Therefore she is pointing out: "Here is the Lord, krsnaya vasudevaya." He is the all-pervading Supreme Personality of Godhead, but He's very much pleased to become the son of Devaki. Devaki-nandanaya. Devaki-nandanaya is mentioned in Atharva-Veda also. "
• Nanda Gopa Kumaraya-



Nanda maharaja celebrating Nandotsava

• Krsna comes as Devaki-nandana, and His foster father is Nanda-gopa, Nanda Maharaja.So Krsna likes to be related with His devotee as father and mother. Here, in this material world, we try to make our relationship with the Supreme as father, but Krsna wants to become the son. Therefore nanda-gopa-kumaraya. He takes pleasure to become a devotee's son.  
• Mental speculators often like to establish their own descriptions of Krishna and some of them call themselves Krishna.To teach these speculators - Kunti Devi is explaining here that the Supreme Person Krishna whom she is describing here is the foster son of Nanda and  , he was a Kumara in Vrindavan - never married. Krishna is thus fittingly described by Kunti Devi in these verses.
  
• From Unveiling His Lotus Feet Pg 139 "Kunti Devi's prayer 1.8.21 also gives hope to women- and everyone else as it names Krishna in relationship to many of His beloved devotees .Krsna's devotees are especially dear to Him - Indeed His most intimate names are those that indicate His dealings with His devotees. When Krishna is called by anyone of those names, He remembers Himself in relation to the particular devotee connected to that name and His heart melts. Thus devotee's pray to Krishna by those names to evoke compassion from His already softened heart. Because of His quality of bhakta vatsala, the lover of His devotees, He maybe known by His grace."

Kunti Devi thus begins her prayers with these 4 verses (1.8.18- 1.8.22)- describing that the Lord is beyond the material nature, He is the Lord of everything, He is the Supreme Person he cannot be percieved by material vision, he is invisible to the fools who are engaged in sense gratification, a curtain of Maya separates Krishna from the materialists, he is the son of vasudeva, That Krishna is the vasudeva conception, he is the son of devaki, he is the foster son of nanda and He is known as Govinda- that Krishna I offer my respectful obeisances.

Through this she establishes who is she praying to- He is not an ordinary person, not just her nephew but He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Prayers by Queen Kunti 1.8.20 Humility

1.8.20

tathā paramahaḿsānāḿ munīnām amalātmanām

bhakti-yoga-vidhānārthaḿ kathaḿ paśyema hi striyaḥ

You Yourself descend to propagate the transcendental science of devotional service unto the hearts of the advanced transcendentalists and mental speculators, who are purified by being able to discriminate between matter and spirit. How, then, can we women know You perfectly?

Kunti Devi here says that "You come to further enlighten those who are already advanced, those who are able to distinguish between matter and spirit- But what about people like me?How will we who are not great philosophers know You"-

In previous verses she has already mentioned that in spite of the Lord being situated inside and outside we cannot perceive Him, we cannot perceive Him through our senses and inspite of the Lord providing us with so many necessities, always being our benefactor and the Lord Himself giving us so many ways of seeing Him we fail to accept the Lord's presence. Then what is the hope for a mere women?

In this way Kunti Devi expresses herself and teaches us the mood in which we must approach the Lord.

Kunti Devi not an ordinary woman

Kunti Devi was not an ordinary woman.- she was able to see the Lord not just as her nephew but she knew His position as the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Srila Prabhupada mentions in his lecture 

• "But Kuntidevi, although she is in such exalted position, practically on the level of Yasodamayi, such a great devotee... So she is so submissive that "Krsna, You are meant for the paramahamsas, and what we can see You? We are women." 
• "But she could perceive the Lord "There in the previous verse she said, alaksyam sarva-bhutanam antar bahir avasthitam: "You are not seen by ordinary men, although You are inside and outside." In another verse also, na laksyase mudha-drsa: "Fools and rascals cannot see You." That means Kunti sees Him. Unless she sees Krsna as He is, how she can say, mudha-drsa na laksyase? And (s)he says, prakrteh param: "You are transcendental to this material creation."
• Although she understands everything, she still takes the position of an ordinary woman and says, "How can I understand You?" This is humility.

 

How can one see the Lord??

In the previous post we read that SP mentions we must take to the process of hearing srvataha sva kathah krsna, because of which we will have the vision to see the Lord. Here we learn that we need to be humble as well to enhance our vision of the Lord else we will be caught up in the temporary- material strength, power, influence, beauty, knowledge,etc.

By hearing, all the undesirable things from our hearts will be cleansed personally by the Lord (amalatmana- no lust and greed) and gradually we will become qualified to see the Lord.

"One must feel humility. Material Strength, beauty, intelligence and assorted other good qualities remain insufficient assets when one tries to know the Lord.Srila Prabhupada is encouraging in his purport to text 20: "The Lord is so kind that He does not show special favor only to one who is a great philosopher. He knows the sincerity of purpose."" - From Unveiling His Lotus Feet- Page 139

From another lecture of Srila Prabhupada: "So following her footsteps, any woman can also understand Krsna. Krsna is ready to be understood by anyone. Mam hi partha vyapasritya ye 'pi syuh... [Bg. 9.32]. Simply we have to follow the path how to appreciate Krsna, how to understand Krsna, how to see Krsna, how to talk with Him, how to walk with Him. These things are there. That is called bhakti-yoga. Where you learn this science of bhakti-yoga -- that we have mentioned, Nectar of Devotion, the perfect science of bhakti-yoga. So if one is interested in seeing Krsna, then there is no hindrance, there is no block. Anyone. Striyo vaisyas tatha sudras te 'pi yanti param gatim."

Prayers by Queen Kunti. 1.8.19- Importance of srvanam and kirtanam

Queen Kunti puts forward a question in 1.8.18 that how is this possible- Krsna is a person both localized and all pervading- how can one who is both present everywhere and all powerful remain unrecognized? After all Krsna , who is Kunti Devi's nephew, is standing before Kunti in humanlike form engaging in humanlike activities despite the fact that He is unlimitedly powerful and the all pervading Lord.- From Unveiling His Lotus Feet - Pg 139"

Kunti Devi then answers her own question in the next verse 1.8.19:

māyā-javanikācchannam ajñādhokṣajam avyayam

na lakṣyase mūḍha-dṛśā naṭo nāṭyadharo yathā

Being beyond the range of limited sense perception, You are the eternally irreproachable factor covered by the curtain of deluding energy. You are invisible to the foolish observer, exactly as an actor dressed as a player is not recognized.

• maya javanikachhannam - deluding curtain of Maya- Krsna remains beyond the limit of common people's perception because the curtain of His deluding energy covers their eyes.
• ajnadhoksajam avyayam -
• ajna - ignorant
• adhoksajam- heard in HG Narayanai Mataji's class that akshaja means senses adha means to go down- those who try to percieve the Lord through their senses only go down are defeated. - Thus the Lord cannot be conceived by one's senses.
• "Adhaḥ. Adhaḥ means down, made down, or defeated. Your sense perception will be defeated if you want to realize by God by your imperfect sense perception. That is not possible. You will be defeated. Adhaḥ akṣaja. Akṣaja means akṣa. Akṣa means eyes. " - from Lecture on SB 1.8.18-19 -- Bombay, April 9, 1971
• From this link :"Knowledge means, our knowledge means we manufacture words or syllables from A to Z. That's all. ABCD. We compose words with these twenty-six, or how many? A to Z?.........That is... And in Sanskrit, as in English it is A to Z, similarly in Sanskrit, a, a, i, u, and the end is ksa. So a and ksa, that is called aksa. Aksa-ja. And ja means generated. So we also compose words, those who are Sanskrit scholars, they compose words from a to aksa, just like English they compose words from A to Z. So our mental speculation and advancement of education is limited between this a and ksa, aksa. Aksa-ja. But Krsna is adhoksaja. Adhoksaja means where these kinds of speculation, beginning from a to ksa, will not act. Therefore His name is Adhoksaja. Adhah krta, cut down. (aside:) Why they are going? They are busy in some other work? Eh? Ugra-karma. Without hearing, what he will do, nonsense? Sravanam kirtanam, this is our main business. Sravanam. If you don't hear, what you will do? You will do simply sense gratification. That's all."
• na laksyase mudha drse- 
• mudhas because Krishna is present inside us and is present outside us- yet we refuse to acknowledge Him
• we are mudhas because Krishna has also taught us How to perceive Him- through the taste of water, through the strength of the strong, etc described in the 7th chapter of the BG but we refuse to acknowledge as we want to see with our own eyes. But the eyes are imperfect and Krishna is adhoksaja
• We are mudhas because Krishna is providing us with all the necessities, He is our benefactor always present with us - yet we refuse to acknowledge His presence.
• nato natyadharo yatha - He thus remains covered just as one cannot recognize an actor when He is in costume

How can we then see Krishna - when there is the deluding curtain of Maya on one side, we ourselves are mudhas and Krishna is beyond the range of sense perception?
As Srila Prabhupada says in His lecture :

"Now, who is, who can understand Krsna? There are so many impediments. One side, there is curtain of maya; another side, everyone is a rascal and fool; and another side, Krsna is beyond your sense perception. This is the position. How much one must be alert. Then one can understand. Just like the Gosvamis. Is Krsna is so easy thing to be understood? But there is process. So if we do not adopt the process, then how we can understand Krsna? These are the so many difficult things. One side, one thing is the maya is checking. Maya is trying to put stumbling block for your advancement of spiritual life. Maya-javanikacchannam. And the other side, we are all fools and rascals. And the, again, Krsna is adhoksaja, beyond the range of sense perception. This is the position.

"

The mahajanas are there. So we have to follow. Mahajano yena gatah sa panthah. We should not remain mudha-drsa. We should follow the mahajanas and the sadhus, sastra. And they recommend... The most important process is sravanam. Srnvatam sva-kathah krsnah punya-sravana-kirtanah [SB 1.2.17]. If we don't hear about Krsna, then how we'll make advance? We have to hear. My Guru Maharaja was very kind upon me because I was very much interested to hear him. That you know. I hear him. I did not understand him, actually. In the beginning I could not understand him. He was speaking in so high philosophical way that it was not... Still, I wanted to hear him. That was my only qualification.

So the... It is the process. During lecture time, if we don't care to hear or we do other things or take rest, that is not very good sign. We should be very much careful. Then we shall remain mudha-drsa. Nato natyadharo yatha. We have taken the vow to see Krsna or to understand Krsna. We should be very, very serious and do the needful. Then our life will be successful.