Topics covered:
SB 10.15: The Killing of Dhenuka, the Ass Demon
- Krishna and Balaram attained the age of Pauganda
- Lord Krishna and Lord Rama were appointed to take care of the cows on the 8 th lunar day of the bright fortnight of Karttika
- With his lotus feet Krishna walks barefoot all over Vraj
- Anxiety of the the gopis when he walks barefoot
- Madhava went into the rich Vraja with Rama and cowherd boys whilst playing his flute.
- Why Madhava? Husband of Lakshmi Descendant of Madhu
- Krishna saw that the trees were bending down as if to touch their feet
- Gives credit to Balaram
- Lords glanced at them mercifully
- Trees are full of knowledge
- Trees were immovable because of their past offenses
- Showing humility
- Lord imitated the peacocks, birds and animals
- Also played “ Lion and deer ”
- Lord serves Balarama
- When Balaram is tired, he will lie his head on a gopa’s lap
- Krishna will personally massage His feet and also bring water
- Games,Games and more Games
- Krishna and Balaram played games with the gopas
- The gopas massaged Krishna’s feet and also sang for the Lord
- Entering the Talavana forest
- The Gopas described the forest of Talavana which is one of the 12 forests of Vraja
- There were many delicious palm fruits and were all ripe and falling on the ground
- Dhenukasura was guarding it
- Dhenuka doesn’t allow anyone to enter the forest to enjoy the fruits
- The ass’s friends were also demons who have assumed similar forms
- Gopas wanted Krishna and Balaram to kill the demons
- Lord smiled and everyone left off
- Lord Balaram entered the forest first and started shaking the trees
- The demon heard this and ran towards Balaram with the aim of killing Him
- Balarama caught hold of the demon and threw him around!
- The other demons started coming after the Lords
- They went after Krishna first
- The other demons started attacking
- The Lords threw the ass demons onto the trees and all the trees started crashing onto one another
- After that, all the people felt free to come to the forest and started eating the palm fruits and enjoying the place.
- After the incident, they came back home to their homes
- All the Gopis feasted their eyes on the Lord
- Rohini and Yasoda welcomed their sons back with great affection and checked their limbs
- The Lords were bathed and fed sumptuously and they retired for the night as joyful as always
Lessons
to be learned
- Lord Kṛṣṇa blessed the earth by walking on her surface with His lotus feet.
- The Lord wore no shoes or other footgear but walked barefoot in the forest, giving great anxiety to the girls of Vṛndāvana, who feared that His soft lotus feet would be injured
- Lord Kṛṣṇa would loudly sound His flute as He entered the forest of Śrī Vṛndāvana
- In fact, all the creatures of Vṛndāvana, including the trees and cows, were great souls who could personally associate with the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
- gGreat sages always recognize the Lord as the Supreme Absolute Truth
- Simply by hearing the glories of the Supreme Lord or by chanting them, one immediately comes to the spiritual platform, beyond material existence
- Real silence means to not speak nonsense
- The Lord immediately excuses a sin or offense committed by a sincere loving devotee who may accidentally deviate from the Lord’s service.
- Nothing can equal the blessings of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His personal form as Kṛṣṇa
- The bees in Vṛndāvana would drink the sap of the forest flowers, and the combination of this nectar and the association of Śrī Kṛṣṇa made them mad with intoxication.
- In Vṛndāvana, the abode of the Lord, the lions and tigers are not violent, and thus there is no reason to fear them.
- Lord Kṛṣṇa would massage Balarāma’s feet, fan Him and bring Him river water to drink
- Lord Kṛṣṇa expanded Himself into many forms and lay down upon the many beds of twigs, leaves and flowers hastily constructed by His enthusiastic cowherd friends
- The request the cowherd boys are about to place before Lord Kṛṣṇa and Lord Balarāma is motivated by love, not personal desire.
- For those who bow down to the Lord, his smile and laughter dry up the ocean of tears caused by the intense suffering of this world.
- Unfortunate persons cannot appreciate the blissful pastimes of the Supreme Lord.
- The Lord exhibits a tiny fraction of His power according to the need of a particular situation.
- The Supreme Personality of Godhead in His various forms, such as Rāma and Kṛṣṇa when He enacts His transcendental pastimes the result is always beautiful and transcendental, even when the Lord performs violent acts like killing the stubborn ass demons.
- When the glories of Śrī Kṛṣṇa are vibrated, both the speakers and the hearers are purified and become pious.
- When Kṛṣṇa entered the village, the young gopīs smiled and laughed.
- Kṛṣṇa, while playing the flute, enjoyed the beautiful smiling faces of the gopīs.”
- Dhenukasurara represents ignorance of knowledge of the soul through gross materialistic intelligence, or jackass-like foolishness.
- "There are two demons killed by Lord Baladeva — but the contaminations they represent will have to be removed by dint of the devotee's own endeavours.
- The jack-ass demon Dhenukasura represents the bad mentality of overburdened load-carrying, When a devotee endeavours with enthusiasm to remove these contaminations, then, by Lord Balar€ma's mercy they will be cast far away. Dhenukasura causes complete and total ignorance of one's eternal identity; it also stimulates foolish misconceptions about the eternal nature of the holy name of the Lord, plus it misdirects one with delusions about what is actually worshipable. These contaminations must be cast out through great endeavour on the part of the devotee.
- The methods of the process of purification are very deep and mysterious; therefore it is necessary to learn about them directly from a bonafide spiritual master. Lord Balarama is the our original guru, and those who are bonafide spiritual masters are empowered by Him. When the aspiring devotee takes shelter of the spiritual master he or she receives some of that transcendental sakti and is thereby able to overcome the influence of Dhenukasura.
- Dhenukasura represents one who is unable to understand Vainava teachings and then tries to stop others from accepting them. This type of attitude is possessed by thick-headed people who think that Vainavism is another sect of this world. Can be possessed by those people (devotees) who have a mechanical approach to KŠa consciousness, and don't appreciate the value of the ultimate attainments of it. Because they are so attached to the literal meanings of the scriptures they cannot appreciate the unconventional path of spontaneous devotional service. They tend to fall back into gross materialism.
Esoteric
meaning of the Lila:
