Fourteen Worlds
FOURTEEN WORLDSVedic Cosmology

SB 10.8.48

Devanāgarī

श्रीशुक उवाच द्रोणो वसूनां प्रवरो धरया भार्यया सह । करिष्यमाण आदेशान् ब्रह्मणस्तमुवाच ह ॥ ४८ ॥

Text

śrī-śuka uvāca droṇo vasūnāṁ pravaro dharayā bhāryayā saha kariṣyamāṇa ādeśān brahmaṇas tam uvāca ha

Synonyms

śrī-śukaḥuvāca—Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī said;droṇaḥ—by the name Droṇa;vasūnām—of the eight Vasus (a type of demigod);pravaraḥ—who was the best;dharayā—with Dharā;bhāryayā—his wife;saha—with;kariṣyamāṇaḥ—just to execute;ādeśān—the orders;brahmaṇaḥ—of Lord Brahmā;tam—unto him;uvāca—said;ha—in the past.

Translation

Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: To follow the orders of Lord Brahmā, Droṇa, the best of the Vasus, along with his wife, Dharā, spoke to Lord Brahmā in this way.

Purport

As stated in the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.37) :

ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis tābhir ya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūto govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

When Kṛṣṇa descends anywhere, He is accompanied by His own associates. These associates are not ordinary living beings. Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes are eternal, and when He descends, He comes with His associates. Therefore Nanda and mother Yaśodā are the eternal father and mother of Kṛṣṇa. This means that whenever Kṛṣṇa descends, Nanda and Yaśodā, as well as Vasudeva and Devakī, also descend as the Lord’s father and mother. Their personalities are expansions of Kṛṣṇa’s personal body; they are not ordinary living beings. Mahārāja Parīkṣit knew this, but he was curious to know from Śukadeva Gosvāmī whether it is possible for an ordinary human being to come to this stage by sādhana-siddhi. There are two kinds of perfection — nitya-siddhi and sādhana-siddhi. A nitya-siddha is one who is eternally Kṛṣṇa’s associate, an expansion of Kṛṣṇa’s personal body, whereas a sādhana-siddha is an ordinary human being who, by executing pious activities and following regulative principles of devotional service, also comes to that stage. Thus the purpose of Mahārāja Parīkṣit’s inquiry was to determine whether an ordinary human being can attain the position of mother Yaśodā and Nanda Mahārāja. Śukadeva Gosvāmī answered this question as follows.
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