Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Mukunda-mālā-stotra 45

dārā vār-ākara-vara-sutā te tanūjo viriñciḥ

stotā vedas tava sura-gaṇā bhṛtya-vargaḥ prasādaḥ

muktir māyā jagad avikalaḿ tāvakī devakī te

mātā mitraḿ bala-ripu-sutas tat tvad anyaḿ na jāne

SYNONYMS

dārā — wife; vāḥ-ākara — of the ocean; vara — excellent; sutā — the daughter (Lakṣmī); te — Your; tanūjaḥ — son; viriñciḥ — Lord Brahmā; stotā — praiser; vedaḥ — the Vedas; tava — Your; sura-gaṇāḥ — the demigods; bhṛtya — of servants; vargaḥ — company; prasādaḥ — grace; muktiḥ — liberation; māyā — magic power; jagat — the universe; avikalam — entire; tāvakī — Your; devakī — Devakī; te — Your; mātā — mother; mitram — friend; bala-ripu — (Indra) the enemy of the demon Bala; sutaḥ — the son (Arjuna); tat — thus; tvat — than You; anyam — any other; na jāne — I do not know.

TRANSLATION

Your wife is the beautiful daughter of the ocean, and Your son is Lord Brahmā. The Vedas are Your panegyrist, the demigods comprise Your company of servants, and liberation is Your benediction, while this entire universe is a display of Your magic power. Śrīmatī Devakī is Your mother, and Arjuna, the son Indra, is Your friend. For these reasons I have no interest in anyone but You.

PURPORT

Even an ordinary man may have a daughter and a son; a famous man will have so many people praising him (or he may hire press agents to do so); and a powerful political leader will have less powerful political figures as his official servants. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is also a person, and therefore He also has family members, as well as servants, friends, and praisers. Since the Absolute Truth is the source of everything (janmādy asya yataḥ [SB 1.1.1]), we should not think He lacks anything we see in the material world. But when the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa, manifests personal relationships, they are not ordinary: His wife, friends, servants, and praisers are all liberated souls, His personal energies, or expansions of Himself.

People doubt that God can have a father, mother, wife, or special friend. Some say that these relationships compromise the impartiality and unchangeability of the Supreme. But the Lord's transcendental relationships with His eternal associates do not compromise Him in any way. Rather, they add to His ever-increasing glory. Lord Kṛṣṇa does not actually need any of His friends, wives, and so on, but He allows them to associate with Him intimately because He is always pleased to reciprocate with loving devotees.

That the Lord's associates are not ordinary is proved by the fact that they often undergo extreme austerities or great sacrifices to become His friends or parents. For example, Vasudeva and Devakī, who took the role of Kṛṣṇa's father and mother, executed many lifetimes of austerity in preparation. Soon after His birth, Kṛṣṇa described to them what they had undergone in a previous life to receive the benediction of having Him as their son:

Both of you practiced severe austerities for twelve thousand years, by the calculation of the demigods. During that time, your mind was always absorbed in Me. When you were executing devotional service and always thinking of Me within your heart, I was very much pleased with you. O sinless mother, your heart is therefore always pure. At that time I also appeared before you in this form just to fulfill your desire, and I asked you to ask whatever you desired. At that time you wished to have Me born as your son. [Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, pp. 44-45)

In His spiritual kingdom the Supreme Lord eternally enjoys loving relationships with His personal associates, but He is also present in all nooks and crannies of the material universes and in everyone's heart. In this way His influence is spread throughout all existence, both spiritual and material. Thus King Kulaśekhara says, "This entire universe is a display of Your magic power." Lord Kṛṣṇa is not a minor magician. He is Yogeśvara, the controller of all mystic potencies. In the Bhagavad-gītā (5.29), Lord Kṛṣṇa declares, sarva-loka-maheśvaram: "I am the supreme controller of all universes." Moreover, Kṛṣṇa controls all the universes effortlessly. As Śrīla Prabhupāda says, we should not think He is like Atlas, whom we see struggling to hold up the earth on his arms. Kṛṣṇa always has free time to enjoy with His loving associates.

"For all these reasons," declares King Kulaśekhara, "I have no interest in anyone but You."

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