I have a question while listening to Bhagavatam today.
At what point does Nanda (or does he ever) know that Krishna is actually the son of Vasudeva? When Nanda goes to Mathura to pay Kamsa's taxes, Vasudeva takes him aside and inquires about Vraja, the cows, the land and residents, then ultimately about his own son Krishna. It kind of gives you the impression that he does so because he is the only one aware of the fact that Krishna is his son, like "oh, by the way, how's Krishna doing?" Nanda responds seeming to acknowledge that he is taking care of Vasudeva's son. Is this just the way Bhagavatam is written so that the bhakta's understand the facts or is this actually the case? Does Nanda know?
Thanks for your replies. Happy Krishna Janmastami to you all.
As a matter of fact, Vrajendranandana Sri Krishna was born in Vraja. If he were born elsewhere, the statement
vRndAvanaM parityAjya sa kvacin naiva kacchatI would be rendered false.
kRSNo'nyaM yadu-sambhUtaH - the Krishna manifest among the Yadus is different. We do not care for export products -- we will only have our Krishna born in Vraja!
I am merging this question with the thread discussing the dual appearance, so we can churn all these nectarine topics in one place I'll return to the Nanda-Vasudeva-question in a moment, Giridhari wants to hear some kirtan now.
[ Edit: I had second thoughts about this... See the end of the next post. ]
Vasudeva says:
diSTyA bhrAtaH pravayasa idAnIm aprajasya te |
prajAzAyA nivRttasya prajA yat samapadyata || BhP 10.5.23 ||
"O brother, it is a the blessing of fate that you, who had no children, begot a son at such an advanced age!"
He then inquires about the welfare of the Vraja-vasis, including Baladeva, whom he mentions is his son, which is well-known. However, Vasudeva mentions, Nanda and Yashoda hold him so dearly that he practically thinks of them as his parents. Hence we often call him Dauji, or the elder brother of Krishna, though factually only Vaasudeva-Krishna of Mathura would be a brother by birth with him.
There is, however, nothing there as far as I can see where Nanda would acknowledge Krishna as being the son of Vasudeva.
In the 39th chapter of the tenth canto, Akrura discusses the subject matter, having arrived at Nanda Maharaja's house (previous chapter). In the sixth verse, Krishna refers to his parents in Mathura, and in the ninth verse Akrura relates how Kamsa has been informed of Krishna's appearance as Vasudeva's child. Then, in the tenth verse, Suka Muni tells how Krishna related the order of Kamsa Maharaja to his father, Nanda Baba. Evidently Nanda was not then present in this conversation, perhaps for a good reason. There is nothing prior to that to indicate he would have been aware of the Vaasudeva-aspect.
At any rate, during the Vraja-pastimes Nanda Baba certainly was not aware of Krishna being anyone else than his own darling son. At the time of Uddhava's visit in Vraja, he told Nanda:
yuvayor eva naivAyam Atmajo bhagavAn hariH |
sarveSAm Atmajo hy AtmA pitA mAtA sa IzvaraH || BhP 10.46.42 ||
"The Opulent Hari is certainly not your son alone; rather, he is the son, self, father, mother and lord of everyone."
Of course such a message would not be taken all that seriously in Vraja. The point here is that we may understand that at this time, there was no breach in Nanda's view of his darling son. Krishna's relationship with Vasudeva becomes the topic of discussion in the 82th chapter at the meeting of Kurukshetra. Rohini and Devaki say to Yashoda Ma:
etAv adRSTa-pitarau yuvayoH sma pitroH
samprINanAbhyudaya-poSaNa-pAlanAni |
prApyoSatur bhavati pakSma ha yadvad akSNor
nyastAv akutra ca bhayau na satAM paraH svaH || BhP 10.82.38 ||
"Before these two had even seen their parents, the two of you brought them up with affection, nourishing and tending them as they resided in your abode. Dear lady, you protected them like eyes protect the eye-lids, free from fear of any kind. Like saints, you thought of that of others and that of yours as equal."
Now, of course this statement is rendered true on the merit of the fact that we are outside of Vraja, and hence the Krishna spoken of must be Vaasudeva-Krishna, who indeed was the child of Vasudeva Mahasaya. Nothing is said of how Yasoda Ma reacted to this, as Suka Muni abruptly ends the narration and begins relating the pastime of Krishna meeting the
gopIs at Kurukshetra. There is no information there on how Devaki related to the idea.
These are all heart-breaking pastimes really. Whatever else may or may not occur after the incident of the 39th chapter is really not a very palatable subject matter for discussion today, and I believe we should continue discussing incidents occuring after the departure from Vraja only after Janmastami so as to not disrupt the moods of celebration of the beginning of Krishna's
presence in Vraja.
I believe we haven't discussed this topic all that exhaustively yet. Any further thoughts from anyone?