krÄ«á¸antas tÄn upavrajya
kumÄrÄ yadu-nandanÄḥ
upasaá¹…gá¹›hya papracchur
avinÄ«tÄ vinÄ«ta-vat
te veá¹£ayitvÄ strÄ«-veá¹£aiḥ
sÄmbaá¹ jÄmbavatÄ«-sutam
eá¹£Ä pá¹›cchati vo viprÄ
antarvatny asiteká¹£aṇÄ
praṣṭuá¹ vilajjatÄ« sÄká¹£Ät
prabrÅ«tÄmogha-darÅ›anÄḥ
prasoá¹£yantÄ« putra-kÄmÄ
kiṠsvit sañjanayiṣyati

 krÄ«á¸antaḥ - playing; tÄn - them (the sages); upavrajya - approaching; kumÄrÄḥ - the young boys; yadu-nandanÄḥ - the sons of the Yadu dynasty; upasaá¹…gá¹›hya - taking hold of the sages' feet; papracchuḥ - they asked; avinÄ«tÄḥ - not humble; vinÄ«ta-vat - acting as if humble; te - they; veá¹£ayitvÄ - dressing; strÄ«-veá¹£aiḥ - in a woman's clothes and ornaments; sÄmbam jÄmbavatÄ«-sutam - SÄmba, the son of JÄmbavatÄ«; eá¹£Ä - this woman; pá¹›cchati - is asking; vaḥ - you; viprÄḥ - O learned brÄhmaṇas; antarvatnÄ« - pregnant; asita-Ä«ká¹£anÄ - black-eyed; praṣṭum - to ask; vilajjatÄ« - embarrassed; sÄká¹£Ät - directly herself; prabrÅ«ta - please speak; amogha-darÅ›anÄḥ - O you whose vision is never bewildered; prasoá¹£yantÄ« - she who is just about to give birth; putra-kÄmÄ - and desirous of getting a son; kim svit - what indeed (a son or daughter?); sañjanayiá¹£yati - will she give birth to.


Text

To that holy place, the young boys of the Yadu dynasty had brought SÄmba, son of JÄmbavatÄ«, dressed in woman’s garb. Playfully approaching the great sages gathered there, the boys grabbed hold of the sages’ feet and impudently asked them with feigned humility, “O learned brÄhmaṇas, this black-eyed pregnant woman has something to ask you. She is too embarrassed to inquire for herself. She is just about to give birth and is very desirous of having a son. Since all of you are great sages with infallible vision, please tell us whether her child will be a boy or a girl.â€

Purport

ÅšrÄ«la BhaktisiddhÄnta SarasvatÄ« has made the following comment: “The impudent behavior of the young Yadus toward the sages headed by NÄrada, who were all brÄhmaṇas and devotees of the Lord, was a display of deviation from the path of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Similarly, although the prÄká¹›ta-sahajiyÄs think of themselves as intimate associates of Kṛṣṇa, the supremely merciful Lord’s determination is perfectly correct in working to finish such false devotees. Such impostors actually never accept real service to Kṛṣṇa. The yadu-kumÄras’ deception is termed ‘seemingly humble,’ meaning that in fact they were anything but humble. Therefore, the ridiculing of Vaiṣṇavas by the Lord’s family resulted in a great offense against the devotees of the Lord.â€

A similar incident occurred during the pastimes of ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu when His own mother offended ÅšrÄ« Advaita Ä€cÄrya. ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu personally rectified this offense against a great Vaiṣṇava, and thus the Lord showed His magnanimity. Lord Kṛṣṇa’s pastime of destroying the Yadu dynasty is also a demonstration of His mercy to His devotees.

Believing the brÄhmaṇas, Vaiṣṇavas and ṛṣis to be foolishly lacking knowledge in material affairs of sense gratification, the yadu-kumÄras dressed SÄmba, the son of JÄmbavatÄ«, as a woman and tried to mock the saintly assembly. Lord Kṛṣṇa wanted to teach that such an offense committed against great devotees by His associate SÄmba would be the cause of the Yadu dynasty’s destruction, all as part of His lÄ«lÄ.

In modern times such misbehavior has also manifested itself within the Gauá¸Ä«ya Vaiṣṇava community. Unauthorized persons have initiated the process of deceitfully bestowing a woman’s dress on their followers. This process is to be counted as a variety of aparÄdha, or offense against Kṛṣṇa. Such an attempt to cheapen and ridicule devotional service to Kṛṣṇa is certainly caused by envy toward the real Vaiṣṇavas, who are faithfully engaged in devotional service according to the rules and regulations of the Vedic literature. Thus RÅ«pa GosvÄmÄ« has said:

Å›ruti-smá¹›ti-purÄṇÄdi-
 pañcarÄtra-vidhiá¹ vinÄ
aikÄntikÄ« harer bhaktir
 utpÄtÄyaiva kalpate

“If one wants to demonstrate his great devotion to the Supreme Lord but his process of devotional service violates the standard rules of revealed scriptures such as Å›ruti, smá¹›ti, PurÄṇas and NÄrada-pañcarÄtra, then his alleged love of Godhead will simply disturb society by misleading people from the auspicious path of spiritual advancement.†(Bhakti-rasÄmá¹›ta-sindhu 1.2.101) The taking of a woman’s clothing by a man in kṛṣṇa-lÄ«lÄ was intended to point out this fact. Such an act amounts to cheating and ridicule of the devotees of Kṛṣṇa. SÄmba is a personal associate of the Lord, but acting as a harbinger of the future misfortune to be created in Kali-yuga by bogus followers of ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu, SÄmba displayed this didactic pastime to help the living entities be blessed on the correct path of devotional service.

The boys said to the sages, “O ṛṣis, O brÄhmaṇas, O NÄrada and other great personalities, can you tell us whether it will be a son or a daughter that will be born from this pregnant woman’s womb?†By addressing pure Vaiṣṇavas in this way, they anticipated the fraudulent sampradÄyas of the modern age in their practice of sakhÄ«-bheka, or dressing men as female associates of the gopÄ«s. This unauthorized activity constitutes contempt and mockery of the pure devotees of the Lord.

Many false yogÄ«s, imagining they are distributing first-class devotion on the liberated platform, attempt to award the status of “pure devotee†to candidates totally ignorant of the transcendental tastes of madhura-rati, or the Lord’s conjugal love in the spiritual world. Even though they know that the general populace is unfit to imitate the liberated associates of the Lord, they artificially decorate ordinary persons with the ornaments of spiritual perfection, such as tears, a melted heart, and the standing on end of the bodily hairs. Thus these bogus yogÄ«s introduce a process that misleads the world. Because ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu understood that the great misfortune caused by such false yogÄ«s, or kuyogÄ«s, was impossible to forestall in the Kali-yuga, He infected them with insane desires for material objects of lust so that ordinary persons can easily identify such false yogÄ«s as deviated from the path of pure devotional service.

The mockery of the brÄhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇavas by the young boys of the Yadu dynasty who dressed SÄmba in woman’s garb, and the resultant destruction of the Yadu dynasty, conclusively demonstrate the uselessness of the sahajiyÄsampradÄyas.

ÅšrÄ«la JÄ«va GosvÄmÄ« has confirmed that the lack of humility shown by the sons of the Yadu dynasty was an arrangement by the Lord Himself. In other words, the members of the Yadu dynasty are ultimately associates of Lord Kṛṣṇa, and to facilitate the instructive pastimes of the Lord they acted in apparently unethical ways.