SB 01.08.41 atha visvesa visvatman... cited

Expressions researched:
"atha visvesa visvatman" |"drdham pandusu vrsnisu" |"sever my tie of affection for my kinsmen" |"sneha-pasam imam chindhi" |"visva-murte svakesu me"

Notes from the compiler: VedaBase query: "1.8.41" or "atha visvesa visvatman" or "drdham pandusu vrsnisu" or "sever my tie of affection for my kinsmen" or "sneha-pasam imam chindhi" or "visva-murte svakesu me"

SB Canto 1

SB 1.8.41, Translation and Purport:

O Lord of the universe, soul of the universe, O personality of the form of the universe, please, therefore, sever my tie of affection for my kinsmen, the Pāṇḍavas and the Vṛṣṇis.

Teachings of Queen Kuntī,

Chapter 24: Cutting Off Ties of Affection

A pure devotee of the Lord is ashamed to ask anything in self-interest from the Lord. But the householders are sometimes obliged to ask favors from the Lord, being bound by the tie of family affection. Śrīmatī Kuntīdevī was conscious of this fact, and therefore she prayed to the Lord to cut off the affectionate tie from her own kinsmen, the Pāṇḍavas and the Vṛṣṇis. The Pāṇḍavas are her own sons, and the Vṛṣṇis are the members of her paternal family. Kṛṣṇa was equally related to both the families. Both the families required the Lord's help because both were dependent devotees of the Lord. Śrīmatī Kuntīdevī wished Śrī Kṛṣṇa to remain with her sons the Pāṇḍavas, but by His doing so her paternal house would be bereft of the benefit. All these partialities troubled the mind of Kuntī, and therefore she desired to cut off the affectionate tie.

A pure devotee cuts off the limited ties of affection for his family and widens his activities of devotional service for all forgotten souls. The typical example is the band of six Gosvāmīs, who followed the path of Lord Caitanya. All of them belonged to the most enlightened and cultured rich families of the higher castes, but for the benefit of the mass of population they left their comfortable homes and became mendicants. To cut off all family affection means to broaden the field of activities. Without doing this, no one can be qualified as a brāhmaṇa, a king, a public leader or a devotee of the Lord. The Personality of Godhead, as an ideal king, showed this by example. Śrī Rāmacandra cut off the tie of affection for His beloved wife to manifest the qualities of an ideal king.

Such personalities as a brāhmaṇa, a devotee, a king or a public leader must be very broadminded in discharging their respective duties. Śrīmatī Kuntīdevī was conscious of this fact, and being weak she prayed to be free from such bondage of family affection. The Lord is addressed as the Lord of the universe, or the Lord of the universal mind, indicating His all-powerful ability to cut the hard knot of family affection. Therefore, it is sometimes experienced that the Lord, out of His special affinity towards a weak devotee, breaks the family affection by force of circumstances arranged by His all-powerful energy. By doing so He causes the devotee to become completely dependent on Him and thus clears the path for his going back to Godhead.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.8.41 -- Los Angeles, May 3, 1973:

Devotee:

atha viśveśa viśvātman

viśva-mūrte sva-keṣu me

sneha-pāśam imaṁ chindhi

dṛḍhaṁ pāṇḍuṣu vṛṣṇiṣu

(SB 1.8.41)

"O Lord of the universe, soul of the universe, O Personality of the form of the universe, please, therefore, sever my tie of affection for my kinsmen, the Pāṇḍavas and the Vṛṣṇis."

Prabhupāda: So, Pāṇḍava and Vṛṣṇi dynasty, Kuntī belongs to both families. She is the daughter of the Vṛṣṇi family and the wife and mother of the Pāṇḍava family. So generally a woman has got affection both for the father's family and husband's family. So he is, she is asking Kṛṣṇa that "I am woman. Generally, I am attached to my family. So kindly cut off my, this attachment so that thoroughly I can be attached unto You. This is the purpose. Because without You, either my this family or that family, opulence, everything, that is all zero. So falsely I am attached to these families. My business is to be attached unto You."

Lecture on SB 1.8.41 -- Los Angeles, May 3, 1973:

Infallible. So Kṛṣṇa's infallible, not infallible, Kṛṣṇa's real form... In any form, He's not fallible. He's acyuta. But His real form is the dvi-bhuja-muralīdhara. Dvi-bhuja, two hands, having a flute in the hand. That is real form. Therefore, Kuntīdevī's addressing that "You are, You have got universal form. But the form in which You are standing before me, that is Your real form."

So atha viśveśa viśvātman viśva-mūrte sva-keṣu me. Sva-ka. Sva-ka means kinsmen, own. We are thinking, "This is my own, this is my own." Ato gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittair janasya moho 'yam (SB 5.5.8). This is moha, illusion. How this illusion come into existence? The illusion comes... First of all, there is natural affinity, attraction, for man and woman. A man is seeking after woman, woman is seeking after man. That is in human society, in bird society, beast society, everywhere. Even flies, insects, you'll see that one female is attached to the male, male is attached. So this is beginning of material attachment.

Lecture on SB 1.8.41 -- Mayapura, October 21, 1974:

Nitāi: "O Lord of the universe, soul of the universe, O personality of the form of the universe, please, therefore, sever my tie of affection for my kinsmen, the Pāṇḍavas and the Vṛṣṇis."

Prabhupāda:

atha viśveśa viśvātman

viśva-mūrte svakeṣu me

sneha-pāśam imaṁ chindhi

dṛḍhaṁ pāṇḍuṣu vṛṣṇiṣu

(SB 1.8.41)

Kuntīdevī is woman. So as a man has got one family, the woman has got two families. Affection... A man has got affection for one family, but a woman has got affection for two families: father's family and husband's family. Therefore he (she) specifically mentions, pāṇḍuṣu. Pāṇḍuṣu means husband's family, and vṛṣṇiṣu, that is father's family. Kṛṣṇa's father, Vasudeva... And Vasudeva's sister is Kuntīdevi.

Lecture on SB 1.8.41 -- Mayapura, October 21, 1974:

So this is the way that Kuntī is praying, that sneha-pāśam imaṁ chindhi dṛḍham . So in this way we can get rid of the so-called affection for society, friendship, love, country, nationalism... No. Our sneha, affection, is completely transferred to Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Lecture on SB 1.8.42 -- Los Angeles, May 4, 1973:

Devotee:

tvayi me 'nanya-viṣayā

matir madhu-pate 'sakṛt

ratim udvahatād addhā

gaṅgevaugham udanvati

(SB 1.8.42)

"O Lord of Madhu, as the Ganges forever flows to the sea without hindrance, let my attraction be constantly drawn unto You without being diverted to anyone else."

Prabhupāda: In the previous verse, Kuntī prayed that sneha-pāśam imaṁ chindhi dṛḍhaṁ pāṇḍuṣu vṛṣṇiṣu. She prayed, "My dear Lord, kindly cut off my attraction for the Pāṇḍu, Pāṇḍava family and Vṛṣṇi family." So by cutting off or giving up the attraction for material things, that is not sufficient. The Māyāvādī philosophers, they say, brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā: "This world is false and Brahman is truth." We also say the same thing. But what is the difference? The difference is that you are living entity. You want enjoyment. Enjoyment means varieties. Without varieties you cannot enjoy. Just like here is a flower vase. There are so many flowers. Why has God created so many colors, so many forms? They create enjoyment, variety. Variety is the mother of enjoyment. That's a common saying. The Māyāvādī philosophers, they spoil the varieties, impersonalists.

Lecture on SB 1.8.42 -- Mayapura, October 22, 1974:

So in the previous verse, Kuntīdevī prayed to Kṛṣṇa, sneha-pāśam imaṁ chindhi: "Please cut off my attraction, the rope..." Just like rope is cut. If your hands and legs are tied up with rope, and if you want to be free, then the knot is cut into pieces.

Lecture on SB 1.8.42 -- Mayapura, October 22, 1974:

Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum (SB 7.5.31). These rascals, they do not know that human life is meant for pleasing the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Kuntīdevī therefore requested Kṛṣṇa, sneha-pāśam imaṁ chindhi. We are, I mean to say, bounded here by the material energy in so-called sneha-pāśa, society, friendship and love. People do not want to leave this material world. Even at the time of death... I have seen so many persons. That is natural. The old man is dying, and he is thinking that "So many of my business remained unfinished." So he calls his dear son, "My dear son, if, if you... You take charge of the family, and so many things I could not finish, you do it." You see? He does not know where he is going.

Lecture on SB 1.8.42 -- Mayapura, October 22, 1974:

Kṛṣṇa is trying to make His devotee more and more opulent and comfortable, and the devotee is trying to please Kṛṣṇa more and more. That is the business between devotee and Kṛṣṇa. It is called, Caitanya-cari...: dui lage hura huri.(?) Just like if I want to please you or if you want to please me, so there is competition. So that competition should be there. But that competition, that realization, is impossible so long you are attached to this rascal material world. Therefore Kṛṣṇa say..., Kuntī's first request is that sneha-pāśam imaṁ chindhi, "Please destroy this attraction, affection for this material friendship, society, family. Please destroy it."

Lecture on SB 1.8.43 -- Mayapura, October 23, 1974:

So here Kuntīdevī says that "Please help me in cutting my affection with my family." Sneha-pāśam imaṁ chindhi: "Please cut off. Please help me cutting this family connection." Then Kuntī says that tvayi me ananya-viṣayā matir madhu-pate asakṛt. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means to cut off family connection and enter into Kṛṣṇa's family, not void. We are not impersonalists or voidists. The Māyāvādī philosophers, they are impersonalists. They think, "Kṛṣṇa is person. Kṛṣṇa's activities are all personal. So this is also māyā." Because they are Nirviśeṣavādī, their ultimate goal is nirviśeṣa-brahman. So anything personal, they cannot accept it.