Chapter 67 · Class prep
A printable handout for teaching this chapter. For each verse with Personal Guidance, you'll see Prabhupāda's translation, the essence, two or three practical applications, and a discussion prompt. Press ⌘P / Ctrl P to print as a handout.
BG 67.1
The glorious King Parīkṣit said: I wish to hear further about Śrī Balarāma, the unlimited and immeasurable Supreme Lord, whose activities are all astounding. What else did He do?
Essence. Parīkṣit hungers for more of Balarāma's deeds — the devotee never tires of hearing God's pastimes. Holy hearing builds an appetite that increases by being fed.
BG 67.2
Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: There was an ape named Dvivida who was a friend of Narakāsura’s. This powerful Dvivida, the brother of Mainda, had been instructed by King Sugrīva.
Essence. Dvivida the ape, friend of demons, channels his strength toward destruction. Power without devotion turns into menace; intelligence in the wrong hands becomes weaponized.
BG 67.3
To avenge the death of his friend [Naraka], the ape Dvivida ravaged the land, setting fires that burned cities, villages, mines and cowherd dwellings.
Essence. Dvivida burns and ravages to avenge a friend's death. Vengeance dressed up as loyalty is one of the most respectable masks of evil; even loyalty can be corrupted.
BG 67.4
Once Dvivida tore up a number of mountains and used them to devastate all the neighboring kingdoms, especially the province of Ānarta, wherein dwelt his friend’s killer, Lord Hari.
Essence. Dvivida uses mountains as weapons — he turns the world's stability into instruments of harm. The destructive mind misuses every gift as a tool against others.
BG 67.5
Another time he entered the ocean and, with the strength of ten thousand elephants, churned up its water with his arms and thus submerged the coastal regions.
Essence. Dvivida churns the ocean with the strength of ten thousand elephants — sheer power expended on nothing but disruption. Misdirected energy is the saddest form of strength.
BG 67.6
The wicked ape tore down the trees in the hermitages of exalted sages and contaminated their sacrificial fires with his feces and urine.
Essence. Dvivida violates sages' hermitages and pollutes their sacrifices. The wicked specifically target what is sacred — sanctity attracts both worship and attack.
BG 67.7
Just as a wasp imprisons smaller insects, he arrogantly threw both men and women into caves in a mountain valley and sealed the caves shut with boulders.
Essence. Dvivida imprisons men and women in caves like a wasp with smaller insects. Cruelty often takes pleasure not in killing but in trapping — the slow torture of confined possibility.
BG 67.8
Once, while Dvivida was thus engaged in harassing the neighboring kingdoms and polluting women of respectable families, he heard very sweet singing coming from Raivataka Mountain. So he went there.
Essence. While Dvivida ravages, he hears Balarāma's sweet song from a nearby mountain. Even the wicked are within earshot of grace — divine song travels into every dark cave.
BG 67.9-10
There he saw Śrī Balarāma, the Lord of the Yadus, adorned with a garland of lotuses and appearing most attractive in every limb. He was singing amidst a crowd of young women, and since He had drunk vāruṇī liquor, His eyes rolled as if He were intoxicated. His body shone brilliantly as He behaved like an elephant in rut.
Essence. Dvivida sees Balarāma garlanded and beautiful, surrounded by women — and rather than be enchanted, he is provoked. The wicked are unmoved by divine beauty; they resent it.
BG 67.11
The mischievous ape climbed a tree branch and then revealed his presence by shaking the trees and making the sound kilakilā.
Essence. Dvivida climbs a tree, shakes branches, mocks the Lord. Petty mockery of holiness is the favorite weapon of those too weak to wound but too proud to bow.
BG 67.12
When Lord Baladeva’s consorts saw the ape’s impudence, they began to laugh. They were, after all, young girls who were fond of joking and prone to silliness.
Essence. Balarāma's consorts laugh at the ape — the divine companions are not afraid of buffoonery. Holiness can hold its own amid mockery; it does not need to flinch.
BG 67.13
Even as Lord Balarāma looked on, Dvivida insulted the girls by making odd gestures with his eyebrows, coming right in front of them, and showing them his anus.
Essence. Dvivida insults the girls with gestures — assault dressed as a joke. Disrespect of devotees is one of the surest signs of demonic mind, even when smiling.
BG 67.14-15
Angered, Lord Balarāma, the best of fighters, hurled a rock at him, but the cunning ape dodged the rock and grabbed the Lord’s pot of liquor. Further infuriating Lord Balarāma by laughing and by ridiculing Him, wicked Dvivida then broke the pot and offended the Lord even more by pulling at the girls’ clothing. Thus the powerful ape, puffed up with false pride, continued to insult Śrī Balarāma.
Essence. Balarāma hurls a rock; the ape dodges and laughs. Sometimes the first divine warning is missed because the offender is too pleased with himself to register it.
BG 67.16
Lord Balarāma saw the ape’s rude behavior and thought of the disruptions he had created in the surrounding kingdoms. Thus the Lord angrily took up His club and His plow weapon, having decided to put His enemy to death.
Essence. Balarāma considers the wider damage and decides Dvivida must be stopped. Compassion sometimes requires action against the predator for the sake of the herd.
BG 67.17
Mighty Dvivida also came forward to do battle. Uprooting a śāla tree with one hand, he rushed toward Balarāma and struck Him on the head with the tree trunk.
Essence. Dvivida uproots a śāla tree and rushes at the Lord. Sin escalates: insult becomes assault, mockery becomes attack. Unchecked impertinence ends in open war.
BG 67.18
But Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa remained as motionless as a mountain and simply grabbed the log as it fell upon His head. He then struck Dvivida with His club, named Sunanda.
Essence. Balarāma stands like a mountain and catches the falling tree. God is unshaken by what overwhelms us; what we cannot withstand, He receives without strain.
BG 67.19-21
Struck on the skull by the Lord’s club, Dvivida became brilliantly decorated by the outpour of blood, like a mountain beautified by red oxide. Ignoring the wound, Dvivida uprooted another tree, stripped it of leaves by brute force and struck the Lord again. Now enraged, Lord Balarāma shattered the tree into hundreds of pieces, upon which Dvivida grabbed yet another tree and furiously hit the Lord again. This tree, too, the Lord smashed into hundreds of pieces.
Essence. Struck on the head, Dvivida is decorated by blood — even his suffering becomes a kind of dark ornament. God's blows beautify even those they correct.
BG 67.22
Thus fighting the Lord, who again and again demolished the trees He was attacked with, Dvivida kept on uprooting trees from all sides until the forest was left treeless.
Essence. Dvivida keeps fighting; the Lord keeps demolishing his weapons. Persistence in foolishness only multiplies the lessons; the Lord does not run out of patience with corrections.
BG 67.23
The angry ape then released a rain of stones upon Lord Balarāma, but the wielder of the club easily pulverized them all.
Essence. Dvivida throws stones; Balarāma deflects them effortlessly. The attacks of the proud against the divine do not even register as a strain — God's poise is unshakeable.
BG 67.24
Dvivida, the most powerful of apes, now clenched his fists at the end of his palm-tree-sized arms, came before Lord Balarāma and beat his fists against the Lord’s body.
Essence. Dvivida clenches his fists and rushes in for direct combat. When weapons fail, the wicked turn to raw self — but raw self against God is the smallest match of all.
BG 67.25
The furious Lord of the Yādavas then threw aside His club and plow and with His bare hands hammered a blow upon Dvivida’s collarbone. The ape collapsed, vomiting blood.
Essence. Balarāma sets aside club and plow and uses bare hands. God meets each opponent at the level of their challenge — sometimes He puts down all tools to address us directly.
BG 67.26
When he fell, O tiger among the Kurus, Raivataka Mountain shook, along with its cliffs and trees, like a wind-tossed boat at sea.
Essence. Dvivida falls and the mountain shakes. The collapse of evil reverberates through creation — when one wicked center falls, much around it trembles in relief.
BG 67.27
In the heavens the demigods, perfect mystics and great sages cried out, “Victory to You! Obeisances to You! Excellent! Well done!” and showered flowers upon the Lord.
Essence. Demigods and sages cry 'Victory!' Heaven celebrates earth's relief — the unseen world cheers when justice lands in the visible one.
BG 67.28
Having thus killed Dvivida, who had disturbed the whole world, the Supreme Lord returned to His capital as the people along the way chanted His glories.
Essence. Having killed the disturber, Balarāma returns to His capital. Action against evil is not an obsession but an interlude; the Lord returns to peace as soon as the work is done.