Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.6.35-36
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
-
sat - gatim
—
the most elevated position of spiritual existence
Compound — sat (eternal, true) + gati (destination). The highest destination of the soul. The same phrase used in the Gītā for the supreme goal. Pūtanā, by offering her breast, attains it — by accident of contact. The verse uses this as the a fortiori premise for what bhakti achieves.
-
bhaktyā
—
by devotion
Instrumental of bhakti. Gauḍīya core word: pure devotional service rendered to Bhagavān. Contrasted in the verse with Pūtanā's accident — bhakti is the conscious, affectionate version of what she stumbled into. Bhakti ≠ generic love; it is love directed at Bhagavān as its proper object.
-
śraddhayā
—
with faith
Instrumental of śraddhā. The first ingredient of bhakti per the Bhāgavatam (ādau śraddhā). Caitanya tradition treats śraddhā as the entrance fee to the entire bhakti-latā — the verse here lists it before bhakti for that reason.
-
paramātmane
—
unto the Supreme Person
Compound — parama + ātman + dative. Bhāgavata uses paramātman both for the localized Supersoul and for the Supreme Person; here, in context, He is being addressed as the ultimate recipient. Gauḍīya doctrine distinguishes paramātman (Lord in the heart) from Bhagavān (full Person in Goloka) — both are Kṛṣṇa, in different aiśvarya-registers.
-
tat - mātaraḥ
—
His (affectionate) mothers
Compound — tat (His) + mātṛ (mother) plural. The gopīs who actually loved Him as mothers — Yaśodā, Rohiṇī, and the rest. The verse's comparative force: if even Pūtanā got sat-gati, what about these? Gauḍīya vātsalya-rasa is being scaled here against its dark mirror.
Pūtanā had no affection for Kṛṣṇa; rather, she was envious and wanted to kill Him. Nonetheless, because with or without knowledge she offered her breast, she attained the highest achievement in life. But the offerings of devotees attracted to Kṛṣṇa in parental love are always sincere. A mother likes to offer something to her child with affection and love; there is no question of envy. So here we can make a comparative study. If Pūtanā could attain such an exalted position in spiritual life by neglectfully, enviously making an offering to Kṛṣṇa, what is to be said of mother Yaśodā and the other gopīs, who served Kṛṣṇa with such great affection and love, offering everything for Kṛṣṇa’s satisfaction? The gopīs automatically achieved the highest perfection. Therefore Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu recommended the affection of the gopīs, either in maternal affection or in conjugal love, as the highest perfection in life ( ramyā kācid upāsanā vrajavadhū-vargeṇa yā kalpitā ).
If a person offers service with an attempt to kill and attains the goal of life, how much more will a person attain who offers with a neutral attitude. And how much more will a person attain who offers with faith? And how much more will a person attain who offers with pure bhakti? (kum uta concerning bhakti). And if a person offers to an avatara of the Lord he will attain the supreme destination. How much more will a person attain who worships the source of all avataras, Krsna? (kim uta concerning visaya) If one offers a poison breast to Krsna and attains the supreme, how much more one will attain by offering a more poisonous object? If one offers a dear object certainly one will attain a higher destination. But if one offers a dearer object, then how much more he will attain. And if one offers the dearmost object, certainly he will attain the highest destination. (kim uta concening the offering) If Putana, a raksasi, could attain the highest destination, what should a human being attain? If one is devotee, how much more he will attain. And if he is lover of the Lord (rakta), will he not attain attain the highest award? Then what to speak of the elderly gopis who had extreme affection for the Lord during the stealing of the calves by Lord Brahma ? (offering their breast milk to Krsna favorably though they were not his mother.) (kim uta concerning the asraya) Paying respects to Yasoda from a distance, having put her in the highest position, I will write no more , because it is beyond words.
By species she was a Rākṣasī, but she was also a killer of children, and as well a drinker of blood. She offered her breast to Hari, who had the intention of taking away (harati) her faults. What to speak giving with external hatred to Paramātmā who gives general benefit by giving power of knowledge and action to almost dead internal and external senses, and of giving to Kṛṣṇa, who naturally attracts all hearts to himself by revelation of his ocean of qualities. Even a limited amount of his qualities give benefit to persons like Pūtanā. She attained Kṛṣṇa, the goal of the devotees (sad-gatim). What more will happen if one offers with faith? And what more will happen if one offers with bhakti or devotion. The word priyatamam also indicates degrees. What more will happen if one offers with affection something dear to Kṛṣṇa, if one offers with great affection what is dearer and if one offers with the highest affection what is dearest? And what to speak of the result for those whose very life is Kṛṣṇa, who are only happy with his happiness? That is the intention of saying kim punaḥ and then kim nu. Then what to speak of giving as a mother? The position of mother is established as supreme. The example of gopīs in madhura-rasa is not given because mothers show the greatest attraction to their children at the time of feeding them.
She attained the highest goal (sad-gatim) or the goal like the devotees and those desiring liberation. She gained a goal similar to the devotees by destruction of suffering, birth and death, after liberation. She attained this because she offered her breast to Kṛṣṇa. By species she was a Rākṣasī, but she was also a killer of children, and as well a drinker of blood. She offered her breast to Hari, who had the intention of taking away (harati) her faults. What can be said of those who offer the best object with bhakti (śraddhayā) and prema (bhakyā) to he who is dearer than the self (paramātmane), to he who is the dearest to the self (kṛṣṇāha)? They attain pure bhakti like his mother. Yacchan (giving) is in the present tense to indicate that even in this body, while offering one attains this position. Or what else can be said? Just as offering the best with faith (śraddhayā) and respect (bhaktyā) one attains the highest goal. Affectionate (raktāḥ) mothers attain the same goal. Or just as attached persons attain the goal, mothers attain the goal.
- HDG SB 10-06-35-36 - 2013-08-24 Los Angeles
- HDG SB 10-06-35 - 2013-08-24 Los Angeles
- PrahladAnS SB 10-06-35-36 - What bring us future - 2023-09-05 ISKCON Slovenia
- 05 - RGS SB 10-06-35-36 - Putana Uddhar-05 - 2011-10-10 Vrindavan
- 04 - RGS SB 10-06-35-44 Hindi - Putana Uddhar Leela Part-04 - 2008 Vrindavan
- 05 - RGS SB 10-06-35-44 - Nama Sanskar-05 - 2008 Vrindavan
- Radha Raman Sw SB 10-06-35-36 - 2021-03-27 ISKCON Vrindavan
- Offer one ordinary act today — a meal, a task, a gesture — directly to Kṛṣṇa with conscious affection, not as ritual but as a mother feeds her child.
- Notice when your service is mechanical or grudging, and deliberately add the bhāva of vātsalya — "this is for Him, as for my own dear one."
- Refuse the doubt that your offering is too small; if Pūtanā's poisoned breast won sad-gatim, your sincere offering today is not wasted.
Pūtanā offering Kṛṣṇa her poisoned breast and being awarded the position of a mother in Vaikuṇṭha is the would-be assassin handing a glass of bad wine to a king who then makes her his nurse — not because the wine was good, but because the king chose to read the gesture as service. The Lord's mercy reads beneath intention, beneath form, beneath effort, and pays out far past anyone's calculation.
On the field of Kurukṣetra (Mahābhārata, Bhīṣma-parva), Bhīṣma fired his arrows at Kṛṣṇa intending to honor His promise to break His vow not to fight — and Kṛṣṇa, far from being insulted, leapt from the chariot with wheel in hand, eyes blazing with affection. The 'attack' was the offering of a devotee in his own complicated dāsya-rasa.
If intentional arrows from a devotee become a love-act, the Lord's mercy in 10.6.35–36 makes Pūtanā's unintentional 'offering' just as receivable. Kṛṣṇa weighs the rūpa of the service, not only the bhāva — and what then must be the destination of a real mother who feeds Him with love?
When the two drunken brothers Jagāi and Mādhāi struck Nityānanda Prabhu and tried to assault Caitanya Mahāprabhu (Caitanya-bhāgavata, Madhya-khaṇḍa 13), the Lord raised His Sudarśana — and then, at Nityānanda's plea, lowered it and embraced them. They were transformed on the spot.
The Bhāgavata's logic in 10.6.35–36 is the seed of which Caitanya-līlā is the fruit: even the worst aggressor's body, when it touches Kṛṣṇa's body, gets a Vaikuṇṭha-vāsa. How much more those who approach with śraddhā?
My note
Source: vedabase.io