Putana Got the Same Position of Mother Yasoda (?)
- The Symbol of Faith
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Pūtanā Got the Same Position of Mother Yasoda (?)
Below we present the explanations on this topic given by Śrīla Svāmī Mahārāja:
“I have sucked her breast. So she is My mother. She must be given the position of mother." So Pūtanā, after being killed, she was given the same opportunity as Mother Yaśodā. This is Kṛṣṇa. Bhāva-grāhī-janārdanaḥ. Any way you serve Kṛṣṇa, it will be accepted. Not any way; I mean to say, we should serve Kṛṣṇa according to regulative principle. Still, some way or other, unknowing or knowingly, if you render some service, that is called ajñāta-sukṛti.”
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“And Kṛṣṇa is so kind that although her motive was to kill Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa took the bright side. What is that? "Oh, I have sucked her breast, so she is My mother." Kṛṣṇa has taken that. And therefore, after death, Pūtanā got the same position as Mother Yaśodā.”
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“Because Pūtanā came to take Kṛṣṇa on her lap and offer her breast's milk to be sucked by Him, she was accepted by Kṛṣṇa as one of His mothers. That is considered to be another reason He closed His eyes: He had to kill a nurse or mother. But His killing of His mother or nurse was no different from His love for His real mother or foster mother Yaśodā. We further understand from Vedic information that Pūtanā was also treated as a mother and given the same facility as Yaśodā. As Yaśodā was given liberation from the material world, so Pūtanā was also given liberation. When the baby Kṛṣṇa closed His eyes, Pūtanā took Him on her lap. She did not know that she was holding death personified. If a person mistakes a snake for a rope, he dies. Similarly, Pūtanā killed so many babies before meeting Kṛṣṇa, but now she was accepting the snake that would kill her immediately.”
(Kṛṣṇa Book (1970) - Chapter 6: Pūtanā Killed)
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“Krishna accepted it and sucked the milk from the breast of that demoniac woman, and at the same time sucked out her life also. But the result was that Putana was raised to the same post as His own mother.”
(Teachings of Lord Chaitanya 12, 1968)
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“Even though Bakāsura's sister planned to kill Kṛṣṇa when He was an infant by applying poison to her breast and offering it to Kṛṣṇa to suck and thus die, still that heinous woman received salvation and was elevated to the same platform as Kṛṣṇa's own mother." This verse refers to the time when Pūtanā planned to kill Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa accepted the poisonous breasts of that demonic woman, and when He sucked the milk from her, He sucked out her life also. Nonetheless Pūtanā was elevated to the same position as Kṛṣṇa's own mother.”
(Teachings of Lord Chaitanya 12, 1968)
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Here follow the explanations of of Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura:
pādbhyāṁ bhakta-hṛdi-śubhābhyāṁ vandyābhyāṁ loka-vanditaiḥ
aṅghryāṁ yasyaḥ samakṣāyāṁ sa bhagavān apy atat-śravam
yāvatadhany api sā svargyaṁ avāpetā jananī-gatim
kṛṣṇa-bhukta-stana-kṣīrāḥ kiṁ u gāvo ’numātrakaḥ
॥10.6.37-38॥
TRANSLATION
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, is always situated within the core of the heart of the pure devotee, and He is always offered prayers by such worshipable personalities as Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva. Because Kṛṣṇa embraced Pūtanā’s body with great pleasure and sucked her breast, although she was a great witch, she attained the position of a mother in the transcendental world and thus achieved the highest perfection. What then is to be said of the cows whose nipples Kṛṣṇa sucked with great pleasure and who offered their milk very jubilantly with affection exactly like that of a mother?
COMMENTARY
These two verses describe the greatness of Pūtanā’s attainment through the mercy of the Lord. Even though Pūtanā was rākṣasī, her body was tread upon by Kṛṣṇa’s feet which are situated in the hearts of the devotees and worshiped by those worthy of worship (devatas). Pūtanā’s breast milk was drunk by Kṛṣṇa, and she attained the supreme abode as a mother of the Lord.
bhakta hṛdi sthābhayam: Kṛṣṇa’s feet are situated only in the hearts of the devotees. But Pūtanā was neither a devotee nor a non-devotee. She was an enemy of Kṛṣṇa. vandābhyam loka vanditaih: Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet are worshiped by worshipable personalities such as Brahmā and Śiva. But Pūtanā did not worship Kṛṣṇa’s feet, rather she did the opposite. At time of her death, Pūtanā tried to dislodge Kṛṣṇa’s feet from her chest. Unable to do so, she began to beat them with all her strength.
samakramya: completely; Kṛṣṇa stepped on Pūtanā forcefully with His feet, not just touching her.
svargam: heavenly planets; Where did Pūtanā go at the time of her death? She attained Vaikuṇṭha. This is explained in Bhāgavatam (11.7.1), “Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva and all other planetary rulers are praying to live in Vaikuṇṭha.” Lord Brahmā says in Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (10.14.35), “Pūtanā attained You along with her family members.” According to these two verses, the word svarga must mean svah-vāsam, Your personal abode or Vaikuṇṭha. The word does not refer to the material heavenly planet called Svarga.
jananī-gatim: destiny of a mother; Which Vaikuṇṭha planet did Pūtanā attain? The verse explains that Pūtanā attained the same planet as mother Yaśodā, jananī-gatim. Therefore, Pūtanā attained Goloka, but her position was predominated by happiness and reverence. She did not attain the place predominated by service in prema. One cannot say that she attained the status of a mother. Verse 10.6.36 says that place is reserved for those who are anurāgi (raktas), with pure loving attachment for Kṛṣṇa. Here verse thirty-eight says that the cows and motherly gopīs who fed milk to Kṛṣṇa during the Brahma vimohana līlā attained a higher destination than Pūtanā.
How could Pūtanā, whose enmity was equal to Kaṁsa’s, though she imitated the dress and emotion of a gopī, attain the same status as Yaśodā? Therefore Uddhava says in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (3.2.23): lebhe gatiṁ dhātry-ucitāṁ, “Pūtanā attained a status like a nurse.” Thus in the present verse some interpret the word jananī (mother) to be dhātrī (nurse). But even then one should not say that Pūtanā was a direct nurse of Kṛṣṇa. Rather she attained a form like a nurse in a Goloka filled with sukhaiśvaryya, reverential happiness.
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The following response by Śrīla Shyām Dās Bābā Mahārāja conclusively clarifies all remaining doubts.
Doubts regarding the gati given to Pūtanā by Kṛṣṇa
From Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā we know the following śloka—
yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ
tyajaty ante kalevaramtaṁ
tam evaiti kaunteya
sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitaḥ
(Bg. 8.6)
“Whatever state of memory one is going to preserve at the time of death, he is going to get that particular state without fail.”
Śrī Śrī Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākura Mahāśaya has written in his Gauḍīya kīrtana that—
sādhane bhāviba yāhā siddha-dehe pāba tāhā,
rāga-pathera ei se upāya.
“Whatever I contemplate during the time of sādhana will certainly be received upon attaining the perfection of one’s siddha-deha. This is the method of the rāga path.”
sādhane sādhya yāhā, siddhi-te pāibe tāhā
pākā-pākā mātra se vicāra
(Prema-bhakti-candrikā)
“Whatever one practices (sādhana), that same thing one will attain in perfection (siddhi). The only difference is whether it is raw or ripe.”
From Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu we know the following śloka—
kṛti-sādhyā bhavet sādhya-bhāvā sā sādhanābhidhā
nitya-siddhasya bhāvasya prākaṭyaṁ hṛdi sādhyatā
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu Pūrva-vibhāga 2.2)
“Sādhana-bhakti is the practice of śuddha-bhakti by the application of senses by which bhāva can be attained. The final goal, or sādhya-bhāva, is eternally present in the heart and is therefore nitya-siddha bhava. In other words, it is an eternal reality, but sādhana is that means by which it can be manifested from within the heart.”
Also we can find Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī’s famous verse on lobha (spiritual greed) from Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.2.292).
tad-tad-bhāva-dī-mādhuryeśrute dhīr yad apekṣatenātra śāstraṁ na yuktiṁ catal-lobhotpatti-lakṣaṇam(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.292)
“When a snigdha sisya (who is completely harmonized with the heart of Śrī Gurudeva) hears about the sweetness of a particular bhāva (rasa), and feels an inner longing for it, that longing itself is called lobha (spiritual greed). At that stage, scriptural logic (śāstra, yukti) is no longer the cause—lobha alone becomes the qualification.”
From Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta we know the following śloka—
lobhe vraja-vāsīra bhāve kare anugati
śāstra-yukti nāhi māne — rāgānugāra prakṛti
(CC Madhya 22.153)
“If one follows in the footsteps of those Vrajavasis (the eternal inhabitants of Sri Vrindavan Dham) out of such transcendental covetousness, he does not care for the injunctions or reasonings of śāstra. That is the way of spontaneous love.”
From Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam we know the following śloka—
kenāpy upāyena manaḥ
kṛṣṇe niveśayet
sarve vidhi-niṣedhāḥ syur
etayor eva kiṅkarāḥ
(Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.1.30)
“By any means whatsoever, one should fix the mind on Kṛṣṇa. When this is achieved, all rules and prohibitions automatically become His servants.”
Again from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam we know the following śloka spoken by Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī regarding the excellent and absolute kṛpā of Kṛṣṇa to Pūtanā—
aho bakī yaṁ stana-kāla-kūṭaṁ
jighāṁsayāpāyayad apy asādhvī
lebhe gatiṁ dhātry-ucitāṁ tato ’nyaṁ
kaṁ vā dayāluṁ śaraṇaṁ vrajema
(Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.6.35)
“Oh, how astonishing! That wicked Pūtanā, who smeared deadly poison (kāla-kūṭa) on her breast with the intention of killing Kṛṣṇa, still attained the position of His fostering mother in the eternal dhama Goloka. Then—who else can be more merciful than Kṛṣṇa? To whom else shall we surrender?”
Though we know that through actual bhajana procedure one can get siddhi, not otherwise, but what sādhana Pūtanā done before so that she was successful to reach Goloka as a fostering mother (dhātrī-gati)?
Here the most vital noticeable point is that she was in her previous life the daughter of Bali Mahārāja. By watching the līlā trick of Śrī Vāmana-deva Bhagavān against her father Bali Mahārāja to take away all his belongings, then she wanted to kill that sweet boy by feeding poisoned breast milk to Him. And that desire was approved by Śrī Vāmana-deva Bhagavān. Now in Kṛṣṇa-līlā that was fulfilled in her life in the form of Pūtanā. Remember that was a very very special case approved by Yogamāyā to project highly the endless causeless mercy of Śrī Kṛṣṇa (Yaśodā-nandana). So though she came to kill baby Kṛṣṇa by giving breast milk by applying kāla-kūṭa poison on her breast, still only by imitation like a mother she was given the post of dhātrī-gati.
Gaura Hari Haribol!
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