Section 42 

          In this way, the Lord's body has been established as all pervading by showing that although it is medium sized it is the support of everything. It is also provedn by showing that It exists everywhere  (SB.10.69.2):

          Narada Muni thought, "It is quite amazing that in a single body Lord Kåñëa simultaneously married sixteen thousand women, each in a separate palace." 

          (Närada is saying), "O how astonishing is that!" What is that? That one Kåñëa married 16,000 women. But what is so astonishing about that? Närada answers grheñu, "in houses". "In all 16,000" is to be added to the verse. Let it be so, still what? It Närada answers, påthak "seperately"--He underwent the marriage ceremony being situated differently in each house".

          Another doubt is raised, "But is it not possible to undergo many marriage ceremonies consecutively?" Närada says--yugapat "simultaneously".

          A further doubt is raised,  "But the master of mystic perfection, Yogeçvara, can also do that by simultaneously manifesting various forms. What is so astonishing if Lord Kåñëa, whose Lotus feet are worshipped by Yogeçvaras, did it? Närada anwers by ekana vapuñä, "He did it in one form". A further doubt is raised, "Did he perform this in one form having many hands and legs, by expanding it over to all 16,000 houses?" No, no, not so. Uddhava said (S.B.3.3.8):

All those princesses were lodged in different apartments, and the Lord simultaneously assumed different bodily expansions exactly matching each and every princess. He accepted their hands in perfect ritual by His internal potency. 

          From statements such as that of Uddhava it is well known that He accepted a particular suitable form for each of them. With this purpose in mind, Närada answers by one word put in the first half of the verse--påthak or different.  He underwent the marriage ceremony in only one humanlike form which was seen differently at different places. Thus because one humanlike form simultaneously exists in all places and in all activities, that is the greatest astonishment. This is the meaning of the verse.

          Also in the same way in the fifith canto while commenting on the prose beginning with teñäm  (5.10.40) describing the form of the Lord, the presiding deity of all planets, Svämépäda writes similarly ."Because He is the master of all Supreme opulence, He pervades everything by just one form." Also, the Çrémad Bhägavatam (10.59.42) states:

          Then the imperishable Supreme Personality, assuming a separate form for each bride, simultaneously married all the princesses, each in her own palace. 

          Therefore Tavad-rupa-dhara,"a seperate form for each bride" means that simultaneously in different places He manifested His one form, prakäça. It does not mean that He expanded Himself into different forms such as Näräyaëa and others.

          This is defined in Çré Sankñepa-Bhägavatamåtam (1.21), "When one form simultaneously appears in many places and it is always the same in all respects it is called prakäça." This is the difference between the prakäça form and other forms.

 

PURPORT 

          In the previous eleven Texts Çréla Jéva Gosvämé established that the Lord's body, although medium-sized, is the support of everything and thus all-pervading.  In the next three Texts he will establish the same characteristic by showingthe that the Lord's medium-sized body exists everywhere, and yet remains one.  To illustrate this he refers to Lord Kåñëa's pastime of marrying 16,000 wives.  The demon Bhaumäsura lived in Prägjyotiñapura.  He was so powerful that he even troubled the demigods.  Once Indra approached Lord Kåñëa in Dwarakä and pleaded with Him to please kill that demon.  The Lord mounted Garuòa and went to Prägjyotiñapura.  After a fierce battle, Çré Kåñëa slayed Bhaumäsura. The demon had kidnapped 16,000 princesses from various kings and held them captive in his palace.  Upon being rescued by the Lord they all desired to marry Lord Kåñëa and thus the Lord took them all to Dwärakä.

          In accordance with Vedic customs, the Lord consulted astrologers to find a suitable moment (muhürtta) for His 16,000 marriage ceremonies.  Since a muhürtta lasts only forty-eight minutes, it is understood that the Lord married all the princesses simultaneously.  Even without considering the astrological factor, if He had married a wife a day, that would have taken forty-three years ten months and five days to marry all of them.  He therefore married all of them simultaneously by His mystic power .  This astonished even great mystics like Närada Muni, who went to Dwärakä to observe the Lord's daily activities and learned that He had married 16,000 princesses.  In great wonder Närada spoke verse S.B. 10.69.2, which is best explained by presenting the underlying doubts and responding to them with portions of the verse.

Doubt:  Why was Närada astonished?

Answer:  Because Kåñëa alone married 16,000 wives.

Doubt: What's so wonderful about that? Many kings had hundreds and thousands of wives.

Answer: The queens were in 16,000 different houses.

Doubt: What's so great about that?  He was a king.  He could have a palace for each of His queens.

Answer: He married them with individual marriage ceremonies in 16,000 palaces.

Doubt: That can be done by going from one house to another, so what is the big wonder?

Answer: He did it at the same time, in one muhürtta.

Doubt: He is called Yogeçvara, the Master of Mystics.  Mystic yogis can expand into many bodies, called käya-vyüha.  He could have expanded into 16,000 käya-vyühas to undergo the marriage ceremony.

Answer: No, He did not expand into many bodies.  He married them all simultaneously in one body.  This is what surprised Närada.

Doubt: He could have produced 32,000 hands like in the virät form, and accepted 16,000 wives in 16,000 houses simultaneously.

Answer: No. He had a suitable form for each girl and yet all these forms were one. (S.B. 3.3.8) This is confirmed by the statement of Çukadeva Gosvämé (S.B. 10.59.42) and Çré Uddhava (S.B.3.3.38) cited in the Text. 

          All these forms of the Lord are His original forms, called prakäça expansions.  These forms are not different from His original form.  They are not like His expansions of Näräyaëa or Väsudeva.  Çukadeva Gosvämé accepts them as one (S.B. 10.69.41,42):

          "Çukadeva Gosvämé said: Thus in every palace Närada saw the Lord in His same personal form, executing the transcendental principles of religion that purify those engaged in household affairs."

          This was the cause behind Çré Närada's surprise. Närada Muni is a great mystic mand and he can perform many mystical feats. He has the power to expand into käya-vyüha forms. If Lord Kåñëa's expansions were also käyavyüha then Çré Närada Muni would not have felt amazed. One feels surprised when one sees a novelty, some extraordinary act or object, which he has not experienced before. Çaubhari Muni expanded himself into 50 käya-vyüha forms to marry the fifty daughters of king Mandhätä.  Lord Kåñëa's 16,000 forms were not such käya-vyüha expansions.  His prakäça forms could be seen acting differently in different places, but the kaya-vyuha forms of Çaubhari Muni and other powerful mystics could not act differently.  In Çré-Saëkñepa-bhägavatämåta, Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé has done a very minute analysis of the various manifestations of the Lord.  He says (Çré-Saëkñepa-Bhägavatamåta 1.11):

          "In the transcendental abodes the Lord exists in three ways such as svayaà-rüpa, tadekätma-rüpa, and äveça."  Svayaà-rüpa is the original form of Lord Kåñëa which does not depend on any other form.  In this form the Lord sometimes manifests two hands and sometimes four.

          The form that is non-different form the original form by nature, but looks different owing to appearance and pastime, is called tadekätma-rüpa.  It is further divided into viläsa forms such as Näräyaëa, and svämsa forms such as Matsya and Kürma.  Their bodies are different from the original body of Lord Kåñëa in appearance.

          When the Lord empowers a particular entity with knowledge or bhakti, those individuals are called äveça-rupa.  Examples are Çeña, Närada, Sanaka, and so on.  This is summarized in the chart below:

LORD KÅÑËA

 

Svayaà-rüpa

 

Tadekätma-rüpa

 

Äveça

 

 

Prakäça

 

Viläsa          Svaàça

 

 

 

Two-handed

Four-handed

 

 

 

 

 

 

          Out of these the prakäça manifestations are the same as the svayaà-rüpa.  Lord Kåñëa's expansions in räsa dance as well as in Dwärakä are the example of prakäça. They are not related like parts to a whole.  Although these forms can be seen acting differently at different places they are all one. Sometimes Lord Kåñëa manifests a four handed form but this should not be considered as different from svayam rüpa. But when He manifest the four handed Näräyaëa or Viñëu form that is not His original form. He does not manifest the same qualities and pastimes in this form. This does not appeal to mundane logic but it is certainly a transcendental reality.  It is but another example of how nothing is impossible for the Supreme Personality of Godhead.   One must give up logic to peep into the transcendental arena.  Pure devotee simply accept the Lord as He reveals Himself.

Çréla Jéva Gosvämé continues to explain the all pervading feature of Lord Kåñëa's form in the next text.