Question: During the Yatra, one presentation dealt with Mahäräja Parékñit fasting at the Yamunā. In Srila Prabhupada’s purport to SB 1.19.6, he indicated that the place where he fasted was along the Yamunā, not the Gaṅgā – as is usually cited – following the commentary of Çréla Jéva Gosvämé. What is that reference, and the logic behind this conclusion?
Answer by Romapada Swami:
Krama Sandarbha by Çréla Jéva Gosvämé
||1.19.6||
yā vai lasac-chrī-tulasī-vimiśra-
kṛṣṇāṅghri-reṇv-abhyadhikāmbu-netrī|
punāti lokān ubhayatra seśān
kas tāṁ na seveta mariṣyamāṇaḥ ||
Who at the point of death would not serve the Yamunā (Gaṅgā) who, carrying water made excellent by the dust of Kṛṣṇa’s feet mixed with beautiful tulasī, purifies the worlds along with their leaders inside and outside, above and below?
Fasting till death is suitable to perform at the Gaṅgā since it is related to Kṛṣṇa, his desired goal. Its ability to purify all people is shown. Let a person fearing sin of offending a brāhmaṇa just serve the feet of Kṛṣṇa. Gaṅgā is a suitable shelter for a person desiring the highest human goal, for all jīvas and especially those about to die. That is expressed in this verse. It is most famous (vai). It carries (netrī) water in the form of the Yamunā, situated in Vṛndāvana, made superior by the dust from Kṛṣṇa’s feet, completely mixed with tulasī leaves made more beautiful (lasat) by growing in Vṛndāvana. The great excellence is described:
gaṅgā-śata-guṇā pūṇyā māthure mama maṇḍale |
yamunā viśrutā devī nātra kāryā vicaraṇā ||
O devī! It is heard that Yamunā in the district of my Mathurā, is a hundred times more pure than the Gaṅgā. One should not doubt this. (Ādi-varāha Purāṇa)
Here the carrier of water is the river Gaṅgā. That is the external water but is then distinguished. Netrī also means raising or elevating. (The Gaṅgā water becomes more elevated when mixed with Kṛṣṇa’s foot dust.) The word Kṛṣṇa by conventional meaning means Gopāla. It should be explained in that way. Since the two rivers are non-different, one can be described in terms of the other.
