Join us for an enlightening session on Srimad Bhagavatam verses 8.7.40-42 with HG Mahabhagavat Das. This uplifting discussion highlights Lord Shiva’s selfless compassion and the importance of benevolence for all living entities. Don’t miss this opportunity to deepen your understanding on August 21, 2025, at 7:20 AM ET!
A class recording will be shared after.
Hare Krishna 🙏 Bhakti sanga Japa Conference Call Presents.
SPEAKER: HG Mahabhagavat Das
TOPIC:*Srimad Bhagavatam verse 8.7.40-42
DATE📆: Thursday, 21st August 2025
TIME⌚: 7:20 AM. ET USA/ 6:20 AM. CT USA/ 4:20 AM PST USA/ 12:20 PM UK/ 7:20 PM MYT/ 4:50 PM IST
puṁsaḥ — with a person; kṛpayataḥ — engaged in benevolent activities; bhadre — O most gentle Bhavānī; sarva–ātmā — the Supersoul; prīyate — becomes pleased; hariḥ — the Supreme Personality of Godhead; prīte — because of His pleasure; harau — the Supreme Lord, Hari; bhagavati — the Personality of Godhead; prīye — also become pleased; aham — I; sa–cara–acaraḥ — with all others, moving and nonmoving; tasmāt — therefore; idam — this; garam — poison; bhuñje — let me drink; prajānām — of the living entities; svastiḥ — welfare; astu — let there be; me — by me.
Translation
My dear gentle wife Bhavānī, when one performs benevolent activities for others, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Hari, is very pleased. And when the Lord is pleased, I am also pleased, along with all other living creatures. Therefore, let me drink this poison, for all the living entities may thus become happy because of me.
Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued: After informing Bhavānī in this way, Lord Śiva began to drink the poison, and Bhavānī, who knew perfectly well the capabilities of Lord Śiva, gave him her permission to do so.
Thereafter, Lord Śiva, who is dedicated to auspicious, benevolent work for humanity, compassionately took the whole quantity of poison in his palm and drank it.
Purport
Although there was such a great quantity of poison that it spread all over the universe, Lord Śiva had such great power that he reduced the poison to a small quantity so that he could hold it in his palm. One should not try to imitate Lord Śiva. Lord Śiva can do whatever he likes, but those who try to imitate Lord Śiva by smoking ganja and other poisonous things will certainly be killed because of such activities.
Srila Prabhupada, a great teacher, wrote prolifically. Even though his works are lucid and clear, there are many misunderstandings about his writings. One is that he insulted Lord Shiva. Is this true?
Question:
A devotee who has been with ISKCON for 7 years has asked this question… he says he does not agree with Srila Prabhupada’s purport to BG 2.62.
Lord Śiva was deep in meditation, but when Pārvatī agitated him for sense pleasure, he agreed to the proposal, and as a result Kārtikeya was born.
He says that this is not the real story also he doesn’t agree that Lord Shiva can be agitated.
Answer:
Thank you for writing to me about this. It is an important thing.
First and foremost we have to understand who is Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada is a pure devotee. As a pure devotee, Srila Prabhupada has no envy in his heart. Srila Prabhupada has no desire to criticize someone unnecessarily. He also has no tendency to try and pull someone down. In fact, Srila Prabhupada is on the Uttama Adhikari platform. As an Uttama Adhikari, he feels that everyone else is serving Krishna except himself. But Srila Prabhupada came down to the Madhyama Adhikari platform. On this platform, he suppressed his ecstatic emotions and took the role of a teacher of Krishna Consciousness. Thus he preached to us poor lost souls in the material world. Srila Prabhupada undertook an austerity for us. Just like Lord Shiva drank up the ocean of poison, Srila Prabhupada tolerated the poisonous nature of this material world. His sacrifice saves us all.
Great personalities accept voluntary suffering for the benefit of others
“tapyante loka taapena”, this is a verse from the Bhagavatam glorifying personalities like Lord Shiva and Srila Prabhupada.
tapyante loka-tāpena sādhavaḥ prāyaśo janāḥ paramārādhanaṁ tad dhi puruṣasyākhilātmanaḥ
It is said that great personalities almost always accept voluntary suffering because of the suffering of people in general. This is considered the highest method of worshiping the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is present in everyone’s heart.
A devotee behaves differently with different kinds of personalities. A Madhyama Adhikari is a teacher/preacher… and his mission is to guide souls to spiritual perfection.
To Supreme Personality of Godhead or His plenary expansions, he offers prayers
To the devotees of Krishna, he makes friendship
To the innocent, he preaches Krishna Consciousness
Those envious of Krishna, he avoids
ईश्वरे तदधीनेषु बालिशेषु द्विषत्सु च । प्रेममैत्रीकृपोपेक्षा य: करोति स मध्यम: ॥ ४६ ॥
īśvare tad-adhīneṣu bāliśeṣu dviṣatsu ca prema-maitrī-kṛpopekṣā yaḥ karoti sa madhyamaḥ
An intermediate or second-class devotee, called madhyama-adhikārī, offers his love to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is a sincere friend to all the devotees of the Lord, shows mercy to ignorant people who are innocent and disregards those who are envious of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Just as the Gaṅgā is the greatest of all rivers, Lord Acyuta the supreme among deities and Lord Śambhu [Śiva] the greatest of Vaiṣṇavas, so Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the greatest of all Purāṇas.
In the Brahma Samhita (kshiram yatha dadhi vikaaram) it is stated that Lord Vishnu transforms as Lord Shiva when Lord Vishnu is “in touch” with material energy. This is just like how milk turns to curds when touched with tamarind. In other words, Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva have no difference of opinion. Krishna desires everyone to be His pure devotee. Similarly, Lord Shiva desires everyone to be Krishna’s pure devotee.
क्षीरं यथा दधि विकारविशेषयोगात् सञ्जायते न हि ततः पृथगस्ति हेतोः । यः शम्भुतामपि तथा समुपैति कार्या- -द्गोविन्दमादिपुरुषं तमहं भजामि ॥ ४५ ॥
kṣīraṁ yathā dadhi vikāra-viśeṣa-yogāt sañjāyate na hi tataḥ pṛthag asti hetoḥ yaḥ śambhutām api tathā samupaiti kāryād govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
Just as milk is transformed into curd by the action of acids, but yet the effect curd is neither same as, nor different from, its cause, viz., milk, so I adore the primeval Lord Govinda of whom the state of Śambhu is a transformation for the performance of the work of destruction.
In fact, without the mercy of Lord Shiva, no one can become a Vaishnava. Lord Shiva and Parvati Devi are regarded as the father and mother of the material world. As you know, father and mother are the first teachers of every child.
As such, Lord Shiva is beyond all criticism. And as Lord Shiva is a pure devotee, Srila Prabhupada would never criticize Lord Shiva.
Srila Prabhupada is stating the fact.
Lord Kartikeya was born of Shiva and Parvati’s union. Lord Brahma, who is Lord Vishnu’s son is born directly from Himself without the help or assistance of Lakshmi Devi.
In the Valmiki Ramayana, Kartikeya is mentioned as the son of Rudra and Parvati. Agni and Ganga Devi aided in his birth. We accept Valmiki Muni as an utmost authority.
In the Mahabharata, Kartikeya is mentioned as the son of Shiva and Parvati. He emerged as a result of Lord Shiva’s sexual union with Parvati Devi. The details I will not mention here. Ganga Devi cultivated the seed of Lord Shiva. Agni Deva, the demigod in charge of fire, kept it warm.
Now, there is a third story, from the Shiva Purana… Lord Shiva was meditating. Parvati Devi was trying to attract him. Kamadeva tried to help but was burned to ashes by the wrath of Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva, being merciful, then paid attention to Parvati Devi. He married her, and Kartikeya was conceived.
There is additionally a Tamil version of the Skanda Purana in which another story is presented. I read that story in the Amar Chitra Katha comics as a child. Only later I learned where the story came from. The demigods prayed to Lord Shiva and pleased Him. As a result, Lord Shiva manifested 5 additional heads. From each head came one spark. Vayu Deva, the demigod in charge of the wind, carried these sparks and handed them to Agni Deva. Agni Deva then carried the sparks to Ganga Devi, who took them to Saravana lake. There, 6 boys were born. The 6 boys were merged into one by Krittika Devi. This marked the appearance of Kartikeya. He then defeated the demons Surapadma and Simhamukha. These demons surrendered to Kartikeya and became his assistant associates.
Valmiki Ramayana is the Absolute Truth. Mahabharata is also composed by Veda Vyasa. Therefore, we have 2 authoritative references to support Srila Prabhupada’s statement about Lord Shiva in BG 2.62.
Srila Prabhupada is a highly empowered Vaishnava Acharya who has presented Krishna Consciousness in the Brahma Madhva Gaudiya Sampradaya. Why should anyone accept an objection raised by an uncontrolled mind? Instead, whenever we hear the instruction of the Acharya, we should strive to understand how it is true. It’s not about whether it is true or not, but how it is true. This is called surrender. It may take time. It took me many years to surrender to my Guru Maharaja, but eventually I did. Whenever I had any doubts about Srila Prabhupada’s words, my spiritual masters helped me. They guided me with proper understanding to overcome that doubt.
To “disagree” with an Acharya, is simply immaturity.
Sometimes Acharyas disagree with each other. This is alright if they are of an equal stature. In that case, the rest of us must try to understand how they are right, all of them! Spiritual reality is truly wonderful. It is not one dimensional.
Puranic stories sometimes differ because they describe one kalpa (a day of Brahma) or another. On different days of Lord Brahma, there can be variations in some details.
Lord Shiva’s agitation by Parvati is not an insult to Lord Shiva.
Instead, it glorifies his great devotion to Sri Krishna. By personal example, Lord Shiva is showing how great Lord Krishna is. Lord Krishna remained without agitation even when surrounded by 3 Billion beautiful young gopis. The gopis were ready to do anything for Krishna. Krishna is an eternal Brahmachari, and the proof of this statement is Sri Bhishmadeva who has stated this personally!
Does this help?
Glossary – Personalities & Concepts mentioned in the article:
Acharya – A teacher in one of 4 authorized disciplic successions from God, who teaches by personal example
Bhishmadeva – Among the 12 greatest spiritual authorities of our universe, played a pivotal role in the Mahabharata, sometimes referred to as “grandsire” or “grandfather”
Brahma – The creator of this universe, son of Lord Vishnu
Brahma Samhita – The composition of Lord Brahma is a 100-chapter book. Only Chapter 5 is available. It can be found online at https://vedabase.io/en/library/bs
Deva – “Demigod”, also used as an honorific for divine personalities
Ganga – The most sacred river in our Universe, a liquid form of God
Gopis – The topmost saints, devotees of Krishna
Guru – Spiritual Master, also “heavy”
Kalpa – A day of Brahma, 4.32 Billion Years long
Kama – Literally “lust”, used to refer to the demigod in charge of love
Kartikeya – Son of Shiva and Parvati, the military commander of the demigods
Krishna – The Supreme Personality of Godhead, source of both spiritual and material realms, the One and Only appearing Himself in different forms and with different names
Krittika Devi – a demigoddess
Madhva Gaudiya Sampradaya – A current unbroken line of disciplic succession from God Himself, included below for reference
Madhyama Adhikari – defined above
Maharaja – King among men, used to refer to royalty and to renounced or exalted souls
Parvati – The consort of Lord Shiva, expanded as the material energy
Purana – Authorized history of the Universe, there are 18 such histories, 6 meant for those in the mode of goodness, 6 for those in the mode of passion, and 6 meant for those in the mode of passion
Ramayana – The pastimes of Lord Rama, the Personality of Godhead
Rudra – A son of Lord Brahma, born of his anger from his forehead
Simhamukha & Surapadma – Former demons who accepted the shelter of Kartikeya and became his assistants
Shiva – The auspicious one, also referred to as Rudra
Shiva Purana – The scripture describing the pastimes of Lord Shiva, meant for the benefit of those situated in the mode of ignorance
Sri – Opulence, refers to the Goddess of Fortune, or someone blessed with some extraordinary opulence
Uttama Adhikari – defined above
Valmiki – The author of the original Ramayana, disciple of Narada
Vayu Deva – The demigod in charge of the air and wind
Freedom through Genuine Spiritual Progress 