Hare Krsna,
It is so beautiful to hear about the narration of the good fortune of Drona and Dhara that the Supreme Lord Himself appeared as their child.
SB 10.8.49: Droṇa and Dharā said: Please permit us to be born on the planet earth so that after our appearance, the Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead, the supreme controller and master of all planets, will also appear and spread devotional service, the ultimate goal of life, so that those born in this material world may very easily be delivered from the miserable condition of materialistic life by accepting this devotional service.
SB 10.8.50: When Brahmā said, “Yes, let it be so,” the most fortune Droṇa, who was equal to Bhagavān, appeared in Vrajapura, Vṛndāvana, as the most famous Nanda Mahārāja, and his wife, Dharā, appeared as mother Yaśodā.
However, the philosophical question that plagued me is whether Nanda and Yasoda actually did become Lord Krsna’s parents by achieving the blessing of Brahma. No doubt, Nanda and Yasoda are more fortunate and exalted than the demigod Brahma. This is confirmed in the Ninth Chapter of the Tenth Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam , where we find the description of the glories of mother Yasoda’s maternal love for Krsna, how Lord Krsna is completely under the control of Mother Yasoda, and how she bound Him with ropes. Mother Yasoda obtained greater mercy from Lord Krsna than even Brahma, Siva or Laksmi could even attained. This is described in the following verse, Srimad Bhagavatam 10.9.20:
“Neither Lord Brahmā, nor Lord Śiva, nor even the goddess of fortune, who is always the better half of the Supreme Lord, can obtain from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the deliverer from this material world, such mercy as received by mother Yaśodā.”
The exalted demigod Brahma is the original spiritual master of the devotees of the Lord. This is confirmed in SB 2.9.5:
“Lord Brahmā, the first spiritual master, supreme in the universe, could not trace out the source of his lotus seat, and while thinking of creating the material world, he could not understand the proper direction for such creative work, nor could he find out the process for such creation.”
Lord Siva is still more exalted. This is described in SB 12.13.16
“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.”
It is clear that Brahma and Siva are exalted demigods. So, the question is, did Drona and Dhara really become Krsna’s parents because of Brahma’s blessings? SB 10.9.20 (quoted above) clearly says that Brahma himself is not able to attain the good fortune obtained by Drona and Dhara. How can Brahma give as a gift what other great devotees and he himself are unable to attain? Brahma himself says this in the following prayer (SB 10.14.34):
“My dear Lord, I am therefore not interested in either material opulences or liberation. I am most humbly praying at Your lotus feet for You to please give me any sort of birth within this Vrndavana forest so that I may be able to be favored by the dust of the feet of some devotees of Vrndavana. Even if I am given the chance to grow just as the humble grass in this land, that will be a glorious birth for me. But if I am not so fortunate to take birth within the forest of Vrndavana, I beg to be allowed to take birth outside the immediate area of Vrndavana so that when the devotees go out they will walk over me. Even that would be a great fortune for me. I am just aspiring for a birth in which I will be smeared by the dust of the devotees’ feet.“
The truth is that Drona and Dhara are partial expansions (amsa-avatara) of Nanda and Yasoda, Krsna’s eternal parents in the spiritual world. They descended to this material world, just as the Lord Himself did in order to display His pastimes on earth. Srila Prabhupada confirms this as below:
“When Kṛṣṇa descends anywhere, He is accompanied by His own associates. These associates are not ordinary living beings. Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes are eternal, and when He descends, He comes with His associates. Therefore Nanda and mother Yaśodā are the eternal father and mother of Kṛṣṇa. This means that whenever Kṛṣṇa descends, Nanda and Yaśodā, as well as Vasudeva and Devakī, also descend as the Lord’s father and mother. Their personalities are expansions of Kṛṣṇa’s personal body; they are not ordinary living beings.” (SB 10.8.48 P)
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Krsna Katha 