Hare Krsna,
This pastime of Lord Brahma stealing Krsna’s cowherd friends and calves is one of the most beautiful demonstrations of bringing someone under full humility and surrender to the Supreme Lord, Krsna. The Lord has given every living entity free-will by which one can exercise it to either surrender to Him or revolt against Him. The Lord does not enforce subjugation to Him by force. The Lord convinces us through His various lilas to make us sincerely humble and surrender unto Him. Brahma Vimohana lila is one such pastime.
It is fair to say that Brahma had no power to steal Krsna’s friends. Even though Brahma is the ultimate person in this world, he has a material body but the residents of Vraja had pure spiritual bodies. The Lord, by the arrangement of yoga-maya, made the cowherd boys and calves disappear.
If we have any tinge of pride left in us, the Lord will take them away through some means. I somehow think that Brahma had some pride left in him. He is the creator of the universe and has a very exalted position. It is expected that some pride may have developed in him for being the first created being. Or he may have thought that He knows the Supreme Lord, his Master, closely. However, after seeing Krsna’s mystic opulence, Brahma finally acknowledges that it is beyond his words, body and mind to understand Krsna’s opulences. His mind has no power to understand the Lord’s opulences, his eyes cannot grasp the Lord’s transcendental form, and his words cannot describe the Lord. And what to speak of the happiness the Lord feels within Himself? He realizes that just because he created this universe does not mean that he is its master. The Lord is the master, not only of this one universe but of all universes.
All these realizations made Lord Brahma so humble that he has no hesitation to accept that he is a greatest fool. His speaking too much is simply a sign of his foolishness. Brahma had developed enough humility to realize that he had become an offender by interrupting Krsna’s lunch-pastime with His friends on the bank of the Yamuna. He wants to return immediately to resume his administrative duties.
However humbled Brahma had enough intelligence to realize that Krsna’s Vrindaban pastimes are the sweetest and highest. And so, he beseeched the Lord to accept him as his surrendered servant and give him eternal residence in Vrindavana.
There are excellent lessons for us to learn from Brahma’s conduct and prayers. Firstly, there should be no tinge place of pride in us when we perform our bhakti. Being Kali yuga jivas, we may tend to become proud to be a devotee of the Lord. We may become proud with knowledge of the philosophy of Krsna, or we may become proud with our services. We may think we are indispensable; no one can do better service than us. But when we compare ourselves to Lord Brahma who is the master of the universe, we can see how insignificant we are in every respect. Our intelligence and power are no match to Lord Brahma’s. So, if Brahma could realize his insignificance in front of the Lord, who are we as compared to him?
Therefore, surrendering to the Lord is the most intelligent thing to do. Whether we do it now or later, we will have to surrender at some point. As they say, by hook or by crook. If we want to enter into Krsna’s Vrindavan pastimes, we must be very humble as Brahma realized. The door to the gate to the Lord’s abode is very small like the eye of a needed. We must make ourselves very small to be able to pass through that gate. We must be humble enough and ready to apologize for many offenses we have committed against the Lord and His devotees through many lifetimes. Our humility must touch the Lord’s heart to attract His mercy. Our humility must beg the Lord to forgive us and make us qualified to accept us as His insignificant surrendered servants.
I love where it says “the word kṛṣṇa means “O Lord, please attract my mind and heart to Vrndavana.”” This is another inspiration to chant the Lord’s Holy Name with humility and pray to Him to attract our mind and heart to Vrindavana.
Brahmā says, “Everything in Vraja, including even Your ornaments and even the lowly ārka tree are objects of my worship. O Lord who can be merciful or merciless, who can grant me auspiciousness or trouble, I offer my respectful obeisances to You.” (SVT commentary on SB 10.14.40)
Finally,
“Thus, it is understood that after fulfilling his responsibilities in the post of Brahma, Brahma would attain his desired goal of residence in Vrndavana.”
I am extremely anxious to know how Lord Brahma’s desire is eventually fulfilled.
Meanwhile Lord Brahma’s prayers have enough inspiration for me to meditate upon and get deeper into my sadhana.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Viswanath Chakravarti Thakura!
Krsna Katha 