TEACHINGS OF QUEEN KUNTI
Chapter Fifteen:

Srimad Bhagavatam 1:8:32
kecid ähur ajaà jätaà
puëya-çlokasya kértaye
yadoù priyasyänvaväye
malayasyeva candanam

kecit—someone; ähuù—says; ajam—the unborn; jätam—being born; puëya-çlokasya—of the great pious king; kértaye—for glorifying; yadoù—of King Yadu; priyasya—of the dear; anvaväye—in the family of; malayasya—Malaya hills; iva—as; candanam—sandalwood.

TRANSLATION

Some say that the Unborn is born for the glorification of pious kings, and others say that He is born to please King Yadu, one of Your dearest devotees. You appear in his family as sandalwood appears in the Malaya hills.

JOURNAL:

Srila Prabhupada discusses Krishna's birth and reincarnation in this chapter;

Because the Lord's appearance in this material world is bewildering there are different opinions about the birth of the Unborn. In the Bhagavad-gita the Lord says that He takes His birth in the material world, although He is the Lord of all creations and He is unborn. So there cannot be any denial of the birth of the Unborn, because He Himself establishes the truth. But still there are different opinions as to why He takes His birth. That is also declared in the Bhagavad-gita. He appears by His own internal potency to reestablish the principles of religion and to protect the pious and annihilate the impious. That is the mission of the appearance of the Unborn.

Even in this life, we are obliged to accept one body after another. A child gives up his childhood body and accepts the body of a boy, and the boy gives up his boyhood body to accept a youthful body, which he then gives up for an old body. Therefore it is natural to conclude that when one gives up one's old body, one will have to accept another body; again one will accept the body of a child. This is a natural cycle of this material world. It is similar to changes of season. After spring comes summer, and after summer comes fall and then winter, and then spring again.

But although the soul does not die, it accepts another body, and this is called bhava-roga, the material disease.

Kuntidevi says, kecid ahuh: "Someone may say that the unborn has taken birth." It may appear that He has taken birth just like us, but in fact He has not. Kuntidevi distinctly says, kecid ahuh: "some foolish persons may say that He has taken birth." Krsna Himself also says in Bhagavad Gita (9.11), avajananti mam mudha manusim tanum asritam: "Because I have appeared just like a human being, those who are rascals think that I am also just like an ordinary human." Param bhavam ajanantah: "They do not know the mystery behind God's taking birth like a human being."

Near the end of the chapter Srila Prabhupada discusses Sandalwood (Candana) trees and Malaysia. He then closes with this point;

In India it was the system that after bathing and sanctifying the body by applying marks of tilaka, one would offer obeisances to the Deity, take some candana-prasada (sandalwood pulp) from the room of the Deity, and apply it as a cosmetic to the body. This was called prasadhanam. But it is said that in Kali-yuga, the present age, snanam eva prasadhanam (SB. 12.2.5): if one can even bathe nicely, that is prasadhana. In India even the poorest man will take an early morning bath every day, but when I came to America I saw that even taking one's daily bath may be a difficult thing and is often not the practice.

It is not our business to criticize, but the symptoms of Kali-yuga are very severe, and they will grow more severe. The best course, therefore, is to complete our Krsna consciousness and return home, back to Godhead. That will save us. Otherwise, if we come back again for another life in Kali yuga, we shall find difficult days ahead, and we shall have to suffer more and more.