Sri Krishna Madbhagavatam
68. The Great Sage Nārada Visits the Different Homes of Lord Kṛṣṇa
The great sage Nārada heard that Lord Kṛṣṇa had married
16,000 wives after He had killed the demon Narakāsura, sometimes called
Bhaumāsura. Nārada became astonished that Lord Kṛṣṇa had expanded Himself into 16,000 forms and
married these wives simultaneously in different palaces. Being inquisitive as
to how Kṛṣṇa
was managing His household affairs with so many wives, Nārada desired to see
these pastimes and so set out to visit Kṛṣṇa's different homes. When Nārada arrived in
Dvārakā, he saw that the gardens and parks were full of various flowers of
different colors and orchards that were overloaded with a variety of fruits.
Beautiful birds were chirping, and peacocks were delightfully crowing. There
were tanks and ponds full of blue and red lotus flowers, and some of these
sites were filled with varieties of lilies. The lakes were full of nice swans
and cranes whose voices resounded everywhere. In the city there were as many as
900,000 great palaces built of first-class marble with gates and doors made of
silver. The posts of the houses and palaces were bedecked with jewels such as
touchstone, sapphires and emeralds, and the floors gave off a beautiful luster.
The highways, lanes, streets, crossings and marketplaces were all beautifully
decorated. The whole city was full of residential homes, assembly houses, and
temples, all of different architectural beauty. All of this made Dvārakā a
glowing city. The big avenues, crossings, lanes, streets, and also the
thresholds of every residential house, were very clean. On both sides of every
path there were bushes, and at regular intervals there were large trees that
shaded the avenues so that the sunshine would not bother the passersby.
In this greatly beautiful city of
Dvārakā, Lord Kṛṣṇa,
the Supreme Personality of Godhead, had many residential quarters. The great
kings and princes of the world used to visit these palaces just to worship Him.
The architectural plans were made personally by Viśvakarmā, the engineer of the
demigods, and in the construction of the palaces he exhibited all of his
talents and ingenuity. These residential quarters numbered more than 16,000,
and a different queen of Lord Kṛṣṇa resided in each of them. The great sage Nārada
entered one of these houses and saw that the pillars were made of coral and the
ceilings were bedecked with jewels. The walls as well as the arches between the
pillars glowed from the decorations of different kinds of sapphires. Throughout
the palace there were many canopies made by Viśvakarmā that were decorated with
strings of pearls. The chairs and other furniture were made of ivory, bedecked
with gold and diamonds, and jeweled lamps dissipated the darkness within the
palace. There was so much incense and flavored gum burning that the scented
fumes were coming out of the windows. The peacocks sitting on the steps became
illusioned by the fumes, mistaking them for clouds, and began dancing
jubilantly. There were many maidservants, all of whom were decorated with gold
necklaces, bangles and beautiful saris. There were also many male servants, who
were nicely dressed in cloaks and turbans and jeweled earrings. Beautiful as
they were, the servants were all engaged in different household duties.
Nārada saw that Lord Kṛṣṇa was sitting
with Rukmiṇīdevī,
the mistress of that particular palace, who was bearing the rod of a cāmara
whisk. Even though there were many thousands of maidservants who were equally
beautiful and qualified, and who were of the same age, Rukmiṇīdevī personally
was engaged in fanning Lord Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, worshiped
even by Nārada, but still, as soon as He saw Nārada enter the palace, Kṛṣṇa got down
immediately from Rukmiṇī's
bedstead and stood up to honor him. Lord Kṛṣṇa is the teacher of the whole world, and in order
to instruct everyone how to respect a saintly person like Nārada Muni, Kṛṣṇa bowed down,
touching His helmet to the ground. Not only did Kṛṣṇa bow down, but He also touched the feet of Nārada
and with folded hands requested him to sit on His chair. Lord Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme
Personality worshiped by all devotees. He is the most worshiped spiritual
master of everyone. The Ganges water which emanates from His feet sanctifies
the three worlds. All qualified brāhmaṇas worship Him, and therefore He is called brahmaṇya-deva.
Brahmaṇya means one who fully possesses the brahminical
qualifications, which are said to be as follows: truthfulness, self-control,
purity, mastery of the senses, simplicity, full knowledge by practical
application, and engagement in devotional service. Lord Kṛṣṇa personally
possesses all these qualities, and He is worshiped by persons who themselves
possess such qualities. There are thousands and millions of names of Lord Kṛṣṇa--Viṣṇu-sahasra-nāma--and
all of them are given to Him because of His transcendental qualities.
Lord Kṛṣṇa in Dvārakā enjoyed the pastimes of a perfect
human being. When, therefore, He washed the feet of the sage Nārada and took
the water on His head, Nārada did not object, knowing well that the Lord did so
to teach everyone how to respect saintly persons. The Supreme Personality of
Godhead, Kṛṣṇa,
who is the original Nārāyaṇa and eternal friend of all living entities, thus
worshiped the sage Nārada according to Vedic regulative principles. Welcoming
him with sweet nectarean words, He addressed Nārada as bhagavān, or one who is
self-sufficient, possessing all kinds of knowledge, renunciation, strength,
fame, beauty, and similar other opulences. He particularly asked Nārada,
"What can I do in your service?"
Nārada replied, "My dear Lord,
this kind of behavior by Your Lordship is not at all astonishing because You
are the Supreme Personality of Godhead and master of all species of living
entities. You are the supreme friend of all living entities, but at the same
time You are the supreme chastiser of the miscreants and the envious. I know
that Your Lordship has descended on this earth for the proper maintenance of
the whole universe. Your appearance, therefore, is not forced by any other
agency. By Your sweet will only, You agree to appear and disappear. It is my
great fortune that I have been able to see Your lotus feet today. Anyone who
becomes attached to Your lotus feet is elevated to the supreme position of
neutrality and is uncontaminated by the material modes of nature. My Lord, You
are unlimited; there is no limit to Your opulences. Great demigods like Lord
Brahmā and Lord Śiva are always busy placing You within their hearts and
meditating upon You. The conditioned souls who have now been put into the blind
well of material existence can get out of this eternal captivity only by
accepting Your lotus feet. Thus, You are the only shelter of all conditioned
souls. My dear Lord, You have very kindly asked what You can do for me. In
answer to this I simply request that I may not forget Your lotus feet at any
time. I do not care where I may be, but I pray that I may be allowed to
constantly remember Your lotus feet."
The benediction which the sage Nārada
asked from the Lord is the ideal prayer of all pure devotees. A pure devotee
never asks for any kind of material or spiritual benediction from the Lord, but
his only prayer is that he may not forget the lotus feet of the Lord in any
condition of life. A pure devotee does not care whether he is put in heaven or
hell; he is satisfied anywhere, provided he can constantly remember the lotus
feet of the Lord. Lord Caitanya also taught this same process of prayer in His
Śikṣāṣṭaka, in which He
clearly stated that all He wanted was devotional service, birth after birth. A
pure devotee does not even want to stop the repetition of birth and death. To a
pure devotee, it does not matter whether he has to take birth again in the
various species of life. His only ambition is that he may not forget the lotus
feet of the Lord in any condition of life.
After departing from the palace of
Rukmiṇī,
Nāradajī wanted to see the activities of Lord Kṛṣṇa's internal potency, yogamāyā; thus he entered the
palace of another queen. There he saw Lord Kṛṣṇa engaged in playing chess, along with His dear
wife and Uddhava. The Lord immediately got up from His seat and invited Nārada
Muni to sit on His personal seat. The Lord again worshiped him with as much
paraphernalia for reception as He had in the palace of Rukmiṇī. After
worshiping him properly, Lord Kṛṣṇa acted as if He did not know what had happened in
the palace of Rukmiṇī.
He therefore told Nārada, "My dear sage, when Your Holiness comes here,
you are full in yourself. Although We are householders and are always in need,
you don't require anyone's help because you are self-satisfied. Under the
circumstances, what reception can We offer you, and what can We possibly give
you? Yet, since Your Holiness is a brāhmaṇa, it is Our duty to offer you something as far as
possible. Therefore, I beg your pleasure to order Me. What can I do for
you?"
Nāradajī knew everything about the
pastimes of the Lord, so without any further discussion, he simply left the
palace silently, in great astonishment over the Lord's activities. He then
entered another palace. This time Nāradajī saw that Lord Kṛṣṇa was engaged as
an affectionate father petting His small children. From there he entered
another palace and saw Lord Kṛṣṇa preparing to take His bath. In this way, Saint
Nārada entered each and every one of the sixteen thousand residential palaces
of the queens of Lord Kṛṣṇa,
and in each of them he found Kṛṣṇa engaged in different ways.
In one place he found Kṛṣṇa engaged in
offering oblations to the sacrificial fire and performing the ritualistic
ceremonies of the Vedas as enjoined for householders. In another palace, Kṛṣṇa was found
performing the pañca-yajña sacrifice, which is compulsory for a householder.
This yajña is also known as pañca-śūna. Knowingly or unknowingly, everyone,
specifically the householder, is committing five kinds of sinful activities.
When we receive water from a water pitcher, we kill many germs that are in it.
Similarly, when we use a grinding machine or take foodstuff, we kill many
germs. When sweeping a floor or igniting a fire we kill many germs, and when we
walk on the street we kill many ants and other insects. Consciously or
unconsciously, in all our different activities, we are killing. Therefore, it
is incumbent upon every householder to perform the pañca-śūna sacrifice to rid
himself of the reactions to such sinful activities.
In one palace Lord Kṛṣṇa was found engaged in feeding brāhmaṇas after
performing ritualistic yajñas. In another palace, Nārada found Kṛṣṇa engaged in silently
chanting the Gāyatrī mantra, and in a third he found Him practicing fighting
with a sword and shield. In some palaces Lord Kṛṣṇa was found riding on horses or elephants or
chariots and wandering hither and thither. Elsewhere He was found lying down on
His bedstead taking rest, and somewhere else He was found sitting in His chair,
being praised by the prayers of His different devotees. In some of the palaces
He was found consulting with ministers like Uddhava and others on important
matters of business. In one palace He was found surrounded by many young
society girls, enjoying in a swimming pool. In another palace He was found
engaged in giving well-decorated cows in charity to the brāhmaṇas, and in
another palace He was found hearing the narrations of the Purāṇas or histories,
such as the Mahābhārata, which are supplementary literatures for disseminating
Vedic knowledge to common people by narrating important instances in the
history of the universe. Somewhere Lord Kṛṣṇa was found enjoying the company of a particular
wife by exchanging joking words with her. Somewhere else He was found engaged
along with His wife in religious ritualistic functions. Since it is necessary
for householders to increase their financial assets for various expenditures, Kṛṣṇa was found
somewhere engaged in matters of economic development. Somewhere else He was
found enjoying family life according to the regulative principles of the
śāstras. In one palace He was found sitting in meditation as if He were concentrating His mind on the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is beyond these material universes. Meditation, as recommended in authorized scripture, is meant for concentrating one's mind on the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu. Lord Kṛṣṇa is Himself the original Viṣṇu, but because He played the part of a human being, He taught us definitely by His personal behavior what is meant by meditation. Somewhere Lord Kṛṣṇa was found satisfying elderly superiors by supplying them things which they needed. Somewhere else Nāradajī found that Lord Kṛṣṇa was engaged in discussing topics of fighting, and somewhere else in making peace with enemies. Somewhere Lord Kṛṣṇa was found discussing the ultimate auspicious activity for the entire human society with His elder brother Lord Balarāma. Nārada saw Lord Kṛṣṇa engaged in getting His sons and daughters married with suitable brides and bridegrooms in due course of time, and the marriage ceremonies were being performed with great pomp. In one palace He was found bidding farewell to His daughters, and in another He was found receiving a daughter-in-law. People throughout the whole city were astonished to see such pomp and ceremonies.
Somewhere the Lord was seen engaged in
performing different types of sacrifices to satisfy the demigods, who are only
His qualitative expansions. Somewhere He was seen engaged in public welfare
activities, establishing deep wells for water supply, rest houses and gardens
for unknown guests, and great monasteries and temples for saintly persons.
These are some of the duties enjoined in the Vedas for householders for
fulfillment of their material desires. Somewhere Kṛṣṇa was found as a
kṣatriya
king engaged in hunting animals in the forest and riding on very beautiful
sindhī horses. According to Vedic regulations, the kṣatriyas were
allowed to kill prescribed animals on certain occasions, either to maintain
peace in the forests or to offer the animals in the sacrificial fire. Kṣatriyas are
allowed to practice this killing art because they have to kill their enemies
mercilessly to maintain peace in society. In one situation the great sage
Nārada saw Lord Kṛṣṇa,
the Supreme Personality of Godhead and master of mystic powers, acting as a spy
by changing His usual dress in order to understand the motives of different citizens
in the city and within the palaces.
Saint Nārada saw all these activities
of the Lord, who is the Supersoul of all living entities but who played the
role of an ordinary human being in order to manifest the activities of His
internal potency. He was smiling within himself and he began to address the
Lord as follows: "My dear Lord of all mystic powers, object of the
meditation of great mystics, the extent of Your mystic power is certainly
inconceivable, even to mystics like Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva. But by Your
mercy, because of my being always engaged in the transcendental loving service
of Your lotus feet, Your Lordship has very kindly revealed to me the actions of
Your internal potency. My dear Lord, You are worshipable by all, and demigods
and predominating deities of all fourteen planetary systems are completely
aware of Your transcendental fame. Now please give me Your blessings so that I
may be able to travel all over the universes singing the glories of Your
transcendental activities."
The Supreme Personality of Godhead,
Lord Kṛṣṇa,
replied to Nārada as follows: "My dear Nārada, O sage among the demigods,
you know that I am the supreme instructor and perfect follower of all religious
principles, as well as the supreme enforcer of such principles. I am therefore
personally executing such religious principles in order to teach the whole
world how to act. My dear son, it is My desire that you not be bewildered by
such demonstrations of My internal energy."
The Supreme Personality of Godhead was
engaged in His so-called household affairs in order to teach people how one can
sanctify one's household life although he may be attached to the imprisonment
of material existence. Actually, one is obliged to continue the term of
material existence because of household life. But the Lord, being very kind
upon householders, demonstrated the path of sanctifying ordinary household
life. Because Kṛṣṇa is
the center of all activities, a Kṛṣṇa conscious householder's life is transcendental to
Vedic injunctions and is automatically sanctified.
Thus Nārada saw one single Kṛṣṇa living in
sixteen thousand palaces by His plenary expansions. Due to His inconceivable
energy, He was visible in each and every individual queen's palace. Lord Kṛṣṇa has unlimited
power, and Nārada's astonishment was boundless upon observing again and again
the demonstration of Lord Kṛṣṇa's internal energy. Lord Kṛṣṇa behaved by His
personal example as if He were very much attached to the four principles of
civilized life, namely religiousness, economic development, sense gratification
and salvation. These four principles of material existence are necessary for
the spiritual advancement of human society, and although Lord Kṛṣṇa had no need to
do so, He exhibited His household activities so that people might follow in His
footsteps for their own interest. Lord Kṛṣṇa satisfied the sage Nārada in every way. Nārada
was very much pleased by seeing the Lord's activities in Dvārakā, and thus he
departed.
In narrating the activities of Lord Kṛṣṇa in Dvārakā,
Śukadeva Gosvāmī explained to King Parīkṣit how Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, descends on
this material universe by the agency of His internal potency and personally
exhibits the principles which, if followed, can lead one to achieve the
ultimate goal of life. All the queens in Dvārakā, more than sixteen thousand in
number, engaged their feminine attractive features in the transcendental
service of the Lord by smiling and serving, and the Lord was pleased to behave
with them exactly as a perfect husband enjoying household life. One should know
definitely that such pastimes cannot be performed by anyone but Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the
original cause of the creation, maintenance and dissolution of the whole cosmic
manifestation. Anyone who attentively hears the narrations of the Lord's
pastimes in Dvārakā or supports a preacher of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness
movement will certainly find it very easy to traverse the path of liberation
and taste the nectar of the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa. And thus he will be engaged in His devotional
service.
69. Lord Kṛṣṇa's
Daily Activities
From the Vedic mantras we learn that
the Supreme Personality of Godhead has nothing to do: na tasya karyaṁ kranaṁ ca vidyate. If
the Supreme Lord has nothing to do, then how can we speak of the activities of
the Supreme Lord? From the previous chapter it is clear that no one can act in
the way that Lord Kṛṣṇa
does. We should clearly note this fact: the activities of the Lord should be
followed, but they cannot be imitated. For example, Kṛṣṇa's ideal life
as a householder can be followed, but if one wants to imitate Kṛṣṇa by expanding
into many forms, that is not possible. We should always remember, therefore,
that Lord Kṛṣṇa,
although playing the part of a human being, nevertheless simultaneously
maintains the position of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. We can follow
Lord Kṛṣṇa's
dealing with His wives as an ordinary human being, but His dealing with more
than sixteen thousand wives at one time cannot be imitated. The conclusion is
that to become ideal householders we should follow in the footsteps of Lord Kṛṣṇa as He
displayed His daily activities, but we cannot imitate Him at any stage of our
life.
Lord Kṛṣṇa used to lie down with His sixteen thousand wives,
but also He would rise up from bed very early in the morning, three hours
before sunrise. By nature's arrangement the crowing of the cocks warns of the
brāhma-muhūrta hour. There is no need of alarm clocks; as soon as the cocks
crow early in the morning, it is to be understood that it is time to rise from
bed. Hearing that sound, Kṛṣṇa would get up from bed, but His rising early was
not very much to the liking of His wives. The wives of Kṛṣṇa were so much
attached to Him that they would lie in bed embracing Him, but as soon as the
cocks crowed, Kṛṣṇa's
wives would be very sorry and would immediately condemn the crowing.
In the garden within the compound of
each palace there were pārijāta flowers. Pārijāta is not an artificial flower.
We remember that Kṛṣṇa
brought the pārijāta trees from heaven and implanted them in all His palaces.
Early in the morning, a mild breeze would carry the aroma of the pārijāta
flower, and Kṛṣṇa
would smell it just after rising from bed. Due to this aroma, the honeybees
would begin their humming vibration, and the birds also would begin their sweet
chirping sounds. All together it would sound like the singing of professional
chanters engaged in offering prayers to Kṛṣṇa. Although Śrīmatī Rukmiṇīdevī, the first
queen of Lord Kṛṣṇa,
knew that brāhma-muhūrta is the most auspicious time in the entire day, she
would feel disgusted at the appearance of brāhma-muhūrta because she was not
very happy to have Kṛṣṇa
leave her side in bed. Despite Śrīmatī Rukmiṇīdevī's disgust, Lord Kṛṣṇa would
immediately get up from bed exactly on the appearance of brāhma-muhūrta. An
ideal householder should learn from the behavior of Lord Kṛṣṇa how to rise
early in the morning, however comfortably he may be lying in bed embraced by
his wife.
After rising from bed, Lord Kṛṣṇa would wash His
mouth, hands and feet and would immediately sit down and meditate on Himself.
This does not mean, however, that we should also sit down and meditate on
ourselves. We have to meditate upon Kṛṣṇa, Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. That is real meditation, Kṛṣṇa is Kṛṣṇa Himself;
therefore He was teaching us that brāhma-muhūrta should be utilized for
meditation on Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa.
By doing so, Kṛṣṇa
would feel very much satisfied, and similarly we will also feel
transcendentally pleased and satisfied if we utilize the brāhma-muhūrta period
to meditate on Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa and if we think of how Śrī Rukmiṇīdevī and Kṛṣṇa acted as ideal
householders to teach the whole human society to rise early in the morning and
immediately engage in Kṛṣṇa
consciousness. There is no difference between meditating on the eternal forms
of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa
and chanting the mahāmantra, Hare Kṛṣṇa. As for Kṛṣṇa's meditation, He had no alternative but to
meditate on Himself. The object of meditation is Brahman, Paramātmā or the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, but Kṛṣṇa Himself is all three: He is the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, Bhagavān; the localized Paramātmā is His plenary
partial expansion; and the all-pervading Brahman effulgence is the personal
rays of His transcendental body. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is always one, and for Him there is no
differentiation. That is the difference between an ordinary living being and Kṛṣṇa. For an
ordinary living being there are many distinctions. An ordinary living being is
different from his body, and he is different from other species of living
entities. A human being is different from other human beings and different from
the animals. Even in his own body, there are different bodily limbs. We have our
hands and legs, but our hands are different from our legs. The hand cannot act
like the leg, nor can the leg act like the hand. The eyes cannot hear like the
ears, nor can the ears see like the eyes. All these differences are technically
called svajtiya-vijtiya.
The bodily limitation whereby one part
of the body cannot act as another part is totally absent in the Supreme
Personality of Godhead. There is no difference between His body and Himself. He
is completely spiritual, and therefore there is no material difference between
His body and His soul. Similarly, He is not different from His millions of
incarnations and plenary expansions. Baladeva is the first expansion of Kṛṣṇa, and from
Baladeva expand Saṇkarṣaṇa, Vāsudeva,
Pradyumna and Aniruddha. From Saṇkarṣaṇa there is again an expansion of Nārāyaṇa, and from
Nārāyaṇa
there is a second quadruple expansion of Saṇkarṣaṇa, Vāsudeva, Pradyumna and Aniruddha. Similarly
there are innumerable expansions of Kṛṣṇa, but all of them are one. Kṛṣṇa has many
incarnations, such as Lord Nṛsiṁha, Lord Boar, Lord Fish and Lord Tortoise, but
there is no difference between Kṛṣṇa's original two-handed form, like that of a human
being, and these incarnations of gigantic animal forms. Nor is there any
difference between the action of one part of His body and that of another. His
hands can act as His legs, His eyes can act as His ears, or His nose can act as
another part of His body. Kṛṣṇa's smelling and eating and hearing are all the
same. We limited living entities have to use a particular part of our body for
a particular purpose, but there is no such distinction for Kṛṣṇa. In the
Brahma-saṁhitā
it is said, aṅgāni
yasya sakalendriya-vṛtti:
He can perform the activities of one limb with any other limb. So by analytical
study of Kṛṣṇa
and His person, it is concluded that He is the complete whole. When He
meditates, therefore, He meditates on Himself. The self-meditation by ordinary
men, designated in Sanskrit as so 'ham, is simply imitation. Kṛṣṇa may meditate
on Himself because He is the complete whole, but we cannot imitate Him and
meditate on ourselves. Our body is a designation; Kṛṣṇa's body is not
a designation. Kṛṣṇa's
body is also Kṛṣṇa.
There is no existence of anything foreign in Kṛṣṇa. Whatever there is in Kṛṣṇa is also Kṛṣṇa. He is
therefore the supreme, indestructible, complete existence, or the supreme truth
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Kṛṣṇa's existence is not relative existence.
Everything else but Kṛṣṇa
is a relative truth, but Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Absolute Truth. Kṛṣṇa
does not depend on anything but Himself for His existence. Our existence,
however is relative. For example, only when there is the light of the sun,
the moon or electricity are we able to see. Our seeing, therefore, is
relative, and the light of the sun and moon and electricity is also relative;
they are called illuminating only because we see them as such. Dependence and
relativity do not exist in Kṛṣṇa. His activities are not dependent on anyone
else's appreciation, nor does He depend on anyone else's help. He is beyond
the existence of limited time and space, and because He is transcendental to
time and space, He cannot be covered by the illusion of māyā, whose
activities are limited. In the Vedic literature we find that the Supreme
Personality of Godhead has multi-potencies. Since all such potencies are
emanations from Him, there is no difference between Him and His potencies.
Certain philosophers say, however, that when Kṛṣṇa comes He accepts a material body. But even if
it is accepted that when He comes to the material world He accepts a material
body, it should be concluded also that because the material energy is not
different from Him, this body does not act materially. In the Bhagavad-gītā
it is said, therefore, that He appears by His own internal potency,
ātma-māyā.
Kṛṣṇa is called the Supreme Brahman because He is the
cause of creation, the cause of maintenance and the cause of dissolution.
Lord Brahmā, Lord Viṣṇu
and Lord Śiva are different expansions of these material qualities. All these
material qualities can act upon the conditioned souls, but there is no such
action and reaction upon Kṛṣṇa because these qualities are all simultaneously
one with and different from Him. Kṛṣṇa Himself is simply sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha, the
eternal form of bliss and knowledge, and because of His inconceivable
greatness, He is called the Supreme Brahman. His meditation on Brahman or
Paramātmā or Bhagavān is on Himself only and not on anything else beyond
Himself. This meditation cannot be imitated by the ordinary living entity.
After His meditation, the Lord would
regularly bathe early in the morning with clear sanctified water. Then He
would change into fresh clothing, cover Himself with a wrapper and then
engage Himself in His daily religious functions. Out of His many religious
duties, the first was to offer oblations into the sacrificial fire and
silently chant the Gāyatrī mantra. Lord Kṛṣṇa, as the ideal householder, executed all the
religious functions of a householder without deviation. When the sunrise
became visible, the Lord would offer specific prayers to the sun-god. The
sun-god and other demigods mentioned in the Vedic scriptures are described as
different limbs of the body of Lord Kṛṣṇa, and it is the duty of the householder to offer
respects to the demigods and great sages, as well as the forefathers.
As it is said in the Bhagavad-gītā,
the Lord has no specific duty to perform in this world, and yet He acts just
like an ordinary man living an ideal life within this material world. In
accordance with Vedic ritualistic principles, the Lord would offer respects
to the demigods. The regulative principle by which the demigods and
forefathers are worshiped is called tarpaṇa, which means pleasing. One's forefathers might
have to take a body on another planet, but by performance of this tarpaṇa system, they
become very happy wherever they may be. It is the duty of the householder to
make his family members happy, and by following this tarpaṇa system he
can make his forefathers happy also. As the perfect exemplary householder,
Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa
followed this tarpaṇa
system and offered respectful obeisances to the elderly, superior members of
His family.
His next duty was to give cows in
charity to the brāhmaṇas.
Lord Kṛṣṇa
used to give as many as 13,084 cows. Each of them was decorated with a silken
cover and pearl necklace, their horns were covered with gold plating, and
their hooves were silver-plated. All of them were full of milk, due to having
their first-born calves with them, and they were very tame and peaceful. When
the cows were given in charity to the brāhmaṇas, the brāhmaṇas also were given nice silken garments, and each
was given a deerskin and sufficient quantity of sesame grains. The Lord is
generally known as go-brāhmaṇa-hitāya ca, which means that His first duty is
to see to the welfare of the cows and the brāhmaṇas. Thus He
used to give cows in charity to the brāhmaṇas, with opulent decorations and paraphernalia.
Then, wishing for the welfare of all living entities, He would touch
auspicious articles such as milk, fire, honey, ghee (clarified butter), gold,
jewels and fire. Although the Lord is by nature very beautiful due to the
perfect figure of His transcendental body, still He would dress Himself in
yellow colored garments and put on His necklace of Kaustubha jewels. He would
wear flower garlands, smear His body with the pulp of sandalwood and decorate
Himself with other similar cosmetics and ornaments. It is said that the
ornaments themselves became beautiful upon being placed on the transcendental
body of the Lord. After decorating Himself in this way, the Lord would then
look at marble statues of the cow and calf and visit temples of God or
demigods like Lord Śiva. There were many brāhmaṇas who would come daily to see the Supreme Lord
before taking their breakfast; they were anxious to see Him, and He welcomed
them.
His next duty was to please all kinds
of men belonging to the different castes, both in the city and within the
palace compound. He made them happy by fulfilling their different desires,
and when the Lord saw them happy He also became very much pleased. The flower
garlands, betel nuts, sandalwood pulp and other fragrant cosmetic articles
which were offered to the Lord would be distributed by Him, first to the
brāhmaṇas
and elderly members of the family, then to the queens, then to the ministers,
and if there were still some balance He would utilize it for His own personal
use. By the time the Lord finished all these daily duties and activities, His
charioteer Dāruka would come with His wonderful chariot to stand before the
Lord with folded hands, intimating that the chariot was ready, and the Lord
would come out of the palace to travel. Then the Lord, accompanied by Uddhava
and Sātyaki, would ride on the chariot just as the sun-god rides on his
chariot in the morning, appearing with his blazing rays on the surface of the
world. When the Lord was about to leave His palaces, all the queens would
look at Him with feminine gestures. The Lord would respond to their greetings
with smiles, attracting their hearts so much so that they would feel intense
separation from the Lord.
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Once upon a time, a person arrived at
the gateway of the assembly house who was unknown to all the members of the
assembly, and with the permission of Lord Kṛṣṇa he was admitted into the assembly by the
doorkeeper. The doorkeeper was ordered to present him before the Lord, and
the man appeared and offered his respectful obeisances unto the Lord with
folded hands. It had happened that when King Jarāsandha conquered all other
kingdoms many kings did not bow their heads before Jarāsandha, and as a
result of this all of them, numbering twenty thousand, were arrested and made
his prisoners. The man who was brought before Lord Kṛṣṇa
by the doorkeeper was a representative messenger from all these imprisoned
kings. Being duly presented before the Lord, the man began to explain the
actual situation as follows:
"My dear Lord, You are the
eternal form of transcendental bliss and knowledge. As such, You are beyond
the reach of the mental speculation or vocal description of any materialistic
man within this world. A slight portion of Your glories can be known by
persons who are fully surrendered unto Your lotus feet, and by Your grace
only such persons become freed from all material anxieties. My dear Lord, I
am not one of these surrendered souls; I am still within the duality and
illusion of this material existence. I have therefore come to take shelter of
Your lotus feet, for I am afraid of the cycle of birth and death. My dear
Lord, I think that there are many living entities like me who are eternally
entangled in fruitive activities and their resultant reactions. They are
never inclined to follow Your instructions by performance of devotional
service, although it is pleasing to the heart and most auspicious for one's
existence. On the contrary, they are against the path of Kṛṣṇa
conscious life, and they are wandering within the three worlds impelled by
the illusory energy of material existence.
"My dear Lord, who can estimate
Your mercy and Your powerful activities? You are present always as the
insurmountable force of eternal time, engaged in baffling the indefatigable
desires of the materialists, who are thus repeatedly becoming confused and
frustrated. I therefore offer my respectful obeisances unto You in Your form
of eternal time. My dear Lord, You are the proprietor of all the worlds, and
You have incarnated Yourself along with Your plenary expansion Lord Balarāma.
It is said that Your appearance in this incarnation is for the purpose of
protecting the faithful and destroying the miscreants. Under the
circumstances, how is it possible that miscreants like Jarāsandha can put us
into such deplorable conditions of life against Your authority? We are
puzzled at the situation and cannot understand how it is possible. It may be
that Jarāsandha has been deputed to give us such trouble because of our past
misdeeds, but we have heard from revealed scriptures that anyone who
surrenders unto Your lotus feet immediately becomes immuned to the reactions
of sinful life.
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"Dear Lord, because we are now surrendered souls at Your lotus feet, You can give us relief from the entrapment of fruitive action made possible by the form of Jarāsandha. Dear Lord, it is known to You that Jarāsandha possesses the power of ten thousand elephants, and with this power he has imprisoned us, just as a lion hypnotizes a flock of sheep. My dear Lord, You have already fought with Jarāsandha eighteen times consecutively, out of which You have defeated him seventeen times by surpassing his extraordinarily powerful position. But in Your eighteenth fight, You exhibited Your human behavior, and thus it appeared that You were defeated. My dear Lord, we know very well that Jarāsandha cannot defeat You at any time because Your power, strength, resources and authority are all unlimited. No one can equal You or surpass You. The appearance of defeat by Jarāsandha in the eighteenth engagement is nothing but an exhibition of human behavior. Unfortunately, foolish Jarāsandha could not understand Your tricks, and he has since then become puffed up over his material power and prestige. Specifically, he has arrested us and imprisoned us, knowing fully that as Your devotees, we are subordinate to Your sovereignty.
"Now I have explained the awful position, and Your Lordship can consider and do whatever You like. As the messenger and representative of all those imprisoned kings, I have submitted my words before Your Lordship and presented our prayers to You. All the kings are very anxious to see You so that they can all personally surrender at Your lotus feet. My dear Lord, be merciful upon them and act for their good fortune."
At the very moment the messenger of the imprisoned
kings was presenting his appeal before the Lord, the great sage Nārada also
arrived. Because he was a great saint, his hair was dazzling like gold, and
when he entered the assembly house it appeared that the sun-god was personally
present in the midst of the assembly. Lord Kṛṣṇa is the worshipable master of even Lord Brahmā and
Lord Śiva, yet as soon as He saw that the sage Nārada had arrived, He immediately
stood up along with His ministers and secretaries to receive the great sage and
offer His respectful obeisances by bowing His head. The great sage Nārada took
a comfortable seat, and Lord Kṛṣṇa worshiped him with all paraphernalia, as required
for the regular reception of a saintly person. While He was trying to satisfy
Nāradajī, Lord Kṛṣṇa
spoke the following words in His sweet and natural voice.
"My dear great sage among the
demigods, I think that now everything is well within the three worlds. You are
perfectly eligible to travel everywhere in space in the upper, middle and lower
planetary systems of this universe. Fortunately, when we meet you we can very
easily take information from your holiness of all the news of the three worlds;
within this cosmic manifestation of the Supreme Lord, there is nothing
concealed from your knowledge. You know everything, and so I wish to question
you. Are the Pāṇḍavas doing well, and what is the
present plan of King Yudhiṣṭhira? Will you kindly let Me know what they want to
do at present?"
The great sage Nārada spoke as follows:
"My dear Lord, You have spoken about the cosmic manifestation created by
the Supreme Lord, but I know that You are the all-pervading creator. Your
energies are so extensive and inconceivable that even powerful personalities
like Brahmā, the lord of this particular universe, cannot measure Your
inconceivable power. My dear Lord, You are present as the Supersoul in
everyone's heart by Your inconceivable potency, exactly like the fire which is
present in everyone but which no one can see directly. In conditioned life,
every living entity is within the jurisdiction of the three modes of material
nature. As such, they are unable to see Your presence everywhere with their
material eyes. By Your grace, however, I have seen many times the action of
Your inconceivable potency, and therefore when You ask me for news of the Pāṇḍavas, which is
not at all unknown to You, I am not surprised at Your inquiry. My dear Lord, by
Your inconceivable potencies You create this cosmic manifestation, maintain it
and again dissolve it. It is by dint of Your inconceivable potency only that
this material world, although a shadow representation of the spiritual world,
appears to be factual. No one can understand what You plan to do in the future.
Your transcendental position is always inconceivable to everyone. As far as I
am concerned, I can simply offer my respectful obeisances unto You again and
again. In the bodily concept of knowledge, everyone is driven by material desires,
and thus everyone develops new material bodies one after another in the cycle
of birth and death. Being absorbed in such a concept of existence, one does not
know how to get out of this encagement of the material body. Out of Your
causeless mercy, my Lord, You descend to exhibit Your different transcendental
pastimes, which are illuminating and full of glory. Therefore I have no
alternative but to offer my respectful obeisances unto You. My dear Lord, You
are the Supreme Parambrahman, and Your pastimes as an ordinary human are
another tactical resource, exactly like a play on the stage in which the actor
plays parts different from his own identity. You have inquired about Your
cousins the Pāṇḍavas
in the role of their well-wisher, and therefore I shall let You know about
their intentions. Now please hear me. First of all may I inform You that King
Yudhiṣṭhira
has all material opulences which are possible to achieve in the highest
planetary system, Brahmaloka. He has no material opulence for which to aspire,
and yet he wants to perform the Rājasūya sacrifices only to get Your
association and please You.
Nārada informed Lord Kṛṣṇa, “King Yudhiṣṭhira is so
opulent that he has attained all the opulences of Brahmaloka even on this
earthly planet. He is fully satisfied, and he does not need anything more. He
is full in everything, but now he wants to worship You in order to achieve Your
causeless mercy, and I beg to request You to fulfill his desires. My dear Lord,
in these great sacrificial performances by King Yudhiṣṭhira there will
be an assembly of all the demigods and all the famous kings of the world.
"My dear Lord, You are the Supreme
Brahman, the Personality of Godhead. One who engages himself in Your devotional
service by the prescribed methods of hearing, chanting and remembering
certainly becomes purified from the contamination of the modes of material
nature, and what to speak of those who have the opportunity to see You and
touch You directly. My dear Lord, You are the symbol of everything auspicious.
Your transcendental name and fame have spread all over the universe, including
the higher, middle and lower planetary systems. The transcendental water which
washes Your lotus feet is known in the higher planetary system as Mandākinī, in
the lower planetary system as Bhogavatī, and in this earthly planetary system
as the Ganges. This sacred, transcendental water flows throughout the entire
universe, purifying wherever it flows."
Just before the great sage Nārada arrived in the
Sudharmā assembly house of Dvārakā, Lord Kṛṣṇa and His ministers and secretaries had been
considering how to attack the kingdom of Jarāsandha. Because they were
seriously considering this subject, Nārada's proposal that Lord Kṛṣṇa go to
Hastināpura for Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira's great Rājasūya sacrifice did not much appeal
to them. Lord Kṛṣṇa
could understand the intentions of His associates because He is the ruler of
even Lord Brahmā. Therefore, in order to pacify them, He smilingly said to
Uddhava, "My dear Uddhava, you are always My well-wishing confidential
friend. I therefore wish to see everything through you because I believe that
your counsel is always right. I believe that you understand the whole situation
perfectly. Therefore I am asking your opinion. What should I do? I have faith
in you, and therefore I shall do whatever you advise." It was known to
Uddhava that although Lord Kṛṣṇa was acting like an ordinary man, He knew
everything--past, present and future. However, because the Lord was trying to
consult with him, Uddhava, in order to render service to the Lord, began to
speak.
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
(My humble salutations H H Swami Sri Prabhupada ji, Sri Krishnalilas
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