Sri Krishna Madbhagavatam
3. Birth of Lord Kṛṣṇa
As stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, the Lord says that
His appearance, birth, and activities, are all transcendental, and one who
understands them factually becomes immediately eligible to be transferred to
the spiritual world. The Lord's appearance or birth is not like that of an
ordinary man who is forced to accept a material body according to his past
deeds. The Lord's appearance is explained in the Second Chapter: He appears out
of His own sweet pleasure. When the time was mature for the appearance of the
Lord, the constellations became very auspicious. The astrological influence of
the star known as Rohiṇī was also
predominant because this star is considered to be very auspicious. Rohiṇī is under the direct supervision of Brahmā.
According to the astrological conclusion, besides the proper situation of the
stars, there are auspicious and inauspicious moments due to the different
situations of the different planetary systems. At the time of Kṛṣṇa's birth, the planetary systems were automatically
adjusted so that everything became auspicious.
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At
that time, in all directions, east, west, south, north, everywhere, there was
an atmosphere of peace and prosperity. There were auspicious stars visible in
the sky, and on the surface in all towns and villages or pasturing grounds
and within the minds of everyone there were signs of good fortune. The rivers
were flowing full of waters, and lakes were beautifully decorated with lotus
flowers. The forests were full with beautiful birds and peacocks. All the
birds within the forests began to sing with sweet voices, and the peacocks
began to dance along with their consorts. The wind blew very pleasantly,
carrying the aroma of different flowers, and the sensation of bodily touch
was very pleasing. At home, the brāhmaṇas, who were
accustomed to offer sacrifices in the fire, found their homes very pleasant
for offerings. Due to disturbances created by the demoniac kings, the
sacrificial fire alter had been almost stopped in the houses of brāhmaṇas, but now they could find the opportunity to
start the fire peacefully. Being forbidden to offer sacrifices, the brāhmaṇas were very distressed in mind, intelligence and
activities, but just on the point of Kṛṣṇa's appearance,
automatically their minds became full of joy because they could hear loud
vibrations in the sky of transcendental sounds proclaiming the appearance of
the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
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The denizens of the Gandharva and Kinnara planets
began to sing, and the denizens of Siddhaloka and the planets of the Cāraṇas began to offer prayers in the service of the
Personality of Godhead. In the heavenly planets, the angels along with their
wives, accompanied by the Apsaras, began to dance.
The great sages and the demigods, being pleased,
began to shower flowers. At the seashore, there was the sound of mild waves,
and above the sea there were clouds in the sky which began to thunder very
pleasingly.
When things were adjusted like this, Lord Viṣṇu, who is residing within the heart of every living
entity, appeared in the darkness of night as the Supreme Personality of Godhead
before Devakī, who also appeared as one of the demigoddesses. The appearance of
Lord Viṣṇu at that time could
be compared with the full moon in the sky as it rises on the eastern horizon.
The objection may be raised that, since Lord Kṛṣṇa appeared on the
eighth day of the waning moon, there could be no rising of the full moon. In
answer to this it may be said that Lord Kṛṣṇa appeared in the
dynasty which is in the hierarchy of the moon; therefore, although the moon was
incomplete on that night, because of the Lord's appearance in the dynasty
wherein the moon is himself the original person, the moon was in an overjoyous
condition, so by the grace of Kṛṣṇa he could appear
just as a full moon.
In an astronomical treatise by the name Khamāṇikya, the constellations at the time of the appearance
of Lord Kṛṣṇa are very nicely
described. It is confirmed that the child born at that auspicious moment was
the Supreme Brahman or the Absolute Truth.
Vasudeva saw that wonderful child born
as a baby with four hands, holding conchshell, club, disc, and lotus flower,
decorated with the mark of Śrīvatsa, wearing the jeweled necklace of kaustubha
stone, dressed in yellow silk, appearing dazzling like a bright blackish cloud,
wearing a helmet bedecked with the vaidūrya stone, valuable bracelets, earrings
and similar other ornaments all over His body and an abundance of hair on His
head. Due to the extraordinary features of the child, Vasudeva was struck with
wonder. How could a newly born child be so decorated? He could therefore
understand that Lord Kṛṣṇa
had now appeared, and he became overpowered by the occasion. Vasudeva very
humbly wondered that although he was an ordinary living entity conditioned by
material nature and was externally imprisoned by Kaṁsa, the all-pervading Personality of
Godhead, Viṣṇu
or Kṛṣṇa,
was appearing as a child in his home, exactly in His original position. No
earthly child is born with four hands decorated with ornaments and nice
clothing, fully equipped with all the signs of the Supreme Personality of
Godhead. Over and over again, Vasudeva glanced at his child, and he considered
how to celebrate this auspicious moment: "Generally, when a male child is
born," he thought, "people observe the occasion with jubilant
celebrations, and in my home, although I am imprisoned, the Supreme Personality
of Godhead has taken birth. How many millions of millions of times should I be
prepared to observe this auspicious ceremony!"
When Vasudeva, who is also called Ānakadundubhi,
was looking at his newborn baby, he was so happy that he wanted to give many
thousands of cows in charity to the brāhmaṇas. According to the
Vedic system, whenever there is an auspicious ceremony in the kṣatriya king's palace, the king gives many things in
charity. Cows decorated with golden ornaments are delivered to the brāhmaṇas and sages. Vasudeva wanted to perform a
charitable ceremony to celebrate Kṛṣṇa's appearance, but
because he was shackled within the walls of Kaṁsa's prison, this was
not possible. Instead, within his mind he gave thousands of cows to the brāhmaṇas.
When Vasudeva was convinced that the newborn child
was the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself, he bowed down with folded hands
and began to offer Him prayers. At that time Vasudeva was in the transcendental
position, and he became completely free from all fear of Kaṁsa. The newborn baby was also flashing His
effulgence within the room in which He appeared.
Vasudeva then began to offer his prayers. "My
dear Lord, I can understand who You are. You are the Supreme Personality of
Godhead, the Supersoul of all living entities and the Absolute Truth. You have
appeared in Your own eternal form which is directly perceived by us. I
understand that because I am afraid of Kaṁsa, You have appeared
just to deliver me from that fear. You do not belong to this material world;
You are the same person who brings about the cosmic manifestation simply by
glancing over material nature."
One may argue that the Supreme Personality of
Godhead, who creates the whole cosmic manifestation simply by His glance,
cannot come within the womb of Devakī, the wife of Vasudeva. To eradicate this
argument, Vasudeva said, "My dear Lord, it is not a very wonderful thing
that You appear within the womb of Devakī because the creation was also made in
that way. You were lying in the Causal Ocean as Mahā-Viṣṇu, and by Your breathing process, innumerable
universes came into existence. Then You entered into each of the universes as
Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. Then again You
expanded Yourself as Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu and entered into the hearts of all living
entities and entered even within the atoms. Therefore Your entrance in the womb
of Devakī is understandable in the same way. You appear to have entered, but
You are simultaneously all-pervading. We can understand Your entrance and
nonentrance from material examples. The total material energy remains intact
even after being divided into sixteen elements. The material body is nothing
but the combination of the five gross elements--namely earth, water, fire, air
and ether. Whenever there is a material body, it appears that such elements are
newly created, but actually the elements are always existing outside of the
body. Similarly, although You appear as a child in the womb of Devakī, You are
also existing outside. You are always in Your abode, but still You can
simultaneously expand Yourself into millions of forms.
"One has to understand Your appearance with
great intelligence because the material energy is also emanating from You. You
are the original source of the material energy, just as the sun is the source
of the sunshine. The sunshine cannot cover the sun globe, nor can the material
energy--being an emanation from You--cover You. You appear to be in the three
modes of material energy, but actually the three modes of material energy
cannot cover You. This is understood by the highly intellectual philosophers.
In other words, although You appear to be within the material energy, You are
never covered by it."
We hear from the Vedic version that the Supreme
Brahman exhibits His effulgence, and therefore everything becomes illuminated.
We can understand from Brahma-saṁhitā that the
brahmajyoti, or the Brahman effulgence, emanates from the body of the Supreme
Lord. And from the Brahman effulgence, all creation takes place. It is further
stated in the Bhagavad-gītā that the Lord is also the support of the Brahman
effulgence. Originally He is the root cause of everything. But persons who are
less intelligent think that when the Supreme Personality of Godhead comes
within this material world, He accepts the material qualities. Such conclusions
are not very mature, but are made by the less intelligent.
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The
Supreme Personality of Godhead is directly and indirectly existing
everywhere; He is outside this material creation, and He is also within it.
He is within this material creation not only as Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu; He is also within the atom. Existence is due
to His presence. Nothing can be separated from His existence. In the Vedic
injunction we find that the Supreme Soul or the root cause of everything has
to be searched out because nothing exists independent of the Supreme Soul.
Therefore the material manifestation is also a transformation of His potency.
Both inert matter and the living force--soul--are emanations from Him. Only
the foolish conclude that when the Supreme Lord appears He accepts the
conditions of matter. Even if He appears to have accepted the material body,
He is still not subjected to any material condition. Kṛṣṇa has therefore appeared and defeated
all imperfect conclusions about the appearance and disappearance of the
Supreme Personality of Godhead.
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"My Lord, Your appearance, existence and
disappearance are beyond the influence of the material qualities. Because Your
Lordship is the controller of everything and the resting place of the Supreme
Brahman, there is nothing inconceivable or contradictory in You. As You have
said, material nature works under Your superintendence. It is just like
government officers working under the orders of the chief executive. The
influence of subordinate activities cannot affect You. The Supreme Brahman and
all phenomena are existing within You, and all the activities of material
nature are controlled by Your Lordship.
"You are called śuklam. Śuklam, or 'whiteness'
is the symbolic representation of the Absolute Truth because it is unaffected
by the material qualities. Lord Brahmā is called rakta, or red, because Brahmā
represents the qualities of passion for creation. Darkness is entrusted to Lord
Śiva because he annihilates the cosmos. The creation, annihilation and
maintenance of this cosmic manifestation is conducted by Your potencies, yet
You are always unaffected by those qualities. As confirmed in the Vedas, Harir
hi nirguṇaḥ sākṣāt: the Supreme
Personality of Godhead is always free from all material qualities. It is also
said that the qualities of passion and ignorance are nonexistent in the person
of the Supreme Lord.
"My Lord, You are the supreme controller, the
Personality of Godhead, the supreme great, maintaining the order of this cosmic
manifestation. And in spite of Your being the supreme controller, You have so
kindly appeared in my home. The purpose of Your appearance is to kill the
followers of the demonic rulers of the world who are in the dress of royal
princes but are actually demons. I am sure that You will kill all of them and
their followers and soldiers.
"I understand that You have appeared to kill
the uncivilized Kaṁsa and his followers.
But knowing that You were to appear to kill him and his followers, he has
already killed so many of Your predecessors, elder brothers. Now he is simply
awaiting the news of Your birth. As soon as he hears about it, he will
immediately appear with all kinds of weapons to kill You."
After this
prayer of Vasudeva, Devakī, the mother of Kṛṣṇa,
offered her prayers. She was very frightened because of her brother's
atrocities. Devakī said, "My dear Lord, Your eternal forms, like Nārāyaṇa, Lord Rāma, Śeṣa, Varāha, Nṛsiṁha, Vāmana, Baladeva, and millions of
similar incarnations emanating from Viṣṇu,
are described in the Vedic literature as original. You are original because all
Your forms as incarnations are outside of this material creation. Your form was
existing before this cosmic manifestation was created. Your forms are eternal
and all-pervading. They are self-effulgent, changeless and uncontaminated by
the material qualities. Such eternal forms are ever-cognizant and full of
bliss; they are situated in transcendental goodness and are always engaged in
different pastimes. You are not limited to a particular form only; all such
transcendental eternal forms are self-sufficient. I can understand that You are
the Supreme Lord Viṣṇu.
"After
many millions of years, when Lord Brahmā comes to the end of his life, the
annihilation of the cosmic manifestation takes place. At that time the five
elements--namely earth, water, fire, air and ether--enter into the
mahat-tattva. The mahat-tattva again enters, by the force of time, into the
nonmanifested total material energy; the total material energy enters into the
energetic pradhāna, and the pradhāna enters into You. Therefore after the
annihilation of the whole cosmic manifestation, You alone remain with Your
transcendental name, form, quality and paraphernalia."My Lord, I offer my respectful obeisances unto You because You are the director of the unmanifested total energy, and the ultimate reservoir of the material nature. My Lord, the whole cosmic manifestation is under the influence of time, beginning from the moment up to the duration of the year. All act under Your direction. You are the original director of everything and the reservoir of all potent energies.
"Therefore my Lord, I request You to save me
from the cruel hands of the son of Ugrasena, Kaṁsa. I am praying to
Your Lordship to please rescue me from this fearful condition because You are
always ready to give protection to Your servitors." The Lord has confirmed
this statement in the Bhagavad-gītā by assuring Arjuna, "You may declare
to the world, My devotee shall never be vanquished."
While thus praying to the Lord for rescue, mother
Devakī expressed her motherly affection: "I understand that this
transcendental form is generally perceived in meditation by the great sages,
but I am still afraid because as soon as Kaṁsa understands that
You have appeared, he might harm You. So I request that for the time being You
become invisible to our material eyes." In other words, she requested the
Lord to assume the form of an ordinary child. "My only cause of fear from
my brother Kaṁsa is due to Your
appearance. My Lord Madhusūdana, Kaṁsa may know that You
are already born. Therefore I request You to conceal this four-armed form of
Your Lordship which holds the four symbols of Viṣṇu--namely the
conchshell, the disc, the club and the lotus flower. My dear Lord, at the end
of the annihilation of the cosmic manifestation, You put the whole universe
within Your abdomen; still by Your unalloyed mercy You have appeared in my
womb. I am surprised that You imitate the activities of ordinary human beings
just to please Your devotee."
On hearing the prayers of Devakī, the Lord replied,
"My dear mother, in the millennium of Svāyambhuva Manu, My father Vasudeva
was living as one of the Prajāpatis, and his name at that time was Sutapā, and
you were his wife named Pṛśni. At that time,
when Lord Brahmā was desiring to increase the population, he requested you to
generate offspring. You controlled your senses and performed severe
austerities. By practicing the breathing exercise of the yoga system, both you
and your husband could tolerate all the influences of the material laws: the
rainy season, the onslaught of the wind, and the scorching heat of the
sunshine. You also executed all religious principles. In this way you were able
to cleanse your heart and control the influence of material law. In executing
your austerity, you used to eat only the leaves of the trees which fell to the
ground. Then with steady mind and controlled sex drive, you worshiped Me,
desiring some wonderful benediction from Me. Both of you practiced severe
austerities for 12,000 years, by the calculation of the demigods. During that
time, your mind was always absorbed in Me. When you were executing devotional
service and always thinking of Me within your heart, I was very much pleased
with you. O sinless mother, your heart is therefore always pure. At that time
also I appeared before you in this form just to fulfill your desire, and I
asked you to ask whatever you desired. At that time you wished to have Me born
as your son. Although you saw Me personally, instead of asking for your
complete liberation from the material bondage, under the influence of My
energy, you asked Me to become your son."
In other words, the Lord selected His mother and
father--namely Pṛśni and
Sutapā--specifically to appear in the material world. Whenever the Lord comes
as a human being, He must have someone as a mother and father, so He selected Pṛśni and Sutapā perpetually as His mother and
father. And on account of this, both Pṛśni and Sutapā could
not ask the Lord for liberation. Liberation is not so important as the
transcendental loving service of the Lord. The Lord could have awarded Pṛśni and Sutapā immediate liberation, but He
preferred to keep them within this material world for His different
appearances, as will be explained in the following verses. On receiving the
benediction from the Lord to become His father and mother, both Pṛśni and Sutapā returned from the activities of
austerity and lived as husband and wife in order to beget a child who was the
Supreme Lord Himself.
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In
due course of time Pṛśni became pregnant
and gave birth to the child. The Lord spoke to Devakī and Vasudeva: "At
that time My name was Pṛśnigarbha. In the
next millennium also you took birth as Aditi and Kaśyapa, and I became your
child of the name Upendra. At that time My form was just like a dwarf, and
for this reason I was known as Vāmanadeva. I gave you the benediction that I
would take birth as your son three times. The first time I was known as Pṛśnigarbha, born of Pṛśni and Sutapā, the next birth I was Upendra born
of Aditi and Kaśyapa, and now for the third time I am born as Kṛṣṇa from you, Devakī and Vasudeva. I
appeared in this Viṣṇu form just to
convince you that I am the same Supreme Personality of Godhead again taken
birth. I could have appeared just like an ordinary child, but in that way you
would not believe that I, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, have taken
birth in your womb. My dear father and mother, you have therefore raised Me
many times as your child, with great affection and love, and I am therefore
very pleased and obliged to you. And I assure you that this time you shall go
back to home, back to Godhead, on account of your perfection in your mission.
I know you are very concerned about Me and afraid of Kaṁsa. Therefore I order you to take Me immediately
to Gokula and replace Me with the daughter who has just been born to
Yaśodā."
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Having spoken thus in the presence of His father
and mother, the Lord turned Himself into an ordinary child and remained silent.
Being ordered by the Supreme Personality of
Godhead, Vasudeva attempted to take his son from the delivery room, and exactly
at that time, a daughter was born of Nanda and Yaśodā. She was Yogamāyā, the
internal potency of the Lord. By the influence of this internal potency,
Yogamāyā, all the residents of Kaṁsa's palace,
especially the doorkeepers, were overwhelmed with deep sleep, and all the
palace doors opened, although they were barred and shackled with iron chains.
The night was very dark, but as soon as Vasudeva took Kṛṣṇa on his lap and went out, he could see everything
just as in the sunlight.
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In
the Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is said that
Kṛṣṇa is just like sunlight, and wherever
there is Kṛṣṇa, the illusory
energy, which is compared to darkness, cannot remain. When Vasudeva was
carrying Kṛṣṇa, the darkness of
the night disappeared. All the prison doors automatically opened. At the same
time there was a thunder in the sky and severe rainfall. While Vasudeva was
carrying his son Kṛṣṇa in the falling
rain, Lord Śeṣa in the shape of a
serpent spread His hood over the head of Vasudeva so that he would not be
hampered by the rainfall. Vasudeva came onto the bank of the Yamunā and saw
that the water of the Yamunā was roaring with waves and that the whole span
was full of foam. Still, in that furious feature, the river gave passage to
Vasudeva to cross, just as the great Indian Ocean gave a path to Lord Rāma
when He was bridging over the gulf. In this way Vasudeva crossed the river
Yamunā. On the other side, he went to the place of Nanda Mahārāja situated in
Gokula, where he saw that all the cowherd men were fast asleep. He took the
opportunity of silently entering into the house of Yaśodā, and without
difficulty he replaced his son, taking away the baby girl newly born in the
house of Yaśodā. Then, after entering the house very silently and exchanging
the boy with the girl, he again returned to the prison of Kaṁsa and silently put the girl on the lap of
Devakī. He again clamped the shackles on himself so that Kaṁsa could not recognize that so many things had
happened.
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Mother Yaśodā understood that a child was born of
her, but because she was very tired from the labor of childbirth, she was fast
asleep. When she awoke, she could not remember whether she had given birth to a
male or female child.
4. Kaṁsa Begins His Persecutions
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After Vasudeva adjusted all the doors and gates,
the gatekeepers awoke and heard the newborn child crying. Kaṁsa was waiting to hear the news of the child's
birth, and the gatekeepers immediately approached him and informed him that
the child was born. At that time, Kaṁsa got up from his
bed very quickly and exclaimed, "Now the cruel death of my life is
born!" Kaṁsa became perplexed
now that his death was approaching, and his hair stood on end. Immediately he
proceeded toward the place where the child was born.
Devakī, on seeing her brother approaching, prayed
in a very meek attitude to Kaṁsa: "My dear
brother, please do not kill this female child. I promise that this child will
be the wife of your son; therefore don't kill her. You are not to be killed
by any female child. That was the omen. You are to be killed by a male child,
so please do not kill her. My dear brother, you have killed so many of my
children who were just born, shining as the sun. That is not your fault. You
have been advised by demoniac friends to kill my children. But now I beg you
to excuse this girl. Let her live as my daughter."
Kaṁsa was so cruel
that he did not listen to the beautiful prayers of his sister Devakī. He
forcibly grabbed the newborn child to rebuke his sister and attempted to dash
her on the stone mercilessly. This is a graphic example of a cruel brother
who could sacrifice all relationships for the sake of personal gratification.
But immediately the child slipped out of his hands, went up in the sky and
appeared with eight arms as the younger sister of Viṣṇu. She was decorated with a nice dress and flower
garlands and ornaments; in her eight hands she held a bow, lancet, arrows,
bell, conchshell, disc, club and shield.
Seeing the appearance of the child (who was
actually the goddess Durgā), all the demigods from different planets like
Siddhaloka, Cāraṇaloka,
Gandharvaloka, Apsaroloka, Kinnaraloka, and Uragaloka presented her articles
and began to offer their respective prayers. From above, the goddess
addressed Kaṁsa: "You
rascal, how can you kill me? The child who will kill you is already born before
me somewhere within this world. Don't be so cruel to your poor sister."
After this appearance, the goddess Durgā became known by various names in
various parts of the world.
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After hearing these words, Kaṁsa became very much overwhelmed with fear. Out of
pity, he immediately released Vasudeva and Devakī from the bondage of their
shackles and very politely began to address them. He said, "My dear sister
and brother-in-law, I have acted just like a demon in killing my own nephews I
have given up all consideration of our intimate relationship. I do not know
what will be the result of these acts of mine. Probably I shall be sent to the
hell where killers of the brāhmaṇas go. I am
surprised, however, that the celestial prophecy has not come true. False propaganda
is not found only in the human society. Now it appears that even the celestial
denizens speak lies. Because I believed in the words of the celestial denizens,
I have committed so many sins by killing the children of my sister. My dear
Vasudeva and Devakī, you are both very great souls. I have nothing to instruct
you, but still I request that you not be sorry for the death of your children.
Every one of us is under the control of superior power, and that superior power
does not allow us to remain together. We are bound to be separated from our
friends and relatives in due course of time. But we must know for certain that
even after the disappearance of the different material bodies, the soul remains
intact eternally. For example, there are many pots made of earthly clay, and
they are prepared and also broken. But in spite of this, the earth remains as
it is perpetually. Similarly, the bodies of the soul under different conditions
are made and destroyed, but the spirit soul remains eternally. So there is
nothing to lament over. Everyone should understand that this material body is
different from the spirit soul, and so long as one does not come to that
understanding, he is sure to accept the processes of transmigration from one
body to another. My dear sister Devakī, you are so gentle and kind. Please
excuse me--don't be aggrieved by the death of your children, which I have
caused. Actually this was not done by me because all these are predestined
activities. One has to act according to the predestined plan, even unwillingly.
People misunderstand that with the end of the body, the self dies, or they
think that one can kill another living entity. All these misconceptions oblige
one to accept the conditions of material existence. In other words, as long as one
is not firmly convinced of the eternality of the soul, one is subjected to the
tribulation of being killer and killed. My dear sister Devakī and
brother-in-law Vasudeva, kindly excuse the atrocities I have committed against
you. I am very poor-hearted, and you are so great-hearted, so take compassion
upon me and excuse me."
While Kaṁsa was speaking to
his brother-in-law and sister, tears flowed from his eyes and he fell down at
their feet. Believing the words of Durgā-devī, whom he had tried to kill, Kaṁsa immediately released his brother-in-law and
sister. He personally unlocked the iron shackles and very sympathetically
showed his friendship, just like a family member.
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When Devakī saw her brother so repentant, she
also became pacified and forgot all his atrocious activities against her
children. Vasudeva also, forgetting all past incidents, spoke smilingly with
his brother-in-law. Vasudeva told Kaṁsa, "My dear
fortunate brother-in-law, what you are saying about the material body and the
soul is correct. Every living entity is born ignorant, understanding this
material body to be his self. This conception of life is due to ignorance,
and on the basis of this ignorance we create enmity or friendship.
Lamentation, jubilation, fearfulness, envy, greed, illusion and madness are
different features of our material concept of life. A person influenced like
this engages in enmity due only to the material body. Being engaged in such
activities, we forget our eternal relationship with the Supreme Personality
of Godhead."
Vasudeva took the opportunity of Kaṁsa's benevolence and informed him that his
atheistic activities were also due to this misconception of life--namely
taking the material body to be the self. When Vasudeva talked with Kaṁsa in such an illuminating way, Kaṁsa became very pleased, and his guilt for killing
his nephews subdued. With the permission of his sister Devakī and
brother-in-law Vasudeva, he returned to his home with a relieved mind.
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The demons continued to say: "If there is some disease in the body which is neglected, it becomes incurable. Similarly, when one is not careful about restraining the senses and lets them loose, it is then very difficult to control them at all. Therefore, we must always be very careful of the demigods before they get too strong to be subdued. The foundation of strength of the demigods is Lord Viṣṇu, because the ultimate goal of all religious principles is to satisfy Him. The Vedic injunctions, the brāhmaṇas, the cows, austerities, sacrifices, performances of charity and distribution of wealth are all for the satisfaction of Lord Viṣṇu. So let us immediately begin by killing all the brāhmaṇas who are in charge of the Vedic knowledge and the great sages who are in charge of sacrificial ritualistic performances. Let us kill all the cows which are the source of butter which is so necessary for performing sacrifices. Please give us your permission to kill all these creatures."
Actually the limbs of the transcendental body of Lord Viṣṇu are the brāhmaṇas, the cows, Vedic knowledge, austerity, truthfulness, sense and mind control, faithfulness, charity, tolerance and performance of sacrifices. Lord Viṣṇu is situated in everyone's heart and is the leader of all demigods, including Lord Śiva and Lord Brahmā. "We think that to kill Lord Viṣṇu is to persecute the great sages and brāhmaṇas," said the ministers.
Thus being advised by the demonic ministers, Kaṁsa, who was from the very beginning the greatest rascal, decided to persecute the brāhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇavas, being entrapped by the shackles of all-devouring, eternal time. He ordered the demons to harass all kinds of saintly persons, and then he entered his house. The adherents of Kaṁsa were all influenced by the modes of passion as well as illusioned by the modes of ignorance, and their only business was to create enmity with saintly persons. Such activities can only reduce the duration of life. The demons accelerated the process and invited their deaths as soon as possible. The result of persecuting saintly persons is not only untimely death. The act is so offensive that the actor also gradually loses his beauty, his fame and his religious principles, and his promotion to higher planets is also checked. Driven by various kinds of mental concoctions, the demons diminish all kinds of welfare. An offense at the lotus feet of the devotees and brāhmaṇas is a greater offense than that committed at the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Thus a godless civilization becomes the source of all calamities.
Om
Tat Sat
(Continued...)
(My humble salutations H H Swami Sri Prabhupada ji, Sri Krishnalilas
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