Sri Krishna Madbhagavatam
57. Five Queens Married by Kṛṣṇa
There was a great rumor that the five
Pāṇḍava brothers,
along with their mother Kuntī, had, under the plan of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, died in a
fire accident in the house of shellac in which they were living. But then the
five brothers were detected at the marriage ceremony of Draupadī; so again
another rumor spread that the Pāṇḍavas and their mother were not dead. It was a
rumor, but actually it was so; they returned to their capital city,
Hastināpura, and people saw them face to face. When this news was carried to Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma,
Kṛṣṇa
wanted to see them personally, and therefore Kṛṣṇa decided to go to Hastināpura.
This time, Kṛṣṇa visited
Hastināpura in state, as a royal prince, accompanied by His commander-in-chief,
Yuyudhāna, and by many other soldiers. He had not actually been invited to
visit the city, yet He went to see the Pāṇḍavas out of His affection for His great devotees.
He visited the Pāṇḍavas
without warning, and all of them got up from their respective seats as soon as
they saw Him. Kṛṣṇa is
called Mukunda because as soon as one comes in constant touch with Kṛṣṇa or sees Him in
full Kṛṣṇa
consciousness, one immediately becomes freed from all material anxieties. Not
only that, but he immediately becomes blessed with all spiritual bliss.
On receiving Kṛṣṇa, the Pāṇdavas became
very enlivened, just as if awakened from unconsciousness or from loss of life.
When a man is lying unconscious, his senses and the different parts of his body
are not active, but when he regains his consciousness, the senses immediately
become active. Similarly, the Pāṇḍavas received Kṛṣṇa as if they had just regained their consciousness,
and so they became very much enlivened. Lord Kṛṣṇa embraced every one of them, and by the touch of
the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Pāṇḍavas immediately became freed from all reactions of
material contamination, and therefore they were smiling in spiritual bliss. By
seeing the face of Lord Kṛṣṇa,
everyone was transcendentally satisfied. Lord Kṛṣṇa, although the Supreme Personality of Godhead, was
playing the part of an ordinary human being, and thus He immediately touched
the feet of Yudhiṣṭhira
and Bhīma because they were His two older cousins. Arjuna embraced Kṛṣṇa as a friend of
the same age, whereas the two younger brothers, namely Nakula and Sahadeva,
touched the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa to show Him respect. After an exchange of
greetings according to the social etiquette befitting the position of the Pāṇḍavas and Lord Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa was offered an
exalted seat. When He was comfortably seated, the newly married Draupadī, young
and very beautiful in her natural feminine gracefulness, came before Lord Kṛṣṇa to offer her
respectful greetings. The Yadavas who accompanied Kṛṣṇa to Hastināpura
were also very respectfully received; specifically, Sātyaki, or Yuyudhāna, was
also offered a nice seat. In this way, when everyone else was properly seated,
the five brothers took their seats nearby Lord Kṛṣṇa.
After meeting with the five brothers,
Lord Kṛṣṇa
personally went to visit Śrīmatī Kuntīdevī, the mother of the Pāṇḍavas, who was
also the paternal aunt of Kṛṣṇa. In offering His respects to His aunt, Kṛṣṇa also touched
her feet. Kuntīdevī's eyes became wet, and, in great love, she feelingly
embraced Lord Kṛṣṇa.
She then inquired from Him about the well-being of her paternal family
members--her brother Vasudeva, his wife, and other members of the family.
Similarly, Kṛṣṇa
also inquired from His aunt about the welfare of the Pāṇḍava families.
Although Kuntīdevī was related to Kṛṣṇa by family ties, she knew immediately after
meeting Him that He was the Supreme Personality of Godhead. She remembered the
past calamities of her life and how by the grace of Kṛṣṇa the Pāṇḍavas and their
mother had been saved. She knew perfectly well that no one, without Kṛṣṇa's grace, could
have saved them from the fire accident designed by Dhṛtarāṣṭra and his sons.
In a choked up voice, she began to narrate before Kṛṣṇa the past
history of their life.
Śrīmatī Kuntī said: "My dear Kṛṣṇa, I remember
the day when You sent my brother Akrūra to gather information about us. This
means that You always remember us automatically. When You sent Akrūra, I could
understand that there was no possibility of our being put into danger. All good
fortune in our life began when You sent Akrūra to us. Since then, I have been
convinced that we are not without protection. We may be put into various types
of dangerous conditions by our family members, the Kurus, but I am confident
that You remember us and that you always keep us safe and sound. Devotees who
simply think of You are always immune from all kinds of material dangers, and
what to speak of ourselves, who are personally remembered by You. So, my dear Kṛṣṇa, there is no
question of bad luck; we are always in an auspicious position because of Your
grace. But because You have bestowed a special favor on us, people should not
mistakenly think that You are partial to some and inattentive to others. You
make no such distinction. No one is Your favorite and no one is Your enemy. As
the Supreme Personality of Godhead, You are equal to everyone, and everyone can
take advantage of Your special protection. The fact is that although You are
equal to everyone, You are especially inclined to the devotees who always think
of You. The devotees are related to You by ties of love. As such, they cannot
forget You even for a moment. You are present in everyone's heart, but because
the devotees always remember You, You also respond accordingly. Although the
mother has affection for all the children, she takes special care of the one
who is fully dependent. I know certainly, my dear Kṛṣṇa, that being
seated in everyone's heart, You always create auspicious situations for Your
unalloyed devotees."
Then King Yudhiṣṭhira also
praised Kṛṣṇa as
the Supreme Personality and universal friend of everyone, but because Kṛṣṇa was taking
special care of the Pāṇḍavas,
King Yudhiṣṭhira
said: "My dear Kṛṣṇa,
we do not know what sort of pious activities we have executed in our past lives
that have made You so kind and graceful to us. We know very well that the great
mystics who are always engaged in meditation to capture You do not find it easy
to obtain such grace, nor can they draw any personal attention from You. I
cannot understand why You are so kind upon us. We are not yogīs, but, on the
contrary, we are attached to material contaminations. We are householders
dealing in politics, worldly affairs. I do not know why You are so kind upon
us."
Being requested by King Yudhiṣṭhira, Kṛṣṇa agreed to stay
in Hastināpura for four months during the rainy season. The four months of the
rainy season are called Cāturmāsya. During this period, the generally itinerant
preachers and brāhmaṇas
stop at a certain place and live under rigid regulative principles. Although
Lord Kṛṣṇa is
above all regulative principles, He agreed to stay at Hastināpura out of
affection for the Pāṇḍavas.
Taking this opportunity of Kṛṣṇa's residence in Hastināpura, all the citizens of
the town got the privilege of seeing Him now and then, and thus they merged
into transcendental bliss simply by seeing Lord Kṛṣṇa eye to eye.
One day while Kṛṣṇa was staying
with the Pāṇḍavas,
He and Arjuna prepared themselves to go to the forest to hunt. Both of them sat
down on the chariot, which flew a flag with a picture of Hanumān. Arjuna's
special chariot is always marked with the picture of Hanumān, and therefore his
name is also Kapidhvaja. (Kapi means Hanumān, and dhvaja means
"flag.") Thus Arjuna went to the forest with his bow and infallible
arrows. He dressed himself with suitable protective garments, for he was to
practice killing many enemies. He specifically entered that part of the forest
where there were many tigers, deer and various other animals. Kṛṣṇa did not go
with Arjuna to practice animal killing because He doesn't have to practice
anything; He is self-sufficient. He accompanied Arjuna to see how he was
practicing because in the future he would have to kill many enemies. After
entering the forest, Arjuna killed many tigers, boars, bison, gavayas (a kind
of wild animal), rhinoceroses, deer, hares, porcupines and similar other
animals, which he pierced with his arrows. Some of the dead animals, which were
fit to be offered in the sacrifices, were carried by the servants and sent to
King Yudhiṣṭhira.
Other ferocious animals, such as tigers and rhinoceroses, were killed only to stop
disturbances in the forest. Since there are many sages and saintly persons who
are residents of the forests, it is the duty of the kṣatriya kings to
keep even the forest in a peaceful condition for living.
Arjuna felt tired and thirsty from
hunting, and therefore he went to the bank of the Yamunā along with Kṛṣṇa. When both the
Kṛṣṇas,
namely Kṛṣṇa
and Arjuna (Arjuna is sometimes called Kṛṣṇa, as is Draupadī), reached the bank of the Yamunā,
they washed their hands and feet and mouths and drank the clear water of the
Yamunā. While they were resting and drinking water, they saw a beautiful girl
of marriageable age walking alone on the bank of the Yamunā. Kṛṣṇa asked His
friend Arjuna to go forward and ask the girl who she was. By the order of Kṛṣṇa, Arjuna
immediately approached the girl, who was very beautiful. She had an attractive
body and nice glittering teeth and smiling face. Arjuna inquired, "My dear
girl, you are so beautiful with your raised breasts--may I ask you who you are?
We are surprised to see you loitering here alone. What is your purpose in
coming here? We can guess only that you are searching after a suitable husband.
If you don't mind, you can disclose your purpose. I shall try to satisfy
you."
The beautiful girl was the river Yamunā
personified. She replied, "Sir, I am the daughter of the sun-god, and I am
now performing penance and austerity to have Lord Viṣṇu as my husband.
I think He is the Supreme Person and just suitable to become my husband. I
disclose my desire thus because you wanted to know it."
The girl continued, "My dear sir,
I know you are the hero Arjuna; so I may further say that I'll not accept
anyone as my husband besides Lord Viṣṇu, because He is the only protector of all living
entities and the bestower of liberation for all conditioned souls. I shall be
thankful unto you if you pray to Lord Viṣṇu to become pleased with me." The girl Yamunā
knew it well that Arjuna was a great devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa and that if he
would pray, Kṛṣṇa
would never deny his request. To approach Kṛṣṇa directly may sometimes be futile, but to approach
Kṛṣṇa
through His devotee is sure to be successful. She further told Arjuna, "My
name is Kālindī, and I live within the water of the Yamunā. My father was kind
enough to construct a special house for me within the waters of the Yamunā, and
I have vowed to remain in the water as long as I cannot find Lord Kṛṣṇa." The
message of the girl Kālindī was duly carried to Kṛṣṇa by Arjuna although Kṛṣṇa, as the
Supersoul of everyone's heart, knew everything. Without further discussion, Kṛṣṇa immediately
accepted Kālindī and asked her to sit down on the chariot. Then all of them
approached King Yudhiṣṭhira.
After this, Kṛṣṇa was asked by
King Yudhiṣṭhira
to help in constructing a suitable house to be planned by the great architect
Viśvakarmā, the celestial engineer in the heavenly kingdom. Kṛṣṇa immediately
called for Viśvakarmā, and He made him construct a wonderful city according to
the desire of King Yudhiṣṭhira.
When this city was constructed, Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira requested Kṛṣṇa to live with them a few days more in order to
give them the pleasure of His association. Lord Kṛṣṇa accepted the request of Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira and
remained there for many days more.
In the meantime, Kṛṣṇa engaged in the
pastime of offering Khāṇḍava
Forest, which belonged to King Indra. Kṛṣṇa wanted to give it to Agni, the fire-god. Khāṇḍava Forest
contained many varieties of drugs, and Agni required to eat them for
rejuvenation. Agni, however, did not touch Khāṇḍava Forest directly, but requested Kṛṣṇa to help him.
Agni knew that Kṛṣṇa
was very much pleased with him because he had formerly given Him the Sudarśana
disc. So in order to satisfy Agni, Kṛṣṇa became the chariot driver of Arjuna, and both
went to the Khāṇḍava
Forest.
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After Agni had eaten up the Khāṇḍava
Forest, he was very much pleased. This time, he offered a specific bow known
as Gāṇḍīva,
four white horses, one chariot, and an invincible quiver with two specific
arrows considered to be talismans, which had so much power that no warrior
could counteract them. When the Khāṇḍava Forest was being devoured by the fire-god,
Agni, there was a demon of the name Maya who was saved by Arjuna from the
devastating fire. For this reason, that former demon became a great friend of
Arjuna, and in order to please Arjuna he constructed a nice assembly house
within the city constructed by Viśvakarmā. This assembly house had some
corners so puzzling that when Duryodhana came to visit this house he was
misdirected, accepting water as land and land as water. Duryodhana thus
became insulted by the opulence of the Pāṇḍavas, and he became their determined enemy.
The kings of Avantīpura (now known as Ujjain)
were named Vinda and Anuvinda. Both kings were under the control of
Duryodhana. They had one sister named Mitravindā, who was a very qualified,
learned and elegant girl. She was the daughter of one of Kṛṣṇa's
aunts. She was to select her husband in the assembly of princes, but she
strongly desired to have Kṛṣṇa as her husband. During the assembly for
selecting her husband, however, Kṛṣṇa was present, and He forcibly carried away
Mitravindā in the presence of all other royal princes. Being unable to resist
Kṛṣṇa,
the princes were left simply looking at each other.
After this incident, Kṛṣṇa married
the daughter of the King of Kośala. The King of Kośala Province was called
Nagnajit. He was very pious and was a follower of the Vedic ritualistic
ceremonies. His most beautiful daughter was named Satyā. Sometimes Satyā was
called Nagnajitī, for she was the daughter of King Nagnajit. King Nagnajit
wanted to give the hand of his daughter to any prince who could defeat seven
very strong, stalwart bulls maintained by him. No one in the princely order
could defeat the seven bulls, and therefore no one could claim the hand of
Satyā. The seven bulls were very strong, and they could hardly bear even the
smell of any prince. Many princes approached this kingdom and tried to subdue
these bulls, but instead of controlling them, they themselves were defeated.
This news was spread all over the country, and when Kṛṣṇa
heard that the girl Satyā could be achieved only by defeating the seven
bulls, He prepared Himself to go to the kingdom of Kośala. With many
soldiers, He approached that part of the country, known as Ayodhyā, making a
regular state visit.
When it was known to the King of Kośala that Kṛṣṇa
had come to ask the hand of his daughter, he became very pleased. With great
respect and pomp, he welcomed Kṛṣṇa to the kingdom. When Kṛṣṇa
approached him, he offered Him a suitable sitting place and articles for
reception. Everything appeared to be very elegant. Kṛṣṇa
also offered him respectful obeisances, thinking him to be His future
father-in-law.
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When Satyā, the daughter of King Nagnajit,
understood that Kṛṣṇa
Himself had come to marry her, she was very much pleased that the husband of
the goddess of fortune had so kindly come there to accept her. She had
cherished the idea of marrying Kṛṣṇa for a long time and was following the principles
of austerities in order to obtain her desired husband. She then began to think,
"If I have performed any pious activities to the best of my capacity and
if I have sincerely thought all along to have Kṛṣṇa as my husband, then Kṛṣṇa may be pleased
to fulfill my long-cherished desire." She began to offer prayers to Kṛṣṇa mentally,
thinking, "I do not know how the Supreme Personality of Godhead can be
pleased upon me. He is the master and Lord of everyone. Even the goddess of
fortune, whose place is next to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and Lord
Śiva, Lord Brahmā and many other demigods of different planets always offer
their respectful obeisances unto the Lord. The Lord also sometimes descends on
this earth in different incarnations in order to fulfill the desire of His devotees.
He is so exalted and great that I do not know how to satisfy Him." She
thought that the Supreme Personality of Godhead could be pleased only out of
His own causeless mercy upon the devotee; otherwise, there was no other means
to please Him. Lord Caitanya, in the same way, prayed in His Śikṣāṣṭaka verses,
"My Lord, I am Your eternal servant. Somehow or other I have fallen into
this material existence. If You kindly pick Me up and fix Me as an atom of dust
at Your lotus feet, it will be a great favor to Your eternal servant." The
Lord can be pleased only by a humble attitude in the service spirit. The more
we render service unto the Lord under the direction of the spiritual master,
the more we make advancement on the path of approaching the Lord. We cannot
demand any grace or mercy from the Lord because of our service rendered to Him.
He may accept or not accept our service, but the only means to satisfy the Lord
is through the service attitude, and nothing else.
King Nagnajit was already a pious king,
and having Kṛṣṇa in
his palace, he began to worship Him to the best of his knowledge and capacity.
He presented himself before the Lord thus: "My dear Lord, You are the
proprietor of the whole cosmic manifestation, and You are Nārāyaṇa, the rest of
all living creatures. You are self-sufficient and pleased with Your personal
opulences, so how can I offer You anything? And how could I please You by such
offering? It is not possible, because I am an insignificant living being.
Actually I have no capacity to render any service unto You."
Kṛṣṇa is the Supersoul of all living creatures, so He
could understand the mind of Satyā, the daughter of King Nagnajit. He was also
very much pleased with the respectful worship of the King in offering Him a
sitting place, eatables, residence, etc. He was appreciative, therefore, that
both the girl and the father of the girl were anxious to have Him as their
intimate relative. He began to smile and in a great voice said, "My dear
King Nagnajit, you know very well that anyone in the princely order who is
regular in his position will never ask anything from anyone, however exalted he
may be. Such requests by a kṣatriya king from another person have been
deliberately forbidden by the learned Vedic followers. If a kṣatriya breaks
this regulation, his action is condemned by learned scholars. But in spite of
this rigid regulative principle, I am asking you for the hand of your beautiful
daughter just to establish our relationship in return for your great reception
of Me. You may also be pleased to be informed that in our family tradition
there is no scope for our offering anything in exchange for accepting your
daughter. We cannot pay any price which you may impose for delivering
her." In other words, Kṛṣṇa wanted the hand of Satyā from the King without
fulfilling the condition of defeating the seven bulls.
After hearing the statement of Lord Kṛṣṇa, King Nagnajit
said, "My dear Lord, You are the reservoir of all pleasure, all opulences
and all qualities. The goddess of fortune, Lakṣmījī, always lives on Your chest. Under these
circumstances, who can be a better husband for my daughter? Both myself and my
daughter have always prayed for this opportunity. You are the chief of the Yadu
dynasty. You may kindly know that from the very beginning I have made a vow to
marry my daughter to a suitable candidate, one who can come out victorious in
the test I have devised. I have imposed this test just to understand the
prowess and position of my intended son-in-law. You are Lord Kṛṣṇa, and You are
the chief of all heroes. I am sure You shall be able to bring these seven bulls
under control without any difficulty. Until now they have never been subdued by
any prince; anyone who has attempted to bring them under control has simply had
his limbs broken."
King Nagnajit continued his request:
"Kṛṣṇa,
if You'll kindly bridle the seven bulls and bring them under control, then
undoubtedly You will be selected as the desired husband of my daughter,
Satyā." After hearing this statement, Kṛṣṇa could understand that the King did not want to
break his vow. Thus, in order to fulfill his desire, He tightened His belt and
prepared to fight with the bulls. He immediately divided Himself into seven Kṛṣṇas, and each one
of Them immediately caught hold of a bull and bridled its nose, thus bringing
it under control as if it were a plaything.
Kṛṣṇa's dividing Himself into seven is very
significant. It was known to Satyā, the daughter of King Nagnajit, that Kṛṣṇa had already
married many other wives, and still she was attached to Kṛṣṇa. In order to
encourage her, He immediately expanded Himself into seven. The purport is that
Kṛṣṇa is
one, but He has unlimited forms of expansions. He married many hundereds of
thousands of wives, but this does not mean that while He was with one wife the
others were bereft of His association. Kṛṣṇa could associate with each and every wife by His
expansions.
When Kṛṣṇa brought the bulls under His control by bridling
their noses, their strength and pride were immediately smashed. The name and
fame which the bulls had attained was thus vanquished. When the bulls had been
bridled by Kṛṣṇa,
He pulled them strongly, just as a child pulls a toy wooden bull. Upon seeing
this advantage of Kṛṣṇa,
King Nagnajit became very much astonished and immediately, with great pleasure,
brought his daughter Satyā before Kṛṣṇa and handed her over to Him. Kṛṣṇa also
immediately accepted Satyā as His wife. Then there was a marriage ceremony with
great pomp. The queens of King Nagnajit also were very much pleased because
their daughter Satyā got Kṛṣṇa as her husband. Since the King and queens were
very pleased on this auspicious occasion, there was a celebration all over the
city in honor of the marriage. Everywhere was heard the sounds of the
conchshell and kettledrum and various other vibrations of music and song. The
learned brāhmaṇas
began to shower their blessings upon the newly married couple. In jubilation,
all the inhabitants of the city dressed themselves with colorful garments and
ornaments. King Nagnajit was so pleased that he began to give a dowry to the
daughter and son-in-law, as follows.
First of all he gave them ten thousand
cows and three thousand well-dressed young maidservants, ornamented up to their
necks. This system of dowry is still current in India especially for kṣatriya princes.
Also, when a kṣatriya
prince is married, at least a dozen maidservants of similar age are given along
with the bride. After giving the cows and maidservants, the King also enriched
the dowry by giving 9,000 elephants and a hundred times more chariots than
elephants. This means that he gave 900,000 chariots. And he gave a hundred
times more horses than chariots, or 90,000,000 horses, and a hundred times more
slaves than horses. Such slaves and maidservants were maintained by the royal
princes with all provisions, as if they were their own children or family
members. After giving this dowry as described, the king of the Kośala Province
bade his daughter and great son-in-law be seated on a chariot. He allowed them
to go to their home, guarded by a division of well-equipped soldiers. When they
were travelling fast to their new home, his heart became enlivened with
affection for them.
Before this marriage of Satyā with Kṛṣṇa, there had
been many competitive engagements with the bulls of King Nagnajit, and many
other princes of the Yadu dynasty and of other dynasties as well had tried to
win the hand of Satyā. When the frustrated princes of the other dynasties heard
that Kṛṣṇa
was successful in getting the hand of Satyā by subduing the bulls, naturally
they became envious. While Kṛṣṇa was traveling to Dvārakā, all the frustrated and
defeated princes encircled Him and began to shower their arrows on the bridal
party. When they attacked Kṛṣṇa's party and threw arrows like incessant torrents
of rain, Arjuna, the best friend of Kṛṣṇa, took charge of the challenge, and he alone drove
them off very easily to please his great friend Kṛṣṇa on the occasion of His marriage. He immediately
took up his bow of the name Gāṇḍīva and chased away all the princes; exactly as a
lion drives away all other small animals simply by chasing them, Arjuna drove
away all the princes without killing even one of them. After this, the chief of
the Yadu dynasty, Lord Kṛṣṇa,
along with His newly married wife and a huge dowry, entered the city of Dvārakā
with great pomp. Kṛṣṇa
then lived there with His wife very peacefully
The description of Kṛṣṇa's marriage with the five girls mentioned in this chapter is not sufficient. He had many other thousands of wives besides them. The other thousands of wives were accepted by Kṛṣṇa after killing one demon named Bhaumāsura. All these thousands of girls were held captive in the palace of Bhaumāsura, and Kṛṣṇa released them and married them.
58. Deliverance of the Demon
Bhaumāsura
The story of Bhaumāsura--how he
kidnapped and made captive 16,000 princesses by collecting them from the
palaces of various kings and how he was killed by Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme
Lord of wonderful character--is all described by Śukadeva Gosvāmī to King Parīkṣit in the
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Generally, the demons are always against the demigods. This
demon, Bhaumāsura, having become very powerful, took by force the umbrella from
the throne of the demigod Varuṇa. He also took the earrings of Aditi, the mother
of the demigods. He conquered a portion of heavenly Mount Meru and occupied the
portion which was known as Maṇi-parvata. The king of the heavenly planets, Indra,
therefore came to Dvārakā to complain about Bhaumāsura before Lord Kṛṣṇa
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Hearing this complaint by Indra, the King of
heaven, Lord Kṛṣṇa,
accompanied by His wife Satyabhāmā, immediately started for the abode of
Bhaumāsura. Both of them rode on the back of Garuḍa, who flew
them to Prāgjyotiṣapura,
the capital city of Bhaumāsura. It was not a very easy task to enter into the
city of Prāgjyotiṣapura,
because it was very well fortified. First of all, there were four formidable
forts guarding the four directions of the city, and it was well-protected on
all sides by formidable military strength. The next boundary was a water
canal all around the city, and in addition the whole city was surrounded with
electric wires. The next fortification was of anila, a gaseous substance.
After this, there was a network of barbed wiring constructed by a demon of
the name Mura. It appeared that the city was well-protected even in terms of
today's scientific advancements.
When Kṛṣṇa arrived, He broke all the forts to pieces by
the strokes of His club, and the military strength scattered here and there
by the constant onslaught of the arrows of Kṛṣṇa. With His celebrated Sudarśana-cakra He
counteracted the electrified boundary; the channels of water and the gaseous
boundary were made null and void, and He cut to pieces the electrified
network fabricated by the demon Mura. By the vibration of His conchshell, He
not only broke the hearts of great fighters, but also the fighting machines
which were there. Similarly, the walls around the city were broken by His
invincible club.
The vibration of His conchshell sounded like the
thunderbolt at the time of the dissolution of the whole cosmic situation. The
demon Mura heard the vibration of the conchshell, awakened from his sleep,
and personally came out to see what had happened. He had five heads and had
long been living within the water. The Mura demon was as brilliant as the sun
at the time of the dissolution of the cosmic manifestation, and his temper
was like blazing fire. The effulgence of his body was so dazzling that it was
difficult to see him with open eyes. When he came out, he first of all took
out his trident and began to rush the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The
onslaught of the demon Mura was like a big snake attacking Garuḍa. His angry
mood was very severe, and he appeared ready to devour the three worlds. First
of all he attacked the carrier of Kṛṣṇa, Garuḍa, by whirling his trident and he began to
vibrate sounds through his five faces like the roaring of a lion. The roaring
produced by the vibration of his mouths spread all over the atmosphere until
it extended not only all over the world, but also into outer space, up and
down and out to the ten directions. In this way, the sound was rumbling
throughout the whole universe.
Lord Kṛṣṇa saw that the trident of the Mura demon was
gradually rushing toward His carrier, Garuḍa. Immediately, by a trick of His hand, He took
two arrows and threw them toward the trident, cutting it to pieces.
Simultaneously, using many arrows, He pierced the mouths of the demon Mura.
When he saw himself outmaneuvered by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the
Mura demon immediately began to strike Him in great anger with his club. But
Lord Kṛṣṇa,
with His own club, broke the club of Mura to pieces before it could reach
Him. The demon, bereft of his weapon, decided to attack Kṛṣṇa
with his strong arms, but by the aid of His Sudarśana-cakra, Kṛṣṇa
immediately separated the demon's five heads from his body. The demon then
fell into the water, just as the peak of a mountain falls into the ocean
after being struck by the thunderbolt of Indra.
This demon Mura had seven sons, named Tāmra,
Antarikṣa,
Śravaṇa,
Vibhāvasu, Vasu, Nabhasvān and Aruṇa. All of them became puffed up and vengeful
because of the death of their father, and in order to retaliate, they
prepared in great anger to fight with Kṛṣṇa. They equipped themselves with necessary
weapons and situated Pīṭha,
another demon, to act as commander in the battle. By the order of Bhaumāsura,
all of them combinedly attacked Kṛṣṇa.
When they came before Lord Kṛṣṇa,
they began to shower Him with many kinds of weapons, like swords, clubs,
lances, arrows and tridents. But they did not know that the strength of the
Supreme Personality of Godhead is unlimited and invincible. Kṛṣṇa,
with His arrows, cut all the weapons of the men of Bhaumāsura into pieces,
like grains. Kṛṣṇa
then threw His weapons, and Bhaumāsura's commander-in-chief, Pīṭha, along with
his assistants, fell down, their military dress cut off and their heads,
legs, arms and thighs severed. All of them were sent to the superintendent of
death, Yamarāja.
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Bhaumāsura was also known as Narakāsura, for he
happened to be the son of the earth personified. When he saw that all his
soldiers, commanders and fighters were killed on the battlefield by the strokes
of the weapons of the Personality of Godhead, he became exceedingly angry at
the Lord. He then came out of the city with a great number of elephants who had
all been born and brought up on the seashore. All of them were highly
intoxicated. When they came out, they saw that Lord Kṛṣṇa and His wife
were beautifully situated high in outer space just like a blackish cloud about
the sun, glittering with the light of electricity.
The demon Bhaumāsura immediately released a weapon
called Śataghnī, by which he could kill hundreds of warriors with one stroke,
and simultaneously all his assistants also threw their respective weapons at
the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Lord Kṛṣṇa began to counteract all these weapons by
releasing His feathered arrows. The result of this fight was that all the
soldiers and commanders of Bhaumāsura fell to the ground, their arms, legs and
heads separated from their trunks, and all their horses and elephants also fell
with them. In this way, all the weapons released by Bhaumāsura were cut to
pieces by the reaction of the Lord's arrows.
The Lord was fighting on the back of Garuḍa, and Garuḍa was also
helping the Lord by striking the horses and the elephants with his wings and
scratching their heads with his nails and sharpened beak. The elephants were
feeling much pain by Garuḍa's
attack on them, and they were all dispersing from the battlefield. Bhaumāsura
alone remained on the battlefield, and he engaged himself in fighting with Kṛṣṇa. He saw that Kṛṣṇa's carrier,
Garuḍa,
was causing great disturbance to his soldiers and elephants, and in great anger
he struck Garuḍa
with all his strength, which defied the strength of the thunderbolt.
Fortunately, Garuḍa
was not an ordinary bird, and he felt the strokes given by Bhaumāsura just as a
great elephant feels the impact of a garland of flowers.
Bhaumāsura thus came to see that none of his tricks
would act upon Kṛṣṇa,
and he became aware that all his attempts to kill Kṛṣṇa would be
frustrated. Yet he attempted for the last time, taking a trident in his hand to
strike Him. Kṛṣṇa
was so dexterous that before Bhaumāsura could touch his trident, his head was
cut off by the sharp Sudarśana-cakra. His head, illuminated by earrings and
helmets, fell down on the battlefield. On the occasion of Bhaumāsura's being
killed by Lord Kṛṣṇa,
all the demon's relatives began to scream in disappointment, and the saintly
persons began to glorify the chivalrous activities of the Lord. Taking this
opportunity, the denizens of the heavenly planets began to shower flowers on
the Lord.
At this time, the earth personified appeared before
Lord Kṛṣṇa
and greeted Him with a garland of vaijayantī jewels. She also returned the
dazzling earrings of Aditi, bedecked with jewels and gold. She also returned
the umbrella of Varuṇa,
along with another valuable jewel, which she presented to Kṛṣṇa. After this,
the earth personified began to offer her prayers to Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme
Personality and master of the world, who is always worshiped by very exalted
demigods. She fell down in obeisances and, in great devotional ecstasy, began
to speak.
"Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto
the Lord, who is always present with four kinds of symbols, namely His
conchshell, disc, lotus and club, and who is the Lord of all demigods. Please
accept my respectful obeisances unto You. My dear Lord, You are the Supersoul,
and in order to satisfy the aspiration of Your devotees, You descend on the
earth in Your various transcendental incarnations, which are just appropriate
to the devotees' worshipful desire. Kindly accept my respectful obeisances.
"My dear Lord, the lotus flower is grown out
of Your navel, and You are always decorated with a garland of lotus flowers.
Your eyes are always spread like the petals of the lotus flower, and therefore
they are all-pleasing to the eyes of others. Your lotus feet are so soft and
delicate that they are always worshiped by Your unalloyed devotees, and they
pacify their lotus-like hearts. I therefore repeatedly offer my respectful
obeisances unto You.
"You possess all kinds of religions, fame,
property, knowledge and renunciation; You are the shelter of all five
opulences. Although You are all-pervading, You have nevertheless appeared as
the son of Vasudeva. Please, therefore, accept my respectful obeisances. You
are the original Supreme Personality of Godhead and the supreme cause of all
causes. Only Your Lordship is the reservoir of all knowledge. Let me offer my
respectful obeisances unto You. Personally You are unborn; still, You are the
father of the whole cosmic manifestation. You are the reservoir and shelter of
all kinds of energies. The manifestive appearance of this world is caused by
You, and You are both the cause and effect of this cosmic manifestation. Please
therefore accept my respectful obeisances.
"Actually, my Lord, You are the material nature, You are the father of the universe, and You are the eternal time that has caused the combination of nature and the material creator. Still, You are always transcendental to all these material activities. My dear Lord, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, I know that earth, water, fire, air, sky, the five sense objects, mind, the senses and their deities, egotism, as well as the total material energy--everything animate and inanimate in this phenomenal world is resting upon You. Since everything is produced of You, nothing can be separated from You. Yet, since You are transcendentally situated, neither can anything material be identified with Your personality. Everything is, therefore, simultaneously one and different from You, and the philosophers who try to separate everything from You are certainly mistaken in their viewpoint.
"My dear Lord, may I inform You that this boy, whose name is Bhagadatta, is the son of my son, Bhaumāsura. He has been very much affected by the ghastly situation created by the death of his father and has become very much confused, being afraid of the present situation. I have therefore brought him to surrender unto Your lotus feet. I request Your Lordship to give shelter to this boy and bless him with Your lotus feet. I am bringing him to You so that he may become relieved from the reactions of all the sinful activities of his father."
When Lord Kṛṣṇa heard the prayers of mother earth, He immediately assured her of immunity from all fearful situations. He said to Bhagadatta, "Don't be afraid." Then He entered the palace of Bhaumāsura, which was equipped with all kinds of opulences. In the palace of Bhaumāsura Lord Kṛṣṇa saw 16,100 young princesses, who had been kidnapped and held captive there. When the princesses saw the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, enter the palace, they immediately became captivated by the beauty of the Lord and prayed for His causeless mercy. Within their minds, they decided to accept Lord Kṛṣṇa as their husband without any hesitation. Each one of them began to pray to providence that Kṛṣṇa might become her husband. Sincerely and seriously, they offered their hearts to the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa with an unalloyed devotional attitude. As the Supersoul in everyone's heart, Kṛṣṇa could understand their uncontaminated desire, and He agreed to accept them as His wives. Thus, He arranged for suitable dresses and ornaments for them, and each of them, seated on a palanquin, was dispatched to Dvārakā City. Kṛṣṇa also collected unlimited wealth from the palace, along with chariots, horses, jewels and treasure. He took from the palace fifty white elephants, each with four tusks, and all of them were dispatched to Dvārakā.
After this incident, Lord Kṛṣṇa and Satyabhāmā entered Amarāvatī, the capital city of the heavenly planet, and they immediately entered the palace of King Indra and his wife, Śacīdevī, who welcomed them. Kṛṣṇa then presented Indra with the earrings of Aditi.
When Kṛṣṇa and Satyabhāmā were returning from the capital
city of Indra, Satyabhāmā remembered Kṛṣṇa's promise to give her the plant of the pārijāta
flower. Taking the opportunity of having come to the heavenly kingdom, she
plucked a pārijāta plant and kept it on the back of Garuḍa. Once Nārada
took a pārijāta flower and presented it to Kṛṣṇa's senior wife, Śrī Rukmiṇīdevī. On
account of this, Satyabhāmā developed an inferiority complex; she also wanted a
flower from Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa could understand
the competitive womanly nature of His co-wives, and He smiled. He immediately
asked Satyabhāmā, "Why are you asking for only one flower? I would like to
give you a whole tree of pārijāta flowers."
Actually, Kṛṣṇa had purposely taken His wife Satyabhāmā with Him
so she could collect the pārijāta with her own hand. But the denizens of the
heavenly planet, including Indra, became very irritated. Without their
permission, Satyabhāmā had plucked a pārijāta plant, which is not to be found
on the earth planet. Indra, along with other demigods, offered opposition to Kṛṣṇa and Satyabhāmā
for taking away the plant, but in order to please His favorite wife Satyabhāmā,
Kṛṣṇa
became determined and adamant, so there was a fight between the demigods and Kṛṣṇa. As usual, Kṛṣṇa came out
victorious, and He triumphantly brought the pārijāta plant chosen by His wife
to this earth planet, to Dvārakā. After this, the plant was installed in the
palace garden of Satyabhāmā. On account of this extraordinary tree, the garden
house of Satyabhāmā became extraordinarily beautiful. As the pārijāta plant
came down to the earthly planet, the fragrance of the flower also came down,
and the celestial swans also migrated to this earth in search of its fragrance
and honey.
King Indra's behavior toward Kṛṣṇa was not very
much appreciated by great sages like Śukadeva Gosvāmī. Out of His causeless
mercy, Kṛṣṇa
had gone to the heavenly kingdom, Amarāvatī, to present King Indra with his
mother's earrings, which had been lost to Bhaumāsura, and Indra had been very
glad to receive them. But when a flower plant from the heavenly kingdom was
taken by Kṛṣṇa,
Indra offered to fight with Him. This was self-interest on the part of Indra.
He offered his prayer, tipping down his head to the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, but as soon
as his purpose was served, he became a different creature. That is the way of
the dealings of materialistic men. Materialistic men are always interested in
their own profit. For this purpose they can offer any kind of respect to
anyone, but when their personal interest is over, they are no longer friends.
This selfish nature is not only found among the richer class of men on this
planet, but is present even in personalities like Indra and other demigods. Too
much wealth makes a man selfish. A selfish man is not prepared to take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness
and is condemned by great devotees like Śukadeva Gosvāmī. In other words,
possession of too many worldly riches is a disqualification for advancement in
Kṛṣṇa
consciousness.
After defeating Indra, Kṛṣṇa arranged to
marry the 16,100 girls brought from the custody of Bhaumāsura. By expanding
Himself in 16,100 forms, He simultaneously married them all in different
palaces in one auspicious moment. He thus established the truth that Kṛṣṇa and no one
else is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There is nothing impossible, for Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme
Personality of Godhead; He is all-powerful, omnipresent and imperishable, and
as such there is nothing wonderful in this pastime. All the palaces of the more
than 16,000 queens of Kṛṣṇa
were full with suitable gardens, furniture and other paraphernalia, of which
there is no parallel in this world. There is no exaggeration in this story from
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The queens of Kṛṣṇa were all expansions of the goddess of fortune,
Lakṣmījī.
Kṛṣṇa
used to live with them in different palaces, and He treated them in exactly the
same way as an ordinary man treats his wife.
We should always remember that the Supreme
Personality of Godhead Kṛṣṇa
was playing exactly like a human being; although He showed His extraordinary
opulences by simultaneously marrying more than sixteen thousand wives in more
than sixteen thousand palaces, He behaved with them just like an ordinary man,
and He strictly followed the relationship between husband and wife required in
ordinary homes. Therefore, it is very difficult to understand the
characteristics of the Supreme Brahman, the Personality of Godhead. Even
demigods like Brahmā and others are unable to probe into the transcendental
pastimes of the Lord. The wives of Kṛṣṇa were so fortunate that they got the Supreme
Personality of Godhead as their husband, although their husband's personality
was unknown even to the demigods like Brahmā.
In their dealings as husband and wife,
Kṛṣṇa
and His queens would smile, talk, joke, embrace, and so on, and their conjugal
relationship ever increasingly developed. In this way, both Kṛṣṇa and the queens
enjoyed transcendental happiness in their household life. Although each and
every queen had thousands of maidservants engaged for her service, the queens
were all personally attentive in serving Kṛṣṇa. Each one of them used to receive Kṛṣṇa personally
when He entered the palace. They engaged in getting Him seated on a nice couch,
presenting Him with all kinds of worshipable paraphernalia, washing His lotus
feet with Ganges water, offering Him betel nuts and massaging His legs. In this
way, they were giving Him relief from the fatigue of being away from home. They
saw to fanning Him nicely, offering Him fragrant essential floral oil,
decorating Him with flower garlands, dressing His hair, asking Him to lie down
to take rest, bathing Him personally and feeding Him nice palatable dishes. All
these things were done by each queen herself. They did not wait for the maidservants.
In other words, Kṛṣṇa
and His different queens displayed on this earth an ideal household life.
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
(My humble salutations H H Swami Sri Prabhupada ji, Sri Krishnalilas
dot com and Hinduism online dot com for
the collection)
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