Sri Krishna Madbhagavatam
64. Lord Balarāma Visits Vṛndāvana
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Lord Balarāma became very anxious to
see His father and mother, Mahārāja Nanda and Yaśodā. Therefore He started
for Vṛndāvana on a chariot with great enthusiasm. The
inhabitants of Vṛndāvana had been anxious to see Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma for a very long time. When Lord
Balarāma returned to Vṛndāvana, all the cowherd boys and the gopīs had
grown up; but still, on His arrival, they all embraced Him, and Balarāma
embraced them in reciprocation. After this He came before Mahārāja Nanda and
Yaśodā and offered His respectful obeisances unto them. In response, mother
Yaśodā and Nanda Mahārāja offered their blessings unto Him. They addressed
Him as Jagadīśvara, or the Lord of the universe who maintains everyone. The
reason for this was that both Kṛṣṇa
and Balarāma maintain all living entities, and yet Nanda and Yaśodā were put
into such difficulties on account of Their absence. Feeling like this, they
embraced Balarāma and, seating Him on their laps, began their perpetual
crying, wetting Balarāma with their tears. Lord Balarāma then offered His
respectful obeisances to the elderly cowherd men and accepted the obeisances
of the younger cowherd men. Thus, according to their different ages and
relationships, Lord Balarāma exchanged feelings of friendship with them. He
shook hands with those who were His equals in age and friendship, and with
loud laughing embraced each one of them.
After being received by the cowherd
men and boys, the gopīs, and King Nanda and Yaśodā, Lord Balarāma sat down,
feeling satisfied, and they all surrounded Him. First Lord Balarāma inquired
from them about their welfare, and then, not having seen Him for such a long
time, they began to ask Him different questions. The inhabitants of Vṛndāvana had sacrificed everything for Kṛṣṇa, simply being captivated by the lotus eyes of
the Lord. Because of their great desire to love Kṛṣṇa, they never desired anything like elevation to
the heavenly planets or merging into the effulgence of Brahman to become one
with the Absolute Truth. They were not even interested in enjoying a life of
opulence, but were satisfied in living a simple life in the village as
cowherd men. They were always absorbed in thoughts of Kṛṣṇa and did not desire any personal benefits, and
they were all so much in love with Him that in His absence their voices
faltered when they began to inquire from Balarāmajī.
First Nanda Mahārāja and Yaśodāmayī
inquired, "My dear Balarāma, are our friends like Vasudeva and others in
the family doing well? Now You and Kṛṣṇa
are grown-up married men with children. In the happiness of family life, do You
sometimes remember Your poor father and mother, Nanda Mahārāja and
Yaśodādevī? It is very good news that the most sinful King Kaṁsa has been killed by You and that our friends
like Vasudeva and the others who had been harassed by him, have now been relieved.
It is also very good news that both You and Kṛṣṇa
defeated Jarāsandha and Kālayavana, who now is dead, and that You are now
living in a fortified residence in Dvārakā."
When the gopīs arrived, Lord Balarāma
glanced over them with loving eyes. Being overjoyed, the gopīs, who had so
long been mortified on account of Kṛṣṇa's
and Balarāma's absence, began to ask about the welfare of the two brothers.
They specifically asked Balarāma whether Kṛṣṇa
was enjoying His life surrounded by the enlightened women of Dvārakā Purī.
"Does He sometimes remember His father Nanda and His mother Yaśodā and
the other friends with whom He so intimately behaved while he was in Vṛndāvana? Does Kṛṣṇa
have any plans to come here to see His mother Yaśodā and does He remember us gopīs
who are now pitiably bereft of His company? Kṛṣṇa
might have forgotten us in the midst of the cultured women of Dvārakā, but as
far as we are concerned, we are still remembering Him by collecting flowers
and sewing them into garlands. When He does not come, however, we simply pass
our time by crying. If only He would come here and accept these garlands that
we have made. Dear Lord Balarāma, descendant of Daśārha, You know that we
would give up everything for Kṛṣṇa's
friendship. Even in great distress one cannot give up the connection of
family members, but although it might be impossible for others, we gave up
our fathers, mothers, sisters and relatives without caring at all about our
renunciation. Then, all of a sudden, Kṛṣṇa
renounced us and went away. He broke off our intimate relationship without
any serious consideration and left for a foreign country. But He was so
clever and cunning that He manufactured very nice words. He said, 'My dear
gopīs, please do not worry. The service you have rendered Me is impossible
for Me to repay.' After all, we are women, so how could we disbelieve Him?
Now we can understand that His sweet words were simply for cheating us."
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Another gopī, protesting Kṛṣṇa's absence from Vṛndāvana,
began to say: "My dear Balarāmajī, we are of course village girls, so Kṛṣṇa could cheat us in that way, but what about the
women of Dvārakā? Don't think they are as foolish as we are! We village women
might be misled by Kṛṣṇa, but the women in the city of Dvārakā are very
clever and intelligent. Therefore I would be surprised if such city women could
be misled by Kṛṣṇa and could believe His words."
Another gopī, after hearing this, said, "My dear friends, what is the use in talking about Kṛṣṇa? If you are at all interested in passing away time by talking, let us talk on some subject other than Him. If cruel Kṛṣṇa can pass His time without us, why can't we pass our time without Kṛṣṇa? Of course, Kṛṣṇa is passing His days very happily without us, but the difference is that we cannot pass our days very happily without Him."
When the gopīs were talking in this way, their feelings for Kṛṣṇa became more and more intensified, and they were experiencing Kṛṣṇa's smiling, Kṛṣṇa's words of love, Kṛṣṇa's attractive features, Kṛṣṇa's characteristics and Kṛṣṇa's embraces. By the force of their ecstatic feelings, it appeared to them that Kṛṣṇa was personally present and dancing before them. Because of their sweet remembrance of Kṛṣṇa, they could not check their tears, and they began to cry without consideration.
Lord Balarāma could, of course, understand the ecstatic feelings of the gopīs, and therefore He wanted to pacify them. He was expert in presenting an appeal, and thus, treating the gopīs very respectfully, He began to narrate the stories of Kṛṣṇa so tactfully that the gopīs became satisfied. In order to keep the gopīs in Vṛndāvana satisfied, Lord Balarāma stayed there continually for two months, namely the months of Caitra (March-April) and Vaiśākha (April-May). For those two months He kept Himself among the gopīs, and He passed every night with them in the forest of Vṛndāvana in order to satisfy their desire for conjugal love. Thus Balarāma also enjoyed the rāsa dance with the gopīs during those two months. Since the season was springtime, the breeze on the bank of the Yamunā was blowing very mildly, carrying the aroma of different flowers, especially of the flower known as kaumudī. Moonlight filled the sky and spread everywhere, and thus the banks of the Yamunā appeared to be very bright and pleasing, and Lord Balarāma enjoyed the company of the gopīs there.
The demigod known as Varuṇa sent his daughter Vāruṇī in the form of liquid honey oozing from the hollows of the trees. Because of this honey the whole forest became aromatic, and the sweet aroma of the liquid honey, Vāruṇī, captivated Balarāmajī. Balarāmajī and all the gopīs became very much attracted by the taste of Vāruṇī, and all of them drank it together. While drinking this natural beverage, Vāruṇī, all the gopīs chanted the glories of Lord Balarāma, and Lord Balarāma felt very happy, as if He had become intoxicated by drinking that Vāruṇī beverage. His eyes rolled in a pleasing attitude. He was decorated with long garlands of forest flowers, and the whole situation appeared to be a great function of happiness because of this transcendental bliss. Lord Balarāma smiled beautifully, and the drops of perspiration decorating His face appeared to be soothing morning dew.
While Balarāma was in that happy mood, He desired to enjoy the company of the gopīs in the water of the Yamunā. Therefore He called Yamunā to come nearby. But Yamunā neglected the order of Balarāmajī, considering Him to be intoxicated. Lord Balarāma became very much displeased at Yamunā's neglecting His order. He immediately wanted to scratch the land near the river with His plowshare. Lord Balarāma has two weapons, a plow and a club, and He takes service from them when they are required. This time He wanted to bring the Yamunā by force, and He took the help of His plow. He wanted to punish Yamunā because she did not come in obedience to His order. He addressed Yamunā: "You wretched river! You did not care for My order. Now I shall teach you a lesson! You did not come to Me voluntarily. Now with the help of My plow I shall force you to come. I shall divide you into hundreds of scattered streams!"
Upon displaying this submissive attitude, Yamunā was forgiven, and when she came nearby, Lord Balarāma wanted to enjoy the pleasure of swimming within her water along with the gopīs in the same way an elephant enjoys himself along with his many she-elephants. After a long time, when Lord Balarāma had enjoyed to His full satisfaction, He came out of the water, and immediately a goddess of fortune offered Him a nice blue garment and a valuable necklace made of gold. After taking bath in the Yamunā, Lord Balarāma, dressed in blue garments and decorated with golden ornaments, looked very attractive to everyone. Lord Balarāma's complexion is white, and when He was properly dressed He looked exactly like the white elephant of King Indra in the heavenly planet. The Rver Yamunā still has many small branches due to being scratched by the plowshare of Lord Balarāma. And all these branches of the River Yamunā still glorify the omnipotency of Lord Balarāma.
Lord Balarāma and the gopīs enjoyed transcendental pastimes together every night for two months, and time passed away so quickly that all those nights appeared to be only one night. In the presence of Lord Balarāma, all the gopīs and inhabitants of Vṛndāvana became as cheerful as they had been before in the presence of both brothers, Lord Kṛṣṇa and Lord Balarāma.
65. The Deliverance of Pauṇḍraka and the King of Kāś
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The story of King Pauṇḍraka is very interesting because there have
always been many rascals and fools who have considered themselves to be God.
Even in the presence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, there was such a foolish person. His name was
Pauṇḍraka, and he wanted to declare himself to be God.
While Lord Balarāma was absent in Vṛndāvana,
this King Pauṇḍraka, the King of the Karūṣa province, being foolish and puffed up, sent a
messenger to Lord Kṛṣṇa. Lord Kṛṣṇa
is accepted as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and King Pauṇḍraka directly challenged Kṛṣṇa through the messenger, who stated that Pauṇḍraka, and not Kṛṣṇa,
was Vāsudeva. In the present day there are many foolish followers of such
rascals. Similarly, in his day, many foolish men accepted Pauṇḍraka as the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Because he could not estimate his own position, Pauṇḍraka falsely thought himself to be Lord Vāsudeva.
Thus the messenger declared to Kṛṣṇa
that out of his causeless mercy, King Pauṇḍraka,
the Supreme Personality of Godhead, had descended on the earth just to
deliver all distressed persons.
Surrounded by many other foolish
persons, this rascal Pauṇḍraka
had actually concluded that he was Vāsudeva, the Supreme Personality of
Godhead. This kind of conclusion is certainly childish. When children are
playing, they sometimes create a king amongst themselves, and the child who
is selected thinks that he is the king. Similarly, many foolish persons, due
to ignorance, select another fool as God, and then the rascal considers
himself God, as if God could be created by childish play or by the votes of
men. Under this false impression, thinking himself the Supreme Lord, Pauṇḍraka sent his messenger to Dvārakā to challenge
the position of Kṛṣṇa. The messenger reached the royal assembly of Kṛṣṇa in Dvārakā and conveyed the message given by
his master, Pauṇḍraka. The message contained the following
statements.
"I am the only Supreme
Personality of Godhead, Vāsudeva. There is no man who can compete with me. I
have descended as King Pauṇḍraka,
taking compassion on the distressed conditioned souls out of my unlimited
causeless mercy. You have falsely taken the position of Vāsudeva without
authority, but You should not propagate this false idea. You must give up
Your position. O descendant of the Yadu dynasty, please give up all the
symbols of Vāsudeva which You have falsely assumed. And after giving up this
position, come and surrender unto me. If out of Your gross impudence You do
not care for my words, then I challenge You to fight. I am inviting You to a
battle in which the decision will be settled."
When all the members of the royal
assembly, including King Ugrasena, heard this message sent by Pauṇḍraka, they laughed very loudly for a considerable
time. After enjoying the loud laughter of all the members of the assembly, Kṛṣṇa replied to the messenger as follows: "O
messenger of Pauṇḍraka, you may carry My message to your master: He
is a foolish rascal. I directly call him a rascal, and I refuse to follow his
instructions. I shall never give up the symbols of Vāsudeva, especially My
disc. I shall use this disc to kill not only King Pauṇḍraka but all his followers also. I shall destroy
Pauṇḍraka and his foolish associates, who merely
constitute a society of cheaters and cheated. When this action is taken,
foolish King, you will have to conceal your face in disgrace, and when your
head is severed from your body by My disc, it will be surrounded by
meat-eating birds like vultures, hawks and eagles. At that time, instead of
becoming My shelter as you have demanded, you will be subjected to the mercy
of these low-born birds. At that time your body will be thrown to the dogs,
who will eat it with great pleasure."
The messenger carried the words of
Lord Kṛṣṇa to his master, Pauṇḍraka, who patiently heard all these insults.
Without waiting longer, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa
immediately started out on His chariot to punish the rascal Pauṇḍraka. Because at that time the King of Karūṣa was living with his friend the King of Kāśī, Kṛṣṇa surrounded the whole city of Kāśī.
King Pauṇḍraka was a great warrior, and as soon as he heard
of Kṛṣṇa's attack, he came out of the city along with
two akṣauhiṇī
divisions of soldiers. The King of Kāśī was also a friend to King Pauṇḍraka, and he came out with three akṣauhiṇī
divisions.
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When the two kings came before Lord Kṛṣṇa to oppose Him, Kṛṣṇa
saw Pauṇḍraka face to face for the first time. Kṛṣṇa saw that Pauṇḍraka
had decorated himself with the symbols of the conchshell, disc, lotus and club.
He carried the Śārṅga bow, and on his chest was the insignia of
Śrīvatsa. His neck was decorated with a false Kaustubha jewel, and he wore a
flower garland in exact imitation of Lord Vāsudeva. He was dressed in yellow
colored silken garments, and the flag on his chariot carried the symbol of Garuḍa, exactly imitating Kṛṣṇa's. He had a very valuable helmet on his head, and
his earrings, like swordfish, glittered brilliantly. On the whole, however, his
dress and makeup were clearly imitation. Anyone could understand that he was
just like someone onstage playing the part of Vāsudeva in false dress. When
Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa saw Pauṇḍraka
imitating His posture and dress, He could not check His laughter, and thus He
laughed with great satisfaction.
The soldiers on the side of King Pauṇḍraka began to shower their weapons upon Kṛṣṇa. The weapons, including various kinds of
tridents, clubs, poles, lances, swords, daggers and arrows, came flying in
waves, and Kṛṣṇa counteracted them. He smashed not only the
weapons but also the soldiers and assistants of Pauṇḍraka, just as during the dissolution of this
universe the fire of devastation burns everything to ashes. The elephants,
chariots, horses, and infantry belonging to the opposite party were scattered
by the weapons of Kṛṣṇa. The whole battlefield became scattered with the
bodies of animals and chariots. There were fallen horses, elephants, men, asses
and camels. Although the devastated battlefield appeared like the dancing place
of Lord Śiva at the time of the dissolution of the world, the warriors who were
on the side of Kṛṣṇa were very much encouraged by seeing this, and
they fought with greater strength.
At this time, Lord Kṛṣṇa told Pauṇḍraka,
"Pauṇḍraka, you requested Me to give up the symbols of
Lord Viṣṇu, specifically My disc. Now I will give it up to
you. Be careful! You falsely declare yourself to be Vasudeva, imitating Myself.
Therefore no one is a greater fool than you." From this statement of Kṛṣṇa's it is clear that any rascal who advertises
himself as God is the greatest fool in human society. Kṛṣṇa continued: "Now, Pauṇḍraka, I shall force you to give up this false
representation. You wanted Me to surrender unto you. Now this is your
opportunity. We shall now fight, and if I am defeated and you become
victorious, I shall certainly surrender unto you." In this way, after
chastising Pauṇḍraka very severely, He smashed his chariot to
pieces by shooting an arrow. With the help of His disc He separated the head of
Pauṇḍraka from his body, just as Indra shaves off the
peaks of mountains by striking them with his thunderbolt. Similarly, He also
killed the King of Kāśī with His arrows. Lord Kṛṣṇa
specifically arranged to throw the head of the King of Kāśī into the city of
Kāśī itself so that his relatives and family members could see it. This was
done by Kṛṣṇa just as a hurricane carries a lotus petal here
and there. Lord Kṛṣṇa killed Pauṇḍraka
and his friend Kāśīrāja on the battlefield, and then He returned to His capital
city, Dvārakā.
When Lord Kṛṣṇa returned to
the city of Dvārakā, all the Siddhas from the heavenly planets were singing the
glories of the Lord. As far as Pauṇḍraka was concerned, somehow or other he was always
thinking of Lord Vāsudeva by falsely dressing himself in that way, and
therefore Pauṇḍraka
achieved sārūpya, one of the five kinds of liberation, and was thus promoted to
the Vaikuṇṭha
planets, where the devotees have the same bodily features as Viṣṇu, with four
hands holding the four symbols. Factually, his meditation was concentrated on
the Viṣṇu
form, but because he thought himself to be Lord Viṣṇu, it was
offensive. After being killed by Kṛṣṇa, however, that offense was also mitigated. Thus
he was given sārūpya liberation, and he attained the same form as the Lord.
When the head of the King of Kāśī was
thrown through the city gate, people gathered and were astonished to see that
wonderful thing. When they found out that there were earrings on it, they could
understand that it was someone's head. They conjectured as to whose head it
might be. Some thought it was Kṛṣṇa's head because Kṛṣṇa was the enemy of Kāśīrāja, and they calculated
that the King of Kāśī might have thrown Kṛṣṇa's head into the city so that the people might
take pleasure that the enemy was killed. But it was finally detected that the
head was not Kṛṣṇa's,
but that of Kāśīrāja himself. When it was so ascertained, the queens of the
King of Kāśī immediately approached and began to lament the death of their
husband. "Our dear lord," they cried, "upon your death, we have
become just like dead bodies."
The King of Kāśī had one son whose name
was Sudakṣiṇa. After
observing the ritualistic funeral ceremonies, he took a vow that since Kṛṣṇa was the enemy
of his father, he would kill Kṛṣṇa and in this way liquidate his debts to his
father. Therefore, accompanied by a learned priest qualified to help him, he
began to worship Mahādeva, Lord Śiva. The lord of the kingdom of Kāśī is
Viśvanātha (Lord Śiva). The temple of Lord Viśvanātha is still existing in Vārāṇasī, and many
thousands of pilgrims still gather daily in that temple. By the worship of
Sudakṣiṇa, Lord Śiva was
very much pleased, and he wanted to give a benediction to his devotee. Sudakṣiṇa's purpose was
to kill Kṛṣṇa,
and therefore he prayed for a specific power by which he could kill Him. Lord
Śiva advised that Sudakṣiṇa, assisted by
the brāhmaṇas,
execute the ritualistic ceremony for killing one's enemy. This ceremony is also
mentioned in some of the Tantras. Lord Śiva informed Sudakṣiṇa that if such a
black ritualistic ceremony were performed properly, then the evil spirit named
Dakṣiṇāgni would
appear to carry out any order given to him. He would have to be employed,
however, to kill someone other than a qualified brāhmaṇa. In such a
case he would be accompanied by Lord Śiva's ghostly companions, and the desire
of Sudakṣiṇa to kill his
enemy would be fulfilled.
When Sudakṣiṇa was encouraged
by Lord Śiva in that way, he became assured that he would be able to kill Kṛṣṇa. With a
determined vow of austerity, he began to execute the black art of chanting
mantras, assisted by the priests. After this, out of the fire came a great
demonic form, whose hair, beard and moustache were exactly the color of hot
copper. This form was very big and fierce. As the demon arose from the fire,
cinders of fire emanated from the sockets of his eyes. The giant fiery demon
appeared still more fierce due to the movements of his eyebrows. He exhibited
long sharp teeth and, sticking out his long tongue, licked both sides of his
lips. He was naked, and he carried a big trident, which was blazing like fire.
After appearing from the fire of sacrifice, he stood wielding the trident in
his hand. Instigated by Sudakṣiṇa, the demon proceeded toward the capital city,
Dvārakā, along with many hundreds of ghostly companions, and it appeared that
he was going to burn all outer space to ashes. The surface of the earth
trembled because of his striking steps. When he entered the city of Dvārakā,
all the residents panicked, just like animals at the time of a forest fire.
At that time Kṛṣṇa was engaged in
playing chess in the royal assembly council hall. All the residents of Dvārakā
approached and addressed Him, "Dear Lord of the three worlds, there is a
great fiery demon ready to burn the whole city of Dvārakā! Please save
us!" Thus, after approaching Lord Kṛṣṇa, all the inhabitants of Dvārakā began to appeal
to Him for protection from the fiery demon who had just appeared in Dvārakā to
devastate the whole city.
66. The Deliverance of Dvivida
Gorilla
While Śukadeva
Gosvāmī continued to speak on the transcendental pastimes and characteristics
of Lord Kṛṣṇa,
King Parīkṣit, upon hearing
him, became more and more enthusiastic and wanted to hear further. Śukadeva
Gosvāmī next narrated the story of Dvivida, the gorilla who was killed by Lord
Balarāma.
This gorilla was a great friend of
Bhaumāsura's, or Narakāsura's, who was killed by Kṛṣṇa in connection
with his kidnapping sixteen thousand princesses from all over the world.
Dvivida was the minister of King Sugrīva. His brother, Mainda, was also a very
powerful gorilla king. When Dvivida gorilla heard the story of his friend
Bhaumāsura's being killed by Lord Kṛṣṇa, he planned to create mischief throughout the
country in order to avenge the death of Bhaumāsura. His first business was to
set fires in villages, towns, and industrial and mining places, as well as in
the residential quarters of the mercantile men who were busy dairy farming and
protecting cows. Sometimes he would uproot a big mountain and tear it to
pieces. In this way he created great disturbances all over the country,
especially in the province of Kathwar. The city of Dvārakā was situated in this
Kathwar province, and because Lord Kṛṣṇa used to live in this city, Dvivida specifically
made it his target of disturbance.
Dvivida was as powerful as 10,000
elephants. Sometimes he would go to the seashore, and with his powerful hands
he would create so much disturbance in the sea that he would overflood the
neighboring cities and villages. Often he would go to the hermitages of great
saintly persons and sages and cause a great disturbance by smashing their
beautiful gardens and orchards. Not only did he create disturbances in that
way, but sometimes he would pass urine and stool on their sacred sacrificial
arena. He would thus pollute the whole atmosphere. He also kidnapped both men
and women, taking them away from their residential places to the caves of the
mountains. Putting them within the caves, he would close the entrances with
large chunks of stone, like the bhṛṅgī insect, which arrests and carries away many
flies and other insects and puts them within the holes of the trees where he
lives. He thus regularly defied the law and order of the country. Not only
that, but he would sometimes pollute the female members of many aristocratic
families by forcibly raping them.
While creating such great disturbance
all over the country, sometimes he heard very sweet musical sounds from the
Raivataka Mountain, and so he entered that mountainous region. There he saw
that Lord Balarāma was present in the midst of many beautiful young girls,
enjoying their company while engaged in singing and dancing. He became
captivated by the beautiful features of Lord Balarāma's body, each and every
part of which was very beautiful, decorated as He was with a garland of lotus
flowers. Similarly, all the young girls present, dressed and garlanded with
flowers, exhibited much beauty. Lord Balarāma seemed to be fully intoxicated
from drinking the Vāruṇī
beverage, and His eyes appeared to be rolling in a drunken state. Lord Balarāma
appeared just like the king of the elephants in the midst of many
she-elephants.
This gorilla by the name of Dvivida
could climb up on the trees and jump from one branch to another. Sometimes he
would jerk the branches, creating a particular type of sound, "Kila,
kila," so that Lord Balarāma was greatly distracted from the pleasing
atmosphere. Sometimes Dvivida would come before the women and exhibit different
types of caricatures. By nature young women are apt to enjoy everything with
laughter and joking, and when the gorilla came before them they did not take
him seriously, but simply laughed at him. However, the gorilla was so rude that
even in the presence of Balarāma he began to show the lower part of his body to
the women, and sometimes he would come forward to show his teeth while moving
his eyebrows. He disrespected the women, even in the presence of Balarāma. Lord
Balarāma's name suggests that He is not only very powerful, but that He takes
pleasure in exhibiting extraordinary strength. So He took a stone and threw it
at Dvivida. The gorilla, however, artfully avoided being struck by the stone.
In order to insult Balarāma, the gorilla took away the earthen pot in which the
Vāruṇī
was kept. Dvivida, being thus intoxicated, with his limited strength began to
tear off all the valuable clothes worn by Balarāma and the accompanying young
girls. He was so puffed up that he thought that Balarāma could not do anything
to chastise him, and he continued to offend Balarāmajī and His companions.
When Lord Balarāma personally saw the
disturbances created by the gorilla and heard that he had already performed
many mischievous activities all over the country, He became very angry and
decided to kill him. Immediately He took His club in His hands. The gorilla
could understand that now Balarāma was going to attack him. In order to
counteract Balarāma, he immediately uprooted a big oak tree, and with great
force he came and struck at Lord Balarāma's head. Lord Balarāma, however,
immediately caught hold of the big tree and remained undisturbed, just like a
great mountain. To retaliate, He took His club by the name of Sunanda and began
to hit the gorilla with it. The gorilla's head was severely injured. Currents
of blood flowed from his head with great force, but the stream of blood
enhanced his beauty like a stream of liquid manganese coming out of a great
mountain. The striking of Balarāma's club did not even slightly disturb him. On
the contrary, he immediately uprooted another big oak tree, and after clipping off
all its leaves, he began to strike Balarāma's head with it. But Balarāma, with
the help of His club, tore the tree to pieces. Since the gorilla was very
angry, he took another tree in his hands and began to strike Lord Balarāma's
body. Again Lord Balarāma tore the tree to pieces, and the fighting continued.
Each time the gorilla would bring out a big tree to strike Balarāma, Lord
Balarāma would tear the tree to pieces by the striking of His club. The gorilla
Dvivida would clutch another tree from another direction and again attack
Balarāma in the same way. As a result of this continuous fighting, the forest
became treeless. When no more trees were available, Dvivida took help from the
hills and threw large pieces of stone, like rainfall, upon the body of
Balarāma. Lord Balarāma, also in a great sporting mood, began to smash those
big pieces of stone into mere pebbles. The gorilla, being bereft of all trees
and stone slabs, now stood before Him and waved his strong fists. Then, with
great force, he began to beat the chest of Lord Balarāma with his fists. This
time Lord Balarāma became most angry. Since the gorilla was striking Him with
his hands, He would not strike him back with His own weapons, the club or the
plow. Simply with His fists He began to strike the collarbone of the gorilla.
This striking proved to be fatal to Dvivida, who immediately vomited blood and
fell unconscious upon the ground. When the gorilla fell, it appeared that all
the hills and forests tottered.
After this
horrible incident, all the Siddhas, great sages and saintly persons from the
upper planetary system began to shower flowers on the person of Lord Balarāma,
and sounds glorifying the supremacy of Lord Balarāma were vibrated. All of them
began to chant, "All glories to Lord Balarāma! Let us offer our respectful
obeisances unto Your lotus feet. By Your killing this great demon, Dvivida, You
have initiated an auspicious era for the world." All such jubilant sounds
of victory were heard from outer space. After killing the great demon Dvivida
and being worshiped by showers of flowers and glorious sounds of victory,
Balarāma returned to His capital city, Dvārakā.
67. The Marriage of Sāmba
Because Sāmba took Lakṣmaṇā away from the assembly by force, all the members of the Kuru dynasty, namely, Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Bhīṣma, Vidura, Ujahan and Arjuna, thought it an insult to their family tradition that the boy, Sāmba, could possibly have kidnapped their daughter. All of them knew that Lakṣmaṇā was not at all inclined to select him as her husband and that she was not given the chance to select her own husband; instead she was forcibly taken away by this boy. Therefore, they decided that he must be punished. They unanimously declared that he was most impudent and that he had degraded the Kurus' family tradition. Therefore, all of them, under the counsel of the elderly members of the Kuru family, decided to arrest the boy but not kill him. They concluded that the girl could not be married to any boy other than Sāmba since she had already been touched by him. (According to the Vedic system, once being used by some boy, a girl cannot be married or given to any other boy. Nor would anyone agree to marry a girl who had already thus associated with another boy.) The elderly members of the family, such as Bhīṣma, wanted to arrest him. All the members of the Kuru dynasty, especially the great fighters, joined together just to teach him a lesson, and Karṇa was made the commander-in-chief for this small battle.
While the plan was being made to arrest Sāmba, the Kurus counseled amongst themselves that upon his arrest, the members of the Yadu dynasty would be very angry with them. There was every possibility of the Yadus' accepting the challenge and fighting with them. But they also thought, "If they came here to fight with us, what could they do? The members of the Yadu dynasty cannot equal the members of the Kuru dynasty because the kings of the Kuru dynasty are the emperors whereas the kings of the Yadu dynasty are able to enjoy their landed property." The Kurus thought, "If they come here to challenge us because their son was arrested, we will nevertheless accept the fight. All of us will teach them a lesson, so that automatically they will become subdued under pressure, as the senses are subdued by the mystic yoga process, prāṇāyāma." (In the mechanical system of mystic yoga, the airs within the body are controlled, and the senses are subdued and checked from being engaged in anything other than meditation upon Lord Viṣṇu.)
After consultation and after receiving permission from the elderly members of the Kuru dynasty, such as Bhīṣma and Dhṛtarāṣṭra, six great warriors--Karṇa, Śala, Bhurisrava, Yajñaketu and Duryodhana, the father of the girl--all mahā-rathīs and guided by the great fighter Bhīṣmadeva, attempted to arrest the boy Sāmba. There are different grades of fighters, including mahā-rathī, eka-rathī and rathī, classified according to their fighting capacity. These mahā-rathīs could fight alone with many thousands of men. All of them combined together to arrest Sāmba. Sāmba was also a mahā-rathī, but he was alone and had to fight with the six other mahā-rathīs. Still he was not deterred when he saw all the great fighters of the Kuru dynasty coming up behind him to arrest him.
Alone, he turned towards them and took his nice bow, posing exactly as a lion stands adamant in the face of other animals. Karṇa was leading the party, and he challenged Sāmba, "Why are you fleeing? Just stand, and we shall teach you a lesson!" When challenged by another kṣatriya to stand and fight, a kṣatriya cannot go away; he must fight. Therefore, as soon as Sāmba accepted the challenge and stood alone before them, he was overpowered by showers of arrows thrown by all the great warriors. As a lion is never afraid of being chased by many wolves and jackals, similarly, Sāmba, the glorious son of the Yadu dynasty, endowed with inconceivable potencies as the son of Lord Kṛṣṇa, became very angry at the warriors of the Kuru dynasty for improperly using arrows against him. He fought them with great talent. First of all, he struck each of the six charioteers with six separate arrows. Another four arrows he used to kill the charioteers' horses, four on each chariot. One arrow was used to kill the driver and one arrow was used for Karṇa as well as the other celebrated fighters. While Sāmba was so diligently fighting alone with the six great warriors, they all appreciated the inconceivable potency of the boy. Even in the midst of fighting, they admitted frankly that this boy Sāmba was wonderful. But the fighting was conducted in the kṣatriya spirit, so all together, although it was improper, they obliged Sāmba to get down from his chariot, now broken to pieces. Of the six warriors, four took care to kill Sāmba's four horses, and one of them managed to cut the string of Sāmba's bow so that he could no longer fight with them. In this way, with great difficulty and after a severe fight, Sāmba was left bereft of his chariot, and they were able to arrest him. Thus, the warriors of the Kuru dynasty accepted their great victory and took their daughter, Lakṣmaṇā, away from him. Thereafter, they entered the city of Hastināpura in great triumph.
The great sage Nārada immediately carried the news to the Yadu dynasty that Sāmba was arrested and told them the whole story. The members of the Yadu dynasty became very angry at Sāmba's being arrested, and improperly so by six warriors. Now, with the permission of the head of the Yadu dynasty's king, Ugrasena, they prepared to attack the capital city of the Kuru dynasty.
Although Lord Balarāma knew very well that by slight provocation people are prepared to fight with one another in the age of Kali, He did not like the idea that the two great dynasties, the Kuru dynasty and the Yadu dynasty, would fight amongst themselves, even though they were influenced by Kali-yuga. "Instead of fighting with them," He wisely thought, "let Me go there and see the situation, and let Me try to see if the fight can be settled by mutual understanding." Balarāma's idea was that if the Kuru dynasty could be induced to release Sāmba along with his wife, Lakṣmaṇā, then the fight could be avoided. He therefore immediately arranged for a nice chariot to go to Hastināpura, accompanied by learned priests and brāhmaṇas, as well as by some of the elderly members of the Yadu dynasty. He was confident that the members of the Kuru dynasty would agree to this marriage and avoid fighting amongst themselves.
As Lord Balarāma proceeded towards
Hastināpura in His chariot, accompanied by the learned brāhmaṇas and the
elderly members of the Yadu dynasty, He looked like the moon shining in the
clear sky amongst the glittering stars. When Lord Balarāma reached the
precincts of the city of Hastināpura, He did not enter, but stationed Himself
in a camp outside the city in a small garden house. Then He asked Uddhava to
see the leaders of the Kuru dynasty and inquire from them whether they wanted
to fight with the Yadu dynasty or to make a settlement. Uddhava went to see the
leaders of the Kuru dynasty, and he met all the important members, including
Bhīṣmadeva,
Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Droṇācārya, Bali,
Duryodhana and Bāhlīka. After offering them due respects, he informed them that
Lord Balarāma had already arrived at the garden, outside the city door.
The leaders of the Kuru dynasty,
especially Dhṛtarāṣṭra and
Duryodhana, were very joyful because they knew very well that Lord Balarāma was
a great well-wisher of their family. There were no bounds to their joy on
hearing the news, and so immediately they welcomed Uddhava. In order to
properly receive Lord Balarāma, they all took auspicious paraphernalia for His
reception in their hands and went to see Him outside the city door. According
to their respective positions, they welcomed Lord Balarāma by giving Him in
charity nice cows and argha (an assortment of articles such as ārātrika water,
sweet preparations of honey, butter, etc., and flowers, and garlands scented
with pulp). Because all of them knew the exalted position of Lord Balarāma as
the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they bowed their heads before the Lord with
great respect. They all exchanged words of reception by asking one another of
their welfare, and when such formality was finished, Lord Balarāma, in a great
voice and very patiently, submitted before them the following words for their
consideration. "My dear friends, this time I have come to you as a
messenger with the order of the all-powerful King Ugrasena. Please, therefore,
hear the order with attention and great care. Without wasting a single moment,
please try to carry out the order. King Ugrasena knows very well that you
warriors of the Kuru dynasty improperly fought with the pious Sāmba, who was
alone, and that with great difficulty and tactics you have arrested him. We
have all heard this news, but we are not very agitated because we are most
intimately related to each other. I do not think we should disturb our good
relationship; we should continue our friendship without any unnecessary
fighting. Please, therefore, immediately release Sāmba and bring him, along
with his wife, Lakṣmaṇā, before
Me."
When Lord Balarāma spoke in a
commanding tone full of heroic assertion, supremacy and chivalry, His
statements were not appreciated by the leaders of the Kuru dynasty. Rather, all
of them became agitated, and with great anger they said: "Hello! These
words are very astonishing but quite befitting the age of Kali; otherwise how
could Balarāma speak so vituperatively? The language and tone used by Balarāma
are simply abusive, and due to the influence of this age, it appears that the
shoes befitting the feet want to rise to the top of the head where the helmet
is worn. We are connected with the Yadu dynasty by marriage, and because of
this they have been given the chance to come live with us, dine with us, and
sleep with us; now they are taking advantage of these privileges. They had
practically no position before we gave them a portion of our kingdom to rule,
and now they are trying to command us. We have allowed the Yadu dynasty to use
the royal insignias like the whisk, fan, conchshell, white umbrella, crown,
royal throne, sitting place, bedstead and everything befitting the royal order.
They should not have used such royal paraphernalia in our presence, but we did
not check them due to our family relationships. Now they have the audacity to
order us to do things. Well, this is enough of their impudence! We cannot allow
them to do any more of these things, nor shall we allow them to use these royal
insignias. It would be best to take all these things away; it is improper to
feed a snake with milk, since such merciful activities simply increase his
venom. The Yadu dynasty is now trying to go against those who have fed them so
nicely. Their flourishing condition is due to our gifts and merciful behavior,
and still they are so shameless that they are trying to order us. How
regrettable are all these activities! No one in the world can enjoy anything if
the members of the Kuru dynasty like Bhīṣma, Droṇācārya and Arjuna do not allow them to. Exactly as
a lamb cannot enjoy life in the presence of a lion, without our desire it is
not even possible for the demigods in heaven, headed by King Indra, to find
enjoyment in life, not to speak of ordinary human beings!" Actually the
members of the Kuru dynasty were very puffed up due to their opulence, kingdom,
aristocracy, family tradition, great warriors, family members and vast
expansive empire. They did not even observe common formalities of civilized
society, and in the presence of Lord Balarāma they uttered insulting words
about the Yadu dynasty. Speaking in this unmannerly way, they returned to their
city of Hastināpura.
Although Lord Balarāma patiently heard
their insulting words and simply observed their uncivil behavior, from His
appearance it was clear that He was burning with anger and was thinking of
retaliating with great vengeance. His bodily features became so agitated that
it was difficult for anyone to look at Him. He laughed very loudly and said:
"It is true that if a man becomes too puffed up because of his family,
opulence, beauty and material advancement, he no longer wants a peaceful life
but becomes belligerent toward all others. It is useless to give such a person
good instruction for gentle behavior and peaceful life, but on the contrary,
one should search out the ways and means to punish him." Generally, due to
material opulence a man becomes exactly like an animal. To give an animal
peaceful instructions is useless, and the only means is argumentum vaculum. In
other words, the only means to keep animals in order is a stick. "Just see
how impudent the members of the Kuru dynasty are! I wanted to make a peaceful
settlement despite the anger of all the other members of the Yadu dynasty,
including Lord Kṛṣṇa
Himself. They were preparing to attack the whole kingdom of the Kuru dynasty,
but I pacified them and took the trouble to come here to settle the affair without
any fighting. Still these rascals behave like this! It is clear that they do
not want a peaceful settlement, but that they are factually warmongers. With
great pride they have repeatedly insulted Me by calling the Yadus dynasty ill
names.
"Even the King of heaven, Indra,
abides by the order of the Yadu dynasty; and you consider King Ugrasena, who is
the head of the Bhojas, Vṛṣṇis, Andhakas and Yādavas, to be the leader of a
small phalanx! Your conclusion is wonderful! You do not care for King Ugrasena,
whose order is obeyed even by King Indra. Consider the exalted position of the
Yadu dynasty. They have forcibly used both the assembly house and the pārijāta
tree of the heavenly planet, and still you think that they cannot order you.
Don't you even think that Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, can sit on
the exalted royal throne and command everyone? All right! If your thinking is
like that, then you deserve to be taught a very good lesson. You have thought
it wise that the royal insignias like the whisk, fan, white umbrella, royal
throne and other princely paraphernalia not be used by the Yadu dynasty. Does
this mean that even Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Lord of the whole creation and the husband
of the goddess of fortune, cannot use this royal paraphernalia? The dust of Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet is worshiped by all the great
demigods. The Ganges water is inundating the whole world, and since it is
emanating from His lotus feet, its banks have turned into great places of
pilgrimage. The principal deities of all planets engage in His service, and
they consider themselves most fortunate to take the dust of the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa on their helmets. Great demigods like Lord
Brahmā, Lord Śiva, and even the goddess of fortune and I are simply plenary
parts of His spiritual identity, and still you think that He is not fit to use
the royal insignia or even sit on the royal throne? Alas, how regrettable it is
that these fools consider us, the members of the Yadu dynasty, to be like shoes
and themselves like helmets. It is clear now that these leaders of the Kuru
dynasty have become mad over their worldly possessions and opulence. Every
statement they made was full of crazy proposals. I should immediately take them
to task and bring them to their senses. If I do not take steps against them, it
will be improper on My part. Therefore, on this very day, I shall rid the whole
world of any trace of the Kuru dynasty. I shall finish them off
immediately!" While talking like this, Lord Balarāma seemed so furious
that He looked as if He could burn the whole cosmic creation to ashes. He stood
up steadily, and taking His plow in His hand, began striking the earth with it.
In this way the whole city of Hastināpura was separated from the earth. Lord
Balarāma then began to drag the city toward the flowing water of the river
Ganges. Because of this, there was a great tremor throughout Hastināpura, as if
there had been an earthquake, and it seemed that the whole city would be
dismantled.
When all the members of the Kuru
dynasty saw that their city was about to fall into the water of the Ganges and
when they heard their citizens howling in great anxiety, they immediately came
to their senses and understood what was happening. Thus without waiting another
second they brought forward their daughter Lakṣmaṇā. They also brought Sāmba, who had forcibly tried
to take her away, keeping him in the forefront with Lakṣmaṇā at his back.
All the members of the Kuru dynasty appeared before Lord Balarāma with folded
hands just to beg the pardon of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Now using
good sense, they said: "O Lord Balarāma, You are the reservoir of all
pleasures. You are the maintainer and support of the entire cosmic situation.
Unfortunately we were all unaware of Your inconceivable potencies. Dear Lord,
please consider us most foolish. Our intelligence was bewildered and not in
order. Therefore we have come before You to beg Your pardon. Please excuse us.
You are the original creator, sustainer and annihilator of the whole cosmic
manifestation, and still Your position is always transcendental. O all-powerful
Lord, great sages speak about You. You are the original puppeteer, and
everything in the world is just like Your toys. O unlimited one, You have a
hold on everything, and like child's play You hold all the planetary systems on
Your head. When the time for dissolution comes, You close up the whole cosmic
manifestation within Yourself. At that time nothing remains but Yourself lying
in the Causal Ocean as Mahā-Viṣṇu. Our dear Lord, You have appeared on this earth
in Your transcendental body just for the maintenance of the cosmic situation.
You are above all anger, envy and enmity. Whatever You do, even in the form of
chastisement, is auspicious for the whole material existence. We are offering
our respectful obeisances unto You because You are the imperishable Supreme
Personality of Godhead, the reservoir of all opulences and potencies. O creator
of innumerable universes, let us fall down and offer You our respectful
obeisances, again and again. We are now completely surrendered unto You.
Please, therefore, be merciful upon us and give us Your protection." When
the prominent members of the Kuru dynasty, beginning with grandfather Bhīṣmadeva down to
Arjuna and Duryodhana, had offered their respectful prayers in that way, the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Balarāma, immediately became softened and
assured them that there was no cause for fear and that they need not worry.
For the most part it was the practice of the kṣatriya kings to
inaugurate some kind of fighting between the parties of the bride and
bridegroom before the marriage. When Sāmba forcibly took away Lakṣmaṇā, the elder
members of the Kuru dynasty were pleased to see that he was actually the
suitable match for her. In order to see his personal strength, however, they
fought with him, and without any respect for the regulations of fighting, they
all arrested him. When the Yadu dynasty decided to release Sāmba from the
confinement of the Kurus, Lord Balarāma came personally to settle the matter,
and as a powerful kṣatriya,
He ordered them to free Sāmba immediately. The Kauravas became superficially
insulted by this order, so they challenged Lord Balarāma's power. They simply
wanted to see Him exhibit His inconceivable strength. Thus with great pleasure
they handed over their daughter to Sāmba, and the whole matter was settled.
Duryodhana, being affectionate towards his daughter Lakṣmaṇā, had her
married to Sāmba in great pomp. For her dowry, he first gave 1,200 elephants,
each of which were at least sixty years old; then he gave 10,000 nice horses,
6,000 chariots, which were dazzling just like the sunshine, and 1,000
maidservants who were decorated with golden ornaments. Lord Balarāma, the most
prominent member of the Yadu dynasty, acted as guardian of the bridegroom,
Sāmba, and very pleasingly accepted the dowry. Balarāma was very satisfied
after His great reception from the side of the Kurus, and accompanied by the
newly married couple, He started towards His capital city of Dvārakā. Lord Balarāma triumphantly reached Dvārakā, where He met with many citizens who were all His devotees and friends. When they all assembled, Lord Balarāma narrated the whole story of the marriage, and they were astonished to hear how Balarāma had made the city of Hastināpura tremble. It is confirmed by Śukadeva Gosvāmī that the site of Hastināpura is now known as New Delhi, and the river flowing through the city is called the Yamunā, although in those days it was known as the Ganges. From authorities like Jīva Gosvāmī it is also confirmed that the Ganges and Yamunā are the same river flowing in different courses. The part of the Ganges which flows through Hastināpura to the area of Vṛndāvana is called the Yamunā because it is sanctified by the transcendental pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa. The part of Hastināpura which slopes towards the Yamunā becomes inundated during the rainy season and reminds everyone of Lord Balarāma's threatening to cast the city into the Ganges.
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
(My humble salutations H H Swami Sri Prabhupada ji, Sri Krishnalilas
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