Sri Krishna Madbhagavatam
.
85. The Kidnapping of Subhadrā
and Lord Kṛṣṇa's Visiting Śrutadeva and
Bahulāśva
After hearing this incident, King Parīkṣit became more inquisitive to hear about Kṛṣṇa and His pastimes, and thus he inquired from
Śukadeva Gosvāmī how his grandmother Subhadrā was kidnapped by his grandfather
Arjuna at the instigation of Lord Kṛṣṇa.
King Parīkṣit was very much eager to learn about his
grandfather's kidnapping and marriage of his grandmother.
Thus Śukadeva Gosvāmī began to narrate
the story as follows: "Once upon a time, your grandfather Arjuna, the
great hero, was visiting several holy places of pilgrimage, and while he was
thus traveling all over he happened to come to Prabhāsakṣetra. In the Prabhāsakṣetra he heard the news that Lord Balarāma was
negotiating the marriage of Subhadrā, the daughter of Arjuna's maternal uncle,
Vasudeva. Although her father, Vasudeva, and her brother, Kṛṣṇa, were not in agreement with Him, Balarāma was in
favor of marrying Subhadrā to Duryodhana. Arjuna, however, desired to gain the
hand of Subhadrā."
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As he thought of Subhadrā and her
beauty, Arjuna became more and more captivated with the idea of marrying her,
and with a plan in mind he dressed himself like a Vaiṣṇava sannyāsī, carrying a tridaṇḍa in his hand. The Māyāvādī sannyāsīs take one daṇḍa, or one rod, whereas the Vaiṣṇava sannyāsīs take three daṇḍa, or three rods. The three rods, or tridaṇḍa, indicate that a Vaiṣṇava sannyāsī vows to render service to the
Supreme Personality of Godhead by his body, mind and words. The system of
tridaṇḍa-sannyāsa has been in existence for a long time,
and the Vaiṣṇava sannyāsīs are called tridaṇḍīs, or sometimes tridaṇḍi-svāmīs or tridaṇḍi-gosvāmīs.
Sannyāsīs are generally meant to
travel all over the country for preaching work, but during the four months of
the rainy season in India, from September through December, they do not
travel, but take shelter in one place and remain there without moving. This
non-movement of the sannyāsī is called Cāturmāsya-vrata. When a sannyāsī
stays in a place for four months, the local inhabitants of that place take
advantage of his presence to become spiritually advanced.
Arjuna, in the dress of a tridaṇḍi-sannyāsī, remained in the city of Dvārakā four
months, devising a plan whereby he could get Subhadrā as his wife. The
inhabitants of Dvārakā as well as Lord Balarāma could not recognize the
sannyāsī to be Arjuna; therefore all of them offered their respect and
obeisances to the sannyāsī without knowing the actual situation.
One day Lord Balarāma invited this
particular sannyāsī to lunch at His home. Balarāmajī very respectfully offered
him all kinds of palatable dishes, and the so-called sannyāsī was eating
sumptuously. While eating at the home of Balarāmajī, Arjuna was simply
looking over beautiful Subhadrā, who was very enchanting even to the great
heroes and kings. Out of love for her, Arjuna's eyes brightened, and he began
to see her with glittering eyes. Arjuna decided that somehow or other he
would achieve Subhadrā as his wife, and his mind became agitated on account
of this strong desire.
Arjuna, the grandfather of Mahārāja
Parīkṣit, was himself extraordinarily beautiful, and
his bodily structure was very much attractive to Subhadrā. Subhadrā also
decided within her mind that she would accept only Arjuna as her husband. As
a simple girl, she was smiling with great pleasure, looking at Arjuna. Thus
Arjuna also became more and more attracted by her. In this way, Subhadrā
dedicated herself to Arjuna, and he resolved to marry her by any means. He
then became absorbed twenty-four hours a day in the thought of how he could
get Subhadrā as his wife. He was afflicted with the thought of getting
Subhadrā, and he had not a moment's peace of mind.
Once upon a time, Subhadrā, seated on
a chariot, came out of the palace fort to see the gods in the temple. Arjuna
took this opportunity, and with the permission of Vasudeva and Devakī, he
kidnapped her. After getting on Subhadrā's chariot, he prepared himself for a
fight. Taking up his bow and holding off with his arrows the soldiers ordered
to check him, Arjuna took Subhadrā away. While Subhadrā was being thus
kidnapped by Arjuna, her relatives and family members began to cry, but still
he took her, just as a lion takes his share and departs. When it was
disclosed to Lord Balarāma that the so-called sannyāsī was Arjuna, and that
he had planned such a device simply to take away Subhadrā and that he had
actually taken her, He became very angry. Just as the waves of the ocean
become agitated on a full moon day, Lord Balarāma became greatly disturbed.
Lord Kṛṣṇa
was in favor of Arjuna; therefore, along with other members of the family, He
tried to pacify Balarāma by falling at His feet and begging Him to pardon
Arjuna. Lord Balarāma was then convinced that Subhadrā was attached to
Arjuna, and He became pleased to know that she wanted Arjuna as her husband.
The matter was settled, and in order to please the newly married couple, Lord
Balarāma arranged to send a dowry, consisting of an abundance of riches,
elephants, chariots, horses, servants and maidservants.
Mahārāja Parīkṣit was very anxious to hear more about Kṛṣṇa, and so, after finishing the narration of
Arjuna's kidnapping Subhadrā, Śukadeva Gosvāmī began to narrate another
story, as follows.
There was a householder brāhmaṇa in the city of Mithilā, the capital of the
kingdom of Videha. This brāhmaṇa,
whose name was Śrutadeva, was a great devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Due to his being fully Kṛṣṇa conscious and always engaged in the service of
the Lord, he was completely peaceful in mind and detached from all material
attraction. He was very learned and had no other desire than to be fully
situated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Although in the order of
householder life, he never took great pains to earn anything for his
livelihood; he was satisfied with whatever he could achieve without much
endeavor, and somehow or other he lived in that way. Every day he would get
necessities for life in just the quantity required, and not more. That was
his destiny. The brāhmaṇa had no desire to get more than what he needed,
and thus he was peacefully executing the regulative principles of a brāhmaṇa's life, as enjoined in the revealed scriptures.
Fortunately, the King of Mithilā was
as good a devotee as the brāhmaṇa.
The name of this famous King was Bahulāśva. He was very well established in
his reputation as a good king, and he was not at all ambitious to extend his
kingdom for the sake of sense gratification. As such, both the brāhmaṇa and King Bahulāśva remained pure devotees of
Lord Kṛṣṇa in Mithilā.
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When the news of the Lord's arrival was received by the citizens, they all felt unlimited happiness and came to welcome Him, taking gifts in their hands to offer. As soon as they saw Lord Kṛṣṇa, their hearts immediately blossomed in transcendental bliss, just as a lotus flower blooms on the rising of the sun. Previously they had simply heard the names of the great sages, but had never seen them. Now, by the mercy of Lord Kṛṣṇa, they had the opportunity of seeing both the great sages and the Lord Himself.
King Bahulāśva, as well as the brāhmaṇa, Śrutadeva, knowing well that the Lord had come there just to grace them with favor, immediately fell at the Lord's lotus feet and offered their respects. With folded hands, the King and the brāhmaṇa each simultaneously invited Lord Kṛṣṇa and all the sages to his home. In order to please both of them, Lord Kṛṣṇa expanded Himself into two and went to the houses of each one of them; yet neither the King nor the brāhmaṇa could understand that the Lord had gone to the house of the other. Both thought that the Lord had gone only to his own house. That He and His companions were present in both houses, although both the brāhmaṇa and the King thought He was present in his house only, is another opulence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This opulence is described in the revealed scriptures as vaibhava-prakāśa. Similarly, when Lord Kṛṣṇa married sixteen thousand wives, He also expanded Himself into sixteen thousand forms, each one of them as powerful as He Himself. Similarly, in Vṛndāvana, when Brahmā stole away Kṛṣṇa's cows, calves and cowherd boys, Kṛṣṇa expanded Himself into many new cows, calves and cowherd boys.
Bahulāśva, the King of Videha, was very
intelligent and was a perfect gentleman. He was astonished that so many great
sages, along with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, were personally present
in his home. He knew perfectly well that the conditioned soul, especially when
engaged in worldly affairs, cannot be a hundred percent pure, whereas the
Supreme Personality of Godhead and His pure devotees are always transcendental
to worldly contamination. Therefore, when he found that the Supreme Personality
of Godhead Kṛṣṇa
and all the great sages were at his home, he was astonished, and he began to
thank Lord Kṛṣṇa
for His causeless mercy.
Feeling very much obliged and wanting
to receive his guests to the best of his capacity, he called for nice chairs
and cushions, and Lord Kṛṣṇa,
along with all the sages, sat down very comfortably. At that time, King
Bahulāśva's mind was very restless, not because of any problems, but because of
great ecstasy of love and devotion. His heart was filled with love and
affection for the Lord and His associates, and his eyes were filled with tears
of ecstasy. He arranged to wash the feet of his divine guests, and after
washing them he and his family members sprinkled the water on their own heads.
After this, he offered to the guests nice flower garlands, sandalwood pulp,
incense, new garments, ornaments, lamps, cows and bulls. In a manner just
befitting his royal position, he worshiped each one of them in this way. When
all had been fed sumptuously and were sitting very comfortably, Bahulāśva came
before Lord Kṛṣṇa
and caught His lotus feet. He placed them on his lap and, while massaging the
feet with his hands, began to speak about the glories of the Lord in a sweet
voice.
"My dear Lord, You are the
Supersoul of all living entities and as witness within the heart are cognizant
of everyone's activities. As such, being duty-bound, we always think of Your
lotus feet so that we can remain in a secure position without deviating from
Your eternal service. As a result of our continuous remembrance of Your lotus
feet, You have kindly visited my place personally to favor me with Your
causeless mercy. We have heard, my dear Lord, that by Your various statements
You confirm Your pure devotees to be more dear to You than Lord Balarāma or
Your constant servitor the goddess of fortune. Your devotees are dearer to You
than Your first son, Lord Brahmā, and I am sure that You have so kindly visited
my place in order to prove Your divine statement. I cannot imagine how people
can be godless and demoniac even after knowing of Your causeless mercy and
affection for Your devotees who are constantly engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. How can they forget Your lotus
feet?"My dear Lord, it is known to us that You are so kind and liberal that when a person leaves everything just to engage in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, You sometimes give Yourself in exchange for that unalloyed service. You have appeared in the Yadu dynasty to fulfill Your mission of reclaiming all conditioned souls rotting in the sinful activities of material existence, and this appearance is already famous all over the world. My dear Lord, You are the ocean of unlimited mercy, love and affection. Your transcendental form is full of bliss, knowledge and eternity. You can attract everyone's heart by Your beautiful form as Śyāmasundara, Kṛṣṇa. Your knowledge is unlimited, and to teach all people how to execute devotional service You have sent Your incarnation Nara-Nārāyaṇa, who is engaged in severe austerities and penances at Badarīnārāyaṇa. Kindly, therefore, accept my humble obeisances at Your lotus feet. My dear Lord, I beg to request You and Your companions, the great sages and brāhmaṇas, to remain at my place so that this family of the famous King Nimi may be sanctified by the dust of Your lotus feet at least for a few days." Lord Kṛṣṇa could not refuse the request of His devotee, and thus He remained there for a few days along with the sages in order to sanctify the city of Mithilā and all its citizens
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Meanwhile, the brāhmaṇa, simultaneously receiving Lord Kṛṣṇa and His associates at his home, became
transcendentally overwhelmed with joy. After offering his guests nice sitting
places, the brāhmaṇa began to dance, throwing his wrap around his
body. Śrutadeva, being not at all rich, offered only mattresses, wooden
planks, straw carpets, etc., to his distinguished guests, Lord Kṛṣṇa and the sages, but he welcomed them to his best
capacity. He began to speak very highly of the Lord and the sages, and he and
his wife washed the feet of each one of them. After this, he took the water
and sprinkled it over all the members of his family, and although it appeared
that the brāhmaṇa was very poor, he was at that time most
fortunate. While Śrutadeva was welcoming Lord Kṛṣṇa
and His associates, he simply forgot himself in transcendental joy. After
welcoming the Lord and His companions, according to his capacity he brought
fruits, incense, scented water, scented clay, tulasī leaves, kuśa straw and
lotus flowers. They were not very costly items and could be secured very
easily, but because they were offered with devotional love, Lord Kṛṣṇa and His associates accepted them very gladly.
The brāhmaṇa's wife cooked very simple foods like rice and
dhal, and Lord Kṛṣṇa and His followers were very pleased to accept
them because they were offered in devotional love. When Lord Kṛṣṇa and His associates were fed in this way, the
brāhmaṇa Śrutadeva was thinking thus: "I am fallen
into the deep, dark well of householder life and am the most unfortunate
person. How has it become possible that Lord Kṛṣṇa,
who is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and His associates, the great
sages, whose very presence makes a place as sanctified as a pilgrimage site,
have agreed to come to my place?" While the brāhmaṇa was thinking in this way, the guests finished
their lunch and sat back very comfortably. At that time, the brāhmaṇa, Śrutadeva, and his wife, children and other
relatives, appeared there to render service to the distinguished guests.
While touching the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa,
the brāhmaṇa began to speak.
"My dear Lord," he said,
"You are the Supreme Person, Puruṣottama,
situated transcendentally to the manifested and unmanifested material
creation. The activities of this material world and of the conditioned souls
have nothing to do with Your position. We can appreciate that it is not only
today You have given me Your audience. You are associating with all the
living entities as Paramātmā since the beginning of creation."
This statement of the brāhmaṇa is very instructive. It is a fact that the
Supreme Lord Personality of Godhead in His Paramātmā feature entered the
creation of this material world as Mahā-Viṣṇu,
Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu and Kṣīrodakaśāyī
Viṣṇu, and in a very friendly attitude the Lord is
sitting along with the conditioned soul in the body. Therefore, every living
entity has the Lord with him from the very beginning, but due to his mistaken
consciousness of life, the living entity cannot understand this. When his
consciousness is, however, changed into Kṛṣṇa
consciousness, he can immediately understand how Kṛṣṇa is trying to assist the conditioned souls to
get out of the material entanglement.
Śrutadeva continued, "My dear
Lord, You have entered this material world as if in a sleeping condition. A
conditioned soul, while sleeping, creates false or temporary worlds in his
mind; he becomes busy in many illusory activities--sometimes becoming a king,
sometimes being murdered or sometimes going to an unknown city--and all these
are simply temporary affairs. Similarly, Your Lordship, apparently also in a sleeping
condition, enters this material world to create a temporary manifestation,
not for Your personal necessities, but for the conditioned soul who wants to
imitate Your Lordship as enjoyer. The conditioned soul's enjoyment in the
material world is temporary and illusory. And yet the conditioned soul is by
himself unable to create such a temporary situation for his illusory
enjoyment. In order to fulfill his desires, although they are temporary and
illusory, You enter in this temporary manifestation to help him. Thus, from
the beginning of the conditioned soul's entering into the material world, You
are his constant companion. When, therefore, the conditioned soul comes in
contact with a pure devotee and takes to devotional service, beginning from
the process of hearing Your transcendental pastimes, glorifying Your
transcendental activities, worshiping Your eternal form in the temple,
offering prayers to You and engaging in discussion to understand Your
transcendental position, he then gradually becomes freed from the
contamination of material existence. His heart becomes cleansed of all
material dust, and thus gradually You become visible in the heart of the
devotee. Although You are constantly with the conditioned soul, only when he
becomes purified by devotional service do You become revealed to him. Others,
who are bewildered by fruitive activities, either by Vedic injunction or
customary dealings, and who do not take to devotional service, become
captivated by the external happiness of the bodily concept of life. You are
not revealed to such persons. Rather, You remain far, far away from them. But
for one who, being engaged in Your devotional service, has purified his heart
by constant chanting of Your holy name, You become very easily understood as
his eternal constant companion.
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"It is said that Your Lordship,
sitting in the heart of a devotee, gives him direction by which he can very
quickly come back to home, back to You. This direct dictation by You reveals
Your existence within the heart of the devotee. Only a devotee can immediately
appreciate Your existence within his heart, whereas for a person who has only a
bodily conception of life and is engaged in sense gratification You always
remain covered by the curtain of yogamāyā. Such a person cannot realize that
You are very near, sitting within his heart. For a nondevotee, You are
appreciated only as ultimate death. The difference is like the difference
between a cat's carrying its kittens in its mouth and cat's carrying a rat in
its mouth. In the mouth of the cat, the rat feels its death, whereas the
kittens in the mouth of the cat feel motherly affection. Similarly, You are
present to everyone, but the nondevotee feels You as ultimate cruel death,
whereas for a devotee You are the supreme instructor and philosopher. The
atheist, therefore, understands the presence of God as death, but the devotee
understands the presence of God always within his heart, takes dictation from
You and lives transcendentally, not being affected by the contamination of the
material world.
"You are the supreme controller
and superintendent of the material nature's activities. The atheistic class of
men simply observe the activities of material nature, but cannot find You as
the original background. A devotee, however, can immediately see Your hand in
every movement of material nature. The curtain of yogamāyā cannot cover the
eyes of the devotee of Your Lordship, but it can cover the eyes of the
nondevotee. The nondevotee is unable to see You eye to eye, just as a person whose
eyes are interrupted by the covering of a cloud cannot see the sun, although
persons who are flying above the cloud can see the sunshine brilliantly, as it
is. My dear Lord, I offer my respectful obeisances unto You. My dear
self-effulgent Lord, I am Your eternal servitor. Therefore, kindly order
me--what can I do for You? The conditioned soul feels the pangs of material
contamination as threefold miseries as long as You are not visible to him. And
as soon as You are visible by development of Kṛṣṇa
consciousness, all miseries of material existence simultaneously become
vanquished."
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, is naturally very much affectionately inclined
to His devotees. When He heard Śrutadeva's prayers of pure devotion, He was
very much pleased and immediately caught his hands and began to address him
thus: "My dear Śrutadeva, all these great sages and saintly persons have
been very kind to you by personally coming here to see you. You should consider
this opportunity to be a great fortune for you. They are so kind that they are
traveling with Me, and wherever they go they immediately make the whole
atmosphere as pure as transcendence simply by the touch of the dust of their
feet. People are accustomed to go to the temples of God. They also visit holy
places of pilgrimage, and after prolonged association with such activities, for
many days by touch and by worship, gradually they become purified. But the
influence of great sages and saintly persons is so great that by seeing them
one immediately becomes completely purified.
"Moreover, the very purifying
potency of pilgrimages or worship of different demigods is also achieved by the
grace of saintly persons. A pilgrimage site becomes a holy place because of the
presence of the saintly persons there. My dear Śrutadeva, when a person is born
as a brāhmaṇa, he immediately becomes the best of all human
beings. And if such a brāhmaṇa, remaining
self-satisfied, practices austerities, studies the Vedas and engages in My
devotional service, as is the duty of the brāhmaṇa--or
in other words, if a brāhmaṇa becomes a Vaiṣṇava--how wonderful is his greatness! My feature of
four-handed Nārāyaṇa is not so pleasing or dear to Me as is a brāhmaṇa Vaiṣṇava.
Brāhmaṇa means 'one well conversant with Vedic knowledge';
a brāhmaṇa is the insignia of perfect knowledge, and I am
the full-fledged manifestation of all gods. The less intelligent class of men
do not understand Me as the highest knowledge, nor do they understand the
influence of the brāhmaṇa Vaiṣṇava.
They are influenced by the three modes of material nature and thus dare to
criticize Me and My pure devotees. A brāhmaṇa
Vaiṣṇava, or a devotee already on the brahminical
platform, can realize Me within his heart, and therefore he definitely
concludes that the whole cosmic manifestation and its different features are
effects of different energies of the Lord. Thus he has a clear conception of
the whole material nature and the total material energy, and in every action
such a devotee sees Me only, and nothing else.
"My dear Śrutadeva, you may
therefore accept all these great saintly persons, brāhmaṇas and sages as My bona fide representatives. By
worshiping them faithfully, you will be worshiping Me more diligently. I
consider worship of My devotees to be better than direct worship of Me. If
someone attempts to worship Me directly without worshiping My devotees, I do
not accept such worship, even though it may be presented with great
opulence."
In this way both the brāhmaṇa, Śrutadeva, and the King of Mithilā, under the
direction of the Lord, worshiped both Kṛṣṇa
and His followers, the great sages and saintly brāhmaṇas, on an equal level of spiritual importance. Both
brāhmaṇa and King ultimately achieved the supreme goal of
being transferred to the spiritual world. The devotee does not know anyone
except Lord Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa
is most affectionate to His devotee. Lord Kṛṣṇa
remained in Mithilā both at the house of the brāhmaṇa Śrutadeva and at the palace of King Bahulāśva. And
after favoring them lavishly by His transcendental instructions, He went back
to His capital city, Dvārakā.
The instruction we receive from this
incident is that King Bahulāśva and Śrutadeva the brāhmaṇa were accepted by the Lord on the same level because
both were pure devotees. This is the real qualification for being recognized by
the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Because it has become the fashion of this
age to become falsely proud of having taken birth in the family of a kṣatriya or of a brāhmaṇa,
we see persons without any qualification other than birth claiming to be a
brāhmaṇa or kṣatriya
or vaiśya. But as it is stated in the scriptures, kalau śūdra- sambhava:
"In this age of Kali, everyone is a śūdra." This is because there is
no performance of the purificatory processes known as saṁskāras, which begin from the time of the mother's
pregnancy and continue up to the point of the individual's death. No one can be
classified as a member of a particular caste, especially of a higher
caste--brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya
or vaiśya--simply by birthright. If one is not purified by the process of the
seed-giving ceremony, or Garbhādhāna-saṁskāra,
he is immediately classified amongst the śūdras, because only the śūdras do not
undergo this purificatory process. Sex life without the purificatory process of
Kṛṣṇa consciousness is merely the seed-giving process
of the śūdras or the animals. But Kṛṣṇa
consciousness is the highest perfection, by which everyone can come to the
platform of a Vaiṣṇava. This includes having all the qualifications of
a brāhmaṇa. The Vaiṣṇavas
are trained to become freed from the four kinds of sinful activities--illicit
sex, indulgence in intoxicants, gambling, and eating animal foodstuffs. No one
can be on the brahminical platform without having these preliminary
qualifications, and without becoming a qualified brāhmaṇa, one cannot become a pure devotee.
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
(My humble salutations H H Swami Sri Prabhupada ji, Sri Krishnalilas
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