Chapter Ten Deliverance of Nalakuvera and Manigriva

The story of the cursing of Nalakuvera and Manigriva and their deliverance by Krishna, under the all-blissful desire of the sage Narada, is here described, as follows.

The two great demigods Nalakuvera and Manigriva were sons of the treasurer of the demigods, Kuvera, who was a great devotee of Lord Shiva. By the grace of Lord Shiva, Kuvera's material opulence had no limit. And as a rich man's sons often become addicted to wine and women, so these two sons of Kuvera were also addicted to wine and sex. Once, these two demigods, desiring to enjoy, entered the garden of Lord Shiva in the province of Kwelasa on the bank of Mandakini Ganges. At that place they drank much and were engaged in hearing the sweet singing of beautiful women who accompanied them in that garden which was full of fragrant flowers. In intoxicated condition, they both entered the water of the Ganges which was full with lotus flowers; and they began to enjoy the company of the young girls exactly as the elephant enjoys with the she-elephants within the water.

While they were enjoying in the water, all of a sudden Narada the great sage happened to pass that way; and he could understand that the demigods Nalakuvera and Manigriva were too intoxicated and could not even see that Narada was passing. The young girls, however, were not so intoxicated as the demigods, and they at once became ashamed on account of being naked before the great sage Narada. They began to cover themselves with all hastiness. The two demigod sons of Kuvera were so intoxicated that they could not appreciate the presence of sage Narada, and therefore did not cover their bodies. On seeing the two demigods so degraded by intoxication, Narada desired for their welfare and therefore he exhibited his causeless mercy upon them by cursing them. The great sage was compassionate upon them and therefore wanted to finish their false enjoyment in intoxication and associating with young girls; and he wanted them to see Lord Krishna eye to eye. He conceived of cursing them as follows. He said that the nature for material enjoyment is due to an increase in the modes of passion. A person in the material world, when favored by material opulence of riches, generally becomes addicted to three things-namely intoxication, sex life and gambling. Such materially opulent men, being puffed up with accumulation of wealth, become so merciless that they indulge in killing animals by opening regular slaughterhouses. And they think that they themselves will never die. Such foolish persons, forgetting the laws of nature, become too puffed up with the body, without knowing that this material body-even if advanced in civilization up to the position of demigods-will finally burn into ashes. And while living, whatever the external condition of the body may be, within there is only stool, urine and various kinds of worms. Thus being engaged in jealousy and violence to other bodies, they cannot understand the ultimate goal of life; and without knowing this goal of life they generally glide down to the hellish condition of life in their next birth. Foolish persons commit all kinds of sinful activities on account of this temporary body, but they are unable to consider whether this body actually belongs to them.

Generally it is said that the body belongs to the persons who feed the body. It is therefore to be considered whether this body belongs to me personally or to my master, to whom I render service. The master of slaves claims full right to the body of the slave because the master feeds the slave by supplying foodstuff. It may be questioned then, whether this body belongs to the father who is the seed-giving master of this body. The next question is whether this body actually belongs to the mother, because when the child is within the womb of the mother, she develops the child's body by her own blood and secretion. Sometimes a grandfather, a mother or father gives his daughter in charity to a person with a view to getting back the daughter's child as their son. The body may also belong to a stronger man who forces another body to work for him. And at the end of life the body belongs to the fire, because the body is given to the fire and burned to ashes. Or the body is thrown into the street to be eaten by the dogs. Before committing all kinds of sins for maintaining the body, one should be considerate and understand to whom the body belongs. Ultimately it is concluded that the body is a product of the material nature, and at the end it merges into the material nature; therefore, the conclusion should be that the body belongs to the material nature. One should not wrongly think that this body belongs to him. For maintaining a false possession why should one indulge in killing? Why should one kill innocent animals for maintaining the body? When a man is infatuated with the false prestige of opulence, he does not care for any moral instruction, but indulges in wine, women and animal killing. In such circumstances, a poor man is better situated. Because a poor man thinks of himself in comparison to other bodies. A poor man does not wish to inflict injuries to other bodies because he can understand more readily that when he himself is injured he feels pain. As such the great sage Narada thought that the demigods Nalakuvera and Manigriva were so much infatuated by false prestige that they should be put into a condition of life where there is no opulence.

A person who has some pinprick in his body does not wish others to be pricked by pins; a considerate man in the life of poverty does not wish others to be also put into that condition of life. Generally it is seen that one who has come up from poverty-stricken life and becomes wealthy creates some charitable institutional at the end of his life, so that other poverty-stricken men may take advantage. In short, a compassionate poor man can think of others' pains and pleasures by comparing himself in that condition. A poor man can hardly become puffed up with fake pride, and he is freed from all kinds of infatuation. He can remain satisfied by whatever he gets for his maintenance by the Grace of the Lord. To remain in poverty-stricken condition is a kind of austerity. According to Vedic culture, therefore, the brahmins as a matter of routine keep themselves in poverty-stricken condition, to save themselves from the false prestige of material opulence. False prestige out of advancement of material prosperity is a great impediment to spiritual emancipation. A poverty-stricken man cannot become unnaturally fatty by eating more and more. And on account of not being able to eat more than he requires, his senses are not very turbulent. When the senses are not very turbulent he cannot become violent.

Another advantage of a poverty-stricken person is that a saintly person can easily enter his house and he can get the advantage of the saintly person's association. A very rich, opulent man does not allow anyone to enter into his house, therefore the saintly person cannot enter. According to the Vedic system, a saintly person takes the position of a beggar mendicant, so that on the plea of begging something from the householder, he can enter any house. The householder who has forgotten everything about spiritual advancement, because he is too busy in maintaining the family affairs, can get some advantage for spiritual emancipation in the association of a saintly person. There is a great chance for the poor man to become liberated on account of association with the saintly person. What is the use of persons who are puffed up with material opulence of wealth and prestige, if they are bereft of the association of saintly persons and devotees of the Supreme Personality of Godhead? The great sage Narada, therefore, thought that it was his duty to put those demigods into a condition of life where they could not be falsely proud of their material opulence and prestige. Narada was compassionate with their fallen condition and wanted to save them from such pitiable life. They were in the modes of darkness and therefore unable to control their senses, addicted too much to sex life; and it was the duty of the saintly person to save them from such abominable condition of life. In animal life, the animal has no sense to understand that he is naked. But Kuvera was the treasurer of the demigods, a very responsible man, and Nalakuvera and Manigriva were two of his sons. Yet they became so animal-like and irresponsible that they could not understand, on account of being intoxicated, that they were naked. To cover the lower portion of the body is human civilization, and when a man or woman forgets this principle of human civilization, he or she is no more than an animal. Narada therefore thought that the best punishment for them was to make them immovable living entities, or trees. The trees are, by nature's laws, immovable; although the trees are covered in the modes of ignorance, they cannot do harm. The great sage Narada thought within himself that, although they would be punished to become trees, yet, by his mercy, they would continue to keep their memory and could understand from what condition of life they had come to be put into that condition of becoming trees. After changing the body a living entity generally forgets the condition of his previous life, but in special cases, by the Grace of the Lord, there may be an exception. Thus Nalakuvera and Manigriva still continued to remember their former condition of life, even after being put into the life of immovable trees.

Sage Narada therefore contemplated that the two demigods should remain for 100 years, in the time of the demigods, in the form of trees, and after that they would be fortunate enough to see the Supreme Personality of Godhead face to face by His Causeless Mercy. And thus they would be again promoted to the life of demigods and great devotees of the Lord. After this, the great sage Narada returned to his place known as Narayan Ashram and the two demigods turned into trees, known as twin arjun trees, grown in the courtyard of Nanda Maharaj. The two demigods were favored by the causeless mercy of Narada and given the chance to grow in Nanda's courtyard and see Lord Krishna face to face.

When the Child Krishna was bound up with the wooden mortar, He began to proceed towards the growing trees in order to fulfill the foretelling of His great devotee Narada. Lord Krishna thought within Himself that Narada was His great devotee, and the trees standing before Him as twin arjuna trees were actually the sons of Kuvera. "I must now fulfill the words of My great devotee Narada." After thinking this, Child Krishna began to proceed through the passage in between the two trees, and although He passed through the space between the trees, the wooden mortar fell down horizontally and was stuck between the two trees. Taking this advantage of the mortar being stuck, Lord Krishna began to snatch the rope tight in His waist. As soon as there was a great jerking on account of pulling the rope, the two entire trees, with all branches and limbs, fell down immediately with a great sound. Out of the broken, fallen trees came two great personalities shining like blazing fire. All sides became illuminated and beautiful by their presence, and the purified bodies immediately came before Child Krishna and bowed down to offer their respects and prayers in the following words: "My dear Lord Krishna, You are the Original Personality of Godhead, Master of all mystic powers. Learned brahmins know very well that this cosmic manifestation is an expansion of Your potencies which are sometimes manifested and sometimes unmanifest. You are the Original Provider of the life, body and senses of all living entities. You are the eternal God, Lord Vishnu, who is All-Pervading, the principal Controller of everything. You are the Original Source of the cosmic manifestation which is acting manifestedly under the spell of the three modes of material nature-goodness, passion and ignorance. You are living as the Supersoul in all the multi-forms of living entities, and You know very well what is going on within their bodies and minds; therefore You are the Supreme Director of all activities of all living entities. But although You are in the midst of everything which is under the spell of the material modes of nature, You are not affected by such contaminated qualities. Nobody under the jurisdiction of the material qualities can understand Your transcendental qualities. Your transcendental qualities existed before the creation, therefore You are called the Supreme Brahman who is always glorified by His Personal internal potencies. In this material world You can be known only by Your different Incarnations. Although You assume different types of Bodies they are not anything of the material creation. Such Bodies are always full of transcendental potencies of unlimited opulence, strength, beauty, reputation, wisdom and renunciation. In the material existence, there is a difference between the body and the owner of the body, but because You appear in Your Original Spiritual Body there is no such difference between Your Self and Body. When You appear Your uncommon Activities indicate that You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and such uncommon Activities are not possible by any other body in the material existence. You are that Supreme Personality of Godhead, now appeared to cause the birth and death as well as liberation of the living entities and You are full with all Your plenary expansions, and can bestow on everyone all kinds of benediction. O my Lord, the Source of all auspicity and goodness, I offer my respectful obeisances unto You. You are the All-Pervading Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Source of peacefulness and the Supreme Person in the dynasty of King Yadu. My Lord, our father, known as the demigod Kuvera, is Your servant. Similarly, the great sage Narada is also Your servitor, and by their grace only we have been able to see You Personally. We therefore pray that we may always be engaged in Your transcendental loving service by speaking only about Your Glories and hearing about Your transcendental Activities. May our hands and other limbs of the body be engaged in Your service and our minds always be wrapped up at Your Lotus Feet and our heads always bowed down before the All-Pervading Universal Form of Your Lordship."

When the demigods Nalakuvera and Manigriva finished their prayers, the Child, Lord Krishna, the Master and Proprietor of Gokula, being bound up to the wooden grinding mortar by the ropes of Yasoda, began to smile and said as follows: "It was already known to Me that My great devotee-sage Narada had shown his causeless mercy by saving you from a very abominable condition of being puffed up due to extraordinary beauty of opulence in the family of demigods. He has saved you from gliding down into the lowest condition of hellish life. All these facts are already known to Me. You are very fortunate because you were not only cursed by him but you had the greatest opportunity to see him. If somebody is able, by chance, to see face to face a great saintly person like Narada, who is always equipoised and merciful to everyone, then immediately that conditioned soul becomes liberated, simply by seeing such a personality. This is exactly like being situated in full light of sun: There cannot be any impediment of vision. Therefore, O Nalakuvera and Manigriva, your lives have now become successful because you have developed ecstatic love for Me. This is your last birth within the material existence. Now you can go back to your father's residence in the heavenly planet, and by remaining in such attitude of devotional service you will be liberated in this very life." After this, the demigods circumambulated the Lord many times and bowed down before Him again and again, and thus they left the place and the Lord remained in the condition of being bound up with ropes at the grinding mortar.