Liberation of King Jarāsandha

Tape number LA 15. Dated February 8, 1970. Krsna, Chapter Seventy-two continued.

In that great meeting consisting of all respectable persons, citizens, friends and relatives, brahmanas, sages, the ksatriyas, vaisyas and the brothers of King Yudhisthira, he addressed Lord Krsna directly in the presence of all and began to say as follows: "My dear Lord Krsna, the sacrifice known as Rajasūya yajna is performed by the emperor and is considered to be the king of all sacrifices. I wish to satisfy all the demigods, who are Your empowered representatives within this material world, by performing this Rajasūya sacrifice, and I wish that You may kindly help me in this great adventure so that it may be very successfully executed.

"So far we the Panḍavas are concerned, we have nothing to ask from the demigods. We are personally fully satisfied by becoming Your devotees. As it is said by You in the Bhagavad-gitathat 'Persons who are very much bewildered by material desires go to worship the demigods.' But our purpose is different. I want to perform this Rajasūya sacrifice and invite the demigods to show that they have no independent existence or power. All of them are Your servants, and You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Foolish persons with poor fund of knowledge consider Your Lordship as ordinary human being. As such, sometimes they try to find fault in You, and sometimes they defame You. Therefore, on the ground of sacrificing this Rajasūya yajna, I wish to invite all the demigods, beginning from Lord Brahma, Lord Siva and other exalted chiefs of the heavenly planets, and in that great assembly of demigods from all parts of the universe, I want to substantiate that You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead and everyone is Your servant.

"My dear Lord, anyone who is constantly in Krsna consciousness and thinks of Your lotus feet or of Your shoes certainly becomes freed from all contamination of material life. Such persons, who are engaged in Your service in full Krsna consciousness, or meditates on You only or offers prayers unto You, are all purified souls. Such person being constantly engaged in Krsna consciousness service becomes freed from the cycle of repeated birth and death. Or, even they do not want to become freed from this material existence and desires for material opulences, their desires also fulfilled by such Krsna consciousness activities. In fact, those who are pure devotees of Your lotus feet, they have no desire for material opulences.

"And so far we are concerned, we are fully surrendered unto Your lotus feet, and by Your grace we are fortunate to see You personally. Therefore, naturally we have no desire for material opulences. The verdict of the Vedic wisdom is that You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead. I want to establish this fact, and also I want to show to the world what are the differences between accepting You the Supreme Personality of Godhead or accepting You as ordinary, powerful historical person. I wish to show to the world that simply by taking shelter of Your lotus feet one can attain the highest perfection of life, exactly like watering the root of the tree one can satisfy the branches, twigs, leaves and flowers of the whole tree. By this example, one can take to Krsna consciousness and thus his life becomes fulfilled both materially and spiritually.

"This successful termination of the life of Krsna conscious person does not mean that You are partial to the Krsna conscious person and You are indifferent to non-Krsna conscious person. Actually, You are equal to everyone. That is Your declaration, because You cannot be partial to somebody and not interested in others because You are sitting in everyone's heart as the Supersoul and giving them respective result of their fruitive activities. You give every living entity the chance of enjoying this material world as he wants to do. As Supersoul, You are sitting along with the living entity in the same body just to give him result of his own action, as well as trying to give him opportunities to turn towards Your devotional service by developing Krsna consciousness.

"You openly declare that one should surrender unto You, giving up all other engagements, and You take charge of him, giving him relief from all sinful actions. But still, the living entity remains attached to material activities and suffers or enjoys the resultant action without Your interference. You are like the desire tree in the heavenly planets, which awards benediction according to the desiring person. Everyone is free to achieve the highest perfection if he so desires. But if he does not so desire, then awarding of different benediction from Your side is not Your partiality."

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On hearing this statement of King Yudhisthira, Lord Krsna replied as follows: [within quotation] "My dear King Yudhisthira, the killer of enemies and the ideal personified justice and religion, your decision to perform the Rajasūya sacrifice is completely supported by Me. By performing this great sacrifice, your good name in the history of human civilization will remain well established forever. My dear King, I may inform you that performance of this sacrifice by you is the intention of all great sages, your forefathers, the demigods, your relatives and friends, including Myself; and what to speak of us, I think every living entity will be satisfied by your this performance of Rajasūya sacrifice. But as it is needed, I request you first of all you conquer over all the kings of the world and collect all requisite paraphernalia for executing this great sacrifice.

"My dear King Yudhisthira, your four brothers are direct representatives of the important demigods like Varuna, Indra, etc. (within brackets) [It is said that Bhima was born of the demigod Varuna (Vayu) and Arjuna was born of the demigod Indra, whereas King Yudhisthira himself was born of the demigod Yamaraja.] (bracket close) As such, all your brothers are great heroes, and so far you are concerned, you are the most pious and self-controlled king, and therefore you are known as Dharmaraja. All of you are so qualified in devotional service unto Me that automatically I have become pliable by you." [quotation close]

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Lord Krsna said to King Yudhisthira in this connection that He becomes conquered by somebody who has conquered over his senses, and one who has not conquered over his senses cannot conquer over the Supreme Personality of Godhead by love. This is the secret of devotional service. To conquer over the senses means to engage them constantly in the service of the Lord. All the brothers of the Panḍavas, their specific qualification was that they always engaged their senses in the service of the Lord. One who thus engages his senses in the service of the Lord becomes purified, and by such purified senses one can actually render service to the Lord, and the Lord thus can be conquered by the devotee, by loving transcendental service.

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Lord Krsna continued to say, [within quotation] "There is nobody in the three worlds within the universe, including the powerful demigods, who can surpass My devotees in six opulences, namely wealth, strength, reputation, beauty, knowledge and renunciation. As such, if you want to conquer over the worldly kings, there is no possibility of their becoming victorious over you." [quotation close]

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The king Yudhisthira thus being encouraged by Lord Krsna, his face become brightened as a blooming flower on account of transcendental happiness, and thus he ordered his younger brothers to conquer over all the worldly kings in all directions. Thusly Lord Krsna empowered the Panḍavas to execute the great mission of the Lord. The mission of the Lord is to chastise the infidel miscreants of this world and to give protection to the faithful devotees of the Lord.

The Lord therefore, in His Visnu form, carries two kinds of weapons in two hands. He carry the lotus flower and conchshell, and in the other two hand He carries a club and the disc. The club and the disc is meant for the infidel miscreants and demons, and the lotus flower and conchshell is meant for the devotees. But the Lord being the Supreme Absolute, the resultant action of all these weapons are one and the same. By the club and disc He chastises the miscreants to come to their senses, that the demons are not all in all; over them there is the Supreme Lord. And by bugling the conchshell and by blessings of the lotus flower, He always assures the devotee that nobody can vanquish them, even in the greatest calamity.

King Yudhisthira, thus being assured by the indication of Lord Krsna, ordered his youngest brother, Sahadeva, to conquer over the southern countries, accompanied by soldiers belonging to the Srnjaya tribe. Similarly, he ordered to conquer over the kings of western side, accompanied by soldiers of the Matsyadesa. He sent Arjuna to conquer over the kings on the northern side, accompanied by the soldiers of Kekayadesa. And Bhimasena was ordered to conquer over the kings in the eastern side, accompanied by the soldiers of Madradesa (within parenthesis) (Madras).

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It may be noted in this connection that King Yudhisthira dispatched his younger brothers to conquer over different directions was not actually meant for declaring war with them. Practically, they started for different direction to inform the respective royal orders about the intention of King Yudhisthira to perform the Rajasūya sacrifice. The respective kings were thus being informed they were required to pay taxes for executing the sacrifice. This payment of taxes to the Emperor Yudhisthira means that the king accept the subjugation of King Yudhisthira. In case of their refusal to act accordingly, there was certainly fight. Thus all the brothers by their influence and strength conquered over all the kings in different direction, and they were able to bring sufficient amount of taxes and presentation given by the conquered king, and all of them were brought before King Yudhisthira by his brothers.

But at the same time, King Yudhisthira was very much anxious when he heard that only the king Jarasandha of Magadha did not accept the sovereignty of King Yudhisthira. When King Yudhisthira was too much anxious, Lord Krsna informed him about the process explained by Uddhava in the matter of conquering over King Jarasandha. After this, Bhimasena, Arjuna and Lord Krsna, three together, started for Girivraja, capital city of Jarasandha, dressing themself in the garb of a brahmana. This was already planned by Uddhava before Lord Krsna starting for Hastinapura, and now it was given a practical shape.

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The king Jarasandha was a very dutiful householder, and he had a great respect for the brahmanas. Jarasandha was a great fighter, ksatriya king, but he was never neglectful about Vedic injunctions. According to Vedic injunction, the brahmanas are considered to be the spiritual master of all other castes, namely the ksatriyas, the vaisyas and the sūdras. Therefore King Jarasandha, being a faithful householder, he used to respect the brahmanas as a faithful followers of Vedic injunctions. Lord Krsna, Arjuna and Bhimasena, they were actually ksatriyas, but they covered themself like a brahmana, and at the particular time when King Jarasandha used to give in charity to the brahmanas or receive them as guests, at that time all of them approached the king in the dress of brahmanas.

Thus Lord Krsna, in the dress of a brahmana, said to the king, [within quotation] "We wish all glories to Your Majesty. We are three guests at your royal palace, and we are coming from a great distant place. Certainly we have come to you for asking you for some charity, and we hope whatever we shall ask from you, you will kindly bestow upon us. We know about your good qualities. When a person who is tolerant is always prepared to tolerate everything, even though distressful, similarly, a debauched can perform the most abominable acts. Similarly, a great charitable person like you can give anything and everything if he is asked for such donation. Especially for a great personality like you, there is no distinction between relatives and outsiders. A famous man lives forever, even after his death. Therefore, any person who is able to execute such acts which may perpetuate his good name and fame, in spite of being completely able and fit to act like that, if one does not do so then he becomes abominable in the eyes of great persons. In fact, any amount of condemnation for such person is not sufficient. Such person is lamentable throughout his whole life.

"Your Majesty must have heard the glorious names of such charitable personalities like Hariscandra, Rantideva, Mudgala, who used to live only on grains picked up from the paddy field, and the great king Maharaja Sibi, who saved the life of a pigeon by supplying flesh from his personal body. And thus all these great personalities have attained immortal name and fame simply by sacrificing this temporary perishable body." Lord Krsna, in the garb of a brahmana, thus convinced Jarasandha that name and fame is imperishable, but this body is perishable. So if one can attain imperishable name and fame by sacrificing this perishable body, he becomes very much respectable in the history of human civilization.

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When Lord Krsna was speaking like this in the garb of a brahmana, Jarasandha marked in all three of them that they did not appear to be actually brahmanas. There were signs in their body which Jarasandha could understand that they are ksatriyas, because he marked on their shoulders the impression of carrying bows, their beautiful structure of body, grave, commanding voice, which were certainly not the signs of a brahmana. Thus he definitely concluded that all three of them were not brahmanas but they were ksatriyas.

Besides this, he was thinking within his mind that he saw all of them somewhere, sometime ago. Now he began to think that all these three persons, although they are ksatriyas, still they have come to his door for begging alms like a brahmana; therefore, in spite of their being ksatriyas he would fulfill their desires. He thought that their position has already been diminished because they had appeared before them [him] as beggars. "Under the circumstances, I am prepared to give them anything, and even though they may ask for my body, I shall not hesitate to offer them."

In this connection, he began to think of King Bali Maharaja. Before him Lord Visnu appeared in the dress of a brahmana for begging, and in that way He snatched away all the opulence and kingdom from Bali Maharaja, although He did it for benefit of Indra, who was bereft of his kingdom, being defeated by Bali Maharaja. Practically Bali Maharaja was cheated, but still, his good name as a great devotee and a great person who could give anything and everything in charity is still being glorified in the three worlds.

King Bali Maharaja could guess it that the brahmana was Lord Visnu Himself, and He came to him just to take away his kingdom and opulences on account of Indra. His spiritual master and family priest, Sukracarya, did regularly warn him about this, and still he did not hesitate to give in charity whatever the brahmana wanted. And at last he gave up everything to that brahmana. "It is my strong determination that if I can achieve some immortal reputation by sacrificing this perishable body, I must act for that purpose. Actually, a ksatriya who does not live for the benefit of the brahmanas is certainly condemned by his life." [quotation close]

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Actually, King Jarasandha was very much liberal in giving charity to the brahmanas, and thus he informed Lord Krsna in the dress of a brahmana, followed by Bhima and Arjuna in the same way, he addressed them, "My dear brahmanas, you can ask from me whatever you like. If you so desire, you can take my head also. I am prepared to give you." [quotation close]

After this, Lord Krsna began to address King Jarasandha as follows: [within quotation] "My dear King, please note it that we are not actually brahmanas, and neither we have come to you for asking from you some foodstuff or grains. We are all ksatriyas, and we have come to you for begging from you a duel fight. We hope you will agree to this proposal. You may know from Me that here is the second son of King Panḍu, Bhimasena, and the third son of Panḍu, Arjuna. And so far I am concerned, you may know that I am your old enemy Krsna, the cousin-brother of these Panḍavas." [quotation close]

When Lord Krsna disclosed the whole covering of their being dressed as brahmanas, King Jarasandha, after hearing His statement began to laugh very loudly, and then in great anger and grave voice he exclaimed, "You all fools! If you wanted to fight with me, I immediately grant your begging. But Krsna, I know You are a coward. I deny to fight with You because You become very much confused when You face fighting with me, and out of Your fear of me You left Your own place, Mathura, and now You have taken shelter within the sea for living. Therefore, I must refuse to fight with You.

"So far Arjuna is concerned, I don't think that he is a great fighter compatible with me. I know Arjuna is younger than me, and he is not a equal fighter for me. I refuse to fight with him because he is not in any way an equal competitor. So far as Bhimasena is concerned, I think he is a equal competitor to fight with me." [quotation close] After speaking like that, King Jarasandha immediately delivered a very heavy club to Bhimasena, and he himself also took another, and thus all of them went out of the city walls for a veritable fight.

Now both Bhimasena and King Jarasandha engaged themself in severe fight, and with their respective clubs, which were as strong as the thunderbolt, they began to strike one another very severely, just both of them being mad after fighting. Both of them were extra-expert fighter in clubs, and their varieties of devices to strike one another became so beautiful as if two dramatic artists were displaying their fighting dance on a theatrical stage.

When the two clubs of Jarasandha and Bhimasena respectively collided with great sound, it appeared that two elephants were fighting and their big tusks were being entrapped with the smashing sound, or the sound appeared to be like thunderbolt in the flashing of electricity. When two elephants fight in the sugarcane field, each of them snatches a sugarcane and, by catching it tight by the trunk, strikes over one another. At that time, the sugarcane becomes smashed by such heavy striking. Similarly, when Bhimasena and Jarasandha, each was striking against another by the club and on different parts of the body-namely on the shoulder, on the arms, on the collarbone, on the chest, on the thighs, on the waist, on the legs-in this way, by such striking both the clubs became torn into pieces.

In this way, all the clubs used by Jarasandha and Bhimasena became spoiled, and then both of them prepared for fighting with the strong fists of their hands. Both of them were very angry, and thus both of them began to smash the other by such box fighting. The striking of the fist upon another appeared to be striking of iron bars. The box fighting appeared to be like two elephants fighting with one another, and the splashing sound of slaps upon one another resembled the roaring sound of thunderbolt. But fortunately or unfortunately, nobody appeared to be defeated, because both of them were very, very expert in fighting with clubs. Both of them were of equal strength, and their fighting devices were also equal. As such, none of them became fatigued or defeated in such fighting, although both of them used to strike the other continually.

During the fight, there was no symptom of being defeated by any one of them. At the end of day's fighting, both of them used to live as friend in the palace of Jarasandha at night, and next day they would again fight. In this way, both of them passed clear twenty-seven days in that way of fighting.

On the twenty-eighth day, Bhimasena frankly admitted that Jarasandha could not be defeated by him. [within quotation] "My dear Krsna, I must frankly admit that I cannot conquer over Jarasandha." [quotation close] Lord Krsna knew the mystery of the birth of Jarasandha, that he was born in two parts from two mothers, and his father, seeing the baby useless in two parts, called for one black art witch of the name Jara, and she managed to join the two parts of the baby from top to bottom. As such, Lord Krsna also knew how to kill him. He gave hints to Bhimasena that as Jarasandha was brought into life consciousness by joining two parts of the body, similarly, he could be killed also by separating the same two parts.

Thus Lord Krsna transferred His power into the body of Bhimasena and informed him about the device how Jarasandha could be killed. Lord Krsna immediately picked up a twig of a tree and, taking it in His hand, bifurcated it into two pieces. In this way, He gave hints to Bhimasena how Jarasandha could be killed. Lord Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is omnipotent, and if He wants to kill somebody, nobody can be saved. Similarly, if He wants to save somebody, nobody can kill him.

Now Bhimasena become aware directly and indirectly about the hints of Lord Krsna, and immediately he took hold of the legs of Jarasandha and got him down on the floor. When Jarasandha fell down on the ground, Bhimasena immediately pressed one of his legs on the ground and he took hold of the other leg by his two hands. When he caught up Jarasandha in this way, immediately he bifurcated Jarasandha's body into two, beginning from the anus up to the head. As an elephant separates the branch of a tree into two, similarly, Bhimasena also separated the body of Jarasandha. All the audience standing nearby saw that the body of Jarasandha was now divided into two parts, and each part one leg, one thigh, one part of the testicle, waist, backbone, chest, collarbone, arms, eye, face and the ear became separated.

As soon as the news of Jarasandha's death was announced, all the citizens of Magadha began to cry, "Alas! Alas!" while Lord Krsna and Arjuna embraced Bhimasena to congratulate him in that victory. Although Jarasandha was killed in this way, either Krsna or the two Panḍava brothers never claimed on the throne. The purpose of killing Jarasandha was to stop him creating disturbance in the proper discharge of world peace. A demon always creates disturbances, while a demigod always tries to keep peace in the world. The mission of Lord Krsna is to give protection to the righteous person and to kill the demons disturbing the peaceful situation. Therefore, Lord Krsna immediately called for the son of Jarasandha, whose name was Sahadeva, and in due ritualistic ceremony He asked him to occupy the seat of his father and reign over the kingdom peacefully. Lord Krsna is the master of the whole cosmic creation, and He wants that everyone should live peacefully to execute Krsna consciousness. After this, He immediately released all the kings and princes who were imprisoned by Jarasandha unnecessarily.

Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of Seventy-second Chapter Krsna entitled as "Liberation of King Jarasandha."