Liberation of Balvala, and Lord Balarāma's Touring in the Sacred Holy Places

Chapter Seventy-nine. Subject: "Liberation of Balvala, and Lord Balarama's Touring in the Sacred Holy Places."

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After this, when there were ceremonial days on the full moon and dark moon fortnightly occasions, there appeared a great hailstorm. The whole sky became covered with dust, and the atmosphere became surcharged with filthy smell. Just after this, all the arena of sacrifice, the mischievous demons Balvala began to shower torrents of stools and urines and other impure articles. After this onslaught, the demon himself appeared with a great trident in his hand. He was a gigantic person, and his body appeared to be a huge mass of congregated carbon, black stacked together. His hairs on the head, his beard and moustaches appeared to be melted copper-like red, and because of his great beards and moustaches, his mouth appeared to be very dangerously fierceful. Lord Balarama, as soon as saw the demon, immediately prepared Himself to strike him, taking carefully His plow and club, and he began to think how He could smash the great demon into pieces.

As soon as Lord Balarama called for His plow and club, immediately they appeared before Him. The demon Balvala was flying in the sky, and Lord Balarama at the first opportunity dragged him by His plow and immediately with anger slashed His club on the head of the demon, who was a great disturbance of the pious brahmanas. By this striking by Balarama, the forehead of the demon become fractured. There was profuse oozing out of blood from his forehead. Therefore, he began to scream very loudly, and in this way fell down on the ground. His falling down on the ground can be compared as if a great mountain with red oxide on the top became stricken by the thunderbolt and smashed down on the ground.

The inhabitants of Naimisaranya, learned sages and brahmanas, by seeing this became very much pleased, and they began to offer their respectful prayers to Lord Balarama. They offered their heartfelt blessings upon the Lord, and all of them said that Lord Balarama's attempt to do anything would never be a failure. After this, the sages and the brahmanas performed a ceremonial bathing of Lord Balarama, exactly like the demigods do in case of King Indra's victory over the demons. The brahmanas and the sages after this honored Lord Balarama by presenting Him first-class new clothings and ornaments and a garland of victory, which was strewn by lotus flower, the reservoir of all beauty and never to be dried up, being in everlasting existence.

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After this incidence, He took permission from all the brahmanas assembled at Naimisaranya and then, accompanied by other brahmanas, came on the bank of the river Kausika. After taking His bath in this holy place, He proceeded towards the river Sarayū and visited the source of the river. Thus He began to travel on the banks of the Sarayū River, and gradually He reached at Prayaga, where there is confluence of three rivers: Ganges, Yamuna and Sarasvati. Here also He regularly took His bath, worshiped the local temples of gods and, as it is enjoined in the Vedic literature, He offered oblations to the forefathers, sages, etc. And after finishing this business, He reached the asrama of Pulaha sage.

From there He went to Ganḍaki on the river of Gomati. After this, He took His bath in the river Vipasa. Then gradually He came down on the bank of the Sona River. (The Sona River is still running as one of the big rivers in the Bihar Province.) There also He took His regular bath and performed the Vedic ritualistic ceremonies. Gradually He came down to the pilgrimage Gaya, where there is the celebrated Visnu temple. According to the advice of His father, Vasudeva, He offered oblations to the forefathers in this Visnu temple.

From here He gradually reached the delta of the Ganges, where the sacred river Ganges has mixed with the Bay of Bengal. This sacred place is called Gahgasagara, and by the end of January every year still there is a great assembly of saintly persons and pious men even up to date, as much as there is assembly of saintly persons in Prayaga every year, which is called Magha-mela fair.

Lord Balarama, after finishing His bathing and ritualistic ceremonies at Gahgasagara, He gradually proceeded towards the mountain known as Mahendra Parvata. At this place He met the incarnation of Lord Krsna Parasurama, and Lord Balarama offered His respect to Parasurama by bowing down before him. After this, gradually He turns toward southern India and visited the banks of the river Godavari. After taking His bath in the river Godavari and performing the necessary ritualistic ceremonies, He gradually visited the other rivers of the name Vena, Pampa and Bhimarathi. On the bank of the river Bhimarathi, there is the deity Svami Karttik. After visiting Karttik, Lord Balarama gradually proceeded to Sailapura, or Solapura. This is a pilgrimage in the province of Maharastra. This Solapura is one of the biggest district in Maharastra Province.

Then He gradually proceeded towards the Draviḍa-desa. The southern India is divided into five parts, and they are called Panca-draviḍa, as northern India is also divided into five parts, called Panca-gauḍa. All the big acaryas of modern age-namely Sahkaracarya, Ramanujacarya, Madhvacarya, Visnu Svami and Nimbarka-all of them advented in these Draviḍa provinces. But Lord Caitanya appeared in Bengal, which is part of five Gauḍa-desa.

The most important pilgrimage in the southern India, or Draviḍas, is Vehkatacala, or commonly known as Balaji. From here He proceeded towards Visnukanci. From there He proceeded on the bank of the Kaveri. He took His bath in the river Kaveri, then gradually reached Rahgaksetra. The biggest temple in the world is there in this Rahgaksetra, and the Deity Visnu is celebrated as Rahganatha. A similar temple of Rahganatha is there in Vrndavana, although it is not as big as the temple in Rahgaksetra. Still, this Rahganatha temple in Vrndavana is the biggest of all. While going to Visnukanci, Lord Balarama visited also Sivakanci.

After visiting Rahgaksetra, He gradually proceeded towards Madurai, or commonly known as the Mathura of southern India. After visiting this place, gradually He proceeded towards Setubandha. The Setubandha is the place where Lord Ramacandra constructed the stone bridge from India to Lahka (within brackets) [Ceylon]. In this particular holy place, Setubandha, Lord Balarama distributed ten thousand cows to the local brahmana priests. It is the Vedic custom that when a rich visitor goes to any pilgrimage he gives in charity to the local priest houses, cows, ornaments, garments, or in other words, all necessities of the brahmanas.

This system of visiting pilgrimages and providing the local brahmana priests with all necessities of life has very much deteriorated in this age of Kali. The richer section of population is no more attracted by these pilgrimages because of their degradation in Vedic culture. And the brahmana priests also, who depended on such visitors, they have also degraded in their professional duty of helping the visitors. These brahmana priests in the pilgrimages are called panḍa or panḍitas. This means formerly they were very learned brahmanas, and they used to guide the visitors in every details of the purpose of coming there, and thus both the visitors and the priests were benefited by mutual cooperation.

But from the description of Lord Balarama's visiting the different places of…

[break] …people even before five thousand years ago visit...

[break] …He proceeded from there towards Krtamala and Tamraparni. These two rivers are also celebrated as sacred rivers, and Lord Balarama took His bath in those rivers. From there He proceeded toward the Malaya hills. This Malaya Hill is very great. It is said that there are seven ranges of these hill. The Malaya Hill referred herewith is one of the seven ranges. The great sage of the name Agastya used to live in these Malaya hills, and Lord Balarama visited him and offered His respect by bowing down before him. After taking his blessings and permission from there, He proceeded towards the Indian Ocean. And at the last point of the Cape there is a big temple of goddess Durga. She is known as Kanyakumari. This Kanyakumari temple was also visited by Lord Ramacandra, and therefore it is to be understood that this temple is existing for millions of years.

From there, He visited the Indian Ocean, or the Southern Ocean, where there is a pilgrimage known as Phalguna-tirtha. This Phalguna-tirtha is celebrated on account of Lord Visnu of the name Ananta lying there. From there He visited another pilgrimage, known as Pancapsarasa. There also He took regular bath and observed the ritualistic ceremonies. This pilgrimage is also celebrated as the place of Lord Visnu; therefore, Lord Balarama distributed there ten thousands of cows to the local brahmana priests.

Now, from Cape Comorin He turned towards Kerala. This country Kerala is still existing under the name of South Kerala in southern India. After visiting this place, He came to Gokarna-tirtha. This Gokarna-tirtha is the place of Lord Siva, and Lord Siva is worshiped there constantly. From there He visited the temple of Aryadevi, which is surrounded by water all around. From that island He went to the place known as Sūrparaka. After this He took bath in the river known as Tapi, Payosni, Nirvindhya, then He came to the forest known as Danḍakaranya. This forest Danḍakaranya Lord Ramacandra lived while He was exiled. Then He came on the bank of the river Narmada, the biggest river in the central India. On the bank of this sacred river Narmada there is a pilgrimage known as Mahismati-puri. Lord Balarama, after taking regular bath in this pilgrimage, He came back again to the Prabhasa-tirtha, wherefrom He began His journey.

When He returned to Prabhasa-tirtha, He heard from the brahmanas there that in the Battle of Kuruksetra mostly the ksatriyas are all killed. Thus He felt relieved that the burden of the world has been reduced. Actually, Lord Krsna and Balarama appeared on this earth to lessen the burden of military strength created by the ambitious ksatriya kings. That is the way of materialistic life: people are not satisfied by the absolute necessities of life, but create extra demands ambitiously. It is again checked up by the laws of nature, or by laws of God, appearing as famine, war, pestilence and similar catastrophes. When He, however, heard that the Kurus are still engaged in fighting, He came back to the battlefield on the same day when Bhimasena and Duryodhana were just engaged in duel fighting. He wanted to stop them, as well-wisher of both of them, but they did not.

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When Lord Balarama appeared on the scene, King Yudhisthira, his youngest brothers Nakula, Sahadeva, Lord Krsna and Arjuna immediately offered their respectful obeisances to Lord Balarama, but without speaking anything all of them remained silent. The reason is that Lord Balarama was somewhat affectionate to Duryodhana, because Duryodhana specifically learned the art of fighting with club from Balaramaji. Thus when the fighting was going on, King Yudhisthira and others thought that Balarama might have come there to say something in favor of Duryodhana, and thus they remained silent.

At that time both Duryodhana and Bhimasena were very much enthusiastic in the fighting with clubs, and in the midst of many audiences, both of them very skillfully were trying to strike the other, and while attempting to do so it appeared that both of them were dancing very nicely. In their dancing mood also it was clear that both of them were very, very angry.

As Lord Balarama wanted to stop the fighting, He said as follows: "My dear King Duryodhana and Bhimasena, I know that both of you are great fighter, both of you are well known in the world as great heroes in fighting. But still I think that Bhimasena, by his bodily strength, is superior than Duryodhana. But at the same time, Duryodhana is superior in the art of fighting with club. Taking this into consideration, My opinion is none of you is inferior to the other in the matter of fighting. Under the circumstances, there is very little chance of one being defeated by the other. Therefore, I request you not to waste your time in fighting in this way. I wish that you may stop this unnecessary fight." [quotation close]

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Actually, the good instruction given by Lord Balarama to both Bhimasena and Duryodhana was equally beneficial for both of them. But both of them were so much wrapped up in anger against the other that they simply remembered their personal behavior in enmity since a very, very long time. Both of them took it a chance of killing the other, and therefore they did not give very much importance to the instruction of Lord Balarama. Both of them became like madmen, remembering that strong accusation and ill behavior with one another. Lord Balarama immediately could understand the destiny which was awaiting to both of them; therefore, He did not become very much eager further in this matter. Therefore, instead of staying there, He decided to return back to the city of Dvaraka.

Thus when He returned in the city of Dvaraka, He was received with great jubilation by relatives and friends, headed by King Ugrasena and other elderly persons, and all of them came forward to welcome Lord Balarama returned back. After this, He again went to the holy pilgrimage Naimisaranya, and the sages, saintly persons, brahmanas, all of them understanding that Lord Balarama, although ksatriya, was now retired from the fighting business because the brahmanas and the sages were always for peace and tranquility.

All of them embraced Balarama with great affection and induced Him to perform various kinds of sacrifices in that sacred spot of Naimisaranya. Actually, Lord Balarama had no business to perform different kinds of sacrifices as they are recommended for ordinary human being. He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead; therefore, He Himself is the enjoyer of all such sacrifices. As such, His exemplary action by performing sacrifices was only to give lesson to the common man how they should abide by the injunction of the Vedas.

After this, the Supreme Personality of Godhead Balarama instructed the sages and saintly persons there on the subject matter of the living entities' relationship with this cosmic manifestation: how one should accept this whole universe, and how one should deal with them in order to achieve the highest goal of perfection. The highest goal of perfection is to understand that the whole cosmic manifestation is resting on the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the Supreme Personality of Godhead is also present all-pervasively in everything, including the minutest atom. This is the function of the Paramatma feature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

After this, Lord Balarama took bath which is called avabhrtha bath, accepted after finishing sacrificial performances. After taking His bath, He dressed Himself in new silken garments and, decorated with nice beautiful jewelries, along with His relatives and friends He appeared to be shining full moon along with the luminaries in the sky. Lord Balarama is the Personality of Godhead Ananta Himself; therefore, He is beyond the scope of understanding by mind, intelligence or body. He descended exactly like human being and was behaving also in that way for His own purpose only. It can be simply explained as the Lord's pastime. Nobody can even estimate the unlimited demonstrations of His pastimes because He is all-powerful. Lord Balarama is original Visnu; therefore, anyone remembering these pastimes of Lord Balarama in the morning, evening will certainly become a great devotee of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and thus his life becomes successful in all respects.

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Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Seventy-ninth Chapter Krsna in the matter of "Liberating of Balvala, and Lord Balarama's Touring in Sacred Holy Places."