Summary Description of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s Pastimes

Forty-four. Krsna, Chapter Ninety continued.

Sukadeva Gosvami informed Maharaja Pariksit that the austerities and penances performed by the queens at Dvaraka has no comparison for self-realization. The objective of self-realization is one: Krsna. As such, the dealings of the queens with the Krsna, although appears just like ordinary dealings between husband and wife, the principal point to be observed is their attachment for Krsna. The whole process of austerities and penances are meant for detaching one's attachment to the material world and enhancing the attachment for Krsna, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Krsna is the shelter of all persons advancing in self-realization.

As an ideal householder, He was living with wife and performing the Vedic rituals just to show less intelligent persons that the Supreme Lord is never impersonal. Exactly like the ordinary conditioned soul, Krsna was living with wife and children and all opulences just to set practical examples to the conditioned souls that he has to enter into the family circle of Krsna, where He is the center, just like the Yadu descendants or the members of the Yadu family, they were living in the family of Krsna. Krsna is the center of the whole activities.

The platform of renouncement is not so important as it is important to enhance one's attachment to Krsna. Our Krsna consciousness movement is especially meant for this purpose. We are preaching this principle that it doesn't matter whether a man is a sannyasi or a householder, grhastha, one has to increase his attachment for Krsna, then the life is successful. Following the footsteps of Lord Sri Krsna, anyone can live within the members of family, society or nation, but not to indulge in sense gratification but to realize Krsna by advancing attachment for Him. There are four principles of elevation from conditional life to the life of liberation, which are technically known as dharma, artha, kama, moksa, or religion, economic development, sense gratification and liberation. So if anyone lives within the family life following the footsteps of Lord Krsna, he can achieve all these four principles of success, simultaneously making Krsna as the center of all activities.

It is already known to us that Krsna had 16,108 wives. Of all the wives, who were all exalted liberated souls, Queen Rukmini was the principal wife. After Rukmini, there were other seven wives, and taking them altogether with Rukmini, it is said that eight queens were principal, and the names of the sons of all these principal queens are also mentioned previously. Besides the principal eight queens, Lord Krsna had ten sons from each and every other queens. Altogether Krsna had 16,108 increased by ten times children. One should not be astonished to hear that Krsna had so many sons. One should always remember that Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead with unlimited potencies. All living entities are claimed to be His sons, so if there are 16,000,000 sons attached to Him personally, there is no cause of astonishment.

Amongst His great, powerful sons, eighteen sons were maharathi. The maharathis could fight alone with many thousands of soldiers, charioteers, cavalry and elephants. The reputation of these eighteen sons are very well known, and they are described in almost all Vedic literatures. The eighteen maharathi sons are listed herewith consecutively: Pradyumna, Aniruddha, Diptiman, Bhanu, Samba, Madhu, Brhadbhanu, Citrabhanu, Vrka, Aruna, Puskara, Vedabahu, Srutadeva, Sunandana, Citrabahu, Virūpa, Kavi and Nyagrodha. Out of these eighteen maharathi sons of Krsna, Pradyumna is considered to be the foremost.

Pradyumna happened to be the eldest son of Queen Rukmini. Pradyumna acquired all the qualities of his great father, Lord Krsna. Pradyumna married the daughter of his maternal uncle, Rukmi, and Aniruddha, the son of Pradyumna, was born of the daughter of Rukmi. Aniruddha was so powerful that he could fight with ten thousands of elephants. Aniruddha also married the granddaughter of Rukmi, brother of Rukmini. Because the family of Rukmi was different, therefore the marriage relationship between the cousin brother and sister was not very uncommon. Aniruddha's son was Vajra. When there was destruction of the whole dynasty of Yadus by the curse of the brahmanas, this Vajra only survived. Vajra had one son, whose name was Pratibahu. Pratibahu's son's name was Subahu. Subahu's son's name: Santasena, and the son of Santasena was Satasena.

It is stated by Sukadeva Gosvami that all the names mentioned in the Yadu dynasty had many, many children. Just like Krsna had a good many sons and grandsons and great-grandsons, similarly, each one of the kings named herewith had also similar family extension. All of them had not only many children, but all of them were extraordinarily rich and opulent. None of them were less powerful nor of little duration of life, and above all, all the members of the Yadu dynasty, they are staunch devotees of the brahminical culture. It is the duty of the ksatriya kings to maintain the brahminical culture and to protect the qualified brahmanas, and all these kings discharged their duties very rightly.

The Yadu dynasty is so extensive and numerous that it is very difficult to describe all of them, even though one has got a duration of life for many thousands of years. Srila Sukadeva Gosvami informed Maharaja Pariksit that he heard from reliable sources that simply to teach the family members or children of the Yadu dynasty, there were [indistinct] tutors, or acaryas, to the extent of 38,800,000's of teachers. One can simply imagine that if for educating their children so many teachers were required, how many extensive was the number of the family members. So far their military strength, it is said that only King Ugrasena had ten quadrillion soldiers as personal bodyguards.

Next paragraph.

Before the advent of Lord Krsna within this universe, there were many battles between the demons and the demigods, and as the result of which many demigods [demons] died in the fight, and all of them were given the chance of taking birth in high royal families within this earth. All these demons being situated on exalted posts of royalty became very much puffed, and their only business was to harass the subjects. Lord Krsna appeared on this planet just by the end of Dvapara-yuga in order to annihilate all these demoniac kings, as it is said in the Bhagavad-gita, paritranaya sadhūnam vinasaya ca duskrtam [Bg 4.8].

So as it is said in the beginning that some of the demigods were asked to appear on this earth to assist the transcendental pastimes of Lord Krsna. When Krsna appeared, He did so associated with His eternal servitors, but the demigods were requested to come down to assist Him. They all of them took their birth in the Yadu dynasty. In the Yadu dynasty, there were 101 clans in different parts of the country. All the members of these different clans of Yadu dynasty respected Lord Krsna, befitting His divine position, and all of them were devotees of Lord Krsna heart and soul.

On account of this, all the members of the Yadu dynasty were very much opulent, happy, prosperous and without any anxieties. On account of their implicit faith and devotion to Lord Krsna, they were never defeated by any other kings. Their love of Krsna was so intense that in their regular activities, namely in their acts of sitting, sleeping, traveling, talking, sporting, cleansing, bathing-they were simply absorbed in thought of Krsna without any attention to the bodily necessity. That is the symptom of pure devotee of Lord Krsna.

In this connection, it may be remembered that when a man is fully absorbed in some particular thought, sometimes he forgets his other bodily activities. The members of Yadu dynasty similarly were acting automatically about their bodily necessities, but actual attention was always in Krsna. Their bodily activities were being performed mechanically, but the mind was always absorbed in Krsna consciousness.

Next paragraph.

Srila Sukadeva Gosvami has concluded the Ninetieth Chapter of the Tenth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, pointing out five particular excellences of Lord Krsna. The first excellency is that before Lord Krsna's appearance in the Yadu family, the river Ganges was known as the purest of all things. Even impure things could be purified simply by touching the water of Ganges. This superexcellent power of the water of Ganges was due to her being emanated from the toe of Lord Visnu. But Lord Krsna, the Supreme Visnu, when He appeared in the family of the Yadu dynasty, He traveled personally in the kingdom of the Yadu dynasty, and thus by His intimate association with the Yadu dynasty the whole family not only became very famous but also more effective in purifying others than the water of the Ganges.

The next superexcellency of Lord Krsna's appearance was that although apparently He gave protection to the devotees and annihilated the demons, but both of them achieved the same result. Lord Krsna is the bestower of five kinds of liberation, of which sayujya-mukti, or liberation of being one with the Supreme, was given to the demons like Kamsa, and the gopis were given the chance of associating with Him personally. The gopis kept their individuality to enjoy the company of Lord Krsna, but Kamsa was accepted in His impersonal brahma-jyoti. In other words, both the demons and the gopis were spiritually liberated, although the demons were enemies and gopis were friends, or the demons were killed and the gopis were protected.

The third superexcellence of Lord Krsna's appearance was that the goddess of fortune, who is worshiped by demigods like Lord Brahma, Indra, Candra, she remained always engaged in the service of the Lord, even though the Lord gave more preference to the gopis. Laksmiji, the goddess of fortune, tried his [her] best to be on the equal level with gopis, but she was not successful. Still, she remained faithful to Krsna, although she does not remain at one place even worshiped by demigods like Lord Brahma.

The fourth superexcellence of Lord Krsna's appearance was about the glories of His name. It is stated in the Vedic literature that by chanting thousand times of different names of Lord Visnu, one may be bestowed the benefits of chanting three times the holy name of Lord Rama. But by chanting the holy name of Lord Krsna, one is equally benefited as by chanting three names of Lord Rama. In other words, all the holy names of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, namely Visnu, Rama, the holy name of Krsna is very, very powerful. Specifically, stress is given therefore on chanting the holy name of Krsna: Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, in the Vedic literature, and Lord Caitanya introduced this chanting of the holy name of Krsna in this age, making liberation very, very easily obtainable than in other ages. In other words, Lord Krsna is superexcellent than His other incarnations, although all of Them are equally the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

The fifth superexcellence of Lord Krsna's appearance is that He established the superexcellence of all religious principle by His one statement in the Bhagavad-gita that by simply surrendering unto Him one can discharge all the principles of religious rites. In the Vedic literature, there are twenty kinds of religious principles, and each of them are described in different sastras. But Lord Krsna is so kind to the fallen, conditioned souls of this age that He asked everyone to give up all kinds of religious rites and simply to surrender unto Him.

It is said that this age of Kali is devoid of three-fourths of religious principles, and hardly there is only one-fourth of religious principles existing in this age. But by the mercy of Lord Krsna, this vacancy of the Kali-yuga was fulfilled not only to the fullest extent, but it was made so easy that simply by rendering transcendental loving service unto Lord Krsna by chanting His holy name, Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, one can achieve the highest result of religiosity, namely, being transferred to the highest planet within the spiritual world, Goloka Vrndavana. One can thus immediately estimate the highest benefit of Lord Krsna's appearance on this earth, and therefore to give relief to the people of the world by His appearance was not at all extraordinary.

Next paragraph.

Sri Sukadeva Gosvami, thus concluding the supra-exalted position of Lord Krsna, is glorifying Him in the following way: [within quotation] "Krsna, all glories unto You. You are present in everyone's heart as Paramatma, therefore You are known as Jananivasa, one who lives in everyone's heart," as it is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita, isvaraḥ sarva-bhūtanam hrd-dese 'rjuna tisthati [Bg 18.61]:

"The Supreme Lord in His Paramatma feature lives within everyone's heart."

But that does not mean Krsna has no separate existence as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Mayavada philosophers, they accept the all-pervading feature of Parabrahma, but when Parabrahma, or the Supreme Lord, appears, they think that He appears under the control of material nature. Because Lord Krsna appeared as the son of Devaki, the Mayavadi philosophers accept Krsna as if one ordinary living entity takes birth within this material world. Therefore, Sukadeva Gosvami warns them that devaki-janma-vada, which means that He is famous only as the son of Devaki, but actually He is the Supersoul, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead all-pervading.

The devotees, however, takes this word devaki-janma-vada in a different way. The devotees say that actually Krsna was son of mother Yasoda. Although Krsna first of all appeared as the son of Devaki, He Himself immediately transferred to the lap of mother Yasoda, and His childhood pastimes was so blissfully enjoyed by mother Yasoda and Nanda Maharaja. This fact is also admitted by Vasudeva himself when he met Nanda Maharaja and Yasoda at Kuruksetra. He admitted that Krsna and Balarama are actually the sons of mother Yasoda and Nanda Maharaja. Vasudeva and Devaki was only, so to say, official father and mother. Actual father and mother was Nanda and Yasoda. Therefore, Sukadeva Gosvami addressed Lord Krsna as devaki-janma-vada.

Sukadeva Gosvami after this glorifies the Lord as served by the assembly house of the Yadu dynasty and the killer of different kinds of demons. Krsna the Supreme Personality of Godhead could kill all the demons by employing His different material energies, but He wanted to kill them personally in order to give them salvation. There was no need of Krsna's coming to this material world for killing the demons. Simply by His willing, many, many hundreds and thousands of demons could be killed without any personal endeavor. But actually He descended for His devotees, to play as a child with mother Yasoda and Nanda Maharaja and give pleasure to the inhabitants of Dvaraka, because all of them are pure devotees of the Lord.

By killing the demons and by giving protection to the devotees, Lord Krsna established real religious principles, which is simply love of God. By following this factual religious principles, love of God, even the living entities known as sthira-cara were also delivered of all material contamination and transferred to the spiritual kingdom. Sthira means the trees and plants, who cannot move, and cara means the moving animals, specifically the cows. So while Krsna was present, He delivered all the trees, plants and animals, monkeys who happened to see Him and serve Him both in Vrndavana and Dvaraka.

Lord Krsna is a specifically glorified on account of His giving pleasure to the gopis and the queens at Dvaraka. Sukadeva Gosvami glorifies Lord Krsna for His enchanting smiling, by which He enchanted not only the gopis at Vrndavana but also the queens at Dvaraka. The exact word used in this connection is kamavardhayan. Krsna in Vrndavana as boyfriend of so many gopis and husband of so many queens at Dvaraka increased their lusty desire to enjoy with Krsna. The fact is that for God realization or self-realization, one has to undergo severe austerities, penances for many, many thousands of years; then it may be possible to realize God. But the gopis and the queens at Dvaraka, simply by enhancing their lusty desires to enjoy Krsna as boyfriend or husband, got the highest type of salvation.

This behavior of Lord Krsna with the gopis and the queens is unique in the history of self-realization. Generally, people understand that for self-realization one has to go to the forest, to the mountain, and undergo severe type of austerities and penances. But the gopis and the queens, simply being attached to Krsna by conjugal love and enjoying His company in so-called sensuous life, full in luxury and opulence, got the highest salvation, impossible to be achieved by great sages and saintly person. Similarly, the demons who treated Krsna as enemy, as represented by Kamsa, Dantavakra, Sisupala, etc., they also got the highest benefit of being transferred to the spiritual world.

Next paragraph.

In the beginning of Srimad-Bhagavatam, Srila Vyasadeva offered his respectful obeisances to the Supreme Truth, Vasudeva, Krsna. After that, he taught his son, Sukadeva Gosvami, to preach Srimad-Bhagavatam, and in this connection Sukadeva Gosvami glorifies the Lord as jayati. Following the footsteps of Srila Vyasadeva and Sukadeva Gosvami and all the acaryas in disciplic succession, the whole population of the world should glorify Lord Krsna, and for the best interest they should take to this Krsna consciousness movement, the process being so easy and helpful, by chanting the maha-mantra, Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

Lord Caitanya has therefore recommended that one should be callous to the material ups and downs. The material life is nonpermanent, temporary. Similarly, the ups and downs of life may come and go. When they come, one should tolerate them like the trees, and becoming humble and meek like the straws in the street. But certainly he must engage oneself in Krsna consciousness by chanting the simple method, Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna...

[break] End

Srimad-Bhagavatam-3rd Canto DictationsVB25