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The Advent of Lord Krishna

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The Advent of Lord Krishna

Once the world was overburdened by the unnecessary defense force of

different kings, who were actually demons but were posing themselves as the

royal order. At that time, the whole world became perturbed, and the

predominating deity of this earth, known as Bhümi, went to see Lord Brahm?

to tell of her calamities due to the demoniac kings. Bhümi assumed the shape

of a cow and presented herself before Lord Brahm? with tears in her eyes.

She was bereaved and was weeping just to invoke the lord's compassion. She

related the calamitous position of the earth, and after hearing this, Lord

Brahm? became much aggrieved, and he at once started for the ocean of milk,

where Lord Vishnu resides. Lord Brahm? was accompanied by all the demigods

headed by Lord Civa, and Bhümi also followed. Arriving on the shore of the

milk ocean, Lord Brahm? began to pacify Lord Vishnu, who formerly saved the

earthly planet by assuming the transcendental form of a boar.

In the Vedic mantras, there is a particular type of prayer called

Puru?a-sükta. Generally, the demigods offer their obeisances unto Vishnu,

the Supreme Personality of Godhead, by chanting the Puru?a-sükta. It is

understood herein that the predominating deity of every planet can see the

supreme lord of this universe, Brahm?, whenever there is some disturbance on

his planet. And Brahm? can approach the Supreme Lord Vishnu, not by seeing

Him directly but by standing on the shore of the ocean of milk. There is a

planet within this universe called Cvetadvépa, and on that planet there is

an ocean of milk. It is understood from various Vedic scriptures that just

as there is the ocean of salt water on this planet, there are various kinds

of oceans on other planets. Somewhere there is an ocean of milk, somewhere

there is an ocean of oil, and somewhere an ocean of liquor and many other

types of oceans. Puru?a-sükta is the standard prayer which the demigods

recite to appease the Supreme Personality of Godhead, K?érodakaç?yé Vishnu.

Because He is lying on the ocean of milk, He is called K?érodakaç?yé Vishnu.

He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, through whom all the incarnations

within this universe appear.

After all the demigods offered the Puru?a-sükta prayer to the Supreme

Personality of Godhead, they apparently heard no response. Then Lord Brahm?

personally sat in meditation, and there was a message-transmission from Lord

Vishnu to Brahm?. Brahm? then broadcast the message to the demigods. That is

the system of receiving Vedic knowledge. The Vedic knowledge is received

first by Brahm? from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, through the medium

of the heart. As stated in the beginning of Crémad-Bh?gavatam, tene brahma

h?d? ya ?di-kavaye: the transcendental knowledge of the Vedas was

transmitted to Lord Brahm? through the heart. Here also, in the same way,

only Brahm? could understand the message transmitted by Lord Vishnu, and he

broadcast it to the demigods for their immediate action. The message was

this: The Supreme Personality of Godhead would appear on the earth very

soon, along with His supreme powerful potencies, and as long as He remained

on the earth planet to execute His mission of annihilating the demons and

establishing the devotees, the demigods should also remain there to assist

Him. They should all immediately take birth in the family of the Yadu

dynasty, wherein the Lord would also appear in due course of time. The

Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself, Krsna, would personally appear as

the son of Vasudeva. Before His appearance, all the demigods, along with

their wives, should appear in different pious families in the world just to

assist the Lord in executing His mission. The exact word used here is

tat-priy?rtham, which means the demigods should appear on the earth in order

to please the Lord. In other words, any living entity who lives only to

satisfy the Lord is a demigod. The demigods were further informed that the

plenary portion of Lord Krsna, Ananta, who is maintaining the universal

planets by extending His millions of hoods, would also appear on earth

before Lord Krsna's appearance. They were also informed that the external

potency of Vishnu (M?y?), with whom all the conditioned souls are enamored,

would also appear by the order of the Supreme Lord, just to execute His

purpose.

After instructing and pacifying all the demigods, as well as Bhümi, with

sweet words, Lord Brahm?, the father of all praj?patis, or progenitors of

universal population, departed for his abode, the highest material planet,

called Brahmaloka.

The leader of the Yadu dynasty, King Cürasena, was ruling over the country

known as M?thura, wherein lies the city of Mathur?, as well as the district

known as Cürasena, which was named after him. On account of the rule of King

Cürasena, Mathur? became the capital city of all the kings of the Yadus.

Mathur? was also made the capital of the kings of the Yadu dynasty because

the Yadus were a very pious family and knew that Mathur? is the place where

Lord Cré Krishnalives eternally, just as He also lives in Dv?rak?.

Once upon a time, Vasudeva, the son of Cürasena, just after marrying Devaké,

was going home on his chariot with his newly wedded wife. The father of

Devaké, known as Devaka, had contributed a sufficient dowry because he was

very affectionate toward his daughter. He had contributed hundreds of

chariots completely decorated with gold equipment. At that time, Kamsa, the

son of Ugrasena, in order to please his sister, Devaké, had voluntarily

taken the reins of the horses of Vasudeva's chariot and was driving.

According to the custom of the Vedic civilization, when a girl is married,

the brother takes the sister and brother-in-law to their home. Because the

newly married girl may feel too much separation from her father's family,

the brother goes with her until she reaches her father-in-law's house. The

full dowry contributed by Devaka was as follows: 400 elephants fully

decorated with golden garlands, 15,000 decorated horses, and 1,800 chariots.

He also arranged for 200 beautiful girls to follow his daughter. The

k?atriya system of marriage, still current in India, dictates that when a

ksatriya is married, a few dozen of the bride's young girlfriends (in

addition to the bride) go to the house of the king. The followers of the

queen are called maidservants, but actually they act as friends of the

queen. This practice is prevalent from time immemorial, traceable at least

to the time before the advent of Lord Krishna5,000 years ago. So Vasudeva

brought home another 200 beautiful girls along with his wife Devaké.

While the bride and bridegroom were passing along on the chariot, there were

different kinds of musical instruments playing to indicate the auspicious

moment. There were conchshells, bugles, drums and kettledrums; combined

together, they were vibrating a nice concert. The procession was passing

very pleasingly, and Kamsa was driving the chariot, when suddenly there was

a miraculous sound vibrated from the sky which especially announced to

Kamsa: "Kamsa, you are such a fool! You are driving the chariot of your

sister and your brother-in-law, but you do not know that the eighth child of

this sister will kill you."

Kamsa was the son of Ugrasena, of the Bhoja dynasty. It is said that Kamsa

was the most demoniac of all the Bhoja dynasty kings. Immediately after

hearing the prophecy from the sky, he caught hold of Devaké's hair and was

just about to kill her with his sword. Vasudeva was astonished at Kamsa's

behavior, and in order to pacify the cruel, shameless brother-in-law, he

began to speak as follows, with great reason and evidence. He said, "My dear

brother-in-law Kamsa, you are the most famous king of the Bhoja dynasty, and

people know that you are the greatest warrior and a valiant king. How is it

that you are so infuriated that you are prepared to kill a woman who is your

own sister at this auspicious time of her marriage? Why should you be so

much afraid of death? Death is already born along with your birth. From the

very day you took your birth, you began to die. Suppose you are twenty-five

years old; that means you have already died twenty-five years. Every moment,

every second, you are dying. Why then should you be so much afraid of death?

Final death is inevitable. You may die either today or in a hundred years;

you cannot avoid death. Why should you be so much afraid? Actually, death

means annihilation of the present body. As soon as the present body stops

functioning and mixes with the five elements of material nature, the living

entity within the body accepts another body, according to his present action

and reaction. It is just like when a man walks on the street: he puts

forward his foot, and when he is confident that his foot is situated on

sound ground, he lifts the other foot. In this way, one after another, the

bodies change and the soul transmigrates. See how the plantworms change from

one twig to another so carefully! Similarly, the living entity changes his

body as soon as the higher authorities decide on his next body. As long as a

living entity is conditioned within this material world, he must take

material bodies one after another. His next particular body is offered by

the laws of nature, according to the actions and reactions of this life.

"This body is exactly like one of the bodies which we always see in dreams.

During our dream of sleep, we create so many bodies according to mental

creation. We have seen gold, and we have also seen a mountain, so in a dream

we can see a golden mountain by combining the two ideas. Sometimes in dreams

we see that we have a body which is flying in the sky, and at that time we

completely forget our present body. Similarly, these bodies are changing.

When you have one body, you forget the past body. During a dream, we may

make contact with so many new kinds of bodies, but when we are awake we

forget them all. And actually these material bodies are the creations of our

mental activities. But at the present moment we do not recollect our past

bodies.

"The nature of the mind is flickering. Sometimes it accepts something, and

immediately it rejects the same thing. Accepting and rejecting is the

process of the mind in contact with the five objects of sense gratification:

form, taste, smell, sound and touch. In its speculative way, the mind comes

in touch with the objects of sense gratification, and when the living entity

desires a particular type of body, he gets it. Therefore, the body is an

offering by the laws of material nature. The living entity accepts a body

and comes out again into the material world to enjoy or suffer according to

the construction of the body. Unless we have a particular type of body, we

cannot enjoy or suffer according to our mental proclivities inherited from

the previous life. The particular type of body is actually offered to us

according to our mental condition at the time of death.

"The luminous planets like the sun, moon or stars reflect themselves in

different types of reservoirs, like water, oil or ghee. The reflection moves

according to the movement of the reservoir. The reflection of the moon is on

the water, and the moving water makes the moon also appear to be moving, but

actually the moon is not moving. Similarly, by mental concoction the living

entity attains different kinds of bodies, although actually he has no

connection with such bodies. But on account of illusion, being enchanted by

the influence of m?y?, the living entity thinks that he belongs to a

particular type of body. That is the way of conditioned life. Suppose a

living entity is now in a human form of body. He thinks that he belongs to

the human community, or a particular country or particular place. He

identifies himself in that way and unnecessarily prepares for another body,

which is not required by him. Such desires and mental concoctions are the

cause of different types of body. The covering influence of material nature

is so strong that the living entity is satisfied in whatever body he gets,

and he identifies with that body with great pleasure. Therefore, I beg to

request you not to be overwhelmed by the dictation of your mind and body."

Vasudeva thus requested Kamsa not to be envious of his newly married sister.

One should not be envious of anyone, because envy is the cause of fear both

in this world and in the next, when one is before Yamar?ja (the lord of

punishment after death). Vasudeva appealed to Kamsa on behalf of Devaké,

stating that she was his younger sister. He also appealed at an auspicious

moment, at the time of marriage. A younger sister or brother is supposed to

be protected as one's child. "The position is overall so delicate," Vasudeva

reasoned, "that if you kill her, it will go against your high reputation."

In this way Vasudeva tried to pacify Kamsa by good instruction as well as by

philosophical discrimination, but Kamsa was not to be pacified because his

association was demoniac. Because of his demoniac associations, he was a

demon, although born in a very high royal family. A demon never cares for

any good instruction. He is just like a determined thief: one can give him

moral instruction, but it will not be effective. Similarly, those who are

demoniac or atheistic by nature can hardly assimilate any good instruction,

however authorized it may be. That is the difference between demigod and

demon. Those who can accept good instruction and try to live their lives in

that way are called demigods, and those who are unable to take such good

instruction are called demons.

Failing in his attempt to pacify Kamsa, Vasudeva wondered how he would

protect his wife, Devaké. When there is imminent danger, an intelligent

person should try to avoid the dangerous position as far as possible. But

if, in spite of endeavoring by all intelligence, one fails to avoid the

dangerous position, there is no fault on his part. One should try his best

to execute his duties, but if the attempt fails, he is not at fault.

Vasudeva thought of his wife as follows: "For the present let me save the

life of Devaké; then later on, if there are children, I shall see how to

save them." He further thought, "If in the future I get a child who can kill

Kamsa-just as Kamsa is thinking-then both Devaké and the child will be saved

because the law of Providence is inconceivable. But now, some way or other,

let me save the life of Devaké."

There is no certainty how a living entity contacts a certain type of body,

just as there is no certainty how a blazing fire comes in contact with a

certain type of wood in the forest. When there is a forest fire, it is

experienced that the blazing fire sometimes leaps over one tree and catches

another by the influence of the wind. Similarly, a living entity may be very

careful in the matter of executing his duties, but it is still very

difficult for him to know what type of body he is going to get in the next

life. Maharaja Bharata was very faithfully executing the duties of

self-realization, but by chance he developed temporary affection for a deer,

and in his next life he had to accept the body of a deer.

Vasudeva, after deliberating on how to save his wife, began to speak to

Kamsa with great respect, although Kamsa was the most sinful man. Sometimes

it happens that a most virtuous person like Vasudeva has to flatter a person

like Kamsa, a most vicious person. That is the way of all diplomatic

transactions. Although Vasudeva was deeply aggrieved, he smiled outwardly.

He addressed the shameless Kamsa in that way because he was so atrocious.

Vasudeva said to Kamsa, "My dear brother-in-law, please consider that you

have no danger from your sister. You are awaiting some danger because you

have heard a prophetic voice in the sky. But the danger is to come from the

sons of your sister, who are not present now. And who knows? There may or

may not be sons in the future. Considering all this, you are safe for the

present. Nor is there cause of fear from your sister. If there are any sons

born of her, I promise that I shall present all of them to you for necessary

action."

Kamsa knew the value of Vasudeva's word of honor, and he was convinced by

his argument. For the time being, he desisted from the heinous killing of

his sister. Thus Vasudeva was pleased and praised the decision of Kamsa. In

this way, he returned to his home.

Each year thereafter, in due course of time, Devaké gave birth to a child.

Thus she gave birth to eight male children, as well as one daughter. When

the first son was born, Vasudeva kept his word of honor and immediately

brought the child before Kamsa. It is said that Vasudeva was very much

elevated and famous for his word of honor, and he wanted to maintain this

fame. Although it was very painful for Vasudeva to hand over the newly born

child, Kamsa was very glad to receive him. But he became a little

compassionate with the behavior of Vasudeva. This event is very exemplary.

For a great soul like Vasudeva, there is nothing considered to be painful in

the course of discharging one's duty. A learned person like Vasudeva carries

out his duties without hesitation. On the other hand, a demon like Kamsa

never hesitates in committing any abominable action. It is said, therefore,

that a saintly person can tolerate all kinds of miserable conditions of

life, a learned man can discharge his duties without awaiting favorable

circumstances, a heinous person like Kamsa can act in any sinful way, and a

devotee can sacrifice everything to satisfy the Supreme Personality of

Godhead.

Kamsa became satisfied by the action of Vasudeva. He was surprised to see

Vasudeva keeping his promise, and being compassionate upon him and pleased,

he began to speak as follows: "My dear Vasudeva, you need not present this

child to me. I am not in danger from this child. I have heard that the

eighth child born of you and Devaké will kill me. Why should I accept this

child unnecessarily? You can take him back."

When Vasudeva was returning home with his firstborn child, although he was

pleased by the behavior of Kamsa, he could not believe in him because he

knew that Kamsa was uncontrolled. An atheistic person cannot be firm in his

word of honor. One who cannot control the senses cannot be steady in his

determination. The great politician C?ëakya Paë?ita said, "Never put your

trust in a diplomat or in a woman." Those who are addicted to unrestricted

sense gratification can never be truthful, nor can they be trusted with any

faith.

At that time the great sage N?rada came to Kamsa. He was informed of Kamsa's

becoming compassionate to Vasudeva and returning his firstborn child. N?rada

was very anxious to accelerate the descent of Lord Krishnaas soon as

possible. He therefore informed Kamsa that in Vrnd?vana personalities like

Nanda Mah?r?ja and all the other cowherd men and their wives, and on the

other side Vasudeva, his father Cürasena and all his relatives born in the

family of V??ëi of the Yadu dynasty, along with all their friends and

well-wishers, were actually demigods. N?rada warned Kamsa to be careful of

them, since Kamsa and his friends and advisors were all demons. Demons are

always afraid of demigods. After being thus informed by Narada about the

appearance of the demigods in different families, Kamsa at once became very

much alarmed. He understood that since the demigods had already appeared,

Lord Vishnu must be coming soon. He at once arrested both his brother-in-law

Vasudeva and Devaké and put them behind prison bars.

Within the prison, shackled in iron chains, Vasudeva and Devaké gave birth

to a male child year after year, and Kamsa, thinking each of the babies to

be the incarnation of Vishnu, killed them one after another. He was

particularly afraid of the eighth child, but after the visit of Narada, he

came to the conclusion that any child might be Krsna. Therefore it was

better to kill all the babies who took birth from Devaké and Vasudeva.

This action of Kamsa is not very difficult to understand. There are many

instances in the history of the world of persons in the royal order who have

killed father, brother or a whole family and friends for the satisfaction of

their ambitions. There is nothing astonishing about this, for members of the

demoniac, greedy royal order can kill anyone for their nefarious ambitions.

Kamsa was made aware of his previous birth by the grace of Narada. He

learned that in his previous birth he was a demon of the name K?lanemi and

that he was killed by Vishnu. Having taken his birth in the Bhoja family, he

decided to become the deadly enemy of the Yadu dynasty; Krishnawas going to

take birth in that family, and Kamsa was very much afraid that he would be

killed by Krsna, just as he had been killed in his last birth.

He first of all imprisoned his father, Ugrasena, because he was the chief

king among the Yadu, Bhoja and Andhaka dynasties, and he also occupied the

kingdom of Cürasena, Vasudeva's father. He declared himself the king of all

such places.

Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the First Chapter of Krsna, "The

Advent of Lord Krsna."

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