The Slaying of Kamsa and Associates .

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THE SLAYING OF KAMSA AND ASSOCIATES (K.V. Gopalakrishna) The entry of Sri Krishna and Balarama into the city of Mathura on the invitation of Kamsa was described in the last issue. This happened to be the climax of the evil designs of Kamsa to do short work of them on the pretext of a Dhanur-yajna and involving them in wrestling matches with veteran fighters like Mushtika and Chanura. So far as Lord Krishna was concerned, it served to fulfil the main purpose of His incarnation, the slaying of Kamsa. That Kamsa, the sworn enemy of the Lord, attained Sayujyam through death at His hands is a positive illustration of “communion through confrontation”. Just as the Gopis of Vrindavanam attracted by irresistible sex-instinct were beatified by the Lord, so also

His enemies, whose minds were fixed on Him through fear, anger or hatred, attained the same goal. In short, whosoever, knowingly or unknowingly, fixes his mind on the Lord wholeheartedly, attains spiritual emancipation, just as a person taking a medicine knowingly or unknowingly, gets cured of his ailments. The irony of the whole episode is that Kamsa knew, by this time, that his end was drawing near, having learnt from Narada that Sri Krishna had been born as the eighth son of Devaki for the purpose of killing him; and he had experienced, one after another, Sri Krishna’s superhuman exploits. And he had become

mortally afraid. Now, he started seeing his own headless image in the mirror and on water; seeing, in double, brilliant objects such as the Sun and the Moon; seeing his shadow riddled with holes—all this in his waking hours. In dream, he started seeing himself embracing corpses, journeying on a donkey, consuming poison, body being smeared with oil, in nakedness etc. The appearance of these forebodings of death made him all the more scared and he spent a sleepless night. At dawn, the loud beats of the drums following his command echoed from all quarters, signifying the wrestling match that was soon to begin. Innumerable vassals of Kamsa moved to take their places on the raised daises. Nandagopa who had offered,

in due time, presents to Kamsa, entered the specially arranged place in the mansion, commanding a good view of the wrestling arena and took his seat along with other senior Gopas. Kamsa, too, went up to the top floor of his mansion, along with his ministers, to witness the match. Then, Sri Krishna, too, after the morning bath etc, dressed in fine garments and decorated with captivating ornaments, set out to see the wrestling match, accompanied by Balarama, Sridama and other Gopa friends and reached the entrance of the match arena which was, however, obstructed by the mad and angry elephant ‘Kuvalaya-pida’, deliberately placed on the orders of Kamsa. On reaching the entrance of the arena, Sri Krishna told the mahout (elephant keeper) Maha-matra, by name, in a commanding tone: ‘O big sinner who is obstructing free passage! Step aside from the path!’ The mahout, evil by nature, became more angry and prompted the elephant to charge at Sri Krishna. It came to Sri Krishna speedily and seized Him with its trunk. However, Sri Krishna did free Himself with ease and struck a forceful blow on the elephant’s forehead bulges. Then, with a charming, smiling face, Sri Krishna stood between its legs, moving playfully here and there in such a way that it could not catch Him and thereby enhanced its anger manifold.. Just like the saying that although Sri Krishna is discernible with as much ease and clearness of perception as a berry placed on the palm of one’s hand to great sages, Sri Krishna is yet unattainable, so also, though within grasp of that elephant, Sri Krishna did elude it and run about playfully in front of, behind and on the sides of the elephant, seizing it by its tail and making it go round. Sri Krishna also did playfully fall on the ground and before the elephant could be aware of it, get up and move away. Scared, that elephant hit the ground forcefully with its tusks thinking that Sri Krishna was still lying on the ground. Then it charged at Him who, pushing it down, pulled out its tusks, root and all, and with those, killed

the beast and its keepers. After the killing of the elephant Kuvalaya-pida, Sri Krishna did enter the wrestling arena, along with Balarama, each carrying on His shoulder, one of the tusks uprooted from the elephant. On seeing Sri Krishna, the people gathered there got forcibly diverted from other matters on account of the auspicious beauty of His form, their eyes and minds being captivated by Him. The elderly among them exclaimed ‘Wondrous! wondrous! Nandagopa who has Sri Krishna for a son is extremely fortunate indeed!’; the infatuated young women said, ‘No, no, the Gopis who are fortunate enough to hold Him in a tight embrace against their pitcher-like breasts—they are the blessed ones!’ ; Mature women said, ‘That is not so, the really blessed one is Yasoda who brings up Sri Krishna, with loving care, fondles Him, and caresses Him!’ and the more mature devotees affirmed : ‘None of them. Neither Nandagopa, nor the Gopis, nor Yasoda, nor anyone else but we, whose eyes alone have now achieved their fulfilment of life for, they have now the opportunity to drink, to heart’s content, the intoxicating beauty of His divine and auspicious form!’. Thus Sri Krishna was praised in several ways by those gathered there. It is only natural that the reactions of persons who were present in the arena at the time of appearance of Sri Krishna were diverse! Therefore, they also imagined Him in diverse forms: as son, lover, child and so on. Present in the arena by the side of Balarama, His elder brother, the Lord appeared as a thunderbolt to the wrestlers, a jewel among men to the male members, love incarnate to the young ladies, a kinsman to the cowherds of vraja, a chastiser to the vile princes, a mere child to His parents, death (personified) to Kamsa (the ruler of the Bhojas), as deficient in strength and immature of body to the ignorant, the Supreme Reality to the yogis and the highest divinity to the Vrishnis.) All the sentiments---romance and the like --- are aptly expounded in Bhagavatam in their appropriate places and aspects. It was said earlier the people gathered there had their minds fixed on the Lord despite their being of diverse mental dispositions. But how could that be? To that query, the reply is: “Sri Krishna are now being seen as Gopala-bala, a cowherd boy among the cowherds. Even so, Sri Krishna’s real self is omnipresent, eternal, the embodiment of Supreme Bliss, and the essence of knowledge. Sri Krishna, of the above said qualities, was just “Krishna” among the Gopas. Though beyond the cognisance of senses, Sri Krishna could assume a manifested form and was visibly shining only on account of the association with Maya (Illusive power), that was dependent on

Him alone. It had made Sri Krishna the object and was inseparable from Him, the Supreme Being. However, only few had the knowledge of this truth at that time. Such people had the fortune of seeing Sri Krishna in person because of the impending fruition of their maturing meritorious deeds. With that, their sins were completely destroyed. Consequently, these became filled with joy and started recollecting Sri Krishna’s superhuman deeds and passionately sang hymns in praise of Him, one by one. After Sri Krishna’s entry into the wrestling arena, Chanura, a wrestling champion, and Mushtika, notorious for his fists which were powerful like the thunderbolt, confronted Sri Krishna and Balarama respectively, under Kamsa’s orders. Then ensued frightful wrestling bouts in which mutual fist-blows sounding ‘jhata-jhata’, throwing each other up into the air, pushing down, pushing and pulling here and there, clutching with hands, trading blows, fist for fist, knee for knee, head for head, chest for chest and many other such tactics were on display. These are all normal in wrestling bouts. But what is surprising is that the great wrestler, Chanura, attained bondage and liberation many times even before his death. According to the scriptures, one who is particularly body-conscious, will not get liberation from the mundane bondage of happiness and sorrow. When that is so, it is a matter of big surprise that the great wrestler, Chanura, one of those who consider their brute strength to be all

important, attained liberation from bondage. Detachment of the soul from matter, which is known as Moksha is attainable only after one gains knowledge of the real nature of Brahman and has fully undergone the experience of the consequences of the actions in previous births and on destruction of the body. That is the philosophy of Sastras----ancient scriptures. Here surprisingly, even before destruction of his body, Chanura the wrestler, attained liberation. Once one attains “Moksha” one would not have mundane bondage again. In the present instance, most surprisingly, Chanura attained bondage and liberation many times over in succession! The reality, however, is that Chanura, though he was firmly and tightly clasped by the Lord’s arms, freed himself repeatedly from that bondage (clasp) in a most surprising manner due to his dexterity and discipline. While Sri Krishna was wrestling with Chanura and Balarama with Mushtika, the

good among the onlookers started saying among themselves, “Balarama and Krishna have such tender bodies. These wrestlers, on the other hand, are endowed with fully developed bodies and are ruthless. Therefore, these fights are unequal and an unbearable excess. Fie, alas! Even those who merely witness these fights are partners in sin”. (The wise man remembering the faults of the members of an assembly should best avoid the place. If however, he goes there and witnesses such happenings, and if he does not speak out the truth, or utters falsehood or pretends ignorance, he commits a sin. He should not keep silent about them under the thought that none will pay any heed to his views.) But if, out of gentility, friendship, fear or partiality, he approves, contrary to his conscience, those excesses, that would be the greatest sin of all. And when the good men in the gathering were saying among themselves, ‘We should not be here, witnessing these happenings. Let us leave’, Sri Krishna, seizing both hands of Chanura, started whirling him around. That put an end to his life and Sri Krishna lifted his body and threw it forcefully on the ground. Thereafter, Balarama, who was battling Mushtika, fisted him to death. Kuta, Sala, Thosala who then came up in confrontation were despatched to the netherworld by Sri Krishna two. The remaining wrestlers took to their heels for dear life. On seeing the killing of the principal wrestlers and the running away of the remaining lot, the evil-minded Kamsa ordered silencing of all instruments that were playing in the arena and became utterly confused, not knowing what to do next. The wicked Kamsa ordered his servants thus:

‘Kill speedily Vasudeva who all these days had hidden away his sons and deceived us, and my father Ugrasena who has been siding with the enemy, and his relatives, seize all the wealth of the Gopas and confiscate them to the royal treasury. Put Nandagopa behind bars, and banish these two crafty, perfidious boys to a great distance!’ Hearing these evil words, including that of killing of Kamsa’s own father, Sri Krishna got much angered and like Garuda, the chief of birds, soaring to a mountain top, Sri Krishna leapt instantly to Kamsa’s throne, on the topmost floor of his mansion, despite his

brandishing a sword so that none could even near him, Sri Krishna did seize him by his hair. Though Kamsa had heard about Sri Krishna’s superhuman exploits many times before, and even witnessed a few now in person, he did not, as he ought to have, prostrate before Sri Krishna’s lotus feet and ask for pardon for the sake of self protection; on the contrary, due to the power of his destiny, it did not even occur to him to do so. Sri Krishna did seize Kamsa by the hair, drag him here and there, shatter all his bone

joints and throw his body from the high dais to the ground. And, when Sri Krishna jumped from above on to his body, the Devas assembled in the skies showered flowers on Sri Krishna. Kamsa had heard about Sri Krishna’s wondrous exploits beginning from the killing of Putana, through his spies; he had also heard from Narada that Sri Krishna were his destroyer. Because of all this and the consequent fear, Kamsa’s thoughts centred only on Sri Krishna, all the time, when he was eating, travelling, resting, sleeping, why indeed, even when he was merely breathing! Hence, even though Kamsa was a great sinner and a wicked person, he attained emancipation by union with Sri Krishna that is devoid of rebirth and is full of happiness. What are we to say of this? Kamsa was a very wicked demon,

“Kalanemi” by name, in his previous birth. He was killed by Sri Krishna in the battle between Devas and Asuras, but he relinquished his body with thoughts of Sri Krishna although the thoughts were due to fear. It was that vasana which had now manifested in the present birth also and it was that alone that was the cause for his emancipation now. Sri Krishna says in the Bhagavadgita, “O Son of Kunti! Whatever object a person thinks of while relinquishing the mortal coil, having been absorbed in such thought all through, he attains that and that alone.” This saying of the Lord in the Bhagavat Gita that the vasana [1] in a later birth is governed by the thoughts and recollections at the time of death in the previous birth is appropriate on this context. The killing of Kamsa, according to Puranams, took place when Krishna was twelve years old, on the night of Maha-sivaratri in the month of Kumbha (Phalguna). The attributes of the Lord (Prabhuh)[2] are the capacity to do a thing, not to do it, and doing it in a different manner! We see the Lord’s wondrous glory in the grant of liberation without rebirths to Kamsa in the act of his being killed. The moral of the story of “Kalanemi ” is that a moment at the end of life (Anthe Narayana-smruthih) is all alone that is needed to pave the way for lifting us up to ‘Parama-pada’, the supreme abode of the Lord in our future birth. This surely should make us all take to the path of Devotion (Bhakti)! The Lord takes incarnations for protection of the good, the destruction of the evil and establishment of Dharma (virtue)! Following the killing of Kamsa, the tormentor of the world, Sri Krishna did also kill his eight younger brothers; Kankan, Nyagrodhan and others who, blinded by arrogance, had confronted Sri Krishna. Thus, In the guise of witnessing the wrestling arena, Sri Krishna killed the wrestlers deputed by Kamsa, and Kamsa

himself, following which his brothers were also annihilated. Thus did Sri Krishna fulfil the purpose of His incarnation and without further delay, set free His parents Devaki and Vasudeva from the confines of the wretched prison and thereby discharge the duty of a good son. The fruition of the meritorious deeds of that couple who had become Sri Krishna’s parents and the object of Sri Krishna’s love and respect, is indeed marvellous ! Ugrasena, the father of the wicked Kamsa, who was the tormentor of the

virtuous, was also subject to Kamsa’s misdeeds. Sri Krishna crowned Ugrasena as king again, a position he lawfully deserved and thus became the object of the heart-felt blessings of that aged ruler. Thereafter Sri Krishna brought back all those who had been harassed and subjected to sorrow in myriad ways by Kamsa, and spent His time enthusiastically pursuing ways to promote lasting welfare. Specially notable is an important gain for Sri Krishna in the meanwhile. He did accept as friend Uddhava, the foremost among His

devotees, who had received due training in administration of a state, government, politics and statesmanship from Brihaspati, the preceptor of the Devas. “O Lord! Sri Krishna, You who were resplendent with happiness and fulfilling Your sport of protection of the world, residing in that holy town of Mathura, may You, O Lord of Guruvayoor! Be pleased to

remove all ailments of Your devotees, of pure mind and protect them! Since how many lives have we been striving to become the object of Your merciful glances? When You are residing manifestly in this very holy Guruvayoor, known as Bhuloka-vaikunta and showering blessings on all the worlds, may the great sorrows of ours, Your ardent devotees also be eliminated! May You bless us so that we may always remain with our minds engrossed in Your lotus feet!” Ooooooo Short note about the writer. 76 years young, son of late Mahopaddhyaya K.G. Vancheswara sastry, Sanskrit scholar who was teaching in Government schools in Mavelikara and later in Trivandrum in the Model and S.M.V. Schools, and Monkompu and who had co-authored a Malayalam commentary on “Narayaneeyam”, known as the “Bhaktaranjini” commentary in the early part of the 20th century. Now, four like-minded friends including the writer have made an English version of the commentary and published the book through the Bhaktaranjini Trust, Bangalore. For details of the book, access web-site www.narayaneeyam.com. The book, in 3 volumes, is edited by Sri.

S.N. Sastry and the Foreward written by Pujya Swami Sri. Dayananda Saraswati. The writer is retired after long service in the Petroleum industry and settled down in Bangalore. [1] Note:--Vasana -- Knowledge derived from memory particularly the impression unconsciously left on the mind by the past good or

bad actions which therefore produces pleasure or pain. (Apte’s dictionary page 504) [2] Prabhuh: Karthum akarthum anyatha karthum cha sakthah.