Verse: Srimad Bhagvatam 10.66.39-40
tat sūrya-koṭi-pratimaṁ sudarśanaṁ
jājvalyamānaṁ pralayānala-prabham
sva-tejasā khaṁ kakubho ’tha rodasī
cakraṁ mukundāstraṁ athāgnim ārdayat
Synonyms:
tat — that; sūrya — of suns; koṭi — millions; pratimam — resembling; sudarśanam — Sudarśana; jājvalyamānam — blazing with fire; pralaya — of universal annihilation; anala — (like) the fire; prabham — whose effulgence; sva — his own; tejasā — with heat; kham — the sky; kakubhaḥ — the directions; atha — and; rodasī — heaven and earth; cakram — the disc; mukunda — of Lord Kṛṣṇa; astram — the weapon; atha — also; agnim — the fire (created by Sudakṣiṇa); ārdayat — tormented. Translation:
That Sudarśana, the disc weapon of Lord Mukunda, blazed forth like millions of suns. His effulgence blazed like the fire of universal annihilation, and with his heat he pained the sky, all the directions, heaven and earth, and also the fiery demon.
kṛtyānalaḥ pratihataḥ sa rathānga-pāṇer
astraujasā sa nṛpa bhagna-mukho nivṛttaḥ
vārāṇasīṁ parisametya sudakṣiṇaṁ taṁ
sartvig-janaṁ samadahat sva-kṛto ’bhicāraḥ
Synonyms:
kṛtyā — produced by mystic power; analaḥ — the fire; pratihataḥ — frustrated; saḥ — he; ratha-aṅga pāṇeḥ — of Lord Kṛṣṇa, Who holds the Sudarśana disc in His hand; astra — of the weapon; ojasā — by the power; saḥ — he; nṛpa — O King; bhagna-mukhaḥ — turning away; nivṛttaḥ — having desisted; vārānasīm — the city of Vārāṇasī; parisametya — approaching on all sides; sudakṣiṇam — Sudakṣiṇa; tam — him; sa — together with; ṛtvik-janam — his priests; samadahat — burned to death; sva — by himself (Sudakṣiṇa); kṛtaḥ — created; abhicāraḥ — meant for doing violence.
Translation:
Frustrated by the power of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s weapon, O King, the fiery creature produced by black magic turned his face away and retreated. Created for violence, the demon then returned to Vārāṇasī, where he surrounded the city and then burned Sudakṣiṇa and his priests to death, even though Sudakṣiṇa was his creator.
Purport:
Śrīla Prabhupāda comments as follows: “Having failed to set fire to Dvārakā, the fiery demon went back to Vārāṇasī, the kingdom of Kāśirāja. As a result of his return, all the priests who had helped instruct the black art of mantras, along with their employer, Sudakṣiṇa, were burned into ashes by the glaring effulgence of the fiery demon. According to the methods of black-art mantras instructed in the tantra, if the mantra fails to kill the enemy, then, because it must kill someone, it kills the original creator. Sudakṣiṇa was the originator, and the priests assisted him; therefore all of them were burned to ashes. This is the way of the demons: the demons create something to kill God, but by the same weapon the demons themselves are killed.”
HH BCS: Since it is the end of the chapter I will go to the summary of the chapter. I’ll just read the summary of the chapter and then we’ll briefly discuss. This chapter, 66 of the 10th Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam is entitled as the false Vasudeva. Paundraka, the false Vasudeva – imitation Vasudeva, imitation Krishna. Those days there were only one or two Paundrakas and Sisupalas but now a days there are so many such Paudrakas who claim that they are the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And here we can see what actually happens to such individuals, those who try to compete with the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
This chapter relates how Lord Kṛṣṇa went to Kāśī (present-day Benares) and killed Pauṇḍraka and Kāśirāja, and how the Lord’s Sudarśana disc defeated a demon, incinerated the city of Kāśī and killed Sudakṣiṇa.
While Lord Baladeva was visiting Vraja, King Pauṇḍraka of Karūṣa, encouraged by fools, announced that he was the real Vāsudeva.
HH BCS: (They were trying to present that Krishna is the fake Supreme Personality of Godhead and he (Paundraka) was the original supreme personality of godhead. And now a days we see this phenomena is very common. Some fools, they prop up somebody, saying that oh, you are the supreme personality of godhead and the greater fool, he accepts their worship and think that he is the supreme personality of godhead and we’ll see what is the result of such false and vain claim.)
Thus he challenged Lord Kṛṣṇa with the following message: “Since I alone am the true Personality of Godhead, You should give up Your false claim to this position, as well as my divine symbols, and take shelter of me. If You do not, then prepare for battle.”
When Ugrasena and the members of his royal assembly heard Pauṇḍraka’s foolish boast, they all laughed heartily. Śrī Kṛṣṇa then told Pauṇḍraka’s messenger to convey a message to his master: “O fool, I will force you to give up the so-called Sudarśana disc and the other divine symbols of Mine you have dared to assume. And when you lie down on the battlefield, you will become the shelter of dogs.”
Lord Kṛṣṇa then went to Kāśī. Pauṇḍraka, seeing the Lord preparing for battle, quickly came out of the city to confront Him with his army. His friend Kāśirāja followed him, leading the rear guard. Just as the fire of universal devastation destroys every living being in all directions, so Lord Kṛṣṇa annihilated the armies of Pauṇḍraka and Kāśirāja. Then, after chastising Pauṇḍraka, the Lord beheaded both him and Kāśirāja with His Sudarśana disc. Thereafter, He returned to Dvārakā. Because Pauṇḍraka had constantly meditated on the Supreme Lord, even dressing like Him, he gained liberation.
(HH BCS: So this is also another very important thing, that even if one remembers the Supreme Personality of Godhead as an enemy, vairi bhava, even that inimical meditation on the Supreme Personality of Godhead has its positive benefits. One becomes liberated but unfortunately he doesn’t get the positive liberation. There are two types of liberations, positive liberation and negative liberation. There are four positive liberations and one negative liberation. The negative liberation is sāyujya or merging into the bodily effulgence of the Lord. And four positive are: sārūpya, sāmīpya, sālokya and sārṣṭi. Sārūpya – having the same form as the Lord. After liberation in Vaikuntha one gets the same form as the Lord. Sāmīpya – gets an opportunity to stay close to the Lord. Sālokya – to be able to stay in the same planet as the Lord. And sārṣṭi – having the same opulence as the Lord. So these are the four types of positive liberations. Demons get liberated, but
they get the negative liberation of merging in the bodily effulgence or brahma sāyujya mukti. But the interesting thing is that in Srimad Bhagavatam it has been mentioned that a devotee – even if he’s offered these four positive liberations, he doesn’t want to accept it if it doesn’t allow the service to the Lord. Dīyamānaṁ na gṛhṇanti, vinā mat-sevanaṁ janāḥ.[SB 3.29.13]. My devotees even if they are offered these four types of liberations – sāmīpya, sārūpya, sālokya and sārṣṭi, doesn’t want to accept it because they have relished, they have got the taste of divine devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. )
When Kṛṣṇa beheaded Kāśirāja, the King’s head flew into his city, and when his queens, sons and other relatives saw it, they all began to lament. At that time a son of Kāśirāja’s named Sudakṣiṇa, wanting to avenge his father’s death, began worshiping Lord Śiva with the intention of destroying his father’s killer. Gratified by Sudakṣiṇa’s worship, Lord Śiva offered him a choice of benedictions, and Sudakṣiṇa asked for a means to kill the one who had slain his father. Lord Śiva advised him to worship the Dakṣiṇāgni fire with black magic rituals. This Sudakṣiṇa did, with the result that a fearsome demon with a body of flames appeared from the pit of the sacrificial fire. The demon rose up carrying a fiery trident and at once set off for Dvārakā.
The residents of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s capital became terrified as the demon approached the city, but Lord Kṛṣṇa assured them of protection and dispatched His Sudarśana cakra to oppose the magic creation of Lord Śiva. The Sudarśana overpowered the demon, who then returned to Vārāṇasī and burned Sudakṣiṇa to ashes, together with his priests. The Sudarśana disc, following the demon, entered Vārāṇasī and burned the entire city to the ground. Then the Lord’s disc returned to His side in Dvārakā.
Lecture:
Drama of the Divine - Interlaced with Poignant Lessons
Krishna’s pastimes are like a drama on a stage. That is the meaning of pastimes – a play. As if playing a drama along with the other actors and actresses. And a drama has two purposes. A good drama has two objectives, one is to entertain. A drama has to be entertaining. And it teaches an important lesson. Similarly, Krishna’s pastimes, on one hand entertains His devotees. Devotees become so enlivened just by hearing Krishna’s pastimes, what to speak of seeing Krishna’s pastimes. Just by hearing, they derive an inconceivable joy. And it teaches a very important lesson. And the lesson is: Surrender to Krishna and never go against him. That is the important lesson. Through all his pastimes, what we are seeing? In a drama you have a hero and a villain. And in a good drama what happens? The hero wins and the villain is defeated. So Krishna, the Supreme Hero, Nayaka, He always wins. As we know yatra yogesvarah krsno yatra partho dhanur-dharah [BG.18.78]. Krishna is always surrounded by His devotees. Wherever there is Krishna with His devotees, victory is bound to be there. No matter how inconceivable or how impossible it might appear.
Jarasanda – Krishna’s Special Recruiting Agent
Like we have seen with Jarasandha. Jarasandha attacked Dwaraka seventeen times. And he came with twenty six akshauhini soldiers. The battle of Kurushetra was fought with eighteen akshauhinis, eleven on Kaurava side and seven on Pandava side. Whereas Jarasandha came with twenty –six akshauhini soldiers. And Krishna, just Him and Balaram, He didn’t even take the soldiers. Actually His army was not there at all. After Kamsa was killed his army practically disappeared. In Mathura at that time, there was hardly any army left. And Krishna didn’t even want to take whatever was left. So he went out with Balaram. And just two of them wiped out twenty six akshauhini soldiers, not only once, but seventeen times. He wiped them out. Now in that respect a point comes up, each time Krishna annihilated all of
his army, but let Jarasanda go. The question arises, why didn’t Krishna get rid of Jarasanda? Why did He allow him to survive and create this problem for Him? The answer to that is, that actually Krishna came to annihilate the demons - vinasaya ca duskrtam [BG 4.8]. And Jarasanda was Krishna’s recruiting agent. Jarasanda would bring them to Krishna and Krishna would wipe them out. So he did that seventeen times. Then on the eighteenth time, Jarasanda came, as you know and Krishna left the battlefield. As if Krishna was running away out of fear.
That is how the fools think. They are so proud. Although being defeated seventeen times, well now he is thinking, “Well, this time Krishna is afraid of me.” And then Krishna climbed up to the Sudakhina Mountain with Balaram. And Jarasanda thought that He ran away out of fear because this time actually he attacked Krishna jointly with Kalayavana. Jointly meaning Kalayavana attacked from one side and Jarasanda attacked from another side. Krishna wiped out Kalayavana and his army. Then Jarasanda thought that Krishna ran away out of fear so he set the whole mountain on fire, thinking he will now burn Krishna. But Krishna jumped into the ocean, went to Dwaraka. He already dispatched everybody to Dwaraka beforehand. Mathura was empty and then Krishna came to Dwaraka and that’s how Dwaraka was set up as Krishna’s capital, not Krishna’s capital. Krishna didn’t become a king, Ugrasena’s capital.
Paundraka – The Real Fake Defeated
So here Paundraka is another such character. A demon, an antagonist, a villain. And we are seeing that these villains, they become so proud of their little material power and possession. And becoming intoxicated by their power, they try to challenge the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But what is the ultimate outcome? They are killed. Time and time again we are seeing that all the demons are so proud. Although they are seeing that Krishna is killing them one after another, still they think that they will be able to defeat Krishna.
Kesi – When Pride is Crushed by Krishna
That was also the case – another wonderful case in that respect is when Kesi went – Kesi is a good friend of Kamsa’s. And he saw Kamsa in a miserable state. He was looking emaciated. There were rings around his eyes. His hair is kind of disheveled. So Kesi asked, “Kamsa, what’s the matter with you? Why are you looking so depressed? Then Kamsa said, “Look, this Krishna is wiping out, killing one after another, all the demons. I suspect that He came to kill me therefore I am trying to kill Him. But I can’t. One after another I’m sending all these invincible demons whom the demigods can also not defeat, but this little boy is annihilating them with ease.
Then Kesi said, “Okay, don’t worry Kamsa. I’ll go and kill Him.” Kamsa said, “Look, all these demons, Putana, Trinavarta, Agha, Baka – they all have been killed.” Then Kesi’s response was, “Don’t worry Kamsa, they all have been defeated but you don’t know who Kesi is! Kesi is going to take care of your enemy.” And that’s how Kesi actually went. And what did Krishna do? (Kesi) assumed such a terrible form that the whole earth was shaking with the stepping of his hooves, assuming a huge, gigantic form. And all the cowherd boys became extremely worried, extremely afraid. They approached Krishna, “Krishna! Krishna! What to do? Look at this demon he is coming to kill us.” Krishna said, “Don’t worry. You just stand behind me.” And he took His chaddar, tightened it around His waist as a belt. And Krishna just stood there. And Kesi just wanted to swallow Him. Krishna just stretched His left hand. It went into Kesi’s mouth. And that hand of Krishna assumed such a huge form that Kesi’s throat was choked and he started to generate such heat that Kesi couldn’t stay in his body anymore. His soul left – his throat was choked, his upper part of the body was choked so the only way Kesi’s soul could
leave his body was from his behind, along with his stool. Passing stool, Kesi let his body. So this is how Krishna takes care of His enemies.
A Simple Formula – Just Surrender to Krishna
So what lesson do we learn? Any intelligent person will learn a very wonderful lesson: Don’t ever go against Krishna. Just surrender to Krishna. That’s the safest course of action. Just surrender to Krishna and never, ever oppose Him. And what is the result of that surrender to Krishna? Aham tvam sarva papebhyo, moksayisyami ma sucah [BG 18.66]. “I’ll deliver you from all your sinful reactions. Don’t worry. All you have to do is just surrender unto me. Just surrender unto me. Mam ekam saranam vraja [BG 18.66].
And surrender is never difficult. Surrender is easy, especially to a great personality. Therefore it is important to recognize how great Krishna is. That is one important lesson, one important thing we must learn, that Krishna is the greatest and who are we? We are most insignificant. So when we recognize how insignificant we are and how great Krishna is, then surrender becomes a natural consequence.
So that’s why the intelligent class of people will surrender. But the unfortunate ones will fail to do that and when they fail to do that, what actually happens? When they fail to do that, they invite their misfortune. And another reason for their misfortune is that although information about Krishna is so beautifully presented in Srimad Bhagavatam and Bhagavad Gita, they just don’t want to take advantage of these two scriptures.
If one submissively reads Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam, he will naturally feel like surrendering to Krishna. The unfortunate thing is that they don’t want to read these books. And they don’t want to listen to the good advice of their real well wishers, the devotees. Devotees are going out distributing this knowledge to all the people around the world. Some fortunate ones are accepting it but unfortunately many do not. They don’t have the time.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu sends Srila Prabhupada
And that is their misfortune. But anyway, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu sent Srila Prabhupada to create the good fortune for the world. And through his books, through his Bhaktivedanta purports, Srila Prabhupada is distributing this knowledge throughout the world. And thousands, millions of people are benefitting from that. That is the wonderful arrangement of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu! In every town and village all over the world, this Krishna Consciousness movement will spread all over. And people will benefit inconceivably from this wonderful arrangement of Srila Prabhupada!
Srila Prabhupada ki jai! All glories to His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada!
All glories to the assembled Devotees!
All glories to His Holiness Radhanath Swami Maharaja ki jai!
Gaura Premanande Hari Hari Bol!
Questions and Comments
We read in that concise summary of the chapter that Lord Shiva advised him to perform a yajna with black magic. So I was a little puzzled how Lord Shiva could advise like this? Because he knew who killed his
(Sudakhina’s) father so he knew Sudakshina is asking to kill whom, but still Lord Shiva advised dakshinagni yajna (black magic)?
HH BCS: Well, there are two ways of looking at it. As I said, a drama. (In a drama), if everything happened according to our own understanding, then there won’t be any excitement so there is some room for such excitement. And later on we will also see that Lord Shiva, the other aspect is that Lord Shiva is praying to Krishna. Please don’t give me this Iswara bhava, that I am the controller. I am the supreme. Even Lord Shiva gets bewildered like that at times due to Krishna’s yoga maya. And he stands up against Krishna in a battle, fighting with Him. Just like so many times Lord Shiva actually opposed Krishna and got defeated, still he didn’t come to his senses. Still he makes a mistake. And the thing is that he is bhakta vatsala also. He is very much indebted to his devotees. And those who worship him, he actually tries to favor them. Like Banasura. When Banasura was facing the difficulty fighting with Krishna and Balaram, he took shelter of Lord Shiva and Lord Shiva came to his rescue. And then he was defeated. Then he came back to his senses. So here also, so the point is that sometimes, even Lord Shiva becomes bewildered about Krishna’s real identity and opposes him. And eventually he comes back to his senses.
Maharaja, you said that people who oppose Krishna, they invite their misfortune. Apparently, devotees also attract a lot of misfortune. For instance, when the Juhu property was almost getting out of the hands of Srila Prabhupada, he was in distress. At that time it doesn’t appear that it is Prabhu’s “lila”. That distress is real at that moment. So how does one understand this from a Krishna conscious perspective?
HH BCS: Yes, so that’s not misfortune. These kind of happenings are actually prelude to good fortune. Difficulties appear, an example may be considered in this respect – just like the father, sometimes takes a child and throws him up in the air, the child gets into anxiety but then the father catches him mid-air. Apparently it seems that the child is in danger, but the father catches and then both the child and the father starts laughing. So similarly, Krishna apparently puts His devotees into some difficulties and then He saves him from those difficulties, just to show how He protects His devotees. If this didn’t happen, one cannot really understand how Krishna saves His devotees. So many times devotees are put into difficulties, look at the Pandavas – what kind of difficulties and distresses they were put into. But each time, Krishna came to their rescue. There were apparent difficulties, apparent misfortune, but eventually we see how wonderfully they received Krishna’s mercy and benediction. For example, Bhim was poisoned. He was dead with the poison but his body was thrown in the river with his hands and feet tied and he goes into the Nagaloka, Patalaloka, and the snakes start to bite him. Now see, he was given the snake poison, kaalkut, and what is the antidote for poison? Snake bite. The snake bite acted as the antidote and that effect of the poison was countered. And not only that, and then he was offered seven pots of nectar. He drank this nectar given by Vasuki, (that he snakes had) and he acquired the strength of ten thousand mad elephants, just as a little boy. That’s why I was saying, these apparent misfortunes are prelude to the real good fortune. If that didn’t happen, then that wouldn’t have happened.
Thank you all very much!
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!