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ARTICLE : Advent of Lord Krsna
Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead
by
His Divine Grace
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Advent of Lord Krsna
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 Bhumi, went to
see Lord Brahma to tell of her calamities due to the demoniac kings.
Bhumi assumed the shape of a cow and presented herself before Lord
Brahma 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 Brahma became much
aggrieved, and he at once started for the ocean of milk, where Lord
Visnu resides. Lord Brahma was accompanied by all the demigods
headed by Lord Siva, and Bhumi also followed. Arriving on the shore
of the milk coean, Lord Brahma began to pacify the Lord Visnu 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
Purusa-sukta. Generally, the demigods offer their obeisances unto
Visnu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, by chanting the Purusa-
sukta. It is understood herein that the predominating deity of every
planet can see the supreme lord of this universe, Brahma, whenever
there is some dusturbance in his planet. Lord Brahma can approach
the Supreme Lord Visnu, not by seeing Him directly, but by standing
on the shore of the ocean of milk. There is a planet within this
universe called Svetadvipa, and on that planer there is an ocean
of milk. It is undrstood from various Vedic literatures that just
as there is the ocean of salt water within this planet, there are
various kinds of oceans in other planets. Somewhere there is an
ocean of milk, somewhere there is an ocean of oil, and somewhere
there is an ocean of liquor and many other types of oceans.
Purusa-sukta is the standard prayer which the demigods recite
to appease the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Ksirodakasayi Visnu.
Because He is lying on the ocean of milk, He is called
Ksirodakasayi Visnu. He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
through whom all the incarnations within this universe appear.
After all the demigods offered the Purusa-sukta prayer to the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, they apparently heard no response.
Then Lord Brhma personally sat in meditation, and there was a message
transmission from Lord Visnu to Brahma. Brahma then broadcast the
message to the demigods. That is the system of receiving Vedic
knowledge. The Vedic knowledge is received first by Brahma from
the Supreme Personality of Godhead, through the medium of the heart.
As stated in the beginning of Srimad Bhagavatam, tene brahma hrda:
the transcendental knowledge of the Vedas was transmitted to Lord
Brahma through the heart. Here also in the same way, only Brahma
could understand the message transmmitted by Lord Visnu, and he
broadcast it to the demigods for their immediate action. The message
was: the Supreme Personality of Godhead will appear in the earth
very soon along with His supreme powerful potencies, and as long as
He remains 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 will also appear
in due course of time.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself, Krsna, personally
appeared as the son of Vasudeva. Before He apppeared, all the
demigods, along with their wives, appeared in different pious families
in the world just to assist the Lord in executing His mission. The
exact word used here is tatpriyartham, 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
Visnu (maya) with whom all the conditioned souls are enamoured,
would also appear just to execute the purpose of the Supreme Lord.
After instructing and pacifying all the demigods, as well as Bhumi,
with sweet words, Lord Brahma, the father of all prajapatis, or
progenitors of universal population, departed for his own abode, the
highest material planet, called Brahmaloka.
The leader of the Yadu dynasty, King Surasena, was ruling over the
country known as Mathura (the district of Mathura) as well as the
district known as Surasena. On account of the rule of King Surasena,
Mathura became the capital city of all the kings of the Yadus.
Mathura was also made the capital city of all the kings of the
Yadu dynasty because the Yadus were a very pious family and knew
that Mathura is the place where Lord Sri Krsna lives eternally,
just as He also lives in Dvaraka.
Once upon a time, Vasudeva, the son of Surasena, just after
marrying Devaki, was going home on his chariot with his newly
wedded wife, The father of Devaki, known as Devaka, had contributed
a sufficient dowry because he was 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, Devaki, 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 fullly decorated with golden garlands. 15000 decorated
horses, and 1800 chariots. He also arranged for two hundred
beautiful girls to follow his daughter. The ksatriya system of
marriage, still current in India, dictates that when a ksatriya is
married, a few dozen of the bride's young girl friends (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 Krsna 5000 years ago. So
Vasudeva brought home another two hundred beautiful girls along
with his wife.
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
conshells, 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 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 demonic of all the Bhoja dynasty kings.
Immediately after hearing the prophecy from the sky, he caught
hold of Devaki'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, shmeless 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 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 bagan to die. Suppose you are twenty five years old;
that means you have already died twenty five years. Every
moment,
every second, your 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 as 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 body changes 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. Similarily, 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
constructuon of the body. Unless we have a particular type of
body, we cannot enjoy or suffer according to our mental
proclivities inherited from the pervious 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 the 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
movig water makes the moon also appear to be moving, but
actually the moon is not moving. Similarly, by mental concoction,
the living entity attains diffenrent kinds of bodies, although
actually he has no connection with such bodies. But on account of
illusion,being enchanted by the influence of maya, the living
being 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 of 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 requesed 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 is this world and in the next
when one is before Yamaraja (the lord of punishment after death).
Vasudeva appealed to Kamsa on behalf of Devaki, atating that she
was his his younger sister, He also appealed at an auspicious
moment, at the time of marriage. A younger sister or brother
are supposed to be protected as one's children. "The position
is overall so delicate." Vasudeva reasoned, "that if you kill
her, it will go against your high reputation."
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 always 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 a
are demoniac or atheistic by nature can hardly assimmilate
any good instruction, however authorized it may be. That is
the difference between demigod and demon. Those who can accept
food 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 Devaki,
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 Devaki, 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 Devaki 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 Devaki".
There is no certainty how a living entity contacts a certain
type of body, just as there is no certainty how the 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 and fearful in the matter of
executing his duties, but it is stil very difficult for him
to know what type of body he is going to get in the next life.
MaMaharaja Bharata was very faithfully executing the duties of
of self-realization, but by chance he contacted temporary
affection for a deer, and he had to accept his next life
in the body of a deer.
