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KB 1970-2-4 / Deliverance of the Demon Bhaumasura
4 / Deliverance of the Demon Bhaumasura
The story of Bhaumasura -- how he kidnapped and made captive
16,000 princesses by collecting them from the palaces
of various kings and how he was killed by Krsna, the Supreme
Lord of wonderful character -- is all described by Sukadeva
Gosvami to King Pariksit in the Srimad-Bhagavatam. Generally,
the demons are always against the demigods. This demon,
Bhaumasura, having become very powerful, took by force the
umbrella from the throne of the demigod Varuna. He also took
the earrings of Aditi, the mother of the demigods. He conquered
a portion of heavenly Mount Meru and occupied the portion
which was known as Mani-parvata. The king of
the heavenly planets, Indra, therefore came to Dvaraka to
complain about Bhaumasura before Lord Krsna.
Hearing this complaint by Indra, the King of heaven, Lord Krsna,
accompanied by His wife Satyabhama, immediately started for
the abode of Bhaumasura. Both of them rode on the back of
Garuda, who flew them to Pragjyotisapura, the
capital city of Bhaumasura. It was
not a very easy task to enter into the city of Pragjyotisapura,
because it was very well fortified. First of all, there were
four formidable forts guarding the four directions of the city,
and it was well-protected on all sides by formidable
military strength. The next boundary was a water canal all
around the city, and in addition the whole city was surrounded
with electric wires. The next fortification was of anila, a
gaseous substance. After this, there was a network of barbed
wiring constructed by a demon of the name Mura. It appeared
that the city was well-protected even in terms of today's
scientific advancements.
When Krsna arrived, He broke all the forts to pieces by
the strokes of His club, and the military strength
scattered here and there by the constant onslaught of the
arrows of Krsna. With His celebrated Sudarsana-cakra He
counteracted the electrified boundary; the channels
of water and the gaseous boundary were made null and void, and
He cut to pieces the electrified network fabricated by the
demon Mura. By the vibration of His conchshell, He not only
broke the hearts of great fighters, but also the
fighting machines which were there. Similarly, the
walls around the city were broken by His invincible club.
The vibration of His conchshell sounded like the
thunderbolt at the time of the dissolution of the whole cosmic
situation. The demon Mura heard the vibration of the
conchshell, awakened from his sleep, and personally came out to
see what had happened. He had five heads and had long been
living within the water. The Mura demon was as brilliant as the
sun at the time of the dissolution of the cosmic manifestation,
and his temper was like blazing fire. The effulgence of his
body was so dazzling that it was difficult to see him with open
eyes. When he came out, he first of all took out his trident
and began to rush the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The
onslaught of the demon Mura was like a big snake
attacking Garuda. His angry mood was very severe, and he
appeared ready to devour the three worlds. First of all he
attacked the carrier of Krsna, Garuda, by whirling his trident
and he began to vibrate sounds through his five faces
like the roaring of a lion. The roaring
produced by the vibration of his mouths spread all over the
atmosphere until it extended not only all over the world, but
also into outer space, up and down and out to the ten
directions. In this way, the sound was rumbling throughout the
whole universe.
Lord Krsna saw that the trident of the Mura demon was gradually
rushing toward His carrier, Garuda. Immediately, by a trick of
His hand, He took two arrows and threw them toward the trident,
cutting it to pieces. Simultaneously, using many arrows, He
pierced the mouths of the demon Mura. When he saw
himself outmaneuvered by the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
the Mura demon immediately began to strike Him in great
anger with his club. But Lord Krsna, with His own club, broke
the club of Mura to pieces before it could reach Him. The demon,
bereft of his weapon, decided to attack Krsna with his strong
arms, but by the aid of His Sudarsana-cakra, Krsna
immediately separated the demon's five heads from his body. The
demon then fell into the water, just as the peak of a mountain
falls into the ocean after being struck by the thunderbolt of
Indra.
This demon Mura had seven sons, named Tamra, Antariksa, Sravana,
Vibhavasu, Vasu, Nabhasvan and Aruna. All of them became
puffed up and vengeful because of the death of their father,
and in order to retaliate, they prepared in great anger to
fight with Krsna. They equipped themselves with necessary
weapons and situated Pitha, another demon, to act as commander
in the battle. By the order of Bhaumasura, all of them
combinedly attacked Krsna.
When they came before Lord Krsna, they began to shower Him with
many kinds of weapons, like swords, clubs, lances, arrows and
tridents. But they did not know that the strength of the
Supreme Personality of Godhead is unlimited and invincible.
Krsna, with His arrows, cut all the weapons of the men of
Bhaumasura into pieces, like grains. Krsna then threw His
weapons, and Bhaumasura's commander-in-chief, Pitha, along with
his assistants, fell down, their military dress cut off and
their heads, legs, arms and thighs severed. All of them were
sent to the superintendent of death, Yamaraja.
Bhaumasura was also known as Narakasura, for he happened
to be the son of the earth personified. When he saw that all
his soldiers, commanders and fighters were killed on the
battlefield by the strokes of the weapons of the Personality of
Godhead, he became exceedingly angry at the Lord. He then came
out of the city with a great number of elephants who had all
been born and brought up on the seashore. All of them were
highly intoxicated. When they came out, they saw that Lord
Krsna and His wife were beautifully situated high in outer
space just like a blackish cloud about the sun, glittering with
the light of electricity. The demon Bhaumasura immediately
released a weapon called Sataghni, by which he could kill
hundreds of warriors with one stroke, and simultaneously all
his assistants also threw their respective weapons at
the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Lord Krsna began to
counteract all these weapons by releasing His feathered arrows.
The result of this fight was that all the soldiers and
commanders of Bhaumasura fell to the ground, their arms, legs
and heads separated from their trunks, and all their horses and
elephants also fell with them. In this way, all the weapons
released by Bhaumasura were cut to pieces by the reaction of
the Lord's arrows.
The Lord was fighting on the back of Garuda, and Garuda was
also helping the Lord by striking the horses and the elephants
with his wings and scratching their heads with his nails and
sharpened beak. The elephants were feeling much pain by
Garuda's attack on them, and they were all dispersing from the
battlefield. Bhaumasura alone remained on the battlefield, and
he engaged himself in fighting with Krsna. He saw that Krsna's
carrier, Garuda, was causing great disturbance to his soldiers
and elephants, and in great anger he struck Garuda with all his
strength, which defied the strength of the thunderbolt.
Fortunately, Garuda was not an ordinary bird, and he felt the
strokes given by Bhaumasura just as a great elephant feels the
impact of a garland of flowers.
Bhaumasura thus came to see that none of his tricks would act
upon Krsna, and he became aware that all his attempts to kill
Krsna would be frustrated. Yet he attempted for the last time,
taking a trident in his hand to strike Him. Krsna was so
dexterous that before Bhaumasura could touch his trident, his
head was cut off by the sharp Sudarsana-cakra. His head,
illuminated by earrings and helmets, fell down on the
battlefield. On the occasion of Bhaumasura's being killed by
Lord Krsna, all the demon's relatives began to scream in
disappointment, and the saintly persons began to glorify
the chivalrous activities of the Lord. Taking this opportunity,
the denizens of the heavenly planets began to shower flowers
on the Lord.
At this time, the earth personified appeared before Lord Krsna
and greeted Him with a garland of vaijayanti jewels. She
also returned the dazzling earrings of Aditi, bedecked with
jewels and gold. She also returned the umbrella of Varuna,
along with another valuable jewel, which she presented to Krsna.
After this, the earth personified began to offer her prayers
to Krsna, the Supreme Personality and master of the world, who
is always worshiped by very exalted demigods. She fell down in
obeisances and, in great devotional ecstasy, began to speak.
"Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto the Lord, who is
always present with four kinds of symbols, namely His
conchshell, disc, lotus and club, and who is the Lord of all
demigods. Please accept my respectful obeisances unto You. My
dear Lord, You are the Supersoul, and in order to satisfy the
aspiration of Your devotees, You descend on the earth in Your
various transcendental incarnations, which are just appropriate
to the devotees' worshipful desire. Kindly accept my respectful
obeisances.
"My dear Lord, the lotus flower is grown out of Your navel,
and You are always decorated with a garland of lotus flowers.
Your eyes are always spread like the petals of the lotus flower,
and therefore they are all-pleasing to the eyes of others.
Your lotus feet are so soft and delicate that they are always
worshiped by Your unalloyed devotees, and they
pacify their lotus-like hearts. I therefore repeatedly
offer my respectful obeisances unto You.
"You possess all kinds of religions, fame, property, knowledge
and renunciation; You are the shelter of all five opulences.
Although You are all-pervading, You have nevertheless appeared
as the son of Vasudeva. Please, therefore, accept my respectful
obeisances. You are the original Supreme Personality of Godhead
and the supreme cause of all causes. Only Your Lordship is the
reservoir of all knowledge. Let me offer my respectful
obeisances unto You. Personally You are unborn; still, You are
the father of the whole cosmic manifestation. You are the
reservoir and shelter of all kinds of energies. The manifestive
appearance of this world is caused by You, and You are both the
cause and effect of this cosmic manifestation. Please therefore
accept my respectful obeisances.
"My dear Lord, as for the three gods -- Brahma, Visnu and Siva -
- they are also not independent of You. When there is
necessity of creating this cosmic manifestation, You create
Your passionate appearance of Brahma, and when You want to
maintain this cosmic manifestation, You expand Yourself as Lord
Visnu, the reservoir of all goodness. Similarly, You appear as
Lord Siva, master of the modes of ignorance, and thus dissolve
the whole creation. Your transcendental position is
always maintained, in spite of creating these three
modes of material nature. You are never entangled like the
ordinary living entities with these modes of material
nature.
"Actually, my Lord, You are the material nature, You are the
father of the universe, and You are the eternal time that has
caused the combination of nature and the
material creator. Still, You are always
transcendental to all these material activities. My dear Lord,
O Supreme Personality of Godhead, I know that earth, water,
fire, air, sky, the five sense objects, mind, the senses and
their deities, egotism, as well as the total material energy --
everything animate and inanimate in this phenomenal
world is resting upon You. Since everything is produced of You,
nothing can be separated from You. Yet, since You are
transcendentally situated, neither can anything material be
identified with Your personality. Everything is, therefore,
simultaneously one and different from You, and the
philosophers who try to separate everything from You are
certainly mistaken in their viewpoint.
"My dear Lord, may I inform You that this boy, whose name is
Bhagadatta, is the son of my son, Bhaumasura. He has been very
much affected by the ghastly situation created by the death of
his father and has become very much confused, being afraid of
the present situation. I have therefore brought him to
surrender unto Your lotus feet. I request Your Lordship to give
shelter to this boy and bless him with Your lotus feet. I am
bringing him to You so that he may become relieved from the
reactions of all the sinful activities of his father."
When Lord Krsna heard the prayers of mother earth, He
immediately assured her of immunity from all fearful situations.
He said to Bhagadatta, "Don't be afraid." Then He entered the
palace of Bhaumasura, which was equipped with all kinds of
opulences. In the palace of Bhaumasura Lord Krsna saw 16,100
young princesses, who had been kidnapped and held captive there.
When the princesses saw the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
Krsna, enter the palace, they immediately became captivated by
the beauty of the Lord and prayed for His causeless mercy.
Within their minds, they decided to accept Lord Krsna as their
husband without any hesitation. Each one of them began to pray
to providence that Krsna might become her husband. Sincerely
and seriously, they offered their hearts to the lotus feet of
Krsna with an unalloyed devotional attitude. As the Supersoul
in everyone's heart, Krsna could understand their
uncontaminated desire, and He agreed to accept them as His
wives. Thus, He arranged for suitable dresses and ornaments
for them, and each of them, seated on a palanquin, was
dispatched to Dvaraka City. Krsna also collected unlimited
wealth from the palace, along with chariots, horses,
jewels and treasure. He took from the palace fifty white
elephants, each with four tusks, and all of them were
dispatched to Dvaraka.
After this incident, Lord Krsna and Satyabhama entered
Amaravati, the capital city of the heavenly planet, and they
immediately entered the palace of King Indra and his wife,
Sacidevi, who welcomed them. Krsna then presented Indra with
the earrings of Aditi.
When Krsna and Satyabhama were returning from the capital city
of Indra, Satyabhama remembered Krsna's promise to give her the
plant of the parijata flower. Taking the opportunity of having
come to the heavenly kingdom, she plucked a parijata plant and
kept it on the back of Garuda. Once Narada took a
parijata flower and presented it to Krsna's senior wife, Sri
Rukminidevi. On account of this, Satyabhama developed
an inferiority complex; she also wanted a flower from
Krsna. Krsna could understand the competitive womanly nature of
His co-wives, and He smiled. He immediately asked
Satyabhama, "Why are you asking for only one flower? I would
like to give you a whole tree of parijata flowers."
Actually, Krsna had purposely taken His wife Satyabhama with
Him so she could collect the parijata with her own hand.
But the denizens of the heavenly planet, including Indra,
became very irritated. Without their permission, Satyabhama had
plucked a parijata plant, which is not to be found on the
earth planet. Indra, along with other demigods, offered
opposition to Krsna and Satyabhama for taking away the plant,
but in order to please His favorite wife Satyabhama, Krsna
became determined and adamant, so there was a fight between the
demigods and Krsna. As usual, Krsna came out victorious, and He
triumphantly brought the parijata plant chosen by His wife to
this earth planet, to Dvaraka. After this, the plant was
installed in the palace garden of Satyabhama. On account of
this extraordinary tree, the garden house of Satyabhama became
extraordinarily beautiful. As the parijata plant came down to
the earthly planet, the fragrance of the flower also came down,
and the celestial swans also migrated to this earth in search
of its fragrance and honey.
King Indra's behavior toward Krsna was not very much
appreciated by great sages like Sukadeva Gosvami. Out of His
causeless mercy, Krsna had gone to the heavenly kingdom,
Amaravati, to present King Indra with his mother's earrings,
which had been lost to Bhaumasura, and Indra had been very glad
to receive them. But when a flower plant from the heavenly
kingdom was taken by Krsna, Indra offered to fight with Him.
This was self-interest on the part of Indra. He offered his
prayer, tipping down his head to the lotus feet of Krsna, but
as soon as his purpose was served, he became a different
creature. That is the way of the dealings of materialistic men.
Materialistic men are always interested in their own profit.
For this purpose they can offer any kind of respect to anyone,
but when their personal interest is over, they are no longer
friends. This selfish nature is not only found among the
richer class of men on this planet, but is present even in
personalities like Indra and other demigods. Too much wealth
makes a man selfish. A selfish man is not prepared to take to
Krsna consciousness and is condemned by great devotees like
Sukadeva Gosvami. In other words, possession of too many
worldly riches is a disqualification for advancement in Krsna
consciousness.
After defeating Indra, Krsna arranged to marry the 16,100 girls
brought from the custody of Bhaumasura. By expanding Himself
in 16,100 forms, He simultaneously married them all in
different palaces in one auspicious moment. He thus
established the truth that Krsna and no one else is the Supreme
Personality of Godhead. There is nothing impossible, for Krsna
is the Supreme Personality of Godhead; He is all-powerful,
omnipresent and imperishable, and as such there is nothing
wonderful in this pastime. All the palaces of the more than 16,
000 queens of Krsna were full with suitable gardens,
furniture and other paraphernalia, of which there is no
parallel in this world. There is no exaggeration in this story
from Srimad-Bhagavatam. The queens of Krsna were all expansions
of the goddess of fortune, Laksmiji. Krsna used to live with
them in different palaces, and He treated them in exactly the
same way as an ordinary man treats his wife.
We should always remember that the Supreme Personality of
Godhead Krsna was playing exactly like a human being;
although He showed His extraordinary opulences by
simultaneously marrying more than sixteen thousand wives in
more than sixteen thousand palaces, He behaved with them just
like an ordinary man, and He strictly followed the relationship
between husband and wife required in ordinary homes. Therefore,
it is very difficult to understand the characteristics of the
Supreme Brahman, the Personality of Godhead. Even demigods like
Brahma and others are unable to probe into the transcendental
pastimes of the Lord. The wives of Krsna were so fortunate that
they got the Supreme Personality of Godhead as their husband,
although their husband's personality was unknown even to the
demigods like Brahma.
In their dealings as husband and wife, Krsna and His queens
would smile, talk, joke, embrace, and so on, and their conjugal
relationship ever increasingly developed. In this way, both
Krsna and the queens enjoyed transcendental happiness in their
household life. Although each and every queen had thousands of
maidservants engaged for her service, the queens were all
personally attentive in serving Krsna. Each one of them used to
receive Krsna personally when He entered the palace. They
engaged in getting Him seated on a nice couch, presenting Him
with all kinds of worshipable paraphernalia, washing His lotus
feet with Ganges water, offering Him betel nuts and massaging
His legs. In this way, they were giving Him relief from the
fatigue of being away from home. They saw to
fanning Him nicely, offering Him fragrant essential floral oil,
decorating Him with flower garlands, dressing His hair, asking
Him to lie down to take rest, bathing Him personally and
feeding Him nice palatable dishes. All these things were done
by each queen herself. They did not wait for the
maidservants. In other words, Krsna and His different queens
displayed on this earth an ideal household life.
Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Second Volume,
Fourth Chapter, of Krsna, "Deliverance of the Demon
Bhaumasura."
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KB 59: The Deliverance of the Demon Bhaumasura
CHAPTER FIFTY–NINE
The Deliverance of the Demon Bhaumasura
The story of Bhaumasura -- how he kidnapped and made captive
sixteen thousand princesses by collecting them from the palaces
of various kings and how he was killed by Krsna, the Supreme
Lord of wonderful character -- is all described by Sukadeva
Gosvami to King Pariksit in Srimad-Bhagavatam. Generally,
the demons are always against the demigods. This demon,
Bhaumasura, having become very powerful, took by force the
umbrella from the throne of the demigod Varuna. He also took
the earrings of Aditi, the mother of the demigods. He conquered
the portion of heavenly Mount Meru
known as Mani-parvata and occupied it. The King of
the heavenly planets, Indra, therefore came to Dvaraka to
complain about Bhaumasura before Lord Krsna.
Hearing this complaint by Indra, the King of heaven, Lord Krsna,
accompanied by His wife Satyabhama, immediately started for
the abode of Bhaumasura. The two of them rode on the back of
Garuda, who flew them to Pragjyotisa-pura, Bhaumasura's
capital city. To enter the city of Pragjyotisa-pura was
not a very easy task,
because it was very well fortified. First of all, there were
four strongholds guarding the four directions of the city,
which was well protected on all sides by formidable
military strength. The next boundary was a water canal all
around the city, and in addition the whole city was surrounded
by electric wires. The next fortification was of anila, a
gaseous substance. After this, there was a network of barbed
wire constructed by a demon of the name Mura. The
city appeared well protected even in terms of today's
scientific advancements.
When Krsna arrived, He broke all the strongholds to pieces by
the strokes of His club and scattered the military strength
here and there by the constant onslaught of His
arrows. With His celebrated Sudarsana cakra He
counteracted the electrified boundary, annihilated the canals
of water and the gaseous boundary, and
cut to pieces the electrified network fabricated by the
demon Mura. By the vibration of His conchshell, He
broke the hearts of the great fighters and also broke the
fighting machines that were there. Similarly, He broke the
walls around the city with His invincible club.
The vibration of Lord Krsna's conchshell sounded like a
thunderbolt at the time of the dissolution of the whole cosmic
manifestation. The demon Mura heard the vibration of the
conchshell, awakened from his sleep and came out to
see what had happened. He had five heads and had long been
living within the water. The Mura demon was as brilliant as the
sun at the time of the dissolution of the cosmos,
and his temper was like blazing fire. The effulgence of his
body was so dazzling that he was difficult to see with open
eyes. When he came out, he first took out his trident
and rushed the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The
demon Mura in his onslaught was like a big snake
attacking Garuda. His angry mood was very severe, and he
appeared ready to devour the three worlds. First of all he
attacked the carrier of Krsna, Garuda, by whirling
and then throwing his trident, and through his five mouths
he vibrated sounds like the roaring of a lion. These roaring
vibrations spread all over the
atmosphere until they extended all over the world and
into outer space, up and down and out to the ten
directions, rumbling throughout the
entire universe.
Lord Krsna saw that the trident of the Mura demon was
rushing toward His carrier, Garuda. Immediately, by a trick of
His hand, He took two arrows and threw them toward the trident,
cutting it to pieces. Simultaneously, using many arrows, He
pierced the mouths of the demon Mura. When the Mura demon saw
himself outmaneuvered by the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
he immediately began to strike the Lord in great
anger with his club. But Lord Krsna, with His own club, broke
the club of Mura to pieces before it could reach Him. The demon,
bereft of his weapon, decided to attack Krsna with his strong
arms, but Krsna, with the aid of His Sudarsana cakra,
immediately separated the demon's five heads from his body. The
demon then fell into the water, just as the peak of a mountain
falls into the ocean after being struck by the thunderbolt of
Indra.
This demon Mura had seven sons, named Tamra, Antariksa, Sravana,
Vibhavasu, Vasu, Nabhasvan and Aruna. All of them became
puffed up and vengeful because of the death of their father,
and to retaliate they prepared in great anger to
fight with Krsna. They equipped themselves with the necessary
weapons and situated Pitha, another demon, to act as commander
in the battle. By the order of Bhaumasura, all of them
combinedly attacked Krsna.
When they came before Lord Krsna, they began to shower Him with
many kinds of weapons, like swords, clubs, lances, arrows and
tridents. But they did not know that the strength of the
Supreme Personality of Godhead is unlimited and invincible.
Krsna, with His arrows, cut all the weapons of the men of
Bhaumasura into pieces, like grains. Krsna then threw His
weapons, and Bhaumasura's commander in chief, Pitha, along with
his assistants, fell down, their military dress cut off and
their heads, legs, arms and thighs severed. All of them were
sent to the superintendent of death, Yamaraja.
Bhaumasura, who was also known as Narakasura, happened
to be the son of the earth personified. When he saw that all
his soldiers, commanders and fighters had been killed on the
battlefield by the strokes of the weapons of the Personality of
Godhead, he became exceedingly angry at the Lord. He then came
out of the city with a great number of elephants who had all
been born and brought up on the seashore. All of them were
highly intoxicated. When they came out, they saw that Lord
Krsna and His wife were beautifully situated high in outer
space just like a blackish cloud about the sun, glittering with
the light of electricity. The demon Bhaumasura immediately
released a weapon called Sataghni, by which he could kill
hundreds of warriors with one stroke, and all
his assistants simultaneously threw their respective weapons at
the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Lord Krsna counteracted
all these weapons by releasing His feathered arrows.
The result of this fight was that all the soldiers and
commanders of Bhaumasura fell to the ground, their arms, legs
and heads separated from their trunks, and all their horses and
elephants also fell with them. In this way, all the weapons
released by Bhaumasura were cut to pieces by the
Lord's arrows.
The Lord was fighting on the back of Garuda, who was
helping Him by striking the horses and elephants
with his wings and scratching their heads with his nails and
sharp beak. The elephants, feeling much pain from
Garuda's attack on them, all dispersed from the
battlefield. Bhaumasura alone remained on the battlefield, and
he engaged himself in fighting with Krsna. He saw that Krsna's
carrier, Garuda, had caused great disturbance to his soldiers
and elephants, and in great anger he struck Garuda with all his
strength, which defied the strength of a thunderbolt.
Fortunately, Garuda was not an ordinary bird, and he felt the
strokes given by Bhaumasura just as a great elephant feels the
impact of a garland of flowers.
Bhaumasura thus came to see that none of his tricks would act
upon Krsna, and he became aware that all his attempts to kill
Krsna would be frustrated. Yet he tried for the last time,
taking a trident in his hand to strike Him. Krsna was so
dexterous that before Bhaumasura could throw his trident, his
head was cut off by the sharp Sudarsana cakra. His head,
illuminated by earrings and a helmet, fell down on the
battlefield. On the occasion of Bhaumasura's being killed by
Lord Krsna, all the demon's relatives screamed in
disappointment, and the saintly persons glorified
the chivalrous activities of the Lord. Taking this opportunity,
the denizens of the heavenly planets showered flowers
on the Lord.
At this time, the earth personified appeared before Lord Krsna
and greeted Him with a Vaijayanti flower garland. She
then returned the dazzling earrings of Aditi, bedecked with
jewels and gold. She also returned the umbrella of Varuna,
along with a valuable jewel, which she presented to Krsna.
After this, the earth personified offered her prayers
to Krsna, the Supreme Personality and master of the world, who
is always worshiped by exalted demigods. She fell down in
obeisances and, in great devotional ecstasy, began to speak.
"Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto the Lord, who is
always present with four symbols, namely His
conchshell, disc, lotus and club, and who is the Lord of all
demigods. Please accept my respectful obeisances unto You. My
dear Lord, You are the Supersoul, and in order to satisfy the
aspirations of Your devotees, You descend to the earth in Your
various transcendental incarnations, which are just appropriate
to the devotees' worshipful desire. Kindly accept my respectful
obeisances.
"My dear Lord, the lotus flower grows out of Your navel,
and You are always decorated with a garland of lotus flowers.
Your eyes are always spread like the petals of the lotus flower,
and therefore they are all-pleasing to the eyes of others.
Your soft and delicate lotus feet are always
worshiped by Your unalloyed devotees, and those lotus feet
pacify their lotuslike hearts. I therefore repeatedly
offer my respectful obeisances unto You.
"You possess all beauty, strength, fame, property, knowledge
and renunciation; You are the shelter of all six opulences.
Although You are all-pervading, You have appeared
as the son of Vasudeva. Please, therefore, accept my respectful
obeisances. You are the original Supreme Personality of Godhead
and the supreme cause of all causes. Only Your Lordship is the
reservoir of all knowledge. Let me offer my respectful
obeisances unto You. Personally You are unborn; still, You are
the father of the whole cosmic manifestation. You are the
reservoir and shelter of all kinds of energies. The manifested
appearance of this world is caused by You, and You are both the
cause and effect of this cosmic manifestation. Please therefore
accept my respectful obeisances.
"My dear Lord, as for the three gods Brahma, Visnu and Siva,
they are not independent of You. When there is a
necessity of creating this cosmic manifestation, You create
Your passionate appearance of Brahma, and when You want to
maintain this cosmic manifestation You expand Yourself as Lord
Visnu, the reservoir of all goodness. Similarly, You appear as
Lord Siva, master of the mode of ignorance, and thus dissolve
the whole creation. You always maintain Your
transcendental position, in spite of creating these three
modes of material nature. You are never entangled in these
modes of nature, as the ordinary living entities
are.
"Actually, my Lord, You are the material nature, You are the
father of the universe, and You are eternal time, which has
caused the combination of the elements of nature and the
manifestation of the material creation. Still, You are always
transcendental to all these material activities. My dear Lord,
O Supreme Personality of Godhead, I know that earth, water,
fire, air, sky, the five sense objects, mind, the senses and
their deities, egotism and the total material energy --
all things animate and inanimate in this phenomenal
world -- rests upon You. Since everything is produced of You,
nothing can be separate from You. Yet since You are
transcendentally situated, nothing material can be
identified with Your personality. Everything is therefore
simultaneously one with You and different from You, and the
philosophers who try to separate everything from You are
certainly mistaken in their viewpoint.
"My dear Lord, may I inform You that this boy, whose name is
Bhagadatta, is the son of my son, Bhaumasura. He has been very
much affected by the ghastly situation created by the death of
his father and has become very much confused and afraid
. I have therefore brought him to
surrender unto Your lotus feet. I request Your Lordship to give
shelter to this boy and bless him with Your lotus feet. I bring
him to You so that he may be relieved of the
reactions of all the sinful activities of his father."
After Lord Krsna had heard the prayers of Mother Earth, He
immediately assured her of immunity from all fearful situations.
He said to Bhagadatta, "Don't be afraid." Then He entered the
palace of Bhaumasura, which was equipped with all kinds of
opulences. In the palace of Bhaumasura, Lord Krsna saw 16,100
young princesses, who had been kidnapped and held captive there.
When the princesses saw the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
Krsna, enter the palace, they immediately became captivated by
the beauty of the Lord and prayed for His causeless mercy.
Within their minds, they decided to accept Lord Krsna as their
husband without hesitation. Each one of them prayed
to Providence that Krsna might become her husband. Sincerely
and seriously, they offered their hearts to the lotus feet of
Krsna with an unalloyed devotional attitude. As the Supersoul
in everyone's heart, Krsna could understand their
uncontaminated desire, and He agreed to accept them as His
wives. Thus He arranged for suitable garments and ornaments
for them, and each of them, seated on a palanquin, was
dispatched to Dvaraka City. Krsna also collected unlimited
wealth from the palace, a treasure of chariots, horses,
jewels and so on. He took from the palace fifty white
elephants, each with four tusks, and all of them were
dispatched to Dvaraka.
After this incident, Lord Krsna and Satyabhama entered
Amaravati, the capital city of the heavenly planets, and they
immediately entered the palace of King Indra and his wife,
Sacidevi, who welcomed them. Krsna then presented Indra with
the earrings of Aditi.
When Krsna and Satyabhama were returning from the capital city
of Indra, Satyabhama remembered Krsna's promise to give her a
parijata tree. Taking the opportunity of having
come to the heavenly kingdom, she uprooted a parijata tree and
placed it on the back of Garuda. Once Narada had taken a
parijata flower and presented it to Krsna's senior wife, Sri
Rukmini-devi. On account of this, Satyabhama had developed
an inferiority complex; she also wanted such a flower from
Krsna. Krsna could understand the competitive womanly nature of
His co-wives, and He had smiled. He had immediately asked
Satyabhama, "Why are you asking for only one flower? I would
like to give you a whole tree of parijata flowers."
Actually, Krsna had purposely taken His wife Satyabhama with
Him so that she could collect the parijata with her own hand.
But the denizens of the heavenly planets, including Indra,
were very irritated. Without their permission, Satyabhama had
uprooted a parijata tree, which is not to be found on the
earth planet. Indra, along with other demigods, offered
opposition to Krsna and Satyabhama for taking away the tree,
but in order to please His favorite wife Satyabhama, Krsna
became determined and adamant, so there was a fight between the
demigods and Krsna. As usual, Krsna came out victorious, and He
triumphantly brought the parijata tree chosen by His wife to
this earth planet, to Dvaraka. After this, the tree was
installed in the palace garden of Satyabhama. On account of
this extraordinary tree, the garden house of Satyabhama became
extraordinarily beautiful. As the parijata tree came down to
the earthly planet, the fragrance of its flowers also came down,
and the celestial drones migrated to this earth in search
of their fragrance and honey.
King Indra's behavior toward Krsna was not very much
appreciated by great sages like Sukadeva Gosvami. Out of His
causeless mercy, Krsna had gone to the heavenly kingdom,
Amaravati, to present King Indra with his mother's earrings,
which had been lost to Bhaumasura, and Indra had been very glad
to receive them. But when a parijata tree from the heavenly
kingdom was taken by Krsna, Indra had fought with Him.
This was self-interest on the part of Indra. He had offered his
prayer, tipping down his head to the lotus feet of Krsna, but
as soon as his purpose had been served, he became a different
creature. That is the way of the dealings of materialistic men.
Materialistic men are always interested in their own profit.
For this purpose they can offer any kind of respect to anyone,
but when their personal interest is over, they are no longer
friends. This selfish nature is found not only among the
richer class of men on this planet but even in
personalities like Indra and other demigods. Too much wealth
makes a man selfish. A selfish man is not prepared to take to
Krsna consciousness and is condemned by great devotees like
Sukadeva Gosvami. In other words, possession of too many
worldly riches is a disqualification for advancement in Krsna
consciousness.
After defeating Indra, Krsna arranged to marry the 16,100 girls
brought from the custody of Bhaumasura. By expanding Himself
into 16,100 forms, He simultaneously married them all in
different palaces at the same auspicious moment. He thus
established the truth that Krsna and no one else is the Supreme
Personality of Godhead. There is nothing impossible for Krsna,
the Supreme Personality of Godhead; He is all-powerful,
omnipresent and imperishable, and so there is nothing
wonderful in this pastime. All the palaces of the more than 16,
000 queens of Krsna were filled with suitable gardens,
furniture and other paraphernalia, to which there is no
parallel in this world. There is no exaggeration in this story
from Srimad-Bhagavatam. The queens of Krsna were all expansions
of the goddess of fortune, Laksmiji. Krsna lived with
them in different palaces, and He treated them exactly the
same way an ordinary man treats his wife.
We should always remember that the Supreme Personality of
Godhead, Krsna, was playing exactly like a human being;
although He showed His extraordinary opulences by
simultaneously marrying more than sixteen thousand wives in
more than sixteen thousand palaces, He behaved with them just
like an ordinary man, and He strictly followed the relationship
between husband and wife required in ordinary homes. Therefore,
it is very difficult to understand the characteristics of the
Supreme Brahman, the Personality of Godhead. Even demigods like
Brahma are unable to probe into the transcendental
pastimes of the Lord. The wives of Krsna were so fortunate that
they got the Supreme Personality of Godhead as their husband,
although their husband's personality was unknown even to Brahma
and the other demigods.
In their dealings as husband and wife, Krsna and His queens
would smile, talk, joke, embrace and so on, and their conjugal
relationship ever-increasingly developed. In this way,
Krsna and the queens enjoyed transcendental happiness in their
household life. Although each and every queen had thousands of
maidservants engaged for her service, the queens were all
personally attentive to serving Krsna. Each one of them used to
receive Krsna personally when He entered the palace. They
engaged in seating Him on a nice couch, worshiping Him
with all kinds of paraphernalia, washing His lotus
feet with Ganges water, offering Him betel nuts and massaging
His legs. In this way, they gave Him relief from the
fatigue He felt after being away from home. They fanned
Him nicely, offered Him fragrant essential floral oil,
decorated Him with flower garlands, dressed His hair, asked
Him to lie down to take rest, bathed Him personally and
fed Him palatable dishes. Each queen did
all these things herself and did not wait for the
maidservants. In other words, Krsna and His different queens
displayed on this earth an ideal household life.
Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Fifty-ninth
Chapter of Krsna, "The Deliverance of the Demon
Bhaumasura."
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