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KB 1970-1-17 / Extinguishing the Forest Fire
17 / Extinguishing the Forest Fire
King Pariksit, after hearing of the chastisement of Kaliya,
inquired from Sukadeva Gosvami as to why Kaliya left his
beautiful land and why Garuda was so antagonistic to him.
Sukadeva Gosvami informed the King that the island known as
Nagalaya was inhabited by serpents and that Kaliya was one of
the chief serpents there. Being accustomed to eating snakes,
Garuda used to come to this island and kill many serpents at
his will. Some of them he actually ate, but some were
unnecessarily killed. The reptile society became so disturbed
that their leader, Vasuki, appealed to Lord Brahma for
protection. Lord Brahma made an arrangement by which Garuda
would not create a disturbance: on each half-moon day, the
reptile community would offer a serpent to Garuda. The serpent
was to be kept underneath a tree as a sacrificial offering to
Garuda. Garuda was satisfied with this offering, and therefore
he did not disturb any other serpents.
But gradually, Kaliya took advantage of this situation. He was
unnecessarily puffed up by the volume of his accumulated poison,
as well as by his material power, and he thought, "Why should
Garuda be offered this sacrifice?" He then ceased offering any
sacrifice; instead, he himself ate the offering intended for
Garuda. When Garuda, the great devotee-carrier of Visnu,
understood that Kaliya was eating the offered sacrifices, he
became very angry and quickly rushed to the island to kill the
offensive serpent. Kaliya tried to fight Garuda and faced him
with his many hoods and poisonous sharp teeth. Kaliya attempted
to bite him, and Garuda, the son of Tarksya, in great anger and
with the great force deserving the carrier of Lord Visnu,
struck the body of Kaliya with his effulgent golden wings.
Kaliya, who is also known as Kadrusuta, son of Kadru,
immediately fled to the lake known as Kaliyadaha,
underneath the Yamuna River, which Garuda could
not approach.
Kaliya took shelter within the water of the Yamuna for the
following reason. Just as Garuda went to the island of the
Kaliya snake, so he also used to go to the Yamuna to catch fish
to eat. There was, however, a great yogi known as Saubhari Muni,
who used to meditate within the water there and who was
sympathetic with the fish. He asked Garuda not to come there
and disturb the fish. Although Garuda was not under anyone's
order, being the carrier of Lord Visnu, he did not disobey the
order of the great yogi. Instead of staying and eating many
fish, he carried off one big fish, who was their leader.
Saubhari Muni was sorry that one of the leaders of the fish was
taken away by Garuda, and thinking of their protection, he
cursed Garuda in the following words: "Henceforward from
this day, if Garuda comes here to catch fish, then -- I say
this with all my strength -- he will be immediately killed."
This curse was known only to Kaliya. Kaliya was, therefore,
confident that Garuda would not be able to come there, and so
he thought it wise to take shelter of the lake within the
Yamuna. But Kaliya's taking shelter of Saubhari Muni was not
successful; he was driven away from the Yamuna by Krsna, the
master of Garuda. It may be noted that Garuda is directly
related to the Supreme Personality of Godhead and is so
powerful that he is never subjected to anyone's order or curse.
Actually the cursing of Garuda -- who is stated in the Srimad-
Bhagavatam to be of the stature of the Supreme Personality of
Godhead, Bhagavan -- was an offense on the part of Saubhari
Muni. Although Garuda did not try to retaliate, the Muni was
not saved from his offensive act against a great Vaisnava
personality. Due to this offense, Saubhari fell down from his
yogic position and afterwards became a householder, a sense
enjoyer in the material world. The falldown of Saubhari Muni,
who was supposed to be absorbed in spiritual bliss by
meditation, is an instruction to the offender of Vaisnavas.
When Krsna finally came out of Kaliya's lake, He was seen by
all His friends and relatives on the bank of the Yamuna. He
appeared before them nicely decorated, smeared all over with
candana pulp, bedecked with valuable jewels and stones, and
almost completely covered with gold. The inhabitants of
Vrndavana, cowherd boys and men, mother
Yasoda, Maharaja Nanda and all the cows and calves, saw
Krsna coming from the Yamuna, and it was as though they had
recovered their very life. When a person regains his life,
naturally he becomes absorbed in pleasure and joyfulness. They
each in turn pressed Krsna to their chests, and thus they felt
a great relief. Mother Yasoda, Rohini, Maharaja Nanda and the
cowherd men became so happy that they embraced Krsna and
thought they had achieved their ultimate goal of life.
Balarama also embraced Krsna, but He was laughing because He
had known what would happen to Krsna when
everyone else was so overwhelmed with anxiety. All
the trees on the bank of the Yamuna, all the cows,
bulls and calves were full of pleasure because of Krsna's
appearance there. The brahmana inhabitants of Vrndavana,
along with their wives, immediately came to
congratulate Krsna and His family members. Brahmanas
are considered to be the spiritual masters of society.
They offered their blessings to Krsna and the family on
account of Krsna's release. They also asked Maharaja Nanda to
give them some charity on that occasion. Being so pleased by
Krsna's return, Maharaja Nanda began to give many cows and much
gold in charity to the brahmanas. While Nanda Maharaja was thus
engaged, mother Yasoda simply embraced Krsna and made Him sit
on her lap while she shed tears continually.
Since it was almost night, and all the inhabitants of Vrndavana,
including the cows and calves, were very tired, they decided
to take their rest on the river bank. In the middle of the
night, while they were taking rest, there was suddenly a great
forest fire, and it quickly appeared that the fire would soon
devour all the inhabitants of Vrndavana. As soon as they felt
the warmth of the fire, they immediately took shelter of Krsna,
the Supreme Personality of Godhead, although He was playing
just like their child. They began to say, "Our dear Krsna! O
Supreme Personality of Godhead! Our dear Balarama, the
reservoir of all strength! Please try to save us from this all
devouring and devastating fire. We have no other shelter
than You. This devastating fire will swallow us all!" Thus they
prayed to Krsna, saying that they could not take any shelter
other than His lotus feet. Lord Krsna, being compassionate upon
His own townspeople, immediately swallowed up the whole forest
fire and saved them. This was not impossible for Krsna because
He is unlimited. He has unlimited power to do anything He
desires.
Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Seventeenth Chapter
of Krsna, "Extinguishing the Forest Fire."
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KB 17: Extinguishing the Forest Fire
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Extinguishing the Forest Fire
King Pariksit, after hearing of the chastisement of Kaliya,
inquired from Sukadeva Gosvami as to why Kaliya left his
beautiful land and why Garuda was so antagonistic to him.
Sukadeva Gosvami informed the King that the island known as
Nagalaya was inhabited by serpents and that Kaliya was one of
the chief serpents there. Being accustomed to eating snakes,
Garuda used to come to this island and kill many serpents at
will. Some of them he actually ate, but some were
unnecessarily killed. The reptile society became so disturbed
that their leader, Vasuki, appealed to Lord Brahma for
protection. Lord Brahma made an arrangement by which Garuda
would not create a disturbance: on each half-moon day, the
reptile community would offer a serpent to Garuda. The serpent
was to be kept underneath a tree as a sacrificial offering to
Garuda. Garuda was satisfied with this offering, and therefore
he did not disturb any other serpents.
But gradually, Kaliya took advantage of this situation. He was
unnecessarily puffed up by the volume of his accumulated poison,
as well as by his material power, and he thought, "Why should
Garuda be offered this sacrifice?" He then ceased offering any
sacrifice; instead, he himself ate the offering intended for
Garuda. When Garuda, the great devotee-carrier of Visnu,
understood that Kaliya was eating the offered sacrifices, he
became very angry and rushed to the island to kill the
offensive serpent. Kaliya tried to fight Garuda and faced him
with his many hoods and poisonous sharp teeth. Kaliya attempted
to bite him, and Garuda, the son of Tarksya, in great anger and
with the great force befitting the carrier of Lord Visnu,
struck the body of Kaliya with his effulgent golden wings.
Kaliya, who is also known as Kadrusuta, son of Kadru,
immediately fled to the lake known as Kaliya-hrada,
which lay within the Yamuna River and which Garuda could
not approach.
Kaliya took shelter within the water of the Yamuna for the
following reason. Just as Garuda went to the island of the
Kaliya snake, he also used to go to the Yamuna to catch fish
to eat. There was, however, a great yogi known as Saubhari
Muni who used to meditate within the water there and who was
sympathetic with the fish. He asked Garuda not to come there
and disturb the fish. Although Garuda was not under anyone's
order, being the carrier of Lord Visnu, he did not disobey the
order of the great yogi. Instead of staying and eating many
fish, he carried off one big fish, who was their leader.
Saubhari Muni was sorry that one of the leaders of the fish was
taken away by Garuda, and thinking of their protection, he
cursed Garuda with the following words: "Henceforward, from
this day, if Garuda comes here to catch fish, then -- I say
this with all my strength -- he will be immediately killed."
This curse was known only to Kaliya. Kaliya was therefore
confident that Garuda would not be able to come there, and so
he thought it wise to take shelter of the lake within the
Yamuna. But Kaliya's taking shelter of Saubhari Muni was not
successful; he was driven away from the Yamuna by Krsna, the
master of Garuda. It may be noted that Garuda is directly
related to the Supreme Personality of Godhead and is so
powerful that he is never subject to anyone's order or curse.
Actually the cursing of Garuda -- who is stated in Srimad-
Bhagavatam to be of the stature of the Supreme Personality of
Godhead, Bhagavan -- was an offense on the part of Saubhari
Muni. Although Garuda did not try to retaliate, the Muni was
not saved from his offensive act against a great Vaisnava
personality. Due to this offense, Saubhari fell down from his
yogic position and afterwards became a householder, a sense
enjoyer in the material world. The falldown of Saubhari Muni,
who was supposed to be absorbed in spiritual bliss by
meditation, is an instruction to the offender of Vaisnavas.
When Krsna finally came out of Kaliya's lake, He was seen by
all His friends and relatives on the bank of the Yamuna. He
appeared before them nicely decorated, smeared all over with
candana pulp, bedecked with valuable jewels and stones, and
almost completely covered with gold. The inhabitants of
Vrndavana, including the cowherd boys and men, the gopis,
Mother Yasoda, Maharaja Nanda and all the cows and calves, saw
Krsna coming from the Yamuna, and it was as though they had
recovered their very life. When a person regains his life,
naturally he becomes absorbed in pleasure and joyfulness. They
each in turn pressed Krsna to their chests, and thus they felt
a great relief. Mother Yasoda, Rohini, Maharaja Nanda and the
cowherd men became so happy that as they embraced Krsna they
thought they had achieved their ultimate goal of life.
Balarama also embraced Krsna, but He was laughing because when
everyone else had been so overwhelmed with anxiety,
He had known what would happen to Krsna. All
the trees on the bank of the Yamuna, along with all the cows,
bulls and calves, were full of pleasure because of Krsna's
appearance there. The brahmana inhabitants of Vrndavana
immediately came with their wives to
congratulate Krsna and His family members. And because
brahmanas are considered to be the spiritual masters of society,
they offered their blessings to Krsna and His family on
account of Krsna's release. They also asked Maharaja Nanda to
give them some charity on that occasion. Being so pleased by
Krsna's return, Maharaja Nanda gave many cows and much
gold in charity to the brahmanas. While Nanda Maharaja was thus
engaged, Mother Yasoda simply embraced Krsna and made Him sit
on her lap while she shed tears continuously.
Since it was almost night and all the inhabitants of Vrndavana,
including the cows and calves, were very tired, they decided
to take their rest on the riverbank. In the middle of the
night, while they were taking rest, there was suddenly a great
forest fire, and it quickly appeared that the fire would soon
devour all the inhabitants of Vrndavana. As soon as they felt
the warmth of the fire, they immediately took shelter of Krsna,
the Supreme Personality of Godhead, although He was playing
just like their child. They began to say, "Our dear Krsna! O
Supreme Personality of Godhead! Our dear Balarama,
reservoir of all strength! Please try to save us from this all-
devouring and devastating fire. We have no shelter other
than You. This devastating fire will swallow us all!" Thus they
prayed to Krsna, saying that they could not take any shelter
other than His lotus feet. Lord Krsna, being compassionate upon
His own townspeople, immediately swallowed up the whole forest
fire and saved them. This was not impossible for Krsna, because
He is unlimited. He has unlimited power to do anything He
desires.
Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Seventeenth Chapter
of Krsna, "Extinguishing the Forest Fire."
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