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KB 1970-2-11 / The Deliverance of Paundraka and the King of Kasi
11 / The Deliverance of Paundraka and the King of Kasi
The story of King Paundraka is very interesting because
there have always been many rascals and fools who
have considered themselves to be God. Even in the presence of
the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, there was such a
foolish person. His name was Paundraka, and he wanted to
declare himself to be God. While Lord Balarama was absent in
Vrndavana, this King Paundraka, the King of the Karusa province,
being foolish and puffed up, sent a messenger to Lord Krsna.
Lord Krsna is accepted as the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
and King Paundraka directly challenged Krsna through the
messenger, who stated that Paundraka, and not Krsna, was
Vasudeva. In the present day there are many foolish followers
of such rascals. Similarly, in his day, many foolish
men accepted Paundraka as the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Because he could not estimate his own position, Paundraka
falsely thought himself to be Lord Vasudeva. Thus the messenger
declared to Krsna that out of his causeless mercy, King
Paundraka, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, had descended on
the earth just to deliver all
distressed persons.
Surrounded by many other foolish persons, this rascal Paundraka
had actually concluded that he was Vasudeva, the Supreme
Personality of Godhead. This kind of conclusion is certainly
childish. When children are playing, they sometimes create a
king amongst themselves, and the child who is selected
thinks that he is the king. Similarly, many foolish
persons, due to ignorance, select another fool as God, and then
the rascal considers himself God, as if God could be
created by childish play or by the votes of men. Under this
false impression, thinking himself the Supreme Lord, Paundraka
sent his messenger to Dvaraka to challenge the position of
Krsna. The messenger reached the royal assembly of Krsna in
Dvaraka and conveyed the message given by his master, Paundraka.
The message contained the following statements.
"I am the only Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vasudeva. There
is no man who can compete with me. I have descended as King
Paundraka, taking compassion on the distressed conditioned
souls out of my unlimited causeless mercy. You have falsely
taken the position of Vasudeva without authority, but You
should not propagate this false idea. You must give up Your
position. O descendant of the Yadu dynasty, please give up all
the symbols of Vasudeva which You have falsely assumed. And
after giving up this position, come and surrender unto me. If
out of Your gross impudence You do not care for my words, then
I challenge You to fight. I am inviting You to a battle in
which the decision will be settled."
When all the members of the royal assembly, including King
Ugrasena, heard this message sent by Paundraka, they laughed
very loudly for a considerable time. After enjoying the loud
laughter of all the members of the assembly, Krsna replied to
the messenger as follows: "O messenger of Paundraka, you may
carry My message to your master: He is a foolish rascal. I
directly call him a rascal, and I refuse to follow his
instructions. I shall never give up the symbols of Vasudeva,
especially My disc. I shall use this disc to kill not only King
Paundraka but all his followers also. I shall destroy
Paundraka and his foolish associates, who merely constitute a
society of cheaters and cheated. When this action is taken,
foolish King, you will have to conceal your face in
disgrace, and when your head is severed from your body by My
disc, it will be surrounded by meat-eating birds like vultures,
hawks and eagles. At that time, instead of becoming My shelter
as you have demanded, you will be subjected to the mercy of
these low-born birds. At that time your body will be thrown
to the dogs, who will eat it with great pleasure."
The messenger carried the words of Lord Krsna to his master,
Paundraka, who patiently heard all these insults. Without
waiting longer, Lord Sri Krsna immediately started out on
His chariot to punish the rascal Paundraka.
Because at that time the King of Karusa was living with his
friend the King of Kasi, Krsna surrounded the whole city of
Kasi.
King Paundraka was a great warrior, and as soon as he heard of
Krsna's attack, he came out of the city along with two
aksauhini divisions of soldiers. The King of Kasi was also a
friend to King Paundraka, and he came out with three aksauhini
divisions. When the two kings came before Lord Krsna to oppose
Him, Krsna saw Paundraka face to face for the first time. Krsna
saw that Paundraka had decorated himself with the symbols of
the conchshell, disc, lotus and club. He carried the
Sarnga bow, and on his chest was the insignia of Srivatsa.
His neck was decorated with a false Kaustubha jewel, and he
wore a flower garland in exact imitation of Lord Vasudeva. He
was dressed in yellow colored silken garments, and the flag on
his chariot carried the symbol of Garuda, exactly imitating
Krsna's. He had a very valuable helmet on his head, and his
earrings, like swordfish, glittered brilliantly. On the whole,
however, his dress and makeup were clearly imitation. Anyone
could understand that he was just like someone onstage playing
the part of Vasudeva in false dress. When Lord Sri Krsna saw
Paundraka imitating His posture and dress, He could not check
His laughter, and thus He laughed with great satisfaction.
The soldiers on the side of King Paundraka began to shower
their weapons upon Krsna. The weapons, including various kinds
of tridents, clubs, poles, lances, swords, daggers and arrows,
came flying in waves, and Krsna counteracted them. He smashed
not only the weapons but also the soldiers and assistants of
Paundraka, just as during the dissolution of this universe the
fire of devastation burns everything to ashes. The elephants,
chariots, horses, and infantry belonging to the opposite party
were scattered by the weapons of Krsna. The whole
battlefield became scattered with the
bodies of animals and chariots. There were fallen horses,
elephants, men, asses and camels. Although the devastated
battlefield appeared like the dancing place of Lord Siva at the
time of the dissolution of the world, the warriors who were on
the side of Krsna were very much encouraged by seeing this, and
they fought with greater strength.
At this time, Lord Krsna told Paundraka, "Paundraka, you
requested Me to give up the symbols of Lord Visnu, specifically
My disc. Now I will give it up to you. Be careful! You falsely
declare yourself to be Vasudeva, imitating Myself. Therefore no
one is a greater fool than you." From this statement of Krsna's
it is clear that any rascal who advertises himself as God is
the greatest fool in human society. Krsna continued: "Now,
Paundraka, I shall force you to give up this false
representation. You wanted Me to surrender unto you. Now this
is your opportunity. We shall now fight, and if I am defeated
and you become victorious, I shall certainly surrender unto you.
" In this way, after chastising Paundraka very severely, He
smashed his chariot to pieces by shooting an arrow.
With the help of His disc He separated the head of
Paundraka from his body, just as Indra shaves off the peaks of
mountains by striking them with his thunderbolt. Similarly,
He also killed the King of Kasi with His arrows. Lord Krsna
specifically arranged to throw the head of the King of Kasi
into the city of Kasi itself so that his relatives and family
members could see it. This was done by Krsna just as a
hurricane carries a lotus petal here and there. Lord Krsna
killed Paundraka and his friend Kasiraja on the battlefield,
and then He returned to His capital city, Dvaraka.
When Lord Krsna returned to the city of Dvaraka, all the
Siddhas from the heavenly planets were singing the glories of
the Lord. As far as Paundraka was concerned, somehow or other
he was always thinking of Lord Vasudeva by falsely dressing
himself in that way, and therefore Paundraka
achieved sarupya, one of the five kinds of liberation, and was
thus promoted to the Vaikuntha planets, where the devotees have
the same bodily features as Visnu, with four hands holding the
four symbols. Factually, his meditation was concentrated on the
Visnu form, but because he thought himself to be Lord Visnu, it
was offensive. After being killed by Krsna, however, that
offense was also mitigated. Thus he was given sarupya
liberation, and he attained the same form as the Lord.
When the head of the King of Kasi was thrown through the city
gate, people gathered and were astonished to see that wonderful
thing. When they found out that there were earrings on it, they
could understand that it was someone's head. They conjectured
as to whose head it might be. Some thought it was Krsna's head
because Krsna was the enemy of Kasiraja, and they calculated
that the King of Kasi might have thrown Krsna's head into the
city so that the people might take pleasure that the enemy
was killed. But it was finally detected that the head
was not Krsna's, but that of Kasiraja himself. When it was so
ascertained, the queens of the King of Kasi immediately
approached and began to lament the death of their husband. "Our
dear lord," they cried, "upon your death, we have become just
like dead bodies."
The King of Kasi had one son whose name was Sudaksina. After
observing the ritualistic funeral ceremonies, he took a vow
that since Krsna was the enemy of his father, he would kill
Krsna and in this way liquidate his debts to his father.
Therefore, accompanied by a learned priest qualified to help
him, he began to worship Mahadeva, Lord Siva. The
lord of the kingdom of Kasi
is Visvanatha (Lord Siva). The temple of Lord Visvanatha is
still existing in Varanasi, and many thousands of pilgrims
still gather daily in that temple. By the worship of Sudaksina,
Lord Siva was very much pleased, and he wanted to give a
benediction to his devotee. Sudaksina's purpose was to kill
Krsna, and therefore he prayed for a specific power by which he
could kill Him. Lord Siva advised that Sudaksina, assisted by
the brahmanas, execute the ritualistic ceremony for killing one'
s enemy. This ceremony is also mentioned in some of the Tantras.
Lord Siva informed Sudaksina that if such a black ritualistic
ceremony were performed properly, then the evil spirit named
Daksinagni would appear to carry out any order given to
him. He would have to be employed, however, to kill someone
other than a qualified brahmana. In such a case he
would be accompanied by Lord Siva's ghostly
companions, and the desire of Sudaksina to kill his
enemy would be fulfilled.
When Sudaksina was encouraged by Lord Siva in that way, he
became assured that he would be able to kill Krsna. With a
determined vow of austerity, he began to execute the black art
of chanting mantras, assisted by the priests. After this, out
of the fire came a great demonic form, whose hair, beard and
moustache were exactly the color of hot copper. This form was
very big and fierce. As the demon arose from the fire, cinders
of fire emanated from the sockets of his eyes. The giant fiery
demon appeared still more fierce due to the movements of his
eyebrows. He exhibited long sharp teeth and, sticking out his
long tongue, licked both sides of his lips. He was naked,
and he carried a big trident, which was blazing like fire.
After appearing from the fire of sacrifice, he stood wielding
the trident in his hand. Instigated by Sudaksina, the demon
proceeded toward the capital city, Dvaraka, along with many
hundreds of ghostly companions, and it appeared that he was
going to burn all outer space to ashes. The surface of the
earth trembled because of his striking steps. When he entered
the city of Dvaraka, all the residents panicked, just like
animals at the time of a forest fire.
At that time Krsna was engaged in playing chess in the royal
assembly council hall. All the residents of Dvaraka approached
and addressed Him, "Dear Lord of the three worlds, there is a
great fiery demon ready to burn the whole city of Dvaraka!
Please save us!" Thus, after approaching Lord Krsna, all the
inhabitants of Dvaraka began to appeal to Him for
protection from the fiery demon who had just appeared in
Dvaraka to devastate the whole city.
Lord Krsna, who specifically protects His devotees, saw that
the whole population of Dvaraka was most perturbed by the
presence of the great fiery demon. He immediately began to
smile and assured them, "Don't worry. I shall give you all
protection." The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, is all-
pervading. He is within everyone's heart, and He is without
also in the form of the cosmic manifestation. He could
understand that the fiery demon was a creation of Lord Siva,
and in order to vanquish him He took His Sudarsana-cakra
and ordered him to take the necessary steps. The Sudarsana-
cakra appeared with the effulgence of millions of suns, his
temperature being as powerful as the fire created at the end of
the cosmic manifestation. By his own effulgence, the Sudarsana-
cakra began to illuminate the entire universe, on the
surface of the earth as well as in outer space. Then the
Sudarsana-cakra began to freeze the fiery demon created by Lord
Siva. In this way, the fiery demon was checked by the Sudarsana-
cakra of Lord Krsna, and being defeated in his attempt to
devastate the city of Dvaraka, he turned back.
Having failed to set fire to Dvaraka, he went back
to Varanasi, the kingdom of Kasiraja. As a result of his return,
all the priests who had helped instruct the black art of
mantras, along with their employer, Sudaksina 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. Sudaksina 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.
Following just behind the fiery demon, the Sudarsana-cakra also
entered Varanasi. This city of Varanasi had been very opulent
and great for a very long time. Even now, the city of Varanasi
is very opulent and famous, and it is one of the important
cities of India. There were then many big palaces, assembly
houses, marketplaces and gates, with very important
large monuments by the palaces and gates. Lecturing platforms
could be found at each and every crossing of the roads. There
was a treasury house, and elephant heads, horse
heads, chariots, granaries and places for distribution
of foodstuff. The city of Varanasi had been filled with all
these material opulences for a very long time, but because the
King of Kasi and his son Sudaksina were against Lord Krsna, the
Visnu-cakra Sudarsana (the disc weapon of Lord Krsna)
devastated the whole city by burning all these important places.
This excursion was more ravaging than modern bombing. The
Sudarsana-cakra, having thus finished his duty, came back to
his Lord Sri Krsna at Dvaraka.
This narration of the devastation of Varanasi by Krsna's disc
weapon, the Sudarsana-cakra, is transcendental and auspicious.
Anyone who narrates this story or anyone who hears this story
with faith and attention will be released from all reaction to
sinful activities. This is the assurance of Sukadeva Gosvami
who narrated this story to Pariksit Maharaja.
Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Second Volume,
Eleventh Chapter, of Krsna, "Deliverance of Paundraka and
the King of Kasi."
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KB 66: The Deliverance of Paundraka and the King of Kasi
CHAPTER SIXTY–SIX
The Deliverance of Paundraka and the King of Kasi
The story of King Paundraka is very interesting because it
proves that there have always been many rascals and fools who
have considered themselves God. Even in the presence of
the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, there was such a
foolish person. His name was Paundraka, and he wanted to
declare himself God. While Lord Balarama was absent in
Vrndavana, this King Paundraka, the King of Karusa Province,
being foolish and puffed up, sent a messenger to Lord Krsna.
Lord Krsna is accepted as the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
but King Paundraka directly challenged Krsna through the
messenger, who stated that Paundraka, not Krsna, was
Vasudeva. In the present day there are many foolish followers
of such rascals. Similarly, in Paundraka's day, many foolish
men accepted Paundraka as the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Because he could not estimate his own position, Paundraka
falsely thought himself to be Lord Vasudeva. Thus the messenger
declared to Krsna that King
Paundraka, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, had descended to
the earth out of his causeless mercy just to deliver all
distressed persons.
Surrounded by many other foolish persons, this rascal Paundraka
had actually concluded that he was Vasudeva, the Supreme
Personality of Godhead. This kind of conclusion is certainly
childish. When children are playing, they sometimes select a "
king" amongst themselves, and the selected child may
think that he is actually the king. Similarly, many foolish
persons, due to ignorance, select another fool as God, and then
the rascal actually considers himself God, as if God could be
created by childish play or by the votes of men. Under this
false impression, thinking himself the Supreme Lord, Paundraka
sent his messenger to Dvaraka to challenge the position of
Krsna. The messenger reached the royal assembly of Krsna in
Dvaraka and conveyed the message given by his master, Paundraka.
The message contained the following statements.
"I am the only Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vasudeva. No
man can compete with me. I have descended as King
Paundraka, taking compassion on the distressed conditioned
souls out of my unlimited causeless mercy. You have falsely
taken the position of Vasudeva without authority, but You
should not propagate this false idea. You must give up Your
position. O descendant of the Yadu dynasty, please give up all
the symbols of Vasudeva, which You have falsely assumed. And
after giving up this position, come and surrender unto me. If
out of Your gross impudence You do not care for my words, then
I challenge You to fight. I am inviting You to a battle in
which the decision will be settled."
When all the members of the royal assembly, including King
Ugrasena, heard this message sent by Paundraka, they laughed
very loudly for a considerable time. After enjoying the loud
laughter of all the members of the assembly, Krsna replied to
the messenger as follows: "O messenger of Paundraka, you may
carry My message to your master: ‘You are a foolish rascal. I
directly call you a rascal, and I refuse to follow your
instructions. I shall never give up the symbols of Vasudeva,
especially My disc. I shall use this disc to kill not only you
but all your followers also. I shall destroy
you and your foolish associates, who merely constitute a
society of cheaters and the cheated. O
foolish King, you will then have to conceal your face in
disgrace, and when your head is severed from your body by My
disc, it will be surrounded by meat-eating birds like vultures,
hawks and eagles. At that time, instead of becoming My shelter,
as you have demanded, you will be subject to the mercy of
these lowborn birds. At that time your body will be thrown
to the dogs, who will eat it with great pleasure.' "
The messenger carried the words of Lord Krsna to his master,
Paundraka, who patiently heard all these insults. Without
waiting any longer, Lord Sri Krsna immediately started out on
His chariot to punish the rascal Paundraka, the King of Karusa.
Because at that time he was living with his
friend the King of Kasi, Krsna surrounded the whole city of
Kasi.
King Paundraka was a great warrior, and as soon as he heard of
Krsna's attack, he came out of the city with two
aksauhini divisions of soldiers. The King of Kasi also
came out, with three aksauhini
divisions. When the two kings came before Lord Krsna to oppose
Him, Krsna saw Paundraka face to face for the first time. Krsna
saw that Paundraka had decorated himself with the symbols of
the conchshell, disc, lotus and club. He carried an imitation
Sarnga bow, and on his chest was a mock insignia of Srivatsa.
His neck was decorated with a false Kaustubha jewel, and he
wore a flower garland in exact imitation of Lord Vasudeva's. He
was dressed in yellow silken garments, and the flag on
his chariot carried the symbol of Garuda, exactly imitating
Krsna's. He had a very valuable helmet on his head, and his
earrings, like swordfish, glittered brilliantly. On the whole,
however, his dress and makeup were clearly imitation. Anyone
could understand that he was just like someone onstage playing
the part of Vasudeva in false dress. When Lord Sri Krsna saw
Paundraka imitating His posture and dress, He could not check
His laughter, and thus He laughed with great satisfaction.
The soldiers on the side of King Paundraka began to shower
their weapons upon Krsna. The weapons, including various kinds
of tridents, clubs, poles, lances, swords, daggers and arrows,
came flying in waves, and Krsna counteracted them. He smashed
not only the weapons but also the soldiers and assistants of
Paundraka, just as during the dissolution of this universe the
fire of devastation burns everything to ashes. The elephants,
chariots, horses and infantry belonging to the opposite party
were scattered by the weapons of Krsna. Indeed, the whole
battlefield became strewn with smashed chariots and the
bodies of men and animals. There were fallen horses,
elephants, men, asses and camels. Although the devastated
battlefield appeared like the dancing place of Lord Siva at the
time of the dissolution of the world, the warriors on
the side of Krsna were very much encouraged by seeing this, and
they fought with greater strength.
At this time, Lord Krsna told Paundraka, "Paundraka, you
requested Me to give up the symbols of Lord Visnu, specifically
My disc. Now I will give it up to you. Be careful! You falsely
declare yourself Vasudeva, imitating Me. Therefore no
one is a greater fool than you." From this statement of Krsna's
it is clear that any rascal who advertises himself as God is
the greatest fool in human society. Krsna continued: "Now,
Paundraka, I shall force you to give up this false
representation. You wanted Me to surrender unto you. Now this
is your opportunity. We shall now fight, and if I am defeated
and you are victorious, I shall certainly surrender unto you.
" In this way, after chastising Paundraka very severely, Krsna
smashed Paundraka's chariot to pieces by shooting an arrow.
Then with the help of His disc He separated Paundraka's head
from his body, just as Indra shaves off the peaks of
mountains by striking them with his thunderbolt. Similarly,
Krsna also killed the King of Kasi with His arrows. Lord Krsna
specifically arranged to throw the head of the King of Kasi
into the city of Kasi itself so that his relatives and family
members could see it. Krsna did this just as a
hurricane carries a lotus petal here and there. Lord Krsna
killed Paundraka and his friend Kasiraja on the battlefield,
and then He returned to His capital city, Dvaraka.
When Lord Krsna returned to the city of Dvaraka, all the
Siddhas from the heavenly planets were singing His glories
. As far as Paundraka was concerned, somehow or other
he always thought of Lord Vasudeva by falsely dressing
himself in imitation of the Lord. Therefore Paundraka
achieved sarupya, one of the five kinds of liberation, and was
thus promoted to the Vaikuntha planets, where the devotees have
the same bodily features as Visnu, with four hands holding the
four symbols. Factually, his meditation was concentrated on the
Visnu form, but because he thought himself Lord Visnu, it
was offensive. By his being killed by Krsna, however, that
offense was mitigated. Thus he was given sarupya
liberation, and he attained the same form as the Lord.
When the head of the King of Kasi was thrown through the city
gate, people gathered and were astonished to see that wonderful
thing. When they found out that there were earrings on it, they
could understand that it was someone's head. They conjectured
as to whose head it might be. Some thought it was Krsna's head
because Krsna was the enemy of Kasiraja, and they calculated
that the King of Kasi might have thrown Krsna's head into the
city so that the people might take pleasure in the enemy's
having been killed. But they finally detected that the head
was not Krsna's but that of Kasiraja himself. When this was
ascertained, the queens of the King of Kasi immediately
approached and began to lament the death of their husband. "Our
dear lord," they cried, "upon your death, we have become just
like dead bodies."
The King of Kasi had a son whose name was Sudaksina. After
observing the ritualistic funeral ceremonies, he took a vow
that since Krsna was the enemy of his father, he would kill
Krsna and in this way liquidate his debt to his father.
Therefore, accompanied by a learned priest qualified to help
him, he began to worship Mahadeva, Lord Siva. (Lord Siva, who
is also known as Visvanatha, is the lord of the kingdom of Kasi
. The temple of Lord Visvanatha is
still existing in Varanasi, and many thousands of pilgrims
still gather daily in that temple.) By the worship of Sudaksina,
Lord Siva was very much pleased, and he wanted to give a
benediction to his devotee. Sudaksina's purpose was to kill
Krsna, and therefore he prayed for a specific power by which to
kill Him. Lord Siva advised that Sudaksina, assisted by
the brahmanas, execute the ritualistic ceremony for killing one'
s enemy. This ceremony is also mentioned in some of the tantras.
Lord Siva informed Sudaksina that if such a black ritualistic
ceremony were performed properly, then the evil spirit named
Daksinagni would appear and then carry out any order given to
him. He would have to be employed, however, to kill someone
other than a qualified brahmana. If all these conditions were
met, then Daksinagni, accompanied by Lord Siva's ghostly
companions, would fulfill the desire of Sudaksina to kill his
enemy.
When Sudaksina was encouraged by Lord Siva in that way, he
was sure that he would be able to kill Krsna. With a
determined vow of austerity, he began to execute the black art
of chanting mantras, assisted by the priests. After this, out
of the fire came a great demoniac form, whose hair, beard and
mustache were exactly the color of hot copper. This form was
very big and fierce. As the demon arose from the fire, cinders
of fire emanated from the sockets of his eyes. The giant fiery
demon appeared still more fierce due to the movements of his
eyebrows. He exhibited long, sharp teeth and, sticking out his
long tongue, licked his upper and lower lips. He was naked,
and he carried a big trident, blazing like fire.
After appearing from the fire of sacrifice, he stood wielding
the trident in his hand. Instigated by Sudaksina, the demon
proceeded toward the capital city, Dvaraka, with many
hundreds of ghostly companions, and it appeared that he was
going to burn all outer space to ashes. The surface of the
earth trembled because of his striking steps. When he entered
the city of Dvaraka, all the residents panicked, just like
animals in a forest fire.
At that time, Krsna was playing chess in the royal
assembly council hall. All the residents of Dvaraka approached
and addressed Him, "Dear Lord of the three worlds, a
great fiery demon is ready to burn the whole city of Dvaraka!
Please save us!" In this way all the
inhabitants of Dvaraka appealed to Lord Krsna for
protection from the fiery demon who had just appeared in
Dvaraka to devastate the whole city.
Lord Krsna, who specifically protects His devotees, saw that
the whole population of Dvaraka was most perturbed by the
presence of the great fiery demon. He immediately smiled
and assured them, "Don't worry. I shall give you all
protection." The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, is all-
pervading. He is within everyone's heart, and He is
also without, in the form of the cosmic manifestation. He could
understand that the fiery demon was a creation of Lord Siva,
and in order to vanquish the demon He took His Sudarsana cakra
and ordered him to take the necessary steps. The Sudarsana
cakra appeared with the effulgence of millions of suns, his
heat being as powerful as the fire created at the end of
the cosmic manifestation. By his effulgence the
Sudarsana cakra illuminated the entire universe, on
the surface of the earth as well as in outer space. Then the
Sudarsana cakra began to freeze the fiery demon created by Lord
Siva. In this way, the fiery demon was checked by the Sudarsana
cakra of Lord Krsna, and, being defeated in his attempt to
devastate the city of Dvaraka, he turned back.
Having failed to set fire to Dvaraka, the fiery demon went back
to Varanasi, the kingdom of Kasiraja. As a result of his return,
all the priests who had helped instruct the black art of
mantras, along with their employer, Sudaksina, were burned to
ashes by the glaring effulgence of the fiery demon. According
to the methods of black art mantras instructed in the tantras,
if the mantra fails to kill the enemy, then, because it must
kill someone, it kills the original creator. Sudaksina 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.
Following just behind the fiery demon, the Sudarsana cakra also
entered Varanasi. This city had been very opulent
and great for a very long time. Even now, the city of Varanasi
is opulent and famous, and it is one of the important
cities of India. There were then many big palaces, assembly
houses, marketplaces and gates, with large and very important
monuments by the palaces and gates. Lecturing platforms
could be found at each and every crossroads. There
were buildings that housed the treasury, elephants,
horses, chariots and grain, and places for distribution
of food. The city of Varanasi had been filled with all
these material opulences for a very long time, but because the
King of Kasi and his son Sudaksina were against Lord Krsna, the
visnu-cakra Sudarsana (the disc weapon of Lord Krsna)
devastated the whole city by burning all these important places.
This excursion was more ravaging than modern bombing. The
Sudarsana cakra, having thus finished his duty, came back to
his Lord, Sri Krsna, at Dvaraka.
This narration of the devastation of Varanasi by Krsna's disc
weapon, the Sudarsana cakra, is transcendental and auspicious.
Anyone who narrates or hears this story
with faith and attention will be released from all reaction to
sinful activities. This is the assurance of Sukadeva Gosvami,
who narrated this story to Pariksit Maharaja.
Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Sixty-sixth
Chapter of Krsna, "The Deliverance of Paundraka and
the King of Kasi."
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