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KB 1970-2-17 / The Liberation of King Jarasandha

17 / The Liberation of King Jarasandha

In the great assembly of respectable persons, citizens, friends,

relatives, brahmanas, ksatriyas and vaisyas, King

Yudhisthira, in the presence of all, including his brothers,

directly addressed Lord Krsna as follows: "My

dear Lord Krsna, the sacrifice known as the Rajasuya yajna is

to be performed by the emperor, and it is considered to be the

king of all sacrifices. By performing this sacrifice, I wish to

satisfy all the demigods, who are Your empowered

representatives within this material world, and I wish that You

will kindly help me in this great adventure so that it may be

successfully executed. As far as the Pandavas are concerned, we

have nothing to ask from the demigods. We are personally fully

satisfied by being Your devotees. As You say in the Bhagavad-

gita, "Persons who are bewildered by material desires worship

the demigods," but our purpose is different. I want to perform

this Rajasuya sacrifice and invite the demigods to show them

that they have no power independent of You. They are all

Your servants, and You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Foolish persons with a poor fund of knowledge consider Your

Lordship an ordinary human being. Sometimes they try to find

fault in You, and sometimes they defame You. Therefore I wish

to perform this Rajasuya yajna. I wish to invite all the

demigods, beginning from Lord Brahma, Lord Siva and other

exalted chiefs of the heavenly planets, and in that great

assembly of demigods from all parts of the universe, I want to

substantiate that You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead

and that everyone is Your servant.

"My dear Lord, those who are constantly in Krsna consciousness

and who think of Your lotus feet or of Your shoes certainly

become free from all contamination of material life.

Persons who are engaged in Your service in full Krsna

consciousness, who meditate upon You only or who offer prayers

unto You, are purified souls. Being constantly engaged in Krsna

conscious service, such persons become freed from the cycle of

repeated birth and death. They do not even desire

to become freed from this material existence or to

enjoy material opulences; their desires are fulfilled by

Krsna conscious activities.

As far as we are concerned, we are fully surrendered

unto Your lotus feet, and by Your grace we are so fortunate

to see You personally. Therefore, naturally we have no desire

for material opulences. The verdict of the Vedic wisdom is that

You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead. I want to establish

this fact, and I also want to show the world the difference

between accepting You as the Supreme Personality of Godhead and

accepting You as an ordinary powerful historical person. I wish

to show the world that one can attain the highest perfection of

life simply by taking shelter at Your lotus feet, exactly as

one can satisfy the branches, twigs, leaves and flowers of an

entire tree simply by watering the root. Thus, if one takes to

Krsna consciousness, his life becomes fulfilled both materially

and spiritually.

"This does not mean that You are partial to the Krsna conscious

person and are indifferent to the non-Krsna conscious person.

You are equal to everyone; that is Your declaration. You cannot

be partial to one and not interested in others because You are

sitting in everyone's heart as the Supersoul and giving

everyone the respective results of his fruitive activities. You

give every living entity the chance to enjoy this material

world as he desires. As Supersoul, You are sitting in the

body along with the living entity, giving him the results of

his own actions as well as opportunities to turn toward Your

devotional service by developing Krsna consciousness. You

openly declare that one should surrender unto You, giving up

all other engagements, and that You will take charge of him,

giving him relief from the reactions of all sins.

You

are like the desire tree in the heavenly planets, which awards

benedictions according to one's desires. Everyone is free to

achieve the highest perfection, but if one does not so desire,

then Your awarding of lesser benediction is not due to

partiality."

On hearing this statement of King Yudhisthira, Lord Krsna

replied as follows: "My dear King Yudhisthira, O killer of

enemies, O ideal justice personified, I completely support your

decision to perform the Rajasuya sacrifice. By performing

this great sacrifice, your good name will remain well

established forever in the history of human civilization. My

dear King, may I inform you that it is the desire of all

great sages, your forefathers, the demigods, and your relatives

and friends, including Myself, that you perform this

sacrifice, and I think that it will satisfy every living entity.

But, because it is necessary, I request that you first of all

conquer all the kings of the world and collect all

requisite paraphernalia for executing this great sacrifice. My

dear King Yudhisthira, your four brothers are direct

representatives of important demigods like Varuna, Indra, etc.

[It is said that Bhima was born of the demigod Varuna, and

Arjuna was born of the demigod Indra, whereas King

Yudhisthira himself was born of the demigod Yamaraja.] Your

brothers are great heroes, and you are the most

pious and self-controlled king and are therefore known as

Dharmaraja. All of you are so qualified in devotional service

unto Me that automatically I have become rivalled

by you."

Lord Krsna told King Yudhisthira that He becomes conquered by

the love of one who has conquered his senses. One who has not

conquered his senses cannot conquer the Supreme Personality of

Godhead. This is the secret of devotional service. To conquer

the senses means to engage them constantly in the service of

the Lord. The specific qualification of all the Pandava

brothers was that they always engaged their senses in the

service of the Lord. One who thus engages his senses

becomes purified, and with purified senses one can

actually render service to the Lord. The

Lord can thus be conquered by the devotee by loving

transcendental service.

Lord Krsna continued: "There is no one in the three worlds of

the universe, including the powerful demigods, who can surpass

My devotees in any of the six opulences, namely wealth,

strength, reputation, beauty, knowledge and renunciation.

Therefore, if you want to conquer the worldly kings, there is

no possibility of their emerging victorious."

When Lord Krsna thus encouraged King Yudhisthira, the King's

face brightened like a blossoming flower because of

transcendental happiness, and thus he ordered his younger

brothers to conquer all the worldly kings in all directions.

Lord Krsna empowered the Pandavas to execute His great mission

of chastising the infidel miscreants of the world and giving

protection to His faithful devotees. In His Visnu form, the

Lord therefore carries four kinds of weapons in His four hands.

He carries a lotus flower and a conchshell in two hands, and

in the other two hands He carries a club and a disc. The club

and disc are meant for the nondevotees,

but

because the Lord is the Supreme Absolute, the resultant action

of all His weapons is one and the same. With the club and the

disc He chastises the miscreants so that they may come to their

senses and know that they are not all in all. Over them

there is the Supreme Lord. And by bugling with the conchshell

and offering blessings with the lotus flower, He always assures

the devotees that no one can vanquish them, even in the

greatest calamity. King Yudhisthira, being thus assured by the

indication of Lord Krsna, ordered his youngest brother,

Sahadeva, accompanied by soldiers of the Srnjaya tribe, to

conquer the southern countries. Similarly, he ordered Nakula,

accompanied by the soldiers of Matsyadesa, to conquer the kings

of the western side. He sent Arjuna, accompanied by the

soldiers of Kekayadesa, to conquer the kings of the northern

side, and Bhimasena, accompanied by the soldiers of

Madradesa (Madras), was ordered to conquer the kings on the

eastern side.

It may be noted that by dispatching his younger brothers to

conquer in different directions, King Yudhisthira did not

actually intend that they declare war with the kings. Actually,

the brothers started for different directions to inform the

respective kings about King Yudhisthira's intention to perform

the Rajasuya sacrifice. The kings were thus informed that they

were required to pay taxes for the execution of the sacrifice.

This payment of taxes to Emperor Yudhisthira meant that the

king accepted his subjugation before him. In case of a king's

refusal to act accordingly, there was certainly a fight. Thus

by their influence and strength, the brothers conquered all the

kings in different directions, and they were able to bring in

sufficient taxes and presentations. These were brought before

King Yudhisthira by his brothers.

King Yudhisthira was very anxious, however, when he heard that

King Jarasandha of Magadha did not accept his sovereignty.

Seeing King Yudhisthira's anxiety, Lord Krsna informed him of

the plan explained by Uddhava for conquering King Jarasandha.

Bhimasena, Arjuna and Lord Krsna then started together for

Girivraja, the capital city of Jarasandha, dressing themselves

in the garb of brahmanas. This was the plan devised by Uddhava

before Lord Krsna started for Hastinapura, and now it was given

practical application.

King Jarasandha was a very dutiful householder, and he had

great respect for the brahmanas. He was a great fighter, a

ksatriya king, but he was never neglectful of the Vedic

injunctions. According to Vedic injunctions, the brahmanas

are considered to be the spiritual masters of all other castes.

Lord Krsna, Arjuna and Bhimasena were actually ksatriyas, but

they dressed themselves as brahmanas, and at the time when King

Jarasandha was to give charity to the brahmanas and receive

them as guests, they approached him.

Lord Krsna, in the dress of a brahmana, said to the King: "We

wish all glories to Your Majesty. We are three guests at your

royal palace, and we are coming from a great distance. We have

come to ask you for charity, and we hope that you will kindly

bestow upon us whatever we ask from you. We know about your

good qualities. A person who is tolerant is always prepared to

tolerate everything, even though distressful. Just as a

criminal can perform the most abominable acts, so a greatly

charitable person like you can give anything and everything

he is asked for. For a great personality like you, there

is no distinction between relatives and outsiders. A famous man

lives forever, even after his death; therefore, any person who

is completely fit and able to execute acts which will

perpetuate his good name and fame and yet does not do so

becomes abominable in the eyes of great persons. Such a person

cannot be condemned enough, and his refusal to give charity is

lamentable throughout his whole life. Your Majesty must have

heard the glorious names of charitable personalities such as

Hariscandra, Rantideva and Mudgala, who used to live only on

grains picked up from the paddy field, and the great Maharaja

Sibi, who saved the life of a pigeon by supplying flesh from

his own body. These great personalities have attained immortal

fame simply by sacrificing this temporary and perishable body."

Lord Krsna, in the garb of a brahmana, thus informed

Jarasandha that fame is imperishable, but the body is

perishable. If one can attain imperishable name and fame by

sacrificing his perishable body, he becomes a very respectable

figure in the history of human civilization.

While Lord Krsna was speaking in the garb of a brahmana along

with Arjuna and Bhima, Jarasandha marked that the three of them

did not appear to be actual brahmanas. There were signs on

their bodies by which Jarasandha could understand that they

were ksatriyas. Their shoulders were marked with an

impression due to carrying bows; they had beautiful bodily

structure, and their voices were grave and commanding. Thus he

definitely concluded that they were not brahmanas, but

ksatriyas. He was also thinking that he had seen them somewhere

before. Although these three persons were ksatriyas,

they had come to his door begging alms like brahmanas.

Therefore he decided that he would fulfill their desires, in

spite of their being ksatriyas. He thought in this way because

their position had already been diminished by their

appearing before him as beggars. "Under the circumstances," he

thought, "I am prepared to give them anything. Even if they ask

for my body, I shall not hesitate to offer it to them." In this

regard, he began to think of Bali Maharaja. Lord Visnu in the

dress of a brahmana appeared as a beggar before Bali, and in

that way He snatched away all of his opulence and kingdom.

He did this for the benefit of Indra, who, having been defeated

by Bali Maharaja, was bereft of his kingdom. Although Bali

Maharaja was cheated, his reputation as a great devotee who was

able to give anything and everything in charity is still

glorified throughout the three worlds. Bali Maharaja could

guess that the brahmana was Lord Visnu Himself and that He had

come to him just to take away his opulent kingdom on behalf of

Indra. Bali's spiritual master and family priest, Sukracarya,

repeatedly warned him about this, and yet Bali did not hesitate

to give in charity whatever the brahmana wanted, and at last he

gave up everything to that brahmana. "It is my strong

determination," thought Jarasandha, "that if I can achieve

immortal reputation by sacrificing this perishable body, I must

act for that purpose; the life of a ksatriya who does not live

for the benefit of the brahmana is certainly condemned."

Actually King Jarasandha was very liberal in giving charity to

the brahmanas, and thus he informed Lord Krsna, Bhima and

Arjuna: "My dear brahmanas, you can ask from me whatever you

like. If you so desire, you can take my head also. I am

prepared to give it."

After this, Lord Krsna addressed Jarasandha as follows: "My

dear King, please note that we are not actually brahmanas, nor

have we come to ask for foodstuffs or grains. We are all

ksatriyas, and we have come to beg a duel with you. We hope

that you will agree to this proposal. You may note that here is

the second son of King Pandu, Bhimasena, and the third son of

Pandu, Arjuna. As for Myself, you may know that I am your old

enemy, Krsna, the cousin of the Pandavas."

When Lord Krsna disclosed their disguise, King Jarasandha

began to laugh very loudly, and then in great anger and in a

grave voice he exclaimed, "You fools! If you want to fight with

me, I immediately grant your request. But, Krsna, I know that

You are a coward. I refuse to fight with You because You become

very confused when You face me in fighting. Out of fear of me

You left Your own city, Mathura, and now You have taken shelter

within the sea; therefore I must refuse to fight with You. As

far as Arjuna is concerned, I know that he is younger than me

and is not an equal fighter. I refuse to fight with him because

he is not in any way an equal competitor. But as far as

Bhimasena is concerned, I think he is a suitable competitor to

fight with me." After speaking in this way, King Jarasandha

immediately handed a very heavy club to Bhimasena, and he

himself took another, and thus all of them went outside the

city walls to fight.

Bhimasena and King Jarasandha engaged themselves in fighting,

and with their respective clubs, which were as strong as

thunderbolts, they began to strike one another very severely,

both of them being eager to fight. They were both expert

fighters with clubs, and their techniques of striking one

another were so beautiful that they appeared to be two dramatic

artists dancing on a stage. When the clubs of Jarasandha and

Bhimasena loudly collided, they sounded like the impact

of the big tusks of two fighting elephants or like a

thunderbolt in a flashing electrical storm. When two elephants

fight together in a sugarcane field, each of them snatches a

stick of sugarcane and, by catching it tightly in its trunk,

strikes the other. Each

elephant

heavily strikes his enemy's

shoulders, arms, collarbones, chest, thighs, waist, and legs,

and in this way the sticks of sugarcane are smashed.

Similarly, all the clubs used by Jarasandha and Bhimasena

were broken, and so the two enemies prepared to fight with

their strong fisted hands. Jarasandha and Bhimasena were very

angry, and they began to smash each other with their fists. The

striking of their fists sounded like the striking of iron bars

or like the sound of thunderbolts, and they

appeared to be like two elephants fighting. Unfortunately,

however, neither was able to defeat the other because

both were very expert in fighting, both were of equal strength,

and their fighting techniques were equal also. Neither

Jarasandha nor Bhimasena became fatigued or defeated in the

fighting, although they struck each other continually. At the

end of a day's fighting, both lived at night as friends in

Jarasandha's palace, and the next day they fought again. In

this way they passed twenty-seven days in fighting.

On the twenty-eighth day, Bhimasena told Krsna, "My dear Krsna,

I must frankly admit that I cannot conquer Jarasandha." Lord

Krsna, however, knew the mystery of the birth of

Jarasandha. Jarasandha was born in two different parts

from two different mothers. When his father saw that the baby

was useless, he threw the two parts in the forest, where they

were later found by a black-hearted witch named Jara

. She managed to join the two parts of

the baby from top to bottom. Knowing this, Lord Krsna therefore

also knew how to kill him. He gave hints to Bhimasena that

since Jarasandha was brought to life by the joining of the

two parts of his body, he could be killed by the separation of

these two parts. Thus Lord Krsna transferred His power into the

body of Bhimasena and informed him of the device by which

Jarasandha could be killed. Lord Krsna immediately picked up a

twig from a tree and, taking it in His hand, bifurcated it.

In this way He hinted to Bhimasena how Jarasandha could be

killed. Lord Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is

omnipotent, and if He wants to kill someone, no one can save

that person. Similarly, if He wants to save someone, no one can

kill him.

Informed by the hints of Lord Krsna, Bhimasena immediately took

hold of the legs of Jarasandha and threw him to the

ground. When Jarasandha fell to the ground, Bhimasena

immediately pressed one of Jarasandha's legs to the ground and

took hold of the other leg with his two hands. Catching

Jarasandha in this way, he tore his body in two, beginning from

the anus up to the head. As an elephant breaks the branches of

a tree in two, so Bhimasena separated the body of Jarasandha.

The audience standing nearby saw that the body of

Jarasandha was now divided into two halves, so that each half

had one leg, one thigh, one testicle, one breast, half a

backbone, half a chest, one collarbone, one arm, one eye, one

ear and half a face.

As soon as the news of Jarasandha's death was announced, all

the citizens of Magadha began to cry, "Alas, alas," while Lord

Krsna and Arjuna embraced Bhimasena to congratulate him.

Although Jarasandha was killed, neither Krsna nor the two

Pandava brothers made a claim to the throne. Their purpose in

killing Jarasandha was to stop him from creating a disturbance

against the proper discharge of world peace. A demon always

creates disturbances, whereas a demigod always tries to keep

peace in the world. The mission of Lord Krsna is to give

protection the righteous persons and to kill the demons who

disturb a peaceful situation. Therefore Lord Krsna immediately

called for the son of Jarasandha, whose name was Sahadeva, and

with due ritualistic ceremonies He asked him to occupy

the seat of his father and reign over the kingdom peacefully.

Lord Krsna is the master of the whole cosmic creation, and He

wants everyone to live peacefully and execute Krsna

consciousness. After installing Sahadeva on the throne, He

released all the kings and princes who had been imprisoned

unnecessarily by Jarasandha.

Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Second

Volume, Seventeenth Chapter, of Krsna, "The Liberation of King

Jarasandha."

 
 
KB 72: The Liberation of King Jarasandha
 
CHAPTER SEVENTY–TWO
 
The Liberation of King Jarasandha
 
In the great assembly of respectable citizens, friends,
 relatives, brahmanas, sages, ksatriyas and vaisyas --
 in the presence of all, including his brothers -- 
King Yudhisthira directly addressed Lord Krsna as follows: "My 
dear Lord Krsna, the sacrifice known as the Rajasuya-yajna is 
to be performed by the emperor, and it is considered the 
king of all sacrifices. By performing this sacrifice, I wish to 
satisfy all the demigods, who are Your empowered 
representatives within this material world, and I wish that You 
will kindly help me in this great venture so that it may be 
successfully executed. As far as the Pandavas are concerned, we 
have nothing to ask from the demigods. We are personally fully 
satisfied to be Your devotees. As You say in the Bhagavad-
gita, ‘Persons bewildered by material desires worship 
the demigods.' But my purpose is different. I want to perform 
this Rajasuya sacrifice and invite the demigods to show 
that they have no power independent of You -- that they are all 
Your servants and You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead. 
Foolish persons with a poor fund of knowledge consider Your 
Lordship an ordinary human being. Sometimes they try to find 
fault in You, and sometimes they defame You. Therefore I wish 
to perform this Rajasuya-yajna. I wish to invite all the 
demigods, beginning from Lord Brahma, Lord Siva and other 
exalted chiefs of the heavenly planets, and in that great 
assembly of demigods from all parts of the universe, I want to 
substantiate that You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead 
and that everyone is Your servant.
 
"My dear Lord, those who are constantly in Krsna consciousness 
and who think of Your lotus feet or Your shoes are 
certainly freed from all contamination of material life. 
Such persons, who engage in Your service in full Krsna 
consciousness, who meditate upon You only and offer prayers 
unto You, are purified souls. Being constantly engaged in Krsna 
conscious service, they are freed from the cycle of 
repeated birth and death. Or, even if they do not want 
to be freed from this material existence but desire to 
enjoy material opulences, their desires are also fulfilled by 
their Krsna conscious activities. In fact, those who are pure 
devotees of Your lotus feet have no desire for material 
opulences. As far as we are concerned, we are fully surrendered 
unto Your lotus feet, and by Your grace we are so fortunate as 
to see You personally. Therefore, naturally we have no desire 
for material opulences. The verdict of the Vedic wisdom is that 
You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead. I want to establish 
this fact, and I also want to show the world the difference 
between accepting You as the Supreme Personality of Godhead and 
accepting You as an ordinary powerful historical person. I wish 
to show the world that one can attain the highest perfection of 
life simply by taking shelter at Your lotus feet, exactly as 
one can satisfy the branches, twigs, leaves and flowers of an 
entire tree simply by watering the root. If one takes to 
Krsna consciousness, his life becomes fulfilled both materially 
and spiritually.
 
"This does not mean that You are partial to the Krsna conscious 
person and indifferent to the non–Krsna conscious person. 
You are equal to everyone; that is Your declaration. You cannot 
be partial to one and not interested in others, for You sit
 in everyone's heart as the Supersoul and give 
everyone the respective results of his fruitive activities. You 
give every living entity the chance to enjoy this material 
world as he desires. As the Supersoul, You sit in the 
body with the living entity, giving him the results of 
his own actions as well as opportunities to turn toward Your 
devotional service by developing Krsna consciousness. You 
openly declare that one should surrender unto You, giving up 
all other engagements, and that You will take charge of him, 
giving him relief from the reactions of all sins. Still, the 
living entity remains attached to material activities and 
suffers or enjoys the reactions without Your interference. You 
are like the desire tree in the heavenly planets, which awards 
benedictions according to one's desires. Everyone is free to 
achieve the highest perfection, but if one does not so desire, 
then Your awarding of lesser benedictions is not due to 
partiality."
 
On hearing this statement by King Yudhisthira, Lord Krsna 
replied as follows: "My dear King Yudhisthira, O killer of 
enemies, O ideal justice personified, I completely support your 
decision to perform the Rajasuya sacrifice. After you 
perform this great sacrifice, your good name will remain well 
established forever in the history of human civilization. My 
dear King, I may inform you that all the 
great sages, your forefathers, the demigods and your relatives 
and friends, including Me, desire that you perform this 
sacrifice, and I think that it will satisfy every living entity.
 But I request that you first 
conquer all the kings of the world and collect all the 
requisite paraphernalia for executing this great sacrifice. My 
dear King Yudhisthira, your four brothers are direct 
representatives of important demigods like Vayu and Indra.
 [It is said that Bhima was born of the demigod Vayu and 
that Arjuna was born of the demigod Indra, whereas King 
Yudhisthira himself was born of the demigod Yamaraja.] As 
such, your brothers are great heroes, and you are the most 
pious and self-controlled king and are therefore known as 
Dharmaraja. All of you are so qualified in devotional service 
to Me that I have automatically been conquered 
by you."
 
Lord Krsna told King Yudhisthira that He is conquered by 
the love of one who has conquered his senses. One who has not 
conquered his senses cannot conquer the Supreme Personality of 
Godhead. This is the secret of devotional service. To conquer 
the senses means to engage them constantly in the service of 
the Lord. The specific qualification of all the Pandava 
brothers was that they always engaged their senses in the 
Lord's service. One who thus engages his senses 
becomes purified, and with purified senses the devotee can 
actually render transcendental loving service to the Lord
 and 
conquer Him.
 
Lord Krsna continued: "There is no one in the three worlds of 
the universe, including the powerful demigods, who can surpass 
My devotees in any of the six opulences, namely wealth, 
strength, reputation, beauty, knowledge and renunciation. 
Therefore, if you want to conquer the worldly kings, there is 
no possibility of their emerging victorious."
 
When Lord Krsna thus encouraged King Yudhisthira, the King's 
face brightened like a blossoming flower because of 
transcendental happiness, and thus he ordered his younger 
brothers to conquer all the worldly kings in all directions. 
Lord Krsna empowered the Pandavas to execute His great mission 
of chastising the infidel miscreants of the world and giving 
protection to His faithful devotees. In His Visnu form, the 
Lord carries four weapons in His four hands 
-- a lotus flower and a conchshell in two hands, and 
in the other two hands a club and a disc. The club 
and disc are meant for the infidel miscreants and demons, 
and the lotus flower and conchshell are for the devotees. But 
because the Lord is the Supreme Absolute, the result 
of all His weapons is one and the same. With the club and the 
disc He chastises the miscreants so that they may come to their 
senses and know that they are not all in all, for above them 
there is the Supreme Lord. And by bugling with the conchshell 
and offering blessings with the lotus flower, He always assures 
the devotees that no one can vanquish them, even in the 
greatest calamity. King Yudhisthira, being thus assured by the 
indication of Lord Krsna, ordered his youngest brother, 
Sahadeva, accompanied by soldiers of the Srnjaya tribe, to 
conquer the southern countries. Similarly, he ordered Nakula, 
accompanied by the soldiers of Matsyadesa, to conquer the kings 
of the western side. He sent Arjuna, accompanied by the 
soldiers of Kekayadesa, to conquer the kings of the northern 
side, and he ordered Bhimasena, accompanied by the soldiers of 
Madradesa (Madras), to conquer the kings on the 
eastern side.
 
It may be noted that by dispatching his younger brothers to 
conquer in different directions, King Yudhisthira did not 
actually intend that they declare war upon the kings. Actually, 
the brothers started for different directions to inform the 
respective kings about King Yudhisthira's intention to perform 
the Rajasuya sacrifice. The kings were thus informed that they 
were required to pay taxes for the execution of the sacrifice. 
This payment of taxes to Emperor Yudhisthira meant that the 
king accepted subjugation before him. In case of a king's 
refusal to act accordingly, there was certainly a fight. Thus 
by their influence and strength the brothers conquered all the 
kings in different directions, and they were able to bring in 
sufficient taxes and presentations, which they brought before 
King Yudhisthira.
 
King Yudhisthira was very anxious, however, when he heard that 
King Jarasandha of Magadha did not accept his sovereignty. 
Seeing King Yudhisthira's anxiety, Lord Krsna informed him of 
the plan explained by Uddhava for conquering King Jarasandha. 
Bhimasena, Arjuna and Lord Krsna then started together for 
Girivraja, the capital city of Jarasandha, dressing themselves 
in the garb of brahmanas. This was the plan devised by Uddhava 
before Lord Krsna started for Hastinapura, and now it was given 
practical application.
 
King Jarasandha was a very dutiful householder, and he had 
great respect for the brahmanas. He was a great fighter, a 
ksatriya king, but he was never neglectful of the Vedic 
injunctions. According to the Vedic injunctions, the brahmanas 
are considered to be the spiritual masters of all other castes. 
Lord Krsna, Arjuna and Bhimasena were actually ksatriyas, but 
they dressed themselves as brahmanas, and at the time when King 
Jarasandha was to give charity to the brahmanas and receive 
them as guests, they approached him.
 
Lord Krsna, in the dress of a brahmana, said to the King, "We 
wish all glories to Your Majesty. We three guests at your 
royal palace have come from a great distance
 to ask you for charity, and we hope that you will kindly 
bestow upon us whatever we ask from you. We know about your 
good qualities. A person who is tolerant is always prepared to 
tolerate everything, even though distressful. Just as a 
criminal can perform the most abominable acts, a greatly 
charitable person like you can give anything and everything for 
which he is asked. For a great personality like you, there 
is no distinction between relatives and outsiders. A famous man 
lives forever, even after his death; therefore, any person who 
is completely fit and able to execute acts which will 
perpetuate his good name and fame and yet does not do so 
becomes abominable in the eyes of great persons. Such a person 
cannot be condemned enough, and his refusal to give charity is 
lamentable throughout his whole life. Your Majesty must have 
heard the glorious names of charitable personalities such as 
Hariscandra, Rantideva and Mudgala, who used to live only on 
grains picked up from the paddy field, and the great Maharaja 
Sibi, who saved the life of a pigeon by supplying flesh from 
his own body. These great personalities have attained immortal 
fame simply by sacrificing the perishable body." 
Lord Krsna, in the garb of a brahmana, thus convinced 
Jarasandha that fame is imperishable but the body is 
perishable. If one can attain imperishable name and fame by 
sacrificing his perishable body, he becomes a very respectable 
figure in the history of human civilization.
 
While Lord Krsna was speaking in the garb of a brahmana along 
with Arjuna and Bhima, Jarasandha marked that the three of them 
did not appear to be actual brahmanas. There were signs on 
their bodies by which Jarasandha could understand that they 
were ksatriyas. Their shoulders were marked with impressions 
due to carrying bows, they had beautiful bodily 
structure, and their voices were grave and commanding. Thus he 
definitely concluded that they were not brahmanas but 
ksatriyas. He also thought that he had seen them somewhere 
before. But although these three persons were ksatriyas, 
they had come to his door begging alms like brahmanas. 
Therefore he decided that he would fulfill their desires in 
spite of their being ksatriyas, because 
they had already diminished their position by 
appearing before him as beggars. "Under the circumstances," he 
thought, "I am prepared to give them anything. Even if they ask 
for my body, I shall not hesitate to offer it to them." In this 
regard, he began to think of Bali Maharaja. Lord Visnu in the 
dress of a brahmana appeared as a beggar before Bali and 
snatched away all of his opulence and his kingdom. 
He did this for the benefit of Indra, who, having been defeated 
by Bali Maharaja, was bereft of his kingdom. Although Bali 
Maharaja was cheated, his reputation as a great devotee 
able to give anything and everything in charity is still 
glorified throughout the three worlds. Bali Maharaja could 
guess that the brahmana was Lord Visnu Himself and had 
come to him just to take away his opulent kingdom on behalf of 
Indra. Bali's spiritual master and family priest, Sukracarya, 
repeatedly warned him about this, yet Bali did not hesitate 
to give in charity whatever the brahmana wanted, and at last he 
gave up everything to that brahmana. "It is my strong 
determination," thought Jarasandha, "that if I can achieve 
immortal reputation by sacrificing this perishable body, I must 
act for that purpose; the life of a ksatriya who does not live 
for the benefit of the brahmanas is certainly condemned."
 
Actually King Jarasandha was very liberal in giving charity to 
brahmanas, and thus he informed Lord Krsna, Bhima and 
Arjuna: "My dear brahmanas, you may ask from me whatever you 
like. If you so desire, you may take my head also. I am 
prepared to give it."
 
After this, Lord Krsna addressed Jarasandha as follows: "My 
dear King, please note that we are not actually brahmanas, nor 
have we come to ask for food or grain. We are all 
ksatriyas, and we have come to beg a duel with you. We hope 
that you will agree to this proposal. You may note that here is 
the second son of King Pandu, Bhimasena, and the third son of 
Pandu, Arjuna. As for Myself, you may know that I am your old 
enemy Krsna, the cousin of the Pandavas."
 
When Lord Krsna disclosed their disguise, King Jarasandha 
laughed very loudly, and then in great anger and in a 
grave voice he exclaimed, "You fools! If you want to fight with 
me, I immediately grant your request. But, Krsna, I know that 
You are a coward. I refuse to fight with You because You become 
very confused when You face me in fighting. Out of fear of me 
You left Your own city, Mathura, and now You have taken shelter 
within the sea; therefore I must refuse to fight with You. As 
far as Arjuna is concerned, I know that he is younger than me 
and is not an equal fighter. I refuse to fight with him because 
he is not in any way an equal competitor. But as far as 
Bhimasena is concerned, I think he is a suitable competitor to 
fight with me." After speaking in this way, King Jarasandha 
immediately handed a very heavy club to Bhimasena, he 
himself took another, and all of them went outside the 
city walls to fight.
 
Bhimasena and King Jarasandha engaged themselves in fighting, 
and with their respective clubs, which were as strong as 
thunderbolts, they began to strike each other very severely, 
both of them being eager to fight. They were both expert 
fighters with clubs, and their techniques of striking each 
other were so beautiful that they appeared to be two dramatic 
artists dancing on a stage. When the clubs of Jarasandha and 
Bhimasena loudly collided, the impact sounded like that 
of the big tusks of two fighting elephants or like a 
thunderbolt in a flashing electrical storm. When two elephants 
fight together in a sugarcane field, each of them snatches a 
stick of sugarcane, holds it tightly in its trunk 
and strikes the other. At that time the sugarcane becomes 
smashed by such heavy striking. Similarly, when Bhimasena 
and Jarasandha were heavily striking each other with their 
clubs on different parts of their bodies -- namely the 
shoulders, arms, collarbone, chest, thighs, waist and legs
 -- their clubs were torn to pieces. In this 
way, all of the clubs used by Jarasandha and Bhimasena 
became ruined, and so the two enemies prepared to fight with 
their strong-fisted hands. Jarasandha and Bhimasena were very 
angry, and they began to smash each other with their fists. The 
striking of their fists sounded like the striking of iron bars 
or like the sound of thunderbolts, and the two warriors 
appeared to be like two elephants fighting. Neither
 was able to defeat the other, however, for 
both were expert in fighting, they were of equal strength, 
and their fighting techniques were also equal. Neither 
Jarasandha nor Bhimasena became fatigued or defeated in the 
fighting, although they struck each other continuously. At the 
end of each day's fighting, they lived at night as friends in 
Jarasandha's palace, and the next day they fought again. In 
this way they passed twenty-seven days in fighting.
 
On the twenty-eighth day, Bhimasena told Krsna, "My dear Krsna, 
I must frankly admit that I cannot conquer Jarasandha." Lord 
Krsna, however, knew the mystery of Jarasandha's birth
. Jarasandha had been born in two different parts 
from two different mothers. When his father saw that the baby 
was useless, he threw the two parts into the forest. There they 
were later found by a witch named Jara, who was 
skilled in the black arts. She managed to join the two parts of 
the baby from top to bottom. Knowing this, Lord Krsna therefore 
also knew how to kill him. He hinted to Bhimasena that 
since Jarasandha had been brought to life by the joining of the 
two parts of his body, he could be killed by the separation of 
these two parts. Thus Lord Krsna transferred His power into the 
body of Bhimasena and informed him of the device by which 
Jarasandha could be killed. Lord Krsna broke off a 
twig from a tree, took it in His hand, and bifurcated it. 
In this way He hinted to Bhimasena how Jarasandha could be 
killed. Lord Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is 
omnipotent, and if He wants to kill someone, no one can save 
that person. Similarly, if He wants to save someone, no one can 
kill him.
 
Informed by the hints of Lord Krsna, Bhimasena immediately took 
hold of Jarasandha's legs and threw him to the 
ground. When Jarasandha fell, Bhimasena 
immediately pressed one of Jarasandha's legs to the ground and 
took hold of the other leg with his two hands. Catching 
Jarasandha in this way, he tore his body in two, from 
the anus up to the head. As an elephant breaks the branches of 
a tree in two, Bhimasena separated the body of Jarasandha. 
The audience standing nearby saw that Jarasandha's body 
was now divided into two halves, so that each half 
had one leg, one thigh, one testicle, half a 
backbone, half a chest, one collarbone, one arm, one eye, one 
ear and half a face.
 
As soon as the news of Jarasandha's death was announced, all 
the citizens of Magadha began to cry, "Alas! Alas!" while Lord 
Krsna and Arjuna embraced Bhimasena to congratulate him. 
Although Jarasandha was killed, neither Krsna nor the two 
Pandava brothers made a claim to the throne. Their purpose in 
killing Jarasandha was to stop him from creating a disturbance 
to the proper discharge of world peace. A demon always 
creates disturbances, whereas a demigod always tries to keep 
peace in the world. The mission of Lord Krsna is to protect 
the righteous and kill the demons who 
disturb a peaceful situation. Therefore Lord Krsna immediately 
called for the son of Jarasandha, whose name was Sahadeva, and 
with due ritualistic ceremonies the Lord asked him to occupy 
the seat of his father and reign over the kingdom peacefully. 
Lord Krsna is the master of the whole cosmic creation, and He 
wants everyone to live peacefully and execute Krsna 
consciousness. After installing Sahadeva on the throne, He 
released all the kings and princes who had been imprisoned 
unnecessarily by Jarasandha.
 
Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Seventy-second 
Chapter of Krsna, "The Liberation of King 
Jarasandha."
 