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KB 1970-2-22 / The Deliverance of Salva
22 / The Deliverance of Salva
After talking with his charioteer, the son of Daruka, Pradyumna
could understand the real circumstances, and therefore he
refreshed himself by washing his mouth and hands. Arming
himself properly with bows and arrows, he asked his
charioteer to take him near the place where Salva's commander-
in-chief was standing. During the short absence of Pradyumna
from the battlefield, Dyuman, Salva's commander-in-chief, had
been taking over the positions of the soldiers of the Yadu
dynasty. By appearing in the battlefield, Pradyumna
immediately stopped him and struck him with eight arrows.
With four arrows he killed his four horses,
with one arrow his chariot driver and with another arrow he cut
his bow in two; with another arrow, he cut his flag into pieces,
and with another he severed his head from his body.
On the other fronts, heroes like Gada, Satyaki and Samba were
engaged in killing the soldiers of Salva. The soldiers who were
staying with Salva in the airplane were also killed in the
fighting, and they fell into the ocean. Each party began to
strike the opposite party very severely. The battle was fierce
and dangerous and continued for twenty-seven days
without stop.
While the fight was going on in the city of Dvaraka, Krsna was
staying at Indraprastha along with the Pandavas and King
Yudhisthira. This fighting with Salva took place after the
Rajasuya yajna had been performed by King Yudhisthira and after
the killing of Sisupala. When Lord Krsna understood that there
was great danger in the city of Dvaraka, He took permission
from the elderly members of the Pandava family, especially from
His aunt Kuntidevi, and started immediately for Dvaraka.
Lord Krsna began to think that while He was arriving in
Hastinapura with Balarama after the killing of Sisupala,
Sisupala's men must have attacked Dvaraka. On reaching Dvaraka,
Lord Krsna saw that the whole city was greatly endangered. He
placed Balaramaji in a strategic position for the protection of
the city, and He Himself asked His charioteer Daruka to
prepare to start. He said, "Daruka, please immediately take Me
to where Salva is staying. You may know that this Salva is a
very powerful, mysterious man. Don't fear him in the least." As
soon as he got his orders from Lord Krsna, Daruka had Him
seated on the chariot and drove very quickly toward Salva.
The chariot of Lord Krsna was marked with the flag bearing the
insignia of Garuda, and as soon as the soldiers and warriors of
the Yadu dynasty saw the flag, they could understand that Lord
Krsna was on the battlefield. By this time, almost all the
soldiers of Salva had been killed, but when Salva saw that
Krsna had come to the battlefield, he released a great,
powerful weapon which flew through the sky with a roaring
sound like a great meteor. It was so bright that the whole sky
lit up by its presence. But as soon as Lord Krsna appeared,
He tore the great weapon into hundreds and thousands of pieces
by releasing His own arrow.
Lord Krsna struck Salva with sixteen arrows, and with showers
of arrows He overpowered the airplane, just as the sun in a
clear sky overpowers the whole sky by an unlimited number of
molecules of sunshine. Salva struck a severe blow to Krsna's
left side, where the Lord was carring His bow, Sarnga, and
as a result the Sarnga bow fell from Lord Krsna's hand. This
dropping of the bow was indeed wonderful. Great personalities
and demigods who were observing the fighting between Salva and
Krsna became most perturbed by this, and they began to
exclaim, "Alas! Alas!"
Salva thought that he had become victorious, and with a roaring
sound began to address Lord Krsna as follows: "You
rascal, Krsna! You kidnapped Rukmini forcibly, even in our
presence. You baffled my friend Sisupala and married Rukmini
Yourself. And in the great assembly at King Yudhisthira's
Rajasuya yajna, while my friend Sisupala was a little absent-
minded, You took an opportunity to kill him. Everyone thinks
that You are a great fighter and that no one can conquer You.
So now You'll have to prove Your strength. I think that if You
stand before me any longer, with my sharpened arrows I shall
send You to a place wherefrom You will never return."
To this Lord Krsna replied, "Foolish Salva, you are talking
nonsensically. You do not know that the moment of death is
already upon your head. Those who are actually heroes do not
talk much. They prove their prowess by practical exhibition of
chivalrous activities." After saying this, Lord Krsna, in great
anger, struck Salva on the collarbone with His club so severely
that he began to bleed internally and tremble as if he were
going to collapse from severe cold. Before Krsna was able to
strike him again, however, Salva became invisible by his mystic
power.
Within a few moments, a mysterious unknown man came before
Lord Krsna. Crying loudly, he bowed down at the Lord's lotus
feet and said to Him, "Since You are the most beloved son of
Your father Vasudeva, Your mother Devaki has sent me to
inform You of the unfortunate news that Your father has been
arrested by Salva and taken him away by force. He took him
just as a butcher mercilessly takes away an animal." When Lord
Krsna heard this unfortunate news from the unknown man, He at
first became most perturbed, just like an ordinary human being.
His face showed signs of grief, and He began to cry in a
pitious tone, "How could that happen? My brother Lord
Balarama is there, and it is impossible for anyone to conquer
Balaramaji. He is in charge of Dvaraka City, and I know He is
always alert. How could Salva possibly enter the city and
arrest My father in that way? Whatever he may be, Salva's
power is limited, so how could it be possible that he has
conquered the strength of Balaramaji and taken away My father,
arresting him as described by this man? Alas! Destiny is, after
all, very powerful."
While Sri Krsna was thinking like this, Salva brought before
Him in custody a man exactly resembling Vasudeva, His father.
These were all creations of the mystic power of Salva.
Salva began to address Krsna, "You rascal, Krsna! Look.
This is Your father who has begotten You and by whose mercy
You are still living. Now just see how I kill Your father. If
You have any strength, try to save him." The mystic juggler,
Salva, speaking in this way before Lord Krsna, immediately cut
off the head of the false Vasudeva. Without hesitation
he took away the dead body and got into his airplane. Lord
Krsna is the self-sufficient Supreme Personality of Godhead,
yet because He was playing the role of a human being, He became
very depressed for a moment, as if He had actually lost His
father. But at the next moment He could understand that the
arrest and killing of His father were demonstrations of the
mystic powers which Salva had learned from the demon Maya.
Coming to His right consciousness, He could see that there was
no messenger and no head of His father, but that only Salva had
left in his airplane, which was flying in the sky. He then
began to think of slaying Salva.
Krsna's reaction is a controversial point among great
authorities and saintly persons. How could Krsna, the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, the reservoir of all power and
knowledge, be bewildered in such a way? Lamentation,
aggrievement and bewilderment are characteristics of persons
who are conditioned souls, but how can such things affect the
person of the Supreme, who is full of knowledge, power and all
opulence? Actually, it is not at all possible that Lord Krsna
was misled by the mystic jugglery of Salva. He was displaying
His pastime in playing the role of a human being. Great saintly
persons and sages who are engaged in the devotional service of
the lotus feet of Lord Krsna and who have thus achieved the
greatest perfection of self-realization have transcended the
bewilderments of the bodily concept of life. Lord Krsna is the
ultimate goal of life for such saintly persons. How then could
Krsna have been bewildered by the mystic jugglery of Salva? The
conclusion is that Lord Krsna's bewilderment was another
opulence of His supreme personality.
When Salva thought that Krsna had been bewildered by his mystic
representations, he became encouraged and began to attack the
Lord with greater strength and energy by showering volumes of
arrows upon Him. But the enthusiasm of Salva can be compared to
the speedy march of flies into a fire. Lord Krsna, by hurling
His arrows with unfathomable strength, injured Salva, whose
armor, bow and jeweled helmet all scattered into pieces. With a
crashing blow from Krsna's club, Salva's wonderful airplane
burst into pieces and fell into the sea. Salva was very careful,
and instead of crashing with the airplane, he managed to jump
onto the land. He again rushed towards Lord Krsna. When Salva
ran swiftly to attack Krsna with his club, Lord Krsna cut off
his hand, which fell to the ground with the club. Finally
deciding to kill him, the Lord took up His wonderful disc,
which was shining like the brilliant sun at the time of the
dissolution of the material creation. When Lord Sri Krsna stood
up with His disc to kill Salva, He appeared just like
the red sun rising over a mountain. Lord Krsna
then cut off his head, and the head, with its earrings and
helmet, fell on the ground. Salva was thus killed in the same
way as Vrtrasura was killed by Indra, the King of heaven.
When Salva was killed, all his soldiers and followers began to
cry, "Alas! Alas!" While Salva's men were thus crying, the
demigods from the heavenly planets showered flowers on Krsna
and announced the victory by beating on drums and blowing
bugles. At this very moment, other friends of Sisupala, such as
Dantavakra, appeared on the scene to fight with Krsna in order
to avenge the death of Sisupala. When Dantavakra
appeared before Lord Krsna, he was extremely angry.
Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Second Volume,
Twenty-second Chapter, of Krsna, "The Deliverance of Salva."
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KB 77: The Deliverance of Salva
CHAPTER SEVENTY–SEVEN
The Deliverance of Salva
After talking with his charioteer, the son of Daruka, Pradyumna
could understand the real circumstances. Therefore he
refreshed himself by washing his mouth and hands, and after
arming himself properly with bows and arrows, he asked his
charioteer to take him near the place where Salva's commander
in chief was standing. During the short absence of Pradyumna
from the battlefield, Dyuman, Salva's commander in chief, had
been taking over the positions of the soldiers of the Yadu
dynasty. Appearing on the battlefield, Pradyumna
immediately stopped him and, smiling, shot eight arrows
at him: with four arrows he killed Dyuman's four horses, and
with one arrow his chariot driver, with another arrow he cut
his bow in two, with another he cut his flag to pieces,
and with the last he severed his head from his body.
On the other fronts, heroes like Gada, Satyaki and Samba were
killing the soldiers of Salva. The soldiers
staying with Salva in the airplane were also killed in the
fighting, and they fell into the ocean. Each party began to
strike the opposite party very severely in a fierce,
dangerous battle that continued for twenty-seven days
without stopping.
While the fight was going on in the city of Dvaraka, Krsna was
staying at Indraprastha with the Pandavas and King
Yudhisthira. This fighting with Salva took place after the
Rajasuya-yajna had been performed by King Yudhisthira and after
the killing of Sisupala. When Lord Krsna understood that there
was great danger in the city of Dvaraka, He took permission
from the elder members of the Pandava family, especially from
His aunt Kuntidevi, and started immediately for Dvaraka.
Lord Krsna began to think that while He was staying in
Hastinapura with Balarama after the killing of Sisupala,
Sisupala's men must have attacked Dvaraka. On reaching Dvaraka,
Lord Krsna saw that the whole city was greatly endangered. He
placed Balaramaji in a strategic position for the protection of
the city, and He Himself asked His charioteer, Daruka, to
prepare to start. He said, "Daruka, please immediately take Me
to where Salva is staying. You may know that this Salva is a
very powerful, mysterious man. Don't fear him in the least." As
soon as he got his orders from Lord Krsna, Daruka had Him
seated on the chariot and drove very quickly toward Salva.
The chariot of Lord Krsna was marked with the flag bearing the
insignia of Garuda, and as soon as the soldiers and warriors of
the Yadu dynasty saw the flag, they could understand that Lord
Krsna was on the battlefield. By this time, almost all the
soldiers of Salva had been killed, but when Salva saw that
Krsna had come to the battlefield, he released a great,
powerful weapon, which flew through the sky with a roaring
sound like a great meteor. It was so bright that the whole sky
was lit up by its presence. But as soon as Lord Krsna appeared,
He tore the great weapon into hundreds and thousands of pieces
by releasing His own arrows.
Lord Krsna struck Salva with sixteen arrows, and with showers
of arrows He overpowered the airplane, just as the sun in a
clear sky overpowers the whole sky by an unlimited number of
molecules of sunshine. Salva struck a severe blow to Krsna's
left side, where the Lord carried His bow, Sarnga, and
as a result the Sarnga bow fell from Lord Krsna's hand. This
dropping of the bow was indeed wonderful. Great personalities
and demigods who were observing the fighting between Salva and
Krsna were most perturbed by this, and they exclaimed
, "Alas! Alas!"
Salva thought that he had become victorious, and with a roaring
sound he addressed Lord Krsna as follows: "You
rascal, Krsna! You kidnapped Rukmini forcibly, even in our
presence. You baffled my friend Sisupala and married Rukmini
Yourself. And in the great assembly at King Yudhisthira's
Rajasuya-yajna, while my friend Sisupala was a little absent-
minded, You took an opportunity to kill him. Everyone thinks
that You are a great fighter and that no one can conquer You.
So now You'll have to prove Your strength. I think that if You
stand before me any longer, with my sharp arrows I shall
send You to a place wherefrom You will never return."
To this Lord Krsna replied, "Foolish Salva, you are talking
nonsensically. You do not know that the moment of death is
already upon your head. Actual heroes do not
talk much. They prove their prowess by practical exhibition of
chivalrous activities." After saying this, Lord Krsna, in great
anger, struck Salva on the collarbone with His club so severely
that Salva began to vomit blood and tremble as if he were
going to collapse from severe cold. Before Krsna was able to
strike him again, however, Salva became invisible by his mystic
power.
Within a few moments, a mysterious, unknown man came before
Lord Krsna. Crying loudly, he bowed down at the Lord's lotus
feet and said to Him, "Since You are the most beloved son of
Your father, Vasudeva, Your mother, Devaki, has sent me to
inform You of the unfortunate news that Salva has
arrested Your father and taken him away by force,
just as a butcher mercilessly takes away an animal." When Lord
Krsna heard this unfortunate news from the unknown man, He at
first became most perturbed, just like an ordinary human being.
His face showed signs of grief, and He began to cry in a
piteous tone, "How could that happen? My brother, Lord Balarama,
is there, and it is impossible for anyone to conquer
Balaramaji. He is in charge of Dvaraka City, and I know He is
always alert. How could Salva possibly enter the city and
arrest My father in that way? Whatever Salva may be, his
power is limited, so how could it be possible that he has
conquered the strength of Balaramaji and taken away My father,
arresting him as described by this man? Alas! Destiny is, after
all, very powerful."
While Sri Krsna was thinking like this, Salva brought before
Him in custody a man exactly resembling Vasudeva, His father.
These were all creations of the mystic power of Salva.
Salva addressed Krsna, "You rascal, Krsna! Look.
This is Your father, who has begotten You and by whose mercy
You are still living. Now just see how I kill Your father. If
You have any strength, try to save him." The mystic juggler
Salva, speaking in this way before Lord Krsna, immediately cut
off the head of the false Vasudeva. Then without hesitation
he took away the dead body and got into his airplane. Lord
Krsna is the self-sufficient Supreme Personality of Godhead,
yet because He was playing the role of a human being, He became
very depressed for a moment, as if He had actually lost His
father. But at the next moment He could understand that the
arrest and killing of His father were demonstrations of the
mystic powers which Salva had learned from the demon Maya.
Coming to His right consciousness, He could see that there was
no messenger and no head of His father, but that Salva had
left in his airplane, which was flying in the sky. He then
began to think of slaying Salva.
Krsna's reaction is a controversial point among great
authorities and saintly persons. How could Krsna, the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, the reservoir of all power and
knowledge, be bewildered in such a way? Lamentation,
aggrievement and bewilderment are characteristics of
conditioned souls, but how can such things affect the
person of the Supreme, who is full of knowledge, power and all
opulence? Actually, it is not at all possible that Lord Krsna
was misled by the mystic jugglery of Salva. He was displaying
His pastime in playing the role of a human being. Great saintly
persons and sages who are engaged in the devotional service of
the lotus feet of Lord Krsna and who have thus achieved the
greatest perfection of self-realization have transcended the
bewilderments of the bodily concept of life. Lord Krsna is the
ultimate goal of life for such saintly persons. How then could
Krsna have been bewildered by the mystic jugglery of Salva? The
conclusion is that Lord Krsna's bewilderment was another
opulence of His supreme personality.
When Salva thought that Krsna had been bewildered by his mystic
representations, he became encouraged and began to attack the
Lord with greater strength and energy by showering volleys of
arrows upon Him. But the enthusiasm of Salva can be compared to
the speedy march of moths into a fire. Lord Krsna, by hurling
His arrows with unfathomable strength, injured Salva, whose
armor, bow and jeweled helmet all scattered in pieces. With a
crashing blow from Krsna's club, Salva's wonderful airplane
burst into pieces and fell into the sea. Salva was very careful,
and instead of crashing with the airplane, he managed to jump
onto the land. He again rushed toward Lord Krsna. When Salva
ran swiftly to attack Krsna with his club, Lord Krsna cut off
his hand, which fell to the ground with the club. Finally
deciding to kill him, the Lord took up His wonderful disc,
which shone like the brilliant sun at the time of the
dissolution of the material creation. When Lord Sri Krsna stood
up with His disc to kill Salva, He appeared just like a
mountain with the red sun rising over it. Lord Krsna
then cut off Salva's head, and the head, with its earrings and
helmet, fell to the ground. Salva was thus killed in the same
way that Vrtrasura was killed by Indra, the King of heaven.
When Salva was killed, all his soldiers and followers cried
, "Alas! Alas!" While Salva's men were thus crying, the
demigods from the heavenly planets showered flowers on Krsna
and announced the victory by beating drums and blowing
bugles. At that very moment, other friends of Sisupala, such as
Dantavakra, appeared on the scene to fight with Krsna and
avenge the death of Sisupala and others. When Dantavakra
appeared before Lord Krsna, he was extremely angry.
Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Seventy
-seventh Chapter of Krsna, "The Deliverance of Salva."
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