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KB 1970-2-29 / Sacrificial Ceremonies Performed by Vasudeva
29 / Sacrificial Ceremonies Performed by Vasudeva
Among the women present at Kuruksetra during the solar eclipse
were Kunti, Gandhari, Draupadi, Subhadra and the queens of many
other kings, as well as the gopis from Vrndavana. When the
different queens of Lord Krsna were submitting their statements
as to how they were married and accepted by Lord Krsna as
His wives, all the female members of the Kuru dynasty were
struck with wonder. They were filled with admiration at how all
the queens of Krsna were attached to Him with love and
affection. When they heard about the queens' intensity of love
and affection for Krsna, they could not check their eyes from
filling up with tears.
While the women were engaged in conversations among themselves
and the men were similarly engaged in conversation, there
arrived almost all the important sages and
ascetics from all directions, who had come for the purpose of
seeing Lord Krsna and Balarama. Chief among the sages were
Krsna-dvaipayana Vyasa, the great sage Narada, Cyavana, Devala,
Asita, Visvamitra, Satananda, Bharadvaja, Gautama, and Lord
Parasurama along with his disciples; Vasistha, Galava, Bhrgu,
Pulastya, Kasyapa, Atri, Markandeya, Brhaspati, Dvita, Trita,
Ekata; the four Kumara sons of Brahma, Sanaka, Sanandana,
Sanatana and Sanatkumara; Angira and Agastya,
Yajnavalkya and Vamadeva.
As soon as the sages and ascetics arrived, all the kings,
including Maharaja Yudhisthira and the Pandavas and Lord
Krsna and Balarama, immediately got up from their seats and
offered their respects by bowing down to the universally
respected sages. After this, the sages were properly welcomed
by being offered seats and water for washing their feet.
Palatable fruits, garlands of flowers, incense, and sandalwood
pulp were presented, and all the kings, led by Krsna and
Balarama, worshiped the sages according to the Vedic rules and
regulations. When all the sages were comfortably seated, Lord
Krsna, who descended for the protection of religion, began to
address them on behalf of all the kings. When Krsna began to
speak, all became silent, being eager to hear and understand
His welcoming words to the sages.
Lord Krsna spoke thus: "All glories to the assembled sages and
ascetics! Today we are all feeling that our lives have become
successful. Today we have achieved the desired goal of life,
because we are now seeing face to face all the exalted
liberated sages and ascetics whom even the great demigods in
the heavens desire to see. Persons who are neophytes in
devotional service and who simply offer their respectful
obeisances to the Deity in the temple but cannot realize that
the Lord is situated in everyone's heart, and those who simply
worship different demigods for fulfillment of their own lusty
desires, are unable to understand the importance of these sages.
They cannot take advantage of receiving these sages by seeing
them with their eyes, by touching their lotus feet, by
inquiring about their welfare or by diligently worshiping them."
Neophyte devotees or religionists cannot understand the
importance of great mahatmas. They go to the temple as a matter
of formality and pay their respectful obeisances unto the Deity.
But when one is promoted to the next platform of
transcendental consciousness, one can understand the importance
of mahatmas and devotees, and in that stage the devotee tries
to please them. Therefore, Lord Krsna said that the neophyte
cannot understand the importance of great sages, devotees or
ascetics.
Krsna continued, "One cannot purify himself by
traveling to holy places of pilgrimage and taking bath there
or by seeing the Deities in the temples. But if one
happens to meet a great devotee, a mahatma who is
representative of the Personality of Godhead, one becomes
immediately purified. In order to become purified, there is
the injunction to worship the fire, the sun, the moon, the
earth, the water, the air, the sky and the mind. By worshiping
all the elements and their predominating deities, one can
become free from the influence of envy, but all the
sins of an envious person can be nullified immediately simply
by serving a great soul. My dear revered sages and respectable
kings, you can take it from Me that a person who accepts this
material body made of three elements -- mucus, bile and air --
as his own self, who considers his family and relatives as his
own, and who accepts material things as worshipable, or who
visits holy places of pilgrimage just to take a bath there, but
never associates with great personalities, sages and mahatmas --
such a person, even in the form of a human being, is nothing
but an animal, like an ass."
When the supreme authority, Lord Krsna, was thus speaking with
great gravity, all the sages and ascetics remained in dead
silence. They became amazed upon hearing Him speaking the
absolute philosophy of life in such a concise way. Unless one
is very much advanced in knowledge, one thinks his body to be
his self, his family members to be his kith and kin, and the
land of his birth to be worshipable. From this concept of life,
the modern ideology of nationalism has sprung up. Lord Krsna
condemned such ideas, and He also condemned persons who take
the trouble to go to holy places of pilgrimage just to take a
bath and come back without taking the opportunity to associate
with the great devotees and mahatmas living there. Such persons
are compared to the most foolish animal, the ass. All those who
heard considered the speech of Lord Krsna for some time, and
they concluded that Lord Krsna was actually the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, playing the role of an ordinary human
being who is forced to take a certain type of body as a result
of the reactions of his past deeds. He was assuming this
pastime as an ordinary human simply to teach the people in
general how they should live for perfection of the human
mission.
Having concluded that Krsna was the Supreme Personality of
Godhead, the sages began to address Him thus: "Dear Lord,
we, the leaders of human society, are supposed to possess the
proper philosophy of life, and yet we are becoming bewildered
by the spell of Your external energy. We are surprised to see
Your behavior, which is just like that of an ordinary human
being and which conceals Your real identity as the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, and we therefore consider Your pastimes
to be all-wonderful.
"Our dear Lord, by Your own energy You are creating,
maintaining and annihilating the whole cosmic manifestation of
different names and forms, in the same way as the earth
creates many forms of stone, trees and other varieties of names
and forms and yet remains the same. Although You are
creating varieties of manifestation through Your energy, You
are unaffected by all those actions. Our dear Lord, we remain
simply stunned by seeing Your wonderful actions. Although You
are transcendental to this entire material creation and are the
Supreme Lord and the Supersoul of all living entities, You
nevertheless appear on this earth by Your internal potency to
protect Your devotees and destroy the miscreants. By such
appearance You reestablish the principles of eternal religion,
which the human society forgets by long association with the
material energy. Our dear Lord, You are the creator of the
social orders and spiritual statuses of the human society
according to quality and work, and when these orders are
misguided by unscrupulous persons, You appear and set them
right.
"Dear Lord, the Vedic knowledge is the representation of Your
pure heart. Austerities, study of the Vedas, and meditative
trances lead to different realizations of Your Self in Your
manifested and nonmanifested aspects. The entire phenomenal
world is a manifestation of Your impersonal energy, but You
Yourself, as the original Personality of Godhead, are
nonmanifested there. You are the Supreme Soul, the
Supreme Brahman. Persons who are situated in brahminical
culture, therefore, can understand the truth about Your
transcendental form. Thus You always hold the brahmanas in
respect, and thus You are considered to be the topmost of all
followers of brahminical culture. You are therefore known as
brahmanya-deva. Our dear Lord, You are the last word in good
fortune and the last resort of all saintly persons; therefore
we all consider that we have achieved the perfection of our
life, education, austerity and acquisition of transcendental
knowledge by meeting You. Factually, You are the ultimate goal
of all transcendental achievements.
"Our dear Lord, there is no end to Your unlimited knowledge.
Your form is transcendental, eternally existing in full bliss
and knowledge. You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the
Supreme Brahman, the Supreme Soul. Being covered by the spell
of Your internal potency, yogamaya, You are now temporarily
concealing Your unlimited potencies, but still we can
understand Your exalted position, and therefore all of us offer
You our respectful obeisances. Dear Lord, You are enjoying Your
pastimes in the role of a human being, concealing Your real
character of transcendental opulence; therefore, all the
kings who are present here, even the members of the Yadu
dynasty who are constantly mingling with You, eating with You,
and sitting with You, cannot understand that You are the
original cause of all causes, the soul of everyone, the
original cause of all creation.
"When a person dreams at night, hallucinatory figures created
by the dream are accepted as real, and the imaginary dream body
is accepted as one's real body. For the time being one forgets
that besides the body created in hallucination, there is
another, real body in his awakened state. Similarly, in the
awakened state also, the bewildered conditioned soul considers
sense enjoyment to be real happiness.
"By the process of enjoyment of the senses of the material body,
the spirit soul is covered, and his consciousness becomes
materially contaminated. It is due to material consciousness
that one cannot understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
Krsna. All great mystic yogis endeavor to revive their Krsna
consciousness by mature practice of the yoga system and thus
understand Your lotus feet and meditate upon Your
transcendental form. In this way the accumulated
result of sinful activities is counteracted. It is said that
the water of the Ganges can vanquish volumes of a person's
sinful actions, but the Ganges water is glorious only due to
Your lotus feet. The Ganges water is flowing as perspiration
from the lotus feet of Your Lordship. And we are all so
fortunate that today we have been able to directly see Your
lotus feet. Dear Lord, we are all surrendered souls,
devotees of Your Lordship; therefore, please be kind and bestow
Your causeless mercy upon us. We know well that persons who
have become liberated by constant engagement in Your devotional
service are no longer contaminated by the material modes of
nature; thus they have become eligible to be promoted to the
kingdom of God in the spiritual world."
After first offering prayers to Lord Krsna, the assembled sages
wanted to take permission from King Dhrtarastra and King
Yudhisthira and then depart for their respective asramas. At
that time, however, Vasudeva, the father of Lord Krsna and the
most celebrated of all pious men, approached the sages and with
great humility offered his respects by falling down at their
feet. Vasudeva said, "My dear great sages, you are more
respected than the demigods. I therefore offer my respectful
obeisances unto you. I wish that you will accept my one request,
if you so desire. I shall consider it a great blessing if you
kindly explain the supreme fruitive activity by which one can
counteract the reactions of all other activities."
The great sage Narada was the leader of all the sages present
there. Therefore he began to speak. "My dear sages," he said, "
it is not very difficult to understand that because of his
great goodness and simplicity, Vasudeva, who has become the
father of the Personality of Godhead by accepting Krsna as his
son, is inclined to ask us about his welfare. It is said that
familiarity breeds contempt. As such, Vasudeva, having Krsna as
his son, does not regard Krsna with awe and veneration.
Sometimes it is seen that persons who are living on the bank of
the Ganges do not consider the Ganges to be very important, and
they go far away in order to take their baths at a place of
pilgrimage. Being that
Lord Krsna, whose
knowledge is never second in any circumstances
, is personally present
, there is no need
of Vasudeva's asking us for instruction
.
Lord Krsna is not affected by the process of creation,
maintenance and annihilation; His knowledge is never influenced
by any agency beyond Himself. He is not agitated by the
interaction of the material qualities, which changes things in
the modes of time. His transcendental form is full of knowledge
which never becomes agitated by ignorance, pride, attachment,
envy or sense enjoyment. His knowledge is never subjected to
the laws of karma regarding pious or impious activities; nor is
it influenced by the three modes of material energy. No one is
greater than or equal to Him, because He is the supreme
authority, the Personality of Godhead.
"The ordinary conditioned human being may think the
conditioned soul, who is covered by his materialistic senses,
mind and intelligence, to be equal to Krsna, but Lord Krsna is
just like the sun, which, although it sometimes may appear to
be so, is never covered by the cloud, snow or fog or by other
planets. When the eyes of less intelligent
men are covered by such influences, they think the sun to be
invisible. Similarly, persons influenced by the senses
and addicted to material enjoyment cannot have a clear vision
of the Supreme Personality of Godhead."
The sages present then began to address Vasudeva in the
presence of Lord Krsna, Balarama and many other kings, and, as
requested by him, they gave their instructions: "To counteract
the reaction of karma, or desires impelling
one to fruitive activities, one must
execute the prescribed sacrifices which are meant for
worshiping Lord Visnu with faith and devotion. Lord Visnu is
the beneficiary of the results of all sacrificial performances.
Great personalities and sages who are sufficiently experienced
to
possess vision of the three phases of the time
element, namely past, present and future, and those who are
able to see everything clearly through the eyes of revealed
scriptures, have unanimously recommended that to purify the
dust of material contamination accumulated in the heart and to
clear the path of liberation and thereby achieve transcendental
bliss, one must please Lord Visnu. For everyone
in the different social orders (brahmana,
ksatriya and vaisya) who are living as householders, this
worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Lord Visnu, who
is known as Purusottama, the original person, is recommended as
the only auspicious path.
"All conditioned souls within this material world have deep-
rooted desires to lord it over the resources of material nature.
Everyone wants to accumulate riches, everyone wants to enjoy
life to the greatest extent, everyone wants a wife, home and
children, and everyone wants to become happy in this world and
be elevated to the heavenly planets in the next life. But these
desires are the causes of one's material bondage. Therefore, to
get liberation from this bondage, one has to sacrifice his
honestly earned riches for the satisfaction of Lord Visnu.
"The only process to counteract all sorts of material desire
is to engage oneself in the devotional service of Lord Visnu.
In this way a self-controlled person, even while remaining in
householder life, should give up the three kinds of material
desires, namely desire for the acquisition of material
opulences, the enjoyment of wife and children, and
elevation to higher planets. Eventually he may give up
householder life and accept the renounced order of life,
engaging himself completely in the devotional service of the
Lord. Everyone, even if born in a higher status of life as
brahmana, ksatriya, or vaisya, is certainly indebted to the
demigods, to the sages, to the forefathers, to living
entities and so on, and in order to liquidate all these debts,
one has to perform sacrifices, study the Vedic literature and
generate children in religious householder life. If somehow one
accepts the renounced order of life without fulfilling this
debt, certainly he falls down from his position.
Today you have already liquidated your debts to your
forefathers and the sages. Now, by performing sacrifices, you
can free yourself from indebtedness to the demigods and thus
take complete shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. My
dear Vasudeva, certainly you have already performed many pious
activities in your previous lives. Otherwise, how could you be
the father of Krsna and Balarama, the Supreme Personality of
Godhead?"
Saintly Vasudeva, after hearing all the sages, offered his
respectful obeisances unto their lotus feet. In this way he
pleased the sages, and then he elected for them to perform
the yajnas. When the sages were elected as priests of the
sacrifices, they also in turn induced Vasudeva to collect the
required paraphernalia for executing the yajnas in that place
of pilgrimage. Thus Vasudeva was persuaded to start to
perform the yajnas, and all the members of the Yadu dynasty
took their baths, dressed themselves very nicely, and decorated
themselves beautifully and garlanded themselves with lotus
flowers. Vasudeva's wives, dressed with nice garments and
ornaments and golden necklaces, approached the arena of
sacrifice carrying in their hands the required articles to
offer in the sacrifice.
When everything was complete, there was heard the vibration of
mrdangas, conchshells, kettledrums and other musical
instruments. Professional dancers, both male and female, began
to dance. The sutas and magadhas, who were professional singers,
began to offer prayers by singing. The Gandharvas and
their wives, whose voices were very sweet, began to sing many
auspicious songs. Vasudeva anointed his eyes with collyrium
, smeared butter over his body, and then, along with
his eighteen wives, headed by Devaki, sat before the priests to
be purified by the abhiseka ceremony. All such ceremonies
were observed strictly according to the principles of
scriptures, as was done formerly in the case of
the moon with the stars. Vasudeva, because he was being
initiated for the sacrifice, was dressed in deerskin, but
all his wives were dressed with very nice saris, bangles,
necklaces, ankle bells, earrings and many other ornaments.
Vasudeva looked very beautiful surrounded by his wives, exactly
like the King of heaven when he performs such sacrifices.
At that time, when Lord Krsna and Lord Balarama, along with
Their wives, children and relatives, sat down in that great
sacrificial arena, it appeared that the Supreme Personality of
Godhead was present along with all His part and
parcel living entities and multi-energies. We have
heard from the sastras that Lord Krsna has multi-
energies and parts and parcels, but now in that sacrificial
arena all could actually experience how the Supreme
Personality of Godhead eternally exists along with His
different energies. At that time, Lord Krsna appeared as Lord
Narayana, and Lord Balarama appeared as Sankarsana, the
reservoir of all living entities.
Vasudeva satisfied Lord Visnu by performing different kinds of
sacrifices, such as jyotistoma, darsa and purnamasa. Some
of these yajnas are called prakrta, and some of them are known
as sauryasatra or vaikrta. Thereafter, the other
sacrifices, known as agnihotra, were also performed, and the
prescribed articles were offered in the proper way. In this
way Lord Visnu became pleased. The ultimate purpose of offering
oblations in sacrifice is to please Lord Visnu. But in this age
of Kali it is very difficult to collect the different articles
required for offering sacrifices. People have neither the means
to collect the required paraphernalia nor the necessary
knowledge or tendency to offer such sacrifices. Therefore, in
this age of Kali, when people are mostly unfortunate, full of
anxieties and disturbed by various kinds of calamities, the
only sacrifice recommended is the performance of sankirtana-
yajna. Worshiping Lord Caitanya by this sankirtana-yajna is the
only recommended process in this age.
After the performance of the different sacrifices, Vasudeva
offered ample riches, clothing, ornaments, cows, land and
maidservants to the priests. Thereafter, all the wives of
Vasudeva took their avabhrtha baths and performed the part of
the sacrificial duties known as patnisamyaja. After
finishing the offering with all the required paraphernalia,
they all took their baths together in the lakes constructed by
Parasurama, which are known as the Rama-hrada. After Vasudeva
and his wives took their baths, all the garments and ornaments
which they wore were distributed to the subordinate
persons who were engaged in singing, dancing and similar
activities. We may note that the performance of sacrifice
necessitates the profuse distribution of riches. Charity is
offered to the priests and the brahmanas in the beginning, and
used garments and ornaments are offered in charity to the
subordinate assistants after the performance of the sacrifice.
After offering the used articles to the singers and reciters,
Vasudeva and his wives, dressed with new ornaments and dresses,
fed everyone very sumptuously, beginning from the brahmanas
down to the dogs. After this, all the friends, family members,
wives and children of Vasudeva, along with
all the kings and members of the Vidarbha, Kosala, Kuru, Kasi,
Kekaya and Srnjaya dynasties, assembled together. The priests,
the demigods, the people in general, the forefathers, the
ghosts and the Caranas were all sufficiently remunerated by
being offered ample gifts and respectful honor. Then all the
persons assembled there took permission from Lord Krsna, the
husband of the goddess of fortune, and while glorifying the
perfection of the sacrifice made by Vasudeva, they departed to
their respective homes.
At that time, when King Dhrtarastra, Vidura, Yudhisthira, Bhima,
Arjuna, Bhismadeva, Dronacarya, Kunti, Nakula, Sahadeva,
Narada, Lord Vyasadeva and many other relatives and kinsmen
were about to part, they felt separation and therefore
embraced each and every member of the Yadu dynasty with great
feeling. Many others who were assembled in that sacrificial
arena also departed. After this, Lord Krsna and Lord Balarama,
along with King Ugrasena, satisfied the inhabitants of
Vrndavana, headed by Maharaja Nanda and the cowherd men, by
profusely offering all kinds of gifts in order to worship them
and please them. Out of their great feelings of friendship, the
inhabitants of Vrndavana remained there for a considerable time
along with the members of the Yadu dynasty.
After performing this sacrifice, Vasudeva felt so satisfied
that there was no limit to his happiness. All the members of
his family were with him, and in their presence he caught hold
of the hands of Nanda Maharaja and addressed him thus: "My dear
brother, the Supreme Personality of Godhead has created a great
tie of bondage which is known as the bondage of love and
affection. I think it is a very difficult job for even the
great sages and saintly persons to cut such a tie of love. My
dear brother, you have exhibited feelings of love for me, which
I was not able to return. I think, therefore, that I am
ungrateful. You have behaved exactly as is characteristic of
saintly persons, but I shall never be able to repay you. I have
no means to repay you for your friendly dealings. Nevertheless
I am confident that our tie of love will never break. Our
relationship of friendship must ever continue, in spite of my
inability to repay you. I hope you will excuse me for this
inability.
"My dear brother, in the beginning, due to my being imprisoned,
I could never serve you as a friend, and although at the
present moment I am very opulent, because of my material
prosperity I have become blind. I therefore cannot satisfy you
properly even at this time. My dear brother, you are so nice
and gentle that you offer all respect to others, but you don't
care for any respect for yourself. A person seeking for
auspicious progress in life must not possess too much
material opulence with which to become blind and
puffed up, but he should take care of his friends and relatives.
"
When Vasudeva was speaking to Nanda Maharaja in this way, he
was influenced by a great feeling for the friendship of Nanda
Maharaja and the beneficial activities executed by King Nanda
on his behalf. As such, his eyes filled with tears, and he
began to cry. Desiring to please his friend
Vasudeva and being affectionately bound with love for Lord
Krsna and Balarama, Nanda Maharaja passed three months in their
association. At the end of this time, all the members of the
Yadu dynasty tried to please the inhabitants of Vrndavana to
their hearts' content. The members of the Yadu dynasty tried to
satisfy Nanda Maharaja and his associates by offering them
clothing, ornaments, and many other valuable articles, and they
all became fully satisfied. Vasudeva, Ugrasena, Lord Krsna,
Lord Balarama, Uddhava and all other members of the Yadu
dynasty presented their individual gifts to Nanda Maharaja and
his associates. After Nanda Maharaja received these farewell
presentations, he, along with his associates, started for
Vrajabhumi, Vrndavana. The minds of the inhabitants of
Vrndavana remained, however, with Krsna and Balarama, and
therefore all of them started for Vrndavana without their minds.
When the members of the Vrsni family saw all their friends and
visitors departing, they observed that the rainy season was
approaching, and thus they decided to return to Dvaraka. They
were fully satisfied, for they regarded Krsna as everything.
When they returned to Dvaraka, they began with great
satisfaction to describe the sacrifice performed by Vasudeva,
their meeting with various friends and well-wishers, and
various other incidents which occurred during their travels
in the places of pilgrimage.
Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Second Volume,
Twenty-ninth Chapter, of Krsna, "Sacrificial Ceremonies
Performed by Vasudeva."
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KB 84: Sacrificial Ceremonies Performed by Vasudeva
CHAPTER EIGHTY–FOUR
Sacrificial Ceremonies Performed by Vasudeva
Among the women present at Kuruksetra during the solar eclipse
were Kunti, Gandhari, Draupadi, Subhadra and the queens of many
other kings, as well as the gopis from Vrndavana. When the
different queens of Lord Krsna were submitting their statements
as to how they had been married and accepted by Lord Krsna as
His wives, all the female members of the Kuru dynasty were
struck with wonder. They were filled with admiration at how all
the queens of Krsna were attached to Him with love and
affection. When they heard about the queens' intensity of love
and affection for Krsna, they could not check their eyes from
filling with tears.
While the women were engaged in conversations among themselves
and the men were similarly engaged in conversation, there
arrived from all directions almost all the important sages and
ascetics, who had come for the purpose of
seeing Lord Krsna and Balarama. Chief among the sages were
Krsna-dvaipayana Vyasa, the great sage Narada, Cyavana, Devala,
Asita, Visvamitra, Satananda, Bharadvaja, Gautama, Lord
Parasurama (along with his disciples), Vasistha, Galava, Bhrgu,
Pulastya, Kasyapa, Atri, Markandeya, Brhaspati, Dvita, Trita,
Ekata, the four Kumara sons of Brahma (Sanaka, Sanandana,
Sanatana and Sanat-kumara), Angira, Agastya,
Yajnavalkya and Vamadeva.
As soon as the sages and ascetics arrived, all the kings,
including Maharaja Yudhisthira and the other Pandavas and Lord
Krsna and Balarama, immediately got up from their seats and
offered respects by bowing down to the universally
respected sages. After this, the sages were properly welcomed
by being offered seats and water for washing their feet.
Palatable fruits, garlands of flowers, incense and sandalwood
pulp were presented, and all the kings, led by Krsna and
Balarama, worshiped the sages according to the Vedic rules and
regulations. When all the sages were comfortably seated, Lord
Krsna, who descended for the protection of religion, began to
address them on behalf of all the kings. When Krsna began to
speak, all became silent, being eager to hear and understand
His welcoming words to the sages.
Lord Krsna spoke thus: "All glories to the assembled sages and
ascetics! Today we all feel that our lives have become
successful. Today we have achieved the desired goal of life
because we now see face to face all the exalted,
liberated sages and ascetics, whom even the great demigods in
the heavens desire to see. Persons who are neophytes in
devotional service and who simply offer their respectful
obeisances to the Deity in the temple but cannot realize that
the Lord is situated in everyone's heart, and those who simply
worship different demigods for fulfillment of their own lusty
desires, are unable to understand the importance of these sages.
They cannot take advantage of receiving these sages by seeing
them with their eyes, by touching their lotus feet, by
inquiring about their welfare or by diligently worshiping them."
Neophyte devotees or religionists cannot understand the
importance of great mahatmas. They go to the temple as a matter
of formality and pay their respectful obeisances unto the Deity.
But when one is promoted to the next platform of
transcendental consciousness, one can understand the importance
of mahatmas and devotees, and in that stage one tries
to please them. Therefore, Lord Krsna said that the neophyte
cannot understand the importance of great sages, devotees or
ascetics.
Lord Krsna continued: "One cannot purify himself merely by
traveling to holy places of pilgrimage and taking a bath there
or by seeing the demigods' forms in the temples. But if one
happens to meet a great devotee, a mahatma who is a
representative of the Personality of Godhead, one is
immediately purified. To become purified, one is
enjoined to worship the fire, the sun, the moon, the
earth, the water, the air, the sky and the mind. By worshiping
all the elements and their predominating deities, one can
gradually become free from the influence of envy, but all the
sins of an envious person can be nullified immediately simply
by serving a great soul.
"My dear revered sages and respectable kings, you can take it
from Me that a person who accepts this material body made of
three elements -- mucus, bile and air -- as his own self, who
considers his family and relatives his own, who accepts
material things as worshipable, or who visits holy places of
pilgrimage just to take a bath there but never associates with
great personalities, sages and mahatmas -- such a person, even
though in the form of a human being, is nothing but an animal
like an ass."
When the supreme authority, Lord Krsna, was thus speaking with
great gravity, all the sages and ascetics remained in dead
silence. They were amazed upon hearing Him speak the
absolute philosophy of life in such a concise way. Unless one
is very much advanced in knowledge, one thinks his body to be
his self, his family members to be his own, and the
land of his birth to be worshipable. From this concept of life,
the modern ideology of nationalism has sprung up. Lord Krsna
condemned such ideas, and He also condemned persons who take
the trouble to go to holy places of pilgrimage just to take a
bath and come back without taking the opportunity to associate
with the great devotees and mahatmas living there. Such persons
are compared to the most foolish animal, the ass. All those who
heard considered the speech of Lord Krsna for some time, and
they concluded that Lord Krsna was actually the Supreme
Personality of Godhead playing the role of an ordinary human
being, who is forced to take a certain type of body as a result
of the reactions of his past deeds. He was assuming this
pastime as an ordinary human simply to teach the people in
general how they should live for perfection of the human
mission.
Having concluded that Krsna was the Supreme Personality of
Godhead, the sages addressed Him thus: "Dear Lord,
we, the leaders of human society, are supposed to possess the
proper philosophy of life, yet we are bewildered
by the spell of Your external energy. We are surprised to see
Your behavior, which is just like that of an ordinary human
being and which conceals Your real identity as the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, and we therefore consider Your pastimes
to be all-wonderful.
"Our dear Lord, by Your own energy You create,
maintain and annihilate the whole cosmic manifestation of
different names and forms, in the same way that the earth
creates many forms of stone, trees and other varieties of names
and forms and yet remains the same. Although You create
varieties of manifestations through Your energy, You
are unaffected by all those actions. Our dear Lord, we are
simply stunned to see Your wonderful acts. Although You
are transcendental to this entire material creation and are the
Supreme Lord and the Supersoul of all living entities, You
appear on this earth by Your internal potency to
protect Your devotees and destroy the miscreants. By such an
appearance You reestablish the principles of eternal religion,
which human society forgets by long association with the
material energy. Our dear Lord, You are the creator of the
social orders and spiritual statuses of human society
according to quality and work, and when these orders are
misguided by unscrupulous persons, You appear and set them
right.
"Dear Lord, the Vedic knowledge is the representation of Your
pure heart. Austerities, study of the Vedas, and meditative
trances lead to different realizations of Your Self in Your
manifested and nonmanifested aspects. The entire phenomenal
world is a manifestation of Your impersonal energy, but You
Yourself, as the original Personality of Godhead, are
not manifested there. You are the Supreme Soul, the
Supreme Brahman. Persons who are situated in brahminical
culture, therefore, can understand the truth about Your
transcendental form. Thus You always hold the brahmanas in
respect, and You are considered to be the topmost of all
followers of brahminical culture. You are therefore known as
brahmanya-deva. Our dear Lord, You are the last word in good
fortune and the last resort of all saintly persons; therefore
we all consider that we have achieved the perfection of our
life, education, austerity and acquisition of transcendental
knowledge by meeting You. Factually, You are the ultimate goal
of all transcendental achievements.
"Our dear Lord, there is no end to Your unlimited knowledge.
Your form is transcendental, eternally existing in full bliss
and knowledge. You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the
Supreme Brahman, the Supreme Soul. Being covered by the spell
of Your internal potency, yogamaya, You are now temporarily
concealing Your unlimited potencies, but still we can
understand Your exalted position, and therefore all of us offer
You our respectful obeisances. Dear Lord, You are enjoying Your
pastimes in the role of a human being, concealing Your real
character of transcendental opulence; therefore, none of the
kings present here, even the members of the Yadu
dynasty, who constantly mingle with You, eat with You
and sit with You, can understand that You are the
original cause of all causes, the soul of everyone, the
original cause of all creation.
"When a person dreams at night, hallucinatory figures created
by the dream are accepted as real, and the imaginary dream body
is accepted as one's real body. For the time being, one forgets
that besides the body created in hallucination, there is
another, real body in his awakened state. Similarly, in the
awakened state also, the bewildered conditioned soul considers
sense enjoyment to be real happiness.
"By the process of enjoying the senses of the material body,
the spirit soul is covered, and his consciousness becomes
materially contaminated. It is due to material consciousness
that one cannot understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
Krsna. All great mystic yogis endeavor to revive their Krsna
consciousness by mature practice of the yoga system just to
understand Your lotus feet. They meditate upon Your
transcendental form to counteract their accumulated
sinful reactions. It is said that
the water of the Ganges can vanquish volumes of a person's
sinful reactions, but the Ganges water is glorious only due to
Your lotus feet. The Ganges water flows as perspiration
from the lotus feet of Your Lordship. And we are all so
fortunate that today we have been able to see Your
lotus feet directly. Dear Lord, we are all surrendered souls,
devotees of Your Lordship; therefore, please be kind and bestow
Your causeless mercy upon us. We know well that persons who
have become liberated by constant engagement in Your devotional
service are no longer contaminated by the material modes of
nature; thus they have become eligible to be promoted to the
kingdom of God in the spiritual world."
After first offering prayers to Lord Krsna, the assembled sages
wanted to take permission from King Dhrtarastra and King
Yudhisthira and then depart for their respective asramas. At
that time, however, Vasudeva, the father of Lord Krsna and the
most celebrated of all pious men, approached the sages and with
great humility offered his respects by falling down at their
feet. Vasudeva said, "My dear great sages, you are more
respected than the demigods. I therefore offer my respectful
obeisances unto you. I wish for you to accept my one request,
if you so desire. I shall consider it a great blessing if you
kindly explain the supreme fruitive activity by which one can
counteract the reactions of all other activities."
The great sage Narada was the leader of all the sages present
. Therefore he began to speak. "My dear sages," he said, "
it is not very difficult to understand that because of his
great goodness and simplicity, Vasudeva, who has become the
father of the Personality of Godhead by accepting Krsna as his
son, is inclined to ask us about his welfare. It is said that
familiarity breeds contempt. As such, Vasudeva, having Krsna as
his son, does not regard Krsna with awe and veneration.
Sometimes it is seen that persons living on the bank of
the Ganges do not consider the Ganges very important, and
they go far away to take their baths at a place of
pilgrimage. There is no need for Vasudeva to ask us for
instruction when Lord Krsna is personally present, because His
knowledge is never second in any circumstance. His knowledge
is not affected by the process of creation, maintenance and
annihilation, nor is it ever influenced by any
agency beyond Himself, nor is it agitated by the interactions
of the material qualities or changed in the course
of time. His transcendental form is full of knowledge which
never becomes agitated by ignorance, pride, attachment, envy or
sense enjoyment. His knowledge is never subject to the laws of
karma regarding pious or impious activities, nor is it
influenced by the three modes of material energy. No one is
greater than or equal to Him, because He is the supreme
authority, the Personality of Godhead.
"The ordinary conditioned human being may think that the
conditioned soul, who is covered by his materialistic senses,
mind and intelligence, is equal to Krsna, but Lord Krsna is
just like the sun, which, although it sometimes may appear to
be so, is never covered by the cloud, snow or fog, or by other
planets during an eclipse. When the eyes of less intelligent
men are covered by such influences, they think the sun to be
invisible. Similarly, persons who are influenced by senses
addicted to material enjoyment cannot have a clear vision
of the Supreme Personality of Godhead."
The sages present then began to address Vasudeva in the
presence of Lord Krsna, Balarama and many other kings, and, as
requested by him, they gave their instructions: "To counteract
the reactions of fruitive activities and the desires impelling
one to fruitive activities, one must with faith and devotion
execute the prescribed sacrifices meant for
worshiping Lord Visnu. Lord Visnu is
the beneficiary of the results of all sacrificial performances.
Great personalities and sages who are able
to see everything clearly through the eyes of the revealed
scriptures and possess vision of the three phases of the time
element, namely past, present and future,
have unanimously recommended that to purify the
dust of material contamination accumulated in the heart and to
clear the path of liberation and thereby achieve transcendental
bliss, one must please Lord Visnu. For everyone living as a
householder in one of the higher social orders (brahmana,
ksatriya and vaisya), this
worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Visnu, who
is known as Purusottama, the original person, is recommended as
the only auspicious path.
"All conditioned souls within this material world have deep-
rooted desires to lord it over the resources of material nature.
Everyone wants to accumulate riches, everyone wants to enjoy
life to the greatest extent, everyone wants a wife, home and
children, and everyone wants to become happy in this world and
be elevated to the heavenly planets in the next life. But these
desires are the causes of one's material bondage. Therefore, to
get liberation from this bondage, one has to sacrifice his
honestly earned riches for the satisfaction of Lord Visnu.
"The only process to counteract all sorts of material desires
is to engage oneself in the devotional service of Lord Visnu.
In this way a self-controlled person, even while remaining in
householder life, should give up the three kinds of material
desires, namely the desire for the acquisition of material
opulences, for the enjoyment of wife and children, and for
elevation to higher planets. Eventually he should give up
householder life and accept the renounced order,
engaging himself completely in the devotional service of the
Lord. Everyone, even if born in a higher status as a
brahmana, ksatriya or vaisya, is certainly indebted to the
demigods, to the sages, to the forefathers and to other living
entities, and in order to liquidate all these debts,
one has to perform sacrifices, study the Vedic literature and
generate children in religious householder life. If somehow one
accepts the renounced order of life without liquidating these
debts, he certainly falls down from his position.
Today you have already liquidated your debts to your
forefathers and the sages. Now, by performing sacrifices, you
can free yourself from indebtedness to the demigods and thus
take complete shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. My
dear Vasudeva, certainly you have already performed many pious
activities in your previous lives. Otherwise, how could you be
the father of Krsna and Balarama, the Supreme Personality of
Godhead?"
Saintly Vasudeva, after hearing all the sages, offered his
respectful obeisances unto their lotus feet. In this way he
pleased the sages, and then he requested them to perform
the yajnas. When the sages were selected as priests of the
sacrifices, they in turn induced Vasudeva to collect the
required paraphernalia for executing the yajnas in that place
of pilgrimage. When Vasudeva was thus persuaded to start to
perform the yajnas, all the members of the Yadu dynasty
took their baths, dressed themselves very nicely, decorated
themselves beautifully and garlanded themselves with lotus
flowers. Vasudeva's wives, dressed with nice garments and
ornaments and golden necklaces, approached the arena of
sacrifice carrying in their hands the required articles to
offer in the sacrifice.
When everything was complete, there was heard the vibration of
mrdangas, conchshells, kettledrums and other musical
instruments. Professional dancers, both male and female, began
to dance. The sutas and magadhas, who were professional singers,
began to offer prayers by singing. And the Gandharvas and
their wives, whose voices were very sweet, began to sing many
auspicious songs. Vasudeva anointed his eyes with black
cosmetic, smeared butter over his body and then, along with
his eighteen wives, headed by Devaki, sat before the priests to
be purified by the abhiseka ceremony. While the ceremony
was being observed strictly according to the principles of the
scriptures, Vasudeva resembled
the moon encircled by stars. Because he was being
initiated for the sacrifice, he was dressed in a deerskin, but
all his wives were dressed with very nice saris, bangles,
necklaces, ankle bells, earrings and many other ornaments.
Vasudeva looked very beautiful surrounded by his wives, exactly
like the King of heaven when he performs such sacrifices.
At that time, when Lord Krsna and Lord Balarama, along with
Their wives, children and relatives, sat down in that great
sacrificial arena, it appeared that the Supreme Personality of
Godhead was present along with all the living entities and
multienergies that are part of Him. We have
heard from the sastras that Lord Krsna has
multienergies and parts and parcels, but now, in that
sacrificial arena, all could actually experience how the
Supreme Personality of Godhead eternally exists with His
different energies. At that time, Lord Krsna appeared as Lord
Narayana, and Lord Balarama appeared as Sankarsana, the
reservoir of all living entities.
Vasudeva satisfied Lord Visnu by performing different kinds of
sacrifices, such as Jyotistoma and Darsa-purnamasa. Some
of these yajnas are called prakrta, and some of them are known
as saurya-satra or vaikrta. Thereafter, the other
sacrifices, known as Agnihotra, were also performed, and the
prescribed articles were offered in the proper way. Thus
Lord Visnu was pleased. The ultimate purpose of offering
oblations in sacrifice is to please Lord Visnu. But in this Age
of Kali it is very difficult to collect the different articles
required for offering sacrifices. People have neither the means
to collect the required paraphernalia nor the necessary
knowledge or tendency to offer such sacrifices. Therefore, in
this Age of Kali, when people are mostly unfortunate, full of
anxieties and disturbed by various kinds of calamities, the
only sacrifice recommended is the performance of sankirtana-
yajna. Worshiping Lord Caitanya by the sankirtana-yajna is the
only recommended process in this age.
After the performance of the different sacrifices, Vasudeva
offered ample riches, clothing, ornaments, cows, land and
maidservants to the priests. Thereafter, all the wives of
Vasudeva took their avabhrtha baths and performed the part of
the sacrificial duties known as patni-samyaja. After
finishing the offering with all the required paraphernalia,
they all took their baths together in the lakes constructed by
Parasurama, which are known as the Rama-hrada. After Vasudeva
and his wives took their baths, all the garments and ornaments
they had worn were distributed to the subordinate
persons engaged in singing, dancing and similar
activities. We may note that the performance of sacrifice
necessitates the profuse distribution of riches. Charity is
offered to the priests and the brahmanas in the beginning, and
used garments and ornaments are offered in charity to the
subordinate assistants after the performance of the sacrifice.
After offering the used articles to the singers and reciters,
Vasudeva and his wives, dressed with new ornaments and garments,
fed everyone very sumptuously, from the brahmanas
down to the dogs. After this, all the friends, family members,
wives and children of Vasudeva assembled together, along with
all the kings and members of the Vidarbha, Kosala, Kuru, Kasi,
Kekaya and Srnjaya dynasties. The priests,
the demigods, the people in general, the forefathers, the
ghosts and the Caranas were all sufficiently remunerated by
being offered ample gifts and respectful honor. Then all the
persons assembled there took permission from Lord Krsna, the
husband of the goddess of fortune, and while glorifying the
perfection of the sacrifice made by Vasudeva, they departed to
their respective homes.
At that time, when King Dhrtarastra, Vidura, Yudhisthira, Bhima,
Arjuna, Bhismadeva, Dronacarya, Kunti, Nakula, Sahadeva,
Narada, Lord Vyasadeva and many other relatives and kinsmen
were about to depart, they felt separation and therefore
embraced each and every member of the Yadu dynasty with great
feeling. Many others who were assembled in that sacrificial
arena also departed. After this, Lord Krsna and Lord Balarama,
along with King Ugrasena, satisfied the inhabitants of
Vrndavana, headed by Maharaja Nanda and the cowherd men, by
profusely offering all kinds of gifts to worship them
and please them. Out of their great feelings of friendship, the
inhabitants of Vrndavana remained there for a considerable time
with the members of the Yadu dynasty.
After performing this sacrifice, Vasudeva felt so satisfied
that there was no limit to his happiness. All the members of
his family were with him, and in their presence he caught hold
of the hands of Nanda Maharaja and addressed him thus: "My dear
brother, the Supreme Personality of Godhead has created a great
tie of bondage known as the bondage of love and
affection. I think that it is a very difficult job for even the
great sages and saintly persons to cut such a tie of love. My
dear brother, you have exhibited feelings of love for me that
I was not able to return. I think, therefore, that I am
ungrateful. You have behaved exactly as is characteristic of
saintly persons, but I shall never be able to repay you. I have
no means to repay you for your friendly dealings. Nevertheless
I am confident that our tie of love will never break. Our
friendship must ever continue, in spite of my
inability to repay you. I hope you will excuse me for this
inability.
"My dear brother, in the beginning, due to my being imprisoned,
I could never serve you as a friend, and although at the
present moment I am very opulent, because of my material
prosperity I have become blind. I therefore cannot satisfy you
properly even at this time. My dear brother, you are so nice
and gentle that you offer all respect to others but don't
care for any respect for yourself. A person seeking
auspicious progress in life must avoid possessing too much
material opulence so that he will not become blind and
puffed up, and he should take care of his friends and relatives.
"
When Vasudeva was speaking to Nanda Maharaja in this way, he
was influenced by a great feeling for the friendship of Nanda
Maharaja and the beneficial activities executed by King Nanda
on his behalf. As such, his eyes filled with tears, and he
began to cry. Nanda Maharaja, desiring to please his friend
Vasudeva and being affectionately bound with love for Lord
Krsna and Balarama, passed three months in their
association. At the end of this time, all the members of the
Yadu dynasty tried to please the inhabitants of Vrndavana to
their hearts' content. The members of the Yadu dynasty tried to
satisfy Nanda Maharaja and his associates by offering them
clothing, ornaments and many other valuable articles, and they
all became fully satisfied. Vasudeva, Ugrasena, Lord Krsna,
Lord Balarama, Uddhava and all other members of the Yadu
dynasty presented their individual gifts to Nanda Maharaja and
his associates. After Nanda Maharaja received these farewell
presentations, he, along with his associates, started for
Vrajabhumi, Vrndavana. The minds of the inhabitants of
Vrndavana remained, however, with Krsna and Balarama, and
therefore all of them started for Vrndavana without their minds.
When the members of the Vrsni family saw all their friends and
visitors departing, they observed that the rainy season was
approaching, and thus they decided to return to Dvaraka. They
were fully satisfied, for they regarded Krsna as everything.
When they returned to Dvaraka, they described with great
satisfaction the sacrifice performed by Vasudeva,
their meeting with various friends and well-wishers, and
various other incidents that had occurred during their travels
in the places of pilgrimage.
Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Eighty
-fourth Chapter of Krsna, "Sacrificial Ceremonies
Performed by Vasudeva."
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