The Advent of Krishna
continued...
[I'm a bit pressed for time, so here's Prabhupada's own version of the birth of Krishna...
excerpted from Krishna Book]
by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
with thanks to BBT ISKCON
Kamsa began to think: "What is to be done
with Devaki? Surely she has Visnu or Krsna within her womb, so it is certain
that Krsna has come to execute the mission of the demigods. And even if I
immediately kill Devaki, His mission cannot be frustrated."
Kamsa knew very well that no one can frustrate
the purpose of Visnu. Kamsa thought: "If I kill Devaki at the present
moment, Visnu will enforce His supreme will. To kill Devaki just now would be a
most abominable act.
No one desires to kill his reputation, even in an
awkward situation; if I kill Devaki now, my reputation will be spoiled. Devaki
is a woman, and she is under my shelter; she is pregnant, and if I kill her,
immediately all my reputation, the result of pious activities and duration of
life, will be finished." Kamsa thus meditated on all the pros and cons of
killing Devaki at that time. and finally decided not to kill Devaki right away
but to wait and see.
But his mind became absorbed in animosity against
the Personality of Godhead. He patiently waited for the deliverance of the
child, expecting to kill Him, as he had done with the other babies of Devaki.
At this time Brahma and Siva, accompanied by
sages like Narada and the demigods, invisibly appeared in the house of Kamsa. They began to pray for the Supreme Personality of
Godhead.
Devaki was very much afraid of her brother Kamsa
because he had already killed so many of her children. She used to remain very
anxious about Krsna. In the Visnu Purana it is stated that in order to pacify
Devaki, all the demigods, along with their wives, used to always visit her to
encourage her not to be afraid that her son would be killed by Kamsa. Krsna,
who was within her womb, was to appear not only to diminish the burden of the
world but specifically to protect the interest of the Yadu dynasty, and
certainly to protect Devaki and Vasudeva.
At that time, in all directions, east, west,
south, north, everywhere, there was an atmosphere of peace and prosperity.
There were auspicious stars visible in the sky, and on the surface in all towns
and villages or pasturing grounds and within the minds of everyone there were
signs of good fortune. The rivers were flowing full of waters, and lakes were
beautifully decorated with lotus flowers. The forests were full with beautiful
birds and peacocks.
All the birds within the forests began to sing
with sweet voices, and the peacocks began to dance along with their consorts.
The wind blew very pleasantly, carrying the aroma of different flowers, and the
sensation of bodily touch was very pleasing. At home, the brahmanas, who were
accustomed to offer sacrifices in the fire, found their homes very pleasant for
offerings.
Due to disturbances created by the demoniac
kings, the sacrificial fire alter had been almost stopped in the houses of
brahmanas, but now they could find the opportunity to start the fire
peacefully. Being forbidden to offer sacrifices, the brahmanas were very
distressed in mind, intelligence and activities, but just on the point of
Krsna's appearance, automatically their minds became full of joy because they
could hear loud vibrations in the sky of transcendental sounds proclaiming the
appearance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Gandharvasbegan to sing. In the heavenly planets,
the angels sang and the Apsaras danced.
Gods and sages showered flowers from the sky. At
the seashore, there was the sound of mild waves, and above the sea there were
clouds in the sky which began to thunder very pleasingly.
And so it was that Lord Visnu, who lives in the hearts of all
living beings appeared in the darkness of night as the living God Himself
before Devaki. His birth was like the full moon rising on the eastern horizon.
Vasudeva saw that wonderful child born as a baby
with four hands, holding conchshell, club, disc, and lotus flower, decorated
with the mark of Srivatsa, wearing the jeweled necklace of kaustubha stone,
dressed in yellow silk, appearing dazzling like a bright blackish cloud,
wearing a helmet bedecked with the vaidurya stone, valuable bracelets, earrings
and similar other ornaments all over His body and an abundance of hair on His
head.
Advent of Krishna |
Vasudeva
was astonished. How could a newly born child be so decorated? He could
therefore understand that Lord Krsna had now appeared, and he became overpowered
by the occasion. Vasudeva very humbly wondered that although he was an ordinary
living entity conditioned by material nature and was externally imprisoned by
Kamsa, the all-pervading Personality of Godhead, Visnu or Krsna, was appearing
as a child in his home, exactly in His original position. No earthly child is
born with four hands decorated with ornaments and nice clothing, fully equipped
with all the signs of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Over and over again,
Vasudeva glanced at his child, and he considered how to celebrate this
auspicious moment: "Generally, when a male child is born," he
thought, "people observe the occasion with jubilant celebrations, and in
my home, although I am imprisoned, the Supreme Personality of Godhead has taken
birth. How many millions of millions of times should I be prepared to observe
this auspicious ceremony!"
Advent of Krishna |
When Vasudeva, who is also called Anakadundubhi,
was looking at his newborn baby, he was so happy that he wanted to give many
thousands of cows in charity to the brahmanas. According to the Vedic system,
whenever there is an auspicious ceremony in the ksatriya king's palace, the
king gives many things in charity. Cows decorated with golden ornaments are
delivered to the brahmanas and sages. Vasudeva wanted to perform a charitable
ceremony to celebrate Krsna's appearance, but because he was shackled within
the walls of Kamsa's prison, this was not possible. Instead, within his mind he
gave thousands of cows to the brahmanas.
Vasudeva offers prayers |
When Vasudeva was convinced that the newborn
child was the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself, he bowed down with folded
hands and began to offer Him prayers. At that time Vasudeva was in the
transcendental position, and he became completely free from all fear of Kamsa.
The newborn baby was also flashing His effulgence within the room in which He
appeared.
Vasudeva then began to offer his prayers.
"My dear Lord, I can understand who You are. You are the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, the Supersoul of all living entities and the Absolute
Truth. You have appeared in Your own eternal form which is directly perceived
by us. I understand that because I am afraid of Kamsa, You have appeared just
to deliver me from that fear. You do not belong to this material world; You are
the same person who brings about the cosmic manifestation simply by glancing
over material nature."
Mahavishnu |
One may argue that the Supreme Personality of
Godhead, who creates the whole cosmic manifestation simply by His glance,
cannot come within the womb of Devaki, the wife of Vasudeva. To eradicate this
argument, Vasudeva said, "My dear Lord, it is not a very wonderful thing
that You appear within the womb of Devaki because the creation was also made in
that way. You were lying in the Causal Ocean as Maha-Visnu, and by Your breathing
process, innumerable universes came into existence. Then You entered into each
of the universes as Garbhodakasayi Visnu. Then again You expanded Yourself as
Ksirodakasayi Visnu and entered into the hearts of all living entities and
entered even within the atoms. Therefore Your entrance in the womb of Devaki is
understandable in the same way. You appear to have entered, but You are
simultaneously all-pervading. We can understand Your entrance and nonentrance
from material examples. The total material energy remains intact even after
being divided into sixteen elements. The material body is nothing but the
combination of the five gross elements--namely earth, water, fire, air and
ether. Whenever there is a material body, it appears that such elements are newly
created, but actually the elements are always existing outside of the body.
Similarly, although You appear as a child in the womb of Devaki, You are also
existing outside. You are always in Your abode, but still You can
simultaneously expand Yourself into millions of forms.
"One has to understand Your appearance with
great intelligence because the material energy is also emanating from You. You
are the original source of the material energy, just as the sun is the source
of the sunshine. The sunshine cannot cover the sun globe, nor can the material
energy--being an emanation from You--cover You. You appear to be in the three
modes of material energy, but actually the three modes of material energy
cannot cover You. This is understood by the highly intellectual philosophers.
In other words, although You appear to be within the material energy, You are
never covered by it."
We hear from the Vedic version that the Supreme
Brahman exhibits His effulgence, and therefore everything becomes illuminated.
We can understand from Brahma-samhita that the brahmajyoti, or the Brahman
effulgence, emanates from the body of the Supreme Lord. And from the Brahman
effulgence, all creation takes place. It is further stated in the Bhagavad-gita
that the Lord is also the support of the Brahman effulgence. Originally He is
the root cause of everything. But persons who are less intelligent think that
when the Supreme Personality of Godhead comes within this material world, He
accepts the material qualities. Such conclusions are not very mature, but are
made by the less intelligent.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead is directly
and indirectly existing everywhere; He is outside this material creation, and
He is also within it. He is within this material creation not only as Garbhodakasayi
Visnu; He is also within the atom. Existence is due to His presence. Nothing
can be separated from His existence. In the Vedic injunction we find that the
Supreme Soul or the root cause of everything has to be searched out because
nothing exists independent of the Supreme Soul. Therefore the material
manifestation is also a transformation of His potency. Both inert matter and
the living force--soul--are emanations from Him. Only the foolish conclude that
when the Supreme Lord appears He accepts the conditions of matter. Even if He
appears to have accepted the material body, He is still not subjected to any
material condition. Krsna has therefore appeared and defeated all imperfect
conclusions about the appearance and disappearance of the Supreme Personality
of Godhead.
"My Lord, Your appearance, existence and
disappearance are beyond the influence of the material qualities. Because Your
Lordship is the controller of everything and the resting place of the Supreme
Brahman, there is nothing inconceivable or contradictory in You. As You have
said, material nature works under Your superintendence. It is just like
government officers working under the orders of the chief executive. The
influence of subordinate activities cannot affect You. The Supreme Brahman and
all phenomena are existing within You, and all the activities of material
nature are controlled by Your Lordship.
"You are called suklam. Suklam, or
'whiteness' is the symbolic representation of the Absolute Truth because it is
unaffected by the material qualities. Lord Brahma is called rakta, or red,
because Brahma represents the qualities of passion for creation. Darkness is
entrusted to Lord Siva because he annihilates the cosmos. The creation,
annihilation and maintenance of this cosmic manifestation is conducted by Your
potencies, yet You are always unaffected by those qualities. As confirmed in the
Vedas, harir hi nirgunah saksat: the Supreme Personality of Godhead is always
free from all material qualities. It is also said that the qualities of passion
and ignorance are nonexistent in the person of the Supreme Lord.
"My Lord, You are the supreme controller,
the Personality of Godhead, the supreme great, maintaining the order of this
cosmic manifestation. And in spite of Your being the supreme controller, You
have so kindly appeared in my home. The purpose of Your appearance is to kill
the followers of the demoniac rulers of the world who are in the dress of royal
princes but are actually demons. I am sure that You will kill all of them and
their followers and soldiers.
"I understand that You have appeared to kill
the uncivilized Kamsa and his followers. But knowing that You were to appear to
kill him and his followers, he has already killed so many of Your predecessors,
elder brothers. Now he is simply awaiting the news of Your birth. As soon as he
hears about it, he will immediately appear with all kinds of weapons to kill
You."
After this prayer of Vasudeva, Devaki, the mother
of Krsna, offered her prayers. She was very frightened because of her brother's
atrocities. Devaki said, "My dear Lord, Your eternal forms, like Narayana,
Lord Rama, Sesa, Varaha, Nrsimha, Vamana, Baladeva, and millions of similar
incarnations emanating from Visnu, are described in the Vedic literature as
original. You are original because all Your forms as incarnations are outside
of this material creation. Your form was existing before this cosmic
manifestation was created. Your forms are eternal and all-pervading. They are
self-effulgent, changeless and uncontaminated by the material qualities. Such
eternal forms are ever-cognizant and full of bliss; they are situated in transcendental
goodness and are always engaged in different pastimes. You are not limited to a
particular form only; all such transcendental eternal forms are
self-sufficient. I can understand that You are the Supreme Lord Visnu.
"After many millions of years, when Lord
Brahma comes to the end of his life, the annihilation of the cosmic
manifestation takes place. At that time the five elements--namely earth, water,
fire, air and ether--enter into the mahat-tattva. The mahat-tattva again
enters, by the force of time, into the nonmanifested total material energy; the
total material energy enters into the energetic pradhana, and the pradhana
enters into You. Therefore after the annihilation of the whole cosmic
manifestation, You alone remain with Your transcendental name, form, quality
and paraphernalia.
"My Lord, I offer my respectful obeisances
unto You because You are the director of the unmanifested total energy, and the
ultimate reservoir of the material nature. My Lord, the whole cosmic
manifestation is under the influence of time, beginning from the moment up to
the duration of the year. All act under Your direction. You are the original
director of everything and the reservoir of all potent energies.
"Therefore my Lord, I request You to save me
from the cruel hands of the son of Ugrasena, Kamsa. I am praying to Your
Lordship to please rescue me from this fearful condition because You are always
ready to give protection to Your servitors." The Lord has confirmed this
statement in the Bhagavad-gita by assuring Arjuna, "You may declare to the
world, My devotee shall never be vanquished."
While thus praying to the Lord for rescue, mother
Devaki expressed her motherly affection: "I understand that this
transcendental form is generally perceived in meditation by the great sages,
but I am still afraid because as soon as Kamsa understands that You have
appeared, he might harm You. So I request that for the time being You become
invisible to our material eyes." In other words, she requested the Lord to
assume the form of an ordinary child. "My only cause of fear from my
brother Kamsa is due to Your appearance. My Lord Madhusudana, Kamsa may know
that You are already born. Therefore I request You to conceal this four-armed
form of Your Lordship which holds the four symbols of Visnu--namely the
conchshell, the disc, the club and the lotus flower. My dear Lord, at the end
of the annihilation of the cosmic manifestation, You put the whole universe
within Your abdomen; still by Your unalloyed mercy You have appeared in my
womb. I am surprised that You imitate the activities of ordinary human beings
just to please Your devotee."
On hearing the prayers of Devaki, the Lord
replied, "My dear mother, in the millennium of Svayambhuva Manu, My father
Vasudeva was living as one of the Prajapatis, and his name at that time was
Sutapa, and you were his wife named Prsni. At that time, when Lord Brahma was
desiring to increase the population, he requested you to generate offspring.
You controlled your senses and performed severe austerities. By practicing the
breathing exercise of the yoga system, both you and your husband could tolerate
all the influences of the material laws: the rainy season, the onslaught of the
wind, and the scorching heat of the sunshine. You also executed all religious
principles. In this way you were able to cleanse your heart and control the
influence of material law. In executing your austerity, you used to eat only
the leaves of the trees which fell to the ground. Then with steady mind and
controlled sex drive, you worshiped Me, desiring some wonderful benediction
from Me. Both of you practiced severe austerities for twelve thousand years, by
the calculation of the demigods. During that time, your mind was always
absorbed in Me. When you were executing devotional service and always thinking
of Me within your heart, I was very much pleased with you. O sinless mother,
your heart is therefore always pure. At that time also I appeared before you in
this form just to fulfill your desire, and I asked you to ask whatever you
desired. At that time you wished to have Me born as your son. Although you saw
Me personally, instead of asking for your complete liberation from the material
bondage, under the influence of My energy, you asked Me to become your
son."
In other words, the Lord selected His mother and
father--namely Prsni and Sutapa--specifically to appear in the material world.
Whenever the Lord comes as a human being, He must have someone as a mother and
father, so He selected Prsni and Sutapa perpetually as His mother and father.
And on account of this, both Prsni and Sutapa could not ask the Lord for
liberation. Liberation is not so important as the transcendental loving service
of the Lord. The Lord could have awarded Prsni and Sutapa immediate liberation,
but He preferred to keep them within this material world for His different
appearances, as will be explained in the following verses. On receiving the
benediction from the Lord to become His father and mother, both Prsni and
Sutapa returned from the activities of austerity and lived as husband and wife
in order to beget a child who was the Supreme Lord Himself.
In due course of time Prsni became pregnant and
gave birth to the child. The Lord spoke to Devaki and Vasudeva: "At that
time My name was Prsnigarbha. In the next millennium also you took birth as
Aditi and Kasyapa, and I became your child of the name Upendra. At that time My
form was just like a dwarf, and for this reason I was known as Vamanadeva. I
gave you the benediction that I would take birth as your son three times. The
first time I was known as Prsnigarbha, born of Prsni and Sutapa, the next birth
I was Upendra born of Aditi and Kasyapa, and now for the third time I am born
as Krsna from you, Devaki and Vasudeva. I appeared in this Visnu form just to
convince you that I am the same Supreme Personality of Godhead again taken
birth. I could have appeared just like an ordinary child, but in that way you
would not believe that I, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, have taken birth
in your womb. My dear father and mother, you have therefore raised Me many
times as your child, with great affection and love, and I am therefore very
pleased and obliged to you. And I assure you that this time you shall go back
to home, back to Godhead, on account of your perfection in your mission. I know
you are very concerned about Me and afraid of Kamsa. Therefore I order you to
take Me immediately to Gokula and replace Me with the daughter who has just
been born to Yasoda."
Having spoken thus in the presence of His father
and mother, the Lord turned Himself into an ordinary child and remained silent.
Being ordered by the Supreme Personality of
Godhead, Vasudeva attempted to take his son from the delivery room, and exactly
at that time, a daughter was born of Nanda and Yasoda. She was Yogamaya, the
internal potency of the Lord.
By the influence of this internal potency, Yogamaya, all the residents of Kamsa's palace, especially the doorkeepers, were overwhelmed with deep sleep, and all the palace doors opened, although they were barred and shackled with iron chains. The night was very dark, but as soon as Vasudeva took Krsna on his lap and went out, he could see everything just as in the sunlight.
"the doorkeepers were overwhelmed with sleep" |
By the influence of this internal potency, Yogamaya, all the residents of Kamsa's palace, especially the doorkeepers, were overwhelmed with deep sleep, and all the palace doors opened, although they were barred and shackled with iron chains. The night was very dark, but as soon as Vasudeva took Krsna on his lap and went out, he could see everything just as in the sunlight.
In the Caitanya-caritamrta it is said that Krsna
is just like sunlight, and wherever there is Krsna, the illusory energy, which
is compared to darkness, cannot remain.
When Vasudeva was carrying Krsna, the darkness of the night disappeared. All the prison doors automatically opened. At the same time there was a thunder in the sky and severe rainfall. While Vasudeva was carrying his son Krsna in the falling rain, Lord Sesa in the shape of a serpent spread His hood over the head of Vasudeva so that he would not be hampered by the rainfall. Vasudeva came onto the bank of the Yamuna and saw that the water of the Yamuna was roaring with waves and that the whole span was full of foam.
Still, in that furious feature, the river gave passage to Vasudeva to cross, just as the great Indian Ocean gave a path to Lord Rama when He was bridging over the gulf. In this way Vasudeva crossed the river Yamuna. On the other side, he went to the place of Nanda Maharaja situated in Gokula, where he saw that all the cowherd men were fast asleep.
He took the opportunity of silently entering into the house of Yasoda, and without difficulty he replaced his son, taking away the baby girl newly born in the house of Yasoda. Then, after entering the house very silently and exchanging the boy with the girl, he again returned to the prison of Kamsa and silently put the girl on the lap of Devaki. He again clamped the shackles on himself so that Kamsa could not recognize that so many things had happened.
"Godhead is light, nescience is darkness, where there is Godhead there is no nescience." |
When Vasudeva was carrying Krsna, the darkness of the night disappeared. All the prison doors automatically opened. At the same time there was a thunder in the sky and severe rainfall. While Vasudeva was carrying his son Krsna in the falling rain, Lord Sesa in the shape of a serpent spread His hood over the head of Vasudeva so that he would not be hampered by the rainfall. Vasudeva came onto the bank of the Yamuna and saw that the water of the Yamuna was roaring with waves and that the whole span was full of foam.
Vasudeva crosses the Yamuna |
Still, in that furious feature, the river gave passage to Vasudeva to cross, just as the great Indian Ocean gave a path to Lord Rama when He was bridging over the gulf. In this way Vasudeva crossed the river Yamuna. On the other side, he went to the place of Nanda Maharaja situated in Gokula, where he saw that all the cowherd men were fast asleep.
Nanda Maharaja |
He took the opportunity of silently entering into the house of Yasoda, and without difficulty he replaced his son, taking away the baby girl newly born in the house of Yasoda. Then, after entering the house very silently and exchanging the boy with the girl, he again returned to the prison of Kamsa and silently put the girl on the lap of Devaki. He again clamped the shackles on himself so that Kamsa could not recognize that so many things had happened.
Mother Yashoda |
Mother Yasoda understood that a child was born of
her, but because she was very tired from the labor of childbirth, she was fast
asleep. When she awoke, she could not remember whether she had given birth to a
male or a female child.
Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Third
Chapter of Krsna, "Birth of Lord Krsna."
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