Radha Krishna - Chapter 8: Parîkchit Saved and Prayers by Queen Kuntî

(1) Sûta said: "Thus they headed, along with Draupadî and the women put in front, to the Ganges, with the wish to perform the water duties for their relatives. (2) After each had done his offering of water and sufficiently had mourned, they took a bath in the water of the Ganges that is purified by the dust of the lotus feet of the Lord. (3) There the king of the Kurus [Yudhishthhira] with his younger brothers, Dhritarâshthra and Ghândârî sat in deep bereavement together with Kuntî, Draupadî and the Lord Himself. (4) Lord Krishna together with the munis there pacified the shocked and affected family who had lost their friends and members, by showing how each is subjected to the Time that cannot be avoided. (5) Because of cheating Yudhishthhira [the eldest of the Pândavas], who had no enemies, the unscrupulous ones [Duryodhana and his brothers] had been killed who cleverly seized the kingdom and had shortened their lifespan by their insult of touching the hair of the queen [Draupadî]. (6) By the proper performance of three horse sacrifices his [Yudhishthhira's] fame spread in all directions like the fame of Indra who performed that sacrifice a hundred times.

(7) Worshiped by the wise and the learned, the Lord, in response to their farewell, invited the sons of Pându and also Uddhava [another relative and friend of Krishna]. (8) Seated on His chariot He, just as He wanted to leave for Dvârakâ, saw Uttarâ [the mother expecting Parîkchit] hurrying towards Him in fear. (9) She said: 'Protect me, protect me, oh Greatest of the Yogis, oh Worshiped One of the Worshiped and Lord of the Universe, apart from You I see no one fearless in this world of death and duality. (10) Oh all-powerful Lord, a fiery iron arrow is coming towards me. Let it burn me, oh Protector, but save my embryo!' "

(11) Sûta said: "Patiently hearing her words the Supreme Lord, who is the caretaker of the devotees, understood that this was the result of a brahmâstra weapon of the son of Drona who wanted to end the existence of all Pândava descendants. (12) Oh chief of the munis [S'aunaka], seeing the glaring brahmâstra heading towards them, the Pândavas each took up their own five weapons. (13) Seeing that they were in great danger with no other means available, the Almighty One took up His Sudars'ana disc for the protection of His devotees. (14) From within the soul of all living beings, the Supreme Lord of Yoga, by means of His personal energy, shielded the embryo of Uttarâ in order to protect the progeny of the Kuru dynasty. (15) Oh S'aunaka, even though the brahmâstra weapon cannot be stopped by counteractions, it was, being confronted with the strength of Vishnu, neutralized. (16) But do not regard all of this, with everything mysterious and infallible that we know of Him, as something special. The unseen godhead is by means of His material potency of creation, maintenance and annihilation.

(17) Being saved from the radiation of the weapon, the chaste Kuntî along with her sons addressed Lord Krishna who was about to leave. (18) Kuntî said: 'My obeisances unto You, the Purusha, the Original Controller of the Cosmos who is invisible and beyond all existing both within and without. (19) Covered by the deluding [material] curtain, being irreproachably transcendent and not discerned by the foolish, You are like an actor dressed up as a player. (20) You appear for the sake of the advanced transcendentalists and philosophers who can discriminate between spirit and matter, in order to execute the science that unites them in devotion. But how must we, the women, then exercise respect for You?

(21) Therefore I offer You my respectful obeisances, You the Protector of the cows and the senses, the Supreme Lord, the son of Vasudeva and Devakî, the One of Nanda and the cowherd men of Vrindâvana. (22) My respects for You, who has a lotuslike depression in His abdomen, who is always decorated with lotus flowers, whose glance is as cool as a lotus flower and whose footprints show the mark of lotus flowers. (23) You are the master of the senses and have released the distressed Devakî [mother of Krishna] from being imprisoned for so long by the envious [uncle] King Kamsa. And oh Lordship, You have protected me and my children against a constant threat. (24) Saving us in the past from poison, a great fire, man-eaters, a vicious assembly, sufferings from exile in the forest and against weapons in battles with great generals, You have now fully protected us against the weapon of the son of Drona. (25) I wish we would have more of those calamities, oh Master of the Universe, so that we can meet You again and again, because meeting You means that we no longer see the repetition of births and death. (26) The ones intoxicated by striving for a good birth, opulences, education, and beauty will never ever deserve to address You, who are easily approached by the ones destitute. (27) All honor to You, the wealth of the ones living in poverty, who transcendental to the emotions one has with the material modes, are the One self-contented and most gentle; all my respect for You who are the master of beatitude. (28) I consider You the personification of Eternal Time, the Lord without a beginning or an end, the All-pervasive One distributing Your mercy everywhere equally among the beings who live in dissent with each other. (29) Oh Lord, no one understands Your pastimes, that appear to be as conflictuous as the exploits of the common man; people think You are partial, but You favor or dislike no one. (30) Oh Soul of the Universe, with Your vital energy taking birth although You are unborn and acting although You are inactive, You manifesting Yourself with the animals, the human beings, the wise and the aquatics, are veritably bewildering. (31) It is bewildering for me to see that at the time the gopî [Yas'odâ, the cowherd foster mother of Krishna] took up a rope to bind You because You were naughty, You were afraid and cried the make-up off Your eyes, even though You are feared by fear in person. (32) Some say that You, like sandalwood appearing in the Malaya Hills, are born from the unborn for the glory of the pious kings or the pleasure of the family of dear King Yadu. (33) Others say that You descended from the unborn for the good of Vasudeva and Devakî who prayed for You and for the demise of the ones envious with the godly. (34) Still others say that You, like a boat on the sea, came to take away the burden of extreme worldly grief and were born from the prayers of Lord Brahmâ. (35) And yet others say that You appeared for the ones suffering from desire and nescience in the materially motivated world so that they may perform in hearing, remembering and worshiping You. (36) Those people who take pleasure in continuously hearing, chanting and remembering Your activities, certainly very soon will see Your lotus feet, who put the recurrence of rebirths to an end. (37) Oh Lord, with all that You did for us, You, today going to the kings engaged in enmity, are leaving us behind. Us, Your intimate friends living by Your mercy alone in dependence on Your lotus feet. (38) We, without You, will, along with the Yadus and Pândavas, be without the fame and name, like a body is without the senses after the spirit has left. (39) The land of our kingdom will no longer appear as beautiful as it does now, being dazzled by the marks of Your footprints. (40) All these cities and towns, because of Your glances, flourished more and more with their wealth of herbs, vegetables, forests, hills, rivers and seas. (41) Therefore, oh Lord of the Universe, oh Personality of the universal form, cut my tie of deep affection for my kinsmen the Pândavas and the Vrishnis. (42) Make my attraction to You pure and continuously overflowing, like the Ganges flowing down to the sea. (43) Oh Krishna, friend of Arjuna and chief of the Vrishnis, annihilator of the rebellious dynasties on this earth, with Your unrelenting bravery You relieve the distressed cows, the twice-born and the godly, oh Lord of Yoga incarnate, universal preceptor and original proprietor, unto You my respectful obeisances.' "

(44) Sûta said: "Thus being worshiped in His universal glories with the choice of words of queen Kuntî, the Lord gave a mild smile that was as captivating as His mystic power. (45) Thus accepting all of that the Lord, after further paying respects to other ladies in the palace of Hastinâpura, upon leaving for His own residence, was stopped by the love of [Yudhishthhira] the king. (46) The learned, the sages and Lord Krishna, of all people the One of superhuman accomplishment Himself, could not convince the king in his distress, nor could he find any solace in the classical stories. (47) King Yudhishthhira, the son of Dharma, from a material conception thinking about the loss of his friends, got, oh sages, carried away by the delusion of his affection when he said: (48) 'Oh, just look at me who in the ignorance of his heart is immersed in the sin of with this body, which is meant to serve others, having killed so many formations of warriors. (49) I, having killed so many boys, twice-born ones, caretakers, friends, elders, brothers and teachers, for sure will never ever, not even for a million years, be freed from hell. (50) It is no sin for a king to kill when he fights his enemies for the right cause of protecting his people, but those words, instituted for the satisfaction of the administration, do not apply to me. (51) All the enmity that accrued because of the friends that I have killed who left women behind, I cannot expect to be undone with me serving the sake of material welfare. (52) Just like one cannot filter mud through mud or clear wine stains with wine, it is of no avail to counteract one's sin of having killed with the reglementary sacrificing of animals.' "