Chapter Eighty-Nine
Krishna and Arjuna Retrieve a Brahmana’s Sons
1. Sukadeva Gosvami said: Once, O King, as a group of sages were performing a Vedic sacrifice on the banks of the Sarasvati River, a controversy arose among them as to which of the three chief deities is supreme.
2. Eager to resolve this question, O King, the sages sent Lord Brahma’s son Bhrgu to find the answer. First he went to his father’s court.
3. To test how well Lord Brahma was situated in the mode of goodness, Bhrgu failed to bow down to him or glorify him with prayers. The lord became angry at him, inflamed into fury by his own passion.
4. Though anger toward his son was now rising within his heart, Lord Brahma was able to subdue it by applying his intelligence, in the same way that fire is extinguished by its own product, water.
5. Bhrgu then went to Mount Kailasa. There Lord Siva stood up and happily came forward to embrace his brother.
6-7. But Bhrgu refused his embrace, telling him, “You are a deviant heretic.” At this Lord Siva became angry, and his eyes burned ferociously. He raised his trident and was about to kill Bhrgu when Goddess Devi fell at his feet and spoke some words to pacify him. Bhrgu then left that place and went to Vaikuntha, where Lord Janardana resides.
8-9. There he went up to the Supreme Lord, who was lying with His head on the lap of His consort, Sri, and kicked Him on the chest. The Lord then rose, along with Goddess Laksmi, as a sign of respect. Coming down from His bedstead, that supreme goal of all pure devotees bowed His head to the floor before the sage and told him, ’Welcome, brahmana. Please sit in this chair and rest awhile. Kindly forgive us, dear master, for not noticing your arrival.
10-11. “Please purify Me, My realm and the realms of the universal rulers devoted to Me by giving us the water that has washed your feet. This holy water is indeed what makes all places of pilgrimage sacred. Today, my lord, I have become the exclusive shelter of the goddess of fortune, Laksmi; she will consent to reside on My chest because your foot has rid it of sins.”
12. Sukadeva Gosvami said: Bhrgu felt satisfied and delighted to hear the solemn words spoken by Lord Vaikuntha. Overwhelmed with devotional ecstasy, he remained silent, his eyes brimming with tears.
13. O King, Bhrgu then returned to the sacrificial arena of the wise Vedic authorities and described his entire experience to them.
14-17. Amazed upon hearing Bhrgu’s account, the sages were freed from all doubts and became convinced that Visnu is the greatest Lord. From Him come peace; fearlessness; the essential principles of religion; detachment with knowledge; the eightfold powers of mystic yoga; and His glorification, which cleanses the mind of all impurities. He is known as the supreme destination for those who are peaceful and equipoised—the selfless, wise saints who have given up all violence. His most dear form is that of pure goodness, and the brahmanas are His worshipable deities. Persons of keen intellect who have attained spiritual peace worship Him without selfish motives.
18. The Lord expands into three kinds of manifest beings—the Raksasas, the demons and the demigods—all of whom are created by the Lord’s material energy and conditioned by her modes. But among these three modes, it is the mode of goodness which is the means of attaining life’s final success.
19. Sukadeva Gosvami said: The learned brahmanas living along the river Sarasvati came to this conclusion in order to dispel the doubts of all people. Thereafter they rendered devotional service to the Supreme Lord’s lotus feet and attained His abode.
20. Sri Suta Gosvami said: Thus did this fragrant nectar flow from the lotus mouth of Sukadeva Gosvami, the son of the sage Vyasadeva. This wonderful glorification of the Supreme Person destroys all fear of material existence. A traveler who constantly drinks this nectar through his ear-holes will forget the fatigue brought on by wandering along the paths of worldly life.
21. Sukadeva Gosvami said: Once, in Dvaraka, a brahmana’s wife gave birth to a son, but the newborn infant died as soon as he touched the ground, O Bharata.
22. The brahmana took the corpse and placed it at the door of King Ugrasena’s court. Then, agitated and lamenting miserably, he spoke the following.
23. [The brahmana said:] This duplicitous, greedy enemy of brahmanas, this unqualified ruler addicted to sense pleasure, has caused my son’s death by some discrepancies in the execution of his duties.
24. Citizens serving such a wicked king, who takes pleasure in violence and cannot control his senses, are doomed to suffer poverty and constant misery.
25. The wise brahmana suffered the same tragedy with his second and third child. Each time, he left the body of his dead son at the King’s door and sang the same song of lamentation.
26-27. When the ninth child died, Arjuna, who was near Lord Kesava, happened to overhear the brahmana lamenting. Thus Arjuna addressed the brahmana: “What is the matter, my dear brahmana? Isn’t there some lowly member of the royal order here who can at least stand before your house with a bow in his hand? These ksatriyas are behaving as if they were brahmanas idly engaged in fire sacrifices.
28. “The rulers of a kingdom in which brahmanas lament over lost wealth, wives and children are merely imposters playing the role of kings just to earn their livelihood.
29. “My lord, I will protect the progeny of you and your wife, who are in such distress. And if I fail to keep this promise, I will enter fire to atone for my sin.”
30-31. The brahmana said: Neither Sankarsana; Vasudeva; Pradyumna, the best of bowmen; nor the unequalled warrior Aniruddha could save my sons. Then why do you naively attempt a feat that the almighty Lords of the universe could not perform? We cannot take you seriously.
