Chapter Fourteen
King Citraketu’s Lamentation
1. King Pariksit inquired from Sukadeva Gosvami: O learned brahmana, demons are generally sinful, being obsessed with the modes of passion and ignorance. How, then, could Vrtrasura have attained such exalted love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Narayana?
2. Demigods situated in the mode of goodness and great saints cleansed of the dirt of material enjoyment hardly ever render pure devotional service at the lotus feet of Mukunda. [Therefore how could Vrtrasura have become such a great devotee?]
3. In this material world there are as many living entities as atoms. Among these living entities, a very few are human beings, and among them, few are interested in following religious principles.
4. O best of the brahmanas, Sukadeva Gosvami, out of many persons who follow religious principles, only a few desire liberation from the material world. Among many thousands who desire liberation, one may actually achieve liberation, giving up material attachment to society, friendship, love, country, home, wife and children. And among many thousands of such liberated persons, one who can understand the true meaning of liberation is very rare.
5. O great sage, among many millions who are liberated and perfect in knowledge of liberation, one may be a devotee of Lord Narayana, or Krishna. Such devotees, who are fully peaceful, are extremely rare.
6. Vrtrasura was situated in the blazing fire of battle and was an infamous, sinful demon, always engaged in giving troubles and anxieties to others. How could such a demon become so greatly Krishna conscious?
7. My dear lord, Sukadeva Gosvami, although Vrtrasura was a sinful demon, he showed the prowess of a most exalted ksatriya and satisfied Lord Indra in battle. How could such a demon be a great devotee of Lord Krishna? These contradictions have caused me great doubt, and they have made me eager to hear of this from you.
8. Sri Suta Gosvami said: After hearing Maharaja Pariksit’s very intelligent question, Sukadeva Gosvami, the most powerful sage, began answering his disciple with great affection.
9. Sri Sukadeva Gosvami said: O King, I shall speak to you the same history I have heard from the mouths of Vyasadeva, Narada and Devala. Please listen with attention.
10. O King Pariksit, in the province of Surasena there was a king named Citraketu, who ruled the entire earth. During his reign, the earth produced all the necessities for life.
11. This Citraketu had ten million wives, but although he was capable of producing children, he did not receive a child from any of them. By chance, all the wives were barren.
12. Citraketu, the husband of these millions of wives, was endowed with a beautiful form, magnanimity and youth. He was born in a high family, he had a complete education, and he was wealthy and opulent. Nevertheless, in spite of being endowed with all these assets, he was full of anxiety because he did not have a son.
13. His queens all had beautiful faces and attractive eyes, yet neither his opulences, his hundreds and thousands of queens, nor the lands of which he was the supreme proprietor were sources of happiness for him.
14. Once upon a time, when the powerful sage named Angira was traveling all over the universe without engagement, by his sweet will he came to the palace of King Citraketu.
15. Citraketu immediately stood up from his throne and offered him worship. He offered drinking water and eatables and in this way performed his duty as a host to a great guest. When the rsi was seated very comfortably, the King, restraining his mind and senses, sat on the ground at the side of the rsi’s feet.
16. O King Pariksit, when Citraketu, bent low in humility, was seated at the lotus feet of the great sage, the sage congratulated him for his humility and hospitality. The sage addressed him in the following words.
17. The great sage Angira said: My dear King, I hope that your body and mind and your royal associates and paraphernalia are well. When the seven properties of material nature [the total material energy, the ego and the five objects of sense gratification] are in proper order, the living entity within the material elements is happy. Without these seven elements one cannot exist. Similarly, a king is always protected by seven elements—his instructor (svamor guru), his ministers, his kingdom, his fort, his treasury, his royal order and his friends.
18. O King, O lord of humanity, when a king directly depends upon his associates and follows their instructions, he is happy. Similarly, when his associates offer their gifts and activities to the king and follow his orders, they are also happy.
19. O King, are your wives, citizens, secretaries and servants and the merchants who sell spices and oil under your control? Are you also in full control of ministers, the inhabitants of your palace, your provincial governors, your sons and your other dependents?
20. If the king’s mind is fully controlled, all his family members and governmental officers are subordinate to him. His provincial governors present taxes on time, without resistance, and what to speak of lesser servants?
21. O King Citraketu, I can observe that your mind is not pleased. You seem not to have achieved your desired goal. Is this because of you yourself, or has it been caused by others? Your pale face reflects your deep anxiety.
22. Sukadeva Gosvami said: O King Pariksit, although the great sage Angira knew everything, he inquired from the King in this way. Thus King Citraketu, desiring a son, bent low in great humility and spoke to the great sage as follows.
23. King Citraketu said: O great lord Angira, because of austerity, knowledge and transcendental samadhi, you are freed from all the reactions of sinful life. Therefore, as a perfect yogi, you can understand everything external and internal regarding embodied, conditioned souls like us.
24. O great soul, you are aware of everything, yet you are asking me why I am full of anxiety. Therefore, in response to your order, let me disclose the cause.
25. As a person aggrieved by hunger and thirst is not pleased by the external gratification of flower garlands or sandalwood pulp, I am not pleased with my empire, opulence or possessions, which are desirable even for great demigods, because I have no son.
26. Therefore, O great sage, please save me and my forefathers, who are descending to the darkness of hell because I have no progeny. Kindly do something so that I may have a son to deliver us from hellish conditions.
27. In response to the request of Maharaja Citraketu, Angira Rsi, who was born of Lord Brahma’s mind, was very merciful toward him. Because the sage was a greatly powerful personality, he performed a sacrifice by offering oblations of sweetrice to Tvasta.
28. O Pariksit Maharaja, best of the Bharatas, the remnants of the food offered in the yajna were given by the great sage Angira to the first and most perfect among Citraketu’s millions of queens, whose name was Krtadyuti.
29. Thereafter, the great sage told the King, “O great King, now you will have a son who will be the cause of both jubilation and lamentation.” The sage then left, without waiting for Citraketu’s response.
30. As Krttikadevi, after receiving the semen of Lord Siva from Agni, conceived a child named Skanda [Karttikeya], Krtadyuti, having received semen from Citraketu, became pregnant after eating remnants of food from the yajna performed by Angira.
