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Krishna's Salvation of the demons He kills

• Subject: Krishna's Salvation of the demons He kills
• From: Tadas P
• Date: Sun Mar 03 20:20:34 1996
• Message-Id: id772

Dear Tadas,



Hello. Hare Krishna!



Yes. Krishna is absolute and everything He does is good for everyone. It seems 

when He kills the demons He is inimical towards them and when He protects His 

devotees His is partial to them. Sometimes people accuse Krishna of being 

partial to His devotees and envious of the demons. But it is not a fact. In 

reality Krishna is benefiting everyone. He responds to us according to the way 

we treat him. 



                         ye yatha mam prapadyante

                         tams tathaiva bhajamy aham

                          mama vartmanuvartante

                          manusyah partha sarvasah



"As all surrender unto Me, I reward them accordingly. Everyone follows

My path in all respects, O son of Partha." (Bhagavad-gita 4.11)



So as we treat Krishna, He responds to us. He has given us a little 

independence in this matter. We can choose to serve Him or we can choose to 

fight Him. In either way we benefit. Association with Krishna is absolute. If 

one associates with Krishna he must benefit, even if He is trying to Kill 

Krishna. It is likened to associating with a fire, no mater how you associate 

with the fire you get hot... There's no alternative!



Perhaps you have read "Krishna Book" by my spiritual master, His Divine Grace 

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada? It is a natural language commentary on the 

Tenth Canto of the Srimad-Bhagavatam (Bhagavat-Purana). In the tenth canto of 

the Bhagavatam Krishna's pastimes when He was present on this planet 5,000 

years ago are described and you will see from reading this that demon-killing 

was practically a daily affair for Krishna and Balarama when they appeared as 

young cowherd boys in Vrndavana. 



There was a plot by King Kamsa to kill Krishna, as he had received a warning 

from a voice in the sky that he would be killed by Krishna. So King Kamsa was 

trying to avoid being killed [as all materialists try to]. He had many very 

powerful demoniac friends and was sending them, one after the other, to 

Vrndavana to try and kill Krishna, who at that time appeared to be a young boy. 

Of course Krishna was very special. He was extraordinarily beautiful, 

extraordinarily strong, extraordinarily famous, extraordinarily intelligent and 

extraordinarily renounced. These are all attractive qualities and Krishna has 

all attractive qualities in full, that is what Krishna means, "the possessor  

of all attractive qualities in full..."



But back to the demon-killing. The demons Krishna killed sometimes received the 

same benefit as the devotees who serve Him with love. For example there was one 

witch called Putona. She was very expert at killing children therefore King 

Kamsa enlisted her to kill Krishna when He was still a very small baby. So she 

assumed the body of a very beautiful young woman. It should be noted that in 

those days the demons were generally very advanced yogis and the yogic 

perfections number eight, one of them is the ability to take any form he 

desires at will. So sometimes the demons took the form of big monsters, but in 

this case the witch Putona took the form of a very beautiful woman. She then 

set off for Vrndavana to kill Krishna. She smeared some deadly poison on her 

breasts and then entered the house of Mother Yasoda and Nanda Maharaja, 

Krishna's foster mother and father. Krishna was there with His mother Yasoda 

and the demon Putona, appearing as a very beautiful women, asked if she could 

take Krishna in her arms. So Mother Yasoda agreed and immediately Putona 

offered her brest milk to Krishna, intending to kill Krishna with the deadly 

poison she had smeared on her breasts. But instead of Killing Krishna, Krishna 

closed His eyes and accepted the offering of milk from the demon Putona as he 

would from any of His other mothers, and at the same time He sucked out here 

life-breath as well. But Krishna accepted her motherly behavior and her 

offering of milk and she was liberated to the spiritual world and got a 

position equal to that of Krishna's mother... 



So it is trus, sometimes the demons do get liberation equal to the devotees. It 

was for this reason that someone questioned Krishna, "How can you ever repay 

your devotees, who serve you wit love and affection completely unmotivated by 

any desire other that to please You. I think you will always remain indebted to 

such devotees... 



But not all the demons killed by Krishna get this type of liberation. They all 

get liberated, but there are two types of liberation. One type of liberation is 

personal, it means entering the spiritual planets and serving Krishna there as 

the devotees do and Putona got also. But there is another type of liberation 

which is impersonal. Just as there is the sun and coming from the sun are so 

many shining particles so Krishna is there and from Krishna's body an 

effulgence called the Brahma-Joyti is coming. Just as the sunshine is coming 

from the sun so the Brahma-Joyti is coming from Krishna's body. So the 

impersonal liberation means merging with, or becoming one with this 

Brahma-Joyti. So many of the demons get this type of liberation also. But the 

devotees don't like this because there is no chance to serve Krishna in the 

impersonal Brahma-Joyti. So they consider it no better than hell. 



          kaivalyam narakayate tridasa-pur akasa puspayate

             durdantendriya-kala-sapa-patali protkhata-damstryate

          visvam purna-sukhayate vidhi-mahendradis ca kitayate

             yat karunya-kataksa vaibhavavatam tam gauram eva stumah



"Let us glorify Lord Gaurasundara for if one attains His merciful sidelong 

glance, the impersonal liberation of merging into the splendour of God becomes 

as palatable as going to hell, the heavenly cities of the demigods appear as 

phantasmagoria. The poisonous fangs of the untameable black-snakes of the 

senses become broken, The whole world becomes full of joy and Lord Brahma, Lord 

Indra and all the other demigods appear as insignificant as tiny insects." 

(Caitanya-candramrta)  



When you talk of being destroyed by Krishna's lotus feet I can't help thinking 

of Kaliya, the poisonous many-hooded serpent who took residence in a lake in 

the Yamuna river near Vrndavana. His was so poisonous that the entire river 

became deadly, even birds flying over that area would die from the poisonous 

fumes emanating from the lake... 



I have just tried searching for "Kaliya" on the Sudarsana home page and there 

is an article I wrote there last year at:



        /sudarsana/archive/msg00329.html



I have included it below for you information. You will find many more things 

there if you spend some time looking around...



Thank you very much for the question. Please write again. Chant Hare Krishna 

and be happy!



Madhudvisa da

>Krishna Killing Kaliya

>

>

>

>     Subject: Krishna Killing Kaliya 

>     From: madhudvisa@krishna.org (Madhudvisa dasa ) 

>     Date: Sat, 22 Jul 1995 05:39:13 GMT 

>     Message-Id: <msg284> 

>     References: <Krishna_Pastimes> 

>

>

>

>michael.balarama@psl-online.com (Michael Balarama) wrote:

>

>>Who was Kailya? Why did he get such special mercy in Krishna lila? 

>>thanks

>

>Once in Vrndavana a great many-hooded serpent took residence in a lake in

>the Yamuna river. He was very large and his poison was extremely strong.

>So strong that all the trees around the lake [except one] had dried up and

>died. The posion was so strong that even birds flying across that area

>would die because of the poison fumes. 

>

>So Krishna went to the lake to get the great poisonous serpent out of the

>Yamuna. He stood on the one tree which was not dead [a kadamba tree] and

>jumped into the Yamuna. When the inhabitants of Vrndavana heard Krishna

>was fighting the great serpent Kailya they came to the Yamuna. They were

>extremely concerned for Krishna's welfare. They didn't know Krishna was

>the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But Krishna was the dearest person to

>everyone. They were so distressed thinking that Krishna may be killed. Of

>course Krishna can never be killed. Krishna is the Supreme Personality of

>Godhead. But they were thinking Krishna was one of them,.. That is

>Krishna's Yoga-maya potency. 

>

>We are under the maha-maya bewildering potency of Krishna, under maha-maya

>we think we are the body and we can be happy by sense pleasures, maha-maya

>covers us so we forget Krishna. Yoga-maya, however, covers the devotees

>understanding of Krishna to enhance the pastimes of Krishna. If Yasoda,

>the mother of Krishna knew Krishna was the Supreme Personality of Godhead

>how could she punish Krishna when He was naughty?

>

>The fight between Krishna and Kaliya went on for a very long time and the

>residents of Vrndavana became extremely anxious for the well-being of

>Krishna. Everyone except Balarama was in great anxiety. Balarama was not

>worried because He knew Kaliya was no match for Krishna. Balaram is also

>the Supreme Personality of Godhead so He knew Krishna was in no danger.

>Mother Yasoda was so anxious she wanted to go into the poisonous lake

>herself to try and save Krishna but the others held her back. For two

>hours Krishna was trapped in the coils of the Kaliya serpant as if He

>couldn't get out, then just as His mother and friends were almost at the

>point of death out of anxiety Krishna freed Himself. Kaliya then became

>intensely angry. Kaliya had bright shining jewels on his hoods and he was

>vomiting all sorts of things and breathing out fire from his many mouths.

>It was an extraordinary site. Krishna was moving from one of Kaliya's

>hoods to another and kicking them with His lotus feet. It was unbearable

>to Kaliya. But the extraordinary site appeared to the onlookers to be

>Krishna dancing on the hoods of Kaliya. It was a very beautiful site.

>

>Eventually Kaliya was totally exhausted he finally began to realize

>Krishna was the Supreme Personality of Godhead and he began to surrender

>to Krishna.

>

>Then Kaliya's wives began to pray to Krishna, begging Him not to kill

>their husband and asking how Kaliya could have become so fortunate to have

>his hoods maked by the footprints of the the Lord. Krishna accepted their

>prayers and freed Kaliya, but He banished Kaliya from the Yamuna as his

>poison was making the water unfit for the cows and Krishna's friends to

>drink. 

>

>Some say Kaliya went to Fiji.. Now you can see Krishna-Kaliya in an ISKCON

>temple there. But best thing is you should read the whole story in the

>"Krishna Book" by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. It

>is a VERY ecstatic book,,, The more you read the more you will become

>attached to Krishna and the more you will become detached from this

>material world.

>

>All Glories to Srila Prabhupada!

>

>

>

>

>

>Hare Krishna!

>

>Your servant,

>

>Madhudvisa dasa       

>(madhudvisa@krishna.org)      /~balarama

>                                

>All glories to His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada!

>

>

>



At 12:43 AM 3/3/96 -0500, you wrote:

>Dear Sudarsana,

> I am currently taking a class on Hindu tradition at Indiana University.

>We are reading from "The Consise Srimad Bhagavatam" about the wonderful

>stories of Krisna. I'm curious about the idea that the demons in the 

>stories ie. Kamsa, Hiranyaksa, Putana, Kaliya...all attain the highest 

>"state" of liberation by being destroyed by Krisna's lotus feet. This is 

>a fascinating aspect of Krisna. What are your views? 

>                        Thank you Tadas

>

>

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