Source
Texts:
The
Disappearance of Lord S'rî Krishna
Text
1
S'rî
S'uka said: 'Then came there Brahmâ with his consort
Bhavânî, along with S'iva and the demigods led by
Indra and the sages with the lords of the
people.
S'ukadeva
Gosvâmî said - Then Lord Brahmâ arrived at
Prabhâsa along with Lord S'iva and his consort, the
sages, the Prajâpatis and all the demigods, headed by
Indra.
Text
2-3
The
forefathers, the perfected and divine singers, the scientists
and the great egos, the venerable, the treasure keepers and the
wild men, the ones of superpower and the dancing girls of
heaven and all the ones of Garuda [the dvijâs]
desirous to witness the passing away of the Supreme Lord,
eagerly chanted and praised the birth and activities of
S'auri.
The
forefathers, Siddhas, Gandharvas, Vidyâdharas and
great serpents also came, along with the Câranas,
Yakshas, Râkshasas, Kinnaras, Apsarâs and
relatives of Garuda, greatly eager to witness the departure
of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As they were coming,
all these personalities variously chanted and glorified the
birth and activities of Lord S'auri
[Krishna].
Text
4
They, crowding
the sky in a great number of vimânas,
o King, showered, joined in transcendental devotion,
flowers.
O
King, crowding the sky with their many airplanes, they
showered down flowers with great devotion.
Text
5
The Supreme
Lord seeing the great father and his powerful expansions, fixed
His consciousness within Himself, the Almighty One, and closed
His lotus eyes.
Seeing
before Him Brahmâ, the grandfather of the universe,
along with the other demigods, who are all His personal and
powerful expansions, the Almighty Lord closed His lotus
eyes, fixing His mind within Himself, the Supreme
Personality of Godhead.
Text
6
Without burning
in a mystic trance the object auspicious to all trance and
meditation - His own body most attractive to all the worlds -
entered He His own abode [compare 4.4].
Without
employing the mystic âgneyî meditation to burn
up His transcendental body, which is the all-attractive
resting place of all the worlds and the object of all
contemplation and meditation, Lord Krishna entered into His
own abode.
Text
7
With in heaven
the kettledrums sounded and the flowers falling from the sky
followed Him, as He left the earth, Truth, Righteousness,
Constancy, Fame and Beauty [see also 10.39:
53-55].
As
soon as Lord S'rî Krishna left the earth, Truth,
Religion, Faithfulness, Glory and Beauty immediately
followed Him. Kettledrums resounded in the heavens and
flowers showered from the sky.
Text
8
The demigods
and others headed by Brahmâ saw, [most of them]
not known with Krishna's movements, Him not entering His abode,
but those who did were most amazed.
Most
of the demigods and other higher beings led by Brahmâ
could not see Lord Krishna as He was entering His own abode,
since He did not reveal His movements. But some of them did
catch sight of Him, and they were extremely amazed.
Text
9
Just as the
movement of lightning, from the clouds traveling through the
sky, by mortals cannot be ascertained, could likewise the gods
not trace the path of Krishna.
Just
as ordinary men cannot ascertain the path of a lightning
bolt as it leaves a cloud, the demigods could not trace out
the movements of Lord Krishna as He returned to His
abode.
Text
10
Brahmâ,
S'iva and the others though, witnessing, astonished glorified
the yogic power of the Lord, after which each went to his own
world.
A
few of the demigods, however - notably Lord Brahmâ and
Lord S'iva - could ascertain how the Lord's mystic power was
working, and thus they became astonished. All the demigods
praised the Lord's mystic power and then returned to their
own planets.
Text
11
O King, you
should understand the appearance, the actions of His illusory
potency, and the disappearance of the Supreme One, resembling
that of embodied beings, as a representation [a show],
by which He just like an actor by Himself sets up this
universe, enters it, plays in it and in the end winds it up
again, after having ceased [thereto] remaining in the
greatness of the Supreme Self.
My
dear King, you should understand that the Supreme Lord's
appearance and disappearance, which resemble those of
embodied conditioned souls, are actually a show enacted by
His illusory energy, just like the performance of an actor.
After creating this universe He enters into it, plays within
it for some time, and at last winds it up. Then the Lord
remains situated in His own transcendental glory, having
ceased from the functions of cosmic manifestation.
Text
12
He who brought
His guru's son in his selfsame body back from being taken to
the world of Yamarâja [10.45],
and who also offered protection against the superior weapon
that burned you [1.12];
He who even conquered S'iva, the death to the agents of death
[10.63],
how would He who brought the deerhunter body and all to the
spiritual world, be incapable of preserving
Himself?
Lord
Krishna brought the son of His guru back from the planet of
the lord of death in the boy's selfsame body, and as the
ultimate giver of protection He saved you also when you were
burned by the brahmâstra of As'vatthâmâ.
He conquered in battle even Lord S'iva, who deals death to
the agents of death, and He sent the hunter Jarâ
directly to Vaikunthha in his human body. How could such a
personality be unable to protect His own Self?
Text
13
Despite of, as
the One Possessing Unlimited Potencies, being the exclusive
cause in the maintenance, creation and annihilation of all
created beings, did He not desire to keep His frame remaining
here in the mortal world; why [would He] keep to the
show for those [who are] fixed in Him, the destination
[beyond the body, see also 3.2:
10-11]?
Although
Lord Krishna, being the possessor of infinite powers, is the
only cause of the creation, maintenance and destruction of
innumerable living beings, He simply did not desire to keep
His body in this world any longer. Thus He revealed the
destination of those fixed in the self and demonstrated that
this mortal world is of no intrinsic value.
Text
14
Anyone who
getting up early in the morning with care glorifies this
supreme destination of Krishna, will, with the devotion, for
sure obtain that unsurpassable destination [see also B.G.
8:
6].
Anyone
who regularly rises early in the morning and carefully
chants with devotion the glories of Lord S'rî
Krishna's transcendental disappearance and His return to His
own abode will certainly achieve that same supreme
destination.
Text
15
Dâruka
deprived of Krishna arriving in Dvârakâ, wet with
his tears the feet of Vasudeva and Ugrasena he fell down
to.
As
soon as Dâruka reached Dvârakâ, he threw
himself at the feet of Vasudeva and Ugrasena and drenched
their feet with his tears, lamenting the loss of Lord
Krishna.
Text
16-17
He related the
destruction of the complete of the Vrishnis, o ruler of man,
and hearing that were the people, with their hearts agitated by
sorrow, rendered senseless. They, overwhelmed by the separation
from Krishna striking their faces, swiftly went there where
their relatives were laying lifeless.
Dâruka
delivered the account of the total destruction of the
Vrishnis, and upon hearing this, O Parîkshit, the
people became deeply distraught in their hearts and stunned
with sorrow. Feeling the overwhelming pain of separation
from Krishna, they struck their own faces while hurrying to
the place where their relatives lay dead.
Text
18
When
Devakî, Rohinî and Vasudeva so couldn't find their
sons, lost they, pained in tears, their
consciousness.
When
Devakî, Rohinî and Vasudeva could not find their
sons, Krishna and Râma, they lost consciousness out of
anguish.
Text
19
Tormented by
being separated from the Supreme Lord they then gave up their
lives there and did the wives embracing their [dead]
husbands, my dearest, climb upon the funeral
pyre.
Tormented
by separation from the Lord, His parents gave up their lives
at that very spot. My dear Parîkshit, the wives of the
Yâdavas then climbed onto the funeral pyres, embracing
their dead husbands.
Text
20
And so did the
wives of Balarâma embracing His body enter the fire, and
was the fire as well entered by the wives of Vasudeva together
with his body, the Lord His daughters-in-law to Pradyumna and
the others, and the wives of Krishna led by Rukminî, the
first queen, fully absorbed in Him.
The
wives of Lord Balarâma also entered the fire and
embraced His body, and Vasudeva's wives entered his fire and
embraced his body. The daughters-in-law of Lord Hari entered
the funeral fires of their respective husbands, headed by
Pradyumna. And Rukminî and the other wives of Lord
Krishna - whose hearts were completely absorbed in Him -
entered His fire.
Text
21
Arjuna
distressed because of the separation from Krishna, his dear
friend, consoled himself with the transcendental words of
Krishna's song [like 2:
11-12 ,
2:
20-21 ,
2:
27,
4:
7,
4:
6,
7:
25 and
14:
27 of the
Bhagavad
Gîtâ].
Arjuna
felt great distress over separation from Lord Krishna, his
dearmost friend. But he consoled himself by remembering the
transcendental words the Lord had sung to him.
Text
22
Of the
relatives, who had no remaining family members, had Arjuna as
prescribed, in order of the seniority of the deceased, the
funeral rites for the ones killed executed.
Arjuna
then saw to it that the funeral rites were properly carried
out for the dead, who had no remaining male family members.
He executed the required ceremonies for each of the Yadus,
one after another.
Text
23
Dvârakâ
abandoned by the Lord, was immediately overflooded by the ocean
except, o King, for the residence of the Supreme Personality of
Godhead [see archeology pictures 1,
2
& 3
of the site].
As
soon as Dvârakâ was abandoned by the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, the ocean flooded it on all sides, O
King, sparing only His palace.
Text
24
Right there is
Madhusûdana,
the Supreme Lord, eternally present; the very remembrance, as
the most auspicious of all auspicious things, takes away
everything inauspicious.
Lord
Madhusûdana, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is
eternally present in Dvârakâ. It is the most
auspicious of all auspicious places, and merely remembering
it destroys all contamination.
Text
25
Arjuna,
resettling the survivors - the women, the children and elders
of the ones killed - in Indraprastha, placed there Vajra
[Aniruddha's son] on the throne.
Arjuna
took the survivors of the Yadu dynasty - the women, children
and old men - to Indraprastha, where he installed Vajra as
ruler of the Yadus.
Text
26
From Arjuna
hearing of the death of their friend, o King, did all your
grandfathers, making you the maintainer of the dynasty, leave
for the great journey [northwards, see also
1.15:
34-51].
Hearing
from Arjuna of the death of their friend, my dear King, your
grandfathers established you as the maintainer of the
dynasty and left to prepare for their departure from this
world.
Text
27
The mortal one
who with faith sings about the birth and activities of Vishnu,
the God of Gods, will be completely liberated from all sins
[see das'âvatâra
stotra].
A
person who with faith engages in chanting the glories of
these various pastimes and incarnations of Vishnu, the Lord
of lords, will gain liberation from all sins.
Text
28
Thus were the
attractive and most auspicious exploits and childhood pastimes
of the incarnation [with all His expansions, see
10.1:
62-63] of
the Supreme Lord Hari here described as also elsewhere; a
person singing [about them] will attain to the
transcendental devotional service of the perfect sages [the
paramahamsas] for the destination.
The
all-auspicious exploits of the all-attractive incarnations
of Lord S'rî Krishna, the Supreme Personality of
Godhead, and also the pastimes He performed as a child, are
described in this S'rîmad-Bhâgavatam and in
other scriptures. Anyone who clearly chants these
descriptions of His pastimes will attain transcendental
loving service unto Lord Krishna, who is the goal of all
perfect sages.
