Krsna Book Audio Dictation - Chapter 10
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Chapter Ten heading: "Deliverance of Nalakūvara and Maṇigrīva."
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The story of cursing Nalakūvara and Maṇigrīva and their deliverance by Kṛṣṇa, under the all-blissful desire of great sage Nārada, are described as follows.
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The two great demigods of the name Nalakūvara and Maṇigrīva were sons of the treasurer of the demigods, namely Kuvera, who was a great devotee of Lord Śiva, and by the grace of Lord Śiva his material opulences had no limit. And as usual a rich man's sons become too much addicted to wine and women, these two sons of Kuvera, namely Nalakūvara and Maṇigrīva, were also too much addicted to wine and sex. Once upon a time these two demigods, desiring to enjoy, entered the garden of Lord Śiva in the province of Kailāsa on the bank of Mandākinī Ganges. In that place they drunk too much and were engaged in hearing sweet singing of beautiful women accompanying them in that garden, which was full of fragrant flowers. In such intoxicated condition, both of them entered the water of the Ganges, which was full with the lotus flower, and began to enjoy the company of the young girls exactly like the elephant enjoys with the she-elephants within the water.
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While they were so enjoying in the water, all of a sudden Nārada, the great sage, happened to pass that way.
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…that the demigods known as Nalakūvara and Maṇigrīva were too much intoxicated and could not see even that Nārada was passing on that way. The young girls, however, were not so much intoxicated like the demigods, and they at once became ashamed on account of their being naked before the great sage Nārada, and they began to cover themselves immediately with all hastiness. But the two demigods, the sons of Kuvera, were so much intoxicated that they could not appreciate the presence of sage Nārada, and therefore did not cover their body.
The great sage Nārada, on seeing the two demigods too much degraded by intoxication, wanted their welfare, and therefore he exhibited his causeless mercy upon them by cursing them. He began to say as follows. The great sage was compassionate upon them; therefore he wanted to finish their false enjoyment in intoxication and associating with young girls and wanted them to see Lord Kṛṣṇa eye to eye. Therefore he conceived of cursing them as follows. He said that "Tendency for material enjoyment is due to increase of the modes of passion. A person therefore in the material world, when he is favored by material opulence of richness, generally one becomes addicted to three things, namely intoxication, sex life and gambling. Such materially opulent men, being puffed up with accumulation of sufficient wealth, becomes so much merciless that they indulge in killing animals by opening regular slaughterhouses, thinking themself that they would never die and they are born to live forever.
"Such foolish persons, forgetting the laws of nature, so become too much puffed up with the body as civilized or demigods, without knowing that the material body, either it is very much advanced in civilization or attainment of the position of demigods, after death, this body would burn into ashes or stool. And whatever the external condition of the body may be, within there are only stools, urine and various kinds of worms.
"Thus being engaged in jealousy and violence to other bodies, they cannot understand the ultimate goal of life, and without knowing this goal of life, generally they glide down to the hellish condition of life in the next life. Such foolish persons commit all kinds of sinful activities on account of this temporary body, but they are unable to consider whether this body actually belongs to them. Generally it is said that the body belongs to such person who feeds the body. It is therefore considered whether this body belongs to me personally or this body belongs to my master where I render some service, just like a animal, and he pays me for upkeep of this body. The master of slaves claim full right on the body of the slaves because the master feeds the slave by supplying foodstuff.
"Also, it may be questioned whether this body to the father, who is the seed-giving master of this body. The next question: whether this body belongs to mother, because mother, while the child is within the womb, develops the body of the child by her own blood and secretion. In the beginning of the development of this body, the mother helps by (indistinct)..."
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Tape number thirteen, Kṛṣṇa.
"Foolish persons are engaged in the matter of committing all sorts of sinful activities on account of misconception of identification of the material body is self. But one should be intelligent enough to understand as to whom this body belongs. Foolish person indulge in killing other animals for maintaining this body, but he does not consider whether this body belongs to him or to his father or to his mother or to his grandfather. Sometimes a grandfather, mother's father, gives in charity his daughter to a person with a view to get back the child as his son.
"The body may also belong to a stronger man who forces another body to work for him. Sometimes the slave's body is sold to the master, and from that day the body belongs to the master. And at the end of life, the either (indistinct) belongs to the fire, because the body is given to the fire for being burned into ashes. Or sometimes the body is thrown in the street to be eaten by the dogs. So before committing all kinds of sins for maintaining the body, one should be considerate to understand as to whom the body belongs. Ultimately, it is concluded that the body is product of the material nature, and at the end it merges into the material nature. Therefore the conclusion should be that the body belongs to the material nature, and why one should wrongly think that this body belongs to him, and for maintaining a false possession, why one should indulge in killing innocent animals for maintaining the body?
"When a man is infatuated with false prestige of opulence, he does not care for any moral instruction, but indulge in wine, women and animal killing. In such circumstances, a poor man is better situated, because a poor man think of himself in comparison to other bodies. A poor man does not wish to inflict injuries to other bodies, because he can think of himself that if he is injured he feels pain." As such, the great sage Nārada thought that the demigods known as Nalakūvara and Maṇigrīva was so much infatuated by false prestige they should be put into a condition of life where there is no opulence.
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A person who has got some pinprick in his…, does not wish others to similarly being pricked by pins. Similarly, a considerate man in life of poverty does not wish that others also put into such condition of life. Generally, it is seen that one who has become rich from a poverty-stricken life, at the end of their life they make some charitable institution so that other poverty-stricken may take advantage of such institution. In other words, a compassionate poor man can think of others' pains and pleasure by comparing himself in such condition. Hardly a poor man becomes puffed-up with false pride, and he is freed from all kinds of infatuation. He can remain satisfied whatever by the grace of the Lord he gets for his maintenance.
As such, to remain in poverty-stricken condition is a kind of austerity. According to Vedic culture, therefore, the brāhmaṇas, as a matter of routine, they keep themselves in poverty-stricken condition to save themselves from the false prestige of material opulence. False prestige out of advance of..., advancement of material prosperity is a great impediment for spiritual emancipation. A poverty-stricken man cannot become unnaturally fatty by eating more and more, and on account of not being able to eat more than he requires, his senses are not very turbulent. When the senses are not very turbulent, he cannot become violent also.
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Another advantage of poverty-stricken person is that a saintly person can easily enter his house, and he can get advantage of the association of saintly person. A very rich man, opulent man, does not allow anyone to enter in his house; therefore a saintly person also cannot enter in his house. According to Vedic system, a saintly person takes the position of a beggar mendicant so that on the plea of begging something from the householder, he can enter any house, and the householder who has forgotten anything about spiritual advancement on account of being too busy in maintaining the family affairs gets some advantage of the association of saintly person for spiritual emancipation. There is great chances for the poor man to become liberated on account of being associated with saintly persons. What is the use of such persons who are puffed up with material opulence of wealth, prestige if they are bereft of the association of saintly persons and devotees of the Supreme Personality of Godhead?
The great sage Nārada thereafter thought that it was his duty to put those demigods into a condition of life where they could not be falsely proud of their material opulence and prestige. In other words, sage Nārada was compassionate with their fallen condition and wanted to save them from such pitiable life. They were in the modes of darkness, therefore unable to control their senses, addicted too much to sex life, and it was the duty of saintly person to save them from such abominable condition of life.
In the animal life there is no sense of the animals to understand that he is naked. The two demigods were sons of a great leader of the human society or demigod society known as Kuvera. Kuvera was the treasurer of the demigods, very responsible man, and Nalakūvara and Maṇigrīva were two sons of him. But they became so much animal-like, irresponsible, that they could not understand, on account of being intoxicated, that they were naked. In other words, to cover the lower part of the body is human civilization. When a man or woman forgets this principles of human civilization, he or she is no more than animal only.
Nārada sage therefore thought that the best punishment for them was to make them immovable living entity, or the trees. The trees are by nature's laws stopped moving. Therefore although the trees are covered in the modes of ignorance, they cannot do more harm by such modes of ignorance. The great sage Nārada, however, thought within himself that although they would be punished to become trees, still, by his mercy, they could continue to keep their memory to understand as to from what condition of life they are put into this condition of becoming trees. Similarly, a living entity after changing the body, he forgets the condition of his previous life, but in special cases, by the grace of the Lord, just like this Nalakūvara and Maṇigrīva, although got the life of immovable trees, still they continued to remember their former condition of life.
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Sage Nārada therefore contemplated that the two demigods should remain for one hundred years of the demigods in the form of trees. After that they would be fortunate enough to see the Supreme Personality of Godhead face to face, by His causeless mercy, and thus they would be again promoted to the life of the demigods and become great devotees of the Lord.
After this, the great sage Nārada returned to his place known as Nārāyaṇa-āśrama, and the two demigods of the name Nalakūvara and Maṇigrīva turned into trees known as twin arjuna trees grown on the courtyard of Nanda Mahārāja. In other words, the two demigods Nalakūvara and Maṇigrīva was favored by the causeless mercy of Nārada so that they were given the chance of being grown at the courtyard of Nanda Mahārāja to get a chance of seeing Lord Kṛṣṇa face to face.
Now the child Kṛṣṇa, when He was bound up with the wooden mortar, began to proceed towards the twin trees in order to fulfill the foretelling of His great devotee Nārada. At that time Lord Kṛṣṇa thought within Himself that Nārada was His great devotee, and those trees standing as twin arjuna trees were the sons of Kuvera. Therefore, "I must now fulfill the words of My great devotee Nārada." After thinking this, child Kṛṣṇa began to proceed through the passage in between the two trees, and although He went out of the space of the trees, the wooden mortar fell down horizontally and was stuck between the two trees. Taking this advantage of the mortar being stuck to the trees, Lord Kṛṣṇa began to snatch the rope tied in His waist very strongly, and as soon as there was a great jerking on account of His pulling the rope, the two trees with great sound immediately fell down with entire branches and leaves in the tree when they fell.
When the tree fell down, out of the broken trees two great personalities, who were shining like blazing fire, came out of the trees, and on account of their presence all sides become illuminated and beautiful. Then such two purified bodies immediately came before child Kṛṣṇa and bowed down to offer their respects and offered their prayers in the following words: "My dear Lord Kṛṣṇa, You are the original Personality of Godhead and the master of all mystic power. Learned brāhmaṇas knows it very well that this cosmic manifestation is expansion of Your potencies, and they are sometimes manifested and sometimes not manifested. You are the life, body and senses, or You are the original proprietor of the life, body and senses of all living entities. You are the eternal time, Lord Viṣṇu, who is all-pervading, imperishable controller of everything. You are the original source of cosmic manifestation, the material nature both phenomenon and noumenon, which are acting manifestedly under the spell of three modes of material nature, namely goodness, passion and ignorance. You are living as the Supersoul in all the multiforms of living entities, and You know very well everything what is going on within their body and mind. Therefore You are the supreme director of all activities of living entities.
"But although You are in the midst of everything under the spell of material modes of nature, You are not affected by such contaminated qualities. Nobody in the jurisdiction of the material qualities can understand Your transcendental qualities. Your transcendental qualities existed before the creation; therefore You are called the Supreme Transcendence. Let us therefore offer our respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of You, Lord Vāsudeva and the Supreme Brahman, who is always glorified by His personal internal potencies.
"In this material world, You can be known only by Your different incarnations. But although You assume different types of bodies, They are not anything of the material creation. Such bodies are always full of transcendental potencies of unlimited opulence, strength, beauty, reputation, wisdom and renunciation. In the material existence, there is difference between the body and the owner of the body. But because You appear in Your original spiritual body, there is no such difference within Yourself and body. As such, when You appear, Your uncommon activities only indicate that You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and such uncommon activities are not possible by any other body in the material existence. You are that Supreme Personality of Godhead, now appeared to cause the birth and death as well as liberation, and You are full with all Your plenary expansions, and You can bestow upon everyone all kinds of benediction.
"O my Lord, the source of all auspicity and goodness, I offer my respectful obeisances unto You, because You are the all-pervading Supreme Personality of Godhead, the supreme source of peacefulness and the supreme personality in the dynasty of King Yadu. My Lord, our father, known as Kuvera pitā, the demigod, is Your servant. Similarly, the great sage Nārada is also Your servitor, and by their grace only we have been able to see You personally. We therefore pray that we may always be engaged Your transcendental loving service by speaking only about Your glories and hearing about Your transcendental activities. Our hands and other limbs of the body may be engaged in Your service, and our minds may always be wrapped up on Your lotus feet, and our heads may always be bowed down before the all-pervading universal form of Your Lordship."
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When the demigods Nalakūvara and Maṇigrīva finished their prayers, at that time the Lord, child Kṛṣṇa, the master and proprietor of Gokula, in that condition of being bound up by the ropes of Yaśodā with the grinding wooden mortar, began to smile and said as follows: "It was already known to Me that My great devotee, sage Nārada, had shown his causeless mercy by saving you from very abominable condition on account of your being puffed up due to extraordinary beauty and opulence in the family of demigods. He has saved you from gliding down to the lowest condition of hellish life being such puffed up, and all these facts were already known to Me. You are very much fortunate, because you were not only cursed by him, but you had the greatest opportunity to see him. If somebody perchance is able to see face to face great saintly persons like Nārada, who are always equipoised and merciful to everyone, then immediately a conditioned soul becomes liberated simply by seeing such great personality. This is exactly like the eyes situated in full light of sun—there cannot be any impediment of vision.
"Therefore, O Nalakūvara and Maṇigrīva, your lives has now become successful because you have now developed ecstatic love for Me, and as such, this is your last birth within the material existence. Now you can go back to your father's residence in the heavenly planet, and by remaining in such attitude of devotional service you will be liberated in this very life."
After this, both the demigods Nalakūvara and Maṇigrīva circumambulated the Lord many times and bowing down before Him again and again, and thus they left the place and the Lord remained in such condition of being bound up with ropes on the grinding mortar.
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Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of Kṛṣṇa in the Tenth Chapter in the matter of "Nārada Cursing Two Demigods, Nalakūvara and Maṇigrīva."