Krsna Book Audio Dictation - Chapter 75
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Next, Seventy-fifth Chapter. Subject: "Duryodhana Felt Insulted at the End of Rājasūya Sacrifice."
King Yudhiṣṭhira was known as ajāta-śatru. Ajāta-śatru means a person who has no enemy. Therefore, when all men, all demigods, all kings, sages, saints saw the successful termination of Rājasūya yajṣa performed by King Yudhiṣṭhira, everyone became very, very happy. But why Duryodhana was not happy, the subject matter was very astonishing to Mahārāja Parīkṣit, and therefore he requested Śukadeva Gosvāmī to narrate the story why Duryodhana was not happy.
Śukadeva Gosvāmī said, "My dear King Parīkṣit, your grandfather King Yudhiṣṭhira was a great soul. His congenial disposition of mind attracted everyone as his friend, and therefore he was known as ajāta-śatru, never creating an enemy. Therefore, he gave different engagements to all the members of the Kuru dynasty for taking charge of different departments in the management of Rājasūya sacrifice. For example, Bhīmasena was given in charge of the kitchen department, Duryodhana was given in charge of the treasury department, Sahadeva was given in charge of the reception department, Nakula was given in charge of the store department. Arjuna was engaged for looking after the comforts of the elderly persons. And the most astonishing feature was that Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He took the charge of washing feet of all the incoming guests.
The Queen, the goddess of fortune Draupadī, was in charge of administering the foodstuff distribution, and because Karṇa was famous for giving in charity, he was posted in charge of the charity department. In this way everyone, like Sātyaki, Vikarṇa, Hārdikya, Vidura, Bhūriśravā and Santardana, the son of Bāhlīka, all of them were engaged in different departments for managing the affairs of Rājasūya sacrifice. All of them were so much bound up in loving affection with King Yudhiṣṭhira that everyone wanted to act in such a way that he may be very much pleased, or his welfare is completely secured.
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So after the end of Rājasūya yajṣa, when everyone—friends, guests and well-wishers—were sufficiently honored and rewarded, and when Śiśupāla died by the mercy of Lord Kṛṣṇa and became merged in the spiritual existence, at that time King Yudhiṣṭhira went to take bath in the Ganges. The city of Hastināpura is standing on the bank of Yamunā. It indicates therefore that during the time of the Pāṇḍavas, the river Yamunā was also known as the Ganges. When King Yudhiṣṭhira was taking bath, which is known as avabhṛtha bath… This avabhṛtha bath is accepted after performing a great sacrifice. So when King was taking bath, there was concerted vibration of different musical instruments like mṛdaṅga, conchshell, drums, kettledrums, bugles and similar different musical instruments. Not only that, the dancing girls who were engaged in their respective occupation created a jingling sound. Many batches of professional singers were engaged with their vīṇā, flute, gongs, cymbals, and there was a tumultuous sound combined together vibrating in the sky.
The princely guests from many kingdoms, like Sṛṣjaya, Kāmboja, Kuru, Kekaya, Kośala, were present with their different flags and gorgeously decorated elephants, chariots, horses, soldiers. All of them were passing in a procession, keeping the king Yudhiṣṭhira in the forefront. The executive members for performing the sacrifice, like the priests, religious ministers, brāhmaṇas—all of them were chanting loudly the Vedic hymns. The demigods, the inhabitants of the Pitṛloka, Gandharvaloka, sages, were showering flowers from the sky. The citizens of the Hastināpura, Indraprastha, all men and women were nicely decorated, smeared with scents and floral oils, garlands, dressed in different colorful garments with valuable jewels and ornaments on the body, and all of them were enjoying the ceremony by throwing on each other liquid substances like water, oil, milk, butter, yogurt, someone smearing on some other's body. In this way, they were enjoying the occasion.
The professional prostitutes also were engaged in that jubilation by smearing the liquid substances on the body of the males, and the males were also in return by doing the same behavior on the females. All the liquid substances were specifically mixed with turmeric and saffron, so the color of the liquid substances were lustrous yellow.
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In order to observe the great ceremony, many wives of the demigods they came in their different aeroplanes and were visible on the sky. Similarly, on the surface also, the queens of the royal family came in their different palanquins, gorgeously decorated and surrounded by the bodyguard soldiers. During this time Lord Kṛṣṇa, the maternal cousin of the Pāṇḍavas, and His special friend Arjuna, both together were throwing the liquid substances on the body of the queens. By such action the queens became blushful, but at the same time their beautiful smiling engladdened their face. Not only that, on account of throwing liquid substances on their body, their coverings of the body, namely the sārīs, became completely wet. The sārīs being wet, the different parts of their bodily beauty, namely their breast, their waist, became partially visible on account of wet cloth. The queens also brought in bucket such liquid substances, and with syringe liquid substance was being sprinkled on the body of their brother-in-laws. And because of their being engaged in such jubilant activities, their bunch of hairs became slackened, and the decorating flowers on them began to fall down.
When Lord Kṛṣṇa, Arjuna and the queens were engaged in such activities of jubilation, persons who were not very much clean in their heart became agitated in their lustful desire. In other words, such behavior between male and female in clear heart is enjoyable, but persons who are materially contaminated become lustful in such pleasing dealings between man and woman.
When King Yudhiṣṭhira was present there along with his queens like Draupadī and others, on gorgeous-style chariot yoked by excellent horses, the features became so much beautiful as if the great sacrifice Rājasūya yajṣa was standing there in person, along with the different functions of the sacrifice.
After finishing the Rājasūya sacrifice, there were several other Vedic ritualistic duties, known as patnī-saṁyāja. This sacrifice is performed along with the wife. Therefore, this patnī-saṁyāja ceremony was also performed by the priests. Then the king again took his bath known as avabhṛtha. So when the Queen Draupadī and King Yudhiṣṭhira was taking their bath, people, out of their feelings of happiness, as well as the demigods began to beat on their trumpets, and all of them began to shower flowers from the sky. When the king and the Queen finished their bath in the Ganges, all other citizens, consisting of all the varṇas, or castes, namely the brāhmaṇas, the kṣatriyas, the vaiśyas and the śūdras, took their bath in the Ganges. This taking of bath in the Ganges is recommended in the Vedic literatures because by such bath one becomes freed from all sinful reaction. This taking of bath in the Ganges is still current in India. Especially in some particular auspicious moment, the people in thousands and millions take bath in the Ganges.
After taking bath, the king Yudhiṣṭhira dressed himself in new silken cloth and wrappers and was decorated in various valuable jewelries. The king not only dressed himself and decorated himself, but also he gave clothings and ornaments to all the priests and the members who performed the yajṣas. In this way, all of them were worshiped by King Yudhiṣṭhira. He constantly worshiped his friends, his family members, his relatives, his well-wishers and everyone who were present, and because he was a great devotee of Lord Nārāyaṇa, or because he was Vaiṣṇava, therefore he knew how to treat well everyone.
The Māyāvādī philosophers' endeavor to see everyone as God is an artificial way of thinking oneness. But a Vaiṣṇava, or a devotee of Lord Nārāyaṇa, sees every living entity as part and parcel of the Supreme Lord. Therefore, a Vaiṣṇava's treatment with other living entities is on the absolute platform. As you cannot treat one part of your body different from the other part, because all of them belong to the same body, similarly, a Vaiṣṇava does not see a human being distinct from the animal because in both of them he sees the situation of the soul and Supersoul simultaneously.
In this way, when everyone was refreshed after taking bath and were dressed in silken clothing, with jeweled earrings and flower garlands, turban, long wrappers, over all a pearl necklace, all of them simultaneously looked like the demigods from the heaven, specifically the women, who were very nicely dressed, and their smiling face were seen with the spots of tilaka and curling hair scattered here and there, each of them having a golden belt on the waist. And all this combination made everything very, very nice looking.
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In this way, persons who participated in the Rājasūya sacrifice like the most cultured priests, the brāhmaṇas, assisted in the performance of the sacrifice, and the citizens, consisting of brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas, vaiśyas, śūdra, besides them, all the kings, demigods, sages, saints, citizens of the Pitṛloka and everyone who participated in that yajṣa, along with their followers, all were very much satisfied by the dealings of King Yudhiṣṭhira, and at the end they parted in good feeling to their respective residences.
All of them, while returning to their respective homes, were talking of the dealings of King Yudhiṣṭhira, and they were not satisfied even after continuous talking of his greatness, as much as one is never satisfied drinking the nectarean over and over again. After departure of all others, Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira especially restrained the inner circle of his friends, including Lord Kṛṣṇa, by not allowing them to go back. Lord Kṛṣṇa could not refuse the request of the king. He therefore sent back all the heroes of the Yadu dynasty, like Sāmba and others. All of them went back to Dvārakā, and Lord Kṛṣṇa personally remained there in order to give pleasure to the king.
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In the material world, everyone has a particular type of desire to be fulfilled, but they are never able to fulfill their desires in full satisfaction. But a great devotee like King Yudhiṣṭhira, because of his unflinching devotion to Kṛṣṇa, he could fulfill all his desires successfully in the performance of the Rājasūya yajṣa. From the description of the execution of Rājasūya yajṣa, it appears that such function is a great ocean of opulent desires, and to cross over such ocean is not possible by any ordinary man. But by the grace of Lord Kṛṣṇa, the king Yudhiṣṭhira was able to cross over it very easily, and thus he became freed from all anxieties.
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When Duryodhana saw that Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira became very much famous after performance of the Rājasūya yajṣa and he was fully satisfied in every respect, he began to burn into the fire of envy because his mind was always poisonous. The imperial palace which was constructed by the demon Maya for the Pāṇḍavas was so excellent by different puzzling artistic workmanship befitting the position of great princes, kings or leaders of the demons. In that great palace, the Pāṇḍavas were living, along with their family members, and the Queen Draupadī was serving her husbands very peacefully. And because in those days Lord Kṛṣṇa was also there, His thousands of queens were also decorating the palace.
When all the queens were moving within the palace, along with their heavy breast and waist, and their ankle bells were ringing very melodiously on account of their movement, the whole palace appeared to be more pompous than heavenly kingdoms. The middle portion of all the queens were thin, and because the portion of their breast were sprinkled with saffron powder, the pearl necklace on their breast appearing to be reddish. On account of beautiful earrings and scattered hair on the face, they looked very, very nice, and Duryodhana, after looking over such beauties in the palace of the king Yudhiṣṭhira, became too much envious.
Duryodhana was especially burning by seeing the beauty of Draupadī, because he had some special attraction for her from the very beginning of her marriage with the Pāṇḍavas. In the marriage selection assembly of Draupadī, Duryodhana was also present, and along with other princes he was also very much captivated by the beauty of Draupadī, but he failed to achieve her. Therefore, he had a long-cherished bereavement for Draupadī.
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Once upon a time, the king Yudhiṣṭhira was sitting on the golden throne in the palace constructed by the demon Maya along with his four brothers and other relatives, as well as along with his great well-wisher the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. The material opulences of King Yudhiṣṭhira were not less than that of Lord Brahmā. When he was sitting on the throne along with his friends, the reciters were offering prayers to him in nice songs, and at this time of opulent demonstration of wealth and power by the king Yudhiṣṭhira, Duryodhana, along with his other younger brothers, also came there.
Duryodhana was decorated with helmet on his head and sword in his hand. He was always in envious and angry mood, and therefore on slight provocation he was talking irritatively with the doorkeepers. The reason of his irritation was because of his failing to distinguish between water and land. By the craftsmanship of demon Maya, the palace was so decorated in different places that one who did not know the tricks would consider water as land and land as water. Duryodhana was also illusioned by this craftsmanship, and when he was crossing water, thinking it to be land, he fell down. And because he fell down out of his foolishness, Bhīmasena and other queens enjoyed a laughing incidence the falling down of Duryodhana.
King Yudhiṣṭhira could understand the feelings of Duryodhana, therefore he was trying to restrain them from laughing in that way. But Lord Kṛṣṇa gave indication to King Yudhiṣṭhira not to restrain all of them enjoying the incidence. Kṛṣṇa wanted that Duryodhana may be fooled in that way and all others may enjoy his foolish behavior. When everyone laughed in that way, Duryodhana felt very much insulted, and from each and every hole of his body the hairs stood up in anger. Thus being insulted, he immediately left the palace, bowing down his head, very silently and without any protest.
When Duryodhana returned in such angry mood, everyone regretted the incidence, and King Yudhiṣṭhira also became very much sorry. But despite all these incidences, Kṛṣṇa was silent. He did not speak anything against or in favor of the incidence. It appeared that by the supreme will of Lord Kṛṣṇa, Duryodhana was thus in illusion, and that was the beginning of enmity between the two sects of Kuru dynasty. It appeared that it was a part of Kṛṣṇa's plan in His mission for decreasing the burden of the world.
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King Parīkṣit inquired from Śukadeva Gosvāmī why Duryodhana was not satisfied after the termination of great sacrifice Rājasūya yajṣa, was thus explained by Śukadeva Gosvāmī.
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Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Seventy-five Chapter of Kṛṣṇa in the matter of "Duryodhana Insulted at the End of Rājasūya Sacrifice."