Krishna Vāsudeva

Akrūra was thinking to himself, “When I bow at His feet, will the Supreme Lord retain His lotus-like hand on my head? His lotus-like hand offers protection to human beings who, fearing the speed of the serpent called time, seek refuge under Him. Through the assurance of ‘fear not’ (abhaya) this hand offers protection to one and all.

It is the hand that has uplifted many virtuous beings. It is the hand that has punished many sinners. It is the hand which has taken many virtuous beings to the highest supreme planes.

It was the offering made to this hand that enabled Indra and Bali to respectively obtain emperorship over the three worlds. Aha! With the touch of this hand, which emitted divine, exceptional fragrance, the fatigue of the Gopikas was relieved during the rāsa-kreeda dance.

I am a messenger deputed by Kamsa. Yet I am sure that Srikrishna, the inner witness within every entity, will not consider me as His enemy, as, seated within the core of every living entity He is witnessing the mental modifications therein. Also, seated therein and remaining changeless, He is witnessing the activities of the body and the senses of the living entity.

With absolute controlled mind, I shall fold my hands and bow at His feet. Will He look at me with His charming smile and compassionate gaze?”

Akrūra who was eagerly awaiting that moment when he would meet the Lord was anticipating the scenes that would unfold. Would the Lord look at him lovingly and compassionately? What should be his reaction upon catching the glimpse of the Lord?

“If the Lord casts His compassionate glance upon me, then, heaps of sins that chase me will be reduced to ashes. My doubts having been quelled in totality, I shall experience divine bliss. After welcoming me with His charming smile, He shall lovingly embrace me who am his relative. I am the foremost among those who seek His well-being.

More importantly, to me there is no God apart from Him. Be it night or day, I have always been reminiscing about Him alone. With this embrace, my inner mind will instantly obtain total purity such that it becomes powerful enough to purify others. I will be freed from all my karmic bondages. After embracing Him, I shall fold my hands and stand before Him. Then Srikrishna will address me as ‘O father Akrūra’. With this, the births of all in our lineage will be rendered fruitful”.

The moment he addresses, ‘my dear, how are you’, my entire lineage will attain redemption. Can there be anything greater than this?

“Condemnable is the birth of that person, who is not even slightly loved by Srikrishna, the Supreme Lord who is the most supreme amongst all. He does not love anyone as His benefactor, nor despise anyone as His antagonist. Neither is anyone dear to Him nor is anyone disliked or disregarded by Him”.

In His opinion, all are equal. He does not distinguish between rich, poor, dirty, elegant and the like.

“Just as the wish-fulfilling Kalpavŗksha tree fulfills the desires of only those who seek refuge under it, the Lord, in accordance to the service offered by the devotee, fulfills his desire. He reciprocates the love shown by them.

I shall also fold my hands and offer obeisance to Balarama, the elder brother of Krishna and the foremost among the Yadavas. Laughingly he shall embrace me and shall, holding both my hands, lovingly welcome me into their home. He shall offer to me the best hospitality and enquire from me the evil-doings of Kamsa towards his kinsmen’- In this manner, Akrūra, with his thoughts focussed exclusively upon Srikrishna, completed his journey on his chariot and by sunset reached Brindavan”.

All along he had thought only of Srikrishna.

Maharishi Śuka continued, “Upon arriving in Gokula, Akrūra spotted the footprints of Srikrishna in the soil. Seeing the distinguishing emblems such as the flag, goad, a seed of grain and a lotus, he identified them as Srikrishna’s footprints. Even the Guardian-deities of all the planes of existence reverentially wear the sacred dust from these holy footprints on their crowns. Such auspicious footprints were now ornamenting the earth. Upon seeing these footprints, Akrūra was ecstatic and experienced uncontainable bliss. Due to happiness, he had goosebumps all over his body. Tears of joy flowed freely from his eyes and his vision blurred.

Immediately he dismounted from his chariot and approaching those footprints and while exclaiming, “Aha! These are the footprints of Lord Srikrishna!”, he rolled on them in uncontained happiness. He poured those sand particles containing the Lord’s footprints on his head and smeared them on his body exclaiming ‘Aha! This the dust from my Lord’s feet’.

From the moment he received Kamsa’s command, Akrūra abandoned hypocrisy, fear, and sorrow. Now upon noticing the footprints of the Lord, he developed absolute devotion towards Him. Abandoning of hypocrisy, fear, and sorrow and attaining absolute devotion is the ultimate end for the embodied living entities. Such devotion can arise only due to repeatedly listening to Srihari’s divine names, chanting them and other such practices. Else, it is impossible.

At the time when Akrura entered Brindavan, Krishna, who was draped in yellow garments and Balarama, who was draped in blue garments were engaged in milking the cows in the cowsheds”.

Akrūra was fortunate to obtain this darshan of the Lord!

Akrūra saw the brothers whose eyes resembled winter lotuses.

Kiśorau śyāmala-śvetau śrī-niketau bṛhad-bhujau

Su-mukhau sundara-varau bala-dvirada-vikramau

While Balarama was fair-complexioned, Srikrishna was dark in complexion. The brothers who were the storehouse of all beauty hadn’t attained youth. The brothers who had long arms and beautiful faces were the best among the handsome people on earth. They were as majestic as baby elephants. These brothers on whose feet were the imprints of the flag, noose, thunderbolt, and lotus, were illumining the entire land of Gokula”.

Krishna Krishna