Narayana Krishna

The Lord of the ocean replied, ‘O Supreme Lord! O Srikrishna! I have not kidnapped him. The terrible demon Pancajana, who belongs to Diti’s lineage and who in the form of a conch swims in the ocean has abducted him. He alone is responsible for this. This is the truth’.

Upon hearing this, Srikrishna entered into the waters of the ocean and killed the demon Pancajana. However He failed to find the boy with the demon’s belly.

Srikrishna, the destroyer of the wicked, then took the conch named Pāncajanya, which had emerged from the body of the demon Pancajana, and returned to his chariot. Together with Balarama He now proceeded to Samyamani, the capital city of Yama, the Lord of death and loudly blew the conch.

Soon upon hearing the sound of the conch, Lord Yama, the controller of living entities, approached the two brothers and offered them reverential worship with complete devotion. With total humility, he addressed Lord Srikrishna, the Self who resides within every living entity, and said,

“O Lord Vishnu! In order to exhibit Your transcendental deeds You have sportily taken on a human body. Please command me as to what is to be done for You both. What is the purpose of Your arrival here?’

The Supreme Lord replied, ‘O Yama, bound by the result of his past fruitive activities, the son of our Guru has arrived here. Abiding by my command, forthwith bring him to me’.

Accepting this command, Yama returned and handed over the boy to Krishna. Balarama and Krishna then returned with the boy and handed him over to their Guru Sāndipani. Krishna once again begged his master, ‘Please select another boon’.”

Krishna had fetched the dead son of his Guru from the abode of the Lord of death! From this, His love and reverence for His Guru becomes explicitly clear. In front of such supreme devotion, our devotion towards our Guru simply fades. We care not for our Guru. We fail to even offer a heartfelt obeisance to our Guru. Guru is that supreme one who showers knowledge upon us.

“Guru Sāndipani said, ‘My dear sons, both of you have completely cleared your indebtedness towards your Guru. With disciples like you, a Guru can never have any further desires. O valorous ones! Now I permit you to return to your home. Your fame will purify the people of the world. May the knowledge learnt by you both fructify both in this world and the next and may they never be rendered wasteful!’

The Guru blessed that the knowledge acquired by them should never go in waste. Here, the Guru had taught knowledge to knowledge itself. Although Krishna was none apart from the Supreme Lord, for having incarnated as a human being He diligently abided by all the principles of human life. He strictly abided by the rituals such as naming ceremony, thread ceremony, completing formal education and the like. Sāndipani perhaps did not realize that Krishna had visited Yama’s abode in order to fetch his son. At a later date this understanding would have dawned upon him.

This one incident proves that Spiritual Guru is superior to God. Could it ever be possible for Sāndipani to remain unaware that the Lord had approached him for formal education? Undoubtedly he was aware. Nevertheless, we learn from Bhagavatam that the Spiritual Guru who has in him the ability to impart Spiritual Knowledge to his disciple and thus cause the disciple to climb to higher realms is far more superior than God himself! Guru blesses with Self-knowledge and causes the disciple to travel to the highest realm. Such Spiritual Guru lights the inner lamp within the disciple. He causes the Self within to illumine. He imparts knowledge of the Self. He showers the ultimate position to the disciple.

This incident thus explicitly clarifies that such Spiritual Guru is superior to God. In this incident, Spiritual Guru whole-heartedly showered blessings upon God himself. In the past incidents, the parents, out of love, had blessed God who had incarnated as their child.

“Having obtained the permission of their Guru, Krishna and Balarama mounted the chariot and returned to their hometown Mathura. This chariot, which travelled at the speed of wind, resounded like thunder. Since many days the citizens of Mathura had not seen Krishna and Balarama. Now they rejoiced at the sight of the two brothers”.

In the wrestling arena and in the chaos, the citizens could not see Krishna and Balarama from near. Soon after it, the brothers left for their education to Guru Sāndipani’s hermitage. Hence, all the citizens were pining for the brothers. They wanted to catch a glimpse, from near, of the two brothers. This desire was fulfilled upon the return of Krishna and Balarama from the hermitage of Guru Sāndipani.

“The citizens of Mathura rejoiced as if their lost wealth had been regained.”

Being God, Krishna could accomplish the otherwise impossible task of fetching Guru Sāndipani’s son from the abode of Yama.

If God and Guru are standing together, to whom would you offer the first obeisance? Who is to be superior of the two? It is said that in such a situation the first obeisance should be offered to Guru. This is because the Guru alone was responsible for God to make himself visible to us. Without his help, it is impossible to reach/ see God. Therefore, one should hold on to the Self-realized Spiritual Guru. He is the foundational support for this journey towards Godhead.

With this, the forty-fifth chapter of the tenth canto comes to an end.

Krishna Narayana