Wednesday 13 July 2011

The Passing on of Lord Krishna

Dwarka was the hometown of Lord Krishna and his brother Balram as well as the entire Yadu race. One day, three great sages paid a visit to this city as Krishna's guests. And one day, during their stay, the youngsters of the Royal family got into a state of intoxication and dressed up Krishna's son Shamva as a woman who needed to be blessed with a son.

They took him to the three sages and asked them to predict the birth and future of the son of the disguised Shamva. But truly holy men are seldom deceived. And these wise men at once realised the joke that was being played on them. Needless to say they were furious and angrily predicted that within twenty - four hours this man would go into labour and deliver, not a son but an iron thunder bolt which would be the cause of destruction of the entire Yadu race.

They then went to the palace to inform Krishna of their curse. Now Krishna being the Lord of the universe could easily have nullified or withdrawn their curse but he had too much respect for the words of holy men.  So he quietly accepted the news.
The following day as was predicted, Shamva gave birth to an iron thunder bolt which was promptly ground to a powder and thrown into the sea in an attempt to avert the tragedy. Thereafter intoxicating substances and drinks were completely banned from this territory, as everyone knew that this was the real cause of such unruly, irresponsible behaviour and their oncoming fate.
 But still the curse of the holy men hung over the heads of the Yadavas as a dark cloud and ominous signs were noticed everywhere. The whole city was infested by a troublesome group of rats and mice and the sun would set in the middle of the day. The freshest of food would spoil easily and cows gave birth to asses and asses to elephants.
 A blanket of frustration and despair spread over the Yadavas as they indulged themselves in unruly behaviour. Brahmins and elders were being treated with utmost disrespect and couples started indulging in adulterous behaviour.
 Krishna realised that complete destruction was inevitable and so decided to hasten the process. He advised the men to take their entire families to the seashore to bathe in the sea. As they headed out they were witness to a few more ominous signs. First Lord Krishna's discus was swallowed by the sky and then his chariot and horses sped away over the ocean.
On reaching the seashore, the families were all provided with food and drink and once again indulged themselves to the point of destruction. A fight ensued in which Krishna's son was killed. At this point, the Lord picked out a few blades of grass and turned them into weapons that destroyed quite a number of the tribe. Seeing him do this many others also picked out the grass that turned into weapons made out of iron and began killing each other in their fit of intoxication. All in all, five- hundred thousand people were killed and only four survived. One was the Lord himself and the other was his brother Balram.
After this Balram retired to the forest to practice meditation and yoga and Krishna returned to Dwarka to say good-bye to his father as he knew that he was not going to survive much longer. He also sent one of the survivors to the Pandavas to come and take charge of the widows and children of those who had been killed. He then went on to join Balram in the forest.
On reaching the forest, he witnessed Balram's ascension into the higher realms of heaven where he was being received by the gods. After this he wandered about immersed in deep thought while he finally began to accept his destiny. In his younger days, Sage Durvasa had cursed him saying that would die of a wound in his left foot. The sage had been offended for some reason and had cursed young Krishna in a fit of anger.

Lord Krishna now decided that it was time for the curse to take effect and so sat down to meditate while exposing his left foot.

A hunter soon approached and mistook the Lord for a deer. And as was predicted he shot him in his left foot. On realising his grave error he was filled with remorse and grief. But Lord Krishna consoled him and asked him not to be scared or sorry as these were the ways of destiny.  These were the great Lord's last words on earth.

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