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Showing posts with label Sri Krishna Book. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sri Krishna Book. Show all posts

Sri Krishna Pastimes: The Killing of Kamsa

The Killing of Kamsa: A Pastimes of The Supreme Lord "Sri Krishna"


Killing of Kamsa by Krishna1
The Killing of Kamsa
Excerpted from Back to Godhead Magazine Volume 01, Number 67, 1974
by His Holiness Satsvarupa dasa Gosvami
Bhagavad-gita states that Lord Krsna descends to this world to vanquish miscreants and rescue His devotees. Once when the world was overburdened with demoniac forces, the demigods prayed for the appearance of the Lord. Lord Krsna accepted the prayer, and He decided to appear as the son of two pure devotees, Vasudeva and his wife, Devaki. Years before Krsna’s actual advent, on the day Devaki and Vasudeva were married, Kamsa, the brother of the bride, was driving the couple to Vasudeva’s home. In the middle of the joyous procession, a voice suddenly rang out from the sky. “Kamsa,” the voice said, “you are such a fool! You are driving the chariot of your sister, but you do not know that the eighth child of your sister will kill you!”
Kamsa then at once took hold of Devaki and drew his sword to kill her. This shows the essence of Kamsa’s demoniac mentality: anyone or anything that threatened his bodily enjoyment must be destroyed. Vasudeva at once intervened and pleaded with Kamsa not to kill Devaki. Vasudeva spoke in a very enlightened way. Death, he told Kamsa, is inevitable, so why should we be afraid of it? After the end of this body, we get another body to fulfill our desires. Death is only a change of bodies. The real self is eternal, so we should try to find our real life beyond the body.
Unfortunately, Kamsa, being an atheist, could not listen to good instruction. Although each of us has but little control over the forces of nature, foolish people try to become lords of all they survey. They live only for the pleasure of the body, taking the body to be the self, and disregarding the soul. In ignorance, they say there is no soul.
This philosophy is now very popular, but it has existed since time immemorial. Thousands of years ago, in Vedic times, it was propounded by a philosopher named Carvaka, who taught that one should simply enjoy sensual pleasures, like eating, as much as he can. One should not hesitate to commit any irresponsible act to reach his goal, and one should not worry about the next life because at death everything will be finished. When modern so-called leaders take up this philosophy, people in general follow, and society becomes hellish. Not considering the will of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, or His supreme proprietorship, men take to animal slaughter, abortion, intoxication—anything. We are seeing only the beginning of this in current times. When Krsna conscious persons like Vasudeva try to give enlightenment, many so-called educated men take them lightly and say that the existence of God and the eternity of the soul are myths. And when governments also fail to meet their responsibility to further God consciousness, social degradation is assured.
To dissuade Kamsa from murdering Devaki, Vasudeva promised that he and Devaki would bring Kamsa each of their children as they were born so that he could do what he liked with them. Kamsa relented, and when Vasudeva brought Kamsa their first-born child one year later, he became a little compassionate and spared the baby.
Later, however, Kamsa became alarmed when he heard from the sage Narada that Krsna was soon to appear. Narada told Kamsa that in his past life he had been a demon named Kalanemi, who had been killed by Lord Krsna, the Personality of Godhead. On hearing this, Kamsa foolishly became determined to kill the Lord. “Any child might be Krsna,” he concluded. He at once ordered the imprisonment of Vasudeva and Devaki and killed their child. Kamsa committed many other atrocities, all so that he might live and rule at any cost. He made alliances with many demoniac kings and imprisoned anyone who opposed him, including his own father, Ugrasena. In this way he expanded his kingdom, just as modern politicians do, until he became the strongest emperor of his time. He broke the solidarity of the Yadu dynasty, which included all of Krsna’s relatives, and forced them to hide in caves. Year after year Devaki gave birth to a child, and Kamsa murdered every one—six in all—fearing each to be the child who would kill him.
When Krsna Himself became the eighth child, He cheated Kamsa. He appeared before Vasudeva and Devaki as the Supreme Lord and then transformed Himself into a normal child. Krsna ordered Vasudeva to exchange Him with a female child just bom to mother Yasoda in nearby Gokula. Although Vasudeva was shackled and Kamsa’s prison well guarded, by Krsna’s mystic potency Vasudeva was able to escape from the prison, make the exchange, and return unnoticed to his cell.
Kamsa heard the cries of the newborn child as his death knell, and he rushed in to kill him. But the baby flew up into the air and assumed the form of the demigoddess Maya. “You rascal,” she said to Kamsa. “The child who will kill you has already been born elsewhere. You cannot kill Him.”
Threatened in this way, Kamsa and his demoniac associates began an all-out purge, ordering the murder of all male children born within the previous ten days. Kamsa also harassed all saintly persons and brahmanas. He knew that the devotees are the heart and soul of his enemy, Lord Krsna, so he tried to attack Him by persecuting His closest servitors and putting a stop to all religious activities.
Lord Krsna, however, was not at all fearful. He simply enjoyed His childhood pastimes in Vrndavana, giving pleasure to His friends, His mother and father, and the cowherd men and women. Kamsa, however, tried repeatedly to disrupt Krsna’s pastimes. First he sent a witch named Putana, who had already killed many babies by her black arts. She tried to kill Krsna when He was only a few months old. She smeared poison on her breast, appeared in Vrndavana as a beautiful young woman, and took permission from mother Yasoda to give Krsna her breast to suck. Baby Krsna, however, not only sucked her breast milk, but sucked out her life as well.
After Putana, Kamsa sent many demons, among them Trnavarta and Aghasura. Trnavarta appeared in the shape of a whirlwind and tried to kidnap Krsna and destroy Him high in the sky. Aghasura, the brother of Putana, came before Krsna and His friends as a giant serpent. But Krsna nonchalantly killed these ferocious demons one after another. Krsna’s father, Nanda, and other elders of the village were concerned about the constant attacks upon Krsna, so they moved their entire village community to a more suitable place, where they hoped to be free from attack. But more demons came; a giant horse, an enormous bull, a pack of asses, and many others. Child Krsna killed them all, assisted by His brother, Balarama.
When Krsna was sixteen years old, Kamsa discovered for certain that Krsna in Vrndavana was Devaki’s eighth child. Narada told Kamsa of Krsna’s true identity and related how He had killed all the demons without difficulty. In desperation, Kamsa formed his final plot: he arranged for a big wrestling match at Mathura and sent Akrura, Krsna’s uncle, to Vrndavana to invite Krsna and all His relatives and neighbors to attend the gala affair.
Akrura was actually a great devotee of Krsna. So when he arrived in Vrndavana, he confided to Krsna that the wrestling match was an elaborate plan to kill Him and His brother. Krsna and Balarama mildly laughed at this. They invited all the townsmen to go to Mathura, and They Themselves set out with Akrura.
Krsna’s arrival in Mathura was supposed to be His entrance into an ominous trap, but Krsna very blissfully and lightheartedly entered the city. And when the news spread that Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, had come, all the residents of Mathura spontaneously turned out to see Him. The real festival in Mathura became the festival of seeing Krsna. All the young girls were very eager to see Krsna, but out of modesty they went to the roofs of the houses to catch a glimpse of Him. The people had heard about Krsna and His activities, but only now did they have the chance to see Him. They became ecstatic and rushed from whatever they were doing to see Krsna passing through the streets. People talked back and forth about how beautiful Krsna was, and they praised the great fortune of the gopis and other devotees of Vrndavana who were able to see Krsna every day.
There are two kinds of human beings—devotees and demons—and in Mathura Krsna encountered both. While Krsna and Balarama were walking through the streets of Mathura, They met a washerman carrying various garments. Krsna asked the washerman for some clothing and promised to award him all good fortune. This is the basis of Krsna consciousness: the devotee offers whatever he has to the Lord, and the Lord, although not in need, accepts the offering to help awaken the devotee’s original relationship of service to Him. Unfortunately, this washerman thought himself a servant not of Krsna but of Kamsa. Not only did he refuse to give Krsna clothing, but he called Him impudent. “Don’t ask for things that are the King’s property,” he said, “or You will be punished.” Krsna became very angry with this servant of Kamsa and killed him, using only His hand as a weapon.
A little later Krsna and Balarama met a florist who was exactly the opposite of the washerman. He was very submissive and simply prayed to be eternally engaged in devotional service to Krsna. The florist gave Krsna a very beautiful garland at his home, and thus his desire was fulfilled.
Krsna and Balarama also met a young hunchback woman carrying sandalwood paste. Her duty had been to bring sandalwood to King Kamsa daily, but when she saw the personal beauty of Krsna and Balarama, she voluntarily offered the sandalwood paste to Them. In return, Krsna transformed her from a hunchback into a beautiful young woman by touching her with His hand. One may take these extraordinary encounters to be fictitious or imaginary, but they are the actual historic activities the Personality of Godhead performed while present on earth some 5,000 years ago. The great authorities in Krsna consciousness who are passing down the narrations of Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam do not doubt these facts. Mundane scholars and people in general may doubt them, but they cannot understand the science of God as presented in Vedic literature. One who is not rendering service to the Personality of Godhead through a bona fide spiritual master can only whimsically speculate about what God can or cannot do.
As Krsna and Balarama approached the sacrificial arena in Mathura, They saw a big display where a giant bow was being guarded by state soldiers. Krsna walked right past the guards, picked up the bow and broke it. The sound of the bow’s cracking reverberated throughout the land and sky and even reached the palace of Kamsa. The guards rushed Krsna and Balarama, but the two brothers immediately killed them and left the arena.
Thereafter, Krsna continued to visit various places in Mathura, and the citizens turned out to see Him, astonished at His extraordinary beauty and opulence. In Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Srila Prabhupada writes, “The two brothers strolled carefree in the street, not caring for the law and order of Kamsa.” In this way They hinted at the severe danger awaiting Kamsa.
When Kamsa heard the bow break and heard how the guards had been killed, he partially realized the power of the Supreme Lord. He understood that the eighth child of Devaki had come to kill him. That night he could not rest at all, for both awake and dreaming he had inauspicious visions. He looked in the mirror but could not see his head. He saw stars in the sky double. He saw holes in his shadow, heard a buzzing sound in his ears, and had ghastly dreams of ghosts, poison and murder. Thus he understood that his death was sure. But when morning finally came, he busily arranged for the wrestling match. In his last hours, with death so near, rather than pray to the Supreme Lord for mercy, Kamsa anxiously planned how to avert what he knew was certain.
All those who share Kamsa’s demoniac mentality are like that. They can see that material nature will eventually kill them, just as it has killed everyone else in history. Yet they act as if they will never die. A great devotee once called this the most wonderful phenomenon: people see the hand of death take away all their predecessors, but they think that they themselves will not die. The Kamsas of this world are always busy planning how to enjoy this life, even up till the second they are snatched away by death. So many modern cities have been built all over the world, but no one who lives in them has any guarantee that he won’t be kicked out today or tomorrow by death. Ignoring the next life only insures that we will have to take another birth to suffer miseries again and again. Kamsa was like a man trying to raise his temperature when he already has a high fever; when the fever reaches 107 degrees, a man dies. Kamsa could not see that all his plans to survive would be vanquished, nor did he care to hear about the next life. Like a typical politician, on the morning of his death Kamsa busied himself making plans for this temporary world.
After bathing and performing other morning duties, Krsna and Balarama heard drums playing at the wrestling arena, and They prepared to go see the fun. But when They arrived at the gateway of the arena, a big elephant with a rider blocked Their path. This was another of Kamsa’s schemes. Krsna told the elephant’s caretaker to immediately clear the path, but the man became angry and provoked the elephant to charge Krsna. Krsna moved around the elephant, dragged it by its tail, tripped it and finally killed both the elephant and its rider.
Krsna and Balarama then proceeded into the arena, where everyone at once became attracted to Them. The audience was completely attentive to Krsna and Balarama. The residents of Vrndavana were all reciting Their pastimes, and others, seeing Them for the first time, began to praise Their qualities.
Suddenly, a musical fanfare announced the start of the wrestling match. The famous champion wrestlers Canura and Mustika approached Krsna and Balarama, and Canura said, “We have heard all about You. The King desires to see You display Your wrestling abilities.” Krsna replied that although He and Balarama liked to play and sometimes They wrestled with Their cowherd friends, They were not professional wrestlers. Krsna said plainly that a match of” professional wrestlers against young boys would not be equal, and this would disturb the audience. But the wrestlers insisted that Krsna and Balarama were not ordinary boys, and so the match began.
Many members of the audience called out their disapproval, for Krsna and His brother appeared to be delicate boys of tender age, whereas the wrestlers were mountainous strongmen, trained in the art of crushing opponents. In Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Srila Prabhupada specifically describes what the members of the audience said. “But my dear friends,” someone spoke out, “just look at the face of Krsna. There are drops of perspiration on His face from chasing His enemy, and His face appears like a lotus flower with drops of water. And do you see how the face of Lord Balarama has turned especially beautiful? There is a reddish hue on His white face because He is engaged in a strong wrestling match with Mustika.” Another spectator exclaimed, “Even in front of the King this wrestling match is going on between incompatible sides.” Thus the members of the audience were very attracted to Krsna, but at the same time they saw great danger and felt anxiety for Him. Even Krsna’s very intimate devotees, such as His mother and father, were also very anxious because they too did not know the unlimited strength of Krsna and Balarama.
Lord Krsna is actually all-powerful, and there is nothing to fear when He is fighting a conditioned living being of the material world. Krsna is declared throughout the Vedas to be the Absolute Truth, the source from whom everything comes and upon whom everything rests. Srimad-Bhagavatam says that He alone existed before creation. He is now the only ultimate reality, and after annihilation only He will remain. But by Krsna’s internal spiritual energy, called yoga-maya, He acts in different relationships with His servitors according to how they approach Him.
Krsna is the reservoir of all personal feelings, so we should not be surprised that He reveals Himself differently in various relationships. To the mass of people at the wrestling arena He appeared as the most beautiful personality, but to the wrestlers He appeared like a thunderbolt. The ksatriyas (warriors) saw Him as the strongest ruler, while the females saw Him as the most attractive male. The cowherd men from Vrndavana saw Him as their own kinsman, while the yogis saw Him as the Supersoul in everyone’s heart. Kamsa also saw Krsna uniquely—as Death Personified.
Kamsa was always fearful that Krsna would someday kill him. Thus he spent his whole life absorbed in thoughts of how to kill Krsna. Because he was always thinking of Krsna, Kamsa was Krsna conscious. But because he thought of Krsna unfavorably, he is not considered a devotee of the Lord. He was not practicing bhakti (devotional service). To be always thinking, like Kamsa, of how to avoid submitting to the Lord’s supreme will is the principal engagement of a whole class of men, including modern educators, scientists, politicians and philosophers. By hearing about Kamsa, we can clearly understand why such a mentality is self-defeating.
Krsna and Balarama engaged the wrestlers in the standard wrestling holds and maneuvers for some time, but when the anxious protests of the audience grew too great, Krsna simply spun one wrestler in the air, Balarama hit the other, and the famous wrestlers were dead. Other wrestlers came forward, but the two brothers killed them immediately, and the remaining wrestlers ran from the arena. Musicians spontaneously beat their drums, and the crowd cheered the victory of Krsna and Balarama.
Kamsa was enraged. He announced that Krsna and Balarama should be driven from the city of Mathura, Their riches plundered, and Krsna’s father killed. Krsna could not tolerate such talk. He jumped over the high wall protecting King Kamsa and stood before him face to face. Kamsa tried defending himself with a sword, but Krsna grabbed him and dragged him down from the throne. After throwing him on the ground, Krsna killed Kamsa by punching him with His fist. Krsna then dragged Kamsa around the arena the way a lion drags an elephant after killing it, just to assure His parents, relatives and all pious people that Kamsa was actually dead.
One may wonder why this narration contains so much violence and killing, since the Supreme Personality of Godhead is said to be all-merciful. But there is no question of wrongdoing in Krsna’s actions. Because Krsna is absolute, whatever Krsna does is absolutely good. Fighting and killing is required for a ksatriya (warrior) when there is a need to punish miscreants who threaten the peaceful citizens of society. When such criminals need to be rebuffed, nonviolence is cowardice, as Krsna told Arjuna on the Battlefield of Kuruksetra. Devotees of Krsna are naturally nonviolent toward all living entities, even animals, but if the demoniac make a violent disturbance, the devotees are prepared to counter such violence in the service of the Supreme Lord.
Also, when Krsna personally kills someone, He gives that person the benediction of liberation. Astoundingly, Kamsa was immediately awarded sarupya-mukti upon being killed by Krsna. This means that he went to the spiritual planets, where he was able to live in eternity, bliss and knowledge with a form almost exactly resembling the Supreme Lord’s in opulence and beauty. Such liberation is very difficult to achieve, even after hundreds of lifetimes spent searching for the Absolute Truth. Yogis and ascetics achieve release from all material desires only after prolonged, severe austerities. But even they do not reach the Vaikuntha planets; they merge into the impersonal brahmajyoti, the effulgence of the Lord. Kamsa, however, had a personal relationship with Krsna. He thought of Krsna day and night: “When will He come? What is He doing now? When will He kill me?” So Kamsa was given a place more exalted than all the impersonal mystic yogis of the hatha-yoga school or the philosophers who speculate about the impersonal Absolute Truth. This gives a hint of the great power of bhakti. If an avowed enemy of Krsna is given such a high place, we can barely even imagine the sweet favor the Lord awards to those who relate to Him in a positive, loving way, always rendering service to Him and chanting His glories.
Finally, one might ask why Krsna should personally fight with a demon like Kamsa. Krsna, being the source of all emanations and qualities, has His own transcendental desires. Therefore He also has a fighting propensity, which He exhibits in His playful wrestling with the cowherd boys of Vrndavana. Authorities in the science of Krsna consciousness inform us that Krsna’s choice to fight with Kamsa indicates that Kamsa is actually a liberated devotee of Krsna’s who was sent to the material world to provide the Lord a suitable opponent. Kamsa could not actually threaten Krsna; Krsna arranged the fight for His personal pleasure. This understanding brings us to a level of consciousness beyond violence or nonviolence, morality or immorality.
Krsna displays His eternal pastimes with His devotees just to attract us to return to His loving service. We are all eternal parts and parcels of Krsna, but we are now suffering the miseries of repeated birth and death in the material world, in forgetfulness of Krsna. We should not struggle to rival Krsna; rather, we should understand that the only business of our life is to serve the Lord. We each have a natural aptitude for the service of Krsna, and that should be developed, under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master. The first engagement is to hear the pastimes of Krsna. Our present age is very fallen, full of materialistic and impersonal concepts of reality, but the truth is available in the vast treasurehouse of Vedic literature. The sincere seeker will find that truth very easily, if he begins with a submissive ear.

Lord Kṛṣṇa’s Entrance in Dvaraka


Lord Krishna Enters Dwarka


In one of our previous posts entitled “Lord Kṛṣṇa's Transcendental Conchshell” we were describing Lord Krsna’s entrance in Dvarka. This post is a continuation from that chapter, describing the citizens presentation and prayers to the Lord. Very nice!
The citizens arrived before the Lord with their respective presentations, offering them to the fully satisfied and self-sufficient one, who, by His own potency, incessantly supplies others. These presentations were like the offering of a lamp to the sun. Yet the citizens began to speak in ecstatic language to receive the Lord, just as wards welcome their guardian and father.
…Lord Kṛṣṇa’s attraction is so powerful that once being attracted by Him one cannot tolerate separation from Him. Why is this so? Because we are all eternally related with Him as the sun rays are eternally related with the sun disc. The sun rays are molecular parts of the solar radiation. Thus the sun rays and the sun cannot be separated. The separation by the cloud is temporary and artificial, and as soon as the cloud is cleared, the sun rays again display their natural effulgence in the presence of the sun. Similarly, the living entities, who are molecular parts of the whole spirit, are separated from the Lord by the artificial covering of māyā, illusory energy. This illusory energy, or the curtain of māyā, has to be removed, and when it is so done, the living entity can see the Lord face to face, and all his miseries are at once removed. Every one of us wants to remove the miseries of life, but we do not know how to do it. The solution is given here, and it rests on us to assimilate it or not. (Excerpted from purport SB 1.11.10)
…Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, being the primeval Lord, the Supreme Truth, is compared to the sun. Without Him all our knowledge is either false or partial. The opposite of the sun is the darkness, and similarly the opposite of Kṛṣṇa is māyā, or illusion. The devotees of the Lord can see everything in true perspective due to the light disseminated by Lord Kṛṣṇa. By the grace of the Lord the pure devotee cannot be in the darkness of ignorance. Therefore, it is necessary that we must always be in the sight of Lord Kṛṣṇa so that we can see both ourselves and the Lord with His different energies. As we cannot see anything in the absence of the sun, so also we cannot see anything including our own self, without the factual presence of the Lord. Without Him all our knowledge is covered by illusion. (Excerpted from purport SB 1.11.9)
Full Text and Purport
Srimad Bhagavatam
By His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Canto 1, Chapter 11, Text 4-10
tatropanīta-balayo
raver dīpam ivādṛtāḥ
ātmārāmaṁ pūrṇa-kāmaṁ
nija-lābhena nityadā

prīty-utphulla-mukhāḥ procur
harṣa-gadgadayā girā
pitaraṁ sarva-suhṛdam
avitāram ivārbhakāḥ
tatra—thereupon; upanīta—having offered; balayaḥ—presentations; raveḥ—up to the sun; dīpam—lamp; iva—like; ādṛtāḥ—being evaluated; ātma-ārāmam—unto the self-sufficient; pūrṇa-kāmam—fully satisfied; nija-lābhena—by His own potencies; nitya-dā—one who supplies incessantly; prīti—affection; utphulla-mukhāḥ—cheerful faces; procuḥ—said; harṣa—gladdened; gadgadayā—ecstatic; girā—speeches; pitaram—unto the father; sarva—all; suhṛdam—friends; avitāram—the guardian; iva—like; arbhakāḥ—wards.
The citizens arrived before the Lord with their respective presentations, offering them to the fully satisfied and self-sufficient one, who, by His own potency, incessantly supplies others. These presentations were like the offering of a lamp to the sun. Yet the citizens began to speak in ecstatic language to receive the Lord, just as wards welcome their guardian and father.
Purport
The Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa is described herein as ātmārāma. He is self-sufficient, and there is no need for Him to seek happiness from anything beyond Himself. He is self-sufficient because His very transcendental existence is total bliss. He is eternally existent; He is all-cognizant and all-blissful. Therefore, any presentation, however valuable it may be, is not needed by Him. But still, because He is the well-wisher for one and all, He accepts from everyone everything that is offered to Him in pure devotional service. It is not that He is in want for such things, because the things are themselves generated from His energy. The comparison is made herein that making offerings to the Lord is something like offering a lamp in the worship of the sun-god. Anything fiery and illuminating is but an emanation of the energy of the sun, and yet to worship the sun-god it is necessary to offer him a lamp. In the worship of the sun, there is some sort of demand made by the worshiper, but in the case of devotional service to the Lord, there is no question of demand from either side. It is all a sign of pure love and affection between the Lord and the devotee.
The Lord is the Supreme Father of all living beings, and therefore those who are conscious of this vital relation with God can make filial demands from the Father, and the Father is pleased to supply the demands of such obedient sons without bargaining. The Lord is just like the desire tree, and from Him everyone can have everything by the causeless mercy of the Lord. As the Supreme Father, the Lord, however, does not supply to a pure devotee what is considered to be a barrier to the discharge of devotional service. Those who are engaged in the devotional service of the Lord can rise to the position of unalloyed devotional service by His transcendental attraction.
natāḥ sma te nātha sadāṅghri-paṅkajaṁ
viriñca-vairiñcya-surendra-vanditam
parāyaṇaṁ kṣemam ihecchatāṁ paraṁ
na yatra kālaḥ prabhavet paraḥ prabhuḥ

natāḥ—bowed down; sma—we had done so; te—unto You; nātha—O Lord; sadā—always; aṅghri-paṅkajam—the lotus feet; viriñca—Brahmā, the first living being; vairiñcya—sons of Brahmā like Sanaka and Sanātana; sura-indra—the King of heaven; vanditam—worshiped by; parāyaṇam—the supreme; kṣemam—welfare; iha—in this life; icchatām—one who so desires; param—the highest; na—never; yatra—wherein; kālaḥ—inevitable time; prabhavet—can exert its influence; paraḥ—transcendental; prabhuḥ—the Supreme Lord.
The citizens said: O Lord, You are worshiped by all demigods like Brahmā, the four Sanas and even the King of heaven. You are the ultimate rest for those who are really aspiring to achieve the highest benefit of life. You are the supreme transcendental Lord, and inevitable time cannot exert its influence upon You.
Purport
The Supreme Lord is Śrī Kṛṣṇa, as confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā, Brahma-saṁhitā and other authorized Vedic literatures. No one is equal to or greater than Him, and that is the verdict of all scriptures. The influence of time and space is exerted upon the dependent living entities, who are all parts and parcels of the Supreme Lord. The living entities are predominated Brahman, whereas the Supreme Lord is the predominating Absolute. As soon as we forget this clear fact, we are at once in illusion, and thus we are put into threefold miseries, as one is put into dense darkness. The clear consciousness of the cognizant living being is God consciousness, in which one bows down unto Him in all circumstances.
bhavāya nas tvaṁ bhava viśva-bhāvana
tvam eva mātātha suhṛt-patiḥ pitā
tvaṁ sad-gurur naḥ paramaṁ ca daivataṁ
yasyānuvṛttyā kṛtino babhūvima

bhavāya—for welfare; naḥ—for us; tvam—Your Lordship; bhava—just become; viśva-bhāvana—the creator of the universe; tvam—Your Lordship; eva—certainly; mātā—mother; atha—as also; suhṛt—well-wisher; patiḥ—husband; pitā—father; tvam—Your Lordship; sat-guruḥ—spiritual master; naḥ—our; paramam—the supreme; ca—and; daivatam—worshipable Deity; yasya—whose; anuvṛttyā—following in the footsteps; kṛtinaḥ—successful; babhūvima—we have become.
O creator of the universe, You are our mother, well-wisher, Lord, father, spiritual master and worshipable Deity. By following in Your footsteps we have become successful in every respect. We pray, therefore, that You continue to bless us with Your mercy.
Purport
The all-good Personality of Godhead, being the creator of the universe, also plans for the good of all good living beings. The good living beings are advised by the Lord to follow His good advice, and by doing so they become successful in all spheres of life. There is no need to worship any deity but the Lord. The Lord is all-powerful, and if He is satisfied by our obedience unto His lotus feet, He is competent to bestow upon us all kinds of blessings for the successful execution of both our material and spiritual lives. For attaining spiritual existence, the human form is a chance for all to understand our eternal relation with God. Our relation with Him is eternal; it can neither be broken nor vanquished. It may be forgotten for the time being, but it can be revived also by the grace of the Lord, if we follow His injunctions, which are revealed in the scriptures of all times and all places.
aho sanāthā bhavatā sma yad vayaṁ
traiviṣṭapānām api dūra-darśanam
prema-smita-snigdha-nirīkṣaṇānanaṁ
paśyema rūpaṁ tava sarva-saubhagam

aho—oh, it is our good luck; sa-nāthāḥ—to be under the protection of the master; bhavatā—by Your good self; sma—as we have become; yat vayam—as we are; traiviṣṭa-pānām—of the demigods; api—also; dūra-darśanam—very rarely seen; prema-smita—smiling with love; snigdha—affectionate; nirīkṣaṇa-ānanam—face looking in that mode; paśyema—let us look; rūpam—beauty; tava—Your; sarva—all; saubhagam—auspiciousness.
Oh, it is our good luck that we have come again today under Your protection by Your presence, for Your Lordship rarely visits even the denizens of heaven. Now it is possible for us to look into Your smiling face, which is full of affectionate glances. We can now see Your transcendental form, full of all auspiciousness.
Purport
The Lord in His eternal personal form can be seen only by the pure devotees. The Lord is never impersonal, but He is the Supreme Absolute Personality of Godhead, possible to be visited by devotional service face to face, which is impossible to be done even by the denizens of higher planets. When Brahmājī and other demigods want to consult Lord Viṣṇu, the plenary portion of Lord Kṛṣṇa, they have to wait on the shore of the ocean of milk where Lord Viṣṇu is lying on White Land (Śvetadvīpa). This ocean of milk and the Śvetadvīpa planet are the replica of Vaikuṇṭhaloka within the universe. Neither Brahmājī nor the demigods like Indra can enter into this island of Śvetadvīpa, but they can stand on the shore of the ocean of milk and transmit their message to Lord Viṣṇu, known as Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. Therefore, the Lord is rarely seen by them, but the inhabitants of Dvārakā, because of their being pure devotees without any tinge of the material contamination of fruitive activities and empiric philosophical speculation, can see Him face to face by the grace of the Lord. This is the original state of the living entities and can be attained by reviving our natural and constitutional state of life, which is discovered by devotional service only.
yarhy ambujākṣāpasasāra bho bhavān
kurūn madhūn vātha suhṛd-didṛkṣayā
tatrābda-koṭi-pratimaḥ kṣaṇo bhaved
raviṁ vinākṣṇor iva nas tavācyuta

yarhi—whenever; ambuja-akṣa—O lotus-eyed one; apasasāra—You go away; bho—oh; bhavān—Yourself; kurūn—the descendants of King Kuru; madhūn—the inhabitants of Mathurā (Vrajabhūmi); vā—either; atha—therefore; suhṛt-didṛkṣayā—for meeting them; tatra—at that time; abda-koṭi—millions of years; pratimaḥ—like; kṣaṇaḥ—moments; bhavet—becomes; ravim—the sun; vinā—without; akṣṇoḥ—of the eyes; iva—like that; naḥ—ours; tava—Your; acyuta—O infallible one.
O lotus-eyed Lord, whenever You go away to Mathurā, Vṛndāvana or Hastināpura to meet Your friends and relatives, every moment of Your absence seems like a million years. O infallible one, at that time our eyes become useless, as if bereft of sun.
Purport
We are all proud of our material senses for making experiments to determine the existence of God. But we forget that our senses are not absolute by themselves. They can only act under certain conditions. For example, our eyes. As long as the sunshine is there, our eyes are useful to a certain extent. But in the absence of sunshine, the eyes are useless. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, being the primeval Lord, the Supreme Truth, is compared to the sun. Without Him all our knowledge is either false or partial. The opposite of the sun is the darkness, and similarly the opposite of Kṛṣṇa is māyā, or illusion. The devotees of the Lord can see everything in true perspective due to the light disseminated by Lord Kṛṣṇa. By the grace of the Lord the pure devotee cannot be in the darkness of ignorance. Therefore, it is necessary that we must always be in the sight of Lord Kṛṣṇa so that we can see both ourselves and the Lord with His different energies. As we cannot see anything in the absence of the sun, so also we cannot see anything including our own self, without the factual presence of the Lord. Without Him all our knowledge is covered by illusion.
kathaṁ vayaṁ nātha ciroṣite tvayi
prasanna-dṛṣṭyākhila-tāpa-śoṣaṇam
jīvema te sundara-hāsa-śobhitam
apaśyamānā vadanaṁ manoharam

iti codīritā vācaḥ
prajānāṁ bhakta-vatsalaḥ
śṛṇvāno ‘nugrahaṁ dṛṣṭyā
vitanvan prāviśat puram
katham—how; vayam—we; nātha—O Lord; ciroṣite—being abroad almost always; tvayi—by You; prasanna—satisfaction; dṛṣṭyā—by the glance; akhila—universal; tāpa—miseries; śoṣaṇam—vanquishing; jīvema—shall be able to live; te—Your; sundara—beautiful; hāsa—smiling; śobhitam—decorated; apaśyamānāḥ—without seeing; vadanam—face; manoharam—attractive; iti—thus; ca—and; udīritāḥ—speaking; vācaḥ—words; prajānām—of the citizens; bhakta-vatsalaḥ—kind to the devotees; śṛṇvānaḥ—thus learning; anugraham—kindness; dṛṣṭyā—by glances; vitanvan—distributing; prāviśat—entered; puram—Dvārakāpurī.
O master, if You live abroad all the time, then we cannot look at Your attractive face, whose smiles vanquish all our sufferings. How can we exist without Your presence?Upon hearing their speeches, the Lord, who is very kind to the citizens and the devotees, entered the city of Dvārakā and acknowledged all their greetings by casting His transcendental glance over them.
Purport
Lord Kṛṣṇa’s attraction is so powerful that once being attracted by Him one cannot tolerate separation from Him. Why is this so? Because we are all eternally related with Him as the sun rays are eternally related with the sun disc. The sun rays are molecular parts of the solar radiation. Thus the sun rays and the sun cannot be separated. The separation by the cloud is temporary and artificial, and as soon as the cloud is cleared, the sun rays again display their natural effulgence in the presence of the sun. Similarly, the living entities, who are molecular parts of the whole spirit, are separated from the Lord by the artificial covering of māyā, illusory energy. This illusory energy, or the curtain of māyā, has to be removed, and when it is so done, the living entity can see the Lord face to face, and all his miseries are at once removed. Every one of us wants to remove the miseries of life, but we do not know how to do it. The solution is given here, and it rests on us to assimilate it or not.

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