The Slaying of the Demon Jarāsandha

Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī states that the word vibhūtīḥ refers to Lord Kṛṣṇa’s expansions (aṁśān), and Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura further explains that here the word vibhūtīḥ refers to Lord Kṛṣṇa’s opulent expansions within this world, such as the demigods and other empowered beings. Thus Śrīla Prabhupāda treats this verse as follows in Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead: “My dear Lord Kṛṣṇa, the sacrifice known as the Rājasūya-yajña is to be performed by the emperor, and it is considered to be the king of all sacrifices. By performing this sacrifice, I wish to satisfy all the demigods, who are Your empowered representatives within this material world, and I wish that You will kindly help me in this great adventure so that it may be successfully executed. As far as the Pāṇḍavas are concerned, we have nothing to ask from the demigods. We are personally fully satisfied by being Your devotees. As you say in the Bhagavad-gītā, ‘Persons who are bewildered by material desires worship the demigods,’ but our purpose is different. I want to perform this Rājasūya sacrifice and invite the demigods to show them that they have no power independent of You. They are all Your servants and You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Foolish persons with a poor fund of knowledge consider Your Lordship an ordinary human being. Sometimes they try to find fault in You, and sometimes they defame You. Therefore I wish to perform the Rājasūya-yajña. I wish to invite all the demigods, beginning from Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva and other exalted chiefs of the heavenly planets, and in that great assembly of the demigods from all parts of the universe, I want to substantiate that You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead and that everyone is Your servant.”

Śrīla Prabhupāda writes in this connection that liberated, Kṛṣṇa conscious persons “do not even desire to become freed from this material existence or to enjoy material opulences; their desires are fulfilled by Kṛṣṇa conscious activities. As far as we [King Yudhiṣṭhira] are concerned, we are fully surrendered unto Your lotus feet, and by Your grace we are so fortunate to see You personally. Therefore, naturally we have no desire for material opulences. The verdict of the Vedic wisdom is that You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead. I want to establish this fact, and I also want to show the world the difference between accepting You as the Supreme Personality of Godhead and accepting You as an ordinary powerful historical person. I wish to show the world that one can attain the highest perfection of life simply by taking shelter at Your lotus feet, exactly as one can satisfy the branches, twigs, leaves and flowers of an entire tree simply by watering the root. Thus, if one takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, his life becomes fulfilled both materially and spiritually.”

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī similarly explains King Yudhiṣṭhira’s statement: “We feel no great urgency to perform the Rājasūya sacrifice, nor do we have any personal interest, since we are already seeing Your lotus feet and by Your boundless mercy have been taken into Your personal association. But in this world there are some whose hearts are contaminated and who thus think You are not the Supreme Personality of Godhead but an ordinary man. Or else they find fault with You and even criticize You. This is an arrow piercing our hearts.

“Therefore, to extract this arrow from our heart, we must call to this place — on the pretext of the Rājasūya — Brahmā, Rudra and other wise brahmacārīs and demigods who reside in each of the fourteen planetary systems. When such an exalted congregation has assembled, it will be incumbent upon them to first arrange for the agra-pūjā, or the first worship for the most worthy person present. And when they are directly shown that You, Lord Kṛṣṇa, are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the arrow piercing our heart will be removed.”

Here we clearly see the heart of a preacher. The great devotee Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja implores Lord Kṛṣṇa to demonstrate plainly the result of worshiping Him and the result of not worshiping Him. If the people of the world could understand this, they could begin to recognize that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and that everyone’s ultimate self-interest lies in surrendering to Him. As confirmed by great authorities, Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja is a pure devotee of the Lord, and thus his actual motivation in discharging his duties as a king was to establish the supremacy of Lord Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is the real purport of the activities of the Pāṇḍavas, which are described in both the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and the Mahābhārata.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī explains that a desire tree has no material attachments or partiality but simply bestows its fruits upon those who deserve them, and not upon others. Jīva Gosvāmī Prabhupāda adds that a desire tree does not think, “This person is fit to worship me, but that other person is not.” Rather, a desire tree is satisfied with all who properly serve it. And the Lord acts in the same way, as explained here by King Yudhiṣṭhira.

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī adds that no one should accuse Lord Kṛṣṇa of being envious of one person and showing favoritism toward another. Since the Lord is sva-sukhānubhūti, experiencing His own happiness within Himself, He has nothing to gain or lose in relation to conditioned souls. Rather, He reciprocates according to how they approach Him. Śrīla Prabhupāda very nicely sums up this point as follows in his rendering of King Yudhiṣṭhira’s statement: “If one takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, his life becomes fulfilled both materially and spiritually. This does not mean that You are partial to the Kṛṣṇa conscious person and indifferent to the non-Kṛṣṇa conscious person. You are equal to everyone; that is Your declaration. You cannot be partial to one and not interested in others, because You are sitting in everyone’s heart as the Supersoul and giving everyone the respective results of his fruitive activities. You give every living entity the chance to enjoy this material world as he desires. As the Supersoul, You are sitting in the body along with the living entity, giving him the results of his own actions as well as opportunities to turn toward Your devotional service by developing Kṛṣṇa consciousness. You openly declare that one should surrender unto You, giving up all other engagements, and that You will take charge of him, giving him relief from the reactions of all sins. You are like the desire tree in the heavenly planets, which awards benediction according to one’s desires. Everyone is free to achieve the highest perfection, but if one does not so desire, then Your awarding of lesser benedictions is not due to partiality.”

Lord Kṛṣṇa here concurs with King Yudhiṣṭhira’s decision that the Rājasūya sacrifice should be performed. The Lord further agrees that there is nothing unfair in the fact that one result is achieved by those who worship Him, and another by those who do not. The great Bhāgavatam commentators point out that by addressing King Yudhiṣṭhira as śatru-karśana, “tormentor of enemies,” Lord Kṛṣṇa is imparting to him the potency to conquer all the enemy kings. Thus Kṛṣṇa predicted that King Yudhiṣṭhira’s noble fame would spread to all the worlds, and in fact it has.

Śrīla Prabhupāda writes in Kṛṣṇa, “It is said that Bhīma was born of the demigod Vāyu and that Arjuna was born of the demigod Indra, whereas King Yudhiṣṭhira himself was born of the demigod Yamarāja.” Śrīla Prabhupāda goes on to state, “Lord Kṛṣṇa told King Yudhiṣṭhira that He becomes conquered by the love of one who has conquered his senses. One who has not conquered his senses cannot conquer the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is the secret of devotional service. To conquer the senses means to engage them constantly in the service of the Lord. The specific qualification of all the Pāṇḍava brothers was that they always engaged their senses in the service of the Lord. One who thus engages his senses becomes purified, and with purified senses one can actually render service to the Lord. The Lord can thus be conquered by the devotee through loving transcendental service.”

Here Lord Kṛṣṇa assures King Yudhiṣṭhira that he will have no problem conquering the worldly kings, since the King is a pure devotee and the Lord’s pure devotees can never be conquered, even by the demigods, what to speak of earthly kings. Although materialists are proud of their power, fame, beauty and opulence, they can never surpass the pure devotees of the Lord in any of these categories.

Śrīla Prabhupāda writes: “It may be noted that by dispatching his younger brothers to conquer in different directions, King Yudhiṣṭhira did not actually intend that they declare war with the kings. Actually, the brothers started for different directions to inform the respective kings about King Yudhiṣṭhira’s intention to perform the Rājasūya sacrifice. The kings were thus informed that they were required to pay taxes for the execution of the sacrifice. This payment of taxes to Emperor Yudhiṣṭhira meant that the king accepted subjugation before him. In case of a king’s refusal to act accordingly, there was certainly a fight. Thus by their influence and strength, the brothers conquered all the kings in different directions, and they were able to bring in sufficient taxes and presentations. These were brought before King Yudhiṣṭhira by his brothers.”

Śrīla Prabhupāda writes: “King Jarāsandha was a very dutiful householder, and he had great respect for the brāhmaṇas. He was a great fighter, a kṣatriya king, but he was never neglectful of the Vedic injunctions. According to Vedic injunctions, the brāhmaṇas are considered to be the spiritual masters of all other castes. Lord Kṛṣṇa, Arjuna and Bhīmasena were actually kṣatriyas, but they dressed themselves as brāhmaṇas, and at the time when King Jarāsandha was to give charity to the brāhmaṇas and receive them as guests, they approached him.”

In the previous verse, Lord Kṛṣṇa and the two Pāṇḍava brothers, Bhīma and Arjuna, requested Jarāsandha to grant them whatever they asked of him. Here they explain why there is no need for them to specify their desire.

The ācāryas comment on this verse as follows: Jarāsandha might be thinking, “What if you request my son, from whom separation would be intolerable?”

To this possible objection Kṛṣṇa and the Pāṇḍavas reply, “For a tolerant person, nothing is intolerable.”

Similarly, Jarāsandha could object, “What if you ask me to give my body or my precious jewels and other ornaments, which are meant to be given to my sons, not to ordinary beggars?”

To this they reply, “For the generous, what is not to be donated in charity?” In other words, everything is to be given.

Jarāsandha might also object that he could be giving charity to his enemies. To this his guests counter with the statement kaḥ paraḥ sama-darśinām: “For those with equal vision, who is a stranger?”

Thus Śrī Kṛṣṇa and the Pāṇḍavas encouraged Jarāsandha to simply agree to grant their request without further discussion.

Here Lord Kṛṣṇa and the two Pāṇḍavas are pointing out to Jarāsandha that one can use the temporary material body to achieve a permanent situation in life. Because Jarāsandha was a materialist, they appealed to his natural interest in the heavenly planets, where life lasts so long that it appears permanent to people on earth.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī briefly summarizes the history of the personalities mentioned in this verse: “To pay off his debts to Viśvāmītra, Hariścandra sold everything he had, including his wife and children. Yet even after attaining the status of a caṇḍāla, he did not become discouraged; thus he went to heaven, together with all the inhabitants of Ayodhyā. Rantideva, after going without even water for forty-eight days, somehow obtained some food and water, but then some beggars came and he gave it all away to them. In this way he attained Brahmaloka. Mudgala followed the practice of gathering grains left behind in the fields after the harvest. Yet still he was hospitable toward uninvited guests, even after his family had been suffering in poverty for six months. Thus he also went to Brahmaloka.

“To protect a pigeon who had taken shelter of him, King Śibi gave his own flesh to a hawk and attained heaven. Bali Mahārāja gave all his property to Lord Hari when the Lord disguised Himself as a dwarf brāhmaṇa (Vāmanadeva), and so Bali gained the Lord’s personal association. The pigeon and his mate gave their own flesh to a hunter as a show of hospitality, and thus they were taken to heaven in a celestial airplane. When the hunter understood their situation in the mode of goodness, he also became renounced, and thus he gave up hunting and went off to perform severe austerities. Because he was freed of all sins, after his body burned to death in a forest fire he was elevated to heaven. Thus many personalities have attained enduring life on higher planets by means of the temporary material body.”

The ācāryas point out that Jarāsandha had seen Lord Kṛṣṇa, Bhīmasena and Arjuna at Draupadī’s svayaṁvara ceremony. Since they had come begging in the guise of brāhmaṇas, Jarāsandha thought they must be low-class kṣatriyas, as indicated here by the word rājanya-bandhūn.

Here Jarāsandha reveals his strong commitment to charity, especially when begged by brāhmaṇas.

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī comments that Jarāsandha felt inner satisfaction because he thought that his enemies had been humiliated by having to dress like brāhmaṇas to approach him. Thus the ācārya understands Jarāsandha’s mind as follows: “O weak ones, forget the botheration of fighting. Why not just accept my head? By dressing yourselves as brāhmaṇas begging charity, you have made your heroism set like the sun, but if somehow you have not lost your courage, I will give you battle.”

The ācārya finally points out that the goddess of learning intends the phrase amarṣito mandāḥ to read amarṣito ’mandāḥ. In other words, Lord Kṛṣṇa and the Pāṇḍavas are amandāḥ, “never foolish.” And that is why they chose the best tactic for doing away once and for all with the cruel Jarāsandha.

Jarāsandha and Bhīma here demonstrate their expertise in the use of clubs. Thus it can be understood that both fighters were fearless and steady even in the rage of battle.

This translation is based on Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Kṛṣṇa.

Some ācāryas include the following two verses in the text of this chapter, and Śrīla Prabhupāda has also translated them in Kṛṣṇa:

“At the end of each day’s fighting, they lived at night as friends in Jarāsandha’s palace, and the next day they fought again. In this way they passed twenty-seven days in fighting. On the twenty-eighth day, Bhīmasena told Kṛṣṇa, ‘My dear Kṛṣṇa, must frankly admit that I cannot conquer Jarāsandha.’”

Śrīla Prabhupāda writes that Lord Kṛṣṇa “knew the mystery of the birth of Jarāsandha. Jarāsandha was born in two different parts from two different mothers. When his father saw that the baby was useless, he threw the two parts in the forest, where they were later found by a black-hearted witch named Jarā. She managed to join the two parts of the baby from top to bottom. Knowing this, Lord Kṛṣṇa therefore also knew how to kill him.”

Śrīla Prabhupāda writes: “Although Jarāsandha was killed, neither Kṛṣṇa nor the two Pāṇḍava brothers made a claim to the throne. Their purpose in killing Jarāsandha was to stop him from creating a disturbance to the proper discharge of world peace. A demon always creates disturbances, whereas a demigod always tries to keep peace in the world. The mission of Lord Kṛṣṇa is to give protection to the righteous persons and to kill the demons who disturb a peaceful situation. Therefore Lord Kṛṣṇa immediately called for the son of Jarāsandha, whose name was Sahadeva, and with due ritualistic ceremonies the Lord asked him to occupy the seat of his father and reign over the kingdom peacefully. Lord Kṛṣṇa is the master of the whole cosmic creation, and He wants everyone to live peacefully and execute Kṛṣṇa consciousness. After installing Sahadeva on the throne, He released all the kings and princes who had been imprisoned unnecessarily by Jarāsandha.”