(1/1) Crushing Pride

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Vrindavan Parikrama, 31 October 2019
Translated from Bengali

You all know what this place is. This is the place where Kaliya-nag used to stay. He had so much poison that nobody could drink from this part of the Yamuna river, and whenever cows came to drink water here, they would die immediately. Everybody had a lot of problem because of his poison.

By the time Kaliya-nag's presence became disturbing to everybody, Krishna had already killed many demons sent by Kamsa: Aghasur, Bakasur, Putana and many others. When all the boys came home, they would tell their mothers, 'Mother, you know what Gopal has done today!' Every day they went out, they would come back with stories about Gopal and His heroic deeds. Then, those gopis told Krishna, 'You perform so many pastimes with Your friends, but we cannot see them. Could You show us such a pastime that everybody would be able to see?'

One day, Krishna came to this bank of the Yamuna together with His friends and cows. The boys and some cows went to swim in the river, but once they entered the water, they fell unconscious. Krishna rescued them all. You can see this ancient tree growing here. This tree was there in Dvapar-yuga, too. Krishna climbed this tree and jumped from it onto Kaliya-nag.

In the water, Krishna began to stir water so hard that Kaliya-nag became annoyed, 'I am staying here – who dares disturb me like this?!' Seeing Krishna disturbing the water, Kaliya-nag caught Him with his tail and held Him tight. When everybody saw this from the shore, they thought, 'Krishna must have died!'

That day, Balaram did not come with Krishna. All the Vraja-basis became stunned thinking that Krishna was dead. Gopis began to cry. Mother Yasoda and Nanda Maharaj also got the news and came to the bank. Everybody was so overcome with the tragedy that even the sun and the wind stopped – everything plunged into darkness.

In the meantime, Krishna was waiting for everybody to come to the bank. When all the residents of Vrindavan, including Mother Yasoda and Nanda Maharaj, came, Balaram stood on the bank and stopped everybody from jumping into the waters, 'Do not go there! Krishna will come out just now.' Then, Balaram shouted to Krishna, 'Come out now, Brother! Everybody is here. Do not wait any longer, come out!' The Lord knew everything – He was waiting for everybody to come so that everybody would see His pastime. Finally, Krishna started to expand Himself. He is the master of the whole universe, He can do anything He wants, but Kaliya-nag's power is very small, so when Krishna began to expand Himself, Kaliya-nag's tail released Him. As soon as Krishna was released, He jumped onto the serpent's head.

Soon, the wives of Kaliya-nag came out and prayed to Krishna, 'O Krishna! You have done really well. He was very proud, but You have smashed his pride, it is very good, but please do not kill him. If he dies, we will all become widows.' Krishna agreed, 'All right, I will not kill him, but I have one condition. He must leave and go far away from here. He must go to Ramanakdwip (Fiji). He must leave so that all the Vraja-basis can live peacefully. Because of him, nobody can drink water now!' Kaliya-nag asked, 'How will I go there? If I go away from here, Garuda will eat me!' Krishna assured him, 'Garuda will not touch you. He is My devotee. When he comes to you, show him your head – seeing My footprints on your head, Garuda will not eat you.' Then, Kaliya-nag left for the Fiji island. He still lives there to this day; there is temple of Kaliya-nag there.

There is also another story about a sage called Saubhari Muni. One time, he sat meditating at the bottom of the Yamuna. You can see what happens when one commits an offence. From time to time, Garuda came to the Yamuna to eat some fish. The fish were disturbed, so they came to Saubhari Muni and complained that Garuda was coming and eating them. Saubhari Muni cursed Garuda forbidding him to come there. Garuda is the carrier of Lord Vishnu, so when Saubhari Muni cursed him, he committed an offence. As the result, one day, when some fish was playing in the water, Saubhari Muni saw them and suddenly wanted to get married. His offence to a Vaishnav made him lose everything. At that time, there was a king called Mandhata who had fifty daughters. Saubhari Muni was very old at that time (his body was old and feeble), so he understood that nobody would marry him. Then, by the strength of his yoga power, he turned himself into a handsome young boy. King Mandhata announced a marriage ceremony for his daughters (they were to choose any prince they wanted to marry), and many princes came from various kingdoms. In the end, Saubhari Muni's form was actually so handsome that all the fifty girls chose him – they all put their garlands on his neck! Saubhari Muni ended up with fifty wives. All his power and spiritual merit was destroyed.

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Language: Bengali