Krsna Book Audio Dictation - Chapter 27
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Next, Twenty-seventh Chapter: "Prayer by Indra, the king of Heaven."
Next paragraph.
When Kṛṣṇa saved the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana from the wrath of Indra by lifting the Govardhana Hill, at that time a surabhi cow from Goloka Vṛndāvana planet, as well as King Indra from the heavenly planet, appeared before Him. Indra, the king of heaven, was conscious about his offense to Kṛṣṇa; therefore, he stealthily appeared before Him in a secluded place and immediately fell down on the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, although his helmet was dazzling like the sunshine. Indra knew about the exalted position of Kṛṣṇa because Kṛṣṇa is the master of Indra. But he could not believe that the same Kṛṣṇa could come down and live within Vṛndāvana amongst the cowherds men, and when this Kṛṣṇa defied the authority of Indra, he became angry, because he was thinking himself that he is all in all within this universe; nobody is as powerful as he is within this universe. But after this incidence, his false, puffed-up prestige became nullified. Being conscious of his subordinate position, he appeared before Kṛṣṇa with folded hands and began to offer prayers to Kṛṣṇa as follows.
"My dear Lord, being puffed up by my false prestige, I thought that You had offended me by not allowing the cowherds men to perform the Indra-yajṣa, and You wanted to enjoy the offerings that were arranged for the sacrifice; and thus, in the name of Govardhana sacrifice, You took up my share of profit, and therefore I mistook Your position. Now, by Your grace I can understand that You are the Supreme Lord, Personality of Godhead, and You are transcendental to all the material qualities. Your transcendental position is viśuddha-sattvam, which is above the platform of the material modes of goodness.
"Your transcendental abode is without any disturbance of the material qualities. Your name, fame, form, quality, paraphernalia, pastimes are all beyond this material nature, and they are never disturbed by the three modes of material quality. Your abode is accessible only by undergoing severe type of austerity and penances, and being completely freed from the onslaught of material qualities like passion and ignorance. If somebody thinks that when You come within this material jurisdiction You accept the modes of material nature is also false. The waves of material qualities is never able to touch You, and what to speak of Your accepting them when You are present within this world. Your Lordship is never conditioned by the laws of material nature.
Next paragraph.
"My dear Lord, You are the original father of this cosmic manifestation, You are the supreme spiritual master of the cosmic world, and You are the original proprietor of everything. You are therefore competent to chastise the offenders in the position of eternal time, and within this material world there are many fools like me who consider themself as the Supreme Lord or the all in all within this universe. You are so merciful that without accepting their offenses, You devise such means so that their false prestige may be cut down and they could know that You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead and nobody else.
Next paragraph.
"My dear Lord, You are the supreme father, supreme spiritual master and supreme king. Therefore, You have the right to chastise all living entities whenever there is any discrepancy in their right behavior. The father, the spiritual master and the supreme executive officer of the state are always well-wisher of their sons, their students and their citizens respectively. As such, the well-wishers like father, teacher and the king has got the right to chastise their dependents.
"Your auspicious appearance on this earth, accepting by Yourself desire in Your eternal varieties of forms, You come to glorify the earthly planet specifically by chastising such persons who are falsely claiming to become God. In the material world there is regular competition between different types of living entities to become the supreme leader of the society, and after being frustrated to achieve the supreme position of leadership, at last such foolish persons claim to become God, the Supreme Personality. There are many such foolish personalities in this world, like me. But in due course of time, when they come to their senses, they surrender unto You and again engage themselves in the right way of rendering service unto You, and that is the purpose of chastising such envious persons unto You.
"My dear Lord, I committed great offense unto Your lotus feet, being falsely puffed up with my material opulences, without knowing Your unlimited power. My Lord, therefore You kindly excuse me because I am fool number one. Kindly give me Your blessing so that I may not commit such foolish activities anymore. If You think, my Lord, that my offense is very great and it cannot be excused, then I may appeal to You that I am Your eternal servant, and Your appearance on this world is to give protection to Your eternal servants and to destroy the demons who maintain a large number of military strength just to overburden the very existence of earthly order. And as such I am Your eternal servant. It behooves that You will kindly excuse me.
"My dear Lord, You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You because You are the Supreme Person and the Supreme Soul. You are the son of Vasudeva, and You are the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa, the master of all pure devotees. Please accept my prostrated obeisances. You are the supreme personified knowledge. You can appear anywhere according to Your desire in any one of Your eternal forms. You are the root of all kinds of creation. You are the proprietor of all kinds of creation. You are the Supreme Soul of all living entities.
"Due to my gross ignorance, I created so much disturbance in Vṛndāvana by torrents of rain and heavy hailstorm out of severe anger on account of Your stopping the sacrifice which was to be held to satisfy me. But, my dear Lord, You are so kind upon me that You have nullified all my unnecessary mistakes, and thus you have bestowed Your mercy upon me by destroying all my false prestige. I therefore take shelter unto Your lotus feet, my dear Lord, who is not only the supreme controller but also the spiritual master of all living entities."
Next paragraph.
While Lord Kṛṣṇa was thus praised by Indra, at that time the Supreme Personality of Godhead, with grave voice like the cloud and smiling in His beautiful face, began to say as follows: "My dear Indra, I have just stopped your sacrifice just to show you My causeless mercy upon you, and you are having again your memory that I am your eternal master—not only yours, but also all of the demigods. You should always remember that all your material opulences are due to My mercy. No living entity can independently become opulent without being favored by mercy. Therefore, everyone should always remember that I am the Supreme Lord. I can show anyone My favor and I can chastise anyone, because nobody is superior than Me. If I find somebody overpowered by false prestige, in order to show him My causeless mercy, I withdraw all such person's opulences."
In other words, when an opulent person becomes bereft of all opulences in order to become a surrendered soul to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, such persons are considered to be specifically favored by the Lord. Sometimes it is seen, however, that a person very opulent materially, but due to his devotional service to the Lord he becomes reduced to a poverty-stricken man, one should not mistake that by worshiping the Supreme Lord one has became poverty-stricken. The real purport is that when a person is pure devotee, at the same time, by miscalculation wants to lord it over the material nature, such persons are by the special mercy of the Lord taken away all material opulences, and at last he surrenders unto the Supreme Lord.
After instructing Indra in this way, Lord Kṛṣṇa asked him to return to his kingdom in the heaven and asked him to remember always that he is never the supreme, but he is always under the subordination of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He also advised him that he should remain in the jurisdiction of his controlling power without being falsely proud and puffed up by such position of prestige.
Next paragraph.
After this surabhi, the transcendental cow, who also came with Indra to see Kṛṣṇa, offered her respectful obeisances unto Kṛṣṇa and worshiped the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the role of a cowherds boy in Vṛndāvana. The surabhi cow offered his (her) prayer as follows: "My dear Lord Kṛṣṇa, You are the supreme powerful of all mystic yogas, because You are the soul of the complete universe, and from You only all this cosmic manifestation has taken place. Therefore, although Indra tried his best to kill my descendants in Vṛndāvana, all my descendant cows, without being deviated, remained under Your shelter and You have protected them all so nicely, in spite of horrible disturbances created by Indra.
"We do not know anybody else as the Supreme, neither we know any other god or demigod for our protection. Therefore, You are our Indra, You are the Supreme Father of the whole cosmic manifestation, and You are the protector and elevator of all the cows and brāhmaṇas and demigods and persons who are pure devotees of Your Lordship. O the Supersoul of the universe, let us bathe You with our milk, because You are our Indra. My dear Lord, Your appearance is just to diminish the overburden of the earth on account of impure activities."
In this way, Kṛṣṇa was bathed by the milk of the surabhi cows, whereas Indra was bathed by the water of the celestial Ganges through the trunk of the elephant carrier of Indra. After this, the heavenly king Indra, along with surabhi cows and all other demigods and the mothers of the demigods worshiped Lord Kṛṣṇa by bathing Him with Ganges water and the milk of the cows. Thus Govinda, Lord Kṛṣṇa, was pleased upon all of them. The denizens of other higher planetary system as Gandharvaloka, Vidhyādharaloka, Siddhaloka, Cāraṇaloka, all combined together began to glorify the Lord by chanting His holy name. Their wives and damsels began to dance with great joy. In this way, all of them very much satisfied the Lord by incessant pouring of flowers from the sky.
In this way, when everything was very nicely and joyfully settled up, all the cows overflooded the surface of the earth with their milk. The water of the rivers began to flow with varieties of taste, because it is the water of the rivers which give nourishment to the trees, producing fruits and flowers of different colors and taste. The trees began to pour out incessant drops of honey. The hills and mountains began to produce all potential medicinal plants, as well as valuable stones within themselves. On account of Lord Kṛṣṇa's presence, all these things happened very nicely, and the lower animals, who are generally envious of one another, turned to be not envious anymore.
In this way the king of heaven, Indra, after satisfying the Lord Kṛṣṇa, who is the Lord of the cows in Vṛndāvana, who is known as Govinda, taking His permission returned to his heavenly kingdom, surrounded by all kinds of demigods, passing through the cosmic space. This great incidence is a powerful example how Kṛṣṇa consciousness can convert everything pleasing and satisfactory. Even the lower animals forget their envious nature and become elevated to the quality of the demigods.
Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Twenty-seventh Chapter in the matter of "Prayers by Indra, the king of Heaven."